Being a Homebody/Freezing to Death

This last week and a half has reminded me why I am not a history or politics major. I've had two math assignments to do for the last two weeks, and have started working on one of my politics assignments at the same time. I can sit and scratch out math problems, and not easy ones if I may pat myself on the back, for two or three hours at a time. I even get some of em right. But writing a 2000 word research paper is pretty painful. I'll tolerate it for an hour at the very most, with maybe 200 words put on a page at a time, before I wind up wiki-ing or youtubing something. Next thing I know, an hour and a half is shot. It would almost certainly not get done if I had waited much longer to start it.

I went to a session at the John Hewitt on Saturday. The session corner was already full by the time I got there though, so I didn't get to play. But all the musicians I had met earlier remembered me, and even my name. They're a good bunch and they keep inviting me back. Instead, I visited with an older Brit who had grown up in Belfast. He was a uillean piper but was just listening that night. He had left Belfast in 1983, in the middle of the Troubles. His perspective was a valuable one because he could remember how Northern Ireland had been at its worst, and the changes for the better were perhaps more apparent to him after living elsewhere. I was glad to have met him when he told me "25 years ago, Belfast wasn't exactly a tourist city, with everyone being checked for bombs. To see anyone willing to live here or even be here is a breath of fresh air."

It is absolutely freezing here. Yesterday was wickedly cold, with sleet coming from a cloudless sky. Today was very miserable, with a constant cold drizzle and snow in the hills. I've experienced humid heat but not humid cold. It's not even below freezing yet, but that moist cold cuts deep.

I haven't done any traveling since my trip to Dublin. This has been good for my "studying," but not good for my boredom. I have a list of places to see before I go, and many of the weekends are filling up. I may just wander off and jump on a bus some afternoon.

For those of you who don't already know, I will be coming home in December. I made a huge mistake with my visa, and despite the great relations between the US and Britain, both countries love their red tape, meaning I cannot fix the problem from here. However, I refuse to write off the entire trip as a failure because of the mistake. Eight months would have been great, but three months works too. I've been living in a city that many people wouldn't even consider visiting because they expect to be shot or hit with a grenade. I am making the very most of my time here but I also enjoy saying "Fine UK, if you don't want me, I'll adventure elsewhere."