Posts under the ‘England’ category

Well, my last week was quite eventful. The day after I last posted(Wednesday, December 14), my house was robbed. Our landlord’s son left a window open on the 2^nd floor of the house and someone used a ladder from the back yard to climb in. They got away with quite a lot, including my landlady’s car and all of the laptops in the house (including mine). It was quite shocking. Before that, I had never been robbed or even pick-pocketed. Luckily, I had saved a final “assessment” to my Huskymail – I had just finished it and it was due Friday. Whew! One of my housemates was not so lucky. Tip: Save backups of all of your work somewhere that cannot be stolen – don’t count on flashdrives or external harddrives (mine were stolen along with my laptop). Also, do not leave any windows open. Our neighborhood was known for being very safe, and the window was on the top floor – stuff happens.

But, I did not let our bad luck get me down. Thursday, Eric and I went to Central London for the last time. We started off at Hyde Park’s (finally made it) Winter Wonderland. It was pretty great. It was like a Christmas-themed county fair combined with a Christmas market. We then walked from Parliament back to Waterloo station so we could see some of the big sights one last time – Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, the London Eye, and Hungerford Bridge. When we got back to Kingston, we went to Frankie & Benny’s one last time with some of my British friends. It was supposed to be in celebration of our friend, Sofie’s Birthday. Sadly, she could not make it. Instead, they decided to celebrate my Birthday again. Tip: If you go to Frankie & Benny’s and tell them it is your Birthday, you get a free main dish and dessert. Yum! We celebrated Sofie’s Birthday Friday, instead. Our friend Ellie bought her a yummy cake. It was a lot of fun to hang out one last time. I am really going to miss all of them.

I then spent the weekend in the library on campus typing up my final assessments. I finished four short essays and two long essays in three days! Now, I get to enjoy my break without having to worry about writing essays or mailing them to the UK. Tip: At Kingston University, you need to submit both an electronic copy and a hard copy of all assignments. Some professors will let you e-mail them your “hard” copy, but most require you to mail them to the appropriate office if you are not able to turn it in by hand. Although, if you ask the Study Abroad office, they may let you e-mail them a copy and turn it in for you (they offered to do that for us this year). You will just have to ask. But, it is easier to do your assignments before you leave the country.

Our flight left early Tuesday morning. When we got to the airport, we found out that we had to change airports in Washington D.C. This meant going through Customs, collecting our luggage, taking a taxi to the other airport, rechecking our luggage, and going back through security. Luckily, we did this at a low traffic time, so we made it to our gate with time to spare. Again, whew! Tip: To me it seemed silly, but apparently some travel sights will book you changing airports during transit without warning you. So, make sure you check your flight itinerary thoroughly before you book your flight. Flying at the holidays also made the airports madhouses and all of the flights were totally full. But, after 17 hours of travel and a few bumps in the road, we made it to Michigan safe and sound with all of our luggage.

I am now home and resettled. It has been odd dealing with snow (it’s snowed almost constantly since I got home), my puppies, and driving for the first time in 3 ½ months. I will definitely miss my new friends, British music videos, easy access to Starbucks, and the greatness of London itself. It was a great experience that I will always cherish and never forget. But, I am happy to be home – eating mac & cheese, American Chinese food, and Mountain Dew (oh, how I have missed you!).

The past week has been one for the books. Thursday was my 21^st Birthday, and it was a good one. I had dinner with my boyfriend at my favourite restaurant in Kingston so far: Little Italy. Then, we met up with some friends at the King’s Tun pub. After that, we went just down the road to a club called Barcadia. Tip: Entrance to the club is free, but it’s not your typical club. It’s more of a bar and it’s very small. But, if you’re looking to go dancing for free, Barcadia’s your place.

Friday, I went to class as usual. Then, around 6, Eric and I headed for Victoria station where we met the tour group. Our means of transportation was the same as the Amsterdam/Bruges trip – overnight on a train, then a coach bus. We arrived in Paris at 7:30 a.m. Saturday morning. The day started off pretty cold, but it warmed up a little when the sun came out and we started walking. I got to see the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Champs Elysees, and everything in between. Tip: An underground rail pass for the day is only €4. So if you want to see a lot that is spread across the city, an underground pass is a cheap way to make it happen. Eric and I opted not to get the pass so that we could get some exercise and see more. We didn’t have a specific plan, just a few things we wanted to see throughout the day, which weren’t too spread out. I also got my crêpes. Yummy!

Sunday, we spent a few hours wandering the gardens and town of Versailles. The gardens were pretty, but I feel they would have been better earlier in the season – none of the fountains were running and quite a few of the statues were covered. But, it was fun walking around the gardens and the nearby food market. After Versailles, we spent a few hours in Montmartre – home of the Montmartre Palace and Moulin Rouge… and lots of pick-pocketers. No one I knew had any run-ins with them, but we did see a girl get roped into having a bracelet made for her. I’m happy to say I’d been warned ahead of time about them. After Montmartre, our group headed back to the UK.

So, the Wimbledon tennis courts (Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Courts and Museum) were relatively unexciting, since Eric and I were broke. It would have cost us £11 to enter the museum and £20 to tour the courts and enter the museum. All we really wanted to do was see/touch the courts, so we did not think it was worth it. But, we were allowed through the main gate and were able to wander around the shop. So, that was cool. At least we can say we’ve been there!

Classes were also relatively uneventful. The only exciting thing was that Wednesday’s morning classes were cancelled because of a scheduled faculty protest, which took place in front of the main building of the main campus. From what I gathered, the faculty was protesting the UK’s planned rise in tuition, which will happen next year. The max students may be charged will be a whole £9,000… PER YEAR! I am sure you think that’s a little ridiculous to be complaining about, as I did when I first heard. But, when you put it into prospective (just a few years ago, higher education was FREE), then £9,000 sounds like a lot.

Friday was fun. I have to admit that I went to see Breaking Dawn with my housemates. I am sure many are reading this thinking I am crazy, but I don’t care.  :)

Saturday was a lot of fun. Eric’s mother bought us tickets to go see a live football game. The game we went to see was Queens Park Rangers vs. West Bromwich Albion. It ended up being a tied game, but I was impartial. All that mattered to me was that it was a good game, which it was! It was great, in fact! I’ve never been an overtly passionate football fan, but I really enjoyed it. And, it was the first professional sports game I’d seen, which added to the excitement for me. I was pleasantly surprised by the crowd, too. They weren’t really rowdy, like I’d been led to believe, but they did get really into the game. Tip: If you’re afraid to see a European football match, don’t be. I’ve heard since I’ve been here that they have made large efforts to keep the crowds calm. Eric was even wearing the wrong color (he was wearing red; our side was cheering for a team wearing blue playing a team wearing red) and no one said a thing.

To keep the merriment going, I spent Sunday with a typical British family. My friend Laura’s parents made a English Sunday roast – roast pork, roasted potatoes,Yorkshire puddings, steamed vegetables, and something reminiscent of applesauce. Then, for dessert, they served cherry crumble with warm custard on top. It was delicious! Probably the best meal I have had all semester. Then, our friend Ellie and I watched Friends and helped Laura attempt to decorate Laura’s house for Christmas. It was a lot of fun.

I planned on spending this afternoon walking around Richmond Park with Eric – we haven’t been back since our second week here. But, it was fairly cold and Eric got last-minute notice that he had to be on campus at 4:00, so we stayed inside where it was warm.  :)  When he went to campus, I attempted to go shopping. My 21^st Birthday is this Thursday and I am supposed to be going out with some of my friends, so I went looking for a “going out” dress. Sadly, I couldn’t find anything that suited my style, but oh well.

This week should be a lot of fun. Thursday is my Birthday! Then, Eric and I will be spending our weekend in Paris! I am VERY excited! Au revoir pour l’instant!

Well, the bad news is that I’ve been keeping a daily journal of the trip and I left it on the coach bus on the way back from Amsterdam… and I won’t be getting it back.  :(  The good news is I had a pretty good week.  :)

Classes went fine all week. Wednesday, I got back two more British Life & Culture essays. I didn’t do great on one. Nevertheless, with the grades I’ve gotten so far, I’ve already got about a 31.9% in the class… and I only need a 40% to pass! AND I’ve still got the final research paper (due this Wednesday) and final exam to make up that last 8.9%. So, I’m not too worried about that class. I also turned in an essay for my econ class. I’m not too sure how I did on that one, but we’ll see.

Other than classes, I also spent some time hanging out with new friends. Tuesday, I had a girly movie night with a few girls from my English class. Then Friday, I went to a club with my boyfriend, a few friends from my Art History class, and some of their friends – Eric’s and my first clubbing experience. Both of those nights were a lot of fun!

This next week should be another relatively relaxing one. Tomorrow, Eric and I are planning on going to the Wimbledon tennis courts. Then Saturday, we have tickets to watch a European football game. Both should be fun. Other than that, we’ll just be working on our research paper (due Wednesday) and other assignments that are coming due soon. Only 3 more weeks in the UK!

P.S. Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

I just had a pretty great weekend! Friday in Central seeing the beautiful Wallace Collection and Notting Hill + Saturday in Amsterdam + Sunday in Zaanse Shans and Bruges = awesome!

Friday was a day full of “lovely.” I found myself thinking “oh, that’s lovely” pretty much every five seconds. It started off with me getting lost looking for the Wallace Collection, but after that, it went pretty well. The Wallace Collection was more than I could have imagined. I’m not a major art lover, but I really appreciated the beauty of this art collection. It was a house, not only filled famous paintings and sculptures, but also with beautiful furniture, wall coverings, carpets, and staircases. I really enjoyed the field trip. Tip: To anyone visiting London, whether an art lover or not, I would recommend visiting the Wallace Collection (near Oxford Street) FOR FREE!

After the tour of the collection was over, I went to a nearby coffee shop with a few new friends in my art history class. That was nice – just hanging out with some locals my age. Then, after our nice chat, I took the tube to Notting Hill Gate to see Notting Hill. I loved the movie, so I couldn’t help but want to have a look around, especially since Portobello Road is there and I remember it being talked about in one of my favorite Disney movies – Bedknobs and Broomsticks. While I was there, I found a shop in which everything was 5 pounds! I also walked up and down Portobello Road and through the Portobello Market – lots of antiques, souvenirs, furniture, clothes, fruits & vegetables, etc. Everything was so lovely.

After my fun in London, I pretty much went straight to Amsterdam with Eric. We left London around 8 p.m. and got to Amsterdam around 8 a.m. Saturday morning. I was pleasantly surprised with Amsterdam. I was nervous that it would be run down and the main foci would be on sex and drugs. However, that was not the case. It was actually the cleanest, least smelly city I’ve been to so far in Europe. It also had a lot of history I didn’t know about and more than 50 museums to showcase all of its history! On top of that, it was very pretty. We started the visit off with a tour of the city, then were given some free time to see and do whatever we wanted. We were also given an evening tour of the Red Light District. Tip: Meals are relatively expensive in Amsterdam. A way to get a decent meal at a decent price would be to go to Wok to Walk – yummy Chinese for less than 10 Euros!

Sunday morning, we got up bright and early for our tour of Zaanse Schans, Netherlands – a nearby town with windmills, clogs, and cheese! We watched a free clog-making demonstration and a cheese information demonstration (about how the cheese is made, how long it keeps, etc.), then had free time to wander around the small village. After that, we travelled to Bruges, Belgium. We didn’t have too much time to see the town, but that was kind of nice. We were given just enough time to take pictures and get some dinner, Belgian chocolates, and Belgian waffles. Yum!

Around 6 p.m., we left Belgium and travelled back to the U.K. I’m really going to be missing home this Thursday, because I’ll be missing out on Thanksgiving with the family. But, I still get to enjoy another 4 weeks here. During that time, I’ll be working on my final assignments for the semester, seeing a European football game, and going to Paris for a weekend. I’ll also be turning 21! Woo-hoo!

Friday was pretty great – I spent it in Central! The day started with a tour of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, continued with a tour of Parliament, and ended with walking to see Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Street for the first time.

The Globe was pretty interesting, but I think it would have been very cool to see a play there. I’ve heard good things. Tip: If anyone is in Central next year during the Olympics, the Globe Theatre will be showing 37 of Shakespeare’s plays in 37 different languages! I’m kind of jealous.

The tour of Parliament was very interesting and informational. It was pretty long and consisted of a lot of standing (and being teased with chairs we couldn’t sit on haha), but it was very cool. However, I’m sad that I couldn’t take pictures inside Parliament. It was very pretty inside with lots of paintings and chandeliers and such.

Both Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Street were relatively disappointing. Piccadilly is supposed to be London’s version of Times Square, but there really wasn’t much there other than a few restaurants and theatres. There weren’t even that many billboards. And, as far as Oxford Street, I was excited because I had heard great things about the Christmas lights and decorations – there were lights and decorations all along the street. The lights and decorations were there, but they weren’t that exciting, to be honest. But, I’m happy to be able to say “Been there, done that.”

The rest of the weekend has been relatively uneventful. In the mornings and early afternoon, I tried to bring myself to work on the Economics paper I have due a week from tomorrow. I finally managed to get something done on it yesterday and probably got about 80% of it done! Woo-hoo! Then, I spent the evenings hanging out and watching tv with my boyfriend. Yesterday, we watched Ice Age 3 and Iron Man. Got to love American movies!

Well, I’ve only got 5 more weeks left in the abroad! This next Friday will probably be my last day in Central London – I’ll be going on a field trip with my Art History class – so I’ll be trying to make the best of it. Other than that, I’ll be spending next weekend in Amsterdam and the weekend of December 9^th in Paris. Then, December 20^th, I’ll be heading back to Michigan… Just in time for Christmas!

By the way, I also had dinner at a place called Nando’s the other day… AMAZING! It’s primarily chicken. The food was delicious and filling and Eric and I were able to get a whole chicken, two sides, and two sodas for less than 20 GBP. Not too shabby for a good meal!

This post is going to be pretty short, but I have to say that I’m officially homesick. I’m not miserable or anything. I’m really enjoying being in London. There are just some things that I can’t get here that I’m really missing.

Foods that I really miss: Pop-Tarts, Ramen, Kraft mac & cheese, Toaster Strudel, Oreos, Chips Ahoy, Miracle Whip (they only have mayonnaise here), Eggo waffles, Spaghetti O’s, and Kraft American singles

Restaurants I really miss: Fob’s in Crystal Falls, MI; Arby’s; Storheim’s in Iron Mountain, MI; and Ming’s in Houghton

Shows that I really miss: Bones and Ghost Whisperer

People that I really miss: all of my friends and family back home

Oh, well. To take my mind off of all of all of the things I’m missing out on, I’ll be working on a paper that is due a week from tomorrow. I’ll also be doing more sightseeing with the British Life & Culture class later in the week – Monday we’ll be going to see a play at the National Theatre and Friday we’ll be going on tours of Parliament and the Globe Theatre, all in central London. Yay!

Other things that have been helping me get over homesickness: Starbucks’ Toffee Nut late, the fireworks that have been shot off all weekend for the 5^th of November (Guy Fawkes Day), Christmas decorations and spirit EVERYWHERE, and being able to watch a lot of American shows on tv (The Big Bang Theory, Everybody Loves Raymond, NCIS, Two and a Half Men, and many more)

I’ll be heading back to the States 6 weeks from tomorrow, so I’ll be making the most of homesickness!

Well, I made it to Italy and back without too many bumps in the road. We obviously had a few, but nothing we couldn’t work with.

We started our holiday in Pisa. We walked all over and saw the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Spina, the Fortezza di San Gallo, and lots more. My favorite part of Pisa was definitely the Fortezza di San Gallo. I would definitely recommend seeing it if you travel to Pisa. If you can find the entrance, the inside is a beautiful garden with flowers, palm trees, and what looked like old Roman remains. Absolutely gorgeous!

After Pisa, we travelled to Florence. This city was probably my favorite. It’s filled withpicturesque buildings, marble and copper statues, and a

river running right through it. I really enjoyed the Piazza del Duomo because of all of the colors on all of the buildings. It’s very striking when you enter the Piazza. I also enjoyed the Uffizi art gallery, but the wait was very long. I did not expect this, since it’s the off season, but it was a long wait. Tip: If you intend to visit the Uffizi art gallery, book tickets ahead of time so the wait isn’t quite as long. Also, I read that the Ponte Vecchio (along with most tourist attractions in Florence) is a popular place for pick-pocketing. Lastly, the Gigo Rosso (on Via Panzani) makes amazing gnocchi!

Then, we took a train to Venice. We got there at night and it was stunning! The train station was right on the Grand Canal, and it was beautifully lit all along the canal, so it was the first thing we saw when we got out of the station. However, finding a hotel was insane. Tip: If you’re travelling to Venice around Halloween (or Italy’s national holiday All Saints Day), book your hotel ahead of time or the price will be outrageous, if you’re lucky enough to find a hotel that’s not fully booked already. However, the next day was a lot of fun. We walked along the canal stumbling upon various attractions, such as the Ponte di Rialto and the Piazza San Marco. It was nice being right on the water the whole time.

When we left Venice, we went to Trieste. This town didn’t seem to have too much going on and we were really tired, so we pretty much went straight to the hotel. Getting there was a bit of an issue because the one I had booked was actually in Ronchi dei Legioneri, about 24 km away. Also, finding transportation to Ronchi dei Legioneri was a bit of a pain. We had to take a coach bus to the airport and walk from there (which wasn’t a problem, because it was very close). Then, figuring out how to find the right bus and buy tickets was a nightmare because the bus station wasn’t anything like what we were expecting and the ticket office was closed. However, the bus driver let us buy tickets on the bus, for a slightly higher fee. It still turned out to be way cheaper than a taxi.

The next day, we flew out of the Trieste (a.k.a. Ronchi dei Legioneri) Airport and made it back to the UK safe and sound. The trip was great and I got lots of awesome pictures. I’m sad that we missed Halloween here, but most of our friends had left the country for break, too. By the way, another tip: Don’t try wearing soccer jerseys to clubs in London. They won’t let you in because people could start fights after seeing your jersey. Eric and I tried wearing some to celebrate Halloween a little early and they wouldn’t let us in the door.

Now, I get to finish the rest of break doing homework. Woo hoo!

The past week has been an interesting one filled with class, homework, trips, and Harry Potter!

Classes are going along well. It is still very strange to me to only have each class once a week. However, it has given me a lot of free time to enjoy my trip and still get homework done. Though, it’s also strange not having assignments due every time I attend class. Instead, I just have one or two assignments due per class throughout the semester (except British Life & Culture – I have four papers and a presentation).

This week will be my last week of class before having a week off – Enrichment/Reading Week. Eric and I will be spending most of that week abroad in Italy. We will be avoiding Rome and Lampedusa, where there have been riots/protests recently. We will be starting in Pisa, then traveling to Florence, Venice, and Trieste by train and flying back to London on Wednesday the 2^nd. We are cutting our holiday a little short so we can register for Spring classes without having to bring our computers with us. We don’t want to worry about losing those!

Other than attending class and planning Enrichment Week, I’ve been traveling a little bit. I spent Saturday in Oxford with the British Life & Culture class. That was fun. Especially since we got to see lots of places where Harry Potter was filmed! First we had a guided tour of the colleges, then we went on self-guided tours of Christ Church College. The guided tour was nice and very informative, but our tour guide was very offended by people taking pictures and not appearing to listen. That was something I’ve never experienced before. So far, none of our tour guides seemed phased by us taking pictures. Then, our self-guided tour of Christ Church College was also very interesting. Here, I got to see the actual room used for the Hogwarts Great Hall. Got to love Harry Potter!

Since I had today off, I decided to find Pooh Corner. It’s basically a Winnie the Pooh souvenir shop, including information to help you find Pooh places (“Enchanted Places” – Poohsticks Bridge, Galleon’s Lap, Where the North Pole Was, Roo’s Sandy Pit, The Heffalump Trap and The Enchanted Places Memorial Plaque). Yes, I’m almost 21 and I still love Winnie the Pooh! In case anyone is interested, it is located in Hartfield – about a two hour trip by train and bus from Kingston. Tip: You have to take the 291 bus from Tunbridge Wells to Hartfield, but it only leaves about once every hour. But, if you get to town at an odd time, there are lots of stores to waste time in near the bus stop.

All in all, it’s been a fun week. Very busy. I’m looking forward to a few days’ rest, then lots of traveling around Italy! I’m also hoping to go out with some friends this week to celebrate Halloween early, since I won’t be here on the day.

As promised, I spent this past weekend in Ireland. Sadly, it was not all that I’d hoped it would be. It didn’t help that I was sicker than a dog with Strep Throat and was not able to sleep much.

To start off, the travel plan was to leave late Friday afternoon via SailRail (combined train-ferry transportation), get to Cork Saturday morning, spend the day and night in Cork and at Blarney Castle (about 7 miles away from Cork), take a Sunday morning train to Dublin, then travel via SailRail back Sunday night, arriving back in Kingston early Monday morning. That would mean we would have to sleep during transportation Friday and Sunday nights, which we didn’t figure would be a problem.

However, since Friday night was when I started feeling sick, I had a lot of trouble sleeping on the way there. I probably got about 3 hours of sleep all night. Then, when we got to Cork, I was sick on top of being exhausted. My throat was killing me, I felt nauseous, I had a terrible headache, and my body was aching. So, walking around Cork was not that enjoyable. There also wasn’t much to do in Cork. The main focus of Cork was to be able to go to Blarney Castle, which turned out to be great. I actually started to feel a bit better when I got there… well enough to stand upright and walk around, anyway.

So, we spent a few hours walking around seeing the outside attractions of Blarney Castle – Rock Close, Badger’s Cave, the Wishing Stairs, all that fun stuff. Then, we tackled the feat of climbing the supposed 100-step, narrow, stone, spiral staircase all the way to the top of the tower and kissed the Blarney Stone! I was scared because I knew I had to hang upside down in a hole to do it, but actually doing it wasn’t very scary at all. Getting there on the slippery staircase was more terrifying!

The visit turned out to be great. When we left, we went back to Cork and found a hotel. There were many hostels and Bed and Breakfasts we could have stayed at, but we decided we needed a good night’s sleep and a night away from germs and such. We were hoping it wasn’t strep, just exhaustion. I was happy about this choice. It was a little more expensive than the alternatives, but to me, it was worth it.

The next morning, we accepted that it was strep because I felt awful. But, we had a train to catch, so I sucked it up and we left for Dublin bright and early. We got there in the late morning to give us ample time to wander around Dublin and see the sights. However, I wasn’t much impressed. There were quite a few sights to see –Dublin Castle, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Marion Square, the Guinness Storehouse, and so on – but everything is so spread out and I was feeling so sick that I really didn’t want to do much walking (or spend a fortune on transportation). Not to mention, the city was filthy and smelled a lot like garbage. It wasn’t a bad city by any means. Most European cities seem to be that way. I just felt like it didn’t live up to its hype.

Now that I’m home, if I could do the trip all over again, I would’ve skipped Dublin and replaced the time I spent there with time in the countryside. The only time I got to see the countryside was on the train from Cork to Dublin. The rest of the travel time was at night. And, even if it was during the day, the only travel I did in Ireland was the same train in the opposite direction. But, all in all, it was a good trip. I got lots of good pictures and picked up lots of nice souvenirs for myself and the family! The people we met in Ireland were also very nice. A few people started random conversations with us just because. One shop owner even let us have a postcard we intended to buy, free of charge!

Next weekend, Oxford with the British Life and Culture Class!