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.