hockey, cheese cake and space...in no particular order

Well the rest of my week didn't pan out too well work wise. My laziness sort of spilled over into my school work. Oh, did I say spilled? I mean it's spilling...spilling everywhere I tell you! Plus Emily's visit this weekend didn't help although it was fun!

I took the tram to the Meadowhall interchange to get Emily on Friday. I got there kind of early so I used that as an excuse to walk around the shopping mall connected to the station. It's huge! I don't even think I saw a fraction of it and it's like black Friday every day there. Insane. Anyway, Emily calls to tell me that there's been a major accident ahead so they're delayed. Luckily I brought some homework and did get something accomplished. Also lucky that I was sitting by the entrance b/c I missed Emily's phone calls so she had to track me down when she finally arrived. Since we were at a mall, Emily wanted to look for an outfit for the club that night. Three dressing rooms later she decided just to stick with what she had which worked out fine. Already a bit behind schedule, we jumped on the tram and walked back from the university stop. Most of my house decided to go to Space (a dance club night at the Uni) that night because they were having a black light party, so Emily and I changed quick for that when we got home. The Broomhall Boys decided to come to Space as well and met up at our place before. We had a lot of people at the house and had to kick everyone out by like 11. Long story. Anyway, we got to Space and it sold out before 3 of the broomhall boys could get tickets so only 1 got in. Lucky we bought them ahead of time! It was an awesome night which ended at the broomhall house where we met up with everyone again and had some tea and noodles.

Saturday I got up way too early but couldn't help it. I ran up the hill to get baked goodies for Em and I--iced fingers and sausage pastries. We then spent most of the day at home planning our trip over break. After going back and forth we've finally settled on the south of France (Nice, Cannes, etc.). We're flying into Brussels for a night or 2 and staying with a friend then heading south for the week. It won't be swim weather but it should be moderately warm. I just hope there's sun because it's sooo gray here. We still need to figure out how we're getting from Brussels to France and where we're starting. Whatever we do, Em needs to end in Florence for her new study adventure. I might go with her to Milan for a day before I fly home. I can't decide what to do with my last 2 weeks. I might go back and explore more of the UK and write papers which are due right when I get back. Blah. We got a late lunch at a pub down the road, watched some rugby and stuffed ourselves with greasy pub food. Sat. was pretty chill and we just went to Bar One at the Uni for a couple hours later that night. After, we came home and only made it through part of a movie and a cheese cake before falling asleep.

Today Em's bus left at 14:15 so we didn't have much time to see Sheffield before I had to get her to Meadowhall. But we walked through my Uni and around downtown a bit so she could get a feel for the city. I enjoyed the walk but I think I may underestimated the weight of Em's bag and her energy level. We got to the train station and took a train instead of the tram (shorter and cheaper) to Meadowhall. We waited around in the freezing cold bus terminal for like 20 minutes. I was about to put a choke hold on some kids who kept running in front of the sliding doors and letting in a blast of cold air. They're lucky I had a candy bar to distract me. After sending her off, I hoped on the train back into city centre and started worrying I got on the wrong one. I swear we were going the wrong direction, but it pulled into the right station so I guess not. I stopped at the common room on the way home to say hi to the b-boys who reserved a table to watch the big football match (Aston Villa v. Man United). Side note: The Broomhall boys are now officially the b-boys (sounds a little more street). After warming up, I walked back home and actually did some work on my scholarship essays. US was playing Canada in hockey at the Olympics so we headed to the edge to watch the game. I left early and tried to do more writing but major writer's block has set in. I thought blogging might get the juices flowing but no luck. Even this blog is feeling a bit dry. Hopefully I'll get out of my writer's funk tomorrow and finally finish those applications!

Well, I should probably do something productive so I'm going to say goodnight and finish reading Northern Lights (aka The Golden Compass). It's my 3rd time through it so I can probably skim.

Sleep tight. Don't let the beg bugs bite!

Madness...? This is Sheffield!

This week is definitely the week for accomplishing things. Or at least it's supposed to be. I've done pretty well and have actually started working on my scholarship applications--due in about 2 weeks. Hopefully my usual procrastination won't lead to a mad rush and an expensive air mail situation. Once again, people really need to start utilizing online forms.

Today I finished up my last lecture for the week around noon. I can't believe my classes are done! Where did this week go!? It's been a seriously laid-back few days since most of my housemates are sick; I'm still trying to fight off the sniffles myself. One of the boys got food poisoning or something and had to go to the medical center on campus. There's nothing like hearing a sick roommate calling for a cab to the medical center first thing in the morning to get you out of bed.

Last night we went to the free movie showing near our house. Found out they were showing 300--not my favorite but I did get free popcorn. Then I tried to get some reading done but James Joyce's 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man' is not exactly stimulating reading.

Today I've been trying to work on reading and scholarships but am feeling completely unmotivated. Joyce's chaotic writing style is a lot like my current disjointed mind which makes reading his craziness even harder. The maintenance guys have also been running up and down the stairs all afternoon trying to fix our water issue. I think after 2.5 hours they've finally figured it out! I may even have a warm shower tomorrow! Ah the little things in life. I'm trying to decide if I want to join my housemates at Corporation tonight for another white shirt/neck tie dance party. I'm definitely going to the pre-drinks since it's at our house, as usual, and apparently the boys are unveiling a strobe light they bought. Should be interesting. Hopefully no one gets light-induced seizures.

Walking back home from campus through Broomhill, I discover a new cute shop/restaurant/cafe every day. I'm definitely going to need to explore soon...may be this weekend with Emily! Too bad the weather has been so crappy lately. I can't wait until spring break...or whatever you crazy Brits call it (yes, I'm talking to you Headford Gardens...there will be no crazy Cancun trips I'm afraid).

I learned two new British words this week! Plaster (a.k.a. Band-aid) and Trav (or chav...I can't remember). I looked both up on urbandictionary.com; the def. of chav is hilarious...although not very PC. It seems like the writer of the entry may have had a personal encounter with a chain smoking 12 year old that led to this sarcastic entry. Feel free to explore.

Cheers!

Ahhh...life

So I spent the better part of my night getting my living situation sorted for next year. My roommate back home, Jordi, is freaking out about our lease renewal b/c apparently it's due March 1. eeek. Not only that, but we have to sign an entirely new lease since one of our roommates is moving out. Such a fiasco. Poor Jordi is dealing with all this lease nonsense, security deposits, etc. while I'm off gallivanting around Europe. Sorry lady! So like a responsible friend I used my Skype coin to phone the leasing office and get things sorted out. Luckily, they're somewhat sympathetic to my distance issue and are letting me sign the lease when I get back. We thought I might have to sign all this paperwork and fax it in. People need to start updating to online forms...that all I'm saying. Or we need to have classes on how to use fax machines b/c they tend to hate me and cause unfortunate situations. Anyway, I still have to send them a letter of intent...which I did. Mission accomplished. Now to finding a 3rd flatmate. If anyone needs a place next year close to campus let me know!

Say cheese!

This past weekend in London was really fun and I especially loved seeing Emily! Friday morning I boarded the train in Sheffield and arrived around 1:30 pm. We took the train back to her place and I got the official tour of her home/classroom. They actually study in a little shed in the backyard! Cute and strange at the same time. We went off to a big outdoor food market off of a tube stop and had some great grilled cheese. I could smell the grilled cheese stand from yards away. With all that melting, wonderful cheese I'm sure you can imagine why:

The tube is great, usually, but they were doing a lot of engineering work this weekend so it was really annoying to get around. I also had a bit of a hiccup with my oyster card. I went to the counter to top it up and the woman says "Why did you spend so much money yesterday! What happened!" Surprised, I wasn't sure what to say and just looked confused. I guess I didn't properly swipe out of the tube at some point so it charged me a lot. Then she kept asking what stop I got off of at 4:30 the previous day...like I'm supposed to remember! I didn't even know where I was at that point. After getting sassed a bit by the underground lady, she did give me back some money which got me through until Sunday.

Despite London's expensive reputation, I did snag some sweet deals on some going out clothes and Irish food. I got some yummy Irish stew and soda bread on Sat. night for only 2.99! Not bad. Back to Friday night, we spent some girl time primping and getting pretty for going out. I wore my new dress and leggings as is popular here. After some wine and hanging out, we worked our way to Koko--a huge club with balconies, live music and crazy Irish people. Emily and I had a good time after splitting from the wasted group. See Emily's blog for more details.

Saturday we went to the British Museum...one of my favorite London spots. Definitely worth multiple visits. After dinner, we spent time getting ready again. I read some Harry Potter for class, giggling out loud quite often thanks to more wine. As a group we hit up the Argon House--a lounge/bar/club with a really good vibe and 2 live bands. One of the band guys went around collecting emails for their mailing list and I gave him some canvassing advice since he wasn't doing well. All those months of canvassing have to be put to use once in a while!

Sunday we met up for brunch with Rohan, ate way too much and learned about the epic book he's writing. Can't wait to read it! Then Emily and I ran, yes ran, to the 11:30 train, making it just in time. We seem to get into those situations too often when we're together. Ahhh Atlanta. Anyway, after an hour detour added on to the train ride, I made it into Sheffield around 3:30. Since I was already in the city centre, I called the broomhall boys to see if I could stop by on my way home. They were all home watching soccer, so I stopped by with croissants. We chatted for an hour or so and I left them working on plans for latter that night. Got home, freshened up, ate. I finally skyped Dad and talked to him for a bit. The broomhall boys stopped by later and finally got a tour of the house. They were coming over to pick me up b/c they decided to go out for food and the cinema. I'd already eaten so just had some delicious soup and bread at Table Table. At the cinema, we bought tickets for Book of Eli and then I was introduced to the candy grab bag wall! I was, literally, like a kid in a candy shop. You can fill your bag with whatever candies you want and it charges by weight. So awesome...I think US cinemas need to invest. The movie was interesting...well shot, but I'm not sure what the message is. It was a really nice, relaxing night overall and the perfect end to the weekend. I also finished reading Harry Potter...an added bonus.

The shower wasn't working again this morning so I had to wait until this afternoon after lecture. I'm trying to be productive today but we'll see how that goes. It's almost 6pm and all I've done is blog and wash the dishes. I hope this blog doesn't seem too rushed but I need to tear myself away and do some school work.

Cheers!

bungalows and bears

I wish I had thought of that cute title all by myself but it's actually the name of the bar we lounged at last night. I say bar, not pub, because it was very Riverwest-style with a laid-back atmosphere, comfy seating everywhere, walls littered in flyers and, of course, tons of hipsters. If you don't know what a hipster is check out this site: http://www.latfh.com/ (Please excuse the language). I'm not sure what the British equivalent would be but I'll find out. It was a really nice bar and was hosting some live gigs...my first in Sheffield! Plus I got to hang out with my housemates and the broomhill boys for a while. I opted out of going to Tuesday Club at the Uni--although I apparently missed the best night of the year for drum and base--as I had a class this morning and reading to do. It was also 8 pounds and I'm trying to save money for London this weekend.

I think I'm doing pretty good with money although I'm spending way too much on tea and coffee. But it's the little things that make me happy and I can't give up. There's nothing like listening to the hiss of the steamer and watching as the barista carefully concocts the perfect caffeinated beverage.

Today I had my Working Class Lit seminar and Modern Lecture. I'm really liking both courses although my working-class British history is fairly limited. My prof is going to recommend extra reading for the international students--great. Modern Lit, as always, is a little intimidating but the fact that my Monday (and main) professor sounds like Professor Snape from Harry Potter makes his lectures more than tolerable. To add to the whole HP thing, he teaches in a huge lecture hall inside an old gothic-like church. Very hogwarts. Today we had another guest lecturer for that course; he was amazing! Now I see the value in having different professors every week. It was a really awesome lecture about post-colonialism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness, and it made me anxious to finish reading it. It was kind of weird b/c right after that great lecture I was reading in the union and some girls came up to me with a video camera and asked if I would be willing to say a bit on what makes a great lecturer or who are some good lecturers on campus. Luckily I had the perfect response!

I trudged home to get some more reading done in my warm room. James, one of the Aussies I live with, was going grocery shopping so I decided to tag along and grab some essentials. We went to the big Tescos like 15-20 min away (walking). James decided to do a major shopping trip which made for an interesting walk back. I ended up carrying some of his bags and now my arms are about to fall off. I'm also just starting to regain circulation in my fingers.

It's snowing pretty consistently right now as the sun sets for the day. Well, I assume it's setting although it's been pretty shy lately. The weather doesn't seem to be able to decide what to do. Luckily the plant life seems impervious to frost or cold and everything is still fairly green. Even our house has a creeping blanket of spongy moss covering the moist stone work. Nature and weather just can't seem to agree on what season it is.

Tonight is ROAR! Sounds exciting...not quite sure what it is but I have a ticket. I think it's like their version of a Pep rally; it's sort of a big party for the varsity hockey game this weekend. Go school spirit! Check back later for reports on my first official Uni party.

Hasta luego!

Photos...may be

Here's Queen's College in Cambridge.

You can hire out a punting boat to take you down

the river...like in Venice.

I'm having a hard time uploading photos but I'll keep trying!

Buggin' Out

Sunday--a day of rest, relaxation, and major catch up on school work. Let's just say, it's going to be a long night...

Yesterday, however, I woke up excited for the university-sponsored day trip to Cambridge with a glorious sore throat. Grrrreat. I also overslept, finally jumped out of bed at 7 and rushed to get ready for the 8am departure of our coach bus. I desperately wanted (and probably needed) a shower but the water was ice cold. I opted for washing in the sink with burning hot water. Desperate times, as they say. Off track but, why the devil would you design a sink with 2 faucets? You either get freezing cold or scorching hot! Anywho...

By some miracle Daniella (housemate) and I made it to campus by 8 and met up with Natalie and Lilly. Our fun group of four ended up sticking together all day. I also HAD to stay with someone since I forgot my cell phone. Yes, as you may have guessed, it was a wonderful morning. I spent the 2.5 hour bus ride reading for class and watching the English country side go by. We arrived and headed out with our maps around 11 with instructions to return to the drop off point at 5:15. Time to explore!

The city is really beautiful although we were in the central, downtown area the whole day. It sort of feels like a walled-city the way its all clustered in a small area. The obvious points of interest were Cambridge's many colleges. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but there are a lot of small colleges like King's College and Pembroke College that seem to make up the larger university system. I'm assuming that the students that go there are university age although college's here also act like high schools for 16-18 year-olds, I think. The city has so much character and we were satisfied just wandering around and slipping through old doorways and into grassy courtyards. At one point we found ourselves in a cafeteria full of noisy students at long tables; it was like walking into a scene in Harry Potter! These campuses don't have very good security...just saying. We were almost tempted to eat in their cafeteria. But, alas, we decided to find the shopping center and eat at the food court--seemed cheaper. To make up for the fact that we were in a mall, I ordered a traditional English breakfast complete with eggs, bacon (really thick!), sausage, hashbrowns, and deep fried toast topped with a generous helping of baked beans. Extremely unhealthy but delicious! We then went to the very popular Primark which is an experience everyone should have when coming to the UK. I guess it's like a Walmart/H&M/Target but cheaper than all 3 and mainly clothing. My travel mates picked up some stuff for the traffic light party later that night. We spent the later half of the day visiting a really nice, and free...and warm, art museum and taking in the general splendor.


I read on the way back to Sheffield but didn't get as far as I'd hoped. We stopped at the grocery store on the way back and I picked up a big orange juice hoping it would help my impending cold. Sydnee and my other housemates were already celebrating her b-day so I made dinner and tried to stay awake. We got everyone out of the house and over to the Edge for the traffic light party around 10. I had fun dancing and eating the chocolate fountain but could tell I wasn't feeling great so headed home early.

I'm feeling much better today thanks to Sydnee's magic tea powder, sleep and a lot of liquids. I'm taking it easy and trying to finish reading but I keep finding more work to do. I've also been eating nonstop today in hopes of "feeding my cold." I need to be in great shape for London next weekend!

So as I was sitting typing this, something flew or fell on my chest and down my shirt. Wam! It looked like a massive bug so I flipped out and ran into paige's room. I was shaking my shirt trying to figure out what it was but it seemed to have disappeared. Walking back to my room I looked down and noticed a lady bug still clinging to my chest. The little bugger soon found himself flying across the room.