I am FREAKING out about this whole college process thing right now. Like, seriously!

For some reason, the terror just set in.

I'm applying to 6 universities in LONDON. Fucking LONDON. No backup plan, NOTHING. There's always that chance that I won't get accepted, but realistically I'll get in somewhere. My application should be in, in the next COUPLE OF WEEKS. Then, I'll have to start the immigration process. Immigration process? I'm leaving. For another country. Probably for 4 years. Not to mention the whole money aspect of things...Also, I think the whole turning 18 in less than two weeks thing is freaking me out too.

This is real. This is happening.

Let the panic attack commence.

My horoscope for the day (even though i'm not a big believer in horoscopes) -

Sagittarius
November 22 - December 20
Someone whom you've been wanting to hear from for a long time, dear Sagittarius, perhaps an old friend who lives far away, could ring you up today - when you're out. You'll be glad to get the message, but it could result in a frustrating game of phone tag throughout the day. Don't get so irritated you throw up your hands and give up. Keep trying; you'll eventually touch base, and you'll be glad you did!

And it just so happens that my friend living in Switzerland (whom I haven't heard from in months) emailed me today.

Things like this just put a smile on my face, even when i'm not doing so well.

Le sigh...

I need to quit liking people that i'm close to, who will never be able to reciprocate my feelings.
It's...emotionally draining.
I don't know what to do about it though.

For those of you who haven't been forced to look at all of my pictures yet, i'm posting a few of them for everyone to see....

(The caption for the picture is below said picture)




This is pretty much what a typical day in London looks like (only usually with about 75 more people on the street). It was taken in Picadilly Circus (which is where those big electronic looking Sanyo, Tdk and Coke signs are.



This is Lecister Square. Around the entire thing there are about four or five 10plex movie theaters. This is where all the big London movie premiers are held. Also, they charge an arm and a leg for a ticket (a little over $20 american dollars for a standard ticket).




This is Westminster Abbey (obviously). Yep. Basically just your standard postcard shot. Only not as nice looking.



This is a shot from inside the Abbey.



This is a full on (well, as full on as you can get that close) shot of some church that is on the Westminster grounds. I can't for the life of me remember what it's called, but it's named after someone dead, I assure you that.



This is Westminster again (can you tell I like the place?), but it's from the other side so you can see the London Eye in the background (the little ferris wheel in the background). In reality the London Eye is the largest wheel in the world. It's absolutley MASSIVE.




This is the London Bridge (or whatever they're calling it now) from the enterance area of the Tower of London.



This is pretty much what the Tower of London looks like. A big open courtyard area with a bunch of buildings that don't really resemble towers.



The London Bridge from inside the Tower of London. I thought it looked nice.



Buckingham Palace. Yep. Pretty cool. Also, really really large. And busy. Apparently there used to be a hotel where that statue thing is now, but they thought it was too close to the palace (ya think?) so they knocked it over and built that instead.



Look, it's the Changing of the Guards. It actually wasn't very exciting. But it's always fun to watch people in funny hats play musical instruments, ride horses and walk funny.



And a final shot of Westminster and the London Eye. Plus, i'm just really fond of how this turned out and I wanna show it off.

So, here I am, in London. It's currently about 12:40 in the afternoon, meaning that it's about 6:40 am there, so none of you will even read this until later in the evening (probably, although some of you have found ways against the myspace block at school). Anyway, that's not the point. The point is that i'm here, and i'm doing well. Unfortunately i've been sick the entire time, which has made everything a bit difficult. Well, i'll give you a recap of the events and you figure out if any of this sounds fun while sick -

Day of flight, got up at 8ish with four hours of sleep. Find out four hours before flight from duluth that flight was cancelled. Ok, great. So, I had to drive down to the cities with my gma to catch the flight from there. Next, 8+ hours in economy class seating with a head cold unable to sleep. Worst of all, the inflight movie was "Just my luck" starring lindsey lohan. During landing my ears plugged up, but due to the head cold, they didn't unplug. For the rest of the day I felt like i was wearing ear muffs.

Next came the most terrifying moment in my life - taking a taxi from the station to the hotel. Oh. My. God. I was praying for my life and closing my eyes. NEVER will I drive there. The traffic goes abour 40-60 mph on little streets that are only a block long. And pedestrians? They don't really care how close they come to hitting them. Dear god in heaven I was sure I was going to die. I'm really really fearing the drive back to the station.

So, that day's adventure was still not finished, as it turns out. We tried taking the tube to UEL, only to find out there were problems with the serivce half way through. They stopped running the tube at that point. So, there we are, foreign city, no clue where we are, and no tube service. We followed a rumor that the buses were going to take us to the tube stops instead. We got on the bus. As it turns out, the bus did not exactly take the tube stop route (though it was stopping at SOME of them), but instead took a route that twisted and turned around to the point that we had no idea where we were. We got there fine in the end, as the bus route stopped right in front of the school, but nothing like an hour long bus ride when you have no clue where you are. (I'm happy to say that the tube was up and running on the way back)

Anyway, aside from the first day, nothing terribly exciting has gone on. Being here is odd though. It's something of an alternate universe. Things are the same, but they're sorta backwards. The first time you step off that curb and look left, only to almost get hit from your right, is an odd feeling. The products are the same, but labeled different (they don't have lay's, they have "crispers" or something like that written on the lay's logo). Coke bottles are oddly shaped, orange juice is slightly different tasting, and there are advertisments everywhere for products i've never heard of (but the products are similar to those that we have in the states). Even this keyboard is different from the ones we have back home.

To be quite honest, it's rather difficult to be here with my grandmother. I love her, but...i don't know. Everything here is so fast paced, and she really can't walk all that far or do all that much. I would love to just walk around different parts of the city all day long, but we're confined to THE most stereotypical tourist spots. Thank god for the fact that i'm looking at school that are not within a block of Westminster Abbey or Picadillly Circus, or else i'd never see anything different. All it seems she wants to do is find the knockoff markets. I mean, we're in "china town" right now so she can find fake designer items. Talk about a difference in personality. Can you ever imagine me planning my whole trip around finding cheap knock off stores? I'd much rather spend my day at the Tate Modern or Sattachi (sp?) gallery (which she thinks is crazy). I don't know. I like the city so far, but i've been unable to experience it in the non-tourist way. Oh well. When I get done here i'll go to London Met, then back on the tube to the Boots in the Euston station so my grandmother can find bunyon pads and then proceed to go to an american style restaurant or another flea market type of place (Portabello probably). Guess what we're doing ALL DAY saturday? Yep... : ( Oh well. Grin and bear it. Maybe I can convince her to go by herself to the market and let me go to some galleries and walk around. Probably not, but what are you going to do?

Well, that's enough complaining for the time being. I'll try to update once more, but if I can't, I'll see you all tuesday/wednesday-ish. Bye for now,

Karisa

I'm off to London on Tuesday for a while to look at colleges. I'll have pictures and stories when I get back i'm sure. I hope to update this once while there, but I don't know that i'll have computer access.

(Also, as a side note, a met a guy. But that's all the info you get for now.)



P.S. You all should go see Shel Silverstein's Adult Stories at the Tech Village on 19th, 20th, 21st, 26th, 27th, or 28th. It's $15, but the 19th is pay what you can night. Please go see it. It's funny.

So, i'm rather restless tonight.

( I haven't the slightest bit of remorse for this sound. )

It's really gorgeous out right now. It's day's like this that are going to make me really miss Duluth.

Days left until I move - 10

I am just completely exhausted, mentally and physically.

( mostly just me whining, but whatever... )

Today has kind of been a shit day. Had another migraine (I think that's five days in a row now). I skipped work because of the migraine,(what are they going to do, fire me?) even though I shouldn't have. Then, I got into a fight with one of my best friends, who I thought I kind of had a thing with recently, about the us thing,(or lack thereof) and now everything is just bad.

Although, the highlight of the day is that I got an interview at Pier 1 next week, and with all luck it'll be my new source of employment soon.

But, yea, I just sort of needed to vent a wee bit. Anyway, i'm off. Going to my dad's tomorrow, I think. Hope to upload some Seattle pics soon.

Later

Life just sucks right now.

The biggest thing happening is that we're moving this fall or, with any luck, this spring. Because of this my ex-stepfather is at out house quite often fixing things up. Now, if you know me, you'll know that this pisses me off more than anything else in the world, except for when my mother doesn't understand why i'd be so pissed. After all these years she still doesn't get it.

I quit my job, finally. My last day is Tuesday, thank god. 8 or so months in that hell hole is enough for me, thank you very much. But, I can't find a new job to save my life, so i'm kind of freaking out.

I'm going to my dad's next week for the rest of the summer, I think. I don't know that I should though, since I know i'm only going to avoid someone, and as a result i'll be cut off from people I actually want to be around. But, it's slowly killing me being around this person, and I know I should stay away for a while, and this is the most effective way.

Well, no need to ramble on about more of my problems.

"The man who said "I'd rather be lucky than good" saw deeply into life. People are often afraid to realize how much of an impact luck plays. There are moments in a tennis match where the ball hits the top of the net, and for a split second, remains in mid-air. With a little luck, the ball goes over, and you win. Or maybe it doesn't, and you lose." - Chris, Match Point