SPRING BREAK

Spring break was Ok in the end. The Grand Canyon was very cold and damp but was definately an interesting experience. Laguna Beach was ace! It was warm, sunny and very relaxing. We went over to L.A and tried to star spot which was fun even though we didn't see anyone famous. Got very lost in Beverley Hills and accidentally found a house that was allegedly occupied at one point by Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. We also found the Playboy mansion but that was less exciting. Got very sunburnt though and saw a few less hunky surfer guys than we would have liked. Also watched far too many crappy MTV dating shows in the evenings cos being under 21, there wasn't much to do as usual.

Have a lot of stuff to think about now though. The 'rents are coming over in less than two weeks, I have a load of crap work to do and I need to figure out what the hell to do with three and a half weeks between NAU finishing and heading back to the UK. Strange how the time has gone so fast, bloody scary if you ask me. Seems that it all happened without me paying enough attention. Such is life.

snow

I am breaking my usual habit of updating about once a week. Why? Well, I am very excited because there has been about 3 or 4 inches of snow which is more snow than I have ever seen before. It's much deeper than the snow shown in the picture (top left) but I needed something to demonstrate the presence of snow. I have gone camera crazy and taken loads of photos (as ever, email me/let me know if you want to see). I went sledding yesterday with a few friends and I think we are going again later. The downside of so much snow is I had no snow gear so had to buy snow boots and waterproof trousers, taking my spending money down further! Still, I love snow so it's all good!

Spring break is coming up. Escaping Flagstaff as well - hooray! The only thing is I need to buy new clothes (one pair of trousers is actually falling apart) but I really don't feel I can afford it with all this stuff to plan for. I can't assume employment over the summer so I need to hold money back to keep me going. Wimbledon always proves expensive with the train tickets and although I will get the money back, I need to allow for it.

theories on life

Some days I think that America really is one big conspiracy. Things seem to be working against you all the time and it gets irritating. For example, I've been cycling up and down campus to all my classes twice a week yet despite that, I don't feel I've made much progress lately in my weight loss campaign. Mildly troubling I must say because I don't want to come back to the UK and find I have put weight on, would be depressing. I think the food here is what isn't helping, the uni catering company go to very little effort to provide healthy food options or even a nice level of choice.

The NAU basketball team managed to make it to the Big Sky Championship and the games were this week. I went with a few friends, looking NAU tastic as ever. The first game went well and NAU won, the atmosphere was amazing. Unfortunatly, the second game didn't go so well and NAU lost despite the atmosphere still being really good. To be fair, if NAU won, there were rumours they'd be playing Duke University (Ivy League = posh ish) and if that had been the case they probably wouldn't have stood a chance.

Spring break is now just over a week away. I'm off to Laguna Beach in California with Antonia and Heather (Swansea uni people), will be nice to get away from Flagstaff. I really need a break of some sort though I've just got through midterm week (one more to go on Shakespeare) so there is less work to do now. I'm working on sorting out my dissertation still, things in that area are very much up in the air at the moment. It all depends on how much information I can get and how much help I can get over here in researching it all.

radical happenings

I did it, I got my ears pierced. My semi radical (well not really but lets overlook that) thing to mark my time here has been done. Wasn't as painful as I feared though in Arizona you have to be over 18 and have to have so much proof of age because otherwise you need your parents consent. Not even mentioned it to the 'rents yet although to be fair that's only cos I forgot.

Anyway, I survived the ball. My 'date' Allen was really cool although a tiny bit shorter than me and for some reason reminded me a bit of Jon. Had a great time doing crazy dancing with my friends. Considering I was 100% sober, it was great!

you shall go to the ball

Planning for the NAU ball I stupidly agreed to attend on saturday is sort of coming together. In the sense that I have a dress (courtesy of my Mum forcing me to pack it), two contact lenses (finally, I'm not one eyed!) and a purse. Unfortunatly I still need shoes of some sort and probably jewellery. Additionally, all of my friends seem to have started a 'Persuade Hazel to get her ears pierced' campaign. I've been vaguely thinking about it as the thing I should do to mark being here cos I don't ever want a tattoo (loads of people I know are doing that as their radical year away thing). The problem I always have with new things which involve forward planning is that I always have big doubts. It took me five months to get around to changing my hairstyle when I was 15 (that is the only basis I have for the preceding statement though). Anyway, there's a group trip to the mall on friday so maybe I will manage to buy stuff. In other ball related news, the whole prospect of the blind date with some Texan bloke is a bit nervewracking so a few shots beforehand will definately be on my to do list.

I'm feeling a bit less homesick than last month. I suppose now I have less time left here than I've been here for (if that makes sense), these things can be made more rational. Plus the 'rents and Megan are coming over in april and that might be helping things. Though not getting post or hearing from many of my friends from home for a while does get distressing when I let myself descend into those annoying homesickness phases. Still, got to make the most of these things while I am here.

2006 starts

I am back in Flagstaff having got the Greyhound up on sunday. Going by Greyhound was certainly an erm... experience. The lady sitting next to me decided to reveal most of her life story to me during the journey and then the couple opposite joined in to tell me about their trip to London. Among other things they asked if I knew Princess Diana, which castle the Queen lived in and what sort of training Mounties (who are Canadian by the by) went through. I had been looking forward to listening to some CDs and enjoying the scenery but alas, that did not happen.

Since I last updated I have actually done quite a lot so I will try to remember it all as best I can. The remainder of my time in Tucson was quite good, the couple I was staying with were great and really made me feel welcome. New Year's in Phoenix was Ok, I celebrated twice - once at New Year UK (5pm here time) and once at New Year Arizona. I went to this block party thingy with some friends, it was allegedly the 4th largest party in the US but being under 21 meant that I couldn't drink (I liked my new year 2005 from what I remember) so it wasn't as great as my friend had hyped it up to be. In fact it was a bit like spending new year at Hull fair!

After New Year, I went on a Road Trip with a couple of friends. We went to Cuidad Jores, Mexico via Roswell, New Mexico and El Paso, Texas. Roswell was pretty cool, alien themed stuff everywhere, even the McDonalds had been shaped like an alien space craft type thing. The TV show "Roswell" wasn't actually filmed in Roswell, much to our disappointment so after seeing all the alien stuff we moved on. We didn't really see a huge amount of El Paso because that's where we crossed the border (by foot) to Mexico. Mexico was pretty cool actually, was nice to be able to legally drink again and have genuine Mexican food. The border town did remind me of a Spanish version of Camden Market with more beggers though.

I'm not on my own here in Flag which I had been a little worried about. Antonia and Theresa are also here so we've been planning a trip to L.A at the end of Jan. At least that's something to look forward to! I got all my textbooks today, spending too much money as a result. Mildly depressing!

Christmas

On a scale of one to bizarre, this Christmas was about an eight. Mainly because it was hot and sunny, on Christmas day. That is something you don't get in the UK. In fact it was like a British summery day except without the rain or threat of. That's probably the best thing about Christmas in Tucson, Arizona.

As you observant types will have noticed, I am now in Tucson. I'm going to try to keep this a brief ish entry cos I don't want to make my hosts feel like I am misusing their PC or owt.

Washington DC was great. Went all over the place really. Including the White House, The Lincoln Memorial, Arlington Cemetary, Jefferson Memorial, Capitol Hill and the Washington Memorial. It was really nice weather apart from being really really cold! I even went ice skating for the first time in ages and ages, I was quite good apart from falling over onto my arse right in front of quite good looking ice rink attendant bloke!

Tucson has been good as well. It's hot and sunny all the time, except at night obviously. There are also cactus everywhere, even Phoenix doesn't quite have so many. I think I have seen enough cactus to last me a lifetime but then I suppose I should expect it seeing as Tucson is in the main Arizona desert type area. The people I'm staying with have been really nice to me although I did have to go to church on Christmas Eve with them (first non wedding/funeral church service I've attended for at least nine years).

Off back to Phoenix on friday. From there I think I'm spending New Year with one of my friends although she hasn't replied to my email yet so that isn't confirmed. After that it's either back to Flagstaff or a bit more travelling depending on my mood and whether I can persuade anyone to come with.