Toga!

So I mentioned Monday briefly in my last post, but I didn't really get to talk much about it all. After my classes, despite the snow/sleet/rain/frozen liquid falling from the sky, I decided to walk around city centre and explore some of the places I hadn't been to yet. I found the Saks Fifth Avenue's of England, Harvey Nichols. I felt inadequate wondering around through the Burberry, Prada, and so many other expensive brands in my jeans and tee. I didn't dare touch anything, let alone try something on. I also found my way into a few really cool vintage shops, along with the old favorites, Primark and H&M. No worries mom, I bought 2 things for under 20 pounds. That night, as I already mentioned, went to basketball. Going has just made me realize how much I miss it and I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do when I go back without a group of girls to play with weekly. They invited the three of us who showed up from last week, Bec (Australian), Elizabeth (KU) and me, to play in a tournament with them at the end of March. I'm so excited! I then went back and made some delicious rainbow trout with lemon, salt, pepper, and parsley. I was rather proud of myself.
Tuesday I had classes, as usual. I had a two hour break in between Physics and Philsophy, so I went and bought my reading book for philosophy. Right next to the bookstore in the Union was the Hidden Cafe. I ordered a cup of tea (bottomless for only a pound!), sat and read for my next tutorial. It was such a nice little cafe. I am definitely going back soon!
After my Philsophy class was done was done at 6, I headed straight for the bathroom. Don't worry, I'm not about to talk about bathroom issues. I simply changed into my outfit for the evening - a toga! Some of my friends and I were about to embark on a Leeds tradition, an Otley Run. The Otley Run is a pub crawl which starts on Otley Road (hence the name) and goes to a total of 16 bars, originally. I missed the first stop because I was at my class, but I met my fellow toga wearers at The Three Horseshoes. Here's the list of where all we went:
1. The Three Horshoes
2. The New Inn
3. Headingley Taps
4. The Arc
5. The Box
6. The Skyrack
7. The Original Oak
8. The Hyde Park
9. The Library
10. The Packhorse
11. The Eldon
12. Strawberry Fields (aka Strawbs)
13. Dry Dock
As mentioned, I missed Woodies because I was in class, but we also missed Citrus Bar & Lounge because the Otley Run has been banned, the Old Bar and Terrace Bar in the Union because they were about to close, along with missing the Fenton Bar because it was closed. We did stop before Hyde Park to get some food, and I devoured a pizza and fries, along with discovering the back of my foot was bleeding. I think my shoes decided to attack it. Quinn had busted his toe open walking to Woodie's, so a picture of the feet battle wounds was necessary (picture below - I know you are excited to see it). Overall, it was a lot of fun, though. Here are some pictures:

Today I finally went and got inducted at the gym here, The Edge. It is really high tech. They have these keys that you have to check in with before you start your workout. Most of the machines have slots for the machines that will keep track of all the work you've done, along with giving you advice as to what to do during your workout. I used a crosstrainer today. Each had their own screen that was connected to TV, radio, and even had games on it. Because I forgot my iPod, I played Sudoku while working out today. It was crazy, and kind of weird. Hopefully tomorrow I'm going to go back after class and get my work out on. Gotta get ready for the warm weather to come in April when I go to Greece, Italy, France, and Spain.

The Toga Master,
Jessica

Croeso y Gymru!

Back again from another adventurous weekend.
On Friday night, I met a few friends to figure out my European expedition in April. As it stands now, I will be going to Greece (Athens), Italy (Bolgna, Rome, Florence, Venice), France (Nice, Paris), Spain (Barcelona, Madrid, San Sebastian), Switzerland (Zurich), Germany (Munich, Berlin), and Czech (Prague). I am so excited, but I really need to get to booking stuff asap.
Saturday morning I woke up, packed up my bag, and headed off to meet the bus for my trip to Wales. Once I opened the door, I saw it....snow. Now, as most people know, I love snow. I think it is beautiful and wonderful. But this time, snow and I were not on such good terms. My shoes got soaked, and were wet for the rest of the day. Luckily, Wales' beauty made up for it. Our first stop was in Conwy. We went to a delicious little bakery where I got a steak and potato pie. Then we were off to see Conwy Castle. Here are some pictures from the castle:

We then walked around the town a bit, looking at the water and seeing Britain's tiniest house. It was a cute seaside town.

We then hopped back on the bus and headed to Llandudno (no idea how to pronounce that). We took a hike up Great Orme, which lead us past this park where we learned that Lewis Carroll met the girl who inspired Alice in the town, so there were a lot of Alice in Wonderland little references throughout the town. The view from the top of the hill was breathtaking. We watched the sun begin to fall, and then walked back.

We then went to dinner, where I had some fish and chips. We walked around the town for a while, eventually stopping in Grumpy's Sweet Shop, where I bought fudge (it was rather disappointing) and a bag of Yorkshire mixture, which is just a mix of a bunch of different hard candies. We met everyone in the group at a bar where it was karaoke night. I think a lot of the locals thought our tour group was crazy. After that, a few of us still had heaps of energy, and went to go find somewhere to dance. We first tried a nearby bar, but walked in to find no music playing at all. So two of the girls I was with asked a few local girls where to go. We just hear them shouting, "You're AMERICAN! Say Texas. Say Amy. Say Victoria." It was hilarious hearing them. We did get a name of a place, walked there, and danced for a while. The next morning we were up early, off to Aber to see one of Wale's biggest waterfalls, Aber Falls. It was an hour walk to the waterfall, and I actually was a little disappointed. It was beautiful, but I feel like I have seen prettier. The stream we walked by to get there, though, was incredibly beautiful.

We then hopped back on the bus, off to Betws-y-Coed for lunch. I got a delicious lamb fillet. Unfortunately I can not remember all of the details of the sauce and the stuff on top, but it was amazing. It was then off to the Aled's sheep farm, where we watched a sheep fashion show. That basically means a nice Welsh man brought out a bunch of different types of sheeps and explained them to us. You may be thinking, why would you go to a sheep farm? That sounds lame. But actually, in Wales, there are four sheep for every person. So we were just visitng that majority. Afterward, we saw how a sheep dog (breed was a Border Collie) herds sheep. And we saw some adorable puppies. All of which only made me miss my dogs.

Tonight I went to basketball again. It was a lot of fun! We found out they are having a tournament in March that we are allowed to participate in with them. Its against school in Manchester, Leeds, and Liverpool. It should be pretty fun. I'm just excited to be playing again, even if it is mostly drills right now.

Your new sheep pro,
Jessica

The Discovery of the Football Drama

Again, its been a week. I feel terrible. I clearly have been way too busy. This time I vow to not let this happen again. So let's flash back to where we left off, last Thursday. Thursday there was a giant international party where students from 4 different cities in Leeds. The theme (because in England, there is always a theme) was Disney. I decided to go as Jessie from Toy Story. Here are some pics of our Disney fun:

Friday night I stayed in as to not miss the train for Manchester the next morning since the week before waking up on time didn't really work out too well for me. Luckily I woke up on time Saturday to catch our 8 am train. Andrea and I hoped on the free city bus so we didn't have to walk or pay for a taxi. With 30 minutes to spare, we thought that would be plenty of time. However, the bus driver proceeded to sit in the bus lot, chatting with his British buds for a solid 10 minutes. So we almost missed the train. As we ran to the train (literally), Quinn ran in. He called me once he had gotten his ticket and we had just began moving. He had to catch the next train while we waited for him in Manchester. Finally we were all together and walked to our hostel, which was really nice. We started off going to the information centre that had a Microsoft SURFACE! If you have no idea what I'm talking about, go search it on YouTube. It is one of the most fun things to play with. We then headed to CUBE (an Architecture and Design Exhibit), taking some detours around the city. Here are some pictures from walking around the city throughout the day:

When we finally go there, the exhibit was closed until the following week. So we went to find a pub that was playing the Manchester United game so we could watch it with some natives and have a bite to eat. Some locals told us to go to Yates. Once we got there, the place was jammed full of people and there was no where to sit, so food was out of the question. In addition, at the door were four, yes FOUR, security guards just in case things got out of hand. We stayed and watched a bit of the game, then left to go find some food. Finding food in Manchester was actually quite difficult. We went to a few places and finally found a spot where they weren't playing the game so there were actual seats and tables to eat at. Quinn asked the bartender why they didn't play the game and she responded, "It causes too much drama." I got my first order of bangers (sausage) and mash, and it was delicious:

Afterwards we walked around some more, making our way to the John Rylands Library. Before we got there, I thought it'd just a pretty library. But this place was so much cooler than that. Not only was it absolutely beautiful, but they had thousands of old books that you could look at (but not touch, of course). I snuck a picture of one of the rooms. On top of that, they had pieces of old, important books. One of the most amazing ones was a small pieces of a writing of the New Testament that dated back to around 125 A.D. It is the oldest dated piece of the New Testament in the world. They also had a second edition copy of Canterbury Tales. So awesome. There was also a working printing press that Andrea and I both tried.

We then walked south to the ancient Roman fort ruins. While there we stumbled across a slightly sketchy staircase that led to a parking garage (I think) where we could see the entire city. Both were pretty awesome. Following that we went to the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI), which was one of the coolest museums I have ever been in. Unfortunately we didn't get to see too much of it because it closed. In the atrium when you enter though there was a giant chandelier (for lack of better words) of TV screens. You registered this card, took a picture, and it was displayed over the screens. This card also logged you into a bunch of activities (mostly that we didn't get to) throughout the museum. I have never been to a museum where you were encouraged to touch things as much as they did here. We went into the Power Exhibit, where I took a bunch of pictures of trains for my Grandpa.

That night we had quite an adventure finding food again. Most places weren't serving food since it was a Saturday night, and those that were had literally NO tables. Finally we went to a place that was a little more pricey, but food is food. I had a delicious falafel sandwich...if that's what you call it, a sandwich. We then went to a bar called Trof for a bit, but after feeling extremely young (not to mention tired) with all of these 30 somethings, we just went back to bed. The next morning we traveled to Bolton, a very small town where literally everything is closed on Sundays. Again, it took us an hour to find a place to eat lunch, but finally succeeded. Being the smart kids we are, none of us looked up where the Bolton stadium where the Bolton Wanderers would be playing. Despite its name, it is not actually in Bolton, but about a 5 minute train ride in the middle of nowhere, England. We made it to the game, got our tickets, and experienced something pretty different. To start off with, there are NO other distractions during the game besides other fans chanting. No announcements, no songs, no breaks. You aren't even allowed to bring alcohol into the stadium. The most different part was the line of security guards surrounding the opposing team, Everton, fans. The away team fans weren't even had a separate entrance that could not be accessed by the rest of the fans. It gets that out of hand sometimes. Here are some pictures from the game, which were technically not allowed, but I plead the American tourist.

Monday I went to try out the Women's Basketball Club with Elizabeth and it only made me remember how much I miss basketball. Definitely going next week! Tuesday I went to the Eldon, as usual, and had a good time with friends.
Now that I have caught up on the last week of my life, I need to go catch up on Glee!

The Girl who enjoys dressing up like Jessie from Toy Story,
Jessica

London Chinese New Year 101

So its been a week, and I feel terrible that I haven't updated this sucker. So here's a summary of my past week here in the wonderful UK. Last Tuesday (and this Tuesday), I went to the Eldon for International night. Both nights we got there around 8 to ensure we got a table and would not be smashed into the slot machine again. Plus, you're legs begin to hate you after standing on them for 2 or 3 hours. Here are some pictures of some friends at the Eldon:

Thursday night was Headphone Disco Silent Geeks. I conveniently still have the flier sitting here on my desk, so I'll just quote it as to what it was exactly that I went to:
         "If you haven't witnessed a headphone disco before, here's how it works...collect your wireless
          headphones on entry. Two DJs broadcast direct into your headphones competing for your
          attention. Use the switch on the headphones to select the DJ you prefer. Dance/sing/go wild
          with thousands of others in an otherwise silent room! An experience everyone should try
          before they die!"
So I thought, hey, why not? The theme was to dress up like a geek, so obviously that meant that it was socially acceptable for me to go buy some suspenders. Red suspenders to be exact. Here are some pictures from the night:

I also took a video of the silent disco because I really don't know how to describe the atmosphere. It was a lot of fun, surprisingly. Though, when you took your headphones off, all you heard was people singing 2 different songs. It was odd, yet fun. I think the side pony I was rocking helped my confidence.

Friday I went to go see Blue Valentine with a fellow KU-er, Elizabeth. After walking a somewhat sketchy walk to the only theater showing the film, we made it to Hyde Park Picture show. They have one theater there and it was more like an old time theater. There was  a balcony and even a curtain over the screen. I was thoroughly impressed. The movie was so good, but so depressing. I highly recommend it, but then again, I don't think I've ever disliked a movie Ryan Gosling has been in.
Saturday morning I woke up 7:05 am. The only problem was I was supposed to be at the bus by 7:00 am to get to London. I then realized I had 2 missed calls, one from Elizabeth, who I was supposed to walk with, and one from Quinn, which I then remembered seeing and ignoring as I rolled over back to sleep. I instantly called Quinn back, informing him that I had just woken up and asking him to beg the trip leader to wait up for me. I shoved my stuff in my bag, forgetting things like pajamas and a toothbrush, threw on some clothes, and literally ran to the bus. Luckily, our leader, Emma, was nice enough to wait. By 7:25 or so I was on the bus, exhausted, but so happy I had made it. London was amazing. After arriving, we went on a walking tour to see all the major sites. We saw the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, 10 Downing Street (where the Prime Minister lives), Clarence House, Buckingham Palace, St. James Park, Trafalgar Square, and Piccadilly Circus. Check out some pictures:

After our tour around the city, we headed to Chinatown for a good Chinese meal at Wong Kei, a five story Chinese restaurant full of rude waiters and delicious food. I got roast duck on rice, which was so yummy! Since we were there around Chinese New Year, there were a ton of people and decorations hanging up in preparation of the next day's celebrations. Check it out:

We explored the area a little more, then headed back to the hostel. We spent some time in the hostel's bar, then headed out to meet our guide, Emma, at a pub in Leicester Square. After it closed around 11, we went to Camden to go to a bar called the wheelbarrow, where we danced the rest of the night. On our way back, we made a detour to go to the top of Primrose Hill where we can see the entire city. It was beautiful looking at London with all the lights under the stars. I tried to get a picture, but didn't do the spot justice.

The next morning we woke up bright and early to return to Primrose Hill. After that we walked to Camden Market, which had tons of cool shops. In the hour and a half we were there, I feel like I only got to a quarter of the stores. Must go back sometime. We then went back down to Chinatown to see the Chinese New Year Celebration. There were dragons and wishing trees and decorations and POP ROCKS. It was so insanely crowded, but such a cool experience. The neastest thing, I thought, was some of the shops had vegetables hanging outside their doors. As the dragon passed by, it would reach up and grab the veggies, almost like it was eating. I also had one of the most delicious things I've eaten, called a roast pork pastry. Literally one of the most things to have graced my taste buds. I also got a custard bun, which was also delicious. We then headed back to the hostel to grab our stuff and board the bus back to Leeds. Amazing trip, if I do say so myself. And luckily for me, everyone on the trip knew who I was before I knew who they were since I was late.

THAT Jessica who was late to the bus,
Jessica