So I think I might transfer...providing Oxford accepts me, that is. This morning, Steph, Chrissy and I decided to go on a day trip to Oxford in search of the perfect university sweatshirt. And to see the third oldest University in the world.
We started with lunch at the news café, a cute little café that was painted blue on the outside and inside had magazines and newspapers to read with pictures of people reading the newspaper all around. Then we set off exploring through the beautiful buildings. We quickly found a bookstore to buy our hoodies. And later we found the University press, where they have Oxford dictionaries…yes this is where they come from, amazing I know. We definitely had our geeky moments looking through the bookstore.
But the buildings were beautiful and around every corner we were gasping and wondering why it is we live in Indiana when places like this exist. It’s just crazy to think how long this place has been a University and even some of the shops said things like, “established 1736” – before our country even existed. I know this shouldn’t be new to me because this is how a lot of England and Europe is, but it just hit me again today.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
The London Reality Show that is my life
Friday night or "Britain's Got Talent" - class is over and our last full London weekend has begun. Caitlin, Danielle and I get ready and head to barfly in Camden, where we are on the "short list" aka the cover is cheaper, for Danielle's co-worker's boyfriend's band MOK.
Inside, the 7 p.m. World Cup game is ending and the bar is filled, so we walk through the side door and tell the bouncer our names (I have to admit - I felt kind of cool getting my name checked off the list.) and then head upstairs. A opener band was already playing. Then during the break, I noticed a man in a crazy sweater - turns out to the boyfriend of Danielle's co-worker Dolcie who found Danielle and explained the band - an indie band, but the lead singer is a rapper....interesting.
And when they started that was the best way to explain the band...interesting. We ended up leaving and going downstairs for a drink followed by fantastic tasting falafel at a stand down the street.
Saturday or "Jersey Shore, the British version" - last journalism school excursion to Brighton. The town is how I imagine the Jersey shore to be. But of course, classy because it's British.
The Brighton pier is great and filled with food, games and rides. We walked up and down and admired it all. I ended up eating crepes with ham and cheese and ice cream on the pier (not together of course) And then we made Sean ride the mechanical bull...which was great fun.
Danielle and I also did some shopping and walked around the Royal Pavilion. It was unlike any other royal housing place/castle I had seen. The pavilion was "oriental" style, by Englishmen in the 1700s who had never been to Asia. But it was beautiful and filled with bamboo and elaborate chandeliers. And it was so cool to see some of the original wallpaper and other things.
Later we laid out on the beach that wasn't sand but all stones. It was surprisingly comfortable and it was nice to remember that it is almost July and summer. I actually got a little tan too!
Then it was off to a pub to watch the US and Ghana game.
Inside, the 7 p.m. World Cup game is ending and the bar is filled, so we walk through the side door and tell the bouncer our names (I have to admit - I felt kind of cool getting my name checked off the list.) and then head upstairs. A opener band was already playing. Then during the break, I noticed a man in a crazy sweater - turns out to the boyfriend of Danielle's co-worker Dolcie who found Danielle and explained the band - an indie band, but the lead singer is a rapper....interesting.
And when they started that was the best way to explain the band...interesting. We ended up leaving and going downstairs for a drink followed by fantastic tasting falafel at a stand down the street.
Saturday or "Jersey Shore, the British version" - last journalism school excursion to Brighton. The town is how I imagine the Jersey shore to be. But of course, classy because it's British.
The Brighton pier is great and filled with food, games and rides. We walked up and down and admired it all. I ended up eating crepes with ham and cheese and ice cream on the pier (not together of course) And then we made Sean ride the mechanical bull...which was great fun.
Danielle and I also did some shopping and walked around the Royal Pavilion. It was unlike any other royal housing place/castle I had seen. The pavilion was "oriental" style, by Englishmen in the 1700s who had never been to Asia. But it was beautiful and filled with bamboo and elaborate chandeliers. And it was so cool to see some of the original wallpaper and other things.
Later we laid out on the beach that wasn't sand but all stones. It was surprisingly comfortable and it was nice to remember that it is almost July and summer. I actually got a little tan too!
Then it was off to a pub to watch the US and Ghana game.
Friday, June 25, 2010
I. am. exhausted.
After the epic day at Wimbledon, today was a sleepy one. And even though all I want to do is sleep, I'm trying to get as much as I can done for work and class so that I don't have to spend my last days in London in the flat working.
I can't believe next week is our last week in London - two weeks from today I will be home in Indiana, half a world away. Crazy. And there is still so much to do. However, I am excited to have the extra few days for fun and to show mom around this city that I know so well now.
After work today, I went to the Bank of England museum to get information for my article for work and it was really cool and interesting.
Fun fact of the day - the exchange rate was created when several countries adopted the gold standard. Then, the rate was based on the amount of gold in your 1 unit coin. So for example, there was 486% more gold in 1 pound than in 1 dollar so the exchange rate was 1 pound = $4.86.
Then I was leaving and what did I see? More of the Play Me, I'm Yours pianos! I really want to have time next week to write a scene piece about them, because I'm kinda obsessed.(as you can tell by the additional picture)
Then later it was time for birthday shakes for Megan's birthday at Tinsletown with the group, where I got a Mint Aero shake (yum!)
Love Wimbledon
I officially completed a life goal. Never, ever did I think I would make it to Wimbledon, let alone have seats in the eighth row of Court #2. I was just hoping to go see the grounds during this trip, but Wednesday was so much better than that.
Biz and I left the flats around 4:40 a.m. to see our bus pulling away, without us on it. So we started walking to the tube and Biz hailed us a cab and we made it to Waterloo Station in time for the first train at 5 a.m. From the Wimbledon station, it was about a 30 minute walk until we found the queue and got our queue cards around 6:15 a.m.…numbers 1366 and 1367.
Then came the magic moment, the Wimbledon steward (who helped people queue) told the people in the queue behind us that the first 500 people in line got centre court tickets, the next 500 got court #1 and we got court #2! I was going to be on a show court at Wimbledon! I couldn’t believe it.
So we stood in the queue until around 8 a.m. when they gave us our wristbands for Court #2. Then it was more line waiting in the Wimbledon golf court, until we could buy our tickets and go in. After looking at the order of play, we went to the shop and then waited for the grounds to open at 10:30 a.m.
When the courts opened, we wandered through the open courts to where a few players were warming up. And who was there warming up? Oh Andy Roddick. Not a big deal at all!
After freaking out and taking tons of pictures, we wandered through the courts and grounds more, keeping our eyes open for a court that might have Venus or Roger Federer on it warming up. But we didn’t see them so it was off to court #2 to find our seats.
The seats were amazing. We were 8th row, on the side of the court. First up was Justine Henin! She won with ease. And although the tennis was great, so was all around it. there were ball boys or girls in blue Ralph Lauren polos on each of the 4 corners of the court and 2 at the net. Then there were 5 line judges on each side of the net. The judges were all dressed in cream pants (or long skirts for women) and blue button down shirts with cream hats and as each point started they would put their hands on their thighs and bend to watch the lines.
After Justine, we watched Gael Monfils and Karol Beck. It was a long match, but so good. And Monfils is such a good player! During the next match, we decided to go exploring and get the classic Wimbledon strawberries and cream with PIMMS to drink. But on our way to the food, we passed Serena and Venus’s mom coming out of centre court! She was inches from us!
We then explored centre court and to my surprise, when we asked if we could sneak in to take a quick picture, the guard let us! He even told us to go down the steps and he took a picture of us. So then we asked to see Court #1 and we couldn’t stay long, but we did see Federer on a change over!
Back at Court #2, there was a men’s singles match that we watched the end of and then it was #4 Jelena Jankovic against #60 Aleksandra Wozniak. It was actually a close match, but Jelena ended up winning. But during that match, they would show the scores of other matches on the scoreboard and that’s when we saw it….the longest tennis match ever. They were in the 5th set and had to win by 2. They ended up stopping because it was too dark at 59 games all….10 hours in. They finished the match on Thursday with a total of 11 hours of play. Crazy! And we saw them walk off court.
We went home tired, hungry and sunburned. But it was totally worth it to see the Wimbledon tournament!
“I’m yours” – Sounds like a Jason Mraz song to me
After work on Tuesday, I went to the Tate Modern because I hadn’t been back since we went in the beginning of the trip and it was still on my to-do list. Although I’m not much for modern art, it was still really cool to walk around for an hour or two. The pop art displays were my favorite. I really liked the propaganda posters and the Andy Warhol displays. But the best part was walking out and seeing this piano, just chilling at the end of Millennium bridge. It was part of the city of London festival and had the words, “Play Me…I’m Yours” painted on it. I watched as one group would go up and play around and then another group would stand nearby ready to pounce and take their turn. I finally got my turn and snapped a few pictures.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Amazing Race, Ireland style.
It began Saturday morning at 9 a.m. We met in Biz and Kamilla’s flat and walked to the Chancery Lane tube stop because our tube stop was closed. When we got to Baker Street we boarded our Easy Bus and talked to our Bangladeshi driver all the way there. Here’s what I learned:
- He was horrified when I told him that I didn’t want to leave London and go back to the U.S. and that I had never been to New York.
- He asked how close Indiana was to Hollywood and even though we explained it was far away, he wanted to know if we saw movie stars all the time.
- He thought all American roads are two lanes.
- If you compliment the city bus driver, he will let you off at a light or not a stop if you ask nicely.
Then it was off to Ryanair, which you board by going up the stairs a la important politicans on TV. When we got to Dublin, we wanted a cab but the cabbie quoted us nearly double what we were told it would cost, so we opted for the bus.
It dropped us off near the hostel and here’s what we did from there:
Day 1
-Check into hostel and almost score free tour because we are staying 3 nights, then realize we are only staying two, but decide to sign up for the tour anyway
-Walk into our 12 person room to find an American flag draped across the bunk beds and sorority letters in the bathroom.
-Go exploring to the famous Temple Bar area where we find a pub with the most amazing brazed beef stew. (It was cooked with Guinness.) We also drink our first Guinness in Ireland and watch Galic hurling on TV. (We were expecting the World Cup.)
-Continue to wander in and out of pubs to find that the Irish in the touristy areas really like to sing Sweet Home Alabama. Also we eat amazing Bailey’s cheesecake and text Lesa to hang out with us. (She never responds.)
-Go to explore Trinty College, only to be locked in and then led out by some nice Irish girl named Laura and her swipe card to the gates.
-Finish at the hostel only to have our hostel mates come in around 3 a.m., screaming “Look! The newbies are here!” Also, learn from there conversations that they wanted to smother Stephen when he snored.
Day 2
-Continue to overhear the hostel mates to find out they are from UGA, fratastic and leaving that day.
-Get on a bus with our tour guide Helen, who is Irish but lived in Texas for a while.
-Go to Glendaloch and explore the 6th century monistary. And then climb a mountain, see two lakes and a waterfall. Not a big deal. Oh and we played in the lake.
-Take the bus on an extremely bumpy road so Biz and I are jumping out of our seats
-Eat at the hostel BBQ and have burgers with American burger sauce aka Big Mac sauce.
-Go to the Jameson distillery, learn how whiskey is made, have a Jameson and cranberry juice and then watch Anna & Kamilla drink Irish coffees
-Then go explore Dublin including St. Patrick’s cathedral and more pubs. We find Lesa, her parents and Allen in a pub called “the hairy lemon.”
-Finish the night at an American style diner and then go back to the hostel and meet our roommates
Day 3
-wake up and go to full Irish breakfast with the brotrip a.k.a the four guys that replaced our UGA roommates. They were super cool and had just graduated from UCLA and were on a month tour of Europe.
-take the brotrip with us the Guinness Factory where we learned to pour the perfect pint (it’s official – I have a certificate that said I succeeded!)
-Leave the brotrip a half an hour late, luck out and take a taxi to the hostel and airport.
-Land in London to find a huge line for customs, but we are given a pass and we arrive at our bus with 6 minutes to spare
-go straight to the Globe to watch Henry VIII and eat ice cream
Race Complete.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Check, check and check
Today, my to-do list loved me. My stomach however, did not.
It all began with a traditional English breakfast, item #1 checked off my oh-my-god-I-only-have-two-weeks-left list. Danielle, Biz and I went to a little cafe across from the print shop and asked for the traditional breakfast. We got toast, hash browns, bacon (aka fried ham), baked beans, sausage and a fried egg - all covered in a layer of grease. I ate almost all of it and walking to class, my stomach felt like it was one of those oil spill covered birds minus the feathers. So much grease!
During class we watched a documentary about secret CIA prison flights and the producer came in to talk with us about investigative journalism. She was great and talked about really going after the story - never take no for an answer and to "squeeze every opportunity like a lemon"
Class got out early so we could watch the US game for the world cup. A bunch of us went to a nearby pub ad watched the game. We had fun cheering with the British people next to us who were also cheering for the US. And the game was actually kind of exciting - which is saying a lot since I normally think soccer/football is boring.
Next we went to the London Eye. Although it was raining, we had a lot of fun and London is so pretty. I took so many pictures of Parliament and Big Ben because it's beautiful! Check - item #2
Danielle and I then took the tube to Victoria & Albert museum. Another amazing museum. We started off in the Grace Kelly exhibit and walked through to see all her dresses. Then it was the rest of the fashion display - including shoes! ekk! And the architecture display, which had models of things that we saw in Rome. Plus there was the nest of books. It was a staircase that turned, so like a spiral staircase with platforms, and all around it was books - 6,000 to be exact. We were in awe and the man who was in charge of the display knew it. Are you two avid readers? uh-huh we nodded.
so there was item #3 - check.
Now by this point it was close to 10 p.m. and I hadn't ate since breakfast. And when we got back to Farringdon and to the pub to meet Tom's girlfriend who is in town, we ordered drinks. Which wouldn't be bad - but I was starving and the kitchen was closed. So it was a trip to Farringdon grill for food and then off to pack for Dublin!
It all began with a traditional English breakfast, item #1 checked off my oh-my-god-I-only-have-two-weeks-left list. Danielle, Biz and I went to a little cafe across from the print shop and asked for the traditional breakfast. We got toast, hash browns, bacon (aka fried ham), baked beans, sausage and a fried egg - all covered in a layer of grease. I ate almost all of it and walking to class, my stomach felt like it was one of those oil spill covered birds minus the feathers. So much grease!
During class we watched a documentary about secret CIA prison flights and the producer came in to talk with us about investigative journalism. She was great and talked about really going after the story - never take no for an answer and to "squeeze every opportunity like a lemon"
Class got out early so we could watch the US game for the world cup. A bunch of us went to a nearby pub ad watched the game. We had fun cheering with the British people next to us who were also cheering for the US. And the game was actually kind of exciting - which is saying a lot since I normally think soccer/football is boring.
Next we went to the London Eye. Although it was raining, we had a lot of fun and London is so pretty. I took so many pictures of Parliament and Big Ben because it's beautiful! Check - item #2
Danielle and I then took the tube to Victoria & Albert museum. Another amazing museum. We started off in the Grace Kelly exhibit and walked through to see all her dresses. Then it was the rest of the fashion display - including shoes! ekk! And the architecture display, which had models of things that we saw in Rome. Plus there was the nest of books. It was a staircase that turned, so like a spiral staircase with platforms, and all around it was books - 6,000 to be exact. We were in awe and the man who was in charge of the display knew it. Are you two avid readers? uh-huh we nodded.
so there was item #3 - check.
Now by this point it was close to 10 p.m. and I hadn't ate since breakfast. And when we got back to Farringdon and to the pub to meet Tom's girlfriend who is in town, we ordered drinks. Which wouldn't be bad - but I was starving and the kitchen was closed. So it was a trip to Farringdon grill for food and then off to pack for Dublin!
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