Why I Suck At Posting
Once again, I find myself apologizing for breaking the promise I made last week about not letting myself slack on my posting any longer. I lied. I'll admit, I was facing a bit of writer's block, but I have a lot to say now. Thank you to Blair (everyone say hi, Blair!) for keeping me on my toes and calling me out on my Facebook wall for my lack of posting for all the world to read! One of my friends here saw that post from Blair and said, "You better get rid of that writer's block, your fans are demanding posts!"
Where are all the pictures you promised?
I know you're disappointed that this is all text and not a photostream from Flickr. Flickr and I are fighting right now because apparently I've used 90% of my "allowed free usage (300 MB)" for this month, but I can "upgrade to Flickr pro for just $24.95/year (Holy smokes! That's cheap!)" for unlimited photo storage, but I'm not quite convinced that I want to pay that, so I'm trying to figure something else out for you to see photos. I'm currently researching how to outsmart Flickr, but I've been unsuccessful thus far. You might just have to wait until the start of November when the storage renews. I'll post some photos to Facebook soon, so if you have a Facebook account, watch for those. If you don't have a Facebook account, well, lucky you--it's a disease.
Otley Run
Last Saturday one of the Aussies and I did the most famous pub crawl in all of Britain--and by famous, I mean members of Parliament do it, other famous people, and even the princes have done it! The crawl is obviously down Otley Road where there is pub after pub and it is typically a 20-pub, 12-hour escapade. Needless to say, we didn't do all 20, but we did meet lots of people and come home with decorated shirts! Typically participants wear "fancy dress" which is a British term for what Americans would call "costumes" or coordinating outfits. You see all sorts of different "things" walking down Otley Road every single day of the year. We wore white shirts and took markers and had everyone we met write on our shirts! After the second pub, my shirt looked like this:
We got really hungry mid-crawl and snuck off to get some chips (fries) and mushy peas--staple British junkfood. Yes, the mushy peas sound and look repulsive, but they are just green peas all mushed up. If you fancy green peas--you'll do just fine with mushy ones. (You're not convinced, I know--but hey, I'm in England, I might as well have mushy peas while I'm here. It's not about the taste, it's about the experience!)
TV Licenses, an Angry Queen, and My Possible Deportation
The most ridiculous law I've encountered since I've been here is the law of TV licensing. Here is the gist in a nutshell: Everyone who wishes to watch live or streaming tv (what you watch at home in the US) is required by law to purchase a TV license from the UK government. (To which my dad responded, "So many taxes! That's how they pay for their free health care!" ha!) This license costs 150 pounds (that's 240 dollars!) per year per TV. In other words, you have to spend the equivalent of $240 per year on each TV you own just to be legal. That does NOT cover the cost of cable in addition! Therefore, it is illegal to watch live TV on your computer (unless, of course, you purchase a TV license for your computer). As usual, people (and by people I mean cheap college students) have found ways around this license and use proxy websites to stream TV shows, which my roommates and I may or may not be taking part in...
Anyway, I received a nasty letter from the UK government (whom I like to refer to as "the Queen") saying that my address was being investigated for illegal TV usage without a license.
Think UNM would still let me have my diploma in the event I get deported? Might shoot my advisor an email and ask about that...
Oh, to be fair, I guess I should say what the TV license money is for. That money is collectively what funds the existence of the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), which is "free" (hey! their government plays that game and tricks them into thinking things are free, too!) and can be accessed and listened to all over the UK. The BBC is basically government-funded media (TV, radio, print), and typically it broadcasts worldwide in some medium or another.
First Halloween
Believe it or not, they don't celebrate Halloween in Australia, so I'm trying to be extra festive to give the Aussies a feel for Halloween. We started with carving jack-o-lanterns earlier this week. I'd say they did pretty good for amateurs! We even roasted the pumpkin seeds to be extra-festive.
Here comes the politics that I couldn't promise wouldn't show up...
Turns out the European Union is in worse shape than the United States Congress was back in August when Congress barely came to a compromise just in the nick of time on the US debt crisis. Countries within the European Union are licking the wounds from some poor financial decisions (understatement of the year) made by Greece. The EU, like America, is suffering the consequences from bailing out banks as well as sovereign governments (cough, Greece, cough) from the past two years. Now, the EU, and countries who use the euro most specifically, is finding itself collectively in a massive unsolvable, inevitable debt crisis. Hopefully you've been watching the news and this isn't the first time you're hearing of this. If it is, get on a world news website right now and turn on the world news tonight.
Basically, the euro is in so much trouble that the leaders for all the EU countries have been meeting in Brussels (where the EU convenes) for the past week to try and come to a debt agreement before the EU defaults on their acquired debt, thus dissolving the euro altogether. People, that is bad. We do not want an entire currency to dissolve, especially the second traded currency in the financial market. Wednesday night, leaders and EU representatives met through the night to discuss possible negotiations for the crisis. Prime Minister David Cameron (prime minister of the UK) was in the thick of the discussions even though the UK does not fall in the "eurozone" (term used to describe countries who use the euro). When I watched this morning's BBC update, Cameron said negotiations had made "significant" progress. But the clock is still ticking.
Cameron is also facing major criticism from Members of Parliament for participating in the debt negotiations. Basically, the UK is not impressed with the EU and would be quite happy with breaking ties. However, Cameron is a politician and is trying to please everyone and play nice with the rest of the kids on the playground. While Members of Parliament are calling for a break with the EU, Cameron argues that it is in Britain's best interests to maintain favorable relations with their neighbors across the English Channel.
If you're thinking you don't need to be interested in this because you live in America and we have our own financial issues to deal with--think again. The economy we live in is global, and a worldwide financial crisis affects you, me, my great grandchildren, their cousins, their great cousins three times removed best friends, and their best friends' goldfish. People, specifically Americans, need to start showing that they care about these issues now. So read up, listen up, know what's happening. Don't be an ignorant American stereotype, because I am trying every single day to be on my brain game and make up for the "careless, ignorant American" that the rest of the world sees us as. Seriously, the international public opinion of American intelligence is horrifying--don't be like that!
So you see, America isn't the only place with debt problems, corrupt politicians, and greedy banks. Anyway, I'm sure people will still find a way to blame President Bush for all this noise.
Scottish Road Trip
I guess you want to hear about Scotland now! Carl (my friend from Newcastle) invited me to go with him to Edinburgh and some surrounding towns Tuesday and Wednesday. Two words: So beautiful. You can drive into Scotland from England with no border security, no immigration check, just a rock that says SCOTLAND on one side and ENGLAND on the other. (Can you imagine if that were the case at the American/Mexican border?) Before I left Leeds, I asked Carl if I needed to bring my passport with me... and he had a good laugh at that! The drive from Newcastle to Edinburgh was breathtakingly beautiful--miles and miles of lush rolling green hills just as you would expect.
The Scottish/English border.
We got to Edinburgh Tuesday afternoon, spent the rest of the afternoon and evening exploring and being tourists and I dragged Carl all over the place--he was a good sport! We saw the Edinburgh Castle which is rich with history and dates back to 700 BC and is one of the most historically significant and visited sites in the UK. We then had dinner and spent the rest of the evening at a slightly garish Scottish pub in Old Town.
Here are some pictures of the castle, the town, the landscape, and my translator!
On Wednesday, we went to two smaller towns called Stirling (by accident because we got lost!) and Falkirk and saw some small town Scottish culture when we visited a nursing home and a home for the mentally challenged where Carl had to do some work for his job. The people were very friendly and the towns were so cute and Scottish! I could understand some things people said, but some of the accents were just too heavy. So, Carl would translate the Scottish into American for me, which may seem like the same language on paper, but sound very different! See these places on the map by clicking here.
Unfortunately, our Scottish adventure was interrupted by me having to return to Leeds for class (shucks, that isn't what I came to Europe for!). This is successfully the longest post I've written and taken the longest to write, and it probably took you less than five minutes to read, which is semi-depressing. I hope this makes up for my slacking, Blair!
Until next time..
And hopefully Flickr and I will have resolved our differences by then.
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