Sorry its been a while but I have been rather busy. I am going to try to catch you all up. Last time I blogged it was the day before this volcano named EYJAFJALLAJOKULL (yess that is the real name, I did not just start hitting the keyboard) started to erupt, spilling ash into the air all over Europe. The last time a volcano spilled ash into the air and a plane flew into it, something like half of the planes crashed. This I guess was a very long time ago, so half of the planes really means something around 8. So with no information about what this would do to the plane engines, they shut down the air space all over Western Europe, and more importantly the UK. I guess this is the biggest flight disterbance in the history of the world, as major airports like Heathrow (London) have never been shut down for 6 days before. Its put British Airways into asking the gorvernment for a bail out and I guess had some damage on the economy becuase people selling fruit and perishables couldnt get their products into europe and they were just dying in the ports. British people were also stuck all over the world and running out of money staying in hotels with all their kids and it was a mess...this was also happening around the same time that the UK was having their first ever televised debate for the election of the new Prime Minister, which I felt bad about because it was totally over shadowed by the volcano.
Well I wasn't flying anywhere that weekend but I happened to have three friends and a father who were supposed to fly in to see me!! I was so excited for Sara, Jess McVey, and Mike Star to come see me for the weekend and for my dad to come and see his old college roommate, John, and to see him for a week. All of that was canceled. My dad was able to find a new flight leaving Wed. night and arriving Thursday morning. So I did end up seeing him very briefly in Thursday because I had my farewell dinner with my program, and then on Friday, when he helped my pack and take my bags to the airport to be left in left luggage for while I traveled and then we went out to a very fancy dinner in Covent Garden at this awesome french restaurant. I tried my very first escargot (snails....they were kinda weird...wouldn't eat them again) and then I had a crepe filled with lobster and prawns (shrimp) and mushrooms. It was to die for.
My farewell dinner was awesome. It was a three course meal in a hotel in London. Everyone got dressed up and we got some free t-shirts that say "I did it in London, Where will you do it?" and then it lists all the places that CAPA has programs. It was cute and funny and I have been wearing it to bed for the past week and a half. After that almost half my program went to a bar for international students with cheap drinks and they also have karaoke, so we can all imagine how that turned out. It was sad because everyone was saying goodbye and I realized how much Im going to miss London and everyone that I met here. I am super excited to come home but at the same time I never want to leave. I miss everyone at home wayy to much for me to have stayed here any longer than I have and I am very happy to be coming home to them soon.
On a happy note, many of the people in my program are from UMass and the University of Pittsburgh, so we have already set up trips for visits and I will hopefully be seeing most of my friends from London again very soon!
Miss everyone from home!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Easter Bunny and Espania!!
Hello all. So last time I left I think I was talk about dreaded Easter dinner for 25 people. Well no one else found stuff to do and they all invited their friends so we really did have more people than our apartment could hold but it was all worth it and so much fun.
On Friday I overslept and missed 13 calls from my dear friend Ellen (sorry El) and left her at the train station for 2 hours. Her fault really for coming at 630 in the morning, but whatever. I woke up and ran as fast as I could to the station where we were reunited in all of our love. It was great and then we napped and hung out all day. On Saturday we woke up and Ellen and her friend Marissa went for an adventure and I started preparing with my roommates for Easter dinner. This involved chopping up onions and celery for stuffing, which we made from scratch with 4 loaves of cut up bread. We cut up all that bread and we watched a movie. It was a lot of fun but the real work began the next day when we woke up at 9 am to start cleaning turkeys and pealing 300 pounds of potatoes. Turkeys were fine and were in the ovens by 11. (Ovens because we actually had to carry these turkeys across the apartment buildings to our friends ovens since 3 turkeys (yes three) don't fit in a UK oven (which barley holds one) ) Stuffing was interesting because the biggest pot we have is probably the size of the smallest one I own at home. So we made it in something like 6 batches. But let me tell you it was delicious!! Jenn and I probably ate enough for a meal while we weer making it. The rest of the food took forever and making potatoes involved something like 6 pots of boiling water. It was all a little hectic but everyone had the best time and loved all of our food. Everyone elses contribution was wine and beer, so needless to say we got a noise violation by the end of the night, but nothing happened in terms of repercussions (don't worry family). The rest of Ellen's trip here was awesome and It was so awesome to see someone from home. We went and saw Oliver and that was AWESOME and I took her to my favorite bar, ONeils, and to my favorite Mexican restaurant, Los Locos.
Ellen left Tuesday night while I was in class and a play called The Habit of Art. It was pretty cool. It was about a play, so a little confusing but the best part about it was that it was in one of my favorite theaters, the National, ANNNNDDD the main stars in it were Uncle Vernon and Madam Maxine from Harry Potter. It was pretty cool. Uncle Vernon is a large man and he was wearing a fat suit so he pretty much took up the whole stage but I'm not judging.
That Thursday we left bright and early for Madrid, Spain, which I have to say is one of my favorite places on earth. Mostly because it was the first time I have seen real sun in like 4 months. We were all kinda getting sick and we were all just wiped and we decided that we weren't going to jam pack this vacation like we did on spring break and so we went with absolutely no plans at all. It was the best thing we could do honestly and we pretty much just ate drank slept and ate for an entire weekend. We took siestas everyday (in true Spanish fashion) and we laid out in a park every afternoon. I couldn't have asked for a better vacation. We came back longing for Spain and very relaxed. We did actually do some touristy stuff for those of your that might freak out at me for not. We went to the cathedral, which was gorgeous! and we went to the palace and to all the other things we could do for free. I know i was told I had to go to the art museums but we didn't and I'm sorry everyone that told me to go, but we were tired and it was too nice out to smell museum air for 3 hours. But I don't regret any of that. I want to go back to Spain at some point, probably wont be happening on this trip but It was a great place to be.
I officially only have 11 days left in London and I am getting very sad, although also very very excited for my last 4 trips around Europe and then to go home. I miss everyone at home, and today I decided I was a little sick of getting dressed everyday and so I told my roommate that when I get home I'm going to wear sweats everyday for 2 weeks just to rub it in London's face. I have only been in scrubby clothes in my apartment and once to the grocery store to gt milk or something. But no one wears scrubs here! and I cant take that anymore. I just want to look like a slob already!
With only 11 days left we have started to cram everything we havent done yet in, so we decided that tonight we would go to this place called Ice Bar. Its a bar made enterily of ice and its kept so cold you need a parka and gloves to go in and your only allowed to stay for 45 mins. Im pretty excited because it sounds cool and since we can only stay for 45 min we decided that it would be a cool thing to do during the week instead of the weekend. So keep a look out for some pics of me in a parka!
Thats it for now everyone. Miss you all!
Cheers!
On Friday I overslept and missed 13 calls from my dear friend Ellen (sorry El) and left her at the train station for 2 hours. Her fault really for coming at 630 in the morning, but whatever. I woke up and ran as fast as I could to the station where we were reunited in all of our love. It was great and then we napped and hung out all day. On Saturday we woke up and Ellen and her friend Marissa went for an adventure and I started preparing with my roommates for Easter dinner. This involved chopping up onions and celery for stuffing, which we made from scratch with 4 loaves of cut up bread. We cut up all that bread and we watched a movie. It was a lot of fun but the real work began the next day when we woke up at 9 am to start cleaning turkeys and pealing 300 pounds of potatoes. Turkeys were fine and were in the ovens by 11. (Ovens because we actually had to carry these turkeys across the apartment buildings to our friends ovens since 3 turkeys (yes three) don't fit in a UK oven (which barley holds one) ) Stuffing was interesting because the biggest pot we have is probably the size of the smallest one I own at home. So we made it in something like 6 batches. But let me tell you it was delicious!! Jenn and I probably ate enough for a meal while we weer making it. The rest of the food took forever and making potatoes involved something like 6 pots of boiling water. It was all a little hectic but everyone had the best time and loved all of our food. Everyone elses contribution was wine and beer, so needless to say we got a noise violation by the end of the night, but nothing happened in terms of repercussions (don't worry family). The rest of Ellen's trip here was awesome and It was so awesome to see someone from home. We went and saw Oliver and that was AWESOME and I took her to my favorite bar, ONeils, and to my favorite Mexican restaurant, Los Locos.
Ellen left Tuesday night while I was in class and a play called The Habit of Art. It was pretty cool. It was about a play, so a little confusing but the best part about it was that it was in one of my favorite theaters, the National, ANNNNDDD the main stars in it were Uncle Vernon and Madam Maxine from Harry Potter. It was pretty cool. Uncle Vernon is a large man and he was wearing a fat suit so he pretty much took up the whole stage but I'm not judging.
That Thursday we left bright and early for Madrid, Spain, which I have to say is one of my favorite places on earth. Mostly because it was the first time I have seen real sun in like 4 months. We were all kinda getting sick and we were all just wiped and we decided that we weren't going to jam pack this vacation like we did on spring break and so we went with absolutely no plans at all. It was the best thing we could do honestly and we pretty much just ate drank slept and ate for an entire weekend. We took siestas everyday (in true Spanish fashion) and we laid out in a park every afternoon. I couldn't have asked for a better vacation. We came back longing for Spain and very relaxed. We did actually do some touristy stuff for those of your that might freak out at me for not. We went to the cathedral, which was gorgeous! and we went to the palace and to all the other things we could do for free. I know i was told I had to go to the art museums but we didn't and I'm sorry everyone that told me to go, but we were tired and it was too nice out to smell museum air for 3 hours. But I don't regret any of that. I want to go back to Spain at some point, probably wont be happening on this trip but It was a great place to be.
I officially only have 11 days left in London and I am getting very sad, although also very very excited for my last 4 trips around Europe and then to go home. I miss everyone at home, and today I decided I was a little sick of getting dressed everyday and so I told my roommate that when I get home I'm going to wear sweats everyday for 2 weeks just to rub it in London's face. I have only been in scrubby clothes in my apartment and once to the grocery store to gt milk or something. But no one wears scrubs here! and I cant take that anymore. I just want to look like a slob already!
With only 11 days left we have started to cram everything we havent done yet in, so we decided that tonight we would go to this place called Ice Bar. Its a bar made enterily of ice and its kept so cold you need a parka and gloves to go in and your only allowed to stay for 45 mins. Im pretty excited because it sounds cool and since we can only stay for 45 min we decided that it would be a cool thing to do during the week instead of the weekend. So keep a look out for some pics of me in a parka!
Thats it for now everyone. Miss you all!
Cheers!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Home Sweet Home
Hello everyone!
So today I wasn't feeling well when I woke up, I think I am coming down with a cold or something, but I called out of work so that I wouldn't be dead tonight when I had to go to class and a 3 hour long play for class. So Ill tell you all about my weekend. Well Wednesday night we do what we always do and we went to Imperial College for 1.50 beer night. That is always a lot of fun because its all college students and there is usually a football game one and people are just always in great friendly moods. We made some friends, the football team was there actually and they decided it would be a good night o have everyone dress up, and when I saw dress up I mean in ridiculous outfits like Pokemon, and animals, aliens, and anything else ridiculous you can think of. So there was a lot of us talking to them wondering what the heck was going on. We met up with our old ginger friend Frankie and made plans for later in the week to hang out. We also made plans with some other people, because we think its about time that we had some non-American friends. In all it was a great night, as usual.
Thursday night we stayed in because we were all starting to get sick (reason I stayed home today). I think its actually been miraculous how I haven't really gotten sick here that bad. I have had a couple colds here and there but for the amount of running around I have been doing and considering that I am in a large city with dirty air, I haven't been that bad. My roommate and I were actually talking the other day about how sometimes we blow our nose and its black! And she told me that's because of all the dirt in the air, and I just never knew. I was very surprised that my asthma hasn't killed me by now with that kinda air quality.
Friday night my roommates Erin and Mairead and I met up with my dad's college roommate John and his wife Jane for a few drinks. We went to a couple different places around London and just chatted and caught up. It was a great time tho and my roommates love John and Jane. After that we me up with someone we have hung out with a couple times at the college bar. His name is Quenten and he is french, but he lived in Canada for like 8 years so hes a little more grounded then just plain French people ;) He said that a bunch of his friends were going to this club and said we were more than welcome to join. We told him we don't usually do clubs because they are way to expensive and usually have an entrance fee, he said he knew someone there and that we could get in for free. Well he kinda lied but he got us in for 10 pounds instead of the usual 20. When we walked in it was like walking into a scene from my super sweet sixteen! There were chandeliers (spelling?) and all the walls has cushion like things on them and there were like velvet couches and it was just insane. So we stop drooling over this place (which we were very under dressed for by the way because we didnt know we were going to a club, and had dressed to meet up with John and Jane) and we go to the bar to order a drink. I get there and I am looking at the menu and my mouth dropped becuase bottles of wine were over 100 pounds and there was a bottle champagne for 1655 pounds! Can you believe that! I heard someone else ask the bartender what the cheapest thing on the menu was and he said a shot of liquor for 6 pounds. So I sucked it up and bought a 9 pound vodka tonic with lime. Needless to say that was my only drink at the club. But we had a blast dancing to the crazy music and watching all the rich people around us getting bottles of Grey Goose and lighting them on fire with sparklers and stuff..I think that type of place would be nice for a special occasion. Like maybe out last weekend here and we can all get dressed up and go to a nice place like that instead of slummin' it at the pubs. But for just a regular weekend out? This girl on a budget cant handle it!
Saturday night we were too tired form our hours of dancing that we decided to stay in. We had a few of our new british friends come over and we just hung out in our apartment and had a few drinks but I was fine with that because I got to do it all in my PJ's and slippers.
It wasnt a very exciting weekend in terms of adventures. This was the first weekend that we were not away somewhere and no one had anyone coming to visit, so it was nice just to be us. Next weekend tho is Easter and Ellen is coming from Paris to visit! I CANT WAIT! She is also bringing a friend or two and then my roommate Erin is also having a visitor so well be cozy like sardines this weekend.
On top of all of those guests, my roommates and I have decided that we should put on an Easter dinner for all of our friends. Well our guest list has kinda blown up and now were up to almost 25 people. I don't know where everyone will go (people will probably be eating on beds) or where were going to be able to get all this food from..but were going to try to make it work. Hopefully some people will just decided to do something else and we can get that list down to a few less people.
Well that's all for now. I have a play to go to tonight for my theater class. Should be good but Ill be out late so I'm going to take a nap to make sure I make it!
Ta!
So today I wasn't feeling well when I woke up, I think I am coming down with a cold or something, but I called out of work so that I wouldn't be dead tonight when I had to go to class and a 3 hour long play for class. So Ill tell you all about my weekend. Well Wednesday night we do what we always do and we went to Imperial College for 1.50 beer night. That is always a lot of fun because its all college students and there is usually a football game one and people are just always in great friendly moods. We made some friends, the football team was there actually and they decided it would be a good night o have everyone dress up, and when I saw dress up I mean in ridiculous outfits like Pokemon, and animals, aliens, and anything else ridiculous you can think of. So there was a lot of us talking to them wondering what the heck was going on. We met up with our old ginger friend Frankie and made plans for later in the week to hang out. We also made plans with some other people, because we think its about time that we had some non-American friends. In all it was a great night, as usual.
Thursday night we stayed in because we were all starting to get sick (reason I stayed home today). I think its actually been miraculous how I haven't really gotten sick here that bad. I have had a couple colds here and there but for the amount of running around I have been doing and considering that I am in a large city with dirty air, I haven't been that bad. My roommate and I were actually talking the other day about how sometimes we blow our nose and its black! And she told me that's because of all the dirt in the air, and I just never knew. I was very surprised that my asthma hasn't killed me by now with that kinda air quality.
Friday night my roommates Erin and Mairead and I met up with my dad's college roommate John and his wife Jane for a few drinks. We went to a couple different places around London and just chatted and caught up. It was a great time tho and my roommates love John and Jane. After that we me up with someone we have hung out with a couple times at the college bar. His name is Quenten and he is french, but he lived in Canada for like 8 years so hes a little more grounded then just plain French people ;) He said that a bunch of his friends were going to this club and said we were more than welcome to join. We told him we don't usually do clubs because they are way to expensive and usually have an entrance fee, he said he knew someone there and that we could get in for free. Well he kinda lied but he got us in for 10 pounds instead of the usual 20. When we walked in it was like walking into a scene from my super sweet sixteen! There were chandeliers (spelling?) and all the walls has cushion like things on them and there were like velvet couches and it was just insane. So we stop drooling over this place (which we were very under dressed for by the way because we didnt know we were going to a club, and had dressed to meet up with John and Jane) and we go to the bar to order a drink. I get there and I am looking at the menu and my mouth dropped becuase bottles of wine were over 100 pounds and there was a bottle champagne for 1655 pounds! Can you believe that! I heard someone else ask the bartender what the cheapest thing on the menu was and he said a shot of liquor for 6 pounds. So I sucked it up and bought a 9 pound vodka tonic with lime. Needless to say that was my only drink at the club. But we had a blast dancing to the crazy music and watching all the rich people around us getting bottles of Grey Goose and lighting them on fire with sparklers and stuff..I think that type of place would be nice for a special occasion. Like maybe out last weekend here and we can all get dressed up and go to a nice place like that instead of slummin' it at the pubs. But for just a regular weekend out? This girl on a budget cant handle it!
Saturday night we were too tired form our hours of dancing that we decided to stay in. We had a few of our new british friends come over and we just hung out in our apartment and had a few drinks but I was fine with that because I got to do it all in my PJ's and slippers.
It wasnt a very exciting weekend in terms of adventures. This was the first weekend that we were not away somewhere and no one had anyone coming to visit, so it was nice just to be us. Next weekend tho is Easter and Ellen is coming from Paris to visit! I CANT WAIT! She is also bringing a friend or two and then my roommate Erin is also having a visitor so well be cozy like sardines this weekend.
On top of all of those guests, my roommates and I have decided that we should put on an Easter dinner for all of our friends. Well our guest list has kinda blown up and now were up to almost 25 people. I don't know where everyone will go (people will probably be eating on beds) or where were going to be able to get all this food from..but were going to try to make it work. Hopefully some people will just decided to do something else and we can get that list down to a few less people.
Well that's all for now. I have a play to go to tonight for my theater class. Should be good but Ill be out late so I'm going to take a nap to make sure I make it!
Ta!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Side Track
Whats up Americans! Im going to take a little detour from my spring break catching up (or lack of) because I was not writing because I wanted it all to go in order but now I don't care and your all going to get to hear about some other stuff that's recent. yayy!
So after I got back from spring break, Matt was here for the week. I felt horrible because I had to work and go to class but I did call out one day and we went to the London Zoo...It was fun, it took FOREVER to find because its in the middle or a park and there are no signs, so we walked around for a very long time and it was cold, but we got to see some cool tigers, so I guess it was worth it. I also got him a ticket to a play that my Theater class was going to see. I was very happy about this because it was one of my favorite plays that I have seen. It was called Off The Endz, and it was about the projects in London and these people trying to get out of it and make something of themselves but how they get sucked back in to life in the projects because of drugs and stuff like that. Well it was hilarious and very good, and there was another naked man in this one, but I think Matt enjoyed it anyways.
Matt left on Sat. and I think I slept for 24 hours straight because I was so tired from Spring break and traveling and worrying about Matt alone in the city. But that was awesome
The next week I had to go to another play for my theater class and it was Enron! hahaha It was a musical about the Enron scandal and it was hilarious and if anyone is coming to London I would say go see it.
Ok thats it for right now because I have to go get some allergy shots!
peace and loveeee
So after I got back from spring break, Matt was here for the week. I felt horrible because I had to work and go to class but I did call out one day and we went to the London Zoo...It was fun, it took FOREVER to find because its in the middle or a park and there are no signs, so we walked around for a very long time and it was cold, but we got to see some cool tigers, so I guess it was worth it. I also got him a ticket to a play that my Theater class was going to see. I was very happy about this because it was one of my favorite plays that I have seen. It was called Off The Endz, and it was about the projects in London and these people trying to get out of it and make something of themselves but how they get sucked back in to life in the projects because of drugs and stuff like that. Well it was hilarious and very good, and there was another naked man in this one, but I think Matt enjoyed it anyways.
Matt left on Sat. and I think I slept for 24 hours straight because I was so tired from Spring break and traveling and worrying about Matt alone in the city. But that was awesome
The next week I had to go to another play for my theater class and it was Enron! hahaha It was a musical about the Enron scandal and it was hilarious and if anyone is coming to London I would say go see it.
Ok thats it for right now because I have to go get some allergy shots!
peace and loveeee
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Spring Break: Amsterdam
So after our very long and very cold train ride on the Eurostar from Brussels we arrived, very late, in Amsterdam! Let me start off talking about this stop by saying that although Amsterdam is known for some very promiscuous things, they are not the only things to do in the city. The city is actually BEAUTIFUL and full of a ton of history.
That being said, as soon as we got to the train station we gathered our very tired selves and headed to our hostel via cab. The man charged us a little more than we had expected but we were too tired to fight with him. Now prior to our arrival we were warned by our travel agent that where we were staying was pretty close to the red light district, but I was not prepared at all for what I saw. The area of the city that we had to drive through to get to our hostel literally glows red, and had half naked and almost fully naked women dancing in windows. It was very shocking but at the same time I cant complain because we were warned.
After a little trouble checking in at the Hans Brinker hostel, we were given our keys and headed off to our 4 person room, complete with bunk beds, a bathroom/shower, and lockers (so no one would steal our stuff). So we decided to unpack a little and then Erin's friend decided she better go off to her room to sleep...and the door wouldn't open. We were trying for 10 minutes to open the door to our hostel room with no success. We then (and by we I mean me) had to proceed to call the front desk from my cell phone to ask them to send someone down to room number 9 because we were locked in. The man then says "your locked out?" and I had to repeat "no, we are locked in" and after a long pause he promised to send someone over soon. A man knocks and asks us to open the door, so I then had to explain AGAIN that we were locked in our room. He opened it and then shut himself in with us to show us how to unlock it. He then unlocked it with no problem and left. So that man definitely thought that we were anything but sober, but we were too tired to care.
We woke up early the next morning and after our free complimentary "breakfast", which was actually just bread, and went to the city center for a free walking tour of the city. The tour was about three and
a half hours and was the same thing we did in Dublin. Our tour guide was ADORABLE! None of us can actually remember his name but we were all very much in love with him. It was raining all morning, but it seemed to break up a little during the tour and we were able to see our first glimpse of sunlight since we left London. We saw a lot of the city and learned a lot about the culture and history (if you are interested in learning some you can email me, but for now you can just now that the city is incredible). After the tour we went with our tour guide to a pub for some lunch. He told us a few places to go out that night and some areas to stay away from. But for the most part the city is very safe. Actually a fact I did learn is that despite poplar belief, marijuana is illegal in Amsterdam, however not a single person has been arrested since the law came into place 30 years ago. They are starting to get a little tighter with the laws saying that no one who doesn't already have a "coffee shop" can create a new one. But the way the city is getting around that is to create franchises. The city actually has the least drug addicts in the EU, because all of the people who would usually be going into rehab for all their cocaine usage, just smoke pot instead. Sounds like a brilliant idea to me! One of my favorite stops on the walking tour was when we went to this little area that used to be a secret church. The church was actually where the pilgrims went after leaving England, and before coming to America, as a place to escape religious persecution. I felt very cool, since those are my ancestors, and I have never had anything like that before. We also learned about the history of the liberal-ness of the city and saw a lot of beautiful canals and buildings.After that I did one of the most depressing things I have ever and will ever do , and we went to Anne Franks house. It was the house that she and her family hid in during the Nazi occupation in WWII. Amsterdam actually helped to hide many Jews during the war, and right before the Nazis invaded, they sent all but 7 Jews over to Sweden (I think) so that they wouldn't be taken into camps. I actually started crying in the house (now turned into a museum) as I watched a video of Otto Frank talk about Anne, and how he felt when he came back and years later when he read her diary. He started talking about how sad he was because he never actually knew her, and talked about how he would give anything to see his family again. It was very depressing, but I would honestly tell people to go, just for that museum.
After that we decided that we all needed a little alone time and went back to our hostel to take a little nap and cry and stuff.
The nap was pretty uneventful, but we woke up in time to make it to the Heineken Experience, which was AWESOME. Everyone was so friendly and we learned how drink our beer properly, right before we got on to ride to be brewed like a bottle of beer. The whole place was very cool and i loved it, so I decided my new favorite beer is Heineken :) At the end of the whole experience you are given two beers to enjoy at a bar. When we walked in there was a group of men who came up to us and said that their friend was celebrating his bachelor party an asked if we would sign our name on his shirt and give him a kiss on the cheek. I thought the idea was adorable and that any man who came to Amsterdam for his bachelors party and spends it at the Heineken Bar asking for women for kisses on the cheek is a saint, so I did it, and then they took a picture to make a nice little scrap book of all of his "scores".
Well in all the Heineken Experience was awesome and to commemorate that i got myself a sweatshirt. I'm a sucker for a nice hoodie though.
The next day we woke up to more rain and decided today would be he day for the Van Gogh Museum. It was pretty incredible but we were all very tired and famished so we left after maybe an hour and a half to get some food and try to check in our flight so we found an internet cafe which was also a "coffee shop" we saw this stuff called cheese pot and i
thought it was hilarious and couldn't stop laughing. But we check in no problem and then went to an Italian place for food where plates of pasta were 5 euros. I was very excited about this and almost order two because I haven't seen food that cheap since I have been in Europe. (I didn't). After a long day of wondering around the streets of Amsterdam, which is BEAUTIFUL but very easy to get lost because its all made up of rings of canals, we found our way to a pub for some drinks and then went to bed since we had to wake up at 5 am the next day to head off to Copenhagen!!In all Amsterdam is somewhere everyone should visit. The End
Sprng Break: Brussels
I apologize for this EXTREMELY delayed post but I have been very busy. I also understand that no one can see the pictures that I put up? Ill try to work on that asap...
SOOOO for spring break my 3 other roommates and I decided to do a little tour of continental Europe. Our first stop was in Brussels, Belgium. We woke up very early to get to the train station by 7 am. We were very very tired and it was a bit of a struggle to get there, especially since the tube doesn't start running regularly until later in the day but we got there and checked in successfully. We had some food and saw a group of men drinking...at 7 am...we were a bit confused but maybe it was the start of some bachelor party or something. The train ride was around 3 hours from London to Brussels, and we slept the whole way...I was a little sad about that since Im sure it was very scenic but it was very early. We get to Brussels and we meet up with one of Erin's friends from home. She has no one to travel with over her spring break while studying in Rome, so she tagged along with us for the
week. The first thing we did of course was get lost, then we walked around the city and found a waffle stand. I got a Belgium waffle with Belgium chocolate and it was the best thing I have ever tasted. Then we decoded to go see the only thing that Brussels is famous for, besides being the headquarters for the European Union, and that is the Mannekin Pis. Its a statue that is also a water fountain of a little boy peeing. It sounded very funny and we thought it would be nice to see..and we were seeing chocolate molds in shop windows of the statues and they were adorable. We get to the statues and we almost walked right past it because it was so small...we just stood there thinking we were on candid camera because we had heard all these stories about how the towns people dress him up for special occasion
s and how much they love him. Well the entire statues is in the corner of two buildings and hes probably the size of my head. It was very disappointing but we took some pictures and decided to keep going.
There is also a square in Brussels called the Grand Place and it was in fact very grand. It was a lot of gold plated buildings all very ornate and beautiful, we walked around there for a while but started to get cold so we stopped in a pub for a drink before we decided to get back to the train station to catch a train to the oh so lovely Amsterdam. The train station however was a nightmare, but after many platform switches, a few delayed trains and seeing s
ome drunk people puke we finally caught a train out of Brussels around 10 pm.
SOOOO for spring break my 3 other roommates and I decided to do a little tour of continental Europe. Our first stop was in Brussels, Belgium. We woke up very early to get to the train station by 7 am. We were very very tired and it was a bit of a struggle to get there, especially since the tube doesn't start running regularly until later in the day but we got there and checked in successfully. We had some food and saw a group of men drinking...at 7 am...we were a bit confused but maybe it was the start of some bachelor party or something. The train ride was around 3 hours from London to Brussels, and we slept the whole way...I was a little sad about that since Im sure it was very scenic but it was very early. We get to Brussels and we meet up with one of Erin's friends from home. She has no one to travel with over her spring break while studying in Rome, so she tagged along with us for the
week. The first thing we did of course was get lost, then we walked around the city and found a waffle stand. I got a Belgium waffle with Belgium chocolate and it was the best thing I have ever tasted. Then we decoded to go see the only thing that Brussels is famous for, besides being the headquarters for the European Union, and that is the Mannekin Pis. Its a statue that is also a water fountain of a little boy peeing. It sounded very funny and we thought it would be nice to see..and we were seeing chocolate molds in shop windows of the statues and they were adorable. We get to the statues and we almost walked right past it because it was so small...we just stood there thinking we were on candid camera because we had heard all these stories about how the towns people dress him up for special occasion
s and how much they love him. Well the entire statues is in the corner of two buildings and hes probably the size of my head. It was very disappointing but we took some pictures and decided to keep going.There is also a square in Brussels called the Grand Place and it was in fact very grand. It was a lot of gold plated buildings all very ornate and beautiful, we walked around there for a while but started to get cold so we stopped in a pub for a drink before we decided to get back to the train station to catch a train to the oh so lovely Amsterdam. The train station however was a nightmare, but after many platform switches, a few delayed trains and seeing s
ome drunk people puke we finally caught a train out of Brussels around 10 pm.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Sorry
Hello all of my loyal readers....I know it has been a very long time since I have updated you in my life stories and I am apologizing..... I came back from spring break with a weeks worth of adventures to write about....(which i kept a journal while away so Im not forgetting anything dont worry!) ....and then Matt came to visit and that adds a lot more adventures to write about and subtracts time to write them....I am working on updating my 900 new pictures for the next few days and I Promise that the blog will be up to date soon enough...again apologies (sarah) Ill be back on track again soon....also those of you who have your own blogs that you write....if you could write me a little summery of your last few posts so that i can catch up quicker it would be greatly appreciated!
Cheers!!!
Cheers!!!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Getting ready to leave!
Hello everyone! This is going to be my last post until i get back from my tour de Europe! My roommates and I are all very excited. For those of you that don't know I will be leaving this Friday for Brussels, Belgium and Amsterdam, then Copenhagen, Denmark, and ending in Rome, Italy! We are a little concerned due to the Eurostar (train) braking down multiple times over the past few weeks and everyone getting stuck. But hopefully that wont be happening to us.
This week has been a lot of preparation for spring break, looking up places we want to go and making sure all of our tickets are in order, were not bringing any computer or anything, and I dont really know what to do when Im lost and dont have a computer around, sooo this should be interesting.
Last weekend we went on a Harry Potter walking tour!!! It was a lot of fun. We got to see platform 9 and three quarters and where J.K. Rowling was whens she thought up of everything and you can defiantly see all the relations to London. We even walked some of her route that she had to walk between her home in London and the train station and there is a Minerva Rd! Coincidence? I think nooooottt. Diagon ally, both of the Leaky Cauldrons (since they filmed two). And we even got to Fly (and by fly I mean our tour guide called it flying and we just ran through the streets of London with our arms our in the air).
On Saturday we woke up early and headed to Portabello Market. It was AWESOME! It is by far one of my favorite places I have been so far in London. They had old antiques, food (cooked and fresh), clothes, everything! It had a very cool atmosphere and I just loved it. I got a bag for 5 pounds, a compact mirror for 2 pounds, a key to make a necklace out of for 2 pounds, and a bratwurst for 3 pounds =)
Sunday we woke up to go to CHINESE NEW YEAR!! Well it wasnt the real holiday but it was the celebration weekend. So we went to China town and I bought some snaps (like mini fire crackers kind of?) and a paper dragon that we all decided to wear as a hat instead. There were shows and dragons in the street and fireworks! and street vendors. We got some much needed Chinese food (I got come chicken and rice) It was freezing but well worth it at the end of the night when the fireworks went off and let me tell you!! The Fire works here are very different than the ones at home that require fire trucks and 500 yards of clearance, because we were standing NEXT TO where they were going off, but they were also not going off nearly as tall as those I am used to. It was a blast though and I am very happy we went.
Today I actually went on a Jack the Ripper walking tour! hahaha It was very spooky and educational although it lacked in the area of actually showing us relevant things to the tour and was more just a story being told as we walked. It was still cool to hear about and I love to walk around London!
Tomorrow should be uneventful, and the same for Thursday but if something happens Ill try to remember to tell you all before I leave because I know Ill have WAY too much to talk about when I get back.
Until then....Cheers!
This week has been a lot of preparation for spring break, looking up places we want to go and making sure all of our tickets are in order, were not bringing any computer or anything, and I dont really know what to do when Im lost and dont have a computer around, sooo this should be interesting.
Last weekend we went on a Harry Potter walking tour!!! It was a lot of fun. We got to see platform 9 and three quarters and where J.K. Rowling was whens she thought up of everything and you can defiantly see all the relations to London. We even walked some of her route that she had to walk between her home in London and the train station and there is a Minerva Rd! Coincidence? I think nooooottt. Diagon ally, both of the Leaky Cauldrons (since they filmed two). And we even got to Fly (and by fly I mean our tour guide called it flying and we just ran through the streets of London with our arms our in the air).
On Saturday we woke up early and headed to Portabello Market. It was AWESOME! It is by far one of my favorite places I have been so far in London. They had old antiques, food (cooked and fresh), clothes, everything! It had a very cool atmosphere and I just loved it. I got a bag for 5 pounds, a compact mirror for 2 pounds, a key to make a necklace out of for 2 pounds, and a bratwurst for 3 pounds =)
Sunday we woke up to go to CHINESE NEW YEAR!! Well it wasnt the real holiday but it was the celebration weekend. So we went to China town and I bought some snaps (like mini fire crackers kind of?) and a paper dragon that we all decided to wear as a hat instead. There were shows and dragons in the street and fireworks! and street vendors. We got some much needed Chinese food (I got come chicken and rice) It was freezing but well worth it at the end of the night when the fireworks went off and let me tell you!! The Fire works here are very different than the ones at home that require fire trucks and 500 yards of clearance, because we were standing NEXT TO where they were going off, but they were also not going off nearly as tall as those I am used to. It was a blast though and I am very happy we went.
Today I actually went on a Jack the Ripper walking tour! hahaha It was very spooky and educational although it lacked in the area of actually showing us relevant things to the tour and was more just a story being told as we walked. It was still cool to hear about and I love to walk around London!
Tomorrow should be uneventful, and the same for Thursday but if something happens Ill try to remember to tell you all before I leave because I know Ill have WAY too much to talk about when I get back.
Until then....Cheers!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Pictures!
Hey everyone! just wanted to let you know I realized no one has been seeing my pictures who don't have Facebook, so I made a new site for everyone else. I put up a few but nothing has captions yet just because it took me a very long time to do that and I am too tired. Buttt I promise that I will add captions and try to keep up with it as I get more pictures from my new camera :) The link if on the right under pictures!
Cheers!
Cheers!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
mini update =)
Since I have been back from Dublin I have been doing a lot of work and classes, since I had to work last Friday (due to missing work on Monday) my roommates and I were unable to have a "Friday adventure", as we have been trying to do every week, but we did try to make up for it by deciding to try one on Sunday instead.
The city has started to become somewhat of a zoo recently because it is the country's mid term break. (like Feb. vacation for the States) Well that means that the city is FULL of people who dont usually come here during the week and weekend. So the tube and tourist attractions have been a little too crazy for our taste, but we tried to still do an "adventure" anyways, We set out for the Tower of London Sunday morning, but found the lines out of the door and around the corner, so we settled on a smaller tour of Tower Bridge. It was actually really cool, and they had a lot of information about bridges in general that I know some of my engineer friends would love (cough cough). After that my roommate Jen and I wanted to go to the camera stores we saw a few days ago when we went to see Valentines Day (the new movie with a lot of big name actors in it, it was cute). My camera broke in Ireland (may have forgotten to mention that before) so I was looking for a new one and her camera broke the first week here because her water bottle cap cam off in her water proof purse (which basically just made everything she owned, including her i pod, camera, and phone swim in a pool). I found a really great one, Samsung with dual screens. It was a little pricey but I got a free 8gb memory card a case and a US plug adapter thrown into the deal, since my dad has taught me how to bargain so well. Ended up costing me around 380 us dollars (eek). But I wanted to make sure I had one for my spring break around Europe and I figured spending an extra 50-75 from what I would have spent at home is worth to have it now.
Well two days before this (sorry for the mix in chronological order) we had our free tickets on the London Eye (that big ferris wheel) and it was amazing. We had to have our tickets moved to night because we all had to work, but it was amazing anyways. I still would like to go on again during the day though, because I want to see if I can actually pic out where things are.
Well thats its for now...small update. Missing everyone!! CHEERS
The city has started to become somewhat of a zoo recently because it is the country's mid term break. (like Feb. vacation for the States) Well that means that the city is FULL of people who dont usually come here during the week and weekend. So the tube and tourist attractions have been a little too crazy for our taste, but we tried to still do an "adventure" anyways, We set out for the Tower of London Sunday morning, but found the lines out of the door and around the corner, so we settled on a smaller tour of Tower Bridge. It was actually really cool, and they had a lot of information about bridges in general that I know some of my engineer friends would love (cough cough). After that my roommate Jen and I wanted to go to the camera stores we saw a few days ago when we went to see Valentines Day (the new movie with a lot of big name actors in it, it was cute). My camera broke in Ireland (may have forgotten to mention that before) so I was looking for a new one and her camera broke the first week here because her water bottle cap cam off in her water proof purse (which basically just made everything she owned, including her i pod, camera, and phone swim in a pool). I found a really great one, Samsung with dual screens. It was a little pricey but I got a free 8gb memory card a case and a US plug adapter thrown into the deal, since my dad has taught me how to bargain so well. Ended up costing me around 380 us dollars (eek). But I wanted to make sure I had one for my spring break around Europe and I figured spending an extra 50-75 from what I would have spent at home is worth to have it now.
Well two days before this (sorry for the mix in chronological order) we had our free tickets on the London Eye (that big ferris wheel) and it was amazing. We had to have our tickets moved to night because we all had to work, but it was amazing anyways. I still would like to go on again during the day though, because I want to see if I can actually pic out where things are.
Well thats its for now...small update. Missing everyone!! CHEERS
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Shippin off to Dublin...
Apologies for the lack of keeping up with the blog, as you might have seen, I sat down to start writing this post about 4 days ago and then I decided it was more important to catch up on the reading of other friends blogs and I got nothing else done.
ANYWAYS.... I went to Dublin, Ireland last weekend and I loved it! Me and two of my roommates, Jen and Mairead, left on Thursday night after class, and actually stayed until Monday evening due to an error with booking tickets, but we were staying with Mairead's grandparents who live there so it wasnt a big deal. They were amazing, we called them Bobby and Nanny (sorry Nanny) and they were very cute and Irish. The first night we got in on the late side and Bobby picked us up and gave us a little accidental tour, due to some detors caused by construction, of the city. I am happy to say that the steriotype of irish people will live on in my mind because the tour consisted of Bobby pointing out his favorites bars and pubs and of course his favorite place to golf. it was also Bobby's birthday! So what else do you do on an 80 year old Irish man's birthday? You stay up until 2 am talking to college aged girls and have a few drinks. Nanny was drinking SoCo "with just a little water, because it is too sweet", and Bobby was drinking whiskey. I found it hilarious that these two old Irish people could probably drink us college girls under the table, and Bobby kept trying to sneak more wine into my glass when I wasn't looking but it was actually a blast. It was all ideal until it turned into heaven when I hopped into bed to find a hot water bottle (old school style, the rubber kind that you only see in cartoons now) warming up my bed. I fell asleep with it on my feet and it was the perfect end to a great evening.
The next day we woke up nice and early and had a little toast for breakfast and headed into town via the public transportation known as The Luis. It was this adorable little monorail car that basically travels in two directions across the city, but their happened to be a stop right outside the complex where Nanny and Bobby live so it was very convenient. The first day we met up with my friends Ryan and Mike, who we ended up spending the entire weekend with, at Pheonix Park so that we could try to get to the Dublin Zoo. After a little difficulty we found each other and started walking around this beautiful and very large park. We finally get to the zoo, which is in the center of the park, and we find out that it cost 17 euro (about 23 US dollars) to go in. So we decided we are too poor for that kind of entry fee and we decided our money would be much better spent on a tour of the Guinness Factory.
The Guinness Factory was a blast, I got to see how beer is made, although I already knew because Ryan happens to brew his own beer at home, and I learned all about Guinness. I was a little saddened to find out that the beer is actually no longer made in that perticular factory and some is not even made in Ireland, but it was all still very exciting and interesting. We were given a little taste about half way through our tour and then at the end you get to enjoy a complimentary pint in the 360 Bar at the top of the Guinness Factory, which is an amazing view of the city in a smallish glass room. After my meal and a half of Guinness we decided it was a good time to go home because the family was coming over for Bobby's birthday and we had promised an appearance. The boys actually ended up joining and we made a night out of it. Bobby kept shoving drinks down our throats and Nanny kept feeding us, so I was a pretty content girl.
The next day we got up bright and early for a tour of the Dublin Castle, which we also managed to drag the boys on. This tour was much more reasonably priced at around 3.50 euros each. It was BEAUTIFUL and is actually still a working government building. The original castle actually burned down a long time ago and they replaced it with more of a palace instead, as a place for the Queen of England to come and stay and visit on her very rare trips to Ireland. But they also host people like Hillary Clinton and some other famous people and have large stately dinners there. After that we thought it would be a good idea to try to find St Patricks Cathedral. You would think that this would be something easily found in a city with no sky scrapers, but it actually took us a few tries and by the time we got there it was closed. So we went back to Mike's apartment so they could get ready to go out for the night, after of course stopped by to see Bobby and have a few drinks. (Bobby kept telling us to "bring the lads around for a drink". I think he enjoyed having them around a lot. We ended up staying there most of the night actually instead of going out but it was "great crack" (irish for fun?). Im still not sure how to use that exactly but I know that people say they have "great crack" in Ireland and it means they had a good time.
The following day we woke up to go on a free 3 hour walking tour of the city, but not before breakfast, which was AMAZING. We had an authentic Irish breakfast with this stuff called "rashers" which is basically just thick undercooked bacon, but you put in on bread with butter and some black and white pudding (I wont tell you what that is if you dont already know) But I loved it, and If I wouldnt gain 500 pounds or have a heart attack from it, I would eat it everyday! The walking tour was actually very funny and informative , since it is done by local actors, and they work off tips alone. We didnt realy go to see very much exactly, but I learned a great deal about the city itself. On our way home my roommate Jen and I saw a cute jewlrey shop and decided to stop in to have a look for some claddagh rings. I found a beautiful one for 30 euros and bought it, and I am very very happy about my authentic claddagh from Ireland! :)
On Sunday night it was the Superbowl back home, but it actually didnt start here until 11pm. We found an American style bar near Mikes apartment that said it was staying open as long as it took and serving hot dogs. I skipped on the meat, but it was like being home again even without it. Everyone in the bar was wearing American football Jerseys, even for teams that had no business being on peoples backs in another country. The group of Irish guys who sat next to us during the whole game consisted of a chargers fan, bears fan, a saints fan (he was ok), and a browns fan. It was very random, but I thought it was adorable. I even found a patriots fan at that bar but he wasnt very interested in me being from Boston....
We got back home around 6am and woke up the next day at 230pm, just in time for our flight at 6. hahahha.
It was a very fun weekend, and I have been invited back by Bobby and Nanny after school gets out, which I very well might take them up on!
ANYWAYS.... I went to Dublin, Ireland last weekend and I loved it! Me and two of my roommates, Jen and Mairead, left on Thursday night after class, and actually stayed until Monday evening due to an error with booking tickets, but we were staying with Mairead's grandparents who live there so it wasnt a big deal. They were amazing, we called them Bobby and Nanny (sorry Nanny) and they were very cute and Irish. The first night we got in on the late side and Bobby picked us up and gave us a little accidental tour, due to some detors caused by construction, of the city. I am happy to say that the steriotype of irish people will live on in my mind because the tour consisted of Bobby pointing out his favorites bars and pubs and of course his favorite place to golf. it was also Bobby's birthday! So what else do you do on an 80 year old Irish man's birthday? You stay up until 2 am talking to college aged girls and have a few drinks. Nanny was drinking SoCo "with just a little water, because it is too sweet", and Bobby was drinking whiskey. I found it hilarious that these two old Irish people could probably drink us college girls under the table, and Bobby kept trying to sneak more wine into my glass when I wasn't looking but it was actually a blast. It was all ideal until it turned into heaven when I hopped into bed to find a hot water bottle (old school style, the rubber kind that you only see in cartoons now) warming up my bed. I fell asleep with it on my feet and it was the perfect end to a great evening.
The next day we woke up nice and early and had a little toast for breakfast and headed into town via the public transportation known as The Luis. It was this adorable little monorail car that basically travels in two directions across the city, but their happened to be a stop right outside the complex where Nanny and Bobby live so it was very convenient. The first day we met up with my friends Ryan and Mike, who we ended up spending the entire weekend with, at Pheonix Park so that we could try to get to the Dublin Zoo. After a little difficulty we found each other and started walking around this beautiful and very large park. We finally get to the zoo, which is in the center of the park, and we find out that it cost 17 euro (about 23 US dollars) to go in. So we decided we are too poor for that kind of entry fee and we decided our money would be much better spent on a tour of the Guinness Factory.
The Guinness Factory was a blast, I got to see how beer is made, although I already knew because Ryan happens to brew his own beer at home, and I learned all about Guinness. I was a little saddened to find out that the beer is actually no longer made in that perticular factory and some is not even made in Ireland, but it was all still very exciting and interesting. We were given a little taste about half way through our tour and then at the end you get to enjoy a complimentary pint in the 360 Bar at the top of the Guinness Factory, which is an amazing view of the city in a smallish glass room. After my meal and a half of Guinness we decided it was a good time to go home because the family was coming over for Bobby's birthday and we had promised an appearance. The boys actually ended up joining and we made a night out of it. Bobby kept shoving drinks down our throats and Nanny kept feeding us, so I was a pretty content girl.
The next day we got up bright and early for a tour of the Dublin Castle, which we also managed to drag the boys on. This tour was much more reasonably priced at around 3.50 euros each. It was BEAUTIFUL and is actually still a working government building. The original castle actually burned down a long time ago and they replaced it with more of a palace instead, as a place for the Queen of England to come and stay and visit on her very rare trips to Ireland. But they also host people like Hillary Clinton and some other famous people and have large stately dinners there. After that we thought it would be a good idea to try to find St Patricks Cathedral. You would think that this would be something easily found in a city with no sky scrapers, but it actually took us a few tries and by the time we got there it was closed. So we went back to Mike's apartment so they could get ready to go out for the night, after of course stopped by to see Bobby and have a few drinks. (Bobby kept telling us to "bring the lads around for a drink". I think he enjoyed having them around a lot. We ended up staying there most of the night actually instead of going out but it was "great crack" (irish for fun?). Im still not sure how to use that exactly but I know that people say they have "great crack" in Ireland and it means they had a good time.
The following day we woke up to go on a free 3 hour walking tour of the city, but not before breakfast, which was AMAZING. We had an authentic Irish breakfast with this stuff called "rashers" which is basically just thick undercooked bacon, but you put in on bread with butter and some black and white pudding (I wont tell you what that is if you dont already know) But I loved it, and If I wouldnt gain 500 pounds or have a heart attack from it, I would eat it everyday! The walking tour was actually very funny and informative , since it is done by local actors, and they work off tips alone. We didnt realy go to see very much exactly, but I learned a great deal about the city itself. On our way home my roommate Jen and I saw a cute jewlrey shop and decided to stop in to have a look for some claddagh rings. I found a beautiful one for 30 euros and bought it, and I am very very happy about my authentic claddagh from Ireland! :)
On Sunday night it was the Superbowl back home, but it actually didnt start here until 11pm. We found an American style bar near Mikes apartment that said it was staying open as long as it took and serving hot dogs. I skipped on the meat, but it was like being home again even without it. Everyone in the bar was wearing American football Jerseys, even for teams that had no business being on peoples backs in another country. The group of Irish guys who sat next to us during the whole game consisted of a chargers fan, bears fan, a saints fan (he was ok), and a browns fan. It was very random, but I thought it was adorable. I even found a patriots fan at that bar but he wasnt very interested in me being from Boston....
We got back home around 6am and woke up the next day at 230pm, just in time for our flight at 6. hahahha.
It was a very fun weekend, and I have been invited back by Bobby and Nanny after school gets out, which I very well might take them up on!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
English ≠ English
Hello all of my loyal followers (i.e. mom and matt) I personally apologize for my absence in almost 2 weeks! It had been driving me crazy that I haven't written anything in that long. I feel like everything gets backed up and then I forget about it so I have been trying to jot down some notes in between postings so that I wont forget to write about anything. That being said, sit down and get comfortable because I am about to unleash two weeks worth of adventures on you...3...2..1..
Everyone was always talking "culture shock" but I never really thought that there would be any real big differences between the UK and the US, considering that we are both two large English speaking nations. I think that was my first mistake because just because we both speak the same language actually means nothing. For one, English is not the same as American (in terms of language). It has actually taken me over three weeks to realize that everyone who was coming up to me at work and asking me "are you OK?" were not actually concerned with me not being alright, but were in fact just saying "how are you?" as we say in casual passing expecting someone to say "good, you", and I have been answering "yea", almost rudely now that I look back on it, because I wanted everyone to think I was strong and capable, ooops. Another thing i recently found out is that the police in London, DO NOT carry guns. This blew my mind! They have little night sticks and no other way of defending of offending I guess. This is clearly a large difference because most British people that I meet will ask me about guns and ask me if I know anyone with a gun or own one myself. So I learned that Americans are really perceived as "gun crazed". but really, how can your law enforcement not have guns?? Maybe its because all of their commercials are all so graphic that everyone is too scared of everyone else. There is this commercial on tv that plays ALL THE TIMEE and it is a little 6 year old boy who is all mangled and his eyes aren't focused and this man is going about his life and wherever he goes this little dead boy is there and then at the end it says "its 30 for a reason" talking about the speed limit. Its very graphic. Email me if you want to hear about more because they are pretty crazy but I wont bore everyone with all the details (everyone being the 3 people that read this). I think this all gits in with the English needing to be more informed. I thought Americans were nosy! Every announcement on the Tube explaining closers and delays tells you EXACTLY why it is closed or delayed. ("the district line in closed due to the fact that a middle aged man dropped some of his belongings on the track and jumped down to get them"......Boston wouldn't even tell you it was closed)
Other English Language Differences:
-If you say you are taking the "bus" somewhere long distance people WILL look at you funny and ask if you mean a "coach" ( I guess they are different)
-I was in the airport in security recently and asked for "a bin" to put my shoes and other things in to go through the x-ray machine and the man laughed at me...a bin means "trash can"
-Pants = underwear.....if you said you werent wearing pants people would think you meant your going comando
- the letter 'Z' does not exist. Its a "ZED" for one thing if they do use it and they rarely do. Instead they use "s". its not globalization its globalisation, and realize becomes realise...its all very strange
-they spell A LOT of things differently. its defence not defense, and everyone just thinks your dumb when you spell them "wrong"
Thats all for now...more to come soon...promise!
xoxo
Everyone was always talking "culture shock" but I never really thought that there would be any real big differences between the UK and the US, considering that we are both two large English speaking nations. I think that was my first mistake because just because we both speak the same language actually means nothing. For one, English is not the same as American (in terms of language). It has actually taken me over three weeks to realize that everyone who was coming up to me at work and asking me "are you OK?" were not actually concerned with me not being alright, but were in fact just saying "how are you?" as we say in casual passing expecting someone to say "good, you", and I have been answering "yea", almost rudely now that I look back on it, because I wanted everyone to think I was strong and capable, ooops. Another thing i recently found out is that the police in London, DO NOT carry guns. This blew my mind! They have little night sticks and no other way of defending of offending I guess. This is clearly a large difference because most British people that I meet will ask me about guns and ask me if I know anyone with a gun or own one myself. So I learned that Americans are really perceived as "gun crazed". but really, how can your law enforcement not have guns?? Maybe its because all of their commercials are all so graphic that everyone is too scared of everyone else. There is this commercial on tv that plays ALL THE TIMEE and it is a little 6 year old boy who is all mangled and his eyes aren't focused and this man is going about his life and wherever he goes this little dead boy is there and then at the end it says "its 30 for a reason" talking about the speed limit. Its very graphic. Email me if you want to hear about more because they are pretty crazy but I wont bore everyone with all the details (everyone being the 3 people that read this). I think this all gits in with the English needing to be more informed. I thought Americans were nosy! Every announcement on the Tube explaining closers and delays tells you EXACTLY why it is closed or delayed. ("the district line in closed due to the fact that a middle aged man dropped some of his belongings on the track and jumped down to get them"......Boston wouldn't even tell you it was closed)
Other English Language Differences:
-If you say you are taking the "bus" somewhere long distance people WILL look at you funny and ask if you mean a "coach" ( I guess they are different)
-I was in the airport in security recently and asked for "a bin" to put my shoes and other things in to go through the x-ray machine and the man laughed at me...a bin means "trash can"
-Pants = underwear.....if you said you werent wearing pants people would think you meant your going comando
- the letter 'Z' does not exist. Its a "ZED" for one thing if they do use it and they rarely do. Instead they use "s". its not globalization its globalisation, and realize becomes realise...its all very strange
-they spell A LOT of things differently. its defence not defense, and everyone just thinks your dumb when you spell them "wrong"
Thats all for now...more to come soon...promise!
xoxo
Friday, January 29, 2010
Rain, Rain, Go Away....
This week has been pretty typical. I didnt have any huge adventures on Sunday and I have been running around like a crazy person between work and classes and homework and plays for my theater class. I guess Harrods just had a huge sale so work was pretty busy this week. We usually get maybe 2 pages per account of sales for an entire weekend, this week we had about 10 per account. It was crazy and took all day long to put the orders into the system, but because Im such a great little worker and got it all done by 5 pm they let me go a half hour early on Monday which was very nice of them. I was getting really excited because fashion week is coming up in London and I kept hearing people in my office talking about "tickets", and I was assuming that it was for a show, but so far I have yet to be invited to anything.
On Tuesday I went to a play for my Theater in London class. It was an Irish play called Greta Garbo goes to Donegol at the Tricycle Theater. It was good and very interesting, and there was a naked man in the first scene that our professor failed to warn us about before hand, but I think in all it was pretty good, and the tiny theater it was in was very cute.
Wednesday was crazy because I have class in the morning then work and then back to class until 730 pm. My morning class is with one of my roommates, but she is late to absolutely everything. So when i saw her get out of the shower at 9 am (where we would usually be leaving around 930 am) I knew it was a lost cause and I told her I would meet her there because I had to print something out before class. It was a good thing I did leave her behind, she ended up being a half hour late to an hour long class. So I feel bad when I leave her behind, but at the same time she really bothers me when she makes me wait, soooo I think Ill be going class without her from now on. Wednesday was also exciting because I got to an an errand for work to Harrods and Harvey Nichols. It was very exciting, especially since I hadn't into either store yet. Harrods is probably about 10 miles of walking if you went into every room, so of course I got lost, but I was with my friends like Dior and D&G, so I wasn't too sad about it.
On Wednesday night, my roommates and I decided that we wanted to go to Imperial College, where we have access to their student union and can join their clubs and stuff. Well Wednesday nights is pound fifty beer night, so we heard it is usually a good time with a bunch of college aged kids. We have had enough of the bars and pubs in our area where the scene seems to be more 50+. It was a lot of fun and we met a bunch of people who were international and British students, and we decided that it would be nice to go back again sometime. It also didn't hurt that the bus to get home is right outside the gates of the school, so we didn't have to walk our usual 2 miles to get from here to there.
Last night we went to a pub called The Shakespeare. It was close and maybe more 30+ rather than the areas usually 50+ places so we had a few drinks and just sat around a talked. It was very cute, but the drinks were around 3.50, which is 5 or 6 dollars each, but that's probably the best deal in our area.
This morning is what I am really excited about. We found out that the theater near us is played Wicked right now and we also found out that students can go the morning of a show and get front row tickets for 25 pounds (usually 60+) so thats what we did and tonight I will be sitting front row at Wicked. We are all pretty pumped. When we were buying the tickets though, some group of women came up right behind us and they were at the next window trying to do the same thing, and I guess we got the last ones, so we told them we were sorry and they said well did you come all the way from Northern Ireland to see it! and we just said no we came from America, they looked embarrassed and shut up and walked away sad but I didnt feel bad because they were kind of rude and I wanted my tickets.
The sun us out today, which is rare, so were probably going to try to take advantage of it and head out to see a castle or something. We have made it a goal of ours to go on an "adventure" each Friday, since none of us have class or work. Today's adventure : Castles!
We are also all getting very excited for our trip to Ireland that we booked a couple weeks ago. The trip started out as a nightmare because of some stupid errors on my part, which included booking the wrong weekend. But it is all starting to work out and we will be shipping out on the 4th after class. Were staying in Dublin with our roommates grandparents, but I plan on seeing Mike Star and Ryan while I am there and that should be great!
On Tuesday I went to a play for my Theater in London class. It was an Irish play called Greta Garbo goes to Donegol at the Tricycle Theater. It was good and very interesting, and there was a naked man in the first scene that our professor failed to warn us about before hand, but I think in all it was pretty good, and the tiny theater it was in was very cute.
Wednesday was crazy because I have class in the morning then work and then back to class until 730 pm. My morning class is with one of my roommates, but she is late to absolutely everything. So when i saw her get out of the shower at 9 am (where we would usually be leaving around 930 am) I knew it was a lost cause and I told her I would meet her there because I had to print something out before class. It was a good thing I did leave her behind, she ended up being a half hour late to an hour long class. So I feel bad when I leave her behind, but at the same time she really bothers me when she makes me wait, soooo I think Ill be going class without her from now on. Wednesday was also exciting because I got to an an errand for work to Harrods and Harvey Nichols. It was very exciting, especially since I hadn't into either store yet. Harrods is probably about 10 miles of walking if you went into every room, so of course I got lost, but I was with my friends like Dior and D&G, so I wasn't too sad about it.
On Wednesday night, my roommates and I decided that we wanted to go to Imperial College, where we have access to their student union and can join their clubs and stuff. Well Wednesday nights is pound fifty beer night, so we heard it is usually a good time with a bunch of college aged kids. We have had enough of the bars and pubs in our area where the scene seems to be more 50+. It was a lot of fun and we met a bunch of people who were international and British students, and we decided that it would be nice to go back again sometime. It also didn't hurt that the bus to get home is right outside the gates of the school, so we didn't have to walk our usual 2 miles to get from here to there.
Last night we went to a pub called The Shakespeare. It was close and maybe more 30+ rather than the areas usually 50+ places so we had a few drinks and just sat around a talked. It was very cute, but the drinks were around 3.50, which is 5 or 6 dollars each, but that's probably the best deal in our area.
This morning is what I am really excited about. We found out that the theater near us is played Wicked right now and we also found out that students can go the morning of a show and get front row tickets for 25 pounds (usually 60+) so thats what we did and tonight I will be sitting front row at Wicked. We are all pretty pumped. When we were buying the tickets though, some group of women came up right behind us and they were at the next window trying to do the same thing, and I guess we got the last ones, so we told them we were sorry and they said well did you come all the way from Northern Ireland to see it! and we just said no we came from America, they looked embarrassed and shut up and walked away sad but I didnt feel bad because they were kind of rude and I wanted my tickets.
The sun us out today, which is rare, so were probably going to try to take advantage of it and head out to see a castle or something. We have made it a goal of ours to go on an "adventure" each Friday, since none of us have class or work. Today's adventure : Castles!
We are also all getting very excited for our trip to Ireland that we booked a couple weeks ago. The trip started out as a nightmare because of some stupid errors on my part, which included booking the wrong weekend. But it is all starting to work out and we will be shipping out on the 4th after class. Were staying in Dublin with our roommates grandparents, but I plan on seeing Mike Star and Ryan while I am there and that should be great!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Stonehange and Bath
On Friday my program hosted a free trip to Stonehenge and Bath. Stonehenge is the very old site of some very big stones that were brought from miles away to this very hilly place in Great Britain, and no one really knows why anymore. It was very cool to look at because the rocks are something like 20 feet tall and on our tour I found out that this specific type of rock isnt found anywhere near where they are located, actually over 20 miles away. They said that it would have taken over 60 men over one year to move just one rock. And there are a lot of them. And the area around it is made up of all hills and valleys. So I decided to go with the idea that the aliens did it. It could have been a site for religious practices or some kind of calender, They arnt sure anymore. There are also all of these huge boulders stacked on top of the other huge boulders and they are kind of carved to fit together and it looks all very intricate for people from over 5000 years ago. I guess some people say there is no way that the illiterate people of that time could have put together anything this detailed, so I guess it was the aliens. Well it was raining (of course) so we only stayed for about an hour and left to continue on the Bath.
Bath is this city in Great Britain founded by the Romans because when they were exploring they found these natural hot springs and decided that it was holy. So they built their summer home there (basically) and it was very "posh" for any of the Romans to be seen there. I did find out one interesting fact about it. It was uncovered by the britains at some point becuse after time the land around it kinda of filled it in. Well it brought the city back to life and was made very popular to the English when Queen Ann visited it because she had heard that the water had healing powers and she wanted to cure he gout! So I guess she drank 2 liters of the water everyday and soaked in it for a couple hours and it helped her gout. (Sorry Nanny, I wasn't able to find any bottled Bath water to bring home for you) I did however have a glass of the hot spring water, which was interesting. There is the pump that still operates and they allow you to have a drink of the water which contains 23 different minerals. My friend said he thought it tasted like he was drinking rocks but I didn't think it was that bad. Its kind of weird tho because on the pump you can see all the mineral deposits on the faucet. So you know its all in there. We also found this very old very cute candy shop, so I went in to ask if they had any "plain" chocolate. I guess its what the English eat (its somewhere between dark and milk chocolate) It was awesome so a bought two bars and ate an entire one while I waked around Bath. oops.
I guess the town recently applied to have a new spa built in Bath and they were granted it. So now they have this very nice and new spa that uses the natural springs (which heat the water to about 90 degrees) and you can spend the day at the spa there. So my roommates and I are looking into prices because it seems like something we wouldnt hate to do hahaha. Bath was beautiful but it was raining the entire time, so after our 2 hour walking tour and just being out in the rain with no where to go for a few hours we were happy to get back on the coaches and come back to London.
The next day we woke and decided that it was a good day to go to a market. So we went to Camden market. Its supposed to be this large market area that has food, jewelry, clothes, and hand made crafts. We got a late start but we heard it was open till about 6 so we figured we would have enough time. We found a way to get to the closest tube stop and went on our way. Well were on the tube about two stops before ours and the train stops in the tunnel. We sat there for about 10 minutes before the guy comes on the announce system and says that the train will be terminating at the next stop and everyone has to get off. I thought it was weird but I always hear so much about how the tube always shuts down and there are always down lines on any given day. So we get off and decide we can just walk the rest of the way. Were going up the lifts to get out of the station and my roommates tell me that they were having little freak out sessions on the train when it stopped because yesterday the UK raised its terrorism alert from substantial to sever. I was thankful I didnt think of this when we were down in the tube because I would have freaked out too. So we exit the tube station and there are cops everywhere with bomb sniffing dogs that are smelling everyone who exits the station. So then I started to get a little worried. I went up to a cop and asked him what direction the market was in, thinking that if something was wrong with it he wouldn't point me in the direction of the danger. He politely told me it was about 400 yards on the main road. So we decided they must have it under control and we went on to the market. The market was very cool and I decided that we should go back a few more times before we leave. I found this hat that I really liked but being half of my father, wouldn't pay for it unless I brought down the price to just above half. He wasnt having any of it and I left hat-less. (Im going to go back and get it next time) I bought a scarf for 3 pounds (about 5 dollars), a ring for 2 pounds and a pair of earrings for 1.50 pounds. So I thought the day was a success.
Were getting pretty cold and hungry and we werent even half through the market but we decided that we will save it for another time. Plus at this time its starting to get dark and all the weird people were crawling out of the cracks. (I saw a mad with so many piercings on his face I wasnt sure of his skin color!) We started walking back to the tube station we came from and we start seeing all of these buses that said "replacement rail services". Soi asked on of the still many police officers what was going on and where to go and he said that the chunk of rail near us has been suspended and to get on a bus going to Euston so that we can get home. So we found the right bus stop and get on the bus and go to Euston and find an alternative route home. It wasnt too bad for us but while in the station we find out the half of the rails have been suspended in the city and we were a little on edge until we exited the station thats about a 10 minute walk from our flat. We turned on the news to look for something that had happened but I guess nothing did. The tube is still about half down right now but as far as I know nothing has happened. And we have been told to keep going about as usual, but to just be "more aware". I guess the "severe" here is the same as the US"orange", which we have been on and off of for years, so I'm not too worried. (Family members don't freak out). Cheers!
Bath is this city in Great Britain founded by the Romans because when they were exploring they found these natural hot springs and decided that it was holy. So they built their summer home there (basically) and it was very "posh" for any of the Romans to be seen there. I did find out one interesting fact about it. It was uncovered by the britains at some point becuse after time the land around it kinda of filled it in. Well it brought the city back to life and was made very popular to the English when Queen Ann visited it because she had heard that the water had healing powers and she wanted to cure he gout! So I guess she drank 2 liters of the water everyday and soaked in it for a couple hours and it helped her gout. (Sorry Nanny, I wasn't able to find any bottled Bath water to bring home for you) I did however have a glass of the hot spring water, which was interesting. There is the pump that still operates and they allow you to have a drink of the water which contains 23 different minerals. My friend said he thought it tasted like he was drinking rocks but I didn't think it was that bad. Its kind of weird tho because on the pump you can see all the mineral deposits on the faucet. So you know its all in there. We also found this very old very cute candy shop, so I went in to ask if they had any "plain" chocolate. I guess its what the English eat (its somewhere between dark and milk chocolate) It was awesome so a bought two bars and ate an entire one while I waked around Bath. oops.
I guess the town recently applied to have a new spa built in Bath and they were granted it. So now they have this very nice and new spa that uses the natural springs (which heat the water to about 90 degrees) and you can spend the day at the spa there. So my roommates and I are looking into prices because it seems like something we wouldnt hate to do hahaha. Bath was beautiful but it was raining the entire time, so after our 2 hour walking tour and just being out in the rain with no where to go for a few hours we were happy to get back on the coaches and come back to London.
The next day we woke and decided that it was a good day to go to a market. So we went to Camden market. Its supposed to be this large market area that has food, jewelry, clothes, and hand made crafts. We got a late start but we heard it was open till about 6 so we figured we would have enough time. We found a way to get to the closest tube stop and went on our way. Well were on the tube about two stops before ours and the train stops in the tunnel. We sat there for about 10 minutes before the guy comes on the announce system and says that the train will be terminating at the next stop and everyone has to get off. I thought it was weird but I always hear so much about how the tube always shuts down and there are always down lines on any given day. So we get off and decide we can just walk the rest of the way. Were going up the lifts to get out of the station and my roommates tell me that they were having little freak out sessions on the train when it stopped because yesterday the UK raised its terrorism alert from substantial to sever. I was thankful I didnt think of this when we were down in the tube because I would have freaked out too. So we exit the tube station and there are cops everywhere with bomb sniffing dogs that are smelling everyone who exits the station. So then I started to get a little worried. I went up to a cop and asked him what direction the market was in, thinking that if something was wrong with it he wouldn't point me in the direction of the danger. He politely told me it was about 400 yards on the main road. So we decided they must have it under control and we went on to the market. The market was very cool and I decided that we should go back a few more times before we leave. I found this hat that I really liked but being half of my father, wouldn't pay for it unless I brought down the price to just above half. He wasnt having any of it and I left hat-less. (Im going to go back and get it next time) I bought a scarf for 3 pounds (about 5 dollars), a ring for 2 pounds and a pair of earrings for 1.50 pounds. So I thought the day was a success.
Were getting pretty cold and hungry and we werent even half through the market but we decided that we will save it for another time. Plus at this time its starting to get dark and all the weird people were crawling out of the cracks. (I saw a mad with so many piercings on his face I wasnt sure of his skin color!) We started walking back to the tube station we came from and we start seeing all of these buses that said "replacement rail services". Soi asked on of the still many police officers what was going on and where to go and he said that the chunk of rail near us has been suspended and to get on a bus going to Euston so that we can get home. So we found the right bus stop and get on the bus and go to Euston and find an alternative route home. It wasnt too bad for us but while in the station we find out the half of the rails have been suspended in the city and we were a little on edge until we exited the station thats about a 10 minute walk from our flat. We turned on the news to look for something that had happened but I guess nothing did. The tube is still about half down right now but as far as I know nothing has happened. And we have been told to keep going about as usual, but to just be "more aware". I guess the "severe" here is the same as the US"orange", which we have been on and off of for years, so I'm not too worried. (Family members don't freak out). Cheers!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Viva la London
Hello all! I had my first week of classes this week, we sort of. Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays will be very busy days for me between work and classes but I decided that its worth it to have Thursdays class 2-5 and then nothing on Fridays and the weekends so that I can travel. On Friday I am going to Stonehenge and Bath. I am very excited. We are just going for the day. We have to be at the bus at 7 am and well be getting back around 8 pm. So its all day. I'll let you know how it goes. This week was a lot of fun and exciting with work and everything was new. Today I had class til 5 and then my roommates and I went to a grocery store near where our classes are held. we bought our for the week with our meal stipend of 40 pounds, which is starting to prove very very helpful. We have been splitting everything so it was about 15 pounds for the week. Then we were STARVING because no one had eaten all day. Mairead knew about this mexican restaurant that was a few stops up on the tube. They had happy hour deals where we could get a "jug" for 10 pounds, which is about 6 drinks, and buy one get one free meals. I love mexican food so I was very excited and it was great! We stayed for a while just talking over drinks and we found out the place actually turns into a club later on in the night and we promised the manager that we would come back when we didn't have to wake up at 6 am. We have been trying not to eat out a lot since it will end up costing so much, but I definitely loved this place and plan on going back. (plus we didnt get any stares from random bald men here)
I realized today that I forgot to mention something about my first night out in London. We were talking back from a pub pretty early and I saw an animal cross the street, upon further investigation i realized it was a fox and I screamed and ran away. What in the world is a fox doing in the CENTER of one of the largest cities on earth????? I was very confused and I thought it was worth sharing.
That's all for now...cheers!!!
I realized today that I forgot to mention something about my first night out in London. We were talking back from a pub pretty early and I saw an animal cross the street, upon further investigation i realized it was a fox and I screamed and ran away. What in the world is a fox doing in the CENTER of one of the largest cities on earth????? I was very confused and I thought it was worth sharing.
That's all for now...cheers!!!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Workin Girl
So I had my first few days of work this week, and they were very nice. On Monday I had my "interview" (and in typing that I found out the key boards are different here and the quotations marks are actually on the number 2 key and the little at sign (@) is by the enter key...weird). ANYWAYS, I got there and they were like oh hi! here is your desk I'll come tell you what your going to be doing. And so my job actually started a day earlier than I thought it would, which I was fine with. My work, DeKeyser (a fashion PR company that does like buying for designer labels like Rock and Republic and Bailey 44) is above a store called L.K. Bennett, and I actually have to walk into the store to get upstairs. (So not shopping for a few weeks has just got that much harder.) Well the company used to have a large studio over on New Burlington St., but the queen or someone decided that the street needed to be re renovated and so they had to move out temporarily, which they did right after Christmas. So everyone in the office is actually split up between my location and another place down the street and around the corner. My office is all the accounts and I'm not sure what the other building is. Well its small and is one room with maybe 10 people in it and then a floor downstairs I have yet to see. My boss is Dayana and shes very nice. I believe she is the buyer since I have been mostly filling out purchase orders and learning all the codes for things like dresses vs pants and creating these data card things from the stores. She said that on Monday and Tuesdays that's usually what she does but she has a meeting with someone who shes going to buy things from tomorrow and hopefully I will be able to come with her and see how that goes.
The only real story I have about my office is that this morning was the first time i had to show up early in the morning (yesterday they told me 11:00am) so I get there at 9:27 (since she told mt the office opens at 9:30) and the store was locked and so i decided to go explore a little around the shops and neighborhood, (which I found out that the Vogue House is like right up the street and I nearly pooped my pants about) so I sat outside watching all the Vogue people walking in and out of the building for a few minutes and went back and the store was still closed. I did this until almost 950 when I decided there must be another way they forgot to tell me about to get inside. So I decided that I would stand there and drink my coffee and watch for someone that I met yesterday to start walking up the street and I could look like I was just getting there too....well this woman comes up, walks right past me and just knocks on the store door...they unlock it and let her in. So I followed her...all the way up to the 5th floor where she turned around and asked me if I needed any help. And it turns out the the only one in the office that I didn't meet yesterday due to her being sick, was the woman who walked by me. So i felt kind of dumb. But that's not all my fault right?
Well that's all I really have about that. I think I could possibly still be jet lagged since last night I was about to pass out at 730 pm. Hopefully that will end soon and I will be grabbing a drink with some of my roommates and friends from the program tonight after my class ends around 6. I'm also sorry I cant put up more pictures, I am on a computer at the CAPA center...Ill put more up later. Miss everyone!
Internesting fact of the day: Paper is a different size over here. It is a little bit skinnier and about a inch and a half longer...I had to buy new folders because nothing they give us fits in anything I brought. weirddddd
The only real story I have about my office is that this morning was the first time i had to show up early in the morning (yesterday they told me 11:00am) so I get there at 9:27 (since she told mt the office opens at 9:30) and the store was locked and so i decided to go explore a little around the shops and neighborhood, (which I found out that the Vogue House is like right up the street and I nearly pooped my pants about) so I sat outside watching all the Vogue people walking in and out of the building for a few minutes and went back and the store was still closed. I did this until almost 950 when I decided there must be another way they forgot to tell me about to get inside. So I decided that I would stand there and drink my coffee and watch for someone that I met yesterday to start walking up the street and I could look like I was just getting there too....well this woman comes up, walks right past me and just knocks on the store door...they unlock it and let her in. So I followed her...all the way up to the 5th floor where she turned around and asked me if I needed any help. And it turns out the the only one in the office that I didn't meet yesterday due to her being sick, was the woman who walked by me. So i felt kind of dumb. But that's not all my fault right?
Well that's all I really have about that. I think I could possibly still be jet lagged since last night I was about to pass out at 730 pm. Hopefully that will end soon and I will be grabbing a drink with some of my roommates and friends from the program tonight after my class ends around 6. I'm also sorry I cant put up more pictures, I am on a computer at the CAPA center...Ill put more up later. Miss everyone!
Internesting fact of the day: Paper is a different size over here. It is a little bit skinnier and about a inch and a half longer...I had to buy new folders because nothing they give us fits in anything I brought. weirddddd
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Wanted to put up a few pics for all that are interested :)
My roommate Erin and I
Found my Street....
Wanted to put up a few pics for all that are interested :)
Tower Bridge
Buckingham Palace
....More to come sooooonnnn....Ill try to find a way to get more up at once...maybe an album or something...cheers!
My roommate Erin and I
Found my Street....
Wanted to put up a few pics for all that are interested :)
Tower Bridge
Buckingham Palace
....More to come sooooonnnn....Ill try to find a way to get more up at once...maybe an album or something...cheers!
Friday, January 15, 2010
Things that have surprised me...
1. NO ONE talks or looks at one another on the Tube. (Our program advisers actually told us not to talk when we are traveling on the Tube)
2. There are more Mercedes, BMWs, Porsches, and Ferraris parked on the side of the street than other cars combined ( I was told this was due to the wealth of the area in which I am living, but it makes me feel like I am not living in real life)
3. It is considered unlady like for a woman to order a pint at a pub. (I am supposed to order half pints)
4. pubs close at 11pm
5. The very center of the city (where I am living) is very quiet. The more loud and upbeat areas are in a circle around the very rich bubble that I live in.
6. I just heard someone on BBC news talking to a skiier about how there is "too much snow" for skiiing and snowboarding and now I think this country is insane (just kidding..kinda)
2. There are more Mercedes, BMWs, Porsches, and Ferraris parked on the side of the street than other cars combined ( I was told this was due to the wealth of the area in which I am living, but it makes me feel like I am not living in real life)
3. It is considered unlady like for a woman to order a pint at a pub. (I am supposed to order half pints)
4. pubs close at 11pm
5. The very center of the city (where I am living) is very quiet. The more loud and upbeat areas are in a circle around the very rich bubble that I live in.
6. I just heard someone on BBC news talking to a skiier about how there is "too much snow" for skiiing and snowboarding and now I think this country is insane (just kidding..kinda)
Ello' Mate!
So now that the jet lag has started to subside I have started to come out of my sleepy fog and start to enjoy the things around me. I have 4 flatmates in 3 bedrooms. There is one single, which is a good size, and two doubles, one of which looks to be about half the size of the other, and that small one is of course where I ended up. My flat mates are Jenn, Mairead, Caroline, and Erin and we have all been getting along very well so far. but let me start from the beggining...
ARRIVAL
I got into to London around 730 am, the airport seemed very large (or maybe our plane was just parked on the opposite side of immigration because it seemed like I had to walk miles to get there) but going through customs and immigration was no problem at all. I don't even think the guy who stamped my passport looked at me before he sent me right through to baggage claim. Which Im fine with, one of my flat mates got stopped for 25 mins of questioning, having to show more papers and documents saying why she was there, so I guess I just got lucky. Well once I got to baggage I waited about and hour and a half for my bags. I guess it had snowed about a centimeter so they were about to give up and shut down the airport. I know that one kid on my program was actually sent straight on through to Rome because they couldn't land the plane in London....whimps.
The next 24 hours were a fog...
After getting some sleep I was feeling much better and ready to see some of the city. We had orientation at the center, which is about a 20 min commute through the city..and we did not get lost :) after our two hour lecture that was basically about not getting into cars that are not LICENSED cabs and not getting pick-pocketed we were let go. (One of my classes is 3 hours long, and that lecture made me very worried for how I'm going to stay awake that long listening to one professor.)
After that we had the day to ourselves, so my flatmates and I decided to grab some lunch at a small pub near the tube station. I got a burger and it was yummy (I know, not very adventurous) but after that we did some shopping around for some essentials, like a phone and toothpaste. and we also went to what they consider a larger grocery store. It was in fact about the size of a 7-11 and half of that was wine. I guess there is a larger one near where our classes are and were going to try that one sometime soon.
After that we took some naps and decided that we should try our hand at some London nightlife. We went out to a pub down the street to grab something to drink with some of the other flats in our building, and got a lot of stares from all the old bald men in suits. But besides that it was generally a good time. I hope the staring stops eventually. I feel like if I talk anywhere people just stare for a minute, which I did not expect. Well pubs close around 11pm, which I also did not expect, so we just came back to our flat and decided to do more research for tomorrow.
So far things have been going well..I have yet to take even one picture and I have not seen anything of interest, like Buckingham Palace, which is down the street...or Big Ben ( I am convinced that we can see it from our window but we haven't had a clear evening yet to confirm that)...I'll keep you posted.
OK ill stop boring everyone with my rants. I miss everyone at home...COME VISIT!
ARRIVAL
I got into to London around 730 am, the airport seemed very large (or maybe our plane was just parked on the opposite side of immigration because it seemed like I had to walk miles to get there) but going through customs and immigration was no problem at all. I don't even think the guy who stamped my passport looked at me before he sent me right through to baggage claim. Which Im fine with, one of my flat mates got stopped for 25 mins of questioning, having to show more papers and documents saying why she was there, so I guess I just got lucky. Well once I got to baggage I waited about and hour and a half for my bags. I guess it had snowed about a centimeter so they were about to give up and shut down the airport. I know that one kid on my program was actually sent straight on through to Rome because they couldn't land the plane in London....whimps.
The next 24 hours were a fog...
After getting some sleep I was feeling much better and ready to see some of the city. We had orientation at the center, which is about a 20 min commute through the city..and we did not get lost :) after our two hour lecture that was basically about not getting into cars that are not LICENSED cabs and not getting pick-pocketed we were let go. (One of my classes is 3 hours long, and that lecture made me very worried for how I'm going to stay awake that long listening to one professor.)
After that we had the day to ourselves, so my flatmates and I decided to grab some lunch at a small pub near the tube station. I got a burger and it was yummy (I know, not very adventurous) but after that we did some shopping around for some essentials, like a phone and toothpaste. and we also went to what they consider a larger grocery store. It was in fact about the size of a 7-11 and half of that was wine. I guess there is a larger one near where our classes are and were going to try that one sometime soon.
After that we took some naps and decided that we should try our hand at some London nightlife. We went out to a pub down the street to grab something to drink with some of the other flats in our building, and got a lot of stares from all the old bald men in suits. But besides that it was generally a good time. I hope the staring stops eventually. I feel like if I talk anywhere people just stare for a minute, which I did not expect. Well pubs close around 11pm, which I also did not expect, so we just came back to our flat and decided to do more research for tomorrow.
So far things have been going well..I have yet to take even one picture and I have not seen anything of interest, like Buckingham Palace, which is down the street...or Big Ben ( I am convinced that we can see it from our window but we haven't had a clear evening yet to confirm that)...I'll keep you posted.
OK ill stop boring everyone with my rants. I miss everyone at home...COME VISIT!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
We're Flyin'
So the journey begins. I am waiting in Logan Airport, who I am very thankful for because they now offer free internet (yayy), for my flight to start to bored in 2 hours. Why here so early? My mother thought there was going to be traffic INTO Boston during evening rush hour...sorry mom, you were wrong. Anyways, I am very excited to be leaving and making my way "across the pond" to wine and dine with all the fine English people. I was hoping to have a concrete list of things and places I wanted to do and see, but I feel like there is so much that making a list now would just be setting myself up for failure. I do have a few personal goals however.
1. Don't get pick pocketed.
2. Don't spend more money than I have to my name
3. To write in this blog often (once a week is optimistic)
4. For at least one person other than my mom and dad to read this blog
5. To not get too homesick
6. See the queen
I figured thats a good list of things for now. Don't want to get too ahead of myself.
Right now I'm worried about being tired when I get to London. Hopefully my adrenalin will kick in since ill be waking up and getting ready for a day of orientation at 1 am Boston time. Ew. I am suppose to head to my apartment where I will be met by someone from my program and they will start our day and hopefully leave me to shower, since I hate airplane smell.
My only real news so far is the the freugalness has started and despite having one $309 on some birthday scratch tickets (given to me by Miss Erica Willis) I did not upgrade to premium economy, which offer much larger leather seats that recline "a lot" (according to the guy at the counter), for $350. I almost did as a birthday presant for myself, but I figured that the money will be going somewhere better eventually...hopefully. Maybe on the way back ill have some extra cash left that I can blow away on some first class tickets ;)
p.s. For all of you who are heading over to study abroad...the exchange rate in the airport blows, so dont plan on changing your money here like I was.
1. Don't get pick pocketed.
2. Don't spend more money than I have to my name
3. To write in this blog often (once a week is optimistic)
4. For at least one person other than my mom and dad to read this blog
5. To not get too homesick
6. See the queen
I figured thats a good list of things for now. Don't want to get too ahead of myself.
Right now I'm worried about being tired when I get to London. Hopefully my adrenalin will kick in since ill be waking up and getting ready for a day of orientation at 1 am Boston time. Ew. I am suppose to head to my apartment where I will be met by someone from my program and they will start our day and hopefully leave me to shower, since I hate airplane smell.
My only real news so far is the the freugalness has started and despite having one $309 on some birthday scratch tickets (given to me by Miss Erica Willis) I did not upgrade to premium economy, which offer much larger leather seats that recline "a lot" (according to the guy at the counter), for $350. I almost did as a birthday presant for myself, but I figured that the money will be going somewhere better eventually...hopefully. Maybe on the way back ill have some extra cash left that I can blow away on some first class tickets ;)
p.s. For all of you who are heading over to study abroad...the exchange rate in the airport blows, so dont plan on changing your money here like I was.
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