the coming weeks

a few brief things and then on to business:

-school is going well. reading week is next week and it will be time for me to start constructing the papers that i have due for three classes. i am looking forward to working on them and getting them out of the way because it's taken all of my will power to keep my brain in hull when europe is so close.
-looks like mom is going to visit at the end of december. the plan so far is that she'll be here for a week and we'll get to spend the new year in denmark with a family friend.
-my computer is still broken (like it's getting any better on its own) and i haven't come up with a solution. the ideal situation is the one where i bite the bullet and take some of my educational loan monies and apply them towards the new macbook. i really do need to get this fixed because it has seriously disrupted my lines of direct communication with some very important people.
-still haven't seen quantum of solace.
-hsbc still hasn't given me my money. thx.

but in more immediate news, the next two weeks are going to be very eventful.

this week i will be travelling nearly non-stop taking time to sleep in assorted hostels in england, france and possibly belgium. my five day trip will take me through manchester, liverpool (exotic, i know), nantes, paris, carentan, caen, rouen, calais, bruges, dover and london. it's nearly not enough time to go all of these places and it's certainly not enough time to acutally absorb paris or london. truly absorbing these larger cities, however, isn't necessarily the point. it's the smaller cities, countrysides and coastlines i'm really trying to focus on and lodging, as usual, will take a backseat. i have two nights in france where i have no hostels reserved so far and i am considering just sleeping in the car-for-hire that i have reserved at nantes airport. my trip will end with an overnight in london and a train back to hull late on the 14th. i'm kicking myself for not having a decent camera. d'oh.

when i get home i'll have to do laundry quickly (because we don't have a dryer, just an iron. fucking student housing) as i will be heading back out on another three day trip exclusively to london. this is the one that i'm absolutely quaking with excitement over because here i will be seeing sigur ros on the 20th. i have paid a little more attention to the accomodations for this trip and i booked a hostel in piccadilly circus, 30 seconds from the piccadilly tube stop. it will be noisy and i'm not anticipating a great deal of sleep. this doesn't bother me due to my frighteningly skimpy hours of rest during the last week.

after the london trip i leave for edinburgh. actually, i will go straight from my arrival back in hull via train to a coach on campus departing for the scottish city. good thing i'm used to wearing the same clothes for a week at a time.

the winter is settling in nicely here and the leaves have all turned to a sticky paste on the sidewalks. nothing on the ground isn't coated with tree detritus and my runny nose insists that i'd rather be spending my time sick than healthy.

-e