portobello road

i shouldn't be writing this. i should be cuddling up in bed with a fat biography and summoning sleep, because i have to get up early and meet a special someone at the airport. but...i'm feeling chatty and impulsive, mostly because i've had a very solitary day, lovely in its own way but a little lacking nonetheless.

i've also been guilty of talking to myself today. at the moment i'm alone in a "studio" (read: gorgeous 3bedroom with hardwood floors) in Notting Hill. it belongs to a family friend, and when i called her, i thought i would just be tucked away somewhere for the couple nights i needed lodging alone in London. when i arrived yesterday evening, however, it turned out that the whole family was off to Milan for baby boy David's christening (his daddy is Italian). so it's just me and one of the nannies in the whole house this weekend. i have puttered around tonight and eaten their humous. there's something about A. being alone and B. being in someone else's house that makes me talk aloud in a scattered, nervous sort of way. "forks...where are the forks?" "did i leave my water bottle upstairs?" "oh, remember to look up directions." i think i'm doing it just in case there is someone here, after all, watching me and wondering why i'm wandering back and forth like a crazy person. there's a dog, a shiny black lab, and he's nice, but a bit subdued, a bit of a loner himself (nothing like Gus).

the first leg of the vacation is over, though it will probably be compulsively extended into April, because i apparently can't get enough. this was my first adult, alone trip to Paris, my first anything trip in four years, and it was wonderful. i didn't even DO anything, besides sleep late in Amelia's apartment and smoke a cigarette in the Jardin de Luxembourg...but still: Paris. actually, there were a few classic Parisian moments, like Dinner with Jim, which deserves a whole post of its own; having a glass of white wine at a grown-up lunch; and being quizzed on literary quotations by a craggy old French man in a bar. i managed to get out of the city on what was possibly the last metro not to be commandeered by the over-excited, hollering students, who were busy taking the greve to the level of May '68. still, i was sad to go (though not to be going via Eurostar, yay). and i am very happy about the last few days, because i spoke lots of French, and the thing is, i still remember it.

sheepishly updating the blog...

i've just been informed that my last post was over a month ago. this is poor form, i agree. apologies all around.
quite a few times, i'd be walking around town thinking up posts in my head, but i never managed to sit down and type them up. one was about how i got pink eye AGAIN (fifth time in under 3 years?) and therefore had to make an appointment with the doctor---this is quite an undertaking when you're not in the country long enough to be on NHS. i literally wept as i emptied my wallet down to its last brassy tuppence and handed 37.50 gbp to the rapacious receptionist at Dr. Hugo Hammersley's office on Beaumont Street. yeah, don't convert that, it'll make you die a little inside. and then i went to pick up the silly eye drops in a pharmacy that had an in-store radio station sponsored by Durex (which meant i had to listen to british people say "condom" repeatedly---an experience i profoundly dislike).
anyway, i was going to write about the whole getting-sick thing, but it happened weeks ago, so that's clearly out. my eyes are fine now, in case you were wondering.

what else is new...it's been snowing here randomly, in a confused english-snow kind of way. the day will be bright and clear, and, all of a sudden, enormous rubbery flakes will pour down at a slant and cover the grass in the thinnest little carpet of white. this week was the first time i've seen snow actually hit the ground here; usually it just dissolves into a big sloppy mess that makes me miss Christmas-card Amherst (the snow gusting down on the tree-lighting ceremony? classic.). anyway, a bit of real snow got all the JYAs out of their rooms, prancing around the Fishbowl (the dorms where i live) and throwing snowballs into people's windows. it's funny; we all seem to go to school in snowy places, and most of the others live in snowy places too. Amy from Florida is the only exception to this rule. when i mentioned this to my friend Ben, he pointed out that most of the united states is snowy. is that true? i know it's annoyingly Californian of me, but i still think of snow as a bit of a phenomenon. i can't help it, Abby, so stop rolling your eyes.

speaking of California, i get to experience April in Palo Alto! cherry blossoms and light breezes. it will be heavenly. (unless it rains, in which case i'll be pissed off.) Hilary Term is drawing to a close, and my incredibly long vacation begins in just over a week. here are the holiday plans---
March 12-16: Paris with Emily, Rohan, and hopefully Lindy our family friend, if ever i call her
March 16-25: London/Oxford with Abby (and a little Frank?)
March 25-31: London/Edinburgh with Jenny, Morgue, and Racks (!!!)
March 31-?: Barcelona with Frank
April ?-5: something somewhere. possibly Ljubljana, just because Ben's parents live there at the moment (his dad has a Fulbright..? very random), and that would be pretty sweet.
April 5-18: home

oh, i was also planning on writing a post about Edinburgh, but my trip happened a month ago. to sum up: the city smells like dog food (yeast from the beer factories, apparently), and jenny, jillian, and i are awesome at gay clubbing. also, jenny has a kitchen, which is something i greatly treasure these days. we had stir fry and wine, and it was yummy. and jenny and i sat up in her bed watching Kissing Jessica Stein (for maybe the 16th time each?) and talking along to the really good lines. love it.

so yes. it's friday afternoon, i'm going to have dinner at the St. Catz MCR tonight with amherst people, and then there's a charity auction at the college bar, organized by a friend. truly, if i make it past the next seven days, i'll be so grateful. if i make it past the next 3 actually that will be enough. you know the side of me that wants to lie around and watch Scrubs and pretend i don't have any responsibilities or problems or ambitions? well that side of me is in deep conflict with the number of life-things that need to get done (in addition to the school-things) in the next few days. life-things are scary. OH, and i had a stupid email from some dean saying we have to confirm our intent to return to Amherst in the fall, because "we do not assume this." right. it also occurred to me that pre-reg might be coming up? yes? anyone? i'm not sure how i do it from here, but i should probably figure that out before i leave for vacation.

how do you feel about the change in font? i don't like inconsistency, but on the other hand, i didn't want to miss out on the possibility that this might be a better font for me. my real font is actually Garamond, but this blogging thing doesn't offer it. i apologize for being trivial.