First Impressions Part A

Its been a week and a day since I moved here to Writtle and everything has gone better than expected. I believe I was still smarting from the debacle that was my Visa application and once that was sorted out everything else seemed to fall into place. My plane ride over was really nice but I think I psyched myself out of sleep when the whole time I was trying to psych myself into sleep. I had a nightmare of a plane ride from L.A. to New Zealand, 14 hours, of me sitting in between Jamey on one side and a family of four on the other. The whole 14 hours i just stared at Jamey who was soft asleep in slumber land and I wondered why i couldnt reach that point. When I finally arrived to New Zealand I was so jetlagged I was slurring my words and coming down with strange infections. All I can say is the kiwis have got the whole socialized medicine thing under control. But I digress. The plane ride into London was actually pretty spectacular. We arrived in London just as the sun was coming up over the horizon and it cast an orange and red morning glow over the city. We flew over the Tower of London and the ferris wheel thing, all of which were still lit from the evening before so it was this beautiful light show from the sky and from the city. It was quite and introduction. I've never really been excited to visit London, I have to confess. Nothing about the whole cliche europe trip ever convinced me that I should visit. When I flew over I did get this moment of excitement however, realizing that I will again have the privilege to see some of the most beautiful architecture in the world. I have been lucky to travel and see some beautiful things but I've never seen those wonders of the world type things like the Tower of London, or Great Pyramids or the Taj Mahal etc... I figured I would save those trips for when I'm 80 and Jamey and I are wearing matching terry cloth jogging suits and we visit the Parthenon on a diesel bus and we have to turn our hearing aids way up to drown out the city noises. For some reason I think this is the best way to see the wonders of the world and while I'm young I should stick to underdeveloped and depressed countries with ineffective and difficult governments.

Anyway, England is good. I arrived and sat through 3 hours of immigration, which was smelly and in the basement of Heathrow and amazingly slow. I then decided to haul 100+ bags of luggage on the Tube, half asleep. Then, on random peoples suggestions I went to the street and hailed a cab to the train station. When I hailed the cab a nice gentleman got out and made several references about how I must be crazy to be carrying all this around in mid town London during rush hour but then ushered me into his cab. I still had my back pack on and as i stepped into the back of the cab the top of my pack caught the low roof of the car and knocked me backwards onto the sidewalk something to the effect of an upside down turtle, flailing and kicking in the middle of the busy city sidewalk as I struggled to right myself and appear cool and collected. Did this really just happen? I asked myself a million times. Hello London, Kate Lynch is here. Long and painful story short, i made it to the train that would take me to my final destination, 100+ pounds of luggage and all.

I am staying temporarily with woman who has been renting rooms in her house to students for over 9 years. Her father was one of the original graduates of Writtle College in the 1930s. She is a gardner and general lover of the land. She has free roaming chickens in the backyard and grows her own veggies. My room is a good size and will suit me fine until I find a permanent place somewhere in the larger town of Chelmsford. Until then I am biting my cuticles and hangnails trying to figure out how to get an 80 pound hound dog to the UK without paying my lifes fortune away. One scheme involves Paris, trains, ferries and rented cars. We'll see about that.

As for traffic here, I am still adjusting to looking the correct way when i cross the street. I will be surprised if I dont get my foot run over sometime in the near future. Most of the time I cross the street and I am confused and experiencing mini panic attacks inside about which way the cars should be coming but I appear calm and collected on the outside, which is all that matters right? And I definitely think that cat that lives here has a british meow. I swear, its different.

I've taken some pics around town, not much so far because i have slow internet connection but this should give you an idea of where I am. Love to you all....

Chelmsford Cathedral

down the street in Writtle

one of our gardens at school

our froggy pond at school

one of the only pubs in town, pretty flowers!

Thank You Mr. Kennedy

As an AmeriCorps Alumnus, specifically and proudly an AmeriCorps Cape Cod Alumnus, I want to pay my respects to Ted Kennedy. While I was serving in AmeriCorps in 2002 and 2003 our funding for our program and other programs in Massachusetts were threatened and may have been cut if not for the ardent support and belief in AmeriCorps from Mr. Kennedy. We received the funding for the following year and just this past May AmeriCorps Cape Cod celebrated its 10 year anniversary. We were lucky to have the lion of the senate on our side. While the funding for AmeriCorps was debated across the country, Ted Kennedy held a rally in Boston for support of the AC programs and a few of us traveled up to the city to hear him speak. He was a sincere and charismatic speaker and I am lucky to have been in such a great event with him for a great cause dear to my heart.

On September 11th this year my dad and I visited Arlington Cemetery to pay our respects to the Kennedy's but especially to Ted in light of his recent passing.

We should be so grateful for his time and his amazing courage to his convictions and fighting for the dispossessed and under served. He often made speeches about privilege and responsibility and how his public service was his way of giving back. He was born into wealth and privilege but was a true politician for the people and i think we will all miss him very much. Well maybe not everyone, but I sure will.

our AmeriCorps crew kicks ass, still. Some of us but not all of us stopped carrying axes around.

In honor of the September 11th victims of the Pentagon we also traveled to the memorial on the grounds outside of the building. My dad lost a friend and colleague that worked with him at Dulles Airport for many years. It was tough to stand in this place of loss and destruction but i thought the memorial was beautiful and stark and a simple tribute to the people that lost their lives. Here are some of the pictures from that day.

Speaking of loss, I would like us all to take a moment to say goodbye to something dear to my heart. My Chacos. What are Chacos some of you may ask? Well they are amazing all terrain sandals. Not convinced they need to be mourned? And what happened to your sandals Kate? Well, I bought my Chacos in college and they were purple and now they are this sickly gray color. I wore them religiously on every trek and travel overseas, every jaunt through a stinky sulfur swamp and into every body of water you could think of. And now, 3 years after they started to stink and 1 year after they started to really really really stink, its time to let them go. They are dead but not forgotten. 80 bucks well spent. 8 years together and now we must part.

Dont worry, I will be recycling them in the Chaco recycling program and sending them off to some town in Africa where a young boy will wear them and then he will be made fun of for stinking just as I was. I am happy to make this child's life better. I put African kids first.

And on to simpler matters; I received a "refusal of visa" from the UK Consulate in LA because I had the wrong paperwork from my school. Long story short the immigration rules changed mid application and preparation for entry and so I got the old stuff and the immigration officers wanted the new stuff and I paid. But after a brief meltdown I finally reapplied and was issued my Visa yesterday. Immigration paperwork is really fun. I have been doing it since May. I am now an expert. Please consult me if you have any immigration questions. And no, I don't agree with Joe Wilson, Obama's health care will not cover the guys waiting at 7-11 for a full work day.

I am leaving on Sunday for England thus ends months of immigration issues, until next year tier 4 student visa officers, I simply can not wait.

And for good measure, here is a picture of Alfie trying to wake up in the morning. He has trouble, he's a sleepy hound dog from Arkansas. Life is tough....