week 9 and some extra
Apologies for not getting week 9 up here on time, its been a very busy week over here. Only a little over a month left here, so the rush to do and see as much as possible is on now. Remember to check out the Gilman Foundation for study abroad financial aid.
March 2nd
Went to the hospital with my lecturer today to set up my observations and that was really great. Its nice to do something that is directly applicable to my major and future.
Manchester Royal Infirmary, MRI, is a 1000 bed hospital, which in the UK makes it quite a large medical center, but that would be almost miniscule in the states. Today was just my intro day, so I didn’t actually do anything but set up what I could see in the future. Hopefully, I’ll be following a patient all the way from open-heart surgery (yeah, right there in the operating room!), through intensive care, to recovery, and so on. I might even get to go to stroke recovery and see work with nurses and physical therapists.
I will probably get to see some acute emergency action as well. Here most of the emergencies are alcohol related, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights, I guess that might be the same in the states as well. They see about 4 or 5 gunshot wounds a week, which I think is quite a lot for a country where firearms are illegal. The British SAS (Special Air Service) even come to MRI to get emergency combat training. These guys are like our Navy SEAL’s, they could probably kill me 57 ways with their pinky finger, and they come here, (To MANCHESTER!), to get in on gunshot wounds, stabbings, etc. They aren’t even officially known as SAS, just every month or so a group of about 8 very large, very muscular, mustachioed, mysterious “clinical observers” drop by to see whats going on. I don’t know if that says a lot about the violence in Manchester, or just how good the hospital is, but either way, I’m impressed.
Learned a lot about the National Health Service here as well. The main difference between the states and British NHS is that we pay for our medical (through insurance or whatever), and the Brits get it free. Well the government claims its free, but my lecturer pays about 1,000 pounds a month (A MONTH!) for this “free” benefit. And because its paid for by the government and what not, it takes an extremely long time to be seen by a physician and treated for any long term problem. You can go to your general family practitioner without any problems, but if you need a tumor looked at by a specialist you may be waiting about 3-6 months for a simple scan.
For instance, my lecturer’s father was having problems with his prostate. His prostate gland swelled up, and this cuts off the flow of urine from the bladder to the urethra and prevents you from having a pee. After a day of this, you can imagine how painful it gets. So the father goes to a hospital, after a day of not peeing and in pain, and has to wait six hours to get a catheter put in. Sure, you’d find this in the states, but only in really bad hospitals. Then, they sent him home, with the catheter, but without any instructions as how to care for it. He waits 7 weeks, 7 WEEKS, to be seen by a physician about the actual problem with his prostate! So, for seven weeks, this guy’s prostate is swelling with what could be cancer (which needs to be caught EARLY), and with a catheter, which is just perfect for infection and a whole list of other problems, before his doctor is actually trying to solve the problem. It seems like NHS is just shooting itself in the foot; their patients could get sicker, or even die from waiting so long for treatment. In the states I think this guy would have had surgery or treatment within the week if not a matter of days. Its just absurd to me. Lesson: Don’t get sick in Britain.
We cooked our haggis tonight, and it was awesome! Sure, it may be boiled sheep brains, intestines, and other miscellaneous parts, but it was delicious. It was like a very tender sausage that would fall apart whenever you touched it. Had it with some mushy peas (peas that are mashed up like baby food, pretty self explanatory and a very British item), and a baked potato. If you ever find yourself around a haggis, you should definitely take the rare opportunity to try some, you won’t regret it.
March 3rd
Today Megan’s friend, Lauren, arrived to come visit us for her spring break. Why she left the beautiful spring weather of NC for here and not Cancun or Florida or something I don’t quite understand, but we’re glad to have her.
She caught the train from the airport to Oxford Road, and I was kind of nervous she’d end up in Liverpool or something, but she’s a smart chick and figured it out all on her own. We got her sorted with a bus pass, and a hot cup of tea after her long plane ride.
Went to the Man. City stadium to get match tickets for the game Sunday vs. Sunderland. Sunderland is at the bottom of the league, so even thought it’s a guaranteed City win, I hope its kind of exciting. Marcus and the Fins are coming with us, and I’m really excited to experience my first British football match. Hopefully the crowd will be singing and chanting and the atmosphere will be nuts.
Lauren brought in four pounds of Lucky Charms cereal in with her to share with the Brits. Apparently they all fell in love with it, and now it is discontinued here, so they are all going through a little withdrawal. She also brought in some Hershey’s chocolate, and ranch dressing. We must’ve had about 7 people singing God Bless America after we made the rounds with our treats.
Walking back from ASDA today it started to snow. Like really, really snow. I was soaked, and everything outside was coated in a fine powdery white. It was so beautiful to see the undisturbed park completely covered in bleach white snow. The English houses look especially scenic in under a dusting. Its still on the ground now, at least an inch of it if not more.
Who’s ready for school? Laura is! Who’s going to the extremely hard to get into NC State School of Art and Design? LAURA IS!!!! YEAH!!! Congrats to her, my sister is awesome.
Well, gotta get some rest for our trip to Blackpool tomorrow. Not exactly sure what we’re doing there, but we should have a pretty large group going so it should be fun. Groooooooooodnite!
March 4th
Last night turned out to be pretty interesting. I had a drunken Liverpudlian, Andy, wander randomly into my room around 1am. He was just “looking for some love”, as he put it. Every drunken person gets pretty annoying after a while, but it takes Andy it little longer than most so I let him hang around for a bit. So for about 15 minutes he told me how much he loved me, and I’m such a nice guy, and God Bless America and all that jazz. Then he hugged me for a bit, which was pretty weird because I’m in my towel ready to shower. Then he got Megan and we had a group hug, which was slightly less weird, but we managed to turn him loose on someone else and went to bed.
Woke up and everything was absolutely covered in pure white snow. It was really pretty, although we worried about our beach trip to Blackpool. Instead of the green pastures of previous trips, everything was covered in beautiful untouched snow.
Blackpool is a seaside town on the west coast of England, about an hour north of Manchester. Its kind of like Myrtle Beach for England; a very touristy, almost tacky, but really fun kind of place. There is a really lovely stretch of beach, and the town has a great Promenade walk along side it. Along the Promenade there are three piers jutting out into the ocean, and on the city side there is nothing but hotels, chippies, fish places, and “amusements”. Amusements are places with cheap little games like skee ball, snooker, pool, and other carnival type games; they’re like small Celebration Stations or Chucky Cheeses. Blackpool is also like the capital of “Stag and Hen” parties, what we call bachelorette and bachelor parties back in the states, so you may come across the odd strip club, lollipops resembling certain parts of the human anatomy, and drunken revelers dressed in ridiculous costumes. In some way or another, everyone in Blackpool is looking to have a good time.
The first thing we did in Blackpool was have a snowball fight right along side the shore. I had never been on a beach all bundled up in a coat, gloves, and scarf, much less with snow all around, so this was quite an experience. My eyes didn’t quite believe what I was experiencing; I see the sunshine and ocean so I think of warm summer vacations, but I also see snow and have a bone chilling wind creeping up my spine, so the brain just kind of short circuits for a while until it all registers. By this time the sun had come out and with a crystal clear blue sky everything was so bright. I could hardly see anything with the sun reflecting off both the snow and the ocean. It was really a once in a lifetime kind of thing.
We walked about a mile along the Promenade after that into town. Stopped at a couple of amusements and showed the Finns how to play air hockey, and Ramsay showed us some typical British games. Megan even won a stuffed unicorn. We stopped for some fresh out of the sea fish and chips, a Blackpool specialty, which were fantastic. Lauren and the Finns didn’t quite like it, but at least they tried some classic British cuisine. We also got an ice cream cone with a Cadbury Flake bar stuck in the side, our were called “Mr. Whippies” and this is another very British thing so we had to try it. So its freezing cold, there is snow everywhere, and we’re walking along the beach eating ice cream, it was just crazy.
We bought an all day pass (we got some special cheap deal), and spent the rest of the day at Blackpool’s amusement park, Pleasure Beach. The place is enormous and we managed to hit most of the good rides out of the 145 choices available. We pummeled each other in the dodger (bumper) cars, got dizzy on the flying rockets, road “horses” down the Steeple Chase, got a little spooked in the Haunted House, spun round the carousel, screamed like lunatics on The Bobsled, and laughed all the way down the unoriginally named Roller Coaster. I only wish I had gone on the aptly named Big One with Ramsay, Lea, and the Finns. This roller coaster is huge, and takes you on an almost completely vertical drop before zooming around another mile at 87mph. Us Yanks did not make a good impression as all of us wussed out of the opportunity. I had actually hyped myself up to go on it, but we ran out of time before we could all go again. Oh well, if I ever find myself back in Blackpool….
Finished up the day warming up with some chips and pies (steak and kidney is well nice!) and hot tea. I took a solo walk back to the bus by way of the beach just to see the sun set behind a soft pink sky over the deep blue ocean. Now that we’re a little more than halfway through with our trip, leaving each place becomes a bit harder as I realize that I may never be back again. How sad.
Whilst we had everyone together (which is pretty hard to manage these days), we decided to head to the curry mile for dinner. I couldn’t tell you the name of the place if my like depended on it, but I guarantee you the phrase “Ali” is in there somewhere. We ordered popomos, which are traditional Indian appetizers. Popomos ( I think that’s what you call ‘em) are about as big as a tortilla, but flat and crispy like a cracker. You break them up and top them with tomatoes, onions, yogurt sauce, and mango chutney for a delicious starter. I ordered prawn Al-Jalfrezzi, which is a spicy type of curry made with chili peppers; it was served with basmati rice and Nan bread, which is like a giant fluffy pita. They weren’t joking when they put the spicy warning on the menu, this is powerful stuff! Even though my lips were on fire everything was delicious, and it was a great night out.
Indian restaurant: popomos, Nan bread, al jefrezzi, korma, delicious
I’m going to bed as I’ve been having a very active day for about 16 hours now and am rather exhausted.
March 5th
Today was the highly anticipated Man. City match we’d been hoping to go to. Well highly anticipated for us anyways, Man. City played Sunderland and as they are worst in the division I didn’t think much of the fan base would really care.
Man was I wrong. The Man. City supporters came out in droves. I haven’t seen this much Carolina blue (City’s color) since the Dean Dome. They even had extra buses running just for the match. By the way, Man. City are supported mainly by blue collar Mancunians, while their hated cross town rival Man. United are cheered on by upper class folks and foreigners across the world. Personally, I think Man. City is the true blue team of Manchester, whilst United has more of the fair weather fans and less “Manchesterness”.
Our friend Marcus told us to find a pub “where nobody is fighting”, and that he’d come meet us inside. With images of soccer hooligans pummeling us in our heads, nobody really wanted to go inside a pub until he got there, but everything turned out fine. Went into a pub called Mary D’s Beamish Bar it was absolutely packed. I don’t think there was a person in there that didn’t have a City jersey on. Did you watch the World Series a couple of years ago, and they showed the local bars in Boston and the places are absolutely filled to the brim with fans, and beer, and love of the team? Well this place was exactly like that, only this wasn’t the World Series it was just a regular match.
After quickly downing a few pints (so very British), we headed over to the stadium. I was just floored with the amount of people coming out to the game. Droves of people walking out of the surrounding blue collar neighborhoods, cars lined up around the block, and dozens of buses with fans just streaming out of them. Everyone always talks about how the English are passionate about their football, but it’s so different to actually see it in person. I felt like a part of something much larger than myself, this seemed to even eclipse football; it seemed almost like a mass movement of the people.
The game was awesome, even for us lot who know next to nothing about City or even football. The atmosphere was amazing. I got pretty into the “GO ON CITY!” chant, although I couldn’t quite make out the rest. The sound of 42,000 plus singing and chanting will get you excited about almost anything. GO ON CITY! I was really hyped for the crowd to sing Blue Moon, although they never busted it out. It got kind of hairy at the end, but City pulled out a 2-1 victory. Yeah, quick, back to the pub!
This time we ended up in another pub called The Manchester, and although it wasn’t exactly a nice place, it was well suited to the working class atmosphere we were in. Drink of the day was Boddington’s, the proper Mancunian’s beer. After that we went right next door to the City Chippy where I discovered another joy of England, chips and gravy.
It was really great day, and I’m so glad Marcus came out to show us around or we would’ve missed out on a lot. GO ON CITY!
March 6th
To be perfectly honest, absolutely nothing worth writing about happened today. Sorry.
March 7th
Tonight Megan, Lauren, and I went to a play at the Manchester Royal Exchange Theater. From the abundance of Roman columns, marble floors, crystal chandeliers, and pricey artwork you’d never know that the building was once used for cotton trading and dealing. I believe it was bombed out once (the IRA I think), and then they renovated it into the theater it is today. The stage is a 7 sided, circular (even though circles don’t have sides) kind of structure. A play like this is apparently called “in the round”, by in the know theater folks. All though you lose a lot of the setting and props, the audience has unobstructed 360 degree views of the stage. The audience is also much closer, I felt like I was practically sitting on stage with the actors!
The play was called A Whistle in the Dark, and playwright Tom Murphy wrote it in the 1950’s. Its about an alcohol fueled, raging violent Irish family that has immigrated to England. This was a great play to see “in the round” because it the violence and action is so much more grisly when its right there on top of you. When one the character shatters a whisky bottle over the head of another some glass shards landed in my lap! I thought the play was fantastic, and after watching all these fighting Irish folks I left with a craving for Guinness.
I’d put off writing up a lab I’ve had for about 6 weeks so I stayed up until about 4am that night starting and finishing the entire job. Lovely Megan even helped me out with the standard deviations, and we ordered some greasy take-away to power us through the night and early morning. Although its taken some getting used to, now I think I’m getting the hang of this “slacker” or “bad” student deal. It’s a lot easier aiming for C’s instead of A’s. Hopefully I can get out of this system by the time fall semester rolls around and my grades actually matter again.
March 8th
Saw a Ford Mustang over here, and I just about shat myself. In America this is now big deal, but they don’t even know what they are, much less produce and sell them. It was really strange to see a car with the driver on the left hand side over here.
Had a packet of beef and onion crisps and a Ribena juice box for lunch. Ribena makes black currant juice, which is immensely popular over here. The Brits have black currant juice, squash, jam, cookies, candies, sodas, biscuits, tea, EVERYTHING! They must grow these berries with a special cocaine additive, because these guys are hooked. Interesting fact: 95% of all black currants in the UK become Ribena black currant juice, and “that’s just too many berries to shake a stick at”. Sorry, I read that off the juice box and its just stuck with me some how. Wish I could remember something useful instead.
We took Lauren out to The Pub for a classic British setting to have few pints in. I don’t think she was much impressed, but that’s ok, I got my Guinness fix in. I’m really going to miss the pub scene back in America; even here, bars just aren’t the same.
March 9th
Today we went to Liverpool, the first big trip we’ve planned on our own. Liverpool is only about an hour west of Manchester, so its not a far trip at all. Supposedly Scousers (Liverpudlians) and Mancs really hate each other, so we took care not to wear any of our Man. City gear out today.
The three of us were dropped off at the bus station and were immediately filled with an enormous sense of “Where the hell are we?” The Liverpool Football Club anthem is “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, but we sure as hell were and it was kind of scary for a while. Although we got lost for a bit, we didn’t panic, and used our handy little map and some trustworthy looking locals for directions. Personally I like asking old people because they I am pretty sure the old guy with a cane isn’t going to mug me once he realizes I’m a gullible tourist, likely with a passport and lots of money to steal. With a little help, we quickly found our way to the main (and nicer) part of town.
Liverpool is a city with a lot of pride and a lot of culture; even I noticed this after about an hour’s time there. For this reason they are being made into something along the lines of a “European Capital of Culture” in 2008. I’m not sure exactly what that entails, but I do know that it means there is loads of stuff to do there. There are loads of museums and theater, city tours, ferry rides along the River Mersey, and all kind of pubs and clubs along a riverside area called Albert Dock. There is always fun to be had in Liverpool.
Liverpool is also the home of The Beatles, and the Magical Mystery Tour was our main event of the day. A psychedelic bus takes you all around Liverpool showing you Beatles attractions like Strawberry Fields, the church where Paul wasn’t allowed in the choir, Penny Lane, and all the Beatles’ former homes. You get to walk around for a lot of it as well and of course take lots of cheesy, touristy pictures. They tell you interesting stories and anecdotes along the way as well. The tour stops at the famed Cavern Club, where the Beatles were discovered and put on the road to stardom. We went inside and had a pint or two, and saw the very stage where they first played their songs.
We went into a pub for a quick cheap dinner and I ordered the steak and ale pie (these Brits and their pies!) with peas, and chips, all of course covered in gravy. It was really nice, but kind of odd.
We made our way to the bus station with plenty of time. However, the only bus in the station was headed toward Leeds. Well we just figured the Manchester bus was late, and we waited, and waited…and waited. Finally I asked the guy where the heck our bus was and he said “That’s it right there, pulling away.” Well it was the Leeds bus pulling away, but as it was headed down the road I didn’t really have time to argue with him. I managed to flag him down and he kindly let us on which he wasn’t technically allowed to do. Apparently, the Manchester station is a stop along the way to Leeds; no one decided to inform us of this! No boarding announcement, no sign, no nothing! Imagine if I hadn’t asked that guy! The ticket counter was shut down, and we’d have been stuck in Liverpool the entire night, and with Lauren flying out first thing in the morning!! Man, that was a little too close for my liking.
March 10th
Lauren left us today so I hope she enjoyed her time here. With a trip to Blackpool, a proper football match, a few pub drinking sessions, a classic Irish drama, a shopping spree, and a trip to Liverpool, she can at least say it was eventful.
The director of A Whistle in the Dark came to our drama class today to share some insights and thoughts with the group, which was really cool. I’m really glad we did go see the play because he said that it is only performed about once every ten years, and people may never again see it in a setting like The Royal Exchange. Hooray culture!
Had some chips smothered in mushy peas from Potato Man today. I will never be able to have normal peas again, no, now I’ve gotta squish them up into a baby food like consistency. Everyone’s just going to think I’m a freak now.
I took a four-hour nap immediately upon getting back from uni. After a hectic week like we just had, I felt it was pretty well deserved. Nothing like a good long sleep to rejuvenate the system and get you ready for more tomorrow.
SLEEEP!
March 11th
Today I woke up at 7am (on a SATURDAY!) for another international trip to the Lake District. Megan fortunately did manage to get a seat on the bus despite not buying here ticket on time. Unfortunately, we sat next to the group of Italians. Nothing personal against the Italians but (as I should’ve guessed from my own family experiences) these guys are LOUD! They shouted, screamed, shrieked, and sang the entire 3-hour drive!!! Thankfully, we arrived just as the group finished up the third rendition of Bon Jovi in broken English (Uuhhhh Ohhhh, Liiiiiiiiiivvvvvvvvvviinnggg On Praaaaaaaaaaaayeeer! )
Our first stop of the day was at a place called Aira Force. Here there is a 5-mile circular trail that winds its way through the mountainous countryside, and up and over the waterfalls that give the area its name (force being the ancient Norse word for waterfall). About a mile in was Aira Force, the main attraction because it is the easiest walk, and the most impressive with the water pouring down a 70-foot drop. I took some really beautiful pictures (whenever my fellow tourists weren’t walking into the shots!), and then we kept moving to stay ahead of the minstrel Italians, who by now had moved on to destroying some classic Aretha Franklin. Here’s a thought guys: If you can’t properly spell “Respect”, perhaps you shouldn’t sing the song!
About another mile of steep climbing over slippery moss covered rocks we reached the second “attraction” called High Force, which was another waterfall. This time we were higher up and could look down on the green English countryside shrouded in gray clouds and fog.
We hustled back down the mountain to the bus, and then we drove another hour to a Lake District village called Ambleside. This time the singers stuck to their own music, which was nice because at least I couldn’t tell they were butchering the song.
At Ambleside Megan and I headed straight for a lakeside café and ordered a massive, English breakfast and a pot of tea. I know the town lives off of tourism, but they must really start to hate it when you get people like me in there asking “Hey, are y’all still serving your all day breakfast?” That’s like going in the dollar store and asking how much everything is! Anyways, with 2 fried eggs, local Cumberland sausage, bacon, and beans on toast all covered in brown sauce, I could almost feel my arteries start to clot, but it was delicious and the warm meal was just what I needed on this cold, drizzly day. I think the English toss in a tomato just to make them feel a bit healthier.
Well we quickly discovered there really isn’t much to do in Ambleside. We walked around through winding roads, and then over some muddy paths looking for the famed Roman ruins of Ambleside, but all we found was a massive ditch in the ground. Oh, wait; that piece of crap, hole in the ground IS the famed Roman ruins of Ambleside! Apparently it was a massive fort that held about 500 soldiers in it's heyday, but now all we get is a damned hole. I wasn’t expecting the coliseum or anything but a wall would’ve been nice. Maybe a stone or two. But a hole? I can dig a damned hole! The worst part was we couldn’t even hike back and warm up with another pot of tea because the entire town shuts down a 4. So we hung around on the pier, with the ducks, and we all froze our butts off together until the bus was ready to leave. We all slept on the way back home as well, even our singing troupe.
Later that night I met up with the rest of the old ECU crew and some new friends over at Ross’s. Megan was invited, but she refuses to come out for the rest of the term as she has about 12,000 words to write in 3 weeks for her classes. We went to this place called Satan’s Hollow, is someplace I never thought I’d find myself going. Well, I expected loads of Goth type people, and lots of piercings through lots of body parts, and probably someone biting the head off a bat or a human sacrifice or something but it was a really cool place. It was cheap to get in, and the drinks were even cheaper inside. They played all kinds of cool British music like The Arctic Monkeys, Oasis, Franz Ferdinand, and the Kaiser Chiefs; not exactly the heavy death metal I expected. And then, somehow, we found ourselves in a mosh pit. And, lo and behold, it was AWESOME!!! I never really saw the point of jumping in there and shoving everyone around, but it was really fun. And if you fall down, they pick you right back up, so there was lots of love as well. We managed to pick one of our mates up for some crowd surfing, but as soon as the DJ cut off the music the crowd instantly forgot about him and he plummeted to the dance floor. (Woooo, YEEEEAHHHH…. Plop!)
At the 3am, after a heavy night of dancing, or drinking, or whatever, there is nothing like a fresh, hot kebab. Oh, I need to learn how to make those before I leave here. I even hailed my own cab like a professional and was home safe and sound, so no worries. I think I may have been the latest person back that night, which is really impressive considering the party people in this dorm.
March 12th
Today I dragged my aching bones out of bed for the Irish Festival. I could’ve slept all day, but this is supposed to be one of the premier Irish celebrations in Britain, so I had to check it out.
And what horrible weather too. Megan, a Finn, and me trudged through snow and sleet all the way down to Albert’s square for the festivities. At first I didn’t think anything was worth being stung in the face by pellets of sleet, but I toughed it out and I’m really glad I did. There were tents filled with Irish trinkets, candy, shamrocks, books, music, anything under the sun that was Irish or that could at least have with a leprechaun or shamrock painted on it. There was a stage with Irish folk singers and dancers, and on the steps of the Catholic Church there was an Irish children’s choir performing. And Guinness, Guinness, Guinness everywhere. Drinking Guinness, Guinness hats, even people dressed as pints of Guinness. It was crazy. I’ve heard that if you drink 5 pints of Guinness on St. Patrick’s day you get one of these giant Guinness hats, so I’ll have to try and remember that later this week.
I warmed myself with an Irish roast beef sandwich, and we moved over to watch the parade. I’m not normally one for parades, but this was pretty cool for some reason. There had to be over 40 hand made floats, bag pipers, footballers, cricket players (cricketers?), and even Shetland ponies and donkeys. Basically, if you could wave the red, white, and green, you could get in this parade.
The best part of the day was this Irish cover band we discovered inside the O’shea's Pub tent. They weren’t exactly traditional Irish folk music, but they put a nice Irish spin on lots of familiar tunes. The fiddler was absolutely amazing; I don’t think he stopped dancing about the entire performance! They captivated the entire tent of about 300 people, and the entire place was clapping and singing along to all the songs they knew. Megan and I got a pretty big kick out of Sweet Home Alabama, which became close enough to home for us. They played so well that I managed to forget about the sleet pelting me in face for most of the way home.
Later that night Megan and I made pasta with Mediterranean pesto and some freshly chopped tomatoes and grated cheese. We have a basic line up of about 10 meals, so it was good to discover something new and spice up the system a little. After dinner I fell fast asleep from about 8 to 1am, which is not such a good thing because I have this deal to type up here, and a presentation to rehearse for tomorrow morning. I am so tired. I need a couple of days with absolutely nothing going on so I can catch up on some much needed rest.
Remember how I thought I was really cool for being the last one in the dorm last night? Well I’m not, and I wasn’t. My friend down the hall was in Liverpool, him and his mates got really wasted and then hitched a ride on a passing train, stowed away under a box all the way back to Manchester for some more partying. That’s just flat out impressive.
March 13th
Wow, my last week of lectures in my plants and medicine class! This “semester” is really winding up fast. I have one final essay due, and my two final exams in a matter of weeks. At least I can be happy about the schoolwork going by fast.
My friend down the hall, Andy, has managed to stay drunk for about 3 days now. Detrimental to his liver it may be, but its helped me out quite a bit. He just keeps coming by and giving me stuff! Pizza, curry, cd’s, but I’ve gotta admit the hugs are getting kind of weird. He dropped off his entire cd collection just now so I’ve spent the past two hours copying stuff like The Kinks, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash,David Bowie, The Yardbirds, and all kinds of cool stuff. Wonder what I’ll get tomorrow…if he doesn’t die that is.
March 2nd
Went to the hospital with my lecturer today to set up my observations and that was really great. Its nice to do something that is directly applicable to my major and future.
Manchester Royal Infirmary, MRI, is a 1000 bed hospital, which in the UK makes it quite a large medical center, but that would be almost miniscule in the states. Today was just my intro day, so I didn’t actually do anything but set up what I could see in the future. Hopefully, I’ll be following a patient all the way from open-heart surgery (yeah, right there in the operating room!), through intensive care, to recovery, and so on. I might even get to go to stroke recovery and see work with nurses and physical therapists.
I will probably get to see some acute emergency action as well. Here most of the emergencies are alcohol related, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights, I guess that might be the same in the states as well. They see about 4 or 5 gunshot wounds a week, which I think is quite a lot for a country where firearms are illegal. The British SAS (Special Air Service) even come to MRI to get emergency combat training. These guys are like our Navy SEAL’s, they could probably kill me 57 ways with their pinky finger, and they come here, (To MANCHESTER!), to get in on gunshot wounds, stabbings, etc. They aren’t even officially known as SAS, just every month or so a group of about 8 very large, very muscular, mustachioed, mysterious “clinical observers” drop by to see whats going on. I don’t know if that says a lot about the violence in Manchester, or just how good the hospital is, but either way, I’m impressed.
Learned a lot about the National Health Service here as well. The main difference between the states and British NHS is that we pay for our medical (through insurance or whatever), and the Brits get it free. Well the government claims its free, but my lecturer pays about 1,000 pounds a month (A MONTH!) for this “free” benefit. And because its paid for by the government and what not, it takes an extremely long time to be seen by a physician and treated for any long term problem. You can go to your general family practitioner without any problems, but if you need a tumor looked at by a specialist you may be waiting about 3-6 months for a simple scan.
For instance, my lecturer’s father was having problems with his prostate. His prostate gland swelled up, and this cuts off the flow of urine from the bladder to the urethra and prevents you from having a pee. After a day of this, you can imagine how painful it gets. So the father goes to a hospital, after a day of not peeing and in pain, and has to wait six hours to get a catheter put in. Sure, you’d find this in the states, but only in really bad hospitals. Then, they sent him home, with the catheter, but without any instructions as how to care for it. He waits 7 weeks, 7 WEEKS, to be seen by a physician about the actual problem with his prostate! So, for seven weeks, this guy’s prostate is swelling with what could be cancer (which needs to be caught EARLY), and with a catheter, which is just perfect for infection and a whole list of other problems, before his doctor is actually trying to solve the problem. It seems like NHS is just shooting itself in the foot; their patients could get sicker, or even die from waiting so long for treatment. In the states I think this guy would have had surgery or treatment within the week if not a matter of days. Its just absurd to me. Lesson: Don’t get sick in Britain.
We cooked our haggis tonight, and it was awesome! Sure, it may be boiled sheep brains, intestines, and other miscellaneous parts, but it was delicious. It was like a very tender sausage that would fall apart whenever you touched it. Had it with some mushy peas (peas that are mashed up like baby food, pretty self explanatory and a very British item), and a baked potato. If you ever find yourself around a haggis, you should definitely take the rare opportunity to try some, you won’t regret it.
March 3rd
Today Megan’s friend, Lauren, arrived to come visit us for her spring break. Why she left the beautiful spring weather of NC for here and not Cancun or Florida or something I don’t quite understand, but we’re glad to have her.
She caught the train from the airport to Oxford Road, and I was kind of nervous she’d end up in Liverpool or something, but she’s a smart chick and figured it out all on her own. We got her sorted with a bus pass, and a hot cup of tea after her long plane ride.
Went to the Man. City stadium to get match tickets for the game Sunday vs. Sunderland. Sunderland is at the bottom of the league, so even thought it’s a guaranteed City win, I hope its kind of exciting. Marcus and the Fins are coming with us, and I’m really excited to experience my first British football match. Hopefully the crowd will be singing and chanting and the atmosphere will be nuts.
Lauren brought in four pounds of Lucky Charms cereal in with her to share with the Brits. Apparently they all fell in love with it, and now it is discontinued here, so they are all going through a little withdrawal. She also brought in some Hershey’s chocolate, and ranch dressing. We must’ve had about 7 people singing God Bless America after we made the rounds with our treats.
Walking back from ASDA today it started to snow. Like really, really snow. I was soaked, and everything outside was coated in a fine powdery white. It was so beautiful to see the undisturbed park completely covered in bleach white snow. The English houses look especially scenic in under a dusting. Its still on the ground now, at least an inch of it if not more.
Who’s ready for school? Laura is! Who’s going to the extremely hard to get into NC State School of Art and Design? LAURA IS!!!! YEAH!!! Congrats to her, my sister is awesome.
Well, gotta get some rest for our trip to Blackpool tomorrow. Not exactly sure what we’re doing there, but we should have a pretty large group going so it should be fun. Groooooooooodnite!
March 4th
Last night turned out to be pretty interesting. I had a drunken Liverpudlian, Andy, wander randomly into my room around 1am. He was just “looking for some love”, as he put it. Every drunken person gets pretty annoying after a while, but it takes Andy it little longer than most so I let him hang around for a bit. So for about 15 minutes he told me how much he loved me, and I’m such a nice guy, and God Bless America and all that jazz. Then he hugged me for a bit, which was pretty weird because I’m in my towel ready to shower. Then he got Megan and we had a group hug, which was slightly less weird, but we managed to turn him loose on someone else and went to bed.
Woke up and everything was absolutely covered in pure white snow. It was really pretty, although we worried about our beach trip to Blackpool. Instead of the green pastures of previous trips, everything was covered in beautiful untouched snow.
Blackpool is a seaside town on the west coast of England, about an hour north of Manchester. Its kind of like Myrtle Beach for England; a very touristy, almost tacky, but really fun kind of place. There is a really lovely stretch of beach, and the town has a great Promenade walk along side it. Along the Promenade there are three piers jutting out into the ocean, and on the city side there is nothing but hotels, chippies, fish places, and “amusements”. Amusements are places with cheap little games like skee ball, snooker, pool, and other carnival type games; they’re like small Celebration Stations or Chucky Cheeses. Blackpool is also like the capital of “Stag and Hen” parties, what we call bachelorette and bachelor parties back in the states, so you may come across the odd strip club, lollipops resembling certain parts of the human anatomy, and drunken revelers dressed in ridiculous costumes. In some way or another, everyone in Blackpool is looking to have a good time.
The first thing we did in Blackpool was have a snowball fight right along side the shore. I had never been on a beach all bundled up in a coat, gloves, and scarf, much less with snow all around, so this was quite an experience. My eyes didn’t quite believe what I was experiencing; I see the sunshine and ocean so I think of warm summer vacations, but I also see snow and have a bone chilling wind creeping up my spine, so the brain just kind of short circuits for a while until it all registers. By this time the sun had come out and with a crystal clear blue sky everything was so bright. I could hardly see anything with the sun reflecting off both the snow and the ocean. It was really a once in a lifetime kind of thing.
We walked about a mile along the Promenade after that into town. Stopped at a couple of amusements and showed the Finns how to play air hockey, and Ramsay showed us some typical British games. Megan even won a stuffed unicorn. We stopped for some fresh out of the sea fish and chips, a Blackpool specialty, which were fantastic. Lauren and the Finns didn’t quite like it, but at least they tried some classic British cuisine. We also got an ice cream cone with a Cadbury Flake bar stuck in the side, our were called “Mr. Whippies” and this is another very British thing so we had to try it. So its freezing cold, there is snow everywhere, and we’re walking along the beach eating ice cream, it was just crazy.
We bought an all day pass (we got some special cheap deal), and spent the rest of the day at Blackpool’s amusement park, Pleasure Beach. The place is enormous and we managed to hit most of the good rides out of the 145 choices available. We pummeled each other in the dodger (bumper) cars, got dizzy on the flying rockets, road “horses” down the Steeple Chase, got a little spooked in the Haunted House, spun round the carousel, screamed like lunatics on The Bobsled, and laughed all the way down the unoriginally named Roller Coaster. I only wish I had gone on the aptly named Big One with Ramsay, Lea, and the Finns. This roller coaster is huge, and takes you on an almost completely vertical drop before zooming around another mile at 87mph. Us Yanks did not make a good impression as all of us wussed out of the opportunity. I had actually hyped myself up to go on it, but we ran out of time before we could all go again. Oh well, if I ever find myself back in Blackpool….
Finished up the day warming up with some chips and pies (steak and kidney is well nice!) and hot tea. I took a solo walk back to the bus by way of the beach just to see the sun set behind a soft pink sky over the deep blue ocean. Now that we’re a little more than halfway through with our trip, leaving each place becomes a bit harder as I realize that I may never be back again. How sad.
Whilst we had everyone together (which is pretty hard to manage these days), we decided to head to the curry mile for dinner. I couldn’t tell you the name of the place if my like depended on it, but I guarantee you the phrase “Ali” is in there somewhere. We ordered popomos, which are traditional Indian appetizers. Popomos ( I think that’s what you call ‘em) are about as big as a tortilla, but flat and crispy like a cracker. You break them up and top them with tomatoes, onions, yogurt sauce, and mango chutney for a delicious starter. I ordered prawn Al-Jalfrezzi, which is a spicy type of curry made with chili peppers; it was served with basmati rice and Nan bread, which is like a giant fluffy pita. They weren’t joking when they put the spicy warning on the menu, this is powerful stuff! Even though my lips were on fire everything was delicious, and it was a great night out.
Indian restaurant: popomos, Nan bread, al jefrezzi, korma, delicious
I’m going to bed as I’ve been having a very active day for about 16 hours now and am rather exhausted.
March 5th
Today was the highly anticipated Man. City match we’d been hoping to go to. Well highly anticipated for us anyways, Man. City played Sunderland and as they are worst in the division I didn’t think much of the fan base would really care.
Man was I wrong. The Man. City supporters came out in droves. I haven’t seen this much Carolina blue (City’s color) since the Dean Dome. They even had extra buses running just for the match. By the way, Man. City are supported mainly by blue collar Mancunians, while their hated cross town rival Man. United are cheered on by upper class folks and foreigners across the world. Personally, I think Man. City is the true blue team of Manchester, whilst United has more of the fair weather fans and less “Manchesterness”.
Our friend Marcus told us to find a pub “where nobody is fighting”, and that he’d come meet us inside. With images of soccer hooligans pummeling us in our heads, nobody really wanted to go inside a pub until he got there, but everything turned out fine. Went into a pub called Mary D’s Beamish Bar it was absolutely packed. I don’t think there was a person in there that didn’t have a City jersey on. Did you watch the World Series a couple of years ago, and they showed the local bars in Boston and the places are absolutely filled to the brim with fans, and beer, and love of the team? Well this place was exactly like that, only this wasn’t the World Series it was just a regular match.
After quickly downing a few pints (so very British), we headed over to the stadium. I was just floored with the amount of people coming out to the game. Droves of people walking out of the surrounding blue collar neighborhoods, cars lined up around the block, and dozens of buses with fans just streaming out of them. Everyone always talks about how the English are passionate about their football, but it’s so different to actually see it in person. I felt like a part of something much larger than myself, this seemed to even eclipse football; it seemed almost like a mass movement of the people.
The game was awesome, even for us lot who know next to nothing about City or even football. The atmosphere was amazing. I got pretty into the “GO ON CITY!” chant, although I couldn’t quite make out the rest. The sound of 42,000 plus singing and chanting will get you excited about almost anything. GO ON CITY! I was really hyped for the crowd to sing Blue Moon, although they never busted it out. It got kind of hairy at the end, but City pulled out a 2-1 victory. Yeah, quick, back to the pub!
This time we ended up in another pub called The Manchester, and although it wasn’t exactly a nice place, it was well suited to the working class atmosphere we were in. Drink of the day was Boddington’s, the proper Mancunian’s beer. After that we went right next door to the City Chippy where I discovered another joy of England, chips and gravy.
It was really great day, and I’m so glad Marcus came out to show us around or we would’ve missed out on a lot. GO ON CITY!
March 6th
To be perfectly honest, absolutely nothing worth writing about happened today. Sorry.
March 7th
Tonight Megan, Lauren, and I went to a play at the Manchester Royal Exchange Theater. From the abundance of Roman columns, marble floors, crystal chandeliers, and pricey artwork you’d never know that the building was once used for cotton trading and dealing. I believe it was bombed out once (the IRA I think), and then they renovated it into the theater it is today. The stage is a 7 sided, circular (even though circles don’t have sides) kind of structure. A play like this is apparently called “in the round”, by in the know theater folks. All though you lose a lot of the setting and props, the audience has unobstructed 360 degree views of the stage. The audience is also much closer, I felt like I was practically sitting on stage with the actors!
The play was called A Whistle in the Dark, and playwright Tom Murphy wrote it in the 1950’s. Its about an alcohol fueled, raging violent Irish family that has immigrated to England. This was a great play to see “in the round” because it the violence and action is so much more grisly when its right there on top of you. When one the character shatters a whisky bottle over the head of another some glass shards landed in my lap! I thought the play was fantastic, and after watching all these fighting Irish folks I left with a craving for Guinness.
I’d put off writing up a lab I’ve had for about 6 weeks so I stayed up until about 4am that night starting and finishing the entire job. Lovely Megan even helped me out with the standard deviations, and we ordered some greasy take-away to power us through the night and early morning. Although its taken some getting used to, now I think I’m getting the hang of this “slacker” or “bad” student deal. It’s a lot easier aiming for C’s instead of A’s. Hopefully I can get out of this system by the time fall semester rolls around and my grades actually matter again.
March 8th
Saw a Ford Mustang over here, and I just about shat myself. In America this is now big deal, but they don’t even know what they are, much less produce and sell them. It was really strange to see a car with the driver on the left hand side over here.
Had a packet of beef and onion crisps and a Ribena juice box for lunch. Ribena makes black currant juice, which is immensely popular over here. The Brits have black currant juice, squash, jam, cookies, candies, sodas, biscuits, tea, EVERYTHING! They must grow these berries with a special cocaine additive, because these guys are hooked. Interesting fact: 95% of all black currants in the UK become Ribena black currant juice, and “that’s just too many berries to shake a stick at”. Sorry, I read that off the juice box and its just stuck with me some how. Wish I could remember something useful instead.
We took Lauren out to The Pub for a classic British setting to have few pints in. I don’t think she was much impressed, but that’s ok, I got my Guinness fix in. I’m really going to miss the pub scene back in America; even here, bars just aren’t the same.
March 9th
Today we went to Liverpool, the first big trip we’ve planned on our own. Liverpool is only about an hour west of Manchester, so its not a far trip at all. Supposedly Scousers (Liverpudlians) and Mancs really hate each other, so we took care not to wear any of our Man. City gear out today.
The three of us were dropped off at the bus station and were immediately filled with an enormous sense of “Where the hell are we?” The Liverpool Football Club anthem is “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, but we sure as hell were and it was kind of scary for a while. Although we got lost for a bit, we didn’t panic, and used our handy little map and some trustworthy looking locals for directions. Personally I like asking old people because they I am pretty sure the old guy with a cane isn’t going to mug me once he realizes I’m a gullible tourist, likely with a passport and lots of money to steal. With a little help, we quickly found our way to the main (and nicer) part of town.
Liverpool is a city with a lot of pride and a lot of culture; even I noticed this after about an hour’s time there. For this reason they are being made into something along the lines of a “European Capital of Culture” in 2008. I’m not sure exactly what that entails, but I do know that it means there is loads of stuff to do there. There are loads of museums and theater, city tours, ferry rides along the River Mersey, and all kind of pubs and clubs along a riverside area called Albert Dock. There is always fun to be had in Liverpool.
Liverpool is also the home of The Beatles, and the Magical Mystery Tour was our main event of the day. A psychedelic bus takes you all around Liverpool showing you Beatles attractions like Strawberry Fields, the church where Paul wasn’t allowed in the choir, Penny Lane, and all the Beatles’ former homes. You get to walk around for a lot of it as well and of course take lots of cheesy, touristy pictures. They tell you interesting stories and anecdotes along the way as well. The tour stops at the famed Cavern Club, where the Beatles were discovered and put on the road to stardom. We went inside and had a pint or two, and saw the very stage where they first played their songs.
We went into a pub for a quick cheap dinner and I ordered the steak and ale pie (these Brits and their pies!) with peas, and chips, all of course covered in gravy. It was really nice, but kind of odd.
We made our way to the bus station with plenty of time. However, the only bus in the station was headed toward Leeds. Well we just figured the Manchester bus was late, and we waited, and waited…and waited. Finally I asked the guy where the heck our bus was and he said “That’s it right there, pulling away.” Well it was the Leeds bus pulling away, but as it was headed down the road I didn’t really have time to argue with him. I managed to flag him down and he kindly let us on which he wasn’t technically allowed to do. Apparently, the Manchester station is a stop along the way to Leeds; no one decided to inform us of this! No boarding announcement, no sign, no nothing! Imagine if I hadn’t asked that guy! The ticket counter was shut down, and we’d have been stuck in Liverpool the entire night, and with Lauren flying out first thing in the morning!! Man, that was a little too close for my liking.
March 10th
Lauren left us today so I hope she enjoyed her time here. With a trip to Blackpool, a proper football match, a few pub drinking sessions, a classic Irish drama, a shopping spree, and a trip to Liverpool, she can at least say it was eventful.
The director of A Whistle in the Dark came to our drama class today to share some insights and thoughts with the group, which was really cool. I’m really glad we did go see the play because he said that it is only performed about once every ten years, and people may never again see it in a setting like The Royal Exchange. Hooray culture!
Had some chips smothered in mushy peas from Potato Man today. I will never be able to have normal peas again, no, now I’ve gotta squish them up into a baby food like consistency. Everyone’s just going to think I’m a freak now.
I took a four-hour nap immediately upon getting back from uni. After a hectic week like we just had, I felt it was pretty well deserved. Nothing like a good long sleep to rejuvenate the system and get you ready for more tomorrow.
SLEEEP!
March 11th
Today I woke up at 7am (on a SATURDAY!) for another international trip to the Lake District. Megan fortunately did manage to get a seat on the bus despite not buying here ticket on time. Unfortunately, we sat next to the group of Italians. Nothing personal against the Italians but (as I should’ve guessed from my own family experiences) these guys are LOUD! They shouted, screamed, shrieked, and sang the entire 3-hour drive!!! Thankfully, we arrived just as the group finished up the third rendition of Bon Jovi in broken English (Uuhhhh Ohhhh, Liiiiiiiiiivvvvvvvvvviinnggg On Praaaaaaaaaaaayeeer! )
Our first stop of the day was at a place called Aira Force. Here there is a 5-mile circular trail that winds its way through the mountainous countryside, and up and over the waterfalls that give the area its name (force being the ancient Norse word for waterfall). About a mile in was Aira Force, the main attraction because it is the easiest walk, and the most impressive with the water pouring down a 70-foot drop. I took some really beautiful pictures (whenever my fellow tourists weren’t walking into the shots!), and then we kept moving to stay ahead of the minstrel Italians, who by now had moved on to destroying some classic Aretha Franklin. Here’s a thought guys: If you can’t properly spell “Respect”, perhaps you shouldn’t sing the song!
About another mile of steep climbing over slippery moss covered rocks we reached the second “attraction” called High Force, which was another waterfall. This time we were higher up and could look down on the green English countryside shrouded in gray clouds and fog.
We hustled back down the mountain to the bus, and then we drove another hour to a Lake District village called Ambleside. This time the singers stuck to their own music, which was nice because at least I couldn’t tell they were butchering the song.
At Ambleside Megan and I headed straight for a lakeside café and ordered a massive, English breakfast and a pot of tea. I know the town lives off of tourism, but they must really start to hate it when you get people like me in there asking “Hey, are y’all still serving your all day breakfast?” That’s like going in the dollar store and asking how much everything is! Anyways, with 2 fried eggs, local Cumberland sausage, bacon, and beans on toast all covered in brown sauce, I could almost feel my arteries start to clot, but it was delicious and the warm meal was just what I needed on this cold, drizzly day. I think the English toss in a tomato just to make them feel a bit healthier.
Well we quickly discovered there really isn’t much to do in Ambleside. We walked around through winding roads, and then over some muddy paths looking for the famed Roman ruins of Ambleside, but all we found was a massive ditch in the ground. Oh, wait; that piece of crap, hole in the ground IS the famed Roman ruins of Ambleside! Apparently it was a massive fort that held about 500 soldiers in it's heyday, but now all we get is a damned hole. I wasn’t expecting the coliseum or anything but a wall would’ve been nice. Maybe a stone or two. But a hole? I can dig a damned hole! The worst part was we couldn’t even hike back and warm up with another pot of tea because the entire town shuts down a 4. So we hung around on the pier, with the ducks, and we all froze our butts off together until the bus was ready to leave. We all slept on the way back home as well, even our singing troupe.
Later that night I met up with the rest of the old ECU crew and some new friends over at Ross’s. Megan was invited, but she refuses to come out for the rest of the term as she has about 12,000 words to write in 3 weeks for her classes. We went to this place called Satan’s Hollow, is someplace I never thought I’d find myself going. Well, I expected loads of Goth type people, and lots of piercings through lots of body parts, and probably someone biting the head off a bat or a human sacrifice or something but it was a really cool place. It was cheap to get in, and the drinks were even cheaper inside. They played all kinds of cool British music like The Arctic Monkeys, Oasis, Franz Ferdinand, and the Kaiser Chiefs; not exactly the heavy death metal I expected. And then, somehow, we found ourselves in a mosh pit. And, lo and behold, it was AWESOME!!! I never really saw the point of jumping in there and shoving everyone around, but it was really fun. And if you fall down, they pick you right back up, so there was lots of love as well. We managed to pick one of our mates up for some crowd surfing, but as soon as the DJ cut off the music the crowd instantly forgot about him and he plummeted to the dance floor. (Woooo, YEEEEAHHHH…. Plop!)
At the 3am, after a heavy night of dancing, or drinking, or whatever, there is nothing like a fresh, hot kebab. Oh, I need to learn how to make those before I leave here. I even hailed my own cab like a professional and was home safe and sound, so no worries. I think I may have been the latest person back that night, which is really impressive considering the party people in this dorm.
March 12th
Today I dragged my aching bones out of bed for the Irish Festival. I could’ve slept all day, but this is supposed to be one of the premier Irish celebrations in Britain, so I had to check it out.
And what horrible weather too. Megan, a Finn, and me trudged through snow and sleet all the way down to Albert’s square for the festivities. At first I didn’t think anything was worth being stung in the face by pellets of sleet, but I toughed it out and I’m really glad I did. There were tents filled with Irish trinkets, candy, shamrocks, books, music, anything under the sun that was Irish or that could at least have with a leprechaun or shamrock painted on it. There was a stage with Irish folk singers and dancers, and on the steps of the Catholic Church there was an Irish children’s choir performing. And Guinness, Guinness, Guinness everywhere. Drinking Guinness, Guinness hats, even people dressed as pints of Guinness. It was crazy. I’ve heard that if you drink 5 pints of Guinness on St. Patrick’s day you get one of these giant Guinness hats, so I’ll have to try and remember that later this week.
I warmed myself with an Irish roast beef sandwich, and we moved over to watch the parade. I’m not normally one for parades, but this was pretty cool for some reason. There had to be over 40 hand made floats, bag pipers, footballers, cricket players (cricketers?), and even Shetland ponies and donkeys. Basically, if you could wave the red, white, and green, you could get in this parade.
The best part of the day was this Irish cover band we discovered inside the O’shea's Pub tent. They weren’t exactly traditional Irish folk music, but they put a nice Irish spin on lots of familiar tunes. The fiddler was absolutely amazing; I don’t think he stopped dancing about the entire performance! They captivated the entire tent of about 300 people, and the entire place was clapping and singing along to all the songs they knew. Megan and I got a pretty big kick out of Sweet Home Alabama, which became close enough to home for us. They played so well that I managed to forget about the sleet pelting me in face for most of the way home.
Later that night Megan and I made pasta with Mediterranean pesto and some freshly chopped tomatoes and grated cheese. We have a basic line up of about 10 meals, so it was good to discover something new and spice up the system a little. After dinner I fell fast asleep from about 8 to 1am, which is not such a good thing because I have this deal to type up here, and a presentation to rehearse for tomorrow morning. I am so tired. I need a couple of days with absolutely nothing going on so I can catch up on some much needed rest.
Remember how I thought I was really cool for being the last one in the dorm last night? Well I’m not, and I wasn’t. My friend down the hall was in Liverpool, him and his mates got really wasted and then hitched a ride on a passing train, stowed away under a box all the way back to Manchester for some more partying. That’s just flat out impressive.
March 13th
Wow, my last week of lectures in my plants and medicine class! This “semester” is really winding up fast. I have one final essay due, and my two final exams in a matter of weeks. At least I can be happy about the schoolwork going by fast.
My friend down the hall, Andy, has managed to stay drunk for about 3 days now. Detrimental to his liver it may be, but its helped me out quite a bit. He just keeps coming by and giving me stuff! Pizza, curry, cd’s, but I’ve gotta admit the hugs are getting kind of weird. He dropped off his entire cd collection just now so I’ve spent the past two hours copying stuff like The Kinks, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash,David Bowie, The Yardbirds, and all kinds of cool stuff. Wonder what I’ll get tomorrow…if he doesn’t die that is.