Final Post

This is my fond farewell. I must say, I am soooo very excited to be coming home, but it is very hard to leave. London really has become home in the last several months, and it has things to offer that I will never be able to find in the States.

I won't bother telling any final stories because A) there haven't been any of monumental importance, and B)I'll be seeing most of you in less than a week. If you want to know how to get ahold of me in the coming month and a half, here's the deal.

From Wednesday, Dec. 15 to Saturday, Dec. 18, I will be staying at 820 W. Calhoun in Springfield with the lovely Beth Kavanaugh and Jill Yager. The phone number there is 417-832-1563.

After that I will be headed to Wichita, where you can reach me by phone at 316-721-6714. My address is 307 N. Milstead, Wichita, KS, 67212. Don't bother with frequent email; my parents still don't have internet access at home.

I look forward to seeing you all, and thanks for keeping in touch. I hope that you've enjoyed these little excerpts from my travel experience.

Cheers!

Viva la reina! (Long live the queen!)

Ah, such spectacular things have come at the end of my trip, and somehow I am sure I will not do them any justice. My last final is in just an hour, and I'm so excited, because that means I'll have 6 more days to do whatever I want around London. Not too bad!

Last week I had the fortune of running into a little old British man in front of Buckingham Palace who informed me the President of South Korea would be there in a couple of days and the Queen was going to come out of the Palace in a huge processional to meet him. I made it out that morning with a group of friends from Regents plus Maike's sister, and we got to see an incredible royal display of the palace guards and we got too see the Queen as she passed, twice! We also got to see the President of South Korea, Prince Phillip, Prince Edward, and Princess Sophie. It was all very exciting, but it sure was FREEZING COLD!

This weekend I traveled to Spain for the final trip of the semester, and it ranks up at the top of my list for weekend excursions. It was absolutely beautiful, there was incredibly cool, symbolic architecture, and I got a LOT of chances to practice my Spanish. I was pleasantly surprised to find that even though most of the written materials in Barcelona are in Catalan, everyone that we encountered also spoke Spanish. I ordered for us everytime we went to a restaurant, negotiated with the hostel staff, and was able to ask people questions whenever we needed this. All of this was really to my surprise - I had no idea I could be that conversant.

Some of the trips highlights were the Catedral de La Sagrada Familia, a cathedral designed by Gaudi that has been under construction for 100 years, Casa Batllo, also by Gaudi, and the Picasso Museum. We also spent time walking along the Mediterranean Sea every night of the trip, and we were sure to eat in Tapas bars for dinner every night. I did have a chance to try paella for lunch one day, and it had rabbit in it, Mom!

The shopping was really great in the city, although the value of the dollar is dropping so heavily that everything is getting quite expensive. Today, the exchange rate is $2.07 to just £1. Ahhhh! When we got here, it was only $1.80 to £1. I got a few souvenirs for myself and for others.

There was some real idiots staying in the hostel with us - Spanish boys coming in drunk and loud at 5:00 am when we had to get up at 7:30! And it seemed like every couple of hours someone new came in anyway. None of them knew how to do it quietly. I was also very sick that night, so I think I probably had less patience than they deserved...

I will be back in the States in just a week. I'll be in Springfield on Wednesday, Dec. 15 until sometime that weekend, then on to Wichita. Now for that final...

Hooray for Visitors!

Our dorm room is packed to the gills right now. Somehow I don't think that tiny room was designed to have five people living in it... Still, we're having a great time. For those of you who don't know. Maike's sister Rika and our friend Lori are staying with us for the week. We also have two other visitors in town, but they're staying in a hotel down the street. Thanksgiving break has provided a perfect opportunity for visitors, and helped us keep our minds off being away from family on this major U.S. holiday.

There was all sorts of craziness when Rika arrived on Wednesday. She called me from the airport saying she was sick and we needed to pick her up, so Maike and I rushed down to Gatwick in an attempt to get her to the college safely. That didn't work. We searched the airport for two hours and couldn't find her. Then we got a phone call from a paramedic. Rika had been taken in an ambulance to a hospital in East Surrey. Ahhhh! We hopped in a taxi to join her at the hospital and waited several hours for the doctors to run tests. In the end, it was something fairly minor in combination with nerves and we were able to go home. Whew! She is much better now and seems to be having a really great time.

It is a lot of fun showing everyone around the city, and I got to see a few new things myself. I went inside Westminster Abbey for the first time on Thursday, and to St. Paul's Cathedral for the first time. Oh, geez, that's a story. When we arrived, the church had been closed to tourists, but a man made an announcement that all were welcome to stay for Evensong with such-and-such choir. Well, we were very excited about the chance for a free concert in this historic church, so we followed a few people, picked up a program, and headed in. Lori decided she was going to explore instead of taking a seat and, of course, we followed. We ran into a priest who led us, get this, onto the stage - into where the choir sits. Oh, no. We couldn't back out now, but it sure looked like we were going to be the choir for the evening!!! We're not Catholic or Church of England, and we didn't even know which this church was! We sat uncomfortably laughing for awhile, waiting for our performance to begin, then we saw the choir entering. As it turned out, we didn't have to sing at all, only watch, but we sure had been worried! It was hilarious.

I was also able to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace for the first time this weekend, and we went to an INCREDIBLE carolling and advent service at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square last night.

It's so nice to have friends here.

Yes, I am still alive!

Sorry it has taken me so very long to update. I have been accumulating stories for you slowly.

This past weekend I stayed in town to address the final projects that were piling up. I am happy to say that even in my studiousness, I was able to have some adventures. On Friday night, for instance, I went with a group of friends to see the new Christmas lights on Marylebone High Street. Since that was the night they were lit, there was a small outdoor festival on the street. AND, we ran into Helena Bonham Carter on the street. This was my first and only (so far) encounter with the rich and famous in London. She has been in both Big Fish and Fight Club. Cool, huh?

To do research for our projects, Maike and I went to the British Library on Saturday. One would think that with miles and miles of bookshelves we would have had some success. Oh no. In order to even get into the rooms where the books are stored, you have to provide a list of the books you intend to look at, proof that you could not get them at any of the other (horrible) libraries in London, and two forms of id. Of course we had none of those so we left, defeated. What kind of library doesn't let you look at its books??? (On one positive note, it is a really pretty building).

Yesterday I went to Hyde Park for the first time, which is absolutely beautiful, but there was some crazy stuff going on there. Police were all over the place and there were explosions in the distance. It was unreal. I wonder what happened, but haven't seen anything about it in the papers. I ended up sitting next to this man on a park bench who works for the UN in Liberia as a part of their peacekeeping mission. We talked for a good half hour about his work, about politics, about being tourists, etc. I had a really good time with him. Sometimes you meet such great people in such unusual places.

There's more, of course, but the computer labs are closing once again, and you all won't read this until next week, anyway.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Polly the Pigeon-toed Pony

Greetings! As the title of this post suggests, I went with a group from Regent's to Wales this weekend for a pony trekking adventure. Today is Tuesday and my back is still sore from all the riding, but I sure did have fun.

First let me say that I am very afraid of horses. I know it may sound silly, but they're bigger than I am, and I fear the lack of control. But how often does one get a chance to trek around Wales on horseback? So I went. Now, considering my inexperience, fear, and stature, one would think I'd be given a small pony. This was not the case. Instead, I rode Polly for the weekend, the biggest pony of the lot. I had to stand on a rock at one point just to mount her! And if that wasn't enough, she's pigeon-toed, making her very prone to tripping! Ahhhh!

Still, it was a great experience. The Welsh countryside is breathtaking, and we even got to ride around the bay a bit. I don't have many pictures because, apparently, I suck at using a camera on horseback. We stayed in a beautiful bed and breakfast, the nicest accomodation I've enjoyed since arriving in Europe. You can see pictures of the adventure here.

On Saturday evening we went into Swansea, one of the major cities in Wales. We didn't have a very good time, mostly because we were underdressed (which really means we had too much clothing on, if you get my drift). There were very few places that would admit you if you were wearing sneakers, and most of the people I was with had them on. The evening's saving grace was when a Welshman tried to pick Kamani up on the street. He even tried to kiss her right there in front of all of us!

I made several new friends on the trip and had a lot of good laughs.

Great poem

I realize this tells you nothing about my recent adventures, but I found it on a friend's blog, and I think it's a really amazing poem, and more than worth sharing.

"I want to be like that...Where I close my eyes and throw my head back and I step up to dance with You.
My tiny hand in Your infinite one. My steps so clumsy compared to Your grace.
The music begins and we step out onto the floor. My grip tightens, knowing I will fall but also knowing You will guide me.
And the music swells, roaring in my ears until I am so captured that I cannot look at anyone but You.
My hands feels poised for the next step, my head up, a smile on my face, my eyes lock with Yours...
And maybe then, I will not even notice when You turn to one of Your sons and invite him to dance with me."

Ausfahrt!

The German language cracks me up. The words are forever long, and the combinations, when thought of in English terms, are very funny. I did a lot of giggling at Berlin's road signs.

Berlin is not a particularly beautiful city. In fact, I'd challenge anyone to find a building that's been around for more than three years that is graffiti-free. But there is so much to see and do in Berlin. I think we could have easily spent two or three more days there and kept ourselves busy. For this trip, it was Maike, Kamani, and I.

Our hostel was really great, the best we've stayed in. For only $25 a night, we had great rooms with daily cleaning service, a breakfast buffet, free internet, access to nice televisions and DVD players, and ensuite bathrooms. We also met wonderful people there. On our first night, Maike and I were too tired from travel to do much, but we met a couple of very nice Canadian boys who we spent the evening with. We watched The Matrix (which I'd never seen before) and had good conversation with them.

Friday we spent most of the day on a FREE walking tour of the city. The guide told us intriguing stories about the city's history and gave us complete descriptions of each landmark's significance. The history of Berlin is so recent, it all seems very relevant - one can see how their history has shaped their today. That night we were able to go up inside the dome of the Reichstag, the building where the German Parliament meets. The building itself is rather new because a fire most likely set by the Nazis destroyed the old Reichstag. The new building's architecture has some amazing symbolism. Check out this picture. Now, the dome on top is said to represent the transparency of government. The Bundestag's (house of Parliament) meeting room is directly beneath the doom, and has a glass roof. People can walk along the dome in a spiral at all times of day, so when the Bundestag is in session, every time the government representatives look up, they will be reminded of the citizens they are supposed to be representing. In this way, the building creates a sense of accountability to the people, as well.

Saturday morning we went to the Jewish Museum of Berlin, which is also a very unique piece of architecture. It is designed with three axes - the axis of exile, the axis of holocaust, and the axis of continuity. There is also a Garden of Exile, which represents the confusion and disorientation Jews must have felt in their exile, and a dark tower that represents the Jew's inability to escape the Nazi Holocaust. The architecture was even more powerful for me than the exhibits.

In the late afternoon and evening we went to Kurfurstendamm for the city's "Shop 'Til You Drop" night. All of the shops were open until midnight, and I finally found great tennis shoes! Yeah!

Random notes - IT IS SOOOOO COLD IN BERLIN!!! At one point we decided that Maike's brain had frozen...
- Chickenschnitzel is like a giant Chicken McNugget. German Ketchup is sweet ketchup - it tastes like there's a lot of sugar and ginger in it.
-Mexican food is very good in Germany, but Europe doesn't seem to believe in salsa.
-The S-bahn and U-bahn trains are really sketchy. They also smell like giant cigarettes. Yuck.

My weekend

This weekend we had aimed to get some rest. We don't seem to be very good at that, though. Each night when we got home, we were exhausted and our feet hurt from all the walking. We had a good time, as usual.

Thursday, after classes were finished, I matched up with Maike and Andrew. We walked around the area near the college and went from bookstore to bookstore. For our final projects in Theatre, we have to choose a play and do all of the design work. Now, Andrew and I aren't even arty. C'mon now, we're a science major and a comm major. We don't do theatre design. Maike doesn't know anything about theatre, but at least she's artsy! So, we spent a long time searching for play texts, none of us coming back with anything.

Friday I went back out with those two in search of shoes. Amazingly, after over half of a semester in Europe, I have yet to purchase any new tennis shoes. Even after an entire afternoon of searching, again I came up emptyhanded - almost. I did buy a really great new shirt at the H & M on Oxford Street. In the evening I saw Sam Shepard's Buried Child. I really enjoyed it. It was very disturbing onstage, but it was a fantastic production, very effective.

Saturday I went with my roommates to the British Museum. It is very large, but not really all that interesting. There is nothing British about it. All of the artifacts on display were "borrowed" from other countries. It was exciting to see the Rosetta Stone, but that was not enough to keep me entertained for an entire visit to the museum. I was not alone in my sentiments. Maike was ready to leave even before I was.

Sunday morning we went to church, again at Calvary Chapel. I suppose you could call that my church in London. Then, Maike and I headed out on our own. We walked to Harrod's which is a larger department store than I had even imagined could exist. They have rooms for butchers, rooms for tea, rooms for games, rooms for clothes, room for stationary, for shoes, for cooking supplies, for Egyptian goods, and on and on the list goes. We didn't buy anything because it's all way overpriced, but it was still fun to look. After that we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum, which is very cool, and we spent most of our time in the Black British Style exhibit. Since it was Halloween, we figured we ought to celebrate somehow, so watched Harry Potter with the rest of the Drury folk.

It gets dark sooo early here now. By 5:00, it's already almost pitch black. That makes it very hard to sit through my last classes. I feel like they should be over much sooner than they are. Apparently it will soon start getting dark at 3:00 in the afternoon. That's going to be rough.

I'm off now to curl up in bed with a good book and a cup of tea.:)

Change of Plans

I promised to add more details about my trip to Italy, but I fear I won't be able to get it all down, and it really seems like a daunting task right now, both for me to type and for you to read, so I suppose I'll just have to tell you all the stories in person. If you do want to read some now, Maike's done a good job in her blog: http://mtillen.blogspot.com. She's also linked a bunch of pictures for you, which I think I will try to start doing. Maybe that will spice things up a bit.

In other news, Andrew and I hung out all day Tuesday. My late afternoon class was cancelled, so we went to the Cutty Sark, a tea clipper of old, and the National Maritime Museum, which was really rockin'. I LOVE ships, but I don't have a lot of nautical knowledge, so the museum was really helpful. It was also very inspiring, especially the parts about exploration. I learned a lot about British history that intrigued me. For example, their slave trade was ended almost completely through activism and political protest. Then, when they abolished slavery, the government took such a strong stance that people caught perpetuating the trade would be jailed, while their slaves were set free. Also, I learned about the two opium wars between Britain and China, which I had never heard of. And, there's a HUGE cruise ship called the Grand Princess that made for an interesting exhibition. Even after spending three hours in the museum, we had only covered half of it, so we'll have to return at a later date.

This weekend we've decided to stay in London to rest, and I'm so very glad. I have a great book to read, I have yet to go to the British Museum, and I have free tickets to see a production of Sam Shepard's Buried Child tomorrow night at the National Theatre. Maike and I are still on a quest for shoes too.

Vorrei un cono di gelato

I'm now safely home from 10 days in Italy, and the stories are abundant. I'll give you a short bit more of them now, then will try this weekend to catch you up on the rest.

Rome was really, really great. I hadn't spent much time there last time, so it was good to see more of the sites. Maike and I did the whole thing without public transportation, and I am not kidding when I say we crossed the city of Rome completely one day, twice. We went to the Trevi Fountain, the Colosseum, Piazza Navona, the Spanish Steps, the Roman Forum, Pallatine Hill, and the Catacombs of Priscilla. We also spent an afternoon in the Vatican, and Maike made us go through the Sistine Chapel twice. :)

We discovered a little cafe very near our hostel, and went there everyday. They were great for coffee and a pastry in the morning. The men who worked there were adorable in their little red bowties, and the coffee, like all coffee in Italy, was wonderful. Besides, it was cheap, and that's unusual in Western Europe.

The Catacombs were very cool. We'd seen some in France, but these were completely different. In Paris, there were just stacks and stacks of bones alongside stone plaques with Latin inscriptions. In Rome, there aren't many bodies remaining, but you can see the tombs, and there are great works of art, including a 2nd century fresco of Jonah and the Whale and a very early depiction of the Virgin Mary. We actually had a tour guide who spoke English, and he was really HOT!

Oh, and I stepped in dog poop TWICE. Ridiculous. Italians and their stupid dogs! Grrrrr.

I came back with a tan too. Who gets a tan in Mid-October?!!

Fall break in Italia

Hello, all!

Maike and I have just arrived in Rome for the last leg of our Italian adventure, so I thought I'd attempt to relay a bit of it to you so there's not so much to write when I return. Of course, this means I have yet another keyboard style to get used to. There are letters on the Italian keyboard that are on neither the U.S. board nor the British board. What puzzles me, though, is that there's a £ symbol but no symbol for euros. Hmmm....

The first part of our trip was spent in Genoa. We had a heck of a time finding our bed and breakfast, which turned out to be our staying in a woman's apartment with her for a couple of nights. This was also quite a challenge, since she spoke absolutely no English. She was very nice and took care of us like we were her own kids, though. One morning, she wouldn't even let me leave the place without my jacket, saying, "Freddo, freddo, your mother!" (Cold, cold, your mother!)In the evenings she made us great coffee, and in the mornings we had a large breakfast, which was also a bit difficult to figure out. She poured us each bowls of coffee. What does one do with a bowl of coffee? And how does one figure this out with a non-English speaking Italian woman staring down at her? Well, frankly, one makes a mess. :)

Genoa is GORGEOUS. It is right on the Mediterranean. We took a cruise on the sea for awhile, did a bit of shopping, visited a cathedral, and rode a tram up to the top of a hill to see a view of the city. I'm really glad we went, despite our language difficulties. I am also really glad that we only spent a day and a half there - we would have run out of things to do, otherwise.

Next we took the train to Florence. This is also a very complicated process when no one speaks your language, but we managed. Our hostel was REALLY DODGY and the OCD part of me was soooo grossed out! But it was cheap, it was a bed, and it was in a really great location. We spent some time in the duomo, climbed 414 steps to the top of the campanile for a view of the city (there was no lift), and had a fantastic time at the Hospital of the Innocents and San Croce Cathedral. Each of these had intriguing works of art, great histories, and wondrous architecture.

We did a lot of shopping on the second day in Florence but, amazingly, I didn't end up buying anything. Except gelato. There was plenty of gelato. There was also more great coffee. We spent the morning at the Galleria Accademia where Michaelangelo's David is housed.

Our third day was least productive. We waited 5 and a half hours to get into the Ufizzi Gallery. No kidding. Then, we had about an hour and a half in the gallery before closing. It was worth it, I think, because Maike got to see some of her favorite paintings in person, and she explained the importance of some of the pieces to me. After that wait, though, we were exhausted, so we had an early dinner and retired to the hostel for the rest of the night.

As you can imagine, we have many more stories to tell, but this is all I have time for right now. I hope all is well in the States!

Various London stories

Sometimes there are very funny sights to behold on the streets of London. In Picadilly Circus the other night, I encountered "Crazy Nick and his magic traffic cone." This man was sitting outside a building singing into an orange traffic cone waiting for people to throw coins into a cup. I think I need a sign like his: "Crazy Whit and her magic cardboard tube."

A couple of friends of mine ran into Jude Law in a Snappy Shots 1 hour photo lab. They asked if he'd be willing to take a picture with him, and he very rudely declined, saying that people like them make him feel like Mickey Mouse. Geez, no respect for the fans.

Maike has decided that her butt is "poignant." I'm not quite sure how that works, but apparently one pair of jeans seems to accent the poignancy. :)

We finally had a chance to ride on the London Eye. The houses of Parliament and Big Ben are magnificent at night. The rest of the view is great, as well. This time there were no protesters, only a little girl in our capsule who pressed the emergency button.

I had a chance to see Kevin Spacey's production of Cloaca at the Old Vic Theatre. I thought it was a very good show, although it has been severly criticized by most. Everyone I saw it with liked it very well, and one of the actors in the show was in Notting Hill, which I love.

I will be out of the country for over a week starting tomorrow, so I thought I had better post before then. If I have a chance, I will try to give you all a mid-week update.

Venezia

First, let me apologize to all of you who check this regularly. I have not been very good about keeping you updated lately. I will try to be better about it.

This past weekend concluded the time Beth and Jill spent with us in Europe. We spent most of it in Venice. I had been once before and feared it would just be a repeated experience. I couldn't have been more wrong. It was a distinctly different trip with very different company.

We arrived late Thursday night after a frantic trip through London's Stansted Airport. The bus had been very late, and after quite a run through the airport, we made it to the check-in desk only three minutes before it closed. Then, we had to make another run for it to get to our gate which was supposedly to board five minutes later. This included getting through airport security. Geez!

Our "hostel" turned out to be a campground. Beth less than lovingly termed the weekend abode "our hut." Basically, we stayed in a small cabin with two bunk beds. Venice is so humid that the sheets on the beds were damp when we got there, and our towels felt like we'd just gotten out of the shower even after being left to dry for a day and a half. Maike and I loved it. What an adventure!

Friday we did a lot of wandering through the city. There was a lot of shopping, a bit of eating, and some exploring of St. Mark's square. We did, of course, partake of the city's gelato offerings. That day we ate lunch in an Italian pasta place operated by a bunch of Asian waitresses. Later that evening, we ate in a ristorante called Orientale that was filled with Italian waiters. Strange, huh?

That evening was quite an experience. Our dinner was at an outdoor restaurant along the Grand Canal, and very fancy. I think we had four courses. Afterwards we went on a gondola ride with a VERY attractive and English-speaking gondolier. I loved that we went at night; Venice has great atmosphere after dark.

Saturday we returned to St. Mark's and went inside the cathedral. While in line we befriended a Jewish lawyer from Texas named Evan. He walked through the church together and it was such a heartwarming experience because we were able to explain what each of the New Testament mosaic images meant. He was so touched by our sharing with him that he bought us all tickets to go to the upper level of the cathedral, where we continued to chat about art, travel, and Jesus. We even exchanged contact information with him so we can keep in touch later. :)

After lunch we went to a glass-blowing demonstration. Then we ended up getting lost and found ourselves wandering through the naval arsenal and in a region called Singapore (on the other side of the city!). At the end of the island is a giardini, Venice's public gardens, where we reclined, had wonderful conversation, and watched the beautiful Italian men walk by.

Sunday we found ourselves having even more airport trouble, with a late flight because of fog and a bus ride that was an hour longer than it should have been, so we scrapped our earlier plans to go to a London Museum. Instead, we had hot tea and dessert and more good conversation.

I think my favorite part of traveling with Beth and Jill is the conversation. That may be my favorite part of friendship with them anyway. I love that we can laugh for hours, cry shamelessly when we need to, discuss politics in-depth, or attempt to uncover the world's spiritual truths. I will miss that desperately, especially now that I've had a short taste of it again. I hope they had as good a time with us as we had with them.

Quite a lovely weekend

As weekends begin on Thursday here, that's where my story will commence. Thursday was just about as British as one can get. I started out with my Contemporary London Theatre class, where we debated about the production elements of Embedded, the Tim Robbins criticism of the Iraq war. Then, I proceeded to the River Thames for an outdoor book sale with Andrew and Maike. After finding entirely too many expensive books to my liking and purchasing none of them, we went on to have tea along the riverbanks at a place called EAT. In the afternoon, Maike and I took a tour of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, then rushed home to get all dolled up for a performance of Chicago in London's West End. Chicago was good. It wasn't phenomal, but it was certainly enjoyable. And man, we looked hot!

Friday was spent mostly in waiting for Beth and Jill to arrive. For those of you who don't know, they were two of my roommates for the summer. They are Drury grads and are among my most favorite people. It was a long day of travel, so all we did in the evening was take a pseudo bus tour along the most important landmarks and walk until we found a place for tea and dessert. It is soooo wonderful to have them here. I sure have missed them, and they're serving as just a little taste of home.

Saturday we traveled to St. Alban's, a small English town just north of London. There we went to an outdoor market, where Beth bought TWO pairs of shoes, and toured a very old cathedral. While we were in the cathedral, we were also able to watch the Vauxhall male voice choir perform. It was such a beautiful experience. Also in St. Alban's are the remains of a Roman wall.

Sunday we returned to Calvary Chapel for a semi-controversial sermon and a neat worship experience. In the afternoon, we went to Camden Market, which was larger than ever, and I ended up with a GREAT vintage shirt that is brightly colored AND polyester. I love it.

Monday was uneventful, but now I'm headed off to see the Tower of London with Beth and Jill. It's looking to be yet another fine day across the pond.

Thank you all for your wonderful supportive emails. They mean a lot!

Rock candy, Flapjacks, and Shortbread

I know that many of you have been chomping at the bit for a description of my trip to Scotland this weekend. I'm sorry it has been so long in coming.

As the title of this post will suggest, we tried all kinds of exciting dessert foods. If we didn't walk all over God's creation, I'm sure we'd each weigh 300-lbs for all the sweets we've been consuming. Edinburgh rock candy is not at all like the kind of rock candy we know in the states, but it is just as sweet. Flapjacks are not pancakes, they are made of butter, oats, and sugar and sometimes have a topping like butterscotch, chocolate, or almond frosting. They are heavenly, and we have them all the time in London, but the one we ate in Edinburgh was the best so far. And, of course, the Scots are famous for their shortbread, so we bought some for our journey home.

We took the bus to Glasgow to save money, and because I had an extra day off from classes. The ride was about 7 hours, and wasn't too bad on the way there, but the night ride to return to London was terrible. It was very difficult to sleep; it was cramped, people smelled funny, and the seats don't recline. Really, though, I can't complain. It was cheap. And I had a FANTASTIC time.

My weekend in Scotland was my favorite trip so far. Edinburgh is amazing. Maike and I spent the better half of our day there in Edinburgh Castle. It's elevated on a huge hill along the Royal Mile. Inside are the Scottish Crown Jewels, the Scottish War Museum, a prison, the 1:00 cannon salute, and a lot more. There is a great view of the city from inside, too. You can see the ocean, green crags, and both new and old Edinburgh. Maike and I also went on the Scotch whisky tour (oh, the most vile tasting/smelling beverage in the world!) and did a bit of shopping. The Loch Ness monster is in every gift shop in that city!

In Glasgow, there's not a lot to do, but it has beautiful architecture and very friendly, although hard to understand, people. We went to Glasgow Cathedral and saw St. Mungo's tomb. We also saw a production at the Citizen's Theatre and watched a snowboarding competition being held in the city square.

I did have a small clothing disaster when the shower curtain failed to protect my last outfit from the streaming water. Really, it was most unfortunate. Eww.

Overall, spectacular, superb, magnificent. I do not have the kind of adjectives necessary to accurately describe Scotland. (And that's saying a lot, for a comm major!)

HELP!

I received my absentee ballot in the mail today and am very excited about this opportunity to vote. However, at such a great distance from Wichita, I am not very informed about the local candidates. I know who I'm voting for in the federal elections, but information about the state senators and reps and information about the judges in local districts is VERY difficult to find online. I'm struggling.

The Wichita Eagle will not be posting the information until after my ballot is due, so any insight my Kansas friends could offer would be much appreciated. And, for those of you who care, I will be voting down the downtown arena.

Please Note:

The last post was an observation, not a complaint.

I will post about Scotland as soon as I have a few more spare moments. Long weekends make for very short weeks, and a lot of work in just a few days. It's certainly worth it, though.

Nicotine, Vodka, Caffeine

I saw a girl walking through the corridor wearing a shirt that said "Nicotine, Vodka, Caffeine" a couple of weeks ago and was intrigued.

This is British life; this is what they love. Obviously, the Brits drink often. There is no need for an organized pub crawl here - there's a pub on every corner and the crawl takes place every night. The festivities may even begin at the university bar.

When they're not having a jolly good time with the varied ales and lagers, you will find the chaps and lassies enjoying a fine cup of hot tea and milk for their caffeine fixes.

And they all smoke like chimneys, despite the "smoking kills" stickers strategically placed on the back of each Marlboro pack.

Sunday night

I'm sorry if adding this post so soon makes things overly wordy, but in my excitement to convey Paris to you all, I didn't get to everything that happened Sunday night.

It really was a busy weekend, but after a short nap, Maike and I went to Somerset House to do some research for one of her class assignments. At first I was reluctant to go; after all the walking we'd done in Paris, all I wanted to do was sit around. I am so glad I changed my mind! Somerset House is an absolutely amazing house that used to sit right on the Thames. People could even dock boats inside. A Duke, I think owned it, or several, I'm not sure about the details. It is HUGE, and inside there's a collection of micromosaics and snuff boxes. Apparently in the 1700s in Europe, it was very chic to have a fancy snuff box. Members of the upper class loved to show them off, and some of them even had one to match every outfit. They are amazing! Each of them is done in gold, micromosaic, jewels, and diamonds. The boxes are so intricate. Here's a link if you're interested: Gilbert Collection.

We were going to head back to school when the museum closed, but noticed a lot of activity on the South Bank, so we crossed Waterloo Bridge and ran smack into the Thames River Festival! How fun! There were some great street performers, lots of neat shops, and all kinds of food. Maike and I had some "cheese & chips." We expected they would be like in America, where they pour nacho cheese over some French Fries. Nope. Instead, we got a pile of fries with unmelted, shredded cheddar over the top. Interesting...

When we finally got back to school that night, the refectory was closed, so we had to find a little cafe on Baker Street to have a bite of dinner. Unfortunately, right when we had finished eating, a mouse ran across the floor in front of us! Eeeeeeew! I suppose that's inevitable when we're eating in outdoor cafes all the time, but GROSS!

Tune in later for more commentaries on British life...

The Inner Circle, take two

Ah, Paris, what a wonderful weekend. The city was beautiful, and the weather was warm, a welcome change from the steadily cooling climate of London. I went with Robi, Andrew, Kamani, and Maike.

Day 1: We arrived in Paris Thursday afternoon just in time for dinner. We all wanted to dive head first into the culture, so we went out to a restaurant for crepes. This turned out to be a bad idea because none of us know much French. All we had to work with was my semester of dumbed down high school French, so it was very stressful trying to convey our orders to the very confused francophone waitress. I had a ham and cheese crepe, and learned the word for fork - forchette, when I somehow lost mine under the table.

After dinner we decided to go for a walk around the city and ended up at the Eiffel Tower, a shining beacon in the city (and very close to our hostel). It is AMAZING at night. Did you know it sparkles?

Our return to the hostel was horrible. We got lost, and ended up doing a mighty circle around the tower (that's where this post's title comes in). It took three hours and flared tempers all around to find the hostel that was only about a half hour's walk from the tower.

Day 2: In the morning we walked through the underground catacombes. There are millions of bones down there stacked upon one another. The catacombes were the French answer to an overflowing cemetary and a pervasive stench. Andrew and I, with our combined experience with Latin and French, were able to partially translate some of the stone captions placed in different parts of the tunnels. It was really neat.

Then we headed to the Cathedral of Notre Dame, which is a gargantuan building and a sort of surreal experience. As a place of worship and tourist attraction, there is a really interesting dynamic inside.

For lunch we went to a grocer (much easier) and bought baguettes, cheese, and meat for a picnic lunch in the park. Oh, it was so tasty and so relaxing. How French!

In the afternoon we wandered around the Louvre, seeing all the well-known pieces, including the Mona Lisa and Winged Victory, and walking through most of the rest of the museum. To really do the museum justice, we should have been there all day, so we had a very superficial trip. By the end, though, we were exhausted and we have no regrets about leaving when we did. We even ended up retiring early that night.

Day 3: Intending to spend most of the morning shopping, we made the trek to one of the city's giant flea markets. We were disappointed with the selection, so we gave up after only half an hour or so and went to the patisserie down the street. There we each had a different kind of French pastry and some gourmet coffee on an outdoor patio.

Then we headed to Moulin Rouge and looked around a bit and shopped, shopped, shopped. I ended up with two new sweaters and a pair of new shoes for a total of only 35 euros!

After the shopping we had another baguette lunch, a visit to the Arc de Triomphe, a cruise down the Seine River and a trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

While we were on the Eiffel Tower a man proposed to his girlfriend, we took pictures of the city at night, and we watched a thunderstorm roll in across the city. It was such a great experience.

So, really, we had a good time and saw a lot of very famous, very beautiful things. Since we returned I've been working on recovering from our hectic pace, and Maike and I are headed to Scotland in two days. I love life in Europe!

A Very English Sunday

Yesterday morning Maike and I visited a wonderful church near Victoria Station, and I must say I think I'll be back. The worship was fantastic, the preaching even better, and the people were so friendly. We had extensive conversations with a couple of the people sitting around us, and they made us feel very welcome. One of them was an American girl from Michigan who had just moved to London to work in a women's shelter. The other was a nice guy named George who seemed very interested in our study abroad experience. He was shocked that despite our finding London very cold and expensive, we love it. The church is called Calvary Chapel and is a medium-sized non-denominational church whose statement of faith aligns very closely with what I believe. Fantastic.

In the afternoon I managed to return to the little Episcopal church down the street from school for afternoon tea and shortbread. This time the group I went with was slightly larger, making for better conversation, but it was much colder out.

In the evening, I had a magnificent experience in Trafalgar Square. There was a free screening of an old black and white film called "The Battleship Potemkin." The film was a silent Russian flick, but a group called The Pet Shop Boys had created a new score for it, and performed their score in the square with a live orchestra. It was sometimes difficult to see the screen because A) I'm short, and B) the square was packed to the gills with people. It was also cold and raining, but soooo worth it.

I am getting sick, sadly, but so far I've managed to keep it to a sore throat. I am hoping to get rid of the soreness before my trip to Paris on Thursday. I'm sure the rain last night did not help. :)

Unbelievable

Here's an article from the BBC that you must read. I was here! This guy was ON TOP of the London Eye, which is something like 24 stories tall.

Protester on London Eye

I also got to see a huge boat race on the River Thames, went to the Tate Modern Art Gallery, saw the Clink Prison Museum, and had dinner in Chinatown. It was a really eventful day, and every bit of it was great. I'm exhausted!

A Performance to Remember

Last night I had the privilege of seeing Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theatre. It was absolutely exceptional. I went with Maike and our new friend Mark, who had both seen it before, but this was my first time. I have heard the original Broadway recording of the show over and over again, and have even seen the movie, but nothing compares to the show I saw on stage!

I will unfortunately not be seeing Switchfoot; the opportunity has eluded me yet again. Because I found out about the show so late, they sold out before I could get tickets. I'm sure, though, that I'll come up with something else to entertain me this evening.

I had a very full day yesterday. In addition to the Phantom show, I went for a long walk through the Queen's Rose Gardens, took a nap in the park just a ways away from the waterfall, and went shopping on Carnaby Street and in Leicester Square. Today, since I don't have any classes, I am taking time to do a lot of little things like laundry, IT work, and painting my toenails - you know, the important stuff!

Thank you all so much for your comments. I appreciate the little notes that you leave so much. Please know that you can post more than once :).

Navigational Difficulties

I think the toughest part of life in London thus far has been navigating the city. It's easy enough to hop on the tube, but very expensive, so we usually opt to walk. The problem with this is that none of us really know where we're going. Amazingly, every time I've followed a drunk boy, he's been able to get us to the right place and on time. Still, in all my sobriety, I am unable to get us from place to place without major detours.

The greatest example of my troubles came a couple of nights ago when I tried to lead a few friends to the half price theatre. Regent's Park has both an inner circle and an outer circle, but the park closes at dusk. So, we ended up walking past the college twice as we tried to get out of the park, then again when we ended up on the outer circle! When we'd finally gotten ourselves out, we discovered we were on the opposite side of the park and it would have taken more than 45 minutes to get to the theatre so, defeated, we returned to the refectory for a late night snack.

We were able, however, to convince several people we'd been to see a French film called, "The Outer Circle."

In other news, I now have airline tickets to Paris and Venice. I will be staying in London this weekend (hopefully seeing Switchfoot live for only £6!!!), then the following weekend I'll be under the Eiffel Tower! After that I should be headed to Stonehenge, followed by that trip to Venice with Beth and Jill, my summer roommates. Yeah!

Brighton

Oh, wow! Brighton is absolutely amazing. Our hostel was right on the beach, so every morning when we woke up, we could walk out onto our balcony and look out onto the ocean and the giant pier.

We swam in the ocean two days in a row, so I've been able to obtain a tan in England. Who knew that was even possible?!! Of course, we also had the traditional fish and chips on the beach, and Maike and I had squid for dinner one night.

There's an amazing palace in Brighton called the Royal Pavillion. Price George IV lived there with his brothers and hosted all kinds of lavish parties. The dining room was intriguing - the main chandelier is 1000 lbs and hangs from a giant dragon. Right next to the Pavillion was the Brighton Museum which was free and contained some really interesting exhibits. There was a Vespa display, a history of clothing, and local Brighton history.

Overall, the weekend was great. I have to admit, I felt sad leaving the place. My description hardly does it justice.

F.Y.I - Fatboy Slim is from Brighton.

Correction

Oh, oops! You also have to include in my address that it'a Reid Hall, so it should look like this:

Whitney Gent
Reid Hall
Regent's College
Regent's Park, Inner Circle
London
NW1 4NS
United Kingdom

Sorry for the confusion. It's forever long, too.

A very quick note

Thanks to all of you that have taken the time to email me or to post a comment. It just makes my day to read the things you've written in this blog.

This weekend I'm headed to Brighton, which is a town right on the English Channel. Our plans to go to Nice, France didn't quite work out. Still, we'll be going to the beach and there are a ton of neat shops, an aquarium, and a palace. How fun!

For those of you who requested my snail mail address (HK) -

Whitney Gent
Regent's College
Regent's Park
Inner Circle
NW1 4NS
London, UK

Classes

I have now been to all of my classes, and I can say I'm pleased with them in general. For those of you who don't know, I am taking:

Contemporary London Theatre
Comparative Politics
Mass Media Communication
Interpersonal Communication

My theatre class is going to be spectacular. We will be seeing 7-8 shows around the city for FREE. We will also be touring the Globe Theatre and will have a backstage tour of the Royal National Theatre - where we'll be all done up in makeup and costume. The professor is also wonderful. She is very prolific and as such, is great to listen to.

The politics class will be a neat experience because Americans seem to be a minority in the class. We have already discussed the Iraq war a bit, and the diversity of opinions is astounding. It doesn't feel quite as safe as a discussion among Americans; I feel a bit more like I should censor myself, for whatever reason. I'm sure I'll get over it.

Mass Media was slow this morning. I am hoping things pick up. It's all done from the British perspective, which I think will be interesting. My homework is to buy a London paper, read it cover to cover, and report back.

Interpersonal will probably be my favorite class. The professor is a Scottish woman who is very entertaining, very personable, and very hands-on. My class only has 12 people in it, too, and we have already learned a little bit about each of our classmates, so I feel more comfortable there than in any other class.

Luckily, I won't have to buy many textbooks. They keep most everything in the library en masse, and teachers don't tend to require that we purchase much anyway because they understand the expense. One prof even said, "I know you'll want to be spending your pocket money on alcohol, not on books." Unbelievable.

Cold showers and crowds

Oh my goodness! We're about to tar and feather a 3rd floor girl for leaving the hot water running all night on Sunday. Because of that mistake, we've all had cold showers for the past two days. Today's was like ice! Ugh.

Aside from the painful showers, my past several days have been great (suprise, suprise). On Sunday I went with Maike, Elise, and Andrew to Camden Market, which is a giant outdoor market held every weekend not too far from campus. There were more shops than I had imagined, and even more people. Some of the stores were pretty typical, others were really outrageous. For example, one store was actually a rave in front, and goth-style clothing in the back. There was also a shop called @pussycat that had stuffed kitties all over the walls and floor. By stuffed kitties, I do not mean they were in the teddy bear tradition - we're talking taxidermy, my friends. Ewww.

As we were walking back to the school, we came upon an old church with a sign in front advertising afternoon tea. Each of us had tea and homemade shortbread in the church yard as our first official tea in London. It was served by two little old British ladies who explained it's a fundraiser they've been doing on Sunday afternoons for the last 15 years! Unfortunately, because cold weather is due here shortly, they will probably only serve tea for the next two weeks.

Yesterday was by far my coolest day in London so far. I went with a group of 10 friends to the Notting Hill Carnivale, the largest festival in all of Europe. A million and a half people attended! There was such tremendous energy in the crowds. The festival featured a day-long parade that was just amazing - very reminiscent of a Mardi Gras. There was also a ton of loud music, great food, and some street performers.

Our group ended up breaking off into two smaller groups, which was fortunate, for we ended up in a "giganti-crowd," as Maike would say. Along the parade route at one point, it was so crowded that at times, we didn't even have to walk. We were propelled forward by the people pushing behind us. My friend Robi was holding onto my purse strap from behind to keep track of me ( short girl in a huge crowd...), but let go. Then, I felt someone grab ahold of my belt in the same fashion. Assuming it was Robi, I turned around to discover a blushing British man who'd apparently thought me to be someone else!

Also, while we were in the crowd a British man turned to ask Robi and I for directions to the nearest tube station. When we responded with a "heck if I know," he said, "Oh, you're Americans. Sorry. Well, how are you enjoying the carnivale?" We told him we were having a good time, and he said, "Of course you are. You Americans love everything!"

All in all, it was a fantastic afternoon, and I have great pictures. We did walk continually for six hours, though, and my feet are still upset about that today.
I hope all is well at home!

Sleep deprived, but still smiling

Because of my travels, I went something like 36 hours on just 3 hours of sleep, and let me tell you that's tough. I've had such a fantastic time so far, though, that I wouldn't really have had it any other way. These first couple of days at the college have been mainly administrative orientation - except for the party in the school pub.

The treatment of alcohol is very different here. First, there's a school pub. We are encouraged to visit it often. Second, there are school-sponsored drinking activities. Apparently there will be three beer pong tournaments over the course of the semester! I suppose that is the British way...

My room is very spacious, considering there are three people in the room. Maike and I met our roommate yesterday. Her name is Kamani and she's from Queens. She is very friendly and we've already talked with her quite a bit. At first I was skeptical because she warned us about her "New York attitude," but so far, so good. We are also fortunate enough to be one of only three or four rooms with a balcony attached. Today Maike and I ventured out onto it for the first time, and there is a very cute view of the city in the distance.

Regent's College is in Regent's Park, a park owned by the queen that is just beautiful. There are amazing, enormous rose gardens just inside the gates. I have much more exploring of the park to do. We have not yet gone outside the inner circle, where the school is located.

Andrew Moore, a friend from Drury, is on the trip too, and he happens to be British. He has lived in the states since he was five, but has a lot of family here, and has been raised in the British tradition. Last night his dad, who happened to be in town, took six of us out to a pub and to a FANTASTIC dinner in an Indian restaurant. We ate sort of family-style, ordering seven appetizers and six main dishes so we could sample a bit of everything. My favorites were the prawn dish and the onion bahjee.

As for the upcoming weekend, I am so excited. Tonight we're going on a Jack the Ripper tour. Tomorrow I'm going to an outdoor market, then to Cafe du Paris in the evening. Cafe du Paris is a very posh club that is very expensive (we get a huge discount for going with the school) and that always has celebrities. Sunday we're going to the largest carnival in the world, which is being held in Notting Hill. Next weekend, plans are in the works for a trip to the beach along the southern coast of France. Maike and I already have quite a sizeable group interested in going along with us.

I suppose that'll do for now. I'm off to the "refectory" to see about getting some dinner before our tour...

For real, this time

Well, I said that London was right around the corner in my last post, but that was almost a month ago. Now I can say my flight is in less than a week! No, I have not started packing yet.

I was torn between the idea of keeping a blog or sending out mass emails, but have finally decided this is the best way to keep everyone informed about my goings on. If you check this every once in awhile, you'll be able to see what I'm doing as I globetrot. Next time you read a post from me, it'll be from somewhere in Europe. Exciting, huh?!

It's almost time!

I can't believe that my semester in London is now less than a month away! I have spent a lot of time this summer on weekend roadtrips, some spontaneous, some planned, but somehow Memphis, St. Louis, and Kansas City seem to pale in comparison to Europe's offerings.

I have been looking through travel books for a couple of weeks now in an effort to determine what countries I should visit and how I can travel most cheaply. I have taken an interest in Portugal through these books, and have convinced my travel buddy, Maike (pronounced "Micah") to go for the giant outdoor markets, if nothing else.

Maike and I have determined we are ideal travel partners. Neither of us are easily irritated, and we do not usually get grumpy when tired. When we get lost, we usually consider it part of the adventure, and since we don't particularly like to be bound to an itinerary, our trips are usually fun, rather than stressful. Aside from her travelability, I'm really looking forward to London with Maike because she's just so great in general! She's got a perspective entirely different from mine, cares deeply about people, and is all about experiencing new and exciting things. We will not only have fun travels, we will have great conversations.

This is my attempt to keep you all updated on my life across the Atlantic. I will try to post thoughts and descriptions of what I am experiencing often. I will unfortunately not be able to add pictures, as I do not have a digital camera, and Regent's College apparently does not have good hook-ups for them anyway.