Where did the time go?

I am back from my warm weather holiday in Greece and I have less than a week left of my big adventure. What happened to all that time? I have been doing a lot of reflecting on my experience lately. I am so happy that I had this opportunity! I have lots to share about my overall closing evaluation; however since I neglected my blog for so long I have to do a lot of catching up. I may post a new one every day for the next few days until I get caught up, so stay tuned! Here is my week before my Mom and Karen arrived, April 26th - May 3rd.

On the Monday after the London Marathon I finished my last Museum Monday. I went to a suburb of London, called Greenwich. This is a very popular upper class suburb and a very nice area. The Queen has a royal palace here too. It took me quite a bit of time to reach Greenwich because it is located in Southeast London, which can take a while to reach on the Tube. It was a wonderful day outside for an adventure. Greenwich is possibly most popular because it is home to The Royal Observatory where the Prime Meridian passes through. The Prime Meridian is the meridian at which the longitude is defined to be 0 degrees. The first thing I did was visit this sight. I stood with one leg on each side of the meridian line and now I can say I have straddled two hemispheres. It was a cool thing to see and say I have done, but not overly exciting, especially by myself. The Royal Observatory was a neat, old building with lots of telescopes and other solar artifacts inside. After looking around there for a bit, I headed to the National Maritime Museum. This was a vast museum with tons of interesting things to look at. Greenwich has long been associated with sea and navigation because it is right down the River Thames from London. The entire museum was focused around Britain's history at sea. The vast collection included maritime art, cartography, ship models and plans, scientific and navigational instruments, and instruments for time-keeping and astronomy. This was so different from any other museum that I have visited and I really enjoyed browsing around this museum! Although I have been on 3 cruises I didn’t understand half of what I was looking at, but I now have a much better understanding and a lot more respect for the history and study of sea and navigation. After the museum I decided to check out the Greenwich Park. It was a fabulous park with cherry trees and flowers were blooming everywhere. The park was full of life and I spent a bit of time looking around and watching people. I saw an English Bulldog in the park too. The little guy ran right up to me and started chewing on my boot. It was pretty cute and made me miss my dog a lot. The owner apologized for his dog's behavior. I told him it was fine and that I had a bulldog at home. The man was quite shocked that we have English Bulldogs in the States. I wanted to tell him that just because they are English, doesn't mean they haven't been allowed out of the country. However, I just smiled. The town had some cute little stores and boutiques as well, which of course I spent a bit of time looking into. Greenwich was a really nice day excursion for me. It is still part of London, but very different from Central London with more of a town atmosphere rather than city. Below pictures of The Royal Observatory, Queen's Palace and some shots in the Greenwich Park.




This Tuesday was my last day of my internship. Nothing really exciting happened. I worked on updating the database all day. I found myself alone at Hoxton Trust for a great deal of the day again as Karina, my supervisor, had appointments. We met for my last lunch and had a good time. She was very pleased with the work I have completed for her throughout the semester. She told me to keep in touch and let her know if I ever needed a reference for a future job. An internship, providing work experience, abroad will be a great asset to my resume and will hopefully make me stand out! We talked all about my future plans and she told me more about her life, as always. Even though at times I thought Karina was a little off the wall, it was hard to think that I would most likely never again see her again and my experience was slowly coming to a close here in London.

The majority of the rest of the week I was really busy working on my final papers. I wanted to get both of my big final essays completed by the time my Mom arrived. Here the professors assign essays a little differently than in the States. Normally I am required to write an essay of certain page length for my professors at home, however here they give you a word count. At first I thought it would be easier to meet a word count requirement instead of a page length requirement. However, I have found out that it isn't. I had a 3000 word and 2500 word essay due. That is a lot of words that turned out being over 10 pages for each essay. I know I shouldn't complain, but after having minimal homework all semester, this was a task. I did manage to complete both assignments before my Mom arrived though!
On Wednesday night I went out with all the girls in my program for a Girl's Night. This was very fun and a great time. We all wished that we would have done a Girl's Night in the beginning of the semester. We got a big reservation for all 30 of us at a club with a restaurant and had a blast, until the check came. Restaurants here do not split bills, even if you ask them to. They refuse to do it. This gets incredibly annoying because you always have to have exact cash on you to pay your part of the bill. Well imagine splitting a huge bill between 30 girls. Some people had over 4 drinks on their tab plus food. It was a disaster that took about 45 minutes to figure out! What a process, but we eventually got it taken care of and no one got ripped off too much.
On Thursday in my Contemporary Britain class we were having a discussion. I can’t even remember how we got on the topic of holidays, but suddenly one obnoxious girl from my program said out loud, “Wait, you mean the British don’t celebrate Thanksgiving?” I couldn’t believe she was stupid enough to ask that question and looked toward my professor for her reaction. She just kind of stood there with her mouth open with the look on her face that implied, are you stupid? Then the professor just simply asked the girl, “Well think about it, what do we have to be thankful for?” She still didn’t get it. Finally someone in my class spoke up and asked her if she ever learned the story of Christopher Columbus. I couldn’t believe she didn’t understand why Americans celebrate Thanksgiving and no one else does and I know some others in the class had no idea either. It was quite a funny thing to watch transpire in the classroom. I couldn’t even feel bad for the girl; my goodness, think before you speak!

On Thursday night I went to Roller Disco with some girls. This was so much fun, but slightly scary. We got all dressed up in eighties neon clothing, with the wild make up and side pony tails. You should have seen the looks we were getting in the Tube on the way to the Disco! I haven't roller skated since middle school, when roller skating rinks were the thing to do for your birthday. I was quite surprised how well I did. I didn't fall one time! Maybe I am finally over my adolescent clumsiness! The only problem with Roller Disco was that alcohol was served at this place. Just imagine drunken people on roller skates, quite the combination! There were people falling all over the place. It was hilarious to watch actually, but nuts to try to skate around people. I don't want you to get the wrong impression and think this was just a big dangerous party. It was actually quite organized, trust me I would know! There were referees on skates who blew really loud whistles for everyone to stop when someone fell. There were also quite a few employees skating around helping people skate and examining who needed to call it a night. They also had a medic at this place. Of course, I would know because there is never a dull moment in my life! My friend, Allison, got tripped up and took a pretty hard fall. She got up holding her elbow and looked like she was going to cry. One of the whistle blowers made us go see the medic just to make sure she wasn't really hurt. This guy was very nice and the set up was great, nothing like in Switzerland! He even gave us candy. Although skating was pretty fun, we didn't hang around for more than a couple hours because skating around in a circle can get boring after a while, especially when everyone else around you is tipsy while you are sober. I don't know how we did it for so long in middle school. This sure was a blast from the past! Below pictures at Roller Disco with the Girls.


That Friday, my program took us all to Brighton, a seaside town on the south coast of England right on the English Channel. Brighton is an extremely popular place for Londoners to escape to for the weekends and short holidays. There is a pebble beach and a great pier. Of course, there is some fabulous, unique shopping too. Our director told us it is also a very popular place to hold Hen and Stag parties. Hen and Stag parties are what they call Bachelorette and Bachelor parties over here. I loved these new phrases. It is also common for the British to call a Girl’s Night a Hen Night. It only took us 45 minutes by train to get to Brighton. When we arrived we walked around a bit and got a little tour from our director. He showed us where to get the best candy floss (what they call cotton candy) and fish and chips. Then we headed to the Royal Pavilion for a tour. The Royal Pavilion was previously a royal palace. King George IV built this royal residence in the 1800's. He was very amused by oriental design and absolute luxury, so this place is really something. When Queen Victoria came to reign she decided to sell the Royal Pavilion, apparently it just wasn’t palace material. It is currently owned by the town of Brighton. The interior of the Royal Pavilion was quite impressive and it just amazed me how much money was and is spent on these palaces to make them absolutely lavish and stunning. I most appreciated the dining room in this palace. The chandelier weighed some 3 tons and was immaculate. The dinner table sat over 50 guests; I couldn’t imagine going to a dinner party in this place. After the tour, Allison, Carissa, my roommate, Rebecca, and I took a look around the outside of the Royal Pavilion. It was just bizarre, you will see in the pictures below.


Next we went to grab lunch. We went to the pub with great fish and chips. I do not care for fish, so I got a tasty Alfredo pasta dish. Then we walked along the pier for a while. It was a great pier with lot of food stands and a whole bunch of carnival rides at the end. I do not care for carnival rides much either, and frankly have outgrown them. However, I did get a great Snickers milkshake and some sugar donuts. I hadn’t had a milkshake since I left home and it was amazing. We walked the promenade too and checked out the pebble beach. Our program director warned us that there could be topless women sun bathing on the beach. I wasn’t looking forward to seeing that and thank goodness I didn’t have to because it was way too cold for anyone to be laying out. I have never been to a pebble beach before, but it was kind of nice. I collected some great rocks and seashells! We did a bit of browsing in the shops before we headed back to London. I enjoyed Brighton for the day and could even spend a weekend there, but there is just something about getting back into the city that makes you feel right again. Below pictures of the Brighton Pier.


On Saturday Carissa, Allison and I went to check out the 2012 Olympic Park. If any of you didn’t know, London is hosting the next summer Olympics, in 2012. The city is quite excited, but under a lot of pressure to outdo China, which I don’t know if it is even plausible. Anyways, it was a little bit of a journey to get to the Olympic Park area from Central London. The city chose an overrun area in East London to renovate for the games. It is understandable that they had to choose an area a little out of the way and deserted since such large space is needed to build massive stadiums and facilities for the events. I was quite surprised to see that a there is still a lot of work to be done. We were able to see most of the main buildings frames and outer edges. It was pretty neat to see the huge stadium in the works. The plans they have drawn up for the area look fantastic. It would be cool to see the finished product, but a TV shot may be all I get. It was interesting to learn about all the housing that was being built to accommodate the athletes during the games. I also liked learning about what the plans were for all the facilities and buildings after the games. Some buildings will be demolished, but most will remain and be used for other purposes. Below a picture of the outside frame of the main stadium and me.

On Sunday I took Carissa and Allison to the Flower Market, since they had yet to go. It was raining the whole time we were there, but still packed. I got 50 stems of tulips for 10 pounds. I thought this was a great deal, even compared to rates in the States. They were soft, pink beauties and the blossoms had yet to open up. I had to carry them home in a bundle like a baby. One guy on the Tube noticed the tulips and asked if they were for me. I just smiled and said yes, even though I was planning on bringing them up to my Mom and Aunt Karen’s room when they arrived. He asked if I was going to pot them. I said no they are already cut, so I will just plop them in a vase. As soon as I said vase he noticed I was American. He laughed and said that Brits say vase (holding the a sound). I kind of laughed too and told him that older people in the States say that too. He was surprised. It is nice meeting friendly people and getting a little dose of culture.

On Monday evening I treated myself to another musical show. It is kind of silly and hard not to since there are so many at my finger tips. Plus most of the theaters offer great student concessions. Allison, Carissa and I all went to Dirty Dancing, the musical. I had only watched this movie last year on a Volleyball road trip. I immediately loved it and I was really excited to see the musical version. I must say it was hard to live up to the movie, but I really enjoyed the show. It is amazing how stage sets can be created. We had great seats and we were all really glad we went! The rest of my time was consumed with my essays and last minute homework assignments before my Mom and Aunt Karen arrived. It seemed like only a little while ago they were telling me when they were coming and before I knew it they were on there way!

Winding Down

Wow. I have really neglected my blog lately. I have just been so incredibly busy. It is unbelievable. First I was finishing all my final papers before my Mom and Aunt Karen arrived, then I was showing them all around London and the last couple days I have been packing up all my stuff. I leave for Greece in the morning for 5 days! I am quite excited to soak up some sun and warm weather. However, this means that I will not be able to post again until after Greece in 5 days. Bear with me I will get this updated. Apologies again for not writing lately. I promise after I get home from Greece I will get this all updated, even if I have to keep updating when I am back home in Iowa. Cheers!

London Spring Fever

Sorry I haven't written in a while. I have been very busy finishing up my finals before my Mom and Aunt Karen arrived. They are now here and we are having a great time. I will explain about all that later, but first I am behind a couple weeks! Spring has hit London. It is quite lovely. The trees are gorgeous and blooming all around the city. The parks have come alive with flowers and people. The week after I returned from Ireland was a wonderful week in London where I explored some new places and visited some of my old favorites. My time is really winding down here and I struggling to visit everything I enjoy again!

On Tuesday I had my internship. This was a pretty typical day. I worked on another newsletter for Hoxton Trust. This time my objective was to market the newsletter towards the local community. Karina, my supervisor, has discovered that the local community needs their own newsletter from the Trust which takes into consideration the educational background, interests and needs of the community. I don't mind making newsletters as I will be able to put these in my work book for future job interviews. Karina took me to a lovely little cafe for lunch. We got a whole pot of tea and some tea treats with our sandwiches. It was very nice and a great British experience.

Wednesday morning I had my advertising class. That afternoon I decided to go to a museum, since I wasn't able to go to one on Monday because I was coming home from Ireland. I had heard good reviews on the London Transport Museum and decided to check it out. This was the first museum in London that I had to pay to get into. It was only 5 pounds and worth the money. The London Transport Museum explains the transport heritage of the city of London. The museum starts with the first horses and buggies and ends with the newest form of Underground. The majority of the museum's exhibits are actual conserved methods of transportation. There was an original double decker red bus on exhibit. It had the bar on the back end where people could just hop on and hop off. They also had the old horse buggies, horse cabs, and horse trams. I never even knew there were such things as horse trams, which is basically a coach on tracks, but pulled by horses. It was really interesting to learn how the methods of transportation have evolved over centuries. I enjoyed learning all about the Underground. They had information on everything, from how it first started to when and why different lines. I really enjoyed the exhibit that showed the evolution of advertising on the Underground, as well as the evolution of the Underground map. It is such a complex system today and it is really amazing how it all came together! I spent quite a bit of time at the museum. It was really very interesting! Picture below of conserved buses on exhibit at the museum.


On Thursday I had my British Experience class. We are learning a lot about the history of Britain through World War 2. The British perspective on the wars is completely different than what I have learned in the past. It is quite interesting because Britain actually fought some of WW2 on their own land. In the States we typically get the impression that we were the heroes and won the war all by ourselves. The British have different views, but they do give the US credit where it is due. I have also been intrigued by how much WW2 effected Britain as a country and society. Everyone had to ration food during the war and they continued to ration for 10 years after the war was over. Britain is an island and it was very hard for them to make their own food and import what they needed from the various countries in Europe. It is largely stipulated that the small proportions of food served today are due to the long rationing period Britain endured after the war. They had to learn to eat less. It is incredible what people had to survive on while rationing food.

Continuing on with my learning about WW2 from a British perspective, one of our assignments was to visit the Imperial War Museum. I was actually really glad this was a required assignment because otherwise I probably wouldn't have gone. I learned so much and thought it was great. The first thing you see when you walk into the Imperial War Museum are huge, conserved army fighter jets and tankers. It was pretty neat to see these things up close since I have never seen anything like this before in real life. They had so many brilliant exhibits. I really enjoyed the real-life Trench experience. Here the museum created a replica of a trench during the war. It was so realistic. I was really impressed with how realistic the whole experience felt. I learned so much about WW2 that I didn't know just from the British aspect. There is a big impact on a country when the war is fought on the home-front.
I appreciated the various collections of advertisements the museum had on display from the war era. I spent a lot great deal of time in the Holocaust exhibit. I couldn't believe some of the things I learned and read about. What an absolutely awful situation. I have learned about the Holocaust in school, but never as in depth as I experienced at this exhibit. What an eye opening experience. I spent 3 hours in the museum and was worn out from everything I had absorbed. The rest of the day was devoted to homework. I had a couple of final essays that I wanted to get out of the way before my family came to visit me! Picture below of the Imperial War Museum.

On Saturday I went back to the Portabello Road Market. What an excellent market. This market is located in a section of London called Notting Hill (Notting Hill,the movie was filmed here). It is such a nice area. I had a wonderful day to go to the market, as it was the warmest day I had experienced in London yet. The market was alive and thriving. There were tons of stalls selling antiques, knickknacks and gifts. The best part of the market is just looking at everything. There was also excellent food. I tried a fruit smoothie that was delicious. I also got a cupcake from the well-known bakery. I walked all the way through the market checking everything out. I have my eye on some items that I want to take home for souvenirs! Below is a picture of a selection of teacups and saucers for sale at the market.


On Sunday London was hosting the London Marathon. I just had to go check this out since the finish line was right in front of Buckingham Palace and I live only a few blocks away. It was amazing and quite inspiring. First I watched the Elite men and women come through. I couldn't believe how fast they were going, even after 25 miles. Wow. After the Elite (professional marathon runners) finished, the people just started coming in the masses. I couldn't believe how many people participate in this. All the streets along the route were lined with bystanders and fans clapping and cheering. I have noticed that when the British cheer they yell "hey" rather than "go" or etc. It was pretty fun as the local audience really got into the race. Another interesting thing that I noticed while watching the marathon was that the local audience favored the women. When I woman would run past in a pack of men, everyone would cheer, "Hey there is a woman, you go girl!" It was hilarious! I also couldn't believe how many older people were running. There were men and women that looked like great-grandparents running out there. The saddest part was to see some people just collapse or cramp up because of the strain that puts on your body. The crowd was always really supportive and cheered the person to get back into it. I guess I just felt really bad for those people because they had come so far and their body just quit. From running track, I know the feeling of having your body shutdown even though your brain is telling your legs to run. It is just so frustrating. I can't even imagine the strain 26 miles puts on a person. However, it looked like so much fun! The finish line was the best. Everyone crossing the finish line was so happy. They raised their hands in the air and cheered. It is quite an accomplishment. The face of the runners as they crossed the finish line were priceless. I ended up watching the marathon for 3 hours. It was just fascinating to take in everything. There were some interesting characters in the race too. Some people were dressed like bananas while others dressed like Fred Flinstone. The pure joy, happiness, and relief on the faces of participants crossing the finish line was amazing. The crowed support was also another great aspect of the marathon. The whole event was huge for London, as the route took place all over London. I had never seen anything like the London Marathon. It was a blast. Pictures below of the race and the athletes running past Buckingham Palace to the finish line.

Ireland!

After getting back from Canterbury Friday evening I caught the 8:00 train to Holyhead, Wales. Holyhead is a small town in North Wales right on the Irish sea. There is a large port in Holyhead where a ferry runs to and from Dublin, Ireland. The whole journey from London to Dublin by train and ferry only cost me 30 pounds. It was quite the deal. My train ride was dreadful. It was supposed to take about 4 hours from London to Holyhead, but it ended up taking almost 5 hours. We were at a standstill for about 45 minutes at one point because someone had jumped in front of the train. The ambulance and police had to come and it was an ordeal. Elliot resides in Bangor, Wales, which is the last stop before Holyhead. Finally he joined me on the train and we continued the half hour journey on to Holyhead. By the time we arrived it was almost 1:30 in the morning. Our ferry left at 2:30 though so we had plenty of time to shuttle to the port and board the ferry. I was very impressed with the ferry. I thought it was going to be just a small boat for walking passengers only. However, it was like a mini cruise ship where car passengers could just drive right on and bring their vehicle with them. The inside was very nice too. There were lounges, restaurants and even a theater. If it wouldn't have been so early in the morning I would have explored around a bit more. We found ourselves a nice comfy bench and fell right asleep. Although traveling through the night is not very ideal, Elliot and I are both running out of weekends to do things. Also it cuts the cost of accommodation. The ferry journey took about 3 hours and we got to Dublin at 6 in the morning. I didn't feel very rested, but I was ready for a gorgeous day in Ireland. Below picture of the ferry.

As soon as we got off the ferry we got in line to buy our return journey tickets. This proved to be quite a situation because this was at the height of volcanic ash craziness. By now all the planes had been grounded for 2 days and everyone visiting Ireland wanted out. Since Ireland is an island they had to take the ferry due to the airlines all being grounded because of Iceland's volcano erupting and blowing ash over Europe. It was utter madness. We ended up having to get a later ferry home then we would have liked because the earlier one was already booked full! People were in a panic to get back to the UK.

We took a bus into town from the port and got dropped off near the spot where our tour departed. We thought it left at 7:00, but we found out that it didn't actually leave until 8:00. So we had time to grab some breakfast. All I wanted was a hot chocolate and a muffin, but there wasn't anywhere open that early in the morning. Dublin doesn't wake up until noon. It wasn't long before we boarded our Paddywagon Bus tour to head through the Irish country side to the Cliffs of Moher. Dublin is the capital city on the East side of the island (closest to the UK). The Cliffs of Moher are all the way on the West side of the island. I was very excited for the tour because I have been wanting to go to Ireland ever since some big movies have been filmed in the countryside there. There were about 50 people on our tour bus. We had a long drive to the other side of the island, but made some nice stops on the way. First we just stopped at a convenient store to use the restroom, but we were able to get some breakfast too. Our next stop was at Bunratty Castle, a glorious monument to 12th century military architecture. It was very impressive. There were also two cute little shops and a restaurant by the castle. I had some banana bread and Elliot had a chocolate bar at this stop. The banana bread didn't taste like my Grandma's, but it was still pretty good since I haven't had any in so long. I wanted to shop a little bit more here, but we only stopped for about 20 minutes before we were on the road again. After this stop we got off the freeway and started seeing some more countryside. It really was beautiful. They have stone walls built all over Ireland as gates and fences. I also saw a ton of sheep and cattle.

Before too long we arrived at the Cliffs of Moher. The Cliffs of Moher, that tower above the Atlantic Ocean, are the most popular attraction in Ireland. They are considered one of the top sights to see in the world too. It was a wonderful day outside and there were quite a few visitors at the cliffs. Our tour guide warned us not to go to close to the edge and that it was pretty dangerous and then set us loose. It was a little hike to get up to the top of the cliffs, but the views were incredible. I can't even explain it. I have never seen anything like this before. The cliffs were so steep and the ocean at the bottom looked miles away. It was a little scary to peer over the edge to the rocks below, but so pretty. You would definitely die if you fell over, no doubt about it. We walked all along the cliffs. The fresh air coming off the ocean was fabulous. Since this is a hard place to explain unless you go there, I have included lots of pictures below!




Spending an hour and a half at the cliffs was really nice. Then we all met back at the tour bus. We had to wait for some people because they were late and our tour guide wasn't very pleased. Then a girl my age got on the bus laughing and said her friend was still up at the cliffs. Well this really pissed our tour guide off. He went into a small tantrum and said we were leaving her and that this will teach her not to be late and her friend to laugh in his face. He also said a few other choice words in Irish. The whole situation was quite comical to Elliot and I, but our tour guide ranted on about it for 10 minutes. Our guide was a typical Irish guy probably in his 20's. He was really fun and gave us lots of history and information as he drove. He even sang us Irish songs. He was a pretty good singer too. Elliot and I laughed so hard at some of the songs and some of his comments. It was quite comical to hear him pronounce anything that had a 3 in it. Instead of sounding like three, his Irish accent sounded like tree. We really enjoyed him.

We stopped for lunch in Doolin Village at a pub shortly after the cliffs. It was kind of like buffet style where the food was already prepared we just had to go through the line a choose what we wanted. Elliot and I each had what was called a meat bap. It was basically a gourmet bun with your choice of meat and some potatoes. I had ham and Elliot had pork loin. It was excellent. It has been a really long time since I have had a nice slice of meat. Elliot also had a pint of Guinness, which is the Irish made beer. It is so popular in Ireland.

Next we started our way back to Dublin along Galway Bay. The scenery was incredible. We made two more short stops. Our first stop was at The Burren, which is a lunar landscape with limestone rock everywhere. It is no wonder they have so many stone walls in Ireland, because they have so much rock here. I wasn't much into this rocky expanse, but we were only there a short while. On the way to our next stop the bus got stopped by an "Ireland traffic jam" - a herd of cattle. It was so cool. This is exactly what I expected Ireland countryside to be like. It only took a little while before we were back on the road again. Next we stopped at an old church. The flowers around the church were very nice. We continued on our journey home to Dublin after this. It was probably a three hour ride; my tiredness got the best of me and I slept for most of the ride back to Dublin. We arrived in Dublin around 9:00. It took us a little while to find our hostel even though it was on O'Connell Street, the most popular street in Dublin. After spending the previous night on the train and ferry, it was really nice to have a bed to sleep in. We were exhausted after not getting much sleep the night before and an all day tour. Below pictures of the Galway Bay that we drove along.

On Sunday we had plenty of time to explore Dublin. We were really surprised by how dead the city was in the morning. It didn't start to get busy until at least 1:00. We walked along the River Mersey that runs through Dublin. It was a pretty gross river compared to all the other large cities that I have visited. However, it was a great day again. We went to Trinity College, a very popular, beautiful campus in Dublin. We also saw St. Patrick's Cathedral. We enjoyed a park for a little while too. We didn't go to the Guinness Factory, where they produce the famous Irish brew, because Elliot had already been there and I didn't really have any desire to go. We ate a nice meal in the Temple Bar area of Dublin. The Temple Bar area is a very popular district in Dublin for nightlife. It was pretty dead in the day time, but there were some nice souvenir shops to look in. Below pictures of St. Patrick's Cathedral and us in Dublin.


Soon I learned that Dublin is not a very exciting city as there isn't a whole lot to do there. It was also a really expensive city. We had pretty much seen everything there was to see by 3:00, so we went to a movie. We saw Cemetery Junction, a British film about 3 boys trying to make it out of a small town in England. It was pretty good and a nice culture experience. After the movie we grabbed some supper before we caught the bus to the ferry port. Our ferry left at 09:00. By this time it had been 4 days since all the flights had been grounded due to the volcanic ash. The ferry was so busy. There was a huge line way out the door just to buy ferry tickets. Elliot and I were really glad we had gotten our tickets when we got off. The ferry was so packed that we couldn't even find a place to sit down. A lot of the passengers were visitors that had been stranded in Ireland and couldn't get home because of the airline closures. We camped out on the floor for the ride back to Holyhead. We got into Holyhead around 1:00. We thought we would just catch a train the half hour ride to Bangor, where Elliot is located. However, the next train going that way wasn't leaving until 4:25 in the morning. We couldn't believe it. Neither one of us really wanted to spend the night in the train station. We decided to go see if there were any buses headed that way, but they were all done until the morning too. We asked a taxi how much to get to Bangor and it he told us 60 pounds. We definitely were not going to do that. We waited around for a little while trying to figure out if there was any other way to get to Bangor. I noticed that there was only 1 taxi driver left outside by this time and no customers so I decided to go bargain with him. He at first told me 60 pounds. I told him no. Then he said how about 45. In the mean time Elliot was bargaining with some bus driver that was taking an entire bunch of stranded passengers to London. Elliot got him to drop us off near Bangor for 30 pounds. I could have just rode the bus all the way back to London, but it was pretty expensive and I had train tickets for the following day. The bus dropped us off a little outside of Bangor on the highway and continued the route to London. It was pitch dark and we had to walk for a mile or so to get to Bangor. However we were home by 3 in the morning, which was a lot better than waiting for the 4:25 train and sleeping in the station all night.

We had quite the weekend of traveling. Even though I wasn't very fond of Dublin, I really enjoyed Ireland. It was a great experience and I would definitely go back again. Although I was really happy to get back to London and my own bed. It surprises me how much London feels like home. Whenever I get back from traveling it is always a relief to be back in London. I uploaded a bit smaller photos this time, so click to enlarge!

That is very 'posh'

The week after Spring Break wasn't exactly relaxing. This week it really hit me that I have about a month left here. I can't believe how fast time goes by. I am going to hate to leave. Everything in London seemed to get greener and bloom while I was away on Spring Break, making the city even more fabulous in the Spring. I did a lot of typical London and British things this week!

On Monday I got back into my routine of Museum Monday. I decided to go to Tate Modern, which I had heard a lot of great things about. This is a fairly new museum, opened in 2000 to celebrate the Millennium. The building actually used to be a power station in the heart of London. It is situated right on the bank of the River Thames all the way across town. I hadn't been to this area in a while so it was nice to pay a visit again. Tate Modern belongs to the same family of Tate Museums as Tate Britain, which I blogged about going to a few weeks back. Of course, Tate Modern, is the national gallery of international modern art. Although I didn't enjoy my last experience with modern art, I thought I would give it another chance. Well let me just say I still don't like modern art. Some of the pieces I think a 2 year old could have done better and other pieces just creep me out. I found one piece in the entire museum that I would actually like to own. It was a sewn world map framed. Each of the countries was their own flag sewn over the shape of the land. It was pretty neat. I was impressed by the detail and time it must have taken to complete. The parts that were most impressive were the areas in the world with many countries all packed in closely together, like South America and parts of Europe. Sometimes I forget how large of a country the US really is. However, traveling around Europe has made me realize the vast amount of land we occupy. I didn't spend too much time in Tate Modern. I was more impressed with the architecture of the building than the art work. I think I will stray away from modern art in the future. Picture below of Tate Modern.

On Tuesday I had my internship. My supervisor, Karina, was on time today, so I didn't have to wait outside the door getting weird looks by all the locals! I fit in pretty well in Central London. However in the borough where my internship is located, I am definitely a minority. I don't ever feel threatened, but I am greatly aware that I don't belong. Today I worked on updating the company's database. It was boring and not very much fun to stare at the computer all day. My supervisor had an optician appointment and was gone for a good portion of the day. This left me alone at the Trust. Tuesday is not a busy day at the Trust because they do not have English classes or legal advice services offered on this day, therefore no one is there. Before Karina left she told me that I shouldn't let anyone in and to meet her for lunch at a cafe up the street at 1:30. I was kind of shocked that she told me not to let anyone in, like it was unsafe. DUH! Karina doesn't fit into the local area either, so she must kind of get it. I didn't really feel scared because even I have to ring a button to get into the Trust. Then Karina answers and pushes the buzzer to unlock the door. I had access to all this while she was out. It is actually quite fun to use since it is like the something you would see in a movie and exciting compared to Iowa businesses where you just walk through the front door. I am assuming a normal London business would have a full time secretary to answer the door and buzz people in, however, this is a charity.

I locked up the Trust and met Karina for lunch at the cafe. She was a half an hour late, but I just enjoyed some tea and read the paper. Lateness used to be one of my biggest irritations. However, I find myself handling Karina's habit quite well (I guess I kind of have to handle it well since she is my boss)! Karina finally arrived and she wanted to hear all about my Spring Break. It was nice to talk to her about my trip since she has been to all of the places and can relate. She thinks it is great that I jet off every weekend to see something new. I asked her how she had been and she went on to tell me that an old boyfriend had rang her up and confessed he still loved her. Wow, that is not something you expect your supervisor to tell you, but I do appreciate good gossip! She said that it was all very flattering, but he has a serious wife and lots of kids, besides she doesn't really fancy him anymore! Ha ha. It is so hard to talk to this lady and not laugh in her face. I quite enjoy our conversations though. I had a very tasty jacket potato with bacon and cheese fixings before we headed back to the Trust. I told Karina that I would have to leave early this day because I was going to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with my program that night. She said, Oh that is very posh! Posh is a British word associated with upper-class, fashionable, elegant, and expensive. I think Karina was surprised that I was going there with my program, however, my program director is very posh himself. I love this new word! Later on in the day while working on the database Karina nonchalantly asked me if we were still in April. I was like WHAT? (The date was April 13)I wanted to say April just started, but instead I just said yep. I love this lady, but wonder if she might be slightly mental sometimes!Below a picture of me at my desk at Hoxton Trust and the building.


The tube was packed on the way home and my journey was over 45 minutes to get home. I had to rush to change clothes quick before heading off to the Royal Festival Hall for the orchestra. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is one of UK's leading orchestras. I wasn't honestly looking forward to the orchestra that much, since I am not a big music person. However, it was free, my friends were going and a good British experience. To my surprise, I was extremely impressed! I have never been to more than a High School Band Concert, so listening to an orchestra was wonderful. I especially appreciated the pianist playing the huge grand piano. I don't think I have ever seen a piano so large or fingers move so fast across the keys. It was fabulous. The rest of the band sounded great too, even to my out of tune ears. I must admit I was someone who used to make fun of band geeks, but this experience definitely gave me a new perspective. The orchestra played Glinka's Overture to Rusian & Ludmilla, Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto and Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 2. I couldn't believe how the conductor jumped around on the platform waving his wand everywhere; he really got into it. Another thing that surprised me at the orchestra was the amount of applause. The pianist and the conductor both bowed, went off stage and came back out to bow again 3 or 4 times. I just wanted them to stay on stage until the clapping stopped, but they would just go off stage and then come back on over and over again. It was nuts. I really enjoyed the orchestra a lot more than I thought and I was very pleased that I went. Below is a picture of the Orchestra.

Wednesday and Thursday were catch up days filled with class, homework, lots of laundry and a few walks in the park. On Friday the whole program went on a day trip to Canterbury. The coach picked us up at 8:30 and we were in Canterbury by 10:30. Canterbury, a World Heritage Site and home of the popular Canterbury tales, is a small English town South of London with a lot of history. I really liked Canterbury. It was one of those little towns that looked nice to live in. Canterbury is famous for the Canterbury Cathedral,which we toured. I enjoyed having a guided tour of the Cathedral. The tour gave me a lot more information on the history of England and the Cathedral. The Cathedral is the place where the Canterbury Archbishop, Thomas Becket, was murdered by King Henry the 8th's knights. Shortly after the Pope made him a saint, St. Thomas. After our tour we ate some lunch and browsed around the rest of the town. We had a beautiful day to walk around. We saw the Canterbury Castle and the old town gate. Of course we did a little shopping too. It was a really nice day trip. Then we headed back to London and I took off for Ireland! Pictures below of Canterbury.

Spring Break: Rome

On Wednesday night Elliot and I arrived in Rome from Florence. Rome is a large city with a lot going on everywhere. My first impression of Rome was dirty and smelly. Then again we arrived the main transport hub, which is hard to keep from getting dirty and smelly. By the time we left, Rome was really growing on me and I liked the city. Our first order of business was finding our hostel. It was only about 6 blocks from the train station in a fairly nice area. There were a lot of little Italian restaurants in the area. At all of the restaurants they had a guy outside trying to get you to eat at the restaurant. One of the guys asked Elliot and I if we were from the States or Germany. We laughed at this and said the States. Then he guessed Chicago and we said close enough. It is so interesting how well the locals can spot out tourists. All over Rome there were scooters, similar to the mo-ped Sam drives around town, whizzing all over. Rome was different than any other city I have ever visited. After checking into our hotel we were led a few blocks to another building with about 8 rooms and 2 bathrooms. The building was on the same block as the Russian Embassy, so the hotel receptionist told us we were in a safe neighborhood. I doubt that the Russian soldiers standing outside the embassy would have cared less if some weirdo came into our building, but nice selling point. This was our least favorite hostel, mainly because we had to share 2 bathrooms with 14 other people. It wasn't too big of a problem, but sometimes we had to wait to use the restrooms and showers. The beds were clean and it suited us just fine since we were hardly in the room. I did spot a spider in our room which didn't really appeal to me either. Amazingly enough, that was only the 2nd spider I have seen since being abroad. As far as I have noticed I don't think they have the bugs and insects like we do in the States. We talked about going out for some gelato this night, but we were too tired from the long day walking all over Florence.

On Thursday we really explored Rome. We started with breakfast in a cafe near our hostel. Then we headed in the direction of the Trevi Fountain. On the way we ran into the Quirinal Palace, which is the official residence of the President of the Italian Republic. There were a lot of guards and security, but a pretty nice Palace. It seemed like every block in Rome had some piece of history to admire. We never had to walk to far before we spotted something interesting. Next, we discovered the very impressive Trevi Fountain. The Fontana de Trevi, as it is called in Rome, is the most famous and largest fountain in Rome. It is claimed to be filled with Rome's sweetest waters because the fountain was first supplied water by one of the ancient aqueducts. It is a traditional legend that if visitors throw a coin into the fountain they are sure to return. Of course, Elliot and I threw a coin in and got some pictures. I was surprised by how busy the fountain was. There were tourists everywhere. Below pictures at the fountain.


After the fountain we continued on to the Spanish Steps. Yet another amazing sight to see, also loaded with visitors. We found most of Rome was packed with tourists from all over the world; it is a very popular and exciting city. The Spanish Steps are the longest and widest staircase in Europe. Despite the name, the steps were built by the French to connect the Spanish Square, at the base of the hill, to the French-owned church, Trinita dei Monti, at the top of the hill. At the time the staircase was built, the Spanish Square was home to the Spanish Embassy, headquarters of the Spanish ambassador to the Holy See, hence the name of the steps and square. Now that I gave you a little history lesson, on with our day! Elliot and I climbed to the top of the steps for a legendary view of Rome. Below picture at the Spanish Steps.

Our next stop was Pincian Hill, which overlooks the Piazza del Popolo. The Piazza del Popolo is a large square that literally means the People's Square. There were some nice statues and fountains in the square. We enjoyed the view of the square from Pincian Hill before going to check it out. Italy is famous for all their piazzas or squares. They are always grand areas with impressive statues and fountains. We browsed around this area for awhile until we found a sandwich store for lunch. Below picture of Piazza dei Popolo.

The weather in Rome was incredible. I wore jeans and short sleeves most days; Elliot even wore shorts a couple times. The weather in London is just downright cold, which is probably why Britons are a culture known to complain about the weather. It is most always overcast and hasn't gotten too far above 50 degrees yet. So I was really enjoying the Italian sunshine. Later that afternoon we walked down to the Pantheon, which is the greatest surviving complete Roman structure. Previously a temple, then a church; it is now a shrine to Italy's immortals. The Pantheon was free to enter and a lot more impressive on the interior. We then walked about a block to the Piazza Navona. This square used to be an arena that held athletic competitions and games, which is why it is rectangular shaped. Today there is a prominent statue in the center and fountains on either side. The whole square is surrounded by Italian restaurants. There were tons of vendors in the square selling their artwork, which was interesting to look at. From here we walked to the Piazza Campo de Fiori, which literally means field of flowers. This square obtains this name because it used to actually be a meadow. Today the square holds a large fruit, vegetable and fish market. Normally I am all about the markets, but by this time it was about 3:00 and the market was pretty much over except for smelly fish scraps, so we got out of there pretty quick. Below pictures of the Pantheon and Piazza Navona.


Next we walked down to the Ancient City of Rome. The very first thing we ran into was a large impressive museum. Here the Colosseum came into view. Seeing it for the first time was very impressive and exciting. I have seen hundreds of pictures of the Colosseum, but it was completely different to be standing next to it. We walked all the way around the Colosseum taking pictures and admiring its pure size and history, the whole time marveling in the fact that we were actually there. We decided to try to buy tickets for the next day because I had read in my Rome travel book that lines can be horrendous at this sight. Since it was later in the day the line only took us about 15 minutes and we were able to buy next day tickets. Then we walked up a small little street where a guy suckered us into eating at his restaurant. Since we had been eating sandwiches or pizza by the slice to go the whole trip we decided some Italian pasta would be tasteful. Eating at a sit down restaurant in Italy can be expensive because they charge you just to sit down. Most people were having wine with their meals, which didn't really appeal to us, but even water cost too. Elliot and I both ordered pasta. It was very good, as was the bread we got with it. We headed on our long journey home with full bellies. We got a little lost and ended up walking the wrong way for a little bit. However, we ran into a great cathedral. We also found some gelato for dessert. It ended up taking us an hour and a half to get home from the restaurant by the Colosseum, but we were getting some excellent Rome culture and sight seeing in. Finally we ran into the train station from the night before. I stopped into a little shop to get some Cokes. The clerk asked me where I was from when I was checking out. I told him the States and he then told me he was from Bangladesh. What interesting people you meet traveling! Speaking of getting Cokes. Coke is the cola brand of Europe. Pepsi is hardly sold anywhere. I have yet to see a mountain dew here either. It is all Coke or Diet Coke, which is fine with me because I like Coke the best anyways. Sorry Grandma Debbie! Below pictures of us at the Colosseum.


After making our way home, Elliot and I were pretty worn out and sunburned from walking all over for the entire day. Elliot estimated we walked 6 miles. Wow. We both crashed at 10:00. Another good thing about traveling with Elliot is that we both aren't into the party or nightlife scene. I don't think we would have been able to get up early every day and see all the sights if we would have been out late partying every night.

On Friday we got a Metro pass, which is Rome's underground train transportation system. I wasn't overly impressed with this system as it only had two lines, but it was better than walking all over since we were going to further sights this day. The pass only cost 4 euros too. We started off at the Colosseum, which is a huge, ancient stadium where arched combat went on for 500 years. Criminals, slaves and gladiators fought each other or wild animals, often to death. Since we had gotten tickets the night before we just walked straight past the huge line of people. The inside of the Colosseum was interesting. There were a ton of posters with tidbits of ancient Roman history all over. We spent a good deal of time reading about the history. I learned that some 5,000 animals were slaughtered in a day for 100 days in a continuous gala in 72 AD. By the end of this gala many animals around the area were nearly extinct. We then walked all around the inside of the Colosseum on the top level and bottom level. The Colosseum felt a lot smaller from the inside and I was pretty surprised how much of it had deteriorated. After the Colosseum we visited the Roman Forum, which was the political and civic heart of the empire with the biggest and most important forums in the world. Today it is basically a mishmash of old pillars and jumbled stones which don't make much sense. Elliot and I didn't spend much time here. However we did enjoy the orange trees, cypresses, wild flowers that grew within the remains. More pictures of the Colosseum below.


After some pizza for lunch, we were of to the Vatican City! The Vatican City is a separate sovereign state within Rome, and home to the great basilica of St. Peter's and a series of museums with some of the world's richest and most varied collection of art and objects. St Peter's basilica was by far the most impressive thing we saw on the entire trip. It was absolutely massive with an overwhelming sense of scale and decorative glory. The basilica is located in St. Peter's square with 284 large white columns surrounding it. You can't get a better historic sight either, the basilica was actually built on the site where St. Peter was buried after his crucifixion. Not to mention this is home to the one and only Pope. We had to wait in a long line to get in and go through security first. The first thing we saw were the Swiss Guards. The official guards in charge of protecting the Pope are recruited from Switzerland's four predominantly Catholic schools. Each must be between 19 and 25, at least 5ft 8in. tall and remain unmarried during their tour of duty. Their distinctive red, yellow and blue uniforms that they still wear today were designed by Michelangelo. The interior of the basilica was quite astonishing. Elliot and I spent a good deal of time in the basilica and outside around St. Peter's Square. Pictures below of St. Peter's Square, St. Peter's Basilica, and the Pope's Guards.






Next we saw the Vatican Museums. There were huge gated walls all around the Vatican Museum. After this we got some great Gelato at a really popular gelateria. They gave you the biggest scoops; it was delicious! After our gelato break we headed to Castel Sant'Angelo. This used to be a fortress and castle, but today it is another museum. We didn't go inside the museum, but the area around it was quite nice to explore. The castle sat right on the river and featured two main bridges with statues lined across them. We actually ran into my roommate here, who was also visiting Rome. Small world. After this we headed home for a little rest before supper. Below pictures of the Catel Sant'Angelo and bridge.


That night we went out to a nice little restaurant in our area. The food was great! We had some really good bruschetta. Elliot order some kind of pasta and encouraged me to try something new. I got this dish that had sausage rolled up inside big noodles with cheese. A little surprising because I didn't realize the dish even contained meat, but it was good. We went to the Trevi Fountain after supper as we had heard it was nice to see this site at night too. The water all lit up, flowing down the statue was pretty cool. However, the fountain was more packed with people at night then in the daylight. I couldn't believe it. Below the Trevi Fountain at night.


Saturday was our last day in Rome. We had pretty much seen everything we wanted to already so we had just planned on hitting up some markets and getting some souvenirs. While we were walking around shopping we saw a scooter rental place. Elliot was intrigued to say the least. We checked into the prices and ended up renting a scooter for a few hours. When in Rome... It was only 35 euros for 3 hours, which is about 50 dollars. I didn't really feel comfortable driving one by myself around the crazy city of Rome, so we just got one and I hopped on the back. The guy gave us helmets and a quick lesson and we were off! It was a pretty crazy, exciting adventure. We started just cruising, but by the end of our time Elliot was driving like a Roman. It was a great way to see all the sights one last time. We went all over. It is amazing how quick we could get around on the little motorized thing! Actually Elliot did a pretty good job driving the entire time and I just sat on the back taking pictures and giving directions. We only had one moment when I freaked out because Elliot went under a tunnel going pretty fast. There were no other scooters in the tunnel, just really fast cars; I thought we were for sure bound for the freeway or something. Ha ha good times. After 3 hours on the scooter we were starving and grabbed our last meal of pizza. We also had some last gelato. By then it was time to get our suitcase and get to the airport. Below pictures of us on the scooter and a picture I got while riding around.


The flight from Rome to London was really nice. It took a little over 2 hours. British Airways treats their passengers just lovely. We got chicken salad sandwiches and drinks. Food and drink on airplanes is a luxury after flying budget airlines that give you nothing at all. Elliot ordered just a bloody mary mix and got a little tiny bottle of vodka to go with it for free. We really couldn't believe that! We got into London at about 10:00 and just had to take the tube journey home.

Overall I really enjoyed Rome. There was so much to see there. I had been warned that it was a pretty dangerous city with a lot of pickpockets and creepy men. I didn't have trouble with either. The men would look at you and didn't care who noticed, but they never said anything or made me feel in danger. However, it probably helped I was with Elliot the whole trip! Hopefully, the fountain legend holds true and I go back some day. The whole Spring Break trip was wonderful. It was a life changing experience that really made me realize how big the world is. I can't wait to return to all of the wonderful places I visited.