Comic Relief

Hey everyone! So I just got back from a great trip to Ireland! We stayed at a hostel in Belfast, which ended up being a much quieter, smaller place than it was made out to be, but still nice. So on Friday we just walked around and saw some sights. Then on Saturday we went to Dublin. Where we did a really good free walking tour which told us all about the history of Dublin, plus we saw pretty much all the main sites! We then took a tour of the Guinness factory (where we tasted fresh Guinness, straight from the brewery...if you say you don't like Guinness you would if you tried it fresh), then headed back to Belfast. Then on Sunday we took a tour of Northern Ireland where our main destination was the Giant's Causeway. It was beautiful with the typical Irish cliffs and the roaring sea. On the drive there we saw wonderful landscape with sheep dotting the hills every where you looked. Beautiful...no other way to describe it.

Anyways, when I returned I was quite tired since I hadn't gotten much sleep all weekend with many early mornings, so I decided to watch a little television, and ended up watching all these shows on Comic Relief. Let me explain what this is very briefly, because I found it very intriguing. This is the brief description from the website (www.comicrelief.com)

"Since 1985, Comic Relief has inspired the nation to have a laugh while raising cash to help change lives. Our vision is a just world, free from poverty.

Our mission, thanks to our comedy heritage and the fantastic relationship we enjoy with the BBC, is 'positive change through the power of entertainment'.

And our biggest tool, in trying to achieve these two goals, is the ability to inspire people across the whole country especially those who don’t normally do charity - to do charity."

So while this is an organization, there is one day that is chosen to be "Red Nose Day", where everyone in the nation is encouraged to do something 'funny for money'. So for the past few weeks, but mainly this past weekend, there have been people doing funny things for money. For example, there was a show on TV called "Lets Dance for Comic Relief" where celebrities around the UK danced their versions of famous dances to help raise money. Another example (though not very funny at all), is 9 UK celebrities got together and decided to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in order to raise one million pounds for mosquito nets in Africa (they ended up raising close to 3 million). HOW COOL IS THAT?! Just this year they've almost raised 60 million pounds!! Anyways, I couldn't stop watching this event! I was amazed that a whole nation comes together (particularly on one day) to raise money, learn about the world and be entertained! See for yourself, here are a few videos I found.

http://www.rednoseday.com/about_rnd
(video on what red nose day is)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_huKc-z0BU
(a short skit done by English footballers and a tv show character for entertainment on RND)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VULq7oRugiU&NR=1
(a news clip on the celebrities who climbed Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief)

Small Rant

So I am taking an on-line class on Environmental Sustainability. The topics are really interesting, including topics on air, water and land. The course includes writings on how the developed world is effecting the developing world and what some of the issues are with our earth's resources. How conflict occurs over water, how land has been overtaken by agriculture, and how biotechnology is a potential way to help improve our situation. So as you can see there are some interesting topics, ones that are especially relevant to us today.

However, what I am disliking about this class is all of the reading that must be done on-line. I feel like this is a topic that should be discussed. I feel it requires more interaction. I think many would agree. Another interesting thing, is an article my mom sent me the other day about education in the UK and how emphasis on outside classroom work (mainly on-line) is potentially beneficial for students and their learning. However, from my experience so far with on-line classes I find I have less motivation to learn more than what is given to me on-line. I find myself being so bored with reading the on-line material, that no matter how interesting the topic, I lose interest.

I may be old-fashioned (interesting I know since I grew up in the technology generation), but I like contact with the outside world. I like to have interesting conversations with people about topics in order to improve my learning. I like to be hands on, to see the world, see what's going on for real versus reading it all on the web. I think the web is a good starting point, but it is not a means to an end. There is so much more out there to see and experience!

I was watching a show on the BBC the other day discussing my generations use of facebook and how it has actually created social problems for my generation. That people my age depend on it so much that they have lost the social skills of past generations. Some main factors for this are that people can change who they are on facebook for however they want to appear, their language changes (aka jk, lol, awk., most def., whatev...you see my point), and they speak more on-line than going out and practicing socializing face to face with another breathing human being.

I of course say this as I type on my on-line blog, and just got off facebook because I needed a break from my course work. But then, I am a prime example of what I feel is a problem with technology. I am a firm believer that our generation (and future generations) need to remember to get off-line more often. We need to use what the internet was created for in the first place, a place to find information/research and communicate. And I mean this in the most basic sense. I don't mean research as in only find your information from the web or communicate for 5 hours a day (you know what I mean, checking your e-mail every 5 minutes, talking on chat services, checking your facebook account all the time), I mean use the internet then GET OFF and go get a life!

I myself need to work on this. I find myself on-line when I'm bored all of the time. My friend Diana and I were talking about this the other day. We were discussing how we get so caught up with what is on-line that we missed out on what was a gorgeous day. We were lamenting that we hadn't gone for a long walk, a jog, sat outside and read a book or visited a nearby park. I don't know how to solve this dilemma and I am by no means suggesting that the internet is evil, in fact it is a very useful and potentially a salvation for some of our environmental problems of today. All I am saying is we all need to take a look as to how much we use it a day, and why in the world we aren't taking more advantage of the wide world we have in front of us!

Wow...March already?!

Hey all! I know it has been a while (maybe too long)...but things have just been so crazy here! Since the last time I posted I have completed and turned in two 1000 word philosophy essays, had a visitor from North Carolina, been planning my whirl-wind tour of Europe in a few weeks and traveled to Newcastle, London and Manchester!

First things first, the philosophy essays. At first I thought, 1000 words no big deal. And philosophy no problem because the topics are interesting (one was on the existence of God and the other on whether others have minds) and I just need to write about what I think. WRONG! 1000 words was actually quite hard to write, mainly because I wanted to write more than that and you get counted off if you have more than 1000 words! Second, I had to do a lot more research than I had expected because while I can talk about the topics, and my own thoughts, I had to write an argument as to why my thoughts were right and use historical context to do so. I'm sure many of you are thinking, duh! But it has been such a long time since I have written an essay that I have forgotten what it takes. But I think they turned out alright, they are both 50% of my grade anyways.

Also, my friend Catherine just came to visit me for a week for her spring break all the way from North Carolina! She just left on Sunday, and it was sad to see her go but it was also really nice to have someone from home here with me. When I picked her up from the airport we went straight to London where we stayed for about 2 1/2 days. A condensed list of what we did there includes:

1. Touring the Shakespeare Globe Theater
2. Tate Modern
3. the National Gallery
4. Watching the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace
5. taking it easy in a book market
6. Trafalgar Square

And well you get the idea. We then headed back to Leeds where I showed Catherine what students here in Leeds do, and what life is like. She also had the chance to meet and hang out with my flat mates, as well as some of my other friends here at Leeds. We then went to Manchester for the day to see some of those sites, including the Fashion Market (right up our alley), a cathedral, the Lowry (which had interesting art exhibits) and the best of all we got to see an exhibit with 10 drawings from Leonardo da Vinci! Which was very interesting since I have learned about him all throughout my school days and have even based a project or two on his sketches and ideas.

I am now getting ready for my next big trips! First I am off to Belfast, Ireland this weekend with a group of 6 others. We will also be heading down to Dublin for a day to experience the St. Patty's day festivities, which I hope will not disappoint, even though we won't be there for the actual day of St. Patrick's.

The next weekend I begin my tour of Europe with some friends I have met in Leeds. A break down of the trip goes like this:
1. Barcelona, Spain
2. Italy (Rome and then up north to Venice and such)
3. Nice, France
4. Geneva, Switzerland
5. Vienna, Austria
6. Prague, Czech Republic
7. Berlin, Germany
8. Amsterdam, The Netherlands

So yeah, its a lot but I'm going with great people and will be seeing wonderful places! That is for the most part what has been going on here, in a very shortened version. But life has just been great, the weather has been warming up. I feel more at "home" in England and am looking forward to the next few weeks! Hope all is well for everyone else, I am now headed to go see "Flashdance" at the Leeds Grand Theater (students get GREAT discounts), where I actually just went last week to watch "Swan Lake: the Ballet". Will be in touch!