Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Damn near ate an entire zoo last night

Last night I went to this Mongolian restaurant and damn near ate an entire zoo. I had zebra (very yummy), wild boar, kangaroo, ostrich, and crocodile (not all that good). I didn't have room for the shark, which apparently wasn't all that good anyway. 

Festival season is starting, and there are even more fucking tourists wandering around. Went to the Spiegel Garden on the University Campus after dinner last night. It was pretty cool. 

I've been starting to get a lot of work done on my new MacBook, which I absolutely love so far.

For the past two days, the weather was actully wonderful, though it is back to normal (for this summer) today.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

I'm Free

I was supposed to work until Saturday this week (10 hrs Fri, 10 hrs Sat), but I decided that that was no way to spend one of my last two weekends here, so I just called my manager and told him to suck it.  I already feel so much better.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Will Start Updating More Soon

Hopefully, my new laptop will be sent on its way over here today, so will be able to start updating regularly (among so many other things) soon.  Went to work today, where some electricians (?) were trying to install something on this overhang above the bar, and they ended up making it collapse, so I've got the night off.  Of course, since I'm off, the weather is absolute shite.  Had an interesting time at a pub singing American classics with a bunch of people from all over the world.  That's about it for now.

Monday, July 9, 2007

Screw Work

The day after that tryout shift at the one restaurant, I received a call saying that things were not going to work out. However, the next day, I ended up getting a job at a Pakistani restaurant, though that whole experience has sucked. Because of my situation, this is the best job that I've been able to find, especially this time of year when there are so many other people looking for work. I'm getting paid 4 pounds an hour, under the table (minimum wage is something like 5.35/hr). On top of that, the restaurant keeps all the tips, though that doesn't really matter as they just have me basically bussing anyway. I'm going to try to hang in until Friday and give my notice then, but I'm not too sure if I can make it. While I have been told that it is customary throughout the UK, I wouldn't be surprised if it is just this place, but the restaurant is holding on to a week's pay to make sure that I give notice instead of just walking out, as I nearly did last night. I am a bit worried that they might try to dick me out of that pay, though I could always report the tax-free, sub-minimum wage pay, so that should hopefully protect me.

My tens days sharing that flat ended and I'm back at a hostel. It's far more backpacker-oriented than the last one I was at, which is rather nice, though I do miss having some storage space. Neither the flat nor this hostel have really had convenient internet access, hence the lack of updates lately.

Aside from the work stuff, I am still really enjoying my time over here.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

I AM movin' on up (somehow)

I just got back to the hostel from my try-out shift, and somehow, I got the job. It seems like here, they train you for about an hour and then just throw you on the floor on a pretty busy night (even Teak's usually does more training than that). It was pretty intense. I was awful and quite frankly, didn't think there was any way that I was going to be coming back--I can't count how many times I screwed up. However, I did apparently do something right (though I'll be damned if I know what that was). I'm really not used to the whole fine dining thing. Also, you don't have sections at this restaurant. Everyone just walks around to all the tables and does whatever--pretty weird.

It's been a really long time since I had as bad an urge to get absolutely wasted as I do after tonight, but I'm so tired I'm just going to go to bed.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

I'm movin' on up (maybe)

I had another interview today that resulted in my landing a 'try-out shift' tomorrow night. It's at Atrium, an upscale place that has twice been voted the best restaurant in Edinburgh--a bit of an adjustment from dirtwoods. I also (finally) picked up the keys for the flat, though I unfortunately had to go over there twice as no one was there the first time. Consequently, I haven't had the opportunity to move my stuff over there yet--I'll probably just wait until tomorrow.

Monday, June 25, 2007

Found a job (maybe, sorta)

Today, I finally went into this place where I've been meaning to apply for a few days, and I scored a 3 hour, unpaid 'tryout' shift on Friday. I know it sounds a little sketchy, but at this point, whatever. I 'move' into that flat tomorrow, though I'm not really looking forward to the actual moving part. It's been pretty nice not really having to pack up for for the past week and a half (though I did have to change rooms here a couple days ago). I also went ahead and booked a week in another hostel for when I have to leave the flat. That's really about it. I've had another pretty mellow day today.

Interviews and the Egg

I ended up going to the Egg at the Wee Red Bar again Saturday night. It was busier than last week, though I did have problems getting in as it is supposed to only be open to members and students. Luckily, I ran into one of the girls I partied with after the place closed last week. Once again, I went to a couple of parties with her, Mark from last week, and a few other people. Luckily, I knew how to get back to the hostel this time. One of the girls, Kate, lives in Glasgow and offered to show me some of the cooler things in the city that I apparently missed when I was there before.

My interview didn't go very well yesterday. The place wasn't as far out there as the first one I interviewed for, but it was still out there. The clientele was predominantly older, and while I would have still taken the job had it been offered, it wasn't really for me (the manager certainly didn't seem to think so either).

Today, I go to pick up my keys for the flat that I'm renting for the next 10 days. I'm about to head out now and start looking for more places that are hiring.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Screw the busses in Edinburgh

I'm still in the process of looking for a job, having submitted well over 20 CVs to various bars around here. So far, I'm not having much luck, but I'm not too worried (yet).

The other day, I met this Spanish girl, Isaire (think that's the correct spelling), down at the computers in the hostel. She just moved here and is looking for a job and flat too. Last night, I ended up tagging along with her as she went to check out some flat, and while it didn't work for her, we ended up staying and talking to a couple of the tenants anyway. In line with the general trend I've noticed of Europeans not accepting any attempt at declining offers of hospitality, we were first treated (pretty much forced) to tea, then dinner, and finally desert. 3 hours later, we end up heading out to a pub for drinks with most of the people in the flat, and I'm seriously considering staying there for ten days while one of the guys, Lambert, visits his hometown in France.

I ended up having that first interview today, instead of yesterday, as I screwed up and hopped on the wrong bus, ending up on the wrong side of the coast. The place is 20+ minutes outside of the center of Edinburgh, which sucks, but it seemed like a pretty cool place. The interview went really well, but I need to get some paperwork filled out before I could start working there, so we'll see how that goes. Isaire came with, and we then went to look at another flat that didn't work out. We did kinda decide to start looking for a flat that we could possibly share.

We went for a walk after dinner and I was nearly run over by a bus (I'm not exaggerating). I had the green walk guy and started to cross the street when the bus went ahead and flew into the turn anyway, yelling at me in the process. That was the closest of a few close calls I had today, so I've been left a bit traumatized by the whole thing.

It's about midnight here and I'm trying to decide if I should go out tonight. Tomorrow is pretty much gong to be more of the same--searching for jobs and then heading out to look at more flats with Isaire and some other guy from her hostel.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Blah

This was going to be short anyways, but since I already wrote it out once before Explorer took a crap on me, it is going to be especially so. I've decided that I definitely did not give myself enough time to find a job, so I am going to try to reschedule my flight for the 27th at the earliest. If I don't find a job by then, I'm going to have to head home as my credit cards are not holding up all that well, especially not in the UK. I walked around New Town today, and though I only found one place to hand in my CV, I did send out at least seven through email today. Later tonight, I am going to go to what I believe to be (and have pretty much been told is) the biggest dive in Edinburgh, as they are hiring right now.

Last night, I went to the Wee Red Bar, a cool little place on the campus of the art college here for an indie night. While it was apparently unusually dead as there had been a big party on campus the night before, I did end up talking to a few locals, Mark, David, and Becca. Once the bar closed, we walked quite a way back to their place, and then Mark, David, and myself went to this party at the flat of this cool graphic designer from Canada. The place was so far out there that it wasn't even on my little map, but I somehow managed to find my way back to the hostel (after a 50+ minute walk), and got back just in time for breakfast-3 mini boxes of Frosted Flakes. Oh, how I have missed crappy American kids' cereal!

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Who knew . . .

Looking for a job sucks. So far, I've turned in 4 CVs (yeah, bars here expect CVs from applicants), and am about to go back out and hand in a few more. I'm starting to think that it's going to take longer than I gave myself, so I'll have to call the airline and see what I can do about my ticket.

Friday, June 15, 2007

(Finally) Back in Edinburgh

Had another relatively hellish trip. When I was booking my flight back to the UK, some Brits assured me that there would be trains running to Edinburgh all night. I assumed that they knew what they were talking about and didn't bother to double check to make sure that I had time to make it from the airport to the train station to Edinburgh before things stopped running for the night. I got to King's Cross Station about 3 hours after the last train of the night to Edinburgh had left. I ended up spending a total of 6 hours in very cold, damp train stations this morning.
I am, however finally at the hostel this morning, and so far, it looks really cool. I'm going to do some laundry, sleep a bit more, and then start looking for a job.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Back to Edinburgh

I´ve spent the past two nights in Zagreb, which has been a decent experience. The people here are definitelz nicer than in Budapest or Belgrade. My first night in, the owner was absolutely no help with info on places to go, or even how to get into the main part of town. All she had to help me was a small map showing the locations of other hotels and hostels (which I seriously considered using), and a map showing the ?bars?around the hostel. Of course, they consisted of a cafe that was closed at that point. Last night was better as several people were having a joint birthday BBQ--I ate a lot of meat and then later, we went to this big party on the football field outside the student dorms.

I am heading back to Edinburgh, where I might meet up with someone who was staying in the hostel in Glasgow. It's weird, but because it's relative familiarity, it almost feels like I'm heading back 'home' (hopefully it will be for a short time).

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Cyrillic Sucks!

Got into Belgrade last night and went out with a couple of the people from the hostel and some some girl who lives here. Went to get snacks and then to a pretty cool club/boat on the river for a while. Met some locals who showed me around a little bit (and pretty much forced me to smoke a couple Lucky Strikes too). Went to this cool park, Kalemegdan, which is right by my hostel, but because the street signs are all in Cyrillic and my map was in Latin, navigation was pretty much impossible. It ended up taking me 40 + minutes to make my way back to the hostel.

I got up relatively early (considering I got back at 5:00 am) and got some awesome pizza on Kneza Mihaila, a regrettably touristy shopping area right next to the hostel, where I had 5 little kids and eventually their mother come up and ask me for a piece of pizza. Then, I walked around a bit, trying to use landmarks to make sense of my half-useless map and find my way about. Think I'm going to this underground (literally) club tonight. It's pretty damned hot here (though I'm sure not really as much as Phoenix.

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Back at the hostel

Just got back from Szimpla (again). God, I love that place. Met this cool couple, Simon and Veronica, a couple running a business flying people from the UK into Hungary for dental work. Played foose (?) ball for the first time and scored the winning goal. Tomorrow is my last full day in Budapest before I head over to Belgrade. Still haven't decided where I'm headed from there as I've had a hell of a time trying to arrange transpo from my preferred places back to Edinburgh.

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Budapest

So far, Budapest has been a bit mixed. I have definitely met some friendly people here, but also some of the rudest that I have yet encountered. I spent yesterday walking around with Dee from the hostel in Prague and Kate. We went to check out the castle and then Kate and I checked out a Cathedral, but today will be my first day really exploring the city on my own. I have spent the last two nights at Szimpla, which has to be my favorite bar ever. It has that chill, Casey's sort of vibe, but a good mix of nationalities hanging out there, and the actual building itself is awesome. It is down some small side street in a rather dilapidated building with this awesome central courtyard with two bars off to either side and a nice terrace above.

Last night, I ended up running into these two English guys staying at the hostel and we got trapped in conversation with some rather condescending asshole for quite a while.

I spent my last night in Prague out with Alex, Jason, and Carrie, this cool girl from Berkley that we met in the bar at the hostel while waiting to head out. We waited a bit too long, though, as the bar that we had planned on checking out, Akropolis, was closing just as we finally made it there. We ended up going to some reggae place instead, which turned out to be very cool.

Sunday, June 3, 2007

Last full day in Prague

Today is my last full day in Prague and it has been quite uneventful. Got back to the hostel around 4:00 this morning and then went back out to this afterparty for the White Party (some upposedly 30,000 person rave) at 8:00. I had started off the night on this pub crawl organized by a couple of Americans who have been over here about a year and a half. It was about as exciting as I had expected, but I did meet a few cool people, smoked a couple cloves (first time in about a decade), and then broke off and headed out with Jason, this Canadian lawyer staying at the hostel. I've been hurting a bit today and was just going to take it easy and do my laundry. Unfortunately, the laundromat had closed by the time I finally made it there. Right now, I'm just at this cool coffee shop, Coffee and Cigars, having an espresso and dinner.

I think the plan is to head out to Akropolis, some bar/club (?) that the one bartender at the hostel roccommended with Jason and Alex, another Canadian staying in my room. My food is here, so that's it for now.

Prague (and Brussels)

I've been in Prague since Monday and will be leaving for Budapest on Monday, where it so happens that I will be meeting back up with this one Aussie staying in my room here. Was in Brussles for two days before, which was, for the most part, a big pain in the ass. I didn't bother checking train times before I booked the flight and ended up seriously screwing myself: my flight was out of London Heathrow at 2:00 pm and there were no trains out of Manchester early enough to get me there on time, so I had to leave at 10:00 pm the night before. There was a 7 hour window between my train into one station and the first one out of it, which I figured I could wait out there. Unfortunately, the station closed as soon as I arrived, so I walked around for a bit and then waited in a nearby outdoor bus station for a couple hours, but started to get a bit concerned for my safety by 2:30 or so. I decided that I should go ahead and just buy a ticket on a bus for at least part of my trip. Found a bus headed to the airport and while they didn't have any tickets to sell me, they went ahead and let me on anyway. Tried to tip the driver for the free ride afterwards, but he wouldn't accept any money. I got to the airport around 5:00 am and waited for my flight. Finally got into Brussels and walked around for a good two hours before I could find the damned tram to my hostel. When I finally got on, I had some guy try to pick my pocket, but either he wasn't particularly good at it, or my tight ass jeans made it really difficult. I finally arrived at my hotel about 9:00 pm (that's 23 hours after I left Manchester), which was located in a ghetto primarily inhabited by (what appeared to be) Middle Easterners who weren't particularly fond of me. I went out to get a snack and within 2 minutes had some guy shouting (I think) "I'm Bin Laden, I'm Bin Laden" at me. Needless to say, I didn't go out that night and made sure I was back at the hotel before nightfall the following day. The central part of the city was very cool, though, and very pedestrian friendly: very wide sidewalks and all the major streets had wide, tree lined medians with walkways making them resemble small parks between the two directions of traffic. I stopped and had a few beers at some sidewalk cafes there.

Prague has been nice, but not quite as cool as I had expected. The hostel I'm staying at is amazing, though. Unfortunately, the hostel I'm staying at is nearly completely populated by Americans. I didn't travel thousands of miles to meet people I could easily find down the
road from my place. One of the bartenders here is an Irishman whose sister works at Fibber Magee's, which is kinda cool, in a small world sort of way.

I went to this cool bar the other night, Ujzed, that had this very hybrid Eastern European/ rockabilly feel to it. I am, however, quite ashamed to say that I fell off the bar stool there--not because I was wasted, but because it was a good foot higher than any other bar stool I've ever seen and I had forgotten about that over the course of my one beer there. (I have started to get the beginnings of a beer belly from all the beer I've had over here). I have finally managed to have a few cigars (Cubans, no less) with my Scotches here. Tuesday I treated myself to a belated birthday dinner at a Cuban place with a Macallan 25 Fine Oak and a Cohiba. After the UK, with it's 25-35 ml max shot, it's nice to finally be able to get an almost decent pour of whiskey here.

I visited the Franz Kafka and Communism museums (among others) in the past few days, which were pretty cool. Tried to visit a Jewish synagogue and cemetery today, but it was closed.

It seems that Prague has the most heavily concentrated tourist areas of any of the cities I've been to so far, which is really annoying. I made the mistake of trying to cross Charles Bridge a few days ago, where I had to make my way through a few hundred tourists stopping all over the place to take a damned picture.

Last week, I received word that I was accepted to LSU, and while I'm still waiting on definitive word from Columbia and NYU, I will definitely have to be back to the US by mid-August.

The thing that I miss most about home is being able to get some Taco Bell after night out (which, it seems, is a sentiment shared by several of the other Americans I've talked to). I would seriously pay $30+ for a couple bean burritos and a chicken quesadilla. If I'm able to get a job in Edinburgh, I'm going to have to have someone ship me a big package of burritos and quesadillas packed in dry ice.

I'm writing this at a table on the sidewalk at the Cuban place, smoking a cigar and drinking a glass of Scotch.

I have time for one, maybe two more stops before I head back to Edinburgh and right now, I'm thinking it's going to be either Sarajevo or someplace in Italy (I know what your suggestion would be, Matt).

Well, my cigar is nearly finished and I think that pretty much covers all that has happened since I last blogged.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Manchester and new pics


DSC00302
Originally uploaded by MSGacy.

Just got into Manchester about an hour and a half ago. From what I've seen so far, it looks like a really great city. Saw a lot of really cool architecture. Finally put up some pics, lots more to come.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

More time to blog

Found another computer and was able to plan out the next week or so. I've really just been winging it during my time in Glasgow and kinda got screwed with the scheduling of my trip over to Brussels. I've decided to check out Manchester before my flight to Brussels.

Glasgow has been fun--the club nights I've found have been a bit better than they were in Edinburgh (here, 'indie night' doesn't mean 3 year-old emo songs). I'm tempted to stay here another week to see a bunch of cool shows, but don't really have the money to keep spending. Plus, I want to give myself about a week to look for a job in Edinburgh, so I don't really have all that much time left for traveling. We have actually had a couple beautiful days here, though the last two have kinda sucked. The galleries haven't been all that great, though I did see two works at the modern art museum that were really cool.

The whole vibe for my stay here has definitely been different than it was in London or Edinburgh. I've met a couple really cool people here, but far fewer than in the other hostels. The hostel is filled with teens from all over that are here for some conference.

There is no accessible USB port on the computer here either, so the pics are still going to have to wait.

Short Update

I only have 5 minutes left on a shitty computer, so this is going to be rather short. Lots more pics will be up soon. Went to see Battles yesterday (they were great). The show was sold out, but I figured I'd go to the venue and try anyway. I offered to buy some guy's ticket for £25, but he had an extra and wouldn't take more than face value (£10), which was pretty cool of him. I love the Scottish. Having a real shit day today, but otherwise things have been really cool. Flying to Brussels on Sunday, then off to Prague on Tuesday. Not sure where I'm going before then. This will probably be my last day in Glasgow. Times up . . .

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Glasgow

Went on a tour of the Highlands today and toured the Edradour distillery, the smallest one in Scotland. They only have 3 employees who actually make the Scotch. Had a 21 year Edradour in some exotic wood finish and a Sprinkbank 1970 (the latter was very good). Just got into Glasgow about 3 hours ago. I was up all night doing laundry last night and had to get up really early for the tour, so think I'm just staying in tonight. I did go have a beer (yes, I have been drinking a lot of that over here) and met some very drunk, but very friendly locals. Not quite as interesting as the two guys I met the first night in Edinburgh (one ended up trying to pick me up after showing me around town for a bit) but an interesting night nevertheless. Time is up, will write more tomorrow.

Friday, May 18, 2007

Pics from last night


DSC00267
Originally uploaded by msgacy2.

Here are some of the pics from last night. Think I'm going to some architecture and design exhibit today and definitely the literary tour tonight. Just booked a hostel for 2 days in Glasgow.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

BTW

The climate here really fucks with my hair (Megan). The damned 'fro don't work so well here.

Random Night

So, the Canadians I was supposed to go on the literary pub crawl with tonight bailed on me, leaving me to play in a pool tournament tonight. Met a couple more cool Canadians who talked me into going on the pub crawl (again). Did that for a few hours and then went out in search of Whistle Winkies, which was supposed to have a cool indie night tonight. I knew the main street it was on, but not where exactly it was on that street. Was walking down S Bridge as it started to rain more and more. Finally gave up and started to head back to the hostel (already soaked by now) when I heard someone call out 'Mattie.' I look over, and it's Jordan, the Canadian I randomly met two nights ago. He's with some Eastern European chick who shields me from the pouring rain with her umbrella. No one knows where the club is. It finally stops raining, I head off in search of the club or my hostel again, and the club ends up being 10 feet from where I've spent the last 20 minutes standing. There is a cool indie band playing and the crowd ranges from drunk suits to standard indie kids. Had a good time and finally make it back to the hostel without being completely soaked (though I am pretty damned wet). Hopefully I will actually make it to the literary tour tomorrow night.

Chillin with Ronald MacDonald


DSC00226
Originally uploaded by msgacy2.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

More Scotch!

Just had another big Scotch night: Oban 32 year, which was rather disappointing, and Glenlivet Cellar Collection 1964 ($2200 a bottle), which was very, very good. Not sure if I would rank it above the Bruichladdich 1970 I had in London, but it's definitely in the top 3. It had notes of what I would call the characteristic Glenlivet flavor, but also something else, entirely unique on top. Missed the literary tour tonight, but made plans with new people to go tomorrow, so we'll see how that pans out. Aside from the Scotch, the day has pretty much been a waste, just did laundry (walked for an hour and a half to a place that ended up just doing dry cleaning, then went back to the hostel.) Getting ready to go back out now. Going to try to check out another indie night that will hopefully be more indie than the shit last night . . .

A Little Disappointment


DSC00218
Originally uploaded by msgacy2.

Yesterday was a beautiful day. Went to a couple modern art museums, ate, and then started off on the hostel's pub crawl again. Didn't seem as cool as the prior night's, so I ended up heading to some bar located just below a hostel where I met up with an Australian, Canadian, and then a brother and sister from NC (I swear, I really am trying to meet people from other nations). We went to a couple of the places that had looked really promising, Cabaret Voltaire and Subway, the former was pretty cool, but packed and I don't think I have ever been subjected to more pungent BO, and the latter was playing emo and had a bunch of little kids jumping around. The actual bar was cool, though. Perhaps other nights there will be more my style. It's pretty overcast today. Have to do laundry, then perhaps go do a whisky tasting, and then I'm meeting up with the group from last night for a literary pub crawl.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Edinburgh


DSC00214
Originally uploaded by msgacy2.

The view near my hostel.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Finally!


DSC00186
Originally uploaded by msgacy2.

Ok, I was finally able to post some pics. More coming soon. About to head out for food and then to hit up a museum of two.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

First Day in Scotland

Got into Edinburgh about 6:00 today. Within an hour, I had a couple locals showing me where to buy a decent bottle of scotch and taking me out to a couple pubs. People seem very friendly here. I had booked a room until Wednesday, but after walking around, I'm going to stay until Monday. I mean hell, they have a literary pub crawl, how can I resist the combination of my two favorite things? I found this awesome whisky bar with probably close to 50+ different bottles and a bartender who is staying at my hostel. Have yet to meet anyone staying here at the hostel, but the place itself seems pretty cool. Pubs actually stay open late here, unlike London, and it kinda looks like there is a decent music scene. Haven't really decided if I'm going out tonight. Still working on uploading those pics. By the way, I noticed that a lot of pubs around here are hiring . . .

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Computer Problems

The few working computers at this hostel suck, so I haven't ben able to access blogger or myspace for the past few days. Went to the Tate Modern (on Wednesday?), which was awesome. Spent about 20 minutes looking at my favorite sculpture, Boccioni's "Unique Forms of Continuity in Space" (forgive the probably botching of the spelling and possibly the title) and saw some awesome Braques and Picassos. They also had a recreation of Duchamp's "Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors, Even" (and recreations of the Fountain and a couple others) and a "book" Duchamp did with miniature versions of several of his works including Nude Descending a Staircase. Saw a couple cool Francis Bacons too. That was definitely my favorite museum experience so far, though i did really like the Surrealism Things exhibit at the V & A (went to that on Tuesday). After that, went to Albernach, this really cool Scottish restaurant, and had a glass of 35 year-old Tamnavulin, and a 1970 Bruichladich, the later being my new favorite scotch. Of course, I don't think I'll being having either again anytime soon.

Thursday night we tried to get into some club, but were turned away because of our "trainers" so we ended up just going to Cheers next door (definitely not my favorite experience of the trip so far). Yesterday i went to Portabello market (lots of vintage clothing) and then Oxford street and then Oxford Street with Eugene (Eugen), until my knee started to really hurt, forcing me to head back to the hostel. Later, had some dinner at a Pub with Curtis (from Pittsburgh) and then we, Eugene, and this woman from Jersey went to Soho. That is definitely my area of town. Went to some cool (but very crowded) Spanish bar, where there was some "blind" guy who was one of the items on a pub crawl scavenger hunt. Think I might have to try something like that next time I get the opportunity. Later, we went to the Roxy, an "Indie Pop" dance club. They played some good music, and I did dance, but it was still a dance club. I'm really hoping that pubs stay open later in Scotland, which I think is going to be my next stop. I need to try to book a hostel after I finish this post (we'll see how well that goes for my procrastinating ass). Later, I will try to go to an internet cafe with decent computers so I can finally upload my pics.

Monday, May 7, 2007

It's Cold Here

It's 4:00 and I just got back to the hostel. For a major city, bars (excuse me, pubs) sure do close early here. Went out with a bunch of Italian kids tonight looking for a pub that was open past 12:00--that didn't work. We were only able to find a couple dance clubs and ended up just wandering around the city for a few hours. Still trying to get to a computer that will let me post pictures. Have to wake up early in the morning so I'm going to crash.

I'm Here

Thanks to everyone who came out Friday night, I had a lot of fun. Of course, I was paying for that on the flight to New York--the turbulence didn't mix with my hangover all that well. I'm still pretty jet-lagged and just trying to get adjusted. Spent most of yesterday just exploring the area around the hostel. Think I'm going to take a nap and venture around the city some more.

Friday, May 4, 2007

Prankster's with Erika


DSC00157
Originally uploaded by MSGacy.

Here's another test post, let's see if this works out any better . . .