It has been a week since my last post and things are moving at such a quick pace. Even without classes time has been flying by and I’ve been having a blast in Liverpool. On Monday the international students went on a bus tour of the city with a tour guide. The tour began with some of the prominent Beatles’ sites. We stopped at Strawberry Fields which was once a children’s home for the Salvation Army but now is overgrown with plant life. Then we drove past John Lennon’s childhood home which I had already discovered. Of course we stopped at the historic Penny Lane and took pictures with the signs. After that we made are way through some of the suburbs of the city like Aigburth which is the area I’m living in. Then we rode along the side of the River Mersey watching the boats and ferries in the water. Then we went through the Albert Dock area and into the city centre. We were able to get out and walk around for a bit so we got lunch at Subway and then went to shopping stores. We made it back to the bus in just enough time and then we went to the football stadiums. First we were able to see Goodison Park which is the stadium for Everton F.C. Then we went to Anfield which is the stadium of my favorite football team Liverpool F.C. At Anfield we were able to get out and take pictures. I was extremely excited. After that we drove by the Catholic Church in the city which looks like a wigwam. It is very unique. Then we went by the Anglican Cathedral which is the largest cathedral in the United Kingdom and the fifth largest in Europe. It was absolutely beautiful. That pretty much concluded the tour but here is a fun fact. The trash bins in Liverpool are purple because the Everton fans wanted blue ones and the Liverpool fans wanted red ones, so they combined the two colors. This may be useless but who knows it could turn up in a question from Fact or Crap.
Tuesday was a pretty relaxed day but that night our group went out to dinner at Lark Lane. Our group consists of Maarten, Lieke, Lisanne, Marijke who are all from the Netherlands and Aggie, Sean, Nate, and I who are from the U.S. Lark Lane is street filled with restaurants and shops that is very close to our campus. We ate dinner at Maranto’s Restaurant and most of had pizzas. After that we went to Aki’s Wine Bar to watch the Liverpool vs. Leeds match. Liverpool won 1-0 which was good but the game wasn’t that great. Wednesday we went to Hope Park for the fresher’s fayre which is when new students can sign up for different activities and sports as well as get free stuff. I signed up to play volleyball so that should be interesting. It has been a while since I played so we’ll see. That night the Americans cooked dinner. We had stir fry, rice, garlic bread, and for dessert we had tiramisu and ice cream. It was wonderful. After that a bunch of the international students went out on the town. We went to this bar/club called Baa Bar. Very lively environment. The next day a bunch of us went to the city centre for the day. There is a train station right across the road from Aigburth Park so we can take the train and it is only two stops until the city centre. We went to the Tate Liverpool which is a modern art gallery in Albert Dock. The gallery had a lot of unique and interesting exhibits. Sculptures ranged from a replica of Marcel Duchamp’s “Fountain” to paintings by Salvador Dali. Another exhibit was interactive and had headphones that played music while you looked at the art and even had a dance floor that people could dance on. Also there was a moving wall that moves extremely slowly and takes about an hour and a half to move across the floor. We did some shopping at some stores and then went back home. We watched Aladdin that night which is probably my second favorite Disney movie. Peter Pan is my favorite.
Friday was a pretty good day. We have this beautiful park that is right down the road from us, so a couple of us went there and ran for a while. There is so much green space here it is just so wonderful and bright. The rest of the day was pretty lazy and I watched some t.v. shows on my computer. At night we decided to go out to the Baa Bar again and we danced a lot and had a pretty good time. Saturday was a really good day and packed with lots of events. In the afternoon, we went to Aki’s wine bar again and watched the Liverpool vs. Hull City match. Liverpool won 6-1 and the game was fantastic to watch with some phenomenal goals from Torres and Gerrard. That night we went downtown to Film on the Waterfront. This is an outdoor event that shows movies and short films for the community. We were right next to the River Mersey and the movie was projected on to a huge screen in the side of a building. The movie was On the Waterfront with Marlon Brando and it was a really great movie. We were all bundled up and covered with blankets. We came back to Aigburth and played Mafia. It totally reminded me of game nights at Brett’s house but we didn’t really have enough people to play. On Sunday, we went into the city centre again. We did some grocery shopping at the Tesco Superstore which compared to our tiny Tesco at Aigburth has way too many options. That night we watched a movie and the guys chose Superbad. It was as cruel and vulgar as I knew it would be but it did have a couple funny moments.
Monday was the official start of classes but I didn’t actually have any. I got some my room cleaned and organized and got myself ready for classes. For dinner, Maarten cooked the most phenomenal lasagna ever. I’ve bought tickets for my first trip now. Emily and some other girls planned a trip to Dublin and Cork for October 16 and 17 so I jumped at the chance to go. I’ll have to miss a class but I honestly don’t care that much. Tuesday was the start of classes for me. I took the bus at 10:35 to Hope Park and arrived around 10:50. My first class was Environmental Resources and it was definitely interesting. We’ll see how it goes but it should be fun. I had my other class, War and Empire, at 2. I’ve taken a similar class but at least the first half is stuff I haven’t learned about in depth. After class, Aggie and I took the bus back to Aigburth. It was extremely packed, so I had to stand which is really hard on the body. Walking home we realized that it was our last first day of class. It was really surreal. I can’t believe that college has gone so fast. I’ve been thinking about the future a lot before I came to Liverpool but here I find myself just thinking about each day as it comes and not looking ahead as much. I honestly feel more at home here than I have ever felt at Hope. At 7:30 a large group of international students went to watch the Liverpool vs. Fiorentina match at Low Bar. Liverpool lost 2-0 and I was not very happy about it. When I came back to my room, I got to watch Hannah and Katie’s vlog. It seriously made my night. I missed seeing their facial expressions and hearing their voices. Sorry about the length of this post, I’ve been really busy. If you made it to the bottom, I’m truly impressed.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Liverpool Weekends
This past weekend has been absolutely crazy but completly invigorating. Friday was another early morning because we had to go to Hope Park again to get student ids and then listen to some more lectures. I was actually falling asleep during some of the speakers and I felt kind of bad. We left early and skipped out on the library tour so we could spend some time at Aigburth before the night began. That night we had a dinner at Hope Park to welcome the international students. We took taxis from Aigburth to Hope Park and that was the first time I experienced crazy cab driving. The driver was booking it on the streets and was swerving in and out between cars. We definitely made the trip faster than normal. We even passed the taxi cab that had left before us. I was in the front seat and I was holding onto my seat belt. The dinner contained mostly British food. I had the curry with chips and corn. The curry was not very good but the chocolate cake for dessert was the most amazing thing ever. After that we went to the student union for drinks and converstation. Yes, are student union has a bar in it. After spending some time there a bunch of us went out to a club. Having to call cabs for 20 some people is absolute insanity and never work out properly. When we arrived at Fleet Street which is where most of the club are at, we weren't prepared for what awaited us. There aren't enough words to describe how crazy and insane this place was. After the shock, we decided to go to Club Mood which has three different levels. We danced for quite a while and had a blast together and we didn't get in until two in the morning.
Saturday I was able to sleep in until like 10 in the morning which was definitely needed. At 2 a bunch of us took the train from St. Michaels Road to the city centre. We spent some time walking around and shopping. The city centre is this huge area that has open streets just for people to walk and tons of different shops. One store is called Primark and it is the most amazing store ever. The clothes are so cheap and this store has everything even a home section. I'm definitely having a shopping spree before I leave with whatever money I have left over. Part of this shopping area is Liverpool One which houses a whole slew of different shops. The movie theatre in the city which is the Odeon is a part of this area. On the other side of the theatre is a beautiful park that leads out to Albert Dock which houses a bunch of the museums in Liverpool and is right off the river Mersey. Its so nice to be able to walk to different places in the city from a central location. I never thought I would like living in a big city but Liverpool has definitely changed my mind. We looked around this area a bit just to get aquainted with the area. Then we made are way back into the city to Mathew Street to watch the Liverpool match against West Ham. There wasn't any seating areas at the bars since it was so packed so we grabbed a bite to eat at a kebab stand. The kebabs were actually pretty good but there was so much meat on them. We watched the first half of the match at one bar and then headed to the Hog's Head for the second half. This bar is by far my favorite and the atmosphere was so passionate and energetic. Plus the name is frickin amazing. Some people will understand the reference. Liverpool won 3-2 and we took the train back to Aigburth. We hung out in the flat common area and had a great time which involved some singing at the end.
Sunday was a very relaxing day. The sun was shining so a bunch of sat out in the green area of our dorm complex. We read books, magazines, and just chatted for most of the day. Stores on sunday close at 4 so we almost couldn't get what we needed for the evening. For dinner that night, Marijke and Maarten who are from Holland made a huge meal of pesto pasta with chicken, mozarella, pine nuts, tomatoes, bruschetta, garlic butter and lots of bread. We had some wine with the meal and it was absolutely phenomenal. We were all pretty tired so we had an early night after talking for a bit. Time has been flying by already. Hopefully it will slow down before this is all over. More adventures to come!
Saturday I was able to sleep in until like 10 in the morning which was definitely needed. At 2 a bunch of us took the train from St. Michaels Road to the city centre. We spent some time walking around and shopping. The city centre is this huge area that has open streets just for people to walk and tons of different shops. One store is called Primark and it is the most amazing store ever. The clothes are so cheap and this store has everything even a home section. I'm definitely having a shopping spree before I leave with whatever money I have left over. Part of this shopping area is Liverpool One which houses a whole slew of different shops. The movie theatre in the city which is the Odeon is a part of this area. On the other side of the theatre is a beautiful park that leads out to Albert Dock which houses a bunch of the museums in Liverpool and is right off the river Mersey. Its so nice to be able to walk to different places in the city from a central location. I never thought I would like living in a big city but Liverpool has definitely changed my mind. We looked around this area a bit just to get aquainted with the area. Then we made are way back into the city to Mathew Street to watch the Liverpool match against West Ham. There wasn't any seating areas at the bars since it was so packed so we grabbed a bite to eat at a kebab stand. The kebabs were actually pretty good but there was so much meat on them. We watched the first half of the match at one bar and then headed to the Hog's Head for the second half. This bar is by far my favorite and the atmosphere was so passionate and energetic. Plus the name is frickin amazing. Some people will understand the reference. Liverpool won 3-2 and we took the train back to Aigburth. We hung out in the flat common area and had a great time which involved some singing at the end.
Sunday was a very relaxing day. The sun was shining so a bunch of sat out in the green area of our dorm complex. We read books, magazines, and just chatted for most of the day. Stores on sunday close at 4 so we almost couldn't get what we needed for the evening. For dinner that night, Marijke and Maarten who are from Holland made a huge meal of pesto pasta with chicken, mozarella, pine nuts, tomatoes, bruschetta, garlic butter and lots of bread. We had some wine with the meal and it was absolutely phenomenal. We were all pretty tired so we had an early night after talking for a bit. Time has been flying by already. Hopefully it will slow down before this is all over. More adventures to come!
Friday, September 18, 2009
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
AHHHH! My first blog post and I'm sitting in a different country. I keep forgetting that I'm in a different country and have to keep reminding myself. So, obviously I made it safely to Liverpool Hope University but travelling was definitely an insane experience. The flight from Clevelan to Newark went well and the flight from Newark to Manchester wasn't bad. I wanted to sleep more during that flight but they served snacks, dinner, then snacks again before the lights went out. I only ended up getting maybe 3 or 3 1/2 hours of sleep. They served breakfast on the plane and we landed in Manchester at 7:3o am. So, we get off the plane and have to go through customs. Now if you have a UK or EU passport there is one line and all other passports are in another line. The only issue with this is that those with passports from Europe get served quicker because that line has more open customs officers. That said it took 2 hours to get through the customs line. Then I had to make my way to the train station which is connected to the terminals in Manchester. I'm definitely buying luggage with wheels before I leave because there is no way I make it home with the luggage I have now. I made it to the train station, got a ticket and waited for the next train to Liverpool Lime Street Station. When I got on the train I met two girls, Emily and Alyssa, from Indiana who go to Ball State. I was so relieved to meet them. The ride from Manchester to Liverpool was scenic but I had a hard time staying awake. We took a taxi from the train station to Aigburth Park which is the campus that my dorm is in. We got our rooms and got settled into our new homes for the semester.
That night we met some of the international students because most of them live in Aigburth Park. Alyssa, Emily, and I went up the street to get stuff for our rooms from the Home and Bargain and Tesco. Even though the dollar isn't worth much here, most things are less expensive then they would be in the U.S. We made spaghetti for dinner and then we went down to the common lounge to watch the Champions League match between Liverpool F.C. and Debrecen. Of course, I was in my element and enjoyed it thouroughly but left in the 70th minute because I was dead on my feet.
Thursday was a long day. We had international orientation all day. The actual campus where classes are held is like 4 miles away so we have to take a bus which was a double decker. We spent most of the day in a lecture hall being told important things to know. One of the most chaotic parts of the day was figuring out class schedules which took way longer then it should have. The campus is really nice and things are somewhat close together. Once all are meetings were done we went out to catch the bus but then 6 of us decided to walk back. This probably wasn't the best idea and the directions we got weren't the best. Also, street signs in Liverpool are extremely hard to find and everything tends to look the same. So after about an hour of walking, we decided to call a cab. We got in the cab and little way up the road we saw the airport which is nowhere near where we needed to be. This was a bonding experience and fun for awhile. We even got to see the childhood home of John Lennon as we were walking so it wasn't a complete loss. That night some of us hung out and just got to know each other better which was a blast.
Observations and Odds & Ends:
~ The money here is awesome! Pounds in note form are colorful and bright, but there are so many different coins that it becomes confusing.
~Everything here just seems so alive. Maybe its the hustle and bustle of the city or that the grass and plants are so vibrantly colored. Its such a refreshing environment.
~Everyone here is extremely nice and welcoming. The international students have been together most of the time so we're all in the same boat. The home students move in tomorrow so we'll see how it goes from there.
~The houses and architecture are so unique and interesting. Everthing is old and vintage looking which I absolutely love.
~Public transportation is a godsend and should definitely be used more prominently in America because it is so worth it. Things are so much more accessible and even in a big city like Liverpool you can go just about anywhere.
We don't start classes for another week so I'm sure I'll have plenty of exciting stories and experiences to share before things get crazy!
That night we met some of the international students because most of them live in Aigburth Park. Alyssa, Emily, and I went up the street to get stuff for our rooms from the Home and Bargain and Tesco. Even though the dollar isn't worth much here, most things are less expensive then they would be in the U.S. We made spaghetti for dinner and then we went down to the common lounge to watch the Champions League match between Liverpool F.C. and Debrecen. Of course, I was in my element and enjoyed it thouroughly but left in the 70th minute because I was dead on my feet.
Thursday was a long day. We had international orientation all day. The actual campus where classes are held is like 4 miles away so we have to take a bus which was a double decker. We spent most of the day in a lecture hall being told important things to know. One of the most chaotic parts of the day was figuring out class schedules which took way longer then it should have. The campus is really nice and things are somewhat close together. Once all are meetings were done we went out to catch the bus but then 6 of us decided to walk back. This probably wasn't the best idea and the directions we got weren't the best. Also, street signs in Liverpool are extremely hard to find and everything tends to look the same. So after about an hour of walking, we decided to call a cab. We got in the cab and little way up the road we saw the airport which is nowhere near where we needed to be. This was a bonding experience and fun for awhile. We even got to see the childhood home of John Lennon as we were walking so it wasn't a complete loss. That night some of us hung out and just got to know each other better which was a blast.
Observations and Odds & Ends:
~ The money here is awesome! Pounds in note form are colorful and bright, but there are so many different coins that it becomes confusing.
~Everything here just seems so alive. Maybe its the hustle and bustle of the city or that the grass and plants are so vibrantly colored. Its such a refreshing environment.
~Everyone here is extremely nice and welcoming. The international students have been together most of the time so we're all in the same boat. The home students move in tomorrow so we'll see how it goes from there.
~The houses and architecture are so unique and interesting. Everthing is old and vintage looking which I absolutely love.
~Public transportation is a godsend and should definitely be used more prominently in America because it is so worth it. Things are so much more accessible and even in a big city like Liverpool you can go just about anywhere.
We don't start classes for another week so I'm sure I'll have plenty of exciting stories and experiences to share before things get crazy!
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