Another day, another dollar....well actually quite a few less dollars I'm afraid lol.This week has been a bit of a boring one.
Monday was a slow day with lecture in the afternoon and in the evening me, Jessalyn and Katalyn headed out to the Globe, a pub we had eaten at one night, for dinner (we had AWESOME fish and chips there and wanted it again lol). Unfortunately, since it was a bank holiday, it was just closing up when we got there (most things closed early or weren't open at all all day) so we walked down the street and sure enough found a small restaurant called Nando's open. Well it turned out to be such a great place! It had portuguese decor and mostly chicken menu. The serving was a bit strange as it looked like a regular restaurant but you had to walk up to a counter to order and get your own drinks, utensils, ketchup, etc. But we had a whole huge meal, including dessert for like £7 (about 15-20 Cdn $)! And it was really good with a great atmosphere. It's now our fall back when we don't feel like shitty cafeteria (or "refectory" as they call it here) food. Though I still have about £100 left on my meal card that I have to use up, and I'm running out of spending $ so more often then not I'll be "refectoring" anyway.
Tuesday brought an early morning of shopping, which was very exciting for me as shopping always is lol. A group of us walked to this dept store ppl told us about called Primark. Well it is my new favourite! It was awesome - the clothes are SO cute, the store is HUGE with clothing, accessories, lingerie, shoes, etc, and they are all SO cheap! I got a pair of flats, flip flops, a sweater, two tanks, a jacket, and two tops for £38 (about $80 Cdn)! That may not sound that cheap but by comparison to stores at home for the same quality it was great. I'm going to go back next week before we check out *wink* We stopped at Starbucks, etc, on the way back (I love Starbucks here btw, for some reason everything tastes better) and headed back for another lecture.
Tuesday night was party night! A big group of us all hung around the dorm chatting and drinking in rooms then headed to Covent Garden to this club called, appropriately "The Gardening Club" and it was alot of fun! I was really excited to go out and dance and have fun, partly b/c it had been so long since I had done so, and also b/c my first night out here really sucked. It was nice to get out with ppl I haven't seen so much on the trip also, since we've all kinda broken up into little groups. And the best part is I didn't have a major hangover! Yay!
Today we visited the US Embassy. It didn't start out too fun since Cameron and I got seperated from the rest of the group (my Tube card doesn't work in the machine for some reason so I have to go the long way and show the agent at the gate to let me in...by the time I got through everyone was gone and I just happened to see Cameron at the ticket booth). Dr. Freitag is kind of annoying b/c he'll just take off when we're out somewhere and not wait and make sure everyone gets through or knows where they're going. He always tells us where we're going but isn't always clear. I knew how to get to that point but not from there...anyway it was fine we just got directions from someone on the street and ended up catching up. There was a ton of security to get in - we had to show our ID's to like 3 different ppl and leave those and our cameras/cells at the front desk. It was really nice inside with all marble and portraits on the walls. We didn't see much though b/c we were taken right to a conference room where the Minister and a few other communications ppl talked to us. It was interesting and they were really great people but it was a little boring. Also, I found it hard to relate to some things, since I'm not American.
It would have been nice to visit the Canadian Embassy as well but we have limited time and our field trips are based around the majority of the group and Dr. Freitag's connections. All in all it was an interesting outing though.I've just been hanging around tonight doing laundry (I know, super exciting isn't it?). I'm soooo glad that's done b/c now I have clean clothes and don't have to feel like a slob! lol. We were going to go to the National Gallery with a few people but decided to stay behind anyway. It was great for a short time ppl were watching Friends on the common room tv so I was in heaven....til a bunch of students turned it off in the middle of an episode and put some Indian movie on....sooooo annoying.I needed tonight to relax anyway b/c I need to catch up on sleep before tomorrow night.
As of Friday morning I will be on a train to Paris!! I can't wait, even though I'm a bit nervous to be alone much of the trip, I'm soooo excited to be visiting somewhere I've always wanted to go and it's exciting on my own as well. I'll see what I'm made of I'm sure, in some respects, and it will be great not to have to answer to anyone else. I'm hoping to go to the Louvre, the Catacombes, possibly Montmarte/Basilique de Sacre Couer, and the cemetary where all kinds of famous people are buried (I can't remember the name of it since my french is horrendous). I'll write more about that later.
Tomorrow will just consist of errands, lecture, and packing/going to bed early. There is also a group going to Barcelona and one going to Milan, so there will be lots of exciting stories on Monday, I'm sure.
It has occured to me that I've been really lucky - I've already been to the two cities I just mentioned and by the time I get home from this trip, I will have been to England, France, Italy, Germany, Holland, and Spain. It's hard to believe.
More later :D (or should I say, bon soir......who am I kidding I don't even know exactly what that means...I'm a horrible Canadian lol)
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Over halfway done!
Yet another week has passed and we now just have about a week and a half left before the end of the course! It's kinda scary how fast the time has passed and I feel like I need to scramble a bit to try and get everything done that I want to...
Thursday was a bit of a better day than Wednesday, thank goodness, though I was still homesick. We just had our usual lecture and then went straight to our rooms and packed for Amsterdam! Our plane was leaving at around 8:30 and we had to get there a couple hours early, plus it would take an hour to get there on the Tube, so basically we left around 5 lol. Katalyn and Jessalyn had problems going through security cause they had so many liquids and their bags were quite large, so there was a bit of a wait there and they ended up having to go back and check them - glad it wasn't me! The flight over was SO fast though...I dozed a bit but the time just flew by, it was great.
Once we got through all the airport stuff we had to grab a cab to the hotel. We had this really funny, nice driver and he informed us that our hotel was out around farms and he called it "no man's land"! haha. We were a little worried then that we were way out in the country somewhere sleeping in a barn, until we got to the hotel and it was great! It was a four star golf hotel so the grouds were really nice and it was in this nice suburban area with lovely cobblestone walkways, cute gingerbread houses, people walking dogs (and everyone has two dogs in Holland, btw, not one), lovely canals with little bridges and birds chirping, etc. Plus there was a bus stop 5 minutes away where we could catch a bus that got us into the city in 20 minutes! We got a good deal for the quality of the hotel also, and we had a four bed room.
We just crashed the first night b/c it was quite late when we got there. But it was early to rise on Friday for sightseeing and our intro to the city! We hopped on a bus into town and headed over to a restaurant for some food (where a couple of us had obscenely overpriced meals with a side of terrible service). Well, in fact, our first stop was a coffeeshop...for those of you who don't know marijuana (among other things) is legal in Amsterdam so on every corner there are small cafes where you can buy and smoke weed. You can also, of course, buy weed accessories, pre rolled joints, papers, etc.
Now, I don't really see the appeal in smoking up all the time, and even less so in a lovely city with so many other interesting things to see and do, but it's all part of the experience of the city and so I did want to take it in a little. However, when we got to the coffeeshop Jessalyn realized she didn't have an ID on her ( you have to be 18 or over to purchase weed or be in a coffeeshop). So we ended up having to hop back on the bus, go back to the hotel and get her passport. I went with her so she wouldn't be by herself and basically that was a wasted hour going to and from. But no matter....we met up with the other girls again and went to a different coffeeshop anyway.
Yes I smoked a joint, and no it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. There was no one else in the shop and I didn't even really get much of a high from it anyway. I urge you if you go to Amsterdam, unless it's your thing, DO NOT spend your entire trip in coffeeshops because they are way overrated. Besides you can get marijuana practically as easily in North America anyway (not that I'm advocating drug use on any level, to each his own, but I'm not your mother either). There that's my rant...I will move on now...
From there we wandered the city a bit and eventually got on a canal boat cruise. Also for those of you that don't know, Amsterdam is FULL of canals and it's really the best way to see the city and get around, besides walking. We were in a low, glass top boat driven by this old man Captain who, not kidding, looked just like the High Liner fisherman guy. He looked just like you'd expect an old boat captain to look like - gray bushy hair and beard, uniform, and he even had a pipe in his mouth! Anyway it was a nice cruise....we saw alot of houseboats (there is a housing shortage in the city so a lot of people live on houseboats in the canals) and got great views of the houses along the water.
The architecture is wonderful there...all the houses have these ornate tops and they all have long hooked ropes on pulleys hanging off them. According to the boat tour, the stairways and doors are so narrow furniture, etc, has to be hooked on this rope and pulled up and through the windows! The tour lasted about an hour and when we got off we headed across the street to the Sex Museum. That's right...being a particularly liberal city, prostitution is also legal there and so things associated with it are to be seen in plain view in some areas. The museum was pretty funny, and actually interesting at the same time. They actually had a lot of old statues and ancient figurines displayed (you can imagine doing what), ivory penises and things from ancient tribes, little exhibits and lots of photographs. I have to say I liked the museum alot except for many of those photos - people having sex with animals is not something I generally like to see (quite disgusting). My girlfriends will be happy to know that I got my picture taken sitting on the giant penis (that pic is NOT on Facebook!).
After the Sex Museum we decided we'd walk up to the Anne Frank museum and see if we could get in and if we couldn't get in we'd buy tickets for the next day. So it took forever to walk up there (which wasn't bad b/c it was nice to people watch and see the canals and streets) and when we got there the other girls didn't want to wait in line, even though it was moving fairly steadily. I thought we might as well go in b/c the line wasn't bad, plus we'd walked all the way up here in the first place, but of course I was outnumbered four to one so I was overruled. They decided we should walk to the Flower Market, which was another super long trek mostly done aimlessly alternately shoving the map in my face wanting me to navigate and grabbing it from me thinking they knew best where we were going.
Needless to say by the time we got to the Flower Market, which wasn't really worth it either, and then was lead along by the other girls looking for another coffeeshop, I wasn't in the best mood. Not to mention I was starving and thirsty (it was really hot that day). To make a long story short, they found another coffeeshop, did their thing and we finally walked to an Italian restaurant and had dinner, not without a great deal of tension forming within the group. On the bright side I had delicious tortellini for dinner.
We headed back to the hotel and just lounged in the room that evening. The second day, Katalyn and I were up before anyone else and ready to go b/c there was apparently a miscommunication and the other girls thought we were going out later. This, in addition to the fact that Katalyn and I were annoyed about the day before and actually wanted to see sights besides coffeeshops, led us to the decision to leave and meet up with the other three later. This proved to be a very good decision as we got to see everything we wanted to (and didn't have to walk huge distances as a result of shrewdly buying a tram pass).
We started off at Anne Frank Haus museum. The line was quite long (twice as long as the day before... was a good thing the other girls weren't there as they would have heard an "I told you so" from me *wink*) but moved fairly quickly and we got in after about 30 minutes to an hour. There is a main museum area but you can also enter the small apartment where Anne and her family/friends (8 ppl in total) lived in hiding for 3 years. This was the coolest part - it was SUCH a small space and it's hidden behind a moving bookcase so when you walk in you really feel what it must have been like for them. All the windows were blacked out and they still had the movie star photos and clippings on her bedroom wall. It was really cool to see.
From there we got back on the tram and went to the Museumplein, which is where the Rijksmuseum (very famous art museum), etc, are located. There is a huge park area in the middle of all the museums with huge red and white block letters saying " I amsterdam" (I think it's the new tourism slogan, sort of). We headed to the Van Gogh museum, which was also beautiful. They didn't have my favourite painting "Starry Night" but they had many more and they were beautifully laid out. It was crowded though and we were pretty tired so we didn't spend much time there (obviously had time to get to the shop though lol). We had a rest in the park and a drink for a bit and decided to head to Hard Rock Cafe so Katalyn could get a t shirt for her dad and brother.
We decided to go to the Rembrandthaus museum from there but we has a bit of trouble with the tram system and got a bit lost. Apparently there are a few different companies managing the trams in the city so they wouldn't let us on one with the ticket we had, and couldn't find the right one....plus we bought fare for one but then it took us to the wrong place. So to make a long story short, we ended up at Rembrandtsplein instead and decided to scrap trying to find it and head back toward the main square again.We did a bit shopping along the way and just stopped at a small pub to eat dinner.
I gotta say the Dutch are nice people but they are horrible on customer service. Waiters like to ignore you and take forever to bring things. We just headed back to the hotel for an early night b/c we had seen everything we wanted to see and were quite tired also. The other girls were quite a bit later but thankfully there was no more tension between us, so it worked out well. They didn't end up getting to any museums though and pretty much smoked weed all day (then in the evening in the room several times). So I was even more glad we had split up.
All in all it was a good trip. Amsterdam is a beautiful city and I'm glad we got to see outside the city as well. Holland is definitely somewhere I'd like to go back to someday. No other events of interest have occured since then, just bed and homework so just boring things lol. I'm trying to book Paris for this weekend but not done yet.
I'll keep everyone posted as always.More later! :D
Thursday was a bit of a better day than Wednesday, thank goodness, though I was still homesick. We just had our usual lecture and then went straight to our rooms and packed for Amsterdam! Our plane was leaving at around 8:30 and we had to get there a couple hours early, plus it would take an hour to get there on the Tube, so basically we left around 5 lol. Katalyn and Jessalyn had problems going through security cause they had so many liquids and their bags were quite large, so there was a bit of a wait there and they ended up having to go back and check them - glad it wasn't me! The flight over was SO fast though...I dozed a bit but the time just flew by, it was great.
Once we got through all the airport stuff we had to grab a cab to the hotel. We had this really funny, nice driver and he informed us that our hotel was out around farms and he called it "no man's land"! haha. We were a little worried then that we were way out in the country somewhere sleeping in a barn, until we got to the hotel and it was great! It was a four star golf hotel so the grouds were really nice and it was in this nice suburban area with lovely cobblestone walkways, cute gingerbread houses, people walking dogs (and everyone has two dogs in Holland, btw, not one), lovely canals with little bridges and birds chirping, etc. Plus there was a bus stop 5 minutes away where we could catch a bus that got us into the city in 20 minutes! We got a good deal for the quality of the hotel also, and we had a four bed room.
We just crashed the first night b/c it was quite late when we got there. But it was early to rise on Friday for sightseeing and our intro to the city! We hopped on a bus into town and headed over to a restaurant for some food (where a couple of us had obscenely overpriced meals with a side of terrible service). Well, in fact, our first stop was a coffeeshop...for those of you who don't know marijuana (among other things) is legal in Amsterdam so on every corner there are small cafes where you can buy and smoke weed. You can also, of course, buy weed accessories, pre rolled joints, papers, etc.
Now, I don't really see the appeal in smoking up all the time, and even less so in a lovely city with so many other interesting things to see and do, but it's all part of the experience of the city and so I did want to take it in a little. However, when we got to the coffeeshop Jessalyn realized she didn't have an ID on her ( you have to be 18 or over to purchase weed or be in a coffeeshop). So we ended up having to hop back on the bus, go back to the hotel and get her passport. I went with her so she wouldn't be by herself and basically that was a wasted hour going to and from. But no matter....we met up with the other girls again and went to a different coffeeshop anyway.
Yes I smoked a joint, and no it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. There was no one else in the shop and I didn't even really get much of a high from it anyway. I urge you if you go to Amsterdam, unless it's your thing, DO NOT spend your entire trip in coffeeshops because they are way overrated. Besides you can get marijuana practically as easily in North America anyway (not that I'm advocating drug use on any level, to each his own, but I'm not your mother either). There that's my rant...I will move on now...
From there we wandered the city a bit and eventually got on a canal boat cruise. Also for those of you that don't know, Amsterdam is FULL of canals and it's really the best way to see the city and get around, besides walking. We were in a low, glass top boat driven by this old man Captain who, not kidding, looked just like the High Liner fisherman guy. He looked just like you'd expect an old boat captain to look like - gray bushy hair and beard, uniform, and he even had a pipe in his mouth! Anyway it was a nice cruise....we saw alot of houseboats (there is a housing shortage in the city so a lot of people live on houseboats in the canals) and got great views of the houses along the water.
The architecture is wonderful there...all the houses have these ornate tops and they all have long hooked ropes on pulleys hanging off them. According to the boat tour, the stairways and doors are so narrow furniture, etc, has to be hooked on this rope and pulled up and through the windows! The tour lasted about an hour and when we got off we headed across the street to the Sex Museum. That's right...being a particularly liberal city, prostitution is also legal there and so things associated with it are to be seen in plain view in some areas. The museum was pretty funny, and actually interesting at the same time. They actually had a lot of old statues and ancient figurines displayed (you can imagine doing what), ivory penises and things from ancient tribes, little exhibits and lots of photographs. I have to say I liked the museum alot except for many of those photos - people having sex with animals is not something I generally like to see (quite disgusting). My girlfriends will be happy to know that I got my picture taken sitting on the giant penis (that pic is NOT on Facebook!).
After the Sex Museum we decided we'd walk up to the Anne Frank museum and see if we could get in and if we couldn't get in we'd buy tickets for the next day. So it took forever to walk up there (which wasn't bad b/c it was nice to people watch and see the canals and streets) and when we got there the other girls didn't want to wait in line, even though it was moving fairly steadily. I thought we might as well go in b/c the line wasn't bad, plus we'd walked all the way up here in the first place, but of course I was outnumbered four to one so I was overruled. They decided we should walk to the Flower Market, which was another super long trek mostly done aimlessly alternately shoving the map in my face wanting me to navigate and grabbing it from me thinking they knew best where we were going.
Needless to say by the time we got to the Flower Market, which wasn't really worth it either, and then was lead along by the other girls looking for another coffeeshop, I wasn't in the best mood. Not to mention I was starving and thirsty (it was really hot that day). To make a long story short, they found another coffeeshop, did their thing and we finally walked to an Italian restaurant and had dinner, not without a great deal of tension forming within the group. On the bright side I had delicious tortellini for dinner.
We headed back to the hotel and just lounged in the room that evening. The second day, Katalyn and I were up before anyone else and ready to go b/c there was apparently a miscommunication and the other girls thought we were going out later. This, in addition to the fact that Katalyn and I were annoyed about the day before and actually wanted to see sights besides coffeeshops, led us to the decision to leave and meet up with the other three later. This proved to be a very good decision as we got to see everything we wanted to (and didn't have to walk huge distances as a result of shrewdly buying a tram pass).
We started off at Anne Frank Haus museum. The line was quite long (twice as long as the day before... was a good thing the other girls weren't there as they would have heard an "I told you so" from me *wink*) but moved fairly quickly and we got in after about 30 minutes to an hour. There is a main museum area but you can also enter the small apartment where Anne and her family/friends (8 ppl in total) lived in hiding for 3 years. This was the coolest part - it was SUCH a small space and it's hidden behind a moving bookcase so when you walk in you really feel what it must have been like for them. All the windows were blacked out and they still had the movie star photos and clippings on her bedroom wall. It was really cool to see.
From there we got back on the tram and went to the Museumplein, which is where the Rijksmuseum (very famous art museum), etc, are located. There is a huge park area in the middle of all the museums with huge red and white block letters saying " I amsterdam" (I think it's the new tourism slogan, sort of). We headed to the Van Gogh museum, which was also beautiful. They didn't have my favourite painting "Starry Night" but they had many more and they were beautifully laid out. It was crowded though and we were pretty tired so we didn't spend much time there (obviously had time to get to the shop though lol). We had a rest in the park and a drink for a bit and decided to head to Hard Rock Cafe so Katalyn could get a t shirt for her dad and brother.
We decided to go to the Rembrandthaus museum from there but we has a bit of trouble with the tram system and got a bit lost. Apparently there are a few different companies managing the trams in the city so they wouldn't let us on one with the ticket we had, and couldn't find the right one....plus we bought fare for one but then it took us to the wrong place. So to make a long story short, we ended up at Rembrandtsplein instead and decided to scrap trying to find it and head back toward the main square again.We did a bit shopping along the way and just stopped at a small pub to eat dinner.
I gotta say the Dutch are nice people but they are horrible on customer service. Waiters like to ignore you and take forever to bring things. We just headed back to the hotel for an early night b/c we had seen everything we wanted to see and were quite tired also. The other girls were quite a bit later but thankfully there was no more tension between us, so it worked out well. They didn't end up getting to any museums though and pretty much smoked weed all day (then in the evening in the room several times). So I was even more glad we had split up.
All in all it was a good trip. Amsterdam is a beautiful city and I'm glad we got to see outside the city as well. Holland is definitely somewhere I'd like to go back to someday. No other events of interest have occured since then, just bed and homework so just boring things lol. I'm trying to book Paris for this weekend but not done yet.
I'll keep everyone posted as always.More later! :D
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
And cue the homesickness...
The past couple days have been a bit boring with not much activity. Tuesday I got up late and didn't really do much in the morning, just prepared for the day.
We went on a tour of the BBC Television station in the afternoon. I was really excited about it b/c it sounded really interesting but honestly the visit was a bit disappointing. First of all, we waited FOREVER for our hostess to come out (probably 30-45 mins in the lobby)...which wasn't TOO bad b/c they had this British soap opera on the tv called "Doctors" which we got sucked into lol. Anyway she finally came and escorted us through but she wasn't able to secure us a tour so she basically just led us through the building to a small conference room where we had three guest speakers talk to us. The head of media relations, head of corporate affairs and a radio guy with BBC Worldservice all talked to us and answered our questions. They were very generous to take of their time and they were very interesting with some great insights, but they talked FOREVER! We ended up being there for over 2 hours listening and it was just very grading and boring after a while. I feel bad saying that cause they were top guys but it just went on WAY too long and they didn't provide SO many insights that it warranted the long time.
Then we pretty much just left, got back on the Tube and came back to the school. We were all starving and tired when we got back and I kinda felt like the day was wasted unfortunately. I just read in the evening and started to watch a movie with a few ppl but it was boring and went to bed (Exciting huh?).
Anyway today was pretty much the same though Katalyn and I got up early and headed to Starbucks and then the Post Office to exchange $. It was a lovely sunny morning and it was nice to get a coffee and sit outside for a bit but the rest of the day was kind of a bust as well. We came back and had lecture again today, which was pretty boring and we didn't even cover much of what we read. Dr. Freitag spent a while telling a story and didn't even get to what we were supposed to talk about (he worked for NATO and the Pentagon and all this cool stuff doing media relations and PR so he's got interesting stories).
Then we had a group meeting afterwards to start planning our final scrapbook project we have to produce as a group. Well, let's just say it was an interesting meeting....it was basically alot of arguing and yelling and too many people trying to say too many things at one time and take over. It wasn't very organized though we did finally get some groups split up and decided what we wanted to have done for tomorrow, which is good. I have to work with Brittney and Leora on the sightseeing section and we decided to do a website for our scrapbook, which I think is cool. We're going to have different sections for important tips and info we think those coming on the course should know, according to our own experiences.
After that meeting I needed some alone time so I walked out to the Rose Garden with my books, etc, and sat out there for a bit. It was nice to get away and to somewhere quiet by myself. However it was really uncomfortable after a bit and then a bird proceeded to poo on me! SO I headed back to get some food. However most of the group was heading out to a pub to watch a big football (aka soccer) match and I didn't really care about doing that (plus have a lot of reading) so I stayed here.
But I couldn't find anyone else to talk to or anything so it was a bit lonely. I started to miss home then but of course I can't call cause my stupid phone card I bought is a piece of crap. It was very frustrating and I really wanted to hear a familiar voice but alas, it was not meant to be. Anyway I just read my stuff for tomorrow and then Katalyn, Jessalyn and I were researching next weekend's trip. We were looking into going to Rome instead of Paris but the prices were just too high. I'd LOVE to but I think I'm just going to stick to Paris....except now they might be doing Rome which means I"ll be doing Paris alone, which sucks :(
We'll see though, it's not decided....Anyway that's all for today....the last couple days have tested my patience and have left me a bit homesick but I'm still having a good time! We're going to be in Amsterdam all weekend so I'll have lots to report on Sunday don't worry!
My bed and other homework beckons so more later....
We went on a tour of the BBC Television station in the afternoon. I was really excited about it b/c it sounded really interesting but honestly the visit was a bit disappointing. First of all, we waited FOREVER for our hostess to come out (probably 30-45 mins in the lobby)...which wasn't TOO bad b/c they had this British soap opera on the tv called "Doctors" which we got sucked into lol. Anyway she finally came and escorted us through but she wasn't able to secure us a tour so she basically just led us through the building to a small conference room where we had three guest speakers talk to us. The head of media relations, head of corporate affairs and a radio guy with BBC Worldservice all talked to us and answered our questions. They were very generous to take of their time and they were very interesting with some great insights, but they talked FOREVER! We ended up being there for over 2 hours listening and it was just very grading and boring after a while. I feel bad saying that cause they were top guys but it just went on WAY too long and they didn't provide SO many insights that it warranted the long time.
Then we pretty much just left, got back on the Tube and came back to the school. We were all starving and tired when we got back and I kinda felt like the day was wasted unfortunately. I just read in the evening and started to watch a movie with a few ppl but it was boring and went to bed (Exciting huh?).
Anyway today was pretty much the same though Katalyn and I got up early and headed to Starbucks and then the Post Office to exchange $. It was a lovely sunny morning and it was nice to get a coffee and sit outside for a bit but the rest of the day was kind of a bust as well. We came back and had lecture again today, which was pretty boring and we didn't even cover much of what we read. Dr. Freitag spent a while telling a story and didn't even get to what we were supposed to talk about (he worked for NATO and the Pentagon and all this cool stuff doing media relations and PR so he's got interesting stories).
Then we had a group meeting afterwards to start planning our final scrapbook project we have to produce as a group. Well, let's just say it was an interesting meeting....it was basically alot of arguing and yelling and too many people trying to say too many things at one time and take over. It wasn't very organized though we did finally get some groups split up and decided what we wanted to have done for tomorrow, which is good. I have to work with Brittney and Leora on the sightseeing section and we decided to do a website for our scrapbook, which I think is cool. We're going to have different sections for important tips and info we think those coming on the course should know, according to our own experiences.
After that meeting I needed some alone time so I walked out to the Rose Garden with my books, etc, and sat out there for a bit. It was nice to get away and to somewhere quiet by myself. However it was really uncomfortable after a bit and then a bird proceeded to poo on me! SO I headed back to get some food. However most of the group was heading out to a pub to watch a big football (aka soccer) match and I didn't really care about doing that (plus have a lot of reading) so I stayed here.
But I couldn't find anyone else to talk to or anything so it was a bit lonely. I started to miss home then but of course I can't call cause my stupid phone card I bought is a piece of crap. It was very frustrating and I really wanted to hear a familiar voice but alas, it was not meant to be. Anyway I just read my stuff for tomorrow and then Katalyn, Jessalyn and I were researching next weekend's trip. We were looking into going to Rome instead of Paris but the prices were just too high. I'd LOVE to but I think I'm just going to stick to Paris....except now they might be doing Rome which means I"ll be doing Paris alone, which sucks :(
We'll see though, it's not decided....Anyway that's all for today....the last couple days have tested my patience and have left me a bit homesick but I'm still having a good time! We're going to be in Amsterdam all weekend so I'll have lots to report on Sunday don't worry!
My bed and other homework beckons so more later....
Monday, May 21, 2007
Not a day of rest at all...
Sunday definitely wasn't a day of rest for the three of us. We took a bus tour, with a pick up of 7:50am....plus we had to get the Tube to the pick-up location....so we were up early.The tour started at Warwick at the castle there and it took 2 hours to drive there so we just slept most of the way.
The countryside is lovely...it actually reminded me of the Valley in Nova Scotia, which is funny b/c I expected it to be more like something out of a Jane Austen novel - grey, windswept, rugged, romantic. It was lovely though, very green with lots of trees....and lots of sheep (the rumours are true....apparently there are 40 million sheep in Britain...I think that's larger than the entire population of Canada). Warwick castle was really nice too...a little bit touristy with its costumed actors and medevil weapon demos. Walking into the grounds there was even a rubber chicken on the archery target lol (very Monty Python I thought). The grounds are huge and green with a lovely river and gardens and a huge catapault (not sure what the immediate purpose for that would be in the 21st century though). The castle inside is all decorated in 18th century style....apparently the Earl of Warwick lived there and had many famous guests on a regular basis such as the Prince of Wales and a young Winston Churchill. There were creepy wax figures in all the rooms though which, in my opinion, makes the room look instantly cheaper but oh well. It was still really interesting. The rooms were beautifully decorated and they had a room full of just armour and weapons. Really cool.
We walked around the grounds a bit...it was quite crowded...and then went and had coffee. Yes I had coffee at a medevial castle but give me a break I hadn't had any caffeine in 2 days! lol. OMG they have this peacock gardens with real, gorgeous peacocks walking around and they had their feathers out and everything. It was really really neat - took lots of pictures. They were my favourite part...though they make this loud shrieky noise when they talk to each other, it's SO loud and shrill and annoying...
When we got back to the bus we had a lovely convo with the driver Phil. He asked if we were planning to go on any other tours and we mentioned maybe the Jack the Ripper one or something and he said if we do anymore Premium tours to mention we were chatting with him and they may give us the staff rate! That was pretty cool, he was so nice...
From Warwick we went on to Stratford. We drove through the town a little bit first - which is lovely- and drove by Anne Hathway's cottage (Shakespeare's wife by the way, not the actress from The Devil Wears Prada) then parked and went into Shakespeare's birthplace and walked through. It was a little bit boring b/c it's just a house set up like how it would have looked when Shakespeare lived there. It was interesting but not great plus it was crowded so we couldn't really spend time in each room reading stuff...I just wanted to get out quickly but it was interesting anyway. Went to the gift shop though and they had GREAT stuff. If I was less worried about saving $ I would have bought a bunch of stuff. I got a notebook and a couple postcards at least.
Then we just wandered a bit around the little shopping boulevard outside the house (there was one shop, oddly enough, of just Christmas decorations)...there was lots of cute little shops and cafes....it was too bad we didn't have more time, I felt kinda rushed most of the time unfortunately. I would definitely go back to Stratford another time though and explore more.After Stratford we went to eat lunch at a cute little Cotswolds pub called the Ward or something like that. They had menu choices given to us beforehand so everything was ready when we got there. We had this chicken in cream sauce and potatoes and veggies and it was really good! The veggies and fruit are SO much more fresh here btw, for some reason. It was just a cute little pub you'd expect to find in the English countryside so it was very enjoyable.
From there we went to Oxford, which was also lovely. I think I liked this the best except for the peacocks, etc, at Warwick castle. Again I wish we had more time and weren't so rushed (we were behind time so the guide rushed us a bit, which was annoying). But he took us around to look at a bunch of the colleges (Oxford U doesn't really exist, it's actually made up of 40 or so small colleges). The buildings there are sooo beautiful and full of history. There are these large courtyards everywhere with statues and a great cathedral with tombs and in memory plaques for profs and students, etc. We went to Christ Church college and into the Great Hall where they all eat dinner too and it looks JUST like the one in Harry Potter! SO cool! Oxford was the inspiration for that movie and for Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. The Dean's daughter was named Alice, and Carroll based alot of the characters on Oxford ppl, including her. We even drove by a pub where he and JRR Tolkein used to meet up and chat. I really wish we had more time. We got free champagne in the Great Hall though, that was kinda cool. The walls were covered in portraits of former famous students and faculty.
We walked a bit around the town streets and looked at various buildings but that was about it. I'd like to go back there sometime as well.We drove back into London after that and got dropped off. It kinda sucked cause we had to take the Tube a bit back, they didn't drop off at the College (even though when we hopped off Phil the driver said he would have drove us back, and would have but the guide told us to get off at Marble Arch....Phil just rolled his eyes lol. He was great...). I was disappointed in the guide and the fact that we didn't have more time at the last two places but all in all a good tour. He was super dry! We were exhausted when we got back - we'd been walking SO much non stop for the last three days. I just lounged around all evening and read and did homework (sooo wrong on a trip like this but hey, has to be done).
Today (Monday), I had kind of a stressful morning as I lost my student ID card on Saturday (I know I know, it fell off my lanyard at some point walking to or from the Zoo). This is bad b/c you need your card to get in and out of the building as well as to get to the other sections of the building (including the caf, library, and computer labs), not to mention it holds credit for print jobs AND food in the caf (yeah I was super mad at myself). I went on Sat and he told me to come back Mon at 8:30am b/c there was no one there who could do the card til then, spent all weekend bumming other people's cards, went back Mon AM to be told that there was no one there to do it til 10am, went back at 10am and was told to go to another desk where he gave me a new card but then told me I had to go to another desk in the basement to get my credit transfered. THEN I went back to the comp lab where a few of us were typing our journals due TODAY in class at 1pm to print and my card wouldn't work. SO I had to go get another card with the same #...went back to print and it still didn't work so I ended up using Katalyn's.
Needless to say I was super annoyed and very disenfranchised with customer service in the UK. Oh and on top of all this I had to pay 10 freakin pounds to replace the card (that's close to $25 Cdn). Yeah! So I was majorly stressed but got my journal printed finally and got to class ok. Yikes....After lecture a bunch of us grabbed the Tube to the Absolut London Ice Bar. It's a small bar inside another bar and it was soooo neat - the whole thing is made of ice bricks! The walls, the bar, the seats, the tables, everything. There was even a telephone booth made of ice! You pay £12 to get in but you get a drink credit. They throw these long silver capes on you to keep you warm and we looked sooo ridiculous - it was super long and had this huge hood trimmed in fur. It was sooo neat just to see it and look around (don't worry lots of pics to come lol).
A group of us came back to the college after fully intending to eat then go out to a club for Brit's bday but we ended up getting back, eating and just sitting and chatting for like 1.5 hours. We didn't feel like going out after that so I just came on the computer, as you can see.Sorry this message was super long but lots to tell. I want to make sure I don't miss any details. I've definitely had some cool experiences here and I'm sure there will be many more. Amsterdam Thursday to Sunday so I'm sure I'll have LOTS to tell there lol.
More later :D
The countryside is lovely...it actually reminded me of the Valley in Nova Scotia, which is funny b/c I expected it to be more like something out of a Jane Austen novel - grey, windswept, rugged, romantic. It was lovely though, very green with lots of trees....and lots of sheep (the rumours are true....apparently there are 40 million sheep in Britain...I think that's larger than the entire population of Canada). Warwick castle was really nice too...a little bit touristy with its costumed actors and medevil weapon demos. Walking into the grounds there was even a rubber chicken on the archery target lol (very Monty Python I thought). The grounds are huge and green with a lovely river and gardens and a huge catapault (not sure what the immediate purpose for that would be in the 21st century though). The castle inside is all decorated in 18th century style....apparently the Earl of Warwick lived there and had many famous guests on a regular basis such as the Prince of Wales and a young Winston Churchill. There were creepy wax figures in all the rooms though which, in my opinion, makes the room look instantly cheaper but oh well. It was still really interesting. The rooms were beautifully decorated and they had a room full of just armour and weapons. Really cool.
We walked around the grounds a bit...it was quite crowded...and then went and had coffee. Yes I had coffee at a medevial castle but give me a break I hadn't had any caffeine in 2 days! lol. OMG they have this peacock gardens with real, gorgeous peacocks walking around and they had their feathers out and everything. It was really really neat - took lots of pictures. They were my favourite part...though they make this loud shrieky noise when they talk to each other, it's SO loud and shrill and annoying...
When we got back to the bus we had a lovely convo with the driver Phil. He asked if we were planning to go on any other tours and we mentioned maybe the Jack the Ripper one or something and he said if we do anymore Premium tours to mention we were chatting with him and they may give us the staff rate! That was pretty cool, he was so nice...
From Warwick we went on to Stratford. We drove through the town a little bit first - which is lovely- and drove by Anne Hathway's cottage (Shakespeare's wife by the way, not the actress from The Devil Wears Prada) then parked and went into Shakespeare's birthplace and walked through. It was a little bit boring b/c it's just a house set up like how it would have looked when Shakespeare lived there. It was interesting but not great plus it was crowded so we couldn't really spend time in each room reading stuff...I just wanted to get out quickly but it was interesting anyway. Went to the gift shop though and they had GREAT stuff. If I was less worried about saving $ I would have bought a bunch of stuff. I got a notebook and a couple postcards at least.
Then we just wandered a bit around the little shopping boulevard outside the house (there was one shop, oddly enough, of just Christmas decorations)...there was lots of cute little shops and cafes....it was too bad we didn't have more time, I felt kinda rushed most of the time unfortunately. I would definitely go back to Stratford another time though and explore more.After Stratford we went to eat lunch at a cute little Cotswolds pub called the Ward or something like that. They had menu choices given to us beforehand so everything was ready when we got there. We had this chicken in cream sauce and potatoes and veggies and it was really good! The veggies and fruit are SO much more fresh here btw, for some reason. It was just a cute little pub you'd expect to find in the English countryside so it was very enjoyable.
From there we went to Oxford, which was also lovely. I think I liked this the best except for the peacocks, etc, at Warwick castle. Again I wish we had more time and weren't so rushed (we were behind time so the guide rushed us a bit, which was annoying). But he took us around to look at a bunch of the colleges (Oxford U doesn't really exist, it's actually made up of 40 or so small colleges). The buildings there are sooo beautiful and full of history. There are these large courtyards everywhere with statues and a great cathedral with tombs and in memory plaques for profs and students, etc. We went to Christ Church college and into the Great Hall where they all eat dinner too and it looks JUST like the one in Harry Potter! SO cool! Oxford was the inspiration for that movie and for Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. The Dean's daughter was named Alice, and Carroll based alot of the characters on Oxford ppl, including her. We even drove by a pub where he and JRR Tolkein used to meet up and chat. I really wish we had more time. We got free champagne in the Great Hall though, that was kinda cool. The walls were covered in portraits of former famous students and faculty.
We walked a bit around the town streets and looked at various buildings but that was about it. I'd like to go back there sometime as well.We drove back into London after that and got dropped off. It kinda sucked cause we had to take the Tube a bit back, they didn't drop off at the College (even though when we hopped off Phil the driver said he would have drove us back, and would have but the guide told us to get off at Marble Arch....Phil just rolled his eyes lol. He was great...). I was disappointed in the guide and the fact that we didn't have more time at the last two places but all in all a good tour. He was super dry! We were exhausted when we got back - we'd been walking SO much non stop for the last three days. I just lounged around all evening and read and did homework (sooo wrong on a trip like this but hey, has to be done).
Today (Monday), I had kind of a stressful morning as I lost my student ID card on Saturday (I know I know, it fell off my lanyard at some point walking to or from the Zoo). This is bad b/c you need your card to get in and out of the building as well as to get to the other sections of the building (including the caf, library, and computer labs), not to mention it holds credit for print jobs AND food in the caf (yeah I was super mad at myself). I went on Sat and he told me to come back Mon at 8:30am b/c there was no one there who could do the card til then, spent all weekend bumming other people's cards, went back Mon AM to be told that there was no one there to do it til 10am, went back at 10am and was told to go to another desk where he gave me a new card but then told me I had to go to another desk in the basement to get my credit transfered. THEN I went back to the comp lab where a few of us were typing our journals due TODAY in class at 1pm to print and my card wouldn't work. SO I had to go get another card with the same #...went back to print and it still didn't work so I ended up using Katalyn's.
Needless to say I was super annoyed and very disenfranchised with customer service in the UK. Oh and on top of all this I had to pay 10 freakin pounds to replace the card (that's close to $25 Cdn). Yeah! So I was majorly stressed but got my journal printed finally and got to class ok. Yikes....After lecture a bunch of us grabbed the Tube to the Absolut London Ice Bar. It's a small bar inside another bar and it was soooo neat - the whole thing is made of ice bricks! The walls, the bar, the seats, the tables, everything. There was even a telephone booth made of ice! You pay £12 to get in but you get a drink credit. They throw these long silver capes on you to keep you warm and we looked sooo ridiculous - it was super long and had this huge hood trimmed in fur. It was sooo neat just to see it and look around (don't worry lots of pics to come lol).
A group of us came back to the college after fully intending to eat then go out to a club for Brit's bday but we ended up getting back, eating and just sitting and chatting for like 1.5 hours. We didn't feel like going out after that so I just came on the computer, as you can see.Sorry this message was super long but lots to tell. I want to make sure I don't miss any details. I've definitely had some cool experiences here and I'm sure there will be many more. Amsterdam Thursday to Sunday so I'm sure I'll have LOTS to tell there lol.
More later :D
Saturday, May 19, 2007
My UK PR Adventure, Vol 2...
Lots to talk about today since we've been going full throttle since I last wrote. Our days have been pretty full of activities...Thursday morning a bunch of us got up early early and got the Tube to Leicester Square to the half price theatre ticket booth. There was already a line up but we got there early enough that we were far up. We decided on three choices and we ended up getting tickets to the Little Shop of Horrors which is a musical about a huge plant from space that eats people (seriously...and it's seriously not as dumb as it sounds...the song from the movie version was nominated for an academy award). After that the other (hungover) ones of the group went back to school and Jessalyn, Katelyn and I went walking.
We walked to Chinatown, where there honestly wasn't much to see, so we quickly left and got back on the Tube to Oxford St and did some shopping (I know I know like I need to do more of that *rolls eyes*).Then we decided to hop on a double decker bus to Green Park and Buckingham Palace. Those buses are the best way to see London...you sit on the top and you can see really far...sooo cool. Also the weather was GORGEOUS. It was hot and sunny all day.
Walking through Green Park was lovely.....it was all sunny and green and the lawn was covered in ppl in striped long chairs sunbathing and napping and such. We just missed the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham but there was still tons of people there so we didn't stay long. Just got a few pics and left. We headed back to the Tube and went back to Bakers Street and stopped at the Sherlock Holmes museum on the way home. It's just this little house and shop and apparently in the books, Sherlock lives at 221B Baker Street but that address doesn't exist so they just stuck it on a building and now that's the museum haha. I thought that was funny....honestly the museum kinda sucked (there wasn't much to see, no guides or any kind of info) but it was kinda fun to get our picture taken in front wearing Sherlock and Watson-esque hats ;)
We headed back to school for a couple hours then went back out around 4:30 to get some supper before the play. We ended up at this restaurant called Garfunkel's...it was really good food actually...then we headed to the play. It was soooo funny! The whole concept is so wierd but it's hilarious and the music and singing are great. I'm going to rent the movie when I get home and make the gals watch it (beware lol). We ended up at a pub near school called the Volunteer afterwards and it was really nice...we were all sitting outside and chatting. I had this really nice British beer. The rest of the night sucked though cause we wanted to go clubbing but a few ppl went back to school to change and they never came back so an adventure ensued that included waiting for them for EVER to come back, going in cabs in two groups, me ending up in the 2nd group with this guy leading us that I didn't even know, losing the other group altogether, picking up the gals at school and waiting another 20 mins, getting to the club (finally) and not actually being able to get in, going to a crappier place around the corner which was so crowded I couldn't even move or breath, our "guide" buying drinks for two in the group and himself but not me and Zach (did you get all that?).
Needless to say I wasn't in much of a mood to be out by then and Zach and I were both tired so we just left. It took another hour to get home cause we couldn't figure the buses out and finally ended up hailing a cab. It was a very frustrating experience cause I hadn't been out clubbing yet and was really interested in going and it got screwed up. But oh well, I didn't spend alot of extra money and we have LOTS of time to see things later.
Slept in (of course) this morning and then Jessalyn, Katelyn and I walked to the Zoo at the other end of the park. The park is huge though so it took a while to get there but it was definitely worth it. We walked through Queen Mary's gardens, rose gardens, etc. There is all kinds of little ice cream/coffee stands in the park and there was a wedding party taking photos on our way back. So beautiful! The Zoo is great too, it's really big and no major animals but all the pens are large for them and it's well taken care of. It's also got a great foundation on conservation and protecting endangered animals. They have a whole foundation surrounding the Zoo that supports and initiates things to help these issues.
We were gone prob 4 hours by the time we walked there and through it and back. We are soooo tired now and I need to get homework done so I'm just staying in doing that tonight and going to be early. We're taking a tour outside the city and have to leave before 7am (ugh...) so I'll be in bed early.Anyway it's almost a week since I arrived already! I can't believe it..before I know it I'll be back home :( I miss you all and home but I mean come on, home just doesn't measure up.
More later....
We walked to Chinatown, where there honestly wasn't much to see, so we quickly left and got back on the Tube to Oxford St and did some shopping (I know I know like I need to do more of that *rolls eyes*).Then we decided to hop on a double decker bus to Green Park and Buckingham Palace. Those buses are the best way to see London...you sit on the top and you can see really far...sooo cool. Also the weather was GORGEOUS. It was hot and sunny all day.
Walking through Green Park was lovely.....it was all sunny and green and the lawn was covered in ppl in striped long chairs sunbathing and napping and such. We just missed the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham but there was still tons of people there so we didn't stay long. Just got a few pics and left. We headed back to the Tube and went back to Bakers Street and stopped at the Sherlock Holmes museum on the way home. It's just this little house and shop and apparently in the books, Sherlock lives at 221B Baker Street but that address doesn't exist so they just stuck it on a building and now that's the museum haha. I thought that was funny....honestly the museum kinda sucked (there wasn't much to see, no guides or any kind of info) but it was kinda fun to get our picture taken in front wearing Sherlock and Watson-esque hats ;)
We headed back to school for a couple hours then went back out around 4:30 to get some supper before the play. We ended up at this restaurant called Garfunkel's...it was really good food actually...then we headed to the play. It was soooo funny! The whole concept is so wierd but it's hilarious and the music and singing are great. I'm going to rent the movie when I get home and make the gals watch it (beware lol). We ended up at a pub near school called the Volunteer afterwards and it was really nice...we were all sitting outside and chatting. I had this really nice British beer. The rest of the night sucked though cause we wanted to go clubbing but a few ppl went back to school to change and they never came back so an adventure ensued that included waiting for them for EVER to come back, going in cabs in two groups, me ending up in the 2nd group with this guy leading us that I didn't even know, losing the other group altogether, picking up the gals at school and waiting another 20 mins, getting to the club (finally) and not actually being able to get in, going to a crappier place around the corner which was so crowded I couldn't even move or breath, our "guide" buying drinks for two in the group and himself but not me and Zach (did you get all that?).
Needless to say I wasn't in much of a mood to be out by then and Zach and I were both tired so we just left. It took another hour to get home cause we couldn't figure the buses out and finally ended up hailing a cab. It was a very frustrating experience cause I hadn't been out clubbing yet and was really interested in going and it got screwed up. But oh well, I didn't spend alot of extra money and we have LOTS of time to see things later.
Slept in (of course) this morning and then Jessalyn, Katelyn and I walked to the Zoo at the other end of the park. The park is huge though so it took a while to get there but it was definitely worth it. We walked through Queen Mary's gardens, rose gardens, etc. There is all kinds of little ice cream/coffee stands in the park and there was a wedding party taking photos on our way back. So beautiful! The Zoo is great too, it's really big and no major animals but all the pens are large for them and it's well taken care of. It's also got a great foundation on conservation and protecting endangered animals. They have a whole foundation surrounding the Zoo that supports and initiates things to help these issues.
We were gone prob 4 hours by the time we walked there and through it and back. We are soooo tired now and I need to get homework done so I'm just staying in doing that tonight and going to be early. We're taking a tour outside the city and have to leave before 7am (ugh...) so I'll be in bed early.Anyway it's almost a week since I arrived already! I can't believe it..before I know it I'll be back home :( I miss you all and home but I mean come on, home just doesn't measure up.
More later....
Thursday, May 17, 2007
I'm finally here! London Week 1...
So my UK PR adventure starts...well it actually started a few days ago but give me a break, I can't get on here every day (well I can but the computers here are old and shitty and therefore slow...ugh so annoying).
So it is officially Day 3 today....got here on Tuesday May 15th around 11am. Flights were good....Amanda, Kelly, Ryan and I met up fine at the airport. The journey was a long one however with an hour and a half flight to Montreal, a two and a half hour layover there, then almost seven hour flight from there to London....ugh. Then the car we hired wasn't there at the airport so we looked and looked and waited and waited and finally got fed up and hired another one. By then we were over an hour late anyway though and soooo tired considering we'd been travelling aaaalll day. Also we were supposed to pick up Tammy (from Memphis) at Terminal 4 so we were so late we had no idea where she would be. We went to the Terminal but couldn't find her and didn't know what else to do so we just left hoping she was at the college already. Needless to say she wasn't and she had quite the crazy journey to get there....we felt SO bad! Everything worked out in the end though...
Once everyone got in, around noon or 1, we went and had some food, did intros and such. Everyone is SO nice and friendly, it's great. There are a couple quiet ones but everyone else is def outgoing so it's very nice. My roommate Robyn is from Southeast Missouri and she's really nice too. The rooms are def small and the temperature isn't the greatest but they're good enough. I don't plan on being in there except to sleep and change. Oh and there is NO elevator in the dorm! Which is just lovely when you're on the 3rd floor.... and that's not even the best part b/c we're technically on the 4th floor....there is an extra floor... the 1st floor starts on the 2nd, if that makes any sense....yeah that was great hauling two heavy big suitcases up all those stairs all by myself. Luckily this guy named Sebastien met me coming down and he carried them up for me. Yay! Apparently people take pity on you if you're short and weak like me :)
We had a quick orientation and tour in the afternoon....the campus is gorgeous! All the buildings are red brick and covered in ivy and we're in the middle of Regent's Park so there's gardens and trees everywhere, it's lovely. ..just how you think a British University should look.After that a few of us walked with Dr. Freitag to a post office nearby and he showed us where there was a close drugstore and grocery store, etc...then we walked back on our own. When we got back ate again and went back out on the Tube (love it!) to the London Eye. It was really cool...kinda boring cause it goes around really slow and it's majorly expensive (I think) but you could see sooo far, which was great....got some nice pics.
We kinda just wandered from there...Dr. Freitag always walks back to the College from there every year but no one went with him lol. None of us were really in the mood to walk much. We all got on the Tube again and ended up at Piccadilly Circus (which is sooo cool...it's just like Times Square in NY with flashing signs and ads everywhere). We couldn't decide on a place to eat though and it was getting annoying b/c there was a few ppl leading the group and b/c the group was so big there was no communication so half of us had no idea where we were headed.We ended up splitting in a few different groups...me, Leora, Bethany and Katelyn ended up at Planet Hollywood, which sucks b/c we didn't want to eat American food since we're abroad (even though we're in Britain and the food here is pretty much all food from other countries) but we were wet and hungry and tired of walking so we didn't really care at that point lol.
Then we just got the Tube back to the dorm and went to bed....needless to say I slept like a LOG.Wed (yesterday) woke up around 10:30, had a shower (the showers here suck btw, they are tiny little cramped stalls. There is one across the hall from our room and it's great cause it's in a little room and I try and get right up and grab it before anyone else gets in there lol. So far I've been successful so we'll see...). We all met up for breakfast....well lunch I guess since it was around noon, and we all went to our first lecture at 1pm! It was pretty boring actually and we only had an actual lecture for the last 20 mins or so b/c we did introductions and Q&A and stuff up until then.
Dr. Freitag gave us some of his background and it's really interesting...he's ex Air Force and has worked at the Pentagon and stuff lol. He sounds like he'd be all hard core like a drill sargeant or something but he's really not...he's pretty funny actually and he's all into theatre and acting so he's always making some grand gesture or silly joke. We talked about the assignments and field trips and stuff so it all sounds really interesting...it's going to be ALOT Of work though and it will be hard to fit in schoolwork with sightseeing.After lecture a bunch of ppl went out but Jesslyn and I stayed and researched weekend trips for Paris and Amsterdam...we went to student services, looked up flights and hotels for a couple hours. Then a couple other gals showed up and we read chapters and articles we were supposed to read for today.
Everyone kinda broke off in little groups again so I have a feeling it's going to be like that most of the time. It's alot easier to travel that way anyway. Katelyn, Jesslyn, Bethany and me went out around 8:30 and got on the Tube and just went randomly to a line and a stop. It was cool to just go and not worry about getting to a particular place. We ended up in Westminster at a pub (a very loud, crowded and smoky pub) called the Fountains Arms or something....I had a rum and pineapple that cost over £5 (which is over 10 Cdn dollars!). We just got on the tube again and ended up in Marylebone where we went to a little grocery store then to a little restaurant called Ask...it was really good food. I had Bruschetta which was nice (their veggies here are more fresh then home for sure). It's also becoming clear to me that spending $ going out is going to be an issue lol. The food in the cafeteria kinda sucks and we're out and around so much it's inevitable that you'll have to buy food. I think I'll be fine though, I can budget (I'm used to it being a poor student). Then we just came back and went to bed...it took me an hour to get to sleep then I kept waking up every hour...then birds outside the window start around 3-4am and it's soooo annoying. It's a nice sound on the one hand but not when I'm trying to sleep.
Tomorrow it looks like it's going to be the 1/2 price theatre ticket booth (it opens at 10am and you can get theatre tix for the same day for half the box office price!) then wandering around the city a bit, probably go to Buckingham Palace, Harrods, shopping, etc. More later! :D
So it is officially Day 3 today....got here on Tuesday May 15th around 11am. Flights were good....Amanda, Kelly, Ryan and I met up fine at the airport. The journey was a long one however with an hour and a half flight to Montreal, a two and a half hour layover there, then almost seven hour flight from there to London....ugh. Then the car we hired wasn't there at the airport so we looked and looked and waited and waited and finally got fed up and hired another one. By then we were over an hour late anyway though and soooo tired considering we'd been travelling aaaalll day. Also we were supposed to pick up Tammy (from Memphis) at Terminal 4 so we were so late we had no idea where she would be. We went to the Terminal but couldn't find her and didn't know what else to do so we just left hoping she was at the college already. Needless to say she wasn't and she had quite the crazy journey to get there....we felt SO bad! Everything worked out in the end though...
Once everyone got in, around noon or 1, we went and had some food, did intros and such. Everyone is SO nice and friendly, it's great. There are a couple quiet ones but everyone else is def outgoing so it's very nice. My roommate Robyn is from Southeast Missouri and she's really nice too. The rooms are def small and the temperature isn't the greatest but they're good enough. I don't plan on being in there except to sleep and change. Oh and there is NO elevator in the dorm! Which is just lovely when you're on the 3rd floor.... and that's not even the best part b/c we're technically on the 4th floor....there is an extra floor... the 1st floor starts on the 2nd, if that makes any sense....yeah that was great hauling two heavy big suitcases up all those stairs all by myself. Luckily this guy named Sebastien met me coming down and he carried them up for me. Yay! Apparently people take pity on you if you're short and weak like me :)
We had a quick orientation and tour in the afternoon....the campus is gorgeous! All the buildings are red brick and covered in ivy and we're in the middle of Regent's Park so there's gardens and trees everywhere, it's lovely. ..just how you think a British University should look.After that a few of us walked with Dr. Freitag to a post office nearby and he showed us where there was a close drugstore and grocery store, etc...then we walked back on our own. When we got back ate again and went back out on the Tube (love it!) to the London Eye. It was really cool...kinda boring cause it goes around really slow and it's majorly expensive (I think) but you could see sooo far, which was great....got some nice pics.
We kinda just wandered from there...Dr. Freitag always walks back to the College from there every year but no one went with him lol. None of us were really in the mood to walk much. We all got on the Tube again and ended up at Piccadilly Circus (which is sooo cool...it's just like Times Square in NY with flashing signs and ads everywhere). We couldn't decide on a place to eat though and it was getting annoying b/c there was a few ppl leading the group and b/c the group was so big there was no communication so half of us had no idea where we were headed.We ended up splitting in a few different groups...me, Leora, Bethany and Katelyn ended up at Planet Hollywood, which sucks b/c we didn't want to eat American food since we're abroad (even though we're in Britain and the food here is pretty much all food from other countries) but we were wet and hungry and tired of walking so we didn't really care at that point lol.
Then we just got the Tube back to the dorm and went to bed....needless to say I slept like a LOG.Wed (yesterday) woke up around 10:30, had a shower (the showers here suck btw, they are tiny little cramped stalls. There is one across the hall from our room and it's great cause it's in a little room and I try and get right up and grab it before anyone else gets in there lol. So far I've been successful so we'll see...). We all met up for breakfast....well lunch I guess since it was around noon, and we all went to our first lecture at 1pm! It was pretty boring actually and we only had an actual lecture for the last 20 mins or so b/c we did introductions and Q&A and stuff up until then.
Dr. Freitag gave us some of his background and it's really interesting...he's ex Air Force and has worked at the Pentagon and stuff lol. He sounds like he'd be all hard core like a drill sargeant or something but he's really not...he's pretty funny actually and he's all into theatre and acting so he's always making some grand gesture or silly joke. We talked about the assignments and field trips and stuff so it all sounds really interesting...it's going to be ALOT Of work though and it will be hard to fit in schoolwork with sightseeing.After lecture a bunch of ppl went out but Jesslyn and I stayed and researched weekend trips for Paris and Amsterdam...we went to student services, looked up flights and hotels for a couple hours. Then a couple other gals showed up and we read chapters and articles we were supposed to read for today.
Everyone kinda broke off in little groups again so I have a feeling it's going to be like that most of the time. It's alot easier to travel that way anyway. Katelyn, Jesslyn, Bethany and me went out around 8:30 and got on the Tube and just went randomly to a line and a stop. It was cool to just go and not worry about getting to a particular place. We ended up in Westminster at a pub (a very loud, crowded and smoky pub) called the Fountains Arms or something....I had a rum and pineapple that cost over £5 (which is over 10 Cdn dollars!). We just got on the tube again and ended up in Marylebone where we went to a little grocery store then to a little restaurant called Ask...it was really good food. I had Bruschetta which was nice (their veggies here are more fresh then home for sure). It's also becoming clear to me that spending $ going out is going to be an issue lol. The food in the cafeteria kinda sucks and we're out and around so much it's inevitable that you'll have to buy food. I think I'll be fine though, I can budget (I'm used to it being a poor student). Then we just came back and went to bed...it took me an hour to get to sleep then I kept waking up every hour...then birds outside the window start around 3-4am and it's soooo annoying. It's a nice sound on the one hand but not when I'm trying to sleep.
Tomorrow it looks like it's going to be the 1/2 price theatre ticket booth (it opens at 10am and you can get theatre tix for the same day for half the box office price!) then wandering around the city a bit, probably go to Buckingham Palace, Harrods, shopping, etc. More later! :D
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