Just Another Manic Monday

Good morning, everyone! It's a pretty nice Monday and I am actually pretty much all caught up in my classes, so I thought I would take this opportunity to get my blog updated.

This weekend was quite...interesting, to say the least. It started out with an interesting Friday and a horribly stereotypical Sunday. I'll do my best to keep this brief, but it was quite...well, interesting.

Friday night started out with Midnight Rodeo to see this up and coming artist named Kyle Park. He's got some pretty good music, though Country music is far from my preferred music genre. I expected to go to this place, see some live music and just chill out, but boy oh boy was I wrong! You know in movies when they show a country bar or club and everyone - and I mean everyone - is in cowboy boots and hats, and there is so much plaid the pattern is engraved in your eyesight, and then they have the wild and crazy stereotypical line-dancing music that somehow everyone knows the dance to and goes absolutely nuts over? Let me just say - that's not just in the movies. It happened right in front of my eyes, and I couldn't help but just think, "Holy crow, am I in Texas." Followed by a quick, "Yeah, I am definitely not from Texas." It was such a stereotypical movie-type moment, I couldn't help but laugh at what I was experiencing. It was definitely something. That paired with my father getting fed up with a McDonald's drive-thru employee just after midnight, and my roommate's inability to read a bus map made Friday definitely one of the better, more interesting experiences of my life. Running for 10 minutes to catch a bus and successfully ruining my hair and feeling sweaty while cramped between two people on the bus is definitely not something I recommend...Neither is letting your roommate read the bus route without double checking it yourself! But, it'll definitely be one night to look back on with Judith in the future.

My Sunday was a little better than Friday, but a day equally hilarious. My roommate, Judith, and I were cleaning the apartment, and I was on dishes duty. Mind you - normally, this is a good thing. Being somewhat OCD when doing dishes means that your dishes are always going to be exceptionally clean, sparkling, and apparently, broken. While putting a freshly-cleaned pan into the dish rack to dry, I managed to knock over  my other roommate's French coffee press. The whole thing was in slow-motion until it shattered on the floor, and I stood there, mouth agape, eyes blown wide, staring down at this shattered appliance, unable to believe that I actually just did that. I was torn between laughing and staring for a good three minutes, just in shock. Leave it to me to be the one to break someone else's thing when not even using it. To say the least, I felt extremely ridiculous, and it took me about 5 minutes to be able to process how to go about cleaning it up. Oh, Sunday. You were quite something. At least I got most of my homework done.

Sandwiched between Friday and Sunday was a glorious Saturday during which time I submitted my Study Abroad application! I know - so exciting, and it's about time! I've been holding off on submitting it, sitting on my essays, worried that they weren't good enough. But at some point, it has to be submitted and done (thanks to Mom and Dad for proofing the essays for me). Saturday was finally that point and I feel like an entire weight has been lifted from my shoulders. There's not too much left for me to do before the entire application process is done, either.

I still need to:

1. Send in the application to The University of Sussex. [This is halfway completed, and in order to fully complete it, I need a passport, which leads to number two.]
2. Acquire a passport.
3. Get my potential classes approved.
4. Wait for a response.

The great thing is that according to Bryn, I am basically going. So really now, it's just finishing going through the motions, and I absolutely cannot wait! I had a little nervous freak out last weekend when I was sick, worrying about being away from home for an entire school year, but for the most part, that's dissipated, and I am back to being excited!

Now I'm off to disappear back into the land of school work. I've got Heart of Darkness [or as I've nicknamed it Heart of Uuuuugh, Why Must I Read This Again?] to complete, Sons and Lovers to get started on, Sweethearts to get started on, and Italian exercises to complete. The life of a student. It just never ends.

I hope you are all off to a beautiful start this week! 

Until next time - Keep Calm and Brighton On!

-Tayma xx

I Am In Misery

"I am in misery, and there ain't nobody who can comfort me."

-Maroon 5

Alright, so maybe I'm not actually in a misery that nobody can help me out of, but this week, it sure feels that way. This blog post is eleven days late which is absolutely ridiculous and I know that, and I am deeply sorry for that. I know that excuses are something that everyone has, and they're not really worth much, but I'm going to try really hard to make this worth something.

Classes began on Monday, and let me start off by saying, I already absolutely love all of my professors. This is the first semester that I've had a majority of female professors (I only have one male professor), so it's an interesting experience. Besides the fact that three of my books were not available at the student store, I had to purchase them online, and they still aren't here. Things aren't too bad....

At least, that's what I'm telling myself.

By this coming Tuesday alone, I have to have the entirety of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness read, almost 200 pages of Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake read, a fair amount of Art History reading completed (as well as begin my two major projects), and Italian chapter studying done. Can you believe I already have an exam a week from today? It's...crazy. Oh, and I'm getting sick and losing my voice. Again. Great.

Adding to that crazy? INTERNET! This is the truest reason that this blog post is so late. The internet in my apartment complex was TERRIBLE this week! Trying to download assignments and syllabi on the first morning of classes was murder, and it was soooo spotty. One of my roommates is still struggling a bit with the internet around 3am every night. Seeing as the internet is actually being kind to me, I'm getting this posted up for you all!

Now, a Brighton update!

(okay, seriously, how perfect is Jayma Mays?!)

Well, application update. I have one more essay to complete for the application, and then my Study Abroad application is officially complete! I've received all potential class syllabi, and I have to e-mail them to my counselor for credit approval here at UT, and then finish up the application for the University of Sussex itself, and I'm done!

Basically, what I have left on that application is describing my current courses here at UT, since they won't be on the transcript I send to them next month when I submit my application. Time's going by so fast! I can't believe that the application deadline is just over a month and a half away! I'm getting far too excited for all of this! 

Did I mention I get to get a passport? A real passport! It's probably ridiculous, but I admit that's probably one of my favourite aspects - getting a passport.

So this is late, and I am so sorry, again. Apogee is just not our friend this week!

That being said, have an amazing weekend - 3 day weekend if you're lucky enough like I am! It's only been a week and I need some insane rest time!

Until next time (next week for sure!) - Keep Calm and Brighton On!

-Tayma xx

I'm Generally More Punctual

The problem with school breaks is that time seems to run together. Every day seems to run together, and before you know it, it's a Monday when you could have sworn yesterday was Wednesday. Which means that today is Monday and my blog update is late. I am usually much more on top of things than this, and I apologize for the delayed post.

So this weekend was spent working on my essays for my abroad application, and let me tell you - writing these essays is harder than writing a seven-page paper analyzing a novel that I hardly understand. The prompts seem simple enough, and I know that I'm over thinking things, but I love to make a good impression through my writing. Not to mention, the one essay that I did completely finish, my dad made what felt like one thousand corrections. Apparently, I'm too enthusiastic, but if anybody has ever met me, they can tell you that enthusiastic, bubbly and excited is just who I am on a regular basis. When I have to talk about myself, I get even more enthusiastic because I can just be as enthusiastic as I please. So I had to tone down the enthusiasm, which didn't feel quite like me, but it still sounds great.

This past weekend, I also learned that the amazing woman who's been helping me through the application process, Bryn, is moving to China and leaving UT. While this is a bummer because I feel comfortable with Bryn and I feel comfortable e-mailing her with questions and concerns, I hope that she has an amazing time in China and that she does amazing things there. This means that I get a new adviser for study abroad, but I don't know who it is yet! When I do find out, I will be sure to inform you all how they are, of course. Until then, I'll just keep chugging along with applications.

In other news, one week from today, I begin Spring Semester classes! It's exciting, of course, but I am not looking forward to having to wake up earlier every day. I may hold off on updating next week until Monday night, so I'll have loads to talk about after classes.

Though it is a week late, Happy New Year, everyone! I do hope that your 2013 is off to an amazing start.

Until next time - Keep Calm and Brighton On!

-Tayma xx