Well, I have successfully made my way to Manchester, England. I am staying at the lovely home of Sue, one of the people who will be interviewing me this coming week. She is director of the program to which I've applied. It feels like home here. They have been so nice to me. Sue and Nick, her husband (who shares my birthday) have two children; Annie, aged 10 and Tom, aged 14. They have a dog named Simpson, who is so calm; such a contrast to our rambuctious Licorice. Yesterday, me, Sue and Annie went to the mall. It was fun! Tomorrow, Sue and I are going into the office and I will do some volunteering.

The interview will be on Tuesday for two of us, and then I believe the third person has hers on Wednesday and then they will make a decision by Thursday. Then, I will either be staying here in Manchester, or going back to America.

While mostly everything is fine and dandy here, I did have to go to the doctor for a skin infection. It's so gross - I've got impetigo. It all started from a cut on the back of my neck and then it got infected. I got some antibiotic cream and if that doesn't clear it up then I have to go back for some pills. Yucko puey.

Jason was really nice to me before I left Belfast. Knowing that I was having a rough time with the drama about Ronan, work and moving country, he invited me over the night before I was scheduled to leave. Before we walked into his room, he stopped and said, 'this is the last night I'm going to see you' and when I replied, 'yes', he opened the door and I couldn't believe what I saw. I swear to God, it was possibly the most romantic thing I've ever experienced. He had fixed the room up such that there were candles lit in the four corners. Music was playing in the background and well, I nearly burst into tears. Anyhow, you get the idea....

The real knight in shining armour bit comes the next night, though, when I turned up at his house with all my luggage b/c I couldn't get on the plane. Once me and my stuff were safely inside, I did burst into tears and went on about Ronan, and the plane, and easyjet and the taxi driver and blah blah blah. Anyhow, he listened and helped calm me down and let me lie down in his bed (while he was in the living room, people!), carried my stuff upstairs and let me keep more than half of it at his place. Oh and most importantly, he bought me pizza and chips! ;-)