Easter Eggs in the Rain

Matt and I decided to cook at his place last night. There are two grocery stores down the street so it was a quick walk to pick up some beer, a baguette, and a few other things. We combined some pasta sauce Matt had with onions, garlic, mushrooms, eggplant, and a little salt, and served it over pasta. The kitchen was a bit of a madhouse because Matt's flatmates were having a huge dinner party. Most of Matt's flat is Asian, and though it probably is silly of me to think this but it seems out of place for some reason or at least unexpected. We all managed to cluster around the stove and get everything cooked. Matt and I ate on a small balcony off the kitchen to stay out of the chaos.

Food was great as was the beer and bread. Matt spotted his friends walking along the path underneath us and tried to shout to get their attention. When this failed I stood up and yelled "HEY BOZO!". That worked. They were having a party later on with plans to dye Easter eggs and have an egg hunt. Sounded like it could be fun and we still might have time for a pub. The group Matt has found here is really nice so I wasn't going to complain either way.

The egg hunt was fun, we all looked silly running around the little green next to the student apartments trying to find eggs. It was raining lightly which probably added to our odd image, and to the difficulty of finding the eggs. It made everything reflective so the moon and artificial light played tricks on you. As it turns out most of the eggs were just nestled in the grass so my careful searching of bushes turned up few leads. I came in second to last with six eggs found.

Afterward we went inside to dye eggs, and got to know each other in the meantime, talking until late. One of Matt's friends, Matt, and I decided to have a quick jam outside (it had stopped raining) so we each grabbed an instrument (guitar, mandolin, and an Indian kind of uke that I have no idea how to spell). We camped out on a bike path outside, which turned out to be a bad idea since several cyclists tried to crash through us, interrupting our music. Besides one of the study abroad kids we'd been hanging out with all night a couple and their dog sat down with us to listen. We talked with them a bit while Matt tuned. The girl might have been studying something but the guy is trying to start a company/movement that would use art as a kind of transcendent experience to bring people together. It involved a bus and piano, and free food. We couldn't quite make sense of it. He also used to play the violin but had damaged his hands in an accident.

Its worth mentioning that the Vauban, where the students live and where we were playing our music, is "hippie central" and is home to one large squat. Caravans and tents extend down many of the side streets. The neighborhood is very eclectic as a result but feels pretty welcoming and homey. Permanent residences in the apartment blocks seem to get along fine with those who are camping etc.

Well, it was nice to have an audience, but after they left us we decided to call it a night. It was midnight and everyone but me had class in the morning. It had also gotten pretty cold outside. The walk back to Matt's place was short and we were both ready for bed before 1am. It took me awhile to get used to the wind since the blinds on the building are large metal sliding screens mounted outside the windows. You open the window to adjust the blind. In high wind they clatter and klang in a wave of noise up the building as the wind wraps around it. Eventually I fell asleep, because the next thing I knew Matt's alarm was going off for his 9:15 class. I got up by about 9am and answered emails, had a snack and showered, took some photos of his room, and that brings us up to right now.

The Great Barrier Reef!

So Thursday, March 25 I got my lazy ass out of bed at 5AM to get ready for a bus ride to Sydney, then a 3 hour plane ride to Cairns (pronounced cans). Connie and THE BRIAN (what she calls her husband, this gets amazing when she uses it mid conversation) picked us up from Weerona College and then went over to Campus East to pick up the rest of the Gate. Hour and a half later we're in Sydney, and 3 hours later we're in Carins.

Cairns is essentially a tourist town placed right in the middle of the rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef (which isn't really one reef but like 2,000 individual reefs). We stayed at the #3 hostel in the world (Thank you Colgate) which had 8 person rooms and a bar downstairs that had constant happy hour and a party every night of the week. $4.50 for 2 drinks. Amazing. Thursday we got there and we didn't really do much. Me, Kevin, Emily and Abby went to the pool so they could teach me how to swim, and some of it got through. Some of us went to check out the bar that night, and it was a decent place to be. We stayed until midnight to celebrate Emily's birthday and then we all just went back to our rooms.

Next morning, we got up and left at 7AM to take a 2 hour boat ride offshore to one of the tourist areas. at least 70% of the ship had to go outside and throw up into brown bags. When we got there, we were informed that we could only stay on a small portion of the beach because we don't want to disturb the (literally) THOUSANDS of birds in the area, as well as contribute to erosion of the small island and other stuff. We were restricted to a small area too, so we couldn't go off and explore on our own. We put our stinger suits and snorkels on and took a boat from the ship to the beach, and then got in the water. Connie pulled me and Phil aside who both weren't good swimmers and gave us a little mini lesson. I got it down really fast but Phil was having some trouble with his mask, so Connie paired me with Emily instead. For my first time swimming, on the Great Barrier Reef no less, i was pretty damn good.

I saw a ton of coral obviously. Blue spiky ones, boulder, mushroom, cabbage and a whole mess of other types. And the fish were just as amazing. I actually was good enough at swimming with my flippers at that point that I chased many fish down just to get pictures of them. I did end up seeing a giant clam which was amazing. I also found an anemone that had two clownfish (nemo) lurking in them! All these pictures are on facebook. We were supposed to go to two areas but there were storms passing so we just stayed in that one area. Still an amazing time. That night we all were exhausted so we just went to bed really early.

Next morning we left at 7AM again to head off to a rainforest tour. We went about an hour or so north of Cairns and had one dude basically guide us through some walking paths in the rainforest. He also took us to a zoo where some of us got our picture taken with koalas (!!!!!). We also got to pet kangaroos, and they were so adorable. Oh yeah, there were ducks and stuff too. We then went to Cape Tribulation and walked along the beach, looked at some mangroves, and then had lunch at some rainforest restaurant. After that we went on a boat ride to go spot crocodiles and snakes, but we ended up not seeing many crocs because they were all hiding. After that we went back home and then went to a restaurant. That night all the Colgate people (except Emily K and Nate) got together in one group at Gilligan's, and I was super excited for this. It's really hard to organize both dorms to do stuff since we live so far away from each other and the buses stop at 6pm on weekends. After partying we all eventually went back home to sleep for Sunday, travel day.

We got up early and went to the botanical gardens to do one of our assignments. After that we basically had free time to wander about, so i took this time to go buy some Australian souvenirs. After our bus ride to the Cairns airport, plane to Sydney and bus to Wollongong, we were all exhausted. And we had class the next day.

Spring break NEXT WEEK. Well as of this post, after tomorrow I am on break! More news then! Pictures on facebook! Woooo

Freiburg at Last!

So at long last a bit after 12 noon my gate finally opened. Sadly the computer to do final check in was broken so it took forever to get everyone on the plane. It was about a half hour until we took off, but once we did it was an uneventful flight. The cabin crew ran out of most kinds of food so they didn't feed me. That was a bit of a bummer.

Wasn't even checked by customs on the ground. My cellphone went nuts since the airport belongs to three countries. It kept telling me "welcome to Germany", "welcome to Switzerland", and "welcome to France". The only mishap was that the bus I needed had left and would be returning for an hour. Managed enough French to figure that out by talking to the driver of another bus.

In the meantime I talked to two mountain climbers waiting for the bus. They spoke enough English that we could hold a good conversation. I let them call home using my cellphone. Home was just down the road for them, and didn't pick up, so I wasn't charged for the call anyway. Another English ex-pat also waited with us. We did try to find a cab a few times but none of the drivers would go all the way to Freiburg. The hour passed quickly, and by 5pm my bus ride was over and I was on the tram with Matt heading to his dorm.

Matt's dorm is in the Vauban. A residential district mainly of young families. It's next door neighbor is a hippie squat. Its pretty quiet and I didn't have a hard time finding my way back today after Matt went to class. The tram is really reliable and though I can't quite do it on my own if I could understand the accent a bit better I wouldn't have a problem.

So last night after I dropped my things off we took the tram back to the center of town and found a place to dinner, which was delicious. Matt's German is great by the way. Went to a great pub afterwards for another pint. Talked a lot about life and recent events. We haven't seen each other to talk in awhile so it was good to catch up.

After the second pint it was early to bed for us. Matt had class at 9am and I was exhausted after my long days. I fell asleep immediately until 9:30am the next day. Matt was kind enough to give me his bed and sleep in my sleeping bag.

Put on the Betty shirt this morning. Hopefully I'll get a photo with it. If nothing else, Steve, your face toured the streets of Freiburg today. At around 11 I met Matt and some of his friends for lunch. They are all Americans studying here and seemed nice. Their cafeteria is simple but the food was better than Frank. You grab a tray, go down the line, and take what you want. One thing from each station. Then you ring out at the end. The food was a little salty so I wish the glasses they had for drinks were bigger. I've been a bit thirsty all day as a result.

After lunch Matt and I walked around the city center a bit more, eventually climbing the hill overlooking the city. The view was wonderful, Black Forest and mountains (snowcapped ones near the airport the day before!).

After a brief stop for Matt to buy school supplies he headed to class and I walked back to his dorm, using the tram tracks and stops as a guide.

Freiburg is a nice town. Cars aren't allowed in the city center so its very quiet, all the roads are wrapped around it. Each part of the city seems to have a distinct character that reflects what goes on there. The city center does still have the feel of an old town. Cobble paths are inlayed with the crests of the trades of nearby businesses. The highlight of the day was the beautiful cathedral at the center of town, a product of the rich guilds and silver mines of Freiburg's past. Its a different sort of cathedral, more soaring and filled with images than Welsh churches, but not as delicate and light as those in France. Of course many elements are similar and the overall structure is the same, but it was interesting to note the differences in the details.

Windy day and light rain. Matt and I are going to head out to get groceries for dinner, and then might meet up with a few people to check out a pub I don't think they've seen yet.

I have not luck with flights these days...

So the plane that's supposed to be taking me to Freiburg is MIA. My departure has been pushed back to 10am from 8am. Got awhile to kill. I think I'll be able to manage to find the busy to town on my own from the airport, if I can stay awake that long. I really hate loosing so much of a day being delayed and exhausted.

Just Trying to Catch a Flight

Our bus to London left Cardiff at 4am on Saturday. Zora and I left Talybont Court at 3am to walk to the bus stop. I'm sure the clubgoers walking home thought we were interesting figments of their imagination. By the time we got to the Hilton on Kingsway we'd walked in to the heart of the party. Two police cars and an ambulance rolled in, most of them for a fight that had broken out. We decided it would be easiest and fastest given our tired state to get a cab from the Hilton to Cardiff Central (about 3 or 4 blocks away). The cab came fast, and during our conversation with the cab driver he caught a major mistake of ours. The bus wasn't leaving from Cardiff Central but from Kingsway stop, literally where we'd caught the cab! We gave him a big thank you and a good tip for catching our mistake. We would've missed our bus otherwise.

Without too much trouble we found our hostel in London. We had to ask for directions once and a very nice concierge who wasn't too busy in the early morning hours googled the addresss for us and drew it on a tourist map. The only problem was our check in wasn't until 2pm and it was 10am when we arrived. We had four hours to kill before we could finally get some sleep.

As awful as it might sound to be tired and without a bed it wasn't, Zora and I turned it in to a bit of an unexpected adventure by wandering around. Amongst other things we got to see, and hear the bells of the oldest Gothic church I think anywhere (active since 606), oggel the Golden Hinde (working reconstruction of sir Francis Drake's ship), and get mobbed by a couple of school groups in the gift shop of The Globe Theatre. We also just bummbed around near the Thames and watched the working boats and the tour boats go by. Before too long it was finally two and we could get in our room. We settled in quickly and set an alarm for 5:30 so we'd have time to get some dinner.

Slept pretty much like the dead, except for a few moments when our two roomates came in. One of them stayed and joined in our nap.

The evening was uneventful. Zora and I walked around the neighborhood a bit more and did some work online. I started in on a few more post cards. I'll have a good stack ready to go when I get back on Thursday.

Today was another early morning. We dragged everything in to the hall at about 1:30 and dressed/ packed there so as not to keep our roomates awake. Found a cab quickly and got to the bus station. The city was so quiet. We drove around like it was a country road. At the terminal we were serenaded by a drunk (maybe) which the staff told me had been showing up every night for the past three years. Zora's bus to Stanstead came through every few minutes on a loop so we waited until the busses to Gatwick started at around 3am before boarding. I enjoyed having the company. Her bus left just a bit before mine, and both of ours arrived just fine at our respective airports. Both of us had a long wait to check in. I got in line just before 5am and wasn't through security until just after 6:20am. The lines were poorly indicated so people for other flights on the same airline were all in the same huge line. Staff kept trying to pull them out but it just brought check in to a standstill as people were moved and counteres devoted to rapid check in of the stragglers. Made it through though. Fed and watered, though I'm missing my morning shower. Gate should open in a few minutes.

Matt, I'll see you soon.

North Wales pt. 3- Caernarvon and Llanberis

Day three brought us some time to explore Caernarvon independently, so of course the whole group went together. There are several things you should know about the group I to understand our actions:

1. We are chickens, we move together. If one person decides to eat somewhere or leave somewhere the whole group usually follows.

2. We go to bed like a bunch of old ladies.

3. We like disney movies.

4. We like to knit. Seriously, almost all of us knit.

5. We can eat enough food to feed a group of 30. And did so at every meal.

6. Bookstores are like a drug.

7. We love to play cards, esp. a game I'll call President, since it's real name is not family friendly.

So we all ended up at the castle waiting for the doors to open. I ended up exploring it with Stacey and Margaret (which is usually the case, we like taking a lot of time to actually look at things instead of just running through it). It ended up being overrun with tour groups, one group of rude French young teens, and one group of polite cute English school kids. We got stuck in both mobs at one point or another. This castle was pretty large, in decent condition, and right on the coast. It had a bazillion turrets, we climbed most of them. Wales has officially fulfilled my life's quota of stone spiral stair cases. I took a lot of pictures. We also went through the museums contained in some of the towers. As we were exiting one of them I had a pretty good wipeout. I was tired and cold at that point and not paying attention I guess, but as I was trying to step out of the museum, something failed and I fell out of the door head first. In front of all those tour groups. Caught myself, but not until after banging both knees on the stones and scraping my hands up a bit. One knee is still resolutely purple after that one.

View of the sea from one of the towers

Front of the castel

View of snow topped mountains from another tower

After the castle we all split up (for once). I tried going to the tiny maritime museum they had, but it never opened. I wandered around the marina, and just took some time out to sit on the sea wall and just watch the water. Found the group to grab a quick lunch of a pasty and pastry and met the bus. It was Stacey's 21st birthday, but it wasn't going to be an overly exciting one.

We were off to the Dinorwig Hydroelectric plant. And we were tired. We got there and explored the largest completely unrelated gift shop ever, and marveled at all the random stuff they had while waiting for our tour to start. We all had to don hairnets and green hard hats. They drove us up "electric mountain" on their bus, and showed us the main machinery, and both the lakes that power it. They drain one lake to drive the turbines into the lower lake, and pump it all back up at night. This process actually takes more electricity than they can generate, so I'm not quite sure I understand the point. Their point was that they can provide an obscene amount of power (enough to power all of Wales) in just 10 seconds if they ever need to. Which they do, for example after the FIFA world cup, when the ENTIRE NATION gets up and turns on the electric kettle. That was their genuine example. I'm making the plant sound a lot more exciting than it was. Most of us fell asleep during the tour (tour guide had a very soothing voice) or during the movies they showed us. The largest man made cavern, where all the generators are kept was cool though.

It was raining in Llanberis. It reflected our moods pretty well. Day three was supposed to be the day we hiked part of Snowdon. But it was rainy, cold, and most of us were sore from the previous day's hike (and my knee was not a happy camper). Only 4 people braved it, and didn't get all that far. The rest of us wandered into town. Nothing was open. Nothing. We explored a grocery store, we went into an empty bakery that told us to go to the place we were scheduled to eat dinner at, but we didn't want to show up 3 hours early. We headed back to the Coffee Pot near the plant. We were the only ones there, so we ordered some food and started playing cards. I got the worst hot coco I've ever had (just brown water, I even added sugar and it was still terrible) and a scone that was 90% raisins (I hate raisins). It was a flop, and the place closed at 4:30, kicking us back into the rain.

We gave up and waked to Pete's Eats, 2 hours before we were supposed to be there. The owners were really nice about it showed us to the back room and gave us a checkers/chess board. We played cards. We knit. It's a hikers/outdoorsy town, and Pete's serves this crowd. There was a lot of crazy nude art on the walls, as well as crazy pictures of their patrons, it was really chill. So we killed the 2 hours until the Geier's and the hikers showed up and feasted on greasy food. I had the fish and chips (my first since getting into the UK, shameful I know!), and they met my snobby fish standards. Also had amazing garlic mushrooms and bara brith (traditional Welsh breadish thing). The whole group laughed its way through dinner and was a big stuffed mess and we dragged ourselves to the bus.

North Wales pt. 2- Llangollen proper

So we woke up and headed down to breakfast in the attached wine bar. The owners puttered around bringing people tea and toast. Talked to him quite a bit, he's been to the states several times, and it was interesting talking to him. We suited up and prepared for our hike to Castell Dinas Bran. And it was a hike. We walked through the really pretty town, and over the bridge (Llangollen was built because it was the best place to cross the river). Then we started up. Passed a lot of sheep pastures, Marina and Paikin chased a few of the loose ones, determined to pet a lamb (which of course never happened). It was a really tough hike, I realized just how out of shape I was. It was incredible, you kept coming onto higher platforms and just watched the whole valley and the town spread out beneath you. It was drizzling the whole time, but it felt nice as one by one we lost layers to the heat of hiking. The whole time the ruins of Dinas Bran looked down at us reminding us why we were making that trek. After much scrambling we finally made it, to be greeted by a rainbow. We explored the ruins a bit, but eventually the whole class ended up sitting on the ruined walls looking out over the entire town. The next mountains over were where Darwin did a lot of his paleo/geo work. It was breathtaking, and well worth the walk. It was a lot colder up there, and the rain picked up/turned into snow, so we headed back down.

Dinas Bran

Darwin's study!

The ruins up close

The views from the walls

We wandered around the town a bit, and saw Plas Newydd. The famed home of the Ladies of Llangollen (noble lesbians). Their house was closed since it's still pre tourist season, but their gardens were incredible. Almost all of us crammed into a bower overlooking a brook. We grabbed lunch at a bakery, and I bought some amazing Applewood cheese, a cheese and onion pasty, and carrot cake. It was still raining, so several of us crowded into a covered alley and confused people walking by. After grabbing fudge/homemade ice cream, we eventally ended up in the bookstore of doom (so named as we kept losing members of our group to it, for literal hours, we were convinced it was just eating them). It was really neat, above this cafe, just rows and rows. And everything was 1/2 price, I bought myself a new Piers Anthony book which was nice for all the bus rides.

Llangollen and the river

Plas Newydd

We hopped on the bus and headed for Horseshoe falls engineered by Thomas Telford to feed his amazing aqueduct that was our next stop. We walked across it, and then down below it around the river that runs under it. Making this day the most hiking intensive, and most of us pretty sore in the morning. Afterwards we bid farewell to Llangollen, and headed to the royal town of Caernarfon (Ca-nar-von if you say it the English way). It's a gorgeous sea side town, the old part of it completely walled in with a castle right on the shore. We checked into our new B+B where I was to share a bed with Kristie. Room was a lot smaller, but nice, and the place had a nice common room with a tv and computer, so the group hung out a lot there. We had dinner at the Black Boy Inn (very much not pc, but good food) and gorged ourselves once more. I had the most complicated Ceasar salad I ever want to meet, chips (fries) with cheese mayo dip, a lot of bread, and chocolate tort for dessert (finally got to try treacle tart as well, it was good). We rolled back to the B&B and hit the sheets by 10:30 or so, a common theme as we were usually exhausted.

The Aqueduct

Horseshoe Falls

Morocco: Day Two

After initially having trouble falling asleep I apparently slept like the dead, because before I knew it the rooster on the roof next door was calling me awake. We had breakfast on the roof of the riad.

Back through the souk and a bit of shopping again. We crossed the main avenue called Mohammed the V to get a taxi to the Marrakech Museam of art. Its apparently very famous amongst those who would know. Its located deep in the Medina so it was out or walking distance. The maze like nature of the old city and the lack of street names makes it hard to navigate. We thought a cab would be the quick fix, but boy were we wrong.

The first cabbie we had charged us a mint and told us we just had to go through a public garden to the museum. It wasn't anywhere near there. Some kids offered to show us the way. After checking with some adults that they were going in the right direction (they were) we decided to follow along. We went at breakneck speed through a souk, with Mom having trouble keeping up due to an injured ankle. Eventually the kids just stopped and said "you're here". As we found out we weren't really all that close by. Dad gave the boy who offered to help us some money, but it was probably just a dhiram in total. The problem was all the boys who'd followed along or translated wanted money whether they'd done anything to help or not. We argued that the boy who'd offered to help was the one to have money. When we wouldn't pay them they took money from the first boy and shoved it down Dad's shirt collar. We started trying to walk away but they continued to harass us. Mom handed them a dollar and told them to get lost. I don't know honestly if the kid had ever seen a dollar, he seemed totally dumbfounded by it. Generally business is only in dhirams or euros. The kids followed us for awhile and stayed aggressive. We moved quick and I made it no secret that I knew we were followed, using my Oakleys to their greatest potential. It was just a little un-nerving since we were totally lost in this souk. Eventually we found the museum, which was a restored palace full of beautiful things.

After finding our way out of the souk we went to lunch and decided we would get the tourist bus to the palm fields outside of town. We waited and waited but it never came. In the end we hired a very nice cabbie (seemed to speak mostly spanish and arabic) who drove us out and back. We got to see camels! There are many huge houses, resorts, and high end apartments out there as well. Beyond fancy. That distinction is very clear in Marrakech. Those with money live in walled areas away from the "real" city life. They have alcohol and clubs and bikinis, all the trappings of western life are there if you can just afford to pay for them. It is mostly Eurpopeans and other Westerners who can, along with a few very rich Moroccans. You saw mostly white faces enjoying the fancy compounds. Most Moroccans will tell you that they can't buy a place there.

In the fields nature steals the show. Palms and flowers as far as you can see.

That night we had an early dinner and early to bed so we could be rested for the morning. Our flight was one of the first of the new day. We were met bay Bahdir and a cart puller in the morning. They helped us carry our bags using a donkey cart. The souks hadn't yet opened for the day, and the quiet was very strange versus the usual commotion of the markets. The new day brought a light desert rain, signaled the night before by lightning on the Atlas mountains.

Our flight home went without a hitch, but due to a rescheduling of my bus we arrived too late for me to make it. I took the Underground to London and then a cab from Earl's Court to Paddington. Due to line closures I had to get off early. The cabbie was very talkative, calling me a "real American" for some reason. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing. Paddington is where things got messy. I paid for a ticket no problem, but was told by the information desk the wrong train of the two waiting. The train was so packed I couldn't get off once I realized I was on the wrong one. Eventually a conductor came through, and things got worse. I only had a receipt, not a ticket. And not even a receipt for the train I was on! My ticket had gotten stuck in the machine and dislodged the last person's receipt. The conductor kicked me off the train at Reading, just barely out of London and several hours from Cardiff. After making a scene and begging a station manager I was told to wait in the station. I was not allowed to leave until it was determined I hadn't tried to steal a trip. Happily Visa had record of my ticket purchase so I was told I could take the next train, which would take me to Cardiff. The only trick was I had to convince the conductor to let me on. I was given a pass just in case there was trouble once on board. The conductor took pity and told me to find a seat and not cause trouble. I was more than happy to. The train was crowded again but several cars in I hunkered down and caught my breath. About two hours later I was home in Cardiff.

It was rainy in Cardiff. Walked about 30% of the way home. Along the way an old man, drunk, fell in the street. A combination of his shouting and mine got oncoming traffic to swerve. I repeatedly tried to help him up and across the street but he would not let me near him. I was carrying a big back pack so I couldn't afford to wrestle with him. After about ten minutes I walked away. I saw some police officers headed that way a minute or two later so hopefully he got the help he needed.

At kingsway I took a cab home and settled in for the night, safe and sound after a long day.

North Wales pt. 1 -Big Pit, and Llangollen

Writing up the past week is a daunting challenge to say the least. But I'll try to do it in installments. The week before it wrapped up in epic stressful fashion. The two papers I had due Friday happened between midnight of Thursday night, and 3:30ish Friday afternoon. Part of this was because my laptop died. Currently don't know what's wrong with it since IT is closed for break, but I'm pretty sure it's a power cable issue and nothing too serious. Still a drag. Meant I pulled an all nighter in John's room, with him trying to sleep in the background. But it all got done and in on time. That night a bunch of the study group went to drink the bar dry, which turned out to be a lot of fun. Will be attending the summer version if it doesn't overlap with the ball. Saturday was spent lounging around and relaxing, watching movies and cooking things.

Sunday morning was a rush to get on the bus at 8:45, and the short drive to Big Pit. Big Pit is a retired coal mine, which was "named for the size of it's large shaft." We went down that shaft, 300m underground. We had the Geier children with us so we heard a lot about child labour. Our tour guides were ex-miners and were really cool to listen to. Everyone in Wales seems incredibly nice and interested in us and what we're doing here. The tour was pretty cool, if a bit chilly. Wandered around the other exhibits a bit. Learned that illegal man riding can kill. And saw miner showers with a lot of artist renditions of nude showering miners (the Brits have such a better sense of humor). We ate lunch at the caf there

and took a group picture with the mountains behind us.

Big Pit

We then headed to the Blaenavon Ironworks, where we did quite a bit of exploring. Went inside another blast furnace, and out onto a very high elevator shaft on a grate (scary), they had ironworkers cabins and a general store set up as well, I think they shot some tv series there. Wasn't our most exciting stop, but still afforded some cool views.

The elevator thing we climbed

Blast furnaces

We then drove to the small town of Llangollen (believe me that's even harder to pronounce in Welsh). We stayed in a gorgeous B&B, Caitie and shared a room that was massive, and had a jacuzzi tub. We ate dinner at a place called Greenbank, which fed us a rather fancy 3 course meal. I had salmon and prawns with little pastries, roast chicken with amazing veggies and gravy, and butterscotch creme brulee for desert. It was just the beginning of all the meals we would walk away from completely stuffed. Ended up trying to watch tv in one of the girl's rooms (failed to get sound, but watched part of a hilarious looking art film before we gave up), we ended up watching comedy central on Ken's computer before I hit up that tub. Went to sleep pretty early since we had the first of many early starts to look forward to.

Our room in Llangollen

Morocco Photos

So the Pembroke hiking photos link is now dead, but if you still want those photos I can email them to you or something or temporarily set the link up again. For now the following url should let you download some Morocco photos. Just copy and paste it in to your browser.

https://www.filesanywhere.com/fs/v.aspx?v=897162885d626d7cae6d

Betty's first day in Morocco: The Conclusion

We didn't get too adventurous for dinner. Our riyad (spelled riad or riyad) had booked us for a very expensive restaurant at 8pm. They said it had lots of atmosphere. We opted for a place that was just a little cheaper but overlooked the nightly food market in the main square. That ended up having plenty of atmosphere. We had to head back through the souk, which wasn't too hard. Did a little shopping on the way.

The cafe Argana gave us a great view of all the action in the square. All the mosques had their call for evening prayers at once just after we sat down. That was very impressive. A wave of chants and prayers across the whole city. The couple at the table next to us offered to take our picture with the lights of the square in the background. It turned out that the lady of the couple had been to Cardiff.

Tagine was the order of the day, which we ate with some difficulty. The cuts of lamb were very fatty and gritley but tasted amazing once we cut the meat away. I had apples and cinnamon with mine. The restaurant had more adventurous things and more common ones (a cheesburger, but why come all the way to Morocco to order that?).

We did a bit more shopping on the way back. The sellers were very aggressive. They actually led me way away from the folks to the inside of a warehouse. They had decent stuff but the prices were nuts so we left. They chased us down the street trying to make a deal. This happened several times. Sometimes we made a deal sometimes we didn't. Many of these finder chased us after a sale to ask for a "present" i.e. finders fee. We got a bit lost in the souk this time, which is scary at night, but we finally found our way out of the maze.

Went to bed on the early side. The intense heat of the day takes its toll without you realizing it. No amount of fluid intake does more than take the edge off but the Moroccans consider this cool weather and wear jackets and sweaters. The young people generally wear a windbreaker or motorcycle jacket (mopeds and small motor bikes and scooters being as if not more common than carts. Donkeys and human's pulling small carts were also pretty common).

Abdou's wild ride

Abdou as it turned out is a bit of a slick character, but he knew where to go and what to say. In the end it was for the best we found him since we got to see nearly everything we'd wanted to get to in two days in one. He had been a cab driver in Orlando so his english was good too. Our first stop was a decent restaurant. The food was fine but the pineapple cheesecake tower I had for dessert was better.

Just down the street was a pizza hut, a McDonald's, and a huge shopping area towered over by a "Zara" boutique.

While driving around Abdou answered my question about the holes in the walls around the Medina. He said they were to allow for shifting and expansion at night.

Abdou dropped us off at a large warehouse which the manager explained was for a government sponsored society that gave women money for their rugs (new or old). I wasn't totally sure if I bought the guy's story. He and a few workers cornered us and worked us over pretty well. We bought two very small rugs and got out while we still could.

Some of the old walls of the Medina jut out in various places in the kasbahs and have become roosts for storks.

After escaping the rug monsters we went to an old royal tomb, or rather series of tombs. When Marrakech was taken over way back in the day the invading emperor couldn't bring himself to destroy the tombs as he had originally intended. He compromised and had it walled off and forgotten. This plan worked until semi-recent history when the tombs were discovered and restored. You could see why the tombs weren't destroyed, the series of qubbas and prayer niches was beautiful yet very simple. That fine balance was what made them so fantastic and powerful.

After a brief stop at the old sultan's palace (a new one was built in 1960), which was just as fantastic as all the rest, and an herbalist's (tried to sell us meds, perfume, and starfruit as a viagara substitute) we parted with Abdou a fair bit poorer and made our way back through the market to rest for a bit.

Morocco at Last!

This will have to be in several installments since I was without internet while away. I also have tons of pictures that I'll post links to. I did my best to try to write out the events of each day so I wouldn't miss anything. There will probably be a loose ends post to all this later on.

Here goes the beginning:

Bumpy flight from London to Casablanca, and then on to Marrakech. We reached Africa by sundown but we were quickly flying in the dark. Only lights were ships off the coast. The land was mostly black except for the ribbons of the highways. Total chaos transferring to the second flight but eventually we made our short hop to Marrakech.

We made it through customs at Menara airport with no trouble. My student visa adds legitimacy I'm sure. We didn't have to look too hard to find the car from the riad either. Manu, the manager/ owner drove us through the medina easily. He was just a tad swarthy but as we would realize he was a good guy underneath the shell.

We stayed in the walled off medina, the old city. The drive was short and the city was dramatically lit at night. the riad was a long way back in to the city eventhough we made good time. Marrakech, so the legend goes, is built like a maze in remembrance of a fantastically dangerous maze built by the Babylonians to house a Berber king. Though the story might not be true the city is a maze. We soon had no idea where we were. Our car suddenly came to a stop in front of a large gate and several guys came out of the shadows. At the time we didn't know they worked for the riad so we were a little unsure about the newcomers. One was bhadir, manu's right hand man. I don't think I'm spelling his name right actually.

The two new guys grabbed our bags and started off down the street. We had no choice but to follow or be left in the dark. The streets there were too narrow for a car and a bit uneven. We were clumsy with our bags. Suddenly we were at the riad.

We did our best to explain that we were tired and wanted to go to sleep, but the guys got the idea and showed us the door to our suite upstairs. Our rooms were fairly lavish at the top of a narrow curving staircase. I think photos will do better than words to explain how beautiful our suite was. I'll post pictures to explain. The ceiling in the main room was several hundred years old and original to the building. The temp stayed very comfy, and we had small airconditioners to help with the heat. The inside of the buildings in Morocco are very comfy in part because of the materials and in part because their walls are thick and doors and windows small. Public buildings had larger openings to catch the breeze. Really the place to be was on the rooftop, where we would usually have meals at the riad or at restaurants. My bed was a bit stiff but I found a comfortable position. If it hadn't been stiff it would have been too warm. Toilet was in a true water closet on the balcony, with the sink and shower in another room. Water comes from cisterns mounted either on the roof or below drains from the roof.

Another building note is that images of the king are as important as light bulbs. He is everywhere and always in a different character. If nothing else as you try to picture my stories in your mind think of shades of Indiana Jones.

Breakfast was hard crepes and bread with honey and several jellies. Freshly squeezed orange juice and mint tea to drink. All of it delicious. I had a few quiet moments afterwards to take pictures of our rooms and listen to the noises of the neighborhood. It had been very cool to wake up to morning prayers, and hearing arabic (spoken and music) around was very much a reminder of years of home.

After a brief tour of the riad (which I have the sneaking suspicion should be written riyad in english) and finally seeing the hamaam (which was actually a jacuzzi), we tried to make our way through the sprawling souks. We only got lost twice which is pretty good given the size of the place. I know we looked lost since one man came over and gave us directions. The only problem was he stalked us for blocks trying to bring us back to the markets (where we would pay him and so would the shop owners). Eventually we jumped in a cab to get away from him and went to one of Marrakech's famous gardens.

The cab ended up being a good idea anyway because the garden was beyond the Medina's walls. Worth mentioning that since we were staying within the Medina we had to register with the police. The garden was like a fantasy world. I've never seen many of those plants (bamboo for one) growing that tall. They were like trees, a true forest of them. Cacti as big as the biggest I'd seen out west. The garden's cafe; however, was not so wonderful in that it was $10 for a cup of tea. That strikes me as a bit extreme.

It was about this time that we were introduced to a cabbie named abdou, who would dominate a good portion of the rest of our day.

Spring break!!

Just a quick note, since I'm on a shared computer at our b+b. We've only been gone two days and have already done so much here. North Wales is just incredible. The group is getting along really well, and just generally enjoying each other's company and the trip. My laptop broke Thursday night (I think it's just the power cable, worst timing ever since I was trying to write 2 papers due the next day) so I'm going to be pretty scarce for the next few weeks. Break is going to be such a needed rest, I'm excited for the next few weeks.

Lady Gaga, Sydney and the platypus

If you didn't see the 500 pictures I posted on Facebook today, go check them out. Right after lab on Thursday the physics people went to Sydney to meet with the girls at a hotel. We all got dressed in crazy outfits and then went to the Lady Gaga concert. I can't really express how awesome it was, but go look at the pictures. I did get a couple videos so I may upload them at some point. Right after that we met up with Phil and Tim and went to a bar in Sydney called the World Bar, which was fantastic. $7-9 drinks but they were super good.

The next day we went to Darling Harbor to eat brekky and then I split off with the Colgate kids because I had to get back to Weerona for Commencement. It's like prom without dates. Before that though I walked about 50-70 blocks through Sydney and took random pictures, and then took a bus back to the train station and arrived in Wollongong again two hours later. Commencement was fun. Everyone had to get into formal gear and eat dinner at the uni. We didn't stay out long that night because the next day we had to go to Sydney with Connie to go to the Aquarium!

Connie drove us to the train station and paid for our train ticket. Greatness. We had to leave at 7:25 though, which was unnecessarily early. Anyway we took the train in and met up with the other Colgate people. After a group shot with a kangaroo we went through the aquarium. They had these really cool underwater walkways that you could go through and see the fish from underwater. I got to see dugongs, penguins, lots and LOTS of sharks, jellyfish (no box though. Apparently they didn't have it? Weird). And the platypus. This dude rarely comes out in his big ass tank at the entrance. Not only did he come out three times while I was there, he came out to feed on some shrimp. And he swam right in front of me eating, so I got a good minute long video with Connie talking about it in the background. I'll upload this later. The dude is actually small. about two feet or so in length. He had webbed front feet and claws on his hind feet, and had a weird bill. Anyway that was the highlight of the day. After that we were all tired from a long weekend so we just came back and played cards.

Dangerous animal count: hell if I know. Too many sharks

Not Morocco!

So as my bad luck would have it I'm still in the UK tonight as is my family. I also apologize if this is full of spelling erros. I'm using internet via TV and its impossible to make out what you're typed since its really blurry. WEll anyway I made it to the airport as you all know by now and got through security just fine. Wehn it came time to board our plan my parents were nowhere in sight. The real shocker was that I wasn't allowed to board and my bag had already been pulled. It turned out that the ticket I'd been given was my Mom's and that she, thinking I hadn't arrived, had cnelled her trip along with Dads. It is amazing that I made it through security with a ticket in someone else's nameSo I was a biworried at this point since I couldn't contact my parents on account of Mom's cell not working in the UK so I had no idea where they were or why they'd ccancelled. It took awhile but I was escorted back out of security and once my identity was established and the situation figured out I was allowed to go. Just at that moment my cell got a signal and a person my parents had contacted at the airport info desk managed to get a hold of me. By this time I had been dragged from counter to counter by airport staff, trying to put together my story and that of my parents. I knew that my parents had been intears all day and that Dad had been flat on the floor he was so upset. I was finaly reunited with them after hours of stress.

We spent the rest of the evening with teh airline trying to make up for its awful mistake. They did take care of our hotel in Morocco and booked us for a flight tomorrow night. We also have a hotel near the airport at a reduced rate because of them. The place is simple but very comfy. the only thing that isn' t ok is that we're so close to the airport that we can hear the PA and feel the airplanes take off and land. I don' t mind the noise but the building vibrates and that is a little strange. At this point I'm pretty pooped though. Its been a very emotional 48 hours. I'm hoping the rest of break will be better and not worse.

Best to all. Hope to hear from you soon. TGA you should skype Zora and I at a meeting or a party. We'd certainly do a cross the pond drink or two with you.If nothing else we miss your faces and voices.

On the Way to Morocco

I woke up just a little later than I'd intended today. It wasn't the best night and I hadn't gotten much sleep since calling my parents around 3am. Maybe got two hours the whole night and passed out once or twice elsewise. It was slow going getting ready since I felt really sick and still do. I haven't been able to take food all day so I'm running on a pint of water. Going to try to eat before my flight though.

Almost didn't get on to my bus since there was a problem with the ticket. Had to sprint to the office and then back to the bus. Got the last seat. The air conditioning was broken so it got very warm very fast. And all the mayo and deviled eggs in the world seemed to be on the snacks people were eating on that bus. I can't tell you how happy I was when they fixed the AC about and hour and a half from Heathrow. Long story short I'm through security and have bought food. Using an internet terminal for now. Robbing me blind for only a few minutes on a slow connnection. My flight isn't up on the arrivals boards yet. Wish me luck.

Pembrokeshire Part 3

After a long day hiking we took a bus home, checked our email, showered, and limped to the nearest pub (the Royal Oak, site of the signing of the last peace treaty between Wales and England). Everyone wolfed down their food and beer or water, and talked up a storm too. It was nice talking with everyone about any old thing, being pleasantly tired and full. I had garlic bread (everyone shared a loaf), a beef pie with veggies and chips, and apple pie with vanilla ice cream.

Day two started just a little earlier than day one since we had an hour bus ride to our start point. We opted for an ever so slightly shorter hike at a different part of the path but with some chapels (St. Nan's Well) and cathedrals (St. Davids) to see along the way.

It was a very sunny day so layers came off fast as we got going. The terrain was initially very steep hills, then hard downhills, followed by another big uphill. The frequency of these little rocky valleys was less and less as the day went on, so we kept our energy high and made very good time. A good portion of the latter half of the hike was very flat too.

After paying St. David's Cathedral a visit we had ice cream and played riddle games in town square (took me forever to catch on, I overthink those to no end). We caught the same bus, with the same bus driver, back to our hostel.

For dinner we made chocolate chip silver dollars (yours truly handled that), eggs with creme cheese (caroline), and baked zucchini (jackie). We took our time and took turns cooking so everyone could have a chance to sit and talk at the table. John M. augmented dinner with some chinese take out since he really didn't like any of the food. Given we were all a bit hungry since food had been low budget on the trip. Everyone had two pieces of toasts, two sandwiches, two apples, two granola bars, and as much water as they could carry every day. We all agreed that we could've stood for more, but breakfast for dinner suited us just fine.

After taking turns cleaning the house everyone packed and went to bed as they pleased. John M. and I had to get up just after six to make our train home. We both had things to do in Cardiff. I had a bit of trouble with the bus to the train station since all I had on my was twenty pounds (paper note). The bus was only three pounds but the driver didn't want to use up his change so early in the day. The one shop in town that was open (bakery) wouldn't break the note either. Luckily, the only other guy on the bus, an old sailor (hah!) convinced the bus driver to stop at a quickie mart so I could buy a soda and break the bill that way. The sailor was cool to listen to, he worked on small passenger boats taking colonists to Australia in the 60s and 70s. He remarked he'd been to Australia before the Sydney Opera house was finished and before there were any non-whites. Can't use his actual word there so I am playing with the story just a bit to keep things pc.

To bring us up to now, its been work work work this week, except for last night when I had a good bit to drink and went to the club Oceana with some of Zora's flatmates. Was a bit tired for my lab session this morning and though energy had nothing to do with it I had a hard time with it. My knowledge of platyhelminthes and such is limited to only certain kinds like Taenia (better know as a common tapeworm).

Off to Morocco on Saturday as far as I know.

Pembrokeshire Photos

http://www.filesanywhere.com/fs/v.aspx?v=89706a895a6074aea768

This link will deactivate in 15 days so please download the photos soon. More blogs about them to follow.

Pembrokeshire Part 2

On our first day of hiking we set out at about 8:30 and found the trail head without too much delay. At first we over complicated things by trying to use a compass but eventually used that tried and true method of just following the big sign we eventually noticed in the middle of town.

Day one featured extremely varied terrain and colder weather, but wonderful views. If you've ever seen some of the dramatic running scenes in "Braveheart" then you can picture the kind of rapid elevation changes and cliffs that we walked over. The area was certainly as beautiful as it is made out to be, though I suppose I was expecting something different and that harmed my impressions. I think I would have enjoyed it more had we not tried to set such a fast pace. I would have had more of a chance to enjoy the scenery.

The rest of the group are members of the official study group, so they are all looking forward to their coming assignments and travels. My coming weeks are different so I couldn't participate in those conversations. We did talk about other things like home, chores, high school, freshman year. I found out that for three days Kristy lived one floor above me! Well, she moved out because she didn't like Stillman. I can't blame her.

A link to some pictures will follow in a later post. I think that they will better explain my weekend than any words.

Pembrokeshire Part 1

I was lucky enough to get out of town for the weekend, and with all the stress thats been coming down on us these last few weeks before spring break it was worth it to clear my head for awhile. We left Cardiff at about 5 pm on a bus to Swansea on the good graces of the bus driver. If it wasn't for him letting us on we'd have missed our local bus in Haverford West and not managed to link up with the car from the hostel in Fishguard until very late. We did get lucky and despite quick turnarounds made it to Haverford West. It was a pretty town but it seemed more full of boutiques than the usual stores that make up a town. Its castle, high on a hill overlooking the town, took my breath away as much as any coastal bluff would for the rest of the weekend. Our group (Jackie, Kristy, Margaret, Caroline, and John M.). After getting some take out we wandered the town until we were picked up by the owner of the Hamilton House Hostel in Fishguard. We chatted about how distinct the stars were and pointed out constellations as we bumped to the hostel.

The hostel was as nice as most any house I've ever been in and since we were the only guests we had the run of the place. It was like the six of us had a beach house for the weekend. We didn't stay up long though but quickly planned our route and went to bed. We had a very early morning ahead of us.

Week 3! Small update because I can

It's been a while, and I haven't been that busy. I've been going to the beach, watching rugby games, playing pool and yesterday I did some work. I still have a 100 page article to read for tomorrow but that'll get done sometime. We didn't really do much this weekend. Most of the Colgate kids went to Surf Camp, a weekend long surfing experience. Apparently it's easy to stand on the board but to go past that is insanely hard. Good thing I didn't pay $300 AU to find that out!

I did end up going out last night (Sunday). We were at a bar with a live performer who mostly played popular songs like Red Hot Chili Peppers songs. I bought a beer to disillusion myself as to how good the band actually was and then found Colgate kids from the other dorm. Phil (Colgate) was tearing up the dance floor. Dude was going nuts. He eventually got kicked out for being too drunk but got back in. On the way back I had a kebab and some baklava, and hell yeah that was good. Zora mentioned one true thing: Spending money at bars. I've been spending a lot of money on drinks at bars without realizing it and buying beers I don't really need. We went to go see Alice in Wonderland (good movie) in town and we came there an hour early, so we went to the bar next door and bought beers to chill. And then we realized that we spent money on social beers when we already spent more money on movie tickets.

Connie's class is alright. We had to do a nature exercise where we found a forested area and wrote a response about it detailing our surroundings: sight, sound, touch. We had to draw our scenery, which led to hilariously bad drawings by everyone. All of us went to the Botanical Gardens across the street from uni (convenient!). I chose a rotunda that was in a duck pond and I saw this awesome eel that was pecking at a duck's feet. Apparently the eels eat baby ducks so they have to watch out.

Haven't tried any new restaurants but I did find a small Japanese place that has sorta cheap stuff to go, and it's right by the bus stop. They have an ice cream place similar to Cold Stone. It's called Cold Rock and it is literally the same thing. I haven't tried Outback yet but I may have to - it's really hard to find a decent burger around here.

More next week! LADY GAGA CONCERT, the Sydney Aquarium (class trip) and commencement!

Dangerous Animal Count: 2 (Spider in the shower. Yikes.)

Spring Break Cannot Come Soon Enough

I'm going to try to keep this short, as I should be working on the seemingly infinite things I need to get done by the end of the week, but I don't think I want to tackle two weeks at once when I'm in North Wales.

This has been quite the roller coaster week. Started with Tristan coming to visit (yes, it actually happened). We made a great dinner, watched some movies, hung out with Sam (pretty much the only person who's ever around on the weekends anymore, my flat has been going home a ton). We were going to go to the beach on Sat. but it rained a bit in the morning, but had a nice stroll through Bute park (about time I went in there, it's really nice), while he IDed trees for me (useful as most of them on my final for terrestrial ecol.). After he left, I had just enough time to get ready for Jacob (my lab partner's) 21st birthday party. I was pretty exhausted, and they were headed to a metal club after the house party, so I ended up coming home early, but it was fun to meet his sister, and some of his housemate's family. And amusing to find out that the other guy that's been hitting on me rather aggressively in lab is an even bigger sketch ball than I thought (think 7 month old daughter, and very interesting past). Funny to hang out with and listen to though. Sunday was the Cardiff Blues vs. Leinster rugby game with the study group. I had no clue what was going on most of the time but it was fun to watch. I believed I was watching the game rather intently, but the score kept changing without me knowing why. Cardiff ended up losing 20-29 in the end, which was a shame, but the group had a lot of fun watching together, I had a lot of time to talk to Caroline too which was nice. I also had my first drink at a sporting event, I have entered the world of paying too much for a beer at games.

The rest of the week was spent trying to get work done for that week and the upcoming. Found out that there was a housing SNAFU at 'gate, that my senior seminar had been cancelled, and that it was going to be too expensive for me to get home from Germany to see Matt. Also that registration for classes was going to happen while we were not in the country. Most of this has gotten sorted out for the most part (though I still have no idea what to do for classes next year), so it's ok, but it's been stressful. Turns out I'm going to Oslo, Norway for spring break (probably the only person in my group not headed for the beach in warmer climes), and I'm getting super excited about it. Hoping to see Marina in Scotland or Liverpool, parents' friends in Oxford, get to Devon or Bristol to see the flat mates, and Pembrokeshire at the end. (This is all after a week in N. Wales with the study group). It's going to be quite packed. Hopefully I'll find time to update here occasionally in those three weeks. I love that we have three weeks off.

Have to survive this week of hell first. Have a huge complicated ecology project due Monday, which I'm pretty stumped on how to finish. I'm trying not to panic about it, it's only 20% of a grade for a class that's only a half credit of nothing to me, but I'd still like to not blow it. I have three papers due the last 2 days before break. Welsh Folklore (still need a topic), technology in one's travels (Geier is rejecting my topic), and marine conservation. That's about 5000-6500 words to do on top of the ecol. project. Bleh. But after this, I'm done with 3/7 of my classes. All the earths classes end for the most part as the kids in my class go to Spain for field work (wish I could go). I'll still have some lingering work for Ecol (another big project, 4 days worth of field trips, and an all day practical), but other than that I don't have to worry about them until finals. Good stuff. Ok time to tackle the beasts. Hope everyone is well back home, and enjoying their spring break!

Freiburg im Breisgau - Heimat?

So, I am already failing at my blogging duties, since I've been in Freiburg almost two weeks now and have barely said anything thereon. As I type this, though, almost everything is getting underlined by spell check, because spell check is set to German.

The picture above is the Freiburg Munster. It's pretty old, and was built starting as a normal-sized church and added-on to until it was the hulking behemoth it is now. It's kinda neat, and pretty, but it's really easy to get jaded to Churches here, especially when you wern't hugely fond of them in the first place.

Freiburg is the Green Capitol of southern Germany. My building has water heated by solar power (too gorram hot) and there's a line of shops on Merzhauserstraße, right next store, that have solar panels all overtheir roofs. To add to the granola-fest, I live next to a squat! I'm actually rather excited about that, and hopefully I'll get to know some of the nice folk at Kommando Rhino over the next few months.

I'm putting off doing homework right now, and it's 1:30 in the morning (class at 9), so I'm going to end this with a short list of things to know when coming to Germany:

• Under no circumstances should you break your fellow tram-passengers' delusions that they are the only ones on the tram. No eye contact, no talking, no smiling.
• Doors to buildings open inward. I still have to pay attention when opening doors so I don't look like a moron.
• No free water. You pay for water in restaurants - and most likely it's sparkling, not many places have any Wasser ohne Gas.
• Pizza is eaten with forks and knives.
• Loaves of bread are called 'toast bread.' Americans are weird for eating lots of it.

Good night!

Spring!

Just thought I'd pass along that we've got birds chirping, some bright sunny days lately, and the first flowers popping out of the ground!

Short post today, a lot of assignments to get to. Best wishes to all.

Aww...I have to go to class now?

Week one of classes = done. Monday: My Australian history class is pretty boring. Boring like I almost fell asleep the first class boring. Next class was Differential Equations and they're doing some weird video conference style thing with another uni. So the professor will speak to us in our class but a camera is pointing toward him and is being sent to some other uni far away. He also writes notes and puts them online which is cool. But he reads directly from them so it's also a really boring class. Being that I have to pay $0.11 to print a single page, I don't think I want to print out his lectures that go about 30-40 pages.

My physics E&M professor is a freaking badass. He legit looks like the old military dude from Avatar. Apparently he's the best physics professor in the department, so that's good. The labs are weird though. The normal students are taking 3 physics classes this semester, all which come with labs. E&M, astrophysics and quantum mechanics. They have three labs a week. The way their labs are set up is also quite weird. They combine the lab grade for all their labs. So the lab grade you get for one class will carry over to the other three. They also have to do one lab project per class per half session. The labs they do here last about 6 weeks per lab and there are no lab reports, just a formal lab paper thingy at the end. So a typical student will have 3 labs a week with 6 projects total throughout the semester. 3 in the first 6 weeks and the other three in the last half. For us American students, we only are taking one class, so we do only 2 projects. My project deals with transmission lines, and I have no clue how to do it. Thankfully I have 6 weeks to putter around and learn stuff. They gave us free lab manuals and also gave us the instructions, but also gave us a packet of theory that we needed to understand before we do the project. So it's actually an independent class from the actual theory classes and we're learning stuff different from lectures.

Summary of feelings toward this: HELL YEAH NO LAB REPORTS AT THE END OF EVERY LAB

Connie's director's course doesn't seem that bad. The first class was pretty cool and she seems like a down to earth professor. She definitely gives more work than any of my other courses.

We went out one night to one of the bars to chill. We hung out there for a bit (cheap drinks, $3 for random mixed drinks). We then went to the Glasshouse, a dance club and I accidentally walked into the other Colgate people, so I chilled with them for a bit. Stayed there for a while, then went home. At some random point which I forget, we went to go see Valentines Day....what? A romcom chick flick? Well I'm always up for a good romcom, or a really really bad one just to crack jokes, but this one came out of us not really wanting to see the other movie (Shutter Island I think) and us joking about seeing V-day instead. And man was it bad. Anyway, the reason why I even mention this is because of the discovery of Wollongong's version of Slices. Sorry, it's not pizza. It's kebabs. And holy crap are they good. $7.50 for a kebab, which is just basically a Turkish burrito. Add a dollar for other ingredients like humus, jalapenos, sweet chili sauce, shrooms and you're in heaven. It's right next to two of the really popular clubs and they're open late on party nights. What more could you ask for? Oh yeah, and they are a lot of food. They don't deliver, but me and a few friends would literally take the 20 or so minute walk to this place just to get some kebabs.

Little excerpt from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kebab#D.C3.B6ner)
"In Australia and the UK, kebabs (or döner meat and chips) are most popularly eaten after a night out, representing a large part of nightlife culture."

So the week passed, and work was done, and fun was had, and then there was Friday. Oh, Friday...my old foe. You crazy physics problem sets on Thursday night made me get up close and personal with your beginning hours...not anymore. Us science people finally get to bask in the light of humanities and social science majors who have the option of having friday off, while we have to suffer with awkward scheduling like Tuesday and Thursday from 9:55-11:10 and Friday from 10:20-11:10. So how do we spend our Fridays? Ethnic Friday! We pick an ethnicity and then hit up a restaurant of that ethnicity in Wollongong city. This week was Indian. The food was really good, and the lady even started a conversation with me because I was Indian looking. She even gave me some of her own special chutney hot sauce on the house.

One bad thing about sleeping in on Fridays is the drawback of no food. The dining hall opens for breakfast from some early time to around 10:30AM, and you have to pack your lunch during breakfast. Otherwise, they close up shop and you need to wait until dinner at 6PM to get food. I bought oreos and instant noodles to combat this.

Over and out, weekend ahead!

Dangerous animal count: 1

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

You go into another country expecting the obvious differences: language, accent, currency, some food, electricity and here, driving on the wrong side of the road. But it’s really the small things that make you realize you’re pretty far from home. Here’s a small list of the quirks of Wales.

• I have not yet encountered a sink that does not have separate faucets for hot and cold. Makes it almost impossible to not scald or freeze your hands unless you employ weird scooping methods.
  
• They don’t have the same public buildings door laws, some of them open in, it can get confusing.
  
• Most people don’t refrigerate things like open juice or eggs.
  
• Saying What? to someone is usually considered impolite, this was probably the case in the States at one point, but you don’t hear the youth of the America walking around saying Pardon?
  
• The American fast food places here are usually much better (though more expensive) than the States. And of course offer different items.
  
• People seem to drop or loose their change a lot less (though John would disagree) I haven’t seen more than a few pennies on the ground yet.
  
• The keyboards are all funny. The $ sign is still on the 4 key, but it shares it with the euro sign, the pound symbol is on the three key, and the @ hides in a silly place and avoids Americans trying to send their first emails home. On some computers “ “ are up in the numbers as well, and the left hand shift key is tiny.
  
• Their mice are also weird, there are buttons to make the internet go backwards or forwards, in the exact place where small hands rest. I lose a lot of what I’m working on that way.
  
• They think the weather is gross and cold here. It’s not.
  
• Their safety standards are very over the top here. Think OSHA on steroids. On my class trip I had to wear a hard had to walk on the beach. Sometimes they add a high vis vest for such activities.
  
• The country is a little behind on technology, and stuff always comes out first in the States, like movies.
  
• People go home A TON on the weekend, but it’s not a big deal since they’re so close to home, so they still maintain a really strong home/local life.
  
• People think that driving more than an hour is a really long way. Whereas we think of 4 or so hours as a day trip.

This is just a start. More later.