Alright this is going to be short and sweet.
My parents are coming in about 2 hours and then we're heading down to London on Monday. After they leave from there I'm off traveling for about 3 weeks. Will have updates from the road.
-Dreads
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
What Goes Down Must Come Up...
So I sit here, eating my delicious meal of rosemary and thyme crusted lamb chops with steamed broccoli and a spinach salad, sipping on a litre of milk, and I am so very content. I had a great practice tonight with the rugby team, and we even finished off with a little bit of football (the European version) at the the end.
So this past week hasn't been anything incredibly significant, though we did find a new spot to go out on Thursday nights. There is this really sweet bar in town called the Friary which is an old church that they converted into a bar; very cool. The inside is huge and from the outside it still looks like a house of God, but now it's just a house for the party Gods! Anyway, they have pints of Carlsburg (roughly equivalent to Bud Light back in the States) for only a pound! It's a pub too, which is a nice change from all the clubs and dancing we're used to.
So, that aside this past Saturday was Fylde's Gallon Challenge. Here's how it works: you pay your 20 pounds and get a Gallon Challenge t-shirt, a free bus/entry into Sugarhouse (one of the local clubs in town), and your 8 pints. The rules are simple: you have to finish your 8 pints, in any order, and not throw up for an hour afterward. The pints were Guinness, Strongbow (a cider), Carlsburg, and 5 other assorted ales, most of which were bitter and gross. Every time you go to the bar to get a pint the bartender would sign off on a slip of paper for the pint you got. Not sure how long it took me to finish but I was the 15th done out of 130 participants!
Of course I thought it a good idea to keep drinking after that, and the note I left in my phone says I drank 6 more pints, putting me at a grand total of 14 for the night (though I'm not sure how accurate that number really is). To make a long story short, I was pretty shot after this point and the rest of my night included taking a bus, 2 cabs, making it to Sugarhouse for less than 10 minutes, throwing up 3 times (none of which were in a bathroom or inside a building) and wandering around the outskirts of Lancaster trying to find town for close to an hour. Needless to say it was an amazing night, though the next morning was not so awesome.
I'm actually being assigned some work now, and it's strange to have an assignment due and to actually have to make myself sit down and do work. Feel sorry for me, very very sorry. Not sure about any travel plans between now and Easter, I have to save up money to make it through those couple of weeks, and plus I do have some work coming up. Hope all is well back home, and for those of you who haven't been in touch, get at me on Facebook or through e-mail and give me some updates!
Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll, and Love,
Dreads
(I don't have any pictures from the Gallon Challenge, but maybe it's better that way...)
So this past week hasn't been anything incredibly significant, though we did find a new spot to go out on Thursday nights. There is this really sweet bar in town called the Friary which is an old church that they converted into a bar; very cool. The inside is huge and from the outside it still looks like a house of God, but now it's just a house for the party Gods! Anyway, they have pints of Carlsburg (roughly equivalent to Bud Light back in the States) for only a pound! It's a pub too, which is a nice change from all the clubs and dancing we're used to.
So, that aside this past Saturday was Fylde's Gallon Challenge. Here's how it works: you pay your 20 pounds and get a Gallon Challenge t-shirt, a free bus/entry into Sugarhouse (one of the local clubs in town), and your 8 pints. The rules are simple: you have to finish your 8 pints, in any order, and not throw up for an hour afterward. The pints were Guinness, Strongbow (a cider), Carlsburg, and 5 other assorted ales, most of which were bitter and gross. Every time you go to the bar to get a pint the bartender would sign off on a slip of paper for the pint you got. Not sure how long it took me to finish but I was the 15th done out of 130 participants!
Of course I thought it a good idea to keep drinking after that, and the note I left in my phone says I drank 6 more pints, putting me at a grand total of 14 for the night (though I'm not sure how accurate that number really is). To make a long story short, I was pretty shot after this point and the rest of my night included taking a bus, 2 cabs, making it to Sugarhouse for less than 10 minutes, throwing up 3 times (none of which were in a bathroom or inside a building) and wandering around the outskirts of Lancaster trying to find town for close to an hour. Needless to say it was an amazing night, though the next morning was not so awesome.
I'm actually being assigned some work now, and it's strange to have an assignment due and to actually have to make myself sit down and do work. Feel sorry for me, very very sorry. Not sure about any travel plans between now and Easter, I have to save up money to make it through those couple of weeks, and plus I do have some work coming up. Hope all is well back home, and for those of you who haven't been in touch, get at me on Facebook or through e-mail and give me some updates!
Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll, and Love,
Dreads
(I don't have any pictures from the Gallon Challenge, but maybe it's better that way...)
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Goodbyes and Hellos
I love making up random titles. It does actually have something to do with the post, but you'll have to read on to find out...
So after coming back from Amsterdam Jeremy wasn't feeling so hot and was still really sick. He went to the health center again and all they did was prescribe him another antibiotic and tell him to get better. Well he talked to his parents and doctor from home and decided to go to town to a real doctor. Anyway, he was referred to a throat, nose, and ear specialist who ran some tests etc. and found out that he had a perforated eardrum, a partially perforated eardrum, a sinus infection, and blocked ear canals because the fluid couldn't drain. Though it was really not okay, it was kinda funny because his left ear was deaf and his right only had partial hearing (both are temporary) so we'd have to shout to have him comprehend anything. We could sit in a room and talk normally and he was completely ignorant to what was going on; it kinda felt like we were working with a "special" kid.
Anyway, his parents made the executive decision to bring him home, at least temporarily, so that he could get real care. Rachel and I went down with him the night before and stayed at the hotel with him because he was kinda worthless by himself. He had to ask "what" about 5 times before people spoke loud enough, and we had to get him up in the morning because he would have slept right through his alarm. It was weird saying goodbye to him at the airport, because he had only been around for like a month and a half. He was one of our good friends here, and it sucks that he had to go home unwillingly under such shitty circumstances. At home his doctor added mono to his diagnosis; good job health center at keeping your students in top form!
This past weekend I went to visit Molly (who's in Dublin) with Charlie. I trained up to Edinburgh and Charlie and I hung out in the city for a bit and got some dinner. He left his brand new Patagonia raincoat on the bus, and when he sprinted back to get it (literally like 3 minutes later) it was gone; he fumed about it the whole weekend.
We caught a 10:30 flight and had landed in Dublin within an hour, hopped a bus and were standing outside Molly's dorm. She has the sickest setup EVER. It's a top floor apartment right on Trinity's campus, and they have 2 floors to themselves. The first floor is bedrooms and bathrooms (Molly's supposed to be in a double, but her roommate hasn't shown up all year so she's being charged for a double [pretty cheap] but has a massive room all to herself, as well as 2 closets, 2 desks, and 2 beds). The second floor is even higher up (naturally) and has a sweet view of the city as well as a nice big room which serves as a common room and kitchen. Add to this that all her roommates are wicked nice and from all over, and she has an amazing situation.
We pretty much crashed right when we got there, and after oversleeping the next day Charlie and I took to the city after fueling up at Gruel (where we missed the legendary breakfast!). Molly had to work on a paper, so Charlie and I bummed around to some museums, a photo gallery, some parks, and stopped in at the BC House to say hi and use their internet. The nice thing about Dublin is that pretty much all the museums are free! (though everything else is a bit more expensive) We had a lot fun walking around and it was awesome to catch up with Charlie and just fucking around with him. Homemade chicken parm with Molly that night was excellent; getting kicked out of the common room by the resident police people for having a "party", aka 12 people in a big room drinking casually. We rocked out at some exclusive club that Danny (Molly's Irish boyfriend) got us into for free, but it was kinda all older people (though there were a few cougars around, rarrrr). I had my first Guinness in Ireland and it tastes way better there (probably because it's made like 5 minutes away).
Saturday Molly had a tryout so Charlie and I wandered again, going to some cathedrals and the Modern Art Museum. I have a issue: modern art IS NOT ART! The stuff we saw was just like colored blocks up on a wall, or random ass movies. The dumbest thing was this shoe that spun and sprinkles were pushed around it by a rod that hung from the ceiling.... I was kinda pissed actually because people make money on this shit, ugh. We went to a sweet pub called the Ginger Man (witty, redheads, witty) and had a few pints before I headed back early because I had to get up at 7 am to catch my flight.
Getting up that early (after a 3 am wakeup when Cahrlie and Molly came home) sucked, and the whole day I was exhausted. I did get to see a contortionist get out of being fully chained up in Edinburgh, but didn't end up getting home until like 7. It was an awesome weekend, great to see friends from BC, and to get away from school for a bit. Spring break is only like 3 weeks away, and I'm pumped to get out and travel, and see Claire, Zukes, and hopefully Mike, Gabby, and Ann along the way.
Bless your hearts,
Dreads
So after coming back from Amsterdam Jeremy wasn't feeling so hot and was still really sick. He went to the health center again and all they did was prescribe him another antibiotic and tell him to get better. Well he talked to his parents and doctor from home and decided to go to town to a real doctor. Anyway, he was referred to a throat, nose, and ear specialist who ran some tests etc. and found out that he had a perforated eardrum, a partially perforated eardrum, a sinus infection, and blocked ear canals because the fluid couldn't drain. Though it was really not okay, it was kinda funny because his left ear was deaf and his right only had partial hearing (both are temporary) so we'd have to shout to have him comprehend anything. We could sit in a room and talk normally and he was completely ignorant to what was going on; it kinda felt like we were working with a "special" kid.
Anyway, his parents made the executive decision to bring him home, at least temporarily, so that he could get real care. Rachel and I went down with him the night before and stayed at the hotel with him because he was kinda worthless by himself. He had to ask "what" about 5 times before people spoke loud enough, and we had to get him up in the morning because he would have slept right through his alarm. It was weird saying goodbye to him at the airport, because he had only been around for like a month and a half. He was one of our good friends here, and it sucks that he had to go home unwillingly under such shitty circumstances. At home his doctor added mono to his diagnosis; good job health center at keeping your students in top form!
This past weekend I went to visit Molly (who's in Dublin) with Charlie. I trained up to Edinburgh and Charlie and I hung out in the city for a bit and got some dinner. He left his brand new Patagonia raincoat on the bus, and when he sprinted back to get it (literally like 3 minutes later) it was gone; he fumed about it the whole weekend.
We caught a 10:30 flight and had landed in Dublin within an hour, hopped a bus and were standing outside Molly's dorm. She has the sickest setup EVER. It's a top floor apartment right on Trinity's campus, and they have 2 floors to themselves. The first floor is bedrooms and bathrooms (Molly's supposed to be in a double, but her roommate hasn't shown up all year so she's being charged for a double [pretty cheap] but has a massive room all to herself, as well as 2 closets, 2 desks, and 2 beds). The second floor is even higher up (naturally) and has a sweet view of the city as well as a nice big room which serves as a common room and kitchen. Add to this that all her roommates are wicked nice and from all over, and she has an amazing situation.
We pretty much crashed right when we got there, and after oversleeping the next day Charlie and I took to the city after fueling up at Gruel (where we missed the legendary breakfast!). Molly had to work on a paper, so Charlie and I bummed around to some museums, a photo gallery, some parks, and stopped in at the BC House to say hi and use their internet. The nice thing about Dublin is that pretty much all the museums are free! (though everything else is a bit more expensive) We had a lot fun walking around and it was awesome to catch up with Charlie and just fucking around with him. Homemade chicken parm with Molly that night was excellent; getting kicked out of the common room by the resident police people for having a "party", aka 12 people in a big room drinking casually. We rocked out at some exclusive club that Danny (Molly's Irish boyfriend) got us into for free, but it was kinda all older people (though there were a few cougars around, rarrrr). I had my first Guinness in Ireland and it tastes way better there (probably because it's made like 5 minutes away).
Saturday Molly had a tryout so Charlie and I wandered again, going to some cathedrals and the Modern Art Museum. I have a issue: modern art IS NOT ART! The stuff we saw was just like colored blocks up on a wall, or random ass movies. The dumbest thing was this shoe that spun and sprinkles were pushed around it by a rod that hung from the ceiling.... I was kinda pissed actually because people make money on this shit, ugh. We went to a sweet pub called the Ginger Man (witty, redheads, witty) and had a few pints before I headed back early because I had to get up at 7 am to catch my flight.
Getting up that early (after a 3 am wakeup when Cahrlie and Molly came home) sucked, and the whole day I was exhausted. I did get to see a contortionist get out of being fully chained up in Edinburgh, but didn't end up getting home until like 7. It was an awesome weekend, great to see friends from BC, and to get away from school for a bit. Spring break is only like 3 weeks away, and I'm pumped to get out and travel, and see Claire, Zukes, and hopefully Mike, Gabby, and Ann along the way.
Bless your hearts,
Dreads
Friday, February 13, 2009
I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack
Alright you blog-reading bastards, I'M BACK!
It's been a little bit too long since my last post, so I'm here to relive some of my life here in England with you.
So, the Amsterdam trip was a success and everyone came back alive though we had a few casualties (only 2 of them are true, try to figure out which one is false...):
+our friend Rachel went into the weekend being sick and got worse while we were there; Sunday's trek back home was miserable for her
+Jeremy had some "coffee shop special" and got really messed up and I had to bring him home because he was kinda tripping balls and didn't know where he was and was freaking out
+I got herpes from a prostitute, but the doctor here at school told me that with a medicated cream I could keep outbreaks away and therefore no one ever has to know
We had to cram 7 of us into 2 hotel rooms on Thursday night because we are cheap college kids and cannot afford one bed per person. The 4 boys took one room and I was lucky enough to get a bed while Mark and Jim slept on the floor, and the girls were resourceful and cute and put their 2 beds together and the 3 of them slept on them. Our flight was at 6:15 and we had to get up at 3:45 to get breakfast and get to the airport in enough time to make our flight; it was absolute hell waking up that early. Originally we planned to pull an all nighter, but at about 1:30 we were all crashing and went to bed, getting a grand total of 2 hours and fifteen minutes of sleep...
The flight was quick, especially since we were all asleep, and we landed, took a train, and had checked in to "Bob's Hostel" in no time. Friday we just explored the city a bit, poked around Dam Square and got pigeons to fly up and chill on our arms, and then went to the Van Gogh museum for a look around. It was kinda interesting, but the 12.50 euro entrance fee was a bit steep for my low interest in art. Afterward we went to a "coffee shop" and some of the group indulged in some of Amsterdam's best "coffee", though like I mentioned, Jeremy got a little too much of it.
Later on we explored the Red Light District which is really kinda bizarre, but not as crazy as some people might think because everything is so well regulated. It is weird to see windows of dancing women looking to get paid for sex, a porn shop, live sex shows, and a small restaurant all right next to each other. (Though I will admit some of the girls were kinda hot. That doesn't make me a bad person, right?)
Saturday brought on the Ann Frank House (which was amazing) and the Heineken Brewery (named the "Heineken Experience") which was also way cool. We ended up going out that night to a club, but that's kinda another story for another day...
Sunday was a long trip back home (about 8 hours in total) and it was weird to be calling Lancaster "home" after all of it, but I guess I've been here and moved in long enough that it does feel like home. Still nothing to report in terms of British hotties, but myself and my group of guy friends are working on it; something's gonna happen at some point, I hope.
But in all seriousness their "rules" here are way different back home. They don't grind here and find it kind of ludicrous, and you first have to make your move on a girl while she's at the bar because you have to talk to her for a while before you can even dance with her.
The steps are as follows:
1) Start talking to a girl, and if she converses you have a foot in the door
2) Keep talking to her and maybe touch her forearm or hand, if she touches you back you can move on to step 3
3) Maybe try touching her back or something as you lean in to hear what she's saying; again if she reciprocates you can move on
4) Ask her out to dance and then dance with her (note: "dancing" usually doesn't involve any physical contact and resembles a middle school dance, also they usually play a lot of techno, so be prepared to not know any of the songs [it all sounds like 1 long song anyway], but anything you do will probably look cool)
5) If a girl is dancing with a boy that means she's kinda "his" for the night, and if she goes and dances with someone else it's seen as kinda trashy; odd odd odd.
So anyway, weird. This weekend we're just chilling here and having a Beer Olympics on Saturday afternoon and next weekend I'm going with Charlie to visit Molly in Dublin, woooooooo.
Hope everyone back home or abroad is doing well and living it up; there's only so many more weeks we'll be here so do it up dirty.
Peace and Love,
Dreads
It's been a little bit too long since my last post, so I'm here to relive some of my life here in England with you.
So, the Amsterdam trip was a success and everyone came back alive though we had a few casualties (only 2 of them are true, try to figure out which one is false...):
+our friend Rachel went into the weekend being sick and got worse while we were there; Sunday's trek back home was miserable for her
+Jeremy had some "coffee shop special" and got really messed up and I had to bring him home because he was kinda tripping balls and didn't know where he was and was freaking out
+I got herpes from a prostitute, but the doctor here at school told me that with a medicated cream I could keep outbreaks away and therefore no one ever has to know
We had to cram 7 of us into 2 hotel rooms on Thursday night because we are cheap college kids and cannot afford one bed per person. The 4 boys took one room and I was lucky enough to get a bed while Mark and Jim slept on the floor, and the girls were resourceful and cute and put their 2 beds together and the 3 of them slept on them. Our flight was at 6:15 and we had to get up at 3:45 to get breakfast and get to the airport in enough time to make our flight; it was absolute hell waking up that early. Originally we planned to pull an all nighter, but at about 1:30 we were all crashing and went to bed, getting a grand total of 2 hours and fifteen minutes of sleep...
The flight was quick, especially since we were all asleep, and we landed, took a train, and had checked in to "Bob's Hostel" in no time. Friday we just explored the city a bit, poked around Dam Square and got pigeons to fly up and chill on our arms, and then went to the Van Gogh museum for a look around. It was kinda interesting, but the 12.50 euro entrance fee was a bit steep for my low interest in art. Afterward we went to a "coffee shop" and some of the group indulged in some of Amsterdam's best "coffee", though like I mentioned, Jeremy got a little too much of it.
Later on we explored the Red Light District which is really kinda bizarre, but not as crazy as some people might think because everything is so well regulated. It is weird to see windows of dancing women looking to get paid for sex, a porn shop, live sex shows, and a small restaurant all right next to each other. (Though I will admit some of the girls were kinda hot. That doesn't make me a bad person, right?)
Saturday brought on the Ann Frank House (which was amazing) and the Heineken Brewery (named the "Heineken Experience") which was also way cool. We ended up going out that night to a club, but that's kinda another story for another day...
Sunday was a long trip back home (about 8 hours in total) and it was weird to be calling Lancaster "home" after all of it, but I guess I've been here and moved in long enough that it does feel like home. Still nothing to report in terms of British hotties, but myself and my group of guy friends are working on it; something's gonna happen at some point, I hope.
But in all seriousness their "rules" here are way different back home. They don't grind here and find it kind of ludicrous, and you first have to make your move on a girl while she's at the bar because you have to talk to her for a while before you can even dance with her.
The steps are as follows:
1) Start talking to a girl, and if she converses you have a foot in the door
2) Keep talking to her and maybe touch her forearm or hand, if she touches you back you can move on to step 3
3) Maybe try touching her back or something as you lean in to hear what she's saying; again if she reciprocates you can move on
4) Ask her out to dance and then dance with her (note: "dancing" usually doesn't involve any physical contact and resembles a middle school dance, also they usually play a lot of techno, so be prepared to not know any of the songs [it all sounds like 1 long song anyway], but anything you do will probably look cool)
5) If a girl is dancing with a boy that means she's kinda "his" for the night, and if she goes and dances with someone else it's seen as kinda trashy; odd odd odd.
So anyway, weird. This weekend we're just chilling here and having a Beer Olympics on Saturday afternoon and next weekend I'm going with Charlie to visit Molly in Dublin, woooooooo.
Hope everyone back home or abroad is doing well and living it up; there's only so many more weeks we'll be here so do it up dirty.
Peace and Love,
Dreads
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
I'm still here
Still alive, don't worry.
It's 1:30 am so I'm just going to make this short and sweet. Things here have been flying by and today it's been a whole month since I've been here. I kinda feel like I haven't accomplished much, but a lot of it has been settling in, getting over being sick etc. I have my second rugby match tomorrow and I am playing on the Seconds team (which hopefully won't be as brutal as the thirds team). They don't have a coach and things are a bit unorganized to say the least as we are supposed to have 3 practices a week but usually end up having a team run and maybe a walk-through.
Thursday night a big group of us leaves to Liverpool, then we fly out to Amsterdam at 6 am on Friday for the weekend. I'm pumped to go explore and get away from Lancaster for a bit, and to see Kerrianne and Claire who will meet us there! I'm also starting to plan out my month off at spring break with one of the kids here, and if all works out it's going to be an insane (and awesome) month of hitting spots all over Europe; I will for sure be broke afterward.
Might come back with another post soon, but I'm never really in my room or around my dorm. Been keeping up with all ya'lls journals, good stuff and keep the updates coming!
Keep it classy America (and Europe)
-Dreads
It's 1:30 am so I'm just going to make this short and sweet. Things here have been flying by and today it's been a whole month since I've been here. I kinda feel like I haven't accomplished much, but a lot of it has been settling in, getting over being sick etc. I have my second rugby match tomorrow and I am playing on the Seconds team (which hopefully won't be as brutal as the thirds team). They don't have a coach and things are a bit unorganized to say the least as we are supposed to have 3 practices a week but usually end up having a team run and maybe a walk-through.
Thursday night a big group of us leaves to Liverpool, then we fly out to Amsterdam at 6 am on Friday for the weekend. I'm pumped to go explore and get away from Lancaster for a bit, and to see Kerrianne and Claire who will meet us there! I'm also starting to plan out my month off at spring break with one of the kids here, and if all works out it's going to be an insane (and awesome) month of hitting spots all over Europe; I will for sure be broke afterward.
Might come back with another post soon, but I'm never really in my room or around my dorm. Been keeping up with all ya'lls journals, good stuff and keep the updates coming!
Keep it classy America (and Europe)
-Dreads
Monday, January 26, 2009
Get PHYSICAL (And the Twisted Web of Chances)
So last Friday me and some of the boys decided to go to cricket practice. None of us except Darcy the Australian had ever seen or played it, and we were ready to be rocked; at least there were a bunch of us so it wasn't going to be too bad.
Well it was very interesting to say the least. To pitch, or "bowl", you have to keep your arm straight and windmill the ball down the pitch, bouncing it in front of the batter and trying to knock over these three poles ("stumps") behind the batter. It sounds waaaaay easier than it actually is, and all of us tried to gun the ball down towards the batter like a baseball throw. Batting was just as interesting as you get geared up with hockey-goalie-esque shin pads, basically lacrosse gloves, a helmet and a wide blunt bat. I thought it would kind of be like baseball and tennis/squash put together, but I was sorely mistaken. It was really hard and we all looked like fools trying to do it. It was fun enough that I'm going to go back this week for the weekly practice and learn about it some more.
We got talking to the captain of the team, and found out that he plays rugby. He got really excited when he found out we played, and told us there was a team run later that night. We went to the run, which was basically a sprint around campus with some hill intervals and pushups and situps thrown in. Still being sick I was barely holding on the whole time, but made it through without embarrassing myself. That night we got invited to go to watch rugby with some of the guys at a bar in town the next day. I decided to go, and had to go solo because all my friends had stuff to do. We ended up watching the game at one of the players' flats, and I got invited to play in the Third's Team game the next day.
The game was about an hour and half away and we got smoked. I mean, S-M-O-K-E-D. Like 80-something to nothing smoked. The other team was pretty good, but the Thirds Team was just really unorganized and didn't seem to have much going on. I got to play the second half at fullback (which I never play) and it took a bit of time to get back into it, but I finally hit something of a groove by the end. On the bus ride back everyone warmed up a bit and I got talking with a lot of the kids on the team. They had a tradition for new players where you had to get up on the bus and tell a story and sing a song. I told our drag-queen story and sand "The General" by Dispatch. Thinking of a song and a funny story to tell is damn hard, especially since you don't want to look like a fool.
I had rugby practice tonight and moved up and practiced with the Seconds Team, where I think I'm going to play/hopefully start on Wednesday's game! It feels good to finally get out and meet some Brits and finally do something athletic for the first time. We're going to a Liverpool football (soccer) match on Wednesday, but I'm missing the "300 Social" for the rugby team. They all dress up like soldiers from the 300 and go around to bars and stuff, storm and yell in the streets, surround cars; crazy shit.
Not much else to report here, I'm making plans with some of the kids here to go to Amsterdam next weekend and meet up with Claire and Kerrianne there. Hopefully it'll go well; you know how hard it can be to travel with large groups of people... We'll see how it goes and that might be a determining factor in who else I travel with while I'm here.
Anywho, I see that a bunch of people are following the blog trend (just remember who was here first, ahem!; just kidding) and now Charlie, Zukes, Cesaro, and Canning all have blogs. I'm actually excited because now I can see what they're doing and see pictures too! Randomly I'm very excited about Canning's blog as it will offer a look back into the U.S. that will be nice when I need something (more) familiar. Leave some comments if you fancy on how things are going, and until next time...
Well it was very interesting to say the least. To pitch, or "bowl", you have to keep your arm straight and windmill the ball down the pitch, bouncing it in front of the batter and trying to knock over these three poles ("stumps") behind the batter. It sounds waaaaay easier than it actually is, and all of us tried to gun the ball down towards the batter like a baseball throw. Batting was just as interesting as you get geared up with hockey-goalie-esque shin pads, basically lacrosse gloves, a helmet and a wide blunt bat. I thought it would kind of be like baseball and tennis/squash put together, but I was sorely mistaken. It was really hard and we all looked like fools trying to do it. It was fun enough that I'm going to go back this week for the weekly practice and learn about it some more.
We got talking to the captain of the team, and found out that he plays rugby. He got really excited when he found out we played, and told us there was a team run later that night. We went to the run, which was basically a sprint around campus with some hill intervals and pushups and situps thrown in. Still being sick I was barely holding on the whole time, but made it through without embarrassing myself. That night we got invited to go to watch rugby with some of the guys at a bar in town the next day. I decided to go, and had to go solo because all my friends had stuff to do. We ended up watching the game at one of the players' flats, and I got invited to play in the Third's Team game the next day.
The game was about an hour and half away and we got smoked. I mean, S-M-O-K-E-D. Like 80-something to nothing smoked. The other team was pretty good, but the Thirds Team was just really unorganized and didn't seem to have much going on. I got to play the second half at fullback (which I never play) and it took a bit of time to get back into it, but I finally hit something of a groove by the end. On the bus ride back everyone warmed up a bit and I got talking with a lot of the kids on the team. They had a tradition for new players where you had to get up on the bus and tell a story and sing a song. I told our drag-queen story and sand "The General" by Dispatch. Thinking of a song and a funny story to tell is damn hard, especially since you don't want to look like a fool.
I had rugby practice tonight and moved up and practiced with the Seconds Team, where I think I'm going to play/hopefully start on Wednesday's game! It feels good to finally get out and meet some Brits and finally do something athletic for the first time. We're going to a Liverpool football (soccer) match on Wednesday, but I'm missing the "300 Social" for the rugby team. They all dress up like soldiers from the 300 and go around to bars and stuff, storm and yell in the streets, surround cars; crazy shit.
Not much else to report here, I'm making plans with some of the kids here to go to Amsterdam next weekend and meet up with Claire and Kerrianne there. Hopefully it'll go well; you know how hard it can be to travel with large groups of people... We'll see how it goes and that might be a determining factor in who else I travel with while I'm here.
Anywho, I see that a bunch of people are following the blog trend (just remember who was here first, ahem!; just kidding) and now Charlie, Zukes, Cesaro, and Canning all have blogs. I'm actually excited because now I can see what they're doing and see pictures too! Randomly I'm very excited about Canning's blog as it will offer a look back into the U.S. that will be nice when I need something (more) familiar. Leave some comments if you fancy on how things are going, and until next time...
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Today Was Glorious
So today was just all around awesome. Besides having my one shitty class, Corporate Communications, at 9 am, it was sunny, I was feeling way better, I got some work done, and I explored town a bit and got to shoot. Definitely nice to finally have a good day in a lot of senses.
It's Thursday afternoon and my weekend started at 9:50 this morning, what a tough life. I still haven't heard back from the rugby team, and I'm getting a little antsy to get out and join some sort of club or sport so I can meet some English kids.
Having Skype, being on e-mail all day, and having Facebook having definitely helped me stay connected and get over the hump of adjusting because they give me an anchor to the familiar. I don't want to start using them as a crutch though, to make everything easy and to keep me from fully exploring/expanding/experiencing the world I'm only in for a few months.
Here are some pics from today:
It's Thursday afternoon and my weekend started at 9:50 this morning, what a tough life. I still haven't heard back from the rugby team, and I'm getting a little antsy to get out and join some sort of club or sport so I can meet some English kids.
Having Skype, being on e-mail all day, and having Facebook having definitely helped me stay connected and get over the hump of adjusting because they give me an anchor to the familiar. I don't want to start using them as a crutch though, to make everything easy and to keep me from fully exploring/expanding/experiencing the world I'm only in for a few months.
Here are some pics from today:
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Damn Insurance
Quick update before I head off to bed. I've been pretty sick for the last few days and it hasn't gotten any better today. Night sweats, fever, crazy dreams, ridiculously sore throat, overall shittiness. So I went to the doctor yesterday to get some help, and found out the insurance that BC provided us doesn't work at Lancaster's health center so I'd have to pay out of pocket and then get reimbursed. Screw that; I went to the pharmacy on campus and got some throat lasengers and hoped that would cure it all.
Obviously I'd make a horrible doctor (and what kind of parent will I be?!) as I woke up this morning feeling just as awful and cursing those damn cough drops which didn't do anything. Sucked it up and went to the health center, shelled out 50 pnds! for a doctor's appointment, and found out I had been working with strep throat for the last few days. That explains a lot. Luckily I got a prescription (they are not very willing to give out antibiotics here apparently and believe in riding things out, which isn't altogether bad) and got my week's worth of penicillin which should lead me back to the glory land of good health. God, next Tuesday will be the most amazing day ever!
Went down to Fylde Bar tonight (the bar on campus that my "college" owns) to watch a bit of a football (that's right America, it's not soccer and to fit in I had to learn that quickly) and just hang out with people. Being relatively social again and knowing that I'm bound to get better now put me in a good mood, and now I've just got to finish up a little more work and then off to bed.
We got a touch of snow last night (as in it snowed for about 10 minutes w/ no accumulation) and today was a glorious day where the sun was out for about 5 of the hours I was awake. Interesting how everything is relative.
-Dreads
Obviously I'd make a horrible doctor (and what kind of parent will I be?!) as I woke up this morning feeling just as awful and cursing those damn cough drops which didn't do anything. Sucked it up and went to the health center, shelled out 50 pnds! for a doctor's appointment, and found out I had been working with strep throat for the last few days. That explains a lot. Luckily I got a prescription (they are not very willing to give out antibiotics here apparently and believe in riding things out, which isn't altogether bad) and got my week's worth of penicillin which should lead me back to the glory land of good health. God, next Tuesday will be the most amazing day ever!
Went down to Fylde Bar tonight (the bar on campus that my "college" owns) to watch a bit of a football (that's right America, it's not soccer and to fit in I had to learn that quickly) and just hang out with people. Being relatively social again and knowing that I'm bound to get better now put me in a good mood, and now I've just got to finish up a little more work and then off to bed.
We got a touch of snow last night (as in it snowed for about 10 minutes w/ no accumulation) and today was a glorious day where the sun was out for about 5 of the hours I was awake. Interesting how everything is relative.
-Dreads
Saturday, January 17, 2009
If I Were A Girllllllllll:The Story...
So, on Wednesday night this past week we were told by English kids in Bowland, where some of my international friends live, that there was a drag party on Thursday night at Hustle. Excellent. So me, Jim, Jeremy, and Mark decided that we would go to some charity shops (aka thrift shops) in town and buy woman's clothes, get all made up, get really drunk, and go rock out at the drag party.
So we went to town, I got a dominatrix-esque black dress, Mark got a black halter-top dress, Jim bought just a regular black dress, and we got Jeremy an acid-washed jean skirt and a scandalous top. We were ready to rock out as girls.
Back at Bowland we got all our makeup did up, drank a lot so that we could justify our actions and feel comfortable, and then trekked down to the bus to face the public. The bus ride was pretty awkward because obviously we were the only 4 in drag, but luckily we were rolling with about 8 girls, so it was less gay (read: not straight, just less gay).
Anyway, we got to Hustle and found out that nobody else was in drag. Nobody. Not even just like one person. No One. The DJ was dressed up, but that was it. And of course he/she made comments about us when we walked in. Wow...
It was a pretty awkward night, no lie, and going to the bathroom and peeing in a urinal while hiking my skirt up and as other people stood around brought on some pretty harsh drunk commentary. For some reason we decided it was a good idea to go to another club, and we did. However, the four of us drag-queens (as well as the girls we were with) got in free because ladies got in free. Sweet.
The next morning I woke up at 3 and didn't feel so bad considering how much I had drank the night before. This didn't last long, as I deteriorated pretty quickly and my whole body started aching, I felt like I had a fever, and my throat hurt badly. I went back to bed at around 5, woke up at 7 to get food, then went back to sleep at around 10 for the night: I was asleep WAY more hours than I was awake on Friday, ultimate dump.
This morning I woke at 1, still felt crappy but better, and managed to go to the library. I came home and went to bed, and it's now 8:10 and I'm staying in again tonight as I feel shitty still. Hopefully I can recover tomorrow too and be good to go for Monday classes/working out. This may be punishment for drinking for like 10 straight days, or my penance for dressing up like a girl and going into public. Either way, I think I've served my time, learned my lesson, and am ready to move on from this.
Hope everyone at home/abroad is fairing better health wise than I, and I'll get back at you with more updates as they arise.
Much love.
(Pictures enclosed below…)
So we went to town, I got a dominatrix-esque black dress, Mark got a black halter-top dress, Jim bought just a regular black dress, and we got Jeremy an acid-washed jean skirt and a scandalous top. We were ready to rock out as girls.
Back at Bowland we got all our makeup did up, drank a lot so that we could justify our actions and feel comfortable, and then trekked down to the bus to face the public. The bus ride was pretty awkward because obviously we were the only 4 in drag, but luckily we were rolling with about 8 girls, so it was less gay (read: not straight, just less gay).
Anyway, we got to Hustle and found out that nobody else was in drag. Nobody. Not even just like one person. No One. The DJ was dressed up, but that was it. And of course he/she made comments about us when we walked in. Wow...
It was a pretty awkward night, no lie, and going to the bathroom and peeing in a urinal while hiking my skirt up and as other people stood around brought on some pretty harsh drunk commentary. For some reason we decided it was a good idea to go to another club, and we did. However, the four of us drag-queens (as well as the girls we were with) got in free because ladies got in free. Sweet.
The next morning I woke up at 3 and didn't feel so bad considering how much I had drank the night before. This didn't last long, as I deteriorated pretty quickly and my whole body started aching, I felt like I had a fever, and my throat hurt badly. I went back to bed at around 5, woke up at 7 to get food, then went back to sleep at around 10 for the night: I was asleep WAY more hours than I was awake on Friday, ultimate dump.
This morning I woke at 1, still felt crappy but better, and managed to go to the library. I came home and went to bed, and it's now 8:10 and I'm staying in again tonight as I feel shitty still. Hopefully I can recover tomorrow too and be good to go for Monday classes/working out. This may be punishment for drinking for like 10 straight days, or my penance for dressing up like a girl and going into public. Either way, I think I've served my time, learned my lesson, and am ready to move on from this.
Hope everyone at home/abroad is fairing better health wise than I, and I'll get back at you with more updates as they arise.
Much love.
(Pictures enclosed below…)
If I Were A Girllllllllll: The Pictures...
The aftermath of our catfight
The "boys" and the "girls"
Did I mention we were classy women?
Jim is case-in-point
Mark's chest; delicious
Me, Ashley, Jeremy, Amy
Jim getting pretty
Mark and his makeup artist
Jeremy getting makeup done
The "men" who were rolling w/ us
Jeremy before...
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
So classes have been going for 2 days now, though I've only had 2 different classes, and shit's going dandy over here. I've only seen the sun twice in the last like 5 days, and it's a little depressing...
I got my first physical exercise in about 2 weeks yesterday and went running around the backroads in the country with Marissa from my hall. We were surrounded by sheep pastures, running farms, and sketchy back roads and even had to ford a small river which we ran into (almost literally).
It gets dark so damn early around here, or maybe it's just that the sky's so gray that any sun gets rejected. I don't know, but it's strange.
I'm getting a little stir crazy, and not really knowing people on my hall doesn't help things out. There's an American, a Mexican, and a British kid who are all nice, but no one else is really around/makes an effort. I love the international kids, but I want to make English friends, dammit! Anyway, I'm sure things'll pick up if/when I join the rugby team and have some formal way of meeting people again.
Until later...
I got my first physical exercise in about 2 weeks yesterday and went running around the backroads in the country with Marissa from my hall. We were surrounded by sheep pastures, running farms, and sketchy back roads and even had to ford a small river which we ran into (almost literally).
It gets dark so damn early around here, or maybe it's just that the sky's so gray that any sun gets rejected. I don't know, but it's strange.
I'm getting a little stir crazy, and not really knowing people on my hall doesn't help things out. There's an American, a Mexican, and a British kid who are all nice, but no one else is really around/makes an effort. I love the international kids, but I want to make English friends, dammit! Anyway, I'm sure things'll pick up if/when I join the rugby team and have some formal way of meeting people again.
Until later...
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Howdy all.
After class signups on Friday I found out that the Crusades class I am taking meets on Fridays. So hopefully I will be able to get out of that and switch into a Corporate Communications class that will transfer back to BC.
Friday night was wild as some Lancaster students from the international office hosted an international student party. We started off on the bar on campus and then they ushered us to 4 different clubs/bars around town to show us that whole scene. It was a wicked time and a blast to get to see just a bit of the nightlife in town. Everyone was pretty drunk by the end of it because we'd been out for like 4 hours. The last club we went to, Cuba, was a giant dance party. I had my first hookup in England later that night, but unfortunately it wasn't with a British girl; next time.
Saturday morning/day was kinda rough as the previous night's activities caught up to me and to most of my friends. I was the biggest dump ever and didn't really do anything all day, only having one meal at about 7:30. We kinda laid low for the night as everyone was in the same boat and we had an early tour of the Lake District on today's agenda.
The trip today would have been awesome had it not been raining, gloomy, overcast, and foggy for the entire trip. The Lake District has some amazing scenery and rolling hills dotted with sheep (which are spray painted various rainbow colors, I guess to act as a brand to distinguish different flocks; it's really strange). There are intricate stone walls everywhere that sit about head height and run up and down some intensely pitched hills. We stopped at a few small towns and took a boat ride, but it was crap weather for taking pictures and kinda miserable in general, haha.
Anyway, classes start tomorrow which I'm excited for but it'll certainly be a change from the last few days of having no responsibilities and being able to hang out and party. I still have only met 3 people in my hall: one was a big kinda punk-ish girl who lives next door to me and responded with short "yes", "no", "oh" answers, another was a British kid across the hall, and an American down the hall from Minnesota. I don't know where everyone is...
Keep it real,
Dreads
After class signups on Friday I found out that the Crusades class I am taking meets on Fridays. So hopefully I will be able to get out of that and switch into a Corporate Communications class that will transfer back to BC.
Friday night was wild as some Lancaster students from the international office hosted an international student party. We started off on the bar on campus and then they ushered us to 4 different clubs/bars around town to show us that whole scene. It was a wicked time and a blast to get to see just a bit of the nightlife in town. Everyone was pretty drunk by the end of it because we'd been out for like 4 hours. The last club we went to, Cuba, was a giant dance party. I had my first hookup in England later that night, but unfortunately it wasn't with a British girl; next time.
Saturday morning/day was kinda rough as the previous night's activities caught up to me and to most of my friends. I was the biggest dump ever and didn't really do anything all day, only having one meal at about 7:30. We kinda laid low for the night as everyone was in the same boat and we had an early tour of the Lake District on today's agenda.
The trip today would have been awesome had it not been raining, gloomy, overcast, and foggy for the entire trip. The Lake District has some amazing scenery and rolling hills dotted with sheep (which are spray painted various rainbow colors, I guess to act as a brand to distinguish different flocks; it's really strange). There are intricate stone walls everywhere that sit about head height and run up and down some intensely pitched hills. We stopped at a few small towns and took a boat ride, but it was crap weather for taking pictures and kinda miserable in general, haha.
Anyway, classes start tomorrow which I'm excited for but it'll certainly be a change from the last few days of having no responsibilities and being able to hang out and party. I still have only met 3 people in my hall: one was a big kinda punk-ish girl who lives next door to me and responded with short "yes", "no", "oh" answers, another was a British kid across the hall, and an American down the hall from Minnesota. I don't know where everyone is...
Keep it real,
Dreads
Friday, January 9, 2009
Room Pics
It's basically a glorified cot...not bad, but nothing great.
This is probably the smallest shower ever created. My head almost reaches the ceiling, and to spin around you have to tuck your elbows in because there's barely enough room to stand.
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