It is sooo good to be back in Bangor after our adventures in Europe. I like having my own bed, clean clothes and not having to live out of a suitcase. I had such an amazing time in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands, and it was good to have Erik in Bangor. Now I feel like my stories and everything will make more sense when we talk, and I love showing this place and my life here to friends from home!
After Erik set off for Dublin and his plane back to the states, I had to get ready to greet the 20 new Americans. They got in Thursday, and my first introduction was that afternoon during one of their welcome meetings. Tecwyn had told me I could stop by at 4 to meet everyone, but sometimes timing is difficult. I got to the Greek Room in Main Arts at 3:57 and he was already talking to them about the important information they need to know. I couldn't walk in during his instructions on what to do in the event of a terrorist attack, he would just get distracted and they would never actually know what to do... so I just stood in the hallway for a good long time. Once he started handing out their info packets, I thought that would be a good time to make my entrance. Super awkward. I open the door and am greeted by 18 tired and jet lagged students and Tecwyn stopped what he was doing to introduce me. Needless to say, I didn't have anything profound to say to them at that point, so I just found a seat and listened to the same info I heard several months ago. It was good to walk back to campus with them though, and I got to meet several of the non Central students, and catch up with some of the Central kids. When we got back to Ffridd, I got to get rid of most of the boxes I had been storing in the kitchen (which will hopefully make our cleaner a happier lady), and my flatmates got to help several people set up their internet.
That evening, we had the welcome meeting in Bar Uno, and that was tons of fun. I don't say no to a free meal and it was a good opportunity to chat with everyone and answer some of their questions about life in Bangor and things at the university. After dinner I headed back to the flat to get rid of the final few boxes and then headed over to Uno to play pool with my flat. Jo, Jake, Grant, Ben and Lewis ended up joining us, so it turned into quite the party. After a few rounds of drinks and pool, we were asked if we would be interested in joining the Pub Quiz. For 3 quid, we decided we could give it a go. Pub Quiz is hard though! Grant and I kept saying how stupid we felt, like American school taught us basically nothing. With our seven minds working on it, we managed to answer all of the questions with some confidence and sent our sheet away for marking. When the "host" announced that Gay Mark (our really creative team name) had won, we laughed at first... and then we realized what she had actually said! So we were 15 pounds richer. Instead of splitting the money between seven of us, we turned around and bought alcohol with it. We got a relatively nice Top Shelf and a few Cokes for our money. It was a good night out with the flat, and it was good to have everyone else there as well! After Uno, we came back to the flat and Grant joined us for some Russell Brand. We ended up drinking a bottle of vodka rather quickly between three of us (which lead to an interesting end to the evening... one broken mug, some vomit and me trying to get Jack not to sleep on my bed. Typical night in the flat though. ha ha).
The next day the new students had another meeting which I was invited to, but the vodka was not treating me well in the morning, so I just stayed in bed and revelled in the fact that I am not obligated to attend any orientation meetings. That evening Tecwyn had asked me to pick up one of the new students who was coming into town late at the train station. He said her train should have been in at 5:30 and that I should just bring her back to campus and make sure she was settled and such. Sounds easy enough... So I head down to the station around 5:15 and wait at the platform. The problem with this task though was that this student is not from Central, so I have no idea who she is. I did a little Facebook stalking before going to the station, so at least I had an idea of what she looked like, but it's difficult to look through crowds of people piling off the train for someone you have only seen in tiny Facebook photos. Well, she wasn't on the 5:30 train, so I decided to wait around for the 6:45 one, just in case. I didn't see her on that one, or the five or so that came in after that point. I was at the station until about 8:30 when Tecwyn called me and asked if I had found her yet. Nope. So I walked back up to campus, hoping that she was alright and would find her own way back to Ffridd. I then get yet another call from Papa T, asking if I would get her building code and go check and see if she maybe was already here. Things are hard when they don't have phones yet... So I went to security, got the code and headed over to Y Borth to check for her. Low and behold, there she was! All settled in and chatting with flatmates. It's a good thing I like train stations, because three hours sitting there and then missing her was just ridiculous! But I'm glad she is safe and sound! I answered some of her questions and then introduced her to a few of the other new people who were going to show her the way to their Saturday meeting. Then I headed back to the flat to watch some Star Wars.
After about three hours of sleep, I was up again and on a train heading for the Manchester airport. One of the other favors I was doing for Tecwyn was picking up the final student from the airport. She had to get in late because of a class trip to Costa Rica. So I had a nice early train from Bangor to Manchester. When I got to the airport, Shireen (who was flying in this same day) had found her and they were buying their train tickets. This made my life so much easier, not having to search the terminal, so after reuniting with Shireen, we hopped back on the train and started our adventure back to Bangor. This was made much more difficult with three huge suitcases, but it was all good. After getting back to Bangor, I spent a good long time chatting with Jake and Ben as Ben ate soup in their hallway. The Deanna, Shireen and I headed to Morrisons for some groceries and things to get us through a few days.
After shopping, I had like 20 mins to eat a quick dinner and get ready to go out. I had made plans with my flat and some of the new Americans to have a night out. It was super windy and gross outside though, so we made it a relatively tame night. Uno, Paddy's and Rascals were our calling points, and it was actually a really good night! We had a lot of fun, and it was a good opportunity to get to know some of the new students better. The night ended with cheesy chips, a run to Late Stop and Russell Brand in our kitchen. A good night if I do say so! It's interesting though to see the new Americans out on the town. It makes me wonder if we were that timid about drinking and partying when we got here (which I assume we were), and it is interesting to see them coming into this sort of culture as someone who has lived in it for a semester already. I think it's going to be a good semester with all of them though, and I'm excited to get to know them more! We are planning a big night out at the end of this week when everyone's exams are finished, so that should be fun.
Today was pretty chill. I actually slept for most of the day while the new students went on their first fieldtrip. After some entertaining conversation with the flatmates over dinner, we went to Uno to meet up with Nathan, who just got back into town today. Now it feels like everyone is back in Bangor, and I'm excited for when exams are over and things are back to how they were. More going out and waaaay less studying! ha ha! After a few episodes of Adventure Time, we called it a night and I decided to watch Up before heading to bed. I forgot what a good movie it was, but I ended up crying, of course. I'm a sap when it comes to movies sometimes, and this one gets me everytime.
I don't know... things here are so good! I love being here, and I'm pumped for another semester in this place I have come to consider my home. It's great to have everyone back on campus, and I'm excited to be done with exams and get into my second semester classes. My crying during Up turned into crying about last semester though, as the movie ended. Things here are so normal and everything is just the same as it was before Christmas, but there are nine important people missing from my life. Knowing that I can't just pop down to Lucy's for a chat or meet up with Jessika for coffee is difficult. It's going to be an awesome semester with my Bangor friends, flatmates and 20 new American friends, but it will never be the exact same as last semester. I cherish the memories I have with them, and I'm looking forward to Hannah's wedding when we will hopefully be reunited! But for now, I will just remember all the good times, crazy parties and awesome memories that we had last semester!
Sunday, 16 January 2011
Thursday, 6 January 2011
How Many Countries Can We Cross on a Train?
Well, the adventure continued at full speed after we left Vienna! We spent the New Year at the Rathausplatz in the middle of the city, celebrating and dancing with tons of people under the background of a beautiful building. There was a live blues concert and fireworks. This is the way to welcome in the New Year for sure! We even danced the traditional waltz at midnight. After the year changed over, we headed down to the subway to find a train that would lead us to food. We ended up getting noodles and pizza and then just wandering around amidst the thousands of partyers. I can say that I will honestly not have another New Year's Eve like this one, and it was so fantastic! We crashed in the office after getting home from our evening out and we spend the next day recovering and saying goodbye to all of the friends we had seen over our time in Vienna. Our train was leaving around midnight, so we spent the day packing, cleaning the office and doing our final adventures in Vienna.
Then we were on the night train and off to Munich! Night trains are an adventure, that's for sure! It is exactly like you would imagine in Harry Potter or something. A cabin with 6 seats and not a ton of room to relax. Our train to Munich we got lucky though, it only ended up being Erik, myself and this other girl for most of the journey. We got a little bit of sleep and tried to pass the hours as best we could. We ran into a little bit of trouble though as we approached Germany. Our train started it's journey in Hungary and crossed into Austria with no problem. When we got to Germany though, the insurance or something didn't work out and we couldn't go any futrher. Lame. Not what you want to hear at 4 in the morning when you are tired and stuck on a train. So we had to wait almost 2 hours for them to sort something out. We ended up switching to a way less comfortable train and continuing our way to Munich in that. But we finally made it and ditched our luggage at the hostel as soon as we possibly could. Then we bought a ticket and hopped a train to see some castles in the mountains!
We hiked up a snow covered mountain and saw the castle which was the inspiration for the Disney Castle. So beautiful! It was a cold and miserable walk up the mountain, but it was worth it to see the breath-taking mountains and castles. Then we took the horse drawn carriage down the icy path and did some souvenir shopping before catching our train back to the hostel. We were so tired by this point that it was all we could do to enjoy our free drink at the hostel bar and head back to our room to pass out. I think we literally went to bed at 8:00. We are so old! ha ha. The next morning though, we felt so much better when we woke up, if it was rather suddenly. Out of anyone we could have been staying with in our hostel, we got the world's six loudest Asians on the face of the planet. Wow, they can make soooo much noise when they are getting ready! But it's alright, we were well rested, and just hid out in our beds until they left, and then we had the place to ourselves to get ready for our adventures.
So we packed up our luggage and made plans for our second day in Munich. We tried to go to Dachau first, but then found out that everything was closed that day, so we decided to head to Olympic Stadium instead. So cool to walk around the snowy grounds and see where the Olympics were held! After that, we shopped around for a little bit before spending our lunch time in the Hofbrauhaus. Such good German beer! We had a super funny waiter, and had a really good few hours drinking beer and just relaxing a bit. We explored the city a bit more for the rest of the afternoon, and eventually made our way to our train. Another night train would take us from Munich to Berlin. This one was there on time, and it had actually had technical problems, meaning that we got a more comfortable car to sleep in than we had actually paid for. Thank you technical problems. We were so tired at this point though, that we would have slept anywhere. Our cabin mate this time was a Polish boy who talked a lot. Wow. So we just slept and then he couldn't talk to us. ha ha.
We only had a day in Berlin, so we ditched our luggage in lockers and set out to explore the city. My days of German Cultural History were definitely coming back to me as we followed the path of the wall, and saw the historic places associated with that time in German history. Such cool stuff to see! At one point, we were standing near Checkpoint Charlie, reading on the history of the wall, and we saw some American students getting a tour. We asked one of the girls where she was from and she said America. She went to Luther College! What a small world. We got to talking and found out that they were on J term in Germany, and that she actually worked last summer with one of the second semester Wales students! So crazy!
After seeing the wall, we had a picnic lunch in a park outside a huge cathedral in the snow. Such a good and cheap way to enjoy the city! We did so much more walking and exploring after lunch and when we finally got tired and cold, we ended up in a coffee shop at the internet cafe. We were trying to think of what we could do until our next train took off, and we decided to see a movie. So we found a theatre, and saw Little Fockers. The movie itself was not the funniest thing I have ever seen, but I enjoyed seeing how the Germans reacted to the humor. They were the best part! After the movie, we headed back to the main train station to wait for our train.
Now we have not had the best luck with trains up to this point, and our luck would not change in Berlin. Our train first said it was delayed by 45 minutes, which sucked, but we could get over it. We sat in the ticket office on the floor, trying to keep warm and watch all our luggage. I fell asleep for a bit and then we headed back to the platform to see how our train was doing. Delayed even more, 60 minutes. So we headed back down so we didn't have to stand in the cold for that long. We got to experience a crazy drunken guy yelling at the door in German and kicking things, which was interesting to say the least. He was our entertainment for a bit before we headed to the platform once again. We ended up standing there for ages... but finally over and hour and something late, our train showed up. Our compartment this time was full. All six seats were taken, so it was not very relaxing at all. As we made stops through the night though, we slowly lost our cabin mates, until it was just Erik and I. Then we were able to pass out until Amsterdam.
We woke up to the beautiful Dutch contryside as we wound our way towards Amsterdam. So we got ready and we were definitely glad to be off the train and in Amsterdam! We took the tram without buying tickets, and just hopped off at a stop near our hostel. I was so nervous at this point, but that was the sleep deprivation talking. We were able to check right into our hostel, and it was awesome to know we had a home for a few nights! We had a good time exploring Amsterdam and seeing everything it has to offer. Definitely a different culture here, but I'm loving it! We are going to see the Red Light District tonight, and Anne Frank's house tomorrow; other than that, we are just enjoying our few days here and relaxing a lot. We fly out of Amsterdam and into Liverpool on Saturday morning, and then we will catch the train from Liverpool up to Bangor.
I'm excited to sleep in my own bed again, and to not have to live out of a suitcase, but this has been such a fantastic adventure! I got to see so many cool things, and I'm glad Erik and I could have this European adventure together!
Then we were on the night train and off to Munich! Night trains are an adventure, that's for sure! It is exactly like you would imagine in Harry Potter or something. A cabin with 6 seats and not a ton of room to relax. Our train to Munich we got lucky though, it only ended up being Erik, myself and this other girl for most of the journey. We got a little bit of sleep and tried to pass the hours as best we could. We ran into a little bit of trouble though as we approached Germany. Our train started it's journey in Hungary and crossed into Austria with no problem. When we got to Germany though, the insurance or something didn't work out and we couldn't go any futrher. Lame. Not what you want to hear at 4 in the morning when you are tired and stuck on a train. So we had to wait almost 2 hours for them to sort something out. We ended up switching to a way less comfortable train and continuing our way to Munich in that. But we finally made it and ditched our luggage at the hostel as soon as we possibly could. Then we bought a ticket and hopped a train to see some castles in the mountains!
We hiked up a snow covered mountain and saw the castle which was the inspiration for the Disney Castle. So beautiful! It was a cold and miserable walk up the mountain, but it was worth it to see the breath-taking mountains and castles. Then we took the horse drawn carriage down the icy path and did some souvenir shopping before catching our train back to the hostel. We were so tired by this point that it was all we could do to enjoy our free drink at the hostel bar and head back to our room to pass out. I think we literally went to bed at 8:00. We are so old! ha ha. The next morning though, we felt so much better when we woke up, if it was rather suddenly. Out of anyone we could have been staying with in our hostel, we got the world's six loudest Asians on the face of the planet. Wow, they can make soooo much noise when they are getting ready! But it's alright, we were well rested, and just hid out in our beds until they left, and then we had the place to ourselves to get ready for our adventures.
So we packed up our luggage and made plans for our second day in Munich. We tried to go to Dachau first, but then found out that everything was closed that day, so we decided to head to Olympic Stadium instead. So cool to walk around the snowy grounds and see where the Olympics were held! After that, we shopped around for a little bit before spending our lunch time in the Hofbrauhaus. Such good German beer! We had a super funny waiter, and had a really good few hours drinking beer and just relaxing a bit. We explored the city a bit more for the rest of the afternoon, and eventually made our way to our train. Another night train would take us from Munich to Berlin. This one was there on time, and it had actually had technical problems, meaning that we got a more comfortable car to sleep in than we had actually paid for. Thank you technical problems. We were so tired at this point though, that we would have slept anywhere. Our cabin mate this time was a Polish boy who talked a lot. Wow. So we just slept and then he couldn't talk to us. ha ha.
We only had a day in Berlin, so we ditched our luggage in lockers and set out to explore the city. My days of German Cultural History were definitely coming back to me as we followed the path of the wall, and saw the historic places associated with that time in German history. Such cool stuff to see! At one point, we were standing near Checkpoint Charlie, reading on the history of the wall, and we saw some American students getting a tour. We asked one of the girls where she was from and she said America. She went to Luther College! What a small world. We got to talking and found out that they were on J term in Germany, and that she actually worked last summer with one of the second semester Wales students! So crazy!
After seeing the wall, we had a picnic lunch in a park outside a huge cathedral in the snow. Such a good and cheap way to enjoy the city! We did so much more walking and exploring after lunch and when we finally got tired and cold, we ended up in a coffee shop at the internet cafe. We were trying to think of what we could do until our next train took off, and we decided to see a movie. So we found a theatre, and saw Little Fockers. The movie itself was not the funniest thing I have ever seen, but I enjoyed seeing how the Germans reacted to the humor. They were the best part! After the movie, we headed back to the main train station to wait for our train.
Now we have not had the best luck with trains up to this point, and our luck would not change in Berlin. Our train first said it was delayed by 45 minutes, which sucked, but we could get over it. We sat in the ticket office on the floor, trying to keep warm and watch all our luggage. I fell asleep for a bit and then we headed back to the platform to see how our train was doing. Delayed even more, 60 minutes. So we headed back down so we didn't have to stand in the cold for that long. We got to experience a crazy drunken guy yelling at the door in German and kicking things, which was interesting to say the least. He was our entertainment for a bit before we headed to the platform once again. We ended up standing there for ages... but finally over and hour and something late, our train showed up. Our compartment this time was full. All six seats were taken, so it was not very relaxing at all. As we made stops through the night though, we slowly lost our cabin mates, until it was just Erik and I. Then we were able to pass out until Amsterdam.
We woke up to the beautiful Dutch contryside as we wound our way towards Amsterdam. So we got ready and we were definitely glad to be off the train and in Amsterdam! We took the tram without buying tickets, and just hopped off at a stop near our hostel. I was so nervous at this point, but that was the sleep deprivation talking. We were able to check right into our hostel, and it was awesome to know we had a home for a few nights! We had a good time exploring Amsterdam and seeing everything it has to offer. Definitely a different culture here, but I'm loving it! We are going to see the Red Light District tonight, and Anne Frank's house tomorrow; other than that, we are just enjoying our few days here and relaxing a lot. We fly out of Amsterdam and into Liverpool on Saturday morning, and then we will catch the train from Liverpool up to Bangor.
I'm excited to sleep in my own bed again, and to not have to live out of a suitcase, but this has been such a fantastic adventure! I got to see so many cool things, and I'm glad Erik and I could have this European adventure together!
Wednesday, 29 December 2010
Being Homeless in Vienna
So Erik and I are finally on our European adventure!
Before heading off for a few weeks away from Wales, I spent a pretty quiet Christmas in Bangor. The flat and most of the students had left a few days before the holiday, and I had a couple of days to hang out and get some homework finished. I slept a ton and actually finished one of my three papers, so at least the holiday was not wasted. I go to talk to my whole family on Christmas day, and then it was time for packing!
How do you pack for a two week adventure in cold countries where the only game plan is hang out with Erik? Such a difficult task! I did manage to get everything packed up though, and my train was out of Bangor around 8pm on Monday. Traveling to London for the first time, by myself, turned into quite an adventure as well. But I made it to the Gatwick airport around 3am after three trains, a bus and so much confusion. My plane took off at 7:30am and Erik was waiting in Vienna for me!
My first day here was amazing. I got to meet a few friends from Erik`s semester over here, and we got to do some good exploring as well. Vienna is beautiful, and even though I don´t speak any German, I love it here! We got to drink delicious coffee, explore the university and we ended the night in a cool club downtown. Throw in some Chinese noodle take away and it was a fantastic day! But like the old people we are, we were back at the flat we were staying the night in and were in bed before 10.
To explain the title of this post, we didn´t book hostels or anything for our four days in Vienna. The theory was that Erik has friends and we can sleep just about everywhere. So far so good! We often don´t know where we will be spending the night until the same afternoon, but that just adds to the adventure. The first night we stayed in one of the student dorms, in the flat of one of Erik´s friend. We slept in the kitchen on the floor above his friend´s flat because they had bigger houses. Thankfully most of the students are gone for the holidays, so we didn´t disturb anyone by being there! Going to bed so early though, after so much traveling for everyone, really messed up our sleeping patterns. We were both awake around 4, and so decided to go get breakfast. Chocolate milk and pastries? Yes please! The public transportation here is so awesome, and we can get around so easilz, even so early in the morning. After breakfast we were tired again, so it was back to bed for a little bit until we were woken up by the cleaning lady... awkward! I´m sure she knew we shouldn´t have been sleeping in the kitchen!
We spent today walking around the city. I got to see the historical parts of Vienna, and also all the places the students see everyday. It´s so interesting to see what other study abroad students get to see and do everyday. It makes their stories so much better! Tonight we were going to sleep at Christina´s apartment, but she is a nanny and the family is a bit crazy. Us staying would have involved some sneaking into the place, and besides that, it doesn´t have much heat. Seeing as we don´t have pillows or blankets, we decided against that. My coat makes an excellent blanket, but it´s only so warm! So we are staying at the Central study abroad office instead. They have couches and heat and we have turned this place into our own little apartment; complete with beer and music. We are having a chill night tonight, working on essays and keeping warm. Tomorrow will be another busy day of exploring and adventuring around Vienna. We may just hop on the subway and see where we end up, that sounds pretty fun. ha ha.
We will spend New Year´s here, celebrating with everyone in City Center. Then we are off to Munich for a few days. After Munich, it´s one day in Berlin and four days in Amsterdam. From there we fly back into Liverpool and catch a flight back to Bangor, where we will spend some time recovering from almost two full weeks of travelling! This is an awesome adventure, and I´m loving every minute of it so far. Vienna has been beautiful, and I know that we have so much more to see. Also, I´m getting pretty good at living out of a suitecase with only my coat for a blanket and pillow. And typing on German keyboards, which are slightly out of order from what I´m used to! :)
Well, I should probably get going now. Erik ran back to the flat to pick up some stuff he forgot this morning, and if I am not working on my essay when he gets back, he has threatened to punch me so I bleed. We wouldn´t want that, so Ill just work on the paper!
Before heading off for a few weeks away from Wales, I spent a pretty quiet Christmas in Bangor. The flat and most of the students had left a few days before the holiday, and I had a couple of days to hang out and get some homework finished. I slept a ton and actually finished one of my three papers, so at least the holiday was not wasted. I go to talk to my whole family on Christmas day, and then it was time for packing!
How do you pack for a two week adventure in cold countries where the only game plan is hang out with Erik? Such a difficult task! I did manage to get everything packed up though, and my train was out of Bangor around 8pm on Monday. Traveling to London for the first time, by myself, turned into quite an adventure as well. But I made it to the Gatwick airport around 3am after three trains, a bus and so much confusion. My plane took off at 7:30am and Erik was waiting in Vienna for me!
My first day here was amazing. I got to meet a few friends from Erik`s semester over here, and we got to do some good exploring as well. Vienna is beautiful, and even though I don´t speak any German, I love it here! We got to drink delicious coffee, explore the university and we ended the night in a cool club downtown. Throw in some Chinese noodle take away and it was a fantastic day! But like the old people we are, we were back at the flat we were staying the night in and were in bed before 10.
To explain the title of this post, we didn´t book hostels or anything for our four days in Vienna. The theory was that Erik has friends and we can sleep just about everywhere. So far so good! We often don´t know where we will be spending the night until the same afternoon, but that just adds to the adventure. The first night we stayed in one of the student dorms, in the flat of one of Erik´s friend. We slept in the kitchen on the floor above his friend´s flat because they had bigger houses. Thankfully most of the students are gone for the holidays, so we didn´t disturb anyone by being there! Going to bed so early though, after so much traveling for everyone, really messed up our sleeping patterns. We were both awake around 4, and so decided to go get breakfast. Chocolate milk and pastries? Yes please! The public transportation here is so awesome, and we can get around so easilz, even so early in the morning. After breakfast we were tired again, so it was back to bed for a little bit until we were woken up by the cleaning lady... awkward! I´m sure she knew we shouldn´t have been sleeping in the kitchen!
We spent today walking around the city. I got to see the historical parts of Vienna, and also all the places the students see everyday. It´s so interesting to see what other study abroad students get to see and do everyday. It makes their stories so much better! Tonight we were going to sleep at Christina´s apartment, but she is a nanny and the family is a bit crazy. Us staying would have involved some sneaking into the place, and besides that, it doesn´t have much heat. Seeing as we don´t have pillows or blankets, we decided against that. My coat makes an excellent blanket, but it´s only so warm! So we are staying at the Central study abroad office instead. They have couches and heat and we have turned this place into our own little apartment; complete with beer and music. We are having a chill night tonight, working on essays and keeping warm. Tomorrow will be another busy day of exploring and adventuring around Vienna. We may just hop on the subway and see where we end up, that sounds pretty fun. ha ha.
We will spend New Year´s here, celebrating with everyone in City Center. Then we are off to Munich for a few days. After Munich, it´s one day in Berlin and four days in Amsterdam. From there we fly back into Liverpool and catch a flight back to Bangor, where we will spend some time recovering from almost two full weeks of travelling! This is an awesome adventure, and I´m loving every minute of it so far. Vienna has been beautiful, and I know that we have so much more to see. Also, I´m getting pretty good at living out of a suitecase with only my coat for a blanket and pillow. And typing on German keyboards, which are slightly out of order from what I´m used to! :)
Well, I should probably get going now. Erik ran back to the flat to pick up some stuff he forgot this morning, and if I am not working on my essay when he gets back, he has threatened to punch me so I bleed. We wouldn´t want that, so Ill just work on the paper!
Wednesday, 15 December 2010
And so it begins...
Well, it's getting down towards the end of the semester now. This brings papers, revision for exams, Christmas and everyone leaving. We all knew this week and these last few days were coming, we just didn't think it would be here so soon. This semester has just flown by, and it seems like only yesterday our study abroad group were meeting up for the first time in the Manchester airport, spending that first night together at Hatters, and being invited on our first pub crawl. It seems so crazy to think that everyone is leaving this week. Brandon left Monday, and everyone else is going either Friday, Saturday or Sunday. It's weird to think of myself in Bangor next semester without these eight wonderful people who made my first semester so awesome!
We were out at Paddy's a few nights ago, just having a few drinks and enjoying a night out. Lucy started crying and everything just went downhill from there. It was like a chain reaction, and everyone was losing it. We stood there for the longest time, singing karaoke, crying and hugging. It was one of the best nights we have had, but it made my heart super sad. I think that putting everyone on a train at some point this weekend will break my heart. Tomorrow will be a rough day for us, I think. We are meeting Tecwyn at Uno for a few drinks in the evening. This will be the real last time that we are all together as a group. I think many tears will be shed, and many memories recounted of our three months in Bangor.
I'm starting a list of all the places in Bangor where I have cried, and so far it stands at Paddy's and Uno. I know this list will grow immensely these next few days though... It's hard to put into words just how much everyone from the Fall semester means to me and I suck at goodbyes anyway. I am so excited though for my Christmas adventures and for next semester, I just don't want this one to end.
My Christmas adventures begin on Friday though! Friday, the flat and I are going to see Tron in Llandudno, Saturday I will pick Liberty up at the train station for our week of epic adventures, and the 27th I will be on a train to the London airport. From London I am flying to Vienna to meet up with Erik for a two week tour around Europe. Vienna, Munich, Berlin, Amsterdam and Dublin. Sounds like a good Christmas vacation to me! Then it will be back to Bangor to meet the new American students and take my one exam. I'm not really looking forward to sitting that exam, it means I will actually have to do some studying on my European excursion, but I guess that's ok. ha ha.
Last night was a good night out though... we started at Uno as a flat just having a few drinks and playing some pool. I'm absolutely terrible at pool, but I hope I'm getting better. I'll practice over break and blow everyone away by my mad skills next term. :) Anyway, after Uno, Jack, Lewis, Kalli and I headed down to Paddy's for a bit. We ended up staying there and enjoying some drinks before moving on to Rascals. From there, I went to the electronics party with Jack and Lewis. They do electronic engineering, and apparently their course was having a party. It was a really fun time, and we ended up getting home sometime around 2:30. I was having a bit of a rough night, and I actually ended up falling asleep in my bathroom for a bit, oops... but it's all good. One of those nights I'll always remember! Today was a day of recovery and homework. I have 2 essays and journals for Tecwyn that I need to get done for Friday, so I'm crossing my fingers that motivation to get them finished comes to me... hopefully. Then tonight we headed to Molly's flat for a goodbye party. Such a good time. Even on nights when we just stay in and hang out, I feel like we have so much fun and these are the times we make the best memories! Tomorrow is back to Paddy's for pound a pint and more crying, I'm assuming. ha ha.
Sunday, 28 November 2010
“Climb up on some hill at sunrise. Everybody needs perspective once in a while, and you'll find it there.”
The title of this post sums up possibly the best weekend I have had in Bangor so far. This is exactly what I was doing this morning at approximately 7:15am...
This weekend was such a good, chill weekend, and my heart is so happy because of it! We decided to stay in all weekend and just hang out as a flat. On Friday night, we started the evening with Crank and Crank 2, followed by copious amounts of Guitar Hero. We were having such a good time and the evening just flew past. At one point we realized how late it was getting and instead of heading to bed, we just decided to pull an all-nighter. Such a good decision! Once we were developing claw hands from too much Guitar Hero, we decided to put on a few episodes of True Blood (of course!). At one point, around 7am or so, Mark and Tom were heading out for a cigarette and I ran to my room to check email quick. I heard them talking really loudly in the hallway, so I opened my door. They were both yelling about snow, so I grabbed some shoes and my camera and followed them outside. Now the first snow in Bangor is nothing like the snow I'm used to back home, but it was awesome! Just a light dusting on the ground and the cars, but enough for footprints and small snowballs. It was so much fun to run around the parking lot, making the first footprints in the first snow in Bangor! After drawing a snow penis (because we are immature) and throwing a snowball at Jack's window, we headed back to the flat to make breakfast. Beer and toast for breakfast? I think so! After all of the excitement of the morning, we were ready for sleep so we eventually all went back to our rooms to pass out for the day.
I got up Saturday around 3pm and bummed around for a long time before heading to Uno to catch up on life with Shireen. We headed over to Bar Uno on campus and were those awkward kids who sit down, don't order anything, hang out for 5 minutes and then leave! So we headed back to my flat and played a few songs on Guitar Hero while admiring the new Christmas decorations that help to make our kitchen look festive. Once everyone in the flat was ready, we headed down to Morrison's for a bit of grocery shopping. We had decided to have another all-nighter, and the evening started with a meal together as a flat. I think we did pretty well, a chicken pasta bake and garlic bread. I was a happy camper! A few other people came over after dinner, and we watched Vampires Suck and The Hurt Locker. Then the Guitar Hero started up again. (Thanks Nathan for leaving your XBox in our kitchen all weekend, it was a great addition! ha ha). People started trailing off to bed as the night went on, and eventually it was Tom, Mark and myself that were left for the all night adventure.
More True Blood followed, and around 6:45 this morning we bundled up and headed out to Roman Camp to watch the sunrise. It was mighty chilly this morning, but it was totally worth it. When we got to Roman Camp it was still dark, and we settled down for the wait for the sun. There was a period of time where we even got snowed on, but we would not be deterred from seeing the sun. We also made several new friends this morning! So many dogs camp up to the top of the hill to visit us, which is funny because I keep telling them that we need a puppy for the flat. There was also a really nice log at the top of the hill that they guys used as a seesaw! Mark had also brought his speakers, so our time on the hill was made so much more awesome with the Lord of the Rings soundtrack playing in the background. Around 8:15 or so, the sun started to become visible over the mountains. It was so spectacular to watch the sunrise over the mountains with the sea on one side and Angelsey on the other! Beautiful. We have lots of pictures from this morning, but they don't do the scene any justice. After the sun was mostly up, we headed back to Ffridd site for hot drinks and heat. We ended up watching Indiana Jones until almost 11am before we passed out.
The sleep deprivation from this weekend was totally worth it for the bonding and fun I had with my flat. This whole weekend made my heart so happy, and we are even talking about doing it again next weekend! I'm sensing a flat tradition in the making! It makes me so happy that I have an amazing group of people in my flat, I'm so excited to spend the next semester with them making memories and having adventures.
Wow, I almost forgot about out Thanksgiving feast! Crazy how we just had Thanksgiving on Thursday and I have already forgotten, that's the sleep deprivation talking there. :) So Thursday, all of the Central students got dressed up and headed down to the Italian restaurant near the pier for a "Welsh" Thanksgiving. Every year, Tecwyn takes the students to this restaurant to celebrate a holiday that is not even on the radar here. Wednesday was so funny, I was around at a friend's flat, and at midnight I wished everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. I got the best response ever... "Wait, isn't that a Jewish holiday? Are you Jewish?" ha ha! So I did a lot of explaining about Thanksgiving and how we celebrate. But anyway, we went to the Italian place and had a fantastic time! Though it wasn't tradition food, it was still amazing. Tons of starters, my main meal and dessert, on top of all the wine we could drink. Win! There was even an American flag hanging on the wall to make us feel at home, and Tecwyn had us all stand up and toast to America, our families and Thanksgiving. It was just a really awesome night of hanging out as a study abroad group (which we don't do very often, as we are all super busy) and enjoying the holiday together. All of the Central group has a special place in my heart, and I'm so sad for them to leave in mid December. If I just don't think about it, it's not happening right? I can't believe that a semester has flown by this quickly! We still have a good 20 days though, and we will be taking advantage of each of those days!
This week it's back to classes and work on my 3 papers which are due before January. My motivation to complete my school work is lacking, but I'll get it all done. Probably between episodes of True Blood. ha ha. :)
This weekend was such a good, chill weekend, and my heart is so happy because of it! We decided to stay in all weekend and just hang out as a flat. On Friday night, we started the evening with Crank and Crank 2, followed by copious amounts of Guitar Hero. We were having such a good time and the evening just flew past. At one point we realized how late it was getting and instead of heading to bed, we just decided to pull an all-nighter. Such a good decision! Once we were developing claw hands from too much Guitar Hero, we decided to put on a few episodes of True Blood (of course!). At one point, around 7am or so, Mark and Tom were heading out for a cigarette and I ran to my room to check email quick. I heard them talking really loudly in the hallway, so I opened my door. They were both yelling about snow, so I grabbed some shoes and my camera and followed them outside. Now the first snow in Bangor is nothing like the snow I'm used to back home, but it was awesome! Just a light dusting on the ground and the cars, but enough for footprints and small snowballs. It was so much fun to run around the parking lot, making the first footprints in the first snow in Bangor! After drawing a snow penis (because we are immature) and throwing a snowball at Jack's window, we headed back to the flat to make breakfast. Beer and toast for breakfast? I think so! After all of the excitement of the morning, we were ready for sleep so we eventually all went back to our rooms to pass out for the day.
I got up Saturday around 3pm and bummed around for a long time before heading to Uno to catch up on life with Shireen. We headed over to Bar Uno on campus and were those awkward kids who sit down, don't order anything, hang out for 5 minutes and then leave! So we headed back to my flat and played a few songs on Guitar Hero while admiring the new Christmas decorations that help to make our kitchen look festive. Once everyone in the flat was ready, we headed down to Morrison's for a bit of grocery shopping. We had decided to have another all-nighter, and the evening started with a meal together as a flat. I think we did pretty well, a chicken pasta bake and garlic bread. I was a happy camper! A few other people came over after dinner, and we watched Vampires Suck and The Hurt Locker. Then the Guitar Hero started up again. (Thanks Nathan for leaving your XBox in our kitchen all weekend, it was a great addition! ha ha). People started trailing off to bed as the night went on, and eventually it was Tom, Mark and myself that were left for the all night adventure.
More True Blood followed, and around 6:45 this morning we bundled up and headed out to Roman Camp to watch the sunrise. It was mighty chilly this morning, but it was totally worth it. When we got to Roman Camp it was still dark, and we settled down for the wait for the sun. There was a period of time where we even got snowed on, but we would not be deterred from seeing the sun. We also made several new friends this morning! So many dogs camp up to the top of the hill to visit us, which is funny because I keep telling them that we need a puppy for the flat. There was also a really nice log at the top of the hill that they guys used as a seesaw! Mark had also brought his speakers, so our time on the hill was made so much more awesome with the Lord of the Rings soundtrack playing in the background. Around 8:15 or so, the sun started to become visible over the mountains. It was so spectacular to watch the sunrise over the mountains with the sea on one side and Angelsey on the other! Beautiful. We have lots of pictures from this morning, but they don't do the scene any justice. After the sun was mostly up, we headed back to Ffridd site for hot drinks and heat. We ended up watching Indiana Jones until almost 11am before we passed out.
The sleep deprivation from this weekend was totally worth it for the bonding and fun I had with my flat. This whole weekend made my heart so happy, and we are even talking about doing it again next weekend! I'm sensing a flat tradition in the making! It makes me so happy that I have an amazing group of people in my flat, I'm so excited to spend the next semester with them making memories and having adventures.
Wow, I almost forgot about out Thanksgiving feast! Crazy how we just had Thanksgiving on Thursday and I have already forgotten, that's the sleep deprivation talking there. :) So Thursday, all of the Central students got dressed up and headed down to the Italian restaurant near the pier for a "Welsh" Thanksgiving. Every year, Tecwyn takes the students to this restaurant to celebrate a holiday that is not even on the radar here. Wednesday was so funny, I was around at a friend's flat, and at midnight I wished everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. I got the best response ever... "Wait, isn't that a Jewish holiday? Are you Jewish?" ha ha! So I did a lot of explaining about Thanksgiving and how we celebrate. But anyway, we went to the Italian place and had a fantastic time! Though it wasn't tradition food, it was still amazing. Tons of starters, my main meal and dessert, on top of all the wine we could drink. Win! There was even an American flag hanging on the wall to make us feel at home, and Tecwyn had us all stand up and toast to America, our families and Thanksgiving. It was just a really awesome night of hanging out as a study abroad group (which we don't do very often, as we are all super busy) and enjoying the holiday together. All of the Central group has a special place in my heart, and I'm so sad for them to leave in mid December. If I just don't think about it, it's not happening right? I can't believe that a semester has flown by this quickly! We still have a good 20 days though, and we will be taking advantage of each of those days!
This week it's back to classes and work on my 3 papers which are due before January. My motivation to complete my school work is lacking, but I'll get it all done. Probably between episodes of True Blood. ha ha. :)
Monday, 15 November 2010
Sometimes Blogging is Hard...
So I realized the other day that I have not blogged in forever and a day. Oops... my bad! :) Well, I'm back now, so don't fret! Life has been absolutely crazy since I last wrote, but I love it so much.
We have had some epic fieldtrips as well since my last post: Cardiff weekend, Welsh Mountain Zoo, Conwy and so much more! I do love our field trip days and I'm excited to go on another one this upcoming weekend. I don't remember where we are going (but that's because I don't tend to read my info packets...) but I'm excited nonetheless!
Also, I didn't realize how much I miss random stuff from America until a few weeks ago. As the Dutch were winding down their football season, I really began to miss good 'ol American football. Not that I'm a die-hard fan or anything, but as the weather got a bit colder and the leaves started falling off the trees, I wanted to see a football game! Lucky for me, one of our friends here in Bangor just happens to play for the University team. So I got my football fix at the Bangor Muddog's season opener against Aberystwyth two Sundays ago. This was maybe the coldest football game I have ever stood through, but it was totally worth it. The Bangor team was only formed last year, and they are really good for all the guys being relatively new to the concept of football American style. They unfortunately lost to Aber, but the score was pretty close from what I hear. (We ended up leaving after the half as none of us could feel our feet. But that's what standing in mud will do.) It was a good game though, and I can say that I have seen a football game played with a background of the Menai Bridge. Much prettier than any football field at home! We also got invited to the Muddog social that night to celebrate the game. This was a good time as well! All the guys are super nice, and they love talking about the games. I have been invited to go to their away games with the team, as they love to have Americans around who understand what is going on! :) We'll see, I may just be the team's new (and only) cheerleader, trash talker, and/or token American girl. ha ha!
Well, I have officially survived about half a semester of University classes. We just had Linguistics reading week. This is pretty much an awesome week where we have no class. I think the point is that we get a head start on our papers and projects before the term winds down... but really everyone just sleeps a ton and doesn't do work. Obvious answer! During reading week I did actually work on a group project for approximately two hours, and then the books went on the shelf and the staying up all night and sleeping all day kicked in. There was one day where I was lying in bed at approximately 3:30pm and my flatmates were being quite loud in the hallway. When I called them out on it later, they just turned to me and said I deserved to be woken up, it was almost night time! ha ha. Reading week ended with a long long weekend of awesome. Our friend Mark turned 22, so we had to play a night of pub golf to celebrate. Then the next night we celebrated my flatmate Mark's 19th with lots of drinking and other random stuff. We didn't go to bed until nearly 6:30am Saturday morning, and we were all so beat the next day! But Saturday was Mark's actual birthday, so we got up sometime in the afternoon and did it all again. Needless to say, by Sunday morning at 6am, I was ready to pass out or die. But I survived, and even made it out of bed in time to see the Vikings play the Bears! So productive weekend over all. This week it's back to classes and back to reality. My final paper topics have been announced and between 3 papers, stuff for Tecwyn's class and everything else, I'm looking at about 11,000 words before Christmas. I should probably have started writing yesterday... but oh well, it will get done!
In big life news, I have officially decided to stay in Bangor for the rest of the year! I will be here until late June, and I'm so excited to be able to study a full year here! It was a stressful couple of weeks, trying to get forms, essays and everything from Central. It seemed to take ages to get my financial aid approved for next semester, but when the email came through, I was one happy camper. We had gone to Firework's night at Roman Camp and we were going to end our Guy Fawkes Night with some Harry Potter 6. So we came back, changed our muddy clothes, and I checked my email quick before heading to the kitchen for the movie. I didn't even read the entire thing. I got about as far as: "Jessica, Congratulations. You have been approved to stay..." I jumped up so fast and ran into the hallway screaming. (My flatmates can confirm that one... ) I jumped and screamed about how excited I was, and there was much hugging and screaming back in celebration. So I am here for about 7 more months at this point. I'm not nervous at all, I feel like Bangor is my home, and I love the people and this place so much. I couldn't imagine going back to Central next semester. It will be sad to see all of my friends from the program going home in December, but the new students will be here in January, and I'm pumped for the opportunity to hang out with them! I will also not be going home for Christmas, as I will be going on a Great European Adventure! More details on that later... :)
Mostly I'm excited about staying the entire year with my flat. I love each and every one of them so much! We bonded so quickly, and I often find myself asking how it happened. How did 4 English Freshers (all 18 or so) and myself become best friends? I have no idea, but I'm so thankful for getting to live in this flat with these people. Most nights you can find us all in the kitchen cooking our dinner around the same time (we have some sort of internal dinner clock these days). We all cook our food and eat together, then we usually end our evenings watching some TV or a movie in the kitchen. This evening actually, it was my flat, part of Molly's flat, and a few other people all huddled around our kitchen table watching Lord of the Rings Extended Edition. For nearly 4 hours we watched Frodo and all of our favorite characters start the trek to Mordor with the One Ring. I think my favorite part of the evening would have to be the intense side conversations throughout the film. "Well I think that Borimir is a crap character." "Well have you read the book where..." "No I mean it all makes sense if you think about it like..." I have never had better movie conversation than this evening. We are all secretly so nerdy about stuff like this, and it's great to bond over our love of hobbits and elves. :)
This weekend we are going to see HP at Llandudno and we have a field trip on Sunday. I would have liked to see the Muddogs play Sheffield on Sunday, but it's just not going to work out... bummer. But I'm sure I will hear the full story from Mark and the rest of the team when we bond over some NFL on Sunday night. But now I have to get on reading my book on the Welsh Language for my book review. I'm actually learning quite a lot of interesting facts about it, but finding the motivation to read this book is far from my grasp right now... oh well, the next two days with no class will be spent in the library for sure!
More soon!
Cheers!
We have had some epic fieldtrips as well since my last post: Cardiff weekend, Welsh Mountain Zoo, Conwy and so much more! I do love our field trip days and I'm excited to go on another one this upcoming weekend. I don't remember where we are going (but that's because I don't tend to read my info packets...) but I'm excited nonetheless!
Also, I didn't realize how much I miss random stuff from America until a few weeks ago. As the Dutch were winding down their football season, I really began to miss good 'ol American football. Not that I'm a die-hard fan or anything, but as the weather got a bit colder and the leaves started falling off the trees, I wanted to see a football game! Lucky for me, one of our friends here in Bangor just happens to play for the University team. So I got my football fix at the Bangor Muddog's season opener against Aberystwyth two Sundays ago. This was maybe the coldest football game I have ever stood through, but it was totally worth it. The Bangor team was only formed last year, and they are really good for all the guys being relatively new to the concept of football American style. They unfortunately lost to Aber, but the score was pretty close from what I hear. (We ended up leaving after the half as none of us could feel our feet. But that's what standing in mud will do.) It was a good game though, and I can say that I have seen a football game played with a background of the Menai Bridge. Much prettier than any football field at home! We also got invited to the Muddog social that night to celebrate the game. This was a good time as well! All the guys are super nice, and they love talking about the games. I have been invited to go to their away games with the team, as they love to have Americans around who understand what is going on! :) We'll see, I may just be the team's new (and only) cheerleader, trash talker, and/or token American girl. ha ha!
Well, I have officially survived about half a semester of University classes. We just had Linguistics reading week. This is pretty much an awesome week where we have no class. I think the point is that we get a head start on our papers and projects before the term winds down... but really everyone just sleeps a ton and doesn't do work. Obvious answer! During reading week I did actually work on a group project for approximately two hours, and then the books went on the shelf and the staying up all night and sleeping all day kicked in. There was one day where I was lying in bed at approximately 3:30pm and my flatmates were being quite loud in the hallway. When I called them out on it later, they just turned to me and said I deserved to be woken up, it was almost night time! ha ha. Reading week ended with a long long weekend of awesome. Our friend Mark turned 22, so we had to play a night of pub golf to celebrate. Then the next night we celebrated my flatmate Mark's 19th with lots of drinking and other random stuff. We didn't go to bed until nearly 6:30am Saturday morning, and we were all so beat the next day! But Saturday was Mark's actual birthday, so we got up sometime in the afternoon and did it all again. Needless to say, by Sunday morning at 6am, I was ready to pass out or die. But I survived, and even made it out of bed in time to see the Vikings play the Bears! So productive weekend over all. This week it's back to classes and back to reality. My final paper topics have been announced and between 3 papers, stuff for Tecwyn's class and everything else, I'm looking at about 11,000 words before Christmas. I should probably have started writing yesterday... but oh well, it will get done!
In big life news, I have officially decided to stay in Bangor for the rest of the year! I will be here until late June, and I'm so excited to be able to study a full year here! It was a stressful couple of weeks, trying to get forms, essays and everything from Central. It seemed to take ages to get my financial aid approved for next semester, but when the email came through, I was one happy camper. We had gone to Firework's night at Roman Camp and we were going to end our Guy Fawkes Night with some Harry Potter 6. So we came back, changed our muddy clothes, and I checked my email quick before heading to the kitchen for the movie. I didn't even read the entire thing. I got about as far as: "Jessica, Congratulations. You have been approved to stay..." I jumped up so fast and ran into the hallway screaming. (My flatmates can confirm that one... ) I jumped and screamed about how excited I was, and there was much hugging and screaming back in celebration. So I am here for about 7 more months at this point. I'm not nervous at all, I feel like Bangor is my home, and I love the people and this place so much. I couldn't imagine going back to Central next semester. It will be sad to see all of my friends from the program going home in December, but the new students will be here in January, and I'm pumped for the opportunity to hang out with them! I will also not be going home for Christmas, as I will be going on a Great European Adventure! More details on that later... :)
Mostly I'm excited about staying the entire year with my flat. I love each and every one of them so much! We bonded so quickly, and I often find myself asking how it happened. How did 4 English Freshers (all 18 or so) and myself become best friends? I have no idea, but I'm so thankful for getting to live in this flat with these people. Most nights you can find us all in the kitchen cooking our dinner around the same time (we have some sort of internal dinner clock these days). We all cook our food and eat together, then we usually end our evenings watching some TV or a movie in the kitchen. This evening actually, it was my flat, part of Molly's flat, and a few other people all huddled around our kitchen table watching Lord of the Rings Extended Edition. For nearly 4 hours we watched Frodo and all of our favorite characters start the trek to Mordor with the One Ring. I think my favorite part of the evening would have to be the intense side conversations throughout the film. "Well I think that Borimir is a crap character." "Well have you read the book where..." "No I mean it all makes sense if you think about it like..." I have never had better movie conversation than this evening. We are all secretly so nerdy about stuff like this, and it's great to bond over our love of hobbits and elves. :)
This weekend we are going to see HP at Llandudno and we have a field trip on Sunday. I would have liked to see the Muddogs play Sheffield on Sunday, but it's just not going to work out... bummer. But I'm sure I will hear the full story from Mark and the rest of the team when we bond over some NFL on Sunday night. But now I have to get on reading my book on the Welsh Language for my book review. I'm actually learning quite a lot of interesting facts about it, but finding the motivation to read this book is far from my grasp right now... oh well, the next two days with no class will be spent in the library for sure!
More soon!
Cheers!
Saturday, 2 October 2010
Comfy Trousers, Cheesy Chips and one Kick-Ass evening
Oh my, where to even start... I feel like it has been so long since I've updated this thing... Alright, so everyone got moved into the dorms and the year started off with a bang. We enjoyed Freshers Fortnight, which was an interesting experience to say the least. Lots of cheap nights out to welcome everybody to campus. But it was actually a really good way to get to know everyone quickly. It was actually kind of awkward when my flatmates were moving in because I'm that awkward, foreign, old student that has been here for three weeks. But it was all good. My flatmates are fantastic, and I could not have asked for more amazing people to spend my semester with. We all get along really well, and it was kind of insta-bond if I do say so. We have had many an amusing night reading our American info packets about life in Britain. They love seeing what we have been told about their countries and about how different everything supposedly is. Many good times.
Classes have also gotten under way. I'm actually pretty excited about being back in school, just because it's been since early May that I had my last class. I was beginning to feel my brain turn to mush as all of the knowledge leaked out. Ha ha. Just kidding, but really. So I am taking Intro to the History and Culture of Wales, which is the class that Tecwyn teaches. Also I have beginning Welsh, so I can begin to understand the street signs and place names of this country. Then for my choice of classes I am taking Current Issues in Bilingualism and Meaning: Semantics and Pragmatics. These two classes make my heart so incredibly happy, and I was so excited to go to them and talk about nerdy Linguistics things. My first lectures I took pages of notes and I'm looking forward to getting the reading assignments from the library website so I can read up on Linguistic issues. I know that sounds funny, but I just stinking love Linguistics, and it has been far too long since I have had a good discussion on this topic.
Other than starting classes and surviving Freshers, life has just been pretty good. Our flat is known as the party flat, and it's not an unusual night to have 20 or more of our friends (or strangers) come over and spend the evening with us. I feel like that's where we make most of our friends. We all gather before a night out and then head out as a group. It's more fun that way. Also, our nights on the town have lead to some interesting American discussions. My favorite was in the line for Octagon a few weeks ago. This guy heard us talking and was asking us about America. He was amazed that we boil water on the stove top and that eating something like Lucky Charms is normal. I will give him the fact that he was pretty drunk, but him giggling about Lucky Charms was pretty wonderful. Also, my flatmate Tom had his first chocolate Pop-Tart the other day. I felt like a proud parent watching him enjoy a staple of American life. I have asked my grandma to bring a suitcase full of Pop-Tarts when she comes to visit, just for my flat to enjoy.
As for the title of this blog, that comes from our night tonight. Last night was a little rough for us... we had said we were not going out and we would have a quiet evening at home, but that never actually happens when you plan for it. So we ended up going out and having a good night. I honestly lost some of last night, but the details have been filled in by my friends and flatmates. And I feel that sitting with me in the kitchen until 5am while I go on about everything was a good bonding experience for Mark, Tom and I. So tonight we did have a quiet night in. After dinner and everything, a few people came over and we edited the American handbook so I would be able to tell people the proper translations of everything. Then Shireen and I walked down to Bella kebab for cheesy chips. There is nothing special about cheese covered fries with garlic mayo, but for some reason they are our new favorite food. They are not as good when you are not enjoying a night on the town, but they did well for our late night snack. Then Shireen, Mark, Tom and I watched Kick Ass in our kitchen. We were all dressed in our comfy trousers, glasses and general lounge wear. We even have a picture to prove how cute we were looking. We completed our movie experience with delicious sweet popcorn and much laughter. It was just a really good bonding night for all of us.
I think tomorrow is going to be another lazy day for us in the flat. I may possibly just continue wearing my comfy trousers. ha ha. We are having dinner as a flat tomorrow though, they want me to experience a traditional British Sunday Dinner. So we will be enjoying chicken, roast, potatoes and vegetables, I think. I'm kind of really excited. Flat meals are always wonderful, and much appreciated! Other than that we have another week of classes and everything starting Monday. And I'm pretty sure we are taking a trip to Liverpool next weekend, but we will find out soon enough. I never really read the info packets, so some of our activities are always a surprise to me. :)
But I think now it is time for bed and recovery from my week of not sleeping and going out too much. But that's what lazy Saturdays are for right?
Cheers!
Classes have also gotten under way. I'm actually pretty excited about being back in school, just because it's been since early May that I had my last class. I was beginning to feel my brain turn to mush as all of the knowledge leaked out. Ha ha. Just kidding, but really. So I am taking Intro to the History and Culture of Wales, which is the class that Tecwyn teaches. Also I have beginning Welsh, so I can begin to understand the street signs and place names of this country. Then for my choice of classes I am taking Current Issues in Bilingualism and Meaning: Semantics and Pragmatics. These two classes make my heart so incredibly happy, and I was so excited to go to them and talk about nerdy Linguistics things. My first lectures I took pages of notes and I'm looking forward to getting the reading assignments from the library website so I can read up on Linguistic issues. I know that sounds funny, but I just stinking love Linguistics, and it has been far too long since I have had a good discussion on this topic.
Other than starting classes and surviving Freshers, life has just been pretty good. Our flat is known as the party flat, and it's not an unusual night to have 20 or more of our friends (or strangers) come over and spend the evening with us. I feel like that's where we make most of our friends. We all gather before a night out and then head out as a group. It's more fun that way. Also, our nights on the town have lead to some interesting American discussions. My favorite was in the line for Octagon a few weeks ago. This guy heard us talking and was asking us about America. He was amazed that we boil water on the stove top and that eating something like Lucky Charms is normal. I will give him the fact that he was pretty drunk, but him giggling about Lucky Charms was pretty wonderful. Also, my flatmate Tom had his first chocolate Pop-Tart the other day. I felt like a proud parent watching him enjoy a staple of American life. I have asked my grandma to bring a suitcase full of Pop-Tarts when she comes to visit, just for my flat to enjoy.
As for the title of this blog, that comes from our night tonight. Last night was a little rough for us... we had said we were not going out and we would have a quiet evening at home, but that never actually happens when you plan for it. So we ended up going out and having a good night. I honestly lost some of last night, but the details have been filled in by my friends and flatmates. And I feel that sitting with me in the kitchen until 5am while I go on about everything was a good bonding experience for Mark, Tom and I. So tonight we did have a quiet night in. After dinner and everything, a few people came over and we edited the American handbook so I would be able to tell people the proper translations of everything. Then Shireen and I walked down to Bella kebab for cheesy chips. There is nothing special about cheese covered fries with garlic mayo, but for some reason they are our new favorite food. They are not as good when you are not enjoying a night on the town, but they did well for our late night snack. Then Shireen, Mark, Tom and I watched Kick Ass in our kitchen. We were all dressed in our comfy trousers, glasses and general lounge wear. We even have a picture to prove how cute we were looking. We completed our movie experience with delicious sweet popcorn and much laughter. It was just a really good bonding night for all of us.
I think tomorrow is going to be another lazy day for us in the flat. I may possibly just continue wearing my comfy trousers. ha ha. We are having dinner as a flat tomorrow though, they want me to experience a traditional British Sunday Dinner. So we will be enjoying chicken, roast, potatoes and vegetables, I think. I'm kind of really excited. Flat meals are always wonderful, and much appreciated! Other than that we have another week of classes and everything starting Monday. And I'm pretty sure we are taking a trip to Liverpool next weekend, but we will find out soon enough. I never really read the info packets, so some of our activities are always a surprise to me. :)
But I think now it is time for bed and recovery from my week of not sleeping and going out too much. But that's what lazy Saturdays are for right?
Cheers!
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