today i was stuck on the tube for two hours

hello loves!

I love the smell and feel of the air right after it rains. Everything is so crisp and fresh and it brings a sort of calm to me.

Right now I'm in between tasks (I'm waiting for the laundry machine to finish) so I finally have a moment to sit down and write. So sorry I've left you all hanging for almost a week now!

This weekend I kept things relatively low-key and cheap, since my budget has become increasingly tight in the last week. A lot of my friends were out of town in Liverpool anyway, so I had some good time to myself. Friday I ventured down to Camden Market, about 2.5 miles away from where I live. I decided to walk there, which was nice exercise. I ended up getting lost in this place called Kentish Town, which wasn't exactly a glitzy area so I was speed walking trying to find my way back. Turns out I just took a wrong turn at the tube station and ended up way out of my way. I told you all before how easy it is to take a wrong turn and get lost somewhere completely different. When I finally found the market, I realized it wasn't what I had expected (vegetables, antiques, and trinkets like all the other markets I've been to). It was more of a subculture type place with lots of stalls and shops aimed towards people of a certain "genre," and by that I mean (and I HATE using labels, but this is to illustrate the picture I'm trying to paint for you) goths, hippies, and punks. Everything was black and smelling of incense... Even though I was a bit out of place, I enjoyed it anyway and took it for what it was. I stopped for a cup of coffee on my way back at this cute little place called Inhabition coffee shop and it was nice to just sit back and sketch in my book for a bit. I like that a lot of cafes and such here allow you to sit down and they serve you, rather than have you order at the counter. The twist on this is that you can leave at your leisure, because when you want to pay, you walk up to the counter and do so, rather than get a bill and be rushed out of the place like in the States. And you don't have to tip, which saves us poor kids some money here and there. I do try to tip when I have a little extra change though. Working in a sweaty ice cream stand all summer made me learn to appreciate the little bit of extra appreciation people sometimes offer up.

Saturday was go, go, go as usual, with my day starting around 9:30 (It was an early night for me on Friday). I spent most of my morning trying to hunt down a book to use for my history paper, which I eventually ended up buying because I couldn't find it in the library. I'm writing a sort of biographical paper on a historical person, and my history teacher pointed me in the direction of this book called "We Are At War," by Simon Garfield, which is a collection of journal entries written by people participating in the Mass Observation Project during WWII. I'm focusing on a woman named Eileen Potter (the name is a pseudonym) who was an evacuation officer for the London County Council. The interesting thing about this is that all the information I have and will be able to acquire about this woman is in this book, and this book alone. Since her name is a pseudonym there's no way for me to look up anything more about her. So it's kind of like piecing together a mystery in that I'm trying to figure out what kind of a person she was, how her job was, where she grew up and who she spent time with, all just by reading her journal entries. It's going to take some research but I think in the end it will be worth it. I'm devoting my entire evening, tomorrow night, and Thursday during the day to get this done before I leave for Belgium Thursday evening. My EEE paper is nearly complete, I just need to do a little fine tuning on it and I should be good to go with that.

Anyway, getting off of my little tangent, after I found the book I headed back to my flat when I came across the Korean Harvest Festival going on in front of the British Museum. Curiosity got the best of me and I meandered over to check it out. They had these little strips of Korean rice paper and I wrote a wish on one and tied it to a tree:

Korean Harvest Festival, 22 September 2007

I also tried Korean rice cakes. Not a fan. I think I'm too used to our American style of rice cakes.

After the festival, I hopped on the tube and headed to Canary Wharf, where I went to a jazz festival in Jubilee Park. It was really small and grassy and there weren't loads of people there so it was kind of nice to sit and read my book with some jazz in the background. The only thing that eventually drove me away was the number of couples that were sitting around me. The amount of PDA in this city is starting to get on my nerves. I'm all for finding your true love, but please for the love of God I do NOT want to see you making out against a fence/wall/on the grass/in the tube/in the museum/you fill in the blank. Sometimes it's endearing to see a couple happily cuddling together in a public place.. but when you're about the only person there without a significant other, the situation can get a little discouraging! All that aside, the jazz fest was well worth going to.

Straight after I left the festival I took the tube to Southwark, where I went to the Tate Modern. I'm such a huge fan of modern art so I obviously loved this place. Any excuse to look at real work by Andy Warhol and Claus Oldenburg is enough reason for me to visit a gallery. I realize that a good chunk of people think these two are freaks, and I'm in complete agreement with that (has anyone seen Factory Girl???), but I think they are geniuses. I'm also fast becoming a fan of Jasper Johns. I just find his work very powerful and eye catching every time I see it.

Sunday most of my day was spent working on my paper, but I took a little walk at night to finish up my film and ended up wandering into Covent Gardens. There's this charming little alleyway right off of Southampton Row called Neal's Yard and I was dying to walk through and once I emerged I ended up right in the middle of Covent Garden aka shopping central. Kind of depressing that all I could do was window shop, but nonetheless I enjoyed it. I came across this place called the photographer's gallery and stopped in because it was free and ended up browsing a whole bunch of really powerful photographs. The place is literally a hole in the wall and I'm lucky to have caught it...definitely a good find.

So now it's back to the regular routine. Class and work took up my day yesterday, and today was the same. For History we went to South Kensington, which from what I understand is a very ritzy part of London where a lot of celebrities live, and visited the Victoria & Albert Museum. The trip back was horrendous... I was stuck on the tube for almost two hours because the Piccadilly Line was backed up. I ended up having to back track and switch lines about three times before I finally got home. But once I got back out into the fresh air my antsiness quickly subsided. It's impossible to be in a bad mood when my life is just so, so good.

The laundry machine should be shut off by now... and it's also tea time. Kisses and hugs to each and every one of you.

Cheers!

primark: a bargain shopper's paradise

hello loves!

It's been a slow week, and I expect a long, relaxing weekend. Classes are going smoothly and I was officially given my first big assignments. I think it might be the teaching style of British professors, but for some reason school isn't stressing me out as much as it usually does. I think because so much emphasis is placed on actually LEARNING and not test-taking that I find my classes actually enjoyable and not a burden. I don't feel like my life is revolving around my homework and studying like it usually does. Actually, I would say my classes are actually enhancing my time in London because a lot of the content forces me to get involved with the city, by taking pictures or going on "history walks" or studying London businesses. It's a good feeling.

Tuesday night I went to see Les Miserables with Cory and his flatmate Allison and was completely blown away. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, hands down. I didn't realize the whole show was sung, which actually makes me more excited because now that I downloaded the soundtrack, I can re-live the show over and over and over :) I was teary-eyed through probably the majority of the show... I had all I could do not to completely lose it in the final scene. I don't think there was a dry eye in the entire theatre. I even got choked up when the little girl who played Cosette came on stage because she made miss my little Emily!!!

This week for my History class we did a walk of Medieval London, which included stops in the borough of Clerkenwell and a former monastery and a PLAGUE PIT, which is actually a really pretty park now. I guess the plague has some really long turnaround time, so the best way to make sure it doesn't happen again was to bury the bodies, plant and fertilize over them, and put trees in to secure the soil. We also went to a Medieval church, which happens to be where scenes were shot for Robin Hood Men in Tights and Four Weddings and a Funeral. I love this class!!

Last night I met up with Amy finally and we went out for fish and chips. I took her to this place I heard about called The Fryer's Delight and it was THE BEST fish and chips I have ever had. And reasonably priced too! I was so happy to finally see her and am so excited to venture over to her part of London and explore.

Today I went shopping on Oxford Street and discovered a goldmine of bargain clothes: PRIMARK. Very cute clothes and very cheap prices. I didn't actually end up getting anything though, because I couldn't justify spending money on shirts when I need to eat, haha. I did, however, buy two pashminas from a street vendor for 5 pounds, which was a steal. I plan to buy more. Hopefully I will come home with a rainbow of pashminas.

Tonight Christian and I went down the street to this girl Carolyn's apartment for a little dinner party because we're going to Brussels with her next weekend and we wanted to figure out what kinds of things we're planning to do. As of now, we're taking a tour of a chocolate factory, going to a brewery, visiting the Royal Palace and probably one other cathedral/palace/touristy spot and then doing a day trip to Bruges, which has been said to be more beautiful than Venice!! I'm so excited.

It's a low key night so I'm having some people over to watch a movie. I'm so happy to just sit inside and do nothing... I'm trying to come up with some fun things to do this weekend that I could take pictures of for class. I definitely want to visit the Tate Modern and perhaps go to a foreign film on Sunday. I love me some culture :)

Miss you all so very much!

Cheers!

the supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved -- Les Miserables

I went to see Les Miserables tonight. I would go see it a hundred more times if I could.

photographs & memories

Hello loves!

I uploaded loads of new pictures, so check them out when you get a chance and let me know what you think!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/amrineurope/

Miss you all... Cheers!

it's just like your life, only funnier

hello loves!

What a weekend! I think I crammed more into this weekend than I did all summer.

I had my first celebrity spotting of the semester! Friday night while I was out on a walk with Elsa, Alli and Tuan, we went by the Chicago theatre and noticed the show was just getting out. Kelly Osbourne just started in the show as Mama Morton and being the celebrity gossip that I am, I decided it would be a good idea to try to stalk her after the show. We went and waited out by the back door for about 20 minutes and she finally came out to the screams of fans and hundreds of flashes from all the paparazzi that were there. It was so exciting! She looks really great and is actually so small in person!

kelly signing autographs.

Saturday was extremely productive. Finally got to sleep in which was so refreshing that when I woke up, I did my entire PR paper. The flatties and I bought 20 pound tickets to the matinee showing of Avenue Q, so we spent a lovely evening out watching puppets sing about life ("It Sucks to Be Me," "The Internet is for Porn," "I Wish I Could Go Back to College," etc). The show was hysterical, I loved it! It was very blunt humor, which was hilarious. It was kind of a cool concept-- the actors have these puppets on their arms that they make talk and move, but they are actually on stage singing and playing along too. Its just such a different idea for a show and even though the characters were puppets, the theme and the songs in the production were actually very true to life. If you ever have the opportunity to see this show, I would recommend it. Now I'm so excited to go see more shows... I'm hoping to at least see Wicked, Les Mis, and Blood Brothers before I leave London. Luckily as students we get such an amazing discount that it is actually plausible for me to see a bunch of shows and not go completely broke.

After the show, we went out for a nice dinner at this place called Cafe Pasta on Monmouth Street. It wasn't too expensive, but all I got was a chicken caesar salad... original, I know. The portion sizes are SO much smaller here. There is little temptation or reason to overeat when you go out to dinner. No wonder so many Americans are overweight. I also saw a bunch of cute little coffee houses that I plan to check out on my days off AND a cupcake shop, which was a clutch find for me because you all know how obsessed I am with cupcakes.

Later that night, I went out with "the Team," meaning Alli, Elsa, Tuan and Dan, to this place called the After Skool Klub. It was in a student union of some college here but you couldn't even tell. This place was bumpin, as I like to say. We got in for free because we were in the first 100 people and drinks were half price until midnight so we were only paying about 1.20 for drinks, which is unheard of around this expensive city. All of the people there were my age so it was nice to not have to worry about creepy old men looking at you. The music was great... they didn't play any awful rap music but instead played indie dance music, which was so fun! The club was packed out and it was just a really good time. And obviously when we got home, we dug into the McVitie's caramel cookies, my ultimate weakness. A fabulous end to a fabulous night.

Today was jam-packed. We woke up early and went down to the East End to hit up the markets. I only bought two scarves but I took some cool pictures of the market and had a good time with my friends.

one of the booths at the market.

After the markets, we met up with a group from school and went to this place called the Dennis Severs house. It was quite an interesting and quirky little place. Basically, this guy was an artist and used this house as the medium for his "still life drama." He decorated each floor of the house in a different time period, and as you go up in the house, it becomes later in time. I think the time periods were from the 18th-19th centuries, maybe? In short, the idea was that as time went on, this house kind of decreased in status, meaning in the early 18th century it would have been somewhere that the wealthy lived, and more towards the 19th century, it had been inhabited by more poor people. It was supposed to be a "sensory experience" so we weren't allowed to talk, we just had to walk through and take in the sights, sounds, and scents of the house. Kind of a weird experience, I'm still not sure I completely understand why this guy felt compelled to do this, but you can read more about it on the Web site: http://www.dennissevershouse.co.uk/ because I would only confuse you if I tried to explain it myself.

Tonight was a highlight of my time here. Elsa, Alli and I went down to the Thames Festival and stayed for the firework display at the end. Most of you probably know my affection for firework shows, so I was especially excited to see my first BIG firework display in a big city. I was absolutely blown away by the show. It was only 15 minutes long, but it was undoubtedly the most beautiful fireworks display I have ever seen. It was such an amazing setting, with the city in the background and the river underneath the sparkling sky. It was truly an experience to take in and one that I will remember. Its really the little things like that in life that make me really appreciate how lucky I am. I also took about a gazillion pictures so look for those when I get around to putting them up.

All right, it's approaching midnight so that means bedtime for me. Monday is my longest day so I try to be as rested up as possible. Hope to hear from you all soon!

Cheers!

fireworks over the Thames, 16 September 2007

little moments

River Thames/London Eye at night, 14 September, 2007.

This is the happiest I have felt in a long, long time. Cheers to you, London.

happy new year to all my jewish friends

brighton beach pier, 14 sept 2007

Hello loves!

It's been a busy few days! My weekend officially starts at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, and as you all know I'm always go, go, go so I've been running around non-stop since I left work the other day. On the top of my list to share with you all is my completed travel schedule:

• 27-30 September, Brussels, Belgium (chocolate & waffles, oh hey!)
• 19-28 October, Fall break in Italy (Rome, Florence, & Venice)
• 2-4 November, Dublin, Ireland
• 8-11 November, Bristol & Wales
• 15-18 November, Paris, France
• 29 November-2 December, Prague

I am so excited and so relieved to finally have everything planned out! I am still a bit stressed though, as now it's a matter of making up itineraries for all of these trips to make sure I don't get there and have no idea what to do. I'm a little nervous to be staying in hostels, but it's the cheapest way to go. I just will try not to think about what kind of horrible stains might be on the mattress I'm sleeping on...

Went to Walkabout with a bunch of people on Wednesday night and it was good times as always. Apparently real Brits don't really like Walkabout (probably because so many Americans go there), but it's cheap and they play fun dance music (a lot of cheesy 90s, which I obviously love). I met a British boy named Ben who was nice to talk to but unfortunately didn't think to get his number or anything so I will never see him again... ah, well, onto the next British bloke ;-) Kidding, kidding of course (sort of...).

Thursday I ran a few errands and then spent most of my day at the British museum exploring. It's such a HUGE museum though and I definitely didn't get to all of the rooms. Fortunately it happens to be right around the corner from me so no worries about getting back there. They just opened a big exhibit about the China Terracotta Army, which looked ridiculously interesting but it was a 12 pound entry fee. Apparently the day I was there the exhibit was just opening, and they sold about 150,000 pre-sale tickets, so I guess it's a pretty big deal.

on the floor of the British Museum: "and let thy feet milleniums hence be set in the midst of knowledge."--Tennyson

Today I went on a little day trip to Brighton Beach, about two hours south of London. Brighton is right on the ocean and a quaint little city. Lots of little boutiques and eateries and a very cool vibe. We walked the pier, sampled some of the absolutely scrumptious locally-made donuts (literally, they melt in your mouth), ate fish & cheaps seaside, tried "Brighton Rock" (Brighton's local treat--basically a candy stick of sugar you can get in all different colors and it says "Brighton Rock" in the candy), shopped in some vintage stores, and visited the Royal Pavilion (my favorite part of this trip). The Royal Pavilion was built in the 19th century by George IV as a sort of seaside retreat. It's very Indian looking on the outside (kind of reminded me of the Taj Mahal) and very Oriental decor on the inside. I've never seen anything so elaborately decorated. I wish I could show you all what it looked like but we were not allowed to take any pictures. You can see some on their Web site (www.royalpavilion.org.uk) but I'm telling you these photos don't do it justice.

Tonight I'm laying low. Elsa and I are going on a walk in a few hours, probably down to the busier part of town to people watch (one of my favorite activities, as most of you know). Tomorrow I think I am going to stop down to the Thames Festival for a bit and then the flatties and I are going to a matinee showing of Avenue Q! I'm so excited. Sunday I'm going with Elsa and Alli to the East End to browse the markets and then we are going on a school trip to Dennis Sever's House (more on that later) and then to see fireworks and a parade at night at the Thames Festival. Somewhere in there I probably should do my homework... minor detail.

Speaking of homework, I learned a few interesting things in my history class the other day. We did a little walking tour of Roman London (seeing the old Roman walls, streets, temples, museum exhibits, etc) but we passed by this place called the Jamaica Wine House, which is the site of the very first coffee house in London. Apparently back in the 18th century, coffee houses were divided up by purpose and district. Some were used for political purposes, others for literary purposes, others for financial purposes- the stock exchange actually grew out of a coffee house called Jonathan's. Basically, what kind of field you worked in determined what coffee houses you frequented. Also, I learned that when you went into the coffee house you paid a pence and then once you sat down you put another coin in a box near the door that had the words "To Insure Prompt Service" on it, and then you would be served. Let's look at this again: To Insure Prompt Service = TIPS! And that is where the word came from. I hope you all enjoyed your random fact of the day.

Will be posting more pictures soon, so keep on the lookout for that. Miss you all so very much!

Cheers!

first week of classes and i'm already procrastinating my homework

hello loves!

So sorry I haven't written since Wednesday! I know some of you look very forward to reading about my life so I'm sorry to deprive you for so long :-P Things have been go, go, go since Thursday so I've barely even had a minute to take a breather. But like I said, I'm already procrastinating my homework, so this is a lovely moment for me to write!

Thursday was mostly a catch-up day... I ran a bunch of errands at Faraday to start, dropping my class and luckily meeting up with my photo professor about my camera. He was so nice to come in to meet me, and he lent me his personal camera for me to use for the weekend. I just hope my camera can be saved! After getting a new camera I was inspired to start taking photos so I went on a mini adventure by myself...I kind of scoured the area we walked through the other day with my history class, as I saw so many interesting places the other day I had to go back and visit them myself. I took a couple cute shots, but mostly just wandered, people watching and visiting shops and such. I stopped for lunch at Pret a Manger, a sandwich chain here. One thing I really like about lunch in London is that so many places sell sandwiches and you don't have to wait for them to make them. They make them continuously through the day and package them and you buy the kind you want without having to wait for them to make it, which can be a pain with the loads of people that are coming in and out of places for lunch. For some reason, I've found that every sandwich I've eaten has had chicken and bacon on it... chicken and bacon is a very popular combination here it seems. That and avocado with some sort of fish, and veggie. I tend to get the meat sandwiches because I'm too poor to afford to buy and cook meat for myself so I'm doing anything I can to get it elsewhere, haha!

Later on on Thursday we had a travel seminar at Faraday... mostly getting information about school-sponsored field trips around the UK and abroad. I'm getting nervous about my traveling because its so difficult to try to plan trips alone. I didn't come here with any specific friends, so I have to find people who want to visit the same place as me and plan my trips that way, which is also difficult because some of them have already booked their trips and now I have to play catch-up. I sat down the other night to try to figure out where I want to go and when, and decided definitely on Edinburgh (Scotland), Brussels (Belgium), Dublin, Wales, Paris, Italy, and Prague. The trips for Dublin, Wales, and Paris are all school trips, as I figured it'd be easier for me to just go with a group and not have to try to make travel arrangements, book a hostel, and plan where to go when it's already done for me. The biggest downside to this is cost, as both the Dublin trip and Paris trip are $440 each and Wales hasn't been confirmed yet (but I wouldn't expect it to be quite as expensive). But some friends of mine booked a trip to Paris through a travel agency and just the flight and hostel worked out to almost $400, so for $40 more I'm not only getting accomodations and travel arrangements (we're taking the Eurostar), but we'll be visiting all of the major attractions in Paris and we have complementary breakfast every morning. Both Paris and Dublin are actually class-oriented trips (Paris focuses on architecture and Dublin focuses on literature), but they are opened to the entire school so I fully want to take advantage of that. The flatmates and I are hoping to travel Italy for our fall break. Lucy's aunt has a timeshare option and offered to sell it to us for our break, so right now we're waiting to hear if it's possible to do it in Florence. If we can, it's only going to be about $40 per person for our lodging, plus the cost of travel to and from Italy. I'm crossing my fingers on this one because I want to travel Italy SO bad! I'm hoping to do Edinburgh, Brussels, and Prague with different small groups of friends, so I'm trying to work all the details out ASAP. The longer I wait to make travel arrangements, the higher the price gets! I actually don't even think I have enough money in my account to pay for all of these trips at once, so mom and dad, expect a call from me very soon about getting my money out of the bank!

Anyway, Thursday night some friends and I went to The Crown, a really popular pub nearby and had a few drinks. We had this crazy homeless guy sitting near us and he kept talking to some man about how he killed someone once (creepy), and another guy asked my roommate if she got her shirt in Zambia (is that even a country??) so we met some interesting characters, if nothing else.

Friday was a verrryyyy exciting day! We were up bright and early and off to Stonehenge and Salisbury, about an hour and 45 minutes away. Stonehenge gives you this really amazing feeling when you first see it, sort of spiritual and eerie at the same time, it's kind of hard to explain. I took a ton of pictures of it (postcard shots if I do say so myself) BUT on some unfortunate mishap, I accidentally deleted ALL of my photos from this whole day. I was more than upset when I woke up on Saturday and realized what I did. But realistically, everyone else I was with has about the same pictures as me so I'm just going to steal them to show you all.

After Stonehenge we drove to the town of Salisbury, about 10 minutes down the road. It's a really quiet church town, built around the giant, gorgeous cathedral that stands in the middle of it. There were lots of little school boys running around in uniforms which was kind of funny because for some reason it reminded us of the movies. We had a good amount of time to go exploring on our own, so Alli and I stopped at this little outdoor cafe for lunch (and again, I had a panini with chicken and bacon.. I don't know what it is with this combination!) and stopped in a bunch of little shops. We also went to Woolworth's so I could stock up on Chupa Chups, WHICH THEY DIDN'T HAVE, so it was a bust. They also had this place called Poundland, where everything was one pound, similar to our dollar stores at home. It was here I realized that I'm starting to think in terms of British Pounds instead of American Dollars. Really, everything here matches the price at home in NUMBER, but not in actual value (in that everything doubles when you convert it), so Poundland was actually a $2 store, instead of a $1 store, but one pound is considered cheap here, so it's a deal. A meal that is 5 pounds here is considered inexpensive, even though it works out to be about $10 American when you convert it. Eventually you just have to forget about the conversion and realize there's nothing we can really do about it. We can try to save a penny here and there and every little bit helps, but I didn't work my butt off all summer to come here and NOT spend my money. My attitude is that to my knowledge, I'm only going to be in Europe once (although now that I have fallen in love, I WILL be returning someday), so if it means having the best possible time I can have here, I'm willing to spend my money. There literally hasn't been a day that I haven't spent any money, but it's almost impossible not to, between travel, food, trips, and little odds and ends, not to mention the occasional shopping trip (which I have yet to take). Although one of my short-term goals while I'm here is to try to go a whole day without spending any money, which I think is do-able on one of my adventure days... if I pack food with me and just visit free museums all day. I am very scared of running out of money though, especially after I book all of my trips. But that's another story...

Saturday was a very touristy day for me, unintentionally. I really wanted to go to the boat race but I didn't know what time the boats would be going by where we were going to stand to watch it. I got some groceries in the morning (I literally had no food left, which means I went shopping hungry, which is never good) and waited for the rest of the flatties to get ready and we got down to the River Thames by the London Eye around 2 or so. I thought we had already missed the boats so we walked around and watched the street performers. Some of them are really weird. One guy was like sitting under a table with his head in a dog crate, and he had his face painted like a puppy and had these stuffed paws in front of him so he looked like a dog. And he was panting and barking at people, it was just weird. How do you make a living like that? And why is that even entertaining? Another guy was dressed up like a lizard and riding a bike. Like, what? To each his own, I guess. There were an abundance of those living statues all over the place, I always love those... some of them were terrible though, mainly one guy who was painted blue, which was just... weird. Anyway, my friend Sarah met up with me and we wandered some more. I was excited to hang out with her since I've barely seen her at all since we got here. We ended up going back across the river to Parliament and Big Ben, then walked to Westminister Abbey, then to Buckingham Palace. It was quite a little trek! Then we went to a little pub we found on a corner and I had my first fish and chips experience! I must say I didn't mind it at all. I like the fish with ketchup on it instead of tartar sauce though... is that normal? We also enjoyed some half-pints of this delicious beer called Fruli, which is strawberry flavored and kind of tastes like a wine cooler (mom, this is a beer you would actually enjoy, believe it or not). It was a cool vibe because the Rugby World Cup started that day and we were in the pub for the beginning of the USA vs. England game. We didn't want to cheer for the US and make ourselves stand out though. And good thing too, because the US got their butts kicked!!

Despite being worn out from all of the walking I did that day, I stuck to my guns and went out with a new group of people. I went down the street to my friend Megan's flat and hung out there for awhile before heading out to a pub somewhere in SoHo. We really wanted to go dancing but the group I was with didn't really have a game plan, so Julie and I decided to do our own thing and went to MCDONALD'S!! It was the most hip, busy McDonald's I have ever been to in my life. They were playing techno music which was interesting because it was the first time I've ever had an urge to burst into dance at a McDonald's. Anyway I got some McNuggets and my night was complete. On the way out I saw this homeless man sitting by the door and he was shivering from the cold... I have never seen anything like that before so it just kind of caught me off guard and kind of burned an image in my head. But that pushed aside, it was a good night!

Today was by far my favorite day here so far. We went on a tour of the markets in the East End, including Columbia Road flower market, Brick Lane Market, Sunday UpMarket, the Backyard Market, and Petticoat Lane. It was amazing. The streets were just packed with people buying and selling things. I bought a really cute shirt dress for 3 pounds, and a little hand bag for 2 pounds. These markets have amazing deals!! I felt like everyone there was so hip and trendy, and that was the kind of stuff most of them were selling. Handmade jewelry and clothes, second hand stuff, vintage stuff. This was my kind of scene. There were also loads of merchants selling what I think was probably illegally-acquired things, like DVD players and TVs and tools and such. At one point I went to take a photo and they yelled at me, so then I was like OK this is definitely illegal stuff because why else wouldn't they want me documenting it? My favorite market was definitely the BrickLane/UpMarket (http://www.sundayupmarket.co.uk/)... I actually did some reading about this market before I came to London and didn't realize that's where I would end up today, so I was kind of excited when I found out. I didn't take any pictures but I intend to go back so I will certainly get around to it. I just love open air markets. I love the vibe, the deals, the people, the chaos. It's one of the things that, to me, IS London. There are so many more markets in town and I have every intention to go to each of them at least once. Thank goodness I have so much free time! I also finally got to eat Thai, which I have been craving since before I even left for London, so it was good to satisfy myself. AND I had a really cute cupcake, and for those of you who really know me, you know how excited I was about it. In fact, the girl who I bought it from has a cute little shop (http://www.crumbsanddoilies.co.uk/home.html) that I looked up, again, before I came to London, so it was kind of cool to put a visual to the research. She asked me what cupcake I wanted to buy, and I only said "that one" and didn't point to the one I wanted, but she somehow picked up the right one. I thought that was kind of funny, and she called it "cupcake psyche". Cupcake psyche... I LIKE IT!

In the tube station on the way home there was a kiosk selling candy, so we obviously stopped (I swear I have eaten more candy here than I have in my entire life), and I finally got my CHUPA CHUPS that I've been craving since I ran out last time. Once I got home I literally fell into my bed and passed out for a good two hours. It was like every tired bone in my body finally gave up and forced me to relax for awhile. I was abruptly woken by some random high pitched alarm going off in my building... I'm not sure if it was a fire alarm or whatever but none of us really got up and went outside so hopefully it wasn't anything too serious...

It's already 7:30 and I have yet to really start my work. Luckily, I don't have much- just a little paper for PR and some reading for EEE (I already did my History homework, go me) so it's nothing too stressful. It's just a matter of getting myself focused enough to actually do it! I'm so scattered all the time, I swear my roommates think I'm crazy sometimes!

I promise not to make you all wait so long to hear from me again. Miss you all so much!!!

Cheers!

photographs & memories

i've fiiiiinally gotten around to uploading some of my photos! check below...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/amrineurope/sets/72157601887308015/

cheers!

about 200 people just rollerbladed down my street to the tune of sweet home alabama

Hello loves!

Another eventful day, as usual. I attempted to sleep in (and by sleep in, I mean sleep past 8 a.m.), but for some reason once the sun comes up I find it impossible to stay asleep. If anything, I wake up every hour... it always works out to be 6:30, 7:30, 8:30, etc., until I give in and get up. It could be my noisy street, it could be the sun, it could be my conscience pushing me to get up and out because I only have so much time here... I think probably a big conglomeration of the three.

Started off with work-study in Student Services... I really don't mind my job here at all. Really all I do is sit at a desk and take field trip signups when people come in and sometimes run errands for people in the office. Otherwise, I can write e-mails, do homework, read, visit with people... I can't really complain!

I had my last class today, Lawbreakers and Lawmakers and I HATED it. Maybe I was spoiled by my other classes, but this class was just too American for me which sounds so tacky but its true! I think I'm used to the British way of education already. The professor is American and the class is essentially just a lecture with some quizzes, just like at home. It's not anything I NEED to take, and it was just not interesting enough for me. So I dropped it. Meaning I only have class on Monday and Tuesday. Therefore, I have Wednesday through Sunday free in London. Ample exploring time. I can't wait.

After class, I went for a walk with some friends with Hyde Park being our intended destination. We didn't quite make it that far, but we walked by Buckingham Palace (changing of the guard is tomorrow at 11:30... maybe I could make it??) and into Trafalgar Square. I took some nice shots of this really gorgeous park nearby, I can't wait to show you all! I also attempted to start making pictures for my photo class, but I think my camera has shot the bed. I took one picture and the shutter froze and now the camera is locked up. I had to roll the film and take it out and no matter what I couldn't get the camera to work. I hope its fixable... that camera is like my baby! I'm trying to get in touch with my professor to see if he can help or if he has an extra camera I could borrow while I get mine fixed.

Anyway (I'm awfully good at going on tangents, aren't I?), we stopped at this really neat pub place for dinner... 2 dinners for 7.99, oh hey! That's a deal. There were also some drink specials for a little more than one pound, so I tried this random British ale and it was horrid and I totally let it go to waste. I also tried sausage and mash (mash is mashed potatoes)! I was not brave enough to order it myself, but one of my friends did so I mooched a little... On the way back we hit up a gelato shoppe and I tried some tiramisu gelato... delicious! One of the many beautiful things about being in Europe is being able to eat authentic European gelato.

Once I got back to the flat and was settling in, I started hearing a huge commotion outside somewhere, and I heard "Sweet Home Alabama" blaring from someone's speakers. I was assuming it was another flat, but the music was getting louder and louder, so I peeked outside and down the street were hundreds of people rollerblading! It was so random! There was a man on a bike in front of them with a huge boombox, which explains the music. I don't understand why Sweet Home Alabama though... Brits have weird tastes in music, not that there's anything wrong with Skynard, I love that song... but I mean, isn't that more of an American song? They even played it at one of the clubs I went to last week... I don't get it!

Tomorrow starts Day 1 of exploring London on my own. I'm not sure if I want to venture off somewhere and see where I end up, or start my journey at the British Museum, which is conveniently right around the corner (AND free...most of the worthwhile museums in London are). I'm excited to have so much extra time now because I'll be able to see more of London than originally planned. While I want to do a fair amount of traveling to other countries while I'm here, I really want to just soak up London and the surrounding area as much as I can. This whole country is a gem and SO interesting, it'd be a waste not to see it all. If anyone has any suggestions about places I should go (even cities in other countries), let me know! So far, I'm hoping to visit Paris, Barcelona, Dublin, and somewhere in Greece. I'd also like to visit Germany (the homeland), Prague, Vienna, and the Belgium/Netherlands area but it depends on the budget (donations to the travel fund are are welcome :-)... coughcoughmomanddadcoughcough) I know thats a bit far fetched and WAY too expensive for me, but I just want to see everything I can while I'm here! If I can't make it to all my destinations, I guess I'll just have to come back another time... oh well.... :-D

I miss you all, keep the love coming!!

Cheers!

mcvities's cookies are my new guilty pleasure

hello loves!

The past two days have been a blur of classes, new faces, work, and tons of running around. I'm falling more and more in love with London everyday.

Classes and education in general here are very different than at home, and I almost think I like it better. Almost all my professors have made comments about America's strict education system, and by that they mean that everything in the States is by the book... we have a syllabus that we follow, things to memorize, and a specific amount of time to do it in. Everything here is much more lax, freethinking, and really focused on learning things for a purpose other than being able to take a test. Multiple choice doesn't exist in the UK.

So far, I've had four of my classes, so here's the rundown thus far:
PHO 204 (Intro to Photography) - The professor is this cute little older man with white hair and a red face. We aren't going to be getting specific grades on our photographs, as he thinks it's more of an objective art form and grading wouldn't be fair. More or less, we are graded on our effort, our passion, and our desire to learn. We have to shoot a roll of film in the week following each class, which we will develop the following week. We do have one main assignment, "People, Places, & Things," which is going to be three final photographs that will go up in a show at the end of the semester. Even better, we are being provided with film and photo paper, which is a huge relief for me now that I don't have to buy these extra things on my own. Also, I should mention that in this class we "make" photos, rather than "take" them, because "making photos" implies that there is thought and creativity behind each shot, not just random snapping like tourists. I am very excited for this class, and can't wait to show you all my work!!

PRL 500 (Public Relations in an International Setting) - London is the PR capital of the world, so this class is going to be extreeeemely beneficial for me in the career sense. I think my professor is vastly overqualified for her position though- just some highlights in her career: press secretary for the Prime Minister before Tony Blair (Major, I think??), chief political correspondent for The Times, and she's somewhere high up in the ranks at Fleishman-Hillard (a well-respected PR company)... she worked on the video that was sent in to the Olympic bid committee that won London the 2012 Olympics. AND she's a mother and grandmother, meaning she found time to have a life amongst all of her work. Basically she's amazing. I'm looking forward to learning from her experience.

EEE 370 (Intro to Entrepreneurship) - I was thinking that this class was going to be my worst of all, because I'm least interested in this topic (it's a requirement for my minor though), but I think I'm actually going to learn a lot and hopefully come out with a new perspective on business. This is by far my biggest class (the rest of my classes have 6-10 people in them), with something like 25 people in it. The professor is quite funny; he said he thinks humor makes learning easier and more fun. Better yet, he shortened the class to be from 7-9 instead of 7-10... I can't really complain.

HST 300.2 (Investigating London's Past) - I think I learned more in the three hours of this class that I have learned in my entire two years of college. The professor for this class is a published author on several noted London history/travel books and he really knows his stuff. I'm just blown away by the amount of knowledge he has about this entire city. Today we started with the history around us and he took us through the area and pointed out several key spots where historical figures made their mark...Robert Frost lived on the street next to Faraday, Sylvia Plath was married in the church at the end of the street, the first vaccination clinic in the world was built a few blocks away (actually at the exact site of where the first Wagamama was built, haha), the man who invented the chronometer developed it in his laboratory down the street... and there's so much more, it's brilliant. He then took us on a tour from Faraday to the Holborn Library (which is where he wants us to work on our research projects), stopping all along the way to observe architecture, plaques, sidewalks, parks, trees, anything that pointed out a historical note in time. I've never taken a history class before and I have to admit I was kind of scared for the amount of work and memorization history requires, but I'm finding it so interesting I don't think it's going to be too difficult. I think it's definitely going to be a challenging class as far as research and paper writing goes, but it will be worth it.

Tomorrow I have my last class, something about lawmakers and lawbreakers... we'll see how that goes.

In other London notes, there's a huge Tube strike going on, only about two lines are open at the moment, so the city is insanely congested with buses, bikes, cars, and PEOPLE. I couldn't even walk in a clear path down the street to the market this afternoon. Some of my friends today had to walk 45 minutes and longer to get to Faraday from their flats....ahh, the benefits of pre-arranged housing. Speaking of which, I found out that apparently the Bedford Place/Bloomsbury area is quite ritzy and we have a lot of wealthy people living around us... it's kind of cool knowing I'm living the posh lifestyle!!

Also, at the market today I was craving a sweet, so I bought these McVitie's cookies, and it was a huge mistake. Now I'm addicted to them. There goes all my money. They are more delicious than any American cookie I have ever tasted.

And the most random note of all! Yesterday, I was shopping for supplies in the stationary store down the street, rushing because I was going to be late for work, when I turned around and my friend from HIGH SCHOOL walked into the store. He's studying abroad here this semester too (actually, a lot of people from Rome are), which I knew because I had been in touch with him, but I totally thought he was on the other side of the city. I just thought the encounter was so bizarre because out of the millions of people in London, I run into the one other Roman that's in town- small world, when you really get down to it. I saw him and my jaw literally dropped I was so stunned. I'm glad I ran into him though... we're hoping to get together sometime soon, I'm looking forward to comparing our experiences so far.

I'm loving life, and missing you all.

Cheers!

club oxygen & two hemispheres at once

Hello loves! Today was my last free day of the year as classes are starting tomorrow. I start bright and early with a 9 a.m. photography class, but I'm kind of looking forward to it so I don't think it will be so bad having to wake up early. Mondays are going to be my busy days, with three three-hour classes: 9-12, 2-5, & 7-10. It is going to be interesting having class only once a week and for three hours each time. But anywho, a recap of the past day...

Last night a few of us wanted to go out one last time and our friend Dan had mentioned going to this place called Club Oxygen in SoHo. The night before that, Julie and him had met a man from California at a pub and he bought them drinks all night, and I guess this guy, Dave, wanted to hang out again. So we meet up with Dan and he introduces us to Dave. Now Dave is a 30 year old venture capitalist from California, who is here on business because he just sold a company for 30 million dollars or something. Sounds like a crock of you-know-what but the night before he paid for everyone's dinner and drinks and ran up about a 700 pound bill. He kept on with the generosity and paid for everyone's drinks at Club Oxygen all night (and there were about 8 of us) and didn't even flinch. I've talked to businessmen before that have mentioned being able to spend ridiculous amounts of money and write it off for business purposes, but never have I experienced it first hand! Long story short, I paid nothing all night, and I can't really complain. Even if this Dave guy was full of crap, I still got out of the club with as much money I came in with, and for an American college student, that's a pretty big deal.

In other events that evening, Alli and I met some British blokes who paid me many compliments on my "cute" American accent. We took to the dance floor with these boys and that is when my view of these fellows changed. Contrary to popular belief, all British men are NOT all that gentlemanly and cannot keep to the beat to save their life. When the boy I was dancing with started thrusting in my direction, I turned the other way and headed for the door, and that's the end of that.

Today was especially exciting for me as I finally accomplished one of my many goals in life- standing in two places at once! We took a bus tour from the West to the East End of London and ended up in Greenwich for the day, home of the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). There were all sorts of markets going on that we adventured through but opted to hit up the historical sights while we had the opportunity. We saw the Queen's House, which was home to King Charles I's Queen Henrietta Maria until 1669. Throughout the years the house was used as the home to the ranger for Greenwich Park (which is stunning, by the way) and was completely restored in the 1980s. It's now kind of a museum of paintings of former Kings, Queens, battles, soldiers and the like. Following the Queen's House we headed up the hill to the Royal Observatory, which was founded by the order of King Charles II to study astronomy and fix longitude (read about it here: http://www.greenwich-guide.org.uk/observ.htm). There, I straddled the Prime Meridian, with one foot in each hemisphere... finally accomplishing my goal!! We then visited the Painted Hall, a breathtaking former Naval dining hall with paintings decorating every wall and ceiling in the giant room. The paintings took a whole 19 years to complete. Pictures to come very soon, of course.

Following our sight seeing, we headed to this place called Pizza Express, which sounds like it'd be relatively cheap and quick, but actually ended up quite the opposite. On the upside, the food was delicious, but I have to say after three days straight of consuming pizza products, I don't think my stomach can take much more for awhile.

My random sidenote of the day: I am addicted to Chupa Chups lollipops!! I used to eat them when I was little and totally forgot about them until I got here. They taste like fruity yogurt and deliciousness!!

It's approaching 12:15 here and if I don't get to bed soon, I fear I will not be able to wake up in time for my first class... I have to take out the trash before I head to bed because they have daily trash collection here but you're only allowed to put it on your stoop between 11:30 p.m. and 8:30 a.m, otherwise you get ticketed for littering and have to pay about $4000 in fines... eek.

Keep the good wishes coming; I love hearing from you all!

Cheers!

adventures on the tube

Hello loves!

Today started out bright and early with a work-study meeting at Faraday. There are only about 7 of us doing work-study, which is good because we'll be able to get more hours in, although we max out at 12 hours a week... and we also are getting the shaft and are being paid about $7 an hour, but at least its an income, even in a small amount. Every little bit helps here! I made a bunch of new friends with the other students and the faculty as well... everyone is very friendly here, contrary to what I've heard about Brits before coming to the UK. They bought us pizza as well which we were held hostage in Faraday for, as the meeting ended around 11:45 and the pizza was supposed to come at 12:30. But it gave me a chance to talk to some people, so I can't complain. The pizza here is equally as delicious as it is at home, although that could have something to with the level of hunger I've been surviving at...

One of the girls I met at the meeting gave me exact directions to Woolworth's, which I've been trying to find since I got here. Another girl I met named Alli shares a mutual friend with me so we hit it off right away and she came along with me on my mini adventure for the day. This was my first time taking the tube so I bought an Oyster card, which is equivalent to something like a Metro card in the States. The tube is actually quite expensive... about 5 pounds for a round trip, but with the Oyster card I guess it is a little cheaper. We are supposed to be getting student Oyster cards soon enough, so we will save about 1/3 off of the regular cost which will be extremely helpful. SU has been very good with trying to do anything to help students save money. Anyway, we took the Piccadilly Line from Russell Square to King's Cross, transferred to the Northern Line and took that to Angel. Relatively qulick ride, but probably not walkable with a load of purchases. The store was located in a pretty busy part of town, and as luck would have it there was a market going on right in the street next to the store. I believe it was called Chancey Market, but I could be wrong... it had almost anything you could think of: produce, clothes, shoes, toiletries, linens, toys, etc. all SO insanely cheap we thought we had struck gold. I will definitely be heading down there on Saturdays to buy some stuff to make dinner with for the week. We also found a store called Utopia which sold very discounted clothing, about 5 pounds for most of the items in there... Woolworth's was equally as delightful as I finally found HANGERS which I've been searching for for a week!! I also sampled a good amount of British candy and bought a few things for the flat... afterwards we went to a little strip mall thing across the street where there was a more fancy open air market going on, selling things like olive oil and breads and ITALIAN PASTRIES which of course I sampled. I have no idea what I ate but it was delicious!! After the excitement of the markets we jumped back on the tube and headed back.

Once back at the flat, it was too nice to stay inside so we went to the park down the street to sit outside and read for a bit. There was a little wedding party going on so I had a good time watching them pose for pictures and such. I'm such a people watcher and this is probably the best place to do it. There are so many diverse people around!

Also, on a random side note, I've noticed that since coming here I'm starting to pick up on the accent a bit. Usually if I'm walking by myself and if someone bumps into me, I'll mutter "sorry" in my best British accent so as not to stick out as a rude American... it seems to work quite well, actually... the response has been generally more friendly than if I speak in my American accent. Also, I'm wondering if people here are able to pick out Americans based on the way they carry themselves or dress or something. The other day I was walking to Faraday and on the side street approaching the building there is a bunch of construction going on. There were about 15 construction men lifting boards and such off of a truck and they saw me walking toward them and they all hollared "HOLD IT! LET THE LADY THROUGH!" and all tipped their hats to me as I walked by. Most likely that had to do with the fact that I was just a girl walking by but I had to wonder... if nothing else, it was kind of an ego booster to get all of those men to stop their work to let me through, hah!

Anywho, the roommate is making some dinner tonight (I cooked last night, believe it or not) so am off to eat that and make some plans for the evening. Keep in touch, everyone. I miss you all!

Cheers!