the beach - swansea

So im admittedly spoiled here, Swansea is the closest university in the world to the beach, and the weather's been unheardofly sunny for the last week or so. I've been heading down for runs about every other day sans camera, but I did get a few pictures the other day when I walked down with a friend. There was some guy out there with a shovel and a bucket, so we stopped him to ask what he was doing and took a few pics. Apparently he was digging for fishing worms...





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freshers week

So here I am right in the middle of freshers week, mildly-overwhelmed and extremely under-rested.

"Freshers" week is apparently a big deal in the UK. It's the week before classes begin and the time to meet other first year and exchange students, get registered for classes (which I did today), party a lot, and sign up for different societies [ i joined 4 of them... radio society (where i'll get to have my own radio show!), the triathlon society, the english ale society, and the windsurfing society!].

Each night out has a different theme. I think tonight is the "safer sex party"? I'm not sure, i just know that there are a lot of condoms being handed out, which brings up the subject of the sort of free spiritedness of the british culture that I've noticed, at least when it comes to sexuality. Another thing i noticed is the fact that the british aren't quite as religious as in the US. I haven't actually met a religious british person yet (and I've met a ton of them), and most people in the student village use the bible in their room as a door stop. Only about half of the population in britian believes in any sort of religion, with close to 50% being athiest or agnostic, as opposed the only around 10% in the US (i googled it). But enough about that.

I signed up for some uber interesting classes today, one of which is an american studies class that talks about american politics and the current election. Which reminds me - i registered to vote absentee balot online yesterday! It's really easy if you need to do it, just click here to go to the site. The british are really into american politics by the way, and are all about Barak of course! It will be interesting to get a european perspective on american politics.

Registration's kind of weird here though - instead of just registering online, you have to physically go to each department with a piece of paper and have the professors sign off on the classes you want to take, its beyond inefficient and it took 5 hours to register for my classes this morning, but i'm all done so it's all good.

cardiff trip

The nearest ikea and h&m are in cardiff about an hour away, so i took the train there yesterday to get some goods. I seem to have left my jacket in a hostel in london last weekend; the second rei jacket that i've lost in the last month (i guess i won't be buying any more of those!), so a trip to h&m was needed. My new flat was looking a little dark and boring, so thanks to the cheap digs at ikea my room has now officially been pimped. word.

the british museum

i came to the british museum today. i didn't bother to look at anything though. i walked to a park instead, passing the london school of architecture on the way.

i had spaghetti cabonara and a half bottle of wine at a little italian joint and bought a book at a little book shop across the street... Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

i started to feel bad for not looking at anything in the museum so i popped back in and looked around and do some sketching in the last 30 minutes before they closed.

swansea hotel

just got in to Swansea yesterday and checked into some little bed and breakfast that i'll be staying out for the next couple of weeks until the dorm opens up. here's a little video of the place and the view of the beach...

current read

thanks to ray for giving me his beat up copy of The Road Less Traveled.
if you haven't read it, you should. it's giving me a new perspective on things. 

great new word = cathexis. 

takeaway so far = delay gratification

random observations

. london tap water tastes like bottled .

. wet stone and low clouds make everything quiet and hushed .

. looking right is more important than looking left .

. the welsh accent is tough to understand, but gets easier after a few pints .

more later...

air india

flew air india from chi-town to london. it was the cheapest option ($437 one way from albuquerque). i was pretty happy with the flight. here's some pro's and cons...

Pros

• wicked good lamb curry, rice pudding, & coffee
• plenty of room for my guitar in the coat storage
• ticket was cheap
• the soothing voice of the stewardess on the intercom
• we arrived 45 minutes early

Cons

• the jean louis eau de toilette in the bathroom that everybody in the plane decided to use
• the barefoot indian guy next to me who kicked off his shoes and put his bare feet on my pillow (long story)

landed on london

Just landed. I ate what I think might be a traditional english breakfast?... baked beans, fries, fried egg, toast, ham, sausage, tomato. They served instant coffee which i find odd, but it was all good none the less. Amy Winehouse is playing in the background.