My week(ish) in Manchester.

I went home with my flatmate last week. Here's a little look at our trip to the north:

I kept wanting to get in on the wrong side...

Probably my fav resident of the Chester Zoo.

Old Trafford Stadium.

"The Trinity."

My first Sunday roast! Complete with Yorkshire pudding. Courtesy of Hannah's momma.

 Such a great time!

Wednesday randoms.

Well, life's been pretty slow lately, but here are some randoms nonetheless:

We've started watching Pride and Prejudice. I say "started watching" instead of "watched," because it's the BBC version that's like forever long. But Collin Firth makes such a perfect Mr. Darcy that it doesn't bother me a bit.

I'm not sure if it's just my imagination, but I'm fairly certain that the Pizza Hut pizzas here are smaller than in the States.

I think I've finally found a church. I went to Hillsong in central London this weekend, and loved it. It reminded me so much of ACC in Waco, so it kind of felt like home.

I'm also hoping to help out with the children's ministry there -- I used to work with kids all the time, and I seriously miss it!

On the way back from church, a woman stopped me on the street to ask how I'd done my hair. It was really funny, because as I was explaining it to her (which is really hard to do using only words!), she circled around me, trying to figure it out. It looked like this (except not as perfectly executed):

(from loveMaegan)

Anyway, it's really not as hard as it looks, but no one ever believes me when I say that. But once she left, another lady asked me about it, and we ended up chatting a while till the bus came. So yay for conversation-starting hairstyles!

I'm going to Manchester with my flatmate this weekend. We'll be there almost a whole week, so I'm pretty excited. Also, there's a Manchester United game on Sunday, and she's warned me explained that her whole fam is just as crazy for ManU as she is...so it should be quite interesting!

Remember how I said I'm getting better at understanding British accents? Well after watching some stand up comedy here, I take it back! I had to concentrate really hard to make out what the guy was saying, and half the time even if I did understand, the joke was lost on me because I'd be unfamiliar with whatever cultural reference he made. Still, the little I did get was pretty hilarious. I love British humor...super sarcastic. My kind of people.

Well, that's it for me!
 

Books.

Since I don't have any coursework to do, I'm finally getting to read for fun! Now, that might not sound like a big deal to you, but I'm one of those crazy people who actually likes to read. A lot. Last year (like 2010, not 2011...time flies) all I wanted for Christmas was books, and I read about 20 over the next seven months.

So now that I have time to read, I'm really happy.

I wanted to read this book, mostly because I love Mindy Kaling:

But they didn't have it in the bookstore. It was also kind of embarrassing to request (because of the title), and I'm pretty sure the clerk guy judged me. Whatever. They said they'd order it for me, but knowing I had less than 2 weeks of freedom, I decided I shouldn't waste any time and started on a different one.

So I borrowed this classic from Hannah:

I hadn't read it in years. Probably not since I was about thirteen. It's even more depressing now that it makes more sense to me. And I still hate the ending.

That one only took a couple of days, so then I borrowed this one:

I'd never read it, and so far it's...well it's okay. That might be blasphemous, because it's supposed to be one of the all-time greats. Oh well. It's a quick read, though. I started this afternoon, and I've only got about 70 pages left. I read fast. It's kind of a bummer sometimes.

But that's fine, because Lisa said I could borrow this one next:

I've been wanting to read it for a while now. And I haven't seen the film yet, because I feel like I've got to read it first. (Side note: I hate buying books that have covers from the movie. I don't really know why, but it feels like I'm cheating on the book or something.)

Anyway, that should last me most of the next week. And then classes will be starting up again.

Perfect.

Happiness.

Happiness is browned butter blueberry muffins with tea on a lazy Monday morning.

Now to finish that book...

  

Geographical stereotypes part 2.

Okay, so remember how I said geographical stereotypes are huge here? Well the thing that I love most that is all the different accents (and the impressions everyone tries to do for me since I'm mostly clueless). Since you're not here to sit around and listen to people to accents in my kitchen, this is the next best thing.

Disclaimer: I'm not sure how accurate all these are, but it'll give you a good enough idea.

His urban London youth accent isn't that great, but maybe that's just because I know it best. (Probly cos we always takin the piss ou ov, innit tho love?) And while there are still times when I have absolutely no idea what someone's just said, I've gotten a lot better at understanding people in general. I hardly even notice my friends' accents anymore, actually.

Still can't do a good British accent myself, but that's okay, because I've yet to hear a good American impression.

 

Geographical stereotypes.

Something I've learned about the UK is that there are major geographical stereotypes here. It's crazy that, in such a small country, there can be such a well-known and distinct personality for every region. And the accents vary widely, as well. My flatmate is from up north, and since London is in the south, people comment on it all the time - "You're so northern!" 

I mean, we have that in the States too. 

I'm mostly "Mexico-ish", with a side of "Yes sir and yes ma'am" and a pinch of "Chicago and grass."

But what's weird is that even though the Americans in our building come from very different regions of the country -- California, Michigan, Virginia, New Mexico -- none of us have very identifiable accents (okay, so maybe one does), and we all have pretty similar personalities. In fact, people comment on our similar accents all the time. To which you might reply "Oh, they just think all Americans sound the same," and while that is probably extremely true (ask any Brit to do an American accent, and they'll usually say "cwa-fee"), we really don't notice much of a difference in our accents either. 

And yet, I swear that just about every single British accent in our whole building is noticeably different from the others. It's strange. I guess you'd expect that with the thousands of miles between, say New Mexico and Virginia, Lisa and I might at least sound a little different. Especially when you consider that the entire UK is just under 95,000 square miles, while the square mileage of New Mexico alone is almost 121,500.

How'd they get so many stereotypes in such a small space? Crazy.

 

Wednesday randoms.

Preserving memories are important. Some people scrapbook. Others have diaries. 

I keep a quote book.

I've had it for almost 5 years now, and it's mostly filled with hilarious things my friends say (because my friends spend most of their time being very, very funny). Many of the entries in my quote book won't mean anything to people outside my circle of friends, but occasionally, there are some universally laughter-inducing lines. Moving to London has given me the opportunity to make quite a few new entries. I'm going to share some of them with you now.

Random sayings from my time here:

"You're different enough."

"I'm all alone in a baby onesie, and you're...just go. Get out."

-"A real live American!"

-"We finally got one!"

"If you'd have come in at that moment, you'd have found a lot of nakedness."

"Oh my gosh. Hannah's cake...I've murdered it. She's gonna open the fridge and find a massacre. Who can I say I shared it with?"

"You have great cheekbones. Have you ever considered becoming a ballerina?"

"I'm going to hug myself."

-"I don't want anyone to look at me like I'm a piece of meat."

-"Well I'm vegetarian, so I'd look at you like a piece of lettuce."

"I would love to speak Shakespearean English all the time. I say 'good morrow' every now and then."

"I realized my behavior was unacceptable, and all I had to offer was pears." 

"That's a lot of cake..." 

"His voice is like chocolate. Smooth and milky with a bit of sugar...lots of sugar." 

-"Guess who didn't get cream on her gingerbread latte..."

-"Don't tell on me!"

-"Okay, I'll make it ambiguous. Guess which American..."

"I'm kicking my chocolate habit. I haven't eaten chocolate in, oh, 24 hours."

"I'm a cheap date. I keep saying this, but I've got no offers."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I think I miss you the most when I'm listening to songs like 'The quiet things that no one ever knows,' and I realize that only half the song is getting sung."

That last one is more sentimental than funny. Sorry. Well, that's all for now. But I'm sure there will be plenty more, and probably soon. I'm lucky. I live with really funny people. Happy Wednesday, friends!