Six days to go plus my first taste of the NHS!

The countdown continues and only six days remain :(

Not to much to report only that the last few days I've been packing my things to be shipped out Tuesday. Mostly though, I've been spending as much time as I can with my awesome AWESOME friends, Kerry and Naomi. They're rather adamant about getting out of pictures for me to post, but gosh darn it, I'm determined! At least Naomi got a few pictures in when I was invited down to her home a few months back, but I still need to get Kerry! Kerry, if you're reading this, be warned!!!!

But anyway, a few days ago (okay, more than a few... like last Monday) I got my first taste of the UK's National Health Service, or NHS (no, not the National Honors Society, that's for US High Schools...). It wasn't anything serious, just that my knee had been bothering me for a few weeks and I finally gave in and decided it was time to get it checked out. So anyway, back to the story, the NHS is amazing! For those of you who are unfamiliar, the NHS offers free health service to anyone in the country, including foreign students. You just walk right in, register with the doctor (which, rather alarming, though, doesn't even require a valid ID) and away you go, no co-payment or anything! It's really amazing that anyone and everyone has access to free health care.

Although the NHS gets a lot of hike about having bad doctors, the ones on campus were great. After a very educational discussion with my doctor, I came out with a bad case of runners knee (google it if you're curious) which was causing me a fair bit of pain and worry. Unfortunately, while I normally would have been referred directly to a physiotherapist for some helpful exercises to strengthen my knee, since I was leaving, I just kind of have to grin and bear it (and google those helpful exercies). The good news is that it's slowing but surely on the mend and it should be fine for my last big trip to Greece with my folks next week!