London Calling

Since Thursday night I have been staying with my Great Aunt Alison, and have been having a fantastic time. On Friday, I just got up late, tidied up some emails and what not, decorated Alison’s minimalist Christmas tree with her, went for a stroll down the street, and did a lot of chatting with Alison. Yesterday I went into London city to purchase some tickets for Andrea, Adam and myself for our trip to Glasgow and I had a nice wander past Buckingham palace to Trafalgar square where I passed a protest about the atrocities in Darfor as well as a march for the annual Santa convention by about 850 people dressed up as Father Christmas. I checked out the massive pine in Trafalgar square which is an annual gift from the city of Oslo to the people of London as a token of their appreciation for their help in WW2, and then I went down into the underground to eat some fruit for lunch as it was too bitingly cold outside. I took my gloves off to eat and layed them on my lap, but as we all know our lap disappears when we stand up, and I did just that to catch the train to Embankment, once I realised this I was already at another station, so it took me five or so minutes to get back to where I had dropped them, but by this time, one of them had vanished – so now my left hand gets a little chilly… But thankfully inside the National history museum was quite warm as that was where I went next, and I had a ball looking at different animals and dinosaurs for a couple of hours. That evening Alison and I went to see the St. Peters singers at the local church, which was quite pleasant, and we then had dinner and sat around chatting until 12:30. So today had another slow start, but after a late breakfast Alison and I started to fix up some lattice in her garden. We then sat about for an hour or so chatting with coffee and biscuits and are now just about to have dinner. I’m really having a super time here, it’s nice and laid back, and I’m learning a great deal about this side of my family, and English culture and history, and celebrities (almost). The man that lives next door composes music for films for a living and he was responsible for the soundtrack to St. Trinians which has just been released here. He is married to a BBC journalist who is often travelling all over the world. Also it seems a little odd when we are talking about celebs in the magazines, and Alison drops in ‘Yes well Perou (her son in law) said that she was actually quite a nice person’ – ha! Also the lady that won the first ‘Strictly come dancing’ (which is just like ‘Dancing with the Stars’ although taken a lot more seriously here) lived just down the street, next to some other guy who gets picked up occasionally by a chauffeur driven Mercedes. It’s all a bit surreal!

England Day 6

In the morning we had our complementary breakfast (cornflakes and toast) and mounted a train to Salisbury, a small town near Stonehenge. Once there we took a £7 return bus ride to the stones and wandered around there for an hour or so. I was told by many people who had been that you couldn’t get close to them and that you had to pay a whole bag full of money just to get within a couple of hundred metres of them, but I came away quite impressed with it, and thought it was well worth the money. There was a small wire (could hardly be called a fence) stopping tourists getting within fifty metres or so of them, and these are some serious rocks, so you get to see plenty of them from that distance. The audio guide that we got was quite useful too, detailing the history of them and possible uses for it. Simon’s theory could still hold true, but it would be a hell of a coincidence if the rocks just accidentally lined up perfectly with the sun at the summer and winter solstices. Apparently back in the day tourists bought hammers from a local store and chipped away little pieces of it to take as souvenirs. Once back in Salisbury Ben and I made the most of our studentrail cards and jumped on a train to London, which just made forking out the £20 for the card worth while. Two or three hours later we were in England’s capital and after finding Victoria coach station settled into a very nice Pizzeria for our final meal and t’was indeed a grand affair, massive garlic bread, pizza and very nice dessert for about £13. Then at the coach station where Ben was heading off to Paris to hang with Celine for a couple of days we did the awkward high five, handshake and man hug all in one and said our goodbyes. It was a bit sad, I’d basically hung out with him everyday for the last two and a half months and we’d had a lot of fun together, but now I’ve got another good mate to visit in the States.

England Day 5

In the morning we wandered around the old Bristol markets and found out that we could not get to Cheddar (that’s right the town of cheese!) and it’s apparently well known gorge on a week day, so we caught a local bus to Bath. Now surely everyone that visits wants to have a bath in Bath, and Ben and I were no different. I’m sure we do appear quite worldly, and proper, being two well to do, travelling University students, but nothing makes us more chipper than some fun words – and the proposition of being able to say ‘we had a bath in Bath’ had us had us foaming at the mouth. But once we had found our way to the hostel by sneakily following another backpacker that was on the bus with us, we discovered that our bathing dreams might not be fulfilled. Apparently people are not allowed to swim in the 800 year old Roman baths, and if you want to experience the goodness and healing properties of Bath water you need to go to a new Bath Spa centre around the corner which costs £20 for two hours and it is all modern and icky. So we passed on the modern dip and instead had a lovely combined tour of the Fashion museum, and Roman Baths.
Apparently back in the day, the Romans would have a work out in a heated room, then have a slave scrap the perspiration and crud from off their bodies with a with a metal scraper, before having a massage and then having a paddle in the steaming hot baths. Now I certainly would have paid £20 for that sort of treatment. Come here my little Roman slave! We also got a glassful of the fabled Bath water, which tasted like normal bath water – but we knocked it back. So from Italians from long ago having fun with heat, Ben and I then tried Italians having fun with the cold – Gelato! (Beat that Anna Coren!) Once our mega super bowl of fantastic chilly goodness was consumed, we bought some pasta, sauce and cheese, whipped it up in the hostel, and went to see the film ‘American Gangster’ starring our mate Rusty and Denzel Washington. This cinema was quite different to Aberystwyth’s being really big and modern, and we were assigned seats. The film was fantastic, rough and brutal, but very well done, quite engaging. That night I had a shower in the hostel – it was cold and not fun, would have preferred a bath.

Wales to England Day 4

After a lovely long sleep and some breakfast, Mrs Cooper drove us down to the coast about a mile away, once it had thoroughly been discussed which was the best way for us to walk. The fact that we didn’t have any proper outdoor boots seemed to worry Mrs Cooper and her neighbour a fair bit, and I felt a little on display with them looking at my little purple booties and tutting. But I wasn’t going to pretend like I was a mud and off-road master and know all there is to know, yet I did turn down the offer of wearing some Wellies. Once at the shore we walked along a small goat track which apparently stretches for 180 miles along the southern Welsh coastline – I’d love to do it all one day. It was really beautiful, and the day was fantastic, some cloud but mainly sunny and not very windy weather. We walked for about twenty minutes along the top of the cliffs and then came across a beach that didn’t have any footsteps on it, so we descended into it via some steep steps. Then took our sweet time making our way across it climbing up and along the jagged rocks at the base of the cliff, having a great laugh. Every now and then our peaceful explorations were interrupted by a loud whoosh and bang that came from the headland a little further along, so once we raced each other up the steps we sat down and watched two or three metre long planes being launched from what was apparently an army training base. We then ambled back to the house, had a nice lunch of cheese lettuce, and beetroot chutney sandwiches and got a lift into Tenby with Jo, where we looked around a monks shop, the old castle and then caught a train to Bristle.

By the time our train arrived at Bristle it was ten or eleven o’clock, and having not booked anywhere to stay we were keen to find a hostel. The first one was right on the river in a prime position, but cost £21 so we went in search of another, which was easy enough to find with the instructions given from the Kiwi at the first hostel. On the way we took some pics of a lovely church and then crossed a bridge that opens and closes to let big ships through, I pointed this out to Ben just as we had crossed it and while he was looking back he walked straight into a pole. I saw the whole thing happening and assumed he was doing it for a joke, so when he hit his head on the pole and fell over backwards I played it up really big for the man that was walking behind us. Ben got up, we had a laugh and walked about fifty metres before he realised that he didn’t have his camera on him. It wasn’t where he had fallen over, and the man behind us had walked off so it looked ominous. Ben ran back further and found a group of men in a circle looking at all his pics on his camera, it must have just fallen out of his pocket after he took it out at the church. So he said thanks, got a photo with them all, and we headed onto find this hostel. Thirty minutes and £14 later we had ourselves a place to sleep and were in search of some cheap food for the night, of which a greasy late night fast food place looked to be the most promising. Now Ben and I don’t rush into big decisions like this head on, so we compared prices from several places to find the best value for money. When we were walking back from a cheap curry place an older man approached us and said

‘Excuse me, I know 1200 poems and recite them for people and was wondering if I could tell you one in exchange for some money to buy myself dinner tonight’

So we got talking to him, and he told us about how he had just found out that week that he was actually a Grandfather, and how even though he was now fifty it only felt like a couple of weeks ago he was in his teens. He has dyslexia (must be something in the Welsh water) and has memorised over thirty six hours of poetry – he knows this because he did a charity poetry recital where he recited for 34 hours straight before collapsing. Upon our request he told us two poems about watching his lover pass him everyday by a pond and another about the pointlessness of war. He has written over a hundred himself and after eight years has secured a contract with Penguin, and a book compiling all of his poetry will be published in the next few months. According to him he is on Youtube and there is fan club on the internet as well as a following at the local University. He writes under the pseudonym Bear, but he told us his real name too – which I am not at liberty to tell.

Wales day 3

The next morning Celine caught a train back to Leeds and Ben and I headed on our way to a place near Tenby in Southern Wales to stay with the parents of Christine, a girl that we had briefly met at Swing dancing lessons. We started out with a cheap and nutritious breakfast from Summerfield’s of Apple turnovers, glazed raspberry rolls and orange juice and then boarded a bus to Aberareon. Our initial plans were to take an eight hour train trip back into Enlgand to Tenby, as this was the only available option on the internet, but Nia suggested just using local busses which proved to be twice as quick and cheap. It also provided us with what would have to be the most picturesque bus ride I have ever taken, with farmland on one side of the bus meeting jagged cliffs on the other going down to the sea. We stopped for an hour in Aberareon because Ben found out in his book of Great Britain that it is home to a world famous ice-creamery, however as it turns out it was only open in summer, so had to be satisfied with a walk around the dock and through the main street. From Aberareon we travelled to Carmantheon and then to Tenby, where I called Jo, Christine’s sister to tell them that we would arrive soon. As we had a one hour wait for the next bus we decided to check out the village, starting with the tourist information centre. The lady there seemed very excited to speak to us, but said there wasn’t much to see in Tenby during winter. She was wrong though. Just through the centre of town we walked onto a beach that would still be called beautiful if it were on the east coast of Australia. It was wide and sandy (no stones) and met a blue sea with proper waves. Firstly our attention was grabbed by the fort that was built on a small island just off the shore, but then Ben spotted something even cooler – caves! So for the next half hour or so we climbed in and around the caves in the rock face looking over the beach, and as a result missed our bus by less than a minute, so we spent another hour exploring the town centre and examining railway times for the following day. After we caught our bus, armed with rudimentary directions from Christina, we managed to find the right house, and were greeted with some tea by Jo, who told us that she and her Dad and some friends were going to have a Welsh folk music jam session tonight at a pub and that we were most welcome to join them if we wished. She then served up some fantastic vegetarian curry when family friends Gwilian and Claudia arrived who are 60 or 70 year old leading Welsh landscape and still life painters. Since we found out that Chicken Tika misala is England’s favourite dish during the intro week pop quiz Ben and I have been wanting to have some curry here, and this certainly did not let us down, it was beaut.
Jo studied folk music at Newcastle university and plays the fiddle and banjo. One of her fiddle friends picked us up and we all drove to Carmantheon via some narrow twisty roads with built up hedges on either side. Once there we entered an old pub and joined a circle of people sitting around some tables with various instruments such as drums, guitars, mandolins and a harp. We were then introduced to Mr Cooper, Christine’s Dad who bought us a drink as well as a fifty or sixty year old lad who I was sitting next to called Simon Hedger. Simon has lived in a nearby valley for 25 years paying rent from a farmer by working one day a week for him, the other days of the week he spends carving things out of wood, with chainsaws. Later on this year he is going to the world championships for it. When he is not carving, he is writing songs to go to the music that the people in the group perform, each telling stories of Welsh history, such as ‘the last coal mine in Wales’. He has written over twenty, and has them all memorised and none of them written down as he has dyslexia. When everyone was playing he would start singing in his deep raspy voice and we would all join in for the choruses. Towards the end of the night, he told a story to the light accompaniment of a mandolin and harp, all about the ancient family of man and how they survived. This later lead him into telling me and Ben about his theory on Stonehenge, that it is actually an ancient animal trap. After a solid couple of hours of music we travelled back with Mr Cooper, and went to bed upstairs in the great big house in beds in Christine’s old room nicely warmed up with electric blankets.

Wales day 2

[Spoiler alert: This blog entry ends with your protagonist being fed a two-minute noodle sandwich by a naked dreadlocked, nipple pierced man]

The next morning after a very solid sleep we walked down the beach in the centre of Aberystwyth. The town is meant to be a very popular place during the summer because of the beach, but it was quite pretty now, just in a different, more chilly way. We looked at the (almost compulsory) castle and then ducked into a pub/restaurant for some breakfast/lunch as it started to rain. After filling our hungry bellies we wandered up the top of the hill and lookout near Nia’s place. There was a pretty steep old track leading up and once there we found some really odd touristy stuff like a Frisbee golf course, children’s play equipment, and restaurant. From the top of the hill we got a fantastic view of the bay and town, rolling hills meeting the rough sea at steep cliffs. We also experienced the mightiest winds I have ever encountered and had a ball holding our jackets out and leaning right into them, until it started to rain again and the raindrops stung like needles. So we turned our backs on the wind and walked another path down the hill. On the way back we passed a couple of the millions of sheep in Wales that still had their tails on. That afternoon we chilled out with Nia and her American boyfriend Vince and talked about all aspects of Whale milk. After darkness had set in Ben, Celine and I went to a quaint little cinema to see the film ‘the Golden Compass’. What made the cinema so odd was that it had the opening time for the cinema, when the previews started, then when the film started and ended. After the previews there was a small intermission and a little sweets bar opened up near the screen. Once we were back in the house we ate pasta for dinner and yoghurt and peaches for dessert. To finish off the cheese that we bought, Ben and I ate a sizable chunk with our pasta, which prompted Vince to comment that eating a chunk of cheese is best done in the buff. I asked if he had a dress code for all sorts of food, but he just said that easy to make bad food is naked food. Nia and Vince met in the Czech republic at a Ska concert and hitched around together for a while. While they were in Barcelona Vince spent a whole night going from bar to bar completely naked, because there is no legal rule against it, and now they are married. Vince married them. He is an ordained minister, of the Universe. Apparently just like the guy who wrote ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ he signed up with some organisation to make up his own church which means he can legally wed people in America. So I’m not actually sure if they are legally married in the UK, I don’t think Nia is either – I don’t think it bothers her, she’s pretty easy going. When we were having our yogurt she leant us some of her honey and explained that it came from her farm,
Justin: ‘Oh, you lived on a bee farm did you?’
Vince: ‘Yeah she did, until she got bitten on the vagina!’
(General laughs)
‘Oh Vince’ we thought ‘trust him to say a joke as silly as that!’
Nia: ‘You don’t have to tell everyone that story!’
Hee hee hee, so she told us the story of how it happened, it was pretty amusing, not the sort of thing you expect to hear from someone that you only just met.
Vince then decided to make some two-minute noodles and toast, and I suggested that he should have them together like a sandwich, two good things put together are never going to be bad are they? I then questioned whether he thought that a two-minute noodle sandwich would be classed as naked food or not, to which he replied by taking off all his clothes despite there being myself and four other people in the room. He then offered me some of his sandwich – which as I had suspected tasted fantastic!

Wales day 1

On Friday night I went to the Erasmus fairwell party at the Packhorse pub and hung out with lots of my international buddies and ate the yummy free food. I also met up with Steph who I have danced with several times at Salsa and Swing and had a good natter to her and her mate for close to an hour. She is from a place between London and Oxford and has a fantastically posh sounding accent, but she says she the specific area she is from is not that high brow. I left the pub at about 12:30 and woke up six hours later ready to catch a train to Conwy in Wales with Ben and Celine. For the first hour train ride we all slept or tried to, then marvelled at the sweet Welsh country side, all different shades of green and rolling hills and meadows. After boarding another train we had to tell the conductor that we wanted to get off at Conwy, which we did.

The station was very small, and with the directions (which we didn’t even ask for) from a lady who also got off the train we headed for the tourist information centre. After about a minute of being outside we were all freezing, the wind was quite nasty. We took shelter in a little café and then walked down to the harbour where I went into the bathroom and put on an extra pair of pants, another jacket and worked out that I could wrap my scarf over the top of my head as well as my neck to keep my ears warm. Fully clothed up we walked on top of the wall that surrounds the town and then ambled through the castle as the rain started to sprinkle down.

As the sun set we went into a local bakery and ordered some Welsh Oggies which are large pasties filled with beef, gravy, leeks and potatoes. Bridgette the owner of the shop let us stay inside and eat even though they were closing and cleaning up, according to her assistant she was only doing this because she fancied me because I was an Aussie. After our meal we fancied checking out a local pub and only had to walk 100 metres before we found one. Once inside we were greeted by a very smiley chap who introduced himself as David, and we ordered our drinks – apparently it is not common to have coffee in a pub… We sat down by the open fire near David, so I asked him ‘So David, what do you do around here?’ ‘What?’ he replied ‘You don’t go asking people that! What would you say if I asked you what you do?’ ‘Err, I’m a student’. There was a bit of an awkward pause and then some of the other people in the bar started talking to us. When I was talking to the lady who owned the bar, David pulled me aside saying he wanted a hand with something, so I went with him into the next room and chose some songs on the juke box which he paid for. After a while of listening to the Eagles and Belle and Sebastion, I thought I’d try and strike up a conversation with Dave again and tried to continue on the conversation we were having with the other people in the bar, ‘So Dave, have you done much travelling?’, he looked at me and put one finger on the table, then slowly moved it about 12 inches (imperial – keeping it authentic) along the table, then he spat out ‘Don’t ask me that, ask your F***ing self!’ then turned around. Brilliant, we thought – cool Welsh locals!

But that was only the start of the craziness that we were to experience, as we were now heading to Aberystwyth a town of 13000, of which 7000 are students on the western coast of Wales. Just the night before I had texted Nia, a girl I had found on Couchsurfing.com to see if we could stay with her for a couple of nights, and she had agreed. So after two train trips and about 4 hours of playing ‘What am I?’ and other similar games we arrived in Aber and were met by some of Nia’s mates, one of which had just gotten back from Taiwan after staring in the film ‘September Winds’ there as the lead role. On the way back they bought some Fosters (which heaps of Poms drink) and we got some Fizzy drink and then walked to Nia’s place. It was a biggish flat overlooking the beach, and we all sat around chatting (and them drinking and smoking like chimneys) until one or two. We slept in the living room, Ben and Celine on a double lie low and me on the couch.

Dinner @ 7 Spices 4 2

Finally i was able to get rid of the advertising, i traded it with the manager of the 7 spices resturant that already advertises with the paper. I wanted to get the other place that offered me a dinner for four because that would bring in a new customer for the paper, but they bailed on me. I only asked this man for a dinner for two as i was getting pretty desperate - seeing as the comp ends today. And i think the dinner for two will be plentiful, as i'm planning on trading it with a nice couple that own an antiques store. Thats what i'll get stuck into later on today.

Last night i went to Gaghole the comedy night, and it was by far the funniest one yet, all the comedians were a hoot - worth the £5. Tonight Ben and i are going to a Swing social, so before hand we are meeting up to brainstorm some dancing ideas so we don't freeze out on the floor, if all goes well it should be a good night. After that we might do a little more planning on our Wales trip. It is a little hard as the places we are going are all so tiny, but we have all but lined up accommodation for free at two or three different places, so that is a bonus. Means we can hang with some locals too.

It's the last week of Uni now and we had the last philosophy/ethics proctorial. It was relaxed and fun, and afterwards we went out to the old bar with our proctor, he's a nice chap. I started talking to one of the lads from the class and mentioned going to Israel, turns out he was born there and visits all the time, so we had a good chat about that.

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I woke up feeling fantastic today, with the sound of the rain dripping onto my skylight in my ears and the prospect of a day experiencing Robin Hoods stomping ground ahead of me! And sure enough after a rather damp walk to the bus station and two and a half hours on a bus we were in Nottingham. Ben, Celine and I hit up the Robin Hood centre and felt cool wearing the awesome hat and posing with Robin Hood paraphenalia. We then went to Englands oldest Inn for lunch which looked like a cave inside. The food was great, and reasnobly priced too. I got beef and gravy wrapped in a big yorkshire pudding - nice! Then onto the castle and there was an exhibition on the latest Robin Hood tv show with lots of costumes and props from the show, good fun! Here are a couple of pics from the day

"There you go my darlings"

Wow - dinner at Agostina's place was fantastic! We had Bread and something Tuna-ish, pasta with a fantastic meaty sauce, chicken and bell peppers, fruit salad and chocolate cake and Italian coffee. Very very nice!

Today Ben and i went in search of a Frisbee golf course that is meant to be in Harrogate, a nearby town. We walked for about two kilometres out of the town to where it should be but didn't find it. We did find a nice country pub and had lunch there. It was fantastic, just like the ones on the bbc dramas that we watch on tele - lots of pokey rooms and the lady behind the bar called us love and said "there you go my darlings" when she put the food on the table for us - orrrhhh! This town Harrogate must be really high brow, because there were so many expensive cars there - also the well renowned cafe and bakery Betty's had some very steep prices, but in all fairness, a very nice lemon and lime tea cake.

I realised last night that my £300 advertising sace has rapidly lost alot of value, because the last paper for the year went out on Friday, so the soonest that their ad will run will be next year... I think i will try going to the couple of businesses that have already run ads as at least i know they are actually keen on it. It can get a bit disheartening getting turned down all the time. I've got until tuesday to get rid of it, the dinner for four that i was previously offered is looking tempting...

Don't forget the cordial

Last night i remembered another big difference between Australia and England. English cordial seems to be a little bit stronger then the variety found in Australia...

Today i have been trying to trade my advertising, and ended up having a conversation with a nice lady about the effectiveness of charities, which sort of tied in to what we are discussing in ethics at the moment and has been occypying my thoughts alot recently.

Is it an obligation of wealthy people to give to poorer people or is it just a good thing to do? - or as this lady thinks, is giving to charities actually part of the problem. She mentioned some examples where charities do more harm then good, but on the whole, i don't know if this would stand up.



The photo is of Ben and I with Jimmy Carr the comedian (read my article from a few days ago).

Tonight i'm going to some student accommodation about 4 miles from the campus to have an Italian dinner with some of my European friends - should be very nice!

Australia vs England

Here is a brief list of things that i have noticed that are not the same - there may be a couple of wild generalisations...

- People say 'youright?' (Are you alright?) instead of 'howyagoin?' (How are you going)

- When it rains the rain drops are not as dense and you don't always need a jacket or rain coat

- Sheets are not valued as highly. My bedding pack did not include one and several times i have stayed at other peoples places and not been offered one.

- The gaps between English peoples teeth are larger than Australians. This is based on the dental floss that i bought that was too thick for my teeth. Nuff said.

- Students get way more involved in University societies

- Students drink more (it is possible)

- Students get into fancy dress costumes to go out more often.

- It is colder here.

- People say 'Bollocks' and 'Blimey' not even intending it as a joke.

- Girls wear short skirts the whole year round (thick stockings as well when it is cold)

- Blokes wear scarfs even if they aren't metrisexuals, old pompous men, or Dr. Who.

Wow - lots of great stuff has happened since i last wrote - i'll begin at the beginning...
On Friday Ben and I went to see Operator Please in Manchester and i ran into two of the singers backstage when i was going to the toilet - very cool. Not so cool was having to run from their show after they had only been playing for twenty minutes to catch the last bus back to Leeds. Meh, at least we saw them!
On Saturday i went paintballing because a friend of mine won some tickets, saving us a lot of money. We still had to pay £15 for ammunition but it was alot cheaper than usual. It started out slowly for me as i got shot within 30 seconds of the first two rounds, but then after a while i got a feel for it and even played the hero of the green team when after scrambling under heavy fire behind some shelter, i grabbed our bomb and running into the open lobbed it into the enemy's bunker, winning the game for us. I did get shot a bit, and i've still got a few bruises, but it was a real blast - very much worth it! The pic is of my finger where i got smashed by a paintball - it left a pretty good mark.
On Sunday i worked on my last essay and after some initial panic where i really thought i couldn't get it done, i got it done - yah! And that night Ben and I went to see the comedian Jimmy Carr at the Grand Theatre which was great fun. At one point during the show he asked the audience for their sexual fantasies, and i quite wittily yelled out 'Ya Mum' to which he replied 'Alright so thats necrophilia'.
Having finished my essay, i was then able on Monday to try and get rid of my £300 worth of advertising space, which proved to be a bit trickier than i had expected. Most places i went too needed me to contact head office. So i'll try that, and send a couple of emails about. Worse comes to worse and i'll take up the offer of a meal for 4 at a resturaunt that i got, but i think i can do better.

£300 paperclip

A fundraising organisation at Leeds Uni is running this event where people get a paperclip and trade it for bigger and better things, then sell them on eBay and the proceeds go to Charity. I traded my green paperclip for advertising space in the student newspaper worth £300. Now i am going to go down town and offer it to some businesses and see what they will give me for it - lets see how we go!

In other news, the time now is 3:30 in the Afternoon, and it is already getting dark - no wonder English people get so pale and pastie (say I who live in Australia and still manage to emit a faint white glow when ever i take off my shirt).

Last night Ben and I made Brownie's, they were a quite fluffy as we only had self raising flour. We bought chocolate, but borrowed all the other stuff from other people in the building complex, giving them some of the produce - so everyone is a winner!

I polished off an essay today, so i've just got the one more to go before i'm done for this term - yeah! Really should start it sometime...

Swing when your winning

So i was planning on writing all about the fantastic weekend that i just had at the swing camp - but today was just so dreary that i thought i wouldn't do such a fun topic justice. See, i've got these essays looming, two due next week, both 2000 words each. So today as i don't have any classes on until five i thought i could really make some headway into it - but way led to way, and almost everything that could go awry did and it looked like i wasn't going to achieve anything. But i grabbed myself (figeratively) by the scruff of the neck and said 'look dear boy, you will achieve something today - just focus on one thing and get that done'. So i did. I posted my mail. Go on scoff away, but this task involved getting photos which were all located on various computers printed from a machine that promised 'your photos in seconds' but in reality due to technical gliches took over half an hour, walking back and fro from Leeds city because i forgot the addresses to two letters, filling out a table top sized voting form (all 1 to 79) and then waiting in a 25 minute que. This whole process took me nigh on two hours - but with the day split into awkward segments - this took away all of my usable space. Aswell as this the day was quite damp and i was forced to hide my satisfaction that the weather was reflecting my mood, as this would wreck my mood, and thus make the dreary wet atmosphere superflous. But all is well now as still having done very little study i went to a reagaton dance class, ate some pizza and went to 'Gaghole' a comedy night of students and professionals - pretty funny stuff. Which puts me nicely in the mood for writing about the weekend.

Saturday started with a nice basic beginners swing class - good fun. Then we had a fantastic jumps and tricks class which was open to both beginners and intermediate. It was here that i danced with 'bit of a guy' girl - named so because these were the first words that she said to me (she was dancing as a male lead - but i danced with her anyway) the first time i had met her. On first meeting Bitofaguy i had assumed that she was your typical very good looking girl - with a very 'i'm a good looking girl' attitude. But i managed to break that down - after her initial comment 'I'm actually a bit of a guy' i said 'wow, love the honesty - and we've only just met!' to which i gained a wry smile, but got an audible laugh to my comment after i had finished dancing with her 'you make an alright girl too'. Anyway, so in this jumps and tricks class we learned some cool stuff, then we had another beginners lesson, then a break before our big night out at 'The Wardrobe'. As soon as Ben and I walked into the club we were very intimidated - these people knew how to dance, and looked very smooth on the floor, so we sat down and watched. Bitofaguy (who is an intermediate) came over and said 'hey' to both of us with her mate Amoeba (it was loud and it sounded like that - it could be Anita or Anilla though), possibly wanting a dance - but no such offer would come from these two gents, being more scardy cats than swing cats! But after getting an offer from another girl (Diana) in our beginners class i went out to the floor and Ben went too with another beginner. Once on the floor all i could remember was the last routine that we did that day which included moves such as 'spank the baby' and 'getting jiggy' both moves - especially the former, look quite ridiculous, and in all honesty i couldn't even remember the whole routine, so there were several moments of just standing around feeling very ill at ease and hoping never to be in a situation like this ever again. And i was meant to be leading so i've got no idea how Diana felt. So after the second song i swiftly left the floor apologising to my partner and swearing never to do it again. However, it wasn't long before i got back on the horse (nb. in this metaphor the horse is the dancefloor not Diana) as another lady from our classes asked me to dance. By this time after watching more attentively the other dancers i had remembered the basic step and was able to make my way through the song staying relatively in time and not feeling too bad. Ben and i then made our way casually over to the bar, got some water on the rocks and stood close to Bitofaguy and Amoeba, with our backs turned so that eye contact wouldn't be made and we wouldn't be obliged to ask for a dance. Bitofaguy then approached us and asked us (i like to think it was me though) whether we would like to dance with them. And here is where Ben gets his big coup because Bitofaguy danced with him and myself with Amoeba, although i maintain that this was solely because he was who she happened to be closest too and it would have been too obvious otherwise. Amoeba was a fine dancer nevertheless - i had a real blast with her and she taught me some smoking moves. Later i danced with Bitofaguy and found that my first impressions could well be quite off as she was just really positive and great fun. She left early, i did a bit more dancing - a good night all round.
The next day we started it off with another beginners class and then in the break Ben and I went for a quick tipple at the refectory (water - still). On the way we walked passed the the Swing help desk which was manned by non other then Bitofaguy. We had a conversation of a jocular nature (thankyou Peter Garret)and i questioned why she left so early the previous night - giving the impression that i stayed really late and am a party animal, where as in reality i left before twelve - before the actual band played. She said that she had to attend a friends 21st birthday, where i rather excitedly dropped in that it was actually Ben's 21st birthday today - because it was so, and she gave Ben a birthday hug. If only I had been born one month and eleven days earlier! I'm blaming you Mother! After another beginners swing class with an Australian and Dutch couple we headed to the sports centre to do a 20's Charlston class with the same instructors with the intermediates. This was a real hoot - big, camp moves, slo-mo running, a bit of breakdancing six step, scarecrows, lift your braces and kick out your feet - all round good fun. We then got the opportunity to bust out some of those moves with the ladies and for once i felt like i was really being communicative, telling my woman where to go by my movements and not through my voice as i was the previous night. I danced briefly with the Dutch teacher and she said i had 'a good body for it - good posture', nice one Justo! Bitofaguy was in this class too, but i didn't really talk to her as she had a sore knee and sat out for most of it. When Ben's side of the room was dancing and we were watching i yelled out 'yeah Ben, it's your birthday' just as a joke. But the instructors picked up on this and got everyone to make a circle and all the girls in the room had to dance with him - ahh what a laugh! It was fantastic. After the class we reluctantly went to a bar on campus to hang out with the swing crew. I say reluctantly as i was not keen for another round of awkwardness on the floor. But once there i was put back on the floor because a girl asked me to dance, of which i can't say no to. And it was pretty average, i'd forgotten most of the moves and it was a bit ungainly. But i got along well with the girl so it was at least good fun - it was this dance that Ben videotaped me. From there more and more girls asked me for a dance and i gained a bit of confidence and a few moves (like the chill out foot shuffle from the Dutch instructor) and i was starting to feel good. So i asked Diana for a dance and said 'alrighty, you just see the improvement' and with this confident statement i danced confidently, flinging her out, doing several passovers, foot shuffles, Charlston hitches, Texas tommy passes, badooms, slides, you name it - it felt awesome!
I think i might even pursue Swing when i get back home and perhaps head down to Melbourne which according to Matt and Loti the instructors is meant to have one of the best scenes in the world. (Note to self: Lindy exchange in November swingtalk.com.au) And from Swing i headed back to Ben's place for some waffles, and then had a slightly damper jog back then usual thanks to the light rain that had set in and would follow through into the next day. All in all it was a pretty super weekend. But i can't dwell on the past - best get stuck back into these essays - or go to sleep more likely, tomorrows a new day!

Also, an article i wrote on Bahai's not being allowed to attend University in Iran got published in the LeedsStudent newspaper on Friday.

Philosophy class yesterday:
There were five of us students and our third year proctor who was meant to be controlling our discussion and it was all going really well. I had thankfully managed to find the right reading to read so i knew what i was talking about and we were slowly working our way through the questions that we had to answer. Then we came to question 3. Now when i was sitting at home the night before quite late, i came up with an answer to question three that was quick and easy, but also as i wrote it down, incredibly accurate, poignent, and humerous. So as we breached question three there was a pause as everyone was waiting for someone else to go first - my heart said 'shout your answer out justin, say it loud and proud and tell everyone how cool you think it is', but my mind said, 'stay cool, wait for someone else to say their answer which will be inferior to yours then nonchalantly say yours - this way you will look even cooler'. By now my heart is beating really fast doof doof doof, and i'm thinking 'ahh what if i say it wrong', 'what if they don't get it'. But I wait... the question is read by our proctor 'how would you define wisdom?', still i wait, as an unclear definition is made, then i strike, 'Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad' - and there was a pause for at least one second where everyone was looking at me with a blank face, then they all started laughing and commenting on how great that was. Yeah, nailed it!

The last two nights in a row i've gone out for tea with Ben and his parents who have come to visit him here, the first time it was just me and them, then last night it was with Andii and Celine as well. They paid both times which was very nice, and the food was fantastic - we ate at some pretty high class places - my meals cost pretty close to or over £10 and at the second place they took my jacket from me and put it in a closet - pretty high brow eh? Last night it was a celebration for Ben's birthday which is this Saturday so i asked the waitor to bring out a candle or something which they did and we sang happy birthday - ahh very nice indeed. Incidently, no one called out the hipips at the end - normally the dominant males job...

This afternoon as we have the bye at five a side soccer, Ben and i are going to play American flag football - that starts at two and it is 11:36 now, so i guess i have just enough time to do a bit of study before hand (essay on strikes and riots in France in 1968), but on the otherhand i might pay my mates at the bank and post office a quick visit - why not hey?

So i was poked back by my actress friend (poking is when you allow someone to view your profile on facebook) which is a good sign - but she has a boyfriend - which is a bad sign. Here is a picture of her and the lead actor from the play.



Today i played some football with some of my english buddies at the sports centre and went to a baroque concert and talk with some of my international pals. During the football match at 11 oclock a lady came and asked for a minutes silence which we did, being rememberence day at all. At the concert i asked Helena from Germany if they do anything for rememberence day. She said they have a carnival that starts at 11o'clock, but she didn't think it had anything to do with remembering the war - odd.

I have only been to one other classical music concert before and that kept me entertained with dancers and a couple of songs that i knew. But i didn't know any of these ones, so thankfully i brought my knitting along and i finished off my ball of wool. I would liken the whole experience to being about as exciting as going on a journey in a car with interesting but not outrageous scenery flashing by your window - and no radio.

Black Comedy!

The light turning on was actually pretty spectacular - there would have been at least 3000 leodins (synonym for 'people who dwell in leeds') all crowded around a massive stage in the cold listening to X factor (like aussie idol) winners and losers sing their little hearts out. Then they switched the lights on and there was an awesome fireworks display. Now fireworks are pretty cool in my books - plenty of 'wow' moments. Infact Ben was yelling 'wow' so loud that he scared a little kid away - wow indeed.
But not even the wowtastic fireworks could top off the last 2 hours that i have had. I went to see the stage production 'Black Comedy'. Initially i thought it was going to be stand up, and then i couldn't find tickets, so i had all but given up hope. But Andii knew all about it as she was planning to audition for a part and was part of the stage society. It was hilarious and the performances were top notch - and it was all glued together beautifully with old school English accents. It made me realise that i haven't been to a stage production of anything in a fair while - the last time being a rock opera in Newcastle at least a year ago. What really makes a stage production great for me is having a charactor on stage who you can have a crush on - and my gosh, this one was not lacking in that respect. There was an actress playing the charactor Clea who particularly caught my eye - it could be because she was playing a spicy charactor, but she looked like one cool chick. So i sent her a message on facebook......... Now is this wrong? Am I a sleezy, stalking, star eyed fan looking for my slice of Celebrity pie? Or am i just a level headed sensible lad persuing the available pathways to contact with a lass that caught my eye? (or am i an accidental poet? - read those last two sentences aloud)

Two nights ago i was going for a jog through hide park with my British friend Matt when a guy started running near us chased by two policemen. It was just like an episode of the Bill - awesome! Well, the guy got away but apart from that it was pretty cool.

Yesterday Salsa was cancelled (Boooo!) because there was a give it a go swing dance class (yeah!!!) So we did that instead - it was a hoot! I then went to Bens place to make some plans for our trip in December but instead we made rice crispee treats and watched flight of the conchords - an awesome New Zealand New York show. WE bought rice bubbles and marshmellows and fudge - but the marshmallows had beef in them so ben couldn't eat them, so we just made it with fudge and they were great. But now i have two packets of marshmallows to eat - ahh! What a nice problem to have.
Also yesterday we played five a side soccer and had a win - only it was a practice game as the other team didn't turn up.

This afternoon i've got Tango and Swing dancing, then we are going to see the Leeds Christmas lights get turned on!

Guy Fawks night!

Yesterday was Guy Fawks day and people got right into it. At seven o'clock we went to Hyde park and watched probably the biggest bonfire i have ever seen - then a pretty impressive fireworks display before working our way through the massive crowds to the fair that was set up. There were so many people there that we decided against going in and instead went back to Charlie mo.
Guy Fawks is celebrated because an Irish Catholic man back a couple of hundred years ago tried to blow up parliment but was caught and burned or drawn and quartered - I'm not sure if people celebrate him as a martyr or they are celebrating his death. I don't actually know if most people know either - just a good excuse to play with fire!

Ireland

Well Dublin what a hoot!
We caught the 45 minute flight from Leeds to Dublin with Ryan air and from the airport made our way by double decker bus to our hostel. On the way we saw a shop front titled 'The money doctor' where i made a fantastic pun which i will now shamlessly retell. 'Hey guys, do you think you could get cheque-ups there?'. Once we got to our hostel it we went out to get something to eat - unfortunately it was about 11 and most things were closed so we went to an Irish fastfood chain - Supermacs! the food was quite expensive - correlating with what the taxi driver told us on the way to the airport. As we started dinner i 'prosted' Anne, which is the German way of Cheersing - but then thought that as we are in Ireland we should do it the Irish way - but we didn't know how to do it, so i asked an dude who was sitting near us 'Excuse me mate' no reply 'Excuse me mate!' still no reply, then he looked at me and said 'did you just say excuse me man (or mate, i wasnt' sure)'
'Yeah'
'you should say sir'
'Oh ok, excuse me sir how do you say cheers in Ireland?'
And he waved away the question and walked away. so i didn't learn at that point how to say Cheers in Ireland, but i did learn that you should say 'sir' not 'mate' when talking to Irish men of about 50 years.
In the morning after a small breaky of dense bread all 12 of us headed out to explore the city. We saw Trinity college - where i got a med student asking for donations to say 'diddle de de Potatoes', the Old Dublin wall, Dublin Castle, Ha'penny bridge - named because it once cost half a penny to cross it and St. Patrick and Christ Church Cathedrals. One (mildly) interesting thing that i noted was that the pedestrian crossing buttons are the same as in Australia and make all the same noises and vibrations - in England and the rest of Europe they have different ones, hmmm. For dinner that night we went to Dublins oldest pub and had a hearty if expensive meal.
The next morning we woke up slighty tired from the big days walking before and headed to the fishing village of Howth where we saw seals in the little harbour. We also saw some caves along the rocky shore which we explored, before having a mighty lunch at a small cafe/restaraunt - it was fantastic! The team then split up a bit more and Ben, Celine, Andii, Jean, Joe and myself went to Bray - another village on the other side of Dublin about an hours nice train ride from Howth. Once there we walked along the shoreline and then climbed up a hill that had its peak covered by clouds. It was an epic climb but we all made it! On the way back down Ben and I had an extreme run down - very cool! That night we ate in the hostel and then went to the Temple Bar district and saw some live music. At the second place we went to they were playing Irish music and i requested as song that i had first heard when i was a little kid on the 'modernday swaggies' tape that my parents played a bit. It was a collection of Australian folk songs - and one of them was Irish - so i requested it.
"I tell my maa when i go home,the boys won't leave the girls alone"
And they played it and it was awesome! Yah!
The next morning we caught a taxi to the airport and flew back - this time with the nice view of the country side!
The whole weekend cost me about €180 which i guess isn't too bad. It was a great time!

I went to a talk by a comedian/journalist and an ex army dude about the war in Iraq today, and it was worthwhile. I found out many interesting things that i didn't know.

Daylight savings has recently kicked in - it is now 4:15 and it is already getting dark - hmph. I guess this is what i sort of excpected when i came here - i'll have to try and monitor peoples happiness, because i have heard that people get more depressed when it is less sunny.

This thursday we are going on our trip to Dublin - it will be very exciting. So i'll miss a day of uni on friday, and also one on Thursday as i will be attending the Exchange study fair. Should be a laugh talking to the British about how Sweet Newcastle is.

It is getting close to Halloween now and they use it as an excuse for a party here - and i have just been to my first one. I dressed up as a gym instructor from the 80's. Here people seem to dress scarily, which is what i thought you were meant to do. But i've been assured by some Yanks that it is cool to dress as anything... I'll throw some pics up soon.

Last night we went dancing in a union club - salsa and regaeton music - was a blast!

Philosophy is tough - need to concentrate

Bought some cool clothes from a second hand store - spent £25 eep! Good clothes though, jeans, jumper, jacket. Nice!

Here are some photos from Ilkley moor.

So, it's a tuesday now. On the weekend i got some of my essay done - although i wrote part of it on the wrong topic - eep, and went to Ilkley Moor - which was really really cool. We walked aroung scrubby land and climbed rocks and had a ball! I'll throw some pics up soon. Right now i'm meant to be finishing off my essay, then finishing off my article for the Leeds Student as they wanted it to link into the uni somehow.
Last night Ben and i went to Gaghole, a comedy thing here at the uni. It has a couple of student standups and then a professional - it was really really good - well worth the £5 to get in.
I've got a couple of ickey things to think about now - getting a credit/debit card to get money put into it, paying accommodation fees, not having my guitar. But apart from that everything is cheery!

Let's talk about the weather!

During international intro week we were told that if you want to start up a conversation with a pom then the weather was a safe topic, so this is for all of the english people out there...
The weather has been much warmer than i had anticipated - but today it all came tumbling down - not as rain or anything exciting (because we all know that rain is terribly riviting!) but just as a really overcast chilly day. One of those days that makes it really hard to get out of bed in the morning - it took me twelve minutes to achieve this today - 5 more than it took me to go down stairs and have a shower. This could be because of the tempremental shower head that decides what temperature you will have your shower. It caters for everyone to be fair, those who like burning hot showers and those who like them luke warm - changing between the two every few minutes...
Yesterday was quite productive - i finished an summary and wrote an article for the Leeds Student (newspaper) but the icing was put on the cake when i found a competition in a car magazine that i bought asking for possible car model name acronyms - this occupied me for quite sometime and i got a couple such as one for Landrovers Defender - Drives Everywhere Fastastically Except Near Domestic Easy Roads. I haven't got any yet that i feel i have completly nailed yet - but that means i'll always have something to think about - man i'm cool!

I just finished typing up a summary and comments on a reading for my France since 1944 subject. Initially i found the subject quite boring but after really getting stuck into the reading i'm a bit of a fan of it. This reading was about a march that took place in France on October 17th 1961 - exactly 46 years ago. About 30 000 Algerians, men and women peacefully walked into central Paris and 11 000 men were herded into a sports stadium and beaten and over fifty people were killed. There was a big cover up by the government and it is still a touchy subject in France.

In other news - we had a loss in five a side today but only 3-1 this time and we had plenty of subs and played well. Salsa this afternoon was good fun too, as was climbing with Jean (canadian) Ben and Andii. This was the first time we have done climbing on de Mawa ('the wall' in German - said in a deep voice it sounds pretty cool) and although we did not pass our test to do belaying as they are not allowed to teach us and we are not allowed to learn there (???!!!???) we had a ball climbing around the walls below a line about 5 metres up. Ben and I are trying to fit Jeans name into sentences such as 'so guys, what do you think about cloning...I mean what would you think if i cloned Jean right now so i had an army of Jeans...I guess if i killed them all it would be Jeanacide' But we have run out and all the obvious ones are taken. So if you have any ideas...

At Charles Morris we only get £6.38 to spent at the food hall each day and that equates to two meal deals, so i have breakfast and dinner. But dinner finishes early especially on gig nights (some wednesdays) so i have a pizza and garlic bread or a smallish wrap from other union run places. Neither of these options really fill me up, and at about this time 11:40 i get a little bit hungry - at least it's only a quick nap away to breakfast!

Hello there! This afternoon has had my mind spinning around as i have been in the thick of buying plane tickets to Isreal as well as getting back home, plus i am also thinking about our trip to Ireland in November and Scotland with my American mates in early January. Ahh so many thoughts! It makes it all so much more difficult when you don't have a credit card too...

Earlier on today i had some classes which were solid and then Ben and i went to a lunch put on by some business and entrepueneur (spelling) group who were all into networking and getting ahead in the corporate world. It was a pretty good free lunch - sambo's, little sausages, fruit, chips and juice and i got to meet some new and interesting people Julia from England, and Marshall and Melissa from the States. Here are some photos from my recent York trip...

Blog Environment day!

Right - so the environment. There is one little issue that i would like to drop in here that relates to the environment and also ties in nicely with my traveling. It is the cultural differences to rubbish. I was talking with my Brazilian friend Andii a little while ago about why there is so much rubbish on the ground, and she said that people put it there because they think that it helps to employ people to pick it up. Even as a way of justifying it to yourself i thought it was a load of bollocks and i seriously doubted anyone would actually think that. Anyway i was out one night with a group of people and a British friend who i had not known all that long dropped a piece of plastic on the ground, and without thinking i said - oh you better pick that up mate, and he gave the reasoning that he is helping to employ people by dropping it on the ground, and he wasn't even joking! Not cool at all...
What was cool though was my recent trip to York with some International pals - I'll throw some pics up as soon as i can. The town itself is close to 2000 years old and it feels like you are stepping back in time when you are there - except for the subway or starbucks shops which stand out like a hair on your toothbrush.

Friday - hooray! So work is finally piling up. I have three assignments to do in two weeks - and none of them look particularly challenging. It's just that i haven't done any assignments is so long and i'm not exactly in the zone yet. Tonight and tomorrow i will look into the Huns and come up with a one page summary about whether they were anything without Attila. Then i'll just go from there.
So, breaching a more sombre topic for once. I found out today that my Uncle's other nephew who i have met about four or five times got luchemia some time in the last year and has recently died. He was my age and liked similar things to me.

On Sunday I'm going to York with some mates - all internationals, should be worthwhile - it's meant to be a nice place. Ben and Celine are really starting to get things together between them - which is very nice! They are both going to York as well as some of Celines friends who we are going to Dublin with later on in November.

Ahh, so it has been brought to my attention that the address to my blog could quite easily be read as justins oversea sexchange...... thats funny - it'll keep people guessing!

So overseas exchanges eh? Well the main reason that i came to England was to experience a different culture (sure visiting rels and mates rated pretty highly, but thats not my point at the moment), and i'm sure i'm not the only one. I've noticed at International House, my college in Newcastle that alot of International students seem to hang out with other international students - especially ones from their own country - and this bothers me a little. I think, 'why do you come all this way just to hang out with people from your own country?' and i was very sure that when it was my turn to go on exchange that i wouldn't do that. But looking at my friends now they are from Brazil, America, Czech Republic, Germany, Canada, France, and a couple from the UK. A large reason for this is because there is an international welcome week separate from the freshers intro week, so we bond together and get to know our way around before the poms arrive. Then to make things somehow easier for themselves, at our accommodation all of the international students are grouped onto the one floor - apparently because we all have half year leases - but meaning that it is even harder to meet British people. This did worry me initially, but it doesn't any more. Becasuse i am meeting lots of people that i wouldn't have met if i were in Australia - and I am interacting with lots of poms - Alex from London at Breakfast, Matt my nieghbour and soon to be guitar tutor (i got one - hoorah!), Harry and Rich my soccer playing mates, Helen the Med student who took the video of Hypnodog and everyone else from tutorials, lectures and who i randomly meet in everyday life.

Ben, Tereza and i went to a give it a go learn to knit class yesterday - Ben was super keen, i didn't know what to expect. We all picked it up pretty easily and i had a crack at it last night. I was worried that i might get addicted and might do more knitting then guitar playing wasting my £30 investment. But i don't think that'll be the case - it can get very frustrating, i keep making my stitches a bit tight, and making lots of little mistakes.
Today is a big day for stuff - not so much for work, although i do apparently have an ethics essay due in two weeks. I've got five a side at 1, learn to climb at 2:30, then salsa dancing at 5.
We had a great proctorial for philosophy yesterday - all about what is art. I had read the readings and was one of the most oppinionted people in the group and alot of what i was saying was really grounded stuff - it felt great to be confident in my opinions. Although i don't know if it was conclusive. My view is that Art has to be put in the framework of art to be art - so almost anything could be art.... I don't want it to be, but i can't see how it wouldn't be this way. hmmm.

The Fajita night went off fantastically - it was a great success, and we are likely to do it again sometime. Last night after i got back i was thinking that i might read a fair bit of my book before i go to bed, so that i'd wake up late and be awake for less time with nothing to do. But i didn't and ended up having a pretty sweet day - i had breaky, jumped on the net, played some table tennis, got some mail from the bank, played some more table tennis, did a bit of reading for my French history class, had the lecture for that, tried to by a guitar on eBay, and then went to Dance class with Ben... That last part sounds a bit funny doesn't it. Ben is keen on this French girl Celine and he went to hang out with her, so after my lecture i joined them for the second class - it was a hoot! We are the only guys in the class - but are keeping up with it all right. Although i can not do the but shaking thing anywhere as good as a lot of the girls. Our instructor moves heres so that it looks like it is independent of her body - i just kind of thrust a little bit - but i don't think it is quite right!!! It was good fun though, and some other girls asked us to come to the latin dance class on Wednesday because they are low on boys - so we might give it a shot. As Ben and i discussed, we have earned up enough manly points by playing American Football and watching Rugby games at the old bar - so it's ok!!!

So it is the weekend now and i have decided that as it is so i will not do any uni work - i really have a fair bit of reading to get stuck into. The ethics and philosophy courses are really interesting but i need to pretty thouraghly go over the readings so that i feel i can talk about them in class - because there is alot of discussion in class and i don't want to have silly opinions on things that i don't understand. I caught the freshers flu recently so have been feeling pretty average - but despite that i played some soccer with some English blokes yesterday and had a really good time, we all played quite well together and were at a similar skill level. Then i watched the rugby union where Australia was meant to hand it to England, mmm a little dissapointing, lucky i don't care too much about it or it could be even worse. Yesterday a group of us got together and booked some tickets to Ireland, we were discussing earlier where we could go for a trip and Dublin was what we came up with, pretty cheap, not too far away and cool. We are leaving on thursday 1st at 10:30, and getting back on Sunday at 11 in the morning. Should be a hoot! There are 12 of us going from Canada, Brazil, America, France, Singapore, Italy, Germany and Australia. No Poms. At the last training that i went to for American football i jarred my finger taking a catch, and yesterday playing ultimate frisbee i jarred the same finger again on Bens foot - its not working too well now and is a slightly funky colour - but i guess there is not too much that can be done for it.Tonight i am going to cook Fajitas for Anne and her friend who is visiting - Lena, Andy, Ben and myself as Anne has given us pasta a couple of nights now. Should be good. Ben is a Vegetarian, so i will have a crack at cooking beans instead of chicken for him - could be interesting.

Wow - so we lost the five a side in a big way - 7-2. we didn't have a sub, so got pumped, they didn't out skill us, just worked better as a team. Vanilla ice was just as i excpected, and as a result we only stayed for about 20 mins. He started out saying 'i'm gonna get drunk and stoned on stage , yeah!' then sprayed water over everyone to show how extreme he was. Thankfully he played his big song early. It was good for a laugh.
I had the philosophy lecture just then, it was great, i actually really enjoyed it, unlike many other lectures i have attended. Next week we are discussing 'what is art' and how do we define it...
I have caught what is known around the traps as the freshers flu, achy body, drippy nose, sorish throat - a real barrel of laughs.
Tonight i'm going to a Bahai society get together which should be good fun, i've been pretty keen for that. After a lot of my mates are going to the Fruity night - really cheesy music - at the union clubs. I don't know if i'll join them given my present condition.
Oh and Ben and i gave up on the amercan Football last night, we told the coaches that we had a great time, but couldn't afford to continue - they were starting to assign kit, which costs money. It was good for a laugh.

ice ice baby

Last night i met up with some English and Australian pals from the Contiki trip - it was good to see what they have been up to since i last saw them - we went out to a fancy restaurant and had very tall gormet burgers (you couldn't just grab them with two hands and knock them back) and then we went to a pub and got a coffee. I also asked out this English Med student who i have talked to a bit for a coffee - she said she was busy....bummer. Today i have no class - yeh! But i really should get well stuck into doing some readings for my classes, i had a Ethics lecture and proctorial on Monday and i was very ill prepared for it, and it showed - so i'll have to get my act together for the tutorial that i have for it on Friday. I also need to do my laundry, which i have been putting off for the last couple of days. On a happier note i am playing five a side soccer today with my international team made up of Americans, Cameroonians, Australians and Brittains - should be a blast. I haven't played in two years so i am actually really excited! Oh and talking of excitement, Vanilla Ice is playing a show here in Leeds tonight - could be fun.

We are currently organising a trip to Ireland on one of these weekends and the list of people coming just keeps growing, partly my fault for just inviting more and more people - but it will be super sweet if it all goes through.

The goat pic is our team mascot - we are called the Space Goats!!! (Jay and the Doctor anyone?)

I just recieved an email saying that i would not be the next anchor for the leeds student television station LS:TV...bummer. My American mate Ben and i turned up to the group auditions for a laugh and really had a good time. We were separated into male and female pairs and had to sell a random product to viewers. My English partner Shezza (very occa name) had a can of pink hair spray to sell, and we did so - as the ultimate security device 'Just pop the cap off this bad boy and spray your attacker in the eye to blink him, then as he can't see, turn the can around and crack him over the back of the head with it - it's so easy!' I think the footage might actually be shown on the website www.lstv.co.uk later on this month. It is no biggy that i missed out as we had a blast, and i've got so much other stuff going on at the moment; American football practise; Intermural 5 a side football (soccer); writing for the Leeds Student (awesome weekly uni paper); finding time to hang out with friends; planning european trips; and i guess Uni work too...
Today my big plans are to sort out exactly when my tutorials, proctorials (crazy teacherless tutorials - could be interesting) and lectures are, sign up for the sports centre and get some course outlines.

Right, so i arrived in Leeds and immediatly made a whole lot of international friends from Brazil, Canada, the US and Czech republic. For the first week it was just international students and then in the second week the Freshers arrived. This actually created a bit of a divide between the Poms and the Internationals because we had already done alot of the Freshers activities like tours and briefings. As well as this the accommodation seems to be set up to lump all the international people together separate from the English. In Charles Morris where i am staying the whole sixth floor is pretty well dedicated to International people. But slowly and surely i am meeting more and more British people and i'm using all the helpful advice that we were taught during our international O-week, such as talking about the whether, and complaining about stuff... It was all pretty funny. I have signed up for plenty of clubs, but am not sure if i will go through with them. My American mate Ben and my British Nieghbour and a couple of other guys from Charles Morris have been going to American Football practise for the past week, we haven't actually had to put on padding yet and beat each other up - so it has been relatively good fun, running around, catching balls and doing sprints.

I have also gone out alot more than i have done in Newcastle - quite possibly because Leeds has three clubs right on campus. The Venga boys played one night, they have house, indie and cheesy pop music nights as well as quiz nights in the Old Bar. Oh, and i guess i have been attending some classes too, although not too many (not that i have been skipping them, just that it is the first week and they have barely started). I am doing all electives here which should be sweet, two history units and a philosophy. I had the lecture the other day and it was a real hoot, the lecturer used lots of English football (soccer) analagies to explain things. Oh and the accents are a real blast here - everynow and then someone will say something that will make you crack up.

06/09/07

Once I arrived in Paris I walked around some dodgy streets near the station until I found an internet café, where I was able to confirm that I wasn’t staying at a fellow couch surfers place, so I made tracks for the youth hostel that I stayed at before. Unfortunately they were all booked out, but fortunately the helpful man there was able to get me in contact with another hostel pretty close by. I wandered around the area for about 45 minutes trying to find the other hostel but after a few moments of panic I found it at about 11:00. There was a friendly Swedish bloke staying in the same room as me as we went out and got a pizza and chatted until about 1 o’clock. On the way back from the pizza place we saw a guy sleeping in a phone booth, wedged in a V shape, his head on one side and his fee propping the door closed, he looked like a backpacker. The following morning I got up at 7: 30, had my complementary breakfast of croissants and hot chocolate and managed to book myself a ticket back to London.