The Past Week....

...has been a blur! Sorry, I finally got homework and so I've been trying to write these two essays and get ready for my trip to Germany to see Jimmy (which is where I am right now), so I finally got those turned in yesterday, and now here I am: writing a blog in Jimmy's dorm in Heidelberg! Anyway, lets get right down to it, shall we?

SATURDAY. Saturday night was really cool b/c they had the Bonfire Night celebrations in Earlham Park, which is right across the street from my dorm. It was a pretty quiet weekend as about half of our dorm decided to go home for the weekend, so Emma, Leigh, Lucy and I had been planning to go the bonfire for the past week together. So we are all set to go at about 7 ish, and all of the sudden we start seeing massive fireworks go off outside our windows (from the park) at about 6:30. So, in fear that we had missed the much anticipated fireworks, the four of us went running (literally, it was funny) out the door, across the parking lot, and across the street. Well as we're walking it finishes, but we were sure that 6:30 was far too early for the fireworks, so we asked one of the ladies who was directing traffic (because apparently the whole of Norwich was at Earlham Park that night) and she informed us that the fireworks we had just seen were for the kids and that the bigger show would get underway at about 8:30.

So in ecstasy and joy (or something...) we got into the park where it looked like the Midway at the NM State Fair, on a smaller, colder, and wetter scale.... on grass. So by this time we had like two hours to kill so we walked around and saw some of the lame rides and overpriced food and rip-off games, and we got to this one, I think it was called the Rotator. Anyway, its this gigantic cylinder that’s probably a good 20 or 25 ft in diameter, and you stick about 30 people in this thing w/ their backs to the wall and then it starts spinning. Well when it gets going fast enough, they drop the floor out from under you, about 2 ft below your feet. Well with the centrifugal (or is it centripetal?) force you stay stuck to the wall while its spinning, despite the fact that you are standing on air! So, i thought that sounded like the coolest thing ever and I convinced Emma to ride it with me, as well as a couple of her friends. It was pretty neat.

Anyway, we then proceeded to get some food, hamburgers doused in onions.... mmmm....., and candy floss (cotton candy). We went to look at the bonfires, but seeing as it was a city mandated thing the firemen were the ones in charge and they were relatively wimpy fires (at least according to Lucy and Emma, so have seen their fair share of Bonfire Night fires). So after complaining about that, we amused ourselves with taking pictures until the fireworks started. Finally they did and they were freaking awesome! I was trying to take pictures but it didn't work so well, but I posted some of them, you can check them out w/ my other pictures here:

BONFIRE NIGHT PICTURES

So that was Saturday: overall a success. SUNDAY, however, was a different story. We really just couldn't win on Sunday, that’s all there is to it. Lucy and I got up Sunday morning to go catch the bus so that we could go to Holy Trinity, the Anglican Church between campus and the heart of Norwich. Unfortunately the bus was about 15 minutes late which would have meant we would be that late, if not later, to the church service. Neither of us wanted to be that late so we decided to just go to the evening service instead. Well, now that we were already awake, we figured we had better start our days. We both had homework but neither of us had eaten anything, and I had been craving good ol' American pancakes for the past three days, so we walked to Tesco and bought the stuff we'd need.

We got back to the flat and I started cooking, but I had a bit of trouble seeing as they don't measure anything in cups, just litres and mililitres! So I ended up guessing... essentially, and the pancakes turned out alright. Definitely going to try them again. Emma and Lucy seemed to find them fascinating, b/c they were quite a bit thicker than English pancakes, and they're sweeter too.

So after homework, Lucy and I went to go catch the bus (early this time... arg) to go to church. We got there fine and went to church, and it was actually really really cool. The church building was really gorgeous, and the service was good, and we actually ended up talking to the pastor after, and he was really nice. Now we've got 2 more churches to try in town and then hopefully we'll be able to pick one and stay there. Ok, so after the service we had to catch the bus again, but since we had talked to the pastor we had about a half hour wait (the busses only come once ever 30 minutes on Sundays). So to kill that half hour we went into this little convenience store and got a couple things. Well as we're paying, we see the bus, EARLY THIS TIME, go past the store. It was upsetting. So instead of waiting ANOTHER half hour, we walked home. Yes... yes we did. 45 minutes in 10 degree C weather. Oh boy, that was fun. So I got home all hot and bothered that we'd missed the bus but apparently I got over it because I woke up the next morning and it was MONDAY!

So this week was what they call "Reading Week" where basically we don't have classes, but rather we have a full week off of classes to catch up on reading and write essays, so I had two essays due Thursday of Reading Week that I HAD to turn in before I flew off to Germany. Right, anyway, Monday and Tuesday were spent pretending to write my essays as well as actually writing them. I went to the library on Monday and was extremely productive, which was cool. Tuesday saw the completion of *most* of the essays at about 230am. Wednesday rolled around and I finished the essays and got them ready to turn in Thursday morning.

We also went into town and did some laundry on Wednesday, but the most exciting part is that Lucy cut my hair! Now I know that isn't really exciting news in and of itself, but there's a story behind it. Ok, back home Shannon cuts my hair, and I love it b/c she always does such a darn good job and then I don't have to pay the Supercuts people (or worse, a salon!!!) to cut my hair. So, seeing as Shannon isn't out here in England and my hair is still growing (darnit) I had to do something about it... and paying 10 quid for a haircut wasn't an option. Anyway, Lucy agreed to cut my hair, even though she'd never done it before, but she's an OCD perfectionist so I figured I was in good hands.... and 2 hours (yes... 2 hours) later my hair was cut! It was actually kinda fun and she did a great job!

So that brings us to THURSDAY on which my grand adventure to Germany started. Unfortunately that story is for the next blog b/c its 1 am and not only do I have class in the morning, but I have only been back in Norwich for about 6 hours. But don't worry, I'll be blogging again soon. I'm so sorry it took me so long to get these up! But to whet your appetite I DID post pictures of the trip, so here's the link!

LINK TO MY PICTURES of GERMANY

Enjoy, and be sure to check back in a day or two to get the Germany story. We both had a good time, and it was really cool to see Jimmy... especially in Germany!

Until next time.... Cheers!