Yesterday was Thursday, and for the third week in a row, this meant quiz night at The Stile. The battle was quite heated going into the killer round, as it seemed like everyone had higher scores than the week before, and we didn't think we were doing as well. The theme of this week's killer round was music (last week: sports), which we are normally quite good at. This week's final question (on which all killer round points depend) was: what was the only Spice Girls single that didn't become a UK number one? So obviously I was of no use on this one, and after some debate we put down 'slow'. Well, the answer was 'stop', which we had considered putting down but didn't. For some reason, the quizmaster seemed to have thought we put down 'stop' because he gave us all 20 points for the killer round which put us in a tie for first place. We lost the tiebreaker and got second place, but we were pleased as punch because we really didn't even deserve that. The prize for second was 29 pounds (first would have been 60 pounds), and 29 pounds of found money is 29 pounds of found money.
Along additionally pleasing lines, I turned in my essay on compact cities and sustainable transport today, despite the fact that it's not due until Monday. Next up: UK Transport Policy, plus some engineering coursework. Jealous, anyone?
I have also realized that I have failed to comment on Guy Fawkes day, which was technically last Sunday. There were fireworks every day for about a week, but I saw no one burned in effigy. Aerial fireworks are apparently perfectly legal for everyone and yet I'm not aware of any houses burning down (at least in this neighborhood). Next up is 'Remembrance Day', which is just Veteran's Day. People are wearing these little red poppies that you buy from veteran's on street corners.
Speaking of November holidays, there is some sort of apparent effort being made by my fellow Americans to put together some sort of Thanksgiving dinner. The email was sent out only to the American students, so I was finally able to get a head count: 17. Including myself.
Friday, November 10, 2006
Thursday, November 09, 2006
The Election
Since my brother asked about it, and I have once again forgotten my intended topic, I'm going to stick with the election.
I did spend all day in the library yesterday which limited my contact somewhat with the outside world, but I have been keeping tabs on the election here for a couple weeks. While the tvs on in the studens union tend to be turned to mid-day talk shows, those in the faculty/post-graduate cafe tend to be turned to the news (plus they have couches!). The American election has been mentioned and discussed continuously for some time, and The Indepenent (the newspaper that ends up lying around the faculty/post-grad cafe, instead of The Star that you find in the other cafe) had several pages of dedicated coverage on Tuesday about possible outcomes and the different state battles. I ended up having to discuss some of the battles, which to me sounded boring, but the English seemed somewhat interested.
Yesterday in the library, I did spot some people reading the news on their laptops, and most seemed to be looking at stuff about the election. I also shared my excitement with a few people, and most seem to either be pleased or just think I'm nuts. Most likely a little bit of both. I will see a lot more people in class today, and I'll be sure to report back if I get any feedback from them.
Speaking of students union, English the Price is Right was on yesterday. It sort of freaked me out. The stage was like, modern and blue, the host was young, and instead of just the female Barker's Beauties, they had a mixture of men and women caressing the merchandise and smiling blankly. It just didn't seem right. On the other hand, the unnatural levels of excitement of the crowd were just the same as here.
I did spend all day in the library yesterday which limited my contact somewhat with the outside world, but I have been keeping tabs on the election here for a couple weeks. While the tvs on in the studens union tend to be turned to mid-day talk shows, those in the faculty/post-graduate cafe tend to be turned to the news (plus they have couches!). The American election has been mentioned and discussed continuously for some time, and The Indepenent (the newspaper that ends up lying around the faculty/post-grad cafe, instead of The Star that you find in the other cafe) had several pages of dedicated coverage on Tuesday about possible outcomes and the different state battles. I ended up having to discuss some of the battles, which to me sounded boring, but the English seemed somewhat interested.
Yesterday in the library, I did spot some people reading the news on their laptops, and most seemed to be looking at stuff about the election. I also shared my excitement with a few people, and most seem to either be pleased or just think I'm nuts. Most likely a little bit of both. I will see a lot more people in class today, and I'll be sure to report back if I get any feedback from them.
Speaking of students union, English the Price is Right was on yesterday. It sort of freaked me out. The stage was like, modern and blue, the host was young, and instead of just the female Barker's Beauties, they had a mixture of men and women caressing the merchandise and smiling blankly. It just didn't seem right. On the other hand, the unnatural levels of excitement of the crowd were just the same as here.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Hartley
Once again, despite having nothing whatsoever to say, I will try and create a witty blog entry. I am currently in the library, so as this is what I see, this is what I shall discuss.
The Hartley Library, as it is called, is one of the few brick buildings on campus, and by brick, I mean the front part of the building is brick, there is a new part annexed onto the back that is not brick. It claims to be the largest library in the south of England. My transport and environment professor who is bitter about no longer teacher at Oxford, on the other hand, cannot believe how much smaller it is than the libraries at Oxford but isn't willing to change his lists of references. He is also the professor who is managing to only give two lectures the entire semester, and has pawned the rest of it off. We don't like him much. His nickname is Oxford Brookes.
One other thing that I find a bit odd about the library here is the level of security. To get past the front desk you have to go through a turnstile after presenting your student card. I imagine they will let you in if you are not a student, but the people at the front desk are rather remarkable at managing to ignore the people right in front of them trying to get their attention.
Still working on learning all of the rules to cricket and football. Apparently I have to know them all before going to an actual game. Despite all of my world cup watching, I still can't really figure out what off-sides is. They had to go and change the rules or something (no really, they did). I'm wary of trying to learn rugby, but I saw a poster advertising Southampton's American football team yesterday, so I know it exists.
Should probably get cracking on finishing up my first essay. Sorry for the lack of exciting commentary!
The Hartley Library, as it is called, is one of the few brick buildings on campus, and by brick, I mean the front part of the building is brick, there is a new part annexed onto the back that is not brick. It claims to be the largest library in the south of England. My transport and environment professor who is bitter about no longer teacher at Oxford, on the other hand, cannot believe how much smaller it is than the libraries at Oxford but isn't willing to change his lists of references. He is also the professor who is managing to only give two lectures the entire semester, and has pawned the rest of it off. We don't like him much. His nickname is Oxford Brookes.
One other thing that I find a bit odd about the library here is the level of security. To get past the front desk you have to go through a turnstile after presenting your student card. I imagine they will let you in if you are not a student, but the people at the front desk are rather remarkable at managing to ignore the people right in front of them trying to get their attention.
Still working on learning all of the rules to cricket and football. Apparently I have to know them all before going to an actual game. Despite all of my world cup watching, I still can't really figure out what off-sides is. They had to go and change the rules or something (no really, they did). I'm wary of trying to learn rugby, but I saw a poster advertising Southampton's American football team yesterday, so I know it exists.
Should probably get cracking on finishing up my first essay. Sorry for the lack of exciting commentary!
Monday, November 06, 2006
The loo
As in that thing that you skip to.
Considering they are basically the same, I find the bathrooms here remarkably odd. First there is the term you use for when you are going to visit the restroom. I have always been one to say 'I'm going to go to the bathroom', but when you say bathroom here, you risk getting strange looks. They just call it the toilet. As in, 'I'm going to the toilet'. This sounds not that great to me, so I cannot bring myself to say it and keep referring to it as the bathroom. You can indeed call it the loo, but that's apparently for people who don't like to say toilet (which I suppose would be me...).
Now, when you walk into the 'toilet' there is your normal row of stalls (I'm sorry, but I can only describe the ladies' rooms), but the toilets look a little funny and there are no toilet seat covers (I have been to all sorts of locales, and not a single place has had them). The other thing that gets me is the complete absence of paper towels for drying your hands. Some may see this is an effort towards environmental sustainability, I just see it as annoying, because the air dryers never works and you have to dry your hands on your pants. Excuse me, trousers, because they look at you funny when you say pants as well. If I do come across an English bathroom that features either a toilet seat cover or paper towels, I will be sure to make a note of it here.
The only thing I've learned about the men's room is that urinal is pronounced 'yer-I-nul' instead of 'yer-uh-nul'.
I have officially made the switch over to blogger beta. I don't know what impact this will have, but hopefully things should work a little better.
Considering they are basically the same, I find the bathrooms here remarkably odd. First there is the term you use for when you are going to visit the restroom. I have always been one to say 'I'm going to go to the bathroom', but when you say bathroom here, you risk getting strange looks. They just call it the toilet. As in, 'I'm going to the toilet'. This sounds not that great to me, so I cannot bring myself to say it and keep referring to it as the bathroom. You can indeed call it the loo, but that's apparently for people who don't like to say toilet (which I suppose would be me...).
Now, when you walk into the 'toilet' there is your normal row of stalls (I'm sorry, but I can only describe the ladies' rooms), but the toilets look a little funny and there are no toilet seat covers (I have been to all sorts of locales, and not a single place has had them). The other thing that gets me is the complete absence of paper towels for drying your hands. Some may see this is an effort towards environmental sustainability, I just see it as annoying, because the air dryers never works and you have to dry your hands on your pants. Excuse me, trousers, because they look at you funny when you say pants as well. If I do come across an English bathroom that features either a toilet seat cover or paper towels, I will be sure to make a note of it here.
The only thing I've learned about the men's room is that urinal is pronounced 'yer-I-nul' instead of 'yer-uh-nul'.
I have officially made the switch over to blogger beta. I don't know what impact this will have, but hopefully things should work a little better.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Wroughton
This was my entry from Saturday, that blogger decided to conveniently erase, but luckily I saw it coming:
So yesterday was another all-day educational field trip. This one was to Wroughton, which is near Swindon, which is somewhere between London and Bath. Somewhere on the outskirts of Wroughton there is an old World War II landing strip/series of airplane hangars that has been converted into the sort of 'stuff to big to put in the regular museum' branch of the National Museum of Science and Industry. Needless to say, I think we were the only people there. Getting to said destination required leaving campus at 8 am in a mini-bus driven by the lecturer. Not ideal.
On the way there we went by a bypass, where the lecturer was telling us about how inconvenient it was that in order to build it they had to remove the environmentalists from the trees because you can't just cut them down when they're up there and there are tv cameras present. At said museum we visited only one hangar, which had stuff related to transportation, so bicycles, motorcycles, cars, and planes. We had a guided tour by a man who quickly picked out that I was American and then continued to tell anti-American stories at every single item he showed us. And he showed us items for over two hours. Now, if I had been able to walk around on my own and look at the stuff I would have thought it all very interesting, but we all have our limits. Especially when it's about 35 degrees outside, the hangar is uninsulated and unheated, and you've lost contact with your lower extremities. But the old bikes were really neat.
After the museum, the lecturer decided we would be eating lunch in Avebury (or is it Avesbury), which some will recall to be a place with a bunch of stones older than Stonehenge that we went to on our Mad Max tour. It is much, much cuter when it's sunny and not-windy. Then we went around to some other town, and then we went to look at a canal, and then to get a better look at the canal, and then to another town (only getting out of the mini-bus once), before finally getting back to Southampton a little after 4 pm. After departing the mini-bus, it was realized that nobody really knew why we had gone.
I must also mention this week's quiz. As you all recall, I did not know the big final question to last week's quiz. But this week I was able to redeem myself, mainly thanks to it being mentioned on an episode of the Newlyweds with Nick and Jessica. And we got third place.
The question: In what city in Kentucky does the Kentucky Derby take place?
The answer: Louisville.
So yesterday was another all-day educational field trip. This one was to Wroughton, which is near Swindon, which is somewhere between London and Bath. Somewhere on the outskirts of Wroughton there is an old World War II landing strip/series of airplane hangars that has been converted into the sort of 'stuff to big to put in the regular museum' branch of the National Museum of Science and Industry. Needless to say, I think we were the only people there. Getting to said destination required leaving campus at 8 am in a mini-bus driven by the lecturer. Not ideal.
On the way there we went by a bypass, where the lecturer was telling us about how inconvenient it was that in order to build it they had to remove the environmentalists from the trees because you can't just cut them down when they're up there and there are tv cameras present. At said museum we visited only one hangar, which had stuff related to transportation, so bicycles, motorcycles, cars, and planes. We had a guided tour by a man who quickly picked out that I was American and then continued to tell anti-American stories at every single item he showed us. And he showed us items for over two hours. Now, if I had been able to walk around on my own and look at the stuff I would have thought it all very interesting, but we all have our limits. Especially when it's about 35 degrees outside, the hangar is uninsulated and unheated, and you've lost contact with your lower extremities. But the old bikes were really neat.
After the museum, the lecturer decided we would be eating lunch in Avebury (or is it Avesbury), which some will recall to be a place with a bunch of stones older than Stonehenge that we went to on our Mad Max tour. It is much, much cuter when it's sunny and not-windy. Then we went around to some other town, and then we went to look at a canal, and then to get a better look at the canal, and then to another town (only getting out of the mini-bus once), before finally getting back to Southampton a little after 4 pm. After departing the mini-bus, it was realized that nobody really knew why we had gone.
I must also mention this week's quiz. As you all recall, I did not know the big final question to last week's quiz. But this week I was able to redeem myself, mainly thanks to it being mentioned on an episode of the Newlyweds with Nick and Jessica. And we got third place.
The question: In what city in Kentucky does the Kentucky Derby take place?
The answer: Louisville.
Lush
I'm not sure if they can hear me or not, but sometimes Blogger kind of makes me mad. They have a consider number of breakdowns.
Anyways, I had a bit of a catch-up on errands day yesterday down in the city center. This included a trip to Lush by the Bargate. I can't help but find it odd that one of the very few handful of stores that exists in both Seattle and Southampton is this one, which in my mind is in many ways the anti-chain store, with it's hand-made ways. Keep in mind the only other stores they have here are Starbucks, the Gap, the Body Shop, KFC, McDonalds, and Burger King. And Lush. I don't know, but I got some soap.
Speaking of Starbucks, I was also very pleased that they are now celebrating Christmas and I was able to purchase an eggnog latte. It was the first time I'd actually ordered a drink from Starbucks in England. For some reason they had six people working in the drink making area and as far as I could tell, only one lady was actually making all of the drinks. And Starbucks being Starbucks, their two locations in Southampton of which I am aware are only about 500 feet apart from one another.
I have finally gotten my photo-uploading ways together and put three new albums up on Picasa, covering the Isle of Wight, my last trip to London, and Portsmouth, doing my best to include witty captions along the way. I wish I could take more photos around town here without people looking at me funny.
By the way, it hasn't rained in a while but it's cold as the Dickens. The low for today is -1 C. I still am not good with converting celsius, but even I know that's 30 degrees. Good thing they the one place they overheat is the library, and that's where I'll be spending a good chunk of my day.
Anyways, I had a bit of a catch-up on errands day yesterday down in the city center. This included a trip to Lush by the Bargate. I can't help but find it odd that one of the very few handful of stores that exists in both Seattle and Southampton is this one, which in my mind is in many ways the anti-chain store, with it's hand-made ways. Keep in mind the only other stores they have here are Starbucks, the Gap, the Body Shop, KFC, McDonalds, and Burger King. And Lush. I don't know, but I got some soap.
Speaking of Starbucks, I was also very pleased that they are now celebrating Christmas and I was able to purchase an eggnog latte. It was the first time I'd actually ordered a drink from Starbucks in England. For some reason they had six people working in the drink making area and as far as I could tell, only one lady was actually making all of the drinks. And Starbucks being Starbucks, their two locations in Southampton of which I am aware are only about 500 feet apart from one another.
I have finally gotten my photo-uploading ways together and put three new albums up on Picasa, covering the Isle of Wight, my last trip to London, and Portsmouth, doing my best to include witty captions along the way. I wish I could take more photos around town here without people looking at me funny.
By the way, it hasn't rained in a while but it's cold as the Dickens. The low for today is -1 C. I still am not good with converting celsius, but even I know that's 30 degrees. Good thing they the one place they overheat is the library, and that's where I'll be spending a good chunk of my day.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Accents
It just occurred to me that I have not properly discussed the accent situation, or at leat if I have, I don't remember it off-hand.
First of, let me say that I have not acquired an accent. On second thought, I do have an accent. And sometimes it is almost disturbingly strong. Occasionally, in particular when I have been wandering around the city center for a considerable amount of time without saying anything, I will finally open my mouth to talk to the cashier and I'm slightly taken aback by how I talk. Like, the sheer non-Britishness of the American accent is rather abundant at such times. Might I also add that I was surprised to find out that some of the non-native-English-speaking students in my class could not tell I was American until I explicitly mentioned it, so perhaps it's not as great of a difference as we may think.
Aside from myself, there are the accents of the locals. Most of the people I have come across have what are termed Southern accents, and they apparently vary somewhat in range of how 'posh' they are, with the most posh sounding like BBC News presenters, and the least posh sounding Cockney (not that I can really tell the difference). Sometimes to me it sounds like lecturers have different accents, but when I ask, it turns out they don't, and then one of the professors to me sounds pretty much the same, but apparently is 'obviously' from Manchester. Despite this relatively constant accent, I still cannot understand everything people say to me. This is not so much the case in class as at various retail establishments.
I still have not been able to decipher exactly what the English think of American accents, despite making a few attempts, but I have been asked how much truth there is in the plot-line from Love Actually where the English guy goes to Wisconsin.
First of, let me say that I have not acquired an accent. On second thought, I do have an accent. And sometimes it is almost disturbingly strong. Occasionally, in particular when I have been wandering around the city center for a considerable amount of time without saying anything, I will finally open my mouth to talk to the cashier and I'm slightly taken aback by how I talk. Like, the sheer non-Britishness of the American accent is rather abundant at such times. Might I also add that I was surprised to find out that some of the non-native-English-speaking students in my class could not tell I was American until I explicitly mentioned it, so perhaps it's not as great of a difference as we may think.
Aside from myself, there are the accents of the locals. Most of the people I have come across have what are termed Southern accents, and they apparently vary somewhat in range of how 'posh' they are, with the most posh sounding like BBC News presenters, and the least posh sounding Cockney (not that I can really tell the difference). Sometimes to me it sounds like lecturers have different accents, but when I ask, it turns out they don't, and then one of the professors to me sounds pretty much the same, but apparently is 'obviously' from Manchester. Despite this relatively constant accent, I still cannot understand everything people say to me. This is not so much the case in class as at various retail establishments.
I still have not been able to decipher exactly what the English think of American accents, despite making a few attempts, but I have been asked how much truth there is in the plot-line from Love Actually where the English guy goes to Wisconsin.
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