PurpleHello98

Could nobody have told me that the straw-strapped sandals will dig into the tops of your feet? I already have a spot where they've screwed up my foot a bit and I've only worn them today and haven't even walked that much! >:( These shoes have the allure of being summery and cute, but the disadvantage of being a tool of the Devil.

Besides that, one week and a bit into the school year, everything's still pretty great! I only had one class today, my junior seminar---though sadly, the only other fashionista in that class was absent. I wanted to ask her to lunch but obviously that was a no-go, and another friend I had texted hasn't answered my text yet---though I'm sure they're just busy. (But of course, my insecurities are nagging me in my head that it may be otherwise. Ugh.) Anyhow, I saw one of my French-major friends in the dining hall after lunch! She was eating with her boyfriend so we only greeted each other but she'd already invited me and a few other friends to get dinner with her tonight at this little Japanese place nearby! I'm excited. :) She's actually just visiting campus today, since she's about to go off and study abroad in France, so it's amazing to see her. She was part of my Monday-Wednesday-Friday lunch bunch last fall semester, which I miss dearly!

Speaking of, my friend Roja from that lunch bunch and I went to the local farmer's market this weekend! I was cramping and just generally a bit grumpy but it was still fun. I also got a new purse---I've been wanting a bigger one! Though I still haven't quite found a replacement for the Dear Late Purse I bought on Vinted in England.

Things with the roommates are still going fabulously! Burgundy and I went thrifting this past weekend, and stumbled upon some great finds---I got a couple cute new purple tops and a few dresses: this sparkly little black dress (with a disproportionately long strap on one shoulder), a cute pink and white dress with a really flattering neckline and this fabulous purple dress that I, only realized after trying it on, is a Scooby-Doo Daphne costume dress. Oh well, the logo is really small! Meanwhile, Bugundy got a cute dress, a gorgeous dress (in her signature colour!) and a sewing box full of stuff for a great dall. All four of us also stayed up late last week a couple of nights watching Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, which was great, and the SmashCube Kingdom Hearts fandub, also amazing!

Yesterday, Salmon and I had the first executive board meeting for the K-pop club yesterday and hammered a bunch of stuff out. It's nice to be back! :) It was also just nice to spend time with her as she's a great friend and a really fun person.

Dolly Parton died today. :( I never listened to her music beyond the most popular songs but always adored her as a person. The world lost a great person today. </3 Rest easy in Heaven, Dolly! We will always love you.

I should go get ready for dinner now, but although I'm tired today and my mind has been a bit gloomy, things have been really great. Here's to more great stuff!

All last week I was sick! A lovely penultimate week of summer. Ugh.

Monday night I was working with one of my favourite coworkers, and it was my second-to-last day of work for the summer, and my last time closing, so I was excited. I'd been dehydrated the night before but had had a lot of water and was nothing but tired---though very tired. But about an hour in I started feeling super nauseuous, and then dizzy, and then I had to go home early. I went home and basically drank Liquid IV and ate saltines all night. The next day, my sainted boyfriend Grey brought my some Gatorade, Pedialyte and a couple kisses for morale, but I spent the whole week laid up, basically. Not fun :(

I had a fever until Thursday, and it was pretty high at some points---up to 103 Fahrenheit! But I rested, and shored up enough that Saturday i was able to go to dinner with Green and Blue, who was in town from Portland! His family's moving states, so sadly I'll get to see him a lot less often, so it was important to me that I spend time with him. We went to a nice restaurant and I had some yummy pasta! Though it was too much to eat then, and I left my leftovers in the car too long and had to toss them. :( Afterward I gave him a ride home and we ended up catching up with his dad and sister, going to get ice cream (he just got his permit and drove me and it was very interesting) and watching The Breakfast Club for the first time! We both liked it, but don't think it was insanely great like some think. And our other main takeaway is that we both despise Bender.

The next day we went to the antique mall! I went there with Lilac a few weeks ago and found a couple cool things, including some pants I knew Blue would love. Sadly we didn't find them, but I found a cute summery dress (black and coloured stripes, thin straps) and we had fun! We also had lunch with his sister beforehand, though my burger really wasn't good. It's one of those ones where it tries to be so fancy it forgets how to taste delicious.

I had a great last summer sleepover with Grey. We watched a movie (Monster House) and played some of our favourite games (Crazy Taxi, which is "our game" if we have one, and Call of Duty Nazi Zombies, which he's introduced me to lately!), and went to a little party too! My beloved department manager from work was having a going-away party at a local pizza joint (and we got free pizza!) so we went there. We hung out with Red and her boyfriend Maroon as well! Grey and Maroon had never met, but Red and I have always really wanted them too, so this was really exciting, and they ended up bonding over Warhammer and stuff! Mission accomplished :) though we did feel a bit like mothers on the first day of their kindergarten telling their kids "okay, now go make friends!".

Yesterday I bought an XBox 360! I've always been a Nintendo girl but Grey has been introducing me to enough non-Nintendo games I thought it was finally time to pull the trigger. Although I realized that Little Big Planet, a favourite from what he's shown me, and Ni No Kuni---a longtime favourite on the Switch, though I don't play my Switch much anymore---are both PS3 exclusives. But the XBox is cooler with a better controller, so oh well, I guess. I'll find other cool XBox games, I'm sure. So far all I have is Call of Duty, which I can only play in black and white because I have the wrong video cable. But at least it has a cool horror movie vibe.

I did some tidying today, but I don't know where to put all my blankets in the summer so that they're not clogging up my closet. I so can't wait to have my own apartment/share one with Grey. I've been thinking a ton about interior design, too! It's so exciting! :D

That's about all from me for now. I move into my dorm Saturday, and I'll give you an update then, if not before!

M1. What is your cellphone wallpaper?

My cell phone wallpaper is a drawing I commissioned for my boyfriend Grey for Valentine's day! It was our first Valentine's together but we were apart since I was studying abroad so I commissioned my friend Marble to make a drawing of us together in front of the moon saying "I love you to the moon and back" and it turned out really amazing!! Grey and I both have it as our wallpapers. :)

2. Are you sunrise, daylight, twilight, or nighttime? Why?

As a person I think I'm more sunrise because I'm bright but I can also be understated. I think daylight is over-the-top---which I am---but I often view daylight, depending on the weather, as the sun beating down into your skin. The sunrise isn't quite so much, and it's beautiful just like me :D

3. What season would you be?

Probably summer. I'm a fun, energetic person and I'm obsessed with bright colours.

4. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Besides a brief period when I wanted to be the CEO of Google since I came as Google's CEOs for career day, I wanted to be a pop star! And I still do. :)

5. Have you ever been told you look like someone famous? Who was it?

My boyfriend's told me that I look kind of like Reese Witherspoon! He said his brother thought i looked like something else but i forget who.



See you next Friday!

Did you know it was possible to burn out from a part-time summer job? Well, I didn't but now I do! I like when they schedule me for non-eight-hour shifts, but that bleeds over into working five days a week, which feels a bit too close to full-time work for me, even if it's not. And so my days feel like I can't do anything before work unless I start at 4:00 or so. But today I start at 2, and I had a nice longer morning but now I don't have time to have lunch and watch Gilmore Girls and read a book and play Splatoon before work, so I have to choose from amongst those, which is totally lame. They changed the person who made the schedule, and I'm seriously peeved with the schedule these past few weeks because of it, although at least I get to close! Closing is fun because I get to make announcements and answer the phone and use spritzy cleaner and put things away in The Office. (gasp) I feel important!

I did end up changing my availability to give myself more time, though---I made sure that Tuesdays and Thursdays, I won't work until at least 4, which is nice! I actually got some creative writing done yesterday, for the first time in forever!

Grey's sister-in-law Amethyst gave me this cute little goodie bag the last time I was staying over at Grey's place and I finally got around to opening it this week! She got me some candy, an adorable drink cup and bendy straw and some other miscellaneous cute things. Plus a compact (which I so needed) and this little butterfly paint kit! I might do it tomorrow or tonight. :)

In other news, Aunt Travelbug is coming to town this weekend! My mum and I were caught with our pants down, because we could've sworn my grandma had said the end of July rather than the end of June, but at least we got a few days' warning. I'm hoping the scheduling works out so that she can meet Grey! I'm excited for him to meet more of the family. ^-^ Speaking of, I get to go away with his family on a vacation for a few days soon! I'm really excited. It's been ages since my family had a family vacation (does The Great Korea Trip really count if my dad didn't come?) and Grey's mom even told me that I'm one of the family now. It's nice to be part of his family <3

We had a double date with Green and his boyfriend lately, which was exciting--our first double date--although I could only order a salad from the sushi place we went to because my stomach was upset, which made me feel like such a white person. I'm trying to arrange more double dates soon.

Anyways, the summer is passing kind of quickly and I haven't been able to have as much fun as I would have liked. Maybe I should try and get another day off in order to have more time to chill out and hang out with people. I'll consider it, I guess. I want to make this the best summer of my life!

 Well, my birthday was recently! And I had a really nice time celebrating it. The night before, Red and I had a closing shift together, and after all the other employees had left and we were left to our own devices, we started the festivities early. Being so tired you become loopy with one of your best friends at work will do that to you. But at least the customers seemed to like it! We then grabbed a few things to buy on the store's self-checkout after we got off... and of course that's when the self-checkout computer decided to do its monthly update. We were stuck in the store for about 20 minutes after close for that, and of course weren't getting paid for it. Anyways, we got pizza delivered, toasted my new year with sparkling grape juice (or fake wine, as we call it) and stayed up chatting and having fun till about 4:30!

We got all dolled up the next morning in really cute dresses and makeup and looked amazing! We went out for lunch and chillaxed until dinner. I had my annual birthday dinner, with twice the guests this year! Instead of just Blue and Green, Red and Grey were of course also there. It was absolutely splendid. After that, I got to spend the night with Grey! Red and her new boyfriend had just baked me a cake, so I had some of that and spent some time gaming and watching our shows with Grey. I love staying over at his place. It's so comfortable and I adore getting to wake up next to him (preferably cuddling) and spend quiet mornings together.

He and I went on our first proper date last Wednesday, to the mall in town! We went to the arcade and spent a tidy amount on credits, though we didn't actually remember to cash in our winnings, and I also tried on some swimsuits and bought one---though the cups are too large for my meagre development which the last 9 months of HRT has afforded me. So I hope my mum can do something with that! We also had lunch at a great Mexican place.

Little news otherwise. I feel like I've been wasteful with my summer so far. No work whatsoever on creative writing, rather little on my site, not too much on cleaning, and very little work on anything musical. I need to figure out singing lessons! Mostly I've just been working and hanging out with Grey, as well as Blue and Green---though Blue is back off west for an internship until August, so now I only hang out with him by calling him on the phone. Which I may do tomorrow night, especially since I'm going to stay home again tomorrow with nothing to do other than watch YouTube, watch more Gilmore Girls, or watch the stack of DVDs I borrowed from the library. And Gilmore Girls is starting to piss me off---this is probably my fifth rewatch and I'm getting to the episodes where Jess is introduced. I can't stand Jess, or Tristan or Logan for that manner. Dean during and after his Lindsay arc is terrible, but I've still got to be Team Dean. He was really imperfect but tended to apologize and really loved Rory and have her best interests in mind. He was a good influence on her and while he is jealous and insecure, if you look at how Rory acts that's kind of logical. And hey, he's only sixteen then, whereas Jess and Logan had a few extra years to mature. I feel bad for Jess with his home life and all, but that doesn't excuse anything or make him a good boyfriend. Dean is the best boyfriend and Rory so should've shirked Jess in favour of him.

Anyways, all that to say, tomorrow I'm going to finally watch Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants and hopefully call Blue on the phone and maybe work on some creative writing or some other creative hobby. Because, I can't believe I forgot to mention this, I got my wisdom teeth out this morning! I was pretty nervous but the procedure went really well and I don't have any pain, and my jaw isn't numb anymore. I got all four out, and I'm hoping that my recovery will continue well and that I'll be back to eating normal food soon. I just had a McDonald's cheeseburger yesterday, but after a day of ice cream, yogourt, chicken broth and mashed potatoes what I wouldn't give for something with meat and substance! I should probably be eating more anyhow, to supplement estrogen's effects in terms of my body.

Wish me a good recovery and good progress on my hobbies please!

 Well, I guess it's time to blog about the end of my semester abroad! The end of an era, as Blue called it on his blog.

The rest of my Scotland trip went well! One day I spent shopping whilst Blue was sick, and I went to all the stores I could've gone to in London, or gone to basically the same ones back in Missouri, but it was fun anyhow. I bought some CDs from All Time Low, Paramore and MCR at HMV, channelling my inner scene girl. (I've wondered whether I should try the sideswept bangs, although I agree with Green that my current blunt-ish bangs really suit me. I used to have a subdued version of them, inspired by Dan and Phil, back pre-transition when I had short hair, but when I grew my hair out to be longer that got weighed down and exposed my five-head, and getting bangs was potentially the best fashion choice i've ever made.)

We also spent a day in St. Andrew's and went to the beach, to a museum of St. Andrew's University, and finally to St. Andrew's Castle! It was a nice little ruins, but mostly Blue and I went and lay down in the grass. It was a beautiful day, just the right temperature with a cool breeze, plenty of sun to bask in, a blue sky to gaze up at and nice, soft, green grass to lay in. It was so peaceful and amazing. Until a bird SHAT ON OUR HEADS. That was a rude awakening.

Other Scottish highlights: I tried haggis! Deep-fried, but it was pretty good. Though it basically tasted like a big toasted ravioli. We went to the National Museum of Scotland, which was really cool! And we found a sheep store nearby, where I bought a little magnet of a sheep with a newsboy cap. Also, one night, Blue and I were both tired from a cold we fell ill with on the trip and so we DoorDashed food, and I found what I thought was a reasonably-priced pub burger (everything in Edinburgh is ridiculously priced) but when it got there it turned out to be a "gourmet" burger from Burger King, which was basically just their normal crap burger with very little meat and sauce, and no flavour in what there was, but with some fancy aged cheese and a box about three times the height of the burger that unfolded very dramatically. Anyways, it was a total ripoff and not even a good burger.

When Blue and I got back to London my mum arrived and stayed with me for a few days! Blue left the next day but the one day we spent together we had Korean food in the village, went into Central to see "Oh, Mary!" starring Catherine Tate (quite good) and had some bad bao in Chinatown. Though honestly at this point I was tired and very emotionally overwhelmed. I had a bit of a breakdown and I needed some time to relax the next day.

My mum and I spent a day in Brighton! We went and lay on the beach and dipped our toes in the Channel. it was really nice! Though the Brighton Pier was overrated. It could have been fun as a date, though, or if it weren't only kids on the rides so I didn't feel like I couldn't go on them. I want an adult trampoline in my future house one day. Trampolining is fun, good exercise and therapeutic to me! There was an incidnet where a scary man who was off his rocker or something was trying to fight with the owner of a fish and chips shop by the sea we were eating at, but other than that it was nice! There was also a chip shop called "Belgian Chips" that was the same concept as a place called Brussels Fries I went to in Korea—something I'd never seen anywhere else!

My last day in London was amazing—the perfect bookend. My mum and I went through Waterloo station one last time--the first big station I went to in England and still my favourite. We went to Fleet Street to my favourite charity shop and the owner called me their best customer! He gave me some extra jewelry and candy on the house and gave me the best gift bag, and said that whenever I went into the shop people followed! It was really flattering. Then we went to Big Ben and I tried a new K-pop shop my friend recommended to me. Next we went to Putney (through Putney Bridge station, my other most frequented station) and bought some stuff for the voyage home i.e. a new suitcase. And then I went on one last adventure! I had this goal to go on all the TfL (Transport for London) modes of transport while I was there: I went on all the Tube lines, the DLR, the Elizabeth Line, the Overground (only two of six lines because the Overground is boring) and the Cable Car, and so my last one was the Trams! I got a tram from Wimbledon and ended up at a dying mall in Croydon, with another dying mall across the street.

I couldn't find how to get a tram back since I guess they only go the one way at the station there but then I got on a bus and found one that took me as far as Kingston--another place I visited a lot that I was glad to go to one last time! And then I went back to the uni and packed up all my stuff and left. I'm glad that my last day had one last adventure and took me to so many of my favourite/most frequented places.

We got to the airport hotel, I had an overpriced burger that was trying too hard to be fancy (and was lucky I was starving and inhaled it since otherwise I wouldn't have liked it) and then went to bed. I got to take the Elizabeth Line one last time (my favourite, since it shares my name and my signature colour of purple) to transfer between terminals and then almost missed my flight because I took too long to get to the terminal since I was blogging here! I was the last person to get on the flight—the second to last to get to the gate but I had to consolidate my purse, backpack and carryon into two bags, which was hard since everything was jammed full. But I had a nice flight home and arrived safely. But that's a blog post for another time!

These four months were one for the book. An amazing though difficult experience. I'm really glad to be back but I also will always love and miss London. Forever a Londoner at heart!

Guess who's in Edinburgh right now? Blue and I took the train up yesterday morning after a scare in which I realized I had sent my booking confirmation to the wrong e-mail address and I would have to buy another ticket. 60 quid down the drain... but we made it! And the train journey was very scenic indeed. We saw the sea, and beautiful cliffs, and old cathedrals, and it was spectacular!

This is probably just what I needed to cure my insane burn-out. My Ancient History portfolio (two short essays) was due on Friday (today is Sunday) and i was driven insane working on it all week when i already had very little motivation. And then, of course, early in the week I got my period, and later in the week I came down with a cold. Woo hoo!

Blue's term ended a week before mine, so he's been staying with me in my flat in London. It's been pretty fun, although insanely cramped--he's had to sleep on a cot on the floor which is so cramped we basically have to climb over each other to get out of bed, because these rooms are only meant for one person. Also, my aforementioned period-and-cold combo (though the period is now over with) meant I wasn't the most fun sightseeing companion---though we still did manage to get some fun stuff in this week. We went to a severely overpriced Italian place with a snooty waiter near Farringdon---though the food was really good, just not worth $60 or $70 when converted to USD.

In other highlights, Friday we went to the London Transport Museum! It was pretty cool, though also somehow a little bit underwhelming---I thought there would be more exhibits or something. My and Blue's favourite part was the gift shop! The different lines of the Tube and bus lines and everything all have their own moquettes, or designs for their seat covers. I got a little pouch in the Elizabeth line moquette, since my name is Elizabeth and my favourite/signature colour is purple! I also got a little Elizabeth Line keychain.

Tuesday we went to Kensington Palace! It was really cool. I can't remember anything else we did but I'm sure Blue will likely include his highlights in his blog.

And now my classes in London are officially over. I'm a bit sad to be leaving this city that I've grown to love and look upon as a second home, but I'll be very glad to be once more among my friends and with my lovely boyfriend. I've missed him probably more than even I know this whole time, and I can't wait to be able to spend more time with him and everything! Getting tired of someone you love is a luxury, so to those who have it, cherish it and cherish your loved one. Not that I think I'll get tired of him---at least not easily!

I do have one more project left, for my accursed Global London Lit class. I don't even know why I dread that class so much. I have to do a group vlog, and I've been assigned to talk about East London. I thought it would be easy---we took a field trip to the Docklands last week---but now the professor wants sources and is saying "it can't just look like you did a simple Google search for research". Well, I don't have the flipping time or energy for anything else!! So I'll scrounge up some JSTOR articles and half-ass it. I already got an upper second on the other half of my grade for this class so I'll just do my best with what few f-cks I can scrounge up to give.

Gosh, I've missed blogging whilst being burnt out! I wish more of my friends kept blogs I could read. I like knowing that my friends read my blog---at least I have a couple people reading the stuff I send out into cyberspace.

Anyways, I promise to return more quickly next time with another post! Detailing all of my and Blue's Scottish Shenanigans. Toodles!

Both in that I have nothing going on, and that I need to vacuum.

The vacuum in my flat broke. It's one of these goofy things:



But the black tube broke, so you have to hold it up to the hole where it should be in order for it to work. Which means that when I vacuumed on Monday, it didn't do much. Plus, I have to figure out how to mop the floor of my bathroom because that needs done as well. And I have a massive amount of laundry to fold this afternoon---which is all I'm doing, which leads me to my other point.

All my plans have basically been cancelled. It's about to be Easter break, and pretty much all the non-international students are going off-campus, which leaves me with two friends to hang out with, besides Blue. I don't have plans to hang out with him till Thursday next week because he's busy, so besides homework I have nothing to do for almost a week. Maybe I'll go shopping? Go see some plays? I am, after all, in London, where the friggin' West End is located.

Update: I ended up reserving tickets for The Play That Goes Wrong, a play that Grey's sister-in-law recommended to me, and The Book of Mormon! Besides that, I spent the afternoon watching YouTube and all, since I didn't feel the best today. :( But I'm better now! In time to go accompany my friend to the airport tomorrow and then go shopping. I'm excited!

Also, I did my nails the other day and they're really nice. :) Maybe I'll add a photo to my next post! But now I'm off to get ready for bed. It's late! So I'll talk to you all soon. (-o-)Zzzzz

P.S. Everyone go check out "Free Falling", the solo debut from Kangmin from Verivery! I'll talk more about it another time, but for now, just know it's super epic!! :D :D :D

(If you don't know, the title is referencing the opening number of the show.)

Well, it's almost been a week since I saw it, but I've been too busy to update the blog till now. But last week, I saw the official UK tour of Legally Blonde: The Musical in Milton Keynes! It was absolutely AMAZING. As expected, from Legally Blonde: The Musical. I wrote Grey, Blue and Green a dissertation about it, which I won't repeat here, but here's the gist:

• My show was actually the one Amber Davies, the star, left in the middle because she had been ill for a month and her body couldn't take it anymore, which led to her leaving the tour temporarily. The part she was in was definitely not what it could have been, and now that makes sense. I feel really bad for her and I hope she gets better soon!
• Her replacement, Hannah Lowthers, actually plays the role of Margot (one of the Delta Nu girls) normally, so they had to spend a good 20 minutes getting the costumes and wigs switched over. Hannah did absolutely amazing! She was a stupendous Elle, especially for being switch in twenty minutes into the show.
• The rest of the cast were also amazing. I loved Paulette's actress, especially!
• The set design was amazing. Everything was so wonderful and colourful when it needed to be, and more boring and traditional when it needed to be. I especially loved how they used the window in Elle's room for her yelling to Warner, for the Delta Nu girls, etc.
• The dances were a bit more Tik Tok-inspired. I'm not the biggest fan of it but I think it's a cool way to modernize it. Of course, my ass, living in 2006 instead of 2026 (currently blogging on my Windows XP laptop and listening to my iPod) feels differently.
• I will say that some of the American accents were a bit over-done/phony-sounding. Paulette's Southern accent was just a bit too Southern--a bit too Blanche from the Golden Girls, and sometimes incomprehensible. Emmett's accent was kind of indiscernible--I couldn't tell what exactly it was supposed to be. I also felt like Emmett's actor was kind of over-singing some of the time, like he was trying to add in all of these vocal runs, especially in "Chip On My Shoulder", that I felt distracted from the actual material rather than adding to them.

Overall, it was totally AMAZING!! I spent £70 at the merch table and came away with this haul:

• A souvenir brochure/program
• A (really great) tote bag
• A diary
• A pin set
• and a fridge magnet!

And this was after I restrained myself away from the t-shirt and hoodie.
Some other pictures:

This is the backdrop they had before Act 1 started--when the show started the sign came up and the show ensued.



This is the pre-Act 2 backdrop: the logo disappeared from the middle afterward and showed Brooke Wyndham leading her workout DVD! She's supposed to be a YouTuber here, so this is a bit of an odd choice, but I still love it. Maybe she just has an '80s aesthetic!



Overall, this was a really great experience. They also had a poster/photo backdrop out front I took a photo with! Though I prefer to stay anonymous on here so I shan't share it. I love this musical so much, so it was so amazing to see such a large-scale and amazing production in person. Now, I feel so much better than befoooooooooooore!

OK, so, last weekend was INSANELY COOL!!! Forgive me if it sounds like this blog post is some sort of sponsorship or brand deal, and also is devoid of my typical "wit", because it isn't and sort of sponsored thing---I just found a new happy place.

Blue and I were both totally tired and we decided to have a weekend away. So, I pulled out of my back pocket the most EPIC place that I had found several months ago when doing research on what I wanted to do whilst in England! It's called Gladstone's Library and it's potentially my new favourite place on Earth. Basically, it's a library---started with the personal collection of Victorian-era prime minister Gladstone---that you can stay in over night! It has a restaurant and bedrooms, and it's a working library. Apparently some authors stay there for a month at a time to work on their projects and give masterclasses and talks, but sadly none of them were there at the time, at least to our knowledge. But I acquired a new goal: become one of those authors one day!

The library itself is really beautiful. Here's the Theology Room, which is also the area of the library with seating and desks for people to work on whatever.



And here's the outside of the library!



We arrived there on Saturday. We could have actually prolonged our stay by a day since Blue's tutor cancelled on him last minute Friday, btu of course we didn't know that when booking. It was about 6 hours of being on trains and waiting on trains to get to the little village (called Hawarden) in Wales that it's in from London, but at least I got to work on some creative writing on the train! But I was pretty tired by the time I got there.

We went up to our room---a cute little room with some twin beds, a view out onto the roof (full of scaffolding as they're doing construction) and a desk that inexplicably had no chair. And they also have a cute vintage radio in the room! I got the bed next to the window because I like waking up to the morning light, and then we went to tea!

They gave us an insane amount of pastries and sandwiches to the point we finished maybe half of what they gave us, and then we took a tour of the library before we went walking around the village! But we didn't see much, because we came upon this gate that led to "Hawarden Estate"---and if there's anything to draw in two Janeites, it's an estate! It turned out to basically be a bunch of fields open to the public to walk around---the kind of thing American parks wish they could be. Everything was so lush and green (because they actually get precipitation here) and we had an amazing walk. We went down into a valley and down an old path with little stone walls that must be hundreds of years old, and found a field of sheep! But the pièce de resistance of the Estate was when we went up a hill, and we found a Norman castle! There was a tower with moss between the bricks and a Welsh flag flying on top surrounded by what must have been hundreds of daffodils. It was beautiful, but we couldn't find a way to get up there, so we ended up going back to the hotel.



We watched the movie Crossroads with Britney Spears, which is surprisingly dark, first of all! Also, I'm surprised I never watched it back in my Britney Spears phase (about 2018-2022). The main character's love interest had bad vibes I couldn't quite pinpoint, and I think it's so gross that this movie, about freshly 18, freshly out of high school girls, has such a hyperfixation on the main character having sex for the first time, especially when the target audience was probably younger girls.

Then we went to dinner! For starters Blue had foccacia and beetroot hummus, and I had an UNBELIEVABLE mixed-pepper soup with really delicious bread. For our main course we got chicken chasseur, which is a French dish with chicken, green beans and mashed potatoes with some sort of sauce. It was pretty good!

I got to do some creative writing in the library after dinner, and since my laptop didn't connect to the library's Wi-Fi, I had a really great distraction-free place to focus on my writing! I'd love to go on a writing retreat there someday. After the library closed, we washed up and went to bed!

The next morning we got up and went to the complimentary continental breakfast. Somehow I took continental breakfast to mean English breakfast, so I was looking forward to fresh eggs, bacon, etc., and instead had to suffer through cold eggs, toast with marmalade (which I didn't realize I hated as I'd never had it) and wheat flakes. We then set off on a walk to the local Farm Shop on the Hawarden Estate. We checked it out and decided to come back for lunch, and in the meanwhile had another walk through the other side of the Estate! And eventually... came across the castle and were able to get all the way up! There were more ruins we hadn't seen, including a dungeon, and a more contemporary house below. It was amazing and the moment was really beautiful as we sat amidst the daffodils in front of a 700-year-old castle as a gentle spring breeze blew by.



We went back and had quite a nice lunch, but on our walk back to the library came down with stomach cramps that plagued us the rest of the day. I'm not actually sure if mine was a period or not. (For those reading who might be inclined to fight on that, yes, I know trans women don't have uteri and therefore can't menstruate, however we do have hormone cycles mirroring cis women's and therefore can get some PMS-like symptoms.) I'm not a doctor, and being relatively early in my transition, I have no clue what a period feels like. But maybe that's what it was? I do feel a bit moodier than general as well. I'm not sure. Agh!!

Anyways, I chilled in the library---napping/listening to my iPod as I was in a bit too much pain to do any writing, sadly---until we caught our trains back to our respective abodes. Overall, despite the cramps on the second day, it was a really amazing trip and we're both dying to go back there!!

And that's about it. Sidenote to any AFAB readers or other trans girls with period/PMS-like symptoms---how the hell are we supposed to deal with this? this immobilized me for the past three and a half days, and I dread having to work on this.