Musings of a Procrastinator

Wow... I've been out for awhile...

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:11:00 +0000

Hey all!

I haven't actually published a blog post in months. I know. I know. The fact is that I have about seven unfinished drafts sitting there just waiting to be finished and added to the blog for all you lovely people to read. Alas, I have a serious case of ADD when it comes to finishing some things and they just sit there. This habit is not good for you or me, because then nothing actually ever gets posted.

So I decided to try something different. I am going to do some micro-blogging (check out that internet jargon) at Posterous. Check it out. I will also be filling in the gaps in my life and my very full, exciting, terrifying, exhilarating ride from my last post until graduation and beyond, eventually on here. Most of the time I just don't have the time or energy to make that mammoth of a post happen.

So enjoy the new stuff, and I will see you all later!

Katie

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 18:32:00 +0000

Hello all! It has been quite awhile since I last posted. Part of me wants to apologize for this, another part of me thinks who actually reads this besides my family anyway, and yet another part of thinks if you are still reading, I guess it wasn't actually away that long anyway.

PS. Can I just take this moment to say that it's April already? Already? Seriously? I am not prepared. I would like to call a do-over. Do-over on January, February and March please. Thank you.

So here I am. Where, you ask? Back in Los Angeles. Lots of things have happened since the 're-entry burn' of coming back from London. Life with my crazy family seems to get crazier around the holidays so escaping back to USC was awesome. The semester has flown by.

In order to catch up here are some highlights/ small bits of insanity that have taken up my time...

One year hernia free :)
Internship at Zucker Productions
Hellions ranked 7th in the Nation
Trip to Montreal to visit Rex
Andrea visiting LA

Spring Break: Disneyland/ Road trip home with Broccoli

Working with Courage Campaign and ImMEDIAte Justice
Step-brother Schuyler getting a golf ball-sized tumor removed from his soft palate

Did I mention Hellions are ranked 7th in the Nation?!?!?

That's it for now. Blog re-vamp coming. Look forward to posts about Hellions, Life after Graduation (unknown), and the other projects I am working on.

Cheers!

Last Days in London

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 00:59:00 +0000

I know that this is late... but I figured I should get it down before it goes completely out of my head all together. My last few days in London, once all the papers were over, were very fun and involved very little sleep.

Thursday was the last days of classes. The morning was of course spent frantically typing at my computer finishing the last sentences of my essay. Which I finished with a whole hour to spare. There was a nice man cleaning the windows with a crane which scared the bejesus out of me, Then went to class, saw people for the last time, and walked out almost a free woman.

Friday was one of my last days in London, so I decided that I would go out and about and get things done, aka Christmas shopping. Looking back now I can't actually remember what I did this day. I know I went to Harrod's at some point. That night I was supposed to meet up with friends and go to Draper's Bar (the on-campus bar). But Katy (a friend from class) and I didn't realize that we needed tickets to get in. It was also absolutely freezing outside, so we decided that going back to my apartment with some wine would be a far better idea. Looking up at the clock, we realized that it was 4:30 in the morning and that it was probably time to go to bed. It was a fun night even though we didn't get to party it up.

Saturday morning I woke up disgustingly early for no apparent reason. It ended up being a fortuitous circumstance though because I decided to see if there were any tickets to the sold out show War Horse... and there were! I was so excited to get matinee tickets. Then Katy called me, because she was up ridiculously early as well, and we headed over to London Bridge to go to Borough Market. The Market itself is located under the train tracks right next to an old Cathedral. The atmosphere was awesome.

I was so excited that on my last day in London I was going to visit and see some more new places. Borough Market is the premier food market in London. There are lots of organic growers, cheesemongers, wine sellers, meat- everything from ostrich to buffalo, olives, mulled wine and hot ciders, tapas... basically if you can imagine all this fantastic food every where you look... that is Borough Market.

The air was filled with brass bands playing Christmas music and fragrant smells hitting you from all sides. I was a bit disappointed that I hadn't come and visited sooner. I wanted to bring home so many yummy things, but I knew that they wouldn't clear customs and that I couldn't finish it all before getting on the plane the next morning, so I sniffed and sampled instead. I did buy a chorizo sandwich for lunch that was super yummy.

Once we had had our fill of samples and yumminess we decided to walk towards our respective theatres. Katy was going to see a show at the National, and I was headed to Covent Garden, but as we had plenty of time to kill, we decided to walk along the Thames. We walked over London Bridge (which looks in no danger of falling down, thank goodness) and then along the North Bank, back and forth over various bridges, until we reached the National Theatre. We saw some spectactular views on the way there. The London Eye and Parliament and then the East End with all those cranes.

Once we got to the theatre we said our goodbyes and I headed towards Covent Garden to see War Horse. I am so thankful that I got tickets. This was one of the greatest shows I have seen in a long time. And the puppetry was absolutely fantastic.

The show is based on the novel War Horse by Michael Morpurgo. Basically the story is of a boy who due to family rivalry gets this horse. He then trains this horse, wins a miraculous bet, and then World War I breaks out. The horse is sold into the army and sent into trench warfare in France. The boy decides to go and find the horse and the rest of the play details their journey through the ravages of war. It was a great, great show.

Afterwards I met up with Keelia, Cristin, and Drew for dinner at Carluccio's in Covent Garden. It was a great dinner with some great people and a perfect way to end my last day in London.

Now something that most of you will not be surprised at is that up to this point, I had not packed a thing. So after I got home from dinner I started packing up all of my stuff into two suitcases. It too a lot of shoving, rearranging, and sitting but I eventually got it all in there. As I had an early flight, I just decided to stay up until my car came to get me at 5am.

I fell asleep several times on the way and inside of the airport. Thankfully I had to foresight not to book my flight through New York or Chicago, because there were so many flight delays and cancellations.I got on my flight safe and sound and immediately fell asleep. I landed in Dallas, went through an extremely long customs process, and then had a long layover. This also ended up being fortuitous because I got to fulfill my Mexican food craving. Then I got on my next flight to Reno. My sisters picked me up and drove me home. It felt fantastic to sleep in my own bed.

In a bit of reminiscing, here are a few things that I will and won't miss about London.

I won't miss...
fire alarms
fire doors
sloppy flat mates
water spouts that only have hot or cold water
lumpy beds
bland food
crowded night buses
people who smoke everywhere
playing ultimate in icy rain
MegaVideo
broken elevators
kebabs

I will miss...
hearing accents every day
drunkenly mimicking them
cider
year-round chocolate oranges
proper tea
kettles
knocking on my floor to talk to Drew
easy public transportation
being close to Europe
taxi drivers who don't have to use GPS ever, and can speak English
markets like Portobello Road
the history
playing ultimate in the mud
always having new places to explore
no guns

Cheers! That's all on London for now.

On My List...

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 10:32:00 +0000

Sitting here, this last morning in London, I am suddenly struck by regret. I am also frantically packing and have to run out shortly to run some errands, but all I can think about at the moment is all the things that I didn't get to do while I was here. A person can only fit so many things in.

So I am going to start a list of all things that I wanted to do, but didn't get a chance to. This is mostly for me so that when I do come back, however far away that may be, that I have something to remember what I didn't do last time.

Note: Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon, Stonehenge, Windsor Castle, Bath, and Warwick Castle are not on this list, because I did those with my mother when I came to London when I was 13.

The List:
The Churchill War Rooms
The Imperial War Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum
See More Shows, especially see the Old Vic, Young Vic, Royal, Globe, and RSC Theatres.
St. Paul's Cathedral
Hampton Court Palace
Wimbledon (preferably with tennis going on)
A Football match
A Rugby match
See Leeds, Liverpool, Brighton
Visit Nicky and Mike, and see Whitstable in Sunlight, and the Cliffs of Dover
Harry Potter Tour
Wales
Scotland; Glasgow, Edinbrough (preferably for the Fringe Festival), and the Highlands
Go to National Parks and hike the moors and dales
Greenwich
Kensington Palace
Hyde Park
Play in an International Ultimate Tournament

I am sure there are more, but that's all I can think of for the moment. But instead of sitting here contemplating (boring) or packing (necessary, but I hate it) I am going to run around getting last minute things and see one last show!

See you all tomorrow!

Barbican: Roman Tragedies

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:09:00 +0000

This is a theatre review for a show I went to see at the end of November.

When I went to see The Roman Tragedies, all I knew is that it was Shakespeare, it was in Dutch, and that I would be there for six hours. Normally, this is not my ideal theatre-going experience, but I trudged my way down to The Barbican to go and have a look for myself. What I didn’t expect was a vibrant and engaging theatre experience that kept me entertained and invested from the moment I stepped into the theatre until I laid my head on my pillow long after the performance was over.

Shakespeare’s Roman tragedies; Coriolanus, Julius Caesear, and Antony and Cleopatra have been put together by Ivo Van Hove and his team from Toneelgroep Amsterdam to form this theatre piece. The plays run roughly chronologically through Roman political historyand have compressed, contemporized and put into a concise, coherent package that even those who do not know Shakespeare will be fascinated by.

The sordid details of the political intrigues, romantic struggles, hard-fought wars, pained deaths and complex lives of the leaders of Rome are put into a modern-day political arena. The production puts the plays into context with the current political schema that is resonant, beautiful, and unapologetically real.

Van Hove has made a world in which the audience becomes the unspeaking citizens of Rome, and as an audience we are implicated in the political drama. There are many couches and chairs upon the stage that the audience is invited to occupy, sharing the stage with the actors. The almost operatic orchestration of actors, audience, music, cameras, and television brought to life a world that enthralled and engaged the audience for the entire performance.

The acting was superb, and with arguably the best actors that the Netherlands have to offer, why wouldn’t it be? The best bit of the play is Antony and Cleopatra, during which I could not tear my eyes from the stage. Though the multimedia, subtitles, live music and refreshments were more than enough to keep me involved during the rest.

One memorable moment during Julius Caesar, I had gone on stage to get a sandwich and some wine and was enjoying watching the actors up close. What I didn’t realize is that the ‘war’ was about to commence, and when it did, I was settled a bit too close to the large drums and strobe lights for comfort. But then again, war isn’t supposed to be comfortable, is it.

The multimedia aspect of the play added another dimension to the performance. Having scattered television screens filled with cinematic images that the cameras captured, along with English subtitles gave a rounded, far-reaching, and decidedly mechanized aspect to the otherwise vibrantly alive theatre experience.

While some of the political points were lost on me over the six-hour play, some things were lost in translation, and not all aspects were scintillating or cohesive, the performance that Toneelgroep Amsterdam puts forth in Roman Tragedies is a fantastic theatre experience that is not to be missed.

Pantomimes: Christmas Time in Whitstable

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:48:00 +0000

This past weekend I was invited to go and visit Robin in Canterbury and then spend the night with Nicky and Mike in their home in Whitstable. I could not turn such a wonderful offer as this down (despite the fact that I really should have been writing these ridiculous essays instead) so I packed up my things and got ready for a fun filled weekend with friends.

Saturday morning I got on the bus at Victoria station and headed to Canterbury where Robin met me at the bus stop. We wandered around downtown, which was festively decorated. My favorite, and undeniably the most impressive display, was the dinosaurs that were raising money for teenage cancer research. I was too old to take pictures with them, so I took pictures of them instead.

Before getting to our Christmas shopping, we had lunch at this absolutely lovely cafe called BoHo (which Robin just informed me is frequented by Orlando Bloom. I knew it was cool.) where I tried chicken liver and bacon on bread, which was delicious! And Robin had her first souvlaki. Sometimes you do find good food in Britain, and it is such a treat. Then we had some dessert, carrot cake and chocolate cupcake (Robin thought the sparkles would be inedible, but I don't like cherries so I decided not to prove her wrong) and hit the streets. It rained a bit as we were wandering, but we managed to get all of our shopping needs done.

I would just like to take this moment to say that Christmas shopping has been a bit difficult for me this year, because I keep having to think, "Will that fit in my suitcase?" It is terribly inconvenient. This is mostly just a warning for my family.

When we decided we were done, we hopped back on a bus to Kent to go back to Robin's place to pick up her things. Then we headed back to the bus stop to catch a bus to Whitstable to Nicky and Mike's house. It gets so dark so early here, that I couldn't really seen any of the very cute village that they live in, but we explored it the next morning. We got off the bus and it was raining again, but managed to get to their house in a fairly dry condition.

This picture of Nicky and Mike is from one of Robin's previous visits. They made her Yorkshire Puddings. This picture is also pretty true to form, Nicky is doing something and Mike is hiding from the camera in the background. He did this in Belgium too, silly Mike.

Can I just say that I love Nicky and Mike? They are the sweetest people ever. They had rooms all prepared for us, hot tea, christmas presents! Ah! I am getting excited and happy just remembering. We sat down and visited a bit before dinner, sipping at tea. We attempted to watch a bit of Fawlty Towers (which I liked so much I already bought for myself) but by then dinner/supper was ready. Nicky had made some pizza, we remembered the ranch dressing (I honestly didn't know how much I liked it until I didn't have any) and sat down to a lovely dinner with wine.

We opened Christmas crackers. Mike told us all about the traditions about them, you pull them apart with someone else, and who ever gets the bigger part gets the things inside. Inside each one is a paper crown, a small 'prezzie' and as Mike says, "an absolute rubbish joke." Which was entirely true. We all put our paper crowns on and Mike told us that when you do these crackers at bigger Christmas parties, everyone has their crowns on at first, but by the end of the night the children have all binned theirs and the women have either taken them off or are wearing them around their neck and then men have fallen asleep and have them drooping over one eye. I don't know if this is necessarily true... but Mike's crown stayed on the longest, and it was drooping.

After dinner we played games. I have missed playing games a lot. We played Boggle (thanks Kyle!), which I brought with me, and we played a game that was like Pictionary and Taboo put together that I can't remember the name of, then a dictionary and drawing game over tea. Then off to bed!

Sunday morning we came downstairs and Mike made us bacon sandwiches for breakfast. Yum! And of course more tea. (I think at this point I am drinking more tea than most British people, which is a tad frightening.) We watched a bit of Fawlty Towers before Robin forced us out into the rain.

It was cold and drizzling out, but Robin wanted to try driving Mike's car, and walk around Whitstable. So Nicky and Mike lent us some macs (long raincoats) and we hopped in the car.

We went to a car park, which was empty, and Robin and Mike switched. Robin drove around the car park for a bit, sometimes when she tried to shift she reached into the door because everything is on the opposite side. Thank goodness the pedals are the same.

Then we drove into town, on the way, one of Mike's windshield wipers decided to go awol and kept flipping over. But we managed to get into Whitstable and went down Squeeze Gut Alley. It's an old smugglers alley that is skinny enough to squeeze your gut, get it?

Mike picked us up on the other side and then dropped us off in the middle of the village. On a Sunday most of the shops were closed, but there was a lovely little bookstore that I could have spent hours in, but we kept wandering around.

Whitstable is right on the coast. It is where the Thames drains into the North Sea. It was raining most of the time we were wandering around, and my cheap umbrella is basically useless at this point (it is not coming home with me) and kept turning inside out.

We saw some windsurfers (crazy people) and a craft fair (more crazy people) and a vendor there told me that she had her hat made out of possum (possibly the craziest of the lot). Amazingly there was a break in the weather for most of our trip back and the sun poked it's head out. It was a really beautiful moment.

There were some quaint beach huts that we passed. I can imagine that it would be a really lovely place in the summer time, but as the rain had started up again, along with some freezing wind, we hightailed it back to Nicky and Mike's.

When we got back Nicky threw some of our clothes in the dryer and we had some warm tea. We watched some more Fawlty Towers before we have a lovely lunch of Cotswold Pie. It is basically lamb roast with veggies, topped with mashed potatoes in a casserole dish with melted cheese on top. Yummy! Home cooked food is the best.

Then we had to get back in our clothes, pack up our things, and get in the car to go to Canterbury to see a Pantomime. What is a Pantomime you ask? Well I didn't know either.

It is an English tradition of Christmas plays. Wikipedia says, "Traditionally performed at Christmas, with family audiences consisting mainly of children and parents, British pantomime is now a popular form of theatre, incorporating song, dance, buffoonery, slapstick, cross-dressing, in-jokes, audience participation, and mild sexual innuendo. There are a number of traditional story-lines, and there is also a fairly well-defined set of performance conventions," which is absolutely true.

We went to see Peter Pan. We went to the Marlowe Theatre tent. Normally the Pantos are in the real theatre, but as it is being renovated they have it in a very large tent. It was probably the most ridiculous show I have ever been to that is joyfully self-aware of its ridiculousness. Mike was telling us beforehand about some of the conventions, which at the time I thought he was exaggerating, but he actually wasn't at all. Every time the goodie comes on stage you cheer, every time the baddie comes on stage, you boo. If a character holds up a sign, like 'clap' or 'don't laugh' you do it.

There are certain phrases you respond to, like if a character says, "Oh no I didn't," the audience responds, "Oh yes you did!" And there is ghost bench and they sing a ghost song, in this case a short snippet of "Ghostbusters," and when the ghosts don't go away the characters and the audience both say (bobbing their heads back and forth), "Well, I guess we'll have to sing it a-gain then, won't we. Whoop!" And then they sing it again.

They take songs from other things, in this case the sang songs from Journey, Wicked, Goo Goo Dolls, Coldplay, Les Mis, and even Hail Britainia! It was ridiculous. And fun. And I can totally see why the British love it. I certainly did.

After the show was over I had to catch my bus back to London for classes on Monday. I hugged everyone goodbye. I don't think it has hit me yet that I am actually leaving England, because at the moment it just feels like I am headed home for Christmas Break, not like I am headed home. (Does that even make sense?) I am sad that I won't be able to see Nicky and Mike for quite a long time. Thankfully they have family in the US, so I might see them sooner than if I had to wait until I come back to the UK.

It was a great study break (as has been writing this blog) but now I have to stop procrastinating and actually get some work done. I also have to get, "Oh yes I did!" "Oh no you didn't!" out of my head as well.

Cheers!

Proof!

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:53:00 +0000

I know that I have complained several times about my flat mates on this blog. And this is why...

These are the dishes that they left out on the counter for other people to clean. They still have food on them, and massive amounts of cigarette ashes. These are communal dishes.

I don't know if I told you all about the Ranch Dressing incident, but here goes. I really like ranch dressing. Especially on pizza and veggies. But they don't have Ranch Dressing anywhere in the country, and nothing even close to it's deliciousness. So when my Mom came to visit she brought me a bottle. I was really excited!

The very next day I got a text from my flat mate Faith, the really nice, clean one, that said, "Just saw Livio eating some of your precious ranch. Drama!" Drama? No kidding. That was my Ranch Dressing that had been in there for one day. He takes my tea, my olive oil, and lots of other things that he thinks won't be missed, and really I don't have actual proof, but I don't worry about it that much because I can replace those things and I'm leaving shortly. But Ranch Dressing was a step too far.

I had a very loud, very pointed conversation with him about respecting other people, their food, and basically called him a dirty, selfish little man. And as you can see with the dishes above, I don't think I was wrong.

But only 11 days until home. So I can deal until then. Especially when I get to see things like this outside my window.

Off to do laundry!

It's Beginning to Feel a Lot Like...

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:29:00 +0000

Finals. I know, I know, Christmas.

Somehow in the last couple years Christmas doesn't feel like Christmas until finals are over. Obviously in London this are slightly different than in LA; the weather is different, the school system, lots of things. But somehow that frenetic pace that comes from procrastinating on papers, essays, reviews, exams, whatever all seems to coincide with Christmas shopping, travel logistics, making plans, trying to see every friend and family member, and in general running around like a chicken with your head cut off. Somehow I can't imagine this ever changing.

Next year I won't be in school, (unless something drastic happens and I either have to repeat a year or will have made some plans for grad school, which is not currently in the plans... not that I have a plan, but you know what I mean) and I don't know where I will be living, but the frenetic pace of life that seems to happen around the holiday probably won't change.

I am leaving here in less than two weeks. I don't know how I feel about this. I know that I am ready to go home and see my family and have the holidays and see snow. But somehow I can't wrap my mind around the fact that London is almost over. That being a hop, skip and a jump away from Europe is over. That hearing accents, and bland food, and ubiquitous umbrellas and tube rides and tea is over.

It seems like I will be coming back. Not that I would want to come back to this apartment necessarily. (I think I would kill some of my flat mates if I had to live with them for one day longer than absolutely necessary.) But London I will miss. Next time, I will be a bit more picky about living arrangements if at all possible. Freshers do not make good flat mates, except Faith.

Maybe I am getting nostalgic because I should be writing papers and getting work done and getting Christmas shopping finished and planning how I am going to fit all my stuff into two bags, but instead am blogging, and watching Up! which makes me miss home too.

At the same time as all this thinking, I am looking forward to the next semester. I got an internship for next semester with a film production company (I don't know if I am allowed to say names, yada, yada on the internet, so we will wait on that one) that I am really excited about. And I am taking some acting classes, which I know my father will be happy about, and some playwriting classes, which he will be slightly less excited about, (Hi Dad!) and we are still working out the rest of the schedule.

I am looking forward to seeing my friends, my team mates, and my room mate! And for it not to be quite so damp-cold. And an oven and cooking supplies! (Let's not get ahead of ourselves now Katie.)

I don't think it will feel like Christmas really until I step off the plane and see some snow and actually get to hug my family. But until then, everyone have a wonderful holiday prep season.

Cheers!

Family Visit: Thanksgiving!

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 12:29:00 +0000

Picking it back up at THANKSGIVING!

It was FRIDAY. I was headed to the apartment in Wapping to meet the family and the friends and Robin. I was supposed to get there before Robin did, but due to Friday traffic I was stuck on the bus. I still maintain that I could have walked much faster than the bus went. But Robin made it there safe and sound all by herself.

A collaborative cooking effort had taken place in my absence to make a Thanksgiving feast, and to unclog the sink. We had turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes (thanks to Matt) and cranberry sauce (thanks to Mom). It was so nice to have a home cooked meal that tasted like home. I am getting rather tired of the British fare. And the company couldn't be beat. Matt read us a very interesting poem/story/thing that they usually use to confuse French people as to what Thanksgiving really is. Oh Matt...

After lots of laughing, some improvised pumpkin pie, ice cream, and tea, we sat down to watch some more tennis (it was awesome). Hugh fell asleep and people started wandering off to bed, so Robin and I went home. There wasn't quite enough space for all 11 of us to sleep in the apartment, so we had a sleepover at my place. Before leaving we said bye to Matt, Christine, and Alexi. They had an early plane to catch the next morning.

The night was very entertaining. And good. And now I have a lot of leftovers. Still.

SATURDAY. Portobello Road. If you come to London on a Saturday this is something that you just have to do. Have to. I mean there is a whole song from Bedknobs and Broomsticks about it! Obviously there is slightly less dancing, and it isn't during WWII, but you get the idea.

Robin and I got there first. It is much more difficult to get 2 people out the door than 6 people. We waded through the sea of people to look at the stalls. Thanks to modern technology and international cell phone plans we managed to meet up with the group, except for Andrea and Abigail who were examining everything more closely and actually buying things.

Robin and I were more interested in looking. And the food. When we finally met up with Mom, Jim, Hugh, and Zach we were all hungry. But we stopped and got some pickled garlic, feta stuffed peppers, and lots of olives. Robin got a chorizo sandwich. Then we went into the strangest pub atmosphere ever. It looked like a traditional Irish Pub. It was called Shannon's. But instead of pub food they had thai food. And they were playing 90's Pop music. I guess I got my fix of Backstreet Boys and Spice Girls.

Then we went back out into the road and kept wandering around. Splitting up of course, it's too hard to stay together in such a crowded place. But my Mom called about 10 minutes later saying she found the Kingston's. They are another family that we have known forever, but they are from the Bay Area. Surprise! (I don't think I have ever travelled anywhere in the world with my parents and not run in to someone they know.) We caught up with them for a bit and then went our separate ways.

We finally met up with Andrea and Abigail, who had definitely done some shopping. We waited in line at the Hummingbird Bakery and finally everyone came together and we got back on the tube and back to the apartment. It was a lot of walking in a chilly day, but it was really fun to see everything.

After a bit of a rest we went to dinner at The Captain Kidd, but instead of eating in the pub downstairs, there was a restaurant upstairs. It was surprisingly good food. I had some guinea fowl, which I had never tried before, and it was absolutely delicious. There was a lot of 'gamey' food there, but Robin order a very yummy pasta dish, and when they gave it to her to go, it looked like this.

Back to the apartment we watched the finals of the tennis, played some boggle and had a very nice relaxed evening. Before Robin and I headed back to the apartment we had to say goodbye to Andrea and Zach, who were catching a plane/train back home to Tahoe/Paris.

SUNDAY we went in separate directions again. I had to see a play for a class in the middle of the day, so after Andrea and Zach left, they went to Greenwich by boat. Robin and I went to Spitalfields and Brick Lane. It was pouring rain throughout the day, thank goodness for umbrellas and layers. This day was far more exploring and very little buying, except food. We got to Brick Lane after having explored Spitalfields and decided that we were hungry. We had some good street food, Robin got Chinese and I tried some Moroccan. Then back to my apartment to get our stuff and Robin and I caught the tube, she to the bus station to get back to Canterbury and me to the National Theatre to see Mother Courage and her Children. (I will be doing a more extensive post about theatre shows I have seen later.)

After the show I caught a cab to Wapping and we had leftovers at the apartment! Spent the night on the couch after falling asleep watching The Green Mile with Hugh. Another good, full day.

MONDAY I had classes again. So I caught the bus to my apartment, went to classes, and packed up a bag of my stuff for them to bring home for me. After class I basically sprinted to my place to get grab, grab my stuff and I hailed a cab to their place (I really didn't feel like bringing my suitcase on the bus). Once I got there, everyone was basically ready to go, amazingly.

So we caught a cab to Victoria and had dinner at Wagamama's. I had been to another one of these restaurants before, but the last time I didn't know it was Rex's favorite restaurant in the whole entire world. I ordered the seafood ramen because she said it was her favorite.

After a very good dinner we walked back through the freezing wind to the Victoria Palace Theatre to go and see Billy Elliott the Musical. It was a fun show, not as good as the movie, but good. The kid playing Billy Elliott was very cute. It's amazing what 12 year olds can do (Abigail definitely included).

After the show we went back to the apartment. I helped pack up all the left over food to bring home. There was a lot. As it was late and getting home would have taken ages, I decided to stay again. This time I got to snuggle with Abigail (who miraculously has learned not kick people in her sleep!) on the bed.

TUESDAY morning it was time for them to leave. We got up early, finished packing and checking and double checking that nothing had been left, and waited for the car to take them to the airport. We said our goodbyes. Lots of hugs before they drove away in the van. I took my bags of leftovers back home on the bus.

I miss them all already! And I think I am about ready to come home. Unfortunately I have a lot of school work between then and now.

And that was the adventure of having my family visit in London.

Family Visit

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:48:00 +0000

My family came to visit! It was very exciting and exhausting. So now that everyone has boarded their planes home, I guess that it is time that I got on the ball and actually posted again. It has been a busy week and a half for me and the rest of the family, but I can't tell you about their experiences, I can just tell you mine. (I am going to warn you all in advance, this post is going to be rather wordy because not nearly enough pictures were taken, at least on my end, most of the photo credits go to my sister Andrea.)

SUNDAY is when my family arrived. I was so excited that they were all coming to visit that I couldn't really sleep, like that kid in the Disneyland commercials. Although in retrospect this would have been a fantastic idea as the rest of the visit I felt a bit sleep deprived.

My mom rented a very nice apartment in Wapping (pronounced Wopping) right on the river. (As the East London underground line is currently under construction, the location made my commute to them a little difficult, but we made it work. Yay for buses.) Once they got to their house, they unpacked and did a little napping. (Jet lag.) Then I went and met up with them, finding Hugh fast asleep on the couch (as we came to find out, he would do a lot).

After greetings and catching up we walked down the road and had dinner in a pub, The Captain Kidd. I think we ordered like 5 different kinds of pies, steak and kidney, steak and ale, chicken and mushroom, sheperd's pie... you get the idea. (Andrea was in heaven, she loves pies.) It was nice and relaxed. Then we went to the grocery store, came back, watched some tennis, and they went to bed and I went back to my apartment.

(Wapping is the old wharf area. It was heavily bombed in WWII and afterwards fell into disrepair. Recently a lot of money was put into the area, making a nice, young neighborhood with some good restaurants and pubs. Although not very far from where I am living in Mile End, the feel of the places is very different. You can see this riding on the bus and all of a sudden you see all these Indian/Bangladeshi sari stores and Indian restaurants and street vegetable stalls.)

MONDAY I had classes. So they went out and about and explored. We had a slight miscommunication, I thought that I was going to go right after class and meet them in London for dinner, but I couldn't get in touch with them when I got out of class. Then my mom called and said they were all pooped out and went back to their apartment. So I hopped on the tube to get the bus... and I met up with them back at their apartment. Almost everyone was asleep on the couches.

We went to a nice Italian place nearby for dinner. There was a funny episode on the way back where we were teasing Hugh (Guess where he got the idea for his blog title?) about checking for his wallet. The waiter had jokingly given him the bill. I commented how it was funny watching guys walking out their doors and patting themselves down to make sure that they had everything. Hugh said, "Yeah, I would freak out if I didn't have my thing." And Jim said, "Well I think anyone would freak out if they lost their thing." Oh the sexual insinuations. This set off a string of jokes and we made Hugh laugh so hard he couldn't stop coughing, which in turn led to jokes about not letting himself get sick over losing his thing. I love joking with my family.

Once back at the apartment we watched some of the Tennis World Finals. (Which was actually in London only a hop, skip, and a jump away at the O2, where I watched the Gymnastics World Championships.) Hugh fell asleep on the couch again. We think it has mystical powers over him. He can't sit on it without nodding off.

Andrea headed home with me that night. We had a sister sleepover and got caught up with each other. I had some work to finish for the next day and she fell asleep while I was still talking to her, which was a very entertaining experience. But we managed to share a single bed, something that we never would have been able to before.

TUESDAY morning Andrea and I got up, got some coffee (tea) and croissants (chocolate for me!) and got on the tube to meet everyone at The Tower of London. Over 1000 years of London History. It's pretty intense. We went on a tour with one of the Yeomen Warders (Beefeaters) and then walked past the crown jewels and into the Henry VIII Exhibit. (You know, I found it all fascinating. Unfortunately I had to go back to campus to meet my playwriting group for our project. Everyone else was freezing, so they got some lunch and went back to the apartment.

I showered and got ready to go out to a show. My mom and I decided on it, but we let it be a surprise for everyone else. We met at The Real Greek in Covent Garden, a restaurant recommended by Jim's brother, and it was very yummy. Dinner was delicious Greek food, (we attempted to coerce Abigail into trying hummus, but she refused, we teased her like all good siblings would) and we had some good desserts that Andrea could eat too, baklava.

During this time I was constantly checking my phone (a habit I usually loathe in restaurants) because Zach, a friend from high school who was studying abroad in Paris, (my mom dated his dad for a bit, but that is a story for another day) was getting off his train and was going to meet us at the theatre, but we were cutting it close. Then we walked towards the theatre to see Avenue Q. Zach came in from Paris. Narrowly making it into the theatre. But we all got to see it, and it was so much fun!

I saw Avenue Q in New York when I visited Rex two summers ago, but it was everyone else's first time seeing the show. It's very unique, as a musical. It makes me smile just thinking about it. After the show we all went our separate ways. Well they all went to the house and I went back to my apartment, but we all went home and went to sleep.

WEDNESDAY I had no classes and no meetings. We decided to take a bus tour around London. It is a hop-on hop-off bus, or was supposed to be (I would not recommend this bus tour unless you get on the red one, and you actually get on and off). It gives commentary. Fun stuff. Most of the stuff I had seen before, already taking a tour around the city at the beginning of my stay here. This bus trip quickly got interesting though.

We started our journey at Tower Hill. Abigail had to pee when we got on the bus. Now, not that I am one to talk about needing to pee, but watching her try to hold it in was absolutely hilarious. My laughing didn't help her any, so we got off the bus near Parliament and Westminster Abbey. As a group we all went towards the public toilets, had some great fun fishing out the correct coinage to let everyone in, and then made our merry way, making fun of Abigail the entire time of course, towards the bus stop next to Westminster.

This day was very cold. It was sunny, thank god no rain, but the icy wind that kept coming at us was very, very cold. Mom, to try to combat the cold pulled her scarf over her head and hunched her shoulders against the wind, making her look like an old woman who was missing her cane. I cleverly said that the scarf aged her twenty years and was promptly smacked in the back of the head. Then Hugh laughed and pointed at me, so I smacked him in the back of the head. This is what happens I guess.

Finally another bus came. This was the blue tour and we all had to use some sexy headphones to hear the commentary, no more live guide. It was cold up there too. We drove by Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guard was happening. "Are we getting off Mom? Mom? I guess not." So we kept driving. And driving. We saw a lot of London, some parts more than other. We went past Hyde Park and up to Speaker's Corner, around Marble Arch, down to Berkeley Square (pronouced Barkley) which has the most haunted house in London, then around Buckingham Palace again out towards Harrods.

Harrods was another place that we debated getting off at. I think that attempting to go into a department store with over 200 departments with all 7 of us would have been very difficult. However, everyone was getting hungry at this point. It was around the Victoria and Albert Museum that I pulled out my conveniently hidden sandwich. Having travelled with my family before (although admittedly it was usually waiting in pilot lounge's for my Dad) I know that sometimes getting food gets put on the back burner. So when I pulled out my 'Brie My Baby' sandwich, they were all envious. (Except for Andrea, who could not in fact eat any of it because it had almost entirely cheese.) I did sustain them with some sour apple candies.

Instead of stopping we kept driving, past Kensington Palace, the Natural History Museum, Notting Hill, Paddington Station, J.M Barrie's House (Peter Pan!), and then past Marble Arch... again. And then we went back down and circled Marble Arch. Marble Arch. And finally we got to move on and somehow got our bus stopped outside the most expensive tourist attraction in London: Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. (I also think that this is the most stupid, creepy and pointless museum.) The bus turned off and we ended up sitting there waiting for more than 20 minutes. Abigail actually had the right idea at this point of getting off the bus and getting the tube to somewhere with food. Her sage advice was not heeded.

Instead when the bus started up again we went by Baker Street (yes like Sherlock Holmes) and down towards Oxford Circus. We kept joking that the bus would turn around and go past Marble Arch against just for old times sake, but the traffic was so bad that we were getting passed by pedestrians. So finally, at the next available opportunity we hot tailed it off that bus and right into shopping traffic. Now thankfully I mostly knew my way around this area, was able to avoid all the crowded shops and get to a nice little restaurant where it was warm within about 7 minutes. I am going to pat myself on the back for that one, it's not so easy at Oxford Circus.

After everyone defrosted and was fed, we decided to boycott the bus and took a nice walk south towards Trafalgar Square. We walked through Soho, and down to Piccadilly Circus and then Trafalgar Square. (I was a little confused by the new statue, as there had been people up there the last time I visited. I later figured out that it was this... One and Other. Watch the best bits.) We went up to the Wellington Monument and had fun climbing on lions. Pictures!

Then back towards Covent Garden, we wandered and watched street performers. There was one guy who was heckling us, he told us he had a masters in theatre. (If only I could juggle... then I could have his future! Just kidding Dad.) I volunteered to be a part of his "light a match with a yo-yo trick." Which was successful. After the show was over, Hugh went to give him a pound and said, "I think I would give him more money if he had hit you in the face with the yo-yo."

They went to grab some beers and warm up. Hugh and I went to get some tea and some carrot cake instead. Very yummy carrot cake! Mom, Jim and Abigail left early. Hugh and I met Zach and Andrea in the bar, decided that we had done enough exploring for the day and got back on the tube home. We somehow beat them back to the apartment. They got groceries. We made some dinner. Watched some tennis.

Matt, Christine and Alexi showed up. They are family friends from way back that now live in Switzerland. They came to have Thanksgiving with us. So greetings and more food. Then I headed home.

THURSDAY was actually Thanksgiving. But we decided to hold off the eating and merriment until Friday because I had classes all day Thursday and Robin wouldn't be able to come until Friday.

Looking back, I have absolutely no idea what everyone else did this day. Thursday was rather eventful for me because I had rehearsed reading rehearsals (mouthful I know!) starting at 11am. Then we broke for lunch, met up again at 2 to continue rehearsals. Then we had a lighting/tech run through. Then class meeting. Then an editing meeting. Then at 6 we had our actual performance/read-thru. Basically I have been working in my dramaturgy and translation class on a group playwriting project based on the structure of Schnizler's La Ronde. It was a very interesting process, but as I have to write an essay on it, I am not going to write about much of it here.

Now something that is different about classes in University here as opposed to the US, is that professors can serve you alcohol. It's still weird for me. But as we were performing plays, and they were basically an evening of theatre, our professor brought us snacks and wine. So after the performances were done, there were not that many of us left so we finished everything. (There may or may not have been an excursion upstairs in which a plate of food from the reception may have gone missing.) And for those of you who don't know me, I am a lightweight. A fact that has been reinforced in my mind several times now. The glass or so of wine that I had was definitely enough.

Continuing on. Unbeknownst to me, one of the girls in my class is rather famous in her home country. Her mother is a famous Russian pop singer. So is her father. She has a recording contract. And to think I thought her a ditz... anyway she decided that we had to go back to her place because they were (rightly) kicking us out of the theatre.

After the most ridiculous cab ride and transportation fiasco, we ended up at her apartment where I was taught, to my detriment, how to properly drink Vodka... by a Russian. I will just let your imagination fill in the blanks between karaoke, her mother skype-yelling at us, pizza, and a pullout couch.

FRIDAY morning, miraculously, I was not hung over. But as I had been more than tipsy when we left school I had no idea where the hell in London I actually was. So I tried to leave with my Russian friend, but she wanted me to run some errands with her first, so I declined and wandered around forever trying to find a sign, a tube station, anything. My phone had also run out of credit. I eventually found Victoria Station. I took the tube back to my place.

Everyone else had gone to Hampton Court Palace. But as that is quite a ways away it would have been pointless to try to meet them there. So I showered, napped, did some work, and met them back at the apartment for Thanksgiving!!

I am going to stop this post here and continue Thanksgiving in the next post.

Cheers!

Paris: Days 4/5

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:55:00 +0000

On this morning, we got up and went straight to the Louvre.

We got off the Metro and walked through one of the Palace's wings to the central court yard with fountains and the pyramids. You enter through the glass pyramid in the center and head down into the museum. The Musee du Louvre is a huge museum that holds the art of ages. (It's in the Da Vinci Code.) It has over 35,000 pieces of art work.

I can't describe to you how fantastically large the Louvre is. There are 3 main wings. Each wing is an actual wing of this huge palace. And each wing has at least 3, if not more, floors. There is no way that you could see the entire museum in one day, and probably not all of it in one week. To give you an idea of the size, there is this map. At the end of the day I also took this video.

OJ and I decided to head towards the Mona Lisa, because if it's there, you might as well see it. (This is the only area of the Louvre where there is a queue. Fortunately it is not tourist season so we got to the front fairly quickly. I could not get a good/steady picture because this Japanese woman was violently elbowing my kidneys. I returned the favor.)

So we saw Renaissance paintings, then headed towards the Greek and Roman sculpture, saw the Venus de Milo. saw Egypt, Mesopotamia, the history of the Louvre, and many other things that I can not possibly describe because they were so numerous. The sad thing is, that we probably didn't even see a third of the museum.

After hoofing it around for several hours we decided we were starving and needed a break. So we headed out of the Louvre and into the Jardin, which was recently torn up for renovations, so was actually not all that much to look at. But we found a lovely cafe and have some delicious ravioli, some refreshing tea, and a crepe! I was totally satisfied.

Then we went to the Musee d'Orsay, and we saw a lot of Impressionist paintings, like this Van Gogh. We did manage to see all of this museum. And I recognized a lot of pieces of art. I don't know how I feel about taking pictures of art work, but regardless I took them to show all of you that look, I have seen such and such in person. There was also a very cool exhibit about how styles come back, and had furniture, posters, etc. from the 1890's and the 1970's. Art Nouveau.

Even after all this trekking around and art viewing, being very cultured and refined and exhausted. ( I don't know if my brain or my feet were more tired.) The day was not done yet. We got back on the Metro and went home, took a power nap and got ready.

Ready for what? Salsa dancing. Yes. We went out to a nice French dinner, then met OJ's friend Samy and his friends for some drinks (they ate dinner due to a small miscommunication due to OJ not reading the entire text message) and lots of teasing half-translated conversation. Then we all headed to a Salsa Club.

It was a bit expensive to get in, but the atmosphere of the multi-leveled club and the moving dance floor were really fun. I guess the only problem was that it could decide if it wanted to be a club or a dance place and would alternate between hip-hop music and salsa music. But there was no room to salsa dance because of all the people, and you can't hip-hop dance to salsa music. But I got a mojito and laughed and danced a lot. So I was totally content.

Then we went home, or rather tried to get home by hailing a cab, but they were all busy, and then miraculously caught a bus back. I immediately fell asleep, a smile still on my face.

The next morning I got up, showered, packed, had a last cup of tea with OJ and went back to Gare du Nord to catch my train home to London. (OJ walked me most of the way to the station. We were getting some food. She was in her PJ's. She went to McDonald's. I have never seen her look so stereotypically American. It was hilarious.) It was a very relaxing ride home.

I had so much fun in France, and can't thank OJ and her host family enough for letting me stay with them, and OJ for showing me around despite having a cold. I took more pictures than I usually do, bought no souvenirs, only good food, and ended up buying some Carambars (a left-over addiction from living with Rex) and ended up with 4 cents in Euros.

Great trip.

Paris: Day 3

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:28:00 +0000

Friday we went to Versailles.

We left the house and OJ had to go and meet one of her advisors. So she went to get paper advice and I sat in a cafe, drank some tea and ate some croissants. People watching was awesome. Probably had too much tea, but there we go.

Then we got on the Metro and easily on to the RER to the Chateau de Versailles. It is just to the south west of Paris and was less than an hour train ride. (At this point I would like to say that the French public transportation system is far easier to get around than the British system. And by get around I don't mean getting from point A to point B.) Then we got off and I had to make a bee line for the toilet.

Unfortunately this necessitated a trip to the tourist office and then a power walk to the Palace itself. We got tickets then went inside to the toilet. It was only at this time that I could truly see the splendor of the place.

It is breath-taking. I can't really put words to how amazing it is, so I don't think I am really going to try.

One thing that was pretty jarring from the antiqued beauty was the modern art scattered throughout the property. This actually happens at a lot of historic sites. I think it is a very French thing, because there is no way you would see modern art at places like this in London. Huge dead space men in front of Buckingham Palace? No way. (I refused to take pictures of them directly, but you can see them in some pictures anyway)

In these pictures it is a bit easier to see the restoration work that is being done to the palace. On the left all the gold has been redone, and the roof has been refinished. They haven't finished the right side yet.

Here is OJ, yet again, taking pictures. It's weird to think that this is where the angry mob stood during the French Revolution and pulled King Louis XVI out of his bedroom and where France became a Republic. Marie Antoinette lived here (we visit her house later) and basically all the Kings of France. Yeah, its awesome.

Obviously, this blog is not a history lesson, so I won't bore you with all the ridiculous, "this king sat here on his 47th birthday," "this room was built for the king's mistress, he built a fireplace for his wife," type nonsense that is very interesting on a tour, but not quite as much later.

In this picture you can see a bit of the modern art popping out of my head, it's like a big purple jewel thing. But the balcony right behind me is the King's bedroom. It is where they climbed up to get him. Cool huh?

After going inside, one of the first things that you see (after picking up your handy-dandy headphones) is the Chapel. Literally everything is made of marble, gold and silver. The ceiling painting is gorgeous and the organ at the far end is really spectacular. It's the tallest building in the entire palace and is flooded with light all day long. (No flash was necessary, and therefore none of those weird backlit pictures, which is very rare in all these buildings with very little electric lighting added afterwards)

We wandered through the portrait gallery detailing the French Monarchy's history since the Palace was built. There were lots of paintings and busts, but none so interesting as to warrant a picture.

I thought that I should chronicle how ridiculous and touristy I looked wearing the informational headphones. They told me interesting things like, "there is no room in the entire Palace that has not been redecorated at least 10 times." And while I could have read the French plaques that were strategically and unobtrusively placed in the rooms, it was far easier to listen than to attempt to decipher French.

We wandered through the King's appointment rooms, the King's receiving rooms, etc. and the amount of detail in every single thing is quite astounding. Every ceiling is painted, every room a slightly different theme, Apollo, Athena, French military victories, etc. Just to illustrate a bit more, the thing below that is a golden face, is actually a curtain holder. Yeah, really intensely over-wrought details in every nook and cranny of the place. No wonder the people revolted, the place cost fortunes.

In my opinion, the most beautiful place in the entire Palace is the Hall of Mirrors. It's a hallway, essentially, the one side is window and the other side is mirrors, so the light reflects. There are ceiling paintings, chandeliers, marble statues; it is ridiculous. And it is huge. The picture below gives you a little bit of an idea of scope. (Also it took me several tries to get a picture of myself that didn't have a chandelier growing out of my head.)

After we explored all the bedrooms, halls of white marble statues, exhibits, etc. We headed outside to look at the Gardens of Versailles. It is beautiful. I think that the wandering around outside in these immaculately kept gardens, even as winter approaches and things are covered up and leaves have fallen. it is just beautiful.

To see a map of the place and how huge it is, check this out.

There are fountains and ponds, reflecting pools, hedges, roses (or would be), lines of trees, pathways, direct routes and meandering ways, mazes, follies, statues and much more. I was in awe pretty much the whole time we were walking around.

We wandered through most of the park, all the way down to the private residences of the royalty on the far end. We saw The Grand and Petit Trianons, Marie Antoinette's house, the farm she created that still keeps sheep, and sat down for a lovely cup of hot chocolate. It is Angelina (a cafe near the Louvre that is filled the gills most of the time) hot chocolate. It is literally like drinking melted chocolate. I was in hot chocolate heaven. OJ said she couldn't drink more than a cup it is so rich. I of course looked at her like she was insane, but I guess I understand how one person could only drink one cup...

Anyway, after seeing all that we wandered back towards the Palace. The sun was going down and setting. The way the light was reflecting the colors on the clouds, and on the water and buildings was really pretty. I attempted to do it some justice with my point and shoot camera.

Growing up in Tahoe I love nature, and especially sun sets and rises. And usually I think that buildings and such get in the way, but standing here I understood why the French did things the way they did. Most of it is opulent and ridiculous, but when you have a mirror for nature in those reflecting pools it is just that much better. Or when you see the sun setting through the windows in that mirrored room, or watch the colors on a masterpiece statue, it just makes everything that much more beautiful.

We left as the sun was almost down and the lights were coming on to highlight the gold in the fence and on the palace. It was really fun day (although my feet hurt from walking on cobbles all day) filled with a little history, a little intrigue, a lot of walking, more gold and marble than I think I will see in one place ever again, and a lot of really beautiful sites.

We went home, had dinner with Patricia, Huber and Eric, had an oddly translated, but very interesting conversation about religion, and went to bed content.

Paris: Day 2

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:53:00 +0000

Explorations of the City.

On my second day in Paris, Thursday, OJ had classes. She left to go have her meetings and learn things in French. So I got up leisurely (I really like the leisurely compared the early on trips sometimes), got my stuff together and headed out to explore the city on my own. Armed with my map, my Metro pass, and OJ's Paris walking trip cards (thanks to Jaws) I was ready. The weather was overcast, but not drizzly or windy. Nice, crisp fall weather. I got lucky with that, it was supposed to rain.

I went to the Ile de la Cite. I saw Notre Dame Cathedral, which thankfully was free. You know, the one from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I kept wondering where they would actually hide and live, but as I was cheap and had a lot more to see, I didn't pay to actually go up the towers. And after seeing a lot of cathedrals I am starting to feel like when you have seen one, you've seen them all. But the choir music inside was very lovely. It drowned out the tourist murmer, so really, I am going to give it best ambiance.

Then I wandered around the outside of Notre Dame, saw the bridges, the river, and wandered from the big island to the smaller island, Ile Saint-Louis. Here according to the card is there the best ice cream in Paris is sold. Berthillon is world-famous. I don't know if it is the 'best' ice cream I have ever had, but it was really good. I got chocolate with candied oranges, and raspberry. (Note: This was the first time I had to order for myself and I did it entirely in french. Well french and hand gestures, but whatever.) It was delicious in it's sugar cone.

I then enjoyed the ice cream as I walked more around the island and back to the Ile de la Cite, getting more views of Notre Dame. And while I did manage to not get ice cream all over my face... I did get a tiny bit on my scarf. Well, it's an improvement.

Then I wandered to the north bank, stopped in a boulangerie to get a baguette sandwich, which I ate while I watched the tourists waddle by. Then back on my way, minor incident with a loose storm drain and a wet foot, then I saw some of the French administration buildings, which had a line around the block. It was worse than the DMV by USC. Which of course brought to mind my Dad's favorite joke.

By then I had seen a lot of bridges, a lot of cafes, a lot of street vendors, heard a lot of french, and had walked quite a long distance. Then I got back on the tube and got off at Franklin Roosevelt (not joking, sounds really funny in the Metro announcer's voice) and walked down the Champs-Elysees to meet OJ. We actually met up without a hitch and without calling each other. (This just again proves that we don't have to rely on modern technology to communicate. Yay!) Then we walked all the way up the Champs-Elysees to the Arc du Triomphe.

The Arc is famous. It's been there since the early 1800's and yet the only thing that I could think while standing there was of this.

Europe is stamped by WWII in ways that I can't describe. It is now woven into the very fiber of the people. And this was one of the moments when it's impact hit me the most, and I don't know why.

On to lighter notes, then we walked all the way back down the Champs-Elysees, got on to the Metro and went the Bastille to try to see La Boheme at the Opera Bastille. It is possible to get 25 Euro tickets for students to these performances. Unfortunately this option is open for both students and seniors, and there were about 30 senior citizens already lined up to get tickets. They had been there for several hours, and while disappointing, we really didn't have the time to stand in a line.

So Plan B, we went to the new Library and walked around, saw a movie (which I don't know if I would recommend or not, but it was one of the few movies that was not solely in French, and I feel did a lot better in France than it did in the US) The Private Lives of Pippa Lee. Then we went to a very nice Thai-Vietnamese restaurant and went home.

It was a lovely day exploring many many areas of the city. Tomorrow would be big... Versailles.

Hellions Love

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:11:00 +0000

So I know that I should be writing about Paris... but I just got so excited and a bit nostalgic hearing about my Hellions at home, that I had to share how proud I was of them.

This weekend they played in the Sean Ryan Memorial Tournament in Santa Cruz, CA. This is the first big tournament of the year for us, and a few years ago, it was my first tournament ever. Thanks to Uzi and Brocc I was updated on what was going on and how the team was doing. I also kept track of things on score reporter. The team ended up 4th with a lot of the focus going towards giving the rookies (lovingly we call them babies) a lot of play time and meshing as a team.

I wish that I could be there and be here at the same time. Unfortunately that is not possible, so I am currently living vicariously through them.

Also going on in the Hellions world is the application for sponsorship from Five Ultimate. You may remember my post about this last year.

Another video was made, this time with less singing. It is based on this video.

And turned out like this...

Way to go Hellions! Hellions Love!

Paris: Day 1

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:28:00 +0000

So this is going to take a lot more than one post, I was in Paris for almost 5 days. We did and saw a lot, and I think it is going to be pretty much impossible for me to get it all down, if recording every detail is even possible anyway. So there will be one post per day, coming as I finish them.

Day 1- Wednesday
It was a leisurely morning. I got up, made myself some breakfast and tea, (which I was partial to already, but being in Britain has just reinforced the tea drinking habit) finished packing, double checked that I had everything, and made my way to the train station. I got on the tube at the tail end of rush hour and despite the train getting stuck at one of the stations on the way (because let's face it I am bit neurotic about being on time (Thanks Dad for always being late) and left way before I needed to) I got to King's Cross/ St. Pancras with no problems. Checked in to Eurostar (the French controls on leaving/entering the country are FAR less strict than Britain's) and had a bit of a wait because the train was delayed then boarded and was on my way to Paris.

After an uneventful journey (except the French family that glared at me when I made them move out of my window seat. I booked that seat for a reason people!) I got off the train and followed my nice hand-drawn map out of Gare du Nord and easily to OJ's house, a mere 3 minute walk from the station. She buzzed me in and because the elevator looked a bit unstable and I didn't know what floor, I decided to walk up the stairs. Mistake. They live on the 5th floor (that is the 6th floor in America) and because the spiral staircase that the elevator goes up the middle of, OJ could see me and told me I was crazy (entirely possible) but by then I was on the 4th floor so I figured I might as well walk the rest.

OJ's living situation is far different from mine. I live in a dorm apartment with 5 other freshers and she lives with a lovely French family in their home in the 10th Arrondissement. (Her elevator is also reliable, unlike the one here that breaks at least twice a week) Her family was nice enough to invite me to stay in their home so that I could visit OJ and Paris. Thank you again Patricia and Huber!

I ended up in Taylor's room, the other American study abroad student staying with Patricia and Huber who was visiting Italy while I was there. (Fortuitous circumstances!) This was by far preferable to sleeping on the hard wood floor in OJ's room. She also lent me her Metro pass. Thank you!

After resting for a bit we headed out towards the Eiffel Tower. It's the most famous thing about Paris and probably France, so we figured visiting it on a Wednesday afternoon would be far less crowded, and it was an easy thing to do before dinner. As we got off the Metro the sun was going down over the Seine. It was beautiful. Then the tower came into view with the pretty fall leaves. It is rather spectacular.

As the sun was going down we decided that we were starving. And by we, we mean me. So we walked across the bridge and got a sandwich from a vendor, neatly avoiding the many Eiffel Tower replica salesmen and the poorly-padded rollerblading children. (While then missed us, the potholes on the steep hill posed a far larger challenge) We headed back to the tower as it was beginning to get dark and the streetlamps and the tower itself were illuminating.

We decided that instead of a photo-op, it would be a far better idea to go to the grassy field to the side and throw a frisbee. A small boy on a bicycle watched us the entire time. Amazingly, neither one of us got pictures of us throwing the disc (because obviously holding a camera, taking a picture in the semi-dark, while catching and throwing proves to be difficult even for the most coordinated of people) but this is where we were throwing.

Then we went for the photo-op while the tower decided to do a bit of a cracked-out light show. We tried to get some American girls to take the picture but they failed miserably, and then OJ started talking to this couple in French to get them to take a picture of us. They didn't speak French or English, but they did speak Spanish! Yay for multiple language skills! We got our picture taken after I talked to him, and then we headed out of the Jardin to a small cafe and then back home.

Cafes, boulangeries, and patissieries are literally everywhere in Paris. It is hard to find a street that doesn't have at least one. OJ and I commented on how amazing it is that they all manage to stay in business. They all have regulars and their own vibe. I still don't think I quite understand, but Parisian people will spend hours sitting outside under the heated (and sometimes unheated) awnings, drinking espresso and smoking cigarettes just gossiping away. I tried an espresso. Thank goodness they had sugar. I don't think I am ever going to be a coffee person.

At home Patricia had cooked a lovely meal. Lasagna! I know this is not French food, but you can't go wrong with home cooked lasagna. It was delicious.

SIDETRACK: Language Barriers
OJ is living with a host family in part because it is far easier than getting an apartment, but mostly because her family forces her to speak French and helps her learn the language faster. Patricia, Huber and their son Eric all speak English, with different levels of proficiency, so I could speak English and they would understand me and could communicate back pretty effectively. But they all prefer to speak French and can obviously express themselves better in French. Thankfully, after having lived with Rex for a year and being able to speak Spanish, I could get probably 60-70% of what was being talked about in French. However, because I could usually understand what was going on, they would forget and ask me questions in French. I would then freeze, either not knowing what exactly they asked me or immediately wanting to spit out spanish, neither of which helped. Then the awkward translation process, responding in English etc. I am so thankful that I could grasp what was going on, because being left in the dark, especially at a family dinner, is absolutely no fun.

Back to dinner. We had lasagna, salad and the bottle of wine I brought as a thank you. Then they had a cheese and yogurt course, I of course devoured the cheese with delicious fresh bread. And then dessert, which was a spiced applesauce with ginger cookies. Yummy.

Then off to bed, another big day tomorrow.

Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:08:00 +0000

Today was Tuesday. It is reading week. The week long break halfway through the semester to let people catch up on reading. So there's no school. And... today was Keelia's birthday. The combination of these things made a Tuesday, into a spectacular day.

It started off rather boring, I did some homework (I know! Shock of shocks, I actually did some work on the designated week instead of putting it off. Wowzers.) and some laundry. Cleaned a bit, you know, toodling around.

Then Drew knocked on my floor, and after a fun peeking out the window (and then coming upstairs to actually talk because his neck was getting a crick) conversation about the events of the afternoon to celebrate Keelia's birthday, I hurriedly got ready to go.

I had to run to the library to print out my train ticket for tomorrow (more on that later) and realized how convenient my printer is at home and missed it. Drew and I grumbled a bit about this on the way to the tube. We took the train to King's Cross and found Platform 9 3/4. It was really fun. And I honestly can't decide if being at Platform 9 3/4 or watching Cristin dork out about asking a porter where the Platform was (yeah, not in between Platforms 9 and 10...) was more entertaining.

Then back on the tube to Leicester Square, where we found the street that JK was inspired by for Diagon Alley. (Can you see the Harry Potter theme starting to appear in this day?) Then decided that a snack and some warm drinks were in order after walking through the drizzle. I got a delicious scone with butter, jam, and cream with a pot of hot tea. It was delicious. (I don't really remember what everyone else got because I was honestly so enthralled by my tea and scone.)

The back out into the intermittent drizzle where we found one of the skinniest streets I have ever walked down. My umbrella was scratching on both sides. Then we wandered by Covent Garden to try to find the telephone booth that would lead to the Ministry of Magic (we did not find one... yet) but got sidetracked by a string quintet that was playing. They bought the CD.

Then we went to an old fashioned candy store and bought some sherbert lemons. And some other assorted candies, we know about my sweet tooth by now. They had fun things like 'not fags' or candy cigarettes (like 'not fags' is any less PC) and 'fish and chips' and 'sugar mice.' (The 'sugar mice' reminded me of the ice mice in Harry Potter and was thus extremely satisfied with this store.) Then we went to Carluccio's for dinner, thus continuing the trend of this restaurant for birthdays. And it was again delicious.

I had to leave dinner a bit early because I had gotten a very cheap ticket to the ballet that night. So I made the 5 minute walk to the Royal Opera House, not having to sprint anywhere this time. Got my ticket and sat down to watch that evening's production of Mayerling. I had never seen or really heard of this ballet before checking out the ROH's website, but it is part of the Kenneth MacMillan repetiore (VIDEO), (a very famous choreographer) so I figured I should see it.

I was right. It was absolutely fantastic. It was completely different from The Sleeping Beauty, which I had seen just about a week ago. That production from the 1940's using Petipa's original choreography uses hand gestures to convey a lot of the story, and many of the scenes are dream sequences with more tutus than I could count. Mayerling (VIDEO) on the other hand, had nary a tutu or dream sequence or hand language in sight. Every emotion was clearly shown through the dance. It was vibrant and sumptuously angsty. The costumes were gorgeous. I could honestly go on forever. (Although seeing it makes me want to call Shannon, my friend from home that now dances for the San Francisco Ballet Company, and chat her up about all this and the history, yada, yada, yada.)

I am still on kind of a high from it. It put the icing on a wonderful cake of a day. And to think... it's only Tuesday.

It's a great feeling to head to bed with (although sleep is still far away for me) because tomorrow I head to Paris to visit OJ. (I have no school... it's going to be awesome.) And as we all know, I hate packing, so as soon as I upload this that is what I will be doing.

I hope that you are all having a wonderful week. More updates to come when I get back from Paris!

Cheers!

Guy Fawkes and Bonfire Night

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:44:00 +0000

For those who have seen V for Vendetta, you will have some experience with Guy Fawkes and the 5th of November. It's also known as Bonfire night.

Remember, remember the 5th of November, the gunpowder, treason, and plot. I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot...

Basically they celebrate the almost blowing up of Parliament in 1605. They set off fireworks, have fairs, general merriment... oh! and they burn effigies of the Guy in bonfires. Good stuff. (Wikipedia gives a far better description of what it is and all the crazy customs than I could, so just check that out.)

On the actual 5th of November, we (Cristin, Keelia, Drew, Ruth, Tom, other Katie, and myself) all tried to go to Clapham to see the big fireworks celebration there. Apparently thousands of other people had the same idea, so we only saw the tail end as the trains were severely delayed. We attempted to avoid the crowds and managed to get back on the tube, after some wanderings, right before they closed it.

Then we stopped at Sainsbury's and got some things to drink and went back to the apartments for a night filled with games, merriment, and the odd stray firework exploding somewhere nearby in Mile End. Despite not seeing fireworks, a fair, or really any Guy Fawkes stuff at all, it was a great night.

_____

As the 5th was actually a Thursday this year... many areas decided that they would hold their fireworks ceremonies on the weekend. Which thankfully for me, as I LOVE fireworks, meant I got to try again to see everything.

This time I went with Emily, a girl from one of my classes, and some other natives (Emma, Chris and Maria) and headed to the local Tower Hamlets Bonfire Night Celebration in Victoria Park. It was like a 20 minute walk.

This time we got there with plenty of time before the show, so we decided to partake in some the carnival/amusement park rides they had set up. We got on one of those rides that is like a mini roller coaster that goes in a circle, but really, really fast. It is really fun, and having been on one before I should have known not to sit on the outside, but I did not. And the other girls did not brace themselves properly. So while I was whirling around and around laughing hysterically, I was also getting a bit skinnier being squished between the edge of our car and my friends. I still have a very nice, very large bruise on my ribs.

Then we headed towards the big crowd to watch the fireworks. We were pretty far back, but that isn't so much of an issue for fireworks. What I didn't realize is that it is a fire show as well as a fireworks show. They had huge fireballs and choreographed jets of flame shooting in the air set to music with fire themes. Even though we were almost at the back of the crowd, I could still feel the heat of the fire on my face. It was awesome. And then the fireworks started. And it was even more awesome.

I had a blast. I was bouncing along to the music with all the other 5 year old children. Although I didn't get to be on my Dad's shoulders (I might be a bit big for that now) and see over everyone's head. The whole atmosphere, lots of families, hot dogs, light up toys, crowds, fireworks, etc. reminded me of being home in Tahoe for the 4th of July. Slightly nostalgic.

The fireworks are far closer overhead than they are at home. Apparently they worry an inordinate amount about house and building fires (like having 15 alarms in our flat) but forest fires they don't care about so much. There is no way that the forest service or the fire dept. at home would ever let a 'fire show' happen. Especially not during the 4th of July.

It was November and not July, I get it. But the crisp air felt the same as a Tahoe night, that is until it started raining after we were headed back. Now I had my soft-shell, so I was fine. But it was the one time I have forgotten my umbrella since I got it, so of course it rained. (I am still sticking to my theory about the relativity of preparedness to what the weather is going to do.)

The group of us decided that some nice, warm curry would be just the thing to cure the dampness. It was also far enough away to not be crowded with people. So we hopped on the tube to Brick Lane (it's becoming a thing isn't it?) and got some food at restaurant. We managed to get a 4 course meal with 2 drinks for 10 pounds a person. I love haggling for meals.

Then we walked off all the curry, naan, popadoms and beer back to QM in the lapse between the first drizzle and the later downpour. Good work.

Birthday in Bruges

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:27:00 +0000

To pick up where I left off... Sunday night I went to sleep in my room. (All packed and ready to go, OJ soundly sleeping on the floor.) Waiting excitedly to be 22 and go to Belgium for the day.

Then I woke up at 4 am (on my birthday, I know, gross). Got dressed, OJ crawled into my bed and I packed up my sleeping bag and headed out the door. I went to the bus station to catch my bus to the train station. (I was up so early I watched the construction crews leaving the tube station before it opened that morning.) My train was scheduled to depart London Bridge at 5:38. It was now 4:52, and there was not a bus. So I hailed a taxi, which thankfully was not as expensive as I thought it would be.

I got there in plenty of time to get to the train. I got on and was ready to fall asleep but it was freezing cold. So I did what any sensible person would do, instead of suffering like the other guys on the train, (yeah, I saw you over there shivering and trying to hide it) I got out my sleeping bag, wiggled into and fell asleep. Of course setting my alarm so I could change trains, which was very easy, and I met Robin, Nicky and Mike at the Canterbury station.

SIDETRACK: "Nicky? Mike? Robin? What is going on?" I just see the quizzical brows trying to piece things together. Robin, as I have said before is my good friend from high school who just happens to be studying in Canterbury. (We only figured this out two weeks before we were headed to the UK because we totally rock at communication) But Robin was very excited about coming to England all summer long. And this summer she was working at Camp Richardson, at the Ice Cream Parlor, in Lake Tahoe. And who, may you ask, happened to come to that exact ice cream shop? Nicky and Mike, that's who. Nicky and Mike are recent (and joyful!) retirees who are enjoying visiting family in the US and traveling, but are from England. They are current reveling in the not going to work any longer. They made instant friends with Robin (mind this is all hearsay, because I was not actually present for this serendipitous meeting) when she asked where they were from, and upon discovering that their home was a scant 10 miles from Canterbury they exchanged information, and have been acting as surrogate grandparents to Robin while she is here. They invited her to come to Bruges for the day with a friend, and Robin invited me for Monday which happened to be on my birthday, (and one of the days I have classes, but who wants to go to class on their birthday? No one.) So the chance meeting in the US led to a friendship far later on. It's amazing how these things work, isn't it?

So Nicky, Mike and Robin picked me up at the Canterbury station at 7:30am in their car and we drove south to Folkstone to catch the Chunnel to France. The way this works is that you drive your car directly on to the train. Robin and I were fascinated. Nicky and Mike were amused by our fascination, but were in fact not fascinated themselves because they used to go on it everyday for work. Thinking about going into a 22 mile long tunnel... in a car... that is on a train... under the ocean... to a different country... is kind of mind blowing. I still can't wrap my head around being on a train and thinking, "Oh! There are fishes above me!" No. It's amazing.

Then we arrive in Calais, drove right off the train (following many signs that told us to drive on the right side of the road) and went to a shopping mall close by. We actually only ended up getting cash and some croissants and coffee before hitting the road towards Bruges. Nicky however, had planned ahead and brought a candle and a birthday card. We sang 'Happy Birthday' over coffee and croissants. :)

Then back in the car for the surprisingly short drive to Bruges. (Living in the US you have a totally different perspective on space and distance. Figuring it out, it is shorter to go from Canterbury to Bruges, through three countries, than it is to go from Lake Tahoe to San Francisco.) There are no border controls between France and Belgium, Robin did manage to catch the sign that told us we were in a new country though. So instead of heading to Bruges we were headed to Brugge. (French vs. Flemish...)

After a minor detour we found our way to a car park and all unloaded. We walked towards the city centre, the newer buildings and roads quickly giving way to cobbled streets and pavements (sidewalks) and old brick and stone buildings. The whole area was picturesque. There were a few scattered droplets of rain, so to ward them off I put out my umbrella. I looked ridiculous, no one else was taking any kind of precaution, but I figured it was like that kind of thing where if you have all your rain gear it won't rain at all and if you have nothing at all it will dump buckets. So even though I looked ridiculous, it stopped raining and the sun was nice and bright. I win.

We then came to the city square where we picked up a horse and carriage ride around the old city to get our bearings. Mike decided that he didn't want come along (he also doesn't like having pictures taken... to which both Robin and Nicky being snap-happy are the bane of his existence), but we had fun driving by all the buildings, seeing the old architecture, and smelling the amazing smells coming out of the chocolate, pastry and waffle shops as we whisked by.

We stopped at the halfway point to rest the horse, and we took pictures by one of the many canals. Bruges definitely lives up to its reputation as the Venice of the North. With the sun shining and all the leaves changing colors, a slight breeze in the air, it was just fabulous.

Then we came back to the square after the half hour ride. Now normally I would be able to tell you a lot about the city, it's history, fun little facts and everything, because I am always that person in the tour that ends up right next to the tour guide asking questions. But on this day, I was so enamored with the way the city looked, it's quaintness and history, and just the day in general, I didn't actually retain very much information at all. And you know what? I am perfectly OK with that.

We met Mike and decided that we were famished. After Robin and Nicky balanced the pros and cons of several of the restaurants while Mike and I just sat back and watched them, we sat down in a lovely little place. Well outside under the heater. And got some belgian beer (yes, it is all they say it is) and ordered.

I think was laughing and giggling most of the way through the meal. I couldn't tell you what we were talking about, but I did have a couple 'food-almost-coming-out-of-my-mouth-due-to-a-fit-of-unexpected-laughter' moments. Mike had to leave for a bit in the middle of the meal to put more money on the car, but it gave me plenty of time to finish my 'Bruges-style' mussels (I got impatient waiting for her to take a picture) and watch Robin eat her giant kebab.

We decided that instead of getting dessert at the restaurant we would just buy some chocolates or some other little sweeties in one of the many shops. We stopped into the oldest church in the area, very beautiful and actually felt peaceful as opposed to domineering like many other cathedrals, and walked through some more streets, walked over some canals, and looked at a lot of lace before actually accomplishing this chocolate mission.

I love chocolate. And that might be an understatement about how I feel about it. So being in Belgium, with Belgian chocolate I had to restrain myself from going chocolate crazy. But they were so good. I would honestly go back just for the chocolate. We also got some gourmet cookies and some 'prezzies' from Mike and Nicky; a Bruges guidebook and some houses, I took the Beer one, and she took the Chocolate one. So cute!

The meter was going to run out on the car so we hightailed it (and by hightailed I mean that Mike basically had to drag us down the pavement to get back) back to the car and headed back towards Calais and home. I watched the sun go down over the countryside before going to sleep. We got back on the train through the Chunnel, then back through Kent to Robin's house where they dropped us off with fond farewells.

I can't thank Nicky and Mike enough for taking us with them on this trip. It was a way of experiencing travel that I would have had no other opportunity to do while I was here. I don't think I would have gotten to Belgium without them. And to experience it with such fun, loving people on my birthday was such a pleasure. Thank you for lunch and prezzies and a very memorable 22nd birthday Nicky and Mike!

As if all of that was not enough for one day, Robin's friend Katie was also turning 22 that night (Yeah, us Katie's are cool) and her friend Dario was also turning 22 the next day. So everyone in her flat and the surrounding ones were going out to party that night. So we refueled and got ourselves ready to go out on the town.

We pre-partied with some cake and drinks in her kitchen before we all headed out to a club. There we danced the night away, trying to avoid the awkward guys on the sidelines and the disgusting smell that kept coming back. But the DJ was awesome. Awesome. And we had a blast dancing and just being silly.

As the night kept on going, I could feel myself fading. I needed to go home and go to bed. So most everyone was ready to go, and instead of cabbing it home they decided to walk, and I didn't want to pay for a taxi by myself... I think there were several miscommunications at this point, but we ended up walking all the way back up the hill to Robin's place. I became very cranky. I had been up for about 23 hours, I think it was my right at that point. So I was very quiet all the way back, just plodding along. I don't think I have ever been so happy to get in my sleeping bag, nor fallen asleep quite as quickly.
The next morning we got up leisurely and Robin headed to class and I went to the train station to go back to London. On the train ride home I realized that it was the halfway point. (Robin had been saying this the whole time, as she is counting down the days, but it really hit me on the way back from Canterbury) Staring out the window looking at the countryside in the dappled sunlight I reflected on how amazing this experience has been this far and how privleged I am to be doing this. I am so lucky.

It was a fantastic Birthday in Belgium. And I am appreciating every minute as it comes...

Wandering London: Visits from Odd Job

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:38:00 +0000

This past week Odd Job (aka Jenny or OJ), a fellow Hellion studying abroad, came to visit me here in London from Paris. She got in right after my class ended on Thursday and we met easy-peasy. (We managed to do this without talking at all on the day she travelled, no cell phones, nada. It was awesome.) Then we went up to the apartment, decided we were starving and headed right back out again.

We went to Brick Lane for some Indian food. I had gone earlier in the week and knew the ropes, so we got a great deal (at a different restaurant) and had a great time catching up. We ended up finishing the free bottle of wine, and she made me drink half, so I was very tipsy on the tube ride back to Mile End. But then we rented the movie Away We Go, which we enjoyed very much, and went to bed.

Friday- We got up and out the door pretty quickly in the morning, excited to see the city. We went into London getting off the tube at Westminster. We saw the Parliament buildings and Big Ben, which are currently undergoing reconstruction (most of England is going through reconstructions in order to look fantastic when the Olympics comes in 3 years). After viewing a bag-piper that OJ just had to take a picture with, we walked across the bridge to the South Bank.

We walked by a lot of tourists in front of the aquarium and towards the London Eye. We decided the high prices and long line were not worth it and walked past. In continuing down the riverside we saw lots of people dressed up and giving shows to make money off of tourists, mimes, human statues, acrobats, etc. Then we passed the National Theatre (where I signed up for a free student pass!) and decided we had seen enough of the South Bank, and crossed back over towards the West End.

We were headed towards Covent Garden, but got sidetracked by lunch. We stopped for lunch at the Wellington, a traditional English pub (in looking at the British pubs where OJ wanted to try all the traditional British food, I noticed that all the menus around the city are suspiciously the same...) We got fish and chips, I had some British ale, and some treacle tart (like Harry Potter).

At this point I would like to stop and say that thus far I have travelled with people who are snap-happy. They can't seem to take their fingers off of their camera buttons and take pictures of everything. Now, sometimes I find this annoying... like when I have to wait to eat some food so they can take a picture of it. And other times it makes me happy because they capture the most ridiculous and best moments. So, even though I complain, OJ and Robin, I do appreciate all the pictures you take. :)

We then went through Covent Garden, over to Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, and Oxford Street. It was a lot of walking and gawking. It gets dark here very early, so by the time we got to the Primark it was dark outside. And on a Friday afternoon on Oxford Street, Primark is a zoo, but we enjoyed it. (There was an article about the budget fashion boom and Primark's amazing profits since the recession.)

We were going to try to get some rush tickets to a show, but decided that between the crowds, the tired feet, and the fact we were going to the ballet the next day, we bailed on that. We went back home, made some salad and pesto pasta, and slept well.

Saturday was Halloween. We were a bit slower to get up, but went to Notting Hill to Portobello Road. Before we even got from the station to Portobello, OJ found a ₤5 Store. Where our lack of costume crisis was averted by ₤5 sailor dresses. What worries we about this is that this was not a costume store... someone must have bought these as real clothing and not Halloween costumes. It was a great purchase though. We then wandered among the very crowded streets looking at the antiques, stores, stalls and live street music. OJ wandered while I got some Halloween cupcakes (I LOVE CUPCAKES!). We were running a bit behind schedule, so we booked it to the tube station.

We made our way to the Covent Garden station, and hustled to the ticket counter to pick up our tickets for the Royal Ballet's The Sleeping Beauty (video link!) by Tchaikovsky. which I had managed to snag ₤8 tickets to. We got there with literally one minute to spare. The man didn't even check my card, he just said, "You'd better run," and run we did. We ran all the way across the lobby, into the elevator, paced frantically, and the usher ran with us to show us our seats. Needless to say we were out of breath and a bit sweaty as we snuck into our seats as the orchestra started the first notes. Victory!

We were sitting in the absolute tippy-top of the theatre (what do you expect for ₤8?) and couldn't see stage right. So we had an awkward time of standing and leaning over the railing durning the exciting parts. I had learned about Petipa (the choregrapher) in my class last year, so I could tell OJ all about the physical language in the ballet. It was her first ballet too! It was a blast.

Afterwards we wandered about Covent Garden, found a place with some tea and crumpets. It was a lovely place to sit, sip something warm and relax. The longer I am here the more I understand the obsession with tea. Then we wandered some more, I found some sherbert lemons in an old fashioned candy shop. OJ made fun of me because all I bought all day was sweets.

Then we found a Japanese place with a deal on a sushi sampler dinner. Sushi is expensive in London. Almost to the point of ridiculousness. We had a great dinner, managing to hide the weird things under the edamame shells, and then headed back to get ready for Halloween!

As I mentioned before, we got very cheap sailor dresses for going out. What I didn't tell you is why they were only ₤5, we didn't realize ourselves until we had the dresses on and I awkwardly stared at OJ's boobs trying to figure it out. Yes, we were members of the Yatch Club. Not the Yacht Club, the Yatch Club.

We went out with Ashley to No. 5 Cavendish Square, and clubbed it up. Ashley had gotten us onto a VIP guest list that didn't end up panning out, but the club was very stylish. I would say about half the people were dressed up, but no costumes to write home about. Except for us in the Yatch Club. The drinks were ridiculously expensive, but the DJ was pretty good and we had a good time dancing (except for the drunk couple who kept falling over on top of us, and managed to follow us on the dance floor. Control yourselves people!)

Both OJ and I got tired and were ready to leave, so we headed out and caught the night bus. Rides on the night bus are always full of characters, especially because the tube stops running at midnight. But on Halloween it was FULL of characters. (I now understand where JK Rowling got the idea for the Knight Bus. There are so many ridiculous characters, you always feel a bit uneasy like you are going to fall over, that the bus can't possibly fit between those cars, and there is always that one person sleeping that you are envious of. I also usually really want a bed) So crowded that people were jumping to try to get in the bus, and the people on the bus were pushing to get them off so the doors would close. Thankfully we all managed to get towards the back of the bus, and OJ and I had seats almost the whole time, and Ashley stood in the aisleway unsquished. We had to fight our way off, then immediately into bed.

Sunday- We were supposed to go to play some ultimate, but due to the drizzle, the tube closures, and general difficulties we decided against it. We had a leisurely breakfast and watched the live stream of the UPA Finals (which was AWESOME!) then went back into town (after a slight detour for me to pick up my train ticket for the next day) to Tottenham Court Road, and walked through Soho and Leicester Square to Trafalgar Square.

Then we got dinner in a pub where I got some roast and OJ got a steak and ale pie, (we at a lot of British food. I guess you have to try it at least once. I think the only thing we missed was bangers and mash). Then a treacle sponge pudding for dessert. (I am going to have to learn how to make these things) Back out down to Parliament and Westminster Abbey all lit up. Then a detour towards St. James Park where we played in some leaves.

The goal of the night was to go to the Sports Cafe to watch the USC vs. Oregon game late. We had purposely not checked the scores because we were going to watch the game "as live" with the London Trojans. But due to some miscommunications it wasn't being shown there. Which was disappointing because I really miss watching football. (We also decided that if I wanted to pick up some American guys this would be the place to do it, the guy to girl ratio was awesome.) So we came home, packed, caught up on the Office and headed to bed.

This was actually our last time together, because I had to leave at 4am to catch my train, and OJ slept in to catch her train at 7:30am. (We decided that we would catch up on throwing when I go to visit her in Paris. Who doesn't want to throw in front of the Eiffel Tower?) So we had a nice snuggle and ended a fantastic weekend together.

Small Happenings

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:18:00 +0000

So I am behind again. Too much stuff going on to post about it all, so I am going to attempt today to catch up on everything. Key word there being attempt.

Last Tuesday I did work most of the day. Yes, actually doing the study part of studying abroad. But that night Toni came to hang out for a bit and we decided that we were both starving and wanted some Indian food. So we made our way to Brick Lane.

The moment we stepped foot on the road we were propositioned by various Indian restaurants to eat there. Finally a guy stopped us and after we seemed hesitant he offered free drinks, then more hesitant, and he offered us 20% off our meal. (I later find that this is the norm there, so if you go to Indian food at Brick Lane, hold out until you get at least this deal.) So in we went and had some delicious Indian curry and Tikka Masala with naan and rice. Then back to Mile End. It was a really fun, unexpected night out to just chill and enjoy some good food and good company.

On Wednesday I went to Regents Park where the LSE ultimate team was practicing. I found out about it from my friend Prith (Yay for Trojan Family connections!) and we met up there. It's an Open team, but there were about 6 girls. I have never been happier to just run around and throw a disc. I definitely needed to get out and do something physical. I will play with them for the rest of the semester so I am not completely out of practice (they also do conditioning, so I am keeping up with it if any Hellions are reading) when I get back to play at USC. They are also an awesome group of people (what Ultimate people aren't) and am excited to have a place to go and play.

Thursday is my day of classes, but as I was doing my grocery shopping beforehand, Toni called me. There was pumpkin carving on campus! So I hightailed it back home, schlepping the groceries from Sainsbury's. Then went downstairs to meet Toni and carve a pumpkin.

The volunteer program at QMUL, Provide, was sponsoring it. They were donating all of the carved pumpkins and the money they made to the children's hospital. We carved a "scary" pumpkin. The British girls were amazed at our pumpkin carving skills. We are American, we do this every year. It was really fun though, and a small moment of home-ness.

That night OJ came to visit for the weekend, so more fun and adventures happened then, but the week preceding all that was chilled out with bits of friends, food and fun.

Dublin: Lots of Fun on Very Little Sleep

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:31:00 +0000

DAY 1: We woke up at 4:30am to catch the bus to Stratford (the bus/underground/train station next to the new Olympic Stadium under construction) because the tube doesn't run that early. Then we had to catch a bus from Stratford to London Stansted airport. It felt really early.

We went on Ryanair which has rather strict, small baggage allowances. As my backpack is a bit larger than the allowable dimensions I decided to take the safe route and carry my Tesco reusable grocery bag instead. After seeing all the other people and their futile attempts to get rolling suitcases on and the students who waltzed on to the plane with backpacks far larger than mine, I realize in retrospect that I would have been fine. Well... now I know.

The flight was uneventful. At least for me. You put me in a plane, bus, train traveling and I usually pass out. (I can not thank Robin enough for not capturing me sleeping on almost every mode of travel, I am sure with my mouth open, neck cricked, and legs shoved into awkward places. She DID however take pictures of just about everything else.) I took a picture of our bus ride to University College Dublin (UCD).

To recap the morning, we got a bus to the station, to catch a bus to the airport, to get our flight to Dublin, to get a bus to the City Centre, to get a bus to UCD, to get to Hilary's apartment where we were staying for our trip to Ireland. All in all, it was a long morning of traveling. But we got there with no problems or hitches. Amazingly.

At this point I'm going to give a shout out to Hilary, who while very sick, let us crash at her apartment and managed to be a great hostess. (She is our friend Cascade, from high school's, college room mate.) Thank you!

After dropping our stuff off, we decided to go back into the city centre and explore a bit. We actually didn't make it far because the growling noises coming from our stomachs were starting to scare small children. We saw the Gourmet Burger Kitchen that had a deal for €5. We were sold. Deliciousness ensued.

Then back out to the street to see what was going on. We saw lots shops mostly, deciding to do the tourist site-seeing on Sunday. My favorites were the antique jewelry dealers that had lots of sparkly things in the window. Robin did have to tell me to stop getting distracted by the sparkly things... so sparkly... and continue exploring. We found a Penney's , the Irish Primark, or like a US Forever 21 at rock bottom prices. I needed socks, and who can pass up 1€ socks? I can't. Robin got some tights, trying out this English fashion finally, but we will come back to those on Sunday.

Then some more wandering, the hunger growling noises were coming back for me, but Robin was very tired and I could see the cranky-monster looming in her eyes. We had been up since 4, very understandable. Suddenly the Tesco sign caught my eye. Dinner? Back at Hilary's? Great. We purchased food after much indecision, then caught a bus back to Hilary's.

We met up with Hilary's room mate by chance on the bus, who invited us to go out with them that night. Robin and I were far too tired and declined (thank goodness, because there was drama, drama, drama). Back at the apartment we made our food while several girls were running around like busy bees getting ready to go out. I made some grilled cheese sandwiches with Irish soda bread (delicious) and some tomato soup. I was totally content.

We then watched Once (after waiting for the preened girls to leave for their night out) a movie set in Dublin. I had tried to watch it about a year ago, but fell asleep. I think it was far more fitting to watch it while in Dublin. Robin fell asleep on my lap though. I think it's a thing with that movie. Very good though. Then off to bed because we had an early morning tour the next day. (I slept like a rock and didn't hear the screaming match at 3am between Hilary's room mates. I told you drama, drama, drama.)

DAY 2: So for the second day in a row, Robin and I woke up at the butt-crack of dawn. We got ourselves ready and took a cab to the 'tourism center' to catch our tour bus to go and see the Cliffs of Moher. As soon as we got past the city limits I passed out again. (It was dark outside, I don't think I missed much. Also our driver put on soothing Irish music and there was an odd blue light, how was I not supposed to fall asleep?) I woke up when we stopped for a break at a gas station in some small village. I walked into some Kanye pumping and about 40 people lined up for coffee. It was slightly surreal.

Back on the bus, fell asleep again, woke up in Limerick. I got out of the bus in time to see Limerick's ABC (Another Bloody Castle) in front of the river and have Robin take some pictures before switching buses to head towards the Cliffs of Moher instead of towards the Blarney Stone . I decided that doing some high kicks and jumping would feel really good before getting on yet another bus. Robin laughed at me. Then copied. It was joyous leprechaun jumping in Limerick for about 30 seconds. Then we got on the new bus (with some strange looks from its occupants) and we headed off towards Doolin and the Cliffs of Moher.

What we didn't realize when we got on the new bigger bus, is that our new tour guide Gabriel had a penchant for singing. I slept far less on this bus ride because every time I started to nod off, here came Gabriel with another Irish ballad or drinking song. Doh! I don't think he realized that the whole back of the bus was really not into the singing because there were several enthusiastic German tourists egging him on from the front.

We finally arrived at the Galway Bay and the Burren landscape. It's really strange. They call it a lunar landscape, its basically all this smooth black volcanic rock for way back in the day with grass surrounding it. It was windy and drizzling, but we ran out of the bus, rock hopping towards the shore. It was more of a cliff edge. Robin and I were puddle-dodging, Robin taking pictures all the way. When I went to take this picture of her (above) a couple was walking towards the ledge on the right. As they turned around the get their picture taken a huge wave came up and covered them in water. I could not stop laughing. We ran around in the rain for a bit longer before getting back in the bus to head towards the village of Doolin .

Apparently there is a big music festival there in the summer, but it was a small place, almost quaint where we went to an Irish pub for lunch. I decided to be adventurous and get the special of bacon and cabbage. I should have taken a picture, because the bacon was HUGE! Very heavy this Irish food. Then back on the bus and off to the Cliffs of Moher.

There were a lot of places that Robin and I could have gone on our day trip, but the Cliffs are the #1 tourist attraction in Ireland. I picked it because we got to go hiking, the pictures were strikingly gorgeous, and let's face it, Harry Potter and the Princess Bride were filmed there. I'm going! (When I asked my Irish flatmate about going he said, "From Dublin? To the cliffs? But that is the other side of the country!" Americans and people from the UK and Ireland have a totally different concept of space and distance. Most Brits don't realize that all of Britain can fit inside Nevada, or that it takes less time to drive all the way across Ireland than it does to drive across California, Lake Tahoe to San Francisco.)

As we pulled into the parking lot, the bus driver told us the time to be back and then said, "We will see some interesting hair-do's when you all get back." I couldn't quite figure it out, until I stepped off the bus and was promptly buffeted backwards by a huge gust of wind. Oh dear. The wind had been breezy at all the other places we had gotten off the bus, but it was nothing compared to this.

Robin and I made sure everything was securely attached to us, all zippers firmly closed and headed up the pathway towards the cliffs. It wasn't too bad until we got to the edge of the cliffs and we were smacked in the face with fast moving air. The view was spectacular. It's like seeing the Grand Canyon, pictures and words can't describe the vastness, massiveness, and sense of awe that hits you when you see it. Just standing and soaking it in.

I got really excited when I recognized the Harry Potter cave. The wind was blowing so hard it was creating funnels of mist and dust at the edge, which you can kind of see in this picture.

Robin and I tried to make our way towards O'Brien's Tower, which was beyond a patch of swirling, intense wind. It was so ridiculously windy that all I could do was laugh. It was like a cartoon, leaning so far forward in the wind, that if it wasn't there you would fall down, you can't see anything because it's hard to keep your eyes open, you are getting pushed in all directions, arms swinging fighting the invisible forces pushing against you. And you are doing this with about 10 other people trying to get to the other side. I was laughing so hard that I nearly collapsed right in the middle of the pathway. I had to go back and basically run against the wind to get to the other side.

Once there we played in the wind a bit by the tower stairs. You could stand facing the wind, slightly spread eagled, jump into the air, and then wind would push you back several feet. It was awesome.

There are moments when all of a sudden you feel the freedom of being little again, no judgements, just play. The conditions that you usually experience are just so thrown out the window that everything is new and wonderous. In the wind at the top of the cliffs I felt free. I wish I could recapture that feeling much more often.

We finally made our way back down, looking and experiencing. The gift shop was a nice reprieve from the blasting wind. I asked the man at the information desk how hard the wind was actually blowing. He said 160km, or just over 100mph. Hurricane force winds. Awesome.

After going back for one last look, we went back to the bus. I was still glowing. We stopped at Bunratty Castle (which ended up being closed for a wedding) and it's unnaturally large gift shop. Even this blatant and almost forced consumership, which normally would have greatly annoyed me, could not put a damper on my spirits. Then back in the bus for the long drive back to Dublin. I slept little, Robin blissfully passed out near my shoulder, staring out the window as the sun sank and the green landscape turned dark, just thinking.

Once off the bus, back on O'Connell Street in the heart of downtown Dublin, Robin and I headed towards Temple Bar, the bar and restaurant sector of the city that has been there for hundreds of years. We were to meet Hilary for dinner, but as she was running a bit late we put our name in for a table at Gogarty's and went downstairs to get a drink from the bar.

Now Guinness is really big in Ireland. Either because the Irish are really into drinking and love the stout Guinness, or as the tour guide said, the Guinness family had done so much for Dublin that it's people, despite actually disliking the beer, drank it anyway out of gratitude. Either way, they drink a lot of Guinness. Robin and I don't actually like it though. (I know. I know! I went to Ireland and didn't drink a Guinness. So sue me.) I did have an Irish ale, Kilkenny, (after researching... super Irish, boo ya!) which was fantastic. And Robin got an Irish cider. So there.We happily drank our drinks, people watching until Hilary arrived and we went up to our table at the traditional Irish restaurant.

I feel that an integral part of traveling is trying new foods and especially the foods of the country you are in. Irish soda bread is fantastic. I wish I could get that stuff all the time. They also had Guinness bread (see I told you they were into their Guinness). I got some mussels, which were delicious but very different from US mussels (Robin had never ever tried a mussel. So I forced her to try just one. Her response was, "Well it's not too bad, I kind of like the taste. But I'm never eating one again. Salt water." I think the texture got to her) and then some Irish coddle, which was potatoes and sausage and some other small veggies in a heavy creamy sauce almost like gravy. Mmm. Robin got a cheesy potato and Hilary got some Irish beef stew/casserole. Very heavy, yet delicious food. It's food that you can't eat all the time but is so delicious when you do get it.

Then back to the apartment. No partying out on the town for us. We were far too tired.

DAY 3: We reserved this day to just tour the city of Dublin. See the sites, as it were. We got up, finally a morning to sleep in. We realized at this point that it was Daylight Savings, so we got a whole extra hour of time to do stuff. We had some breakfast and set off towards O'Connell Street.

It was a slightly breezy, sporadically drizzly day. Robin wore her new tights. She told me about every half hour how amazing they were. "I can't feel the wind!" It is amazing what not wearing cotton will do for your warmth level.

We got one of those Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tours which made loops around the city. We made our first stop at Trinity College to see the Book of Kells and the Old Library . We caught a student-run tour which was informative and very entertaining. Then going and seeing the Book of Kells which was written in about 800AD by monks was really cool. Then the Old Library seriously looked out of Harry Potter. Then, as all good tourists attractions do, we exited through the gift shop. While searching through the aisles of stuff, I accidentally stole a journal while putting my maps and pamphlets into my bag. I discovered this after we left. Bad Katie, bad.

The back on the bus (I feel like I have said this A LOT) and we toured the city, electing not to get off at Chrischurch and the Viking Museum, St. Patrick's Cathedral, or the Guinness Storehouse (Now I must tell you, though largely omitted from this post, there have been several pit stops for me to pee, and we did get off the bus for that.) We decided that we wanted to go to the Jameson Distillery. We also decided that we needed to eat before going and drinking whiskey. The Distillery is not in the greatest area, so on our search for food, which ended in a Spar (think 7-11), we were cussed at by a drunkard who told us to get out of his country.

Anyway, despite the slightly ominous beginning, we got to the Distillery and went on the tour with no hitches. I was selected to be a tester. And after the slightly hokey tour, they sit you down to compare the Jameson whiskey with a Scottish and American whiskey, these being a unnamed Scotch and Jack Daniel's. In my opinion, the Jameson was clearly the best tasting. But then I am by no means a whiskey connoisseur, although Jameson did give me a certificate.

For me the rest of the day was pretty glowy, a total of 2 shots of whiskey was more than enough to get me nice and drunk. We did a bit more shopping when we got back to the end of the tour (me making several pee stops after the alcohol. I think I have a problem), me constantly reminding that she did not have to get presents for everyone. Then back to Hilary's to get our stuff, grab some dinner, and we headed to her friend Aaron's place which was closer to the airport.

I think that college boy's apartments are pretty much universally dirty. I was very amused. We sat and watched some TV with them, and then some strange documentary about the Wild Horse brothel... at which point I decided it was time for bed. They had an electric fireplace in the room we were staying in that seemed very dangerous and easy to burn yourself on. Then off to sleep before catching a flight, again extremely early.

DAY 4: We woke up again at the butt-crack of dawn or, "o'dark thirty"and caught a cab to the airport, made our way through security and such and onto the plane, bidding a fond farewell to Hilary as she flew off to Milan and we headed back to London.

After landing we caught a bus to catch the tube back to school. Robin stayed and showered in my room while I went to class. Some Mondays are longer than others. After class, I came back and Robin went to get the bus back to Canterbury and I made it through my next class before absolutely crashing.

It was a great weekend.

Pre-Dublin Ruminations

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:37:00 +0000

So I meant to tell you all that I was going to Dublin. I meant to tell you to get ready for lots of Irish shenanigans and shamrocks and leprechauns and beer and all that. I meant to tell you how excited I was. I meant to tell you how excited I was to be going with Robin. I meant to tell you all this as I was waiting for Robin to get off the tube from Canterbury. But as usual I got distracted and failed to post all this.

Anyway, the distraction came as a knock on my floor. Yes floor. Drew who lives downstairs wanted me to come and play some drinking games with them downstairs. (This is the same Drew whose birthday we went to see Sister Act for, along with Cristin, Keelia, and Ruth) It was a very fun sticking-my-head-out-the-window conversation. So I went to play games, still waiting for Robin to let me know she'd arrived. Unfortunately her phone ran out of credit so she had to improvise, but we finally managed to get together.

We then Skyped with Kristen. There was a lot of laughter involved. It is good to see people's faces and catch up. She did get punched in the eye by her little brother while we were talking. It took us quite a long time to convince her to put something cold on it. The whole conversation was pretty funny. We said goodbye then we both went down to play some drinking games.

It was late to bed early to rise.

Some might say this is not the best way to start out a trip. Maybe. Maybe not. It was fun though. We did get to bed a bit late, and had to get up very early to catch a bus, to catch a... you get the idea. I think the name of this trip should be Dublin: Lots of Fun on Very Little Sleep.

I am finishing up the rest of the Dublin post(s) now. Get excited.

Crashing the Tate Britain

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:40:00 +0000

So on my second weekend this week, I had nothing planned. I got up early and decided to go on my room mate Amber's class trip to the Tate Britain.

We were running a few minutes late, but miraculously managed to find her class right before the teacher started lecturing. She's in an art history class called The Age of Impressionism. I have never taken an art history class but know about Impressionism through theater studies (damn straight interdisciplinarity) and was interested to see the paintings. I was a little thrown off though, Impressionists were definitely from France, and this is the Tate Britain, meaning all British artists. So British painters influenced the Impressionists in several ways and that's what we were there for.

Ok, I'm with you now. Fortunately for me the teacher had no idea that I was not in his class. As per usual, I kept finding myself standing at the front listening attentively and kept having to say, "No Katie, move away," to myself, "this is not your class." I thought it was interesting though.

So most of the kids in this class had obviously not done the reading. And when he asked about form, color, brushstroke, composition etc. they all just stared at him blankly. I had a hard time not trying to guess answers to fill the silence (I was also kind of shocked because he was like is this painting bright or dull? is this painting using big or small brushstrokes? I was like I can see that from way back here guys!) I also had a hard time not asking questions.

So when we went into the Preraphaelite room to look at the sweet colors, we looked at a painting called Ophelia. When he was asking who Ophelia was I couldn't keep my mouth shut. Hamlet. Duh. (This also reaffirmed especially to myself that I am really, really in to positive feedback. Still. I guess the overachieving high schooler will never really leave me.)

Amber was literally sitting there snickering at me. She was very entertained by my enthusiasm.

After her class ended, we spent some more time wandering around the museum. Then headed out to find some lunch. There was nothing close so we got back on the Tube to Leicester Square and found an Italian place. My pasta was yummy but the sausage in it looked like the pepperoni from Lunchables Pizza, so I was a little skeptical about it.

As we were wandering waiting for Leah and Ashley to come and meet us after their classes, we found the National Portrait Gallery. I love that almost all of the Museums in London are free. We wandered through the historical portraits starting with Henry the VII and Henry the VIII and his wives all the way to modern day. Most of the ones in the late 1700's and through the 1800's were Lords and politicians who I had no idea about. They were really interesting though. Not only the myriad of people that they showed, but the style in which the paintings were done. I particularly enjoyed the artists room. :)

Leah found us in the museum and we wandered through some of the 20th Century. Saw the Twiggy display, and wandered back out on to the street. As we really had no plan, we just wanted to see more of the city, we decided to go right. This was fortunate because it took us right into Trafalgar Square. We decided to climb up onto the pedestal that holds the Wellington Monument and the four Lions.

Amber is going to kill me, but being shorter than Leah and I, watching her get on to the pedestal was absolutely hilarious.

I finally made it on to one of the Lions. Because so many people climb on it, it is really slippery, so I got up there with a little pulling from Amber and Leah.

Then we wandered over to Covent Garden. Once we got there I had a flash back to when my mom took me to London when I was 13. It was pouring rain and we stayed in there for a long time. It's the first time I have really had that double, "I've been here before moment."

We explored the area trying to find Leah a cupcake from a store she knew was there. Now, as most of you know, I love sweets. I love baking cupcakes. So I was excited. But then I saw the cupcakes. All sorts of garish colors. Strange flavors. Sitting out in the open. And not a drop of buttercream frosting in sight. Who uses the hard frosting? No one should. I refused to get one.

We wandered some more and decided we wanted some warm drinks. So we sat down in an Le Pain Quotidien (which just made me think of Rex and Bambi) and got some hot chocolates. I could not resist the carrot cake on the menu, and I was not disappointed. It was some of the best carrot cake I have had and the cream cheese frosting was fantastic. (I want the recipe) Take that strange cupcakes!

After wandering through the market trying to kill some time, we got back on the Tube and headed home. It was a fun, yummy, art-filled day.

York. Haworth. YORK!

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:34:00 +0000

The City of York and York Minster

This weekend was my trip to York. Now, I don't think that I would have chosen to go to York all by myself, but USC organizes some trips for students studying in the UK. The other bonus to going, besides hanging out with some really fun Trojans, is that everything is paid for. And let's face it... I'm all about the free.

On Friday I left from King's Cross Station (I have not yet taken the obligatory Platform 9 3/4 photo, but it is coming) and rode the train to York. I have never really used the railways as a viable means of travel, so seat protocol was a bit new to me, and I must have sat down in someone else's seat and gotten up about 5 times before I found a seat that was unclaimed. Also after having done this, I ended up in the one car that did not list all of the stops and had a couple of panicky moments when I thought I had gotten on the wrong train (even though I had read the sign, sometimes the doubt sets in, you know what I mean?). Got to York in just over two hours, hassle-free, and made my way from the station to our Bed and Breakfast.

I was the first person there. So I put my stuff down and promptly tromped out into the brisk wind to explore a bit of the city. As our tour guide informed us the next day, towns are places without cathedrals, this is regardless of size or population, unless of course you get special dispensation from the Queen. York, however, is a city because it has a cathedral, in this case York Minster. It was the only cathedral spared during the sacking of Catholic churches during the Protestant reformation. And has the oldest stained glass (from the medieval period) and the best kept statues and treasures. It is a beautiful building, towering above everything else, that can be seen for miles.

York Minster

York has been an important city since Roman times. There is a long wall surrounding York with only four gates. It has withstood the Viking and Norman takeovers, and still surrounds the city, unbroken, today. I entered and explored the mostly closed-down city (everything closes at 5) through Micklegate. After a bit of wandering I decided that I was cold and hungry and nothing but food was open anyway, so I went back to the B&B where I met some other USC kids and waited until dinner. (I re-met Lauren, who has actually been to my apartment several times in LA and didn't know she was in the UK. I also, embarrassingly, could not remember her name immediately. Bad Katie, bad.) Some shenanigans at dinner, then bed.

The Wall around York

The next morning we got up for a 'traditional' English breakfast. Egg, sausage, bacon, beans, and tomatoes. While yummy, it seemed as though many things were straight out of the can. I will have try a real traditional English Breakfast before I leave. It was very nice to wake up to someone else making you tea though. I am finding that I enjoy tea far more than I did back in the US. After breakfast we all piled into a tour bus and headed out to explore Yorkshire.

Our tour guide was Mike, Mike-on-the-mike, as he called himself (and rather bitter that some DJ in New Jersey has 'stolen' his name). He was a portly, slightly balding Yorkshireman in his early 60's. He was very proud of any and everything that had come from, passed through, or ever mentioned York or Yorkshire. He was a very enthusiastic, slightly rambling, and sporadically informative. I think he was flustered by 18 American college students honestly.

Now on this tour Lauren and I made the rather unfortunate decision to sit in the front of the bus, to get the best views, of course. This was just a bit close to Mike, who when very enthusiastically extolling the barely visible moors or random Otley songs (or anything really) would send rather large globules of spit in our direction. We didn't want to tell him or put our hands up to ward off the shower because he was genuinely sweet, he just didn't know that what he was saying was not really that interesting or really didn't pertain to what was going on. Meant well though.

Statue of Thomas Chippendale

We were rather relieved to get off the bus in Otley. What is Otley you ask? You know. I still don't really know. I know that Thomas Chippendale, the famous furniture maker, was born there. But nothing of his actually survives, so we saw a bank building showing where his house used to be and a slightly graffitied statue in a random primary schoolyard. But other than that, not a whole lot. Lauren was also confused as to why this was on the tour.

Lauren showing her emotions

We got back on the bus, Mike having miraculously shifted positions so the spittle was no longer pointed in our direction, and we headed to Haworth. Haworth is the home of the Bronte's. Yes, those Bronte's. Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, you get the picture. Haworth is a very small village on a rather steep hill. Very picturesque.

We visited the Bronte Parsonage Museum, which is a Museum made out of the original parsonage that the Bronte sisters and delinquent brother grew up in. The house had been put back to the way that it would have been when they lived there, furniture all in it's place. There was also the addition of costumes from the most recent BBC Production of Wuthering Heights... for some reason. Several of the paintings had been removed and replaced with modern photographs of the moors. Those two things stick out to me as very anachronistic additions to the house, but the rooms were cool to see.

Haworth, just below the Bronte Parsonage

In the Bronte Parsonage Museum there are no pictures allowed, so there is no way that I can truly convey to you how utterly creepy the house was. I didn't quite realize how creepy until I got into the sitting room and read, "...this chaise is where she did most of her sitting, and where she died." Ah! Then walking into Charlotte's bedroom, they have some of her old clothes, her tiny shoes, her tiny gloves, her hair mementos... wait... what? Oh look, there is some of Emily's hair. It kind of made my skin crawl. Just seeing their handwriting, personal mementos and drawings made everything so much more real in a ghostly creepy sort of way.

While fascinating, I was glad to get back out into the sunshine. I explored the pasture behind the parsonage, and the graveyard just up the hill from the Church. (So, fun story, there are 'officially' around 7,000 bodies buried in the graveyard, but scientists estimate there are about 40,000 bodies buried there. People just pushed them further down and buried on top of old graves. This became a problem during the Bronte's time because some strange, black, sludge decay kept seeping up through the Church floors... gross.) I loved that it felt like fall, the mists coming in from down the valley, small patches of color amongst the green, crisp wind in my face.

Yorkshire Countryside

We were starving though, so we stopped by a small local cafe to grab some food. I got some pumpkin and parsnip soup and a local Red Dragon ale and felt very full and happy. Then we had to dash back to the bus, and we drove to Saltaire, a city built around a mill that was the most fair to its workers at the time. We went into the old factory converted into an art museum/antique gift shop. There was not a lot of time, and I personally think that exploring the only planned city I have seen in Britain would have been more interesting... but alas, we glanced around and got back on the bus back to York.

Me, walking on the Wall, exploring York

This was a lot more fun. We went around exploring the city, seeing the sites. Again almost everything was closed, so it was mostly wandering. We saw the ruins in Museum Park. Got some roasted chestnuts. Climbed up Clifford's Tower and watched some of the people roll down the hill (I would have followed, but as everyone landed in some sort of smelly mud/dog shit, I decided that I would forgo that adventure), and we ended up in a pub, watching football (soccer) and rugby (and watching the people watching football and rugby), ordered some beers and throughly enjoyed the beginning of our evening.

We then had a great dinner at a mediocre (great for Britain) Italian restaurant. This reinforced my theory that good company makes any meal better. As does wine. So as we walked, and some of us weaved/stumbled, to O'Neil's for some more drinks, we were all in very high spirits.

As we walked out of O'Neil's we were still in very high spirits. Just as we get out into the street we hear Prith say, "Oh SHIT!" What on earth could be happening? We just left the bar. Unbenownst to us, Prith had a Blackberry and was keeping tabs on the USC v. Notre Dame game. Most of us had given up hope of finding the game much earlier in the day, so it was absolutely shocking and exhilarating to know the score. We came in at 34-27 with 10 seconds left in the 4th, Notre Dame on the 4 yard line, about to score. We went APE SHIT.

For those that don't know, you can't go to USC and not care about college football. And you can't go to USC and not care about big rivalry games like Notre Dame. And you can absolutely not stand to lose to such schools that you have beaten for the previous 8 years (take THAT!).

So we froze, all of us, in the middle of the sidewalk in York, packed like sardines around Prith as he frantically hit the refresh button. At 2nd and goal we couldn't take it anymore. Meg called someone in the states and was giving us the verbal play by play until both confirmed that we had in fact beaten the Irish again.

Pandemonium. Cheers. Yelling. And together we all started singing the Fight Song, mimicking the band, and of course chanting "Beat the Beavers" for next weeks game. It was fantastic. (I must also add that one very inebriated boy kept yelling "Fuck the Beavers" all the way home, which was completely obnoxious, and to the 15 year-old boy inside us all, completely hilarious.) I love being a Trojan.

The next day we got up, packed up, had another English breakfast, and headed out. As people were coming from different places in the UK, some people left early. Lauren had to go back to Edinburgh to write a paper (who does school work when they are studying abroad?) so we went to the National Rail Museum and explored the old trains and train memoribilia before she had to say goodbye.

Museum Railway Archives, look what I found!

Then I went back into the museum and wandered some more. Then I went to pick up my bag from the B&B before they closed the doors for the day, met up with some of the other USC people hanging around, and we went to the Minster to climb the Tower.

While some people saved our spot in line we went to go get some lunch (they said it was at the Hog's Head and I was excited because of the Harry Potter thing... but alas it was Hog something-else) which was delicious. I got a turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sandwich. Yi was a bit braver and got a Yorkshire pudding, which was also delicious, he let me have a bite. Yorkshire pudding is not actually pudding, its a pastry... I felt a little cheated.

Then we got back in line and headed up the Tower. There are 275 very narrow, very windy, very steep stairs. I took my backpack with me. It was awesome. As we go up we realize that both Prith and Jeremy were scared of heights. This resulted in me laughing and them freaking out most of the way up. Once we got to the top, we were caged in, so they felt much better (which I didn't really understand because in the small, windy staircase its not like you can see down) and we had fun looking around from so high up.

Me, backpack and all, at the top of the Tower

Before heading down though, they started freaking out even more. So to calm them down we sang all the way down. We sang Mulan and Backstreet Boys. Which to my extreme surprise a) they knew the words to, b) did not completely annoy everyone in the staircase, and c) totally worked. Also, the people waiting in line to go up were laughing when we came out and someone told me I had a nice singing voice (I laughed out loud). It was very fun though.

Then we split ways, they went to the train museum and I wandered the city. I found some very yummy food stalls and got some snacks for the train ride. We all met up at the train station and got on our respective trains, most of us heading back to London. We sat as close as possible on the ride back and had some very good conversations before people started conking out. I even managed to get most of my reading done. Then back onto the over-crowded bus to Mile End (where us QMers got separated) because the Tube was down for weekend construction and back to lovely Queen Mary.

York would not have been nearly as fun and entertaining with out the other USC people that were there. I had a blast with everyone. So thank you Sharkster for organizing. I apologize for the lengthiness of this post. If you made it this far congratulations and thank you!

Cheers!

Off to York!

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:55:00 +0000

This weekend I am headed to York. A famous city in Yorkshire, surrounded by a wall and lots of history. I am also going to see Haworth, the home of the Bronte's, and some picturesque countryside. I might even get to go for a hike (for those of us from the Sierras, a nice walk)!

Hopefully I will get to see the USC v. Notre Dame game from somewhere... but Fight On! And I will update all of you when I get back on Sunday night.

Cheers!