Happy Halloween!
So I know I haven't updated in a while, so here is what has been going one. Nothing. Other than going to school two days a week, and hitting the gym 6 days, I have spent my time sleeping or cooking. Lately I've been trying to get healthy, and I'm starting to see change! I have been going through a phase where I am just really homesick. I really miss my family and friends, and with the holidays approaching it is just getting really hard. Luckily for me I have the best support group around. I don't think I would have made it through part of this homesickness without Maga and my mom. I am definitely trying to change my perspective and really get the most of this amazing opportunity. Lately I have also started making new friends that are from the area. These people are in one of my courses and they are rad! One of the closest ones is Emma (ironic) she is so sweet and so awesome! I'm really glad to have met such a great person and I can't wait to experience all the new things she will teach me about living here! Although these things may seem boring the past few days have been anything but! Let me fill you in. Yesterday I went to the gym and last night I went to the Halloween party for study abroad students. It was at Revolution. There was great food, people, and music! Currently I just got back to my room from the Route 69 Halloween Pub Crawl! OMG it was CRAAAAZY! Basically over 1,800 people buy these t-shirts that give free admission into the clubs and discounted drinks all night. Theres 8 or 9 different venues and it's basically one huge party from club to club. Below I'll post the evenings schedule. Anyways, it's super cool, super crowded, and super drunk. I can't count the number of drinks I had spilt on me, or spilt on myself. Anyways, that's what has been going on, I'll keep everyone updated with any exciting information that may happen! Pictures to come!
xoxo,
Abb. (:
Route 69 Halloween Pub Crawl
-Establishment 6:00-7:00
- Ruba 7:00-7:40
- Life of Riley 7:40-8:20
- Varsity 8:20-9:00
- Basement 9:00-9:40
- TTonic/Libertys 9:40-10:40
- Gatsby/Purple Bar 10:40-11:40
- Union 11:40-3:330
Thursday, 31 October 2013
Friday, 11 October 2013
London to Germany & back again!
Hello blog-followers!
I'm sitting in my dorm room (because I'm finally back) eating some mini Reese's cups and figured I should update everyone on the things I've been doing! So carrying on from my previous post on Sunday I went to my first professional football (soccer) game abroad! It was definitely way crazier than the Columbus Crew games I've been to back home! The game was pretty good, 2-1 mostly but in the last five minutes Liverpool scored again beating Sunderland 3-1. Even though we lost it was still a great experience. Our tickets were even free! Before the game we got lunch and had a few beers at a local pub. Then we walked to the game, I'm not even sure how the thousands of people fit on the sidewalks to get there, but it made it easier to find our way to the stadium!
On Monday and Tuesday I went to class as usual, and Tuesday night I packed for my trip and was so excited I could barely sleep. My trip consisted of going by Megabus to London at 7 in the morning for a 7 hour bus ride, then staying at my very first hostel for two nights. That's just the beginning! For those who don't know a hostel is like a big sleepover with tons of bunk beds and people (usually around my age) that you don't know. It sounds kind of intimidating, but it wasn't so bad! The hostel was called The London Eye Hostel. Anyways once I got to London I got something to eat (really good sushi from Wasabi) and looked around the area by the station since I couldn't check in until 4. Then I took a cab to the hostel, which was near 2 miles away from Victoria Station. Note to travelers: don't take a cab; they're expensive! I spent near 11 pounds! Thats like $17 USD. Anyways, I checked in and went straight to downtown so I could experience a little bit of London before it got dark and to get some great night photos of London. I got some really awesome shots of Big Ben, which is actually just the clock and not the tower (which is now named the Queen Elizabeth Tower), and the Parliament Building. The London Eye which, when it was built in 1999, was the biggest ferris wheel in the world! (of course I rode in it as well, for the second time!) Each capsule can hold as many as 25 people, allowing the whole wheel to hold 800 people, and has heating and air conditioning. After seeing some of these things at night time, which I didn't get the chance to when I was over as a P2P ambassador I went to a pub by my hostel for dinner and headed back to get some sleep. The next day I woke up and headed back downtown, I wanted to see the changing of the guards and Buckingham Palace and see some of the parks downtown. Everything was so beautiful. I got so many pictures. Day pictures of the things I saw the previous day as well as many pictures of Buckingham Palace and the London Bridge. (London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down) Sorry for getting the song stuck in your head! After seeing everything I wanted to see downtown and having a wonderful english lunch of sausage on potatoes with gravy and some other weird BBQ like sauce I headed to the place where the Beatles shot the Abbey Road album cover and got some really fabulous pictures! When Turner photoshop's it to make it look like I am doing the same thing the Beatles did I will be sure to share it! After all of these things I got some chipotle (ahhh just like home) and headed back for the night. Although, on the way back I got confused and missed my stop and it took me 1.5 hours to get home altogether. (curse those crazy bus routes!)
The next morning I had such a crazy travel schedule! Hold on to your pants and pay attention cause this could get a little bit confusing. First at 3:30am I had to walk to the bus stop to get a bus to take me to another stop which would then take me to Victoria Train Station. From there I had to walk down to the coach station, undoubtedly getting myself lost and confused. From there I had to take a coach to London Stansted airport where my gates to Frankfurt Hahn closed at 6:40 with the flight leaving at 7:15, it took over an hour to get through security and by then it was 7! I ran through the airport and made it there by 7:10 just to find that they hadn't even started to board. (luckily) so I went to the bathroom and took the 10 layers of clothes I had on, so I would be within the weight for my carry on, off and boarded the plane. I arrived at Frankfurt Hahn by 9:35. The flight was only an hour and fifteen minutes but Germany is an hour ahead of the UK. Flying with Ryanair is certainly cheap but when they land the plane it seems as if they are crashing, luckily I always remember to pray before landing. From there I had to take a coach to Frankfurt am Main hauptbahnhof (main train station) and get on a train to Hanau where I was to meet Saskia's mom to go to her house. Luckily, with the German I know (thanks to Frau ((: ) I was able to make all of my transports ahead of time! Saskia's home is beautiful and I even had my own room with a bathroom! That night we caught up on all the things that have happened since we last saw each other. (Saskia was a foreign exchange student 2011-2012 when I was a senior) I took Saskia macaroni and cheese and strawberry poptarts from the US! The next day Saskia and I took a train from Hanau to Munich for Oktoberfest, it took five hours! On the last connecting train everyone was crazy and shoving to get in, luckily this guy that was flirting with me made sure we got in and got seats. On the way there we made a bunch of friends! Everyone was drinking on the train on the way there and the guy I mentioned before gave us some of his beer, since he had like 30! When we got to Munich Saskia's moms friend Tanja met us at a bus stop and took us back to her house, which was really nice, better than a hotel!! Accidentally our luggage stained her carpet and Saskia and I were freaking out because we didn't know how to tell her, she actually wasn't upset at all. (phew) After settling in she drove us to Oktoberfest. Oktoberfest is like this big huge crazy fair (Like the canfield fair only much, much bigger) that you can drink at. Everyone there wears dirndl and lederhosen and drinks big steins full of beer. I thought that stein was a German word, however it is not. The only alcohol available at Oktoberfest is beer. Overall I was kind of disappointed with Oktoberfest, I had imagined people linking arms dancing in circles singing loudly. However, this can only be found in the tents and to get in a tent one would have to reserve it over a year in advance or be outside by 5 in the morning. Saskia and I tried, and failed, to get into the tents. All of the Oktoberfest fun goes on inside these tents. If you're not in the tents it's basically just one huge fair. Along with beer (obviously) I also had a HUGE pretzel, which is a common food in Germany. The first day we were at Oktoberfest it rained a lot, completely soaking our shoes. Afterwards Tanja picked us up and made us some nice tea at home. It was great that she made us tea because I had gotten sick and kept coughing and barely had a voice. Every time I talked to someone they would say "Bist du krank?" meaning, are you sick? The next day Tanja made us a really great breakfast with German bread (really heavy and delicious) and lots of breakfast cold cut meats. Most of them were good, but one I tried was absolutely terrible but I pretended to like it so I wouldn't offend her. We also had eggs that we ate right out of the shell after they were cooked, which was new to me. After that, Tanja gave Saskia and I a tour of Munich from her car. This was great! We saw the bridge where Hitler held his gatherings and a structure made up of all the bomb debris. Munich is a really interesting city. Then, Tanja had to go visit her mom so she said good-bye and dropped us back off at the Oktoberfest for the last few hours before we needed to head back home. The two days we spend at Oktoberfest were the last two days of the 3 week party! When we were waiting for our train we ate doener. Which was not as good as the one I had back in Frankfurt, (Himbach) where Saskia is from. Doener is a turkish meat with lettuce onion tomato and cucumber yogurt in it, they're delicious. When we were eating we we like our train is supposed to leave in 3 minutes, but there's a train where ours is supposed to be. When we got on the train and asked we found that our train was moved to two platforms down. (I tripped and scraped my leg when we got in the first train HAHA) so we had to sprint to catch our other train and once we squeezed on we had to sit in the doorway area on the floor because there was no room. Once we finally got back to Saskia's her mom had made a delicious goulash. Saskia's mom is a doctor, her name is Britta. She is married to Saskia's step dad Sasha, who has two children (I didn't meet them) Saskia also has a sister, Kristen, who is 16. The next day I went to school with Saskia. After taking four years of German in high school it was really interesting to see how their school system works! She even had english class that day. In Germany they have to take the public bus to school, half an hour! They have 20 minutes in between their classes also. In history class two boys were talking in German and I could understand them and I started laughing and they asked Saskia if I understood German and she said yes and he said "Sheisse" meaning "shit" and that he shouldn't have said it. HAHA. After school was over we had to wait in the school for 2 hours until the bus would come. After school a met a bunch of new people, including Rene who seemed really really excited to meet me. Rene is really interested in the english language. I think his english may be better than mine. He told me his favorite country in England and when he asked me mine I blurted out America. I guess there's nothing like home sweet home. (: That evening we went to Saskia's grandparents house for dinner. Saskia's grandparents write travel guides (huge ones) for a living, although now they are retired. Saskia's grandparents house is one of the most beautiful houses I've ever been in. I told Saskia I want her to take pictures of it so I can design my house just like it when I'm older. Saskia's grandmother is and extremely wonderful cook. That night she made a german dish, knowing I would be there. We had salad, home made croutons, potatoes and penne pasta with rolled meat and gravy. Rolled meat is exactly how it sounds. I think it is some type of beef rolled with another type of beef with onion and peppers and other things stuffed inside, it's really tender. For desert we had pudding shaped in the form of a fish and fresh strawberries! It was so delicious! The next day I went to some classed with Saskia, then her mom picked me up and took me to get doener and back to the house where I waited for her grandfather to take me to the train station. Once I got to the airport I had to wait an hour and a half before my flight.
After my flight landed, feeling like it was crashing, I took a two hour coach ride (because of all the stops) to London Victoria Station, where I had to go back to my hostel. This hostel was names FRESH at The White Ferry. This hostel was a bar when you walked in and the bedding was all upstairs above the bar. The outlets here were all by the floor, which was different than the first hostel because it had outlets by every bed. I think the first hostel (The London Eye Hostel) was much nicer, I liked it more, but this one wasn't so bad. I was supposed to check in by midnight but it was 12:15 when I arrived at London Victoria. When I asked a taxi driver to take me there he said he wouldn't because he had no change for my 20 so I would have to walk. It was only half a mile but I only knew his directions on how to get there. Upon confusion I asked some girl walking down the street with her guitar strapped to her back how to get there, luckily she lived right next to it so I just walked with her and it led me right there. The next day I went shopping in London before heading back on my 7 hour journey on the bus. The bus ride there wasn't bad at all, I slept nearly all the way, but the bus ride home was the absolute worst. I thought the outlets would let me charge my mobile wifi and they weren't working, there was supposed to be wifi on the bus but it wasn't working either. Once I finally got back I had called a cab on the bus to pick me up, I had to wait 15 minutes outside and it was FREEZING and really windy. When I got back to my dorm room I said hi to my flatmates and showed them my stein I brought home. After that I went straight to bed until 2pm the next day. Today is the day after and although I am still tired from my adventure I joined and worked out at the gym. Joining the gym will fill my spare time during the week since I only have classes on Monday and Tuesday and keep my from boredom.
Well that was my week, sorry it took so long to fill the details in, here are a few pictures from my adventure through this journey I call life! More can be found in my Europe 2013/2014 album on Facebook!
XOXO,
Abb (:
I'm sitting in my dorm room (because I'm finally back) eating some mini Reese's cups and figured I should update everyone on the things I've been doing! So carrying on from my previous post on Sunday I went to my first professional football (soccer) game abroad! It was definitely way crazier than the Columbus Crew games I've been to back home! The game was pretty good, 2-1 mostly but in the last five minutes Liverpool scored again beating Sunderland 3-1. Even though we lost it was still a great experience. Our tickets were even free! Before the game we got lunch and had a few beers at a local pub. Then we walked to the game, I'm not even sure how the thousands of people fit on the sidewalks to get there, but it made it easier to find our way to the stadium!
On Monday and Tuesday I went to class as usual, and Tuesday night I packed for my trip and was so excited I could barely sleep. My trip consisted of going by Megabus to London at 7 in the morning for a 7 hour bus ride, then staying at my very first hostel for two nights. That's just the beginning! For those who don't know a hostel is like a big sleepover with tons of bunk beds and people (usually around my age) that you don't know. It sounds kind of intimidating, but it wasn't so bad! The hostel was called The London Eye Hostel. Anyways once I got to London I got something to eat (really good sushi from Wasabi) and looked around the area by the station since I couldn't check in until 4. Then I took a cab to the hostel, which was near 2 miles away from Victoria Station. Note to travelers: don't take a cab; they're expensive! I spent near 11 pounds! Thats like $17 USD. Anyways, I checked in and went straight to downtown so I could experience a little bit of London before it got dark and to get some great night photos of London. I got some really awesome shots of Big Ben, which is actually just the clock and not the tower (which is now named the Queen Elizabeth Tower), and the Parliament Building. The London Eye which, when it was built in 1999, was the biggest ferris wheel in the world! (of course I rode in it as well, for the second time!) Each capsule can hold as many as 25 people, allowing the whole wheel to hold 800 people, and has heating and air conditioning. After seeing some of these things at night time, which I didn't get the chance to when I was over as a P2P ambassador I went to a pub by my hostel for dinner and headed back to get some sleep. The next day I woke up and headed back downtown, I wanted to see the changing of the guards and Buckingham Palace and see some of the parks downtown. Everything was so beautiful. I got so many pictures. Day pictures of the things I saw the previous day as well as many pictures of Buckingham Palace and the London Bridge. (London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down) Sorry for getting the song stuck in your head! After seeing everything I wanted to see downtown and having a wonderful english lunch of sausage on potatoes with gravy and some other weird BBQ like sauce I headed to the place where the Beatles shot the Abbey Road album cover and got some really fabulous pictures! When Turner photoshop's it to make it look like I am doing the same thing the Beatles did I will be sure to share it! After all of these things I got some chipotle (ahhh just like home) and headed back for the night. Although, on the way back I got confused and missed my stop and it took me 1.5 hours to get home altogether. (curse those crazy bus routes!)
The next morning I had such a crazy travel schedule! Hold on to your pants and pay attention cause this could get a little bit confusing. First at 3:30am I had to walk to the bus stop to get a bus to take me to another stop which would then take me to Victoria Train Station. From there I had to walk down to the coach station, undoubtedly getting myself lost and confused. From there I had to take a coach to London Stansted airport where my gates to Frankfurt Hahn closed at 6:40 with the flight leaving at 7:15, it took over an hour to get through security and by then it was 7! I ran through the airport and made it there by 7:10 just to find that they hadn't even started to board. (luckily) so I went to the bathroom and took the 10 layers of clothes I had on, so I would be within the weight for my carry on, off and boarded the plane. I arrived at Frankfurt Hahn by 9:35. The flight was only an hour and fifteen minutes but Germany is an hour ahead of the UK. Flying with Ryanair is certainly cheap but when they land the plane it seems as if they are crashing, luckily I always remember to pray before landing. From there I had to take a coach to Frankfurt am Main hauptbahnhof (main train station) and get on a train to Hanau where I was to meet Saskia's mom to go to her house. Luckily, with the German I know (thanks to Frau ((: ) I was able to make all of my transports ahead of time! Saskia's home is beautiful and I even had my own room with a bathroom! That night we caught up on all the things that have happened since we last saw each other. (Saskia was a foreign exchange student 2011-2012 when I was a senior) I took Saskia macaroni and cheese and strawberry poptarts from the US! The next day Saskia and I took a train from Hanau to Munich for Oktoberfest, it took five hours! On the last connecting train everyone was crazy and shoving to get in, luckily this guy that was flirting with me made sure we got in and got seats. On the way there we made a bunch of friends! Everyone was drinking on the train on the way there and the guy I mentioned before gave us some of his beer, since he had like 30! When we got to Munich Saskia's moms friend Tanja met us at a bus stop and took us back to her house, which was really nice, better than a hotel!! Accidentally our luggage stained her carpet and Saskia and I were freaking out because we didn't know how to tell her, she actually wasn't upset at all. (phew) After settling in she drove us to Oktoberfest. Oktoberfest is like this big huge crazy fair (Like the canfield fair only much, much bigger) that you can drink at. Everyone there wears dirndl and lederhosen and drinks big steins full of beer. I thought that stein was a German word, however it is not. The only alcohol available at Oktoberfest is beer. Overall I was kind of disappointed with Oktoberfest, I had imagined people linking arms dancing in circles singing loudly. However, this can only be found in the tents and to get in a tent one would have to reserve it over a year in advance or be outside by 5 in the morning. Saskia and I tried, and failed, to get into the tents. All of the Oktoberfest fun goes on inside these tents. If you're not in the tents it's basically just one huge fair. Along with beer (obviously) I also had a HUGE pretzel, which is a common food in Germany. The first day we were at Oktoberfest it rained a lot, completely soaking our shoes. Afterwards Tanja picked us up and made us some nice tea at home. It was great that she made us tea because I had gotten sick and kept coughing and barely had a voice. Every time I talked to someone they would say "Bist du krank?" meaning, are you sick? The next day Tanja made us a really great breakfast with German bread (really heavy and delicious) and lots of breakfast cold cut meats. Most of them were good, but one I tried was absolutely terrible but I pretended to like it so I wouldn't offend her. We also had eggs that we ate right out of the shell after they were cooked, which was new to me. After that, Tanja gave Saskia and I a tour of Munich from her car. This was great! We saw the bridge where Hitler held his gatherings and a structure made up of all the bomb debris. Munich is a really interesting city. Then, Tanja had to go visit her mom so she said good-bye and dropped us back off at the Oktoberfest for the last few hours before we needed to head back home. The two days we spend at Oktoberfest were the last two days of the 3 week party! When we were waiting for our train we ate doener. Which was not as good as the one I had back in Frankfurt, (Himbach) where Saskia is from. Doener is a turkish meat with lettuce onion tomato and cucumber yogurt in it, they're delicious. When we were eating we we like our train is supposed to leave in 3 minutes, but there's a train where ours is supposed to be. When we got on the train and asked we found that our train was moved to two platforms down. (I tripped and scraped my leg when we got in the first train HAHA) so we had to sprint to catch our other train and once we squeezed on we had to sit in the doorway area on the floor because there was no room. Once we finally got back to Saskia's her mom had made a delicious goulash. Saskia's mom is a doctor, her name is Britta. She is married to Saskia's step dad Sasha, who has two children (I didn't meet them) Saskia also has a sister, Kristen, who is 16. The next day I went to school with Saskia. After taking four years of German in high school it was really interesting to see how their school system works! She even had english class that day. In Germany they have to take the public bus to school, half an hour! They have 20 minutes in between their classes also. In history class two boys were talking in German and I could understand them and I started laughing and they asked Saskia if I understood German and she said yes and he said "Sheisse" meaning "shit" and that he shouldn't have said it. HAHA. After school was over we had to wait in the school for 2 hours until the bus would come. After school a met a bunch of new people, including Rene who seemed really really excited to meet me. Rene is really interested in the english language. I think his english may be better than mine. He told me his favorite country in England and when he asked me mine I blurted out America. I guess there's nothing like home sweet home. (: That evening we went to Saskia's grandparents house for dinner. Saskia's grandparents write travel guides (huge ones) for a living, although now they are retired. Saskia's grandparents house is one of the most beautiful houses I've ever been in. I told Saskia I want her to take pictures of it so I can design my house just like it when I'm older. Saskia's grandmother is and extremely wonderful cook. That night she made a german dish, knowing I would be there. We had salad, home made croutons, potatoes and penne pasta with rolled meat and gravy. Rolled meat is exactly how it sounds. I think it is some type of beef rolled with another type of beef with onion and peppers and other things stuffed inside, it's really tender. For desert we had pudding shaped in the form of a fish and fresh strawberries! It was so delicious! The next day I went to some classed with Saskia, then her mom picked me up and took me to get doener and back to the house where I waited for her grandfather to take me to the train station. Once I got to the airport I had to wait an hour and a half before my flight.
After my flight landed, feeling like it was crashing, I took a two hour coach ride (because of all the stops) to London Victoria Station, where I had to go back to my hostel. This hostel was names FRESH at The White Ferry. This hostel was a bar when you walked in and the bedding was all upstairs above the bar. The outlets here were all by the floor, which was different than the first hostel because it had outlets by every bed. I think the first hostel (The London Eye Hostel) was much nicer, I liked it more, but this one wasn't so bad. I was supposed to check in by midnight but it was 12:15 when I arrived at London Victoria. When I asked a taxi driver to take me there he said he wouldn't because he had no change for my 20 so I would have to walk. It was only half a mile but I only knew his directions on how to get there. Upon confusion I asked some girl walking down the street with her guitar strapped to her back how to get there, luckily she lived right next to it so I just walked with her and it led me right there. The next day I went shopping in London before heading back on my 7 hour journey on the bus. The bus ride there wasn't bad at all, I slept nearly all the way, but the bus ride home was the absolute worst. I thought the outlets would let me charge my mobile wifi and they weren't working, there was supposed to be wifi on the bus but it wasn't working either. Once I finally got back I had called a cab on the bus to pick me up, I had to wait 15 minutes outside and it was FREEZING and really windy. When I got back to my dorm room I said hi to my flatmates and showed them my stein I brought home. After that I went straight to bed until 2pm the next day. Today is the day after and although I am still tired from my adventure I joined and worked out at the gym. Joining the gym will fill my spare time during the week since I only have classes on Monday and Tuesday and keep my from boredom.
Well that was my week, sorry it took so long to fill the details in, here are a few pictures from my adventure through this journey I call life! More can be found in my Europe 2013/2014 album on Facebook!
XOXO,
Abb (:
Saturday, 28 September 2013
First week of classes.
September 23rd - 28th, 2013.
My first week of classes went soooo sloowwww. On the bright side we went out Wednesday night to a club called Gatsby and to a club called Passion and it was a great time! Lots of dancing and singing. (: Anyways, back to my classes. My schedule is fantastic and leaves lots of room for traveling, which is great! On Mondays I have two classes. Politics 105, Intro to politics, Democracy & Tyranny which runs from 10am-1pm then I have an hour break before going to Politics 202, British Politics and Government which runs 2pm-5:30pm, both including a lecture and a seminar. On Tuesdays I wear pink. Just kidding, on Tuesdays I go to Politics 201, European Political Ideas. This course runs from 10am-1pm. My course schedule isn't so bad but some things about courses here are just beyond me. For example, why is there so much reading? At least my books all have free online editions I supposed. Second, why must I take courses all within the same field? This is totally going to mix together and I will never be able to remember what sections I read apply to which course. Third, why does each course only grade on two projects, or papers, or tests. TWO?! Are they trying to set people up for failure? Fourth, if I don't have someone to go with, or time, or money to travel on my off days what am I going to do with all of this spare time? I am going to drive my self nuts.. And then theres the biggest question, and probably the most important question... yet again. What have I gotten myself into? Well I suppose I should quit blogging and start on my reading. Talk to you soon!
XOXO,
Abbey (:
My first week of classes went soooo sloowwww. On the bright side we went out Wednesday night to a club called Gatsby and to a club called Passion and it was a great time! Lots of dancing and singing. (: Anyways, back to my classes. My schedule is fantastic and leaves lots of room for traveling, which is great! On Mondays I have two classes. Politics 105, Intro to politics, Democracy & Tyranny which runs from 10am-1pm then I have an hour break before going to Politics 202, British Politics and Government which runs 2pm-5:30pm, both including a lecture and a seminar. On Tuesdays I wear pink. Just kidding, on Tuesdays I go to Politics 201, European Political Ideas. This course runs from 10am-1pm. My course schedule isn't so bad but some things about courses here are just beyond me. For example, why is there so much reading? At least my books all have free online editions I supposed. Second, why must I take courses all within the same field? This is totally going to mix together and I will never be able to remember what sections I read apply to which course. Third, why does each course only grade on two projects, or papers, or tests. TWO?! Are they trying to set people up for failure? Fourth, if I don't have someone to go with, or time, or money to travel on my off days what am I going to do with all of this spare time? I am going to drive my self nuts.. And then theres the biggest question, and probably the most important question... yet again. What have I gotten myself into? Well I suppose I should quit blogging and start on my reading. Talk to you soon!
XOXO,
Abbey (:
York & Alnwick Castle
September 20th & 21st, 2013.
On Friday the boys & I went on a trip to York. In York there are tons of historic little churches and The York Minster. The York Minster is York's version of The Westminster Abbey in London. On the way there we met Nuvaquahu from Germany. Since none of us could say his name we just call him Vick. Some of the boys wanted to tour the York Brewery, but Andrew and I didn't so we went exploring on our own. We ended up finding this creepy little church with tons of really old graves in the back. It was a perfect place for pictures! After that we went to Starbucks to sit and relax until the boys were done. I think the time allotted for the trips done through the school are too long.
On Saturday the boys went to a Newcastle soccer game and I went with the girls on the trip to Alnwick Castle. The trip was great! Alnwick Castle is also known as 'Hogwarts' in the Harry Potter films. All of the outdoor shots from Harry Potter were shot there. There is the castle wall where Harry first flies over in the car on the way to Hogwarts, nearly missing a tree that was super imposed in the film! Then there is the area that Malfoy and Harry fly around during their Muggle Quidditch match. This area was also super imposed. It was reconstructed online by using the thousands of pictures taken at the West Minster in London. During the scene where Harry is in the invisible cloak, the book he's reading and the library were also filmed at a different location. At this location the film crew was asked to leave because they were rather disturbing and ruining the books. The books kept in this library are kept at a specific temperature so they will not be ruined with time. During the production of this scene holding the book so often caused it to dry out, so they took hundreds of pictures of the books and went on their way to reproduce the book so they wouldn't ruin it. Hagrid's hut is also on the property grounds right next to the dark forest. In the movie Hagrid is a giant, in real life Hagrid is only 5'10". At the castle they showed us how they make him look so giant when walking next to 'normal' sized people. The castle itself is ginormous and absolutely breathtaking. The family that owns the castle, the Percy's, have owned it through nearly all of the castle's history. It is their main home that they stay in and it is surrounded by the 110,000 acres the family owns. Along with Alnwick Castle we also visited the Alnwick Gardens. The gardens are very interesting, there's a huge water fountain that is the focal point in the center. On one side they have the poisonous garden that is loaded with tons of poisonous plants that you can view on a guided tour. The other side of the gardens has a water section where there are tons of different water features you can view, or even let your children play in!
Overall the trips to York and Alnwick were great, especially when considering we'll be starting classes next week!
Here's some pictures of The York Minster & Alnwick Castle! Talk to you soon!
On Friday the boys & I went on a trip to York. In York there are tons of historic little churches and The York Minster. The York Minster is York's version of The Westminster Abbey in London. On the way there we met Nuvaquahu from Germany. Since none of us could say his name we just call him Vick. Some of the boys wanted to tour the York Brewery, but Andrew and I didn't so we went exploring on our own. We ended up finding this creepy little church with tons of really old graves in the back. It was a perfect place for pictures! After that we went to Starbucks to sit and relax until the boys were done. I think the time allotted for the trips done through the school are too long.
On Saturday the boys went to a Newcastle soccer game and I went with the girls on the trip to Alnwick Castle. The trip was great! Alnwick Castle is also known as 'Hogwarts' in the Harry Potter films. All of the outdoor shots from Harry Potter were shot there. There is the castle wall where Harry first flies over in the car on the way to Hogwarts, nearly missing a tree that was super imposed in the film! Then there is the area that Malfoy and Harry fly around during their Muggle Quidditch match. This area was also super imposed. It was reconstructed online by using the thousands of pictures taken at the West Minster in London. During the scene where Harry is in the invisible cloak, the book he's reading and the library were also filmed at a different location. At this location the film crew was asked to leave because they were rather disturbing and ruining the books. The books kept in this library are kept at a specific temperature so they will not be ruined with time. During the production of this scene holding the book so often caused it to dry out, so they took hundreds of pictures of the books and went on their way to reproduce the book so they wouldn't ruin it. Hagrid's hut is also on the property grounds right next to the dark forest. In the movie Hagrid is a giant, in real life Hagrid is only 5'10". At the castle they showed us how they make him look so giant when walking next to 'normal' sized people. The castle itself is ginormous and absolutely breathtaking. The family that owns the castle, the Percy's, have owned it through nearly all of the castle's history. It is their main home that they stay in and it is surrounded by the 110,000 acres the family owns. Along with Alnwick Castle we also visited the Alnwick Gardens. The gardens are very interesting, there's a huge water fountain that is the focal point in the center. On one side they have the poisonous garden that is loaded with tons of poisonous plants that you can view on a guided tour. The other side of the gardens has a water section where there are tons of different water features you can view, or even let your children play in!
Overall the trips to York and Alnwick were great, especially when considering we'll be starting classes next week!
Here's some pictures of The York Minster & Alnwick Castle! Talk to you soon!
Tuesday, 24 September 2013
First week in the UK
September 14-19, 2013
During the first week of orientation I met a ton of new people. The first people I met were my flat mates. Finja is 24, she is from Hamburg, Germany. Tanja is 23, she is from Resenburg, Germany. I found it interesting to meet them because of my four years spend learning German. Our other flat mates are Ivana, who is 22 and from the Czech Republic. Ivana had her boyfriend move her in the first week and we all thought he also lived with us and were shocked to find we had another flat mate we didn't know about because she hadn't been around. Her name is Susie, she is 21 and she is from Utah. The last two flat mates I have become particularly close with. First there is Turner, he is 20, from Minnesota, and looks just like a teenage Timmy Turner. His accent has begun to rub off on his group of friends. We are all constantly saying 'oh ya' and 'you betcha' as if we were from Canada. Our last flat mate is Mike. He just turned twenty on Tuesday! He is from Maryland. I am the youngest out of all my friends I've made here. Along with Turner and Mike, we hang out with the neighbors a few flats down. Their names are Andrew and Taylor. Andrew is 19 and from Oregon, he has a very flamboyant and humorous character. Taylor is 21 and from Indiana, or the 'midwest' as he refers it VERY often. I don't really think Indiana should be considered midwest though.. Taylor really loves soccer and America (Indiana), given the opportunity he could go on forever about them. It was really easy to connect with the boys, as I like to call them, because it seems as if we have been friends forever. That and we can actually understand what each other are saying. Together the five of us have done a lot of exploring of Sunderland and the shopping centers. We've done our fair share of getting lost and trying to find the best places to hang out. The first night Turner and I went walking for a place to eat. Each pub we walked into was crazy and none of them served food! We walked nearly all the way to the city centre (although we didn't know it) and we turned around to head back. When we got back we asked someone where we could eat and took a taxi all the way back down to where we already were. We ended up eating burgers and chicken tenders at the Lambton Worm. The other nights we went to 'The Bridges' which is a large shopping center. Being so close may just be an issue for me. :P After long and boring days in registration and welcoming meetings we decided we were going to go out and try to find a game to watch. We ended up at a club called Revolution, which was recommended by our study abroad advisor Emma, and had different types of pizza, like vodka pizza, and ordered our first legal drinks! My first legal cocktail was called The Jammy Bastard. It was some sort of mixture with raspberry in it, had I known there was raspberry in it I probably wouldn't have ordered it, but it wasn't too bad. Mike's drink was some sort of mudslide and it was really good! I think I will get that next time. There were a few things that were really hard to get used to the first week here and so many questions we were asking ourselves. Where the heck are we? Why does it rain so much? What the heck are these people saying and why do they speak so fast? Could they screw my schedule up anymore? How am I supposed to get groceries when I don't even know how to use public transportation. And most of all, what have I gotten myself into? To answer a few of these questions, the accent here is considered one of the most friendly in all of the U.K. however they speak so quickly and get frustrated if you keep asking what. It may rain here a lot but not as much as southern parts of the U.K and because we are so close to the sea we will experience lots of wind and snow. The schedules for nearly all the American kids were and complete and total disaster. Since we have to ensure our courses here will transfer over to our home university directly as specific courses it takes a long time to pair courses up and get them approved. Once we were all here we thought we had figured it out, until they told us some of our courses were no longer being offered and that other courses conflicted. I had two of my courses conflict so I had to drop one and find another, which was easy for me luckily. Turner and Mike both had all of their classes cancelled and went through a nightmare trying to find courses so they wouldn't have to go home. Luckily when I first arrived, after some research, I found a grocery store where I could order online and they would deliver to me! Wow! That was so great. The nearest grocery store, Aldi, is nearly a mile away and I have no idea how I would have gotten all of my groceries. As for the question what have I gotten myself into... well I'm still not sure what exactly I've done, but I'm sure we'll find out!
Talk to you soon!
Abbey (:
P.S. Thought you'd like some faces with the names. The pictures below from left to right are Taylor, Andrew, Turner, Me, & Mike.
This picture from left to right is Finja, Me, & Tanja.
During the first week of orientation I met a ton of new people. The first people I met were my flat mates. Finja is 24, she is from Hamburg, Germany. Tanja is 23, she is from Resenburg, Germany. I found it interesting to meet them because of my four years spend learning German. Our other flat mates are Ivana, who is 22 and from the Czech Republic. Ivana had her boyfriend move her in the first week and we all thought he also lived with us and were shocked to find we had another flat mate we didn't know about because she hadn't been around. Her name is Susie, she is 21 and she is from Utah. The last two flat mates I have become particularly close with. First there is Turner, he is 20, from Minnesota, and looks just like a teenage Timmy Turner. His accent has begun to rub off on his group of friends. We are all constantly saying 'oh ya' and 'you betcha' as if we were from Canada. Our last flat mate is Mike. He just turned twenty on Tuesday! He is from Maryland. I am the youngest out of all my friends I've made here. Along with Turner and Mike, we hang out with the neighbors a few flats down. Their names are Andrew and Taylor. Andrew is 19 and from Oregon, he has a very flamboyant and humorous character. Taylor is 21 and from Indiana, or the 'midwest' as he refers it VERY often. I don't really think Indiana should be considered midwest though.. Taylor really loves soccer and America (Indiana), given the opportunity he could go on forever about them. It was really easy to connect with the boys, as I like to call them, because it seems as if we have been friends forever. That and we can actually understand what each other are saying. Together the five of us have done a lot of exploring of Sunderland and the shopping centers. We've done our fair share of getting lost and trying to find the best places to hang out. The first night Turner and I went walking for a place to eat. Each pub we walked into was crazy and none of them served food! We walked nearly all the way to the city centre (although we didn't know it) and we turned around to head back. When we got back we asked someone where we could eat and took a taxi all the way back down to where we already were. We ended up eating burgers and chicken tenders at the Lambton Worm. The other nights we went to 'The Bridges' which is a large shopping center. Being so close may just be an issue for me. :P After long and boring days in registration and welcoming meetings we decided we were going to go out and try to find a game to watch. We ended up at a club called Revolution, which was recommended by our study abroad advisor Emma, and had different types of pizza, like vodka pizza, and ordered our first legal drinks! My first legal cocktail was called The Jammy Bastard. It was some sort of mixture with raspberry in it, had I known there was raspberry in it I probably wouldn't have ordered it, but it wasn't too bad. Mike's drink was some sort of mudslide and it was really good! I think I will get that next time. There were a few things that were really hard to get used to the first week here and so many questions we were asking ourselves. Where the heck are we? Why does it rain so much? What the heck are these people saying and why do they speak so fast? Could they screw my schedule up anymore? How am I supposed to get groceries when I don't even know how to use public transportation. And most of all, what have I gotten myself into? To answer a few of these questions, the accent here is considered one of the most friendly in all of the U.K. however they speak so quickly and get frustrated if you keep asking what. It may rain here a lot but not as much as southern parts of the U.K and because we are so close to the sea we will experience lots of wind and snow. The schedules for nearly all the American kids were and complete and total disaster. Since we have to ensure our courses here will transfer over to our home university directly as specific courses it takes a long time to pair courses up and get them approved. Once we were all here we thought we had figured it out, until they told us some of our courses were no longer being offered and that other courses conflicted. I had two of my courses conflict so I had to drop one and find another, which was easy for me luckily. Turner and Mike both had all of their classes cancelled and went through a nightmare trying to find courses so they wouldn't have to go home. Luckily when I first arrived, after some research, I found a grocery store where I could order online and they would deliver to me! Wow! That was so great. The nearest grocery store, Aldi, is nearly a mile away and I have no idea how I would have gotten all of my groceries. As for the question what have I gotten myself into... well I'm still not sure what exactly I've done, but I'm sure we'll find out!
Talk to you soon!
Abbey (:
P.S. Thought you'd like some faces with the names. The pictures below from left to right are Taylor, Andrew, Turner, Me, & Mike.
Sunday, 22 September 2013
Travel Day
September 12th & 13th, 2013
Life Background
Hi,
My name is Abbey Minamyer. I am 19 year old sophomore and a study abroad student at The University of Sunderland in the United Kingdom. My home school is Cleveland State University. I come from a small town in Ohio where I live with my two sisters, my mom, and her boyfriend. My sisters are Emma, commonly referred to as MK, who is 15 and one of my best friends, and Leah who is 22. My moms name is Joyce and her boyfriend's name is Ron. I couldn't ask for anyone better for my mom, he treats her so well and treats me and my sisters like his own, good and bad. Ron has two daughters who are like sisters to my family. Kolbie who is 21 and Emma who is 17. Besides my immediate family, I am also fortunate enough to have a very close extended family, particularly on my fathers side. My dad died when I was 9 but his outgoing personality inspired me to live to my potential and take risks. I live each day for him & I miss him very much. From him I got my incredible sense of humor and stubbornness. His mom, my grandma, Maga is someone I would consider my best friend. Without the encouragement and support of my loving family I would not be studying in another country. My previous travels to Europe through the People to People Student Ambassador Program fueled my desire to study abroad. Anyone thinking about joining such a program I highly recommend becoming a People to People Student Ambassador, it changed my life and connected me with life long bonds and some of my very best friends. On another note I would like to mention a few of my friends without whom's love and support I would not be who I am today. Mara, who is a senior in high school has been one of my best friends for the past 3 years, she's my rock and my sister and I'm not sure what I would do without her. Nikki is a freshman in college, she gives the best advice and her driven attitude inspires me everyday, I have no doubt she will do HUGE things in her life. Erica has been my very best friend since day one, I know that no matter what happens in my life I can always count on her, she is one of the most trustworthy and loyal friends I know. Blake has been my best friend since grade school, he is a freshman at college and his outgoing and hilarious personality combined with mine make us a troublesome duo. I love him to death and he can always cheer me up, no matter what. Emily is a junior in high school and I can tell her absolutely anything we could talk all day and never get sick of each other, she gives me advice and I do the same for her, I know she'll always be honest with me, which is why I love her so much. Cam is also a junior in high school and I can talk to him about anything, he is so funny and down to earth. He grounds me and without him I think I would go insane. Lauren is my best friend from my People to People trip. Without Lauren and her amazing parents, Christine and Frank, and sweet little brother, Frankie, I don't think I would have made it through my freshman year of college. They were always there for me through my ups and downs and that is something I could never thank them enough for. In such a short time they became like family to me. They are some of the best people I know. All of these people are some of the biggest inspirations in my life, all for different reasons, and I wouldn't have it any other way. You've just been introduced to my crazy life, but now you'll experience my crazy journey.
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