So I'm once again overdue with an update on here...
Montreal was a little depressing. Constantly rotating selection of Asian roommates aside the city isn't really my favourite place in the world. Once again I failed to do any of the big tourist things and instead spent most of my time reading in the hostel and exploring the Eaton centre.
I spent more money than I intended.
Other than a couple of tops which I wanted to replace some of the ones I bought with me, I also ended up getting some bras (on sale in La Senza - it's been forever since I found exactly what I was looking for), a new bead for my Pandora bracelet (a little aeroplane) and some more tops (which I didn't need).
I got the train up to Quebec City on Saturday evening and grabbed a taxi to the hostel. The hostel is ok, but not great. The gap between top and bottom bunk is a few inches too little - you can't sit up in bed, which is annoying. They had originally assigned me the top bunk but, along with my intense desire not to sleep on a top bunk, there are only two sockets per pair of bunks and none of my cables would have stretched far enough. Given that none of my batteries are lasting very long because of the power supply, I need to be able to charge stuff pretty much constantly if I don't want them dying on me.
After the girl at reception failed to find an extension cord I could use, she reassigned me to the bottom bunk - success!
I hadn't realised how much I'd kisses Quebec City. We were only here for a few days about 4 years ago but it's amazing how much I remember about the place.
I went exploring on Sunday morning and found myself back in the square in front of the Chateau Frontenac where we stayed last time just in time to hear the bells ringing out from the church.
It's such a gorgeous city. Yes, it's ram-packed with tourists and souvenir shops but that doesn't detract too much from its charm.
I've been shopping again, I'm afraid. I just can't seem to stop finding things to buy. I picked up an Inuit-carved whale in Montreal (another semi-unplanned purchase) and I just bought an eudialyte and silver ring. It might need resizing slightly when I'm back home, but we'll see how my fingers change size while I'm still travelling.
It's snowing today. It hasn't settled at all but it's lovely walking through the streets of old Quebec as it falls. It's not as cold as yesterday so I don't mind, and I bought a Quebec hoodie with a lovely warm furry lining.
I'm definitely going to need to ship some more stuff home...
I don't know what I'm really planning to do in the city. Hopefully I'll be able to meet up with Francis if his schedule allows - it'd be good to see him again. Other than that I might just wander around and relax some more.
And drink maple syrup lattes. They're amazing.
Monday, 30 March 2015
Friday, 20 March 2015
Oh Canada
It's definitely time to update this thing again...
New York was less amazing than I think it could have been. It was probably a combination of weather, homesickness and lack of interest in most of the big tourist spots.
I'm in Dartmouth, NS, now, though. I flew up on Monday night and crashed in the hotel at Halifax airport for a few hours. I landed at about midnight and figured it would be more sensible to navigate in daylight.
There's a lot of snow. Apparently I timed my arrival for right in the gap between two snow storms, which is pretty good going. I was definitely glad to only have a rucksack rather than a wheely suitcase because I'd have never made it through the snow to Mel and Rob's apartment otherwise. But I got here eventually and befriended the cats pretty quickly.
Tuesday night they were predicting the second snow storm so we went out for food at a bar across the water in Halifax proper and celebrated St Paddys with German music (played by Nova Scotians in lederhosen with inconsistent fake German accents). It was only really fine flakes of snow but it was coming down all night and well into Wednesday so we got about 30-50cm in all, on top of the couple of feet already on the ground.
One of the fairly new traditions of the region is #stormchips. Essentially whenever there's a snow storm everybody empties the crisps aisles of all the food stores and stay inside indulging. Apparently this has been pretty frequent this year because winter just isn't going away.
It was a proper mission going to get storm chips, mind. The snow was waist deep getting onto the street from the apartment and I have neither snow pants nor waterproof boots (I totally thought my boots were waterproof, but apparently not).
My legs have just about forgiven me: it's hard work wading through snow that deep. My feet have yet to sustain any permanent damage from hiking through Halifax with cold, wet socks.
By Thursday most of the roads had been ploughed and the ferry was back up and running. We stopped off at Timmy's for lunch and Mel and I hopped across the water. We had planned to go to a knitting store called The Loop together before Mel had to be at work, but the ferry was only every half hour so there wasn't time. It's a gorgeous little store though. Nowhere close back home sells that much proper wool - it's mostly acrylic. I ended up spending $35 on a skein of the most beautiful hand dyed teal wool (80% merino, 10% cashmere, 10% nylon) with the intention of making a cowl when I finish my current project.
After that I headed what felt like miles further into (and possibly out of) Halifax to the Clay Cafe, a place I'd discovered online and wanted to try out. Most of the way there I was walking in the road because the footpath was 4-5ft deep in snow or climbing narrow channels sunk in the snow where the footpath actually was. I haven't fallen over yet, but there's definitely still time. The regular act of having to walk through inches-deep slushy puddles is unavoidable and my feet suffered for the frequent soaking.
I think I ended up spending about three hours painting and it was gone 5 by the time I left the building. They put a rush note on my stuff because otherwise they wouldn't be ready until Tuesday, which is a day after I've moved on. They should hopefully be ready either today or tomorrow, and Rob spent most of yesterday shovelling snow so we can actually use the car to drive up there (the snow was so deep after the storms that only the top of one of the wing mirrors was visible).
I don't actually have any plans today, particularly. When I've showered and stuff I might actually venture out with my camera (which I've completely failed to do thus far). Hopefully my boots have dried out now.
I think there are plans for Korean barbeque at some point before I go, and now that the car is free we might do that tonight. Apparently it's a while away and the buses aren't running because of the snow (although because of that the ferry is now free until Sunday).
I finally sorted the next leg of my trip last night. I've booked an early afternoon flight to Montreal for Monday and sorted a bed in a hostel until Saturday. I might look at heading up to Quebec City for a few days after that, but I'm not sure where my next stop would be. I've had an offer to crash with another girl from Bishop's in Toronto if I head that way and I'll be stopping in Ottawa at some point.
I'll work something out, I'm sure. Theoretically I have leave to stay in Canada until July 15th although I doubt I'll be here until that late in the year.
(I definitely need to proof read everything before I post it. This tablet keeps changing words without my noticing. Think I caught them all...)
New York was less amazing than I think it could have been. It was probably a combination of weather, homesickness and lack of interest in most of the big tourist spots.
I'm in Dartmouth, NS, now, though. I flew up on Monday night and crashed in the hotel at Halifax airport for a few hours. I landed at about midnight and figured it would be more sensible to navigate in daylight.
There's a lot of snow. Apparently I timed my arrival for right in the gap between two snow storms, which is pretty good going. I was definitely glad to only have a rucksack rather than a wheely suitcase because I'd have never made it through the snow to Mel and Rob's apartment otherwise. But I got here eventually and befriended the cats pretty quickly.
Tuesday night they were predicting the second snow storm so we went out for food at a bar across the water in Halifax proper and celebrated St Paddys with German music (played by Nova Scotians in lederhosen with inconsistent fake German accents). It was only really fine flakes of snow but it was coming down all night and well into Wednesday so we got about 30-50cm in all, on top of the couple of feet already on the ground.
One of the fairly new traditions of the region is #stormchips. Essentially whenever there's a snow storm everybody empties the crisps aisles of all the food stores and stay inside indulging. Apparently this has been pretty frequent this year because winter just isn't going away.
It was a proper mission going to get storm chips, mind. The snow was waist deep getting onto the street from the apartment and I have neither snow pants nor waterproof boots (I totally thought my boots were waterproof, but apparently not).
My legs have just about forgiven me: it's hard work wading through snow that deep. My feet have yet to sustain any permanent damage from hiking through Halifax with cold, wet socks.
By Thursday most of the roads had been ploughed and the ferry was back up and running. We stopped off at Timmy's for lunch and Mel and I hopped across the water. We had planned to go to a knitting store called The Loop together before Mel had to be at work, but the ferry was only every half hour so there wasn't time. It's a gorgeous little store though. Nowhere close back home sells that much proper wool - it's mostly acrylic. I ended up spending $35 on a skein of the most beautiful hand dyed teal wool (80% merino, 10% cashmere, 10% nylon) with the intention of making a cowl when I finish my current project.
After that I headed what felt like miles further into (and possibly out of) Halifax to the Clay Cafe, a place I'd discovered online and wanted to try out. Most of the way there I was walking in the road because the footpath was 4-5ft deep in snow or climbing narrow channels sunk in the snow where the footpath actually was. I haven't fallen over yet, but there's definitely still time. The regular act of having to walk through inches-deep slushy puddles is unavoidable and my feet suffered for the frequent soaking.
I think I ended up spending about three hours painting and it was gone 5 by the time I left the building. They put a rush note on my stuff because otherwise they wouldn't be ready until Tuesday, which is a day after I've moved on. They should hopefully be ready either today or tomorrow, and Rob spent most of yesterday shovelling snow so we can actually use the car to drive up there (the snow was so deep after the storms that only the top of one of the wing mirrors was visible).
I don't actually have any plans today, particularly. When I've showered and stuff I might actually venture out with my camera (which I've completely failed to do thus far). Hopefully my boots have dried out now.
I think there are plans for Korean barbeque at some point before I go, and now that the car is free we might do that tonight. Apparently it's a while away and the buses aren't running because of the snow (although because of that the ferry is now free until Sunday).
I finally sorted the next leg of my trip last night. I've booked an early afternoon flight to Montreal for Monday and sorted a bed in a hostel until Saturday. I might look at heading up to Quebec City for a few days after that, but I'm not sure where my next stop would be. I've had an offer to crash with another girl from Bishop's in Toronto if I head that way and I'll be stopping in Ottawa at some point.
I'll work something out, I'm sure. Theoretically I have leave to stay in Canada until July 15th although I doubt I'll be here until that late in the year.
(I definitely need to proof read everything before I post it. This tablet keeps changing words without my noticing. Think I caught them all...)
Thursday, 12 March 2015
This blog post has no title
Today I ventured into Manhattan for the first time. I ended up spending a small fortune on the subway going back and forth because I didn't know where I wanted to go for a chunk of the afternoon.
I found a coffee shop not too far from the nearest subway station and started the day with a mocha and a grilled cheese. It's probably a good thing I don't have a serious caffeine addiction or I'd never have survived the last few days without a proper fix. The coffee was ok, but I didn't come here expecting the coffee to be amazing.
I took the train across to Manhattan and hopped off at Park Place. I got a little turned around and nearly froze my ears off in the wind (yesterday was so much milder I completely failed to wear coat, hat or scarf today. At least I had my hoodie...) but I eventually found ground zero.
The 9/11 memorial museum is definitely worth a visit. It was strange going down into this huge, dimly lit space filled with people talking in hushed voices. The whole way round I kept remembering the day it all happened. I don't think I knew anything about the plane crashing into the Pentagon until years later, but I remember getting home from my first day of high school and finding my mum standing in the kitchen watching it on the news. The whole way round there's this constant barrage of images of the first tower burning and the second tower being hit and the constant stream of voices remembering that day.
The whole experience is strange. All the way around there are remnants of peoples' lives. Burned pieces of paper, wallets from dead men and shoes with dried blood dripped down the heel. I don't know if it was an experience I enjoyed but I'm glad I went.
I grabbed a slice of pizza for lunch before heading off on my meandering journey of the subway. On the whole this is definitely a strange week food-wise. My friend doesn't really do evening meals so I'm aiming for a decent feed at lunchtime to see me through. If nothing else it'll prevent my waistline expanding too early on in this trip.
I don't know what I'll do tomorrow. Depending on the weather I might walk across Brooklyn bridge or head further into Manhattan towards Central Park.
I found a coffee shop not too far from the nearest subway station and started the day with a mocha and a grilled cheese. It's probably a good thing I don't have a serious caffeine addiction or I'd never have survived the last few days without a proper fix. The coffee was ok, but I didn't come here expecting the coffee to be amazing.
I took the train across to Manhattan and hopped off at Park Place. I got a little turned around and nearly froze my ears off in the wind (yesterday was so much milder I completely failed to wear coat, hat or scarf today. At least I had my hoodie...) but I eventually found ground zero.
The 9/11 memorial museum is definitely worth a visit. It was strange going down into this huge, dimly lit space filled with people talking in hushed voices. The whole way round I kept remembering the day it all happened. I don't think I knew anything about the plane crashing into the Pentagon until years later, but I remember getting home from my first day of high school and finding my mum standing in the kitchen watching it on the news. The whole way round there's this constant barrage of images of the first tower burning and the second tower being hit and the constant stream of voices remembering that day.
The whole experience is strange. All the way around there are remnants of peoples' lives. Burned pieces of paper, wallets from dead men and shoes with dried blood dripped down the heel. I don't know if it was an experience I enjoyed but I'm glad I went.
I grabbed a slice of pizza for lunch before heading off on my meandering journey of the subway. On the whole this is definitely a strange week food-wise. My friend doesn't really do evening meals so I'm aiming for a decent feed at lunchtime to see me through. If nothing else it'll prevent my waistline expanding too early on in this trip.
I don't know what I'll do tomorrow. Depending on the weather I might walk across Brooklyn bridge or head further into Manhattan towards Central Park.
Tuesday, 10 March 2015
New York, New York!
So it's been nearly five years since I last signed into this blog, let along updated it. But I'm off on another adventure so I'm waking it back up to keep people posted (and to remind myself of everything I get up to while I'm away).
First things first; I'm in New York, as the title might suggest. I got the train up to Newcastle yesterday afternoon (and cried a little bit - I love travelling, I just don't like the leaving bit so much). An early start for the airport this morning and one slightly delayed flight later I was in Dublin rushing to make my connection. The signs for US preclearance vanished abruptly and it meant I ended up coming out into baggage collection by mistake and had to rush back through security again. I made the gate during final boarding call. I don't like being that rushed and I ended up with untied boots for the entire 7 hour flight across the Atlantic.
All in all the flights weren't too bad. The seats weren't too unbearably close together and uncomfortable and the transatlantic hop had individual screens with a reasonable selection of films. I didn't manage to nap at all but it could have been worse.
It was strange coming that far north. I was on the right side of the plane to see the top of Greenland as we flew past (and there is absolutely nothing green about it) and we flew over all the ice in the Newfoundland sea. I've seen more snow in the last 10 hours than the past two years, I think. I'm definitely expecting more, though. There's a whole massive area of Canada which from the air seems to be little more than dark rock, snow and frozen rivers. Maybe it's less desolate when you're down there...
New York isn't as cold as I'd worried it might be. It's chilly and raining, but not unbearable. I just wished I'd stopped to put my lenses in at the airport instead of waiting until I got to the bagel shop.
Thankfully I'd worked out how to get to where I'm staying ahead of time. It's bad enough being somewhere unfamiliar on your own - if you don't have a clue where you're going it's definitely worse. (I distinctly remember crying in front of a Montreal bus driver because I was lost, tired and travel-stupid).
Timing is a little off in meeting my friend and getting into the flat so now I'm sitting in a bagel shop with a coffee and a bagel I don't really want to eat anymore, waiting for my friend to finish work and come meet me. There's not really anything wrong with either of them (except the coffee is lacking in sweetness of any kind), I'm just feeling a bit travel-rubbish and meh. I got a banana as well, which was actually much more what I needed.
I'm also trying not to cry again. It's raining and I'm tired, and all I really want is a shower and a nap to see me through. Part of the reason I'm updating this now is to distract myself from the fact I'm current alone in a strange city about 5000-some miles from home. That and the fact that I feel like I'm on a boat in rocky water.
I promise the next update will be more cheerful. I suppose we should all just be grateful that this journey was nothing like my trip out to Canada at the beginning of this blog. One slightly delayed flight and a minor bout of early homesickness is nothing compared to that.
I'll try to keep up to date with this thing, but given how terrible I am at keeping in semi-regular contact with people (including my mother, I'm ashamed to say) I can't promise anything. I'll aim for once a week and see how we go.
This post is definite getting longer than I'd planned. Maybe I'll just keep rambling until either the shop closes or my friend shows up. Whichever happens first. At least it's dry and has free WiFi.
First things first; I'm in New York, as the title might suggest. I got the train up to Newcastle yesterday afternoon (and cried a little bit - I love travelling, I just don't like the leaving bit so much). An early start for the airport this morning and one slightly delayed flight later I was in Dublin rushing to make my connection. The signs for US preclearance vanished abruptly and it meant I ended up coming out into baggage collection by mistake and had to rush back through security again. I made the gate during final boarding call. I don't like being that rushed and I ended up with untied boots for the entire 7 hour flight across the Atlantic.
All in all the flights weren't too bad. The seats weren't too unbearably close together and uncomfortable and the transatlantic hop had individual screens with a reasonable selection of films. I didn't manage to nap at all but it could have been worse.
It was strange coming that far north. I was on the right side of the plane to see the top of Greenland as we flew past (and there is absolutely nothing green about it) and we flew over all the ice in the Newfoundland sea. I've seen more snow in the last 10 hours than the past two years, I think. I'm definitely expecting more, though. There's a whole massive area of Canada which from the air seems to be little more than dark rock, snow and frozen rivers. Maybe it's less desolate when you're down there...
New York isn't as cold as I'd worried it might be. It's chilly and raining, but not unbearable. I just wished I'd stopped to put my lenses in at the airport instead of waiting until I got to the bagel shop.
Thankfully I'd worked out how to get to where I'm staying ahead of time. It's bad enough being somewhere unfamiliar on your own - if you don't have a clue where you're going it's definitely worse. (I distinctly remember crying in front of a Montreal bus driver because I was lost, tired and travel-stupid).
Timing is a little off in meeting my friend and getting into the flat so now I'm sitting in a bagel shop with a coffee and a bagel I don't really want to eat anymore, waiting for my friend to finish work and come meet me. There's not really anything wrong with either of them (except the coffee is lacking in sweetness of any kind), I'm just feeling a bit travel-rubbish and meh. I got a banana as well, which was actually much more what I needed.
I'm also trying not to cry again. It's raining and I'm tired, and all I really want is a shower and a nap to see me through. Part of the reason I'm updating this now is to distract myself from the fact I'm current alone in a strange city about 5000-some miles from home. That and the fact that I feel like I'm on a boat in rocky water.
I promise the next update will be more cheerful. I suppose we should all just be grateful that this journey was nothing like my trip out to Canada at the beginning of this blog. One slightly delayed flight and a minor bout of early homesickness is nothing compared to that.
I'll try to keep up to date with this thing, but given how terrible I am at keeping in semi-regular contact with people (including my mother, I'm ashamed to say) I can't promise anything. I'll aim for once a week and see how we go.
This post is definite getting longer than I'd planned. Maybe I'll just keep rambling until either the shop closes or my friend shows up. Whichever happens first. At least it's dry and has free WiFi.
Sunday, 1 May 2011
Someone told me it's all happening at the zoo
I do believe it; I do believe it's true...
Ahem. I'll stop...
I seriously suck at this blogging thing, don't I? Third update in four months... I suppose it could be worse, but I've definitely failed at keeping up with it this semester.
Anyway, so I finished at BU last week and came to Oshawa to stay with cousins for a couple of weeks. Didn't do much for the first week and a half but now my friend has come over from the UK for the week. We spent six hours walking around Toronto Zoo and managed to take about 200 photos...
I also got sunburn, which I kind of saw coming. It was glorious sunshine and we were going to be outside for hours on end. At least it doesn't hurt, right? I have a weirdly shaped neckline now though, which will be mildly annoying, I think.
Not sure what else we're doing when, but we're planning to go to Toronto itself and out to Niagara as well. It should be fun and keep us busy for the week, and then he's flying home and I'm flying out to Victoria, BC for about a month to stay with a friend and explore out there before I finally get home in time for my birthday.
It was hard leaving BU, which I was kind of expecting. I guess I just hadn't thought about the fact that I actually had to say goodbye to everyone. I know there are some people I'm going to see again (some already had plans to be in the UK within the next couple of years) and there are others that I'm probably never going to see again.
This semester was pretty awesome. Some of it nearly killed me, but other parts were amazing. I got published in the Mitre (oldest university literary journal in the country) and managed an 82% average or something. Best semester of uni so far.
What else was there about this semester? So many things have happened and it's been a stupidly long time since I updated this thing. I got three new piercings, which I don't think I said in my last update, even though I'd already got them by that point. There was QUEUC (Quebec Universities English Undergraduate Conference) where we basically spent two days listening to interesting papers and meeting new people, plus a wine and cheese and a second poetry slam. I actually read some of my own stuff this time, since I knew I was definitely going. It was a lot of fun again, and I'm glad I got to do both of them.
I know there were other things, but I really can't think of anything... Six hours of walking in the sun and a mild case of sunburn has melted my brain. Now I'm sitting in the 'basement' watching Wanted and contemplating getting coffee. It was much easier when I had Dewies, but ah well. It's probably a good thing not having easy access to that much junk food...
I could totally crash right now. It's been a long day. Brain has disintegrated into mush and I'm fading fast. Maybe I'll try to update this damned thing a little bit more often, but it has been seen that I kind of suck at sticking with it. We'll see.
I think I'm done.
Ahem. I'll stop...
I seriously suck at this blogging thing, don't I? Third update in four months... I suppose it could be worse, but I've definitely failed at keeping up with it this semester.
Anyway, so I finished at BU last week and came to Oshawa to stay with cousins for a couple of weeks. Didn't do much for the first week and a half but now my friend has come over from the UK for the week. We spent six hours walking around Toronto Zoo and managed to take about 200 photos...
I also got sunburn, which I kind of saw coming. It was glorious sunshine and we were going to be outside for hours on end. At least it doesn't hurt, right? I have a weirdly shaped neckline now though, which will be mildly annoying, I think.
Not sure what else we're doing when, but we're planning to go to Toronto itself and out to Niagara as well. It should be fun and keep us busy for the week, and then he's flying home and I'm flying out to Victoria, BC for about a month to stay with a friend and explore out there before I finally get home in time for my birthday.
It was hard leaving BU, which I was kind of expecting. I guess I just hadn't thought about the fact that I actually had to say goodbye to everyone. I know there are some people I'm going to see again (some already had plans to be in the UK within the next couple of years) and there are others that I'm probably never going to see again.
This semester was pretty awesome. Some of it nearly killed me, but other parts were amazing. I got published in the Mitre (oldest university literary journal in the country) and managed an 82% average or something. Best semester of uni so far.
What else was there about this semester? So many things have happened and it's been a stupidly long time since I updated this thing. I got three new piercings, which I don't think I said in my last update, even though I'd already got them by that point. There was QUEUC (Quebec Universities English Undergraduate Conference) where we basically spent two days listening to interesting papers and meeting new people, plus a wine and cheese and a second poetry slam. I actually read some of my own stuff this time, since I knew I was definitely going. It was a lot of fun again, and I'm glad I got to do both of them.
I know there were other things, but I really can't think of anything... Six hours of walking in the sun and a mild case of sunburn has melted my brain. Now I'm sitting in the 'basement' watching Wanted and contemplating getting coffee. It was much easier when I had Dewies, but ah well. It's probably a good thing not having easy access to that much junk food...
I could totally crash right now. It's been a long day. Brain has disintegrated into mush and I'm fading fast. Maybe I'll try to update this damned thing a little bit more often, but it has been seen that I kind of suck at sticking with it. We'll see.
I think I'm done.
Wednesday, 2 March 2011
March has been broken
Right now we're in the middle of March Break. A random week off, during which we can sit around and pretend to work. I've spent most of it not working in Dewies.
I have done some work, but mainly we all turn up at Dewies throughout the day with our laptops with the intent of being productive, and then spend hours messing around, talking and listening to music. The bonus of sitting in Dewies for such stupidly long periods of time means that people to talk to will eventually turn up, and there's a pretty endless supply of food and coffee. Right now I have soup.
We've also taken over the sofas in the corner and every one of us has a laptop with us (except Bob, but he has an iPad; which is almost the same thing, only smaller and with a touchscreen). I don't think any actual work is going on...
We're going to the Lion for wings night later, and hopefully we'll actually get served this time. Last time I went I'd been in class for about 5 hours and really needed to eat, then we didn't get served for an hour. Then we left and went to Jerry's, but a couple of people didn't want to eat there, so we ended up walking all the way back to campus two hours after we left, having still not eaten.
Hopefully we actually get to eat there tonight though...
I think my ears are getting towards being healed, finally. I thought I'd recapped the past two months, and completely forgot that I'd had my ears pierced again. I think I'm stopping at the seven I have now.
Apparently I'm Bob's 'If he were straight' fake girlfriend... We had a girls night (plus Bob) on Monday, and it was decided. I think it works.
This blog is failing. I have very little to write about today, and my brain is semi-mush. Maybe I'll call it quits for the week and get coffee or something...
I have done some work, but mainly we all turn up at Dewies throughout the day with our laptops with the intent of being productive, and then spend hours messing around, talking and listening to music. The bonus of sitting in Dewies for such stupidly long periods of time means that people to talk to will eventually turn up, and there's a pretty endless supply of food and coffee. Right now I have soup.
We've also taken over the sofas in the corner and every one of us has a laptop with us (except Bob, but he has an iPad; which is almost the same thing, only smaller and with a touchscreen). I don't think any actual work is going on...
We're going to the Lion for wings night later, and hopefully we'll actually get served this time. Last time I went I'd been in class for about 5 hours and really needed to eat, then we didn't get served for an hour. Then we left and went to Jerry's, but a couple of people didn't want to eat there, so we ended up walking all the way back to campus two hours after we left, having still not eaten.
Hopefully we actually get to eat there tonight though...
I think my ears are getting towards being healed, finally. I thought I'd recapped the past two months, and completely forgot that I'd had my ears pierced again. I think I'm stopping at the seven I have now.
Apparently I'm Bob's 'If he were straight' fake girlfriend... We had a girls night (plus Bob) on Monday, and it was decided. I think it works.
This blog is failing. I have very little to write about today, and my brain is semi-mush. Maybe I'll call it quits for the week and get coffee or something...
Wednesday, 16 February 2011
Bring on the Midterms
So I'm definitely sucking at updating this thing in 2011... I've kept meaning to actually update it, but there were many distractions and other methods of procrastination.
Second semester is most definitely underway (currently slap bang in the middle of week six) and it's taken me nearly two months to get round to writing another post on here. But I'm finally doing it! I think I actually got part way through writing one about a month ago, and then I ran out of things to say and stopped. Then I had to restart the comp for some reason and lost what I'd written. I don't think it was anything particularly exciting anyway.
Semester is going well so far. I haven't had any midterms yet, but they're coming up in the next couple of weeks. I should probably actually check when exactly they are... I know one is on the 23rd. I'm not worried about any of them, anyway. Classes are pretty good. I don't particularly enjoy the four and a half hour blocks twice a week, but it's three interesting modules, so it's bearable (even if I am pretty much done by the time it gets to Shakespeare).
I'm currently in the process of doing laundry, so I think I have about ten minutes before I have to dash off and shove stuff into the dryer. I got distracted with sweeping my floor and didn't set the timer until an unknown period of time later. Hopefully it will have finished when I get down there, anyway. I also have a cold vanilla coffee thing, which has been keeping chilled on the windowsill. It's brilliant. I think the window has a bit of a draught, and it's around -18 at the moment, so it keeps things nice and cold. My bed is safely on the other side of the room, so I don't actually feel the freezing temperatures.
Not quite sure how much snow there is at the moment. We got hit by a storm a couple of weeks ago that dumped an insane amount of snow on us overnight, and we've had the odd random inch throughout the week. The footpaths are pretty easy to navigate, although it was about +4 yesterday, so some of it started melting and then promptly refroze. There are odd patches of ice all over the place.
I've managed to fall a total of three times so far this winter. The first time was the incident involving the puddle, and the second happened the night I got back onto campus after the hols. I made the stupid decision that I would be fine in my (gripless) trainers going for food, and didn't notice the great big patch of ice outside my rez. There were no witnesses.
The most recent time was because the path through the foot-deep snow was narrow and I lost my balance, managing to plunge myself into a snowdrift. Fun times. Only my friend laughed at me though, so it's ok. Better than the puddle by a long shot.
What else has happened in the past two months? I got to Montreal with no problems, although the Mother and sister had a pretty nightmarish time getting out here. Cancelled/delayed flights etc. They got there eventually. I spent a fair amount of my time waiting for them, sitting in the trainstation stealing the free wifi, seeing as the hotel was mean and charged. Strangely enough if you joined the Premier group or something, which didn't cost anything, then you got a code and could access the internet for free. This was pretty useful once we got to Quebec, because both hotels were in the same company, and there was no way we were going to pay for the internet.
I haven't mentioned the fact that - laundry - anyway... The hotel in Quebec was a frikken CASTLE. Seriously. It was epic. I rather loved Quebec, to be honest. Didn't think much of Montreal, but it's a bit too 'cityish' for my tastes, and apparently there are other parts of the city that are nicer than where we were.
Quebec was amazing, anyway. I tried some caribou and some wild boar, and had some genuinely awesome meals. I think the boar and the surf-and-turf were my favourites. I could have gone back there a couple of weeks ago (the weekend of the storm) for Carnivale, but I decided I didn't really want to deal with all the crowds. I'd have missed the Poetry Slam, anyway - more on that later.
I changed one of my modules at the beginning of the semester. I was set to do the second half of the Intro to Lit class, but we got the schedule and the only thing I liked on there was Blake, and we only covered about two of his poems. The majority of the stuff on the course are texts I've studied before or just down-right hated. I switched into a 300-level class on Medieval Dreams and stuff instead. Significantly more interesting. The first Long Poem class was pretty awkward. I had my doubts about the class, but it's definitely improved. I think it was probably just first class nerves for most of them. It's pretty good now, although I still don't really like that it's a night class on Thursdays, even if we did reschedule it for an hour earlier than it was timetabled for. My week still doesn't finish until 9pm on Thursdays.
What else is there...?
I got one of my poems into the Mitre, which I'm pretty pleased about. Apparently it's the first page and everything. Never had anything of mine published before. I've also submitted some of my work to New Writing Dundee, so maybe I'll get something in there, too. I think I'm going to have to look into getting something published in England, next. I've already got Canada and maybe Scotland. I'll keep working at that. Right now I have two poems to write for Thursday, and a bunch of things to comment on as well. I'll get it all done. I also need to make a start on my essay. It's due on the 23rd, unless I decide to turn it into a research paper instead, in which case I have until April 6th. It will get done.
I read at the Poetry Slam the other week. I had half planned on reading some of my own work, but I was also dying of the plague at the time, and therefore unsure as to whether I was even going to go until we were walking out the door, at which point it was too late to think of getting any of my own work printed off. I ended up stealing a copy of Donne's 'The Good Morrow' instead, which is one of my favourite poems. People seemed to like me, but I think that might have been because I'm English. The accent does funny things to people on this side of the Pond... I don't think anyone noticed that I was shaking up there, but I did pick up the fact that my accent was stronger over the mic. I could hear my own voice, as well as the sound through the speakers, and I definitely sounded more 'Yorkshire' on the speakers.
Ah well. Maybe I should have read some Shakespeare...
I have recently been dying of the plague, as has previously been mentioned. I think I'm going on two weeks at the moment, although there were a couple of days towards the end of last week when I thought I was getting better. Then the weekend happened. At least I don't look like I'm about to keel over, anyway. Apparently some people were rather worried I was going to suddenly pass out or something. I hadn't realised I looked that bad until people commented that I was looking better...
I hope I'm actually going to recover soon. I'm rather sick of being ill. Apparently other people are sick of me being ill, too; I get more moany than usual.
Exam schedules went up during the last couple of days; I only have two finals. This pleases me. I finish my year at Bishop's on the 20th April. According to my study permit, I don't have to actually leave the country until August 31st, so I have time to maybe do some travelling out here before I head back home. I still don't know what exactly I'm doing this summer, but I have about five and a half months or something to kill. I'm sure I'll come up with something to do, I have friends from various places around the country, so I might be able to find sofas to crash on or something if I do a bit of travelling. I think I'd quite like to see BC, and I have at least a couple of people who live out there.
Plans will be made.
Definitely been writing this for about an hour... I think I might have covered most of the past two months of my update-failing. Laundry should be done in about 20 minutes, and I've been neglecting my coffee. Probably a good thing it was already cold.
Maybe I'll try and get some of this poetry written. Or sit and mess around on the internet... Which is more likely to happen?
Second semester is most definitely underway (currently slap bang in the middle of week six) and it's taken me nearly two months to get round to writing another post on here. But I'm finally doing it! I think I actually got part way through writing one about a month ago, and then I ran out of things to say and stopped. Then I had to restart the comp for some reason and lost what I'd written. I don't think it was anything particularly exciting anyway.
Semester is going well so far. I haven't had any midterms yet, but they're coming up in the next couple of weeks. I should probably actually check when exactly they are... I know one is on the 23rd. I'm not worried about any of them, anyway. Classes are pretty good. I don't particularly enjoy the four and a half hour blocks twice a week, but it's three interesting modules, so it's bearable (even if I am pretty much done by the time it gets to Shakespeare).
I'm currently in the process of doing laundry, so I think I have about ten minutes before I have to dash off and shove stuff into the dryer. I got distracted with sweeping my floor and didn't set the timer until an unknown period of time later. Hopefully it will have finished when I get down there, anyway. I also have a cold vanilla coffee thing, which has been keeping chilled on the windowsill. It's brilliant. I think the window has a bit of a draught, and it's around -18 at the moment, so it keeps things nice and cold. My bed is safely on the other side of the room, so I don't actually feel the freezing temperatures.
Not quite sure how much snow there is at the moment. We got hit by a storm a couple of weeks ago that dumped an insane amount of snow on us overnight, and we've had the odd random inch throughout the week. The footpaths are pretty easy to navigate, although it was about +4 yesterday, so some of it started melting and then promptly refroze. There are odd patches of ice all over the place.
I've managed to fall a total of three times so far this winter. The first time was the incident involving the puddle, and the second happened the night I got back onto campus after the hols. I made the stupid decision that I would be fine in my (gripless) trainers going for food, and didn't notice the great big patch of ice outside my rez. There were no witnesses.
The most recent time was because the path through the foot-deep snow was narrow and I lost my balance, managing to plunge myself into a snowdrift. Fun times. Only my friend laughed at me though, so it's ok. Better than the puddle by a long shot.
What else has happened in the past two months? I got to Montreal with no problems, although the Mother and sister had a pretty nightmarish time getting out here. Cancelled/delayed flights etc. They got there eventually. I spent a fair amount of my time waiting for them, sitting in the trainstation stealing the free wifi, seeing as the hotel was mean and charged. Strangely enough if you joined the Premier group or something, which didn't cost anything, then you got a code and could access the internet for free. This was pretty useful once we got to Quebec, because both hotels were in the same company, and there was no way we were going to pay for the internet.
I haven't mentioned the fact that - laundry - anyway... The hotel in Quebec was a frikken CASTLE. Seriously. It was epic. I rather loved Quebec, to be honest. Didn't think much of Montreal, but it's a bit too 'cityish' for my tastes, and apparently there are other parts of the city that are nicer than where we were.
Quebec was amazing, anyway. I tried some caribou and some wild boar, and had some genuinely awesome meals. I think the boar and the surf-and-turf were my favourites. I could have gone back there a couple of weeks ago (the weekend of the storm) for Carnivale, but I decided I didn't really want to deal with all the crowds. I'd have missed the Poetry Slam, anyway - more on that later.
I changed one of my modules at the beginning of the semester. I was set to do the second half of the Intro to Lit class, but we got the schedule and the only thing I liked on there was Blake, and we only covered about two of his poems. The majority of the stuff on the course are texts I've studied before or just down-right hated. I switched into a 300-level class on Medieval Dreams and stuff instead. Significantly more interesting. The first Long Poem class was pretty awkward. I had my doubts about the class, but it's definitely improved. I think it was probably just first class nerves for most of them. It's pretty good now, although I still don't really like that it's a night class on Thursdays, even if we did reschedule it for an hour earlier than it was timetabled for. My week still doesn't finish until 9pm on Thursdays.
What else is there...?
I got one of my poems into the Mitre, which I'm pretty pleased about. Apparently it's the first page and everything. Never had anything of mine published before. I've also submitted some of my work to New Writing Dundee, so maybe I'll get something in there, too. I think I'm going to have to look into getting something published in England, next. I've already got Canada and maybe Scotland. I'll keep working at that. Right now I have two poems to write for Thursday, and a bunch of things to comment on as well. I'll get it all done. I also need to make a start on my essay. It's due on the 23rd, unless I decide to turn it into a research paper instead, in which case I have until April 6th. It will get done.
I read at the Poetry Slam the other week. I had half planned on reading some of my own work, but I was also dying of the plague at the time, and therefore unsure as to whether I was even going to go until we were walking out the door, at which point it was too late to think of getting any of my own work printed off. I ended up stealing a copy of Donne's 'The Good Morrow' instead, which is one of my favourite poems. People seemed to like me, but I think that might have been because I'm English. The accent does funny things to people on this side of the Pond... I don't think anyone noticed that I was shaking up there, but I did pick up the fact that my accent was stronger over the mic. I could hear my own voice, as well as the sound through the speakers, and I definitely sounded more 'Yorkshire' on the speakers.
Ah well. Maybe I should have read some Shakespeare...
I have recently been dying of the plague, as has previously been mentioned. I think I'm going on two weeks at the moment, although there were a couple of days towards the end of last week when I thought I was getting better. Then the weekend happened. At least I don't look like I'm about to keel over, anyway. Apparently some people were rather worried I was going to suddenly pass out or something. I hadn't realised I looked that bad until people commented that I was looking better...
I hope I'm actually going to recover soon. I'm rather sick of being ill. Apparently other people are sick of me being ill, too; I get more moany than usual.
Exam schedules went up during the last couple of days; I only have two finals. This pleases me. I finish my year at Bishop's on the 20th April. According to my study permit, I don't have to actually leave the country until August 31st, so I have time to maybe do some travelling out here before I head back home. I still don't know what exactly I'm doing this summer, but I have about five and a half months or something to kill. I'm sure I'll come up with something to do, I have friends from various places around the country, so I might be able to find sofas to crash on or something if I do a bit of travelling. I think I'd quite like to see BC, and I have at least a couple of people who live out there.
Plans will be made.
Definitely been writing this for about an hour... I think I might have covered most of the past two months of my update-failing. Laundry should be done in about 20 minutes, and I've been neglecting my coffee. Probably a good thing it was already cold.
Maybe I'll try and get some of this poetry written. Or sit and mess around on the internet... Which is more likely to happen?
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