Greetings from the UK :)

I've said this in the past, but I am sorry again for taking so long to update this web space. Things have been busy with uni, with all the partying with all these new British friends and with all the traveling. Don't hate me! I'm going to try my best to keep this thing updated far more often now though as the end of term is catching up for me and I have to sift through all these pictures I'm taking anyway, so that'll give me an excuse to go through pictures and pick and choose which ones I want to upload to my blog and also use for my assessments.

Not much has happened since the 4th of October really, but i will try to keep it fairly detailed since i haven't been here in over a month! hahaha

Waan left for Germany on the (7th) Oct as she went to go visit her mother who was over there for work and so I pretty much got a taste of what exchange would have been like if i didn't have my best friend here with me for just over a week. It wasn't too bad with the Spanish mates i've made over here so I wasn't too lonely :)

Went to check out Matthew Corner's (one of my uni mates) exhibitions on the (9th) Oct, saw some of his work and caught up with a whole bunch of uni mates which was pretty cool- the beer was finished by the time i got there though and they only had Glaceau Vitamin Water left :( Seeing his stuff on display was probably the first time where I first realised that this could be me in the near future as well. I don't know- I've always been into photography no doubt, but I thought that it would be something on the side of my design life, however, seeing someone actually display work for people to come and view was inspirational and being surrounded by so many photographers here at uni has made me realise, maybe I could just be a photographer and only that. Who knows, I guess I've got to see if I'll get bored of design any time soon.

I went and saw my first castle (Chirk Castle) in North Wales on the (11th) Oct and that was a really big turning point in my life as I've always been fascinated with all things medieval since I was a kid. I was a little disappointed though as there weren't any siege engines on display! I really wanted to see a trebuchet, a mangonel, or a battering ram!!! I did, however, get to see some weapons, armour, part of the living quarters and the dungeon where they used to lock up prisoners :)

Saw The All American Rejects on the (15th) Oct @ Manchester Academy. Their performance wasn't too different from their Sydney concert but it was still quite enjoyable. They played my favourite tracks so I was very happy about that, but it would have been better if they spiced it up a little. Though, I guess, how much can they really change it seeing as they don't have any new material?

The following day (16th) Oct saw Waan's return from Germany and so I decided to cook her a turkey (yes a whole bird!) as she's frequently mentioned how she's always wanted someone to 'come along and bring her one.' I wouldn't have been able to do it without the help of the Spanish girls so my thanks goes out to each and everyone of them!

We got pretty hammered that night, with lots of food and alcohol consumed! We had the bird, roast vegies, heaps of spirits and heaps of beer and not to mention this really weird beer i found in the supermarket whilst shopping for all the ingredients for the dinner! Banana Bread Beer.

Managed to get Alexisonfire's autograph in Manchester before their concert on the (18th) Oct which was very cool (despite being on fire) :P They all signed my CD and Dallas signed my City & Colour shirt! The concert was pretty good, though I would have liked it if they played more tracks form their older albums- but I suppose they're there to promote their new stuff, not their old. They played Happiness by the Kilowatt as the encore which was awesome as Waan and I were waiting the whole night for it!- One of the best songs of all time!

The Spanish Girls and I went to Chester on the (25th) Oct to visit the town and check it all out :) We didn't really see many things in the small town apart from really pretty gardens and animals running about in them, the really nice black and white architecture in the town, the cathedral, the castle (which was closed) and some awesome people giving out free hugs!

XMas decorations are going up already in town with the mall covered in red, white and all things sparkly. I can't believe this'll be the first XMas away from home, family and all my friends back home! Though, having said that, it'll be the first cold XMas and quite possibly the first one with snow! Waan and I have yet to organise our trips at the end of the year around Europe so we've got to sit down soon and find out where we want to spend XMas and NYE!

Funny because the town was previously covered in orange and black for Halloween! We went to some random Spanish girls flat for Halloween celebrations and everyone made some effort to dress up which was nice, however, I didn't pull my act together cause it was all last minute for me, hahaha. I did come in a nice collared top, tie and vest if that counts?

The first week of November was our week off because it was 'reading week' for both Waan and I and we both decided to trek it over to Poland to visit Krakow and Auschwitz. We flew in on the (2nd Nov), tagged along a free walking tour of Krakow in the afternoon and got to check out the Jewish Quarter and Schindler's Factory. We stayed at a really awesome hostel called Greg and Tom in Krakow and would definitely recommend it! The workers are really nice, there is free breakfast every day, free dinner twice a week, free internet and a big selection of DVDs!

I stumbled across a new Nissan GTR on the streets of Poland whilst walking around town and instantly creamed my pants. The beast is so ridiculously hot in real life.

On the (3rd Nov) we hit Auschwitz which was a really depressing experience. We got to check out the places where the prisoners lived, ate and got on about daily life, not to mention where they were tortured and gassed.

We checked out the nightlife over in Poland as well and that was pretty wild! (not to mention FREEZING as the temperature did venture below ZERO!) We sampled different types of Polish Vodka and shots, i.e. fruit flavoured vodka, the Mad Dog & Apple Pie shot, and then we had beer from a ridiculously long pipe; insane.

On the (5th Nov) we went to the famous Wieliczka Salt Mine which was a sight. There was heaps of walking to actually get down into the mine, but there were really nice things to see such as carvings into the salt and stone from miners of the past and an actual church which is built into the mine that is actually used for ceremonies and even weddings!

On our last day in Krakow we checked out Krakow's Castle; Wawel Castle. It was a pretty small castle, but the courtyard made up for it with it's pretty beams and stone architecture.

I had more traveling in store for me coming back from Poland as I was going to Bath and Stonehenge overnight with the International Society. There wasn't much to see in that small town apart from the actual ancient Roman Baths, the big Abbey, and all the pretty architecture but it was really fun hanging out with a whole new bunch of people for the weekend. On our first night together, the group of kids I hung out with played the board games the hostel had (jenga and monopoly) and the mind game 'Mafia' (the narrator chooses a killer and a cop, everyone closes their eyes, the killer chooses a victim to kill off, everyone opens their eyes and then tries to find out who the killer is) until about 2am, only to have to get up in about 6 hours to go visit Stonehenge)

Stonehenge was a big disappointment for me as I was expecting the rocks and the actual rock formation to be so much bigger, but when I actually got there I was greeted with these small things! :( It was still a pretty sight though and another big box for me to tick off along with the castle back in Wales. It's like a real life version of Age of Empires, hahaha. We came back from Stonehenge and spent the rest of the afternoon traveling around Bath at our own leisure, exploring the town and checking out the abbey, the Jane Austen Museum and the pretty architecture.

So that's all that i've pretty much been up to since the last time I've blogged. I guess I really did get up to a lot, hahaha. Apologies to those who don't have much bandwidth and have to wait for eternity for everything to load; oh well, it's the 21st century baby!

However, before I end it there, I wanted to make a few comments/notes on my time here in Manchester and some interesting things i've picked up on!

- A lot of people don't signal when turning in their cars here
- A lot of people drive stick here which is terribly hot when a lady is behind the wheel
- They party like crazy here- there is something to do at least every single night of the week
- The ladies don't wear much on a night out here even in the freezing cold
- The designers here seem to really like Clarendon, I see it everywhere!
- The traffic lights are pretty interesting here, when they're red, and before they go green; for the cars, the amber light goes on, then the green light flicks on
- Drivers in Poland are very rude and don't respect the concept of pedestrian crossings
- Pigeons in Poland are fat
&
- Polish girls are ridiculously good looking

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