Rules of the [Italian] Road

1. Pedestrians are to be regarded as pigeons; thus, they are totally expendable.
2. If cars are the kings of the road, vespas are the renegade princes with superiority complexes.
3. While cars generally remain on their assigned side of a two-way road, it is not uncommon to see them parked facing one another on the side of a street.
4. The word 'bus' is code for 'death trap.'
5. Crosswalks exist only in the imaginations of Japanese and American tourists.
6. Green means go; red means hesitate before going.
7. If the bus driver realizes he missed a turn, while midway through an intersection, it is perfectly acceptible to reverse through the intersection and force cross-traffic to wait.
8. The buses are never too full.

Confessions of a Gelatoholic

I have a love/hate relationship with Italia, meaning that it makes me seething just about every day and nearly every however; however, the same country also has the ability to make me blissfully happy in a matter of minutes. At least, it proves that I have seen the real Italia, not the glittering, prepackaged tourist version.

Italian buses may be the epitome of public transportation hell, but the trains, which can carry you to Pisa, Sienna, or a number of beaches in just over an hour make up for it. I haven't been to Pisa, yet, but Sienna was wonderful. The centre of the city is closed off to cars and the city offers a smaller, more peaceful, medieval version of Firenze. We spent the day checking out churches and walking around. (Because that is virtually all there is to do here). However, they have a fantastic piazza around which there is a biannual horse race.

Italian parks make up for the frustrating streets. There is a wonderful one, which is very close to our school that we have eaten lunch in.
My host mother Anna doesn't speak any English. I kept waiting for the English to come but, alas, no. It is frustrating but gives me motivation to pay attention in Italian class. When the language barrier is too much, though, Heidi and I just look at one another and laugh and sometimes Anna will dig out her weathered Italian/English dictionary. The hardest part, though, is eating breakfast when our host-mom is home. The kitchen will be obscenely bright, the Italian version of talk radio will be berating Berlusconi, and Anna will be blabbering on and on expecting us to understand, when it's impossible for me to comprehend Italian before lunch. Heidi and I rate the quality of dinner conversations by the number of times we use the past tense. (extra points if you conjugate it with essere)

It, in fact, takes two Italians to change a light bulb. We met Anna's ex-husband (who we thought lived in Padua) when he came over to change the light bulb in the kitchen. Plus, the event involved both people on chairs trying to figure out the inner workings of the lamp. Now the new bulb gives of an unfriendly florescent glow.

There are too many mysteries within my house for me to comprehend. Again, we just nod and smile. Anna makes up for the confusion by being ridiculously quirky. She will find the humor of certain commercials distasteful and then crack up at the Italian version of candid camera. Plus, she is an opinionated left-wing supporter who is one of the few Italians to realize Berlusconi’s incompetence. (He is their version of George Bush) Lastly, she teaches young children and has more books than I can count, one of which is a huge volume of Emily Dickinson. (English on one page, Italian on the opposite)

Gelato is a wonderful creation. I believe it is one of the only things that keeps me sane in this twilight zone. My favorite is fondente con fragola. (dark chocolate with strawberry) mmm.

CaRRying the ToRCh

Well, I've finally finished the Harry Potter book that I intended to leave in London. Now my baggage will be .5 kilo lighter! Other than that, my time in Barcelona has been wonderful. The weather is warm and we are just trying to approach our time here with a leisurely pace. The hostel that we are staying in is nice, clean, and sits right on the beach. Plus, even though our room is for 7 people, my friends and I take up 5 of those beds. The other two people are young teachers, one from Australia and the other from New Zealand. Both are very nice. The only bizarre thing about the hostel is that the side walls to our room don't go all the way up to the ceiling! I think it might be for ventilation but we have such loud neighbors. Amanda almost climbed through the hole near the ceiling early this morning to yell at them.

Once we had gotten over the restless night, though, we set out for a sight seeing adventure. Maggie loves the Olympics just as much as I do (We have plans for London in 2012) and so seeing the old stadium and park etc. were at the top of our list. However, we didn't realize how long it would take to walk there. On our way, we first went down the street called Las Ramblas. It was filled with a lot of tourist shops and numerous human statues. The best part was the market, though. I've heard that it is one of the largest open-air markets in Europe. The fruits and vegetables and especially the candy was so beautiful. Everything looked delicious and Emily and I split one kilo of the reddest strawberries I've ever seen. After we had gotten our fill of the market, we started following the map in search of Olympic-ness. Eventually this meant heading up a fairly steep hill -that never seemed to end. We saw dozens of tour buses and eventually followed signs but it was not an easy climb. The planning committee must have taken Mt. Olympus to heart. Eventually we reached the top and were able to look around. We walked into the stadium and saw the torch that held the flame after the archer shot the flaming arrow. We also collapsed in the park's grass and looked at the pool from above. Our adventure was not over, though. We attempted to take the easy way back down via an air tram car. However, it took us in the wrong direction and left us even higher up on the mountain. Luckily, Amanda was able to find a shortcut which meant our walk back was less than 2 hours. After finally making it home, we all took part in the siesta tradition and then headed off to dinner at 10. How quickly we have come accustomed to the Spanish lifestyle.

crazy weather and hectic flights

Too much has happened over the last two weeks to simplify into a few paragraphs, but I'll try. The last week of our stay in London was hectic to say the least. Each student had to do a final paper for each class on a topic of his/her choosing. For John, I picked a purely academic topic - the analyzation of rebellious children in the plays we'd seen, using The Woman Hater, The Homecoming, and Henry IV, Part 1. However, in my other paper, I wrote about the development of Leicester (pronounced Lester) Square. Both were pretty interesting to write, but typing on my computer wasn't exactly my dream for the final days. Then, there were the tests. The theatre test was the traditional pick 2 essays from a suggested list, but Sarah's final was a monster. There was a section of random multiple choice questions, three brief essays, the identification of two church floorplans, and an entire page full of items (i.e. corinthian order, pedimental sculpture, and stippling) and our objective was to say where in London they could be found (Chiswick House, British Museum, Wilton Diptych). It definitely wasn't easy but everyone seemed pretty surpised at what they were able to remember. Afterward, we had a few hours to relax before meeting at the Prince of Tech, a local restaurant for a little end of the course celebrating.

We were all very relieved to have the semester over on that Wednesday, and even more glad to have two free days in London. On Wednesday, we took our second trip to the Cheshire Cheese, which is one of the oldest pubs in London, I think. It was converted from an old monestary. I'm not really sure on the history. It has a Wickepedia page, though.

We spent the last two days relaxing and packing, for the most part. Friday, was the busiest though. We caught luch at the Borough Market and I bought what is probably my last bottle of delicious apple juice from fruit grown in Kent. Then, we did the tour of the Tower of London. Forgetting it was Easter weekend, though, we were confronted by an excessive amount of tourists. Terrible. Otherwise, the tour was interesting and our Beefeater tour guide was funny. The weather was a different story, though. Even though it had been nice for the entire day, it started sprinkling after we got our tickets and then rained off and on throughout our whole tour. Then, when we were waiting int the unbelievably long queue to see the crown jewels, it started to hail. It was so miserable. Finally, Maggie and I warmed up with a trip to Harrods with Heidi. It was more elaborate than I could have imagined and wished I wasn't so tired when I went. The last part of our evening was a trip to the Stockpot which is a nice, plain English restaurant with really delicious food.

Saturday meant leaving London behind, though. We were all sad but excited for Amsterdam. We toured the Ann Frank House, visited the Van Gough Museum, took a canal boat tour, stopped inside the church with the largest nave in The Netherlands (which is no Christopher Wren by the way) and got an eye-blistering veiw of the red light district. It was so nice to be in a country where I didn't have to feel guilty for speeking English. The people were very nice and the city was beautiful except for one thing. SNOW, oh yeah, and HAIL. I guess I have nothing to complain about to everyone in WI but it was pretty painful having left my winter coat in London. Luckily I brought my wool hat and scarf. Sadly, I didn't even see real tulips up close.

Today I arrived in Barcelona, though, where it is sunny and 60ish. Our hostel is right next to the beach, which is amazing. It really was a great day, except for dragging 75 pounds of luggage through two cities. First of all, I thought I left my A/C adapter for my computer in Amsterdam because we left our dark room at 6:30, but it was sitting on top of my clothes when I opened my suitcase. Secondly, I didn't get charged by the sketchy Clickair airline for having baggage that was 10 kilo over the limit. It was spectacular. Now I'm tired and ready for bed, but I have to read a little Harry Potter Book 6 because it is not coming to Florence.

Wicked!

One ticket to see the musical Wicked: £20

Transportation: Free

Somewhere to stay after the show: N/A

Finally finding the ONE thing that is cheaper to do in London than in the US: Priceless

Well we all got up early on Friday for Les Miserables tickes. However, the only ones that were left were the most expensive seats in the house and the worst seats in the house. Luckily, before we dropped down £50 or agreed to sit in the last row behind a pole, the man at the box office suggested we come back on a weekday because they have much more availability then and we can get tickets for half price. We were still dying to see a show, though, so we made the trip across the city to the Victoria Apollo theatre, where Wicked is playing. They still had a few of the cheaper seats available and so Emily, Amanda, Heidi and I snapped them up.

The show was amazing! It was different hearing the characters' slight accents but I love the music so much. This production's Glinda wasn't as strong as the one I had seen in Chicago but Elphaba was wonderful. There is no better moment than the end of "Defying Gravity," when she is flying above the stage. Amanda and Emily had never seen the show, but they really seemed to like it. It was so nice to all get dressed up an see a show.

This morning, though, was a little bit of a disaster. I had trouble starting up my computer, which had been hibernating so I turned it off. However, it just froze at the welcome screen and wouldn't finish loading. Making matters worse, there was a message saying that the settings couldn't be loaded because of a lack of permission or corrupt file. Yikes. So, I took my computer upstairs and Heidi (not the Heidi that came to the musical) and Dan because I thought they might be able to help. Eventually, it did start up but my background had been reset and ALL of my files were gone. I thought it was a disaster. Luckily, after enless minutes of waiting Heidi was able to reset my computer to the way it was yesderday and everything is fine. I was sooo scared.

harmonicas and jazz hands

I should be working on one of my two major final papers right now- but I've decided to blog instead.

One of the running themes for this week is music. Even after a long, boring class with John in the morning, we wanted to find something fun to do at night. After some internet browsing, we came upon a small blues club. It turned out to be a tiny hole in the wall called, Aint Nothin' But... Even though it was only a short tube ride away from 270 ECR, we had to queue in line for about 20 minutes. It was definitely worth the wait, though. Time Out's website described it as a place where B.B. King would have found himself when he was just beginning his career, had it been built. We were able to listen to a number of different bands and it was nice to hear some fantastic live music. The impromptu performers on the tube just don't always cut it. Also, Lee and Ben just drooled over the guitars because they're both suffering from withdrawal. We've already decided to go back sometime soon; we'll just have to get there early because space is limited and seating is almost nonexistent.

Last night, we went to the musical Billy Elliot for class, which couldn't have been further from what we had heard the previous night. I, for the most part, enjoyed the show, but it's definitely not one of my favorite musicals and I was really surprised to hear that Elton John wrote all of the music. Clearly, dancing was the main focus of the production while music and singing took the back seat. However, the dancers, especially Billy were wonderful. His talent was definitely shown in the range of performances throughout the show. He had one large classical ballet number midway through the show but then also had another number at the end that was influenced by break dancing and, since the actor had been in gymnastics, had numerous tumbling elements. I don't know how he didn't pass out. However, there are five different boys that perform on alternating nights because the role is so demanding. Again, the dancing was impressive but the music just wasn't enough.

Tonight is pretty low-key. I do plan to start that paper eventually. Tomorrow we have class with Sarah, so there will be a lot of walking involved. Luckily, we have a three day weekend to recover. Amanda, Emily and I have plans to see Les Miserables on Friday. I could not be more excited. Another girl who is on the program went and she was able to buy a ticket less than an hour before showtime extremely close to the stage. We're also going to find a place to have dinner in Leister Square, which is known as Theatre Land in the West End. There will definitely be reviews later.

Marketeering

One thing I love about living in London is being able to go to the markets. Each one offers different a different mix of fruit and veg, specialty foods, clothing and other objects. On Friday, we made the trek after class to the Borough Market. It is heaven for anyone who loves food. There is fresh produce but also butchers with many cuts of meat, decadent deserts and dozens of cheeses. I went for the olives. The vendor was extremely friendly and let me sample all of the varieties. They were very delicious and it was hard for me to choose but I was able to purchase a mixture. Delicious. However, we began our visit to the market with the juice stand. It offers bottles of juice made from fruits grown in Kent, England. There are different combinations and during my first trip to the Borough Market, I tried one with rhubarb in it. It's hard to believe but each one we sampled was better than the one before it. Since there are so many good ones to choose from, I do what any poor college student would do, go for the apple juice because it's the cheapest. It is extremely fresh and pure.

Today we went to the Portobello Market, which is in the Notting Hill area, for the first time, though. The first thing I bought was a little, red telephone booth key chain for a pound. I've decided to start collecting a key chain from every new city or country I visit this semester. I already have a little black and silver Eiffel Tower key chain from Paris and miniature Shakespeare from Stratford. The Portobello market has a lot of antiques and cool artists. It's so nice just to look around in the afternoon; the crowds are a little much, though. Eventually, we got hungry and Lee and I split a crepe filled with Nutella and bananas. Probably one of the most delicious things ever. After we made it through most of the market, we picked up some peppers and tomatoes for dinner and I bought a really cute grey dress.

Now we're getting ready for a late dinner and a fun Saturday night.

Collegiate field trips

Things are definitely starting to speed up as we head toward the end of our London Stay. This week was intense, to say the least. It also marked the beginning of our study of Shakespeare. On Monday, we toured the Globe Theatre. It was incredibly interesting to sit in the newly constructed, yet historically accurate building. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and funny. He showed us examples of what the actors' scripts might have looked like. Each of the men would only have been given their lines and the last three words of the actor's lines before his (cue lines). These were written on a scroll and rolled up, which is possibly where the homonym roll came from. Also you would only get your part of the play and you would play a part. Who knows? One of the other valuable parts of his lecture was when he encouraged us to pay close attention to Shakespeare's use of prose versus verse-iambic pentameter. For example, Prince Hal is the only one of his kings to speak in prose, that is, up until he quits living the low life with Falstaff. In addition, he distinguishes Benedick from Beatrice in Much Ado in that, when she falls in love, her diction switches from prose to verse. However, Benedick remains in prose for the entire play. We continued our homage to Shakespeare with a two day trip to Stratford-upon-Avon. Our coach picked us up at 8:00 am in front of our flat. We stopped in Oxford and were given of a tour of the campus before reaching our final destination. In Stratford, we visited Mary Arden and Anne Hathaway's houses. Much more exciting in theory. It was really hard to figure out what was original and what was replaced. Little was actually there when Shakespeare's mother and wife were there. After doing the site seeing, we collapsed at our bed and breakfasts. My group was split up among three different places. Amanda, Emily, Maggie and I stayed together. Our room was extremely adorable. We rested for about an hour and then went to the Courtyard Theatre to see Richard II. It was phenomenal. The next day we had a delicious breakfast and then walked around the city on our own. It is an adorable, quiet area- aside from the large amount of construction. We saw a number of Shakespeare properties, none of which were extremely interesting but the afternoon brought a performance of Henry IV part 1. Even though Richard II was my favorite, Falstaff was hilarious and Hal was played by a great actor. We were all very tired and had a quiet ride home.

Tonight we were able to take a tour of the Houses of Parliament. Our tour guide told us about the rich history of the building and I think I am actually starting to understand the convoluted succession of monarchs - maybe. He even pointed out a dent in one of the tables that is rumored to have been made from Winston Churchill's ring during intense meetings.

The Hour That...

Tonight we saw a play with 200+ characters and no words. It lasted for almost 2 hours. Enough said.

Amsterdam, Barcelona and the City

Since we have hit the halfway mark of our London stay, everyone in 270 ECR is buzzing with spring break plans. It is a mixture of excitement and anger over fairs and fees. People who say flying around Europe is cheap obviously never had to bring three seasons worth of luggage. Anyways, I have all of my flights booked. I'll be going to Amsterdam with Ben, Lee and Maggie, then flying to Barcelona by myself where I will meet up with Amanda and Emily who will be doing the Paris thing for the first few days. It will be perfect -not just one but two coastal cities.

Today began with a journey to the City. (City with a capitol 'C' refers to the one square mile of London that was once Londinium or the original London. - Now, very few people live there so it functions solely as the city's center for commerce. When you think London skyline, you are thinking of the City) Anyways. We arrived at the preset location to meet Sarah a little bit early so a soy vanilla latte was able to help me warm up to the idea of a three hour walk. I know I can't complain about the cold when my friends and family are trapped under many feet of snow, but the wind was pretty evil today. Everything was so noisy, too. Apparently, they call jack hammers pneumatic drills. We saw many churches that were constructed under the direction of Christopher Wren after the Great Fire and a building that was made by the same man who conceptualized the Centre Pompidou. The architect is Richard Rogers and the building is the Lloyd's of London building. It is the most obscenely modern piece of architecture in the city. There is no way I could work there. I would feel like a cog in a machine. There is such a variety of different types of architecture and new and old buildings are intermixed throughout the entire city. I really appreciate the different textures and rich history. -Tomorrow we're climbing to the top of St. Paul's, though. We'll see if I still appreciate it after all of those stairs.

My unromanticized view of Paris- and why I enjoyed the city anyways

I am now bringing a very long weekend to a close. We were given Friday and Monday off, which allowed everyone enough time for a little travel. I chose PARIS! and booked tickets with Lee and Ben. Looking back on the four days, we were pretty unprepared but made it through in one piece. I'll go through each day separately to make sure I can remember everything. Friday: Our flight left from Heathrow at 2:00 and landed at 4:00. Getting off the plane was quite a shock because we knew we had to buy tain tickets but weren't sure which ones or even how to ask for the right ones. Eventually, we found the right ticket counter and after the lady looked at our directions sold us what we needed. Once we had made the long treck out to our hotel which was in a suburb east of the city, we decided to scavenge for food. There were not many choices. After finally deciding on a Chinese?!? restaurant, we struggled through a difficult, mediocre meal. It was not turning out to be the Paris I had romanticized for years. Saturday: Determined to have a better day two, I was able to figure out the cheapest ticket that would allow us all day access to the trains and the metro (only about 3,40 euro). However, it was an incredible struggle, again, to find a restaurant. Luckily, we found a nice cafe that sold delicious paninis and we were able to warm up for a bit. Then we ventured to the Eiffel Tower to meet Molly who is studying for the semester in Paris. I was incredibly excited to see someone who knew so much of the language. We decided to escape the windy tourist area and ventured to the Louvre. It is soooo big. Since it's impossible to see the entire museum, we tried to pick certain areas to see but it was ridicoulously hard to follow the map. Although, I did get a picture of the Mona Lisa. Would have never thought you could take pictures in there. Sunday: Ben was too sick to walk around with us on Sunday because a new version of the black death is going around our program. So many people have gotten sick and I am on my way. Luckily I felt well enough to go out on Sunday, though, because we experienced just about every quintessential tourist stop in the city.
Sacre Coeur: It was extremely beautiful. There was such a contrast between the green grass; clear, blue sky; and white basillica. In addition, it is set very high on a hill and even though there are many stairs involved, there is a great view of the city from the outside. However, there were multiple men outside (clearly not with the church) who tried to tie little pieces of string around our wrists. They were very forward and demanding. Compared to London, the people in Paris who are looking for money are abrasive and relentles. Even though I was a little upset after my walk up the stairs, the view made up for it and we were able to circle the basillica during the church service. It was the perfect time because we were able to experience the sounds and smells of the building as well as it's architecture.
Les croque monsieurs!: Since Lee and I were starving after climbing up to Sacre Coeur, we looked for a place to have lunch. Finally we found this cafe that was fairly crowded, a sure sign of a good pick. We decided on a table inside and I was excited to see that they had croque monsieurs on the menu, one of the first french food items I ever learned. It is essentially a grilled ham and cheese but it is quintessentially French. The sandwich plus a cafe creme was the perfect lunch.
Notre Dame: A quick ride on the metro brought us to the most famous cathedral in paris. The stained glass windows were spectacular.
Conciergerie: We were able to walk around a little bit after Notre dame and found the conciergerie, which is French for a waste of time. No, seriously, our guide book explained it as an exciting, mysterious former prison that had housed many prisoners during the French revolution, including Marie Antoinette. We thought it would be a smaller version of the tower of london. No. It was a waste of euros, especially because we didn't speak French. Oh well.
Luxembourg Gardens: The park was extremely lively, filled with dozens of kids climbing on the HUGE jungle gym, old men smoking cigarettes over games of petanque (French bocce ball), and students reading books in chairs set along the walkways. I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend some downtime.
Crepes avec Nutella!: As the afternoon had worn on, we decided to get some crepes from the stand at the gardens. I knew what very few of the toppings meant, but I was sure of the Nutella. It was deliciously messy.
Cafe creme at a cafe: We met Molly again for a cup of coffee. We looked around for a little bit before settling on this large cafe. It was fairly upscale and our drinks were small, but delicious. It was so nice being able to see a familiar face and share our experiences thus far.
Le Comptoire de Mme. Tomate: After taking the metro to the Centre Pompidou, we decided to get dinner at a restaurant by the name of this point's heading. It translates "The counter/bar of Mrs. Tomato." It was trendy inside and had upbeat music. The service was also excellent. Our waiter was extremely friendly and the waitress was even more excitable. She kept saying long strings of French to us and I only understood about half of it. I ordered a chicken sandwich and a gin fizz and Lee went with a hamburger and beer. Everything was excellent. After our meal, the crazy waitress poured each of us a shot of rum. We weren't really sure what to make of it but gave eachother the "when in Rome..." look and downed the alcohol. However, I looked around and spotted another table of people who were sipping their idential shots slowly. Just when I was beginning to think we had committed a big faux pas the waitress appeared at the table speaking loudly, "Allez! Allez!" (Hurry!) and making motions with her hands that seemed to insist "drink up!" It was definitely the best meal of the trip.
Le Centre Pompidou: Of course, the Eiffel Tower was overwhelming and yes, the Louvre was spectacular with it's glass pyramid; however, when I exited the metro stop by the Centre Pompidou, I was speechless. The building is MASSIVE and stood out so much because we went at nighttime. The modern art was such a nice contrast to the Louvre but I don't think I should really compare the two. Apples and oranges, really.
Glittering Eiffel Tower: Lastly, we went to the Eiffel Tower and got lost on the Metro for the first and last time. Thanks to a tip from the woman from Boston we met at the cafe, we learned that the structure lights up for ten minutes every hour, on the hour after 6:00. Beautiful.
By Monday we were all ready to go home. It was such a long, action packed weekend. Also, I was definitely homesick for the Tube and ENGLISH. On our way to the train station, though, we found one of the city's gems. It was a bakery smaller than my bedroom but we could smell the bread from the sidewalk. (One of Molly's tips) We went in and purchased long thin baguette sandwiches and I also got a croissant that was perfect on the long ride to the airport. Everything was so delicious.
There were many wonderful parts of the weekend but my visit really allowed me to come to terms with the city I had romanticized for years. Now, it's not some far-off dream but something I have felt, seen and smelled. I feel like I am one of the few who has such a subdued view of the city. Everyone usually seems to talk about it in such strong language. You hear about the nasty people and exaggerated tales of the beautiful places. However, I feel that I was able to see it as a real, dynamic city city, full of gems and potholes.

ALL or nothing

After living here for over two weeks, I have learned more than anything that it is important to take advantage of every opportunity and to be ready for plans to emerge at any moment. Shortly after I woke up on Saturday morning Amanda came into my room asking me if I wanted a ticket to see Othello. Of course, I couldn't refuse. She, and two other girls went to queue for the show at 6:30 a.m. and stood in line for multiple hours. The show featured Ewan McGregor as Iago, Chiwetel Ejifor (Keira Knightly's husband in Love Actually) as Othello and Kelly Reilly (Caroline Bingley in Pride and Prejudice) as Desdemona. Tickets are going for as much as $1,000 on eBay, even though we only paid $15. The show was amazing! The theater was intimate and we had actors running behind us. It was also a nice contrast to when I saw the play at the American Players Theatre in Spring Green, WI. There, it was staged outside in the middle of the day. Here, the set was very dark and dynamic music enhanced the performance. Three years ago, I remember falling in love with Iago; his conviction and ruthlessness were mesmerizing. However, on Saturday, Ejifor stole the show. I was also very impressed with Reilly's performance. She was convincing, but strong enough not to let the role stifle her. The role of Desdemona is tough in that it has to be conceivable that Othello is able to believe she is having an affair with Cassio. However, this role can fall flat if it comes off as foolish that she should fall subject to Iago's plot. I was really blown away.

Later that night, a bunch of people in the house went out. There was a party being thrown for a new travel agency. There were multiple rooms constructed for the event. One had sand and palm trees, another was created to look like an Amazon forest and the last one resembled a Japanese lounge. It was incredible! What was even better was that EVERYTHING was free. We had to wait for a while to get in but had an amazing time. Quite the PR event.

On Monday we decided that we needed to be productive and tried to go to the Westminster library. It was closed. Sooo We took the tube to the British Library. It was intense. They asked for multiple forms of ID and I had to fill out a form on the computer. Once that was done, I received a library card with my picture and a briefing of the rules. No pens. No snacks. No backpacks or bags. etc. etc. etc. Also, there is no browsing of the stacks. You request books online and then the people bring them directly to you. Unfortunately, we finished our applications after 4:00 which is the last time you can order books. I do have access to one of the biggest collections of information in the world, though.

dAY tRIPPER

Today was really marked by a number of different cultural experiences. As the weekend began yesterday, I would have loved to sleep in today but I had made an appointment to get my allergy shot. It would be nice not to have to deal with it but, nonetheless, I was psyched to ride the tube for the first time by myself. I only need to take it to South Kensington (two stops away from Earl's Court) but I was excited. Of course I got lost on the way to the doctor's office (which is called a surgery here) but I was only a few minutes late. Then, the doctor was French and incredibly hard to understand but it didn't take too long.

After lounging around for the rest of the morning, Lee; Ben; Charlie and I decided to go to the Camden Market. It really turned out to be interesting. The vendors have mostly clothes, jewelry and other trinkets. The vibe was something else, though. It was bohemian smoke shop meets punk rocker Hot Topic with Chinese food cooking in the background. I was also surprised at the manor of the vendors. They were extremely pushy and seemed to be everywhere. This made browsing extremely difficult. Plus, I don't know how I would ever buy anything without a dressing room.

Once we got back to Earl's Court, we figured it was about time to find something to do next weekend because we have four days off. After many headaches, we booked flights to PARIS. Now, we just have to find a place to stay when we get there. Luckily students can tour the Louvre for free on Friday nights because the tickets were not cheap.

Finally, we made a late night excursion to this Mediterranean dive down the street. It was delicious! I got what was essentially gyro meat in a pita topped with garlic mayo and a mixture of shredded cabbage, carrots and other similar vegetables. We were all so full walking home.

Even though today wasn't the easiest I've had thus far, I'm very happy to be living in such a diverse city.

Send me a postcard; drop me a line

Today was the perfect blend of sleeping in, learning about England's monarchies and sight seeing. We met Sarah at 1:30 at the National Gallery and learned about the diptych commissioned by Richard II and saw the initial sketch for a painting of Henry VIII, Henry VII and their wives. After class concluded, about 4:00, the weekend began.

SO, we adventured to Abby Road. It was perfect because none of us were wearing jackets. However, it was a bit anticlimactic. There weren't any signs or souvenir shops (like there probably would be if Abby Rd. was in America) There was another big group of tourists, though. Luckily for us, cars in London drive very conservatively and ALWAYS stop for pedestrians. We were able to take a number of pictures at our leisure. Oh wait, cars here drive like they are racecars and we almost got hit 20 times.

It's all part of the experience, though.

Theatre woes

Well, yesterday was a bit of an unfortunate adventure. We had tickets to the Chekhov play, Uncle Vanya at the Rose Theatre in Kinston. Getting there took a fairly long tube ride to the end of the line, a stint on the SW rail and a 10 minute walk. Then, the play was borderline awful. The script centers around Russia, just years before the revolution and is more about the characters' inaction than their actions. However, this did not come through. We were all pretty disappointed but I think Ben and I are still going to purchase tickets to Shakespeare's The Tempest, which will begin playing there at the end of February. From the look of the flyer we saw, they are staging it with an Arabian knight flair. That alone is enough to make me want to see it. Plus, tickets for the pit are only 7 pounds!

Luckily, we were able to resurrect the rest of the night with a big pot of pasta and a lot of garlic cheesey bred. mmmm. I went to the store in the afternoon and stocked up. I bought my first jar of Nutella and some mini wheats with apricot filling (among many other things). Do they make something like this in the US? Not sure. Oh well. Now it's time to get ready for another one of Sarah's walking adventures. Today we are meeting at the National Gallery.

Nothing better

I just finished my first paper of the semester and it feels GREAT to have it done! It is for my course called London as a Visual Text and examines the Thames River through the lens of engineering. Trust me, it's moreexciting than it sounds.

Earlier today, I had the same course that I just finished the paper for. Usually, it entails studying the history of London by walking around and actually seeing all of the important places. This may sound like a class in british tourism; however, if you think this, you have clearly never met our professor Sarah Chochrane. She is the most adorable British woman who is not much taller than me. But, when she breaks into her "brisk walking" the rest of the class is either in a dead sprint or half a block behind. Oh, and she knows just about EVERYTHING. We spent the morning and early afternoon in Westminster Abbey. It is impossible to describe how beautifully ornate it is. I also love the perks of being in a student group lead by a headstrong British woman. We were able to stand inches away from Edward the Confessor's tomb. He is the one who is responsible for establishing the original Westminster but the space is always closed off to the general public. While much of the Abbey is made up of the large nave, the individual chapels are small and because of the presence of a large tomb, we wove in and out of them like little burrowing insects. Now, this was all well and good until we came to the Chapter House. The sign read that the Chapter house is to houses what the rose is to flowers. While circiling around some shrine my button that indicated my ability to be in the abby popped of and, of course, rolled into the center of the floor surrounded by a velvet rope. No one important seemed to noticed so I wasn't faced with any permanent reprocussions but I am without the free souvenir.

NOW, I must talk about last night's performance. We went to see the production War Horse at the National Theatre. It was INCREDIBLE. The play tells the story of a boy, Albert and his horse Joey in the context of WWI. They are separated when Albert's father sells the horse to the British cavalry but Albert ends up enlisting with the hopes of finding him. The story is extremely powerful but it is only part of the experience. The horses in the story are elaborate, life-size puppets constructed out of wood. They are made of intricate wooden frames that are lined on the inside with brown or grey fabric. Controlled by three people, the puppets act and move just like real horses and, at times, actors actually ride on them. We were all blown away. I only wish more people could see it. Luckily we were among the few to get tickets to it because every performance is sold out and people are actually queuing at 6:00 a.m. to purchase the tickets set aside to be sold on the day of the performance! Amazing.

Dinner and a game

Today was fairly relaxing and I was able to get a decent amount of homework done but the best part of the night was having dinner at our professors' house. Anne and John live about a half hour away and invited us for a home cooked meal of chicken, potatoes and salad. It was delicious. Shortbread and ice cream were for dessert. Of course, we all had to eat by their rule which is that spoons are only allowed to scoop up the ice cream when the shortbread is all gone. :) It was nice spending time with everyone in their cute little living room.

Then, of course everyone wanted to find a place to watch the Super Bowl. However, a lot of places are charging a cover and most of the pubs aren't open past eleven. It costs 25 pounds just to get into the Hard Rock Cafe tonight! So, a bunch of people are just watching on the grainy TV in the common room. Although, since the BBC is airing it, it isn't the same game that everyone in America is watching. Instead of commercials, we get to listen to past Super Bowl moments and British commentary which primarily consists of the annoucers explaining the rules. Apparently they had to go over the purpose of the coin toss.

The week in rewind

It is hard to belive that I have only been in London for one week. I have seen and done so much and I am actually starting to feel like I fit in. It still hasn't escaped me that I am in a foreign country but when I hear five different languages during a 15 minute train ride, I know I am not alone.

Classes are in full swing and we already have a paper due on Wednesday but this is, of course, not the type of classroom experience that I am used to. As I haven't kept up my blog this week, I'll give a short run through of my week.

Sunday: We all arrived at different times and settled into our rooms. The ACM has rented out what is like a long-term hostel and there is a kitchen and bathrooms on each floor. All of the girls live in rooms of four people. I live with Maggie from Ripon, Caitlyn from Macalester and Heidi from Monmouth. We are all very easy going and get along well but I can tell that we weren't put together because we are the neatest of people. At 6:00 we all had dinner with our professors and program coordinator - and were releived to find out that we didn't have class until the next day.
I ended the evening by heading to the pub across the street with a few other people from the program.

Monday: Class involved a lot of housekeeping tips but we also went for a walk (essentially around the block) with our "host" Goran. He pointed out all of the great places to go and things to look for in our neighborhood. We are staying in Earl's Court, which is in Kensington and Chelsea aka the Southeast part of the city. We had the rest of the afternoon free but had to meet at the Comedy Theatre by 7:30. The performances included Pinter's The Lover and The Collection.

Tuesday: We had another brief class in the morning for more tips on how to survive in London. One of the best tips was John's introduction of the Sainsbury's Basics. It is a line of items at the grocery store that are dirt cheap compared to the other brands. However, even though some, like pasta, are really comparable, some are not. John says he is stuck eating his two boxes of granola that he believes even horses would refuse. Again, we had the afternoon free but had to meet at the Orange Street Theatre at 7:30 for The Woman Hater.

Wednesday: Today meant a BOAT RIDE down the River Thames where we saw all of the quitessential London landmarks, during class. We ended our walk with Sarah at Tower Hill and then were free to roam about the City. That night we went to ANOTHER play. It was Metomorphosis at the Lyric Hammersmith. The performance was incredible. The set was divided into two levels but Gregor's room on the second was positioned very differently. Everything was attached to the vertical back wall as if it were the floor. His body movements really transformed into that of an insect. The performance was emotional and visually stunning.

Thursday: Today, for class, we divided into groups to discuss the past three performances. After class was over Ben, Lee, Maggie and I went to the Natural History Museum where we saw huge skeletons of dinosaurs, a replica of a blue whale done to scale and a huge exhibit on Earth's jewels.

Friday: Sarah took us on another brisk walk around London where we were able a few last remaining chunks of the Roman wall and we spent a lot of time talking about the Tower of London. I can't wait to take the tour. After class ended and our weekend started at noon, we took the tube to see Big Ben and other parts of the City up close. It is amazing to see things that I've only seen in books.

Saturday: Amanda, Emily, Sarah and I went to the Tate Modern and were able to see their huge exhibit on Surrealist works. Being right in front of the actual pieces done by Duchamp, Max Ernst and Jean Arp brought me right back to my FYS. I imagine Evelyn Kain would be proud. Then, I spent most of the night just hanging out and spending time with people at home. We also made a trip to the Burger King down the street. Don't Judge. They have blizzard-esque things for only 99 pence.

We are certainly trying to be conservative with our money because the exchange rate is so terrible but becuase of that we are all very greatful that we have been given monthly tube passes by the ACM. They allow us to go nearly anywhere for free. It is very suprising how quickly we have gotten a hang of the routes and I can definitely say that I love the public transportation. It's just hard getting used to how croweded it is.