Hallowscream 2013 in York Maze

The 3 breasted lady lol

For the past 2 weeks, I have worked at the York Maze for this Halloween event called Hallowscream. It basically means that each week from Thursday to Saturday, the maze changes into a Halloween spooktacular where people come and get their scared off of their pants lol. I am part of the team of freaky clowns, scary zombies and other freaks. It has been such a fun time working with all these amazing people. The doors are opened at 6 pm, so we need to get there around 5 to get our make-up done and costumes on. I have probably one of the best characters to play- the three breasted lady lol. There are different houses with different themes and I am obviously at the freak show. Next to my cage I have a fellow freak the Elephant Man. There is also the fortune teller, werewolves our lovely ring-master and a couple of zombie, soldiers and victims are scattered in the maze behind our tent. The people (audience) who come each night is so diverse at this is really the best part of the day to see their reactions. Most of them want to take a picture with me and even though they are not allowed to touch me, 80% of them do. A couple of nasty comments from guys, some naughty little boys, a lot of mentioning of "Total Recall" and some offended oldies is a every day thing. It's definitely a too fun experience to call it a job, but hey, someone's gotta do it, ey! Today is our big Halloween night, looking forward to what it has to offer :)

Hallowscream 2013

Besides my job at the maze, school has been great as well. I'm still enjoying my courses and have managed to find enough free time to enjoy the societies. Basketball society had a fresher's party last week which was a lot of fun. We were dressed as farm animals and the second and third years were are farmers. Long story short, it all ended in York's biggest and newest nightclub called Kuda.

Fresher's Night

This week is a little special for York as a city as well. There is this gorgeous event called Illuminating York that takes place form the 30th until the 2nd. As I will be working all these days, I went to see some of it yesterday. It was exactly the same like we had in Sydney in May. Basically, the whole city is in lights and the most famous buildings have different light shows on them. It really is gorgeous!

That's all for now, but it's never boring in York so until next week :)

The Lake District

Another great week has passed by with a lot going on. It's definitely been a busy week as school has officially started and there is no limit on readings. Nevertheless, I have managed to find a steady balance between studying and having fun, and so far it has worked out fine :)

Last weekend(well actually 2 weekends ago now), the International student group organized another trip for the exchange students- the Lake District. I had heard so much about it and was really eager to go. Before I could be fast enough and make up my mind, the tickets were sold out. I was quite bummed, but figured I can still do it by myself some time in the future. As it happened, one of my friends had bought a ticket in advance only to find out that she had to go back home to Spain for that weekend. Lovely as she is, she was more than happy to give me her ticket and with only half a day notice I was getting ready to go to the Lake District

The ride there was quite long, almost 3 hours. On our way, we stopped at this little village where the poet William Wordsworth had lived, and written most of his poems. It was lovely little place with hills on horizon and sheep in every corner. We took some pictures of Dove's Cottage- Wordsworth's home and circled the houses nearby.

Dove Cottage

When we finally arrived to Bowness next to Windermere(the largest natural lake in England), the 3 hour ride was all worth it. The lake was gorgeous as well as the the bright green hill tops caressed by sunlight that you could see from every direction. It really felt like a magical place, no wonder Beatrix Potter and Wordsworth had been fond of it so dearly.

As a poor student, there wasn't that much to do to be honest. We didn't want to spend a lot of money taking ferry rides, nor did we pay for the extremely expensive entrance to the Peter Rabbit world. Instead, we settled with a picture with Ms. Potter and decided to visit all the Peter Rabbit stores we could find. I don't know about the other girls, but I loved it!

In Peter Rabbit heaven!

To finish up our day more adventurously, Asma, Alina and I decide to rent a rowing boat for an hour. We were so nervous in the beginning and I personally wasn't sure if it was the right decision. Happy to say, it was the best decision of the day! We had so much fun and saw the whole lake with a way better view than from the shore. The hills were just marvellous as the sun was about to set and the water was opalescing in our direction. We took some great pictures and truly enjoyed our time on water. I also found out that I am a hell of a good rower :)
Visiting the Lake District was definitely something I would recommend. Probably nicer in the summer time, but hey, if you have the chance, don't hesitate and go in any season, you won't regret.

just beautiful

ready for an adventure

Lake Windermere

Lake Windermere

A whole week and 2 days have past since Lake District. Mostly school and reading, but also getting a new awesome job at the York Maze. I have been playing a freak/zombie for the past 3 days now and scaring people out of their socks lol. It has been so much fun and definitely the coolest job I have had so far, but I post more about it in next week's blog.

Cheers!

First 4 weeks in York, England

It's been almost 4 weeks since I arrived to England, can't believe how fast time has gone! Needless to say that it has been busy and I have had too much fun, as I haven't managed to post a single blog post since then. (Well I also don't have my laptop anymore which makes it harder). Anyways, there has been a lot going on within these 4 weeks. I guess the best idea would be to start from the beginning, but I will try to keep it short :)

Our gorgeous campus

The first week (Sept 15th-22nd) York St John University had a Welcome Week or Orientation Week as some call it. During that week I familiarized myself with the gorgeous campus, learned to know the beautiful historical city and joined for all the fun events that were organized for us. I met a lot of people and got many new friends, mostly fellow Erasmus exchange students from Germany, Spain and Sweden, but also a good amount of young British lads lol.

York as a city is without a doubt one of the most beautiful cities I have ever lived in (and I have lived in quite many countries). It has the sense of history most definitely- you can't really escape from that having walls surrounding most of the city center and towering churches echoing Britishness from every corner. It does have a younger vibe to it as well as not all the people you see on the street are tourists. I think York St John University has  a role to play in it by inviting younger people from around the world to come and be part of this well known and established university as well as of this historic city.

The famous Shambles

Ok, that sounded a bit like an article for a newspaper haha. Anyways, it is great here and I am not ashamed of acknowledging it :)

The International Office here also organizes trips across the country. The first trip we had was a day in Whitby. Whitby turned out to be very typical British like seaside town. Unbelievably beautiful and definitely more than I had expected. Bram Stoker even wrote his book "Dracula" there because he simply got inspired by the beauty around him, no lie. We had an amazing day strolling along the haven eating fish and chips. Even "Prince Harry" showed up ;)

The very gorgeous Whitby

Whitby Haven

My penpal Harry

Whitby

I can't remember much more, but there have definitely been a handful of concerts, comedy nights, parties, pub nights, sightseeings and readings (especially within the past two weeks). I also managed to go to Leeds last weekend to check out the famous Primark. Man, was that worth going or what! It is literally as cheap as WallMart in the States- I'm in heaven now :)

I will try to get myself on a schedule now and post weekly, so until next week.

Cheerio!