The end?!

I'm afraid if I don't post now, I might not have time to post before I leave Leeds.  I'm pretty tired though, so the full details might be a little sketchy until the next time I scrounge up enough time.  I'll add later entries with pictures later.  But until then...

Haworth = success.  It was a great small town, with a surprising number of Japanese tourists and translations -- even on the signs.  When I double checked the bus stop with the driver before getting off, he even printed me off a voucher ticket that gave me free entrance to the Bronte Parsonage Museum!  I also went on a hike in the bright English sun and got a little sunburned, which just means weird tan lines now.

When going on a walk with a friend, I realized that the end of the road I lived on (which, until now, I thought was a dead end) has a path to a woodsy area complete with trails.  I can basically hike in my backyard.  If I have time tomorrow (my last day *sniffle!*), I'm going to go on a mini-hike or run to see more of it.

My room is mostly packed up.  I have a lot of luggage, but I figure if I have to check in another bag, I might as well make the most use of it, so I'm bringing some notes and books home.  I'll probably regret it Saturday morning when I have to drag my bags around, but I'll probably be happy when back in Illinois.  I hate throwing out notes and books.

And now for bed.  Tomorrow's going to be a long day, but will probably pass too quickly.

The collection

As some of you knew, I have been collecting a pin from nearly ever city I've been to in England and in Europe.  I bought a United Kingdom poster around the beginning of my semester here, and I've been slowly putting the pins in.

So, with the exception of tomorrow's possible trip (which is a place so small I might not even get a pin), this is the end result of my UK explorations:

The finals and the final trips -- oh my!

In the end, my finals turned out okay.  Unfortunately, I had two exams in a row in the end -- drug design and genetics, and I made a bad call by doing unbalanced studying.  My drug design final was worth 88% of my grade, the genetics one 60%, but I was doing so well in genetics that I really only needed about 15% on my exam to get a decent grade.  I think drug design went well because I studied like a maniac, but genetics... there were typos everywhere in the exam, and everything I had studied wasn't on the exam.  It was like someone punched me in the face.

But whatever.  It's over, and I can't change the past.  If I need to, I'll retake it at UIUC.  I'm not happy with my performance, but I think no matter what I did, I would've been unhappy in some form.  C'est la vie.

As soon as my exams were over, everything seemed to be on fast-forward.  There was the Leeds Summer Ball, which turned out okay, but still fun.  Yanfen and I made a spontaneous decision to go to Cambridge to visit another friend (we literally had to make the decision the day before we left), and we spent about 2 days there.  I LOVE CAMBRIDGE.  As soon as we got there, it just felt comforting and like home.  It was absolutely beautiful, yet still had everything I loved about Leeds too.  I wish I could live there, because I thought it was that amazing.  However, part of that feeling might have been because of the people I was with.  As I've mentioned before, it's the people that make the trip for me, and our friend there was an AMAZING host, and I had a great time.

Yanfen then packed and left for Illinois, and I stayed in England.  Devonshire Hall, my home for the past few months, had its own ball.  We expected it to be pretty bad due to some complications in its planning, but it ended up being a blast!  It was the last time I saw most of my Dev friends, so it was also significant for me that way.

England has been an amazing home for the past 5 months.  I have absolutely loved my time here, and it does feel like a second home to me.  I've been trying to absorb as much as I can before going home this Saturday.  

This past weekend I went to Northumberland with a friend to do some hiking.  We spent Saturday in Durham and Newcastle, then Sunday and Monday hiking along Hadrian's Wall (wall built in Roman times, edge of the empire).  It was incredible, and for just three days, I feel like we accomplished a lot.  We stayed at a hostel called Once Brewed in between Hexham and Haltwhistle, and it's about a 1/2 mile away from Hadrian's Wall.  On Saturday it was a dark, drizzly day, so hiking was a little slippery at points.  For just following along a wall, it got amazingly steep at some points.  It was about 7.5 miles going from Once Brewed to Steel Rigg to Housestead's Roman Fort to Vindolanda and then Once Brewed again.  There was a pretty massive bull that was terrifying, and lots of sheep poo everywhere (complete with sheep to pop down some more).

Sunday was a beautiful day with sunshine, and we hiked west to Cawfields Quarry, then down to Haltwhistle following an amazing trail (about 6ish miles, but we took some side walks along the way).  Haltwhistle is apparently the geographical center of Britain, which was cool, but it was a tiny town.  Then we took the train to Hexham to see the Abbey, eat some fish and chips, then head home to Leeds.

I go home in just a few days... so I really need to pack, but I might take one last quick trip tomorrow on my own to Haworth to see the town where the Bronte sisters lived and see their house-turned-museum.  I'm just not sure how to get there exactly, but it should be fun trying, right?

?!

At this point in the game, I just sit in my room, look around, and think, "How on earth did I pack all of this 6 months ago? How do I pack it now?"

How do I pack up my life in Leeds into a suitcase and go?

We'll tackle that question later.  I just spend the past 3 days in Northumberland, mostly hiking along Hadrian's Wall.  Real posts to come when I've had some sleep.

Revision *sigh*

My history exam went fine.  And then I spent all afternoon trying to figure out if I could apply for a scholarship, and it doesn't look positive right now.  I tried.

I've been trying to study pharmacology/data analysis all evening.  Each time I study, I wonder why I decided I could handle a final year class in a major that's not my own.  (Which reminds me of a funny conversation I had with a British girl before my history final -- she couldn't believe I was an engineer and in the class, haha.)

Studying, especially when everyone else is done, makes me homesick.  The rainy weather and cold might also have to do with it.

I go home in 23 days.

Am I taking my O.W.L.s?

I had my first exam today, and it was definitely a different experience.  I was totally expecting a style of testing similar to UIUC, but it was so different it was kind of creepy.  First of all, I'm not allowed to use pencil at all, which is okay, because that means no one can change my answers.  However, I also took my music exam in the same room as 400 (or another huge amount) of people.  My seat number was 270, and it was in alphabetical order by module.  There are several exams going on in the same room.  There are proctors that make sure you're not cheating, and none of them were anyone I recognized.  It was like taking a giant version of the ACT or SAT.  Or my Hogwarts O.W.L.s.  I had to keep my ID on my desk so proctors can double check it (and they do), and before the exams start someone goes by with an instrument to detect any type of cell phone or pager.  Leeds is DEAD SERIOUS about cheating.  There were even posters about cheating and the consequences in the area where you put your bag down.

The first picture is of the Sports Hall, which is where I took my exam today.  I also take an exam in the Great Hall (I'm not kidding), which is the second picture.  I have another exam in the Sports Hall, but luckily my others are in regular classrooms since my class size is so small.  What's kind of nice about the Sports Hall, though, is they put carpet down for exam period, so I don't have the weird gym floor.

My exam today went pretty well.  I'm more nervous about my others, but having the little time between each exam makes me feel a little better too.  I can't handle loads of time to revise.  Stress helps me focus.

I will (hopefully) not post for awhile because I'll hopefully be studying dutifully.  It's very possible procrastination will occur.

Geeky baking

This might become my favorite blog this summer.  Lots of recipes and pictures for geeky baking.  Not all science, but I definitely favor those.

http://notsohumblepie.blogspot.com/2009/12/science-cookies-gel-electrophoresis.html

Food to eat before leaving and at home

I feel so unmotivated today, that I can't even play a video game.  So, while Skyping with a friend, we started talking about food we wanted to have again. So, here it is (in no particular order).

Food in Urbana and Champaign
1. Coco Mero -- frozen yogurt
2. Custard Cup -- snowstorm
3. Woori Jib -- Korean barbeque
4. Courier Cafe -- milkshake, burger, pesto
5. Art Mart -- cookie
6. Noodles and Co. -- pesto cavatappi
7. Jamba Juice -- duh
8. Evo's -- Indonesian rice and milk tea
9. Cunetto's -- spaghetti (St. Louis, but close enough)
10. Dos Realas -- mmm... real Mexican food

I also just want to have some real hash browns. I am getting a little tired of potatoes here, but it's just not the same.

Food to eat before leaving UK
1. Gourmet Burger Kitchen -- delicious burgers
2. Nando's or Charco's -- peri-peri chicken
3. Gregg's -- sausage roll?
4. Shaky Jake's -- milkshake!!
5. La Cafetierre -- Mediterranean food and smoothie!
6. Either Dry Dock or the Library -- screamburger
7. Fish and chips in a pub
8. Old Bar
9. Strawbs
10. Flames

I like food.

Library chaos

My plan of action already failed a bit when finding all of my library materials turned into a scavenger hunt.  I went between the two main university libraries more than I'd like, because you're not allowed to reserve an available item and the collection is split up between the two.  I also couldn't study there because it's packed, plus the wireless internet was so slow I couldn't even listen to one guitar solo for more than 10 seconds.

Then I went to the Leeds Central Library (in the city centre) to check out a CD, and it turns out that for every CD I want to check out, I have to pay 1.70.  It also took awhile to find the CD because EVERYTHING in the library is not in order.  Sure, it's in alphabetical order by author, but that just means all the As are in a section, and complete chaos within the As.

The plus side to the library at the university -- it has gates (with the turn thing) that you can't get through unless you swipe your card.  Grainger library needs this.

Plan of action

So now I enter revision week (aka reading week).  This next part is totally not necessary for this blog, but I need to write this down as many places as possible to remind myself.... here is my plan of action:

Monday - Wednesday: Guitar
Thursday - Saturday: History
Sunday - Monday: Chemistry
Tuesday - Thursday: Data analysis
Friday - Sunday: Guitar review

I have 2 weeks to prepare, and then 2 weeks of exams, but I only have 5.  They're decently spread out, so I plan to do my genetics studying after my last exam in that first week and then any time I go crazy from studying a different subject too long.  I'm not terribly worried about it because our lecturer reminded us that to pass the class, (for my current grade) only 10% is needed on the exam.  ...I'm pretty sure I'm not going to fail, and if I prepare well I can get a good grade.  Unless I somehow sleep past 1pm in the afternoon on the day of my exam. *knock on wood*

Seriously, where did the time go?  Some of my friends are already back in the States.  I actually miss home a lot.  I miss my family and friends, and I miss Urbana.  When I get home, I'll have 2 jobs ready for me this summer, and I miss working and the satisfaction of a paycheck.  I feel so poor over here, but it's good motivation for exercise since I walk or run places now.  I ran to Bodington Hall the other week, and it felt nice.

On that note, the gym here is horrible -- they charge for everything, so now I can't really work out too much, and some of the classes I liked before don't really exist for me unless I pay more to get a different membership.  Without working out regularly though, I still registered for the fitness competition (shuttle run, leg press, bench press, bleep test).  There were 15 girls registered, and I came out 6th overall, which I'm pretty happy about since I didn't train.  Also, one of the scores was strength index (both presses into account with height and weight), and I actually came out being #1.  I was totally amazed.  So, I didn't lift the most, but apparently for my size I did.  So yay!  I bench pressed a puny 30 kg, but leg pressed 200 kg.

For my audition for UIUC, I also got waitlisted for the Marching Illini, which is a little sad and happy at the same time.  Sad because I wanted to get in, but happy because that's better than my first audition 3 years ago.  That means I'm still improving as a player!  Whoo!

And now I'm going to sleep, because it's almost 1am... which throws off my plan of action a bit, but I least I have a guideline, right?

Nearing the End

When meeting people around Europe over my Easter vacation, I got used to saying, "Oh, I go back to America in 2 months."  Someone in Leeds asked me when I was going home the other day, and I was about to do my automatic reply, when I realized that it's no longer true.  I go home in a little over a month.  Today is my last day of class, then I enter the official revision week (aka Reading Week), then 3 weeks of exam period.  However, I got lucky and I have 2 weeks of revision then 2 weeks to do 5 exams.

Where did the time go?

I was talking to one of my American friends here, and we agreed that a semester is too short, but we both feel a year is too long (for a short term study abroad).  I also think the month long break in the middle of my semester also contributed with time passing. 

I don't want to do a full-blown analysis of my time here yet, simply because I'm not done.  I still have 6 weeks left.  In that time I will have finished my exams, attended the Leeds Union Summer Ball, the Devonshire Ball, and then miscellanious other Leeds-related activities that I need to figure out after exams.  I want to explore Yorkshire a little more.

Last weekend and this coming weekend have been/will be great.  Two of my friends studying in Vienna booked tickets to visit me, and it's been great so far finding all of the things I want to show my friends about England.  Something I should've done more with this blog.  I've been getting a little behind adding pictures on facebook, adding pictures on here, finding the small nooks and crannies of England.

Well, I must be off to class now.  My last Drug Design class, and my last lecture in England. 

P.S. -- Blogger in Draft is awesome.  I changed my background (for now) to be a rainy background.  It seemed fitting.

(Finally) back in Leeds

Well.  That was definitely interesting and perhaps full of too much excitement for my taste.  I'm actually using people's names in this entry because it's too hard and confusing to edit without.

I'm sure a lot of you already heard what happened in Paris, my last stop of my trip, but I figure I should write the whole story here.

I flew in with RyanAir to Paris-Beauvais, which is actually about an hour away from Paris itself.  That was a little bit of a bummer because I was hoping to meet my friends in Paris in time for dinner, but I had to be content with getting there after 8pm.  It was a little confusing trying to buy a metro ticket because I couldn't figure out how to get the automated ticket seller to display in English, but finally I ended up with a ticket to the right stop.  I had to have my friends direct me to the hostel though, because I did get a little lost.  It turns out that my hostel was in Montmartre, which I'm sure people will recognize from either history class, art class, or Moulin Rouge!


In a surprising turn of events, I ended up in the same rooms as Yanfen, who is one of my best friends!  That was awesome, and then I quickly changed and headed out to try to meet my friends.  I ended up taking the metro to the Eiffel Tower, and it was pretty amusing as I'm powerwalking and running to get to the shining tower that I see before 10:30pm, because it just kind of felt like Sleepless in Seattle for me.  It was pretty adorable.  "I'll meet you right underneath the Eiffel Tower at 10:30!"

Yanfen was the only one there because the others had gone up to the top, and hugging and squealing happened for a few minutes.  She also mentioned it felt so romantic, and we laughed for awhile because both of us had the same scenario in mind.  We wandered for a bit (waiting for the others to get down), and I had a crepe filled with nutella and bananas.  It was a little annoying because there were a lot of souvenir sellers and we basically got asked in broken Chinese and English to buy things.

(Random note: People always assume I'm Japanese, Korean, or Chinese first.  Some even STILL don't understand that I'm American even when I insist, because they say I look so Asian.  DUH.)

The light show at each hour is beautiful.  It just looks like the Eiffel Tower is twinkling!

When everyone came down, we went to Liz's place where she and her parents rented a flat.  They fed me some delicious spaghetti and sorbet, and we all talked for awhile before taking a taxi back to our hostel because it was 1am.  End of Day 1.

Liz stayed with her parents, but the rest of us headed out the next morning (along with a guy named Jeff from our hostel) to go to the Louvre.  However, the metro was PACKED.  Think of the bus leaving PAR 10 minutes before class starts at UIUC.  I'm not claustrophobic, but this was making me really uncomfortable.

There was a boy in front of me, practically in my face, who looked about 13 or so.  He also had really bad breath, and I remember having to turn my head away because he was just basically breathing in my face.  I was talking to Yanfen, and then the metro doors opening and MORE people came in.  My bag was jostled, and I didn't think too much of it because people were pushing me from behind, but I looked down anyway to see my purse open.  With no wallet.

I immediately looked at the boy, who suddenly WASN'T staring at me anymore, but instead looking in the complete opposite direction.  I went, "Someone stole my wallet!!" several times and no one except for Yanfen  seemed to care.  I tapped the boy on the shoulder, asking if he took my wallet, and my assumptions were pretty correct since he just ignored me.  He leaned forward to talk to an older man in French, and I grabbed his arm, demanding he give my wallet back.  At this time, the metro doors opened again, the older man pointed the boy to the door, and all of the French moved out of the way so the boy could dash out.  I couldn't hold on because his jacket was too slippery.  So I ran out, followed by Yanfen and Jeff.

We chased after the boy, who's sprinting as fast as he can, and I just yell "he stole my wallet!" but the people milling about don't really care.  The problem is the doors out are tall and metal, so by the time we pushed through we didn't know if he ran deeper into the station or out.  So we go out, and a woman sees us frantically searching.  She asks me what happened, and I tell her.  She asks me to describe the boy, and after I tell her the age and ethnicity, she tells me that boy has been stealing in that area for awhile, so to report it because it's happened a lot.  She gives us directions, so we head off.

The nearest police station was pretty small, and the man told us he spoke no English and kept shrugging as to say he couldn't help. We even asked if we could type into his computer to translate with the internet, but he said there wasn't internet.  He then just kept saying he couldn't help us, and told us no one there spoke English. Yanfen asked if there was another station, so he drew us directions on the map.

We wander towards the other one as I frantically call my parents to cancel my credit cards, and in the second station the guard also informs us that he does not speak English.  Luckily, when we ask if ANYONE there speaks English, someone comes out and we tell him what happened.  He then drops us off in front of the secretary, tells us to tell her, and leaves.  When we begin our story again, the secretary stops us because she understands no English.

AHHHHHH.

She hands us a report form though that has instructions in English and French, so we fill it out.  Then a man takes us into a back room, and he fills the report into the computer.  He asks us for more description when he gets to some questions, and since he doesn't understand a lot of English, Yanfen and I ended up basically playing charades.  In the end, I have a police report in French, and a form for my driver's license in French, and an address he wrote of the American embassy.

The rest of this trip was just in varying states of anger, shock, sadness, or just trying to block it out.  I had also made several phone calls with my parents at this point.  I'm so glad they were able to help, and that Lebara (my phone company) gave me 13 free pounds when I topped up 20 last time, because I was roaming A LOT.

We wander around, because we decided to go on a free tour at 1pm so we didn't have time to go to the Louvre.  We saw the Opera house, but just spent a lot of time looking at a map. We ended up a little late for the tour, but luckily the people were still there, so we tagged along.  I love the NewEurope free walking tours.    I learned some French history, and saw all the touristy sites and more.

(Yanfen is AWESOME and AMAZING and helped me out with the rest of the trip money-wise and keeping me from freaking out entirely.)

Yanfen and I head to L'Orangerie to see Monet's Water Lillies.  I hadn't realized that they were so big!  It was also interesting, because the two rooms that held them were giant ovals with 8 paintings that were curved along the wall.  At first we didn't believe they were the real thing, but they were giant and beautiful.  We also looked around downstairs were there were some Renoir and Picasso paintings as well as an exhibit, but Monet was the focal point for me.

Talking about focal points, we discovered that the oval rooms are perfect ellipses because I found a focal point and it sounded like a German girl standing on the other side was talking right into my ear.  It was weird and freaked me out a bit because I was trying to figure out where the voice was coming from.

We're engineers.

We met up with Caitlyn for some beef bourguignon, and I also had some chocolate mousse.  Then Yanfen and I headed to the Eiffel Tower again to go to the very top!  It was beautiful, even if a bit cold and damp, and I tried to take some pictures with my cheap camera.  We even got to try our first champagne at the very top, which was interesting.  End of Day 2.

The morning of Friday (Day 3) meant eating some pretty good breakfast at the hostel (yummy croissants, as well as vanilla yogurt and hot chocolate mixed with coffee for me) then quickly seeing the Moulin Rouge and checking at the American Embassy if I had to do anything else.  I know I didn't need to go, but I had no idea why the policeman had given me the directions there and I couldn't really read the documents he gave me, although he told me what they were.  I didn't even need to go inside -- the guard called in with my situation, and then a woman on the phone told me what to do, which is just to report my license stolen to the agency in the USA.

Then Versailles!!  It was only about 6 or 7 euros for a return trip, and then in Versailles we didn't have to pay for ANYTHING because our passports with our awesome UK visas got us in everywhere for free!  So I got to see the Cheateau and the Marie Antoinette estates for nothing (otherwise would've been about 30 euro), saw some beautiful gardens, and also got to walk around a little bit.  Versailles was definitely a better trip than Paris.

We had to go back to Paris though, and we concluded our night with the Louvre (also free because of it being Friday evening and our passports!), and I saw the Mona Lisa, the statue of Eros and Psyche (my favorite statue of all time and I had no idea it was there!!!), Aphrodite, among others.  I didn't get to look at the Mona Lisa for long because it was just so crowded, but got to look at Eros and Psyche for awhile.  The Louvre is GIANT and I don't even think I got to see 1/100th of the collection.  I didn't feel too bad though because it was free!

Yanfen and I then ate some potato chips and drank some tea (left over from sandwich dinner in Versailles) and waited for the light show again.  We decided it's prettier when you're actually next to the tower vs. from far away.

So, the water was cut off at our hostel because a pipe burst, and also my flight for the next day was canceled because of a volcano.  VOLCANO.  I was so confused, because I was just thinking, "Volcanoes in England??" but the problem was volcanic ash in the air from the eruption in Iceland.  So... more frantic calling, and the internet in our hostel was soooo slow (took me 30 minutes to open 3 websites and check 5 emails), and Yanfen and I even ran around trying to find faster internet at midnight.  A nice Frenchman who didn't really understand English tried to help us out, but sadly we couldn't get it to work on Yanfen's PSP.

My amazing parents helped me out soooo much.  I can't even express how much I am thankful and how much I love them in words.  My dad booked me Business class on the Eurostar (--wallet going "ow!"--) from Paris to London, then a train from King's Cross to Leeds.  This was lucky because EVERYTHING was selling out, and it took my parents about 4-5 hours to even book those.  Even the 2nd class Eurostar tickets were sold out by Saturday morning.  Everyone was panicking because of all of the flights cancelled.

The problem with this was that both Paris and London demanded that you show the credit card used to purchase the tickets to pick them up.  I got through Eurostar fine (the French didn't care).  I got to wait in the Business Lounge and use the free internet there and eat some free food.  I had never seen so much free alcohol in my life.  Everyone was drinking wine or cocktails, and I sat there with my water and Diet Coke.  Everyone was also really well dressed with their rolly bags or briefcases, and I'm there with my jeans, dusty sneakers, and traveling backpack.  Before I left I also got a free magazine (there was just a huge wall full of French and English magazines!) and then just got on the train without any wait.  On the coach I also got another free drink (orange juice, although they also offered more free wine and champagne) and then got a delicious dinner (also offered more wine -- what's with business people and the alcohol?).  Everything was really good!  Dinner was a small salad with a vinaigrette, an apricot tart, bread, and either a main entree of cold salmon or hot beef.  I chose beef, and it was delicious served with garlic mashed potatoes, zucchini, and some other random vegetable.  Then people came around with coffee and tea, so I had some coffee.

Arriving in London, seeing the Underground signs and King's Cross made me so happy that I was almost tearing up.  Sadly though, in King's Cross they wouldn't give me my tickets, wouldn't even accept a phone call from my father because they said it still wouldn't prove anything, and in the end I had to buy a new ticket.  THANK GOD Yanfen had given me 100 euros before I left.  The guy at the counter was apologetic (I had to talk to someone on the phone who controls the computer system and website to see if she could change the code so I could get tickets), and exchanged my euros to pounds.  100 euros = 82 pounds, and the ticket was 82.70.  Luckily I had some British money, so I handed over the left over 70 pence.  Then he told me if I ran I could make it to the train that left for Leeds at 5:30pm, which was in 5 minutes.

But I'm here.  I'm in my room, had an amazing night's sleep, and I can hear the birds chirping.

Thank you so much, Mom and Dad.  And thank you so much, Yanfen!  I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Almost done traveling

Well, I arrived in Vienna safe and sound.  I have been traveling for about a week and a half now, although it feels so much longer.  Was I really in Malta this time last week?  That was only a week ago?  I feel like I'm in some weird time-warp where time does fly while having fun, but also infinitely long at the same time.

I've been traveling with one of my best friends, and we've known each other since birth.  It's so bizarre to be globetrotting with her, but incredibly awesome at the same time!  We've been seeing other friends around the globe too, which once again reinforces that it's a small world.  (Feel free to hum the tune... NOW.)

I shall put up pictures on here sometime, but since I don't have my computer, I think I will do some waiting on that front. Right now I shall do a quick (haha) entry about my travels so far, since I don't have toooo much time. Dublin was... exactly like the UK (except not).  I had to exchange my pounds for euros, and was slightly annoyed to find that when exchange places don't take coins, that includes the 2 and 1 pound coins.  It's not loose change!  Boo.

It was nice to wander around the city.  We met some really cool people, and also saw some great buildings and learned a lot about Irish history.  It's so strange to think that part of Ireland is still part of the UK, but the rest isn't.  How can Scotland and Ireland hate the British so much and still be associated so closely with each other?

Anyway, our big touristy move of the weekend was going to the Guinness Storehouse, which actually isn't a storehouse now.  It's built to be this huge museum/exhibit about Guinness.  I thought it was going to be pricey and boring, but I was only half right.  It was pricey, but it was an awesome place.  I learned a lot about the brewing process, and even learned about the old art of making wooden barrels.  I even got a certificate from Guinness saying I learned how to pour the perfect pint.  It was pretty funny, because the woman teaching us was pretty strict, and even made one man start his pint over because he wasn't doing it right.

The travel gods smiled on me again, and it actually did not rain in Dublin until the morning we left for the airport.  Where is this luck coming from?  It's making me happy -- I haven't had rain come down on me on my trips (for the most part).  Huzzah!  However, despite the drizzle, we arrived in Malta without a hitch.  There was even applause from the airplane as the pilot touched down (something I've seen several times... it worries me a bit that people clap that we land successfully with RyanAir).  And Malta was.... SUNNY!  WARM!  I expected it, but it was great to actually experience it.

In Malta we stayed at a guest house called Room 4 You, run buy a Swedish man named Emil.  He was so funny and awesome, and it just felt like we were staying at a friend's house.  My friend and I cooked some yummy meals, soaked up the sun, and even biked around the countryside.  It was hard to see super touristy things because one of the days we were there was a national holiday, so a lot closed down.  We did manage to see the ruins of the Ggantija temples, which is the oldest free standing structure in the world.

Italy?  Bari was a massive fail.  The hostel owner insisted that it was impossible that no one was answering the door, and thought we were somewhere else.  So we walked around only to end up in the same place.  A second call by us and a third call from 10 Spanish people revealed that the person working had stepped out to go shopping.  He ran back quickly (after, I'm guessing, a call from the owner) and checked us in.  He tried to overcharge us though by assuming we'd pay for a nicer meal, and the hostel itself didn't really have separate rooms.  It was just floors piled on top of each other, with makeshift stairs and no doors to block out noise from other floors.  My friend and I got no sleep that night because the other residents stayed out until 1:30am and talked until 3am.  We left at 4am to catch a taxi to the airport.

Venice was beautiful!!!... but super confusing.  We arrived there in bad tempers, and quickly got lost.  I convinced my friend it'd be more fun to find our own way there than backtrack across the island to our original starting point.  We had to buy a map eventually, and we arrived at our hostel 4 hours after our plane touched down.  It was great to walk around though.  The main street is just filled with vendors and people selling small trinkets, beautiful paper mache masks, gelato, etc.  Then, the hostel we stayed in was pretty nice, although I did get 2 bug bites.

Sorry this entry is so scattered, but I wrote this as quickly as I could.  But I shall write again soon.

The last LUU trips

I actually have photos with this update.  Amazing, I know.  However, to put them up was just as annoying as usual, but I will try to do it more in the future.

The Stonehenge trip was amazing.  I can't believe I was allowed to go into the middle of it, and that probably was one of the top experiences of my life.  We were there right before sunset too, and it was just amazing that I even had some sun.  I don't know how, but some travel god is looking after me.  Every trip I've been on so far has had great weather. 

Besides Stonehenge, the other places I mentioned we were visited were also pretty interesting.  I didn't learn as much as I had hoped, because the archaeologist ended up not coming.  (More seats were booked than available, and he opted out because he said he'd been there a few times, so he thought that'd be fair.)

It turns out that Glastonbury was a lot more interesting than I thought it'd be.  It's famous for having a lot of power leys crossing over the city, and as a result, it's a pretty big place for people interested in magick.  Glastonbury Tor (a giant hill) is fabled to be an isle in the past when there was more water around there, and actually one of the stories is that it was the Isle of Avalon.  In the Glastonbury Abbey is the supposed site where the monks found King Arthur and Genevieve's graves, and then they supposedly moved the bones to a different site in the Abbey.  The ground is too acidic to know if the bones were there (obviously).  It's pretty interesting and amusing at the same time.

Paper turned in without a hitch.  I find out my grade on it tomorrow, plus have a conference with my professor about it to discuss it.  There are advantages to staying in Leeds when everyone's gone home after all.

Edinburgh was this past weekend, and it is probably one of my favorite cities now.  The castle was a bit overpriced (£12), but inside was HUGE.  I learned a lot about Scottish history.  An amusing story I heard was about the Stone of Destiny -- and the prophecy with it is that wherever the Stone of Destiny lies, the Scots will rule.  For awhile the English had it, and then around the 1950s a few college students got the idea to steal it back, breaking it in the process.  They did get it fixed, and then a lot of Scottish pride was ignited again when it was back for a little bit (before the English took it again).  I want to read the book the person wrote about how he stole it -- I hope to find it in the library.  

I also got to eat breakfast in the Elephant House on Sunday, which is where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter.  It was an amazing atmosphere!  I loved the mellow, piano music over the speakers, and I could see myself spending hours in there writing as well if I lived there.  Rowling also got inspiration for some of her characters from the graveyard down the street from the Elephant House, and in there I found a Tom Riddell and a McGonagall.  

The graveyards are an interesting part of Edinburgh, and Edinburgh is known as one of the most haunted places in the UK as well.  I took a ghost tour on Friday night, and it was pretty interesting.  One of the headstones I saw was for a dog called Greyfriar's Bobby, who was a little terrier that was so loyal that he refused to leave his master's grave when he died.  His statue is apparently the most photographed statue in Edinburgh.

This part is the only legal part in Edinburgh where people can spit on.  It used to be the foundation of this prison, and people used to spit on the door, which had this design on it.  When the prison was gone, they put this in its place.  People continue to spit on it, and it's pretty amusing to watch everyone walk around it and spit.  It's also amusing to watch tourists think its cute and sit on it.  There are a lot of things in the ground like this (although the others you can't spit on) around Edinburgh.  There's just so much history people walk by and walk on, and I almost missed quite a few.  I saw the site for the last hanging (gold bricks marking it) and the old residence of Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone.

Then, of course, what's a good weekend without some hiking?  I didn't expect that, so I didn't bring practical shoes, so I wore a type of flats (luckily they're kind of sporty and have decent grip).  We climbed Arthur's Seat, and funnily enough we started on the wrong path, so we ended up basically climbing two cliffs.  I was so sore the next day.  

Then, here's a picture of the hostel I stayed at with the Edinburgh castle in the background (by the way, the volcanic rock the castle sits on is called Castle Rock).  Then the random picture was a mistake... My new camera has problems taking pictures quickly when first turning it on, so when nothing happened, I started putting it down to wait for the guy to pass so I could take pictures.  The photo went off in his face.  It was a little embarrassing, but there are nice people in hostels.  He brushed it off with, "I knew you were a fan!" before he went to the Posh Room to use the internet.

And that's the end of the LUU trips.  From now on, if I go anywhere, I will have to plan them myself.  But thanks, Leeds Union, I now understand why you're the #1 university union in the UK.

Paper before Stonehenge

This weekend will certainly be interesting!  I am only one more quote away from finishing my history paper, which means that I can enjoy my weekend visiting Stonehenge in relative peace.  (I'll be bringing my paper with me of course, so I can edit a hard copy.)  To be honest, writing papers makes me stressed.  I feel like I've done decently well on this paper so far, but turnitin.com scares me.  Since it takes so long to grade, and because 2 people are grading my paper in addition to turnitin.com, AND because I'm new to the referencing style here... I shelled out $5 to use the program turnitin.com created to check your paper before submission.

But hey! I'm proud of myself because I was productive and I'll manage to finish my paper before my trip.  Plus, I have Sunday evening and Monday morning to edit!  This sure beats my last minute paper turn ins from last semester.  Although, since this is my only big piece of homework I have, productivity was expected.

Anyway, I leave at 5:30pm today to go down south!  I'll see Glastonbury Tor (and Glastonbury), get to go INSIDE and TOUCH Stonehenge (I'm not kidding!), Avebury (another henge, older than Stonehenge), and the West Kennet Long Barrow.  Originally I was a little nervous about this trip (which is through the university union, by the way, so it's not that out of the blue), because it's with the pagan society, but it turns out it's not a society full of pagans.  It's more of a society where people of different faiths can learn more about it, which is pretty cool, because I have a lot of interest in different religions and faiths.  There are a few pagans on this trip, but I've met them already, and they're really nice, but they seem pretty nervous about us accepting them.  Also, coming on this trip is an archaeology major, who's studied these sites, and he'll tell us history about each one when we're there.  Also, 3 friends, including one of my best friends, are coming on this trip, so this should be a pretty knowledgeable and fun weekend.

Now to find that last quote to finish off my paper.  I even wrote my conclusion already.  You have no idea how hard conclusions are for me.

P.S. -- Amazon.co.uk has already sent me my new camera!  I miss my other one... but this camera was decently priced and does the job.  It's a Samsung, and I'm tempted to call it Sammy.

Snacks -- nom nom nom

Food is important to me, so this entry is dedicated to snacks.

It's been really hard for me to find snack pretzels, but I was finally victorious at Tesco's Express.  I now am dipping pretzels into Nutella (which is cheaper here, obviously, only 1 GBP for a container).  I am proud that I haven't even finished a jar of Nutella yet.  Although... I did have the most amazing ice cream in the Lake District. Made with double cream, and it basically tasted like frozen Nutella.  Delicious.

The yoghurt here is more runny, but I've found that I like it.  I also love my choices of salt and vinegar crisps everywhere.  There are some really strange flavors for crisps too, like king prawn.  What's wrong with good ol' sour cream and onion?

No buttered popcorn at the movie theatre.  Only salted and kettle, which made me sad.  Ice cream was served at the theatre though -- you could get a pint of Haagen Daz or ask for some Ben & Jerry's, which they scoop out for you.

Ramen is not as popular here with college students as it is in the US, but I am still easily able to find my Korean ramen for lunchtime goodness.

Nature vs. JoJo

Today I went to the Lake District, which was BEAUTIFUL.  It was the most relaxing day trip yet, and I enjoyed feeding swans and ducks, going on a short hike, climbing rocks, skipping stones, jumping out on stones into the lake, going on a lake tour and seeing the amazing scenery around the very large Lake Windermere.

Unfortunately, my camera hit a rock while I was passing it to someone else.  The lens is not dented and the camera theoretically still works, but part of the camera is dented by the lens, which prevents it from closing properly.  I'm going to have to go into town tomorrow to see if it can be fixed cheaply.

Nature: 1  |  JoJo: 0

Some pictures before Nature decided that it was time to stop:

View of Leeds

So, I feel it's time to add another post.  Not much has really changed here, and I've been trying to get some material ready for a paper that's due the Monday before the easter holidays (not called spring break here).  Most of my work is still fairly standard, and homework isn't the most interesting thing to talk to people about for a study abroad blog.

In case people were curious, this is a view that I see every day:


View Larger Map

If you turn to the west, you'll see the Parkinson Building, and its steps are a popular place to meet for anything.  Actually, every trip that I take through the Leeds University Union (LUU) meets here.  In Parkinson is a small cafe, a small museum set up by Marks & Spencers, lots of sitting areas for students, the Brotherton Library, classrooms, offices, computer cluster (aka lab)...

To the east you'll see Charco's, which has some good chicken sandwiches, and Flames, which actually tastes a lot like McDonalds but a lot cheaper.

If you turn north, if you continue down that road, it eventually turns into Headingly Lane, and my hall of residence is on Cumberland Road, just off of Headingly.  If you continue down Headingly, it'll turn into Otley Road.  Otley Runs -- the infamous pub crawls here involving costumes -- start on Otley (obviously) and continue down Woodhouse.  I'm actually pretty amazed how long of a run it is in comparison to the standard Illinois bar crawl.

Anyway, the walk to campus is a nice walk, and during the day time, I often cut through Hyde Park.

That is a quick view through my eyes (with help from Google).  Soon I am off to a compulsory meeting about my Stonehenge trip next weekend and then hopefully to see Alice in Wonderland!

New territories

So, it's been a little while since I've updated.  I never did get around to posting about Stratford Upon Avon (aka Shakespeare town) or Warwick.  Overall, that trip was fun, but perhaps a little too rushed.  The trip was organized by the Leeds University Union (LUU), and I did not have enough time to see everything I wanted to see.  Warwick Castle was a little touristy, but it was special because it was my first castle.  A lot of little kids were there, so I guess it was their first castle too.  People got to the bus late, which meant that we had even less time in Stratford Upon Avon, so our group had to literally run to see everything.  I did end up seeing Shakespeare's grave, his birthplace, Nash's house, as well as the Stratford Butterfly Garden.  I actually got in to see the butterflies for free, which was great.  We got there at 4:15pm, and the last group was allowed in at 4pm.  My friend and I did the pathetic, "But we're American... and we can't come again."  The woman eventually just let us in. 

I just spent this past week in London, which was AMAZING.  It was actually supposed to be a trip to London, Cambridge, and Oxford, but I'm glad it turned out to be just London.  I got to see more of the city, and I just had a great time.  I saw Twelfth Night performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company, I saw the Chinese New Year celebrations (a week late), walked down Abbey Road and took the touristy Beatles picture, and rode on the Underground. I even visited Platform 9 3/4, which was hilariously not between platforms 9 and 10 because engineering work was being done on those platforms, so King's Cross moved Platform 9 3/4 to a more accessible area for tourists until the construction was done.  I also went on a walking tour of London, and saw all the great landmarks that way and learned some history.

I definitely want to go back to London.

:(  I've been officially dropped from Cancer Biology, and now have a "normal" schedule.  Although it won't be on my transcript, I'll still go to the lectures I can make.  It just sounds too interesting to pass up.  I like my classes here though.  It's putting a lot of things into perspective for me, which is great.  I LOVE my drug design class, and it's making me wonder if I want to do biology or chemistry when I graduate.  Also, the past few lectures in genetics talked about bacterial genetics, which is what my own research relates to, so it was really nice to have those formal lectures. 

I could go on and on about the possibilities of what to do after I graduate, but I'm sure not everyone who reads this wants to hear about the gory details of science that I might plunge into.  This past weekend was great for helping me think on this though.  I spent Friday evening with a friend who was a bioengineering major at Illinois and now studies/does research at Cambridge.  Over dinner, he asked me about what I was going to do after graduating, and the resulting discussion ended up being a very helpful conversation for me, and actually -- as cheesy as it might sound -- re-inspired me.  I still don't know exactly what I'm going to do, but I feel more comfortable. 

Right now studying abroad and taking classes here is shaping up to be exactly what I wanted.  I am getting the chance to see other areas of what I could study, and I'm gaining a more thorough knowledge of the medical science field in the process.

I love science.  And London.

VPN

Nope -- still not an entry on Shakespeare town. To be honest, I want that post to include pictures, and I'm a little worried about my camera right now. In the middle of my trip, it made a popping noise, and then I could smell burning. It seems to work fine... but still being careful.

Ever since I got to the UK, I've noticed a lot of websites closed down to me. I didn't bring very many movies with me because I was hoping to watch them online -- rent or through a site similar to Hulu, etc. However, even Amazon doesn't allow me to watch videos here.

So, three of my friends told me to just get VPN on my computer. I was hesitant, because the last time I tried to set it up, it didn't work, only for me to realize later that the reason was I used the wrong instructions (I needed Vista instructions, and only XP was available). I was nervous that Windows 7 instructions wouldn't be there. I checked my university's site though, and there it was! So now I can connect slowly to my home university's server, which means I can listen to Pandora and watch my shows on Hulu again. More importantly, I could buy a digital album from Amazon. Yay VPN!

Grocery Run

So, it may seem silly to go on a grocery run when I live in a catered residence hall, but actually, it is needed. I don't have lunch, and some days I can't make it to my meals, so having a stock of food is a handy thing. My beside table has a handy little cabinet that I had no use for until now -- food pantry! A very small food pantry.

Today I bought a day pass for the bus, met up with two friends, and went to ASDA -- it's similar to Wal-Mart, but not as big (or awesome). Then we grocery shopped like we were on fire because we only had about 40 minutes to look around and get our food.

So now I am able to make myself some PB&J (strawberry J for now, raspberry next time), but I also got Nutella perviously. A funny thing here is all of these lovely items are stored in glass bottles. An Australian friend told me how she saved the Nutella jars for glasses, because they're the perfect shape, and now I shall do the same. When I told her Americans use plastic containers, she thought it was strange.

I also have some delicious Volvic flavored water and some milk. Milk was more of a dilemma. I am not a big fan of milk, but whenever I eat something sweet, I always want some. In the dining hall though, milk is only available in the mornings, and no one here really DRINKS a glass of milk. Instead they pour it on their cereal or in their tea or coffee... and so on. I felt like I needed to do something to get my dairy, so I bought a small container of skimmed milk. Only two choices: skimmed or whole milk. 500ml or 1L. According to the container, once opened, it can only last for 3 days. Or one week without opening. This is so strange to me, but it makes me wonder what's IN American milk??

I also bought some other necessities and food, but overall it was a good run. I wish I could've stayed there longer to see everything, but no time. People might think it's silly to like wandering around a supermarket, but me and some of my friends disagree. I think you can learn a lot about a culture too just by what's available at a store like that.

Fat Tuesday is also called Pancake Day apparently, but American pancakes do not exist here. The British equivalent is a crepe. So, one day, I will buy ingredients to make pancakes from scratch. It makes sense that no Bisquick exists here, because they don't have American biscuits either. I tried to explain the breakfast meal of biscuits and gravy, but a British friend thought that sounded silly. Yet to me it's silly to eat spaghetti hoops (aka spaghetti-o's) and mushrooms for breakfast. There are no hash browns that are shredded either.

My computer just gave me two warnings in Chinese (which I cannot read), so maybe it's time to finish this entry. I will finish with one more difference.

British keyboards are very similar to American ones, but the "enter" key is smaller (I constantly miss it with my pinky) and the @ symbol is switched with the " symbol. There are more differences on the keyboard, but those are the ones that stick out to me the most. Those extra symbols are just all switched around, but I tend to forget where they are on American keyboards, so it doesn't affect me as much.

Oh! I went to Warwick and Stratford Upon Avon (Shakespeare's birthplace/grave), but I shall save that for a different entry.

Traveling and trying new things

Liverpool was a lot of fun! It was great to see the Beatles Story Museum, although I didn't get to see all of the parts to it. There's the main museum, then 2 smaller parts. Each ticket was... 6.50 (?) but it lasts for 2 days and gets you entry to all of the parts.

I bought a Beatles themed tea towel, which I doubt could really be a tea towel, so I have it hanging on my wall. It seemed like a better option than buying a poster, because it'd be difficult for me to bring the poster back to the US.

Tomorrow I'm going to Stratford Upon Avon, which -- according to my British friends -- is a nice place to go to. It is also the birthplace of William Shakespeare, so tomorrow should be educational as well as fun. I'm going with a big group of my friends. Originally I didn't expect to travel so much, but it's crazy -- the university organizes these groups for any student to go on, so tomorrow I'll be with British and American friends. Also, I surprisingly have a lot of time.

I'm already being forced to drop a module, as I listed earlier. I think, despite me not wanting to, I will have to drop Cancer Biology. It conflicts with my genetics course sometimes, and I'd really not want to deal with missing lectures. The reason its schedule is so messed up is because there are 6 professors for that class that all give lectures at different times. However, I will have to console myself by saying I probably wouldn't have done well in that class right now because of lack of background info, and I should just take it at UIUC when I know more biology.

I still haven't emailed my department yet though. I can't bring myself to drop a module.

Anyway though, 60 credits means I have the required load of modules, but that involves very little contact hours. A lot of the time is spent on my own, and doing my readings and write-ups don't take too long (especially because I have so much time in between seminars), and my data analysis homework is relatively easy. It's all plug and chug so far. I know things will pick up, but right now things are good. I love my history course and my drug design course!!!

Since I have more free time than I anticipated, I bought a gym membership. It feels good to know I can go to the gym, but it's funny because I can't actually use the equipment. It costs 50p to do that. Apparently it's a new facility, and they're still trying to pay it off, so the extra cost. I am allowed to go to any group fitness class though for free (except pilates, which I don't do anyway). The sad thing about this is that a lot of the classes I want to take I can't go to because of lecture, and each class only meets one a week. They think you should have more variety. I went to a tai chi class and a aeroattack class so far. Tai chi was ok -- my lesson in Hong Kong was a lot better, but the one here was interesting. I barely broke a sweat in aeroattack, but she hinted that it will get harder through the semester. I hope so.

Today I went to a Boxercise class though. Boxercise is a student group that teaches a 2 hour class each week (and one or two times a week) that involves a lot of abs, bum, and leg exercises the first hour, then kickboxing the second hour. I definitely got a workout!! I want to continue to go, especially because I don't have anything on Fridays, but it costs more money. Luckily though, if I do decide to go, I don't have to pay to get into the Sports Centre. To get in costs 4 GBP, but I already have the gym pass. However, Boxercise is 3 GBP each time, or 1 GBP each time with a 15 GBP membership.

I really like the class, but I don't know if it's worth more money right now. At least I know how to punch properly now.

Besides working out, I'm thinking of trying to see if I can get into a lab here, or talk with some professors about their research. My drug design professor sounds like he does interesting research, but I know I don't have enough of a chemistry background. I hope to find the bioengineering researchers.

First week of classes -- done

I still have no idea which module to drop. I also have no idea whether I want to take Data Analysis here in Leeds or at home. I was just told I could get credit for it, but to be careful because the one here has more content, but less math. I looked at the one here, and it's basically all math.

Dilemma. What to drop? I'm so bad at decision making.

I just looked up an animal shelter because I was missing my cat and playing with animals, and the Yorkshire Animal Shelter is in Leeds, but pretty far away. It's farther than Bodington Hall, so it'd be expensive for me to go bus-wise. I don't even know if a bus is available. It'd be interesting to do some part-time volunteering at a shelter here though. If only it was closer!! I feel like my Hall is close enough to different places to be annoying -- too close to warrant buying a bus pass, but too far to walk comfortably to other places.

Today was a sunny day, and it was great. My friend bought me 2 mini owls for my room, and they are ADORABLE. I think my reputation as the crazy owl lady could easily be managed here, but I shall try to avoid it. The sad thing is the more owls I get here, the more I carry home. I can't leave them here.

I did my first round of laundry today in a dorm laundromat. It was odd. I should've cleaned off one pair of my jeans before putting them in the washer, but didn't, so I ended up scrubbing them myself for awhile afterwards. Yay me.

Orchestra in my hall is canceled this semester, but I'm thinking of joining the jazz band here if they'll let me. The only problem is that they rehearse at 6pm on Mondays, and I have a class that ends at 6, so that doesn't really work well for me. Yet this might be my only chance of doing a jazz band.

On the bright side, I have no class on Fridays for now, and I go to Liverpool on Saturday! :D

First day of classes -- DONE

So, my Cancer Biology course doesn't start until 6 weeks in, and then has about 2-3 hours of lecture a day. Until then though, my schedule is really tame. Today I had my guitar class, my data analysis class, and intro to genetics.

One small dilemma -- since I dropped and added a class, the department is now realizing that I have 70 credits worth of modules, and they want me to drop something so I have 60. This is so silly -- you can't take 50, you can't take 70. You have to have 60. Yet, before I did any changing to my schedule, my department had originally given me 70.

Why do I have to drop a class???

I have no idea what to drop. The only options I really have is to drop my guitar class, intro to drug design, or cancer biology. I won't get UIUC credit for intro to drug design or guitar most likely, but can for cancer biology. However, cancer biology has the craziest schedule in the world and it was actually a pain to arrange. Guitar class was awesome today, and although I might not get credit for intro to drug design, it's relevant to my major. ...But I don't technically need any of those 3 classes.

No way I'm dropping history, because I just spent a week trying to get that department to let me in. I'd be terrified to ask them to let me out, plus, I really think that course will be interesting.

I guess, no matter what, I'd get credit for these classes -- just for taking them. I won't get a choice to take intro to drug design or guitar over here, but there is cancer biology. I'm not sure if I'd have time to take cancer biology though.

Right now, my plan is to hope they'll let me take 70, or to ask to audit Cancer Biology. I want it to show that I attended those lectures...

What to do?

On a random note, I love my guitar class so far, although it's weird to get to my lecture theatre. The secretary has to buzz everyone in, because only music majors have access to the building. However, the secretary isn't the most pleasant person in the world. My data analysis professor kind of frightens me, but overall it doesn't seem too bad. No one really seems to talk to each other, unless they really know each other. Kind of awkward. My genetics class involved material I've seen before, but the professor seems like a lot of fun. I really like him.

Oooh... classes soon!

This weekend was a lot of fun. I woke up completely well rested today, and I got to see a lot of friends yesterday and today.

Saturday consisted of going to a cemetery and a medical museum, which was HUGE and fun and kind of creepy. (The creepy part was this one section where you have to walk through this dimly lit area to see all of these mannequins in pain, sick, or just in the area where they got sick, etc.) Overall, it was my kind of museum and I learned a lot. We spent about 3 hours there. This is a good sign, because my history class is basically going to be like the museum. With more details, of course.

The cemetery right across the street was really interesting. We actually didn't plan on going there, but we arrived at the museum too early. Some of the gravestones have been in there for a long time. I wish I could write more eloquently about walking through there, but I don't think I can. Walking through there itself was its own history lesson and makes you think more about your own mortality. Also, it was weird walking through there in the winter and seeing the bright green grass, plus all of the stones that the trees have grown around.

Afterwards, we headed down to Headingly, which is an area of Leeds filled with small stores, a lot being charity shops. So, I was able to get a "new" bag for 2 GBP, which has a lot of pockets and is big enough for my books. Very pleased with that purchase. I also got a light jacket for 7.50 GBP since sometimes my peacoat is waaaay too warm. The buildings here tend to be really warm (in my opinion). I just need to find some nice-looking everyday shoes. I do have my gym shoes, but since it's muddy, I prefer to not wear them because I don't want to ruin my gym shoes because they're for the gym.

Oxfam has a few stores, which I was interested to see. We didn't go in them though, because my friend told me they were more expensive than the others. However, someone living on my floor told me that the secondhand bookstore down there sometimes carries cheap textbooks, so I might wander down there sometime soon.

Sadly, to travel to Headingly and around Leeds by bus is kind of expensive. I typically pay around 1.70 GBP to get around. However, if I know ahead of time that I'll take the bus a few times in that day, I'll get a day pass which is 3.20 GBP. If it's nice though, I prefer to walk, because twice the bus drivers have completely skipped over my bus stop (and yes, I did ring the bell). Also, it's funny, because despite a Saturday's schedule including times until 3am in the morning, a day pass actually stops being valid at midnight. It would make more sense to me if they put the midnight to 3am times under Sunday.

Visiting my friends at Bodington Hall will be tough because it's so far away. :(

I went ice skating today, and the ice rink was really crowded. It was a lot of fun though, but waay more expensive than skating at home. Afterwards, we went to a Chinese buffet, which gave me my first real big pang of homesickness. I've been able to avoid it most of the time because everything I'm doing is different, plus I'm really busy or tired. Eating familiar food though that I'd normally get with my family without my family was sad. Hopefully, when tomorrow hits with my classes, I'll be able to get into more of a groove.

Also, it's funny, the buffet wouldn't serve us tap water, and one of the British guys with us told us that to deny us that water when we ask for it is actually illegal, but we didn't push it.

One of my classes, Cancer Biology, actually doesn't start until week 20, and this is week 14. So, until then, my schedule is pretty tame. My first class tomorrow is at 1pm. However, when Cancer Bio does start, it'll be incredibly weird. That class is not consistent with time or location at all. If I have a two hour block of time for that class, each hour is in a different lecture theatre. I'm going to talk to my department about that class tomorrow too, because for 2 weeks it actually conflicts with one of my other lectures. It's so weird!

:D I have my genetics class with someone on my floor! I can't believe that happened, but I'm really happy about it!

Sorry if my entries are so scatterbrained. Typically I'm tired, and I've said all of this before, so I don't feel any real motivation to make these organized.

Rain

It rained a lot today. My feet got very wet. Why did I choose to leave my rainboots at home? I got very, very wet. At least I did have an umbrella!

I decided to take the history course, and kind of had a stare-down with the person in the office. They said they could get me in the lecture, but not in the tutorial I needed. After trekking through the rain, going back and forth across campus to find the right form, her suggestion for finding something else after I got OFF the waiting list was not what I wanted to hear. So, she put me in the section (thankyouthankyou), but of course I had to go to my mandatory meeting which lasted until after 5pm, and the course I needed to drop could not be dropped today because the department decided to be closed today. (Why?)

I did get my student ID today though, which was exciting. I couldn't get it earlier this week because I needed my passport.

And now I'm waiting for my hair to dry before I go to bed for a fun-filled weekend with my friends. Most of the girls in my part of the hall have gone home, but I finally get to see my friends who've been here for the year. Medical museum + charity shopping tomorrow. Actually, starting in about 8 hours from now. I should probably get some sleep.

On a side note, the shower on my floor is actually nice. I did not expect that. I've been going down a floor to use the showers, because the one on my floor is just a bathroom with a curtained off showering area, and the ones below are actual shower stalls.

Trying

So.

It's been an interesting week so far. I've moved into my residence hall, and apparently the majority of students here live in halls their 1st year, but then find somewhere else afterwards. So, despite being one of the oldest here (I'm guessing), I feel very, very, very young. I get lost, and need people to show me how things work. It doesn't help that this is my first dorm experience. The good thing is that there are only about 10 girls in my area of Devonshire Hall, and so it's easier for me to meet all of them.

Trying to find modules have been a disaster. I had to drop Medieval Magic because it conflicted with Data Analysis, which is a course I can possibly get BioE credit for. I then tried to add some history and classics courses, and got rejected from all of them because the courses were full. Apparently the ones I keep signing up for are popular with international students, so they fill up quickly. A suggestion from other students and a Leeds student who gave my arrival briefing: take Traditional Alcoholic Beverages. After spending all day getting lost and trekking around campus, I located the Food Science department and they added me.

The most frustrating part of all of this is that I have to go to the department offices in person, and they're all open and closed at different times. Twice the office was supposed to be open, but no one was there. Plus, I don't know my way around campus, so running up and down stairs and hills (there's elevation here!!) and asking a lot of people where to go... little wonder why I caved for the alcohol class.

I know that sounds like a fun class for some, but it doesn't really sound like my kind of thing. If I do get my history class, I'll be at 70 credits, but I'm supposed to have 60. This is so confusing. You have to have 60, and you're not allowed to go below, and the discourage going above.

My choices:

http://webprod1.leeds.ac.uk/banner/dynmodules.asp?Y=200910&M=FOOD-1131

http://webprod1.leeds.ac.uk/banner/dynmodules.asp?Y=200910&M=HIST-2220

I wonder if I could get credit for the history course.

I feel uncomfortable walking back to my hall in the dark, and it gets WAY dark starting around 5pm. It's so strange. I'm debating getting a bus pass, but it's super expensive... but the park I have to walk by is apparently known for crime according to another international student.

On a side note, I've met a lot of Australian students, as well as students from Penn State, Wisconsin, and California.

A flu shot = flu jab. I'm pretty sure the posters for the swine flu here, which features a guy mid-sneeze with stuff flying everywhere, is the sarcastic doctor from Scrubs.

Battling with Blogger

Sorry if my posts are weird with fonts and size. I don't know what I did. I think I'm too tired to figure this out. Also, I know a lot of you are reading almost the exact same thing I wrote in an email -- it's just difficult for me to tell people the same thing in different ways. If you want a more interesting tale, just Skype call me.

Also, apparently switching the time setting meant switching the time for all of my previous posts. If you know how to fix that, please let me know.

Day 3 (First day of Orientation)

Well, I haven't actually gone to Orientation yet. Today's a pretty easy day, and I don't have to be there until 11am. I think I'll be done for lunch. Hopefully I can pick up another welcome packet, because I already lost mine. Tomorrow's the biggest day for Orientation, including my department's one, which will be good. They told us today was easy because the majority of the international students come today.

So far all of the girls in my hall have been really nice and helpful, but I've noticed that in the dining hall the people tend to stick together, so it's been hard for me to break into different conversations. Hopefully it'll get better. Here I have breakfast (8-9am) and dinner (5:15-6:30pm), and I think waking up for breakfast might kill me. People think I'm still jet lagged, but I think I'm over it already -- but trying to get used to waking up early. On top of that, I always feel incredibly awkward trying to make new friends, and at home if you break into a middle of a conversation in the dining hall, it didn't seem terribly weird. Here, I've already been told that to just stick your hand out and go, "Hi, I'm Jo," right at the beginning is already being more forward than they're used to. So I've toned down a bit, and hope that making friends will just come along with me being too forward or rude.

One good thing about Leeds -- 8am classes might be nonexistent, and 9am classes are rare. When I mentioned that I usually attended classes from 8am-5pm with a couple hour breaks where I did research, people were shocked, and thought I might find the pace relaxing here.

I think I'll take a nap now (if I can) before Orientation.