TravelStream™ news feed for member beef_jerkey on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/beef_jerkey en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 22 Aug 2005 16:30:30 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beef_jerkey/elective_2005/1122059280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beef_jerkey/elective_2005/1122059280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beef_jerkey/elective_2005/1122059280/tpod.html Mon, 22 Aug 2005 16:30:30 -0400 10 weeks of sun, sea, sand, beer.....and a little bit of work.....maybe

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Grande Anse, Grenada

Hi,

Just a quick update as this may be the last time before i go to america...#$&@ yeah!

Havnt been up to much recently other than the sport of extreme sunning. Im getting closer and closer to my ideal of becoming an arab every day. Dont know how politically correct that is, but im in the caribbean so im not allowed to care :) Down to using factor 8 now, after a quick blast with no cream on. Just hope it doesnt all fade before i get home.

Met two new people. Peter was on his elective in trinidad/tobago and is now travelling round all the caribbean islands. Hes at southamptom uni but actually a scouse. I may sound a bit scouse when i get home coz seem to have ended up being surrounded by the buggers! I thought the accent would be getting to me by now, but so far it hasnt managed to penetrate my inner being. Hes a sound guy tho, largely coz he brought a tennis ball which enables the MEN to play catch, a fast paced, brutal game only worthy of winners. The other guy is carlos, whos french. Dont know if hes studying there (such matters dont interest men) but he's officially cool coz he brought an american football, and is awesome at frisbie..bastard! We did meet another guy, who i think is spanish...he doesnt speak any english. He thought we would all be his friends if he offered us large gulps of neet rum...he was right! Its quite interesting drinking neet rum in the sea, coz on the one hand u have to appear to be a man and supress the feeling of the rum dissolving ur internal organs and trying not to vom. But on the other hand, u have to swim, avoiding the gulps of salty water, which mixed with the internal melting would result is certain death!! Maybe...well, perhaps. But i dont know how long he is going to last coz he isnt that good at frisbie, which is an entry criteria to be cool. ;)

So, ive been turning myself into a secluded loner at night, trying to avoid spending any money at all, in order to lose it all in vegas. Plenty of evening american tv which is sooo shite it is actually interesting to watch. But its taking its tole as life has become very boring this last couple of days. I did manage a trip to lazy lagoon few nights ago, where everyone else is staying. This managed to bring me out of my shell as the many drinking games ensued. First up was flour mountain...a game of skill, cunning, daring and em, cunning. Basically u put a mountain of flour on a plate and a coin on top. Then with surgically trained hands, cut through the mountain and retract what flour has been cut. Caution must be heeded not to let the coin fall as this will result in u digging it out of the flour with ur face. NO wiping of flour from ones face is permitted once the coin has been retrieved. Needless to say it often ends up in a flour fight! If i had my camera cable i could show u the results. Then it was onto twister. This is completely foreign to the grenadines, theyve never heard of it. So the others painted different colour spots onto the bar floor! A permanent mark of some drunken medical students who couldnt live without their games. So a few games of that were played. Im sure i was cheated out of victory. All the time, we were getting odd looks from couples who appeared to have genuinly come for a holiday...we certainly entertained. But eventually managed to rope them into the games. This older guy was actually a P.E. teacher so he had a few games up his sleeve. Dont know what it was called, but was a good game. U need two bottles and a line. Stand behind the line, hold a bottle in each hand. Then u have to place one of the bottles as far over the line as possible without touching the ground or putting ur hands on the top of the bottle (incase it broke and magically chopped ur hand off, i feel the danger aspect of the game was lost here!) So being the lanky freak that i am, i stepped up with a good chance and got one bottle placed about 5 feet over the line. Trouble is getting back when outstretched on one bottle, but managed i did. But it was not to be as some carib stepped up, who was clearly wise in the ways of levitation, and placed a bottle about another foot past mine! The rum and coke(s) eased the pain. Then it was onto charades, that good old british chestnut. Obviously, it quickly decended into porn films or films which required miming genitalia etc.

On wednesday i fly to LA, really looking forward to it, especially seeing aisha. Not exactly sure what we are going to go and see just yet, but it looks like there is plenty to do. Will be along the lines of universal studios, hollywood, shopping, beach etc. But then onto vegas. Been looking for places to stay here, and basically....wow! The one place im looking at is Stratosphere Tower Hotel which is 113 stories tall, and at the top has 3 rollercoasters, pool, etc etc! and a revolving restaurant...its the small things! So something like that will be cool. Dont know what we are going to do in vegas. Probably lose loads of money, but the hotels seem facinating in themselves! We may be getting there via Road Trip, which will be cool. Not sure how far things like the grnad canyon are from vegas, so may do that. Also theres the hoover dam about 30 miles away.

Anyway, im sure i will find time to update when i get to these places, just dont know when.

So catch yas l8r, from "america...#@&% yeah! gonna save the mother #@&%ing world again!" dont ask.

Andrew
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beef_jerkey/elective_2005/1121617020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beef_jerkey/elective_2005/1121617020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beef_jerkey/elective_2005/1121617020/tpod.html Mon, 22 Aug 2005 15:32:40 -0400 10 weeks of sun, sea, sand, beer.....and a little bit of work.....maybe

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Grand Anse, Grenada

Hi,

Last few days have been quite sad, seeing everyone off as they go elsewhere on their electives. Went out on friday night with everyone as it was practically everyones last night together. So needless to say, once again, we all got pissed on rum cocktails and carib beers! The liverpool lot, apart from katrina, were all due to fly on saturday at 7:30 am, so in all their wisdom, decided to do an all nighter and sleep it off on the plane :) So we left bananas at about 3am after they had all said their goodbyes. We dropped simon off with karen, and me and aisha went back to hers to finish her packing. I dont think ive ever seen so many clothes being packed for a holiday. She asked me to take everything out of a drawer and dump it in the suitcase, but i must have lifted out 20 tops, all sort of the same, just different colours! I brought 4 Tshirts! Well, we managed to get her packed just a few minutes after the taxi arrived at 5:30am. But there was still no sign of simon! He still hadnt finished packing either! So we loaded up the taxi with aisha, haley and amy's stuff and just had to wait. Then about 15 mins later he come bombing up the hill with no top on, then calmly walks past the taxi as if nothing has happened, muttering under his breath "play it cool si, play it cool". Was such a funny sight. He was also still utterly pissed, and we were wondering if they would let him on the plane or not. So after watching him try to negotiate his trolley-bag down the path, tripping over himself, playing it cool, they left and i went for a well earned sleep at about 6am.

It was bizarre getting up tho, coz i knew I wouldnt be able to go round theirs like id been doing for the last 2 weeks or so, so it felt really lonely. So, dooon the beach! The weather has been awesom the last couple of days, think maybe the hurricane is pulling everything with it including the clouds. But the sea has changed so much since it passed. The waves are huge now compared to before the hurricane, but it makes it more fun to swim in! Sort of like my own personal wet'n'wild. That day was pretty slow, just spent chillin on the beach with nadia, mark, emma and kat. Karren emerged at some point, looking pretty ill before announcing she was away back off to vom. But i caught up with her later as she was packing. We got a txt from aisha and simon saying they were stranded in miami coz aisha had confused the flight number with the flight time!! Egit! So i dont actually know if theyve made it yet. The first line of simons txt just summed it up tho - "fucking bollocks!" Can just imagine the fight they are having, and it just resulting in aisha saying "whateva" and simon shouting "bothered".

So i saw karen off this morning, who is away to the dominican republic for a wedding. She flew at the same time, so was up at 5am to drive her to the airport! But im missing them all loads now coz theyve all become really good friends, and we had a great time together. Really missing aisha who ive come very close to in the last week (do i hear u all go awwww).

Its ok tho coz i will be seeing them soon, as my plans will now reveal...

A while ago we were just chatting about where they were going, what they would see etc and they said they were going to mexico for a bit, sandiego, then round america a bit. But they also said i should come along with them. Thought they were just saying it to begin with, but it became serious, and i decided i would go with them to mexico. But that was cut short with the price of tickets from grenada to mexico being $1500!!! It was probably so expensive coz id have to get back to grenada for a few weeks to then go out to new york. But then the perfect plan dawned. If i join them in LA, and follow aisha through until she leaves to go to singapore, this will be one day before i go to new york. So, im going to get a refund on my flight from grenada to new york (if i can), and ive got a cheap ticket to Los Angeles LAX on the 27th july, which is when they arrive there. Will either be me and aisha, or me, aisha and simon depending on what he is doing. We will stay there for about 3/4 days and then after that its all in the air, and we just move from city to city. Will be spending some time in Las Vegas and may take a road trip to get there. From there me and aisha will go to san francisco together until the 11th when she leaves. Then i will either go to new york a day early, or stay in san fran for 1 more day. The beauty of it is, american flights are really cheap, and i will be saving money on accommodation (which costs a fortune out here in grenada). America in general will be soo much cheaper. So i think its an ingenious plan, but will need to wait and see if it works, it will be an adventure at least, and im really looking forward to seeing more of america, rather than just NYC. May even go via the grand canyon on the way!

So thats pretty much all there is to say, really looking forward to it, but just trying to pass the time until then as there really isnt anything to do now that they have all gone, more sun i guess! Oh, moved apartment no problem on friday. Also gave the rental car back today. He tried to charge me an extra day coz it was due back yesterday but i told where he could put it as id tried to drop it off at his office but it wasnt open :) Dont think the grenadians are used to the british bollocking, they crumble easy

AJG
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Lance Aux Epines, Grenada

Hi everyone,

Well, its been both and eventful few days, and at the same time very boring...namely hurricane emily

But before that there was the usual drinking and stupidity that goes with international medical student travel. But two of the liverpool girls (amy and haley) got mugged one night. Was quite scary actually coz we had only seen them a few minutes before it happened. Then we got a phone call from the pair sounding pretty shaken. The walk up from the restaurant we were at is only about 200 metres, and two men had been following them the whole way. As they got to the entrance of Wavecrest apartments where they are staying, they got jumped and amy was forced to the ground, and then down the road! Haley managed to shake her attacker off, and then helped amy. Nothing was stolen, and apart from being scraped, bruised and a bit shaken up, they are both fine now and their usual selves. So that put a bit of a dampener on events, and everyone is being a lot more cautious now.

Then it was the wrath of the bitch, Emily. We had seen reports on the news about 2 days before showing a tropical storm looming off the east coast many miles away and it was projected to hit the windward island (of which grenada is the most southern). So we followed it carefully. It was confusing getting different reports from different sources. The news kept saying it was a tropical storm, likely to turn into a hurricane, but some people at home had said theyd seen satellite feeds showing it to already be a cat 3 hurricane! We didnt know what to believe. But then after the first night it had developed into a hurricane, and was likely to get stronger. It was estimated to hit at around midnight that night. The supermarkets were crazy - lots of white americans hoarding the water and bread, there was nothing left by about lunchtime the previous day!! We quickly made a dash to the hospital to say we were prepared and had somewhere to stay and then buggered off straight away to get ready. Its always important in a hurricane to get supplies of food and WATER, and batteries/candles, to last for 3 days. So we march into foodland to stock up. What do we buy? 24 bottles of beer, 4 litres of coke, 3 loafs of bread (for 7 people!!!) shit loads of cheese, pringles and some peanut butter! rely on the brits to think they can get through a hurricane pissed. We got some petrol as well, just coz it seemed to be the thing everyone was doing, even tho i didnt know where i would want to drive afterwards!

So, this takes us to about 2pm, 10 hours to go...oooooh.

hmm, well we got bored of sitting in the flat after about an hour and everyone just started doing their own thing, like going for a walk etc. It was eary outside tho, very quiet apart from the banging of people boarding up their windows. Quite a strange experience as well, coz its the sort of thing u see on the news, people preparing for a hurricane, but to be there doing it urself was a bit odd. So by about 6pm we were utterly bored out our minds. We were all staying a the liverpool lots flat at wavecrest by the way. By now we had already drunk half the beer and the girls were upstairs getting stoned!! Aisha, in all her wisdom, managed to persuade me to have a splif (even tho ive never smoked!!). I dont think i got high, more burnt my lungs and started coughing everywhere! But she gladly finished it off, much to her amusement, as everything in the world became funny! Off upstairs for more she went. The breeze started picking up by about now, but nothing major but it made us take the hint and hunker down for a hurricane. We had a gas canister so we could still cook, so i made everyone a curry, which then turned into a space curry (with hash for the innocents who dont understand). Still no hurricane. More beer, stupid games, laughing at the girls who couldnt formulate a single sentence coz they were so stoned. Then they all buggered off to bed at about 11pm. I stuck it out! grrr! I sat outside gradually seeing the wind pick up, but still it was only as bad as a small gale at home. But then at about 3am it started getting very gusty, and u could feel the gusts coming through the vibrations in the floor, quite disturbing actually! then just the roar of a gust of wind. It felt very strong but again it was only as bad as a gale at home. I was very tired, so retired, thinking it wasnt going to get any worse.

Woke up the next day to find water everywhere! and apparently it hit about half an hour after i went to bed, with constant winds of about 90mph and gusts of about 115mph. There wasnt any damage to be seen but apparently the north of the island got hit very badly. the hospital lots some of its roof. my place in lance aux epine was a bit flooded, a few windows out, but nothing bad. The beach however was a sight! huge waves still crashing even though the storm had passed, and yatchs beached. trees everywhere and generally lots of shit on the beach. Grand anse apparently has loads of dead fish on it.

So, not quite as bad as we were expecting, but we got pissed and stoned and weathered it out :)

Thinking about changing the last 4 weeks of my elective to go around america, but will talk about that another time.

Cyas for now,

Andrew
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beef_jerkey/elective_2005/1121010900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beef_jerkey/elective_2005/1121010900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beef_jerkey/elective_2005/1121010900/tpod.html Mon, 22 Aug 2005 14:55:00 -0400 10 weeks of sun, sea, sand, beer.....and a little bit of work.....maybe

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Lance Aux Epines, Grenada

Hi everyone

Havnt been uploading anything recently, so thought I would tell u what ive been up to recently, if i can remember, coz it mostly involves alcohol!

Well since I last wrote, its been pissssssing it down!!! Ive never seen so much water fall out the sky in all my life! There was a period where it practically didnt stop raining for 48hours, but now and then there would be torential monsoons. It rained so much actually that it flooded my beach! A beach! So the nxt day everyone was digging channels into the sand to drain it all. Its freshened the place up tho, but as soon as the sun hits the water, it just changes to steam in an instant and ur all of a sudden in a sauna. So there hasnt been much to do apart from play cards with everyone from liverpool. I swear I could win a world championship at Hearts now! We have even resorted to playing Slam like little girls, theres just nothing to do when it rains! We also just start drinking as well. Simon will ask me if i want a beer at about 11am and i just say why not...but it normally means another trip to the supermarket for more beer and rum by about 3pm. We are certainly doing well in the drinking games department, necking shot after shot of minging rum which just makes u feel sick rather than nice and warm inside.

But then the sun came out! Down the beach, like proper albino brits! straight into a formation line for a marathon of sweating and sizzling! We went on the banana boat as well, but it was a short lived afair coz when we first fell off, nadia went crashing into simons shoulder, face first. She looked like she'd seen a shark or something but then the blood coming from her mouth and chin gave it away, chipped one of her front teeth, and a molar. So she went off for some hospitaly stuff. So that sort of put a skunner on the day! Back to the sunbathing! I actually got quite burnt that day, even tho i had put plenty cream on, on more than one occassion, so it flared up the guttate a bit which im a bit pissed off about, but hopefully it will die down again.

Weve had some nice meals in the last few days, unitentionally as it happened. Just thinking we were going out for a quiet cheap meal, we actually went to one of the most expensive restaurants around...was very romantic tho! Then i brought simon, karren and aisha over to the pad for a bit of sunbathing. Got the kayaks out as well, and being the men, me and simon went out, hydrofoiling across the caribbean sea. Well, actually, we only made it round both corners of the bay, but was cool all the same. Went begging for a beer half way at one of the boats that were tied up, but they were french i think and they didnt have any, fucking french! can never rely on them! So it was back to shore to pick the girls up and be the rough and ready men that we are and paddle them down the coast to the bar. This was really funny actually coz the bar is only about 100 metres down the beach, but id say it took us the best part of 30mins to get there! It was clearly the girls fault, over-reacting and tipping us into the water...me trying to protect my wallet like it was a pint of beer! And we kept sinking, must have been those two heffers that got in! hehe. So the girls were instructed to BAIL BAIL BAIL as the boys paddled as if we were about to be blown out the water by a submarine. Neadless to say, we didnt make much progress...about 10 metres before capsising again! But we battled on and finally made it. We did however get over taken by a wrinkly old lady who was laughing at us as she swam past us, little bitch!

So after a hard 100 metre paddle to the bar we got in the beers and pinocoladas! Well, quite a few of them. This bar is at the Calabash hotel for anyone who is interested, where gary rhodes has his restaurant! Na na na na na. Thinking we'd splash out, we had a sandwich! So it all came to over 260$!!! which is about 50 pounds! But we were all rather merry so who cares! U should try swimming in the sea when ur pissed, its a wierd sensation, quite a trip!

Cant really remember what happened after that but sure it involved alcohol. I do however remember skinny dipping with aisha (although she had her underwear on which i think is a bit cheeky!) It was awesome tho! There was a thunderstorm at the same time, with loads of lightning, pitch black, skinny dipping in the warm water! I did have a lot of bites the next day tho, so it may have been the crabs!

Em, next night again was drinking, went to the Aquarium (no not the fish tank variety!) where we had copious jelly shots. Me, simon, karren and aisha (the usual 4 it seems) ended staying a bit longer, well, until we got chucked out. But it was pissing it down, with nowhere to shelter, so we started walking, trying to head-off the taxi that was supposed to have arrived half an hour ago! But we ended up in the most surreal place. Pissing it down with rain, lightning going off all around, woods on one side, and then just this door on the other. It was just a plain wood door with two lights on either side, just standing there! Sure there must have been a house attached to it, but u could see it. Had a creeping sensation someone wielding a chainsaw was about to run out the woods. Oh, that was the skinny dipping night, just put two and two together, coz i was soaked, thought why not! LETS GET NAKED!!

So that about brings everything up to speed. Could have summerized everything just by saying i got pissed for 5 days but hey ho

Oh, ur probably wondering why the title is ups and downs, well was dead chuffed about getting the olympics(will all need to go!) only to be told the next day that some fucking "in-the-name-of-islam"ers have set bombs off in london! really pissed me off. Think we should send in Team America - FUCK YEAH! u have to have seen the film to appreciate that one i think, unless ur a lets-blow-everything-up kinda person, like me

Dont really know what im talkin about now, so will sign off. Going to try and get some more pics on soon, if i can find the camera cable :S

Catch yas l8r,

Andrew
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beef_jerkey/elective_2005/1120090980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beef_jerkey/elective_2005/1120090980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beef_jerkey/elective_2005/1120090980/tpod.html Mon, 22 Aug 2005 13:59:28 -0400 10 weeks of sun, sea, sand, beer.....and a little bit of work.....maybe

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St. George's, Grenada

Hi everyone,

Ive had a few requests asking what im actually doing at the hospital, and what the people here are like.

So lets start with the hospital. Theres not a lot to say, coz i dont do much :) I tend to go in for about 8:30 depending on when i wake up. I know my consultant will be rolling in late again at about 10am. His best was turning up at 1130am then buggering off at 12! So i drive to the hospital which is on this hill overlooking the carenage of st. george's. Its actually right next to a fort as well which i will need to check out at some point. Theres two main parts to the hospital, a big 4/5 storey block then a tiny 2 story building which has offices on the top floor and A&E and radiology on the ground floor. Thats where i am, but it pretty much is a shack but with proper walls. It leaks whenever it rains coz there was loads of damage from the hurricane. So i huddle myself away into this tiny room after saying good morning to everyone (they then say something and i just nod and smile in agreement coz cant understand a word they say!). I pick up any films that havnt been reported (coz my consultant does sod all!) and set to work on them. I go through all the chest xrays no problem and write the reports, but if theres a barium enema to do i stay well clear coz i dont understand them at all. But im getting more confident and reporting other things like KUBs, bones (just learnt how to spot a depressed fracture on a skull xray, and no dad, thats not a fracture that is down on itself!) etc. So i go through all those, writing reports for the ones i can manage, but leave the rest for him to run through with me, when he finally arrives. So that takes me to about 1100am normally and then he might run through some films he keeps stached of cool conditions. So i am learning stuff and getting an eye for it all. I can pretty much scan a chest xray and decide whats wrong with it in a couple of seconds. And after all that, i bugger off to the beach!!! :)

The people here are quite strange, only because if u did what they do in britain u would be arrested. They are all really friendly, and always say hi to u in passing. U will get chatting to them about anything really. If ur on the beach tho and someone comes up to u and u start talking to them, u can pretty much guarantee they are going to ask u for money. And then theres those on the beach trying to sell woven baskets, necklaces etc to u. However there is one rasta weve got to know - david - who we see often on grand anse beach. Hes the exception tho coz he doesnt force a sale on u, and is great to just sit and talk to. He produces regae music so he'll get u listening to what hes made. He brought his daughter along one day as well. He does sell stuff, but not pushy and so the girls all ordered an ankle bracelet off him, he deserved it coz he was genuine. Im thinking i need an ankle bracelet now! theyve all got one! feel left out.

Although everyone is really friendly, it can be very intimidating, especially for the girls. The men have no shame at all and instantly start gathering around the girls, coming up to them with cheasy lines. But they all holla things like, "hey whitey" etc which really doesnt come across as being that friendly, especially at night. This is why karren decided to move coz she was on her own in the middle of the city and it just felt really unsafe...dont blame her.

Then of course there are just some wierd people hanging around. The place is probably very safe, but it doesnt feel like it.

Well i havnt been up to much recently coz its been raining the whole time! hopefully the sun will come out so i can get down the beach again

amy, anna, katie and rebecca leave on saturday so its going to get a bit lonely round here. Theres some liverpool student here who im quite keen to get to know...might invite them round to my pad one night.

so thats it for now, any more requests then send them in ;) ill try and get some photos of me online soon mum :)

Byeee,

AJG
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beef_jerkey/elective_2005/1123885500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beef_jerkey/elective_2005/1123885500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beef_jerkey/elective_2005/1123885500/tpod.html Tue, 16 Aug 2005 14:36:52 -0400 10 weeks of sun, sea, sand, beer.....and a little bit of work.....maybe

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New York, New York, United States

Ok, so its pissing it down with thunder and lightning at the moment, so thought i could waste some time by filling this in.

Got here (NYC) without a hitch. Was quite scared something was going to go wrong since it was with american airlines. Takes quite a while to get from JFK to the hostel, but its only 2 metro journeys, at $7, which is cool. First thing i noticed when i got into the airport was the heat. I was expecting it to be quite warm, but its boiling here, almost like grenada. Very humid as well. Someone told me this has been a bit of an abnormal summer for NYC, not usually this hot and muggy.

But anyway, got to my hostel, in a really cool cosmopolitan area of the city. Is in the east side of mid-manhattan so really close to everything. Lots of eateries and bars around as well. The hostel itself is really cool, very layed back and friendly. Had to sleep in a different dorm for the first night, only coz i decided to arrive 1 day early. But after not sleeping for about 36hours, went out to the pubs and clubs. Went to this place nextdoor called the Cellar. Is just ur average bar i guess, but it has the most awesome arcade game ever - Buck Hunter II. Basically u just go through states of america shooting deer with a pump-action shotgun!! :) U have to reload ever shot which is sooo much fun. The deer then run across the screen, but be careful not to shoot the does or u lose. So $3 gets u a full tour and we normally play 4 player so the game goes on for about half an hour. But u can get special prizes for shooting all 3 bucks on each level - triple buck bonus! Grrrr! Yeeeeehaa.....caught me a buck! Anyway, thats where we usually start off most nights.

That first night we ended up in the strangest club ive ever been in. Was down in what looked like an old wine cellar - the walls were bare brick and there were recessed arches that looked like they once had a wine barrel in it, now turned into seating area. All of that was quite cool, but then looked into the middle of the floor to find que of people getting their hair cut!! with a proper hair dresser! Whats that all about?! They got shit haircuts as well coz it was really dimly lit! Weird! Every sort of person passed through as well. Started off as a heterosexual club, then became completely gay, then lesbian! :S There was also a mute barmaid, and i order to get a drink u had to talk to someone else sat next to them, who then passed on the order. For some reason i ended up getting 3 olives with every drink, so idea why.

So the next day was a bit of a slow start, naturally, but ended up heading downtown. Went straight to the ferry at the tip of manhattan to go to see the statue of liberty. Ended up getting on a ferry to staton island instead of ellis island. So got taken miles and miles away into the middle of nowhere, but it was free, and it went right past the statue of liberty (which is tiny!!! how annoying). NYC is really hazy as well. Dont know if its like that all the time, but by half distance to staton island, u couldnt see the city for haze. So, once i got back to manhattan, went for a wander up to the world trade center site. I didnt know quite what to expect, but it certainly gave me some sort of emotion. Coz when ur walking through all the sky scrapers, u cant see more than a few blocks infront of u, and then u are all of a sudden there, this massive expanse of nothing-ness, and just a enormous hole in the ground! It was quite morbidly touristy, with scrats trying to sell u the history of the towers, but still, it was a moving sight even tho theres nothing to see. They must have been huge when they were around. Got a look at what they plan to build in memory of the towers, tallest building ever, looks really good. Would be good to come back when its done. So from there i went east to brooklyn bridge. Very cool bridge even tho its really old. Just loads of cables going everywhere. Actually, its exactly like those drawings u make when u cross straight lines to make a curved edge, only 100ft bigger. End of day one

Today, i went back to the bridge to get some photos after camera died yesterday. Then went uptown to the empire state building. Longest ques in the world inside, but it was airconditioned which was a life saver. Has been incredibly hot today. was 100 degrees yesterday, but even hotter today and more humid. Still not like grenada, but in the close confines of buildings, people and subways, its unbearable. So eventually got to the top of the building. Again was very hazy so could only see as far as central park, but views were still awesome. Somehow they allow planes to fly a few hundred feet above the tower (americans - they dont learn do they!! Someone should just crash a plane into the viewing platform to teach them a lesson) Anyway, was just about to leave when i tipped it down, so hopped into a bar inside the building and had my first buffalo/bison burger! Yeeeha. Was really nice actually.

Em, then headed to times square and broadway which just put plainly is mental!!! Lights, people, cabs, everywhere!

Next day was a total right-off!!! Previous night i went to the Cellar to play some more Buck Hunter with this new korean guy. Had a few beers then a few games, then a few more beers, and then a few more. Got totally and utterly trashed on newcastle brown ale! Dont remember anything at all the next morning but am reliably informed that i was violently sick! My bowels are being somewhat unreliable as well. But hey, guess an international med student has to leave their mark on New York. The bar tender was a bit weird about the whole newcastle brown ale tho. I was telling him how ur supposed to drink it in half pints. He couldnt accept this at all, or get it into his head and just kept saying, we only sell stuff by the pint. I was merely trying to explain a custom to him. Anyway, needless to say the next day was spent in bed! Ventured out once to buy a coke but was pushing the limits and quickly returned to bed.

Today (my last day) ive been shopping down 5th avenue, got something rather nice for my mum (have to wait and see mum). The street is awesome with loads of top designer shops. U could spend a fortune there so easily and come away with next to nothing. Passed the Rockefellar center and had a quick nosey inside. Its got loads of stuff in it, including NBC studios and a shopping mall! Then popped just down the road to the worlds only NBA store! How cool! Shooting hoops, badly, in a shop. Em, then went up the rest of 5th av to central park. This place is huge!!! Its not just one park as well, theres loads of them, each with lakes, trees, ball parks, plazzas etc etc. Took me about half an hour just to cross the width of the thing! Its all very nicely landscaped as well and once ur in the middle of it u forget ur in a city completely. Bit bizarre tho in some of the areas where u stand infront of a really beautiful lake, and there behind it are 10s of massive sky scrapers. One of the parts of the park (strawberry fields) on central park west was donated by john lennons wife. Oko noko boko foko gecho lennon (or whatever the fuck shes called). If u cross the street u get to dakota house (where he used to live, and where he was shot outside). In the park theres a tiled area on the ground, in the middle of which simply reads "imagine". Quite nice except for the swarms of americans thinking they own him and the shitty portable aluminium railings put around it to stop the swarms-of-americans-thinking-they-own-him running all over it. Still, quite cool to be able to say ive been to where john lennon was shot, if not a little morbid :S

So im now timewasting back at the hostel waiting to go to the airport. Should be back tomorrow mid day. When im back i will upload the rest of the photos and videos, plenty more cool ones to see.

So cyas all soon and hope uve enjoyed my elective :)

Andrew
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beef_jerkey/elective_2005/1123451640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beef_jerkey/elective_2005/1123451640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beef_jerkey/elective_2005/1123451640/tpod.html Fri, 12 Aug 2005 18:24:22 -0400 10 weeks of sun, sea, sand, beer.....and a little bit of work.....maybe

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San Francisco, California, United States

John and paddy decided to come to san fran with us so we hopped in their car to get there on the cheap. We had hummed and hawed about going to the grand canyon, but at mid day we didnt think it was really feasible. But then someone suggested we go anyway, see it just before the sun sets then drive through the night to san fran. Hmmm, i wasnt really looking forward to that prospect, but we did it anyway. So off we went.

About 30 miles out of LA you have to cross Hoover dam. Really impressive. U drive a wee bit next to lake Mead (largest man made lake in the world) before getting to the dam. The main road goes across the dam as well so u get really good views. Stopped for a bit there to take a goosey then kept on trucking. Some 4 hours later we finally made it to grand canyon, just in time before the sun went down. Oh my god! Such a breath taking view. Was well worth the drive. It just goes on and on and on. All the rock is a reddy colour and u can see the layers, probably spanning millions of years. Theres really cool observatory posts which sit out over the edge. So u can peer down the initial gradients of the canyon, which are large enough in themselves, but the u see further down what looks like another canyon, within the canyon. Think its something like 4000ft deep. Really we timed it just right as the sun was setting, which just glowed on the rocks. incredible colours and just hugely enormous. And deadly still as well which was a bit eary, not a sound anywhere or a breeze. Was really cool tho, was expecting it to be roastin. We only stayed there maybe half an hour coz all we wanted was to see it, and it was worth it!

But then we had to head to san fran. Really depressin thought coz from vegas, grand canyon is the opposite direction pretty much so we did actually pass back through vegas at about 10pm, only 500 ish miles to go, wooohoo!

In all i think it took us pretty much bang on 24 hours to do the whole thing! My body was totally broken by the time we got there, tired and exhausted. I iwas totally stressed as well coz we didnt have a room for the night so i was panickin i was going to be sleeping in the car, nooooo! But it worked out fine in the end.

Me and aisha ended up stayin in this funky art hotel. The walls of our room had weird paintings on them, was really cool and funky. then in all the corridors there was modern art for sale. was basically like an art gallery, but a hotel at the same time.

San fran is a gorgeous city. Very cosmopolitan. We in a perfect location, just a few blocks from union square, where all the hubbub is. Loads and loads of shops and eateries and diners. Again we didnt see much of the city, but its just such a cool place to live u dont get bored of it. One day we went down to fishermans wharf (by tram :) ) and rented bikes to go over the golden gate bridge. Really nice ride along the front where all the peers are, then u get to the bridge. Really amazing structure. Think its probably just the colour that makes it soo cool. And, it just sits there in the mist all the time, really pituresque. Its absolutely freezin on the bridge, really windy as well, but the scenery makes up for it! Then it was down to the ferry peer in this quaint little village where we got the ferry back to the wharf. That was cool as well coz there isnt any mist there and the sun was just setting over the mountains and bridge...ace. U pass Alcatraz on the way, which is quite cool just to have seen it. Tried to go there at one point but it was booked out for about a week or something.

Not much to report on san fran coz we didnt do much. But it is a reallllly nice city, well worth going to.

Im writing this from New york, came here a day early. Was very sad coz went to the airport with aisha to see her off. Missing her loads! Have had such a great time with her, has made my elective i think. So I then got a flight at 7am to here, and was then knackered again. Think ive done my share of flying, dont want to do any more!

Will be getting home 3 days early coz dont really want to stay in NYC for 9 days, bit too long, so got 4 days now. So when i get back i will put up an entry for here and get all the photos and videos online.

So until then, enjoy the rest of ur electives while they last and will c u all very soon back in the real world :)

AJG
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beef_jerkey/elective_2005/1123103460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beef_jerkey/elective_2005/1123103460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beef_jerkey/elective_2005/1123103460/tpod.html Fri, 12 Aug 2005 17:53:24 -0400 10 weeks of sun, sea, sand, beer.....and a little bit of work.....maybe

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Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

The road trip to vegas was cool. We rented an SUV for me, aisha, haley and amy. We picked it up and it was thig huge beige thing! Quite cool actually, loads of gadgets inside and really high riding position, felt like a proper american. Never driven in america, or on the right hand side, so was goin to be an experience! Set off very gingerly trying not to run over a building or something in my beast of a car. But we only made it about 100 metres out of the rental place when we realised we didnt have a clue how to get out of the city...so what do u do in that situation? U stop for a burger! Yeeeehah, my burger quest had begun! Mmmmmmm, probably the best burger ive had in america so far was at that little diner. But we got back on the road after some directions and the biggest lunch weve ever had and headed north east. Took us an hour to get out of the city at about 70mph, with no traffic or getting lost, its that big!! Was loving the fact u can overtake in any lane, so weaving in and out of the traffic. But we made good progress and it took us about 5 and a half hours to get to vegas. On the way however we had a bit of a strip. haley and amy had long before decided that they wanted to drive across the desert naked. They wernt on the rental as drivers so unluckily i was driving when the show began. We had blacked out windows so wasnt that risky, but i then reaslised i had control over all the windows of the car. So made sure we were passing family SUV when i wound down all the windows, with the two of the totally starkers in the back seats :) was sooo funny hearing them shreaking while the passers-by get an eyeful of titties nearly being sucked out the window as we hurtle past. So, some light entertainment broke the journey up nicely. Was pretty easy to find our hotel, the stratosphere, coz its basically a huge tower, can see it for miles and miles.

Vegas is an awesome place!!! will definitely return sometime, when i have more money to lose. Hotel was really cool. In vegas, u never need to leave the hotel. Ours had its casino, outdoor rooftop pool, the tower with revolving restaurant and rollercoasters at the top! U will never get board in vegas. Cant remember what we did the first night but one night went out with the lads (bit of a disagreement with aisha :S ) to MGM grand hotel. The taxi ride through the central strip to the hotel was awesome. Soooo many lights and massive hotels. Everything just stinks of money, no expense spared and everything has to be a spectacle or it wont fit in. So we were passing places like the Bellagio, paris, treasure island (where there was an outdoor performance of female pirates on a full sized boat, in the lake outside the hotel going on as we passed). The MGM is a gorgeous building, green tinted and very classy looking. We hit a few bars in New York complex before heading to the casino. Its hard to understand, but a lot of the hotels are based upon areas of the world and theyre basically cities withing themselves. So paris has its own eiffel tower and new york has a statue of liberty! and all of this is just along the strip...bizarre but awesome to oogle at at the same time. So hit the tables in the casino. Everything in the MGM is at least a $10 minimum bet so we took a while to decide what we wanted to do. The neet thing is tho, if ur gambling u get complimentary drinks!! :) We had a few lets say. And at $30 for a rum and coke in some places, we made our money back! We started on the roulette tables but soon found u need a lot of capital to generously spread around the table if u want to win anything but it was good fun just blowing $20 in about 10 seconds. That was that then. Moved onto blackjack (21/pontoon if u dont know). Again, $10 minimum bets, but a lot better odds. The dealers are really cool, coz they know ur a nooby, and help u out, giving u tips etc. So we joined in and got our chips ($5 each). I actually started winning and ended up quiting when i was on $80 (i even got the next colour of chip, woohoo!) But then it began...the drinks kept flowing, and simon and john got hooked! They kept losing and losing but being spurred on by the occassional win, they kept going to the ATM over and over taking out $200 a time. Neadless to say they lost it all. Me and paddy left at about 5am coz we got a bit bored of watching them lose their money by this point, and id gambled away my winnings out of boredom...damnit! They played on! Met up with them the next day, simon had lost $700!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! John about the same. So in all they splurged about $1200 between them in one night at the tables. Simons credit card got blocked, haha.

On other days me and aisha just ended up exploring the different hotels coz theres soooo much to see in them. Had a peak in the bellagio (id say its the nicest one there...so filthy rich and very classy) but also went to the mirage, flamingos and paris amonst others. Paris was awesome. Although the eiffel tower isnt full size, id say its about half the size, just sitting within the grounds of the hotel! there was a mini arc de triumph as well in the roundabout lobby entrance! Inside was gorgeous, set out like how u would imagine the back streets of paris to be. It was basically a urban village under a roof! but the ceiling was painted to be a sky with clouds etc and looked very real, so u ended up ignoring it and felt like u were outside in paris somewhere! really weird. Just ended up people watching, as bridemaids and allsorts walk past.

Its hard to get ur head round, but just the scale of the place is awesome. The MGM for instance is like walking around the metro centre, its that big! and thats just sitting at the side of the strip. We ended up going to other places like the venetian. This place is magical, set on venice and has its owen waterways running through the place with condolas! Hehe, we came across some people with thos gyro bikes (the two wheel things u stand on and it balances u and takes u around). We blagged a shot each, was sooo much fun, we all want one now. Em, the mirage has a zoo inside it! Has a white bengal tiger on display and thats just walking through the entrance! Soo much stuff i cant put it all in or remember it.

The last night we went to the revolving restaurant and splashed out a bit. Its at the top of our hotel, really high up and u can peer down over the edge and even back on urself from ur table! takes about 1hr30 to go full circle. Was cool coz we caught it as the sun was setting so started off looking over the strip in daylight, then went past the surrounding mountains as the sun was setting, to come back to the strip in darkness with all the lights on...what a view!

So then we had to leave :( but will definitely come back. More to see tho, another road trip ahead of us!...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beef_jerkey/elective_2005/1122669180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beef_jerkey/elective_2005/1122669180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beef_jerkey/elective_2005/1122669180/tpod.html Fri, 12 Aug 2005 17:09:06 -0400 10 weeks of sun, sea, sand, beer.....and a little bit of work.....maybe

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Los Angeles, California, United States

Hey everyone, sorry havnt put any entries on since flying to LA, but will fill u in on all thats happened since then, if I can remember! :S Sooooo much stuff to say.

So, where to start? Well, from grenada, I got a taxi at some stupid hour like 4am to the airport to board the shittest plane ive ever seen! Looked like it hadnt been serviced since it was bought, but then again, it was American Eagle (part of AA) I was flying with so I shouldnt have expected more. So that was a back breaking 2 hour jaunt to san juan (definitely the hub of the world by the sounds of it!) coz the seats were tiny, with no leg room, so being the freak i am, practically had my knees up to my chin. Being wedged next to a fat woman doesnt help either. But anyway, why am i going into details on a connecting flight? i dont know! So quick dash to another plane to miami, then again to LA. Arrive at LA, and what happens, the fuckers left my bag at miami! twats! So i stood around for about an hour hoping my bag would suddenly appear on the carousel but then decided to take out my frustration on the people at the AA baggage desk. They lose so much luggage, they have a dedicated service for it at LA aiport!!! The little midget that 'helped' me coz a grilling as she tried make me phone them the next day, from my mobile! Told her where she could shove that, cheaky bitch.

Was bizarre finally getting out the airport at about 8pm, had forgotten what the real world looked like, but then realised i was in america....and yeah it just got more and more stupid. Got talking to a shuttle dispatcher while he organised a ride for me. So gave him a generous tip and he shouted back "and a good day to you sir!" in a proper american accent. I just hung my head and thought "oh my god!!"

So eventually got to liberty hotel, hollywood at about 9pm totally knackered. Must have looked gorgeous when aisha found me! But was soooo chuffed to see her again.

Next day, did a bit of wandering around hollywood, along the stars street. Found kermit the frog so im happy. I thought it was just movie stars, but allsorts were there, actors, singer, theatre peeps etc etc, basically anyone famous. Its odd the way they came to be tho: you would imagine they would get nominated then get their star put in the ground, but no..they have to get nominated, that then goes to a committee which decides if they can get a star or not. The famous person then has to pay $15,000 for the star and organise the whole reception themselves. Really does put in perspective the american ego, paying for ur own star! The street itself is a bit of a dive, very dirty and run-down. Not what you expect at all. Theres lots of open door shops with canopies...nothing glass fronted or expensive. So the whole thing stretches for maybe 5 blocks and then just stops and ur in the middle of nowhere! And theres only really one place where anything happens, which is outside the chinese theatre. That place is awesome and has all the famous stars' signatures and handprints on the ground infront. The day we were there they were rolling out the red carpets and setting up stage lights coz the premier of the Dukes of Hazard film was premiering that night. And as we went home, past the hotel next to ours...there was the actual car from film! gorgeous car, although in bright orange! Didnt find jessica simpson anywhere, damnit! So other than the theatre in hollywood, theres not a lot else to go and see, so we went to the erotic sex museum :) was quite good actually, although a little freaky. It had some of the earliest porn films ever made showing. Really sick watching someone who will now be as old as ur granny sucking off some guy with slicked back hair, while she takes one up the arse! A thought i would rather supress! Then upstairs there were exhibits, like the only fully automated cyborg fuck buddy. Not kidding, a full size robot man and women designed to be shagged. Then there was loads of sex toys etc and some wierd pictures of different types of sexuality...images consisting of genitals, piss, fists, old people, gay people, horse's cock etc etc....hmmmm. But quite a quirky place all the same

Another day we went into downtown LA coz wanted to find some nice shops. We must have walked around the entire city and we couldnt find a single one!! Everything was like in hollywood - open doored shops, for as far as the eye could see. Nothing with glass, or nothing designer, and we even went to the best shopping streets, so cant imagine what some of the lesser ones were like. Not trying to be harsh, but every menial job in LA has a mexican/latin person working it!

So in all we stayed there 4 nights i think. We didnt really see much of the place, but then again theres not much to see, and everything is very spread out coz LA is enormous!!!! Wanted to go and see universal studios, but never got round to it...i blame aisha distracting me. But then again im not complaining. We actually ranbomly bumped into two more people in aishas year, john and paddy and so they decided to come to vegas with us. It was set...road trip!...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beef_jerkey/elective_2005/1122691080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beef_jerkey/elective_2005/1122691080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beef_jerkey/elective_2005/1122691080/tpod.html Fri, 29 Jul 2005 22:39:29 -0400 10 weeks of sun, sea, sand, beer.....and a little bit of work.....maybe

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Miami, United States

second connection
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