The News

Normally, I don't like to write about news entries, but this one really got to me. There is an artist by the name of Mark McGowan in Britain who decided to do the most stupidest form of protest I have ever seen. He ate part of a dead Corgi dog in order to protest the hunting behaviour of Prince Phillip. Now, I am for animal rights, but how is eating a Corgi suppose to be a protest against abusing animals? The dog died of natural causes, but still it's not really the right thing to do.

I've been trying to keep up with the news in the U.K. and U.S. Sunderland has a paper called the Metro that comes out daily and I usually grab a copy during lunch or sometimes I wait until I get back into the room before I read it. I use Yahoo! and CNN to keep me updated on what is going on within the United States. All of these sites have also been useful for research and news stories for my Television Studio class.

Here's the link if you want more information about what happened. I can't believe Yoko Ono joined in as well: click here

Tour

Random Facts: "Houses in London can cost millions of dollars due to the lack of space available. The populations of Manchester and London range in the millions."

My classes, for the most part, are over. I don't know how I'm going to spend the rest of my time other than maybe taking one more trip with a friend. I will miss this place, but now I'm starting to become more excited about going back home. I have so many stories to tell them and I'll get the chance to see my grandmother who I haven't seen in over a decade. I'm going to try to catch up with all of my friends and if I can find a job even though my hometown is very small and it's very difficult to find a position that is open for the summer.

I spent today giving my friend a tour of Sunderland since he's interested in attending the University next year. He was very impressed with the place, but many of the buildings were closed so I could not give him an indoor tour. However, he plans on signing up for one of the open houses so he can get an inside look and he doesn't mind staying in a dormitory. Especially since the cost of housing is so expensive! I mean, my current boardmates are having to pay $320 a week to stay in a 6 bedroom place. I guess with all of them paying together it won't be as bad, but I've compared some of the housing prices in England to America and it's really ridiculous.

Some friends and I went to a dance club for one last time since some of them were leaving early. We had a wonderful time until a girl from the Chech Republic had her coat stolen. We were up until late that night trying to search for it and waiting to see if security found anything. I told her she needed to tell the cops and get a police report so the Uni won't charge her for what was stolen.

Security managed to find her mobile, but they were unable to find her coat. We all decided to take a taxi and it was during the middle of the ride when I realized that this was the first taxi I'd ever taken. It was a van taxi that could hold up to six people and it was surprisingly less expensive than I thought it would be ($8). I'm really going to miss the dance clubs in England. They played some great music, had some great friends to hang out with, and the atmosphere was very awesome.

Middlesborough

Random Fact: "University and college are two completely different levels of education within the U.K. In order to enter university, you must go to college. Most kids graduate from high school when they are 16 and attend college for a couple of years to past the necessary tests required to enter uinversity."

Today, I decided to take a little break from everything and went to Middlesborough to help my friend shop for the wedding. Middlesborough is sort of like Durham where you have a whole bunch of small shops to choose from throughout the entire town instead of just one big mall. It reminds me of The Bridges in Sunderland, but this place is bigger and it has more to offer. We couldn't find any shoes that would work for the wedding, so we went back to the car where we bumped into his parents.

They knew that I would be leaving soon, so they bought me a new purse as a surprise. I told them that they didn't need to do it, but they insisted and I graciously thanked them for it. They are such a sweet family and I'm glad that I had the chance to meet them because they seem so traditional. Also, they are glad b/c their son now wants to go back to Uni b/c of all the stories I've told him. He's very interested in attending Sunderland and he wants to get his degree in Forensics Science.

I love it when I can impact someone in such a positive way. I hope he does make a better life for himself and doesn't spend it working $24,000 a year (12,000 pounds a year) working as an IT Technician for a college (which is totally different from Uni). That's one of the reasons why I'm attending Berea and Sunderland: in order to create a better life for myself.

Study Abroad

This is how University life should be. Living in a small housing area with 9 other people. You talk to them downstairs as they're watching Coronation Street and you cook your own meals. You have your own room with a lock and large closet with drawers, a lamp, a sink, and a mirror. It's not that loud during the night and sometimes you can go clubbing with your board mates. None of this 40-80 people sharing one living space and having 2 people to a room. I think if I had a single dormitory in Berea I'd probably be a 4.0 student instead of searching frantically across campus for a private place to study b/c my roommate is napping or whatever.

I have less than a month left at this place. It's an amazing place and if you can I highly recommend that you study abroad. Please, don't waste this moment, especially if you have KIIS money (like people from KY do). It will help quite a bit supposedly. I know tomorrow will be super busy, but tonight as I plan on drinking another cup of tea, it's totally awesome.

Finishing Projects

I've been very, very busy this Bank Holiday. I finally finished my 2,000 word essay for Television Genres which started out with talking about the hybridize nature of the news, but in the end I changed the topic into the study of gender ideologies within children's television. I used some of the examples from class, but most of the examples I used were from America. I ended up using over twelve sources for the paper.

Also, one of the people from my Video Productions group came to me and told me that we needed to edit the video. It's funny b/c it's due within a couple of days and the writers told her that it was her and my job to edit the video. I don't mind editing it, but I really would've wish they had told me it wasn't done before it got this late. But, it's fine as long as she shows up b/c she knows what room to work in and what file they named it.

I'm halfway done with everything that needs to be turned in. Now, all I have to do is write a couple of papers and finish with my group on doing the live radio show. And the video production project as well.

I've asked some of my British buddies what "Bank Holiday" was about and the most they could tell me was "I don't know, but most of the businesses close during that time and we get the day off."