Cold and windy
Cold and windy! That's what I felt when the first time came to York. This is because York is located near the beach, in the north of UK. When the wind blows..wusss, you will feel it is like a wind-storm in Taiwan (read: typhoon). The wind and cold weather are two couples that fit each other. It makes me feel not comfort sometimes. I do not like it either since I need to wear many clothes and thick jacket. Imagine if the rain is coming. You cannot use any umbrellas with you because the wind blows strongly. It can damage your umbrella and even make it fly away go with the wind. So, you need to prepare a cover (it is like a cap, from a wool) to protect your head from rain and make your head warm.
Binge Drinking
Binge drinking is the habit of drinking beer. Most youngsters in UK like to do it. They will buy cheap beer and get drunk with their friends. Most are done in bar or pub. Lately, the government made a rule to anyone who wants to buy alcohol, they need to show their ID card. To whom whose age under 16, they are not allowed to buy alcohol. This rule seems good to manage the bad habit of drinking alcohol or getting drunk. I think this is the time to change the habit of binge drinking among youngsters. Binge drinking is actually not good for health. Besides, it can make laziness among youngsters. What I have seen here is that UK has no future because most youngsters are lazy. Most workers in UK are old people now. I do not know where the youngsters are hiding now. The industry in UK also is not as advance as other European country such as German. So poor..
Autumn in UK
Before:
After:
The leaves are falling down to the earth. The trees have no leaves nor flowers. They look bold now, but looks unique.
Guilt free shopping
Have you ever (never?) felt guilt free when you are shopping? Or perhaps you have watched one of TV show called 'Shop til drop'? I know cz you are shop-alcholic..
Daffodil
When spring is coming, a lot of daffodils are blooming. A thousand flowers bloom, including my heart..D.
I will be very happy if there is someone giving me a bunch of flower and say 'I love you'. So sweet.. haha..It is just my imagination. Oh no, how pity I am..
Sandwich
British people like to eat sandwich. Breakfast or lunch is sandwich. They will eat rice when it is dinner. But, they eat rice seldom, unlike Indonesian people, who eat rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Although Indonesian people have stayed many years abroad (like me), they still cannot change their habits of eating rice..hehe
It's old York
New York is in United States. Old York is in United Kingdom. Most buildings here are too old. They look unique. You will feel that you were living in few decades ago since every time you see around, you just find ancient buildings.
Not all British are tall
I found that not all British are tall. Some of them are short, like me (happy..hehe). But, their faces are not similar with me, of course (sad..hikss)..
Cheese
I have just found there are a lot of kind of cheese and colours when I was walking around the city. There was a weekend market last time. There were a lot of foods sold last time, including many kinds of cheese.
Snow
I know it is snow, finally. It is soft, white, and of course cold. It is beautiful when it is falling down, especially when the first time it is falling down to the earth. You open the window and finally you found the snow is falling. Woww, it is so cool..!
The first time I saw the snow was in last winter. Actually, it was surprising because actually, it is not falling during the winter in York. It is falling in Spring, around March, people says. But, all UK was covered by snow last winter. It was the heavy snow in last decades..
By the way, there are kinds of snow actually.
This is not snow. It is ice. It is not soft like snow. It is often falling before snow.
Duck is the mascot
What makes York different from other cities in UK? Duck.
If you visit my university, The University of York, you will find ducks everywhere. Yes, duck is the mascot of my lovely university. The duck with the green colour in his head is the mascot. The picture is put in the student's card, including in university brochures.
There are a lof of kinds of ducks (and also birds) you can find here. They are beautiful and sometimes make me jealous because they like to play in the water while I am feeling cold, even it is in winter. Huhhh..
They are very beautiful, but sometimes make me and my friend does not feel comfort because of their 'dunk'..hehe..
"It makes me hate to walk on the grass or this pavement", said my friend every time we pass the street. She needs to hold her trousers to get rid of the dirty 'dunk'.
Every afternoon they will fly to find some food in another place. They will fly in group with V formation, which one of them will lead the mission (leader). If they will find a suitable place fit with what they need, they will stop and try to search the food for their lives, of course.
Don't ever steal or kill any ducks in York, especially in university because it is protected under the law (unwritten). There is a true story about it happened few years ago. One day, a team of security found a dead-duck found lying on the ground. Then, they tried to do some identification like CIA to find out who the killer was. Finally, they knew and got the killer who was identified as a man-Chinese-student. Since a duck is a mascot of the university, finally, the student should leave the university. He was kicked-out just because he killed a very valuable bird in this university. I think a duck is a kind of history of the university. If you come to visit The University of York, you will find a lot of ducks swimming in the lake or playing around the schools as if they wanted to join us studying or doing some research..D. No one can disturb the ducks. Even if the ducks disturb the students by shouting out loudly with their friends or coming into the classroom (perhaps) or passing out their 'dunk'.
Do you think it is fair if the ducks disturb you and you cannot disturb the ducks, even just a little? I do not know the answer. But actually, the ducks make another colour of our university different from others in UK.
House in UK
If you come to visit UK, you may wonder about the house building here. It is different, of course, from Indonesia or Taiwan. The house looks small but nice. You know why? This is because of the weather, especially in winter. In order to make the house warmer inside, people design it with short even though most British people are tall. You will find that every house does not have the gate. And if you look the house, you can see what furniture they have inside. This is because of the transparent-window made from mirror. It is like 'aquarium'. The style of the house is like Holland's.
I'm back
After going to a long journey and hiding myself from all you guys, now I am coming back to visit my 'home' again. Really mz it so much..
Since I moved to UK because of some rational reasons, so I will tell you guys about UK and things that I have experienced here. Hope you are still enjoying my blog and stories..
