Don't worry, I'm safe and sound. I've been to Edinburgh and Cambridge, and somehow I'm now in Liverpool. I think I'm going back to London tonight.
As you can guess, I'm not able to read or write Japanese on the Net, so if you need to tell me something, please write in English. Thanks.
I've got a whole lot of photos, but I don't know when I can put them on the web...
Back in London.
I've moved to a new student residence and have a lot to do, like filling out papers, buying necessities, and so on and so forth. Need to write a paper for Kanrin too.
Anyway. I've just found out that the overall grade I got for the presessional course was the best of all students in the same course. Here's the marks:
Those who want to study in the Faculty of Laws in UCL need to get 75%, which is equivallent to 7.5 grade in the IELTS exam. I got 8.0 grade when I took the IELTS exam last May.
--No more boasting please.
--Oops, sorry.
By the way UCL's Information System finally decided to abondon Windows 3.1 and now students can login to Windows NT -- so much faster that a lot of students were moved to tears and thanked god for this bliss.
I'm going to get a mobile soon, so I can connect my laptop to the Net. It's really a torture that I can't use the Net anytime I want.
I have to work on the Kanrin paper from tomorrow. It's not a holiday any more.
ちょ、ちょっと待て。 携帯を買ってThinkPadをコンピュータにつなげたはいいが あまりに遅すぎるのでいったいどうしたのかと思ったら、 なんと9660bpsという表示が出ている。…英国は旧石器時代か? (そういえば、今日、「ウインドウズ3.1も安定していてなかなかいいよ」 などと発言する北京原人に会った)
モデムの内蔵された携帯の方が便利だと勧められたので買ってみたが、 これではニッチもサッチもいかない。 明日また携帯屋に行って文句を言い、 別のものに変えてもらわなければならない。く、くそ。死ね死ね。
エディンバラとケンブリッジとリバプールに行った話はまたそのうち。
簡単に記しておくと、
エディンバラではアダムスミスの墓は見れなかったし、
ネス湖に行ったもののあいにくネッシーは見れなかった。
ケンブリッジはすばらしい。
リバプールではマジカルミステリーツアーに参加してペニーレインや
ストロベリーフィールズやキャヴァンクラブに行ってきた。終わり。
新しい寮がいかにすばらしいかはまだ話してなかったっけ? ボロボロのイス。流れない共同トイレ。 ボタンを押しつづけないと止まってしまう超節約型シャワー。 寮の食事はまあまあ。とりあえず生きていけそう。 ただし、時間に気をつけていないと、食事の時間を逃してしまう。 今日も夕食を食べることができなかった。
そういえば地下鉄(チューブ)もしょっちゅうどこかの線が止まっている。 よくある言い訳は、「信号の故障」、「電気系統の故障」、「エスカレータの故障」 (ときどき長い階段か止まったエレベータを歩かされる)、 「工事中」、「人員不足」など。 電車が人員不足で休みになるというのは日本ではほとんど信じられないが、 英国ではスーパーでもレジの一部が同じ理由で閉じられていたりする。 近くディストリクト線が工事期間に入るらしく、 他の線での混雑が予想されているらしい。 ちなみに地下鉄には冷房がない。 今年の8月かいつかに停電で列車が2時間立往生し、 中にいた数名があとで救急車で病院に運ばれたという事件があり、 その後、いくつかの線で冷房を入れようという話が出ているらしい。
Today I went to a mobile shop again, and complained about the speed of the internet connection. But, surprisingly enough, one shop assistent told me that 9660 bps is the fastest I can get. I asked him what if I use the modem inside my laptop, but he said it wouldn't change anything due to the limitation of speed of mobile wireless connection.
So I decided to give back the mobile and the serial cable I had got yesterday, and got a free mobile phone instead. The assistent said Nokia is going to release a new mobile with "much faster" modem next month (though he didn't know how fast it was going to be), so I may want to try that one.
O well, I think at the end of the day I have to get a regular telephone line too. It doesn't cost much; because in U.K. we don't have to obtain any telephone user rights or anything.
O, how depressing... Another week or two without any Japanese email...
I've called one telephone company which only deals with students staying at a student house (by the way, people here never say `dormitory' or `dorm'. It's either `student house' or `student hall' or, more generally, student residence or accomodation) and hopefully I can use the phone and the Net from Saturday. It's just 5 quid per month (I don't have to pay any other fee -- as long as I don't use the phone too long, say more than 100 hours per month).
I didn't realise I was that much addicted to the Internet before I came here (but I guess everybody but me knew it well...).
O, I got my hair cut today. Now I look just like a fresher, I suppose.
In the morning I practiced pronunciation at the audio room in Language Centre. I'm afraid I'm escaping from the Kanrin paper...
Today I watched a movie called `O, Brother, Where Art Thou?' The story takes place in Southen America and is allegedly based on Homer's Odyssey. The problem was the English they spoke; it was very southern and me and my friends couldn't understand most of what they said, particularly jokes. But I enjoyed the movie nevertheless and I recommed you to see it. The music is fine and we've got a man like Robert Johnson in that movie... B.