A Couple of British Things

February 2-5

On Chris' birthday I took the day off to catch up on some TV shows and to rest my feet. I had planned to go to the Baltic with some exchange students, but decided that probably wasn't a good idea since I'd been walking far too much up to this point.

On Sunday I went to the Sunday Quayside market, which is an outdoor market held every Sunday on the Quayside (that area where all the bridges are). It had been a couple days since the snow had fallen, so I wrongfully assumed that the sidewalks would be de-iced, or at least covered in sand/gravel at this point. Wearing my sneakers, I slid along, and thankfully did not fall as I descended down to the riverside.

It was an interesting market. I didn't buy anything, but in the future I might. While looking at some books I met another Canadian from Newfoundland who had actually applied to my Uni for grad school. I warned him about the hill. It is certainly something to keep in mind when picking a campus.

My friends and I hunted down some english brunch, after walking through the market. We went to this one place that was far too popular for its size. Then, we went to another place, where I had bookmarked on my phone mainly because it allowed dogs in. I ordered the full english, which consisted of bacon, a fried egg, toast, sausages, tomato, mushroom, and of course, baked beans.

I was not a fan of the beans. They were far too sweet and ketchup-tasting for me. Everything else was alright. You can probably guess the two items I didn't bother tasting.

After eating we headed up into the city centre to explore Primark. I needed another pair of pyjama pants, as wearing one pair every night makes them dirty a lot faster (and laundry is expensive here). I also got myself two new shirts (two colours I didn't already have). Primark had a lot of fan apparel for more than just Harry Potter (Friends, GOT, RuPaul, Disney, etc.)

See anything you like, dad?

Afterwards, I got some groceries at Sainsbury's and walked home.

I skipped my only Monday morning lecture as it was on the Faerie Queene. An epic poem written in the olde English style that I despise. As I'll never be tested on it, I figured this would be alright to miss. That night was this exchange dinner at this church that a bunch of us went to. It was Chinese night, and all you had to do was pay 2.50 for the meal. I was expecting maybe a Chinese buffet or something, but it was just an egg noodle dish. Still very good, but not anything unique to try. It was also incredibly awkward, so a couple of use left early and found a pub to watch a football game.

One of my friends was hungry, as the Chinese noodle dish was not a lot to eat, so we went to Taco Bell. I ate a burrito there, kept a taco for breakfast the next morning, and a churro to eat after walking home. The churro was actually really good.

On Tuesday, I headed to campus with my laptop for the first time, and a lot of tasks to accomplish. I didn't really take notes in my lecture (I'm finding that because I'm only tested on such little information, that all these lectures feel irrelevant). Also, all of them are recorded and the slides are posted online. After class I had an hour before my meeting with my study group. So, I walked around looking for areas to study in the future, shortcuts around, and hunting for water fountains (only one I've seen was in the new library which is far from the main campus). I also looked for some more of my English books at Blackwell's, and got some and then some (found a gift for someone back home that is small and compact and was on sale).

I then ended back in Percy building and got a good spot at a table for my group to meet at.

The study group was really helpful as we were talking about Billy Eliot and the history of it, as it is based in Durham county (which is basically where Newcastle is). They both told me about all the history outside of what is told in the play and then I explained what I understood being an outsider who knew nothing of the history, and basically saying how well the play explains those conflicts that were going on (especially Thatcher).

After our meeting I headed to the library to write up my 500 word critical analysis of Billy Eliot that was due for my seminar later. It didn't take long to write it, but it took forever to figure out how to print it. I went floor-to-floor. Finally finding the correct printer my paper popped out of, and headed to the re-freshers fair. I was going to look for the ice hockey table to get some more info about it, but there wasn't a table for it. I took that as a reason I probably should do something that's less time constraining and effortful (I'm here to travel not do something I can easily do back home). There were some interesting clubs, Pole dancing, Marxism, grounders, cocktail making, and debate are just a few of the many I saw. I got some free candy and paper and left.

I had a lot of time on my hands, so I went with my friends to Tesco, where I was shown the bigger Tesco (still the size of the grocery section at the Walmart in Freddy) but bigger than the gas station sized markets that are the Tesco express and Sainsbury's. I also found my favourite candy (3 for a pound!) and got some classic British biscuits (Digestives). There was also this cereal I bought that reminded me of honey bunches of oats so I bought it. Basically it's honey frosted flakes, and it is delicious.

I also explored Poundland, which was next door, but did not find anything to my liking.

At my seminar I met some more people in my class and learned more about Newcastle just based on the fact that Billy Eliot was so central to the history of this city. I was complimented on the 500 word write-up I wrote in less than a half-hour and then we were given examples of first-class papers. These were papers that had been graded as an A (70% here). I was expecting far more than what I read. There were sentences that said "In this essay I shall argue..." and "The point I am making is..." as well, the dreadful "I hope to..." which always makes one confident in one's argument. This is the style of essay I write first before I edit it to make it actually good. I wonder if I'll be able to make it about the 85% cutoff, which I found out is basically the highest mark anyone has gotten in recent years on one of those papers.

After class, I booked it home. It was a very rainy day, and I didn't want my groceries to get too soaked.

I've started to make a "only in the UK" list for TV shows an movies, so I can take full advantage of my area code. The saddest thing is that the free QI episodes on Youtube are blocked. There are 3 seasons on Netflix, but I'm 6 episodes short of being where they start off. Another annoying thing is that because the the EU internet policy, every site asks for my permission and tells me about their use of cookies. It is incredibly annoying.