Right! So, last week at a glance:
Monday began with breakfast and clearing the counters for our weekly kitchen cleaning. Then RDS, where we discussed multiple regression, which I will undoubtedly need for my project and which I didn't grasp all that well. Guess what I'll be studying during reading week?
After RDS, as usual, I headed to the lounge for lunch and a break. I don't really do that much work during my break between classes. Hiking to the library seems like too much work and all the people around me are way too distracting. Plus, how would I stay informed without the TVs tuned to BBC news repeating over and over the same clip of Will and Kate placing poppies at The Tower exhibit and telling us that she was still experiencing morning sickness after the first trimester?
Forensic Psychology in Practice was on sexual offending this week. It was really interesting. We discussed a case study of a 25 year old who was convicted of rape and "buggery" (sodomy) of a young woman he met at a club. We were tasked with identifying the top three risks you'd treat him for to reduce his risk of recidivism. Not on the list? His past history of abuse, his alcoholism, or his depression. If you're wondering why, it's because none of those things are high priorities when working on a limited budget based on research of the biggest risk factors for re-offending.
After class I hopped a bus into town for my bank account appointment. It took about 45 minutes, and I now have a UK bank account which will make my life a lot easer. Afterwards, I wandered around the Copper Gate shopping center where I stopped in a Starbucks to redeem my birthday drink. They have a bunch of different pastries at Starbucks here. I will have to go back and try them.
On Tuesday morning, I received an email thanking me for providing my bank details and informing me I would receive payment of student loan funds on October 31st! Needless to say, I was not a happy camper since at that point I had a little over a pound in change and had used the last of my bread and peanut butter to make my sandwich for lunch. After LCI where we did our presentation on the psychological theory of crime and listened to the other presentations, I marched down to financial services office prepared to do battle. I explained the situation and that if the university only makes payments once a week (in the US the money would have been in my account the next day or the day after!), they should be a little more clear on that point instead of making it sound like I would have money as soon as I provided my bank account details. The woman agreed to give me an "emergency loan" of 75 pounds, which is really only supposed to be done for home students. Thankfully that was enough to get my prescriptions (I had been out and one of them has super fun withdrawal effects!) and some food until Friday.
In FGS we discussed supervision. A lot of the lecture about the supervision involved in becoming a stage 2 chartered psychologist through the British Psychological Society did not apply to me. When Tracy asked if anyone was not going to work towards chartership I raised my hand. She said, "Well, you'll do something similar in America, right?" To which I replied I have another 5 years of education, plus whatever supervision/residency is involved. Then she says to the class, "See? It could be worse."
After FGS, I headed straight into town to fill my prescriptions which despite the pharmacy being busy both times I've gone, it seems all prescriptions they have in stock are filled within 15 minutes. If they don't have it they ask you to come back in the morning. Then I stopped in to the Morrison's Local ("local" means miniature versions of grocery stores in the middle of cities) down the street for some food. It was super windy as we were getting the tail end of that hurricane. It made carrying my groceries to and from the bus tons of fun.
This yogurt I purchased from Morrisons is delicious and creamy. It's also "delicate"
I had arranged my errands and homework so that when I woke up on Wednesday (after a generous lie in) I wouldn't have to do anything that could be classed as "work". On my way to the kitchen, I saw Tanya had left a cute note on my pin board. She calls me her personal shrink, but mostly I just remind her to breathe when she freaks out.
After breakfast, I got ready and headed into town to meet Debbie and Andrea for tea at Betty's. Betty's is a justifiably famous tea shop in town. Debbie arrived first and had to queue for 20 minutes to get a table downstairs. I ordered the hot chocolate which was SO YUMMY. Seriously good chocolate in this town!
Andrea ordered the "Afternoon Tea" to share. That chocolate square on top was rich and and amazing, but the fruit tart, half scone with clotted cream and jam, and sandwiches were good too.
We took lots of pictures. My bangs look super long and weird in this pic, but the bulge to the side of my head is my sock bun.
Andrea and I
Debbie and I
Then the waitress took one of the three of us
And a mom with two kids took this one of us outside the shop.
After Betty's, I walked to the Minster because I hadn't been inside yet. I was going to climb the tower as well, but my pinched nerve was complaining a little too loudly to make that a good idea. The Minster now charges 10 pounds for an entry ticket that is good for a year, but my university ID lets me to see everything but the tower for free. The "tower tour", aka climbing the 250+ steps up to the top, is an additional 5 pounds.
The war memorial across from the Minster.
The outside of one of the windows.
This place is huge.
There are two small chapels inside that are set apart in honor of soldiers who have fought in various wars.
All of the chairs in the chapel had little plaques on them.
The five sisters window
The rose window
I really liked this torch
This is inside the second side chapel dedicated to veterans
They have a little exhibit at the back of the building about the work required to shape all of the stone.
Something is missing . . .
I'll have to go back another day when my back is feeling good and I have better walking shoes to climb the tower, and get the guided tour of the ground floor.
Andrea gave me this vacuum thermos which can keep drinks hot or cold for up to 8 hours. She also gave me some hot chocolate to go in it.
Debbie had been paying attention to my Facebook post about missing proper peanut butter, and got this for me.
And some other American snacks. There were a couple of Reese's cups in bag as well but they didn't last long enough for a picture.
Before we went to dinner that evening, my flatmates and Jemma gave me this. They have indicated they are willing to taste test any recipes I make from it.
For my birthday dinner we (Keita, Matt, Tanya, Lara, Jemma, and I) went to dinner at a newer Indian restaurant called Masala Craft. Their concept is fine Indian food that doesn't look or taste like just another curry house, and I say they succeeded. Everything I ate was fantastic. I had lamb samosas for my appetizer, murgh malai (a spiced chicken dish) for my main, and a chocolate samosa (which Tanya pointed out is NOT Indian) with white chocolate sauce for dessert. The chocolate samosa was spiced with ginger and cinnamon. So good that I don't care it wasn't authentic. We will definitely be going back to try other menu items!
On Thursday I finished up my RDS practical and quiz. Other than that, I read some and then took a nap because I had a headache.
Didi gave me this cake for my birthday. She had class on Wednesday and wasn't able to make the dinner. It was yummy. I may have eaten part of it for dinner . . .
Food labels here often amuse me.
Instructions and a video link on how to cut a round cake. Thanks M&S!
Guys, get this: a store-bought cake where the frosting and cake were actually made with real butter. No wonder it tasted good :D
On Friday, I checked my bank account first thing to see that my student loan money had indeed been deposited in my account (HUZZAH!) and then went to my workshop for RDS where they told us that everyone struggled with the multiple regression practical and quiz. One of my AFP classmates told me she scored 100% on the quiz, but had no idea why.
After the workshop, I went into town to withdraw some cash since my debit card has not arrived yet. I will get an email telling me to come pick it up from the branch when it's ready. It should arrive by Wednesday so I'll be able to place my Amazon order and order groceries to be delivered. No more long trips carrying heavy bags on and off buses to my flat! Well, less trips anyway. I'll probably pick out fresh produce myself from the city center market or the Sainsburys local that is a 15 minute walk from my flat.
That evening we had a flat potluck in celebration of Michael's and my birthdays. There was lots of good food and though we waited until exactly 7:00pm, we were forced to start without Michael who hadn't shown up. We ate and had a good time. Around 8:00 Michael still hadn't shown up, so we decided not to wait on him for dessert either. Tanya made some sweetened condensed milk and fresh coconut truffle balls which were tasty and Miranda made an orange-chocolate cake which was also good. After we were most of the way cleaned up guess who arrived? Michael was on the receiving end of a good deal of teasing and general mockery for missing his own birthday party.
Matt was offended. He had, after all, been defending Michael saying that he would eventually turn up. So, he taped over "birth" on one of the banners which he said was Michael's and left the other one (mine) alone. Also, as were cleaning up Matt grabbed a paring knife and popped all of the balloons as a "metaphor" for Michael.
I didn't get a picture of Matt's "disapproving librarian glare" at Michael because he REALLY dislikes having his picture taken. One might even call him phobic. This is probably all you'll get this entire year.
On Saturday, I got up early and headed to the train station for my day trip to Leeds. If my money had come earlier I would have gone to Leeds on Thursday and joined the GSA trip to Liverpool on Saturday instead. Oh well, I'll have to visit Liverpool another time.
Waiting for my train to Leeds.
The Leeds train station platforms
No idea what this building is, but it isn't far from the train station
Found this while wandering around town.
I went to Sally Beauty supply for some shampoo, conditioner, and hair color. I also got an Ion brand hair spray that costs less than my usual John Freida kind. We'll see if I like it.
Passed this Starbucks on the way to the Apple Store.
I was going to take my laptop in to be diagnosed, but the store was such a zoo I decided to try again on a weekday morning. I got on the bus out to the Birstall Retail Park where IKEA is located along with a giant Marks and Spencers and a few other British chains. Also spotted were Pizza Hut, Krispy Kreme, and T.G.I.Fridays. At IKEA I got some dishes, some cutlery/utensil storage canisters, food storage containers, a cutting board, bath and hand towels, a bathmat, and a polar fleece blanket to wrap around my legs when at my desk. Of course, I had to walk all the way through the showroom part (after I had already done a lot of walking in Leeds so my right foot was already hurting) to get to the market hall where they keep all the products like kitchen supplies and towels. After checking out, I grabbed the 2.70 pound quick lunch of 8 meatballs (I wasn't impressed as what I expected from all the praise for IKEA meatballs), a cinnamon bun (also pretty average), and a soda. Then I had to lug my bags of purchases down to the bus stop, on the bus, from the bus stop in town to the train station, to my platform, etc. I had to stand on the train ride back to York because it was so full. By the time I got to my room I was exhausted. So, I ate a snack and rested for about an hour and half before going in to the campus Nisa Local to get some more groceries and various sundries (I was completely out of tissues and my nose is still running from my sinus infection).
I found these and made Kaitlin jealous.
Yum.
On Sunday Keita and I got a ride to church from one of the members. Her husband is the ward clerk and she was going to have to wait for him after church, so Keita (Safari really wants to change his name to Keith) and I were prepared to catch the bus home when Brother and Sister Robinson invited us to their home for dinner. They regularly give a couple of other members rides home though, so we caught a bus out to Haxby. Brother Robinson is from Belfast and is, uh, quite opinionated. Definitely what my parents would call "a character". They fed us Scottish steak pie which was really good, mashed potatoes, and veggies. For something sweet after dinner we had these "Dutch waffles" that were a kind of crispy cookie sandwich around an almost caramel like center. I will definitely have to look for them at the store. Brother Robinson gave us a lift home in his mini Cooper. I then had to finish my laundry since I didn't have a lot of time on Saturday.
Some random things from the week:
Our shower drains were poorly designed. A ring of water sits around the drain after every shower. This picture was taken about 20 hours after the last shower.
Our bathroom vent is passive (they claim it isn't passive, but nothing dries out if I leave my bathroom door closed), so the walls and everything stay a bit wet for awhile after I shower. This metal piece of my medicine cabinet is already rusting and sometimes keeps the door from opening all the way.
I registered for an account with York Theatre Royal so I can buy tickets in the future. I've never seen such a long list of prefixes before
-A memorable quote from the birthday potluck: "Take a fork. You'll get four stabs per stab" -Matt
Tanya had been getting irritated and (playfully?) threatened to stab someone with a knife. That sounds a lot worse than it was, but I'm fairly certain she wasn't serious. ;)
-I forgot to mention last week that I am the AFP course rep which means I attend several meetings each term and bring up any questions/concerns from the students on my course. So far they seem content, so mostly I just listen. I was the only one to volunteer, but I knew it should be fairly painless and will look good on my CV.
-Showering on Saturday night with shampoo (haven't had any since I left in September) and conditioner (ran out 2 weeks ago) and using lotion afterwards (also had run out) felt positively luxurious. Ah, the glamorous grad school life!
That's all for this week.
UPDATE:
I have been duly chastised by Matt for not mentioning our new roommate whom I shall call N, because I've no idea how to spell his name and don't want to butcher it. He is from Greece and working on his PhD in computer science.
AND we have finally been introduced to Old Guy! I encountered him in the kitchen not on his phone and introduced myself. His name is Bob, he is from East London, and is getting a Bachelor's in archeology.
Now that's everything :)
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