This Is The Story Of A Girl

Once upon a time, a college senior began the process of applying to graduate programs.  She was looking for programs in English, as well as a few in theater -- since, apparently, she just couldn't stop herself -- programs that would build on her love of literature, theater, and all things Shakespeare.  Someone, she stumbled upon a description of a M.A. program at University College London, a one year program, Shakespeare in History.  Well, that seemed just perfect.  She'd just spent most of college and the better part of that year studying [read: being a little to invested in to be entirely normal] Shakespeare.  What could be a better program choice?

Of course, there were some concerns.  She'd never been to England before or lived abroad for that long.  Her study abroad [a whole other story you'd certainly rather be spared] hadn't given her the brightest outlook on living abroad either.  But she figured, "What the heck."  She decided to apply, and if she got into UCL's Shakespeare program, well maybe that was a sign that academia was the way to go.  [Ignoring, somehow, that whatever programs she did or did not end up in wouldn't have necessarily been a sign of anything, except maybe impending confusion.]

Luck, fate, and a few happenstances later, she found herself accepting a place at UCL to spend a year studying Shakespeare.  And with a few more incidents and happenstances [and a few instances of blind panic] along the way [which I will probably have the decency to spare you], she has now found herself in England.  [She said, using the passive voice, as if she were swallowed by a whale and didn't, you know, intentionally fly here or something.  Anyway...]

And so begins the story of the year Kelsey Ridge lived in London and studied Shakespeare.