Went down to Manchester last night to see Anathallo. I know I spend a lot of time on this blog talking about music almost none of you listen to and telling you about shows for bands you never heard of, but in all honesty I just wish I could convey to you the experience of seeing this band live. The musicianship, the passion, the creativity, and the artistry this group displays is an absolute inspiration to watch. This was my fourth time to see them live, and each time I come back just blown away by the experience. The guy standing behind me at the concert last night was a newcomer to the band, and his question after seeing just two songs was simply this: "Why aren't they famous already? Why have I never heard of them?" It's a good question. :P Check out this band, and if they ever come remotely near you go see them. I've never paid more than $10 to see them, but I'd gladly pay more. You're sure to get your money's worth. This band is tragically underappreciated. I'll link an mp3 for you guys. Enjoy. Right click save as to download.

Anathallo - The River

Manchester is a cool city in its own right; lots of good shopping. Lots of independent shops and record stores. A HUGE mall, too, but my suspensions about how I would feel about it were confirmed: I didn't enjoy it at all. Since coming to England I've been doing a lot of researching about consumer culture & trying to become more anti-consumerist, and it's changed a lot of things about me. There was a time when I would have loved browsing all of those shops, but I don't feel like being defined by how much I purchase anymore. It's just not worthwhile to me.

That's not to say I didn't do any shopping, just hit up places that weren't in the mall. :P I got a yellow leather vintage 1970s purse for my best friend, and some fair trade, made in India glass bracelets for myself and a friend. I'm also pretty sure there's nothing more dangerous for my wallet than music stores. :P I managed to spend just 20 pounds on music, but picked up these gems on CD:

• Belle and Sebastian - Tigermilk
• A two disc early Jamie Cullum sampler
• The Boy Least Likely To - The Law of the Playground
• Nina Simone - To Be Free: The Nina Simone story (3 discs + DVD)
• Radiohead - The Bends
• Jamie Cullum - Twentysomething
• Paul Simon - Shining Like a National Guitar (greatest hits compliation, Simon & Garfunkel are a new thing for me after puchasing Bridge Over Troubled Water about three months ago, so there's still lots of music to explore on that front :))
• Girl Talk - Night Ripper
• Hanson promotional demo CD (gift for a friend :P)

:) I'd say that went pretty well.

Sorry for the blog disappearance, everyone. I have a big one coming up soon where I'm going to blog about the trip I took in April. I had Easter break off of school, so I used it to travel. My route was Liverpool->London->Edinburgh->Dublin->Cork->Highland Scotland->Alnwick (Hogwarts Castle in the first two HP movies)->Bath & Stonehenge via London->Paris->Nice. It was an absolutely amazing experience and I'm going to enjoy sharing it with you all.

I leave England in two short weeks. It's put me in the strangest emotional state--I'm very excited to go home and I miss all my friends and family very much, but just picking up and leaving behind the whole life I've made here is strange and heartbreaking.

I'm trying to make the most of my last week. I want to make a trip to Oxford before I leave, so hopefully I can fit that in. I'm going to see one of my favorite bands, Anathallo, in a few days on their European tour. I've seen them three times in the States. :P My only problem is exams! Got two left, and lots of studying to do.

One of my British friends asked me what "traditional British experiences" I still wanted to do, and honestly, I couldn't think of any. So, I'm asking you! If you came to England, what are traditionally British things you would want to do? If you are British, what experiences do you think I need to cram into my last two weeks?

I've already done lots... visited pubs, experienced UK club culture, watched rugby and football (soccer ;) ), gotten takeaway from chip shops, had tea & scones, gone to a proper curry house, incorporated "chips," "crisps," "lift," "bin," "cheers," and more into my vocabulary, tried lots and lots of British food (including steak and kidney pie... ewwww), and lots of other things. Help me get ones I might be missing!

Did buy a pack of tea and crumpets today... that's one I haven't done yet. ;)

So I've been watching Lost for a few weeks now... I've been pretty busy with school and kind of stalled on the beginning of Season 2, but I'm getting back into it again. I'm on episode 12 of the second season. We've got polar bears, smoke monsters, kidnapping, crazy dreams, swans and arrows to worry about. Plenty of mysteries to go around. However, there's one mystery that I haven't seen addressed anywhere, and to me it's the most pressing question of them all. See, many, many shelters have been set up on the island. For roofing, they use lovely blue tarps, the kind you'd find at any Walmart or Home Depot. I'm pretty sure most airplanes don't carry an excess of tarps, if they carry any. So there's my mystery: where do all the damn tarps come from??

Just got out of the midnight showing (UK win mwahahaha, I saw it 6 hours before you US folk ;)). It was absolutely amazing. Everything I wanted, no disappointments whatsoever. It's very adult, just like you want for Watchmen. The changes pack in all the emotional punch and moral dilemas found in the original. The ending is great; I've got no qualms. I could go on, but I'm just going to say see it. As soon as possible. Sheer perfection.

Enjoy! :)

I got to play real video games last night!! Yay! Gears of War 2 horde mode with Michael and his flatmate Sam, which was quite fun... and some Half-Life 2! :D

And then... yeah, funny story... :P

Hey all! I hope things are well with all of you. :) Things are grayer than usual in England today, and I'm sick for the second time since I've been here, but other than that things have been good. :P I had my first paper due earlier this week. We'll see how that goes once it's graded and handed back to me, but I feel like I did well. I can't wait to get an indication of how I'm going to fare in the English education system. I've always been a good student back home, and I'm interested in how that will translate here. I'll know soon enough. :P

All this buzz for RE 5 is seriously making me miss console gaming! I've met a guy here named Michael who is really cool (and eerily similar to me--we are both love Kurt Vonnegut, video games, are news junkies, both listen to Sufjan Stevens, the Decemberists, Arcade Fire, and several other bands, are both Christians, both politically liberal--heck he even likes Stephen Colbert and watches him online!!) and has offered to let me borrow his 360 while he works on his thesis, but I don't have a TV so I haven't been able to take him up on it. :P I would love to, though! There is a gamer's society at Keele that is starting up console game nights pretty soon... I may have to hit that up. I love my DS, but sometimes you just want a little more.

Speaking of DS, I'm *almost* finished with Professor Layton and the Curious Village. I LOVE that game. Still haven't started Chrono Trigger, but I will soon. ;) I stumbled upon a free Layton "fun pack" in a game shop the other day that had a key chain, stickers, and a poster in it, so I put that stuff to good use. I've got the poster on my wall now, and Luke and Layton have both found little spots to call their own. Check it out:

That's Luke on my bookbag...

and there's Layton on my laptop!!

Other than these freebies, I found one other great shopping deal in one of the nearby towns: music store that sells used CDs five for ten pounds! In my first trip I picked up Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water, R.E.M. - Up, Counting Crows - Recovering the Satellites, Ben Folds Five- Whatever and Ever Amen, and Blood, Sweat, & Tears - Found Treasures. You better believe I'll be taking advantage of that again sometime soon!

I went to Liverpool this past weekend. Wow. It is quite an amazing city. It was only an overnight trip, and that wasn't enough time... I'd love to go back at some point! Friday night we got into town and headed to the Cavern Club after checking in to the hostel. The Cavern Club is one of the first places the Beatles played and has also hosted the likes of Queen, Elton John, the Kinks, the Who, and many many more. We ended up making friends with a guy who knew the band that was playing that night, so when their set was over he introduced us and then the band pulled us up on stage and let us take a picture! We got yelled at by staff but when the lead singer of the band told them it was ok the staff had to allow it. Standing on the stage that had held all these famous acts was a great experience to say the least. Saturday was filled with sightseeing around the city that included a trip to the beautiful and absolutely massive Anglican Cathedral, Albert Dock, the modern Metropolitan Cathedral, and a Beatles-themed taxi tour that took us to famous sites like the birthplace of John Lennon, all the childhood homes of the four Beatles, the grave of Eleanor Rigby, and the place where John Lennon and Paul McCartney first met. We also got to go inside Ringo's house and meet the woman that lives there now! She's great and had lots of pictures and stories for us. She knew Ringo as a child. My favorite part of the tour was heading to Penny Lane and getting my picture taken in a barber shop on the street! Haha! Here's a few pictures of the trip; I hope you enjoy them!

Anglican Cathedral--it's MASSIVE, certainly the biggest indoor space I've ever been in that's not a stadium!

Maybe that gives you some idea of how big it is? Probably not, though... and yes that is me. ;)

View of the city and docks from the tower of the Anglican Cathedral.

The "shelter in the middle of the roundabout" on Penny Lane! :)

Gates of Strawberry Field--it was an orphanage near John Lennon's house where he would go and play with the children. Lennon had a difficult childhood--his parents split up when he was young and he lived with an aunt. His mother died young as well. Apparently, the children taught him that he was lucky to have an aunt who cared about him, and that's apparently what the song is about. :P

Grave of Eleanor Rigby.

Metropolitan Cathedral - it's a Catholic church. :)

That's all for now! Where to next? I'm thinking maybe Bath/Stonehenge or Oxford. We shall see! :)

Hey all! I've been here nearly a month now and I think it's finally time for a proper update from the UK! I just now finally got internet access in my room. It was quite a long process but I'm so excited that it's all worked out. Using the lab computers was a huge time crunch because I had reading and other stuff to do, so it didn't leave a lot of time for GS. The worst part was that I couldn't use my webcam to talk to my friends and family at home! But everything is sorted out now, so no worries. Expect to have to put up with me again. ;)

I am having such an amazing time here in the UK! Studying abroad is a wonderful experience, and I'm so glad it's something I chose to do. It's such a wonderful feeling to wake up every morning to something different, and it's great to just experience life somewhere else for a little while. I truly am having the time of my life. The first week was a little hard... I got VERY sick and didn't know how to go to the doctor, which was really disheartening. Once I got through that, though, it's been nothing but wonderful ever since. Students here are incredibly friendly, and I've met some great people. On the flipside, it's also been nice to be on my own for once... I have an incredible group of friends whom I love very much and am so thankful for, but it's been good for me to step away from that for a little bit and get to know myself better. Things here are very, very good and will continue to get better.

I'm also incredibly glad I got to experience the UK's biggest snowstorm in 18 years. It was great. :D Also, there is a Ben and Jerry's inside the movie theatre in Newcastle. Amazing. My friend Veronique and I have already decided that going to see Watchmen will be a three scoop occasion. Hell yes.

There are plenty of differences between the UK and US! You might not think it would be that different considering they are two industrialized, Western nations who share a lot of history, but there's plenty that's different. Some of my favorites:

• Juice is way cheap in the UK!
• Potato chip flavors (or crisp flavours for you Brits) in England are practically inedible. Seriously. Steak and onion? Roast beef and mustard? Who comes up with this stuff?
• Traditional british food = meat and mashed up vegetables baked in a pastry crust. That sums up about 80% of it. Not my favorite... although I did have some cottage pie today that was quite yummy
• English people really need to learn two things: ice and refrigeration. Lukewarm beer/other beverages, alcoholic and non = gross!
• One thing the British are much better at is chocolate and baked goods. Ohhhhhh yummy. I have a favorite bakery in Newcastle that I have to get a chocolate chip cookie from at every opportunity. :P I will miss it when I'm gone!
• You can buy video games in the grocery store! They had Dead Space for 25 pounds... made me wish my Xbox was region free!!
• Cars are MUCH smaller and all basically look the same. Trucks and SUVs are VERY rare.
• If you talk in a movie theatre they WILL kick you out.
• The most fun British/American word comparison is burgled to burglarized. Everyone gets a huge kick out of it.
• British students drink WAAAAAAY more than American college students. I didn't think that was possible. But it is.

There's plenty more, so I'll try and include a list with all of my updates from England. There's always new stuff.

So far I have not done a whole lot of travelling. I went to London my first few days before coming to school, and will be going to Liverpool next weekend. I expect my travelling to pick up now that I'm settled in, so if anyone has an recommendations feel free to shoot them my way. I can't wait to see more of England and the rest of Europe!

As promised, here are a few pics from my journey:

Big Ben + Parliament, red buses, black cabs, and gray sky... how much more London can you get? :P

Here's a much nicer picture of Ben in the sunlight. English weather is even more frantic than southern US weather... the old adage in the south is that if you don't like the weather, come back tomorrow... in the UK it would be more apt to say "If you don't like the weather, wait about three hours!" Haha I love it. :)

Sneaking some pictures in Westminster Abbey... shhhhh don't tell on me! :P Next time I go to London, I'm going to go to a service here so I can hear the choir boys... I love choral music. :)

Best. Cupcakes. Ever. Hummingbird Cakes on Portabello Road--a must visit!!

Fleet Street! I have been in love with Sweeney Todd back way before it was a movie... so exciting to go here! :P

Tower of London--my favorite thing I did on this trip!

Tower Bridge at dusk. :)

Keele chapel on campus with just a little snow on the ground :)

If I walk down the hill for about 30 seconds or so, this is the view I get. You can see the farm... the cows are not pictured... nor is the barnyard smell. ;)

The area I am staying in is known as "the Potteries" because that has been the dominant industry here since around the 1600s. Pottery made in this area can be found in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Buckingham Palace, and the White House. We went to a pottery museum today with one of my cl@sses. These are bottle kilns--formerly the dominant feature of Stoke-on-Trent--that were used to fire pottery. These produced lots of pollution and their use was banned in 1955. These are some of the last bottle kilns that are still standing.

Hope you enjoyed these pictures and didn't think this was too long! :P I'll have more from Liverpool next weekend. :)

Hey everyone! Sorry for going AWOL; it's been a busy transition from the US to the UK! I've been in the country for about a week and a half, and things are finally settling down into a normal routine. I am now at the university; I somehow managed to get an amazing schedule where I only have class Tuesday through Thursday! I still don't have internet access in my room (I'm going to have to wipe my harddrive first :() but I am back to having consistent internet access and will be around again. I went to London for the first few days of my trip, and it was wonderful. :) I'll have a more extensive update (including pictures!) soon! I hope all is well with all of you! :)

Thanks to everyone who participated in my previous blog! I had fun with it, and hopefully I'll have fun with the game if you all chose well. ;) I'll look into the other recommendations as well--Age of Empires, New Super Mario Bros., and Hotel Dusk are all things I'd like to play. It will be a long five months, so I'm sure I'll pick up at least one other game. ;)

So, the results! Chrono Trigger DS got the most recommendations, so that will be the next thing I pick up! New Super Mario Bros follwed it closely, as did The World Ends With You. I'll be sure to share all my thoughts about the game with you when I pick it up this week and play it over the coming months! :)

In other gaming news, last night I got all 120 stars with Mario on Super Mario Galaxy. Definitely feeling a little gyped that I have to do it AGAIN to get the final reward, and I probably won't ever get around to it. Still, 120 stars is a big accomplishment. :P Expect a review soon! :)

And Soul, one day I'll definitely have to own you in Pokemon. Looking forward to it. ;)

Hey all! I hope you all had a wonderful New Years and that things are going well thus far. :) I started mine off with a party at my house... we had a great time but it was a little too cold and windy to shoot many fireworks! Haha!

In my last blog I forgot to mention my little sister got a Wii for Christmas. I bought her Super Mario Galaxy (well, I bought US Super Mario Galaxy ;)). I'm currently at 83 stars and determined to get all 120 before I leave two weeks from today.

Leaving leads me to the actual topic of this blog. I've had a DS since the year of its launch, but I've never played it a whole lot, only on trips. I don't have a lot of packing space, and considering the dangers luggage faces on an overseas flight, all my consoles are staying at home and my DS will be the only gaming device I'll have for the five months I spend in the UK. There are lots and lots of great DS games availiable, and this will be a great time to check them out.

I don't buy a whole lot of games, and that is especially true of my DS games. I have more PS1 games, a console I never owned, than I do DS games. I haven't really stayed on top of new games, either, because I haven't bought that many and thus I haven't paid them that much attention. This is where you come in. I'm letting you all pick my next DS game, since I'm sure you know what's good much better than I do. I'm buying three new games to start with, and you all will pick one. As soon as I play it, I'll blog about my experiences and let you know which I liked the best.

I own:
Feel the Magic, Nintendogs, Meteos, and all the Fire Emblem Advance games, Pheonix Wright: Ace Attourney

Just bought for my trip:
Pokemon Pearl (shut up I know I'm a nerd, and I am TOTALLY pissed that they put Houndoom and Tyranitar in two seperate games... those are two of my favorites :P), Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Have played but don't like:
Zelda Phantom Hourglass, Castlevania: Amnesia of the Title

I tend to really like puzzle games, RPGs, strategy games, and platformers. I tend to be really bad at/frustrated by 2D adventure games like Zelda. I will probably not be playing a lot of multiplayer/link up, so that's not that important to me. Still, whatever you guys choose I will buy. :) I'll give you all a week to put your 2 cents in, and then I'll tally up your choices next Monday and pick up the game! :) Leave your pick in the comments.