Friday, June 17, 2011
Last Night in London
Tonight is my last night in London. I leave tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. for my 12:30 p.m. flight. Everything is packed and now I'm just relaxing with some friends from halls. Reena and I had our last Friday pancake day. Jess, Callum, Reena, and I hung out in the kitchen for a while. Jess, Reena, and I were all packing, so it didn't feel like I was the only one leaving, which was really nice. Callum and I made a nice dinner and later we joined Reena to watch some T.V. After a little while Reena's friend and her boyfriend came up to our floor to visit too. It's been a rather relaxed day and I've really enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to going home for a couple of months and then heading back to Alma for my last year--seeing and spending time with friends and family. But I'm definitely going to miss London and all the things, places, and people here. I guess that just means I'll have to come back! :)
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Animals, Big Hills, and a 3-Hour Queue
Last week Tuesday, Callum and I went to the zoo for his birthday. We had decent weather--sunny and pretty warm--which was wonderful! Originally we were supposed to go Monday, but the weather was rainy and cold...not good for walking around seeing animals. I had a coupon for buy one get one free tickets the catch was to use the National Rail service to get to London. Technically we live in London, but we had tickets left over from traveling back from Norwich, so we used those to validate the coupon and it worked! As Callum's favorite animal is the penguin, we mainly went to see the new penguin exhibit. It was pretty amazing! It was set up like a mini beach, with some breezy trees and a pile of sandy-based land towards the back and a huge tank that had clear sides so you could see the penguins swim underwater. They even had a little cubby-hole option to view them underwater for kids (you had to be short to use it, unfortunately!). We watched them swim for quite a while and also caught their presentation/feeding time later that afternoon. The London Zoo is a bit unique because it is also a very active conservation-based facility too. So the presentation included the ways that the zoo is helping penguins in their natural habitats, which was interesting.
Some of the other exhibits were really cool too. We went to the monkey area and saw this family of monkeys (I don't remember exactly what kind, I should have taken a picture of the sign) but it was the cutest thing. There was a momma and a daddy monkey sitting on a platform with some other grown-up monkeys and a baby monkey. The baby was really active and literally leaping all around their area on the ropes and things they had but the momma and daddy wanted the baby to stay by them. So they'd go off and cart the baby back every time he left them. But he always managed to escape and leap back in the ropes--it looked like a family, you should almst hear the parent monkeys saying "You come back here this minute! It is dangerous to jump that high and so far, you are too little!" And in another area, we saw another kind of monkey that had a bit of attitude. I have a picture of this one up on facebook--this monkey standing on his back legs, holding onto the fence with his body and head cocked looking like "hey, yea, what's up, you talking to me?" haha. :)
We also saw Galapagos tortoises--SO enormous! One was out quite close to the fence and we could watch him eat--he's pretty cute for being so big. And the ones they had (there were about 3) were relatively young. The oldest was only 45 years old or so, considering they live for about 150. Can you imagine if people lived that long? That's just crazy. Close to this exhibit was the reptile house, which was really cool and I didn't realize until Callum pointed out the sign--it was there where that snake scene in the first Harry Potter movie was filmed. I thought that was kinda neat, considering we basically stumbled upon it.
Later that week we went to Oxford. I much prefer Oxford to Cambridge I think. The city just felt a bit more alive with it's history, if that makes any sense. It was more in-tun e with all the people and events that are tied to the area. We walked around the uni campuses, saw Alice's Shop (the former sweets shop that inspired the Sheep Shop in Alice in Wonderland), enjoyed all the art that is just built into the city, and had a really great, cheap meal at a unique pizza place. One of my favorite parts of the day though was visiting the castle grounds. We didn't go into the castle itself (you had to take a tour, and it cost about 7 pounds and was a bit long) but we did explore the man-made, former look-out point, hill. It was made from the earth dug up for the moat that used to encircle the castle (now it is replaced with concrete roads). You got to climb rather high up and get a great view of the city. We also visited the oldest building in Oxford, which is a chapel that has a bell tower you could climb up. It was beautiful up there as well because it was more central to the city and you could see the spires of all the other churches and historic buildings--Oxford is known for its spires. It was a really relaxed day, mostly wondering about between the handful of places we both wanted to make sure to see. Towards the end of the day, it got really cold though, so we were glad to catch the train back home. :)
Two nights ago, we had our "last" flatmates dinner. It was the only night everyone was free in the evening, so even though we'll still see each other this week, our official "last" dinner was then. But it was actually better this way because it wasn't sad at all since we knew we'd still see each other as we pack up. Anyways, Jess has a card that gets 50% off meals at certain restaurants around Marylebone Road. So we went to an Italian restaurant not too far away. The food was quite good and not too expensive with the coupon. We were the only ones there though for the second half of the meal, so that was a little strange. But we were able to talk and hang out, which was nice. Afterwards we went to a flat party with the handful of people still left in halls--sad that the group has dwindled so low! I'm the last American to leave. But the night was still fun.
Yesterday, Callum read about the Hard Rock Cafe in the newspaper. They were having their 40th "Birthday" and to celebrate, they set their menu back to their original prices from 1971. Though drinks were not included, you could get a whole meal (hamburger, ribs, club sandwich, etc.) for 60p! Aside from spending about £4 each for drinks, our whole bill for both of our dinners totaled £1.80. Anyways, so we decided to check it out. First we went to Oxford Street--I needed to pick up a birthday gift for Reena. Then we headed to Piccadilly Circus for a bit of food to keep us going for a bit. And after that we headed straight for the Hard Rock Cafe. The queue went around one corner of the block, but we thought we'd wait about an hour and a half. Well, after about an hour, we finally reached the corner. (Though we did come at a decent time, at the hour mark the line was even longer than when we originally came). At this point we thought that we were half-way there and would only be another hour. Yea well...no. It took about another hour and a half to get to the door and once there, we were given one of those buzzer things that lets you know when a table is ready with an estimated hour and half wait while inside! (Luckily, we only waited half and hour, but still, before we knew that, it was a bit daunting!) Anyways, once we had the buzzer, we were allowed to at least be inside at the bar. So we got a drink and talked in the basement area for a while. Then once we were buzzed, we were told that due to the crowd, they've been putting people together at tables to save space. So we sat with another couple--I'd say about they were about a decade and a half, maybe two decades older than my parents. When we got to the table, they were sitting across from each other, so we had to do the same. But because it is so loud in there, we ended up talking to them a bit more initially since they were sitting next to us. I was sitting next to the gentleman. Come to find out, he was born in Michigan, lived in Detroit for the first 4 years of his life, his father worked for Ford, and he knew all about Dearborn (where my mom's from). What are the chances of that happening? After a while, we switched seats so we sat next to our respective partners so we could hear each other better. But we still would talk with them every once and a while. They had been going to the Hard Rock Cafe for years--it is where they met and they used to meet there every Friday night. He used to know the manager and still has his VIP pass to get him in without waiting. Both looked like the stereotypical, high-class Englishman/woman. But I think that was only because they live in Mayfair (very expensive part of London where the Cafe is located...a bit of rebellion in the middle of the rich, haha) and come to find out, both bobbed their heads to most of the songs they played and loved the loudness of it all. They even shared that "All Night Long" was "their" song. It was just the cutest thing ever. :) We stayed to have dessert and they left, so we got the table to ourselves for a bit and have a look around. The place is chalk full of authentic guitars, costumes, albums, etc. collected over the years. The big front room is exactly how it was in 1971. And I even recognized most of the names--I knew more about rock 'n roll than I thought! haha. It was a great place and I never would have checked it out if Callum hadn't see that advert.
I've got a few days left now--leaving Saturday. Today I am hoping to get to Greenwich and spend some time with my flatmates. Then I need to pack in the next couple days. It's almost over, but I'm going to enjoy it until the very last minute! :)
Some of the other exhibits were really cool too. We went to the monkey area and saw this family of monkeys (I don't remember exactly what kind, I should have taken a picture of the sign) but it was the cutest thing. There was a momma and a daddy monkey sitting on a platform with some other grown-up monkeys and a baby monkey. The baby was really active and literally leaping all around their area on the ropes and things they had but the momma and daddy wanted the baby to stay by them. So they'd go off and cart the baby back every time he left them. But he always managed to escape and leap back in the ropes--it looked like a family, you should almst hear the parent monkeys saying "You come back here this minute! It is dangerous to jump that high and so far, you are too little!" And in another area, we saw another kind of monkey that had a bit of attitude. I have a picture of this one up on facebook--this monkey standing on his back legs, holding onto the fence with his body and head cocked looking like "hey, yea, what's up, you talking to me?" haha. :)
We also saw Galapagos tortoises--SO enormous! One was out quite close to the fence and we could watch him eat--he's pretty cute for being so big. And the ones they had (there were about 3) were relatively young. The oldest was only 45 years old or so, considering they live for about 150. Can you imagine if people lived that long? That's just crazy. Close to this exhibit was the reptile house, which was really cool and I didn't realize until Callum pointed out the sign--it was there where that snake scene in the first Harry Potter movie was filmed. I thought that was kinda neat, considering we basically stumbled upon it.
Later that week we went to Oxford. I much prefer Oxford to Cambridge I think. The city just felt a bit more alive with it's history, if that makes any sense. It was more in-tun e with all the people and events that are tied to the area. We walked around the uni campuses, saw Alice's Shop (the former sweets shop that inspired the Sheep Shop in Alice in Wonderland), enjoyed all the art that is just built into the city, and had a really great, cheap meal at a unique pizza place. One of my favorite parts of the day though was visiting the castle grounds. We didn't go into the castle itself (you had to take a tour, and it cost about 7 pounds and was a bit long) but we did explore the man-made, former look-out point, hill. It was made from the earth dug up for the moat that used to encircle the castle (now it is replaced with concrete roads). You got to climb rather high up and get a great view of the city. We also visited the oldest building in Oxford, which is a chapel that has a bell tower you could climb up. It was beautiful up there as well because it was more central to the city and you could see the spires of all the other churches and historic buildings--Oxford is known for its spires. It was a really relaxed day, mostly wondering about between the handful of places we both wanted to make sure to see. Towards the end of the day, it got really cold though, so we were glad to catch the train back home. :)
Two nights ago, we had our "last" flatmates dinner. It was the only night everyone was free in the evening, so even though we'll still see each other this week, our official "last" dinner was then. But it was actually better this way because it wasn't sad at all since we knew we'd still see each other as we pack up. Anyways, Jess has a card that gets 50% off meals at certain restaurants around Marylebone Road. So we went to an Italian restaurant not too far away. The food was quite good and not too expensive with the coupon. We were the only ones there though for the second half of the meal, so that was a little strange. But we were able to talk and hang out, which was nice. Afterwards we went to a flat party with the handful of people still left in halls--sad that the group has dwindled so low! I'm the last American to leave. But the night was still fun.
Yesterday, Callum read about the Hard Rock Cafe in the newspaper. They were having their 40th "Birthday" and to celebrate, they set their menu back to their original prices from 1971. Though drinks were not included, you could get a whole meal (hamburger, ribs, club sandwich, etc.) for 60p! Aside from spending about £4 each for drinks, our whole bill for both of our dinners totaled £1.80. Anyways, so we decided to check it out. First we went to Oxford Street--I needed to pick up a birthday gift for Reena. Then we headed to Piccadilly Circus for a bit of food to keep us going for a bit. And after that we headed straight for the Hard Rock Cafe. The queue went around one corner of the block, but we thought we'd wait about an hour and a half. Well, after about an hour, we finally reached the corner. (Though we did come at a decent time, at the hour mark the line was even longer than when we originally came). At this point we thought that we were half-way there and would only be another hour. Yea well...no. It took about another hour and a half to get to the door and once there, we were given one of those buzzer things that lets you know when a table is ready with an estimated hour and half wait while inside! (Luckily, we only waited half and hour, but still, before we knew that, it was a bit daunting!) Anyways, once we had the buzzer, we were allowed to at least be inside at the bar. So we got a drink and talked in the basement area for a while. Then once we were buzzed, we were told that due to the crowd, they've been putting people together at tables to save space. So we sat with another couple--I'd say about they were about a decade and a half, maybe two decades older than my parents. When we got to the table, they were sitting across from each other, so we had to do the same. But because it is so loud in there, we ended up talking to them a bit more initially since they were sitting next to us. I was sitting next to the gentleman. Come to find out, he was born in Michigan, lived in Detroit for the first 4 years of his life, his father worked for Ford, and he knew all about Dearborn (where my mom's from). What are the chances of that happening? After a while, we switched seats so we sat next to our respective partners so we could hear each other better. But we still would talk with them every once and a while. They had been going to the Hard Rock Cafe for years--it is where they met and they used to meet there every Friday night. He used to know the manager and still has his VIP pass to get him in without waiting. Both looked like the stereotypical, high-class Englishman/woman. But I think that was only because they live in Mayfair (very expensive part of London where the Cafe is located...a bit of rebellion in the middle of the rich, haha) and come to find out, both bobbed their heads to most of the songs they played and loved the loudness of it all. They even shared that "All Night Long" was "their" song. It was just the cutest thing ever. :) We stayed to have dessert and they left, so we got the table to ourselves for a bit and have a look around. The place is chalk full of authentic guitars, costumes, albums, etc. collected over the years. The big front room is exactly how it was in 1971. And I even recognized most of the names--I knew more about rock 'n roll than I thought! haha. It was a great place and I never would have checked it out if Callum hadn't see that advert.
I've got a few days left now--leaving Saturday. Today I am hoping to get to Greenwich and spend some time with my flatmates. Then I need to pack in the next couple days. It's almost over, but I'm going to enjoy it until the very last minute! :)
Saturday, June 4, 2011
More Summer Adventures
Recently, I've been kept quite busy with day trips and friends, and it rounded out the end of May very nicely.
Callum and I went to Cambridge--it was lovely. The weather was really warm and we spent the whole day outside. The Cambridge campuses were closed for visitation due to exams, but we could still walk around on the outside. We happened to catch a short music concert in a little cafe--really nice. And we spent a lot of time at The Banks--the rivers that run through Canterbury--just sitting, talking, enjoying the sun, and watching the "punting" boats go by (think of gondolas, only in England). We also had a fabulous Spanish lunch at a really great restaurant--yum!
Niki Green came to visit soon after. The first day she was here, it poured and we just stayed in watching movies. That Saturday, we went to Canterbury with Beauty and Callum. It was wonderful! I really like the city of Canterbury--a very nice pedestrian-friendly area. And everything was so lovely to look at. Beauty and I visited the Cathedral while Niki (who had already seen it) and Callum (who prefered not to see it) stayed outside reading and looking around. The Cathedral was beautiful and has much history associated with it--I love all the little stories places like that tell. Afterwards we met up and did some wandering. We visited the original city wall and took a nice long walk. We had a great dinner at a nearby pub as well. It was a very good day. Visiting Buckingham palace and my area of London and a day trip to Greenwich rounded out the rest of her stay. I really liked Greenwich! It is only across the river, but it is so much quieter, more space, yet still a thriving city. It was beautiful, home of the very first enclosed Royal Park and beautiful architecture. It is one of my favorite places so far. Then Niki continued on to Germany the coming Tuesday.
I headed straight to Norwich the next day for Callum's birthday. We spent the day at his Dad's and had a great birthday dinner of lamb, yorkshire pudding, peas, and stuffing. It was delicious. The following day we celebrated with his friends out in the city of Norwich, going to a pub and a club down there, which was fun as well. We came back to London the following day.
Today I visited Beauty's home and met her family. They are really sweet! Her mom insisted I have a traditional Indian lunch and had this whole spread of rice and curry and chicken and things with names I couldn't quite pronounce! It was all delicious and it was really nice to meet all her family. We watched a movie and she took me around her area of London near Bethnal Green. It was a very relaxing summer's day.
I'm looking forward to going to the Zoo on Monday and possibly Oxford this week. I posted some pictures of my other events on facebook. :)
Callum and I went to Cambridge--it was lovely. The weather was really warm and we spent the whole day outside. The Cambridge campuses were closed for visitation due to exams, but we could still walk around on the outside. We happened to catch a short music concert in a little cafe--really nice. And we spent a lot of time at The Banks--the rivers that run through Canterbury--just sitting, talking, enjoying the sun, and watching the "punting" boats go by (think of gondolas, only in England). We also had a fabulous Spanish lunch at a really great restaurant--yum!
Niki Green came to visit soon after. The first day she was here, it poured and we just stayed in watching movies. That Saturday, we went to Canterbury with Beauty and Callum. It was wonderful! I really like the city of Canterbury--a very nice pedestrian-friendly area. And everything was so lovely to look at. Beauty and I visited the Cathedral while Niki (who had already seen it) and Callum (who prefered not to see it) stayed outside reading and looking around. The Cathedral was beautiful and has much history associated with it--I love all the little stories places like that tell. Afterwards we met up and did some wandering. We visited the original city wall and took a nice long walk. We had a great dinner at a nearby pub as well. It was a very good day. Visiting Buckingham palace and my area of London and a day trip to Greenwich rounded out the rest of her stay. I really liked Greenwich! It is only across the river, but it is so much quieter, more space, yet still a thriving city. It was beautiful, home of the very first enclosed Royal Park and beautiful architecture. It is one of my favorite places so far. Then Niki continued on to Germany the coming Tuesday.
I headed straight to Norwich the next day for Callum's birthday. We spent the day at his Dad's and had a great birthday dinner of lamb, yorkshire pudding, peas, and stuffing. It was delicious. The following day we celebrated with his friends out in the city of Norwich, going to a pub and a club down there, which was fun as well. We came back to London the following day.
Today I visited Beauty's home and met her family. They are really sweet! Her mom insisted I have a traditional Indian lunch and had this whole spread of rice and curry and chicken and things with names I couldn't quite pronounce! It was all delicious and it was really nice to meet all her family. We watched a movie and she took me around her area of London near Bethnal Green. It was a very relaxing summer's day.
I'm looking forward to going to the Zoo on Monday and possibly Oxford this week. I posted some pictures of my other events on facebook. :)
Monday, May 16, 2011
Royal Wedding and Phi Sig!
It is now well into my "summer" here in London and I am loving all the time I have to enjoy.
After going over both my essays one last time, I finally turned them in on May 3rd--a day early. It was a great relief to finally be done with them! On the 10th, I took my fictional writing exam, which was quite easy. So my Westminster school year is officially over!
Now that I have all this lovely time to spend however I wish, I've been enjoying the company of friends and flatmates. I have been to the cinema and long walks around my area here--still discovering things right outside my own front door.
I was here for the Royal Wedding. Now, I'm not completely enthralled with the Royal family, but it was definitely a wonderful experience to be here for such a historical event! I went to Green Park (by Buckingham Palace) with Callum to watch the ceremony, which was being projected on huge screens there live. Afterwards, I thought I would try to wiggle closer to the palace and catch the processional at the end, but by then the streets were blocked off to prevent over-crowding so I wasn't able to get very close and didn't see anyone in person. But I could still hear everything and watch the planes fly by overhead and be a part of the crowd. It was a great experience!
The next week, Emily Lambrix came to visit me from Ireland!! It was lovely to see her again and catch up. I also got to play tour guide, which was awesome. I love that I know London enough now that I can do that. We crammed lots of places and things into her 5 day stay, including Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, St. Paul's, the Globe, Tower of London, to name a few. We also saw Les Miserables at the Queen's Theatre, which was amazing. And we attended an evening church service at Westminster Abbey. (It was the only way we could get in without paying a tour fee. You weren't allowed to take pictures because it was a service, but it was enough to just sit and listen to the choir sing as we looked around.) We also met up with Niki Green, Lydia Anderson, Allison Eaton, and Carrie Frame from the London Spring Term for lunch. I introduced Callum to them and we had a very nice meal at the pub across the street from my flat. Lots of hugging and laughing occurred, and it was a lot of fun. :)
Last Friday was my flatmate Jess's birthday. So Callum, Reena, and I joined Jess's boyfriend Owen, mutual friends from halls, and her friends from her hometown going out to her favorite cocktail bar and a club. It was actually really fun. I had been to cocktail bars before, but not a club yet--they aren't really my thing. But being with such a great group of people made it really fun. And Jess seemed to have a great 21st birthday, which was the most important part of course!
I still have a decent amount of time left in London, which I really like. I have lots of things planned. Niki Green will be staying with me in a week. Callum and I are going to Cambridge for a day. It is also Callum's birthday June 1st so we're going back to Norwich to celebrate. I'm currently trying to work out a day trip to Canterbury with my friend Beauty, Niki, and Callum. And there are still a few places I'd like to see, like the London Zoo, now that it is warmer! :)
I've posted a hodgepodge of pictures recently--read the captions, they explain when and where. :)
After going over both my essays one last time, I finally turned them in on May 3rd--a day early. It was a great relief to finally be done with them! On the 10th, I took my fictional writing exam, which was quite easy. So my Westminster school year is officially over!
Now that I have all this lovely time to spend however I wish, I've been enjoying the company of friends and flatmates. I have been to the cinema and long walks around my area here--still discovering things right outside my own front door.
I was here for the Royal Wedding. Now, I'm not completely enthralled with the Royal family, but it was definitely a wonderful experience to be here for such a historical event! I went to Green Park (by Buckingham Palace) with Callum to watch the ceremony, which was being projected on huge screens there live. Afterwards, I thought I would try to wiggle closer to the palace and catch the processional at the end, but by then the streets were blocked off to prevent over-crowding so I wasn't able to get very close and didn't see anyone in person. But I could still hear everything and watch the planes fly by overhead and be a part of the crowd. It was a great experience!
The next week, Emily Lambrix came to visit me from Ireland!! It was lovely to see her again and catch up. I also got to play tour guide, which was awesome. I love that I know London enough now that I can do that. We crammed lots of places and things into her 5 day stay, including Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, St. Paul's, the Globe, Tower of London, to name a few. We also saw Les Miserables at the Queen's Theatre, which was amazing. And we attended an evening church service at Westminster Abbey. (It was the only way we could get in without paying a tour fee. You weren't allowed to take pictures because it was a service, but it was enough to just sit and listen to the choir sing as we looked around.) We also met up with Niki Green, Lydia Anderson, Allison Eaton, and Carrie Frame from the London Spring Term for lunch. I introduced Callum to them and we had a very nice meal at the pub across the street from my flat. Lots of hugging and laughing occurred, and it was a lot of fun. :)
Last Friday was my flatmate Jess's birthday. So Callum, Reena, and I joined Jess's boyfriend Owen, mutual friends from halls, and her friends from her hometown going out to her favorite cocktail bar and a club. It was actually really fun. I had been to cocktail bars before, but not a club yet--they aren't really my thing. But being with such a great group of people made it really fun. And Jess seemed to have a great 21st birthday, which was the most important part of course!
I still have a decent amount of time left in London, which I really like. I have lots of things planned. Niki Green will be staying with me in a week. Callum and I are going to Cambridge for a day. It is also Callum's birthday June 1st so we're going back to Norwich to celebrate. I'm currently trying to work out a day trip to Canterbury with my friend Beauty, Niki, and Callum. And there are still a few places I'd like to see, like the London Zoo, now that it is warmer! :)
I've posted a hodgepodge of pictures recently--read the captions, they explain when and where. :)
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
A Week in Norwich
This past week I spent in Norwich--which is where Callum lives. We are officially on Easter break. I had two essays to write the first week of break, so I met up with Callum the next week. I took my very first English train, which was a great experience. I haven't taken trains very much in the U.S. and the English countryside is very pretty, so the two hours of traveling went by quickly.
Norwich is the biggest city in the county of Norfolk. Callum actually lives in a neighboring village called Costessey. So when I arrived at Norwich station, we took a bus to his mom's house. That first day, we stayed around his neighborhood--a friend of his was having a party. So we went and I met his friends from home, which was nice. But there was a lot of people there and I didn't really remember too many names. The next day, we went into the city of Norwich to visit the castle. Norwich was actually bigger and equaled London in importance during the 11th century. The castle was very impressive and gorgeous. It's history was very interesting, including a period when it was converted to a prison.
Throughout the week, we did various things but kind of made it up as we went along, which was really relaxing, especially after a rather stressful end of the school year. We went bowling with his littlest brother and mom one day (I still am not very good, but I did manage to get two strikes in the tenth frame of our first game, which was cool!). We also went back to the city two more times to walk around and enjoy the city. I took lots of pictures. The city is just a very historic place, everything is used and re-used and has a lot of character. We visited Norwich Cathedral around Easter, which was nice, especially since I wasn't home for Easter. It is enormous and has lovely stained glass windows and a beautiful cloister. There is also a place called The Forum, which is a very modern building that houses the BBC news station, a library, and various restaurants. It was a very interesting combination of scenes--this modern glass building next to and ancient cathedral, among landmark statues and street vendors. The city felt small town--very cozy, very friendly, very approachable, yet had many components that equalled to London and all that it had to offer. It wasn't as busy on the streets, which was a refreshing change from the hord of people seemingly to deliberately step in front of you. Yet it still had a nice bustle about it. We had a few meals at his favorite pubs, which was delicious. And between the three days we spent in the city, I really enjoyed it.
We also visited his dad's house, who lives right down the street from his mom's. I had English fish and chips for the first time with him and his dad and brothers. It was greasy and salty but SO delicious. :) Being a house full of boys, we watched a load of football whenever we hung out with them. I also went to a couple "pub quizzes" with Callum and his friends. I got to know his friends a bit better and found that pub quizzes are actually really fun. It is essentially a question and answer game that local pubs have on Sunday nights. You pay a couple quid to play and if your team wins, you get all the money that people contributed--kind of like a lottery. The first pub quiz, I contributed three whole answers, which I thought was pretty good considering I don't know too much about English-y t.v. programs, or historical politics, and the like. But there were some international questions that I could help with. The first night, our team tied for first place with two other teams. Callum went up as the spokesperson to answer the tie-breaker question. Ironically, it was "In what year did Ford Motor Company begin?" I knew it to be 1903 since I live right next to Detroit and my Mom grew up in Dearborn. But Callum had to answer the question and was about 5 years off, so we came in 2nd place.
We also went to the East coast with Callum's mom and mom's boyfriend. The North Sea is about 2 hours away. So we drove to a half-way point, and then caught a steam train to go the rest of the way. And we walked along to coast back to the car. It was lovely. I felt so small next to the sea and the cliffs. The beaches are a bit different. Some have sand, but some are just pebbles and rocks. Both I think are really pretty. We lucked out and had gorgeous weather that whole week, very warm and sunny, so it was perfect day to go. I loved the train ride as well--it was old-fashioned with the sitting compartments. I felt like a passenger in Agatha Christie's Oriental Express, haha.
Because I stayed with Callum at his houses, I got to watch T.V. I haven't been able to at uni because I'd need a T.V. license, which was too expensive/not necessary for me. But as a result, I hadn't really seen any adverts or news. So it was interesting to compare commercials and watch the news (both about Norwich and local issues, but also about big things like the Royal Wedding and international news too. Newspapers are nice, but I always seem to prefer to listen to news than read it...). I also watched some corny t.v. shows like "Bargain Hunt" and game shows and soap operas like "East Enders"--it was funny and entertaining.
Overall, the week was wonderful and relaxing!! I posted pictures already. I also posted some older pictures that I forgot I hadn't put on facebook yet.
In other random news:
My computer got a virus a few weeks ago. I took it to a shop on Tottenham Court Road (the electronics street in London) and got it repaired no problem. But because they had to re-install the main programs on my laptop, they had all the settings set to UK instead of US. So, my spell-checker in word corrected everything to British spellings, my keyboard was set like a UK keyboard so the key strokes were different, the time and date were written in military time and dd/mm/yyyy, all the measurements for page settings were in the metric system, and a bunch of other little things I took for granted to just be US standard. It didn't take too long to figure out how to change them back, but it was rather funny--I just assumed everything would come US standard. :)
A girl from my Critical Perspectives class named Beauty and I have become rather quick and close friends over the last few weeks. During the school year, we both seemed too busy to hangout, but now that classes have ended, we've met up for lunch and found ourselves talking about anything and everything for about three hours! We had lunch in a plaza, and it felts a bit like SAGA at Alma and conversation was so easy, I felt like I was back home. It was lovely! And we've also met up a few times to work on our essays since we share two classes--she's an English major too so we have lots in common. It always surprises me when I meet someone that I just get along with so well right off the bat--as if we've known each other for years. I love it when that happens. :)
I got to skype with my lovely Daffodils two weeks ago! It was great to talk to everyone! :)
The Royal Wedding is this Friday and I'm going to try to finagle my way through the crowds and see what I can see! Americans tend to make a bigger deal over the wedding that they are doing here in England (that whole Disney Princess complex ingrained in us as kids I think...), but there is definitely a buzz around London now, excited with anticipation. It feels very surreal to think that 50 years from now, when I am talking to my grandkids, I'll be able to say "I was in London and got to watch the Royal Wedding when it happened in 2011". How neat is that!? I'm not sure if I'll be able to see much, but I sure am going to try!
Norwich is the biggest city in the county of Norfolk. Callum actually lives in a neighboring village called Costessey. So when I arrived at Norwich station, we took a bus to his mom's house. That first day, we stayed around his neighborhood--a friend of his was having a party. So we went and I met his friends from home, which was nice. But there was a lot of people there and I didn't really remember too many names. The next day, we went into the city of Norwich to visit the castle. Norwich was actually bigger and equaled London in importance during the 11th century. The castle was very impressive and gorgeous. It's history was very interesting, including a period when it was converted to a prison.
Throughout the week, we did various things but kind of made it up as we went along, which was really relaxing, especially after a rather stressful end of the school year. We went bowling with his littlest brother and mom one day (I still am not very good, but I did manage to get two strikes in the tenth frame of our first game, which was cool!). We also went back to the city two more times to walk around and enjoy the city. I took lots of pictures. The city is just a very historic place, everything is used and re-used and has a lot of character. We visited Norwich Cathedral around Easter, which was nice, especially since I wasn't home for Easter. It is enormous and has lovely stained glass windows and a beautiful cloister. There is also a place called The Forum, which is a very modern building that houses the BBC news station, a library, and various restaurants. It was a very interesting combination of scenes--this modern glass building next to and ancient cathedral, among landmark statues and street vendors. The city felt small town--very cozy, very friendly, very approachable, yet had many components that equalled to London and all that it had to offer. It wasn't as busy on the streets, which was a refreshing change from the hord of people seemingly to deliberately step in front of you. Yet it still had a nice bustle about it. We had a few meals at his favorite pubs, which was delicious. And between the three days we spent in the city, I really enjoyed it.
We also visited his dad's house, who lives right down the street from his mom's. I had English fish and chips for the first time with him and his dad and brothers. It was greasy and salty but SO delicious. :) Being a house full of boys, we watched a load of football whenever we hung out with them. I also went to a couple "pub quizzes" with Callum and his friends. I got to know his friends a bit better and found that pub quizzes are actually really fun. It is essentially a question and answer game that local pubs have on Sunday nights. You pay a couple quid to play and if your team wins, you get all the money that people contributed--kind of like a lottery. The first pub quiz, I contributed three whole answers, which I thought was pretty good considering I don't know too much about English-y t.v. programs, or historical politics, and the like. But there were some international questions that I could help with. The first night, our team tied for first place with two other teams. Callum went up as the spokesperson to answer the tie-breaker question. Ironically, it was "In what year did Ford Motor Company begin?" I knew it to be 1903 since I live right next to Detroit and my Mom grew up in Dearborn. But Callum had to answer the question and was about 5 years off, so we came in 2nd place.
We also went to the East coast with Callum's mom and mom's boyfriend. The North Sea is about 2 hours away. So we drove to a half-way point, and then caught a steam train to go the rest of the way. And we walked along to coast back to the car. It was lovely. I felt so small next to the sea and the cliffs. The beaches are a bit different. Some have sand, but some are just pebbles and rocks. Both I think are really pretty. We lucked out and had gorgeous weather that whole week, very warm and sunny, so it was perfect day to go. I loved the train ride as well--it was old-fashioned with the sitting compartments. I felt like a passenger in Agatha Christie's Oriental Express, haha.
Because I stayed with Callum at his houses, I got to watch T.V. I haven't been able to at uni because I'd need a T.V. license, which was too expensive/not necessary for me. But as a result, I hadn't really seen any adverts or news. So it was interesting to compare commercials and watch the news (both about Norwich and local issues, but also about big things like the Royal Wedding and international news too. Newspapers are nice, but I always seem to prefer to listen to news than read it...). I also watched some corny t.v. shows like "Bargain Hunt" and game shows and soap operas like "East Enders"--it was funny and entertaining.
Overall, the week was wonderful and relaxing!! I posted pictures already. I also posted some older pictures that I forgot I hadn't put on facebook yet.
In other random news:
My computer got a virus a few weeks ago. I took it to a shop on Tottenham Court Road (the electronics street in London) and got it repaired no problem. But because they had to re-install the main programs on my laptop, they had all the settings set to UK instead of US. So, my spell-checker in word corrected everything to British spellings, my keyboard was set like a UK keyboard so the key strokes were different, the time and date were written in military time and dd/mm/yyyy, all the measurements for page settings were in the metric system, and a bunch of other little things I took for granted to just be US standard. It didn't take too long to figure out how to change them back, but it was rather funny--I just assumed everything would come US standard. :)
A girl from my Critical Perspectives class named Beauty and I have become rather quick and close friends over the last few weeks. During the school year, we both seemed too busy to hangout, but now that classes have ended, we've met up for lunch and found ourselves talking about anything and everything for about three hours! We had lunch in a plaza, and it felts a bit like SAGA at Alma and conversation was so easy, I felt like I was back home. It was lovely! And we've also met up a few times to work on our essays since we share two classes--she's an English major too so we have lots in common. It always surprises me when I meet someone that I just get along with so well right off the bat--as if we've known each other for years. I love it when that happens. :)
I got to skype with my lovely Daffodils two weeks ago! It was great to talk to everyone! :)
The Royal Wedding is this Friday and I'm going to try to finagle my way through the crowds and see what I can see! Americans tend to make a bigger deal over the wedding that they are doing here in England (that whole Disney Princess complex ingrained in us as kids I think...), but there is definitely a buzz around London now, excited with anticipation. It feels very surreal to think that 50 years from now, when I am talking to my grandkids, I'll be able to say "I was in London and got to watch the Royal Wedding when it happened in 2011". How neat is that!? I'm not sure if I'll be able to see much, but I sure am going to try!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Tid Bits from Work
This past week at work, I was given the tedious but necessary task of converting all our contracts from paper to electronic. This way, when returning customers phone in an order, we'll have their details already and it makes the process much quicker. Plus, it makes the customer feel like we remember them, which goes with our whole small-independent-familial-publisher mentality. Some are print-outs from online orders, so all I see is the name, address, phone number, and book(s) that the person ordered. But some people still write in and send a check. These people are generally of the older generation. And recently, we had a special running in a magazine for a novel called "The Girl at the Farmhouse Gate". It is kind of your stereotypical, old lady, cheesy sweet, romance novel. We have a lot of these kinds of books--it is a rather stable demographic for A and B. They all tend to have the same kind of theme, most often set in WWII. The storyline usually conforms to: American GI goes to England and falls in love with proper Englishwoman. OR WWII wreaks havoc on a family, but through their struggles, love blossoms between those that the war has thrown together. They are all easy reads, really sweet, and either have happy endings or bittersweet endings.
Well, as I completed the online print-out contacts, I got to the hand-written letter ones. Some are very straight forward. "Send 'blah blah blah' to 'cute English cottage name, cute English road name, some abbreviated form of their city/county, postcode'". The names of people are always intriguing to me. We had a Mrs. Allison and a Mrs. Busby (ironic, as those are the two last names of the founders of this publishing house). And I also came across a Mrs. B Still, which I thought was humor since it is kinda a sentence..."Be still!" haha. In other letters, the handwriting is atrocious, calling for the need of the Royal Mail's address finder website. And sometimes, the spellings are just plain confusing, especially if from Wales. For instance, one area is named "Ceulanamaesmawr". But some are still written out as actual letters, as if speaking to an old friend. I read one written by an older gentleman, and it said, "Could you please send me 'Girl at the Farmhouse Gate'. It is for my wife. She was the girl at the farmhouse gate and I was the boy who waited for her." Aw! How adorable! I loved reading the letters that had an actual story. It made the dull task of constant typing of contacts must more enjoyable.
I have two more weeks of my internship and then I'm finished. I've learned a lot and the length of this internship was just perfect--not too long but not too short. I've definitely enjoyed the experience. :)
Well, as I completed the online print-out contacts, I got to the hand-written letter ones. Some are very straight forward. "Send 'blah blah blah' to 'cute English cottage name, cute English road name, some abbreviated form of their city/county, postcode'". The names of people are always intriguing to me. We had a Mrs. Allison and a Mrs. Busby (ironic, as those are the two last names of the founders of this publishing house). And I also came across a Mrs. B Still, which I thought was humor since it is kinda a sentence..."Be still!" haha. In other letters, the handwriting is atrocious, calling for the need of the Royal Mail's address finder website. And sometimes, the spellings are just plain confusing, especially if from Wales. For instance, one area is named "Ceulanamaesmawr". But some are still written out as actual letters, as if speaking to an old friend. I read one written by an older gentleman, and it said, "Could you please send me 'Girl at the Farmhouse Gate'. It is for my wife. She was the girl at the farmhouse gate and I was the boy who waited for her." Aw! How adorable! I loved reading the letters that had an actual story. It made the dull task of constant typing of contacts must more enjoyable.
I have two more weeks of my internship and then I'm finished. I've learned a lot and the length of this internship was just perfect--not too long but not too short. I've definitely enjoyed the experience. :)
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Underneath London
This past Sunday, Callum and I decided to visit Fleet Street--or rather, I wanted to visit Fleet Street and I took Callum with me. :)
Fleet used to be a river, until the city kept growing and eventually paved over it so that now it runs underground and can't be seen. Instead, there is Fleet Street--which use to be the home of the biggest, best, and richest publishing and newspaper companies. Being an English major, I naturally wanted to go check it out, even if there aren't any publishers there anymore. We had to walk by the financial district, which Callum enjoyed because he's studying economics. As we got closer, the building became more and more office-y and really tall. As we were walking, I saw a little mews that had a really pretty archway and lamp, so we went over to investigate. Turns out, it was the entrance to St. Bride's church. I wanted to explore, so we went in. It was a gorgeous church, with stained class windows and a really elaborate steeple, which the sign outside claimed to have inspired the tier-shaped wedding cake. That sign also said there was a crypt underneath it. Maybe its my love of secret passageways, but I REALLY wanted to go see that. We go explore for free, so down we went! And lo and behold, one of the coolest crypts (and so far the ONLY crypt) that I've ever seen. It used to be where the parishoners and notorious people were buried. They had part of it set up like a museum and it was really informative. Apparently St. Bride's wasn't always just a church, it use to be where the original and first printing press in England operated from and continued to be in the epicenter of the publishing sector on fleet street until the business started moving away in 1980s with the advent of computers. This crypt also happened to lie on a foundation built by the Romans when they owned the land long before England existed as it does today. They discovered this when they were renovating the church. Under the crype is authentic Roman pavement--bricks laid down by the Romans. It was amazing! The U.S. has some cool sites, but just plain doesn't have any that old! It was really neat to stand there where Romans used to walk and publishing tycoons used to worship. And we hadn't even really planned to tour anywhere or even knew that St. Bride's existed. It was a really nice surprise and I learned a lot about the publishing industry in London--yea for educational adventures! :)
Since then, I've just been working on wrapping up the school year so I can enjoy the rest of my time in London. My classes and internship end in 2 weeks and I'm using the first week of spring break to write my two final papers. Then I'll be filling my time with non-obligatory things like enjoying London, visit Norwich with Callum, hosting Emily Lambrix and Niki Green in May, and spending time with my flatmates. I leave London and return to Michigan on June 18th--though I technically have my flat until the 25th, my summer job begins on the 20th and I need to be back for that. So all-in-all, I have a lovely 2 month-ish chunk of time to enjoy and relax in and I can't wait until that time is here! :)
Fleet used to be a river, until the city kept growing and eventually paved over it so that now it runs underground and can't be seen. Instead, there is Fleet Street--which use to be the home of the biggest, best, and richest publishing and newspaper companies. Being an English major, I naturally wanted to go check it out, even if there aren't any publishers there anymore. We had to walk by the financial district, which Callum enjoyed because he's studying economics. As we got closer, the building became more and more office-y and really tall. As we were walking, I saw a little mews that had a really pretty archway and lamp, so we went over to investigate. Turns out, it was the entrance to St. Bride's church. I wanted to explore, so we went in. It was a gorgeous church, with stained class windows and a really elaborate steeple, which the sign outside claimed to have inspired the tier-shaped wedding cake. That sign also said there was a crypt underneath it. Maybe its my love of secret passageways, but I REALLY wanted to go see that. We go explore for free, so down we went! And lo and behold, one of the coolest crypts (and so far the ONLY crypt) that I've ever seen. It used to be where the parishoners and notorious people were buried. They had part of it set up like a museum and it was really informative. Apparently St. Bride's wasn't always just a church, it use to be where the original and first printing press in England operated from and continued to be in the epicenter of the publishing sector on fleet street until the business started moving away in 1980s with the advent of computers. This crypt also happened to lie on a foundation built by the Romans when they owned the land long before England existed as it does today. They discovered this when they were renovating the church. Under the crype is authentic Roman pavement--bricks laid down by the Romans. It was amazing! The U.S. has some cool sites, but just plain doesn't have any that old! It was really neat to stand there where Romans used to walk and publishing tycoons used to worship. And we hadn't even really planned to tour anywhere or even knew that St. Bride's existed. It was a really nice surprise and I learned a lot about the publishing industry in London--yea for educational adventures! :)
Since then, I've just been working on wrapping up the school year so I can enjoy the rest of my time in London. My classes and internship end in 2 weeks and I'm using the first week of spring break to write my two final papers. Then I'll be filling my time with non-obligatory things like enjoying London, visit Norwich with Callum, hosting Emily Lambrix and Niki Green in May, and spending time with my flatmates. I leave London and return to Michigan on June 18th--though I technically have my flat until the 25th, my summer job begins on the 20th and I need to be back for that. So all-in-all, I have a lovely 2 month-ish chunk of time to enjoy and relax in and I can't wait until that time is here! :)
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