Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Just floating along

Last Thursday Rachel and I went into the city center for some boring reason I can't remember but we stumbled upon something fun! In Liverpool there is an area that is full of shops and people. Kind of like Scarth Street in Regina but way bigger and full of more shops that might get a little more use out of them. It's like their downtown is catered to pedestrians. When we walked by we noticed there was a bunch of little street shops set up. These shops were full of candy, cheese, meats, chocolate and so much more.





I honestly only bought these meatballs because they reminded me of bullets and bangs (not as good, obviously) 
After the street fair we went to the docks and spat in the water like the classy ladies that we are. We then seen the Maritime Museum and decided to check it out. I learnt about Liverpool's role with the Titanic and about gay sailors which was actually really interesting because I never knew why people associated homosexuality with sailors and now I know! I then bought a post card that I can send to my dad. 


This is Rachel slothing on an anchor outside of the museum 


Sunday, October 27, 2013

Witch spotted on Thames River

On Friday Rachel and I took the bus into London for a boat party that goes up and down Thames River. It was fun but not the greatest. Actually the night was kind of a bust. Does anyone ever go out to have fun but the night is just ends up meh? That was our Friday night. It was refreshing to realize that no matter where you are in the world you are not going to have a blast every time you go out. That being said, we did have a lot of fun on our trip! It was amazing going by Big Ben, the London Bridge and other touristy spots from a totally different angle.

 Drinking on the balcony of our hostel (Smart Hyde Park)  
Am I a witch or a gr.9 emo?





I think we both agree that the best part of the night was the ride on the tube to the bar. Somehow we were the only ones dressed up in costume which was very amusing to two children. They were very cute- asking their mom if I was a real witch and making faces of terror every time Rachel and I looked over. We moved so that the family could sit together and the young girl decided that I was a good witch. Bless her soul. 

The next day we woke up, hung out at Starbucks to get some free wifi, went to the American store to buy KD and pickles and then went to check out abbey road. I looked for my name that I had signed back in 2011 but it wasn't there. Not that I thought it would be but, it would be so cool if it was! I signed my name again in gold because I am a baller. At this time of the day I had been rolling my tiny suitcase all around London so Rachel and I had a joke that my suitcase made me a very important person and that when I walked across Abbey Road I would jump and take a really lame picture with the suitcase so I hope that explains my pose in most of these photos. Two guys took a photo for us and then we took a photo of them in which they posed the same way I did. It was all pretty funny. 

Me in 2011 
Me in 2013
Rachel 2013 
"Excuse me, I have a suitcase" 


                                               
My name is in gold on the "E"
Famous recording studio 
We went to Buckingham palace and people watched until we were hungry. We threw Canadian quarters into the fountain and made a wish. I think the Royal Family grants the wishes. Either that or they collect the coins and make a profit. I didn't meet the queen but I did take a selfie in front of the fountain.



 We went to London for a party but had the most fun adventuring around the city.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

This is where I live


Hello friends and family! As requested here is a tour of the flat. Unedited because I am lazy. Maybe that's why I can't find a job.


    



Sunday, October 13, 2013

Why I love being unemployed

"Wow Audie it's so cool that you are in the UK, what have you been up to?"
 Well fictional person I made up just so I could pretend that someone had actually asked me that question the answer is uhhhh, nothing. I've been in Liverpool for one full week and have accomplished very little, but you know what? I don't care. I love that I can sleep in and do whatever I want whenever I want. Even if what I want to do is lay in my hostel room and do various activities that don't involve moving. To be honest I am kind of at a standstill because I am waiting to move into a flat and don't have a job. Once I move in I will have a place to keep all of this junk I brought with me from Canada and then I will be free to visit Dublin (in the works, yayayay) without a giant suitcase. It is nice just doing nothing and I don't feel guilty about it. Not one bit.

That being said, Rachel and I have left the hostel in search of things like food, cider and conditioner and because of that I have some stories I can share with you. That reminds me, Aunty J, if you are reading this I know you totally ignored my last text. Also drink a cup of tea for me at thanksgiving supper! Back to the subject of Liverpool. Rachel and I have found a favorite pub called Flanagans Apple and the bartender already knows our order of Strongbow which is an amazing accomplishment. Unfortunately drinking a lot of cider has taken its toll on my esophagus so I guess I will have to switch over to beer ughhhhhh. Going to this pub has put us into some weird situations while also providing extreme entertainment that I wish to share with you! I have three main things to share so here we go:

1) People here talk to you and it's totally not weird. Like in Regina if some guys approached a group of girls they'd be like "omg creepy" or "omg gonna make out with his/her face" but here people are so nice and they just genuinely have conversations with you and I love it! It's especially great because if the person is awful then you only have to know them for a while but if the person is totally cool you can exchange contact info. Networking, bitch! (Read that like Jesse from Breaking Bad).

2) Speaking of bitches, I would like to share with you my WORST HOSTEL EXPERIENCE so far. The first time I have ever experience a hostel was three weeks ago but after three weeks I feel like I know how hostels work. These bitches do not. So Rachel and I return to the hostel after supper to discover we have roommates but they have already gone out and left the bathroom destroyed. Makeup smears everywhere. How did they do that? And the sink was full of hair including tiny little hairs that looked like pubes but I don't know could be some chin hairs they had to pluck? We go to bed around midnight and I wake up at four to get some water and notice none of the girls have returned so I'm thinking they went home with some dudes and wouldn't be back until morning. I was so wrong. At four thirty they start banging on the door and I reluctantly wake up to open it. The girls exclaim
"We live here too"
So I glare at them and lay back down but I was obviously kidding myself with the thought of sleep. These girls brought a whole group of guys back to the hostel and they proceed to talk really loud and hang out with these guys they had just met at the bar. Anyway, to get to the point, the guys finally left except for two of them who decided it would be okay to have sex with two of the girls in the Hostel room. Rachel and I were not interested in listening to strangers have sex so we left and hung out in the lobby until seven in the morning. We return to the room, give the guys instructions on how to leave the hostel and then try to sleep. Except the girls spend the next few hours puking. They finally left but the room was in horrible condition complete with fake eyelashes and nails on the floor. Whatever man, maybe they're nice girls.

3) I will leave you with a less harsh story that takes place last night at our favorite Irish pub. There is this tiny little man and I think he was on some crazy drugs but he was walking around the pub and decides to stop at the table we are sitting at and stare at us for a couple of seconds and then leave. He does this to a few people. He then proceeds to dance like no one was watching which is very admirable. At one point he tried to take his pants off but some guy at the bar stopped him. Oh by the way this whole time he has a little foam mustache from his beer. Best guy but was he funnier than the guy that was so drunk his bare butt was hanging out? I can't make a solid decision.

That's what I have been up to. Next goal will be to get a job.
Cheers.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Hungover bus ride to Liverpool, not fun.

Best be getting used to them I suppose. We arrived in Liverpool on Sunday the 6th and checked into our hostel, Hoax. This is luxury. I mean, free wifi that you can access everywhere, city center, clean bathrooms and the water in the showers is hot and lasts longer than six seconds. If anyone needs to stay in Liverpool I recommend Hoax because you can't stay with me. Ha!

Sunday was rough. "Let's drink all the beer & cider" should have been Saturdays theme but the real theme was a Monopoly pub challenge! Basically you were given a team and a mini monopoly board and were suppose to do some challenges and take pictures and stuff, I don't know. Our team lost but we had fun so did we lose, really ? Our first challenge was to chug a pint in a game called a boat race which is essentially standing in a line and when the person in front of you is done chugging you must chug it!!!! (or skull it as the Aussies say).  Our team lost because Rachel sucks. I suck too but Rachel was worse. I mean this in the most loving way! Everyone we met was awesome and included two fellow Canadians!




        Canadian bar- no Pil :( 


I should probably also add there was also a superhero/villain theme 

The next day we were off to Liverpool! We have been here ever since looking for flats and jobs and such. We had a very strange experience while looking at a flat and 8pm the other night. First of all, we took a cab and asked the driver what he though of the area. He was very against it which should have been our first clue but the house looked so beautiful we had to give it a look. The man renting it out had the thickest accent imaginable. I don't even know if I understood what he was saying so there was lots of nodding and smiling involved. He was also very strange. The house was gorgeous and I wish we could be renting it but we got a bad vibe. That house is haunted to the extreme ladies and gentlemen. There was little dolls and children toys everywhere which didn't help the cause. The whole situation was so awkward and weird we could not wait to get out of there. 

I don't really have any other news at the moment. I finally finished watching Breaking Bad. 

I also have a restaurant recommendation for Liverpool! It is a vegan/ vegetarian restaurant called the Egg. So delicious. 

Future tip: If the server asks you and your friend if you would like to share always say yes no matter how hungry you are. 


Thursday, October 3, 2013

One week without poutine makes one weak.

Another title for this post was going to be "Homeless and jobless- living the life".

It's been a little over a week since I have been gone from Canada which is nothing to brag about, I know. Rachel and I have been looking at flats but everything in our price range is horrid and we don't want to increase our price range because our main focus is to travel, not pay rent! So we have made the decision to try a smaller city out and our decision is Liverpool! The rent is half the price and about 500% nicer. For now we are still in London and starting to blow out black snot. Give it a google, it happens to everyone.
   
     How is London Life? It's pretty great. I mean, I am starting to feel like the queen of the underground, I don't want to sound snobby but I sure know how to navigate my way around. At first we tried to stay away from the touristy things because we thought we would have a lot of time to complete those but once we decided to move out of the city we went pretty hardcore. Obviously we will take time to come back into London as much as we can because there is still so much to see and do. Here are some of the things we have been up to in the last few days.

British Museum- We looked around, it was huge but also free. Heck yes!

Big Ben & West Minister Abbey- The West Minister was hella expensive so we skipped this and the London Eye and opted to walk around instead.



The shadows on the Bridge look a little sexual 

We went on a 3 hour walking tour with the same company I mentioned before and it was very informative. My favorite part was the bit about Churchill and his war bunker which still exists and is available for viewing at a price of course. We also visited platform 9 3/4 which is in Kings cross station, right near our hostel. 



The next day we visited The Natural History Museum. Dinosaurs, yay! Then the Science Museum which was boring, not what I was expecting. Then my favorite visit of the day, The National Gallery! Guess what I saw in real life. Like up close, face to face. SUNFLOWERS by Vincent van Gogh. I was so excited I almost wept. Then I bought this little gaffer in the gift shop. All the museums are free!!!

You can pull his velcro ear off
Today we went to Warner Bro's Studios and took the Harry Potter tour. It was magical duhhhhhh it's Harry Potter so of course it was. There was so many things to look at we ended up spending almost three hours there. I drank some Butterbeer which tastes like cream soda and the foam tastes like caramel ice cream if that makes sense. Anyway, there is no alcoholic content so they should probably do something about that. Like an option to add a shot of schnapps or something. 





Ron Weasley 


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You can't tell but I am wearing a cloak and about to ride a broom stick 

Butter Beer


Scale model of Hogwarts 





That's all folks! Only a few more nights in this shitty hostel.Hallelujah.