Blogs from United Kingdom, Europe - page 2951

I'm reading a book called The Wind Up Bird Chronical at the moment in which the main character spends most of his time living down a well for reasons of reflection... I found myself in a similar situation today, only on the top of a medieval mound. Kind of the opposite, but the same. I spent my time on the mound napping, playing tunes on Lila and studying bugs that kept crawling over the pages of my book. I have never studied a mosquito so hard! I figured that it was as good as anything to do now, as one day I may not have the eyesight to study such things. I think I got more joy out of one mosquito than twenty have gotten blood out of me... sound bizarre? It probably is. But then, ... read more

So today I moved myself into my fairly large room. For those of you at UCSC, it's about as big as a double in the dorms. I really like it though because it's the corner room and it has 2 windows with lots of greenery around. The window latches are pretty strange but they work well especially since I can't figure out how to turn both radiators off. I had to stand in a fairly long line to try and sort out my housing in the morning so that I could collect my keys....until Mom came to the rescue and called fixing the mixup. So I got pulled out of line and given my keys!!! Yes! The rest of the day was pretty much spent unpacking. Then I went to the pub for a meet and ... read more

I arrived at London Heathrow at 8AM on Wednesday, Sept. 21. I was very tired as I can never sleep on long flights, but I managed to get my huge suitcases checked into the baggage service there so I could head into the city. I stayed at a hostel around King's Cross station. I went there first to drop my backpack off, then I headed to Southwark to check out the Tate Modern Museum. The architecture in this building was really amazing...I loved the museum; especially the Gerard Richter and Andy Warhol collections. After I finished at the Tate, I wandered outside to the River Thames and watched boats and people. There is a lovely little lawn in front of the museum that looks out at this river. I sat down to read, and after a ... read more

After 2 flights of boredom, we arrived at Heathrow Airport at 5.50am on Sept 21st. In Kuala Lumpur Amanda got searched whilst checking in for our flight to Heathrow, though obviously had nothing on her. Takeoff, landing and turbulence are fun, whilst cruising is quite boring. England is very different from Melbourne in some ways, though very similar in others. Major differences are the speed limits (much faster here), the width of the streets and the supermarkets (they sell everything!) We went for a walk down the street to the shopping area yesterday and found that despite popular opinion they do sell Milo, Cadbury, and Vegemite in the shops. On the way back we saw a car accident but luckily no one was hurt. We’ve met most of the family now (I think) and they are ... read more

I have gotten up way too early today so that I could shower off last night’s fun. The club was awesome and it’s HUGE. There had to have been about 300-400 people there last night dancing the night away. They played really good music—a lot of mixes from the USA and some European stuff. In total I had a blast, apart from the inhalation of smoke from both cigarettes and machines. I had to have fun to partially lose my hearing because the music was so loud. (Kris you would have had a fabulous time and I doubt you would have lost your hearing.) It was well worth the 5 Quid (pounds) and they handed out cards to go back any Friday or Saturday night for FREE with 3 friends!! It truly is a different university ... read more