Well, sheesh, there's just too much to say.

Also, I think Facebook has really affected blogging, don't you? But I will get around to a proper update. In the meantime here's part of a really badly written e-mail I just sent my dad:

I actually met my department head today, who is very nice, and also Professor David Cowling, who I've been e-mailing with for like two and a half years now, since I very first applied to Durham. Andy (Dr. Beresford, the dept head) said he'd been talking for weeks about finally meeting me. David, who is as wonderful as I thought he'd be, is lending me a biography of Henry VII and I'm giddy with excitement. So that was actually really awesome. Also met some people who are doing the same MA (there aren't very many, and we won't have all the same classes, but some of them) and they're really cool too. Then we all went out for a drink in a tiny Tudor-era pub called The Dun Cow. Also earlier I walked up by Durham Castle and saw about four million incredible photo opportunities; this is I think the most amazing castle-cathedral complex I've ever seen (and I've seen a good many). But I'd forgotten my camera, so, next time. And I did buy a fleece blanket, but haven't had time to find a good pillow yet, which is sucking for my poor neck, but whatever. I'm fine. It was a very good day--just overwhelming; so much to take in and again so many new people and so much to remember.

Look over here!

New post at the blog Robin and I have co-started...

GAH.

Well, the last few days have been exhausting, to say the very least. I don't know how many more goodbye hugs I can take. I'm really just super-ready to get on the plane...and that's when I'll be totally and completely psyched. Everything is packed (God DAMN my bag is heavy) and I'm doing that gross thing where you just wear the bits you aren't taking with you. So of course I'm much less of a fashionista today than usual--but, sigh, can't be helped. At least my plane outfit is totally cute. A ruffled black tank, jeans, a soft little ruched fuschia cardigan, and army boots. Get ready to hear a ton of fashion-talk here, dear readers. (Boys, you can just skip it and get back to making mud-pies and being made of snips and snails and stuff). I've been reading waaaaay too many fashion blogs lately, which is good and bad. The good: they give you a million awesome new fashion ideas you never would have thought of yourself. The bad: they make you want to shop. A LOT.

On that note, the divine Robin and I will soon be starting a fashion blog of our own of sorts, and co-posting from opposite sides of the pond. Deets to follow.

I'm drinking green tea at Starbucks, which is the only thing I can bring myself to order here anymore, as I've kind of lost my taste for the icky sweet and calorie-stuffed hot drinks they peddle. Oh, until Robin and I open our uber-incredible steampunk coffee shop one of these days, of course.

Wish me luck and strength and safe travels. If all goes well future posts will be more interesting than this one, cross my heart.

A bit of lore

"During the Middle Ages, Almonds were an important trade commodity -- Almond Milk was used in a great deal of cooking. It wasn't until about 1562 that people in England began deliberately growing Almond trees, largely as garden plants for their blossoms. Yet Almonds were widely known. At the time of Shakespeare, "An Almond for a parrot" meant the height of temptation, perhaps bad temptation, as they must have noted that Bitter Almonds were not good for birdies."

(Copyright 2010 Practically Edible.)

Because I had to reserve the name.

It's taken from an Elizabethan play. I'll use it for something, one of these days.