hey there everyone!
this isn't a real update but its been awhile so i figured i'd say a little something.
key facts since i last blogged:
-i finished reading James Joyce's "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man". It was really good on in the beginning, but then got pretty tortuous. It ended being good good again. The Modern Library calls is the 3rd best novel. i probably disagree.
-i went bowling with some people. got a pitiful last place score of 57 the first round but a triumphant 118 second place score the next round. plus two strikes. no bummers.
-everyone should check out the amazing youtube videos done by my cousins (username: nohyphenno) and my sister (username: yesspaceyes).
-A very happy 21st b-day to heather!!!
-i got a score of 11,658 in solitaire last night, winning in 63 seconds. my best time ever.
-later today i'm going to see a play "Major Barbara" at the national theater.
-tomorrow morning, bright and early, i'm flying to amsterdam to meet kaitlyn and embrace my dutch culture.
-by saturday morning i'll be make in english-speaking england heading out to see Stonehenge and Bath.
-Sunday or Monday you can expect some major bloggage.
-There is a new poll. On the last one Switzerland and Czech tied, but apparently Nan voted three times for Czech.
Until then, thanks for reading,
Roy
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Hey everybody!
So yesterday i went to london once again. as dictated by the poll to the right my first stop was the tate modern. the building was really awesome, it was made from an old factory of some sort. the art was good, some picassos, some early pollocks, lots of cubism and lots of minimalism. it was really nice to see it but it again made me appreciate all the art museums in new york. below you can see a picture of the giant building its in and a little girl having fun with one of the piece. no its not a crack in the ground. its art! There is also a few from one of the top floors at the museum. you can see st.paul's across the water and the millennium bridge. so cool!
after that we headed back towards bloomsbury which i had visited during my author's tour. we saw charles dickens house which was pretty invigorating and then we headed to the british museum. i know i had already been there, but its so big so i figured i could see something different still. i was right! apparently the first time i went i didnt see the rosetta stone. i saw a facsimile of the rosetta stone. the real one was in a different wing! well i saw it, the real one this time, and boy did it deliver. i also saw some roman and greek stuff. you know, antiques and all that. pretty good. pretty pretty pretty good.
afterwards we walked to the british library and on the way saw yet another charles dickens house. apparently he had two. the library was the best part of the day i think. they had a whole wing of really really old manuscripts and books. some really famous stuff. i saw the magna carta, beowulf, shakespeare's folios, the notebooks for mrs.dalloway the guttenburg bible. all the originals of all these famous things! so fun, i didnt even know they were there so it was really cool. they even had a section on beatles stuff. they had lots of there lyrics, written in their handwriting. they had lennon's "a hard days night" which he apparently wrote in one night on the back of his son's first birthday card. they had bits of strawberry fields written on napkins. all really interesting great stuff. the library was closing early, but it was huge and i barely saw it, so im sure ill be going back sometime. The only downside is you cant take pictures there so i dont have much proof of all the cool stuff.
that was all my stops for that day, but a few other interesting things that have happened are:
-i went to krispy kremes and ordered two donuts and the later gave me three!
-mary, my landlady, was having her family over for a fire in the backyard and invited me. i went and got a delicious meal of sausages, potatoes and fried vegetables. also, i now like tomatoes and onions, if they are grilled or fried. so thats a pretty big development. i got to talk to her family and it was a really nice time.
-you know that song about the ant and the rubber tree plant? well the british pronounce tomato the wrong way. they also say zed instead of the letter z.
-im now going to walk home and get a 1.99 sub from subway! america!
thanks for reading,
roy
ps. do my new poll!
So yesterday i went to london once again. as dictated by the poll to the right my first stop was the tate modern. the building was really awesome, it was made from an old factory of some sort. the art was good, some picassos, some early pollocks, lots of cubism and lots of minimalism. it was really nice to see it but it again made me appreciate all the art museums in new york. below you can see a picture of the giant building its in and a little girl having fun with one of the piece. no its not a crack in the ground. its art! There is also a few from one of the top floors at the museum. you can see st.paul's across the water and the millennium bridge. so cool!
after that we headed back towards bloomsbury which i had visited during my author's tour. we saw charles dickens house which was pretty invigorating and then we headed to the british museum. i know i had already been there, but its so big so i figured i could see something different still. i was right! apparently the first time i went i didnt see the rosetta stone. i saw a facsimile of the rosetta stone. the real one was in a different wing! well i saw it, the real one this time, and boy did it deliver. i also saw some roman and greek stuff. you know, antiques and all that. pretty good. pretty pretty pretty good.
afterwards we walked to the british library and on the way saw yet another charles dickens house. apparently he had two. the library was the best part of the day i think. they had a whole wing of really really old manuscripts and books. some really famous stuff. i saw the magna carta, beowulf, shakespeare's folios, the notebooks for mrs.dalloway the guttenburg bible. all the originals of all these famous things! so fun, i didnt even know they were there so it was really cool. they even had a section on beatles stuff. they had lots of there lyrics, written in their handwriting. they had lennon's "a hard days night" which he apparently wrote in one night on the back of his son's first birthday card. they had bits of strawberry fields written on napkins. all really interesting great stuff. the library was closing early, but it was huge and i barely saw it, so im sure ill be going back sometime. The only downside is you cant take pictures there so i dont have much proof of all the cool stuff.
that was all my stops for that day, but a few other interesting things that have happened are:
-i went to krispy kremes and ordered two donuts and the later gave me three!
-mary, my landlady, was having her family over for a fire in the backyard and invited me. i went and got a delicious meal of sausages, potatoes and fried vegetables. also, i now like tomatoes and onions, if they are grilled or fried. so thats a pretty big development. i got to talk to her family and it was a really nice time.
-you know that song about the ant and the rubber tree plant? well the british pronounce tomato the wrong way. they also say zed instead of the letter z.
-im now going to walk home and get a 1.99 sub from subway! america!
thanks for reading,
roy
ps. do my new poll!
Friday, February 15, 2008
aloha from sunny kingston,
well the waves have been tubular this week, lots of surf, lots of fun-in-the-sun as the islanders say. last night i went to a real life pig-roast and got to wear my first coconut bra. it was out of this world. later today i think some of my friends are meeting up near westminister to learn hoola dancing, im a little nervous, i never shaken my hips before.
oh wait, nevermind, thats not true. what is true is that yesterday i went into london solo to see dead authors houses!!!! all the writers i wanted to see lived on these weird roads, most of which are too narrow for cars. consequently, lots of the roads werent on my maps, so i wasnt able to see all the destinations i wanted. t.s eliot and james joyce abodes were never discovered...but i did see EZRA POUND, GEORGE ORWELL, VIRGINIA WOOLF and by complete chance CHARLES DARWIN. prettttty exciting. also weird, there were no tours or information at the houses, just these blue circle plaques. so i got my snapshots and moved along in my nerdom.
after seeing the houses i check out the british museum. it was really cool, but wasnt quite as cool as new york's museum of natural history. it had a ton of cool egyptian stuff though, and that was awesome. i saw the rosetta stone. THE ROSETTA STONE! i couldnt believe my eyes. i think i was literally catching my breath in front of it for twenty minutes.
another bonus: i just downloaded the latest episode of LOST, it was on itunes so fast!
enjoy the pictures,
love roy
ps. check out the new blog counter and poll! looks like the tate modern will be next!
pps. its ezra's house first, then orwell, then woolf.
well the waves have been tubular this week, lots of surf, lots of fun-in-the-sun as the islanders say. last night i went to a real life pig-roast and got to wear my first coconut bra. it was out of this world. later today i think some of my friends are meeting up near westminister to learn hoola dancing, im a little nervous, i never shaken my hips before.
oh wait, nevermind, thats not true. what is true is that yesterday i went into london solo to see dead authors houses!!!! all the writers i wanted to see lived on these weird roads, most of which are too narrow for cars. consequently, lots of the roads werent on my maps, so i wasnt able to see all the destinations i wanted. t.s eliot and james joyce abodes were never discovered...but i did see EZRA POUND, GEORGE ORWELL, VIRGINIA WOOLF and by complete chance CHARLES DARWIN. prettttty exciting. also weird, there were no tours or information at the houses, just these blue circle plaques. so i got my snapshots and moved along in my nerdom.
after seeing the houses i check out the british museum. it was really cool, but wasnt quite as cool as new york's museum of natural history. it had a ton of cool egyptian stuff though, and that was awesome. i saw the rosetta stone. THE ROSETTA STONE! i couldnt believe my eyes. i think i was literally catching my breath in front of it for twenty minutes.
another bonus: i just downloaded the latest episode of LOST, it was on itunes so fast!
enjoy the pictures,
love roy
ps. check out the new blog counter and poll! looks like the tate modern will be next!
pps. its ezra's house first, then orwell, then woolf.
Monday, February 11, 2008
wow! two blog entries in one day! you are the luckiest!
the only downside with two entries in one day is now i'm pretty done with updating things on the computer. imagine that, a few weeks ago i was dying to have internet access and now i actually get bored with it. well, its not boring when people are online to talk to, thats great, but otherwise surfing the web just doesn't have the appeal that it used to.
anyway, yesterday on sunday the tenth of february, i, roy joseph verspoor the second, went to london and saw chinese new year. it was a blast, or as the chinese would say a brast. there was a huge parade with drums and dancers and dragons and inflatable things that kind of looked like pokemon creatures but weren't it was very strange and very fun. afterwards half our group wanted to eat at a chinese buffet in chinatown, but the other half werent willing to wait on line just to enter a chinese buffet so we went somewhere else.
we decided we'd go to st.paul's cathedral and eat around there. sadly, as it turns out not a single establishment was open and of course st.paul's wasnt open to the public on a sunday. so we took another subway over to the london bridge were we knew there were pubs and ate at the "horniman's pub". yes, another wonderful pub name.
then we tubed over to covent gardens market place. there were lots of street performers and the like. it was neato. we ended the day with a firework display in good old chinese fashion. we hung around a bit more and then ended home. i watched batman returns and hit the hay.
next london adventure should be this thursday when i nerd-it-up and look at famous author's houses. wooohooo!
until then, thanks for reading and enjoy the pictures,
roy!
the only downside with two entries in one day is now i'm pretty done with updating things on the computer. imagine that, a few weeks ago i was dying to have internet access and now i actually get bored with it. well, its not boring when people are online to talk to, thats great, but otherwise surfing the web just doesn't have the appeal that it used to.
anyway, yesterday on sunday the tenth of february, i, roy joseph verspoor the second, went to london and saw chinese new year. it was a blast, or as the chinese would say a brast. there was a huge parade with drums and dancers and dragons and inflatable things that kind of looked like pokemon creatures but weren't it was very strange and very fun. afterwards half our group wanted to eat at a chinese buffet in chinatown, but the other half werent willing to wait on line just to enter a chinese buffet so we went somewhere else.
we decided we'd go to st.paul's cathedral and eat around there. sadly, as it turns out not a single establishment was open and of course st.paul's wasnt open to the public on a sunday. so we took another subway over to the london bridge were we knew there were pubs and ate at the "horniman's pub". yes, another wonderful pub name.
then we tubed over to covent gardens market place. there were lots of street performers and the like. it was neato. we ended the day with a firework display in good old chinese fashion. we hung around a bit more and then ended home. i watched batman returns and hit the hay.
next london adventure should be this thursday when i nerd-it-up and look at famous author's houses. wooohooo!
until then, thanks for reading and enjoy the pictures,
roy!
Hey everyone,
I’m writing this entry Saturday night before bed, though I don’t think I’ll be posting it until Monday. I figured I’d write it before I got to the lab because I’m going out to London again tomorrow and I’ll probably have even more pictures and things to write about. Today my class went to Oxford. We left early and it was a two hour bus ride out to Oxford. As it turns out Oxford is made up of a bunch of different campuses scattered all around the city of Oxford. When you apply to the university you actually apply to a certain college or campus and then if you get in there you are in Oxford as a whole. The tour guide compared it to applying to join a state in the US. If you get in New York, you are a member of America. If you get in St.John’s college you can say you are a member of the university. My British Life and Culture professor applied to get Queen’s college when he was younger but he was denied. Once you are denied you can’t apply again. Also at the college you have class once a week but there are no assignments and attendance isn’t mandatory, but once a week you have to meet with your tutor and justify your being there. So that means you have to just give yourself assignments and do things by yourself. I thought it was interesting. Also interesting, it’s the same tuition to go to Oxford as Kingston if you are an English citizen. Still just 3000 pounds.
The first stop on the tour was at the Shepariton (not sure with that spelling) Theater. This is were they induct all new students and give diplomas to all graduating students. So everyone who has ever past through the university was in that building. It was pretty cool. Afterwards, we got to walk up to the top and get a nice view of the whole town. Pictures below.
After that we had a short break before another tour. My group decided to get a bite to eat and we picked this pub “The Eagle and Child”. I really love all these pub names in over here. They are much better than New Paltz names: P&G’s, Murphy’s, Snugs... Here I’ve see “The Elephant Head”, “Elk in the Woods” and a few more raunchy titles that aren’t appropriate for my younger Egan readers. Anyway the pub we went to was the favorite of J.R.R Tolkien and C.S Lewis the authors of the Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia, respectively. So that was really great, we saw the seats they used to sit at regularly to eat, talk and write together. That place was really nice, good food and drink, I’m glad we were able to get seats because supposedly it’s a tourist hotspot.
After that we went on a walking tour of the town. We saw a lot of the different campuses and the river where in the summer time they have gondolas. It was all really interesting. I saw the house where Edmund Halley lived. He’s the guy who discovered Halley’s comet. I didn’t know that either. Its pretty weird to walk around the town because everything has been there since Medieval times. They’ll talk about the “new” stuff and its still over a 100 years old. Its funny because things that are over 100 years old in America are the historical sites. We then went to the Christ’s Church campus for a tour inside an actual school. Most of the real campuses are closed to the public and we had to look from the outside. Inside the Christ Church Dining Hall is where they filmed the Harry Potter Great Hall! Much to my dismay the ceiling was still there and the candles didn’t float. I have a picture below. If you ask me they must have done some fancy camera work on that place because while it was still really cool and impressive and it must be awesome to eat there it didn’t look quite as big as Hogwarts. The rest of the campus had a big quad, a really nice Cathedral and a gift shop with the British Harry Potters, again pictures below. It was all really interesting, it must be a really cool place to go to school. After that campus we only had about an hour left. My friend Joel had heard about this cool pub so we stopped by. It’s called “The Bear”, a little less creative compared to the other pub names but the really cool part is that this pub has been around since 1242. Yep, the same establishment for 766 years, three times older than my entire country! So that was a fun place to stop in and have a drink. Needless to say the beer was very skunked.
We then met back at the bus and headed home. I browsed Mary’s DVD collection and watched the first Batman. Now I’m writing this and I’ll probably go to bed soon because I’m waking up early again tomorrow to go to London for Chinese New Year.
Some fun facts:
- The Chinese New Year in London is the biggest celebration of the holiday outside of China.
- T.S Eliot went to Oxford and was going to graduate, he even wrote his thesis, he just never handed it in, so he never got the degree.
-It is really hard to find a garbage can in England. In the city they are pretty much ever street corner. Here you can go blocks and blocks without seeing one.
Enjoy the pictures!
Thanks for reading,
Roy
I’m writing this entry Saturday night before bed, though I don’t think I’ll be posting it until Monday. I figured I’d write it before I got to the lab because I’m going out to London again tomorrow and I’ll probably have even more pictures and things to write about. Today my class went to Oxford. We left early and it was a two hour bus ride out to Oxford. As it turns out Oxford is made up of a bunch of different campuses scattered all around the city of Oxford. When you apply to the university you actually apply to a certain college or campus and then if you get in there you are in Oxford as a whole. The tour guide compared it to applying to join a state in the US. If you get in New York, you are a member of America. If you get in St.John’s college you can say you are a member of the university. My British Life and Culture professor applied to get Queen’s college when he was younger but he was denied. Once you are denied you can’t apply again. Also at the college you have class once a week but there are no assignments and attendance isn’t mandatory, but once a week you have to meet with your tutor and justify your being there. So that means you have to just give yourself assignments and do things by yourself. I thought it was interesting. Also interesting, it’s the same tuition to go to Oxford as Kingston if you are an English citizen. Still just 3000 pounds.
The first stop on the tour was at the Shepariton (not sure with that spelling) Theater. This is were they induct all new students and give diplomas to all graduating students. So everyone who has ever past through the university was in that building. It was pretty cool. Afterwards, we got to walk up to the top and get a nice view of the whole town. Pictures below.
After that we had a short break before another tour. My group decided to get a bite to eat and we picked this pub “The Eagle and Child”. I really love all these pub names in over here. They are much better than New Paltz names: P&G’s, Murphy’s, Snugs... Here I’ve see “The Elephant Head”, “Elk in the Woods” and a few more raunchy titles that aren’t appropriate for my younger Egan readers. Anyway the pub we went to was the favorite of J.R.R Tolkien and C.S Lewis the authors of the Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia, respectively. So that was really great, we saw the seats they used to sit at regularly to eat, talk and write together. That place was really nice, good food and drink, I’m glad we were able to get seats because supposedly it’s a tourist hotspot.
After that we went on a walking tour of the town. We saw a lot of the different campuses and the river where in the summer time they have gondolas. It was all really interesting. I saw the house where Edmund Halley lived. He’s the guy who discovered Halley’s comet. I didn’t know that either. Its pretty weird to walk around the town because everything has been there since Medieval times. They’ll talk about the “new” stuff and its still over a 100 years old. Its funny because things that are over 100 years old in America are the historical sites. We then went to the Christ’s Church campus for a tour inside an actual school. Most of the real campuses are closed to the public and we had to look from the outside. Inside the Christ Church Dining Hall is where they filmed the Harry Potter Great Hall! Much to my dismay the ceiling was still there and the candles didn’t float. I have a picture below. If you ask me they must have done some fancy camera work on that place because while it was still really cool and impressive and it must be awesome to eat there it didn’t look quite as big as Hogwarts. The rest of the campus had a big quad, a really nice Cathedral and a gift shop with the British Harry Potters, again pictures below. It was all really interesting, it must be a really cool place to go to school. After that campus we only had about an hour left. My friend Joel had heard about this cool pub so we stopped by. It’s called “The Bear”, a little less creative compared to the other pub names but the really cool part is that this pub has been around since 1242. Yep, the same establishment for 766 years, three times older than my entire country! So that was a fun place to stop in and have a drink. Needless to say the beer was very skunked.
We then met back at the bus and headed home. I browsed Mary’s DVD collection and watched the first Batman. Now I’m writing this and I’ll probably go to bed soon because I’m waking up early again tomorrow to go to London for Chinese New Year.
Some fun facts:
- The Chinese New Year in London is the biggest celebration of the holiday outside of China.
- T.S Eliot went to Oxford and was going to graduate, he even wrote his thesis, he just never handed it in, so he never got the degree.
-It is really hard to find a garbage can in England. In the city they are pretty much ever street corner. Here you can go blocks and blocks without seeing one.
Enjoy the pictures!
Thanks for reading,
Roy
Thursday, February 7, 2008
I took some pictures of the rest of my house:
As you can see here my house is one of utmost comfortable and relaxation. The first photograph is of the main foyer. The stairwell leads upwards to my bedroom, which is the room in the house which houses my bed. The photograph that appears beside the aforementioned photograph would most certainly be my kitchen, the room in which I prepare the various edibles in which i enjoy. As you can see my landlady, Mary, does like to collect plates, particularly white and green ones. Zippity Zoop!
As for new news I am afraid to say that I have a total tally of zero for today. Classes have been going swimmingly and my spirits have been high. This upcoming Saturday, my class will be heading to Oxford, as I have mentioned in previous blog entries. I'm sure I will have more exciting tales of my escapades then.
Also, this Sunday I'll be ending into London again, most likely on my own. I have planned out a tantalizing tour of famous author's houses as well as a few stops at some museums. It promises to be a real joyride for my thinking-cap.
Recently, I have been writing and eating the always delicious subway sub-of-the-day. Alas, today's sub is the Italian BMT which is just not for me. Fear not, I have frozen chicken wings, a green apple and a bag of potato chips at home! The dinner of kings.
Also in recent news, I was at a pub last night and in an attempt to weave my way into British culture I asked a strapping young lad who had one the most recent football match, England or Switzerland. He said England had won 2-1 and asked who I had been rooting for. With some split second decision making I said England, he happily agreed, and I said I was from the United States of America. He was excited and asked me some questions and I asked him some questions. His first was "aren't you not allowed to drink in America?". I told him it was true.
I then remembered an email from Aunt Janet where she asked what the British thought of American politics. I didn't know then, but I asked. Everyone pretty much hates George Bush through and through but they don't necessarily extend that hate to the republican party. So I don't think they have a clear opinion on John McCain yet. As for the better party, the democrats, they also didn't seem to have a clear opinion. They would be fine with the women president because they have already had a female prime minister. They also said that while they themselves would have no problem with a black president they don't know how the country as a whole would respond because they thought there was still some deep set racism. All and all the response wasn't that surprising but it was exhilarating to talk to real British people.
As I sure you noticed I have been trying to write everything in a weirder way, this is because I heard that the Egan's like to read my entries aloud. Peter piper picked a patch of pickled peppers. Toy boat toy boat toy boat toy boat. I hope they enjoyed reading allow this entry as well.
In conclusion I would like to end with these concluding end remarks, a few things that are different in England that you may not have suspected:
-If something is 4.49 it really costs 4.49. There is no sales tax.
-If you cross a street when the cross walk sign is not green and you get hit it is totally your fault. The pedestrian does not have the right of way here.
-English muffins are really just called muffins here.
-The British say that Budweiser is a watered down beer that doesn't taste good. I agree. The main beers you see everywhere here are: Stella Artois, Strongbow, Carling, Guinness and Foster's. Surprisingly though, at the King's Tun bar the cheapest pint you can get is Coors Light.
-Milk is cheap but goes bad quick.
-Lots of houses don't have doorknobs on the front doors, only keyholes. Mine is like this too.
-The English wanted the Giants to beat the Patriots.
-It costs 3000 pounds to go to any university anywhere in England. That price is set by the government.
I can't think of any more off the top of my head, but I'll put them in later blogs if I do.
Take a look at an average lunch for me:
As you can see here my house is one of utmost comfortable and relaxation. The first photograph is of the main foyer. The stairwell leads upwards to my bedroom, which is the room in the house which houses my bed. The photograph that appears beside the aforementioned photograph would most certainly be my kitchen, the room in which I prepare the various edibles in which i enjoy. As you can see my landlady, Mary, does like to collect plates, particularly white and green ones. Zippity Zoop!
As for new news I am afraid to say that I have a total tally of zero for today. Classes have been going swimmingly and my spirits have been high. This upcoming Saturday, my class will be heading to Oxford, as I have mentioned in previous blog entries. I'm sure I will have more exciting tales of my escapades then.
Also, this Sunday I'll be ending into London again, most likely on my own. I have planned out a tantalizing tour of famous author's houses as well as a few stops at some museums. It promises to be a real joyride for my thinking-cap.
Recently, I have been writing and eating the always delicious subway sub-of-the-day. Alas, today's sub is the Italian BMT which is just not for me. Fear not, I have frozen chicken wings, a green apple and a bag of potato chips at home! The dinner of kings.
Also in recent news, I was at a pub last night and in an attempt to weave my way into British culture I asked a strapping young lad who had one the most recent football match, England or Switzerland. He said England had won 2-1 and asked who I had been rooting for. With some split second decision making I said England, he happily agreed, and I said I was from the United States of America. He was excited and asked me some questions and I asked him some questions. His first was "aren't you not allowed to drink in America?". I told him it was true.
I then remembered an email from Aunt Janet where she asked what the British thought of American politics. I didn't know then, but I asked. Everyone pretty much hates George Bush through and through but they don't necessarily extend that hate to the republican party. So I don't think they have a clear opinion on John McCain yet. As for the better party, the democrats, they also didn't seem to have a clear opinion. They would be fine with the women president because they have already had a female prime minister. They also said that while they themselves would have no problem with a black president they don't know how the country as a whole would respond because they thought there was still some deep set racism. All and all the response wasn't that surprising but it was exhilarating to talk to real British people.
As I sure you noticed I have been trying to write everything in a weirder way, this is because I heard that the Egan's like to read my entries aloud. Peter piper picked a patch of pickled peppers. Toy boat toy boat toy boat toy boat. I hope they enjoyed reading allow this entry as well.
In conclusion I would like to end with these concluding end remarks, a few things that are different in England that you may not have suspected:
-If something is 4.49 it really costs 4.49. There is no sales tax.
-If you cross a street when the cross walk sign is not green and you get hit it is totally your fault. The pedestrian does not have the right of way here.
-English muffins are really just called muffins here.
-The British say that Budweiser is a watered down beer that doesn't taste good. I agree. The main beers you see everywhere here are: Stella Artois, Strongbow, Carling, Guinness and Foster's. Surprisingly though, at the King's Tun bar the cheapest pint you can get is Coors Light.
-Milk is cheap but goes bad quick.
-Lots of houses don't have doorknobs on the front doors, only keyholes. Mine is like this too.
-The English wanted the Giants to beat the Patriots.
-It costs 3000 pounds to go to any university anywhere in England. That price is set by the government.
I can't think of any more off the top of my head, but I'll put them in later blogs if I do.
Take a look at an average lunch for me:
Monday, February 4, 2008
Hello everyone,
I know the demand for another blog entry has been through the roof, so I'll really try to deliver with this one. Since I last updated I have done lots of things. Most importantly i watched the first episode of LOST which was incredible and really packed a punch of confusion and suspense. No, of course nothing was really answered, but its nice to know I now have my weekly ritual watching and thinking something will be explained. Classes have been going good, they're easy-peasy and sort of boring but they dont really take up much time so thats ok with me. It seems like internet at my house is gone for good. I'm glad it was there for the first week so that I could not waste away in homesickness and I wish I still had it but I've been able to deal without it. I've been writing a lot recently, which is a bonus. I've also booked tickets to go to amsterdam which should be a blast. That's at the end of February. It's good it gives me something to look forward to. My main strategy that keeps me from missing home too much is to keep myself occupied doing all this other stuff and going all these places. I just focus on the dates that are coming close rather than thinking about the entire semester as a whole. It makes things a little easy than just thinking 'i'm not going to see my best friends and family for four months'.
Anywho, the main event of this weekend was going into London on Sunday. A group of us all went in together. I had those walking tour cards the Egans got me and played the role of tour guide. We started off at Camden Markets. I think someone compared it to the east village but weirder. There were tons and tons of these out door markets and lots of crazy people decked out in punk outfits and goth outfits and all the other "types" of people you can be. It was a pretty cool sight, but it was also cold walking around outside so much. we got tea at this cool coffee place in the middle of it all, so that helped. We met a couple more people there and then walked over to Regents Park, which is another big park in England. They have a zoo there and there were lots of people playing football, or as normal people call it soccer. From there we headed to Abbey Road to see the Abbey Road Crosswalk. Unfortunately, Abbey Road is in fact a Road and there were lots of cars coming and going so we were unable to get a truly accurate picture of us crossing. I think someone took one of me crossing from a side angle, I'll have to get it from them. We met even more people and then all took the subway crosstown to the London Bridge and Tower Bridge. Somewhere during that subway work I got myself some Krispy Kreme donuts which are actually around in Kingston and London. Delicious. Now that I mention it I should get some on the way home... That's the problem of being a twenty minute walk from campus, I'm always hungry on my walk home and get tempted to buy donuts or subway or something. I really shouldn't its really expensive here and i decided i'd pinch my pennies this week after my London trip. And now back to describing that trip... So it was getting dark while we were looking at the bridges and we decided we'd head over to the bar where we'd planned to watch the superbowl. The bar was aptly called "The Texas Embassy" and it had an americana theme with tex-mex food and budweiser as its choice beer. We got there crazy early, but it worked out because there place was mostly all booked, but they let us in anyway, which is pretty cool because we were a group of ten or so. So we all got some food and drinks and waited around for the game to start. Kick off was at 11:30 or so and it was pretty much the worst game i've ever watched. I can't believe the giants won. I mean, obviously, they didn't deserve and they hardly deserve to be called the best team because I mean after all they nearly lost to the Miami Dolphins this year when they played in London. I think it was a fluke game. Eli Manning did do really good I admit and I'm glad he won rather than his stupid brother. I'm also glad the giants got it because they are my second favorite team and I mean it could have been the packers, which really would have been a travesty. Anyway, the Patriots are still the best team in NFL history because they won eighteen straight games and 1972 dolphins only won seventeen. Its like when DJ beat me in smash so many times in the room but when we played that one time on the big-screen in the sub i beat him two our of three. I mean I won the "superbowl" of smash games, but that doesn't make me better at smash in the long run (though I probably could be if i really wanted to). In the end I can't blame the patriots offense, they did the best they could, Brady even got some passes in to Moss which I havent seen in so long because Moss was usually quadruple-covered by the end of the season and Moroney did some great running plays. I think the Patriots need to focus their draft picks on defense next season and then they really will be unstoppable even against the girly-finesse of Eli Manning. Ok, so now i've written more about football than about london, sorry.
This weekend my class is doing a field trip to Oxford. If anything else picture/text worthy happens before then I'll post. Enjoy some London pictures below!
Thanks for reading,
Roy
ps. despite my best efforts my "beard" still won't grow in.
I know the demand for another blog entry has been through the roof, so I'll really try to deliver with this one. Since I last updated I have done lots of things. Most importantly i watched the first episode of LOST which was incredible and really packed a punch of confusion and suspense. No, of course nothing was really answered, but its nice to know I now have my weekly ritual watching and thinking something will be explained. Classes have been going good, they're easy-peasy and sort of boring but they dont really take up much time so thats ok with me. It seems like internet at my house is gone for good. I'm glad it was there for the first week so that I could not waste away in homesickness and I wish I still had it but I've been able to deal without it. I've been writing a lot recently, which is a bonus. I've also booked tickets to go to amsterdam which should be a blast. That's at the end of February. It's good it gives me something to look forward to. My main strategy that keeps me from missing home too much is to keep myself occupied doing all this other stuff and going all these places. I just focus on the dates that are coming close rather than thinking about the entire semester as a whole. It makes things a little easy than just thinking 'i'm not going to see my best friends and family for four months'.
Anywho, the main event of this weekend was going into London on Sunday. A group of us all went in together. I had those walking tour cards the Egans got me and played the role of tour guide. We started off at Camden Markets. I think someone compared it to the east village but weirder. There were tons and tons of these out door markets and lots of crazy people decked out in punk outfits and goth outfits and all the other "types" of people you can be. It was a pretty cool sight, but it was also cold walking around outside so much. we got tea at this cool coffee place in the middle of it all, so that helped. We met a couple more people there and then walked over to Regents Park, which is another big park in England. They have a zoo there and there were lots of people playing football, or as normal people call it soccer. From there we headed to Abbey Road to see the Abbey Road Crosswalk. Unfortunately, Abbey Road is in fact a Road and there were lots of cars coming and going so we were unable to get a truly accurate picture of us crossing. I think someone took one of me crossing from a side angle, I'll have to get it from them. We met even more people and then all took the subway crosstown to the London Bridge and Tower Bridge. Somewhere during that subway work I got myself some Krispy Kreme donuts which are actually around in Kingston and London. Delicious. Now that I mention it I should get some on the way home... That's the problem of being a twenty minute walk from campus, I'm always hungry on my walk home and get tempted to buy donuts or subway or something. I really shouldn't its really expensive here and i decided i'd pinch my pennies this week after my London trip. And now back to describing that trip... So it was getting dark while we were looking at the bridges and we decided we'd head over to the bar where we'd planned to watch the superbowl. The bar was aptly called "The Texas Embassy" and it had an americana theme with tex-mex food and budweiser as its choice beer. We got there crazy early, but it worked out because there place was mostly all booked, but they let us in anyway, which is pretty cool because we were a group of ten or so. So we all got some food and drinks and waited around for the game to start. Kick off was at 11:30 or so and it was pretty much the worst game i've ever watched. I can't believe the giants won. I mean, obviously, they didn't deserve and they hardly deserve to be called the best team because I mean after all they nearly lost to the Miami Dolphins this year when they played in London. I think it was a fluke game. Eli Manning did do really good I admit and I'm glad he won rather than his stupid brother. I'm also glad the giants got it because they are my second favorite team and I mean it could have been the packers, which really would have been a travesty. Anyway, the Patriots are still the best team in NFL history because they won eighteen straight games and 1972 dolphins only won seventeen. Its like when DJ beat me in smash so many times in the room but when we played that one time on the big-screen in the sub i beat him two our of three. I mean I won the "superbowl" of smash games, but that doesn't make me better at smash in the long run (though I probably could be if i really wanted to). In the end I can't blame the patriots offense, they did the best they could, Brady even got some passes in to Moss which I havent seen in so long because Moss was usually quadruple-covered by the end of the season and Moroney did some great running plays. I think the Patriots need to focus their draft picks on defense next season and then they really will be unstoppable even against the girly-finesse of Eli Manning. Ok, so now i've written more about football than about london, sorry.
This weekend my class is doing a field trip to Oxford. If anything else picture/text worthy happens before then I'll post. Enjoy some London pictures below!
Thanks for reading,
Roy
ps. despite my best efforts my "beard" still won't grow in.
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