Hey guys!
As I sit writing this blog entry, I am on the final train of my epic journey and am now in the Czech Republic. The view out the window is quite pretty, though rather glum in comparison to the sunshine I’ve been enjoying. You can actually see the mist gathering atop the fields (which are quite beautiful and lush). Some Czech policemen just walked through the train, and let me tell you, the uniforms that policemen in Europe wear are definitely more intimidating to me than US police uniforms. But maybe that’s because they’re unfamiliar. Plus all non-US law enforcement officials make me nervous that something will be wrong with my passport and they will lock me up in some creepy prison reserved solely for idiot Americans who mess up in travel protocol. But I digress – Germany!
I really do think that Germany is the perfect country. This is partly because it is gorgeous and there were tons of flowers while I was there, but also because it is the perfect country for someone with a hint of OCD (ahem, I’m sorry CDO – it’s just like OCD but the letters are in alphabetical order as they should be). Everything is clean. Everything is organized. Everything is on time. I loved it. The foliage and general feel of Tuebingen, the town where I went to visit my friend Meike, actually reminded me a great deal of good old Palo Alto, California. Tuebingen is definitely a college town, with lots of students everywhere. The University is really the only thing in the town, so it’s mostly students and professors who live there.
I stayed with Meike in her apartment, which she shares with two other very nice girls. My first night we had a barbeque with her roommates and several of her roommates’ friends. I enjoyed the combination of hearing German and getting to talk to some German students (they all spoke wonderful English). It was so nice to sit in a kitchen and relax in an apartment where friends actually live – I haven’t had that opportunity since Granada and Cordoba, which was weeks ago. I also got to do laundry, which was a really good thing since I more or less was out of clean clothes.
Meike showed me all over the town and told me some entertaining historical stories about it. Germany has fraternities similar to the US, but not only does pledging last for a whole year, but you also pay dues for life. This sounds like a bit more of a serious commitment than Trinity’s fraternity system. The architecture of the town was beautiful, and the river even had boats that were a little bit like Venice’s gondolas, though bigger and less ornate. Tuebingen is also, according to Meike, the oldest German university. Evidently this is debated by another university, but if you ask anyone from Tuebingen, University of Tuebingen was first, haha.
I also got to go to one of Meike’s classes (she’s also an English major) that was, thankfully, in English. It was Introduction to Shakespeare, which was interesting to experience since I just took Shakespeare last semester. The German system is quite different than the US – you have either seminars or lectures and at the end of your time at University, you take final exams on EVERYTHING you’ve learned. Thank you very much but I will be sticking with our system of taking finals after each class.
My last night in Germany I cooked dinner for Meike and her roommates as a thank you for letting me stay (and feeding me way more than they ought to have). At Meike’s request I made “American mashed potatoes” and then stir-fried some vegetables. It was quite the hit. Overall, Tuebingen was a great relaxation time and I really enjoyed the town and the conversations with Meike and her friends. After so much time traveling, I’ll be quite glad to return to my little room in London. Just two more nights and I get to be in my own, familiar London abode. I’m meeting Claire in Prague in a few hours, which I’m definitely looking forward to. It’s always so fun to see Trinity friends here in Europe.
Anyways, I’m going to go back to Cormac McCarthy and “The Road” (amazing, though disturbing book on the potential aftermath of global warming), and I shall update you all on Prague very soon! I hope you’re all happy, healthy, safe, and loving life wherever in the world you are!
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Barcelona
Hello again!
As I write this blog, I’m on the train from Paris to Stuttgart, where I will then catch another train to see my friend Meike in Tuebingen, which is in Southwestern Germany. So – Barcelona. I absolutely loved the city. It was great to see Greg as well! The city itself felt much more residential to me than most other cities I’ve been to – there were markets everywhere and the city just had a lived-in air about it. I really enjoyed all of the art as well!
I wasn’t taking notes on my activities as religiously as I should have been, but I’ll do my best not to leave anything out! My first day I met my friends Matt and Pat (both from Trinity but both doing a year at Oxford) at the harbor. The harbor was beautiful and it was so refreshing to see the water and feel a nice clean breeze. After sitting and catching up for a while, we went to the Picasso Museum, which was really interesting. While they certainly do not have all of his work, they have a very impressive collection, particularly of his early work, which I found very interesting as the collection as a whole really showed Picasso’s progression as an artist. After the museum we met two other Trinity students for Tapas who are also studying in Barcelona at the moment. All of them are getting ready to go home as their semester is just ending. Greg stopped by at dinner with Matt, Pat, and I (where we had paella which is AMAZING) after his final.
I did a fair amount of exploring on my own in Barcelona, which I enjoyed. I checked out La Rambla, which while touristy was very pretty. I also went to the Museum of the History of Barcelona, which I found very interesting – they had the Roman ruins of Barcino, the original city that developed into Barcelona as we know it today. As for the Cathedral – I have seen A LOT of cathedrals lately – they’re starting to look a little similar to each other, haha. However this cathedral was a nice change as it had a more Gothic design. My favorite thing in the entire city, though, was La Sagrada Familia, the Gaudi cathedral that is still under construction. It was so cool to see a cathedral of this expanse in not only a more modern design but also still during the process of construction. I also saw Parc Guell, the Gaudi designed park, which is Greg’s favorite place in the city. It’s absolutely gorgeous and has not only uniquely designed buildings but also statues. Another favorite attraction was the Palau Nacional, where I also went to a light show one night with my hostel (they light up the fountains and play music). Greg and I also explored the old Olympic stadium, which was really neat.
My hostel (Mambo Tango) was awesome. The family that runs it really encourages meeting fellow travelers and facilitates this by creating a generally great atmosphere, but also by having activities like the visit to the fountain. I met and talked to people from Argentina, Ecuador, England, Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, and the US. I think my favorite part of the hostel was the concept that Totti, the main owner creates in the hostel that the hostel is your home, that you have a sense of responsibility and ownership towards it. As I left he told me that it was “my home in Barcelona”, and I really felt like he meant it. Adela, Totti’s mother-in-law, only spoke Spanish, but she and I chatted and she helped me practice my Spanish a lot.
It’s been so rewarding to get to practice my Spanish – I can’t get over how much easier it’s gotten just in the week and a half I spent in Spain to communicate my thoughts. I’ve always had much better comprehension skills than communication skills, but practice really does make the difference, and it was great to practice my Spanish in an environment like my hostel where making mistakes was absolutely fine and where there would even be someone there who could explain to me how to say what I wanted to say correctly. It was great to hang out with my new hostel friends and my Trinity friends and to spend my time in Barcelona relaxing more than I have in other cities. I felt like five days was a great amount of time to have, as I didn’t feel rushed to see everything I was “supposed to see in Barcelona” in just a few days.
Alright, if I remember anything I’ve forgotten I shall add it in my next post, but for now, I’m going to take a little nap on my train to Germany/enjoy the beautiful French scenery out my window! I’ve devoured several books recently, on a side note – I highly recommend “Bird by Bird” by Anne Lamott. I’m most of the way through “The Reader” now, which is another winner. I hope you’re all healthy, safe, and happy wherever you are and I can’t wait to see all of you and hear about your lives soon!!
As I write this blog, I’m on the train from Paris to Stuttgart, where I will then catch another train to see my friend Meike in Tuebingen, which is in Southwestern Germany. So – Barcelona. I absolutely loved the city. It was great to see Greg as well! The city itself felt much more residential to me than most other cities I’ve been to – there were markets everywhere and the city just had a lived-in air about it. I really enjoyed all of the art as well!
I wasn’t taking notes on my activities as religiously as I should have been, but I’ll do my best not to leave anything out! My first day I met my friends Matt and Pat (both from Trinity but both doing a year at Oxford) at the harbor. The harbor was beautiful and it was so refreshing to see the water and feel a nice clean breeze. After sitting and catching up for a while, we went to the Picasso Museum, which was really interesting. While they certainly do not have all of his work, they have a very impressive collection, particularly of his early work, which I found very interesting as the collection as a whole really showed Picasso’s progression as an artist. After the museum we met two other Trinity students for Tapas who are also studying in Barcelona at the moment. All of them are getting ready to go home as their semester is just ending. Greg stopped by at dinner with Matt, Pat, and I (where we had paella which is AMAZING) after his final.
I did a fair amount of exploring on my own in Barcelona, which I enjoyed. I checked out La Rambla, which while touristy was very pretty. I also went to the Museum of the History of Barcelona, which I found very interesting – they had the Roman ruins of Barcino, the original city that developed into Barcelona as we know it today. As for the Cathedral – I have seen A LOT of cathedrals lately – they’re starting to look a little similar to each other, haha. However this cathedral was a nice change as it had a more Gothic design. My favorite thing in the entire city, though, was La Sagrada Familia, the Gaudi cathedral that is still under construction. It was so cool to see a cathedral of this expanse in not only a more modern design but also still during the process of construction. I also saw Parc Guell, the Gaudi designed park, which is Greg’s favorite place in the city. It’s absolutely gorgeous and has not only uniquely designed buildings but also statues. Another favorite attraction was the Palau Nacional, where I also went to a light show one night with my hostel (they light up the fountains and play music). Greg and I also explored the old Olympic stadium, which was really neat.
My hostel (Mambo Tango) was awesome. The family that runs it really encourages meeting fellow travelers and facilitates this by creating a generally great atmosphere, but also by having activities like the visit to the fountain. I met and talked to people from Argentina, Ecuador, England, Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, and the US. I think my favorite part of the hostel was the concept that Totti, the main owner creates in the hostel that the hostel is your home, that you have a sense of responsibility and ownership towards it. As I left he told me that it was “my home in Barcelona”, and I really felt like he meant it. Adela, Totti’s mother-in-law, only spoke Spanish, but she and I chatted and she helped me practice my Spanish a lot.
It’s been so rewarding to get to practice my Spanish – I can’t get over how much easier it’s gotten just in the week and a half I spent in Spain to communicate my thoughts. I’ve always had much better comprehension skills than communication skills, but practice really does make the difference, and it was great to practice my Spanish in an environment like my hostel where making mistakes was absolutely fine and where there would even be someone there who could explain to me how to say what I wanted to say correctly. It was great to hang out with my new hostel friends and my Trinity friends and to spend my time in Barcelona relaxing more than I have in other cities. I felt like five days was a great amount of time to have, as I didn’t feel rushed to see everything I was “supposed to see in Barcelona” in just a few days.
Alright, if I remember anything I’ve forgotten I shall add it in my next post, but for now, I’m going to take a little nap on my train to Germany/enjoy the beautiful French scenery out my window! I’ve devoured several books recently, on a side note – I highly recommend “Bird by Bird” by Anne Lamott. I’m most of the way through “The Reader” now, which is another winner. I hope you’re all healthy, safe, and happy wherever you are and I can’t wait to see all of you and hear about your lives soon!!
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Florence
Hey everyone!
So first, I must add this fact to my Rome blog… Catherine and I saw the POPE! I think I forgot to mention it because it definitely did not seem real, haha. We saw him from a distance as evidently he gives public audiences every Wednesday morning, which was when Catherine and I went to the Vatican. We also saw the “pope-mobile”, as the Pope’s car is fondly referred to. It was definitely a surreal experience, and so cool!
After a delightful and short train ride from Rome, Catherine and I arrived in Florence! We met Siena at the train station (she was kind enough to come to Florence from Bologna!), and then headed to our hostel, Archi Rossi. If you EVER go to Florence you must do the following things: 1. Stay at Archi Rossi. It is the nicest hostel I have heard of, stayed in, or even seen falsely advertised for. It was spacious, the staff were great, free wireless internet, free breakfast (and we’re talking scrambled eggs and bacon here, not nasty cornflakes and stale toast), and free tours of the city. Oh, and it was beautiful – the architecture of the building was perfect for a visit in Florence. 2. Eat at Grom. It is a gelateria and is absolutely out of this world phenomenal. Thank you Katie Kuppens for the suggestion! 3. Bike around Tuscany. But now I’m getting ahead of myself.
Anyways, we got to our hostel, checked in, reveled in the space and wonder, and then headed out for a delicious dinner. Seeing Siena was a delight as always, and she joined us for a little exploration of the city and some gelato (at Grom of course). Then Siena caught her train back and Catherine and I headed back to the hostel, where we met two of our 7 other roommates, Colleen and Caitlin. They both go to USF, and not only do they know several people I went to high school with, but Colleen even lives in Portola Valley and went to Menlo-Atherton. We figured out that we probably swam against each other in swim meets, and crazily enough, she swam for PASA as well, just at a different site. It’s such a small world!
The next morning the four of us took the free hostel tour of the historic city center. We saw all the big sites, like the Duomo, San Lorenzo’s market, Santa Cruce, and many others. After lunch with our newfound friends, Catherine and I went to check out David. As the line was quite long we decided to scrap David for that day and go for a bike ride instead! We rented bikes and headed out of the city, along a quite hilly road, to enjoy the beautiful Tuscan countryside. It was absolutely breathtaking – just like in the movies. We also saw the Piazza Michelangelo, which has an amazing panoramic view of the entire city. We biked around the city a little bit as well before returning our bikes.
We then bartered in the market and got cut matching sandals and got me a “grown-up” person wallet (such a terrifying thought to think that I’ll need to look like a grown-up for job interviews next year… what happened to my college bubble?!). Thanks to our bartering talent and bumbling Italian, we got some pretty decent prices!
Afterwards we headed back to the hostel to regroup, then grabbed some cheap dinner and, of course, more gelato.
The next morning we got up early and got into David after only about 10 minutes of waiting in line, which was great. David was absolutely amazing – it’s quite clear why it’s such a famous statue. The detail is stunning – I didn’t even know the human body has so many muscles! We then had coffee at Chiarscuro, another definitely recommendation for anyone visiting Florence. It’s REALLY good quality coffee from all over the world and clearly is the place the actual Florentines go for coffee in the morning. It was really cute inside, too!
Then we strolled around city, and had an early lunch before, very sadly, I had to watch Catherine get on her train to Rome to head back to Spain. Since I had to wait until Monday (this was Saturday) for the train I needed to Barcelona from Milan, I stayed on in Florence until Monday. I spent a lot of time relaxing and did some reading and running. I also had dinner with my friends from USF Saturday night, though they left for Rome Sunday morning.
Easter in Florence was absolutely incredible. They had beautiful flag performances in the squares and fireworks in front of the Duomo! I went to Easter Mass in the Duomo itself, which was an incredible experience. They actually had a (fake) pigeon powered by fireworks that flew through the church on a wire – it was quite the performance! Certainly an Easter Mass I will never forget! I also took the hostel’s other free tour of the southern section of the city and saw some less well-known Florentine sites, which I really enjoyed. Then I headed back to the hostel to register for classes at Trinity for next semester, which went very well, and then got on my train to Milan to catch my train to Barcelona!
My classes for next semester, if anyone was wondering are: Writing Theory and Practice (in order to become a tutor in the Writing Center), The Coming of the Civil War (with Dean Spencer, my former advisor!), American Literature Part II, my Senior Fiction Creative Writing Workshop, and I’m mentoring freshmen again for the program I was in my freshman year, Guided Studies.
I just spent the past two and a half hours talking to my seat neighbors, which was great! AND we only spoke Spanish and while I definitely couldn’t communicate the ideas I wanted to, I absolutely understood the conversation. It was very gratifying. I think it helped that one of the girls I was talking to is from Mexico and her accent was SO much easier to understand than the Andalucían accent. I also met a cute little family with a 3-year-old little girl who I play hide and seek with for a while. She could count in English so we practiced counting to ten – absolutely adorable. The parents were really neat to talk to as well. I also met two boys from Mexico who are only 15 and 17 (brothers) and are traveling for 3 weeks – I told them that even as a 21-year-olld I often wished I had my parents to just take care of all the stressful parts of traveling for me and that I was VERY impressed that they were doing this so young. They spoke really good English as well, so we talked in a little bit of Spanglish for a while. I explored the train as well, which has sleeper cars (though I’m cheap and got a reclining seat, which actually isn’t that bad). The bunks look really cute though. But then if I had gotten one of those, I wouldn’t have met my new friends!
I’ve loved meeting people on this trip, whether I talk to them for 3 hours or 5 minutes. The little glimpses I get into their lives remind me constantly that at the end of the day, we may have different cultures and customs, different languages and foods, but we all live our lives based on the people who surround us. If you ask someone what’s important to them, it’s always their friends and families and the experiences they’ve shared with them. In the midst of the economic problems our world is suffering through, I am so grateful that I have what really matters – the most kind, caring, and extraordinary family and friends. I miss you all and look forward to seeing you again very soon! I hope you’re happy, healthy, and enjoying life wherever you are!
So first, I must add this fact to my Rome blog… Catherine and I saw the POPE! I think I forgot to mention it because it definitely did not seem real, haha. We saw him from a distance as evidently he gives public audiences every Wednesday morning, which was when Catherine and I went to the Vatican. We also saw the “pope-mobile”, as the Pope’s car is fondly referred to. It was definitely a surreal experience, and so cool!
After a delightful and short train ride from Rome, Catherine and I arrived in Florence! We met Siena at the train station (she was kind enough to come to Florence from Bologna!), and then headed to our hostel, Archi Rossi. If you EVER go to Florence you must do the following things: 1. Stay at Archi Rossi. It is the nicest hostel I have heard of, stayed in, or even seen falsely advertised for. It was spacious, the staff were great, free wireless internet, free breakfast (and we’re talking scrambled eggs and bacon here, not nasty cornflakes and stale toast), and free tours of the city. Oh, and it was beautiful – the architecture of the building was perfect for a visit in Florence. 2. Eat at Grom. It is a gelateria and is absolutely out of this world phenomenal. Thank you Katie Kuppens for the suggestion! 3. Bike around Tuscany. But now I’m getting ahead of myself.
Anyways, we got to our hostel, checked in, reveled in the space and wonder, and then headed out for a delicious dinner. Seeing Siena was a delight as always, and she joined us for a little exploration of the city and some gelato (at Grom of course). Then Siena caught her train back and Catherine and I headed back to the hostel, where we met two of our 7 other roommates, Colleen and Caitlin. They both go to USF, and not only do they know several people I went to high school with, but Colleen even lives in Portola Valley and went to Menlo-Atherton. We figured out that we probably swam against each other in swim meets, and crazily enough, she swam for PASA as well, just at a different site. It’s such a small world!
The next morning the four of us took the free hostel tour of the historic city center. We saw all the big sites, like the Duomo, San Lorenzo’s market, Santa Cruce, and many others. After lunch with our newfound friends, Catherine and I went to check out David. As the line was quite long we decided to scrap David for that day and go for a bike ride instead! We rented bikes and headed out of the city, along a quite hilly road, to enjoy the beautiful Tuscan countryside. It was absolutely breathtaking – just like in the movies. We also saw the Piazza Michelangelo, which has an amazing panoramic view of the entire city. We biked around the city a little bit as well before returning our bikes.
We then bartered in the market and got cut matching sandals and got me a “grown-up” person wallet (such a terrifying thought to think that I’ll need to look like a grown-up for job interviews next year… what happened to my college bubble?!). Thanks to our bartering talent and bumbling Italian, we got some pretty decent prices!
Afterwards we headed back to the hostel to regroup, then grabbed some cheap dinner and, of course, more gelato.
The next morning we got up early and got into David after only about 10 minutes of waiting in line, which was great. David was absolutely amazing – it’s quite clear why it’s such a famous statue. The detail is stunning – I didn’t even know the human body has so many muscles! We then had coffee at Chiarscuro, another definitely recommendation for anyone visiting Florence. It’s REALLY good quality coffee from all over the world and clearly is the place the actual Florentines go for coffee in the morning. It was really cute inside, too!
Then we strolled around city, and had an early lunch before, very sadly, I had to watch Catherine get on her train to Rome to head back to Spain. Since I had to wait until Monday (this was Saturday) for the train I needed to Barcelona from Milan, I stayed on in Florence until Monday. I spent a lot of time relaxing and did some reading and running. I also had dinner with my friends from USF Saturday night, though they left for Rome Sunday morning.
Easter in Florence was absolutely incredible. They had beautiful flag performances in the squares and fireworks in front of the Duomo! I went to Easter Mass in the Duomo itself, which was an incredible experience. They actually had a (fake) pigeon powered by fireworks that flew through the church on a wire – it was quite the performance! Certainly an Easter Mass I will never forget! I also took the hostel’s other free tour of the southern section of the city and saw some less well-known Florentine sites, which I really enjoyed. Then I headed back to the hostel to register for classes at Trinity for next semester, which went very well, and then got on my train to Milan to catch my train to Barcelona!
My classes for next semester, if anyone was wondering are: Writing Theory and Practice (in order to become a tutor in the Writing Center), The Coming of the Civil War (with Dean Spencer, my former advisor!), American Literature Part II, my Senior Fiction Creative Writing Workshop, and I’m mentoring freshmen again for the program I was in my freshman year, Guided Studies.
I just spent the past two and a half hours talking to my seat neighbors, which was great! AND we only spoke Spanish and while I definitely couldn’t communicate the ideas I wanted to, I absolutely understood the conversation. It was very gratifying. I think it helped that one of the girls I was talking to is from Mexico and her accent was SO much easier to understand than the Andalucían accent. I also met a cute little family with a 3-year-old little girl who I play hide and seek with for a while. She could count in English so we practiced counting to ten – absolutely adorable. The parents were really neat to talk to as well. I also met two boys from Mexico who are only 15 and 17 (brothers) and are traveling for 3 weeks – I told them that even as a 21-year-olld I often wished I had my parents to just take care of all the stressful parts of traveling for me and that I was VERY impressed that they were doing this so young. They spoke really good English as well, so we talked in a little bit of Spanglish for a while. I explored the train as well, which has sleeper cars (though I’m cheap and got a reclining seat, which actually isn’t that bad). The bunks look really cute though. But then if I had gotten one of those, I wouldn’t have met my new friends!
I’ve loved meeting people on this trip, whether I talk to them for 3 hours or 5 minutes. The little glimpses I get into their lives remind me constantly that at the end of the day, we may have different cultures and customs, different languages and foods, but we all live our lives based on the people who surround us. If you ask someone what’s important to them, it’s always their friends and families and the experiences they’ve shared with them. In the midst of the economic problems our world is suffering through, I am so grateful that I have what really matters – the most kind, caring, and extraordinary family and friends. I miss you all and look forward to seeing you again very soon! I hope you’re happy, healthy, and enjoying life wherever you are!
Thursday, 9 April 2009
When in Rome...
Hello again folks,
Welcome back to Italy! I’m currently enjoying the beautiful train ride to Florence, where Catherine and I will be meeting Siena for dinner, but thought I’d fill you all in on Rome so my Italy post didn’t get quite as epically long as my Andalucía one. After an epic day of travel (including a 6 hour lay over in the Milan airport, which incidentally is rather reminiscent of Bradley airport in Hartford), Catherine and I arrived in Rome! We trekked on over to our hostel after the bus from the airport dropped us off at the train station. Navigating Rome has been very easy – we got a great map at the train station, and Catherine and I both have pretty good senses of direction, which definitely helps. Rome is big, but definitely not in the sense that London is big. We were able to walk everywhere easily, which was great.
This was not the best hostel I’ve been in, but it was fine. We had a pretty big all female dorm, which got crowded with luggage, and there definitely weren’t enough bathrooms or showers for the whole hostel, which was contained in a very small flat in an adorably cute, very Rome building. Still, on the whole the staff were friendly and helpful and the little annoyances were not a big deal considering how reasonably priced it was (I love hostel prices, haha).
For dinner we met Catherine’s childhood friend, Stephanie, who is studying in Rome this semester. She was super friendly and a great dinner buddy – she also explained that in Rome to cross the street, you have to just walk – there are rarely any signals. Cars will stop, but it helps if you stare them down, which Catherine and I got very good at. I had AMAZING pesto pasta for dinner. Sorry Bryce, your pesto is delicious, but the combination of freshly made pasta and amazingly fresh pesto made this a whole different story. Catherine and I headed for bed after that as we were very tired since we hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before and had had a long day of traveling.
We got an early start the next day and went to the Tomb of the Unknown Solider, and then to the Trevi Fountain (Courtney said we should sing Hillary Duff songs there since she did that movie there, but we decided against it, haha). The fountain was beautiful, though, as with most of Rome, was very crowded with tourists. It was too funny – we heard almost as much English as we did Italian.
Next we headed to the Vatican. We were approached by a tour guide and listened to their intro for free, thought about doing the tour, and then decided to save ourselves the 20-euro by just doing the route they had explained on our own. We figured out that if you go in through the Vatican museum and the Sistine Chapel and then take the tour guides exit to St. Peter’s Basilica, thus missing the horribly long lines in front of St. Peter’s. The Sistine Chapel was absolutely breathtaking – after a very long walk through the museum, Catherine and I spent about 20 minutes just taking in the chapel – it is just so incredibly impressive. Then we walked through the crypt of St. Peter’s and saw the tombs of several popes, including John Paul II. It was incredible to see how many people were crying when they saw his tomb and who were praying in front of the tomb. We then went on into St. Peter’s itself, which was absolutely breathtaking. It actually reminded me a lot of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, which is surprising since England so differentiates its church from the Catholic Church.
For lunch we had some earth shatteringly amazing pizza, followed by café (typically Italian – very strong espresso, and delicious). We then walked around Trastevere, which is a cute little neighborhood with a great hill that offered a lovely view of the city. We then took a break at the hostel, re-grouped, emailed (this hostel had wireless that worked with my Mac, which was greatly appreciated – the wireless in Spain had not liked my Mac for some reason). For dinner I had Gnocchi, which was again absolutely amazing. I love Italian food and will be so sad to leave it behind, though I’m excited to eat more delicious Spanish food in Barcelona). We then went to see the Spanish Steps, which were gorgeous, particularly with the lights since it was dark out. The weather was great the whole time we were there – sunny and nice and warm, probably around 65 to 70).
This morning we got another early start and headed over to the Pantheon, where we saw the Rotunda and the Piazza Navona. We also found a Deutche Bank (they don’t charge you ATM fees, like Barclay’s in the UK, if you have Bank of America, so Catherine and I are ALWAYS excited to find one). We then checked out the Coliseum, which was SO big! It was quite impressive. We also walked by the Roman Forum before we grabbed some lunch. I had tomato soup, which sounds simple, but was wonderful. We then headed back to the hostel to regroup and then grabbed some café before heading to the train station to catch our train to Florence!
In other news, I have figured out my living situation for next year! I’m very excited to be living in the Fred in a quad with Catherine and our friends Fiona and Grace! That will make for an amazing senior year rooming experience!
Up next, Florence! I hope you’re all well and happy and enjoying life wherever you are!
Welcome back to Italy! I’m currently enjoying the beautiful train ride to Florence, where Catherine and I will be meeting Siena for dinner, but thought I’d fill you all in on Rome so my Italy post didn’t get quite as epically long as my Andalucía one. After an epic day of travel (including a 6 hour lay over in the Milan airport, which incidentally is rather reminiscent of Bradley airport in Hartford), Catherine and I arrived in Rome! We trekked on over to our hostel after the bus from the airport dropped us off at the train station. Navigating Rome has been very easy – we got a great map at the train station, and Catherine and I both have pretty good senses of direction, which definitely helps. Rome is big, but definitely not in the sense that London is big. We were able to walk everywhere easily, which was great.
This was not the best hostel I’ve been in, but it was fine. We had a pretty big all female dorm, which got crowded with luggage, and there definitely weren’t enough bathrooms or showers for the whole hostel, which was contained in a very small flat in an adorably cute, very Rome building. Still, on the whole the staff were friendly and helpful and the little annoyances were not a big deal considering how reasonably priced it was (I love hostel prices, haha).
For dinner we met Catherine’s childhood friend, Stephanie, who is studying in Rome this semester. She was super friendly and a great dinner buddy – she also explained that in Rome to cross the street, you have to just walk – there are rarely any signals. Cars will stop, but it helps if you stare them down, which Catherine and I got very good at. I had AMAZING pesto pasta for dinner. Sorry Bryce, your pesto is delicious, but the combination of freshly made pasta and amazingly fresh pesto made this a whole different story. Catherine and I headed for bed after that as we were very tired since we hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before and had had a long day of traveling.
We got an early start the next day and went to the Tomb of the Unknown Solider, and then to the Trevi Fountain (Courtney said we should sing Hillary Duff songs there since she did that movie there, but we decided against it, haha). The fountain was beautiful, though, as with most of Rome, was very crowded with tourists. It was too funny – we heard almost as much English as we did Italian.
Next we headed to the Vatican. We were approached by a tour guide and listened to their intro for free, thought about doing the tour, and then decided to save ourselves the 20-euro by just doing the route they had explained on our own. We figured out that if you go in through the Vatican museum and the Sistine Chapel and then take the tour guides exit to St. Peter’s Basilica, thus missing the horribly long lines in front of St. Peter’s. The Sistine Chapel was absolutely breathtaking – after a very long walk through the museum, Catherine and I spent about 20 minutes just taking in the chapel – it is just so incredibly impressive. Then we walked through the crypt of St. Peter’s and saw the tombs of several popes, including John Paul II. It was incredible to see how many people were crying when they saw his tomb and who were praying in front of the tomb. We then went on into St. Peter’s itself, which was absolutely breathtaking. It actually reminded me a lot of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, which is surprising since England so differentiates its church from the Catholic Church.
For lunch we had some earth shatteringly amazing pizza, followed by café (typically Italian – very strong espresso, and delicious). We then walked around Trastevere, which is a cute little neighborhood with a great hill that offered a lovely view of the city. We then took a break at the hostel, re-grouped, emailed (this hostel had wireless that worked with my Mac, which was greatly appreciated – the wireless in Spain had not liked my Mac for some reason). For dinner I had Gnocchi, which was again absolutely amazing. I love Italian food and will be so sad to leave it behind, though I’m excited to eat more delicious Spanish food in Barcelona). We then went to see the Spanish Steps, which were gorgeous, particularly with the lights since it was dark out. The weather was great the whole time we were there – sunny and nice and warm, probably around 65 to 70).
This morning we got another early start and headed over to the Pantheon, where we saw the Rotunda and the Piazza Navona. We also found a Deutche Bank (they don’t charge you ATM fees, like Barclay’s in the UK, if you have Bank of America, so Catherine and I are ALWAYS excited to find one). We then checked out the Coliseum, which was SO big! It was quite impressive. We also walked by the Roman Forum before we grabbed some lunch. I had tomato soup, which sounds simple, but was wonderful. We then headed back to the hostel to regroup and then grabbed some café before heading to the train station to catch our train to Florence!
In other news, I have figured out my living situation for next year! I’m very excited to be living in the Fred in a quad with Catherine and our friends Fiona and Grace! That will make for an amazing senior year rooming experience!
Up next, Florence! I hope you’re all well and happy and enjoying life wherever you are!
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Andalucia!
Hello again!
So here’s my first update from the road… Andalucia! Andalucia is the southern province in Spain. I visited Kendra in Granada, Catherine in Cordoba, and traveled with Catherine, Kendra, and Kendra’s roommate from UCLA, Drew, to Sevilla.
The first leg of my epic journey was a very long day. I left really early due to the G20 protests in London. They were threatening transportation disruptions and I didn’t want to miss my flight. After a very long journey, I got to Madrid, where I had quite the adventure getting to a bus to take me to Granada. I finally found a bus that wasn’t full, after a metro adventure (the Madrid metro is DEFINITELY more confusing than the Underground… I’m so spoiled!). The bus ride was beautiful and I got to see a lot of Spain as Madrid is fairly far north whereas Granada is quite far south. Five and a half hours later, I finally made it to Granada, where I took a city bus to Kendra’s apartment (or piso as they call them here), where I met Drew and Kendra’s roommates. We hung out with some of her friends that night and I got to practice my Spanish, which was great. I’ve been surprised how much has come back to me – I understand most of what people say and it’s been getting easier and easier to communicate what I want to say.
Kendra and I went for a run the next morning, which was great since it was such a beautiful day. I have LOVED the Spanish weather – warm, sunny, fresh air – it’s been a welcome break from the fog of London. We then walked up to the Muslim quarter of the city, called the Albacin, to see the Alhambra before I actually went into it. Granada was the last Muslim stronghold, which is why they have the Alhambra there – it was their palace and final base and was so beautiful that the Romans couldn’t find it in them to knock it down when they got to Granada. It was truly spectacular. There was courtyard after courtyard, surrounded by complicated engravings and decoration. The gardens were huge and equally impressive.
After the Alhambra, we headed into the city center to meet Kendra’s friends for churros and chocolate, a typical Spanish treat. Quite delicious and it’s a good thing I don’t live in Granada because I would eat them far too often, haha. We went out for Tapas for dinner and then headed back to the piso to pack.
The next morning we took the bus to Cordoba for my glorious reunion with Catherine! Cordoba, as Kendra says, definitely wins the superlative award for best smells. The food, the orange blossoms, and the general city were just absolutely delightful. After dropping stuff off at our hostel, which was very nice, I had lunch with Catherine and her host mom, Pilar, which was another great chance to practice my Spanish. She cooked typical Cordobes food, which was delicious! We then met back up with Drew and Kendra and went to the Mezquita, the main attraction in Cordoba. Here, instead of leaving everything intact as with the Alhambra, the Romans plopped a Cathedral down right in the middle of a mosque, yet left the rest of the mosque as is. It’s very intriguing and an interesting combination of the Muslim and Christian worlds. The arches were gorgeous and the cathedral portion was very impressive. After this we went for some ice cream and then strolled around the city. Eventually we stopped by the river and explored some Roman ruins, which were really interesting. Seeing all of the Roman structures really impresses upon you just how old Spanish history is, especially when considering that they took over from the Muslims.
For dinner that night we went to Catherine’s friend Tara’s apartment, where we cooked a delicious dinner. We had quite the international exchange of languages, as Kendra and Catherine both speak Spanish, I more or less speak Spanish and can throw in a phrase or two in French, Drew speaks a little Spanish, German, and Russian, and then Tara spoke a little German and Spanish. Tara and Catherine’s friend Stephanie also ate with us, and she is from Austria. She spoke German, Spanish, Italian, French, and English. It was great to hear so many languages and discussion of the world floating around the dinner table.
The next morning we headed to the Cordoba zoo! It was a great way to expand my Spanish animal vocabulary, and was a very inexpensively delightful time. We also stopped by the Botanical Gardens, which were lovely, where Drew made friends with a stray cat. We also saw our first Paso. We were, at this point, fascinated, as they are the parades that happen throughout Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Spain, particularly in Cordoba, Granada, and Sevilla. The people in it wear pointy hats and robes (I feel terrible for saying this, but they look exactly like the Ku Klux Klan). After about 100 of these people go by, a band follows them, playing traditional Spanish music (though it’s definitely not uplifting Spanish music – think creepy funeral durge). Then there is a sort of float that goes by, but many men carry it. After some more pointy hat people, the Paso ends.
After an epic battle to find wireless internet, Kendra and I got to talk to our parents, which was great since they were all at my parents house together. After that we headed out to try some Mexican food. Mexican food in Spain? Not going to lie, a little strange. The name Burrito Loco might have been a tip-off, in retrospect, but oh well. They had the Nachos down though, haha. Then back to the hostel to pack up my life into my backpack.
We left early Monday morning to head to Sevilla on the train. When we got there we walked around the touristy section and saw the Cathedral from the outside. The city was absolutely beautiful and we all immediately fell in love with it. We checked in to our hostle then, and then went to search for some lunch. Kendra and I found some sandwiches that were quite cheap and were pre-packaged at the grocery store, so we decided to go for that. They were… interesting. We were rather perplexed that they were so dry and generally icky, until Drew, the one person who can’t read Spanish, pointed out that we were supposed to bake them in the oven. Oh well, haha. At least we had some apples and a baguette. We then saw our first Sevillian Paso, which was about the same as the first one. We slowly progressed to the river, where we rented… wait for it… PADDLEBOATS. It was amazing and we had a great time watching the Pasos cross the river on the bridges. It was also the cheapest activity I have ever experience. We then made our way over to some wonderful gardens, where we found… wait for it… SURRIES! Again, cheap, great way to see the gardens, and between Drew’s driving, my epic peddling, and Catherine and Kendra’s photographic talents, it was a hilarious ride. We then walked around the park a little more and decided to head back to the hostel for showers. This was at about six. Oh man, if only we knew what was to come. Let me preface this by saying that Pisos 1-3 were really cool, interesting cultural learning experiences. I love learning about cultural traditions and Semana Santa is a HUGE deal in Spain so I’m really glad that we were there for it and got to see the Pisos. Everyone gets pretty dressed up and the little kids are dressed ADORABLY. The little girls all have on dresses or skirts and bows in their hair and the boys have on khaki shorts with knee high socks and loafers with button up shirts. The Spanish seem to take great care in dressing their children, and I love it and am definitely doing this to my children one day because it would make for some adorable photos.
I should also mention that Pasos move VERY slowly. As the men in Sevilla in particular carry the “floats” on their necks (evidently they train for this for a very long tim), they have to take many breaks and don’t move very fast. There are also lots of children under the pointy hats, and their parents often have to stop to give them water or snacks. Basically, Pasos are one of the slower processes ever. And surprise! There were 9 of them. You can’t cross the street when there is a Paso. And they go EVERYWHERE. To cut a long story short, we got trapped by Pasos and despite our best attempts for about 3-4 hours, we couldn’t get back to our hostel. We tried – oh we tried – but no luck. There were SO MANY PEOPLE in the streets – Semana Santa is quite the event in Spain. We finally gave up, ate dinner, and the finally headed back to the hostel with much greater success. We headed to bed as early as possible, to get ready for Catherine and I’s flight to Rome!
Next update to look for… Italy! I hope you are all well and happy and having a wonderful April wherever you are!
So here’s my first update from the road… Andalucia! Andalucia is the southern province in Spain. I visited Kendra in Granada, Catherine in Cordoba, and traveled with Catherine, Kendra, and Kendra’s roommate from UCLA, Drew, to Sevilla.
The first leg of my epic journey was a very long day. I left really early due to the G20 protests in London. They were threatening transportation disruptions and I didn’t want to miss my flight. After a very long journey, I got to Madrid, where I had quite the adventure getting to a bus to take me to Granada. I finally found a bus that wasn’t full, after a metro adventure (the Madrid metro is DEFINITELY more confusing than the Underground… I’m so spoiled!). The bus ride was beautiful and I got to see a lot of Spain as Madrid is fairly far north whereas Granada is quite far south. Five and a half hours later, I finally made it to Granada, where I took a city bus to Kendra’s apartment (or piso as they call them here), where I met Drew and Kendra’s roommates. We hung out with some of her friends that night and I got to practice my Spanish, which was great. I’ve been surprised how much has come back to me – I understand most of what people say and it’s been getting easier and easier to communicate what I want to say.
Kendra and I went for a run the next morning, which was great since it was such a beautiful day. I have LOVED the Spanish weather – warm, sunny, fresh air – it’s been a welcome break from the fog of London. We then walked up to the Muslim quarter of the city, called the Albacin, to see the Alhambra before I actually went into it. Granada was the last Muslim stronghold, which is why they have the Alhambra there – it was their palace and final base and was so beautiful that the Romans couldn’t find it in them to knock it down when they got to Granada. It was truly spectacular. There was courtyard after courtyard, surrounded by complicated engravings and decoration. The gardens were huge and equally impressive.
After the Alhambra, we headed into the city center to meet Kendra’s friends for churros and chocolate, a typical Spanish treat. Quite delicious and it’s a good thing I don’t live in Granada because I would eat them far too often, haha. We went out for Tapas for dinner and then headed back to the piso to pack.
The next morning we took the bus to Cordoba for my glorious reunion with Catherine! Cordoba, as Kendra says, definitely wins the superlative award for best smells. The food, the orange blossoms, and the general city were just absolutely delightful. After dropping stuff off at our hostel, which was very nice, I had lunch with Catherine and her host mom, Pilar, which was another great chance to practice my Spanish. She cooked typical Cordobes food, which was delicious! We then met back up with Drew and Kendra and went to the Mezquita, the main attraction in Cordoba. Here, instead of leaving everything intact as with the Alhambra, the Romans plopped a Cathedral down right in the middle of a mosque, yet left the rest of the mosque as is. It’s very intriguing and an interesting combination of the Muslim and Christian worlds. The arches were gorgeous and the cathedral portion was very impressive. After this we went for some ice cream and then strolled around the city. Eventually we stopped by the river and explored some Roman ruins, which were really interesting. Seeing all of the Roman structures really impresses upon you just how old Spanish history is, especially when considering that they took over from the Muslims.
For dinner that night we went to Catherine’s friend Tara’s apartment, where we cooked a delicious dinner. We had quite the international exchange of languages, as Kendra and Catherine both speak Spanish, I more or less speak Spanish and can throw in a phrase or two in French, Drew speaks a little Spanish, German, and Russian, and then Tara spoke a little German and Spanish. Tara and Catherine’s friend Stephanie also ate with us, and she is from Austria. She spoke German, Spanish, Italian, French, and English. It was great to hear so many languages and discussion of the world floating around the dinner table.
The next morning we headed to the Cordoba zoo! It was a great way to expand my Spanish animal vocabulary, and was a very inexpensively delightful time. We also stopped by the Botanical Gardens, which were lovely, where Drew made friends with a stray cat. We also saw our first Paso. We were, at this point, fascinated, as they are the parades that happen throughout Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Spain, particularly in Cordoba, Granada, and Sevilla. The people in it wear pointy hats and robes (I feel terrible for saying this, but they look exactly like the Ku Klux Klan). After about 100 of these people go by, a band follows them, playing traditional Spanish music (though it’s definitely not uplifting Spanish music – think creepy funeral durge). Then there is a sort of float that goes by, but many men carry it. After some more pointy hat people, the Paso ends.
After an epic battle to find wireless internet, Kendra and I got to talk to our parents, which was great since they were all at my parents house together. After that we headed out to try some Mexican food. Mexican food in Spain? Not going to lie, a little strange. The name Burrito Loco might have been a tip-off, in retrospect, but oh well. They had the Nachos down though, haha. Then back to the hostel to pack up my life into my backpack.
We left early Monday morning to head to Sevilla on the train. When we got there we walked around the touristy section and saw the Cathedral from the outside. The city was absolutely beautiful and we all immediately fell in love with it. We checked in to our hostle then, and then went to search for some lunch. Kendra and I found some sandwiches that were quite cheap and were pre-packaged at the grocery store, so we decided to go for that. They were… interesting. We were rather perplexed that they were so dry and generally icky, until Drew, the one person who can’t read Spanish, pointed out that we were supposed to bake them in the oven. Oh well, haha. At least we had some apples and a baguette. We then saw our first Sevillian Paso, which was about the same as the first one. We slowly progressed to the river, where we rented… wait for it… PADDLEBOATS. It was amazing and we had a great time watching the Pasos cross the river on the bridges. It was also the cheapest activity I have ever experience. We then made our way over to some wonderful gardens, where we found… wait for it… SURRIES! Again, cheap, great way to see the gardens, and between Drew’s driving, my epic peddling, and Catherine and Kendra’s photographic talents, it was a hilarious ride. We then walked around the park a little more and decided to head back to the hostel for showers. This was at about six. Oh man, if only we knew what was to come. Let me preface this by saying that Pisos 1-3 were really cool, interesting cultural learning experiences. I love learning about cultural traditions and Semana Santa is a HUGE deal in Spain so I’m really glad that we were there for it and got to see the Pisos. Everyone gets pretty dressed up and the little kids are dressed ADORABLY. The little girls all have on dresses or skirts and bows in their hair and the boys have on khaki shorts with knee high socks and loafers with button up shirts. The Spanish seem to take great care in dressing their children, and I love it and am definitely doing this to my children one day because it would make for some adorable photos.
I should also mention that Pasos move VERY slowly. As the men in Sevilla in particular carry the “floats” on their necks (evidently they train for this for a very long tim), they have to take many breaks and don’t move very fast. There are also lots of children under the pointy hats, and their parents often have to stop to give them water or snacks. Basically, Pasos are one of the slower processes ever. And surprise! There were 9 of them. You can’t cross the street when there is a Paso. And they go EVERYWHERE. To cut a long story short, we got trapped by Pasos and despite our best attempts for about 3-4 hours, we couldn’t get back to our hostel. We tried – oh we tried – but no luck. There were SO MANY PEOPLE in the streets – Semana Santa is quite the event in Spain. We finally gave up, ate dinner, and the finally headed back to the hostel with much greater success. We headed to bed as early as possible, to get ready for Catherine and I’s flight to Rome!
Next update to look for… Italy! I hope you are all well and happy and having a wonderful April wherever you are!
Friday, 3 April 2009
Wales!
Hey everyone,
My adventure has begun! 3 weeks of travel here I come. However first I must catch all of you up on my last few days in the U.K.
I went to Wales with Arcadia, my study abroad program. There actually weren’t any other Queen Mary students on the trip, so the other students were from colleges around London, England, and Wales. We took a coach, which was an epic 8-hour ride due to traffic. However the countryside was beautiful and I got a bunch of research reading done for my Medieval Troy paper. In a short departure from the topic of Wales, I am nearly done with all of my work! So crazy! I finished three out of my four final essays before I left, and now just have to finish up one more when I get back at the end of this month. That should make my trip a lot more relaxing.
Anyways, back to Wales. I made friends with three girls, Paige, Kelly, and Sara, who were all great. We ended up rooming together in the hostel and hanging out for a lot of the weekend. The night we got there, all of the people on the trip hung out in the common room of the hostel, which was nice. The hostel provided all of our meals, which was great.
Saturday was our first day of our “Adventure Weekend”. In the morning I went rock climbing in an old quarry, which was fantastic and really fun. The only downside was that it was REALLY windy and cold. But the hike up to the quarry was gorgeous and it was really fun to take my experience rock climbing indoors at Planet Granite with my dad and apply it to some outdoor climbing! We headed back for lunch, and then went kayaking, after donning several layers of wetsuits and jackets to hold off the cold water and wind. I really enjoyed kayaking – it’s been a while since I’ve gone and I loved being on the water and getting to do some physical activity outdoors!
Saturday night Paige, Kelly, Sara, Ben and I went with Duncan, Arcadia’s program director who was also on the trip with us, to check out the Mountain Rescue Center nearby. It turned out that Duncan’s brother is one of the 6 people in charge of it. This was actually the highlight of my weekend, because it was one of those really great cultural experiences that are so random that I never would have thought about. Mountain Rescue in the UK is entirely run by volunteers and receives no government funding. They occasionally will get some help from the Royal Air Force if they need helicopter assistance, but usually they go into the mountains and get people out on stretchers. We got to see their base, their general equipment, and talked for a really long time with Duncan’s brother, Rhys, about his experiences and the differences between various Mountain Rescue services in different countries. We then stopped by a cute pub in Llanberis, the Welsh town we were staying in, had a pint, and then headed back for bed.
Sunday morning we went on an epic hike. Sunday was a lot sunnier, and though it was still cold and windy at the top, the sun was really nice. Paige, Kelly, and I beat all the boys in our group, which we took great pride in, haha. It was a really steep and although it was only about 10 kilometers (a little over 6 miles), I definitely could feel the hike by the end. The views were absolutely surreal and chatting with our guide, Jim, about Welsh and American culture was great.
After our hike we all piled back onto the bus for our much shorter bus ride back (no traffic thankfully) and then I headed back to Queen Mary, where I spent my last 3 days packing and working on my papers!
Right now I’m in Granada visiting my cousin, Kendra, which has been absolutely fantastic. I’ll update you on that a little later, so for now, I hope you are all healthy, happy, and having a wonderful time wherever you are in the world! I miss you all and can’t wait to see you soon!
My adventure has begun! 3 weeks of travel here I come. However first I must catch all of you up on my last few days in the U.K.
I went to Wales with Arcadia, my study abroad program. There actually weren’t any other Queen Mary students on the trip, so the other students were from colleges around London, England, and Wales. We took a coach, which was an epic 8-hour ride due to traffic. However the countryside was beautiful and I got a bunch of research reading done for my Medieval Troy paper. In a short departure from the topic of Wales, I am nearly done with all of my work! So crazy! I finished three out of my four final essays before I left, and now just have to finish up one more when I get back at the end of this month. That should make my trip a lot more relaxing.
Anyways, back to Wales. I made friends with three girls, Paige, Kelly, and Sara, who were all great. We ended up rooming together in the hostel and hanging out for a lot of the weekend. The night we got there, all of the people on the trip hung out in the common room of the hostel, which was nice. The hostel provided all of our meals, which was great.
Saturday was our first day of our “Adventure Weekend”. In the morning I went rock climbing in an old quarry, which was fantastic and really fun. The only downside was that it was REALLY windy and cold. But the hike up to the quarry was gorgeous and it was really fun to take my experience rock climbing indoors at Planet Granite with my dad and apply it to some outdoor climbing! We headed back for lunch, and then went kayaking, after donning several layers of wetsuits and jackets to hold off the cold water and wind. I really enjoyed kayaking – it’s been a while since I’ve gone and I loved being on the water and getting to do some physical activity outdoors!
Saturday night Paige, Kelly, Sara, Ben and I went with Duncan, Arcadia’s program director who was also on the trip with us, to check out the Mountain Rescue Center nearby. It turned out that Duncan’s brother is one of the 6 people in charge of it. This was actually the highlight of my weekend, because it was one of those really great cultural experiences that are so random that I never would have thought about. Mountain Rescue in the UK is entirely run by volunteers and receives no government funding. They occasionally will get some help from the Royal Air Force if they need helicopter assistance, but usually they go into the mountains and get people out on stretchers. We got to see their base, their general equipment, and talked for a really long time with Duncan’s brother, Rhys, about his experiences and the differences between various Mountain Rescue services in different countries. We then stopped by a cute pub in Llanberis, the Welsh town we were staying in, had a pint, and then headed back for bed.
Sunday morning we went on an epic hike. Sunday was a lot sunnier, and though it was still cold and windy at the top, the sun was really nice. Paige, Kelly, and I beat all the boys in our group, which we took great pride in, haha. It was a really steep and although it was only about 10 kilometers (a little over 6 miles), I definitely could feel the hike by the end. The views were absolutely surreal and chatting with our guide, Jim, about Welsh and American culture was great.
After our hike we all piled back onto the bus for our much shorter bus ride back (no traffic thankfully) and then I headed back to Queen Mary, where I spent my last 3 days packing and working on my papers!
Right now I’m in Granada visiting my cousin, Kendra, which has been absolutely fantastic. I’ll update you on that a little later, so for now, I hope you are all healthy, happy, and having a wonderful time wherever you are in the world! I miss you all and can’t wait to see you soon!
Sunday, 22 March 2009
My Virginia Woolf Pilgrimage and Belgium
Hey everyone,
So, two things to update you on!
1. What my professors referred to as our "pilgrimage": my trip to Rodmell and Monk's house, Virginia Woolf's country home, as well as to the River Ouse, the river where Woolf drowned herself. An uplifting reason for our journey? Definitely not. A little creepy? Definitely yes. However, I should add, as I hope my photos reflect, that Sussex, the area of England where Rodmell is located, is beautiful. It reminded my fellow Californian classmate and I of the area around Gilroy, with hills surrounding golden fields. It was wonderful to get out of the city and into the countryside. When we got to the river, we read Woolf's last letters and took a moment to think about what an influential writer she really was. After our fairly long hike back to Rodmell, the town, we had our sack lunches in the tiny town hall there. One of my professors had brought tea and biscuits, and two of my adorably British classmates were kind enough to make everyone tea - it was delightfully English and my American friends and I got quite a kick out of it. Overall, it was a great way to spend the day, and the bus ride there was just as beautiful as the town itself. I got to pay homage to a writer who has certainly changed my views on literature and writing itself, and enjoyed a lovely day in the countryside.
2. Belgium - Brussels and Bruges! So I got to Brussels at the rather early hour of 9 a.m., after taking a Eurostar train through the Chunnel that left at 5:57 a.m. I dragged poor Roger, whose train didn't leave until noon that day, to St. Pancras at 4:30 a.m. and am forever indebted to him for running with me, backpacks and all, to make our bus. Suffice it to say, I was a little sleepy, and slept on the train ride there. Once I got there I quickly discovered just how small the city is, as I was able to walk around the whole city very easily. Katie got in a little later, and after dropping our stuff off at our hostel (which was VERY nice! very clean, nice staff, good roommates - an all-around great hostel experience), we explored the city. We saw the Cathedral, the Grand Place (when I say Place think French/Belgian version of Piazza), had chocolate (I will never be able to truly enjoy Hershey's EVER again), found some absolutely breathtaking architecture, and enjoyed the flowers that were all over the city. After a late dinner and some reading, we called it a night. The next day we got up, enjoyed breakfast at the hostel (it came with the price of the rooms, hooray free food!), and grabbed a train to Bruges, otherwise known as the Venice of the North thanks to the canals throughout the city. The train ride was gorgeous - the Belgian countryside doesn't even look real it's so green. Bruges itself was also very small, so after checking out the Madonna and Child, some churches and generally cool architecture, we hit the Chocolate Museum. This was arguably my favorite activity of the weekend - it was absolutely hysterical, as were the English translations. Plus we got to watch hazelnut-filled chocolates made, and then eat them, and really, who can say no to that. After delicious coffee and chocolates, we headed back to Brussels for another relaxing evening. Overall, a delightful weekend!
Pardon me while I wax philosophical here for a moment. On my various train rides this weekend, I devoured several books (including Woolf's last... surprisingly saddening), and had a lot of time to reflect on my experiences in foreign countries thus far. While I always claim that I am sympathetic to immigrants in the United States, and while I was sympathetic to as much of an extent as possible, I have a new, much deeper appreciation for just how much they go through to "find the American dream". It baffles me to think that here I am, in England most of the time, where I speak the language, am generally familiar with the norms of the country, and am fortunate enough to easily blunder my way in and out of customs and immigration with my American passport, and yet I still am overwhelmed by at least one thing each day. I cannot even begin to imagine how emotionally and even physically taxing it must be for immigrants in the United States, who often don't speak the language, often have no concept of the social, political, or economic norms in America, who often have no friends to ask for help, and who are surrounded by a country that is constantly trying to keep them out and then even push them out, to the extent that we literally have fences separating our country from Mexico (and might I add here that our economy would crumble if we were actually successful at keeping immigrants out). While getting kicked off a train or yelled at in a grocery store for making, what must seem to the British to be stupid, mistakes can ruin my day for a few hours, imagine the plethora of day-ruining events that happen to immigrants in the United States every day. They just want to live a happy, healthy life - and isn't that what we all want? Thanks for bearing with me - suffice it to say that when I return, I will have so much more patience and empathy for anyone unfamiliar with American customs.
In upcoming news, next up, Wales adventure weekend! I hope you are all happy, healthy, safe, and enjoying the coming of spring! (The arrival of sunshine in London has improved my day-to-day life beyond measure!)
Peace and love,
Jordyn
So, two things to update you on!
1. What my professors referred to as our "pilgrimage": my trip to Rodmell and Monk's house, Virginia Woolf's country home, as well as to the River Ouse, the river where Woolf drowned herself. An uplifting reason for our journey? Definitely not. A little creepy? Definitely yes. However, I should add, as I hope my photos reflect, that Sussex, the area of England where Rodmell is located, is beautiful. It reminded my fellow Californian classmate and I of the area around Gilroy, with hills surrounding golden fields. It was wonderful to get out of the city and into the countryside. When we got to the river, we read Woolf's last letters and took a moment to think about what an influential writer she really was. After our fairly long hike back to Rodmell, the town, we had our sack lunches in the tiny town hall there. One of my professors had brought tea and biscuits, and two of my adorably British classmates were kind enough to make everyone tea - it was delightfully English and my American friends and I got quite a kick out of it. Overall, it was a great way to spend the day, and the bus ride there was just as beautiful as the town itself. I got to pay homage to a writer who has certainly changed my views on literature and writing itself, and enjoyed a lovely day in the countryside.
2. Belgium - Brussels and Bruges! So I got to Brussels at the rather early hour of 9 a.m., after taking a Eurostar train through the Chunnel that left at 5:57 a.m. I dragged poor Roger, whose train didn't leave until noon that day, to St. Pancras at 4:30 a.m. and am forever indebted to him for running with me, backpacks and all, to make our bus. Suffice it to say, I was a little sleepy, and slept on the train ride there. Once I got there I quickly discovered just how small the city is, as I was able to walk around the whole city very easily. Katie got in a little later, and after dropping our stuff off at our hostel (which was VERY nice! very clean, nice staff, good roommates - an all-around great hostel experience), we explored the city. We saw the Cathedral, the Grand Place (when I say Place think French/Belgian version of Piazza), had chocolate (I will never be able to truly enjoy Hershey's EVER again), found some absolutely breathtaking architecture, and enjoyed the flowers that were all over the city. After a late dinner and some reading, we called it a night. The next day we got up, enjoyed breakfast at the hostel (it came with the price of the rooms, hooray free food!), and grabbed a train to Bruges, otherwise known as the Venice of the North thanks to the canals throughout the city. The train ride was gorgeous - the Belgian countryside doesn't even look real it's so green. Bruges itself was also very small, so after checking out the Madonna and Child, some churches and generally cool architecture, we hit the Chocolate Museum. This was arguably my favorite activity of the weekend - it was absolutely hysterical, as were the English translations. Plus we got to watch hazelnut-filled chocolates made, and then eat them, and really, who can say no to that. After delicious coffee and chocolates, we headed back to Brussels for another relaxing evening. Overall, a delightful weekend!
Pardon me while I wax philosophical here for a moment. On my various train rides this weekend, I devoured several books (including Woolf's last... surprisingly saddening), and had a lot of time to reflect on my experiences in foreign countries thus far. While I always claim that I am sympathetic to immigrants in the United States, and while I was sympathetic to as much of an extent as possible, I have a new, much deeper appreciation for just how much they go through to "find the American dream". It baffles me to think that here I am, in England most of the time, where I speak the language, am generally familiar with the norms of the country, and am fortunate enough to easily blunder my way in and out of customs and immigration with my American passport, and yet I still am overwhelmed by at least one thing each day. I cannot even begin to imagine how emotionally and even physically taxing it must be for immigrants in the United States, who often don't speak the language, often have no concept of the social, political, or economic norms in America, who often have no friends to ask for help, and who are surrounded by a country that is constantly trying to keep them out and then even push them out, to the extent that we literally have fences separating our country from Mexico (and might I add here that our economy would crumble if we were actually successful at keeping immigrants out). While getting kicked off a train or yelled at in a grocery store for making, what must seem to the British to be stupid, mistakes can ruin my day for a few hours, imagine the plethora of day-ruining events that happen to immigrants in the United States every day. They just want to live a happy, healthy life - and isn't that what we all want? Thanks for bearing with me - suffice it to say that when I return, I will have so much more patience and empathy for anyone unfamiliar with American customs.
In upcoming news, next up, Wales adventure weekend! I hope you are all happy, healthy, safe, and enjoying the coming of spring! (The arrival of sunshine in London has improved my day-to-day life beyond measure!)
Peace and love,
Jordyn
Saturday, 14 March 2009
Getting Excited for April!
Hey there folks,
So it's been a while since my last post, so I thought I'd update you all on my life.
1. School - Turns out the British DO in fact do work... they just do it all at the last minute. While I am by no means doing work at the last minute, I am doing a lot of work right now in an attempt to finish as much as I can before my April adventures. I've gotten my first graded papers back now (and am happy with them), but now am starting on my final essays (yes, I do know it's only March). I'll explain - in the UK they only have 12 weeks of class, followed by all of April off for Easter Break, followed by all of May and part of June dedicated to final essays and exams. I have no final exams, only final essays, which are all due the first week of May (except for one due March 23rd, at which point I am done with that class... again, believe me, I'm just as confused as you probably are right now). I'm nearly done with the one due on the 23rd and am trying to finish another one, or possibly two, of the others before I leave. We'll see if that happens, haha.
2. London adventures - Since I've had a bunch of people visiting, I've knocked a bunch of stuff off of my London Must See's list. I went to St. Martin's-in-the-Field and the Crypt Cafe - absolutely loved this and also stumbled upon the St. Martin's symphony having an open practice... Saturdays around 3 people, go check it out. I went back again today and heard them rehearse Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Absolutely breathtaking. I also have now taken the token Harry Potter Platform 9 and 3/4s pictures (to be added to my picasa account soon). I've checked out the Strand, walked through several of London's parks (Hyde Park is truly beyond beautiful and somewhat magical in that I forget that I'm in the city when I go there), went to Kensington Palace (my favorite of the palaces thus far!), and found DELICIOUS Mexican food in Highbury and Islington. Oh, and discovery of all discoveries... I found Primark. My life is O.V.E.R. Think Forever 21 but cheaper and ORGANIZED, MUCH nicer quality clothes, and adorably British fashion. I don't think I can go back there ever again because I wanted to buy the entire store. I also have come to love 4 o'clock tea but have tea all day every day. Don't get me wrong, I've always loved tea, but it's become a bit of an addiction now.
3. Travels - I AM SO EXCITED FOR APRIL! Literally, words cannot describe. However, equally exciting, next weekend I'm going to Brussels and Bruges with my friend Katie, who's flying to Brussels from Rome to meet me! I get to take the Eurostar, which is the train that goes under the English Channel - I'm quite excited for that. Plus I've heard great things about Belgium, so I'm psyched for that! Also, on Thursday of next week I'm going to see Virginia Woolf's country house... and the river where she drowned herself. Uplifting field trip, thank you Virginia Woolf class. On a side note, though, I cannot stress how much I'm loving my classes and my professors - I really didn't think that I was going to be a huge Woolf fan, but I have to say that I've grown quite attached to her - I'm really very sad that I'm reading her last book, "Between the Acts," now. Back to travel schedules - I then go to Wales for my "adventure weekend" (all I know on that subject is that we get to talk to a mountain rescue team at one point, which sounds interesting!). Then I'm back in London for a few days to do a little bit more work, and then I'm off to Europe! A quick rundown of my plans - I should preface this by saying that yes, I know this a rather roundabout route, but I love trains, so really I don't mind that I'm back-tracking.
Part 1 - Granada to see Kendra, Cordoba to see Catherine, Seville with both of them
Part 2 - Catherine and I take on Italy! We're going to Rome and Florence and hopefully will get to hang out with Siena for a little bit (haha, maybe we'll even GO to Siena... haha, get it, the city? Oh man, I'm trying to make this post live up to the e-mail update I just got from Sam about Isreal but I'm just not as funny as he is).
Part 3 - My Eurail journey begins. Let me insert here that I LOVE the Eurail office in London - they helped me make all my train reservations and taught me so many things I never would have known. Thank you Eurail! Anyways, I take the train from Florence to Milan then an overnight train from Milan to Barcelona! In Barcelona I'm going to see Greg and explore the city while he studies for his final exams. I'm really excited judging by the photos I've seen from my friends who have been there already - plus I get to use my Spanish! Though evidently they speak something different there... still, I'm curious to see how much of my Spanish comes back to me. My hostel for Barcelona also looks awesome.
Part 4 - Another overnight train, this time from Barcelona to Paris, where I have 2 and a half hours to switch train stations and maybe buy a baguette. Then a train to Stutgart, Germany, and then a train to Tubengin to see Meike! I'm excited to see Germany through the eyes of a German - should be quite fun!
Part 5 - I go through Munich (sadly I won't get to see much of the city as I'm just switching trains there), to Prague, where I reunite with Claire! Here my journey ends, and I return to London, but Claire is going to come back with me for a few days and Greg is going to meet us here as well! Then he'll go check out Dublin for a few days and I will finish whatever finals I haven't finished before Catherine comes to visit, and then my parents come, along with Kendra! It should be a very action packed month, and as many of my hostels have free wi-fi, I will keep you all updated along the way with blog posts and photos!
I hope you are all having a wonderful month of March and that you are all safe, happy, and well! I miss all of you and can't wait to see you soon!
Jordyn
So it's been a while since my last post, so I thought I'd update you all on my life.
1. School - Turns out the British DO in fact do work... they just do it all at the last minute. While I am by no means doing work at the last minute, I am doing a lot of work right now in an attempt to finish as much as I can before my April adventures. I've gotten my first graded papers back now (and am happy with them), but now am starting on my final essays (yes, I do know it's only March). I'll explain - in the UK they only have 12 weeks of class, followed by all of April off for Easter Break, followed by all of May and part of June dedicated to final essays and exams. I have no final exams, only final essays, which are all due the first week of May (except for one due March 23rd, at which point I am done with that class... again, believe me, I'm just as confused as you probably are right now). I'm nearly done with the one due on the 23rd and am trying to finish another one, or possibly two, of the others before I leave. We'll see if that happens, haha.
2. London adventures - Since I've had a bunch of people visiting, I've knocked a bunch of stuff off of my London Must See's list. I went to St. Martin's-in-the-Field and the Crypt Cafe - absolutely loved this and also stumbled upon the St. Martin's symphony having an open practice... Saturdays around 3 people, go check it out. I went back again today and heard them rehearse Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Absolutely breathtaking. I also have now taken the token Harry Potter Platform 9 and 3/4s pictures (to be added to my picasa account soon). I've checked out the Strand, walked through several of London's parks (Hyde Park is truly beyond beautiful and somewhat magical in that I forget that I'm in the city when I go there), went to Kensington Palace (my favorite of the palaces thus far!), and found DELICIOUS Mexican food in Highbury and Islington. Oh, and discovery of all discoveries... I found Primark. My life is O.V.E.R. Think Forever 21 but cheaper and ORGANIZED, MUCH nicer quality clothes, and adorably British fashion. I don't think I can go back there ever again because I wanted to buy the entire store. I also have come to love 4 o'clock tea but have tea all day every day. Don't get me wrong, I've always loved tea, but it's become a bit of an addiction now.
3. Travels - I AM SO EXCITED FOR APRIL! Literally, words cannot describe. However, equally exciting, next weekend I'm going to Brussels and Bruges with my friend Katie, who's flying to Brussels from Rome to meet me! I get to take the Eurostar, which is the train that goes under the English Channel - I'm quite excited for that. Plus I've heard great things about Belgium, so I'm psyched for that! Also, on Thursday of next week I'm going to see Virginia Woolf's country house... and the river where she drowned herself. Uplifting field trip, thank you Virginia Woolf class. On a side note, though, I cannot stress how much I'm loving my classes and my professors - I really didn't think that I was going to be a huge Woolf fan, but I have to say that I've grown quite attached to her - I'm really very sad that I'm reading her last book, "Between the Acts," now. Back to travel schedules - I then go to Wales for my "adventure weekend" (all I know on that subject is that we get to talk to a mountain rescue team at one point, which sounds interesting!). Then I'm back in London for a few days to do a little bit more work, and then I'm off to Europe! A quick rundown of my plans - I should preface this by saying that yes, I know this a rather roundabout route, but I love trains, so really I don't mind that I'm back-tracking.
Part 1 - Granada to see Kendra, Cordoba to see Catherine, Seville with both of them
Part 2 - Catherine and I take on Italy! We're going to Rome and Florence and hopefully will get to hang out with Siena for a little bit (haha, maybe we'll even GO to Siena... haha, get it, the city? Oh man, I'm trying to make this post live up to the e-mail update I just got from Sam about Isreal but I'm just not as funny as he is).
Part 3 - My Eurail journey begins. Let me insert here that I LOVE the Eurail office in London - they helped me make all my train reservations and taught me so many things I never would have known. Thank you Eurail! Anyways, I take the train from Florence to Milan then an overnight train from Milan to Barcelona! In Barcelona I'm going to see Greg and explore the city while he studies for his final exams. I'm really excited judging by the photos I've seen from my friends who have been there already - plus I get to use my Spanish! Though evidently they speak something different there... still, I'm curious to see how much of my Spanish comes back to me. My hostel for Barcelona also looks awesome.
Part 4 - Another overnight train, this time from Barcelona to Paris, where I have 2 and a half hours to switch train stations and maybe buy a baguette. Then a train to Stutgart, Germany, and then a train to Tubengin to see Meike! I'm excited to see Germany through the eyes of a German - should be quite fun!
Part 5 - I go through Munich (sadly I won't get to see much of the city as I'm just switching trains there), to Prague, where I reunite with Claire! Here my journey ends, and I return to London, but Claire is going to come back with me for a few days and Greg is going to meet us here as well! Then he'll go check out Dublin for a few days and I will finish whatever finals I haven't finished before Catherine comes to visit, and then my parents come, along with Kendra! It should be a very action packed month, and as many of my hostels have free wi-fi, I will keep you all updated along the way with blog posts and photos!
I hope you are all having a wonderful month of March and that you are all safe, happy, and well! I miss all of you and can't wait to see you soon!
Jordyn
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Oxford - Harry Potter or the 18th Century?
Hey all,
So, one more update before I go on blogging hiatus for a while, since I'll just be hosting visitors and not actually traveling.
Last Friday my friend Allison from Trinity came to visit me from Paris! It was great to see her, and after gathering up our things and giving her a brief tour of Queen Mary, we headed to the bus for Oxford to see our friends Pat and Matt. Oh man, what an Oxford adventure - it was SO cool. Let me just say that if I had known that Oxford was this awesome, I totally would have 1. manipulated my GPA so I could have gotten in, and 2. applied to study abroad there. I literally felt like someone had picked us up and put us in about the 18th century. Either that or Harry Potter, it was a toss-up. Our friend Matt had tutorial for his crazy abstract math courses (I asked him what they were and I honestly could not repeat a word of explanation), so Pat met us at the bus-station and gave us the grand tour of Oxford. There are about 40 college in the town, so we had a lot of work ahead of us. Both Pat and Matt (I think it's so funny that their names rhyme) go to Worcester, so we started there (on a side note, their dorm rooms are HUGE). We hit about another 6 colleges, but to be honest I can't remember all of them. I do know that we started at Christ Church after Worcester, which is the Harry Potter college (they filmed parts of it there) - I totally felt like I was at Hogwarts, it was great. All of the colleges had beautiful gardens (the grounds keeping there is absolutely incredible - so detailed and absolutely perfect!), really impressive chapels, and generally amazing architecture. Al and I were quite excited because evidently actually getting into the colleges is hard (they have Porters - security guards - at every door) and we got to go to a few that Matt hadn't been able to get into yet. We all had a good laugh about that.
After walking around a ton, a delicious latte, and another really beautiful walk through University Park, we hung out and chatted for a while until Matt was done with his tutorial. Then we got dressed for "formal hall." Oh man, I really wish that I could have brought my camera, but it really wasn't the situation to play tourist - it was, however, absolutely hilarious. Pat and Matt (and all other Oxford students) have to wear these robe things to formal hall (over their suits and ties - Al and I both had on nice dresses). It was very Harry Potter. The dinner was delicious (three courses and affordable too!). It was so nice to have good fish. Cooking for myself doesn't mean I don't eat good stuff and I do go out occasionally, but I have to admit, I eat a lot of oatmeal and cereal. I simply lack the proper cooking supplies and I'm certainly not buying them when I'm only really here at Queen Mary for another month or so. Anyways, Oxford was absolutely a blast and Pat was a terrific tour-guide. I definitely recommend going to visit Oxford if you're ever in London.
When we got back to London, I did a little work while Al explored. We made dinner two of the nights she was here to save money, but the other night I took her to a cute pub I like in Notting Hill for fish and chips. Yum. I stuck with my usual jacket potato (a baked potato, usually with cheese or something in it). They're quite filling and usually quite cheap - the perfect college student's food. Al left bright and early this morning to go back to Paris on the Eurostar, but yesterday we had a wonderful walk through Hyde Park, did Kensington Palace (my favorite of the palaces thus far), and then went to check out St. Paul's Cathedral - I could go there everyday and still be totally amazed by the architecture. It's just breathtaking.
Anyways, I've got a LOT of visitors coming this month - Christina and Siena this weekend, Christina for most of next week, Courtney for next weekend, then a little break before Roger comes for a few days, and then I'm off to Brussels and Bruges with Katie! We've already got our hostel all set up - it looks like a nice one, so I'm hoping my first hostel stay goes well.
I'll update again after Belgium. I hope you're all having a wonderful week and that you're all well, happy, safe, and enjoying life wherever you are!
So, one more update before I go on blogging hiatus for a while, since I'll just be hosting visitors and not actually traveling.
Last Friday my friend Allison from Trinity came to visit me from Paris! It was great to see her, and after gathering up our things and giving her a brief tour of Queen Mary, we headed to the bus for Oxford to see our friends Pat and Matt. Oh man, what an Oxford adventure - it was SO cool. Let me just say that if I had known that Oxford was this awesome, I totally would have 1. manipulated my GPA so I could have gotten in, and 2. applied to study abroad there. I literally felt like someone had picked us up and put us in about the 18th century. Either that or Harry Potter, it was a toss-up. Our friend Matt had tutorial for his crazy abstract math courses (I asked him what they were and I honestly could not repeat a word of explanation), so Pat met us at the bus-station and gave us the grand tour of Oxford. There are about 40 college in the town, so we had a lot of work ahead of us. Both Pat and Matt (I think it's so funny that their names rhyme) go to Worcester, so we started there (on a side note, their dorm rooms are HUGE). We hit about another 6 colleges, but to be honest I can't remember all of them. I do know that we started at Christ Church after Worcester, which is the Harry Potter college (they filmed parts of it there) - I totally felt like I was at Hogwarts, it was great. All of the colleges had beautiful gardens (the grounds keeping there is absolutely incredible - so detailed and absolutely perfect!), really impressive chapels, and generally amazing architecture. Al and I were quite excited because evidently actually getting into the colleges is hard (they have Porters - security guards - at every door) and we got to go to a few that Matt hadn't been able to get into yet. We all had a good laugh about that.
After walking around a ton, a delicious latte, and another really beautiful walk through University Park, we hung out and chatted for a while until Matt was done with his tutorial. Then we got dressed for "formal hall." Oh man, I really wish that I could have brought my camera, but it really wasn't the situation to play tourist - it was, however, absolutely hilarious. Pat and Matt (and all other Oxford students) have to wear these robe things to formal hall (over their suits and ties - Al and I both had on nice dresses). It was very Harry Potter. The dinner was delicious (three courses and affordable too!). It was so nice to have good fish. Cooking for myself doesn't mean I don't eat good stuff and I do go out occasionally, but I have to admit, I eat a lot of oatmeal and cereal. I simply lack the proper cooking supplies and I'm certainly not buying them when I'm only really here at Queen Mary for another month or so. Anyways, Oxford was absolutely a blast and Pat was a terrific tour-guide. I definitely recommend going to visit Oxford if you're ever in London.
When we got back to London, I did a little work while Al explored. We made dinner two of the nights she was here to save money, but the other night I took her to a cute pub I like in Notting Hill for fish and chips. Yum. I stuck with my usual jacket potato (a baked potato, usually with cheese or something in it). They're quite filling and usually quite cheap - the perfect college student's food. Al left bright and early this morning to go back to Paris on the Eurostar, but yesterday we had a wonderful walk through Hyde Park, did Kensington Palace (my favorite of the palaces thus far), and then went to check out St. Paul's Cathedral - I could go there everyday and still be totally amazed by the architecture. It's just breathtaking.
Anyways, I've got a LOT of visitors coming this month - Christina and Siena this weekend, Christina for most of next week, Courtney for next weekend, then a little break before Roger comes for a few days, and then I'm off to Brussels and Bruges with Katie! We've already got our hostel all set up - it looks like a nice one, so I'm hoping my first hostel stay goes well.
I'll update again after Belgium. I hope you're all having a wonderful week and that you're all well, happy, safe, and enjoying life wherever you are!
Thursday, 19 February 2009
Dublin!
Well hello there,
I just got back from Dublin! Another country to add to my list of places I've been, which was very exciting! I stayed with my friend Claire from Trinity who is going to Trinity College Dublin (same name, no association). She and her roommates were ever so kind enough to let me stay on their couch from Monday to Thursday of this week (it was reading week here at Queen Mary) and what a fantastic visit it was!
I got there Monday and dropped my stuff at Claire's apartment. Then I went to a lecture with her for her Irish Writers class about Joyce's "Dubliners." The lecturer was GREAT! Very knowledgeable and very engaging. Then we recouped and hung out until we went to delicious dinner at Zaytoon's, a kebab restaurant down the street from Claire's apartment. The walk to campus from Claire's took us down Grafton Street (as seen in the movie "Once"!). Dublin has a lot of accordian players, so I of course thought of both my dad and my 6th grade teacher, Mrs. Hardwick, and had a good laugh.
Tuesday morning I went for a run (the best way to explore a city) and ran through St. Stephen's Green, Marrion Park, and Iveagh (pronounced "ivy") Garden - all three gardens were gorgeous! I also ran along the Liffey (the river that goes through Dublin) and through a little bit of the historic Temple Bar district. Then Claire and I went to Christ Church Cathedral, which was gorgeous and had a really cool crypt chapel with some nice museum exhibits. Then we walked to St. Patrick's and explored both the Cathedral and the park, which were both gorgeous. Then we explored a bit and found a great little bakery that I think Claire will probably go back to since the coffee was SO cheap! That is one thing about Dublin... nothing is cheap. Nothing. We were treated to AMAZING sunny weather, and it's really starting to feel like Spring MIGHT be around the corner what with the temperature getting warmer. Then we went to the National Gallery, which was amazing! There was a great Vermeer exhibit which was really impressive to see. After some nice museum wanders we went back to Claire's apartment then and made dinner, then had a pint (I tried a sip of Guiness and a glass of Paulander) at the local pub by Claire's, which is called The Bleeding Horse - it was founded in 1659 and had the perfect Irish pub vibe! I felt like I had gotten the true experience, and definitely not the tourist one.
Wednesday Claire had class all day, so after another exploratory run, I met Claire and some of her friends (I LOVED all of her friends! - visiting friends has made me lots of new friends and has reminded me how much I love meeting awesome new people) for lunch at their favorite crepery by campus. It was delicious. Dublin may be expensive, but the wonderful food definitely pays off. Then I explored on my own and did a lot of random walking (please see my Web album for an account of that) and walked down some major streets - O'Connell, Henry, Moore, etc. I also saw the Dublin Writer's Museum, the Memorial Garden for those who gave their lives during the Irish Revolution, the Trinity College Old Library, and the Yeats exhibit at the National Library. Then Claire and I made dinner again in her aparment and hung out with her terrific friends again!
Thursday before my flight left, Claire and I went to the Dublin Castle and the Chester Beatty Library, which was actually my favorite part of Dublin. He was a really cool guy - you should read up on him! He was very generous with his money and even gave his own house as a Red Cross Hospital during the second World War. Anyways, he had a HUGE collection of Asian artifacts, particularly manuscripts, which was SO COOL to see. The library itself was really well organized as well and had a nice exhibit on about The Art of the Book. Then Claire brought me to the bus stop and I was on my way!
On the flight home I sat next to the most adorable little girl and we had a great chat about Disneyland. Little kids with British accents are so funny. It made me so happy to be coming home to teach swimming again this summer!
Anyways, that's all for now... in the coming weeks...
Friday, Feb 20-Saturday, Feb 21 - Oxford!
Then tons of friends visiting including: Siena, Christina, Roger, and Allison
Then Brussels March 20-22 with Katie
And more to come after that!
I hope all of you are happy, healthy, and having a wonderful February wherever you are in the world!!
I just got back from Dublin! Another country to add to my list of places I've been, which was very exciting! I stayed with my friend Claire from Trinity who is going to Trinity College Dublin (same name, no association). She and her roommates were ever so kind enough to let me stay on their couch from Monday to Thursday of this week (it was reading week here at Queen Mary) and what a fantastic visit it was!
I got there Monday and dropped my stuff at Claire's apartment. Then I went to a lecture with her for her Irish Writers class about Joyce's "Dubliners." The lecturer was GREAT! Very knowledgeable and very engaging. Then we recouped and hung out until we went to delicious dinner at Zaytoon's, a kebab restaurant down the street from Claire's apartment. The walk to campus from Claire's took us down Grafton Street (as seen in the movie "Once"!). Dublin has a lot of accordian players, so I of course thought of both my dad and my 6th grade teacher, Mrs. Hardwick, and had a good laugh.
Tuesday morning I went for a run (the best way to explore a city) and ran through St. Stephen's Green, Marrion Park, and Iveagh (pronounced "ivy") Garden - all three gardens were gorgeous! I also ran along the Liffey (the river that goes through Dublin) and through a little bit of the historic Temple Bar district. Then Claire and I went to Christ Church Cathedral, which was gorgeous and had a really cool crypt chapel with some nice museum exhibits. Then we walked to St. Patrick's and explored both the Cathedral and the park, which were both gorgeous. Then we explored a bit and found a great little bakery that I think Claire will probably go back to since the coffee was SO cheap! That is one thing about Dublin... nothing is cheap. Nothing. We were treated to AMAZING sunny weather, and it's really starting to feel like Spring MIGHT be around the corner what with the temperature getting warmer. Then we went to the National Gallery, which was amazing! There was a great Vermeer exhibit which was really impressive to see. After some nice museum wanders we went back to Claire's apartment then and made dinner, then had a pint (I tried a sip of Guiness and a glass of Paulander) at the local pub by Claire's, which is called The Bleeding Horse - it was founded in 1659 and had the perfect Irish pub vibe! I felt like I had gotten the true experience, and definitely not the tourist one.
Wednesday Claire had class all day, so after another exploratory run, I met Claire and some of her friends (I LOVED all of her friends! - visiting friends has made me lots of new friends and has reminded me how much I love meeting awesome new people) for lunch at their favorite crepery by campus. It was delicious. Dublin may be expensive, but the wonderful food definitely pays off. Then I explored on my own and did a lot of random walking (please see my Web album for an account of that) and walked down some major streets - O'Connell, Henry, Moore, etc. I also saw the Dublin Writer's Museum, the Memorial Garden for those who gave their lives during the Irish Revolution, the Trinity College Old Library, and the Yeats exhibit at the National Library. Then Claire and I made dinner again in her aparment and hung out with her terrific friends again!
Thursday before my flight left, Claire and I went to the Dublin Castle and the Chester Beatty Library, which was actually my favorite part of Dublin. He was a really cool guy - you should read up on him! He was very generous with his money and even gave his own house as a Red Cross Hospital during the second World War. Anyways, he had a HUGE collection of Asian artifacts, particularly manuscripts, which was SO COOL to see. The library itself was really well organized as well and had a nice exhibit on about The Art of the Book. Then Claire brought me to the bus stop and I was on my way!
On the flight home I sat next to the most adorable little girl and we had a great chat about Disneyland. Little kids with British accents are so funny. It made me so happy to be coming home to teach swimming again this summer!
Anyways, that's all for now... in the coming weeks...
Friday, Feb 20-Saturday, Feb 21 - Oxford!
Then tons of friends visiting including: Siena, Christina, Roger, and Allison
Then Brussels March 20-22 with Katie
And more to come after that!
I hope all of you are happy, healthy, and having a wonderful February wherever you are in the world!!
Sunday, 15 February 2009
Venice, Carnival, and a Brief Stay in Bologna
Hey all,
So my latest adventure... VENICE! Let me tell you, I think this might be my favorite city so far. Now, I know that during the summer it's touristy and the canals smell bad, etc. etc., but believe me, Venice for Carnivale is the most AMAZING place ever. I flew into Bologna to meet my valentine (haha) Siena, who is one of my best friends from home. She's going to the University of Bologna through Wesleyan's program (she goes to Wesleyan). Anyways, Siena met me at the airport and we went straight to the train to Venice! It was a beautiful 2 hour train ride through the Italian country-side and we got to see the sunset, which was amazing. When we arrived, Siena, my tourguide extraordinaire, decided that we should take the boat (the Venician version of a bus) from the train station to San Marco so that I could get my first proper view of Venice - and let me tell you, this was only the beginning of a weekend full of breathtakes views. Seeing Venice for the first time at night was absolutely amazing - it was love at first sight. We walked around, found our hotel (which was ADORABLE, again major kudos to Siena for finding it online - very reasonably priced and the next morning we got free breakfast!). Then we grabbed some dinner (delicious Italian food) and wandered around a little more.
We got up nice and early Saturday morning to fully apprecaite the day. We found a reasonable gondola pretty much first thing and had a wonderful trip around the canals - the gondoleir (spelling?) spoke English so we got a really nice narration to our tour - we even saw Marco Polo's house! Then we walked and walked and saw so much of Venice - it was WONDERFUL. We went into a lot of shops looking for gifts for friends and admiring the beautiful Venician glass. Then we went to the Piazza, which was VERY crowded but filled with people dressed in gorgeous Carnivale costumes. I'll leave you to check out my photo album - it was so near getting to see everyone, plus Siena had planned ahead and gotten me the PERFECT mask in Verona for my birthday, and she had one as well, so we got to be cool and wear our masks as well!
While we were at the Piazza we went into San Marco's Basilica, which was amazing - I wish I could have taken photos. There are tile mosaics all over the ceiling - the extent of the tiling was truly magnificent. We also got a great view of the Piazza and a wedding (they must have been important to be married at the Basilica!) from the top of the Basilica. Then we went on an absolutely worth-while hunt for the best gelatto in the city - and oh my word was it good. I think my life ended when I had the cinnamon gelatto - I'm not even kidding, the world stopped turning for a minute. Then we grabbed some lunch and slowly made our way back to the train station.
That night we went back to Bologna, grabbed some dinner (more delicious Italian food) and then hung out with some of Siena's friends from her program, who are absolutely awesome, especially her friend Jessie! It was great to spend a weekend with Siena, who is the perfect travel buddy and who I can't wait to drag all over London in return for her excellent Italian translation and navigation skills! I actually picked up a little Italian even though I was only there a while - it's very similar to Spanish and I found that if I really paid attention, I could often pick out small bits of meaning from conversations. Hopefully when I go back in April I'll pick up some more of the language! It's such a beautiful language!
Anyways, that's all for now, I'm going to do a little homework before going to bed nice and early to prepare for my next trip, which starts tomorrow - Dublin! It's reading week so I'm taking full advantage of the opportunity to travel!
I hope everyone is doing really well and is happy, healthy, and having fun wherever you are in the world! I love and miss you all and can't wait to see you - drop me a line via e-mail sometime and let me know how you all are - jordyn.sims@gmail.com
And don't forget... photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/Jordyn.Sims
So my latest adventure... VENICE! Let me tell you, I think this might be my favorite city so far. Now, I know that during the summer it's touristy and the canals smell bad, etc. etc., but believe me, Venice for Carnivale is the most AMAZING place ever. I flew into Bologna to meet my valentine (haha) Siena, who is one of my best friends from home. She's going to the University of Bologna through Wesleyan's program (she goes to Wesleyan). Anyways, Siena met me at the airport and we went straight to the train to Venice! It was a beautiful 2 hour train ride through the Italian country-side and we got to see the sunset, which was amazing. When we arrived, Siena, my tourguide extraordinaire, decided that we should take the boat (the Venician version of a bus) from the train station to San Marco so that I could get my first proper view of Venice - and let me tell you, this was only the beginning of a weekend full of breathtakes views. Seeing Venice for the first time at night was absolutely amazing - it was love at first sight. We walked around, found our hotel (which was ADORABLE, again major kudos to Siena for finding it online - very reasonably priced and the next morning we got free breakfast!). Then we grabbed some dinner (delicious Italian food) and wandered around a little more.
We got up nice and early Saturday morning to fully apprecaite the day. We found a reasonable gondola pretty much first thing and had a wonderful trip around the canals - the gondoleir (spelling?) spoke English so we got a really nice narration to our tour - we even saw Marco Polo's house! Then we walked and walked and saw so much of Venice - it was WONDERFUL. We went into a lot of shops looking for gifts for friends and admiring the beautiful Venician glass. Then we went to the Piazza, which was VERY crowded but filled with people dressed in gorgeous Carnivale costumes. I'll leave you to check out my photo album - it was so near getting to see everyone, plus Siena had planned ahead and gotten me the PERFECT mask in Verona for my birthday, and she had one as well, so we got to be cool and wear our masks as well!
While we were at the Piazza we went into San Marco's Basilica, which was amazing - I wish I could have taken photos. There are tile mosaics all over the ceiling - the extent of the tiling was truly magnificent. We also got a great view of the Piazza and a wedding (they must have been important to be married at the Basilica!) from the top of the Basilica. Then we went on an absolutely worth-while hunt for the best gelatto in the city - and oh my word was it good. I think my life ended when I had the cinnamon gelatto - I'm not even kidding, the world stopped turning for a minute. Then we grabbed some lunch and slowly made our way back to the train station.
That night we went back to Bologna, grabbed some dinner (more delicious Italian food) and then hung out with some of Siena's friends from her program, who are absolutely awesome, especially her friend Jessie! It was great to spend a weekend with Siena, who is the perfect travel buddy and who I can't wait to drag all over London in return for her excellent Italian translation and navigation skills! I actually picked up a little Italian even though I was only there a while - it's very similar to Spanish and I found that if I really paid attention, I could often pick out small bits of meaning from conversations. Hopefully when I go back in April I'll pick up some more of the language! It's such a beautiful language!
Anyways, that's all for now, I'm going to do a little homework before going to bed nice and early to prepare for my next trip, which starts tomorrow - Dublin! It's reading week so I'm taking full advantage of the opportunity to travel!
I hope everyone is doing really well and is happy, healthy, and having fun wherever you are in the world! I love and miss you all and can't wait to see you - drop me a line via e-mail sometime and let me know how you all are - jordyn.sims@gmail.com
And don't forget... photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/Jordyn.Sims
Sunday, 8 February 2009
Edinburgh
Hey all,
So, Edinburgh and Scotland in general are absolutely gorgeous. Please check out my online photo album for true descriptions of the beauty because I really can't even begin to describe how beautiful it is up there.
I went to visit my friend, Caroline, who's at the University of Edinburgh. Our friend Claire who's at Trinity, Dublin was also there visiting - I cannot tell you how good it was to see familiar faces! The two of them were the perfect pair to celebrate my birthday with and Caroline was my tour-guide extraordinaire and showed me all over the city!! We saw:
Roslin Chapel - this is where "The Da Vinci Code" ends... I am definitely re-reading the book during my April travels. There is a vault underneath the Chapel that hasn't been excavated yet... I asked them to put down my number for when they get down there so I can come along... sadly they weren't putting pen to paper as I gave them the number.
Arthur's Seat - this is the hill that overlooks the city and Caroline and I hiked it with her friend Leslie (on a side note, I loved Caroline's friends! They were all so welcoming!). Great view from the top and quite the adventure what with the snow!
Holyrood Castle - reminded me a lot of Windsor Castle. There's a really neat Abbey attached to it which is in ruins and has lost its roof, which actually was a pretty cool effect.
The Royal Mile - beautiful classical architecture with lots of touristy shops with bagpipe music. Awesome.
St. Giles Cathedral - breathtaking architecture. I snuck a few photos inside even though I wasn't supposed to since I didn't invest in a photography permit for the church.
Edinburgh Castle - we only saw the outside, but it has a great view of the rest of the city!
Grayfriars Church and Cemetary - there are ghosts there. It's also really pretty.
Overall, a spectacular weekend with great friends and a beautiful city! Up next, Venice and Bologna with Siena!!
So, Edinburgh and Scotland in general are absolutely gorgeous. Please check out my online photo album for true descriptions of the beauty because I really can't even begin to describe how beautiful it is up there.
I went to visit my friend, Caroline, who's at the University of Edinburgh. Our friend Claire who's at Trinity, Dublin was also there visiting - I cannot tell you how good it was to see familiar faces! The two of them were the perfect pair to celebrate my birthday with and Caroline was my tour-guide extraordinaire and showed me all over the city!! We saw:
Roslin Chapel - this is where "The Da Vinci Code" ends... I am definitely re-reading the book during my April travels. There is a vault underneath the Chapel that hasn't been excavated yet... I asked them to put down my number for when they get down there so I can come along... sadly they weren't putting pen to paper as I gave them the number.
Arthur's Seat - this is the hill that overlooks the city and Caroline and I hiked it with her friend Leslie (on a side note, I loved Caroline's friends! They were all so welcoming!). Great view from the top and quite the adventure what with the snow!
Holyrood Castle - reminded me a lot of Windsor Castle. There's a really neat Abbey attached to it which is in ruins and has lost its roof, which actually was a pretty cool effect.
The Royal Mile - beautiful classical architecture with lots of touristy shops with bagpipe music. Awesome.
St. Giles Cathedral - breathtaking architecture. I snuck a few photos inside even though I wasn't supposed to since I didn't invest in a photography permit for the church.
Edinburgh Castle - we only saw the outside, but it has a great view of the rest of the city!
Grayfriars Church and Cemetary - there are ghosts there. It's also really pretty.
Overall, a spectacular weekend with great friends and a beautiful city! Up next, Venice and Bologna with Siena!!
Monday, 2 February 2009
London is a Snow Globe, Along with Bath and Windsor Updates!
Good morning from the snow globe that is London!
Before I update you on the latest since my last post, I'll fill you in on the weather here. It snowed yesterday and last night (more snow predicted for today and Wednesday, along with some sleet), and clearly this does not happen often in London. Please forgive me as I revel in a very rare and previously non-existent experience - I know more about snow than the majority of the people slipping and sliding along outside my window!!
There are only about 4-5 inches on the ground throughout the city (there's a little more here because we're farther outside of the "Heat Bubble" of the center of the city) and the city has literally shut down. My class today was canceled. All but one of the underground lines is severely delayed or completely shut down. The entire bus system is shut down. There are car accidents all over the city making driving impossible. All trains are shut down. And, rather inexplicably, cell phone networks are down.
Queen Mary's campus does not seem to own shovels (well, even if they did no one would be able to make it into work to be using them) and they definitely don't know to salt the pathways around campus. My fellow London-ers are equally ill-prepared - they all have worn suede boots (in their defense, they're probably the only boots they have without a heal), which are completely soaked through at this point. They're also bundled up as if they were about to go spelunking through some Arctic caves. I have to go get a book later today from a bookstore in London as our campus bookstore is shut down, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the city in snow - it's BEAUTIFUL in the snow. That's one thing I love about snow - everything just seems 10 times more lovely when covered by it, and the dreary grey sky here finally matches the ground!
Alright, on to what I've done since I last posted:
1. Gotten ahead on work in preparation for my various adventures coming up.
2. I went to Windsor Castle! It was really quite impressive! I think my favorite part was Queen Mary's Dollhouse. It's not a dollhouse you would play with, but is a perfect miniature replica of a typical castle of the time. It had tiny little furniture and was insanely detailed. I also saw the State Appartment, where the Royal Family entertains important guests when they come to the castle. It was stunning - there was a fire there in 1992 and they took that opportunity to re-do some of the rooms. They kept the integrity of the designs but updated them - there's one room that I'm sure was looking rather faded before but now is the most incredible shade of crimson, from the wall paper to the furniture. I then walked around the town of Windsor, which was very nice. Eton College, the world-renowned top English boy's prep school (college here means high school), was also nearby, so I walked over and saw that as well. I didn't get to go on a tour as they only offer them during certain seasons, but it was very cool to see the campus - it was huge and absolutely spectacular. Their chapel is as big as Trinity's, if not bigger! Overall, it was a lovely day and I always enjoy my bus-rides as an opportunity to see more of England.
3. I went to Bath! It was a great adventure of a day. I went with my four friends from Fordham; one goes to University College London and the other three go to Queen Mary with me. When the four of us that go to Queen Mary got ready to get on the tube to catch our bus from Victoria Station, we realized that we had a problem - the line we needed wasn't running that early on a Sunday. So being the clever travelers that we are, we devisded a plan to get there on a different combination of tube lines, and we would have made it had it not been for the last line we needed being completely closed for the day for track work (ironically this is the one line that is running with good service today). We then tried to run through the city to make it to Victoria, ran for what felt like a mile, found out we had made no progress, took a city bus, and ended up missing our bus by about 5 minutes. While we were not able to get a refund or switch our tickets, we went ahead and got on the next bus anyways since we already had our return tickets booked, and since we were determined to go to Bath! And it was completely worth it! The bus ride was beautiful (about 3 hours) and when we got there we had some lunch (I always pack my lunches so I can save money on my weekend adventures). Then we walked around the town and saw the Abbey and, the pride of Bath, the Roman Baths. They were absolutely incredible - it's made me so excited to go to Italy and see more history like this! I took a ton of photos which I will put up on my web album (http://picasaweb.google.com/Jordyn.Sims). My Windsor photos are already up. Jillian and I then stopped by the Jane Austen Center, which made me feel that I had fulfilled my duty as an English major in Bath, while the boys went and did "manly things" (they watched a rugby match and found a maze that they ran through). Jillian and I read for a while in a cute little cafe called "The Boston Tea Party" (we thought the name was pretty amusing), and then we all had some dinner, and got on our bus home! We got a glimpse of Bristol when we switched buses there, though it was dark so I didn't really get to see much there.
Alright, well I'm off to see if the gym is open, and then plan to entertain myself with a stroll through London in the snow! It's actually snowing more as I write! I hope you're all having a wonderful day, wish you a delightful week with good health and happiness, and will write next week about my snowy week in London and my exciting birthday weekend in Edinburgh with Caroline (Claire is going to be visiting then from Dublin, too!!!)
Before I update you on the latest since my last post, I'll fill you in on the weather here. It snowed yesterday and last night (more snow predicted for today and Wednesday, along with some sleet), and clearly this does not happen often in London. Please forgive me as I revel in a very rare and previously non-existent experience - I know more about snow than the majority of the people slipping and sliding along outside my window!!
There are only about 4-5 inches on the ground throughout the city (there's a little more here because we're farther outside of the "Heat Bubble" of the center of the city) and the city has literally shut down. My class today was canceled. All but one of the underground lines is severely delayed or completely shut down. The entire bus system is shut down. There are car accidents all over the city making driving impossible. All trains are shut down. And, rather inexplicably, cell phone networks are down.
Queen Mary's campus does not seem to own shovels (well, even if they did no one would be able to make it into work to be using them) and they definitely don't know to salt the pathways around campus. My fellow London-ers are equally ill-prepared - they all have worn suede boots (in their defense, they're probably the only boots they have without a heal), which are completely soaked through at this point. They're also bundled up as if they were about to go spelunking through some Arctic caves. I have to go get a book later today from a bookstore in London as our campus bookstore is shut down, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the city in snow - it's BEAUTIFUL in the snow. That's one thing I love about snow - everything just seems 10 times more lovely when covered by it, and the dreary grey sky here finally matches the ground!
Alright, on to what I've done since I last posted:
1. Gotten ahead on work in preparation for my various adventures coming up.
2. I went to Windsor Castle! It was really quite impressive! I think my favorite part was Queen Mary's Dollhouse. It's not a dollhouse you would play with, but is a perfect miniature replica of a typical castle of the time. It had tiny little furniture and was insanely detailed. I also saw the State Appartment, where the Royal Family entertains important guests when they come to the castle. It was stunning - there was a fire there in 1992 and they took that opportunity to re-do some of the rooms. They kept the integrity of the designs but updated them - there's one room that I'm sure was looking rather faded before but now is the most incredible shade of crimson, from the wall paper to the furniture. I then walked around the town of Windsor, which was very nice. Eton College, the world-renowned top English boy's prep school (college here means high school), was also nearby, so I walked over and saw that as well. I didn't get to go on a tour as they only offer them during certain seasons, but it was very cool to see the campus - it was huge and absolutely spectacular. Their chapel is as big as Trinity's, if not bigger! Overall, it was a lovely day and I always enjoy my bus-rides as an opportunity to see more of England.
3. I went to Bath! It was a great adventure of a day. I went with my four friends from Fordham; one goes to University College London and the other three go to Queen Mary with me. When the four of us that go to Queen Mary got ready to get on the tube to catch our bus from Victoria Station, we realized that we had a problem - the line we needed wasn't running that early on a Sunday. So being the clever travelers that we are, we devisded a plan to get there on a different combination of tube lines, and we would have made it had it not been for the last line we needed being completely closed for the day for track work (ironically this is the one line that is running with good service today). We then tried to run through the city to make it to Victoria, ran for what felt like a mile, found out we had made no progress, took a city bus, and ended up missing our bus by about 5 minutes. While we were not able to get a refund or switch our tickets, we went ahead and got on the next bus anyways since we already had our return tickets booked, and since we were determined to go to Bath! And it was completely worth it! The bus ride was beautiful (about 3 hours) and when we got there we had some lunch (I always pack my lunches so I can save money on my weekend adventures). Then we walked around the town and saw the Abbey and, the pride of Bath, the Roman Baths. They were absolutely incredible - it's made me so excited to go to Italy and see more history like this! I took a ton of photos which I will put up on my web album (http://picasaweb.google.com/Jordyn.Sims). My Windsor photos are already up. Jillian and I then stopped by the Jane Austen Center, which made me feel that I had fulfilled my duty as an English major in Bath, while the boys went and did "manly things" (they watched a rugby match and found a maze that they ran through). Jillian and I read for a while in a cute little cafe called "The Boston Tea Party" (we thought the name was pretty amusing), and then we all had some dinner, and got on our bus home! We got a glimpse of Bristol when we switched buses there, though it was dark so I didn't really get to see much there.
Alright, well I'm off to see if the gym is open, and then plan to entertain myself with a stroll through London in the snow! It's actually snowing more as I write! I hope you're all having a wonderful day, wish you a delightful week with good health and happiness, and will write next week about my snowy week in London and my exciting birthday weekend in Edinburgh with Caroline (Claire is going to be visiting then from Dublin, too!!!)
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
Hey everyone,
So, what have I been doing for the past week...
1. I went to Stonehenge! A lot of people claim that it's a bit of a let down, but believe me, it was SO extremely cool. Just getting to see the product of such amazing human ingenuity and sheer manpower was so impressive. I listened to the audio history guide, which granted I didn't absorb much of, but it was still pretty interesting. The only thing that I really retained was that they got the stone slabs to the top of the hill by rolling them along logs - pretty clever from the perspective of someone who would have a hard time thinking past throwing them all on the bed of a truck.
2. I went to Salisbury! Little known fact (or at least me and the rest of the group I was with didn't know this), the Salisbury Cathedral has the highest spire in all of England and the 3rd highest in all of the world. The Cathedral was absolutely magnificent, and I enjoyed walking around it with my three new friends from the trip Melissa, Stella, and Radek. It also has the oldest working clock - there are no numbers or hands, but it chimes every hour.
3. I went to New Forest Park! Disclaimer: forest in England does not mean trees. The word is descendant of the time when the forest used to be the land outside of the king's control - today it just means that livestock wanders around it aimlessly, so we got to see a lot of horses, donkeys, pigs, and a few cows. We also stopped in our guide's hometown which was very cute and Melissa, Stella, Radek, and I had some delicious tea in a cute little chocolate shop. I also got some rose-petal jam, which I know sounds strange, but is possibly my new favorite jam. Then we drove back to London.
Tomorrow my Virginia Woolf class is taking a walking tour of Bloomsbury, the area of London where Virginia Woolf lived when she lived in the city. It should be quite interesting and I'm looking forward to it - I love walking around the city more than anything, and a guided tour will be right up my ally.
Friday is my work day (I'm getting ahead on some essays since I'll be traveling for a lot of reading week), though I'm also planning to hit up a few of my destinations on my "Jordyn's Massive List of Things to Do in London" (please send me any recommendations). I figure that by the time I have more visitors, I will be quite the knowledgable tour-guide if I can make it through my list. I've also been getting better at navigating London and don't bother to carry my map most of the time - I actually use the Underground to navigate while above ground since I love it so much that I have the Underground map memorized, so I just find a stop and orient myself from there. Going on runs around London has helped too - I love running along the river on sunny days.
Then Saturday I'm going to Windsor Castle with my study abroad program and on Sunday my group of friends from Fordham and I are going to Bath for the day.
Anyways, more updates to come after my next adventures. In the coming weeks look for posts about Edinburgh, Venice (and Carnival!!), Dublin, and Oxford! I hope you're all healthy, happy, and having fun wherever you are in the world!
So, what have I been doing for the past week...
1. I went to Stonehenge! A lot of people claim that it's a bit of a let down, but believe me, it was SO extremely cool. Just getting to see the product of such amazing human ingenuity and sheer manpower was so impressive. I listened to the audio history guide, which granted I didn't absorb much of, but it was still pretty interesting. The only thing that I really retained was that they got the stone slabs to the top of the hill by rolling them along logs - pretty clever from the perspective of someone who would have a hard time thinking past throwing them all on the bed of a truck.
2. I went to Salisbury! Little known fact (or at least me and the rest of the group I was with didn't know this), the Salisbury Cathedral has the highest spire in all of England and the 3rd highest in all of the world. The Cathedral was absolutely magnificent, and I enjoyed walking around it with my three new friends from the trip Melissa, Stella, and Radek. It also has the oldest working clock - there are no numbers or hands, but it chimes every hour.
3. I went to New Forest Park! Disclaimer: forest in England does not mean trees. The word is descendant of the time when the forest used to be the land outside of the king's control - today it just means that livestock wanders around it aimlessly, so we got to see a lot of horses, donkeys, pigs, and a few cows. We also stopped in our guide's hometown which was very cute and Melissa, Stella, Radek, and I had some delicious tea in a cute little chocolate shop. I also got some rose-petal jam, which I know sounds strange, but is possibly my new favorite jam. Then we drove back to London.
Tomorrow my Virginia Woolf class is taking a walking tour of Bloomsbury, the area of London where Virginia Woolf lived when she lived in the city. It should be quite interesting and I'm looking forward to it - I love walking around the city more than anything, and a guided tour will be right up my ally.
Friday is my work day (I'm getting ahead on some essays since I'll be traveling for a lot of reading week), though I'm also planning to hit up a few of my destinations on my "Jordyn's Massive List of Things to Do in London" (please send me any recommendations). I figure that by the time I have more visitors, I will be quite the knowledgable tour-guide if I can make it through my list. I've also been getting better at navigating London and don't bother to carry my map most of the time - I actually use the Underground to navigate while above ground since I love it so much that I have the Underground map memorized, so I just find a stop and orient myself from there. Going on runs around London has helped too - I love running along the river on sunny days.
Then Saturday I'm going to Windsor Castle with my study abroad program and on Sunday my group of friends from Fordham and I are going to Bath for the day.
Anyways, more updates to come after my next adventures. In the coming weeks look for posts about Edinburgh, Venice (and Carnival!!), Dublin, and Oxford! I hope you're all healthy, happy, and having fun wherever you are in the world!
Tuesday, 20 January 2009
An International Rendition of the Star Spangled Banner
So I know that I already posted once today, but… I had to post again. I mean it’s inauguration day!
I watched the speech in the Chapel here on campus with a bunch of other international students who don’t have access to a television. First of all, I should add that there were only three or four Americans in the room, so it was really touching that there were a pretty good number of other students excited about today. We listened to Obama speak and heard the poet and the preacher speak as well. Then our national anthem came on.
I questioned for a second whether I should stand or not, as in the past I’ve been careful not to single myself out as an American. But I decided to stand and as I did, so did the other Americans… and so did the Muslim woman in the back of the room… and so did the Australian Reverend of Queen Mary… and so did the woman from Kenya, the British students in front of me, the woman from Poland on my left, and the man from China on my right. Everyone stood for OUR national anthem. I have never in my entire life been so proud to be an American and suffice it to say, that as I (quietly, because I didn’t want to ruin the moment with my completely inept singing) sang along with our national anthem, there were a few tears.
If anything I think that experiencing this day from abroad has made it all the more meaningful for me, because it’s reminded me that this is not just a step forward for America – this is a step forward for the global community. And the global community is watching, listening, rejoicing, and standing with us today. I will never forget what it felt like to stand in a room, my hand on my heart, singing my national anthem, surrounded by a global representation of my peers who quite literally stood up for my country alongside me.
I watched the speech in the Chapel here on campus with a bunch of other international students who don’t have access to a television. First of all, I should add that there were only three or four Americans in the room, so it was really touching that there were a pretty good number of other students excited about today. We listened to Obama speak and heard the poet and the preacher speak as well. Then our national anthem came on.
I questioned for a second whether I should stand or not, as in the past I’ve been careful not to single myself out as an American. But I decided to stand and as I did, so did the other Americans… and so did the Muslim woman in the back of the room… and so did the Australian Reverend of Queen Mary… and so did the woman from Kenya, the British students in front of me, the woman from Poland on my left, and the man from China on my right. Everyone stood for OUR national anthem. I have never in my entire life been so proud to be an American and suffice it to say, that as I (quietly, because I didn’t want to ruin the moment with my completely inept singing) sang along with our national anthem, there were a few tears.
If anything I think that experiencing this day from abroad has made it all the more meaningful for me, because it’s reminded me that this is not just a step forward for America – this is a step forward for the global community. And the global community is watching, listening, rejoicing, and standing with us today. I will never forget what it felt like to stand in a room, my hand on my heart, singing my national anthem, surrounded by a global representation of my peers who quite literally stood up for my country alongside me.
Happy Inauguration Day!
Happy Inauguration Day!!!
Thought I’d give you all a quick update on life in London before I’m off to class and then running to a television to try to catch Obama’s actual inauguration live (I’m hoping my professor will let us out 10 minutes early… not holding my breath though). BBC and London in general are quite excited about Obama – you can get into the Wax Museum for free to see the newly unveiled Obama figure if you bring your American passport.
My homestay last weekend was absolutely amazing! I didn’t want to leave at all. My host family was absolutely perfect. The mom, Kerry, was so funny – she and I had a good laugh about my “CDO” joke (I have CDO – it’s like OCD but letters are in alphabetical order like they should be). Dave, her husband, was the best tour-guide I could have asked for! He showed Jillian and I (who was also, coincidentally, in the same homestay as me, which was great since she and I get along really well) all over the island and Saturday morning he drew me a nice map so I could run around the island. It was only a 5 mile run, but I saw most of the island, which gives you an idea of how big it is. The cliffs are absolutely breathtaking and the ocean air and open fields were SO refreshing and desperately needed after two weeks of constant London. I hadn’t realized until now how overwhelming London has been for me – it’s always so busy, whereas Los Altos is pretty slow-paced and Hartford isn’t really a big enough city to have the same kind of hustle-and-bustle that London does. Anyways, I’ve gotten sidetracked – Portland, the island I was on, is in the south of London and is home to the new Sailing Center for the 2012 Olympics. We got there and Friday, spent time with our families, and then explored Weymouth, the bigger town nearby, on Saturday. We got to go to a cute little pub Saturday night and hear a local performer play guitar (he played a lot of American covers, which were pretty funny). Then Sunday morning we explored the island a little more, had lunch, and then got back on the bus to London.
My favorite part of the trip, without question, was talking to Kerry and Dave. We talked about everything, from politics to television to religion to football (American and “soccer”). Their kids, Callum (9 year-old boy) and Chloe (7 year-old girl), were hysterical too. Callum is quite the soccer player and is full of energy, and Chloe gave Jillian and I an extensive and very amusing tour of her toys (she loves Hannah Montana and Bratz). It was great to have some of Kerry’s delicious home-cooked meals and to have people looking out for me, happy to help and answer any question, from where to get a cheap football jersey to how to turn on the shower.
Other updates: it’s rather bitter-sweet to get the Fred meeting minutes – I’m so jealous that you guys are all back at Trinity now, though I’m excited to be in London. Your election-themed coffee house made me laugh out loud and I’m so mad that I’m missing Stephanie’s clothing swap (that is so smart!).
I’ve been working out more details of my impending travels, including hopefully having Claire come visit the weekend after next! That would be great fun. Kendra and I have been commiserating on Skype about how different the European style of school is, and we’ve planned visits as well, which will be great fun.
This morning we had a fire drill at 8 AM (my alarm clock had already gone off but it was still a very unpleasant shock). While we all stood, freezing to death outside, we got a nice speech about how international students are always the causes of fires because we don’t understand how electricity in England works and we don’t use our electric appliances properly. Considering that no one was awake, I don’t know how effective that speech was, but it’s led me to unplug everything when I leave my room from now on, just to be safe.
Ok, time for some Old English translation before I go to my Medieval Troy class. I hope you’re all well, happy, and having a wonderful week! I’m so proud to be an American on this historical day!!!
Thought I’d give you all a quick update on life in London before I’m off to class and then running to a television to try to catch Obama’s actual inauguration live (I’m hoping my professor will let us out 10 minutes early… not holding my breath though). BBC and London in general are quite excited about Obama – you can get into the Wax Museum for free to see the newly unveiled Obama figure if you bring your American passport.
My homestay last weekend was absolutely amazing! I didn’t want to leave at all. My host family was absolutely perfect. The mom, Kerry, was so funny – she and I had a good laugh about my “CDO” joke (I have CDO – it’s like OCD but letters are in alphabetical order like they should be). Dave, her husband, was the best tour-guide I could have asked for! He showed Jillian and I (who was also, coincidentally, in the same homestay as me, which was great since she and I get along really well) all over the island and Saturday morning he drew me a nice map so I could run around the island. It was only a 5 mile run, but I saw most of the island, which gives you an idea of how big it is. The cliffs are absolutely breathtaking and the ocean air and open fields were SO refreshing and desperately needed after two weeks of constant London. I hadn’t realized until now how overwhelming London has been for me – it’s always so busy, whereas Los Altos is pretty slow-paced and Hartford isn’t really a big enough city to have the same kind of hustle-and-bustle that London does. Anyways, I’ve gotten sidetracked – Portland, the island I was on, is in the south of London and is home to the new Sailing Center for the 2012 Olympics. We got there and Friday, spent time with our families, and then explored Weymouth, the bigger town nearby, on Saturday. We got to go to a cute little pub Saturday night and hear a local performer play guitar (he played a lot of American covers, which were pretty funny). Then Sunday morning we explored the island a little more, had lunch, and then got back on the bus to London.
My favorite part of the trip, without question, was talking to Kerry and Dave. We talked about everything, from politics to television to religion to football (American and “soccer”). Their kids, Callum (9 year-old boy) and Chloe (7 year-old girl), were hysterical too. Callum is quite the soccer player and is full of energy, and Chloe gave Jillian and I an extensive and very amusing tour of her toys (she loves Hannah Montana and Bratz). It was great to have some of Kerry’s delicious home-cooked meals and to have people looking out for me, happy to help and answer any question, from where to get a cheap football jersey to how to turn on the shower.
Other updates: it’s rather bitter-sweet to get the Fred meeting minutes – I’m so jealous that you guys are all back at Trinity now, though I’m excited to be in London. Your election-themed coffee house made me laugh out loud and I’m so mad that I’m missing Stephanie’s clothing swap (that is so smart!).
I’ve been working out more details of my impending travels, including hopefully having Claire come visit the weekend after next! That would be great fun. Kendra and I have been commiserating on Skype about how different the European style of school is, and we’ve planned visits as well, which will be great fun.
This morning we had a fire drill at 8 AM (my alarm clock had already gone off but it was still a very unpleasant shock). While we all stood, freezing to death outside, we got a nice speech about how international students are always the causes of fires because we don’t understand how electricity in England works and we don’t use our electric appliances properly. Considering that no one was awake, I don’t know how effective that speech was, but it’s led me to unplug everything when I leave my room from now on, just to be safe.
Ok, time for some Old English translation before I go to my Medieval Troy class. I hope you’re all well, happy, and having a wonderful week! I’m so proud to be an American on this historical day!!!
Thursday, 15 January 2009
Steve Comes to Visit and Other Tales of Great Excitement!
Alright, what have you all missed in the past week or so…
Item 1: I’ve switched my class schedule up a little bit. Instead of my two history classes, I am now in two more English classes. So my schedule is:
Play and Book (Medieval plays)
Medieval Troy (study of the story of the Trojan war based off of Chaucer)
Old English (LOVING this class)
Virginia Woolf (really liking the class too and feeling nicely prepared for my discussion sessions)
Item 2: My latest adventures with Steve!
Steve came to visit as his first stop on his epic journey around the world, which was awesome. I loved having an aimless walking buddy (we may have walked about 4.5 miles to get to King’s Cross Station because – secretly – I wanted to see Platform 9 ¾, and yes, yes it is there so yes, Hogwarts DOES exist). Sadly Steve moved on to Prague to see Oz this morning. I shall miss his company but am so excited to hear all about his adventures all over the world! In the interest of space and both your time and mine, here’s a quick list of what I did while Steve was here:
- Wandered around Piccadilly Circus and saw Carnaby Street
- Went to St. Paul’s Cathedral (I’m definitely going back to go inside, it was AMAZING)
- Walked across the Millennium Bridge (gorgeous, I got excited because it’s in a scene in “Love Actually”)
- Went to the reconstructed Globe Theater (I won’t lie, this has been my favorite part of London so far – it was SO SO SO cool and I loved the exhibition)
- Went to the Tate Modern (Modern Art museum… I can only take so much modern art, but I liked it – very expansive collection and, as with all London museums, FREE!)
- Went to Brick Lane Market, Spitifields Market, and Petticoat Lane Market (all beautiful, all full of delicious food)
- Went to King’s Cross and passed some really cool parts of London on the way (please reference my photo album at http://picasaweb.google.com/Jordyn.Sims as there are some nice photos to depict our walk)
Item 3: My tentative schedule:
January Weekend 2 – homestay in Portland (small island off the Southern coast of England)
January Weekend 3 – Stonehenge trip with Queen Mary’s study abroad program
February Weekend 1 – Windsor trip with Arcadia
February Weekend 2 (my birthday!) – go to visit Caroline in Edinburgh!
February Weekend 3 – go to Bologna to see Siena and then go to Venice for Carnival!! Look for AMAZING photos from this weekend, I can’t wait!
February Weekend 4 – go visit Bryce in Copenhagen (still working out details on that one), maybe
March Weekend 1 – Christina comes to visit! Hooray!!
March Weekend 2 – Trinity Spring Break – I hope to see lots of you here, you are all welcome!!!
March Weekend 3 – bury myself in my papers
March Weekend 4 – Wales Adventure Trip with Arcadia (no idea what we’re doing, there was a picture of a kayak so I’m psyched)
APRIL – go EVERYWHERE! First Paris to see Al and Sarah, then Spain to see Greg, Kendra, and Catherine, then to Italy with Catherine, Vienna to see Oz, Berlin to Meike, maybe Sicily, maybe Dublin
April Weekend 4 – come back to do my final papers
May Weekend 1 – parents come to visit!!!!! Kendra might come then too!!
May Weekend 2 – parents leave ☹
May Week 2 – I leave and go see all you old kids from Trinity graduate, and then I go home to California for a wonderful summer of teaching swimming!!
Alright, that’s all for now! Check out the photos – there are some new ones. And I’ll let you all know how my homestay goes! I’m quite excited about it. I hope you’re all well and happy wherever in the world you are!
Item 1: I’ve switched my class schedule up a little bit. Instead of my two history classes, I am now in two more English classes. So my schedule is:
Play and Book (Medieval plays)
Medieval Troy (study of the story of the Trojan war based off of Chaucer)
Old English (LOVING this class)
Virginia Woolf (really liking the class too and feeling nicely prepared for my discussion sessions)
Item 2: My latest adventures with Steve!
Steve came to visit as his first stop on his epic journey around the world, which was awesome. I loved having an aimless walking buddy (we may have walked about 4.5 miles to get to King’s Cross Station because – secretly – I wanted to see Platform 9 ¾, and yes, yes it is there so yes, Hogwarts DOES exist). Sadly Steve moved on to Prague to see Oz this morning. I shall miss his company but am so excited to hear all about his adventures all over the world! In the interest of space and both your time and mine, here’s a quick list of what I did while Steve was here:
- Wandered around Piccadilly Circus and saw Carnaby Street
- Went to St. Paul’s Cathedral (I’m definitely going back to go inside, it was AMAZING)
- Walked across the Millennium Bridge (gorgeous, I got excited because it’s in a scene in “Love Actually”)
- Went to the reconstructed Globe Theater (I won’t lie, this has been my favorite part of London so far – it was SO SO SO cool and I loved the exhibition)
- Went to the Tate Modern (Modern Art museum… I can only take so much modern art, but I liked it – very expansive collection and, as with all London museums, FREE!)
- Went to Brick Lane Market, Spitifields Market, and Petticoat Lane Market (all beautiful, all full of delicious food)
- Went to King’s Cross and passed some really cool parts of London on the way (please reference my photo album at http://picasaweb.google.com/Jordyn.Sims as there are some nice photos to depict our walk)
Item 3: My tentative schedule:
January Weekend 2 – homestay in Portland (small island off the Southern coast of England)
January Weekend 3 – Stonehenge trip with Queen Mary’s study abroad program
February Weekend 1 – Windsor trip with Arcadia
February Weekend 2 (my birthday!) – go to visit Caroline in Edinburgh!
February Weekend 3 – go to Bologna to see Siena and then go to Venice for Carnival!! Look for AMAZING photos from this weekend, I can’t wait!
February Weekend 4 – go visit Bryce in Copenhagen (still working out details on that one), maybe
March Weekend 1 – Christina comes to visit! Hooray!!
March Weekend 2 – Trinity Spring Break – I hope to see lots of you here, you are all welcome!!!
March Weekend 3 – bury myself in my papers
March Weekend 4 – Wales Adventure Trip with Arcadia (no idea what we’re doing, there was a picture of a kayak so I’m psyched)
APRIL – go EVERYWHERE! First Paris to see Al and Sarah, then Spain to see Greg, Kendra, and Catherine, then to Italy with Catherine, Vienna to see Oz, Berlin to Meike, maybe Sicily, maybe Dublin
April Weekend 4 – come back to do my final papers
May Weekend 1 – parents come to visit!!!!! Kendra might come then too!!
May Weekend 2 – parents leave ☹
May Week 2 – I leave and go see all you old kids from Trinity graduate, and then I go home to California for a wonderful summer of teaching swimming!!
Alright, that’s all for now! Check out the photos – there are some new ones. And I’ll let you all know how my homestay goes! I’m quite excited about it. I hope you’re all well and happy wherever in the world you are!
Thursday, 8 January 2009
Playing Tourist for a Day and Other Adventures
Hello again!
So let's see, what have I done since I last updated...
For one thing, I've now had all of my classes. My Crusades class will probably be the most work as the professor expects us to do a lot of outside reading on our own, above and beyond the typical British expectations. My Old English professor seems like the ever-entertaining flustered professor, who is clearly a genius but could perhaps use a professional organizer. The class doesn't sound like it will be a ton of work/too hard (I've already almost finished the reading for the week and this class, thankfully, actually has specific reading assignments), but it definitely sounds interesting. I've enjoyed the reading thus far - the grammar and its influences on modern English are quite fascinating. Next is my Virginia Woolf class. I'm actually quite excited for that one. I read her essay "A Mark on the Wall" for the first day of class along with a critical essay on Modernism - the critical essay was fascinating and Woolf's writing is truly beautiful. I've started reading "Voyage Out" (we're going through the course in chronological order) and I've really enjoyed it so far. It's much more engaging than I anticipated. The professor seems really knowledgeable (and organized!) for that class and we get to take two field-trips for the class, which I'm really excited about. On the first one we'll go to Bloomsbury, where Woolf lived for a while with the Bloomsbury group. The second one will be a day trip to Sussex where we'll see Woolf's country home and (creepily enough) where she ended her life. At the very least I'll get to see a little bit more of the English countryside than I would have otherwise. Lastly is my Gladstone and Ireland course, which I'm really excited about. The reading load, while very Britishly vague, seems much more managable and one of my American friends is in the class. The professor is great - he took the time to get to know everyone in seminar (there are always two sessions of a course here - lecture and seminar, where seminar is usually half or less of the whole class that attends lecture). He also seems brilliant - I'm really quite impressed so far with the calibar of the professors here - just like at Trinity!
Also, update on my flatmates. I've now met all but one of them (9 of us live in our flat, each with single rooms but we share the common kitchen). There's Mark the German Medical student (I don't always understand him, but he's very nice), Jon the British Medical student (the only British student, who's very nice and also has a very nice girlfriend), Vid who is from Indian and I don't know what he's studying yet (I only met him briefly), another Indian guy who I haven't met yet, Maya who is Polish and studying film (very nice - we bonded over our laziness in cooking and thus our love of cooking pasta), Brittany, an American engineering student (never see her, can't for the life of me remember where specifically she's from), and Cassie, who's an American English student and is in my Old English class (very nice, from Ohio). That's pretty much everything I know on my flatmates... I don't see them alot, but I'm gradually getting to know them better.
So yesterday after my class I went with three of my American friends to play tourist for a day - Jillian (English major from Fordham University, lives in Norwalk Connecticut where Catherine lives!! though they don't know eachother) and two of Jillian's friends who are also from Fordham, Brian and Conner. I really like all of them and Jillian and I went out exploring in Mile End the other afternoon, which I'll explain in a minute. On our tourist expedition we went to Westminster Abbey which was absolutely amazing. I can't even begin to describe how grand it was - it really sinks in after a while just how old the building here are in comparison to America - we really are such a young nation. I think my favorite part of Westminster was the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. After World War I they weren't able to identify one of the soliders that they brought back, so they created a beautiful engraved stone in the foreground of the Nave of Westminster Abbey to honor him. The enscription is truly touching - check it out online. Sadly I couldn't take pictures inside the Abbey.
Next we had some Chinese food for lunch in a tiny little restaurant, and then we walked to Piccadilly Circus. The walk was gorgeous and we all really enjoyed getting a tast of London - we stopped in a cute little market on our way there. Piccadilly Circus was much like Time Square - lots of lights, very busy. Then we went to Trafalgar Square - I have some really cool pictures of the water in the fountains all iced over, which will show you just how cold it is here right now. I saw a bunch of museums along the way that Jillian and I plan to go back to - we both are quite excited by the prospect of free museums! Then we rode the Underground back to campus.
Tuesday afternoon (this is a little out of order, but oh well), Jillian and I went out to explore Mile End with the intent of finding a Starbucks (there was supposed to be one nearby, but it turned out that there wasn't), but we had a blast anyways. There were all kinds of stands with EVERYTHING you could imagine for sale. You could really feel the Indian influence with all of the saris and Indian music - I was in heaven with all of the amazing sights and wonderful smells of Indian and Bangledeshi food. We got hungry and stopped for very cheap Indian food (I have no idea what I ate but it was AMAZING). Then we also stopped at a coffee place that wasn't Starbucks but was definitely very cute and had a nice atmosphere - I might go study there if I get tired of the library here (which is very nice, on a side note).
I've also joined the newspaper here and am on their list to be assigned stories. The News editor was very nice. They only publish every other week and only have News and Sports sections (VERY different from the Tripod), but it'll be a nice way to emerse myself in the campus culture while I'm here. In other journalistic news I've found out that I got the internship that I really wanted for next Fall in Hartford with the Hog River Journal. It's a Connecticut magazine that covers Connecticut history - it sounds perfect and the internship itself is exactly what I was looking for. Plus it encorporates two of my passions - writing and history!
Other than that I've been going to the gym, reading, and enjoying new friends. I will be posting my photos also via a google method on Picasa. The link for my albums is:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Jordyn.Sims
There are some other random albums on there if you get bored and want to look through those as well.
Almost forgot! Steve, my friend from Trinity who is traveling around Europe and South America this semester, is coming to London tomorrow! It'll be great to have a familiar face around and he'll be very fun to go explore London with - he's quite the food expert so I'm sure we'll have some very yummy (but budget friendly) meals while he's here. I've been keeping very close track of my budget so that I'll be able to afford to visit Europe!
Alright, that's all for now. I hope you're all doing well and feel free to skype me at jordyn.sims though I frequently forget and leave it on... so sorry in advance if I don't respond right away!
So let's see, what have I done since I last updated...
For one thing, I've now had all of my classes. My Crusades class will probably be the most work as the professor expects us to do a lot of outside reading on our own, above and beyond the typical British expectations. My Old English professor seems like the ever-entertaining flustered professor, who is clearly a genius but could perhaps use a professional organizer. The class doesn't sound like it will be a ton of work/too hard (I've already almost finished the reading for the week and this class, thankfully, actually has specific reading assignments), but it definitely sounds interesting. I've enjoyed the reading thus far - the grammar and its influences on modern English are quite fascinating. Next is my Virginia Woolf class. I'm actually quite excited for that one. I read her essay "A Mark on the Wall" for the first day of class along with a critical essay on Modernism - the critical essay was fascinating and Woolf's writing is truly beautiful. I've started reading "Voyage Out" (we're going through the course in chronological order) and I've really enjoyed it so far. It's much more engaging than I anticipated. The professor seems really knowledgeable (and organized!) for that class and we get to take two field-trips for the class, which I'm really excited about. On the first one we'll go to Bloomsbury, where Woolf lived for a while with the Bloomsbury group. The second one will be a day trip to Sussex where we'll see Woolf's country home and (creepily enough) where she ended her life. At the very least I'll get to see a little bit more of the English countryside than I would have otherwise. Lastly is my Gladstone and Ireland course, which I'm really excited about. The reading load, while very Britishly vague, seems much more managable and one of my American friends is in the class. The professor is great - he took the time to get to know everyone in seminar (there are always two sessions of a course here - lecture and seminar, where seminar is usually half or less of the whole class that attends lecture). He also seems brilliant - I'm really quite impressed so far with the calibar of the professors here - just like at Trinity!
Also, update on my flatmates. I've now met all but one of them (9 of us live in our flat, each with single rooms but we share the common kitchen). There's Mark the German Medical student (I don't always understand him, but he's very nice), Jon the British Medical student (the only British student, who's very nice and also has a very nice girlfriend), Vid who is from Indian and I don't know what he's studying yet (I only met him briefly), another Indian guy who I haven't met yet, Maya who is Polish and studying film (very nice - we bonded over our laziness in cooking and thus our love of cooking pasta), Brittany, an American engineering student (never see her, can't for the life of me remember where specifically she's from), and Cassie, who's an American English student and is in my Old English class (very nice, from Ohio). That's pretty much everything I know on my flatmates... I don't see them alot, but I'm gradually getting to know them better.
So yesterday after my class I went with three of my American friends to play tourist for a day - Jillian (English major from Fordham University, lives in Norwalk Connecticut where Catherine lives!! though they don't know eachother) and two of Jillian's friends who are also from Fordham, Brian and Conner. I really like all of them and Jillian and I went out exploring in Mile End the other afternoon, which I'll explain in a minute. On our tourist expedition we went to Westminster Abbey which was absolutely amazing. I can't even begin to describe how grand it was - it really sinks in after a while just how old the building here are in comparison to America - we really are such a young nation. I think my favorite part of Westminster was the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. After World War I they weren't able to identify one of the soliders that they brought back, so they created a beautiful engraved stone in the foreground of the Nave of Westminster Abbey to honor him. The enscription is truly touching - check it out online. Sadly I couldn't take pictures inside the Abbey.
Next we had some Chinese food for lunch in a tiny little restaurant, and then we walked to Piccadilly Circus. The walk was gorgeous and we all really enjoyed getting a tast of London - we stopped in a cute little market on our way there. Piccadilly Circus was much like Time Square - lots of lights, very busy. Then we went to Trafalgar Square - I have some really cool pictures of the water in the fountains all iced over, which will show you just how cold it is here right now. I saw a bunch of museums along the way that Jillian and I plan to go back to - we both are quite excited by the prospect of free museums! Then we rode the Underground back to campus.
Tuesday afternoon (this is a little out of order, but oh well), Jillian and I went out to explore Mile End with the intent of finding a Starbucks (there was supposed to be one nearby, but it turned out that there wasn't), but we had a blast anyways. There were all kinds of stands with EVERYTHING you could imagine for sale. You could really feel the Indian influence with all of the saris and Indian music - I was in heaven with all of the amazing sights and wonderful smells of Indian and Bangledeshi food. We got hungry and stopped for very cheap Indian food (I have no idea what I ate but it was AMAZING). Then we also stopped at a coffee place that wasn't Starbucks but was definitely very cute and had a nice atmosphere - I might go study there if I get tired of the library here (which is very nice, on a side note).
I've also joined the newspaper here and am on their list to be assigned stories. The News editor was very nice. They only publish every other week and only have News and Sports sections (VERY different from the Tripod), but it'll be a nice way to emerse myself in the campus culture while I'm here. In other journalistic news I've found out that I got the internship that I really wanted for next Fall in Hartford with the Hog River Journal. It's a Connecticut magazine that covers Connecticut history - it sounds perfect and the internship itself is exactly what I was looking for. Plus it encorporates two of my passions - writing and history!
Other than that I've been going to the gym, reading, and enjoying new friends. I will be posting my photos also via a google method on Picasa. The link for my albums is:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Jordyn.Sims
There are some other random albums on there if you get bored and want to look through those as well.
Almost forgot! Steve, my friend from Trinity who is traveling around Europe and South America this semester, is coming to London tomorrow! It'll be great to have a familiar face around and he'll be very fun to go explore London with - he's quite the food expert so I'm sure we'll have some very yummy (but budget friendly) meals while he's here. I've been keeping very close track of my budget so that I'll be able to afford to visit Europe!
Alright, that's all for now. I hope you're all doing well and feel free to skype me at jordyn.sims though I frequently forget and leave it on... so sorry in advance if I don't respond right away!
Tuesday, 6 January 2009
First Day of Class
Just got back from my first class... and that professor is NOT messing around. In the UK learning is much more independent, so you get a reading list at the beginning of term and are instructed to do as much of it as you see fit. However he did then go on to say that if we are not prepared for class, he will, quite simply, kick us out. So I've now been scared into planning a nice afternoon of burying myself in the stacks of the library hunting down books that he recommended, for "those few of you in this class who are NOT Medieval History students" (that would be me... if only I remembered anything from my one Medieval History class from freshman year... oh dear). Luckily if Queen Mary's library doesn't have the book, I can also take out books from the University of London library, so I may have to go track down that building's whereabouts this afternoon as well.
In other news, the gym is absolutely gorgeous here and has been deserted the two times I've gone. I'm not sure whether to take this to mean that not many British people go to the gym or that not many British people go to the gym at 7 or 8 in the morning.
I also am very excited that Quaker Oatmeal in England is WAY more delicious than in the US. They have a Golden Syrup flavor that's amazing and very low calorie. The side of the box says "Wakey, wakey!" which just adds to the wonder of this new find.
Off to the library and then to a coffee shop with a friend. I get to take the Underground to get there (still one of my favorite things... I keep waiting for the novelty to rub off but it just hasn't happened!)
In other news, the gym is absolutely gorgeous here and has been deserted the two times I've gone. I'm not sure whether to take this to mean that not many British people go to the gym or that not many British people go to the gym at 7 or 8 in the morning.
I also am very excited that Quaker Oatmeal in England is WAY more delicious than in the US. They have a Golden Syrup flavor that's amazing and very low calorie. The side of the box says "Wakey, wakey!" which just adds to the wonder of this new find.
Off to the library and then to a coffee shop with a friend. I get to take the Underground to get there (still one of my favorite things... I keep waiting for the novelty to rub off but it just hasn't happened!)
Sunday, 4 January 2009
First few days
Thank you Greg for reminding me that I should make one of these!
The first few days here in London have been a whirlwind of activity. When I landed I was met at the airport by my study abroad program (Arcadia) and then taken back to the hotel we were to stay in that night. There were about 7 or 8 other Arcadia students on the bus with me, so when we got to the hotel and found out that we'd have to wait for our rooms for about another 2 hours, we all decided to go get some food. We had the most AMAZING Indian food for lunch (although our waiter was less than enthusiastic about a bunch of confused Americans trying to pay). Seriously though, I'm so excited for all of the good ethnic food here - where I live in London is particularly known for its multi-cultural atmosphere so there's supposed to be amazing food around, but we'll get to where I live later.
We had a brief orientation and then I fell straight asleep. Some of my fellow Americans went out to some local pubs (there are 22 of us on the program), but I was so tired that there was NO way I was going to be able to drag myself out of that bed once I laid down (I didn't sleep on the plane). Of course the next morning I woke up at about 3 am and couldn't go back to sleep (ohhh jetlag), but I did go for a nice run once it go a little lighter outside. My first full day in London I learned two very important things:
1. English people have no concept of heat. NONE. It's FREEZING in every building here and since we're in the middle of a particularly cold period right now, it's evidently worse than usual.
2. Daylight here is much more limited than in Connecticut or California, so going running at 7 am here is like going running at about 6 am at home.
However I had a beautiful run through Notting Hill (yes, the home of the Hugh Grant-Julia Roberts movie... absolutely adorable neighborhood). Then we had our Arcadia orientation and then it was off to Queen Mary.
By the time we got here it was getting pretty late, so after dragging my suitcases up to my room (thank goodness for the elevator!) we went down to the Irish Supper they had for us (for free - hooray!). It was an interesting stew-like concoction and I'll go ahead and say that dinning hall food in England is just like dinning hall food in America, haha. Then I went upstairs and unpacked.
I live in a flat with 9 singles and a common kitchen area. The kitchen is HUGE - stove, oven, microwave, big refrigerator, two sinks, a toaster, and an iron. Then each single has its own, mini bathroom. Everything in my single is compact but seems a lot bigger than I thought it would. All of the furniture is built in, so there was no musical chairs options with moving things around, but it's really quite a nice room. It is, of course, freezing cold all the time (I've tried to turn up the heat but to no avail). I got to talk to my parents on skype before I fell asleep which was very nice!
The next morning I woke up pretty early again (progress though - 5 am this time!) and finished unpacking/setting up my room and when down to our (once again free) breakfast. Then I took a stroll around campus - it's a pretty small campus, much more condensed than Trinity. The building where all of my classes will be is only about a 1-2 minute walk from my dorm, which is nice. Then I went to Queen Mary's orientation for study abroad students... I'm a little overwhelmed with information at this point, haha. Both orientations were more condensed than usual because classes start Monday (eek, today!), which only gave us a weekend - usually we have a week, which would have been nice. They also filled us in about the gym here (which you have to pay to belong to, which I think is rather silly, but oh well - at least it's a REALLY nice gym and is only about 3-5 minutes from my dorm). The orientation was very informative overall and they gave us packets with information on where to shop. Which leads into my next experience - my afternoon as a Londoner doing day-to-day errands on public transportation.
Let me say first as a disclaimer that I've liked most of the English people I've met so far. They're very friendly and I love their accents. However, that being said, I was perhaps a little too jetlagged to experience Sainsbury's on a Sunday afternoon. I took the bus to Sainsbury's (sort of like British Target). I went a stop too far and had to walk a little ways, but I enjoyed that since I got a sense of my neighborhood. The East End of London was considered the poor part of London for a long time, but it's on the rise now, especially with the 2012 Olympic site being built here in the East End. It's very multi-cultural and I saw all kinds of people on my walk (all with British accents, which is so cool). Sainsbury's itself... oh man. Think Target the day before Christmas. In England you have to basically put down a deposit to get a shopping cart - to unlock it from the other carts... I'm sorry, trolleys... you have to put a pound in it. I thought "p" referred to penny (oh what a silly American I am) and so after struggling for about 5 minutes, I asked for help, which I got from a very grumpy employee who informed me that "p" referred to pound. After a very overwhelming hour or so of shopping, during which time I discovered that the English don't believe in the refrigeration of many things, like eggs; that you have to walk on the left side of the isles, just like when you drive; that American brands do exist in England (they LOVE Keloggs cereals); and so after dropping a half-carton of eggs on my foot (yes, they did all break) I decided that I had done enough shopping to last me for a few days. I then checked out (the check-out lady was the first nice person I met in all of Sainsbury's), only to remember that I had to carry all of this stuff back with me on the bus.
I have a whole new respect for people in America who only use to the bus to get places. Not only is carrying groceries while on the bus challenging, but the bus never gets you directly to your door, especially when you're an idiot like me and get off 2 stops to early and then are too confused about your actual location to get back on the bus to avoid walking a mile with really heavy groceries and general dorm needs
To cheer myself up, I decided to go on an adventure to Ikea. While I didn't make it to Ikea, but I really enjoyed my trip. I LOVE the Underground. It's absolutely amazing and I plan to take it all the time. By the time I realized that due to a temporary closing of one of the stations I needed that I was going to be too late to get to Ikea before it closed, I had already been on the Tube for a while, and had also gotten to ride an Overground train (very slow, but it went by the Olympics site which was really cool to see). I didn't really mind the trip since I had a free pass valid through Monday from Arcadia so I could ride as much as I wanted. By the time I got back to my room around 5:30, I was exhausted so I unpacked my shopping purchases, made some dinner (there are no meal plans at Queen Mary), and accidentally fell asleep around 8. So now, it's 6 am on Monday morning and I'm awake and ready for my first day of classes!
Sorry that this was so long - I clearly should have started this blog earlier!
The first few days here in London have been a whirlwind of activity. When I landed I was met at the airport by my study abroad program (Arcadia) and then taken back to the hotel we were to stay in that night. There were about 7 or 8 other Arcadia students on the bus with me, so when we got to the hotel and found out that we'd have to wait for our rooms for about another 2 hours, we all decided to go get some food. We had the most AMAZING Indian food for lunch (although our waiter was less than enthusiastic about a bunch of confused Americans trying to pay). Seriously though, I'm so excited for all of the good ethnic food here - where I live in London is particularly known for its multi-cultural atmosphere so there's supposed to be amazing food around, but we'll get to where I live later.
We had a brief orientation and then I fell straight asleep. Some of my fellow Americans went out to some local pubs (there are 22 of us on the program), but I was so tired that there was NO way I was going to be able to drag myself out of that bed once I laid down (I didn't sleep on the plane). Of course the next morning I woke up at about 3 am and couldn't go back to sleep (ohhh jetlag), but I did go for a nice run once it go a little lighter outside. My first full day in London I learned two very important things:
1. English people have no concept of heat. NONE. It's FREEZING in every building here and since we're in the middle of a particularly cold period right now, it's evidently worse than usual.
2. Daylight here is much more limited than in Connecticut or California, so going running at 7 am here is like going running at about 6 am at home.
However I had a beautiful run through Notting Hill (yes, the home of the Hugh Grant-Julia Roberts movie... absolutely adorable neighborhood). Then we had our Arcadia orientation and then it was off to Queen Mary.
By the time we got here it was getting pretty late, so after dragging my suitcases up to my room (thank goodness for the elevator!) we went down to the Irish Supper they had for us (for free - hooray!). It was an interesting stew-like concoction and I'll go ahead and say that dinning hall food in England is just like dinning hall food in America, haha. Then I went upstairs and unpacked.
I live in a flat with 9 singles and a common kitchen area. The kitchen is HUGE - stove, oven, microwave, big refrigerator, two sinks, a toaster, and an iron. Then each single has its own, mini bathroom. Everything in my single is compact but seems a lot bigger than I thought it would. All of the furniture is built in, so there was no musical chairs options with moving things around, but it's really quite a nice room. It is, of course, freezing cold all the time (I've tried to turn up the heat but to no avail). I got to talk to my parents on skype before I fell asleep which was very nice!
The next morning I woke up pretty early again (progress though - 5 am this time!) and finished unpacking/setting up my room and when down to our (once again free) breakfast. Then I took a stroll around campus - it's a pretty small campus, much more condensed than Trinity. The building where all of my classes will be is only about a 1-2 minute walk from my dorm, which is nice. Then I went to Queen Mary's orientation for study abroad students... I'm a little overwhelmed with information at this point, haha. Both orientations were more condensed than usual because classes start Monday (eek, today!), which only gave us a weekend - usually we have a week, which would have been nice. They also filled us in about the gym here (which you have to pay to belong to, which I think is rather silly, but oh well - at least it's a REALLY nice gym and is only about 3-5 minutes from my dorm). The orientation was very informative overall and they gave us packets with information on where to shop. Which leads into my next experience - my afternoon as a Londoner doing day-to-day errands on public transportation.
Let me say first as a disclaimer that I've liked most of the English people I've met so far. They're very friendly and I love their accents. However, that being said, I was perhaps a little too jetlagged to experience Sainsbury's on a Sunday afternoon. I took the bus to Sainsbury's (sort of like British Target). I went a stop too far and had to walk a little ways, but I enjoyed that since I got a sense of my neighborhood. The East End of London was considered the poor part of London for a long time, but it's on the rise now, especially with the 2012 Olympic site being built here in the East End. It's very multi-cultural and I saw all kinds of people on my walk (all with British accents, which is so cool). Sainsbury's itself... oh man. Think Target the day before Christmas. In England you have to basically put down a deposit to get a shopping cart - to unlock it from the other carts... I'm sorry, trolleys... you have to put a pound in it. I thought "p" referred to penny (oh what a silly American I am) and so after struggling for about 5 minutes, I asked for help, which I got from a very grumpy employee who informed me that "p" referred to pound. After a very overwhelming hour or so of shopping, during which time I discovered that the English don't believe in the refrigeration of many things, like eggs; that you have to walk on the left side of the isles, just like when you drive; that American brands do exist in England (they LOVE Keloggs cereals); and so after dropping a half-carton of eggs on my foot (yes, they did all break) I decided that I had done enough shopping to last me for a few days. I then checked out (the check-out lady was the first nice person I met in all of Sainsbury's), only to remember that I had to carry all of this stuff back with me on the bus.
I have a whole new respect for people in America who only use to the bus to get places. Not only is carrying groceries while on the bus challenging, but the bus never gets you directly to your door, especially when you're an idiot like me and get off 2 stops to early and then are too confused about your actual location to get back on the bus to avoid walking a mile with really heavy groceries and general dorm needs
To cheer myself up, I decided to go on an adventure to Ikea. While I didn't make it to Ikea, but I really enjoyed my trip. I LOVE the Underground. It's absolutely amazing and I plan to take it all the time. By the time I realized that due to a temporary closing of one of the stations I needed that I was going to be too late to get to Ikea before it closed, I had already been on the Tube for a while, and had also gotten to ride an Overground train (very slow, but it went by the Olympics site which was really cool to see). I didn't really mind the trip since I had a free pass valid through Monday from Arcadia so I could ride as much as I wanted. By the time I got back to my room around 5:30, I was exhausted so I unpacked my shopping purchases, made some dinner (there are no meal plans at Queen Mary), and accidentally fell asleep around 8. So now, it's 6 am on Monday morning and I'm awake and ready for my first day of classes!
Sorry that this was so long - I clearly should have started this blog earlier!
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