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MaryJayne - MaryJayne Zemer

I am a wanderer. A life-long tourist. I seek to satiate my desire to conquer and accomplish. I crave new places, new worlds to discover, and little niches within them to call my own. I love the rhythm of ocean tides and long to experience the awe inspiring unseen sights of distant lands. Wherever I travel, I capture a sunrise as souvenir.

I've seen the morning dawn rise above the French alps in Chambery, night turn into day in the deserts outside Cairo, and watched the sun emerge from beyond the horizon on the shores of Mazatlan. Now, I'm a 21-year old graduate student at the University of Sheffield in Sheffield, England; and this is an account of my endeavor to make this new world home and find my sunrise.

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Joined on: September 24th 2007
Last Login: August 18th 2008

Blog Entries: 10
Photos: 15

TB Code: [blogger=48474]
Status: BLOGGER

Blogs & Travel Journals

by MaryJayne, order by Date newest first.

By MaryJayne
January 7th 2008

Touristy Eyes

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London

Sheffield Carousel

My baby sister came to visit for Christmas and we showed off Sheffield with pride. We took her to the dog races, indulged in 'cute' novelties in the grocery store by buying common American items which appear here in miniature form, brought her to our favorite pub and did a cider taste test, fed her Cadbury's (which tastes nothing like American Cadbury), rode the trams, took photos in the red phone booths, shopped on the cobbled streets in the city centre, rode the carousel. She helped decorate out little tree with little british decorations. We took her to York and [View Full Entry]

By MaryJayne
December 10th 2007

A Late Night Walk Home

Europe » United Kingdom » England » South Yorkshire » Sheffield

I find the lines between rudeness and consideration, politeness and honesty are often effected by a random astigmatism. It's often unclear to me whether I should be polite or truly honest. When is honesty more honorable then consideration and when does consideration mean honesty and when does it mean giving affirmation in place in uncertainty? In moments when my decisiveness fails me, I wonder, do other people have this same dilemma? I fear I may be alone in this ineptitude, at least here in England where British Politeness has been a national staple since before southern hospitality or h [View Full Entry]

By MaryJayne
November 15th 2007

Off To The races

Europe » United Kingdom » England » South Yorkshire » Sheffield

Picking A Winner
Johnnie mulling over the puppies' stats, trying prove his skill at calling the race against the odds.

This week we ventured to the races, the dog races that is. I had feared the event would be a real horror. Turns out, the greyhounds don’t chase a real rabbit like they sometimes do in illegal American dog racing. The rabbit at the track here is actually made from the satin-ish vinyl of windsocks the world over. It was quite cute actually with its little pretend white ears and little puffy white tail all connected by what looked like a bright orange jumper. Imagine a little white rabbit in a jumper outrunning a pack of professional racing dogs and you’ve [View Full Entry]

By MaryJayne
November 9th 2007

Walgreens

Europe » United Kingdom » England » South Yorkshire » Sheffield

The expatriate lifestyle, I am finding, begins with a difficult acquisition period. This acquisition found my teddy bear and I hiding under the covers from the rays of moon and street lamp filtering in through the closed blinds. I started to get a wee bit of a headache just before bed. I took my last two Excedrin Migraine and instead of the slow yet steady relief that usually follows, I was hit with a flashflood of a migraine. The kind of migraine that splits my head like raging waters though a droughted town’s main street- overturning cars and morphing two story [View Full Entry]

By MaryJayne
November 7th 2007

Where Is All The Romanticalness?

Europe » United Kingdom » England » South Yorkshire » Sheffield

Sheffield isn’t quite as romantic as I had originally anticipated. I had this idyllic fantasy that living abroad would provide me with an ample abundance of new material for creative expression. In my unconscious mind, the life of an expatriate was somehow associated with Henry James and Hemingway and literary greatness. While I have achieved a literary focus and have begun producing work that I am genuinely proud of, it is primarily of my past experiences that I am writing. I have found that my past experiences fit into a larger life context and offer me the advantages of hindsight and [View Full Entry]

By MaryJayne
October 16th 2007

City Streets

Europe » United Kingdom » England » South Yorkshire » Sheffield

I stood in the bathroom this morning, blinded by the blaring morning light, staring squinty-eyed at what once had been the scents of the glorious city streets. The scent of meat-filled flaky layered pastry crusts rising from lunchioners lounging against park benches. The expelled mentholated smoke of so many long, warm, sweet, and savory guilty drags. Petrol fumes emitted by the little compacts and delivery vans evading the hustle and bustle of the pedestrian walkways. The odor of bodies packed at street corners waiting for a signal to cross- perfumes, lipids, lotions, sweat .The scent of autu [View Full Entry]

By MaryJayne
October 4th 2007

From A to Zed

Europe » United Kingdom » England » South Yorkshire » Sheffield

Yesterday a Taxi driver asked me where I was from. Upon hearing that I’m from the United States he remarked that I must have been here a while as my American accent wasn’t very pronounced. I haven’t tried to adopt the accent, but I have found that my tone and pitch have altered slightly. I’ve been ending my sentences in a higher note and my garbage can has somehow become a bin. The elevator has turned into a lift, the tv a telly, cookies and crackers have both become biscuits, the letter Z is now said Zed, and cheers has become [View Full Entry]

By MaryJayne
October 3rd 2007

The Tragic Fate Of A British Pint

Europe » United Kingdom » England » South Yorkshire » Sheffield

Sitting at a table on the outdoor patio of one of Sheffield University’s Student Union pubs, fenced in by a shoulder height hedge of lush greenery, I observed an interesting sight. Empty pints, seated in a disheveled manner atop the hedge. I paused mid-sentence. I had been discussing America’s level of environmental awareness with a friend who had come up from London to visit my boyfriend and I here in Sheffield for the weekend. He was under the impression that Americans didn’t recycle. I had already conceded that no where in America would I be able to find an apartment as [View Full Entry]

By MaryJayne
October 1st 2007

Sticker Shock

Europe » United Kingdom » England » South Yorkshire » Sheffield

I’m surprised by the number of foreigners here in Sheffield. I expected to be one of the few students from abroad. I had this idea in mind of me being the sexy American girl- interesting, adventurous, exotic. Here, I’m just another foreigner though. One of the only Americans, but still just a foreigner. Just one more person converting currency and measurements. My mental currency conversions have left me shocked. I found myself in complete disbelief at the grocery store this week. Everything here has roughly the same numeric price as items to back in the U.S.- except tha [View Full Entry]

By MaryJayne
October 1st 2007

The Adventure Begins

Europe » United Kingdom » England » South Yorkshire » Sheffield

I moved to England this week to begin a new and exciting adventure- Graduate School. I always start new travel adventures with a new notebook. There’s just something about a new journal, they’re like freshly sharpened pencils- they have to be used, just like adventures have to be recorded. I always choose the same journal. A black quad-ruled Moleskin. Moleskins are the legendary journals of choice for famous artisans around the world. They come with this little note card in them that drops the names of the past artists who wrote only in Moleskin notebook, artists that committed [View Full Entry]

TravelBlog » MaryJayne