Raeann Explores — Thursday 22 December

I went back to the bridge, where I wished I'd had my camera on monday. I was slightly smarter this time, though, and took the bus. Also, it wasn't raining.

From the parking lot behind the bus/metro station across the river.

Cool little paths... And I took the one that went down because I was trying to get to the river.

Bridge, river, branches. I'm curious about how deep the River Wear is at the mouth, because it's pretty silty.

A pretty shot of the other bank, with the vines growing over the walls.

The little path with a wall!

This is why I went. I couldn't really believe that this place was in Sunderland.

Wall!

Me and the wall, looking happier than the last time I took a picture of myself. I think my nose looks much bigger, though. 

The sky kept being really pretty, but I never really captured it with my camera.

The train bridge is the grey one with the cool circular support thing.

Also, the train bridge has these huge columns underneath.

It looks too green. It's winter! Officially!

See, these trees know what's what. The grass kind of ruins it, though.

Not sure what this little covered walkway was for...

It was taller than it looked. 

One thing I've noticed here: I don't know how it is in non-washington-or-oregon cities, but I feel like the british may have a monopoly on building right up the edge of a river, and then building walls for the river. 

Walls. Also, leaf gunk or possibly seaweed.

Not that that's ever stopped me.

This was under the train bridge... I don't know what it is.

Tall columns.

I was intrigued by the flowers left around a metal box with some sharpie on it... I wonder what happened there.

Wall! This was under the car bridge.

St. Peter's campus from a distance. Not the cranes, though.

I'm curious as to what this Venus thing is for. Seems like some kind of run...

These things were everywhere.

Having seen all I had space for on my camera on the St. Peter's side of the river, I decided to climb back up and cross the bridge.
Up was very up.

It looks less imposing from the top, but it was a rather steep climb.

If it wasn't for all the mossy stuff on the tree trunks, it would look like it's autumn...

On both sides of both ends of the bridge.

Looking down the river. If you're not too close, it's kind of pretty...

That's where I was headed.

The sky, with the North Sea meeting it, was prettier in real life. I tried anyway.

The bridge. I really like the train bridge.

This is the city crest or arms or something, and Nil Desperandum Auspice Deo is on everything here. Any latin-readers know what it means?

It just sounds so polite! I'm planning on doing a "signs" post sometime, but we'll see.

Walls! I love walls. They've got pink granite-y stuff mixed with sandstone and what appears to be cement. 

I hate cobbles. That picture of the brick sloping down the hillside? This is that. It felt this steep, and it was slick.

You can tell where the river was.

I was surprised when this picture turned out okay.

They had these bushes every fifty meters or so with weird little pathways leading to them. I don't know why... 

It turns out that this side of the river is part of the Monkwearmoth trail, or something. It's a 15-mile loop that I didn't pay much attention to, since I have neither the time nor the band of adventurers required to make that loop. This part reminded me of northern Oregon, on the gorge, somehow.

Also, for the first time in quite a while, I found myself in a place that I had no idea of where it was in relation to the rest of Sunderland. It was weird.
Also also, I am now the proud owner of a potato masher. It works pretty well. And yes, I did make potatoes as soon as I got home.
Oh, and also also also (if that's not a bit excessive), no more tomatoes in the wok. I think they ate the finish, and my white sauce was a little grey tonight.

Wednesday 28 September to Sunday 2 October

I'm sorry for neglecting the blog. To make up for it, I'll do a thing on Clanny House and my flatmates (a special edition, as it were), and maybe something on classes, courses, modules, and school structures over here.
On Wednesday (which Adam says "WED-n'sday", with the d in it, instead of "WENZday", like I say it), I had the seminar for my history module at 10 AM. I picked Diseases and Medicine for my presentation; I'm looking forward learning about the history of medicine. I thought about Witchcraft and Witch Hunts or Natural Philosophy (i.e., early science, like Newton), but those were at the end of the list and more likely to fill up, at least the witch one. As it stands, I'm working alone and have a few weeks to prepare. I'll get to see a few presentations before I have to do mine, so that's good. I'm looking forward to what I'll learn in the class, if not the actual process of learning it.
I'm also not looking forward to the annoying feminist in the lecture. She's the sort that gives the rest of us a bad name ("us" here meaning women in general, quite frankly). She got mad at someone for saying that, based on the burial records we were examining, men were more important than women in the Early Modern period (1500s to 1700s, roughly). It was a patriarchal society, honey. She's evidently a history major, which basically means that she either wants to teach or go into a traditionally male-dominated field, so I understand her feelings (as someone planning to go into a traditionally male-dominated field, even if my Whitworth classes are kind of full of females), but honestly! Gah.
I got my slippers, which I love:

I also went to the museum and winter gardens, although I didn't get pictures of the gardens.

Supported by lots and lots of museums and companies and stuff.

Impressive building. Also, the intersections here would inspire terrible things in Andrew's road map.

Dr. William Clanny, who invented safety lamps for miners. I suspect that he's the namesake of Clanny House, but I could be mistaken.

Thursday consisted entirely of Analytical Biochemistry. I inadvertently skipped two hours of lecture, thinking that the two slots on the schedule were two sections for the lecture, just like there were three lab sections. No. The lecture goes from 9-11 AM, then from 12-2 PM. Happily, my lecturer (also french. What is up with this?) was understanding of my study abroad issues, and emailed me the slides for the lecture. After the lecture, I had a short break before lab, which consisted entirely of review calculations.
I was surrounded by algebraic idiots. The lecturer wants us to put down formulas for every mathematic calculation we do (like M1V1=M2V2 for mass and volume problems, that sort of thing). While this is not my style, I'm willing to adapt in order to keep my grades up. No one could understand how to do this. Granted, I tend to put my formulas on at the end of the problem, but it's not impossible for me to use them at the beginning.
We spent ten minutes doing one problem on the board because the guy doing it couldn't figure out the formulas.
Then came the pièce de résistance. On one problem, which was admittedly complex, we finally worked it down to two unknowns and two equations (fairly ideal, for those of you without much math background). We were algebra-ing away, solving for unknowns and rewriting equations like professionals, when one kid asked where "the other A went".
Real quick: A+A is equivalent, in math terms, to 2A. It is also equivalent to A(1+1).
This kid could not understand this concept, which is one of the more basic . I don't know how he ever passed the british version of high school. I actually turned around and looked at him in disbelief at one point.
I got through class without killing anyone, so congratulate me.
Friday was much better. I don't have any classes friday, so Jessi and I went to the beach on what was probably going to be one of the last warm days of our little indian summer. Finally, I almost had to go buy summer clothes. I found some sea glass and cool shells, and we managed to avoid getting splashed until we were standing at the steps to leave the beach and a huge wave came up and splashed us. Go figure.
Josie got a goldfish, who has been enthusiastically adopted by the whole flat. She named him Bob, just Bob with no surname, but Flo decided to call him Bob Diddy. It stuck, and Bob is now Bob Diddyfish on facebook. We're all friends with him.
Saturday was to be my laundry day. I forgot about my towels, though, so Sunday will be my laundry day as well if I can get the laundry room code to work. We also had italian night, which ended up being entirely vegetarian (such nice flatmates!) and also delicious. Josie helped Jessi make cannelloni, which was good if a bit undercooked; Conor made risotto; and Adam made bruschetta. I supplied tiramisu ice cream and cleaned up before and after.
Sunday was a lazy day. I still have to do laundry, but I'm working on postcards (FYI, I haven't been to the places on them. I bought them while stuck in heathrow airport terminal 5 for half a day). It's the first properly rainy day since I've been here, and Josie's caught a cold that I blame on the weather shift from hot and a little humid to cold and rainy. It's a great day to curl up with tea and a book.
I worked out the laundry code! First, I had the wrong code. It's C2370X. Second, I was turning the knob the wrong way and not pulling on the door handle itself. Laundry room accomplished.
Oh, my plant is doing great. It has, like, four new blossoms and it takes so much water that it has to be healthy.

And while I was taking pictures, I noticed something odd about my curtains.

Gasp! Three colours on one curtain! I never knew that mine were black on the outside...

Same for the other curtain.