This past Tuesday was my German exam. On Sunday or Monday the German class and some other randoms watched a German movie (set up by the German prof) called Die Edukators (not sure on the spelling). It was very interesting and I recomend it especially because it has subtitles. It is about revolutionaries in Germany (present time). It was especially good because of the reaction from the audience. It was dramatic but hilarious at the same time. I think we found it more funny because it was a foreign language and just some of the reactions from the characters is hystarical. Basically the whole class was laughing hystarically and talking to the movie but not annoyingly, when they talked they said something comical and you could usually ignore it because you didnt need to hear what the characters were saying. If you see the movie you will understand I guess, I definately recomend it, it was very interesting.
So the actualy exam was on Tuesday and I think it went well. I mean I dont think I did great, but I didnt do badly, so we`ll see. After that we went and started packing for home. I actually got most stuff packed pretty well. Not all, but that was left to today. Then after lunch Katie, Kari and I went ot Katie's room and watchd Back to teh Future 2 and 3 and drank tea. It was actually so much fun cause I havent seen those movies in so long and we just joked and laughed the whole time. Michael J Fox is a kitty in that movie. I will explain, you see after that last exam we dont really speak no good english no more. Well at least we find it difficult to get words out properlly, I think the vocab/language/speaking section of our brains is taking a break. So at one point Kari went ot say he was cute, but it came out as kitty or something like that, anywho the basic point is that now we refer to cute guys as kitties.
When those movies were done we went down stairs to Kari`s room and met up with Amy, Jacinta and Emma and watched Garfeilds Christmas. During the movie we were talking about cat names and we decided that if we ever got a cat we would have to name it according to something in the Back to the future movies. There are so many good cat names in there. Our favourite that we came up with was Mcfly. Today we decided it would have to be a tabby cat so we could call it Mic for short (pronounced Mick). I leave it up to you to come up with other names related to that movie. After Garfeild`s Christmas we looked at Annie Lebovitz pictures, then went back to our rooms and went to bed.
Today was a full day. We (being Kari, Katy, Amy, Jacinta and I) went to breakfast early so we could walk to the village together and get pictures/ just hang out together. On the way we stopped to chat with a local elderly lady walking her dog. We are all on pet withdrawl. That seems to be a main topic amongst us. Anywho after a couple minutes Eric came along and strangely enough I dont think the dog liked him very much because it started not only barking but growling intensely. Sexist pouchie, hee just joking ...we all continued on after that, Eric coming with us. DAS POUCHIE! Kari and I started saying that randomly/ every time we saw a dog. By the way that is not how you say dog in German, it is actualy it is der Hound (wrong spelling and not pronounced the same as english -- sorry).
We went to the village through the short cut getting beautiful pictures. We stopped in the corner store and this art store that sold local artwork. Katie got a couple cards for her family and we got to meet andother cute pouchi. He was really scared of strangers I guess and the lady who owned the place was trying to get him to socialize so he would only go so far, let the nearest people pet him and play with his ears, but when he was encouraged to go say hello to the other people he ran and hid behind his mommy. Too cute, I got some adorable pictures of him too. The walk back was relatively uneventful, quite beautiful. When we got back we all went to finish packing. Angie invited me to go to Sarah`s for tea. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about that. I think Wednesday or Saturday I went ot Sarah`s room (the SLC/dorm mum for our corridore) for tea. She has these little meetings throughout the last few months where you can go to her room and drink tea and eat cookies and just plain chat. So I did that and there were only a few of us and we chatted and stuff...fun. Sorry my language is just going straight down the tubes, dont expect great grammer...it can really only go down hill from here. Anywho we went to one of those today and there ended up being like 15 people crammed into her room eating and drinkingtea and chatting. Sarah is leaving after this (not coming back next semester) because she is going on a sail boat with her family around the Caribbean and then to Australia. So we said our goodbyes then I went down to supper and now I am here writing this blog.
I am going to go after this to Kari`s room with the whole group to watch muppets Christmas Carol. Next that I write this blog I will be in Canada! See you all on the other side!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Exam Week
OKAY, so I only have two days and then guess what? I am home or at lesat on a plane home. Wish me luck! Anywho Starting last Tuesday my days were kinda bare to be honest. Most people were studying for exams or writing exams. I walked to the village everyday this past week if I wasnt going into Eastbourne. One of the days Karicia came with me and showed me a path that takes you behind abunch of houses and into the feilds to get to the villlage. It has a gorgeous view! I cant wait to take my camera up there. One of the days I went into Eastbourne because I had to pick up a few things. I ended up have an extra 4 hours without much to do so I went into a bookstore, which I normally am able to spend hours in, but fond my self still with a couple of hours to spare. So I went ot Costa (European starbucks) and got myself a hot chocolate and read Pride and Prejudice which I had brought along. It was very relaxing and nice. I also hung out in Kari`s room a bit with people and chatted. Other than that I either studied or read or caught up on my computer time. Oh and I watched the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice...can you tell I have a theme going?
On either Wednesday or Thursday night there was a surprise Birthday party for Heather in her room. Herroom mate bought a cake and got everyone gathered in the room. It was funny because Kari and Katie were supposed to bring her down from a study party at 8:30, but half an hour early Heather said she was going to head back to her room so Kari delayed by saying she had to go to the bathroom and instead gathering everyone early and telling Heahter`s roomie, who scrambled, got the cake and Kari flew back up to get Heather. They brought her down and we all surprised her (I think there was about 8 of us in all). It was really sweet because she had no idea. So the next couple hours was speant eating cake and watching weird stuff on youtube. Those Japanese game shows are super weird but super awsome!
I had my English exam on the Saturday morning. When I first looked at it I was like, what the fuck? Seriously, the first thing on it were two poems we had to choose between to analyse and when I looked at both my brain started to melt from my ears. Luckily I calmed down and discovered after a good 15 minutes that I understood the first poem, I wrote a good few pages on what I thought it meant and all that other analitical stuff. The second part was easier I think. Just analyse a passage from some work that we read in the course. I chose MacBeth. Mostly because I was in a really foul (spelling?) mood that morning. I will explain further. I hadnt gotten muc hsleep because for some reason I was having a hard time falling asleep in the first place and people were being loud down the halls. At one point I guess a couple people went racing down the hallway (they do this often -- and it is very annoying), but this time the walls shook so badly because they were banging into them that my bed literally shook. Lets just say I was not a happy Libby when I woke up the next morning. I went to breakfast in a really pissy mood and the worst part was I got there fairly early, but there was no becon left! And they didnt refill it, they actually didnt have much for breakfast that morning that I liked, so I was pissed off about that too. Let me axplain that while here I have tried really hard not to be in a bad mood or grouchy at all because that sucks for the people around you and i dont want to be like that. But this one morning I just could not be cheery. Luckily everyone found this quite entertaining, especially right before the exam when we were waiting to go in. We actually started joking about how I would probably write really grusome negetive essays. Being like, this book sucked, this one was too happy, this one was nonsense, but MacBeth was ok because everyone died in the end. So in the end we all made a joke out of my grouchiness which actually put me in a better mood. Needless to say I wrote about MacBeth on the Exam, but no worries I didnt write about how I liked all the death and grusomeness (HEAD ON A PIKE) though I do think that would have made a quite interesting essay for the prof. Keep 'em entertained.
So then on Sunday I went to ASDA to pick up some more stuff and ended up getting myself grapes, because I miss real fruit. After my ASDA trip I hung out and watched Pride and prejudice until it was late enough to head down the pub with Katie, Kari, Heather and that group. It turned out there was pub quiz that night. Basically everyone was in groups at different tables and then they would be asked certain questions, each round had a different catagory, and then they would swap and have to mark eachother's when the guy read out the answers. At first we just stood at the back sipping our cyders or beers (cyder for me!) and guessed the answer to eachother. There was one group in the back corner that was called the back corners that was only two guys. Kari, Katie and I decided to join them and contribute our answers. The first roundwe were a part of was the movie round. We got movie pictures (christmas related) and we had to fill in the title. We did really well on this one and I got one no one else knew (can you tell I was really proud? -- I dont normally dowell on these things). I got Meet Me in St. Louis, I love that movie -- Judie Garland -- not really well known because it is obviously older. There was a music round next that I contributed mmbop by the hanson brothers, thanks RESURECTION for those lovely days of non stop mmbop. gah. Anywho We ended up getting third place, which was awsome because the guys had been in last before we come along, what can I say? We are the cahmions. Afterthat our team plus Cameron playd pool. I got progressively better as I drank more (i got a rum n coke). I actually got three in! Hee.
So I will hopefully fill in the rest tomorow before I come back and I will probably keep this updated while home, so stay in touch! LUNCH TIME!!!
On either Wednesday or Thursday night there was a surprise Birthday party for Heather in her room. Herroom mate bought a cake and got everyone gathered in the room. It was funny because Kari and Katie were supposed to bring her down from a study party at 8:30, but half an hour early Heather said she was going to head back to her room so Kari delayed by saying she had to go to the bathroom and instead gathering everyone early and telling Heahter`s roomie, who scrambled, got the cake and Kari flew back up to get Heather. They brought her down and we all surprised her (I think there was about 8 of us in all). It was really sweet because she had no idea. So the next couple hours was speant eating cake and watching weird stuff on youtube. Those Japanese game shows are super weird but super awsome!
I had my English exam on the Saturday morning. When I first looked at it I was like, what the fuck? Seriously, the first thing on it were two poems we had to choose between to analyse and when I looked at both my brain started to melt from my ears. Luckily I calmed down and discovered after a good 15 minutes that I understood the first poem, I wrote a good few pages on what I thought it meant and all that other analitical stuff. The second part was easier I think. Just analyse a passage from some work that we read in the course. I chose MacBeth. Mostly because I was in a really foul (spelling?) mood that morning. I will explain further. I hadnt gotten muc hsleep because for some reason I was having a hard time falling asleep in the first place and people were being loud down the halls. At one point I guess a couple people went racing down the hallway (they do this often -- and it is very annoying), but this time the walls shook so badly because they were banging into them that my bed literally shook. Lets just say I was not a happy Libby when I woke up the next morning. I went to breakfast in a really pissy mood and the worst part was I got there fairly early, but there was no becon left! And they didnt refill it, they actually didnt have much for breakfast that morning that I liked, so I was pissed off about that too. Let me axplain that while here I have tried really hard not to be in a bad mood or grouchy at all because that sucks for the people around you and i dont want to be like that. But this one morning I just could not be cheery. Luckily everyone found this quite entertaining, especially right before the exam when we were waiting to go in. We actually started joking about how I would probably write really grusome negetive essays. Being like, this book sucked, this one was too happy, this one was nonsense, but MacBeth was ok because everyone died in the end. So in the end we all made a joke out of my grouchiness which actually put me in a better mood. Needless to say I wrote about MacBeth on the Exam, but no worries I didnt write about how I liked all the death and grusomeness (HEAD ON A PIKE) though I do think that would have made a quite interesting essay for the prof. Keep 'em entertained.
So then on Sunday I went to ASDA to pick up some more stuff and ended up getting myself grapes, because I miss real fruit. After my ASDA trip I hung out and watched Pride and prejudice until it was late enough to head down the pub with Katie, Kari, Heather and that group. It turned out there was pub quiz that night. Basically everyone was in groups at different tables and then they would be asked certain questions, each round had a different catagory, and then they would swap and have to mark eachother's when the guy read out the answers. At first we just stood at the back sipping our cyders or beers (cyder for me!) and guessed the answer to eachother. There was one group in the back corner that was called the back corners that was only two guys. Kari, Katie and I decided to join them and contribute our answers. The first roundwe were a part of was the movie round. We got movie pictures (christmas related) and we had to fill in the title. We did really well on this one and I got one no one else knew (can you tell I was really proud? -- I dont normally dowell on these things). I got Meet Me in St. Louis, I love that movie -- Judie Garland -- not really well known because it is obviously older. There was a music round next that I contributed mmbop by the hanson brothers, thanks RESURECTION for those lovely days of non stop mmbop. gah. Anywho We ended up getting third place, which was awsome because the guys had been in last before we come along, what can I say? We are the cahmions. Afterthat our team plus Cameron playd pool. I got progressively better as I drank more (i got a rum n coke). I actually got three in! Hee.
So I will hopefully fill in the rest tomorow before I come back and I will probably keep this updated while home, so stay in touch! LUNCH TIME!!!
Sunday, December 7, 2008
First weekend in December
So wow, what a week. I cant say i`ve done much, but I cant say ive done nothing. I will start with the day after the older lady`s visit. This happened to be a Friday. On this Friday was also our closing ceremonies. Now you may remember our opening ceremonies? Basically the same thing only people get really dressed up and... you know what I am just going to walk you through it. So it started fairly early, well kinday, if you consider 3pm early. Everyone got as dressed up as they could without being ultra formal. Al the girls in their pretty dresses and the boys in their suits. I travelled between my room and Kari`s. You may have seen pictures on my facebook? Well I had a halterish dress on, black on the top and then a silky skirt part. Everyone looked really nice. We walked down in the pouring rain. A bunch of girls wore their wellies down and then changed into nicer shoes when they got down to the castle. Me not so much. I wore my black flats so I had to take the long and unmuddy way down so I got a little more wet, but at least I was a little more comfortable...kinda.
Anywho, we got down there and then we were ushered into this one narrow hallway leading to this one room. It took a good half hour to get all 180 kids plus all of the faculty into picture positions. You see they were taking a group photo. A bunch of us were placed sitting on the sides so you cantreally make everyone out. They did the whole, ok a serious one, and now a fun one! Mmhmm. Whatever. Afterward we were told that the photographer was taking photos in the Elizabethean room, of individuals and groups. Everyone mingled for a while and got their own group photos with their own camera`s. I didnt trust the photographer...you see he was sporting a Nikon...never trust a Nikon owner. Hee, just joking ...kindof. Anywho lets move on, next was supper. This was divided into two parts. We were asked a week before this to sign up for a particular table in the cafeteria at either 5 or 6:15. I signed up for 6:15 with Angie, Mel, Alison etc. Kari and Katie and that group signed up for 5 so I headed back up to Bader with Angie. We had an hour to kill so it was predrinking time and time for me to start polishing off the Expidition rum I havent used in a while. There was a no pants party upstairs in C3 hallway so everyone headed up there. Basically that means the girls were fine because we were in dresses but the boys were mostly in boxers, not all obviously but, well its C3. Eventually I was in fuzzy land so we all headed down to dinner! We werent allowed to bring our own drinks as there was wine provided. They also decorated up the caf a little so it was all fancy. Then we lined up as usual to grab our grub. Kinda messed with the fancy but you take what you can. There was indian food, but I focusing most of my attention on the wine anyway so it was all good. Not bad wine either, it was from Herstmonceux so it was interesting. Once this was completed, and after listening in on a little Bader gossip, we made our way to the ballroom. This is where we were to listen to speeches and some music by the students and other fun stuff. WE got some average seats and the festivities began. I dont remember with what but after a few speeches and announcements Angie and I were ready to pee. We agreed to book it to the washrooms when the student activities coordinater went to do her speech and then listen in on the other side of the door until she was done so as not to distrupt anyone.
The music was good. First was THE Choir. They were really good and really profesh. Not a lot of students but they had some faculty and they were all very talented. We also listened to a couple of people play the piano (one being Karicia). They were all fantabulous and we cheered all of them on heartily. Also that sang was the regular choir, for the people who cant read music. It was also actually quite good. The best part of the night was Rachel (student activities coordinator) and the female english prof (who is very sweetly dating the male english prof) stood up to sing. I am very sorry I dont remember what it is called but some of you may recognize it from the description. Basically they sang this opratic sang but in meows. It was fabulous. They started doing actions and had little personalities and character, but not too silly at all. I hope I can find it on tape because it was amazing. And it is normally done in meows, but they made it so much funnier than it initially is.
After that was a slide show in the caf of everyone and then the cherry on top was the dance. You know like a formal. And everyone knows how much I looovvee dances. Luckily I had been paying very good attention to my liquer that night and I had brought a 5 pounder. Hee, you see this dance also had a bar. I actually found people who like to danceat dances too! We literally danced the whole night. It was amazing! I actually had so much fun because we danced our asses off, no matter the song. I let Katie try some of my whiskey and I dont think she liked it very much. Most people dont have double whiskey, but I like to be unusual. We then walked back to Bader and I watched something in my room before falling asleep.
Okay so Saturday. I woke up at a moderate time, actually quite early considering I was up fairly late. Kari, Katie, Jacinta and I caught a bus to Eastbourne as Katie had never been to Eastbourne and they all needed to do some Christmas shopping. We explored and window shopped and chatted. We went to the sea shore and took pictures. It was a really nice morning. I honestly dont remember what i did when I got back, I may have studied, but I honestly dont remember. If i do I will post it. I think I cleaned my room and Sunday was similar.
Monday was exam day! I had history in the morning at 9am. That wasnt so bad. We were in the ballroom and I had one essay, an analysis of a primary source and two define and state significance. The primary source was a cartoon from 19th century about social class and stuff in England. I left feeling good and then went to study for art history that was at 2pm that same afternoon. Basically what that was was a bunch of slides of art works that we had to write as much as we could about. Now I could remember the stories and random stuff about them perfectly fine, but the dates and names and stuff was harder. So, omg I am so proud of myself, I printed out each picture with all its information on the same page so I could study it and stuff. I even colour coded the dates to help me remember! My hardest (or so Ithought) was the painting Supper at Emmaus. I could not remember anything about it to save my life. I dont know why but this painting did not want to stick in my memory. So I decided I needed to name on of the 4 men in the painting Emmaus and the rest would flow, or at least then I could remember the title. There was Jesus (so I am thinking it would be blasphemy to call him Emmous) and these three other guys, but non of them looked like an Emmaus. So I looked at the table with all the food on it...and decided to call the chicken Emmaus. Seriously it looked like an Emmaus, plus you know, they were having Emmaus for supper, hahahaha... Anyway it flowed after that. I remembered the date and the artist; Caravagio 1601. Not that I could remember anything else no matter how hard I studied it, so I left it alone, she wasnt testing us on all the artworks she had put on the list for us to study. I shared this story with a few people thinking it may help them as well. So at two I went in, sat down and had to pee soo badly! I had gone before, but me trying to be healthy had had a lot of water! They had a bunch of stuff I knew a lot about, but they also had a bunch that I had trouble with so I found myself pulling a lot out of my but if you get my meaning. If you dont you have a dirty mind. Anywho we ended up having to compare Titian`s Venus of Urbino and Bronzino`s Allagory of Venus and Cupid (first part of exam). Strange thing to compare at first glance, but not really so when actually analysing it. Afterwards we had all the individual slides. And of course what should pop up at the very end, Supper at Emmaus. I snorted quite ruefully and apparently (as I heard later) made Kari giggle quite heartily (as I kept gigling to myself afterward too). She apparently got quite the interested look from the art history prof of whom I wished very much to explin things to and share my story (I am sure she would have found it funny) but you see I still had to pee quite massively, so I shot out of there fairly fast and made my way to the nearest washroom. The rest of the afternoon I felt quite free as I had another 3 full days until my next exam.
Oooo one more story before I conclude this passage. On the Sunday night before our exams at around 9pm when most people were in their pjs and studying or in bed the fire alarm went off. We all peaked out our doors to see what was the matter and found that it wasnt a drill and we had to make our way outside into the freezing cold. Some had time to put on boots and coats and hat. I had time to put on shoes, but that was it. We all huddled together and pined over the fact that this should happen the night before an exam. After around 10 minutes we were let back in. We found out later that a few people were making toast in their rooms with a toaster they had bought and it set off the alarms. We were sent an e-mail the next day saying that we were not allowed any cooking appliances in our rooms. We were also told that when the fire fighters arrived they were not pleased by all the christmas paper on people`s doors as well as the amount of paper on the doors, its not fire regulation apparently. So in the e-mail we were told to take it all down. I can understand all the reasoning behind all this but it doesnt make me any less pissed off. We are kinda isolated out here and it is nice to have decoration to remind us of home you know? Dont worry, this week they put up christmas decorations around the place, at the castle and at Bader so we arent lacking in spirit. But at he time I was very frustrated. Anywho, I shant complain as I will soon be home where there is Christmas spirit everywhere you go!
I had small interests throughout he rest of the week, which you shall hear more about later. Now it is time for bed! Good night and sweet dreams!
Anywho, we got down there and then we were ushered into this one narrow hallway leading to this one room. It took a good half hour to get all 180 kids plus all of the faculty into picture positions. You see they were taking a group photo. A bunch of us were placed sitting on the sides so you cantreally make everyone out. They did the whole, ok a serious one, and now a fun one! Mmhmm. Whatever. Afterward we were told that the photographer was taking photos in the Elizabethean room, of individuals and groups. Everyone mingled for a while and got their own group photos with their own camera`s. I didnt trust the photographer...you see he was sporting a Nikon...never trust a Nikon owner. Hee, just joking ...kindof. Anywho lets move on, next was supper. This was divided into two parts. We were asked a week before this to sign up for a particular table in the cafeteria at either 5 or 6:15. I signed up for 6:15 with Angie, Mel, Alison etc. Kari and Katie and that group signed up for 5 so I headed back up to Bader with Angie. We had an hour to kill so it was predrinking time and time for me to start polishing off the Expidition rum I havent used in a while. There was a no pants party upstairs in C3 hallway so everyone headed up there. Basically that means the girls were fine because we were in dresses but the boys were mostly in boxers, not all obviously but, well its C3. Eventually I was in fuzzy land so we all headed down to dinner! We werent allowed to bring our own drinks as there was wine provided. They also decorated up the caf a little so it was all fancy. Then we lined up as usual to grab our grub. Kinda messed with the fancy but you take what you can. There was indian food, but I focusing most of my attention on the wine anyway so it was all good. Not bad wine either, it was from Herstmonceux so it was interesting. Once this was completed, and after listening in on a little Bader gossip, we made our way to the ballroom. This is where we were to listen to speeches and some music by the students and other fun stuff. WE got some average seats and the festivities began. I dont remember with what but after a few speeches and announcements Angie and I were ready to pee. We agreed to book it to the washrooms when the student activities coordinater went to do her speech and then listen in on the other side of the door until she was done so as not to distrupt anyone.
The music was good. First was THE Choir. They were really good and really profesh. Not a lot of students but they had some faculty and they were all very talented. We also listened to a couple of people play the piano (one being Karicia). They were all fantabulous and we cheered all of them on heartily. Also that sang was the regular choir, for the people who cant read music. It was also actually quite good. The best part of the night was Rachel (student activities coordinator) and the female english prof (who is very sweetly dating the male english prof) stood up to sing. I am very sorry I dont remember what it is called but some of you may recognize it from the description. Basically they sang this opratic sang but in meows. It was fabulous. They started doing actions and had little personalities and character, but not too silly at all. I hope I can find it on tape because it was amazing. And it is normally done in meows, but they made it so much funnier than it initially is.
After that was a slide show in the caf of everyone and then the cherry on top was the dance. You know like a formal. And everyone knows how much I looovvee dances. Luckily I had been paying very good attention to my liquer that night and I had brought a 5 pounder. Hee, you see this dance also had a bar. I actually found people who like to danceat dances too! We literally danced the whole night. It was amazing! I actually had so much fun because we danced our asses off, no matter the song. I let Katie try some of my whiskey and I dont think she liked it very much. Most people dont have double whiskey, but I like to be unusual. We then walked back to Bader and I watched something in my room before falling asleep.
Okay so Saturday. I woke up at a moderate time, actually quite early considering I was up fairly late. Kari, Katie, Jacinta and I caught a bus to Eastbourne as Katie had never been to Eastbourne and they all needed to do some Christmas shopping. We explored and window shopped and chatted. We went to the sea shore and took pictures. It was a really nice morning. I honestly dont remember what i did when I got back, I may have studied, but I honestly dont remember. If i do I will post it. I think I cleaned my room and Sunday was similar.
Monday was exam day! I had history in the morning at 9am. That wasnt so bad. We were in the ballroom and I had one essay, an analysis of a primary source and two define and state significance. The primary source was a cartoon from 19th century about social class and stuff in England. I left feeling good and then went to study for art history that was at 2pm that same afternoon. Basically what that was was a bunch of slides of art works that we had to write as much as we could about. Now I could remember the stories and random stuff about them perfectly fine, but the dates and names and stuff was harder. So, omg I am so proud of myself, I printed out each picture with all its information on the same page so I could study it and stuff. I even colour coded the dates to help me remember! My hardest (or so Ithought) was the painting Supper at Emmaus. I could not remember anything about it to save my life. I dont know why but this painting did not want to stick in my memory. So I decided I needed to name on of the 4 men in the painting Emmaus and the rest would flow, or at least then I could remember the title. There was Jesus (so I am thinking it would be blasphemy to call him Emmous) and these three other guys, but non of them looked like an Emmaus. So I looked at the table with all the food on it...and decided to call the chicken Emmaus. Seriously it looked like an Emmaus, plus you know, they were having Emmaus for supper, hahahaha... Anyway it flowed after that. I remembered the date and the artist; Caravagio 1601. Not that I could remember anything else no matter how hard I studied it, so I left it alone, she wasnt testing us on all the artworks she had put on the list for us to study. I shared this story with a few people thinking it may help them as well. So at two I went in, sat down and had to pee soo badly! I had gone before, but me trying to be healthy had had a lot of water! They had a bunch of stuff I knew a lot about, but they also had a bunch that I had trouble with so I found myself pulling a lot out of my but if you get my meaning. If you dont you have a dirty mind. Anywho we ended up having to compare Titian`s Venus of Urbino and Bronzino`s Allagory of Venus and Cupid (first part of exam). Strange thing to compare at first glance, but not really so when actually analysing it. Afterwards we had all the individual slides. And of course what should pop up at the very end, Supper at Emmaus. I snorted quite ruefully and apparently (as I heard later) made Kari giggle quite heartily (as I kept gigling to myself afterward too). She apparently got quite the interested look from the art history prof of whom I wished very much to explin things to and share my story (I am sure she would have found it funny) but you see I still had to pee quite massively, so I shot out of there fairly fast and made my way to the nearest washroom. The rest of the afternoon I felt quite free as I had another 3 full days until my next exam.
Oooo one more story before I conclude this passage. On the Sunday night before our exams at around 9pm when most people were in their pjs and studying or in bed the fire alarm went off. We all peaked out our doors to see what was the matter and found that it wasnt a drill and we had to make our way outside into the freezing cold. Some had time to put on boots and coats and hat. I had time to put on shoes, but that was it. We all huddled together and pined over the fact that this should happen the night before an exam. After around 10 minutes we were let back in. We found out later that a few people were making toast in their rooms with a toaster they had bought and it set off the alarms. We were sent an e-mail the next day saying that we were not allowed any cooking appliances in our rooms. We were also told that when the fire fighters arrived they were not pleased by all the christmas paper on people`s doors as well as the amount of paper on the doors, its not fire regulation apparently. So in the e-mail we were told to take it all down. I can understand all the reasoning behind all this but it doesnt make me any less pissed off. We are kinda isolated out here and it is nice to have decoration to remind us of home you know? Dont worry, this week they put up christmas decorations around the place, at the castle and at Bader so we arent lacking in spirit. But at he time I was very frustrated. Anywho, I shant complain as I will soon be home where there is Christmas spirit everywhere you go!
I had small interests throughout he rest of the week, which you shall hear more about later. Now it is time for bed! Good night and sweet dreams!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Second last Weekend
So Last Thrusday (one week ago) was my last class until next term. I had history in the morning (not really that eventful). But later after lunch when I was leaving Karicia grabbed me and asked if I would like to go to another tea time thing with a "friends of Herstmoncaeux". This was a different person though. If you dont remember from my last experience what happens is we get invited by a person from the group "Friends of Herstmonceux" to their homes to chat and have tea. This time Karicia had organised it herself with the elderly lady (who`s name was Angela) to get driven over. I of course said yes because I really had nothing else planned for the evening and it usually means free tea and cakes. Not that that was the only reason, its also nice to meet people from around the area and have some interesting conversation. This time it was three of us getting driven by Angela to her home. The third girl going with us was Brittany (I have never mentioned her before so dont worry about remembering who she is). When Angela came Brittany and I got in the back and Karicia got in the front and we knew it was going to be interesting right from the start because trying to back out of the space she had parked in was interesting. Some van had parked beside her and on the other side was grass, so it took a few moments (Brittany and I holding our breath) before we made it out.
So we got to her house and she showed us around her garden, she apparently loves flowers and gardening. Unfortuately it is too late in the year to see any, but it was still lovely non the less. She apparently loves history too because she started telling us fasinating stories about the area and about the cottage she lives in which is apparently many centuries old. She told a story about the miller who lived there used to also play the flute at pubs and get paid in liquer. So by the end of the night he was very uncoordinated and not able to control the reins on his horse, but the horse always took him back. The horse apparently remembered where they lived or something because it steered itself home every time. I thought this was fascinating, loved this story. The house used to belong to a miller as I said before so it is called Mill house. And apparently there used to be a windmill nearby. Very cool. She showed us through her house which was absolutely adorable. She used to be a nurse then tought nursing and has paintings and old stuff all over her cottage. She eventually took us to her living room and showed us some historyish books and told us about the one chair Brittany had chosen to sit in. It was the favourite chair of I guess one of the main miltary commanders in the Boer War or something. Again very interesting. Then her Karicia went to get the cakes and make the sandwhiches and tea and Brittany and I looked over the room a bit more and chatted. Now Angela said she loved to surround her house with things she loved. This was very evident because she had little pictures and statues of ...god I cannot remember the type of dog it was. It was one particular breed..damn. Anywho she had that all overthe place as well as pictures of the Queen everywhere. Apparently she also loves the queen. What was really cool was upstairs in her bed room was a letter from the Queen`s lady in waiting saying thank you for Angela`s concern and devotion and it was appretiated and she had been advised by the queen to thank her. To be honest I thought it would be from Diana`s death, but hte date was wrong and apparently Angela had sent aletter to the Queen in 1992 when there was a fire at Windsor Castle or something like that and she was very delighted and surprised when she had answered back! Very cool.
The tea and cakes and sandwiches were good. Yes I actually tried the sandwhiches. Mostly because Brittany didnt want to eat them because she doesnt like butter (understandable as I dont like sandwhiches). So that would have left Karicia and Anglea to have them themselves so I tried it and actually liked it. I could only eat so much because the texture of sandwhiches still bother me, but I actually tried them! So I also had a great test as well. You see as we were driving up into her driveway I noticed two signs saying, vote conservative. Oh no, I thought. This could be interesting. Not because I mind conservatives or anything, its just that I could tell she might be hard core if you know what I mean. I have no other way of putting it with making it sound rude and I dont want it to sound like I am really biased or prejudiced. Anywho we started talking about politics because she is also very into politics. She apparently loves David Cameron (I beleive that is who she was talking about). The leader of the Conservative party. She said her old dog used to bark and at the screen and everything when Tony Blair was on but would pay attention when Cameron was on. So she sent Cameron a letter with pictures and telling him the stories. He apparently sent a letter back with a signed photo which she got framed. I am afraid I did not really understand why she hates the current Prime Minister so much, but I shouldnt really comment because I dont know what he is doing or what is going on right now in British Politics. But you know me when it comes to politics. She said she didnt like Blair but at least he was pleasant looking and good in front of the crowd, but said Brown (the curent Prime Minister) was unpleasant or something to that effect. I dunno, what got me was when she started talking about American Politics and how she was disappointed that Obama won. She apparently felt that he didnt have enough experience or something. I dunno, it just took a lot of determination to not get into a debate. I figured it would look bad for the school, I didnt want her inturpretting what I was saying as something rude and then her taking it to the school. I am sure she wouldnt have done that, she was a nice lady, but still, DONT STIR THE POT LIBBY. Bad things COULD happen. I couldnt resist though, I mentioned Canadian Politics to see if she followed that and she doesnt really that much so I couldnt have as much fun there but hey. When I get home right? Everyone here is super Liberal (at least most I beleive) so not much debating. YAY Coalition Government maybe! I promise I will not go on a politic rant as I know everyone has different opinions and I dont wanna step on anyones toes when I am not speaking to them directly, especially sinceI am coming home soo soon.
Well I think that is long enough for today. Basically the rest of the afternoon/evening we chatted about various things and then she drove us home and I beleive I went on the computer, then hung out with some people then went to bed. You`ll have too tune in again to here about my fun Friday and Saturday!
So we got to her house and she showed us around her garden, she apparently loves flowers and gardening. Unfortuately it is too late in the year to see any, but it was still lovely non the less. She apparently loves history too because she started telling us fasinating stories about the area and about the cottage she lives in which is apparently many centuries old. She told a story about the miller who lived there used to also play the flute at pubs and get paid in liquer. So by the end of the night he was very uncoordinated and not able to control the reins on his horse, but the horse always took him back. The horse apparently remembered where they lived or something because it steered itself home every time. I thought this was fascinating, loved this story. The house used to belong to a miller as I said before so it is called Mill house. And apparently there used to be a windmill nearby. Very cool. She showed us through her house which was absolutely adorable. She used to be a nurse then tought nursing and has paintings and old stuff all over her cottage. She eventually took us to her living room and showed us some historyish books and told us about the one chair Brittany had chosen to sit in. It was the favourite chair of I guess one of the main miltary commanders in the Boer War or something. Again very interesting. Then her Karicia went to get the cakes and make the sandwhiches and tea and Brittany and I looked over the room a bit more and chatted. Now Angela said she loved to surround her house with things she loved. This was very evident because she had little pictures and statues of ...god I cannot remember the type of dog it was. It was one particular breed..damn. Anywho she had that all overthe place as well as pictures of the Queen everywhere. Apparently she also loves the queen. What was really cool was upstairs in her bed room was a letter from the Queen`s lady in waiting saying thank you for Angela`s concern and devotion and it was appretiated and she had been advised by the queen to thank her. To be honest I thought it would be from Diana`s death, but hte date was wrong and apparently Angela had sent aletter to the Queen in 1992 when there was a fire at Windsor Castle or something like that and she was very delighted and surprised when she had answered back! Very cool.
The tea and cakes and sandwiches were good. Yes I actually tried the sandwhiches. Mostly because Brittany didnt want to eat them because she doesnt like butter (understandable as I dont like sandwhiches). So that would have left Karicia and Anglea to have them themselves so I tried it and actually liked it. I could only eat so much because the texture of sandwhiches still bother me, but I actually tried them! So I also had a great test as well. You see as we were driving up into her driveway I noticed two signs saying, vote conservative. Oh no, I thought. This could be interesting. Not because I mind conservatives or anything, its just that I could tell she might be hard core if you know what I mean. I have no other way of putting it with making it sound rude and I dont want it to sound like I am really biased or prejudiced. Anywho we started talking about politics because she is also very into politics. She apparently loves David Cameron (I beleive that is who she was talking about). The leader of the Conservative party. She said her old dog used to bark and at the screen and everything when Tony Blair was on but would pay attention when Cameron was on. So she sent Cameron a letter with pictures and telling him the stories. He apparently sent a letter back with a signed photo which she got framed. I am afraid I did not really understand why she hates the current Prime Minister so much, but I shouldnt really comment because I dont know what he is doing or what is going on right now in British Politics. But you know me when it comes to politics. She said she didnt like Blair but at least he was pleasant looking and good in front of the crowd, but said Brown (the curent Prime Minister) was unpleasant or something to that effect. I dunno, what got me was when she started talking about American Politics and how she was disappointed that Obama won. She apparently felt that he didnt have enough experience or something. I dunno, it just took a lot of determination to not get into a debate. I figured it would look bad for the school, I didnt want her inturpretting what I was saying as something rude and then her taking it to the school. I am sure she wouldnt have done that, she was a nice lady, but still, DONT STIR THE POT LIBBY. Bad things COULD happen. I couldnt resist though, I mentioned Canadian Politics to see if she followed that and she doesnt really that much so I couldnt have as much fun there but hey. When I get home right? Everyone here is super Liberal (at least most I beleive) so not much debating. YAY Coalition Government maybe! I promise I will not go on a politic rant as I know everyone has different opinions and I dont wanna step on anyones toes when I am not speaking to them directly, especially sinceI am coming home soo soon.
Well I think that is long enough for today. Basically the rest of the afternoon/evening we chatted about various things and then she drove us home and I beleive I went on the computer, then hung out with some people then went to bed. You`ll have too tune in again to here about my fun Friday and Saturday!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
London experience day THREE
Hello, sorry its taken so long to finish off the weekend. I had two exams today! Yay, thats half my exams done! But still, I actually studied, I am getting a lot better than I was in Highschool. Anywho I will carry on, I left off on the Saturday of my LOndon experience. The Sunday morning I woke up fairly early and felt a little chilly. Remember I was right next to the window and it was left open the whole night. I turn back the curtains or disapear behind them to stick my head out but not distrupt anyone and see that it is snowing! Well, not really, but there were flurries and few centimeters or snow on the ground and on cars! We were very excited as we knew it would be cold, but could justify it if there was a little christmasy snow.
We had to check out by 10am and afterward made our way to the tube and back to the centre of London. Our first stop was at the National Portrait Gallery to see the Annie Lebovitz exhibition. It was amazing, I really enjoyed it. I love most of her stuff and they had her works from 1990 to present. They also had private photos of her family and friends that she had taken. We then went around other galleries in the gallery and looked around for a bit. After all that we went back to the internet cafe and chatted there for a little bit to pass the time. We then went to lunch at an italian restaraunt and had the most amazing pizza in a while. What was perfect was we realised that it was the same franchise that we had gone to when the two of us went out in Edinburgh! Do you remember that? We went out the last night together to a restaraunt? Same one basically.
By that point it was time to make our way to Victoria Station. I decided to take a bit of a longer way so that Karicia could see Buckingham Palace because she hadnt seen it yet. It was a nice surprise because I didnt tell her what we were heading towards until we got to it. We took some pictures, ood and awd over it and then continued walking, realising that it had stared raining. We finally made it to the station and took a few extra seconds to figure out what the enterance was as I have never atcually entered the station from the front before! Either we come into it from the train drop off or the tube or take the tube or train out of the station! It was weird.
Anywho we got in and what you have to do especially at Victoria is look at the big boards and see what terminal to go to. Sometimes it is only 5 minutes before the train is supposed to leave before it tells you! Well I guess everything was in a confuzzle because of the snow/rain (even though there was no snow left) and there was construction on one of the lines because of unexpected failure of some kind there were concellations here and train/time changes there and delays all over the place. We were fairly early so we had at least 45 minutes to wait and we just kept hoping our train wasnt cancelled as we kept watching other people get screwed over. Eventually strangely enough James found us. I dont think I have mentioned him before but he goes to the ISC and he had been somewhere else and happened to be taking the same trains as us. Oh and by the way we had this crazy thing where we had to trains and a bus to get us back. This will be explained as I go along. So basically we wait and wait and chat and then it says our train is in terminal 11 or something and all we see is mass amounts of people start migrating towards the terminal at a run. It felt like the stock market crash of 29, seriously, you know those pictures you see of people running and clamering to the bank on the fateful day? Well thats what it looked and felt like. Especially because we had to make our way through the little ticket machine thigns and way too many people were trying to do it at once. We eventually made it onto the train, but it was an effort and literally people were jammed into every nook and cranny. Random strangers were pressed against eachother, it looked like the New York subway system ot London tube at morning and evening business hours. Seriously, only this was a train! That we were going to be on for an hour and a half.
Why was it so busy? We were we left standing on our train with bags and smushed against otehr people? Well because the station had told everyone that had had a ticket on the train before us going to one certain station could get on ours because theirs was cancelled and a tram line that goes to Gatwick airport was closed and THEY were also told they could get on our train, so we had 3 train loads of people on one train. We were hot, we were thirsty and tired from wondering all day and people who hadnt even had tickets on our train were sitting on our spots! Boo, luckily Karicia, James and I had gone into the aisle and so had a little more air and space, plus we had peoples bags that they had shoved into the aisle, so that left a little more space. We also thought we were lucky because all the crowds were getting off a bunch of stops before us so they should only be on for half an hour to 45 minutes. Well you, the train was delayed...while we were on it. They would stop and then go, stop and go and then go slowly, apparently because they were doing work or something, but the guy driving the train kept coming over the speaker set and appologizing and at one point said he had no idea how long it would be, but he would keep us updated. We were deleyed an hour, yes an hour. And eventually the freaks got off, taking their screaming baby with them. This child didnt just scream, it was play screaming saying "I`M GONE!" because it was hiding amongst ppl legs or something. I am really glad and probs so is the mother that I could not see that child or was close to it in any way. Dont worry, I wouldnt have caused any harm to it, but seriously do not scream on a crowded train and dont let your child get away with it no matter how bored it is. Because seriously everyone was already pissed off and wanting to go home and the screaming only added to the torment.
Okay, so that rant over, the next part of our journey home. We eventually made it to Lewes, where we got on a bus (with a crowd of people) and and took that to Gerwick or something like that and then another train to Polegate. And all this was cheaper apparently than a straight journey, gah! We had scheduled (all three of us actually) to take the free mini-bus home, but since we were an hour late we had to call a cab and make our way back. Supper was over also by the time we got back so no food for us, only our beds and good whine to whoever would listen. Beleive it or not i actually wasnt that grouchy! I was in a pretty good mood, I think I was so worn out that I was just left to random fits of giggles and weirdness the whole time. It was an adventure though, so...whatever. But still, gah!
The week following was kinda slow, I mostly had classes and hung out on the computer or with people or I studied for exams. On one of the nights though Kari, Katie, Amanda and I decided to watch some christmasy stuff. We were going to watch Mericle on 34th street the original because its a tradition for Katie (who is American) to watch it on Thanksgiving, and you know how much I love traditions, seriously I do! But unfortunately it wouldnt load from the site she found so we went online searching for other things to watch. Mr Beans Christmas worked, as did frosty the snowman (animated) and Katie showed us this thanksgiving song (30 minute long) that she always listens to on Tanksgiving. It was really funny and if I ever remember what it was called I will tell you.
Okay, so a lot happened this past weekend too but you`ll have to wait for that one. Some tid bits - closing ceremony ... with a bar! As well as a morning after in Eastbourne and an interesting experience with remembering art history.
We had to check out by 10am and afterward made our way to the tube and back to the centre of London. Our first stop was at the National Portrait Gallery to see the Annie Lebovitz exhibition. It was amazing, I really enjoyed it. I love most of her stuff and they had her works from 1990 to present. They also had private photos of her family and friends that she had taken. We then went around other galleries in the gallery and looked around for a bit. After all that we went back to the internet cafe and chatted there for a little bit to pass the time. We then went to lunch at an italian restaraunt and had the most amazing pizza in a while. What was perfect was we realised that it was the same franchise that we had gone to when the two of us went out in Edinburgh! Do you remember that? We went out the last night together to a restaraunt? Same one basically.
By that point it was time to make our way to Victoria Station. I decided to take a bit of a longer way so that Karicia could see Buckingham Palace because she hadnt seen it yet. It was a nice surprise because I didnt tell her what we were heading towards until we got to it. We took some pictures, ood and awd over it and then continued walking, realising that it had stared raining. We finally made it to the station and took a few extra seconds to figure out what the enterance was as I have never atcually entered the station from the front before! Either we come into it from the train drop off or the tube or take the tube or train out of the station! It was weird.
Anywho we got in and what you have to do especially at Victoria is look at the big boards and see what terminal to go to. Sometimes it is only 5 minutes before the train is supposed to leave before it tells you! Well I guess everything was in a confuzzle because of the snow/rain (even though there was no snow left) and there was construction on one of the lines because of unexpected failure of some kind there were concellations here and train/time changes there and delays all over the place. We were fairly early so we had at least 45 minutes to wait and we just kept hoping our train wasnt cancelled as we kept watching other people get screwed over. Eventually strangely enough James found us. I dont think I have mentioned him before but he goes to the ISC and he had been somewhere else and happened to be taking the same trains as us. Oh and by the way we had this crazy thing where we had to trains and a bus to get us back. This will be explained as I go along. So basically we wait and wait and chat and then it says our train is in terminal 11 or something and all we see is mass amounts of people start migrating towards the terminal at a run. It felt like the stock market crash of 29, seriously, you know those pictures you see of people running and clamering to the bank on the fateful day? Well thats what it looked and felt like. Especially because we had to make our way through the little ticket machine thigns and way too many people were trying to do it at once. We eventually made it onto the train, but it was an effort and literally people were jammed into every nook and cranny. Random strangers were pressed against eachother, it looked like the New York subway system ot London tube at morning and evening business hours. Seriously, only this was a train! That we were going to be on for an hour and a half.
Why was it so busy? We were we left standing on our train with bags and smushed against otehr people? Well because the station had told everyone that had had a ticket on the train before us going to one certain station could get on ours because theirs was cancelled and a tram line that goes to Gatwick airport was closed and THEY were also told they could get on our train, so we had 3 train loads of people on one train. We were hot, we were thirsty and tired from wondering all day and people who hadnt even had tickets on our train were sitting on our spots! Boo, luckily Karicia, James and I had gone into the aisle and so had a little more air and space, plus we had peoples bags that they had shoved into the aisle, so that left a little more space. We also thought we were lucky because all the crowds were getting off a bunch of stops before us so they should only be on for half an hour to 45 minutes. Well you, the train was delayed...while we were on it. They would stop and then go, stop and go and then go slowly, apparently because they were doing work or something, but the guy driving the train kept coming over the speaker set and appologizing and at one point said he had no idea how long it would be, but he would keep us updated. We were deleyed an hour, yes an hour. And eventually the freaks got off, taking their screaming baby with them. This child didnt just scream, it was play screaming saying "I`M GONE!" because it was hiding amongst ppl legs or something. I am really glad and probs so is the mother that I could not see that child or was close to it in any way. Dont worry, I wouldnt have caused any harm to it, but seriously do not scream on a crowded train and dont let your child get away with it no matter how bored it is. Because seriously everyone was already pissed off and wanting to go home and the screaming only added to the torment.
Okay, so that rant over, the next part of our journey home. We eventually made it to Lewes, where we got on a bus (with a crowd of people) and and took that to Gerwick or something like that and then another train to Polegate. And all this was cheaper apparently than a straight journey, gah! We had scheduled (all three of us actually) to take the free mini-bus home, but since we were an hour late we had to call a cab and make our way back. Supper was over also by the time we got back so no food for us, only our beds and good whine to whoever would listen. Beleive it or not i actually wasnt that grouchy! I was in a pretty good mood, I think I was so worn out that I was just left to random fits of giggles and weirdness the whole time. It was an adventure though, so...whatever. But still, gah!
The week following was kinda slow, I mostly had classes and hung out on the computer or with people or I studied for exams. On one of the nights though Kari, Katie, Amanda and I decided to watch some christmasy stuff. We were going to watch Mericle on 34th street the original because its a tradition for Katie (who is American) to watch it on Thanksgiving, and you know how much I love traditions, seriously I do! But unfortunately it wouldnt load from the site she found so we went online searching for other things to watch. Mr Beans Christmas worked, as did frosty the snowman (animated) and Katie showed us this thanksgiving song (30 minute long) that she always listens to on Tanksgiving. It was really funny and if I ever remember what it was called I will tell you.
Okay, so a lot happened this past weekend too but you`ll have to wait for that one. Some tid bits - closing ceremony ... with a bar! As well as a morning after in Eastbourne and an interesting experience with remembering art history.
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