上課了!

It was really cold yesterday and the worst of all was that it rained all day. I had two classes so I had to walk between two buildings and came back to LT for lunch. The shoes became wet very quickly.



But there were two things could comfort me, first, the cross-culture was an interesting class and I really enjoyed it. Second, the phonology was really great even though the teacher was a Russian but it did not matter. She was really brilliant and solved a lot of myths and wrong information when I had taught English in Taiwan. I was quite satisfied the classes. After that, I went to library again because I got the two pages long about cross-culture reading list. As usual a lot of people used the library catalogue system to search the materials so I had to wait for while for using computer. I appreciated that school strictly prohibited students using library computer in another use, such as surfing internet because of that it really save students’ time for waiting.



English is not my native language so I need to pay more attention on study. Preview the reading material is really important.



Besides my study, I want to talk about some food ingredient in UK. The price of eggs in Taiwan has been increasing but it can’t compete with UK eggs. I still remembered the first time I bought eggs was in Aviemore. Six eggs cost me 1.29 pounds. That is 80 NT dollars. Each egg cost 13 NTD. It was scared me and I had to consider I should abandon eating eggs in UK. I could not afford such expensive ingredient. Although, I could find cheaper eggs in Newcastle but the price is still high. Another thing is toilet tissue paper. If you like soft toilet paper, you have to pay at least 2 pounds for 6 rolls. Of course, you could buy cheaper one, but you would find the paper is really thin when you want to use for Mr. Gold. You have to use more than you think. 



PS: 根據網友提供資料, 雞蛋會如此昂貴, 是因為我買的是free-range eggs, 俗稱土雞蛋! 另外有蛋雞所生的雞蛋, caged eggs, 但是我還沒碰到, 那天碰到再來秀一下!

有冬天的fu

Studying in Newcastle Uni is very great because of free English improvement program. I took writing course for my first semester because I think I really need its help due to plenty of essays and assignments. Before coming here, I seldom write long articles and assignments to improve my English ability. Needless to say, I like the word “free”, my IELTS passes the score but it did not mean my ability is really great. Around 10 am, I went to the Old Library, I thought I had to register  but I made a big mistake because I took the wrong information. The program office is located in Old Library but it doesn’t mean I need to go there and register. Luckily, Lee told us that we had to go to another building. When we arrived there, there were hundreds of students have already gotten the number and sat there for the calling. When I left, it was after 1pm.



My friend and I decided to go back to LT and cooked our lunch to save money because we don’t want to spend 3 pounds for take-away. Take-away is an unaffordable food and I usually cook by myself. Since I have been in UK, I have not get any chances to eat in a restaurant. The best one I had should be Subway. It cost me 3.69 pounds.



I finished all the chores and headed to Robinson Library for studying. There were not so many people reading but lots of students were busy for borrowing books. The library provides cozy space for reading and I really like it. However, there was a strange guy with unexplainable behaviors. Throwing the paper into the bin or walking around the reading space and it caused me become unable to concentrate on the books. His seat was behind me even though I did not turn my head but I still could hear what he did.



I left there around 7 pm and it was really cold and windy. Later on, it started to rain lightly and thus I needed to walk quickly back to LT. The freezing wind blew on my face and I was thinking how I am going to get through the winter here. The senior resident told me, the temperature would be minus 5-10 during the winter. Buying a small heater would be a good idea. 






今天在Joanna的指導下, 我終於學會如何烹飪couscous這種小米, 這種小米配上我下午煮好的咖哩醬! 好吃啊!>

LT廚房鳥事

How much trash can you make in one day? Well, let’s count it more specific, how much trash you could make in 8 hours?



I was shocked when I came back from York because the trash can in the kitchen we used was full. I remembered the trash can had plenty of space on Saturday morning but after 8 hours it full with the un-recycle trash in. My friend, Joanna, was quite shocked because we could understand how people could make the trash so quickly. We noticed there were several coca-cola empty bottles in it and I knew the friends here they never drank the drinking. 



Because of the trash can, nobody really enjoyed cooking on Sunday and thus we ate bread or cook very light meal for all of us. We tried not to make too much trash or some people took the trash back to their room. Eating next to the full trash can is really unpleasant.



Besides the trash can, somebody cooked on the cooker and cause a lot of stain on it. It’s really hard to clean because I tried to use my green sponge cleaning several times but all failed. Therefore, I told my friends we must have expected to be fined by the stain even though we all have not made. But it belongs to the area we used; we all have to take the responsibility. Some people were annoyed because of this, but what we could do with it. Nobody saw who did it. I knew some people are great cook and some don’t. People without sense of cleaning, I only could say I have to prepare 20 pounds for the fine. 



PS:

有沒有人算過, 自己一天可以製造多少垃圾?



打從我搬進來到現在,已經超過10天, 但是我尚未去倒過垃圾, 因為很空! 連紙類的垃圾袋都空的很! 



可是我有時候就不得不佩服有人太會製造垃圾, 禮拜六早上出門時, 桶子還空的很, 至少超過一半是空的! 但是晚上回來時, 我朋友跟我傻眼,  因為爆滿, 塞都塞不進去! 只好自己將垃圾帶回去房間丟! 



桶子內有好幾罐兩公升的碳酸飲料桶. 光它就占了不少空間. 我們這群根本不可能喝它, 至於誰喝它?! 我跟我朋友交換"我知道了!"的眼神, 這一區誰喝這種飲料大家都知道! 



除了垃圾桶之外, cooker也是個問題! 有人白目製造了不少汙漬在上頭, 我拿著菜瓜布去清裡幾次都沒有用, 現在我只能跟我朋友們說, 要有心理準備, 要被罰錢! 有人很不爽, 因為她們煮飯從不製造任何麻煩, 怎麼就是有人白目又不清裡, 就像是以為清洗完鍋子就以為沒事, 事實上還得放回去才算完工!  反正我已經準備好20鎊了!

誇張的貴咧! 教堂!

York Minister is really famous. I won’t question it but does it worth me to spend 13.5 pounds to enjoy a Cathedral? I doubt it so I decided not to visit it. Although, I knew it is really fantastic and beautiful but I refused to pay so much money on a Cathedral. My two Portugal friends also thought the price was really incredible. They told me in Portugal there is only one Cathedral need to pay but the admission fee is really cheap. The others do not need to pay because they think ask people to pay for entering the church or cathedral is really ridiculous.



Besides the amazing cathedral, there are many lovely shops in York. However, I am not really interested in them because we have most of them in Newcastle. The biggest difference is the shops here look quite lovely. Due to weekend, people filled with every street and it looked very crowded.



After we circulated the city center once, my friends went to York Dungeon to enjoy the exciting torture but I was not interested in seeing that kind of exciting process so I told them to enjoy their journey. I walked to the market and enjoy the long array of various stands. I have encountered the first time discriminated event, there was a old lady murmured behind me in low voice with something that I did really understand and she even stared at me with furious eyes. I decided to forgive the poor and pity short woman. She must have problem with her heart and brain. Ignoring her, I kept my path to enjoyed those beautiful stands and I found Betty’s Tea house has queued with a lot of people. The menu shown 14.95 pounds for afternoon tea, wow, it’s more expensive than cathedral.



One hour later, my friends and I met again and I told the information I found about afternoon tea. The price really surprised them.



Without entering York Minister, Betty’s Tea House, we decided to enjoy small churches and comforted us with very light afternoon tea in an unknown café. I order a pot of tea, and a fruit scone with butter. It only cost me 2.42 pounds and they tasted good. Otherwise, I found the bakery café we went full of a lot of locals instead of tourists and the atmosphere was quite relax. 



On the way back, we met an Italian guy who was on his business trip in UK. At the beginning, we did not talk because my friends chatted in their native language and I read my book. Until my friends said something really funny and the guy may understand some Portugal he could not help himself laughing. My male Portugal friend and he started to talk about coffee, cars, and football. Oh my god, the talk couldn’t stop because of football and coffee. I realized Italian and Portugal men are really concern about coffee. In their opinion, British and American do not really understand coffee. Before we arrived in Newcastle, the guy treated us his favorite things to us, Chocolate whereas the sweets I hated but I had one piece. Unfortunately, I did not take any photo of him. 



PS: 

我對於約克期望太高, 以致於覺得它真的是還好! 我覺得只能怪我曾經去過太美的東法跟南德, 導致於我每次看到某些建築都會不禁拿這兩個國家來相比! 



加上教堂太貴, 讓我非常之不愉快, 我知道要維持一個教堂需要錢,但是這不包括像是層層剝削! 一個教堂還分三次刮, 頂樓, 地下事跟平面啊! 拜訪過那麼多教堂就屬這個最貴咧!  比愛丁堡城堡還貴咧! <學生卡有優惠, 可以考慮!>



到底要不要吃下午茶? 我覺得看個人, 論茶! 很難拼著過台灣茶葉的品質, 論三明治, 我得說UK的三明治還頗鹹, 但是Scone這東西, 我真得是還挺愛, 尤其是熱熱裹上果醬跟奶醬配上奶茶, 我只能說:＂絕品＂！　M&S有賣scone, 其實我覺的品質很不賴, 有時候跟朋友相約煮上一壺茶配上Jam with Donuts 跟Scone, 就很美好了! 去Bettys時, 發現坐在裡頭還真多亞洲人咧, 可見名氣真的飾很大! 







很久沒看到這種西式划船! 不知道冬山河還有沒?







碩果僅存的城堡, 小小一顆, 要價3英鎊! 錢被我拿去吃那一頓2.42有找的下午茶了! 







猜猜看他在做啥?



在友人的建議下, 我們去逛了維京博物館! 學生票事7英鎊, 感想就是: OKAY啦! 如果真的很愛維京文化, 可以來! 但是對我來說這簡直是很不怎樣, 因為票太貴, 唯一吸引我的是坐的懸空的纜車欣賞維京時代的假人生活! 不過博物館有賣一張超有趣的postcard, 我沒有買, 但是我的朋友有買, 很推這張明信片, 整人用的!







＜不想要真實面對大家，用素描讓大家瞄一下我在這裡的朋友!＞

Introduction結束了

The five days long introduction week had finished by a fantastic city tour by local guide. Looking back the five days, my head filled of a lot of information which is related to linguistics and TESOL. I have borrowed some books from library and started reading them. Otherwise, I would feel panic when I start the study.



I have selected 60 credits for my first semester and 60 credits in semester 2. I don't want to divided into 50 and 70 and it will bring me stress and stress is the last thing I want in future life.



I can't stop thinking about what I am going to read and how many essays to write and how busy I will be. My professors are really nice but it doesn't mean they will treat us very nicely on studying. This weekend may be my last weekend to really relax myself. I have seen some PhD students carry plenty of books and read them. From them, I have remind myself working harder.



I want to share something about the city tour. The places they showed us this afternoon whereas I have been last weekend. However, I still fancied it because I didn't know the history behind it and the tour guide is really splendid. He is a 60 gentleman so he told us things happened in his parents' time and what had happened in Newcastle during the World War 2and how the city has been reforming until now. The last stop is river side and the view is really fantastic. But who can imagine 18 years ago, river ride was a dirty and smelly place? Just like Love River in southern Taiwan. Time passed, riverside has become a good place for people to enjoy jogging, walking and enjoying sunshine.

活該, 選出讓人民繼續喝毒奶粉的先生

很久不寫政治文了 !  不爽的人閃邊, 別再閱讀下去! 













我老早就說台灣人很笨, 卻老是自以為自己相當高尚, 因為他們選出受過良好的教育, 所以要去選出一個考試靠加分進台大, 拿著特別的獎學金去哈佛念一個不知所以然的法學博士, 博士論文竟然跟法律不相關! 這就是台灣人的水準! 



所以毒奶粉事件爆發之後, 千錯萬錯都是民進黨時代的錯, 因為是民進黨時代讓毒奶粉進口到台灣, 所以怎樣都沒有國民黨的錯! 



一個可以好好處理的攸關民生議題的issue, 可以很鐵腕的說, 為了保障台灣人的安全, 所以政府要求相關產品通通下架, 結果沒幾天馬上"政策大轉彎", 竟然可以讓人民喝2.5ppm的melamine, 果然是相當符合當初的馬上就好的廣告! 





馬上就好---讓你去住套房

馬上就好---讓你的小孩得結石



一個連危機處理能力的政府, 我能說什麼? 活該台灣人要受苦受難嗎? 



前一陣子有人股票住套去自殺! 



現在是台灣有孩童驗出結石啊! 



誰曉得下一次是什麼? 



難怪中國想成為世界超級強國, 因為只要製造{有毒玩具, 有毒米果, 有毒奶粉, 有毒生活用品!} 毒死大家, 中國馬上成為超級強國, 無人可以匹敵! 因為大家都被毒死啦! 



偏偏這個白癡政府成天只想去某國的LP, 妄想分一點紅, 搞不好到最後! 自己還落的屍骨無存!

你是文盲還是耳聾嗎?

The residents in LT were required to attend 30 minutes briefing session which was designed by Northumbria Police and Tyne and Wear Fire Brigade yesterday. The first regulation is no cigarette smoking in this building.



However, sometimes you would see someone without brain to keep in mind. After shopping in M&S, I took all bags back to LT and opened the last door, suddenly, I smelled cigarette and it really stunned because all the residents are prohibited to smoke inside. I knocked the closest door to ask. She told she sometimes smelled smoke but she is not sure who smoked. The resident of the last room came out and said an hour ago there were few people gathered in the TV lounge. We all rushed to the lounge and opened the door. The unpleasant smell fluttered on my face. I was so angry because there was a fire accident happened in LT last year.



As the result, I reported to Reception about the event because the lounge is really close to my room. I don’t really want to flee when there is a fire alarm in LT. I used to have an experience when I lived in Taipei and it was really scary. The reception was really angry because we just had the session yesterday. When my friend came back, she said maybe without CCTV inside the LT causes those people think it will be okay to smoke without being caught.



<題外話:>

真的是覺得有人鐵定是文盲或者是耳聾, 昨天才上完LT 跟Nothumbria消防局跟警察局合作的講習! 所有的學生都必須得出席。Rule No 1, 不准在宿舍內抽菸.



偏偏有人就白目到極點! 因為下午我去M&S採購回到LT, 準備要推開最後一道門時, 就聞到濃濃的煙味, 我馬上敲了427, 因為明顯裡頭有人嘻鬧聲, 們一打開是一群女生, 嫌疑馬上刷清, 結果住最後一間的女孩子馬上探出頭說: 剛剛有人在lounge嬉鬧, 我們一群人馬上衝去TV lounge, 門一開, 我們馬上聞到濃濃的煙味啊! 根據對面同學表示, 她在房間有聽到中英文夾雜的講話聲, 我哩咧! 真想罵人!



非常之不爽! 馬上去reception申訴, 靠! 去年LT才發生意外, 我可不希望今年又來一次, 那會非常的麻煩咧! 因為修繕的費用是學生出, 偏偏那個lounge離我住的地方只有幾公尺, 那我不就成了冤大頭 !



另外:

今天去一家靠近學校的香港超市買了一瓶小醬油跟薑, 因為我在M&S買到99p的六隻雞腿咧! 打算要來滷雞腿了!

人外有人, 天外有天

Studying oversea brings a lot of benefits and the biggest one is people could broaden their knowledge and adapt culture difference from different cultures. Not to mention it, there are plenty of Chinese in UK but the most impressive one is that I have noticed women from Oman are really talented and tough. They are really active in class and I would like to say their behaviors made me really admire them. The term “Oman” is not really familiar but if you are a Christian and you may know Oman is really famous for mastic in Old or New bible. You may read a story about three wise men bringing three gifts to Jesus and one of the gifts is mastic.



Due to their outstanding in class, I really want to know what the educational system is in Oman. All the girls in class wear veils and sit quietly but when it comes to questions and answers or expresses their ideas, suddenly, all the Oman girls raise their hands quickly and answer or express themselves enthusiastically.



Compare to other students in class, there is only one who can compete with them. A woman form Ireland is the only one who can also answer or express her opinion or answers quickly, but I have to say for a native speaker she should do it or people may look down her. However, I found the Chinese and Taiwanese students just sit there and smile. Unfortunately, I am one of them but I am getting better now. I learn to ask questions and express my thoughts and ideas because I don’t want to let people think Taiwanese students are really weak………….



I have been trying to talk and discuss with some people from Middle East. We have seen them very often from TV but minimum chances to meet and know them. It’s a great opportunity to know them. Through the talk, I found they are really proud of themselves being Muslims and proud of their countries. They also told me in their country, every body has opportunity to accept education but when it comes to higher education, you have to compete with others and the competition is so fierce that they learn to grab every chance they encounter. Because of that, they learn to show their best parts to the others and accept a lot of new items from the world. I have to say, I admire those women from Middle East.



<在我來到英國之前,很多人都告訴我, 大陸人在這裡念書都表現得很強悍! 但是幾天下來, 我發現, 強悍的根本不是大陸那一塊, 而是來自於中東的阿曼, 阿拉伯等地, 唯一可以抗衡是一位來自於愛爾蘭的女人! 每次上課前, 我都會把握機會跟那些來自中東的同學聊天, 順便釐清我錯誤的觀念! 阿曼的女人們看起來超溫柔的, 但是一到課堂上的表現, 我只能說我真得是要豎起兩根大拇指! 讚! 後來透過WIKI搜索發現, 阿曼對於表現出色的學生, 會給于獎學金送他們到UK, USA等地尋求更高的學歷!



我跟Sadaf說我的觀察, 她馬上告訴我, 在中東, 來自阿曼的人普遍都很聰明, 即使他的人口只有250多萬! 但是他們的表現真的是我另眼相看! 我得我push我自己更用功! 阿謀！被人比下去的感覺真差.



中東的男同學如何? 其實還還挺gentleman, 對女同學很客氣! 不過要拼辯論, 我想他們還是很強勢咧 ! >

廚房快要成了<這是我男朋友}的中國人空間>

Kitchen is the best place for me to relax because I can meet all my neighbors and share the happenings today. I also could get help overthere. Howover, the happiness do not last long because there were too many Chinese in LT and some of them really love to take their boyfriend to the kitchen and eat there. 



It's really unpleasent for me and other girls. We could not speak very freely and shared jokes or when we had dinner together, suddenly, a Chinese guy came in and took some items and left without some greeting words. It's really rude and impolite. 



I like LT's considerate behaviors because they let all the girls live on the same corridors and share the same kitchen but it does not mean we could bring our male friends into the public place. Without acknowledging, I have to say it's really uncomfortable.

 

 <碎碎念>

真的是覺得中國人超沒禮貌!  隨隨便便就帶男朋友進去廚房, 偏偏這一區通通是女生, 沒有半個男生! 有時候門一打開猛然看到有個男人坐到那裏吃飯真得是很尷尬! 



重點是連打個招呼都不會, 更慘! 法學博士生, 跟公衛博士生已經快要抓狂了, 因為她們簡直是無法忍受他們進來吃東西, 又不打招呼的行為, 加上我第一天就掉東西的經驗, 我們這幾位有點年紀的女人已經快要受不了, 在繼續下去, 可能到時候會去receptionist抗議! 



更扯得是, 第一天搬進來就開始借東西, 更是沒禮貌! 我第一天沒東西吃, 乾脆吃外頭, 去別人家吃飯, 我還記得要帶拌手禮去, 這是禮貌, 但是開口閉口就是借東西, 我就很想說: 你不會去外頭吃飯嗎? 把東西準備齊全再來廚房吃東西, 葡萄牙鄰居看了直翻白眼!

啥密! 隔天就要上了!

It's the first day of the  introductionary week and I thought there would be some introduction about the subjects or modules. I knew I was wrong because after 15 minutes of the  welcome speech by the head of school. The students in TESOL all had to move to another lecture.  

 

There were four professors waited for us. They all smiled to all of us when we stepped in one by one. We got the handbook from Professor May Lin There were so many pages that it needed time to read all but the Professor Scott just read to us so quickly. The first semester, teacher experienced students were suggested by taking 60 credits <2 compulsory modules and one optional modules>. Professors do not want us to take more than 80 credits because we usually need to time to adjust ourselves to get used the whole English environment and they would give us mountains of readings for us. But students want to prove they are really smart and tough, they could take 80 credits for Semester First.

 

I am sure that I am not that kind of smart student in class. I would like to take 60 credits to guarantee my first semeste that pass. However, I still have problems with optional modules selection; I think I will ask the professors tomorrow.

 

Besides the introduction, I started to believe why people told me Newcastle is a  not-easy university in studying. May Lin told us we all need to prepare 10 minutes presentation about “time management” and 5 minutes for classmates to quiz us. In addition to presentation, we need to read about “assessment” and share what we know about it on Thursday. I can’t help myself wondering, this is introduction week My friends, Joanna, Sadaf and Maloney only need to attend a few lectures about welcome party or some boring? speeches.

 

I prepared my presentation for tomorrow and put something on the power point for tomorrow demonstration. Later, I need to read assessment. No wonder, the first presentation is “time management.” 



PS: 等會要去念書了! 才第一個禮拜, 感覺上已經有一堆排山倒海般的功課準備奔向我! 看到我的鄰居還在流連student union的活動中, 我不禁自憐啊!



以後Blog中會常常出現我的朋友跟教授名字! 



我現在可以理解為何有人從newcastle落跑去別的學校念TESOL!

 

忙碌的禮拜天

I had a busy Sunday because I went to Sunday Market along the river side. From the LT to river side may take 30 minutes walk. Sunday Market was really okay to me because I went to Durham Market yesterday and then I found    there were several stands in Newcastle which I have seen yesterday in Durham. 



Maybe I came there too early, so all the stands did not really well prepare but I did not have enough time to hang around. I walked another way back to LT and it only  took me 20 minutes. I had to attent 11:30 TESCO shopping which was held by LT. There were only 50 quotas for students so I have to be there on time. 



Tesco in Kingston was really big but I found things there were not really cheap. Although, TESCO did not make the lowest price to customers but I still bought some food and items. I found myself was really good at comparing price. With the calculators, I compared cornflakes with grams. My neighbors could not believe their eyes when they saw me mesured price by gram. 



I signed. Because living in UK is really expensive, that's why I buy everything here, I will carry my calculators with me. 



Back to LT, I had to rush to my teacher's house again because I really needed a heater. Due to big room of LT, I found the heater in my room was not warm enough. Thanks God. The heater I got was free use.  I also had a great dinner because my teacher is a great cook. I had a big bowl of beef noodles there. When I had the noodles, I almost cried. That's it. I always fancy the smell of the traditional flavor. 



PS:



<1>今天搭地鐵, 終於見識到什麼叫做沒禮貌的青少年, 在車廂中大聲叫囂跟製造噪音! 有位老先生真得是受不了, 出聲制止那兩位無禮的女生! 



<2> 今天METRO搭錯方向, 應該是要順時針去Benton, 結果我白目搭到逆時針方向! 買了zone 2的票, 結果硬是坐到zone 3, 還真得是有夠值回票價了!



<3>老師的女兒真得是有夠活潑, 今天很多照片簡直是{扮鬼臉} 大賽! 不過, 看到她的臉, 可以理解為何她的外號叫作"小甜蜜", 因為她真得是太可愛了! 今天帶去的甜點跟糖果, 她愛死了!

偷得浮生半日閒 -Durham

<我在河邊拍攝! >



It’s really fantastic that I have visited a fabulous cathedral in Durham, 15 minutes train from Newcastle. People might have seen Harry Potter movie. Before visiting Durham, I only remembered Durham is a really green, and lovely small town with a famous university, but my neighbor, Sadaf, an Iranian lady, told me that Durham Cathedral had been shot by Harry Potter.



We went to Durham in the afternoon. With the Student Discount Card, the round-trip ticket cost me 3.5 pounds. The rail-station to city center was 10 minutes walk. Because it was weekend, there were many people spending their time in this small town. We took leisure walk along the wobble roads to the riverside, bridges, weekend market and Cathedral. Next to cathedral is a Durham Castle. Actually, the Durham Castle in school year, it acts like a student houses. Besides being student houses, it is also acted like a hotel. The day we visited there, we encounter a weeding there. The gatekeeper told us if we would like to have a weeding in the castle, we had better marry a guy with connection with Durham University. Sadaf told me that it will be okay for me to transfer to Durham for my master degree. Somday, I may held my wedding here. I told her I won’t do that because I am considering marrying a rich man who graduated from Durham University.



Besides the castle, Cathedral is fantastic. It is really magnificent. I had to up my head all the time because the stained windows, the statues, the marble crafts are really amazing. It’s really hard to believe the Cathedral is almost 1000 years old because it is protected in a good condition. However, the castle is slightly older than it. Because the visitors are prohibited to take any photos inside so I only could show some photos I took outside. If people really want to take photo inside, you have to apply the permission from Durham Cathedral. Each person may charge 15 pounds but students could get discount by paying 7 pounds.



On the way back to Newcastle, Sadaf’s mother treated me a cup of iced latte because it was really pleasure to take a trip together. I sent a hand-made bracelet in return because she is a really friendly lady. I like to listen to their speaking. Listening to Persian is a really interesting experience because I found it’s really lovely and sweet. Persian sounds like two little girl having a talk.



PS:第一次聽到波斯話, 真得是很有趣! 以前老是聽到波斯, 波斯, 但是真正聽到波斯話真的很新鮮, 好像兩個小女孩在對話, 甜甜的! 頓時覺得日本話那種ㄋㄟ的感覺就虛掉了! 上次聽到瑞典話, 個人感覺是還頗難聽的! 







＜Durham的小市中心!＞







<重點是帥哥! 批著外套是Sadaf的媽, 背對鏡頭是Sadaf! >







<上塔OKAY, 五鎊交來! 不過, 參觀教堂是自由奉獻! >







<教堂外頭的長廊! 個人覺得比我去法國的凱維庸美多了!>

@ Newcastle

I had a busy day because there were too many things need to be done as soon as possible. I had done on-line registration at once, accommodation plus tuition payments, and got bank issuing letter and got a smart card in the morning.  I thought I could take a short break until I heard I need to take English ability test to make sure I would have no problems about studying. If there are any problems with English ability so the school would provide “free in-sessional language program” for those who really need. Also, the course is free I think I would love to take those courses in my spare time.

 

However, I still felt kind of panic because the listening was not as easy as I thought. It was harder than I had expected and also I did not prepare very well to take part in. As the result, I think I might do very badly on listening. Besides listening, writing was quite easy for me. I only need to write 250 words article. Thanks to Mr. Insect. Because of him, I started to practice keeping English diary when I arrived in
Manchester
. 250 words seemed piece of cake for me.

 

It was the second day in
Newcastle
; I knew there were too many things should be done in the first week. For example, I need to buy food, laundry items….etc. As the matter of fact, I am really tired due two shoppings. One was at the noontime; I went to Co-Op to buy some food, butter and the washing powder. The second run made me really exhausted, because my friend and I took 30 minutes walking to Morrisons to buy food. To be honest, I was too greedy so I bought too many items and caused the back to LT seems like a torture. My two hands had to carried two bags in each hand. The more I walked, the more exhausted I felt. When I arrived the front door of LT, my hands was shakinnnngggggggggg. Would I feel regret? Not at all, because I only spent 18.8 pounds on a lot of things such as buying one get one free pork and ten Muller yogurt cost 2 pounds. I would never ever regret it. Because those items were really “cheap”, they worthy me to bring them back from Morrisons.

@Newcastle <初報到>

I would like to appreciate many people who helped me a lot in past three weeks. Without them, my journey could not have finished so smoothly. It’s my second time to Newcastle, just like last time I carried my luggage to Mr. Lin’s house. It rained again. What a lovely day, isn’t it?



The bus arrived  the Newcastle Central Station at 1: 30 pm, and it was earlier than I expected. Therefore, I had to change the location where I made a date with a never met friend. I tried to walk to the busiest street in the city center to meet the friend whom we only chatted on line. With her great help, I found the LT where I am going to live for more than one year. The first obstacle I encountered was that I forgot to print the accommodation paper  the manger of LT could not let me in at once. She took my passport and the receipt I had already paid via internet months ago. Luckily, I got the permission to get into LT. My room is on the second floor. Yet, I have to pass plenty of doors to get there. LT is really nice because they arrange a helper to help me get used to it.  He explained everything about LT and he also answered the questions I mentioned. He was a good model for me to practice listening comprehesion as well. God. He spoke with strong accent that I could not fully understand.



The service of LT is totally different from last year. When I entered the room, I was really surprised by its size. It’s bigger than I had expected and I was fond of everything that is free they provided inside the room such as pillows, quilts, utensils, lamp…etc. It is really sweet because those items really save my money. My friend was really surprised because she said the university she studies now does not provide so sweet service. I said I paid a lot of money on LT and I think I really deserved it. 49 weeks cost me almost 4500 pounds.



Another good luck I got was four boxes from another friend. She left UK in June but she thought she might come back to UK soon. Life always changes. She changed her mind in August so I got a lot of things she left in Newcastle. I am a lucky girl, aint’t I?



As I said, life always changes. Things usually could not go so well. I bought two boxes of ice cream in Marks& Spencer this afternoon. One for my friend who treated me a nice dinner so I think I had better buy something for the dinner. The other one I put in the fridge in the kitchen. After I carried the last luggage from Mr. Lin’s house, I wanted to make a cup of milk tea for myself. As I opened the fridge, the milk bottle was there but the ice cream was gone. I tried to search another fridge, but it vanished from the kitchen. I even tried to open the trash can but I just could not find it. Losing a box of ice cream made me sort of sad, but I comfort myself optimistically because I got too many things from others’ without paying any penny. 

@ Edinburgh <上坡下坡中>

 <12 pounds Castle. But it's really great. >

Waling in
Edinburgh
needs a lot of energy and a pair of nice shoes. There are too many routes, closes and slopes. My first day was really tired and I decided to slow down my pace but it did not work on me.

 

After having my breakfast, I decided to explore the city. With the map, I walked along the street to see where the castle, church are. I knew there are too many things in
Edinburgh
and it needs a lot of time to enjoy and admire it. The cathedral I visited was fantastic. I had a nice talk with a gentleman who serves in it. He was so nice that every question I asked, he just very patient to answer them all. Because we talked so happily, he even took me the chapel which needs 2 pounds admission for free. He even suggested me to stay inside to feel the nice chapel. Actually, I found there are so many interesting things inside and then I walked out to keep going ask questions about the chapel. I told him that tomorrow I will visit him again and he smiled to me and said he will wait.

 

Besides the great time, I also had wonderful experience in Waverly Railway Station. I bought Sunday and Monday rail tickets to Sterling and
Glasgow
. Paying with travel check, I need to provide my passport to staff and when he saw my cover of passport. He said suddenly, “You are from
Taiwan
. Taiwan is really great but
China
is really bad.” I am a little shocked because it was my first time to meet this kind situation, and therefore I smiled back and said “It is.
Taiwan
is really fantastic even though we have a stupid president. But it doesn’t matter
Taiwan
is a really great country. ” The staff knew Taiwan and it is because one of his friend who works in
Taiwan
. As the result, he knew many things about
Taiwan
and he also knew we want to be independent. After taking my rail ticket, I was in a great mood to leave to station and head toward

Edinburgh
Castle

.

 

Edinburgh

Castle

is really fantastic. With the membership card, I did not need to pay any penny on ticket and I also got 20% discount on Audio earphone. There were too many things to enjoy and I have spent four hours inside it. I think 12 pounds on the ticket is really worthy but if you also want to rent audio will cost 3.5 pounds. However, you bought a set ticket with audio for only 15 pounds.

 

Leaving castle and I moved to another place to enjoy
Edinburgh
. I went to the Casoton Hill. On top of it, I could see the whole city above my feet but I have to say the way was really long and it needed a lot of energy to go there. Back to my hostel, I told my roommate I had a great time in
Edinburgh
but I was really exhausted. It’s time for me let my two feet on the wall. 

＠Glasgow<有錢人>

＜大會議廳, 但不是給官員用, 而是辦研習表演用! 大家一走進去就是{WOWWWWW不停}!>



It’s my last travel day. With a very good ending, it’s a rainy day again. The weather in UK is really changeable. Glasgow is the last destination that I want to visit. Due to the 16-25 youth card, the ticket I bought should be used after rush hour but I came to train station too early therefore I felt really bored. Finally, I decided to buy a book to kill time. Quite expensive, 7 pounds for one book. I don’t want to buy too many items to make my bag become heavier and heavier. But I just can’t stand I had nothing in hands.

 

From Edinburgh to Glasgow needs 50 minutes by Train. It’s much faster and cleaner. Glasgow is big city but it’s much cleaner than any other big city in UK . When I was in City Chamber, I saw a video and finally I understood why it is so clean. The city has a team who always give fixed penalty, 50 pounds, for littering.

 

What could I do in Glasgow ? There are a lot of museums here for free, Churches for free admission and a shopping street. Spending one day here should not feel boring but with rain could make everybody smashed. As the result, I chose to do indoor activity. I visited the Glasgow Cathedral and St Mungo Museum. The cathedral is not as big as Edinburgh but it is really great because the outfit could be tracked back to 15 century. A lot of 13-15 century churches were all destroyed by religion war in UK . This one is the one who left perfectly intact. People said it may be related to St. Mungo. Who is St. Mungo? Please google by yourself. He is an important person because he also had important relation with Glasgow history.

 

The religion Museum is next to the Cathedral. It’s kind of small but it provides basic information of all important religion. Not only Buddhism but also Jewish religion, people could get background knowledge here. Of course, it’s free. Across from the museum, there is a 3 floors building. It is the oldest building in Glasgow . It preserved a lot of furniture and the structure of the house is also quite nice. Spending 20 minutes here is really enjoyable.

 

However, the most impressive thing is I visited Glasgow City Chamber. From my guide book, it is said visitors could take part in walk tour. Visitors want to know the walk tour timetable, please ask the staff inside. I took part in 2: 30 pm walk tour. I think it’s my first time who really could not understand English. The guide spoke with very very strong accent that I just could not understand what he was talking. Luckily, there were three Americans who explain what he said to me. Now, I could understand Londoners told me they did not understand Glasgow ’s English. Visiting the City Chamber was really great because I really knew how rich the government it is. The building decorated with marble stairs, marble fireplace, leather walls with beautiful crafts on it, amazing stained window glasses. But there is one thing made my jaw drop, the stage room. The ceiling with golden crafts, several Scottish paintings which was drawn by a talented Scot, leather crafts on the wall all made the visitors wooing. 

















＜Glasgow最古老的房子! Admission fee 福利! 裡頭還保留很多骨董, 跟當時的建築架構! 就在大教堂對面附近!＞









<古老房子裡頭所設置的畫作! 可以看到充滿煙囪的城市>















<這裡才是市議會開會的地方, 椅子真得是很好坐! 有點不想離開. 穿著西裝就是讓我嚇死的解說員! 聽不懂啊!>







<這位西班牙先生每次看到大位, 總是會忍不住給他坐上去, 要他太太幫忙拍照! >







＜躲在BurgerKing後頭的妹妹, 超有個性! 跟她玩得很愉快, 但是一扯到食物, 她防的很! 連她媽都不准動>

@ Stiriling <比我想像中的小!>

From Edinburgh to Stirling takes fifty minutes by train and the scenery is really nothing for me. I think I have seen quite a lot in Scotland so I am really excited anymore.

 

Stirling is really small but needs a lot of energy for me to keep going. The buildings were built along the hills and therefore all I have seen were long hill routes. Stirling Castle is located on the highest place so when I reached there I could get a nice view of the city. The castle is also a nice spot to people to enjoy the Wallace Monument tower because it is opposite from the castle. I asked the staff about the way to there. However, they told I should take bus instead of walking there. If I really want to walk there, they would be fine but it will take me two hours to there. I gave up the idea at once because I think my two feet could not stand anymore. Recently, I have been walking for long time and I don’t want to torture myself.

 

Stirling Castle is also nice but compare to Edinburgh Castle , I think this one is kind small. It has small garden which provide enough space for children to play. No wonder it was a good place to kings and queen to enjoy their childhood.

 

Inside the castle, something are rebuilt in past few years. The ticket cost 8.5 pounds but it included another rich businessman house. Visiting the castle and the house are really great and it really need time to take time to go th          The staffs in these two places are really helpful to solve the visitors’ problems. There is a church which was given throne to King of Scotland sixth long ago. The church is also really fantastic. Interior of the church are made of a lot of wood and the most impressive one is the wooden ceiling. The one here is really different from Europe . In UK , there are a lot of tombs around the church and there are some famous people buried here. I met a gentleman outside of the church and he explains the word “hospital” is misused nowadays. Through his explanation I knew what hospital was for. Because of hospital, we had a long talk about religion. He is such an open-mind person and love to share different opinion with me.

 

When I back to hostel, I had two new roommates who are from Sweden . Both of them are out of expectation because not so beautiful. 

@ Edinburgh <迷宮似的堡>

When I arrived Edinburgh, it was at 3: 45 pm. It was one hour late because the bus I took had a problem with it and it caused passengers in Aviemore had to wait more than one hour.



Edinburgh is a great city with lots of beautiful buildings along the hillside. Due to it is an old city so doesn’t expect it has well organized routes. The routes of the city just look like a big maze. I got lost several times not because I am a disoriented person. Every time I open the map and ask the locals about the directions and they usually pause for a while and look at the map and think where we are.



The goal of my first day in Edinburgh just searched for food and the first one I visited is Sainsbury then came to TESCO. Finding Sainsbury was quite easy but TESCO was totally drove me crazy because it was located near the Edinburgh University. The area on map looked like a maze. The way I went to and the way I came back were completely different. As the result, I needed to ask two people to get way back.



I did not go out to visit the city during the nighttime. It’s Friday and every body just want to have fun in the city. While I am typing the article, I could hear people scream and shout on the street. This is a shorting coming to live near the campus. Instead, I decided to stay in the room and listen to my roommate talking and I sometimes would cut into the talk. I have two mates today, one is from the USA and the other is from Germany. The German speaks perfect English and I thought she must be an American when I knew she is from German. I was shocked because she is the first one I met without accent. She said she learn her English in American school in China. She used to work in HK and China for half an year so we could talk about the cross strait and economy around the world. Quite interesting, isn’t it?



After I typed the article, a man came into the room. I was shocked. I thought this room should only let girls in. However, my German girl friend told me no because this is mixed room type. American girl also had same reaction as mine. But it was okay the fourth roommate is really nice and he is also from Germany. Interestingly, the two Germans hates each other because they are from different provinces. Oh, my god. Even though, they are from same country, they still have identity problems. 

@ Aviemore <湖邊健行>

Yesterday I was really exhausted and today I think I was also tired. I spent 200 minutes on mountain hiking yesterday. I thought mountain hiking was really hard for me and therefore I thought walk to Loch an Eileen will be an easy job. But I found I was totally wrong because I spent 5 hours walking to the loch and came back to youth hostel.

 

By the way, I have to say the signs for traveler should be a nightmare because there are not too many signs show ways to Loch an Eileen. It caused me got lost three times. Although, I have asked the locals but I still couldn’t find the way to the loch. I decided to trust my senses of direction and walked into a blocked gate. I saw there were several new bike traces on the road so I believe this one should be the way to the Loch Mor. If I could find the way to Loch Mor and I am sure I could find the way to my destination.

 

It took me 30 minutes to find the Loch Mor and I was really impressed because it was a small loch but really lovely. The water was so clear that I really want to jump into the loch but I can’t. God. The water was really cold. After finding the Loch Mor, I kept follow the path to the Eileen. Another 30 minutes to get there and the loch was much bigger. There was a ticket booth near the Loch an Eileen but it only charge car drivers. If you visit there on foot, they won’t charge anything.

Walking along the Loch an Eileen was fantastic. It was really windy today and the wind skimmed the water surface and caused beautiful waves on it. There was an old ruined small castle on a very tiny island. You could only see brick walls; several trees and unknown grass cover the tiny island. Walking along the Loch will take one and half an hour and I had to keep my camera in hands because there are a lot of animals near the loch. Plus, binocular is a good method to enjoy the nature.

 

Thanks God, the weather was really brilliant. Really sunny. No wonder the people I met on the way always said, “The weather is really great, isn’t it?”

 

Besides, I found the wind today was kind of strong. Because of wind, I did not get sweat anymore. Brilliant!