Thursday, October 13, 2005
Finally found it!
If you must insist on snail-mail, my address is:
Block L, Room 03
36 Elms Road
Leicester, Leicestershire
LE2 3JB
United Kingdom
Sore ja!
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Block L, Room 03
36 Elms Road
Leicester, Leicestershire
LE2 3JB
United Kingdom
Sore ja!
|
Nothing's happening
Yup, nothing at all.
I've been having fun with various student organizations, though. Monday night I had the Ballroom Dance Society meeting. We did salsa and cha-cha. Most of the dancers are beginners and apparently only three men there actually knew what they were doing, so I was dragged around and stepped on a lot, but I still had fun. The dance instructor was a hoot, quite unintentionally. Imagine a man with a British accent shouting out, "Okay, people, remember your wiggly bums!" and you might see why I was having trouble holding in my laughter.
Tuesday night was anime club night. Kamichu is SO CUTE! Wai~!
Later this evening I'm going to stop by the Classical Music Society. Apparently they're showing an opera. We'll see if I have the taste for it.
I swear, British people make up names for floors just to confuse lost foreigners. For example, the building I'm in now, the Library, has a lower ground floor, a ground floor, and THEN a first, second and third floor. ::blink:: How can you have both a ground and a lower ground floor? If the lower ground floor is actually on the ground, then the ground floor isn't. The Charles Wilson building has a ground floor, a ground-floor mezzanine, a first floor, and so on. Just for that extra bit of confusion, it also has a fifth-floor mezzanine. The lecture hall, the student's union building and the administrative building all have Floor Plans from Hell; I generally wander around in them for 5-20 minutes before I manage to find where I belong.
My roommate Maria is really, really nice: She let me watch TV with her last night. I've missed television. "Ghost" was on--you know, with Whoopi Goldberg and Patrick Swayze (sp?) and Demi Moore? It was the first time I'd ever seen it, but Maria and the Italian girls could practically quote it line-by-line. My opinion: cheezy, cliched, and overdone--but maybe it was a bit more original back when it first aired. Then we watched an episode of "Lost", which is in the middle of the first season over here. Sorry, Ali, but I don't see the appeal. It's a bunch of people stranded on a desert island. Like "Survivor", but not quite as trashy. I tried to explain the wonders of "House" to them, but they looked underwhelmed. I suppose I probably don't do a very good Dr. House impersonation. :P
Love you guys!
|
I've been having fun with various student organizations, though. Monday night I had the Ballroom Dance Society meeting. We did salsa and cha-cha. Most of the dancers are beginners and apparently only three men there actually knew what they were doing, so I was dragged around and stepped on a lot, but I still had fun. The dance instructor was a hoot, quite unintentionally. Imagine a man with a British accent shouting out, "Okay, people, remember your wiggly bums!" and you might see why I was having trouble holding in my laughter.
Tuesday night was anime club night. Kamichu is SO CUTE! Wai~!
Later this evening I'm going to stop by the Classical Music Society. Apparently they're showing an opera. We'll see if I have the taste for it.
I swear, British people make up names for floors just to confuse lost foreigners. For example, the building I'm in now, the Library, has a lower ground floor, a ground floor, and THEN a first, second and third floor. ::blink:: How can you have both a ground and a lower ground floor? If the lower ground floor is actually on the ground, then the ground floor isn't. The Charles Wilson building has a ground floor, a ground-floor mezzanine, a first floor, and so on. Just for that extra bit of confusion, it also has a fifth-floor mezzanine. The lecture hall, the student's union building and the administrative building all have Floor Plans from Hell; I generally wander around in them for 5-20 minutes before I manage to find where I belong.
My roommate Maria is really, really nice: She let me watch TV with her last night. I've missed television. "Ghost" was on--you know, with Whoopi Goldberg and Patrick Swayze (sp?) and Demi Moore? It was the first time I'd ever seen it, but Maria and the Italian girls could practically quote it line-by-line. My opinion: cheezy, cliched, and overdone--but maybe it was a bit more original back when it first aired. Then we watched an episode of "Lost", which is in the middle of the first season over here. Sorry, Ali, but I don't see the appeal. It's a bunch of people stranded on a desert island. Like "Survivor", but not quite as trashy. I tried to explain the wonders of "House" to them, but they looked underwhelmed. I suppose I probably don't do a very good Dr. House impersonation. :P
Love you guys!
|
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
I hate mornings
Unfortunately, I couldn't avoid signing up for a morning class. Tuesdays and Thursdays I have to wake up at 8 and walk 40 minutes to get to a 9:30 class. At least the class seems like it'll be fairly interesting: "Crusading in the Mediterranean in the 14th Century".
That's going to be a problem with my Tuesday-Thursday schedule, I can tell already. I have class first thing in the morning and anime club later in the evening, which means I have to make the trip to and from school TWICE, or stay up on campus all day long.
Emergency vehicles are painted quite strangely in the UK. Ambulances are bright neon yellow and green, and police cars are navy blue and neon yellow checked. The fire trucks are an eye-blinding combination of neon yellow and green, and white.
I've just finished my lunch, and now I'm ready for an afternoon nap. :P
Love you guys!
|
That's going to be a problem with my Tuesday-Thursday schedule, I can tell already. I have class first thing in the morning and anime club later in the evening, which means I have to make the trip to and from school TWICE, or stay up on campus all day long.
Emergency vehicles are painted quite strangely in the UK. Ambulances are bright neon yellow and green, and police cars are navy blue and neon yellow checked. The fire trucks are an eye-blinding combination of neon yellow and green, and white.
I've just finished my lunch, and now I'm ready for an afternoon nap. :P
Love you guys!
|
Monday, October 10, 2005
Hi-ho, Hi-ho, It's Off to Work I Go!
CLASSES
Well, today was my first day of classes. From 1:30-2:30 I have a lecture on "Church and State in England, 1688-1830". The lecturer is a nice guy and the class today was interesting, so I think I'm going to enjoy it. After that I have a one-hour "seminar", where each of the students will take turns picking a special topic and leading the class in a discussion over it.
So for each of my classes I'm only supposed to spend 2 hours every week in a classroom. Beyond that, the classes are largely self-taught. The lecturer's given us a list of 30 or so books he recommends, and we are to pick and choose among them. Classes in a British university, apparently, are set up so that if you attend class every week, you'll pass. If you attend class AND understand the material, you'll get a B. To achieve the highly coveted A, though, you have to do a SUBSTANTIAL amount of reading outside of class and come up with a killer essay. We'll see how this format agrees with me.
Because I might not be in the country during the examination period in January, I may not have to take the exams. On the other hand, most professors will want me to write an additional essay to compensate for not taking an exam. Since I expect I'm going to be swamped during term time, and I'll probably still be in the country during exam time, I'm going to see if I can elect to take the exams.
BLAH
I'm sick. You know how it is: a whole new country, a thousand different new germs to be infected by. Fortunately it's not too bad, just a little cold. My nose is running like a faucet and I had the most horrible headache last night, but I'll survive. It could be worse. I expect I'll be much better by tomorrow or Wednesday.
LONDON
I went to London Saturday. Actually, the experience wasn't that fun for me because I'm very tired and sniffly right now. By the time it was done, I wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep for about 12 hours. But I'm sure in the future I'll be able to look back on the experience with pride and brag about all the cool places I got to see.
First, I had to wake up at 5 in the morning. Blech. I think that if God had intended us to be up that early, He would have made it lunchtime. We drove 2 hours down into London, where we were given a whirlwind tour of the big tourist spots: Buckingham Palace, St. James's park, the Princess Diana Memorial Walk, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square. Then we broke up into groups. Most everyone wanted to go shopping, which seemed a silly way to spend a day in London! I chose to do more sightseeing, so I went to Westminster Abbey, St. Mary's Church, the Tower of London, and the Tower Bridge. I wanted to do an in-depth tour of some of those places, but you wouldn't believe how much they cost. A one-hour tour of Westminster Abbey cost almost $40! So I walked around the outside and took pictures instead.
After that, I spent an hour or two in the British Museum, which is HUGE. You could probably wander around in there for 3 days and not see everything. They had a very cool exhibit of Egyptian mummies, and a large room full of Buddhist and Hindu artifacts from south-east Asia and China. Unfortunately the Japan gallery and the watercolor gallery were closed for repairs, but I passed some time in the Enlightenment gallery instead.
Then we met for tea at a bar in Covent Garden so everyone could watch the Britain vs. Austria football match. After that, it was back on the bus for the 2-hour drive back. My feet were bruised, I'd been walking so long, and my back ached from carrying my backpack all day long, but I'd seen London!
CHURCH
Went back to Avenue Community Church yesterday. They had asked that everyone bring a "pudding" or dessert, so I put together an instant cookie mix the night before. I had to get up in the middle of service and, I'm sure, distract half the church, to run to the bathroom for more tissues. After the service we had lunch together: beef and vegetable stew and buttered bread and fruit salad and lots of pudding. Yay for the free food!
And trust me, I'm needing the free food right now. I didn't realize that in Europe they don't put as many preservatives in their food as we Americans do, so a bunch of my food has gotten nasty and moldy. I've had to throw out half a loaf of bread, 3/4ths of a pound of chicken, and a cup of yogurt. So before I head home I need to make a quick trip to the grocery store to get replacements for all that so I'll have something to eat for dinner tonight.
I've learned this week that "plain yogurt" means something quite different here in England than it does in America. It's really, really PLAIN. No artificial sweetener, no vanilla flavoring, nothing--just yogurt. It's one of the nastiest things I've ever tasted in my life, akin to spoiled sour cream. Their plums are different as well, almost a cross between a plum and an apricot. They're slightly smaller than a plum but colored orange-yellow like an apricot, and they taste somewhere in between the two. I rather like them.
At church I also met a lot of very cute guys with British accents (and Christians, too!), but I'm afraid I did not make a very good first impression, as my nose was red, my eyes were swollen, and I was sneezing every ten minutes.
So right now I'm taking a quick break from running errands to get in touch with you guys. After this it's off to the library to get a few books on my lecturer's list, see what this whole "Church and State" thing is about. I think I'll do better than most of the international students in the class because I've had British history classes before; most of them were looking pretty lost the moment Dr. Aston opened his mouth and started saying things like "the ancien regime" and "the confessional state" and contrasting the "Latitudinarians" to the "nonjurors". I really feel for the German girl; not only is she unfamiliar with British history, but she's got to deal with the language barrier as well.
Today's an unseasonably warm day, probably somewhere in the high 70s or low 80s. I was pretty hot, walking to campus this morning. Ah, warmth! I'm enjoying my fingers while I still can.
Love you all!
|
Well, today was my first day of classes. From 1:30-2:30 I have a lecture on "Church and State in England, 1688-1830". The lecturer is a nice guy and the class today was interesting, so I think I'm going to enjoy it. After that I have a one-hour "seminar", where each of the students will take turns picking a special topic and leading the class in a discussion over it.
So for each of my classes I'm only supposed to spend 2 hours every week in a classroom. Beyond that, the classes are largely self-taught. The lecturer's given us a list of 30 or so books he recommends, and we are to pick and choose among them. Classes in a British university, apparently, are set up so that if you attend class every week, you'll pass. If you attend class AND understand the material, you'll get a B. To achieve the highly coveted A, though, you have to do a SUBSTANTIAL amount of reading outside of class and come up with a killer essay. We'll see how this format agrees with me.
Because I might not be in the country during the examination period in January, I may not have to take the exams. On the other hand, most professors will want me to write an additional essay to compensate for not taking an exam. Since I expect I'm going to be swamped during term time, and I'll probably still be in the country during exam time, I'm going to see if I can elect to take the exams.
BLAH
I'm sick. You know how it is: a whole new country, a thousand different new germs to be infected by. Fortunately it's not too bad, just a little cold. My nose is running like a faucet and I had the most horrible headache last night, but I'll survive. It could be worse. I expect I'll be much better by tomorrow or Wednesday.
LONDON
I went to London Saturday. Actually, the experience wasn't that fun for me because I'm very tired and sniffly right now. By the time it was done, I wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep for about 12 hours. But I'm sure in the future I'll be able to look back on the experience with pride and brag about all the cool places I got to see.
First, I had to wake up at 5 in the morning. Blech. I think that if God had intended us to be up that early, He would have made it lunchtime. We drove 2 hours down into London, where we were given a whirlwind tour of the big tourist spots: Buckingham Palace, St. James's park, the Princess Diana Memorial Walk, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square. Then we broke up into groups. Most everyone wanted to go shopping, which seemed a silly way to spend a day in London! I chose to do more sightseeing, so I went to Westminster Abbey, St. Mary's Church, the Tower of London, and the Tower Bridge. I wanted to do an in-depth tour of some of those places, but you wouldn't believe how much they cost. A one-hour tour of Westminster Abbey cost almost $40! So I walked around the outside and took pictures instead.
After that, I spent an hour or two in the British Museum, which is HUGE. You could probably wander around in there for 3 days and not see everything. They had a very cool exhibit of Egyptian mummies, and a large room full of Buddhist and Hindu artifacts from south-east Asia and China. Unfortunately the Japan gallery and the watercolor gallery were closed for repairs, but I passed some time in the Enlightenment gallery instead.
Then we met for tea at a bar in Covent Garden so everyone could watch the Britain vs. Austria football match. After that, it was back on the bus for the 2-hour drive back. My feet were bruised, I'd been walking so long, and my back ached from carrying my backpack all day long, but I'd seen London!
CHURCH
Went back to Avenue Community Church yesterday. They had asked that everyone bring a "pudding" or dessert, so I put together an instant cookie mix the night before. I had to get up in the middle of service and, I'm sure, distract half the church, to run to the bathroom for more tissues. After the service we had lunch together: beef and vegetable stew and buttered bread and fruit salad and lots of pudding. Yay for the free food!
And trust me, I'm needing the free food right now. I didn't realize that in Europe they don't put as many preservatives in their food as we Americans do, so a bunch of my food has gotten nasty and moldy. I've had to throw out half a loaf of bread, 3/4ths of a pound of chicken, and a cup of yogurt. So before I head home I need to make a quick trip to the grocery store to get replacements for all that so I'll have something to eat for dinner tonight.
I've learned this week that "plain yogurt" means something quite different here in England than it does in America. It's really, really PLAIN. No artificial sweetener, no vanilla flavoring, nothing--just yogurt. It's one of the nastiest things I've ever tasted in my life, akin to spoiled sour cream. Their plums are different as well, almost a cross between a plum and an apricot. They're slightly smaller than a plum but colored orange-yellow like an apricot, and they taste somewhere in between the two. I rather like them.
At church I also met a lot of very cute guys with British accents (and Christians, too!), but I'm afraid I did not make a very good first impression, as my nose was red, my eyes were swollen, and I was sneezing every ten minutes.
So right now I'm taking a quick break from running errands to get in touch with you guys. After this it's off to the library to get a few books on my lecturer's list, see what this whole "Church and State" thing is about. I think I'll do better than most of the international students in the class because I've had British history classes before; most of them were looking pretty lost the moment Dr. Aston opened his mouth and started saying things like "the ancien regime" and "the confessional state" and contrasting the "Latitudinarians" to the "nonjurors". I really feel for the German girl; not only is she unfamiliar with British history, but she's got to deal with the language barrier as well.
Today's an unseasonably warm day, probably somewhere in the high 70s or low 80s. I was pretty hot, walking to campus this morning. Ah, warmth! I'm enjoying my fingers while I still can.
Love you all!
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