They're pretty quick so the photos aren't that great. I plan on getting more though. Most people have gotten used to me pointing and yelling "squirrel!" whenever I see one though.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
squirrels ^_^
SQUIRREL TRACKS! They go bouncing across the snow. So cute!
They're pretty quick so the photos aren't that great. I plan on getting more though. Most people have gotten used to me pointing and yelling "squirrel!" whenever I see one though.
They're pretty quick so the photos aren't that great. I plan on getting more though. Most people have gotten used to me pointing and yelling "squirrel!" whenever I see one though.
MEGA POST
Yeah I know, it's been almost two weeks since I last posted. Sorry, I've been busy. Never fear though, I will reward your patience with several posts!
Lots of stuff happened during O-week but as I am still not very good at taking copious numbers of digital photos I only have photos of a few things.
After I moved into my room I went to dinner with some people from my floor. They're pretty cool. We had "tex-mex" - Americanised mexican food. It wasn't too bad, but that could have been because I got vegetarian... no photo, sorry.
The next morning I woke up to snow falling outside my window!
Though by the time I left to meet up with the other exchange kids for lunch it had stopped. I did take some photos on the way to Collegetown though.
There are heaps of utes around with snowplows on them which I find pretty amusing. I am yet to get a photo though...
Anyway, lunch was good. Collegetown Bagels (CTB) is a place that I think I will practically live in this year. CTB is seemingly staffed almost entirely by cute boys ^_^ plus they make pretty good sandwiches.
That night my new friends (from floor 3) dragged me out to a frat party. Some guy called Afroman was playing there. All the yanks semed pretty excited about it, and the fact that he was playing in their living room was pretty awesome. Unfortunately his "music" sucked balls (look it up), was not original AND my little brother Connor has a better afro than him.
I attempted to take some photos but they aren't very good. I was also told that frat parties usually aren't like that. We shall see....
The party scene in Ithaca seems to be centred around frat parties, mainly due to the fact that you can easily drink if you are underage.
The next couple of days were filled with orientation events where I met a bunch of people ane ate a lot of free food.
We had a trivia night (our international group failed spectacularly at all the America sport and history questions), casino night and Rec-o-rama (where we played wii bowling and rock-band-hero-whatever). Turns out I'm pretty good at wii bowling (5 strikes in a row) and half decent at imaginary guitar.
We also had a tour of the Johnson Art Museum. It has some pretty cool stuff in it, including a Monet (on loan), as well as an awesome view of the campus and lake.
Well, that will do for now. I will post some more random photos shortly.
<3 ek
Lots of stuff happened during O-week but as I am still not very good at taking copious numbers of digital photos I only have photos of a few things.
After I moved into my room I went to dinner with some people from my floor. They're pretty cool. We had "tex-mex" - Americanised mexican food. It wasn't too bad, but that could have been because I got vegetarian... no photo, sorry.
The next morning I woke up to snow falling outside my window!
Though by the time I left to meet up with the other exchange kids for lunch it had stopped. I did take some photos on the way to Collegetown though.
There are heaps of utes around with snowplows on them which I find pretty amusing. I am yet to get a photo though...
Anyway, lunch was good. Collegetown Bagels (CTB) is a place that I think I will practically live in this year. CTB is seemingly staffed almost entirely by cute boys ^_^ plus they make pretty good sandwiches.
That night my new friends (from floor 3) dragged me out to a frat party. Some guy called Afroman was playing there. All the yanks semed pretty excited about it, and the fact that he was playing in their living room was pretty awesome. Unfortunately his "music" sucked balls (look it up), was not original AND my little brother Connor has a better afro than him.
I attempted to take some photos but they aren't very good. I was also told that frat parties usually aren't like that. We shall see....
The party scene in Ithaca seems to be centred around frat parties, mainly due to the fact that you can easily drink if you are underage.
The next couple of days were filled with orientation events where I met a bunch of people ane ate a lot of free food.
We had a trivia night (our international group failed spectacularly at all the America sport and history questions), casino night and Rec-o-rama (where we played wii bowling and rock-band-hero-whatever). Turns out I'm pretty good at wii bowling (5 strikes in a row) and half decent at imaginary guitar.
We also had a tour of the Johnson Art Museum. It has some pretty cool stuff in it, including a Monet (on loan), as well as an awesome view of the campus and lake.
Well, that will do for now. I will post some more random photos shortly.<3 ek
Monday, January 18, 2010
Phase 2 - Getting to Ithaca
Upon arriving at my hostel I was greeted by a full dorm room and a top bunk with a very spiky mattress.
There was a European couple who insisted on sleeping in the same bed, a skater dude from DC, some bogans from the Gold Coast (more on them later) and a pair of Canadian sisters (Sarah and Judie).
Now, Sarah and Judie had come to NY for a couple of days to go see Spacehog (cyberhog, spacepig, intergalactic swine) and were driving back to Toronto the next day, conveniently driving right through Ithaca. They offered me a lift. Usually I would politely decline and get the bus instead, just in case they were axe murderers, but they were roughly parent-age and were very nice (one had kids and the other was a Sunday school teacher). I was going to go with them to the gig but it was sold out. Instead I stayed in and went to sleep (or tried to sleep on my mattress made of springs with fabric on top).
The next morning we got up to leave and were regaled with stories of the bogan's night out. Apparently they had gone to the meat packing district (not sure if this is a euphemism for something else or not) and had paid $800 to get into a club. Once inside the club they then paid a further $500 for a bottle of vodka. They must have bought more though as they said their final bill was in excess of $2500. This is US$ mind you. They then preceded to brag about the fact that they got the bill lowered to $450 because one of their friends got peed on.
What are you supposed to say to something like that? Well done guys? Wow, that must have been fun? Stupid bogans.
Anyway, before we left NY we got some pizza for lunch. It was pretty tasty. And the pieces are so big you have to fold them over to be able to eat them.
Also, a photo down the street outside the hostel.
The trip was pretty uneventful. I jumped in some snow at a petrol station and they didn't murder me and bury me in the woods. Judie had some pretty whacky stories to tell though. Including one that started with "One time I had a hooker stay with me for a while. She robbed banks." That's not a phrase you hear every day.
We got to Ithaca at about 6pm so it was dark and cold. I stayed the night at a B&B owned by a very nice couple, Colleen and Evan. After I put my bags in my room Colleen drove me to the supermarket to get some food and then in the morning she took me to my dorm.
I took some photos of the B&B because it was amazing. It's an 1863 house that they fixed up. I was going to take more photos this morning before I left but I forgot to turn the alarm on so I overslept (I set it, just forgot to turn it on).
And some photos that I took from the top of the stairs this morning.
So much snow!
There was a European couple who insisted on sleeping in the same bed, a skater dude from DC, some bogans from the Gold Coast (more on them later) and a pair of Canadian sisters (Sarah and Judie).
Now, Sarah and Judie had come to NY for a couple of days to go see Spacehog (cyberhog, spacepig, intergalactic swine) and were driving back to Toronto the next day, conveniently driving right through Ithaca. They offered me a lift. Usually I would politely decline and get the bus instead, just in case they were axe murderers, but they were roughly parent-age and were very nice (one had kids and the other was a Sunday school teacher). I was going to go with them to the gig but it was sold out. Instead I stayed in and went to sleep (or tried to sleep on my mattress made of springs with fabric on top).
The next morning we got up to leave and were regaled with stories of the bogan's night out. Apparently they had gone to the meat packing district (not sure if this is a euphemism for something else or not) and had paid $800 to get into a club. Once inside the club they then paid a further $500 for a bottle of vodka. They must have bought more though as they said their final bill was in excess of $2500. This is US$ mind you. They then preceded to brag about the fact that they got the bill lowered to $450 because one of their friends got peed on.
What are you supposed to say to something like that? Well done guys? Wow, that must have been fun? Stupid bogans.
Anyway, before we left NY we got some pizza for lunch. It was pretty tasty. And the pieces are so big you have to fold them over to be able to eat them.
Also, a photo down the street outside the hostel.
The trip was pretty uneventful. I jumped in some snow at a petrol station and they didn't murder me and bury me in the woods. Judie had some pretty whacky stories to tell though. Including one that started with "One time I had a hooker stay with me for a while. She robbed banks." That's not a phrase you hear every day.
We got to Ithaca at about 6pm so it was dark and cold. I stayed the night at a B&B owned by a very nice couple, Colleen and Evan. After I put my bags in my room Colleen drove me to the supermarket to get some food and then in the morning she took me to my dorm.
I took some photos of the B&B because it was amazing. It's an 1863 house that they fixed up. I was going to take more photos this morning before I left but I forgot to turn the alarm on so I overslept (I set it, just forgot to turn it on).
And some photos that I took from the top of the stairs this morning.
So much snow!
Phase 1 - Getting to America
Greetings!
The past few days have been rather eventful. Will you hear my tale?
Waiting at Sydney airport was very boring. I got there 3 hours before my flight, as you do, and was greeted with an empty check in line and subsequently a very short security line. As awesome as this was it did mean that I had an awful lot of time to kill at the airport before my flight. So, I sat down, charged some stuff and took some photos out the window.
On the plane I unfortunately did not have a window seat, but I did have a row of 4 seats all to myself. Though drugged up on sudafed as I was, I wasn't able to utilise them for sleep.
13 hours later we arrived in LA to go through immigration. The immigration man was very nice, he offered me a menthol (?) for my cough. The customs lady on the other hand was grumpy and rude. Oh well, you can't win them all.
The flight through to NY was just as empty before and I managed to get a little awkward sleep on my 4 seats. I was woken up by insane turbulence that had me bouncing out of the seats (yes, I had a seatbelt on) so I sat up again for the rest of the flight.
I had a chat with one of the air hostesses before we took off and discovered that they got their shifts (flights) by bidding for them, on a seniority basis. ie. the higher up you were the more likely you were to get the flights that you wanted. Crazy, huh!
Anyway, we landed in NY where I got a taxi to the hostel. In NY the taxi men are separated from you inside a perspex box. It was weird. I guess it's so they don't get stabbed or somesuch.
The past few days have been rather eventful. Will you hear my tale?
Waiting at Sydney airport was very boring. I got there 3 hours before my flight, as you do, and was greeted with an empty check in line and subsequently a very short security line. As awesome as this was it did mean that I had an awful lot of time to kill at the airport before my flight. So, I sat down, charged some stuff and took some photos out the window.
On the plane I unfortunately did not have a window seat, but I did have a row of 4 seats all to myself. Though drugged up on sudafed as I was, I wasn't able to utilise them for sleep.13 hours later we arrived in LA to go through immigration. The immigration man was very nice, he offered me a menthol (?) for my cough. The customs lady on the other hand was grumpy and rude. Oh well, you can't win them all.
The flight through to NY was just as empty before and I managed to get a little awkward sleep on my 4 seats. I was woken up by insane turbulence that had me bouncing out of the seats (yes, I had a seatbelt on) so I sat up again for the rest of the flight.
I had a chat with one of the air hostesses before we took off and discovered that they got their shifts (flights) by bidding for them, on a seniority basis. ie. the higher up you were the more likely you were to get the flights that you wanted. Crazy, huh!
Anyway, we landed in NY where I got a taxi to the hostel. In NY the taxi men are separated from you inside a perspex box. It was weird. I guess it's so they don't get stabbed or somesuch.
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