So! Today was the big "book hostels for George and I in Scotland and Italy" day. And it went swimmingly! Here are the solidified, set in stone, charged to the credit card plans:
March 21-25: George arrives in Sheffield. We hang out, he gets grilled by roommates, Carl, etc all while recovering from jet lag. I laugh, and don't let him nap (it's for his own good!)
March 25: Leave for Edinburgh
March 25-27: Edinburgh with a day trip to the Highlands
March 28: Glasgow! Stalk Belle & Sebastian, drag George along.
March 29: hang out in Glasgow, fly to Rome
March 29 (late evening): Arrive in Rome
March 20-31: Rome
March 31: Train to Florence
April 1-2: Florence, catch late train back to Rome
April 3: George leaves for Chicago. I leave for Freiburg.
April 3-10: Hang out with Jacob in Freiburg.
These are the tentative plans post all of that:
April 10: take train/plane to Paris. Meet Kiernana and Carl.
April 10-13?: Soak up as much Paris as we can get. Be giddy.
April 13 or 14: get a plane back to Sheffield, trudge up Tapton Hill, collapse in our beds, shower properly, do tons of work.
This will be the craziest, busiest, most hectic three weeks of my life. I can hardly wait.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Thursday, February 22, 2007
UPDATE
I've figured out how to change the time on my blog, and so it now says the time here in Sheffield at the bottom of each post. Lame update, I know. But apparently some people didn't see the part where I explained that the blog was on Chicago time previously and thought I was at pubs blogging at 6 am. Some people are dumb and miss small details, which annoy me slowly throughout the night until I am forced to get out of bed and change it first thing in the morning.
In other news, the booking process for Easter break has begun. Check back for an itinerary within the next week! Hooray!
In other news, the booking process for Easter break has begun. Check back for an itinerary within the next week! Hooray!
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
How I spend my days
I'm in the Source right now, a computer "lab" on campus. There are 16 computers for student use. 16! It is crazy. People here aren't nearly as tied to their computers as Americans are, which I suppose is nice, since it allows them to be more connected to the truly important things in English life, like family, friends, pubs...
Anyways. I went to York on Saturday, which was fantastic. THe York Minster (cathedral) is huge and gorgeous. It has half of all the stained glass in Britain in its windows. Quite impressive, eh? Pix are up on the book for all yall to check out if you are bored. I've never been as much of a facebook stalker as I have been since I've been here. We have NOTHING to do at night except go to pubs (everything else is closed by 5:30) so we spend a lot of time sitting in each other's rooms talking or going on the nets and being bored. We've also spent lots of time figuring out spring break. I think some of my friends here are going to Egypt! I'm really jealous, but I know that my trips will be fun as well. Right now it looks like I will be going to Scotland (Edinburgh, Glasgow, maybe a day in the Highlands???), Italy(Florence and Rome), Germany (probably just Freiberg, the Schwarzwald, and Koeln) and Paris. Not much out of the ordinary tour of western Europa, but stuff I have never seen and would really like to. I am also planning some weekend trips to Oslo, Dublin, and London. Oh! And Madrid! I am planning on seeing Sara Higley and Alison Flatley while I'm there, so hopefully I will be able to stay with them and save some cash.
I'm really excited for this weekend. I'm going to Stonehenge and Bath. Although they don't let you go right up to Stonehenge anymore (booo) it will be amazing nonetheless, and Bath is supposed to be on eof the best cities in England. I am pumped. I do have to be at Bar ONe at 6:30 am to make the 5.5 hour bus ride, but I figure it was worth it for £20.
Everyone please send me lots of emails about what you are up to and your summer plans. I am hopefully going to be back in Chicago, but I am still searchingfor a job/apartment/roommate. Let's talk!
Have a wonderful day!
Love,
MEagan
Anyways. I went to York on Saturday, which was fantastic. THe York Minster (cathedral) is huge and gorgeous. It has half of all the stained glass in Britain in its windows. Quite impressive, eh? Pix are up on the book for all yall to check out if you are bored. I've never been as much of a facebook stalker as I have been since I've been here. We have NOTHING to do at night except go to pubs (everything else is closed by 5:30) so we spend a lot of time sitting in each other's rooms talking or going on the nets and being bored. We've also spent lots of time figuring out spring break. I think some of my friends here are going to Egypt! I'm really jealous, but I know that my trips will be fun as well. Right now it looks like I will be going to Scotland (Edinburgh, Glasgow, maybe a day in the Highlands???), Italy(Florence and Rome), Germany (probably just Freiberg, the Schwarzwald, and Koeln) and Paris. Not much out of the ordinary tour of western Europa, but stuff I have never seen and would really like to. I am also planning some weekend trips to Oslo, Dublin, and London. Oh! And Madrid! I am planning on seeing Sara Higley and Alison Flatley while I'm there, so hopefully I will be able to stay with them and save some cash.
I'm really excited for this weekend. I'm going to Stonehenge and Bath. Although they don't let you go right up to Stonehenge anymore (booo) it will be amazing nonetheless, and Bath is supposed to be on eof the best cities in England. I am pumped. I do have to be at Bar ONe at 6:30 am to make the 5.5 hour bus ride, but I figure it was worth it for £20.
Everyone please send me lots of emails about what you are up to and your summer plans. I am hopefully going to be back in Chicago, but I am still searchingfor a job/apartment/roommate. Let's talk!
Have a wonderful day!
Love,
MEagan
Friday, February 16, 2007
Finally
We finally found a pizza place that delivers!! At night! A total rarity here. We got FOUR pizzas and a free garlic bread (which here is basically a pizza but without cheese...) for only 13 pounds. It was well worth it. Our whole flat chipped in and it was the best night. Becca regaled us with stories from the show Scare Tactics, we shared babysitting horror stories, and gushed about our pizza. A night of roommate fun. Jenny, Becca and I snuggled up and watched Zoolander afterwards; the perfect ending to today. So great.
It was so exciting (although it sounds pretty tame, I know) that I just had to share it with the interweb.
It was so exciting (although it sounds pretty tame, I know) that I just had to share it with the interweb.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Give it a go!
There is this really great program here at the University of Sheffield called "Give it a go." They organize activities such as Irish dancing classes, self-defense, beer and wine tasting...things like that. They also have wonderful day and weekend trips that are really a great deal. They drive you, by bus, to wherever you are going and provide transportation between sites and home. If you are going to a place where you need an entrance fee, they also have that provided! It's such a good deal. I have already bought tickets for four Give it a go trips. This Saturday I am going to York and the Viking Festival there (they are having a Viking parade AND a battle! I can't wait!) Then, on Feb 24 I am going to Stonehenge and Bath. That should be amazing; while you can't walk right up to Stonehenge anymore it will still be cool to see, and Bath is supposed to be lovely and wonderful. On March 3, I am going to Stratford-upon-Avon for all you literary nerds like myself. Shakespeare mania has taken over the town, so I am expecting a tourist trap of sorts. That being said, ahhh I'm looking forward to it! At least there I will be one among many silly tourists instead of being the one stupid foreign girl. And then, finally, on March 18 I am going to Chatsworth House and Gardens. It is a beautiful old English manor, the home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. I read a book about Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire around the early 1800's, and she seemed like an amazing woman. Also, the recent film version of Pride and Prejudice used Chatsworth as Pemberley, and some literary historians believe it was the actual inspiration for it in the book as well. SO. I'm pretty excited.
Tomorrow is shopping/movie/dinner with Becca, Nicole, and our new British friends. I can't wait!
PS. I've realized that the clock setting is still on Chicago time. I am too lazy to change it, but please realize that I am 6 hours ahead of Chicago.
Tomorrow is shopping/movie/dinner with Becca, Nicole, and our new British friends. I can't wait!
PS. I've realized that the clock setting is still on Chicago time. I am too lazy to change it, but please realize that I am 6 hours ahead of Chicago.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Aloe vera juice anyone?
Well well well.
The girls of flat 33 had a dinner party tonight. Since no one has that much flatware/dishes/chairs/anything you need for a dinner party, we ended up gathering cups and plates from various flats, pots from one of the guests after we ruined one pot, and even made Matt and Aiden, the Australian guys, bring a table and chairs over from their flat. It was a wonderful meal, however, with lots of laughter and conversation. Everyone there was really fun and hilarious. So much laughter. The Italians, of course, brought tons of wine over, but it was actually Australian wine. What an international affair we had. Yue, the Chinese girl who studies in New Zealand, started passing out little cups of aloe vera juice. I declined, as it smelled pretty gross and others warned me about it. Apparently it is really good for you.
It's been so fascinating to get to know people and start hearing their stories. It's made me realize how similar people really are, despite our differing languages, customs, and backgrounds. Even if some people do drink aloe vera juice. Ew.
I am very excited about a few things:
1)I might get to see Teri next weekend.
2)We had a snowball fight last night with various members of Taptonville Flats, and it felt like being a kid again.
3) I really like my roommates.
and last, but certainly not least...
4) George is coming to visit! He is going to be here for almost two full weeks, and we're going to Scotland and Italy together. Hooray!
Love,
Meagan
The girls of flat 33 had a dinner party tonight. Since no one has that much flatware/dishes/chairs/anything you need for a dinner party, we ended up gathering cups and plates from various flats, pots from one of the guests after we ruined one pot, and even made Matt and Aiden, the Australian guys, bring a table and chairs over from their flat. It was a wonderful meal, however, with lots of laughter and conversation. Everyone there was really fun and hilarious. So much laughter. The Italians, of course, brought tons of wine over, but it was actually Australian wine. What an international affair we had. Yue, the Chinese girl who studies in New Zealand, started passing out little cups of aloe vera juice. I declined, as it smelled pretty gross and others warned me about it. Apparently it is really good for you.
It's been so fascinating to get to know people and start hearing their stories. It's made me realize how similar people really are, despite our differing languages, customs, and backgrounds. Even if some people do drink aloe vera juice. Ew.
I am very excited about a few things:
1)I might get to see Teri next weekend.
2)We had a snowball fight last night with various members of Taptonville Flats, and it felt like being a kid again.
3) I really like my roommates.
and last, but certainly not least...
4) George is coming to visit! He is going to be here for almost two full weeks, and we're going to Scotland and Italy together. Hooray!
Love,
Meagan
Thursday, February 8, 2007
nets!
I finally got nets at my flat! For the past few days, I have not been able to connect at home because they did not provide us with the correct cord. (Note: I only have dial-up. Skype does not work on dial up, so I will not be able to use Skype at my own house. Boo town, ya know?)So today I was able to purchase the correct cord from the University and am now happy to report that I am able to waste time and avoid homework in the good old fashioned way.
I am getting a little nervous for some of my classes; kids here are smart. In my Irish Writing seminar today, this kid named, I kid you not, Daniel O'Brien was just throwing things out there that I did not understand. However, I felt smarter at the end of class when he spilled that he had just heard of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Seriously. Who doesn't know that.
My class schedule is pretty easy compared to DePaul. I have a lot of time to myself, but that will be consumed by the tons of books I have to read each week. Profs here are demanding. I'm excited though. I think I will learn a lot more than I would if I was at DePaul for these classes. While there are a lot of things that I have yet to discover and understand about the English university system, I have already learned that the British politeness extends to assignments. Profs will say things like, "You might want to have a look at these poems for Thursday" which means "Do a close reading of each of these poems and analyze them according to various literary theories before you even think about coming to seminar." Ahhh. Our professor today also made fun of Americans for saying "z" not "zed."
It snowed in Sheffield last night, just a slight dusting. It has been snowing lightly all day, but nothing that you even really notice. Everyone here is complaining like crazy, as if they've just gotten hit by a huge blizzard that wiped out three counties. I honestly heard less complaining in December when Milwaukee got hit with about a foot or so of snow. My goodness.
Not much else to report. A fun night of karaoke at Stephenson with the international students gang was a blast, with Carl (New Zealand), Natalie, Emily and I dominating. We belted out Bryan Adam's "Summer of 69," No Doubt's "Don't Speak," and a lackluster John Mellencamp. The hit was an English guy singing "I'm So Excited." It got crazy loud in that place. The Spanish girls were pretty into it too. Only the Spanish girls, Americans, Carl, and a few Aussie's would dance. No one dances here! It is something all the foreign kids have noticed. Maybe British people should all move to that town from Footloose.
I am getting a little nervous for some of my classes; kids here are smart. In my Irish Writing seminar today, this kid named, I kid you not, Daniel O'Brien was just throwing things out there that I did not understand. However, I felt smarter at the end of class when he spilled that he had just heard of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Seriously. Who doesn't know that.
My class schedule is pretty easy compared to DePaul. I have a lot of time to myself, but that will be consumed by the tons of books I have to read each week. Profs here are demanding. I'm excited though. I think I will learn a lot more than I would if I was at DePaul for these classes. While there are a lot of things that I have yet to discover and understand about the English university system, I have already learned that the British politeness extends to assignments. Profs will say things like, "You might want to have a look at these poems for Thursday" which means "Do a close reading of each of these poems and analyze them according to various literary theories before you even think about coming to seminar." Ahhh. Our professor today also made fun of Americans for saying "z" not "zed."
It snowed in Sheffield last night, just a slight dusting. It has been snowing lightly all day, but nothing that you even really notice. Everyone here is complaining like crazy, as if they've just gotten hit by a huge blizzard that wiped out three counties. I honestly heard less complaining in December when Milwaukee got hit with about a foot or so of snow. My goodness.
Not much else to report. A fun night of karaoke at Stephenson with the international students gang was a blast, with Carl (New Zealand), Natalie, Emily and I dominating. We belted out Bryan Adam's "Summer of 69," No Doubt's "Don't Speak," and a lackluster John Mellencamp. The hit was an English guy singing "I'm So Excited." It got crazy loud in that place. The Spanish girls were pretty into it too. Only the Spanish girls, Americans, Carl, and a few Aussie's would dance. No one dances here! It is something all the foreign kids have noticed. Maybe British people should all move to that town from Footloose.
Monday, February 5, 2007
Superbowl
Last night we watched the superbowl in the union pub. It was crazy! A lot of people were there, although it may just have been because the bar was open much later than usual. The gaggle of Americans I sat with were, perhaps, obnoxious, but only after the game started (and plenty of British people had decided to choose sides. Mostly with the Bears I am happy to report)
THe game didn't start until 11:30 pm here, which meant that I was up until 4 am! It was incredibly fun, however: imagine a ton of people screaming at American football in British accents. It really is an experience that is soemthing very special. It was strange to do something so "American" in this world. I will admit that I have never cared about a superbowl so much before. I felt like I HAD to care about it, not only due to the Bears (we aren't going to talk about the end) but also because I knew more about football than a lot of the other people in the room! It was something I will never feel again...
Anyways, it was a great time. THey decorated the bar in American flags, kind of weird, but it was just really festive and fun. I hope allthose back in Chicago were keeping warm, even if they were depressed. I heard Chicago is freezing.Just to add injury to insult, not only am I in Europe, but it is about 50 degrees here.
Love
Meagan
THe game didn't start until 11:30 pm here, which meant that I was up until 4 am! It was incredibly fun, however: imagine a ton of people screaming at American football in British accents. It really is an experience that is soemthing very special. It was strange to do something so "American" in this world. I will admit that I have never cared about a superbowl so much before. I felt like I HAD to care about it, not only due to the Bears (we aren't going to talk about the end) but also because I knew more about football than a lot of the other people in the room! It was something I will never feel again...
Anyways, it was a great time. THey decorated the bar in American flags, kind of weird, but it was just really festive and fun. I hope allthose back in Chicago were keeping warm, even if they were depressed. I heard Chicago is freezing.Just to add injury to insult, not only am I in Europe, but it is about 50 degrees here.
Love
Meagan
Saturday, February 3, 2007
Little metal bottle caps
Hello from Sheffield! I have been here for a few days, but the nets blow. MAJORLY. So far things have been alright; we are all living in hotels until later today, so suitcase life has been a bit annoying. The town itself is pretty; it was an industrial town early in the 20th century but has made a large effort to become very green. There are over 50 parks (none of which seem to be in/close to the city center or the dorms....hmmmm...) and there are trees and moss everywhere. It is crazy warm here. The first day was about 50 or more degrees Fahrenheit. People here are really nice. Everyone has helped us out as much as they possibly could, and the people we just run into in shops and stuff are always kind and friendly. As we were told that people would be cold and rude, this was a very nice suprise!
Lots of nice study abroad kids are here from the Midwest. Only one kid is from New England, but he goes to school in PA...so I don't know if he really counts. Illinois dominates the program. The two largest contingencies are DePaul and Uof I. The kids from Europe (Erasmus program) are really cool too. So far, friends are being made. My new English cell phone has only a measly 5 numbers, but those numbers are gold to me.
Today I am moving into my flat, which is rather dismal. I got to see it yesterday by randomly knocking on the door, and it is rather small, cramped, and just plain gross. The only way I can describe it is to say I am camping for four and a half months. Wooo hooo. I think it will be alright after we set up shop and decorate, but these first few nights are going to be interesting at best. We've been told to never leave our windows open or doors unlocked because over 100 laptops were stolen last year. Great. Add that to only dial up internet and you are looking at the total opposite of the deal that DePaul told us about when we were looking at the program.
Well, time to hang out and stuff. Maybe drink. People here drink every hour of the day. I guess they really hold to the "it's five o'clock somewhere" thing.
Love,
Meagan
Lots of nice study abroad kids are here from the Midwest. Only one kid is from New England, but he goes to school in PA...so I don't know if he really counts. Illinois dominates the program. The two largest contingencies are DePaul and Uof I. The kids from Europe (Erasmus program) are really cool too. So far, friends are being made. My new English cell phone has only a measly 5 numbers, but those numbers are gold to me.
Today I am moving into my flat, which is rather dismal. I got to see it yesterday by randomly knocking on the door, and it is rather small, cramped, and just plain gross. The only way I can describe it is to say I am camping for four and a half months. Wooo hooo. I think it will be alright after we set up shop and decorate, but these first few nights are going to be interesting at best. We've been told to never leave our windows open or doors unlocked because over 100 laptops were stolen last year. Great. Add that to only dial up internet and you are looking at the total opposite of the deal that DePaul told us about when we were looking at the program.
Well, time to hang out and stuff. Maybe drink. People here drink every hour of the day. I guess they really hold to the "it's five o'clock somewhere" thing.
Love,
Meagan
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