Ok, I really want to go because of the soundtrack to Ragtime: The Musical. But don't tell anyone. Maybe I can find Tata and his little girl.
I'm also thinking of going to Santa Maria de Compostela in Spain and having a look at the great pilgrimmage cathedral. Easyjet flies right in there too!
Other than planning clandestine, last-minute jet sets, I've just been reading heaps of Jane Austen and looking at lots of slides of Scottish chairs. People keep asking me what I want for my birthday (seriously y'all it's coming up) and now I can tell you-- I want an Orkney chair. They are partially made of straw and look kind of like a basket. You can see one here.
Aren't they funny? I sat in one for two hours today during tutorial and it was excruciatingly painful. The pain of sitting in one, however, does nothing to diminish the aesthetic and cultural value of the Orkney chair. They kind of remind me of the baskets you can buy in the slave market in Charleston... do I smell a thesis?
In other (very) exciting news: I found a tiny delicatessen in town that carries American foodstuffs like jello, bisquick, and kraft macaroni and cheese! I KNOW! After a month of shoveling down mince pie and potato balls I almost cried when I saw the familiar blue of the kraft mac and cheese box winking at me from the top shelf. There was even a picture of Chuc E Cheese on the side-- Skee Ball! Animatron! Oh, the memories.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for experiencing foreign cultures and exotic foods... but I'm living in a catered hall where their idea of an entree is boiled cauliflower stewed in runny, yellow cheese. I paid five dollars for a box of macaroni and I am not ashamed. Oh, and to answer the inevitable question: no they did not carry ranch dressing. I asked.
Ok, off to more reading. I leave you with a picture of me being cold, as I see that the weather in North Carolina today is an agreeable 75 degrees. Soak it in, y'all.
o
