Author Archives: nee5021

And here comes the English weather…and a bit about fashion.

England is back to normal. The Indian summer is gone, and the rain has reared its head properly. The forcast for the rest of the week? Skattered showers and wind. I think I’m going to be sick of the rain soon, but I was kind of tired of being deluded by the weather.

I’ve written a few things down, and I’m going to have a brief say on some fashion stuff before I have to run to class (this typing before class is becoming a regular thing…)

First, everyone seems to be somewhat dressed up all the time. No one ever looks like they rolled out of bed and went to class. There are no sweatpants, very few hoodies (though more now that the weather is turning), and everyone looks like they “tried” in the morning.

And lots of scarves of all sorts.

No one wears any sort of running shoes just around. There are loads of ballet slippers, converse-type, toms, and short ankle boots (with jeans/tights/leggings tucked in), and Uggs (ugh! hate these…haha).

There are lots of leggings and tights around. Black tights with shorts over top are frequent. Black leggings with loads of different “long” tops. No flared/boot cut jeans. Everything is tight to the leg. Very few guys with baggy jeans.

Also, not many people carry backpacks. Girls have large handbag sort of things, and guys usually have messenger bags. There are some backpacks around, but I kind of feel self-conscious the days I bring mine because I have too much stuff to carry and it’s a long day.

Anyways, that’s the weather and fashion report. Cell biology lecture next!

Location: Leeds, UK

Reading the library and societies.

Bit of a short post here before I have lecture…

It’s been a while since I posted last. Blame it on procrastination and being busy.

I have so much reading to do. It’s ridiculous. PSU gives you a textbook which is pretty much supplamentary reading (depending on the course). Here, they give you a textbook (which you’re pretty much required to read to help you understand it), and then a supplamentary reading list (optional but provided for additional help/understanding aka strongly suggested) of anywhere from 20-50 articles/books/publications. Kind of nuts. I don’t think it will be too bad, but I’m just having a bit of trouble thus far not getting overwhelmed by the amount of reading…This weekend is meant to be a bit of a “catch up” weekend, so hopefully I’ll have life sorted out by then.

On a happier note, I’ve properly joined the Hiking Society, and I’m REALLY excited about it 🙂

They have Sunday walks, weekend trips, and then “winter trips”. I wanted to start out with a Sunday walk, but my mom has posted my hiking boots last week, and I don’t know if they’ll be here in time for Sunday. So my first trip will be a weekend trip 14-16th October to Braithwaite in the Lake District which is in the north west of England, bordered on the north by Scotland.

The society had a social last night at a pub by uni, so I got to meet a fair number of people. I had a fantastic time, and everyone’s really nice 🙂

I have a bit of a crazy day today. 3 lectures and a tutorial, and the the first session of the Irish Dance Society tonight! Soooooo excited to be dancing again after a month+ of not really doing much 🙂 There also is an intro meeting for the Wilderness Medicine Society, which I may drop by to see what it’s all about.

Whew! Fast typing, quick post and lecture time now!

Location: Leeds, UK

Start of term and random things of note

Fesher’s week is over! Thank goodness! As fun as it was not having to do anything and just partying, I’m EXHAUSTED. Even so, there are still loud parties going on in our building, and I’m hoping everyone will chill out soon!

I had my first day of lectures today, Monday. Which was more like lecture (singular) because one I have every other Monday (not this week), and the other has slated the intro lecture for Thursday instead. It was a pretty standard as far as lectures go. The typical warnings: “all the information will not be on the lecture slides, you have to come to lectures,” and “keep up with the material.” Aside from the fact that it was in a building called Roger Stevens a picture of which is below.

And the inside (as shown by one of my flatmates):

This building is lovely in that it has 28 (I think?) lecture halls, and the hall numbers tend not to resemble a logical, sequential order. It’s wonderful.

I’ve found that the lecture halls in the US tend to have individual chairs with their own little attached/fold out desk top. Here, all the lecture theaters I’ve been in have individual chairs, but just one long bench-desk in front of the whole row.

Few other interesting points I’ve picked up on over the past week…

Here, the grades they get in first year don’t count toward their final grade for their degree. They just have to pass. Talk about unfair!

A language thing I’ve noticed is that in casual greeting, instead of saying “hey” or “what’s up?” as in the US, they say “you all right?” The first few times (okay, multiple times) people have said “you all right?” to me, I’ve been a bit taken aback, as I hear it as more of a concerned statement than a casual greeting. This has really been throwing me for a while, and I’m just getting used to it.

At PSU, it’s rare to see someone walking around campus who’s not either talking, texting, or listening to their iPod. Here, it’s very rare to see that. I’ve put audio books on my iPod for the 30 minute walk to/from campus, and honestly I feel sort of self conscious listening to it.

In terms of nightlife, people actually seem to go out more on the weeknights than the weekends. I’ve gathered that’s because the good offers are during week, and they jack up all the prices on the weekends.

One last weird note before I head to bed…In the US we drive on the right side of the road, and if you think about it, when you walk on the sidewalk, you generally have a natural inclination to walk on the right side as well. Strangely enough, here I’ve noticed that it matches up with their driving patterns too. People generally walk on the left side of the sidewalk. Strange huh? And for that matter, I’m getting better with which way to look when crossing streets, but I think it’s still going to be a while before it’s natural.

Location: Leeds, UK

Busy busy busy! Fresher’s week :)

It’s been a while since I’ve written last! Well, the last week+ have been ridiculously busy!

So, highlights of the week+:

My first Sunday we took walk along the Leeds-Liverpool canal (which apparently is the longest canal in the UK) to a pub (Abbey Inn) about an hour’s way toward Bradford and met up with some friends, and saw a ridiculous number of blackberry bushes along the way, and I went back later in the week to pick some!

Houseboats along the canal:

Locks on the Canal!

Triple locks! 🙂

Abbey Inn:

Monday was a ridiculously windy day, and we ended up chasing bed sheets down the street! We had rain for three days before I left the US courtesy of Hurricane Katia. And so Katia made her way across the Atlantic.

Tuesday I was introduced to Primark. It was kind of a scary place in the sense that the prices are sooo cheap, that it’s a bit of a madhouse. I was told when we walked in that it was a sort of place that you didn’t want to spend too much time in, and it was kind of clear why.

Wednesday I moved into my flat, and the madness started. One of my flat mates moved in on Wednesday, and then it was just the two of us until Saturday, when the other three came.

The flat itself is really amazing, and I’m thrilled about this year. We have a hallway with five bedrooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen. The only disappointing part is that there is no common room (not even for the building!) but it’s all working out just fine, as we hang out in the kitchen.

My room:

The kitchen:

Most people in the block moved in either Wednesday/Thursday or Saturday, so for the first few days, there were only about 8-10/45 in the building. That was really nice, as for the first bit, it was easier to remember names, and we all fit (sort of) in one kitchen. By Friday and Saturday we were really ready for more people though.

This week is what’s called “fresher’s week,” which pretty much means “hang out and party/go out,” though a lot of people actually have pre-lectures that they’re meant to be attending. The University Union puts on some great events, and everyone has a blast until we’re forced to settle down for actual lectures.

I’m really excited, because everyone I’ve met in my block (and outside of it too) have been fantastically nice, and I’ve not met anyone that I’ve not gotten along with!

We’ve had a few “family dinners,” in our flat (which unfortunately will probably be more sporadic when lectures start up) which consisted of lasagna (a semi success–tasted like lasagna, but didn’t really look like it–more like soup), and the other was potato and leek soup.

This year is really going to be fantastic 🙂

Location: Leeds, UK

It’s still kind of surreal that I’m actually in Leeds!

Hello from Leeds! The past two days have been a whirlwind!

The flight from Boston was wonderful, namely in the fact that it wasn’t full at all, and I had 3 seats to myself! Brilliant because those four and a half hours were due to be my “night’s sleep.” Flying over Iceland was actually very interesting, because the little bit I did see from the plane was very different. The only word that comes to mind was “tundra.” It was really barren, no grass, trees, or any greenery at all: just brown land. I’ve been told that Iceland is really beautiful, but I this must be further inland, because the airport, Keflavik, is very close to the western coast.

I’ve been told that Keflavik is a “typical Scandinavian airport,” but as this is the only Scandinavian airport I’ve ever seen, I can’t pass judgement on that.

Sunrise in Iceland:

Two of the interesting facts about Iceland that were showing on the airplane movie screens: 99% of the energy the country uses is renewable, and the Prime Minister is listed in the phone book!

I’d never flown Icelandair before, and for the price, it really was a great airline. My only qualm with it was I discovered shortly into the flight that they don’t translate all the Icelandic that comes over the plane PA system…

Getting into Manchester was easy and immigration was actually pretty quick, and then I got a wonderful surprise! I had a welcoming party at the airport 🙂 I knew one of my friends from Leeds was planning to meet me, but two more friends came as well! So I had a proper welcome to England (complete with my last name spread across three pieces of paper!), and one of the guys had been kind enough to bring his car.

City of Leeds:

The first day (Friday) I was here was kind of surreal, and I’ve periodically broken out in giggles the past two days not quite believing that I’m ACTUALLY in England!

I had my first Cornish pasty from a little bakery at the end of my friend’s street. Delicious! I’m staying with my friend and her housemates until I can move into my flat in halls on the 14th.

Her house:

Her street:

We took a bit of a walk down to the campus, and I was able to finish registering/get my ID card, as friends advised me that the queue will be enormous come Monday.

We had a drink in the little pub in the student union building (!), and they introduced me to the quiz machine. Pub quizzes seem to be very popular, and they really are just random quizzes done in pubs for entertainment, though I do gather that they also have “pub quiz nights” at various places.

I took a nap in the evening (I’ve been pretty good with the jetlag, but I was exhausted from the trip!), and they went out to get dinner and brought me back my first British chips! Wonderful 🙂

We went out to two different places at night. Dockside was first, where we sat up on the roof, and had a nice chat.

Dockside:

FAB Caf� was second, which is apparently a movie and TV theme bar. A bit of a strange place, but it was a fun night 🙂 They’ve said that some places will get to be really crowded and thus not much fun some nights when everyone returns to Uni.

Yesterday morning (Saturday) was a late start (noon), and I had my first crumpet with golden syrup for breakfast/lunch. Crumpets seem to be a bit of a cross between an English muffin and a pancake, and golden syrup isn’t really describable beyond the fact that it’s just kind of sugary syrup (byproduct of cane sugar refining, invented by a Scotsman, and apparently can be found elsewhere in the world now, though only in Louisiana in the US–Wikipedia).

We took a train to the centre of Leeds, and tried to set up my bank account (fail, because they wanted a letter from the Uni as proof of residence in the UK–will ask for that that on Monday from the Uni and retry), had a look at a mobile (no need for one quite yet–no one to call, and will be sticking with my friends for a few more days), and then went to the market. The market was really quite wonderful. Half indoors, half outdoors, with clothes, meat, produce, and loads more. I found that prices were really pretty cheap for the produce in the market, and I really think I will enjoy cooking 🙂 Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures, as I as a bit too occupied looking around!

But here’s one of the city:

Last night, my friend made us a wonderful lemon mushroom risotto for dinner and we went out to a sort of locals hangout (not just uni students) for a while and met up with another guy from PSU last year.

This morning we said goodbye to one of the guys, as he took a train back to U of Bath. It was lovely seeing him again, and I’m sure he’ll be back up to Leeds at some point, and I’ll also go down to visit.

So that’s about it the past two days. It’s been a lot of new experiences, and I’ve had a terrific time.

All my friends have been absolutely amazing helping me get set up, sorted out, and showing me around Leeds 🙂

It’s fantastic staying with friends here, but I’m also looking forward to meeting my flat mates and the rest of the people living in my building.

One other interesting thing of note is regarding the accents! I’ve had no problem really at all (aside from some of the names of food, places, brands, etc), and I’ve known my friends for a while, so it seems normal with them, but with those I don’t know, for some reason I don’t seem to be anticipating it. I think it might have something to do with it still being kind of surreal that I’m in England.

These first few posts have been really long, but they’ll most likely get shorter as the day-to-day becomes normal and I start reporting on interesting events.

Location: Leeds, UK

The musings of a Boston Logan International Airport denizen

Well, I’m sitting in the Boston airport waiting for my second of three flights. I’ve been looking forward to this day for months, and now that it’s here, it’s kind of surreal, and I’ve had butterflies in my stomach all day! Dad wrote me a note last night to look back on over the course of my travels: “Nothing will go as planned. If you plan it, it will go ok.” I think this really describes my nervousness right now! I’ve been planning this day (and this year for that matter!) out in my head dozens of times and making it all go “just so.” I get very nervous when I don’t feel in control of the situation, which for me in this case means having “all my ducks in a row” with my passport and tickets and knowing exactly where I’m going, etc. So I’m hoping to learn over the course of this trip that there are things that I can’t control, but I can create plans so that if unexpected circumstances arise, all will still be ok in the end.

I got quite a few phone calls/visits from friends and family yesterday and this morning, and it was wonderful to know that so many people were excited for me and wishing me safe travels and a fun time 🙂

It was a bit difficult saying goodbye to my family this morning. Skype is a wonderful invention, but it’s not quite the same…

It’s still kind of surreal that I’m going to be in England “tomorrow morning!” I feel really discombobulated sitting in the airport watching people. Everyone else seems so “put together,” while I have a mismatch of a coat, my purse, my little passport/important stuff bag, a little pillow and shoes tied to my backpack (which looks as if it might burst at the seams)…etc… Kind of silly, but I guess most people aren’t packed for a year with very little being sent to them. On that note, I didn’t quite succeed with that whole “not have Mom and Dad send anything.” I was close, but not quite. Oh well. Thank you Mommy 🙂

When I checked in at the Pittsburgh airport, there was a couple checking in next to me, each with twice the amount of baggage I had, and when asked by the attendant, they said they were going for two weeks! The biggest thing is that I need to be able to carry it all, and even so, it’s ridiculously heavy. But we’ll see how that all ends up.

I’ve just had dinner, gone through security again, and now have camped out at my gate, about two hours before departure. I’ve decided a seven hour layover is quite a long time, but it’s not so bad with my computer and wireless available. Without those…I’d be hard-pressed for entertainment. And I feel like I can really just chill out now and wait.

I have a bit of a plan to battle jetlag, based on the times of my flights. I leave Boston at 9:30, so I’ll sleep until Reykjavik, when I get in 6:30 local time, and that will be my “night’s sleep.” Then that flight to Manchester leaves at 8, so I’ll try to stay awake on that “morning” flight, and then it gets in 11:30 local time. And then of course forget about EST for a few days so I don’t confuse myself thinking “well it’s __o’clock at home.” So in theory, I think I may be able to trick my body into adjusting quickly. I’ll post an update on how that plan went 🙂

I’ve started to hear some English accents floating around, as the plane they’re boarding now is going to London Heathrow. It must be a huge plane going, because they started with “rows 75 and higher.” I suppose that’s logical though, because Boston and London are both major airport hubs. I do wonder how big the plane will be to Reykjavik because I’ve been told that airport is very small, and apparently it’s a “typical Scandinavian airport,” which supposedly means very bare-bones and decorated all the same (?). I’ll report on that based on my experience with one “Scandinavian style airport” later, as I’m quite curious about it, and see what I can do about a few pictures 🙂

Goodnight, and I’ll update again at sometime tomorrow…whenever time presents itself!

Location: 1 Harborside Drive, East Boston, MA 02128

2 days to go, and still not packed…

Yesterday was my last day of work for the summer, and I think it’s started to set in today that I’m leaving in 2 days!

A lot of people have asked me if I’m packed, and the unfortunate answer to that is a big no. If you’ve never tried to pack for a year in one suitcase, then you can only imagine how hard it is! My room currently looks as if a tornado hit it, and I’m a bit overwhelmed about that right now. Hopefully a good night’s sleepwill help me figure out how I’m going to do this, as I really need to tackle it in the morning. If I wait too much longer, I think my mom may start to pack for me! She’s not too thrilled about my lack of packed bags right now 🙂

Beyond that, there’s not a whole lot going on. We had a nice family day today, and I think it’s going to be difficult not seeing them for so long. Granted when I’m at PSU I don’t see them much either, but it’s not quite the same when you’re on the other side of the ocean…

I’ve also spent quite a bit of time on Facebook in the past weeks/months trying to find others that will be living in my block/flat, with limited success.

Interesting note that I found out a few weeks ago: I got my housing confirmation in July, and was kind of surprised at how few people were on looking for who they’d be living with. I figured that most people just weren’t in the school mindset yet, but I found out that in fact, most people didn’t find out that they actually were going to Leeds until 19^th August when A-level results came out. The following is my understanding of the system/situation, in which I take no responsibility for mistakes!

A-levels are kind of like their overall final exam for a subject at the end of what would be an American senior year. The brief explanation I got from a future blockmate was that they apply to uni, but get either an unconditional (doesn’t matter the A-level scores) or a conditional (acceptance dependent on A-level scores) offer. So the people who either took a gap year or got an unconditional offer knew about their accommodation far before those who got a conditional offer (which seems like the vast majority). I find this very interesting, because that essentially means that all these students didn’t know if they were actually going to be going to Leeds in September until the middle of August!! Compared to in the US where we apply to university from about September-January, usually get acceptances from December-March, and have to make a final decision by 1^st May! What a huge difference. I can’t imagine not knowing until a month before you go.

A few days ago, it really didn’t seem like I had too many big things to do before I left, but now all the little things are starting to pop up, and though I’ve tried to make a list to sort them out, I’m starting to think that the next two days are going to be a bit haphazard mess of lots of little things.

‘Tis bedtime now, and I can’t really think of anything else pressing to write about at the moment, but I think I’ll aim to write again during my layover in Boston on Thursday!

Location: Allison Park, PA

Intro Post: 6 Weeks!

Hello! My name is Natalie, and I’ll be studying at the University of Leeds this coming year. I’m a rising junior majoring in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and I have plans to attend medical school.

I’m going to talk a bit on the background of my study abroad and what’s happened so far, and then I’ll address my goals for my GeoBlog.

I’ve known that I wanted to study abroad since I started at Penn State, and the reason I decided to go to England, specifically Leeds, is because of some pretty awesome friends. Nearly my entire group of friends this past year was study abroad students, and the majority of them were British.

The Eberly College of Science has a few different universities with which it has “science partnerships.” By my understanding, that pretty much means that PSU has evaluated these universities’ science courses and have deemed them of acceptable quality. Within this list, I had options to go to France, Germany, New Zealand, Singapore, and England (and maybe a few more? Can’t remember…). I favoured England over all the others (and I also have family there–my granny grew up in England), and within had choices of Leeds, Bath, or Sussex. I had friends from both Bath and Leeds, and it was mutually agreed upon by them that the cost of living in Bath was much higher than in Leeds. Thus, by my rationale, it seemed most practical to live somewhere a bit less expensive so I had more money to travel and do other things.

A lot of people have asked me why I’m going for the whole year, as not many people do so. In fact, I’m the only person from Penn State going to Leeds for the whole year. The answer to that that question is kind of vague, but mostly revolves around my experiences with the study abroad students at PSU. In addition to my friends this past year, I had a whole other group of foreign friends in the spring of my freshman year. Everyone I have met who was abroad for only one semester was really not ready to go home, but those here for the whole year were about ready to do so. I think I’d rather be ready to come home, than be left hanging with all the things I wanted to do still. So we’ll see if my feelings on that subject change, but I really think I’ll enjoy England and be happy for the whole year. I hope!

So I spent most of last winter and spring sorting out what courses I planned to take. Unfortunately, I was not able to get as many Leeds courses to specifically replace PSU courses required for my major as I would have liked. However, I did get enough to result in my schedule comprising of a few courses in my major, all 400-level electives required for my major, and nearly the rest of my PSU gen ed requirements. I’m going to have a lot of catch-up to do senior year (I’m expecting 6, 400-level BMB courses senior fall!). But it will be worth it, and so all will be well. Somehow.

I got my official acceptance from Leeds in April, and everything was sort of left for a while. I started looking into UK Visa stuff in June, and it was a bit of a pain. Leeds was late sending me my Confirmation of Acceptance to Study (CAS) number which allowed me to get my visa. Some UK visa bureaucracy stuff that was out of their control. So once I got that, there was an online application, I had to go down to Pittsburgh to get my photo and fingerprints taken (Yikes! I’m in the system now), and then had 2 weeks to send a ton of stuff in. MAJORLY stressful. So much that had to be “just so.” And I was paranoid. Not really for any good reason, but more because transposing a number or not being clear enough about something could equal not getting my visa. And thus I would have to reapply, pay more money, and it might even screw up my entire next year. So that was a stressful time. But all is well now. I have a pretty sticker stuck in my passport that says “UK Visa” and has a pretty picture on it (much better than my passport photo)

Getting a plane ticket was also kind of fun. I scoped out Travelocity looking for cheap flights, and found one for $480! The reason it was so cheap is for 2 reasons: I have a layover in Boston and another in Reykjavik, and the airlines are Jet Blue and Icelandic Airways. I figured for the price it was really good considering that I don’t really mind the layovers, and I really don’t have anywhere to be. That is to say that I fly 8th Sept, get to England the 9th, and don’t really have any obligations till the 12th or so. I’m flying into Manchester, and will take a train to Leeds.

So, moral of the visa/flight is that I can at least at this point GET to England 🙂 Now that I have those, it’s kind of starting to become “real” in my head!

I’ve also just gotten my housing sorted out. I’m living in halls (dorms) about a 25 minute walk from campus. There’s due to be 5 in a flat, sharing a kitchen. I’m doing self-catered which means that I don’t have a meal plan, and will be cooking! I’ve decided to do self-catered mostly because I’m kind of sick of eating dining hall food, and it will give me a chance to get out into the town to go shopping and such. It’ll be interesting, considering that I’m not used to having to cook meals, but I’m looking forward to the change/challenge.

Hmmm….what else to talk about…

I guess a big thing about getting ready to go is all the logistics. I’ve a ton of things to sort out still, like banking over there, telling the phone and insurance companies over here that I’ll be away for the year, figure out a budget (It’s going to be SOOOOOOO expensive! Yikes!), and the list goes on and on!

I think the biggest thing now is PACKING! I’m just bewildered at how I’m going to pack for a year in a suitcase and a backpack! I’m not really planning on sending anything over. Just too expensive, and that also means I’ll have to get it back home. I guess I’m just telling myself that my goal this year is to learn to live as lightly as possible. I want to do as much as I can while I’m over there, but don’t have all that much money to spend. So we’ll see how it all works out! But back to the packing…My friends’ preliminary advice with regards to packing was to pack your favourite clothes, and not to bring any basic things (like T-shirts) which can easily be bought in England. So beyond that…I think I’m going to have to keep in mind the weather, as I seem to be pulling out mostly summer things, with it being as hot here as it is now. However, there is an 18 degree difference Fahrenheit between the high here and in Leeds for tomorrow. Yikes! And I need to start converting degrees again…I was doing really well during the school year with Celsius, but the summer has been Fahrenheit-theamed. Sounds loads hotter to say 100 degrees rather than 38!

So that’s kind of my story of how I got where I am now. Kind of long.

So, one of the most important parts of this intro post: my goals for this GeoBlog.

First and foremost, I expect this will be one of the most important experiences of my life, and thus I would love to have documentation of my thoughts, feelings, and observations to look back on at the end of the year as well as later in life. And I’m sure there is sooooo much I’d forget if I didn’t record it! And of course, one of the requirements of having a GeoBlog is actually writing in it, and thus that will be an incentive to keep up with it.
Second, I expect to keep my family and friends updated on my time at Leeds through the blog, and of course anyone looking to study abroad, whether it be Leeds, England, or anywhere.
In terms of content (my thoughts at this time, which of course may change), I expect the beginning will chiefly address getting set up in England, culture shock, and my feelings about studying abroad. Over the past two years, my time spent with international students has really peaked my interest in differences in culture and language. Thus I anticipate writing quite a bit about the differences between British and American culture, as well as the destinations of my other travels. Of course, interesting tidbits will be thrown in whenever they arise. I’m thinking that maybe by about December, I’d like to make a note to myself to spend some time thinking about and blogging about the personal growth I’ve noticed and experienced. And as a side note, I have a camera which I love, so once I have pictures to post, they’ll be in here 🙂

Well, that’s all I can think of for the moment. A very long post, but it gives what I think is necessary background, as well as kind of showing where my head is on the subject right now, about 6 WEEKS from departure.

I expect to write again near the end of August, and we’ll see what’s happening then! (Hopefully I’ll be mostly packed, or at least know what I’m taking!)

Natalie

Location: Allison Park, PA

Education Abroad GeoBlog

Penn State bloggers from around the world

Author Archives: nee5021

And here comes the English weather…and a bit about fashion.

Reading the library and societies.

Start of term and random things of note

Busy busy busy! Fresher’s week :)

It’s still kind of surreal that I’m actually in Leeds!

The musings of a Boston Logan International Airport denizen

2 days to go, and still not packed…

Intro Post: 6 Weeks!