Spring Break

Aly pointed out to me that I needed to update my blog so here I am, back again! Over Easter weekend a couple of us had a sleepover at one of our friend's house and the next morning made banana pancakes with nutella and decorated eggs. This is apparently not a tradition for the Brits and had to be explained to several of our host families who did not understand egg dying or even the fact that we had white eggs in the states. After egg dying my roommate hid the eggs in the backyard so we could have a hunt, because really, there is nothing college students do better than act like 5 year olds. : )My American freedom egg and the pink communist egg

Queen Egglizabeth and Prince Phil-oeuf

Last week was my spring break and it was pretty exciting because my parents came up and visited for the week. I was getting a little homesick so it was really nice to see them. Almost as good was the fact that I got to eat out every night and I didn't have to eat one peanut butter sandwich all week! huzzah! I think I may have gained a pound or two over the week though... and the pubbing with my dad didn't help either. : ) While they were here we were in London for a couple days and we went and visited all the sites that I couldn't afford on my own as a poor college student. We visited the Tower of London and had a very interesting tour by a very animated beefeater who informed us of the 1300 bodies that were buried beneath our feet at the tiny little chapel called St. Peter ad Vincula (which means St. Peter in Chains, which is fitting for a chapel where the executed are buried, no?). We also went on the London Eye, the giant ferris wheel on the edge of the river. It was kind of cool to see the entire London skyline but I am not sure it was worth the fifteen pounds per person it cost to ride. Seriously? 30 dollars for a giant, slow moving ferris wheel!? After touring around London we went into the countryside and visited several adorable little villages and a splendid palace where the Duke of Marlborough lived. Actually, lives, it is still a residence for the Duke and his family which is kind of cool in a disgusting sort of way. I was waiting for Mr. Darcy to show up but he never did. : ( It was nice to get out of the city for once though. My dad had to learn to drive with a manual car on the wrong side of the road too, which was kind of interesting. But we didn't die so I consider that a success. I do feel though that whoever invented traffic circles needs to be shot. We went through about 20 and I'm still not completely sure how they work.

La Marseillaise

'Allo loves! Pip pip, cheerio, and all that! Unfortunately I have not actually met anyone that talks like that but I'm still hopeful! : ) It has been a fun and busy couple of weeks. For my birthday weekend I went to Paris with a couple people from my program and that was amazing! Paris was gorgeous (except for the metro which was much smellier than the english underground) and we visited all of the big museums and attractions including the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Musee D'Orsay, and, of course, the Centre Pompidou for our dose of weird modern art. I am not sure what deep philosophical artistic message was being sent by the room filled with blow up furniture... but I am just a common plebe, what do I know of the artistic process? The best part of the weekend was seeing my friend who has been studying there all year. Seeing someone from home was incredibly reassuring, especially since I have not seen her since August. The next best thing was definitely the food. It is a good thing I am not studying there because I would gain at least 20 pounds. It was just cheesy, bready, pastry-y deliciousness! There are crepe stands on practically every corner, need I say more? For my birthday we went out to this cute little restaurant that served something called a racqulette, which consisted of a huge wedge of cheese being put between two hot plates so the cheese melts and drips into a plate where you can dip bread, meat, and veggies in it. Of course, since it was my 21st we then went out to a bar. After we got back to London we went out again on my actual birthday, though my friends had to do serious negotiations with the bartender when they were buying me drinks to get them to make me a cocktail, since no one in this country really knows how to do that. During the weeks I am just keeping up with school and going to lots of plays. Next week is midterms, which is pretty scary since I feel like I just got here! What is really scary is that means I really should start figuring out what I am doing this summer... eek! No job!

My French Birthday Party

Eating Crepes with Nutella. My favorite!!!


This is me and my London roomie doing our obligatory phone booth photo shoot. : )

A Wee Bit o' Scotland

Hello again, friends, family, and internet stalkers! I am still doing well but definitely missing everyone from home. This week was fairly eventful and I spent today recovering by sitting around the house and doing absolutely nothing, it was pretty great. On Tuesday I went to a production of The Merchant of Venice above a pub at Greenwich but it wasn't very good and none of us were very impressed, which is rather disappointing after our teacher spent an hour analyzing the sexual aspects of the play and pulling out a heavy volume entitled "Shakespeare's Sexual Language" and prefacing her reading with on the double meaning of the word "ring" with, "It is by a scholar so it must be true." : ) It is definitely an entertaining class.


On Thursday we took a train up to Edinburgh, Scotland, where we stayed until Saturday evening. Scotland in definitely a gorgeous place with a fascinating history and culture. Edinburgh was more laid back and a bit more my pace than London. I started thinking that maybe I should have gone to school there instead! My only problem with the trip is that we didn't really get out of the city at all and went everywhere with our group of 30 people, so I kind of felt like I was back on high school field trips. Also, there were gale force winds the entire weekend and I was nearly blown over a couple times. On the first day we visited Edinburgh Castle, which was a real honest to goodness medieval kick-ass fortress, so it pleased me greatly. Unfortunately they did have some Disneyland style setups going inside modeling its use as a pow prison in past centuries with weird voice overs and hammocks hung around the room.


That weekend we also visited Holyroodhouse Palace, which is an official royal residence in Scotland and walked through Mary, Queen of Scots' bedchamber where her husband, Lord Darnly, murdered one of her advisers by stabbing him like, 40 times. Eek.










We also saw the new Scottish Parliament building which was a very modern, abstract building, which was pretty cool but weirdly contrasted with the architecture around the rest of Edinburgh. A cute little old Scottish man gave us a tour of St. Giles Cathedral where a riot started in the 17th century when Charles I tried to impose a new prayer book... and a civil war was born! They even let us take pictures in the chair that the queen sits in when she goes to church there when in Scotland. My bum feels quite royal now. : )

We also enjoyed the Scottish night life a bit, and found this really cool pub called Jekyll and Hyde that had a really creepy interior and amazing drinks signature drinks named after the seven deadly sins. The bathroom was hidden behind a wall that looked like a bookcase so you had to have someone show you where it was or you couldn't find it and inside the stalls were dripping blood. We then went dancing at a Mexican themed cantina that had a disco light up floor and delicious strawberry margaritas, because, after all, Scotland is famous for its margaritas. : P

Museums and Metros

I am quickly becoming an expert on the London underground and have even perfected my own glazed and disinterested stare! woot! In general, I spend at least two hours a day on the Tube, so I am spending a good percentage of my time on public transportation. Today I even saw a guy who had plucked his eyebrows into a little swirly pattern, it was most curious.

On Tuesday I went to my first Shakespeare production, which was a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream. It performed in an abandoned office building that was having construction done on it so there were all these wires hanging down and all the actors were dressed grungy. It was kind of a hobo version of Masterpiece Theater. In addition, during the production the fairies would prowl around the audience playing with people's hair and shoes and things. It was all very entertaining and the production was actually very good. On Thursday we went to another Gilbert and Sullivan play, called Iolanthe, which was about fairies falling in love with politicians--derive from that what you will.




On Friday a group of us went to Windsor Castle which was very large and impressive both inside and out, though you will have to take my word for the inside as you are not allowed to take pictures--probably mainly so they can sell you nice little souvenir books at the gift shop. Apparently the queen often stays at the castle "on weekends" though we were not given a tour of the current royals' bedrooms, though I have visions of the princes' rooms being filled with playboys and football stars--of course right next to the grand state rooms covered with paintings of Tudor royalty. We also toured St. George's Chapel in Windsor, who's floor is covered with stones marking the tombs of many famous royals. We walked right on top of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour! Today I went to the National Portrait Gallery, which had, well, portraits of famous people, and the National Gallery which was pretty amazing but very easy to get lost in.




Afterwards we went to an Evensong service at Westminster Abbey, which was by far the most awe inspiring building I have ever been in, and to hear the choir echoing through it was breathtaking. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to go explore since tourist hours are over and they were pretty strict about where we were allowed to be during the service. Alas, I did not get to search out more royal tombs and effigies.


This is a group of us outside of a pub in Harrow... The guy on the far right just decided to join the picture. : )

I live in Pinna! "You mean 'Pinner?'" Yeah, that's what I said, Pinna!

The other day a couple of us went to the British museum for the sheer intention of seeing Egyptian artifacts. Actually, who are we kidding, we wanted to see mummies. So, we went trekking through town and found ourselves some poor wretches who have been dragged out of their eternal slumber, shipped thousands of miles, and put on display in glass cases so nosy tourists like me can put their pictures on the internet! This is for you mom, since I know you love this kind of stuff, haha.



On Thursday night I attended the first of my zillion-and-two theater productions that I am going to for my classes. The production was a Gilbert and Sullivan opera called The Mikado, and was quite amusing. To get there, though, required walking through Piccadilly Circus and the theater district which was crazy madness. I think the biggest adaption I am going to have to make is getting used to the huge crowds--at this point I am still getting heart palpitations shoving through the throngs.

Today a small group of us ventured downtown again and visited the Portobello Street market. We probably chose a bad day though as the neighborhood was crowded not only because of the market, but because today was the Circle Line pub crawl, in which teams stop at every Tube station on the Circle Line and drink at a pub. So, basically, we got off the tube to crazy drunken madness. Eating paella-- I had the chicken but the other two girls had seafood; the shrimp still had eyeballs!!! eww!!!


After the market we visited Kensington Gardens, which was gorgeous. I'm starting to discover that the Brits definitely like their green grassy parks and fields.
Peter Pan statue at Kensington Gardens:

Afterwards, we decided to go visit Harrods, which was definitely the most intense department store I have been in. Any place that sells Prada handbags, Dior dresses, jewelry, teddy bears, cheese, fruit, meat, and candy, all in the same store is a pretty fun place. Though by far my favorite item was a pair of men's red velvet slippers with a crest on them that sold for almost 900 pounds (around 2000 dollars). VERY Hefner-esque.

Be sure to mind the gap when exiting the train

So, apparently by magic the internet at my host family's house is working so I am making my big update on my new city! I'm living with a lovely Indian family in the town of Eastcote, which is about an hour tube ride away from my school in central London. My parents would be so proud as I have greatly expanded my diet in just the last several days! : ) The family has two daughters. The eldest, Roshni, is 17 and learning to drive which is apparently not going so well for her, which I completely understand as I would be terrified to drive in this city! During the taxi ride from the airport we were pretty sure we were going to die in a head on collision-- apparently the Pacific Northwest in the old lady driver of the world. The city is gorgeous though. Yesterday we went to the Tower of London so I got to see where lots of famous people got their heads chopped off, which was pretty cool, in a gruesome Tarantinto-type way. I have also learned that this is a very bad city for people who are uncoordinated like me, as the streets are windy and the sidewalks uneven; I have gracefully tripped on uneven bricks more times than I can count and completely fell on my butt today walking out of a bookshop. The money situation is pretty painful as well, as the price of everything is pretty much the same as in the U.S except its in pounds instead of dollars, which means its actually twice as much! I paid 3 pounds for a hot chocolate today, which is way way too much after converting it to dollars... O well, I have resigned myself to being poor here. Until next time, cheerio darlings!

London Calling

Hello! Just wanted to let everyone know I am alive and well in London! Its been a crazy chaotic couple of days. The airline lost my luggage so i was not doing so well for the first couple of days and had to use all my roommates toiletries and borrow socks and stuff, but they finally found it so I am doing better now. Its amazing how a clean pair of pants can perk up your mood! Anyway, I actually don't have time to say much now but I will give a more complete update as soon as possible! The internet at my host families is acting sketch right now but as soon as they get that figured out I should be good. Hope you are all doing well, and love you!