Travel Book Humor

So, I have an actual update as well... which I suppose I'll put at the end. But first, something amusing.

One night last week, I couldn't sleep. The only book I had in my room (that I wanted to read... obviously I have more than one book in my room... haha I have like a hundred) was Rick Steves' Great Britain 2013. So, I read that... well, parts of it... mostly the history sections. While, I was reading, I noticed some funny... sections.

In no particular order:
The "British-Yankee Vocabulary" section:
           "Bob's your uncle--there you go (with a shrug), naturally" um... really? Why do I feel like that is like saying "yeah, sure, you bet'cha"?
         "Joe Bloggs- John Q. Public" John Smith?
          "Scouser- a person from Liverpool" sure, why not?
           There are other ones... and some I know... but yeah... I hope to see if people actually use the stuff that's in here.

The "Great Britain: Past and Present" section: (yay history)
         Right away, at the end of the first paragraph (in a parenthetical): "Generally speaking, the nice and bad stories guides tell are not true...and the boring ones are." I don't really believe this... some of the true stories are boring... but occasionally history hands you a story so outrageous you think it's made up but it's not, which is why I love history.
        Another parenthetical, in relation to Henry VIII: "To keep track of each one's fate, British kids learn this rhyme: "Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived."
         The next amusing bit is in a picture... in a diagram of "Typical Castle Architecture," there is a labeled picture of a dragon.

The "Wales" section contains some gems... mostly in the pronunciation of Welsh places.
          There is a "Speaking Welsh" section, including "Good-bye:" in Welsh is "Hwyl" pronounced "hoo-il." Yes. I know, what? But, seeing as I will not actually be in Wales, unless I visit, I'm not going to be worried about actually making sense of this.
          There is a place in Beaumaris nicknamed: Llanfairpwll. Real name "(no kidding)": Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch and it is "the second-longest place name in the world"... which begs the question, what's the longest?

The "Scotland" section points out that Scotland has weather similar to MN: "four seasons in one day."
         Also that Scottish Gaelic is pronounced "gallic" instead of "gaylic" as they pronounce it in Ireland... because.

Lastly, the York section.
        Fun fact: the Vikings controlled the city from the 9th century until the 11th century and was "a Danish trading center called Jorvik."
        By the time of Henry VIII (and the inception of the Anglican Church), York was "England's second city." Now, the Archbishop of York is "second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury" (The York bishop is "Primate of England" and the Canterbury bishop is "Primate of All England"... to which, I asked, how different are those?)
        "During World War II, Hitler chose to bomb York by picking the city out of a travel guidebook (not this one)." Note to self: when bombing countries in an attempt to dominate the world, pick targets out of a guidebook.
         "(In York, a 'bar' is a gate and a 'gate' is a street. Blame the Vikings.)" Oh parenthetical... how I love you.
         Apparently, the Kit Kat was created in York.

So, that's it for guidebook entertainment. Now for an update.

I know what classes I am taking. My two mandatory courses are "Meanings and Values in Public History" and "Research Dissertation" (skills and stuff). My optional course is "Evolution and Society, c. 1800-1945," the one I wanted. I'm sure I'll be posting more about what each of those things are, but in the mean time, if you want to know what I know, just ask!

I know some other scheduling stuff--mostly stuff the Graduate Student Association (GSA) is doing, which is nice. Also when/where my visa registration is, when campus tours are, when there is a bus to a grocery store, and activities put on by the GSA/ International Student Association.

From the GSA Facebook page, I know one of the people living in my same block/flat (know of... wissen in German, not kennen). I also know some other helpful stuff.

Ok, this is long enough. Just under three weeks!