Toilet Humor

Apparently it's a renters market here in the UK, but every time I see a "To Let " sign" I automatically insert the invisible "i". Consequently, in my eyes, there are toilet signs all across England. Thanks to my maturity level, English jargon consistently makes me giggle. 

Cathedrals, Castles, and Christianity?

When I asked people about tourism around Leeds, most people pointed me towards York, known for its charm and great sights. Based on these recommendation, Anisha and I traveled to the classic old English town with high hopes. The day got off to a promising start since for the first time since I've been here, the sky was blue and the sun was actually visible. The weather alone made York beautiful. However, Anisha and I had hit our castle and cathedral quota. After climbing up the 300 stairs to the top of the York Minster to see the view of the city, we made a collective decision to just roam the cobblestone streets. After freeing ourselves from the obligation of the tourist destinations, we spent the day shopping, eating, and walking along England's version of the Great Wall of China (i.e. the York city wall). We even stumbled upon an international food fair in the center of York's winding streets and stopped in to get our fill of British sweets and Italian pastry.

Highlight of the trip: Meeting a random American guy in the checkout line at H&M, chatting, and then being told with vehement conviction that "Jesus loves you...seriously, he loves you".

Scar-Brah

Retreating from the excessive student drinking and liveliness of the city, Anisha and I headed out coast. We spent the day in Scarborough, a quite hillside seaside town filled with bakeries, fish, chips, and retro arcades.

I was kinda excited. 

As soon as we arrived in Scarborough, we followed our noses down to the seaside in search of fish and chips fresher than the Prince of Bel Air. Being a fishing town, there were far too many places to choose from so we made our selection based on a cost to capacity ratio: if the place was affordable and busy, that's where we wanted to be. We found a small cafe that looked out over the beach and proceeded to have an amazing long lunch. Now, I am no expert on fish n' chips, but this crispy and fresh combo of deliciousness was well worth the trip. To complete our typical tourist diet, we finished up our 2.5 hour eating marathon with a pot of tea and good conversation.

The rest of the day was spent wandering the winding city streets, attempting to walk off our massive lunch. We meandered down the the beach and tried to see where the ocean met the sky. After leaving our footprints and a few messages in the sands of Scarborough, we made our way to the highest peak in the town to see the ruins of Scarborough castle. Though the castle was little more than a single turret and some remaining old bricks, the 360 degree views were absolutely breathtaking; the town lay behind us, cascading down the hill towards the gray sand beaches that then extended into the infinite haze of the ocean-sky.

Highlight of the trip: Great food, great company, and amazing sights. The entire day was a highlight.

Oh Canada

With the Olympics now in full swing, my Canadian pride levels are reaching dangerous heights. It takes all my self-control not to wander around Leeds wearing my toque and Olympic mitts, the ones that literally label me as a Canadian whenever I wave at anyone. With the maple leaf shaped hole in my heart getting larger with each day, I decided to do it up big and rep Canada in the best way I could think of: Canadian Otley Run!

Thanks to the unwavering Canadian spirit and the power of Facebook, the event brought out tons of Leeds' finest Canucks and even some who wished they were from the Great White North. We met at the first pub around 4pm and by the third pub our group included Alex Trebek, a beaver, Captain Canada and his sidekick "The Canadian Kid", Bob and Doug McKenzie, lumberjacks, and a whole lot of red and white. As we left each pub, we would remove our hats and sing the Canadian national anthem (as the night went on, this tradition was increasingly unsynchronized and off key). We just looked like a continuous stream of red, white, and liquored up comradery.

It was like getting together with the family you never knew you had. We didn't all know each other but we were brought together by our mother nation. Like any extended family reunion there was drinking, laughing, crying, drama, and even a little incest.

Once again, I didn't make it to the end but this Otley Run will forever hold a special place in my memory, despite all the pints. Though everyone bleeds red, I have a hankering feeling that I may just bleed Red and White.

New Personal Record: 11/17 pubs

London Baby

This past weekend was a weekend of many firsts. It was my first time traveling solo, first hostel stay, first visitor, first overnight trip, and, most excitingly, my first time in London.

Though London boasts some of England's most famous attractions, I wasn't going there just to see the sights. I was there to pick up Anisha, one of my oldest friends, who was flying in to visit me for a week. Since my knowledge of London is based off of Notting Hill and Love Actually, I was a tad nervous taking the reins and touring around just the two of us. However, it was a challenge I was most definitely up for.

Despite my lack of navigational experience, we were able to get around London fairly easily. In the first day alone we managed to get from Heathrow to our hostel, check in, and tour most of the big sights. By dinner we had seen: Picidilly circle, Trafalgar Square, St. Jame's Park, the London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and the Royal Museum. Apparently,  We discovered that the key to finding London's main events was to not look for them. We managed to stumble upon all of the previously mentioned attractions, but when we were purposely looking for certain things, like the discount show tickets stand, we ended up going in circles and passing it repeatedly.

Note to self: Wandering is more productive.

Our first day in London was complete with damp English weather and capped off with a musical called Avenue Q, essentially an adult version of Sesame Street, which was absolutely hilarious. After successfully keeping Anisha awake for over 35 hours, we returned to our hostel ready to crash. We were both exhausted and when we finally reached our hostel, we were serenaded to sleep by drunken Englishmen singing "I would walk 500 miles" at the karaoke stand in the pub downstairs.

London is the more proper cousin of New York City because it has it's own Time Square like area, Broadway and theatre district, copious amounts of ethnic restaurants, tourist traps around every corner, and a subway line that will get you anywhere and everywhere. Since we had done most of the big stuff the previous day, Anisha and spent our second day seeing Buckingham Palace, Changing of the Queens Life Guard (i.e. a horse walking around in a circle), Hyde Park, and Harrods (i.e. one stop shopping for the rich and pretentious). Despite its steep prices, we couldn't resist Harrod's candy and dessert section, afterall, we were visiting on Valentines Day. After buying each other mini-cupcakes and chocolate strawberries (we couldn't buy them for ourselves, that would be just sad), we returned to our hostel for a pint before packing up and heading back to Leeds. It was a whirlwind of a tour, but our time in London left us totally stoked to return.

Highlight of the trip: Watching the highlights of the Olympic opening ceremonies in Trafalgar Square surrounded by people from all over the world. It reminded me of why I absolutely LOVE being Canadian, not that I could ever forget.

TGIT: Thank God It's Tuesday

I don't know how I managed it, but I somehow have a two day week. While this means that I have over five hours of straight class on both Monday and Tuesday, the result is a solid five day weekend. My Tuesdays feel like Fridays, my Wednesdays and beyond feel like Saturdays, and I have lost all concept of a scheduled life. Though my week may be short-lived, I celebrate each completed week with a newly formed tradition.

Tuesdays at the Eldon Pub have become a staple on my social calendar. It's "international student's night" which basically means that all the foreign kids gather in a typical English pub for cheap drinks and a consistently good time. You're guaranteed to run into familiar faces and you'll probably end up meeting some new people too. Curiously, a couple pints makes all the accents kind of fade to the background and everyone is able to just mix, mingle, and make merry. The Eldon adds the sweet to my short week.

Drink of choice: Snakebite

• 1 part lager
• 1 part cider
• a splash of black current cordial

It's dangerously delicious.

To be or not to be, the tourist edition

Another weekend, another day trip. This time I headed to to Warwick and Stratford-Upon-Avon. After a lengthy early morning bus ride, we arrived in Warwick around 11am. The main tourist attraction in this small English town is "Warwick Castle", a medieval castle that has been revamped to suit all your touristing needs complete with a dungeon turned haunted house and a turret turned "Princess castle". Though an intense hike in admission price came with this transition from traditional to touristy, it was worth seeing if for no other reason aside from the fact that it was my first English castle experience.

The serene,

The stunning,

and the strange

Despite the intensely creepy wax figures, the people dressed up in medieval costume who I kept getting confused with the wax figures, and the slightly questionable dioramas, the castle was well worth it. Walking around the turrets and castle walls, with the English countryside on one side and the typical English village justified the price of admission.

Next stop, Stratford (the real one, not the one in Ontario).

Shakespeare's birthplace and childhood house

Stratford is essentially Shakespeare world. The streets were lined with B+Bs not-so-cleverly named after characters or places from some of more famous plays, and around each corner, you can find a building boasting some distant connection to the literary master. I mean, who wouldn't want to visit Shakespeare's granddaughter's first husband's house (Nash House)? Though the town was saturated with literary references and grasped onto any and all Shakespearean connections, it was a nice place to stroll the streets and a good way to wind down the day. Though the main areas were the definition of touristy, I can now say that I have seen the very house where Shakespeare was conceived and later birthed. Now that's something to boast about.

Highlight of the trip: Enjoying English pastries in both Warwick and Stratford. Nothing beats a strawberry tart with fresh cream.

My First Otley Run

The Otley Run is a Leeds tradition and should not be attempted by the faint of heart or light of liver. This pub crawl is made for champions. Starting at one end of Otley Road around mid-afternoon, the Otley Run takes its marathoners through 17 pubs; though majority of participants don't quite make it to the finish line. To make things slightly more interesting, the crawl is completed according to theme and each competitor is challenged to not only drink a pint in each pub, but to do it in costume.

After three weeks here in Leeds, I felt that I had prepared my liver enough to attempt such a feat. On Friday at 5pm in the afternoon, I joined the students of the Clarence Dock residence, each costumed as something to represent their block letter. I was pretending to be a member of Block D, so I pulled out the rosy cheeks, ballet flats, and pigtails, and said that I was dressed as a doll. I joined my friends, dressed as a Doormat, Dorothy, and a Droog (from Clockwork Orange), and we proceeded to the first pub. That's where it all began. Before the night was over, we had shared pints with a pilot, a pack of nerds, some gnomes, avatars, fairies, and one very slutty cross-dressing granny.

Current Personal Record: 10/17 pubs

Dance it off

Back home it's easy to find friendly distractions. At Mac, the university is small enough that no matter where you go, you'll see someone you know. That sense of familiarity is one that is still in its construction phase here at Leeds. Though I do occasionally run into a casual acquaintance, after only two and a half weeks my network is not nearly as extensive as my home base.

Yesterday, after flying solo for majority of the day, I was feeling a tad lonesome. In my experience, the best remedy for the blues is to literally shake it off, so I called up some friends and we went out on the town.

Our first stop was Mine Bar, one of three bar/clubs in the university union. It was alternative/indie night but our biggest incentive to go was their free cover. We headed over around 11:00pm only to find the place absolutely empty. It almost felt like we had attempted to go clubbing on a Sunday afternoon; there were maybe ten people in the entire place, and seven of them worked there. Despite the lack of general company, the cheap drinks and empty dance floor beckoned so we decided to stay for a while. We were actually able to dance like no one was watching, because no one was. Eventually we headed upstairs to Terrace, another union bar, but we were greeted by a similar situation. Thus started the slogan of the night: "Where are all the students?!"

Drinks at Terrace were more expensive and they weren't complimented by any rockin' beats so we soon left the union and went into town, on the hunt for somewhere with a decently crowded dance floor. It was about 12:30am at this point and most places had big burly bouncers at their gates turning people away; not because they were full but because they were about to close. We managed to claim clubber's sanctuary in "Bar rista", a club just down the hill from the university. The place was by no means packed, but the dance floor was small enough that it looked full and the music was great. We immediately began bustin' out the moves. Unfortunately, someone in the crowd was having some evident digestive problems because every once in a while, we would have to move or groove on to another corner of the floor to avoid the massive stank that was diffusing through the crowd. Since when is it ok to let one rip when you're surrounded by strangers in an enclosed space?

Note to all club goers: Kindly refrain from turning the dance floor into a gas chamber.

Though the night kind of stunk at the biggining, and then began to actually stink by the end, it was just what I needed. Good friends, good times, and a dance floor.