Justin's overseas fun

I have moved

2008-03-17T03:28:00.000-07:00

So I have started a new blog www.whatjustinisthinking.wordpress.com Its fun, you should check it out!

Cheerio blog

2008-02-11T07:51:00.001-08:00

So i guess this concludes Justin's oversea Fun, and it has been fun. I've learned alot, probably grown up a bit, become more independent, met some very cool people who i'll strive to stay in contact with, met some rels, experienced different cultures and have actually come up with some pretty solid ideas of what i want to do this year and with my life. All up study exchanges get two thumbs up from me.

I've quite enjoyed this whole blog thing, so i'll probably kick up a 'justin's musings on life' blog later this year, stay tuned...

10th

2008-02-11T07:40:00.000-08:00

Today i just steadily made my way back to London - things worthy of mention include the Australian girl who got in trouble by the bus driver on ride home for drinking beer (fosters) on the bus, and the cement trough come flower bed that we passed near Camden that was inscribed with the words 'Metropolitan drinking and Cattle trough association' Wha??!!

I met up with Emma and we went out for Indian and later on that night i discovered that i didn't actually have my plane ticket to get back to Aus, and that i'm leaving a day earlier than i thought - lucky i checked eh?! I've almost got the ticket sorted out now, so it's alright, hehehe.

9th

2008-02-11T07:36:00.000-08:00

The day started with a relaxing walk along the wide sandy beach and a quite amble through the town. for lunch i had two types of cheese, olives, a baguette, coffee flavored moose and apple juice sitting in the main square, it really was nice. I also had fun with the language trying as much as i could to pass my self off as being French. It is so much fun, it's hard to believe people actually talk like this, it all sounds so fancy and cool - i was saying bonjour and oravwa to as many people as i could, the lady who served my crepe for dinner even said 'bon apetite' what a hoot! It's almost like they are just saying everything fancily because they know i'm a tourist and are really having me on.

8th

2008-02-11T07:30:00.000-08:00

At Victoria coach station at 9:25 i decided with the help of the cashier man to go to Calais as it was the cheapest European destination at £22 by coach. Upon boarding the ferry at Dover i got talking to Rachel a French girl who has been working in Essex for seven years. Her accent almost sounded South African andover lunch on the ferry she told me how she was actually losing her French because she was always talking in English and how this annoyed her parents who only spoke French - what on odd concept, losing your first language.

In Calais i found a youth hostel and had a nap and then went out for tea at a Pizza restaurant. I had the most beautifully ugly pizza ever. It was a quattro fromage and had melted cheese daubed on it like a painters pallet - the moldy blue cheese looked particularly wrong, but tasted so right!

7th

2008-02-11T07:13:00.000-08:00

My only objective today was to catch my plane to london which left at six in the evening, so i spent the first half of the day on the beach where i had a swim and checking some emails on the free internet that was available in the supermarket of all places. I left for the airport at two giving myself an hour to get there and three hours before the plane left I figured i would have a lot of waiting to do but i didn't want to risk being lat. I'm very glad i left so early. I caught a sheroot to the town station no worries but boarded a train going in the opposite direction to the airport. A very kind army girl found directions for me and showed me the right platform. Finally when i was in the airport i got pulled up by a security lady who passed me onto a pretty intimidating man wearing a black suit. He questioned me very thoroughly for at least fifteen minutes about my trip asking where i stayed and demanding receipts from the places. I got a bit nervous under this sort of scrutiny, but i soon warmed to the task and told him as much as i could in the greatest detail and even offered to let him read this journal i have been keeping. He seemed pleased with my answers but he gave my passport to another suit clad man and took my bag into some 'questioning' rooms with me following dutifully at his heals. Despite my best efforts he wasn't keen on small talk. The room had many smaller areas cordoned off by curtains - i was told to place my bags on a bench and have a seat. At about this time i started to t a little nervous again but i thought 'what's the worst that can happen? You will be strip searched and you won't have a funny comment ready to say' Thankfully nothing so tragic happened. My black suited friend came and took me into the curtained room and told me to take off my shoes. "Now I'm going to body search you" he said "Well then i'll try not to smile too much". He kept a pretty stern face and started patting me all over and swiping me with his metal detector, things go a bit more exiting when he swiped the metal buttons on my fly and asked me to undo my pants, but apart from that it was all G-rated stuff. Back in the main room i was asked to open my bag and watched two lads go through my stuff very thoroughly, checking al the seems of my jackets and pants. My wallet and electronic stuff was taken into another room to be examined and taken apart. The battery from my phone had ben taken out and replaced as had the lens from my camera. I was really impressed at how thorough they were and i told this to he nice lady who walked me around to book my luggage in, she was a great deal friendlier than suit man. Finally i was through to the departure lounge with only a couple of minutes to spare and i got chatting to a four year old girl. According to her, her parents are in Australia or Switzerland and she and her brother are going to visit them soon. She was with her brother who had a pretty deformed head and a lady who she didn't refer to as her mum, but seemed quite conformable with. As i was wondering what her story was Denise walked by so i had a good chat with her. After the five hour flight back sitting next to a nice Jewish couple and their nineteen month old child i met up again with Denise and she offered to let me sleep on the floor in her room that night. I accepted this very gratefully as it sounded a hell of a lot better than the airport bench that i'd planned. We chatted merrily all the way to her place just up the road from Alisons and i made the most of hearing her fantastic Irish accent and had to suppress a laugh every time she said a word like 'think' as 'tink'. She grew up on a dairy farm in Ireland with nine brothers and sisters with fun names like Fergal and Dermot. Brilliant!

6th

2008-02-11T04:20:00.001-08:00

Our first full day in Tel aviv and our last day together, we started it off with a nice sit on the beach, then a stroll through the busy market place. Rhys bought some gifts for his family and i tried not to get into too much trouble with the sellers who are very aggressive with their tactics. We pottered around for quite a while, had some bread for morning tea, then got ome fantastic felafel (yup we ate alot of it!). We covered alot of the city then ambled back to our hostel along the beach. Rhys got his stuff together and made his way to the airport. He had made a great travelling companion, we talked about big issues that affect the world and small issues that barely affect us. Long distance bus rides were thought of as a time to cover another important topic, not as a time to listen to an ipod and wait to reach a destination. Rhsy wanted experiences more than seeing sites and meeting people more than looking at things, as i did and we both didn't mind how cheap and nasty the place was that we slept at. But what made Rhys such a super travel buddy was how he viewed things that happened good or bad as an experience, and stayed up beat, such as when someone stold 600 shekals from him in Jerusalem or when we needlessly changed our sheckels in to $US instead of Jordan Dinas.

So it was a bit odd when he left. I opted for the great loner chiche of walking along the beach by myself and got pleasently lost in thoughts. Upon walking back down the beach i passed a girl that i had already walked by so i smiled at her and said 'how's it goin?' She smiled back, stopped and we started talking. Her hair was dyed bright red, she came up to about my shoulder and she spoke with a pretty strong Israeli accent. We walked for a bit and she told me about her life and i did about mine, but to a lesser extent. When we were sitting on a bench she told me about her singing ambitions and sung me a verse from American Pie by 'Madonna' after building up enough courage. I told her her voice was reat and she seemed really happy. Madonna she said started singing Karaoke and despite being knocked back many times she has succeeded. So she has looked into a Karaoke bar in Tel aviv and will become a singer just like her. We then went for dinner and i waled her to her bus stop. Another interesting thing that she said to me was when she was talking about her english skills and how she struggles with her grammar, but that it isn't a major concern of hers as musicians don't follow the grammar laws. "Do you know the Rolling Stones?" she said "The song 'i can't get no satisfaction' should actually be i can't get any satisfaction". She said she was twenty two and had just been a year out of the army, but she would have passed for 16. When she spoke she seemed so innocent and naive, but every now ad then she would swear or say something unexpected - certainly coming from someone i had only just met that would make her seem older. Ashley was her name, and we swapped email addresses and she said she asked if i'd meet up with her if she was ever in Australia. She hasn't left the country before but would liked to go to the US or Britain because she thinks they are nicer than Israeli's.
So that filled on of the only gaps that i had found in this trip - that of not actually meeting many Israeli's as the Couchsurfing fell through. But talking to her and Jael and Daniel in Jordan all for solid lengths of time have given me at least a taste of the Israeli mindset.

5th

2008-02-11T04:07:00.000-08:00

At 4:45 in the morning Allan's alarm went off and he Rhys and I got up, changed and headed out of the hostel to tackle the 2km snake path up to Massada. We didn't get far though as the big gate to the hostel was locked. Rhys noticed a rectangular outline in the tarmac and thought it might be a sensor for cars so we both jumped on it and the gate opened, we didn't actually think it'd work... We made our way up the steep track and were on top of hte 300 metre rock well before the sun had risen. Masada was the last strong hold of the Jews when the Romans invaded, it is a fortified little city ontop of a rock. The Romans had to build a massive dirt ramp to reach the door and then had to burn the door down, whentey got inside they found all 900 Jewish people dead. They men had killed their families then ten people were chosen to kill all of hte men, then one person chose to kill those last remaining 9 men and himself. We scurried back down and had breaky with the three girls who also went up Massada in the morning and found that they were doing a col walk and camel ride ane were going to Tel aviv like us. We didn't get an invite to join them so we though we'd bit the bullit and just ask - as it utrn out they were just going to bum around the hostel or that was just their excuse to get rid of us. We never really figured out there whey were coming from, seeming really pleased to see us and very friendly but a little stand offish. We said we'd probably se them on the bus t Tel aviv and headed off to a waterfall near Ein Gedi about twenty kms away. We tried hithing and wee successful! A bus pulled over for us and we payed 16 shekels for the ride (okay perhaps not technically hitchhiking but the intent was there). We saw some cool animals like ibex and hyrax (dear and tail less possum looking things) at the waterfall place, then went to wait for the bus, but it was a little late and a lady in a small suzuki pullled over and offered us a lift to Jerusalem so we took it. Then with the hel of some very friendly locals we made our way to central Jerusalem bus station, then sat on the floor of the bus to Tel Aviv where we caught a sheroot to our hostel near the beach. Straight away i could tell that there was a difference between Tel aviv and the rest of Israel - it just seemed like a big Western city. The hostel that we stayed at too was different, very laid back and social. Still only one sex per room, but as Rhys said, they don't mix their cheese with meet, so haved mixed dorms must be way out of the equation. Rhys and i were starving and decided as this was our last night together we would make it a big one. Allen had talked of sending 200 shekals in one night on booze so we thought we'd aim to try and spend a similar amount on food. We managed to spend 70 shekals on Shwarms, pizza, chocolate milk and sweets - we went crazy! At the end of the night we got completly lost. It was fun, but we were quite tired, i was really sure i knew where we were, but i was wrong, very wrong. That was a pretty solid day.

4th

2008-02-11T03:54:00.000-08:00

We had fruit for breaky and then walked about the old city abit more and checked out the dome of the rock in greater detail, at one of the security points we passed a security guard with what looked like an uzzi, a very very mean looking gun. We caught a bus to Ein Gedi, and talked briefly to a Canadian guy who like most canadians carried a 'canadian safety flag', a small flag on his backpack so that people would know that despite the accent he wasn't American. In Ein Gedi we met up with Denise (32) who is an Irish Garment Technician working in London. We swam and floated in the dead sea which was alot more fun than i've been told after a picnic lunch and then the we met up with the three sydney girls form Jerusalem. They were staying in the same hostel as we were planning on staying at in Masada, as was the Canadian guy Allen (27ish) who we were sharing a room with.

Rhys and i then went for a walk in a cool dry river bed which looked like hte stampede scene from the Lion King. As we were walking back we were approached by two men not in army clothes by holding machine guns - then about 100 Jewish school girls followed them, apparently that is how they go on excursions here.

Dinner was quite exxy but we ate bucket loads, and we stayed town there for almost two hours chatting to Allen and Denise, who has a fantastic accent.

3rd

2008-02-11T03:47:00.000-08:00

Our plans changed yet again and we went back to Jerusalem instead of Masada as this was easiest. We hadn't booked tickets for the trip so spent most of it standing or sitting in the isles. Some army girls got on who looked younger than us, they wore earrings, and make up, and carried mobile phones, but they also wore the army uniform and carried machine guns. In Jerusalem we took a taxi to Yad Vashem the Holocaust museum, but were told that it was closed. But luckily we got in via the back entrance by walking in with two girls who knew someone working there. It really wasn't a barrel of laughs and was quite full on, but worth seeing - something like that should not be forgotten.
We walked back, picked up some milk, bread, sweets (there are lots of lollie shops here) and made macaroni cheese and ate it on a wall overlooking the city.

Our room here is better described as a walk in cupboard of average side.

2nd

2008-02-11T03:42:00.000-08:00

We ambled around Aqaba in the morning before having cheesy bread for breaky cooked in a big oven. We then caught a taxi which pulled up for us in less than 40 seconds of us walking on the street, and headed back to Eilat. We were easlily viewed as tourist even before we had our bags on, and as a result may have got ripped off for some things, bu not to what it was worth to us in Australia.

In Eilat we had a power nap, laid on the beach and ambled town, saw the film 'august rush' on a tiny cinema screen which paused half way through for an intermission. Then we ate more felafel and looked out over the bay towards Jordan before hitting the sack.

1st

2008-02-11T02:42:00.000-08:00

With a hearty breakfast of a bag of milk (our staple drink which cost only 2 shekels) and a pastry we took a taxi ride twice to the boarder of Jordan, the second time with Rhys' passport that was no longer safely tucked under his matress in the hostel. The guard at the boarder chatted to us about Australia where he was planning to study, and then advised us that it probably wasn't worth going to Jordan as the road to Petra were closed because of the snow. We opted to go anyway, but were a little disencouraged when we met some American backpackers going the other way who had missed out on it because of the snow. After walking the eerie 100m or so to Jordan through no mans land we met up with some Israelli's who also wanted to see Petra - Jael (ya-el) and Daniel. We struck a deal with a taxi driver to take us there and back for 80 Dina's which works out to be about A$40 each. We were then taken from the boarder in a samsung taxi to a driver who didn't speak much english in a corolla in Aqaba. On the way to Petra we saw a sleepy driver in a van smash into a guard rail (not too badly) as well as lots of dirt and mountains without any vegetation which looked just like piles of dirt from mines. It was getting quite hot in the car but when we stopped for coffee we realised it was actually quite chilly outside dispite the sun being out and not a cloud in the sky. Then all of a sudden we started seeing snow sitting on the desert floor - odd! It then got thicker and thicker until we had to take an alternate route because the road was blocked.
Our time in Petra was quite limited but was long enough to get a feel for how mighty it was, Jael and Daniel shared their megre lunch with us and we ambled through the ruins taking plenty of photos of the sharp gorges, cave, and the monumental treasury facade.

On the way back we had some thick turkish coffee and Jael and Daniel were dropped off at he boarder, and our taxi driver took us to a cheap hotel. Although he didn't speak much english he was good fun and we had a few laughs along the way. That night we had cheese burgers and realised for the first time that we actually missed not haveing cheese and meat together. Jordan is a lot more how i pictured the middle east to be that Israel, really baron and not many women about at all, the ones we did see were covered with the burquas, yet the ones that we saw on the music video's on the tv in our room were dressed just as scantily as you would see in any western country.

The pillows in Jordan were very hard.

31st

2008-02-11T02:33:00.000-08:00

That morning it was very snowy - but not slushy and we bought some food for all our three meals for the day for 37 shekals, about $1.50 each per meal. A one armed man in our hostel told us that buses were not going out of the city because of the snow so we decided to take a sheroot to Tel aviv and go to Masada from there. It only snows in Jeruselam every 3 or 4 years and when it does it is a big deal and most businesses close down. Talia was going to Tel aviv that day so i told her that we were going also - she came down stairs but decided not to go - Pol came down too - which was both good and bad, good because it was nice to see her again before we split but bad because it meant that we couldn't part on her previous final statement which made me chuckle " Just remember if you stay in the dead sea too long your genitals might start to sting"

After a moment of panic in Tel aviv where i left my black bag containing my passport, wallet and camera in a sheroot we boarded a bus bound for Eilat - right at the bottom of the country. We had missed the bus to Masada and figuered we would do it on the way up. With us on the bus trip were many Israelli youths from teh army with their menacing guns and a lady who we talked to briely from Tasmania. In Eilat five hours later we opted not to be driven to a cheap hotel by someone at the bus station and went to the one accross the road - the little prince. It was quite cheap but very empty. We dried some of our clothes and our shoes there with a hair dryer that we were lucky enought to find. For dinner we had meaty `israelli take away burgers as we hadn't had meat in two days - i also had a malt fizzy drink which smelt like beer.

30th

2008-02-11T02:25:00.000-08:00

Rhys and i woke early and went out into the street to a grocery store to get some breakfast (soup). While eating the girls emerged and we headed out into the snow. Rhys ad i wore bags over our socks to keep our feet dry, but they only worked for the first little while, before long we were stepping into puddles of icey slush without caring, our feet coldn't get any wetter or colder. The alley ways in old jeruselam created a maze that we got lost in frequently, but we finally found the Western wall - the most holy site in Judaism and the Dome of the Rock - one of the most holy sites in Islam. Both looked quite spectacular draped in snow. At the wall we all had a pray and then headed back through the ubiquitous security checks to have some lunch, and take off our shoes to warm up our feet. Then we met up with the girls' guide mate who took us around to some other places like the entrance to Hell before we went back to the hostel to warm up. Rhys and i couldn't get right into the warming up with too much vigor as the hot water in the showers wouldn't come on until four (an hour away) and there were no heaters to warm up next to or dry our stuff. As we didn't have any dry shoes or in my case pants (i was wearing my towel) we just stayed inside for the rest of the evening and night and didn't even get tea.

There haven't been many other times in my life when i have been this cold, but it was well worth it - there haven't been many other times in my life when i have been walking around old Jeruselam in the snow either!

29th

2008-02-11T02:17:00.001-08:00

This morning i walked to the showers in my boxers, right passed a sign that said residents must always wear shirts when walking to and from showers...The bathroom here was sweet as, it had a mirror right near the toilet that opened up as a window and offered someone who was having a long sit a very pleasent view of the city scape. For breakfast we had cold pizza and mandarins and then realised that we had missed the only bus to Jeruselam and would hav eto catch one via Tel aviv. We waited for quite a while in a bus shelter while it rained then jumped on a bus for two or so hours. Talking to Rhys along the way made the time pass well. While in Tel aviv we had Maccas - big and dirty, i had a super size. (no cheese though) then a short bus ride took us to Jeruselam where it was really windy and cold and we both felt a bit tired - nto keen to walk around with our bas until later when we could find our couchsurfing mate Simon's place - so we sat down on the floor in a shopping centre and thought - then walked to a hostel and booked in, read the paper, and went out for felafel. Ont the way back at about eight we got talking to some girls from Sydney - all a bit younger than us (they'd just finished their HSC), went to private Jewish schools and had different accents to ours - rich upper class Aussie ones, i didn't know that they actually existed. For the first time i felt like i had grown up on a farm about half an hour from Tamworth - ha! There names were Talia, Polena and Naomi. They ditched us to watch a TV show but came back soon and wanted to go out with us instead to a bar. They were all thinkers and we talked about lots of things. After we had tea and were sitting back in our kitchen we went to the rooftop where it was snowing so we sung, danced, hugged and threw snowballs!

28th

2008-02-11T02:06:00.001-08:00

We woke pretty late today, chatted to some fellow travellers, ate some of our expensive (though quite nice) cheese and fruit and with directions from the very kind hostel lady caught a bus to Nazareth. The bus ride didn't sit well with me at all, i felt a bit nauseous, and the almost constant beeping by the bus driver didn't help. But in Nazareth i felt much better once we were walking around. Rhys and i came accross a big church with nice mozaics around it so we wandered in. It was the chruch of ascension built ontop of where Mary lived and was almost thirty nine years old! We then followed the signs through the labyrinth of market alleys to our really cool inn, and unlike times of old it now had room. The inn had really high ceilings with murals on them and large tiled floors. Rhys and i sat on some cushions in the corner and sipped mint tea and listened to the calls of prayes at Mosques. We then heeded the advice of the owner and walked to Mt. Precipice which took us through the industrial part of town which was a little dirty, but the view from the top of the mountain made it worth it. However, on the way back we did have to pass an unofficial garbage dump which in the words of an American that we met in Jeruselam 'smelt like an abortion'. As we slowly wandered back we waved to by many people and honked at alot - it was a little disconcerting, much like we foreigners, which i guess we were. As we had Shwarma (like a kabab) we branched out and had pizza for dinner from a nice little place on the main street.

27th

2008-02-11T01:58:00.000-08:00

This morning i met up with Reza again and he drove me to the top of the Bahai gardens where Tahereh had organised for me to take part in a tour of the Bahai administrative centre. This was good fun, but meeting the people on the tour was just as cool, two people from Darwin, one from Melbourne, one from Moldova and our tour guide from America. After the tour i met up with Rhys who had ambled up to the gardens and we had a tour of the Bahai gardens together, before checking out the Bahai information centre at the underpass.

Rhys and i then went in search of Elijah's cave which we didn't end up actually finding, but we had a nice walk in the process. We had a lunch of fresh breads and then bought food for that night including five slices of cheese for $5! We didn't know the price when we bought it... Soon we were exhausted so went back to the hostel, chatted, rested, ate, slept. Was very nice sitting outside under israelli stars sitting in old chairs chatting about Religion, philosophy and life with a good mate.

day 3

2008-02-11T01:47:00.000-08:00

This morning after another great breakfast of egg, pita bread and carrot and apple juice we travelled the 30km to the prison city of Acca. Reza was a fantastic guide telling many stories about the places that we were visiting and making the trip so much more valuable. We followed Baha'u'llah's path as a prisoner, where he arrived, stayed in gaol, then was finally released and the houses that he stayed in. We also visited some crazy markets, where i learned to say 'thankyou in arabic 'shockran' and i saw a sharks head for sale! We had another fantastic falafel for lunch and then headed to the shrine of Baha'u'llah - the founder of the Bahai faith. All day long and on the way back to Haifa i peppered Reza and Tahereh with quesitons about the Bahai faith and we had some great discussions. I was interested to know how we would get along, but it all worked out really well, i would consider them friends now not just the parents of my ex girlfriend.

That night i met up with Rhys at the Port Inn in Haifa and we sat in the garden under the stars talking for ages and then walked around Haifa and got pleasently lost - it was really good to catch up with him again, but strangely odd as although we know each other quite well having emailed each other at least once or twice a week for the past year, this was only the third time i'd actually seen him.

day 2

2008-02-11T01:42:00.000-08:00

Today after a large hearty breakfast the Khanlari's took me around the Bahai gardens which are easy to see from their 13th floor flat. I had read about the Gardens and seen pictures of them, but they were much more impressive than i could have imagined, my favourite detail is the streams of water that run alongside all the stairs from the very top to the bottom, it not only looks pretty but creates a beautiful burbling sound to accompany the stroll through the gardens. Reza and I then visited the shrine of the Bab and prayed there before we grabbed a quick lunch and i had a walk around Haifa. That night i had my first fellafel and we went to some other friends of the Khanlari's and had sushi and listened to a man play an interesting stringed intsrument by tapping it with sticks.

Israel Jan 24th day 1

2008-02-11T01:31:00.000-08:00

Israel! The land of all things religious - even on the plane trip over i knew it was going to be interesting as there were many many ultra orthodox jews on the plane with me sporting the big black hats, yamakas and curly bits infront of their ears. With the arduous trip over (earphones to listen to the tv cost £3 so i opted to lip read - unsuccessfully) i got my passport checked three different times and was questioned very thouraghly on my plans in israel before i left the airport. Unfortunately a british girl who i had been chatting to was asked to move along as she was waiting for me while i was being questioned - i didn't get to meet up with her again...

Once through i picked up 600 shekals (A$200) which are very brightly coloured and found the train station where i waited to board the train to Haifa. While waiting a young chap in an army uniform and holding a serious gun sat next to me, most likely travelling back home after some army training - i had read all about this, but i'm just not that used to seeing guns like this about. That night i met up with Reza and Tahereh Khanlari at their place in Haifa and we went to some of their friends place for dinner.

I said 'Goodbye' before i Pierced off...

2008-01-23T04:01:00.000-08:00

I have just left Leeds and with it many of the friends that i had made there. Along with the International friends that i hung with for most of the time i was there i also did make quite a few British chums, which is great as this was a primary reason for visiting the country. In the last three days before i left i went to a Christian dinner and question session with Helen the med student who i met at the Hypnodog show in the first week; i had coffee with Steph who studies French and Spanish, who i met at Salsa and Swing dance lessons; I hung out with French/American Ben who i have been playing a massive amount of Table tennis with and Abbey who often watches us play and i stayed with Taryn, a Bahai girl, at her place for two nights where we watched a couple of films, and had dinner and breakfast together. It's never easy saying goodbye to people that you've hung out with a great deal - but i think i'm getting much better at it. Possibly because for the last two years i have been making new friends and then seeing them off after every six months, and possibly because i have now visited those friends and know that it is not just possible, but highly likely that i will see them again.

We've all seen movies where someone starts somewhere new and makes a dramatic change to themselves and i've experienced it personally. Last year one of my best mates at Newcastle was an American called Casper. Or so i thought, he just invented that name up on the plane when he came out - his real name was Louie. I was slightly miffed that i had had the wool pulled over my eyes, but more than this i was very impressed - what a cool idea! So i thought i would try something in a similar fashion when i was in Leeds. I wasn't brave enough to attempt a name change, or speak with a lisp, or pretend i had a limp - instead i got an eyebrow piercing which i have just taken out. This was spurred by my own opinion of people who had piercings like this - i generally thought of them as being cool, rebelish, tough and young. Now if i just got a piercing in Australia, these connotations would certainly not be attached to me if people had already known me, so i would need to start somewhere afresh with it. So did the experiment work? Did i feel like i was being treated differently because of a slab of metal in my brow? The short answer is no. And whats more, ontop of this, i didn't feel any different or even feel the connotations that i had attached to this kind of piercing. Perhaps once or twice when i was around others who had piercings, i would feel a sort of kinship, like we were in on something together - but for the most part i didn't feel any different whatsoever.
It is also very hard to tell if people viewed me differently as there is no control to compare it too - and if i did feel like i was being viewed differently, was this because of the piercing, or my Australianness, or beard -which have also only occured since i've left the country.
I didn't think that it would affect peoples' views of me in a significant way - but on a superficial level i thought it would play a part - but perhaps because piercings of this sort are more prevallent in English society it isn't as noticible. I am fortunate enough to have two instances which back up these suppositions. On my Contiki trip Caitlin told me that she liked my hair and that it was what made me unique. In a similar artery (why don't people say that?) the teacher of the give it a go session on body language was saying that a good way of remembering peoples' names was to focus on something physical about them, she then said, referring to me 'I would remember you as the man with the beard'. So perhaps i have so many unique qualities to my appearance that a sliver of stainless steal is rendered erroneous. Or perhaps piercings of this sort do not really play a major part in how people define who you are. In my own age group i would readily believe this, but in other more older age groups i wouldn't have thought it would be the case. My relatives that i've met here for example, haven't really battered an eye lid at it. On my Grandfathers side this could be because there is already a son in law who has tattoo's up and down his arms, paints his nails, wears make up and he and his wife (Great Aunt Alison's daughter) have skulls on their chunky wedding rings. Perhaps... On my Grandma's side, my great Aunt Betty is quite conservative, and she did ask me if the pearcing had any significance, but appart from that it was not spoken of and we got on fantastically. Although one of the little cousins asked what it was, how it got there and whether that made me a robot. So perhaps in his eyes i was a little bit different.
I took it out because everynow and then it would get all puffed up, and this made me feel much worse than it ever made me feel good when it was all hunky dorey. It was a worthwhile experience, and I think i've found that my own opinions have changed more than those around me.

Things that have got me thinking...

2008-01-17T03:59:00.000-08:00

I was playing football (soccer) recently with some English pals, and there was this one bloke on the other team who was your typical soccer player - Speedy haircut, Man U shirt, shiny boots, and in all fairness he had quite good ball skills and had made me look pretty average everytime i tried to get past him. So i made it my mission to beat him, and i did! He had the ball, i slide in, got it off him, hit him in the knee with my knee, he fell down, screamed in alot of pain and sat off for the next ten minutes. It was a bit of a hollow victory...

Not being a drinker i don't go out to bars much, but on Monday i went to The Library (a bar) with some people from Charlie Mo as a 'cheerio' for Steve the American. It was nice, i talked to many people and the music wasn't too loud. The highlight of the night though? Some golden English lingo...

"So Josh, how was your exam?"
"I thought it was a peach actually"

Brilliant.

Conundrums. We all come accross them everynow and again, and i had one just yesterday that was a real humdinger. I was walking around the back of the Union building and came accross two of my favourite handrails to slide down - short, sharp and untouched. But they were both covered in beads of water from the recent downpour. I was five paces out when I noticed this and knew that if I rode the rails I would then have to sport a wet mark that started at the back of my crotch and ran down my left leg, giving the impression i had suffered a rather nasty rectal failure. Yet at the same time I knew that the water on the rail would add as a lubricant, making the slide even faster. Conundrum indeed. With half a pace to go i decided to do what any extreme rail rider would and take the ride. I proudly wore my damp pants, and saw the mark on them not as a stain of seepage shame, but as a badge of honour for attempting that which other might flinch at.

'You Australian Twat'

2008-01-12T02:49:00.000-08:00

Since i have been here i have copped only a small amount of flack from Poms for being an Australian, but i got my biggest dosage two nights ago when i was playing my nightly game of table tennis with American/French Sam.

'Err, we beat you in the final of the last world cup'
'You Australian Twat'

This is obviously part of going overseas as i would not attract this sort of attention at home, so i'm not angry or worried about it, but rather excited. But I was a bit baffled about the correct way to respond though. Obviously the socially acceptable thing to do would be to act all manly and throw some other sports statistic or fact at them and i was thinking of the last time Australia played England at soccer (3-1 our way) or mentioning the cricket. Yet this is like saying that my country is represented by sports teams, this is what my country is(and it is just a little too easy to beat an englishman with this sort of attack). Now i'm not the flag waving type and i despise nationalism, but I am proud about certain aspects of my country; that i get supported by my Government to go to University, that we are ranked 3rd on the UN's list of most livable countries, I quite like the landscape and Steve Irwin came from here.
So can i say this back to a jibe about the Wallabies footy team? I don't think it really matters, as these guys were so drunk that they wouldn't have remembered in the morning anyway...

Leeds University: Slide to success

2008-01-09T11:40:00.000-08:00

Six out of every seven people who apply for Leeds University get turned away. This is a fact (or as close to as i can remember), so why is it that so many people want to come here? Is it because in its 104 years of existance it has established itself a worldwide reputation for excellence in a wide range of academic disiplines, because it is in the top ten Universities for research in the UK, has over 50 000 people enrolled in its courses, or because people want to follow in the great J.R.R Tolken's foot steps and be a student at this outstanding institution? The answer is neither of these (although 'did Tolken study there?' is a good way of cutting back Universities to choose from) but is infact that Leeds must have the best handrails for sliding on anywhere in the world. Right now for instance, I am already looking forward to walking back to my residence, as i will be walking thirty metres less then i walked here. Thats right there are three hand rails adding up to a whopping thirty metres for free, energy efficient, exhilerating transportation. Leeds has not got this reputation as a handrail sliders paradise because of the number and length of available handrails, but of their variety. This enables the avid student to experience all types of rail helping them to study and appreciate this fine art. There are two main variables that you have with a free standing rail - gradient and surface. If the pole is painted you will only slide on it if you are wearing business type trousers (i choose a grey pair as it doesn't show up any stains that you may get from the rail), but if it is untreated steel or aluminium ('untouched' in rail sliders jargon)you will slide with greater speed and can get away with wearing regular jeans. Gradient varies alot here at Leeds too, as the Uni is built on the slight incline of a hill, meaning that there is a good range to test your skills. I'm a big fan of the two short sharp untouched rails at the back of the union building, but my favourite are the triple, low-gradient painted ones leading off the Bragg building cluster where i am now - not great speed, but enough length to enjoy the ride and really test your balance.
If you want to improve the skills that will get you further, faster in life, then Leeds is for you, while your here why not try getting a degree as well!

My journey to the library

2008-01-07T04:52:00.000-08:00

After finishing revising a chapter of France’s forth republic at a quarter to six today I decided to trundle over to the library to dip into Hunnic history, so wrapped up in my winter woollies I ventured out into the cold leaving my hall via the front entrance. Now I’ve been at Charles Morris for a couple of months and know the quickest routes to get to most places, and the quickest route to the library (now that construction work has finished) is past another Charles Morris block and round the back of the Union building. But the second I had stepped outside my hall I realised that I may have to change my plans, as leaning cautiously against the other Charles Morris block was a devious looking character. Now despite being initially put off by this mans appearance quite near my chosen path, I decided to walk as I had initially decided upon as the alternate route was not insignificantly lengthier, no hoody wearing lout was going to add an extra nine seconds onto my journey! So I walked precariously towards where he was standing careful not to give any eye contact until the crucial moment, then just as I passed I gave him a fleeting glance and our eyes lingered on one another for a brief moment, this was just as a gesture to say ‘look, we are both humans, we both exist, I acknowledge that you are here and are more than just the brick wall upon which you lean’. But he took proceedings outrageously further by saying right out loud ‘youright mate?’. Well I was dumbfounded, just because we both exist does not mean that we need to get all cuddly feely about it, not only was this a request for verbal recognition of his existence but he also required me to turn back upon myself to answer, a privilege only reserved for those close to my heart, or at least people I vaguely know or find attractive. So slightly miffed at his audaciousness I cunningly replied over my shoulder ‘yeah, yourself?’. But my words were in vain, as he ignored them and lobbed another unheeded question at me ‘spo-wee?’ he said, tapering his voice towards a higher pitch so as to kindly alert me that this car-crash of a sentence was actually a question. ‘Pardon?’ I replied. ‘spot of weed?’ he said more slowly, again with the questioning tone. No thanks I muttered, and I turned back around and continued on my way. I guess I should have trusted my first instinct and steered clear of the hooded rapscallion, but as it was he didn’t hinder my progress by more then nine seconds, so it’s not really worth losing sleep over.

Study time

2008-01-07T04:50:00.000-08:00

Since i've been back at Leeds i've been spending pretty well all my time studying - with just enough time spare to catch up on emails, play a bit of table tennis, and do a bit of reading before i go to bed. It has been really fulfilling actually, although since yesterday i have had the sniffles and a stuffy head - not cool.

Glasgow to Leeds, though not as planned...

2008-01-06T11:40:00.001-08:00

Andrea and Adam's bus back to London left at eight in the morning so we were up quite early and at teh bus station we said our goodbye's. 'It's been fun, see you when i'm next in America'. I then went in search of the train station where i thought i could get a ticket to Leeds for a remarkable £12, but first i had to find the station. I knew roughly where it was as the hotel receptionist had given me a map and shown me, but i had all day and was in no rush. Along the way i reluctantly withdrew my map and quickly looked at it, as Glasgow is the kind of place where if someone sees that you are lost they will cross the road to ask if you need help. Sure enough, on the second time i withdrew my map a lady did ask me if i needed help, but i assured her that i was fine. So as i ambled to the train station i thought about my stay in Scotland...'Glasgow was a very fine place, very friendly; people had fantastic accents; i got to see Loch Ness; I tried Haggis; saw some men in kilts at the Hogmany celebrations; but i didn't get to go to Edinburgh or try a deep fried mars bar - there's always next time' i mused. But as it turned out i could at least cross one of those two missed opportunities from my list as the only train i could get to Leeds bypassed Edinburgh and cost £49. So having no other choice i took it, and with in an hour and a half i was in the country's capital. My ticket to Leeds was not time dependent so i wandered outside of the station and had a look around the chilly but beautiful city. First i walked through a large park that was the drained out remains of a Loch (lake) which sat below Edinburgh castle, then i wandered up to the castle and had a nice look around the outside. It cost £11 to get in, and i didn't feel like walking around too much in there as my backpack was starting to weigh heavy upon me. Whilst taking photos of it, a worker there asked how i was going, and we got chatting. He told me where he thought a good chip shop would be that sold deep fried mars bars, so i headed in that direction, back over past the railway station, not before visiting the (free) kilt making and Military Tattoo mueseums. When i made it onto the street that the chip shop was supposed to be on i spied another mueseum that was having an exhibition on portraits. Now i'm not all that big on paintings, but i'm rather partial to a good photographic portrait, so i thought i would have a quick gander through the exhibition to see if any painted portraits would excite me. Before i could enter the room though, a lady informed me that i could not wear my bag inside and i could either carry it by my side or leave it at the front desk. My bag must wiegh in excess of 15kg so chose to leave it at the front counter where i recieved a token to show when i returned to pick it up. I went back into the exhibition and was very impressed by some of them, who managed to emulate photography amazingly 'why do that when you could just take a photo some might say' but 'why not!', i'd reply it looked fantastic. As i left the exhibition i decided i might just leave my bag there a little while, to liten my load for my search for the deep fried mars bar.
After finding that the place suggested by the castle employee was closed i went into a 'Walkabout' pub which is an Australiasian themed bar, and while i was waiting to ask someone, i had a look at their food menu. To my surprise, i found that everything on their menu looked fantastic! I didn't think Australians really had a specific food culture, but i must be wrong. Ther were chunky lasagnes, burgers, roasted potatos, salads, wedges and much more, all very nice and whetting my apetite. The guy at the bar with a very Australian accent (must be from Perth) gave me some very very rough directions on how to get to Old town where there was sure to be a 'chippy'. So i followed them and after crossing an old bridge and a pub called 'the Scotsman' (i just mentioned that because lots of people were having their photo taken infront of it - perhaps it is famous?) i found just the shop i was after. I ordered a burger, can of IRN BRU and a 'Mars fry' as it was advertised. Handed to me in typical fish shop styrofoam was my holy grail, i had found it, THE DEEP FRIED MARS BAR!!!! Now it sounds a bit over the top deep frying a chocolate bar - but deary me, what a fantastic over the top idea it is. The crispy battered shell holds the warm melted chocolate in beautifully and the two combine to form a brilliant filling treat. You should definatly try this at least once in your life time (perhaps any more and your arteries might clog up!) Just like the two minute noodles and toast in Wales, adding these two good things together was never going to be a bad conbination. I ate my burger and downed my drink on the walk back to the mueseum to collect my bag, as i thought someone might get a bit suspicious if they actually thought about a bag that had been abandoned, with the security announcements that are currently running at all airports and train stations. Thankfully my bag was still there, so i gave a donation to the 'friends and good pals of Scottish art' foundation and went to catch my train back to Leeds. The trip took me along the east coast of Scotland so i got a nice view of the ocean and rugged shoreline and also of the very green country side before it got dark and i arrived back in Leeds.

2 breakfasts + 2 playgyms = very happy Justin

2008-01-06T11:22:00.001-08:00

That morning at 4am we were awoken by a fire alarm and all the residents of the hotel met up outside - the fire brigade was there but apparently it was just caused by someone smoking in their room. Smokers eh? Despite this i woke at 8o'clock so that i could have some of the fantastic breakfast that was provided; Croissants, pa chocolate's, yoghurt, cereals, toasts, fruit, and three types of juice. While i was munching away on a croissant the lady who was working there sidled up to me (presumably as i was the only person there) and asked how my new years was. She then mentioned that because not many people would be up, they were going to serve breakfast up until 12 not the normal 9. So with that handy piece of information i went back to our room where Andrea and Adam were still sleeping and slipped back into bed and slept until ten to twelve when we all got up and i had a second lovely breakfast.
The day only got better from there as we had a lovely walk around Glasgow, along the Clyde river which was originally used for transporting ships that had been built in the town and into a nice big park. Now i was quite impressed with the first play gym that we came accross, especially as it had a sign that said 'give priority to those under 12 years old', and as there was no one there we had free run of it. But things just got even better when we saw about 200 metres away from us, towering up into the sky four pyramid type consructions with inbuilt ladders, and from the top of each spouting what appeared to be giant swirling slippery slides. We hastely approached them, and found that it was indeed a mega play ground and it had a sign saying 'give priority to those under 16 years old'. I must admit, i was quite excited as this looked like the king of all play gyms - and i was not to be dissapointed. Inside we went and first up tested out the massive rope swings, then the slides, but found them to be quite slow and a bit wet. But a Dad who was there with his two daughters gave us two plastic bags to sit on for going down the slides, and they made such a dramatic difference! My word - these would have to be the coolest slides i have probably ever been on. And this is just another example of how nice the Glaswiegens are. After a quick play on a very crazy rotating swing, we set off in search of the play gym for those 18+, but figured it would probably be in the shady part of town...

Highlands and Hogmany

2008-01-06T05:44:00.000-08:00

Early in the morning we rose, and very much enjoyed our complimentary breakfast (a couple of notches up from the usual cereal and toast of youth hostels) before racing to find George square where we would meet our tour operator who would take us all around the Scottish higlands. After a few moments of panic caused by the changes to the square because of that nights new years celebrations we found him and claimed the back seats of the 30 seater bus. Our tour guide 'Billy' spoke with a fantastic Scottish accent and made sure that we answered with an 'Eye' not a 'yes'. In that day we covered over 600kms and saw some fantastic scenery as well as having a cruise on the eery Loch Ness. I didn't see any monsters, but i wouldn't deny that one could live there. It is over 23 miles long and up to 300 metres deep in places! Througout the trip Billy told us stories about the old Scots and the country side, dropping in lots of fun Scottish sayings. My favourite was 'When i get back i'm going to have a cheeky wee drop of malt whisky, not your mamby pamby blended stuff'. When we did arrive back it was dark so we had a quick bit to eat and headed out to see the Hogmany (what the Scots call New years)celebrations.
We didn't have tickets to enter the square and see the celebrations, but thanks to some very helpful random Scots (who we could barely understand) we secured some and went inside with the other 17000 Glaswiegens. The band 'the view' played and then we counted down to 12:00 where Old lantine was played and everyone sung, and then Loch Lomond, which we had learnt the words to on our tour
"you take the high road,
and i'll take the low road
and i'll be in Scotland before you"
After this we shook hands with and kissed the people we were standing next too, and fought our way through the crowds back to our motel

London to Glasgow

2008-01-05T03:12:00.000-08:00

We only just managed to catch our coach to Glasgow (we arrived just as the final boarding call was announced) bus once on board enjoyed the opportunity to see a great deal of Englands green country side during the day time, which lasts for about 8 hours and is slightly lighter than the night time. I sat next to a red headed twin from Manchester who was studying in Germany this year. It's not everyday that you get to meet single twins,(i mean seeing one and not the other - she had a boyfriend) so i gave her a good grilling on the sort of funny twin things that you always want to know if they actually happen ie. Do you dress the same? (quite often actually) Have you played any games on people where you switch places? (yes, changed classes quite often in primary school) Can you feel when she is in trouble, like a superhero? (no, that is silly). After she got off the bus at Manchester i started reading the book of Shirlock Holmes stories that Emma gave me for Christmas and tried applying what i had learned to people on the bus. I deduced that the girl sitting opposite me was less 18 years old, from a well to do family, was interested in trivial things such as fashion, had just come back from a trip to see some close relatives, and over the past 6 months had lost a lot of weight. I figured this as she wore fashionable clothing (ugh boots, jeans, nice top) but the jeans were too big for her, not the tight fitting form worn by girls her age. The boots were not worn suggesting they were not her only pain, she ate sandwiches and fruit and read a reality tv magazine boasting 'best celeb diets' and she carried a sleeping bag...So i'm not on the same level as Holmes (he would be able to tell you not only what pet's her neighbour had but their names aswell) but really, who is?
Finally after ten hours and about 600kms travelled we arrived in Glasgow and found our hotel within 2 minutes. The receptionist John was very lovely and we asked him a couple of questions regarding where we could get food and how to get to the tourist information centre. He had the most marvelous Scottish accent, and must have dropped in about seven 'wee's' in the five minutes we were talking to him - fantastic! After dropping our stuff in our room, we wandered down the street and bought some food at a fish and chip shop, one of the only ones still open (it was 10'oclock on a Sunday night). Because i promised my sister Dru that i would try haggis so i bought one (deep fried) and a burger(which turned out to just be a patty deep fried), some chips and a bottle of IRN BRU, a scottish fizzy drink. Back in the hotel we broke the haggis into three and munched away. Andrea knocked hers back, saying that the smell was alot worse then the actual taste. I would agree with that, but the taste for me came in two waves. Initially it didn't taste too bad, but then just before you swallowed it, it began to taste like how it smelled. And it's smell remined me of a sheep that Dad and i had to shift that had died and layed in the sun for three or four days, at the time i was close to throwing up, and this haggis put me in a similar position. Nevertheless i finished three mouthfuls of the stuff, so i can say that i've tried it!

Madam Tussauds and Monty Python

2008-01-05T02:57:00.000-08:00

I met my Yankie pals early in the morning and we decided to walk to Madam Tussauds Wax mueseum, which took us up along Baker street, the same street where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous Character Shirlock Holmes lived in the late 19th Century. After getting our tickets checked by the Australian man at the entrance to the wax mueseum, we busseled our way into the main viewing room along with a mass of other people. The models were all very clever, and it was easy to mistake one for an actual person as they were all just planted around the room, i was pretty impressed with Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta, but i was dissapointed to find that just like my mate Tom Cruise, i would also be too short to date Nicole Kidman... We then walked through a couple of other themed rooms - pirates of the caribean, more celebs, sports people, royals, house of horrors, and then a history of the mueseum. Apparently, Mary Tussaud was commissioned in France in 17 hundred and something to make death masks of the French royal families who had been decapitated after the revolution. She kept copies for herself and went touring the country showing them to people, and slowly expanding her collection. So this light hearted attraction has a bit of a grizzly beginning.
After this we walked down the immensely busy Oxford street to get to Londons West end where we were going to see the Spamalot musical show. The street was so packed as a result of christmas shopping that we had to walk in a row behind each other just to make any forward progress. The musical was fantastic, losely based on 'the search for the holy grail' Monty Python movie, but with other fantastic additions such as a line of men doing a Russian dance that yelled 'Hay!' when an old lady dragging a cart of straw walked accross the stage. Classic stuff.

From Suffolk to Seppos

2008-01-05T02:46:00.000-08:00

On the 27th i took a coach back to London and stayed at my Great Aunt Alison's place. The following day was my birthday and Emma my Dad's cousin came around and we had a marvellous big breakfast. I then ventured into Bayswater, a suburb in London to meet up with my American friend Andrea and her boyfriend Adam. I met them no probs at the hostel that they were staying at and we had an all you can eat pizza lunch for only £5 down the street, before i took them on a walk all accross London. Having spent about a month in this massive city i was just like a tour guide, which felt a little odd, but i think i did a good job. We walked through Hyde park, past Buckingham palace, the Guards avenue, Trafalger square, along the Thames opposite the London eye, past Big Ben and the houses of parliament and over Westminster bridge where we bought some roasted nuts. By this time my Seppo* pals were quite exhausted having been up for 18 hours and were a bit jet lagged, so we called it a day and went our separate ways. When i was back at Alisons i had a fantastic bath with almond oil, the lights dimmed, a good book, and rain tapping on the skylight - what an ace way to finish a 20th birthday!

*slang term for Americans (Americans are often called yanks which rhymes with tanks, septic tank = Seppo)

Wet not white Christmas

2008-01-02T13:12:00.000-08:00

I stayed with my Great Aunt Betty for the week up to Christmas in a small farm house in Suffolk. We spent our time sitting in front of the tele drinking cups of tea, knitting and talking about family, English culture and the past. It was fantastic, i really enjoyed having a time to just vege out after all the travelling around.
For Christmas we opened pressies (Donnie got me some slippers to wear about he house, they are fantastic old mans ones in rich red and some other fun goodies) and then had a great big lunch at Kate's place (my 2nd cousin) of turkey with all the trimmings. I ate an aweful lot. After dinner we watched the Queens speech and a bit of tele, had a walk outside and then Donnie and I went back to her place and did a bit more knitting. All in all a most enjoyable day.
Apart from the obvious temperature differences between Australian and England Christmas' there are also a couple of other ones. As a result of the seasons Britons spend more time inside and therefore watch television on Christmas day. I have never done this at all before. The stations get right on board showing favourites like 'my fair lady' and the 'great escape' every year as well as more kiddy friendly movies. The English also play cheesy christmassy songs on the radio like Maria Carie, Cliff Richards and the Pogues. They are terribly catchy. Becky gave me a CD full of them so i can play them all when i get back home - hooray! I both love and hate them at the same time - but they will always bring back good memories.

Oh and it rained not snowed.

London Calling

2007-12-17T07:11:00.000-08:00

Since Thursday night I have been staying with my Great Aunt Alison, and have been having a fantastic time. On Friday, I just got up late, tidied up some emails and what not, decorated Alison’s minimalist Christmas tree with her, went for a stroll down the street, and did a lot of chatting with Alison. Yesterday I went into London city to purchase some tickets for Andrea, Adam and myself for our trip to Glasgow and I had a nice wander past Buckingham palace to Trafalgar square where I passed a protest about the atrocities in Darfor as well as a march for the annual Santa convention by about 850 people dressed up as Father Christmas. I checked out the massive pine in Trafalgar square which is an annual gift from the city of Oslo to the people of London as a token of their appreciation for their help in WW2, and then I went down into the underground to eat some fruit for lunch as it was too bitingly cold outside. I took my gloves off to eat and layed them on my lap, but as we all know our lap disappears when we stand up, and I did just that to catch the train to Embankment, once I realised this I was already at another station, so it took me five or so minutes to get back to where I had dropped them, but by this time, one of them had vanished – so now my left hand gets a little chilly… But thankfully inside the National history museum was quite warm as that was where I went next, and I had a ball looking at different animals and dinosaurs for a couple of hours. That evening Alison and I went to see the St. Peters singers at the local church, which was quite pleasant, and we then had dinner and sat around chatting until 12:30. So today had another slow start, but after a late breakfast Alison and I started to fix up some lattice in her garden. We then sat about for an hour or so chatting with coffee and biscuits and are now just about to have dinner. I’m really having a super time here, it’s nice and laid back, and I’m learning a great deal about this side of my family, and English culture and history, and celebrities (almost). The man that lives next door composes music for films for a living and he was responsible for the soundtrack to St. Trinians which has just been released here. He is married to a BBC journalist who is often travelling all over the world. Also it seems a little odd when we are talking about celebs in the magazines, and Alison drops in ‘Yes well Perou (her son in law) said that she was actually quite a nice person’ – ha! Also the lady that won the first ‘Strictly come dancing’ (which is just like ‘Dancing with the Stars’ although taken a lot more seriously here) lived just down the street, next to some other guy who gets picked up occasionally by a chauffeur driven Mercedes. It’s all a bit surreal!

England Day 6

2007-12-17T07:04:00.000-08:00

In the morning we had our complementary breakfast (cornflakes and toast) and mounted a train to Salisbury, a small town near Stonehenge. Once there we took a £7 return bus ride to the stones and wandered around there for an hour or so. I was told by many people who had been that you couldn’t get close to them and that you had to pay a whole bag full of money just to get within a couple of hundred metres of them, but I came away quite impressed with it, and thought it was well worth the money. There was a small wire (could hardly be called a fence) stopping tourists getting within fifty metres or so of them, and these are some serious rocks, so you get to see plenty of them from that distance. The audio guide that we got was quite useful too, detailing the history of them and possible uses for it. Simon’s theory could still hold true, but it would be a hell of a coincidence if the rocks just accidentally lined up perfectly with the sun at the summer and winter solstices. Apparently back in the day tourists bought hammers from a local store and chipped away little pieces of it to take as souvenirs. Once back in Salisbury Ben and I made the most of our studentrail cards and jumped on a train to London, which just made forking out the £20 for the card worth while. Two or three hours later we were in England’s capital and after finding Victoria coach station settled into a very nice Pizzeria for our final meal and t’was indeed a grand affair, massive garlic bread, pizza and very nice dessert for about £13. Then at the coach station where Ben was heading off to Paris to hang with Celine for a couple of days we did the awkward high five, handshake and man hug all in one and said our goodbyes. It was a bit sad, I’d basically hung out with him everyday for the last two and a half months and we’d had a lot of fun together, but now I’ve got another good mate to visit in the States.

England Day 5

2007-12-17T06:54:00.000-08:00

In the morning we wandered around the old Bristol markets and found out that we could not get to Cheddar (that’s right the town of cheese!) and it’s apparently well known gorge on a week day, so we caught a local bus to Bath. Now surely everyone that visits wants to have a bath in Bath, and Ben and I were no different. I’m sure we do appear quite worldly, and proper, being two well to do, travelling University students, but nothing makes us more chipper than some fun words – and the proposition of being able to say ‘we had a bath in Bath’ had us had us foaming at the mouth. But once we had found our way to the hostel by sneakily following another backpacker that was on the bus with us, we discovered that our bathing dreams might not be fulfilled. Apparently people are not allowed to swim in the 800 year old Roman baths, and if you want to experience the goodness and healing properties of Bath water you need to go to a new Bath Spa centre around the corner which costs £20 for two hours and it is all modern and icky. So we passed on the modern dip and instead had a lovely combined tour of the Fashion museum, and Roman Baths.
Apparently back in the day, the Romans would have a work out in a heated room, then have a slave scrap the perspiration and crud from off their bodies with a with a metal scraper, before having a massage and then having a paddle in the steaming hot baths. Now I certainly would have paid £20 for that sort of treatment. Come here my little Roman slave! We also got a glassful of the fabled Bath water, which tasted like normal bath water – but we knocked it back. So from Italians from long ago having fun with heat, Ben and I then tried Italians having fun with the cold – Gelato! (Beat that Anna Coren!) Once our mega super bowl of fantastic chilly goodness was consumed, we bought some pasta, sauce and cheese, whipped it up in the hostel, and went to see the film ‘American Gangster’ starring our mate Rusty and Denzel Washington. This cinema was quite different to Aberystwyth’s being really big and modern, and we were assigned seats. The film was fantastic, rough and brutal, but very well done, quite engaging. That night I had a shower in the hostel – it was cold and not fun, would have preferred a bath.

Wales to England Day 4

2007-12-16T07:57:00.000-08:00

After a lovely long sleep and some breakfast, Mrs Cooper drove us down to the coast about a mile away, once it had thoroughly been discussed which was the best way for us to walk. The fact that we didn’t have any proper outdoor boots seemed to worry Mrs Cooper and her neighbour a fair bit, and I felt a little on display with them looking at my little purple booties and tutting. But I wasn’t going to pretend like I was a mud and off-road master and know all there is to know, yet I did turn down the offer of wearing some Wellies. Once at the shore we walked along a small goat track which apparently stretches for 180 miles along the southern Welsh coastline – I’d love to do it all one day. It was really beautiful, and the day was fantastic, some cloud but mainly sunny and not very windy weather. We walked for about twenty minutes along the top of the cliffs and then came across a beach that didn’t have any footsteps on it, so we descended into it via some steep steps. Then took our sweet time making our way across it climbing up and along the jagged rocks at the base of the cliff, having a great laugh. Every now and then our peaceful explorations were interrupted by a loud whoosh and bang that came from the headland a little further along, so once we raced each other up the steps we sat down and watched two or three metre long planes being launched from what was apparently an army training base. We then ambled back to the house, had a nice lunch of cheese lettuce, and beetroot chutney sandwiches and got a lift into Tenby with Jo, where we looked around a monks shop, the old castle and then caught a train to Bristle.

By the time our train arrived at Bristle it was ten or eleven o’clock, and having not booked anywhere to stay we were keen to find a hostel. The first one was right on the river in a prime position, but cost £21 so we went in search of another, which was easy enough to find with the instructions given from the Kiwi at the first hostel. On the way we took some pics of a lovely church and then crossed a bridge that opens and closes to let big ships through, I pointed this out to Ben just as we had crossed it and while he was looking back he walked straight into a pole. I saw the whole thing happening and assumed he was doing it for a joke, so when he hit his head on the pole and fell over backwards I played it up really big for the man that was walking behind us. Ben got up, we had a laugh and walked about fifty metres before he realised that he didn’t have his camera on him. It wasn’t where he had fallen over, and the man behind us had walked off so it looked ominous. Ben ran back further and found a group of men in a circle looking at all his pics on his camera, it must have just fallen out of his pocket after he took it out at the church. So he said thanks, got a photo with them all, and we headed onto find this hostel. Thirty minutes and £14 later we had ourselves a place to sleep and were in search of some cheap food for the night, of which a greasy late night fast food place looked to be the most promising. Now Ben and I don’t rush into big decisions like this head on, so we compared prices from several places to find the best value for money. When we were walking back from a cheap curry place an older man approached us and said

‘Excuse me, I know 1200 poems and recite them for people and was wondering if I could tell you one in exchange for some money to buy myself dinner tonight’

So we got talking to him, and he told us about how he had just found out that week that he was actually a Grandfather, and how even though he was now fifty it only felt like a couple of weeks ago he was in his teens. He has dyslexia (must be something in the Welsh water) and has memorised over thirty six hours of poetry – he knows this because he did a charity poetry recital where he recited for 34 hours straight before collapsing. Upon our request he told us two poems about watching his lover pass him everyday by a pond and another about the pointlessness of war. He has written over a hundred himself and after eight years has secured a contract with Penguin, and a book compiling all of his poetry will be published in the next few months. According to him he is on Youtube and there is fan club on the internet as well as a following at the local University. He writes under the pseudonym Bear, but he told us his real name too – which I am not at liberty to tell.

Wales day 3

2007-12-16T07:54:00.000-08:00

The next morning Celine caught a train back to Leeds and Ben and I headed on our way to a place near Tenby in Southern Wales to stay with the parents of Christine, a girl that we had briefly met at Swing dancing lessons. We started out with a cheap and nutritious breakfast from Summerfield’s of Apple turnovers, glazed raspberry rolls and orange juice and then boarded a bus to Aberareon. Our initial plans were to take an eight hour train trip back into Enlgand to Tenby, as this was the only available option on the internet, but Nia suggested just using local busses which proved to be twice as quick and cheap. It also provided us with what would have to be the most picturesque bus ride I have ever taken, with farmland on one side of the bus meeting jagged cliffs on the other going down to the sea. We stopped for an hour in Aberareon because Ben found out in his book of Great Britain that it is home to a world famous ice-creamery, however as it turns out it was only open in summer, so had to be satisfied with a walk around the dock and through the main street. From Aberareon we travelled to Carmantheon and then to Tenby, where I called Jo, Christine’s sister to tell them that we would arrive soon. As we had a one hour wait for the next bus we decided to check out the village, starting with the tourist information centre. The lady there seemed very excited to speak to us, but said there wasn’t much to see in Tenby during winter. She was wrong though. Just through the centre of town we walked onto a beach that would still be called beautiful if it were on the east coast of Australia. It was wide and sandy (no stones) and met a blue sea with proper waves. Firstly our attention was grabbed by the fort that was built on a small island just off the shore, but then Ben spotted something even cooler – caves! So for the next half hour or so we climbed in and around the caves in the rock face looking over the beach, and as a result missed our bus by less than a minute, so we spent another hour exploring the town centre and examining railway times for the following day. After we caught our bus, armed with rudimentary directions from Christina, we managed to find the right house, and were greeted with some tea by Jo, who told us that she and her Dad and some friends were going to have a Welsh folk music jam session tonight at a pub and that we were most welcome to join them if we wished. She then served up some fantastic vegetarian curry when family friends Gwilian and Claudia arrived who are 60 or 70 year old leading Welsh landscape and still life painters. Since we found out that Chicken Tika misala is England’s favourite dish during the intro week pop quiz Ben and I have been wanting to have some curry here, and this certainly did not let us down, it was beaut.
Jo studied folk music at Newcastle university and plays the fiddle and banjo. One of her fiddle friends picked us up and we all drove to Carmantheon via some narrow twisty roads with built up hedges on either side. Once there we entered an old pub and joined a circle of people sitting around some tables with various instruments such as drums, guitars, mandolins and a harp. We were then introduced to Mr Cooper, Christine’s Dad who bought us a drink as well as a fifty or sixty year old lad who I was sitting next to called Simon Hedger. Simon has lived in a nearby valley for 25 years paying rent from a farmer by working one day a week for him, the other days of the week he spends carving things out of wood, with chainsaws. Later on this year he is going to the world championships for it. When he is not carving, he is writing songs to go to the music that the people in the group perform, each telling stories of Welsh history, such as ‘the last coal mine in Wales’. He has written over twenty, and has them all memorised and none of them written down as he has dyslexia. When everyone was playing he would start singing in his deep raspy voice and we would all join in for the choruses. Towards the end of the night, he told a story to the light accompaniment of a mandolin and harp, all about the ancient family of man and how they survived. This later lead him into telling me and Ben about his theory on Stonehenge, that it is actually an ancient animal trap. After a solid couple of hours of music we travelled back with Mr Cooper, and went to bed upstairs in the great big house in beds in Christine’s old room nicely warmed up with electric blankets.

Wales day 2

2007-12-15T10:59:00.001-08:00

[Spoiler alert: This blog entry ends with your protagonist being fed a two-minute noodle sandwich by a naked dreadlocked, nipple pierced man]

The next morning after a very solid sleep we walked down the beach in the centre of Aberystwyth. The town is meant to be a very popular place during the summer because of the beach, but it was quite pretty now, just in a different, more chilly way. We looked at the (almost compulsory) castle and then ducked into a pub/restaurant for some breakfast/lunch as it started to rain. After filling our hungry bellies we wandered up the top of the hill and lookout near Nia’s place. There was a pretty steep old track leading up and once there we found some really odd touristy stuff like a Frisbee golf course, children’s play equipment, and restaurant. From the top of the hill we got a fantastic view of the bay and town, rolling hills meeting the rough sea at steep cliffs. We also experienced the mightiest winds I have ever encountered and had a ball holding our jackets out and leaning right into them, until it started to rain again and the raindrops stung like needles. So we turned our backs on the wind and walked another path down the hill. On the way back we passed a couple of the millions of sheep in Wales that still had their tails on. That afternoon we chilled out with Nia and her American boyfriend Vince and talked about all aspects of Whale milk. After darkness had set in Ben, Celine and I went to a quaint little cinema to see the film ‘the Golden Compass’. What made the cinema so odd was that it had the opening time for the cinema, when the previews started, then when the film started and ended. After the previews there was a small intermission and a little sweets bar opened up near the screen. Once we were back in the house we ate pasta for dinner and yoghurt and peaches for dessert. To finish off the cheese that we bought, Ben and I ate a sizable chunk with our pasta, which prompted Vince to comment that eating a chunk of cheese is best done in the buff. I asked if he had a dress code for all sorts of food, but he just said that easy to make bad food is naked food. Nia and Vince met in the Czech republic at a Ska concert and hitched around together for a while. While they were in Barcelona Vince spent a whole night going from bar to bar completely naked, because there is no legal rule against it, and now they are married. Vince married them. He is an ordained minister, of the Universe. Apparently just like the guy who wrote ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ he signed up with some organisation to make up his own church which means he can legally wed people in America. So I’m not actually sure if they are legally married in the UK, I don’t think Nia is either – I don’t think it bothers her, she’s pretty easy going. When we were having our yogurt she leant us some of her honey and explained that it came from her farm,
Justin: ‘Oh, you lived on a bee farm did you?’
Vince: ‘Yeah she did, until she got bitten on the vagina!’
(General laughs)
‘Oh Vince’ we thought ‘trust him to say a joke as silly as that!’
Nia: ‘You don’t have to tell everyone that story!’
Hee hee hee, so she told us the story of how it happened, it was pretty amusing, not the sort of thing you expect to hear from someone that you only just met.
Vince then decided to make some two-minute noodles and toast, and I suggested that he should have them together like a sandwich, two good things put together are never going to be bad are they? I then questioned whether he thought that a two-minute noodle sandwich would be classed as naked food or not, to which he replied by taking off all his clothes despite there being myself and four other people in the room. He then offered me some of his sandwich – which as I had suspected tasted fantastic!

Wales day 1

2007-12-14T09:13:00.000-08:00

On Friday night I went to the Erasmus fairwell party at the Packhorse pub and hung out with lots of my international buddies and ate the yummy free food. I also met up with Steph who I have danced with several times at Salsa and Swing and had a good natter to her and her mate for close to an hour. She is from a place between London and Oxford and has a fantastically posh sounding accent, but she says she the specific area she is from is not that high brow. I left the pub at about 12:30 and woke up six hours later ready to catch a train to Conwy in Wales with Ben and Celine. For the first hour train ride we all slept or tried to, then marvelled at the sweet Welsh country side, all different shades of green and rolling hills and meadows. After boarding another train we had to tell the conductor that we wanted to get off at Conwy, which we did.

The station was very small, and with the directions (which we didn’t even ask for) from a lady who also got off the train we headed for the tourist information centre. After about a minute of being outside we were all freezing, the wind was quite nasty. We took shelter in a little café and then walked down to the harbour where I went into the bathroom and put on an extra pair of pants, another jacket and worked out that I could wrap my scarf over the top of my head as well as my neck to keep my ears warm. Fully clothed up we walked on top of the wall that surrounds the town and then ambled through the castle as the rain started to sprinkle down.

As the sun set we went into a local bakery and ordered some Welsh Oggies which are large pasties filled with beef, gravy, leeks and potatoes. Bridgette the owner of the shop let us stay inside and eat even though they were closing and cleaning up, according to her assistant she was only doing this because she fancied me because I was an Aussie. After our meal we fancied checking out a local pub and only had to walk 100 metres before we found one. Once inside we were greeted by a very smiley chap who introduced himself as David, and we ordered our drinks – apparently it is not common to have coffee in a pub… We sat down by the open fire near David, so I asked him ‘So David, what do you do around here?’ ‘What?’ he replied ‘You don’t go asking people that! What would you say if I asked you what you do?’ ‘Err, I’m a student’. There was a bit of an awkward pause and then some of the other people in the bar started talking to us. When I was talking to the lady who owned the bar, David pulled me aside saying he wanted a hand with something, so I went with him into the next room and chose some songs on the juke box which he paid for. After a while of listening to the Eagles and Belle and Sebastion, I thought I’d try and strike up a conversation with Dave again and tried to continue on the conversation we were having with the other people in the bar, ‘So Dave, have you done much travelling?’, he looked at me and put one finger on the table, then slowly moved it about 12 inches (imperial – keeping it authentic) along the table, then he spat out ‘Don’t ask me that, ask your F***ing self!’ then turned around. Brilliant, we thought – cool Welsh locals!

But that was only the start of the craziness that we were to experience, as we were now heading to Aberystwyth a town of 13000, of which 7000 are students on the western coast of Wales. Just the night before I had texted Nia, a girl I had found on Couchsurfing.com to see if we could stay with her for a couple of nights, and she had agreed. So after two train trips and about 4 hours of playing ‘What am I?’ and other similar games we arrived in Aber and were met by some of Nia’s mates, one of which had just gotten back from Taiwan after staring in the film ‘September Winds’ there as the lead role. On the way back they bought some Fosters (which heaps of Poms drink) and we got some Fizzy drink and then walked to Nia’s place. It was a biggish flat overlooking the beach, and we all sat around chatting (and them drinking and smoking like chimneys) until one or two. We slept in the living room, Ben and Celine on a double lie low and me on the couch.

Dinner @ 7 Spices 4 2

2007-12-04T04:57:00.000-08:00

Finally i was able to get rid of the advertising, i traded it with the manager of the 7 spices resturant that already advertises with the paper. I wanted to get the other place that offered me a dinner for four because that would bring in a new customer for the paper, but they bailed on me. I only asked this man for a dinner for two as i was getting pretty desperate - seeing as the comp ends today. And i think the dinner for two will be plentiful, as i'm planning on trading it with a nice couple that own an antiques store. Thats what i'll get stuck into later on today.

Last night i went to Gaghole the comedy night, and it was by far the funniest one yet, all the comedians were a hoot - worth the £5. Tonight Ben and i are going to a Swing social, so before hand we are meeting up to brainstorm some dancing ideas so we don't freeze out on the floor, if all goes well it should be a good night. After that we might do a little more planning on our Wales trip. It is a little hard as the places we are going are all so tiny, but we have all but lined up accommodation for free at two or three different places, so that is a bonus. Means we can hang with some locals too.

It's the last week of Uni now and we had the last philosophy/ethics proctorial. It was relaxed and fun, and afterwards we went out to the old bar with our proctor, he's a nice chap. I started talking to one of the lads from the class and mentioned going to Israel, turns out he was born there and visits all the time, so we had a good chat about that.

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2007-12-02T12:57:00.000-08:00

I woke up feeling fantastic today, with the sound of the rain dripping onto my skylight in my ears and the prospect of a day experiencing Robin Hoods stomping ground ahead of me! And sure enough after a rather damp walk to the bus station and two and a half hours on a bus we were in Nottingham. Ben, Celine and I hit up the Robin Hood centre and felt cool wearing the awesome hat and posing with Robin Hood paraphenalia. We then went to Englands oldest Inn for lunch which looked like a cave inside. The food was great, and reasnobly priced too. I got beef and gravy wrapped in a big yorkshire pudding - nice! Then onto the castle and there was an exhibition on the latest Robin Hood tv show with lots of costumes and props from the show, good fun! Here are a couple of pics from the day

"There you go my darlings"

2007-12-01T10:51:00.000-08:00

Wow - dinner at Agostina's place was fantastic! We had Bread and something Tuna-ish, pasta with a fantastic meaty sauce, chicken and bell peppers, fruit salad and chocolate cake and Italian coffee. Very very nice!

Today Ben and i went in search of a Frisbee golf course that is meant to be in Harrogate, a nearby town. We walked for about two kilometres out of the town to where it should be but didn't find it. We did find a nice country pub and had lunch there. It was fantastic, just like the ones on the bbc dramas that we watch on tele - lots of pokey rooms and the lady behind the bar called us love and said "there you go my darlings" when she put the food on the table for us - orrrhhh! This town Harrogate must be really high brow, because there were so many expensive cars there - also the well renowned cafe and bakery Betty's had some very steep prices, but in all fairness, a very nice lemon and lime tea cake.

I realised last night that my £300 advertising sace has rapidly lost alot of value, because the last paper for the year went out on Friday, so the soonest that their ad will run will be next year... I think i will try going to the couple of businesses that have already run ads as at least i know they are actually keen on it. It can get a bit disheartening getting turned down all the time. I've got until tuesday to get rid of it, the dinner for four that i was previously offered is looking tempting...

Don't forget the cordial

2007-11-30T09:14:00.001-08:00

Last night i remembered another big difference between Australia and England. English cordial seems to be a little bit stronger then the variety found in Australia...

Today i have been trying to trade my advertising, and ended up having a conversation with a nice lady about the effectiveness of charities, which sort of tied in to what we are discussing in ethics at the moment and has been occypying my thoughts alot recently.

Is it an obligation of wealthy people to give to poorer people or is it just a good thing to do? - or as this lady thinks, is giving to charities actually part of the problem. She mentioned some examples where charities do more harm then good, but on the whole, i don't know if this would stand up.

The photo is of Ben and I with Jimmy Carr the comedian (read my article from a few days ago).

Tonight i'm going to some student accommodation about 4 miles from the campus to have an Italian dinner with some of my European friends - should be very nice!

Australia vs England

2007-11-28T03:54:00.000-08:00

Here is a brief list of things that i have noticed that are not the same - there may be a couple of wild generalisations...

- People say 'youright?' (Are you alright?) instead of 'howyagoin?' (How are you going)

- When it rains the rain drops are not as dense and you don't always need a jacket or rain coat

- Sheets are not valued as highly. My bedding pack did not include one and several times i have stayed at other peoples places and not been offered one.

- The gaps between English peoples teeth are larger than Australians. This is based on the dental floss that i bought that was too thick for my teeth. Nuff said.

- Students get way more involved in University societies

- Students drink more (it is possible)

- Students get into fancy dress costumes to go out more often.

- It is colder here.

- People say 'Bollocks' and 'Blimey' not even intending it as a joke.

- Girls wear short skirts the whole year round (thick stockings as well when it is cold)

- Blokes wear scarfs even if they aren't metrisexuals, old pompous men, or Dr. Who.

2007-11-27T04:16:00.000-08:00

Wow - lots of great stuff has happened since i last wrote - i'll begin at the beginning...
On Friday Ben and I went to see Operator Please in Manchester and i ran into two of the singers backstage when i was going to the toilet - very cool. Not so cool was having to run from their show after they had only been playing for twenty minutes to catch the last bus back to Leeds. Meh, at least we saw them!
On Saturday i went paintballing because a friend of mine won some tickets, saving us a lot of money. We still had to pay £15 for ammunition but it was alot cheaper than usual. It started out slowly for me as i got shot within 30 seconds of the first two rounds, but then after a while i got a feel for it and even played the hero of the green team when after scrambling under heavy fire behind some shelter, i grabbed our bomb and running into the open lobbed it into the enemy's bunker, winning the game for us. I did get shot a bit, and i've still got a few bruises, but it was a real blast - very much worth it! The pic is of my finger where i got smashed by a paintball - it left a pretty good mark.
On Sunday i worked on my last essay and after some initial panic where i really thought i couldn't get it done, i got it done - yah! And that night Ben and I went to see the comedian Jimmy Carr at the Grand Theatre which was great fun. At one point during the show he asked the audience for their sexual fantasies, and i quite wittily yelled out 'Ya Mum' to which he replied 'Alright so thats necrophilia'.
Having finished my essay, i was then able on Monday to try and get rid of my £300 worth of advertising space, which proved to be a bit trickier than i had expected. Most places i went too needed me to contact head office. So i'll try that, and send a couple of emails about. Worse comes to worse and i'll take up the offer of a meal for 4 at a resturaunt that i got, but i think i can do better.

£300 paperclip

2007-11-22T07:28:00.000-08:00

A fundraising organisation at Leeds Uni is running this event where people get a paperclip and trade it for bigger and better things, then sell them on eBay and the proceeds go to Charity. I traded my green paperclip for advertising space in the student newspaper worth £300. Now i am going to go down town and offer it to some businesses and see what they will give me for it - lets see how we go!

In other news, the time now is 3:30 in the Afternoon, and it is already getting dark - no wonder English people get so pale and pastie (say I who live in Australia and still manage to emit a faint white glow when ever i take off my shirt).

Last night Ben and I made Brownie's, they were a quite fluffy as we only had self raising flour. We bought chocolate, but borrowed all the other stuff from other people in the building complex, giving them some of the produce - so everyone is a winner!

I polished off an essay today, so i've just got the one more to go before i'm done for this term - yeah! Really should start it sometime...

Swing when your winning

2007-11-19T15:15:00.000-08:00

So i was planning on writing all about the fantastic weekend that i just had at the swing camp - but today was just so dreary that i thought i wouldn't do such a fun topic justice. See, i've got these essays looming, two due next week, both 2000 words each. So today as i don't have any classes on until five i thought i could really make some headway into it - but way led to way, and almost everything that could go awry did and it looked like i wasn't going to achieve anything. But i grabbed myself (figeratively) by the scruff of the neck and said 'look dear boy, you will achieve something today - just focus on one thing and get that done'. So i did. I posted my mail. Go on scoff away, but this task involved getting photos which were all located on various computers printed from a machine that promised 'your photos in seconds' but in reality due to technical gliches took over half an hour, walking back and fro from Leeds city because i forgot the addresses to two letters, filling out a table top sized voting form (all 1 to 79) and then waiting in a 25 minute que. This whole process took me nigh on two hours - but with the day split into awkward segments - this took away all of my usable space. Aswell as this the day was quite damp and i was forced to hide my satisfaction that the weather was reflecting my mood, as this would wreck my mood, and thus make the dreary wet atmosphere superflous. But all is well now as still having done very little study i went to a reagaton dance class, ate some pizza and went to 'Gaghole' a comedy night of students and professionals - pretty funny stuff. Which puts me nicely in the mood for writing about the weekend.

Saturday started with a nice basic beginners swing class - good fun. Then we had a fantastic jumps and tricks class which was open to both beginners and intermediate. It was here that i danced with 'bit of a guy' girl - named so because these were the first words that she said to me (she was dancing as a male lead - but i danced with her anyway) the first time i had met her. On first meeting Bitofaguy i had assumed that she was your typical very good looking girl - with a very 'i'm a good looking girl' attitude. But i managed to break that down - after her initial comment 'I'm actually a bit of a guy' i said 'wow, love the honesty - and we've only just met!' to which i gained a wry smile, but got an audible laugh to my comment after i had finished dancing with her 'you make an alright girl too'. Anyway, so in this jumps and tricks class we learned some cool stuff, then we had another beginners lesson, then a break before our big night out at 'The Wardrobe'. As soon as Ben and I walked into the club we were very intimidated - these people knew how to dance, and looked very smooth on the floor, so we sat down and watched. Bitofaguy (who is an intermediate) came over and said 'hey' to both of us with her mate Amoeba (it was loud and it sounded like that - it could be Anita or Anilla though), possibly wanting a dance - but no such offer would come from these two gents, being more scardy cats than swing cats! But after getting an offer from another girl (Diana) in our beginners class i went out to the floor and Ben went too with another beginner. Once on the floor all i could remember was the last routine that we did that day which included moves such as 'spank the baby' and 'getting jiggy' both moves - especially the former, look quite ridiculous, and in all honesty i couldn't even remember the whole routine, so there were several moments of just standing around feeling very ill at ease and hoping never to be in a situation like this ever again. And i was meant to be leading so i've got no idea how Diana felt. So after the second song i swiftly left the floor apologising to my partner and swearing never to do it again. However, it wasn't long before i got back on the horse (nb. in this metaphor the horse is the dancefloor not Diana) as another lady from our classes asked me to dance. By this time after watching more attentively the other dancers i had remembered the basic step and was able to make my way through the song staying relatively in time and not feeling too bad. Ben and i then made our way casually over to the bar, got some water on the rocks and stood close to Bitofaguy and Amoeba, with our backs turned so that eye contact wouldn't be made and we wouldn't be obliged to ask for a dance. Bitofaguy then approached us and asked us (i like to think it was me though) whether we would like to dance with them. And here is where Ben gets his big coup because Bitofaguy danced with him and myself with Amoeba, although i maintain that this was solely because he was who she happened to be closest too and it would have been too obvious otherwise. Amoeba was a fine dancer nevertheless - i had a real blast with her and she taught me some smoking moves. Later i danced with Bitofaguy and found that my first impressions could well be quite off as she was just really positive and great fun. She left early, i did a bit more dancing - a good night all round.
The next day we started it off with another beginners class and then in the break Ben and I went for a quick tipple at the refectory (water - still). On the way we walked passed the the Swing help desk which was manned by non other then Bitofaguy. We had a conversation of a jocular nature (thankyou Peter Garret)and i questioned why she left so early the previous night - giving the impression that i stayed really late and am a party animal, where as in reality i left before twelve - before the actual band played. She said that she had to attend a friends 21st birthday, where i rather excitedly dropped in that it was actually Ben's 21st birthday today - because it was so, and she gave Ben a birthday hug. If only I had been born one month and eleven days earlier! I'm blaming you Mother! After another beginners swing class with an Australian and Dutch couple we headed to the sports centre to do a 20's Charlston class with the same instructors with the intermediates. This was a real hoot - big, camp moves, slo-mo running, a bit of breakdancing six step, scarecrows, lift your braces and kick out your feet - all round good fun. We then got the opportunity to bust out some of those moves with the ladies and for once i felt like i was really being communicative, telling my woman where to go by my movements and not through my voice as i was the previous night. I danced briefly with the Dutch teacher and she said i had 'a good body for it - good posture', nice one Justo! Bitofaguy was in this class too, but i didn't really talk to her as she had a sore knee and sat out for most of it. When Ben's side of the room was dancing and we were watching i yelled out 'yeah Ben, it's your birthday' just as a joke. But the instructors picked up on this and got everyone to make a circle and all the girls in the room had to dance with him - ahh what a laugh! It was fantastic. After the class we reluctantly went to a bar on campus to hang out with the swing crew. I say reluctantly as i was not keen for another round of awkwardness on the floor. But once there i was put back on the floor because a girl asked me to dance, of which i can't say no to. And it was pretty average, i'd forgotten most of the moves and it was a bit ungainly. But i got along well with the girl so it was at least good fun - it was this dance that Ben videotaped me. From there more and more girls asked me for a dance and i gained a bit of confidence and a few moves (like the chill out foot shuffle from the Dutch instructor) and i was starting to feel good. So i asked Diana for a dance and said 'alrighty, you just see the improvement' and with this confident statement i danced confidently, flinging her out, doing several passovers, foot shuffles, Charlston hitches, Texas tommy passes, badooms, slides, you name it - it felt awesome!
I think i might even pursue Swing when i get back home and perhaps head down to Melbourne which according to Matt and Loti the instructors is meant to have one of the best scenes in the world. (Note to self: Lindy exchange in November swingtalk.com.au) And from Swing i headed back to Ben's place for some waffles, and then had a slightly damper jog back then usual thanks to the light rain that had set in and would follow through into the next day. All in all it was a pretty super weekend. But i can't dwell on the past - best get stuck back into these essays - or go to sleep more likely, tomorrows a new day!

Also, an article i wrote on Bahai's not being allowed to attend University in Iran got published in the LeedsStudent newspaper on Friday.

2007-11-14T03:19:00.000-08:00

Philosophy class yesterday:
There were five of us students and our third year proctor who was meant to be controlling our discussion and it was all going really well. I had thankfully managed to find the right reading to read so i knew what i was talking about and we were slowly working our way through the questions that we had to answer. Then we came to question 3. Now when i was sitting at home the night before quite late, i came up with an answer to question three that was quick and easy, but also as i wrote it down, incredibly accurate, poignent, and humerous. So as we breached question three there was a pause as everyone was waiting for someone else to go first - my heart said 'shout your answer out justin, say it loud and proud and tell everyone how cool you think it is', but my mind said, 'stay cool, wait for someone else to say their answer which will be inferior to yours then nonchalantly say yours - this way you will look even cooler'. By now my heart is beating really fast doof doof doof, and i'm thinking 'ahh what if i say it wrong', 'what if they don't get it'. But I wait... the question is read by our proctor 'how would you define wisdom?', still i wait, as an unclear definition is made, then i strike, 'Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad' - and there was a pause for at least one second where everyone was looking at me with a blank face, then they all started laughing and commenting on how great that was. Yeah, nailed it!

The last two nights in a row i've gone out for tea with Ben and his parents who have come to visit him here, the first time it was just me and them, then last night it was with Andii and Celine as well. They paid both times which was very nice, and the food was fantastic - we ate at some pretty high class places - my meals cost pretty close to or over £10 and at the second place they took my jacket from me and put it in a closet - pretty high brow eh? Last night it was a celebration for Ben's birthday which is this Saturday so i asked the waitor to bring out a candle or something which they did and we sang happy birthday - ahh very nice indeed. Incidently, no one called out the hipips at the end - normally the dominant males job...

This afternoon as we have the bye at five a side soccer, Ben and i are going to play American flag football - that starts at two and it is 11:36 now, so i guess i have just enough time to do a bit of study before hand (essay on strikes and riots in France in 1968), but on the otherhand i might pay my mates at the bank and post office a quick visit - why not hey?

2007-11-11T09:59:00.001-08:00

So i was poked back by my actress friend (poking is when you allow someone to view your profile on facebook) which is a good sign - but she has a boyfriend - which is a bad sign. Here is a picture of her and the lead actor from the play.

Today i played some football with some of my english buddies at the sports centre and went to a baroque concert and talk with some of my international pals. During the football match at 11 oclock a lady came and asked for a minutes silence which we did, being rememberence day at all. At the concert i asked Helena from Germany if they do anything for rememberence day. She said they have a carnival that starts at 11o'clock, but she didn't think it had anything to do with remembering the war - odd.

I have only been to one other classical music concert before and that kept me entertained with dancers and a couple of songs that i knew. But i didn't know any of these ones, so thankfully i brought my knitting along and i finished off my ball of wool. I would liken the whole experience to being about as exciting as going on a journey in a car with interesting but not outrageous scenery flashing by your window - and no radio.

Black Comedy!

2007-11-09T13:32:00.001-08:00

The light turning on was actually pretty spectacular - there would have been at least 3000 leodins (synonym for 'people who dwell in leeds') all crowded around a massive stage in the cold listening to X factor (like aussie idol) winners and losers sing their little hearts out. Then they switched the lights on and there was an awesome fireworks display. Now fireworks are pretty cool in my books - plenty of 'wow' moments. Infact Ben was yelling 'wow' so loud that he scared a little kid away - wow indeed.
But not even the wowtastic fireworks could top off the last 2 hours that i have had. I went to see the stage production 'Black Comedy'. Initially i thought it was going to be stand up, and then i couldn't find tickets, so i had all but given up hope. But Andii knew all about it as she was planning to audition for a part and was part of the stage society. It was hilarious and the performances were top notch - and it was all glued together beautifully with old school English accents. It made me realise that i haven't been to a stage production of anything in a fair while - the last time being a rock opera in Newcastle at least a year ago. What really makes a stage production great for me is having a charactor on stage who you can have a crush on - and my gosh, this one was not lacking in that respect. There was an actress playing the charactor Clea who particularly caught my eye - it could be because she was playing a spicy charactor, but she looked like one cool chick. So i sent her a message on facebook......... Now is this wrong? Am I a sleezy, stalking, star eyed fan looking for my slice of Celebrity pie? Or am i just a level headed sensible lad persuing the available pathways to contact with a lass that caught my eye? (or am i an accidental poet? - read those last two sentences aloud)

2007-11-08T03:49:00.000-08:00

Two nights ago i was going for a jog through hide park with my British friend Matt when a guy started running near us chased by two policemen. It was just like an episode of the Bill - awesome! Well, the guy got away but apart from that it was pretty cool.

Yesterday Salsa was cancelled (Boooo!) because there was a give it a go swing dance class (yeah!!!) So we did that instead - it was a hoot! I then went to Bens place to make some plans for our trip in December but instead we made rice crispee treats and watched flight of the conchords - an awesome New Zealand New York show. WE bought rice bubbles and marshmellows and fudge - but the marshmallows had beef in them so ben couldn't eat them, so we just made it with fudge and they were great. But now i have two packets of marshmallows to eat - ahh! What a nice problem to have.
Also yesterday we played five a side soccer and had a win - only it was a practice game as the other team didn't turn up.

This afternoon i've got Tango and Swing dancing, then we are going to see the Leeds Christmas lights get turned on!

Guy Fawks night!

2007-11-06T04:11:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Guy Fawks day and people got right into it. At seven o'clock we went to Hyde park and watched probably the biggest bonfire i have ever seen - then a pretty impressive fireworks display before working our way through the massive crowds to the fair that was set up. There were so many people there that we decided against going in and instead went back to Charlie mo.
Guy Fawks is celebrated because an Irish Catholic man back a couple of hundred years ago tried to blow up parliment but was caught and burned or drawn and quartered - I'm not sure if people celebrate him as a martyr or they are celebrating his death. I don't actually know if most people know either - just a good excuse to play with fire!

Ireland

2007-11-05T02:48:00.000-08:00

Well Dublin what a hoot!
We caught the 45 minute flight from Leeds to Dublin with Ryan air and from the airport made our way by double decker bus to our hostel. On the way we saw a shop front titled 'The money doctor' where i made a fantastic pun which i will now shamlessly retell. 'Hey guys, do you think you could get cheque-ups there?'. Once we got to our hostel it we went out to get something to eat - unfortunately it was about 11 and most things were closed so we went to an Irish fastfood chain - Supermacs! the food was quite expensive - correlating with what the taxi driver told us on the way to the airport. As we started dinner i 'prosted' Anne, which is the German way of Cheersing - but then thought that as we are in Ireland we should do it the Irish way - but we didn't know how to do it, so i asked an dude who was sitting near us 'Excuse me mate' no reply 'Excuse me mate!' still no reply, then he looked at me and said 'did you just say excuse me man (or mate, i wasnt' sure)'
'Yeah'
'you should say sir'
'Oh ok, excuse me sir how do you say cheers in Ireland?'
And he waved away the question and walked away. so i didn't learn at that point how to say Cheers in Ireland, but i did learn that you should say 'sir' not 'mate' when talking to Irish men of about 50 years.
In the morning after a small breaky of dense bread all 12 of us headed out to explore the city. We saw Trinity college - where i got a med student asking for donations to say 'diddle de de Potatoes', the Old Dublin wall, Dublin Castle, Ha'penny bridge - named because it once cost half a penny to cross it and St. Patrick and Christ Church Cathedrals. One (mildly) interesting thing that i noted was that the pedestrian crossing buttons are the same as in Australia and make all the same noises and vibrations - in England and the rest of Europe they have different ones, hmmm. For dinner that night we went to Dublins oldest pub and had a hearty if expensive meal.
The next morning we woke up slighty tired from the big days walking before and headed to the fishing village of Howth where we saw seals in the little harbour. We also saw some caves along the rocky shore which we explored, before having a mighty lunch at a small cafe/restaraunt - it was fantastic! The team then split up a bit more and Ben, Celine, Andii, Jean, Joe and myself went to Bray - another village on the other side of Dublin about an hours nice train ride from Howth. Once there we walked along the shoreline and then climbed up a hill that had its peak covered by clouds. It was an epic climb but we all made it! On the way back down Ben and I had an extreme run down - very cool! That night we ate in the hostel and then went to the Temple Bar district and saw some live music. At the second place we went to they were playing Irish music and i requested as song that i had first heard when i was a little kid on the 'modernday swaggies' tape that my parents played a bit. It was a collection of Australian folk songs - and one of them was Irish - so i requested it.
"I tell my maa when i go home,the boys won't leave the girls alone"
And they played it and it was awesome! Yah!
The next morning we caught a taxi to the airport and flew back - this time with the nice view of the country side!
The whole weekend cost me about €180 which i guess isn't too bad. It was a great time!

2007-10-30T09:13:00.000-07:00

I went to a talk by a comedian/journalist and an ex army dude about the war in Iraq today, and it was worthwhile. I found out many interesting things that i didn't know.

Daylight savings has recently kicked in - it is now 4:15 and it is already getting dark - hmph. I guess this is what i sort of excpected when i came here - i'll have to try and monitor peoples happiness, because i have heard that people get more depressed when it is less sunny.

This thursday we are going on our trip to Dublin - it will be very exciting. So i'll miss a day of uni on friday, and also one on Thursday as i will be attending the Exchange study fair. Should be a laugh talking to the British about how Sweet Newcastle is.

It is getting close to Halloween now and they use it as an excuse for a party here - and i have just been to my first one. I dressed up as a gym instructor from the 80's. Here people seem to dress scarily, which is what i thought you were meant to do. But i've been assured by some Yanks that it is cool to dress as anything... I'll throw some pics up soon.

2007-10-26T03:50:00.000-07:00

Last night we went dancing in a union club - salsa and regaeton music - was a blast!

Philosophy is tough - need to concentrate

Bought some cool clothes from a second hand store - spent £25 eep! Good clothes though, jeans, jumper, jacket. Nice!

Here are some photos from Ilkley moor.

2007-10-23T05:29:00.000-07:00

So, it's a tuesday now. On the weekend i got some of my essay done - although i wrote part of it on the wrong topic - eep, and went to Ilkley Moor - which was really really cool. We walked aroung scrubby land and climbed rocks and had a ball! I'll throw some pics up soon. Right now i'm meant to be finishing off my essay, then finishing off my article for the Leeds Student as they wanted it to link into the uni somehow.
Last night Ben and i went to Gaghole, a comedy thing here at the uni. It has a couple of student standups and then a professional - it was really really good - well worth the £5 to get in.
I've got a couple of ickey things to think about now - getting a credit/debit card to get money put into it, paying accommodation fees, not having my guitar. But apart from that everything is cheery!

Let's talk about the weather!

2007-10-19T02:32:00.000-07:00

During international intro week we were told that if you want to start up a conversation with a pom then the weather was a safe topic, so this is for all of the english people out there...
The weather has been much warmer than i had anticipated - but today it all came tumbling down - not as rain or anything exciting (because we all know that rain is terribly riviting!) but just as a really overcast chilly day. One of those days that makes it really hard to get out of bed in the morning - it took me twelve minutes to achieve this today - 5 more than it took me to go down stairs and have a shower. This could be because of the tempremental shower head that decides what temperature you will have your shower. It caters for everyone to be fair, those who like burning hot showers and those who like them luke warm - changing between the two every few minutes...
Yesterday was quite productive - i finished an summary and wrote an article for the Leeds Student (newspaper) but the icing was put on the cake when i found a competition in a car magazine that i bought asking for possible car model name acronyms - this occupied me for quite sometime and i got a couple such as one for Landrovers Defender - Drives Everywhere Fastastically Except Near Domestic Easy Roads. I haven't got any yet that i feel i have completly nailed yet - but that means i'll always have something to think about - man i'm cool!

2007-10-17T15:27:00.000-07:00

I just finished typing up a summary and comments on a reading for my France since 1944 subject. Initially i found the subject quite boring but after really getting stuck into the reading i'm a bit of a fan of it. This reading was about a march that took place in France on October 17th 1961 - exactly 46 years ago. About 30 000 Algerians, men and women peacefully walked into central Paris and 11 000 men were herded into a sports stadium and beaten and over fifty people were killed. There was a big cover up by the government and it is still a touchy subject in France.

In other news - we had a loss in five a side today but only 3-1 this time and we had plenty of subs and played well. Salsa this afternoon was good fun too, as was climbing with Jean (canadian) Ben and Andii. This was the first time we have done climbing on de Mawa ('the wall' in German - said in a deep voice it sounds pretty cool) and although we did not pass our test to do belaying as they are not allowed to teach us and we are not allowed to learn there (???!!!???) we had a ball climbing around the walls below a line about 5 metres up. Ben and I are trying to fit Jeans name into sentences such as 'so guys, what do you think about cloning...I mean what would you think if i cloned Jean right now so i had an army of Jeans...I guess if i killed them all it would be Jeanacide' But we have run out and all the obvious ones are taken. So if you have any ideas...

At Charles Morris we only get £6.38 to spent at the food hall each day and that equates to two meal deals, so i have breakfast and dinner. But dinner finishes early especially on gig nights (some wednesdays) so i have a pizza and garlic bread or a smallish wrap from other union run places. Neither of these options really fill me up, and at about this time 11:40 i get a little bit hungry - at least it's only a quick nap away to breakfast!

2007-10-16T08:58:00.000-07:00

Hello there! This afternoon has had my mind spinning around as i have been in the thick of buying plane tickets to Isreal as well as getting back home, plus i am also thinking about our trip to Ireland in November and Scotland with my American mates in early January. Ahh so many thoughts! It makes it all so much more difficult when you don't have a credit card too...

Earlier on today i had some classes which were solid and then Ben and i went to a lunch put on by some business and entrepueneur (spelling) group who were all into networking and getting ahead in the corporate world. It was a pretty good free lunch - sambo's, little sausages, fruit, chips and juice and i got to meet some new and interesting people Julia from England, and Marshall and Melissa from the States. Here are some photos from my recent York trip...

Blog Environment day!

2007-10-15T03:34:00.000-07:00

Right - so the environment. There is one little issue that i would like to drop in here that relates to the environment and also ties in nicely with my traveling. It is the cultural differences to rubbish. I was talking with my Brazilian friend Andii a little while ago about why there is so much rubbish on the ground, and she said that people put it there because they think that it helps to employ people to pick it up. Even as a way of justifying it to yourself i thought it was a load of bollocks and i seriously doubted anyone would actually think that. Anyway i was out one night with a group of people and a British friend who i had not known all that long dropped a piece of plastic on the ground, and without thinking i said - oh you better pick that up mate, and he gave the reasoning that he is helping to employ people by dropping it on the ground, and he wasn't even joking! Not cool at all...
What was cool though was my recent trip to York with some International pals - I'll throw some pics up as soon as i can. The town itself is close to 2000 years old and it feels like you are stepping back in time when you are there - except for the subway or starbucks shops which stand out like a hair on your toothbrush.

2007-10-12T11:26:00.000-07:00

Friday - hooray! So work is finally piling up. I have three assignments to do in two weeks - and none of them look particularly challenging. It's just that i haven't done any assignments is so long and i'm not exactly in the zone yet. Tonight and tomorrow i will look into the Huns and come up with a one page summary about whether they were anything without Attila. Then i'll just go from there.
So, breaching a more sombre topic for once. I found out today that my Uncle's other nephew who i have met about four or five times got luchemia some time in the last year and has recently died. He was my age and liked similar things to me.

On Sunday I'm going to York with some mates - all internationals, should be worthwhile - it's meant to be a nice place. Ben and Celine are really starting to get things together between them - which is very nice! They are both going to York as well as some of Celines friends who we are going to Dublin with later on in November.

2007-10-10T02:42:00.000-07:00

Ahh, so it has been brought to my attention that the address to my blog could quite easily be read as justins oversea sexchange...... thats funny - it'll keep people guessing!

So overseas exchanges eh? Well the main reason that i came to England was to experience a different culture (sure visiting rels and mates rated pretty highly, but thats not my point at the moment), and i'm sure i'm not the only one. I've noticed at International House, my college in Newcastle that alot of International students seem to hang out with other international students - especially ones from their own country - and this bothers me a little. I think, 'why do you come all this way just to hang out with people from your own country?' and i was very sure that when it was my turn to go on exchange that i wouldn't do that. But looking at my friends now they are from Brazil, America, Czech Republic, Germany, Canada, France, and a couple from the UK. A large reason for this is because there is an international welcome week separate from the freshers intro week, so we bond together and get to know our way around before the poms arrive. Then to make things somehow easier for themselves, at our accommodation all of the international students are grouped onto the one floor - apparently because we all have half year leases - but meaning that it is even harder to meet British people. This did worry me initially, but it doesn't any more. Becasuse i am meeting lots of people that i wouldn't have met if i were in Australia - and I am interacting with lots of poms - Alex from London at Breakfast, Matt my nieghbour and soon to be guitar tutor (i got one - hoorah!), Harry and Rich my soccer playing mates, Helen the Med student who took the video of Hypnodog and everyone else from tutorials, lectures and who i randomly meet in everyday life.

Ben, Tereza and i went to a give it a go learn to knit class yesterday - Ben was super keen, i didn't know what to expect. We all picked it up pretty easily and i had a crack at it last night. I was worried that i might get addicted and might do more knitting then guitar playing wasting my £30 investment. But i don't think that'll be the case - it can get very frustrating, i keep making my stitches a bit tight, and making lots of little mistakes.
Today is a big day for stuff - not so much for work, although i do apparently have an ethics essay due in two weeks. I've got five a side at 1, learn to climb at 2:30, then salsa dancing at 5.
We had a great proctorial for philosophy yesterday - all about what is art. I had read the readings and was one of the most oppinionted people in the group and alot of what i was saying was really grounded stuff - it felt great to be confident in my opinions. Although i don't know if it was conclusive. My view is that Art has to be put in the framework of art to be art - so almost anything could be art.... I don't want it to be, but i can't see how it wouldn't be this way. hmmm.

2007-10-08T12:43:00.000-07:00

The Fajita night went off fantastically - it was a great success, and we are likely to do it again sometime. Last night after i got back i was thinking that i might read a fair bit of my book before i go to bed, so that i'd wake up late and be awake for less time with nothing to do. But i didn't and ended up having a pretty sweet day - i had breaky, jumped on the net, played some table tennis, got some mail from the bank, played some more table tennis, did a bit of reading for my French history class, had the lecture for that, tried to by a guitar on eBay, and then went to Dance class with Ben... That last part sounds a bit funny doesn't it. Ben is keen on this French girl Celine and he went to hang out with her, so after my lecture i joined them for the second class - it was a hoot! We are the only guys in the class - but are keeping up with it all right. Although i can not do the but shaking thing anywhere as good as a lot of the girls. Our instructor moves heres so that it looks like it is independent of her body - i just kind of thrust a little bit - but i don't think it is quite right!!! It was good fun though, and some other girls asked us to come to the latin dance class on Wednesday because they are low on boys - so we might give it a shot. As Ben and i discussed, we have earned up enough manly points by playing American Football and watching Rugby games at the old bar - so it's ok!!!

2007-10-07T03:04:00.000-07:00

So it is the weekend now and i have decided that as it is so i will not do any uni work - i really have a fair bit of reading to get stuck into. The ethics and philosophy courses are really interesting but i need to pretty thouraghly go over the readings so that i feel i can talk about them in class - because there is alot of discussion in class and i don't want to have silly opinions on things that i don't understand. I caught the freshers flu recently so have been feeling pretty average - but despite that i played some soccer with some English blokes yesterday and had a really good time, we all played quite well together and were at a similar skill level. Then i watched the rugby union where Australia was meant to hand it to England, mmm a little dissapointing, lucky i don't care too much about it or it could be even worse. Yesterday a group of us got together and booked some tickets to Ireland, we were discussing earlier where we could go for a trip and Dublin was what we came up with, pretty cheap, not too far away and cool. We are leaving on thursday 1st at 10:30, and getting back on Sunday at 11 in the morning. Should be a hoot! There are 12 of us going from Canada, Brazil, America, France, Singapore, Italy, Germany and Australia. No Poms. At the last training that i went to for American football i jarred my finger taking a catch, and yesterday playing ultimate frisbee i jarred the same finger again on Bens foot - its not working too well now and is a slightly funky colour - but i guess there is not too much that can be done for it.Tonight i am going to cook Fajitas for Anne and her friend who is visiting - Lena, Andy, Ben and myself as Anne has given us pasta a couple of nights now. Should be good. Ben is a Vegetarian, so i will have a crack at cooking beans instead of chicken for him - could be interesting.

2007-10-05T03:14:00.000-07:00

Wow - so we lost the five a side in a big way - 7-2. we didn't have a sub, so got pumped, they didn't out skill us, just worked better as a team. Vanilla ice was just as i excpected, and as a result we only stayed for about 20 mins. He started out saying 'i'm gonna get drunk and stoned on stage , yeah!' then sprayed water over everyone to show how extreme he was. Thankfully he played his big song early. It was good for a laugh.
I had the philosophy lecture just then, it was great, i actually really enjoyed it, unlike many other lectures i have attended. Next week we are discussing 'what is art' and how do we define it...
I have caught what is known around the traps as the freshers flu, achy body, drippy nose, sorish throat - a real barrel of laughs.
Tonight i'm going to a Bahai society get together which should be good fun, i've been pretty keen for that. After a lot of my mates are going to the Fruity night - really cheesy music - at the union clubs. I don't know if i'll join them given my present condition.
Oh and Ben and i gave up on the amercan Football last night, we told the coaches that we had a great time, but couldn't afford to continue - they were starting to assign kit, which costs money. It was good for a laugh.

ice ice baby

2007-10-03T03:27:00.001-07:00

Last night i met up with some English and Australian pals from the Contiki trip - it was good to see what they have been up to since i last saw them - we went out to a fancy restaurant and had very tall gormet burgers (you couldn't just grab them with two hands and knock them back) and then we went to a pub and got a coffee. I also asked out this English Med student who i have talked to a bit for a coffee - she said she was busy....bummer. Today i have no class - yeh! But i really should get well stuck into doing some readings for my classes, i had a Ethics lecture and proctorial on Monday and i was very ill prepared for it, and it showed - so i'll have to get my act together for the tutorial that i have for it on Friday. I also need to do my laundry, which i have been putting off for the last couple of days. On a happier note i am playing five a side soccer today with my international team made up of Americans, Cameroonians, Australians and Brittains - should be a blast. I haven't played in two years so i am actually really excited! Oh and talking of excitement, Vanilla Ice is playing a show here in Leeds tonight - could be fun.

We are currently organising a trip to Ireland on one of these weekends and the list of people coming just keeps growing, partly my fault for just inviting more and more people - but it will be super sweet if it all goes through.

The goat pic is our team mascot - we are called the Space Goats!!! (Jay and the Doctor anyone?)

2007-10-01T03:39:00.001-07:00

I just recieved an email saying that i would not be the next anchor for the leeds student television station LS:TV...bummer. My American mate Ben and i turned up to the group auditions for a laugh and really had a good time. We were separated into male and female pairs and had to sell a random product to viewers. My English partner Shezza (very occa name) had a can of pink hair spray to sell, and we did so - as the ultimate security device 'Just pop the cap off this bad boy and spray your attacker in the eye to blink him, then as he can't see, turn the can around and crack him over the back of the head with it - it's so easy!' I think the footage might actually be shown on the website www.lstv.co.uk later on this month. It is no biggy that i missed out as we had a blast, and i've got so much other stuff going on at the moment; American football practise; Intermural 5 a side football (soccer); writing for the Leeds Student (awesome weekly uni paper); finding time to hang out with friends; planning european trips; and i guess Uni work too...
Today my big plans are to sort out exactly when my tutorials, proctorials (crazy teacherless tutorials - could be interesting) and lectures are, sign up for the sports centre and get some course outlines.

2007-09-30T06:12:00.000-07:00

Right, so i arrived in Leeds and immediatly made a whole lot of international friends from Brazil, Canada, the US and Czech republic. For the first week it was just international students and then in the second week the Freshers arrived. This actually created a bit of a divide between the Poms and the Internationals because we had already done alot of the Freshers activities like tours and briefings. As well as this the accommodation seems to be set up to lump all the international people together separate from the English. In Charles Morris where i am staying the whole sixth floor is pretty well dedicated to International people. But slowly and surely i am meeting more and more British people and i'm using all the helpful advice that we were taught during our international O-week, such as talking about the whether, and complaining about stuff... It was all pretty funny. I have signed up for plenty of clubs, but am not sure if i will go through with them. My American mate Ben and my British Nieghbour and a couple of other guys from Charles Morris have been going to American Football practise for the past week, we haven't actually had to put on padding yet and beat each other up - so it has been relatively good fun, running around, catching balls and doing sprints.

I have also gone out alot more than i have done in Newcastle - quite possibly because Leeds has three clubs right on campus. The Venga boys played one night, they have house, indie and cheesy pop music nights as well as quiz nights in the Old Bar. Oh, and i guess i have been attending some classes too, although not too many (not that i have been skipping them, just that it is the first week and they have barely started). I am doing all electives here which should be sweet, two history units and a philosophy. I had the lecture the other day and it was a real hoot, the lecturer used lots of English football (soccer) analagies to explain things. Oh and the accents are a real blast here - everynow and then someone will say something that will make you crack up.

06/09/07

2007-09-30T06:10:00.002-07:00

Once I arrived in Paris I walked around some dodgy streets near the station until I found an internet café, where I was able to confirm that I wasn’t staying at a fellow couch surfers place, so I made tracks for the youth hostel that I stayed at before. Unfortunately they were all booked out, but fortunately the helpful man there was able to get me in contact with another hostel pretty close by. I wandered around the area for about 45 minutes trying to find the other hostel but after a few moments of panic I found it at about 11:00. There was a friendly Swedish bloke staying in the same room as me as we went out and got a pizza and chatted until about 1 o’clock. On the way back from the pizza place we saw a guy sleeping in a phone booth, wedged in a V shape, his head on one side and his fee propping the door closed, he looked like a backpacker. The following morning I got up at 7: 30, had my complementary breakfast of croissants and hot chocolate and managed to book myself a ticket back to London.

05/09/07

2007-09-30T06:10:00.001-07:00

We woke up at 7:30 this morning and had breaky – toast and cereal, a photo with Anna and Bella (the dog) , then I was dropped off at the train station (handshakes all around on departure) to get to Paris. I would need to change trains four times so I would have to be on full alert. However it all rolled over pretty smoothly, only once did I think that I was on the wrong train on the leg from Kalese to Basel. When I did make it to Basel I experienced something that I probably have only ever experienced once before when I was between the ages of 0 and 4 years old – having no idea what country I was in… fair to say though when I was a little tyke I probably didn’t know or understand the concept of a country though so it probably doesn’t count. The voice on the loud speaker sounded French, but I saw some newspapers in German and from what I could hear I couldn’t hear any funky French accents. Then I saw a sign that said France but I wasn’t sure whether past that sign was France making me be in Germany or whether the whole place was France. Turns out I was in Switzerland, where my travel pass wasn’t even valid. Although the ticket collectors were very relaxed with my pass and didn’t know what they were looking for on it. As yet no has looked at the page with the amount of days I am allowed to travel, let alone marked it off, although one guy did try and punch a hole through it. I think that it would be quite possible to travel everyday of the two months I can use the pass in, not jut the five that I paid for – but that would be cheating. From Basal I went to Mulhouse, then to Belfort with any waiting around. In Belfort I got a nice look around the rather pretty little town and a free sample pa chocolate – ahh France! Some girl also said ‘save?’ randomly in the street to me which I instantly replied ‘we sava’ back to her – then she and her friends walked away. Oh. Sava means ‘how are you?’ and ‘we’ means yes (although its spelled oui) and this is how you are meant to reply (maybe not though). So now I’m on the longest leg (four hours) to Paris and I should arrive at about 8 o’clock. Apparently you can do the whole trip in about 4 hours by the super fast TGV train that goes about 300kph, but it doesn’t stop off at nice villages or Switzerland or have nice scenery (and more importantly it costs more). Udo’s wife, Mrs Schonperlen (no idea how to pronounce it) made me four sandwiches to take with me on my trip and I’ve still got one more to get through. I’m not sure where I’ll stay tonight – I asked a couple of people on the coach surfing website, but haven’t’ had the chance to check to see if they have replied – if not with them then I’ll try and hit up the hostel I stayed at last time I was in Paris – I also need to try and get a spot on a bus back to England tomorrow. Ahh so much fun to be had in my one night in Paris!** ‘One night in Paris’ is the name of Paris Hilton’s infamous porn film

04/09/07

2007-09-30T06:09:00.001-07:00

This morning we woke earlier and met Maggy’s uncle at the Mercedes museum. The building is really impressive as were the many cards on display and information. We actually spent about four hours here but it went pretty quickly. I then went with Maggys uncle Udo in his Mercedes E-class wagon back to their place about 25 kms from Stuttgart in a little village although we can’t have gone a minute without being in an urban area. Here I met his wife who only spoke a little English and we had a very nice pretzel and butter with tea. Udo then drove me to a Hugo Boss factory outlet in the near by village Metzingam as this is where the company originated. On the way I asked him about the letters ‘evo’ on a Mercedes Benz in front of us and he thought I was referring to the Italian number plate because Germans pronounce ‘I’s’ as ‘e’s’ when saying the letter. Udo then said ‘if it has an ‘E’ its from Italy and a ‘D’ then its from Germany’ – I thought it was funny… In the Hugo Boss store I looked for some jeans to replace my now repaired ones and found them all to be pretty well priced, but I couldn’t find any that fitted better than my current ones but then I saw some cool brown and black striped pants for only 20 euro so I picked them up and found some undies on the way and was just about to buy them, when I though - I don’t really need these, so I put them back. So it wasn’t a materially fruitful outing but I did get the experience of Hugo Boss for pretty cheap. After a dinner of Schnitzel, Udo’s fourteen year old daughter Anna (who introduced herself to me as Anne only to be corrected by Udo (?)) and I and there lab/German Shepard Bella had a walk from a near by hill back to the house. She could speak alright English, but forgot words occasionally, but this didn’t stop her from talking at all, not by a long shot. On the way back it rained solidly again and got dark.Normally one of the first things that you ask someone you meet is ‘what sort of work do you do?’. Turns out I didn’t ask Udo. He’s a singer – yeah cool eh? He is 56 and a really big guy and speaks with a German accent, but sings fantastically in English. He showed me all of the songs on his computer (just the instruments) and then sang along to a couple, Eric Claptons ‘tears in heaven’ and another that I forgot. He’s got a great deep voice. We then chatted until about Midnight in their living room and went to bed. Maggie called to make sure everything was sweet and that I would get on the right train the next day which was very kind of her – her second interview went really well too. That night I slept fantastically even though the mattress on the fold out was really hard and thin.

03/09/07

2007-09-30T06:06:00.000-07:00

I woke up that night because I was thirsty having only drunk fizzy drink that night but was momentarily stumped as to what to do about it. Normally I would go and drink some water from the tap - but Kai had said that the water was too chemically for drinking – was this just like townies saying ‘ohh our water tastes yucky, I prefer bottled water’ or would this water actually kill me? Choosing life, I went into the kitchen and drank as much sparkling mineral water as I could, which wasn’t very much , as this is what Kai gave me yesterday when he offered me some water. I then went back to sleep with a very airy feeling in my belly. That morning after a quick breakfast Dai walked me down to a nearby train station, helped me buy an all day ticket and sent me on my way. I arrived in central Stuttgart no probs and then found the information centre without any difficulty. Thankfully the Porsche Museum wasn’t closed on Mondays like the Mercedes one and with some guidance from a very helpful lady I found the train to go there. The train station is called Porsche platz (Porsche Place) and it really wasn’t hard to find the Porsche dealership from there. I walked in and had a fair mosey around taking some happy snaps and then headed back outside to find the museum. This was a little harder that the dealership to find and I had to walk about 300m around the block. The room had about twenty cars in it and these were all pretty sweet – I even saw my hero car the 959 from 1987 (a good year for stuff) although its body looked a bid second rate (it was made from fibre glass) compared to the much newer Carerra GT that it was parked next to. What do they say about meeting your hero’s??? I asked the friendly assistant if she could put English sub titles on the film that they were showing and she said she could throw up an English version in ten mins, which she did. In the mean time these two men dressed in Black with long black hair came in and started taking photos of all the cars, then the assistant opened the doors for them and they took interior shots – I though they might be publicity guys but one of the men kept getting in the photos as well and later they watched most of the movie with me.After the film it was bout four o’clock and I was getting a bit peckish so I wandered back outside and it was raining, but i had my jacket on so I kept going regardless. The further I walked the harder it go until my white pants went pretty see through (I seem to have this problem with my pants) so I walked into another Porsche building to dry off and because there was a customer restaurant on the top floor and as I bought a 3 euro fifty model car from the museum, that included me. When I go tot the restaurant It was completely empty so I thought I would have a self guided tour of the building as I had missed out on the factory tour. I started at the top of the stairs and check out some riveting storage rooms, and then a very interesting air-conditioning room, then I opened a door to a room that had about thirty businessmen all sitting around a big table, I meekly closed the door and scampered back down the stairs – end of the tour.

02/09/07

2007-09-30T06:03:00.000-07:00

Maggy had done all of the organising for me to get to Stuttgart – places to stay and train times. I left Keil at about eleven and arrived in Stuttgart at about seven after changing trains twice. On the second leg of the trip I sat next to a girl called Marie. I was eying her off before we got on the train as she looked pretty cool, she had blonde hair and was wearing a knee length skirt, knee high boots and green glasses (she must have had some sort of top on as well or otherwise I really would have been eyeing her off!). I wanted to walk onto the same carriage as her but a lot of other people did as well so I went into the next one along – it was a good move as there must have been to many people on that carriage and she came and sat next to me. For a while we didn’t say anything, I ate my apple and baguette that Maggy had packed for me (see how nice she is?!) And had a sip of my juice and Marie ate a banana and then sent a message on her phone. It was about here that I was thinking, ‘play it cool Justo, you’ve got heaps of time and she probably doesn’t speak English anyway’. But then a sudden realisation spurred me into action – if I didn’t act soon I could miss my window of opportunity because her next move is likely to be whipping out a book or listening to an pm3 player and one these barricades are erected no conversation can commence. ‘Sprecken Zee English?’And she did! So for the next three hours we chatted about loads of things and she asked questions about me and the stuff that I didn’t – which really highlighted for me that a lot of other people haven’t. She’s a 24 year old Med student who just failed an oral exam and is going back home to Constance for a little while. We swapped email addresses and numbers and she said to look her up if I’m ever going to be in Hamburg again.At Stuttgart I met Kai – an old uni friend of Marks and we went out to a German pub for tea and had a German ravioli type thing with warm potato salad and apple pie – very nice! Kai works for Mercedes Benz deciding if customer s like products and how much they would be prepared to pay for them, at the moment he is working on automatic doors for the 2010 S-class. This sort of thing impressed me greatly and I fired bucket loads of questions about Benz and the German auto industry at him.We then went back to his place in his girlfriends 15 year old Opel Corsa (he rides a new BMW motorbike) and while he made some phone calls I checked out his massive CD and DVD collection. I was really impressed and we and a fair chat about bands and movies before watching a comedy and drinking Mezzer mix (orange/coke) and coke and eating the m and m’s that we picked up on the way. We then watched a couple of ‘Friends’ episodes of which he is a big fan, and then hit the sack.

1/09/07

2007-09-30T06:01:00.001-07:00

We drove to Hamburg today in the 1.7l Diesel Corsa on the Autobahn at times reaching 180kph! When we got their we had trouble getting around as their was a triathalon through all of the city – Mark who was driving said ‘Shiezer’ a lot – that and the autobahn made it a very German start to the day!We went on a harbour cruise and it was pretty long, but worthwhile – we saw a lot of big ships as Hamburg is the second biggest port in Europe and many bridges as it has over 2000, more than Amsterdam and Venice combined. Afterwards we walked through a street that has a very German name which I have forgotten. It is where the sailors used to (and still do) hang out – so it is really seedy, lots of sex shops, pubs and I saw a shop that had pistols in the window for a couple of hundred euros. Mark said that it is a lot dodgier at night when you are here and that you don’t want to walk in the side alleys at all. We walked past one street that was closed with a gate that said only men that are over 18 can pass – no women – the prostitute street. When we got back to Kiel, we did a spot of grocery shopping and I was stoked because I walked past a very pretty girl giving out free samples of bread and pesto – awesome! However by the time we left the centre I had had about seven different samples from biccies to coke – at one point I had a nice small bowl of pasta in one had and a cup of premium ice-tea in the other – Good times! It must be a great part time job giving out samples – you get to make people feel so happy.

31/08/07

2007-09-30T06:00:00.004-07:00

I woke up pretty late today, had a nice cinnamon scroll thing for breakfast with Maggy and about lunch time we walked into downtown Kiel in the light rain (was nice) and Maggy did some shopping and we got a drink in a coffee shop with a swinging chair, I got a chilli hot chocolate, which was interesting… Maggy also hooked me up with some of her rels and pals in Stuttgart – one who works for Mercedes Benz so that is cool, I leave on Sunday. Tonight we went out to IKEA for a look about then we got nice burgers and chips at a classy but pretty cheap local restaurant (4.80 euro for my Hot Texas burger) it was very good. Maggy went to bed and I talked to Mark for a while about cars – he wants to get an old Dodge charger, he’s nice bloke.

30/08/07

2007-09-30T06:00:00.003-07:00

At about twelve or so this morning Maggie and I caught a A$90 000 Mercedes Taxi to the train station where Maggy went off to her interview and I hung out in down town Kiel. I got my phone fixed no probs – the man in the shop spoke pretty good English and I just needed a replacement battery. I then went to catch a bus back to Maggy’s place as she had given me the bus to catch and the station to get off at written on a piece of paper, surely I could go wrong, surely…I must have mispronounced the name of the station to the bus driver and he dropped me off at a place that didn’t look at all familiar – as I was getting off I knew I should have showed him the piece of paper, but I was out of money so I couldn’t have paid to go further and too indecisive. So I walked in what I thought was the right direction, the rain started to lighten up, I saw a lady on a bike that I had seen over in town, I stepped in some dog pooh and almost slipped over (side note: Europeans take dogs everywhere, on trains, buses, into cafes and department stores) and then I asked a random guy at a pedestrian crossing ‘Spreken Zee English? Which he did and he pointed me in the right direction and I got back after only about thirty minutes of walking around. Although that wasn’t the end. I couldn’t open the door to the apartment. I had the keys and everything. The main purpose in mind that a door is constructed for is to open - and I could do it. I pushed and pulled and twisted and ultimately felt very much like I was seven years old. Not even running my fingers through my beard which I have been growing since Switzerland could make me feel any more manly. I called Maggy, but ultimately needed the help of a neighbour to get inside, the neighbour made it all look very simple – turn the key and pull the handle towards you.So from having a broken phone, getting lost and failing to open a door I have met three random Germans who all happily helped me get what I wanted and spoke pretty good English. That must be what travelling is about.

29/08/07

2007-09-30T06:00:00.001-07:00

I slept fantastically until Maggy woke me up this morning and I jumped almost to a sitting up position and I yelled out and scared Maggy. She very quietly whispered my name from across the room. I wonder why it shocked me so much when I’m used to being woken up by loud noises? Perhaps that’s just it. Maggy and I took a train to Lubbock, a similar town to Kiel and had lunch and coffee and came back here, had a nice dinner – some Bavarian meat (like hotdog meat cut into steak shapes) and nice potatoes and bacon and then we watched some ‘Friends’. Maggy was getting pretty stressed about the job interview that she has tomorrow and it is pretty important for her but I can’t associate with the stress. It’s nice to be able to help her with English words though and how to phrase things – makes me feel knowledgeable. My big plan for tomorrow is to try and get my phone fixed or sorted out – I’ll go when Maggy is in her job interview – its good to have a purpose. Then with a fixed phone I can contact Keisha and possible meet up with her when I go back to France.

28/08/07

2007-09-30T05:58:00.000-07:00

The couple were 17 and 18 years old – the girl was only a year and two months older than Dru – scary! The bloke wants to be a violin maker, which was pretty well exactly what I wanted him to do when I was talking to him – something interesting but not anything I would want to do. The French guy who was sitting outside turned out to be Croatian or something that didn’t speak any English, French or German. We were joined later by a fun German guy called Andreas who to me seemed like a cross between David Whenem (Diver Dan from Seachange), Ian Rowbottom (Dads best man) and Sebastian (Fun adventurous German guy from IH, slightly dorky but in a cool way). He was a marine biologist and was going to Kiel so I hung out with him when we got to Hamburg for an hour as we were 5 mins late to catch the train straight t Kiel. We had a coffee as neither of jus got much sleep on the train. There were beds to sleep in – but we all paid second class prices so only got seats. It was fun talking to Andreas as he was very scientifically smart and he talked about the work he was doing on cold water coral but then he would drop in something that would seem odd like ‘but the best thing about having a passenger on a manned submersible is that when you are going down you get to listen to CD’s – yeah chill out to Pink Floyd’. At Kiel we said our farewells and he gave me his card. Thankfully Maggy was at the train station and had found out that the train from Paris was late. It was really great to see her again and we chatted away like no time had passed. After a cooked breakfast we walked down to the Kiel harbour (I found out hat Keels on boats were not named after Kiel) and sat in a beach basket which is a cool chair with shade valance, foot rest and table, and talked and ate ice creams and drank fizzy drink for about two hours. We then saw some seals being fed at strangely enough the institute where Andreas works before walking back to Maggy and Marks unit.Later Mark cam home from work and I finally got to meet him after hearing so much about him from Maggy – he seems pretty cool and suggested hiring a car to go on the autobahns in - which rates pretty highly in my books. Maggy made us a lovely dinner of steak and potato and a sauce and salad and then we went to the pub for a drink. I already feel comfortable here which is nice and so far I have failed to feel that in many places – but it has made me appreciate the extreme comfortableness that I unknowingly feel when ever I go home to the farm – knowing where everything is and where I can go and what I can do.Maggys got a job interview on Thursday which she s a bit nervous about so I might chill back here in the unit for a bit – which is fine with me. I’ve had two cups of coffee today and a fair bit of tea which is probably why I have been feeling lively enough today which I am surprised at considering the two or so hours of sleep that I got.

27/08/07

2007-09-30T05:57:00.000-07:00

Today after sleeping much better than I did the previous night and with a less puffy eye (a Pharmacist told me to dab some alcohol stuff on it and take the piercing out – but the piercest told me never to put alcohol in it – so I just left it and it got better – yeh!) I hit the town at about a quarter to nine.First stop was some markets that I found out about on the internet that were described as colourful (watch out for pickpockets) and very busy by the afternoon. I saw some funky African pants and asked how much they were – an old black man plugged 25 into his calculator – I went to walk off and he asked me to type in what I was willing to pay – I plugged in 10, he said 22, then wanted me to make a higher offer, I still undecided if I actually wanted them went to walk off and he capitulated and said he would accept 10 euro – so that’s how I got my funky African pants. I also bought some socks that are quite plain, but cheap and made in Portugal.I had a baguette and Rockafort cheese in a lovely park outside the French military museum and then I went inside and had a look at guns, armour and Napoleons tomb – by this time I was starting to get knackered and the wastefulness of the world wars didn’t really make me all that happy - just as I didn’t make a French stripper happy less than an hour later… (Surely one of the best segues ever!) I got a photo of the Moulin Rouge and when I was walking back down the street a middle aged lady said to me ‘excuse me mister’ and when you are in a place that doesn’t speak your language you tend to pay attention when you hear it. She spoke a mixture of French and English from then on – but the gist of it went like this:‘Would you like to come in to see a strip show?’‘Oh no, thankyou anyway’ I say‘let me just show you the price’ she sys as she grabbed my hand and leads me into the foyer and draws a 20 on a piece of paper‘no thanks’ I say again‘Ahh but for you I’ll make it 10 euro and you will have a drink and you can stay for as long as you want’‘That’s very kind of you’ I say ‘but I’ll have to pass on it this time’‘Alright five euro’ she says‘no thanks’‘well come in for a quick look’At this moment I’m thinking ‘This will make a pretty good story, and I’ve never been into a strip joint before and its not like they are going to show anything serious if I’m not paying, so I say ‘yeah ok’Inside a pretty girl in a green dress takes me into a dimly lit room with lots of lounges and we sit down together‘So what is your name?’ she says in a thick French accent‘Justin’ I reply trying to sound confident, although I’m clearly on edge, having never talked to someone who would get naked if I asked her to. ‘What’s yours?’‘Segolene’ (it wasn’t actually this, but it was typically French, I’ve just forgotten) ‘where are you from?’‘Australia’‘Kangaroos!’ - a typically French responseWe both laugh – although mine is probably higher pitched and more girly than hers‘so I’ll tell you what could happen, you can have a drink and I’ll dance for you’‘ahh no thanks’‘don’t you like me?’‘Nah it’s not that, I’m sure you do your job just fine – I err, don’t believe in sex before marriage and that sort of stuff and I don’t drink alcohol’‘There will be no sex and you can have an orange juice’‘I think I’ll give it a miss still’‘Well I guess it’s goodbye then’ she said making a sad face‘Yeah goodbye – and good luck with it all’ I said and got up leaving Segolene sitting on the lounge, said ‘merci’ to the door lady on the way out, and tried really hard not to have a satisfied look on my face as I walked back onto the street. So that was a pretty crazy French experience indeed.After getting my stuff from the hostel I headed to the Nord train station where I helped a guy who spoke English find where his train was leaving from – go me! Master of European travel! Then I found out that my mobile refuses to start up. Last night I charged it on a portable battery charger that I got from Emma – but I think that it might have over powered the battery as it was connected to the phone all night. I’m not too sure of the long term consequences yet of not having a phone – but I do know that I can’t text Keisha who I met on the plane coming over here. She lives in France and I was hoping to meet up with her, but previously when I have tried to contact her the number hasn’t worked, but I just realised that it was because I didn’t put the 03 in front of it because I’m calling from an English SIM card – hmm there is no point guessing the consequences – I’m sure it’ll all work out fine.I’m sharing a train cabin now with a German girl who just left her boyfriend, a German couple (although the bloke has a union jack on his pants hmm) and a French guy who is standing outside in the hall – they all look pretty young so hopefully it’ll be a good trip – I might just have to see if they speak English. Random notes– the French and Europeans in general seem to love the Kiwis – especially the All blacks. In an Adidas store there were heaps of All black posters, displays and shirts.– I have seen a substantial amount of Aussie road sign window shades and stickers – I guess that’s how we are represented.Orevoui France and Guten tag Germany!

26/08/07

2007-09-30T05:56:00.000-07:00

The room that I stayed at the last night cost 27 euro and I was changing to a 17 euro place for this night – the bummed thing was that the shower was cold and that my eye brow had swollen up for some reason. The two cups of tea at he complementary breakfast calmed me down greatly and put me once again in a good mood to tackle the day. When you think of French food – particularly breakfast, croissants, par chocolates and other special things are sure to arise – as they should because the French certainly love them, but they also don’t seem to mind really basic things which is perhaps why they don’t all get fat. The free breakfast at the hostel was a bread roll and jam. That day I climbed the Eiffel tower to the second floor, which is right up there on my things that are big list, apparently it was the tallest man made thing until the 60’s – it has been used for everything over the years and has even had an elephant up to the first floor; went to the Arc de Triumph where I saw a very good looking couple and became aware of how everyone else is here with someone or are in a group – its funny how travelling alone alternates between a sense of independence and loneliness; dropped into the Renault dealership in the Chom de lees eh and watched a formula 1 race where about one hundred and fifty people were watching it on big tv screens and they all cheered and clapped when Lewis Hamilton ( a Mercedes driver) got a flat tyre but also when all of the drivers finished and the race was won by a Ferrari; went back to Bastille and had a crush on a girl who worked in a DVD shop; hired the DVD ‘Taxi’ and watched it at an Internet Café, I thought it would have English subtitles but I was wrong, I picked up most of the story though, mainly cool French car chases and slapstick – I’m giving it 4 stars; decided to ask out the DVD lady, got disappointed when she wasn’t still working; returned to the same internet café to check emails; had my bag containing my passport, camera etc. given back to me by the owner as I had left it there after watching the movie, then went to my hostel room which had a floor that was covered in water from the small attached bathroom – at least the shower had warm water though.

25/08/07

2007-09-30T05:55:00.000-07:00

Mr Fouin drove me to the train station and saw me off I the morning. Fouin by the way is pronounced Fwa and is said the same way that ‘hay’ is said – so if my sister Hayley married Blandines brother her name would be Hay Fouin or Hay Hey – cool eh? I took the long train ride from Le Mans to Pairs as it was cheaper and I wasn’t on a time limit. A lady who sat opposite me in the isle talked to me once in a friendly way, I said ‘Je ne pal pa fonsay’ which means I don’t speak French – and she said this back to me in a way that gave me the impression that I had pronounced it all very wrong and that she believed me. Once in Paris I used the metro to find the hostel without any problems. I then set off to explore the area. Bastille was the suburb that I stayed in and according to Blandine is a pretty high class area. It was also the area where up risings took place during the French revolution and on my walk around the place I found a massive obelisk with a golden women perched on top commemorating the event. I walked along the river which started off quite pleasant as there were people laying on grass watching the boats go by, then the path got narrower and it turned into a tent city as I went under a bridge, then I passed a man lounged across the whole path soaking up the remaining sunlight just wearing a white jock strap, I stepped over him and kept going. It was partly for this reason that I decided to walk back a different way and in doing so got a little lost, not panickingly lost, merrily lost as I knew roughly where I was in relation to where I should be. I got back just as the sun was starting to go down and used a local internet café.

24/08/07

2007-09-30T05:54:00.002-07:00

This mornings agenda was set by our visit to the Chenoceau Chateau – which was about an hours drive from Blandines Country Chateau. The impressive things about this castle is that it was built on a river – a small one that leads into the Lau, a larger one. This in itself would have justified visiting it, but it was also surrounded by magnificent gardens. According to Mr Fouin, French gardens are really structured and have geometric lines – where as English ones are more organic, these gardens were a good example of the French style. For lunch we ate a tough baguette and ham and nibble really tiny meat and cheese sausages from the Butchery of a champion white sausage makes. The Labyrinth at the castle was quite impressive although I was more intrigued by the massive vege garden at the palace. We doubted that there would be half as much variety in the 16th century as there were so many different types here, all in very neat rows and no weeds.Quashed or By goshed- Quashed – French people are unwilling to speak English and would prefer you to speak French. It seems that many are trying to speak English and would like to practise or help you where they can – Blandine, her Dad and people in Paris later on.- By Goshed – French people are proud – for a nation that has been conquered by almost everyone they seem to still have pride, clinging to every military triumph such ie. The English didn’t take this or the Germans never occupied this area.- By Goshed – hate the English – but only in the same sort of way that we make jokes about New Zealanders - I guess with a lot more history behind it though. The French call the English ‘Roast Beef’ and the English call the French ‘Frogs’. We arrived back at the farm with some goodies from the bolongerie and I watched a German show badly dubbed to French and tried to guess the story line while Blandine had a shower. We then said our good byes (the double kiss – no hug) and she started her six hour drive to the town where she worked.I chilled out for a while writing this journal in my room then went and had a four course meal, the main being spaghetti bolognaise with Blandines parents. Blandines Dad spoke a moderate amount of English as he had worked in the U.S a bit and we talked about lots of things ranging from desalinisation plants to ‘The Who’. But the main topic of conversation was Australia and where they visited when they came over to see Blandine. We then flicked through their photos on a lap top and agreed that I needed to so some more travelling and learn more about Australian Flowers ( I hadn’t heard of a favourite Aussie Flower of theirs called Azalea). Before long it was 11o’clock and we all headed off to bed.

23/08/07

2007-09-30T05:54:00.001-07:00

After having such a big day yesterday we were going to have a relatively quite one today. Blandine gave me a tour of the little farm which consisted of the old barn/living quarters where we slept, another barn still used as a barn and the cottage. The place had been owned by Blandines Grandparents since the 60’s and her Granddad had put up a lot of his own touches to it like stair case to the attic (now the tv room) with alternating steps, a hole in the wall from the kitchen to the living room to pass food through and very colourful wallpaper. They have the same dish washer as we do at our place although their break maker was very different – it was an old style thing built into the wall next to the chimney – the sort that you need a wooden shovel to get the bread out with. After we ate some baguette and home made jam we drove into Tours ( a nearby town of 200 000 people), sampled some great cheese – Rockafort was my favourite – a really strong blue cheese and walked around the streets until we got caught in a shower. So we ran to Blandine’s sisters place to see her new eight day old baby. We chilled here into the evening with Blandines parents and then went out to dinner in a typically French restaurant in a small town. We had plenty of time to order, but I was having trouble and made a snap decision right at the end eventually getting pâté for an entrée, salmon for the main, cheese selection, then tart for dessert. It was all very lovely although I struggled with the mind games with the pâté. I normally wouldn’t ever get salmon at a restaurant but there was no pasta or schnitzel option , so I guess I got to try some proper French cuisine.

22/08/07

2007-09-30T05:52:00.000-07:00

We had breakfast in a room of the country homestead with three other guests and the large cheery red faced woman who rant eh B and B and her boisterous toddler. It was typically French - Croissants, baguettes, team and Jus de Pomme (apple juice) and Pear juice from the property. It was all a really fantastic experience and it cost only 40 euro for both of us which Blandines parents had very kindly paid for. Our first stop that morning was Mont St. Michele which is a massive chapel and fortified village built on a rock just off the French coast in 966. There were over 300 stairs to get to the top of the Chapel (which cost 5 euro to enter and included a guided tour) and once there offered amazing views of the French coast line. Our French guide spoke very good English and made the tour quite interesting telling our small group many valuable things about he monks that use to live there. On the way back down to the car we took the busy street that we and deliberately bypassed on the way up and I bought some nice tinned biscuits for Blandines parents as a thank you gift as Blandine said that they were a family favourite.We then drove out of the Normandy district and entered Brittany (home of the British who used to be separate from France) and had a very British Dijon (lunch) –crepes! I had a mix of ham, potato and cheese for the main and then chocolate, cream, banana and ice cream for the dessert – it must have been one of the nicest lunches that I had in Europe.Our next port of call was Saint Malo, a fortified village on the coast. Along thw way we drove right next to the rugged coast line, saw some sail carts on the beach an Blandine very patiently answered all of my niggling question about France and the French language such as ‘If a cars engine is female and a ships anchor is male what would the gender be if I tied a chain to an engine and threw it off the side of a boat and used it as an anchor?’ Surprisingly the answer wasn’t ‘shut up Justin you’re being a twat’ but ‘male’. The French are crazy with their genders – everything is either male or female, there was nothing that I could name that didn’t have a gender and no way of rigging the system either.It was five o’clock when we arrived at St. Malo and we walked along the sea side walk way to the city centre. It was here that the fortifications were built and inside were lovely kissing streets with cobble stone bases. They were named this because they are so narrow that people in buildings on either side of the street could lean out of their windows and kiss in the middle. We walked through the streets, listened to buskers and ate salty butter caramel ice-cream before driving to Blandines country house – which we had dubbed the country Chateau. It was about 23:30 when we arrived (the French generally use twenty four hour time) and I got stuck into the local chunky pig insides pâté, chicken and baguette followed up with home grown nuts, strawberries and home made chocolate mouse, while Blandine talked to her boyfriend Theabeau (Teebow) on the phone. We slept in an old barn that had been converted into very nice living quarters. There were shutters on the windows of my room which made it very dark ad as a result we both slept in quite lat the following day. I slept fantastically but again had an unsettling dream…

21/08/07

2007-09-30T05:49:00.000-07:00

That morning I woke at 9:00 like we had agreed after having a fantastic sleep. After eating some really sweet breakfast cereal Blandine and I headed off to the Palace of Versailles in here little Renualt clio. Blandine said that although I wasn’t the clio sport it was a petrol 1.4 litre. I thought this sounded pretty funny because a 1.4 l is pretty tiny still but considering the other options I see where she is coming from. In the car park to the palace we ate the most beautiful pa chocolate that we had picked up along the way ad headed into the grounds. After seeing quite possibly the biggest queue I have ever seen to get into the palace we walked around the massive and very impressive gardens – soaking up the warm sun. Then I lined up in the queue to the palace and Blandine went to a nice bolongerie to get some lunch – bread with ham chunks in it and pastry with ham cheese and potato on it – it was very bon (good)!The cost thirteen euro with our student discounts and included an audio guide. The first thing to know about the palace is that it is huge, there are many many rooms and all of them are intricately decorated with murals, tapestry and statues. So much so that by the end of the tour I tended to simply glance at a 10m square painting that would have had me glued to it if it were at the start of the tour. The highlights of the palace were for me the Hall of Mirrors and King Louis XIV’s room. The hall of mirror sis 750m squared and all along one side is covered in mirrors which reflect he multitude of chandeliers that hang from the ceiling and the large arch windows which look over the gardens. Back in the 16th century when the palace was built mirrors were extremely Cher (expensive – valuable) and this was one way of showing off Louis wealth when he held dance parties in this room. Also the treaty of Versailles was signed in this room - that ended WW1 – which I had learned all about in yr12 modern history. King Louis bedroom was cool because it was so far over the top. Paintings, tapestries a massive four poster bed as well as seats for people he was doing business with. Yup, you know you have power when you can run a country without having to leave your bed. Perhaps this is where Jay and the Doctor got their idea to host the Triple J breakfast show from their bedroom in their happiest Monday of all special??!!WE then ducked back to Blandines house at about 4:00 and she packed her bags and I chatted to Blandines mum about an Indian documentary on the TV while she did some ironing. She only spoke a little English so it was fun!Blandine and I then left to find the Bed and Breakfast where we should stay the night in the deep French country side. We drove on the small back roads to avoid paying the highway toll and so we could see some nice country side, which we certainly did. After 3 hours we arrived thanks to Blandines superb navigating (I wasn’t much help) and rally driving skills. The B and B was an old farm that had orchids on it, the room that we were straying in had a bathroom, and two beds. Blandine had asked me earlier when her mum was booking if I would mind if we had to share a bed if there were only one. I said ‘yeah’ but probably would have slept on the floor in my sleeping bag. There another cultural difference – it is fine for a woman in a relationship of 6 years to sleep in the same bed as a single man…We ate some chicken and baguette that Mrs Fouin had packed for us and joked that if it didn’t fill us up we would have to knock off the Chev (goat) that was in th paddock. I suggested head butting it to death – but Blandine thought that backing over it in the Clio would be better. We then went for a walk through he orchid and farm lanes and picked some blackberries as the sun slowly set. That night I had some unpleasant dreams – a theme that would continue. Not exactly nasty or scary dreams, just ones that made me feel icky…

20/08/07

2007-09-30T05:48:00.000-07:00

I left London by coach at seven thirty in the morning and thanks to the lack of sleep that I had had due to my sleeping pattern that I had gotten into staying at my great Aunt Alison’s place, I slept most of the way to Dover where we caught the tunnel train to Calais. I then alternated between napping, watching ‘Pirates of the Caribean 3’ on the tv screen, reading and thinking ‘oh I’m in France’. At our one service stop I used all of my euros (I had a 2 euro coin left over from my last trip) to buy some lunch – a packet of chips.At spot on 3:30 local time we arrived at the Euro lines Bus depot. Right - time to find the metro so I can meet Blandine at Montt Parnese. Okay, Can’t seem to see any signs to the Metro – don’t panic, you may just have to find a local bus to take you to the nearest one – but you don’t have any money, ahh! Hey There’s Blandine, Cool! And then came one of the most awkward greetings I have been a apart of – and I have been a part of a great many awkward greetings. To avoid the dreaded ‘to hug or not to hug’ moment, I make it a rule to go in for it if in doubt – as long as a move is made then the awkwardness of deciding what to do evaporates. Also to avoid going to the same side as the person that I am greeting I make my moves big and simple and well in advance of any contact. This system usually works a treat – but I have never tried it in France before…I went in for the hug but Blandine did not. It was just like hugging me before I learnt the greeting system – stiff, mechanical and unresponsive. Blandine then said ‘you’re in France now – we kiss’ – so we did the kiss on each cheek and she lead the way to the Metro line. Later on we talked about greetings and she said that she found it quite awkward in Australia when she was there because everyone hugged so much. Despite kissing each other , even close French friends don’t hug often – she didn’t even hug her parents when she left for Australia. Looks like I’ll need to make some changes to the ‘greetings system’ when I’m in Europe.I was worried ever so slightly that we would not get on all that well as we didn’t actually hang out all that much in Australia and that I might not be able to understand her as I had trouble talking with our French Contiki driver because of his limited English and thick accent. But on the train to her house on the outskirts of Paris both of these concerns were quashed as we chatted about old times as well as what she had planned for us.We got picked up by her mum in a diesel Citroen C4 and drove to their house in a near by village opposite what I thought was a very large castle but won only a tiny Château. Once there we had baguette and cheese and Duck patte of sorts. Blandine told me that it was all the insides of the duck mashed up. Yum yum! I knew that I couldn’t get out of trying it as I had made Blandine try Vegemite in Australia and besides – the food was something that I had said I was keen to try in France. My mind kept sayi8ng ‘you are eating heart, liver, lungs, intestines and kidneys’ but my stomach said that it wasn’t actually all that bad. After that we went to the local Bolongarie and go some Baguettes and I had a read of my book ‘Zen and the art of Motorcycle maintenance’ and I had dinner with Blandine and her mum – more duck, this time wings and legs that came out of a can. Blandine’s Dad was at their country house which used to be Blandines Grandmother and her brother Adrian was at a mates place. We then watched some crazy French tele – people dodging cows in foam pits and then went to bed – the first time in over a month that I had slept in a proper bed – was very nice!

2007-09-30T05:42:00.000-07:00

What do you call a person with no eyes that lives in this city?????? A Venetian Blind.
A Czech soldier in Prague
Laura and myself in fine footwear
Our 5 star accommodation for the twenty days

2007-09-30T05:39:00.000-07:00

A tiny street in tiny Monaco
The leaning tower of Pisa
Ahh it must be italy....
Florence by night
The police ride in style in Italy...

2007-09-30T05:36:00.000-07:00

The white cliffs of dover

Lovers in Paris, so cliche, so sweet!

Swiss Alps and Belled Cows

Day 20

2007-09-30T05:26:00.002-07:00

The day started with Christina the tour guide telling us that there was another option that we could choose to take in Amsterdam – a sex show. Where according to her brief and awkward explanation of it – you pay money to watch people have sex. About half the group paid the twenty six euro to go and see it. Coming into Amsterdam we saw many windmills and the road was lined in places with solar panels - this seemed like a pretty cool country. Their laws with regards to Pot which had now been decriminalised interested a lot more people it appeared though. That night we had time to get dinner in Amsterdam and then have a quick tour of the red light district before the people that had paid went to the sex show. I got a nice kebab and some chips with mayonnaise with the crew that I had been hanging out with a fair bit along the tour Karl, François, Stags, Taz, Caitlin, and Jaya and a lot of the rest of the group went straight to the coffee shops, which are completely different to the café’s. When we joined Christina for the tour of the red light district a large portion of the boys that had paid for the show were not their – apparently they had smoked so much weed that they could not move their legs. The tour of the district was interesting – we found out about how Prostitution is legal and that they rent a little room with a big window and charge people about 20 to 50 euros for a blowjob or the whole thing and can fit about 10 (although she said that some had done up to thirty) ‘sessions’ into a shift. I wondered when they started working as all the windows were closed, until I saw one open and a man walk out – ewwww. We then walked through what would have to be the scariest alley way that I have ever walked down. It was about a metre wide and thirty long and on each side were doors with girls leaning out patting you – I copped a bit of attention by one because she was interested in the sword that I wore on my belt, although thankfully I didn’t get the treatment that Staggs got – the one-two whip manoeuvre. He got whipped in the balls hard enough for him to bend forward in pain and shock and then he got whipped on the bum – very funny stuff, possibly not for him though.
The following day we went and saw cheese and clogs being made at Edam which was just outside of Amsterdam and then had a bike tour through the village – very different to the one in Munich, the lady was middle aged and very cheery – but in a very different field to Stevo. There was an accident though, Tyler a South African girl came up the blind side of Brad and he nudged her into a blackberry bush. She was alright though. We then went back into Amsterdam where we had the remaining day until 7:40 to ourselves. I spent it with Rhian and Jo from Britain, and we checked out Anne Francs house, which was very interesting and then walked around the narrow streets peering into shops. It was in one of these streets that I was offered ecstasy for the first time. On the bus to our last dinner together as a group Meg a very friendly girl from Perth (I have never realised that they have a much stronger accent than people on the eastern side of Australia) announced the awards that we had voted on the day before – Most valuable person, Biggest player, Two can Sam (quickest drunk), Most improved and Biggest piker. I won biggest piker – wooohooo!!! After a nice Thai dinner we headed back to the campsite where we all hung about either smoking weed or playing cards and then went to bed. The following morning we left about a quarter of the group behind and headed back to England.

The Contiki trip was great at giving me the opportunity to see an awful lot of Europe in a very small space of time and for a pretty cheap cost. I don’t know if I ever would have gone to Venice and seen the glass master or lace makers, or gone to a German beer hall or biking tour or many other things by myself. I also think that as I was travelling by myself I could have gotten a bit lonely if I had not been with a group such as this. Although I didn’t go out with them all that often I don’t think it really seemed to matter in the end. The tents and the food that we had were both really awesome and I’ve got no complaints about either of them. It was an ace time and I’ll remember it for a while to come. The main reason that I came to Europe was to see different people and get to know them, followed by seeing a lot of the sights. Contiki let me see a lot of the sights, but as we moved around so much, we didn’t get to get to know to many locals. But that is okay as I’m going to get that opportunity when I see my mates in France and Germany.

Day 19

2007-09-30T05:26:00.001-07:00

Heidelberg is a university town set on a nice river which we swam in when we arrived at our campsite. Cabins were on offer for five euro a night but me and a couple of others decided to set up tents and save the money. We went for a brief tour of the village and I hung out with Rhian and very funny British girl and we ambled from shop to shop and then went and saw the ‘good luck in the baby making department’ fertile monkey statue that guards one of their bridges. We all wondered why a little German University town would have this sort of statue, but do you really need as excuse to have a fertile Monkey monument??? For dinner that night we had a nice cheese platter to start off, then some chicken or pork schnitzel followed up by some moose. I opted to not go out that night and played cards with a small group of people until about twelve.

Day 17

2007-09-30T05:24:00.002-07:00

I did get grabbed pretty strongly though by Munich. The campsite was really cool. It was set next to a river and a forest which had some sweet walking tracks. It did cost 1 euro to have a shower, which was a bit of a bummer – what wasn’t a bummer though was that it was here that we kept the volley ball up for 33 heads in a row – surely some sort of record! We started out or day in Munich with some free time to check out the Munich stadium which hosted the 1972 Olympics – I chose to investigate the BMW museum across the road from it. It was a massive building the shape of four cylinders slightly overlapping each other, and out the front doors were parked six white, top of the line BM’s from the current line. As soon as I stepped into the building I knew that it wasn’t a museum though – there were only two other people around – both dressed in suits and it was all a bit too clean. A was planning on investigating for myself what the building was, but one of the men was looking at me a bit too intently so I asked him and he directed me back across the road in German mixed with a few English words. Turns out that a BMW museum was still being built and there was a temporary one right next to the stadium – so I checked that out. There were a couple of cars there that I wanted to see like the 70’s M1 super car and the hydrogen 7 series, but a fair few were missing – I guess I now have a reason to see the new museum when it is built.
When we arrived in central Munich we had enough time to get some lunch before our bike ride – I got bratwurst and sour crout. Both of them tasted a little funky actually – but they were certainly edible and then I headed off to meet Stevo the crazy Irishman from Mikes Bikes that would take us on a tour of Munich. This was certainly one of the highlights of the trip for me –Stevo was awesome, a bit nutty but full of energy, and jokes (often naughty) but also of information about the city that we were in. I learned a lot from him that I wouldn’t have if I had not been on the tour – he told us to walk down an alley way and pay attention to the ground. There was a gold treacle set into the cobble stones. Apparently this is a silent mark of respect to people who used to use this alley way to avoid walking past a statue representing the Nazi regime where they would be forced to salute it. Also there were many lion statues and one in particular that was good luck to rub. The story goes that the king of Germany used to sleep around a lot with many women even though he was married and everyone knew this but said nothing – apart from a student who wrote him a letter telling him off and saying that he should be faithful. So the king was very angry at being told what to do and said that he would give 2000 francs to anyone who would bring this student to him - who was most likely going to be hanged. So the student walked in to meet the king on his own accord and the king not wanting to appear a tyrant to everyone in Munich gave the student the 2000 francs for his bravery, and on the way out of the palace, the student rubbed the lions nose – which made it lucky. We rode around for a while doing skids in the parks scaring couples walking arm in arm (Stevo’s idea) and then stopped at the second largest beer garden in Europe that holds 7500 people and sat there for about 1 or two hours while people drank between one and three steins each ( as stein is one litre) of beer. Unsurprisingly, when we started up again there were a few accidents - getting the front and back brakes confused and not seeing a boom gate. The boom gate was outside the ex Luftwaffe headquarters that had somehow escaped the bombing from world war two – so Gary mashing the gate and taking out some of the pavement when the side post came out, actually did more damage to the area then the entire allied force did during the war. That night we went to a Bavarian beer hall – I got a big stein full of Coke and Fanta mixed together (apparently it is a German soft drink) – I felt cool. The food was pretty ace too, a lot of pork and dumplings, as I was eating it I saw the girl from the Mozart and I thought she was looking at me – so I looked away having already put myself on display enough. The man on the stage continued to call for people to Prost (cheers) and then girls started dancing and yodelling and playing with bells. I then caught the eye of the girl from the Mozart concert again and she poked her tongue out at me and smiled, so I tilted my head in her direction – and then checked to see if she had actually been poking her tongue out as a gesture for me to clean something off my face. I then noticed that the people that I had been sitting next to had gotten up and I was all alone, so I got up too and walked to join them where they were standing. But the girl also got up and walked towards the end of the table where I was going – so without realising it had had made the first move and must have appeared strong and decisive. Yah! So I met her at the end of the table and we went out of the noise into the arriving room and chatted. She plays the flute well enough to have her own CD, and teach it for $60 an hour and also likes Aussie Hip hop. At the moment she is living in London but is only there until January when she is heading back to the north shore of Sydney where she lives. We went back inside and I paid for her next drink and asked if she was much of a dancer – she said that it depended on who was leading….. Time to shine Justo! So we did a bit of an awkward jig and then busted out some waltzing moves that I had learned from what Mum and Dad had learned at their dancing classes and then finished it all up with the funky chicken dance that German band was playing. Cool!

Day 15

2007-09-30T05:24:00.001-07:00

At the Czech boarder we had to stop for 20mins as all of our passports were taken from us and checked by security – apparently if anyone of us had any problems they would just leave us right there as they had done with some Canadians on a previous tour. Despite getting lost briefly on the way we arrived at the Prague campsite with enough time to kick a soccer ball around on the nice big field before dinner and then heading off into the city for a quick tour. That night many of the Contiki campers we quite upset as they had not been told that you could not buy alcohol at the camp and they sat around moaning for a while.
The next morning we had a quick guided tour of Prague castle and the city by Christina where she showed us a astrological clock that was made hundreds of years ago. It was liked so much by the King at the time that he summoned its maker to him and then had his eyes plucked out so that he would not make another like it. After a cruise up the main river in Prague with lunch on board we had free time which I spent with Taz and Jaya generally ambling about. Most of the other Contikians had headed back to camp so that they could get ready for that nights partying at the clubs. For dinner Taz, Jaya and I ate pasta in a cosy restaurant where we also ordered cocktails (they had non-alcoholic ones). We were planning on just having water, but when we were told that you had to pay for it we all hastily chose drinks from the menu. As it turned out I ordered a pretty effeminate drink – ‘coconut lips’, I didn’t think anyone would really notice – but it was highlighted when the waiter offered it to both Jaya and Taz before sitting it in front of me – later on he asked me if I wanted another ‘lips’ with a grin on his face. We had to quickly finish dinner because at seven we had booked tickets to see a black light theatre performance, which involves using UV lights to make what happens on stage appear trippy. The show was really weird. It did have some cool parts where hands appeared to be flying in the air and clowns juggling in slow motion (I must love jugglers…) but I couldn’t really follow the story line – it was meant to be about how Alice from wonderland grew up after the storybook finished. I guess I could see the change – at the start she was playing with toys and wearing a dress, and at the end she was topless and making out with a magician – but that’s hardly a storyline.
Overall Prague didn’t really grab me in any way – it was quite pretty, it had old buildings, and the streets were narrow and wonky and European, but it just didn’t grab me…

Day 13

2007-09-30T05:22:00.002-07:00

After having cranberry juice with breakfast on this morning we all packed up and headed to Vienna, Austria. Again it was a full days travel but it didn’t seem to last as long as others as we played a fair amount of Presidents and Arseholes – the only card game that anyone played on the trip. In Vienna we set up our tents and what not and then a group of about twelve of us went to the beach volleyball court that was there and surprisingly had a really good competitive game (I think I would like to have that as my sport this semester – at the moment it is grabbing me even more than netball!). After a quick shower – the one that I was in only had cool water and you had to hold your hand on the ‘go’ button to get any water – we were off to the theme park, and to race Patrick the French bus driver at the go carts as he had been talking up his skills all day, saying that he would beat us all even if he started at the back of the field. As it was, he did. It cost 10 Euros for ten minutes, but the track was of a decent size and they were proper carts. I started in about fourth position and used the first lap just to get a handle of the cart and to know the track – this is when Patrick over took me and everyone else. After a while I had sussed out most of the corners and was flying along, overtaking two other carts and despite sliding out a little wide on two of the hairpins and I was catching up to Patrick who maintained that he was slowing down to make things more fun. Anyway, I finally got close enough for a heated battle when I prematurely made a passing move on him on one of the hairpins, spinning his car around and stalling mine. The operator came over to start us back up again and although I don’t speak French, I’m pretty sure he was saying to me ‘That was silly, and if you do that again just one more time, your out’. We continued the race and there were not anymore incidents like it.
After this I went on a giant spinning ride where you got a great view of Vienna, but also a crazy contorted view of the theme park rapidly spinning by and the clouds and sky whipping past you upside down. I then walked around with a largish group of people until we decided to have tea, and most of the people went to a pretty expensive restaurant but Caitlin, Jaya and myself just got some cheap Carni food. It was here that I saw a group of people with an Iraqi flag dancing and singing and chanting and they ran past us and it tweaked that they may have won the Asian Cup – good on them. So for the rest of the evening I walked around with Caitlan and Jaya and had an enjoyable enough time looking at the rides and games. It wasn’t until we only had about 25 minutes to go that I really wanted to go on another ride, this time a dancing fun house walking one. I knew that neither of the girls would be up for it so I shouted them tickets and they couldn’t refuse. I’m glad I did though, it was awesome, sliding floors, crazy lasers, and rooms that turn the whites of your eyes and teath a neon yellow (perfect conditions for doing the thriller dance), all finished up with a long slide and a walk through a spinning barrel which I managed to do the Catherine wheel in for the first time. By the time we finished it was 9:25 and we needed to be at the bus at 9:30, which was five minutes walk away – perfect timing. Apparently not according to Jaya and Caitlin who were a little edgy – and I suppose with good right, when we got to the bus everyone was already inside sitting down and we headed off straight away.
That night it rained, and I went to bed early listening to it – and woke up that morning still listening to it. The inside of the tent was a little damp in places where the fly had touched it but nothing serious – certainly not as bad as the boys who somehow had their tent flooded. Within 10 minutes of being up the rain subsided and after a banging breakfast of cereal, sausages and baked beans we headed into Vienna. Christina gave us a quick guided tour past the new royal palace, Spanish Horses stables, Jewish monuments and then we got free time. I spent it with a small group going to a Hotel where a famous Chocolate cake originated. Apparently back in the day the King of Austria was having a big do and wanted a nice dessert, but his head cook was away, so the cooks apprentice stepped up and said that he would like to try something new – and he did, and the king loved it. It was a chocolate cake with marmalade inside it. Now there is a chain of hotels carrying the apprentices name and the cake is sent all over the world. This hotel café where we sat was very high brow and we all felt a little out of place with our rain jackets that we still had and our back packs – but it didn’t bother us too much. Incidentally it was here where I first discovered the small hole in the crouch of my jeans. After this we walked up through the main drag of Vienna which was the most like any Australian Streets that I have seen – not outstandingly European, to the place where Ducky (our cook) had recommended that we eat lunch. It served schnitzel larger than the size of the plate that it was served on, and was quite enjoyable – although I could have done with a bit of sauce or gravy.
The next stop was to the other Austrian palace for forty five minutes before going to the schnapps tour. I opted not to go the schnapps tour so got to stay for about two hours, which despite my first thoughts actually turned out to be one of the most enjoyable times on the trip. After everyone apart from me and four Korean girls left I walked through the hedge mazes, played on their musical fountains, and amazing play gym equipment and had a ball banging a tune out on an oversized xylophone type thing to the rapturous applause of a couple about my age who must have been watching me…I was a little embarrassed, so I made a discreet bow and quickly walked off. I then headed up a hill at the back of the gardens where you could oversee the palace and all the intricate flower patterns and fountains in the massive gardens and the rest of Vienna in the background, before ambling down through the thick forest on one side. Here I got close to squirrels and had a lovely stroll under the dense canopy, before walking past a couple of more fountains and then going out the front of the palace to wait for the bus that took us back to the camp site, where we played a little more volleyball and then got ready for our Mozart concert.
Only about a third of the group opted to go to the concert, but those that had, had made an effort to dress up suitably. Despite wearing my collared shirt I felt a bit second rate walking into this massive red carpeted building knowing that I had a substantial hole in my pants. As we waited around for the show to start, another even smaller Contiki group arrived and began taking pictures of themselves. Stags being the gentleman that he was offered to take the shots so that they could all be in it, and then we started to be ushered into the music room. Carl started talking to one of the quite pretty Contiki girls so I put myself into ultimate flirt mode and headed over to have a chat as well – however all of my ‘so where are you from’ ‘how are you liking the trip’ lines did not seem to intrigue this girl in the way that I had anticipated and I could sense that she wasn’t really interested. Before shuffling off I noticed that the design on the red scarf that she wore on her head was treble and base clefs – she probably knew her music then and was a bit to rich for my blood anyway.
The music was entertaining enough although I had expected there to be more than just ten people on stage – I recognised some of the songs and the dancing and singing was certainly entertaining enough. However the highlight of the night was when Slobbs asked which one on stage was Mozart. Slobbs was awesome – one of those people that you just find yourself laughing at regardless of what they do or say. He seemed to be a good honest bloke.

Day 11

2007-09-30T05:22:00.001-07:00

After leaving the campsite and two blokes from our group who had run out of money and were planning on going to Greece where they had some sort of jobs lined up, we headed towards Venice. This stop would have to be one of my favourites. After setting up our gear I charged my camera battery in a bathroom which gave the an excuse to chill out and read my book while I waited outside. Apparently that night people from another tour let down a lot of our tents – but I slept right on through. The next morning we caught a ferry to the Venice. I think that part of the city is on islands and the other part is on the mainland – we camped on the main land. When we got to the islands we went to a glass making demonstration and saw what was my highlight from the trip. The glass master had a glowing lump of glass on the end of a stick and he blew into it and pulled at it so casually and then all of a sudden it was a vase. He then grabbed the lip of it with his tongs and stretched it until it was really thin before whipping it back over itself and attaching it to the vase and vollah a handle! I then spotted a glass horse sitting on a shelf and thought to myself ‘it’s all very well making a vase but there is no way that you could make a horse using the same technique’. But he did. He started with a drippy chunk and pulled bits and teased it until he had a horse that he pulled off the stick and sat it perfectly on the table. It was so impressive. Apparently in order to be a glass master you need to have a fifteen year apprenticeship. After that we saw everything else in the shop that the glass master had made and we could purchase something if we wanted. The Horses cost twenty euro, a crazy colourful life sized cow head that sticks out from a table cost twenty three thousand – almost worth it though, it was very cool.
We then went to a lace shop and saw wad loads of Venetian lace. Apparently each piece needs to be completed by the same person that starts it and for this reason it is really expensive as it takes days for each piece to be completed. But the government supports the industry so a piece that would normally need to be sold for eight hundred euros to get its money back can be sold for one hundred. Then we had free time which i spent with a small group of people ambling through the tiny alleyways that made up the streets, looking into the funny shops and taking photos of the many canals. For lunch we had a really really thick slice of pizza followed up with some ice cream from a place where Stags and I were sure the girl was flirting with us. She only spoke limited English and us even far more limited Italian, and she was pretty. We sat in the shade in a small alley way, and then headed off to check out a massive church. This was the only place where I ever had any trouble with my sword – one of the guards asked me to remove it, while the other one jokingly acted out me slaying a dragon with it. When I returned and showed him my empty sheath, he wanted me to open my mouth to make sure I hadn’t hidden it down my throat. We then found our way through the labyrinth of streets to have our gondola rides through the canals, which was great fun. We saw where Mozart used to live and chatted to the Gondola captain Andrew and had a most pleasant afternoon. In each city that we went to I would always ask Christina the Canadian girl if she would ever live here and then she would ask me. Most answers were the same – ‘yeah I’d do it for a little while, but not forever’. With Venice I said that I wouldn’t have minded at all if I had been born there and at the age of fifteen left school to start my Glass masters apprenticeship. I could have happily lived as a glass master there and owned a gondola instead of a car.

Day 9

2007-09-30T05:21:00.000-07:00

Travelling to Rome we stopped at a small town called San Guimento or something like that. Here Stags, Taz and I got lunch in a small cellar. Stags and I got a ham and cheese sandwich. The neat thing was the we got to see the man make it. He cracked the bun open because it was really hard, and sawed off some ham that was sitting out with out any refrigeration and sliced off some hard cheese which was also out. It was a very tough sandwich, but the atmosphere was great. We also got to use his bathroom which we thought he must also use, because It had a homely touch – not like the sort of public bathrooms that we had been used too – no automatic taps and black tiles on the floor and walls - very nice! After more ice cream from anther place there I paid some money to fill my drink bottle up from the public bathroom as I had forgot to do it in the nice one. And this was the only time that I didn’t drink the water. Not because it tasted bad, but because it tasted…. strongly. I’m not sure what of, it was kind of lemony, but it was meant to be pure water – if I had thought it was meant to be cordial, no probs, but as it was I tipped it out in Rome.
The next day in Rome the temperature was stifling and as a result we used the pool at the caravan park a fair bit despite its two euro fifty entry charge. When we arrived we had a tour of the city and had dinner that night where ever we pleased, I sat in a large square and had a nice pasta dish. The following day we lined up outside the Vatican city and ventured through it – it was really impressive, but very overwhelming. There are only so many works of art that have taken tens or hundreds of years to make that you can be impressed by. Saying that, despite being one of the last things that I saw there, Michelangelo’s al fresco in the Sistine chapel was truly something to behold. After a ride on a very long bendy bus to the centre of town we had our guided tour of the really old ruins. It was soooo hot by then and by the first archway our group had dwindled somewhat. I even found myself dozing off on one of our stop offs under a tree – it was mega hot. After the tour ended at the Coliseum we caught a train to the Spanish steps where we said we would meet Christina and had an ice-cream. That night I went out with the group to the club at the campsite and had a really good time. What really made it for me was that they served free pasta at 12:00. It was quite spicy which I loved. It must work out well for them as it would stop people getting drunk as fast, and it would make them buy drinks to try and stop the burning. I danced like a whirling dervish that night until they started playing wicky wicky wah wah rap music. Then I went to bed and almost made the mistake of giving off the wrong sort of message to Caitlin who I danced with a bit that night. I put my arm around her shoulder briefly as we walked off – which lead to a general ‘walking with our arms around each other’ type thing. Caitlin was very nice and pleasant – but I didn’t feel for her at all in that way – and I think that she might have done so towards me.

Day 7

2007-09-30T05:20:00.002-07:00

Before we arrived at Florence we stopped off at Pisa and saw the tower. It was worth while – but it seems that taking a photo where you align yourself so that it appears that you are holding up the tower isn’t as original as you might suspect. Almost everyone there was doing it and it was pretty amusing to see a field of people with their right arm out all smiling. In my quest to find an ATM here I almost got sucked into buying a trinket that I didn’t need. An African man asked if Christina (Canadian – not the tour guide) who I was walking with had been to Africa because of her Ugandan bag (she did some volunteer work there) and said that she could have a model elephant as a good luck gift and that I could have one too as I was her boyfriend. I said ‘Gratsi’ and took it and started to walk off feeling like I had already had a stroke of good luck at finding such a cool fella – but then he started asking for money and refusing to take the trinket back, so I placed it on his arm and walked off. I then practised my Italian. I had been told a line off Caitlin that means ‘you are a very beautiful woman’ so I said ‘to say uno bella donna’ to the lady that served me ice-cream, and she laughed at me, pronounced it properly and then turned around. Yah, go me! I said it to a lady earlier and she just smiled at me, and then Caitlin over heard her saying in a strong American accent “wow did you just hear what that guy said to me!” – there were a lot of tourists…
Florence – now this place was nice to look at but didn’t really grab me like some places did. We had a tour of the city and were told about a lot of the statutes that were being displayed in the square –and they were pretty cool – really graphic but very cool. I quite liked the one of Hercules beating up a centaur. We also got a leather making demonstration which was entertaining, but I didn’t buy anything, way too expensive, and again nothing said ‘Justin – you need me’. Actually I have never encountered anything that has said that too me – until I walked into a wooden toy shop across the road from the leather demonstration, and I saw a wooden sword. There was quite a variety, but what really called my name was a medium length weapon. The hilt was just the right size for my hand and I could imagine the shoo shoo sound that it would make when I would wield it. It cost 10 euro, and the sheath cost anther ten, but it made it so much more desirable as I could wear it a lot more frequently. I bought it and wore it several times through out the rest of the tour, and used it generally to fight off evil and to point at things. That night we went to a club called ‘space electronic’ which was really crazy. There were those cages up high where people could dance and there were heaps of people. As it turned out a great deal of them would have been between sixteen and eighteen, as that is the legal age for going out in Italy – the boys in our tour had a field day. I left at about 2:30.

Day 5

2007-09-30T05:20:00.001-07:00

We crossed the boarder back into France and travelled along way past some sweet as bro’ scenery of the French Riviera to a small town on the coast. Here after setting up camp and having dinner we went to the beach which was a 15 minute walk away. It was about 9:30 when we got there and the sun was just setting and we skipped across the smooth stones into the deep water of the Mediterranean sea and played with a ball, had swimming races and skipped stones. At the same time some African drummers started to play and a bonfire was lit, it was awesome. After that we played some putt putt in one of the coolest courses I have ever played – it had loop the loops and jumps and river crossings – A-grade fun! We finished up at about 1 o’clock with ice creams – where I was the butt of my first French joke. A random guy that I passed pretended to take my ice-cream and he said ‘merci’ which I knew meant thank you! Ha what fun the French are! The next day we had the option of going to Cannes or Nice – I opted for Nice. The town was having lots of road works done which didn’t help the atmosphere. The beach itself was amazing – the water was so brightly coloured blue that it looked like there must be something wrong with it. There were a couple of waves, but you wouldn’t want to ride them as you would be hammered against the stones on the shore. It was here that I realised the shorts that I have been using as boardies were see through – oh dear! The beach was packed with people sunbaking either on the public beach on the stones or at private beaches on deck chairs that you would have to purchase. After a lunch from the supermarket and some ice cream that I seemed to have a lot of where ever I went we headed back to the campsite.

Day 3

2007-09-30T05:19:00.001-07:00

Today there was a lot of travelling as we were going to Switzerland to stay in the Alps. Frankly I don’t remember much about the trip as it was most likely past in sleeping or trying to get to sleep with my neck crooked at a funky angle. When we arrived in the little village we were offered the option of sleeping in cabins at ten Swiss francs a night as it was expected to rain – I was keen to just have a tent and save the money, but the three south African blokes that I would share a tent with over the trip Carl, François, and Stags wanted to have a cabin so I obliged to make up the fourth man. The camp ground was set in between a massive overhanging rock cliff with a waterfall and a fast flowing stream. The following morning we had grated potato for breakfast which was fantastic and then headed up to the top of Jung Frau – which was an optional extra that almost everyone took despite the weighty price tag of 120 Swiss Francs (about A$120). It was worthwhile though, the train ride up to the top which was meant to be an engineering feat in its day took almost two hours, and had a couple of us dozing off along the way, only to be woken up by fantastic views of snow capped peaks and Gorge-ess views. At the top of Jung Frau there is a massive tourist centre built where you can hire sliding boards, go to lookouts and visit an ice palace. All this was very entertaining, but what really took us all by surprise was the trouble that we had getting about. Because we were close to 4kms up the air was a lot thinner than we were used to, and although you couldn’t notice it when you breathed it in, you certainly felt less inclined to climb stairs or walk long distances – which explains why we only got half way to the snow cabin which was only 500m from the exit of the centre.
That night I decided to ‘go out’ with the rest of the crew and ended up at he ‘Bomb shelter’ which is a bar made primarily for the large amounts of Contiki tours that come through the campsite. It started off slowly – trying to talk to people over the way to loud music, but after a while I got stuck into some dancing with ten or so of the crew and had a blast – I probably looked like a goose, but I had a good time and doubted that anyone else would remember how I looked, let alone how they got back to their tent or in whose arms.