Pew du du du du du

Its been a week, but for good reason. I haven't really been up to much during the week. Friday, after classes, I went straight to the train station to get a train to Manchester. From Manchester, I flew a 45 minute flight (yes, FORTY FIVE minutes) to Dublin. I arrived around 9, went through customs (I'm pretty sure I was the only non EU person the plane), and took a bus to city centre. That's when the adventure began. I had texted my friends who were already in the city to figure out where to meet them. There was some confusion, and I got off at the stop they were not actually at. And then they ran out of money on their cell phones. Luckily, I had the address, so eventually I hailed a cab. The driver wound up asking me some questions, and it turns out his sister was getting married in San Fran over the summer, so he was asking me questions about the states. When we got to the street, he wasn't sure where it was exactly, but he got me to the block, but I was sure I could find it. Since we had a nice chat, he took some money off my fare. Then the fun part came. So Dublin is weird and changes the street name every block. So I went the wrong way up the block instead of down and wondered around the same block for like thirty minutes. I found it eventually. It was just an adventure. We were all tired and it was late by then, so we just went to bed in the sketchiest hostel I've stayed at.
The next morning we were up early. We did some exploring, got some breakfast, and then went on the free tour that Dublin has. We saw Dublin Castle, Temple Bar, Trinity College, and so much more. I learned a lot about the history of Ireland and Dublin. It was really interesting and awesome. Here are some pictures from the tour.

After the tour, we took a walk to the Guinness Factory. On the way there, we discovered the wonderful sounds of the crosswalks in Dublin make. Its where the title of this blog comes from and it made me feel like I was in some old school video game. It was fantastic. Well, we made it to the Guinness factory, which was interesting. However, it was kind of expensive and a self guided tour. I did learn some crazy things about Guinness though. And I learned to pour the perfect pint, even receiving my own certificate. I could not drink very much of the Guinness though. It was not good at all. Blech. Here are some pics from the factory:

After the Guinness Factory, we went to find somewhere to eat. Dublin is really expensive, though, so it took us a while. We wound up finding somewhere to eat in the Temple Bar area that wasn't super cheap, but was kind of reasonable. I got Steak and Guinness Casserole with Mash, which was delicious!

After dinner, we wondered around the Temple Bar area, going into a few places to hear some traditional Irish music. There were also some street performers. Some played music, some spun fire, but all of them were really good. We then went back. At 4am, we woke up to catch the bus to Belfast in Northern Ireland. When we got there, it was straight onto the tour bus to see the country side. We made a few stops at some small towns along the coast, then finally made it to Giant's Causeway. It was absolutely beautiful. It really reminded me of the pictures I've seen of California. Here are some pictures of the places we stopped and the causeway.

After the causeway we went to a few more small towns and also stopped at this old salmon fisherman bridge. Its 20 meters across and 30 meters down. We walked across it. I thought it'd be a lot more frightening than it actually was. We got back to Belfast and were exhausted, so we just went back to the hostel and hung out for a bit. Monday we walked around Belfast, but there did not really seem to be too much to do in Belfast.
Today is Pancake Day in England. Its what they do on Fat Tuesday instead of a Mardi Gras celebration like we do in the states. My flatmates made some pancakes and let me try one. They are not like the pancakes back in the states. They are somewhere in between crepes and pancakes. They also put a bunch of different things on them, including lemon, sugar, and chocolate sauce. I tried a syrup that was like a thicker version of maple syrup. It was pretty good. This weekend I am off to Oslo, Norway and am so excited!

The Perfect Pint Pourer,
Jessica

Spice Up Your Life!

So this weekend has not been as exciting as some previous ones. For the first time in a while I stayed in Leeds. Friday night I went to a party for a bit that a friend was having at her flat. One of her flatmates had made handmade pizza (dough and everything) that was quite delicious. During the day on Saturday I worked on school work and many KU scholarships, including the SELF program. I pretty much finished all of that this past weekend. Saturday night Elizabeth and I went out, thinking we were going to a Chinese restaurant. After 10 minutes of walking, we concluded we had no idea where this place was, and went with a nearby Persian restaurant instead. I ordered lamb something (it was in Persian, I really had no idea) with rice and we split hummus. It was so delicious, I ate the whole thing (which is pretty gross, actually). Here's a picture:

Sunday I met some friends and we went to the Spice Girls exhibit. One of the greatest things I have ever been to. It was like a flashback to my 7 year old self. We were all taking tons of pictures and absorbing the endless Spice trivia. Mel B (Scary Spice) is actually from Leeds, so there were extra tidbits on her. Too bad she was too scary as a child that no one really liked her. At the end we even dress up in the children's costumes as the spice girls. Here are some pictures from the magnificantness.

We then explored the rest of the museum, which was actually quite awesome. Everything was very kid friendly, so there was a lot of stuff to dress up in and activities to complete. Naturally, we participated in all. We had fun dressing up like we were 5 again.

Afterwards, three of us went to the Old Bar, which is in the Union. I went on a limb and got a veggie burger. Since then, I have been obsessed. When I went to the store on Monday, I bough some, along with hummus, pita, tomatos (turns out I actually like them), and some spinach and have been eating it like mad. I'm actually eating healthy, with lots of veggies and fruits. Its an odd, and suprisingly delicious, change.
On Monday night I went to basketball and had fun, as always. I'm so happy because I'm getting less and less tired each week. This week I could have kept going at the end. So excited for the tournament to come!
Tonight I met some friends at the Eldon, again. A bunch of people have quite a few papers due this week, so we didn't stay too long. All I can think about is going to Dublin and Northern Ireland this week, though. So excited to share my adventures in the land of shamrocks on Monday!

Official Spice Girls Lover,
Jessica

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