Leeds 2009

Today was the first match i've ever seen live. and it is one of the largest games on the rugby league calendar with the winners of the 2 top leagues in the world playing off against each other. The match was held at Elland Road, where Leeds United play their matches. so it was good to see a ground of that size and i might go back shortly to watch some round ball action there.

the match was a good quality one and the atmosphere was intense something that didn't surprise me being at a leeds match from what ive heard about the football club anyway. a few big hits and a couple of brawls were the icing on the cake.

last week one of my classes travelled to Holbeck, a run down community right on the edge of Leeds city centre. it is amazing how fast the transformation from well kept city to litter covered Holbeck takes place. we had to go at a specific time so that our safety was at the least risk, and were told not to carry bags or wear any loud clothing.
I wasn't too keen on going around taking photos of the kind people of Holbeck, so ive grabbed a few photos off the internet to show you what it is like. this place used to be a big industrial area, when 40 years ago a motorway was put right through the middle of the community and it has been on the decline since.
some of the first things you notice are the prostitutes and amazing amount of rubbish everywhere. cheap beer cans mainly. but the place is relatively dead during the day otherwise.

Leeds city council plans to pretty much bulldoze the whole area and start again as they extend the city centre. and after talking to a community worker at a centre there i dont really see any other way to fix this. but then there is the issue of the few locals remaining.

So about a week ago i ran into an old man and was having the usual conversation about why the hell an australian would want to come to Leeds. I still dont have an answer to that question, but i'm enjoying it. the weather cropped up, and it ended in him telling me that Leeds never gets any snow so dont expect any.

the photos in this blog are several days after the 'worst' of it. so that guy was on the money. now it was awesome. i was just walking around in the fresh stuff to make that cool sound. the only downside is that windsor smiths aren't good for dryness or grip when trekking through crystalline water ice. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow)

Uni here is relatively similar to Aus which made things easy these first 2 weeks. what i have noticed is that the assessments are more practical. the worst part is how im going to classes in the start of feb. it doesnt feel right. well im doing four subjects this semester and I'll list them and what i need to do to take up some room yeh.

Sport Sponsorship - design a sponsorship proposal in a group for an event called 'Himalayan expedition 2009'

Event management - plan, promote and run a day of rounders and other things involving teachers & students.

Community Sports Development - this subject will bore the shit out of me. look at 2 underprivileged areas and design models to bring the communities together through local organisations. seeing as i dont know of any organisations around here it will also be a pain in the ass.

Sport & Leisure Events - create a bid for a major sporting event. not decided which event yet but something like the world cup or olympics. the thing Australian govt has just spend 46million on supporting. so, it should be a breeze.

enough of that, i've got a pub crawl today for some dudes birthday i met a couple of days ago.

cheers,

the first week has been good. it isnt actually as cold as i thought it would be and you get used to it pretty quickly. hope everyone is enjoying the 'hottest week in history' back in melbourne / ballarat. i can say id prefer to be here.

so ive managed to get out a few times already. the first few nights were hard as i kept dying from jet lag, but ive picked up the pace lately. been to a few clubs. ones called oceana, some big f-off club in the middle of leeds. while it has different rooms with different themes and tunes, it is pretty much your standard house club with that kind of crowd associated to it, but you get good bottles of beers and cruisers for 80p on a thursday, which is about $1.80. so thats reason enough to keep going there on a thursday for the time being.

been to a couple of indie clubs as well, both were good, one of them was amazing, played goood tunes that arent quite so well known but heaps better to go off to.

went to some pub for a quiz night on sunday, its a weird part of the student culture here that we dont have. a pub full of young people for a quiz on a sunday night. kinda sounds gay but it was actually really laid back and fun.

went to a walkabout pub for australia day. i wasnt sure what to expect there, if it was some cheesy aussie pub or not, but its actually pretty cool. its a pretty big place and we got there at about 5. there isnt a massive aussie population in leeds, but it was good to hear some familiar accents again and there was a nice replay of the lovely 2008 grand final on tv to top the evening off. later on the dance floor was pumpin with some barnes and farnham. dont tell me that isnt what you want.

i think coming here will almost always make you better at drinking beer.
the beers are bigger and in most cases cheaper.
if you're at a pub on a weeknight, a pint of beer is about ₤1-₤2 depending on the brand, and the cans of beer you buy here at shops, (most people buy cans not bottles) are the size of a pint.
so while you're still measuring and timing your drinks in pot size, you're having pints. its real good.

anyway this mightn't make any sense but i cant be bothered fixing it now.
ill add some pictures from the last few days later.

I woke up today and looked out the window... fully overcast. now i'm in England.

here's a couple of pics of the room i'll be using for the next (x) months. got my own en suite which is good. the aussie flag will be up in no time dont you worry. my accomodation is sugarwell court, leeds.

The flights weren't as bad as i imagined, but still are up there alongside one other travel experience (mum) as one of the longest, most boring things i have ever experienced. there were couple of hour periods where it looked like the plane on the map never moved, more so going over china. but in all it was ok, i was fortunate to be seated alongside a couple of good people who were easy to get along with. the thing i saw on the way that stood out most was just after we left Hong Kong, the number of high rises crammed into the space was amazing, dots of dense population in between mountainous areas. so i though that's what 1 billion people looks like.

the sky was suprisingly clear as we came close to london, which gave me a good view of it from the air and i saw a couple of places i knew.

after arriving i had a couple of hours to kill before my connection, so i went about getting used to some of the money, i bought some food and looked around for a bit. after noticing the extent of my stench i went to the cologne section and asked a very, very....kind lady to cover me in the best sample they had.

by this stage i was bloody tired as i hardly slept on the plane. i got on a BA flight to manchester which was delayed for an hour as passengers wong, chong, dong, li, chau, long, (no lie) and their 20 other friends decided to check their luggage in but not make the flight. this had to be removed. needless to say i was pissed as i couldnt stay awake and just wanted to get somewhere to sleep. once we were in the air we got some decent food and drink and by the time id eaten it we were nearly there. the flight only takes about 45 minutes.

after telling wayne rooney where to go, i caught a train out of manchester to leeds. luckily i woke up just before the stop and eventually caught a taxi to my accomodation by about 10.30pm on sunday night uk time.

so after about 35 hours of traveling i had made it. time for a long sleep.

why did i choose to do this?
well i did primarily it to take myself out of my comfort zone, as it is something i don't normally do. I have also wanted to travel here for a while and saw exchange as a good vehicle to use to get here.
hopefully i can use this to get some life experience under my belt and make myself a more open person back in oz.