New Year, brings new....well, not really, it's the same

I have no idea how I'm already smack in the middle of January. Christmas break was great, but very fast. I found myself back in Dallas right as classes were ending and had an amazing time with my little Robert-Roo and Tami and Marion. It was a busy trip and the only thing wrong with it was that it was too short. I cried pretty much the entire time I was there I think....exaggeration of course but I'm finding it so hard to have my heart in so many places. But it was good, I was with part of the people who I call my family and it was lovely. I got back the morning after Christmas and my friend Emily from LA was already hear running all around London with my sister. We took off for Cardiff, Wales the very next morning.

I love Wales! The people were so extremely nice and in some ways the city reminded me of Anchorage, AK. But we didn't have a castle there and Cardiff does...unfortunately for Alaskans. The castle itself was pretty cool. They used to be the air raid shelter for the area and they have an exhibit in the tunnels that lets you walk through what it was like during the war. I wasn't aware that sound would be motion activated and I rushed on in only to be given a heart attack by my friend Winston Churchill as he announced England was at war. With all the sirens and whatnot pumped in it was almost a bit too real. Having to be up and around really helped me deal with the inevitable jet lag better than normal.
Anyway, after two days in Cardiff we got on the train and headed to Hereford for our bus to a little town called Hay-on-Wye. It's "A Town of Books" and has literally, 31 used book stores in this teeny quaint little town. Anyone who knows me knows you are lucky to be reading this right now as there was a good possibility I was never going to leave - the town was made just for me I swear, it even has an old ruined castle. I found some amazing things and dream of the day when I can go back. Maybe in the summer, and then I will book myself a country horse trip as well. Books and horses...Best. Town. Ever.

We spent the rest of her time here going to exhibits and football games. It was great until I realized it was 5 days before my essays were all due and I had barely begun. I got them done, however, and am trying to get a huge jump on this next semester since I have the additional stress of getting in my dissertation proposal. There are a ton of things to do and plan for and my quantitative research class is already shaping up to be a bear. I am happy though. I am trying to make plans to live in Paris for a month this summer for my dissertation research and possibly to intern....at least those are the excuses I'm using. Nothing beats Paris in the summer and the Olympics will be clogging up London and making it unbearable to do anything touristy that I'd want to do anyway. My genius plan is unfolding.