Hello again

So I haven’t updated the blog as much as I’d hoped. Let’s try to get this thing back on track.

I’ve not been doing much work, really. Probably taking things a little too easy. So I’m spending this weekend planning out what essays I’ll be doing over the next few weeks. It’s already four weeks in and I haven’t even looked at the questions yet.

It’s been retardedly cold this week. I don’t think it’s got over ten degrees at all. I keep hoping for snow but apparently we won’t get any. Not in Lancaster, anyway. But I heard on the radio that it was snowing in Northern Ireland the other day. I’ll probably have to go to Finland to see snow. They seem to have good snow there. 

I’ve sort of explored Lancaster. Sort of. I’ve walked there a couple of times. It’s about three miles or so, not too hard a walk. At least I know the right way to go, now. The first time I walked there I took the wrong turn and ended up on all sorts of side streets. Yesterday we went the right way and it was much easier.

I went on a ghost walk with the history society on Thursday night. The castle looks awesome. I think I’ll have to go there and do the tour. Apparently there’s the ghost of a little girl in one of the dungeons. Also, the castle is still used as a prison. I find it odd that they have a prison right in the middle of the town. I guess they can’t really move the castle. They moved a whole bunch of gravestones, though. Where they used to be is now a carpark, and all the stones are arranged in a sort of amphitheatre on the other side of the church. They reckon the prisoners complain about ghosts walking around the stones looking for their bodies. I don’t know how the prisoners see out. I couldn’t see any windows on that side of the castle. Something tells me they’re not being completely honest. Anyway, after the second pub me and a friend realised we were quite hungry, so dropped to the back of the group as they made their way from the pub, then ran away. That was the mature way of dealing with it, oh yes.

Apart from that, everything’s been fairly uneventful. It’s just been classes and such. They are tremendously uneventful. I have a tendency to zone out after about ten minutes and start scrawling all over my papers. 

That’s all for now. I’ll post pictures sometime if I remember to take my camera with me when I go places, and then remember to take photos. I can’t promise anything.

Moikka.

The Crash – Pony Ride

OK, I don’t have much to write about at all, this week. It’s just sort of been study study study, and even then I haven’t been doing too much of it due to lack of enthusiasm. I know I should be studying but I just want to explore.

So here’s a video of a band from Finland called The Crash. I quite like them. Their latest album is available on iTunes and it got some decent reviews, even in Australia. This is the lead single from it called Pony Ride. The video’s kind of stupid but the song’s good.

Week Two

Yeah, so it’s Friday afternoon and I’m sort of stuck for things to do until 6pm (There’s some kind of Chinese thing going on and apparently they have free food so we’re going over there) so I figured I’d update the blog. Especially as I haven’t since last Thursday.

It was the first real week of courses so I’ve been slightly busy going to lectures and seminars. It’s mostly been introductions to what we’ll be going over during the next 10 weeks, so it hasn’t been too strenuous, really. Especially as I only have three subjects. Monday was just two lectures – UK State Politics and Policies and Youth and Political Culture in 1960s Europe – UK State Politics only went for twenty minutes so wasn’t even worth going to. But now I also have a seminar for it on Wednesday mornings. Then there was just one workshop on Tuesday for Northern Ireland History, Politics & Society, and another lecture for Youth & Political Culture on Thursday afternoon. It’s a pretty good timetable, really. I’m not fussed about there being stuff on every day because it’s not a massive hassle to get to classes. Especially as a few are held in the seminar rooms about 2 minutes walk from the flat. They all seem pretty interesting, at least. I’ve done the reading for the UK and Ireland subjects and I think I need to do some extra background reading just to make sure I know who’s who in the political systems but it doesn’t seem to be too hard (yet).

The Lake District on Sunday was beautiful. I thought it would rain but it didn’t, so was all warm and sunny. We even went hiking up to the top of a waterfall.




It was like a tropical rainforest in there. Felt like it too, as I was wearing my jacket. I was sure it was going to rain! Good thing we stopped at a pub on the way back. I almost fell asleep on the bus.

Haven’t done much else this week, really. I managed to do a load of laundry, which I was quite proud of. Nothing shrank or melted or blew up so I count that as an achievement. I still haven’t cooked yet, but am planning to this weekend. I’m going to go into Lancaster tomorrow and get some supplies to make a pasta sauce. I was originally going to do it on Tuesday, but I had no tomatoes and only one saucepan, so making the sauce and cooking pasta at the same time would have been a little difficult. Seeing as there’s been a few Taiwanese dishes cooked so far (we had these pancakey things last night – they had spring onion in and were very good indeed), I figured it only fair to do something myself.

I finally got to try salmiakki. It’s a sort of liquorice from Finland that’s salty (it has ammonium chloride in it) and one variant tastes faintly of menthol. It’s awesome. It reminds me of that Dutch (I think it was Dutch) liquorice that had a white sugar shell, as well as liquorice flavour Mentos. Which makes sense, as the liquorice Mentos had ‘lakrits’ on it, and I believe that’s Finnish (maybe Swedish) for liquorice! The circle is complete. Anyway, it’s really nice stuff. As is Finnish chocolate (especially the sort with salmiakki in).

That’s about it for now, I think. As I said, there’s some kind of Chinese thing happening tonight with free food on offer. And my friend has just arrived, so bye!

Super Massive – Fists in my Pocket

This song freaking rocks. I can’t believe I was so out of the loop on Super Massive. Their EP has been out for ages (since goddamn MAY!) but I hadn’t heard a single song, and only found out about them this morning via the beecroft rectangle. Seriously, this song… I love it.

The Super Massive EP, ‘Super Massive’, is available on iTunes or in stores. Totally get it if you like synthy dance-rock awesomeness.

Lancaster Uni – The Story So Far

Well, I wrote a bunch of stuff about the first few days here at Lancaster in my notebook but I really can’t be bothered typing it all up because there’s a lot of whinging. So I’m just going to write a bunch of stuff.

I got here after a horribly delayed trip thanks to some guy getting hit by a train and eventually found my room. I’ve managed to gather up some plates, bowls, cutlery and mugs thanks to the supermarket and a charity store. I’m not starving yet but haven’t really bought any food other than microwave meals and sandwiches from the bakery. One of the flatmates cooked a lunch today of some kind of cabbage, capsicum, fried pork fibre and rice, served with Taiwanese tea. The pork fibre looks like wood dust and tastes very odd, but interesting nonetheless.

My room is lacking a rubbish bin, the kitchen was lacking a kettle until yesterday and still has no toaster, and they’re shutting off the gas supply to the building this weekend because there’s a problem that’s making the radiators not work. The other two people on this floor are cool but those upstairs seem to be continually moving furniture about, and played Metallica at 2am the other morning.

Enrolling was a stupidly convoluted process where we all had to queue up at various department desks and write our names on lists. One subject I was going to take was cancelled within the last week so now I’m doing one about 1960s political culture in Europe and it sounds like it should be good. The seminars we’ve had to go to have been fairly boring and there’s more of them coming up tomorrow which I can’t say I’m really looking forward to because I’d rather use the time trying to get all my washing done. I’ve only got about 3 shirts left and have a new Lancaster Uni jumper that I want to wear. And there’s only more talks from the different departments on Friday that appear to go all day.

All the social stuff is a little overwhelming. It appears that you have to be totally loyal to your college. People just start chanting college songs at various intervals. They all seem to be “*college* ’til I die”, though. Seems kind of silly but whatever. There’s been ‘childhood hero’ and cross-dressing nights at the Bowland College bar so far, and tomorrow is an ‘A & E’ night. They really like dressing up here. Especially cross dressing. I passed on that, but I did put a coat and gloves on for the childhood hero one and say I was an explorer. Lame, but better than others who claimed to be going as themselves.

I got my ticket for the Bowland fresher’s dinner today so that should be good, I hope. I think we have to look somewhat smart. It’s at the Carleton in Morecambe. I’ll have to make sure. Good thing I brought my long-sleeve shirt. I knew it would come in handy eventually. And then I’m going up to the Lakes District on Sunday. It should be nice. I think there’s only 4 people signed up for it so far. At least I’ve made a friend who’s coming along. It could be a bit lonely otherwise.

As it’s nearly 1am it’s probably a good idea that I go to bed. Too many late nights this week. As I’ve mentioned, I’ve got a day of talks tomorrow to go to. So all is good so far, I guess. I’m feeling somewhat homesick but it hasn’t really got to me too much. Not yet, anyway.

25 September – Brighton

Brighton today. We took the train down from London. Quite quick. It was really sunny so was absolutely perfect for wandering down the beach. Even if the beach is just a big pile of rocks next to the water. What a sorry excuse for a beach. Still, the walk was good. We stopped for fish and chips (excellent) before going down the pier. It was still pretty busy for this time of year. The weather helped, I guess.

Brighton’s odd. It seems to stretch all the way down the coast, but it’s possible to see open hillside above the town when you look back from the pier. I couldn’t work out just how big the place is supposed to be. It is very hilly, though. And the roads are twisty. They go all over the place.

It’s just a pity that the place is full of bloody tourists.

24 September – Hampton Court Palace

We went to Hampton Court Palace today. It took 2 buses and a boat to get there. The first bus was an experience. This woman started yelling at the driver to slow down because she was falling over. He stopped the bus and yelled back ‘If you don’t like my driving you can get off my bus’. She then called him a cheeky sod, which he responded to with ‘and you’re a cheeky bitch’. Best intoduction to British buses ever.

Hampton Court is amazing. We got lost a couple of times. It’s just so big. As are the rooms – the sheer scale of the Chapel Royal and the dining halls is mindboggling. It’s just a pity they don’t allow photos in those rooms.

The gardens are also pretty amazing. They’re so perfect. It could have been better weather, though. I got absolutely soaked.

New Forest

We went to the New Forest this weekend. It’s this region down in the south of England that was set up by William the Conqueror to hunt in back in the 11th Century, and it’s been the same ever since, all natural wilderness and little villages. It’s beautiful. The residents are allowed to let their horses and cattle roam around and graze, and they’re given right of way, so they just wander through the villages and cars have to stop for them.

It’s pretty awesome to be able to have a drink outside a pub and have a horse come up to say hello. I did find the town of Burley to be sort of odd, though. They have two shops based on witchcraft. It’s only a small town. How do they support two?

It’s a really beautiful area, the New Forest. You can drive for five minutes and go from clifftops over beaches, to dense forest, to open scrubland plains. just beautiful.

Those rock formations off the coast in the first picture are the needles off the Isle of Wight. It was a really good view out there from Milford-on-Sea. Again, great weather. Incredibly sunny. Yesterday was the last day of it apparently, so it was perfect for getting about the place. Unfortunately that also meant that it was perfect for the New Forest Marathon. We were held up for a good half hour or so as they all straggled past. We’d only passed them about an hour beforehand and they were all in a big group, but that was only five minutes from the start. By this time, they were spread out for a mile or so, and there was no sign of the three in Spongebob Squarepants costumes we’d seen at the start.

So yeah, a very nice little part of the world. Pity about their weird accents.

We also stopped by Chichester to see some more of the extended family. The cathedral’s massive and is full of dead bishops.

London (Days 3 & 4)

Day 3:

Went to the London Zoo! Took the tube to Camden and walked up there. Perfect weather. It’s been so sunny. I was there early-ish so for a good hour or so I wasn’t bugged by other people. Which meant I could take pictures of pigs and meerkats and giraffes!

And a tapir! It wasn’t nearly as interesting but they have a habit of looking funny.

It just seems so depressed.

They’ve got a really cool rainforest building. It’s full of tiny monkeys.

Sadly I didn’t get pics of a lot of the zoo because the camera’s battery died. But I did get a pic of the penguins. These are the little dudes that fascinated Russell Brand.

I also went to the National Gallery and got lost. It doesn’t help that every room has religious paintings in it and all have multiple entrances. I constantly went around in circles. Very beautiful works, but damn, did they really need all those images of Jesus?

Outside the Gallery, on the steps of Trafalgar Square, there was a massive squad (over a hundred or so) of football supporters. I don’t know who they were but they were in red and white. They were all chanting in something that didn’t sound English and were surrounded by police. They were attracting quite a crowd, including one homeless dude who ambled up, stared for a bit, then started chanting back at them.

Day 4:

Went to HMV to buy CDs (I needed new music for the new iPod touch I bought…) then took the train back to Leighton Buzzard. The walk to Euston Station was terrible. Everything felt heavier (probably because I had new things) and the heat just made it uncomfortable. I sure was glad to be on that train.

I think London was a success. It’s a beautiful city. It’s very busy but didn’t get too bad outside of the rush hours. And people don’t know how to walk without getting in other peoples’ way. But I really do like it. I just wish that they didn’t have so many H&M stores in Oxford St. The store’s good (I got my gloves from there, as well as my new bag), but do they need 3 stores in 3 minutes walking distance of each other? I tried using one as a waypoint and the other two baffled me. I ended up walking in the wrong direction for ten minutes because of that.

London (Days 1 & 2)

Day 1:

Got into London about 11. Going to wander about for a few days. After dumping my bags at the hostel I went down to British Museum. I must admit I expected it to be better. Sure, I’ve seen the Rosetta Stone and Cleopatra’s mummy and a bunch of other old stuff the Brits stole, but it seemed to be lacking something. Maybe it was the lack of stuffed animals. And quite frankly, there was too much pottery for my liking.

So with that done it was time to explore Oxford St and its surroundings. Most of the larger stores are confusing. They have odd layouts, with escalators hidden in corners or menswear departments hidden underground or doorways that seem to lead in three different directions. I got quite lost. But I was successful in finding leather gloves. And a bag. But still can’t find a decent jacket.

I also visited the Regent St Apple Store. Jesus, it’s big. Just tables full of iPods and Macs and iPhones, spread over two floors. And it’s constantly busy with people using the machines. Even at 8pm Tuesday night. Crazy.

Found a little restaurant/cafe place for dinner. Then came back to hostel. Fairly basic room but as I’m out all day, all I need is a bed and shower so it doesn’t matter.

Day 2:

Wandered all the way from Waterloo Station to the Tate Modern. Quite a nice walk. Was long, though. Probably could have found a closer station.

The Tate was very interesting. Some brilliant artwork. But some was just plain retarded, like the pile of bricks in one room, or the empty room with a shipping container in the corner. I watched people enter the room and they didn’t even realise it was a piece of art (allegedly). It just looked like a shipping container in the corner of a room.

Walked over to St Paul’s Cathedral after that. It’s rather large.

But there were roadworks all over the place around it so it was just unpleasant to be around. So I decided to go to the Natural History Museum instead. I managed to work out how to get the tube there and everything. Not so confusing at all, really.

The Natural History Museum is full of dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are incredibly awesome. So if we use simple mathematics, that means the Natural History Museum is also awesome.

Of course, the stuffed animals I was looking for the previous day were here. Obviously. They seemed kind of weird. I think it was the eyes. They don’t seem right.

And the sheep looked way too smug for its own good.

The only problem was that it’s Fashion Week in London at the moment, and the main venue is a pavilion outside the Museum. So the place was full of snooty people in stupid clothes. Boo.