Single's Awareness Day - Come and Gone

Hello there lovely friends!

As you all know, yesterday was International Single's Awareness Day/Valentine's Day. Each year I usually celebrate by gathering with a group of friends, injesting a ridiculous amount of chocolate, and then bashing in a pinata of some sort in order to vent my frustrations. But can you believe it, yesterday I didn't even celebrate! As commercialized as Valentine's Day is in the States, it pretty much goes by unnoticed here in South Africa, which means I spent the entirety of yesterday reading about Foucauldian theory, until lo and behold, I realized it was February 14th! By then it was 8 PM and too late to organize a shindig where my friends and I systematically set several bouquets of flowers on fire, so instead I made myself a nice dinner and watched the ultimate girl power movie, Whip It! It was a lovely day, and though I think it's important to recognize and celebrate the love you share with others each and every day, I thought I would give you all a special post-VDAY shout out to say that I love you!

In other news, I, in true Brittany form, managed to lock myself out of my room on Saturday. And my computer refuses to access the wireless internet on campus. But those have been the only hitches in my giddy up, so all in all, things have been going swimmingly. In fact, I found out this morning that my digsmate, Jill and I, got tickets to the World Cup! In June we will be headed to Port Elizabeth to see the Serbia versus Germany match! I would have loved to see the US team compete (hey there Clint Dempsey), but understandably, tickets closer to the finals are way more expensive. So Serbia, here I come (you know I have to root for the underdog)!

Also, per Aunt Sage's request, I am unleashing the tentative title of my thesis - The representation of women’s reproductive rights in the American feminist blogosphere: an analysis of the debate around women’s reproductive rights and abortion legislation in response to the reformation of the United States health care system in 2009/10.

However, as you all know, no healthcare legistlation has passed, so while I am researching and establishing my theoretical framework, I am waiting out the legistlative process. So I suppose we'll see what happens!

I hope all of you stateside people are enjoying the snow! Take care of yourselves!

Love,
B

Breaking News

It is hot. Incredibly hot. The kind of hot where all you can do is lay on your bed spread out like a starfish in order to prevent any parts of your body from touching and causing you to spontaneously burst into flames.

In conclusion, I am going to get my butt to the beach next weekend.

Keep cool friends!

A Stream of Consciousness-esqe Post

Hey!

These last few days I have been caught up in a whirl wind of administrative duties. Wait, or is it world wind? I have never been quite sure what people are actually saying when they offer that statement, however, it's not really surprising. I happen to have both the vision and hearing of an 80+ year old and mishear things pretty often. I spent the majority of my young life thinking that people were shouting 'freaking egg', when actually, it was 'freaking expletive'. That's right, I am censoring my self for the gaggle of preteen readers who I am sure avidly read this blog.

Right, back to the subject at hand. I am now registered both administratively and academically at Rhodes University and have officially submitted my thesis proposal to the Higher Degrees Committee for acceptance as a Rhodes endorsed research thesis. In addition, I have signed up to take HAM (History and Appreciation of Music) through the music department at Rhodes! There is a jazz component which I am really excited about, as well as a section of study dedicated to South African protest music!

I also feel pretty settled into my digs (student housing) and really like my flatmates! There are five of us in total, 3 Americans and 2 South Africans, and everyone is incredibly friendly and tidy. Yes, you read that correctly, tidy. A trait that I hope to acquire. I figure 24 years of living in near total squalor is enough :)

In addition, once a week we have Taco Thursday, a night where the housemates invite random people we have met that week and have them over for dinner which we prepare. It was started quite a few years ago in this house, and last year I attended often because Rosa, a former Rotary Scholar, would kindly invite me each week. Which means I am going to learn how to cook! No more soup from a can accompanied by grilled cheese sandwichs as my go-to impressive meal!

That's about it on the South African front. Pretty simple day-to-day activities and adventures (I did have a ketchup bottle explode all over my face at a restaurant the other day, making me look like a bloodied victim in a grindhouse film, only to leave me sticky and slightly stained red, however, not a surprising occurence considering my outstanding awkwardness). And while I miss home, I am also incredibly happy to be back. I must say, I feel rather lucky to be able to be so comfortable and content in two totally different places.

Final thought: I watched Whip It! the other day and I kind of want to join roller derby. Now all I need to do is learn how to skate and get some kickin' science experiment googles to prevent my glasses from breaking...

Love,
B