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!
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
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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