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I’m going to post this update a few days early since I’ll be headed to Dublin tomorrow. Tourist mode: activating. I don’t know if I’ll post daily but, I’m taking my camera so expect pictures. Without further ado here’s my week in review (Yes, I made it rhyme on purpose).

Thursday night after my last weekly update, I booked a tour at the Old Jameson Distillery in Dublin. So far it’s the only thing that I have planned. It was one of the most recommended things in Dublin so, hopefully it lives up to the hype.

On Friday, I really don’t know what I did for most of the day. In the evening, I went to laser tag with the Snowsports club. Both games I was the second best player. The arena was probably the best one that I’ve ever played which says a lot considering I’ve played at several places in the States. Afterwards we went to the Cooper Rose where I had fish and chips and a pint. I also had a bottle of Angry Orchard cider. It’s the best cider that I’ve tried to date. Better yet, it’s American and is likely in a store near you unlike my previous favorite, woodpecker. Hanging out with the group was fun even though I have no idea what they were taking about most of the time (British accents get hard to understand when there’s more than one Brit in a conversation).

On Saturday, I had scuba in the morning. I completed my fifth and final scuba module. Now I just have to take the final exam and complete my open water dives to become a certified scuba diver. I think that I might move onto my advanced open water certification next semester. For my dives on Saturday I wore a drysuit. The water in the lake that the club dives in is cold, the air temperature here gets into the lower 50s now. This would make the water temperature beneath the surface even lower. This makes a drysuit ideal as air is a better insulator than water which, keeps you much warmer. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to be in a vacuum chamber, try diving in a drysuit (it’s not comfortable). Surprisingly when I got out of the pool, I found that I got more soaked from walking to the scuba shop than I actually did from two hours in the pool. After scuba I went grocery shopping and bought a footlong from subway for dinner. Then I went back to Clanny and started working on my film analysis essay. I’m doing an awful job and so far only have 500 of 1500 words. Worse yet, I haven’t found enough sources yet to support my writing. I should be able to get it better before it’s due though (I really don’t want to take my laptop to Dublin with me). Saturday overall was a great day, bring it on homework and laundry Sunday!!!

Sunday
I shouldn’t have asked for Sunday to bring it. I don’t like writing essays. I got 1,150 out of 1,500 words done though. I did laundry and packed too.

It’s Monday!!! I’m leaving tomorrow morning for Dublin. I’m do excited, it’s my first time leaving Sunderland in the eight and a half weeks I’ve been here. I also figured out how to plug my camera into my phone to transfer photos. It’s going to be an early morning to get to the airport on time.

 

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Not much significant has been happening lately as I’ve settled into a routine now. For this reason I’ve decided to start doing weekly updates. This week I read a lot on my kindle. I bought the Maze Runner series and so far have finished the first three books or what is known as the Maze Runner trilogy. I’m on the fourth book now, The Kill Order, and am having a hard time getting into it since it’s a prequel with entirely new characters.

Next week is reading week for most of my classes meaning that I won’t have many classes to go to. I went to RyanAir’s site and found that there are only three places that they fly out of Newcastle to. Two of them are in Spain and the other is Dublin. I decided that Dublin would probably be a better first trip since, I want to be able to speak better Spanish when I go to Spain on a future trip. After booking my flight, I went to HostelWorld.com and booked a bed in a hostel near the city center. I don’t have an itinerary for my trip and plan on winging it. Some of the typical tourist attractions look promising like Trinity College and, the Guinness Storehouse both of which are near where I’m staying. If you’ve ever been to Dublin and have a suggestion of someplace that I should visit or have a question or something to say please leave a comment on this post.

The day after I get back from Dublin, I will probably go on my first open water dives. The air temperature here has been in the mid to upper 50s (Fahrenheit) lately so I’m getting trained on using a drysuit so I don’t become a human popsicle.

Lastly, today is the 5th of November. The fireworks are crazy tonight, maybe even more than the 4th of July. Why? The 5th of November is the day that Guy Fawkes and members of the Catholic church were caught and prevented from carrying out their plot of blowing up the British Parliament and King in 1605.

 

I’ll leave you with this picture facing out over Sunderland from the top of ski hill that I forgot to post a couple of weeks ago.
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And another picture taken off the bridge that go over every day to get to class on the St.Peters campus.
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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)

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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.

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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!!!