As most of you may know, i have a God that most of you do not worship. I have a strong belief in this God and i am positive that no one can take this belief away from me. He has fulfilled my life every year and He has never let me down. Every morning and evening during winter I pray to The Snow Gods. Oh my have they blessed me whilst being here in England! First of all, it rarely snows in England and if it does it's gone the next day. Second of all, there has been snow on the ground for the past 4 days and it's like...2 inches deep, amazing! As i write this now i am watching more snowflakes land on the England ground. Such a thing makes it difficult to watch from the inside so i am going to make this short and sweet so i'm able to enjoy the snow one last time in the final 17 hours i have here. (I just hope the snow doesn't effect my plans to go home.)
Andy and I are one of the last people left in Castle Irwell. It's dead. All of our friends have left us leaving us with a room needing to be packed. Most of our friends have had problems traveling home. For example Nuria had her flight canceled Friday morning because the pilot went on strike so she had to buy another ticket with a different airliner for the next morning so she had to come back for another day. Malgosia is hopefully surviving her 36 hour bus ride from Manchester to Poland. Keep in mind this is 36 hours before, most likely, getting stuck in the chunnel for up to 14 hours because a train broke down. Theresia missed her connecting flight because the original flight was late causing her to wait a few hours for the next flight. As i type now Sophie, Agathe, and Jason are stuck in the Manchester airport because of the snow and are waiting to go home. Lindsay flew from Manchester to Atlanta to Chicago where she had to wait for 2 hours so her extremely nice parents could come pick her up and bring her back to LAX. So now it's just Andy and I left wondering what the hell is gonna happen to us and how are we gonna get home. I do have a feeling though that The Snow Gods will bless us with a break of snowfall so we can arrive home on time.
Since i've written last time there has been a lot of goodbyes which have been said, plenty of homework finished, and partying. I've eaten fairly well this past week and a half. One of our housemates cooked up an authentic Chinese dinner which was very good. This past Sunday 18 of us went to the Wellington for a Christmas dinner. I had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, fries, salad, bread, gravy, and some delicious Christmas pudding for dessert. Andy and i went to they city yesterday to take care of some last minute stuff and we stopped at one of the first restaurants we visited when we came here. I even ordered the same thing: bangers and mash. My favorite authentic meal here in England.
I wrapped up our group project after many hours spent with my group for Biomechanics. I also wrote a 2500 word nutrition paper which analyzed my nutrition intake and the effects of exercise and nutrition on the body. The grading system here is much different then back home which makes it difficult to understand how the grades transfer back home. I feel it's not a fair process and although i can't recall what exactly the numbers are and how they transfer, i will look into it and find out how it can be changed because when it comes down, it's just not even/fair.
The past week i've also been partying as everyone has been leaving. Tuesday night was the last night at the Pav and we all went out in style. Thursday night we ended up in Manchester at Baa Bar and then to a gay club which was....well yea. Fine. Friday night was spent at house 40 where we said some more goodbyes and had another good night.
Last night i said goodbye to Soph, Agathe, and Jason. No one likes saying goodbye. Afterwords i watched City of God while kinda packing...It was number 3 on www.IMDB.com's list of best movies of the decade. It definitely deserves to be there and has to be seen by everyone. Today i've just lounged around, avoiding cleaning. My plan is to stay up all night tonight so i'll be exhausted for my 9 hour flight to Chicago and i'll be able to sleep during the whole trip. (I hope!)
I will miss bangers and mash along with Prawn Cocktail Crisps, the chocolate, the burger van, and Strongbow. As for things which i will miss and can't put in my mouth: i'll miss the friends i've made here (Applied Sports Science - Pete, Abi, Danimal, Cheryl, Rebecca, Becki, Elly, Cheryl, Matty, Jason, Krastyo, and everyone else which belongs to that major including Phil, Paul, and Anna! House 43 - Theresia, Connie, Lars, Zuzka, Nuria, Jason, Soph, Agathe, Olga, Malgosia, and Linda! The Flat Crew - Mikael, Sarah-Beth, Gemma, Kat, and James! House 32 peeps - Chris, Will, Sophie, Suzie, Sophie, Muf, Amy! My house mates - Koala, Elith, Sonia, Louise, Emma, and Suzanne! And to the rest of you randoms who i've met and have not forgotten about including XiXi, Emma, Shakira, and everyone else who i've forgotten!)i'll miss how everything is new to me, i'll miss the accent, the pub/club/dance scene, the laid back style of EVERYTHING, the public transport, and the traveling.
So that wraps it up basically. 3 months spent here and i'd say this experience is right up there with college. I have no regrets and can say i've learned a lot more then i thought i would about coming here. I'll have one more post for you before this is done. I appreciate whoever follows this and reads it, so to you i say thank you. I dont know who reads it but if i know at least 1 person follows it then it's worth it, i just wanted to share my experiences and i hope i've been able to do so. Once again thank you and the next time you hear from me i'll be back home in good ole Minnesnowta!!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Wednesday, December 9th - Oh hey!
Don't worry, i haven't forgotten about this thing quite yet. I have at least 3 posts left in me. As i write this Winona is getting dumped on with snow, and i mean dumped. We are talking 16 inches of fresh pow and more to come i hear. First hearing that and now typing it really makes me wanna get out and do everything that involves snow. I'll start praying to the snow gods to bless me again for another year when i get back. As that is going on back home, here has been quite chaotic as well. Since Thanksgiving i've traveled to London for 3 days and Spain for 2 days. On top of traveling i've been trying to take advantage of these last few weeks i have left and doing as much as possible. This is a good thing cause of course, one wants to get the most out of their experience but this equals one exhausted kid. I've been running around, taking care of stuff and making plans for the future days. Let's go back though to where i left off, Thanksgiving night.
We had 18 people show up and it was a wonderful time. Lots of food was consumed and laughs were had. Other then the 3 Americans, it was everyone's first thanksgiving and they enjoyed it. Earlier in the year i had told you about the halloween party we threw and how it was quite the party with lots of music, chaos, and alcohol. There were a few people in our house who didn't participate at Halloween and were actually scared at what was going on. I bring this up because those same people thought that Thanksgiving was this same idea, even after i tried convincing them otherwise, and obviously they saw that Americans can have holidays that don't involve an extreme consumption of alcohol and they really enjoyed the whole family vibe of it. It was a lot of work putting it all together but it definitely was worth it and couldn't have been a better Thanksgiving away from home. After everyone left, Lindsay, Andy, Louise, Suzanne, Connie, and Malgosia went out to 5th Ave to celebrate Thanksgiving England style. 5th Ave is an Indie club which is really fun. They are always playing great music and the people there aren't all stuck up and are there to dance and have a good time. It was overall a great Thanksgiving.
Shortly after Thanksgiving, Sunday 29th, Lindsay, Nuria, Sophie, Agathe, and I went to London for 3 days. We left Sunday morning at around 3:30 and arrived at Victoria station in London via Megabus around 8. Day 1 started off by taking the Underground (which is very very efficient travel system and when combined with the Oyster Card [cheapest way to travel the Underground] it becomes very reasonable) to Russel Square where are hostel (Smart Russel Square Hostel) was. We dropped off our bags and proceeded to Trafalgar Square to watch the changing of the horses. Before we came on this trip we made an itinerary for the first day and then a list of stuff that we wanted to see for the 3 days. Within the first hour of getting into London on Sunday our itinerary was off and we were left with a huge list of stuff to do. So needless to say we caught the last 10 seconds of the changing of the guards (which was kinda built up to be disappointed, but i can't say that we missed out on much) before we went to the Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards.
It's not a very pretty building but it does house the queen so i guess it's somewhat important. We watched the changing of the guards, kinda, cause there were so many people there to see it and of course it was also raining so the umbrella's were out to block out anyone's chance to see anything behind the gates. I was able to catch some shots of them leaving the palace.
After watching the changing of the guard we went back to Trafalgar Square where the British National Gallery is located where there is work by Vermeer, van Gough, Rembrandt, Seurat, Michelangelo, Velazquez, and da Vinci. I can't say that i am an art connoisseur but i did enjoy most of these artists' work. Afterwords we went to visit the National Portrait Gallery which was full of lots of modern portraits of people we all recognize today. After this we were all art-ed out and went to McDonald's for lunch. Yea...McDonald's. Next time I'm getting bangers and mash cause that stuff is better then and McDonald's you can eat, but regardless i was happy to eat. After lunch we went to go the Wellington arch to do our free tour. (The same group who Lindsay and I received a tour from in Paris.) It was pouring out though so there was no tour, instead we decided to go to Parliament, Big Ben, and the London Eye. It was at night and a very gorgeous view:
After seeing these staple buildings of London we went to Picadilly Square which is compared to the Times Square of London. We did some shopping, walked around to Chinatown and SOHO (where strip clubs, prostitutes, and that kinda stuff exists.) Good thing i know how to say no cause otherwise that prostitute that told me that "i'd have a good time with her" would have given me something just terrible.
That pretty much concluded our 1st day of London. We went back that night to the hostel where we all crashed in our triple bunk beds.
The 2nd day started off by visiting the Christmas market. It was full of arcades, food, hot wine, and no people. It was a little early for people to arrive there so we walked around and saw everyone set up their stands. We then went back to Westminster Arch to go on the free tour at 11. It consisted of seeing Buckingham Palace, Parliament, Big Ben, Westminister Abbey, Nelson's Column, Horseguards, and much more. Like i said, it's truly a great deal. It's a free walking tour and you give them a tip at the end with how much you feel it was worth. It's given by history students who know too much about these cities and they love sharing their information with you. I know i'm really plugging this thing but it's totally worth it if you visit any of the cities they give tours in. Here is their website to check out: http://www.neweuropetours.eu/
After the tour we went out for lunch in Camden Town just north of the heart of the city. During the whole trip it was hard to believe that you were in London the whole time and no more here then anywhere else. There were no old buildings, people in business suits, and tall skyscrapers here. It consisted of shops upon shops and good food. We had lunch and then walked up and down the main street in Camden going in and out of the shops. There were a lot of "freaks" there and it's definitely the indie/punk/different people escape London to. After visiting Camden we went to see Abbey Road and Abbey Studios. If you know the Beatles at all then you know the famous album cover of the 4 of them walking across the street at the cross walk. Well of course i had to get mine taken but it was sketch as hell cause it's a busy road so we had to rush it. This is the outcome:
I'm going the wrong way, and it's at night, but you get the idea and it will suffice.
After visiting there we went to visit Notting Hill and see some bookstore that Hugh Grant worked at in the movie Notting Hill. We couldn't find it so we just ended up going to King's Cross Station to find platform 9 3/4. If you've read Harry Potter then you know what i'm talking about. If you haven't read it, then i'm not gonna go any further then posting this picture:
We grabbed some food at the local grocery store and went back to the hostel where we played cards and the girls drank. It was another fun filled day which brings us to our final day in London!
We started off by visiting the British Museum. It had all kinds of stuff in there but the thing i was most impressed by was the Rosetta Stone. It's what was used to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics. Pretty cool to see that, very impressive:
Afterwords we visited the Tower of London, Tower bridge, and London bridge.
A very boring London Bridge.
We climbed the tallest free-standing stone column in the world, 311 steps to be exact. It was built to remember the great fire of London which happened in 1666. It offers a great view of the city. From here we went to the business part of London and saw the Gerkin and other modern buildings.
The Gerkin.
We then went for lunch/dinner near St. Paul's Cathedral. This gorgeous, amazing cathedral where Princess Diana's wedding was held. Look for yourself how big it is:
Looking at St. Paul's Cathedral over the Thames.
From there we went to the Tate Modern which is full of contemporary art. There were many works of Pollock and Picasso which are nice but then there were a lot of very odd modern works of art there that i didn't really like. Just straight up weird stuff. I can't get into modern art.
We then went back to Victoria station to catch our bus back home. We got back to Manchester at around 4 in the morning i think and that pretty much sums up my entire trip to London. It was very busy busy; a go-go-go mentality. I'm glad we saw everything that we did, it was well worth it. After all of that work and travel though we need a relaxing time, thank God we booked Malaga, Spain for the following weekend.
Andy, Lindsay, and I left for Malaga Friday morning. Our Australian friend Jason was supposed to come with us but had to back out the day before because he had too much work to do. We left real early Friday morning to take a bus to Liverpool where are flight was flying from. It was a 2.5 hour flight to the southern coast of Spain. We arrived and it was like we were in a whole new world. Blue skies for as far as you can see, 65 degrees, no rain, mountains that littered the coast, and a giant, clear, blue sea called the Mediterranean.
We got to hostel right away, The Melting Pot, (which i highly recommend because of many reasons. 1. It's very inexpensive. 2. It's literally right across the street from the sea. No matter what room you have, your window opens up to a gorgeous view of the sea. 3. The staff is very helpful and friendly. Handed out free shots, were very entertaining, and made sure you were having a good time) where we dumped our bags off and proceeded to change into shorts, sandals, and go walking around. We went out for lunch and then climbed a large hill to get to Castillo de Gabralfaro, a giant castle on the hill that overlooks the entire city, mountains, and sea.
I took some video of what it looked like from on top.
After our hike to the Castle we went down to the beach to go relax. The water was pretty dang cold and i did bring my swimsuit but i left it back in the hostel, which was probably a good thing. So i was just forced to stick my feet in the water and that was just cold enough. We hung out at the beach for awhile and just relaxed before going back to the hostel. I read some of my book while Andy worked on homework and Lindsay went to bed. Like i said, this trip was all about relaxing and that's all we wanted to do. We didn't want to go run around and see as much as possible. Before going to bed Andy and I met some people in the hostel; Abbi, Nadine, and some others. Most of them were traveling by themselves and had been for 3-7 months. Crazy girls! We talked for awhile before heading off to bed.
The next morning we ate breakfast and met up with Abbi and went to walk around the city. We brought her up to the castle and then went out for food. We continued to just walk around the city for quite awhile. We saw where Pablo Picasso was born which was pretty neat. We then went to the beach with some drinks and watched this sunset:
It got cold pretty fast afterwords so we went back to the hostel, grabbed our coats and went back to beach to do more relaxing. It started getting late and we wanted to go out for a night on the town. We started at the hostel and met up with quite a bit of the people there and then went to Shamrock bar. We all got separated somehow and it just turned into an eventful night. Lindsay ended up 2 hours away from the city somehow and got drove home by an extremely nice stranger at 5 in the morning. Abbi ended up in some random hostel in the city, away from our hostel. I wandered back home to the hostel by myself and crashed. It was a good night, but my stomach wasn't happy the next day. We woke up and had to rush to get ready and leave. We said our goodbyes and got to the airport to head back to cold, cloudy, and rainy Liverpool.
I do recommend Malaga for anyone who has been to Mexico, likes it there, but is up for going somewhere new. I can't imagine how warm it gets in the summer there in Malaga but it's gorgeous. It's full of delicious sea food and pretty sites, very relaxing.
After that trip i've come back to class and school work. Everyday this week i've been in the library working on an assessment. I feel like an actual student and i don't like it. But i suppose that is what i'm here for so i need to take care of that stuff. I have 12 days left and trying to get in as much as possible. So far i have planned ice skating, snowboarding, movies, Christmas dinner, shopping, Christmas market, and packing. These last days are going to go faster then the rest of the semester and even faster then i want. I hope i can just get everything taken care of and enjoy these last days here!
Like i said, i have a few more posts left in me for this blog so i will back to you guys before i leave! Get out there and enjoy that snow for me everyone!!
We had 18 people show up and it was a wonderful time. Lots of food was consumed and laughs were had. Other then the 3 Americans, it was everyone's first thanksgiving and they enjoyed it. Earlier in the year i had told you about the halloween party we threw and how it was quite the party with lots of music, chaos, and alcohol. There were a few people in our house who didn't participate at Halloween and were actually scared at what was going on. I bring this up because those same people thought that Thanksgiving was this same idea, even after i tried convincing them otherwise, and obviously they saw that Americans can have holidays that don't involve an extreme consumption of alcohol and they really enjoyed the whole family vibe of it. It was a lot of work putting it all together but it definitely was worth it and couldn't have been a better Thanksgiving away from home. After everyone left, Lindsay, Andy, Louise, Suzanne, Connie, and Malgosia went out to 5th Ave to celebrate Thanksgiving England style. 5th Ave is an Indie club which is really fun. They are always playing great music and the people there aren't all stuck up and are there to dance and have a good time. It was overall a great Thanksgiving.
Shortly after Thanksgiving, Sunday 29th, Lindsay, Nuria, Sophie, Agathe, and I went to London for 3 days. We left Sunday morning at around 3:30 and arrived at Victoria station in London via Megabus around 8. Day 1 started off by taking the Underground (which is very very efficient travel system and when combined with the Oyster Card [cheapest way to travel the Underground] it becomes very reasonable) to Russel Square where are hostel (Smart Russel Square Hostel) was. We dropped off our bags and proceeded to Trafalgar Square to watch the changing of the horses. Before we came on this trip we made an itinerary for the first day and then a list of stuff that we wanted to see for the 3 days. Within the first hour of getting into London on Sunday our itinerary was off and we were left with a huge list of stuff to do. So needless to say we caught the last 10 seconds of the changing of the guards (which was kinda built up to be disappointed, but i can't say that we missed out on much) before we went to the Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards.
It's not a very pretty building but it does house the queen so i guess it's somewhat important. We watched the changing of the guards, kinda, cause there were so many people there to see it and of course it was also raining so the umbrella's were out to block out anyone's chance to see anything behind the gates. I was able to catch some shots of them leaving the palace.
After watching the changing of the guard we went back to Trafalgar Square where the British National Gallery is located where there is work by Vermeer, van Gough, Rembrandt, Seurat, Michelangelo, Velazquez, and da Vinci. I can't say that i am an art connoisseur but i did enjoy most of these artists' work. Afterwords we went to visit the National Portrait Gallery which was full of lots of modern portraits of people we all recognize today. After this we were all art-ed out and went to McDonald's for lunch. Yea...McDonald's. Next time I'm getting bangers and mash cause that stuff is better then and McDonald's you can eat, but regardless i was happy to eat. After lunch we went to go the Wellington arch to do our free tour. (The same group who Lindsay and I received a tour from in Paris.) It was pouring out though so there was no tour, instead we decided to go to Parliament, Big Ben, and the London Eye. It was at night and a very gorgeous view:
After seeing these staple buildings of London we went to Picadilly Square which is compared to the Times Square of London. We did some shopping, walked around to Chinatown and SOHO (where strip clubs, prostitutes, and that kinda stuff exists.) Good thing i know how to say no cause otherwise that prostitute that told me that "i'd have a good time with her" would have given me something just terrible.
That pretty much concluded our 1st day of London. We went back that night to the hostel where we all crashed in our triple bunk beds.
The 2nd day started off by visiting the Christmas market. It was full of arcades, food, hot wine, and no people. It was a little early for people to arrive there so we walked around and saw everyone set up their stands. We then went back to Westminster Arch to go on the free tour at 11. It consisted of seeing Buckingham Palace, Parliament, Big Ben, Westminister Abbey, Nelson's Column, Horseguards, and much more. Like i said, it's truly a great deal. It's a free walking tour and you give them a tip at the end with how much you feel it was worth. It's given by history students who know too much about these cities and they love sharing their information with you. I know i'm really plugging this thing but it's totally worth it if you visit any of the cities they give tours in. Here is their website to check out: http://www.neweuropetours.eu/
After the tour we went out for lunch in Camden Town just north of the heart of the city. During the whole trip it was hard to believe that you were in London the whole time and no more here then anywhere else. There were no old buildings, people in business suits, and tall skyscrapers here. It consisted of shops upon shops and good food. We had lunch and then walked up and down the main street in Camden going in and out of the shops. There were a lot of "freaks" there and it's definitely the indie/punk/different people escape London to. After visiting Camden we went to see Abbey Road and Abbey Studios. If you know the Beatles at all then you know the famous album cover of the 4 of them walking across the street at the cross walk. Well of course i had to get mine taken but it was sketch as hell cause it's a busy road so we had to rush it. This is the outcome:
I'm going the wrong way, and it's at night, but you get the idea and it will suffice.
After visiting there we went to visit Notting Hill and see some bookstore that Hugh Grant worked at in the movie Notting Hill. We couldn't find it so we just ended up going to King's Cross Station to find platform 9 3/4. If you've read Harry Potter then you know what i'm talking about. If you haven't read it, then i'm not gonna go any further then posting this picture:
We grabbed some food at the local grocery store and went back to the hostel where we played cards and the girls drank. It was another fun filled day which brings us to our final day in London!
We started off by visiting the British Museum. It had all kinds of stuff in there but the thing i was most impressed by was the Rosetta Stone. It's what was used to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics. Pretty cool to see that, very impressive:
Afterwords we visited the Tower of London, Tower bridge, and London bridge.
A very boring London Bridge.
We climbed the tallest free-standing stone column in the world, 311 steps to be exact. It was built to remember the great fire of London which happened in 1666. It offers a great view of the city. From here we went to the business part of London and saw the Gerkin and other modern buildings.
The Gerkin.
We then went for lunch/dinner near St. Paul's Cathedral. This gorgeous, amazing cathedral where Princess Diana's wedding was held. Look for yourself how big it is:
Looking at St. Paul's Cathedral over the Thames.
From there we went to the Tate Modern which is full of contemporary art. There were many works of Pollock and Picasso which are nice but then there were a lot of very odd modern works of art there that i didn't really like. Just straight up weird stuff. I can't get into modern art.
We then went back to Victoria station to catch our bus back home. We got back to Manchester at around 4 in the morning i think and that pretty much sums up my entire trip to London. It was very busy busy; a go-go-go mentality. I'm glad we saw everything that we did, it was well worth it. After all of that work and travel though we need a relaxing time, thank God we booked Malaga, Spain for the following weekend.
Andy, Lindsay, and I left for Malaga Friday morning. Our Australian friend Jason was supposed to come with us but had to back out the day before because he had too much work to do. We left real early Friday morning to take a bus to Liverpool where are flight was flying from. It was a 2.5 hour flight to the southern coast of Spain. We arrived and it was like we were in a whole new world. Blue skies for as far as you can see, 65 degrees, no rain, mountains that littered the coast, and a giant, clear, blue sea called the Mediterranean.
We got to hostel right away, The Melting Pot, (which i highly recommend because of many reasons. 1. It's very inexpensive. 2. It's literally right across the street from the sea. No matter what room you have, your window opens up to a gorgeous view of the sea. 3. The staff is very helpful and friendly. Handed out free shots, were very entertaining, and made sure you were having a good time) where we dumped our bags off and proceeded to change into shorts, sandals, and go walking around. We went out for lunch and then climbed a large hill to get to Castillo de Gabralfaro, a giant castle on the hill that overlooks the entire city, mountains, and sea.
I took some video of what it looked like from on top.
After our hike to the Castle we went down to the beach to go relax. The water was pretty dang cold and i did bring my swimsuit but i left it back in the hostel, which was probably a good thing. So i was just forced to stick my feet in the water and that was just cold enough. We hung out at the beach for awhile and just relaxed before going back to the hostel. I read some of my book while Andy worked on homework and Lindsay went to bed. Like i said, this trip was all about relaxing and that's all we wanted to do. We didn't want to go run around and see as much as possible. Before going to bed Andy and I met some people in the hostel; Abbi, Nadine, and some others. Most of them were traveling by themselves and had been for 3-7 months. Crazy girls! We talked for awhile before heading off to bed.
The next morning we ate breakfast and met up with Abbi and went to walk around the city. We brought her up to the castle and then went out for food. We continued to just walk around the city for quite awhile. We saw where Pablo Picasso was born which was pretty neat. We then went to the beach with some drinks and watched this sunset:
It got cold pretty fast afterwords so we went back to the hostel, grabbed our coats and went back to beach to do more relaxing. It started getting late and we wanted to go out for a night on the town. We started at the hostel and met up with quite a bit of the people there and then went to Shamrock bar. We all got separated somehow and it just turned into an eventful night. Lindsay ended up 2 hours away from the city somehow and got drove home by an extremely nice stranger at 5 in the morning. Abbi ended up in some random hostel in the city, away from our hostel. I wandered back home to the hostel by myself and crashed. It was a good night, but my stomach wasn't happy the next day. We woke up and had to rush to get ready and leave. We said our goodbyes and got to the airport to head back to cold, cloudy, and rainy Liverpool.
I do recommend Malaga for anyone who has been to Mexico, likes it there, but is up for going somewhere new. I can't imagine how warm it gets in the summer there in Malaga but it's gorgeous. It's full of delicious sea food and pretty sites, very relaxing.
After that trip i've come back to class and school work. Everyday this week i've been in the library working on an assessment. I feel like an actual student and i don't like it. But i suppose that is what i'm here for so i need to take care of that stuff. I have 12 days left and trying to get in as much as possible. So far i have planned ice skating, snowboarding, movies, Christmas dinner, shopping, Christmas market, and packing. These last days are going to go faster then the rest of the semester and even faster then i want. I hope i can just get everything taken care of and enjoy these last days here!
Like i said, i have a few more posts left in me for this blog so i will back to you guys before i leave! Get out there and enjoy that snow for me everyone!!
Friday, November 27, 2009
Pictures from Thanksgiving
Here are some pictures from our feast on Thanksgiving!
Little bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper and you have yourself a turkey.
I was so worried that it wasn't going to fit in the oven. As you can see it just barely made it in.
My finished product.
All 18 of us at the dinner table.
Little bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper and you have yourself a turkey.
I was so worried that it wasn't going to fit in the oven. As you can see it just barely made it in.
My finished product.
All 18 of us at the dinner table.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Thursday, November 26th - Thanks!
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! I hope you're able to enjoy friends and family today and able to truly reflect what you are thankful for. Enjoy the feast, i know i'll be here. It's no family feast, but we are having ourselves a feast. There will be about 18 people coming over here in 3 hours with all kinds of food. We decided to have a pot luck to make it easy, so everyone is planning on bringing something tonight and we are gonna have ourselves one heck of a dinner. We are gonna have the potatoes, gravy, turkey, apple pie, dinner rolls, salad, fruit bowl, drinks, corn, cranberries, cake, blueberry crumble, bacon wrapped sausages, American-Indian bread, sausage/cheese/cracker platter, and some other food. I will make sure to take pictures and post them up tomorrow. Timothy the turkey is in the oven as i type, getting all brown and juicy!
I gotta stop talking about food though, my mouth is watering. This past week and a half has been pretty chill. I've been busy and focused with school so i haven't had as much free time as earlier in the semester. In bio mechanics we have been analyzing my sprint technique and trying to change it to get a better time in the 15m sprint. We've done 2 interventions and without any strength training, i feel we've been able to make me run much faster. Next week we will test it out and I'll post those results!
In nutrition we need a blood glucose analysis on Monday. I volunteered to be one of the subjects which consisted of fasting Monday morning, then drinking a certain drink and testing how my blood glucose changes. It's something that we did back in freshman year of college, but it's still interesting to see what the results are.
My strength and conditioning class has just consisted of continuing to work on the clean. We bumped up the weight this Tuesday and I've felt it today. We have that test on Tuesday Dec 15th. It shouldn't be bad.
Other then class i've just been hanging out really. Last wednesday i went to the Boys basketball game and that was a mistake. We won 105-52 so it was a very boring game. I like to see a team crush another one, but i also would like to see a close game.
Over the weekend i celebrated Dan Hill aka Danimal's birthday. He is a fellow Applied Sports Science student and a great guy. Andy and i went over there to celebrate his birthday and he was having a good time. Danimal if you are reading this, i love you.
The other day i finalized my plans to go to London with Nuria and Sophie. We are leaving Saturday night at 3:00 and coming back Tuesday night at 4 i think. It's gonna be a good trip! I'm surprised that i have made it this far of my trip and not spent time in London to go visit it.
Yesterday some of us went into the city and visited Pizza Hut for their buffet. Oh it was delicious and inexpensive. Needless to say we ate our fare share of food. After we spend a good 20 minutes resting our stomachs we walked around the Christmas market. All these shops open up in the middle of the plaza's and sell there stuff. I had a bratwurst, which was my first one since being here, and it was very good. Legit German food.
That's been my past week and a half summed up pretty much. Just trying to focus on school now, with the fun thrown in as well. I can't wait to eat tonight and have a good time with friends! Once again i hope you all enjoy your time back home and I'll have those pictures up tomorrow from tonight!
I gotta stop talking about food though, my mouth is watering. This past week and a half has been pretty chill. I've been busy and focused with school so i haven't had as much free time as earlier in the semester. In bio mechanics we have been analyzing my sprint technique and trying to change it to get a better time in the 15m sprint. We've done 2 interventions and without any strength training, i feel we've been able to make me run much faster. Next week we will test it out and I'll post those results!
In nutrition we need a blood glucose analysis on Monday. I volunteered to be one of the subjects which consisted of fasting Monday morning, then drinking a certain drink and testing how my blood glucose changes. It's something that we did back in freshman year of college, but it's still interesting to see what the results are.
My strength and conditioning class has just consisted of continuing to work on the clean. We bumped up the weight this Tuesday and I've felt it today. We have that test on Tuesday Dec 15th. It shouldn't be bad.
Other then class i've just been hanging out really. Last wednesday i went to the Boys basketball game and that was a mistake. We won 105-52 so it was a very boring game. I like to see a team crush another one, but i also would like to see a close game.
Over the weekend i celebrated Dan Hill aka Danimal's birthday. He is a fellow Applied Sports Science student and a great guy. Andy and i went over there to celebrate his birthday and he was having a good time. Danimal if you are reading this, i love you.
The other day i finalized my plans to go to London with Nuria and Sophie. We are leaving Saturday night at 3:00 and coming back Tuesday night at 4 i think. It's gonna be a good trip! I'm surprised that i have made it this far of my trip and not spent time in London to go visit it.
Yesterday some of us went into the city and visited Pizza Hut for their buffet. Oh it was delicious and inexpensive. Needless to say we ate our fare share of food. After we spend a good 20 minutes resting our stomachs we walked around the Christmas market. All these shops open up in the middle of the plaza's and sell there stuff. I had a bratwurst, which was my first one since being here, and it was very good. Legit German food.
That's been my past week and a half summed up pretty much. Just trying to focus on school now, with the fun thrown in as well. I can't wait to eat tonight and have a good time with friends! Once again i hope you all enjoy your time back home and I'll have those pictures up tomorrow from tonight!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Monday, November 16th - Paris, France
I made it there and back alive, barely. I left my life in that city. It was gorgeous, words can't describe. You just have to go there. Every corner was something different and just as beautiful as the street before. You couldn't help but take pictures of everything, i think i took over 400 pics in the 48 hours I was there.
I begin my past week with yet another installment of my life being chaotic. Thursday I had to turn in my assessment paper for Biomechanics. I did some final touches and turned it in. I feel that going to school here in England gives me a little extra push to do better. I want to represent Winona and America well so i do try harder and put in more effort then i would if i were to be back home. I just hope to get a 40%. Oh yea, about that whole 40%. That's passing. Grades here are just a little different then home. Like i said 40% is passing. Anything over 70% is pretty good. 90% and greater is remarkable. We just need to pass so a 40% at the least is good.
After class i had to get stuff ready for Paris so i had to print off maps, documents, all of that good stuff. I had to go to and from the library and my house a few too many times but eventually i was able to sort everything out and get everything we Americans needed for the trip! Afterwords i met up with Gemma and we went to downtown Manchester to watch them turn on the lights. The bigger cities in England have a big celebration during the fall where they light up the cities Christmas lights they so delicately strew across the city. Each of the cities choose to light up the lights at at different times and usually get A or B list celebrities to do so. On Thursday there was a huge crowd in Albert Square (the town square) where they came to watch Mr. Hudson, last years X-factor (British version of American Idol) Alexandra Burke, and lot's of other smaller people sing and perform for the festival. (Both of these artists have good songs, Mr. Hudson's called 'Supernova' feat Kanye West [8/10] and Alexandra Burke song called 'Bad Boys' [6/10]. They are worth listening too.) They turned on the city lights which everyone cheered and yelled for. Afterwords they had fireworks and it was a good show. Great vibe and something apparently you have to see if you're a tourist. I got home somewhat early and in bed early because i had to be up at 5 to get my butt to Paris!
Our trip to Paris started with a bus ride from Manchester to London. We left at 6:30 and it was 4.5 trip so we got there around 11 where we immediately went to another bus. That bus took us from London to Luton airport which is just an hour outside the city. We got there at 12 and waited around till 3:30 when our plane left. But before we leave on our plane something bad happened. Very very bad. Prior to arriving to airport Andy asked if i brought my passport. I told him yea i did cause we were traveling country to country. He responded with "Oh shit". Andy didn't bring his passport with him so we kinda put the whole idea aside during the rest of the bus ride until we got to the airport. He found out there that yes, you do need a passport to travel from country to country in Europe and that he couldn't go without one. We were told that we could call the U.S. Embassy and have them fax a letter to the airport claiming that he was a U.S. resident and let him board. For some reason the Embassy wasn't all about that and Andy couldn't come with Lindsay and I to Paris. So he lost his money for the buses we had to pay for, for the plane ticket to France, and as well as the money for the hostel we stayed at. So Andy ended up paying for a bus ticket to go back to Manchester while Lindsay and I left to go to Paris.
We ended up in Paris and after little hassle or problems, found ourselves on the train to town. We got to out hostel, the Vintage Hostel (which i recommend because it's inexpensive, staff is very friendly and helpful, clean, free breakfast, no surprising hostel extra costs, and close to Basilique du Sacre Coeu) shortly afterwords. We immediately dumped our stuff off, grabbed our cameras and map, and hit the streets to go exploring. We walked around quite a bit before stopping in an authentic Italian restaurant. I had lamb and a salad which was very good. I also made sure to try some French wine. I'm not much of a wine guy so i tried one of the few red wines i know and it was a Merlot. It was very dry, which i was told all Merlot are, and i can't really say i loved it. But i was in France so i can say it made the experience more rich. We then continued aimlessly walking around the city till we ran into the Louvre. You know, that one famous pyramid building in Paris? It was gorgeous and i think that's the moment i fell in love with France. It's set in a beautiful courtyard surrounded with hundred year old buildings that are just as pretty. You also have the mini Arc de Triomphe just across the street from it. The Eiffel Tower can be seen in the background with its beam of light which just adds to the beauty of this view. We then walked along La Seine (river which runs through Paris) until it took us to the Eiffel Tower. You really can't stop taking pictures of it. I think i have 50 different pictures of the tower and question if i took enough of not. It's still surreal that i was actually there at the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Just across the street was a vender making crepes. Once again i had to embrace the culture and eat a chocolate banana crepe. It was very good and probably made my trip that much better. After visiting the Eiffel tower we took the metro towards home. Got off early, and enjoyed a beer at a local pub. It was a long day of traveling and walking around but we got back to our hostel and passed out quick to wake up at 7 to catch breakfast.
Saturday we woke up at 7 to get our free breakfast at 7:30. Croissants, juice, and cereal consisted of our meal and it was good. Within a half hour we were off to walk the city again. This time we went to St. Micheal's Fountain at 11:00 to go to a free tour, but there wasn't anyone there which we thought was odd so we ended up shopping around and finding a great street vender. I don't know what it was that i ate, but i knew it consisted of a baguette type bread (once again going with the French food theme), filled with a few hot dogs and layered in cheese which was then grilled. Another delicious French treat. While eating i realized why we were late for our tour. Paris is an hour ahead of England and i knew this so i set my clock on my phone an hour early. Apparently my phone didn't want to change so it never did and we were in Paris for a day with the time an hour behind what we thought it was. So after "lunch" we went to the tour and had a great time. We saw: Notre Dame, Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Egyptian obelisque, Champs-Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, and so much more. It was free and you gave the tour guide a tip at the end for how much you think you should pay. Like i said i learned a lot about the history of Paris and saw a lot of the city. After the tour Lindsay and i went to see the Arc de Triomphe closer. It is surrounded by the worlds largest roundabout. Which also has no road paintings so it's basically a free for all and people are driving around at free will, it's very entertaining. We then headed to the Eiffel tower again to climb it. We climbed 697 stairs (yea i counted) to the 2nd stage. There are two ways to go up the Eiffel tower, the stairs which bring you to the second stage of the tower and the elevator which takes you to all 3 stages including the very top. The line for the elevator had to of been 200 people deep while the line for the stairs had only 20 people. Needless to say we got some extra exercise and a beautiful view of the city at night. We stopped at Lolanda Pizzeria for some dinner afterwords. It was also very good and filling. We met a very nice couple from Houston at dinner and had a good talk with them about their travels here in Paris. After dinner Lindsay and I met at St. Micheal's fountain again for a bar crawl. The same group that put on the free tour put on a bar crawl. Unfortunetly it wasn't free but it was still really fun. We met people from Ohio, New York, Florida, Boston, California, Sweden, and all over the world. We went to 3 bars and a club. The club was on Champs-Elysees meaning it was very expensive and posh, not something good for a bar crawl aimed at college students. I asked for a vodka red bull which was 19 euros. That equals 28 dollars for a single shot of vodka and some red bull. Yea we didn't stay there long. We met a girl on the bar crawl, Emily, and she had a night club in her hostel so we went there. On our way to hostel was a little chaotic. Algeria had won a game which sent them to the 2010 World Cup. Apparently there are a lot of people from Algeria because when we came outside from the club, Champs-Elysees had turned into celebration street. There were cars everywhere, not moving, honking there horns with people hanging out the windows and flares going off all around. People were yelling, chanting, and screaming while there was cops EVERYWHERE. It was quite the atmosphere. We partook in the festivities for a little bit before heading to the hostel. I think we were there till 5 or so when we left and headed back to our hostel. That wasn't good cause we had to wake up at 7 for breakfast but it was one of the best nights since being here in Europe.
Sunday was our last day so we wanted to go inside the Louvre and see the works of art there but before that we had to meet Emily. That morning i also made sure to eat a chocolate Eclair because it was calling my name, and it was French. At some point in the night i had Emily's camera in my pocket so we had to meet up with her to give her the camera. We then headed to the Museum to see the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Venus de Millo, and so much more. It's breathtaking how much art is in there. There is over 35,000 pieces of artwork inside the building. If you were to took at each piece of artwork for 30 seconds during all hours the Louvre was open without taking any breaks, it would take you over 2 months to see each of the pieces of artwork. That right there just gives you an idea of how much is to be seen there. After the Louvre Lindsay and I were exhausted, our feet were crying, and we just wanted to sit down. We got some lunch and had huge portion of a cheeseburger with FRENCH fries. Once again it was very good and i was satisfied. We headed back to the hostel to relax before leaving for England. It was a very uneventful trip back home except arriving to our gate 5 minutes before it was supposed to close. I was out sleeping even before the plane left the gate and didn't wake up till about 5 minutes before landing. This bout of sleep still didn't help my tiredness.
We got into London around 8 and had 3 hours to kill before our bus left for Manchester. We got some Indian food and it was Lindsays first time eating it. We had chicken curry and pilao rice. Indian good is really popular here and i don't think many of us eat it back home. It's not very common but I'll make sure to find it when i get home because it is really good. Our bus station was very close to Buckingham palace so we started walking what we thought was the direction of it. It ended up we went the wrong way but still saw Chelsea Bridge which is gorgeous at night. We'll just have to see the Buckingham palace when we go back to London soon!
We got off the bus at 3 in the morning in Manchester, home by 3:20, and in bed by 3:25. Pooped is the only word i have to describe my weekend. It felt like i was there for a week because of all the stuff we did but then again it went by so quick that we didn't get to see all the stuff we wanted too. I hope i go back there again sometime in my life!
Today i've been half-awake and ready for bed since i woke up. It's 1:16 and love you guys too much to have posted this another day. I hope you enjoy my story and lazy ending.
I'll think of something clever later...will post soon.
Lamb, FRENCH fries, and green beans.
Eating a crepe in front of the Eiffel.
Arc de Triomphe
Notre Dame
Pondering in front of the Louvre
Some girl. Apparently she is 83% happy say's a crazy canadian and some of his crazy technology.
I begin my past week with yet another installment of my life being chaotic. Thursday I had to turn in my assessment paper for Biomechanics. I did some final touches and turned it in. I feel that going to school here in England gives me a little extra push to do better. I want to represent Winona and America well so i do try harder and put in more effort then i would if i were to be back home. I just hope to get a 40%. Oh yea, about that whole 40%. That's passing. Grades here are just a little different then home. Like i said 40% is passing. Anything over 70% is pretty good. 90% and greater is remarkable. We just need to pass so a 40% at the least is good.
After class i had to get stuff ready for Paris so i had to print off maps, documents, all of that good stuff. I had to go to and from the library and my house a few too many times but eventually i was able to sort everything out and get everything we Americans needed for the trip! Afterwords i met up with Gemma and we went to downtown Manchester to watch them turn on the lights. The bigger cities in England have a big celebration during the fall where they light up the cities Christmas lights they so delicately strew across the city. Each of the cities choose to light up the lights at at different times and usually get A or B list celebrities to do so. On Thursday there was a huge crowd in Albert Square (the town square) where they came to watch Mr. Hudson, last years X-factor (British version of American Idol) Alexandra Burke, and lot's of other smaller people sing and perform for the festival. (Both of these artists have good songs, Mr. Hudson's called 'Supernova' feat Kanye West [8/10] and Alexandra Burke song called 'Bad Boys' [6/10]. They are worth listening too.) They turned on the city lights which everyone cheered and yelled for. Afterwords they had fireworks and it was a good show. Great vibe and something apparently you have to see if you're a tourist. I got home somewhat early and in bed early because i had to be up at 5 to get my butt to Paris!
Our trip to Paris started with a bus ride from Manchester to London. We left at 6:30 and it was 4.5 trip so we got there around 11 where we immediately went to another bus. That bus took us from London to Luton airport which is just an hour outside the city. We got there at 12 and waited around till 3:30 when our plane left. But before we leave on our plane something bad happened. Very very bad. Prior to arriving to airport Andy asked if i brought my passport. I told him yea i did cause we were traveling country to country. He responded with "Oh shit". Andy didn't bring his passport with him so we kinda put the whole idea aside during the rest of the bus ride until we got to the airport. He found out there that yes, you do need a passport to travel from country to country in Europe and that he couldn't go without one. We were told that we could call the U.S. Embassy and have them fax a letter to the airport claiming that he was a U.S. resident and let him board. For some reason the Embassy wasn't all about that and Andy couldn't come with Lindsay and I to Paris. So he lost his money for the buses we had to pay for, for the plane ticket to France, and as well as the money for the hostel we stayed at. So Andy ended up paying for a bus ticket to go back to Manchester while Lindsay and I left to go to Paris.
We ended up in Paris and after little hassle or problems, found ourselves on the train to town. We got to out hostel, the Vintage Hostel (which i recommend because it's inexpensive, staff is very friendly and helpful, clean, free breakfast, no surprising hostel extra costs, and close to Basilique du Sacre Coeu) shortly afterwords. We immediately dumped our stuff off, grabbed our cameras and map, and hit the streets to go exploring. We walked around quite a bit before stopping in an authentic Italian restaurant. I had lamb and a salad which was very good. I also made sure to try some French wine. I'm not much of a wine guy so i tried one of the few red wines i know and it was a Merlot. It was very dry, which i was told all Merlot are, and i can't really say i loved it. But i was in France so i can say it made the experience more rich. We then continued aimlessly walking around the city till we ran into the Louvre. You know, that one famous pyramid building in Paris? It was gorgeous and i think that's the moment i fell in love with France. It's set in a beautiful courtyard surrounded with hundred year old buildings that are just as pretty. You also have the mini Arc de Triomphe just across the street from it. The Eiffel Tower can be seen in the background with its beam of light which just adds to the beauty of this view. We then walked along La Seine (river which runs through Paris) until it took us to the Eiffel Tower. You really can't stop taking pictures of it. I think i have 50 different pictures of the tower and question if i took enough of not. It's still surreal that i was actually there at the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Just across the street was a vender making crepes. Once again i had to embrace the culture and eat a chocolate banana crepe. It was very good and probably made my trip that much better. After visiting the Eiffel tower we took the metro towards home. Got off early, and enjoyed a beer at a local pub. It was a long day of traveling and walking around but we got back to our hostel and passed out quick to wake up at 7 to catch breakfast.
Saturday we woke up at 7 to get our free breakfast at 7:30. Croissants, juice, and cereal consisted of our meal and it was good. Within a half hour we were off to walk the city again. This time we went to St. Micheal's Fountain at 11:00 to go to a free tour, but there wasn't anyone there which we thought was odd so we ended up shopping around and finding a great street vender. I don't know what it was that i ate, but i knew it consisted of a baguette type bread (once again going with the French food theme), filled with a few hot dogs and layered in cheese which was then grilled. Another delicious French treat. While eating i realized why we were late for our tour. Paris is an hour ahead of England and i knew this so i set my clock on my phone an hour early. Apparently my phone didn't want to change so it never did and we were in Paris for a day with the time an hour behind what we thought it was. So after "lunch" we went to the tour and had a great time. We saw: Notre Dame, Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Egyptian obelisque, Champs-Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, and so much more. It was free and you gave the tour guide a tip at the end for how much you think you should pay. Like i said i learned a lot about the history of Paris and saw a lot of the city. After the tour Lindsay and i went to see the Arc de Triomphe closer. It is surrounded by the worlds largest roundabout. Which also has no road paintings so it's basically a free for all and people are driving around at free will, it's very entertaining. We then headed to the Eiffel tower again to climb it. We climbed 697 stairs (yea i counted) to the 2nd stage. There are two ways to go up the Eiffel tower, the stairs which bring you to the second stage of the tower and the elevator which takes you to all 3 stages including the very top. The line for the elevator had to of been 200 people deep while the line for the stairs had only 20 people. Needless to say we got some extra exercise and a beautiful view of the city at night. We stopped at Lolanda Pizzeria for some dinner afterwords. It was also very good and filling. We met a very nice couple from Houston at dinner and had a good talk with them about their travels here in Paris. After dinner Lindsay and I met at St. Micheal's fountain again for a bar crawl. The same group that put on the free tour put on a bar crawl. Unfortunetly it wasn't free but it was still really fun. We met people from Ohio, New York, Florida, Boston, California, Sweden, and all over the world. We went to 3 bars and a club. The club was on Champs-Elysees meaning it was very expensive and posh, not something good for a bar crawl aimed at college students. I asked for a vodka red bull which was 19 euros. That equals 28 dollars for a single shot of vodka and some red bull. Yea we didn't stay there long. We met a girl on the bar crawl, Emily, and she had a night club in her hostel so we went there. On our way to hostel was a little chaotic. Algeria had won a game which sent them to the 2010 World Cup. Apparently there are a lot of people from Algeria because when we came outside from the club, Champs-Elysees had turned into celebration street. There were cars everywhere, not moving, honking there horns with people hanging out the windows and flares going off all around. People were yelling, chanting, and screaming while there was cops EVERYWHERE. It was quite the atmosphere. We partook in the festivities for a little bit before heading to the hostel. I think we were there till 5 or so when we left and headed back to our hostel. That wasn't good cause we had to wake up at 7 for breakfast but it was one of the best nights since being here in Europe.
Sunday was our last day so we wanted to go inside the Louvre and see the works of art there but before that we had to meet Emily. That morning i also made sure to eat a chocolate Eclair because it was calling my name, and it was French. At some point in the night i had Emily's camera in my pocket so we had to meet up with her to give her the camera. We then headed to the Museum to see the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Venus de Millo, and so much more. It's breathtaking how much art is in there. There is over 35,000 pieces of artwork inside the building. If you were to took at each piece of artwork for 30 seconds during all hours the Louvre was open without taking any breaks, it would take you over 2 months to see each of the pieces of artwork. That right there just gives you an idea of how much is to be seen there. After the Louvre Lindsay and I were exhausted, our feet were crying, and we just wanted to sit down. We got some lunch and had huge portion of a cheeseburger with FRENCH fries. Once again it was very good and i was satisfied. We headed back to the hostel to relax before leaving for England. It was a very uneventful trip back home except arriving to our gate 5 minutes before it was supposed to close. I was out sleeping even before the plane left the gate and didn't wake up till about 5 minutes before landing. This bout of sleep still didn't help my tiredness.
We got into London around 8 and had 3 hours to kill before our bus left for Manchester. We got some Indian food and it was Lindsays first time eating it. We had chicken curry and pilao rice. Indian good is really popular here and i don't think many of us eat it back home. It's not very common but I'll make sure to find it when i get home because it is really good. Our bus station was very close to Buckingham palace so we started walking what we thought was the direction of it. It ended up we went the wrong way but still saw Chelsea Bridge which is gorgeous at night. We'll just have to see the Buckingham palace when we go back to London soon!
We got off the bus at 3 in the morning in Manchester, home by 3:20, and in bed by 3:25. Pooped is the only word i have to describe my weekend. It felt like i was there for a week because of all the stuff we did but then again it went by so quick that we didn't get to see all the stuff we wanted too. I hope i go back there again sometime in my life!
Today i've been half-awake and ready for bed since i woke up. It's 1:16 and love you guys too much to have posted this another day. I hope you enjoy my story and lazy ending.
I'll think of something clever later...will post soon.
Lamb, FRENCH fries, and green beans.
Eating a crepe in front of the Eiffel.
Arc de Triomphe
Notre Dame
Pondering in front of the Louvre
Some girl. Apparently she is 83% happy say's a crazy canadian and some of his crazy technology.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Wednesday, November 11th - Hectic Relaxation
It's been a busy week so far. We have our first assessment due Friday. It consists of a 1500 word study of physical and technical attributes in relation to a short agility tests and what effects it. It's been very interesting but composed of a lot of work. I wrapped it up today but still need to edit it so i'm taking a break by writing this.
Saturday night i went out and had a good time. Sunday we had to wake up early to go to Liverpool! Our bus was set to leave at 9:45 and we were running late so we started running to the bus station. My phone read like 9:38 but Andy's read 9:43 so we were worried. We found the station and saw a bus leaving bus was convinced it wasn't ours. That was a mistake. We got inside the station and saw that it was our bus that was leaving but couldn't open the door to get outside cause it's a one way door, odd right? So we ended up missing the bus to Liverpool. But luckily Liverpool is so close that they have many buses that run to and from so we paid an extra 6.50 pounds for a trip to Liverpool on a bus that left at 10:45.
We got to Liverpool and basically walked around for awhile. Went to Beatles Street and saw The Cavern Club, Cavern Pub, Hard Night Hotel (which is the only one of it's kind. It's a 4 star hotel that has 115 rooms, each with there own Beatles theme). We bought some tickets for a Beatles bus tour that drives around the city and goes to each of The Beatles homes where they grew up as well as significant places in The Beatles history. But before the tour we went down to the shipyard and watched the ships, visited the Maritime Museum, and went to Albert Dock.
We got to the bus for the tour and here are a few pictures from that tour, it was definitely worth it!
Fifth house on the right is where Ringo grew up.
Where George grew up.
Lennon's house.
Finally Paul's house.
Strawberry Fields!
Penny Lane.
After the tour we walked around some more and made it back to the bus station to head home. We were able to catch a bus 30 min earlier so during the trip, we didn't take one bus we were supposed to. I found that funny.
Monday i worked on my paper for the majority of the day. Tuesday i had class and we worked on our technique for the clean some more. We've now entered the stage of demonstrating it as well as explaining it. I've been able to memorize it and hopefully won't have a problem come assessment day. Tuesday night i went over to House 43 and played cards and caught up with friends from there. Today was the final touches on my paper! Tonight the Austrians are cooking dinner and invited me over there. I'm excited cause it sounds like it's going to be a lot of good food which is always good.
Tomorrow i get get all of my stuff ready for Paris and head out friday morning. I'll be back sunday to let you guys know how it is (depending on how exhausted i am you might here from on monday).
Until then enjoy some more pictures from the trip to Liverpool!
In front of the old entrance to The Cavern Club.
Inside The Cavern Club
Port.
Port of Liverpool Building.
Saturday night i went out and had a good time. Sunday we had to wake up early to go to Liverpool! Our bus was set to leave at 9:45 and we were running late so we started running to the bus station. My phone read like 9:38 but Andy's read 9:43 so we were worried. We found the station and saw a bus leaving bus was convinced it wasn't ours. That was a mistake. We got inside the station and saw that it was our bus that was leaving but couldn't open the door to get outside cause it's a one way door, odd right? So we ended up missing the bus to Liverpool. But luckily Liverpool is so close that they have many buses that run to and from so we paid an extra 6.50 pounds for a trip to Liverpool on a bus that left at 10:45.
We got to Liverpool and basically walked around for awhile. Went to Beatles Street and saw The Cavern Club, Cavern Pub, Hard Night Hotel (which is the only one of it's kind. It's a 4 star hotel that has 115 rooms, each with there own Beatles theme). We bought some tickets for a Beatles bus tour that drives around the city and goes to each of The Beatles homes where they grew up as well as significant places in The Beatles history. But before the tour we went down to the shipyard and watched the ships, visited the Maritime Museum, and went to Albert Dock.
We got to the bus for the tour and here are a few pictures from that tour, it was definitely worth it!
Fifth house on the right is where Ringo grew up.
Where George grew up.
Lennon's house.
Finally Paul's house.
Strawberry Fields!
Penny Lane.
After the tour we walked around some more and made it back to the bus station to head home. We were able to catch a bus 30 min earlier so during the trip, we didn't take one bus we were supposed to. I found that funny.
Monday i worked on my paper for the majority of the day. Tuesday i had class and we worked on our technique for the clean some more. We've now entered the stage of demonstrating it as well as explaining it. I've been able to memorize it and hopefully won't have a problem come assessment day. Tuesday night i went over to House 43 and played cards and caught up with friends from there. Today was the final touches on my paper! Tonight the Austrians are cooking dinner and invited me over there. I'm excited cause it sounds like it's going to be a lot of good food which is always good.
Tomorrow i get get all of my stuff ready for Paris and head out friday morning. I'll be back sunday to let you guys know how it is (depending on how exhausted i am you might here from on monday).
Until then enjoy some more pictures from the trip to Liverpool!
In front of the old entrance to The Cavern Club.
Inside The Cavern Club
Port.
Port of Liverpool Building.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Saturday, November 7th - Day 50
Wait. What? Hold on, you're telling me that i've already been here for 50 days? That's over a month and a half. That means that i'm already over halfway of my trip! I only have 44 days left? Eeek! Breathe Mitch, just breathe....
I knew this would happen. I knew that this trip was only 3 months and was going to go by very quick, but still. Why does it have to go so fast? Sure i am miss the comforts of home but i'm not ready to go back yet. I want to see more cities, taste more food, meet more people, and just....experience it all. I've been doing all i can to get a vibe of this place because i know i most likely won't live here again. I have trips planned in the future. Tomorrow i'm going to Liverpool. Next weekend i'll be in Paris. First weekend of December i'll be on the coast of the Mediterranean in Spain, but i want more. I want London, Dublin, Amsterdam, Rome, Scotland, and many more but there simply just isn't enough time to do so. Which means i'll just have to come back again and see more of it.
Ok so maybe this "freak-out" is a little preemptive and it should be saved for my last post but you get a feel of what's going on in my head right now. I'll re-post these beginning paragraphs in my last blog where they are more fitting, as for now just ignore them.
I have done a terrible job keeping up with this blog. It would make much more sense just to do it every few days but it always skips my mind and i end up a week (or week and a half) later regretting waiting this long. I won't go to in depth of each day for the past week cause it will be drawn out but i will hit on the good stuff.
Thursday i started looking for costume ideas on the Internet when a sign from God struck me. To give you a little background beforehand, whenever Mikael and i go out, we do The Carlton Dance (you know the one from Fresh Prince?) and mostly everyone knows it and loves it. Well it got me thinking that i should be Carlton for Halloween. So as i said before, i was on the web looking at pictures of Carlton trying to get an idea of what he dresses like and what i would do. While i was searching i was also listening to music from my iTunes. This is where it gets good. My iTunes has over 8,000 songs on it and i play them on shuffle. If any of you watch Fresh Prince or know the Carlton dance, you know that he dances to the song "It's Not Unusual" by Tom Jones. Not within a minute of looking at costume ideas that song came on my iTunes and i received it as a sign from god saying that "you must go out this upcoming Saturday night and do the Carlton like it's never been seen before." Thank God I listened. (Ha)I'll get to that later though.
Friday night Lindsay, Andy, Mikael, and I went to see some of our friends in the Rocky Horror Picture Show. It was....different. It's about transvestites, and lot of them. The plot goes something like this: a couples car breaks down, go into creepy castle, meet lots of transvestites, some people screw, someone dies, sexual tension, dancing, singing, more sexual tension, castle gets moved to some transsexual galaxy. Yea it was kinda awkward at some points but overall it was pretty good.
Saturday a bunch of us went into the city to get halloween costumes. All i needed was some face paint and i got it for 5 dollars. Pretty cheap costume. Afterwords we went back, got some food and got ready for our party! We hosted an American party that night which consisted of American drinking games such as beer pong, tippy cup, and a beer bong. We also had American food like burgers and hot dogs as well as American music. I think overall the Halloween/American party went well. I got drunk very fast which was a big mistake cause i blacked out for most of the night. Apparently we went into the city and walked around. I got separated from everyone when i went to McDonald's and then i lost everyone. I eventually found some people and we came back. It was a good halloween from what i remember.
Some pictures from the night:
Mikael (the Porto fan) and I showing off our costumes)
It wasn't a good Halloween come Sunday morning when i awake to my very first hangover. I liked to think that i was hangover proof and it had no effect on me, but i came to learn that's BS. Sunday i spend the majority of the day harnessing my hangover and relaxing. I also did a little cleaning. The entire upstairs was blue. Walls, refridgerator, doors, table, floor, and even the ceiling. I had these two to thank for that:
Damn Smurfs....
Monday i had class, went to optional training, and then went to Tesco. Relaxing day.
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were all relaxing. We have a paper due this upcoming Friday so i've been working on that the past couple days.
Thursday night was bonfire night here in England. If you've seen V for Vendetta you have an understanding. In 1605 on November 5th, Guy Fawkes and others tried blowing up Parliament. For some reason they celebrate this day by making huge bonfires and lots of fireworks. A friend got word that they were having a celebration at a park near campus so we went out to go partake, but there was no celebration. So we ended up just coming back and playing some cards.
Yesterday i went to the gym, worked on my paper, and helped out Nuria with an assignment. She had to turn an informal advertisement (or as they call it here, an advert) into a formal paper. I think i learned more from that 3 hour sesh then i have in any English class i have taken before. Either that or i just forgot everything i've learned when i was just a youngen. Last night 8 of us went out for the weekly dinner. This Friday we went to Papa G's which is in Printworks. I had a bacon cheeseburger because i've been craving American food for the past few weeks. I've had too much pasta lately. I also got some Tiramisu for dessert, so good. Afterwords we went to the movie theater and watched Couples Retreat. I like Vince Vaughn so naturally it was a good.
Today i worked on my paper some and have just relaxed. I gotta wrap this up because i am starving! Spaghetti and potatoes for dinner.
Take care and i'll be back sooner then usual!
Here is a shout out to Crime Dog. You deserve this!
I knew this would happen. I knew that this trip was only 3 months and was going to go by very quick, but still. Why does it have to go so fast? Sure i am miss the comforts of home but i'm not ready to go back yet. I want to see more cities, taste more food, meet more people, and just....experience it all. I've been doing all i can to get a vibe of this place because i know i most likely won't live here again. I have trips planned in the future. Tomorrow i'm going to Liverpool. Next weekend i'll be in Paris. First weekend of December i'll be on the coast of the Mediterranean in Spain, but i want more. I want London, Dublin, Amsterdam, Rome, Scotland, and many more but there simply just isn't enough time to do so. Which means i'll just have to come back again and see more of it.
Ok so maybe this "freak-out" is a little preemptive and it should be saved for my last post but you get a feel of what's going on in my head right now. I'll re-post these beginning paragraphs in my last blog where they are more fitting, as for now just ignore them.
I have done a terrible job keeping up with this blog. It would make much more sense just to do it every few days but it always skips my mind and i end up a week (or week and a half) later regretting waiting this long. I won't go to in depth of each day for the past week cause it will be drawn out but i will hit on the good stuff.
Thursday i started looking for costume ideas on the Internet when a sign from God struck me. To give you a little background beforehand, whenever Mikael and i go out, we do The Carlton Dance (you know the one from Fresh Prince?) and mostly everyone knows it and loves it. Well it got me thinking that i should be Carlton for Halloween. So as i said before, i was on the web looking at pictures of Carlton trying to get an idea of what he dresses like and what i would do. While i was searching i was also listening to music from my iTunes. This is where it gets good. My iTunes has over 8,000 songs on it and i play them on shuffle. If any of you watch Fresh Prince or know the Carlton dance, you know that he dances to the song "It's Not Unusual" by Tom Jones. Not within a minute of looking at costume ideas that song came on my iTunes and i received it as a sign from god saying that "you must go out this upcoming Saturday night and do the Carlton like it's never been seen before." Thank God I listened. (Ha)I'll get to that later though.
Friday night Lindsay, Andy, Mikael, and I went to see some of our friends in the Rocky Horror Picture Show. It was....different. It's about transvestites, and lot of them. The plot goes something like this: a couples car breaks down, go into creepy castle, meet lots of transvestites, some people screw, someone dies, sexual tension, dancing, singing, more sexual tension, castle gets moved to some transsexual galaxy. Yea it was kinda awkward at some points but overall it was pretty good.
Saturday a bunch of us went into the city to get halloween costumes. All i needed was some face paint and i got it for 5 dollars. Pretty cheap costume. Afterwords we went back, got some food and got ready for our party! We hosted an American party that night which consisted of American drinking games such as beer pong, tippy cup, and a beer bong. We also had American food like burgers and hot dogs as well as American music. I think overall the Halloween/American party went well. I got drunk very fast which was a big mistake cause i blacked out for most of the night. Apparently we went into the city and walked around. I got separated from everyone when i went to McDonald's and then i lost everyone. I eventually found some people and we came back. It was a good halloween from what i remember.
Some pictures from the night:
Mikael (the Porto fan) and I showing off our costumes)
It wasn't a good Halloween come Sunday morning when i awake to my very first hangover. I liked to think that i was hangover proof and it had no effect on me, but i came to learn that's BS. Sunday i spend the majority of the day harnessing my hangover and relaxing. I also did a little cleaning. The entire upstairs was blue. Walls, refridgerator, doors, table, floor, and even the ceiling. I had these two to thank for that:
Damn Smurfs....
Monday i had class, went to optional training, and then went to Tesco. Relaxing day.
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were all relaxing. We have a paper due this upcoming Friday so i've been working on that the past couple days.
Thursday night was bonfire night here in England. If you've seen V for Vendetta you have an understanding. In 1605 on November 5th, Guy Fawkes and others tried blowing up Parliament. For some reason they celebrate this day by making huge bonfires and lots of fireworks. A friend got word that they were having a celebration at a park near campus so we went out to go partake, but there was no celebration. So we ended up just coming back and playing some cards.
Yesterday i went to the gym, worked on my paper, and helped out Nuria with an assignment. She had to turn an informal advertisement (or as they call it here, an advert) into a formal paper. I think i learned more from that 3 hour sesh then i have in any English class i have taken before. Either that or i just forgot everything i've learned when i was just a youngen. Last night 8 of us went out for the weekly dinner. This Friday we went to Papa G's which is in Printworks. I had a bacon cheeseburger because i've been craving American food for the past few weeks. I've had too much pasta lately. I also got some Tiramisu for dessert, so good. Afterwords we went to the movie theater and watched Couples Retreat. I like Vince Vaughn so naturally it was a good.
Today i worked on my paper some and have just relaxed. I gotta wrap this up because i am starving! Spaghetti and potatoes for dinner.
Take care and i'll be back sooner then usual!
Here is a shout out to Crime Dog. You deserve this!
Monday, October 26, 2009
Wednesday, October 28 - Swamped
This past week was busy busy busy, definitely just wasn't class and homework. This week went by so fast, and in general this trip so far has gone by so fast. I have less then 2 months left and i'm gonna make it the best that i can!
Tuesday i had nutrition class. We learned about minerals and vitamins, boring but important stuff. Tuesday night i went out to the Comedy Club again with Mikael and the other International students: Sophie (France), Agathe (France), Jason (Australia), Connie (Austria), and Theresia (Austria). One of the comedians there spent a few years in Rochester, MN so we chatted on and off stage about that, it's a small world. After that Jason, Connie, Theresia and I went out to the Pav for club night. The clubs here love host dance parties, something they don't really have in Winona which is a problem cause everyone likes to dance and it's going to be an adjustment for me. So we got our dance on and had a good time.
Wednesday is my day off so Mikael, Jason, and I went to Old Trafford (where Manchester United plays) because Mikael had a job interview there. After that we had some time to kill so we decided to take a tour of Old Trafford. It was pretty impressive, here are a few pics from inside the stadium, players rooms, and the pitch (field):
"Holding" the European Cup!
The players lounge where they relax before the game.
Those lights are to trick the grass into growing when the sun goes down.
After the tour we went in to the city to meet up with Andy, Sophie, and Agate to go to Brannigans, a sport's bar, to watch the United vs Moscow game. I'm pretty sure United won that game. They had 1 pound burgers which was the best deal i've ran across since being here. It's like a $1.65 a burger, needless to say i had a few. While everyone headed back to the houses i met up with Will, Amy, and Sophie to watch the basketball team play. I know Peter, Muff, and Chris on the team. I've been meaning to play with them because i haven't played bball since being here and have been itching to do so. (Speaking of which i haven't heard how the intramural team has done so far!) The team here doesn't have a coach so Muff has taken over and has been doing tons of work for them. He had to make their own jerseys and set up their own games. They won 65-59 but it was an ugly win. It was kind of expected though since it was their first game. I had fun and it just made me want to play again!
Thursday was a boring day of class. We spent all day going over data and how to analyze it using software. It was the worst day of class i've had so far because of the lack of hands on. Tomorrow we are doing more sprints and work outs so it should be a better time. Thursday night Andy and I went to the International house and drank there. For some reason the French (Mikael, Agathe, and Sophie) locked themselves in Sophie's room and Jason was trying to get in. I had a few drinks in me and decided to join forces with Australia to help get them out. I remember giving up for a while and then coming down to see how progress was going and i saw they wrote US and AUS on their door with shaving cream, clearly the stakes had been raised. I think Jason started floodding their room and i thought that was a good idea so i helped as well. This is a picture of that step:
The French still wouldn't come out so i proceeded to do the next step, because as most of you know i like a good prank and sometimes go too far; i went ahead and put a piece of chewed gum in Sophie's lock. Well it didn't have an effect at that time but i'll go into detail later about how that ended up. It got to be really late and they went to sleep so we left at like five in the morning forcing the three of them to sleep in her tiny room. Sorry French! Also during this night Andy, Lindsay, Jason, and I bought tickets to Malaga, Spain Dec 4-6. It's a gorgeous city on the Mediterranean,check it out here: http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=malaga%20spain&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi
I'm pretty excited for that trip!
Friday Lindsay and I had off so we went to the city. But before that i had to go to Sophie's room to fix her door which wouldn't lock. Apparently the gum that was in there dried (weird right?) and so i had to try and fix it. Well it actually didn't take that long and just took a little bit of Mitch Magic to get it working again. I've now repaired relations between France and the US! After that Lindsay and I sowent to the city to top off our phones again. Speaking of phones, my 2 year contract with Verizon ends when i get home and so i'm looking to get a new phone. I've seen this one phone that i really like but i don't know what it's called and i can't find it. I know it's made by Verizon, but could also be used with other networks, but this phone's digits are all LCD and if you push a button the numbers disappear and turn to letters so you can turn it and use it as a keyboard. I thought it was pretty cool and just wanted to more about it so if any of you have it or know what i'm talking about could ya help me out?!
Anyways, Friday Lindsay and I got our phones fixed then walked around the city. We went into the Arndale Mall and ran right into this:
They were using a type of carpet that acted just like snow. It was amazing how they were able to turn on it, if you weren't looking at the carpet you would have guessed that they were on snow, very impressive. We walked around some and met up with Andy and Mikael for our weekly dinner night out. This time we tried out JD Wetherspoons and i liked it. I had a beer/burger combination for 7 pounds which is a good deal. The burger was huge, had onion rings on it, and tasted delish! I supposed good food does exist here, ya just gotta hunt for it. Friday night i went to bed early cause earlier in the day we bought tickets to Birmingham!
So Saturday morning Andy, Lindsay, Mikael, Jason, Malgosia, XiXi, Nuria, Sophie, Agate, and I left Manchester at 8 and took a 2 hour bus ride to Birmingham. It's a city similar to Manchester but just a different atmosphere, something new to see. We visited the Bullring, a modern building designed for shopping. We walked around the city and visited St Paul church, the Cathedral, Town Hall, Canal Park, and The Birmingham Museum. It was fun, i finally was able to get a shot glass from a city i've visited! Let's hope this luck continues onwards to more cities i visit! We went out to eat at a restaurant called Fullers Ale and Pie House. It was very good but expensive. Apparently it's one of the best restaurants in the UK so we chose a good place to eat. I ate some bangers and mash and fell in love once again. After lunch we just continued to walk around and shop until the bus left at 10! Here are some pictures from the trip:
City Hall
My meal of choice: Bangers and Mash!
The group posing with the bull in the middle of the Bullring shopping district.
The modernized Bullring shopping building.
We got back that night and went to their house to celebrate Daylight Savings Time. We had a dance party and i was practicing The Carlton. I swear I'll get that dance down, it's easy and it's a classic. Hmmm maybe i'll be Carlton for Halloween?
Sunday Mikael and i got up and went to the gym for a few hours. After that we rushed lunch and shower and went to the city to watch the Man United game vs. Liverpool at a pub in the city. The game was good even though we (united) lost 2-0. The only reason i say that the game was good was the entertainment at the pub. The locals there were all very drunk and pissed off that United was losing. There was one poor guy there rooting for Liverpool, not being loud or anything and everyone there was just giving him crap after Liverpool would score. At the end of the match everyone was throwing their drinks at him and before i knew it beer, soda, water, and cups were flying everywhere. It was quite entertaining. Sunday night Mikael, Andy, James, and I went to go see Saw VI. I usually see it with the group from Winona every October but obviously i couldn't so i was forced to see it without them. The movie was the same: crapping acting, gore and terrifying ways of dying, half the movie consisting of flashbacks, and *SPOILER ALERT* leaving the movie open once again for yet another one to be made. It's good to say though that i saw it and now can check that off my long list of movies to still see.
Monday was relaxing, i just went to class and watched an episode of Top Gear. I gotta get ready for the season premeire on November 15th. If you have no idea what i'm talking about i'm sorry but it's the best show ever. (I don't know anyone in Winona that would like it other then Pete, Micki and Mike because it involves cars, and pretty much only cars.) To give a quick summary of the show, it's about sexy cars and funny humor. The only two ingredients you need for a great show is that right there. It's not on American TV but the BBC so you have to find it online unless you have BBC America, in that case you're lucky and you need to watch it when it's on! The rest of you can go to www.watchtopgear.org and catch up on all 13 seasons before the 14th one starts shortly.
Yesterday i had class as well and it wasn't anything too exciting, just learning more about plyometrics, agility, and creating workout plans. I watched another episode of Top Gear before heading out to the International house to hang out there. Afterwords we went to the Pav for club night again. It wasn't as good as it was last week because there weren't nearly as many as people there. It was still a good time though cause we still got our dance on.
Today i didn't have class so Louise drove Lindsay and I to The Lake District in England. It's a national park where there are lakes. It's kind of funny because in MN we have over 10,000 lakes and seeing a lake isn't a big deal. But here lakes are rare so people travel from all over England to come and see these mysterious bodies of water. Therefore it's a big tourist spot filled with old people with canes and children throwing loafs of bread at geese. Needless to say it was still very beautiful because i haven't seen a lake in over a month and that's what i've always lived around. My whole life has been in and around lakes: Medicine, Minnetonka, Calhoun, Boundary Waters, Superior,and the beloved Winona Lakes. It reminded me of home for sure so it was very surreal and relaxing. We ate some good there and proceeded to get somewhat lost until we ended up 50 miles away at a big body of water known as the Irish Sea. It was gorgeous, reminded me of Mexico other then the fact that the water was freezing. The noise of the waves crashing is something that will also relax me, i honestly could listen to that noise for the rest of my life and truly never get sick of it. Overall the trip today was perfect, it was time spent with good friends, inexpensive, simple, and beautiful. Take a look at these pictures of the trip today:
Lake Windermere
Carvery Lunch. It's a buffet with only 1 plate. Needless to say you load up. It was only 3.50 pounds. 5 dollars = GREAT DEAL and cost of trip!
Freezing but worth going in. (Well at least up to my ankles in it.)
Obviously i've done a terrible job updating this and that's why it's quite the journal today. Hope you enjoy the pictures and stories and maybe i'll find some videos to put up of random shenanigans going on here! I will talk to you within a week!
Tuesday i had nutrition class. We learned about minerals and vitamins, boring but important stuff. Tuesday night i went out to the Comedy Club again with Mikael and the other International students: Sophie (France), Agathe (France), Jason (Australia), Connie (Austria), and Theresia (Austria). One of the comedians there spent a few years in Rochester, MN so we chatted on and off stage about that, it's a small world. After that Jason, Connie, Theresia and I went out to the Pav for club night. The clubs here love host dance parties, something they don't really have in Winona which is a problem cause everyone likes to dance and it's going to be an adjustment for me. So we got our dance on and had a good time.
Wednesday is my day off so Mikael, Jason, and I went to Old Trafford (where Manchester United plays) because Mikael had a job interview there. After that we had some time to kill so we decided to take a tour of Old Trafford. It was pretty impressive, here are a few pics from inside the stadium, players rooms, and the pitch (field):
"Holding" the European Cup!
The players lounge where they relax before the game.
Those lights are to trick the grass into growing when the sun goes down.
After the tour we went in to the city to meet up with Andy, Sophie, and Agate to go to Brannigans, a sport's bar, to watch the United vs Moscow game. I'm pretty sure United won that game. They had 1 pound burgers which was the best deal i've ran across since being here. It's like a $1.65 a burger, needless to say i had a few. While everyone headed back to the houses i met up with Will, Amy, and Sophie to watch the basketball team play. I know Peter, Muff, and Chris on the team. I've been meaning to play with them because i haven't played bball since being here and have been itching to do so. (Speaking of which i haven't heard how the intramural team has done so far!) The team here doesn't have a coach so Muff has taken over and has been doing tons of work for them. He had to make their own jerseys and set up their own games. They won 65-59 but it was an ugly win. It was kind of expected though since it was their first game. I had fun and it just made me want to play again!
Thursday was a boring day of class. We spent all day going over data and how to analyze it using software. It was the worst day of class i've had so far because of the lack of hands on. Tomorrow we are doing more sprints and work outs so it should be a better time. Thursday night Andy and I went to the International house and drank there. For some reason the French (Mikael, Agathe, and Sophie) locked themselves in Sophie's room and Jason was trying to get in. I had a few drinks in me and decided to join forces with Australia to help get them out. I remember giving up for a while and then coming down to see how progress was going and i saw they wrote US and AUS on their door with shaving cream, clearly the stakes had been raised. I think Jason started floodding their room and i thought that was a good idea so i helped as well. This is a picture of that step:
The French still wouldn't come out so i proceeded to do the next step, because as most of you know i like a good prank and sometimes go too far; i went ahead and put a piece of chewed gum in Sophie's lock. Well it didn't have an effect at that time but i'll go into detail later about how that ended up. It got to be really late and they went to sleep so we left at like five in the morning forcing the three of them to sleep in her tiny room. Sorry French! Also during this night Andy, Lindsay, Jason, and I bought tickets to Malaga, Spain Dec 4-6. It's a gorgeous city on the Mediterranean,check it out here: http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=malaga%20spain&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi
I'm pretty excited for that trip!
Friday Lindsay and I had off so we went to the city. But before that i had to go to Sophie's room to fix her door which wouldn't lock. Apparently the gum that was in there dried (weird right?) and so i had to try and fix it. Well it actually didn't take that long and just took a little bit of Mitch Magic to get it working again. I've now repaired relations between France and the US! After that Lindsay and I sowent to the city to top off our phones again. Speaking of phones, my 2 year contract with Verizon ends when i get home and so i'm looking to get a new phone. I've seen this one phone that i really like but i don't know what it's called and i can't find it. I know it's made by Verizon, but could also be used with other networks, but this phone's digits are all LCD and if you push a button the numbers disappear and turn to letters so you can turn it and use it as a keyboard. I thought it was pretty cool and just wanted to more about it so if any of you have it or know what i'm talking about could ya help me out?!
Anyways, Friday Lindsay and I got our phones fixed then walked around the city. We went into the Arndale Mall and ran right into this:
They were using a type of carpet that acted just like snow. It was amazing how they were able to turn on it, if you weren't looking at the carpet you would have guessed that they were on snow, very impressive. We walked around some and met up with Andy and Mikael for our weekly dinner night out. This time we tried out JD Wetherspoons and i liked it. I had a beer/burger combination for 7 pounds which is a good deal. The burger was huge, had onion rings on it, and tasted delish! I supposed good food does exist here, ya just gotta hunt for it. Friday night i went to bed early cause earlier in the day we bought tickets to Birmingham!
So Saturday morning Andy, Lindsay, Mikael, Jason, Malgosia, XiXi, Nuria, Sophie, Agate, and I left Manchester at 8 and took a 2 hour bus ride to Birmingham. It's a city similar to Manchester but just a different atmosphere, something new to see. We visited the Bullring, a modern building designed for shopping. We walked around the city and visited St Paul church, the Cathedral, Town Hall, Canal Park, and The Birmingham Museum. It was fun, i finally was able to get a shot glass from a city i've visited! Let's hope this luck continues onwards to more cities i visit! We went out to eat at a restaurant called Fullers Ale and Pie House. It was very good but expensive. Apparently it's one of the best restaurants in the UK so we chose a good place to eat. I ate some bangers and mash and fell in love once again. After lunch we just continued to walk around and shop until the bus left at 10! Here are some pictures from the trip:
City Hall
My meal of choice: Bangers and Mash!
The group posing with the bull in the middle of the Bullring shopping district.
The modernized Bullring shopping building.
We got back that night and went to their house to celebrate Daylight Savings Time. We had a dance party and i was practicing The Carlton. I swear I'll get that dance down, it's easy and it's a classic. Hmmm maybe i'll be Carlton for Halloween?
Sunday Mikael and i got up and went to the gym for a few hours. After that we rushed lunch and shower and went to the city to watch the Man United game vs. Liverpool at a pub in the city. The game was good even though we (united) lost 2-0. The only reason i say that the game was good was the entertainment at the pub. The locals there were all very drunk and pissed off that United was losing. There was one poor guy there rooting for Liverpool, not being loud or anything and everyone there was just giving him crap after Liverpool would score. At the end of the match everyone was throwing their drinks at him and before i knew it beer, soda, water, and cups were flying everywhere. It was quite entertaining. Sunday night Mikael, Andy, James, and I went to go see Saw VI. I usually see it with the group from Winona every October but obviously i couldn't so i was forced to see it without them. The movie was the same: crapping acting, gore and terrifying ways of dying, half the movie consisting of flashbacks, and *SPOILER ALERT* leaving the movie open once again for yet another one to be made. It's good to say though that i saw it and now can check that off my long list of movies to still see.
Monday was relaxing, i just went to class and watched an episode of Top Gear. I gotta get ready for the season premeire on November 15th. If you have no idea what i'm talking about i'm sorry but it's the best show ever. (I don't know anyone in Winona that would like it other then Pete, Micki and Mike because it involves cars, and pretty much only cars.) To give a quick summary of the show, it's about sexy cars and funny humor. The only two ingredients you need for a great show is that right there. It's not on American TV but the BBC so you have to find it online unless you have BBC America, in that case you're lucky and you need to watch it when it's on! The rest of you can go to www.watchtopgear.org and catch up on all 13 seasons before the 14th one starts shortly.
Yesterday i had class as well and it wasn't anything too exciting, just learning more about plyometrics, agility, and creating workout plans. I watched another episode of Top Gear before heading out to the International house to hang out there. Afterwords we went to the Pav for club night again. It wasn't as good as it was last week because there weren't nearly as many as people there. It was still a good time though cause we still got our dance on.
Today i didn't have class so Louise drove Lindsay and I to The Lake District in England. It's a national park where there are lakes. It's kind of funny because in MN we have over 10,000 lakes and seeing a lake isn't a big deal. But here lakes are rare so people travel from all over England to come and see these mysterious bodies of water. Therefore it's a big tourist spot filled with old people with canes and children throwing loafs of bread at geese. Needless to say it was still very beautiful because i haven't seen a lake in over a month and that's what i've always lived around. My whole life has been in and around lakes: Medicine, Minnetonka, Calhoun, Boundary Waters, Superior,and the beloved Winona Lakes. It reminded me of home for sure so it was very surreal and relaxing. We ate some good there and proceeded to get somewhat lost until we ended up 50 miles away at a big body of water known as the Irish Sea. It was gorgeous, reminded me of Mexico other then the fact that the water was freezing. The noise of the waves crashing is something that will also relax me, i honestly could listen to that noise for the rest of my life and truly never get sick of it. Overall the trip today was perfect, it was time spent with good friends, inexpensive, simple, and beautiful. Take a look at these pictures of the trip today:
Lake Windermere
Carvery Lunch. It's a buffet with only 1 plate. Needless to say you load up. It was only 3.50 pounds. 5 dollars = GREAT DEAL and cost of trip!
Freezing but worth going in. (Well at least up to my ankles in it.)
Obviously i've done a terrible job updating this and that's why it's quite the journal today. Hope you enjoy the pictures and stories and maybe i'll find some videos to put up of random shenanigans going on here! I will talk to you within a week!
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