Two more days

Hey all,

As I sit here in the tiny little common room in my flat, staring out into the darkness that has fallen over London, I'm thinking pretty heavily how things will be different in just two days time.  In less than 48 hours I will be on a plane on my way back home for the longest I've been home in 9 months.  It's a little surreal.

I know this post is along the same veins as the last one I put up, but I've been thinking a lot about how things will be different in the next two months, much less the next two years.  There's going to be a lot that I'm going to miss.

First off is where I live (and who I live with). I live with one of my best friend's ever, and I'm really going to miss her when I head back home. It's good to have a buddy to cook with, or hang out with, or even to just go and do stupid shopping with.  I'm going to be on my own a lot during the days when I'm home, everyone I know has a 'normal' job. I'm sure I'll do a lot of visiting and I'll spend a lot of time doing work, but I'm going to really miss the atmosphere of living with people my age and in my situation. I'm going to miss Kelsey's ridiculous food OCD when it comes to dissecting chicken, and also just having stupid stuff to talk about and ridiculous videos to watch. I'm going to definitely miss having a drinking partner, and a climbing partner (and a climbing gym).

I'm going to miss being in the city, where if you want to, you can just walk out the door and explore.  I've spent hours walking around Hyde and Regent's Park, going up and down the South Bank, or just wandering down Oxford Street.  I'm not looking forward to paying for gas again, or having to deal with traffic. The tube and bus are great ways to mindlessly get around. How else am I supposed to feed my Solitaire addiction?

Thursdays at the Betsy Smith are definitely going to be missed.  Nothing like getting a great group of people together for delicious pizza, awesome 2-for-1 cocktails, totally inappropriate conversation, and ridiculous 90s music. Plus it's just a stumble down the road!

I'm going to miss feeling like I'm in charge of my life.  I don't think I'll have that same sense when I go back to Philly. I won't be living in my own place where I contribute to rent, which already puts you into a weird position of owing. It'll be interesting to see how it works out.

Obviously I'm going to miss Sean. I feel like that might be the hardest part about this whole trip. I hate the 5 hour difference, and I've gotten so used to him being a part of my everyday life.  I don't think we've gone a day without talking since we started dating, even when I was in Ireland we still made time to chat for a little bit.  I've actually never gone this long without seeing each other ever, in any relationship.  It's scary, especially since we haven't been dating for all that long, two months apart is a pretty significant chunk of our relationship alone.  I know we'll be okay, but it still worries me slightly.

Anyway, I'm hoping to fill my days with productivity.  I hope my normally (week)day will go as follows:

8:30 - wake up
9:00 - get on the treadmill or out for a run
10:00 - eat you some breakfast (probably yogurt and muesli with blueberries, because I'm oh-so-original)
10:30 - shower
11:00 - work on some chemistry review
1:00 - lunch
2:00 - work on dissertation, I want to have 2000 words a week (I'm already behind by about 500)
4:00 - maybe hang out by the pool if it's nice, if not, blow through to 6:00
6:00-8:00 (whenever I'm actually hungry) make and eat dinner
9:00-12:00 more work/dissertation/chemistry review/note-taking/transcription
12:30 - bed

I'm betting it doesn't make it a week, but I do want to start getting back into running. It was so miserable here for so long that I couldn't bear the thought of running outside, and I didn't really want to fight for a spot on a treadmill at the school gym (or drag my bag of gym stuff that far).

Here's hoping I'll be productive! And fill my hours so I can't miss England too much.