Probably my last message

It's winding down! Last night, a few of us went to Tescos around 10pm to pick up all of our food for our Christmas dinner! We got lots of vegetables, Yorkshire pudding, desserts, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and rolls. Today Courtney went to pick up a few medium sized chickens. Louis and Leo are making a apple crumble... hopefully it turns out okay. Munira made brownies, and Hugo made a crumble too!

I'm trying to write as much as I can real fast, because we are getting ready for dinner, and I am in Amy's room.

When we went to Tescos, we met Amy there, because she was coming back from a hockey match, and there were 7 of us, but 5 of us could fit in her car. So we had to leave Leo and Louis, they weren't too happy.

When we got back, we decided that we wouldn't make it out that night, because it was too late, so we played OLYMPICS!! We were divided into two teams, drawn out of a hat, black and red. The games were volleyball (with a balloon), hide and seek, and relay races. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!! They said it was the best night they've had. Not everyone was there to participate, but it was a good group that did. We all hung out for a while after, and Danielle and Jenner even came to my room until 6am in the morning talking!

Tonight will be very sad, it has been so much fun meeting everyone, but it's weird to think I'll never see them again. I really will miss them SO much. Danielle and Courtney started crying when they came to my room and saw all of my stuff packed up, and my walls were bare.

Tonight will be such a nice dinner. Everyone has a place setting, and we've decorated the flat. We've been cooking all day!

I forgot to get my key deposit back this morning, so the only way I can get it is if they send it to an English bank. So Courtney is nice enough to give me 40 pounds now, and I'll have the deposit sent to her over break.

Tonight, we are off to 'Flirt', the club on campus, for the last night. It will be a big event, I think.

Tomorrow, I'm going into London with Amy to see her hockey game, and then American Danielle and her flat mate, Abby, will come and pick me up. I will stay at Abby's house that night, and then catch my flight at 11:55am. I'm so excited to go home, but I can't believe this is all over. I've been so busy trying to wrap up my time here... getting pictures from everyone, saying goodbye, packing, and wrapping up school work. I hope I don't forget everything.

Everyone has been so nice to me. They tell me everyday how much they are going to miss me and they promise they are coming to CA. Hopefully they will, and I really hope to keep in contact with all of them. That's about it.. goodbye blog... goodbye England!

Love you all!!!! Hope the flight goes well! xoxox

Last days

It's almost over, and it has gone by so fast! 16,000 words and 64 essays pages later, I'm still alive! I turned in the last of my four papers Tuesday afternoon. After my classes, I went with a few boys from my flat to Tescos. We walked there this time, and it was nice to chat with them and visit along the way. They are all SO POSITIVE they are coming out to CA... we'll see...

Tuesday night, I went to a cheerleading Christmas party at Lemon Tree. One big tradition here is to have crackers at your place setting. They taught me how to open them all together. I got a party hat, piece of paper with a joke inside and a little top to spin! It was so nice to sit down with the girls for a final time. They even said a toast to me to wish me good luck and goodbye. I ate a mushroom tart, turkey, and Christmas pudding! No one really likes the pudding here, but I thought i'd give it a try. It taste like raisin cake with a side of ice cream. After that, we went to a local club, Hippodrome, where the cheerleaders and the American football players got a VIP room to hang out in. It was nice to see those guys for a final time too. My flat came to join us at the club later that night.

Wednesday, I took it easy. I made marshmallow guns for our Christmas party on our flat on Friday. Last night, I met Nha downstairs near the school club, before she went in to say goodbye. She's so sweet, she hates to say goodbye, and started to cry. When I came back, I hung out with my flat in the kitchen and we talked and played games for a few hours. Since we all have nothing to do, we set up a table in the middle of the kitchen, stack chairs on top, and play volleyball with a balloon. We are very competitive so it's a lot of fun to play. The other day, since they were bored, they took an amp, and plugged it into the peep hole of the door, and took out the real door bell. So if you wanted to get in, you had to touch the amp, which made this HUGE noise on our flat... it was so obnoxious. Try writing 4 papers while they tap the beat to a new song they've made up on an amp. haha

This morning, I went to go see Nha to exchange pictures with her before she left. Tuesday night, I had said goodbye to Scott, because he and Chris were leaving for Barcelona, and today I said bye to Nha because she's leaving for Prague. It's now just me, Danielle, and Joey. Tonight I'll go to Tescos with the girls to pick up food to cook for our Christmas dinner tomorrow, and then we're all going out.

We'll have to get plates and whatnot at the store, because our supervisor gave us the choice to clean all the dishes yesterday, or they'd be thrown away. Since no one wanted to clean, and we were all going home over break, we let them just get thrown away.. haha.

Tomorrow will be my last day with my flat. I'm really sad that we'll never be out here again, but i am VERY excited to be home. Saturday morning I will drive to London with my flat mate, Amy, since she is playing a hockey game there. After the hockey game, Danielle and her flat mate, Abby will pick me up from the game, and I will go back to Abby's house that night. Her mom is cooking us a Sunday roast (On Saturday). Sunday morning, I'll catch my flight and come home!

Now it's time to start packing and say goodbye! Love you all!!!

Wii has taken a whole new level!

I think Project Kokoro should have a team! haha

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Pzp8S_7yspM

This is Game 1, but Game 3 was better, I think.

Presents from my flat

Last night, a few people weren't able to go out with us, so tonight, my flat surprised me with gifts and cake and sang happy birthday to me! Wed night at 12pm they decorated my door and the kitchen and sang but only a few were around, so tonight it was a lot more people. They all signed a card for me and got me a pair of silver heart earrings, a little drinking game, and the best part was A RING!! Now I don't have to buy my UK ring! It has 2 hearts on it, and we agreed it will symbolize my life in the US and my life in my UK joining! I can't believe a week from today will be my last night in Colchester. I'll be in London next Saturday, and then leave on Sunday! CRAZY!

back to the papers... love you all!

Happy Birthday to ME

Yesterday was a VERY good Birthday! I went out with my Flat and Danielle and Nha. Nha made me this AMAZING fleece blanket, she even sewed on my name and my Tri Delt letters on it! I can't wait to use it. I'M 21!!!

Now back to papers.... But here are a few picturesWe went to a pub crawl in town, that's why we all have the same shirts...My flat!Me, Danielle, and Nha!

Oh ya, and we got to use RED CUPS! They don't have plastic red cups in the UK and everyone was excited when mom brought them to me. They always see Americans drinking out of red cups in movies and what not, so they were excited to get to use them too. Mom also sent me M&Ms that read 'Janelle is 21' and 'Happy Birthday'. Everyone loved them! They were a hit!

Love you all! SEE YOU SOON!

a little update

I got an Essex sweatshirt today! So now I finally have a school sweatshirt!

I also stopped by my professor's office so she can edit my essay, hopefully she doesn't think it's terrible, she's not one of the graders, though, so she can give me a lot of feedback. Our papers are graded blindly by two separate people who we don't know.

Danielle's dinner was nice, but I felt bad because we couldn't really celebrate like we would at home. Everyone had stuff to work on at home, and we only got to go to dinner and take her out for a few drinks. She'll celebrate with me again on Thursday, so that's good. My flat is really excited for my birthday, and I am too, I just have to get these papers done.

I'm glad my birthday is coming up, but just a little bummed that I can't celebrate it on the day of with friends and family from home. But it will still be a good birthday and I can still celebrate again when I get back to SB and Irvine.

That's about it for now. Love you all!

Pictures ( I took 433 of them!)

The Spanish Steps

The Trevi Fountain

The Colosseum

The forum

The Arc de Constintine