Paws To Relax

I would like to introduce to you Zannie (Left) and Sara (Right). You may be wondering why exactly I'm putting pictures of random dogs up on my blog and so I will explain.

It's that time of the semester: the end of modules: the last few classes... Finals. *insert dramatic music here*

So far I've had two and my last one starts in about an hour and then I will be finished with UConn 2011 and ready to return home to good ol' blighty. But that's not the story...

Any exams are stressful but when you're stuck on a campus in the middle of the Connecticut countryside and everyone is in the midst of stressful finals then the stress levels can probably be detected from within a 1 mile radius. And so, UConn, fabulous American university that it is, has come up with the most brilliant scheme that I think should be mandatory at all Universities all over the world during exam periods. It's entitled...

PAWS TO RELAX

... and it is the work of a genius. This week a timetable has been posted on the library website scheduling the visits of various dogs. There's Mo the Boxer and Emmet the Australian Shepherd and Sebbi the Cocker Spaniel and, as pictured above, Zannie and Sara. They are here, I quote, "to help ease your stress!" 

How brilliant is that?! 

Not only are these dogs officially trained in therapy (yea I don't understand how that works either but hey ho), but they're also really, really cute. And fluffy. And cute.  And a whole range of breeds have come throughout the week so you can get whatever canine-fix suits you. Now whoever was genius enough to come up with this idea I think deserves a medal because (asides from those unfortunate people with allergies) dogs really are man's best friend. They're cuddly and cute and asides from the occasionally slobber and dribble, you just want to snuggle up with them - it's exactly what you need when you've got a pile of revision to be doing!

All I Want For Christmas

A brilliantly cheesy Christmas story which I just have to share amidst all the finals and end of term stress. Below, I have posted a video which I have watched over and over after stumbling across it on facebook. But first a bit of background...

HMS Ocean, a Royal Navy Helicopter Carrier (sorry Gramps!) deployed in April for what they believed would only be a 7 week training exercise. Then all that excitement happened over in Libya and a seven week tour turned into a seven and a half month deployment. After 225 days out at sea the men (and women of course) arrived home this weekend just in time for Christmas, 17 of whom returned home to newly born babies! 

To keep up morale and, well I imagine it must get pretty boring being out at sea for weeks on end stuck with the same old people, they made this video. Enjoy...

Mariah Carey, who's song is used in the video, tweeted; 

"This is the best thing I've ever seen, you guys just made my day! Happy Happy Christmas!!! x0x0 to the troops."

Two years ago my dad was deployed in Afghanistan over Christmas and it definitely changed things. So to all those troops who haven't been able to make it back for the holidays, Merry Christmas and stay safe!

Travel Traumas

It is now roughly 9 days 19 hours and 10 minutes until my plane leaves chilly Boston to land in even chillier England! I am so excited. I can't even describe how excited I am. When I first booked my flights, months and months ago, I had planned to fly back on the Monday as I was told that exams run right up to the Sunday. However, having arrived here I of course learnt that my last exam was on the Friday and so I would have to wait patiently to go home. Not going to happen. I bought my flights through STA travel company (really good student deals if you haven't already discovered it!) and so was warned of all the charges that would be incurred if I decided to change by flight. But, last weekend, as a further attempt at procrastination I phoned Delta... After battling with trying to get my individual flight code ("sorry was that 'b' for 'ball' or 'p' for 'paul'") I was eventually put through to a lovely Delta lady who announced that my flight could be changed for the bargain price of $60 and not the $300 that various websites had been threatening. I was so excited. I immediately began preparing my surprise trip home during which I would ring on the doorbell and my unsuspecting sister would answer and scream and shout and there'd be tears of joy... or something along those lines. But as you can probably guess by the fact that I'm publishing this on the internet I fessed up. I got far too excited and bbmed the mother within minutes.. I love surprises, it's a shame I'm not very good at them. I will no longer have to wait an extra two days in an empty residence halls - I will finish my exams next friday, pack and the next morning jump on a bus, Boston bound and then on a plane to good ol' blighty. 

Anyway's I'm telling you this random story because it's the first time that I've ever had a successful experience with an airline. I know I haven't flown yet and this blog is blatantly going to jinx everything (touchwood!) but I have been so impressed with Delta airlines that I feel I should share and advertise (/procrastinate a bit longer from this gigantic essay). Although the plane was a bit scruffy and the super-duper American air hostesses were just a tad annoying on my flight over, the entertainment, the food, the constant drink top ups, everything was pretty damn good. They even managed to switch around a few other passengers so that Emily and I could sit together. 

I've had a fair few experiences of crossing the Atlantic, in fact to date I've gone back and forth around 10 times; not bad considering I'm only 19! Anyways, in the past the vast majority of my transatlantic trips have been horrifying. On one occasion I was lost. As in they physically lost me. Yep. My parents paid for me to fly unaccompanied minor (as I was only 12) to be transported to all my flights from Virginia to Washington to London and to safely cross the Atlantic and the mean man lost me. They then lost my ticket and it was only after turning on the waterworks that I was allowed onto my flight*. I've battled flights during tropical storms and a hurricane or two, I've been pulled aside on nearly every occasion to be searched and my baggage has been lost for days on end. So I'm hoping that my luck has changed and that my transatlantic crossing is care free.  Snow, Volcanoes, incompetent travel assistants... nothing will stop be getting back to mulled wine and mince pies. 

*Delta are good but never ever ever ever ever ever fly United. Ever. 

The Bear Bell

So I know that I have been very, very silent for over a week and it is because I have steadily been drowning in my piles of work. I know, I know "that old excuse" but in true Molly Fletcher style I have left things slightly last minute and have thus got to complete a 6,000 words essay by Monday, a 1,500 word essay by next Friday, and somehow squeeze in some extra time to revise for those infamous finals. Oh the joys. But I am sure that you are not reading to hear about my boring Uni torments so I will tell you a story...

Several years ago I went on a camping holiday with my parents and my sister by the Okefenokee Swamp in the heart of Georgia. Yes you did read that correctly I, Molly Fletcher did go camping and Yes that is its real name. Obviously we did only go there so that we could say Okefenokee at the end of every sentence - "lets put up the tents" "Okefenokee", it never got old! Anyways it was absolutely beautiful. We rented a boat and went out onto the swamp where we saw hundreds (I literally mean hundreds) of alligators and turtles and all sorts of other cool creatures that you can't find in England. I highly recommend a trip if you happen to be in the area.

Onwards with the story. Asides from alligators, my parents had also warned my sister and I about bears. There were signs all around the camp site warning people to lock away all food in their cars and there were even bear-proof bins where we had to put any waste. As a precaution, my delightful father also informed my sister and I that it was Georgia State Law to carry special 'bear bells' when walking around the camp, especially at night. And so, of course, we wandered around shaking our bear bells completely oblivious to the strange looks/angry-for-disturbing-the-peace looks coming from the other happy campers and the fact that none of them were doing the same. Yep you guessed it, after two days we turned around to find the parents in absolute fits of hysterics at our gullibility. There wasn't really a threat of bears in such a busy area and I know there are some strange laws in America but wearing a bear bell is sadly not one of them.

From that day on it was a common story at the supper table in which both parents took great delight in humiliating both Hebe and I. But the story doesn't stop there. After hearing of my best friend's Izzie's fears of being attacked by a Muntjac (a small, and apparently vicious, deer) at her school my parents handed over the bell. Izzie no longer walked the creepy woodland path back to her dorm room at school in fear - she had her muntjac bell!

Daddy and his Bear/Muntjac/Taliban Bell

But no, the story doesn't stop there. In 2008 my dad was deployed to Afghanistan for the first of two six month tours and before he left Izzie returned the bell; it was now a Taliban Bell. Yes, I understand a bright, yellow, jingly bell probably wasn't the best deterrent but it was the thought that counts! AND it worked, he came back safe and sound and all in one piece so thank you mighty bear bell.

Anyways the reason that I am telling you this story is because while I'm here writing this blog the very same bear bell that you can see in the picture is hanging up behind me. So far it has been an earthquake, hurricane, tornado, snowstorm and now, ridiculous-work-load-bell. Don't fail me now!