I have no idea what I'm doing.

Alright, so before Amsterdam not much has been going on! Just work and studying really.

So. Amsterdam.

We left Leeds at 11 am I think and we arrived in Amsterdam at 1. We got there and bought tickets on the super cool train- it had tables and glass doors, it was a really nice one. We figure out what station to get off, mainly because it was called Centraal Station or something, so it was kind of obvious. They also announced it but we couldn't understand through the speakers. We got off the train and wandered for a bit trying to figure out where the trams were.

After asking, we found them, and got onto one of the ones going to our hostel. It wasn't worth it because it was only 30 seconds away and I found myself pointing to the paper with the stop written on it because it was called "nieuwezijdskolk" when we were buying our tickets. If any of you can pronounce that you should tell me because I would really, really love to know how.

Got to Bob's, which was a walk in hostel, meaning no reservations could be made. We got beds and it was good. Met up with Kristin who I haven't seen since Costa Rica and that was perfect timing as she was coming from Paris.

I believe then we decided to head to the Anne Frank House (The way you're supposed to pronounce her name is actually closer to anna, I thought that was interesting). It was a long line to get in and it was raining and freezing, but the city was beautiful. I wish I had pictures but you can't take them into the house. All the furniture was gone and the walls were covered in this wall paper. The windows were obviously painted over. The entrance into the house was relatively hard and the stairs were like ladders. With all that said, they had a much larger space than I had previously believed, however, that doesn't make it any better.

From there we went and grabbed food. We decided to go to this cafe across from our hostel. I heard that you're supposed to try the pancakes because they're different from ours. This is true. I got bacon and cheese pancakes. They were really good, like a hybrid between pancakes and omelettes. I also had this molasses-like syrup with it, and it went really well, like syrup with sausage kind of thing. Then we ventured out and walked around for a WHILE. Found the red-light district, which, despite all the half naked women in the streets were very clean and had a police presence everywhere.

On our way back to the hostel we grabbed vlaamse frites, or french fries with mayo and ketchup. They were good, but I am sooo sick of fries as I ate them about 3 times in the past two days. We went to bed around 10 because we were dead- Liz and I were up til 3 and had to leave the house at 8...very late night, so we were tired.

Next day we got up late, around 10, packed our stuff up and headed out for breakfast. We got pastries and coffee, I had a chocolate waffel which had sugar clumps in it. very tasty. From there we got lost trying to find our tour but managed to catch the free city tour. It's a tour running in a lot of the countries in Europe run by people who aren't paid except for what you tip them. It lasted 3.5 hours and we saw pretty much everything that we wouldn't have known to see. Heard a lot about the city itself and it's history; For instance, all the houses have a pulley system to lug heavy things up to the kitchen so you dont have to carry it all upstairs. Also, Amsterdammers were the only citizens who tried to stand up to the Nazis, it only lasted two days before people started being killed but you don't usually hear about it.

Also, there are three layers of the canal. First is water, second is bikes, and third is mud. Bikes are the primary way people get around, there were trolleys and things attached for parents to cart their kids around on their bikes, which I thought was way cool. Bike stealing happens a lot. Drunk people in particular like to throw it into the canal. The guide told us he witnessed this hysterical game with one drunk guy throwing one in, making a huge splash. His friend, in an attempt to up his splash grabbed another bike and chucked it in. Mid-air I guess he yelled "CRAP! THAT'S MY BIKE!" Which seems to be karma in action.

Went back to the hostel again and chilled, it was freezing outside and we needed to warm up. Found lunch first- Fries, surprise surprise. Once it was dark we headed back out to the red light district to walk around some more- the place is huge and incredibly hard to find all of it in the dark as it's not marked on the map, so you just walk.

Went home, grabbed a drink- Found Savanna dry, a cider I drank in South Africa and haven't had since, and sat in the lounge in the hostel. Went to bed, woke up and walked to the train station and got delayed at the airport, but made it home around noon yesterday.

Okay, so sorry for not updating recently; I'm pretty sure that everyone who even reads this has other means to contact me so you probably know all this stuff.

So last weekend I met up with Sami and Amy (Flynn) in Oxford. I ended up at the wrong bus stop (technically right according to the ticket, but it was 15 mins from the city centre), so I had to bus into Oxford. On the bus, I realized the bus I was on only operated Monday-Saturday, and it was Saturday and I was going back to Leeds on Sunday. Great. Now what? So I ask this nice elderly couple next to me how to get back. They inform me of a bus line that runs close to the location and tell me that when I get off that they'll show me the stop I need to go to and make sure it's what I need. Sure enough, it was alright; the times I needed it to run, it ran, and it was going to the right place. The lady then makes me pull out a pen and paper, puts her number down and tells me to call her if I get stuck and she'll come down and drive me to the park and ride...so, so nice of her.

Met Sami and we grabbed food, then went on this snoozefest of a tour (2 hours and way cold) around oxford. The tour guide was so quiet and ancient and impossible to hear, and extremely dry for humor. Then, we checked into our hostel, chilled for a little, then ran and got dinner- but first, stopped at Moo moo's- a milkshake stand with over 200 possible ingredients. I got a chocolate muffin milk shake, Sami got a strawberry cheesecake milk shake, and Amy got a Chocolate Poptart milkshake.

Amy and I got food at McDonalds because we were cheap. Everyone else went to Nando's. Then we went on a haunted Oxford tour; cheesy but okay. Went back to the hostel and crashed. Left way early in the morning, got to my stop at 7:00 am, waited for the first bus. Got to the park and ride at 7:25, had to wait 1 hr 20 mins for my bus in the freezing cold at the sketchiest bus stop ever next to an abandoned factory. It was alright though. 6 hours later, back in leeds.

Pictures of Oxford: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2031365&id=1239720031&l=d978ca7380

This week went by without much for events.

Today, went to York. Way cute place. Actually, both were cute places, but still. York was only about 45 minutes away. We hopped a bus early this morning, easily, and got to York around 10:45. We were starving and not feeling well from the stop-go of the double decker (and we were on the second floor), so we wanted to eat. Nothing was open for lunch yet so we just grabbed pasties (and I got a chocolate orange muffin- because really, where else have you seen those?) and walked around. Found the tower, looks way cooler in photos than it was because it's surrounded by a city and parking lots, and you had to pay to go in, so we just took pictures outside it. We looked for a castle, but didn't find one, just an area called the castle area. Gave in and walked around the park and found the York Minstrel, a cathedral that charged £7 to get in (about 12 dollars) so we didn't go in there either. However, we did easily encounter the wall, and got to walk around the city on the wall, which was my favorite part.

After that, we found some really cool shops, I guess the whole town is really like it, but the area is rather like Diagon Alley. I found a shop called Chocolate Heaven that sold chocolate frogs, and the inner nerd in me had to buy them. It was silly but I had to.

Found the market, and realized leeds had a way cool one as well so now we have to check that out. Ate in the oldest pub in York, I got fish and chips and it was pretty darn good. After that we were pretty cold, wet, and tired, and we headed home after perusing some more shops.

So my blog is giving me issues with uploading photos, so I'll put them on facebook and link to them tomorrow if I can't figure it out or don't feel like dealing by then.

Love!

Monday was the first day of classes. Went to Nutrition first, seemed fairly normal, only one exam, which was different but apparently that's the norm here. Borrowed my nutrition book from the library (Yeah, you can do that here, nice, eh?). Had Photography (or history of, actually, but it's Color science instead of art, haha) and he handed us a packet with all the notes, word for word, plus text book info if we needed it. Basically, don't have to take notes in the class or buy any books.

And now we get to animal nutrition. This is the bane of my existence so far here. I get there, find out there's two profs. There are also lectures three days a week, the norm for Umass, but not for Uni leeds. It's apparently a grad level class. Really pumped there. Okay, so no text book. That's scary, so I just have lectures to be tested on. Alright, fine, so I have the power points online. BUT all that happens during lecture is not "Oh feed this animal this, that animal that, and here's how to calculate their caloric needs" Oh no. It's "Hey, in this experiment that we can't do today because it's immoral, we starved a pregnant sow during these days of gestation and this is what happened. See the table? (insert analysis of said table) Now this is what happens when you starve it on these days. Look, more die! But if you don't starve them, they survive!" Imagine that. Sounds simple, but if I have to remember all these various stupid studies that were done for my final, which consists of 3 questions (and it's the only test counting for 70% of the grade) I'm terrified. What did I do?

History is history, fairly straightforward. My professor looks like the old man from "UP". It's hysterical. Other than that, no comment. I'm trying to switch the tutorial (aka discussion) for the class from Friday at three pm to tuesday at eleven because it's my only class on Friday. Apparently it's not possible because the class is full. Any suggestions on what I can say that sounds like a valid excuse is welcome.

We went to a night for St. Mark's residents on monday, that was cool. Tuesday, we went to the Eldon again for international club thing, which was alright. It was packed.

I'm feeling kind of useless- no reading or homework is really assigned....now what?

Oh yeah, we're going to Liverpool on Saturday which is nice. Should be cool to see other places around England.

So my first full day was yesterday. I can't believe I've only been here for two days now! So we all woke up around 10 and went out to the international center. There, we signed up for our arrival briefing and our tour of the campus. Since the first was an hour away, we decided to locate the grocery store, Morrison's, even though we couldn't buy anything yet because we had boatloads of meetings to go to and didn't want to lug the bags all around campus. So we explored a bit, and then we headed back to the meeting. It was long and boring, but alright so far.

The campus tour was long as well, and we were walking all over campus and back for 90 minutes. It was kind of helpful. I still don't know where I am though.

We then had a bank meeting to find out how to open a bank account. Then we went to a buddy meeting, which I was never paired up with anyone so I had no one to meet. Met some cool international students though. That was a plus. Left that early, grabbed the first meal of the day at 5:30 pm- Indian take away Yum. Ate half of it, and decided it was late and I needed to get to the grocery store.

Met up with Liz, my roommate, and headed to Morrison's. We couldn't figure out how to unlock the coin operated carts and gave in and used baskets. Only after did I remember we used to have those at Shop Rite and I'm a tard for forgetting. Especially because I asked a lady, who looked at me crazily, and when I didn't understand I gave up. So we shopped and they had lots of fun stuff, tried to remember what I needed but when you need practically everything things fall through the cracks easily (so I had to go back today, and tomorrow because I forgot some things I needed today).

Was denied when I tried to buy alcohol at Morrison's because they didn't take my MA DL. They wanted a passport instead! I was surprised at this. Anyway, gave up and went to the home good bargain store, which is really where it gets good

Picked up some shampoo and conditioner (old school herbal essences, wicked cheap!) and started to talk to Liz in front of two boys. The conversation:
Boys: Hey! You're American?
Us: Uh, yeah?
Boys: TALK AMERICAN TO US!
Us: uh, okay, what do you want?
B: Where you from?
Liz: California Me: Boston
B: Oh, that's cool. I like America. I Like Americans. No offense, but you guys are silly. You talk silly, you act silly, you're silly.
Us: Oh, uh, okay
B: Have you seen any police chases?
Us: Uh, no (liz walks away)
Boy 1( grabs a can of Axe off the shelf, douses self in it, and puts it back): Sorry, I was smelly.
Me: Um, I've got to go now. Bye.

I can't believe that even happened. Bought the rest of the stuff, walked home. That was fun. Came home, sat with the roommates, decided that I love all of them and we went to the Terrace (the bar in the student union. Yes, the student union, on campus). We got a little bored around one, decided to head to MINE, a campus club. Yes, a club. There's also a pub in there too, an indian food place, sushi bar, sandwich shop, convenience store, bank, etc... everything. That got stuffy so Katherin (one of my German roommates) and I decided to leave. Came back, put up pictures on my wall.

Today:
Woke up around 11:30. Sat around. It was pouring, didn't want to leave. Finally decided to go to the mandatory info meeting, which was uneventful. Really cool building, just hard to find though. Left straight from there to go to Morrison's again, I got toothpaste and a duvet so I didn't feel like a hobo anymore. That was fun. We also went to this restaurant, Yates, where the meals were super cheap and way cool. Came back, sat around with the roommates, showed them Viva la Gaga. They loved it. Made some jokes at Mildred's expense, and here I am.

Some photos of our apartment, and of course, Mildred <3

And we call her Mildred. She hangs out on our kitchen wall. Apparently this was a problem at some point?

Roommates minus one

The Kitchen, from the doorway

The Shower room, pull the string for water

The toilet, duh

Hallway

My room, don't mind the mess

This kitchen is b***hin'...or not. But Accepted is still amazing

The end. Love ya all

So I got to Manchester around 10:35am UK time. The flights were cool because Iceland Air has touch screen TVs on the back of each seat so you can choose which movie, tv show, etc you wanted to watch. The only issue I had with them is that they served us drinks but not even a small snack on a 5 hour flight. This is really rare considering even on South African Airways' 45 minute flight they served both drinks and a snack. I'm over it. Anyway, got into Manchester around 10:35, got my bags and went through immigration and met another girl also heading to Leeds. We chatted until it was time for me to leave for the coach that was picking me up. After running around looking ridiculous (two large suitcases, a backpack, and a large bag all hitting me as I ran everywhere), I finally found the terminal for the bus. It was intense. Got on the bus, two hours later arrived in Leeds. Freaked out as I didn't know really where I live or what to do about the taxi, I asked some guy who worked there who was really nice. Come to think of it, I did a lot of asking for help today and everyone was really nice, once in England. Iceland...not so much. Found a taxi, took it to St. Mark's Residences, where I knew for sure where I was supposed to be. Fortunately, the taxi driver knew where the office was so he dropped me off there, apparently which was right where I needed to go. Got scared because the guy at the desk gave me a little bit of an attitude when I told him I didn't have the paperwork or whatever he wanted, but in the end I had all the information he needed to get me my key.

So I got here and one of my roommates was already in her room at the end of the hall. She was being quiet, and being as jet lagged as I was, I wasn't going to wake her if she was asleep. One of my other roommates stumbles in later with her friend Michael, and we all decided to get some food in town. Got a pretty decent salad and yogurt for the morning and came back.

My first roommate is thinking of leaving- you see, our dorm is a bit...grungy. But I can deal- it's nice compared to Africa. The rug in the kitchen is disgusting, and there's still mail from previous occupants, so I think one of the other two is going to cave and complain because clearly no one cleaned in between occupants. We do have a washer and dryer though- IN THE SAME MACHINE! How does that happen? I don't comprehend. I will definitely figure that one out soon. But really- our kitchen is trashed and gross and our fridge smells really funky. Our shower apparently doesn't work very well, so that's also great. I don't know yet because I haven't been able to shower-forgot to pack a towel so I have to get out and buy one.

So today I think we're going out relatively early in the am to get some things we all didn't pack. Also, I've got to sign up for a tour around campus so I don't get crazy lost. Food shopping would also probably be a great idea- all I've got is a yogurt and two granola bars so I kind of need to fix that. Something kind of cool here- the price things are marked is actually the price you pay. Tax is included in the price so there isn't a surprise when you get to the register.

I'll take pictures to post later of my housing, but maybe not at 4 am

PS: My address is:

Elisa Logush
Room H2.05
St Marks Residences, Block H
Raglan Road
Leeds, England
LS2 9EL