ahhh internet...

Fortunately, after three horrible days without any internet at all, the internet came back to life. I have almost caught up on all of the things that pile up when you are without internet access, but not quite. As far as blogging goes, I think I need to backtrack a bit...

Our flat trip went well... the weather was cold, snowy (actually wet slush-y is a better descriptor) and we trudged through it. Our first stop was to the National Coal Mining Museum. We actually descended 500 feet into the ground to learn all about mining and miners' lives. It was pretty cool. Our tour guide was a true Yorkshireman and we honestly missed at least half of the tour because of his heavy accent. Later that day, we visited the Bronte home in Haworth which is actually a pretty good museum. After tramping through the damp town, we went back to our hostel (which was incredible - it was the home of a mill owner - and was all carved oak...

...bad picture, but you get the idea). It was so cold and damp outside, that we all stayed in for the night and had an excellent dinner and played Scrabble until the wee hours of the morning instead of reading Wuthering Heights...

The next morning we woke up for a good solid full English breakfast and dressed ourselves for a tramp through the moors. Just like Wuthering Heights... how appropriate. Despite our best attempts, after an hour all of our feet were soaked (except Aaron who has gortex hiking boots) and pretty cold. We had a picnic at Top Withens (which according to the Bronte Society's rather rude sign is NOT the inspiration for the building Wuthering Heights in Bronte's novel). The moors are deceiving and the weather is certainly temperamental. Most of the day was spent under cloud cover, but the sun decided to peek out once the moors had revealed a shallow canyon and led us onto a waterfall that was quite beautiful...

...we made it back to the cars, changed out of our soaking socks and headed towards Saltaire. Saltaire was a community built by Sir Titus Salt to accommodate his mill factory workers. The only thing he left out when creating this utopia was hospitals and pubs... it wasn't successful for too long due to the lack of those community staples. The stone buildings are still very much intact and really interesting. The whole town has recently become a World Heritage site... which is pretty impressive. The mill has been turned into galleries for David Hockney's work in addition to shops, restaurants and cafes. A bit of a ride home and we were back from our last group trip - sad.

The next week was good, busy as usual, but good. Valentines day was relatively uneventful (aside from Brandon being ridiculously cute for Mary). Mary and I went downtown and had a good lunch out at Cafe Rouge - good French cuisine that has impressed both my mom and my sister, now I just have to take my dad there to complete the family tradition. A bit of shopping and then back to cook dinner. I actually got pretty domestic and made the traditional Laura Ingalls-Wilder heart cakes. Mom, you should be proud...

...a nice dinner and a night of homework was all we had to show for the day. The next day, I discovered that my nutrition course involved excess amounts of biochemistry (which I have never taken) and after the professor told me I would be able to teach myself BioChem from a lovely book he particularly enjoyed, I decided to drop the course. After a hectic Friday of dropping that module and signing up for another module (Christian Thought in the Modern World... thank you Mary for recommending it!) I was ready for the weekend. Kevin's grandparents came up for the day and Kevin headed down to London with them for the weekend. On Saturday, Emily brought her parents back from London and we hung out with them. It was really fun to see more family from the states. The weekend was filled with homework and, well, that's about it. This week has been busy with classes as usual and flat drama... worse than usual. Hopefully it will all smooth out soon.

Oh, and Kim sent me pictures from Paris (thank you very much). Just so you know, when we were there, we didn't go see any of the typical touristy things... I have been there enough times to get my fill of the Eiffle Tower, L'Arc de Triumphe, et le Moulin Rouge, etc. So, the only pictures we took were of us in random places... I can honestly say that I enjoy the residential Paris much more than the touristy Paris. The small shops, the hidden walkways and pedestrian walkways, the endless ancient churches and the little old men with their shopping carts rolling behind them. It was wonderful... but you've already heard about all of that.

That's about all I have for now. Oh, well I have met a foreign exchange student from Holland (through NUAC) and we have been running together the past few weeks. She is really nice and we train well together. I am excited to have a girl who actually trains! I am currently trying to get all of Charles Dickens' Hard Times read before class on Friday... speaking of Friday, my Dad arrives on Friday!!! I am so excited to see him for the first time since September. We have a few days in Wales (wohoo Conwy, Harlech, Snowdonia, Canaerfon, and Llandudno!! try and pronounce that last one... give up? it is said Kclon-dude-no). So, have a great week and good luck to the NORSE who have the Indoor Track and Field Championships this weekend at Cornell. Bleed Blue!!