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#102 Feb 16 2010 at 9:20 PM Rating: Good
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Also, I do not mind places with high crime rates

In my opinion, theres a difference between cities with high crime rates, and a 95% chance of being stabbed. Don't get me wrong, there are nice parts of Glasgow, but you pretty much have to be careful about what you do. Several of my friends have been mugged right in front of me while walking back to the bus station to go home(probably because we were all wearing cannibal corpse T-shirts). But I probably cant diss Glasgow too much, because the city that i live in has the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Scotland(if not the UK, or maybe even Europe).

I've always enjoyed other languages, but only to listen to, I've never been any good at learning to speak them.My German is horrible, and French is obscene. I prefer the dead languages anyway I think the main reason I don't want to move to Canada is because when I was over there during Christmas for a month, no matter who I spoke to, I Couldn't have a decent conversation about something, at all.

I've traveled round most of the UK, but nowhere really seemed like it would be a good place to live, some of the accents get on my nerves in england(Birmingham), but then I haven't really found anywhere in Scotland to call home yet either.

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Welsh cakes = win.

I don't think I've ever been to wales, I should probably go some time, but I plan on going to Ireland first.
#103 Feb 16 2010 at 9:30 PM Rating: Good
Hm, I personally find that I can't learn languages at all without using them.
I could never actually learn Dutch as quickly as I do now without the help of Aeth and Moz and they're both quite awesome at teaching me, especially if you combine them. I will also go over there before my exam because being in the country makes a huge difference. 90% of my English is from living in the US/UK, video games, books, television, the radio and Internet forums. I also sometimes showed tourists around, and let a pikey stay at my place.

Generally it's much easier to pick up any language when you're forced to use it, and while being a native English speaker makes it harder, the only thing that can be very inaccesible is the accent*. And the more languages you know, the easier it gets to learn the basics of a new one.

Wales is lovely, at least Cardiff is. It's very European for a British town, I think. And I totally agree on the Birmingham accent.

*About that, I am very impressed with some people on here.
#104 Feb 17 2010 at 8:28 PM Rating: Good
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Growing up in the US teaches you jack squat about other countries. Sure, there are the occasional overviews of the culture in a Geography or World History class now and again, and it's now a standard to take at least two years of a foreign language in High School (a.k.a. Secondary School, those of you who don't speak American) before you graduate.

However, learning a foreign language in regular day-to-day school is boring and slow-paced. All I remember from four years of taking Spanish is that in Spain, the soft c sound is pronounced with a th sound, memorizing vocab words you will use for a test then forget sucks, and the phrase "Yo tengo tres gatos en mis pantalones".

I think it would be completely awesome to be fluent in multiple languages, but I don't learn from straight memorization very well and there's not a lot of people I can speak Swahili to in suburban North Texas.

But I've been posting about me, myself, and I for an awkwardly long time now.



So. Favorite places to visit, anyone?

Edited, Feb 17th 2010 11:04pm by IDrownFish
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#105 Feb 17 2010 at 10:37 PM Rating: Excellent
Best places? Very hard question.

I think it comes down to preference a lot. I personally really like Nottingham. Most people hate it.

Generally people agree that Berlin is awesome and if it wasn't full of Germans, I'd totally agree. I've spent most of my life in that city and it's never gotten boring. I just didn't like all the Germans and wanted a change. For tourism or living there for a couple of years it's brilliant and it also is the town that gets the most tourists in the world and large enough to still be full of non-commercialised awesome.

The coast of Poland is awesome, as well as the Frisian coast. Greece has loads of really old stuff that I really enjoyed and nice vegetation. Austria is pretty in the winter, generally, if you go into the mountains and stuff. Most Southern European countries have areas that are pretty much tailored toward American tourists, so if that is your sort of thing, just go with a travel agency. For countries where you don't speak the language, everything else can be quite scary if you don't pay a guide, especially if you're not used to travelling, but you'll get by fine with English in most places; just rural areas and some parts of Eastern Europe are a bit less anglicised. Just take a look at what sounds appealing to you.

For living, it's all different if you're European. I get full health care coverage in most EU countries, for example, but you wouldn't. You'd also need a visa where I don't and other stuff. Just pick out a country you like in some way (and if it's only their food) and visit the embassy website, they always have some good pointers.

It's really all down to preference and how much money you have, what you plan to do etc.

I know that quite a few people take a gap year and just travel; one of the brilliant things about Europe is that there are very diverse cultures all on one fairly small continent, so you could do one of those work and travel things and live right out of your pocket, or go fully gipsy and just play the guitar badly in public places, you can live surprisingly well off that if you keep to the bigger cities. I know. :P
You also might want to check out this, I've known a girl who did it in Spain and is now fluent in Spanish. I'm sort of considering doing it myself at some point, after my BSc maybe.
There are various international volunteering programmes, I don't really know any others.
And I can't stretch this enough, I don't know what your preferences are. I mean, surely you know if you prefer cities or the countryside, flat places or mountains, hot or cold weather? You'll probably have fun anywhere simply because the places will be new and exciting to you even when they're really dull to anyone from the area.

I think you should maybe wait till you've finished High School or are legal or whatever, anyway. I mean, I've only started travelling on my own without anyone to organise stuff for me a good year ago and it probably would've been proper chaotic before that.

This is also a good place to look at if you're not afraid of the whole thing, we used to be hosts for a while and it's a great way to meet interesting people and get an insider's perspective on places you visit. Or make friends on Allakhazam! I've visited a few people who post here and so far they've all been really nice IRL and there's actually some who are more awesome IRL than on the forums.

As for languages and stuff, Skype is the best thing since airplanes were invented. I think I mentioned that I am working toward Advanced Level Dutch without even having done the basics before (apart from the very basics) over Skype with two nice people who post here for teachers? It's the fastest I've learned a language outside of the country where it's spoken. Ever.

Also, if you get to planning a trip, feel free to ask me how to optimise, for anything within Europe I pretty much know how to do it or at least where to look.


TL;DR: Best places to visit can't be defined without knowing the person planning a trip, alternative methods of travel are awesome, Skype is a great language learning tool, and contact me for more wall of text!
#106 Feb 17 2010 at 11:07 PM Rating: Good
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Kalivha wrote:
I think you should maybe wait till you've finished High School or are legal or whatever, anyway. I mean, I've only started travelling on my own without anyone to organise stuff for me a good year ago and it probably would've been proper chaotic before that.


Oh, I agree. If a trip to Europe for something more long-term than just a quick visit is in the cards for me, it won't be for a long time, until during or after my time in college.

I just like to think about these kinds of things in advance. I don't really want to just wake up one morning, say, "Hm, I think I'll go backpacking across Europe", and hop on a plane. I'd want to have at least a general idea of where I want to go.
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#107 Feb 17 2010 at 11:51 PM Rating: Good
IDrownFish wrote:
I just like to think about these kinds of things in advance. I don't really want to just wake up one morning, say, "Hm, I think I'll go backpacking across Europe", and hop on a plane. I'd want to have at least a general idea of where I want to go.


Oh, of course.

I do the same most of the time. I've had my moments where I spontaneously went to some random place in the middle of nowhere in a foreign country, but it is of course different on a whole different continent.

What worked quite well for me was knowing people who'd been to the towns I visited (or even ones who lived there). For England, everyone who gave me advice on what to see in different places was off Allakhazam, too.
If you want to experience me blabber on about this sort of thing for hours, we can take this to a more immediate medium since I feel bad about leaving you (and the rest of the priest forum) with walls of text like this.

This thread has an awesome derail about travel in the UK (me asking for info before my first trip!) and some of it is applicable to all of Europe, plus the UK is a good place to start - new places are much less scary if you know the language and preferrably some people. Take the bit about Birmingham with a grain of salt though, that place is horrible. The best bit about it was the hostel. By far.

Basically, I believe picking out a destination is more about which place your gut says is interesting than about what other people tell you is good. See Birmingham and me. And I'll just be confident in your ability to determine which places are completely boring. Not that anything is boring if you're innately interested. Coming to Tadley was well exciting at first.
#108 Feb 18 2010 at 2:52 PM Rating: Good
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IDrownFish wrote:
So. Favorite places to visit, anyone?
Can't say it's my favourite place as I haven't been there for long, but the 6 days total I spend in Kathmandu were great and I am definitely going back there either after I'm done with my photography education or at some point during that education as a sort of study trip/holiday thing.
And the next time I want to travel south from there to see more of Nepal and some of India instead of going north towards Tibet like I did a few years ago.

One really good thing to do, once you've figured out where you want to go, is buy the Lonely Planet for that area/country.

And on that topic, name a place, any place that is not on your continent that you want to go to.
Don't think about it for more than like.. 30 seconds and just name the first thing that pops into your head.
#109 Feb 18 2010 at 4:11 PM Rating: Excellent
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His Excellency Aethien wrote:
And on that topic, name a place, any place that is not on your continent that you want to go to.


Visiting Edinburgh is the last thing on my list of things to do before I die.
#110 Feb 18 2010 at 6:35 PM Rating: Decent
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I'd recommend Ireland instead, Teacake. I'm massively gonna insult Sgriob now =P, but 90% of Scotland seems a watered-down boring version of Ireland, which is ******* awesome. Edinburrow seems very similar to Newcastle, London and other English cities to me, and I liked Dublin a lot more. If you want to see Scotland, I'd recommend either the real highlands up in the north-west or the coastal areas in the (south-)west.
#111 Feb 18 2010 at 7:08 PM Rating: Good
His Excellency Aethien wrote:
One really good thing to do, once you've figured out where you want to go, is buy the Lonely Planet for that area/country.

And on that topic, name a place, any place that is not on your continent that you want to go to.
Don't think about it for more than like.. 30 seconds and just name the first thing that pops into your head.


Both these things are the thruth.

And I really don't think anything we say that is just our opinion should influence you too much. I've heard quite a few people claim Ireland is boring, or a watered down version of France or whatever, and really it all depends on you, and on what mindset you have when first entering a place. I mean, most people probably find the Netherlands quite boring but I am still looking forward to going there soon a lot.


PS: I had awesome adventures in Tadley today. I actually got lost and discovered parts of it I hadn't seen before. I <3 adventures.
#112 Feb 18 2010 at 9:32 PM Rating: Excellent
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Mozared wrote:
Edinburrow seems very similar to Newcastle, London and other English cities to me


Well that's not going to discourage me. I love London. Smiley: lol

I wouldn't turn a trip to Ireland down or anything. It's just not on the list.
#113 Feb 19 2010 at 5:06 PM Rating: Good
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I'm massively gonna insult Sgriob now


O'really
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the real highlands up in the north-west


I can't agree more, theres a really nice place up north called Findhorn, it's amazing, it has its own little micro-climate where it could be raining about 20 minutes down the road, and it will be bright sunshine up there, the only thing thats wrong with it is one of the campsites thats there is full of hippy-nudist, type people, its a freaky place.

Quote:
Scotland seems a watered-down boring version of Ireland


We have more alcoholics, by far. Though thats probably not a good thing.

Also, please don't ever compare Scotland to England, we hate them, and they hate us, it's a sweet life, why do you want to disturb that?

Edited because I might be drunk.

Edited, Feb 19th 2010 6:07pm by Sgriob
#114 Feb 19 2010 at 8:32 PM Rating: Excellent
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Sgriob wrote:
Also, please don't ever compare Scotland to England, we hate them, and they hate us


Still?

True story: a cab driver in Kenilworth who was taking me to the train station reacted in horror when he found out I was going into North Wales. He felt it was unsafe for a woman traveling alone. "They're a cruel people," he tells me. "They play rugby with sheep."

The Welsh, for the record, were very nice to me. Once they heard my accent and realized I wasn't English, of course.

There's just a lot of unresolved anger on that island. Smiley: lol
#115 Feb 19 2010 at 8:54 PM Rating: Decent
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Dont come to Dundee, you will end up pregnant, or your daughter will, whichever of you is closest to 16.
And people say Scotland isnt a nice place...
#116 Feb 19 2010 at 11:44 PM Rating: Good
Sgriob wrote:
up north
For me, all of Scotland is up north. I mean, everything north of the Thames is 'up north'. :P


Also, I don't hate the Scottish, and I'm apparently "practically English" (and according to some, I was even before I moved to England). I also have a Welsh flag.


Also, everything's alright in Britain because everyone can just go and hate the French. And the Polish.

I don't, for the record. I might go live in France at some point, like in 2014 or so.
#117 Feb 20 2010 at 6:31 AM Rating: Decent
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The scottish dont really have anything against the cheese-eating surrender monkeys (thank you Groundskeeper Willie,) pretty much all our hatred is reserved for the english, and even then it usually just boils down to a rivalry in sporting events.
#118 Feb 20 2010 at 9:23 AM Rating: Good
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Still?


Yes, still. The whole of britain hates england, they even hate themselves (the northerners hate southerners and vice versa). I've only ever met one nice person from england and that was because we made him believe that if you drink enough irn bru, your accent turns into a scottish accent. So he went a drank as much as he could for about 3 weeks, then he started looking rough because of the perma-sugar high.

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Dont come to Dundee, you will end up pregnant, or your daughter will, whichever of you is closest to 16.

This is true, but also sad, because it's where I live :(

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everyone can just go and hate the French. And the Polish.

I don't hate the French, I'm indifferent to them, and I for one love polish people. Their awesome, they take the time to try and understand what we say when we're speaking in the worlds most awkward accent at 100mph. This and polish people have an awesome accent.
Quote:
and even then it usually just boils down to a rivalry in sporting events


I just hate them regardless of whats going on :P
#119 Feb 20 2010 at 12:52 PM Rating: Good
I like going to Poland and I have Polish friends here.

To be honest, I get annoyed by them but that's mostly because they want to share the whole "I'm a foreigner, everybody hates me" deal with me and it makes me feel really bad that I seem to be universally liked here. I mean, people ask questions ("Is it true that you celebrate Christmas a day earlier in Germany?") but generally I feel less like an immigrant here than I did in my own country.

So yeah, I love the UK generally very much, and I don't really want to believe racism is that much of a problem here.



Also, for the record, my boyfriend's group of friends includes this guy who's half Scottish, half Welsh, and no one hates him.
#120 Feb 20 2010 at 9:44 PM Rating: Decent
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Wow Sgriob, a fellow Dundonian Priest. The chances of that are really damn low, and it honestly delights me to know that there is another WoW player in this city. Although im not sure I count as a Dundonian seeing as I am only here as a student. But I like it more than back home so I think it counts.
#121 Feb 21 2010 at 8:35 AM Rating: Good
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I am only here as a student

This is starting to get weird, because I'm here as a student too, I originally hail from Fife.

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But I like it more than back home

You like having a high chance of being mugged/stabbed?
#122 Feb 22 2010 at 9:20 AM Rating: Excellent
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Sgriob wrote:
Quote:
I am only here as a student

This is starting to get weird, because I'm here as a student too


"That's because Lance Hunt IS Captain Amazing."
#123 Feb 22 2010 at 12:05 PM Rating: Good
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Is it okay that I'm really confused right now?
#124 Feb 27 2010 at 12:03 AM Rating: Good
This totally belongs here.

A few hours ago, I booked my flights to go and visit Æth and Moz! It's going to be so awesome. Æthien's sister wants to abduct me, I think.


Anyway, it got funny when RJ (my boyfriend) went and asked me "Are you gonna see that Smulen* guy?" and I told him that Smulen doesn't live in the Netherlands, and then he said "Oh good", confusing me. When I asked for clarification, he explained that he's seen the way Smulen talks to me. What he cannot know is that Smulen talks like that to everyone (except maybe Æthien because he's scary), is underage and ... well ... it's just so wrong and ironic on so many levels.


*He's in our guild.

Edited, Feb 27th 2010 6:04am by Kalivha
#125 Feb 27 2010 at 4:07 AM Rating: Good
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I booked tickets to T In The Park this week. Scotland's biggest music festival. There is some amazing acts lined up this year, like Muse, Eminem, Biffy Clyro and Kasabian.

I cant wait... counting down the 132 days left.
#126 Feb 27 2010 at 4:47 AM Rating: Good
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Kalivha wrote:
Anyway, it got funny when RJ (my boyfriend) went and asked me "Are you gonna see that Smulen* guy?" and I told him that Smulen doesn't live in the Netherlands, and then he said "Oh good", confusing me. When I asked for clarification, he explained that he's seen the way Smulen talks to me. What he cannot know is that Smulen talks like that to everyone (except maybe Æthien because he's scary), is underage and ... well ... it's just so wrong and ironic on so many levels.
Smiley: lol

I fear for the guy's future... can't end up well with him hitting on everyone all the time.
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