Still Better Than Class....

Remember The Magic School Bus? Yeah, those kids didn't know how good they had it. Cut to two kids waiting to get on the flying nun bus one idle Tuesday:

Kid 1: Pleeeeeaaaase let this be a normal field trip.
Kid 2: With the Clanc? No way!

So, as we all know, the last actual outing field trip was to a Fen. Which is about a nine on the weirdness scale. This week's trip was to The Thames Barrier and a sewage pumping station. Let's start where we all started: The Thames Barrier.


Ah, there it is. Isn't it beautiful? Seriously though, the Thames Barrier was pretty cool. It's this set of rotating walls that they put up on the Thames to prevent all of London from flooding. And the sight of it in real life was even better! That said, there wasn't much else to do in that area to fill our two hours there.

I hear you asking, how exactly DOES this barrier work? I know, I was intrigued as well. Let's observe our beautiful "Thames Barrier Models" who will demonstrate how they work.




Now, let's pretend these lovely ladies from Room 17 are the ocean. Normally the barrier sits flat where the girl in the green shirt is standing, but right now it's in it's raised position, protecting the people of London. I know, it's all too interesting. What's more interesting is the sign (barely visible) in the corner that says "Positively no climbing". Can you say 'international incident'? tee hee hee.

Cara, our resident social justice advocate, noticed that dutch children were forced to fill sandbags in order to stop the flooding, pre-barrier. She has started up a campaign to right this terrible historical injustice. (Note: if you start looking into British history, the Dutch actually built pretty much everything.)

Anyway, she was pretty mad about the whole situation, as you can see.





So, after that thrilling couple hours, we headed out to the ol' sewer.

I would tell you the name of it, but the smell was so bad when we were being introduced, that I didn't pay attention. Evidently I wasn't the only one. Note that most people in this picture didn't know it was being taken.

The reason we went to a sewer is because we have an Environment class, and we were learning how political action often requires a catalyst in order to be noticed. In England, there had long been a problem with sewage getting into the water supply. Cholera broke out, life was gross, no one noticed.

Then there was a smell ("the big stink") outside the parliament buildings. It was so bad, in fact, that the government couldn't even sit. Guess how quickly money and legislation providing for sewage systems was run through parliament? Well, it was fast.

Marc is showing off a little interactive display of the smell. When you open the window and smell, it's supposed to be the same as "the big stink", and here Marc is wafting the smell over for me. However, we found it to be more like the smell of a well-kept outhouse than a major river that had been overrun by sewage, in the middle of the summer. This led me to speculate that perhaps the display is connected to the actual guest washrooms in the Learning centre, and they had just been cleaned.

Who knows.

Anyway, hopefully this will be our only shitty field trip this year. At least in the literal sense.

Class: The "Reason We're Here"

Yes, it's true. I'm not on a random four-month vacation to Europe without consequences and responsibilities, although I will tell people that in the future, because that sounds cooler.
But, for right now I will divert your attention from the shiny, beautiful people and scenery of this side of the Atlantic, and I will show you what our life is like for five excruciating hours, twice a week.


This is where we have classes, in the building called "Sir John's house". Evidently he was the guy who used to own these buildings and left them to MUN. There is a house attached where our professor Dr. Dunn is currently living with his family. (Now, as to why these are on "St. John's Walk" and the house belongs to SIR John....I can only assume he had some grandiose religious visions for himself...that didn't pan out.)

Note the stained glass in the wall near the roof. Let's take a closer look at this.



This is the MUN crest, I've heard. It says 'Provehitio in altium', which I think is Latin for "by jesus this class is boring." It's aptly placed because this is where I generally look when I get bored in class. Which is frequently.

At this point I might as well mention that our classes (especially some certian ones, which I will not specify) are REALLY boring. So boring that most of us get rather hysterical at some point. Normal things turn funny. Donnamarie and I do a classwide visual analysis of "who has cankles". I discover I'm the only confirmed leftie in the room. (handedness, not political views.) Alicia looks murderous. I hit things off my desk. Anyway, sometimes, if you catch us in the right moment, not a single person in the room is doing anything productive other than saving their sanities.



Evidently Jon didn't quite manage to do that, but we still love him.






AND, on the occasion that we get a 5-15 minute break at some point, there is a nice little garden area to go sit in. It's got some lovely rose plants and a bunch of butterflies that the boys like to poke sticks at. (To be fair, being in such boring conditions tends to regress a person about 10 years.) I mostly get out of class and want to play duck-duck-goose, or spies, or build a fort. Too bad there's a meeting later. Because after that It'll be time to hit the pub, and fort-building is frowned upon there.

Newfoundland, A Primer

Well, I know this is supposed to be about England, but I thought that I'd write a wee bit about the home and narive and of most of the people I'm living with here at the Maltings. A small but distinct society within Canada: The Newfoundlanders.

Firstly, Newfies are lacking one of the most Canadian of all qualities: the 'eh'. In fact, some of the people here are actually worried that they'll start saying it. While most people I know from other necks of the woods (Ontario?) cherish the 'eh' as a symbol of their Canadian-ness, or just say it without knowing as a sign of deference at the end of a sentence, the newfies seem to not even know the extent of the word's use. However, they do throw 'by' at the end of many a sentence, which, as best I can tell, means something like "man".

A hilarious trend when we first got to the fine country of England, and everyone set about their first task (getting food) was the buying of tea. Evidently a lot of people drink it, as opposed to coffee, in their group. However, they were shocked to find Tetley Tea on the shelves of the local Tesco's, believing that this was a Newfoundland tea. (And, if you ask me, they thought that anyway until someone actually pointed out that it was British and not simply imported from the homeland.) Note that this wasn't one person, this was most of the MUN crew's belief.

And, for those grammar fanatics out there, don't mention to these lovely, kind people that their manner of speaking is incorrect, or that prepositions really shouldn't be tacked onto the ends of sentences. No, no...that is just how they talk, and they like it that way. Frankly, I think it's endearing, although I'm trying as hard not to say "where're ya to?" as they are not to say 'eh'.

The cultural infusion continues with the tales from St. John's of the three hookers in town (Trixie, "the one who beat me up" and the redhead), and other various George St. Stories. This includes Melissa's apt description of finding someone to take home at the end of the night while cruising the George Street Bars: "On George St, the odds are good, but the goods are odd." Finally, today we all heard stories of "the bubble" which is apparently a giant ball of...well, let's just say sewage, that has been collecting in the harbour for quite some time now. Everyone seems to know a story about someone who fell in and barely survived...etc etc...'if it hadn't been for the tetanus shot...' I can't tell if it's urban myth or simply everyone really does know this guy who fell in the harbor. The odds for either are pretty good.

Anyway, I'm sure there will be more comment on the Newfs at another time, but that's all for now.

School owns me life, 'by.
-Nat

What do you get when you combine these six people, me, and a large-scale version of Antigonish? Some good times, that's what. Anyway, yesterday myself, (from the left) John, Donnamarie, Carly, Marc, Kim and Adam packed our things, got out our Youth Rail passes and took the train to Cambridge. I say it's like Antigonish because there are apparently more students there than other citizens. So, you know. Anyway, that picture is all uf us sitting around Magdalene (pronounced "Maw-de-lin") college of Cambridge, on some sort of lawn.



So, following a list of things that our professor, Dr. Clancy, gave us to do this fine day, we went on a tour of the Cambridge River with a guy who was punting. Anyway, his name was Duncan, and HE was the highlight of my trip. Firstly, I'd like to apologise to my mom for falling in love with a British boy, and secondly, I'd like to say in my defense that he's getting a degree in biology. Anyway, Duncan took us on a long, relaxing boat ride and told us really great stories about Cambridge University, and some about the Royal family. However, he wasn't supposed to do the latter, so don't tell anyone. But seriously, he was so hot, and had a cute little accent....*le sigh*. Most og my pictures from Cambridge are from this boat trip, so bear with me because I LOVED it.



We had to go under many bridges. This was one of them. The bridges all have great stories behind them. So really, while you were allowed to take your own punting tour around the river, I'm glad we heard all the inside scoop from Duncan.



Here is Carly Wignes, a STFXer whose eyes have the distinction of looking like "wood", in front of King's College, which I think is a branch of Cambridge. Also, apparently it's HUGE. There's a really large cathedreal on the other side of Carly's head where I took the picture. We heard a story where someone scaled the wall and put a traffic cone on one of the spires (not an easy feat) and the school was too cheap to hire a person who could take it down so they got a kid from the shooting club to shoot it off. The prankster responded by putting a Union Jack on each spire...the shooting of which would have constituted treason. Booyah.



This is the famous "bridge of sighs", loosely named after the same bridge in Venice where convicts walk from jail to the execution room or something. Anyway, they sigh because they regret having wasted their lives, so the tale goes. Here, students have to walk across this bridge to get their examination results. So, same thing really. By the way, this is the lovely Adam McKechnie (??) of St. Thomas, Ontario, and Marc Rodrigue.



This is where Harry Potter learned to ride a broom. Enough said.



And, finally, here is a glam shot of i THINK, Trinity college where Prince Charles went to school. Evidently his bodyguard, who had attended classes and everything with Charles, was invited to take final exams and get his degree. Prince Charles graduated with the equivalent of some 70's and the bodyguard got 80's. That's all I have to say about that.

That's all for now, I'm getting my first greasy English Breakfast. Woo!
-Nat

Today was the first of our weekly Wednesday Field Trips. aka: "well, at least this is better than class". Today we headed out in a flying nun bus to the Hatfield Forest and later, Wicken Fen. These were all part of our British Countryside class which talks about the politics and economics of the environment of the British Countryside. It's nearly as boring as it sounds, but actually is pretty important, so we try.

First of all, let me just say that for all those of you who have taken kids on a school field trip via long bus ride, try to get in with a University class next time. Pretty much every time the bus was turned on, everyone fell asleep and slept until we got to the destination of choice. Very relaxing for the bus driver.



So, this is what a "forest" looks like in england. It is actually set up this way on purpose because most of the forests were created to be hunting grounds for the King. If you'll notice, the trees in these pictures seem to have a big trunk splitting into a bunch of thinner trunks. This is a result of a tree-regrowth method called "coppicing". That isn't that interesting, but it made the trees seem really unearthly to me, a Canadian used to having just standard one-off trees. The whole forest was very cool.



Here is a little glade I found, which is an example of how the trees were put in groves, then the caretaker "coppiced the shit out of them". It gives a cool appearance, and there were even animals there....just cows, but still.



This is Chris "eBay" Tilley, in some gallows we found lying around. Brave fellow, he is. He's a MUN kid, who definitely has a hilairous accent and all that business.



And finally, this is Marcel, another MUN kid. This is a prime example of the lifestyle of those crazy MUN kids with only 4 courses....Having a beer at 11am on a school field trip to a forest. Classy.

Later we went to the Wicken fen, which, when the Newfoundland kids were talking about how they'd describe it to their parents, they said "it's a bog, by!"

More pictures later,
Nat

Well, here is today's England update. It has been a busy last few days, and I've tried to get accustomed to my immediate surroundings. I don't want to harp on the food, but I actually am eating fairly well. I think I just am amazed by this because of my experiences in Germany. *sigh*
Anyway, a bunch of us went to the main train station in Harlow to get youth rail passes. It was a profitable trip, and on the way home we checked out a petting zoo at a park. I, in my head, called it "the ducks" but they had llamas and whatnot. This particular one posed for me. I think she/he is trying to make out for llama's reps for being ugly. Anyway, the best part of the zoo was the little kids, who obviously all talked with accents. They're really cute. I might steal one. Stay tuned for updates on that front.



Also, this sign was at the train station. When they're renting houses here the signs say "To Let" and someone graffiti-ed this one. Hilarious...viva la resistance.



Then, later, it was a joint birthday for Jeremy and Melissa, two MUN students. We partied in the common room after the bar closed (at 11, as per usual....blah) Anyway, here's a picture of a Sociable, while we were playing Kings. Of course everyone had different rules, but we got along in a truly Canadian way.



And, here is the obligatory picture of me and my roommate, this time doing our impression of a wino. I think we did rather well. But anyway, I didn't see much of England this weekend after London, so I will leave it at that for now. On Wednesday we're visiting some countryside.

Ta ta for now.
-Nat

So, this is a little backwards, but we went to London on the first Friday of the first of our 4-day weekends. We went around noonish, took the train in, and went about on the tubes until we found the cool downtown bits of London. The plan was to see a show, and my roommate Donnamarie (see below) wanted to see a show called "Avenue Q". Please google it if you can. It was amazing. It is, as she put it, "a combination of Rent and the Muppets...except no one has AIDS." This was really true, but it was also so much better than that...the show was definitely some guy from the sesame street generation trying to understand the grown-up world. This was featured in such songs as "Everyone's a little bit racist." and "The internet is for porn." This was probably the most entertaining show I've ever gone to see, and I recommend it to everyone, if they get the chance to see it. It cost us 20 pounds, which I paid for mostly with Lee's Bag-o-change, as it's affectionately come to be known. This was the student rate, and we got seats in the 8th row centre. Ridiculous.

Anyway, that picture is of the statue of Eros in Picadilly Circus. It was the nicest one. So....yeah.

Okay, so this is my bedroom, which I share with one Donnamarie Khalili. I fully plan on doing a spotlight of her in the near future, so stay tuned. Anyway, we got a large room which was SO worth it, because, as Marc says, "I think of jon and I both rolled over at night we'd probably be holding hands." We have a giant desk too, so that's nice.


This is the "walk/don't walk" sign. Notice that it's at about elbow level, and right in front of your face. Just a random thing that I have a picture of.


And here is my roommate, DMK, and I, in a restaraunt in London town. It was a nice little Italian place, which was hilarious. The British food in Old Harlow really does suck as much as everyone says. I thought I liked eating junk until I came here. No, I am quite healthy. I ordered a baked potato the other day and It was basically a potato skin filled with butter. But anyway, our res food is awesome, and the grocery store is quite nice, so we can eat some not-half-bad food.


In other random news, as we all know, I love the accents, and I have been studying them in my spare time (haha) since I was born, basically. However, out here, in the natural habitat, I have NO EFFING CLUE what anyone is saying. It's like another language. And if you're expecting me to come home with a British accent, you're in for a disappointment. 90% of the day I hang around people with strong Newfie accents. The british doesn't stand a chance.

Anyway, more later....
Nat-upon-Harlow.