School begins

On my brothers birthday (also known as last Monday) I had to be at the university on a course of the UEA library system.  After I went home and decided that I felt like baking.  I grabbed some ingredients from the store and whipped up a batch of my Tahini cookies.  Taylor and I ate a lot of them that night.....

I didn't realize it while making them, but the next day(also known as my mother and Abi's birthday) was not only my first day to have a small class with my group, but my landlord was also coming over to give us a new washing machine.  So, not only did my landlord get some yummy cookies but I shared them with the class.  Bringing cookies was a good way to get everyone to not only remember who I am, but also to understand that they are going to be fat by the end of the course thanks to my baking. 

It was only an hour long course but we got explained to us the readings, how we will be assessed and the themes for each seminar.  I'm excited but apprehensive.  There are a few class presentation, one in groups and one 25 minute presentation alone.  I have never done an academic presentation and I hate public speaking.  I had to give a speech at Abi's wedding in May and I was so freaking nervous about that! My professor is amazing, he asked if any of us have never done a presentation before.  Since I was the only person to raise my head he told me that a few weeks before they begin he will sit down and help me out with it, which is awesome!

Later in the day there were booths for all the clubs at UEA.  I wandered around, but it was a madhouse! I did end up signing up for the history club.  Hopefully that will be fun. 

I ended up going into town to drop off some comics at the library and I learned about one of the downsides about Norwich.  Everything but restaurants,closes at 6pm! Even the mall and Starbucks chains were closed.  As I walked home from the library the streets were eerily empty.  Coming from Toronto, I'm just not used that...


But there is a huge plus side about England: the dentist costs 17 pounds!!!!!

Registration day

On the 21st I got up at the ungodly hour of 7:30 am to get ready and get on the bus for 8.  I got to the university and registered for classses (got my campus card and showed them my visa and degree).  It took all of 20 minutes so of course I headed back home for a little nap.  I had to be back at school for 2pm to have an introduction to the School of Museology (which is my course cultural heritage and museum studies, the museum studies course, the fine art  degree and the world arts degree) Before it began we gathered outside and we got to informally introduce ourselves to each other.  I'm the only Canadian, but there is two girls from India, three from America, one from Brussels and one from Cyprus.  We were introduced to our professors/advisors and head of the school.  After we were given a tour of the building and then they brought out some cakes and we got to socialize a bit.  One of the American girls is also a crazy cat lady (she brought her two cats with her).  I didn't stay too long at the meet and greet as I had a few chores to get done around the university.

Saturday Taylor and I left to go wander the town.  But before we left our complex we noticed a cat.  I'm crazy and always carry cat treats in my purse so I coaxed the cat close to me.  It was beautiful, it looked to be a white siamese with some blonde hair near the face and bright blue eyes.  It was quite skinny so I'm pretty sure it is a stray.  We snuggled it for quite awhile and gave it lots of treats before it ran off.  It must have been my lucky day, once that one ran off we saw another cat! This one looked to be a big fluffy long haired cat that is well taken care of.  I gave it some treats and it lets us snuggle it like crazy! I think we sat with it for a half an hour before we left. 

After that it was off to the covered market for spices.  There is a stall that sells spices by weight but also has different varieties of rices and lentils and it's extremely cheap! After we went to three different Boots (it's a pharmacy) to look for my iron pills.  Since I use such a strong dose I was a little worried it would be very expensive.  The first two Boots we went two did not have any, the third did not have any but offered to order me some.  Now in Canada a bottle of 30 capsules costs around $8, here a bottle of 100 costs 3 pounds and 60p.  I was shocked, I thought my iron pills were going to make me poor, but medicine is so cheap here!

Before we headed home we checked out the Rosary cemetery where supposedly my ancestors are buried (we didn't find them, but we only saw half the cemetery)It's a beautiful cemetery only 5 minutes from our place that is so ancient that you can barely read the names on the gravestones.  It was a beautiful sunny day so we walked around there before heading home and retiring for the night.

Entrance to the cemetery

PIRATES!

The day had finally arrived when we recieved the glorious internet.  We spent all day talking to family and friends, as well as catching up on TV shows (such as Big Brother). 

The next day we hit up the Morrison's for breakfast.  I got pancakes.  But, they didn't really taste like the pancakes at home, and as a pancake addict this was depressing.  In fact we can't find pancake mix anywhere.  We tried something called 'Yorkshire pudding and pancake mix', but they tasted more like crepes.  I found a recipe from Martha Stewart that I'm going to try, but the last time I made pancakes from scratch they tasted like hockey pucks.  Maybe we'll have better luck this time.  After our breakfast we walked along the Riverside, but this time in the opposite end.  We spotted the coolest boat we have ever seen.  It was all black, looked like a tank, had a flame thrower on the front, skulls on pikes, mannequins dressed up as nuns and WWII soldiers and other amazing details.  The owners of the boat were doing repairs and we were able to talk to them and get some information about the city.  They had lived on the boat moored in the city for a number of years but were leaving for an adventure and were not coming back. 

 We also ran into a sign that was perfect for a good Native joke.

How!

 On Friday the 21st I registered for school.  I basically showed up at 9am, showed them my visa and my degree and got a student card.  I head back home for a nap as I didn't have to be back until mid-afternoon.  At 2 we had an introduction for the Museology postgraduate students.  We got introduced to our professors/advisor and got a tour of the school.  I met a bunch of people in my class and surprisingly there are quite a few Americans, but alas I'm still the only Canadian. 


Tomorrow I will tell you all about my adventure with cats!

More wandering

On Saturday we decided to check out the covered market, as more stalls are open that day.  I bought Taylor his first English fish and chips.  It was HUGE! He said it was delicious, but he couldn't finish it! Taylor bought me ice cream, I tried a flavour I have never heard of before: banoffe.  It's banana and toffee.  It was so yummy!

Yum!

We then wandered around the city and did out first weekly shopping.  It was pretty cheap, for a weeks worth of groceries it is only about 45 pounds a week.

That night we got take away! A new restaurant just opened up and I had to try it.  It's an indian restaurant and it's all vegetarian.  It was fantastic! Take away is a little pricey (10 pounds per person) so I doubt we will be doing that every week, but it was necessary after a very busy week.

On the weekend we encountered our first problem in Norwich.  We attempted to do laundry for the first time, we got it all ready, hit all the necessary buttons and pressed start.  It made so strange noises, got our clothes damp and that was it.  Our machine was broken :( After a frantic call home, thinking we had done something wrong, we called our landlord who got us a whole new machine (which we just got today, a week later-it's having it's first use right now)

On the Monday I had an event at the school to go to.  A mature students event (that's right, at 25 I'm considered mature....) I got up nice and early and made sure not to wake up the sleeping Taylor.  I was getting my daily tea, when I burned my wrist badly.  So I had to go wake up Taylor who gave me a cold compress and I headed for the bus with my arm all wrapped up.  The event was really boring, and looking back was not very useful. I came home and did nothing the rest of the day, how relaxing!

Beautiful Norwich

We decided we had explored a lot of the city and decided to go on the Riverside walk, which as the name suggests is a path along the beautiful river that runs across Norwich.  While walking along it we felt like were hours away from the city, not five minutes.  We saw people hanging out in boats and families fishing.  The walk goes for miles, but we decided to only for a part of it.  I love walking by the river and seeing a mixture of ancient and modern bridges adorning the river.  At one point we hit a building called Cow Tower which is a medieval tower that was once part of the wall of the city and was used to help defend the town during sieges.  It's closed off to visitors now because it is falling apart.  But you can still look inside and see the ancient staircase, and the beautiful interior. 

An ancient wall that separates the river from the town

Cow Tower-the man standing there was practising his juggling, he sucked.

Ancient staircase

Cow Tower

Taylor and the river

I know my mother would love walking down this road, so mommy, when you come visit bring a fall coat, I'm taking you here!

At one point along the journey we took a different path and ended up in the north end of the city and found the Adam and Eve pub which has been a pub since the 13th century.  It was quite beautiful inside, but a tad expensive.  We'll go another time.

Adam and Eve

This path led us to a place in the city that is quite similar to Kensington Market, but a little sketchier....It had quite a bit of antique shops and vintage shops.  I found an antique shop with an oddities section with some of my favourite things that tempted me.  Objects such as a taxidermy double headed chick, skulls, shrunken heads and other awesome things.  Taylor wasn't very fond of this area so we left and quietly made our way home.

I thought I should just randomly mention that I just finished baking Tahini cookies and man do they taste delicious!

My first trip to my new university

A short while after we arrived I thought it would be a good idea to go check out my new university: University of East Anglia.  Most of the buses in Norwich are double-deckers, which was very exciting to Taylor.  So we hopped on the bus and sat on the top level right at the front.  It's about a 30 minute bus ride, which isn't so bad.  

Look at how excited he is!

A picture of the train station from the bus

 The campus is huge! It was built in the 1960's so there are a lot of cement buildings, but it was built on an old golf course, so there is a huge man-made lake, and tons of greenery.  While walking to the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts (the museology building) we noticed something amazing about the campus.....there are wild bunnies everywhere!!!!!!!!

BUNNY!

I got a tour of the museology building and it is beautiful! There is a sculpture garden out back, a small museum on the ground floor, and a mezzanine where the grad students can work.  The best part is that the majority of the building is glass.  So while sitting and doing some research I get a beautiful view of the greenery of the campus. 

After we headed back to the city centre and did something I never thought would happen...we got Taylor his very own cellphone! And it was all his own idea, finally he has stepped into the modern world.

Look at him use this crazy new technology

The next day we experienced our first day of English weather-rain! Although, it rained for like one hour tops.  It still but a bit of a damper on our day, but we managed to head out to Norwich's covered market.  Which is similar to St. Lawrence Market, but more English since so many stalls were selling either fish and chips or 'bangers'.  I also got to taste my first treacle tart, I didn't even know what it was before I bit into it, but oh my god, it's delicious!! It's kinda like a sticky toffee pudding mixed with a butterscotch bar...good, but very sweet.

Delicious!

Our view while eating lunch at the market

We finished up our day by Taylor being a sneaky bastard and buying me a Maleficent wallet that I had wanted for a while.  It's fantastic!

Aren't we so happy?!

The adventure continues

A few days after we arrived I went to open a bank account.  EVERYONE told me it would take two weeks.  But, they lied.  I got a bank account on the spot, and the bank teller was American and gave us a bunch of helpful hints on the city.  A side note about the bank that made my mother giggle is that the street the bank is on is called Gentlemen's Walk.  After wandering the city so more we dicosvered a public library that is a modern glass building that is situated at the top of the city so that when you hang out in it you get a great view of the Market and this beautiful cathedral from the middle ages.  Taylor and I picked up library cards and lots of graphic novels to tide us over since we were without internet for two weeks.  Ooh! I also found a place that makes milkshakes of any English cookie/cake/sweet treat.  I sampled the Fry's Orange Cream one, delicious!

The first weekend we arrived was a weekend to celebrate the heritage buildings of Norwich, so everything was free to enter at certain times.  So of course Taylor and I made our way to Strangers Hall, a Tudor mansion that houses mayors of the city, as well as strangers (fabric makers) of the town.  It was beautiful, but one negative was that it was organized in such a way that every room was decorated from a different time period  (so the dining room was Tudor, the formal room was made to look Victorian, etc).  Taylor didn't fit in any door way.  Poor guy, it's hard being 6'5 in ancient buildings.  

Part of the outside of Strangers Hall

Main entrance

Hand painted 17th century fireplace

Victorian tea room

Victorian children's room

Too tall!

Elm Hill

Elm Hill road is the oldest street in Norwich, the road is made of cobblestone that kills your feet to walk on it, all the buildings are from at least 1500 and are slanted in that adorable kind of way.  It was here that Taylor found true happiness: a gaming store.  He had been complaining all week about how he needs to find new gamers, how he misses gaming, etc.  So this was the best thing he discovered.  The shop is fantastic.  You walk in and you look up and their are wooden beams from the 1500's, you look down and you see the original tile floor from the 1600's and you see the original place where the fire pit was.  The best part of this place is that is run by this awesome older gentleman named Duncan who is from Toronto! And he is a history nerd who got his undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto in history.  We spent a good hour in there, Taylor discussing gaming with him, and me talking history. 

At this point we were exhausted and headed home, but first we bought a T.V! Now, one of the cool parts about the UK is that you pay a yearly T.V tax and get free cable (well 50 channels) but one of them is the Food Network!!!!!!!!! I'm seriously so happy, I thought I would go crazy without Food Network for a year.  But all is well now. 

Exploring Norwich

The day after we arrived I slept for about 13 hours.  Taylor attempted to wake me up with breakfast in bed, but I fell back asleep till 1p.m.  We decided for our first full day in the city to explore it.  Everyone we talked to before we arrived told us the same thing: Norwich is flat.  These people are liars.  The entire city is a bunch of hills.  In order to get into the city centre we have to pass the rail station, cross a bridge and walk up a steep hill and pass the Norwich Castle.  It costs a pound to enter the Norwich Castle and museum an hour before closing that was our first stop.

The museum is pretty awesome.  In case you were not already aware I have a small obsession with taxidermy, and the weirder the animal the better.  Norwich museum has a large section for Natural History (a.k.a taxidermy) and the animals are arranged in a strange manner.. They also have a very small Egyptian section, a viking section an Iceni section and painting section (the latter which I still have to go see).

Norwich Castle

Sara pointed out that the monkey is pooping birds

What is this?!

 

 

Two of my obsessions in one case: taxidermy and old school circus objects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the museum we wandered for 4 hours around the town.  It's beautiful! Almost every single building is at least 100 years old, with many of the buildings being at least from the 17th century.  For a history nut like me it's amazing to view this old architecture. 

We have been here for two weeks and we are still amazing by the beauty of this city.  We spent the last two weeks wandering about so the next post will basically be pictures of the city and our adventures as tourists.

Oh! One more thing, many people (ahem..my mother and Taylor) worried that my look and mainly my hair and tattoos would get me ostracised or stared at like I was a circus sideshow.  Well, they were wrong! A large portion of the people living here have bright coloured hair, or dress differently.  Honestly, compared to Toronto I get a lot less stares/sideways glances. 

The first day

I'm in England! Norwich to be exact.  I created this blog a few days before I left but Taylor and I did not get internet until today.

But, I'll begin this first post with how our adventure started.  On September 5th at 9 pm both of my parents drove me to the airport in Toronto to meet up with Taylor and his parents.  We hung out until the very last second to spend every moment with them.  When it was time to pass through security it was a very emotional time.  I cried...a lot....The thought of not seeing my mom and dad for 3 months is very upsetting to me.  We passed through security and boarded the plane without a problem.  On-board we sat in our seats ( we paid for extra leg room so Taylor would be comfortable) and got ready for a 7 hour flight.  I barely slept on the flight, and ended up watching a lot of Rupaul's Drag Race.  Someone had messed up and I was not listed as having a vegetarian meal, but a flight attendant made sure I had a meal.  He snuck me a vegetarian one from the first class section-mushroom risotto and a brownie.  I was spoilt.

After an exhausting flight, we managed to get through customs very quickly, and our luggage was the first ones off the plane.  Then the worst part of our journey began.  We had to lug 2 suitcases (each weighing 50 lbs) and a backpack and I had my purse around London.  We took the tube to Liverpool Street,which was an hour ride.  Then we made our way to the train station and hopped on-board a train for Norwich.  The train took 2 hours, I slept through most of it.  We then endured a long walk to our new apartment.  My luggage kept hitting the back of my leg, giving me a baseball sized bruise.  We met up with our letting agent Andy (who looked much different than we imagined-he looks like a heavy metal guy who tries to look conservative for work-does that make sense?)

We entered our "flat" for the first time.  We were exhausted and at this point had been awake for 25 hours.  We met our landlords who are extremely nice and went over all the necessary things.  We explored our area a little bit.  We have a Morrison's grocery store 5 minutes from us as well as a football stadium (I am amazing, my dreads this year are neon green and yellow, which are also the colours for the Norwich football team), a Boots pharmacy, a pound store, an electronic store, a cafe, a bunch of clothes stores and the best thing ever: an Argos.  Argos is basically Ikea, but in the store there is a large number of catalogues where you choose what items you want, write down the corresponding code and hand it to a sales clerk who then goes into a huge warehouse to get your items.  My parents are amazing and gave Taylor and myself some money to make our "house a home" so we picked up a few items like towels, sheets, blankets, pillows, etc and headed home for some take away and sleep.