So, I'm not sure if I even want to tell you guys about our last day in Paris.....it was, well....pretty awful. I'll let you know later if you'd like to ask, but right now I'm too tired and pissed to talk about it.
On a lighter note, tomorrow we are leaving for DUBLIN. FINALLY.
We have to wake up at 5am, yet again, get a shuttle to a bus station, take a bus to the airport out in East Jesus France, and then hop a 9:30 flight to Ireland.
Once we're there, we are going to the nearest pub, and sitting there with our luggage until Karen, our beautiful hostess comes in at 4. It should be a good time.
I'll write more later!
I miss you all
Peace and Love.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Zurich
Hello all.
Hillary and I returned from Zurich tonight around 10:00pm, and already miss it.
So we got up Sunday at 5:30am, and got our shit together. We decided we were way too tired to deal with the Metro, so we called a cab to take us to the train station. After some time of trying to figure out where to get our EuRail passes validated, we finally left for Zurich around 8am.
We had a 5 hour train ride to Bern, the capital of Switzerland, where we had 20 minutes to catch our next train. The view from the train was beautiful, and we saw some of the Swiss Alps, but definitely not as pretty as the ride through Scotland. I don't think we were high enough north for that.
The train ride from Bern to Zurich was only and hour, and once there, we got a cab to our hostel called, The Hotel Otter. I'm not sure if you can even call this place a hostel, because once again, it was beautiful, and decorated very nice.
We didn't really know what to do in Zurich, so we just kind of went out to explore. We found some pretty expensive Spaghetti place, and discovered that the people in Zurich speak German, not English like we thought. The town is nestled in some mountainous region, but the mountains are filled with pine trees, not snow. It was actually really warm and sunny, like 85 degrees, which is the warmest weather we've encountered in Europe. In the middle is some river, whose name escapes me, but the water is aquamarine, and you can see fish swimming in the bottom, and there are swans everywhere! It was so pretty.
To our luck and surprise, it turns out that Zurich that night, was hosting a huge soccer game between Italy and Spain, so the town was FULL of soccer fans, booze, and entertainment. The streets were lined with little carts like a fair, and outdoor bars everywhere. After a while of sitting by the river and enjoying the scenery, we wandered over towards the festivities and found a really cool funk band that was just starting, so we got front row spots. I don't know what it is, but Hillary and I always seem to find the free concerts.
So we watched this band for about 3 hours, while simultaneously watching the people of Zurich get drunk and dance. It was really funny. After that, the game started, and we walked back up towards the ferris wheel, and eventually back to our hostel. You could hear the people chanting throughout the whole city (Spain won, by the way).
After freshening up, we went downstairs to the bar in our hostel and had a really large beer. By that time, it was about midnight, and we were hungry again, so we went back into the streets and stumbled upon some cheap mexican food at a little kiosk which we took back to our room, and watched some annoying Swiss TV for a while before bed.
Zurich is a beautiful town, known for it's shopping. So the next day, we woke up, showered, and checked out and went shopping at some of the boutiques around our place. We had a Starbucks, and we both bought some really cute shoes. Before we knew it, it was time to get to the train staiton, so we called a cab and off we went.
Our stay in Zurich was not nearly long enough, but we felt like we were there at a really exciting time, and had a really nice, relaxing stay. It wasn't exactly my original picture of staying in the Alps, but I guess I'll save that for another time.
To make a long story short, we got back to Paris around 10, and took a cab back to our original hostel. Our room this time around is not as nice, but it will work for the remainder of the time. Once checked in and stuff, we wandered out and got some food at a local bar, which, may not have been a good idea. They weren't very friendly, and didn't appreciate it when we asked for an English menu....but, oh well.
After that, we took the Metro to the Eiffel Tower to see it light up, which it does every hour, but of course, we just missed the last time it sparkles. We got to see a little of it from the Metro window. Once we figured that out, we were disappointed and got a cab back to the hostel, but we got to ride by the Arch di Triomphe (sp??) and see a little bit more of Paris at night.
We are kind of frustrated that the whole time we've been in Paris, we haven't really seen anything, but the innerworkings of the city (which don't seem to work very efficiently). We feel like we spent enough time in London learning things about the city itself, and missed some of the key sites, that's what Paris was supposed to be for!!! So tomorrow the plan is to wake up early and get as much in as possible. Wednesday morning we leave EARLY for Dublin, where we will be reunited with some friends, and I with my roots. I can't wait!!!
Our time is quickly running out here, and, no matter what, the good and the bad, I'm doing my best to soak it all up and make the most of it.
I miss you all, and will see you soon enough!
Peace and Love from Paris <3
Hillary and I returned from Zurich tonight around 10:00pm, and already miss it.
So we got up Sunday at 5:30am, and got our shit together. We decided we were way too tired to deal with the Metro, so we called a cab to take us to the train station. After some time of trying to figure out where to get our EuRail passes validated, we finally left for Zurich around 8am.
We had a 5 hour train ride to Bern, the capital of Switzerland, where we had 20 minutes to catch our next train. The view from the train was beautiful, and we saw some of the Swiss Alps, but definitely not as pretty as the ride through Scotland. I don't think we were high enough north for that.
The train ride from Bern to Zurich was only and hour, and once there, we got a cab to our hostel called, The Hotel Otter. I'm not sure if you can even call this place a hostel, because once again, it was beautiful, and decorated very nice.
We didn't really know what to do in Zurich, so we just kind of went out to explore. We found some pretty expensive Spaghetti place, and discovered that the people in Zurich speak German, not English like we thought. The town is nestled in some mountainous region, but the mountains are filled with pine trees, not snow. It was actually really warm and sunny, like 85 degrees, which is the warmest weather we've encountered in Europe. In the middle is some river, whose name escapes me, but the water is aquamarine, and you can see fish swimming in the bottom, and there are swans everywhere! It was so pretty.
To our luck and surprise, it turns out that Zurich that night, was hosting a huge soccer game between Italy and Spain, so the town was FULL of soccer fans, booze, and entertainment. The streets were lined with little carts like a fair, and outdoor bars everywhere. After a while of sitting by the river and enjoying the scenery, we wandered over towards the festivities and found a really cool funk band that was just starting, so we got front row spots. I don't know what it is, but Hillary and I always seem to find the free concerts.
So we watched this band for about 3 hours, while simultaneously watching the people of Zurich get drunk and dance. It was really funny. After that, the game started, and we walked back up towards the ferris wheel, and eventually back to our hostel. You could hear the people chanting throughout the whole city (Spain won, by the way).
After freshening up, we went downstairs to the bar in our hostel and had a really large beer. By that time, it was about midnight, and we were hungry again, so we went back into the streets and stumbled upon some cheap mexican food at a little kiosk which we took back to our room, and watched some annoying Swiss TV for a while before bed.
Zurich is a beautiful town, known for it's shopping. So the next day, we woke up, showered, and checked out and went shopping at some of the boutiques around our place. We had a Starbucks, and we both bought some really cute shoes. Before we knew it, it was time to get to the train staiton, so we called a cab and off we went.
Our stay in Zurich was not nearly long enough, but we felt like we were there at a really exciting time, and had a really nice, relaxing stay. It wasn't exactly my original picture of staying in the Alps, but I guess I'll save that for another time.
To make a long story short, we got back to Paris around 10, and took a cab back to our original hostel. Our room this time around is not as nice, but it will work for the remainder of the time. Once checked in and stuff, we wandered out and got some food at a local bar, which, may not have been a good idea. They weren't very friendly, and didn't appreciate it when we asked for an English menu....but, oh well.
After that, we took the Metro to the Eiffel Tower to see it light up, which it does every hour, but of course, we just missed the last time it sparkles. We got to see a little of it from the Metro window. Once we figured that out, we were disappointed and got a cab back to the hostel, but we got to ride by the Arch di Triomphe (sp??) and see a little bit more of Paris at night.
We are kind of frustrated that the whole time we've been in Paris, we haven't really seen anything, but the innerworkings of the city (which don't seem to work very efficiently). We feel like we spent enough time in London learning things about the city itself, and missed some of the key sites, that's what Paris was supposed to be for!!! So tomorrow the plan is to wake up early and get as much in as possible. Wednesday morning we leave EARLY for Dublin, where we will be reunited with some friends, and I with my roots. I can't wait!!!
Our time is quickly running out here, and, no matter what, the good and the bad, I'm doing my best to soak it all up and make the most of it.
I miss you all, and will see you soon enough!
Peace and Love from Paris <3
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Bonjour
Hello friends!
Hillary and I are now in Paris, and man has it been a wild ride.
We took the Chunnel underneath the English Channel last night and got here around 11:30pm. We then waited in line for a cab for about 30 minutes, and finally got into our hostel at 12:30am. Our hostel, La Montclair, is incredible. We are on the 5th floor, with a private room and bathroom, and we each have our own balconies that we can stand outside on and see beautiful Paris. We can even see Sacred Heart Church from our balconies. We finally showered, and passed out around 2am, and decided to let ourselves catch up on some sleep.
We woke up today around noon, and got ready. We came downstairs and got on the internet for a bit, and met a couple friends in the lobby, so we ended up getting lunch together at Cafe d'Albert. Cal, is a 28 yr. old from New York who took a year off his job at Wall Street to travel, and Eric is a 20 yr. old from Sweden who is backpacking through Europe, both very nice guys. We shared a nice lunch and got into typical conversations about religion and faith, you know, the usual....After that we all got on the Metro together, but eventually parted ways since both boys were leaving for other countries today.
So Hill and I were left by ourselves on the Paris Metro, which, is NOTHING like the London underground. It is dirty, really dirty, smells like piss, graffiti everywhere, and not to mention, everything is in French. When we finally made it to our train station (Gare de Lyon) that is where the fun began. So Hillary and I bought EuRail passes a few months ago, which allow us to travel ANYWHERE in France and Switzerland for just a small price. So the one night we don't have a hostel in France, we decided we would take that day and night to check out Switzerland, and then come back here. Well, a few months ago we didn't realize what a pain in the ass that would be, but today it definitely dawned on us.
It took us 3 hours in the train station to figure out where to book tickets to Switzerland for tomorrow. NO ONE speaks English, so it involved a lot of pointing and nodding. After so long, Hill and I started devising schemes to exchange our plane tickets to Ireland for tomorrow, and just leave and not tell anyone that we didn't use our passes...but alas, we finally found the ticket office, where luckily, the teller spoke English.
Our original plan was to go to Luzern, Switzerland for the music festival and the great view of the Alps, but all the trains were full. So we decided on Zurich. The only bad thing is, we leave tomorrow morning at 7:58am, and have to be at the station an hour early. That means we have to wake up at 5:30 (which is 3 hours from now) take the God forsaken Metro back to the station, and hop on a train. We go from Paris and switch trains in Bern, then onto Zurich. All in all, it's about 6 hours. We will return to Paris Monday night at 10pm, when we plan on hitting up the Eiffel Tower and possibly the Moulin Rouge.
But anyways, after the train station we took a cab to the Lourve, which is beautiful. However, we got there too late to actually see the art, so we went shopping and to Starbucks in the mall underneath. We then walked down Rue Rivoli, which we decided must be one of the shopping centrals in Paris, so that's what we did. We ran into a music festival called, Solidays, where there were a good 10 stages set up throughout the streets with all different kinds of music, it was great. We sat and watched a group of odd teenagers for a while, before setting out to find something for dinner.
On our way, we ran into a band who was playing Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, so we decided to stay and see what else they had. They played all American covers, and there was a huge crowd circled around them. This old, French bum was in the middle of everyone dancing and it was hysterical, and really fun. Once we got ready to go, some drunk French guy grabbed me and started dancing...let's just say, French men do not know the meaning of the word, "no" and they get very excited when dancing...Thank God for Hillary prying him off of me, or who knows where I'd be right now!
After that fiasco, we started looking for some grub again. We finally found a posh little place called Pizza Grill, where we sat down for dinner at 11pm. It was very good, and right outside there was, well, basically a club outside that resembled Mardi Gras activities. People climbing on cars, drinking from bottles of vodka, dancing...pretty much. I take it public intoxication is not a crime here...
Dinner was good, but we didn't leave until around 12:30am, and then we had to find a Metro station. We did, and it was crowded as hell with all the clubbers. After about an hour of changing Metro lines, we finally made it back to our hostel, and here I sit, updating you fine people before I leave for Switzerland.
Hill and I have been working on our French and we can say the following:
Hello
Goodbye
Good evening
Thank You
I'm sorry
Excuse me
I would like...
The check please...
I would like a glass of wine
Cheers (which I can now say in 4 languages)
(I also learned how to say, I love you, and kiss in Arabic when in London, but that's another story)
From what I've seen of Paris, it is a really beautiful city. However, it feels much older than London, and is much, much dirtier, and hotter. I have never felt so dirty in my life! I have also never felt so ignorant and foreign either. I miss London desperately, and not just because I know the language and the customs, I just miss it. I must return there within the next year, Hill and I were thinking Christmas break when tickets are cheap, anyone in?
Well I have to go climb the 6 flights of spiral staircases to my room, shower, get a nap in, and then leave for Switzerland. I will write you all again when I return to Paris on Monday.
Peace and Love
Hillary and I are now in Paris, and man has it been a wild ride.
We took the Chunnel underneath the English Channel last night and got here around 11:30pm. We then waited in line for a cab for about 30 minutes, and finally got into our hostel at 12:30am. Our hostel, La Montclair, is incredible. We are on the 5th floor, with a private room and bathroom, and we each have our own balconies that we can stand outside on and see beautiful Paris. We can even see Sacred Heart Church from our balconies. We finally showered, and passed out around 2am, and decided to let ourselves catch up on some sleep.
We woke up today around noon, and got ready. We came downstairs and got on the internet for a bit, and met a couple friends in the lobby, so we ended up getting lunch together at Cafe d'Albert. Cal, is a 28 yr. old from New York who took a year off his job at Wall Street to travel, and Eric is a 20 yr. old from Sweden who is backpacking through Europe, both very nice guys. We shared a nice lunch and got into typical conversations about religion and faith, you know, the usual....After that we all got on the Metro together, but eventually parted ways since both boys were leaving for other countries today.
So Hill and I were left by ourselves on the Paris Metro, which, is NOTHING like the London underground. It is dirty, really dirty, smells like piss, graffiti everywhere, and not to mention, everything is in French. When we finally made it to our train station (Gare de Lyon) that is where the fun began. So Hillary and I bought EuRail passes a few months ago, which allow us to travel ANYWHERE in France and Switzerland for just a small price. So the one night we don't have a hostel in France, we decided we would take that day and night to check out Switzerland, and then come back here. Well, a few months ago we didn't realize what a pain in the ass that would be, but today it definitely dawned on us.
It took us 3 hours in the train station to figure out where to book tickets to Switzerland for tomorrow. NO ONE speaks English, so it involved a lot of pointing and nodding. After so long, Hill and I started devising schemes to exchange our plane tickets to Ireland for tomorrow, and just leave and not tell anyone that we didn't use our passes...but alas, we finally found the ticket office, where luckily, the teller spoke English.
Our original plan was to go to Luzern, Switzerland for the music festival and the great view of the Alps, but all the trains were full. So we decided on Zurich. The only bad thing is, we leave tomorrow morning at 7:58am, and have to be at the station an hour early. That means we have to wake up at 5:30 (which is 3 hours from now) take the God forsaken Metro back to the station, and hop on a train. We go from Paris and switch trains in Bern, then onto Zurich. All in all, it's about 6 hours. We will return to Paris Monday night at 10pm, when we plan on hitting up the Eiffel Tower and possibly the Moulin Rouge.
But anyways, after the train station we took a cab to the Lourve, which is beautiful. However, we got there too late to actually see the art, so we went shopping and to Starbucks in the mall underneath. We then walked down Rue Rivoli, which we decided must be one of the shopping centrals in Paris, so that's what we did. We ran into a music festival called, Solidays, where there were a good 10 stages set up throughout the streets with all different kinds of music, it was great. We sat and watched a group of odd teenagers for a while, before setting out to find something for dinner.
On our way, we ran into a band who was playing Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, so we decided to stay and see what else they had. They played all American covers, and there was a huge crowd circled around them. This old, French bum was in the middle of everyone dancing and it was hysterical, and really fun. Once we got ready to go, some drunk French guy grabbed me and started dancing...let's just say, French men do not know the meaning of the word, "no" and they get very excited when dancing...Thank God for Hillary prying him off of me, or who knows where I'd be right now!
After that fiasco, we started looking for some grub again. We finally found a posh little place called Pizza Grill, where we sat down for dinner at 11pm. It was very good, and right outside there was, well, basically a club outside that resembled Mardi Gras activities. People climbing on cars, drinking from bottles of vodka, dancing...pretty much. I take it public intoxication is not a crime here...
Dinner was good, but we didn't leave until around 12:30am, and then we had to find a Metro station. We did, and it was crowded as hell with all the clubbers. After about an hour of changing Metro lines, we finally made it back to our hostel, and here I sit, updating you fine people before I leave for Switzerland.
Hill and I have been working on our French and we can say the following:
Hello
Goodbye
Good evening
Thank You
I'm sorry
Excuse me
I would like...
The check please...
I would like a glass of wine
Cheers (which I can now say in 4 languages)
(I also learned how to say, I love you, and kiss in Arabic when in London, but that's another story)
From what I've seen of Paris, it is a really beautiful city. However, it feels much older than London, and is much, much dirtier, and hotter. I have never felt so dirty in my life! I have also never felt so ignorant and foreign either. I miss London desperately, and not just because I know the language and the customs, I just miss it. I must return there within the next year, Hill and I were thinking Christmas break when tickets are cheap, anyone in?
Well I have to go climb the 6 flights of spiral staircases to my room, shower, get a nap in, and then leave for Switzerland. I will write you all again when I return to Paris on Monday.
Peace and Love
Friday, June 20, 2008
Hell No, I don't want to go!!!
Hi again.
I am writing you for the very last time from the wonderful world of London. Hillary and I are catching the Chunnel to France in the next couple of hours. I am soooo not ready to leave this place! Now that all the school work is done, I feel like I really have some time to dig into the city on my own, but alas...Paris calls.
I feel as though I gyped you out of the last few days of my London experience since I had to cut it short on the last post. Don't worry, I'll fill you in next time I post, but I'm not sure when that will be.
So Hillary and I are on our way to Paris tonight, we'll be getting there around 10pm. We feel as though it's a good idea to just get to our hostel, and organize ourselves for the remainder of the trip. We'll be in France for 5 days, but one of those days we take a train to Switzerland and spend then night there, which I believe is Monday. We have a EuRail pass so we can get out of Paris and travel the countryside of France and Switzerland. We then return to Paris, and fly to Dublin, Ireland on the 25th, where we will meet up with our friend from school, Karen Roth, and one of our Skye brothers, Nathan. Then the journey is over, and we will return to Dayton on June 28th, the eve of Hillary's 21st, where we will ravage the city of Dayton. Yeehaw.
I just wanted to let you all know what's going on with that, and I'm not sure when I'll be able to update you!
Leaving London is going to be really hard. I have learned so much from this place, and I WILL return someday soon. Everything is becoming sentimental as we walk down Edgware Road in our neighborhood for the last time =(
It is about to storm here, so we have to go pick up our bags and head out to King's Cross.
Thank you for sharing my London adventures with me, more is to come.
Peace and Love from London
I am writing you for the very last time from the wonderful world of London. Hillary and I are catching the Chunnel to France in the next couple of hours. I am soooo not ready to leave this place! Now that all the school work is done, I feel like I really have some time to dig into the city on my own, but alas...Paris calls.
I feel as though I gyped you out of the last few days of my London experience since I had to cut it short on the last post. Don't worry, I'll fill you in next time I post, but I'm not sure when that will be.
So Hillary and I are on our way to Paris tonight, we'll be getting there around 10pm. We feel as though it's a good idea to just get to our hostel, and organize ourselves for the remainder of the trip. We'll be in France for 5 days, but one of those days we take a train to Switzerland and spend then night there, which I believe is Monday. We have a EuRail pass so we can get out of Paris and travel the countryside of France and Switzerland. We then return to Paris, and fly to Dublin, Ireland on the 25th, where we will meet up with our friend from school, Karen Roth, and one of our Skye brothers, Nathan. Then the journey is over, and we will return to Dayton on June 28th, the eve of Hillary's 21st, where we will ravage the city of Dayton. Yeehaw.
I just wanted to let you all know what's going on with that, and I'm not sure when I'll be able to update you!
Leaving London is going to be really hard. I have learned so much from this place, and I WILL return someday soon. Everything is becoming sentimental as we walk down Edgware Road in our neighborhood for the last time =(
It is about to storm here, so we have to go pick up our bags and head out to King's Cross.
Thank you for sharing my London adventures with me, more is to come.
Peace and Love from London
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Hello Hello!!! I don't know why you say goodbye, when I say Hello!!
Hi Friends!!!
I know, I know, I promised not to stay away so long anymore, but ya know...shit happens.
So I think the last time I left you was the day before we went to Avebury and Stonehenge. My oh my, do I have so many things to tell you!
Okay so, Wednesday June 4th, we took a day trip to Avebury, Stonehenge, and Salisbury. It was incredible. It felt REALLY good to get out of the city and see a bit of the English countryside. We left at 7am and took a bus to Avebury, which is another ancient stone landmark, but much different than Stonehenge. You should look it up! It was incredible. We got there and basically walked in a huge circle outlined with stones in the middle of a huge hilly field, with TONS of sheep...and sheep poop. This, unlike stonehenge, you could walk right up and touch the stones. After this, we went to Stonehenge, which, after Avebury, didn't feel very immaculate. You can't get up to the stones, you have to stand about 100 feet away. There are these NASTY little beetles that land on you and bite. It was gross and distracted me from the experience! I think they like blonde hair, because I had at least ten in my locks at any moment in time. That's something you never hear about in the rough guides! Anyways, it was cool to see the formation that I've learned about since preschool. After the Henge, we went to Salisbury, mainly to see the incredible cathedral. We got some time to wander around the town and eat some fish and chips while being attacked by pigeons. The town of Salisbury is very pretty and quaint. The cathedral is nothing short of amazing, but I find most cathedrals to be pretty incredible. Wednesday night we all had dinner together at an Italian place called Zizzi. It was good, but sad because it was a farewell to our engineering teacher, Dr. Saliba. He could only stay half of the program because he's going to India for another UD oriented job.
Thursday was a pretty short day since we were all exhausted. We went to Chancery Lane and the British Museum, which is immaculate, and I'm actually going back there tomorrow. There is so much to see, and the design of the building itself is amazing. Thursday night, my flatmates and I went to Youngs for dinner, and me and Hillary stayed to finish up a history paper while drinking some pints. After that, we got ready and packed very quickly and left for our long weekend to the Isle of Skye at 11pm. My oh my, so much to say about this...
So 11pm on Thursday Hillary, Kathleen, Nathan, and myself get on a train at Euston Station, that takes us to Glasgow, Scotland. It was about an 8 hour train. I couldn't sleep, and keep drifting in and out of dreams. I woke up at about 5am in the middle of green hills covered in sheep, stone fences, and thick fog....so beautiful. In Glasgow we caught another train to Mallaig, which was another 4 hours. The train ride through Scotland was breath taking. I have never seen a more beautiful landscape in my life, and I got to see plenty. At one point in our travels we went over the "Harry Potter Bridge" that the Hogwarts Express goes over in the movies. It was great. We got into Mallaig around 2pm on Friday, and had to take the ferry across to Skye. Once we were in Skye, we had no idea what to do, because there was NOTHING around. Luckily, Donald, a cab driver, told us we needed to get to the "main" part of town and get the bus to our hostel, which is in Portnalong. So Donald gives us a lift to a small town where we get some lunch, then catch the city bus. We rode on this bus, along cliffs, at 100kmh, with a crazy bus driver who was telling us ghost stories about the island. I thought we might die a few times, but it was fun. He dropped us off in the middle of some field, where another bus picked us up and took us to our hostel called, The Skyewalker....so appropriate.
The Skyewalker, run by Lisa and Bryan...aka Joyce and Bill, was very fun. It was pretty much on top of a mountain, and the nearest thing ( a pub ) was about 5 miles down the hill. So once we finally got there at 6pm, we bought some wine from the desk, and went hiking around our hostel. We climbed up a hill and sat on some rocks to watch the sunset and drink our wine. Right before the sunset however, the "midgies" came out, which are like swarms of gnats that bite! So we went inside, played cards, finished our wine, and went to sleep. We wanted to see the stars since we were literally in the middle of nowhere, but it turns out, it doesn't get dark in Skye in the summer!
The next day Joyce and Bill drove us into Portree, which is the main town that is about 2 miles large, and kind of suburban. There we got lunch, and hopped on the bus that circles around most of the island. Nathan, the mountain man he is, decides we should get off at Uig, and "walk" back to Portree . The catch was, we HAD to catch the bus back to Portnalong by 5:30pm, because that is when the buses stop running on Saturdays and we would have been stuck in Portree. So we get off the bus, and HIKE 11 MILES (15 kilometers) back to Portree. It was the longest, most beautiful walk of my life. There was nothing in sight but a church or a couple houses here and there. But mostly it was mountains and sheep. It was tiring, but wonderful. Finally back to Portree, we get on the bus and get off at the pub ( The Olde Inn) 5 miles away from our hostel. We figured that since we walked that far that day, we could walk 5 more miles to our hostel after a few drinks. We had dinner, and a live Celtic band was playing that night, so we stayed for that, and I'm so glad we did! They were incredible, and so much fun. We had a great group together and all enjoyed each other's company.....Hillary and me, well, we ended up drinking a few too many pints ( 7 each) and had some trouble walking up the mountain at 1am, in the pitch black, rain, and fog...Basically, I think we spent more time falling into ditches trying to avoid cars on the one lane road, than we did actually walking. Once we made it about a mile up the mountain, a car pulled over and picked us up. Turns out it was the bartender, Keith, who took us back to our hostel....God Bless his soul. We're convinced he was an angel. So we get back, laugh, and pass out. Sunday we wake up at 7am, and Donald our original buddy came and picked us up and took us to the ferry, which cost us 45 pounds, that's how far away our hostel was. Needless to say, we didn't feel too great, and the 12 hour train ride back was rough. But it was sooo much fun, and there is so much more I don't have time to write about...so ask me next time you see me, it's worth it.
Monday we continued our site study trips and went to Waterloo Station, Victoria Embankment, Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. All very cool and important places. We also finally got to ride the London Eye, which was sooo fun! You could see so much of London, and of course I took a million pictures. Monday night was Nathan's 21st Birthday, so we went to the Duke of York and celebrated. They were so nice and gave us all free shots and sang happy birthday. It was a good night.
Tuesday we had class again, which is always hard to get through, but really helpful in terms of tying everything together.
Wednesday was a pretty long day. We went to Euston station, Kings Cross/St. Pancras (where we're pretty sure we saw a celebrity), Hoxton (where we went to the White Cube Gallery and ate Vietnamese food for lunch), then on to Arnold Circus, and Brick Lane. Brick Lane is so cool, very trendy and busy. We are going to try and go back for some shopping. They have pretty cool stores.
Thursday we went Blenheim Palace and Oxford. Both very cool and quaint. Again, nice to get out of the city for a change of pace. More on these places later.
Friday we focused on London as a marketplace, and window shopped all day. We went down the very ritzy streets and compared those places with shopping in some place like the Tube stations. It was interesting to see the difference in advertising and marketing, and the different ways they get you in the store.
Anways, I'm about to run out of minutes, so I have to say goodbye! I will be on later this week, since it's my last week here =(
Peace and Love.
I know, I know, I promised not to stay away so long anymore, but ya know...shit happens.
So I think the last time I left you was the day before we went to Avebury and Stonehenge. My oh my, do I have so many things to tell you!
Okay so, Wednesday June 4th, we took a day trip to Avebury, Stonehenge, and Salisbury. It was incredible. It felt REALLY good to get out of the city and see a bit of the English countryside. We left at 7am and took a bus to Avebury, which is another ancient stone landmark, but much different than Stonehenge. You should look it up! It was incredible. We got there and basically walked in a huge circle outlined with stones in the middle of a huge hilly field, with TONS of sheep...and sheep poop. This, unlike stonehenge, you could walk right up and touch the stones. After this, we went to Stonehenge, which, after Avebury, didn't feel very immaculate. You can't get up to the stones, you have to stand about 100 feet away. There are these NASTY little beetles that land on you and bite. It was gross and distracted me from the experience! I think they like blonde hair, because I had at least ten in my locks at any moment in time. That's something you never hear about in the rough guides! Anyways, it was cool to see the formation that I've learned about since preschool. After the Henge, we went to Salisbury, mainly to see the incredible cathedral. We got some time to wander around the town and eat some fish and chips while being attacked by pigeons. The town of Salisbury is very pretty and quaint. The cathedral is nothing short of amazing, but I find most cathedrals to be pretty incredible. Wednesday night we all had dinner together at an Italian place called Zizzi. It was good, but sad because it was a farewell to our engineering teacher, Dr. Saliba. He could only stay half of the program because he's going to India for another UD oriented job.
Thursday was a pretty short day since we were all exhausted. We went to Chancery Lane and the British Museum, which is immaculate, and I'm actually going back there tomorrow. There is so much to see, and the design of the building itself is amazing. Thursday night, my flatmates and I went to Youngs for dinner, and me and Hillary stayed to finish up a history paper while drinking some pints. After that, we got ready and packed very quickly and left for our long weekend to the Isle of Skye at 11pm. My oh my, so much to say about this...
So 11pm on Thursday Hillary, Kathleen, Nathan, and myself get on a train at Euston Station, that takes us to Glasgow, Scotland. It was about an 8 hour train. I couldn't sleep, and keep drifting in and out of dreams. I woke up at about 5am in the middle of green hills covered in sheep, stone fences, and thick fog....so beautiful. In Glasgow we caught another train to Mallaig, which was another 4 hours. The train ride through Scotland was breath taking. I have never seen a more beautiful landscape in my life, and I got to see plenty. At one point in our travels we went over the "Harry Potter Bridge" that the Hogwarts Express goes over in the movies. It was great. We got into Mallaig around 2pm on Friday, and had to take the ferry across to Skye. Once we were in Skye, we had no idea what to do, because there was NOTHING around. Luckily, Donald, a cab driver, told us we needed to get to the "main" part of town and get the bus to our hostel, which is in Portnalong. So Donald gives us a lift to a small town where we get some lunch, then catch the city bus. We rode on this bus, along cliffs, at 100kmh, with a crazy bus driver who was telling us ghost stories about the island. I thought we might die a few times, but it was fun. He dropped us off in the middle of some field, where another bus picked us up and took us to our hostel called, The Skyewalker....so appropriate.
The Skyewalker, run by Lisa and Bryan...aka Joyce and Bill, was very fun. It was pretty much on top of a mountain, and the nearest thing ( a pub ) was about 5 miles down the hill. So once we finally got there at 6pm, we bought some wine from the desk, and went hiking around our hostel. We climbed up a hill and sat on some rocks to watch the sunset and drink our wine. Right before the sunset however, the "midgies" came out, which are like swarms of gnats that bite! So we went inside, played cards, finished our wine, and went to sleep. We wanted to see the stars since we were literally in the middle of nowhere, but it turns out, it doesn't get dark in Skye in the summer!
The next day Joyce and Bill drove us into Portree, which is the main town that is about 2 miles large, and kind of suburban. There we got lunch, and hopped on the bus that circles around most of the island. Nathan, the mountain man he is, decides we should get off at Uig, and "walk" back to Portree . The catch was, we HAD to catch the bus back to Portnalong by 5:30pm, because that is when the buses stop running on Saturdays and we would have been stuck in Portree. So we get off the bus, and HIKE 11 MILES (15 kilometers) back to Portree. It was the longest, most beautiful walk of my life. There was nothing in sight but a church or a couple houses here and there. But mostly it was mountains and sheep. It was tiring, but wonderful. Finally back to Portree, we get on the bus and get off at the pub ( The Olde Inn) 5 miles away from our hostel. We figured that since we walked that far that day, we could walk 5 more miles to our hostel after a few drinks. We had dinner, and a live Celtic band was playing that night, so we stayed for that, and I'm so glad we did! They were incredible, and so much fun. We had a great group together and all enjoyed each other's company.....Hillary and me, well, we ended up drinking a few too many pints ( 7 each) and had some trouble walking up the mountain at 1am, in the pitch black, rain, and fog...Basically, I think we spent more time falling into ditches trying to avoid cars on the one lane road, than we did actually walking. Once we made it about a mile up the mountain, a car pulled over and picked us up. Turns out it was the bartender, Keith, who took us back to our hostel....God Bless his soul. We're convinced he was an angel. So we get back, laugh, and pass out. Sunday we wake up at 7am, and Donald our original buddy came and picked us up and took us to the ferry, which cost us 45 pounds, that's how far away our hostel was. Needless to say, we didn't feel too great, and the 12 hour train ride back was rough. But it was sooo much fun, and there is so much more I don't have time to write about...so ask me next time you see me, it's worth it.
Monday we continued our site study trips and went to Waterloo Station, Victoria Embankment, Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. All very cool and important places. We also finally got to ride the London Eye, which was sooo fun! You could see so much of London, and of course I took a million pictures. Monday night was Nathan's 21st Birthday, so we went to the Duke of York and celebrated. They were so nice and gave us all free shots and sang happy birthday. It was a good night.
Tuesday we had class again, which is always hard to get through, but really helpful in terms of tying everything together.
Wednesday was a pretty long day. We went to Euston station, Kings Cross/St. Pancras (where we're pretty sure we saw a celebrity), Hoxton (where we went to the White Cube Gallery and ate Vietnamese food for lunch), then on to Arnold Circus, and Brick Lane. Brick Lane is so cool, very trendy and busy. We are going to try and go back for some shopping. They have pretty cool stores.
Thursday we went Blenheim Palace and Oxford. Both very cool and quaint. Again, nice to get out of the city for a change of pace. More on these places later.
Friday we focused on London as a marketplace, and window shopped all day. We went down the very ritzy streets and compared those places with shopping in some place like the Tube stations. It was interesting to see the difference in advertising and marketing, and the different ways they get you in the store.
Anways, I'm about to run out of minutes, so I have to say goodbye! I will be on later this week, since it's my last week here =(
Peace and Love.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Oh my gosh, it's been so long!!!
Hello friends!
It has been so long since we've talked, I am so sorry for neglecting you!! So much has happened since my last update, it's been like, over a week!!! Wow. Well I'm gonna try and fill you in on most things as best as I can.
Last week started off pretty rainy, so Monday we made it a short day in the city. We started off in a nearby coffee shop, where our teacher bought us all coffee to start out the cold rainy day with. Our focus for the day was looking at different means of transport in London, so we walked to Little Venice to see a long standing canal, we saw the only highway that comes into the city, and we spent some time in Paddington Station, talking about the Great Western Railway and the architecture of the building, which is truly beautiful. Afterwards, a few of us Harry Potter fans took the Tube to the Kings Cross station and saw Platform 9 and 3/4. While this is mostly a tourist attraction, it is the station talked about in the movie and book, and it was a lot of fun.
Tuesday we went to Bloomsbury Square, where we rented a classroom for three hours and the teachers rapidly try and sum up everything we've been learning out in the city during the day. Kelsie, one of my flatmates, got left behind in the Tube station and Sean (my art teacher) had to run back and search for her. It was scary, but all was well. It's really easy to lose the group in the stations. They're so busy and crowded, especially in the early morning. After the classroom we broke for lunch and then walked to the American Intercontinental University. There we met with students and faculty of the art department and how to go about getting a British Fine Arts degree. We got to see some of their animation and documentary pieces, along with their photography. The photography department was INCREDIBLE. The two students we met have been commissioned for jobs like Diesel Ads, and are just now graduating. They don't have a graduate degree (bummer) but most of the students housed there have gotten a Bachelors of Fine Arts in America, and instead of going onto grad school, have come over here and gotten a British Bachelors of Arts. The focus is so different, along with the education, it's like getting a grad degree....possibly an option for me in the future.
Tuesday night has been one of my favorites so far. We got dressed up and went to Shakespeare's Globe Theater to see A Midsummer Nights Dream. I have never laughed so hard in my life. The whole experience of seeing Shakespeare performed in the reconstructed Globe was magical, and so much better than simply reading the text. I accidentally stuck my hand in green pigeon poop, which was just fantastic (sike). But I'm assuming people got pigeon poop a lot on them in the old days considering there is no roof on the theatre. I'm thinking about going back to see King Lear before I leave if I can find the time.
Wednesday we went to the Canary Wharf tube station, which is a sight in itself, and the Docklands, which is where many of the ports used to be when London was a trade city. We then ventured out to Greenwich, which is beautiful. We saw the Queen's House, the Painted Room, the Maritime Museum, and the Royal Observatory. For those of you who don't know, Greenwich is where time starts, quite literally. All of the clocks are based off of Greenwich time, because that is where the point where, back in the day, they agreed the Prime Meridian began. So not only did I get to see a beautiful view of the city of London from the top of the Royal Observatory hill, but I also got to stradle the Prime Meridian, which is pretty cool. From Greenwich we took a ferry down the the Thames to Westminster, which was really cool.
Wednesday night we had a fun time in our apartment. Hillary's implant cap has been loose since we arrived here. While we were all working on our homework, I looked over at Hillary who was just smiling at me, toothless. Her cap had fallen off, which was hysterical, even to her! The next day she had to break off from us to get it cemented back on, which was a feat in itself to get dental help overseas. Even so, it was really funny.
Thursday we started out the day with a long walk through Hyde Park. We saw where the revolutionary building, The Crystal Palace once stood. We also got the pleasure of seeing the mounted calvary Police of London emerge from the gates of their building in formation and uniform. We moved on down the trail to the Albert Memorial, which is one of the largest, most ornately decorated memorials I've ever seen. It's full of symbolism and important figures throughout history that is really neat to hear about. We crossed the street and walked to an area called Brompton, where we saw the Brompton Oratory. It is one of the only churches in London modeled after the Jesuit cathedrals in Rome, so people in history who couldn't afford to travel to Rome to see the cathedrals could get a taste of what they were like. It was incredible, and I plan to go back and spend some time in there. Then we walked to the Victoria and Albert museum, which I could spend a year in. It is huge, and resembles an attic. There is SO much to see there, and the way things are displayed is really unique. A highlight for me was seeing Edward Muybridge's photographic horse sequence, which revolutionized photography, motion pictures, and animation. Very cool.
Friday was another short day. We traveled to Victoria station, and then we walked to the Tate Britain, which is possibly my favorite museum so far. So many paintings I have learned about in my art history courses are there, and it was almost spiritual seeing them in person. We didn't get to spend much time there, but that is just another place we plan to go back to on our own.
Friday night we felt the need to get out of our flats. Drinking on public transportation here is legal, or was until June 1st. So we went to the store and bought some 2 liters of Strongbow (my new favorite drink), and just rode the Tube for a while celebrating the fact that the week was over, we're in London, and that drinking on public transportation would be illegal in a couple days. We got off at Covent Garden and went to a pretty boring bar. After that we waited another hour for the danm 23 bus (the night bus that takes us back to our neck of the woods since the Tube closes at 12:30am) and passed out!
Saturday was busy. Hill and I woke up relatively early and went museum hopping. We went to the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the Photographer's Gallery, and back to the Victoria and Albert museum. We had a lot of research to do for some papers that were do this week, but they were actually really cool assignments. We had to go to the museums, buy a postcard of a piece of work that we liked. We then had to go and find the piece in the museum and write a paper comparing and contrasting the original piece and the postcard. Next time you go to a museum, I reccommend doing this, it is really cool to see the difference. After a long day of travelling around London, we came back to our flat and showered, then we set out for Fish and Chips with our flatmates. Our usual pub down the street was all out of Fish, so we went to about 3 different pubs who were either out of fish or stopped serving food (pub hours are weird here), so we finally circled back to the other pub down the street from us and ate there. We stayed in Satruday night, and it was pretty comparable to a night at UD. We hung out, drank some Strongbow, and danced to our Now 68 CD, since it was the only source of music we have to play thorough the DVD player.
Sunday we went down to the Duke of York (the pub) , ate a lot of fried food, drank some pints, and spent 5 hours there working on homework. It's nice to get out of our rooms into the London atmosphere when doing homework.
Yesterday we went to St. Paul's Cathedral, which is astoundingly beautiful. Then we crossed the Millenium bridge to the Tate Modern musuem, which is unique, but pretty cool. We then hiked down the Thames to City Hall for a bit to get out of yet another rainy day. We crossed Tower Bridge to the Tower of London where we didn't have time to go in. Our history teacher, Dr. Hume, gave us a brief overview of the history of the Tower, and plans to take whoever would like to go back with her next week.
Today we had another classroom session and got out pretty early, which explains why I'm at the internet cafe instead of working on homework! Tonight I have to write an engineering paper, and a paper on the Globe theatre. Tomorrow we are meeting at 7am (eww) and taking a bus to Avebury, Stonehenge, and Sailsbury. I am really exicted for that!
This weekend we have Friday off, so most of us are scattering to different countries for the weekend. Hillary and I, and a couple others from our group are taking a train to Skye Isle in Scotland. It is supposed to be a beautiful mix of a quiet town and Scotland's landscape. It's going to be a reallllly long train ride for just a weekend, but I think it will definitely worth it, and we can get some homework done on the way.
Sorry that was so long, if you even made it all the way through, which I highly doubt many of you did!! I have to go to Kings Cross to get my train ticket for Scotland, then back to the flat to work on homework =(
I hope all is well at home! I haven't heard from many of you about your summers, so please fill me in!!
I miss you and love you <3
Talk to you soon.
It has been so long since we've talked, I am so sorry for neglecting you!! So much has happened since my last update, it's been like, over a week!!! Wow. Well I'm gonna try and fill you in on most things as best as I can.
Last week started off pretty rainy, so Monday we made it a short day in the city. We started off in a nearby coffee shop, where our teacher bought us all coffee to start out the cold rainy day with. Our focus for the day was looking at different means of transport in London, so we walked to Little Venice to see a long standing canal, we saw the only highway that comes into the city, and we spent some time in Paddington Station, talking about the Great Western Railway and the architecture of the building, which is truly beautiful. Afterwards, a few of us Harry Potter fans took the Tube to the Kings Cross station and saw Platform 9 and 3/4. While this is mostly a tourist attraction, it is the station talked about in the movie and book, and it was a lot of fun.
Tuesday we went to Bloomsbury Square, where we rented a classroom for three hours and the teachers rapidly try and sum up everything we've been learning out in the city during the day. Kelsie, one of my flatmates, got left behind in the Tube station and Sean (my art teacher) had to run back and search for her. It was scary, but all was well. It's really easy to lose the group in the stations. They're so busy and crowded, especially in the early morning. After the classroom we broke for lunch and then walked to the American Intercontinental University. There we met with students and faculty of the art department and how to go about getting a British Fine Arts degree. We got to see some of their animation and documentary pieces, along with their photography. The photography department was INCREDIBLE. The two students we met have been commissioned for jobs like Diesel Ads, and are just now graduating. They don't have a graduate degree (bummer) but most of the students housed there have gotten a Bachelors of Fine Arts in America, and instead of going onto grad school, have come over here and gotten a British Bachelors of Arts. The focus is so different, along with the education, it's like getting a grad degree....possibly an option for me in the future.
Tuesday night has been one of my favorites so far. We got dressed up and went to Shakespeare's Globe Theater to see A Midsummer Nights Dream. I have never laughed so hard in my life. The whole experience of seeing Shakespeare performed in the reconstructed Globe was magical, and so much better than simply reading the text. I accidentally stuck my hand in green pigeon poop, which was just fantastic (sike). But I'm assuming people got pigeon poop a lot on them in the old days considering there is no roof on the theatre. I'm thinking about going back to see King Lear before I leave if I can find the time.
Wednesday we went to the Canary Wharf tube station, which is a sight in itself, and the Docklands, which is where many of the ports used to be when London was a trade city. We then ventured out to Greenwich, which is beautiful. We saw the Queen's House, the Painted Room, the Maritime Museum, and the Royal Observatory. For those of you who don't know, Greenwich is where time starts, quite literally. All of the clocks are based off of Greenwich time, because that is where the point where, back in the day, they agreed the Prime Meridian began. So not only did I get to see a beautiful view of the city of London from the top of the Royal Observatory hill, but I also got to stradle the Prime Meridian, which is pretty cool. From Greenwich we took a ferry down the the Thames to Westminster, which was really cool.
Wednesday night we had a fun time in our apartment. Hillary's implant cap has been loose since we arrived here. While we were all working on our homework, I looked over at Hillary who was just smiling at me, toothless. Her cap had fallen off, which was hysterical, even to her! The next day she had to break off from us to get it cemented back on, which was a feat in itself to get dental help overseas. Even so, it was really funny.
Thursday we started out the day with a long walk through Hyde Park. We saw where the revolutionary building, The Crystal Palace once stood. We also got the pleasure of seeing the mounted calvary Police of London emerge from the gates of their building in formation and uniform. We moved on down the trail to the Albert Memorial, which is one of the largest, most ornately decorated memorials I've ever seen. It's full of symbolism and important figures throughout history that is really neat to hear about. We crossed the street and walked to an area called Brompton, where we saw the Brompton Oratory. It is one of the only churches in London modeled after the Jesuit cathedrals in Rome, so people in history who couldn't afford to travel to Rome to see the cathedrals could get a taste of what they were like. It was incredible, and I plan to go back and spend some time in there. Then we walked to the Victoria and Albert museum, which I could spend a year in. It is huge, and resembles an attic. There is SO much to see there, and the way things are displayed is really unique. A highlight for me was seeing Edward Muybridge's photographic horse sequence, which revolutionized photography, motion pictures, and animation. Very cool.
Friday was another short day. We traveled to Victoria station, and then we walked to the Tate Britain, which is possibly my favorite museum so far. So many paintings I have learned about in my art history courses are there, and it was almost spiritual seeing them in person. We didn't get to spend much time there, but that is just another place we plan to go back to on our own.
Friday night we felt the need to get out of our flats. Drinking on public transportation here is legal, or was until June 1st. So we went to the store and bought some 2 liters of Strongbow (my new favorite drink), and just rode the Tube for a while celebrating the fact that the week was over, we're in London, and that drinking on public transportation would be illegal in a couple days. We got off at Covent Garden and went to a pretty boring bar. After that we waited another hour for the danm 23 bus (the night bus that takes us back to our neck of the woods since the Tube closes at 12:30am) and passed out!
Saturday was busy. Hill and I woke up relatively early and went museum hopping. We went to the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the Photographer's Gallery, and back to the Victoria and Albert museum. We had a lot of research to do for some papers that were do this week, but they were actually really cool assignments. We had to go to the museums, buy a postcard of a piece of work that we liked. We then had to go and find the piece in the museum and write a paper comparing and contrasting the original piece and the postcard. Next time you go to a museum, I reccommend doing this, it is really cool to see the difference. After a long day of travelling around London, we came back to our flat and showered, then we set out for Fish and Chips with our flatmates. Our usual pub down the street was all out of Fish, so we went to about 3 different pubs who were either out of fish or stopped serving food (pub hours are weird here), so we finally circled back to the other pub down the street from us and ate there. We stayed in Satruday night, and it was pretty comparable to a night at UD. We hung out, drank some Strongbow, and danced to our Now 68 CD, since it was the only source of music we have to play thorough the DVD player.
Sunday we went down to the Duke of York (the pub) , ate a lot of fried food, drank some pints, and spent 5 hours there working on homework. It's nice to get out of our rooms into the London atmosphere when doing homework.
Yesterday we went to St. Paul's Cathedral, which is astoundingly beautiful. Then we crossed the Millenium bridge to the Tate Modern musuem, which is unique, but pretty cool. We then hiked down the Thames to City Hall for a bit to get out of yet another rainy day. We crossed Tower Bridge to the Tower of London where we didn't have time to go in. Our history teacher, Dr. Hume, gave us a brief overview of the history of the Tower, and plans to take whoever would like to go back with her next week.
Today we had another classroom session and got out pretty early, which explains why I'm at the internet cafe instead of working on homework! Tonight I have to write an engineering paper, and a paper on the Globe theatre. Tomorrow we are meeting at 7am (eww) and taking a bus to Avebury, Stonehenge, and Sailsbury. I am really exicted for that!
This weekend we have Friday off, so most of us are scattering to different countries for the weekend. Hillary and I, and a couple others from our group are taking a train to Skye Isle in Scotland. It is supposed to be a beautiful mix of a quiet town and Scotland's landscape. It's going to be a reallllly long train ride for just a weekend, but I think it will definitely worth it, and we can get some homework done on the way.
Sorry that was so long, if you even made it all the way through, which I highly doubt many of you did!! I have to go to Kings Cross to get my train ticket for Scotland, then back to the flat to work on homework =(
I hope all is well at home! I haven't heard from many of you about your summers, so please fill me in!!
I miss you and love you <3
Talk to you soon.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Picture Update # 2 (scroll to previous post for more!)
London Bridge...
from the movie, "Closer" in Postman's Park.
Outside of the National Gallery
Platform 9 and 3/4 at King's Cross Station!!!
More Pictures! Better updates coming soon!
Picture Update!
Hello all!! I don't have time to update right now, homework awaits! But the weekend is coming up, and I have so much to tell you all! I will just leave you with some images of beautiful London for now!
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Weekend Update
If you can't tell, above are some pics of me and Hill enjoying our first class experience.
Since the last time we talked, not much more has gone on, considering it's only been like a day and a half. Friday we continued our fast paced travels around London, and I do mean fast! The drill is that we all meet in the lobby of our building at 9am sharp, then we walk to the nearest Tube station with the line that will take us to the Tube station closest to where we want to end up for the day. Taking the tube in the morning is a really stressful task, especially with a large group of Americans that aren't very familiar with public transportation. The Tube is packed and hot in the mornings with business people going to work. The Londoners keep to themselves and like it if that's what you do as well. They usually read their paper, or a book, or sit quietly and listen to music. The underground system here is still new and slightly confusing, but the more you use it and study the route maps, it's not as overwhelming as I once thought. It's really a shame that America doesn't have a train system like here in Europe. Getting places is for the most part easy and cheap.
Friday we went to the part of town called Cheapside. It was full of very significant London history. Along the way, we basically traced the steps in T.S. Eliot's poem, The Wasteland, only backwards. We stood where the Great Fire of 1666 began in a Baker's shop on Pudding Lane and burned the whole city of London. We saw Tower Bridge (which is the one most famously recognized) and London bridge, and walked over a few other bridges which Dr. Saliba (our engineering teacher) had the pleasure of describing the mechanics off all kinds of bridges to us, something I haven't exactly grasped. We stopped in a few churhces, most of which were designed by Christopher Wren, who has become an important figure in our discussion of architecture. We were also surprised, while winding through the many back alleys of the city, feeling quite lost at times, to come out at a familiar park called, Postman's Park. If you have seen the movie, "Closer", you would surely recognize it as well. It was a nice treat.
After another long day of keeping up with Sean, my flatmates and I decided to get dressed up and face the Tube all by ourselves to get to the National Portrait Gallery in order to see the Vanity Fair exhibit. We successfully got their, and the exhibit was incredible! It contained most of the portraits that have appeared in Vanity Fair since 1910, in photographic print form. Some of my favorite photographer's pieces were there, and it was really special to see them in physical form. After that, our feet were killing from our heels, so we took the double decker bus back to our flat and changed into pub clothes. Then we went down the street to a pub we are quickly becoming regulars at called, The Duke of York. Some of the group went out to a club afterwards, while me and few stayed and enjoyed the laid back pub atmosphere.
Today me and Hillary realized how much homework we have due this upcoming week, and became a little nervous. So what do we do? Come to the internet cafe of course!! Now I gotta go and be productive in a new way.
Peace and Love
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Finally Here!
Hello everyone!!
It's taken a little longer than I expected to update this and let everyone know I've arrived safely. Well, I have!
Hillary and I had a magnificent travel experience. We were supposed to fly out of Dayton into Charlotte, then onto the London Gatwick airport. However, our one flight was delayed which would make us miss our connecting flight, so they re-routed our whole trip and accidentally upgraded us to first class all the way to London!!! It was really fun. Now I'm convinced it's the only way to travel! We basically got a little tipsy on all the free alcohol they kept offering, were pampered by the hot towels and five star meals, and got a beautiful view of the full moon over the Atlantic ocean and above the clouds. We felt a little like kids in a candy store, and I'm pretty sure everyone could tell it was our first time in first class. We took pictures or pretty much everything, and took full advantage of the fully reclining mechanical chairs and sleep masks provided with us, along with falling asleep watching a classic movie on our own TVs...Pocahontas!=)
Once here, we had to catch the Heathrow Express train into Paddington Station, there we bought our Oyster Pass, which is our access to the underground transport system, and then we caught one of the bubbly cabs to our flat. Our flats are in central London, and are pretty nice. I'm rooming with really great girls (5 of us) and the only complaints I have are the tempermental toilet flushings and the ice cold shower water. Besides that, all is well.
Last night we went to a group dinner at a Lebanese restaurant called Aldar, and then unpacked and hit the pubs for the end of the Euro Cup tourney which was a real hoot. That was quite the breaking in for us in London pubs. Very fun...
Today we went on our first site study trip to the area of Westminster. We saw all kinds of things like Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, the London Eye, and so on and so forth. I don't really have time to go into detail and post pictures because the internet cafe is closing in 5 minutes.
Even after seeing the staple sites of London, it hasn't fully set in that I'm here. People are for the most part, hurried and impatient with our large group of Americans. I think we all used our 9 lives when attempting to cross the street. Cars come FAST from the right, and people don't stop. It's really intimidating! Someone actually got hit by a cyclist, who I think are worse than the cars! Anyways, I've got to wrap this up and get back to the flat for some homework! I love and miss you all. We'll talk soon. =)
It's taken a little longer than I expected to update this and let everyone know I've arrived safely. Well, I have!
Hillary and I had a magnificent travel experience. We were supposed to fly out of Dayton into Charlotte, then onto the London Gatwick airport. However, our one flight was delayed which would make us miss our connecting flight, so they re-routed our whole trip and accidentally upgraded us to first class all the way to London!!! It was really fun. Now I'm convinced it's the only way to travel! We basically got a little tipsy on all the free alcohol they kept offering, were pampered by the hot towels and five star meals, and got a beautiful view of the full moon over the Atlantic ocean and above the clouds. We felt a little like kids in a candy store, and I'm pretty sure everyone could tell it was our first time in first class. We took pictures or pretty much everything, and took full advantage of the fully reclining mechanical chairs and sleep masks provided with us, along with falling asleep watching a classic movie on our own TVs...Pocahontas!=)
Once here, we had to catch the Heathrow Express train into Paddington Station, there we bought our Oyster Pass, which is our access to the underground transport system, and then we caught one of the bubbly cabs to our flat. Our flats are in central London, and are pretty nice. I'm rooming with really great girls (5 of us) and the only complaints I have are the tempermental toilet flushings and the ice cold shower water. Besides that, all is well.
Last night we went to a group dinner at a Lebanese restaurant called Aldar, and then unpacked and hit the pubs for the end of the Euro Cup tourney which was a real hoot. That was quite the breaking in for us in London pubs. Very fun...
Today we went on our first site study trip to the area of Westminster. We saw all kinds of things like Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, the London Eye, and so on and so forth. I don't really have time to go into detail and post pictures because the internet cafe is closing in 5 minutes.
Even after seeing the staple sites of London, it hasn't fully set in that I'm here. People are for the most part, hurried and impatient with our large group of Americans. I think we all used our 9 lives when attempting to cross the street. Cars come FAST from the right, and people don't stop. It's really intimidating! Someone actually got hit by a cyclist, who I think are worse than the cars! Anyways, I've got to wrap this up and get back to the flat for some homework! I love and miss you all. We'll talk soon. =)
Sunday, May 18, 2008
If I Leave Here Tomorrow...
If I leave here tomorrow
Would you still remember me?
For I must be traveling on now
'Cause there's too many places I've got to see...
Ah, yes. I quoted Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird" because I am one of 5 people who really dig that song, well at least the first 3 minutes.
Anyways, I felt it was quite fitting, considering I am leaving my comfortable home in Westerville tomorrow, well, technically today. Hillary will be picking me up tomorrow afternoon and we'll be staying at her house in Oakwood tomorrow night. We fly out Dayton the next day (Tuesday) and will be on our way to London!
Since school got out a few weeks ago, I have to admit, I haven't done much of anything productive. I was sick after school, so I made sure to rest and get rid of that. I ended up getting a 4.0 this semester, which was really exiciting because I worked my butt off for that! It was my hardest semester, with 19 credit hours and I pulled it off! I guess I work well under pressure! Anyways, I've been shopping waay to much for this trip, but I figure it's all worth it! I've also been seeing as many movies as possible since it's my favorite passtime, and just hanging out with my friends and family. It's been a nice few weeks.
I'm getting really excited/overwhelmed for the trip. I just started settling into a nice, relaxing Westerville summer, full of boating on Hoover Dam, bonfires, bowling, going to the movies, and just spending a lot of quality time with family, friends, and my beloved pets, and now I'm going quite far away from all that for half of the summer, and I'm not sure I'm ready. Also, my grandpa, who is my last living grandparent, fell last weekend and broke his hip. He had emergency surgery to put a pin in his hip and he's now in the healing process. However, today they found a blood clot in his lung and have to peform another emergency surgery tomorrow, which is supposedly a life-threatening procedure for someone of his age. It really upsets me that this is all happening right before I hop on a plane across the ocean. Right now I just wish I could postpone the trip awhile and be with my family to find out what's going to happen. I'm glad I took the time to go to Toledo to visit with him this week. Please keep him in your prayers.
On a lighter note, I am getting more and more excited about going to a place where no one knows me (but the people I go with of course). I feel like I'll be able to really explore a new place, and myself, as cliche as that sounds. There's something about independence in a new place that is so exciting and terrifying. I feel like now is one of the best times (and last times) for me to take advantage of the opportunities I have as a student and exploring a new place and myself. There will be a lot of changes in everything I'm familiar with over the next year, and I feel like this is a way to jump start that and test my limits.
Anyways, I've got to get going and finish up some last minute packing and cleaning, and get to bed. I've got a long plane ride ahead of me!
I'll leave you with some London slang for you to work into your vocab and quotes!!
Peace, Love and Happiness to all!!!
I'll miss you!!
SLANG
Anork=nerd
Barney=an argument or fight
Bin=garbage receptacle (also, Rubbish Bin)
Bob's Your Uncle=that's it, that's all there is to it, "You turn the key, press the button, and Bob's Your Uncle!"
Bollocks=testicles, but more typically nonsense or screwed up "That's Bollocks!"
Bugger All=nothing: "That's worth bugger all." OR Fuck all/Sod all
Cack-handed=clumsy
"There is a numerous class of people in this great metropolis who seem not to possess a single friend, and whom nobody appears to care for."
~Charles Dickens, 1835
Would you still remember me?
For I must be traveling on now
'Cause there's too many places I've got to see...
Ah, yes. I quoted Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird" because I am one of 5 people who really dig that song, well at least the first 3 minutes.
Anyways, I felt it was quite fitting, considering I am leaving my comfortable home in Westerville tomorrow, well, technically today. Hillary will be picking me up tomorrow afternoon and we'll be staying at her house in Oakwood tomorrow night. We fly out Dayton the next day (Tuesday) and will be on our way to London!
Since school got out a few weeks ago, I have to admit, I haven't done much of anything productive. I was sick after school, so I made sure to rest and get rid of that. I ended up getting a 4.0 this semester, which was really exiciting because I worked my butt off for that! It was my hardest semester, with 19 credit hours and I pulled it off! I guess I work well under pressure! Anyways, I've been shopping waay to much for this trip, but I figure it's all worth it! I've also been seeing as many movies as possible since it's my favorite passtime, and just hanging out with my friends and family. It's been a nice few weeks.
I'm getting really excited/overwhelmed for the trip. I just started settling into a nice, relaxing Westerville summer, full of boating on Hoover Dam, bonfires, bowling, going to the movies, and just spending a lot of quality time with family, friends, and my beloved pets, and now I'm going quite far away from all that for half of the summer, and I'm not sure I'm ready. Also, my grandpa, who is my last living grandparent, fell last weekend and broke his hip. He had emergency surgery to put a pin in his hip and he's now in the healing process. However, today they found a blood clot in his lung and have to peform another emergency surgery tomorrow, which is supposedly a life-threatening procedure for someone of his age. It really upsets me that this is all happening right before I hop on a plane across the ocean. Right now I just wish I could postpone the trip awhile and be with my family to find out what's going to happen. I'm glad I took the time to go to Toledo to visit with him this week. Please keep him in your prayers.
On a lighter note, I am getting more and more excited about going to a place where no one knows me (but the people I go with of course). I feel like I'll be able to really explore a new place, and myself, as cliche as that sounds. There's something about independence in a new place that is so exciting and terrifying. I feel like now is one of the best times (and last times) for me to take advantage of the opportunities I have as a student and exploring a new place and myself. There will be a lot of changes in everything I'm familiar with over the next year, and I feel like this is a way to jump start that and test my limits.
Anyways, I've got to get going and finish up some last minute packing and cleaning, and get to bed. I've got a long plane ride ahead of me!
I'll leave you with some London slang for you to work into your vocab and quotes!!
Peace, Love and Happiness to all!!!
I'll miss you!!
SLANG
Anork=nerd
Barney=an argument or fight
Bin=garbage receptacle (also, Rubbish Bin)
Bob's Your Uncle=that's it, that's all there is to it, "You turn the key, press the button, and Bob's Your Uncle!"
Bollocks=testicles, but more typically nonsense or screwed up "That's Bollocks!"
Bugger All=nothing: "That's worth bugger all." OR Fuck all/Sod all
Cack-handed=clumsy
"There is a numerous class of people in this great metropolis who seem not to possess a single friend, and whom nobody appears to care for."
~Charles Dickens, 1835
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Getting There
I just got back to my dorm room after my last final. I just finished my junior year of college and I am officially on summer vacation, sadly, my last one as a student. However, doing as I usually see fit, I decided to go out with a bang and take maybe one of the last opportunities I'll ever have to study abroad as a student. So, in a little less than three weeks time, I will be landing in London with my partner in crime, Miss Hillary Hopkins. We'll live and study in central London for 5 weeks and then we'll travel for about 10 days to France, Switzerland, and Ireland.
It feels like it has been coming for so long, and after the last 3 chaotic weeks of school, it still hasn't really set in that I'll be living across the Atlantic, away from everything I know, for 6 weeks. I know 6 weeks seems like nothing to more fortunate people who have spent extended periods of times overseas, but in my case, it's my first time doing anything like this for longer than a few days. This is really going to be a test of character and, hopefully, a life changing experience.
The way the program is set up is really intense, but the only way I see fit to "study abroad." Basically we there are three courses I'm taking (history, english, art/engineering) that are all structured around the city of London. It's been embedded in our heads in our preparation mini-course, "The City Is Our Text." Of course there are 4 novels to read and binders worth of assignments, but this is only to further our understanding of what we'll be learning on the go. We meet in a common area once a week to discuss what we've been learning and experiencing, but other than that, we are weaving our way through the city and learning as we go. No doubt about it, that's pretty sweet.
After I return from my European adventures, I plan on taking a road trip to Springfield, Illinois and Memphis, Tennessee with Dom, possibly a trip to Florida with my best girlfriends, and a greyhound bus ride to Boston with Hill to visit a fellow friend and photo major, Lauren, which will all end up documented in here at some point. Money will be an issue, but when isn't it?? I may have to reinstill my job as a newspaper delivery girl to pay for my lavish (haha) lifestyle during the weeks I'm actually home, but that's okay with me. This is what I want to do with my time and I'll find a way to make it happen!
So now what? Well, I've got to tie up some loose ends around UD and move out. Then I'm home for about 2 weeks, not working, which is probably a mistake on my part. Nevertheless, I'm going to take that time to recover from finals, catch up on some London reading, shopping, and packing, and just spend some quality time with my family, friends and pets. There will probably be a couple odd photo jobs here and there, but nothing too heavy before leaving on that jet plane!
I wish you all the best with finishing up school. I will do my best to regularly update while I'm away. Feel free to comment or email me @ bakeramc@notes.udayton.edu, and keep me posted on your summers as well!
It feels like it has been coming for so long, and after the last 3 chaotic weeks of school, it still hasn't really set in that I'll be living across the Atlantic, away from everything I know, for 6 weeks. I know 6 weeks seems like nothing to more fortunate people who have spent extended periods of times overseas, but in my case, it's my first time doing anything like this for longer than a few days. This is really going to be a test of character and, hopefully, a life changing experience.
The way the program is set up is really intense, but the only way I see fit to "study abroad." Basically we there are three courses I'm taking (history, english, art/engineering) that are all structured around the city of London. It's been embedded in our heads in our preparation mini-course, "The City Is Our Text." Of course there are 4 novels to read and binders worth of assignments, but this is only to further our understanding of what we'll be learning on the go. We meet in a common area once a week to discuss what we've been learning and experiencing, but other than that, we are weaving our way through the city and learning as we go. No doubt about it, that's pretty sweet.
After I return from my European adventures, I plan on taking a road trip to Springfield, Illinois and Memphis, Tennessee with Dom, possibly a trip to Florida with my best girlfriends, and a greyhound bus ride to Boston with Hill to visit a fellow friend and photo major, Lauren, which will all end up documented in here at some point. Money will be an issue, but when isn't it?? I may have to reinstill my job as a newspaper delivery girl to pay for my lavish (haha) lifestyle during the weeks I'm actually home, but that's okay with me. This is what I want to do with my time and I'll find a way to make it happen!
So now what? Well, I've got to tie up some loose ends around UD and move out. Then I'm home for about 2 weeks, not working, which is probably a mistake on my part. Nevertheless, I'm going to take that time to recover from finals, catch up on some London reading, shopping, and packing, and just spend some quality time with my family, friends and pets. There will probably be a couple odd photo jobs here and there, but nothing too heavy before leaving on that jet plane!
I wish you all the best with finishing up school. I will do my best to regularly update while I'm away. Feel free to comment or email me @ bakeramc@notes.udayton.edu, and keep me posted on your summers as well!
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