Ah, the joy of IKEA. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed my IKEA furniture and accessories - cheap, but stylish and damn comfy - until I went to IKEA yesterday. The Overseas Students Association trip to Leeds was fairly well-organized. Well, it would have been, if only most of the overseas students understood instructions in English. There were four busloads of people - 200 people-ish, the vast majority of which were Chinese. I learned later there is a Chinese market in Leeds. Only about 50 of us went to IKEA, but those of us who went had a great time.

There were some things I NEEDED - baskets to organize my room (KASSETT style, and some others), a laundry bag (went with BULLA...), some things I could really use - a coffee pot (one of those fun ones with the plunger that you can use for coffee or tea (KAFFE), an alarm clock (I had one, but it beeped every hour and drove me nuts, and didn't beep loud enough to wake me up), a cutting board, a lamp (SKYAR! Like I had back home! I hate fluorescent lights, and three guesses as to what the light above my desk is), and some stuff that was definitely a splurge - new bedding (TANJA - to get away from the institutional-esque stuff that the university provided me with), a throw (POLARVIDE) to keep me warm, and a stuffed tiger. I needed some company in bed at night.

So. Spent about two hours at IKEA, and then got to spend a couple of hours in Leeds City Centre. Had no idea what to go and see, but thanks to the wonders of the internet, some of the ladies at an online community to which I quasi-belong (it's a fansite, just to warn you all, for the author Diana Gabaldon) were able to provide me with some suggestions. I was told to go see the Corn Exchange, and to see the Royal Armoury, which has recently been moved up from the Tower of London. Unfortunately, I had made the mistake (?) of chatting with an American girl earlier in the day and then felt obligated by politeness to not abandon her in the middle of an unfamiliar city. And she wanted to go shopping, not be a tourist. Fine. Went into a couple of shops with her. Even bought jogging pants (which I _did_ in fact actually use today) and a polar fleece hoodie (ostensibly to go jogging in when it's cold, but I'm wearing it as a regular top today anyway). But towards the end of our time there, I insisted on seeing one or the other. We looked at the tourist signposts, and the Corn Exchange was a little closer.

I really had no idea what to expect. I had been told it had a bunch of quirky shops and that there was a fairly strong goth culture in the area. I assumed it was a street or something. Wrong. It is a building. A HUGE building. It's kind of oval in shape, with three levels, and on each level is a concourse around a middle open area (think... like... middle areas of shopping malls where you can see down to the floor below). But this building is old! It's got these ornate wrought-iron staircases from one level to the next, and ... oh... I wish I could post the picture I took of it. Stupid stupid laptop in the shop. Dammit. But, anyway, around the oval there are TONS of little shops, and she was right, some of them are fairly quirky (an entire shop devoted to condoms?!?!), but there are also some booths with beautiful handmade goods that are fun and funky. And I was actually surprised by the lack of gothyness. I didn't look totally out of place in my jeans and my powder-blue sweatshirt. Yay!