It has been quite some time since I have written a blog post and I thought it was necessary to catch up! The last time I posted, I was about to head to a football game and that seems like ages ago. I have been extremely busy and find myself in my room minimally, which is a good thing and a bad thing all at the same time.
The football game was a lot of fun. We were quite late and had to kick some people out of our seats, but after that we could watch an extremely uneventful game. The score ended up as 0-0, but the experience was memorable. There were thousands of fans packed into one stadium and they all cheered and booed in unison. How awful would it be to be booed by over 75,000 fans?
The rest of last week and this week is a blur with not a lot of memorable things happening. If it wasn't so far away maybe I'd have something more interesting to talk about, but unfortunately I can't think of many things that happened that were worth mentioning. One of the main things that I have been doing is writing papers and walking through Regents Park in my free time. The papers are a lot more work that what I originally intended. I have 8 papers to write for this semester, which is a task that is becoming more daunting everyday. I have been trying to buckle down and work on them, which makes my life quite boring. However, I am hoping to finish them early so that I can enjoy my last few weeks here and be free for when Chelsea comes to visit!
This past weekend the CIEE group and I took a trip to Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. I was excited for the trip on Thursday night, but was desperately trying to finish the bibliography of my paper. I ended up going to sleep around 2 in the morning. In my tired state, I had tried to set my alarm for 7:00 in the morning, but apparently I failed to do so. The cleaning lady was banging around in our kitchen at around 9 on Friday morning and I believe that is the first time I since I have been here where I am thankful some random noise woke me up! My group was scheduled to meet at Kings Cross to catch our train at 9:45. I got up faster than I have ever gotten up in my life and began running around my room and flat gathering everything I could think of for our trip. I threw on some decent clothes and proceeded to power walk as fast as possible to the station, which is about a 15 minute walk from my flat. I thought I was walking fast at first, but then a lady that looked about 60 passed me on the sidewalk. I was in awe and slightly amused so my new goal was beating her to my destination. I won, but probably looked like a fool in the process!
After getting lost for a short amount of time in the huge station, I found my group and a wave of relief rushed over me. We boarded the train and were off to Scotland! On the train, I tried to take a nap but was unsuccessful. I began talking to the other girls in my group and trying to find something to do. After a short while, I had the feeling that someone was watching me. I looked around the train to find a boy about the age of 9 staring at me. I thought it was amusing and told the girl I was sitting by about this awkward situation. After what seemed to be about 10 minutes of this kid staring at me, I began staring back. He then decided to write me a note and told me to quit looking at him. I was very surprised and took a pen and paper out of my bag and wrote him a note saying, "you started it."
I went back to talking with my friend, Ellie, when out of the corner of my eye I saw the kid and his sister waving at me. He threw a paper airplane my way. I took apart the folding and the note inside read, "Nice shoes. Not. You look like you just came out of the bin." I started laughing and couldn't believe that this kid was passing me rude notes, not to mention he noticed that I took about 2 minutes trying to fix my hair before running out the door that morning.
I wrote him back that my shoes, called Toms, helped provide a pair of shoes to a child in need. Then I told him to learn how to make a better airplane and to stop talking to me. I proceeded to fold another airplane and sent it back. To my pleasure, it hit him in the forehead and landed in his lap. I then got up as quickly as possible and went to talk to some friends who were in a different part of the train. I wanted to get away from that kid as soon as possible and was sick of acting like I was 10 years old. When I got back to my seat, I found a pile of paper airplanes on it. I was slightly amused but decided to ignore him to the best of my ability.
When we FINALLY got to Edinburgh after a 5 hour train ride of avoiding eye contact with a kid, we left the train station and almost immediately heard bag pipes. I was extremely pumped and knew that this was going to be an amazing weekend. That night was full of hanging out with the CIEE group and not doing much sight-seeing, but it was fun and much needed. At 9:30 we decided to embark on a graveyard tour. The tour guide was really funny, but other than that, it was not as scary as we thought it would be. The graveyard was creepy and apparently between 250,000 and 400,000 people were buried there during the plague. No ghosts were seen by my friends and me, but some people in our group "felt something" and wanted to talk to the tour guide about it. Bogus if you ask me!
The next day we got up and found some breakfast. I wanted to find a poncho because the night before I had been stuck in the rain without an umbrella or water resistant jacket. Alonzo and I set out to find ponchos and after finding them quickly, we decided to walk around and take pictures. We eventually found our way to a "peak" or mini mountain thing called Arthur's seat. We climbed the 850 feet up to the top, which was kind of a challenge because I hadn't packed the right shoes. However, the climb was definitely worth it. We sat at the top and looked out for miles on some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen in my life. It was truly amazing.
After we decided to climb down, we made our way towards Edinburgh Castle. We got there and took the tour, which was interesting, but not mind blowing. We got to see the Crown Jewels of Scotland, which was probably the highlight of our visit. Learning the history was interesting, but nothing could compare to the amazing hike that morning.
That night we went on a pub crawl and had a lot of fun hanging out with each other. Yesterday morning we headed back to London. I was surprised at how much I missed "home" and was very excited to finally be back in my room. The weekend was a ton of fun, but I was ready for some down time.
Today has been pretty uneventful. I have made a trip to the library and grocery store and am about to start on another paper. Hope it goes by quickly!
Miss you all,
Lorinda
Monday, 25 October 2010
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
Busy Busy Busy
This past week has been full of events and not much down time. The result: another long blog to keep you all updated and a lot of stress on my part.
A week ago classes started. Three out of the four I am registered for seem manageable and the other, well that's still up for debate. I have nine weeks of class left and eight papers to write in that amount of time. The class I am most worried about is called: The History and Analysis of Paint. In the past, this class was reserved for HAM students only. HAM students are History of Art students that have a background in chemistry and specialize in doing things such as analyzing paints. I, on the other hand, am behind even the other affiliate History of Art students because I am still technically a second year. By the end of this course I am supposed to be able to tell the difference between different pigments of colors. So far we have been introduced to 3 different blues and 3 different reds. I'm in for a challenge!
I'll stop complaining about classes and get to the more interesting part that whoever may be reading this blog will be more interested in.
Last week Tuesday was the last blog that I posted. Like always, a lot of stuff has happened between then and now. I attended all of my classes, did homework for the first time in months, and tried to talk to various people from home during the week.
On Thursday night, a couple of my friends and I went to the London Eye. This is a huge ferris wheel that takes about a half hour to complete a spin. It overlooks the Thames River as well as Parliament, Big Ben, and many other attractions. You can see almost the whole expanse of London, however, like usual the weather was foggy/cloudy and visualization was down. It was a very interesting ride and the view was incredible, however, I would probably not recommend the London Eye for I don't really think it was worth the price.
After the Eye, we went out to eat and then proceeded to travel to Camden Town. There was an awesome pub/bar there called the Flowerpot. People there were dressed in vintagey clothes and all having a pretty good time.... But that's not what was so great. After a few short minutes of being there, the music changed and songs by Prince, the Jackson Five, and other singers from that era came on and my friends and I started dancing. We were kind of doing our own thing until some crazy Italian man got on the dance floor and got everyone else in the pub up and ready to rock. Those songs lasted awhile and we didn't think the night would be getting any better, but we were wrong. Folk music began blasting over the speakers and the crazy Italian grabbed my arm and started spinning me around the room. We stayed at the pub until 1 AM when it closed, and then ventured to the bus stop that was right in front of the "Jews for Jesus" building. I still haven't found out what they do in that building...
Friday was pretty uneventful. I again ventured to Camden Town to find a pair of boots that I have been wanting since I got to London. It seems everyone wears boots here. The shopping trip was a success and I was ready for that night. A guy from my group, Alonzo, and his friend, Stefan came over to my flat to chill for awhile before we went out to the Union (the student union has a two floor pub, very different from American schools!). At the Union, we were joined by Reid, another guy from CIEE and Stefan's twin, Thomas. We hung out at the pub for quite some time and discussed music and various other topics. As we were leaving the Union to go to a bigger student union, Alonzo was walking with me down the stairs. He told me not to fall and I looked at him with a dumb expression and said that I wouldn't. Just after I said that I tripped on the edge of a landing and fell down the stairs. How wonderful! The rest of the night went pretty much like the first part and ended with me having huge blisters on the back of my heels from walking around in my new fabulous boots.
Saturday Alonzo, Stefan, Thomas, and I left our area of town and ventured to St. Paul's Cathedral. We had every intention of climbing to the top until we saw that there was a 10 pound admission fee. Thinking that this was very expensive we left. As we exited the doors, I noticed that they read something like "This is the gateway to Heaven". I didn't know I was required to pay a 10 pounds to enter Heaven. I guess that's Catholics for you! JUUUUST KIDDING.
After St. Paul's we went out for lunch. I had my first try at fish and chips and was in love. Afterwards we ventured across the bridge that was seen in the fifth Harry Potter movie. I forget what it's called :s we walked around for some time, saw a lady who looked like the queen, and ended up at Tate Modern. Again, I was in love with so much of what I saw there, but instead of being by myself, I was with a few crazy guys that made me laugh nonstop. I'm pretty sure everyone at Tate Modern that day hated us...
Sunday was a beautiful and SUNNY!!!! day. I went out with some girls (plus Reid) to Hyde park to watch people talk in the Speakers Corner. We came across some craaaazy lady that is apparently pretty famous there and has been speaking her mind for 30 years. A crowd had gathered around her and this is the view that she was trying to get across: she believes that no one should leave the place where her god intended them to be. For example: her god gave Indian people India and so they should stay there. She said that people who moved from where her god intended them to be were worthless and served no purpose to anyone. She also said intermarriage between people from different areas was wrong. As you can tell, she was extremely racist and no one liked what she had to say. She got into arguments with everyone that tried to challenge her, which turned out to be an impressive number.
After the speakers corner, we decided to walk around the park. This park is over 620 acres and was a welcome relief to the city. I realized that I missed fall in Iowa, but decided that this beautiful park would have to do. There was a wonderful pond that my friends and I sat at and watched the ducks and geese swim and bicker. It was a brilliant afternoon and I was very happy that I took time to enjoy it.
Sunday night and Monday were filled with trying to concentrate on homework, but constantly being distracted by making plans to visit Greece and Italy. Facebook was also a big distraction.
Tonight is the soccer (football) game, England v. Montenegro. My friends and I are painting our faces and getting really excited! However, four hours of class await me first. Too bad I have to go to school here. Life would be much more glamorous without it :)
I hope that all of you are well and I can't wait to see all of you when I return home! And Stefan, I mentioned you by name this time so I hope that makes up for last time when I shoved you under the category of "British friends." :)
Love,
Lorinda
A week ago classes started. Three out of the four I am registered for seem manageable and the other, well that's still up for debate. I have nine weeks of class left and eight papers to write in that amount of time. The class I am most worried about is called: The History and Analysis of Paint. In the past, this class was reserved for HAM students only. HAM students are History of Art students that have a background in chemistry and specialize in doing things such as analyzing paints. I, on the other hand, am behind even the other affiliate History of Art students because I am still technically a second year. By the end of this course I am supposed to be able to tell the difference between different pigments of colors. So far we have been introduced to 3 different blues and 3 different reds. I'm in for a challenge!
I'll stop complaining about classes and get to the more interesting part that whoever may be reading this blog will be more interested in.
Last week Tuesday was the last blog that I posted. Like always, a lot of stuff has happened between then and now. I attended all of my classes, did homework for the first time in months, and tried to talk to various people from home during the week.
On Thursday night, a couple of my friends and I went to the London Eye. This is a huge ferris wheel that takes about a half hour to complete a spin. It overlooks the Thames River as well as Parliament, Big Ben, and many other attractions. You can see almost the whole expanse of London, however, like usual the weather was foggy/cloudy and visualization was down. It was a very interesting ride and the view was incredible, however, I would probably not recommend the London Eye for I don't really think it was worth the price.
After the Eye, we went out to eat and then proceeded to travel to Camden Town. There was an awesome pub/bar there called the Flowerpot. People there were dressed in vintagey clothes and all having a pretty good time.... But that's not what was so great. After a few short minutes of being there, the music changed and songs by Prince, the Jackson Five, and other singers from that era came on and my friends and I started dancing. We were kind of doing our own thing until some crazy Italian man got on the dance floor and got everyone else in the pub up and ready to rock. Those songs lasted awhile and we didn't think the night would be getting any better, but we were wrong. Folk music began blasting over the speakers and the crazy Italian grabbed my arm and started spinning me around the room. We stayed at the pub until 1 AM when it closed, and then ventured to the bus stop that was right in front of the "Jews for Jesus" building. I still haven't found out what they do in that building...
Friday was pretty uneventful. I again ventured to Camden Town to find a pair of boots that I have been wanting since I got to London. It seems everyone wears boots here. The shopping trip was a success and I was ready for that night. A guy from my group, Alonzo, and his friend, Stefan came over to my flat to chill for awhile before we went out to the Union (the student union has a two floor pub, very different from American schools!). At the Union, we were joined by Reid, another guy from CIEE and Stefan's twin, Thomas. We hung out at the pub for quite some time and discussed music and various other topics. As we were leaving the Union to go to a bigger student union, Alonzo was walking with me down the stairs. He told me not to fall and I looked at him with a dumb expression and said that I wouldn't. Just after I said that I tripped on the edge of a landing and fell down the stairs. How wonderful! The rest of the night went pretty much like the first part and ended with me having huge blisters on the back of my heels from walking around in my new fabulous boots.
Saturday Alonzo, Stefan, Thomas, and I left our area of town and ventured to St. Paul's Cathedral. We had every intention of climbing to the top until we saw that there was a 10 pound admission fee. Thinking that this was very expensive we left. As we exited the doors, I noticed that they read something like "This is the gateway to Heaven". I didn't know I was required to pay a 10 pounds to enter Heaven. I guess that's Catholics for you! JUUUUST KIDDING.
After St. Paul's we went out for lunch. I had my first try at fish and chips and was in love. Afterwards we ventured across the bridge that was seen in the fifth Harry Potter movie. I forget what it's called :s we walked around for some time, saw a lady who looked like the queen, and ended up at Tate Modern. Again, I was in love with so much of what I saw there, but instead of being by myself, I was with a few crazy guys that made me laugh nonstop. I'm pretty sure everyone at Tate Modern that day hated us...
Sunday was a beautiful and SUNNY!!!! day. I went out with some girls (plus Reid) to Hyde park to watch people talk in the Speakers Corner. We came across some craaaazy lady that is apparently pretty famous there and has been speaking her mind for 30 years. A crowd had gathered around her and this is the view that she was trying to get across: she believes that no one should leave the place where her god intended them to be. For example: her god gave Indian people India and so they should stay there. She said that people who moved from where her god intended them to be were worthless and served no purpose to anyone. She also said intermarriage between people from different areas was wrong. As you can tell, she was extremely racist and no one liked what she had to say. She got into arguments with everyone that tried to challenge her, which turned out to be an impressive number.
After the speakers corner, we decided to walk around the park. This park is over 620 acres and was a welcome relief to the city. I realized that I missed fall in Iowa, but decided that this beautiful park would have to do. There was a wonderful pond that my friends and I sat at and watched the ducks and geese swim and bicker. It was a brilliant afternoon and I was very happy that I took time to enjoy it.
Sunday night and Monday were filled with trying to concentrate on homework, but constantly being distracted by making plans to visit Greece and Italy. Facebook was also a big distraction.
Tonight is the soccer (football) game, England v. Montenegro. My friends and I are painting our faces and getting really excited! However, four hours of class await me first. Too bad I have to go to school here. Life would be much more glamorous without it :)
I hope that all of you are well and I can't wait to see all of you when I return home! And Stefan, I mentioned you by name this time so I hope that makes up for last time when I shoved you under the category of "British friends." :)
Love,
Lorinda
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
I've got some catching up to do!
It's been almost a week since I posted last. Life has been CRAZY over here and I have a few things to talk about.
On Thursday morning last week I went to an event called the Freshers Fayre. There I looked at all of the clubs that UCL has to offer and picked a few out that I would like to try. The basketball booth immediately tried to suck me in to their club because I was the tallest one in the area by far! However, I think of this trip as a study/vacation opportunity and don't want to make any major commitments such as multiple practices a week. It sounds lazy and when I look back at my school athletic career, going to some kind of practice most days sounds exhausting! So instead, I chose some new things that I thought sounded like fun. As of now, I am planning on joining the Hiking and Walking Club, the Fencing Club (SO EXCITED!), and the chocolate society. What kind of club asks for a 10 pound deposit and I get to try all the chocolate I want for the rest of the semester? The answer: my perfect club. :)
After the fair I checked my watch and realized that my flight for Amsterdam left in just 2 short hours and it would take me an hour to get to the airport. I sprinted to my room, called my mom to freak out about classes for 30 seconds while I grabbed my things and the went to call a taxi. I made it in time but probably managed to scare the taxi cab driver and the check in man at the airport because of my desperate state that pushed me close to tears.
Once the plane landed and I was on the train to Centraal Station in Amsterdam, I met someone who had more connections to me than I could have ever imagined. This lady was around 55 years old and grew up in the Netherlands. She moved to London as a young adult. She asked where I was from and I started to explain Pella to her before she cut me off. She actually studied abroad in Orange City, Iowa and and visited Pella for Tulip Time. She told me it was the most boring year of her life and knew that I would understand. Who studies abroad in Orange City????
After I got off the train I FINALLY got to see the one and only Chelsea Waits. I was on Cloud 9 until she showed me the way to the hostel I booked. When I booked it, I was in a huge hurry and saw that it was a five minute walk from Dam Square. It so happens that the Red Light District is a five minute walk from Dam Square and our hostel was located right in the middle of it. Not the best first impression of Amsterdam that someone should have!
The next day we went for a bit of sight seeing. We walked around for most of the morning and early afternoon totally lost but finally found what we were looking for. We went to the House of Bols, which is a kind of hard liquor. We got to tour, smell all the flavors, and do a bunch of other things before getting a really cool mixed drink and taste tests for our favorite flavor we smelled earlier. It was a really cool place with tons of colors and the bar was almost completely mirrored except for the floor, cuz that would just be gross.
After the House of Bols we got to go to the thing I had been waiting for: the Van Gogh Museum. It was absolutely wonderful to be in a place surrounded by the art of someone I have admired for so long. And to get that straight, I don't admire his life or personality, just his paintings. :) I could have spent hours in that place.
The next day was Saturday and we spent the day walking around the city, not doing much of anything. It was great being able walk around in nice weather knowing that you have no obligations to do all day.
Sunday was my last day in Amsterdam. We started the day off by getting coffee and walking to the Heineken Factory. We purchased tickets and went inside to take one of the best tours I have ever been on. There was a virtual ride, taste testing, movies, a factory tour, awesome chairs to watch every Heineken commercial from 1955 to the present, a ceiling made completely out of Heineken bottles, and of course at the end there was a bar where we could have two "free" beers. I won't give away all the details for that would be spoiling it for Lance, who loves Heineken and has more souvenirs than anyone else on the planet.
Sunday night I made my way to the airport and returned to the city that I love. Amsterdam was a nice place to visit, but I don't know how anyone can live there. I almost got hit by a bike several times because unlike the U.S. bikes are EVERYWHERE and definitely have the right of way when it comes to anything and everything.
Yesterday was a pretty uneventful day filled with walking around Picadilly Circus and shopping with a girl from my program. Today was a different story. I finally started classes two months after everyone else I know. Classes were way more laid back than I expected but the reading assignments are very daunting. I have to read for tomorrow's class yet so I believe that this will conclude my blog post.
Hope everyone is well and I miss you all!!!
Lorinda
On Thursday morning last week I went to an event called the Freshers Fayre. There I looked at all of the clubs that UCL has to offer and picked a few out that I would like to try. The basketball booth immediately tried to suck me in to their club because I was the tallest one in the area by far! However, I think of this trip as a study/vacation opportunity and don't want to make any major commitments such as multiple practices a week. It sounds lazy and when I look back at my school athletic career, going to some kind of practice most days sounds exhausting! So instead, I chose some new things that I thought sounded like fun. As of now, I am planning on joining the Hiking and Walking Club, the Fencing Club (SO EXCITED!), and the chocolate society. What kind of club asks for a 10 pound deposit and I get to try all the chocolate I want for the rest of the semester? The answer: my perfect club. :)
After the fair I checked my watch and realized that my flight for Amsterdam left in just 2 short hours and it would take me an hour to get to the airport. I sprinted to my room, called my mom to freak out about classes for 30 seconds while I grabbed my things and the went to call a taxi. I made it in time but probably managed to scare the taxi cab driver and the check in man at the airport because of my desperate state that pushed me close to tears.
Once the plane landed and I was on the train to Centraal Station in Amsterdam, I met someone who had more connections to me than I could have ever imagined. This lady was around 55 years old and grew up in the Netherlands. She moved to London as a young adult. She asked where I was from and I started to explain Pella to her before she cut me off. She actually studied abroad in Orange City, Iowa and and visited Pella for Tulip Time. She told me it was the most boring year of her life and knew that I would understand. Who studies abroad in Orange City????
After I got off the train I FINALLY got to see the one and only Chelsea Waits. I was on Cloud 9 until she showed me the way to the hostel I booked. When I booked it, I was in a huge hurry and saw that it was a five minute walk from Dam Square. It so happens that the Red Light District is a five minute walk from Dam Square and our hostel was located right in the middle of it. Not the best first impression of Amsterdam that someone should have!
The next day we went for a bit of sight seeing. We walked around for most of the morning and early afternoon totally lost but finally found what we were looking for. We went to the House of Bols, which is a kind of hard liquor. We got to tour, smell all the flavors, and do a bunch of other things before getting a really cool mixed drink and taste tests for our favorite flavor we smelled earlier. It was a really cool place with tons of colors and the bar was almost completely mirrored except for the floor, cuz that would just be gross.
After the House of Bols we got to go to the thing I had been waiting for: the Van Gogh Museum. It was absolutely wonderful to be in a place surrounded by the art of someone I have admired for so long. And to get that straight, I don't admire his life or personality, just his paintings. :) I could have spent hours in that place.
The next day was Saturday and we spent the day walking around the city, not doing much of anything. It was great being able walk around in nice weather knowing that you have no obligations to do all day.
Sunday was my last day in Amsterdam. We started the day off by getting coffee and walking to the Heineken Factory. We purchased tickets and went inside to take one of the best tours I have ever been on. There was a virtual ride, taste testing, movies, a factory tour, awesome chairs to watch every Heineken commercial from 1955 to the present, a ceiling made completely out of Heineken bottles, and of course at the end there was a bar where we could have two "free" beers. I won't give away all the details for that would be spoiling it for Lance, who loves Heineken and has more souvenirs than anyone else on the planet.
Sunday night I made my way to the airport and returned to the city that I love. Amsterdam was a nice place to visit, but I don't know how anyone can live there. I almost got hit by a bike several times because unlike the U.S. bikes are EVERYWHERE and definitely have the right of way when it comes to anything and everything.
Yesterday was a pretty uneventful day filled with walking around Picadilly Circus and shopping with a girl from my program. Today was a different story. I finally started classes two months after everyone else I know. Classes were way more laid back than I expected but the reading assignments are very daunting. I have to read for tomorrow's class yet so I believe that this will conclude my blog post.
Hope everyone is well and I miss you all!!!
Lorinda
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