Sunday I woke up and looked at the clock and it said 9 so I thought, eh, I missed breakfast, I'll sleep some more. Then I woke up an hour later and realized I needed to turn my clock back. Dang! I could have got to breakfast! Oh well. So I got up and went downstairs and watched New Zheland vs Austrailia rugby and went to Tesco for breakfast. Then at 130, we had a "family dinner". Every Sunday, the pub has a special menu with Sunday roast on it so we all got that and pushed some tables together. That was nice. Now, the thing about this last week was that nothing really exciting happened, most days were the same. Not that that is bad, I had fun but it was wake up, get on the computer to write my outline and progress report, plan travels, go get dinner and hang out in the pub with people. That was pretty much it. But of course I had fun. Ate a lot of pizza from that sketchy pizza place. It was the only thing open late in London so it was a very good and cheap find. I hope I can find more cheap pizza places in my travels. I have a few things planned out already. This Saturday (tomorrow) I am taking a plane to Paris at 6am and will then catch a train to Nancy France to stay with my friend from school, Blake Doyle, who is also studying abroad right now, just in a different program. I will be with him until Tuesday when I will go back to Paris and go to Evry and Lisses to see where parkour started, do some myself, and hopefully meet some people. It would make that trip very cool. Then on the 8th I will catch another train from Paris to Milan to Levanto for our group meeting on the 9th. I should arrive at 9 or 10 on the morning of the 9th. Stay there for 3 days then off to Rome, but I haven't got that part planned out yet...
On Tuesday I pretty much did the same as I have been but at the pub, Carly started to get hit on by some Egyptian guy. She talked with him for a bit and then said she needed to go to the bathroom. When she got up and walked around a little wall, she turned back to me with a look of desperation on her face and mouthed "help me". So I tried to think of something we could do for a while until they left the bar and decided on a walk. It had been rainy that evening and even hailed for a bit. When we got outside it was sleeting so we started to walk. After a block or so, we saw some books lying outside next to a thrift store and I stopped to see if any where good. While I was reading one, Carly started screaming and I looked up and out of the corner of my eye I see a mannequin and think it is someone about to attack us, but then she yells "SNOW!!!!!!" and I looked up again and see little flakes started to fall in the sleet. Well, since we had learned that it snowed a little back home, we were feeling pretty jealous of that, but now we had our own! As we walked, it picked up and big flakes were falling. It was a wonderful walk which ended in buying waffles from Tesco. People said that that was the first snow in October in London in 70 years. It must have been because of Carly and me. When we got back to the pub, we were super happy because of the snow, but there were people from Australia who had never seen snow before, so it was pretty cool that they could see it while we were there.
Friday, I had a meeting with a sword maker. He works in a town called Thaxted, Essex. He told me to take a train to Stansed Airport and catch a cab from there. So getting there was pretty easy. He was a really cool guy to. Helped me as much as he could. I also found out that Minneapolis has a very large arms and armour community and there is a society based in Minneapolis named after Ewart Oakshott, who was a big name in historical swords. So that may come in handy when I am writing my paper in case I forgot to write something down! After that meeting, I felt I am done with the research that I wanted to do here so now, let the travels begin!
Today is Halloween and kind of sad because Europe doesn't celebrate it like the US does. But Carly and I plan on going to a different club, and actually going on. I wish I could dress up but I don't have anything special and I don't really want to buy anything because I'll just throw it away the next day. I can't carry around useless things! I do not have a bed tonight but that's okay because my bus leaves for the airport at 3am so I can just have a late night and sleep on the plane and train. No worries there! But it should be a fun night.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Wander-lost
Alright alright, I'll update this thing...
Hmm, let's see...RIGHT! My day of fun filled traveling! From Dublin I was to take a ferry across the channel then hop on a few trains to Leeds for another sword fighting lesson and one last train down to London. In order to make that work, I needed to catch the ferry that left at 8am. I got up at about 6 because of snoring and my brain not wanting to sleep and end up sleeping in. So took and shower, got ready and headed out. I started to try to find a place to get a quick breakfast and walked for a while, then when i realized it was 730, I needed to get to the ferry! Unfortunately, I had been walking the wrong way the entire time! So I caught a cab and got there with a few minutes to spare. Close one! And they had food on the boat so I got a full breakfast and had my first black and white pudding. It's not really pudding is it. I guess it's just another one of those "jelly isn't jelly" things isn't it? It wasn't too bad, but I am getting sick of English breakfasts.
It was a very nice ferry. They offer 2 types of ships, a cruise and a fast one. The Cruise boat takes about 3 hours and the fast one, about an hour and a half. Well, it was really windy so only the cruise was available. But I was ok with that. I took a nice nap along the way. Rocked to sleep by the waves. A nice ride. When we got to Holyhead, I got my train directions and started off on that. It was a 4 hour itinerary to Leeds so I arrived in Leeds at about 6. From the train station, I walked to the Royal Armouries museum and timed myself so I knew I would make my train to London. That train left at 840pm and the class didn't end till 9 so I would have to leave a little early. It took me a little less than 15 mins to walk there, so I would give myself 20 to get back. Then I had a light dinner from Tesco and off to the lesson. It was a good one, very technical which is what I wanted, but I won't bore you with the details, if you want, you can read my paper at the end of all this.
So I split class early and again, made it to my train with a few minutes to spare. It is hard to run with a 20 pound backpack on... The ride back was nice, I was pretty tired from travel so I read and zoned out for most of the time. I got into London Kings Cross at 1140pm. That made a total of about 11 hours travel time for me. Yeah, I was pretty worn out... From Kings Cross I took the tube to a station a couple blocks from the hostel, checked in and checked out.
The next day I pretty much spent in the hostel and pub chilling because I was tired. I ended up talking to a guy at the bar who was from Rhode Island for about 3 or 4 hours. Nice to have some friendly conversations. Then Carly showed up and we went out to eat and caught up on our adventures. Definitely and laid back day but hey, after 11 hours of travel, I think I deserved it.
Wednesday I went back to the Wallace Collection to try to do more research but after a week and a half of nothing, and a really dry book, not much good came from it...But I tried. So then I wandered around again for most of the day. Then I went back and hung out in the pub again. We met some Dutch boys and hung out and played pool with them. That was fun. Always nice to meet new people!
Hmm, let's see...RIGHT! My day of fun filled traveling! From Dublin I was to take a ferry across the channel then hop on a few trains to Leeds for another sword fighting lesson and one last train down to London. In order to make that work, I needed to catch the ferry that left at 8am. I got up at about 6 because of snoring and my brain not wanting to sleep and end up sleeping in. So took and shower, got ready and headed out. I started to try to find a place to get a quick breakfast and walked for a while, then when i realized it was 730, I needed to get to the ferry! Unfortunately, I had been walking the wrong way the entire time! So I caught a cab and got there with a few minutes to spare. Close one! And they had food on the boat so I got a full breakfast and had my first black and white pudding. It's not really pudding is it. I guess it's just another one of those "jelly isn't jelly" things isn't it? It wasn't too bad, but I am getting sick of English breakfasts.
It was a very nice ferry. They offer 2 types of ships, a cruise and a fast one. The Cruise boat takes about 3 hours and the fast one, about an hour and a half. Well, it was really windy so only the cruise was available. But I was ok with that. I took a nice nap along the way. Rocked to sleep by the waves. A nice ride. When we got to Holyhead, I got my train directions and started off on that. It was a 4 hour itinerary to Leeds so I arrived in Leeds at about 6. From the train station, I walked to the Royal Armouries museum and timed myself so I knew I would make my train to London. That train left at 840pm and the class didn't end till 9 so I would have to leave a little early. It took me a little less than 15 mins to walk there, so I would give myself 20 to get back. Then I had a light dinner from Tesco and off to the lesson. It was a good one, very technical which is what I wanted, but I won't bore you with the details, if you want, you can read my paper at the end of all this.
So I split class early and again, made it to my train with a few minutes to spare. It is hard to run with a 20 pound backpack on... The ride back was nice, I was pretty tired from travel so I read and zoned out for most of the time. I got into London Kings Cross at 1140pm. That made a total of about 11 hours travel time for me. Yeah, I was pretty worn out... From Kings Cross I took the tube to a station a couple blocks from the hostel, checked in and checked out.
The next day I pretty much spent in the hostel and pub chilling because I was tired. I ended up talking to a guy at the bar who was from Rhode Island for about 3 or 4 hours. Nice to have some friendly conversations. Then Carly showed up and we went out to eat and caught up on our adventures. Definitely and laid back day but hey, after 11 hours of travel, I think I deserved it.
Wednesday I went back to the Wallace Collection to try to do more research but after a week and a half of nothing, and a really dry book, not much good came from it...But I tried. So then I wandered around again for most of the day. Then I went back and hung out in the pub again. We met some Dutch boys and hung out and played pool with them. That was fun. Always nice to meet new people!
I did not want to spend all day in the pub again so I tried to think of something that I could do. It then occurred to me that I wanted to go to the natural history museum on my birthday but didn't because I was at the science museum all day. So I went there. I liked it. They had a lot of cool rocks, stuffed animals and DINOSAUR BONES RAR! So that was fun. I have been spending a lot of time in the pub during the evening, but that's where I know people and I wouldn't know where to go out if I wanted to.
Most of today was spent running errands and the like. First, I tried to mail my absentee ballot at a fedex but they said I needed to go online and fill out some form and that was the only way to send it back to the states. It's not a bad thing though because it is cheaper than sending a normal envelope to the states ($20 compared to £33) and it is supposed to arrive the next day. Cool. Then I got on the internet to try to plan my next travels. I am planning on visiting a friend who is in Nancy France and from there, head to Paris for a few days (well, a suburb, Lisses) and then from Paris to Levanto for our group meeting. I also made a phone call to a sword smith and will have a meeting with him on the 30th which is great. That is the last thing I feel I need to do here for research. Sweet. Then I will be free to travel! I am very excited about that, I would very much like to leave London. It is just not the city for me. I also looked in a newspaper a few days ago and saw that a new Mexican place was opening and they were going to give away free burritos on their grand opening. So I went there are got a free burrito. The line wasn't that bad either. I just pulled out my book and read until I was at the door. Maybe 20 mins. It was pretty good by England's standards but nothing against Chipotle. While walking back I remember another Mexican place and thought I'd compare burritos in case I needed to go back and get another one. That one wasn't free, it was £5. But hey, that's 2 burritos for under $5, not bad right? The 2nd one wasn't as good as the first therefore a mile off Chipotle. But you can't really get any good Mexican here. Just have to wait till I get home I guess.
That night, Carly and I decided that we would try to go to a club so we asked a few people and we recommended to go to the Fabric. So that's what we were gonna do. But we were told not to go too early because no one would be there. Being not very experienced clubbers we took this advice and didn't leave until a little past 10. But when we got there, the line was half way around the block. WHAT!? A 3+ hour wait to pay £10 to get into a crowded room? Yeah, not gonna happen now. So we wandered around looking for some other place we could go but didn't find anything so we ended up getting a pizza and heading back to the hostel.
Yesterday was another round of karaoke at the pub so we did that and it was fun. I sang 3 different songs. Sat with a bunch of people and talked and sang all night. Then after karaoke was over, we went a got another pizza and ate that in the pub. Now, I was expecting people to stay up and have something to do in the pub that night, but no one was there. So instead of staying up all night with people, I went to bed.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Is maith an scathan suil charad
The next few days at Maynooth have been uneventful but nice. Have time to myself to just relax a bit. I went to a few places but didn't get any research done, but that's ok, I liked the time anyway. Ireland is cool, and the people talk funny and dress like Irish people, so that's cool. I went to Dublin yesterday and walked around. I went to Trinity College but didn't see the Books of Kells since I didn't know what it was (until Aunt Gail told me) and it cost money to see so I wasn't gonna spend money on something I had no idea what it was (not yet anyway, I still have a long while here). I walked around the city though and ended up at Chester Beatty library and didn't know what that was either, but I checked it out and it was free! So I walked around there. I wouldn't really call it a library, but maybe it's the whole jelly isn't jelly thing again. It was a museum basically on the history of the book and it also looked at a few bigger religions (Christianity, Buddhism, Islamic, etc). There was some cool stuff there. Old stuff. So yeah.
After searching around in many book stores, I finally picked up the second LOTR. Why is it so gosh darn hard to find that book? It's popular right? So it should be in bookstores right? Whatever. They always have the one I don't need. Like before I couldn't find the 1st one, but they would always have the 3rd. Now looking for the 2nd, I found the first plenty of times! Well, the 3rd one I've seen the most so hopefully I will continue to when I resume my search. For now, I gotta start reading! The thought also occurred to me that when I start to travel, there will not be many English bookstores around, so I need to stock up before I start. Lucky for me, a few blocks down the road from my London hostel is a used book store. It is very English too. The shoppe keeper reminds me of the shoppe keep from Beauty and the Beast, just younger. If you don't know what that looks like, go watch the Disney movie and imprint it in your mind. It's a good movie. Anyway, before I start my travels I will load up on books. I know that I can get some from other hostelers, but I wanna make sure I get books that I want to read.
Now back to Ireland... I bought a ticket from Dublin to Leeds for Monday that is a sail and rail deal so I will get to take a ferry across the channel and a train to Leeds. Pretty neat and pretty cheap. There are 2 ferries that go across. One is a leisure cruise that takes about 3 hours and the other is a fast ship that takes an hour and a half I think. I don't know which one I'll take, both would be nice though. I am going to Leeds only for the night, I will then take another train down to London to stay there. I am planning on taking another sword fighting class, so that should be fun. Unfortunately, my train to London leaves at 20:40 (8:40pm) and the class doesn't end till 9 so I will have to leave early to make sure I catch that. That's okay, I just need to make sure that I get there.
Today is my last day in Maynooth. Actually, after I'm done here I will catch a bus back to Dublin and find my hostel to stay in for 2 nights. While I am there, I plan on going out to the country and enjoying a little bit more relaxing time in Ireland. I think that's what this country is for.
After searching around in many book stores, I finally picked up the second LOTR. Why is it so gosh darn hard to find that book? It's popular right? So it should be in bookstores right? Whatever. They always have the one I don't need. Like before I couldn't find the 1st one, but they would always have the 3rd. Now looking for the 2nd, I found the first plenty of times! Well, the 3rd one I've seen the most so hopefully I will continue to when I resume my search. For now, I gotta start reading! The thought also occurred to me that when I start to travel, there will not be many English bookstores around, so I need to stock up before I start. Lucky for me, a few blocks down the road from my London hostel is a used book store. It is very English too. The shoppe keeper reminds me of the shoppe keep from Beauty and the Beast, just younger. If you don't know what that looks like, go watch the Disney movie and imprint it in your mind. It's a good movie. Anyway, before I start my travels I will load up on books. I know that I can get some from other hostelers, but I wanna make sure I get books that I want to read.
Now back to Ireland... I bought a ticket from Dublin to Leeds for Monday that is a sail and rail deal so I will get to take a ferry across the channel and a train to Leeds. Pretty neat and pretty cheap. There are 2 ferries that go across. One is a leisure cruise that takes about 3 hours and the other is a fast ship that takes an hour and a half I think. I don't know which one I'll take, both would be nice though. I am going to Leeds only for the night, I will then take another train down to London to stay there. I am planning on taking another sword fighting class, so that should be fun. Unfortunately, my train to London leaves at 20:40 (8:40pm) and the class doesn't end till 9 so I will have to leave early to make sure I catch that. That's okay, I just need to make sure that I get there.
Today is my last day in Maynooth. Actually, after I'm done here I will catch a bus back to Dublin and find my hostel to stay in for 2 nights. While I am there, I plan on going out to the country and enjoying a little bit more relaxing time in Ireland. I think that's what this country is for.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Ireland; Land of the Green and Home of the Brave
Ok, I am back with the internet in Ireland! But more on that later, now it's time to catch up on lost days! Now, where was I?
Saturday 11th October:
Today, I decided to go to the parkour jam at the library and since I was at the library and had some time to kill, I went on the internet to send a few emails and what not. Then I went outside and met a few guys and hung out with them for a while. On of them took charge a bit and took it upon himself to show me around to different spots. That was cool, he just started about a month ago, but is from Leeds so knew his way around. We hit up a lot of spots for a bit and the last one is kind of funny. It is a set of scaffolding that is set up next to the police station. They say they go there a lot and have gotten kicked off maybe once. That made me laugh.
After that, I caught my train up to York. I got in around 4pm and started to look for a place to stay because I didn't have a bed booked for that night. I wasn't too worried and thought that if I couldn't find a place to stay, I'd just stay up all night on the streets. I walked all around the city and every guest house and B&B were full because the parents of the students at the University were in town for something. I dunno. And I couldn't find a hotel that wasn't £50+. So after walking around for a few hours, I thought I'd just stay up so I was gonna spend my time in a pub for as late as they would let me. I found one and had dinner there. Then decided I didn't want to stay there until 2am went out and talked with the bouncer. He told me that it probably wasn't a good idea to camp out because of the druggies and muggings and stuff, so I was like, ok, I won't. And went back on my search for a roof. I walked to the hostel that I was going to stay at the next night to see if they had anything for me, even a couch. They didn't. But they did call around for a place which was very helpful. Ended up finding on for £25 which I took and was lovely. Nice place with its own bathroom. I'm glad I took it because otherwise, it would have been a very long night...
Sunday 12th October:
Today I got up and went back to the YHA so I wouldn't have to carry my backpack around all day again. That thing gets heavy! After that I went back into town and walked the wall around the city. It is a medieval wall surrounding the city to protect it. It is about 2 miles long and was really cool. It was a strange sensation to be on something that was that old.
After walking around for a bit I found a Pret (yes, they are everywhere!) and ate lunch while watching a Mayan (I think) band, sort of, play. I thought it was strange because we were in York, no where near the southern part of the Americas. Whatever, good lunch time entertainment.
After all that walking, I went back to the hostel and booked a plane to Dublin for the 13th. A couple of sucky things happened with this. I used Ryanair because it's the only airline with a flight from Leeds to Dublin. The ticket cost less than the taxes and fares. £29 for the ticket and £34 for the fees, plus £16 for checking luggage and another £12 to get to Leeds from York. This trip was stressing me out because I didn't want it to cost that much.
I got up today and packed all my stuff again, but I had a lot of time to kill because my plane didn't leave until 10:30pm. At the front desk, they told me a few things I could do. I ended up going to the Jorvik, a viking museum. It ended up being very Cheesy. It was like a Viking version of Epcot. First, we went back in a "time machine" and then got on a little car the drove us around through a viking village. Whatever, it was alright I guess.
After that, I really didn't know what to do so I went back to the hostel and got my stuff and caught the bus to Leeds Bradford Airport. I got there at about 4pm so had many hours to kill. It's kind of a small airport and like most, not much around it to do. So I read, wandered, and sat around a lot. Finally it was time for our flight to leave and it did so without too much hassle, always a good thing when flying.
Ok, now I'm gonna stop with the date thing, ok? Whatever, you don't have a say in this anyway.
So I got into Dublin and left the airport at 1am. I am currently staying an a town called Maynooth which is about 15 miles outside of Dublin. Because I got in so late, there we no longer any buses or trains out there. So I had to cancel my first night at Maynooth and find a hostel in Dublin. Fortunately, there was one in town center that was 10 euro a night. Nice and cheap. So basically, I got there and went to bed.
That morning I found a bus that went to Maynooth for 2 euro. Much better than a possible taxi ride that would have cost around 50 euro. So I got to Maynooth and checked in without trouble. And they were kind enough to refund my money for the first cancelled night.
After getting myself acquainted with the town, I met up with my mom's (former) boss' cousin, Gerry. He is a really nice guy with a very Irish accent so it was fun to hear him talk. We went to a pub and got a bite to eat and talked for a while. After being in Leeds without too many people to talk to, this was really nice. He has also done a lot of work for me in finding contacts and possible places to go. Don't worry, I have thanked him many times for this.
After dinner (second dinner for me :D) we met up with his son who is 19 and I hung out with him and his friends for a while. We went to a different pub and did the quiz. We didn't win. I only got 11/20 questions right. But they were pop culture and stuff. I did get the question "which US city do they call the windy city?" right, I better have at least. So that was a fun night. Nice to get out and do something with people ever once and a while, right?
Today I am going to check out a few of the places Gerry suggested I go. And the nice thing about being in a college dorm is I can get on the internet for as long as I want (well until 11pm and while being considerate of others who want to get on) and for free. I like free.
Saturday 11th October:
Today, I decided to go to the parkour jam at the library and since I was at the library and had some time to kill, I went on the internet to send a few emails and what not. Then I went outside and met a few guys and hung out with them for a while. On of them took charge a bit and took it upon himself to show me around to different spots. That was cool, he just started about a month ago, but is from Leeds so knew his way around. We hit up a lot of spots for a bit and the last one is kind of funny. It is a set of scaffolding that is set up next to the police station. They say they go there a lot and have gotten kicked off maybe once. That made me laugh.
After that, I caught my train up to York. I got in around 4pm and started to look for a place to stay because I didn't have a bed booked for that night. I wasn't too worried and thought that if I couldn't find a place to stay, I'd just stay up all night on the streets. I walked all around the city and every guest house and B&B were full because the parents of the students at the University were in town for something. I dunno. And I couldn't find a hotel that wasn't £50+. So after walking around for a few hours, I thought I'd just stay up so I was gonna spend my time in a pub for as late as they would let me. I found one and had dinner there. Then decided I didn't want to stay there until 2am went out and talked with the bouncer. He told me that it probably wasn't a good idea to camp out because of the druggies and muggings and stuff, so I was like, ok, I won't. And went back on my search for a roof. I walked to the hostel that I was going to stay at the next night to see if they had anything for me, even a couch. They didn't. But they did call around for a place which was very helpful. Ended up finding on for £25 which I took and was lovely. Nice place with its own bathroom. I'm glad I took it because otherwise, it would have been a very long night...
Sunday 12th October:
Today I got up and went back to the YHA so I wouldn't have to carry my backpack around all day again. That thing gets heavy! After that I went back into town and walked the wall around the city. It is a medieval wall surrounding the city to protect it. It is about 2 miles long and was really cool. It was a strange sensation to be on something that was that old.
After walking around for a bit I found a Pret (yes, they are everywhere!) and ate lunch while watching a Mayan (I think) band, sort of, play. I thought it was strange because we were in York, no where near the southern part of the Americas. Whatever, good lunch time entertainment.
After all that walking, I went back to the hostel and booked a plane to Dublin for the 13th. A couple of sucky things happened with this. I used Ryanair because it's the only airline with a flight from Leeds to Dublin. The ticket cost less than the taxes and fares. £29 for the ticket and £34 for the fees, plus £16 for checking luggage and another £12 to get to Leeds from York. This trip was stressing me out because I didn't want it to cost that much.
THEN, I woke up at 3am and realized that I had the hostel booked for the night of the 13th and that when my plane left! Uh oh, double booked it. Fortunately, I was refunded for the night I missed, so it all worked out in the end.
Monday 13th October:I got up today and packed all my stuff again, but I had a lot of time to kill because my plane didn't leave until 10:30pm. At the front desk, they told me a few things I could do. I ended up going to the Jorvik, a viking museum. It ended up being very Cheesy. It was like a Viking version of Epcot. First, we went back in a "time machine" and then got on a little car the drove us around through a viking village. Whatever, it was alright I guess.
After that, I really didn't know what to do so I went back to the hostel and got my stuff and caught the bus to Leeds Bradford Airport. I got there at about 4pm so had many hours to kill. It's kind of a small airport and like most, not much around it to do. So I read, wandered, and sat around a lot. Finally it was time for our flight to leave and it did so without too much hassle, always a good thing when flying.
Ok, now I'm gonna stop with the date thing, ok? Whatever, you don't have a say in this anyway.
So I got into Dublin and left the airport at 1am. I am currently staying an a town called Maynooth which is about 15 miles outside of Dublin. Because I got in so late, there we no longer any buses or trains out there. So I had to cancel my first night at Maynooth and find a hostel in Dublin. Fortunately, there was one in town center that was 10 euro a night. Nice and cheap. So basically, I got there and went to bed.
That morning I found a bus that went to Maynooth for 2 euro. Much better than a possible taxi ride that would have cost around 50 euro. So I got to Maynooth and checked in without trouble. And they were kind enough to refund my money for the first cancelled night.
After getting myself acquainted with the town, I met up with my mom's (former) boss' cousin, Gerry. He is a really nice guy with a very Irish accent so it was fun to hear him talk. We went to a pub and got a bite to eat and talked for a while. After being in Leeds without too many people to talk to, this was really nice. He has also done a lot of work for me in finding contacts and possible places to go. Don't worry, I have thanked him many times for this.
After dinner (second dinner for me :D) we met up with his son who is 19 and I hung out with him and his friends for a while. We went to a different pub and did the quiz. We didn't win. I only got 11/20 questions right. But they were pop culture and stuff. I did get the question "which US city do they call the windy city?" right, I better have at least. So that was a fun night. Nice to get out and do something with people ever once and a while, right?
Today I am going to check out a few of the places Gerry suggested I go. And the nice thing about being in a college dorm is I can get on the internet for as long as I want (well until 11pm and while being considerate of others who want to get on) and for free. I like free.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Jelly is not Jelly
Ok, where did I leave off? It sure has been a while, but I seriously could not find internet access anywhere in Leeds. Right now I am in York and it doesn't have any internet cafes either. My hostel does have access, but their "discount" deal is 3 hours for £8. Normally, it is £4 for an hour. Holy s*** it was a pound an hour in London! But I needed to get on to book my stuff for Ireland. Now, let's go back a week and sum up my expeditions shall we?
Saturday 4 October:
This was the day that I was to leave for Leeds. I got up and took a really easy morning because the only thing I needed to do whilst in London was catch my train! It left from Kings Cross station at 1pm. So while I was there, what else should I do except go see Platform 9 3/4! That was neat, and nerdy. Especially because there were a lot of people dressed up hanging out around there. I took a few pictures and was set. Then I walked around in an attempt to find a book store that had LOTR and by golly, I found it! So I went back to the station and read until my train left. Ooh, exciting, I get to ride a train! Got into Leeds and found my way to my hotel. See, I booked a hotel because I couldn't find any hostels in Leeds to stay at so I figured I could get there, and walk around to find a place to stay. It was a nice hotel so I pretty much just stayed in my room. I even ordered room service! That was neat! First time, can't say last, but I doubt I'd do it much anyway.
Sunday 5 October:
That morning I got up and had some comp hot chocolate. Chocolately. Yesterday I found a B&B to stay at for £20 a night. That was pretty much the only place I could find so I went for it. It was about 1.5 miles from the Royal Armouries museum so not that bad. I started to walk there but decided to go to the museum first to see if they knew of anything closer and cheaper. They didn't. But I did see sword fighting going on so I went to investigate. It ended up being a seminar that was being taught, but they did offer classes at the museum on Mondays and Thursdays. Also, one guy at the seminar was staying at a B&B that was about a half mile away and only £15 a night. So I went there and they had room so I stayed there. It really wasn't the prettiest of place, but it was a roof over my head to say the least. Kind of dirty, the heater didn't work, smoking was allowed, eh, let's say I basically used it for sleeping. At least they were really friendly, so it wasn't terrible. That night I went to Tesco and bought stuff for dinner as well as other stuff for breakfast and snacking purposes.
Monday 6 October:
One thing I picked up at Tesco was jelly. At least that's what it said it was. So I was gonna have a PB&J for breakfast. Upon spreading it on my sandwich, I realized it was not jelly. So instead for breakfast, I ended up having a peanut butter and jello sandwich. Interesting. So in England, jelly is not jelly. Remember that all.
After that fiasco, I went to the museum. I was going to go to the library, but ended up looking at the museum all day. It is quite a big place with a lot of stuff. They also had a special exhibit up of arms and armour from the movies so they had stuff from LOTR, Narnia, The Last Samurai, and King Kong. Cool to see some of that stuff.
The museum closed at 5 and the class didn't start until 7 so I had some time to kill. First I found a patch of grass and sat down to read, but it was a cold and cloudy day, so I ended up going to Starbucks, getting some tea and finding a nice comfy chair to read in until the class started. I very well would have missed it if I didn't look at my clock, it was about to start! So I went over to the museum, just a block away, and met people for the class. We were going to be using long swords. It was fun and weird because I am not used to a 4 foot piece of steel coming straight for my face. But it was cool anyway and should help out my paper. Another cool thing about it is your first class is free! Sweet!
Tuesday 7 October:
Today I finally got into the library. I won't bore you with the details of my research, but I did some. After that I tried to find an internet cafe and after wandering around the city center and finding nothing, I gave up, defeated. It has seemed like my days here have all been the same. I wish I were at a hostel so I could meet people. Staying at the B&B, because I don't really like to be there, I get up early, go to the museum all day, get dinner and eat it, then go to bed. Repeat until I leave Leeds.
Wednesday 8 October:
Again I went to the library and got a lot done which is always good. Then I was determined to find a computer. I ended up at the public library and they let me on for free for 2 hours so I got a little bit done. Sorry all, but updating this blog isn't on the top of my list when I have important emails to send out and figuring out where I am going to live next. Anyway, as I left the library, I saw some kids vaulting a wall so I went over and talked to them. They had only been doing parkour for about a month but told me about a jam that was happening on Saturday that would have more people. Cool. I ended up hanging out with them for a while and going to a few different spots. After that I went to find dinner. I wanted a warm meal instead of cold cut sandwiches so I found a restaurant called Nandos. They had chicken so I got a half a chicken with medium spiciness. It wasn't spicy at all...Maybe I can take more spice? At least it was good.
Thursday 9 October:
Today I was supposed to have a meeting with a curator but he has been out sick all week and today was no different. So I went around the museum myself again and tried to find examples of stuff I've researched. I did find some, but it was hard to take a good picture of behind glass. Whatever. Tonight was another sword fighting class so I did what I did last time. Found a patch for grass to read for a while then moved on to Starbucks for tea until it started. That's a good way to kill time. This class was the long sword again so we continued with what we learned last class. Fun. The people are friendly too and helped me out by correcting anything that was wrong. It's kind of a complex art it is. A lot of stuff to think about and go against your instinct to keep the pointy metal thing away from your face. But if you push your sword away from you, it opens up your body for another attack so you gotta keep it close when on the defense.
Friday 10 October:
Since I had been doing a lot of research lately, today was meant to be fun, but I went to the library anyway. I was going to talk to the librarian, who was also at the last class, about swords. He showed me an original manuscript from the 13th century I think. Really old and really cool. Then we talked for a bit but decided to call Dan, the teacher of the class, because he knew more about swords. So I talked with Dan for a while about what we did the previous night.
After that I continued with my original plans. I went up to Knaresborough and saw the Petrifying Well. It is a natural spring that has a really high mineral content and turns whatever it touches to stone. They have a lot of stuff hung up under the drippings like a broom, socks, a lobster, and teddy bears. They say that it will turn a teddy bear solid in only 3 months. Pretty fast. Works the same way as a stalagmite (or stalactite). It was also a very pretty town that I walked around in for a while. Quite a nice day out. Once I got back to Leeds I went to Nandos again and got the Hot half chicken this time. Hotter, but still not hot. Eh, England just doesn't know what hot it, and why should they?
Well, I am going to have to leave it here. Sorry about the different format. I've been keeping a journal of what I've done and this was the easiest way of remembering it. I'll post up more of what I've done later. My next stop is Ireland. Hopefully they will have internet cafes that I can use!
Saturday 4 October:
This was the day that I was to leave for Leeds. I got up and took a really easy morning because the only thing I needed to do whilst in London was catch my train! It left from Kings Cross station at 1pm. So while I was there, what else should I do except go see Platform 9 3/4! That was neat, and nerdy. Especially because there were a lot of people dressed up hanging out around there. I took a few pictures and was set. Then I walked around in an attempt to find a book store that had LOTR and by golly, I found it! So I went back to the station and read until my train left. Ooh, exciting, I get to ride a train! Got into Leeds and found my way to my hotel. See, I booked a hotel because I couldn't find any hostels in Leeds to stay at so I figured I could get there, and walk around to find a place to stay. It was a nice hotel so I pretty much just stayed in my room. I even ordered room service! That was neat! First time, can't say last, but I doubt I'd do it much anyway.
Sunday 5 October:
That morning I got up and had some comp hot chocolate. Chocolately. Yesterday I found a B&B to stay at for £20 a night. That was pretty much the only place I could find so I went for it. It was about 1.5 miles from the Royal Armouries museum so not that bad. I started to walk there but decided to go to the museum first to see if they knew of anything closer and cheaper. They didn't. But I did see sword fighting going on so I went to investigate. It ended up being a seminar that was being taught, but they did offer classes at the museum on Mondays and Thursdays. Also, one guy at the seminar was staying at a B&B that was about a half mile away and only £15 a night. So I went there and they had room so I stayed there. It really wasn't the prettiest of place, but it was a roof over my head to say the least. Kind of dirty, the heater didn't work, smoking was allowed, eh, let's say I basically used it for sleeping. At least they were really friendly, so it wasn't terrible. That night I went to Tesco and bought stuff for dinner as well as other stuff for breakfast and snacking purposes.
Monday 6 October:
One thing I picked up at Tesco was jelly. At least that's what it said it was. So I was gonna have a PB&J for breakfast. Upon spreading it on my sandwich, I realized it was not jelly. So instead for breakfast, I ended up having a peanut butter and jello sandwich. Interesting. So in England, jelly is not jelly. Remember that all.
After that fiasco, I went to the museum. I was going to go to the library, but ended up looking at the museum all day. It is quite a big place with a lot of stuff. They also had a special exhibit up of arms and armour from the movies so they had stuff from LOTR, Narnia, The Last Samurai, and King Kong. Cool to see some of that stuff.
The museum closed at 5 and the class didn't start until 7 so I had some time to kill. First I found a patch of grass and sat down to read, but it was a cold and cloudy day, so I ended up going to Starbucks, getting some tea and finding a nice comfy chair to read in until the class started. I very well would have missed it if I didn't look at my clock, it was about to start! So I went over to the museum, just a block away, and met people for the class. We were going to be using long swords. It was fun and weird because I am not used to a 4 foot piece of steel coming straight for my face. But it was cool anyway and should help out my paper. Another cool thing about it is your first class is free! Sweet!
Tuesday 7 October:
Today I finally got into the library. I won't bore you with the details of my research, but I did some. After that I tried to find an internet cafe and after wandering around the city center and finding nothing, I gave up, defeated. It has seemed like my days here have all been the same. I wish I were at a hostel so I could meet people. Staying at the B&B, because I don't really like to be there, I get up early, go to the museum all day, get dinner and eat it, then go to bed. Repeat until I leave Leeds.
Wednesday 8 October:
Again I went to the library and got a lot done which is always good. Then I was determined to find a computer. I ended up at the public library and they let me on for free for 2 hours so I got a little bit done. Sorry all, but updating this blog isn't on the top of my list when I have important emails to send out and figuring out where I am going to live next. Anyway, as I left the library, I saw some kids vaulting a wall so I went over and talked to them. They had only been doing parkour for about a month but told me about a jam that was happening on Saturday that would have more people. Cool. I ended up hanging out with them for a while and going to a few different spots. After that I went to find dinner. I wanted a warm meal instead of cold cut sandwiches so I found a restaurant called Nandos. They had chicken so I got a half a chicken with medium spiciness. It wasn't spicy at all...Maybe I can take more spice? At least it was good.
Thursday 9 October:
Today I was supposed to have a meeting with a curator but he has been out sick all week and today was no different. So I went around the museum myself again and tried to find examples of stuff I've researched. I did find some, but it was hard to take a good picture of behind glass. Whatever. Tonight was another sword fighting class so I did what I did last time. Found a patch for grass to read for a while then moved on to Starbucks for tea until it started. That's a good way to kill time. This class was the long sword again so we continued with what we learned last class. Fun. The people are friendly too and helped me out by correcting anything that was wrong. It's kind of a complex art it is. A lot of stuff to think about and go against your instinct to keep the pointy metal thing away from your face. But if you push your sword away from you, it opens up your body for another attack so you gotta keep it close when on the defense.
Friday 10 October:
Since I had been doing a lot of research lately, today was meant to be fun, but I went to the library anyway. I was going to talk to the librarian, who was also at the last class, about swords. He showed me an original manuscript from the 13th century I think. Really old and really cool. Then we talked for a bit but decided to call Dan, the teacher of the class, because he knew more about swords. So I talked with Dan for a while about what we did the previous night.
After that I continued with my original plans. I went up to Knaresborough and saw the Petrifying Well. It is a natural spring that has a really high mineral content and turns whatever it touches to stone. They have a lot of stuff hung up under the drippings like a broom, socks, a lobster, and teddy bears. They say that it will turn a teddy bear solid in only 3 months. Pretty fast. Works the same way as a stalagmite (or stalactite). It was also a very pretty town that I walked around in for a while. Quite a nice day out. Once I got back to Leeds I went to Nandos again and got the Hot half chicken this time. Hotter, but still not hot. Eh, England just doesn't know what hot it, and why should they?
Well, I am going to have to leave it here. Sorry about the different format. I've been keeping a journal of what I've done and this was the easiest way of remembering it. I'll post up more of what I've done later. My next stop is Ireland. Hopefully they will have internet cafes that I can use!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Nothing quite yet...
Hey all, I am in Leeds right now and cannot find internet access very easily. I am at the library right now and after all my other stuff, am almost out of time so I can't write much. But never fear! Once I find some easy internet access, I'll have a week to report on, so it'll be all good.
So keep your eyes open fellow Waldo Watchers (in England, they call him Wally, lame.)
So keep your eyes open fellow Waldo Watchers (in England, they call him Wally, lame.)
Friday, October 3, 2008
Happy Birthday Big Guy!
Again on Tuesday, I went back to the library to do more research. Our first progress report was due on the 1st of October so I wrote that up and sent it out along with a rough outline of my paper. I've always thought that a 40 page paper like this one was not going to be any problem and after writing up the outline, I see that I have a lot to write about. I probably won't even think about pages until I'm done writing everything I wanted. By that time I bet I'll be over 40 pages. No worries on that one. I ended up staying at the library until about 2pm, so fairly late. Got lunch at you know where and ate it outside. The rest of the day was a hunt for the first Lord of the Rings, which I never found, but I did get to walk around a part of town I hadn't been before so that was nice.
Dinners have usually been at restaurants where I can get 3 courses for anywhere from 9-12 pounds. I've known this to be a little much but didn't think much of it because I was getting a good quality meal which was important to me. Tuesday night however, I went to a local cheap chain grocery store called Tesco. I bought 2 rolls, a chunk of cheese (don't know what kind but it was pretty god), salami, and a muffin. All that cost me about 3.50, I'm gonna do that more often! It was a bit of food too. So nothing fancy for dinner, but I shouldn't have fancy every night anyway. Good thing I learned this early on!
As you all are (or should have been) aware, Wednesday was my birthday! It started out with breakfast at a little cafe by Hyde Park, nice and simple. After that I went to the science museum. It was cool but also kind of boring. Most of it seemed to be a history of science museum. Are most like that? I like St. Paul's better, but maybe that's because there are dinosaur bones there. I don't blame London's for not having any dino bones because the museum of natural history was next door. I was going to go there, but ended up spending all my time in the science museum and had to head back for dinner.
On the walk back, I have to admit, I was getting lonely on my birthday. But I stopped at a library and got on the internet and I have to say thank you to everyone who sent me an email of facebook comment because it really did cheer me up. Being in London is a good way to spend your 21st, but it would be a lot better if there were more friends to enjoy it with.
Anyway, I met up with Carly and we went out to an Italian place which was nice. I was going to treat myself because, hey, it's my birthday! So I got a martini, at least that's what it said on the menu. I told the waiter when he asked me how I wanted it to make it however he wanted. So he did. I don't know what he did, but I was expecting a gin a vermouth or something of the like in a martini glass, James Bond style. It ended up being something brown in a tall glass that was only like 1/8 full. Found that a little strange and disappointing, but that's okay, I'll have a James Bond style martini somewhere else.
From there, we headed back to my pub and had a few more drinks throughout the night. We also talked with a few different people, so the morning may have been lonely, but that evening made up for it with all those people. Ended up going to bed around 3 or 4, cuz you can't have an early night on your 21st right? That's what I thought. I did plan on buying a whole cake and eating it, but that never happened because I didn't see any. If I see a cheap cake, I still might do that. I have walked past a couple bakeries, but their cakes are expensive and fancy and I would want to share that. So can't do that. Maybe Tesco has cakes.
Thursday I got up feeling just dandy so I took another walk around town, starting in the new part I hadn't been in before. I went in a few more books stores to find LOTR but none had the 1st one. I saw the 2nd and 3rd but you can't really skip over a book with a story like that can you? Well, unless it's the prequel, but I just finished that one! Then I came on the computer and tried to find a train and a place to stay in Leeds, my next destination. I found a train quite easily, but could not find a cheap place to stay for the life of me! So I'll be in London for a few more days until I can figure that out. I may just have to get a hotel for a few days until I can find a hostel. How frustrating!
Today was my last day at the Wallace Collection's library for a while. For these days I can figure out what I am doing about Leeds. I may come back later to do some additional research but there is a library at Leeds too. While there I used their computers to try to find a place to stay in Leeds. Something will work itself out. I got an email back from a curator there and will have a meeting with him on Thursday.
It's a cold and grey day here, not good for much. There is a guy in my hostel who is has LOTR and will do a book trade with him when he finishes (hobbit for Lotr) so maybe he'll be done and I can spend the rest of the day reading, with a short trip to Tesco in between :)
Dinners have usually been at restaurants where I can get 3 courses for anywhere from 9-12 pounds. I've known this to be a little much but didn't think much of it because I was getting a good quality meal which was important to me. Tuesday night however, I went to a local cheap chain grocery store called Tesco. I bought 2 rolls, a chunk of cheese (don't know what kind but it was pretty god), salami, and a muffin. All that cost me about 3.50, I'm gonna do that more often! It was a bit of food too. So nothing fancy for dinner, but I shouldn't have fancy every night anyway. Good thing I learned this early on!
As you all are (or should have been) aware, Wednesday was my birthday! It started out with breakfast at a little cafe by Hyde Park, nice and simple. After that I went to the science museum. It was cool but also kind of boring. Most of it seemed to be a history of science museum. Are most like that? I like St. Paul's better, but maybe that's because there are dinosaur bones there. I don't blame London's for not having any dino bones because the museum of natural history was next door. I was going to go there, but ended up spending all my time in the science museum and had to head back for dinner.
On the walk back, I have to admit, I was getting lonely on my birthday. But I stopped at a library and got on the internet and I have to say thank you to everyone who sent me an email of facebook comment because it really did cheer me up. Being in London is a good way to spend your 21st, but it would be a lot better if there were more friends to enjoy it with.
Anyway, I met up with Carly and we went out to an Italian place which was nice. I was going to treat myself because, hey, it's my birthday! So I got a martini, at least that's what it said on the menu. I told the waiter when he asked me how I wanted it to make it however he wanted. So he did. I don't know what he did, but I was expecting a gin a vermouth or something of the like in a martini glass, James Bond style. It ended up being something brown in a tall glass that was only like 1/8 full. Found that a little strange and disappointing, but that's okay, I'll have a James Bond style martini somewhere else.
From there, we headed back to my pub and had a few more drinks throughout the night. We also talked with a few different people, so the morning may have been lonely, but that evening made up for it with all those people. Ended up going to bed around 3 or 4, cuz you can't have an early night on your 21st right? That's what I thought. I did plan on buying a whole cake and eating it, but that never happened because I didn't see any. If I see a cheap cake, I still might do that. I have walked past a couple bakeries, but their cakes are expensive and fancy and I would want to share that. So can't do that. Maybe Tesco has cakes.
Thursday I got up feeling just dandy so I took another walk around town, starting in the new part I hadn't been in before. I went in a few more books stores to find LOTR but none had the 1st one. I saw the 2nd and 3rd but you can't really skip over a book with a story like that can you? Well, unless it's the prequel, but I just finished that one! Then I came on the computer and tried to find a train and a place to stay in Leeds, my next destination. I found a train quite easily, but could not find a cheap place to stay for the life of me! So I'll be in London for a few more days until I can figure that out. I may just have to get a hotel for a few days until I can find a hostel. How frustrating!
Today was my last day at the Wallace Collection's library for a while. For these days I can figure out what I am doing about Leeds. I may come back later to do some additional research but there is a library at Leeds too. While there I used their computers to try to find a place to stay in Leeds. Something will work itself out. I got an email back from a curator there and will have a meeting with him on Thursday.
It's a cold and grey day here, not good for much. There is a guy in my hostel who is has LOTR and will do a book trade with him when he finishes (hobbit for Lotr) so maybe he'll be done and I can spend the rest of the day reading, with a short trip to Tesco in between :)
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