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!

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!!

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

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!!

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!!!)