Posts
I'm on the train to Scotland again. This time I'm going to visit a couple who live up past Edinburgh. I met them because of Caitlin, who visited them last year, and we've been emailing back and forth since I got the first email from Bill! I'm very excited, both to meet them and to see a part of Scotland I wouldn't otherwise see.
Lessee, so what's gone on since last entry? I wrote that on the way to Scotland, too. After we got back from Scotland, Adam and I met dad in London, which was fun! We were there Friday to Sunday. On Friday, we went and saw Wicked, which was, well, wicked! I'm not sure dad and Adam had as much fun as I did, and it was different than I was expecting. See, I have every song from Wicked memorized (but one) but rather thought there was more to the musical than just the music, but it turns out it's mostly music! That's alright with me, but it does throw you off at first when people keep breaking into song every few minutes. Once I got used to it though, it was super! The lady who played Elphaba (the Wicked Witch) was a powerhouse alto, and she was great. And we went to dinner after that at the Thai place we went to the first time in London, at my birthday. It was just as good as last time, even if Adam and dad inhaled the pineapple fried rice before I could even taste it! :P I was busy inhaling my curry with jasmine rice, though, so that was alright.
The next day dad accidentally slept late and then went running, and then when he got back we went to the Natural History museum, which if you know me, you know that Natural History museums are like... crack for me. This one is probably the biggest I've ever seen in my life! They had all kinds of stuffed animals- all kinds, from fish to mammals, right through the tree of life in the right order. It was especially cool given that I took Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems this semester, and basically that was what we learned. So I practically bounded about, pointing at things and reading signs and getting way excited, and since we couldn't see all of it we just picked certain things.
There was this really cool exhibit showing a rabbit eating grass and then it died and turned into a skeleton and the flowers bloomed where it'd died. I thought it was awesome, and there was a room that looked like the inside of a plant leaf with all the proper cells and they lit up and a guy on a recording said what all the parts did to turn sunlight into energy. That was cool too! And they had a whole ecosystems part too. We didn't see the dinosaurs cause there was a line longer than Disneyland to see them. There was a whole hall that was closed that had a ton of stuffed mammals, but you could see them through windows in the wall that was closing off the exhibit. It looked pretty impressive, and I'd like to go back and see it when it's open, but I don't recall when they open it back up.
Then that evening we went to this old, old restaurant with super food- I had venison pie and mashed potatoes, and before that we ate smoked salmon. I don't think I've eaten that much since when we did Thanksgiving at Adam's place in Hull. Epic. I think Adam and dad were a little startled at how much I ate, cause I never eat a whole lot, but I mostly demolished that pie. Dad left on Sunday, which was sad, but then Adam and I had to go to the train station and I got some food there and then went home.
Right now, we're skimming along next to the ocean. Right next to the ocean, which is blueblueblue and the sun is shining, and there's no wind. It's gorgeous! I think Bill said we would try and see the coast this weekend, and I do so hope we do. I said this once, but before, on this same track. Where we are now is Berwick-Upon-Tweed and it's maybe the prettiest little town I've ever seen. Once again, I'm wondering if maybe we've gone right from a real world to some writer's world where things are this pretty, or maybe a movie. I see why things are often filmed here.
Anywho, I think we're to Edinburgh sometime soon, and I want to take photos, so I'm gonna post this and get off!
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Friday, February 5, 2010
There and Back Again/To Scotland I Go!
Well, I'm back again. Not without a certain amount of last minute hysteria, but the good news is I got it out of my system at home with dogs to pet on and my mom to hug me and everyone else to be sympathetic.
The weather has been pretty bad, but it's England in the winter, and honestly I missed the worst! Or maybe the best, from my POV, since I LOVE the snow and they had a whole mess of it right after I left. We've had some since then. In fact we had some night before last, so we all went out and played in it and had ourselves a great snowball fight!
Now, let me begin this next adventure by telling you what time I got up this morning. 4:00. Yes, 4:00AM. I'm not even sure why I slept, since really I just laid there pretending for about 3 hours with a bunch of hooligans shouting to high heaven down below my window, but at least I was resting, as my mother would say. So I got up at 4 and got ready to be a thinking human being instead of a human-shaped amoeba blob, and went to catch the taxi with Daniel, Nerea, Edu, and Daniel to the train station where we met lots of other people and boarded the train for Edinburgh! Mostly we've slept the whole way, but then I discovered that unlike the rest of England, Eastern seems to have installed wireless on their trains. Most excellent! So I got on my computer.
Right now we've just stopped at Dunbar, so I don't have too very long, and of course I have no pictures (which is becoming somewhat of a trend, I realize). I looked up from my nap out the window and even though I had my glasses on I thought, "Goodness, that is a dark grey cloud." Then my brain caught up with itself and went, "No, that's a great big OCEAN." This got me all excited, which I think is tangentially related to being landlocked my entire life and only seeing the ocean rarely. I get all excited every time and start going, "Look! Water!" which makes people think I'm absolutely /insane/. Anyway, I quickly woke everyone up to show them my discovery of BIG WATER, and they got all excited, so we all looked insane together.
To put it simply and in no way to do it justice, this is some BEAUTIFUL country I'm seeing out the window. I'd been really emo last semester because I've been told by both of my friends in Scotland that they never want to leave. I'm not sure I'd want to either if this was what I saw every day. Oh my LORD, it's gorgeous. Where we're at right now is wonderfully wide open and flat, which is so nice to see for a change of pace. The weather is absolutely horrid- worse than anything I've seen in Sheffield- but somehow here's Scotland just being all pretty and mysterious, clothed in fog and clouds and the great grey ocean out there looking very cold and more than a bit choppy. Even the best pictures I don't quite think would do this justice. It reminds me a little of when we got to the Andes and I just about flipped out. Except then it was more a matter of Giant Mountain instead of Giant Ocean and it was a different kind of pretty entirely. But I still just wanted to stare at all of it everywhere, and I kept giving myself a headache cause all I did was stare intently out the bus window and try to memorize everything. I don't remember much but a general splendor, though I probably remember more than if I hadn't been trying to memorize everything.
Anyway, me waxing on poetic about mountains and water and things aside, I really am very excited for Edinburgh. Adam says it's a very interesting town, and I can't wait to really honestly use this new camera of mine for pictures that aren't just at get-togethers. I was playing with the different white balances last night and found out it has about 8 different settings JUST for fluorescent lights, and for every one you pick the shade of the light and it balances that out and doesn't turn people like... oompa-loompa orange or whatever the color of the light is. Very neat trick. I think here I will be using the various degrees of "cloudy" it is probably equipped with. I am SO glad I'm staying with Lindsey and not in the drafty church-turned-hostel everyone else is staying in. Besides liking to be warm when I sleep, I get to see one of my friends from home! Yay! Now I just need to make it up to Aberdeen sometime. Oh chore, having to ride on a nice warm train through pretty country. However shall I survive?!
Also I've noticed, typing for about 45 to 50 minutes and playing on my computer for about an hour and a half, that I haven't gotten the slightest bit motion sick. I wonder why that is. I forgot to take my medicine, but it doesn't seem to bother me. Just saw a dog running in a field outside the window. Ooooh, I would love it if the dogs could just see this. I think they'd love England, with the big open fields and all. I see a lot of Border Collies here, and they remind me of my girls. I met one that was just like Abby, little and black and had her fur, but not her fine long face, and I stopped and loved on her and she'd been playing in puddles so I smelled of wet dog the rest of the evening, and I didn't mind. I don't mind the smell of wet dog, like I don't mind the smell of horses in general.
Right, so, we've learned one valuable thing from this entry, haven't we? Besides getting ridiculously sentimental and badly poetic, I wander off in new and interesting directions when I'm tired! Haha. Ya'll take care, I gotta pack up so I can get off the train when we stop!
The weather has been pretty bad, but it's England in the winter, and honestly I missed the worst! Or maybe the best, from my POV, since I LOVE the snow and they had a whole mess of it right after I left. We've had some since then. In fact we had some night before last, so we all went out and played in it and had ourselves a great snowball fight!
Now, let me begin this next adventure by telling you what time I got up this morning. 4:00. Yes, 4:00AM. I'm not even sure why I slept, since really I just laid there pretending for about 3 hours with a bunch of hooligans shouting to high heaven down below my window, but at least I was resting, as my mother would say. So I got up at 4 and got ready to be a thinking human being instead of a human-shaped amoeba blob, and went to catch the taxi with Daniel, Nerea, Edu, and Daniel to the train station where we met lots of other people and boarded the train for Edinburgh! Mostly we've slept the whole way, but then I discovered that unlike the rest of England, Eastern seems to have installed wireless on their trains. Most excellent! So I got on my computer.
Right now we've just stopped at Dunbar, so I don't have too very long, and of course I have no pictures (which is becoming somewhat of a trend, I realize). I looked up from my nap out the window and even though I had my glasses on I thought, "Goodness, that is a dark grey cloud." Then my brain caught up with itself and went, "No, that's a great big OCEAN." This got me all excited, which I think is tangentially related to being landlocked my entire life and only seeing the ocean rarely. I get all excited every time and start going, "Look! Water!" which makes people think I'm absolutely /insane/. Anyway, I quickly woke everyone up to show them my discovery of BIG WATER, and they got all excited, so we all looked insane together.
To put it simply and in no way to do it justice, this is some BEAUTIFUL country I'm seeing out the window. I'd been really emo last semester because I've been told by both of my friends in Scotland that they never want to leave. I'm not sure I'd want to either if this was what I saw every day. Oh my LORD, it's gorgeous. Where we're at right now is wonderfully wide open and flat, which is so nice to see for a change of pace. The weather is absolutely horrid- worse than anything I've seen in Sheffield- but somehow here's Scotland just being all pretty and mysterious, clothed in fog and clouds and the great grey ocean out there looking very cold and more than a bit choppy. Even the best pictures I don't quite think would do this justice. It reminds me a little of when we got to the Andes and I just about flipped out. Except then it was more a matter of Giant Mountain instead of Giant Ocean and it was a different kind of pretty entirely. But I still just wanted to stare at all of it everywhere, and I kept giving myself a headache cause all I did was stare intently out the bus window and try to memorize everything. I don't remember much but a general splendor, though I probably remember more than if I hadn't been trying to memorize everything.
Anyway, me waxing on poetic about mountains and water and things aside, I really am very excited for Edinburgh. Adam says it's a very interesting town, and I can't wait to really honestly use this new camera of mine for pictures that aren't just at get-togethers. I was playing with the different white balances last night and found out it has about 8 different settings JUST for fluorescent lights, and for every one you pick the shade of the light and it balances that out and doesn't turn people like... oompa-loompa orange or whatever the color of the light is. Very neat trick. I think here I will be using the various degrees of "cloudy" it is probably equipped with. I am SO glad I'm staying with Lindsey and not in the drafty church-turned-hostel everyone else is staying in. Besides liking to be warm when I sleep, I get to see one of my friends from home! Yay! Now I just need to make it up to Aberdeen sometime. Oh chore, having to ride on a nice warm train through pretty country. However shall I survive?!
Also I've noticed, typing for about 45 to 50 minutes and playing on my computer for about an hour and a half, that I haven't gotten the slightest bit motion sick. I wonder why that is. I forgot to take my medicine, but it doesn't seem to bother me. Just saw a dog running in a field outside the window. Ooooh, I would love it if the dogs could just see this. I think they'd love England, with the big open fields and all. I see a lot of Border Collies here, and they remind me of my girls. I met one that was just like Abby, little and black and had her fur, but not her fine long face, and I stopped and loved on her and she'd been playing in puddles so I smelled of wet dog the rest of the evening, and I didn't mind. I don't mind the smell of wet dog, like I don't mind the smell of horses in general.
Right, so, we've learned one valuable thing from this entry, haven't we? Besides getting ridiculously sentimental and badly poetic, I wander off in new and interesting directions when I'm tired! Haha. Ya'll take care, I gotta pack up so I can get off the train when we stop!
Friday, January 15, 2010
About Thanksgiving and the Christmas Party
So I'm telling you about Thanksgiving now!
The first one was at my place. I cooked it along with my flatmate, Anneleen, and my other flatmates helped too! But Anneleen did ALL the cutting up of various and sundry everythings. It was A-mazing. I made everything you'd want... sort of. I made dressing and we had chicken instead of Turkey cause I couldn't find any turkey. The chicken was really good. We also had gravy, and sweet potatoes... and rolls. The rolls were alright. Actually they were kind of not, but that's okay because we dipped them in gravy. And everyone who showed up had a good time!
We also had a more traditional Thanksgiving in Hull with my brother and Angie. THAT one was fairly epic. We had a turkey joint and ham (that Angie made) and also pumpkin pie and dressing and gravy and both kinds of potatoes. Adam and I attempted to make the cranberry jello type stuff that has the pecans and orange juice in it, but that was BIG TIME fail. It was SO nasty. At least we tried. And everything else was FANTASTIC. We even decided we should have Yorkshire Puddings with dinner. While not traditionally American, they are very tasty and I wish they had them here. I ate so much I actually thought I was going to explode and that wasn't as good but everything was SO GOOD. Oh Em Gee. And I got to take some pie home! It made good breakfast a couple days. Oh and there was also this stuff Angie made that involved corn and Ritz crackers. It was also yummy! And his flatmate made the most incredible gravy. OH man. And it all tasted so much like home!
Adam and his friends and I also went to Leeds to go to the Christmas Market. It was EPIC. We had mulled wine and German food and they had beer and I bought Lebkuchen and we all had some of that. And we went to a yummy place for dinner called Wagamama or something. Adam came up with approximately 3 different names for it before the night was over.
We also had a Christmas party where we did Secret Santas in our little group in Sheffield. And Douwe made Gluehwein (which is German mulled wine). We handed out presents and then walked around like a lot of kids asking everyone what they got and trying to find our Santas if we didn't know. There was much laughter and we all had so much fun seeing what we all had. People who got amusing things found places to figure out how the worked (or in Attila's case, to play with his Rubik's Cube). I got a little book of Dickens' Christmas stories, which has pretty gilt pages and a ribbon to keep place, and my friend Julie, who was my santa, even wrote a really nice note in the front. I love it and I brought it home so nothing would happen to it! It even has A Christmas Carol in it, which we watch eeeevery Christmas Eve, so it's like... double special.
I also did pub caroling, which was really fun! I didn't get to go to the second one, because I caught a really nasty cold. I brought the cold home with me but it went away in time for Christmas!
And I head back day after tomorrow. I'm really not ready to go, but it's only 5 months and it will be better because I have friends waiting for me and I know where everything is and all. It won't be so bad! I just have to get packed, which is annoying because I'm gonna have to get my mom to ship some stuff! :P At least most of it is usable stuff that will NOT be coming home, or I'd be in big trouble!
The first one was at my place. I cooked it along with my flatmate, Anneleen, and my other flatmates helped too! But Anneleen did ALL the cutting up of various and sundry everythings. It was A-mazing. I made everything you'd want... sort of. I made dressing and we had chicken instead of Turkey cause I couldn't find any turkey. The chicken was really good. We also had gravy, and sweet potatoes... and rolls. The rolls were alright. Actually they were kind of not, but that's okay because we dipped them in gravy. And everyone who showed up had a good time!
We also had a more traditional Thanksgiving in Hull with my brother and Angie. THAT one was fairly epic. We had a turkey joint and ham (that Angie made) and also pumpkin pie and dressing and gravy and both kinds of potatoes. Adam and I attempted to make the cranberry jello type stuff that has the pecans and orange juice in it, but that was BIG TIME fail. It was SO nasty. At least we tried. And everything else was FANTASTIC. We even decided we should have Yorkshire Puddings with dinner. While not traditionally American, they are very tasty and I wish they had them here. I ate so much I actually thought I was going to explode and that wasn't as good but everything was SO GOOD. Oh Em Gee. And I got to take some pie home! It made good breakfast a couple days. Oh and there was also this stuff Angie made that involved corn and Ritz crackers. It was also yummy! And his flatmate made the most incredible gravy. OH man. And it all tasted so much like home!
Adam and his friends and I also went to Leeds to go to the Christmas Market. It was EPIC. We had mulled wine and German food and they had beer and I bought Lebkuchen and we all had some of that. And we went to a yummy place for dinner called Wagamama or something. Adam came up with approximately 3 different names for it before the night was over.
We also had a Christmas party where we did Secret Santas in our little group in Sheffield. And Douwe made Gluehwein (which is German mulled wine). We handed out presents and then walked around like a lot of kids asking everyone what they got and trying to find our Santas if we didn't know. There was much laughter and we all had so much fun seeing what we all had. People who got amusing things found places to figure out how the worked (or in Attila's case, to play with his Rubik's Cube). I got a little book of Dickens' Christmas stories, which has pretty gilt pages and a ribbon to keep place, and my friend Julie, who was my santa, even wrote a really nice note in the front. I love it and I brought it home so nothing would happen to it! It even has A Christmas Carol in it, which we watch eeeevery Christmas Eve, so it's like... double special.
I also did pub caroling, which was really fun! I didn't get to go to the second one, because I caught a really nasty cold. I brought the cold home with me but it went away in time for Christmas!
And I head back day after tomorrow. I'm really not ready to go, but it's only 5 months and it will be better because I have friends waiting for me and I know where everything is and all. It won't be so bad! I just have to get packed, which is annoying because I'm gonna have to get my mom to ship some stuff! :P At least most of it is usable stuff that will NOT be coming home, or I'd be in big trouble!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
I am dooooone til after Christmas!
Here in England, we have finals after Christmas, which is very annoying. The good news, however, is that I only have 3 and I have 3 weeks when I get back to study. Also, I have finished everything I need to do before leaving except writing out a source page for my Ecology essay, and of course printing the silly thing. Hoorah. I thought of something terribly amusing and relevant this morning when we were sitting down in the History auditorium to do some history learning, but I've now forgotten it, of course. It was something they do differently here that blows my mind, but as I can think of several things off the top of my head (leggings... in freezing weather. Leggings!) I can't remember what exactly it was. Never fear! I shall write it down next time I remember it, as I do remember I've had that thought before.
And now back to our regularly scheduled update programming. When we last left our heroine, she had celebrated a fantastic birthday with her friends. Our fearless heroine was then emailed by her even more super-powered mother, who said, "Didn't you do anything /else/ for your birthday?" by which she really meant, "Why didn't you mention London?!" But fear not, o readers (and mom!), for this is a story told in parts! Of course I didn't forget London, you silly.
So AFTER that fantastic party with my friends, I had school the rest of the week (boo to that) and then it was time to leave for London! I was soooo excited! I took the train down and met my brother at the station, and we walked to mom and dad's hotel (which was a government building, in a previous life). That room was HUGE. It had a real bathroom, with a real tub and a real shower. And a really comfortable bed. Adam and I walked in, said hi to our parents with hugs all around, and then noticed the bowl of fruit on the coffee table. I think I said, "Oh, fruit!" while Adam made a beeline over. Without barely even taking off our bags, we were on that fruit like bees on honey (to continue the analogy). It was also very tasty. Then we went to the little bar downstairs and my mom and I shared a drink and my dad and brother had a beer and um... a diet coke? respectively. We went to dinner later at a REALLY GOOD Thai restaurant where my mother learned what we're speaking of when we say, "British customer service" ie, the waiter never came (although they often do in Sheffield, so it may be a city difference) but the food was fantastic. Then we went back and hung out in the lounge, not the bar, and got on facebook on their computer and just had a good time, and then went to bed. First there was an utterly hysterical interlude which I unfortunately failed to capture on camera where my mom and Adam tried valiantly to put together a bed for him out of all the couch cushions which were cut to fit the couch. It was like watching two people try to put together an oversized tangram, and it was pretty silly. But they did eventually succeed (although it took like... a half hour.) while I giggled myself to death.
The next day we went to the Tower of London, which was sweet! It's all old and imposing and there's loads of ancient graffiti carved all over the place, and people LIVE there! Yeah! And they have the Tower ravens, of course. They take good care of those birds, I tell you what. They've got their own aerie type space and they're fed regularly. You'd want them to stay too, since legend has it when they leave the Tower will fall down. There was also a guy doing a Henry the... Ok, I don't even know that it was Henry, but whatever, he was all dressed up and there was another guy dressed as a someone-else. Anyway, he was in this room they had done up like the King's bedroom. It was really funny, because he was talking to the audience and being all poncy and then he said something to a guy who was entering and the man answered with a Scottish accent. So of course then the "King" had to say something about the Scottish and it was really quite amusing if you were there. I think I have video. Someday I promise to make a post with just pictures and videos since I haven't put any in the past couple emails.
That night was Lion King! EEEEE it was amazing and astounding and the opening scene made me cry it was so lovely and EEE! I almost think that's all that can be said, because words just can't describe the wonderfulness that was Lion King. And we had EXCELLENT seats. And afterwards we went to the Texas Cantina, which is just down from the Texan Embassy, or what used to be the Texas Embassy when they were a country. They had Tex Mex, which was good. I had a chimichanga. MMMMM. I miss my Mexican food!
The next day we went to the London Museum. It was epic! I got to geek out about all my favorite history things, all of which seem to be contained in that one museum. I saw what they have on display of the brand new and shiny Staffordshire Hoard (not new as in... new, but new as in just discovered. Really it's quite old). I'd like to take a moment here to say something to Megan, who I'm sure is reading this: I saw it first! Neener neener neener! But we're gonna go see it again, I'm excited! -End note. We also saw the Sutton Hoo Ship Burial stuff, which is just incredible. It amazes me that they made such intricate, beautiful works of functional art with no power tools. Just amazing. I'm sure my pictures don't do justice, but I sure did try.
Then we went and had pizza for dinner and the next morning we went to Westminster, where we saw lots of dead buried people (just kidding, most of them are really important dead buried people) and there was a stone for Jane Austen, and one for Shakespeare, and one for Darwin. I wish we could have taken pictures, but of course it's a church so you can't. Then it was time to go, and I think that was even harder than leaving Albuquerque, so of course I'm dreading the leaving Albuquerque part the second time around. It was like I was back at square one with the homesickness. My flatmate came to check on me because I'd been sniveling in my room for about 30 minutes solid when I got home. Somehow there's something pitiful about a 22 year old sobbing that she misses her family to a 19 year old who is trying to reassure her it'll all be okay. And I was miserable for about 2 days and then I got over it and moved on with life and since then have had loads of fun! Loads and loads and loads! We've had Thanksgiving (twice!) and I've been hanging out with lots of my friends as all of us realized that we'd not see each other for a whole month. I'm even mostly okay with coming back, because I'll have friends and everyone has already promised to keep me busy enough that I don't get homesick, and if I do get homesick, my flatmates all care and they make sure I'm okay too. We all take care of each other really well over here.
But I can't believe this year is technically half done! Well, I mean, it's actually half done in February (really annoying) and then we've got that silly MONTH of Easter Break (I'd rather have a week and go home sooner) but mostly, it's technically half done. I have been in England for over 3 months. I've been homesick, physically sick (not anymore!), and I've probably had to deal with some of the most difficult emotional garbage I've ever had to deal with in my life. But as they say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and I like to think I'm somewhat stronger for having dealt with it all even though I really just wanted to give up and go home for the first 3 weeks. I think it may make the homesickness period during second semester shorter, though I know it'll still be there. But hey, I have survived, and I've had fun! And that's what's important. New experiences don't have to be scary, threatening things.
And now I have to go because I have to start packing some things and I have Pub Caroling at 6:30, and it's already 4:14. The next update will be about Thanksgiving, but it'll be over Christmas break (yes, time is out of joint. Thank you, Hamlet.)
This time next week I'll be home!
And now back to our regularly scheduled update programming. When we last left our heroine, she had celebrated a fantastic birthday with her friends. Our fearless heroine was then emailed by her even more super-powered mother, who said, "Didn't you do anything /else/ for your birthday?" by which she really meant, "Why didn't you mention London?!" But fear not, o readers (and mom!), for this is a story told in parts! Of course I didn't forget London, you silly.
So AFTER that fantastic party with my friends, I had school the rest of the week (boo to that) and then it was time to leave for London! I was soooo excited! I took the train down and met my brother at the station, and we walked to mom and dad's hotel (which was a government building, in a previous life). That room was HUGE. It had a real bathroom, with a real tub and a real shower. And a really comfortable bed. Adam and I walked in, said hi to our parents with hugs all around, and then noticed the bowl of fruit on the coffee table. I think I said, "Oh, fruit!" while Adam made a beeline over. Without barely even taking off our bags, we were on that fruit like bees on honey (to continue the analogy). It was also very tasty. Then we went to the little bar downstairs and my mom and I shared a drink and my dad and brother had a beer and um... a diet coke? respectively. We went to dinner later at a REALLY GOOD Thai restaurant where my mother learned what we're speaking of when we say, "British customer service" ie, the waiter never came (although they often do in Sheffield, so it may be a city difference) but the food was fantastic. Then we went back and hung out in the lounge, not the bar, and got on facebook on their computer and just had a good time, and then went to bed. First there was an utterly hysterical interlude which I unfortunately failed to capture on camera where my mom and Adam tried valiantly to put together a bed for him out of all the couch cushions which were cut to fit the couch. It was like watching two people try to put together an oversized tangram, and it was pretty silly. But they did eventually succeed (although it took like... a half hour.) while I giggled myself to death.
The next day we went to the Tower of London, which was sweet! It's all old and imposing and there's loads of ancient graffiti carved all over the place, and people LIVE there! Yeah! And they have the Tower ravens, of course. They take good care of those birds, I tell you what. They've got their own aerie type space and they're fed regularly. You'd want them to stay too, since legend has it when they leave the Tower will fall down. There was also a guy doing a Henry the... Ok, I don't even know that it was Henry, but whatever, he was all dressed up and there was another guy dressed as a someone-else. Anyway, he was in this room they had done up like the King's bedroom. It was really funny, because he was talking to the audience and being all poncy and then he said something to a guy who was entering and the man answered with a Scottish accent. So of course then the "King" had to say something about the Scottish and it was really quite amusing if you were there. I think I have video. Someday I promise to make a post with just pictures and videos since I haven't put any in the past couple emails.
That night was Lion King! EEEEE it was amazing and astounding and the opening scene made me cry it was so lovely and EEE! I almost think that's all that can be said, because words just can't describe the wonderfulness that was Lion King. And we had EXCELLENT seats. And afterwards we went to the Texas Cantina, which is just down from the Texan Embassy, or what used to be the Texas Embassy when they were a country. They had Tex Mex, which was good. I had a chimichanga. MMMMM. I miss my Mexican food!
The next day we went to the London Museum. It was epic! I got to geek out about all my favorite history things, all of which seem to be contained in that one museum. I saw what they have on display of the brand new and shiny Staffordshire Hoard (not new as in... new, but new as in just discovered. Really it's quite old). I'd like to take a moment here to say something to Megan, who I'm sure is reading this: I saw it first! Neener neener neener! But we're gonna go see it again, I'm excited! -End note. We also saw the Sutton Hoo Ship Burial stuff, which is just incredible. It amazes me that they made such intricate, beautiful works of functional art with no power tools. Just amazing. I'm sure my pictures don't do justice, but I sure did try.
Then we went and had pizza for dinner and the next morning we went to Westminster, where we saw lots of dead buried people (just kidding, most of them are really important dead buried people) and there was a stone for Jane Austen, and one for Shakespeare, and one for Darwin. I wish we could have taken pictures, but of course it's a church so you can't. Then it was time to go, and I think that was even harder than leaving Albuquerque, so of course I'm dreading the leaving Albuquerque part the second time around. It was like I was back at square one with the homesickness. My flatmate came to check on me because I'd been sniveling in my room for about 30 minutes solid when I got home. Somehow there's something pitiful about a 22 year old sobbing that she misses her family to a 19 year old who is trying to reassure her it'll all be okay. And I was miserable for about 2 days and then I got over it and moved on with life and since then have had loads of fun! Loads and loads and loads! We've had Thanksgiving (twice!) and I've been hanging out with lots of my friends as all of us realized that we'd not see each other for a whole month. I'm even mostly okay with coming back, because I'll have friends and everyone has already promised to keep me busy enough that I don't get homesick, and if I do get homesick, my flatmates all care and they make sure I'm okay too. We all take care of each other really well over here.
But I can't believe this year is technically half done! Well, I mean, it's actually half done in February (really annoying) and then we've got that silly MONTH of Easter Break (I'd rather have a week and go home sooner) but mostly, it's technically half done. I have been in England for over 3 months. I've been homesick, physically sick (not anymore!), and I've probably had to deal with some of the most difficult emotional garbage I've ever had to deal with in my life. But as they say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and I like to think I'm somewhat stronger for having dealt with it all even though I really just wanted to give up and go home for the first 3 weeks. I think it may make the homesickness period during second semester shorter, though I know it'll still be there. But hey, I have survived, and I've had fun! And that's what's important. New experiences don't have to be scary, threatening things.
And now I have to go because I have to start packing some things and I have Pub Caroling at 6:30, and it's already 4:14. The next update will be about Thanksgiving, but it'll be over Christmas break (yes, time is out of joint. Thank you, Hamlet.)
This time next week I'll be home!
Sunday, November 29, 2009
My favorite time of year!
I love this time of year. What between Halloween, my birthday (AND Veteran's Day), Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and then New Year's, it's always seemed like it's just straight holidays this time of year, which makes me very happy. And this year I got an extra one, which involved both fire and fireworks. It's called Guy Fawkes/ Fireworks Day!
I don't remember if I posted anything about Halloween, but I seem to recall writing about gleefully gutting and carving a pumpkin, so I think I may have posted about Halloween. In the event I did not, let me know- because there are some funny pictures you should all see. Suffice to say I'm lucky my flatmates didn't take my rather manic glee at being allowed to carve the pumpkin all alone as a sign that I was definitely sick in the head! :P And much fun was had by all.
So we'll move on to my birthday. First of all, it was during reading week for History. Reading week can most accurately be described as a whole week's break from one subject of classes. If you are only in one subject, as most students here are, this means a whole week with no classes during which you sit in your room or the library and study diligently like a good student...
...Yeah. Right. And then pigs fly. So anyway, it was History's reading week, and I had no class on Wednesday, which was ever-so-conveniently my birthday! YES. So the night before (we have to go back there) I went over to a friend's flat, and we proceeded to play a game of revenge on her evil boy flatmates who wake her up at 3AM hollering. It was quite simple, really. She invited everyone over, and a majority of them being Spanish, a deafening racket was duly accomplished. Suddenly, at midnight, I looked at my friend Edu and said, "Hey! It's my birthday!" which of course they all knew already. He counted to three and by some strange occurence everyone knew that was the queue to sing happy birthday. So they sang happy birthday to me in the hall at the top of their lungs, punctuated with some good drumming on the walls. And since I didn't have to be up the next morning I stayed out late and had a grand old time.
The next day I pretty much did nothing. I mean absolutely nothing. I must have stayed in my PJ's til after noon, and after my shower I put on other bumming-around-the-flat clothes til I changed for dinner. My flatmates had told me only, "You should be ready at about 7:45 (I think it was) and wear something nice. Not too nice, but nice anyway," to which I responded, "Oh, so you mean like my church clothes." They laughed, and I still don't know why! But suffice to say that is almost exactly what they meant. So at 7:45 I was ready to go and we walked to this restaurant with terra cotta colored stucco and a covered porch with a blue door. Little did my flatmates know that I'd been pining for weeks to try this little place called Abuelo's (that they'd chosen this one place over another Mexican place in town was a special bit of birthday luck!), and little did we know we were about to experience the most legit Mexican food I've had since I got here. It was very good- I had a margarita and a burrito with guacamole on it. We ordered chips and salsa too, and here is where the first big shock of the night took place. That salsa was HOME MADE. Just like mom's. I mean... really. Just like mom's. Not in the figurative sense, but in the more literal sense. It tasted (almost) exactly like my mommy's salsa! I happily dug in and they remarked that it was spicy as I piled it on tortilla chips and munched away like it had been months since I'd had good salsa.
Anyway, dinner was excellent. They wouldn't let me pay for my part, and they got me a box of chocolate and a beautiful picture frame with pressed roses in it, in which I am going to put a "family picture" of us. Anneleen got me a little saucepan and a frying pan, she said, so I wouldn't have to always use someone else's. We were joking about me using everyone else's things to cook with, and I said, "In other words, 'I got you these so you can use them and leave them sitting dirty til they cool without irritating me.'" and we all laughed because of course that was one of the reasons she'd gotten them, besides wanting me to have my own. We'd had a discussion the week before because I kept leaving people's pans dirty on the side to cool off, because I won't put cold water in a hot pan (though they will!).
At the end of dinner, we went home, chit chatting the whole way. I was so happy, because ALL my flatmates were all there together. I love nothing better than to have all my friends in the same place. It's like all is definitely right in my little world when this occurs, and is in fact the best birthday present of all. But I was a little bummed I hadn't gotten to do anything with to foreign kids on the night of my birthday, and in fact wouldn't even see them til next week! But of course I'd just had good food and I had my flatmates- so I really wasn't that bummed out. And I reckoned I'd just go home, drink some hot chocolate, and go to bed. Perfect end to a perfect day. We even talked about it on the way home. Anna said, "I think it's time for hot chocolate," and I agreed wholeheartedly as we walked in the door. I went to open my bedroom door to throw down my stuff when all of my flatmates began acting suspiciously. By suspiciously I mean they had all bunched up in the hall and were looking at me. I looked at Anna and arched one eyebrow at her and she said, "I think maybe you should open the door..." and I laughed, because of course I'd just heard a chorus of "SHHH! *giggle*" coming from in the living room. I believe I said something like, "Oh my gosh, you didn't!" which is really rather typical. I couldn't think of something less cliche'd to say? Honestly!
So I opened the door, and about 30 people shouted "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" and started singing to me, and Nerea, who is probably the one I'm closest to, just about tackled me giving me a hug. I don't believe I stopped grinning for the entire evening. I had no idea they were all going to be there! And they were ALL there (except for one who was in London with his mates). They'd all signed a card and there was a cake and I honestly don't remember what I wished for. But I blew out the candles and then DID go and chuck everything in my room. From (I swear) thin air, they had all conjured like 5 cakes and several bottles of wine (good wine, or... good for Uni kids on budgets. Not the nasty cheap kind, anyway) and even something that was quite reminiscent of champagne and indeed may have been. We had fun and eventually took what Nerea also calls a "family photo". It was pretty epic, and I'm gonna go ahead and send it even though you can see some of that aforementioned alcohol crowding up one corner. We had to set the camera on the microwave and set the timer, which was PRETTY funny.
I don't remember if I posted anything about Halloween, but I seem to recall writing about gleefully gutting and carving a pumpkin, so I think I may have posted about Halloween. In the event I did not, let me know- because there are some funny pictures you should all see. Suffice to say I'm lucky my flatmates didn't take my rather manic glee at being allowed to carve the pumpkin all alone as a sign that I was definitely sick in the head! :P And much fun was had by all.
So we'll move on to my birthday. First of all, it was during reading week for History. Reading week can most accurately be described as a whole week's break from one subject of classes. If you are only in one subject, as most students here are, this means a whole week with no classes during which you sit in your room or the library and study diligently like a good student...
...Yeah. Right. And then pigs fly. So anyway, it was History's reading week, and I had no class on Wednesday, which was ever-so-conveniently my birthday! YES. So the night before (we have to go back there) I went over to a friend's flat, and we proceeded to play a game of revenge on her evil boy flatmates who wake her up at 3AM hollering. It was quite simple, really. She invited everyone over, and a majority of them being Spanish, a deafening racket was duly accomplished. Suddenly, at midnight, I looked at my friend Edu and said, "Hey! It's my birthday!" which of course they all knew already. He counted to three and by some strange occurence everyone knew that was the queue to sing happy birthday. So they sang happy birthday to me in the hall at the top of their lungs, punctuated with some good drumming on the walls. And since I didn't have to be up the next morning I stayed out late and had a grand old time.
The next day I pretty much did nothing. I mean absolutely nothing. I must have stayed in my PJ's til after noon, and after my shower I put on other bumming-around-the-flat clothes til I changed for dinner. My flatmates had told me only, "You should be ready at about 7:45 (I think it was) and wear something nice. Not too nice, but nice anyway," to which I responded, "Oh, so you mean like my church clothes." They laughed, and I still don't know why! But suffice to say that is almost exactly what they meant. So at 7:45 I was ready to go and we walked to this restaurant with terra cotta colored stucco and a covered porch with a blue door. Little did my flatmates know that I'd been pining for weeks to try this little place called Abuelo's (that they'd chosen this one place over another Mexican place in town was a special bit of birthday luck!), and little did we know we were about to experience the most legit Mexican food I've had since I got here. It was very good- I had a margarita and a burrito with guacamole on it. We ordered chips and salsa too, and here is where the first big shock of the night took place. That salsa was HOME MADE. Just like mom's. I mean... really. Just like mom's. Not in the figurative sense, but in the more literal sense. It tasted (almost) exactly like my mommy's salsa! I happily dug in and they remarked that it was spicy as I piled it on tortilla chips and munched away like it had been months since I'd had good salsa.
Anyway, dinner was excellent. They wouldn't let me pay for my part, and they got me a box of chocolate and a beautiful picture frame with pressed roses in it, in which I am going to put a "family picture" of us. Anneleen got me a little saucepan and a frying pan, she said, so I wouldn't have to always use someone else's. We were joking about me using everyone else's things to cook with, and I said, "In other words, 'I got you these so you can use them and leave them sitting dirty til they cool without irritating me.'" and we all laughed because of course that was one of the reasons she'd gotten them, besides wanting me to have my own. We'd had a discussion the week before because I kept leaving people's pans dirty on the side to cool off, because I won't put cold water in a hot pan (though they will!).
At the end of dinner, we went home, chit chatting the whole way. I was so happy, because ALL my flatmates were all there together. I love nothing better than to have all my friends in the same place. It's like all is definitely right in my little world when this occurs, and is in fact the best birthday present of all. But I was a little bummed I hadn't gotten to do anything with to foreign kids on the night of my birthday, and in fact wouldn't even see them til next week! But of course I'd just had good food and I had my flatmates- so I really wasn't that bummed out. And I reckoned I'd just go home, drink some hot chocolate, and go to bed. Perfect end to a perfect day. We even talked about it on the way home. Anna said, "I think it's time for hot chocolate," and I agreed wholeheartedly as we walked in the door. I went to open my bedroom door to throw down my stuff when all of my flatmates began acting suspiciously. By suspiciously I mean they had all bunched up in the hall and were looking at me. I looked at Anna and arched one eyebrow at her and she said, "I think maybe you should open the door..." and I laughed, because of course I'd just heard a chorus of "SHHH! *giggle*" coming from in the living room. I believe I said something like, "Oh my gosh, you didn't!" which is really rather typical. I couldn't think of something less cliche'd to say? Honestly!
So I opened the door, and about 30 people shouted "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" and started singing to me, and Nerea, who is probably the one I'm closest to, just about tackled me giving me a hug. I don't believe I stopped grinning for the entire evening. I had no idea they were all going to be there! And they were ALL there (except for one who was in London with his mates). They'd all signed a card and there was a cake and I honestly don't remember what I wished for. But I blew out the candles and then DID go and chuck everything in my room. From (I swear) thin air, they had all conjured like 5 cakes and several bottles of wine (good wine, or... good for Uni kids on budgets. Not the nasty cheap kind, anyway) and even something that was quite reminiscent of champagne and indeed may have been. We had fun and eventually took what Nerea also calls a "family photo". It was pretty epic, and I'm gonna go ahead and send it even though you can see some of that aforementioned alcohol crowding up one corner. We had to set the camera on the microwave and set the timer, which was PRETTY funny.
Mmmmkay. I'm sorry it's big, but I wanted you to be able to see everyone. I want to point out my flatmates and Nerea, but I'm not naming everyone else because there's a ton of them. So, in that first row behind me you'll see four girls sitting. On the left of these girls, next to the guy in the red shirt, that's Nerea (Spain, of course!). Then next to her is Nuriya (red and grey shirt, Kazakh), Anneleen (red shirt, Belgian), Anna (black and multi-colored shirt, English), then Faustine (black shirt, silver necklace, French) and on Faustine's other side is Alex (she's wearing blue and is standing). I believe we counted and in this group, there are over ten countries represented. It's utterly insane! I love it. It was probably one of the most memorable birthdays I've ever had in my life. For a whole two hours, I got to have everyone I know and love here in One Place where I could be with all of them. And I had no idea it was going to happen! The Spaniards had gone to lengths to subtly and completely convince me that they wouldn't see me! Which is really pretty amazing when you think about it, because I'm usually pretty good at detecting when someone is lying, but they were so SUBTLE about it, I just hadn't the foggiest clue. And I didn't expect my flatmates would be able to get ahold of any of my other friends, cause the two groups really never interract. I didn't reckon on Faustine, who contacted Attila, (The Hungarian. Yes, laugh, go ahead. Everyone does. Yes, that's really his name, and yes, he is really Hungarian.) who contacted EVERYONE else. What a group!
It's funny, because I've reached the point where I really just want to come /home/, now, please, but I can't imagine not seeing my crew at least once a week. Even when I don't see them, I know they're there. And I can't believe that one day in June we're going to have one last gathering and then all go our seperate ways, and it won't ever be the same again. It makes me want to spend every second I can with them. Unfortunately we've all just been slammed with homework so I haven't seen them lately, but I'm setting something up this week, if I have to further deprive myself of sleep to do so. What's a little sleep lost when it's taken up by time with friends?
But, my waxing sentimental aside, it is indeed 12:30AM, and I'm sleep deprived (I really, really am.). So I should probably be making some attempt to get to bed! I'll fill you in on the other holidays (I had Thanksgiving twice. Yep.) including Guy Fawkes Day later on! Hopefully with more pictures, but it's all gone completely INSANE these last few weeks of semester, so this may be the last you hear of me til about Christmas.
As always, much love to you all! I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
So, about those updates...
I instituted this new rule about updating my blog here. I can't do it until I've updated my paper blog. So THAT is what took me so long. As a result, a lot has happened since the last time I updated. But I'm going to start updating the paper journal regularly, so I can update this too. Sorry for the wait!
I'll just pick an arbitrary starting point somewhere near my last update: Castleton. Castleton is a wee town a bit from here through the Peaks (The Peak District) and it's very nice. We went there to explore the area around, and climbed some hills and had ourselves a great time, and took some pictures. Actually, I took a ton of photos. But I always do.
This is Castleton from the top of one of the hills we climbed. The castle is there at the top of that darker green field in the upper center of the picture. It's not that big of a castle, but it's still cool!
This is the castle! Pretty cool. We don't have /these/ at home!
We're all resting because this hill nearly killed us. Well, that may be a little melodramatic, but it was a pretty serious hill. I am not fond of all the hills, but eh. The scenery was pretty!
One of my friends and I decided that we'd split off from the group to avoid further hill climbage, and ended up walking through this neat little mini-forest. It had some flowers, even this late in the summer! I whipped out my camera and took some macro pictures which I'm quite fond of- this is one of them. Aren't they pretty flowers?
This is the forest! It was so pretty- so much of the Peaks is that I really feel I may have wandered inadvertently into a fairy tale or a movie.
We also found the bones of a dead sheep. I immediately took photos, and while I quite like them, I reckon not everyone might feel that way, so I'll spare you. I do, however, have all the Castleton pictures up on Flickr, which you can get to by clicking on the following link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43126812@N04/sets/72157622585754057/
We also went and listened to salsa music (I think it was salsa music) at a place in town called Cubana. I was looking through the menu and found something funny!
This place didn't have just any kind of bourbon. No, they had /Blanton's/ bourbon! I wonder if we're related...
Umm, so now I'm going to skip to Halloween because the only things in between this and Halloween are two more family pictures that y'all don't need pictures of, really, since they look like all the other family dinners!
First, my favorite pictures from Halloween. Note the look of manic glee on my face as I stab the pumpkin. Boy did I ever have fun carving that pumpkin, and now we have seeds to eat! And the pumpkin looked pretty cool. Probably the best bit of carving I've ever done, anyway.
I'm not a psycho, honest! I was taking off my jewelry in preparation for ripping the guts of the pumpkin out. Anneleen and Alex and Anna were all helping! But the only one in this photo is Anneleen.
I am ridiculously proud of the result, which is lit by the flashlight (called a torch here) which Pop gave me. Don't worry, I wrapped it in a plastic baggie first so it wouldn't get all icky! I worked a charm!
So, all my friends were zombies or... whatever Nerea and Carmen are. I was a cowboy. I wore my bright rainbow shirt, jeans, and my belt from Philmont. I stuck out like a sore thumb, but we all found it really amusing. I also really feel like I ought to account for that pear cider I'm holding- I had a few sips, and Julie (the girl on my right) had most of it. Clearly, haha.
Today we had a family dinner! Anna made a whole Sunday Roast pretty much with no help. Okay, we chopped vegetables, and cleaned up afterwards. But she did all the hard work. I contrived to cut my finger. Take a corner off my totin' chip!
I love this picture because we're all looking at Anna, who is doling out the food. Vultures much? I THINK SO! The food was fantastic, I don't think I'm eating the rest of the day. Unless someone left a Yorkshire pudding, but I bet they didn't. On that note, I don't know why it's called a Yorkshire pudding. It's a pastry. And it's delicious.
This is the roast. Most of it y'all'd know. The only things I can think you wouldn't is the Yorkshire Pudding (that's that hollow cup looking pastry in the bottom of the plate) and the french fry looking thing, which is in fact parsnip. They were chopped up and then fried in sunflower oil. I think they were my favorite thing of the whole whole meal.
Also, since I know maybe some of you were wondering if I was over my blasted sickness yet, the answer is yes and no. My asthma is better, pretty much. I have an inhaler I use every day that works, unlike the last one which was not working. I was in the doctor's office two or three times the past week- once to get the new asthma medication, once to see a nurse and be told, "It's a virus, come back if it gets worse" (even though there were white spots on my tonsils and it was so clearly not a virus) and to go back to the same (brilliant) nurse only to have her say, "Oh, you probably got a bacterial infection on top of the virus." Honey, it hadn't been viral since before I came to see you. But thanks for that.
Anyway, long (frustrating, annoying) story short, I'm on antibiotics now and already feel loads better. I'm almost back to normal! After a month and a half of this nonsense, all I have to say is "About dang time!" Thank goodness!
And there you have it! An update! For anyone who'd like to start following my Flickr pictures, (where I post a lot of the pictures that don't have my friends from Facebook in) I can be found heeeere: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43126812@N04/
I was also thinking it would be nice to update this thing with maybe stuff y'all really want to know, so if there's anything you're just dying to know about England or my life in general, let me know! And I'll try to remember to answer questions either as I get them or in updates.
Have a good day! (The "day" is already gone here, it being after 5:30. Yeah, that's right, the sun sets that early. And it will get earlier!)
I'll just pick an arbitrary starting point somewhere near my last update: Castleton. Castleton is a wee town a bit from here through the Peaks (The Peak District) and it's very nice. We went there to explore the area around, and climbed some hills and had ourselves a great time, and took some pictures. Actually, I took a ton of photos. But I always do.
We also found the bones of a dead sheep. I immediately took photos, and while I quite like them, I reckon not everyone might feel that way, so I'll spare you. I do, however, have all the Castleton pictures up on Flickr, which you can get to by clicking on the following link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43126812@N04/sets/72157622585754057/
We also went and listened to salsa music (I think it was salsa music) at a place in town called Cubana. I was looking through the menu and found something funny!
Umm, so now I'm going to skip to Halloween because the only things in between this and Halloween are two more family pictures that y'all don't need pictures of, really, since they look like all the other family dinners!
I love this picture because we're all looking at Anna, who is doling out the food. Vultures much? I THINK SO! The food was fantastic, I don't think I'm eating the rest of the day. Unless someone left a Yorkshire pudding, but I bet they didn't. On that note, I don't know why it's called a Yorkshire pudding. It's a pastry. And it's delicious.
Also, since I know maybe some of you were wondering if I was over my blasted sickness yet, the answer is yes and no. My asthma is better, pretty much. I have an inhaler I use every day that works, unlike the last one which was not working. I was in the doctor's office two or three times the past week- once to get the new asthma medication, once to see a nurse and be told, "It's a virus, come back if it gets worse" (even though there were white spots on my tonsils and it was so clearly not a virus) and to go back to the same (brilliant) nurse only to have her say, "Oh, you probably got a bacterial infection on top of the virus." Honey, it hadn't been viral since before I came to see you. But thanks for that.
Anyway, long (frustrating, annoying) story short, I'm on antibiotics now and already feel loads better. I'm almost back to normal! After a month and a half of this nonsense, all I have to say is "About dang time!" Thank goodness!
And there you have it! An update! For anyone who'd like to start following my Flickr pictures, (where I post a lot of the pictures that don't have my friends from Facebook in) I can be found heeeere: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43126812@N04/
I was also thinking it would be nice to update this thing with maybe stuff y'all really want to know, so if there's anything you're just dying to know about England or my life in general, let me know! And I'll try to remember to answer questions either as I get them or in updates.
Have a good day! (The "day" is already gone here, it being after 5:30. Yeah, that's right, the sun sets that early. And it will get earlier!)
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Update time!
Hey guys, sorry for not updating sooner! I wasn't busy, really, I just wasn't so much in the mood to do anything. I was being lazy, in other words!
School is well under way. It always amazes me how fast the week goes once school starts. Tomorrow is half way through the week already! And I've already been here a month. If you asked me at the beginning if I thought I'd be mostly over my homesickness by the end of a month, I'd have told you, "Absolutely not. Are you insane?" You would not have been, because lo and behold, I'm mostly over the homesickness. I mean, I still miss home, but what I describe as homesickness, I'm mostly over. It doesn't make me unhappy, just nostalgic.
So, let's see... what's gone on recently? I've continued archery, and we're getting riding lessons set up as soon as my boots get here. I experienced really annoying British rain that umbrellas are no defense against because it just floats there in the air... and I went and got sushi with Douwe, one of the international guys. We had fun, and I finally actually got to talk to someone in that group without having to shout over music! Not that it hasn't happened before, but for a whole 2 hours? No way.
In the interest of not wanting to go to the Spar up the road to shop for food once a week, I got a bunch of my flatmates together (all but one, actually) and we got food from Asda, which is Wal-Mart. Good deal! And speaking of flatmates, we have a new one. Her name is Nuriya and she is from Kazakhstan. She has seen Przewalski horses IN THE WILD. She said I could visit any time and she'll take me to see them, which I so totally will just as soon as I figure out when I even could.
I joined not only choir, but also women's chorus and small group. I haven't had this much music since high school and I love it. I love it all to little bitses (yes, I made up that word.). We're singing Handel's Messiah, as I think I mentioned previously for the large group. Small group is singing several songs and women's group several other songs altogether. Women's group gives me the opportunity to really work that lower register I used to have and will still claim to have. Last night in warm up the conductor told us exactly how to sing, and for some reason it made so much sense that I was able to sing the lowest I've sung since high school (down below the E below the staff.). None of you will know this, but I've had a love-hate relationship going with a single song from the Wicked soundtrack for several years now in that I love the melody and the lyrics, but am unable to hit the last note. Well, I went below it last night. I couldn't do it this morning, but I did it, and it buzzed through my chest just like it used to, and that's all that matters.
And choir also gives me the chance to hang out with the British. This is good, since probably 90% of the time I'm with people, I'm with the international students. In fact, the other night we went to a party that was for international students, where they had a band that played "soul and blues" but not really, because they also played some songs like Johnny B Goode. It was epic.
I went to Leeds with Angie on Sunday, and that was also fun. We went in the Borders there and I found a book on the cheapo bookshelf that is called "The Natural History of the British Isles". From this I learned about sweet chestnuts, which I duly collected from the lone sweet chestnut tree on the way back from the Spar, and which will sometime be roasted and eaten. I hope. I also learned that King Hornet was really King Hoverfly, and completely harmless. Well, FINE, but he sure looked and sounded scary. Good ploy though, if it even works on humans. Rockin' disguise, except it got him dead as a doornail.
Now it's time for pictures. You all knew it was coming!
This disaster is my room. When faced with the question, "Good lord, why is your room such a mess?" as I would be if my mother were here, I can only answer in the words of a very wise young man on a TV series here (and in the US a season late. Note: HAHAHAHA neenerneener Dusty! I get to watch it on TV!), "It just happens!". Seriously, it does. But I know everyone was so worried about my desk not having anything to decorate. Actually, in all seriousness, I am going to clean my desk just as soon as I'm done with this. But also, it is an excellent example of entropy. For anyone who doesn't know, there is a Second Law of Thermodynamics which states that the entropy of a closed system not in equilibrium will increase over time. Put basically, this means my desk, if considered as a closed system, will always go from clean to messy. So, unfortunately, will bedrooms, especially those belonging to the population of under-30's. And probably a lot for the population over 30. But I mean, technically it's not our fault that our rooms get messy. It's just a rule of the universe! (Any of you feel free to let me know if that excuse ever does/ever did work with your parents.)
So after that horrid sight, I'm sure we're all ready for something relaxing to look at, right? Well, you've come to the wrong place. I don't have any of that. Have some pictures of Paulo's birthday party instead:
There were balloons. Those of us who are still 5 years old promptly started what I termed "Let's Kick the Balloon", much to the amusement of my friends, who find the American habit of naming everything just absolutely hysterical. The Spanish kids think my way of throwing random spanish into my sentences is a pretty good time too, since I pronounce them all with that awesome American accent. I've been told, "Say tortilla" and "Say burrito" more times than I can count, and I think it's pretty funny too! This is Edu and I trying to keep the balloon from touching the ground. At one point this turned into me throwing the balloon at Edu. Like none of you expected that... seriously.
Marc and Nerea got the good seats- that whole bar was absolutely COVERED in junk food of all kinds. It was amazing and I was so full of junk food when I left. I regretted it later, of course. The very astute among you may notice the "Walkers" bag of potato chips. They look just like Lays and taste absolutely nothing like them. I opened those thinking they were regular, and they were salt and vinegar, which was quite a rude awakening. BLECH.
D'oh! The 2 fell down! Quick Carmen, fix it!
Much better. I had a lot of fun picking the marshmallows off and acting the show off by throwing them up in the air and catching them in my mouth. I missed the first couple times and not again after that. Pretty sweet, let me tell you.
I may or may not have mentioned this before, but sometime in that first week, we noticed that more often than not, I kept looking at Julie and going, "Where's Paulo?" because he'd disappear... somewhere. And no one ever knew where. Alternatively, Julie would look at me and ask the same thing. Somewhere along the line this became a really funny in-joke and must now be recited at every opportunity. It cannot be said simply, "Where's Paulo?" as if you were merely curious. It must be said, "/Where's/ Paulo?!" with the emphasis in just the right places. Unfortunately you can't convey that in writing. Just trust me. There is usually no answer, the other person just laughs and shrugs.
And now for something totally random:
This is the TP holder in the women's bathroom at Interval, which is one of the restaurants in the Student Union. The writing has been there since before I got here, and other writing has since be removed in the bathroom. This leads me to the conclusion that the cleaner people think it's cute. If you can't read it all, here's what it says:
"You look beautiful today!"
"Thank you, so do you!"
"I <3 you
It's about time women were nice about each other on toilet walls". Pretty cool, huh? I like it, anyway. I kind of want to go around writing it in other toilets but I'm sure I'd be the one idiot to get caught.
The obligatory Picture of Me. I made that flower, oh yes I did. This is my version of "posing for the camera" and is coincidentally why I never do. I look like a nerd. But standing there looks like a nerd too. Fun fact: this is why I like people to take candids of me if they're photo-ing. I hate hate hate posing. But I love having my picture taken.
I kiiiinda wanted to include pictures that I took on the way home from the train station from the front top seat of the double decker bus I was on. But I think I'll only include a couple cause they're not that great.
This may or may not be "The Cathedral". Anyway, it's a pretty church, with a great ugly Stagecoach Tram in front of it. Sometime I'll go and get real pictures. I really need to go do the tourist thing before the weather gets really nasty.
This is a street. Notice we're on the wrong side of the road. And some buildings and stuff. We're right next to the church at this point.
This is another building. The name of the pub is... something I can't remember. It is the Cavendish, I just looked it up. The building says "1919" on it.
This is the student union. It's the top rated SU in the UK. Looks like crap though. They're actually redoing it and then it'll be spiffy and pretty! Just after I leave, of course. But I love it anyway. It's got some fun stuff in there.
This is a church. There are a metric boat-load of churches here. This one is actually now the drama building. For whatever reason, it always seems sacrilegious to me when they use churches for not-worship type stuff. And you can tell this one had stained glass sometime in the past, which has since been boarded up. Dunno if it broke or if it's still there, but it makes me sad I can't see it.
And that's all! I can't think of anything else to talk about. I'll try to update again sometime soon! I have to work on my paper journal too, but I'm just so darn lazy, and I need stick glue, and I keep forgetting to get it (and keep forgetting to get printer paper).
Talk to y'all later!
School is well under way. It always amazes me how fast the week goes once school starts. Tomorrow is half way through the week already! And I've already been here a month. If you asked me at the beginning if I thought I'd be mostly over my homesickness by the end of a month, I'd have told you, "Absolutely not. Are you insane?" You would not have been, because lo and behold, I'm mostly over the homesickness. I mean, I still miss home, but what I describe as homesickness, I'm mostly over. It doesn't make me unhappy, just nostalgic.
So, let's see... what's gone on recently? I've continued archery, and we're getting riding lessons set up as soon as my boots get here. I experienced really annoying British rain that umbrellas are no defense against because it just floats there in the air... and I went and got sushi with Douwe, one of the international guys. We had fun, and I finally actually got to talk to someone in that group without having to shout over music! Not that it hasn't happened before, but for a whole 2 hours? No way.
In the interest of not wanting to go to the Spar up the road to shop for food once a week, I got a bunch of my flatmates together (all but one, actually) and we got food from Asda, which is Wal-Mart. Good deal! And speaking of flatmates, we have a new one. Her name is Nuriya and she is from Kazakhstan. She has seen Przewalski horses IN THE WILD. She said I could visit any time and she'll take me to see them, which I so totally will just as soon as I figure out when I even could.
I joined not only choir, but also women's chorus and small group. I haven't had this much music since high school and I love it. I love it all to little bitses (yes, I made up that word.). We're singing Handel's Messiah, as I think I mentioned previously for the large group. Small group is singing several songs and women's group several other songs altogether. Women's group gives me the opportunity to really work that lower register I used to have and will still claim to have. Last night in warm up the conductor told us exactly how to sing, and for some reason it made so much sense that I was able to sing the lowest I've sung since high school (down below the E below the staff.). None of you will know this, but I've had a love-hate relationship going with a single song from the Wicked soundtrack for several years now in that I love the melody and the lyrics, but am unable to hit the last note. Well, I went below it last night. I couldn't do it this morning, but I did it, and it buzzed through my chest just like it used to, and that's all that matters.
And choir also gives me the chance to hang out with the British. This is good, since probably 90% of the time I'm with people, I'm with the international students. In fact, the other night we went to a party that was for international students, where they had a band that played "soul and blues" but not really, because they also played some songs like Johnny B Goode. It was epic.
I went to Leeds with Angie on Sunday, and that was also fun. We went in the Borders there and I found a book on the cheapo bookshelf that is called "The Natural History of the British Isles". From this I learned about sweet chestnuts, which I duly collected from the lone sweet chestnut tree on the way back from the Spar, and which will sometime be roasted and eaten. I hope. I also learned that King Hornet was really King Hoverfly, and completely harmless. Well, FINE, but he sure looked and sounded scary. Good ploy though, if it even works on humans. Rockin' disguise, except it got him dead as a doornail.
Now it's time for pictures. You all knew it was coming!
So after that horrid sight, I'm sure we're all ready for something relaxing to look at, right? Well, you've come to the wrong place. I don't have any of that. Have some pictures of Paulo's birthday party instead:
There were balloons. Those of us who are still 5 years old promptly started what I termed "Let's Kick the Balloon", much to the amusement of my friends, who find the American habit of naming everything just absolutely hysterical. The Spanish kids think my way of throwing random spanish into my sentences is a pretty good time too, since I pronounce them all with that awesome American accent. I've been told, "Say tortilla" and "Say burrito" more times than I can count, and I think it's pretty funny too! This is Edu and I trying to keep the balloon from touching the ground. At one point this turned into me throwing the balloon at Edu. Like none of you expected that... seriously.
And now for something totally random:
"You look beautiful today!"
"Thank you, so do you!"
"I <3 you
It's about time women were nice about each other on toilet walls". Pretty cool, huh? I like it, anyway. I kind of want to go around writing it in other toilets but I'm sure I'd be the one idiot to get caught.
I kiiiinda wanted to include pictures that I took on the way home from the train station from the front top seat of the double decker bus I was on. But I think I'll only include a couple cause they're not that great.
And that's all! I can't think of anything else to talk about. I'll try to update again sometime soon! I have to work on my paper journal too, but I'm just so darn lazy, and I need stick glue, and I keep forgetting to get it (and keep forgetting to get printer paper).
Talk to y'all later!
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