Party, Weird Weather, & Archery

I know I haven't posted anything in a while, but I thought I would post when I had something interesting to share.

The first was on Friday (Oct.24) when I went to my friend Rahul's party. It wasn't as fun as I thought it would be since the dope invited mostly girls and 90% of those were undergrads. Then he turned all the lights off except the blue neon ones where it picks up anything white. There was pizza though, which was really tasty. Not like home makes it, but it was close. I met a few new people (girls), but I got bored and left near 11pm with some others.

Saturday I was looking forward to the Robin Hood Festival. However, I didn't feel well when I woke up and then I looked outside and it was raining. Needless to say conditions were not the best to romp around outside.

Sunday was archery, and they told us that they would be picking the best 8 or 9 novices to go to a novice competition. I'm not really good at archery, and my performance on Sunday wasn't any better.

So today, on Wednesday I went to practice some more. Guess what?! I did much better and even scored a ten! At competition distance. It's my first at that distance!! I took a picture below. Barely, but it's a ten. On the line counts. I also took some pics of the line-up of archers that shoot. Enjoy!

I Have a Love/Hate Realtionship with Sundays

Today, archery was the first on my scheduled events. I got up plenty early, but couldn't seem to get out the door on time, plus I forgot my sign-off sheet for them to sign that I completed that portion of the training. Lovely. And today it was all about form. So I had a guy behind me (which I hate when people stand behind me) and say, "Don't lean forward, no, no, like this, yes, yes. And pull the string against your nose, yes, yes. Pull straaaaaiiiiight baaaack..." in a British accent that is distracting anyway, and it took the joy out of the whole experience. I'm going back, but if someone else stands behind me and narrates every freaking move I make again, I may just smack them. Maybe. I go to these archery sessions to get all my frustration and some aggression out. It failed today.

Although, I connected with my more cuddley side before I left and met a cat. The people at the Sports Centre take care of her. At least I think it was a female, since she had a collar with pink hearts on it. She was white with black spots, and she was sleeping like the dead. I came up and petted her and she barely twitched, I had to scrath underneath her shin to get any purring. Such a sweety. It was the highlight of my day. I miss my Della at home!

Then I had to walk to the Library, which I usually have to do every Sunday, so it was alright. I can actually feel myself getting used to walking the hills. I doesn't feel as though I've run a marathon and I'm two seconds away from pulling my hamstring. Yeah! Then I sat in the library putting together a PowerPoint I'm not even being graded on, but it was enlightening just the same.

Next I had to go into Beeston, since this Wednesday I can't. I have a session/lecture that I have to attend. I just made it into the grocery store 15 minutes before closing. Then I proceeded to run around the store frantically grabbing everything I would need for the week. Mom sent me some tuna (why she thought there was no canned tuna in England, I have no idea. It was appreciated, but I was puzzled nonetheless.) Tuna here is one pound per can. So score one for Mom! I got some eggs (which England does not refrigerate apparently. I mean they just sit on shelves on an aisle. I thought those things went bad if they sit out to long? Am I wrong?) and tried to find some sweet dill pickles. I asked one of the ladies who works there, and she gave me the owlish look that says, "I have no idea what just came out of your mouth." and I assumed those too do not live in England. I get that look a lot and I'm getting very acquainted with it. They pickle everything else though. Thus was my quest to put together a perfect tuna sandwich. Minus the pickles.

I took some pictures of the town, and now you too can see how dead it was around 4:30 pm on a Sunday evening. Enjoy!



Remember, this is BEEston. This is a statue of a (historically famous) guy covered in tiny little bee sculptures. The picture doesn't show it really well. Then there's the hive right across from him.



I saw this cute little gate on my way home. There's a squirrel in the distance. I miss the squirrels at Austin College.

Beer Fest & A Robin Hood Arrow

This weekend I was unusually busy. In a good way, thankfully. On Saturday morning I went to Nottingham Castle and attended a Beer Festival. I had never been to one, so I thought, "Why not?" Personally, I dislike the taste of beer, especially European beer, mostly because it is generally heavier and hazy. But I decided to go anyway, it still sounded fun. It was 3.50 pounds to get in, then I had to put down a deposit on a glass. When I wanted to leave, I exchanged the unbroken glass for deposit. If one wanted a whole 1/2 pint, there were tokens costing 1.20 pounds each, but I discovered you could just ask for a taste, and they only gave you a small amount. This was fine by me, since that was all I wanted in the first place. I enjoyed tasting the ciders, but the Perry Ciders were too sweet. If a person doesn't like the taste of a particular beer, then all you had to do was pour it into the grass. After a while, the smell beneath the tents was rank because of this. Masses of bodies, grass, and stale beer is not a pleasant smell. The food served at the festival included fish & chips, (British)beef hamburgers, seafood (raw oysters, shrimp, mussels, crab, lobster sticks etc.) and my favorite was a whole roasted hog. It was delicious. There weren't many places to sit, which would be my only complaint, but otherwise, I had a great time.

On Sunday morning I always attend archery, and I'm glad I did that day. Every beginner got to use their own bow, so there was less waiting in line, and more shooting. The amazing part of the session was that somebody shot a "Robin Hood" which hasn't happened in years. You're probably thinking, "What is a 'Robin Hood?'". Well it's when somebody shoots an arrow into or splits another arrow already on the target. The amazing part was that these arrows are hollow metal, so you could see metal peelings where the second arrow entered the back of the first. Another crazy thing was that the kid who made the shot did it by pure dumb luck! If I were him I'd go buy a lotto ticket pronto.

The only downside of this weekend is that I forgot to carry around my camera, so I have no pictures as of now. I am trying to have others send me theirs though, so there may be pictures in the future!

Boring Week, and a Play

So, this week was more of the same. I didn't really want to blog every day of the week, mostly because my days are now about the same. Monday: class at 10 am, go back to my room and study. Tuesday: Tutor meeting at 9:30 am, wait around for class at 1:30pm, then go back to my room at 5:30 and study. Wednesday: sleep in, catch up on my shows at www.surfthechannel.com, go shopping for food, and do laundry. Thursday: class at 9 am, go back to my room and study. I know! Such a riveting week! How could I not blog about every second!!!

At lest today, on Friday, I was able to do something blog-worthy. I went to a play: "All Quiet on the Western Front". I never read it in school, but I had no idea it was about WWI. Kind of morbid, but very funny in parts because there are only 8 male actors, and there are female parts in the play, so the men were made to dress up in scarves and act feminine. My favorite was the three actors who had to play French prostitutes. That was so funny!! Plus, all the characters were supposed to be German, and they all had thick British accents. There were parts that I had trouble understanding completely, but I got the gist. Anyway, that was the highlight of my day. Guess what I did earlier today...study!

Tomorrow will be fun, but that's for tomorrow's blog.

Good Night!

The weekend was relatively uneventful, other than some shopping I did on Saturday and archery this morning. A friend of mine suggested this really great cheap store, Primark, to go shopping for some clothes. I got 3 shirts for 12 pounds! I love finding great deals like that.

On Friday I took some random pictures of Jubilee Campus. It has swans! It's very pretty, even when the weather is cloudy and rainy.




I also couldn’t resist taking some pictures of the flock of geese on the University Campus




And this morning I found out the wrong way to extend my arm when holding the bow during archery. The string caught my arm and this is what happened:



So other than that great start to my day, I finished my romance book, drank some tea, ate a few biscuits and then started on my studying for next weeks classes.

Goose Fair!!!

Today I mostly studied, but I was really looking forward to tonight. I had no idea what a Goose Fair was, I thought it would include the geese I see walking around University Campus all the time. Silly me! It was actually like a county fair with rides, games, candy and food. Some foods I didn't even recognize.



I found out that cotton candy is called candy floss here. Same difference, right?

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And here are some general pictures of the fair:








I also met a dog named Brad. Very cute chocolate lab that wanted to play fetch with a slimy stick. I threw it for him a few times and then my friend Rahul became friends as well with him.




And I found out another interesting fact about fairs in Britain. They sell coconuts. 2 for 1 pound. Too bad I left my coconut opener at home.




At the end Inga, Rahul and I all went on a Merry-Go-Round.





And now I am tuckered out. I am going to bed since it's after midnight. I still have more studying to do tomorrow. But this morning I got all of Monday's reading done, next will be Tuesday and I still need to get some books for Thursday's class. I'll probably pick up the reading for the next Monday (13th). There is so much to do, sometimes I don't think I'll ever be done. Which I won't, for a year at least.

Good Night!

Happy Pumpkin Month!

So I tried to post something yesterday but my Internet connection was shaky at best, so that didn't pan out so well. It was alright though because it wasn't the most exciting day. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy not having any classes yesterday, but I basically did three things. The first was getting rejected from a study that could have paid me 60 pounds to get 4 MRI's. But since it involves magnets and I have a tiny wire behind my lower front teeth, that was a no go. Oh, well, the girl was nice and I made a friend. Next I went to Nottingham looking for a book by an author I like. The bookstore only had one of hers I hadn't read, but at least I got one! I would have tried the library but by that time, they were closing. Everything closes down between 5 and 7 pm. Except the pubs, which close at 11 pm. Then I went on a food run into Beeston, got a disgruntled look from the check-out lady when I handed her a 50, but it's the only place that will take them.

Today I got up at the ungodly hour of 7 in the morning (sleep...mmm...love sleep) and went to a class that forced me to take notes for the sole purpose of staying awake. But I can say, the professor did try to be entertaining, and would have been if he had his class at a later time in the day. Then I went back to my room and became a geek and studied. I still have two more papers to read for Monday's class, at least one paper for Tuesday's, and two books for Thursday's class (which I need to get tomorrow). I have turned into a geek, I realize this, but at least I let my mind rest with a little romance mixed into it everyday. If I didn't I think I'd go brain dead from info overload. Later (around midnight) I'm going to call my old friend, Jacquie, from my RA days and surprise her on her birthday. Then I'm going to start another book before going to bed.

Night Everyone!