Hey, nerds! Who's got two thumbs, speaks limited french, and hasn't cried once today? This moi.

Yesterday something very odd happened.

I wanted to go the library to work on my paper, but the stupid place was packed. And there is a serious lack of outlets, so I couldn't find a desk that allowed me the luxury of plugging in my computer. I got really fed up and mumbled a lot about how the 6th floor of Davis never left me so unfulfilled, and then I went to the Union instead.

I worked for a few hours, and just as I was about to leave, this random old guy came into the room I was in. He was wearing what looked like MC Hammer pants, a hat, a scarf, and an old coat. And he was holding a pint from the Union bar. When he came in I was like, OK. He's going to sit at the other table. Nope. He put his beer down and then squeezed past this column to come stand right next to me, leaning on the table, staring at my computer screen. He smelled like booze. He stood there for maybe 7 minutes just muttering about how he hates computers and the internet. Occasionally he would shout something like, "It's all SHITE!" The entire time he was standing there, I just continued to talk to Logan on AIM like nothing was happening. At one point he touched my computer screen with his gross hand and muttered something about how "everything is digital premiums, what are digital premiums, what the FUCK are they?" (I was looking at Time Warner Cable packages. I was like, 'Um, cable?' But he seemed not to hear.) I felt very violated when he touched my computer screen. I tried to make it clear that I was busy and had no idea what the shit he was doing, but he was immune to my subtleties. It was a very strange experience. I wish I could remember some of the shit he said. He was off his nut. Finally he left, and told me I was a nice person, God bless, etc. I don't know why he was so angry about the internet. I quite like the internet.

Tomorrow I am going to see a rugby match. It's UWE vs. Bristol; apparently they are rivals. It should be good times. And then on Thursday I am going to see The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). At some point I am going to finish an essay and read two plays. We'll see how that goes.

Right now I am going to watch the newest episode of House. WHAT UP.

I can't talk now; I have to get my wallet out of the toaster.

And hello! Congratulations to you all, I have something new to report. Yesterday I did something new in Bristol. The place I live is near the Downs, so I romped around in the fresh air with a bunch of my friends. I saw the Clifton Suspension Bridge, I gave someone a shoulder ride involuntarily, I climbed up a huge, prickly semi-cliff face, and I was outside in just a t-shirt and I wasn't cold.

Once I buy or borrow a camera cord (I lost mine in Prague) I will put pictures on Facebook. That goes for pictures of the rest of my European excursion as well.

What else is going on? I read a good book this week. 'Twas The House of Sleep by Jonathan Coe. I'm doing all my reading for the coming weeks in what I've deemed a fit of legitimized procrastination. I'm doing something that will need to be done at some point, even if at this point my essays really should be top priority. Right now I'm reading On Beauty by Zadie Smith, and I'm enjoying it so far. Here's a passage I particularly enjoyed, since it sums up the weather in England so perfectly:

"In England letter-boxes do not jam with snow. Rarely does one see a squirrel tremble. It is not necessary to pick up a shovel in order to unearth your rubbish bins. This is because it is never really very cold in England. It is drizzly, and the wind will blow; hail happens, and there is a breed of Tuesday in January in which time creeps and no light comes and the air is full of water and nobody really loves anybody, but still a decent jumper and a waxen jacket lined with wool is sufficient for every weather England's got to give" (27).

I'm really looking forward to my month break after school lets out. I'm going to try to use the time to read the novels I brought with me from home.

Just to keep those of you who read this blog for grocery shopping observations happy, here's one. Did you know that the store-brand version of Weetabix is actually just as good as regular Weetabix? And cheaper? So keep that in mind the next time you're thinking of buying Weetabix at either Sainsbury's or Waitrose. I know I will!

K. Later.

P.S. Raisins are the best part of the trail mix; thank you to whomever agreed with me. Crispix was a close second, at least in my mind.

Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate! Aack!

Guys, I have not been this unproductive since I left the States. I am actually kind of proud of myself. I have managed to do pretty much absolutely nothing all day, and I don't even have a TV or a car. I guess I did go to the grocery store. And since I live in East Jesus, Bristol, that took some initiative. But other than that, nothing.

I think it's my laundry that's keeping me from doing work. I was so looking forward to clean clothes. After wearing each piece of clothing for much longer than socially acceptable during my trip, I was going to wash all my clothes and then spend a few minutes just jumping around in them. But of course my dorm's laundry room is closed for maintenance or something. I was instructed to use the dorm next door's laundry room, which I was told was located "behind our bike shed." Not only is that the worst instruction I've ever gotten, because the entire dorm is located behind our bike shed, but also I have looked really hard for this laundry room, and I don't think it exists. Sometimes I feel like everything in the UK is hidden. Maybe you have to be a wizard to see the laundry room. I really hope that's not the case, because that means my magical abilities are not just latent, they're nonexistent. And I can't deal with that at this point in my life.

So yeah, since I have no clean clothes, somehow that means I can't read, or clean my room, or do any of the other things I should be doing. I don't know; the rationalization makes sense to me.

I forget what the point of this post was. I really did have a point. Oh, right. It was bicycles. But honestly, you guys don't want to hear about it.

In other news, today I kind of explored the suburb I have been forced to live in. The street I ended up on was very pretty with a quaint hardware store and, not surprisingly for Bristol, a big hill. But the grocery store I was looking for ended up being a convenience store. So I bought a Fanta there. And then I walked to the Waitrose, which is ridiculously overpriced, but the walk there is shorter and doesn't involve a big hill like the walk to Sainsbury's.

Speaking of grocery shopping, they recently opened a Somerfield on Whiteladies, closer than the Sainsbury's but not as close as the Tesco Express. This is exciting, because now I can walk back from class on the left side of the road the entire time, even if I'm just stopping to buy milk or candy bars (Tesco is on the right). Tesco Express has really good scones, but it's not like I need to spend 40p on a scone anyway. Also, Somerfield actually has a pretty good produce section. Also, their tuna was good. In case you guys didn't know already, mostly my life consists of going to school, buying groceries, and... I guess drinking. Drinking would be the third thing I do. Also sleeping.

I apologize for this. This was an entirely self-indulgent post. I hope it brought you joy.

P.S.

The Euro penny is the silliest coin I've ever come into contact with. It's so very tiny.

I am become a name; / For always roaming with a hungry heart / Much have I seen and known

What up, suckaz. I'm back in Bristol. Things here are the same, albeit sunnier. At least for today. Although they are sunnier in a purely weather related sense. My life really isn't any sunnier or cloudier than it was before I left. My forecast right now is probably cloudy with a chance of showers in the evening.

My last post was from Munich if I remember correctly, and I do. After Munich Tyler and I went to Bamberg. I highly recommend this city. We stayed in a really excellent hostel called Backpackers Bamberg where we met some cool people, and we drank some very delicious beer. Bamberg is situated in Oberfranken, which "has the highest rate of breweries per capita in the world" (Wikipedia). We also took a day trip to Nuremberg, and went to an awesome toy museum. I took a lot of pictures of doll houses and toy trains. Fun fact: LGB trains were first made in Nuremberg. But it was an American, Gregory Barlow, who was the first kid in the entire world to require his sisters to take a test before they could operate them.

After Bamberg we went to Cologne, and I wasn't really impressed. Our hostel was very smelly, which I guess is fitting given the city's name (get it??). It didn't smell good though. It smelled like dead babies and pee. Also mold. Yeah, I can't really remember much of what happened in Cologne. I think the best things that happened were I ate a Berliner (of 'ich bin ein' fame) and saw an advertisement for South Carolina in the window of a golf shop. The church was very huge, but our only full day there was a Sunday, so we didn't get a chance to go up the tower or anything.

From Cologne we headed to Amsterdam, which ended up being my favorite city of all. I did a lot of stuff in Amsterdam in addition to what you would expect. I really enjoyed the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum (even though 2/3 of it was closed). The Anne Frank house, and the Rembrandt House Museum were also cool, although a little pricey for such small exhibitions. Amsterdam was just a really amazing city. I can't really put my finger on why I liked it so much. It's beautiful, and the people are really nice, and everyone rides bicycles, and there are really good Belgian beer bars, and some things are legal, etc. But I feel like it was more than that. I felt very comfortable there; more so than in any of the other places I went. Anyway, it was good times. And I highly recommend you go there as soon as possible.

So now my trip is over. And my bank account has taken a severe hit. And I have little food in the pantry. And all my clothes are dirty. And I have two massive essays looming. But at least I have my own pillow again. And the memories. They are small comforts, but they'll do.

This post was titled retroactively.

Hello friends! I am in München. And guess what? That ü is a key on this keyboard. I didn't have to type in a word I know with an ü and then copy and paste it, which is how I usually make special characters.

Today I went on a guided tour of Dachau. It was a really good tour, and I'm glad that I paid for a guide rather than going on my own. The guide was a guy from Ireland who has been living in Munich for 9 years. His tour was really informative. I learned a lot. Also I find Irish accents very pleasing, so that was good, especially because he could be slightly long-winded.

After the tour Tyler and I went to the Augustiner Brewery's beer hall with the three other people who were on our tour with us. I had a liter of Augustiner Radler Maß which apparently is beer flavored with lemonade. It was pretty good.

OK I am running out of time on this computer. Later.