Prelude to an Irish Adventure

So I just got done taking my first British Studies exam. It really wasn't all that bad. The best part was that it was more a matter of giving your opinion and backing it up with factual examples than just 'when did this happen?' or 'who did this?'. I like those kinds of exams better because I get the chance to use creativity and tie things together that allow me more freedom to answer a question. I think I did pretty well on it, but I'll see in a few weeks if that is true or not. I'm all packed and we are going to leave to go in town to have dinner a little after 5 and then wait on a train for a while. We are then going to spend the night in the Stansted airport. We then have a flight early in the morning to Dublin, where we will be staying until Sunday morning. It should be pretty fun, this will be my first venture outside of England. Maybe I will find a leprechaun and he will take me to his pot of gold, or maybe just to a bowl of Lucky Charms. Either way would be ok, because I miss sugary cereals so much! Well, here's to going to the Emerald Isles.

An Epic Quest Worthy of a Peter Jackson Movie Treatment

So I went on my weekend pilgrimage, saw everything that I wanted to see, and returned unharmed, victorious over the UK landscape. I was very satisfied, and I suppose I would even go so far as to say that I am proud of myself for accomplishing such a feat. It all started on Friday morning. I was going to leave from the train station at around 10, but there wasn't a shuttle to get in town from the manor until 10, although I thought there was one at 9, but I was mistaken. So My trip was delayed for an hour, which was actually good, because it gave me time to do a little more research about where the individual places were that I wanted to go to. So then I made it to the train station and the whole time I was thinking, 'this is it, I'm out on my own.' So I made my way to Kidderminster first, and I had to make 2 train changes in the process. It was raining basically from the time that I got on the train (but not before, luckily), and this phenomenon will come back later. I got to Kidderminster and had to wait around for a taxi to take me to the country. I finally got one and then went out to the church where John Bonham is buried. That in itself was fairly exciting, because I just got this feeling of 'I'm going to see something special.' I looked around for just a few minutes, and then I came to it, the grave itself. I just stood there for a few seconds, in awe that I was actually there; standing where the drummer from my favorite band ever was buried. I then thought, the other band members have probably been to this exact spot on more than one occasion, I'm standing where they have been. It was just this incredible feeling of something that had been abstract becoming tangible. I took lots of pictures, and then I thought, 'hey, my camera probably has a timer on it, I could get a shot of me with the grave.' So I did, and now I can prove that I was there. The whole time I was basically in disbelief, thinking, this isn't actually the grave of the legendary rock drummer, it can't be. It was so surreal. I then called the number that the taxi-cab driver gave me, to get another taxi to come and take me back to the rail station. But there would be no such journey. I called but they said that it would take a while for anyone to get out that far, so it was better for me to just find a local cab. Well, it turned out that local meant walking about 4 or 5 miles. And even then, after walking through numerous fields and asking a few people directions, I still wasn't in town. It had been raining (per earlier in the story) and so my shoes and my pants had become quite muddy, and my shoes were soaked. I finally stopped at a small shop selling vegetables and other such country commodities and asked if they knew the number for a local cab service. The lady there id, and so she brought out here home phone and I called the cab. She told me to tell them to meet me down the road at a local pub. So I walked about another half-mile to this pub, and got picked up. I asked the driver where a good place to eat would be, and he gave me a few options, but recommended on place in particular, so I went there. I don't remember the name of the pub, but it had amazing food. I got some chicken smothered in cheese and bacon (English bacon is more like slightly-crisp ham, but it's still bacon) and mushrooms. I also had mashed potato (singular in Britain) and some vegetables, which I ate all of, thank you very much. I was so thirsty I just got water to drink. So then after I was done I walked to the rail station and got a ticket to go to Oxford. This was supposed to involve 2 train changes, but ended up being a bigger hassle. The train that I was supposed to take to begin with ended up being about a half-hour or so late, and so by the time I got to the station where the train was supposed to take me to Oxford, the train was on the platform but it was pulling out, and I didn't have time to realize that that was the train that I needed. So I was stuck, and I asked the workers what I should do. They initially told me that the next train wouldn't come for over 2 hours. A little later I saw another guy who had missed the Oxford train talking to a manager, and he got put on another train. So I asked the manager about it, and he said that if we went to this other station that we could get an earlier train out. So everything ended up alright, and when I arrived in Oxford it was just a short walk to my hostel. I then called home to let my parents know that I had gotten there safely, and then I went to bed. I've never really been able to sleep at hostels so far, I think it's just because it's somewhere unfamiliar, and I don't like not knowing where I am. So I'm sure I slept some, I'm just not sure how much. The next morning I got up and had a continental breakfast (which consisted of cereal and a croissant) and then got going. The first thing that I decided to do was go somewhere to get some new pants, because I had only brought that one pair for the weekend, and now they were all muddy, and I didn't want to look dirty, so I got a new pair of pants at a shopping center. I looked around a little bit, and then I went to a bathroom and changed into these new pants. By this time it was almost time for lunch, so I thought that I would look for my first stop which would be the Eagle and Child, the pub where J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis and their friends would go to eat and talk. It wasn't hard to find with the maps that I had printed out, and so I went inside to see what it was like. From the outside you would never know that it was somewhere even semi-famous. It was just on the inside, in the room where the Inklings, as the guys were known, met that there were pictures and plaques and stuff. I took pictures of everything, and then ordered some food. It was one of the best burgers I've ever had, and the fries were great too. It wasn't at all like fast food. I then got one of the bar-tenders to take a picture of me sitting there, and then I left. My next stop would be Wolvercote Cememtary in North Oxford, where Tolkien was buried. I looked at the map to see what I was supposed to be looking for, got on the right road, and just started walking. I neglected to look at the part of the map where it said that the route would be a little over 3 miles. So that was a fun walk, my back and shoulders were aching from carrying my backpack, but I got there. There was a sign on the outside that said to just follow the markers to find the Tolkien grave. Sure enough every 15 feet or so there was a marker pointing the way to the grave. I got to the grave, and it was highly decorated with flowers. The grave was of Tolkien and his wife, and under their names were printed the names Beren for Tolkien and Luthien for his wife. These were the names of a man and an elf who feel in love from Tolkien's book the Silmarillion, which was like the Old Testament to Lord of the Rings as the New Testament. It was really awesome to see. Here was the guy who had written the books that had really started me reading adventure books, as the Hobbit was one of the first adventure stories that I ever read. After taking all of the pictures that I wanted I left and caught a bus to the town center. I then looked for a cab for about a half-hour, because I couldn't figure out where they were parking, and unlike in America you don't just flag one down, you have to wait until they are parked. So then I got a taxi, and had the driver take me to the Holy Trinity Church, where C.S. Lewis was buried. This church was fairly small, and so the grave was really easy to find. There was one sign pointing to where it was located. The grave was different than the others, in that it was just a flat-slab on the ground, with the names of Lewis and his brother on it, and an incised cross towards the top. Again, it was a surreal feeling to think that I was standing so close to the body of someone whose work I had read, like his Space Trilogy, and Mere Christianity. This was the man that wrote those things, and I'm looking at his grave. I took a few pictures, and then went to a small pub that was very close to the church. I asked if anyone there knew the number for a taxi, and then owner was very nice and called the taxi on his cell phone and told it where to pick me up and that I wanted to go to the train station. So then I got to the train station, and I was going to have 2 train changes in order to get to Salisbury, my next stop. No train delays this time, and so I got to Salisbury ahead of schedule. I wasn't supposed to check into my hostel for about an hour and a half more, but I went ahead and got a taxi to take me out to the hostel anyway. It was a few miles into the country side, so the taxi cost over 20 pounds, which would be about $40, so that was a bit steep. I got to the hostel, and the check-in guy wasn't around, so I called the mobile number that was left on the door, and I had to wait just a few minutes longer and he showed up. He was a younger guy, probably not much older than me, and he was really nice and helpful. He got me all set-up and even got a taxi for me in the morning to take me to Stonehenge (which was one of the major reasons I went to Salisbury, that and the cathedral). So it was really nice to have everything ready to go, so that I could just sit back and relax. That night I didn't have anything to do, being so far out in the country, so I just laid in my bed and read some of Plato's Republic, which I have been reading off and on for a few weeks now. I was also waiting on a phone call from home, because I was going to talk to my grandparents who were up for a funeral, sadly. As I was reading, the two other guys that were sharing the room came in. They were really interesting, and in a good way. They were friends from London, Simon who was 38 and Steve who was 41. They were out for a weekend away from the city. They were both into music, with Simon being a producer and Steve being a DJ. They were really interesting to talk to, we talked about a full range of subjects, including politics, philosophy, music, history, and our own respective countries. I then got the phone call and talked to my grandma and then my mom for a little while. I then went back to my room and talked to Steve and Simon some more, and then we went to bed. I slept really well that night, because apparently there was a really bad storm, on of the worst that they've had this year, and I didn't hear a thing. In the morning I got up and got ready and then went downstairs to eat my cereal again. I then waited for my taxi to come. When it arrived, the driver took me Stonehenge, per the previous night's agreement. I saw Stonehenge on the horizon, and it was really an amazing experience. I was dropped off, and it was just awe-inspiring. I mean, the stones themselves weren't all that amazing, it was just the whole experience altogether. It's just like when I was at Bonham's grave, I got to thinking about where I was, and who had been there before be, and I thought 'people thousands of years ago put these up, and they are still here, that's amazing in itself, even if the stones themselves aren't all that amazing.' I also got some really good pictures, because the sky was amazingly beautiful that day. I was lucky because I got there right when it opened (an open air structure has opening times, go figure) and so I was able to get through and see the stones without a big crowd. The way it works is that you pay your admission on one side of the road, and then you go through a tunnel under the road and you see the stones that way. After I was done I had to wait about an hour for a bus to go into town. When I got into town, I was going to leave straightaway to go back to Grantham, but then I remembered that lots of people had said that the Salisbury cathedral was beautiful, so I thought that I should check it out. I just had to walk a short distance, less than a mile, and there was the cathedral. It wasn't hard to find, as the spire towered over the rest of the buildings, so I just kept walking towards it. When I got to it, it was pretty awe-inspiring. It wasn't as big as the Lincoln cathedral, but it was still pretty big. On the inside there was a service going on, but I took pictures anyway, because at first I didn't realize that a service was going on. One of the usher guys kept giving me funny looks, and at first I thought that it was because I had forgotten to take my hat off, so I did that. And then on the way out of the sanctuary I noticed a sign that said that photography was ok, except during a service. Well, I couldn't really take it back, so there was nothing I could do. I walked around and saw all there there was to see inside. They had one of the Magna Carta copies displayed, and this one was in even better condition than the one in Lincoln. Of course I couldn't take pictures of it, but I had come to except that. The room that it was in was beautiful, much like the domed-room in the Lincoln cathedral. This one had restored stained glass windows all around, and lots of painted architecture. It was so pretty, but I couldn't take a picture of it, which was too bad, but I understood. After I had seen everything, I went to the train station and got a ticket to Grantham. The actual journey itself took shorter than I expected, Because I was expecting to go back that way that I had come, but that wouldn't make sense because the route that I took was out of convenience to go to the site that I wanted to see, so it wasn't exactly the most efficient route. So I went to London, took the Underground to another train station in London, and then after one train-change I was back in Grantham. All in all, it was a good trip, and I enjoyed the freedom so much. I would do it again in a heartbeat, but we'll just have to see if I have the time or places to go.

This is My Quest

So this weekend will be a momentous event in history. I'm going on a trip in a foreign country, by myself. I'm a little nervous, but it's something that I really want to do. My trip will start on Friday, as I will be leaving from the Grantham train station at about 10am. I'm then travelling to a train station in a town southwest of Birmingham called Kidderminster. I'm going to Kidderminster because it's the closest town to a smaller town called Rushock. What's in Rushock, you ask? Only the grave site of the best drummer from the best rock band in the history of music: John Bonham of Led Zeppelin. Unfortunately, we lost Mr. Bonham to a night of heavy drinking, followed by sleeping on his back and then choking on his own vomit in his sleep. A very sad way to go, and just as sad that it caused the end of Led Zeppelin. I wanted to go and pay my respects to this pioneer of rock history. Then the same day I'm going back to the station to catch a train to Oxford. In Oxford on Friday I'm basically just going to my hostel, which I've already booked. I might see a few things at night, I don't know, because I don't really know what's in Oxford other than what I'm going for, which I will see the next day on Saturday. Saturday I am going to see some more historical sites with personal importance. I'm going to see the graves of J.R.R. Tolkien, the writer of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy among other books, and C.S. Lewis, the writer of The Chronicles of Narnia, Mere Christianity, and many others. They are both buried in Oxford, although in different places. I'm also going to see the pub called the Eagle and Child where Tolkien and Lewis and their other friends would go to hang out. I guess not many people know about it, basically just the fans of these two authors. I'll then see whatever else I find in Oxford, and then at night I'm traveling from Oxford to Salisbury, and staying overnight at a hostel close to Salisbury. Then Sunday morning I'm going to see Stonehenge; maybe if I get myself up early enough I can see Stonehenge at sunrise, although we'll have to see about that. I don't know if there are any other sites to see at Salisbury, so when I'm done there, I will take a 6-hour train ride back to Grantham, and then a short taxi-ride back to the manor. I think it's going to be a really fun trip, and I'll get to see things that have significance to me personally. I'm looking forward to it. Plus, it's an adventure to be had, a trek across England. A quest, for the Holy Grail. Well, probably not the Holy Grail, but I suppose it's still a quest. I will take lots of pictures, and write all about it when I get back.

Weekend with the Classics

Not much new to report for the week. Basically, it's all been about getting work done, so that I don't put it off to the last minute. I've actually been really good about not procrastinating while I've been here. That's one thing I will say about the way things work here, it's easy to not be distracted. When I was at UE, I had my laptop with internet connection in my room, I had a TV, a DVD player, a microwave and fridge, Mario Kart 64, all things that easily distracted me, and thus my work was always put off until the night before it was due. Even big papers I would have a hard time starting until I got "the fear". That's the term that my friends and I gave the feeling of anxiety you get when you realize that you have a 10-page paper due tomorrow and you haven't started on it. Here, there are so fewer distractions, it's so easy to get work done. My Greek and Latin homework aren't due until Thursday and Friday respectively, and except for a page-long translation for Greek that I will do today, I'm done with all of it. This is a feeling that I've never really had before, getting something done early, and then just having time to relax and not worry about it. It's nice, and I hope that I can continue this for the rest of the semester, and even when I go back to UE. So speaking of Greek, I had a dream last night that I was in Greek class, and instead of Dr. Ware I had Tom Cruise as my professor. He was a real jerk. Plus, he was wearing sandals and socks, and one of his socks had a big hole in it. I had done all of the homework, and then he told us that we actually only needed to do very little of it, and that most of it wasn't important or was too hard. So I was mad that I had done all of my homework and hadn't needed to. Weird dream, and I can't for the life of me see Tom Cruise as a Greek professor, or a professor at all, for that matter. Although it did seem to be true to life, that he was still a jerk. Next weekend may or may not be different than this weekend. The only thing planned right now among my friends is that the school is going to a football (that's soccer in America, but they do bring up a valid point: in American football, the foot isn't really utilized, so why call it football?) game on Friday, although I wasn't planning on going. Being in a loud noisy stadium watching something that I don't particularly care for doesn't appeal to me. So I think that I might try and find some other people and go somewhere, or go by myself if I have to. It just seems like such a waste to be over here in Europe and not take advantage of it. We'll just have to see where things pan out. There are lots of places that I want to go just here in England that I don't think that my friends want to go, and I refuse to neglect the opportunity. I went to church this morning at the Anglican Church here in Harlaxton. It's a nice place to go, and all of the people are very friendly. The minister there is a woman, which is different. Now before anyone jumps on my back and accuses me of looking down on or demeaning women, I'm not saying that it's bad or that I'm against it; no, I think it's fine, I've just never had a woman as a minister, so it's just different. Something new to experience. Anyway, during the service we even sang a few hymns that we would sing at my home church, so that was a nice feeling of familiarity. The service itself is basically the offspring of Catholic and Protestant services, with a fairly even mix of the both of them, although I've only been to one Mass, so I suppose I can't say that with certainty. But the service is all read from a small booklet, with responses and everything, except that a few of the prayers and the sermon are original. I don't have anything against that sort of thing, I've seen it done both ways and don't mind. Just as long as the correct basic truths are given, which they are at this church; so that's all that really matters. Sometimes I feel like Christianity having so many denominations is just so petty and I'm sure that it looks bad to anyone on the outside. How can we profess to be a faith of unity when there are only a handful of things that everyone agrees with, and the rest is fervently argued over? Anyway, that's all the further I'll go, as I'm not going to write a dissertation. Today should be fairly easy-going, and maybe the same will be true for the week to come. I'll leave you with this joke that the minister told to open the sermon: A man from another country came to America, and while he was there he went grocery shopping. While shopping he saw that they had powdered milk; you just add water and you get milk. He was amazed by this. He then saw that they had powdered orange juice; you add water and you get orange juice. He was still amazed by this. He then saw that they had powdered baby formula, and he just couldn't get over that.

The First Adventure: Museums, Castles and Dungeons Are No Match For: SuperTourist!

So this weekend I had my first real trip in England. The first one on Friday was a school trip through the British Studies course that everyone takes. We left in the morning and were split up into groups so that not everyone was doing the same thing at once. My group was scheduled for self-guided touring first, and so we decided to walk down Steep Hill. That's the actual name of the street, and it's not a misnomer. It is definitely a steep hill. Going down was no problem, it was walking back up that made me want to stay at the bottom. While we were down there we looked around at the different shops that they had, and we were going to go to an archaeological museum, but it didn't open until after our free-time was over. That was disappointing. I almost stormed the place, but then thought better of it. We did get to watch swans fight each other for bread, which was fun. We made up commentary for what each swan was thinking, and it would've made a good movie. It was then time to go back up to the next phase, and so we trudged up the hill like expert-trudgers and met up with the rest of the groups. We were then supposed to go to Lincoln Castle. It would be the first British Castle that I would set foot in. It was a momentous event, marked with trumpeters sounding and people cheering. Ok so that didn't happen, but it was exciting. We didn't get to see the whole castle, but we did see most of it, however quickly. We even went down into a small dungeon and up into an observatory. The observatory was amazing because we could look over the whole castle-grounds, as well as getting a great view of the rest of the city of Lincoln. There was a building within the castle that held one of the four surviving copies of the Magna Carta. That was neat, seeing a piece of history like that right in front of me. The same building used to be a prison, and so we got to tour some of the facilities. We got to see the chapel, where the prisoners were basically put in stalls and had to wear masks. They would then be preached a fire-and-brimstone message, to get them to repent. Really creepy. We also got to go up to a small keep up some stairs that would've been the place where the inhabitants of the castle would go if they were overrun, to hold out against the enemy. There was also a small graveyard there, where some of the prisoners were buried. We then left the castle and had lunch for about an hour. We then went to the Lincoln Cathedral, which was absolutely amazing. For one thing, the sheer size of the church is enough to make your jaw drop, but then you see the decorations both inside and out, simply amazing. I took quite a few pictures. Everywhere you would look there was some sort of architectural beauty. We even got to see the Lincoln Imp, which is something worked into one of the decorations on a wall. It is said that a craftsman's apprentice decided to take some liberties and carved a little demon on the wall with it's legs crossed. The imp was said to have caused mischief in the church, until God turned it to stone. Fun story, and the cathedral sure does capitalize on the little guy in their gift-shop. After we were done in the cathedral we went on what was called a Roman Walk, where we went to different sites in the city and saw the ruins that are still left from the Romans. It was interesting, but there wasn't a whole lot left. It was then time for everyone to go back to the manor. From there, Brandon, Dani, Lisa, Ange and I called a taxi and went to Grantham to leave for London from the train station. The train took a little over an hour to get to London, and then we were going to walk to our hostel. Well, it turned out that our hostel was farther away from the train station than we thought, and so we took the underground trains to get closer. We then spent an hour looking for it and getting lost until we actually came to it. We then put our stuff in our room, and met our 6th person (they were 6 person rooms, and we only had 5 people). His name was Santiago and he was from Mexico City. He was travelling abroad trying to decide what he wanted to do in college, being fresh out of high school. He was really fun over the weekend to get to know. After meeting him we got some food at Yellow Belly's (Subway knock-off, which makes me wonder if they have their own Jared, who walked there instead of taking the train). We then turned in for the night. The next morning we got up early and went to a Starbucks for breakfast, and then planned where we were gonna go for sure. We decided that first we would go to the Brisitsh Museum. On the way there we stopped to check on show prices to see if there were any plays or musicals that we wanted to see, however they were all really expensive, so we threw that out. We then went to the British Museum, and let me say, it was great. It was so huge, and it was filled with things that I've always wanted to see. We mainly looked at the Greek, Roman and Egyptian exhibits. We were basically walking from room to room, trying to take in everything. We saw lots of things that we had seen in our textbooks and that our professors had used for slides. That was really neat, seeing something in person that I had only seen pictures of before. We spent around 4 hours there, and I could've stayed a lot longer. I hope that I get to go back again, it was so great. We then had lunch at a small sandwich shop, and then took the underground to go to the Tower of London. It was pretty amazing too, but not as much as the British Museum. The Tower was originally built by William the Conqueror after the initial invasion of the Normans from France into England, which was around 1066. It was originally a castle to live in, but quickly turned into a prison for the enemies of the royalty of England. It was a really big structure, but there wasn't a whole lot to see. The structure itself was the main attraction, and there were little exhibits in some of the rooms that you could go into. It was all very interesting. We also got to see the Crown Jewels of England, which are housed there. After we were done at the Tower, we decided to go a park that was close by to just sit for a little while. On our way we went by Westminster Abbey, and we could see Big Ben in the distance. The Abbey was amazing from the outside, and it'll be great when we see it from the inside on a British Studies trip in November. The females of the group then demanded that we go to a mall close to our hostel to shop. Never, ever come between females and shopping. Brandon and I knew this and so we quickly agreed. While they were looking at clothes Brandon and I went to a bookstore and looked around. We then all met up and ate dinner at a restaurant that was on the 3rd floor of the mall. After that we went back and hung out in the room with Santiago, getting to know him. I was really glad that he was the 6th person in our room and not some psychopath. We then went to bed and got up the next morning in time to get ready for check-out at 10am. We then said good-bye to Santiago and used the underground to get to our train station back to Grantham. We waited for probably an hour for our train, and then it was a little over an hour back to Grantham. We took a cab back to Harlaxton, and then it was back to business with school. All in all, it was a very fun weekend, and I would definitely go back to London again.

Connected Again

So yesterday two of the greatest things ever happened. Ok, so I'm partially kidding on both accounts, but things did go pretty well yesterday. I got a phone! I had heard about people getting pre-pay phones that had very reasonable international rates. At first I thought that it was most likely too good to be true, so I didn't raise much hope. However my friend Lisa was going to get one, and so I thought that I would go with her to check it out. We looked at the phones and the advertised plans, and the phone was gonna be 20 pounds ( $40), with each minute to the US costing 5 pence (10 cents) a minute. Again, it seemed good, but I was still reserved about it. We went up to the counter to talk to the salesmen, and he was really nice. He said that he got Harlaxton kids in there all of the time, getting these phones, which I knew to be true from the things that I had heard at the manor. So we asked him about what deals we could get and such, and he told us that if we got 50 pounds worth of minutes then we would get the phone for free. So that was a phone and 1000 minutes to the US for the equivalent of $100. So it was a really good deal and I got the phone. Now I have a way to be connected to my family and friends even when I'm travelling, and when I'm at the manor I don't have to wait for the phone booths to open up. It's just more convenient. Also, when people call me, it doesn't take away from my overall minutes, just when I call out. I'm glad I checked this out. The other thing was that I finally watched the movie that got an Academy Award for best movie ever: Highlander. Ok, so the Frenchman in Talladega Nights was right, it was not that good. Being from the 80's, it had so terrible special effects. Plus, the acting was laughable in most places. It was just an all-around fun movie to watch, because it was so bad. I rather enjoyed it. Tomorrow we are going to Lincoln to see the cathedral there, as well as some Roman ruins. There are also historical places and museums that we can go to. It should be a fun time, and I'll try to get lots of pictures. Then, contrary to what I said before, we are coming back to Harlaxton rather than leaving for London straight from Lincoln, because it's cheaper to come back and leave from the neighboring town of Grantham. So we are still going to London, just a little later than originally planned. This weekend should be fun, but then I just have to come back to lots of work. I have a PowerPoint presentation that I'm supposed to make for class on Monday, in which I'm taking all of my group's research and putting it together for the PowerPoint, but I don't have everyone's research and so I'm gonna have to do it all Sunday night. Then, I have eight quizzes to do for Greek, because I turned so many chapters in at once. Those quizzes cover review and three chapters. Then, on Tuesday, after I turn my latest chapter in, I will have a test over all of those chapters that I've done thus far. So I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. Add on to that the fact that I have two research papers that I could be starting research on, plus I'm supposed to have Henry IV, which is about 100 pages, read by Wednesday. Lots to do, and not enough time to do it. I might have to pull the Superman cop out and fly around the world at super-speed and go back in time so that I have more time to get everything done. If only everyone had superpowers...........

Technological Frustrations: Both Reality and a Good Name for a Band

So not much is new here. Still doing homework, only now instead of Greek (which I got all done and am waiting to see if all of it got faxed to Evansville alright) it's British Studies. I have two papers that I'm doing preliminary research for, and a group project about the evolution of the city of Bristol. For that project I have some research to do and then I'm going to compile the whole group's research into a PowerPoint presentation. That should be fun. Friday we are having a school field-trip to the city of Lincoln. Brandon, Dani, Lisa, Ange and I have decided that after the field trip is over we are going to leave from Lincoln and go to London for the weekend. We think that we are definitely going to the Tower of London and the British Museum (which is free; thumbs up). There are a few other places that we're not sure about, like this London Dungeons tour which looks to be one of those stupid haunted-house things that come around every Halloween only with some (very-slight) historical significance. We'll see what ends up happening. We already have our hostel booked, and it was very cheap, so that was good. Now, with regards to the title of this post: I hate technology. Actually, I take that back. I love technology; when it works. The network we have here on campus is the worst one ever. They have a few Wireless Access Points that allow those with laptops to access the network, but no server plug-ins in the rooms. Meaning to get on the internet I have to go and sit in the common room in the carriage house. And that's not even my main complaint. I would be ok with that, if it worked most of the time, but it doesn't. I don't know how many times I've heard people say "the internet's down" and everyone just sighs and rolls their eyes. It's a frequent occurrence, which is kinda ridiculous. They should have a network that doesn't stop working when someone breathes the wrong way. I don't know how many times I've been in the middle of a conversation with someone on AIM and all of the sudden it says I'm disconnected, and then I can't reconnect. It's annoying, because usually, I won't be able to get back on the network for the rest of the evening, until it gets fixed in the morning. Now on to a certain website called facebook. Facebook has become an evil entity, one that lets everyone know everything that you've ever done. It is now a totalitarian regime, broadcasting your life to everyone who has an account. Ok, so maybe it's not that widespread, but it's ridiculous the amount of information I can get just by going on the homepage and looking on the news feeds. Stuff that you would normally have to look for is right there in front of you: who joined what group, who has gotten into/out-of a relationship, who added who as a friend, who wrote what on one of your friend's wall; all broadcast. I don't like it, and I told the development team so. There are also numerous groups on facebook doing the same thing. Hopefully we can get this changed, but if not, I will not be using facebook anymore. It used to be so simple, but now it's just a stalker-tool. To paraphrase V for Vendetta: people should not be afraid of facebook; facebook should be afraid of people Well, that's my rant about facebook and the campus network. Back to motivating myself to do homework.

Catch-Up; Sort-Of

Well, I haven't posted anything for a while now, and there's a good reason behind that, being that nothing has really been going on. I mean, this week has basically been dedicated to doing homework. I dug myself a hole putting off my Greek homework that I gave myself over the summer, and so I've had to put myself back on track. Which I am very close to doing, by the way. I've been telling people that I feel like all that I've done this week is done homework and ate in between. I figure thing will get better from here, since we will be doing some travelling in the coming weekends and my homework load should go down from here, at least somewhat. I did have some fun with the group that stayed back this weekend, with everyone else having gone on the school-sponsored London trip. On Friday we woke up to have lunch, and then after lunch we went into town to get some stuff. We finally made it to ASDA, which is the British version of Wal-Mart, and I do mean Wal-Mart; they have the "always low prices" slogan and the little yellow happy face mascot. Wal-Mart is everywhere, an international presence. They sell basically the same things, only they are British brands, and the merchandise is a little different, for the British folk. They even had two floors connected with an escalator, which didn't turn into stairs as it went up but was just a moving ramp. That was a weird experience, expecting the steps to come up but it never happening. Anyway we came back from there and went up to a small clearing at the top of some hills on the manor grounds where we played frisbee. It was fun because none of us could throw or catch so we made fun of each other the whole time. Not much else really went on, so it's been mostly Greek and little human interaction. Tonight some friends watched a movie altogether, but that was after I had done more homework. Tomorrow is gong to be somewhat action-packed as well, but tapering off a bit. I must say, it is nice basically having the grounds to ourselves with most everyone gone on the trip, but it does get creepy. When it's just a few of us, you start thinking that you hear and see things that aren't really there, and get yourself psyched out. So it'll be nice to have more people back to cover up the eerie silence. Well, that is about all I have for all of you, and maybe things will get more exciting in the days to come.