So after almost 3 weeks of being in Newcastle my first full day of classes is tomorrow. I start bright and early at 9am in the library for some good ol' Research Skills and Dissertation Training! I'm basically going to be taught how to use a library. Boring, yes, but extremely necessary considering I have a dissertation (50 page essay on whichever topic I choose to obsess about) due at the end of the summer. I've been to the library a few times and it's kind of out of the way but its gigantic! It has multiple floors and classrooms, a Skype Lounge and a cafe. The cafe has drinks, sandwiches, cookies - the works. When I hole myself up in the library this summer, it's nice to know I'll be able to get a snack every once in a while.
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If any of you readers talked to Carly and I about coming to Newcastle before we left, we may have mentioned that our graduation robes are fur-lined. Not that it was the only reason we came to Newcastle, but come on fur-lined grad robes? AWESOME! La Salle should get on that. Think of how cool and pompous it would look! Anyway, we decided to research our department's grad robe colors just because we were curious...and Master's degree recipients robes are NOT fur-lined. BA/MA degree robes in Medicine and Sciences are fur lined but Humanities ones are not. They're just gold and black. Needless to say, we were enraged at this deception.
Carly and I have been doing some more exploring of the North East. Last Thursday we went took a train to Sunderland to see the musical. We got there 2 hours early so we could eat dinner and walk around a bit before the show. We tried locating the theater via Google Maps and we learned the hard way that Google Maps does NOT function as well in the UK as it does at home. It conveniently forgot to mention that there is a direct route via a pedestrian street from our restaurant to the theater so we went around the theater in the completely opposite direction before we finally asked a group of people outside a pub where the theater was. We made it in just enough time to sit down in our seats as the curtain went up. The musical we saw is called We Will Rock You. It's like Mamma Mia except with Queen songs and a totally different plot. It was SO GOOD! I saw it 5 years ago in London and I was so excited to see it again! The Sunderland Empire Theater was beautiful so Carly and I will definitely be going back if any more interesting shows come on tour.
Also, I FINALLY got a phone!! It's a Vodafone Smart. It's basically a miniature, crappier Droid but it only costs me £10 ($16) a month so I won't be complaining too much. Well I probably will but at least not about the price. If you want to text me here (for free!) just download the app called WhatsApp onto your smartphone. Shoot me an email letting me know you're going to try and text me because I need to add your number as well! Then, add my UK number INCLUDING the + sign to your contacts: +7884387621. Then just text me from the app!
*Please don't text me anyhow else because it'll cost me and you to do so :)
**And don't forget I'm 5 hours ahead so please check the time when you text me. I don't need any of that late night drunk texting crap because it'll come to me between 4am and 7am depending on when you start 'raging' and I won't be very happy.
This weekend I'll probably post late again because Carly and I are going to SCOTLAND! We're taking a train to Edinburgh on Thursday afternoon and staying til Sunday afternoon. We're going on a tour of northern Scotland to the Loch Ness so hopefully we'll see the Loch Ness monster or at least take mysterious pictures of mysterious objects in the water. Then on Saturday we're meeting up with other international students from Newcastle & going on a walking tour of Edinburgh. This will be our first (of many) trips to other countries so we can't wait! We have our trip to France & Spain almost finalized and then we're planning a major continental Europe tour in a few months so those will definitely be posts you're going to want to read.
In Cranford news, my family decided to replace my brother, Bobby, and I with a pet snake. Yes, the pet of choice was a snake. When I move back from Newcastle I'm going to get a wonderful snakeskin purse. Coincidence? Doubtful.
Until next time!
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