Danny's UK Extravaganza

Field Course

2009-07-08T23:34:00.013+01:00

The exams were taken, results returned, and classes passed. All that was left for my English education was two weeks of sea, lab, and fun in Falmouth,England (Cornwall).

So here I am with one day left in the course and its been a really fun and intense time. All second year oceanography students are required to attend so it was a great way to end my time in England with all the people I've had class with the last semester. We've spent our time on boats, in labs, on computers analyzing figures and creating charts, creating scans of the seafloor, and in the pub toasting to our mutual exhaustion. I also had the honour of representing America on it's birthday in the presence of Redcoat royalists by playing cider pong in the quad to forced chants of USA (definite highlight). Ive been too busy to get sentimental about the ending of my time abroad, but I think I'm going to miss this island. I realized Ive lived in the UK as long as Ive lived in North Carolina (2.5 years) making it tied for the second longest Ive lived in a place behind Virginia (6 years), but thats something to think about some other time back in the states. Here's some pics...

DRUIDS

2009-06-23T19:56:00.008+01:00

Upon returning to Southampton came the task of convincing people to join me for what sounded like the best idea ever, celebrating the summer solstice at stonehenge with what would end up to be 36000 people including several druids in robes. We took the train to Sailisbury and from there a bus to the stones. We arrived at sunset and got our first glimpse of the back lit stones as we reached the top of the hill. The sight was pretty remarkable and we knew that it would definately be a memorable night. By the looks of the crowd one might think that they had held tryouts for solstice participants because Englands finest had shown up. There were Druids in Robes, burnt out hippies with bongos, people from all corners of the globe, English uni students, and of course raving "pikeys." There was a surprisingly large police presence for what seemed like a peaceful crowd. Going back to my earlier cctv posts, UK policeman really scare me. Even worse I feel like no one else is that bothered by them. When we entered there were policeman at the checkpoint with video cameras filming and taking pactures of everyone who entered. Throughout the night into the morning there were also small remote control planes that flew overhead with cameras on the bottom monitoring one of the least rambunctious crowds.
The epiceter of all the activity in the park was obviously inside the circle of stones, but we decided to first chill out on some of the burial mounds that surround the site. Thats right, burial mounds. There we met some really funny and cool people from all over. Eventually we mustered the courage to enter the circle which we were told was like a mosh pit at a concert, and it lived up to its reputation. Inside were people yelling, banging on drums, playing trombones, crowd surfing off of smaller rocks, and druids feeling rocks with their eyes closed. Definitely one of the best scenes these eyes have ever witnessed. Earlier in the day me and Gordon had decided that stonehenge would be a hilarious spot for a rock video, you know with someone playing a heavily distorted solo on top of one of the rocks. Fortunate for us, we got to do the next best thing: air guitar on one of the smaller rocks. Unfortunately the fluid mass of people on all sides of the rock as well as on top of the rock eventually had their way and I was unintentionally knocked off the rock. Thanks to a stranger though I was eased down and landed uneventfully.
After making our way out of the rocks I met up with Kate a friend of Jamie's that stayed with us in Wilmington and who let us stay with her when we visited Cardiff. We met her friends and had a good time with them meeting the ridiculous characters that were abound. By this time the sky was getting lighter and the big moment of the sunrise was approaching. People were cheering, dancing and shooting off Chinese fireworks. Suddenly there it was, a small orange glow on the horizon, this was bound to be epic. However, in true English fashion, the sky was overcast and the sky simply went from dark to light pretty anticlimactically. The crowd began to disperse and we said our goodbyes to Kate and the stones and headed back towards the bus. Everyone was in good spirits and had a little druid in them. We made it back home without letting the sleepiness overtake us and enjoyed an epic amount of sleep. A summer solstice success.

*I unfortunately brought my camera on low batteries and only got a few shots off before it began repeatedly dying. There will be better pics on the way once Mindy uploads her pics.

The Dub

2009-06-23T19:20:00.020+01:00

Buds from the Dub reunited in Dublin Ireland. I arrived in Dublin at an unholy hour but fortunately Trevor and Jeanne were there waiting for me making it a tired trio. We checked into our hostel which was the Kinlay House, a classy building next to a cathedral and near the major Dub sites. We walked around for awhile the first day but were too tired to do much so we went back to the room to take a nap. During his time our roommates in our 6 person bunk room came in, two suspicious looking French guys. Me and Trevor were not happy. After our nap we decided it was time to get a better feel of the twon, or better yet, a taste of the town. Me and Trevor went to what would become our home for the week, a kebab shop called Momo's. We ended up eating dinner there everynight except for one, when we mistakenly thought that a place named AbraKEBABra might be better. Everytime we ate there the crowd usually consisted of the kebab maker, me and Trevor, four Turkish men in the back wearing suits, and two spinning chunks of meat. The men with suits brought back memories of Turkey for me and I began regretting not bringing my suit to Dublin. Enough about kebabs.
The first night we went down to the pub next to our hostel and got our first pint of Guinness and watched the USA play Italy in futbal. It wasn't pretty. We went back to our hostel and were hanging out in the common area when the French guys were spotted. Not them again. We were preparing for some glares when they walked over with large grins on their face and asked what we were doing that night, so beginning our broken English friendship. We ended up loving these guys, going out with them every night, and even befriending them on facebook.
Dublin felt like a small city to me, with most of its sites located near each other in the centre of the city. We walked good portions of it each day seeing the major sites such as their ridiculously large spire, the Guinness factory, famine statues, Phoenix park, Trinity college, James Joyce, the International Street performers Championship (where we held up a performer named "Alakazaam" in our red ponchos), and more kebab shops.
While we were in town we had the chance to celebrate Bloomsday, a celebration for their favorite author, James Joyce. Unfortunately this meant literally tens of people were out celebrating, but that didn't stop us from going to his statue and also the James Joyce centre.
The highlight of the week for all of us was probably our afternoon spent in Phoenix Park. The park itself is twice the size of central park, has 500 free range deer, the presidents home, the US ambassadors residence, and a zoo. We rented bikes when we got there and had a really good afternoon biking all over it and lounging in the grass underneath a giant cross that was erected in the centre of it. It was great being on a bike again, although my breathlessness at the top of hills brought anxiety as I realized in a few weeks I would be biking 420 miles across Iowa.
My final night in Dublin was also really nice as it started at first started at Momo's before moving on to reggae night at a pub called the Turk's Head. We went with our French friends and enjoyed some music that seemed really out of place in Dublin, bu everyone was really into it. On top of that, when we entered two girls with Budweiser shirts approached us and asked if we would like a free pint of Bud on them. We all reluctantly agreed.
Dublin was a really enjoyable town, and was an interesting oppurtunity to learn more about Irish history. I really had never heard much about "The Troubles," Sein Fein and Northern Ireland before and I was really fascinated with how this seemingly normal European country had such a history of religious conflict that still permeates today. As the street performer "Mr Toots" said, "Im going to need you guys to work together on this one, but the Irish aren't known for that are they?"
I once again flew back to England at a painful hour in the morning which left me with several hours on my hand before my bus back to Southampton. I took advantage of this by walking from the station to Buckinham palace and taking a big nap in a park next to it. A nice little journey I would say.

Lazy Updates

2009-06-23T19:01:00.015+01:00

The past few weeks have been busy in their own special ways whether it be from those pesky things called exams or the traveling that has occurred with my regained freedom. Exams carry a large weight over here with one of my exams covering 80% of one course's marks. They were pretty stressful but I feel pretty confident about them and I should find out my results soon. The week after exams was pretty fun as everyone else slowly finished theirs until it got to the point of having an entire dorm with no more coursework or responsibilities. Hilarity ensued. Chamberlain halls had a final party with the bar closing down and turned our cafeteria into a dance club. The only problem was no one was that into it and the smoke alarm went off a few times due to the excessive smoke machine use.
Around this time I made plans to get out of Southampton and go see the world. Or actually 75 miles away to London for the weekend to see my buds Jeph and Suzie who were preparing to end their study abroad and fly back to America. They even let me sleep on their classy hotel rooms couch. We saw some sights, hit up some pubs, went to Camden town and Spitalfield market and had a good time. My second night in London was spent at the airport trying (unsuccessfully) to sleep before flying out to Dublin to meat up with Trevor and Jeanne. That comes later though, heres some London pictures.

I love parliament

2009-06-06T16:52:00.001+01:00

Things got heated this week for Gordon Brown during the weekly question time with parliament. My favorite thing about parliament is watching the reactions of the speakers posse behind them. I also enjoy hotshot pretty boy David Cameron trying to position himself as the "change" candidate.

A timeless story

2009-05-31T16:20:00.002+01:00

Keith recently notified me of an apparent ripoff of the film classic "Lazerarm." Turns out hott producer Diplo has been scouting Ivan Christo's youtube account because his new musical venture is title "Major Lazer" and is about a commando who loses an arm to zombies and has it replaced by a lazer cannon. Sounds strangely familiar to me. Heres a clip of a major lazer song.
http://stereogum.com/archives/video/new-major-lazer-video-hold-the-line_071732.html

And heres a lazerarm clip, which ones bettah?

Ivan said hes currently in talks with his lawyer about this apparent plagiarism being passed off as "original" work. If these turn out to be false accusations I guess it just means that this story of a commando overcoming physical setbacks with the aid of lazer limbs is a timeless story that everyone can relate to.

Penquins

2009-05-23T21:07:00.000+01:00

Queenie

2009-05-17T23:51:00.013+01:00

The Queen is not impressed, as seen overhead.
Today is Sunday which provides my favorite meal of the week, the traditional English Sunday roast. I remember from when I was here before the love Brits have for their roasts, and I can see why. Every week we're given a nice large meal that provides a nice oppurtunity for everyone to feast and chat over the latest events. Most people are pretty sentimental when it comes to their roasts and I often get told how its not nearly as good as something their mum would make. Another form of cultural divde as far as eating goes is the use of utensils. Now maybe I'm a bit of a barbarian, but my general philosophy is that the fork is the primary tool for eating, and other utensils are only needed in the uncommon circumstance that the fork can't do the job. (I've been made fun of for eating yogurt with a fork.) This leaves me in the minority here as a knife is included for every food task, no matter how rediculous it might seem to me. I mean using a knife to aid in the eating of peas just seems like overkill, not to mention the dreaded fork knife combo for eating pizza. The other day the cafeteria served pizza and I was shoving it into my face as fast as I could before someone said, "Are you actually eating it like that?" I didn't know what "like that" meant so I asked for a clarification. The reply was "with your hands" and to my horror I realized every single person at our table was eating their pizza in metallic utensil bliss. Disgusting.
Well this is the last week of the semester before exams begin and I've been getting into study mode, or as its called here "revisions." Hopefully I can get over the 50 percent mark in my classes to receive a grade of passing from UNCW. To clarify, the grading scale is rediculous here. Technically someone could score in the 90's but in actuality anything over a 70 is extrememly rare. Silly to me, but I think I'll be able to manage.
I went out taking pictures this weekend to finally get some shots of all of Southampton. Heres some of the oceanography centre, my dorm, the park, and some ducklings who have been hanging out in our dorms pond.

Spring!

2009-05-10T13:45:00.001+01:00

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Wales, Friends, Trains

2009-05-06T23:41:00.000+01:00

This weekend was a threeday bank holiday weekend. The UK has holidays called bank holidays because they can't have real holidays like I don't know the fourth of July or maybe Thanksgiving. To celebrate a weekend of Bank closures I got a train to Swanseas Wales to see Jamie, Will (see Paris) and my friend Jeph. The train ride was pretty fun as it was long and went through some very scenic locations. However, at one point on the ride I fell asleep and when I woke up the train was going in the opposite direction it had been when I was sleeping as I was now facing backwards. This provided a minor panic attack, but I think its because things are a little backwards in Wales. Swansea was really fun and I got to go out to these giant cliffs called the Gower and then had a pleasant late afternoon climbing hills and petting some horses we happened upon. We went out to town that night with some of Jamies flatmates who were all very fun and reminded me of myself freshman year, as in loud and up at obscene hours. The next day we hung low before travelling to Cardiff to stay with Jamies friend Kate. We went out with her friend Meme to a club to see the group Simian Mobile Disco which was really fun. Cardiff was a pretty cool city and I got to explore it for a bit before getting the train back the next day to Southampton. OK thats enough talking, heres a lot of photos from the weekend.

A silly vid I made waiting for the train after I got off at the wrong stop to switch lines.

Trains from Danny Devereaux on Vimeo.

CCTV Revisited

2009-04-29T19:19:00.000+01:00

Over Easter break I thought I saw one of these things while I walked to the shop but it seemed too rediculous so I didnt think to much of it. Then this Monday while walking to local hotspot Jesters with a group of people, one of these mobile cctv vehicles came and parked on the other side of the street while its overhead camera creepily followed us. I couldn't believe how Orwellian it was until I saw up ahead on the street was another one parked. Apparently these vehicles just drive around town all day filming people going about their lives in the name of safety. I asked someone I was with if they thought it was creepy and they replied, "Not really, this is England."

In other news, James' friend Erdem from Turkey made a rap song that was inspired by me and James. I uploaded it on my myspace music page, and although most of the lyrics are in Turkish or in silly English, there is at least a rediculous intro to the song.
Check it at: myspace.com/devereauxbot

Swine

2009-04-26T23:00:00.000+01:00

I've been feeling sick again lately, thinking I have swine flu. Wishing I didn't take part in that greased pig wrasslin match.

Destiny

2009-04-25T12:47:00.000+01:00

I've decided to drop out of school to pursue an apprenticeship in fantasy drawing.

Books

2009-04-24T19:20:00.000+01:00

During break I decided to do some classic reading. I read Walden Pond by Thoreau and Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky. Walden Pond is always recommended by EVS professors as it was one of the first books to touch on major environmental issues. I say, boring. It read exactly how you would expect a book to read when written by someone who isolated themselves for 2.5 years in a shack. Overly contemplative and pretentious I say for a man who spent the vast majority of his life living like everyone else. It provided some nice ideas to ponder, but overall I wasn't very impressed. Crime and Punishment on the other hand I was a big fan of. I had read a lot of Dostoyevsky in philosophy class as well as some other writings since then, but this was my first venture into his novel arena. Not really an easy read, but very rewarding I would say. I read the vast majority of this while I was sick and alone in my room, and in the book the main character often blames his sickness and insanity on his tiny room and limited social interactions. This made me uneasy. Any recommendations for another classic to tackle?

Paris

2009-04-24T15:54:00.000+01:00

Paris was a gay ol' time... literally and figuratively. I left from London by coach which was fun as the bus was full of all kinds of characters. We went to France via the chunnel, and while going through the French customs one passenger hid in the toilet and smoked a cigarette before being briefly detained by the custom kontrol officers. Great start. After 9 hours on the bus, and another hour on the Paris metro I was at my hostel and ready to rock. Unfortunately it took roughly 24 hours to make direct contact with Will Soule who was staying on the other side of town and claimed I gave him the wrong phone number (lies). This gave me plenty of time to explore the city on my own which was cool as I just kind of followed the crowds and saw most of the big sites by foot the first day. Once me and Will met up we did the Louvre, Notre Dame, Arch de Triumph, and other typical Parisian things. We also ate at a KFC, fended of gypsies, ate at McDonalds, spent happy hour at a gay bar, and ate crepes while watching creepy mime street performers. While waiting for Will one morning I also went through a massive Andy Warhol exhibit which was very interesting to see the works of such an innovative dude. The museums were great in Paris because me and Will got in for free by showing our European student cards saving us lots of Euros. During the trip I acquired three poodles, 4 berets, and learned that they aren't actually named Freedom Fries. A great cultural exchange. You can see my paris video further down my blog, and heres some stupid pictures of me at the louvre.

CCTV

2009-04-23T20:42:00.000+01:00

England has the most security cameras per capita. This one is just scary.

Paris pt. 1

2009-04-20T03:12:00.001+01:00

Paris from Danny Devereaux on Vimeo.

Remix to Ignition

2009-04-19T13:49:00.000+01:00

Some Turkey follow up pics. I forgot to mention that me and James went to a Turkish School and became rockstars. We wore our suits of course, which I think tricked the kids into thinking we were American movie stars. We signed autographs for them and wrote things like "Stay in school" "don't do drugs" and "drink your milk." I felt like Hasselhoff. We also ate several times at this little family restaurant in James neighborhood and they would always bring out all their kids and friends when we came over, so theres a picture of us with our Turkish family...and many more!

Bits and Pieces

2009-04-13T18:42:00.000+01:00

I have a very important video I've been meaning to post. This is of Jamie taking part in a cultural activity while in Turkey. Ok actually hes just doing push ups to try to get us to buy him a beer.

And another...

You're welcome

Plans

2009-04-12T23:54:00.000+01:00

This week my plans for the remainder of break were thrown off by some unforseen circumstances. My original plan was to spend the night in London upon arrival in the Uk from Turkey and then go to Spain the next day. I was feeling ill so I decided to pay for the train to Southampton so I could go see my walk-in clinic to see what was up. Unfortunately my arrival in Southampton, with its internet and other modern world accessories, brought some bad news from home. This coupled with the flu I was diagnosed with did not put me in the travel mood so I decided to call off the Spain trip altogether eventhough I lost a good sized investment in plane tickets and woudln't be able to see Ivan again until July. This left me with a few days to physically and mentally rest in my room, although it would have been much better to be with the whole fam in Texas. Thats how things go I suppose.

I'm left with still a week of spring break unfilled so I emailed around to see what my other European travelling friends were doin the rest of the break. Luckily, my buddy Will Soule will be in Paris for the coming week, so whatever, I'm going to Paris. I'm leaving Tuesday morning at 445 am from Southampton. Taking a bus to Paris via Channel Ferry, and arriving Tuesday night at 930. Should be there until Saturday morning, and I'm excited. Spending the week in the city of love with Will Soule. My friends will know why this is funny/disconcerting.

ISTANBUL

2009-04-08T12:42:00.000+01:00

I survived with a flu to show for it. A flu is better than Turkish jail time, so I'll take it. This last week was definately one of the most memorable ones of my life and I really enjoyed almost everything about the city and the country. The people were hospitable, the city and geography was stunning, and the women were babesss.
Istanbul, which lies on a continental divide, has both a European and Asian side. James lives on the Asian side which is generally the poorer and less flashy side because the majority of the tourists stay on the Euro side of the Bosphorus. Lucky for us that meant a lot of attention in his neighborhood, examples being shop owners bringing out their entire families to meet us, or going into a restaurant and getting free tea and speaking to their friends on cell phones solely because we were funny, young Americans. We did a lot of sightseeing during the day which required riding a minibus to the docks followed by a boat trip the European side. These two steps cost about $2 together, and our meals were generally about $3-4. We were able to go in the Blue Mosque as well as the Haghia Sofya, two major sites in the Islamic religion. Even better, we went into the palace where all the Ottoman Empires Sultan's lived and saw containers that held pieces of the Prophet Muhammed's hair, beard, and tooth as well as his sword. Pretty crazy to say the least, I snuck a few photos of these, not the best quality, but very memorable. We aso went to the Grand Bazaar to get suits because we figured it would be fun to see how cheap we could get them, as well as to see how hilarious sightseeing the rest of the week in suits would be. We each got kitted out for about $30.
We also went out to some of the islands that lie off the coast of Istanbul where we rented bikes including a tandem bike, which we figured would give the locals something to laugh about if nothing else. The islands were beautiful and provided a relaxing day away from the buzz of the city.

I want a Turkish wife. Seriously, the women were the most beautiful I've ever seen. It wasn't like being at wrightsville beach and seeing come girl in a bikini and saying "oh shes a babe" because these girls were fully clothed with headscarves sometimea and came across as classy gals. They were polite, friendly, and I was told once you're married they bring you fruit and wash your feet nightly, two things I need to start appreciating more. Seriously, I want a Turkish wife so bad as James and Jamie can attest to. I think after college I maybe return and grab a couple before returning to the states (only half-joking).

So yeah, Istanbul was a success. Turkey is an interesting country with its cultural and religious history as well as its unique geographic location. They may sound the call to prayer five times a day all across the city, but it is unmistakingly a European styled city. The people seem unsure of excactly where they fit into Europe and Asia, but more than anything, they are content with just being unique.

And I'm Off

2009-03-28T11:05:00.000Z

Im certified in sea safety.
Fieldcourse was a success and I am now preparing to depart for a crazy two weeks.

Im about to head to the bus that will take me to London where I'll be sleeping at the airport with Jamie before catching our Istanbul flight tomorrow at 600. On the 7th I'll be flying back to London where the 8th I'm leaving for Valencia and Madrid. Ill be there until the 13th and then probably go back to Southampton.

Thats the extent of my plans... planes and bus rides. I'm excited to fill in the gaps

SB09

2009-03-25T22:45:00.000Z

Spring is here and my spring break is getting into motion. This first week I'm doing a field course in Southampton getting certified in sea safety. Today I practiced driving boats and learned how to pick up men overboard as well as dock and other necessary boat things. Tomorrow morning I'm in the pool inflating life rafts and swimming in close groups to simulate how to survive a boat accident in the southern ocean.
What happens on a life raft in the middle of the ocean stays on the life raft.

Today we learned that the first thing to do on a life raft is pee because pee contains toxins so its good to get those out quick before you start getting dehydrated. I'm going to pee in the raft tomorrow solely for the purpose of survival and hope no one takes offense.

On Sunday, Jamie and I depart for Istanbul for a week. The excitement and nerves are both building. Should be a fun week, but nonetheless it is a muslim country so there are certain concerns with being an american there that go along with that. It's ok though, our president's middle name is Hussein, we should be in there no problem. James has a brought up the possibility of a side trip to cappadocia turkey that involves caves, phallic rock formations, and a possible hot air balloon ride. Sounds too good to miss.

Ok thats all, off to bed, miss everyone and hope spring is suiting everyone well.

UNCW Visitors

2009-03-22T12:21:00.000Z

I survived my birthday. 21 was a pretty good one, the people on my hall made me a cake and even did a USA chant in my honor on the bus on the way out that night. Unfortunately it occured right in the middle of the due dates for my 3 assignments for this term so that made it even more interesting and sleep deprived.

Yesterday, a group of UNCW people came as well as my scholarship donor to see the exchange program first hand and talk to me and some grad students about how its going. This group was basically everyone who would make me nervous in one room. We had the Southampton chancellor, the National Oceanography Centre Director, and Southampton professors for the England team, but the USA team was just as impressive. Batting for our team was Chancellor Depaulo,UNCW's provost,the director of the Marine Science Center in Wilmington, professors, my donor who owns one of the biggest pharmaceautical companies in the world... and me. I did a short presentation, we went on the boats for an hour, and then headed to the pub for meal, drinks, and to play the pub game skittles. The students involved were continually warned to not get drunk, assuming we would because there were free drinks. In actuality, I'm pretty sure we drank the least of everyone there with one of the professors making sure that I had a beer in my hand when I first arrived. Dinner was five courses I think, and I managed to use the correct utensils for every course. Before and after dinner we played skittles which is like a bowling game with pins you set up manually and with a pink robber ball. I won the first round as well as the after dinner set so I think I've found my new calling. I told Rosemary Depaulo I had actually become a skittles shark while in the UK, and the provost warned me that if I didnt let him win the second round he wouldn't shake my hand at graduation.

A weird but entertaining night.

I also told the group of my plans to go to Istanbul next week, and the chancellor had some great words of wisdom for me.

"Don't do any illegal substances, and if you see any men with long coats and clubs get under a table or run"

Cryptic

Hey, Im 21 today

2009-03-19T12:15:00.000Z

Hey! So todays the big day I guess, doesnt feel too special considering I've spent most of the last two days working on esssays and lab write-ups. I turned in an essay yesterday, I turn in another today, and I turn in a lab write up tomorrow and then its spring break. Oh, these are the only assignments I've had to turn in this semester.

Picture Dump

2009-03-16T20:13:00.001Z

Spring's Arrival

2009-03-15T18:52:00.000Z

Spring officially gave winter a punch in the bollucks today.
The sun came out full force as did the summer clothes on sun-starved Britons. To celebrate there were board shorts, flip flops, and men taking their tops off left and right. Although spring is still officially a week away from beginning, there was a general relief that the long grey winter was ending. It even smelled springy with the plantlife coming out of their long hangover and putting out missed scents. I celebrated by going for a long run through Southampton's Commons (the 2nd largest outside of London's Hyde Park..fun fact). Its a nice big green space in the middle of town and it was packed today. There was football beiing played, Footballs being thrown, bicyclists, nerd sword battles,and my favorite.. an old man going full blast in his electric wheelchair down a hill laughing crazily. Hopefully this is a good sign of things to come for my second half of the semester and my Easter break that begins in a week.

Put a donk on it.
http://www.vbs.tv/video.php?id=12185178001

College

2009-03-13T00:41:00.002Z

You know you're in college when someone runs into the hall and yells, "They've changed facebook again!"

It's been interesting living in a freshman dorm again. Each day I remember certain things I liked and disliked about living in such a wild environment. Today would go into the first category. You can't help but love waking up in the morning to someone asking you, "Have you seen the tree that Chris put in the bathtub lastnight?"

Easter Break

2009-03-12T14:39:00.000Z

Starting the 20th I'll have a month long Easter Break. Really exciting, but a little daunting trying to find an affordable way to travel for that long. My first week I'm spending in Southampton doing a sea safety course and learning how to drive small boats and such, which sounds pretty fun. After that...

TURKEY

On the 29th, I'm departing for Turkey for 9 days. James is currently in Istanbul and I'll be staying with him. My ticket was about 175 bucks roundtrip, which is awesome considering Ill be flying over the entirety of Europe and landing in a country that borders Iraq. I just hope no international crises come about from me and James being together there. Currently programming the embassy's number into my phone.

Southampton...

2009-03-12T13:24:00.001Z

Was being really pretty tonight. I was waiting for the bus downtown and luckily had my camera.

Friends

2009-03-10T00:19:00.000Z

Continuing a tradition, I went to London this weekend to meet with friends from home. I left Friday after lectures and met up with Jamie at the train station before departing to find Trevor. I was the only one with a phone so that made things difficult all weekend. We couldn't find Trevor at the tube stop for over an hour and a half, when it turned out he was within 150 yards of us the whole time. We went to Roehampton Uni where Trevor is staying for spring break and threw our stuff down and immediately got ready to go see Digitalism and other DJ's at Fabric that night. Fabric was a really cool venue, but it was difficult for us to find. Fortunately we kept meeting people who helped us with the directions. First we had, whiplash, the coolest bus driver in London. A carribean man, he was joking with us the whole ride, and loved us so much he gave me his cell number because "he wanted to party." After we got off the bus we were having trouble finding the place, and saw what looked like an oasis on the horizon.... a giant sign that read, "USA Pizza." As far as we were concerned that was the equivalent of the embassy. We came in chanting USA and the guy, Tony, loved us and we got a small pizza while he told us directions. The concert was really fun and it was in a very cool building. The drinks were 7 pounds each, which we found out after we ordered them, not cool. We slept in the next day and Trevor departed to do stuff with his school trip. Me and Jamie left to meet with our old friend Jane Pothest and her fiance at Trafalger Square. We got coffee in Soho and then walked around Hyde Park. We then departed for her flat which is across the Thames and next to her Uni, Goldsmith. We bought dinner supplies on the way back, so of course that meant I bought a frozen pizza. After dinner Jane even made us chocolate chip cookies, a really great host. Trevor arrived and after chatting some more we went off to explore some more of London. We went to a bar where Trevor got to meet some promoters who knew his friend from Wilmington. It was really cool seeing him make these music connections all around the world. After that we just jumped around on some buses going wherever seemed interesting.
On the bus Jamie started chatting with come people about our age who invited us to a concert that was described as "serious music." Turned out it was just repetitive techno, but we went there an had fun nonetheless. We all then returned to Jane's early in the morning and crashed on the floor. Sunday morning Trevor departed for school things, me and Jamie said our goodbyes to Jane, and we headed to central London. Typical sites were seen, and a goodtime had.
I really enjoy London, I think its just really cool with its history, multicultural feel, and its unique artistic side. I'm happy that Jane lives there as it seems a great fit for her compared with Wilmington, and it great to meet her fiance who was an awesome guy. It was also really fun to see Jamie and Trevor, and hopefully I'll see them some more in the coming months as our travels cross paths. Ok thats enough about me. How are you?

Craig

2009-03-04T18:38:00.003Z

My last blog entry mentioned a character named Craig. I don't know if I properly emphasized how awkward he was, so here's some supporting detail in the form of a photo. Enjoy

CHRISTOPHER CHRISTO

2009-03-02T20:10:00.000Z

Ivan christo arrived this saturday evening from madrid. We had a very Egnlish night beginning with some cider and a trip to the pub for fish and chips and brew. When we returned to my room we immediately interrupted the movie next door to ask if the girls would take photos of us on my balcony, it was cute. We then made our way to the Brook, a really cool music venue not too far from where we live. There we saw New Order and Smiths cover bands who were both very enjoyable. The highlights were the older woman who kept dancing with Ivan, the bands, a guy named Craig, and asking Ivan if he brought his camera as we peed in urinals right next to each other. Ivan and I might have been the youngest people there with lots of older men reminiscing over their youth. The crowd went wild for The Smyths, and I have to say their Morrissey was spot on. By the end the front of the venue was just sweaty, baby faced men and then me and Ivan jumping up and down in what me and Ivan called "Bro-circles." There was a lot of "oi" yelling, and me and Ivan created a measurement called the man mass ratio. The man-mass ratio was at almost complete saturation that night at the Brook. As we left a guy who had been for whatever reason putting his arm around us a lot during the band grabbed me and Ivan and goes "Hey, I'm Craig!" We quickly exited not sure of this sweaty man child. A night filled with awkward moments and a whole lot of fun. We walked home from the venue and recorded some facebook videos, and then went straight to bed before our big Sunday.
Sunday morning we got up early and headed to downtown Southampton to catch the bus to London, unfortunately we didn't know where the Megabus pick up was. We ran around downtown for 20 minutes before finally finding it, working up a sweat and upsetting our stomachs. Arrived in London at 1230 with out any real plans, and immediately saw the London Eye over the skyline and just started walking towards it. Along the way we passed Buckingham, Hyde Park, Trafalger, all the hot spots. From the eye we went to the Tate modern Art museum where we spent a lot of time seeing some really cool pieces as well as some exhibits that made us want to throw up, a theme for the weekend. After the tate, walked around some more, refusing to pay 4 pounds for a Tbe ticket. We met up with our good friend Will Soule at the Eye and went to dinner with him and his friends Nick and Gloria at a cool pizza place. After dinner we headed to a pub in Picadilly Circus and hung out there for the rest of the night.
Ivan was flying back to Spain early the next morning and had to get a bus to Stansted Airport at 430 am, so he opted to go to the bus station at midnight and just wait there for 4 hours. I was expecting to stay with our friend Jane for the night but she didnt respond to me and Ivan when we tried to contact her so I didn't have a place to stay. I went with Will back to his hostel but it was too late to get a room, so we went up to his room and he practically had it to himself so I sneakily slept in an extra bed. I left early in the morning to avoid suspicion, but I'm definately going to be much more prepared the next time I stay overnight in London.
Anyhoo, made it back to Southampton 20 minutes before my lecture, went straight there completely exhausted from the weekend. Fun times, and Ivan made it back home too so I would consider it a success. When I showered tonight the stall immediately got a stench as soon as the water hit me, definately a good sign of a fun weekend.

Week 4

2009-02-27T20:02:00.000Z

Last night I was walking out of lecture at 6 when a girl tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I wanted to have dinner with her and her friends. I only knew one of them, but yeah I definitely did want dinner. Turns out the group was an international oceanography group of sorts, representing Bermuda, Barbados, Switzerland, Germany, Itlay, and then 'merica. We went to Asda, bought supplies for Mexican dinner, and had a great time cooking it and eating it. Dinner included burritos, bean paste (refried beans) and corona. A great random study abroad moment. Fun people too!
Today I met with an American working at the NOC for coffee and she informed me on a big visit coming up in march to Southampton that I'm going to be part of. Last year, a DR Gillings funded an exchange program between Wilmington and Southampton that funds undergrads, graduate and phd students, faculty and equipment to be shared between the two research institutes, with me reaping the benefits of this fund. Dr Gillings is famous for recently dropping 50 mil for UNC Chapel Hill, big spender to say the least. Point is hes coming to visit the school with his wife, the UNCW chancellor Rosemary Depaulo, the head of UNCW's centre for Marine science, as well as a few UNCW professors. Hosting will be their Southampton equivalents, as well as me. AHH! Along with a few brit students who went to wilm last year, I'll be giving a powerpoint presentation to the group on my experiences, and then going on a boat tour with them. That night were going to a pub for free drinks and dinner as well as play skittles. Skittles is apparently a bowling game where you manually set up pins and play inside the pub. Basically I'm going to spend an entire day doing some uncomfortable things with people who will make me want to pee my pants. If I can pull it off I should be bff's with the chancellor and her bros before nightfall.

More importantly, the school gave me a radio show, no questions asked. I'll be starting next week broadcasting through the students union, university pub, the bookstore, AM 1287, as well as online. Not sure on the schedule yet, but I'll post it on here. Also, Ivans coming tomorrow to see The Smyths and reorder, two proper english tribute bands. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

WOOOOO!!!

2009-02-25T19:20:00.000Z

Dear Danny,

Congratulations! We are pleased to inform you that "Better Days" has been accepted for the Spring 2009 issue of Atlantis. We received over 600 entries, a record for our magazine, and appreciate your contribution.
The following information gives Atlantis the right to publish your work. Please read:

My photo is being published in UNCW's creative magazine, I'm really excited. The talent pool must have been low this semester or something, but I'll take it.

The Titanic was from SOUTHAMPTON

2009-02-24T19:24:00.000Z

Turns out that nautical beauty departed on her fateful voyage from my very own Southampton. Really adds to the history of the place. To think that all those peasants, aristocrats, and Leonardo Dicaprio with his paint supplies last walked on dry land at the Southampton Docks where the Oceanography centre is located is pretty interesting. This Sunday I went for a run and a friend of mine was outside our dorm when I got back playing football. AMERICAN FOOTBALL. He was French just to make it even more strange. He saw me and immediately yelled for the American to play because surely I was a natural. They threw me the ball and,of course, I dropped it real hard. Don't worry, that initial fumble didnt stop the red the white and the blue from getting warmed up inside of me, and within minutes I was throwing bombs to the endzone. I don't think a spiral that good has crossed the airspace of this side of the Atlantic before.

Today I had my first tutorial, they have them throughout the semester where groups of 5 students meet with a professor and go over exam practice questions, do short assignments, or just talk about school issues. My tutor is a real cool guy, Dr Sheader, and hes assigned us to make some sort of scientific poster on an issue related to evolution. The kicker is hes making me and just me also write a 1500 word essay to go along with it in order to evaluate my writing skills. The exams here are all in essay form so I guess he wants to make sure dat I noes how to right good. Im doing my report on Lamarck, apparently the earlier, French version of Darwin. He theorized that traits are passed along by basis of how often they are used by the individual. So a giraffes long neck is used often to eat leaves, so its offspring would have a long neck. Similarly, my biceps are used often to flex and throw footballs huge distances, so my alien child would also have unnaturally large arms. SCIENCE.

I emailed the school radio station to see if I could help out with music selection because I figured it would be a cool way to meet people with similar music tastes. They one upped me and responded asking if I'd like to come in Wednesday morning for DJ training. Sure why not. The extravaDanza show.

Update: -----------------
The veggie option didnt seem to appetizing tonight I had a delicious curry and chicken rice dish ending my vegetarianism at nearly two days, impressive. I think I'm going to adopt Jamie's flexitarian(ism?) for the time being. It's where you're mainly a vegetarian unless special circumstances arise your a meat meal is too good to turn down.

Video

2009-02-22T20:42:00.000Z

So if you were curious as to what Southampton looks like with the aid of over 800 rapid shot photos, heres your chance to find out.

Southampton Day from Danny Devereaux on Vimeo.

Also, if you haven't seen my original bike one of these guys, heres a look at that one...

508 picture Bike Ride from Danny Devereaux on Vimeo.

TOODLES!

Veggie

2009-02-22T13:14:00.000Z

Day 1 of vegetarianism. Yesterday I bought some Asda soy milk for 60p as well as peanut butter and jelly, so this will be a healthy experiment to say the least. Ive done various stages of vegetarianism in the past, none lasting much longer than 2 weeks, but I have a good feeling about this. Mindy has me lasting 16 days, I would give myself more like 6. Who knows, yesterdays hot dog could've been my last. I'll always have the memories.

Flash Mob

2009-02-21T17:06:00.000Z

Today we had an organized pillow fight flash mob in downtown Soutampton in front of the mall. It was organized by some Uni students and we were supposed to arrive with our pillows hidden before 1 and casually look around at shops or read on benches..whatever. At 1 the organizer blew an air horn and all the students ran out of all corners of the shopping area and had a massive pillow fight for a few minutes. The general public was shocked and watched while we raged in the centre square. Myself, I earned a bloody lip my first charge into the death zone. I had sunglasses on and a guy went for a face shot, knocked my shades into my lip so I bled for the rest of the battle. Im sure theres some of my blood on others pillows, but THATS THE PRICE YOU PAY FOR MESSING WITH DANIMAL. Anyways, after a few minutes the airhorn blew again and everyone stopped, dispersed back amongst the crowd, and the capslock subsided. Great start to the weekend. Oh and thats me uptop with the black shirt and black pack facing away from the camera.

Ghosts

2009-02-20T13:44:00.000Z

My room has a ghost. Twice last night I had a dream that someone was choking me and I woke up out of breath. I dont think it was my roommate actually choking me because he was playing Crash Team Racing next door. I was already suspicious of this paranormal activity occuring in my room when I saw this photo on my camera. I definately didn't take it, but it appears that I am some sort of Mothman, or Mothdan if you will.

You know, a mothman like this one...

Oh wait, not a mothgere, more like this mothman, as in the real thing

This was a stupid post, I should study or something

Roommate and LEATHER

2009-02-20T13:21:00.001Z

This week marked an important turning point in my study abroad/life... I made a major leather purchase and ended years of speculation on whether or not I was infact a badass. I visited a cool vintage shop downtown called Beatnik Emporium and bought my soulmate for 20 pounds. The owner of the shop even said it looked impeccable on me, and hes old so he must know what hes talking about. (As a side note I also bought a motorcycle,cigs, and hair grease as well as a sassy broad who is under contract to support me in at least 3 switchblade standoffs as well as ride on my hog 4 times a week.)

The only downer of the week came in the form of a new exchange student moving into my room. I haven't been able to get much out of him as he mostly keeps to himself but so far I've gathered that hes very religious, likes to drink, and may or may not have any skin. See for yourself...

This is what I awoke to the day he moved in...

First Boat Practical

2009-02-17T18:45:00.000Z

So get this, today I had my first trip on one of the boats for a lab, and within like 10 minutes like 8 whales swarmed our boat. Like legit whales. Like Great British killing whales. Like free willy flying over the boy at the end of the movie kind of whales, except angrier and with fangs. Our chain smoking, Scottish captian Bob luckily had a harpoon so each of the students took turns shooting at them as an excercise in oceanography safety. We killed three before the others retreated, but blood was on our hands, and we decided to make a pact not to tell any of the others back on mainland. The ride back in to port was somber to say the least. As we comforted each other, we remembered that we hadn't done the actual practical. We quickly gathered a bucket of seawater and mixed it with a bottle of food coloring (whale blood) and threw it overboard. Measuring the dispersion rates, currents, and level of mixing in the estuary is the only thing that kept us sane for that last hour.

If only the lab had gone as planned...

Google Alfie Patten

2009-02-15T20:41:00.000Z

It's strangely fascinating yet horrible yet funny. The quote of the article is "playtime for daddy" which was the answer to whenever someone asked for the time this weekend. My dad also had a memorable quote on the subject of the 13 year old boy wonder... "He doesn't look mature enough but apparently he was up for it"

Buh dum chh

Health and Visitors

2009-02-15T20:09:00.000Z

Two full weeks have a gone by and I have a deteriorating health to show for it.

This week James came to visit Southampton and he showed up unannounced. I returned from dinner to find a facebook message that read "Yo, I'm in Southampton at Solent University, is that your school? Call the library front desk and ask for me" Solent University isn't my school. Its like a trade school downtown, so I rode the bus and managed to find the orphan reading some sort of romance novel on the library steps. We toured Southampton the nest day and saw probably like 13 castles, but I just assume all old buildings are castles or cathedrals here. We went to a place called Oceana that night so of course I wore my sailor hat which was stolen many times but was a great first line. James feel in love with a local there too.

The next day I walked James to the bus stop and then walked to the health centre to see about a red bump on my neck. Anyone who knows anything about my health history of the last two years probably knows whats coming. Well first they told me I wasn't registered with the school health centre, so I had to ride the bus downtown to a free walk-in health clinic (btw a great part of socialized medicine in England.) Once there I had to fill out basic forms with my info when I realized I didn't even know my address, so the nurses looked it up online for me, what a n00b! Anyways the point is I have a small staph infection on my neck, of course. They gave me some antibiotics and its pretty much disappeared. However, the meds upset my stomach and I hard threw up at the campus night club Friday night after 1 beer. Good times.

Parents and sister came this weekend which was fun. We toured the city and ate out at a real cool pub "Cows Head" where I had my first legal drink with family. We also took the ferry to the Isle of Wight which is a real cool, historic place. That night we even went to a local pizza joint, some place they call Pizza Hut, and had a nice family Valentines dinner. It was great having my family around, and I'm glad they came out to visit me. Thats been my week, now I'm off to chug some pills and throw up all over my hall!! WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

London

2009-02-09T16:55:00.000Z

This weekend I traveled to London to see James and K Fed and stay with James' friend Chris at the London School of Economics. I left Southampton by train and got to London about an hour later. We went and saw the big sites during the day and that night we went to a bar type place near Picadilly circus where we saw some bands and had an overall good time. Me and James met some girls from South Africa who were hilarious although I dont think it was intentional. We also met an awesome guy who taught us the Arsenal chants so theyre my team now because I loved the chants. The next morning I missed my bus home because the tube stop I went to was closed as well as several underground lines due to maintenance caused by a lot of snow earlier in the week. Snow is rare in London as well as Southampton but its snowed several times since I've been here, maybe a sign of changing weather patterns, a a scary thought for those here who rely on the mild gulf stream to keep them from freezing over. Anyways I had to buy another bus ticket that didn't leave until much later in the day allowing me to go explore some more of London in the Victoria area of the city. Very cool neighborhoods and lots of fixed gear bikes, a sight I've missed. Speaking of, I really miss my bike. Well London was real fun, next time I'll have to go with a local and really see it. I took a lot of pictures so those will be up sometime soon.

First Week

2009-02-06T13:19:00.000Z

Welcome to my semesterabroadinEnglandblogextravaganzapartyplaooza. I have just finished my first week of class in Southampton and have enjoyed it thoroughly so far. When I first arrived I unlocked my room and found empty bottles and shot glasses all over my room which meant either my room hadn't been cleaned, or even the bugs like to party in the UK. I didnt care but the housing people were appalled and the next day one of the head professors from the oceanography department showed up at my door with a cake to apoligize for the incident.. British hospitality!

Well schedule here is pretty light, only three courses for now until my summer field course, so I have a lot of free time. My classes are at the National Oceanography Centre, which I have to take a 30 minute bus ride to every morning. The centre is really impressive with over 650 researchers there in addition to the professors as well as 1000 students who have various classes there for different science degrees. All of my classes have lab and boat work in addition to the lecture time which is exciting because boatwork is not something undergrads get to do at UNCW. I feel like a regular Steve Zissou . Heres the centre with one of the research boats in front.

Social life has been good because the kids on my hall are all very friendly and we've gone out as a group most nights since I've arrived, which unfortunately means spending a lot of pounds. We went out the other night and my hallmates wanted me to go talk to girls and impress them with my accent. I think I'll just try to talk as American as I can, maybe put on a John Wayne accent.
My dorm has a bar on its first floor which is awesome, but also strange coming from UNCW's drinking rules. Adam scarbro would hate this place. Southampton is cool too its about 300000 people and the Uni is I think 20000 students so it's fun going to a big university for a while.

So anyways I'm enjoying myself, and I'm healthy

*Also, family, there's a Devereux on my hall. First one I've met in my life im not related to.
**I stole the idea for this blog from Jamie Bibo