The Struggle and Eventual Success in Getting to York

3 October 2013

Once again this isn’t a craft based blog post.  Very sorry about that but I just haven’t had the time to dedicate to crocheting.  For this past week or so I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off in preparation for leaving for and arriving to York, England.  When the fated morning of my departure did in fact arrive I was scrambling to finish everything.  Somehow my bags squeaked underweight by a mere pound but they had not been checked all the way through to Manchester.  That meant I would have to pick them up in JFK before re-checking them again and waste the time I was planning to use in the fancy Delta Sky Lounge, which my parents had graciously gotten me a day pass to. 

With a lot of finagling the lady at the check-in desk got the bags on one ticket straight through to my destination of Manchester.  I thought all would be well but there was a feeling in the pit of my stomach that something would go wrong.  And of course it did.  The flights themselves weren’t horrible just incredibly long and uneventful.  I couldn’t sleep on the overnight trans-Atlantic flight so I was miserably beat when I boarded the final plane from London to Manchester.  It was a simple 30 minute flight, but it took about 30 minutes to taxi and take off.  That is one thing I have learned about the London Heathrow Airport, the taxi-ing takes FOREVER!

But all went well with the flight and I de-planed and headed straight for the baggage claim, and waited for my bags to arrive.  I waited and waited and waited until there wasn’t anyone else left and nothing but a single suitcase remained on the endlessly looping conveyor belt and it wasn’t either of my two large duffle bags.  Trying to quell the rising panic and fear I calmly walked over to the baggage services desk and reported my problem.  The kind man there told me it was most likely left in London and should be at my address by the evening.  Relieved I left the airport and took the 2 hour bus ride to York, uneasy but optimistic. 

I arrived to the university and went through the check-in process before arriving at my room, rather large for a dorm style room.  I have more than enough space for my things and clothes, but I had no clothes or things to fill the room with.  Later on in the evening I borrowed a friend’s phone (since I hadn’t yet purchased a sim card and thus didn’t have a phone number or carrier) and called the baggage services number to get an update on my bags since I wanted to head out and get something to eat but didn’t want to miss my bags being dropped off.  The lady on the other end of the phone noted that there hadn’t been an update to the location of my bags and thus they wouldn’t be arriving that day or perhaps the next day either.

That is when the real panic set in.  I had no other clothes or toiletries to my name and felt the world was crumbling around me.  I tried to stay calm and went out with some new friends to a pub for dinner.  A large problem that made itself known the next day was the fact that my course (Bioarchaeology) department had organized a field trip/hike for the following day, Sunday.  Luckily I had received a free t-shirt that I could wear but alas that was the only new piece of clothing I had.  Oddly enough stores close quite early in the evening and thus I had been unable to get some of the basics I so desperately needed.  Thankfully there were some kind and generous people in the house that lent me shampoo, conditioner and the like.

The happy ending to this story comes the following day, Monday, when my bags did indeed finally arrive.  But of course that wasn’t without difficulties.  My mother had confirmed with the company (since I still didn’t have a phone number) that I would receive an email with the delivery time of my bags sometime between 9-10 in the morning.  So I woke up bright and early, not wanting to miss such an important email.  But I never got an email, instead I happened to check their website for an update at around noon since I had yet to receive anything from them.  The update stated that the bags would be arriving at the house sometime around 3:20 in the afternoon.

Needless to say I was annoyed.  I had been up and waiting since 9 am.  With the new information though I was able to go to campus and get a few things done before heading back to be at the house by about 3 in the afternoon.  I wanted to be there early in case the bags came early.  But once again I waited for about 2 hours before contacting my mother, who called to get an update.  It was then determined that they had gotten stuck in traffic and should be at my house within the hour.  Well fast forward another 2 hours and the van finally arrived with my bags.  I graciously signed for them and with the help of my friend Katie, hauled them upstairs to the third floor where my room resides.

MY BAGS!!!

It has now been about two days since my bags came and I have finally been able to settle into my room, with my things and clothes, and start to feel at home in this foreign city.  

View from the door

Opposite wall

 Now I just need to steel myself for the intense year of study that is about to begin.  Yet another test of my abilities, both academically and personally.  Though I think I can get used to all the amazing architecture and history of this city of the ages.

Until next time!

Brittani

Freelance Writing and Personal Projects

7 September 2013

I’m a rather poor soon-to-be graduate student.  I need ways to make some money while I am studying besides the hope that I will have a job in England.  Without knowing the job market and availability of jobs in York I have had to look into other ways to earn some cash.  One of the first things I looked into, while poor and trying to put food on the table in Spain was freelancing.

I know Kellie and I have mentioned it in passing that we looked into and eventually starting working on freelance writing to help cover expenses while living abroad.  Since coming back to the States I have continued to look for work and have had mild success at it.

The website that I primarily use is oDesk.  It has a much easier to use interface and setting up a profile is simple and straightforward.  Kellie and I did look into Freelancer and Elance but found their set ups to be difficult to use and understand.  Additionally I feel that the community on oDesk is smaller and thus much it easier to land a job.

The way freelancing works is you scour through the posted jobs (once you have set up your profile, that is) and open a few postings that look like something you are interested and capable of doing.  Usually I check out the price first and whether or not someone has already been hired for the position.  If things check out there I read through the description in order to confirm whether or not I actually want to do such as job.  If I do I apply. 

When applying you set your price, your expected time frame and write a cover letter explaining why you should be hired.  Including any information that is specifically requested in the job posting, then you send it off and hope to be invited to interview.  In reality you have to apply to several jobs before you are hired for a few.

In the past I have written on so many different topics that range from food articles, history ebooks, romance stories, science fiction short stories, product descriptions and book reviews, to name a few.  But behind all of the freelancing work is a desire to create and publish my own material.  I love to write and of course I would love to be paid to write my own stories.  But that it’s in the works at the moment.

Though on the line-up of personal projects to start I have an epic space novel that I am very excited about as well as a few shorter stories for competitions, all in the science-fiction/fantasy genre.  I am always looking for feedback and criticism.   Up next in personal work is a short short story for a Writer’s Digest competition.  The story must be less than 1,500 words.  That is not easy to do.  But alas I shall try!  And always I am searching for additional freelance writing.  The search will never be over.

Next time I hope to have a progress report for the scarf.  Needless to say it hasn't progressed as quickly as I would have liked, but it progresses nonetheless.

Until next time!

Oh and I can't leave you without a picture, so here is one of my dogs, Ebony, being cute and judging you at the same time.

She can be adorable and crabby at the same time.

-Brittani

I'm Making a SCARF!!

21 August 2013

These past few weeks have been crazy to say in the least.  I have been wrestling with my Visa application for studying in England and all the pre-work that has to be done in order to send it in.  I had to get my fingerprints scanned and a full facial photograph.  This is in addition to the countless piles of paperwork I had to sift through in order to create the package to be sent for Visa consideration.  All in all it has been a long and stressful road thus far, and I’m not even in England yet.

This is all in addition to my sister preparing to head off to college.  As you may or may not remember I attended Arizona State University.  Well it seems my family is destined to be a House Divided since my sister is going to attend the University of Arizona.  The long standing rivalry between these two schools is famous and each year they have a game, called ‘The Duel in the Desert’ for ownership of The Territorial Cup, one of the oldest trophy rivalry game.

This past year it was won by ASU!  Go Sun Devils!

So visa stuff and college prep for the next sibling in line after me, quite busy.  But alas I still find some time for a little crafting.  When we were last together I was figuring out a few basic stitches and was thinking about my first project.  Well I did a little research into how to make a simple scarf and found that you only need to know how to Chain stitch and Single Crochet stitch.

It was about 25 chain stitches long

I started by making a chain stitch for as wide as I wanted the scarf to be.  Length will be determined by how long I continue to stitch.  I tend to stitch very tightly and thus the holes you typically see are quite small and hard to see.  That also means that my fingers are a little achy from the pressure I put on them for making such a tight stitch.

Close up of the chain stitch

From there I made my first real row of single crochet stitches.  This is accomplished by ‘turning the chain’ which for a single crochet stitch means crocheting one chain stitch when you get to the end of the row before continuing onto the next row.  This is to ensure that the stitches look right and are of the right height.

First completed row

And then I just continued for a few rows.  It took me a little longer to get those few rows done than I thought but I did notice that I sped up a bit as I went.  You can certainly enter a sort of trance when working on crocheting projects. 

The adventure has began, only a zillion more rows to go!

I know it is going to take me a while to finish this scarf to the length that I want but I will be sure to keep the blog updated with my progress on this and any other projects I start.  Until next time!

Brittani

Endings and Beginnings

 5 August 2013

Amazing how times flies when you are having fun.  These past few years have been a wild ride and now that I am back in the States it feels just like before I went to university.  I am enjoying seeing my family that I haven’t seen in over a year and revealing in the conveniences of American living.  But my wandering feet are about to take over again.

Ruins of a castle in York

Small street in York

My name is Brittani and I have followed the tried and true way of education for my whole life.  I went to school solidly, every year from Pre-School through my Bachelor’s degree without missing a beat.  Throughout my school years I was an Honors Student and for the most part excelled in learning.  But I didn’t always have a plan for what I wanted to do ‘when I grew up’.  As a matter of fact the major I chose to start at Arizona State University with was one that I had chosen randomly from the list.  It also started with an ‘A’ so I didn’t have to mire through too much to make a quick decision.

Anthropology was my haphazardly chosen field of study.  The cultural subsection didn’t really grab my attention in the first semester and so I was starting to doubt my choice.  But then came along the Archaeology class that would change my life.  It was brutally hard but incredibly rewarding.  To this day it is the class that I remember most.  Buried Cities and Lost Tribes, taught by the amazing Dr. Laura Popova. 

Graduation from Arizona State University

So hop, skip and jump to nowadays I am about to embark on a journey to get my Master’s degree in Bioarchaeology at the University of York.  A lot of time and difficulty went into making this decision to attend York instead of Cambridge, but in the end I am more than happy about my choice.

But what has been truly amazing about this past year in Spain has been that it prepared me for this next phase of my life, living aboard without any friends, family or really anyone that I know.  Additionally, spending a year in Spain has opened a lot of doors into my creative side that I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to reach again, let alone make money with it.

In a desperate attempt to stay afloat in a foreign country Kellie and I employed our writing skills through a freelance website called oDesk.  We wandered through a few websites to arrive at this one and for us it has the best fit for what we do.  And now, facing down the real looming black cloud of student loan debt I am expanding my creative skills again in search of sustainable income while studying.

So it's London and not York. St Paul's Cathedral

I have a lot of ideas about several different projects that I want to start and work on.  The biggest one is perhaps learning how to crochet.  I will be investing a small amount of money into the start-up materials but from there I hope to be able to utilize the internet and my cute little books to create wonderful things.  Though a scarf is the obvious first project.

That is a normal fashion choice in Spain.
We are in the gardens of the Alhambra and Kellie
just had to photobomb my picture.

From there I also want to delve deeper into my love of photography and hopefully get something set up for that as well as work on to get the best shots.  Soap making, candle making, weaved bracelets, T-shirt design, cooking , baking…I have a lot of different idea and projects that I want to explore.  Join me as I explore and investigate and maybe you too will have a few new hobbies and projects of your own!

Brittani

The Beginning

27 July  2013

On our way to Spain, a quick stop over in London

This tale starts over a decade ago, when we first met in junior high, a time of tumult and uncertain identities.  We met through a mutual friend and in those days we were the weirdest of the weird, nicknamed the Pony Club for our obsession with horses.  Eventually we grew out of that particular weirdness and moved on to other things.  In particular, anime and all the things that go with it.

Japanese street fashion really caught our eye in those days, and after beginning to dabble in cosplay we quickly moved on to making skirts and dresses covered in lace and ruffles, entranced by gothic lolita style.  This new fascination also allowed us to explore the idea of creating for others and we made our first attempt to sell our creations, which also included hair accessories and brooches, to others.

It was more successful than we initially thought it would be, but the end of highschool and other dramatic life changes pushed sewing and creating to the background for a while.  Focusing on school and work we didn’t have the time to set aside for personal crafting hobbies.  As the end of university studies for Brittani drew to a close the indecision and uncertainty of life after prompted a look at living abroad.  After hearing good things about the TEFL school in Granada, Spain, the decision was made.  Spend one year abroad, living in a different culture and supporting ourselves by teaching English.  Plus, we would always have the certification to fall back on if our other plans for life fell through.

A bullfight in Ronda, Spain

So we packed our bags and flew off to another country and way of life.  We obtained our TEFL certifications and learned that teaching was, perhaps, not really our cup of tea.  Still, we made it the full year.  It was incredible.  

Fast-forward to present day.

One month in the States and we were at loose ends.  Brittani is getting ready to go to England for graduate school.  Kellie is trying to make a living writing freelance.  More than that, for the first time in our entire friendship we are going to be living across the world from each other.  So the idea of this blog began.  Document our projects- Kellie’s sewing, and Brittani’s quest to crochet.  And also, use the blog as a medium through which to share our friendship, and keep it strong.

-Brittani and Kellie