This is pretty much a placeholder entry, so don’t piddle yourself in excitement just yet.

Even though I have very little to say at the moment, still being stuck in Staten Island (yes, we have a landfill. Yes, you can see it from space. No, I cannot smell it from my house.) for another three weeks or so, this might be a good time to introduce myself and this blog.

First, the basics: Kirsten. 23. From New York. Went to the College of William & Mary in Virgina for undergrad, and majored in History and American Studies. Worked for a year. Going to grad school for Museum Studies. OK, go!

Because I’m such an Anglophile (also: Europhile, but tragically monolingual) I’ll be going to the UK to earn my MA. Actually, I’m going because the University of Leicester has such a renown Museum Studies program. And because I’m an Anglophile. And because a one-year program is a better option for me financially, even after getting brutalized by the exchange rate.

I’ve had plans to go for a while. Still, I didn’t start soliciting references until about March. And then I didn’t apply until May. And I’ve just filed my financial aid and visa paperwork in the past week. And I sent off my housing form today. Hence the “flying by the seat of my pants”-ness of it all.

I have never started so many sentences with “and” in my entire life.

This blog is going to be my attempt to document my year abroad narratively. I’m not very good at narrative entries, so it will be something of a writing exercise as well. Mostly it’s for people from home to keep track of what I’m doing so I don’t have to clog people’s inboxes with updates.