have kindly sponsored

Finally I am connected to the internet at home. It is so nice to be able to write this article in my front room instead of gambling on an open computer at my school or trekking through the cold and rain to college. I have been trying to get connected here for about two months and in the process crashed my computer completely twice. Now it is up and running though I must say, it is not the computer I remember and love. For some reason my display shows everything at ten times its magnification. And it will only allow 16-colours so everything, especially on the internet, looks blocky and well frankly ugly.

But I do not care! And to celebrate, as my first endeavor, I am writing this column.

This past weekend we all celebrated the 25th birthday of a close friend. He has more friends than you can imagine. At least 20 of us met up at All Bar One in the West End and then all of us, if you believe it, managed to get into one curry house, and then off again to another bar. Gareth and I had not seen some of the people there for years so it was a lot of fun. People kept coming up to congratulate us on our engagement and I have to admit, it was really exciting. I suppose that may sound silly, but there it is. I can not help it. It is so nice to be back with in London, with all my friends, and especially with Gareth. To state it plainly, I am very happy.

This week is my last in college before I return home for Christmas in two weeks. Can you believe it has already been three months since I have been back in London? Next week I am back at my teaching practice school for three days and then I am off! I am very excited to see my family and friends as I am sure you can imagine. Besides celebrating the holidays, it will be the most concentrated dose of wedding planning ever attempted. I know you are all jealous at the thought of me being dragged around 24-hours a day for three weeks straight and if I could take each and every one of you along, believe me, I would.

6 December 1999,

Stacie Lewis