Okay, since my life has been mostly essays and revision the last few weeks, I thought i'd share some UK TV with you guys. Basically, when I went to stay at my friend Lucy's over the Easter break, her mom got me absolutely addicted to the Voice! We have it in North America too, but in case you don't know what it is, there are ONLY good singers (none of those crazy William Hung-types like in American Idol) and the judges can turn around if they like what they hear. Each judge is allowed a team of ten, which becomes smaller and smaller until they all merge for the semi-finals. This is where the show is right now. See, this is a major problem for me, because I have three favourites on three different teams. Up until now i've been able to vote for all of them, but now that they are all merged, i'll only be able to vote for one! So i'm going to show them off to you and you can help me decide who to vote for this week!
Contestant 1 - Max Milner - Team Danny O'Donoghue
This is my all time favourite performance of the season so far:
How awesome is he?!
Contestant 2 - Ruth Brown - Team Tom Jones
That girl has lungs!
Contestant 3 - Tyler James - Team Will.I.Am
Random fact: Tyler was Amy Winehouse's best friend since they were little kids.
So please help me decide who to vote for!!! I seriously love them all so I can't decide!!!
Okay, so despite having a reputation for being the friend who nags everyone to post on their blogs more, I haven't posted on mine in over a month (gasp!). But there are two very good reasons for this:
My friend Lorraine posted on her blog a few weeks ago about how you can see stats of who is looking at your blog, so naturally curious, I checked mine out. 557 Russians read my blog in ONE WEEK. How many people do I know living in Russia? ZERO! So I was a little intimidated to post on my blog now that I knew all these strangers were reading it. So, if you're Russian, don't know me and are reading this, take a hint.
I have been SUPER BUSY! I know that I always say this, but for real - I had final essays, went to Spain and Morocco, spent Easter in Liverpool with my BBF (British Best Friend) Lucy, and am off to Manchester for the day (in like 15 mins, so this will be a fast post!).
I would love to post in detail about all of these things (and will, don't worry!) but all of the photos are up on facebook so that you can get a quick look for the time being. I also just booked a trip to spend Tuesday in Scotland and Wed-Sat in Amsterdam, so if i'm MIA it's just because i've gone off again - but I will definitely try to post about my trip before then. Then term starts again on the 23rd so I will be back and working hard on essays/studying (or catching up with the house!). Third term we only have two lectures for each class then get the rest of term to study...my last exam is on June 6th, so that is definitely a LOT of study time!
Because my catering (meal plan) is off for the month, I have also developed a full-fleged addiction to Weetabix and bananas (hint, hint, you should buy some for when I get home Mama).
On a bit of a sadder note, yesterday we had to say goodbye to my cat Snicklefritz...he was a part of our family for 15 years and we will definitely miss him a lot! It will be weird to go home and not have him waiting on the doorstep for me.
I've just mostly been spending this week making sure that everything is in order for the upcoming few busy weeks! Tomorrow is two of my housemates' birthdays so we are having a big fancy dress party. British people love fancy dress (aka wear costumes, not just fancy clothes)! Usually there is some kind of theme but this time it's just dress up as whatever you want - Lucy and I are going as Take Me Out girls and our friend Denis is going as Paddy, the host. Then Saturday night one of my flatmates is in a play called 'The Wonderful World of Dissocia' so we are going to go and have a flat outing to go and see that and support her. Then Sunday some of the study abroads and I are going on a tour Lancaster day because we realized that we haven't seen a lot of the sights that Lancaster has to offer yet! Then we are going for a goodbye dinner because two of them are only studying here for two terms so then they are going back next week :(! THEN Sunday night I am going to see Labrinth in concert with some of my house friends....for those of you who don't know, Labrinth is probably most famous for Earthquake, which I'm sure you've heard, but if not here's the link:
Then, I have to get busy and finish up my coursework because a week today I'll be in Ireland! Then i'm back for a week and it's last night out with the house then off for a month for Easter break!
Hello all - I'm not sure if anyone is even still reading this, but just in case, here's some of the highlights from my trip to Southern England with Emily! (Who, for those of you who don't know her travelled up from Canada to spend reading week with me):
Went to Shakespeare's birthplace and his grave
Saw a Shakespeare play preformed by the RSC in Stratford!
FINALLY went on the London Eye
Walked around Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, Covent Gardens, Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, the National Gallery and Oxford Circus
Watched a traditional Pancake Race/had pancakes for Pancake Tuesday
Went to King's Cross Station to see Platform 9 3/4
Went to a Canadian "themed" bar
Wandered around Oxford University - seen where they filmed the stairs, great hall, library and hospital wing from Harry Potter
Went to the Eagle and the Child pub where the Inklings used to meet (C.S. Lewis, Tolkein, etc.)
Went to the Roman Baths
Went to Stonehenge
Had afternoon tea at the oldest house in Bath
Went to Jane Austen's house/museum
Also, it's leap year on wednesday - apparently in Britain it's tradition for girls to propose to guys on a leap year!
Not much is new in my life because, guess what? I've been sick :( But fear not, I am on the mend now thanks to the dozens of litres of orange juice (in England = fresh orange) i've been downing! I've been busy too! On friday, the lovely Emily Woodbeck is coming to visit me and we are going to tour the South of England - Stratford, London, Oxford, Bath and Stonehenge. I love travelling, but booking train tickets, attractions and hostels is not my favourite part of the experience! The 10 days we will be gone will also be the longest time i've been away from my housemates since Christmas - it will definitely be weird! Then when I come back I am going to see Labrinth in concert and then off to Ireland in March and hopefully lots more places for my Easter break. It's been stressful trying to deal with the crunch of managing schoolwork, social life and travel these past few weeks but it's definitely worth it.
I was just helping my friend Becca with her flights to, because she is coming to visit me in Canada! She is going to come back with me in July and stay for two weeks or so...i'm really excited and you'll all love her! :)
Tonight for Valentine's Day, our bar is doing a version of 'Take Me Out' which is a really popular British game show (not going to lie, I'm completely addicted!). Essentially, 30 girls stand there and a guy comes out and says a few things about himself, shows a video about his life and does a talent, and if the girls don't like him they turn off their lights and he can choose one of whoever is left at the end to go on a date with - YouTube it, it's really funny!
So two exciting things happened to me this week...the first is that I have officially booked my trip to Ireland for St. Patrick's Day! Six of us study abroads are going - we'll spend a few days in Belfast and then head over to Dublin for St. Patrick's Day, stay up all night and hop on our 5 am flight the next day! I've been saying that I wanted to spend St. Patrick's Day in Ireland ever since I got accepted for exchange, so i'm thrilled that i'll actually get to do it! Secondly (and admittedly less excitingly) I spent the day in Preston on Sunday - we went to a museum there and I learned that Rick Astley and Kim Catrall are both from Lancashire! Then we went shopping, had dinner and hopped on the train back!
In other news, the flu is now officially spreading around my house (the joys of dorm living...) so i've been busy sanitizing, popping vitamins and generally avoiding anyone who looks sick....so keep your fingers crossed that might next post isn't titled 'I'm Sick!'. My friend who lived in our house first term from Spain is also coming up to see us all for a week tonight, so that will be exciting and on wednesday we are having a "birthday party" for Harry, our favourite One Direction-er (a band) so should be a good time!
Oh, the life of an English major! But fear not, I have made some time for fun and am working hard with my study abroad friends to find our way to Ireland for St. Patrick's Day...wish us luck, it's really difficult to find hostels! Also think that I have drunk my weight in tea this week...still busy catching up with everyone! Hope that you are all having a more exciting week then I am!
