As abruptly as it began, my “adventure in English literature” has unfortunately come to an end. It has been an incredible 6 months – and I must first and foremost thank the Roger M. Jones Foundation, Peter Heydon and the College of Engineering for giving me this opportunity. I’ll repeat that I am truly honored [...]
Archive for June, 2008
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Posted in RMJ on June 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Packing Up…
Posted in RMJ on June 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Today it was pretty sad packing everything up in Room V003. It was definitely an odd place to live my last semester of college, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything else. I tried to pull everything off the walls last, that’s when the room suddenly feels so empty. It was impressive how small I [...]
“Danny, Champion of the World”
Posted in RMJ on June 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
My last official cultural activity in England was seeing a play adaptation of children’s book “Danny, the Champion of the World” by Roald Dahl (a Welsh author). I remember having this book read to my 3rd or 4th grade class back at Lake Center Elementary, right near the end of the school year. So I [...]
Random photos from last few days in London
Posted in RMJ on June 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I love Borough Market. If I lived in London and could afford to, I would do all of my grocery shopping here. Looking out the window of Risha’s flat. Yes, that is the London Eye. Ridiculous. Here’s the London Eye from a more common angle – over the Thames on a stereotypically awful day. I [...]
RMJ Mailbag – Ask Ryan 3
Posted in RMJ on June 12, 2008 | 3 Comments »
What is your largest take-away from this experience? I’ll take this question in 2 parts. First, I’d like to write a little bit about what I’ve gained from my English literature studies, then I’ll move on to the Britain bit. Throughout my entire career as a student, I would say my primary focus has been [...]
What the hell is going on in this photo?
Posted in RMJ on June 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Buy me a pint and I’ll tell you…
Seen in a McDonald’s
Posted in RMJ on June 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
As if McDonald’s wasn’t American enough by itself. I do get a kick out of these adverts though. Now I know what kind of hamburgers I should be eating when I get back!
Taming of the Shrew in Stratford
Posted in RMJ on June 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Today, I took the train over to Stratford to properly see some Shakespeare. At the last minute my buddy Ben decided to join, so I had someone to hold the camera! Just hangin’ out at Shakespeare’s house. No big deal. And his burial site was just on the other side of town. As expected, a [...]
Trip to Alton Towers
Posted in RMJ on June 9, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
We spent Monday driving over to Alton Towers, one of the best amusement parks in the UK. Being from Michigan, I have Cedar Point amusement park as my baseline – so Alton Towers had big shoes to fill. And while it may not have been as big as Cedar Point, it was definitely a good [...]
Caving in Giant’s Hole
Posted in RMJ on June 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
On Sunday, some of the guys from caving club (Ralph, Malcolm, and Matt) and I went up to Derbyshire to cave in Giant’s Hole. This was a pretty good cave for my skill level – just enough drops, squeezes and crawls, but not too many. The countryside was quite pleasant on the way over. We [...]
Celebrity Spotting
Posted in RMJ on June 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Last night we were drawn to our rival university – Nottingham Trent – student union because they advertised an appearance by Alfonso Ribeiro a.k.a. Carlton Banks from “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”. It was really funny because no one was really sure he was going to be there. There were no conclusive announcements or [...]
Trip to Sherwood Forest
Posted in RMJ on June 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I may have been to Nottingham Castle, and seen Nottingham Forest play football. But you can’t live in Nottinghamshire and never make it to the actual Sherwood Forest. Ben, Alex and I drove out (about a 40 min drive) this morning. It took a little arm twisting, but I guess I’ve been getting pretty persuasive [...]
Celebrating the End of the Year – Again!
Posted in RMJ on June 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
3rd time’s the charm, right? Hugh Stewart Hall organized its own end of year party. Good music, good friends, good hall.
Ok, just let me get it out of my system…
Posted in RMJ on June 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Last post about food, I promise. I think there are a couple small Tesco’s supermarkets near campus, but the majority of my limited shopping is over at Sainsbury’s. I’ve really grown fond of double Gloucester cheese, elderflower soda, scones with clotted cream and jam, crayfish and rocket sandwiches, milk chocolate HobNobs, black tea with milk. [...]
Nando’s!
Posted in RMJ on June 6, 2008 | 1 Comment »
I do seem to write about food a lot, don’t I? Well I cannot possibly go 6 months without mentioning Nando’s, an amazing Portuguese chicken restaurant. I don’t know if “Peri Peri chicken” is really part of Portuguese gastronomy, but I’m sure they don’t mind taking credit for it. My classic order is a half-chicken [...]
Deep Sea Fishing
Posted in RMJ on June 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
On Wednesday my buddy Steve and I decided to go deep sea fishing. For £20, we got to a couple hours on a boat, equipment and bait. Plus we keep all the fish we catch… It was kind of an interesting mix on board: half clichéd salty fisherman, half clumsy students. This porpoise seemed to [...]
Caravan Life…
Posted in RMJ on June 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The caravans we were staying in were about what you’d expect for what we were paying (£180 for 5 days). The campground we were at had about 200 of these. It had a decent seating area / kitchen, small bath, and 2 bedrooms. We didn’t eat Cornish pasties every meal. We actually stocked up on [...]
Good Weather?
Posted in RMJ on June 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The next day the skies cleared up quite nicely – and I was able to catch a few photos while running along some of the smaller beaches. It was incredibly breathtaking and peaceful. It may have to be a new entry in my top 5 runs. The water was so clear, but still very cold. [...]
Spring Break Cornwall! (…sort of)
Posted in RMJ on June 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Because UK universities take a month-long break for the Easter holiday, there isn’t really a Spring Break. Fortunately, a company called Outgoing.co.uk saw this need in university life and organized a week where students from all over the UK bus into Newquay, hang at the beaches, and camp out in caravans. I ended up joining [...]
Party on the Downs!
Posted in RMJ on June 1, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I think at this point all exams are over for everyone, so similar to Summerfest for the College of Engineering, the student government organized a big festival on the Downs Of course, lots of people. Lots of bands. Unfortunately none I’d really heard of before. Lots of trash. Terrible trailer food just like at Ocean. [...]
