Back to real blogging baby! And I love it. Today I went to Square One and bought the Tau Army box from Games Workshop, and the Warhammer 40K rule book (Slopes, I have some stuff for you to glue and paints *grin*). I spent the whole day at Square One with Marta wandering around. I didnt get home until 5. But now I have lots of Tau, so it's all good.
So many parties coming up, and I'm all tired.
Thanks!
Mike.
I can't believe we're done with Experience England. It's sad. I'm going to miss all these people.
On Sunday they had a grade 11 vs grade 12 soccer match. I didn't go. Don't like soccer. Instead I spent my time looking about Tau and getting ready to buy a bunch of it for a huge army when I get home. After the soccer game, we had a BBQ. I just realised I never found out who won the game. Oh well. The BBQ was nice, but it was sad. In less than 24 hours we would be saying goodbye to most people for good. I missed the talent show too. It wasn't very good apparently. But I'm still sad I missed it.
We got our marks back. I got 94% on my essay exam, 98% on my sight exam, 94% on my ISU monologue, and 70% on my ISU essay. 84% overall. It's my best english mark. Way to fail Steve on editing (just kidding). I'm really happy with the mark.
We had to be up at 5:30 on Monday. Steve set the alarm wrong, so we were up at 5:00 but it was ok. The teachers were going around acting all cheery waking everyone up, and I walked out fully dressed going to brush my teeth. I got to be cheery back. I had four shirts on because it couldn't all fit in my suitcase. It took us four tries to pack to get it all in. And go figure it was too heavy. Way too heavy. Like 44 kg, when the max was 32kg. So I ended up splitting up stuff among Steve, Monica and Megan. Thanks you guys! Stupid books. The lady felt sorry for me, because that's all it was that weighed so much. The stupid books I had bought here. But she knew they had good books.
After we went through security, the airport turned into a mall. It was so wierd. It was like the first floor of Oakville Place. I felt like I came from such a small town when I saw that. It was so sad. We didn't have to wait long to get on the airplane. I had a window seat, and Lacy was supposed to sit next to me, and then Anson had the isle seat. But Lacy switched with Cynthia so I got to be happy. They taught me how to count to 10 in Cantonese so I can be more Asian (but not AzN).
I can't believe how quickly the month went by. It was so fast. I didn't do anything too illegal. I didn't get totally drunk and throw up everywhere like some people. I saw so many movies. I can't remember, but I'm going to try:
Gang's of New York (twice)
Bowling for Columbine (three times)
Cruel Intentions (twice)
Hackers
Rush Hour 2
Requiem for a Dream
Terminator Two
Some Military Law Movie
Not a bad list. That only started after we got to Oxford. I didn't actually learn what I would have if I had done it over the school year, but I'm glad I can get it out of the way.
Goodbye England, I'll never forget you guys.
Thanks!
Mike.
Today we went on the Shop London trip. We made a mathematical equation for it:
(mike * credit card)shopping = 0
Where:
I bought way to much. First thing I did was play DRR. Well actually it was go with Steve, and leave Monica, Sarah, Lily and Cynthia at Harrod's because they planned on shopping all day without eating. Not cool. Then we did a giant circle with Taavo, Carney, G-Spot, Tyler, Ben and Cheng, so we could leave Taavo and Carney to go DDR while they went to the Estonian Embassy to get a picture with the ambassador. (They never did get the picture, the ambassador was in Estonia)
DDR was poop. I had just eaten so I ended up with mega cramps, and it was hot and yucky and I kept spacing out. I still had fun though. Then I played Time Crisis II and I've decided I want one of those in my basement. Along with DDR. We ended up splitting up so Steve could buy his dad glasses. And then the spending started.
First we went to HMV. I spent £95 (which is about $240). I bought a CD holder, the old Nelly CD, the new Nelly CD, the Matrix Reloaded Soundtrack, The Beyonce CD, the Justin Timberlake CD, and the Best of Pure R&B Summer 2003. Then we walked all over downtown London trying to get the glasses for Steve's dad. IT took and hour and a half because the first store didnt have the glasses, and we had to go to another one. We finally found the Sunglasses Hut though. To celebrate I went into the Disney Store and bought my sister and mom souveniers. Then I bought a £70 ($164) watch while Steve bought the glasses. When we were all done, we still had two hours to kill. So we road the subway!
Subway Stats:
Now don't ask me how you can get cut off on a subway tack. I have no idea. I know we did manage to rearrange my CDs so they're in alphabetical order, much to the amusement of some of the passengers on the train. When we got back to the bus we ended up leaving late because someone (*cough*sex*cough*) tried to cheat and get on the cool bus and not the ugly bus.
I think I eat too much. I've been out of money the last three days. I had to borrow money from Jen because I coulnd't afford McDonald's. I can't believe tomorrow is our last day.
Thanks!
Mike.
Merry Christmas in July!
That's all we did today. We had Christmas in July. For dinner they had roast turkey and stuffing and gravy. They even gave use those cracker things that explode and have a crown and a present. It was so much fun.
After, I went and played Javanoid. I've played so much of that game - I'm getting really good at it. I'm going to school you all when I get back.
Thanks!
Mike.
Chopsticks! Today I got my chopsticks, which means I get to eat my kim chi! I had to go all the way to a friggen museum to get them. But it was worth it. I got my Kim Chi.
After I got my Kim Chi, I went to a stationary store and bought a bunch of paper (the paper is 8"x12" instead of 8"x11"), Im going to use it for all the work on the MUD that's on paper, so it can be funky. I know, I'm wierd. I also try to get one of those crazy diary-type books, but I couldn't find a good one.
Once again, a boring day because I had no school.
Thanks!
Mike.
Today was a day dedicated to nothing. Well, not entirley nothing, but nothing but my new layout. So I guess it wasn't really nothing. I dragged my butt into town and bought a massive book on HTML and another massive book on Javascript (yay for a good website).
I got back and spent all my time working on it. I should be able to get it up by the beginning of the school year. Tonight we had an Indian Dinner. I was so cool. Like uber cool. I've never had authentic Indian before. They brought in a chef from an actual restaurant and decorated the dining room - they went all out. They even had music. Except it wasn't very authentic. More like rap - ie So Addictive.
And that was my day.
Thanks!
Mike.
FREE! I'm free! I have nothing else to do. Well there's a sight exam on Fridya, but you can't really study for it. And apparently you do 10% better on this exam than on the last exam (94% + 10% = 104%).This means I don't have much to do now. Cathcart told us he wasn't going to have a test on Alice in Wonderland too (good, because I didn't read the flippin' book.).
So now I don't have to pay attention in class, and that gives me time to do other things. Today in class I talked to Anson about Cowboy Bebop amd Trigun (Trigun is supposed to be good, I'm going to have to get it after I finish Bebop). Then I looked at making the MUD. I can't figure out how I'm going to do the castle. So my map is all screwey - I might just start somewhere outside the capital (actually, that sounds like a good idea. Way to go Mike!).
I also worked on the EluamosNailo.com Version 2.0 layout. I have a visual layout for the site, I just need to figure out how to code it. But I know what I need to do so it wont be hard. However, just when visual things got going in my brain we had to go to Blenheim Palace.
There was only one food reason to go to Blenheim Palace. The outside scenes for Hamlet were flimed here! Good old Hammy! Inside the palace was broing. Once again, you weren't allowed to take pictures. The first chunck on was on Winston Churchill (boring!). Outside was really nice though. We good to go on the Hamlet train (neener neener neener - I got to go on the train!) and we went to the maze and then I played Giant Chess. Cynthia and I were on a team, and we still lose. Im going to get you Cheng! Even if I have to go buy a board to beat you!
After dinner Steve, M.E., Tara and I went into Oxford to eat at Pizza Hut (woo two dinners!). Then we went int o a book store. I was looking to buy a book on programming. First I looked at VB books. Teensy problem. There was no 'intermediate' book. The VB for dummies had three chapters I didn't know (and I was supposed to have learned it - Stupid DiLuca). Then the rest of the books were way above my head. So I moved on. We look at books on game programming. IT took me reading through three books to realise I need a programming background to understand these books. Go team! So I moved to HTML. By the time I found a good book, we had to go so Steve could write his monologue.
Oh well, I'll go back tomorrow.
Thanks!
Mike.
Today I did my monologue! It wasn't a bad day to do it either. I was tired, and didn't care what I did or how stupid I looked. Turns out I didn't do that badly either - I saw student marks rom 98 to 100! Yay!
After class we went to Windsor Castle. It was so big! But like most places we went to, we weren't allowed inside most of the place, and what we were allowed in we we'rent allowed to take pictures of. The parts we did see were interesting enough though. In one room, Queen Anne had a whole appartment built at a 1:12 ratio. It was so cool. A giant doll house. One room had the coat of arms for every knight that had been knighted since way back whenever. Some of them had been wiped out because of treason. It was great.
The chapel sucked. So I spent the rest of the day with M.E. Raquel and Courtney (a.k.a. Acton - even though she and her boyfriend aren't from Acton? Oh well). When we got back for supper I had to bug Susan and Nina (in my monologue I asked out Susan and the mouse asked out Nina).
After dinner it was time to work. I had an ISU essay to write! And it needed to be 1200 words. After 3 hours I had a 6 page, size 10 century gothic font essay - around 2000 words. Cynthia was sleeping over too which was good because she and Steve would be able edit the essay and doo my bibliography. We ended up with 5 people in the room, and for the first time I wasn't the one in need of help. Let's just hope I did it right. Well steve didn't find any errors, so it should be ok. Steve and Cynthia managed to stay up until 1:30. I went to bed before 12:00 - I like my sleep.
Thanks!
Mike.
Mmm cake! Today I found cake in my room from Cynthia's birthday party. IT was a good start to an already good day. For the first time in over a week I didn't have to wake up and be somewhere at 8:30. So I slept in. The only problem with this is that everything is closed on Sundays, either all day or they closed at 1:00.
Stores closing at 1:00 caused a problem with me because after sleeping in, I only managed to get into summer town at 1:00 - and I needed to buy a stuffed mouse for my monologue. Which was another problem. I still hadn't written my monologue. I mean, I knew what I wanted to do, but I hadn't actually writting a *script* (scripts done now).
I managed to write my monologe in about two hours time. No idea what I'm going to get though.
Thanks!
Mike.
Today I had my second ISU conference. I got 7/10. I lost three marks because I had the stuff in my head instead of on paper - but he sympathised with me because he knew that was how I worked.
After the conference we went to McDonald's (I'm collecting the happy meal toys for my sister). We lost K-dawg, so we went back without him and I went to sleep. And that was my boring day in Oxford.
However things in The Oakv were going crazy! They had a DDR party at Morganti's house, with Loyola, STA and HT people. I wanted to go! It was so sad. Dan's apparently good at DDR now (the bastard stole my DDR, I'm going to get it back I swear to God). I'll show you all what happens when you have a DDR party without me when I get back! DDRing without me! Hmph.
Thanks!
Mike.
Oh my god! Fcuk is the greatest place ever. Today we went on the Oxford Quest - and I was out of film. It was so sad. I miised pictures of the main stairs and dining hall in Harry Potter! Nooo! The quest was so long, I was about ready to die. I didn't want to go back for lunch because it meant I would have to go back to the campus and come into town again, spending money on a bus again.
So after I spent money on another bus ticket (it was worth it though), I got to get fcuk stuff! I bought my fcuk shirts and got to eat at Pizza Hut. I love Pizza Hut. It was so good. Steve, Raquel and I spent the time telling Canadian jokes and such. AND! We saw a slick-dick look-a-like. It was crazy! Craxy, even.
And that's it!
Thanks!
Mike.
Today we went to Bath. That meant another crappy packed meal. I can't even describe how bad these things are. The busride was long too - 3 CDs long. I managed to fall asleep through most of those CDs too.
The Bath itself was really nice. Some of the stone carvings were amazing. Unfortunatly, it only took about 45 minutes to get through the whole thing. That meant we had four hours with nothing to do. We wandered around for a bit, and lost G-spot. When we went to HMV again to get G-Spot, we lost half the group. So we did what any north american would do in a time of trouble - we went to McDonald's!
Sure enough, G-spot had gone to McDonald's to look for us. Then the others we lost came to McDonlad's checking for us. After that we went to a game store. I really really really really want hard pads for DDR *tear*.
We had to go nettle hunting after that so Tanis and Laura wouldn't be grumpy. The first guy flipped Tanis off - it was so funny. Then she had us stalk these two guys for 20 minutes. Then thr group split up, and we were left with nothing to do for two more hours. Bleh.
By the time we got back on the bus I was ready to fall asleep. So I decided to try that thing where you fall asleep with songs playing and you learn the songs. I well asleep through TATU and Evanescence. It didnt work.
We went back and worked on my response to stonehenge (a few of these are done whenever I have time, which isn't always the same day. So somethignes they're written a day or two afterwardsS). Then I watched TV (way to fail Nokia) and we watchd bowling for columbine. That is such a great movie. It made fun of Americans so much. Then when I was about to fall asleep the fire alarm went off. Not cool.
Thanks!
Mike.
Fire Alarms! AAHH!! Who friggen plans a fire drill at 6:00 am? It's not cool! It was the worst night/morning to have it too. After Stonehenge we had a prebirthday party for Cynthia. So we went out, bought some drinks, and went back to mine and Steve's room. We ended up play drinking games and all slept there. So it was Steve, Lily, Monica, Cynthia, M.E. and I all in a room barely big enough for me and Steve. Getting out without the teachers noticing the girls in the boys dorm was fun.
Lily was really worried about getting in trouble so she was trying to figure out if using the excuse that she had come to get laundry detergent was good enough. I just didn't care.
Sarah, Lily, Monica and I went into Summertown to get party supplies. I bought Marta another gift, this one's for 5 months. I ended up mising the party though, I was playing monopoly and lost track of the time. Someone bought inflatable monopoly, it's so cool!
After monopoly I watched the end of Gangs of New York. It made no sense. I guess I have to watch it from the beginning. Oh well
Thanks!
Mike.
Today I went to Stonehenge. I should state for the record that the only reason I went to Stonehenge was because I play Dark Age of Camelot. Dark Age of Camelot (DAoC) takes place after King Arthur's death, and the realm I play is Albion (England).
For this reason I went on a lot of the optional trips. Being able to make connections between the real world (or history of it) and the game is fun for me. Hearing about the barrows around Stonehenge was one of those connections. In Camelot, under Stonehenge (it doesn't look as destroyed in the game) there's a dungeon called The Barrows, where spirits of the undead spend the rest of eternity. One of the legends is that Uther Pendragon (Arthur's father) and his brother are buried there. In DAoC, the Barrows ghostly occupants include Uther and his brother. For me that was fun.
Stonehenge itself was horribly boring. All we got to do was walk around ina giant circle listening to the stupiid audiowand. If I never seen abouther one of those again, I couldn't be happier.The look like oversize remotes, with phones in them that have recordings of horrible voice actors giving tours. As a drama student, it was appalling. I did manage to take a lot of pictures though.
After Stonehenge we went into Salisbury to see the Cathedral and the Magna Carta. The cathedral was really nice, but for someone who has a lot of little faith in a bunch of religions, it didn't have the same effect on me that it had with Steve (it was actually a little amusing, though I feel bad saying so). We tried walking around afterwards but everything was closed. That's another thing I will never understand. Everything closed by 6:00 pm. Which meant we had an hour and a half to waste outside the cathedral. You'd be surprised how entertaining that can be.
We ran into a group of five local kids who had been talking to some of the other kids in the group. Three boys (who claimed to be 17, 12, and 11) and two girls (who claimed to be 12 and 12). I say claimed, because they all looked younger than that, and they changed their ages like three times. It was an experience I will not forget for a long time. They all smoked, they all swore and they talked a lot about doing drugs. I managed to tranlaste some of what they were saying from English to Canadian - I think they said four of them were related. Now which four, I couldn't tell you for the life of me. They said their parents gave them cigarettes (which wouldn't have made much of a difference, the 17 year old would have been able to buy them legally for over a year).
They really need to look at the social norms here. Everyone smokes (no wonder they all have bad teeth). Everyone drinks (you can buy alcohol at cornerstores). They're all aggressive drivers, who don't care about pedestrians. I know a lot of people who would be dead.
If I ever come back to England, or maybe even Experience England, I would go on the trip again. So only so much you can take in at once, and I'm willing to bet I missed a lot. I might even be able to make some new connections.
Thanks!
Mike.
Response Mark: 88%
Comments:You are an interesting albeit opinionated guy.
Prepare for a crappy blog - tomorrow is our Essay Exam. I can't sleep here. It's impossible to get up on time here. In London I relied on Steve to come to my door and wake me up. Now he doesn't wake me up.
In class I handed in my responses, but not my play review (I didn't finish it so I told him I had to print it). WE got our exam prep and I spent the rest of the day and night with Steve doing the exam prep. And I'm sick!
I did manage to fight with Laura - again. She purposly didn't bring her King Lear so she could use Ms. Castellarin's copy. I don't care if she wan't to use it but she should have let us finish copying all the notes. She came in while we were gone and stole it, off Steve's desk, while he was in the washroom, while he was copying it, with it on top of his book, and his pencil on the page. We were in her room getting it back when she gound us and snapped.
She didn't even need it. She didnt study at all. She's going to fail. This probably explains why she's angry all the time. Oh well.
Thanks!
Mike
Today we went to Warwick Castle and then into Stratford. We left at 8:30 in the morning. That was horrible considering I had just reached the paramount of human stupidity yesterday - sleep was hard to get. The ride to Warwick was probably just was interesting as Warwick, and probably more interesting than Stratford. Then again it probably had something to do with the pain that started kicking in halfway through the day.
The architecture of Warwick itself was a little disappointing. Walking up to the outer walls I was dazzled by the size of it. I was expecting to see the sheer size of the castle's outer walls to be conintued. All it was really continued in was one tower that was two stories higher than the wall (okay, I know that was probably something astounding when it was built, but I was expecting the part of the main building to be that high.).
The arctivites at Warwick made up for what I thought was lacking in the architecture. It was as if everyone was giving 110%. We made friends with the Rat Lady before we went into the dungeon (oh man did it smell) so when we saw her show she made a point of making it clear that she wasn't going to pick me or anyone I was with for her show. After that we went into the wax museum (it sucked, but it doesn't count because no one was there to give 110%). The Red Knight was after the museum; he was really good too. He was probably the worst of the live shows, so that says a lot. When he was done he walked us down to the bird show. Oh that was classic. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. The new bird got lost, and the older eagle found another place to find food. The jester was good, but the archer was by far the best live show there was. (--I agree, the archer is great--) It made me think about video games (I know it's bad, but there's nothing I can do about it). By the time 2:00 came around, everyone was ready to go back and sleep. Instead we had to go all the way down to Stratford. By this point my jaw and throat were starting to swell up and hurt, so my mood was going out the window. So not only was I tired when we got to Stratford, I was grumpy and having trouble swallowing.
Startford was boring. I couldn't understand why everyone goes there. We saw where Shakespeare was buried, some people went to see where he was born, but I went to find icecream to try and soothe my neck - it didn't help.
It probably would have been better if Warwick and Stratford were two different trips (I wouldn't have gone to Stratford.). I can understand why they're both on the same trip though - they're both out of the way, but they're near each other. Oh well, for anyone who wants to go back themselves, I'd recommend Warwick (and if you're really into Shakespeare I guess you can go to Stratford too).
Thanks!
Mike.
Response Mark:86%
Comments:I'm not fussy with Straford either, I prefer Straford Ontario. Good work.
On the 11th we had to get up and be ready to leave early so we could head to Oxford. Well go figure, it was time for breakfast and I didn't want to get out of bed. It's one of the consequences of staying up late (aren't I the bright one?). Of course, I wasn't packed either. So I had to get down, eat breakfast, get back up to pack, and go down again before the bus left without me.
When I had actually gone down the first time for breakfast, I walked in with a pounding headache, and had Mr. Plumpton ask me if I was hung over. Woah! Not something I had been expecting to wake up to. Not something I was ready to hear from a teacher either. I wasn't hung over. Mike's a good boy! Yeah right. So after eating breakfast, I dragged myself back to my room to pack. I think I'll take this time now to point out that I'm doing all this on three hours of sleep. All the stairs and rooms looked the same at this point. Packing was just as much fun as getting to my room.
My luggage was originally packed by my mom (surprise surprise!) so repacking it was lots of fun. I had to go and get Bridget and Tara to help me repack it. Then I managed to forget my CDs in the hall (I got them back, don't worry). (--I'm not worried, I'm not your mother--) The bus ride to Oxford was fine (and by fine, I mean uneventfull), I got to listen to my CDs and sleep. When we got to Oxford all I did was go on the internet. Go figure, I can't log in to the EluamosNailo.com server. After that I started working on my ISU (and of course, by ISU I mean - I would have been on MSN all day but MSN doesn't work here). After my ISU conference, I had time to go wander around the St. Edward's campus. Man this place is ugly.
It must be just me too. I don't like it at all. The quad of grass in the center is treated like it's a gift from God, when all it really is, is a large patch of half dead 'grass'. amd I said 'grass' because it's more like astroturf (--good point--). It's not comfortable to sit on (you're not even allowed to walk on it during the year), and you can't put a blanket down. The buildings are all ugly red brick. Now I have a weird taste in everything. I like the old medieval fantasy/architecture, and the futuristic architecture. So I'l lread fantasy novels, and I'll play fantasy games (no, not Dungeons & Dragons - no one would ever play with me *tear*). I'll also play games like James Bond and Perfect Dark (it's a game based a few years ahead of now, almost identical to James Bond, but with a female main character [for Mr. Cathcart]). My favourite is final fantasy, with the combination of magic and technology.
Oxford itself is boring too. I ended up going to sleep early. It's a good thing, because there were apparently two guys who tried to stay in the girls dorm after curfew. I was feeling really really really guilty today (Saturday), so I made it better by spending money. I went into down with Cynthia, Lily, Sara, Monica and K-Dawg,and bought two sweaters, sweatpants and a teddy bear for Marta. That was something I wasn't ready for, spending this much time without her. James and Courtney are going out and they came together. I guess there's always next year, maybe I can take history. Or just go on a cruise.
Today I reached the paramount of stupidity in humankind! I was trying to talk to Steve out the window, so I climbed up on the ledge. Now, two things happened. I didn't realise that: One - there was a stringed looped near the window. Two - my head ended up through it. So when I went to jump down, I slipped and managed to flip, almost strangle myself, almost snap my neck three times (Eric counted) and smash my jaw on the ground. So if anyone sees marks on my neck, that's why, I don't feel like explaining it.
Now I think I've written enough, so I think I'll summarise:
Thanks!
Mike.
Response Mark:80%
Comments:I can't believe your story of the window and the string. But, I know it happened. Keep this so you can tell you're kids about it years from now.
Today was our last day in London. So I decided to celebrate. First I went to play DDR! We had so much fun. I figured out how to do double. And then two people did double together, and still lost. It was classic. When I get home I'm going to buy two hard pads so I can practice without the stupid soft pads slipping all over the place.
So, is that wasn't enough celebrating, we send G-spot and Josh out to buy some drinks. So half way through my second bottle of Smirnoff Ice, we got called to go to a party upstairs, where they had more drinks. Mmm, I have found out I love Black Ice. Carny got drunk to the point where he was humping Tara on the ground, and giving head to a bottle. Then he got sick and through up in the sink. So we all left, and Tanis had to try and keep me inside while security was outside the room. But I went out, because I was good.
I sat in the hall telling everyone stories about our friends, and I was acting out a bunch of crazy dreams I had over the last few nights. Then security came again and everyone decided to go to bed, so I did too.
Thanks!
Mike.
Today we started Lear, and go figure, we already have an assignment on all of Act 2 (Summary, character development, plot development, theme, imagery) - due tomorrow.
After class I went to cash my traveller's checks, and then I went to Harrod's to buy a book. I had to change my ISU poet. I have a new poet. So I need to buy a book for my new poet. I got told to switch from W. H. Davies to Robert Burns, because I couldn't get a book on Davies. Then I went to the internet cafe to print biographies. I saw Mel and Josh's join blog. It's really cool. Predictable from the way they were talking at Heather's, but still cool. Their layout is amazing, a little something like I wanted to do with my new layout [Mine would be something like that but have an iframe, instead of just a regular page].
We went to DDR after dinner, and I realised it's called Dancing Stage, not DDR. It's the same thing though (not really but I'll deal with it). When I got home, Josh taught me how to do the iframes for my new laout. Now if I can only get it to work.
Thanks!
Mike.
Today we saw Richard II in the Globe Theatre. It sucked. The play didn't suck. The actors were really really good (all female cast) but the seats were uncomfortable, and we hadn't studied it so it was very aggrivating. I left at intermission. And we have to write a play review. I went to McDonald's instead. And now I'm going to bed.
Sorry, two crappy blogs in a row.
Thanks!
Mike.
Cabinet War Rooms sucked. I can't believe people pay to see that. I didn't find it interesting at all. The audio tour sucked. I can't even begin to explain. And the people were so stupid. The science they tried to use during World War 2 would have made Dr. Pereyra cry.
At night Laura and Dave got piss drunk. Tara had to come wake me up. They were passing out, and then puking while they were passed out. Dave was puking out his window (Bridget took advantage of him), so while we were there, they were both almost naked. Then when we had finally calmed everything down in Dave's room, Laura came back. She had spent the last three hours in the shower throwing up. So now she was freezing. I didn't stay. I was tired, so I went back to my room and listened to my new cd. It's Black! And I have a test tomorrow.
Thanks!
Mike.
Today I got my picture taken with Arnold! Well, it was actually a wax dummy so I guess it doesn't count. I also got one with J-Lo, and Sarah Michelle Gellar (sorry Natasha) and the Hannibal guy (his name escapes me), and the Rock (yay for bad grammar!). Steve and I blacked it up with Whoopie and Oprah! Steve and Laura gave Bill Clinton head. We got to stand and party with Hitler (that craxy guy - we messed up his hair) and I watched everyone kill everyone with Jerry Springer.
That was about all that was interesting. We lost G-spot from the start. When went though the chamber of horrors, I was so out of it that when I guy tried to scare me, I turned around and said "Sorry, what did you say?". Then I got scared and jumped into Laura.
Speaking of Laura, I'm going to kill her.
Thanks!
Mike.
Today was amazing! We did so much today. I slept in untik 10:00 (I missed breakfast) and ran to catch the bus to Hampton Court. The only reason I made it is because Steve came in something like three times to see if I was up. Hampton Court is so cool. It's really big too. We only managed to do 2 of the 5 recorded tours, and saw part of a live tour.
We did the Kitchen Tours. They had the kitchens exactly as they were in the 16th century. It was nothing like Kitchen Stadium, but it was still cool. It was like 12 rooms or something (I don't know for sure, but it's in the book I have). It took a hell of a long time to get through them all. And of course, it ended at a gift shop.
After that we went into the King's Apartments, where King Henry VIII stayed while he was there. Well, it wasn't where he actually stayed, those burned down in 1986 (like all of the other tourist attractions), but it was still cool. We weren't allowed to take pictures (Steve cheated!), so I'm going to try and scan some in from the book I bought. I wish I was the king, he did absolutely nothing all the time. He even had an official sex bed! (Now that I think about it, he had two) I want one! But yes, the king didnt have to do any real work. I wonder if he spent all his time in the maze. I hope he didn't, because his maze sucked. It took me less than 10 minutes to get in and get out. Maybe he spent all his time in his gardens. I'm willing to bet that would get boring too. I'd probably wander around and look at all the crazy tapestries on his walls. Those were really cool. We were debating on stealing one and bringing it home, but it would have clashed with my room colour so we didn't.
After dinner we went on the Dicken's Walk. It was ok. We got to see London as Charles Dickens saw it in his stories. So we saw where Scrooge lived, and where he worked and where he ate his lonely dinner. We also got to see St. Paul's as Pip would have seen it in Great Expectations. You walked around the corner and *BOOM* there it was.We got to see the street on the other side of Diagon Alley. We got to see a building that has all the stuff like plumbing, electrical and heating on the outsied. It's all crazy!
After that we went to DDR! YAY YAY! DDR! Except they dont have good DDR. Euromix 2 sucks. Euromix the original is even worse, they only have like 10 songs. And they dont have Para Para either, so it was sad. And theres no asians here, so everyone sucked. But I got to draw a crowd. Go Mike! Then I went home and slept.
Thanks!
Mike.
Today was pretty boring. We had class. One day here is the same as one week back at home. That scares me - I don't want to fall behind. All ready I managed to catch up, but our group work's bad so far.
We tried to go clubbing today, the only problem is I'm totally clueless (and totally crushing!). When we got there we were supposed to go in as groups of two or three. Well it worked until I went in, and the whole friggen group followed me, so we didnt get in. The second time I wasn't paying attention and walked right by the club. Whoops.
So instead of going in when I could have, I went back with the people that looked too young (*cough*Shelley*cough*, and bought stuff from a store instead. So it was all good. We drank it and had a hell of a time getting back. Daniella was totally drunk, and then had sex with Taylor (eew).
And then it got boring so I'm going to stop now.
Thanks!
Mike.
Welcome to Day 3! Big Bus Tour - again. Today we had the morning off, because our Big Bus tickets last 24 hours. So instead of having class from 8:30 to 12:30, we had class from 1:00 to 5:00.
With our Big Bus ticket came a free boat ride ticket, that we wanted to use because it was supposed to be really good. Well we never got to go on the boat. By the time we got to the boat ride we had hal and hour toget back across London, so we had to take the underground back, eat lunch and get to class. We went to McDonald's for lunch. I've decided Im going to bring the burger containers back, because they're so messed up and you all have to see them.
After class we all went into Steve's room and had like a campfire party. Justin had brought his guitar from home so he played songs and sometimes he didn't. But we always sang. Tgere nyst have been 20 people in the room (I'll get a picture of a room so you know just how insane that was). By 1:30 we were down to 5 when a few drunks came in and Steve kicked us out. So Bridget, Dave, Tara and I went into my room and slept on my bed (again - look at the picture to see how crazy that was), and it was fine until Dave and Bridget started doing stuff so I ended up sleeping on the floor with Tara.
And that was it for today!
Thanks!
Mike.
Today we went on the big bus tour (hence the title). We got to see most of downtown London. The first part was absolutely horrible. We were on the 'blue' bus route which dragged us into the middle of no where. We ended up getting off at the Marble Arch to eat and switch onto the Red bus route. This is where things started picking up. The red route has a live tour guide on it, not some crappy recording. Gordon was our guide, and he knew his stuff. He asked everyone where they were from when they came up (it was an open topped double-decker bus, and of course we were on the top where he was).
Turns out there were a lot of Canadians there. We had a group of 11, there were 4 more from Experience England at the front, and only 4people of the rest of the top of the bus weren't from Canada. He had some fun with that. Then, not only did he inform us that the top of the bus was fully air-conditioned, but that there were ponchos just incase it rained (it only rains on days ending in 'y' in London).
The sits on the Red route were much more interesting than those on the Blue route. Instead of seeing a park and a train station, we got a running commentarty on everything from The Tower of London to hair dressers. We stopped outside the London Dungeon (it's like a twisted Disney World about how dirty London was - it couldn't have been that hard to make). When we got back on we had an American lady as a tour guide (she looked like the commissionaire!). She knew what she was talking about, even if she wasn't as funny as Gordon and then MI5 and MI6 buildings switched places.
I'm really glad I got to go on the touur. I got to see everything. I saw Trafalgar Square, Picadilly Circus (The part they always show in the movies) and Regent Street (I love Regent Street, they have a 7 storey Toy Store). I got to see the parliment buildings (with Big Ben), Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Pallace and The Tower of London. If anyone ever plans on going on a tour in London, take the Big Bus Company's Red Route - it has my vote.
Thanks!
Mike.
Happy Canada Day!
Well I manage to make it to London alive, which is a good thing (I think). We got to Pearson at about 3:00 pm yesterday, and met up with Steve and Laura right away. We got our tickets and SARS pass (I do no have SARS) and set off to check in. I was suprised how little time it took to check in. This left us with lots of time to walk through some of the stores (I bought an Elmo colouring book!) and then set off to go through security and wait two and a half ours for our flight. I've been away a few times before so I wasn't very emotional, but I was suprised at how many people were. I guess some people are different (--One of life's great lessons--).
We started off well enough - we managed to make fools of ourselves before we even boarded the plane. We wanted to play cards, so we tried finding more people to play with. The first recruitment went well enogh. It was something along the lines of: "Hey we want to play cards, we're looking for more people, and I'm looking at you two." And with that, Steph and Kate sat downd and played cards. We decided to try a second time, and this was when things went horribly wrong. Laura saw someone sitting by herself and thought we should invite her to play cards because she looked lonely (actually, she looked hot, but that's just me). So Steve and I walked over to ask her if she wanted to play cards. She looked at us funny but said ok. When she sat down Laura asked her what class she was in. She didn't have an answer, so Kate asked her who her teacher was. It was about then we realised she probably wasn't with the Experience England group. Go us!
Things didn't get much better on the plane. It was a seven hour flight. Do you have any idea how long seven hours is when all you have is CDs and TV that has good shows once every 2 hours? And I didn't have my Ayu CDs! *tear*. By the time we got off I couldn't feel my leg and my butt was numb. The beginning of the day gave a bad impression for London. The airport smelt bad; the traffic was horrible. People do something like 80 km/h on tiny roads, where they don't care about hitting pedestrians. Worst of all they drive on the wrong side of the road. The dorms are small, with no airconditiong, bad plumbing, and beds that my body hangs off of with blankets that don't cover me. What a fun place to be!
Things eventually got better. It was now Canada day, and time to celebrate. And boy do the brits know how to celebrate. They through this huge party and the Maple Leaf pub somewhere around Picadilly Circus (I say somewhere because we got very very lost). We had to ride the subway to get there. Only it's not called the subway, it's called the underground (Don't ask me, I have no idea). A subway is an actual underground tunnel.
When we got back to the Drom we managed to find our rooms wittout falling asleep on the stairs (I came close). All in all London's a nice place if you know where to go and where to avoid.
Thanks!
Mike.
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