I'll be home for Christmas

Manchester is pretty much a ghost town right about now. I know I've been AWOL lately from the blogosphere, but other than furiously writing papers there has been very little to report on...and I wouldn't want to bore you with the ramblings of my essays. However, now, classes are done, and I have submitted all 3 papers that I had to finish here and one group presentation, and I have a bit of free time. I had planned on using these last few days to travel to London, but I didn't budget quite as well as I had hoped, and honestly couldn't really be bothered to make my way down there anyway. Instead I have spent my last days spending time with the friends that I have made here. I am so excited to come home for Christmas, but goodbyes are always emotional.

I've gone into town as much as I can lately to soak up the Christmas markets and to enjoy all the tea and scones that I possibly can before coming home. I knocked out all my Christmas shopping which was really fun, and ate more dim sum than you can even imagine. It even manage to spit out a little bit of snow for me just before leaving! Not enough to really stick, but enough to make the ground really really wet so that it froze into a sheet of ice by the next morning.

I've finally packed up all my stuff, and I'm ready to head out tomorrow morning. I'm flying back with my friend from UF, and we are splitting a cab to the airport. If she has as much luggage as I do I'm not sure how it's all going to fit in the taxi! But it's better (and faster) than trying to schlep it all on the bus. I can't wait to be home in sunny, warm Florida! I hope to see all of you at Christmas or New Years!

Merry Christmas!

Bonjour Paris!

Paris was lovely, much better than I was expecting. I don't want to live there (WAY too expensive), but it was a great place to visit and I hope to go back someday when I have more time to properly look around. The food was delicious, but fairly small portioned...just like people told me it would be. My créme brulée was huge though,



and that's really all that matters. I only encountered 1 rude French person, and she was mad because I only had a 20 and I was trying to buy a pastry for 1.50. Rudeness is never warranted, but I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt and say she was having a bad day.

We saw all the major sites of the city, unless you had to pay for them, in which case we stood outside the building and pretended like we were seeing them. Even of the ones I did see, I probably could have gone without seeing some of them. For example, The Mona Lisa... big let down. If you're ever in Paris, might I recommend skipping it? I had no intention of even making it to the Louvre this past weekend, because first of all, 8 miles of galleries really isn't my cup of tea, and second of all, even if it was, 2 days certainly isn't enough time to fully appreciate a museum that big, especially if you also want to see the rest of the city. However, Friday night after we'd arrived, the group consensus was to go to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa. As it was free to enter on Friday nights, I didn't fight. We got there 15 minutes before the museum closed, and the woman at the entrance informed us that we really didn't have time to even get to dear old Mona. Nevertheless, we SPRINTED through the Louvre, up stairs, around corners, past thousands of priceless works of art, only to arrive at this:



Can someone PLEASE tell me how that is more impressive than this:



I don't have any idea what this painting is, but it was right across from the Mona Lisa, getting no respect at all. I mean, if you ask me, it is way more impressive.

The Eiffel Tower is even bigger and more impressive in person. We visited it once at night and again in the daytime. In keeping with the cheap theme of the weekend, my friend Anna and I bypassed the costly elevator option and went for the more cost effective stairs. We only went up to the middle level, which was 700 stairs, and opted not to pay to go all the way up (1600 stairs total). I don't think my legs could have carried me all the way up. The view from the middle was still incredibly impressive, and I'm guessing if I would've gone all the way up, everything would have just looked smaller.



Walking back to meet up with the group for dinner was the best part. We looked back over our shoulder to see this sunset:



It really doesn't get much prettier.

The only thing I really wanted to do in Paris that we didn't get to do was eat cheese. I actually never saw one of those tiny Parisian cheese stores that everyone talks about. So instead, back at the Paris(ish) airport, Anna and I pooled our leftover euros and bought 2 different kinds of cheese. One was a mystery cheese, the french words meant nothing to us. The other was Munster cheese, which we thought was the tasty, mild, sandwich cheese that most Americans know and love. However, this morning when I went to our refrigerator to try it, I was knocked out by what can only be described as sweaty feet. I cut into the Munster cheese, and had to immediately throw it back into the fridge. There's no way I could eat something that smelly. I then did some googling to find out that the French Munster cheese is one of the 10 stinkiest cheeses in the world, not to be confused with the American Muenster cheese, which is non-smelly and delightfully speckled. Lesson learned.

Happy Turkey Day!

I think we pulled together a pretty decent meal! I know I'm stuffed...

What's Thanksgiving?

It certainly doesn't feel like Thanksgiving around here. Some of the other American exchange students and I have planned a TurkeyDay potluck, but due to limited kitchen resources, I have low expectations. I plan on making oreo dirt dessert because that doesn't require too much baking. I just have to make the chocolate pudding. As Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, it will be very hard to miss it, but as long as my mother remembers to record the Macy's Day Parade for me so I can watch it when I get home (THIS IS YOUR REMINDER, MOM), I will be a happy camper.

Manchester is in full swing Christmas mode though and I love it. The Christmas market opened downtown and it's HUGE! So far I've only been to the German market, but it is absolutely incredible. There's tons of food like sausages, crepes, waffles, strudel, and cookies and candies galore plus some tasty drinks. The German mulled wine is my favorite thing in the world, and I am definitely making it for the fam for Christmas. Even if my Dad doesn't like hot beverages.

My papers are coming slowly but surely. I have finished one out of 5, but I have it all scheduled out. If I stick to my plan I will finish all but 1 before coming home and then I can get the last one done in January. I saved the easiest one for last so I'm not too worried about it.

I am really excited about these last few weeks. I'm heading off to Paris this weekend, and although I've heard incredibly mixed reviews about Paris, I'm excited. We're definitely doing it on the cheap, as my bank account is dwindling, but from what I hear the bread and cheese is super inexpensive so I can probably live off of that for a couple days. However, I will be keeping my eyes peeled for an authentic creme brulee. After Paris, my friend Kristen is coming to visit from Turkey! I'm so excited to see her and show her around Manchester. She is coming at literally the best time to see the city since it's all Christmas-y and she definitely doesn't get any sort of Christmas vibe in Turkey. Then I just have a couple more weeks and I get to come homeee!!!! I absolutely can't wait for Christmas!

I hope you all have wonderful Thanksgivings with your friends and family. I am thankful to have you all in my life, even though you are all so far away.

The Globalization of Culture

I just finished reading an article called the Globalisation of Fragmentation for my International Marketing class. It was really interesting and it has got me thinking about culture. I am so curious about other cultures, what's behind them, what makes them tick. I want to travel everywhere and experience different cultures first hand. I don't think I'm alone in that desire. The irony is that as our interest in other cultures increases and our desire to experience each different culture grows, we integrate aspects of each culture we visit into our own lives. Is it possible that in a time where ease of travel and technology is accessible to many that eventually we will do away with different cultures and create one Superculture? Already we have fragmented culture. Example: I go to Germany and not only eat traditional German food but, Italian food and Mexican food as well. There is a Chinatown and a Little Italy in just about every major city. I live next to a part of town called "The Curry Mile". I prefer Chinese tea to Lipton. With the internet we have music from all over the world available to us in an instant. Now with Spotify, I don't even have to pay or download anything... if I decide I want to listen to French rap, I can! Companies expand globally and enter into markets that 20 or 30 years ago they could never have succeeded in. There are McDonald's on every continent except Antarctica. Walmart is the world's largest retailer. "We can find America in every country, as we can find every country in America" (Fuat Firat).

But then again, I guess culture is a little bit more than just food and music.

impressions of munich

I am back at the hostel after day 1 of Munich.  I gotta say, I feel like I'm at summer camp sitting up in my top bunk bonding with strangers. People from all over the world, just traveling until they run out of money. It's a much different experience than last night when I stayed with my friend Annie's parents who live in the city. It was so nice staying in a house with a family and homecooked meals!

Today I took the train in from the suburbs and met up with my friend at our swanky hostel. We then set out to explore the city. One thing was clear, people have a LOT of money here. Everyone dresses so fancy and streets are lined with designer boutiques. That being said, it's completely gorgeous here. We spent the majority of our time wandering the English Gardens. There was so much color everywhere! Coming from Florida where trees don't change, I was in awe. I will post pictures when I get back to Manchester and I am not posting from my phone. I love that people take their dogs everywhere, no leash or anything. Just obedience.

For dinner we went to the famous Hofbrauhaus beer garden. We sat with the nicest couple from Australia and ate giant pretzels. It was excellent. Tomorrow we go to Salzburg for the sound of music tour. I CAN'T WAIT!

--
Laura McLeran
University of Florida

Here are this week's top stories:

GIRL GETS THROWN OUT OF CONVENIENCE STORE
Last Tuesday night after fencing, we headed downtown to an area called the Northern Quarter which I heard was a really neat and hip part of town (even though when I asked one of my house mates about it they said it was for an older crowd and when I asked them to define older they said, "you know, like 20-25 year olds"...glad I'm considered older now). We got off the bus and my friend who I had been fencing with was demanding cheesecake. Not wanting to stop into a restaurant or anything, we directed her to the nearest convenience store. To set up this story, you should know that it was very VERY cold outside and I had my hands in my coat pocket and I couldn't be bothered to take them out for anything. We split up in search for a single piece of cheese cake to appease my hungry friend and finally I spotted a bag of 3 pieces of cheese cake on the bottom shelf of the refrigerated section. I hollered at my friends and pointed at the bagged cheese cake with my foot so that my hands could remain in their cozy state. The psychotic security guard must have mistaken my foot gesture for a kicking motion because he lost absolutely no time informing that I was rude and that I needed to leave immediately. I tried to apologize but he didn't want to hear it, so I went and stood outside until my friends followed me out laughing hysterically. She didn't even buy the cheese cake!

STUDENT FINALLY STARTS RESEARCHING HER MANY PAPERS
I am quickly realizing that I have way less time here than I think I do. The papers are stacking up and I have decided to stop procrastinating and just start them. My sister gave me an encouraging talk and told me to just start researching! So I have. Boom.

FLIGHTS FULL LEAVING MOTHER AND DAUGHTER HEARTBROKEN
Unfortunately my mum will not be able to visit me next week afterall. She was planning on flying stand-by into Manchester, but all the flights have booked up last minute. I am bummed that I won't be able to see her, but that will make seeing everyone at Christmas that much sweeter. I scrambled to fill my week off so that I didn't have to sit here all by my lonesome while everyone else traveled Europe and was able to book a trip to Munich at the end of the week. It's perfect because I will have the beginning of the week to use my reading week to actually catch up academically and then I will head to Germany with a fellow Gator!

NEW COLDPLAY ALBUM
Mylo Xyloto hit stores yesterday and I bought it immediately. I like it more and more everytime I listen to it! This is also good news for the studious side of me because as we all know, Coldplay is the BEST study music.

EDINBURGH NAMED MOST AWESOME CITY IN THE UK
My trip to Edinburgh was incredible! We made use of every minute to soak up this incredibly old city. The city is like a tree stump. The castle is at the heart of the city and it is the oldest. From there Edinburgh spreads out almost in rings, and the further away from the castle you get in any direction, the newer the city is. While we were there we explored the city, visited the old monuments, climbed an ancient volcano, hit a historic pub for dinner and drinks (no, I did not try haggis), went on a ghost tour, slept for the rest of the night, woke up early, had a 2 hour bus tour, saw the Firth of Forth, had lunch where J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book, visited the castle, and of course went into the gift shops. It was a great trip.

Alnwick Castle

Corrections from last post: I did not read for school on the train ride to Alnwick. That was a bold faced lie. Instead I stared out the window at the beautiful country side and counted sheep. Literally.

It was so nice to get out of Manchester, even just for the day. Not that there's anything wrong with Manchester, but traveling across the country to a teeny tiny little town without loud, obnoxious college students to a place with rolling hills, dairy cows, sheep, and farm land was a much needed break from the drone of the city. The Alnwick Castle in the town of Alnwick, England (pronounced Ah-nick...silly Brits)is home to the Percy family. The Percy family's history in Alnwick dates back to the Middle Ages and the castle itself was first built in 1096!!! The Percy family has been living in it since 1309. I don't think I'd ever seen anything so old... you just don't get stuff like that in the States! However, the most important part of this castle's history happened 10 years ago with the filming of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and then with the Chamber of Secrets. The outside of the castle was used for many of the outdoor scenes including, but not limited to, Hagrid's hut, the forbidden forest, the entrance to Hogwarts, the whomping willow, and Madame Hooch's first flying lesson. Check out my pictures on Facebook to see! All in all, it was a great trip.

Only 72 more shopping days until Christmas!

I'm trying really hard not to get too much into the Christmas spirit too early here, but it's really hard. I haven't gone into any department stores yet, but already I have scene window displays and Christmas cards for sale and advertisements for Christmas markets that are just around the corner. It's not even Halloween yet!! To make matters worse, one of my housemates got me hooked on watching British cooking shows about Christmas foods. Currently I have an entire folder full of bookmarked Christmas recipes of crackin' dishes and fun drinks to make. So family, get ready, because I know I'll be desperate to try some of these out when I get home.

Liverpool was great, even if the weather was miserable. I'm looking forward to going back with my mom during my week off!

Check out where I get to go on Saturday: The Alnwick Castle! It's where they shot a lot of the Harry Potter movies. It's about a 3 hour train ride away, but I'm looking forward to it so I can knock out a lot of the reading I have to do over the weekend. I have most of my textbooks on my Kindle so I don't even have to lug my books around! Mom and Dad, best investment ever.

Yes I like stormy weather from my window

This week started off very well, I finally made it out to church! It was a small church (as they all are here) about 20 minutes down the road by bus. The people were great and the service was nice. I met some cool people who love American college football and get together to watch it just about every week because one the guys and his wife has ESPN America and are able to record the games and watch them the next day. I hope I get to join them one of these days!

The glorious weather of last week has disappeared and no one misses it more than me. I think the weather gods have been trying to ease me into it- it was partly cloudy on Monday and in the 60s, but everyday since then it has gotten a little bit colder and a little bit rainier culminating in the mess that was today. The temperature never got above 50 and it was rainy and stormy and windy with a side of hail.

Lectures have been good so far, aside from being totally unprepared for one of my seminars today. I could've sworn that my Econ of Sport prof said on Tuesday that we wouldn't have any readings for our first seminar, so I didn't even check. I showed up to the seminar this afternoon only to find out that not only was there a reading, but also an assignment. Good thing these British professors are big on giving "unassessed assignments" which means if you don't do them, nothing happens to you, except some moderate embarrassment... which believe me, is enough to make you do the assignment. He split us up into groups to talk about our answers amongst eachother, but I obviously couldn't contribute anything to the discussion. It was a shame too because it was an interesting topic. I have already gone back and done the reading and answered the questions for my own benefit. It has taken a lot of effort to get back into the swing of studying and reading and checking my courses websites for assignments, but now that I have all but one of my textbooks (it should be arriving tomorrow) I am finally remembering how to be a student again.

I will be going to Liverpool on Saturday with some of my housemates. It's only a 20 minute train ride away so we will definitely be able to do it in a day. Also in the works as far as traveling is Edinburgh in a couple weeks, Paris in November and maybe Germany or Italy or Prague in December with my dear friend Kristen who is now in Turkey! The last one depends on how cheap I can find flights though... My mom will be joining me for my week off in November and I can't wait to show her around England!!

Some other exciting news around here is the arrival of our long-awaited Hug Mugs! Those of us smart enough to live in halls with meal plans were promised these coveted mugs when we moved in, but were never given a date to expect their arrival. So tonight, after being beaten up by what could have been an awful day (not doing an assignment, class until 6pm, being late for dinner, getting pelted by hail, and over all being totally drenched) I stumbled into dinner to finally receive this glorious hunk of plastic! Really it's just a mug. I think we get like 10 pence or some other negligible amount off hot beverages on campus... but here it is!

We have hail! Not a great day to be walking to Uni...

Back to School

Classes have finally started and so far I love my time table. I don't have class on Mondays! Take a look:


My favorite class so far is the Economics of Sport course. I think we are going to talk a lot about football (and not the American kind) so maybe by the end of it I will have a better appreciation of it.

The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous so far this week. I've even been wearing shorts to class! I think that might be taboo for girls to do, but I don't care. I showed up to my retail marketing class wearing running shorts and a sweatshirt and realized that the class was full of girls who clearly thought Retail Marketing meant "Fashion Marketing"... I think they were shocked when we spent most of the 2 hours talking about Walmart/Asda and different grocery chains.

I have had a really easy time adjusting to life in England, the lifestyle is slightly different (more drunk 18 year-olds) but nothing too different. Obviously as an English speaking American I don't really have to worry about culture shock or anything like that. However, I did underestimate the difference of one MAJOR inconsistency: driving on the left side of the road. I have not attempted to drive a car here (nor do I ever plan on it), but I did get hit by a bike last night. I was crossing the street on my way to the bus stop and since I was only crossing to the median, I looked left, saw there were no cars coming, and stepped out into the street...right in front of a cyclist. He screamed and shoved me out of his way with the strongest stiff arm I've ever seen. He amazingly maintained his balance and I am eternally grateful that it was a bike and not a car, or worse, a bus. Moral of the story is- LOOK RIGHT FIRST WHEN YOU'RE IN THE UK. Just to be safe you should probably look both directions, regardless of what country you're in.

In other news, I have joined the fencing club.

Chompin in Chinatown

We ventured down to Manchester's Chinatown on Saturday with two girls from China as our guide. As stated before, the Chinatown in Manchester is the biggest in the UK, but it was tiny compared to Chicago's Chinatown (which is the only one that I can think of that I have been to off the top of my head). The Chinese girls took the liberty of ordering all our food for us, since real Chinese restaurants eat family style. It was delicious!

We road the Manchester Eye on Friday night (giant ferris wheel) and it was pretty lame and overpriced. I wish I could show you pictures of the city at night but they all turned out blurry. Manchester doesn't have much of a skyline anyway.

Classes started today, but I do not have any on Mondays so I will start tomorrow. And thus ends the longest summer vacation in history (April 30-Sept 27). Boom.

Induction Week

Induction week is the week before actual classes start, and it's been a bit of a bore really. I've had to go to many orientation-like sessions for business exchange students each day and I've learned helpful things such as how to write an essay and site your sources, how to take notes effectively, how to prevent fires in your dorm room, how to find books in the library, and many other things that people generally already know before entering their university years. I've also been reprimanded for switching one of my classes without permission. I didn't realize I needed permission!

It hasn't been all bad though! I went on a walking tour of the downtown area with my business mentor and saw what an awesome city Manchester actually is. There have also been socials through the business school just about every night at different pubs and clubs so we get a feel for the night life. There are so many different clubs/pubs/bars everywhere, it seems like there is something for every genre and interest. The goal this weekend is to find some live music as well as the Chinatown. Apparently Manchester is home to the UK's largest Chinatown which means I will finally get to enjoy Dim Sum again!

PASTY UPDATE: I tried a ham and cheese pasty and a cornish pasty (beef, potatoes, and onions) and while both were delicious, the cheese and onion one is still my favorite.

Enjoy the pics!

View out one of my windows







These are the taxis that are safe to ride in. Apparently if they don't look like this and you get in one and get in an accident, you will not be insured!

PASTIES!

Maureen, please make sure that Mat sees this! This post is for him.


I had my first pasty for lunch today. There were many options, but I chose the cheese and onion one. It was absurdly delicious. Mat, you did not oversell these babies at all. The bakery is about a 10 minute walk from my dorm, on my way to campus, and it has awesome coffee. I think I'll be a regular. The girl that worked there was laughing at me because I was taking pictures of the pasties, but I think we're going to be friends.

Here's a look at the weather today... Time to see if all that rain gear actually works!

Manchester Food

Well I am alive and well in Manchester! The first day was rough... I was totally sleep deprived, without internet, working electrical sockets, a mobile, hot water, or heat. But I made it through and now everything is brilliant.
The first thing I did when I got to my dorm was try to charge my computer, but when I plugged my surge protector into the wall I blew a fuse and the sockets stopped working. When the electrician came to fix it, he confiscated my surge protector and left me a nasty note. Oh well at least I can charge my computer again!

I've made loads of new friends all ready, most of them are freshers (British lingo for freshman), but all of them are super friendly. I've wandered around trying to find my way about the city and I am proud to report that I have yet to get lost. Give me time though.

Best part of the trip so far was buying the Digestives in the top picture. I fell in love with them in Hong Kong and have been craving them ever since! The second picture was breakfast this morning. It is the traditional English breakfast, and yes, those are baked beans. Strange.

no sleep tonight!

Grover and I are ready to go! Maybe my parents won't notice if I sneak him in my luggage...
My flight leaves this evening at 7pm EST and arrives in Manchester at 8:30am GMT (that's 3:30am EST). Then I will fight to stay up the rest of the day, I may allow myself a 1 hour nap. I hope I can sleep on the plane!

Here we go again...

As we all know it is my life long goal to be a blogger, so I jumped at the chance to start another blog of my travels. I will be studying abroad in Manchester, England this semester so stay tuned for all the details of my (hopefully) many adventures. Currently, I am still in Gainesville finishing up my summer internship but I will be returning home Sept. 4 and leave for Manchester on the 14th. Until then I will be studying british-isms and learning all I can about Manchester. If you've been and have any suggestions of places to visit, places to avoid, or things to do, please let me know! Also if you're really interested, you can have this blog emailed to you anytime I update it, so you never actually have to check it. Let me know if you would like to be added to this e-mail list. As always, thanks for reading! See you across the pond!