Return of the Blog

I haven't written on this in a while, mainly because not much exciting has happened to me in the past few weeks. Classes are interesting, as always, and this week I get a reprieve from three of them as it's "Reading Week" in the English Department (slackers). My most intriguing class continues to be History of Modern English, where random trivia and jokes continue to rule the day:

Whilst giving a lecture, a professor noted that ever language has a construction in which two negatives make a positive. But in English, he said, there's no construction in which two positives make a negative.

From the hall came an incredulous response: "Yeah, right."

Anyway. What have I been doing with my time in England? Yesterday some friends and I wandered down to the Lancaster Maritime Museum, which has a number of boats on display, though sadly none of them are on the water. Some of the exhibits were fairly interesting, though we were pressed for time since we got there a half hour before the place closed. Other adventures these past few weekends have included attending meetings of the Lancaster Writers Guild (the only society I've joined), seeing movies at the university cinema, and going to pubs engaging in friendly social interactions with local Britons.

Things will get more exciting in a few weeks. I am trying to recruit people for a trip to the Isle of Man, which through the campus travel office will cost only £37. On February 28-March 1 I will be taking a coach trip to Bath and then Stonehenge. A game of paintball is in the works. For Spring Break I plan to travel to Nottingham and the town of Bingham, then to London, and then to France and Italy with my friend Phillip (from Beloit). Fun stuff.

Aye canna hold her much longa, Captain!

Wow. Edinburgh is a beautiful city--definitely worth getting up at 6:45 AM for. I have never seen such beautiful countryside--green and brown hills, rows of pine trees, even a few snow-covered mountains mixed in there--and I'd be hard-pressed to say I've visited a more photogenic city. Edinburgh is a very old, with cobblestone roads and Georgian architecture (something my friend Cory pointed out; architectural styles aren't my forté). I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, but unfortunately I'm having problems uploading them to Facebook/Kodak Gallery because of network issues on the University's end (we had some very strong winds yesterday and the power was knocked out). The camera said I took 211 pictures, the most I've ever taken for a single event.

Among our adventures included meeting William Wallace--actually just some guy in facepaint working for a Leukemia foundation who posed with tourists. The high point of the day, literally and figuratively, was touring Edinburgh Castle. Built on an extinct volcano, the structure featured cannons galore, winding roads galore, sword and musket displays galore, and gift shops galore. I don't know how much of it we saw percentage wise, but I feel the two hours or so we spent inside weren't enough.

Most of the rest of our excursion constituted the six of us searching for the new Parliament building, which for some reason I insisted on taking photos of. We never quite got to it, instead only viewing it from afar, owing to the fact we had to be on the bus by 7:45. I'll have to come back sometime, because seven hours is not enough to spend in a city like that.

What else have I done? Let's see...on Wednesday I went to a football match in Liverpool between Wigan Athletic and Liverpool. I was excited, since this was my first professional soccer game, but after ninety minutes (plus a fifteen minute break) the game ended with a 1-1 time. I wanted to see some goals! At least in American football they score once in a while, even if they do pause all the time for adverts. I haven't joined any clubs or societies yet, but am looking into the Writer's Guild and the Hiking Club. And I've already signed up for a "weekender" to Bath and Stonehenge set for February 28-March 1.

Things I've started to say: "pounds" instead of dollars, even when referring to US money; "cheers" instead of thank you; and "chips" instead of fries (though this one is still hard to get used to). I realized yesterday that "Starters" on a menu refers to "Appetizers."

I have to go make dinner now...I actually baked some salmon the other day, something that made me proud. Keep an eye out for photos.