Easter Holiday Adventures II: The Minster is the Greatest Place

Well, that took much longer than I thought it would. I guess I got caught up in School Adventures and Permanently Ruining My Circadian Rhythm.

Easter Holiday Adventures: The Arrival of Yet Another American

Now that I am home from my (quite long) Easter Holiday, I might as well make a game attempt at writing down what happened. After all, didn't I start this blog in order to detail my England adventures? So now I have to try to recall things that happened over a month ago, because I am stupid and didn't keep a travel diary.

Here goes.

I have not slept in quite some time

Last night, procrastination and poor decisions kicked my butt and I have had the most stressful morning of my life. It is entirely my fault that I haven't slept in over 24 hours, and I am going to make up for it by not waking up at all tomorrow. But first things first.

I wish I had a witty title but I don't

East Coast Railway, you're killing me here.

But we'll get to that in a bit. I can't even remember what happened since the last post, since I can't remember when I did it and I can't be bothered to look it up, so I'm just going to talk about everything and anything that has happened recently.

THE BEST SPRING BREAK EVER?

Here, have a post about my potential spring break plans!

Let me preface this by saying my spring break is very long. Obscenely long. It is so long that I really have no idea what to do with it. I have been trying to make plans, since I realized it’s almost March and my spring break starts in March so I had better figure out what to do soon or else I won’t get any cheap tickets.

Oh my, it has been quite some time, hasn't it?

I knew this would happen. I get so caught up in school and travelling and random writing that I forget to update my blog for days, even weeks on end. But I have so many things to say! Some of them are super exciting!

My Blog is Dood

Yes, the title of this blog is a pun on a Stevie Smith poem. None of you are going to get the reference. Don’t worry about it. At any rate, this entire post is going to be about my degree. At least until the inevitable digression.

Finances be Crazy

I have things to say, but not enough space on Facebook to say them.

Have I mentioned how bloody cold it is here?

It is so bloody cold in my room. I’m not sure how I can stand it.

I have the heater running full-blast. And yes, it is a one-setting heater and the dial only corresponds to how long it’s running, but I’m going to pretend that it means it’s heating the room. It doesn’t do a very good job, in all honesty, but I’m going for the placebo effect here.

I’m also cuddled up in my duvet and I have my wrist-warmers on. I would wear proper gloves, but I can’t operate my laptop (or read a book) with them, so I have to make do. The wristers are better than nothing, honestly. And eventually I’m going to go to the kitchen and make soup or something. I can’t have tea or coffee, since I ran out of sugar this afternoon. The grocery store on campus doesn’t appear to have sugar, so I keep stealing packets from the dining hall breakfasts. Of course, I wouldn’t be able to go through an entire box of sugar in six months anyway, so this ends up working out a little better.

I am really good at this college thing

My textbooks have finally arrived! This means I can actually do my reading assignments! Now I won’t look like the lame American who can’t get her life together in seminar!

Speaking of seminar, I’m not sure if I mentioned that I am the only American. I expected this. I did not expect a random guy to come up to me afterwards and say, “I love how you say ‘Renaissance.’” That is the first time I have ever heard anyone say anything favourable about an American accent. Some of the girls in my flat made fun of me for mispronouncing “Vanbrugh,” but that’s really all I’ve heard about it. I then proceeded to chat with random guy (his name is Jae, I believe) until I got back to my flat. So I’m making friends based on the way I pronounce things, which I guess is alright.

Oh, the Brits pronounce “Renaissance” as “Ren-aye-sance,” as opposed to the American “Ren-uh-sance.” Go figure.

More Idle Observations and Some Rather Irrational Terror

Have some more idle observations.

whoever said the British couldn't cook was a LIAR

I had a class today! It was strange. And not just because all of my American friends are enjoying their Monday off and I have to go to class. I’ll have my revenge when bank holidays roll around.

"Green Street Hooligans" is full of LIES

I’m finally experiencing homesickness, and like most of my emotions, it’s for wildly irrational reasons.

Cruithne!

York isn’t as cold as I thought it was.

Case in point: I walked to the vending machines in just a sweater yesterday. I desperately needed a packet of crisps, and I didn’t want to put on my jacket. I wasn’t freezing! It was exciting.

I just want to curl up in bed and watch TV or something

So you want a blog post about the University, do you?

First things first. I bought a coke, a sandwich, and two candy bars for under £5. This is a major accomplishment, and I know how I’m going to be eating on weekends from here on in. Unless I make friends who can teach me about the kitchens, of course. And I’m still unclear on how the dining card works, but when I was going to ask the front desk it was closed. At any rate, York is in the middle of finals week, so I can give them some time to get into the swing of things.

I have not found the Grand Old Duke of York yet.

HUGE post, since it encompasses several days. Also, there was a mini-update before this where I complain incessantly about the hostel. You should read that, too.

The weather here is not great. It’s overcast and cold, making everything seem much more dreary. It also makes me tired, since in this sort of weather all I want to do is curl up and take a nap. Of course, I do need to go out and about, since I’m going to be living here for the next six months and I’m going to need to figure out how, for example, the bus system works. Oh, and I have to top up my phone.

INCOHERENT RAGE

I am currently staying in the worst hostel ever. The reviews said it would be bad, but this is ridiculous. There are, so far, no redeeming features. Yes, I have only been here for half an hour, tops. But I have already made my decision.

York YHA is the worst hostel I will stay in for the next six months.

I am not funny

Alright, time to explain everything that happened at Orientation. We were very, very, very busy. I don't have time to attempt wit with this post, because so many things happened.

Playing Catch Up

(This blog was written on January 4^th, 2011)

Here I am in a London Starbucks, with a terrible vanilla latte, a donut, and no access to WiFi. Why do I have no WiFi, you ask? Because they require a Starbucks Rewards Card thing, which I can’t sign up for because I’m unsure of what my address at York is. So there will be no WiFi for Anne until later today, but I figure that’s alright because all of my friends from home are likely sleeping right now anyway.

The hostel booted me from their establishment a little earlier than I had planned —apparently checkout there was at 10am, not 11am as I had thought. Just goes to show that I should probably ask people things rather than assuming a hostel operates like a normal motel. So I woke up at 9:30 and had to rush to gather all my things. I didn’t even get to enjoy the totally awesome breakfast deal they have. Instead, I get a crappy latte and a crappy donut. They don’t even have lemon pound cake! Or scones! What kind of coffee place is this?

I parted ways with Joanie and Agua — two of my hostel-mates, who I explored most of London with —this morning. All three of us are going on our separate ways: Agua is staying in London for a little longer, and Joanie is off to Dublin for a few days. I never did end up meeting the other two girls in the room, as one left after a day and the other always came in when I was asleep.

Since I have nothing of note to report, this blog post is going to cover all of the things I neglected to mention earlier.

I am behind on my blog posts

(Note: the events of this blog happened on January 2^nd. Therefore, it is slightly outdated and I can’t be arsed to fix it.)

So I finally bought my first pint!

Somehow I spent all of those weeks in Ireland and Spain mooching off other people. Even though I was legally able to purchase alcohol there, I never did. Though I did accept my free pint of Guinness from the Guinness factory, and I was kinda-sorta carded there because I was a little bit nervous about getting an entire pint of Guinness to myself. Legally.

But I have finally bought a pint of beer! For me! And it was wonderful! Well, not really, because it was some sort of ale-thing and I’m not fond of ale-type beers because they’re bitter, but still. It was my first pint purchased with my own money, and therefore it is special.

I am not good with electronics

I successfully managed to enter the United Kingdom! I am officially not a terrorist!

Unless you are a camera, in which case I might be a terrorist. Or a cruel, cruel overlord. Or perhaps one of those overlords that always means well but manages to screw everything up. Do those sorts of overlords even exist?

See, I managed to get to London and obtain my visa, but in doing so I somehow obliterated my brother’s camera.

I am too paranoid for my own good

This was the worst morning of my life. It even trumps those mornings that I wake up after only two hours of sleep and have to stumble to class. To put it simply, I have never had such a horrifying, panicky breakdown.

I need to preface this story with a short little info-dump...