Apple Picking

So I've been getting some complaints regarding last week's entry...too short, not enough detail, be more funny, blah blah blah...Not to worry though, I will make up for it this time around :)

Let's start with Thursday's trip to the National Space Centre:

What a rip off! They advertise this place as having a new 1/2 million pound exhibit in celebration of 50 years in outer space. The truth is, we couldn't even figure out what the exhibit was! This building is 4 floors of signs and plastic solar systems. Oh and let's not forget their dome-shaped movie theatre. Essentially that's what we paid 10 quid for - to watch a movie. I should give the film some credit though - I did learn quite a bit about astronauts and what they go through while in outer space. I didn't realize this but their entire body undergoes some incredible changes when living without gravity. Decreased bone density, loss of muscle tissue, space nausea (because the hairs in your ears can't tell your brain what direction is 'up'). All quite impressive. Moreso than the actual Space Centre unfortunately...There are some pictures below of Sachin, Amit and Zainah oh, and the "Thruster" - we don't know what it does, but they had it enclosed in bullet proof glass so it must be important.

So we gave up on the Space Centre, decided to get some pizza and vowed never to go there again...

Oh you'll be very happy to know that I finally got around to making a video tour of our flat, it's posted below so enjoy (correction: I tried posting it but it's not uploading right now...will try again tomorrow). We're spending a lot of time here these days because our first essay is due on the 5th. I'm writing mine on the key problems with the Media Effects tradition. Basically that's the theory that media has a direct influence on its audience. So for example, if you heard an ad on the radio promoting a new 1/2 million pound exhibit at the National Space Centre, you would suddenly have a desire to go. But there are a few problems with that theory. One of them being that media is not the sole influence on someone's life. We have a 'nexus of mediating factors' affecting our decisions as my new friend Joseph T Klapper would say. Where someone like my sister would hear that ad and want to go because of her love for all things space-related, another person might hear that ad and remember a blog entry they read about how much the Space Centre sucked and have no desire to go whatsoever.

It's interesting because I picked this question out of a possible 30 quite randomly - I sort of wanted to get a feel for the marking here before I picked something really challenging to write about. And yet, in the process of researching for this essay, I've realized that this topic is very relevant to my dissertation. It's important to know the extent to which young women are affected by the advertisements they see every day. Maybe some women aren't as directly affected as I thought. Maybe there are some mediating factors I should know about that go hand in hand with these ads. Maybe the media messages are disseminated through opinion leaders rather than the media itself. Anyways, I'm probably boring most of you with all this academic jargon...but just take a minute before you place all the blame for society's problems on violence or sex on television - we are not mindless creatures who lack any sort of media literacy. We have to take responsibility for our attitudes and our actions.

Ummm, I don't really know where all of that just came from...I think it's the result of reading too many Mass Comm. books over the last 2 days. Anyways, tonight was the unveiling of the Diwali lights on the Golden Mile (that's the Indian part of town). They keep these lights on 24 hours a day for the next 2 weeks (Gore must be soooo happy!). There were fireworks and music and 60,000 people! Apparently Leicester has the largest Diwali celebration outside of India. People from all over Europe come here just to celebrate Diwali and take part in the parade. I'm excited to see how the city changes over the next two weeks in preparation for all of the celebrations...I didn't think Leicester could get any more saturated with Indians but I guess it's possible!

I wanted to end off with a mini-revelation I had in the shower this morning. My sister, in all her infinite wisdom and knowledge, told me before I left about what it's like to live on your own. How one day you'll be doing something as simple as buying apples, and you won't be able to decide which ones you should buy and you think to yourself "if mom was here, she'd tell me which ones to get" and then it hits you: you are completely on your own. There is nobody here to help you choose apples or anything else for that matter. She tried to describe what it feels like, but I didn't really understand, it's just one of those things I suppose you have to experience first hand.

Well I think I had my apple experience this morning. I wasn't doing anything in particular other than taking a shower to be honest. But I suppose I was thinking about many things like my paper, going to Budapest, getting groceries, thinking of what I should eat for breakfast. And I suddenly felt very...proud. I mean let's be real here for a second. I know most of you didn't think I could actually do this. Don't feel bad, I've always underestimated my capabilities too (how do you think I got the nickname Bobolee? trans.: trini slang term for an idiot). I thought I'd be crying every day, missing home and friends and family. The truth is, I haven't cried since I left Pearson Int'l Airport. I've been really strong, and for the first time, I feel like an autonomous person. It feels so good to be taking care of yourself, doing things on your own, making decisions by yourself. And it hasn't been hard at all! It's been such a natural progression, and I have a renewed sense of faith in myself. I know, it's only been a month...and I'm still a kid with a lot of growing up to do. But I feel like I can handle it. After all, I can choose my own apples now :)

Cheers!

Flying Salamanders, Monster Spiders, and Bullring's

I’m feeling a little bit strange this morning because I had a really crazy night…
First of all, I couldn’t even get to sleep, possibly because of my 4 pm cup of tea. Then I had the most bizarre dreams – about a flying salamander on my window sill and these weird British spiders we keep finding all over the place (they’re monster-sized here for some reason). Anyways, when I lifted the blankets off my head and opened my eyes this morning I was so disoriented…I was expecting to be in my room at home and it took me a second to realize where I was. I guess now that it’s been over a month my brain is starting to realize that this is not just a vacation or a temporary visit.

The rest of this week was pretty dull - went to class, saw our friends, did some more Bikram (which I'm getting better at but still not impressed with). I tried Chilli for the first time (we put ground up tofu instead of meat) and it was a very hearty meal - good for a chilly day (hehe).

The highlight of our week had to be the day trip we took to Birmingham on Saturday. It was the most random thing I’ve ever done. We just decided at the last minute to pick up and do some shopping in Birmingham. So we walked to the train station, bought our tickets and hopped on the train! An hour later we arrived in the 2nd largest city in the UK, but more importantly, we were in Bullring’s – the largest mall in the UK! I was in retail heaven. I don’t even know where to begin explaining the concept of this mall to you. It’s designed to be integrated with the city centre. There are some parts that are indoors (resembling the Eaton’s Centre), and other stores that have entrances from outside. If you continue walking outside you can browse through the outdoor flea market, dine at Wagamama’s Japanese restaurant, or just listen to the church bells that toll at the most arbitrary times of day (like 5:30pm…I know…strange). I nearly fainted when we went into Selfridges – a UK department store. But it’s more than just a department store. It is THE department store. Any possible brand you could want from Missoni to Lucky Charms can be found in this store. They have endless floors of clothing, accessories, food, and who knows what else (I had to leave after looking at the price tags). They also import American items that you can’t find in the UK to their stores and sell them for 4 times the price you would normally pay back home (ex. A box of Lucky Charms cereal goes for about 6 quid here, that’s almost 15 CDN dollars for cereal!).

If I haven’t made it clear enough and you’re still wondering how much shopping I did – I only bought two sale items from Zara (we don’t have one in Leicester).

After dinner (at Wagamama’s of course) we grabbed the next train to Leicester and parted ways with beautiful Birmingham. Unfortunately my camera battery needed charging so I wasn’t able to take any pictures but not to worry, I intend on re-visiting Bullring’s many times over the next year. I don’t understand why everyone gives Birmingham such a bad reputation – mind you, we didn’t venture outside of the city centre. But still, the people are more diverse and trendy and I’ve heard great things about their nightlife. If all else fails, you can always judge a city by the quality of its shopping centre!

A+ Birmingham!

Tired and Hungary

I’m writing this week’s entry in a state of exhaustion, mostly because we’ve just come back from a 90 minute Bikram Yoga session. There’s a studio in town that’s offering 10 days of classes for 10 pounds as a promotion, so we thought we’d try it out with a couple other girls. For those of you who aren’t sure, Bikram Yoga (also known as Hot Yoga) was invented by a man named Bikram Choudhury during the 80’s in Beverly Hills. The copyrighted sequence of 26 asanas and 2 breathing exercises is practised in a 104 degree room. The idea behind it is that the heat allows your muscles to stretch at optimum capacity, along with a slew of other “total wellness improvements” from exercising in the heat.

What’s my take on it? Well, I’m not that impressed with the idea of yet another Hollywood monopoly over an ancient Hindu practice. Usually classes are 9 pounds for 90 minutes (which is quite standard – all Bikram Yoga studios have to be registered through Mr. Choudhury – hence the crazy charges). And I suppose the other thing that bothers me is that yoga was never meant to be an intensely cardiovascular exercise to begin with – infact, yoga is NOT an exercise at all! But these classes have you sweating bullets, feeling faint half the time and nauseous for the rest, all while claiming to rid you of your impurities and de-toxify the body. I guess I’ll never get over my bitterness when it comes to the Americanization of yoga – or really the Americanization of anything…but let’s save that for another blog all-together :)

The class itself was extremely intense (and extremely smelly – imagine that heated room circulates the sweaty aroma of atleast 30 people three or four times a day), I was surprised nobody vomited or blacked out. It’s hard really to enjoy the union of mind, body, and spirit in a yoga class where your foot is so sweaty it won’t even unify with the floor. So I’m going to make the most of my 10 pounds (and maybe lose an extra 10 while I'm at it) and try it out several more times over the next 9 days. Maybe I’ll have a change of heart – or need one.

So let’s rewind two nights back, to Z and I hanging out with our friends in the city. We met this girl from Mississauga and got to talking about all the things we miss like Tim Hortons and Square One and….Moxies White Chocolate Brownies (mmmm)…and I guess we went home feeling rather homesick. Since we couldn’t very well come back, we woke up the following morning and did the next best thing: booked a trip to Budapest. I’m absolutely serious. The flight via Ryanair was 1 pence (that’s 2 cents Canadian). Of course you get taxed like crazy in addition to the 1 p but it still cost us less than 10 normal Bikram Yoga sessions. We’re leaving the weekend after we submit our first essay in November and it did the trick at making us feel less homesick – seriously, why go home when you can go take a Turkish bath in Budapest? It’s actually known as the “Paris of the East” so I’m really looking forward to my first real European excursion!

Nothing else that eventful really happened this week. We’re finally getting our phones tomorrow (anyone who wants the number let me know and I’ll e-mail it to you), we got a new couch today so our living room looks complete now (pictures soon, I promise), and our first week of uni was nothing special: basic review and lectures. Oh for all the Hindu readers wondering: my Naurath fast is going just fine, the grocery store here has some pretty decent tofu and soy products so I’ve been cooking with those a lot. Today I was browsing the National Space Centre website and I think we’re going to plan a visit next weekend – they’ve got a great exhibit opening on the 20th.

Missed you all lots this week (even post-Budapest booking). I’m going to numb my muscle aches now with more bite-sized brownies.

Cheers!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you’re all having a wonderful weekend – filled with lots of food and family and fun! We have Mondays off so it feels like Thanksgiving Monday here too! What a week…last Monday we officially registered for school – I finally have a student i.d. and a schedule for my classes! We attended a couple introductory lectures just about the program and the professors. Including our dissertation there’s only 8 assignments (one per course) that we are assessed on, which is quite intimidating. The other weird thing is that in our program of 60 students, I’d estimate that about 45 of them are Chinese. I mean actually Chinese – as in they’ve come here from China as international students, and they don’t speak much English. Zainah and I are a little concerned about the quality of our class discussions and group work with numbers like those. I’m not exactly sure how they intend on writing an 18,000 word dissertation in English either.

Speaking of dissertation, I’m not sure I told any of you what I’m interested in researching – but I’m most likely going to do an assessment of beauty culture in the advertising of the cosmetics industry, in relation to young women. So basically how the employment of different tactics or themes – be it celebrity, race, or semiotic codes in cosmetic advertising affect young female’s perception of today’s beauty culture. I’m really interested in looking at why the industry thrives so much on negative publicity…I mean look at Kate Moss…she was making a lowly 4.5 million pounds before all the addiction news. Now everyone from Rimmel to Calvin Klein wants her to be their spokesmodel – and she’s more than doubled her earnings. Why is that? And how does that affect the young female consumers who see those ads of a coke addict being glamorized by the media? I have to submit my proposal before Christmas break…if you have human subjects in your research then they have to get it approved (to make sure it’s ethical). But apparently a lot of people haven’t even chosen a research topic, so I still have time to change my mind should I fancy something else (did I actually just type fancy? Oh my God…)

On Saturday Z and I decided to visit some friends in London. So we booked a coach and did some site-seeing during the day. It was Z’s first time in London, so we made sure to hit all the tourist sites like Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square – oh and a special stop in Little Lebanon for shawarma…so yummy! London’s a great city, but I’ve got to admit that I’m glad I’m not in such a busy city where I could easily lose focus. Atleast this way we can buckle down when we need to, and go party in London when we have the time! I think more interesting than the sites in London are the people! I would’ve been quite content to just sit on a bench in Piccadilly Circus and people-watch all afternoon! Everyone is so well put together and trendy. It’s great to walk down the streets and listen to people talking – some in Spanish, French, Arabic, Greek…London is a truly multi-cultural city. Oh and our hotel was fantastic! It’s called The Cumberland, and was recently bumped from a 4 star to a 5 star hotel. The concept is very modern/eclectic – strange statues of oversized men in the lobby hanging sideways with silver space-pod chairs and purple lighting. The rooms have certain themes – ours was an Asian room with red lighting and one red wall as the focal point (ahem Darin…knew you’d love that)…and in the bathroom the towels were hung on this heated rod so that when you use them after a shower they’re nice and toasty!

Even though we had a blast in London, it felt so nice to come home. I think the moment I stepped in the door, I felt that comfort everyone feels when they come back from holidays or vacations. And I realized that this is actually ‘home’ now!

But we had no time to relax because we were expecting 5 people for thanksgiving dinner and we had about 4 hours to prepare! Z and I made quite the scrumptious feast: mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, pasta salad, baked cauliflower, sweet potato fries, baked chicken and grilled aubergine & courgettes (aka eggplant & zucchini in Normal Land!). We were a little worried that either a) something would burn or b) something would taste absolutely horrible but we managed to avoid them both – I think everyone really enjoyed themselves. In total there were four Canadians and three Brits so we decided to play a prank on the Brits and convince them of all these customary Thanksgiving traditions that Canadians have…we told them that when you say grace everyone has to stand and hold hands and shout out Canadian celebrities and other things like meals or cities! So we’re all standing there, yelling out random words like “Medicine Hat, Tim Hortons, Celine Dion, Poutine…” for a good five minutes! Oh man the Brits were so perplexed, it was a golden moment! So after we said grace we all overlapped our hands in the middle (think hockey huddle) and sang O Canada! I wish I videotaped it! Z and I truly lucked out with the people we’ve befriended. They’re such kind and fun blokes and lasses. We always laugh so much and have a good, silly time with them. And it’s also not bad that one of them is a pharmacist, another two are doctors, and the last two are a journalist and a phD student. So essentially I can be diagnosed if I fall ill, have my prescription filled and my dissertation written and edited for me all within my circle of friends (please pray that doesn’t actually happen to me) !

So tomorrow is finally the big day – our first day of uni (oh, here you can’t call university ‘school’ because that means elementary school…so everyone says uni instead). I’ll let you know how our first week of uni is next Sunday!

Gobble Gobble!