here’s a bunch of stuff i wrote in the internet cafe the day i wrote made it!, but then couldn’t post because i didn’t have an account to access the wireless, and i didn’t understand how to get one.
it’s confusing to write offline and then not post, because i forget what i have and haven’t said, so i’m just going to post anything intelligible that might also be interesting, and then try to write in shorter bursts from now on.

so feel free to skim.

(because i know you always read so closely unless i give you explicit permission otherwise. ;)

—

i made it safely across the ocean, but i don’t have pictures yet because of my brilliant plan to charge my camera battery in the airport while i was waiting for my flight, which was only slightly delayed. unbeknownst to me when i was booking the ticket, my flight did not leave from the main orlando airport, but rather a smaller, less busy one, and so even though we had to drive farther to get there, the lines were short and security was a breeze. given the situation, i think it was a good tradeoff.

when i woke up yesterday and saw news of the terror alert shifting from bert to ernie, i was worried that i wouldn’t be able to take anything on the plane at all, but it turns out that they were really more worried about things coming Out of the UK than they were about things going In, so all i had to do was pack all my liquids in my checked bags. here on the other side of the big blue, however, they were operating on level elmo, which seems to mean that you can only take money, ID, and the medication that you will need while on the flight, and you have to pack that all in a clear plastic bag, leaving your purse, your laptop, and your crossword behind. that would suck, though as it turned out i slept for most of the flight, so it really wouldn’t have mattered much, apart from the ulcer that would have formed on account of me worrying about my expensive electronics traveling in the cargo hold.

and speaking of those electronics, let me finish the story of my camera charger. while waiting in line to check my bags, i moaned a bit about the fact that my battery was dead, because i didn’t want to wait to find my hostel and stuff to be able to take pictures with my new camera (which was successfully acquired during the errand run yesterday. woohoo!). then i remembered that i was going to be sitting in the airport for 4 hours, so i extracted the charger from my soon-to-be-checked bag, and, once i was through security, i located a comfy spot near a plug and charged away. after a bit, i decided to move, so i dutifully unplugged the charger, refitted the battery, and felt pleased with myself. soon, however, i decided that the area near the international gates was still too busy, so i went and sat down again, and decided to try my plan again, since the battery had not gained a full charge the first time. i must have grown cocky at this point, believing myself an expert in airport pit stop charge-ups, because i paid much less attention to the operation this time. i read a bit, talked on the phone a little, and once again decided to move closer to my gate. i got up, put my book in my bag, scanned the area, and walked away without even thinking about my battery, still chugging away in the outlet beside me. it really baffles me to realize that i did this, and it baffles me even more that i didn’t think about it again for the rest of the time i was in the airport, even though i wandered around for another good hour at least, and i think i even considered taking a picture at one point. it didn’t occur to me at all until i was on the plane, waiting to taxi away, starting to doze off, when i jolted awake, rummaged through my purse, and smacked myself on the forehead, forcing myself to admit that there was nothing i could do, even though, at that moment, the charger was not very far away. i decided that i would tell my mom to call the airport in case it was turned in to lost and found, so maybe i will be reunited with it one day, but in the meantime, i am going to have to replace it, and it wasn’t even a day old.

sigh.

so now i have a new battery – my first purchase in the UK that i can neither eat nor exchange for transportation – but the guy at the camera shop says i might have a hard time finding a charger. they are apparently very popular, and he can’t keep them on the shelves. lucky me. i’ll keep my eyes peeled, and hope that someone else at the hostel or the summer school might have a charger i can borrow so that i can at least get started. this seems quite possible, since, after deliberating about one of these waterproof options from pentax, i went ahead and got a canon, because i know so many people who have and love them, and because my mom offered to pay for part of it as a graduation present, so, with our powers combined, i was able to spring for an exciting upgrade that it was hard to resist.

so pictures soon, hopefully.

now i am going to head back to the hostel and take a nap. my plane arrived shortly after 9 and i got to the hostel at 10:30 or so, but i couldn’t check in until 2. they were kind enough to let me drop off my bags, however, so i got something to eat and have been wandering around the city. my first impression of glasgow is very positive. it’s pretty, bustling but not overcrowded, and a nice mix of familiar and foreign. this is my first time in the UK, and the experience of knowing the language but still not knowing all the lingo is amusing, even though i was prepared for it. i love a lot of british fiction, and pop culture in general prepares one for a great many quirky differences, but it is still somewhat offputting at first. i think i looked like a fool standing at the cafe counter this morning because it took me several minutes to order just because i didn’t fully know what everything was (like filled rolls, pasties and toasties – i get the idea, but how do i know what i like when i haven’t really had one before?!), and i couldn’t help but smile at the puddings and haggis and chips with curry or gravy. so i spent a long time just staring, which is evidently very rare at this counter, and probably all similar counters, because the staff just eyed me a bit uncomfortably, and every scot who entered the place knew what he/she wanted within a nanosecond, barely skimming the menu. i eventually sat down and had white coffee and an egg with bacon and sausage and potato thingies (it was breakfasttime after all, and i was starving), and while i ate it all up like a good lass, next time i think i’ll go more of the toast and tea route for breakfast and save room for fish and chips. the woman across from me had toast and beans, which, again, i was aware of as an option, but it still struck me as amusing. it was a fun first meal, and i look forward to being a bit more adventurous in the future.

for now, though, i think a nap will do wonders, and i’ll explore some more tonight and tomorrow. i can’t pronounce the street that my hostel is on (buccleuch), so hopefully i can make it back without having to ask for directions.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 18th, 2006 at 8:02 am and is filed under travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.