Scotland - Part 1

On saturday our two day trip to Scotland began =)
First idea was to start at 7 am. Which was then pushed back to 8 am. (Really good idea!) I woke up a little bit late again but got ready just in time for 8 am....  when Hanna called me and told me they still needed some time. XD Totally okay with me ;-D At 9:15 then they picked me up and off we were to Edinburgh!
I was still very tired and sitting in the back of the car with two others was very comfy and warm and I fell asleep pretty quickly XD
I woke up shortly before the border when we took a little break =D Afterwards I managed to stay awake and ejoy the view =) I have to say Scotland is beautiful! And there are sheep everywhere! Really anywhere you look you see a sheep XD It was very funny and a source of great distraction for at least 30 mins when we always found new sheep =)
After driving some more and me dozing of again (bad me! I should stop the habbit of faling aslep anywhere I am) we arrived in Edinburgh.
While driving through the city looking for a parking space we already got a good first impression of the city and just enjoyed the view. It contrast to Preston Edinburgh has kept many old buildings and could easily be the same 100 years ago (with some adjustments of course ;-D).
After parking the car right inside the old town of Edinburgh we stopped by Starbucks for a coffe for Hanna and a hot chocolate for me =) (have to wake up somehow XD).
Our first stopp was on a bridge so we could get a look at everything around us =)

physicists and a computing students... of course we found the science festival XD

Hanna our personal Starbucks commercial XD

After the bridge we decided to walk to Edingburgh castle to see why people keep saying it is so great.
We actually went the right way but instead of walking straight through we let ourselves be distracted by lots of things.
I kept stopping to take some pictures, Olli did the same, Hanna and Otte looked around everywhere and Andy proved his knack for disappearing XD But alas, we found him again =)
The city was really beautiful and we jsut explored some side alleys and then went back on track to the castle =)
On our way got a little flyer for The Potter Trail! Of course I went on it and will tell you more about it later on =)
Further down the street we saw the Witchery and an invisible person across from it *__* I've many street artists around europe but this one was one of the best!
Shortly before the castly we saw a highlander with a huge sword! Really, the sword was as tall as Andy O.o

more about this will be explained later =)

awesome invisible person!

well... the sword is taller than Andy XD

And then... you would think we arrived at the castle... well we were right in front of it when we decided to step into the Royal Mile Armouries. It was a very good decision =D
Inside they had beautiful swords *__* Sadly I was not allowed to take any pictures of the sord but they were magnificent! They even had Frodos sword Sting, the Witch Kings (or Saurons, not quite sure there) blade, a Urukhai blade, Aragons sword and a little shikai Zangetsu from Ichigo XD It was realy good!
In the basement they had an old manufractur to make the fabric for the kilts they sold. It was all done very nicely.

the new way to wear a kilt amuses me to no end XD

After walking through the building and finding everyone again we finally went to the castle!
Sadly we couldn't really go into it as you have to pay for entry but we walked around a bit and went into the parts that were open to the public =D
I thinks it is a really nice castle and it feels special somehow. Really weird to describe and maybe I just watched to much Merlin and read to much Harry Potter XD

view from the castle walls

the view when leaving the castle

After leaving the castle we just walked around the city and got distracte by some funny shaped mirrors XD
The boys were fascinated by the mirrors that shortened and elongated their legs XD
While walking around we were surprised by the most interesting weather... A short but intense hail storm with the sun still shinging and a rainbow at the end of the street O.o All of it lasted only 10 minutes or so ... Scotland is weird XD

if you look closely you can see the rainbow =3

Following the unplaned shower we kept walking around taking in everything while being surrounded by the sound of bagpipes. Yes it is true. In every street there was a man or woman standing in a kilt playing on a bagpipe! It was awesome!
After walking around the Greyfriars cementry (I have no idea how we ended up there O.o) we stopped in the Greyfriars Bobby Pub right next to it and got something to eat =D
Hanna and I got some Haggis for a starter... we were really worried but what we got didn't really look like Haggis and tasted great XD Oh and Hanna had her fist Guiness =D

The Haggis

Walking around the city afterwards was very funny as everyone got excited by something else XD
In the end we ended up on the other side of the bridge and right in a gang fight or something O.o Well... there wer 20 or something teenagers running around waving sticks and threatening the other teenager....  I didn't know whether to be afraid or just amused as they looked quite comically XD
We then walked back over the bridge and Hanna and I split off from the others to join The Potter Trail.
It. Was. Fantastic! I loved every minute of it =3
It started of with our guide giving each of us a wand so we could hex the street lights to work in our favour ( though he admitted the the hex might take up to 2 minutes to work XD)
We then walked into the Greyfriars cementry and he showed us the grave of William McGonagall the worlds worst poet and maybe the start of Professor McGonagall ;-D
We then saw the school that might be the starting point for Hogwarts. Why? Well it looks pretty similar, also has a house system with four houses and these have nearly the exact same colour as the Hogwarts houses.... Pretty big clue, don't you think?
After visiting Voldemorts grave (well at least Tom Riddles) and many other places (Diagon Alleys model, the cafe Rowling wrote the first book in,  and others) we came back to our starting point and heard a funny story about the possible real life snape who tried to bewitch a girl to love him... I won't tell you how it ended as that is the interesting part ;-D

my beautiful wand =3

After the tour we gave the guide a tip as he was doing it absolutly fantastic and went back to the car to meet up with the boys and get going into the highlands!
Hanna was the one driving for the night and I was on stand by if she had to take a break. She was driving really well but there was one scene which was really funny XD We were just driving through a small alley in Edinburgh when this cab came around the corner. Hannas schock reaction was to try to evade the cab by moving to right side, which is the wrong lane here. The cab driver had to be so afraid XD He looked shocked enough that someone would get onto his lane XD But Hanna reacted great and got right back into the right lane and nothing more happened =)
We then drove to Pitlochry to get to our hostel for the night. We found it, checked in (the owner was a German!) and wnet ot our room. Lucky us got a 8 person room with just us 5 in it =)
We then planned our next day (to go to the Dog Falls and the Lochs there) and got ready for bed. 
Hanna then put on the three question marks XD ("Die Drei Fragezeichen", for the germans) and I fell asleep after 5 seconds or so XD Actually it were 5 minutes but no more. From stories I know that the others listened to at least 2 more storys of the "Drei Fragezeichen" and some even watche a movie..
Well, I was out like a light and the second day of our trip will be told in the second part of my report =)


Love
Thym

Southport Beach

This crazy weekend all started last friday XD
Hanna came back from Germany for a week (sooo happy =DD ) and we decided to spend friday together. As I had class from 9 to 12 in the morning we decided to meet at 12 o'clock at my flat.
That is when it all went crazy. Because I've been working on assignments for 40 hours straight (x.x dead thym walking....) I fell asleep on thursday night and woke up at 12:15 on friday x.x . I jsut looked at the watch... looked again and after a few seconds realized that I was already late for everything! So I ran to my kitchen window and (no surprise) Hanna was already sitting on the bench below it waiting for me. I let her into my flat and got ready while she waited. According to her I looked like a wet dog that was kicked by it's owner.. I felt more like a douchebag for being late for everything... Oh well.
After a quick pancake breakfast we went shopping =D Shopping with Hanna is always fun XD I don't know how but we always find the funniest stuff XD  I saw a bunny pj that was like a whole body suit *__* (I totally had to think of mysli when seeing it XD).

After shopping Hanna invited me to come to Southport to the beach with her and three others from Germany (Olli, Andy and Otte).
The ride was really funny especially when we were in Southport and Olli started wondering why there were no more signs showing the way to Southport XDD.
We finally arrived at the beach and I have to say it looks great! We had sunshine, lots of wind XD and of crouse the Irish Sea =D
The dunes were really nice. They were all warped and full of secret pathways everything topped by lots of weeds. And they were the only place without the strong wind!
After seeing and exploring the dunes we went down to the water. There the boys rescued Fridolin XD Our little ladybug friend XD We actually took him all the way back to Preston so he wouldn't be in danger of falling into the sea again. He now lives in the little garden inside Whitendale Hall. =D
We just stood there enojoying the sea and sundown while the boys started measuring how fast the tide was coming in with a little seashell XD It very funny seeing their "scientific experiment" XD Hint: Always go on trips with physics students, it's always something funnny happening.
We then bet on when the sund was going down (I lost...) and then went home after playing in the dunes some more.

the interesting way the sand just changed shape O.o

Fridolin =D

we even caught the sun =D

This would be the perfect beach with the beach kites and sund and everything if there wasn't for the oil platform that we saw right in front of the beach. I don't know if it's due to it or something else but there was even some oil in the water at the beach which we saw because the water reflected the sun with rainbow colours. Looked beautiful but cannot be healthy.

While we were going back to Preston Hanna invited me to the Scottland trip the four had planned for saturday and sunday. I said yas, of course =D
So after working on a flyer for the Cosplay rocks the World! event on March 15th, we watched some anime and I then went home to get some sleep before going to Scottland =D

Love
Thym

Cosplay Plans

Like I promised, here are my cosplay plans for this spring =D

First will be a female version of John Watson from the Sherlock BBC series. I might also do the male one but I'll have to see about the binding and if the clothes will still fit XD

 

this is a collection from the internet for a female version of watson =)

My friend Salle, who will cosplay Sherlock, and I will do a little skit for the cosplay contest at the cosplay rocks the world! event here at UCLan on the 15th of March =) If you want to come here is some information about it:
http://www.facebook.com/events/220832858012693/
(it also has lots of things about the japanese culture =) )

The next thing I'm planing is China from the Hetalia World Series XD I plan this one for the paintballing trip of the Anime and Manga society =) We have arounf 10 countries I think and will all participate in some form of cosplay for the paintballing XD That will be great =D
Here is a picture of the version i'm planing:

I want to do the red version =) The wig for this cosplay actually arrived already and was really cheap. I got it from a chinese shop on ebay and I am delighted! It was fast, cheap and in a very good quality! 

There are some other plans for the summer but I'll only upload those ideas when I start sewing XD Otherwise they might not happen XDD

Oh and the next posts will be about  my surprise weekend XD (Hint it is about beaches, highlands and a dip into a mountain river XD)

Love

Thym

ACTA and Black March

This is a more serious post before my cosplay post =)


I just can't belive how the politicians if the world want to (excuse my choice of words) screw us over. 
First SOPA ans PIPA and then from the background came ACTA. 
We protested, some politicians reacted and now it is at least delayed in Europe. 
(And an amendments on a bill called IPRED2 (which was reject before) were shown to the EU-commission some days ago including the parts that were deleted from ACTA.)
I don't know why but I only heard about protest in Europe. America, Asia? Didn't anyone protest there? 


It is your internet too! 


(If anyone knows on any protests against ACTA outside of Europe I would love to hear about them)


For this month I want to take part in the so called Operation Black March .
It is relatively simple: don't buy any dvds, cds or mp3 (itunes or anywhere else), don't go to the cinema and basically spend no money in the entertainment industry.


Here is an Anonymous information video:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWzRHnVbw5I 


Anyone supporting this operation will work against entertainment industry lobbyists! You don't have to be part of anonymous to support this cause!


I will keep this march a "Black March". =)


Love
Thym

Assignments, assignments, and more assignments

Hi there =)
right now there are not so many new posts (as you can see XD) as I'm working on many assignments due in early march.
I'm also planning some cosplays and a recipes to show in this blog =) Anyone interested in muffin or cupcake recipes? Or maybe some ramen or tamagoyaki =D I'll decide later (a comment might influence may decision ;-D)

Next post will probably be my cosplay plans =D

Love
Thym