Here's why I want to go to Iceland.
This is "Glosoli" by Sigur Ros.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Yippie-kay-yay!
We took a hard hipcheck from Reality this week as profs, reading lists, and essay questions came a-knockin', disturbing our heretofore tranquil period of sleeping, travelling, and socializing. It is a relief, however, to have some new classes to bite my teeth into; as much as I like the Renaissance, it can get to be a tad overwhelming. And I can't even shake it at that-- my most demanding class so far is Shakespeare On Film, which hearkens back to the good ol' days of first year at Western taking Film 20. Weekly screenings are awesome, even if they consistently feature men in tights.
Contemporary Lit is also looking interesting. I haven't done any significant critical theory since last year, and it's great meeting up with Theodor Adorno, Roland Barthes and company again. So far we've read a Samuel Beckett play and are in the middle of a John Fowles novel... just a taste of the extensive reading to come. Welcome back, PoMo!
My other class is Literature of the Romantic Period, which is an era I've never encountered before. Really intriguing, especially in the relationship the movement had with the French Revolution. And for the first time ever, I get to read Jane Austen in a class! AND it's Mansfield Park, the only one I haven't read! (My level of nerdiness is exceedingly high, I know) ;).
Wednesday Matt and I trekked out to the boonies to see British Sea Power, an indie band, play at the Leeds Irish Centre. BSP was predictably awesome (they've been playing on my iPod for about a year prior to this night) but the real story of the show was the band's trumpet player, who inexplicably jumped from on top of a 12-foot speaker and knocked himself out. It was pretty scary, although the band kept playing and the house lights only briefly came on. But I hear through the NME website that he's alright except for a concussion, and he's going to continue on with the tour. Pretty hardcore, I guess, eh?
Friday night Johanna and I went out to the ever-popular and populous Fruity Disco to celebrate her flatmate Phoebe's 20th birthday.. and how fun it was!:
The theme was famous couples, so Johanna and I did the old Cowgirl & Indian thing. I'm still impressed at Johanna's costume; it's not easy to scramble together a realistic-looking Indian outfit, but she pulls it off! As for me, I'm just amazed that I didn't lose the cowboy hat in the Fruity fracas. Lots of jokers tried to pull it off my head as we went through the crowd, but I was resolutely not allowing it to happen. So, the night therefore was a triumph, all around. And we saw Francesca there randomly!
Saturday night Crystal and I went for a night of high art, and saw a student production of Elegies... for angels, punks and raging queens at the brand-new Stage@Leeds building on campus.
The play's about AIDS victims who tell their stories with songs and poetry, and it was beautifully done. The cast had a lot of the actors from Honk! in it, and they again showed how talented they are.
Also, here's a picture of the River Aire, from when Jean and I took a walk on Sunday to explore Leeds. There's a lot of new developments along the river, including a new building for the Armouries, Leeds' biggest museum. It was nice to go beyond the university bubble and see Leeds' other side.
It was so great to talk to everyone on Skype last night! The whole family was up in Lindsay, and I felt I was a part of it... Thank you :). Here's to a great week and everyone feeling better!
Talk to you all soon! <3
Contemporary Lit is also looking interesting. I haven't done any significant critical theory since last year, and it's great meeting up with Theodor Adorno, Roland Barthes and company again. So far we've read a Samuel Beckett play and are in the middle of a John Fowles novel... just a taste of the extensive reading to come. Welcome back, PoMo!
My other class is Literature of the Romantic Period, which is an era I've never encountered before. Really intriguing, especially in the relationship the movement had with the French Revolution. And for the first time ever, I get to read Jane Austen in a class! AND it's Mansfield Park, the only one I haven't read! (My level of nerdiness is exceedingly high, I know) ;).
Wednesday Matt and I trekked out to the boonies to see British Sea Power, an indie band, play at the Leeds Irish Centre. BSP was predictably awesome (they've been playing on my iPod for about a year prior to this night) but the real story of the show was the band's trumpet player, who inexplicably jumped from on top of a 12-foot speaker and knocked himself out. It was pretty scary, although the band kept playing and the house lights only briefly came on. But I hear through the NME website that he's alright except for a concussion, and he's going to continue on with the tour. Pretty hardcore, I guess, eh?
Friday night Johanna and I went out to the ever-popular and populous Fruity Disco to celebrate her flatmate Phoebe's 20th birthday.. and how fun it was!:
The theme was famous couples, so Johanna and I did the old Cowgirl & Indian thing. I'm still impressed at Johanna's costume; it's not easy to scramble together a realistic-looking Indian outfit, but she pulls it off! As for me, I'm just amazed that I didn't lose the cowboy hat in the Fruity fracas. Lots of jokers tried to pull it off my head as we went through the crowd, but I was resolutely not allowing it to happen. So, the night therefore was a triumph, all around. And we saw Francesca there randomly!
Saturday night Crystal and I went for a night of high art, and saw a student production of Elegies... for angels, punks and raging queens at the brand-new Stage@Leeds building on campus.The play's about AIDS victims who tell their stories with songs and poetry, and it was beautifully done. The cast had a lot of the actors from Honk! in it, and they again showed how talented they are.
Also, here's a picture of the River Aire, from when Jean and I took a walk on Sunday to explore Leeds. There's a lot of new developments along the river, including a new building for the Armouries, Leeds' biggest museum. It was nice to go beyond the university bubble and see Leeds' other side.
It was so great to talk to everyone on Skype last night! The whole family was up in Lindsay, and I felt I was a part of it... Thank you :). Here's to a great week and everyone feeling better!
Talk to you all soon! <3
Thursday, January 24, 2008
A Little Tidbit
Just for kicks, here's a short video I took while visiting Dun Aengus. As you can see, we were fascinated by the waves crashing :).
Monday, January 21, 2008
Toura-loura!
Ireland is, most definitely, a beautiful place.
You can go from a cosmopolitan landscape to a rural paradise in a minute flat, and from picturesque countryside to stunning seaside without blinking. With the addition of a substantial dose of genuinely nice people, Ireland is pretty much what you expect it to be-- a land of green hills and creative types that vie for your attention throughout your stay.
At the risk of sounding like a guidebook (I can feel it coming on!), I absolutely loved our four-day trip to Ireland this past week. I’d heard good things about both Galway and Dublin, and I wasn’t disappointed by either. My friend Crystal and I flew to Shannon airport from Leeds and took a two hour bus ride to the grand old city of Galway:
Galway’s recent cultural reinvigoration has people talking, and you can see the result of their efforts all around the city centre and docks. Lots of new buildings and shops line the cobblestoned streets these days, and the city attracts enough backpackers to warrant a whole slew of hostels near the downtown. Our hostel was great… small enough to cook your own meals while easily meeting other travelers.
Once we met Johanna at our hostel (she had been travelling on her own in Dublin for a few days), we got to talking to an Australian backpacker named Lisa, and we all agreed to take a ferry from the town of Rossevaal to visit the Aran Islands the next day.
What we ended up doing was absolutely one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.
Upon arriving at the main island’s town of Inishmore (pop. 800) on a sparsely-populated ferry, we noticed a sign advertising bicycle rentals. It took about two minutes for us to decide to rent them for the day and bike to the island’s main attraction: the ruins of Dun Aengus, an ancient fort.
The view from Dun Aengus is spectacular, and it was made even more special by the absence of any other tourists. It was just the four of us at the top, and the crashing waves at the bottom of the sheer cliffs.
We spent the day blissfully sailing down the coast, wandering up hillsides to explore a lighthouse and then the ruins, drinking tea in the company of a sleepy cat, and searching for the island’s elusive seal colony. We were even led around for an hour by a local dog named Yuki.
After our amazing trip the day before, our next day spent seeing some of Galway was a bit more low-key. We then took a four hour bus trip to Dublin, where Johanna left us to fly home to Leeds. Crystal and I were in for a surprise, however… after we found our hostel and wandered around Temple Bar (the touristy bar/restaurant area in Dublin) for a bit, we decided to try a restaurant we spied on the main drag.
We enjoyed our Irish stew and brown soda bread (amazing, by the way-- I’m trying to find it in Leeds!!) and settled back to enjoy the last of our Guinness. Then, by amazing coincidence, three of our international friends from Leeds walked into the restaurant! We had no idea they were in Dublin, and we had just been talking about getting in touch with them after getting back to Leeds. So we were incredibly tickled to see them, and spent that night as well as the next hanging out with them at the most touristy of tourist traps, the actual Temple Bar. The place had great Irish music and endless Guinness though, so we had a great time :) .
Our next couple days were full of tour-taking, visiting the Guinness Brewery and receiving our free pint at the end (in the bar on the 7th floor, which gives an amazing view of the city), seeing the Book of Kells and the Old Library at Trinity College, and exploring the Dublin Writers Museum. Dublin itself has such an interesting literary and political history that it never gets boring.
It’s incredible how Ireland has overcome the crippling poverty it experienced during the 20th century to become one of the richest countries in the EU. You can see it too; everywhere you look, there have been measures taken to improve the city. You could hear the note of pride in our Dublin tour guide’s voice as he explained the change.
We were happy to get back to Leeds, however, if only to be a bit more ready for classes, which started today. Now it’s on to planning our next trip, wherever that may be!
Here are the rest of my pictures from the Aran Islands, and here are those for Galway and Dublin. Also, if you’re interested, here’s the link to my latest article (it's page 5). Thanks so much to the A&E editors at the Gazette for making it look so amazing :).
Happy early birthday, Bryan! :) Have an awesome day!! And I’ll talk to you all soon!
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Hot, hot heat
The last few days have been, as I predicted, quite intense.
As the day approached for my flight back to England, I could feel the nervousness coming. I wasn't nervous to travel, or leave Canada again per se, but the knowledge that I had left two major final essays to the very last minute without taking one stab at them was gradually sinking my enthusiasm to return. 'Seeing my room again' really did mean seeing my room, and only my room, for the next four days.
To be fair, I did spend about 8 hours in the library all told when I got back. It's the only place where I'm not distracted by cars driving by or playing with the heat dials in my room in an attempt to make some of the ice melt on my window.
Oh, yeah, my room was barely warmer than an icicle when I got in. It was cold before, but with Leeds going through a cold snap (we had snow for a day!) I'm now the third person on the floor to have to ask for a portable heater in order to be able to get out of bed in the morning. And I'm not even exaggerating, sadly.
I've had nothing to complain about at Bodington since I've been here, and I still really don't. It was great (after I tentatively asked if they could teach me how to use the heater) that the maintenance guys acted so quickly and brought me one. The manager actually visited my room, and noted that the heating was 'abysmal'.
Well, that's the Canadian in me, I guess :). We are taught to withstand the cold, with the help of things like Columbia parkas, snowblowers, and heated seats.
So with much effort and suppression of temptation to watch videos on YouTube, the essays got finished and handed in yesterday, and I'm free to study for my last exam on Monday. After that, we're thinking of heading to Ireland for a few days before classes begin again on the 21st. I can't wait-- Ireland is one of the top places I want to visit. Should be great.
Hope everyone's settling back into the work and school routine just fine back home, and I'll talk to you soon!
As the day approached for my flight back to England, I could feel the nervousness coming. I wasn't nervous to travel, or leave Canada again per se, but the knowledge that I had left two major final essays to the very last minute without taking one stab at them was gradually sinking my enthusiasm to return. 'Seeing my room again' really did mean seeing my room, and only my room, for the next four days.
To be fair, I did spend about 8 hours in the library all told when I got back. It's the only place where I'm not distracted by cars driving by or playing with the heat dials in my room in an attempt to make some of the ice melt on my window.
Oh, yeah, my room was barely warmer than an icicle when I got in. It was cold before, but with Leeds going through a cold snap (we had snow for a day!) I'm now the third person on the floor to have to ask for a portable heater in order to be able to get out of bed in the morning. And I'm not even exaggerating, sadly.
I've had nothing to complain about at Bodington since I've been here, and I still really don't. It was great (after I tentatively asked if they could teach me how to use the heater) that the maintenance guys acted so quickly and brought me one. The manager actually visited my room, and noted that the heating was 'abysmal'.
Well, that's the Canadian in me, I guess :). We are taught to withstand the cold, with the help of things like Columbia parkas, snowblowers, and heated seats.
So with much effort and suppression of temptation to watch videos on YouTube, the essays got finished and handed in yesterday, and I'm free to study for my last exam on Monday. After that, we're thinking of heading to Ireland for a few days before classes begin again on the 21st. I can't wait-- Ireland is one of the top places I want to visit. Should be great.
Hope everyone's settling back into the work and school routine just fine back home, and I'll talk to you soon!
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Back in Leeds... and it's snowing!
Yay, 2008!
I think the year 2008 deserves a cheer all around, because I can tell it’s going to be a great 365 days. This year, in the Smith family alone we have a graduation, a wedding, an epic European backpacking trip, and the continuation of my year in Leeds. The only bad thing, I guess, is that people now have to pay for their furniture. No more putting off your payments, people… the long-dreaded “Don’t Pay Til 2008” ads are gonna come getcha!
Speaking of Leeds, I just arrived back here this afternoon from Toronto after what has felt like the longest trip of my life. The flight flew by (ha!) quickly enough, but the ensuing 45 minute slog on the London Tube and then the exorbitantly expensive train ride from King’s Cross to Leeds has left me craving my wee, humble cot at Bod. It feels quite surreal to be back so soon-- it’s been a month since we left, but the time went by like nobody’s business.
There have been many surreal moments lately: standing on a bridge in Florence, watching the sun peek out from a foggy morning; turning a corner in the Accademia and suddenly encountering Michaelangelo’s David; taking a water bus to Murano Island in Venice; careening around the side of a mountain on the Cote d’Azur; watching the Eiffel Tower light up and sparkle on an absolutely freezing holiday night; and finally, coming home and seeing my family and friends for the first time in four months.
It’s like Dad says-- the best thing and the worst thing about home is that it never changes. Although at this point, to me it feels like the best thing.
Oh, and here are the links to my pictures from our backpacking adventure through Italy and France! (Blogspot's being temperamental about posting pictures again...):
Ooooh, Rome ...
Mmmm, Florence ...
Ahhh, Venice ...
Whooaaaa, Nice & Monaco ...
Brrrr, Toulouse & Paris ....
We had a fantastic time, and in addition to learning a ton of interesting things about the cities we visited, we discovered many essential things about one another: like, for instance, Johanna is really good at navigating but hates maps; Marcie can’t stand the smell of oranges; and Francesca loves bridges, birds sitting on top of things (ie. lampposts) and Christmas lights draped over tiny Italian streets. As for me, I found out I actually have a limit to how many baguettes I can eat in a week. Hint: It’s surprisingly small.
I apologize for the month-long hiatus on the blog, too! I’m pledging to keep up with it a tad more, now that the distracting (in a good way) holiday season is over. I hope there will be a lot more travel in my 2008 as well and some more great times ahead.
Happy New Year’s, everyone! Have a safe and lovely 2008 :). Talk to you soon!
I think the year 2008 deserves a cheer all around, because I can tell it’s going to be a great 365 days. This year, in the Smith family alone we have a graduation, a wedding, an epic European backpacking trip, and the continuation of my year in Leeds. The only bad thing, I guess, is that people now have to pay for their furniture. No more putting off your payments, people… the long-dreaded “Don’t Pay Til 2008” ads are gonna come getcha!
Speaking of Leeds, I just arrived back here this afternoon from Toronto after what has felt like the longest trip of my life. The flight flew by (ha!) quickly enough, but the ensuing 45 minute slog on the London Tube and then the exorbitantly expensive train ride from King’s Cross to Leeds has left me craving my wee, humble cot at Bod. It feels quite surreal to be back so soon-- it’s been a month since we left, but the time went by like nobody’s business.
There have been many surreal moments lately: standing on a bridge in Florence, watching the sun peek out from a foggy morning; turning a corner in the Accademia and suddenly encountering Michaelangelo’s David; taking a water bus to Murano Island in Venice; careening around the side of a mountain on the Cote d’Azur; watching the Eiffel Tower light up and sparkle on an absolutely freezing holiday night; and finally, coming home and seeing my family and friends for the first time in four months.
It’s like Dad says-- the best thing and the worst thing about home is that it never changes. Although at this point, to me it feels like the best thing.
Oh, and here are the links to my pictures from our backpacking adventure through Italy and France! (Blogspot's being temperamental about posting pictures again...):
Ooooh, Rome ...
Mmmm, Florence ...
Ahhh, Venice ...
Whooaaaa, Nice & Monaco ...
Brrrr, Toulouse & Paris ....
We had a fantastic time, and in addition to learning a ton of interesting things about the cities we visited, we discovered many essential things about one another: like, for instance, Johanna is really good at navigating but hates maps; Marcie can’t stand the smell of oranges; and Francesca loves bridges, birds sitting on top of things (ie. lampposts) and Christmas lights draped over tiny Italian streets. As for me, I found out I actually have a limit to how many baguettes I can eat in a week. Hint: It’s surprisingly small.
I apologize for the month-long hiatus on the blog, too! I’m pledging to keep up with it a tad more, now that the distracting (in a good way) holiday season is over. I hope there will be a lot more travel in my 2008 as well and some more great times ahead.
Happy New Year’s, everyone! Have a safe and lovely 2008 :). Talk to you soon!
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