This week has flown by so far. It is Wednesday night already and Allison and I are camped in the lounge doing homework and watch Dirty Dancing. I have become sort of sissy when it comes to doing homework. If I was at Central this term I would have five classes, most likely all with finals to be preparing for. Presently I have three classes, requiring me to take two exams and write two longer papers and yet I am struggling to stay on task. So far I have one exam finished and my next on is on Friday. I also have one of my papers completed, so I only have one more left to write. My semester sounds pretty easy huh? Well try living in London, but stay inside to study- not fun. Anyway enough complaining, it will all get finished...eventually.
This week is my second to last week of my internship and I am going to be in the Senior One class for the rest of my time at the school. I really enjoy being in that class and today was just a good day at work. I also now have a great pamphlet about the school that has a lot of pictures of my kiddies so I am excited to show them off!
Well, back to Dirty Dancing/paper writing....
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
Sunday, 26 April 2009
My last weekend trip - Scotland
I just got back to London an hour ago from Jenon, Jill, Allie, and my weekend trip to Edinburgh, Scotland....
Friday:
We took the night bus to Edinburgh that left London at 11:15pm and arrived in Edinburgh at 8:30am. The nine hour bus ride was not fun, but not as terrible as I had anticipated. Apparently I sort of invaded Jill's space (she was the lucky one who had to sit by me) for most of the journey. It was just not a very nice bus so the seats weren't very comfortable and there was no leg room, but what can we expect for as cheap as we got the tickets? Anyway, some how we survived the bus even with the loud people and the girl eating a full meal at 3am.
Once in Edinburgh we found our hostel just down Princes Street by Haymarket, dropped off our book bags, and set of to wander. Although we are all young, we were sore. So we walked by the Edinburgh castle and found a little park area with benches and made ourselves comfortable. We laid/rested on the benches for a good 45 minutes - during which time Jill made a friend with a little boy. He was walking with his parents and he kept getting closer and closer to the bench she was laying on and then once he got to the end he hovered over her. She was completely unaware until she heard the dad say something and then looked up and saw this kid staring down at her. It was hilarious. Then as the kid walked away with his parents he continued to stare behind him at Jill- it was actually a little creepy.
After our rest we checked into our hostel and then met up with a friend of Allie's who used to live in Scotland and is now visiting her fiance. They showed us around a bit and took us to a fish and chips shop for lunch. They walked us along the Royal Mile and showed us one of the haunted graveyards. Scotland is really pretty, it is much smaller than London and has mainly all very old buildings. Everything is really green at this time of year too. After we separated from Allie's friends we walked down the Royal Mile and then climbed up this big rock/mountain. I was really not feeling this climb, but we did it anyway and it gave us a gorgeous view of the city.
Our day was a lot of walking and then more walking, but it was all very enjoyable. The people in Edinburgh were all very very nice and helpful whenever we needed anything. We booked a coach tour for Saturday and then crashed pretty early in the night - we were tired!
Saturday
Today we headed to Loch Lomond, the Trussachs, and Stirling Castle. Our first stop on the way to Loch Lomond was Glasgow where we spent approximately 15 minutes - long enough for us to take a group pictures proving we were there and giving us time to find some much needed caffeine. Our next stop on this tour was Loch Lomond. On the way to Loch Lomond we learned that it is Britain's largest expanse of water and is know for its 'bonnie bonnie banks.' Our bus driver was even kind enough to play us the song, Bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond, which you have probably heard at some point during your life. I soon learned that 'loch' is just another word for lake, 'glenn' is another word for valley, and 'ben' is another word for mountain (I think). Loch Lomond was very pretty and we took a little hour boat tour around the big lake.
The rest of the day we spent traveling around some of the mountains in the countryside of Scotland and then to Stirling Castles. The mountains were gorgeous, especially the areas where there was a lake in the valley. I wasn't a big fan of the winding roads we had to take to get us the views, but the views were well worth it. My favorite part of the day easily was the 'light' music our bus driver played on the trip back into the city. Who doesn't love listening to the bagpipe version of Amazing Grace?
Unfortunately the coach we took on our day tour was much more comfortable than the coach we had to take nine hours back to London. The nine hours back were far worse than the nine hours to Edinburgh. The four of us were wide awake at 3:30am, Allie and I almost in tears because we had another four hours to go. It was freezing and just not good, but we all survived and I can say that I will never take a night bus to Edinburgh again.
Friday:
We took the night bus to Edinburgh that left London at 11:15pm and arrived in Edinburgh at 8:30am. The nine hour bus ride was not fun, but not as terrible as I had anticipated. Apparently I sort of invaded Jill's space (she was the lucky one who had to sit by me) for most of the journey. It was just not a very nice bus so the seats weren't very comfortable and there was no leg room, but what can we expect for as cheap as we got the tickets? Anyway, some how we survived the bus even with the loud people and the girl eating a full meal at 3am.
Once in Edinburgh we found our hostel just down Princes Street by Haymarket, dropped off our book bags, and set of to wander. Although we are all young, we were sore. So we walked by the Edinburgh castle and found a little park area with benches and made ourselves comfortable. We laid/rested on the benches for a good 45 minutes - during which time Jill made a friend with a little boy. He was walking with his parents and he kept getting closer and closer to the bench she was laying on and then once he got to the end he hovered over her. She was completely unaware until she heard the dad say something and then looked up and saw this kid staring down at her. It was hilarious. Then as the kid walked away with his parents he continued to stare behind him at Jill- it was actually a little creepy.
After our rest we checked into our hostel and then met up with a friend of Allie's who used to live in Scotland and is now visiting her fiance. They showed us around a bit and took us to a fish and chips shop for lunch. They walked us along the Royal Mile and showed us one of the haunted graveyards. Scotland is really pretty, it is much smaller than London and has mainly all very old buildings. Everything is really green at this time of year too. After we separated from Allie's friends we walked down the Royal Mile and then climbed up this big rock/mountain. I was really not feeling this climb, but we did it anyway and it gave us a gorgeous view of the city.
Our day was a lot of walking and then more walking, but it was all very enjoyable. The people in Edinburgh were all very very nice and helpful whenever we needed anything. We booked a coach tour for Saturday and then crashed pretty early in the night - we were tired!
Saturday
Today we headed to Loch Lomond, the Trussachs, and Stirling Castle. Our first stop on the way to Loch Lomond was Glasgow where we spent approximately 15 minutes - long enough for us to take a group pictures proving we were there and giving us time to find some much needed caffeine. Our next stop on this tour was Loch Lomond. On the way to Loch Lomond we learned that it is Britain's largest expanse of water and is know for its 'bonnie bonnie banks.' Our bus driver was even kind enough to play us the song, Bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond, which you have probably heard at some point during your life. I soon learned that 'loch' is just another word for lake, 'glenn' is another word for valley, and 'ben' is another word for mountain (I think). Loch Lomond was very pretty and we took a little hour boat tour around the big lake.
The rest of the day we spent traveling around some of the mountains in the countryside of Scotland and then to Stirling Castles. The mountains were gorgeous, especially the areas where there was a lake in the valley. I wasn't a big fan of the winding roads we had to take to get us the views, but the views were well worth it. My favorite part of the day easily was the 'light' music our bus driver played on the trip back into the city. Who doesn't love listening to the bagpipe version of Amazing Grace?
Unfortunately the coach we took on our day tour was much more comfortable than the coach we had to take nine hours back to London. The nine hours back were far worse than the nine hours to Edinburgh. The four of us were wide awake at 3:30am, Allie and I almost in tears because we had another four hours to go. It was freezing and just not good, but we all survived and I can say that I will never take a night bus to Edinburgh again.
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Night bus
As of now I have experienced sleeping in an airport, a train station, and tonight I will experience sleeping (hopefully) on a 8-9 hour night bus to Edinburgh, Scotland. Jenon, Jill, Allie, and I leave in about 30 minutes to catch our bus and will arrive in Scotland at around 7:30am tomorrow. We are spending Friday and Saturday there and will head back on another night bus Saturday night to arrive back in London early Sunday morning. This will be my last trip of the semester. :(
This week has flown by and two weeks from tomorrow I will be on a plane to America. I am trying to take everything in these last few weeks and am working on my checklist of things to do while I'm in London. It's just sad to check things off though. Today Allie and I did some souvenir shopping and then got ice cream from one of the ice cream vans (check off the list). We walked from Picadilly Circus to Trafalgar Square and talked about how now that we finally feel like we know our way around the city we leave, sweet. If I decide to live in a city when I am an adult, I know I will miss the tube or even the buses. They are just so handy. I don't know if another city will top my time in London, so far no other European cities have.
This week has flown by and two weeks from tomorrow I will be on a plane to America. I am trying to take everything in these last few weeks and am working on my checklist of things to do while I'm in London. It's just sad to check things off though. Today Allie and I did some souvenir shopping and then got ice cream from one of the ice cream vans (check off the list). We walked from Picadilly Circus to Trafalgar Square and talked about how now that we finally feel like we know our way around the city we leave, sweet. If I decide to live in a city when I am an adult, I know I will miss the tube or even the buses. They are just so handy. I don't know if another city will top my time in London, so far no other European cities have.
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Snails
This is the start week 15 of my time in London. It is nice to be back to a routine after the craziness of spring break, although waking up for Monday morning classes was still a drag. We are down to the final class periods, meaning I need to get to work on my final papers. The director of the London program was in Pella a couple weeks ago and it was really funny listening to him talk about his time in Iowa. He was there during the random snow storms and apparently Sunday was the only day they had off and it was also the day there was a blizzard. I believe his words were "It was bloody cold!" He also said that starting work at 7:30am was new to him and that they worked him hard! It sort of made me love Iowa even more, don't ask me why.
Anyway, today I was back at my internship and I now only have 5 more days at the Jack Taylor School. Today I worked in the Senior One classroom which is my favorite. They are fun and today I got to do a lot with them. I'm really excited too because Emma, the teacher of Senior One, does reading activities with about five pupils - all from different classes- during playground time. These five students are ones that they think have the potential to learn to read. So for the rest of my time I will get to do that one-on-one with some of the children.
This week and the rest of the term the school's theme is all about nature and being outside. So this afternoon, the senior one class spent the afternoon outside in one of the gardens pulling weeds. Mostly it was me and the teachers and sometimes the students would help out. As I was pulling out these weeds that had completely overtaken whatever flowers used to be there, I found snails! Okay, probably not a big deal, but I have never seen a snail before. There was one little guy and then two big ones that I found. I was pretty entertained with them for a while, but then thought that the teachers probably thought I was crazy for never having seen a snail before. Apparently snails and slugs are all over gardens.
That was about the excitement of my day. The weather was gorgeous today so I went for a run and then Allie and I made hamburger helper her parents had sent her. Now I am waiting to have a group skype date with my friends at Central and then I will convince myself to write a paper about the monarchy.
It hit me on the walk to work today how I am running out of time in London and I'll be honest it scares me. I just with London and Iowa were a little closer.
Anyway, today I was back at my internship and I now only have 5 more days at the Jack Taylor School. Today I worked in the Senior One classroom which is my favorite. They are fun and today I got to do a lot with them. I'm really excited too because Emma, the teacher of Senior One, does reading activities with about five pupils - all from different classes- during playground time. These five students are ones that they think have the potential to learn to read. So for the rest of my time I will get to do that one-on-one with some of the children.
This week and the rest of the term the school's theme is all about nature and being outside. So this afternoon, the senior one class spent the afternoon outside in one of the gardens pulling weeds. Mostly it was me and the teachers and sometimes the students would help out. As I was pulling out these weeds that had completely overtaken whatever flowers used to be there, I found snails! Okay, probably not a big deal, but I have never seen a snail before. There was one little guy and then two big ones that I found. I was pretty entertained with them for a while, but then thought that the teachers probably thought I was crazy for never having seen a snail before. Apparently snails and slugs are all over gardens.
That was about the excitement of my day. The weather was gorgeous today so I went for a run and then Allie and I made hamburger helper her parents had sent her. Now I am waiting to have a group skype date with my friends at Central and then I will convince myself to write a paper about the monarchy.
It hit me on the walk to work today how I am running out of time in London and I'll be honest it scares me. I just with London and Iowa were a little closer.
Sunday, 19 April 2009
When in... Venice, Florence, Rome, and the Cinque Terre...Italy = Spring Break
For spring break- Friday April 10- Saturday April 18- Jenon, Jill, Billy, Nick, Blake, and I spent a wonderful week traveling around Italy. Here are some of my more entertaining stories from the trip:
Venice : Fri. April 10- Sat. April 11
Jenon, Blake, and I left for Venice early, early Friday morning and were meeting the other three at our hotel/hostel in Venice. We made it to Venice without a problem, but getting to our hotel was another story. We had a few problems finding the right bus and were told the bus we wanted didn't exist, which was a downer. Finally we figured out which bus to take and at one point we were supposed to switch buses. Well Blake and I made it off bus #1 without a problem, but people started boarding the bus as Jenon was trying to exit and then the doors closed and there went Jenon, suck on the bus. Luckily it stopped just a few blocks down and we found the next bus easily.
The weather in Venice was beautiful. I didn't know what to expect, but the city was beautiful as well. There were canals and little bridges all over and we took boats from place to place more than we took buses. The first night in Venice I had my first taste of Italian gelato, and it was delicious. I had to use self-control to not get gelato every night.
Florence: Sat. April 11- Mon. April 13
We arrived in Florence Saturday evening after spending the day in Venice. Our accommodation in Florence was called Camping Michelangelo. I envisioned we would be out in the wilderness with bears, way up on top of a hill a ways away from the city. Luckily, I was completely wrong. When we got off the bus that took us from the train station to a stop called 'camping.' We didn't know which direction to go and almost started just walking up the hill until the bus moved and we saw that Camping Michelangelo was right there. It turned out to be a really nice camp ground and pretty big as well. There were campers and house tents, which we stayed in. They also had a little market and a restaurant/bar. The best part of camping we the view. Right outside our house tents we had an amazing view overlooking the city and just a few blocks away was a look out point where you could see the entire city and the hills surrounding it.
Our only full day in Florence was Easter Sunday. Jenon, Billy, and I woke up early and went for a morning run first in an area with a view of the city and then we ran more within the city. It was amazing. I didn't sleep so well the first night, the house tent got pretty cold. We spent Easter Sunday looking around Florence. We went to mass at one of the five largest Cathedrals in the world (I think). I only knew what was going on about 5% of the time during the service, but it was a once-in-a-lifetime type thing and the cathedral was pretty, especially the painted dome. We spent part of the night watching the sun set while sitting on the stairs of the lookout point drinking a glass of wine.
Rome: Mon. April 13-Tue. April 14
We left for Rome early Monday morning and got in at about 10:30am. Our hostel was really nice and we dropped off our bags before heading out to explore. Rome was definitely the most tiring of the cities we visited - there is so much to see! Practically everywhere you look is a Roman ruin, a fountain, or a monument of some sort. We did the Colosseum first (way cool) and during our little lunch break we had about seven 16 year old Italian boys talk to the six of us. They didn't speak very good English so most of the time I didn't know what they were trying to say. Billy being Billy jokingly tried to sell a picture with Jenon for five Euros. They took a picture with us, but we didn't get any Euros out of the deal. It was pretty awkward actually, but we just laughed it off. After being in the Colosseum for quite a while we went over the the area that has a lot of Roman ruins, which we spent about three hours wandering around. There was so much to see. We pretty much kicked Rome's butt and didn't get back to our hostel until 11:30pm. A Rome street also attempted to kick my butt. We were sort of jogging/walking fast across a street, which had the trolley lines through it so sort of like railway tracks, to avoid being hit by the on coming vehicles. Well somehow my foot got caught in one of the little tracks, more or less I stubbed my big toe and then it almost got stuck causing me to stumble forward.... a lot. I thought I was going to face plant in the middle of the street, but luckily I somehow caught myself. Jenon was right beside me and was trying to ask me if I was okay while telling me we needed to keep walking so we didn't get hit my a car. On a positive note: my toe is not broken and I didn't completely face plant.
Tuesday we went to Vatican City. It was a beautiful day and it was really cool to see all of the sites. Most of the places I have been this semester, I never thought I would get to see - I truly am lucky.
Sailing off the Western coast of Italy: Wed. April 15
Back in the fall Billy researched sailing companies or people who take customers out sailing for a day in Italy. He found a middle aged couple and emailed them from then all the way up to now and I am so glad he did. After our tourist days in Venice, Florence, and Rome a day sailing on the sea is exactly what we all needed. Their sailboat was pretty big and only a little over a year old so it was really nice. It was an older/middle aged couple who has been sailing for years and we were their first customers of the season this year. They were from Scotland so talking to them was no problem at all. We sailed for the whole day from about 9:30am to 7:30pm. It was just beautiful and so was the weather. It was a relaxing day on the sea.
As great as the day was on Wednesday, the night was not so great. Wednesday evening was when our group of six headed out in different directions- Billy to Greece, Nick and Jill to Nice, and Jenon, Blake, and I to the Cinque Terre. We all had pretty crappy night trains and schedules in order to get to our next destination. Jenon, Blake, and I took our first train at Midnight which lasted only about a half hour, then we had to wait for 1.5 hours until our next train to La Spezia (a bigger town close to the Cinque Terre). This part of the journey went fine although we were pretty tired. Our train to La Spezia arrived at about 2:00 am and as we were boarding we were looking forward to sleeping until it arrived in La Spezia at 4:30am. Unfortunately for us we didn't know we were getting on the train from hell. We got on and since it is a sleeper train it had little cabins to the left of a two foot wide corridor. Although we had seat reservations all of the seats and cabins were filled and people lined the walls of the narrow corridor. We didn't know what to do when we got the train and saw people everywhere. We walked to the end of the corridor, found a little tiny area and sat with our bags between our legs in the corridor. My knees were at my chest it was such a small place. The first thing Jenon and I did when we sat down was look at each other and laugh. We didn't know what else to do because we had no idea what was going on. Jenon and I dozed off a couple times only to be woken by pains in my neck or back from how I was sitting or by people trying to get by. Finally with only 45 minutes left of the 2.5 hour train ride two seats in the cabin in front of us opened up and we took them as soon as we could. I immediately passed out and woke up drooling... a lot.
So we finally made it to La Spezia and I wish this was where my story ended, unfortunately it's not. Our next train to our final destination of Manarola didn't leave until 7am and it was only 4:40am. So we layed down on the hard, freezing floor of the La Spezia train station and tried to get some rest. I dozed a little, but woke up because it was so cold. Jenon was using one of her scarfs as a blanket so we shared that for a little bit, but it didn't help too much. I officially fell in love with McDonald's when it opened at 6am and gave us some American coffee and a warm place to stand. Later I found out that it was actually a little cafe that shares the space with McDonald's, but whatever, either way it was coffee and the room was heated.
Cinque Terre: Thurs. April 16-Fri. April 17
The Cinque Terre is comprised of five small towns built into cliffs along the western coast of Italy. They are the most adorable towns with the most amazing view. We spent all/most of Friday hiking the paths that link the five towns together. We hiked for about 4 hours and covered over seven miles. I had the impression that these paths were very simple easy ones, I was wrong. Most of them consisted of stairs, lots and lots of stairs - good for the butt and tiring. The weather was a little chillier these two days and at one point during the middle of one of the paths it started to rain and then hail for a little bit. It sounds bad, but it wasn't. Even the rain couldn't take away from the view we had. The Cinque Terre was probably my favorite part of Italy and the place I would really like to go back to one day.
Overall spring break was wonderfully amazing. I loved every second of it, even the trains didn't take away from having a good time. There were only a few things I would change about Italy: they don't have toilet seats on their toilets, don't ask me why and their trains suck as you read earlier.
I ate enough pizza and pasta and gelato to last me a lifetime, but now I'm happy to be back in my city aka London.
Venice : Fri. April 10- Sat. April 11
Jenon, Blake, and I left for Venice early, early Friday morning and were meeting the other three at our hotel/hostel in Venice. We made it to Venice without a problem, but getting to our hotel was another story. We had a few problems finding the right bus and were told the bus we wanted didn't exist, which was a downer. Finally we figured out which bus to take and at one point we were supposed to switch buses. Well Blake and I made it off bus #1 without a problem, but people started boarding the bus as Jenon was trying to exit and then the doors closed and there went Jenon, suck on the bus. Luckily it stopped just a few blocks down and we found the next bus easily.
The weather in Venice was beautiful. I didn't know what to expect, but the city was beautiful as well. There were canals and little bridges all over and we took boats from place to place more than we took buses. The first night in Venice I had my first taste of Italian gelato, and it was delicious. I had to use self-control to not get gelato every night.
Florence: Sat. April 11- Mon. April 13
We arrived in Florence Saturday evening after spending the day in Venice. Our accommodation in Florence was called Camping Michelangelo. I envisioned we would be out in the wilderness with bears, way up on top of a hill a ways away from the city. Luckily, I was completely wrong. When we got off the bus that took us from the train station to a stop called 'camping.' We didn't know which direction to go and almost started just walking up the hill until the bus moved and we saw that Camping Michelangelo was right there. It turned out to be a really nice camp ground and pretty big as well. There were campers and house tents, which we stayed in. They also had a little market and a restaurant/bar. The best part of camping we the view. Right outside our house tents we had an amazing view overlooking the city and just a few blocks away was a look out point where you could see the entire city and the hills surrounding it.
Our only full day in Florence was Easter Sunday. Jenon, Billy, and I woke up early and went for a morning run first in an area with a view of the city and then we ran more within the city. It was amazing. I didn't sleep so well the first night, the house tent got pretty cold. We spent Easter Sunday looking around Florence. We went to mass at one of the five largest Cathedrals in the world (I think). I only knew what was going on about 5% of the time during the service, but it was a once-in-a-lifetime type thing and the cathedral was pretty, especially the painted dome. We spent part of the night watching the sun set while sitting on the stairs of the lookout point drinking a glass of wine.
Rome: Mon. April 13-Tue. April 14
We left for Rome early Monday morning and got in at about 10:30am. Our hostel was really nice and we dropped off our bags before heading out to explore. Rome was definitely the most tiring of the cities we visited - there is so much to see! Practically everywhere you look is a Roman ruin, a fountain, or a monument of some sort. We did the Colosseum first (way cool) and during our little lunch break we had about seven 16 year old Italian boys talk to the six of us. They didn't speak very good English so most of the time I didn't know what they were trying to say. Billy being Billy jokingly tried to sell a picture with Jenon for five Euros. They took a picture with us, but we didn't get any Euros out of the deal. It was pretty awkward actually, but we just laughed it off. After being in the Colosseum for quite a while we went over the the area that has a lot of Roman ruins, which we spent about three hours wandering around. There was so much to see. We pretty much kicked Rome's butt and didn't get back to our hostel until 11:30pm. A Rome street also attempted to kick my butt. We were sort of jogging/walking fast across a street, which had the trolley lines through it so sort of like railway tracks, to avoid being hit by the on coming vehicles. Well somehow my foot got caught in one of the little tracks, more or less I stubbed my big toe and then it almost got stuck causing me to stumble forward.... a lot. I thought I was going to face plant in the middle of the street, but luckily I somehow caught myself. Jenon was right beside me and was trying to ask me if I was okay while telling me we needed to keep walking so we didn't get hit my a car. On a positive note: my toe is not broken and I didn't completely face plant.
Tuesday we went to Vatican City. It was a beautiful day and it was really cool to see all of the sites. Most of the places I have been this semester, I never thought I would get to see - I truly am lucky.
Sailing off the Western coast of Italy: Wed. April 15
Back in the fall Billy researched sailing companies or people who take customers out sailing for a day in Italy. He found a middle aged couple and emailed them from then all the way up to now and I am so glad he did. After our tourist days in Venice, Florence, and Rome a day sailing on the sea is exactly what we all needed. Their sailboat was pretty big and only a little over a year old so it was really nice. It was an older/middle aged couple who has been sailing for years and we were their first customers of the season this year. They were from Scotland so talking to them was no problem at all. We sailed for the whole day from about 9:30am to 7:30pm. It was just beautiful and so was the weather. It was a relaxing day on the sea.
As great as the day was on Wednesday, the night was not so great. Wednesday evening was when our group of six headed out in different directions- Billy to Greece, Nick and Jill to Nice, and Jenon, Blake, and I to the Cinque Terre. We all had pretty crappy night trains and schedules in order to get to our next destination. Jenon, Blake, and I took our first train at Midnight which lasted only about a half hour, then we had to wait for 1.5 hours until our next train to La Spezia (a bigger town close to the Cinque Terre). This part of the journey went fine although we were pretty tired. Our train to La Spezia arrived at about 2:00 am and as we were boarding we were looking forward to sleeping until it arrived in La Spezia at 4:30am. Unfortunately for us we didn't know we were getting on the train from hell. We got on and since it is a sleeper train it had little cabins to the left of a two foot wide corridor. Although we had seat reservations all of the seats and cabins were filled and people lined the walls of the narrow corridor. We didn't know what to do when we got the train and saw people everywhere. We walked to the end of the corridor, found a little tiny area and sat with our bags between our legs in the corridor. My knees were at my chest it was such a small place. The first thing Jenon and I did when we sat down was look at each other and laugh. We didn't know what else to do because we had no idea what was going on. Jenon and I dozed off a couple times only to be woken by pains in my neck or back from how I was sitting or by people trying to get by. Finally with only 45 minutes left of the 2.5 hour train ride two seats in the cabin in front of us opened up and we took them as soon as we could. I immediately passed out and woke up drooling... a lot.
So we finally made it to La Spezia and I wish this was where my story ended, unfortunately it's not. Our next train to our final destination of Manarola didn't leave until 7am and it was only 4:40am. So we layed down on the hard, freezing floor of the La Spezia train station and tried to get some rest. I dozed a little, but woke up because it was so cold. Jenon was using one of her scarfs as a blanket so we shared that for a little bit, but it didn't help too much. I officially fell in love with McDonald's when it opened at 6am and gave us some American coffee and a warm place to stand. Later I found out that it was actually a little cafe that shares the space with McDonald's, but whatever, either way it was coffee and the room was heated.
Cinque Terre: Thurs. April 16-Fri. April 17
The Cinque Terre is comprised of five small towns built into cliffs along the western coast of Italy. They are the most adorable towns with the most amazing view. We spent all/most of Friday hiking the paths that link the five towns together. We hiked for about 4 hours and covered over seven miles. I had the impression that these paths were very simple easy ones, I was wrong. Most of them consisted of stairs, lots and lots of stairs - good for the butt and tiring. The weather was a little chillier these two days and at one point during the middle of one of the paths it started to rain and then hail for a little bit. It sounds bad, but it wasn't. Even the rain couldn't take away from the view we had. The Cinque Terre was probably my favorite part of Italy and the place I would really like to go back to one day.
Overall spring break was wonderfully amazing. I loved every second of it, even the trains didn't take away from having a good time. There were only a few things I would change about Italy: they don't have toilet seats on their toilets, don't ask me why and their trains suck as you read earlier.
I ate enough pizza and pasta and gelato to last me a lifetime, but now I'm happy to be back in my city aka London.
Thursday, 9 April 2009
My day with the Soukup Family
Yesterday (Wednesday) I spend the day away from the city and with family friends Alison and Joel. I took the tube all the way to Epping where Alison picked me up - in a car! She then drove me, on the left/wrong side of the road to Bury St. Edmonds. At Bury we met Joel and their cute kids - Taylor and Tessa. Driving on the wrong side of the road wasn't as weird as I thought it would be, it was the round-a-bouts that freaked me out a little, and they are everywhere. Once in Bury, we went to a tea cafe/restaurant where we ate a lunch consisting of yummy sandwiches, tea, and scones. After lunch we were going to look at the gardens in Bury, but the Queen is there today which unfortunately meant the gardens were closed yesterday when I was in town. As a lady on the street said, "How dare that Queen." Although I didn't get to see the gardens in Bury, I did get to experience walking around a smaller English town. The market was going on so we wandered about that, we saw the smallest pub in England which only holds about five or six customers and the brewery in that area.
After Bury, the five of us got in their car and headed for Cambridge. It was so nice to just get in a car and go, not having to worry about bus or train times. It's sort of sad that I miss being in cars, especially since I never really enjoyed it when I was home. The drive to Cambridge was really pretty because everything is becoming green and the sun was shining. I learned that new drivers have to have a big sticker on the back of their vehicle that is just a big L - for learner. Apparently it is harder to get your licence over here, or you are just supposed to watch out for new drivers more. There are also not many police on their main roads because they have speed cameras set up along the roadways and if your speeding you get a ticket in the mail, if all goes as planned. The squiggly lines mean something along the lines of - there may be pedestrians crossing and you are coming up to a stoplight. Alison said that it was a little weird driving at first, but no round-a-bouts are wonderful things.
Once in Cambridge, we walked to the area where the majority of the college buildings are located. Then we went punting on the CAM river. A punt is a little boat that they just use a long stick to move it along the river. It was a really nice way to spend the afternoon. Our guy that was steering the boat told us a little about the college buildings along the river, he grew up in Cambridge but home on holiday from Uni just outside of London. Cambridge is a really pretty town as well, I'm glad I got the chance to see both Oxford and Cambridge. After our punting trip, we walked around the town a bit more and then went to La Tasca (a Spanish restaurant) for dinner. I'm glad Joel and Alison knew what they were doing because I definitely didn't. We got a couple tapas and then paella as the main part of our meal. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. There is a La Tasca on Victoria Street so I may have to go again before the term is over! I took a train back to London from Cambridge which took me to King's Cross Station. I had a really great time with Alison and her family, it was nice to see some familiar faces from home.
Today I have a lot on my 'to-do' list. I leave for Italy on spring break very early tomorrow morning. I am excited for traveling around Italy, I just hope everything falls into place. I will be very behind on my blog when I get back to London after 9 days away! Happy Easter everyone!
After Bury, the five of us got in their car and headed for Cambridge. It was so nice to just get in a car and go, not having to worry about bus or train times. It's sort of sad that I miss being in cars, especially since I never really enjoyed it when I was home. The drive to Cambridge was really pretty because everything is becoming green and the sun was shining. I learned that new drivers have to have a big sticker on the back of their vehicle that is just a big L - for learner. Apparently it is harder to get your licence over here, or you are just supposed to watch out for new drivers more. There are also not many police on their main roads because they have speed cameras set up along the roadways and if your speeding you get a ticket in the mail, if all goes as planned. The squiggly lines mean something along the lines of - there may be pedestrians crossing and you are coming up to a stoplight. Alison said that it was a little weird driving at first, but no round-a-bouts are wonderful things.
Once in Cambridge, we walked to the area where the majority of the college buildings are located. Then we went punting on the CAM river. A punt is a little boat that they just use a long stick to move it along the river. It was a really nice way to spend the afternoon. Our guy that was steering the boat told us a little about the college buildings along the river, he grew up in Cambridge but home on holiday from Uni just outside of London. Cambridge is a really pretty town as well, I'm glad I got the chance to see both Oxford and Cambridge. After our punting trip, we walked around the town a bit more and then went to La Tasca (a Spanish restaurant) for dinner. I'm glad Joel and Alison knew what they were doing because I definitely didn't. We got a couple tapas and then paella as the main part of our meal. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. There is a La Tasca on Victoria Street so I may have to go again before the term is over! I took a train back to London from Cambridge which took me to King's Cross Station. I had a really great time with Alison and her family, it was nice to see some familiar faces from home.
Today I have a lot on my 'to-do' list. I leave for Italy on spring break very early tomorrow morning. I am excited for traveling around Italy, I just hope everything falls into place. I will be very behind on my blog when I get back to London after 9 days away! Happy Easter everyone!
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Another sunny day
Yesterday was my last theatre visit. Sad to say, I was pretty excited for this day. I have come to learn that I enjoy musicals much more than plays. It was a good experience and now I just have to write an 8 page paper and take an exam and I will be done with my theatre class!
Today I had the day off because the schools in London are on their mid-term/Easter break. For some reason I thought it would be really great for me to get up and go to a museum in the morning. So I woke up earlier than I wanted and headed off to the Victoria and Albert Museum. This is pretty much a huge museum of random random art things. They have statues, paintings, things from China and Japan, jewelry, stained glass, pretty much you name it they have it. Queen Victoria and her husband Albert collected all of this art. It was interesting, but some of the time I felt I didn't really know what I was looking at or why it was of importance. My favorite part was all the old jewelry and fashion. After that museum I though I might as well go across the road to the Science Museum. I don't really know what I was thinking this morning because I am not really a huge fan of museums. It's all about the experience though right? So I went and I experienced them and now I am done.
I decided to walk back from the museums. I always underestimate how far away things are from Vandon so this turned out to be quite the walk. This afternoon Allie wanted to get a new swimsuit before she headed off to Greece for spring break so I went along with her and did a little shopping. I have been going shopping a lot lately which is justified by the fact that I hardly ever find anything. We went to Primark first which had ridiculous crowds. It was a Tuesday afternoon and it was packed beyond its capacity it seemed. I wanted in a really long line to return a shirt and then another line to buy a different one. Goodness. Oxford Street was very very busy today with more crowds than I think are usual. I feel like there must have been a spring sale going on at a lot of stores right now. Allie and I are trying to save money by taking the bus places and I think we are getting quite good. I feel much more comfortable with the bus system now, although it is a little trickier than the underground.
Tomorrow I head off to visit Alison, a family friend, which should be really good. I'm excited to see a familiar face! :)
Today I had the day off because the schools in London are on their mid-term/Easter break. For some reason I thought it would be really great for me to get up and go to a museum in the morning. So I woke up earlier than I wanted and headed off to the Victoria and Albert Museum. This is pretty much a huge museum of random random art things. They have statues, paintings, things from China and Japan, jewelry, stained glass, pretty much you name it they have it. Queen Victoria and her husband Albert collected all of this art. It was interesting, but some of the time I felt I didn't really know what I was looking at or why it was of importance. My favorite part was all the old jewelry and fashion. After that museum I though I might as well go across the road to the Science Museum. I don't really know what I was thinking this morning because I am not really a huge fan of museums. It's all about the experience though right? So I went and I experienced them and now I am done.
I decided to walk back from the museums. I always underestimate how far away things are from Vandon so this turned out to be quite the walk. This afternoon Allie wanted to get a new swimsuit before she headed off to Greece for spring break so I went along with her and did a little shopping. I have been going shopping a lot lately which is justified by the fact that I hardly ever find anything. We went to Primark first which had ridiculous crowds. It was a Tuesday afternoon and it was packed beyond its capacity it seemed. I wanted in a really long line to return a shirt and then another line to buy a different one. Goodness. Oxford Street was very very busy today with more crowds than I think are usual. I feel like there must have been a spring sale going on at a lot of stores right now. Allie and I are trying to save money by taking the bus places and I think we are getting quite good. I feel much more comfortable with the bus system now, although it is a little trickier than the underground.
Tomorrow I head off to visit Alison, a family friend, which should be really good. I'm excited to see a familiar face! :)
Sunday, 5 April 2009
I love day trips
Yesterday (Saturday) Jenon, Allie, Erin, Cody, Ryan, Austin, and I went on a day trip to Windsor Castle, Bath, and Stonehenge. We went with the coach tour company Evan Evan's which took us to all of those places beginning at 8:45am. This time we found our coach without much of a problem, although the guys who left after us had a little issue finding which one, but we all made it! Our bus drivers name was Martyn and our tour guides name was Rosalyn.
We started our day by going to Windsor Castle which is only about 20 miles from London, I didn't realize it was that close - it still took about 45 minutes to get to though. Windsor Castle is huge, I knew it would be big, but it was much bigger than I expected. It has 1,500 rooms. Each person in my home town could have their own room in the castle and there would still be about 400 extra rooms available. It was a beautiful day we walked with Rosalyn around the inside of the castle where it is outside and open space and then once we got into the castle we had audio guides. The first room we saw in Windsor was the Queen's doll house room. This room holds a very very large, ornate doll house, which no one ever played with. It looks perfect, like a little model of rooms in the castle. The doll house is also complete with electricity and working plumbing. I wish I could have taken a picture! Next we walked around the state rooms which were just as impressive. We saw the biggest state room, the Wellington Room I believe it is called. The Queen still holds events in that room and that is where Prince William's 21st birthday was held. It was fun seeing a castle that is still used so much and the Queen was even there that day, but unfortunately we didn't get to meet her - darn. Along with the state rooms we also got to tour St. George's Chapel where Henry the VIII and other Kings and Queens are buried. After our tour of the rooms we were allowed to go in at the castle we walked through the town just a bit and then had to make sure to get back to the coach on time.
Our next stop was Bath. It was a really pretty drive on the way to Bath from Windsor. We could see Wales in the distance because we were so far East. Bath is a really cute English town, probably my favorite little town so far. It was already really green there, which made it even prettier. Once at Bath we spent the majority of our short time at the Roman Bath museum area looking at the very old Roman baths. You could see the steam rising off of the bath and it was really neat to see all the stages the Romans went through. We even got to taste the spring water at the end of our tour, which smelled very gross and was warm, but we drank it anyway. I feel healthier already! With our remaining time before we were due back to the coach we walked around a little bit of the town of Bath which was adorable and then headed back to the coach.
Our final stop of the day was Stonehenge. It was actually really cool to see, since I have seen a lot of pictures. We were only there for 45 minutes, which was enough, but we had a lot of fun. Our group took a lot of pictures and enjoyed the rocks. It is just amazing how old they are and the fact that no one knows exactly why they are there. I am glad I went!
I thought this day trip was going to be a lot crammed into not enough time, but really it was perfect. I didn't have to worry about anything and I just got to enjoy each place we went to. I would definitely recommend taking a coach tour, we got so much into one day! I could have spent more time in a few of the places, but we made it back to London around 7pm, which gave Allison and I enough time to go to Westfields, which is a huge shopping center. I have become a terrible shopper, I don't know what happened. We spent only an hour or so at Westfields and before we left we enjoyed some amazing chips and salsa and just talked. Saturday was a very good day in England.
Today, I slept in and then went for a run. Afterwards a group of us attempted to go to Wimbleton. One would think that the tube station Wimbleton would be the one needed for Wimbleton courts and museum - wrong. Big fail on our part for the day. Long story but it took us about 2.5 hours to find Wimbleton taking a few wrong buses in the process. Even though it sounds like a drag it was actually a fun day with my friends, just a little bit longer of a day than planned. Luckily it was a lovely day and the first day that I didn't need my coat. I am really liking this whole 'spring in London' idea.
We started our day by going to Windsor Castle which is only about 20 miles from London, I didn't realize it was that close - it still took about 45 minutes to get to though. Windsor Castle is huge, I knew it would be big, but it was much bigger than I expected. It has 1,500 rooms. Each person in my home town could have their own room in the castle and there would still be about 400 extra rooms available. It was a beautiful day we walked with Rosalyn around the inside of the castle where it is outside and open space and then once we got into the castle we had audio guides. The first room we saw in Windsor was the Queen's doll house room. This room holds a very very large, ornate doll house, which no one ever played with. It looks perfect, like a little model of rooms in the castle. The doll house is also complete with electricity and working plumbing. I wish I could have taken a picture! Next we walked around the state rooms which were just as impressive. We saw the biggest state room, the Wellington Room I believe it is called. The Queen still holds events in that room and that is where Prince William's 21st birthday was held. It was fun seeing a castle that is still used so much and the Queen was even there that day, but unfortunately we didn't get to meet her - darn. Along with the state rooms we also got to tour St. George's Chapel where Henry the VIII and other Kings and Queens are buried. After our tour of the rooms we were allowed to go in at the castle we walked through the town just a bit and then had to make sure to get back to the coach on time.
Our next stop was Bath. It was a really pretty drive on the way to Bath from Windsor. We could see Wales in the distance because we were so far East. Bath is a really cute English town, probably my favorite little town so far. It was already really green there, which made it even prettier. Once at Bath we spent the majority of our short time at the Roman Bath museum area looking at the very old Roman baths. You could see the steam rising off of the bath and it was really neat to see all the stages the Romans went through. We even got to taste the spring water at the end of our tour, which smelled very gross and was warm, but we drank it anyway. I feel healthier already! With our remaining time before we were due back to the coach we walked around a little bit of the town of Bath which was adorable and then headed back to the coach.
Our final stop of the day was Stonehenge. It was actually really cool to see, since I have seen a lot of pictures. We were only there for 45 minutes, which was enough, but we had a lot of fun. Our group took a lot of pictures and enjoyed the rocks. It is just amazing how old they are and the fact that no one knows exactly why they are there. I am glad I went!
I thought this day trip was going to be a lot crammed into not enough time, but really it was perfect. I didn't have to worry about anything and I just got to enjoy each place we went to. I would definitely recommend taking a coach tour, we got so much into one day! I could have spent more time in a few of the places, but we made it back to London around 7pm, which gave Allison and I enough time to go to Westfields, which is a huge shopping center. I have become a terrible shopper, I don't know what happened. We spent only an hour or so at Westfields and before we left we enjoyed some amazing chips and salsa and just talked. Saturday was a very good day in England.
Today, I slept in and then went for a run. Afterwards a group of us attempted to go to Wimbleton. One would think that the tube station Wimbleton would be the one needed for Wimbleton courts and museum - wrong. Big fail on our part for the day. Long story but it took us about 2.5 hours to find Wimbleton taking a few wrong buses in the process. Even though it sounds like a drag it was actually a fun day with my friends, just a little bit longer of a day than planned. Luckily it was a lovely day and the first day that I didn't need my coat. I am really liking this whole 'spring in London' idea.
Friday, 3 April 2009
Start of the weekend - Oxford and a day in London
Thursday:
Today Allie and I made a day trip to Oxford. We booked our tickets the night before on megabus.com and everything worked out fine. We left in the morning with what we thought was plenty of time to catch our 9:50am bus, wrong. Once we got to the Victoria Coach Station, where the website told us it was, we didn't see our bus on the departure board, so we asked the man at information who pointed us in the right direction. Wrong again. He pointed us in the wrong direction and we ended up missing our first bus. Now, I probably can't completely blame the information desk-man, although I really want to, because Allie and I probably should have left earlier. Anyway, we caught the next bus, which we had to pay for again, and then we were off. Also, the bus was not a 'megabus' it was an 'Oxford Tube' bus, how were we supposed to know?!
Our bus was a double decker bus so Allie and I chose to sit at the very front of the top of the bus. It was the best view in the house. At first it kind of made me feel a little car sick because the bus drivers can be kind of crazy, but once we got onto the highway it was really cool. Pretty much you can see everything. It took us about two hours to get into Oxford. First, we climbed up Carfax Tower to get a view of the city. Then we walked down the street to Christ Church College which is one of the oldest colleges that are part of Oxford University. I think it's one of the biggest too. Luckily, Christ Church was open and we got to go inside. The dining hall is where many scenes from Harry Potter are filmed so we checked that out and walked around the open area. It was really pretty and probably my favorite building of the day. After seeing Christ Church we went to a little market area where we got some ice cream shakes and then made our way to the Bodleian Library which was established in 1450 and is the oldest and one of the largest libraries in Europe. That was fun because we got to see some actual Oxford University students. I'm sure they get annoyed with all of the tourists, but it was fun for us! Then we went to Blackwell's Bookstore which is also very very huge. In the basement it has three miles of books. It was very overwhelming and impressive. We continued to wander around the city which has so many beautiful old buildings and also continued our mission to find a good Oxford University sweatshirt. Although you can buy Oxford sweatshirts in London, its just much better to say you've been there. As we continued walking down one of the busy streets in Oxford a low flying pigeon decided to run into my head. It flew up from behind me and definitely hit its wing on my face. It was disgusting, gross, sick. I dislike pigeons a lot. To top that off, two boys who looked like they were 14 years old came up to Allie and I with free hugs signs. No thank you. Our day wasn't very long, but it was good. We found our bus home and got our favorite seat again.
Once back from Oxford, our program went to a philharmonic orchestra concert at Cadogan Hall. This was my first orchestra concert and it was really good. I felt bad because it made me tired towards the end, but they were so talented. I do enjoy some good classical music every once and a while.
Friday:
This morning involved sleeping in, that is until the construction workers next door started. Usually the noise is bearable, but today it sounded like a jackhammer was going to come through our wall. I am not exaggerating, it was terrible. So once awake from that I got ready and our program went to for an Indian lunch at a restaurant on Brick Lane. It was... interesting. I was a little hesitant when trying the food, but I did try it all. We had some tortilla looking thing with a mixture of different sauces you could put on it first. Then we had, what looked like, a fried ball of onion that tasted like an odd mixture of onion and sausage. For the main part we had chicken with some form of orange colored sauce and lamb with some form of red sauce with rice and pita bread. The lamb wasn't my favorite and the chicken wasn't terrible. Luckily, they gave us some chocolate for dessert that was a little after eight bite size bar. I probably won't be eating Indian food again soon, but at least I've tried it.
After lunch, we wandered around Brick Lane a little and went into Whitechapel Bell Foundry where Big Ben, Liberty Bell, a big one in Russia, and other big ones were made. It was actually really interesting. Apparently they are working on some bells for somewhere in Massachusetts right now!
This afternoon we went on a tour of Parliament, unfortunately you can't take pictures, but the building is just gorgeous on the inside. It is all a replica of the original because of a fire in 1834. We went into the House of Commons and the House of Lords and saw where the Queen will sit when she comes once a year. Apparently the Queen isn't allowed into the House of Commons area (not just her, any King or Queen of England) because years and years ago one of the Kings tried to arrest members of Parliament. So today I was somewhere who even the Queen herself can't go. Crazy. The tour lasted about an hour and then Allie, Jenon, Erin, and I went to a Mexican restaurant in Covent Gardens for dinner. We ate a quick dinner of quesadillas which were very good and now we are hanging out in our room. Tomorrow a group of us heads to Winsor, Stonehendge, and Bath!
Today Allie and I made a day trip to Oxford. We booked our tickets the night before on megabus.com and everything worked out fine. We left in the morning with what we thought was plenty of time to catch our 9:50am bus, wrong. Once we got to the Victoria Coach Station, where the website told us it was, we didn't see our bus on the departure board, so we asked the man at information who pointed us in the right direction. Wrong again. He pointed us in the wrong direction and we ended up missing our first bus. Now, I probably can't completely blame the information desk-man, although I really want to, because Allie and I probably should have left earlier. Anyway, we caught the next bus, which we had to pay for again, and then we were off. Also, the bus was not a 'megabus' it was an 'Oxford Tube' bus, how were we supposed to know?!
Our bus was a double decker bus so Allie and I chose to sit at the very front of the top of the bus. It was the best view in the house. At first it kind of made me feel a little car sick because the bus drivers can be kind of crazy, but once we got onto the highway it was really cool. Pretty much you can see everything. It took us about two hours to get into Oxford. First, we climbed up Carfax Tower to get a view of the city. Then we walked down the street to Christ Church College which is one of the oldest colleges that are part of Oxford University. I think it's one of the biggest too. Luckily, Christ Church was open and we got to go inside. The dining hall is where many scenes from Harry Potter are filmed so we checked that out and walked around the open area. It was really pretty and probably my favorite building of the day. After seeing Christ Church we went to a little market area where we got some ice cream shakes and then made our way to the Bodleian Library which was established in 1450 and is the oldest and one of the largest libraries in Europe. That was fun because we got to see some actual Oxford University students. I'm sure they get annoyed with all of the tourists, but it was fun for us! Then we went to Blackwell's Bookstore which is also very very huge. In the basement it has three miles of books. It was very overwhelming and impressive. We continued to wander around the city which has so many beautiful old buildings and also continued our mission to find a good Oxford University sweatshirt. Although you can buy Oxford sweatshirts in London, its just much better to say you've been there. As we continued walking down one of the busy streets in Oxford a low flying pigeon decided to run into my head. It flew up from behind me and definitely hit its wing on my face. It was disgusting, gross, sick. I dislike pigeons a lot. To top that off, two boys who looked like they were 14 years old came up to Allie and I with free hugs signs. No thank you. Our day wasn't very long, but it was good. We found our bus home and got our favorite seat again.
Once back from Oxford, our program went to a philharmonic orchestra concert at Cadogan Hall. This was my first orchestra concert and it was really good. I felt bad because it made me tired towards the end, but they were so talented. I do enjoy some good classical music every once and a while.
Friday:
This morning involved sleeping in, that is until the construction workers next door started. Usually the noise is bearable, but today it sounded like a jackhammer was going to come through our wall. I am not exaggerating, it was terrible. So once awake from that I got ready and our program went to for an Indian lunch at a restaurant on Brick Lane. It was... interesting. I was a little hesitant when trying the food, but I did try it all. We had some tortilla looking thing with a mixture of different sauces you could put on it first. Then we had, what looked like, a fried ball of onion that tasted like an odd mixture of onion and sausage. For the main part we had chicken with some form of orange colored sauce and lamb with some form of red sauce with rice and pita bread. The lamb wasn't my favorite and the chicken wasn't terrible. Luckily, they gave us some chocolate for dessert that was a little after eight bite size bar. I probably won't be eating Indian food again soon, but at least I've tried it.
After lunch, we wandered around Brick Lane a little and went into Whitechapel Bell Foundry where Big Ben, Liberty Bell, a big one in Russia, and other big ones were made. It was actually really interesting. Apparently they are working on some bells for somewhere in Massachusetts right now!
This afternoon we went on a tour of Parliament, unfortunately you can't take pictures, but the building is just gorgeous on the inside. It is all a replica of the original because of a fire in 1834. We went into the House of Commons and the House of Lords and saw where the Queen will sit when she comes once a year. Apparently the Queen isn't allowed into the House of Commons area (not just her, any King or Queen of England) because years and years ago one of the Kings tried to arrest members of Parliament. So today I was somewhere who even the Queen herself can't go. Crazy. The tour lasted about an hour and then Allie, Jenon, Erin, and I went to a Mexican restaurant in Covent Gardens for dinner. We ate a quick dinner of quesadillas which were very good and now we are hanging out in our room. Tomorrow a group of us heads to Winsor, Stonehendge, and Bath!
Wednesday, 1 April 2009
April 1
Today is April 1 which means April Fool's Day and also Wednesday. I went to my internship and when I got there the teachers were being rushed into a meeting. Being brilliant, like all teachers, they immediately thought it was an April Fool's joke. The head guy had them all sitting in the hall (their common area) and told them that they had had a meeting last night and with the financial level they are at, the teachers are all going to have to experience a 5% pay cut. April Fool's! Pretty clever actually.
I worked in Senior One class today. It was fun being with the older students again and I had a really good day. I took the bus back to Vandon again today and got off at Trafalgar Square where there was a big protest going on. I didn't get close enough to see what it was about, but there were people everywhere and lots of yelling and then cheering. When I was on my run I saw cops everywhere. Today is one of the main days for the protests. Apparently President Obama was at Buckingham Palace, but I think I was there too early to see him. Jenon saw him through the car though, so that is fun.
Tomorrow Allie and I head to Oxford for the day!
I worked in Senior One class today. It was fun being with the older students again and I had a really good day. I took the bus back to Vandon again today and got off at Trafalgar Square where there was a big protest going on. I didn't get close enough to see what it was about, but there were people everywhere and lots of yelling and then cheering. When I was on my run I saw cops everywhere. Today is one of the main days for the protests. Apparently President Obama was at Buckingham Palace, but I think I was there too early to see him. Jenon saw him through the car though, so that is fun.
Tomorrow Allie and I head to Oxford for the day!
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