Thanks

Thanks everyone for the kind comments. I really appreciate it.

Things have been going better the last few days. I haven't had to watch any movies about America lately, so that's been a big help. I'm also feeling a little more settled over the last few days. I bought hangers finally, so the bags are unpacked, the shirts are hung, and the suitcases are hidden away. The room's looking like a room, rather than a hotel.

Crying in Class

Today was my first day of class here at UP, and I had documentary class this morning. We talked for a bit about the documentary we'll have to make through the course of the year, and then we watched "Bowling for Columbine" as an example of a good documentary. We were supposed to be watching it to notice all of the different styles that Michael Moore uses in his docs.

I'd never seen it before, and it left me thinking "Damn. America's messed up!"

But then, all of the sudden, I got so homesick I couldn't handle it. I'd try not to think about it, and think of something else, and inevitably, that something else would remind me of something that made me even sadder. So, in the back of the dark room, Rick started to cry because he was missing home so bad.

Poetry Contest

Just because I'm bored (can you tell classes haven't started yet?) I thought I should have a poetry contest on the blog. Since it's my contest, I thought a haiku contest would be fun. There's no prize in this contest, except for the knowledge that you posted something really cool in the comments section, and that you're smarter than all the other kids. Basically, nyah nyah nyah nyah bragging rights.

Here are a few examples. Haiku have the form of 5 syllables on the first line, 7 on the second, and 5 again on the third and final line.

Hi Pocatello.
I lament that I'm not there.
Keep me in your heart.

England: Your food sucks.
I want real peanut butter
not your awful crap.

Pink sheets on my bed
make me angry and bitter.
Send me new sheets now.

Saturday pub crawl
leaves me feeling really good.
Making out is fun.

Yay Lindsay Lohan!
It looks like you ate some food!
Help the Olsens now.

I'm sure that the smart and witty readers of Blandella will be able to come up with much better than those feeble attempts at poetic greatness. Oh, and any dirty ones that aren't signed I will just assume were written by M or S.

Volunteering and Pub Crawls

Only in England would one lead to the other.

I went with the ViP group on campus (Volunteers in Plymouth) yesterday to clean up the Japanese garden at a local hospital. I really didn't want to go, but Sarah reminded me that it'd be a good way to meet people, and get me out of the flat on a Saturday.

It actually was a good time, and it felt nice to be productive.

When the group got back to campus, we decided to go across the street to Cuba! and grab a pint. As we were sitting around, Nic, the leader of the ViP, decided he should take us out on our first official pub crawl. We started at 6pm. I have no idea what time we ended.

There are some interesting drinks in England that you can't get in the US. First is a snakebite, which is 1/2 lager and 1/2 cider. Both halves combine to form a super-hero wicked tonic that'll get you pretty smashed. Then, there's the fishbowl at Cuba!, which is a punch bowl sized drink full of every hard liquor you can imagine with a bunch of orange juice and tonic. Finally, there's the terminator. It's pretty much a super-fishbowl in a handy pint. I didn't try that one, and I'm glad. The girls that had been sober were all completely pissed after the terminator.

I decided to play it more conservative last night, and I'm glad I did. It made for a much more interesting evening, watching Sarah go from happy/giggle drunk to raging angry/aggressive drunk after the terminator, and watching Sam spray vomit all over the couch at Zeros. What a night!

Cross Your Fingers

I might *might* get to see LCD Soundsystem in December in London. They're playing at a club there, and Mike in London (MiL) might have an extra ticket if his mate backs out. I should know in a few days.

The best part is, LCD Soundsystem, fronted by the incredibly talented James Murphy will by playing London on MY BIRTHDAY! YAY!!

LCD Soundsystem, London, Birthday...could it get any better? Oh yeah...if S, W, MK, JftB, M, and T were all there with me. That would be heaven.

Duvets and Bank Accounts

I went this morning to start a new bank account here in England. Currently I'm stuck using my bank account in the US, and they're not really thrilled to have to convert the money for my purchases. I have some cash that I brought over, so I've been using that in the meantime. So, I go to the bank, but find out that I'm one of thousands clamouring for a new account. I had to set up a meeting for Tuesday afternoon to set up the account. Hopefully it's not too big of an ordeal, but I've heard it can be a pain setting up an account as an international citizen. I have to remember to take my passport with me.

I really wanted to go shopping for a new duvet cover this afternoon. The salmon/peach cover is driving me nuts. I'm not sure why it bugs me so bad, but it really does. Anyway, I found that there's a TK Maxx not too far away. Yeah, that's not a typo. TJ Maxx is alive and well here in England, but somehow the J got transposed to a K. It's the exact same store though, so I'm not complaining. It's where I bought all sorts of stuff back in Pocatello. Maybe I'll make it down there tomorrow and see if I can find a cheap duvet in a nice green or blue. Heck, I'd even take Power Rangers duvet covers over the pink one now.

Oh, and Gmail is having problems. I haven't been able to check my email there since early yesterday. Hopfully it's fixed soon. I'm thrilled that they keep offering more space in the email every day, but I'd rather have email that worked consistently. This seems to happen a little too often for my liking.

Hooray and Boo

Hooray: I finally feel like things fell into place for school this afternoon. I went to a meeting this morning for the freshers (freshmen) and met the various faculty in my department, and got a tour of the facilities. The faculty weren't very happy that I crashed the little party, but hey, it's their fault that they haven't communicated with me at all previous to that time. Then, I had a meeting where I discovered how to go about signing up for classes. One of the ones I have to do is a repeat of a class I had last year, but it should be okay. I have a documentary class that should be fun, and a couple of indie film classes that should be really insightful. I'm looking forward to classes starting next week.

Boo: The fact that Blogger is having all kinds of issues today. I'm not able to access the blogs at all today, and I'm not even sure that this will post. It's kind of frustrating to write something, with the possiblity that it might not even show up.

Editor's Note: This was actually posted yesterday, but due to problems with Blogger, never got posted. The BOO entry just went up ten-fold.

On beer and mad cow disease

Here's the bombed out church that I've been talking about. Aparently it really was bombed out, but not by the IRA as I had been imagining. This church was the victim of a bomb attack during WWII. Isn't it crazy to think that I'm seeing a church that was a victim of WWII? Well, it is for me. Unfortunately, this picture isn't the greatest. The church looks best at night when it's all lit up and has a mixture of beauty and horror to it. It's brilliant!

Here's a picture of my flatmate Sarah. She dragged me out of the flat on Monday to go to the Student Union and watch football for a while. It was interesting sitting on campus, drinking beer with 300+ other students while watching them cheer on the Arsenal football team. It's weird that there are like three pubs on campus, and that you can just drink anywhere. Students are often in the open area outside drinking a pint. After we left the SUB, we went to a club called the Walkabout. There was a band playing, who Saz told me was the Kaiser Chiefs. I was really excited, until I learned they were just covering the Kaiser Chiefs for a while. They were a good band, but the Kaiser Chiefs would have been better.

Craving a bit of home this afternoon, I went to McDonalds. We have one close to campus, as well as a Burger King. Sadly, no double-cheeseburger for $1. I was surprised how small my extra value meal was. I got a medium, but it was only small size. No wonder they're so skinny over here, and we're so fat in America. God bless America though, with our 32oz soft drinks. It was halfway through my burger though when the thought of mad cow disease popped into my head. I'm sure I'll be fine, but if I mysteriously die in a year...I blogged about it here.

Photolog

This entry will once again harken to the days when I had a short-lived photolog going. This first picture is from Paddington train station. This is the train I rode from Heathrow, and the same station I would catch the train to Plymouth in. According to my sister, this is where the brick post for the Harry Potter movies was shot, but I sure as hell didn't see any brick columns. This is also where Paddington Bear is from. I could have taken my picture with a statue, but I was tired and looked like crap at the moment. Sorry.

Here's the kinds of buildings that line the street where I live. I don't have an actual picture of my accommodation house, because people were giving me that "are you smoking crack" look. Almost all of the buildings have shops in the bottom, and housing above them. It's like old town Pocatello, where things where economical, if only in use of space.

Time change:

I forgot to say that Plymouth is 7 hours ahead of Idaho. So, add a seven to the time you see posted on my blog to figure out what time I really posted.

Unfortunately, 7 hours is killer when it comes to jet lag. I slept all night last night, but I'm still really tired. I slept until almost noon, and then realized it was only 5am my time. Now wonder I was still sleepy. I felt hungover all day, without ever drinking. Sarah really helped by offering me "a spot of tea" that worked wonders. Hopefully, this whole jet lag thing passes soon.

First post from the UK

Good golly Miss Molly! I can't believe I haven't posted anything on here for nearly a month! No wonder I can't keep any readers or relationships. I obviously have issues with committment.

Anyway, I'm writing from my dorm room in Plymouth, Devon, England. My dorm room resembles a slightly posh convent cell. A bed, nightstand, desk, sink, and closet is all it contains. The two suitcases on the floor are the best articles of decoration I've got going on right now. Oh. And because I have to complain about it...they gave me pink sheets. I bought a "welcome kit" that provided bedding and kitchen items, because it was easier than finding it myself. So, I open it last night to find they'd given me pinkish salmon (really ugly) sheets. The flat sheet is also this really weird sleeping bag type of thing that I dont understand. So, if anyone's in a magnanimous mood, please feel free to send me some nice, normal sheets. Twin size.

I'm going out with two of my flatmates tonight. Sarah and Sam. They're both British girls that are really nice. They took me on a quick tour of the shopping district today, including sights of the lovely grocery store (where I recognized hardly anything) to the pastys shop. That's pronounced "pass-tees" not "paste-ees". They're little meat pies, a la fancy Hot Pockets, not the tassled nipple covers that strippers use. I have two other flatmates, Tim and Ye. Tim's a quiet guy that apparently isn't around much. Ye's nice, but his english is really bad, so it's hard to talk to him.

Plymouth is a much bigger place than I had the impression it was. I was thinking it was comparable to Pocatello, but it's actually somewhere between Boise and SLC, ranging closer to SLC. It's also incredibly beautiful here. It's really green, with rolling hills, and reminds me a lot of Porland, Oregon. The architecture here is amazing too. There are some amazing churches, including a beautiful church ruin near my place that was rumored to have burned in a bombing. I'm still checking on that little rumor. Somehow though, the flamed ruins stoke the imagination and make a lovely impression on your mind. I'll get pics soon and post them.

Well, I should run. I'm supposed to go to the pub with Sarah and Sam in a bit and meet some people. I need to go find some dinner first.

If you'd like my mailing address, feel free to drop me a line by email and I'll send it to you. I'm not going to post it because you Americans are notorious for sending anthrax by post, and I don't need that while I'm here.