the round about

earls and poets

2006-05-30T22:18:00.000-07:00

today was action packed. we climbed on the bus at 8am. carrie and i barely made it. we woke up about 7.45. you can tell in the pictures. i look sleepy and my hair is in pigtails. anyway, international enrichment had set up a day of education. our first stop was warwick castle, about an hour outside london. warwick castle (pronounced warrick) is not a royal castle, although royalty has spent time there.

it has traditionally been owned and inhabited by the earl of warwick, who traditionally are very involved in politics and intrigue. hundreds of earls lived in the castle throughout its history and now it is a tourist attraction. wooden fortifications were built on the site starting in 954 A.D. stone fortifications were started by william the conqueror in the 11th century who appointed the first earl of warwick. this photo is part of the original wall and tower.

there were all kinds of fun things to do. we climbed to the top of one of the towers and had an amazing view of the surrounding area and the whole castle.

i also had an archery lesson. lets just say that i’m very bad at it. carrie and i went head to head and she kicked my butt!

there was also an impressive conservatory with an amazing sculpted garden and fountain out front.

there were probably half a dozen peacocks that lived in the garden. they squawked and jumped from hedge to hedge. but us being the silly tourists we were, we wanted to see the feathers. so we provoked them a bit by following them around. at one point they chased after us a bit and i thought we were going to get pecked. but eventually they opened up their feathers and it was gorgeous.

while in the garden, i saw a cute little british couple walking around. they were probably in their 70’s and still very much in love. they left the garden, talking quietly to each other and wandered out across an open lawn. i sat and watched them for a long time. it was so comforting to see how much they loved each other and hear them talking to each other. i wanted someone who would walk with me.

then it was back on the bus. this time we were on our way to stratford upon avon, the birthplace and final resting place of william shakespeare. the town was basically a shrine to him. it seemed like every building was connected to him in some way. and so many buildings are still the same as when he lived there – thatched roofs and all.

we visited the hathaway house which is where william’s wife anne hathaway was born and raised. there is still a bench where the two used to sit when they were courting.

we also visited shakespeare’s birthplace. his father worked with leather, so there was a workshop downstairs. none of the original furniture remains, but it has been restored, and the building is still the same. it was crazy to stand in the room where he was born and think that someone so important could have lived there. his works have been translated into every language and he is one of the most if not the most well-known literary figure in history. it was kind of thrilling.

after a quick lunch, the girls decided to have tea, but i still had a lot to see, so i headed off on my own. i saw where shakespeare went to school, the house he lived in just before he died and a house where his children lived.

finally i saw the holy trinity church. it’s the church where shakespeare was baptized, where he attended services and where he is now buried. the church is stunning and surrounded by a hauntingly beautiful graveyard. it has impressive stain glass windows and historically important woodwork.

shakespeare’s actual grave is beneath a stone tablet that reads:

Good friend, for Jesus’ sake forbear,
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
But cursed be he that moves my bones.

i also saw the swan theater. it’s where the royal shakespeare company regularly performs and is modeled after a theater as it would have been during shakespeare’s time. they are the world’s authority on all things shakespeare.

teapots and kirks

2006-05-29T21:58:00.000-07:00

today has been a bit hectic. i hiked over to the hotel for a couple sessions of the IPI conference. then i decided to skip the afternoon sessions and do some sightseeing and gift buying. matt decided to stay for the sessions so we decided to meet up at the hostel later.

i wandered around edinburgh trying to soak it all up. every sound, sight and smell. i wanted to make sure i would remember what it felt like to be there. i took pictures of every old building i saw along the royal mile. i didn’t know what many of them were, but now i have the task of looking them all up online and seeing what they actually are and why they’re important. i stopped and listened to a man playing bagpipes and then wandered out to the foot of the hills just outside edinburgh. i wish i had had more time. there was a path leading up the side of the hills and i wanted to hike it and spend time looking down at the city. but there was too much to see. it was such a nice change to do some sightseeing by myself. normally there is a group of us and it feels like every two seconds we’re stopping to take pictures and everyone is so loud all the time. instead i was alone with my thoughts as i wandered through edinburgh.

i stopped at a cute little tea shop. it overlooked holyrood palace and the hills i had wanted to climb. i got a few strange looks as i walked in because every other person in there was over the age of 60. every shelf and ledge was filled with antiques, teapots, tea cups and lace. it’s exactly the sort of secret club house you’d expect grandmas to have. but it was a nice break from a busy day. i sat by the window and ordered a pot of tea and a brie and cranberry sandwich.

one of the best things i saw on my walk along the royal mile was st. giles cathedral or the high kirk of edinburgh. kirk is the gaelic word for church. st. giles is over 900 years old and is not a true cathedral because it is one of the birthplaces of presbyterianism. it has been home to many important events including the beginning of a war. the stain glass windows are the most impressive in scotland. the queen attends services there on special occasions while she is in scotland.

matt and i found it hard to leave edinburgh. i felt like i had just gotten a taste of the highlands and i wasn’t quite satisfied yet. i wish i could have stayed for a week and toured other parts of scotland, but i’m sure i’ll make it back someday. matt and i boarded the train for home. i tried to keep myself awake and capture every bit of scenery, but after an exhausting weekend, i ended up sleeping as much as was possible on the cold hard floor of the train.

back in london, it was an exciting homecoming. all of my roommates and the other people in our program had traveled. even though we had only been apart for three days, it seemed like so long because we had all done so much. we sat around exchanging stories until we could barely stay awake. it felt good to be home.

parliament and heroes

2006-05-28T22:53:00.000-07:00

this morning matt and i got up early and walked the entire length of the royal mile in order to get to the scottish parliament. the opening ceremony of the international press institute congress were being held there. the building is right across the street from holyrood palace, which is the palace where the queen spends her summers. the parliament was only built a couple years ago. it’s very modern in design, but every part of the design attempts to incorporate some part of scottish history into the building. the building and the designers won all kinds of international awards for the unique approach and groundbreaking design. it’s always interesting seeing modern buildings in the middle of so many old ones with so much history. but that’s one of the things i love about europe, the meeting of the past and present.

matt and i had worn jeans and nice dress shirts because journalists are notorious for dressing very casually. except the on-air tv people. security was very tight and our teacher had not cleared us for everything like she said. luckily the editor of the guardian was one of the head honchos at IPI, so we dropped his name and he got everything sorted out. once inside, we quickly realized we were under dressed. everyone was definitely trying to make an impression. matt and i felt out of our element anyway because we’re only students and these were some of the most talented professionals in our field from all over the world. it’s very daunting. there were people in that room who had been in jail for what they had reported and others who had broken stories that had changed the world. i felt so privileged to be there.

the actual opening ceremony was very moving, which i didn’t expect. it made me proud to be a journalist as the leaders outlined the triumphs and tragedies in journalism over the last year. it’s days like today that i feel like i chose a noble profession. the head of the scottish parliament, the speaker of the house, addressed us. he gave an amazing speech and i felt like he meant every word because he started out as a journalist. matt and i met a young journalist from asia. he’s from a very sensitive country where it is extremely dangerous to be a journalist. i won’t use his name or home country here, but it was fascinating to talk to him about the struggles of working on a daily basis. he was the same age as matt and i and he’s already been through so much. in the united states journalists are ridiculed and looked down on almost as much as lawyers and politicians, but in most other countries, even in europe, journalists are heroes.

the rest of the IPI conference was being held at a hotel in town, so matt and i headed back to the hostel and changed into something a little more professional and hiked over to the hotel. we spent the afternoon in sessions. i won’t go into huge detail, but i was enthralled. i took pages of notes, not because i had to, but because i couldn’t believe some of the things i was hearing. it was encouraging in some cases and discouraging in others. especially the session on africa. the vice president of south africa gave a special address and was part of a panel during the africa session. there were moments that i had tears in my eyes.

after the sessions, matt and i headed back towards the royal mile and wandered around a bit. we hit up a few pubs, just to get the local feel. we found one where they had a video jukebox that played music videos. it was full of obscure european rock bands, some of which i had never even heard of. needless to say, i was a bit giddy. i spent quite a bit of time there and quite a few euros listening to some favorites and checking out some i had never heard of.

the royal mile

2006-05-27T23:14:00.000-07:00

saturday i woke up early and sat out on the stoop waiting for matt. matt and i were heading to scotland, edinburgh specifically, for the international press institute congress. because our professor is the editor of global journalist, she had arranged for us to attend the conference for free. i was so excited! there were going to be journalists there from all over the world, plus, i’d get to do a little sightseeing in scotland.

matt finally walked down the street and we headed to the tube. he and i have class together, but i had not actually hung out with him. it made me a little nervous about how the weekend would go, but i can get along with anyone and it was better than traveling alone. we made it to victoria trian station, one of the oldest and most famous train stations in london. it was packed. this weekend is a bank holiday, which means no one has work or school on monday and EVERYONE travels. and most people travel by train here. so it was ridiculously busy. i had never been in a train station before, so it was an interesting experience. i’m used to flying and the long lines and waits. the train didn’t even start boarding until about ten minutes before we left and there was no security or check-in process. matt and i boarded the train and realized that our tickets didn’t have seat numbers on them. so we figured we would just find empty seats and sit there. but every seat we passed had a reserved note on it. finally we asked someone and figured out that they sell more tickets than they have seats. and since it was one of the biggest travel weekends of the year and we had bought our tickets late, it meant we might not have seats. because people get on and off at every stop, all of the seats aren’t full all of the time. finally we got so tired of jumping from seat to seat that we joined some other people sitting on the floor in between the cars. it was cold and uncomfortable, but at least it only took five hours. once we passed into wales, the train got pretty empty and we found some seats that we stayed in for the last couple hours of the trip. the scenery was amazing. i felt like i was in a movie. everything was so green and there were sheep everywhere. stu makes fun of me because i get so excited over sheep. he thinks that all americans are obsessed with sheep because we must not have any. i’ve tried to explain to him that this is what we picture england looking like because this is what it looks like in the movies. the train went right along the coast so we had an awesome view of the beaches and rocks. i tried to take some photos, but between the dirty windows and the speed of the train, they didn’t turn out too well.

we finally made it into edinburgh and pulled out the trusty guide book. we managed to find our way from the train station to our hostel. our hostel is right at the base of edinburgh castle and situated right on the royal mile. the royal mile is one of the oldest parts of edinburgh and definitely where most of the tourist attractions are. the royal mile is the approximately mile long road that connects edinburgh castle and holyrood castle (the queen’s summer scotland residence). it was where the royalty used to parade on special occasions.

matt and i decided to head up the hill to the castle for a bit of sightseeing. we settled into our hostel first. the hostel is clean and everyone is very friendly. there are posters and wierd paintings all over the walls. it’s seems like it’s a bit of a commune as well. everyone sits around in the common room and plays guitars or swaps crazy travel stories. guests are mostly in their 20’s, but i saw a group of old ladies come in a while ago. it’s mostly hippies and the type of people who have made it a profession to travel and travel cheaply. matt and i were staying in one of the bunk rooms. it’s the cheapest way to travel. our room had six sets of bunk beds and you rent one bed. then there are shower rooms and toilets down the hall. each room had a theme. ours was the brain room. then each bed has a name related to the theme. mine’s brain dead. thanks. here's a pic of one of the murals at our hostel.

after freshening up a bit, matt and i decided to make our first excursion in edinburgh. since the castle was right next door, we headed up the hill. edinburgh castle is one of the oldest in the uk. now it is only a tourist destination and museum, but at one time, it was the sight of some of the most important events in scottish history. mary queen of scots lived there and gave birth there.

i felt like i would have appreciated some of the exhibits more if i knew more about scottish history, but i spent a lot of time reading the little plaques so i knew what i was looking at. we got to see the scottish crown jewels and the rock where the very first kings of scotland were crowned. even though scotland is part of the united kingdom, they are fiercely proud of their heritage and work hard to maintain a separate identity. here’s a couple photos from edinburgh castle.

after the castle, matt and i decided we wanted to do something a little different. we had seen ads for a literary pub crawl. it was supposed to take you to pubs that were important to the literary history of scotland. so we met up at a little pub around the corner from our hostel. matt and i were the youngest people in the group by about 20 years. it turned out the tour was conducted by two actors, who had framed it like a play. the woman pointed out the virtuous qualities of the poets and novelists in scotland’s history. she waxed on about how gentlemanly and what fine educated individuals they were. to her, the love they spoke of in their poetry was pure and true. then the other actor tried to prove they were all brilliant, but they were drunkards and lovers. he believed that without scottish whisky, scottish pubs and scottish women – much of scottish literature would not exist. it’s true that all over the world, pubs and taverns have been the meeting places for great minds. they have been the birthplaces of poetry and of revolutions. according to our this actor and guide – good things come when men sit around and drink. predictably, in the end it was a compromise. they were both right in their own ways. the best part was listening to them recite parts of novels or poems. they both had rich scottish accents and when they would begin to recite, the brogue would become just a little thicker. at one point they sang us an old scottish love song. they also recited a poem in english, then recited the same poem in old scots, which it had originally been written in. even though i didn’t understand the second version, it sounded so much more beautiful. old scots is like middle english, it has a lot of similarities to english, but when spoken quickly, it sounds like a different language. it also has celtic roots. there’s a literary revival in scotland right now and many scots speak gaelic or old scots.

my favorite thing about scotland is the bagpipes. maybe it’s because we’re in edinburgh, right on the royal mile, but i have heard bagpipes since i walked off the train. there is either someone actually playing them or a recording playing at regular intervals. so basically, you’re never out of earshot of bagpipes. i’m sure it gets old after a while, but to me it’s perfect.

sunshine and buses

2006-05-25T20:32:00.000-07:00

sunshine! finally!

today was the first day of sunshine i’ve seen since being in london. i knew it rained here, but i had no idea. it’s been dreadfully cold and wet. today we slipped on flip flops and headed to class, hoping the sun would hold out. during class, our eyes were riveted to the window to make sure the sun didn’t disappear. after a entertaining lecture on the history of the british theater, katie, carrie and i headed to regent’s park (now my favorite park).

we planned to rent a rowboat and spend some time on the lake, but by the time we got there, the little dock had closed down. so we fed some ducks and read for a while. the parks are an important part of life here. each park has its own personality. it’s a place for picnics and parties, football (soccer) and sunbathing, boating and walking, reading and writing. some parks are filled with tourists, like st. james park, others are filled with locals, seeking an escape from the concrete. regent’s park is the most elegant and regal of all the parks. when we arrived it was the perfect temperature, but as it got closer to evening, the clouds took over and things turned chilly. here's a pic of katie and carrie.

we all decided to go to o’neills for some dancing. we had heard from some previous students that it was a favorite, so we decided to try it out. it’s an irish bar, with very few irish people inside it. there’s a live cover band, who are irish, and played everything from green day to the kaiser chiefs. in between sets, there was a dj. we all danced the night away. it was so much fun. i even made a friend. his name is stu, which is a terrible name, so i call him stewart. he’s from a small town in northern england. he’s the english equivalent of a hick. he’s never been outside the united kingdom and it was his first trip to london. he was dazed by the big city life. he thought i was “an english rocker chick” because i was dressed all in black and had a nose ring. that made me happy. but i wanted to laugh when he told me that i was the first american he had ever met. (!) we exchanged phone numbers and i think we’re going to hang out next week. it will be nice to have an english friend.

after we left o’neills, the big task was getting home. the tube closes at midnight and we left o’neills at about 2am. the buses run all night, but none of us had been able to decipher the bus routes yet. so we wandered around piccadilly circus until we thought we found the right one. we all bought hotdogs from the street vendors who make a killing working all night on the weekends. then after waiting for half an hour, our bus finally showed up. i didn’t think we’d actually make it home, but eventually it wound around to our neighborhood. i can’t explain to you the confusion and frustration of twenty of us trying to figure out the buses, get on the bus and then get off in the middle of the night. i’m sure everyone around us was laughing, i was just glad to be home.

enough for me

2006-05-24T21:59:00.000-07:00

this afternoon my journalism class was privileged enough to tour the guardian, one of the most respected newspapers in london.

the guardian not only has a history of being a well-established and respected newspaper, but it is also cutting edge. over the last few years they have launched one of the most successful news websites in the world. (click here to see the site) they also redesigned and changed the size of their newspaper. instead of the large sheets that older newspapers and newspapers in america use, they’ve gone to a tabloid format, which is maybe double the size of a magazine. they’ve created a new typeface and started using a banner design and unique photo cropping. they’ve been internationally applauded and awarded for their makeover.

the visit was fascinating. the editor-in-chief talked to us about the differences between the american press and the british press. he explained that american newspapers base everything around subscriptions, whereas the majority of british newspapers are bought from newspaper stands, that’s why design is so important. also, americans read newspapers at home or in the office, brits read theirs on the bus or on the tube. that’s why both the new design and smaller size of the guardian have boosted readership. he also said that you can tell a lot about people by which newspaper they read.

i’ll cut myself off there. although a few of you may find this interesting, i know that my parents are starting to skim through and see when this gets more interesting. but it doesn’t. that’s all i did today. and for me, it was enough.

printing presses and digestive biscuits

2006-05-22T16:26:00.000-07:00

today was my first day of class. we all had a little trouble staying awake. i’m not sure if it’s jetlag, or because we’ve all been having too much fun. all in all, class was uneventful. it has the potential to be interesting. it’s supposed to be about international issues reporting. our professor is the editor of “the global journalist,” the official publication of the international press institute. we spent a lot of time talking about the state of the free press in different countries around the world. the two most dangerous countries to be a journalist are venzuela and iraq. but the press is becoming less free in most countries, even the united states and great britain. we also talked a lot about the different mindsets of the american press versus the british press. it’s interesting to me, but i can feel you all yawning...

in the afternoon we all met at the museum of london for our other class. the museum of london offers an interactive history of the city, starting in prehistoric times and ending with present day events. it was fun to play with all the toys. we did a little bit of dressing up in a special comedy exhibit they had. i'm wearing the red coat and feather mask.

they also had a little press where you could practice setting your own type and print something. maybe it’s a good thing journalists don’t have to do this anymore, i don’t think i’m so good at it.

after the museum we went to argos because we were told by an american bartender we met it was a good place to buy household items. it’s been so amazingly cold since we got here that we all wanted blankets, i desperately needed a good pillow. i hate flat pillows, i like lots of very fluffy ones. carrie and i also wanted a coffee pot. and we all needed some more shelves or something to hold all our stuff. well, argos was an interesting experience. they have catalogs and little machines at every station. you take the number in the catalog and type it into the machine and it tells you if they have the item in stock. then you write down all the things you want to buy and take it up to the register. then they send it back to the warehouse and in about ten minutes or so, all your purchases are bagged and ready to go. it was quite a sight as tessa, carrie and i tried to carry all of our large plastic bags onto the tube and then from the tube to our flat. we looked pretty ridiculous. on top of struggling with the bags, a man at the tube station started laughing at us and asked where we were from. when we said we were americans he just shook his head and informed us that argos is such a rubbish place to shop. with his nose in the air he continued to tell us how tacky it is to shop there. i wanted to set my bags down, put my hands on my hips and inform him that i’m a walmart shopper, and i can shop at walmart, deals, and the dollar store, i can shop at argos – so leave me and my white trash purchases alone. but i half smiled and laughed with him, then lumbered away with my bags of trashy goods.

after my disheartening shopping experience, i didn’t feel like going grocery shopping and then dragging all the bags down the street. the american bartender had also told us that most of the grocery stores have websites where you can shop online. since we had so many basic things we needed, the flatmates and i decided to give it a try. their website had a picture of everything in the store, organized into aisles and categories. you simply had to click what you wanted and enter the quantity, then for a small fee, they boxed it all up and agreed to deliver it on wednesday. it was fabulous! although, i love the actual shopping experience. and i plan to do most of the grocery shopping myself in the future, but it was the perfect solution for today.

in high spirits after my online shopping, all of my roommates and the extra ten people who basically live in out flat decided we should have a sleepover. a group went in search of snacks and the basic makings of smores. then carrie and i picked out movies and set up the living room. we brought all the blankets and pillows into the living room and created a massive pallet on the floor. soon the hunting party returned. digestive biscuits in place of graham crackets, cadbury’s chocolate and oddly shaped marshmallows which we heated up in the microwave. all the homesick ones were glad to have something that resembled an american night in.

i woke up in the morning to find that everyone had moved to their own beds at some point during the night and sarah and i were laying in the middle of the cold hard floor with only one pillow and blanket between us.

an army of umbrellas

2006-05-21T20:44:00.000-07:00

after staying up most of the night on saturday at kavanaugh's, carrie and i still managed to somehow drag ourselves out of bed early and sunday. loving the united nations as much as i do, i jumped at the chance to participate in their walk the world event.

walk the world was sponsored by the u.n. world food programme. it was organized to help raise awareness and some money to stop world hunger. it was organized so that there were people walking in every time zone and basically there were people walking for 24 hours straight. it was a great concept.

the walk was 5k and held at regent's park, the most beautiful park in london. each of the parks are slightly different from the others. regent's park has elegant fountains and well-manicured flowers.

when carrie and i left the flat it was dreary and cloudy, by the time we stepped off the tube at regent's park, it was raining. it continued to rain throughout the entire walk! but all of us do-gooders huddled under our umbrellas, determined not to let a little london weather stop us.

princess haia from dubai, one of the u.n. goodwill ambassadors came to open the event and lead the walk. they also had lots of free food for us before and after the walk, which was exciting! it was all organic, which i loved! they also had this new brand of bottled water where the bottle is biodegradable. i actually got pretty excited about that and spent a while talking to the distributor about it. it seems kind of dumb, but think about what it would be like if plastic were biodegradable...

when the walk actually started, there were hundreds of us who marched down the trails in regent's park. it was a horde of bobbing umbrellas in a mostly deserted park.

it made me feel so good to do an unselfish deed. everything since i've arrived in london has been about me. what i want to see, where i want to go and what i want to buy. traveling tends to be that way. it felt so rewarding and made me miss doing charity work on a regular basis. i walked home cold, wet and happy.

portobello road

2006-05-20T19:44:00.000-07:00

this morning we woke up and jumped on the tube, heading towards the famous notting hill. our destination: the world famous portobello road.

like so many other things i’ve seen and done, it defies description. but still i try.

imagine a long and winding road. this photo is just coming to the beginning of the road. already you can see it is very crowded and the buildings are bright and colorful.

as you head down the street the crowds thicken and the colorful store fronts give way to cluttered tables. the streets are lined with antique stores of all varieties, stuffed so full that you can barely walk inside. each store specializes in spanish medieval swords or danish pottery. then in front of the stores are tables and stands bursting with more collectibles.

not only are there wares from every period of history and part of the world, but the shoppers are just as diverse. if you listen closely at any given moment at portobello road, you can hear at least three or four languages. there’s so many sounds and so many smells. one moment you’ll smell the musty leathery smell of well worn books and the next second you’ll smell the cloves and cinnamon from a mulled wine vendor.

carrie and i made our way through the crowd, fighting the temptation to buy everything. just because it’s a market doesn’t make it cheap. after buying two scarves and an italia jacket, we bought tea and croissants and decided to call it quits as it began to rain.

on our way out we saw a beautiful street performer. she was dressed completely in white and standing on a box. she moved slowly and gracefully in time with a tragic and beautiful French love song.

instead of heading home, carrie and decided to head back to the british museum. the museum itself is breathtaking. it is inspired by roman and greek architecture. i really can’t describe it well, so here’s a photo of the entrance. but the photo doesn’t do justice to the commanding presence the building has.

just inside the gate and before you enter the building are large lawns. today there were demonstrations of medieval swordfighting. the actors lined up in two rows, shouting insults at each other and then charged. the crowd got into it and started yelling encouragements and cheering their favorite fighters.

once inside the museum, we went into the reading room first. as someone who has had a lifelong love affair with literature, it was nearly overwhelming to see the seemingly neverending rows. the reading room is equivalent to the american library of congress. it supposedly houses every book published in britain and many international books as well. anyone can come and do research and read there.

next we headed to the africa exhibit. it was overwhelmingly nigerian based and over all very disappointing. but i’m sure most people enjoyed it. carrie did. i’m just a snob when it comes to africa i guess.

then we headed up to the middle east section. they had a special exhibit i’ve been dying to see. it was called word in art. the whole premise was arabic in the form of artwork. it was possibly the most amazing exhibit i’ve ever seen. i was absolutely in awe. the works ranged from a blank sheet with a single sentence written on them to the highly stylized works with multiple mediums. they wouldn’t let us take photos, so i’ll just say it was amazing and you’ll have to take it at that.

when we came home, we channel surfed our five channels. three clear and two fuzzy. we ran across eurovision. it had been in the papers all week, but none of us were quite sure what it was. in about ten minutes, me and the 15 extra people in my flat were hooked. basically, there were twenty-something countries participating and each one nominates a musician/group to sing a song. then viewers can call in and vote for their favorite. the group/country who gets the most votes wins. it was hilarious! they took it pretty seriously. we had a fantastic time criticizing each group. the best group were a band. i don’t remember which country they were from, but the lyrics of their song were “we are the winners of eurovision.” that’s it. it was awesome. then they had some dorky guy come and dance across the stage. it was possibly the coolest thing ever.

sadly they lost to a gwar inspired band from finland with monster costumes on. seriously. europeans voted them the best band. i think that says a lot.

after the disappointment of eurovision we went to kavanaugh’s. as much as all of our group raved about the good time they had the night before, i was not impressed. to me it was a tacky bar with a horrible live band, full of americans or people looking to hook up with americans. note to self – avoid these venues in the future.

the imperial life

2006-05-19T17:38:00.000-07:00

today was our introduction to imperial college. imperial college is our host institution and where our classes are. contrary to popular belief, there is only university system in london with separate campuses. most americans would think of oxford and cambridge as competing universities but really they are just different campuses of the same university system. it is the second most prestigious campus in the united kingdom. it is the european equivalent of MIT. it only offers science and engineering degrees. famous people like david livingston, h.g. wells and sir alexander fleming (who discovered penicillin) graduated from imperial college.

the campus is a mixture of ornate historic buildings and modern engineering structures. just like any other college campus it has a student union, cafeterias, bookstore libraries and billards rooms.

we had an orientation with our professor pat smith and different people from international enrichment and university representatives. then we had a break for a couple hours so carrie and i hopped on the tube and headed over to the famous victoria station. we stopped in at a little cafe and bought cornish pastries. they flaky pastry crusts with cooked potatoes and cheese, then i got one that also had mushrooms in it. we sat in grosvenor (pronounced grovner) garden across from victoria station and reflected on our first few days. as always we gave into people watching and discussing the fashion of the locals and how we could adapt to it. we also couldn’t help but discuss the tourists who passed our way. we were thrilled though when some tourists came over and assumed we looked like locals and asked us for directions. even though they quickly figured out we were americans by our accents, we knew where they wanted to go and were able to give them directions. it’s thrilling to blend in.

later that afternoon we popped back over to imperial college and had our first lecture regarding british life and culture. as much as our speaker tried to hold our attention about cultural differences, we were all so exhausted after our ice bar adventure it was difficult to stay awake.

because we still didn’t have any groceries at the house beyond some junk food and cereal, carrie and i decided to eat out for dinner. i had spied a nando’s around the corner from our flat and it nearly took my breath away. nando’s is one of my FAVORITE food chains in the whole world. we used to eat it all the time in africa and i haven’t seen it since. so carrie and i went for dinner and it was everything i remembered and more. the biggest difference is that the nando’s here was more plush than the ones in nairobi and all the people who worked there were actually portuguese. having it so close is amazing but dangerous.

after dinner carrie and i looked for a museum that stayed open later and found out the british museum was open later than usual on fridays. so we headed over to the tube and jumped off at the tottenham stop. it started pouring and we got a little lost. by the time we got to the museum it was all closed except for one exhibit, so we poked around a bit before heading home. i’ll tell more about the museum later. it is breathtaking.

icy and fabulous

2006-05-18T09:06:00.000-07:00

my new roommates and i woke up just in time to run over and jump on the tour bus right as it was preparing to pull out thursday morning.
international enrichment had arranged for a tour around the city. our tour guide was witty and very knowledgeable. she explained the origins of certain customs, the history of the city dating back to the roman town of londinium and where the best places were princess diana liked to shop. we didn’t get out at all so i didn’t take many photos. i already have photos of a lot of the big touristy places like buckingham palace and big ben. even though the tour was fascinating, it was difficult for us all to stay awake and we dozed in and out. the tour ended at buckingham palace and we watched the changing of the guard. the royal flag was raised meaning the queen was at home.
there were so many tourists. it was almost ridiculous. but it was so interesting to watch all the different groups and see where everyone was from. all the americans wore hoodies and flipflops. the german groups all had crazy hairstyles and tight jeans. a group of italians passed in designer black and large audrey hepburn style sunglasses. a huge family of indians in punjabis snapped photos quickly before moving on. a cute japanese couple sat quietly on the bench behind us. once again reinforcing the multiculturalism of london.

after watching the changing of the guard we were free to do whatever. a group of us went to pret a manger. it’s a upscale gourmet fast food place here. they have one on every corner. the closest thing i can think to compare it to is a panera bread company, but it’s way better than that. so we all grabbed some lunch and headed across the street to green park. it’s the one right next to buckingham palace. we sat out in the grass and ate our lunch and did some more people watching.

our conversation turned to plans for the evening. it was my roommate carrie’s birthday and we wanted to do something exciting. for all it’s history, london also has an amazing night life. i had a londoner tell me today that to tire of london is to tire of life.

we decided on the absolut ice bar. the entire thing is made out of ice and we thought it would be amazing. bryan, who has elected himself the social chair of the trip, called and made arrangements with the manager and he must have said something right because we had the night of our lives.

there were 17 of us who decided to go to the ice bar. we hopped on the tube. most of us had bought oyster cards for the tube, but the rest grabbed a day pass at the station. the oyster card either allows you to top it up with a certain amount of money or you can pay a certain price and ride unlimited for the month. it’s been my best investment since arriving. i struggled a little with traveling in a group. we stick out pretty badly. a group of that many college students sticks out anywhere you go, but it made it even worse that many of them fit the loud american stereotype. but i grinned and told myself it was a good bonding experience and i could survive looking like an ignorant tourist.
but i couldn’t help but cringe every once in a while. i like to blend in with the crowd. i’ve been carefully studying the dress and mannerisms and i do my best to present myself as a local. it provides such a different experience.

when we arrived at the ice bar (after getting lost twice), the girl at the front desk said we didn’t have a reservation and she couldn’t get us in for two hours. i finally talked everyone into waiting outside so we weren’t all crowded in front of the door and bryan continued to talk to her. the manager walked over and as soon as bryan explained that he had called earlier and it was carrie’s birthday the manager apologized profusely. we weren’t on the books for a reservation because the manager was handling everything personally. he gathered us all and told us to follow him because he had a private VIP room waiting downstairs for us. now this place wasn’t just any bar. imagine the vh1 specials on where all the moviestars go for a good time. that’s how nice this place was. i’ve never been inside such an exclusive high class before. everyone in it was so posh and chic. the interior and atmosphere was ultra modern and fabulous. i think it was obvious none of us were used to this type of thing by the shellshocked looks on our faces.

the manager attended to our every need and we had our own waiter. our room was a couch that ran around the whole wall and was piled with plush pillows.

they brought carrie a dessert assortment with a candle in it. we were all afraid to ask for extra spoons because it might be tacky, but the manager read our minds and brought a pile of spoons and we all devoured the amazing selection.

eventually the manager came to get us to tell us we could go into the ice bar. they give you a special metallic fur-lined cape to wear inside the bar. the cape has a hood and gloves attached. the coat guys were swedish and hilarious. they made funny jokes as they slipped the capes over each of our heads. they we walked through a door into a little room and then through a door covered by a flap to get into the bar. words can’t describe and pictures don’t do justice to how amazing it was inside. the floor was concrete, but everything else in the room was made out of ice. the walls, the bar, tables even benches all made out of ice. there were two swedish bartenders in furry hats. we each could order a free drink at the bar. the drinks were served in cups made out of ice. the bartenders warned us to be carefuly and not get our lips stuck when we took the first drink.

we told the bartender it was carrie’s birthday and he let her go behind the bar and take a photo with him then he gave her a kiss on the cheek. (he was gorgeous!) she was so excited. i’m not quite sure why standing in a room made out of ice was so fun, but it was.

this is a photo of ericka (the girl i met on the plane), the bartender, megan and carrie the birthday girl.

it was possibly one of the coolest experiences of my life. it was definitely the most memorable birthday carrie will ever have. never in my life have i experienced anything so lavish. i was in london at one of the most exclusive bars in the city being treated like an a-lister. it was unforgettable.

i'm here.

2006-05-17T08:14:00.000-07:00

well,
after a lifetime of dreaming of london, i'm finally here.
don't get me wrong, i've been here before. but this time, i get to stay for a while and make it my own.
i never get nervous before a big change. i rarely stop to really let it sink in. i'm usually absorbed in the preparation, but i don't take the time to let it hit me. i'm really doing this.
but i did have about five seconds of panic as i boarded the plane in saint louis. not because it was london, but because i really didn't know anyone. everytime i've traveled before, i've either been with someone i knew, or i was going to visit someone i knew. but i'm not one to let myself worry.
on the plane to chicago i ended up sitting by a girl my age. we instantly had a lot in common. she was listening to an ipod, had the same phone as me, we ordered the same drink and were both reading the inflight mag.
as we were about to get off the plane, a woman across the aisle offered us both her magazine. the girl next to me said she's take it because she had a seven hour flight ahead of her. instantly my curiosity was peaked.
so, i asked her where she was flying to. to cut things short, we figured out that we were both headed to the same place and part of the same program. it was such a neat moment. of all the people to sit next to. she was from columbia, mo. but she goes to one of the private colleges there, not mizzou. her name is ericka boss. she and stuck together the rest of the way to london. i wasn't even there yet, and i already had a friend.
once we got to chicago, we all kinda grouped together. it was obvious who was part of our program and who wasn't. we flew air india from chicago to london. so basically, almost everyone on the flight was indian except us. it was your typical flight if we had been flying anywhere in africa. but we had some pretty green travelers in our group who struggled with the atmosphere.
it was cramped quarters with bangra music videos playing on the big screen. they served us chevda as a snack and curry for dinner. all the stewardesses wore saris. during the flight all the kids were running up and down the aisles and a big group of women gathered and started doing henna. for a while i forgot i was on a plane. i felt like i was back in nairobi.
there was a cute little american family who sat in front of us. the dad was a professional soccer player in the us. i don't know which team he played for though. not that it would have meant anything to me since i hate mls soccer. but we did talk about the upcoming world cup for a while.
the trip through customs and immigration was uneventful. i know my parents thought i brought too much luggage, but i was right on par with everyone else.
our program, international enrichment has two coaches waiting for us to take us to our flats.
driving through london, i thought i'd be overwhelmed with excitement to finally be here. but like any arrival, i was felt too dirty and tired to care.

this is a photo of my street. i was excited to see our flats though. i live in kensington, actually the proper name is the royal burough of kensington and chelsea. i live right around the corner from the earl's court stop on the district and picadilly line (on the tube). it's a charming neighborhood and one of the most expensive in london.

i live on hogarth road. half the people in our program live in our building. the other group around the corner on knaresborough. i live in flat 1, which is the first floor. and boy was i thankful i didn't need to drag my suitcases any farther than up the stoop. i have five roommates: carrie, tessa, renee, laura and katie. four of us live in one bedroom and two in the other. in the four man there is two twin bunk beds and nothing else. there is only three feet of space between the two beds. we don't do anything is that room besides sleep. we have two tall cabinets that serve as closets. needless to say, with six girls, there's a whole crapload of clothes and shoes under our bed and stacked anywhere we can find space. space is not something we have much of. we have everything we need, but on a cramped scale. the kitchen has a fridge, only slighter taller than those used in the dorms. we have an oven/stove. it took us a while to figure out how to turn it off. there's a switch at the back of the bottom cabinet that has to be turned on for it to work. then, the stove doesn't actually turn off unless you turn this switch off. we figured this out when we came home to the smell of burnt rice. we had turned the burner off, but not the switch, so the pot partially full of rice had burnt to a crisp. lesson learned. the kitchen is basically big enough to walk into and turn around and walk out. it's made it interesting cooking dinner. at least i'm used to not having any counter space.
on to the bathroom. the toilets are interesting here. most of them have two buttons on the top that you push to flush. i haven't really figured out what each one does, what the difference is and if it matters which one i press, so i always press both. our tub is about two feet wide, so the shower curtain is kind of on you all the time when you shower. it's a good thing i'm not claustrophobic. at least we have really good water pressure and somehow our mini water heater produces enough hot water for at least five out of the six of us to take showers. we bought a bunch of towel racks. six girls go through a lot of towels. we also bought a hanging shoe rack which we use to put toiletries in. again, imagine six girls.
the living room is the only area where we have any space. because of this, it is also where we spend the majority of our time.

we also have the nicest flat out of everyone in both buildings, and we live on the first floor, so we have become the automatic gathering point. there's usually 10-15 people in our flat at any given moment. this is fantastic about 90% of the time. it's definitely interesting. there's people here when i wake up and when i go to bed. i grab my journal and head out when i need some alone time. all the together time means we've gotten to know each other really quickly. i can hardly believe that we haven't been here very long.

after we arrived at the flats, we had an hour to freshen up then our coordinators were taking us out for an authentic fish and chips dinner. they took us to one of the thousands of pubs in london.
now let me take a minute to explain pubs to those of you who don't understand.
pubs are a quintessentially english thing. they are a cultural standard. they all have very old traditional names like king's head (the one i'm writing this blog from) or goat's tavern. they are all registered with the city as pubs. during the day they have the atmosphere of a coffee shop with couches and armchairs. at night, it's just slightly more crowded and noisy, but still far from the bars in the united states. it's a place to grab lunch a beer while you're on break or meet friends to watch the football (soccer) match after work. it's a social gathering place. there's definitely nothing to compare it to in america. although there are literally hundreds of beers and wines available at any pub, drinking is a side note to socializing. in america, most people go to bars to get drunk. in london, people drink with almost every meal and in between, but they rarely get drunk. it's the social equivalent of having a cup of coffee or soda. it's truly difficult to explain. i know many of you will struggle to understand that i spend long afternoons at the pub with friends, but maybe you won't ever be able to understand unless you see it for yourself.
i'm at the king's head right now. it's our own little cheers here. it's around the corner from our flat and we come here almost every day. they have wireless internet, good music and great appetizers. the leather couches have a warmth and history and contrasts with the techno coming through the speakers. truly everything in london is a blending of old and new. londoners are always walking forward with one eye on the past. the buildings and layout of the city hasn't changed in hundreds of years. in fact, most of the modern day roads follow closely to the original roman layout of the city. still, there is technology everywhere. the city buses all run on hybrid technology and the tube is one of the most sophisticated public transport systems in the world. the pub is no different. there's a college student studying and drinking tea in the corner. a couple in their fifties are drinking wine at the table next to me and a couple businessmen just walked in after getting off work. there are people from every walk of life just in this pub.
when you walk out on the street, there's an even greater diversity. i had a guy tell me the other day that it is hard to find a londoner in london. he said that it has always been such an international metropolitan that many of the people you see on the street aren't from london. it's an ethnic melting pot. it reminds me of nairobi in that respect.

ok, i'm getting off track. we went out for authentic fish and chips on our first night. it was fabulous!
then we went home to actually shower and change. it felt uh-mazing to be clean.
then we headed out to a pub to watch the champions league final. it's a HUGE game in european football and any pub that had the game on was packed. it was definitley standing room only. it was the perfect introduction for those who hadn't experienced football at its best.
it was arsenal versus barcelona and of course all the english blokes were pulling for arsenal because they're an english team. i was pulling for arsenal too. it was so amazing to be cheering and have everyone talking to us about the footballers and the goals. i nearly felt like i belonged and it was the first night. take any die hard superbowl party, multiply it by ten and you might be able to imagine the atmosphere. it was so charged and exciting.
arsenal lost in the end, but then we got to make even more friends and we commiserated together.
then it was back to the flat for an exhausted night's sleep.