Ammendment

The link apparently is not clickable. However, if you copy and paste it into your web browser, you should be able to access the site :)
Cheers!

Outdoor Society Goes to Malham

The weather, in England, is known to change quite suddenly and frequently. Never have I believed that more than on my hike to Malham Cove today. I went with the Outdoor Society, it was our first hike of the term, and it was great fun. It rained, it misted, there was blue sky, white fluffy clouds, and misty dales. From my pictures, it could look as if I was walking on several different days, the weather was so changeable!

I went in the medium group that does about 7-8 miles with a pub lunch break in the mid-afternoon. Our first journey took us up Malham Cove, a beautiful limestone ridge that, thousands of years ago, was a raging waterfall. Once we were at the top there was a gorgeous view over the Yorkshire Dales dotted with iddylic villages. Climbing over the limestone became quite a challenge as it was very slippery and looks like some sort of obstacle Indiana Jones would have encountered in his adventures. Some of the rocks were slightly wobbly and they protrude up from the actual ground quite a bit creating little crags, very treacherous! :) After getting through that bit it was pretty easy going through the rolling green (muddy) hills filled with shaggy mountain cows and sheep.

We made it to the pub for lunch, i had a roast pork sandwhich and cider to keep the energy up, then it was on to the second leg of the journey. The second half was pretty flat so it was quite leisurely. We went to this huge waterfall that comes out of the limestone in this sort of tiny valley between towering rocks. Coming up on it you literally follow the curve in the path and come up facing it, in all it's raging beauty. On the way back we went by another smalled waterfall it a wooded area, that was also extremely muddy. It's amazing how fast the currents are in the rivers and how they're already overflowing. I can't imagine what it's going to be like in a couple of months. When we got back on the bus we had to take our shoes off and put them in the hold because they were all so muddy. This caused very cold footsies on the 90 minute ride back so it was a relief to get to my room, put on some big comfy sweatpants and have a hot dinner.

Before I head off to bed i'll give you the link, properly, to my photo album so you can see some of my gorgeous adventures! Much Love :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kcgoslin/

Brideshead (re)Visited

The last two days have been simply marvelous. Forgive me, but I feel I must share them before they are lost to my memories alone. Nothing particularly spectacular happened but I had some very good experiences that reminded me of past days and new memories. Before I get ahead of myself, I've added a link to this blog so you can go check out some of my photos on Flickr from the last few weeks.

Yesterday I finally organized myself, a bit. I'm still a long ways from being totally settled, it seems every time I need a leaflet or timetable it goes missing under an accumulation of papers, and I haven't tackled my budget yet. That should be fun. The highlight of the day was that I attended two choir rehearsals, for two different choirs. The first is Vanbrugh Voices, a very informal choir that is currently working on Christmas Carols so we can go caroling in the city in December. The second is Revelation Rock Gospel Choir. Also very informal and loads of fun. It's held at Heslington Church, right next door to Alcuin College and basically it's just a big, fun group of people who love to sing. I haven't been in a formal choir for over two years and I can't tell you how amazing it felt to be singing again. Not to mention Choir people are always of the best sorts so hopefully i'll be making some good friends there.

Stories to bring home are what you seek when living abroad and I had a wonderful one today. As morning descended, the bright blue sky and great white clouds moving rapidly through the heavens eluded to the day. I joined up with Hannah and her friend from Leeds on a venture to Castle Howard, the filming location for Brideshead Revisited, and great house located just 15 miles from York. We arrived at Malton station and had 45 minutes before our bus to the house so seeing the grocery store next door we thought it would be a great idea to get some wine. Now don't go thinking I've taking up British drinking habits, this is all very innocent and in good humour. In the film Brideshead, there is a great deal of wine drinking at the temple on the castle grounds. It's only natural to want to emulate such a desireable past time.

Arriving at the house was breathtaking. We had lunch at the Castle Restaurant; the vegetable soup was divine, as was the coffee cake ;) Exploring the house became an adventure of the imagination as I listened to the Brideshead soundtrack on my ipod and strolled through the house and gardens. A couple of times I was forced to throw down my backpack and run through the hedge lined paths and fountain. I couldn't resist the feeling of freedom in such a beautiful surrounding. It's as if there is nothing else on Earth but the running water, gliding clouds, and yourself. There is an exhibition on the filming at the property and you can see the rooms that they used in the film as well. After exploring the grounds we came upon the temple of the four seasons, a very memorable location from Brideshead where Charles and Sebastian sample dozens of wines. Of course, we are much more modest. After taking countless photos we settled ont he wall overlooking the pasture of cows, the temple steeped in afternoon light, and the never ending countryside. There we opened our Lambrini (for those of you who are very particular, no this isn't actually wine, it's cheap sparkling perry that costs 3 quid, we're students remember?) It was absolutely idyllic. I cannot put into words the utter joy that I felt, sitting there with my cheap wine immitation, watching the light play on a 300 year old temple in the North of England. Sometimes you forget where you are, the setting and the moment brought me utterly to the present and I knew, without a doubt, that I was in England.

So thus ends the wonderful day...oh wait, maybe not! We spent so much time drinking by the temple that we missed the last bus (to be fair we were exploring the grounds, not just drinking) Another group of five people also were as lucky as us and we had to find another mode of transport. One of the older British men that had also missed the bus went to the kitchens where there were still staff working and managed to arrange lifts for all of us. A nice woman who worked at the Castle Howard restaurants obligingly drove us back to Malton where we rewarded ourselves with a hearty supper and caught the train home. And that officially ends the day and the story.

If you've read this far, you are very very dedicated and I thank you for listening to my rambing story. Please check out my pictures, if you are so inclined, I love sharing my good times with you all. Good Night!

One Week Anniversary

It's official. I have lived in York for exactly one week and am still kicking. It's been a good week, i've done a lot, figured out timetables, met loads of people, explored campus, and finally got into the city centre. This won't be long because my friend Hannah (From UCSB who's going to Leeds) is here and i'm being a good little hostess.

I had a briefing for my Travel and Tourism class and found out about the topics, papers, readings etc I'm really excited to get reading a writing my first paper that is due in a month. Sometimes you really don't realize how much you miss school and learning until you've had to go four months cold turkey. Apparently I am a starved academic and will be forced to do numerous years of post-graduate work just to satiate my thirst for knowledge. I also made it into town for the first time (during the day, hehe) I wandered around the city before picking up Hannah from the rail station. I discovered there is an amazing farmers market on fridays and saturdays at Newgate Market in the city centre. Absolutely amazing. Countless food stalls with every taste catered for. I wouldn't recommend walking through it when extremely hungry unless you are prepared to be very undecisive or spending an astronomical sum on all the different varities. I bought a tea mug with a cow on it, so now i can properly enjoy my tea at home. When Hannah came we explored the same bits and different bits as well. We had cream tea at the Little Shambles Tea House. Found an amazing book shop with about 4 levels up and down rickety little staircases, basically my idea of heaven. I also went by the Treasurer's House, owned by the National Trust and located behind the Minster, to enquire about volunteering opportunities. They do conservation work in the winter months and if I could get involved in that I don't think I cold be happier. I could go on and on about the beautifulness of York and all the great historical places, food shops, pubs, and gardens but I honestly could not stop, so i'll leave it at that.

The Freshers Fair was yesterday, so I signed up for about 50 clubs, obviously i'm going to have to be a bit more selective. The ones i know i'm doing are the Outdoor Society, the Music Society, History Society, and Revelation Rock Gospel Choir. I'm interested in the Filmmaking Society, Archeology Society, and another choir as well so i'll just have to see. I also signed up for Tennis, Cricket, and Rowing. I think i've already decided to not do rowing, i don't think i've changed in the last two years and its better to quit before i start, haha. Tennis is looking like a good possibility because I could actually play for the university team because they're in need of women players. UC offers a scholarship of up to £200 for women athletes as well, so if I could get that then I could buy a new racquet and maybe some good playing shoes over here. Just a thought.

I'll leave you there, it's time to go flex my cooking muscles and make some omelets for breakfast/lunch/afternoon tea. Hope everyone's well and i love hearing from those of you at home :)

Picture: St Mary's Priory, what remains of it, in the castle museums gardens.

York Uni

I'm probably updating this thing way too much but since i'm just settling in there's quite a lot going on. As you may have guessed, i made it to York and moved into my accommodation successfully. I'm in Alcuin College which is just over the road from the center of campus. It is apparently known as the "posh" college because it's newer and all en-suite. My room is very nice for a dorm, I guess i got the biggest room in my flat because i'm on the end so that was cool to find out. I've unpacked but it looks like an airplane threw up in my room because i'm still getting sorted.

I've met a good amount of people so far, mostly just people from my College though. I know everyone in my flat (there are 5 of us) and we all get on really well. Two of them are 2nd years and one is a 3rd year so it's nice being around people my age instead of all 18 yr old freshers. I've meet some internationals as well at orientation today which is good fun. We had the freshers ball last night at the racecourse. Very posh, three levels of live music, dance floors, about 8 bars and 3,000 people. The Queues were ridiculous to take the bus and get in and at the bars though so that kind of sucked. It was fun getting dressed up and going out though.

Finally have been figuring out classes, i think i might end up having classes on Mondays and Fridays which out of all the days to have classes are the worst because they're so spread out but what can i do? I don't think it'll be too bad, i don't plan on traveling too much this term.

I'll have to write when i have more time, we have our college Provost talk tonight and then its Pillage the Village into town. It's raining just now so it should be an interesting night. Oh and the picture is of Heslington Hall on campus, its like the adinistrative building, i think :) Very pretty though. Enjoy!

London-Edinburgh-York

I'm taking advantage of the free wifi on the national express service from Edinburgh to York. Apparently sunday is the day for rail repairs so our journey has been doubled in time because we took a bus from Edinburgh to Newcastle and are now on the train to York. It's a beautiful day, this whole week has been lovely with sun, blue skies, and gorgeous colors. I'm very ready to get to school though, unpack and really get this show on the road. I'll briefly recap the last couple days though, because I have about an hour left on the train.

My last night in London (thursday) took a totally unexpected turn when I decided to go to the Royal Court Theatre to see Nor or Later, a new play about election night in the US. It was totally not what i was expecting and focused on the presidential hopeful's son and his effect on the campaign. While waiting to get a ticket I headed down to the bar where I was pleasantly surprised to see a familiar face, no no not a person, a bottle of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. I didn't get one, but it was no more expensive than the other beers for sale. It was around £3.20 which equates to abot $6.50, it's funny because that's what we pay for a 6 pack back home! Anyways I met some people before the show, one happened to be a retired Sussex professor who had taught at UCSC for a year quite a while ago. I also met two business men from D.C. who were in London on business. We got to talking and they invited me to join them for dinner after the play. We went to this nice restaurant and had some really great conversation. One of the guys was an Irishmen and so that was quite fun talking to him. I ended up staying out quite late but it was totally worth it.

I didn't have the best train ride to Edinburgh the next day though, it felt about twice as long as it was (4.5 hours really) and i just barely made it to the hotel in Edinburgh at the time we were supposed to meet. There are three other girls going to York, all of which are from UCSD. I roomed with Mimosa (i'm giving Heather a run for her money with roommate names!) who i'm on the train with now.

Yesterday was really busy, we started out the morning with actual academic orientationess for a couple of hours at our study center at Edinburgh Uni. We had lunch at one of the famous pubs of Edinburgh, Deacon Brodie's and then went to Edinburgh Castle. Didn't spend a lot of time there but it was really cool and i probably would have seen more with different company. I had a wee little spill down some steps to the Prisoner of War exhibition and have a right nasty injury on my left forearm and a painfull bruise on my left buttock. Luckily i'm fine now and and was still able to climb the mountain.

Mountain you might be asking yourselves, in Edinburgh? Why yes, but to be completely acurate it's actually an extinct Volcano. Arthur's seat is about 850 feet above the city and has great views to the estuary and the land across. It took about an hour to go up and down. It was very windy at the top and i felt like i might get blown off, i'm not a little girl so that is very strong wind ;)



Anyways i think that is enough for now. I'm going to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Northumberland and Yorkshire in the lovely autumn light.

Cheers!

Let's all go to Brighton...

I realize I already wrote one post today but you know what it's only 8:30 and i haven't anything better to do. So bare with me.

Today I think i've probably walked about 10 miles. This may be an exaggeration but I really doubt it. I started off walking to Victoria Station, a good 30 minute walk that wasn't too bad. Got my young persons rail card for great savings on all of my rail travel and bought a return to Brighton. I wasn't sure if I would enjoy going back to Brighton or if it would just make me wish I had really gone back again but it ended up that i remembered some great times and got more excited for new memories in York. I was only there about 2 hours but did my "Brighton Routine." I got lunch at Bagelman, sat in the Pavillion Gardens, walked the pier and dozed in the deck chairs, walked through the lanes to Churchill Square and then got a shake away before headin back. It was a beautiful day, tshirt jeans kind of weather, with blue skies and sun. See mom, i'm not cold!

Anyways when i got back to London I had quite a bit of time so i walked to Leicester Square to see film times for the Duchess and found it started in about a half an hour. First of all, I should have expected that London theatres would be more expensive, especially the kind where premieres like Harry Potter and Star Wars are held. It ended up being £9.50 i'll let you do the exchange rate math. Then the theatre it was in was about 1/8 the size of regular theatres, 60 seats and the screen was proportional to the number of seats. Despite that, I really enjoyed the film and am glad I saw it.

The national gallery is open late on wednesdays so i headed there after dinner and caught a free lecture on a medieval work and also part of a free concert. I finally left at around 7 and thought the walk wouldn't be too bad. Turns out it's probably 3-4 miles from Trafalgar Square to Bayswater and it took me nearly an hour walking at a brisk pace. Near the end i thought my knees might very well give out, it really was close. I can't tell you the amount of self control I possess because I passed by about a dozen pubs and somehow managed to not stop in for a pint and a rest. If I had sat down I probably wouldn't have gotten up.

So there's my day. Now i'm writing this to partially delay the hike up to my 5th floor residence, did i mention there's no lift? Anyways, overall good day but i think tomorrow i'm going to get an underground day pass to save my tired puppies.

London Calling

Cheers Mates!

So i'm finally in England, more specifically in London. I'm using the hostel computer so i don't have much time to update but i thought a little blurb is better than nothing!

The flight over was pretty good, unfortunately i didn't sleep as i predicted so I got to London with very heavy eye lids. Virgin has awesome plans though, there were over 50 movies and tv shows to choose from, tons of cd's and games to play as well. Also they served complimentary wine with dinner! Naturally i took up the opportunity and it was actually pretty darn good wine.

First thing I did when I got to London, after getting to my hostel, was getting my new mobile. I had a pub lunch and then took a pleasant walk through Kensington Gardens. The colors are gorgeous and they're not even to the peak yet! Most of the trees are in that halfway phase with a sprinkling of bright red and gold touching the edges. I can't wait to get out into the Country once i'm in York and really see some colors!

I slept quite well and now I'm feeling revived. I'm going to walk to Victoria Station where i need to get a young persons railpass and then see if i can get a cheap return to Brighton and visit the old stomping grounds. Mostly i just want to go eat donuts on the pier but i might have to forgo that in consideration of my health ;) I also want to try to see the Duchess (you know the brilliant film with Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes?) today or tomorrow because i've been waiting so long for it to come out!

I'll update soon, probably in Edinburgh during orientation. I love hearing from you guys, hope everything is well wherever in the world you are!

Cheers