Days 23-29

Before I start, sorry for the long gap between posts... as I stay here longer, things get more normal and not as exciting to blog about. From now on I'll probably only update once a week unless something super exciting happens. In other news, I've been here for almost an entire month, which seems really crazy. Ok, on to the blogging...

Tuesday, February 9
Basically, as usual, Tuesday was incredibly boring. I don't do anything on Tuesdays. For instance, on this particular Tuesday, I did laundry. How very exciting.

Wednesday
I only had one class on Wednesday, and it was semi-interesting. I had read the book for the week before, so nothing was due and it was a pretty chill class. We learned more about trauma theory and talked about the end of the world. The most exciting thing that happened was that I bought a guitar for pretty cheap to play while I am here. It's not acoustic, but it's classical, and I can't really tell the difference besides the fact that some of the strings are made of a different material and I can't attach a strap to it. I have decided for now that I will not name this guitar because I have to sell it before I leave and I don't want to get too attached to it.

Thursday
Thursday was pretty busy. I started off with Crime Fiction, which was very exciting but also really disappointing. I had actually not finished reading the book (I had less than a hundred pages left) because of all my other reading, but the book was super good and I was excited to see who the murderer was. So class was going along great and she hadn't spoiled it yet... and then in the last ten minutes she says, oh, let's talk about the murderer! which was really disappointing because I never saw it coming and I would have liked to have finished the book before she gave it away... I will never not finish a book for that class again. It has officially been moved to the top of my reading priority list.

I ate lunch and did a little reading until my next class, Welsh Culture & Folklore. We talked about the Mabinogion and our papers, which are luckily not due on the same day as my other five. They are due about a month and a half earlier, which means I have to get started very, very soon. Like this weekend.

The other two classes weren't that special. We talked about colonialism and feminism in Jane Eyre in Charlotte Bronte, and then we talked about Skaldic poetry in Myth & Saga.

After class, I met up with Maggie and we hung out for a bit in the centre looking for birthday supplies for Elysse's birthday. We didn't have very much luck, but then we saw Henry on the bus back and it turned out he was going to drive to the big grocery store and offered to give us a ride. After our fun shopping trip, I came back and made delicious marshmallow fondant from scratch and then I went to bed.

Friday
On Friday, Maggie and I went back into the centre to get some decorations, etc. Then we came back to UniHall, and Maggie made the cake while I dyed the fondant and failed at making a rose because the fondant was too sticky (I made a heart instead). We let the cake bake/cool and went our separate ways to get ourselves ready for the surprise party, and then came back later to decorate.

While Meghan was distracting Elysse, Maggie (and Marissa, I believe) decorated the room, and Steve and I decorated the cake. Here is a picture of the lovely cake:














I'm a little sad about the candles because they don't really match the colors of the cake, but I guess I'll live. Also, at some point Elysse's flatmate Robin switched the candles around so that it said 12... (P.S. - Mom, don't worry, the almost empty bottle of alcohol isn't mine). All of the non study-abroaders couldn't stop talking about how great the cake was... First hey thought we had made the whole thing from scratch, then got confused when we told them it was a box cake and thought we had bought it completely made at a store (and wanted to know which store). One of the Henries (is Henries the correct plural of Henry) even talked to Maggie and I about it the next night. Apparently, we made an impression.

After cake (and all of the balloons randomly popping in very fast succession, causing almost everyone to scream and Steve to almost jump in my arms), we went out to the Welsh club for some dancing and fun.

Saturday
On Saturday, Maggie, Christine, and I had really great plans to go meet up with some people at a pub and watch the rugby game... unfortunately by the time we got there, they had closed it to any new people because it was so packed... so we decided to do the opposite of watching rugby: we ate pancakes, went clothes shopping, and saw Valentine's Day.

After our day of girly fun, we split up to head back to our flats for dinner. Then Maggie and I met up with Elysse at the UniHall Pub and just hung out and talked for an hour or so, at which point I went back to my room and fell asleep.

Sunday
On Sunday, Maggie and I went to church together and then we headed into the centre to meet up with Nina, Christine, and Steve for a Valentine's Day lunch. After lunch we were planning on going to the library and doing some spring break travel planning, but it had closed at 3 and we got there at 3:30. So instead we went to the Belgian chocolate stand and got chocolate-covered strawberries and doughnuts and just hung out on a bench talking. Nina left, so Steve, Christine and I did a little grocery shopping and headed back to my flat.

When we got back to UniHall, we met up with Maggie again at the pub there and played some pool, which Christine and I dominated at (we were on a team). Then we went to Meghan's flat to watch 17 Again. Overall, it was a really great Valentine's Day.

Monday
On Monday, I headed to class. There was a sign on the door that said class was cancelled, but the door was open, so only one girl saw it. Luckily, I heard her, but then she just left and there were tons of people already in the lecture hall. So I went in and walked down to the front and used my not-very-loud teacher voice and told everyone it was cancelled. It was definitely a shining moment for me...

I didn't really know what to do with myself after that, so I went to the big public library and looked at some travel books until I got bored. I also finished the first book in that kids' book series Percy Jackson in preparation to see the movie at some point and decided I really wanted to read the second one. Unfortunately out of the two libraries and five book stores I went into, no one had the second one. Some of them had other books from the series but not the second one. So I head home (by the time I left the last bookstore, I was almost home anyway) in disappointment. It was probably a good thing because I have plenty of required reading to do anyway.

I ate some dinner and then got ready to go hang out with Maggie. She had been invited to a birthday party with Elysse for a person Elysse knew, but she didn't, so I went to keep her company. The birthday party ended up being super awkward though, so instead we went out with other people from Elysse's flat (don't worry, Mom/Kathryn, I don't have any classes on Tuesday).

We went to a pretty small place first called Lloyd's and then somehow our large group of ten got split into two smaller groups. I think the other group must have gone to anoth club, but Elysse, Maggie, Robin, Amit, and I went to Oceana into the Disco room, which was sooo much fun. They played a lot of old school music, from older (Journey, Michael Jackson's Thriller, etc.) to some party classics (Cotton Eye Joe, Cha Cha Slide) to 90's pop (Backstreet/N'Sync, B*witched) to showtunes/soundtracks (Grease, Footloose, Dirty Dancing).

So there's my week...

About a Week in One Post (Days 16-22; Tuesday-Monday)

Tuesday:
On Tuesday, the only thing that I did worth noting is that I made a really delicious dinner and it had lots of yummy things in it like cheese sauce that I made from scratch, chicken, carrots, broccoli, pasta, and basil.

Wednesday:
Wednesday was a bit more interesting. I went to class as usual, and it was pretty interesting (the lecture was on the book Waterland by Graham Swift). Then that night Maggie, Meghan, Marissa (all other study-abroaders) and I went to Christine's flat and headed out to The Lash, which is the club at the Student Union on Wednesday nights. It was very exciting. People were supposed to dress up like golfers (I didn't because I don't really own any golfing clothes...), but there were also lots of people dressed up like carrots, patients in a hospital, and Tarzan. Very exciting.

Thursday:
Thursday is my lots-of-classes day, so I went to class. I also went to a youth group type thing for college students at the church I went to on Sunday. It was pretty fun. I had to leave before they all went to the pub (this country is weird...), but it was all good because I had to get ready for my exciting weekend, which brings me to...

Friday:
On Friday I woke up and got packed. I had to take a later train than Maggie, Steve, and Christine because I booked my tickets later (my card wasn't working), and I enjoyed the part of the bus ride where I slept instead of reading like I had planned to do. Also, the guy next to me kept rubbing his arm against me by accident, so I had to sit very close to the window and be very small.

When I finally got to London, it was dark, but luckily all the buildings were pretty and lit up. I quickly found Maggie, Steve, and Christine, and obviously they were super excited to see me. We set off to find our hostel.

We ended up taking a taxi because we couldn't figure out the buses or trains and there were tons of people around so we felt lost and stupid. Then the taxi was expensive and didn't really know where we were going, so we just had him drop us off at a random street corner that he thought was close to the hostel. We called the hostel, and luckily it was right nearby.

The guy at the hostel accidentally charged us too much, but we got it all figured out and got our key cards. Instead of being in a huge 24 person room, we ended up in a smaller four-person room, which was great. Except that it was a little creepy. Overall, the hostel was pretty creepy, but also cheap, which is always nice.

We were all starving, so we headed out to find food... and that's when we found the Waffle House. Everyone, if you are EVER in the Hyde Park area, you should definitely go there. In fact if you don't, you will regret it for the rest of your life. It's on Queensway St., right near the Queensway Underground stop. (If you take a left out of the station and walk straight, you will find it.) If you can't go, you probably should still call them and congratulate them on making the best waffles ever. Their phone number is 020 7243 85. Here is a screenshot I took of it from Google Maps:













After our exciting waffles, we went back to the hostel and got ready to go out. We went to a club and danced for a really long time, then walked back to the hostel... except we walked for about an hour and a half because we didn't really know where we were going. (We also walked right past Buckingham Palace and didn't realize it until the next day, and we got lighted for walking to close to a big castle-like building.) Steve and I also almost froze to death because we didn't have coats. We are probably the smartest people in the world.

Other important things we did:
1. We took a picture with a phone booth.
2. We drank milkshakes.
3. I bought some mochi at an Asian supermarket.
4. Steve bought some doughnuts.
5. Took pictures of ourselves acting dead because our hostel was so creepy we feared being murdered.

Saturday:
On Saturday, we did a lot of exploring. We saw the following things:
1. The underground. VERY exciting. That was not sarcastic. I was very, very excited about the signs.
2. Two exhibits in the Museum of Natural History. We would have looked at more except we were super hungry and couldn't find a restaraunt nearby.
3. Platform 9 3/4.
4. A nice cafe with yummy fish and chips and funny posters.
5. Big Ben.
6. Westminster Abbey, which Maggie couldn't find even though we were standing right in front of it. She asked a police officer where it was. It was awesome.
7. Buckingham Palace.
8. A guy playing the ukulele.
9. A pug dog who couldn't put his tongue in his mouth. It was very unfortunate. He looked silly.
10. The Sherlock Holmes restaraunt.
11. A really fun 4-D movie about London.
12. The London Eye (and a lot of London from on it). We went at night, so the city was all lit up and beautiful.
13. Lots of buses.
14. A guy who posed volunteers in funny positions (like they were boxing, etc.) and then would pose himself (like he was being punched, etc.) Here's a picture:














Basically, the whole day was amazing. We had a lot of fun just wandering around taking pictures and being good little tourists.

We stopped at a restaraunt semi-near the Eye and ate dinner, and then we headed back to the hostel area. When we got there we went into a Spar and bought lots of junk food and then made a trip to the Waffle House and ordered a bunch of waffles. We went back to the hostel and had a great night just hanging out, talking, and laughing.

Sunday:
Sunday morning we woke up earlyish so that we could get everything all packed up (check out was at 10:00). We headed out around 9:30 for a walk through Hyde Park and to find Peter Pan. We found the statue (which I was really excited about!) and took lots of pictures with Peter Pan. Then Maggie left to catch a 10:30 bus back (which she missed, but luckily she could take a 12:00/12:30ish one), and Steve, Christine, and I kept walking through the park to find the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, which was very pretty.

After our Hyde Park adventure, we got on the tube and headed to the British Museum, where we got to see really awesome things like a part of the Sphinx and the Rosetta Stone and swords and lots of mummies. It was really cool.

After the museum, Christine, Steve, and I got back on the tube and headed to Bond St. I left Steve and Christine there so that I could meet up with my friend Emilka who I haven't seen in about 13 years. (She was my best friend when I lived in Japan.) It was really amazing to see her. It was a little awkward for maybe two or three minutes, but once we got started talking, it was great. It was probably the best part of the whole weekend. I even got to see her sister for about two minutes before I had to leave to head to the bus station. Here's a picture of Emilka, me, and Emilka's sister, Hania:















The bus ride home was pretty uneventful, but I did end up sitting next to another student who is studying abroad at Cardiff (he is from France), so I talked to him for the second half of the ride, which made it much more enjoyable than the ride to London.

When I finally got back to Cardiff, I ate a quick dinner and took a shower to get rid of the hostel germs and rushed over to the UniHall Pub to watch the Superbowl. It was a lot of fun, and the game was really close. Also, it helped that I was rooting for the team that won. Even though the game didn't end until about 3am here (they were showing it live), it was a great ending to a great weekend.

Monday:
After the busy weekend, having to go to my class today was a little dull, but I guess I'm technically here to study and learn stuff. After class I came back to my room and rested because I was exhausted. Then I hung out with Christine. We saw Up in the Air, which was a very interesting movie and made us feel really good about ourselves because we are nowhere near as miserable as the characters in the movie.

If you would like to look at some pictures from this weekend, I have a bunch of them up on my facebook, and you can see them here.

As for tomorrow, I don't have any classes, so I plan on doing some laundry and grocery shopping. Should be exciting.

Days 13-15 (Saturday, Sunday, and Monday)

Saturday:
On Saturday, we went to Swansea. Swansea appeared to be a lot like Cardiff, except it was more icy and has a different name. The train ride was about an hour long, so I got some reading done on the way there.

The first place we went to was a restaurant that was apparently featured in the most recent episode of Dr. Who. I personally don't watch the show, but one of the other study-abroaders loves it, so it was pretty fun. I really like eating at restaurants here because the food is way better than what I make in my flat.

After the restaurant, we went to a big market place and got some Welsh Cakes. I can't really describe them. If I had to, I would say that they are a cross between a tiny pancake and something else with raisins in them, but that is a terrible description. Anyway, I don't really like raisins in stuff because once when I was little I ate a oatmeal raisin cookie and then I threw up, so now it makes me sick. But luckily they had raisin-less Welsh Cakes with jam in them and I ate one of those and it was delicious.

After the market, we set off to find the Dylan Thomas museum. We went to some cool places on the way. We stopped at a place where you could see the bay, and there was also a statue of Dylan Thomas sitting on a chair. We also found a really cute art gallery. Then we went to the Swansea Museum and saw a mummy.

We finally made it to the Dylan Thomas museum, and I listened to him read a couple of his poems. It was really cool to hear "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night" read by him because a) I had to write a villanelle once, and I found it really hard, so I think that particular poem is outstanding and b) it was featured in a Five Iron Frenzy song.

Unfortunately, I started to feel really awful, so I decided to leave early and headed back to Cardiff. The rest of the night was pretty boring, so I won't write all about it.

Sunday:
On Sunday I successfully made it to church! It was really exciting, and so far I really like the church I went to. After church I met up with Maggie and Christine, and we went to the Cardiff Museum.

There was a really cool exhibit featuring Lauren Child, who is an extremely talented children's book author and illustrator. We also looked at some old Welsh plates, and we saw a platter with an adorable cow on it. In the plate room, we met a nice guy on museum staff, and we talked to him for about 45 minutes about cool places to go in and around Cardiff and what to feed birds.

After the museum, I came back to my flat and had dinner, and then I headed back out to meet up with someone I met at church. On the way back from that, some guy on the bus asked me if I rode motorbikes. Apparently the way I was tapping my feet (I had my headphones in) reminded him on driving a motorbike with a clutch or something. I felt really cool.

Monday:
Today I woke up and got ready for the day. Then I had an awkward elevator encounter, which is when you get on the elevator and there is someone else on it already and you didn't expect that so you don't talk the whole ride and then when you are trying to get out of the building you pull instead of push the door and the other person looks at you like you are not all that bright and holds the door open for you.

After finally successfully making it to the Cathays campus (where all my classes are), I had my second Gothic Fiction class. The most exciting part was when the girl sitting behind me asked me for paper. Other than that, we just talked about a lot of books I've never read before.

After class, I took the free bus back up to UniHall. Guess who I got to ride the elevator with? My morning elevator buddy! And guess what else? He remembered what floor I was on and pressed the button for me! I felt like we really bonded despite the fact that he probably thinks I'm an idiot due to the door incident.

I then ate some lunch and headed back into the city centre, where I met up with Maggie and Christine. We went to see Sherlock Holmes at the movie theatre. It was actually really good and got me excited to read the Sherlock Holmes book I have to read for Thursday (which I have not even started because this book for War & Memory is taking me FOREVER). Then I did some light grocery shopping and came back to the flat.

Oh! Today, I also met another flat mate of mine who i had never met before... she invited me to her birthday party on Friday. I am really excited. We are getting pizza.