So today I was sitting at my computer working on my essay (I'm actually doing Homework?! What?! - yes..) and I look up to see a crowd of about 20 people walking past. Now, I normally wouldn't have been alarmed from this sort of activity. Who knows. They could all be going to play a nice game of football, or maybe to have a picnic, or possibly to just strole around the lake, taking in the sunlight and the rather cold breeze... but No. These people were different. I knew for a FACT that they were going to do none of the above!

First off, they were dressed in a sort of medieval attire, and were carrying swords and daggers and shields.

I went outside to invesigate, but kept my distance, in case they decided that I was an enemy and that I should be slayed...

For a while they did nothing. I noticed two groups of people. One with about 15 and the other with maybe 9... all of a sudden, they started screaming and running towords each other!! Then, the sword fighting began.  People would periodically fall to the ground, playing out their tragic death.  It was ridiculous. 

I guess this is some sort of club here on campus... crazy, crazy people...
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A few nights ago the boys were drinking the night away in the kitchen. Everyone who was not with them woke up the next day to a lovely piece of cutlery taped to their door. I just thought I would share this with you, for I find it rather amusing:

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I thought this was a cute picture of Bob and I. I am on my tippy toes! That shows how tall he is! He gave me a ride on his shoulders as we all walked to a party in another flat. I felt like I was a giant!! He also does rowing - which is crazy cool. He practices every day. I feel sorta bad though, because he has a lot of gross sores/blisters on his hands; but to him, its probably worth it.

(More flatmate bios to come, once I get to know them a bit better...)

So apperently I have a new name. It is now, Aundie...
You know, Kassandra; Andra; Andy (too boy-ish), Aundie...
Sam (plays trumpet in Orchestra with me) decided that I should have a more 'English' name... Whatever...

Lisa (from Tucson) and Mikayla (from Wash. State) and I have decided that we are going to start cooking together. We have a pretty amazing menu for this week:

Today: Spaghetti, Garlic bread, Salad


Sunday: Burgers, Fries, Apple Pie

Tuesday: Fett. Alfredo, Salad, Apple Tart

Friday: Chicken Terryaki Stir Fry

Sunday: Tacos

...and since we're all chipping in, it's soooo much cheaper to have a nice hot meal!

Hmm... this picture actually doesn't look that appatizing anymore. But trust me; it was DELICIOUS!!!

 

Today I traveled for about an hour and a half by coach to the city of Cambridge - which is basically just a huge campus with some cute shops. There were a lot of museum and churchs, but I didn't really get to spend any time in them, because I only had three hours (after a two hour walking tour), and in a city where you don't know where you are, it's hard to get around quickly...

So this bridge was pretty cool. It sets over the River Cam, which is what the city is named after.

This is the inside of the King's College Chapel. It took 100 years to complete due to the War of the Roses.

The whole church was lined with this beautiful stained class.  The upper windows contain the Old Testament and the lower, the New Testament. The middle pane contains a figure holding a banner around their necks, with part scripture on it, explaining the stories contained in the joint panels on the left and on the right.

We walked into a fudge shop - SO GOOD!! Melted on your tounge...

MMmm... food... Guess which one was mine??

Ya - I might have ventured past the door that said "Closed to Visitors".....

(Just kidding Mom... oh, excuse me: Mum)

Arn't these cute??!! I bought them at some random shop... They are about 1'' tall and I think made out of some sort of metal - not too sure. But I HAD to get them...

WOO!! Reel Big Fish!!

Yes - maybe this IS the third time that I have seen RBF:

BUT THEY WERE AMAZING!!; Yet Again. :)

Ben, Me, AJ (from NY), Mikayla

The first time I went to a RBF concert, my friend Matt and I brought our trumpet cases and Johnny Christmas (lead trumpet) signed it. I got a picture of him and I, so at the second concert, I took that picture and he signed it (and he remembered me and asked me how the trumpet was going!). This time, I took the picture of the picture, and had him sign it again! So now, I have a picture of a picture of a picture:

I know - Way cool; Right?

So Yup. Last night was pretty awesome - follwed by an even better day today when I went to the postroom to pick up a package that Mom had sent me... the best item in that box was a bag of pinto beans and corn tortillas! I CANT WAIT for tostatas!!! I've been having small heart attacks from the lack of Mom's mexican food and canilla tea!!!

The Cornetto:

The cornetto is a wooden instrument with a small trumpet-like mouthpiece and fingerholes like a recorder, and is usually covered in leather.  Typically the instrument has an slight curve and an octagonal cross-section; it has six fingerholes and a thumbhole.


The name comes from the Italians; "little horn" ("corno" - horn, plus the suffix "etto" - small); it is also nowadays often referred to as "cornett" (with two t's to give a distinction from the modern brass instrument, with which it has no connection).

The repertoire for the instrument covers the Renaissance and early Baroque periods.
I was introduced to this instrument today, and will most likely be playing it in the March Concert - seeing as though I can get the tuning right!
...more about me and the cornetto to come...

The only real pain about living in dorms is the fact that there is no room in the fridge or freezer.  It takes about 20 minutes rearraing everything to be able to fit just one small package of chicken.  And even then, it takes another 5 minutes trying to figure out what the heck is blocking the door, making it so that you can not close the door all the way.
And the fact that I am terrified that someone is going to steal my milk!! You need milk to drink tea, and people have a habit of knicking whosevers is just there.  I put my name on my milk, and wrote on there, "Do not drink... Grrr!!!!" Hopefully that will ward off anyone who tries... (haha)
Oh. Another thing is that practically everything in the kitchen is always dirty. I don't care if someone just washed it and it is sitting on the drying rack... Even though these boys all seem to know how to cook - their cleaning skills arn't as great. I am beginning to get into the habit of washing/rinsing my dishes before I use them...
OH! ANND when you get up in the morning, get all of your stuff and are ready for the showers, and the cleaning lady is taking her sweet time cleaning the them.  I appreciate a clean shower - but she has always managed to begin cleaning them whenever I need to use them.
Let's just say, I prefer to live in a flat with just me... or maybe one other person. Not 12 others!
But it's okay. I can deal for 6 months. Besides - these people are pretty cool, and we all get along well; which is awesome!

Today I got up at 7am and left the flat around 8a. The people that were going to tag along for a day-out-on-the-town bailed last minute because they decided that it was too early for them.
I got on the bus and made it to the 9am mass at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Baptist.  It was built in 1894 and was designed in the Early English style of 19th Century Gothic.
The mass was just like every other Catholic mass - except for the British accents; which I found amusing at times. Is it sacrilegious to giggle at the way the Priest just said something??
The only bad part about the Cathedral is that it was FREEZING! I wanted so bad to put my beanie back on, but I felt that that would be inapppropriate.

St. Johns

Once mass was over, I got back on the bus and headed to the Town Centre.  There I got off and began wondering around the city.  I eventually ended up at St. Andrew's Anglican Church. The tower of the church was built in 1478, with the rest of the building erected around 1506. It had a beautiful set of Organ pipes that were put in in 1908. I wish I could have heard what they sounded like.

I'm oviously not good at taking pictures or uploading them, so you will just have to deal with this and cut and paste with your mind!!

I again kept walking and found a few cool sites to take pictures at:

Kinda Creepy?

A cute little/Very empty side street

Norwich was once the second most populated city in England. I don't remember when, but a Looooong long time ago.

(I think even before you were born, David!! ;-) I guess you're not that old!!)

This is part of the remains of the wall that surounded Norwich to keep enemies out.

"THIS FORMS PART OF THE OLD CITY WALL. Build during the 13th - 14th Centuries"

If you look at a current map of Norwich, you will see that there are a few streets that basically form a circle.  Those streets pretty much follow the place of the walls of long ago Norwich. (There was no wall when it came to the river. They used that to their advantage)

(Dad - I might go to jail for putting this up here... but this rock is from that wall. (I swear it was just lying on the ground!) And it is for you!! Shhh.....)

To end my day, I came back to my flat and did laundry. I know. Exciting. I just wanted to show you that I was a cheap college student who refuses to use the dryers, and so hangs everything on the radiators/chair/door frame...

And now, off to make a cup of tea and much on a few digestives before bed :)

Went out with the flatmates again and Anisha let me borrow her AMAZINGLY HOTT SHOES

LOVE LOVE LOVED them!

The first few days of school were okay. It's kind of confusing though. I feel like I should be doing homework, but I don't really have any yet. I mean - I have essays due, but not till the end of Feburary or March... I GUESS I could start those.... but instead, I'm just going to put up some more pictures!!

(Actually, I have been reading for my Holocaust class.  It's a book by a survivor named Primo Levi.  The book is called 'If this is a man'.  It's pretty good so far. Nothing too scarry yet...)

Me, Anisha, and Ruth

Back: Bob

Middle: Mikayla, Luke, Rachel, Ben

Bottom: Ruth

I have decided that Mikayla is a long lost relative. Her last name is Hunter!! There are more Hunter's besides me, my Dad, and my Gpa!!!

Does anyone know what a 'quaver' is?? I surley don't. Yesterday in choir we began working on our piece, Te Deum, by Dvorak, and the director kept saying that we would start after the quaver.  Apparently a quaver is a value of an eigth. I felt so dumb when I had to ask the girl next to me what the heck he was talking about!! She was probably thinking something along the lines to, "Dumb American".  It's okay.  She's going to be my bff choir buddy.  She just doesn't know it yet :)



A few days ago, I again had the famous English dish of Fish & Chips.  It was quite lovely.  :) 

P.S. Check out that cute tea cup in the background!!!

I had this dish at some random place at some random stop off the tube in the first few days that I got to the UK.  Which do you think looks better? The bottom picture or the top??

My Schedule this term:

Monday: 7.30p-9.30 = Choir
Tuesday: 11a-12 = Witchcraft, Magic and Belief in Early Modern Europe
                    1p-2 = Witchcraft, Magic and Belief in Early Modern Europe
                    4p-6 = Performance
Wednesday: 6.30p-9.30 = Orchestra (Aka: band)
Thursday: 11a-12 = Witchcraft, Magic and Belief in Early Modern Europe
                     1p-2 = The Holocaust
                     5p-7 = The Holocaust
Friday: 9a-10.30 = The Holocaust

I will also have a trumpet lesson in there somewhere, but I won't know until Tuesday when I have my first lesson.  Apparently, there is only one trumpet performance student, so the trumpet professor, who does not live in Norwich, will be coming into town just for us.

A big group of us went out into the city last night to go shopping for staples and food.  We were in such a hurry, because the shops close early, that we got seperated from the rest of the group. This is a picture taken after dinner of part of that big group.

Left to Right:

Tom: From University of Miami, Originally from D.C

Me!!

Rita: An exchange student Estonia who is studying at UEA for three years! She just completed her first semester. She was our tour guide - and a very helpful one at that!

Lisa: Goes to the UofA!

MaryJane: From Georgetown in Vermont

Jenny: Also from the UofA! Go Cats!

On Wednesday I woke up bright an early in the morning (4:30a!) and took the Hogwarts Express to Norwich... okay. It's not really called the Hogwarts Express, but it was a legit train.  It took about two hours to get to Norwich.  When I got there I hired a taxi that took me straight to the Accommodation Office to get my key to my dorm.  I have my own room, with a shared kitchen and shared bathrooms.  I have a total of 11 flatmates, both girls and boys.

The opening on the right is my door, and the purple door on the left is my closet.  My bed is to the left and behind the bookshelf is a sink.

When you walk into my room from the door in the previous picture, my bed would be on the right hand side, and that is the view from my window.  As you can see, there is loads and loads of SNOW!!!! I woke up to it snowing this morning. 

And in case you are wondering Mom; Yes. I am eating. I got this from a place called Zest on Campus for lunch yesterday.... fish. And bread pudding for dessert... I also got free lunch today from my orientation meeting :)

Last night I meet two of my flatmates.  Their names are Zahra and Ruth. They are really really sweet girls.  They even made dinner for me! We had spaghetti, and it was delicious! They then took me to do laundry.  It costs two pounds to do a load in the wash! That is about $3.18!! I have decided that I am just going to hang everything in my room to dry.  My room is rather warm, so it only takes until the next morning to dry - which is not bad.

Here are just some lovely pictures of more snow. It is currently snowing as I write this blog. Beautiful to look at, but a pain to walk in!!!

Went to the Globe Theatre today.
Saw a modern Shakpearian play called, The Christmas Cracker

It was pretty awesome - minus the cold!!!
The play was two hours long.
I couldn't feel my feet afterwards

This is our friend Alessio from our hotel. He was alone so we invited him along with us. He is from Italy!

HAPPY 2010!!!!

Last night Victoria and I rung in the New Year at the British Airways London Eye. It was the most Epic 8 minute firework show that I have ever seen... Even better than Disney Lands fireworks; and you all know how much I <3 Disney Land firework shows!! We were front row, almost against the gate. I have no clue how we got so close, but we did!!!

V and I also made a few friends while we waited 4 hours to see the fire works.  They are from Sheffield University, and they play American Football! I don't know much about American Football, but we had an awesome conversation about it.  Here is Richard Griffiths and Darren Carter.

The day before New Years, V and I meet up with her friend Steve, and we went to a New Years Eve Eve Party. It was a masquerade!! Luckly, V had a mask for me.

And David; this picture is for you. Thanks for the beanie!!... although, it does make me sorta look like a cancer patient...