we arrived into Barca and were soon on our way to Danielle's piso where we were to meet up with her flatmate (Danielle was visiting Rome at the time). we had amazing directions but to our dismay, no one answered the intercom "bell" when we rung her piso number. it was getting a bit late and we didn't know what to do, so our first instinct was to find WiFi so that Kristen's ipod would connect to the internet. around the corner we finally got service and immediately messaged Jayne, who had just gotten to Barcelona the day before. Thank goodness she responded in no time and gave us the hotel that she and her family were staying at so that we could have a place to stay while we figured things out. What a lifesaver! It took a bit to actually find the hotel..we even attempted to speak spanish to an elderly couple but it was no use since the people of Barcelona mainly speak Catalon. Since it was nearly 9pm or so once we arrived to the hotel, we ended up just sleeping on the floor so that we didn't have to travel off at nighttime.
the following morning we joined jayne and her family to the museu d'art contemporani de barcelona, which was a contemporary art museum. i love art, but i just don't get the contemporary part of it...not my style. we then admired beautiful buildings designed by architect, Gaudi, which were pretty neat to look at since we don't have anything like it back in the states! pretty soon, our tummies were rumbling and we ate lunch outside where we had a bit of trouble communicating with our multiple servers. i think the first problem was that we had 3 servers, and they all got confused! first we had asked for an ice coffee, but rather than getting what any american would expect, we got a teeny, tiny teacup with a shot of hot espresso. where was the ice?? one of our servers then brought out a glass of ice cubes which we thought was pretty funny. we ended up just pouring the warm espresso over the ice and it didn't taste that bad after adding a bit of sugar! and despite the mixup for my meal's side, the food was delicious nonetheless. i had a thin crust pizza with scalloped potatoes and onions overtop, rather than the traditional sauce and cheese. it was SO good! definitely asking my mom to make that this summer ;)
afterwards, we headed to Sagrada Familia, but just looked at the outside since the line was pretty long and it cost €12 per person, which is a bit expensive when you're on a tight student budget. by that time, it was siesta time! i guess when you've been living in Spain for 3 months, obviously you're going to get accustomed to their culture. While everyone snoozed, I found a hostel for me and Kristen to spend the night at since we hadn't heard from Danielle about whether her flatmate was at home or not. So off we trekked to the other side of the city to find our accommodations for the evening. after an intense staircase that offered a gorgeous view of the city, we made it at last to the hostel. we were greeted with the sweetest girl who told us everything we needed to know about Barca and she quickly pulled out a huge map to show us all of the hotspots and what metro to take to get here, what bus to take to get there, etc.
the one good thing about staying somewhere in spain is that checkout isn't until noon, since they stay up so late. so we took advantage of not having to lug around our big ol' backpacks and got up early to go to Parc Guell before checkout. We saw beautiful views of the city and you can even see out onto the Mediterranean Sea. It was a bit cloudy but you could still tell that Barca is a huge city with so much to offer. Before it was too late, we made it back to our hostel to collect our things and then off we went to the Olympic Stadium where the Olympics were held in 1992. In order to get to the stadium you have to walk through the Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluña which is probably the most beautiful building that I saw in Barcelona--it looked like a giant castle. After roaming around this part of town for a bit, we then headed to the beach! We saw Port Olimpia which is filled to the max with sailboats. I don't think i've ever seen so many in my life! We saw people kite-surfing as well which reminded us of Alden and Richard out to sea traveling the caribbean on a boat...lucky guys. we watched people play beach volleyball for a while and then headed to a Spanish buffet where we literally stuffed our faces. we got to try paella which is a traditional spanish dish that has rice and typically seafood in it (ours had mussels). after eating more than we could handle, we decided to walk to Danielle's piso to see if her roommate happened to be in. It was getting to be almost 8:30pm so we decided that if we didn't get a response we would just go back to the hostel that we had stayed in the night before. Miraculously, her roommate answered and we were so so grateful. the girl's mom had flown over from the states so they had been out in the evenings which is why we had missed them previously. and to our delight, danielle came back from Italy about an hour after we had gotten to her piso. It was great to see Danielle and catch up on things over a bottle of wine (in Spain, wine is only €2 a bottle, which is insanely cheap compared to England's prices..and the wine is good too!) We were lucky to have a huge comfortable bed that night, giving us an ideal rest before we departed Spain the next morning. We definitely slept sweet! :)
Monday, May 2, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
¡yo no quiero agua; yo quiero bebida!
we flew into valencia via Vueling airlines, and after flying RyanAir to get to Paris and then to Seville, Vueling felt like a luxury flight, mainly because it was such a smooth landing. (RyanAir is known for their 'rocky' landings which can make you feel a bit uneasy as the plane shakes around). we were quickly greeted by Elissa as we made our way to the metro. it's so awesome how we became instant friends literally within one day (we met Elissa while on a tour in London) and that she was keen on letting us stay with her for the weekend in Spain. it seriously felt like we knew each other for much longer! she took us out on the town that night with several English friends. (it was almost as if we were back in England upon hearing their accents!). the Spanish party scene is so different from what I'm used to though.. typically you don't go to a club (discoteca) until 2am. So that's exactly what we did! and it's nice because there's no cover charge until 2:30am which gives you plenty of time to get there. The club had 2 levels, each playing the typical rap/hip-hop dancing music. I still can't get over how all the countries here in europe basically only listen to American music... whoever created MTV is definitely a mega-millionaire.
the next day we walked into town and had kabobs (this was kristen's first kabob experience). we sat outside and people-watched of course :) afterwards we heard drums being played so followed the beat and stumbled upon a huge crowd of mainly men dressed up in robes and playing a drumline. there were little boys also playing, probably around 4 years old, and they were too cute! we don't really know what it was for, but we guessed that maybe it had to do with the start of Holy Week for Easter. We then walked to the beach and the sun came out and it was just the right temperature for a siesta in the sand. we didn't even have towels or anything, but the beach was such a lovely mattress that we fell asleep instantly. we didn't wake up 'til 6pm! i'd say it was a successful spanish siesta! i dipped my toes in the mediterranean but it was entirely too cold to go in any further. at least i can say i've touched the mediterranean sea!
we then went back to elissa's piso and got ready for a traditional spanish dinner. again we ate outside, but not until around 11pm! there were about 15 of us, all students, and the people were from France, England, and Spain; and it was absolutely amazing listening to them talk because they all could speak at least 2 languages. I was listening to one of the girls talking in Spanish and all of a sudden she switched to English, and pretty soon she was speaking French! it was incredible. for our meal, i can't recall what the name of it was, but we ordered platters of various hams and cheeses and then platters of various seafood and you use them for toppings on bread. (what lots of europeans do is order big platters and then share whatever is on the table). and we had to have our sangria to accompany the spanish aura. we ate and talked for nearly two hours! then to end the dinner, the waiters served us shots. rather than mints, they have an herb liqueur that you take a shot of to wash your palate. yum!
we then all went to a club, again where entrance is free up until 2:30am, and to our delight there was a live band playing! They were from Holland and were pretty darn good! This time the club played indie/folk music so it was a neat atmosphere that allowed us to experience a different vibe from the night before. around 5am we made it back to elissa's.. so i can't say we stayed up 'til 8am which is what most spaniards do... but i'm satisfied with 5am. we actually found out that in order to stay for closing, you wouldn't leave until around 10am, whaaaat?! how wild.
well sunday morning was our time to pack up and say our goodbyes. after eating at a chinese buffet for lunch (whoever invented buffets is genius) we headed for the train station. and to anyone visiting spain, their trains are awesome! you get lots of leg room, the seats recline, and they even play a movie! I felt like i was back on an American airline! the views along the ride were breathtaking since it was all along the Mediterranean coast. there were giant cliffs and hills, and then i could spot people enjoying the sun on the beach, and people sailing. boy, how i've realized that i love the ocean/beach life!
¡adios, valencia!
the next day we walked into town and had kabobs (this was kristen's first kabob experience). we sat outside and people-watched of course :) afterwards we heard drums being played so followed the beat and stumbled upon a huge crowd of mainly men dressed up in robes and playing a drumline. there were little boys also playing, probably around 4 years old, and they were too cute! we don't really know what it was for, but we guessed that maybe it had to do with the start of Holy Week for Easter. We then walked to the beach and the sun came out and it was just the right temperature for a siesta in the sand. we didn't even have towels or anything, but the beach was such a lovely mattress that we fell asleep instantly. we didn't wake up 'til 6pm! i'd say it was a successful spanish siesta! i dipped my toes in the mediterranean but it was entirely too cold to go in any further. at least i can say i've touched the mediterranean sea!
we then went back to elissa's piso and got ready for a traditional spanish dinner. again we ate outside, but not until around 11pm! there were about 15 of us, all students, and the people were from France, England, and Spain; and it was absolutely amazing listening to them talk because they all could speak at least 2 languages. I was listening to one of the girls talking in Spanish and all of a sudden she switched to English, and pretty soon she was speaking French! it was incredible. for our meal, i can't recall what the name of it was, but we ordered platters of various hams and cheeses and then platters of various seafood and you use them for toppings on bread. (what lots of europeans do is order big platters and then share whatever is on the table). and we had to have our sangria to accompany the spanish aura. we ate and talked for nearly two hours! then to end the dinner, the waiters served us shots. rather than mints, they have an herb liqueur that you take a shot of to wash your palate. yum!
we then all went to a club, again where entrance is free up until 2:30am, and to our delight there was a live band playing! They were from Holland and were pretty darn good! This time the club played indie/folk music so it was a neat atmosphere that allowed us to experience a different vibe from the night before. around 5am we made it back to elissa's.. so i can't say we stayed up 'til 8am which is what most spaniards do... but i'm satisfied with 5am. we actually found out that in order to stay for closing, you wouldn't leave until around 10am, whaaaat?! how wild.
well sunday morning was our time to pack up and say our goodbyes. after eating at a chinese buffet for lunch (whoever invented buffets is genius) we headed for the train station. and to anyone visiting spain, their trains are awesome! you get lots of leg room, the seats recline, and they even play a movie! I felt like i was back on an American airline! the views along the ride were breathtaking since it was all along the Mediterranean coast. there were giant cliffs and hills, and then i could spot people enjoying the sun on the beach, and people sailing. boy, how i've realized that i love the ocean/beach life!
¡adios, valencia!
Saturday, April 23, 2011
soaking up the sun in seville
we landed in seville where it was hot hot hot! the hostel we stayed in was really nice, and it even had a kitchen to cook your own meals. they know we're on a tight budget! and the upstairs had roof access where there were hammocks so we could take a siesta! as soon as we got settled in we met jayne, and she is SO SO tan. it was great to see a face I hadn't seen since the start of December. we made plans to meet up later which at first was a bit of a disaster since we couldn't find each other. but after running around downtown for an hour we finally ran into each other and it all ended great. we didn´t get back til 430am and jayne even had an exam the next morning! on our walk back to the hostel, we witnessed the "street sweepers" who hose down the streets every single night. apparently sometimes they mess around with the girls and spray them too, but thank goodness that didn't happen to us! the next morning we went to a museum that was dedicated to christopher columbus and it had his journals/maps from his trip from when he discovered the americas. he actually sailed out of seville's port which is why he has a museum dedicated to his findings. he's even buried in seville. later in the afternoon, after taking a siesta on our hostel's rooftop, we went on a walking tour around the city and learned tons of interesting facts--for example, seville's streets are very narrow with tall buildings/pisos (flats) lining the streets and this is to block the sunlight and cool the air that travels down the streets. they attempted to keep cool in a variety of ways. i guess this is necessary when it reaches 115 degrees daily in the summertime! that evening, we met up with jayne, rachel, and israel where we had giant mojitos and drank them in the streets which were packed. i felt like i was in new orleans for mardi gras! and you could hear the roar of voices a couple blocks away. we then went across the river (which is gorgeous) to triana where we found a glass of a beer with a shot for only a euro, not too bad! the following morning we met up with jayne and went to the palace of alcazar. it was beautiful and had tons of gardens and even a maze that was alice in wonderland style. kristen and i then went to seville's cathedral, which is the largest gothic cathedral in the world, and the 3rd largest cathedral in general. lots of gypsies stand outside carrying rosemary where they try to get tourists to take the herb and then the gypsies bless you and proceed to tell your fortune (the typical "you will live long life, happy, 1 baby 2 baby...") and of course ask for money in the end. kristen and i got bombarded but eventually shooed them away. afterwards we lounged in a park and enjoyed the warm, sunny weather before heading to the airport for our next adventure.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
je ne parle pas français
kris & i started our euro adventure in liverpool, england. after a delayed train causing us to miss our switch in preston, we eventually made it to liverpool. we went to ´the beatles story´which is a museum dedicated to the beatles, since liverpool is where they grew up, started the band, and became famous. it actually made me want to stay in england forever. if ever you get a chance, definitely check out the museum. it was by far one of my favorites. the commentary was funny and interesting and at times even gave me the chills. after learning the history of the beatles, we flew out of liverpool and headed to paris, the city of love!
since we flew in so late the airport was pretty dead, which was nice because i´ve heard it can get pretty hectic with lots of pickpocketers. kris and i found our hostel and went off to bed to rest up for our exploration the next day. we decided to do another free walking tour, and kris and i ended up walking from 9am to 10pm. we started off the day with bread and jam at the hostel for breakfast (the french love their loafs of bread..think italian restaurant style). we then followed the map to the meeting place for the start of our tour, and let me just say kris and i are getting to be quite the map readers! on the way we realized what a clean city paris is! for as big as it is, there was not a bit of trash, and all of the trees were perfectly trimmed, and the flowers were all in bloom. we also noticed the cutest boutiques, shop after shop. their window displays and all of the clothes were so cute..too bad it´s so pricey! anyway, back to the tour...our tour guide was from scotland and she did an awesome job. of all the free tours, paris was by far my favorite. we saw buildings such as the Louvre, the arch, the Eiffel tower, and bridges while learning the history of Paris. It´s such a lovefest that there is a bridge dedicated to lovers who put a lock on the fence rail and then toss the key into the river, locking their love forever. there are hundreds upon hundreds of such locks, some engraved, some just written in marker with names and dates, of all shapes and sizes. another bridge we saw was the first stone bridge built in Paris. the king at the time was humiliated by friends because they didn´t think the stone bridge would stand and instead they thought it would collapse just like how all the wooden bridges rotted away. well, after he had it built, he hosted a party to celebrate the completion of the bridge. he invited tons of guests, many of whom were the ones who thought a stone bridge was a pathetic idea. he served wine and champagne which apparently isn´t a good combo. they got plastered and the king had an artist sketch a picture of them all after they were ´well pissed´ (english term for really, really drunk). he then had a sculptor sculpt out the heads of all of these faces, and he had them placed on the side of the bridge, in revenge to humiliate them. there is not a single duplicate of a face, and some even look goblin-like. a bitter revenge? i think so, since the whole world can now view them!
we ended the tour at a restaurant that had outside seating (literally every single place has outside seating with the chairs all facing the sidewalk/street so that you can people watch, how brill!). we had a view of the eiffel tower while we ate croque monsieur, a typical french sandwich, and sipped on some lovely white wine. the sandwich is like a toasted hot ham and cheese but it also has cheese toasted on top as well. i´m definitely going to start doing that at home! a grilled cheese with a twist...
my absolute favorite part of paris was of course the eiffel tower. we were advised to go at dusk to get the best of both worlds and see the tower right before the sun completely sets as well as when it´s silhouetted against the black sky. to my suprise there was no line to climb the 669 steps to the 2nd floor, so up we went! the views were spectacular, and as we climbed, the skies became dark and we were greeted with a lighted tower that sparkles every hour on the hour for 10 minutes. the sights were great, but did you know the empire state building is taller? once we descended all 669 steps, we gazed once again and waited for the tower to start its glittering. we felt like we were waiting for fireworks on the 4th of july. Once the time approached, the sight was beyond beautiful. i couldn´t take my eyes away from the tower. no wonder an american woman literally fell in love with it, got married to it and even got married on it (well i guess how else would you marry someone (or should i say some ´thing´) without ´it´ being there?) that´s a true story too, look it up!
since we flew in so late the airport was pretty dead, which was nice because i´ve heard it can get pretty hectic with lots of pickpocketers. kris and i found our hostel and went off to bed to rest up for our exploration the next day. we decided to do another free walking tour, and kris and i ended up walking from 9am to 10pm. we started off the day with bread and jam at the hostel for breakfast (the french love their loafs of bread..think italian restaurant style). we then followed the map to the meeting place for the start of our tour, and let me just say kris and i are getting to be quite the map readers! on the way we realized what a clean city paris is! for as big as it is, there was not a bit of trash, and all of the trees were perfectly trimmed, and the flowers were all in bloom. we also noticed the cutest boutiques, shop after shop. their window displays and all of the clothes were so cute..too bad it´s so pricey! anyway, back to the tour...our tour guide was from scotland and she did an awesome job. of all the free tours, paris was by far my favorite. we saw buildings such as the Louvre, the arch, the Eiffel tower, and bridges while learning the history of Paris. It´s such a lovefest that there is a bridge dedicated to lovers who put a lock on the fence rail and then toss the key into the river, locking their love forever. there are hundreds upon hundreds of such locks, some engraved, some just written in marker with names and dates, of all shapes and sizes. another bridge we saw was the first stone bridge built in Paris. the king at the time was humiliated by friends because they didn´t think the stone bridge would stand and instead they thought it would collapse just like how all the wooden bridges rotted away. well, after he had it built, he hosted a party to celebrate the completion of the bridge. he invited tons of guests, many of whom were the ones who thought a stone bridge was a pathetic idea. he served wine and champagne which apparently isn´t a good combo. they got plastered and the king had an artist sketch a picture of them all after they were ´well pissed´ (english term for really, really drunk). he then had a sculptor sculpt out the heads of all of these faces, and he had them placed on the side of the bridge, in revenge to humiliate them. there is not a single duplicate of a face, and some even look goblin-like. a bitter revenge? i think so, since the whole world can now view them!
we ended the tour at a restaurant that had outside seating (literally every single place has outside seating with the chairs all facing the sidewalk/street so that you can people watch, how brill!). we had a view of the eiffel tower while we ate croque monsieur, a typical french sandwich, and sipped on some lovely white wine. the sandwich is like a toasted hot ham and cheese but it also has cheese toasted on top as well. i´m definitely going to start doing that at home! a grilled cheese with a twist...
my absolute favorite part of paris was of course the eiffel tower. we were advised to go at dusk to get the best of both worlds and see the tower right before the sun completely sets as well as when it´s silhouetted against the black sky. to my suprise there was no line to climb the 669 steps to the 2nd floor, so up we went! the views were spectacular, and as we climbed, the skies became dark and we were greeted with a lighted tower that sparkles every hour on the hour for 10 minutes. the sights were great, but did you know the empire state building is taller? once we descended all 669 steps, we gazed once again and waited for the tower to start its glittering. we felt like we were waiting for fireworks on the 4th of july. Once the time approached, the sight was beyond beautiful. i couldn´t take my eyes away from the tower. no wonder an american woman literally fell in love with it, got married to it and even got married on it (well i guess how else would you marry someone (or should i say some ´thing´) without ´it´ being there?) that´s a true story too, look it up!
lazy days in lancaster
well the jogging/walking every day did not exactly work out. but hey, i´ll be walking so much once my euro trip starts, so no big deal! instead, i attempted to study while literally getting a bit burnt. who would´ve thought, tanning in england in april? it actually reached 70 for two days, which was amazing. apparently that´s about as hot as it gets here in northern england in the summertime. i´m glad i have much warmer weather at the beach :)
during our 2 weeks of boredom, kristen & i became good friends with the guys who were also left in lancaster. one night kristen and i decided we should show them some american drinking games (you know, beer pong, flip cup, chandelier, screw the dealer, kings, and up the river down the river). they definitely had a great time, and we became best friends with a new guy, cal, who lives on the top floor of our complex. he also has the most amazing movie collection ever--shelf after shelf of dvds, so of course we managed to watch several films and borrow more than just a few. cal also loves to go down to the pond to feed the ducks so we did that a couple times too. the baby ducklings were adorabe, and the nests that the other birds/swans sat on were HUGE. they were like dinosaur size.
another night one of the chinese boys on our hall cooked us a hot pot, which is when there´s a large pot and it has spices and chilli and beans in this piping hot liquid broth. you then throw in a bunch of random food, and it cooks in the heated pot in the center of the table. we were eating beef (which looked like strips of bacon), lamb, lettuce, japanese noodles, fish eggs, fish sausages, mushrooms... and it was so good! there were 13 or 14 of us and we would all rotate seats after about 20 minutes. and the boy said typically the chinese eat for 5 hours; we only ate for 2, but there was still food left! i learned how to play poker (or maybe it was texas hold ém?) with all of the boys after the dinner. sad to say i didn´t win, no surprise there!
the day before kristen and i left for our euro trip, dom (a boy on our floor) wanted to have a proper barbeque, american style, you know burgers and what not. well, it turned out to be an all day attempt! the boys went into town to buy the burgers (and we´re in england so of course we needed to have sausages as well), and kristen and i went down to the pond where the grills are located, to snag a table. we thought we were all set, until realizing you need a key to use 1 of the 4 grills. 1 was in use, the other 3 were vacant, but we found out that 2 were broken and the other key was already taken for the day and it hadn´t been returned in order for us to use it. our only other option was to wait for the one in use, which was being occupied by chinese students, and if they take 5 hours to eat, we weren´t going to start cooking til after sunset. so we all moved everything back inside, and after the failure of the first kitchen, the second kitchen had working grills and we ate outside in the courtyard...so it turned out to be a modified bbq. oh, one thing, they don´t know how to have proper burgers. they think a burger and a bun will suffice. no no, if only they knew of the bacon cheeseburger with lettuce tomato and pickles!
during our 2 weeks of boredom, kristen & i became good friends with the guys who were also left in lancaster. one night kristen and i decided we should show them some american drinking games (you know, beer pong, flip cup, chandelier, screw the dealer, kings, and up the river down the river). they definitely had a great time, and we became best friends with a new guy, cal, who lives on the top floor of our complex. he also has the most amazing movie collection ever--shelf after shelf of dvds, so of course we managed to watch several films and borrow more than just a few. cal also loves to go down to the pond to feed the ducks so we did that a couple times too. the baby ducklings were adorabe, and the nests that the other birds/swans sat on were HUGE. they were like dinosaur size.
another night one of the chinese boys on our hall cooked us a hot pot, which is when there´s a large pot and it has spices and chilli and beans in this piping hot liquid broth. you then throw in a bunch of random food, and it cooks in the heated pot in the center of the table. we were eating beef (which looked like strips of bacon), lamb, lettuce, japanese noodles, fish eggs, fish sausages, mushrooms... and it was so good! there were 13 or 14 of us and we would all rotate seats after about 20 minutes. and the boy said typically the chinese eat for 5 hours; we only ate for 2, but there was still food left! i learned how to play poker (or maybe it was texas hold ém?) with all of the boys after the dinner. sad to say i didn´t win, no surprise there!
the day before kristen and i left for our euro trip, dom (a boy on our floor) wanted to have a proper barbeque, american style, you know burgers and what not. well, it turned out to be an all day attempt! the boys went into town to buy the burgers (and we´re in england so of course we needed to have sausages as well), and kristen and i went down to the pond where the grills are located, to snag a table. we thought we were all set, until realizing you need a key to use 1 of the 4 grills. 1 was in use, the other 3 were vacant, but we found out that 2 were broken and the other key was already taken for the day and it hadn´t been returned in order for us to use it. our only other option was to wait for the one in use, which was being occupied by chinese students, and if they take 5 hours to eat, we weren´t going to start cooking til after sunset. so we all moved everything back inside, and after the failure of the first kitchen, the second kitchen had working grills and we ate outside in the courtyard...so it turned out to be a modified bbq. oh, one thing, they don´t know how to have proper burgers. they think a burger and a bun will suffice. no no, if only they knew of the bacon cheeseburger with lettuce tomato and pickles!
Monday, March 28, 2011
spring has sprung!
the past 2 weeks have been nothing but sunshine! (for the most part). now if only it will warm up a bit! the daffodils are in bloom and the students are playing in the fields. i never realized how many fields/turfs/courts we have until i jogged around campus. kristen and i have decided to attempt to get into shape (summer is right around the corner), and today we're going to walk into town. last week we finally ended our lectures, so now we just wait until our exams in may/june giving us quite a bit of free time. i really need to start studying, considering that the exams are weighted 50-60% of the entire grade, yikes! but to end our semester us girls went into town on friday and had a nice dinner at an italian restaurant and then celebrated later that evening.
yesterday we booked our flights to rome, prague, amsterdam, and back to lancaster. we're still waiting to buy our ticket to copenhagen... sometimes it can be such a pain trying to use american cards--they just don't validate which is quite annoying. hopefully we'll get it all situated, and then we'll book our trains to florence, venice, and berlin. it should be a great trip! and we're ending in sweden for midsummer (their biggest holiday) to visit friends who i met at work several summers ago. super exciting :)
last night kristen and i went to a fundraiser called "Love Music Hate Racism" at one of the bars here on campus. one of our friends organized the event so we figured we'd support her.. besides who doesn't love live music? we found out that there is lots of racism towards muslims over here in england. a speaker compared it to the nazis and the jews, because there's a political party that protests about how muslims are 'taking' their jobs and they have been quoted to say 'burn the mosques'. how sad! here's a little excerpt from the event: "Racism seeks only to divide and weaken us. Love Music Hate Racism was set up in 2002 in response to rising levels of racism and electoral successes for the Nazi British National Party (BNP)." so i'm glad we supported a good cause to stop the racism and listen to some good tunes. two of the performances were acoustic guitar singers, my type of music! and the last performance was by a band that is actually signed...a legit rock gig. they looked like they just stepped out of the 80s with what they were wearing! and they definitely knew how to whip their hair back and forth! here's a glimpse of their music: http://www.myspace.com/itseliminator
yesterday we booked our flights to rome, prague, amsterdam, and back to lancaster. we're still waiting to buy our ticket to copenhagen... sometimes it can be such a pain trying to use american cards--they just don't validate which is quite annoying. hopefully we'll get it all situated, and then we'll book our trains to florence, venice, and berlin. it should be a great trip! and we're ending in sweden for midsummer (their biggest holiday) to visit friends who i met at work several summers ago. super exciting :)
last night kristen and i went to a fundraiser called "Love Music Hate Racism" at one of the bars here on campus. one of our friends organized the event so we figured we'd support her.. besides who doesn't love live music? we found out that there is lots of racism towards muslims over here in england. a speaker compared it to the nazis and the jews, because there's a political party that protests about how muslims are 'taking' their jobs and they have been quoted to say 'burn the mosques'. how sad! here's a little excerpt from the event: "Racism seeks only to divide and weaken us. Love Music Hate Racism was set up in 2002 in response to rising levels of racism and electoral successes for the Nazi British National Party (BNP)." so i'm glad we supported a good cause to stop the racism and listen to some good tunes. two of the performances were acoustic guitar singers, my type of music! and the last performance was by a band that is actually signed...a legit rock gig. they looked like they just stepped out of the 80s with what they were wearing! and they definitely knew how to whip their hair back and forth! here's a glimpse of their music: http://www.myspace.com/itseliminator
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Oxford, Stonehenge, & Bath, oh my!
The weeks just tend to fly by over here! I can't believe it's mid-March already! Next Monday is my last day of lectures for the semester--how crazy, less than a week to go.
Since Manchester I've managed to scratch off several things from my bucket list. The first Monday night after Manchester weekend I went on a pub crawl downtown with our college, and hit up 5 different bars with the Bowland crew. We all cut up red t-shirts (our color) and rep'd the Bowland lady (our mascot). I swear it's basically like Greek life over here. Then on Wednesday I had my 1st orgo chem lab--I forget if I've mentioned this before, but labs are so professional over here! We wear labcoats, gloves, goggles, and have lab reports that we have to write up (same goes for bio). And I actually don't mind the labs; they're quite fun. Although this is probably because we only had 3 bio labs total and only 2 for chem this entire semester, unlike HPU where they are every single week, blah. Speaking of HPU, on Friday Kris and I were off to Oxford to meet up with all of our HPU chums :) Candice was the only one already there so she got to meet us at the station, and how lovely it was to see her standing there waiting for us! By midnight we had the whole gang- Kara, Tommy, Eileen, Joey, Candice, Lauren, Maddi, Claire, Kris and me. Saturday Marshall managed to find us so our number grew. We did some sightseeing which included Oxford Uni (which is beautiful), a glimpse of Oxford's castle, and we were lucky enough to see a man playing a violin 5 feet in the air walking a tightrope! We went to the indoor market, Cupboard Market (I think it was called?) where I had the most delicious milkshake, PB & chocolate chip cookie flavored. What a treat! That night we all enjoyed a pasta feast, family style, and boy was it nice being with friends from home. We headed out on the town to a club, and let me just say, we brought the house down. We did not leave til close, and yes, we were the last ones in there dancing the night away. I don't think any of us went to bed til after 6am. And we all enjoyed kabobs on our return home (not kabobs like Americans think of...no sticks with meat/veggies on it.. it's more like a pita wrap) but it's the typical 'drunk food' over here (and in australia too according to Simone). Sunday morning Bristowe arrived to join in on the fun (it was supposed to be a surprise but that little secret got spilled). We all decided to go downtown for the traditional 'Sunday Roast' that England is so famous for.. and you can only order it on Sundays. After missing the bus by seconds (we literally watched it drive away and leave us--note: they do NOT wait for you) we walked who knows how long- over an hour- into the city center. Unfortunately I was wearing heeled boots which was not a great idea. I was definitely feeling sore the following day! After attempting to eat at 2 restaurants, the first place we tried (the oldest tavern in Oxford [1380]) was sold out of the Sunday Roast and the second place didn't have the nicest smell, but our third try was a charm, and the food was delicious. Sadly, Kris and I had to leave mid-dinner to catch our train, and I had such a great time with everyone I didn't want to leave so soon. But I'm so glad I got to see them even if it was a short bittersweet weekend.
Now moving a week forward...Friday night a bunch of us went to a little disco folk party in town. It was fun not having typical club music for once, and everyone was in such a happy-go-lucky mood. LT, you would have loved it :)
Saturday morning, we were up and at 'em by 7:15am to head off to Bath! Kristen and I went with the travel agency right here on campus, so lots of students from our uni went as well. When we arrived in Bath we went straight to the Roman Baths, which was amazing. Hot springs flow underground into these Roman 'pools' that were built long, long ago. The baths used to be social gatherings where people would hang out, pray, exercise, chitchat, etc. I was able to touch the water which was so warm, it definitely felt like bath water, and it totally made me want to just jump right in haha. Afterwards, we visited the Circus and the Half Crescent (a circle and half-circle of a bunch of connected buildings); we saw the Theatre Royal (after realizing we were standing right in front of it); and a bridge where you can take a boat up the river Avon (but it was too cold to do such a thing). We stayed in Bath's YMCA that night, and it was by far the best 'hostel' so far. The beds were already made and we didn't have to strip them the next morning; it was set up dorm-style, 2 bunk beds with a desk, armoire, and sink. Kristen & I lucked out getting the quad, (Murphy & Simone were stuck in a 10-occupancy room), so I guess it was a good thing we signed up early in advance for the trip! The following morning while packing up to head on to Stonehenge I was reading the ticket from Bath and realized that we could have tasted the water from the hot spring. So we hurriedly went back before our bus left so we could experience the taste.. I forgot it was going to be warm, but it basically just tasted like faucet water. Still it was neat. Then off to Stonehenge we went, and as we were leaving Bath our driver stopped to show us the view of the town, and we found out a neat little fact: in the movie Mary Poppins, she actually 'flies' over Bath (not London).
As for Stonehenge, it's located in the middle of nowhere and only takes about an hour to listen to the audio-tour, but all the info is fascinating. It was built sometime between 3000 and 1600BC..so old! And the stones were brought from all over--the farthest was 400 some miles (or km?) away, from Wales. The largest stone weighs as much as 7 elephants combined, imagine trying to carry and move that! The stones are implanted into the ground, so 1/3 of the rock is actually underground- they compared it to teeth inside the gums. The whole purpose of the monument is still a mystery. But it does act as a calendar and would be great to see during the winter and summer solstice. All in all, these past two weeks have been epic.
Now I'm anxiously awaiting our Easter holiday where hopefully we'll get to experience some warm weather. Everyone who just posted pictures from HPU's spring break were in bikinis and soaking up the sun. I think I'm ready for some of that. Spain and Greece can't come soon enough!
Since Manchester I've managed to scratch off several things from my bucket list. The first Monday night after Manchester weekend I went on a pub crawl downtown with our college, and hit up 5 different bars with the Bowland crew. We all cut up red t-shirts (our color) and rep'd the Bowland lady (our mascot). I swear it's basically like Greek life over here. Then on Wednesday I had my 1st orgo chem lab--I forget if I've mentioned this before, but labs are so professional over here! We wear labcoats, gloves, goggles, and have lab reports that we have to write up (same goes for bio). And I actually don't mind the labs; they're quite fun. Although this is probably because we only had 3 bio labs total and only 2 for chem this entire semester, unlike HPU where they are every single week, blah. Speaking of HPU, on Friday Kris and I were off to Oxford to meet up with all of our HPU chums :) Candice was the only one already there so she got to meet us at the station, and how lovely it was to see her standing there waiting for us! By midnight we had the whole gang- Kara, Tommy, Eileen, Joey, Candice, Lauren, Maddi, Claire, Kris and me. Saturday Marshall managed to find us so our number grew. We did some sightseeing which included Oxford Uni (which is beautiful), a glimpse of Oxford's castle, and we were lucky enough to see a man playing a violin 5 feet in the air walking a tightrope! We went to the indoor market, Cupboard Market (I think it was called?) where I had the most delicious milkshake, PB & chocolate chip cookie flavored. What a treat! That night we all enjoyed a pasta feast, family style, and boy was it nice being with friends from home. We headed out on the town to a club, and let me just say, we brought the house down. We did not leave til close, and yes, we were the last ones in there dancing the night away. I don't think any of us went to bed til after 6am. And we all enjoyed kabobs on our return home (not kabobs like Americans think of...no sticks with meat/veggies on it.. it's more like a pita wrap) but it's the typical 'drunk food' over here (and in australia too according to Simone). Sunday morning Bristowe arrived to join in on the fun (it was supposed to be a surprise but that little secret got spilled). We all decided to go downtown for the traditional 'Sunday Roast' that England is so famous for.. and you can only order it on Sundays. After missing the bus by seconds (we literally watched it drive away and leave us--note: they do NOT wait for you) we walked who knows how long- over an hour- into the city center. Unfortunately I was wearing heeled boots which was not a great idea. I was definitely feeling sore the following day! After attempting to eat at 2 restaurants, the first place we tried (the oldest tavern in Oxford [1380]) was sold out of the Sunday Roast and the second place didn't have the nicest smell, but our third try was a charm, and the food was delicious. Sadly, Kris and I had to leave mid-dinner to catch our train, and I had such a great time with everyone I didn't want to leave so soon. But I'm so glad I got to see them even if it was a short bittersweet weekend.
Now moving a week forward...Friday night a bunch of us went to a little disco folk party in town. It was fun not having typical club music for once, and everyone was in such a happy-go-lucky mood. LT, you would have loved it :)
Saturday morning, we were up and at 'em by 7:15am to head off to Bath! Kristen and I went with the travel agency right here on campus, so lots of students from our uni went as well. When we arrived in Bath we went straight to the Roman Baths, which was amazing. Hot springs flow underground into these Roman 'pools' that were built long, long ago. The baths used to be social gatherings where people would hang out, pray, exercise, chitchat, etc. I was able to touch the water which was so warm, it definitely felt like bath water, and it totally made me want to just jump right in haha. Afterwards, we visited the Circus and the Half Crescent (a circle and half-circle of a bunch of connected buildings); we saw the Theatre Royal (after realizing we were standing right in front of it); and a bridge where you can take a boat up the river Avon (but it was too cold to do such a thing). We stayed in Bath's YMCA that night, and it was by far the best 'hostel' so far. The beds were already made and we didn't have to strip them the next morning; it was set up dorm-style, 2 bunk beds with a desk, armoire, and sink. Kristen & I lucked out getting the quad, (Murphy & Simone were stuck in a 10-occupancy room), so I guess it was a good thing we signed up early in advance for the trip! The following morning while packing up to head on to Stonehenge I was reading the ticket from Bath and realized that we could have tasted the water from the hot spring. So we hurriedly went back before our bus left so we could experience the taste.. I forgot it was going to be warm, but it basically just tasted like faucet water. Still it was neat. Then off to Stonehenge we went, and as we were leaving Bath our driver stopped to show us the view of the town, and we found out a neat little fact: in the movie Mary Poppins, she actually 'flies' over Bath (not London).
As for Stonehenge, it's located in the middle of nowhere and only takes about an hour to listen to the audio-tour, but all the info is fascinating. It was built sometime between 3000 and 1600BC..so old! And the stones were brought from all over--the farthest was 400 some miles (or km?) away, from Wales. The largest stone weighs as much as 7 elephants combined, imagine trying to carry and move that! The stones are implanted into the ground, so 1/3 of the rock is actually underground- they compared it to teeth inside the gums. The whole purpose of the monument is still a mystery. But it does act as a calendar and would be great to see during the winter and summer solstice. All in all, these past two weeks have been epic.
Now I'm anxiously awaiting our Easter holiday where hopefully we'll get to experience some warm weather. Everyone who just posted pictures from HPU's spring break were in bikinis and soaking up the sun. I think I'm ready for some of that. Spain and Greece can't come soon enough!
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