Wow, it's been over a month since I last posted... I've been busy with some stuff--like working on my dissertation. I spent much of the last month at the library trying to get it done.

And, I am pleased to announce that THE DISSERTATION IS COMPLETE!!! It has been submitted as of Monday 3 September at 14:00 GMT. My dear friend Meredith delivered it to my course administrator for me.

So does this mean mindislondonexperience is over?

In some ways it feels like it's been over for a while. Now that school has started and I am back to teaching, things are back to the way they always were--it's like I never left.

On the other hand, my London experience will continue until:

• I hear about the grade on my dissertation--November.
  
• I pay off my enormous student loans--shooting for 2018.
• I forget that it ever happened--never.

I don't plan on continuing this blog forever though, so ending it now is as good a time as any.
Thanks for reading my blog over the past year. I hope you enjoyed it. If I feel inspired by something else someday, perhaps I'll start a new blog. If I do, I'll let you know.
Cheers!
~Mindi

I've gotten into a pretty good rhythm with spending time in the library to work on my paper. Good progress is being made on my dissertation, but it is now August and I still wonder how I will get everything done on time. Actually, I am determined to get the dissertation done, I just think it might turn out to be really crappy. In all my years as a student, I've never been one to just settle for a passing grade--I've always shot for an A--but I think this might be an occasion where I will just take a C and be satisfied that I passed. As long as I get my degree, I'll be happy.
I am thankful for my nanny job this summer. Even though it's technically 'work', it's more like a break to me. I actually get to be outside, go to the beach, ride bikes, and run around. If I didn't have that, I'd be on my butt at a desk all day.
Sometimes I get a little bit down about how I haven't been able to take any fun road trips or go camping or shopping or read books this summer. But then I remind myself that there were many times this past year that I was able to travel to amazing places...and, in a sense, the entire experience was a vacation. So no self-pity is justified on this account.

I’ve made some real progress on my dissertation this week and hope to submit a draft of one portion of it by the end of this week! Hallelujah!

Yesterday I talked with one of my London friends, Marta. (We used Skype and were able to talk free for over an hour! Gotta love the internet phone for overseas calls.) She left London about a week and a half ago and returned to her home in Latvia. She is also feeling burdened and overwhelmed with her essay, so we had a pity party for ourselves. Then we snapped out of it and set a goal to write at least 2000 words by this weekend. I’ve failed at every other writing goal I’ve set for myself this summer, but since Marta and I are holding each other accountable this time, I WILL accomplish this one!

Let me just say that I LOVE that reference citations such as (Mendick, 2006, p. 25) count as FOUR WORDS! YES! I think I click the ‘word count’ button just about every minute to see how much I have written. This might be considered OCD behavior.

This week I started nannying again and today I earned my first paycheck in about 10 months! Yay! It feels good to have an income again. Unfortunately, I won't be able to spend a dime of my hard-earned money (well, not really HARD-earned...my job is pretty posh) until I make it back to IL where I can cash the check at my bank. But, it's okay--I've gotten pretty good at not spending money; London tends to suck a bank account dry pretty quickly if one does not exercise restraint. Having said that, I am happy to not have to deal with the terrible GBP/USD exchange rate anymore. Just about every month I was in London, the dollar sunk to a new record low. And this week I cringed when I read that the dollar has reached the lowest value against the pound since 1981. My poor (literally) American friends who are still in London!

My nannying job was especially posh this week because I did not even have to keep the kids occupied or entertained on my own. For two of the days, I just had to chauffeur the kids to their tennis and swimming lessons. Then, while they were busy learning their back hand and/or freestyle, I kicked back and watched...I mean, I worked on my dissertation.
The kids take their swimming lessons at Holland Community Pool or 'Aquatic Centre' or whatever the name is now. It's fun for me to be there because I remember taking lessons there when I was a kid. The pool seems so much smaller now. I think one of the instructors there now is the same one who was there when I took lessons like 20 years ago. He ends the sessions by whistling really loudly and that brings back memories from the recesses of my mind.

I bought a bottle of soda from the machine at the Aquatic Center and was shocked by the size of it. I could barely get my hand around it to get a good grip. It was the standard 20 oz size, but I realized I haven't held one of these in nearly a year. In London, I would buy single bottles of soda once in a while. But I guess the bottles were smaller there--I think they were 500 mL. I don't know exactly how much less that is compared to a 20 oz, but the American bottles are visibly larger than the English ones. Along the same lines, I continue to succumb daily to my latte addiction. The first time since London that I went to JP's downtown Holland and ordered a coffee I did a double take at the hugeness of the serving. I guess I had gotten used to the cute mug that my school's bar served coffee in and forgot that when one pays over $3 for a latte in the States, the serving size will be much larger. I wish that American restaurants/cafes would halve their portion size and also their prices.

So the dissertation...
Earlier this week I reassessed my status, had another panic attack but then composed myself and modified my plan of action. The past couple days have been more successful than the last two weeks combined, so I have a renewed perspective and more positive attitude now. Let's hope this continues. I won't say how many words I have written...let's just say that it's still not enough, but the word count is inching up. One of these days I expect a word EXPLOSION! YEAH!

I'm not quite sure how to bring my blog to a close. It seems weird to just end it abruptly. If this is my last entry, I should have something profound to say--but nothing is really coming to me at the moment.
Or maybe I'll continue to add things here and there throughout the summer. After all, even though I'm back in the US, my 'London Experience' will not be over officially until I mail in the final draft of my thesis at the end of August.


I keep changing my mind about how it feels to be back in the US. Sometimes I'm happy to be here and other times I miss London. I find myself frequently thinking about my friends who are still there. I was one of the first to leave, so I wonder what I am missing out on. I also miss the simplicity of my life there. Each day I had pretty much one thing I had to do--write my paper. Now that I'm back I'm already stressed out with all the things I need to do this summer, not the least of which is--write my paper.
One of my primary objectives for the next couple of weeks is to find a new place to live. I have to move out of Julie's house in Lansing since she is getting married. The mere thought of moving AGAIN is depressing. And I can pretty much bet the new place will only last a year too, which means I'll be doing the same thing again next summer. Ick.
Well anyway, I don't want what is left of my blog experience to be a downer and a place to vent, so I'll try to make sure I only update with pleasant topics. Such as the great strides will be making on my thesis!
Current progress= 2000/20,000. OK, that is kind of a downer actually...

Today I had my last face-to-face tutorial with Dietmar, my supervisor. We had arranged to have me submit a draft of one chapter of my dissertation ahead of time so we could discuss revisions and the direction for the rest of it. Well, I was a bit humiliated because I only was able to give him an outline of the chapter. Thankfully, he was understanding and helpful. We'll be in correspondence this summer as I submit drafts via email and receive his feedback. I expect my 'summer break' in Michigan to be really busy and stressful as I finish this project.

I've begun packing as well. I think everything is going to JUST fit! Thank goodness Steve took a whole suitcase of my stuff back with him last weekend or else I'd have to ship a ton of stuff. I didn't think I had accumulated THAT much, but books and papers make an impact I suppose. I do think I'll have to pay a fee for going over the weight limit for baggage. But, I can't help it. In the end I think it will be cheaper than postage would be anyway. The biggest challenge will be for me to carry all my luggage to the train I need to take to get to Gatwick airport. As is typical with central London train stations, there are no 'lifts' down to the tracks, only stairs. Maybe there will be some sympathetic witness to my struggles who will help me carry my heavy bags down the stairs. I will be very happy once I hand it all over after check-in.

One of my last tasks before I leave will be to claim my free coffee from Cafe Nero. I've filled up a frequent customer stamp card and do not want to leave without getting what I deserve! I always buy the cheapest drinks as I fill up my card and then get the most expensive thing for my free one! :) Hee hee...

Steve managed to squeeze in a trip to London before I head back the US.

We spent a few days in London, but also went out to the Cotswolds in east/central England. I was happy to be able to see this part of the country because I had heard from many people that it is beautiful.

We joined a tour group in London and took a train to Charlbury. From there the group got on a tour bus and began to explore the region.

'Cots' are sheep enclosures and 'wolds' are rolling hills, so you can guess what we saw a lot of. The region has the lowest population density in England and it is pretty isolated actually. Historically, the residents were sheep farmers and wool merchants.

Here are some of the first views we had of the Cotswolds. I took lots of pictures from the bus as we drove by...they turned out pretty well, considering.

Maneuvering a big tour bus is not easy on these narrow roads! We came REALLY close to the corner of this building as we turned left at an intersection. The red car in center of the picture had to back up for us. Yipes!

How is this road appropriate for two-way traffic?!?!

Steve appears to be giddy with excitement! :)
Nerd alert.

After driving through Chipping Norton and Stow-on-the-Wold, our first stop was Chipping Campden. We walked into Chipping Campden by way of a National Trail.

The sheep looked funny-they had recently been sheared. (or is it 'shorn'? I'm not up on farm jargon.)

Thatched-roof cottagesThis building is probably about 600 years old.
Most of the buildings are built using this tan stone which comes from quarries in the region.

St. James Church (1400s)

After Chipping Campden, we drove around, passing through Snowshill and Broadway.

Our next destination was The Slaughters--Upper and Lower. The word Slaughter comes from a word meaning marshy land.

An old school house.
I wonder if there are any job openings...

Brother and sister walking along the trail
Awww, how precious.

OK, I couldn't help myself...

I'd love to be able to blame the British lack of fashion sense for this atrocity,
but this woman in our group was American. Did she bother to LOOK in the mirror?!?
It gave us a good laugh. Again and again.

Today was fabulous. I finally made my long-anticipated journey to Stonehenge. Stonehenge is about 20 minutes from the city of Salisbury which is 1 1/2 hours by train from London. I decided to join an guided tour group that included visits to both places.

I have been wanting to go to Stonehenge for so long but was prepared to be underwhelmed. I kinda thought the whole thing was probably hyped up. I mean, really, staring at a bunch of big stones? Big deal. We've all seen pictures of it before... But, at the same time, I thought if I didn't go at some point during my year in England I would regret it.


I'm so glad I went because IT WAS AWESOME!

TA DA!

The first set of stones were set up on this location over 5000 years ago!

Some of the stones originated in Wales, 240 miles away.
The 'henge' is the ditch that goes all around the stones.

This is called the Heel Stone.
It sits on its own outside of the circle to the north.

Sheep, of course, but you can also see a mound at the center left as well as some more mounds in the distance. There is some historical significance to these, but I forgot what it is.
It's strange to see these scattered around the plain.

On the bus ride between Stonehenge and Salisbury, I took some pictures of
some beautiful country cottages.

LOVE thatched roofs.

[We passed the country home of Sting, the singer. I only caught a quick glimpse of it as we passed. There was a tall hedge surrounding it, so no photo op there.]

Cows.

A medieval city, Salisbury is.

A tributary of the River Avon.

The main attraction in Salisbury is its beautiful cathedral.
Its spire is the tallest in England-404 feet.

Building the cathedral took only 38 years, from 1220-1258.
The spire was added later.

The church's exterior is undergoing major restoration. These men are inspecting the stonework.
(How does one become an expert in inspecting the facade of a church?)

The inside is impressive too.

This is the bishop's seat also called a cathedra.
If a church has one of these, it's a cathedral.
And, if a village has a cathedral, it is considered a city.
(I learned this from Richard, our tour guide.)

These steps are worn down from centuries of use.

Cloisters.

The cathedral is surrounded by a grassy area called The Close, and old houses are around the perimeter of that. All of this is enclosed by a wall.

Some of the old period houses.

One of the 3 gates into/out of The Close.

Richard tells us about this house from the 1400s.

This building was a stagecoach stop.
Now it's a mall.

River Avon.

And finally, no medieval English city is complete without a touch of the American Midwest.