We just had "changeover weekend" at TASIS, meaning that the kids from the first session left and the kids for the second session arrived. It was a pretty crazy weekend. It was actually more than a weekend-- the madness started on Thursday afternoon. All the kids who were leaving had a supervised packing session where my lovely co-resident and I walked room to room and yelled at girls who were not packing. We also had to make them clean everything in their rooms. The real challenge to this task was the fact that the ever exciting riverboat disco was that evening and all the girls wanted to be showering and getting ready. Luckily, Monica knows how to run this stuff since she has been here for 7 years. We banned them from entering the bathroom until they were done packing. After that madness, I got changed to chaperone the riverboat disco. The kids had a banquet and awards ceremony on campus prior to leaving for the disco. I went for awhile and ate dinner, but then left early with the van that was taking the sound equipment into London. I went with 3 guy TA's who did all the heavy lifting. I carried the lights. The funny thing about this was that we left early so we could get everything set up on the riverboat before the buses of kids got there. We got stuck in traffic and all the buses beat us, so we just ran through masses of dressed up children carrying the sound system and then banned them from entering the boat until everything was ready. Once again, the guys set up the stuff. I plugged in the lights. After that drama, kids were crammed into the riverboat and we took off down the Thames. The cruise lasted about 2 hours (I think...) and the kids danced, hungout, made out, cried, and were dramatic teenagers. Pretty standard. I was one of those teachers chaperoning a dance that I remember thinking were lame at all my dances. We all had a good time though. I was entertained by mocking the outfits with John, James, and Monica. Some of the girls are seriously slutty for their age. I definitely did not wear miniskirts and 3 inch heels at the age of 14, but I also wasn't from Milan nor did I have a limitless credit card (or any credit card, for that matter). I think alot of these kids come from a totally different teenage world than the one I grew up in. My favorite quote was from John (about those short dresses that are poofy and then get really tight at the bottom that are trendy right now) "are you comfortable in your bag with leggings?". We all ended up dancing for awhile and had a good time. The end of the disco was pretty nuts. As soon as it ended everyone started bawling and saying goodbye to their friends while we tried to shove them off the boat and direct them back to their buses. Our van got lost on the way home, so we drove around in circles for awhile, which was fine because it was city center London at night. I sent a text to Monica saying we were lost and she responded by saying "follow the signs to sexy bitches and you'll find us" which was my entertainment for the ride home. We got back to TASIS around midnight and some of the coaches were still unloading. Bedtime for me? definitely not. We had to check all of our girls in for the night and then make sure they were not planning on escaping. On the last night the kids apparently sneak out of dorms, get drunk, etc. There is supposed to be one dorm resident in each dorm awake until at least 2:30. Monica stayed up while I went to bed because I had to get up at 2:30 to make sure one of our girls made it to the bus for the 3AM airport run. After she left I went back to bed until 7Am. Then I had to get everyone else (and all their stuff) out of the dorm by 8:30. I can't complain, because I actually got a lot of sleep in comparison to some others. Everyone at TASIS was basically a zombie on Friday.
Friday was airport departure day. I had the last trip of the day, 6:30 PM. I went with Evan and everything seemed to start off great. We had a bus of 14 Brazillians and 1 Saudi. They were all pretty good at first. Half of them were flying British Airways and half on some other airline I had never heard of. We each took a group to their check in line. I was with BA. I got them up to the counter and the lady keeps asking if they are already checked in. I keep saying "isn't that what you are going to do now?"she explained that the flight was overbooked and the kids probably wont get seats because they should've been checked in online 24 hours in advance. This is when Evan stepped in, which was awesome because she definitely knew how to handle the situation better than I did. I took the group that didn't have problems through security while Evan stayed at the BA desk. There were 8 Brazillian kids bawling in the check in line and screaming at her. I was not envious, although the kids screamed at me the entire way to security because their friends were crying and we wouldn't let them all stay together. I was a bitch and shoved them through the security line anyway. To make a long story short, we dealt with a lot of drama, a lot of stress, and a lot of waiting. FINALLY, BA got them on 50 minutes before the flight took off and we had to run them through check-in and security. Then Evan and I got a well deserved beer while we waited for our ride back to TASIS.
Saturday was pretty low key because there were only about 70 kids still at TASIS and they went on trips. We didn't have any job responsibilities for the day so I went out for pizza and to Mama Mia with a bunch of people. Then, we went to Waitrose and bought several bottles of wine and proceeded to go to Kim's flat and drink them on the patio. Then we went to the Red Lion for dinner and, what else? More drinks. There was a lot of Karaoke and crazyness. We even got free glow bracelets from the DJ.
Sunday was arrival day. I was a little hungover and seriously tired from the night before but I managed to tough it out. It was worth it since the night before was so fun. I spent the morning as a greeter in the registration room and then went on an airport run to Gatwick with Kim. We picked up 6 Italian kids. Pretty painless.
Monday was Windsor orientation. After letting the kids loose for the day I had lunch at Wagamama's and then hungout with Monica and Laurie. We spent a good amount of time reading greeting cards and laughing which made me miss Sarah Hanneman and our amazing Walgreens adventures of yesteryear.
Now it is back to the regular routine. I am TA-ing in 2 TELP (English) classes as well as my photo class of 6-weekers from last term. Of course, I also still pick up attendance cards with Julia. We are currently trying to get our time below 15 minutes from start to finish. This Saturday I am chaperoning a Jack-The-Ripper tour in London with Monica, Laurie, Colin, and Heather. Creepy fun. Sunday I am going to Oxford with a bunch of people and Julia is going to be our tour guide since she is from there.
Basically, time is going TOO DAMN FAST. I have to force myself to not think about how soon we'll all be leaving. I really want to be here again next summer. I do have fun things to look forward to in the near future though. I have finally started to get where I want with my research project which is great. Unfortunately, I think that it will be scattered through the whole two weeks so I wont have time for travel to anywhere outside of the UK. I am planning on getting to Liverpool and Brighton. Maybe some other places in England as well. Sarah Hatcher is coming for a few days and we are going to hangout together which will be fun. I'm also excited for my internship with ACS in the fall, but also feeling like I am completely not ready to be an adult when it ends in December. Right now, I would really like to get another 6 month student visa and work in London March-June and then come back to TASIS June-August. I would have to fill the gap in Jan. and Feb....but I could figure that out somehow. We'll see how the fall goes. I have this idealistic idea that maybe I could make some public health job connections and get offered a permanent job somewhere in the UK. Unlikely, but I can dream. I also still want to apply to the Peace Corps MPH program in Seattle, and...I sort of want to ask Brooke and Ashley about their jobs teaching English in Thailand, because that would be cool. My mom is going to love reading this blog about my murky, wandering, unsettled future. I just feel like I have so much time when I'm older to get a job, settle down, and live in one place that right now I want to do things that teach me things and allow me to learn, travel, and meet new people. I'm realizing that probably no one cares about this, but it feels pretty cathartic to write all my jumbled thoughts down.
On another note, I have been a huge book schizophrenic this summer. I finished Eat, Pray, Love but am currently reading The Great Gatsby, In Defense of Food, 1984, and In The Hot Zone. I really have to just pick one to finish at a time.
Hope everything is well with whoever is reading this. I'm great. My life right now is filled with great people, adventures, and laughter. I really can't believe I'm being paid to have this much fun.
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