The TAT of J.M.N.

After all the weirdly difficult and tricky things that have happened lately, I was thinking of titling this blog, “The Trials and Tribulations of Jillian M. Nelson,” but that was too long, so I decided on  “The T.A.T. of J.M.N.” because I wanted to look classy.  Nothing classier than initial TATs. *1*

Last time we talked screen to screen, I told tales of the tearful trail that lead me to me current location, Denmark (Street.  I hope that there were two seconds where you read that and thought, “Wait, I thought she was in England?”  And hopefully you asked in the high-pitched voice of Jim Gaffigan).  I don’t think I even mentioned how my university somehow forgot to enroll me in any classes besides the core module.  Still, I had a place to live, which meant I could finally breathe easy.

So for all of 8 days, my woes went away.  And that, my friends, is how long it took for the unspeakable to happen.

Which I will now type, because it is unspeakable.

Someone.

POOPED.

On.  The.  FLOOR.

(The horror!  The horror!)

Do you know what that’s like?  To walk into a bathroom and see this…this ABOMINATION (of-bum-ination) waiting for you?  And then it sinks in that 1.) Finder’s Cleaners and 2.) You’re down for “Spare Loo” duty on the rota that week, so you’re basically screwed as designated pooper-scooper?  Tell me, has that happened to you?  Fingers were pointed; tears were shed (mostly because I was laughing so hard).  But then, have you had insult added to injury after you do a superstar clean-up job, because someone decided to repay you by drinking all your beer?*  To this very day, the culprit is still on the loose (I mean, come on–who is going to say, “Okay guys, ya caught me; it was I who pooped and ran, then drank all your beer”), but one thing is certain– I’ll never look at my flatmates the same.

The crazy thing is, I’d like to say this was the first time this has happened to me**, but there was one day when I was in high school when my mom dragged all the kids still living in the house to the bathroom, where she pointed to the ground and cried, “WHO DID THIS?”  The same person that I believe responsible for this particular floor-foul also drank my chocolate stout, so talk about connections!  I mean, sure; the events were about 10 years apart, but still.  Circle of life.***

Anyway, enough potty talk.  Sometimes nice things happen–I had my first visitor to Bristol!  Okay; it was JZ, so maybe it’s more like, “Sometimes not so bad things happen.”  (JK, JZ.  Who I know never reads my blog, as he just found out what blogs were last week).  But as a result, we did sight-see-y things, which means you get these pictures!  Hurrah!

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Oo!

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Ah!

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Ah!

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わ〜!

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Isn’t Bristol cute?

Now, if you are wondering what I actually am doing in Bristol besides cleaning up bathrooms and having my beer stolen, I’m getting my MA!  And if from there you are wondering what a typical school day looks like for me, let me give you a little sample, straight from today’s events:

-Get to class.  Open bottle of sparkling water, which explodes.  Wouldn’t be so bad if the EXACT SAME THING hadn’t happened the week before.  Inward panic that my new nickname will be “American Girl Who Can’t Figure Water Out.”  Though if anyone calls me that, I will simply call them, “Person Who Can’t Make Short and Efficient Nicknames.”****

-Stomach growls loudly, due to decision to eat only vegetables*.* for lunch.

-Get cold, so try to put on jacket, but can’t figure out sleeve.  Finally get sleeve to cooperate; try to put in on in a hurry so my nickname doesn’t become “American Girl Who Can’t Figure Water or Jackets Out,” but jacket is vintage*!* and delicate, and inside lining rips.  Loudly.  Don’t even try to imagine what new nickname could be.

-Go home and eat more vegetables. *&*

*1* I also considered “Operation Title: Trials and Tribulations”, with the abbreviation being “O TIT: TAT,” but there is a level to how ridiculous I will go.

*This happened about 4 days later, so I gueeeeess it may not have been connected.  But still!  3 beers!  Out of 4!

**Actually, I’d prefer to say this has never happened to me, but what’s done is done.

***While poo on the floor followed by someone drinking all your beer may not be what the “Lion King” song is about, the truth is we can never really know.

****If you’re really quick, you’ve already realized that those are both accurate nicknames for J.M.N. by own logic.

*.* And cheese.

*!* Armani…sigh.

*&* AKA Cheese.

Sorry for all the asterisks, but as it has been so cloudy, I haven’t seen many stars lately; therefore I wanted to make up for it.  Now stop reading my blog and go do something productive with your life!

Hide yo’ kids, hide yo’ wives…

And hide yo’ husbands, cuz I’m writing all my blogs about them (no, jk; but I was trying to fit in a way that you could still sing it.  This blog is still all about me).

Ohhhhh my.  Hello friends.  It’s been awhile.  I see you’ve been growing out your beard.  It doesn’t suit you; get rid of it.  Also, some of you might have forgotten that I exist, as I tend to go in and out of people’s existence  (obviously I don’t mean in single instances; I’m not a ghost.  Clearly this is in reference to the multiple times I enter and leave countries).

Now that that’s done with, let’s talk Bristol!

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Here’s an unrelated shot of my street for all those who are bored with words.

As some of you know, I’ve been places.  A lot of places.  This year.  Last year.  Possibly the year before, but my memory has started to fade, and checking my passport would require me to move my arm two inches to open my drawer, and I am actually that lazy.  The point is, I have been a lot of places, and yet Bristol was by far the hardest one to get to in all of my experiences.

Let me give you a little insight into my timeline from the past few months.

Aug. 9: (In Vietnam, prior to returning to Japan) Find out student accommodation filled up, and thanks to an acknowledged system glitch on the university’s end, I must begin searching in panic for private housing.

Aug. 20: Return to America!

Aug. 21: Find out the visa application is a bit more complicated then I expected, and $500 more expensive than I expected (okay, maybe $300 more than I reasonably expected).

Aug. 23: Told by the school that I need the loan letter from the university to prove that I have enough funds to attend school, and once I finish the credit checks, it will take 4-5 days to arrive.  When it does, I can send in my visa application. No problem, I do the checks, and e-mail the representative back to let her know I’ve finished, and to e-mail in the case that there was something else that needed to be done.

Aug. 29:  There was something else that needed to be done.  After a (loud) audible groan, I finish these as well and prepare to wait another 4-5 days to send off my visa application.

Sept. THIRTEEN:  Get letter.  Immediately send application off.  Since it is Friday, and the consulate is closed on the weekends, I arrange for the app to get there Monday morning.  Pay $150 to get a response within 48 hours.  Double check that nothing is forgotten, as everything has to be done just so for me to leave by the following Saturday.  Also, would hate to pay $650 to be rejected.

Sept. 16: Get e-mail saying application has arrived and is being processed, but is missing a prepaid, printed return slip (I had included a prepaid written one for next day delivery), and while they will continue processing, they will not be able to conclude until after they receive an electronic return slip.  Immediately send email with slip.

Sept. 17:  Approved!  Hurrah!  My heart leaps for joy as I read, “If you included a return shipping waybill when you sent your application to us, your package will normally be shipped within 24 hours.”  Then it sinks as I read, “If you provided a return shipping waybill after sending in your application, your package may take up to 72 hours to ship from receipt of this e-mail.”  Which would mean that my visa could arrive anytime at the latest…on Saturday.  Day I want to leave.

Sept. 19:  Receive email that visa has been shipped.  With tears of relief, I book a plane ticket for Saturday.

Sept. 19: Confirmation email that I have booked flight through Faregeek.  See this in email: “Although your reservation is confirmed, it will need to be verified before ticketed and sent out, at which point they may request a credit card authorization form. In an unlikely event, if your tickets cannot be processed for any reason you will be notified via email or by telephone and your payment will NOT be processed.”  Errr…what?  Check credit statement.  No sudden $1,300 charge.  Read horrible reviews about Faregeek.  Freak out.  Use confirmation number on email to check airline website for confirmation; can’t confirm.  Call airline; no record of my booking.  Email website, they promise to send an e-ticket soon.

Sept. 20: Still no e-ticket, but credit payment has been made.  Call airline again; told the numbers on confirmation are never used by airline.  Try calling company; direct to voicemail.  E-mail company again.  They swear everything is fine.  I beg for them to confirm somehow.  Try to call airlines, but can’t get through.

Sept. 21: No e-ticket, but e-mail from Faregeek tells me to use a different number to check with airlines.  I do, and they confirm I am scheduled for flight that day.  Sigh in relief.  Take a bunch of Xanax, get on plane.  Relatively less stressed after that.

Sept. 22: Arrive in UK; find out airlines lost both of my checked bags.  Arrive at hostel.  Live in capsule-style bed until Thursday.

Sept. 26: Finally get university housing (after going in to the accommodation office everyday since arriving).  Move in.

Sept. 27: Get sick.  Haha.

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Oh yeah; did I mention that all the women’s toilets broke one day at the hostel?

Looking back on all that, I feel some phantom stress.  And this is the condensed version (though my regular readers, i.e. real friends, are probably thinking, “There is no such thing as a condensed version when it comes to you, J-dawg,” which I concede.  Also, don’t call me J-dawg in your thoughts; that’s weird).  I feel like I need nap after writing that.  So I might just leave you with this nice story of the time I was still staying in the hostel, and thus spending a lot of time on buses.

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My bed.

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What my hostel space looked like. Cute, but cramped.

There was this woman next to me at the bus stop who asked me if I smoked; I replied in the negative as I sat down.  I happened to be quite hungry, so I pulled out the rest of my onion and cheese sandwich, or as I like to call it, the “I’m confident I’m going home alone” sandwich.  The woman said, “Oh, a sandwich; that’s what I’d really fancy now.  Got any more of that?”  I looked down on my snack; I’d already torn the crust off (because I like to get the less than savory bits over with first), and since it was the least nutritious white bread stuff, my fingerprints were already leaving deep imprints in the bread, so I felt a bit weird offering it.

A middle aged couple came up to check the bus times; the woman asked the same “do you smoke” question, to which the woman-half of the couple replied, “no, sorry; I don’t have any vices,” to which I replied in my head, “Now that’s just an outright lie.”  I also thought it was pretty faux noble of the lady to act like she was all high and mighty and non-smoky.  Just say, “Sorry love,” like all the rest of the British do; pretending they have love for strangers when clearly; they all hate public (or private) displays of affection.  Actually, now that I think of it, I haven’t seen a single bit of public affection besides a hug, which is quite wonderful, really.  The last thing you want is to see strangers making out and picturing all their horrifying British teeth hiding behind their lips.

Anyway, the faux-no (as I called her in my head) wandered to the side, and I continued to eat my sandwich next to the smoke hungry lady.  Then, without any preamble, she ripped an incredibly juicy, unashamed fart right on the bench next to me.  I’m not usually squeamish about this type of thing, but this one I felt infiltrated my very sandwich.  Now every time I think of my Bristol hostel days, I can’t help but thinking of that lady and my polluted sandwich.  I won’t ever be able to eat a cheese and onion sandwich again (actually, I really probably shouldn’t anyway).

Also, for those of you who are like, “Shouldn’t your blogs be a little better edited/written (or just mature) now that you’re in grad school, I will reply…with a smile on my lips and a wink in my eye.

Which is face language for, “No way, Jorge.”

And now, a picture!

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