At Newcastle! - Part Two
Sorry for the delayed post guys! Time passes quickly here :)
I've been taking lectures for the past two weeks and was given some tasks to attend to during my free time. Many things are happening around here and posting about each is pretty much impractical.
To put my news in short, I moved into a shared flat with other International students (no more stays at hotels), met a number of friends, went on a couple of trips around Newcastle, and best of all: got a broadband Internet connection at my place! :D
Anyway, here are the details, starting with the incidents that were mentioned at the end of the previous post ...
An Evening at a Bar
Victor is a Spanish undergraduate student that I met during my first week at the university. He studies music at Newcastle and has invited me to a "Jam Night" at one of the local bars. He said that this bar holds Thursday evenings for jamming sessions and that many bands and solo artists perform there every week.
I made it there that Thursday and watched some bands perform; the evening was amazing! Anybody who wants to play would simply write their names on a chalkboard and wait for their turn. The songs played ranged from country to some rock oldies, in addition to few originals.
Victor was expecting me to bring my guitar and jam along, but I told him I've been in town for a couple of days and it's not the right time ... yet ;)
Luckily, I got away with my vile no-drinking habit that evening with a simple "Sorry, I have a medical condition, I can't drink" :P
The Tap
This happened during my first week too! I was heading someplace for dinner when a girl got almost ran over trying to cross the street to my side while yelling "Hey! Hey!".
She looked terrified and asked me if I can get her "a tap". I asked her "What's a tap?" and she acted out smoking a cigarette. I figured that a tap is slang for a cigarette! She said "I can't buy it because the guy at the supermarket thinks am a minor but my 18th birthday was just yesterday!".
Now in normal conditions, if somebody approaches me with such a proposition, my reaction would range from simple refusal to beating them to death :P, but this girl really did crack me up! :D
So yes, I went to the supermarket and bought her a tap (how responsible). She gave me a pound and asked for the change but I didn't want to bother counting the pennies so I just told her "It's on me" and she was like "Ooooooh" and she hugged me :S
Of course I didn't let her go without some lecturing about the risks of smoking but she looked like a lost cause, or else I wouldn't have saved myself the hassle of denying her request.
Trip to Tynemouth
A couple of weeks ago I went with some friends to Tynemouth, a town at the mouth of the river Tyne at the east coast of England.
We passed by the historical Tynemouth Castle, a castle that stands on a high rocky cliff and is believed to have been there since the 10th century (making it 1000 years old). Anyway, embare7 wella el youm, it looked nothing more than a deserted bunch of stones to me :F
We also spent some time at King Edward's Bay.
The Tyne River
My favorite place in town is the Tyne river, I just can't get enough of it! It's great that this place is only a 15-minute walk from my university!
There are several bridges over the Tyne, some of which are high and expose wonderful scenery of the river, the town and the lands far beyond. The area around the banks of the Tyne (the quayside) has wonderful walks and is a perfect place for spending some moments of tranquility.
There are also some other places that are worth writing about but I'll leave these to other posts.
More news to followup later!
I've been taking lectures for the past two weeks and was given some tasks to attend to during my free time. Many things are happening around here and posting about each is pretty much impractical.
To put my news in short, I moved into a shared flat with other International students (no more stays at hotels), met a number of friends, went on a couple of trips around Newcastle, and best of all: got a broadband Internet connection at my place! :D
Anyway, here are the details, starting with the incidents that were mentioned at the end of the previous post ...
An Evening at a Bar
Victor is a Spanish undergraduate student that I met during my first week at the university. He studies music at Newcastle and has invited me to a "Jam Night" at one of the local bars. He said that this bar holds Thursday evenings for jamming sessions and that many bands and solo artists perform there every week.
I made it there that Thursday and watched some bands perform; the evening was amazing! Anybody who wants to play would simply write their names on a chalkboard and wait for their turn. The songs played ranged from country to some rock oldies, in addition to few originals.
Victor was expecting me to bring my guitar and jam along, but I told him I've been in town for a couple of days and it's not the right time ... yet ;)
Luckily, I got away with my vile no-drinking habit that evening with a simple "Sorry, I have a medical condition, I can't drink" :P
The Tap
This happened during my first week too! I was heading someplace for dinner when a girl got almost ran over trying to cross the street to my side while yelling "Hey! Hey!".
She looked terrified and asked me if I can get her "a tap". I asked her "What's a tap?" and she acted out smoking a cigarette. I figured that a tap is slang for a cigarette! She said "I can't buy it because the guy at the supermarket thinks am a minor but my 18th birthday was just yesterday!".
Now in normal conditions, if somebody approaches me with such a proposition, my reaction would range from simple refusal to beating them to death :P, but this girl really did crack me up! :D
So yes, I went to the supermarket and bought her a tap (how responsible). She gave me a pound and asked for the change but I didn't want to bother counting the pennies so I just told her "It's on me" and she was like "Ooooooh" and she hugged me :S
Of course I didn't let her go without some lecturing about the risks of smoking but she looked like a lost cause, or else I wouldn't have saved myself the hassle of denying her request.
Trip to Tynemouth
A couple of weeks ago I went with some friends to Tynemouth, a town at the mouth of the river Tyne at the east coast of England.
We passed by the historical Tynemouth Castle, a castle that stands on a high rocky cliff and is believed to have been there since the 10th century (making it 1000 years old). Anyway, embare7 wella el youm, it looked nothing more than a deserted bunch of stones to me :F
We also spent some time at King Edward's Bay.
The Tyne River
My favorite place in town is the Tyne river, I just can't get enough of it! It's great that this place is only a 15-minute walk from my university!
There are several bridges over the Tyne, some of which are high and expose wonderful scenery of the river, the town and the lands far beyond. The area around the banks of the Tyne (the quayside) has wonderful walks and is a perfect place for spending some moments of tranquility.
There are also some other places that are worth writing about but I'll leave these to other posts.
More news to followup later!