a summary of my London hijinx:
--Friday: after the Ramah run-in, headed off towards the Tower of London, where the Butler program (for those not aware, I'm studying via Butler University in Indiana, which coordinates a ton of study abroad programs in the UK -- they sponsored this whole weekend) has us staying nearby. The hotel is very nice, and ludicrously overpriced -- breakfast would have cost £13 if it hadn't been prepaid, and drinks in the hotel bar are insane -- £5.80 for a vodka and mixer. I skipped that. They set up a buffet at a pretty fancy restaurant nearby, the Ivory Grill (I think that's the name -- very tasty.)
--Saturday: Had breakfast, then headed off to the Tate Modern, a damn good (and free) modern art museum in a former power station -- architecturally stunning. Some of the stuff there I think is brilliant (especially Salvador Dali and other surrealist works); other, more abstract items leave me with a decidedly less positive impression of modern art. (No, I don't think a canvas with two colors on it says anything profound.)
That night: boat cruise, with dinner, karaoke, and dancing. It was a costume thing, with a nautical theme -- I just put on swim trunks, a T-shirt and a towel; others put more effort into their costumes (see photos). A fun time was had by all. Then ended up hanging out with some interesting students from the University of Leeds.
--Sunday: not much. Headed to Euston, near King's Cross, where butler provided a very good brunch. Then back to Nottingham.
Sunday, 25 February 2007
London Weekend
Photos for you all: http://wesleyan.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2019421&l=df001&id=4200229
Weekend went pretty well, though I didn't get enough sleep. I did not succeed at finding sahlab, though I did get some muhalabia, which is clearly related (also a milk pudding, but served cold). Ran into some people from Camp Ramah, very unexpectedly (Gary, Jen, Jamie -- great to see you).
More later. I think.
Weekend went pretty well, though I didn't get enough sleep. I did not succeed at finding sahlab, though I did get some muhalabia, which is clearly related (also a milk pudding, but served cold). Ran into some people from Camp Ramah, very unexpectedly (Gary, Jen, Jamie -- great to see you).
More later. I think.
Wednesday, 21 February 2007
Random notes (plus sahlab)
Thanks again for all the birthday thoughts (really, I can't be grateful enough).
Had my first graded assignment on Tuesday - a group presentation for Television Cultures. I presented on Lost and 24, and have an essay due next week that will focus on those shows as well.
Some friends and I are going out to dinner tomorrow night as a belated birthday thing. Should be fun.
The educational system here is a little weird. Unlike in the US, where assessments are given throughout the semester, your whole grade here can be made up by one or two tests or papers. (In my case, it's one test, one paper for my classes). Professors give out a dauntingly lengthy reading list over the course of the semester, from which one is expected to read extensively in advance. I'm not sure I've done nearly enough in this regard, though I'll have much more time to work on this in the next few weeks, after the TV essay and my summer internship applications are out of the way.
The food here continues to be pretty mediocre. You can eat pretty much anywhere on campus for lunch, as long as you spend £4.68 or less (no idea where they got that figure from) and the options are really pretty respectable in that regard. Dinner, though, must be eaten in halls, and while the food surpasses my very low expectations, it's not great. The options available lean way too heavily towards red meat, cheesy stuff, and fried food (even the vegetarian options, in the case of the last two), and whole grains are not nearly common enough.
On the plus side, I am acquiring a taste for custard.
This weekend: London! Butler is paying for, well, a lot, and I'm not passing up what should be a very fun, not-terribly-expensive weekend. (Itinerary, for the curious: here) (Typically for me, I'm going to totally half-ass the costume. Whatever.) Plus, I am making it my goal to hunt down a cup of sahlab, though it may not be as easy as I'd like.
What, exactly, is Sahlab, one might ask? Well, I happened to fall in love with it in Israel and Turkey last year. It is a drink/hot dessert pudding, made with sweetened milk, thickened with orchid root powder (though cornstarch can be used instead), and typically topped with cinnamon, crushed pistachios, and a little coconut. It's kinda like rice pudding, but without the rice. And it is delectable. My hope is that I'll find it if I go to one of the areas of the city with a lot of Middle Eastern places, but that remains to be seen.
Had my first graded assignment on Tuesday - a group presentation for Television Cultures. I presented on Lost and 24, and have an essay due next week that will focus on those shows as well.
Some friends and I are going out to dinner tomorrow night as a belated birthday thing. Should be fun.
The educational system here is a little weird. Unlike in the US, where assessments are given throughout the semester, your whole grade here can be made up by one or two tests or papers. (In my case, it's one test, one paper for my classes). Professors give out a dauntingly lengthy reading list over the course of the semester, from which one is expected to read extensively in advance. I'm not sure I've done nearly enough in this regard, though I'll have much more time to work on this in the next few weeks, after the TV essay and my summer internship applications are out of the way.
The food here continues to be pretty mediocre. You can eat pretty much anywhere on campus for lunch, as long as you spend £4.68 or less (no idea where they got that figure from) and the options are really pretty respectable in that regard. Dinner, though, must be eaten in halls, and while the food surpasses my very low expectations, it's not great. The options available lean way too heavily towards red meat, cheesy stuff, and fried food (even the vegetarian options, in the case of the last two), and whole grains are not nearly common enough.
On the plus side, I am acquiring a taste for custard.
This weekend: London! Butler is paying for, well, a lot, and I'm not passing up what should be a very fun, not-terribly-expensive weekend. (Itinerary, for the curious: here) (Typically for me, I'm going to totally half-ass the costume. Whatever.) Plus, I am making it my goal to hunt down a cup of sahlab, though it may not be as easy as I'd like.
What, exactly, is Sahlab, one might ask? Well, I happened to fall in love with it in Israel and Turkey last year. It is a drink/hot dessert pudding, made with sweetened milk, thickened with orchid root powder (though cornstarch can be used instead), and typically topped with cinnamon, crushed pistachios, and a little coconut. It's kinda like rice pudding, but without the rice. And it is delectable. My hope is that I'll find it if I go to one of the areas of the city with a lot of Middle Eastern places, but that remains to be seen.
Sunday, 18 February 2007
Photos
York & London:
http://wesleyan.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2019121&l=b6dc4&id=4200229
http://wesleyan.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018417&l=84c78&id=4200229
http://wesleyan.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2019121&l=b6dc4&id=4200229
http://wesleyan.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018417&l=84c78&id=4200229
Wednesday, 14 February 2007
IMs
don't know if anybody reading this has tried to IM me lately, but AIM doesn't work with the firewall here. Use MSN or Yahoo instead.
Sunday, 11 February 2007
Photos
My host family - Gemma, Stephanie, Jack, Andrew
Melanie and Jessica in the "sewer"
Andrew sings at the party
English countryside
Family visit
Friday (9/2)
No classes, so I wandered into town a few hours early. Eventually met up with the rest of the Butler Nottingham contingent at the station. The train ride was long and boring (not much to see after dark), but thankfully uneventful.
Upon arriving in the lovely little town of Marple Bridge, we all met our host families with a very generous 'traditional British dinner' -- at an Indian restaurant. Curry, over the past few decades, has become as much of a national food as, say, Yorkshire pudding. Met my host parents -- Andrew, who works as a consultant, and Stephanie, an occupational therapist.
Saturday (10/2)
Went with the whole group into the city of Manchester -- I liked what I saw, though I'm told the city as a whole isn't that great. Paid a visit to the Museum of Science and Industry, which seems pretty good, and is also free. I particularly enjoyed an exhibit on Manchester's sewage system, complete with a replica sewer (really).
After that, we had lunch at a nice Spanish restaurant, then went to watch a football game at a pub in Marple.
That night, all the students and their families gathered at my host family's house for a rather large party. More than a few people in attendance ended up, shall we say... well, you get the idea.
Sunday (11/2)
I woke up feeling awful, but fortunately recovered in time for lunch at the house of another host family - Ian and... damn, I'm forgetting his wife's name already. Should she happen to read this, I do apologize. The food was amazing, the house was lovely, and the view utterly incredible.
After that, time to take the train home. Except it was cancelled. Fortunately, there was a bus offered instead at no cost -- only got us home a little later.
No classes, so I wandered into town a few hours early. Eventually met up with the rest of the Butler Nottingham contingent at the station. The train ride was long and boring (not much to see after dark), but thankfully uneventful.
Upon arriving in the lovely little town of Marple Bridge, we all met our host families with a very generous 'traditional British dinner' -- at an Indian restaurant. Curry, over the past few decades, has become as much of a national food as, say, Yorkshire pudding. Met my host parents -- Andrew, who works as a consultant, and Stephanie, an occupational therapist.
Saturday (10/2)
Went with the whole group into the city of Manchester -- I liked what I saw, though I'm told the city as a whole isn't that great. Paid a visit to the Museum of Science and Industry, which seems pretty good, and is also free. I particularly enjoyed an exhibit on Manchester's sewage system, complete with a replica sewer (really).
After that, we had lunch at a nice Spanish restaurant, then went to watch a football game at a pub in Marple.
That night, all the students and their families gathered at my host family's house for a rather large party. More than a few people in attendance ended up, shall we say... well, you get the idea.
Sunday (11/2)
I woke up feeling awful, but fortunately recovered in time for lunch at the house of another host family - Ian and... damn, I'm forgetting his wife's name already. Should she happen to read this, I do apologize. The food was amazing, the house was lovely, and the view utterly incredible.
After that, time to take the train home. Except it was cancelled. Fortunately, there was a bus offered instead at no cost -- only got us home a little later.
Wednesday, 7 February 2007
Very cold weather of late. I slipped twice on icy ground today, getting a pair of jeans very, very dirty... not to mentioning falling hard enough to scratch my cell phone and bend (yes, bend) my room key. No permanent damage.
Today was the 'lunch meeting' -- a Butler representative took us all to lunch at a pretty good pizza place in town. Exciting, I know.
Being surrounded by first-year students is a little frustrating. They're all on a pass-fail system for all their classes (modules), and only have to get 40% to pass. The result is that the academic pressure on them is, shall we say, minimal. This means that they drink and party... a lot. Unlike in the US, where such things occur mainly on weekends, they do it during the school week -- Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays are the big nights, respectively, at three of the most popular local clubs. Even if I were inclined to engage in heavy clubbing, though, I don't think my wallet could quite take it.
Overall, I think I'm settling in better. Coming this weekend -- a mandatory family stay somewhere to the north of here (can't remember exactly where). Hopefully it goes smoothly; it can apparently vary tremendously depending on how enthusiastic the family in question is about the whole thing.
(Mom, Dad -- your envelope came. I don't know when it came, though, because it turns out I'd been looking in the wrong mailbox for the past few days.)
Today was the 'lunch meeting' -- a Butler representative took us all to lunch at a pretty good pizza place in town. Exciting, I know.
Being surrounded by first-year students is a little frustrating. They're all on a pass-fail system for all their classes (modules), and only have to get 40% to pass. The result is that the academic pressure on them is, shall we say, minimal. This means that they drink and party... a lot. Unlike in the US, where such things occur mainly on weekends, they do it during the school week -- Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays are the big nights, respectively, at three of the most popular local clubs. Even if I were inclined to engage in heavy clubbing, though, I don't think my wallet could quite take it.
Overall, I think I'm settling in better. Coming this weekend -- a mandatory family stay somewhere to the north of here (can't remember exactly where). Hopefully it goes smoothly; it can apparently vary tremendously depending on how enthusiastic the family in question is about the whole thing.
(Mom, Dad -- your envelope came. I don't know when it came, though, because it turns out I'd been looking in the wrong mailbox for the past few days.)
Sunday, 4 February 2007
So, finally took the opportunity to wander into town today. I didn't get the chance to see any of the museums, but I did see the Robin Hood statue -- very popular for photo-ops, as one might imagine. The public transportation is surprisingly good, not to mention reasonably priced. Unlike most cities I've been in, though, there's no unified system -- it's fragmented among multiple companies, which makes things a tad complicated.
I discovered (OK, OK, so the parents pointed me to it already) a great little place called Chocolate Utopia -- delicious hot chocolate, with a free gourmet chocolate on the side. And it's right across from a comic book store! Truly, I am fulfilled. (Not really.)
Gotta go get dinner -- then I might head off to a film screening a campus group is doing. Should be interesting. (I made the mistake of paying to see the Super Bowl... then realizing that minus the American TV commercials, I really don't care. C'est la vie.)
I discovered (OK, OK, so the parents pointed me to it already) a great little place called Chocolate Utopia -- delicious hot chocolate, with a free gourmet chocolate on the side. And it's right across from a comic book store! Truly, I am fulfilled. (Not really.)
Gotta go get dinner -- then I might head off to a film screening a campus group is doing. Should be interesting. (I made the mistake of paying to see the Super Bowl... then realizing that minus the American TV commercials, I really don't care. C'est la vie.)
Saturday, 3 February 2007
The English brunch offered by my dining hall includes many, many greasy fried options. This includes slices of black pudding -- according to Wikipedia, 'a sausage made by cooking animal blood with a filler until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled' -- mmm, mmm, mmm! Yummy!
I also finally sampled Marmite, which is every bit as vile as its reputation suggests.
Coming soon: I attempt to discover what the heck 'salad cream' and the ever-mysterious packets of 'brown sauce' are. Or possibly not.
I also finally sampled Marmite, which is every bit as vile as its reputation suggests.
Coming soon: I attempt to discover what the heck 'salad cream' and the ever-mysterious packets of 'brown sauce' are. Or possibly not.
Friday, 2 February 2007
Dammit... days late and I still don't feel like I have time to write that promised update on the British educational system. I have a lot of reading to catch up on.
Modules:
The Politics of Science Fiction
Representing the South
Television Cultures (comparing British & American television)
Went to something unusual last night -- an election for the British UJS (Union of Jewish Students). The Chief Rabbi of England spoke in person -- I don't agree with everything he said (he's Orthodox, after all) but he is a remarkably effective speaker.
In a little while, I'll head to my first Friday night dinner at Notts. After that...? Not quite sure yet.
Modules:
The Politics of Science Fiction
Representing the South
Television Cultures (comparing British & American television)
Went to something unusual last night -- an election for the British UJS (Union of Jewish Students). The Chief Rabbi of England spoke in person -- I don't agree with everything he said (he's Orthodox, after all) but he is a remarkably effective speaker.
In a little while, I'll head to my first Friday night dinner at Notts. After that...? Not quite sure yet.
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