Sleep deprivation is catching up with me

So I bought my tickets from Liverpool like st station, and it told me to go to Liverpool central which was across the road, and I was like hmm that's strange they have two stations right next to each other. Then I go in and it has those massive escalators that go down, two sets of them, and of course I was like wow this is like DC how strange, like not even dawning on me. Then I get underground and it has those maps like in subway stations and I'm all confused, and there is no time on my ticket and blah blah blah. I find where I'm supposed to be and I look up on the wall and all the stops are street names, and it has the map showing which one you take for which street and it hits me, I'm like holy shit, I'm taking the tube. The train station gave me tickets for a subway into wales so that I can get to the next station to get to holyhead. 

The ferry I took was more of a car ferry than foot passenger ferry, it was still nice, and extremely massive, and it had the normal lounge, cafe, bar and seating areas as the last ferry, but it didn't have the spa, or as nice of a movie theatre, or a play area for kids. I realized the ferry I took to Scotland from Belfast was foot passenger only ferry, and people will take it as a day trip for a nice cruise, where you can fine dine, go to the spa and enjoy the open water.

When I got to Dublin, it didn't seem like anything special, and to be honest it wasn't my absolute favorite. It really was just a big city, but there was plenty to do there, and it was another party capital. I did enjoy the hostel where I was staying, it was very social, and if you went downstairs you were guaranteed to end up in a conversation. I did try to stick in some touristy things, even though I was only in Dublin from 6pm on Thursday to 9am on Saturday. Which gave me Thursday evening and  all day Friday. I ended up doing a pub crawl because I was convinced by a group of people I met in the hostel, when I went out, It was such a massive group of people that they had to split us up. Even after we were split there were still so many people it was impossible to not be trying to hold like 6 different conversations at once. I met tons of people, and I even met a group of English guys in town to see Mumford and Sons, which I didn't even know about, and was upset cuz I literally was in the same town as them, and I didn't go and see them. Maybe Jonathan and I will eventfully get to do that. 

While actually in Dublin, I did a walking tour, and I went to the Guinness storehouse, which was basically a museum, but it was interactive, and I leaned more about Guinness. I was actually able to drink almost half of my pint at the end of the tour so I was proud that I made it that far. It tastes much better straight from the source than it does out of a bottle or can. Dublin was amazing because of the people I met within Dublin, but the city itself was just a massive city, and I have found that I tend to prefer the small cities. 

Being in a different country is starting to become more apparent than it originated seemed to be. When I was getting my train ticket and going through the train station, I realized that the system was complexly different, as well as the trains. I actually really like the train that I toon from Dublin to Galway, each set of seats had a table, and they were nice cushioned seats, it definitely seemed like a newer train. Another thing is the euro is used over here, and I'm once again trying to get used to different currency, and trying to figure out which coin is worth €1 or €2 and it's all mixed in with my American money and the pound. My wallet has gotten more complicated. The Irish also seem to be very bitter about the English and the influence it's had over the country, because they don't want to be associated with the UK, and they want to make sure you know they are their own country. 

My next pet will be a superlambanana

So today I did a walking your in Liverpool after a failed attempt to do laundry, and a depressingly empty common room, where I didn't want to do homework happened. So basically I left to go pick up my tickets for tomorrow so I wouldn't have to do it really early in the morning, and I ran into this free walking your. It happened to be all people from my hostel and I decided it would be a good way to pass 3 hours, and maybe learn about Liverpool beyond the Beatles. Which I did. Turns out Liverpool has a ton of history, from the civil war, to World War II. I even went into a few museums on my own (gasp). One museum I went in had an exhibit about what it was like on the boats back in the 1700s on the way to America, and they had it set up like you were on a dark dingy boat with bunk houses and all that, but it felt like I was in a haunted house with manic and stating at me, so I raced through it and that was the end of my museum adventures. My tour guide who is from Chicago told me about an above average Mexican food place here, which means it's acceptable, and I went and got a burrito. It really wasn't Mexican food, but they did a really good job of trying and I wasn't disappointed. It reminded me more of the burritos I used to get in Collins while at Baylor, where it wasn't Mexican food, but it came close. I was happy and I really can't complain. 

Other things I leaned on this walking tour:

1. There are such things as lambananas

2. The reason you see purple trash bins around Liverpool is because of the rivalry between Liverpools two soccer teams, one red and one blue.

3. Liverpool has a mascot bird which is somewhat of a myth, know as a liver bird pronounced lie-ver

4. There is a red phone booth inside of one of Liverpools cathedrals

5. There is a pub here, the Philharmonic, which had marble urinals. I saw them. 

6.  Liverpool used to be a dirty, scary place with a big mud hole in the middle until the last 10 years when in 2003 they spent over 1 billion pounds to fix the city center. 

So in summary, I'm glad I came to Liverpool, and I'm glad I stumbled into this walking tour. Liverpool is a strange strange place. Here have a picture.

I also got an ice cream come while on the pier today, and it had one of those chocolate things I was talking about in yesterday's blog, so I took a picture so that it might make more sense.

Welsh sheep are fuzzy and cute

Cardiff surprised me with how much I actually enjoyed it, I went in with low expectations and ended up meeting some of the most amazing people, and having a really good time. When I first arrived I saw a different language and everyone in party mode (turns out it was a rugby match everyone was in the streets about). After talking to a guy from wales he told me that it was just a minor rugby match, because if they were playing England, I would know. It know that I never want to get caught in any British country/city/town when a major sporting even happens, it's rough enough when a minor, every weekend type of game happens. Yesterday was great, and I had an amazing time, with some great company. We went to the welsh folk museum, which had old houses from all over wales that were taken down and reassembled in this little park with another castle at the top

. It was right outside of wales, but Dan drove us, which was an experience in itself. The roads are so tiny, and the road rules are completely different, and every time I looked up I thought we were on the wrong side of the road, it was easier to just not worry about it. At the welsh folk museum we got ice cream and enjoyed the sunny day, and then Dan insisted on buying me a sheep for me to remember wales by (which is very appropriate).

We then went to Cardiff bay, where ate pizza walked around by the doctor who experience, and hung out by the water. I'm really living the Italian food here, it's amazingly delicious and fattening, and not really like what we have at home. It makes me want to go to Italy just so I can gain weight by eating pasta and cheese. The weather was so lovely, and since I spent the day outside I came home with a sunburn. I am actually proud of the sunburn because I didn't think it was really possible to burn in this country. I am not alone though, just walking down through the city center almost every white person you see has a sunburn, these people take advantage of good weather, but their skin is similar to mine, and it doesn't end well. I ended last night with reading and finishing up some English homework, but I'm not done, sadly I have about 10 quizzes all due by Thursday, but each quiz is 10 questions except for one 50 question one, so Liverpool may be sitting in a Starbucks, or the common room of the hostel trying to catch up. Once I get those finished up, I have two more papers, and I'll be done with homework until I get home. 

If someone were to ask me to describe Cardiff, the Saturdays are insane, with people everywhere watching ruby, having hen and stag parties (bachelor and bachelorette), birthday parties, weekends away, and basically anyone just wanting a night out. Sunday nights, and Monday nights are quiet and relaxing, and the town almost seems empty, but you still get one or two people wandering around. The welsh people are a different breed as well, I really didn't think that wales and England were any different, but boy was that wrong. Though the welsh are very nice, they seem to be more country, with smaller towns, lots of farmers, and some impossible to understand. My friend Dan who was born and raised in wales agreed that, even though he is welsh and has lived here his entire life, there are still some people he can't understand either. It's amazing how you can take this tiny country of wales and still get tons of different accents from different regions. 

The heat had made it hard to sleep, between having at least 5 other people in the room with you, no fans or air conditioners (because they normally aren't necessary) it gets stuffy and with it being about 80 in the day, the last few nights have been rough, but I showered last night which helped cool me off. 

Sunday morning I got up and had British pancakes with Antonia and Anna-Sophia, which were really big square thin unsweetened crepe type things with whatever you wanted on top, I had Nutella and bananas but it really wasn't all that impressive, I would take an American pancake over that any day. The amount of Nutella I've eaten since I've been over here is probably unhealthy though, these people love Nutella, and for breakfast at almost all the hostels you get an option of Nutella, or some kind if orange jelly on toast, sugarless nasty cereal, and tea, which isn't a bad, breakfast but I have eaten my body weight in Nutella, or it feels that way. I have also eaten another english breakfast and quite enjoyed it.

I decided to try a candy bar last night, as a reward for finishing my homework and a short walk to the corner store. I under up trying a galaxy ripple thinking that sounded yummy, milk chocolate with a ripple in the middle. I had no idea what a ripple was and as it turns out, it was the texture of the chocolate, it almost seemed like they layered multiple sheets of chocolate on top of each other with waves in then so they didn't lie flat, and then coated that in more chocolate. It was nice smooth chocolate, but it wasn't quite what I was hoping for. While at the hostel though I came across hot chocolate crisps. I swear these people and their strange chip flavors are forever going to amaze/disgust me. 

Alcohol, while I haven't drunken much while over here, partially because I would prefer to spend my money on coffee, because it tastes a heck of a lot better, I have become a big fan of ciders. Koppaburg is my absolute favorite, it tastes like sparkly sweet yummy juice. I've also tried some local ciders and strongbow is always a safe bet. I'm glad I have kind of tried some beers and ciders out just know what I do and don't like. when i go back I'll miss koppaburg, but I won't mind having the excuse that I'm underage again.

While I was out yesterday, and at the train station I took a few pictures of some signs so that you could see for yourself that, you really do have to look for the English translation, and a lot of the times, like in the train station, the English translation still looks foreign. I say that because, just look up some welsh town names and just try to pronounce them for a nice little giggle.

Liverpool is ok, it's just a huge city, with nothing to do unless you're a Beatles fan, I saw a museum I might pop in tomorrow if I need a break from homework, but other than that, I'm really just here to get to Dublin. 

Am I in Las Vegas, or Cardiff?

Wales definitely feels like another country. Being in Scotland felt generally the same as England and Northern Ireland, except they had thick accents that could be hard to understand. Here though, in Cardiff everything feels different, the people, the town, and the overall atmosphere. The second I stepped off the train, I had to do a double take because all of the signs were in welsh, and I had to search for English translations. That led caused me to take forever to find my way out of the station, and managed to get what I thought was completely lost. Walking down the Main Street looking for my hostel was another complete shock. The amount of people out drinking in the streets at 3pm and the ruckus from sports games, the women and men shopping and out for a good day of fun almost made me feel like what I imagine Vegas to be like. I found my hostel checked in, where I have a lovely spacious room with all females, and I met two really sweet girls, one from Berlin and one from  Zurich. then went to a pub for some food, and instantly met a couple from Gloucester who talked to me while I ate. They were just spending a weekend in Cardiff for a change of scenery, and a weekend away. They were an older couple in their later 50's and they were kind and had many life stories to share which included some stories about bad chicken from meat markets, and talk about Camden town.

Since I was eating at a spanish bar, all of the dishes sounded unfamiliar to me, and I asked the couple for a recommendation. when I got my meal, these suckers came out, and I got a lesson in how to eat crawdads.When I went back to my hostel I hung out in the common room just to see if I could meet some people. I met a group of guys who were gushing about my American accent and invited me to go to the strip club with them, and I politely refused. Then after they got up to go get ready a hairdresser from Cardiff that is friends with the owner of the hostel came and sat down next to me and started talking about how he was going to take me out to his favorite bars, I wasn't completely comfortable with him though, and thankfully Antonia a girl from Germany that was staying in the same room as me came in and saved me. We decided to let him show us a local pub which was actually really neat, and something we never would have found on our own. After listening to a live band there, we decided to ditch the hairdresser and go find cheesy food. We found some Mozzarella sticks and French fries and ate them while discussing our next plan. The thing about Cardiff night life, is it's even more insane than it is in the day. There were bachelor and bachelorette parties happening left and right, literally all over the place, and there were people in costumes, and people in fancy suits all just walking up and down the streets. You had your normal guys and girls dressed up for a night out, and you even had some guys just walking around in thongs. It was really completely different from anything I had ever seen. Even just walking down the street talking to Antonia I was stopped multiple times by people wanting to talk to me because of my American accent. After we had our cheesy food we decided to head back to the hostel but met these girls who got us into this club for free. There we met these guys from wales that were celebrating a friends birthday but the friend wasn't around. We talked to them for a while and they took us to another local place that was really nice and Antonia and I got to dance some before deciding it was time to go back to the hostel. When we got back to the hostel, the original group of guys were there and were asking us where we had been, we told them we had gone to multiple places and they started begging us to go for another beer. It was 2 am at this point and we were both ready for bed, so we just went up to our room. Not even 5 minutes later there was knocking on our door and multiple guys telling for us to go get a beer. Luckily everyone was still out and it was just me and Antonia in there so they were disturbing anyone. They continued to knock and plead for about 15 minutes before they realized we weren't coming out. Hanging out with another girl was nice for a change, and we even got up and had pancakes together for breakfast. Maybe I will meet back up with her in Ireland, because she is thinking about heading that way around the same time I am. Today I found a park right along side a river directly behind the castle, and I've got plans to read, catch up on homework and have a nice relaxing Sunday in the warm sunny weather. 

Cardiff has been an experience and in curious to see if it calms down during the week, or if this place is always this crazy. 

Sally Lunns Buns are to Die for

This morning I went to the oldest house in bath, and ate one of the famous Sally Lunn buns, and old secret recipe they found hidden behind a secret cubbord in the wall. There really is no way to describe it other than a massive hamburger bun, cut in half, but it tastes more like a pastry. You can have many many different toppings on it, and I had a strawberry cream and meringue topping. It tasted like strawberries in a sweet heavy cream with freeze dried ice cream chunks mixed in. It was delicious and I'm so glad I decided to try it out despite the fact it looked like a hamburger bun. 

I then decided to just walk and browse around outside since its a whopping 75 degrees. Basically unheard of over here. I'm even wearing shorts and a tank top today, it's the most amazing thing I could have possibly asked for. 

I met a guy named will today while hanging out outside of the bath abbey. He works for a company called Friends of the Earth, that originated in the US. He had dreadlocks and he was very hippy, and reminded me of David, he had the same kind of passion. He was really kind and you could tell he cared about what he did. He kept me entertained for a while and he gave me some pointers on what beer to drink while in the west of England. 

I really didn't do much today, I ended up buying more medicine, and just taking it easy since I had the worst night last night. The room I was in was full and at 2 am we could hear people on the streets drunk and yelling, but the worst part was that I was sick, I had a fever, and I was completely congested. Since I got more medicine I'm feeling much better, and I even bought some fresh veggies and raw meat to cook up for dinner. After dinner I have plans to read for class and get to bed early. I leave for Cardiff in the morning, and I've only heard really good things about it, so I'm quite excited. Bath is lovely, but it's really populated with tourists which makes it slightly less appealing. It's definitely one of the more prettier cities though. I took a walk around a neighborhood area, and it was gorgeous, I would absolutely love to live in any of those houses. 

The Roamens knew how to pamper

So I remember hearing a story once about how Kyle Horton had a friend from Ireland that he took to get dinner at a pizza place. It was funny because he talked about how he had to essentially translate for the Irish guy to the waiter, and when he asked for beer with his meal, he was shocked that they didn't have alcohol and exclaimed "no beer?!?" This story suddenly makes much more sense to me. It is essentially unheard of to have a restaurant here that doesn't serve alcohol. A lot of the times I will get meal deals that have the drink included, and when I don't order and alcoholic drink, they get confused and normally discount it for me. Even in the grocery store next to the pre-made sandwiches and salads they have personal sized bottles of wine. It's a really strange concept to be in a country with such lax alcohol laws after growing up in a place where it's a huge deal.

I met some texans this morning from midland. Not only did they know Cloudcroft, but we shared a moment of silence for the lack of Mexican food over here. They've been traveling since January, and they still have yet to find anything to satisfy their craving for it. 

In Brighton I met a hairdresser that was in Cambodia for the last two years, and he just came back, and was looking for a flat to live in Brighton. He decided he wanted to come back and do hair, but not in the London area anymore. He made my last night in Brighton really fun,  and between him and a guy from Spain we were all on the floor laughing by the end of the night. The guy from Spain went to a salsa class and when he came back he was telling us that it is essential that a woman has good smelling skin to have a good dace. The way foreigners word sentences will forever crack me up. Brighton also had the most massive shopping area I have ever seen. Especially over here in the UK it seemed out of place. There is a chain around here called boots which is a pharmacy, sephora, Walgreens type store all in one. It was the size of the Alamogordo mall, with a second story as well. They had an indoor shopping mall like I'm used to, and there were no random grocery stores thrown in either. It was bigger than the El Paso mall, and I got lost multiple times, and never found where I had originally come in. One of the more strange stores of here is a M&S or marks and Spenser's. the best way I can describe it is like a Dillard's, but then you just randomly find a grocery store in the middle of it, and a cafe off to the side. It is the biggest grocery store I have found in Bath so far, and you would never know it had groceries by the looks of it. 

Bath is great, it's amazing seeing these 1000 year old buildings and just knowing that where you were standing is where Roman soldiers used to come. It was religious grounds, and the Bath Abby is gorgeous as well. Nothing like the York Minister, but very impressive.

Right outside bath Abby is the big square with benches just lining the area, and I sat and people watched for a while just to rest my feet before I was ready to eat. It's graduation day for one of the university's here so it was mostly people in caps and gowns running around outside. I also found an amazing gelato shop, and I had black cheery gelato and grape gelato. Both were so good, and the grapes made me remember how much I loved frozen grapes. I could literally spend all of my money there just eating gelato all day. After the gelato I decided I had a craving for some pizza, and so I found a real Italian cafe (when I say cafe, it still served wine and liqueur) and I instantly felt like I was in Italy. I say that because it'd run by Italians that don't speak English and their menu is in Italian. I asked for a small pizza, or a personal size and ended up with three pieces of toast, with goats cheese, pesto, un-identifiable meat, and tomatoes.

It didn't taste awful, but it wasn't pizza. 

I'm going to take a quick nap while it rains and go back out once it dies up (fingers crossed it will). 

New Zealand Loves RG3

Bath is beautiful, the second you get off the train you can see the gorgeous historic buildings lining the river.

The hostel is great, the beds are comfy it has a huge common room, and the best part, the showed are clean and separated. The hostel in Brighton was strange, the weirdest part about it was that it had an open shower in the room, making it possible for everyone to watch you shower while in bed. I showered the first day since I had the room to myself, but lets just say I wasn't the best smelling person the next two days. One of the first things I did in bath was grab a shower. I also walked around and got lost, but from that I found Jika Jika, a coffee shop Nigel made me promise to try, and I ate dinner there before I found my way back. I never get much done on the travel days. I had an easy trip over, and I even fell asleep on the train. I think the cough medicine makes me drowsy and I've been taking it to try to control my cough, I feel like I sound diseased. I also found a really nice park in bath, where I hung out before coming back to the hostel and meeting about 8 people from New Zealand and 6 from Australia, all traveling separately. We talked for a long time, and one guy from New Zealand even knew who RG3 was when I mentioned Baylor and the extreme August heat. 

I have plans to do the Roman baths tomorrow, maybe check out the cathedral, and enjoy the city center. Friday I might take a trip to stone henge. As for right now, I'm still trying to get over this sickness. I promise tomorrow I will have a more detailed blog on both Brighton and Bath. I wrote out a big nice detailed blog, and of course I accidentally deleted it, and I had no way to get it back.