Life has a funny way of taking you down paths you don't plan on. I always make plans even though they never work, they never turn out the way I expect them to. That is probably a good thing because I don't really know enough to make my life as awesome as it can be. Thank heavens I am in someone else's hands. The last 8 months have been some of the most stressful of my life, (don't get me wrong: it's been great, but I am in a foreign country so there's lots of adjustments) but I am glad of what I've experienced and learned and I am very happy to be in England. And I know things are just going to keep getting better.
Status update: My Masters classes are done! All my term papers are turned in and will eventually be graded. Probably will take two months before I get those grades, but I'm not going to think about them at all. Now I get to spend the summer concentrating on my dissertation and of course, I am planning on traveling around and doing fun things. I've moved to a new place closer to London, though still on the outskirts. But I have my independence: I can walk to the station, travel into London, travel back, walk home. In the past weeks I have also met a lot of fun people through church and now that I am not so stressed and focused on my classes and assignments, etc., and all the other stresses in my life (like my dad's health which is loads better and how my family is doing and me figuring out a new country and school system and new culture), I will be able to get out and have more fun. And that is what living in London is all about, right? Well, I still have to make sure my dissertation comes first. I have written 4,000 words so far. (I am a little behind b/c I've spent weeks looking for a place to live and several times once I'd decided on a place it seemed to fall through, ergh. It is really hard to write when you are stressed, even when you have the time to write because your mind is just not in the right place to do it.) I need to write 1,000 or so more today and then send that to my tutor/supervisor. She, Sophie, is awesome and brilliant and I am so happy to work with her! She will review what I've written and then on Monday we'll meet at the British Library and see what is working and what isn't and where I should go from here.
Anyway. I'm where I need to be, I just took a different route to get there then I'd planned on. The next 4 months are going to be amazing and hopefully very busy, full of people, writing, editing, activities, traveling, etc. Then after that I'll see where life takes me.
