Please stop waving!

Today as Grant and I were on our way back from a £3 lunch at Tiger Tiger (okay it was more than £3 each, but we were HUNGRY) we’re standing at a stoplight/crosswalk and we hear this SPLAT.  I nearly jumped back into a building.  What was that?? There was now a lovely spot on the street that looked remarkably like a splattered egg.  I looked up at the building next to us. . .nope, not from there.  I step forward *KERSPLAT* goes an egg right at my feet getting my pants yolked and Grant’s.  We look across the street and up.  There is the nutter on the top floor waving at us in his bright red shirt.

I will not wave at you bright-shirted person who throws eggs (and apparently a tomato in the middle of the street) at pedestrians.   Every time I look up, he’s still waving like crazy at us.  Sometimes even with two hands!! WTF MAN! I was less than pleased.  I’m sure it was hilarious to him, but not to us who now have salmonella infused pants.

On another note, my dad will be here in 2 weeks (ish) and I’m excited.  DAD IS COMING TO VISIT DAD IS COMING TO VISIT!!!!!!  Hoooorrrraaahhh!!!  We’re going to buy him fruit cocktail at the grocery store and make him a Turkey Thanksgiving.  He hasn’t had turkey on Thanksgiving since I was a little girl. . . or when we had Thanksgiving in NH. . . .  Happy happy turkey day!

Anyways, it’s time for bed, because I have class at 9 a.m. and I need to have breakfast with Grant.

And *giddy squee* he wrote me the sweetest uh. . . 3×5 notecard. . . ever.

*there I changed it from a snicker to a squee.  Apparently “*snicker*” is rude.

Never a dull moment

I honestly need to carry my camera around with me EVERYWHERE.

Last night was the Rugby World Cup FINAL.  England vs South Africa.  Needless to say England did not win, but that didn’t stop just about every pub in Newcastle to be full to the brim of people watching the game.  I can only imagine the World Cup for Football is worse.

The cheers and the boos were audible across the street and around the corner from most pubs.  It was amazing.  We didn’t have riots like Boston is prone to.  That was nice.  Then again, who are they going to attack??  It’s not such a huge rivalry thing.  People actually applauded at the end of the match.  We were in the pub and people broke out clapping. They weren’t happy, but it showed a side that I did not expect.

On the note of my classes, I am being drowned in learning new programs and trying to remember my statistics from a bazillion years ago.  Only mildly painful.  I did get one assignment done, and I am going to try and get most of the next one done today.  The write up and research bit will have to wait until some point during the week. I can hopefully figure out how to do the two way analysis on Minitab today.  I actually miss doing things by hand.  I felt so much better than just spending 5 seconds clicking things on a computer program.  It’s rather nightmarish really.  But it’s okay, it’s fast and right now I don’t want to spend too much time on it.

On a note of being a dork, I went to WHSmith and got the remaining Adventure Series books by Enid Blyton. I devour those things.  There are only 8 of them, but I plan on giving them to my mom when she comes to visit.  They’re wonderful books and I think everyone should read them.  They’re just a really fun read.

Other than that, things are going as planned. . . food is being eaten, overpriced dryers aren’t drying very well and I have lots of tea

A moment about weather

Let me just say that I have heard directly from a very nice British lady:  they love to talk about the weather here.  They get together and what is the topic: weather.

On that note, it is getting COLD.  Today it is a balmy 5 C (but feel like 2 C).  This means it feels something around 36-ish degrees.  There is also a strong wind blowing (I can see the trees whipping about outside my window).  At least there is some sunlight.

On another note, we have still not had a single day of complete rain rain rain.  It rains for a few hours in the morning (about 2 hours), then for maybe 40 minutes in the afternoon and then POW, sunlight and finally sunset.  It’s amazing.  I feel like I’m back in Boston. Only those of us whose schedules cause us to have need to be outdoors at just the right moment get poured on.

This happened to me on Monday.  It was raining when I got up, I ate breakfast and by 9:30 there was no more rain.  It got to be about 3:40 and there was a torrential downpour.  My pants were soaked, my jacket stopped repelling water and turned into a sponge.  This was only in 5ish minutes of being outdoors.  And yet my mood wasn’t lessened.  I was still quite elated to be outdoors finally get rained on.  I just wasn’t looking forward to having to dress up and walk over to the Civic Center for a 5:30 event in the rain. But by about. . .  4 something the rain had stopped.  Just perfect.  Grant never got wet. . . I was drenched.  All a matter of timing.

Yesterday, Grant and I went up to the Sports Center to see what all the fuss was about and explore the offerings they had for us.  I’m not much for jogging so this is a nice idea.  Perhaps I’ll take to jogging to the fitness center.  We’ll see how that goes.  Anyways, there was a huge club fair going on in one of the rooms, so we meandered in.  In about five seconds the rowers spotted Grant and asked him if he wanted to join on their team.  I was blatantly ignored.  I just sort of invited myself over to the table and when they asked if I had rowed, I informed them that yes, I’ve been rowing for the past 7 years.  This got a look.  I want on people, you aren’t keeping me off unless I honestly just can’t handle your regime.  I did it in college, I can do it again now!  Anyways, they seem nice enough, and reminiscent of BUs crew team, so I think it would be fun to see how they do.  I just hope they have lightweight stuff.  If not, then yes, I’ll go do something else.  *sigh*

Anyways, there were tons of other groups to look at.  We were approached by the Parachuting Club (*blink blink*), Swing Dance Club (very nice people, and only 2 GBP per dance!), Rock Climbing Club (they saw my Mountain Hardware Jacket), Fellwalking (that was actually on Monday for me), Ultimate Frisbee Club (the girl was VERY excited) and I also joined up with the Biology Club and Conservation Club.  Grant signed up on the Rugby list.  bwahahahaha

Yesterday I also sat down with Google Calendar and planned out each week for this term.  I looked at my course modules and set them all up.  I just hope I don’t have very much to change.  They say “beware, times and locations do change.”  I spent 2 hours fixing this thing up, I just hope it will be easy to manage.

Back to weather:

It’s only been 1 week, but I swear the leaves have gone from green to almost all yellow.  They’ve started falling and everything.  I love this feel in the air of cool weather and layers.  I will like it even more when I know my layers are already here in Newcastle with me and not sitting at home in the living room still waiting to be sent off.  *mutter mutter mutter*  But I won’t go into that.

I’m wonderfully not homesick right now, mostly because I’m pissed as hell at not having my stuff and this just makes me want to deal with home less and less.  I’m also not homesick because my puppy dog is doing quite well (all things considered) and Spidge is well. . .  just being herself.  I do miss my bed.  My back does not thank me for lying down on this hideous mattress every night.  I want a nice comfy bed!! I understand this is a dorm, and you get craptastic stuff in dorms, but my body yearns for a decent nights sleep!!!!

I am thrilled about Friday.  I have my field trip to the Northumberland countryside.  Whee!

Also, every Wednesday (except 2) this term I am out on a field trip from 9-5 either out in Northumbria looking at who-knows-what, or working at a farm, or doing whatever it is we’re going to do.  I’m THRILLED!!!  I am also only taking 3 modules this term.  Next term will be a bit more hellacious at 8.  Yeah. . .not so good right?  I have no idea how I shall do all of that, and I need to ask my Degree Programme Director if that’s just shooting myself in the foot.  My mom thinks that just sounds like overload.  “Eight” is a big number, but some of the modules next term don’t start right away.  At least they don’t really kick off until the bitter cold slackens a bit.

Today Grant and I are going to IKEA to look at mattress pads so we can finally sleep somewhat comfortably.  This country baffles me.  The dorms offer Twin Extra Long mattresses, but no store sells sheets that FIT them.  *shakes fist*  Thankfully Mom will send me my old sheets from my dorm days so I will have sheets that DO fit, including a mattress pad (something this accommodation has never heard of apparently) so I stop sweating all night long due to a plastic mattress and a very thin fitted sheet.  *sigh*

Now if only that package would arrive. . . .

A new morning routine

I’m not good at running.  I will never claim to be a runner. . . EVER.

Last night I told Grant I wanted to go jogging with him this morning.  At 7:34 (I dislike getting up) I rolled out of bed and got prepped up to go jogging.  This wasn’t so bad, it was brisk, sunny and dew covered in Leazes Park.  We started off walking, and as we passed the fisherman guy at the pond (wtf is he fishing for?) we started to jog.  Keep in mind my knees aren’t used to this, and my ankle doesn’t like it either.  We got a couple hundred yards and I had to stop.  We had two more bursts like this before I opted to head in and shower.  I need to slowly introduce my body to a workout.  I’m not going to do jogging like I did crew.  This involved barely anything 3 days a week at the rowing club (compared to college rowing) to sudden 6 days a week of intensive workouts and weights.   Hence the blaring tendinitis and sore ankle.

The rest of today (which I will update later):

Breakfast

Woolworths and the Salvation Army

The Coast!!

Dinner

Relaxation and SLEEP

That is how my day shall go.  I am already feeling like this will be a long day and I won’t be surprised if I crash around 8 pm.

I crashed at 9 last night, who knows what tonight will do to me.

Anyways, time to go make breakfast and see if Grant is all cleaned up and ready to go.

Arrived

I am finally fixing this entry,  keep in mind that it’s been a few days, and a lot has happened, I’m going to do the best I can, but it’s going to be a bit wonky.

Monday Evening

I say bye to my dad after having a nice lunch with Anna and Dorian and stuff my duffle bag as full as I can.  In prepping to load the car about an hour and a half later I have to face Winston.  This is probably the hardest moment of leaving since I have no idea when/if I’ll see him again.  I got down on my knees to give him a hug and he just rammed his head into my thighs and stood there pressing into them about as hard as he could (He’s always done this to everyone.  It’s his Doggy-hug or some-such-thing.  He’s never done the whole “let me sniff your crotch”  he just shoves his head there and stands there).  This lasted for a solid 2+ minutes, maybe longer.  It was horrible.  I hate leaving him, and he knew I was going.  This just breaks me into itty bitty pieces.   But finally Winston and I parted ways, and I locked my door for the last time for quite a while.

My mom and I loaded up the car, drove out to BWI and got Grant to help with my ton of luggage.  My items weighed in okay and then they had to do security tags for all carry-on-items.  So needless to say I was running back to where our parents were sitting to grab our carry on items, running back to the desk, praying my bags were light enough, etc.  Quite the fun excursion.

After that we grabbed some horrendous airline food, Grant and I went through security without a hitch (my pillow made it!) and we got on our plane.  At first I thought my seat change had worked and we’d sit next to each other.  Sadly no, we were in the same row, but opposite sides of the plane.  We both had aisle seats.  Grant got to sit next to a very nice gentleman who seemed to be quite chatty.  I sat next to a girl who was also coming to Newcastle for her MA in Creative Writing.  Turns out she went to Bryn Mawr and then Dickinson.  So we both had someone else to talk to the for the 6+ hour flight.  We would be next to each other from London to Newcastle.  And we also had the craziest pilot ever.  Apparently he liked flying in circles.  We got near London and he did a full 360, went straight on for another 5 minutes then made a huge banking turn back towards the airport.  We were all like. . uh. . . can we land now PLEASE??

*note: British Airways food = passable, but not too great.

Tuesday

We arrived in London and started the huge trek over to Terminal 1 or 4 or whatever the other terminal was we were supposed to go to.  This involved walking through a ton of passages, down an escalator and onto a shuttle bus.  From there we had to go through security and then over to customs where they checked our passports. This is where my fun started.

I get to the nicely scowling customs lady and she asks me a few questions and looks at my acceptance letter and says that she needs to go check my passport and could I please have a seat.  Grant got through just fine.  Apparently I was doomed.  So I’m sitting there freaking out.  The British Consulate rejected my application the first time and apparently that turned up rather nastily on the screens when they scanned my passport.  FUN!  Anways, after waiting about 10 minutes for this whole process to go through and I’m about to burst into jet-lagged tears (I didn’t sleep AT ALL) the lady comes back, grins at me, and waves me through.  I am not supposed to travel for the next 6 months unless I wish to be stopped like this again.  OH BOY!

After that heart attack we made it over to Gate 5 where they had us wait and wait for the 11:40 flight to Newcastle.  They they shunted us off to gate 74 or so which was down a hallway, around some corners and then a mad rush to get our seats.  I was starting to feel ill.  So I just stared out the window.  Very nice view.  The plane eventually took off, I had some ginger ale and a chocolate candy thing and stared out the window praying I wouldn’t get ill.  Stomach of steel here I come.

The view was amazing.  Sunlight, green fields, brown fields, towns, cities, the English Channel, etc.  It was lovely.  We started getting a tiny bit lower and I had been playing the game of find-the-railroad since I wondered if we’d see Durham.  Sure enough we flew over a town that I could have SWORN was Durham.   And then lo and behold we saw Newcastle.  We flew way out over the water, looked up to what was probably some of southern Scotland and then finally into the Northumbria farmlands.  We saw cows, sprinklings of sheep (it did look like that), and horses.  And then we landed with a much smoother landing than our cross-Atlantic flight.

Getting our luggage was heart attack #2 for me. My duffle bag was MIA.  Everyone else had their luggage, but not me.  So I go to the desk and they put my name down, address, etc and tell me it’s on the 5 pm flight and I should have it by this evening if not tomorrow morning.  Okay. . I can deal.  *urk*   We then go to our Meet and Greet Service and wait for our shuttle to take us to our accommodation.

The shuttle ride was quite nice, lovely views and then. . .the football stadium.  I shall post pictures somewhere soon.  You have got to see this thing.  I think it’s . . . . well. . it just is.  We unload, get out and get inside for our check-in moment where we are given keys. Nice stuff really.  There is a key for our room and kitchen (you have a single room and the kitchen is usually on your same floor or a floor away), windows, and an electric thing that lets you in the building when you wave it at a panel.  Rather nice really.  Not too bad.

My room is shown to me by a very nice American guy who was quite chatty.  My room is on the main floor and looks out directly at a tree and then the stadium. Needless to say, it will probably get quite noisy when there are matches.  I am not looking forward to this.  My bathroom is literally a water closet, especially after a shower where water just gets everywhere.  It is PUNY.  Washing my hair is great because my elbows don’t really have any place to go.  I am sure Grant is having a worse time.

His room is on the 2nd-ish floor facing the courtyard (i.e. Car Park and bike storage area) and much quieter.  Lucky him.  I am adapting to my room okay, I’d be happier if my kitchen weren’t in the basement, but my kitchen-sharing-people seem nice.  Grant’s are too.

Anyways, after being shown to our rooms we took off to meander the campus and the city.  Since I’d been here before I gave him a quick rundown tour and got myself a wee bit lost.  Thankfully it’s not TOO hard to get figured out again.  And also it’s VERY nice that my classrooms are very close to my dorm.  At least I think they are. . .

The weather was a bit brisk.  We were warned it would be cold, and yes, it was WAY cooler than Baltimore.  Probably in the 50s or upper 40s.  VERY enjoyable to some of us who dislike 80 degree weather.  My new friend from the airplane is in a different accommodation than the two of us, but I hope her flat is nice.

Anyways, Grant and I meandered through the city in search of groceries and foodage.  We found our way to the Co-op (cheap groceries YAY!) and then dinner in Chinatown.  IT WAS EXPENSIVE!!!!!  I’m sorry, but no cheap food in Chinatown.  NO NO NO.  At least not on the street we found.  It was INSANE!  We finally found a buffet that was about £5 each.  Not too bad, and I think we ate our fair share of food.  We were both so dead to the world.

We went back to the dorms and I managed to stay up until 8 pm before I just nosedived asleep.

Wednesday

I woke up at 5:30ish and started the cleaning process of my room. I unpacked, put things away and cleaned up my desk.  I think I finished everything around 7:30 when I finally meandered over to Grant’s room and woke him up.  He’s on the other side of the building so it takes a few minutes to get through all the doors (every 3 or so rooms).  So he got up, dressed and cleaned up and we headed out for our first full day in Newcastle.

….. to be continued.    It’s time to get out of doors for a bit.

It’s the first day it’s rained!!! OH MY!