My Adventures

Wit Invasion

Mon, 06 Mar 2006 11:41:13 GMT

Per request, I'll let you know what the family trip was like. Obviously CrAzY!

Flew into London from Rome Tuesday night to get ready for them to land at 6:45 AM! I was so excited, popped outta bed, called the cabs for them, and headed to Sainsbury's to pick up tons of snacks and Cadbury chocolates, of course.

Got all dressed and waited at the Holiday Inn for their arrival. Got 8 missed calls from the cab companies that my family was lost. Flipped out, called grandma, then I SAW THEM Yeahhh!!! I was a bit overwhelmed because the cabbie had been yelling at me on the telephone, telling me I needed to pay £60. Stupid mini cab company!

Their accommodations at the Holiday Inn were beautiful, but they insisted on having breakfast at my flat every morning. I think it was Mom's excuse to have nutella everyday.

Oh, and the most important thing: They surprised me with Chris!!! I was sooo excited! He looked great - bum leg and all.

Fist day they were so jetlagged!! It was so sad! I dragged them to the Natural History museum and the kids were falling asleep on the exhibits. David was so excited about London and everything! Saw the T-Rex and got a little scared though. So cute. Then we did tea at Kensington Palace, walked through the park, saw Harrods, then I tried to take them back up to High Street for dinner at a pub. Turns out, pubs don't serve children -- who knew? We had to go to Giraffe for "world food" instead. Wasn't bad, but this started the bad service Dad so despised.

Some other highlights of the trip:
- "Mind the Gap" - Leah was obsessed
- We will Rock You - Queen musical that absolutely rocked! We lost and found some hats and scarves there.
- London Eye - even though it was the GROSSEST weather the whole week
- Falling asleep in the National Portrait Gallery
- Dad loving the giant baby in the Natural History Museum
- Fish and Chips place that was amazing
- Chris meeting my friends :)
- Tower of London - our tour guide, the Beefeater, was just fabulous
- Trip out to Windsor Castle and Eaton - mom threatened to send the boys there if they are bad. They would have to wear tails to school.
- The tube in general.

London is not the same without them. They are not the same post-London. We missed Grandma and Papa (sorry we really didn't speak to you much). So happy to see Chris! Anna and I have so many new beading ideas!

Can't wait till Paris with Mom and G'ma!! We're going to be rockstars in France!

Mom and Dad : Thanks for bringing the family to me. You guys are the best. I love you and miss you. xoxo

Roma

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 11:05:52 GMT

I know everyone is just itching to know what I have been up to over spring break. Finals went well. I spent about 2 sleepless nights attempting to study, but doing more eating of tea and biscuits. I love biscuits. Finally, I had completed 2 finals by Friday afternoon and was ready to get ready for Rome early on Saturday morning. And, by get ready, I mean I had dinner with friends and then we went out...got about 2 hours of sleep to wake up Saturday at 4:45 for our 8:00 flight.

In the cold, dark, London morning, I wheeled by red suitcase to the South Kensington tube stop. I was loaded up with bagels, rice cakes, green apples, and sparkling water..I was ready to go. Lauren, Dave, and I took the tube to a bus that took us to the lovely (yeah right) Stansted airport. Easy Jet was easy-to-find and we met up with the 20 other BU abroad students on our flight as we waited in line to load the plane.

I love riding on planes here in Europe because EasyJet and Ryan Air make you feel like rockstars as you load the plane from an external ladder. Its the coolest thing I've ever done. Lauren, of course made me wave to my "fans" below. Okay, I wanted to anyways.

Slept most of the way, and when I awoke I could see St. Peter's dome below. I was surprised to also see many..palm trees! I know I was going to visit Crystal, but didn't think it would look like Miami. And the weather was very Floridian as well. About 60 degrees and sunny! A far stretch from London. Ciampino was ghetto, and we found a 6 Euro bus to take us to Terminy. Terminy is like the grand central station of Rome. Lots of buses, stores, trains, and espresso. Also, a lot of gypsies. The gypsies are everywhere. I was checking and rechecking my stuff because I was so worried about being pick-pocketed. After about an hour, and Dave an Lauren giving up on waiting and going to their hotel, Crystal found me! It was so good to see my cousin!! She's really awesome..but I'll get into that more as the trip goes on. She dragged my luggage with me to two busses and finally her awesome apartment. Set about a mile or two from the Vatican, her roommates were going to be gone for the whole weekend and we would have the 3-bedroom/3-bathroom apartment to ourselves! So cool! She got some food in me and we headed out to explore.

First, we went to see St. Peters. I couldn't believe I was at St. Peters!! Took lots of pictures. But she whisked me away from there and we did a whirlwind of tourist sites: Piazza Venezia or Puopolo..I need a reminder by Crystal of the places I saw, where we saw lots of kids dressed up for Carnival and gorgeous views of the city, Via del Corso to do some shopping (unsuccessful shopping unfortunately, where Cris and I decided we needed to run way more than we do now). I got tired, it got dark, we needed to get some food. We went home to get dressed and went to her favorite restaurante Insalata Ricca. The waiter LOVES Crystal there. He LOVED me. I spoke no Italian, he spoke no English, but Crystal helped to translate. It was so great having a personal translator for the whole trip! Love you! We stayed there for hours then went to a trendy Italian club. Very trendy, not so cool by our standards. It was called AGOA or something and I would not recommend it.

Woke up early the next day to try to make it to mass at the Vatican. We were there during mass but were not able to receive communion. Took lots of pictures, missed the dead pope in the Vatican...but then ran out at 12 to get a blessing by the Pope. I had to call mom because it was just too amazing. I have some video. He was great. Did the papal arm thing and everything. He gives the blessing first in Italian then addresses people in a bunch of languages, including English. He gave a shout out to a group who came from Conneticut.

The rest of our Sunday was hard core sightseeing. We went to Piazza Navona and bought some stuff off the street. Needed some food so sat down for a huge pasta lunch of Cantalloni. Mhhmm I loved it more than Crystal. It was good stuff. We saw Piazza di Spangna (Spanish steps) unfortunately really ugly because they were under construction, Trevi Fountain and threw in our pennies so we were guaranteed to return, Piazza Baberini where we met some Californians who took our picture for us, Pantheon, where I evaded a 5 euro charge by two gladiator scam artists who took a picture with me (just always pretend you don't speak any intelligeable language). I think that may be all we saw?? Bought a lot of stuff though! It was great! Sunday night we took a nap and then cooked some tortellini and potatoes for ourselves at home. Had to go back to Insalata Ricca though to get some free food from our waiter friends! Then got some gelatto (omg! I love gelatto!) in Campo de'Fiori. :P

Monday, Crystal had class and I went to the Colesseum. I had to first get myself to the metro. When I initally got lost I tried to ask a really mean Italian lady for directions. She then saw me later wandering around and just wouldn't point in the right direction! I was so close and so mad at her. Finally I went into a store where the lady claimed to speak "un peu" English. She spoke none, but drew a map for me to the metro. What a saint! I got to the metro, had to switch lines at Terminy, but just followed the tourists to the Colleseum. Easy, right? Colosseum was so gigantic. I was in awe. Wish I could have been there with someone. It's cool to do Europe by yourself. I feel like I could do almost anything, but its not cool to see these great things and have no one to get excited with. It was okay, because I met up with Crystal and she came with me to the Roman Fora. We had a hard time finding each other because I'm not so great with directions, but we met up, grabbed some paninis and then headed to the ruins. They were also spectacular. There are so many layers of Roman history. You can see the religious side, the Roman side, the modern side. Incredible. I don't remember when, but we also climbed to the top of St. Peter's dome. That was the coolest thing I did. For 4 Euros you go all the way to the top and can see EVERYTHING. I'm so glad we did that, even though my legs hated me for it.

She went to class and I tried to find some botanical gardens until my legs totally hated me and I was forced to sit in a cafe eating a chocolate croissant until she was out of class. :) We had our last dinner together in a cute restaurant in Trastevere where the food was great, again. We split a 4-course meal, which was a great idea. We eat a lot when together!

Next morning, she went to class and I went to the Musei Vaticani where I waited for over an hour in the pouring rain to see the Sistine Chapel. I thought I saw it about 15 minutes into the museum, but really looked at the cartography wing..oops! When I finally got to the chapel I knew that was it for sure. The guards make you be quiet and clap when they want silence. What an experience! I then wanted to explore again and ended up getting stuck and seeing the Sistine Chapel again! I got a bit claustrophobic and not so happy about people running into me, so I ran out to go meet Crystal and get some pizza! (Best pizza of my life!)

Unfortunately, I then had to leave. With a bit of trouble, we finally found the right bus I needed to take to get to Ciampino so I could catch my flight home. 3 hour flight, to a 1-hour bus ride, to a 20-minute tube ride, I was finally home, ready for the invasion of my family the next day. And that story, as well as many more meals to come, I will write about later.

Six down...Eleven to go...

Mon, 13 Feb 2006 00:07:09 GMT

As week six here in London comes to a close, I'm beginning to get more homesick. It's great I'll see my family soon, but I'm still not going home for a while. Rome will be lovely, can't wait to see the girls in three weeks, and the internship phase is going to rock, but there really is no where like home. Sigh.
I learned two things this past week. One: the history of studying abroad. It started in the 18th century when upperclass English would go an an excursion of Europe after university, before they started their jobs. Its amazing to think that I'm in places that are so historical. Totally enhances my education.
The second thing I learned was why English ride on the left side of the road. Countries always drove on the left until Napoleon took them over. Then, he spread right-hand driving to the lower countries: Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Russia....The areas that resisted Napoleon, Britain and Portugal for example, still drove on the left-hand side. Crazy, huh?
This week has been CrAzY! Its the last week of classes- only 2 more English classes left and I'm done. I had a huge marketing presentation on Friday and spend hours everyday meeting with my team and revising our plan. We did a decent job. Messed up a little bit, but I'm sure it will be fine. Now I have a paper and two finals I need to get through before the end of the week!! I'm a bit behind on schoolwork, but I'm sure I'll catch up :::crossing fingers:::: I realized today how much work I typically do at the gym, and working out is getting me a bit out of focus. I have no outlet to release all my energy. Ah FitRec. As I sit here, I'm eating ice cream to get over the fact that I'm not working out. Makes sense, right?
Friday night was a big club night for BU students. We went to a three-room crazy club called Fabric. The line to get in without tickets was about 3 blocks long. The music was all trance and there were thousands of people. It would have been more fun if I was a druggie, but alas, I'm not. So, it was a bit scary and hectic. The music wasn't that great, but we still managed to stay there until 3 in the morning.
Saturday, on four hours of sleep, I woke up and went to Oxford. Really cool college city. Not as pretty as Harvard (sigh). Lots of famousness going on. Clinton went there as well as Tony Blaire. And, our awesome tour guide who talked to me about British culture for 45-minutes on the bus. I don't think she has many friends because she thanked me three times for talking to her. Way cute, but wore a lot of pink eyeshadow.
I love going to the English countryside. The sheep are way cute, but its cool to see how fast it gets really rural. The towns are so quaint and are all built around little streams. We had cream tea in a little coffee shop called the Mad Hatter that had Alice in Wonderland murals on the walls. Cream tea is tea with scones, clotted cream, and jam. Really delicious. Very touristy and fancy.
Today I woke up and went to church with Kevin at Westminster Cathedral. The church is very large. Mass had a much lower attendence than I expected. It was cool to hear it with a British accent, but it was not very impressive. Felt nice to do something that is very traditional and reminds me of my family. I would like to try to go to mass more while I'm here. Try out different churches, maybe check out the Church of England. Next week I'll be at the Vatican!!
The rest of my day consisted of sitting in a coffee shop talking business with Kevin and then having Sausages, peppers and onions with Dwayne for dinner. I'm getting creative in my culinary skills. There are many ways to use a fry pan I'm learning. Oh, and my new love is poached eggs! I get excited to wake up in the morning and make them.
So, this bloggin thing is not productive, especially when I have NONE of my English paper written that's due on Wednesday. Oops!

Sticks and Stone

Mon, 06 Feb 2006 00:01:45 GMT

I think Sunday will be my big updating day. My classes are not so exciting to write about, although I love them. I had my last marketing class on Friday and am currently preparing for a big presentation next week. I have also finished the novel for my English class and will begin to form a thesis for my final paper. All in all, classes are going well.
The internship, on the other hand, is at a standstill. I was offered an internship for a marketing and PR company that specializes in film/music/fashion. I will take the offer if it is more marketing than PR. They have yet to set an interview date.
Spring break plans are also shaping up. I will be in Rome with Crystal and have booked my hostel and flight. Yeah, Rome! Boo, Hostels!
This weekend was filled with hip-hop dancing at Bar Rumba in Picadilly, visiting Stonehenge, and eating lots of chocolate.
Friday I had class and then did a lot of work around the room. Tried to meet up with Kellie, but the silly girl gets very lost. Still had the opportunity to go dancing at a really awesome club. Clubs in Europe are a million times better than clubs in Boston. I just love to dance!
Saturday I woke up really early to go to Stonehenge/Salisbury. Stonehenge we did in about an hour. You walk, you see the sheep, you see the stones, you leave. Really cool to see. Not a must. Salisbury was neat. I love going into the English countryside and checking out other towns that are no London. Just a lot chiller to be able to step into a cafe, grab some lunch and check out some markets. Found some chocolate vendors and picked up some stuff I've been needing at PoundLand (UK version of a dollar store). Who knew?
Finally met up with Kellie and her friends Saturday night. We grabbed some English staples at a pub, sandwhiches of course, and then I got to show her my place. Girls: talk to Kellie about the set-up of you coming. We think its all going to work out. We need some more information from you. REPLY TO MY E-MAIL AND ASK QUESTIONS!
Today I SLEPT! I think I've been wearing myself out, and I have a busy school week ahead of me. Lazy day in the morning, then met with my marketing group. Ran around Hyde Park a bit. I wish it didn't get dark so fast here, because I like to run around 5:30 and its pitch black by then. :( Potlucked in Sorbonne. I made the main meal and the 3 boys who showed up brought beans, Cadbury chocolate, and cheesecake. I enjoyed the desserts :P
I have a big week of finalizing my project, hoping to have an interview, and figuring out how to post my pictures effectively online. For now, I have a new webshots, because the last one was full. I'm done with snapfish and inviting people to see my pictures. So, here is Stratford from last week, and hopefully I'll have the rest up later on today or tomorrow morning.
http://community.webshots.com/user/BritishGirlS061
Cheers!

Maybe the best weekend EVER

Sun, 29 Jan 2006 21:50:27 GMT

I need to describe my entire weekend - it was so fabulous!
As always, weekends start on Thursdays when in college (especially when one does not have Friday classes). My Thursday night began with some yoga with my Lauren (my new best London-friend, soon to be life-long friend). We love yoga at Imperial college. The man lights so incense and for the next hour and a half I am so peaceful and lost in bizarre positions. We came home, whipped up some din-din. I eat my usual sandwhich and random things I find in my fridge and Lauren defrosts a Waitrose mastermeal of some sort of pasta. We eat a lot of pasta I've noticed. Mom, its just not as good as yours. We go out on Thursday down the street and had a good time as usual.
Friday began as a bit of a lazy day, but then Lauren and I braved the coldest day I've experienced so far in London and took the tube to Covent Gardens to go to the Covent Gardens Market. Its like the Revere flea market, only a million times better. This is the place to buy awesome clothes. It was a bit too cold to shop, but we're totally going to hit it up again really soon and I gotta get myself some new threads. We had a great 5-pound, 2-course lunch of soup and an awesome burritto with side salad. Yummm!! Friday night I stayed in and just mosied about.
Saturday started at 9 AM when I left Harrington Gardens to go to Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwick castle. The English countryside is breathtaking. I felt so lucky to be in such a gorgeous place. I sat on the bus and stared out the window with a lovely soft rock station streaming through the speakers. The countryside is so flat and green, even though it is winter. There are tons of horses, cows, and sheep everywhere to look at. Lots of farms and silos to stare at. We drive on the left-hand side of the road, in the exit lane, the left most lane. It is so crazy. Stratford is about 2 hours outside of London. I could not wait to check out the home of the second most read author in the world.
The town of Stratford is amazing. There is a little river running through the town and all of the houses lean inward because their foundations are so narrow. Shakespeare's birthplace was adorable, and I got chills walking through his home. Although they do not know much about his life, they knew a lot about the history of the home where he was born. It has been a huge tourist attraction for about 200 years. They had the first guest book and the first guest was from Boston! Other famous guests include John Adams, Ben Franklin, and Albert Einstein. The house is full of history. Of course I added my name to the most recent guestbook, hopeful someone will boast of my visit.
We got tea in the house of Shakespeare's daughter and grabbed some croissant sandwhiches. Tea is a staple of my new European diet and I drink about 3 cups a day. We spent some more time visiting Shakespeare's grave at Trinity Church where he was christened and buried.
Boarding the bus again around 2:30 the group headed to Warwick castle. This countryside can not be beat. My pictures can not even describe the fairytale-like scenery I was able to view. We climbed 520 stairs to get to the top of the castle. I'm going to try to create a panaroma from some of the pictures. To look over the town below and imagine battles and kings atop the castle, in the same place I was standing. We saw towers and torture chambers and then headed to great halls and residence rooms where Madame Toussau has some of her wax figures recreating the scenes. One area was from the 1400s at the castle and showed the middle and lower class workers and what their life was like. The other area with the residences was from about the 1800s. This was a lot like the mansions down in Newport, but the wax figures make the rooms much more chiling to view. One of the Vanderbuilts lived in the castle and we saw her room. Oh, I love Europe! Its gorgeous everywhere!
When we got home, the boys cooked Lauren and I dinner and we went out for another fun night in the East End of London, an area we have not spent much time in. It was just okay. I won't be running back anytime soon.
This morning I met up with Agata who works in Student Services. Agata is from Poland, has lived in New Mexico and is a BU graduate and former study abroad student. She is very posh and knowledgeable about everything cool to do in the city. We met up and she took me to Notting Hill to show me not only some posh residences, but also to take me to Portobella market. We had a great time looking at some sparkly jewlery and funky clothes. Saturday is the big day there, but I liked that there were not crowds.
Then, I met up with my friends and we went to Yo Sushi. We had 50% off coupons. This sushi place is awesome. There is a conveyor belt that goes around the restaurant and you can just pluck off little plates of food, or order from your waitress, or from the chef. Each plate is colored and corresponds to a price. THe most expensive dish is 5 pounds. We got a pound fifty unlimited miso soup and a bunch of little plates of sushi. I started with a spicy chicken salad and then had a hand roll of crispy salmon skin. Hand rolls are great, they are big strips of sushi wrapped up like an ice cream cone. Its about the equivalent of 6 tiny sushi rolls all in one. I had some Scottish salmon that was delectable. Of course Lauren and I split an awesome chocolate dessert.
Then, we headed out to see some Chinese New Years festivities in Leichester Square. We saw some dragons and dogs prancing around and then heard some fireworks. They were too low to see. In Trafalgar Square we witnessed death-defying martial arts. Bricks were being broken on heads - it was insane.
Now I'm back home, exhausted, and trying to get some work done. Its so hard when I just want to look through my pictures from the weekend and plan next weekend...but, what could beat this?!?

Street Savvy

Wed, 25 Jan 2006 05:55:02 GMT

I had an amazing day in LondonTown! I feel as if I'm finally a Londoner. Going to Scotland for the weekend prompted me to feel at home when I returned to my flat. Everything was very familiar finally and comforting. I had a great morning of errands: office, grocery, laundry. I don't even have to think anymore about how to get to any of these places. I then made some lunch and decided to walk from my flat to Trafalgar Square (a 1 hour walk). It was beautiful. I walked past the V&A, down Knightsbridge past Harrods and Havery Nichols, along Piccadilly past Green Park, and finally into Piccadilly Square, until I turned on Regent Street and found Trafalgar Square. Its hard to miss with the big column monument. Class was held today at the National Portrait Museum. It is a museum of all portraits. My favorite was seeing the George Washington portrait, the one you always see, up close. You get chills seeing things so famous. Then I was funny and got a McFlurry with my friend Lauren at McDonalds. Its not wierd though because a) I needed an ice cream fix and b) It has Cadburry chocolate in it, so its still cool and British. My evening consisted of an RA training session followed by a great dinner with my friends. Ahhh, I love London!

Swans and Scottie Dogs

Sun, 22 Jan 2006 21:13:41 GMT

Sorry about the M.I.A. action. Things get busy in the U.K. Between going to see La Traviata, an opera, on Monday, and Pam Ann, a comedy about airlines, on Wednesday, there is just not too much time for livejournal.
I did have an amazing experience last week. I finally went for a "run" through Hyde Park. Some would call it a jog, others a walk, but I say run. I turned a corner and found a decent-size lake with about 25 swans chillin out. A bunch of other birds as well, but I was amazed by the swans. It put the 2 lame swans at the Public Gardens to shame. So beautiful. I hope they give me the incentive to run more often, but that is looking doubtful. As the British do, when I'm hungry I just grab a caffe latte and smoke a cigarette. Just kidding, Mom and Dad.
So, like you do, I flew to Scotland for the weekend on Thursday. AMAZING! It was my first trip, and an easier one. Took only about an hour to fly via EasyJet. We were rockstars and boarded the plane from a cool staircase on the runway. My accommadations were not what I am typically used to. Mom always said my version of "roughing it" is no room service. A hostel in which my room has 35 potential roommates is a bit sketchy to me. Not to mention the strange nude hippie murals on the walls, or the fact we had breakfast in the bar every morning. I chose to not venture into the showers for the weekend and rocked a cute ponytail for the duration of my trip.
Friday brought us up to the Edinburgh castle above the town. We were rained upon and froze to death, but I have officially decided I am definately a princess and should have been raised in a castle. We did some sightseeing and shopping in the Old Town. At the National Gallery, one of the most famous British watercolorists, Turner, was on display. He wrote in his will that his works were to only be shown in Scotland for the month of January. We were very excited to have the opportunity to see his beautiful landscapes. He was one of the first to really utilze light in his paintings. (This is all according to my art history major friend Nancy).
Saturday we took the high road, you could take the low road, to Loch Lomand. Gorgeous countryside. Simply breathtaking. I am so happy we took a tour outside of the city. I would love to go back, stay in a B&B and hike Scottish mountains. Wierd for me, I know. The heather was not in bloom, but the grass was still very green.
Yes, we tried Haggis. For all of the un-Scotsmen out there, Haggis is a traditional dish of sheep's stomach with all of the gross parts of the sheep inside all mashed up. We tried both vegetarian Haggis (who knew?) and real Haggis. They were both very rich and filling. I opted to dine on a simpler Shepherd's Pie. Nightlife is pretty cool and we got funky at some EuroTrashy clubs. All in all, I would definately return to see some more countryside and check out more museums.
By the way, classes are going well. I love my marketing class and have an eccentric English professor with long hair and a heavy accent. Both professors teach us a lot about English culture through their lectures. Tomorrow is my first night on call as an RA.
I switched over to snapfish. Webshots is not letting me upload enough pictures for this trip. If you read my livejournal and want access to my pictures, please let me know and I will invite you to my site.

London is my new playground!

Sun, 15 Jan 2006 17:33:30 GMT

Let's start with Friday. I spent the day on a great boat cruise of the Thames with a full commentary by a professor and tea and cookies aboard the ship. Pictures shall be posted soon. Then I had to go into the office to do ticket allocations, and they made us stay till 3:15!! I was so mad, I was almost crying cuz I was so tired. They sent me home, but I told them I wouldn't go home alone, so they sent some others home to take me home as well.

Yesterday a bunch of us went to the Victoria and Albert museum, which is an art museum but also has fashion and stuff from old Englishness, and then headed over to the Natural History Museum (see pix in webshots under "My Neighborhood"). The Natural History Museum we gotta spend some time in when the family comes. Its like rocks, volcanoes, eathquake simulation, dinosaurs, coolness. Most museums in London are free and so interesting. Then we made some pasta, I cooked and did a decent job. One of the boys had ground beef I added and it was decent for Ragu. They we headed out to the best club I've ever been to. The songs were great and it was in an old church with crazy high ceiling. It was like one of those huge European dance clubs you see in movies but they played all of the great dance anthems like Madonna's Like a Virgin, Living on a Prayer, We will Rock You...it was amazing. I have a great group of friends in my building.

Today two of my friends, Jerry and Craig, and I went to speaker's corner in Hyde Park. There are crazy people who stand on soapboxes and rant about whatever. It happens every Sunday. So much fun. Then we did a lil walk around Westminster area, did some shopping and headed to Spinnefield's (I think that's it). Its an open market that used to be famous for selling food but now includes a ton of clothes and knick-knacky things. I bought an awesome longer, pea-coat like but a lighter fabric, black coat with a belt. Pix will be up with me in jacket.

Now I'm getting ready for a potluck dinner here in the building!!

Feed Me!

Thu, 12 Jan 2006 16:25:29 GMT

If you would like to send this lil gal some quick, easy recipes for one it would be greatly appreciated. :::Cough, Cough, Auntie Joanne, Mom, G'ma::: I'm getting really hungry.

Difference between London and US #536

Wed, 11 Jan 2006 22:15:53 GMT

You cannot have both hot and cold water at the same time. There are two seperate faucets: one for the hot, one for the cold. This proves quite difficult especially when one washes dishes. Either the water is SCOLDING HOT or the water is FREEZING COLD.

Quick bite and update

Tue, 10 Jan 2006 12:37:46 GMT

'Ello from London! Just want to say hi to everyone who reads this (espcially Michelle Silverman who is the cutest thing ever).

I'm doing orientation right now and we had a quick break for lunch. I'm home grabbing some cereal (I'm such a college kid) and then its back to fall asleep to some more lectures. We are going to learn a little bit of history to get us ready for our core classes.

I'm also going to plan a trip to see Toni in Nottingham with my friend Caitlin this Saturday and most likely do a trip with Nancy and some of her friends to go to Scotland next weekend! :) I'll let you know how those plans shape up.

Its cold, dark, and drizly every day. But, at nights its not quite so bad as it is in Boston. My jackets and scarves have been providing enough heat.

Oh, one fun thing. Last night we went to Imperial College to meet some of the British college students and we met a bunch who told us about great venues for live music in the city. We exchanged some phone numbers and I'm going to try to hold a dinner party with some of my residents and them. I think I'm going to also join some of their clubs. Possibly yoga this Thursday!

Dark Days and Long Walks

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 16:46:24 GMT

Everything here is so exhausting!! My hips are killing me 'cuz all I do is walk, walk, walk. Its not that everything is that far, but we're really busy. And I take up extra walking time 'cuz I sometimes go down wrong streets. Ooops! My directional sense is improving, and I almost don't havta pull out maps every time I want to go somewhere.

Let's recap the past few days: Scavenger hunt was amazing and fun. There are pictures up - check them out. I can't believe I saw Tower Bridge, London Eye, Parlimont, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square. My favorite area is definately the SouthBank where the Tate Modern is. I'm dying to go back and check it out. I also like SouthWark with cute pubs and interesting museums like the prison museum, Clink. I didn't spend that much time in Harrod's (way too busy and touristy) or Covent Gardens and SoHo. My partner, Caitlin, and I ended early cuz we got sick of getting lost and we were starving. We all met up at Devonshire Arms, an English Pub for some food before we headed off to The Gardening Club in Covent Gardens. Our director, Michael, a fabulous British man with a great sense of style, made us go out after our busy day. It was worth it.

We finished up training and the residents moved in this morning. I'm excited to find my friends, but hope I meet new people in my building and stay close with the RAs. They are all great fun. There are ten of us, and we are getting along really well. Last night we all cooked together and then heading out to find a good club in SoHo. We went to O Bar, and it was like Avalon, a dark, cramped dance floor. We met some Greek guys who were nice, but it was hard to stay awake. We need to get some Tube passes as well to make riding the Tube and busses easier. The Tube stops running at 12:30, but there are busses that run all night and drop us off down the street from our residences. The neighborhood we live in is really safe.

I've been to the grocery store here a couple times. I go to Sainsbury's cuz its cheaper than Waitrose I heard, but I haven't been into Waitrose and compared prices. It does stink because, its just me living in one place to cook for myself, the supermarket is far so I can't carry much back at one time, I don't recognize most of the brands, there are so many people in the supermarket every time I go, and its kinda far down Cromwell. I'm trying to get used to cooking and shopping for myself. I might set up food nights with my residents and cook with them. We'll see what they think about that tonight.

My neighboorhood tour I was supposed to give was cancelled due to rain. I have my RA meeting with them at 7 pm. I am excited to meet them but they had a lot of questions earlier and can get annoying. Tomorrow is another big day of giving them tours and having fire drills.

And if anyone wants to send stuff here is my address:
My Name
C/O Boston University
British Programmes
43 Harrington Gardens
Kensington
London
England UK
SW7 4JU

British Humour

Wed, 04 Jan 2006 23:17:54 GMT

I'm tired so this will be short. It was mainly an office day. We saw all of the residences. OMG, mine is wonderful. One of the best. I have my own bathroom and kitchen. Anyone can totally come visit me!! (Erin!) There is a ton of room. They are all really pretty. I'll show pix this weekend.

We learned some procedure stuff and had a great lunch a a panini place. I've eaten mainly sandwiches since I've been here. But, they have been good. For dinner I had a falafel salad in a pita.

Today we did see the sun and the weather has been nice. I can't wait to find time to run around and really explore. Tomorrow we are doing a scavenger hunt and have been given forty pounds. One of our tasks is to ride a bike in the city. Great pictures and stories will follow from that. We get extra points for the more British people we talk to and photograph.

I had my first ride on the Tube tonight. We were taken to an improv comedy show in Piccadilly Circus called the Comedy Shop. It was really funny once we got into it. Much like Who's Line is it Anyways. That is where we got dinner and some cider. Really good. Piccadilly is like Downtown Crossing meets Times Square. I'll take pictures next time. We were running late for our show.

I'm going to chill out for now and prep for the hunt in the morning. My partner is Caitlin, the girl I flew over with. We are both excited and decided we shall be the winners. Root for me!

First Sprinkly Day

Wed, 04 Jan 2006 01:27:34 GMT

Today was about 40 degrees and misted all day. I think the weather is nice out compared to the cold, cold, windy Boston. We didn't use umbrellas because it wasn't raining that much. I had such a packed day, but haven't taken many pictures because we've been so busy trying to get to know the area as fast as possible. I have to give tours to my residents next week!

We had a breakfast meeting and test at 9 AM this morning. The director really wants us to know our stuff. I feel as if I'm on one of those reality shows and someone is going to be the winner. We are all in a basement flat with a huge commonroom. I mean, I'm in a bunk bed, it doesn't get much more survivor than that.

BTW, WE FOUND THE OTHER THREE! One girl got lost and had to stay in a hostel, she showed up in the morning, thank goodness!

The area I'm in is beautiful. The buildings are so old and have great porches with flowers and the entrances are breathtaking. We walked all around and there is great shopping on High Street Kennsington with awesome post-Xmas sales. I'm totally there when I get time.

We saw our office and went over responsibilities. I am only on call one weekend: March 31- April 2nd. Not bad cuz its during the internship phase. Its best to do most of the traveling during the first half when we have long weekends. Everyone is talking about possible spring break plans, and I can't wait to plan mine! And, the staff takes the RAs on a weekend to another country. They pay for the flight and we pay for the rest, but I heard its tons of fun!

I'm living in what I think is going to be a studio single in Sorbone House. Its across from the Natural History Museum, Science Museum, and Victoria and Albert Museum. Prime location. I'll see it tomorrow and write more about it.

We had curry for lunch, and I was not a big fan. My stomache didn't feel too good after. But, dinner was at Ask, a modern Italian place. I got a great Avacado and Mozzarella salad - kept it light. Its fun to go out here, but the service stinks. They do not come really fast and they are quick with their questions. I'm learning how to be a proper lady and eat with my fork and knife like the British with my fork in my left hand. It slows down your eating, but I feel very British...i guess.

Two cool things then off to bed:
1) Red Busses: So cool to look at
2) My directional sense: I feel really comfortable in this area

Not so cool thing: The plumbing. You have to pump the toilet to get it to flush sometimes. Really gross. I hate it.

8:30 Breakfast meeting tomorrow, and another big day. But, if all goes well, we're going to go out tomorrow and explore on our own!

First Night

Tue, 03 Jan 2006 02:10:48 GMT

It's two in the morning, and us six RAs are in our BEAUTIFUL common room in our gorgeous flat. The six I've met so far are really great, but we have no idea where the other four are. We're getting kinda nervous.

Everything went well getting here, except for the hour treck with all our bags across the airport to go find another girl we have still yet to find. We had some British teenagers help us with our bags and tell us where we were going. Everyone has been nice so far and the two cabs only cost 80 pounds for 5 of us..not as bad as we thought it was going to be.

So I'm off to bed 'cuz we have a 9AM breakfast meeting and quiz. I'm a lil nervous..wish me luck! Cheers!

Getting Ready to Go!

Sat, 31 Dec 2005 21:52:14 GMT

The countdown is two days and I have yet to pack and have a huge quiz ahead of me, but I'M SO EXCITED! Thanks for checking my journal and I'll send you my address as soon as I know what it is. Send me lots of mail and e-mails and I'll see you in the spring!