Newcastle

I haven't written in ten days so I'll briefly go over the highlights of last week. On Saturday Shannon came over for a lovely night of biscuits, brie, crackers and wine. It was great to have a girly night in watching a movie and chatting. Sunday was once again spent at the library and ended with drinks at The Golf Tavern with Aidan, Sam and Emma. I skyped my mother on Monday, something I should probably do more often! On Wednesday I got a bunch of mail that had been going to a neighbouring flat. This was an awesome surprise - I got a letter from my parents, a card from my aunt, a postcard from my friend and my student discount card! My flat (plus friends) of course went to the pub quiz at The Golf Tavern on Wednesday evening. We did better than last week but I didn't contribute much since there was a sports round and a classical music round. Thursday was spent trying to get my statistics assignment finished - just in case you didn't think I was doing any work here!

My flatmates and I (minus one) at the pub quiz 

My friend Aidan is here for this semester on exchange from the US and is keen to travel a lot and so we decided to take an impromptu trip to Newcastle this weekend. 

We left early morning on Friday to catch the train at Waverley Station. The train ride was about an hour and a half and we got to see the sun rise over the coast as we hurtled along the tracks. When we arrived it was still morning so we stopped in at a pub for a full English breakfast. Seeing as this was my first thought upon arriving in London, I'm starting to sense a recurring theme here! This was also our first experience of a Geordie accent. 

Being in England definitely felt different to being in Scotland though I can't exactly explain why. It was interesting to see how things have changed since I moved to Canada 10 years ago. Even though I've obviously been back many times to visit, there are still new things I notice every time. The thing that made me think about this was seeing a man on the news who I used to watch on News Round when I was younger. It was cool to think that in the last 10 year his career had progressed and he was now on the proper news!

After the pub we went to find our hostel which was incredibly close to both the train station and the city centre. It was called The Albatross and it was really nice. I had never stayed in a hostel before and this was much nicer than I had expected it to be. We stayed in a four person mixed bedroom with two bunk beds. There was one other person staying in the room who we deduced was a business man because he was out during the day and had a suit. 

We wandered around the city getting a feel for the place and did some shopping. People we talked to about Newcastle said one of two things - either they said it was great for shopping or that it was great for a night out. I was really cold and hadn't remembered to bring my rain coat so we did some emergency coat shopping. We went in a really cute indoor market called Grainger Market where they had butcher's stalls, fish mongers, books, sweets (candy) and pastries. For lunch we discovered an amazing restaurant called Lau's 202 Buffet House which had a huge buffet of Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Italian food. The Chicken Tikka, Chicken Korma, Samosas and sushi were absolutely delicious. 

In the evening we had tickets to see some stand up comedy at a club called The Stand. There were four acts, all were incredibly funny and I really enjoyed myself. Afterwards we went for a drink at a nearby pub. Perhaps on another weekend we would have gone clubbing, maybe if there were more of us. Wandering around the city centre at night was definitely interesting to say the least. There were crowds of drunk people almost getting hit by cars, getting into fights and stumbling around. I could see why Newcastle is known for its nightlife! Some of the clubs did look really cool though and maybe I will have to check it out another time. 

The next day we got up early and checked out of the hostel and took our backpacks around town once more. We walked to the Millenium Bridge and went to the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. The art definitely went a little over my head but it was fun anyway to walk around and look at what was on display. It was raining then so we had hot drinks and lunch at an Italian restaurant and ended up going to see Runner Runner at the movie theatre. It was nice to end the weekend this way as we had been walking a lot and carrying our backpacks all day. 

I spent all day today writing my essay due tomorrow for Scottish Literature. It is all finished now and is sitting printed and stapled ready for me to submit it tomorrow. My flatmates Puck and Amelia hosted a Mexican themed party for us and some friends tonight. They made us fajitas, nachos and mojitos all of which were very good, played Latino music and decorated the kitchen with colourful bunting and pictures. It was a great break from working on the essay and I enjoyed catching up with everyone.