Today I forced myself to get up. I started out on homework by getting a rough outline of my space law paper done. Next I worked on my Spanish homework. When I was finished with that, I watched last nights episode of Doctor Who. Afterwards, I started working on my blog. If you visit my blog from a desktop, I now have autumn leaves along the sides. I also Skyped my parents who took me to church with them. I haven’t been up early enough on a Sunday to go in Sunderland yet. Around 16:00, or so I thought, I realized that my watch and computer times were out of sync. DST ends a week earlier here than it does in Kansas. This works in my favour this tone around because, the time difference is only five hours now. Next spring however, it will work against me and create a 7 hour time difference for a week. I watched some Netflix then went to bed after dinner.
Category: Leisure
Day 43: Fish Sticks
Today I got up around 13:00 because, I was up all night. I decided that I was going to go to Subway for lunch or, to Aldi to get groceries. I left the flat and walked in a direction that I haven’t gone before; down Pallion Street. I knew that there was a Subway and some other restaurants down that way. I was surprised that it was a less than five minute walk with Pizza Hut and, Domino’s also being along the way. If you’re ever in the UK don’t go to an American restaurant for food. The most expensive pizza you can find here in the UK is the cheapest in the US. Instead go to one of the several cheaper local places. So anyway, I found the Subway and decided that I wanted to just buy groceries for cost reasons. Their equivelant to a $5 footlong is a 5 pound footlong. This equates to a footlong costing over $7.50 not including a drink or chips or even a cookie. I walked the 15 minutes to Aldi from where I was and bought fish sticks, milk, a couple pizzas and, some boxes of granola bars. I then went back to the flat. I watched some Netflix until I went to bed. I wish that I could finish watching Supernatural. I’m stuck on season 5 and can’t watch the rest since they don’t have it in the UK Netflix catalog. I also can’t get Hola to work for me here and, I don’t know why probably need to spend some more time figuring it out.
Day 42: Cleaning
Today I woke up and decided to clean my room. I haven’t actually finished putting everything away in the 41 previous days that I’ve been here and, I haven’t cleaned my room at all since I’ve been here. I spent two and a half hours putting everything away. My room was a mess. Once I could see my floor, I vacuumed. We have the worst vacuum here, it’s a Hoover named James. This vacuum doesn’t even clean the carpet if you run it over the same area 50 times, no exaggeration. Next, I went downstairs and made myself lunch. Then, I went back up to my room and played in UDK for a while. Making buildings is easy but, lighting and, terrain is awful. After two hours of playing around, I finally quit. From what I’ve designed so far, the level is going to be an old west town on Mars. The lighting that I had fits it better and I don’t want to mess with it. Next, I booked my Spring Break. For spring break, I’m going to go on the University Snow Sports club trip. This is a trip to Val Thorens in France for a full week of skiing and, boarding. They say it’s the biggest party of the year. It was a pain to book though because, the bank froze my debit card. I called the bank and they couldn’t do anything since it’s a third party that does fraud detection. I called the number that they gave me and it told me 800 numbers aren’t free from outside of the States. I hung up since I’m not going to pay some crazy fee to get access to my money. Then I called my mom who called the number which wouldn’t talk to her because, her name isn’t on the card even though her name is on the account. When she hung up, she called the bank which forcefully made them reluctantly unblock my card. Finally, I watched some Netflix and started catching up on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. while on my iPad I had the Royals score. I finally went to bed at about 04:00 when the Royals game went into a rain delay.
Day 41: Revs
Today I woke up and did my German homework that I procrastinated from doing for almost a week. It took me about two and a half hours to do. Then I watched since Netflix until I went to the bus. I missed the bus. I was on time but, when is public transportation ever on time? I walked about fifteen minutes to campus instead. German was OK. It is by far not an easy language so far (Spanish is easier). After German, I went to revs for a USSC social. Revs which is short for r3volutions is a bar near the city center. There I received a revs clubs and societies card which gets me 50% off food, 2-4-1 cocktails (which are still really expensive) and, £1.50 soft drinks along with other drink discounts. I had a Bacon Burger with chips (British chips, I automatically typed chips instead of fries, OH NO!!!), a pint of beer (I don’t like beer) and, two diet Cokes for less than £11.00. After we finished eating, we competed in the pub quiz or as we call it, trivia. We didn’t do great and, I didn’t help much. Though there were since questions about America in the first round that I new the answers to. After the game, I walked home and watched Netflix for a while before the caffeine wore off and I could sleep.
Day 40: Scuba CW3
Today we actually had a lesson in games technology. I feel better about the class now that I know what I’m doing (kind of). The movie analysis workshop was boring this week. We literally analyzed the plot structure of a western for TWO hours. After my classes were over I rode the bus to city campus and, walked to the scuba shop. I took my quiz, got my kit and, received my briefing. Then, I waited a while before it was time to leave. In the pool, I finished my lesson really quickly than swam around until I ran out of air. Apparently, I still swim like I’m riding a bike. When I was leaving, one of the instructors told me that I’ll need a bigger tank for the open water dives. I guess I’m oxygen hungry. After diving, I went home and ate. Then Netflix. And finally sleep.
Día treinta y nueve
Today was a good day. I started with my normal Tuesday classes which were somewhat boring. In Spanish we learned our numbers 0-9 which, I’m sure everyone in America knows. I know the higher numbers and a lot more vocabulary from high school though hence today’s title. After class, I went back to my flat for dinner.
I don’t remember what I had for dinner but, at the flat I was more worried about getting my snowboarding gear together. After I got my snowboarding gear together, I got on the bus and went to CitySpace. I met up with done of the USSC (university snow sports club) members there and we took a taxi to Silksworth dry slope. This week was much better than last. I kind of started to figure out the dry slope and, I didn’t fall as much. I had a lot of fun again. After boarding, we took a taxi back to CitySpace. From there, I walked back to Clanny with one of the other members. I watched some Netflix then went to bed.
Day 37: Delivery
Today I woke up and waited for my groceries to be delivered. I was out of food and didn’t have anything to eat until then. When my food arrived in the timeframe that I scheduled it for, I made a stir fry with sweet and sour sauce. Afterwards I went upstairs and watched Netflix. For dinner, I had fish sticks, a salad, some ice cream and, a can of woodpecker cider. Afterwards, I went upstairs watched Netflix, worked on my space law paper and then went to bed.
Day 36: Swimming
Today, I went to scuba. I swam around underwater but, kept getting in everyone’s way. When I put my kit together I didn’t get my tank fastened enough so, about half way through it fell out of my BCD. In the future I will remember to get it tighter. My tank ran out of air too early too. It was only filled to 200bars instead of 230bars. I stopped when it got low and snorkeled around until it was time to get out. After scuba, I went to the city campus library and bought lunch from the Starbucks. I had an OK cheeseburger and by that I mean it was worse than McMindes back home. I went back to my flat where I watched Netflix and revised my Tesco order until I went to bed.
Day 35: Tesco’s online
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.
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.