Abandon hope all ye who enter here...

Yesterday I awoke to the horribly unpleasant sound of my phone's alarm at the crack of dawn 11:30 AM. I pulled myself out of bed, brushed my teeth, put some clothes on, then walked to the secret American field trip meeting location. I boarded the bus, then fell asleep in my seat. When I woke up, we were here...
Well, technically, we were still on the bus when I woke up. But I took this picture about five minutes later when we were waiting for our tour guide. If I had fallen asleep on a bus then woke up outside standing next to a lead mine and a huge field, I'd be a bit worried about my mental health. But I digress...

We met our tour guide, and he took us on a walk through the woods...
He was talking a lot about how this area had been a lead mine for the past few hundred years and about rare European red squirrels and business ethics of the twelfth century, but I was distracted by a magical well...
Yes, that is a magical fairy well that will grant you a wish for every penny you throw in. Why the hell else would there be an ancient wooden well on a hill in the middle of a mystical forest if not to make all of my wildest monetary dreams come true? Unfortunately, I didn't have a penny, so my dreams were squashed...

Next we saw the gates of hell a lead mine..!
Equipped with hard hats and really huge rubber boots, we entered the abyss. Unfortunately, there is no light underground because, apparently, the sun cannot penetrate fifty feet of sandstone and lead ore. There are no pictures that chronicle the next part of the adventure, but, I can assure you, it's all true...

So, upon entering Satan's vestibule, we were greeted by the most horrible of demons, who shuffled us through a crack in the earth to the first level of hell. After fighting off demons, monsters, scary fires, and a giant cyborg version of Ronald Reagan, we reached the innermost 7th circle. Here we met Virgil and Dante who told us that they've been hanging out down here for the past few centuries throwing tomatoes at Satan, Judas, and Brutus. They asked us if their book had been published, and while the rest of the Americans wondered what the hell they were talking about, I assured Dante that his epic was a huge hit in literary circles and with power metal bands. He seemed to be overcome with joy. Then, we returned to the surface...

What? I swear, it really happened...

Anyways, we resurfaced, and while the tour guide went on about daily life as a miner and the lead industry's decline since the advent of plastics, I walked around and took some more pictures...
Ooohhh prettyful...

The tour was then complete, and we returned to Newcastle, having concluded yet another blogworthy adventure..:-)

-Matt

Late night excursions...

Last night, everybody was hanging out in Eugen's room as per usual. While Mark was getting really into a game of phone Tetris...
The rest of us were playing a twelve year old computer RPG called Heroes of Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven...
Look at that sweet 3D Dungeon's and Dragons action. Notice the fourteen pixels that make up the explorable world map and the fixed expressions of your companions with sleek 90s haircuts. This game went all out, and it delivered...

At about 3 AM, we decided to embark on our own sacred quest to the 24 hour Tesco's. This journey would bring us clear across the city, braving uphill streets, high winds, and earthquakes. In other words, we walked to Quayside, crossed the Millennium Bridge, then walked two blocks. In our Lord of the Rings style quest, I played the role of scribe. Here are my recordings of the adventure...
When we arrived in Mordor Tesco's, we were confronted by hordes of putrid, disgusting, evil Orcs Tesco's employees, all of which gave us "the eye" and hovered around expecting us to rob them. We quickly realized this, got all of our stuff, and hurried the hell out of there...
Mission accomplished..:-)

-Matt

Pictures from the last few days, the B-sides...

I have some pictures from the last few days. I was unable to incorporate these into the last entry, but they deserved to be posted...
Also, Eugen and Zoe are now together...
Awwwww...

-Matt

Emotional Rollercoaster...

I was finally able to sleep last night, a full twelve hours of being unconscious has given me the energy to upload all of my pictures, photoshop them, and now post a blog entry. Now then, where do I begin..?

I don't want to get into the nitty gritty details of the eight hour conversation with HBoO that happened from 1 AM to 9 AM Thursday night/Friday morning, the subsequent five hours of lying in the fetal position hugging a pillow, or the follow up conversation that happened Friday afternoon that left me in the same state. Let's move on to something happier. How about Mark Ross' birthday party..?

It started out innocently enough, rearranging Eugen's room, allowing it to fit as many as twenty people at a time. Some people drank, others didn't, but we were all together for about fourteen hours. Thrice we left the room to venture out into the city. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera on these adventures..:-(

Throughout the course of the night, Mark went a little overboard. Basically, he went from this:
To this:
He was having a really good time, though. Our first excursion to the Quayside was the highlight of the evening. Mostly because of this:


When he didn't get up for a few seconds, we got a little worried. He only suffered a few cuts and bruises, easily mended by a few band-aids and some disinfectant. By 10 AM Saturday morning, we were all really wired and smoking hookah. We laid down for a bit and napped for a couple of hours. Afterwards, we made some food and sat around talking about the previous evening's events, one of the best nights we've all had since Uni began. At about 1 AM, I went to bed and slept twelve hours, physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. I woke up today feeling much better, hopefully it'll last..:-)

-Matt

Welcome to the world's most magnificent cathedral, no photos allowed...

Today was another Wednesday field trip, this time to Durham Cathedral. The only thing that I have to say about this place is.."Wow". Walking into this place and looking in any direction creates an intense feeling of awe and wonder. You think to yourself, "Hundreds of men spent forty years of their lives constructing this masterpiece, and I've only eaten a sandwich today..."

In the full throws of my first impression, I instinctively reached for my camera, with visions of blog entries dancing in my head. Then I noticed dozens of rectangular signs. "No photography!" "Please don't take a single picture!" "Big Big Brother is watching you!" I sighed the saddest sigh of my life, then put the camera back in my pocket...

The group was then approached by a tour guide. Shit! Then she began to speak, and it reminded me of my grandmother. This wasn't like the last time, she sat us down and let us gape and trail off if we wanted to while she told stories of yesteryear and days past inside the cathedral. Particularly amusing was her strange historical obsessions with the 1000 year old resident historian, Beada. I also learned that she was half deaf, so if I positioned myself correctly so that she wouldn't hear the snapshot...

Secret agent Matt prevails again! The first three are filming locations for the Harry Potter films, while the third is a library dating back to the 15th century, its original collection still sitting on the cases. These are just a few of the many wonders encased in this building. I really wish I could have taken a few in the main room, but alas, my secret agent skills are not quite up to par. When we left, I made the dangerous decision of falling behind to take more pictures because, despite what the clergy say, I will provide my reader(s) with photographic evidence of my exploits! Take that!
And that!
And some of this! Just for good measure...
Oops! Aimed the camera the wrong way...

After we left Durham, we stopped to see "The Angel of the North", a big rusted metal angel in the middle of nowhere...
I've asked around, apparently everybody living in northern England thinks it's disgusting. I tried to listen to my professor as he talked about how it represents the industrialization of England and a united future under capitalism, but I was more interested in staring at the pretty sky...
Oooohhh pretty..:-)

On a final note, thanks a whole bunch mom, dad, Michelle, and Katie for the best overseas package..EVAR!!!
-Matt

My journey to Norfolk, a culinary adventure...

Last Thursday, I woke up at 3:30 PM. As I groggily collapsed from my bed to my floor and slowly shuffled over to my computer screen, the realization that my train would arrive in less than an hour hit me like a freight train. My eyes opened wide, blood pumped through my veins, adrenaline rushed through me giving me an instant burst of energy. I grabbed my suitcase, threw it open, and blindly tossed a handful of clothes into its depths. I raced over to my computer, turning it off and ripping out the plugs in mere seconds. By 3:35, I was ready to go. Then, I breathed. What was that smell?

After spelunking into my bag for some deodorant, I brushed my teeth and was on my way. I arrived at the train station at 4:08 PM, my train was to leave at 4:26. A glance at the ticket queue brought me to the self-service machine. Then, I was on the train. Mental note: Preparation for a five day trip only takes half an hour...

When I arrived at Jaime's house, I learned that my guitar had not arrived, and that we couldn't go to London this weekend because Jaime had to work. I'd like to thank the U.S. Airforce for both delivering my precious items in a timely fashion and allowing their hardworking employees time to spend with their families. You're doing a stand-up job...*thumbs up*

With less time gallivanting across London, Jaime and I focused on feeding ourselves instead...
I think it's safe to say that this was the most delicious and nutritious journey..ever..:-)

In other news, Jaime's dog Romeo still looks exactly like HBoO's dog Hickory...
So, overall, the weekend was pretty cool. I got to meet Jaime's crazy neighbors who are really cool. They gave me some stuff and took me out to the pub for dinner one night, really nice of them. During my epic return home, a nuclear bomb exploded pretty close to Peterborough train station...
Luckily, neither I nor my camera were vaporized in the blast. The explosion did only leave me and one other survivor, though...
Surprisingly, there was no structural damage. Good thing, too, because just a few minutes later my train arrived as scheduled and took me back to Newcastle, where I was able to write this blog entry..:-)

-Matt

Career Musings...

I'm getting really excited about the prospect of studying and doing photography as a profession. In a fit of heated passion relative boredom, I collected all of my favorite photographs and put them on a Flickr account...

However, if you are like me and are far too lazy to click on the above link and scroll through pictures, clicking on them individually, all of the pictures that I uploaded can be seen via thumbnail at the bottom left of this page under the title "Stüff". This replaced what was previously placed under "Stüff", an assortment of Facebook photos, none of which were taken by me...

My next entry will be written tomorrow night, an epic chronicle of my journey to the south of England to visit my cousin for the weekend and my return thence. Until tomorrow night..:-)

-Matt

Shortlived adventures at Hexham Abbey...

50TH ENTRY!!!!!!!

I feel so behind in entries, this happened two days ago and I'm only writing about it now. Oh well, better late than never...

Wednesday was another field trip day, this time to Hexham Abbey. On the way there, I listened intently held my tongue while one of the girls told the heart wrenching tale of the death of her laptop...

"OMG! This past Saturday, I was soooooo drunk and spilled wine on my laptop, totally frying it! I know, can you believe it? So I like called my parents and they were like, 'OMG where have you been?' and I was like, "OMG mom and dad, chill out, my laptop broke and I need a new one!' and then they were like, 'Well, why don't you try to fix it before we buy you a new one?' and I was like, 'Okay, fine.' So I called up all of these places and, like, none of the places I called had their own shop, they all did house calls. I was like, 'Umm..no thanks, you don't even have a shop.' What? I don't want to get raped or something, who knows what these people working out of their house will do to me? So, like, I finally just chose one of the places and was like, I'll meet you someplace other than my house. Then I hung up the phone and realized that I didn't want to go alone somewhere to meet some guy who was probably going to rape me, so I like just didn't go. He tried calling me like all Sunday and it used all my minutes! I know, it was like..soooo creepy. Anyways, my parents said that they were like gonna buy me a new one, so it doesn't matter."

Then, as I was tying the noose around my neck, we arrived at the abbey. Before entering, we met our tour guide. I don't like tour guides. They move you around from place to place really quickly and enjoy explaining, at length, the significance of the things that are very standoutish. When the tour was done, we left immediately. This was very disappointing, because I had no time to wander and linger and take pictures of random little things. The result was a small number of hastily taken photos of the inside of the abbey.
I only wish I had more time to take pictures of the crypt down below and/or all of the different artifacts that were scattered throughout the abbey. Oh well, maybe I'll go back at some point..:-)

I'll be at my cousin's until Monday, but she has to work, so no London this weekend..:-/

Expect lots of food pictures (she makes amazing stuff), house pictures, maybe some outside stuff too if I decide to go for long photographic walks. I guess what I'm saying is..expect blog entries..:-)

-Matt

Exploring the English jazz scene...

One of my goals for studying abroad is/was to explore the local music scenes of the places I visit. It has taken ages for my guitar and amp to arrive from home, but tomorrow I'll be heading to my cousin's house to pick it up. While there, her and I will explore London for a couple of days. A big entry with lots of pictures will surely be found come Monday night upon my return...

If only my guitar could have arrived a few days sooner, though, I'd have had the opportunity to jam with some of the best musicians that I have ever seen. Last night, I was hanging out with my friends when a new kid arrived, Rob. Rob is Flower's friend and he was here to sit in at a jazz show at a pub about a mile away. The rest of us had nothing to do, so we decided to go and watch. The pub was exactly how I pictured it would be, old and run down. There's nothing that screams jazz gig like 1960's decor, stale beer, and chipped paint. We all piled upstairs into the gig room, which was about fifteen wooden chairs and a small stage in the corner. A surprisingly large crowd had gathered (about 40 people), so I knew these guys were going to be good.
After waiting a few minutes, the band took the stage. I forget their names and what the band was called, but as soon as they had tuned, the audience was treated to two hours of non-stop jazzy awesomeness. The entire set was original, in styles ranged from standard-like ballads to avant-garde free jamming. All of the musicians were professionally competent and expressed some really interesting and original ideas. I was fully captivated for the entire show...
I was able to take a short video of the band performing one of their funkier jam tracks. This was most of one of the keyboard solos. Each song ran an average of about twelve minutes, so I was unable to film any songs in their entirety. Still, this shows the vibe given off by the band...

When the set was over, there was a short break before the stage was open to guest musicians. Rob performed on piano with another guy comping on a fretless bass. The two jammed with a new drummer for a while before the saxophonist joined in and everybody flowed into a standard that they all knew. It was brilliant to watch. A while later, we were all back at the dorms. The experience made me realize just how much I miss my guitar. When I return on Monday, I'm going to seek out venues in Newcastle so that I can start playing open mic nights and, after a few weeks, I'll be back at where I was jazzwise and I'll be able to play shows like the one I witnessed last night. Look forward to a lot of entries about Newcastle music venues in coming weeks..:-)

-Matt