Home life is in stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of working eighteen-day stretches at Helly Hansen without a day off. It's hard to stay busy when there is seemingly nothing to do but this has been my general schedule. I wake up around 9 or 10AM (impressive for me), eat, watch tv, go to some doctor appointment, watch more tv, annoy my dog for some attention, possibly go on a short excursion, and wait for my mom to get home from work. After dinner in the gloomy nighttime hours when I might normally be socializing, I force myself to jump on this thing.

Yes. Say what you will, but the 20-30 minutes I spend on it eases my growing insanity. It's only a short stretch I have to endure at home and it's not all bad; I enjoy having a stocked fridge, free food, zero time constraints. The hardest thing for me is recovering from the best summer I've ever had, constantly surrounded by 6 of my favorite people at Georgetown.

Some of you probably think I should be proactive about this whole boredom thing and I agree. Yes, be proactive. Following my 5-month stint posing as an outdoorsy girl at Helly Hansen, I decided to rough it a little bit. I discovered that Henry W. Coe State Park, only a short drive from my house, is the largest state park in Northen California. I picked out a hike to do with a friend and got psyched. Then I heard sirens one day and saw billowing smoke clouds, signs of the 18,000-acre fire that's expected to burn at least 30,000 acres before it's contained.

Despite the fire and lack of plans, the downtime of home has caused to me to finally get excited about London. Was I excited before? Barely. Did I once tell you that I was? Probably. I lied. I can't wait to step outside my building and see city streets ripe for exploration. I can't wait to be able to walk somewhere. I can't wait until I'm not constantly available. There are still 23 days until my departure from the U.S. Sigh. Until then, I hope that I can come to terms with the fact that my friends' lives are up and running like mine would have been if I was at Georgetown. In the meantime, find me in the garage on the bike... sweating out the frustration.

Also, skype skype skype. I skyped for the first time with my high school friend who is studying in Australia and the video and sound quality are top notch (fo' frizzle!). Download skype or prepare to sacrifice our friendship/family relation for a year. I'm kidding... kind of.