Today I got up and did laundry. While I was doing laundry I started working on my space law paper. When I went back to my room, I went on Tesco’s site and started grocery shopping. When I finished I scheduled delivery for Sunday which only cost me £4.
Month: October 2015
Tag vierunddreißig
Today, I woke up and worked on some of my German homework. Then I watched the last episode of Battlestar. I wasted a bunch of time after this before I went to class. In class we started learning numbers hence the title “Tag vierunddreißig” or Day 34. After class, I went back to the flat and watched a couple of movies. The second one was called Gattica. It is realistic sci-fi because, what else do I watch? The premise is that DNA can be controlled and humans are genetically designed to be perfect. Natural birth is frowned upon and those that are if natural birth are second rate citizens. The story follows a person who dreams of going to space but, had imperfect DNA. It is definitely worth a watch. After watching the movie, I typed this post and went to bed.
Day 33: Learning to swim
Today I woke up in pain from snowboarding and took a couple ibuprofen. I had all my normal classes except for my games technology tutorial since the professor is in the hospital. After my classes, I took the 700 to city campus and walked to the scuba centre for my second closed water lesson.
At the centre, I took my test and got my kit then waited until we were ready to go to the pool. I was the only person taking the CW2 lesson. The first skill was a full mask flood and then a minute without a mask on. Clearing a mask is easy so, the full mask flood wasn’t bad. The second part of removing the mask for a minute wasn’t great though. Every time I would breathe out through my regulator, the bubbles would go straight up my nose. It was only for a minute though. The next skill was to find or what it feels like when you’re or of air. For this skill, the instructors turn of your tank and, you signal at 50bars and when you’re out. When you signal that you’re out they immediately turn it back on so, you never actual get to the point that you’re “drowning”. All of this was suppose to be in the deep end but, I couldn’t get my left ear to equalize at the beginning. After completing the skills, I was free to swim around and practice with adjusting my buoyancy. Apparently, I use my finds like I’m riding a bike and not like I’m swimming. Because of this and the fact that I couldn’t equalize, the instructor told me that I need a couple practice sessions before I can move on to CW3. I scheduled the first fire this Saturday. Back at the flat, I ate done sandwiches and watched a couple more episode of Battlestar.
Day 32: Freezing
Today, I woke up freezing. One of the worst things about the flat is that the heaters in our rooms will only stay on for two hours at a time. In the common areas, they stay on but, take 24 hours to warm up. The outdoor temperature this morning was in the 40s so, I’m guessing the flat is in the 50s. I have an idea though, it’s probably against some rule. I could buy an Arduino and servo then program them to push the button at certain times.
At my first class, my film studies seminar, we talked about genre. And talked and talked and talked. British students are very polite and patient. It took fifteen minutes of extra class time before someone told the teacher class was long over. This is only scheduled as a one hour class. I honestly didn’t mind as it’ll probably be beneficial later in the semester. After class, I got on the bus to go to the bank before Spanish class.
Spanish class was good. Then I went back to Clanny where I made a pizza for dinner and, picked up my snowboarding gear. Then, I went back to CitySpace.
Snowboarding was a ton of fun though, dry slopes are not like snow at all. Basically they’re metal grids with a carpet like material covering them. I managed to learn how to ride a button lift. For those of you that don’t know, button lifts were designed for skiers. Basically, there is a pole with a puck at the end that pulls you up the slope (you put it between your legs so, it’s difficult when your sideways on the mountain/hill). I was proud of myself when, I finally made it to the top on like my fifth try. I took a picture that I’ll try to pull off my camera and post soon. Basically, the ski slope overlooks the city, hopefully the picture turned out. I managed not to fall and used both heel and toe sides on my second to last run. I also met some of the SnowSports club members. One of them taught me how to ride the lift, thank you. They were all pretty cool. I can’t wait to do it again next week. I also hope that I can make it to some of the socials which, are on Wednesdays.
After boarding I went back to Clanny and, took a hot shower and a couple ibuprofen. Snowboarding is by far not painless and dry slopes are even worse. Nothing some ibuprofen and a bag of mixed vegetables (only frozen food I have other than pizza; icepack) can’t help though. Next I watched an episode on Netflix (3 episodes left in the last season of Battlestar), finished this post and, went to bed. (Country music playing in the background)
Day 31: Creepy movie
Today, I went to the St.Peter’s campus for class. Before class, I bought myself a mocha. I really like mochas but, the amount of caffeine in their coffee here, wow. For example the Starbucks drinks here all have a shot of espresso more than their American counterparts. After I got my coffee, I went to my film studies lecture. I’m starting to enjoy this class. Today we started the lesson on genre which will be a three week long block. After lecture, I went to the library and updated my blog. People have been asking for pictures so here one is.
I really don’t like filters but, it was overcast and I couldn’t get the color balance right (the boats are really bright colors). So, the picture with this filter looked better. This is the view out the window of where I was sitting in the library. Pretty much every class I’m in on this campus has a similar view. After updating my blog, I went to my movie screening. The movie this week was called Repulsion. It wasn’t really scary but, it seemed really creepy. I was shaking for a while after. Though my shaking could probably be blamed on my caffeine high and the fact I was hungry. After the movie screening, I went back to the library to eat then, I went to my space law class. Space law was OK today. It’s getting really repetitive. So far ask we have talked about is history and 75% of it is the USSR and US. Next week, we’re going to start on actual law. The professor will make a custom advice podcast for us if we submit a 500-1000 word extra rough draft to him. After class, I headed to CitySpace to sign up for the SnowSports club. After signing up, the number of IDs I carry in my wallet increased to seven. I already get to use my membership tomorrow at the Silksworth dry ski slope, In stoked about it. When I was done at CitySpace, I went back to the flat. I worked on my scuba homework (yes, you have to study the material on your own, they don’t just let you in the pool) then, researched what I need to wear and how to use a button lift on a snowboard for tomorrow. Next I watched an episode of Battlestar and listened to the Piano Guys on Spotify before bed. This is going to be a great week as long as I don’t get sick. Snowboarding Tuesday, scuba Wednesday and, maybe an out of town trip this weekend. And some people tell me I need to get out of my room, lol.
Update:
I almost forgot to add that I installed a new plug in that gives me a total word count of all the posts on my site, almost 9,500!!!
Day 30: Food
Today I slept in and forced myself out of bed around 13:00. I decided for lunch that I’d use my McDonald’s coupon which is a BigMac and medium drink for £1.99. I decided when I got to about Aldi that I didn’t want to walk all the way to town and all the way back. So, I went grocery shopping at Aldi. I bought enough food to last the entire week and only spent about £15. Back at the flat, I cooked one of the pizzas that I just bought then went upstairs and alternated between Netflix and homework. In the process, I also got the printer set up. Luckily, this week all of my space law reading was available online. This meant that I didn’t have to walk all the way to the St. Peter’s campus library law section or have to writer about rushing to get my reading done tomorrow. I had fish sticks for dinner then, went back to Netflix/studying. When I finished my homework, I got on Amazon and ordered a folding backpack to replace the one I bought over the summer. I used it so much that it started to rip. They’re really useful to have since, you can put it in a pocket until you need it and, all bags now cost 5p at the store as of October first. It’s actually a really smart idea charging for disposable bags and it’s something I wouldn’t mine if they started doing in the US. The bag fees at Tesco even get donated to a charity. Shortly after ordering my bag, I went to bed.
Day 29: USB cable
Today marks my fifth week of being here. I’m getting really bad with titles for these blog posts as I get into a routine. I might go out of town this weekend to change it up.
Today, I got up at 13:00 and did laundry. After I finished doing laundry, I went to Ryman and bought the USB cable I needed for the printer. Afterwards, I went back to the flat and watched hours of Netflix. I also started to see how Battlestar Galactica bears a close resemblance to Blade Runner, the film we watched last week for film studies. I had my last pizza tonight for dinner and an now out of food. I should probably go grocery shopping sometime.
Day 28: Royals
Today I went to the bank to get change to do laundry. Next, I went to a place called falcon computers to buy a printer for the flat. When I was checking out, they wouldn’t take my US debit card since they claimed my signature doesn’t matchup the back of my card. I was like I can give you 50 different proofs of my identity (exaggeration but, I literally have at least 6 different student IDs now). The owner said that they don’t usually accept swipe cards and asked if I had a different form of payment. So I ended up having to use my UK debit. I probably won’t go back there again since I want to use my UK debit exclusively at the ATM. After I went back to Clanny, I tried setting up the printer to find it doesn’t even come with the USB cable that’s required.
I went upstairs and watched Netflix. After a while of this, I got bored and started looking for someplace to watch the Royals game. It wasn’t to hard to find a pub near me. I asked my flatmates on Facebook if they wanted to go but, nobody wanted to go with me so I went alone. At the pub, the England v. Albania game was on so I had to wait for it to be over. After it was over, there was another group of people watching rugby so I had to wait for it to be over. When they finally got ESPN on, the Toronto game was still on in their 14th inning. When I checked the royals score on my phone, I saw they were losing 4 to 2 so I decided not to wait. It was OK that I didn’t get to see the royals have though. They had live music and I talked to the pub owner who was sitting next to me for a while. The woodpecker cider was good and it was only £2.70 per pint, I had two. The best part though is that they know what country music is. One of the bartender’s favorite artists is Garth Brooks. They usually play country and a little bit of everything else during karaoke on Saturday nights so, I might go back for it sometime. After I left the pub, I went back to Clanny house and watched Netflix until bed. I kind of wish that I would’ve waited for the royals game since they ended up winning.
Day 27: scuba equipment
Today, I didn’t have any classes until 16:30. Around 13:00, I went to the scuba shop and bought myself a scuba mask and snorkel. Finding one that fits right is surprisingly difficult. I still had too much time to spare so I went to Ryman Stationary to buy a pencil. The pencils in the UK are really expensive. I ended up buying a mechanical pencil that cost like £4.50 (cheapest I could find). Then I went back to campus and bought myself lunch and went to the library where I hung out for like 3 hours until I went to class. On the way home, I stopped at Aldi and bought food.
Day 26: Wednesday
Today I had my games technology class. The class is getting really pointless. For the lecture hour we learn about game theory and for the tutorial hour we do nothing. The teacher automatically expects us to figure out the UDK on hour own which is getting really frustrating. He doesn’t even know anything about it himself. I don’t know how in going to pass this class.