I almost forgot!
Oh man, I almost went away to Spain for the weekend without telling you all about last weekend! What a bad friend I am!
Last Saturday, I got up dark and early (3:45) to get to the airport to meet my dim and early flight for London, to connect to Manchester, England, so I could take a train to Birmingham, England, where my friend from MAIB, Nicci, is studying at Aston University. I was on the plane and we were taxiing, but then we had to make a stop. They had to de-ice the wings! That's never happened to me before! So we're flying, and I notice that the time is getting awfully close to the time that I have to make my connecting flight to Manchester... and we're still not even below the clouds yet. I started to get very worried that the de-icing caused us to be late, and I'd miss my connection. I even called over the stewardess and asked her if I'd be able to make my flight. She looked at her watch and said I'd have plenty of time.
We're about break through the clouds, and I'm looking at my watch and thinking I'd have to run through the airport or that I'd miss my flight. I started thinking of how I'd have to take a train from London to Birmingham. Then we get through the clouds. Man, it's awfully dark down there........... oh man! I am an idiot! I forgot that England is an hour behind Germany. I had a full hour between landing and my connection! What a dumb globetrotter I am!
So I got to Manchester okay, and when we were landing, I saw the Concorde! They have a museum at the airport with one of the British Airways Concordes there. This was one of the coolest airport experiences ever. I also saw a USAir plane, and waved to James and though and how nice it was to see an American airline. I got on the train to Birmingham with no problems, and was off to see Nicci!
Nicci met me at the train station and she took me to her campus and I dropped my stuff off at her dorm. We went to lunch and met up with two of her friends, both French-speakers, one from Morocco, one from Paris. Then, we caught another train to a city called Warwick, where there's a medieval castle. It was very nice.
Nicci and me at the entrance to the castle. The lighting was very bad, and that's why we both look like ghosts. Rest assured that even though the winter has unpixellated our skin, we're nowhere near that white.
Me at Warwick Castle
The castle entrance.
"The mound" at the back of the castle.
The catle grounds from "the mound."
Warwick countryside.
An arrow slit.
Church of St. Mary, from one of the castle's towers.
Nicci's friend Sevrine (maybe) on the upper level of one of the towers.
Olde English houses
Me holding a shield, and a mannequin.
The side of the castle.
After the castle, Nicci and I went out to dinner. Luckily, Nicci was in demand that night, and we had lots of party invites. We ended up at somebody's birthday party at a bar where Nicci only knew three other people (the birthday girl and two others), and I only knew Nicci. We decided to go meet her other friends and dance the night away. And that's exactly what we did. I was up until around 5am. That means, including the hour that I gained, I was awake for over 26 hours. By the end of the dancing, I was starting to crash.
Nicci and I slept until 2pm on Sunday. That only left us with two hours to do stuff in the city, because everything closed at 4. And then the Superbowl wasn't until 11:30. We walked around a little, and I was a tourist:
Birmingham's shopping district is called the Bullring. And in the middle is a big bull, where all the tourists get their picture taken. And, I, a tourist, could not pass up the opportunity.
Birmingham fire truck. They have American-style sirens! It was so comforting to hear! Instead of that annoying "baaa-naaa, baaa-naaa, booo-nooo, booo-nooo" when it passes!
We went back to her place and ate a snack and hung around until it was time to leave for the Superbowl.
Nicci and I at the Hard Rock, Birmingham's Superbowl party. We had good seats, but the announcer, though American, was not the announcers of the game. And they didn't even show the cool commercials! I thought everyone around the world watched the game for the commercials! We enjoyed the game anyway, though. The game was over at 3:30, and we went back to her dorm.
On Monday, we didn't have much time, because my flight was at 6:10, and it would take me some time to get to the airport on the train. We slept until noon, got ready, and at lunch. Our other MAIB friend, Claudia, was out of town for the weekend, but she got back early on Monday and we went to visit her.
Claudia, me, Nicci.
After the hanging out, we walked to the train station. I got on the 3:48 train to Manchester Piccadilly (where yesterday, two girls got arrested for doing it in the bathrooms), and then had to catch a train to the Manchester Airport stop. I was not going to have enough time, because I should have been at the airport at 5:10 for my 6:10 flight. And, of course, the train station is on the other side of the airport from the terminals. I ran like I've never run before, and made it to my plane. But boy oh boy, I ran like my life depended on it.
In Leipzig, it was snowing so heavily that we had to circle the airport a few times so they could clear the snow. We landed and walked onto the runway into this violent snowstorm, which was very cool. Then, I took a cab back to good old Mendehlssonstraße, and procratinated posting about my weekend until today.
This weekend: Barcelona! I leave in 8 hours!
Last Saturday, I got up dark and early (3:45) to get to the airport to meet my dim and early flight for London, to connect to Manchester, England, so I could take a train to Birmingham, England, where my friend from MAIB, Nicci, is studying at Aston University. I was on the plane and we were taxiing, but then we had to make a stop. They had to de-ice the wings! That's never happened to me before! So we're flying, and I notice that the time is getting awfully close to the time that I have to make my connecting flight to Manchester... and we're still not even below the clouds yet. I started to get very worried that the de-icing caused us to be late, and I'd miss my connection. I even called over the stewardess and asked her if I'd be able to make my flight. She looked at her watch and said I'd have plenty of time.
We're about break through the clouds, and I'm looking at my watch and thinking I'd have to run through the airport or that I'd miss my flight. I started thinking of how I'd have to take a train from London to Birmingham. Then we get through the clouds. Man, it's awfully dark down there........... oh man! I am an idiot! I forgot that England is an hour behind Germany. I had a full hour between landing and my connection! What a dumb globetrotter I am!
So I got to Manchester okay, and when we were landing, I saw the Concorde! They have a museum at the airport with one of the British Airways Concordes there. This was one of the coolest airport experiences ever. I also saw a USAir plane, and waved to James and though and how nice it was to see an American airline. I got on the train to Birmingham with no problems, and was off to see Nicci!
Nicci met me at the train station and she took me to her campus and I dropped my stuff off at her dorm. We went to lunch and met up with two of her friends, both French-speakers, one from Morocco, one from Paris. Then, we caught another train to a city called Warwick, where there's a medieval castle. It was very nice.
Nicci and me at the entrance to the castle. The lighting was very bad, and that's why we both look like ghosts. Rest assured that even though the winter has unpixellated our skin, we're nowhere near that white.
Me at Warwick Castle
The castle entrance.
"The mound" at the back of the castle.
The catle grounds from "the mound."
Warwick countryside.
An arrow slit.
Church of St. Mary, from one of the castle's towers.
Nicci's friend Sevrine (maybe) on the upper level of one of the towers.
Olde English houses
Me holding a shield, and a mannequin.
The side of the castle.
After the castle, Nicci and I went out to dinner. Luckily, Nicci was in demand that night, and we had lots of party invites. We ended up at somebody's birthday party at a bar where Nicci only knew three other people (the birthday girl and two others), and I only knew Nicci. We decided to go meet her other friends and dance the night away. And that's exactly what we did. I was up until around 5am. That means, including the hour that I gained, I was awake for over 26 hours. By the end of the dancing, I was starting to crash.
Nicci and I slept until 2pm on Sunday. That only left us with two hours to do stuff in the city, because everything closed at 4. And then the Superbowl wasn't until 11:30. We walked around a little, and I was a tourist:
Birmingham's shopping district is called the Bullring. And in the middle is a big bull, where all the tourists get their picture taken. And, I, a tourist, could not pass up the opportunity.
Birmingham fire truck. They have American-style sirens! It was so comforting to hear! Instead of that annoying "baaa-naaa, baaa-naaa, booo-nooo, booo-nooo" when it passes!
We went back to her place and ate a snack and hung around until it was time to leave for the Superbowl.
Nicci and I at the Hard Rock, Birmingham's Superbowl party. We had good seats, but the announcer, though American, was not the announcers of the game. And they didn't even show the cool commercials! I thought everyone around the world watched the game for the commercials! We enjoyed the game anyway, though. The game was over at 3:30, and we went back to her dorm.
On Monday, we didn't have much time, because my flight was at 6:10, and it would take me some time to get to the airport on the train. We slept until noon, got ready, and at lunch. Our other MAIB friend, Claudia, was out of town for the weekend, but she got back early on Monday and we went to visit her.
Claudia, me, Nicci.
After the hanging out, we walked to the train station. I got on the 3:48 train to Manchester Piccadilly (where yesterday, two girls got arrested for doing it in the bathrooms), and then had to catch a train to the Manchester Airport stop. I was not going to have enough time, because I should have been at the airport at 5:10 for my 6:10 flight. And, of course, the train station is on the other side of the airport from the terminals. I ran like I've never run before, and made it to my plane. But boy oh boy, I ran like my life depended on it.
In Leipzig, it was snowing so heavily that we had to circle the airport a few times so they could clear the snow. We landed and walked onto the runway into this violent snowstorm, which was very cool. Then, I took a cab back to good old Mendehlssonstraße, and procratinated posting about my weekend until today.
This weekend: Barcelona! I leave in 8 hours!