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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Phx There and Back Again, a Hobbit's tale: Update 3 for 08/03

Discussion in 'SouthWest Region Discussion' started by Anwelei, Jan 17, 2004.

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  1. Anwelei

    Anwelei Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Aug 26, 2001
    Sorry, I couldn't resist the reference to Hobbits!! But hey, I am short, pudgy, curly haired and have tough feet after all, lol.

    Anyway, I just wanted to bid you all insane people officially goodbye for the next few months. I will really really miss you guys while i'm gone but I am coming back, so it won't be all that bad. I'll post every week just so you know i'm alive. :D

    love ya guys tons!
    Linda
     
  2. jupitertronic

    jupitertronic Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Feb 10, 2002
    everyone's going off on their own adventures! it's sad, but at least we still have the internet to keep in touch, right? i'm assuming you're going to england, you lucky duck. say hi to all the gorgeous guys for me, and remember, i still have alan rickman's address if you're still willing to wrap him up and send him to me through fed ex. :D

    best of luck to you. have fun or else i'll fly over there and force you to. :D *hug*
     
  3. Idiots Array

    Idiots Array Jedi Knight star 5

    Registered:
    Jan 3, 2000
    Good luck and have fun. :)
     
  4. KnightWriter

    KnightWriter Administrator Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 6, 2001
    Best wishes to you! :)

    Have yourself a good time, and come back safely.
     
  5. sideshow212

    sideshow212 Former RSA star 4 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 3, 2002
    take care kid... ;)
     
  6. jada_marnew

    jada_marnew Jedi Knight star 5

    Registered:
    Feb 22, 2003
    Ah man! :( Just when I was getting to know you :_|

    Good luck, be safe and don't do anything Void wouldn't do. ;)
     
  7. Kirana_T

    Kirana_T Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    May 28, 2002
    See you in June! Have fun being the token Mexican. ;)
     
  8. Jedi_Wench

    Jedi_Wench Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 8, 2002
    [face_laugh] I [face_love] you Kirana... "token Mexican". Thats rich!

    Anyway, I'm am profoundly jealous of world travelers like yourself Anwelei! I've always wanted to travel to England and Europe and Asia and New Zealand, you name it, I want to go. My parents are in Spain right now and I'm thoroughly green with envy.

    Have a TON of fun and soak up their wonderful accents...small Island, lots of accents. I can't wait to one day go there and here those two delicious words spoken by a true Londoner..

    "Bloody 'ell!"
     
  9. Mobius

    Mobius Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2002
    Have a wonderful time! I love it over there, and I'm jealous you get to spend dso much time there.
     
  10. kreleia

    kreleia Jedi Knight star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 14, 2000
    **hugs Linda**

    Fellow founder!! Enjoy England!! Home of far too many lucious actors and actresses to be named here. :D And, yeah, do everything everyone's said. You won't regret it. [face_mischief]

    We'll miss you!!

    (heh, Ben and Santi will have to find some other people to amuse... ;) )
     
  11. KREATOR

    KREATOR Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Apr 28, 2003
    Drop a bomb on Wiltshire for me.

    lol (evil grin)

    (for those of you who dont know my x-wife lives there someplace....a nuke should do it)
     
  12. MexChewie

    MexChewie Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 19, 2002
    We had talked about all the "token" ethnicities you can be there in England, Mexican being but one of many she can employ. Have fun and DO come back.

    P.S. You got me to thinking, maybe I should write a bit about Frodo Baggins Garcia's adventure. The story of Frodo's cousin from the Southside of the Shire who followed Sam and Frodo to Mordor.
     
  13. MJ_Keehan_Sundve

    MJ_Keehan_Sundve Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 12, 2002
    A cousin...

    Whose aunts dress up in their Sunday best to go to a birthday party at "el parque."

    Who can run, and play futbol in chanclas.

    Who is scared of La Llorona and El CuCuy.

    Who refers to cereal as Con Fleys

    Who, when he is sick, rubs Vicks into his nostrils to relieve the symptoms.

    Oh dear... I really am Mexican.


    Have fun, Linda!
     
  14. Anwelei

    Anwelei Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Aug 26, 2001
    Ah yes, the first update... (apologies, it's a doozie!)

    Well, I have to say I am in love with British Airways. While I had very little leg room in World Traveller Class (AKA Coach) flying overnight to England last Sunday, I had a TV in front of my face, dinner, breakfast, snacks, wine, bottle water, juice, a pillow, toothbrush, toothpaste, socks, sleeping mask, a blanket and really friendly stewards and stewardesses. The hobbit in me really adored all the food that kept coming for no apparent reason. I slept and watched movies. I even stored a bite of food away for the looong journey to Leeds. All in all, this 10 hour flight was less of a pain than flying to Chicago from Phoenix, teehee.

    A friend of mine travelling to Spain even flew on my flight by sheer coincidence (Kreleia, it was Santi from IV ;)), and sitting next to him talking for a few hours before I passed out somewhere over Canada helped calm my frazzled nerves. I really needed familiar company by the time we landed in the cold rainy outskirts of London. I was freaking out by the time.

    Anyway, so, like I KNEW It was cold here and I KNEW the sun set really early and I KNEW that everything in England closes shockingly early, but actually having to walk around in freezing temperatures all day and all night, finding it dark at 5 pm and having downtown close around 5 and the grocery store close by 7 pm is quite a shock. I saw a sign downtown (which is really lovely except for the McDonalds Cafe) that said "Late Night Shopping in Leeds--- Shop till 7pm!". I really wanted to die laughing except it was raining for the 3rd time that day and i really wanted to get back to my flat and dry out.

    OOh I visited Liverpool on Saturday. Brilliant place. Not only are there random homages to the Beatles everywhere (there's a giant yellow submarine lying on the grass next to the harbor and a world famous Beatle store back round the Cavern walks) the downtown shopping area is suited to pedestrians and fun to walk around in. The Cavern Club! Oh my Lord, it was great. I can see why it's called the Cavern Club. You've got to walk down a narrow staircase deep underground and end up in a long narrow brick cavern, dark as night with only a few lamps to light the tables, and a roaring, loud band at the end of the place. Feels like a proper rock concert. [sigh] ah, so nice to visit a personal mecca. Bar served coke for only 90p too. I was happy for that.

    I found the Customs Museum In liverpool strangely interesting. You will not believe how people attempt to smuggle all sorts of stuff now and in the past into England. I took a picture of some of the weapons people were caught with including throwing stars, a knife that also functions as a pistol, a deadly stun gun, a walking stick with a sword in it and a shotgun that also has a sword in it. we'll see if it comes out. They've a Titanic exhibition there is small but amazing. They've also got a walk through for the slave trade. Walking around in the bowels of a dark ship like the ones used to transport humans so long ago was CREEPY. so was the walk through exhibit of immigrants to the USA.

    OH yeah, for all the Harry Potter fans, the uni students really do say "3rd years" and "ickle firsties"! and I did take the picture of Platform 9 & 3/4, it's actually marked with a sign in King's Cross.

    What else? oh, i dislike my flat immensely (for those of you who know ASU well, St Mark's flats feel like i'm living in a quiet Manzanita dorm with the less than clean floors and walls. No matter how much i clean, my shoes stick to the kitchen floor) but my flatmates are amazingly cool. We are all international students. I represent the Americas, while the other girls are from Uganda, Ghana, China and Taiwan. I'm the youngest and the oldest is 31, who's married. Her husband is still in their country. I'm also the only undergrad student.

    BY THE WAY! They have a MEXICAN FOOD section in the Morrisons grocery store here! HUZZAH! It's an ickle little thing (awwwww), but still, i've got access to something Mexican American! I grabbed some
     
  15. Jedi_Wench

    Jedi_Wench Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 8, 2002
    WOW! I am so completely jealous, you have NO idea! Sounds like you're having a blast! I love hearing about other countries, especially England. Tell us more, tell us more!

    I love it that they have a platform 9 and 3/4, and that they really do say "ickle firsties"! [face_laugh]

    England isn't the only place that shuts down early, my parents are in Spain and they emailed me today to tell me that the work day only lasts from 9 am to 2 pm and that everything shuts down at 2 and then reopens again in the evening. Things really hop around supper time 9pm and they party into then night, but 2 pm! WOW!
     
  16. Princess_Skywalker_

    Princess_Skywalker_ Jedi Youngling star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 5, 2002
    Hope you are having lots and lots of British fun fellow hobbit. ;) I heard a rumor there may be 3 hobbits having fun searching for Harry Potter sometime in June... Hmm... ;p
     
  17. Anwelei

    Anwelei Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Aug 26, 2001
    AHHH I forgot to post this last week! (or was it the week before last? Time is FLYING) At any rate, I did send this out via email, but I have very few addys of the PFF. Well if you did get it, you don't have to read anymore because you already did! True, I did edit it a little bit, but still. and if you didn't get, now you can read it.


    Update for weeks two and three. (I do realise I'm way behind. I'll catch up on updates, I promise)


    Well, nothing much has been going on except lectures and getting to know people here in Leeds. I've decided I like my lectures for the most part. I've had a couple sessions that were really boring (Religion in Modern Britain) and others that I was sadly excited to be in (Stars & Sorcery, Religion in Modern Britain, it was a very informative one day), so I think I'm having a better than average term so far!

    I have more to say on crisps:
    I tried Bacon and Bacon & Cheese flavoured crisps today, and I love them both. I'm also now fond of prawn and mayo sandwiches (that's shrimp and mayo mmmmmmm), addicted to pasties, and heavily dependent on Cadbury's chocolate, particularly Dairy Milk bars. Believe it or not, I think they're better than Hershey's, and for me, that's saying something! It's also very bad that I found you can get huge Dairy Milk bars 2 for a £1 at the local City Market. VERY dangerous for me. AHHH. I also found six Aero Mint Chocolate bars for a £1 at the same place too. SO WRONG, hah.


    As for getting to know people, I'm hanging out with people from Christian Union. After one of the Christian Union meetings, I went to a pub with a couple of them and chatted the night away. Yes, Christians drinking in a pub, apparently it's normal here, haha. One of my favourite parts of the night was when the three guys in our group began discussing heads on beer, and how a good head seals in the beer/lager's flavour, or else you get a flat beer ten minutes later, the deep colour of the drink, who likes beer on tap or in bottles, etc. I swear I've NEVER heard anything like that in the US. It's hilarious. They should have been discussing wine!


    In a seminar class I've got, one of the guys turned out to have visited Phoenix and hiked up Camelback Mountain. He said it was "bloody hot" especially because he and his friends forgot to bring water. He complained they were extremely dehydrated when they got to the end of the trail and he's never been in someplace so hot before. Thinking he must have been sadly out of his mind and hiked in the summer, I asked him what time of year he went. Answer: January!!!! AHAHAHA, so funny, at least to me. At least he was smart enough not to visit in June! He would have melted on the spot.


    Oh that note, I end this update.

    ~Anwelei
     
  18. Anwelei

    Anwelei Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Aug 26, 2001
    Update time!! Besides all the course work i'm blatently avoiding, I've managed to sightsee a bit, which I really needed to do.

    Two Saturdays ago I visited the ruins of a local abbey 3 miles from Leeds city centre, Kirkstall Abbey. As it is "well preserved", most of the abbey is still standing. The place is huge, beautiful. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought it was a castle. I can't even begin to describe the beauty of seeing this massive stone edifice in the late morning sun filtering though the bare trees and clouds, waiting to be admired on a background of green grass, purple flowers and melting snow. Even with the few people walking the grounds and traffic in the background, I felt transported to medieval England. Sadly though, to preserve the place from graffetti, it's locked up so you can't but walk around the thing. The scant remains of the guesthouse next door are open though, and it was fun just scrambling around the place where visitors would have stayed up to 800 years ago. (the Abbey was first built in the 13th century and the guesthouse was one of the first in England to have indoor plumbing!)

    The abbey museum was entertaining. It's a mixture of several different themes. The top floor chronicles the history of the abbey (It's a hard life being a monk, i tell you!), the second the history of the city of Leeds itself, and the bottom ground floor recreated two victorian streets, cobbled stones, shops, sounds and all. There were even some period costumes I couldn't take pictures of because they were 1. gorgeous and 2. sensitive to light. (sorry to all the costumers, you would have loved the clothes) Grrr.

    This past Saturday I visted the city of York (which looks nothing like New York, I swear). I wish you all would have been with me! It's so amusing and i think pretty much everone in the PFF would have loved all the weapons and violence from the past I kept running into. ;)

    Anyway, the city dates back to Roman times, when it was a fort way back when. The city centre is surrounded by a medieval defense wall, so of course I immediately walked around half the city on the wall, pretending I was an archer defending the city. Yes I am a nerd, shut up. I know some of you would have at least had that thought. Ahem. ;-p

    In the course of walking the wall and trying not to fall off the darn thing when I passed other tourists, I came upon a tiny little museum on the site where the heads of captured enemies were spiked on poles, haha. It was creepy up there in that room with the latex heads in various stages of decomposition with the names of the corresponding real heads that once graced the tower. I also got to pick up a set of chain mail that would have fit Gimli and was it heavy. Yikes! My kingdom for some mithril!

    One of the best attractions in York is the Jorvik Viking Centre. After the Romans, the Norse took up residence and called the place Jorvik (pronounced Your-Vic). The museum is on the spot of an archeological dig focusing on the Norse Jorvik city. The first part is amazing. It's like a Disney ride. (Eisner, take note!) I got into a time capsule pod and rode through Jorvik recreated: the mannequins (based on skeletons found in the dig) spoke the language, played and fished, worked and even *smelled* like the past. Yes, SMELLED. The ride's designers took special pleasure in riding the time capsule right by the dude having issues in the toilet. Dear God, did it smell. *gag* [face_plain] [face_laugh](Random fact: The city's river was so polluted that everyone had to drink beer, including the children!)

    The rest of the museum housed the actual dig's artifacts and the more features on Viking life. For instance: there was a skeleton of a young farmer who died in battle from some vicious wounds. Check this out: his ribs were chipped from sword thrusts, he was stabbed so hard with a spear in the stomach it chipped his pelvis, and he was hit so hard in the legs that whatever hit him scratched his bones. He was also cut across the face so that the blade sliced a bit of bone off his jaw
     
  19. Commander_Choad

    Commander_Choad Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 11, 2002
    I remember York... Had a good time there.

    I'm jealous... :D
     
  20. Jedi_Knight_Birr

    Jedi_Knight_Birr Retired RSA star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 27, 2002
    that sounds like such a neat place. all that history. its sounds to cool!
     
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