No class on Fridays + day trips = awesome. Last week someone mentioned Hampstead to Jordan as a really cool place that she should check out. She mentioned it to me and the two of us decided to head out there yesterday. Hampstead is a little area on the outskirts of London where all the rich people live and a lot of famous writers/artists used to live. It also has a GIGANTIC natural park called Hampstead Heath where you can climb this massive hill, Parliament Hill, and get amazing views of the London skyline. What makes this place even more exciting is how easy it is to get there. We didn’t have to buy bus or train tickets because, even though it is on the fringes of London, it’s still in our zone on the tube.
Our plan was to get there, find a place to grab lunch before heading up the big hill to eat a picnic lunch overlooking the city. We got off the tube and walked around a bit before finding a bagel sandwich place for lunch. Then, using our general idea of where we wanted to go and our sense of direction we started walking up a hill. Have I mentioned that I have a horrible sense of direction? Jordan and I ended up hiking through some woods before realizing we were wrong and heading toward a road. We then re-oriented ourselves and started walking down a path by a main road that bordered the park. The thing about this park is that it is massive so we could have walked along it for an hour before realizing exactly where we needed to be; which is exactly what we did. Eventually we found some little lakes to stop and eat our lunch by and the new kept venturing forward in our now epic search for Parliament Hill. We finally found a map that pointed us in the right direction and climbed the hill.
All the mess ups and long walks were worth it when we finally got to the top, it was gorgeous. It was so weird to be looking at this mass of buildings that we live in and still be technically in the city of London. We spent some time sitting on the hill, smelling the clean air and grass (a smell I didn’t realize I missed) feeling the sun and admiring the view. We then slowly wandered back down and into the town where we poked around in a few little shops before eating dinner at this really nice local pub.
It was a long day that probably could have been shorter if Jordan and I had known better what we were doing and where we were going, but then we probably would have missed out on finding the small ponds and getting to watch some dogs jump in and go swimming. We wouldn’t have passed by as many cool houses or found that amazing climbing tree in the middle of a field. We found our fabulous view eventually and, I think, were able to appreciate it that much more because of all the work we put into it.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
"What is this place, heaven?"
I feel like I've been updating my blog a lot recently, which might have something to do with the fact that there is actually a lot of school work to be done and this is an amazing procrastination tool...so thank you for participating in the putting off of real work.
Today those of us who don't have art used our free afternoon to go to the most amazing place on the planet: a 6 story toy store called Hamley's. It has a floor for interactive toys, stuffed animals, a girl floor, a boy floor, a floor for preschool/ hobbies and there is even a restaurant on top. It was so much fun to run around and see all our old favorite toys and to get to play like kids! No lie, 5 college students sat around the leggo table for a good 20 minutes trying to build the best house. I can't wait to go back!
Then this afternoon I got some good news from back home, I'm going to be an Orientation Leader next year! OL's are in charge of a group of new students during their orientation. They fulfill this job by being crazy excited all the time. I think I'm up for the job : )
Tonight we went to see the play "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" at the National Theater. It was an interesting play with incredible music and some cool dancing. But what got everyone really excited was the fact that Alan Rickman aka Snape aka the guy that cheats on his wife in Love Actually was there. Some people talked to him afterward and said hearing his voice was really really cool.
So thats London right now, nothing too exciting. How goes America blog readers?
Today those of us who don't have art used our free afternoon to go to the most amazing place on the planet: a 6 story toy store called Hamley's. It has a floor for interactive toys, stuffed animals, a girl floor, a boy floor, a floor for preschool/ hobbies and there is even a restaurant on top. It was so much fun to run around and see all our old favorite toys and to get to play like kids! No lie, 5 college students sat around the leggo table for a good 20 minutes trying to build the best house. I can't wait to go back!
Then this afternoon I got some good news from back home, I'm going to be an Orientation Leader next year! OL's are in charge of a group of new students during their orientation. They fulfill this job by being crazy excited all the time. I think I'm up for the job : )
Tonight we went to see the play "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" at the National Theater. It was an interesting play with incredible music and some cool dancing. But what got everyone really excited was the fact that Alan Rickman aka Snape aka the guy that cheats on his wife in Love Actually was there. Some people talked to him afterward and said hearing his voice was really really cool.
So thats London right now, nothing too exciting. How goes America blog readers?
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Pancake Day! (so epic it deserves another post)
Why have I not heard of this holiday before?? Apparently people in the states celebrate the gloriousness that is pancake day but I've never partaken until this year. In case you are also in the dark about the best holiday of the year, people eat pancakes the day before Ash Wednesday as a sort of feast before the fast of lent (and yes I do know that we celebrate Mardi Gras back home, but apparently here they do it with pancakes). Anywho, last week I saw a display in the grocery story advertising pancake day and since then the flat has been abuzz in excitement.
Today was the big day. All day I was looking forward to not only eating the pancakes but making them because I really do love to cook. We have 8 people in our flat and we had invited some other people to join in the fun and so there were a lot of hungry people to feed. I started to do the pancakes and some of my flatmates came in and were like, "we have some potatoes, we could cut those up and make some hash browns." and then another flat mate decided she wanted eggs so she ran to the small grocery right down the road and bought some eggs to scramble up. In the end we used two boxes of bisquick, half a dozen eggs and about 4 potatoes. The whole ordeal took about 2 1/2 hours to cook, eat and clean, but it was glorious. I haven't had that much fun in the kitchen in a while. It was so awesome to have everyone come together under the great banner of pancake love. And that is why it was so epic to blog about.
The end of pancake day 2009. Until 2010 : )
Today was the big day. All day I was looking forward to not only eating the pancakes but making them because I really do love to cook. We have 8 people in our flat and we had invited some other people to join in the fun and so there were a lot of hungry people to feed. I started to do the pancakes and some of my flatmates came in and were like, "we have some potatoes, we could cut those up and make some hash browns." and then another flat mate decided she wanted eggs so she ran to the small grocery right down the road and bought some eggs to scramble up. In the end we used two boxes of bisquick, half a dozen eggs and about 4 potatoes. The whole ordeal took about 2 1/2 hours to cook, eat and clean, but it was glorious. I haven't had that much fun in the kitchen in a while. It was so awesome to have everyone come together under the great banner of pancake love. And that is why it was so epic to blog about.
The end of pancake day 2009. Until 2010 : )
How do you count to five in America?
I spent my first day in the British school yesterday and absolutely loved it. I am at Winton Primary school which is a few blocks away from Kings Cross Station. It is a small school and so they have mixed grade classes. I am in a year 3/4 class which is equal to our 3rd or 4th grade. My teacher, Ms. Collins, is from America but she's been in London for six or seven years so I'm really excited to see how that effects her teaching style.
My day started off with a tour from one of the students in my class. He was incredibly sweet and eager to introduce me to every teacher in the building. All the teachers were really friendly and one even asked me to re-introduce myself to the class so they could guess where I was from and they came up with Australia which made me laugh. After the tour we went back to the classroom just in time for an assembly. The whole school came together to recognize certain classes for having good attendance etc. It was at this point I realized just how small the school really is because all the teachers knew all the students and vice versa which creates a nice community feel.
The first day of practicums always has the potential to be awkward because you never know what the teacher expects of you so I was so happy when my teacher already had groups in mind for me to work with and had other jobs for me to do. She had also planned on giving me some time to talk to the children about America which was the most fun part of the day for me because they asked me a billion funny questions. They wanted to know about my family and when I told them I had a brother they wanted to know all about him. They asked if I knew any movie stars, if I could see the beach from my house. Trying to explain thanksgiving to British children is also a fun experience. My favorite questions came from a girl who was just being silly and really wanted to hear me talk so she asked how we counted to 5 in America and if our toilets were on the floor
Other than that the school day was pretty similar to ours back home. There was a literacy lesson, a math lesson, during lunch we ate in the teacher's lounge, then they had time for silent reading. Oh and then came their science/technology lesson. The class has been doing a unit on the rainforest and had decided to make a digital presentation on preserving the rainforests etc. and are going to send it to Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Obama (they also didn't understand why I couldn't give it to Obama, they assumed I had met him). I think this is a really cool project that I can't wait to watch unfold over the next few weeks.
So it was a good first day and I'm really excited to go back. I also have uploaded pictures from Canterbury this past weekend if you're interested in checking them out.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2005672&id=1401300102&l=d1e1e
My day started off with a tour from one of the students in my class. He was incredibly sweet and eager to introduce me to every teacher in the building. All the teachers were really friendly and one even asked me to re-introduce myself to the class so they could guess where I was from and they came up with Australia which made me laugh. After the tour we went back to the classroom just in time for an assembly. The whole school came together to recognize certain classes for having good attendance etc. It was at this point I realized just how small the school really is because all the teachers knew all the students and vice versa which creates a nice community feel.
The first day of practicums always has the potential to be awkward because you never know what the teacher expects of you so I was so happy when my teacher already had groups in mind for me to work with and had other jobs for me to do. She had also planned on giving me some time to talk to the children about America which was the most fun part of the day for me because they asked me a billion funny questions. They wanted to know about my family and when I told them I had a brother they wanted to know all about him. They asked if I knew any movie stars, if I could see the beach from my house. Trying to explain thanksgiving to British children is also a fun experience. My favorite questions came from a girl who was just being silly and really wanted to hear me talk so she asked how we counted to 5 in America and if our toilets were on the floor
Other than that the school day was pretty similar to ours back home. There was a literacy lesson, a math lesson, during lunch we ate in the teacher's lounge, then they had time for silent reading. Oh and then came their science/technology lesson. The class has been doing a unit on the rainforest and had decided to make a digital presentation on preserving the rainforests etc. and are going to send it to Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Obama (they also didn't understand why I couldn't give it to Obama, they assumed I had met him). I think this is a really cool project that I can't wait to watch unfold over the next few weeks.
So it was a good first day and I'm really excited to go back. I also have uploaded pictures from Canterbury this past weekend if you're interested in checking them out.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2005672&id=1401300102&l=d1e1e
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Our own Canterbury Tales
Our first day trip away from London was a success! I really like this whole day trip idea because it takes very little planning, isn’t expensive, and there is so much to see right outside of London. Yesterday a group of seven of us went to Canterbury for the day. I had heard that the cathedral there was beautiful and of course wanted to re-live my English class from senior year when we read Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, but mostly I just wanted to do something different this weekend.
The trip to Canterbury takes about two hours, which was the perfect time for a nap since our bus left at 8:30. When we first got off the bus and started walking towards the cathedral we found ourselves in a strip mall sort of place. It wasn’t too crowded, but I thought it was interesting to see all the modern stores with a 12th century cathedral looming in the background. We first went to the Roman museum which presented a plethora of artifacts and showed reconstructions of what Canterbury would have looked like during Roman times. It was a nice museum, worth the 2 £ we paid for it but not much more. After that we wandered toward a walkway that would lead us to an old castle. We couldn’t tell if the walkway was actually the old Roman wall or just a replica of it, but either way it provided us with a nice view of the city.
When you see pictures of the castle at Canterbury it doesn’t look like much, it’s just a large stone structure that you can go inside and look around in. However, I thought it was so cool to think about what this castle meant way back when. It was a fortress; you could see a window at the top of what used to be stairs and I think its fun to imagine people running up the steps and shooting at attackers. After taking plenty of fun castle pictures, our group started to head back towards the city in preparation to see the cathedral. To get back to the city we had to walk through this gorgeous park that had a path lined with huge trees, so it was tough. We ate lunch, like good ‘ol Americans, at Subway because we needed something cheap and fast.
Before coming to Canterbury someone told me that if Thomas Beckett, who was killed there in the 1100’s, woke up today he would still recognize this cathedral. It was breathtaking. I walked around the inside with my mouth open looking up at the gigantic ceiling, admiring the stained glass and just generally feeling overwhelmed. It’s hard to describe the feeling I get when I’m in large places of worship like this, but there’s something incredible about knowing that you have come to a place that millions of other people have come to with the same purpose or direction. We left the cathedral and got lost around the grounds. I’m not even sure what all we saw but it seemed like every time we turned a corner there was another beautiful structure or garden or something to look at.
After leaving the Cathedral we went to the Canterbury Tales visitor attraction. It was an interesting place, again kind of like Disney World but I thought it was really fun. You receive an audio tour that directs you through different rooms which follow the story of the Canterbury Tales. I thought it was done very well and presented in a way that would interest people in a classic story (the teacher in me was I guess the most excited).
We did some more wandering, some shopping, and then ate at a pub where I had fish and chips for the first time! I actually ate most of my fish and of course devoured the chips. Mmm London food. Since everything in Canterbury closes at 5 and our bus didn’t leave until 8:30 we had some time to kill before our bus left so we went back to take some pictures of the Cathedral at night before hanging out at the bus stop for a bit. Overall it was a long, but very fun day.
The trip to Canterbury takes about two hours, which was the perfect time for a nap since our bus left at 8:30. When we first got off the bus and started walking towards the cathedral we found ourselves in a strip mall sort of place. It wasn’t too crowded, but I thought it was interesting to see all the modern stores with a 12th century cathedral looming in the background. We first went to the Roman museum which presented a plethora of artifacts and showed reconstructions of what Canterbury would have looked like during Roman times. It was a nice museum, worth the 2 £ we paid for it but not much more. After that we wandered toward a walkway that would lead us to an old castle. We couldn’t tell if the walkway was actually the old Roman wall or just a replica of it, but either way it provided us with a nice view of the city.
When you see pictures of the castle at Canterbury it doesn’t look like much, it’s just a large stone structure that you can go inside and look around in. However, I thought it was so cool to think about what this castle meant way back when. It was a fortress; you could see a window at the top of what used to be stairs and I think its fun to imagine people running up the steps and shooting at attackers. After taking plenty of fun castle pictures, our group started to head back towards the city in preparation to see the cathedral. To get back to the city we had to walk through this gorgeous park that had a path lined with huge trees, so it was tough. We ate lunch, like good ‘ol Americans, at Subway because we needed something cheap and fast.
Before coming to Canterbury someone told me that if Thomas Beckett, who was killed there in the 1100’s, woke up today he would still recognize this cathedral. It was breathtaking. I walked around the inside with my mouth open looking up at the gigantic ceiling, admiring the stained glass and just generally feeling overwhelmed. It’s hard to describe the feeling I get when I’m in large places of worship like this, but there’s something incredible about knowing that you have come to a place that millions of other people have come to with the same purpose or direction. We left the cathedral and got lost around the grounds. I’m not even sure what all we saw but it seemed like every time we turned a corner there was another beautiful structure or garden or something to look at.
After leaving the Cathedral we went to the Canterbury Tales visitor attraction. It was an interesting place, again kind of like Disney World but I thought it was really fun. You receive an audio tour that directs you through different rooms which follow the story of the Canterbury Tales. I thought it was done very well and presented in a way that would interest people in a classic story (the teacher in me was I guess the most excited).
We did some more wandering, some shopping, and then ate at a pub where I had fish and chips for the first time! I actually ate most of my fish and of course devoured the chips. Mmm London food. Since everything in Canterbury closes at 5 and our bus didn’t leave until 8:30 we had some time to kill before our bus left so we went back to take some pictures of the Cathedral at night before hanging out at the bus stop for a bit. Overall it was a long, but very fun day.
Friday, February 20, 2009
The eastern hemisphere will never be the same
So we’ve finished another week of classes, except with the way the scheduling works out here it’s been more like 2 days of classes, and really not much time in a classroom. Except for Tuesdays, in which I spend my entire day at school, I don’t actually have much literal class time but will end up doing a lot of things around London that relate to the class material, which isn’t a bad way to learn if you ask me.
I had a lazy Wednesday morning hanging around with my flatmates before they left to spend four hours in an art gallery (better them than me) and I went Thames walking with my group. One of my classes focuses on the Thames and its influence on London and one of our assignments is to complete several walks along the Thames, focusing on a specific topic (ours is health and the Thames) some but just generally documenting what we see. I’ve really enjoyed the 2 walks we have done because it’s been a great time to get out of our flats and just wander with a purpose, something I’m finding I love. Our walk this past week was along a section of the Thames that is in Chelsea, so I was particularly excited to be in my neighborhood. It actually is very cute with some amazing shopping that I will probably drag some of my flat mates to at some point.
On Thursday our GST class took our first “field trip” to Greenwich, the home of the prime meridian. There are several ways to get to Greenwich and for our first trip we took the foot path…under the Thames. Yeah, we walked under a river. Greenwich was really fun, once I got over the walking under the river thing; we walked up the steepest hill ever to get to the Royal Observatory where they have the prime meridian marked. I did the obligatory standing in both hemispheres thing before we moved on to walk through a park and down the hill towards some museums. We had to read a book about discovering longitude and so seeing all the sights that I’ve read about was really cool, and Greenwich is a fun town to spend a morning in. That evening a few of us finally gave in and went out for some American food. It sounds so lame, but going to T.G.I. Fridays was such an exciting outing. And it was an outing; the service here is definitely different from back home, but it was really nice to hang out at the end of the week and eat some good food.
Tomorrow I’m going with a couple of people to Canterbury for the day, hopefully we will have many tales to tell (haha, Ms. Ferell).
I had a lazy Wednesday morning hanging around with my flatmates before they left to spend four hours in an art gallery (better them than me) and I went Thames walking with my group. One of my classes focuses on the Thames and its influence on London and one of our assignments is to complete several walks along the Thames, focusing on a specific topic (ours is health and the Thames) some but just generally documenting what we see. I’ve really enjoyed the 2 walks we have done because it’s been a great time to get out of our flats and just wander with a purpose, something I’m finding I love. Our walk this past week was along a section of the Thames that is in Chelsea, so I was particularly excited to be in my neighborhood. It actually is very cute with some amazing shopping that I will probably drag some of my flat mates to at some point.
On Thursday our GST class took our first “field trip” to Greenwich, the home of the prime meridian. There are several ways to get to Greenwich and for our first trip we took the foot path…under the Thames. Yeah, we walked under a river. Greenwich was really fun, once I got over the walking under the river thing; we walked up the steepest hill ever to get to the Royal Observatory where they have the prime meridian marked. I did the obligatory standing in both hemispheres thing before we moved on to walk through a park and down the hill towards some museums. We had to read a book about discovering longitude and so seeing all the sights that I’ve read about was really cool, and Greenwich is a fun town to spend a morning in. That evening a few of us finally gave in and went out for some American food. It sounds so lame, but going to T.G.I. Fridays was such an exciting outing. And it was an outing; the service here is definitely different from back home, but it was really nice to hang out at the end of the week and eat some good food.
Tomorrow I’m going with a couple of people to Canterbury for the day, hopefully we will have many tales to tell (haha, Ms. Ferell).
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Walking In London
Nothing too exciting has been going on the past few days. We had a lazy Sunday hanging around the flat that provided some much needed chill time. However we did start researching Paris trips and luckily found one done through a group that was reasonably priced and has openings. So on Monday the five of us that are going (Kinsey, Katie, Katie, Sam and me) went to the tour company and booked our trip. We're going March 6-8 and can't be more excited, so Paris better look out!
After we booked our trip and did some grocery shopping I wanted to go and find my practicum school (as part of our program we are assigned to a London school and spend some time there observing etc.) As many of you know, I'm not that good with maps but since we've been here I've learned that knowing how to read a map is sort of a necessity so its something I've been working on. Anyways, it was a nice day and I had some free time so I looked at the map (with some help from my friend Zane) and figured that it wouldn't be all that hard to walk. I started off feeling good; I had my iPod in and was looking forward to some alone time. But one hour later I still felt no closer to where I needed to be than when we started, and my free time was dwindling. I ended up making it very close to my school (a few streets down and I would have been there) but turned around to get back to our classroom building in time for our education seminar. While I didn't actually find my school it was a very nice walk; I saw Regents Park, found some really cool looking restaurants, walked right past King's Cross Station (I was tempted to go to Hogwarts, but decided to leave that for another day) and I had a pleasant afternoon to myself.
But other than that we've just been settling in to a routine with classes. Last night Zane and I wanted to try walking from our classroom building to our flats (after my previous walking adventure I"m not sure why I did this) and it took us an hour, so we're not going to be doing that anymore. I made tacos for dinner and then a bunch of us watched "She's the Man" to review Shakespeare's "12th Night" for our theater class today. Oh yeah and I also uploaded some pictures from this weekend
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004792&id=1401300102&l=eb925 theres the link if you wanna check em out.
After we booked our trip and did some grocery shopping I wanted to go and find my practicum school (as part of our program we are assigned to a London school and spend some time there observing etc.) As many of you know, I'm not that good with maps but since we've been here I've learned that knowing how to read a map is sort of a necessity so its something I've been working on. Anyways, it was a nice day and I had some free time so I looked at the map (with some help from my friend Zane) and figured that it wouldn't be all that hard to walk. I started off feeling good; I had my iPod in and was looking forward to some alone time. But one hour later I still felt no closer to where I needed to be than when we started, and my free time was dwindling. I ended up making it very close to my school (a few streets down and I would have been there) but turned around to get back to our classroom building in time for our education seminar. While I didn't actually find my school it was a very nice walk; I saw Regents Park, found some really cool looking restaurants, walked right past King's Cross Station (I was tempted to go to Hogwarts, but decided to leave that for another day) and I had a pleasant afternoon to myself.
But other than that we've just been settling in to a routine with classes. Last night Zane and I wanted to try walking from our classroom building to our flats (after my previous walking adventure I"m not sure why I did this) and it took us an hour, so we're not going to be doing that anymore. I made tacos for dinner and then a bunch of us watched "She's the Man" to review Shakespeare's "12th Night" for our theater class today. Oh yeah and I also uploaded some pictures from this weekend
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004792&id=1401300102&l=eb925 theres the link if you wanna check em out.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
A little bit of pomp and circumstance
One of the great things about our program here is that there are no classes on Friday, meaning we can make the most of our weekends.
Friday a group of us decided to go see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. We had been told of a really good place to see it, at a lamp post across the street from the gates to the palace, and so we all gathered around our lamp and waited. It was a beautiful day to be standing outside, a little cold, but the sun was shining on us for the first time in several days and we had a good time. While we were waiting we noticed that the Queen’s flag was flying on top of the palace, meaning she was there, which made me a little giddy. The actual ceremony was pretty cool, we saw a band and the guard and the horse guard and there were some people in carriages that went in the palace gates, and then back out again. We listened to the two bands playing for a while and then after the guard processed out we ran over to the gates to take some close up pictures of the palace and the guards. I’m really glad that we went, but I consider this more of our ‘dry run’ so we can come back in the spring when the guards are in their red coats (in the winter they put a grey one over the red ones).
Yesterday we spent our Valentine’s Day at the Tower of London, listening to stories of blood and gore; it was awesome. I didn’t expect the whole complex to be as big as it was, but it was a lot of fun exploring the different towers and seeing the place where Henry VII executed his wives, learning about weaponry from medieval times and oh yeah, seeing the crown jewels. As Natalie and I were walking through the Disney World like line, watching video clips of different coronations and processions of royalty I got really excited for what we were going to see. It was not a disappointment. It’s hard to imagine just how much meaning and significance these beautiful and ornate pieces mean to the British Monarchy. I tried to compare them to something we have in the U.S. and came up with nothing, making it that much more exciting I guess.
Over the past few days I’ve been looking a lot more at the British culture (probably because my classes have started and that’s what we do) and have found it to be so interesting and fun and exciting; but the part that I think I love the most is how deep the traditions are. The changing of the guard has been happening for years and years in the same way that we saw it, and it will be happening like that for years to come. That, to me, is a really cool part of being in London and makes me so excited to be here for the next few months.
Friday a group of us decided to go see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. We had been told of a really good place to see it, at a lamp post across the street from the gates to the palace, and so we all gathered around our lamp and waited. It was a beautiful day to be standing outside, a little cold, but the sun was shining on us for the first time in several days and we had a good time. While we were waiting we noticed that the Queen’s flag was flying on top of the palace, meaning she was there, which made me a little giddy. The actual ceremony was pretty cool, we saw a band and the guard and the horse guard and there were some people in carriages that went in the palace gates, and then back out again. We listened to the two bands playing for a while and then after the guard processed out we ran over to the gates to take some close up pictures of the palace and the guards. I’m really glad that we went, but I consider this more of our ‘dry run’ so we can come back in the spring when the guards are in their red coats (in the winter they put a grey one over the red ones).
Yesterday we spent our Valentine’s Day at the Tower of London, listening to stories of blood and gore; it was awesome. I didn’t expect the whole complex to be as big as it was, but it was a lot of fun exploring the different towers and seeing the place where Henry VII executed his wives, learning about weaponry from medieval times and oh yeah, seeing the crown jewels. As Natalie and I were walking through the Disney World like line, watching video clips of different coronations and processions of royalty I got really excited for what we were going to see. It was not a disappointment. It’s hard to imagine just how much meaning and significance these beautiful and ornate pieces mean to the British Monarchy. I tried to compare them to something we have in the U.S. and came up with nothing, making it that much more exciting I guess.
Over the past few days I’ve been looking a lot more at the British culture (probably because my classes have started and that’s what we do) and have found it to be so interesting and fun and exciting; but the part that I think I love the most is how deep the traditions are. The changing of the guard has been happening for years and years in the same way that we saw it, and it will be happening like that for years to come. That, to me, is a really cool part of being in London and makes me so excited to be here for the next few months.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
We survived...
...One week in London. Okay technically one week ago was yesterday but we were so jetlagged then no one knew what was what and today marks the end of our first week of classes. Its been a crazy week that seemed to have lasted an eternity, which I have a feeling I'm going to appreciate much more when it comes time to leave. But I've done so much in this week that I can't wait for the rest of the semester.
Last night we went to our first play for the theater class, Spring Awakening (for all you Elon theater buffs out there this is the play that Matt Shingledecker is doing in America). It was INCREDIBLE. The subject matter is a little intense and borders on inappropriate at times, but the music was amazing and the cast did such a great job of evoking very powerful emotions. It probably helps that we were sitting in the second row, but the whole experience reminded me of why I love theater so much. It takes you to a different world and lets you stay there and see what happens both on the stage and in your own head in a way that leaves me breathless sometimes.
Today we went to the British Museum for our GST class with the assignment to find a section of the museum that interested our group. We planned on wandering towards the Asian section but then detoured through the African section and somehow found ourselves going down some stairs to an African art gallery. The first piece of art we saw was actually something that I studied over Winter Term in my fine arts class. It was really exciting to see this piece of work in real life that I already knew so much about and had seen in pictures. Our group wandered around the museum just long enough to realize that we're going to have to spend so much more time there if we want to really see things; good thing we have some time.
Tomorrow we're going to go see the changing of the guards from our supposed fabulous viewing place at the lamp (our tour guide on the first day pointed out a great place to see it). Then this weekend I'm going to try to find my assigned practicum school, maybe explore some other places and then the biggest adventure yet: LAUNDRY! wish me luck : )
Last night we went to our first play for the theater class, Spring Awakening (for all you Elon theater buffs out there this is the play that Matt Shingledecker is doing in America). It was INCREDIBLE. The subject matter is a little intense and borders on inappropriate at times, but the music was amazing and the cast did such a great job of evoking very powerful emotions. It probably helps that we were sitting in the second row, but the whole experience reminded me of why I love theater so much. It takes you to a different world and lets you stay there and see what happens both on the stage and in your own head in a way that leaves me breathless sometimes.
Today we went to the British Museum for our GST class with the assignment to find a section of the museum that interested our group. We planned on wandering towards the Asian section but then detoured through the African section and somehow found ourselves going down some stairs to an African art gallery. The first piece of art we saw was actually something that I studied over Winter Term in my fine arts class. It was really exciting to see this piece of work in real life that I already knew so much about and had seen in pictures. Our group wandered around the museum just long enough to realize that we're going to have to spend so much more time there if we want to really see things; good thing we have some time.
Tomorrow we're going to go see the changing of the guards from our supposed fabulous viewing place at the lamp (our tour guide on the first day pointed out a great place to see it). Then this weekend I'm going to try to find my assigned practicum school, maybe explore some other places and then the biggest adventure yet: LAUNDRY! wish me luck : )
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Begginings of Classes
We started classes today, and as dorky as it is, I was so excited. The schedule here is very different than my one at Elon, though. Instead of rolling out of bed 30 minutes before class starts and wandering over slowly, we left our flat an hour before our first class this morning and only go there a few minutes early. Our GST (General Studies) Seminar was first. This class is taught by the professor that came with us from Elon and it focuses on the Thames. We’re going to be doing some walks along the Thames, taking pictures and documenting different aspects of the Thames. We’ll also be visiting Greenwich a few times and I’m excited to stand on the GMT!
Before my next class I had around a 2 hour break so we hung out in an empty classroom upstairs. It works out well because there is free internet (which we don’t have a the flats, we have a certain allotment of minutes each week). I did sort of miss the ability to go back to my room and take a quick nap or just have some time away between classes, but when the weather is nicer I’ll use this time to sit in the park outside or head down to the British Museum. The next class was London Theater, which I was the most excited about before coming here. We’re going to see 9 shows throughout the semester, tomorrow is Spring Awakening and next week is 12th Night. I haven’t heard of any of the rest of them, but I think it’s going to be so much fun to see lots of different types of plays. My final class of the day was Diversity in Action in London, a sociology class that is going to be interesting to say the least. Part of this class involves field trips where I’m pretty sure we’re going to just wander around London with some direction and watch people. I love people watching and I love London so it’ll be fun.
After class we had to take an alternate route home because the Central Line was stopped or delayed or something, so we walked a few blocks, and then a few blocks more until we found a bus to take us home. I love little adventures like this because I keep proving to myself that I can survive and adapt in a city that I just met.
Before my next class I had around a 2 hour break so we hung out in an empty classroom upstairs. It works out well because there is free internet (which we don’t have a the flats, we have a certain allotment of minutes each week). I did sort of miss the ability to go back to my room and take a quick nap or just have some time away between classes, but when the weather is nicer I’ll use this time to sit in the park outside or head down to the British Museum. The next class was London Theater, which I was the most excited about before coming here. We’re going to see 9 shows throughout the semester, tomorrow is Spring Awakening and next week is 12th Night. I haven’t heard of any of the rest of them, but I think it’s going to be so much fun to see lots of different types of plays. My final class of the day was Diversity in Action in London, a sociology class that is going to be interesting to say the least. Part of this class involves field trips where I’m pretty sure we’re going to just wander around London with some direction and watch people. I love people watching and I love London so it’ll be fun.
After class we had to take an alternate route home because the Central Line was stopped or delayed or something, so we walked a few blocks, and then a few blocks more until we found a bus to take us home. I love little adventures like this because I keep proving to myself that I can survive and adapt in a city that I just met.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Doin the tourist thing
The past few days have been busy busy. We did a bus tour of the city on Friday and saw so much, taking lots of notes about places we wanted to go back to. We got off the bus around the corner from Buckingham Palace and the tour guide started running so we could get there in time for the procession of the horse guard; not as cool as the official of the changing of the guard, but it was neat to see all the soldiers in their uniforms riding by on the horses. The guide gave us some tips on the best place to see the changing of the guard so I'm now really excited to see that. Later that afternoon we had a walking tour of our neighborhood, Little Venice. It is absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait until its warm and I can just wander down by the canal or walk around the beautiful houses. Elon really does take care of us!
Saturday we took a day trip to Stonehenge and Bath. Seeing one of the Seven Wonders of the mideveal world was really cool, and we had some fun being guided by Elias, our very experienced and entertaining friend. The drive to Bath was beautiful because of all the snow and the rolling hills. We got to Bath and took a tour of the old Roman Baths which was also pretty cool. I actually understood a bunch of stuff because of Latin and Roman history. Then we had another walking tour of Bath, which I didn't expect to be as fun as it was. It really is a cute little town with some amazing architecture. Then we had some free time to wander around before heading home.
Since we had napped on the way back from Bath, so a few of us decided to go and see London at night. We took the tube out to Big Ben and there it was, right as we stepped out of the station. It was so massive and looked incredible lit up. We walked around there for a bit before heading over towards Buckingham Palace. If you ever want to have some quality time alone at the palace, Saturday night is the time to go. There was barely anyone there, which was fun for us because we were able to shamelessly take touristy pictures.
Today we got up late, hung out around the flat before heading out to Spiddlefield's market, a big, cheap market. We poked around there, looking at scarves, funky clothes, and were almost tempted by some brownies. I haven't been to many markets in my life, but I really liked this one because people weren't hounding you to come look at their stuff or giving you dirty looks if you didn't buy anything. While I came away empty handed, it was necessary to see what they have for our future trips.
I've absolutely loved getting to know the city over the past few days. I love how busy everything is, and that there is always a billion things to do. But its also been great hanging out in the flat, getting to really know my flatmates and other people in the program. Classes start Tuesday...exciting.
Here's a link to some pictures from our first few adventures... http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2003596&l=9d22e&id=1401300102
Saturday we took a day trip to Stonehenge and Bath. Seeing one of the Seven Wonders of the mideveal world was really cool, and we had some fun being guided by Elias, our very experienced and entertaining friend. The drive to Bath was beautiful because of all the snow and the rolling hills. We got to Bath and took a tour of the old Roman Baths which was also pretty cool. I actually understood a bunch of stuff because of Latin and Roman history. Then we had another walking tour of Bath, which I didn't expect to be as fun as it was. It really is a cute little town with some amazing architecture. Then we had some free time to wander around before heading home.
Since we had napped on the way back from Bath, so a few of us decided to go and see London at night. We took the tube out to Big Ben and there it was, right as we stepped out of the station. It was so massive and looked incredible lit up. We walked around there for a bit before heading over towards Buckingham Palace. If you ever want to have some quality time alone at the palace, Saturday night is the time to go. There was barely anyone there, which was fun for us because we were able to shamelessly take touristy pictures.
Today we got up late, hung out around the flat before heading out to Spiddlefield's market, a big, cheap market. We poked around there, looking at scarves, funky clothes, and were almost tempted by some brownies. I haven't been to many markets in my life, but I really liked this one because people weren't hounding you to come look at their stuff or giving you dirty looks if you didn't buy anything. While I came away empty handed, it was necessary to see what they have for our future trips.
I've absolutely loved getting to know the city over the past few days. I love how busy everything is, and that there is always a billion things to do. But its also been great hanging out in the flat, getting to really know my flatmates and other people in the program. Classes start Tuesday...exciting.
Here's a link to some pictures from our first few adventures... http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2003596&l=9d22e&id=1401300102
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Getting lost is fun!
Well today has been quite productive. We had our academic orientation at the Anglo American building (where we take classes), which is right beside the British Museum, how awesome is that. After that Jordan, Laura and I decided to check out Primark, a store that is basically a London department store. I bought a really cute bag and we shopped around a bit, kind of falling in love. Then we ran back to the flats and dropped some stuff off before heading off to do some grocery shopping…which is where our adventure begins.
There is a small grocery store right down the street from our flats, but earlier on our way to our class building we saw a bigger chain grocery that we wanted to check out. Jordan and I made our lists and headed there. We got plenty of food, put it in our new big bags and headed back to the tube. Well, the tube was PACKED due to electrical problems on the central line and the fact that it was 6 p.m. When we got off we were kind of confused and forgot that we had to change lines and so we left the station, figuring we could just turn around and get back on. WRONG. There were so many people trying to get through two little entrances it was ridiculous. No problem, we decided we’d take a bus. We got on, found seats up top and rode. We thought that we heard our stop and made our way down to the bottom to get off. Jordan managed to jump off, I did not. We’re pretty smart cookies though, because she started to follow the bus and at the next stop (which was about a block away) I got off and started to walk back towards her. We met up and decided that the stop we got off at was not the right one, but it was close so we could find our way back eventually. We walked, we pulled out the map, walked some more, pulled out the map and somehow found a tube stop that took us home.
Getting lost in London was one of the best experiences I could’ve had. I’m not good with maps or anything like that, but I’m really getting the hang of the tube and so I’m sure the buses will come fairly easily as well. After our bus tour tomorrow I’m sure I’ll feel even more comfortable with the city.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
We're here, we're here, we're here....(no ants)
We're in London!!! Our flight went fine, with a little turbulence and very little sleep. But once we saw land it was absolutely beautiful because it was blanketed in snow. We got our bags and everything and then arrived at our flats.
Flat D (aka flat awesome) is living up to its namesake. We have moved in and unpacked all of our stuff...whether or not its going to stay there is a different question, but I really do love our flat. Pictures will come soon....
Today we've been really jetlagged, but managed to do some exploring. We walked around a Middle Eastern section that is right near our flat. That was a bit sketchy, but we found a grocery and got some stuff. Then we wandered over to the canal and that area is gorgeous and in a really nice neighborhood. After a meeting with our professor we then got our tube passes and rode out to Piccadilly, which was so much fun.
My future blog entries will hopefully be more coherent, the jetlag is killer...
Flat D (aka flat awesome) is living up to its namesake. We have moved in and unpacked all of our stuff...whether or not its going to stay there is a different question, but I really do love our flat. Pictures will come soon....
Today we've been really jetlagged, but managed to do some exploring. We walked around a Middle Eastern section that is right near our flat. That was a bit sketchy, but we found a grocery and got some stuff. Then we wandered over to the canal and that area is gorgeous and in a really nice neighborhood. After a meeting with our professor we then got our tube passes and rode out to Piccadilly, which was so much fun.
My future blog entries will hopefully be more coherent, the jetlag is killer...
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Jk Jk
Our flight from Raleigh to London has been canceled. Ironically enough I heard that it was actually for maintenance and not because of the massive blizzard that hit london today. Everyone was able to get their flight re-booked for the same flight tomorrow. A lot of us are staying at a hotel by the airport (nicest hotel I've ever been in, honestly) and our spirits are up.
So tomorrow we're gonna do take 2. Now I'm really excited...lets just get there already!
So tomorrow we're gonna do take 2. Now I'm really excited...lets just get there already!
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