Blogs from Norfolk, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 16

As is usual for a Saturday, I went exploring. Today I headed down to a little place called Cringleford. One of my friends recommended it and I like the name, so I went. To be honest the town wasn't that great. It did have a couple of really old churches, but where aren't there old churches in England? But I really enjoyed walking through a sleepy residential area. It was a good change of pace from "Uni" life. The only other people out were doing the same thing I was, just strolling and enjoying the fresh air. I noticed that a lot of the houses have gone to grass free yards. Their yards are covered in either colored gravel or that new rubber mulch stuff. Then they just have plants here and there. They are going ... read more

This morning I checked out the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts right here on campus. It was started when Sir Robert Sainsbury (of the supermarket empire of the same name) donated his art collection and funded the building in the 70s. There is a fantastic array of art from all over the world displayed next to modern pieces they inspired. For instance Alberto Giacometti's work is displayed in the same section as Mayan figures. You can see the parallels between the pieces. There were two special exhibitions as well. Alien Nation was a collection of pieces exploring "otherness" through the use of aliens and UFOs and such. All That Jazz was an exhibition of music translated into art or works by artists who were also musicians. Neither of these exhibits were particularly fascinating but fun to ... read more

Hello World! This is the update for my future updates. I do apologize for falling so far behind on my blogging-- I just got so caught up in the travel and living in England! Anyway, I'll be retro-dating blog updates from my travels and first few weeks in the United Kingdom over the course of the next few days (Yes Kels, truly the next few days). As a general note, I love England (Long Live the Queen!) and everything British. Except certain words. To me, it will always be eggplant. Hope you like the series of updates! P.S. Please get skype and add me as your friend so I can talk to you all for free!!! Miss you :)... read more

This week was the kick-off of two of my societies, RAG (Raise and Give) and ISS (International Students Society). The RAG social was Monday night, we met in the pub on campus wearing our charity shop outfits (it was a "fancy dress" function). We spent 1/2 an hour asking for donations for Sue Ryder Care, which helps out terminally ill patients, then it was on to the festivities. We paired up and had a three-legged race. But this wasn't your ordinary three-legged race because it went from the pub on campus, clear to a pub in town! We rode the bus taped together (getting up to the top of the double-decker was interesting). After arriving at the first pub, we were cut apart and a more traditional pub crawl began. We went to a total of ... read more

Ok- so I am loving being here at UEA. Everything is great, my classes, my room, my flatmates, etc. But there are three things that are quite unfortunate/annoying. 1) Fire Alarms. The bulk of the student body has been here for 6 nights and there has already been 3 fire alarms in my building. And no, they don't happen at convenient times. They happen at 2:30 am! As many of you know (Bob especially) that this is way past my bedtime. I am always sound asleep in my little bed under my "duvet" and have to rip myself out of bed, find warm clothes, find my keys, and go outside. Not Cool. 2) No Varsity Sports. In the United Kingdom, there are no intercollegiate athletics. I asked a guy about this and he said, "You know ... read more