Of Sweetie pies, Oatley Runs and ‚humping‘ neighbours...

Hiya "mi lasses and lads"

first night with new housemates...only Álvaro is missing

Well another week has passed and Ta Luv needs to be updated. Last Monday I finally moved closer to the city. I was really lucky and found a fab place very close to the center and just in front of the uni, so it has the perfect location…doesn’t take me ages to get everywhere…

Archery Place...that's where things happen ;)

my new room...still needs some decorating...but I already bought a lamp;)

Monday was busy at school, then the move and I went for some deli Thai food and a couple of drinks with my new flatmates: Shannon (crazy, funny girl from Canada who is such a sweetie pie!!!), Chris (who is English but has lived in Vienna, he is there right now…), Álvaro (aka Cielito from Spain), Miki (from Poland), Arun (English) and Adam from next door who is always at our place! It was such a warm welcome, they showed me “our local” which is literally two steps from our house so it’s just perfect and we had a good time…It seems as if I am not going to get a lot of sleep here…

Picadilly Gardens

 The next day I went to Manchester for a German language assistant meeting…I met the Austrian Michi there and we did some great sightseeing…Took some funny pictures and had a blast. After the seminar we met some other Austrians and went for a walk: saw China Town, the Manchester version of the Viennese “Riesenrad”… 

with Michi

 And, of course, how could it be different, the night finished in a pub…that’s the way it is supposed to be in order to pass as a real Pom! It’s amazing how important pubs are for Brits…it’s just THE place to be, regardless of the time or day… might have to go to the gym with all that beer drinking hahaha

The first weekend with my new flatmates was real fun. On Saturday, Shannon showed me around Leeds town,...saw a couple of really nice places...

University of Leeds (Parkinson Building), just a stonefall from my place

Civic Hall with Shannon

close to the Market and Corn Exchange

At night, after having dinner with Alex and Kathi, I had a drink with Shannon&Co in our local “The Fennton” – we saw even a live performance by a Leeds band, which was pretty sweet. After numerous pints and bars we came back at around 4ish. The night was full of wrong translations and comments like “Oh Adam do you hump” (meaning something completely different than limping…but well in German it means to “humpeln” – which sounds so similar, so I just pronounced it English and thought that might do it hahahaha not quite!)

in "Sandanista" with Adam, Shannon, Àlvaro and Olly

On Sunday we had to get up at 9 because Olly (or aka ‘Dave’) took us all to see the Yorkshire Dales. 

Thus, well equipped with a big coffee, my camera and my jacket - off we went to the Dales. It was such a beautiful day: Got the full Bronte feeling: sunny and cloudy weather in an amazing countryside: rich green meadows with desolate old abbeys…As would good old Charlotte say:

“There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning […]”

Well for us it was just the perfect weather for a long walk and even a race up the “calf and cow mountain”!

 In the mountains Shannon and I got to know some really cool guys - Tim and Dave...here they are:

Dave and Tim - the coolest couple in all Yorkshire

And of course extensive exercise has to be gratified with a nice British meal: so I had my first “Beef and Ale Pie” – mmmhhh so yummy. Apparently there is the saying “who ate all the pies” to refer to somebody rather fat ;), but well after all that walking around some strength was required to take even more pictures and more walks ;) 

To have the the full Yorkshire feeling we ended the day with a cheesy Yorkshire soap called “Downton Abbey” and a big cup of hot chocolate. What a wonderfully charming Sunday!

Dave and his half pint of Leeds Best

view from the "Calf and the Cow"

Some side remarks: Here in Leeds there is a tradition among the students to do the “Otely Run” [check it out on: http://otleyrun.net/about/] – which is a pub crawl including 16 pubs… You are supposed to go to all of them and have one pint in each bar. The thing is that you have to wear a fancy dress…well I thought that means I’ll have to put on my nice dress (which I normally wear to work)…but apparently the term “fancy dress” refers to costumes…well that would have been funny. But you can see all the guys running around in ridiculous costumes, dresses and what not and getting totally drunk. What a tradition!

Good guys, I’ll talk to u soon and tell you about my adventures with the Loiners!!

Ta!