Weekend and Winchester

On Friday night a few of us went to the Rocket again, it was fun, but average.

On saturday i was woken up by Peter, a fellow Sig and rudely yelled at until I got out of bed and agreed to go to Winchester. What is Winchester you might say? That is exactly what I thought but i agreed to go with him and Seamus (another Sig) for a day trip to this little village town reputed to have the original round table (which may or may not be true, who knows) and the church with the longest nave in all of Europe (totally true). We began our trip a little late, having to get from our place to Heathrow, then get tickets for the bus, catch the bus and take it to our destination. The bus departed at noon, we got there at 12:10. Assuming that we had missed the bus already we checked the next one, 1:45, and decided to check the terminal so we would know where to go when it was next our turn. Upon finding the terminal by pure dumb luck, we discovered that the bus had now departed, it was running 25 minutes late and as we approached it was READY to leave. We asked the bus driver if he was taking more passengers, he said "no", we turned away. He then asked us where we were going we said "Winchester", he said "I am not even going there" so we turned away. He then told us he would flip a coin, heads we win, tails we lose; he flipped it...."tails" and yet again we turned away. He then asked if we even had tickets and we replied "no", upon which he let us into the bus and drove us the 90 minutes to Winchester, late and for free, saving us time and the 18.50 ticket. Awesome.

After we arrived at Winchester we saw a badass statue of King Aelfred, the most badass statue I have ever seen, in fact. We then got our first dose of fish and chips, they were awful, but they were also only 5 pounds and were dine-out-only, probably a good reason for that. It was mostly what seemed to be white coloured (ha coloured) fish plasma goo, deep fried, we are just going to assume it was low quality and try again. After that were saw the Buttercrss arch, 3 churches including the huge one which would have given Notre Dame a run for its money in all honesty, we then saw King Arthur's "table", and 3 other castles. Then we ventured to a pub that the locals said we couldnt miss and boy were they right. Firs of all, it was called The Black Boy (snicker) and it was the coolest, coziest, most awesomist place I had ever been, we even voluntarily skipped our busses at 5:00 and 7:15 and took the one at 9:00 so we could stay and drink at this place. The wall decorations were like Applebees on bad mushrooms and the beer was all pretty much one-ofa-kind. With names like Summer Lighting, King John and Dorset Gold how could we not pass up the opportunity to sit and drink away the stormy afternoon and evening that was going on outside. if we could have found cheap lodging we might have even stayed overnight.

The busride home was awesome as well because the guy had terrible eyesight (great qualty for a bus driver, I know) and somehow decided that our tickets were only 4.90 a person, what a deal for a 90 minute bus ride, wethinks. So we took that home. At the tube station we should the man our tickets, which werent working because they were expired, but he was too lazy or dumb to check them so he let us go through for free. Price recap: 7 to get there on the tube, 18.50 to get there by bus, 18.50 to get back, and 7 to get back home on the tube. That is 51 pounds total for the day trip (not bad anyways) but we somehow only spent 12, how awesome is that. The whole day was better and more fun than we expected and was vastly cheaper.

What a double good day

First Week of School

This week has been good, less wild than my facebook pictures would make it appear however. I am getting fifteen credit hours but really only go to class for abour 11-12 hours a week which is super nice. The classes are 2 and 1/2 hours long, but come with a fifteen-twenty minute halftime break. All of the subject matter is taught by reading books, textbooks and case studies. All of my teachers are decent with the exception of one great teaching history. The guy who teaches econ and marketing would be good if only anyone could understand him. My government teacher is alright, just bland and there and really into government and my British youth Culture teacher if kind of a nancy (maybe gay?) turdball, but he is funny and cool at times. My weekend began today at noon thirty and tonight we are going to O'Neils which is a place to drink. It is awesome here because even on school nights as soon as class is finished everyone goes to the pub and has 1-2 beers then we go home and do homework, we  have already become acclimated to the not-drink-to-solely-get-drunk thing, though I am sure that will change slightly on the weekends (hopefully(butalways in moderation((winkface)))). This weekend we have a trip to a market place so maybe I can find something that isnt stupid expence and is super fly, like a super-gay deep V or super gay tightpants, just kidding. Anyways all is well I am just doing some homework now, then will have a traditional cornish pasty for dinner, pronounced paaasty, not pAsty. Which is beef, onions, potats, and something called swede (i dont think the clothing material) all wrapped up in a delicious pie crust pocket. It is basically an english pot roast hotpocket, but it is only 1 england-dollar and is a meal in itself, quite delicious and econmically friendly. I attempted to go to phat phuc noodle bar (the name means happy buddah you ignint 'mericans, not an obese guy at walmart) for my first ethnic, exotic food but they closed down right in my face as i was reading their menu, turdhole koreans. Anyways that is all for now, I shall wrtie again sooner, now that I am slightly beginning to maybe kind of sort of perhaps adjust to this new schedule

Over and out

Much ado about Nothing

I am tired. We took a guided bus tour of London then saw the play Much ado about nothing at shakespeares globe theater. The play was phenomenal but i give the overall experience a 6/10 because you have to stand during the play. So some math: getting to the globe 90 minutes of walking, waiting in line 60 minutes, watching a 180 minute play, 90 minute walk home. I was literally on my feet except for 2, 3 stop subway rides for 7 hours in a row. Miserable. I thought waiting in line for the eiffel tower hurt, my back is numb and my legs are just I dont even know what, my backnees are on fire. I am going to eat a sandwich and go to bed.

tired but happy

Day Deux

Last night was another successful night. It saw the merger of the 7th floor gang, consisting of Zach, Zach, (collectively Zach Attack, 7th floor), Devin (Reggae Guy, 8th floor), and Jim (Big Slim Jim, 6th floor (also the only person currently living on the 6th floor) with the 8th floor gang, consisting of Seamus (Shay-Shay, 8th floor), Alex (Sweet Alex, 8th floor), Noah (Big Red Jim or Jimsocks, 8th floor) and  Stefan (No Nickname, 8th floor) his nickname really is "no nickname". This merger resulted in the emergence of what is now called the 15th floor gang which consists of all 8 of us.  To celebrate the merger we went to buy beers at 12:45 am (00:45 in British time) but apparently liquor sales cease at some point before that. We asked the arab owner if we could buy some beer and he sketchily asked us how many we wanted, so we said 20 and the guy proceeded to pull 20 assorted beers from under the sandwich counter. We dont know if this was "illegal" or not but he is our beer guy from now own because he was so generous.

Schoolwise: today was more boring orienteering. Soon I will be finalizing my schedule which will in fact give me a four day weekend, every weekend. Perfect. Tonight we have a facilitated "pub night" on the south bank of the Thames and then we are all going out clubbing, either at The Ministry of Sound or a place called Fabric, yay. I saw a lady get run over by an ambulance yesterday that I just remembered due to the ever common sirens that are seemingly going of non-stop. I guess if I were to get hit by a car though, I would like it to be an ambulance. They just picked her up and threw her in the back and kept on going, it was weird. I will hopefully not be getting hit by a car as I am extra careful now and look both ways umpteen times before I finally decide it is safe to cross. I saw a bird other than a pidgeon today, riveting. I had my first burger, a "baconburger". It was sketchy meat with ham on it, but they somehow managed to acheieve a real bacon burger flavor. If I were to close my eyes I wouldn't have had any idea that I was eating fake meat and ham, except for the superiorly chewy and gristly stretches of fat in the "bacon".

All is well

Rabbit Warrens, Hugger Muggers and Pikkies

Well I have finally arrived in London and begun my schooling. Yesterday was awesome, getting to meet everyone and I had a super awesome time. I lucked out with my roomate, he is me from Texas, and by he is me I mean his name is Zach N. and he is a business management mager who listens to reggae, owns land and is overall awesome, like me. The girl situation also turned out to be a lot better than I thought, there definitely more greens than I thought (good looking, 9-10), more yellows than I thought (decent looking 6-8), and more green stripes (like to party) than I could have ever imagined. The first night Zach and i threw a kitchen party, one of the places everyone is allowed to drink and I think we made a pretty good name for ourselves, everyone went to bad happy, jet-lagged and slightly buzzed. Success

Listen: Today was rough, but necessary and semi-enjoyable. All the orienteering is mind numbingly boring, especially because the whole school aspect hardly differs from home. The city is awesome though and I successfully led three girls home today, all of whom would have gotten lost if it was not for me and I did it all without a map; just my native-american-quality internal compass. Tonight we are either going to go to a icebar (?), a pub or out to a club to meet the natives. I am sure it will all turn out well.

The best

The Last Day of the rest of my life

Laying here in my bedroom basement, i hav'nt slept above ground on a regular basis in years. I think it's because there is no light, which helps me to do one of my favorite things, sleep. Tomorrow I leave for Europe, tomorrow, TOMORROW. It came so quick, I am more excited than anything, followed by anxious/nervous excitement , followed by fear. Not life ruining, horrified terror, but just a small amount like when you think you locked your keys in your car, or that half second you feel like youre going to die when you lean back too far in your chair, that kind of fear. I would insert a pie graph here to show you visual people how i am feeling in percentages, but i don't know if this blog is capable of such complex actions. Most of the blogs after this will be more humorous, objective and interesting, I promise. They will not mostly be about my feelings, they will be about me, however, the most interesting topic possible. I will try to write everyday, at least everyday i make it back to my "flat" and am able to do anything besides pass out. Note: from here on in any blog, a 'Euroism' will be in quotes, as in the case of the aforementioned "flat"; unless otherwise specified. My bags are packed and I'm ready to go! I did in fact find a graph, it took forever so i hope you dont enjoy it too much

July 19

I felt weird and scatterbrained for most of the day. I woke up, lifted, came back home and finished Jail Bird by Vonnegut, my least favorite by him so far. I then took a 3 hour mid day nap and woke up feeling refreshed. I made a buffalo chicken pizza which was da bomb and now again i am going to bed