A crazy September...

Well the countdown has begun. Less than 2 weeks to departure and I'm feeling it. It's a busy two weeks. Yesterday Steve and I celebrated 2 years together, this weekend is my brother's wedding (!), next week is my birthday, and then the Marshall adventure commences. I'm taking care of some things (like setting up an IRA - strange to think about retirement when I haven't really begun working yet but it seems like a good idea) and trying to support Steve during some particularly hectic work weeks. We have such a nice cooperative system- it seems a real shame to leave!

I am of course excited. I'm very much looking forward to meeting the other marshall scholars, taking intense economics courses, and finding out all sorts of neat cultural nuances of the British. I've been reading Sarah Lydall's recent book "The Anglofiles" which I highly recommend. It's part memoir (of an American in the UK) part journalistic-style observations on British life backed up with interesting facts and anecdotes. Some of the more surprising parts so far have been her discussion of boys' boarding school experiences and the way many British newspapers print all sorts of embellishments (aka lies). I'm looking forward to doing my own analysis, but am very grateful to have some things already cleared up before I make some huge social mistake. Apparently people from the upper classes never use the word "toilet" (she also says that Americans generally exist outside the class structure so that's a relief).

I am not sure what to think concerning how busy I'll be over there. It is possible I'll have to spend most of my time studying to keep up with the coursework and won't have much downtime, or since my grades are almost 100% based on finals (first ones in January), I may have tons of time early on. Either way, I would love to correspond with as many friends and family members back home as have time to write to me. Just ask me for my address, I already have it if you want to get an early start!

I'll be living in a shared house with other post graduate students. I'll wait til arriving to provide more details on that.

Now to change the subject dramatically, I'd like to recommend another book I recently finished: The Brothers K by David James Duncan. Epic, hysterical, moving, and wisdom-giving- this long book is definitely worth your time. At times I related a lot to Peter (the intellectual brother who thought he needed to leave home (and America in general) to find himself, only to find that home was perhaps the best place to find the truth he was seeking). This is one of those books from which you can actually learn from the characters' mistakes without going through them yourself in reality because you feel such a connection to the character that you feel you already did go through it. It is a beautiful portrait of a realistic family in the 1960s learning to adapt and grow together despite their individual differences. And to top it all off, there is even a character obsessed with classic Russian literature!

Well perhaps I should get back to my statistics review (don't want to be completely lost on the first day of class). Prayers for adjustment and the heart pains that come with moving far from the ones I love are most appreciated!