Not all who wander are lost

Oh, how far I must have walked yesterday. We decided to venture out and explore territory around Leeds. We also decided to venture without a map. So of course we got lost. It’s not as bad as all that, we did stumble upon some very neat little shops. Including an old vintage clothing store (think 50’s to the 70’s). The lady that owned the shop was quite lovely and we talked to her about England, fashion, the weather,etc.. for a long while.

I did manage a few pictures on this expedition though:

Here we have an old bear pit ( I know, strange). But inside of here bears did once live and were on display for all. The ‘Bear’ Castle you might say.  And then of course, there is me.

Here is Hyde Park.  Look at the green grass! Hopefully I can get some running done here, seeing as I haven’t run since I arrived.

This is the entrance to Hyde Park.  The British have such a sense of humor:

Here is the Business building. Which doesn’t look much like a Business building in my opinion, this campus can be quite tricky:

Now that the weekend is almost gone I guess I should get some homework and reading done. It’s hard to remember that I’m not still on holiday.

Friday!

So this was the highlight of my day:

Here is what he played (if you can see it):

Which I think is a bit hard to see, so I will list my favorites:

Malagueña: (as heard on Kill Bill Pt. II)! Such a quick Spanish song that made me want to dance.

Six Renaissance Lute Pieces: (Well, he didn’t actually play the lute, just capo’d the 3rd fret for a similiar sound). My favorite was Salterello, a sort of dance piece I think.

Three Pieces by Dilermando Reis (from Brazil): my favorite was Xodo da Baina, played so amazingly fast I was barely able to keep up.

Two Pieces – Leo Brouwer: Both of these were absolutely amazing.  Berceuse (a lullaby) and Danza del Altiplano.

It also read on the programme that this guitarist has worked with the likes of Jethro Tull and Deep Purple! haha, pretty sweet.

Ok, I stole this picture from a friend, but it’s the only one I have so far of me actually IN Leeds, so here’s the evidence:

And Yes, that would be snow falling upon us. And yes, that would be me in the back freezing my arse off (haha, arse is such a funny word).  Quite a group of people.  From Texas to Canada to Australia and back to Texas.

The weekend is upon me!

Wow, it’s cold.

Again, wow. It’s really really cold here. You won’t catch me outside without a scarf. It’s ridiculous, I don’t think I have ever worn them before in my life, yet here I am, spending half most of my day in one.

I think I finally have all of my classes in order. 2 engineering, 2 maths (yea, the call it ‘maths’ here, which I never considered it a plural…strange) , 1 music, and 1 philosophy. A well rounded semester, hopefully.

Here is the best pub! Right down the street from my room, and cheap too!

Here’s a close-up:

I love going to The Library! Uh, yea, to study, right…yea, study the local beer!

We all went out last night (and by ‘we’, I mean all the other international students I have met…including…people from Australia, Finland, lots from Canada, Germany…and others I have probably forgotten). I believe it was someone’s birthday, but whose I’m not quite sure. Just a good excuse to visit the local pub.

And I thought this was a neat little car, I wish we drove cars like these back in the states, we’re in dire need of more purple transportation.

Ok, class-time. Hope all is well in the states (here they call it the ‘states’ so I have tried to incorporate some of their lingo into my writing, I hope it’s going over well).

Guitar

So, FINALLY, I found a guitar. It’s strange, I don’t play for 5 days and my fingers are already feeling the pain. I’m such a wimp. Not the greatest, but then again, I am on a budget.

For my viewing pleasure:

Hey, it beats the acoustic I used to have. Wait, I don’t even own an acoustic, so there we go.

Besides the rock-hard seating in all but 1 of my classes today, I would say things went well. It was a beautiful day, no rain, what a relief.

Oh, and for Jacob, do you know what the James Iha has been up to lately? I forgot to mention this, but I saw it on the plane. He is producing ‘AMERICA’s new album. Yea, America! Crazy huh? They DO still exist and obviously James Iha loves them or something, which I find a bit strange. So this is what he has been doing instead of recording with Billy. Dang. Oh yea, and, you know the new single Tom Waits put out ‘The Long Way Home’? Norah Jones also has this on her latest CD, which is a few years old I believe. It’s pretty good, you should check up on it.

Ok, enough music talk. I think I am going to check out this math book I just loaned from the library. Yes, such fun…

Class

Today would be my first day of classes in the UK and I am a bit nervous. My schedule is a bit chaotic seeing as I am signed into 3 separate schools (Engineering, Math, and Music) . Hopefully it will all work out. We shall see. I have 3 classes today and not a clue where any of them are. 2 math classes and my guitar class (which I am the most excited about).

Yesterday we watched a football (soccer) game in the Library Pub (clever name huh?).  Manchester vs. Arsenal.  I was going for Manchester, sadly, we lost 2-1.  We also explored some more of Leeds before the rain became too much of a cold problem.   Here are some pictures I managed to snap:

This would be a clock tower above an extremely old and creepy cemetery we stumbled across on our way to the pub:

Proper British Goth:

A ‘Johnson’ gravestone.  This last name being so conventional I have feeling my chances to being related to these people are slim to none.

Well, off to class!

City Action

Leeds is such a cool city, when it’s not raining or the winds not blowing you off the road that is.  A Tour of the city today led to a sore Achilles tendon, but also a haven of cool shops.  I can’t wait for a prettier day to go back.

Here is a pic of the city, though not mine personally…nonetheless…

Add, maybe 50 more shoppers to this picture, and that was my day. Maybe it was the weekend, I hope.

There was also an ice rink (photo courtesy of BBC because I was too lazy to pull my camera out and snap a shot):

ok, that about wraps up my day.

oh yea, and this just makes me laugh:

England Pt. II

Ok, Here are some pics:

That would be a view from my dorm.

And this is my dorm:

I met so many people today it was absolutely amazing. People from: France, Czech Republic, Germany, Canada, Japan, and Finland. cool.

I am tired now. ‘Pubbing’ really takes it out of you.

England

Well. I made it. The airlines lost a suitcase though, and then found it a day later. So, I think I’m up 100 bucks for it. It was a little frustrating considering how tired I was, and in a foreign country, alone. But that’s over with. Now I have moved into the

dorms:

such fun!

I have met a few other people living here as well. I love when it comes to the question of “what are you studying?”. And I love my answer of “math”, and the looks that ensue.

Math! Math! Math! Are you Crazy?!

I find it hard to redeem oneself in the social standards of ‘cool’ once this is uttered. Well, oh well.

The wind here today was just amazing. I believe the gusts were between 47 and 66mph. I have heard that 7 people died from it. I have never known wind quite like this before if it wasn’t billowing around a tornado.

Tomorrow: Check in with my academic department and hope all is well with my modules, Go on a tour of the campus, Find a cheap guitar somewhere around here because my fingers are antsy.

And one more view of that awe-inspiring dorm room:

Notice the closed curtains in a feeble attempt to keep the cold out. I have such thin blood.

Hopefully I am going out tomorrow night with the locals, not hovered over my computer doing, well, this.

Just so Lazy

I am that. Waiting to leave for England….is slowly killing me. Let’s get on with it already. Amazing the semester ended nearly a month ago. What have I been doing?

1. sleeping

2. reading

3. bar-hopping

4. standard bored college student activities

Countdown at 6 days and counting. I’m just worried I won’t wear the right shoes.
“The Greatest” by Cat Power is a beautiful song that I can’t get enough of at the moment.

Back in Action

Well Well. Look what the Christmas holiday has left in its wake. A new digital camera.

This would be Harry Winston, my roomates cat. He’s pretty cool.

I’m too lazy to put anymore pictures up right now. I did get this cd for christmas:

…and it’s completely brilliant.