My last full weekend in London behind me, I set off for my remaining four days of work. For some reason, my program had us not working on Friday-- we didn't actually have exit interviews. Regardless, I was super excited as a walked/rode to work on Monday. Seriously, this was it! Last Monday I was incredibly antsy the entire day knowing that I was close but not nearly close enough. Now I was close.
The work week passed very quickly, for which I'm thankful. Tuesday night I went to see Pygmalion after work. The musical My Fair Lady was based on Pygmalion, so I've always wanted to see it since I really like the musical (and even have the soundtrack! But not with me, currently, more on that later....). Strangely, the play was much better than the musical at least plot-wise. The characters are more robust and there's a much clearer view of how the plot develops. Comparing the two, the musical seems quite shallow.
For example, in both the play and musical Eliza Doolittle makes clear to Professor Higgins that she intends to have only proper English lessons for she is "good girl she is" and will have nothing damaging her reputation. Although she is obviously lower class and clearly "dirty", she has managed to maintain a rare purity.
However, once she has mastered the art of being a lady, she wonders, while quite, understandably, exasperated, to Professor Higgins what she is good for now. The mannerisms he has taught her make her unfit to work in a flower shop yet because she is a "good girl" she can't sell her body in marriage or otherwise, though that seems all she has left to contribute as a pseudo-member of the upper class. Her realisation can be taken both as a remark on her as an individual and on the role of women in the upper class.
Oh my goodness, even as I write this I'm running through various other occurrences from the play. It was a fantastic commentary on class structure of the early 1900s in London. Its angles just keep going, and going, and going. But anyway, now that I've turned this blog into a discourse on comparative literature and theater, let me steer away a bit. (Though, if expanded, I imagine I could write a decent paper on Eliza's final realisation. C'mon guys, I'm trying to get into school mode again!)
On Wednesday night, I went to church for my final Wednesday night service. We'd been working on Psalm 18 since probably the third week of June and finally tied it all together this past Wednesday. The previous Wednesday, Pastor Jared had given us the divisions for the verses, and we were to find the connections and study the chapter as a whole. It was neat to see the chapter put together when we had just been studying it in chunks for the past 1.5 months. I've got a few pages scribbled with barely intelligible notes that I'll hopefully be able to decipher later on.
And then it came, that glorious final day of work! August 7th, the last day I would work at Pro Capital, Ltd. Finally. I sent a few emails in the morning and piddled around in the afternoon a little, but that was seriously about it. During the last two hours I just wanted to get out of there! I went out to my lunch park for the last time, taking with me my standard lunch of baguette sandwich, carrots, and a banana. But, I did buy a tippin bar (chocolate cookie bar type thing) to celebrate. After work, Oliver took us out for drinks which I thought would be insanely awkward but ended up being not too bad. He got us a plate of nachos to work on, which was nice. I've never had lime in my Coke before, but I couldn't really taste it. I think I might like to have lemon in Coke regularly. Hm, maybe I'll do some experimenting when we get back to the States.
We said our good-byes and Una (Oliver's assistant) and I walked to the Tube station together. I had to top up, so we exchanged our final well-wishes to each other. Suddenly, she was pulling me close to her side. "Uh, what are we doing?" I mentally asked. She pulled me to her other side. "Oh! That's what we're doing. European-style good-bye with a fake kiss to each side. Gotcha." Hm, I'll probably need to practice that a few more times before being comfortable to do it naturally. But, no chance now what with our flight taking off tomorrow afternoon (!!!).
As I rode down the escalator, I was a little sad. Strange, huh? The job I had waited to end was finally over yet there was a very weird part of me wanting it to remain. I think that's mostly because ending the internship meant the end of a certain amount of structure and security. You see, the internship had become normal. As much as it felt incredibly off during my first few weeks, I grew to be comfortable with it. Getting up at 6 AM every morning, eating my breakfast of tea, milk, two pieces of toast (one with cream cheese and raspberry jam, the other with peanut butter), and a clementine, riding the Tube while listening to my Mp3 player, going to the lunch park, coming back to the flat and having a glass of sparkling apple juice every evening. It was normal, it was structured.
But now that's all ending. My bags are packed, my carry on is ready, I'm all set to head out the door tomorrow morning never to return to this flat. Leaving will, however, be the end of a structure I have gotten used to. Some moments I'm sad to leave, some I'm ecstatic. On the culture adjustment cycle I think I'm bobbling between two states.
We all went out for Chinese at the place Katie Beth and I went to weeks ago. It's probably the only place where I've consistently gotten the same thing. Usually I like to try lots of different things, but at this particular place I found an item I liked and stuck with it. That item happened to be roast belly pork with egg fried rice. I've even eaten the entire meal with chopsticks all three times and have upped my skill level from laughably horrible to decently adequate. I found myself rather naturally picking up rice, pork, and cooked cabbage. The next time I have Chinese I want to eat it all with chopsticks.
Tonight, I went and bought a pasty from Baker's Oven and in just a few hours I'll head out and get chocolate ice cream. You see, Melissa, Katie Beth, and I got ice cream at that same place after returning from The Merry Wives of Windsor the night before KB was to leave. I promised myself that the night before I left I would get some more of that very same ice cream.
When Melissa left she had compiled a list of things she liked and disliked about London. A week or so before that, I had the idea to do something similar right before I left too. And my, was it going to be a list. I'd include good things and bad to have some balance, and it would stretch out for a long while. But see, a funny thing happened. I can't tell anymore what I like and dislike. London is...London. I haven't needed to 'escape the city' like I did when Katie Beth was here. I'm used to the whizzing cars, the lights, and the throngs of people. Every day I hear at least four languages and that would be a culturally relatively boring day.
Here's the kicker: I think in pounds, not dollars. It's been quite a while since I converted to dollars all the time. The conversion is ridiculous, always, so I just stopped and tried to spend money relatively well as best I could. I wonder if when going back to the States I'll be amazed at the 'cheap' prices.
It's weird. I don't know what I like and dislike anymore. It's all just there. I live in it. While this has been fantastic to adjusting to living here, I imagine returning might be slightly more difficult that I expect. Ever since early summer I've been watching my progress through the "cultural adjustment cycle." Boy, that thing is surprisingly accurate. We've all gone through the cycle at various times, but it has certainly happened to all of us. Perhaps during my five hours at the airport tomorrow or eight hours on the plane I'll draw up a graph to post on here. Or maybe Excel once I get back, we'll see.
And that's it folks, we leave the flats at 11 AM tomorrow for our flight at 4:10 PM. We land in Chicago at 6:45 PM, and from there my mom and sisters will pick me up. We'll spend the night at my grandparents house and then drive back to Burlington on Monday. I've got more to write, but I'm getting a bit tired (even though it's not even 9...) and a little antsy to be in the plane finally headed home. It's coming, tomorrow, it's coming. Wow, thank You Lord.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Friday, August 8, 2008
The End of Touring
Hello, folks! Long time, no see! Well, that's really my fault more than anything, but, as I mentioned previously (a week ago...), I'm tired of just being on the computer! Goodness, this little Londoner needs some good 'ol big screen TV in her life.
Let's start with a quick recap on the past weekend:
I took off last Friday, August 1, because my program lets me have five days off total. That, and I really didn't want to work any more full weeks at Pro Capital. Anyways, that morning I went off to Alfie's Antiques Market just to look around. I kinda like looking at old stuff-- but I realized that each decade accumulates a lot of 'junk' that dealers try to pass off as collectible. Really, it's just out-of-date junk. Some of the stuff was neat but very much out of my price range. While walking back to the Tube station, I passed through a small street market and went in a fabric store to look around. My, it was a designer fabric store what with prices easily around £100 for a meter of fabric (3.28ish feet). In another small shop, I found a very classy set of slingback teal pumps for £15 but decided against them because I didn't really need them.
After the antiques market, I rode the Tube to Trafalgar Square and went up inside St. Martin-in-the-Fields (crazy long names...) to attend one of their free lunchtime concerts, which was a piano and violin duet. I really enjoy these types of sitdown performances and plan on going to lots of senior recitals at Truman this coming year.
From the church, I took the Tube up to Charles Dickens's house. Goodness, I've been trying to go there since early June and finally made it! My favourite part of the house was the curved wall and door in the dining room. It was neat to see some of the furniture saved from when Dickens lived there.
To round out the day, I headed over to Harrods for a final look around and a few pictures. Funny thing about that place, you've got the tourists and the shoppers. The tourists just gawk at everything while the shoppers plan to spend money. I saw a lot of Middle Eastern women decked out in bling-tastic burkahs ready to spend from their rich husbands' wallet.
On Saturday, August 2, Emily and I went off to Madame Tussaud's which is the original wax museum founded by, guess who, Madam Tussaud. It was neat to talk around the A-list celebrity hall not really knowing where the wax models were because they were usually not up on platforms. That way, you could stand next to them and feel like they were actually right there. I remember walking by a bald guy, doing a double take, and realizing it was Patrick Stewart. George Clooney, Angelina Jolie/Brad Pitt, Daniel Radcliffe, Miley Cyrus, Orlando Bloom, Johnny Depp, the Beckams, Will Smith, John Wayne, Alfred Hitchcock.......The next room had sports, literature, and royalty folks such as Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, the child Mozart, the Queen, Prince Charles, Princess Diana, King Henry VIII, Queen Victoria.........later on was the world leaders room with Nelson Mandela, Saddam Hussein, Yasar Arafat, Adolf Hitler, Tony Blair, George W. Bush, the Pope, the Reagans, Nixon, Kennedy.........(this list is mostly so I can remember years from now)
Some models seemed more accurate and life-like than others. For example, the President Bush one did not at all look like him, well, except for the cowboy boots. Visitors could go up to most of the models to pose with them- even so far as to touch them, it was expected.
Because I'm a wimp, I could muster the courage to go through the SCREAM! part of the gallery. It was basically meant to scare you, a lot, with screaming, a lot of screaming. Eheh. So, we moved on and went on a small ride they've made near the end of the tour. It's something like the Epcot ride in the middle of the Epcot ball. You ride in a mini London cab fashioned with two seats and go through the history of England...except that the history starts in the Middle Ages. The history book I bought early this summer says otherwise.
After finishing up at Madame Tussaud's, we walked through Regent's Park. London does have very good parks; it's been nice to explore a few. Finished with that, we went over to the Covent Garden market for a look around. But first, food! I requested a pub so we could get pub food, which is one of my new favourite types of food. And, very typically, I got fish and chips, mostly because I didn't know if I would have them again before leaving (which I haven't, and probably won't).
We then explored the craft section of the market. I had a headache (from caffeine withdrawl, though I don't know why. I hadn't consumed any more than normal), so I bought a Coke for £1 (good price). We wandered a bit and had some fun seeing the neat things the vendors had. I like markets; they're much more personal than a store.
On Sunday, August 3, I made my traditional (at least for the summer, anyway) pancakes. Before they left, Katie Beth and her flatmates gave me a lot of their extra food. One of the items was a bottle of syrup though it's not really maple-flavoured syrup. I'd say it's a little more like Golden Eagle. Anyways, I always put a bit of that and some raspberry jam on my pancakes. At home, I eat them plain with butter. After breakfast, I went off to church and spent my last Sunday at Bethesday. :(
Pastor Jared didn't finish until 12:45 PM (service starts at 11) and afterwards the church had prepared a lunch to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. Interesting note: My first and last Sundays at Bethesda were on the first Sundays of the month, and, thus, each had meals. I left around 2 but because I was meeting Jenni and Emily to go to Buckingham Palace at 2:45 PM I couldn't go get my hair cut as I was planning.
From the flat we went over to the Palace, got our advanced tickets for 3:45 PM, and got in line to enter. All of the tickets are by timed entry, so there were basically giant groups of people being herded about. We even had to go through security! In any case, the Palace was gorgeous. I think I liked it better than Windsor because Buckingham is where the Queen holds state dinners. Since her reign began ('52 or 53'?), the only US presidents to have one for them were Presidents Reagan and Bush (current). During our visit, they had the grand dining hall set up for a state dinner exactly as it would appear. All the plates and cutlery are measured so they are absolutely in line when looking down the table.
The drawing rooms are so incredibly ornate. I still wonder why one would need so many, in essence, humongous living rooms, but hey, it's a palace. Also, the Palace has 72 bathrooms and over 200 bedrooms! Even with all those bathrooms, we had to use the temporary ones outside the Palace. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures, so I caved and bought a £4 booklet of postcards.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the end of Laura Beth's touring in London. I made a list early this summer of all the places I wanted to visit. Then, I filled out my weekends with what I would see when, highlighting each item in my list with yellow once I had set a time for it. When I went to the place I wanted to see, I highlighted it in green. My list is now completely green. Wow.
Let's start with a quick recap on the past weekend:
I took off last Friday, August 1, because my program lets me have five days off total. That, and I really didn't want to work any more full weeks at Pro Capital. Anyways, that morning I went off to Alfie's Antiques Market just to look around. I kinda like looking at old stuff-- but I realized that each decade accumulates a lot of 'junk' that dealers try to pass off as collectible. Really, it's just out-of-date junk. Some of the stuff was neat but very much out of my price range. While walking back to the Tube station, I passed through a small street market and went in a fabric store to look around. My, it was a designer fabric store what with prices easily around £100 for a meter of fabric (3.28ish feet). In another small shop, I found a very classy set of slingback teal pumps for £15 but decided against them because I didn't really need them.
After the antiques market, I rode the Tube to Trafalgar Square and went up inside St. Martin-in-the-Fields (crazy long names...) to attend one of their free lunchtime concerts, which was a piano and violin duet. I really enjoy these types of sitdown performances and plan on going to lots of senior recitals at Truman this coming year.
From the church, I took the Tube up to Charles Dickens's house. Goodness, I've been trying to go there since early June and finally made it! My favourite part of the house was the curved wall and door in the dining room. It was neat to see some of the furniture saved from when Dickens lived there.
To round out the day, I headed over to Harrods for a final look around and a few pictures. Funny thing about that place, you've got the tourists and the shoppers. The tourists just gawk at everything while the shoppers plan to spend money. I saw a lot of Middle Eastern women decked out in bling-tastic burkahs ready to spend from their rich husbands' wallet.
On Saturday, August 2, Emily and I went off to Madame Tussaud's which is the original wax museum founded by, guess who, Madam Tussaud. It was neat to talk around the A-list celebrity hall not really knowing where the wax models were because they were usually not up on platforms. That way, you could stand next to them and feel like they were actually right there. I remember walking by a bald guy, doing a double take, and realizing it was Patrick Stewart. George Clooney, Angelina Jolie/Brad Pitt, Daniel Radcliffe, Miley Cyrus, Orlando Bloom, Johnny Depp, the Beckams, Will Smith, John Wayne, Alfred Hitchcock.......The next room had sports, literature, and royalty folks such as Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, the child Mozart, the Queen, Prince Charles, Princess Diana, King Henry VIII, Queen Victoria.........later on was the world leaders room with Nelson Mandela, Saddam Hussein, Yasar Arafat, Adolf Hitler, Tony Blair, George W. Bush, the Pope, the Reagans, Nixon, Kennedy.........(this list is mostly so I can remember years from now)
Some models seemed more accurate and life-like than others. For example, the President Bush one did not at all look like him, well, except for the cowboy boots. Visitors could go up to most of the models to pose with them- even so far as to touch them, it was expected.
Because I'm a wimp, I could muster the courage to go through the SCREAM! part of the gallery. It was basically meant to scare you, a lot, with screaming, a lot of screaming. Eheh. So, we moved on and went on a small ride they've made near the end of the tour. It's something like the Epcot ride in the middle of the Epcot ball. You ride in a mini London cab fashioned with two seats and go through the history of England...except that the history starts in the Middle Ages. The history book I bought early this summer says otherwise.
After finishing up at Madame Tussaud's, we walked through Regent's Park. London does have very good parks; it's been nice to explore a few. Finished with that, we went over to the Covent Garden market for a look around. But first, food! I requested a pub so we could get pub food, which is one of my new favourite types of food. And, very typically, I got fish and chips, mostly because I didn't know if I would have them again before leaving (which I haven't, and probably won't).
We then explored the craft section of the market. I had a headache (from caffeine withdrawl, though I don't know why. I hadn't consumed any more than normal), so I bought a Coke for £1 (good price). We wandered a bit and had some fun seeing the neat things the vendors had. I like markets; they're much more personal than a store.
On Sunday, August 3, I made my traditional (at least for the summer, anyway) pancakes. Before they left, Katie Beth and her flatmates gave me a lot of their extra food. One of the items was a bottle of syrup though it's not really maple-flavoured syrup. I'd say it's a little more like Golden Eagle. Anyways, I always put a bit of that and some raspberry jam on my pancakes. At home, I eat them plain with butter. After breakfast, I went off to church and spent my last Sunday at Bethesday. :(
Pastor Jared didn't finish until 12:45 PM (service starts at 11) and afterwards the church had prepared a lunch to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. Interesting note: My first and last Sundays at Bethesda were on the first Sundays of the month, and, thus, each had meals. I left around 2 but because I was meeting Jenni and Emily to go to Buckingham Palace at 2:45 PM I couldn't go get my hair cut as I was planning.
From the flat we went over to the Palace, got our advanced tickets for 3:45 PM, and got in line to enter. All of the tickets are by timed entry, so there were basically giant groups of people being herded about. We even had to go through security! In any case, the Palace was gorgeous. I think I liked it better than Windsor because Buckingham is where the Queen holds state dinners. Since her reign began ('52 or 53'?), the only US presidents to have one for them were Presidents Reagan and Bush (current). During our visit, they had the grand dining hall set up for a state dinner exactly as it would appear. All the plates and cutlery are measured so they are absolutely in line when looking down the table.
The drawing rooms are so incredibly ornate. I still wonder why one would need so many, in essence, humongous living rooms, but hey, it's a palace. Also, the Palace has 72 bathrooms and over 200 bedrooms! Even with all those bathrooms, we had to use the temporary ones outside the Palace. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures, so I caved and bought a £4 booklet of postcards.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the end of Laura Beth's touring in London. I made a list early this summer of all the places I wanted to visit. Then, I filled out my weekends with what I would see when, highlighting each item in my list with yellow once I had set a time for it. When I went to the place I wanted to see, I highlighted it in green. My list is now completely green. Wow.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
On Holiday in London: Part 3
Getting tired of this yet? No worries, there's just a bit more. Well, a few more days any way. Long weekends do end eventually, which is sad, but their end means I'm ever closer to coming home.
In any case, on Saturday morning at 9:30 I met up with Melissa and we headed over to the Imperial War Museum, which is a giant (and free) collection of all things war concerning Great Britain. In the main room, they've got tanks, submarines, and planes, and the surrounding halls and floors have various exhibits on war-- mostly WWI and WWII. Over the summer, I'd noticed that Brits and Europeans in general have a very intense fixation with WWII. I never knew why since the war ended over sixty years ago, most of them weren't alive then. But then I found out. The War pervaded so much of their life and left them reeling for years and years afterward. It's effects are still very readily felt today. The Museum was extremely well put-together, and I really enjoyed walking through the 'Children's War' exhibit that showcased how the War affected children in Great Britain.
Finished there, we took the Tube to London Bridge and found the Bramah Tea & Coffee Museum, one that I had tried to see earlier this summer. Unfortunately, it was still undergoing renovation. But, since it was lunch time we grabbed kebabs and took them over to Southwark Cathedral, a church I had toured back in early June. There was a market going on behind us, so after finishing eating, we wandered around and split a giant, delicious £2 brownie. Yum! Melissa headed back while I called Emily to meet up with her for our next grand adventure.
And where was that adventure to take us? Well, back up near Highgate Cemetery is a giant park called Hampstead Heath which contains a large hill called Parliament Hill overlooking London. After getting off the Tube, we hiked around for a while trying to find the Hill and finally did after much path guessing. We even saw some crazy loons and ducks and what we thought was a gypsy camp of trailers. We walked down Parliament Hill and even though our view was obscured by leafy trees, it was still very neat. At the bottom, we had to figure out how to get back to the station, though, because we had just walked across half the 720 acre park, so we hopped on a bus-- my first public transit bus in London!-- to get to the station. Back at the flat, we just sat around after walking all afternoon.
That night, we took Lacey, a gal we all met during Session I, out to eat at the Chinese place Katie Beth and I had gone to in the last week of June because she was set to leave with the other non-interns on Tuesday the 29th. I got in some more chopstick practice, but I'm afraid my skills are still pretty abysmal. I really like the food there.
The next morning, I met up with Melissa and we headed out for church, her last time at Bethesda. Before the sermon, Pastor Jared was talking about a few people getting ready to leave-- one of them being Melissa, leaving Laura Beth 'the regular.' Did you hear that?! He called me a regular!! I do come whenever I can and that's been going on since late May. I'm so thankful for the people there.
After church, we came back and Emily asked if I'd like to go to Henley, a giant, multi-floor, iconic toy store in London. Me, being not terribly intelligent, said yes and proceeded to spend the next hour traveling for a total of three minutes in the store. Why, you ask? I had to be back for afternoon tea at 3:30 with Melissa and company. Silly Tube, never seems to be on time when you need it.
Anyways, I got back huffing and puffing after a brief sprint down Hogarth Road over to the Knaresborough residence to find Melissa, Erika, and Emily waiting to head out. Seven minutes late, that's not too bad, right? We hiked it over to Hyde Park and then past Kensington Palace to The Orangery, a fancy tea room. The line was pretty long, so while Erika and Melissa held our spots Emily and I went to find some water. On returning we waited just a few minutes and were seated under an umbrella on the front patio. And it was perfect weather for tea! We all ordered Orangery Tea for £12.50 which included tea, cucumber sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam, and Orangery cake. We each got our own teapot, and the waiter brought out our food items in courses! Oh man, it was so amazing! I've decided Katie Beth and I are going to have real tea back in Kirksville, like with sandwiches and cakes and things. Now I just need a real teapot...(maybe find one at the antiques market I'm going to tomorrow?)
We got back to the flats, and I met up with Emily because we were heading out to the London Eye in the evening. The London Eye is a giant, slow-moving (i.e. 1 revolution takes 30 minutes) Ferris wheel that was erected in 2001 (I believe). We chose to go at night to see London from above with all its lights ablaze- plus, we'd seen London from above during the day from St. Paul's Cathedral. About thirty people are in each pod and during our 'flight' (yes, it's called a flight) we all scrambled around to get pictures and look at everything. The neatest part was seeing Parliament from above. At 9 PM, the Parliament/Big Ben lights turned on-- very, very cool.
And that was that; we went back to the flat to get ready for work on Monday. Wow, what an amazing four-day weekend! I thoroughly enjoyed each and every day- it was so much fun to explore this grand city. Seeing so many amazing sights, experiencing so many amazing things. Sometimes I can't believe it all, and after I get back I hope I'll look on these times with absolute amazement. It is so incredibly amazing to be here, no matter how many rough spots have come along.
I would also like to put into writing a very historic fact: I wore a skirt all of Sunday. Literally, all Sunday from church to London Eye. I don't think I've done that in the past decade, at least! It really wasn't too bad besides the blisters from my flats...ah well.
In any case, on Saturday morning at 9:30 I met up with Melissa and we headed over to the Imperial War Museum, which is a giant (and free) collection of all things war concerning Great Britain. In the main room, they've got tanks, submarines, and planes, and the surrounding halls and floors have various exhibits on war-- mostly WWI and WWII. Over the summer, I'd noticed that Brits and Europeans in general have a very intense fixation with WWII. I never knew why since the war ended over sixty years ago, most of them weren't alive then. But then I found out. The War pervaded so much of their life and left them reeling for years and years afterward. It's effects are still very readily felt today. The Museum was extremely well put-together, and I really enjoyed walking through the 'Children's War' exhibit that showcased how the War affected children in Great Britain.
Finished there, we took the Tube to London Bridge and found the Bramah Tea & Coffee Museum, one that I had tried to see earlier this summer. Unfortunately, it was still undergoing renovation. But, since it was lunch time we grabbed kebabs and took them over to Southwark Cathedral, a church I had toured back in early June. There was a market going on behind us, so after finishing eating, we wandered around and split a giant, delicious £2 brownie. Yum! Melissa headed back while I called Emily to meet up with her for our next grand adventure.
And where was that adventure to take us? Well, back up near Highgate Cemetery is a giant park called Hampstead Heath which contains a large hill called Parliament Hill overlooking London. After getting off the Tube, we hiked around for a while trying to find the Hill and finally did after much path guessing. We even saw some crazy loons and ducks and what we thought was a gypsy camp of trailers. We walked down Parliament Hill and even though our view was obscured by leafy trees, it was still very neat. At the bottom, we had to figure out how to get back to the station, though, because we had just walked across half the 720 acre park, so we hopped on a bus-- my first public transit bus in London!-- to get to the station. Back at the flat, we just sat around after walking all afternoon.
That night, we took Lacey, a gal we all met during Session I, out to eat at the Chinese place Katie Beth and I had gone to in the last week of June because she was set to leave with the other non-interns on Tuesday the 29th. I got in some more chopstick practice, but I'm afraid my skills are still pretty abysmal. I really like the food there.
The next morning, I met up with Melissa and we headed out for church, her last time at Bethesda. Before the sermon, Pastor Jared was talking about a few people getting ready to leave-- one of them being Melissa, leaving Laura Beth 'the regular.' Did you hear that?! He called me a regular!! I do come whenever I can and that's been going on since late May. I'm so thankful for the people there.
After church, we came back and Emily asked if I'd like to go to Henley, a giant, multi-floor, iconic toy store in London. Me, being not terribly intelligent, said yes and proceeded to spend the next hour traveling for a total of three minutes in the store. Why, you ask? I had to be back for afternoon tea at 3:30 with Melissa and company. Silly Tube, never seems to be on time when you need it.
Anyways, I got back huffing and puffing after a brief sprint down Hogarth Road over to the Knaresborough residence to find Melissa, Erika, and Emily waiting to head out. Seven minutes late, that's not too bad, right? We hiked it over to Hyde Park and then past Kensington Palace to The Orangery, a fancy tea room. The line was pretty long, so while Erika and Melissa held our spots Emily and I went to find some water. On returning we waited just a few minutes and were seated under an umbrella on the front patio. And it was perfect weather for tea! We all ordered Orangery Tea for £12.50 which included tea, cucumber sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam, and Orangery cake. We each got our own teapot, and the waiter brought out our food items in courses! Oh man, it was so amazing! I've decided Katie Beth and I are going to have real tea back in Kirksville, like with sandwiches and cakes and things. Now I just need a real teapot...(maybe find one at the antiques market I'm going to tomorrow?)
We got back to the flats, and I met up with Emily because we were heading out to the London Eye in the evening. The London Eye is a giant, slow-moving (i.e. 1 revolution takes 30 minutes) Ferris wheel that was erected in 2001 (I believe). We chose to go at night to see London from above with all its lights ablaze- plus, we'd seen London from above during the day from St. Paul's Cathedral. About thirty people are in each pod and during our 'flight' (yes, it's called a flight) we all scrambled around to get pictures and look at everything. The neatest part was seeing Parliament from above. At 9 PM, the Parliament/Big Ben lights turned on-- very, very cool.
And that was that; we went back to the flat to get ready for work on Monday. Wow, what an amazing four-day weekend! I thoroughly enjoyed each and every day- it was so much fun to explore this grand city. Seeing so many amazing sights, experiencing so many amazing things. Sometimes I can't believe it all, and after I get back I hope I'll look on these times with absolute amazement. It is so incredibly amazing to be here, no matter how many rough spots have come along.
I would also like to put into writing a very historic fact: I wore a skirt all of Sunday. Literally, all Sunday from church to London Eye. I don't think I've done that in the past decade, at least! It really wasn't too bad besides the blisters from my flats...ah well.
On Holiday in London: Part 2
So that was Thursday the 24th, now for Friday the 25th:
Friday was another day scheduled for some intense sight-seeing. As I found out, I managed to cram quite a bit into Thursday and Friday, thus allowing a little flexibility for my later days. Anyways, I began the day with a tour of Westminster Abbey. While I was there the previous night, I thought it would be a little cheap just to look at the graves inside the Abbey as I was walking out plus I wanted to go on the much-lauded audio tour. Gotta love ISIC cards (International Student Identity Card [Wait, it seems redundant to say 'ISIC card'...]) getting student discounts!
The audio guide really was fantastic- it included organ and choir music and even had some video (imagine that- my audio guide had video! Sweet!). For the next 1.5 hours, I wandered around the Abbey looking at truly amazing things like the tombs of kings from the 11th Century, the grave of William Cromwell/various poets (Lord Byron, Tennyson, etc.)/Handel/Isaac Newton/Darwin, and the coronation chair where every English monarch since the 1000s has been crowned. Wow. Near the exit, I bought tickets for a summer organ festival performance for the next Tuesday (the 29th)-- I like organs.
After the Abbey, I met up with Melissa at St. James's Church near Piccadilly Circus to attend a free lunch time concert. Wow, those performers were amazing! The two young women studied at the Royal College of Music, the place housing the museum I toured the day before. One played the violin while the other played the piano. The concert was about an hour, and the music they performed near the end I thought could only be done with computers-- how could humans move that fast for that long? Anyways, I'd been looking forward to these concerts because I had hoped to hear some classical music sometime this summer.
Finishing up with the concert, Melissa and I went over to the British Library to look at their collection of ancient/important documents. Oh my. I have never seen so many neat docs! I can't even remember all of them-- one of the original 180 Gutenberg Bible, Jane Austen's writing desk/her notes for 'Persuasion', a letter from John Maynard Keynes, hand-written lyrics by the Beetles, Mozart, and Purcell, and, get this, the MAGNA CARTA (one of the four copies)!
The documents are stored in a large, darkened room ringed with greenish-blue fluorescent light strips. Melissa and I wandered around at our own pace, quietly containing our outbursts at each passing document. That is, until I watched a swarm, literally swarm, of young leadership high schoolers descend upon Melissa on their way to the Magna Carta. Run, Melissa, run! The quiet room was suddenly abuzz with the furtive whisperings of young tourists. My decision? See the Magna Carta and then get out! Turns out they were part of a rather giant group from somewhere in the Southern US-- a few from churches.
After the Library, Melissa went on back to the flats while I continued on to the British Museum. And then the craziest thing happened. While approaching the entrance, I saw some terribly familiar ties, dress shirts, and dresses. Hm. AHHH!! They have the same lanyards! Oh no, these are the same people who overtook the British Library!! Impossible! I hurried on up ahead so I wouldn't get caught behind them...
For me, the main draw of the Museum was the Rosetta Stone. Yes, the Rosetta Stone, the one used to crack Egyptian hieroglyphics, the same stone I remember, down to the page, learning about in 6th Grade social studies. It was something like seeing the Mona Lisa in the Louvre-- everyone is pushing and shoving to get a good pic, so there isn't much time to look at the thing itself. But, unlike the Mona Lissa, the Rosetta Stone is quite big. I wandered around a bit of the rest of the Museum, stopping at things like Greek Parthenon sculpture and Aztec ruins. It's strange to see North American artefacts here in London.
And so ended another glorious holiday in London. I'm terribly enjoying these days spent exploring the city! It's nice to be a tourist, not a student nor an intern, just a tourist out for fun.
Friday was another day scheduled for some intense sight-seeing. As I found out, I managed to cram quite a bit into Thursday and Friday, thus allowing a little flexibility for my later days. Anyways, I began the day with a tour of Westminster Abbey. While I was there the previous night, I thought it would be a little cheap just to look at the graves inside the Abbey as I was walking out plus I wanted to go on the much-lauded audio tour. Gotta love ISIC cards (International Student Identity Card [Wait, it seems redundant to say 'ISIC card'...]) getting student discounts!
The audio guide really was fantastic- it included organ and choir music and even had some video (imagine that- my audio guide had video! Sweet!). For the next 1.5 hours, I wandered around the Abbey looking at truly amazing things like the tombs of kings from the 11th Century, the grave of William Cromwell/various poets (Lord Byron, Tennyson, etc.)/Handel/Isaac Newton/Darwin, and the coronation chair where every English monarch since the 1000s has been crowned. Wow. Near the exit, I bought tickets for a summer organ festival performance for the next Tuesday (the 29th)-- I like organs.
After the Abbey, I met up with Melissa at St. James's Church near Piccadilly Circus to attend a free lunch time concert. Wow, those performers were amazing! The two young women studied at the Royal College of Music, the place housing the museum I toured the day before. One played the violin while the other played the piano. The concert was about an hour, and the music they performed near the end I thought could only be done with computers-- how could humans move that fast for that long? Anyways, I'd been looking forward to these concerts because I had hoped to hear some classical music sometime this summer.
Finishing up with the concert, Melissa and I went over to the British Library to look at their collection of ancient/important documents. Oh my. I have never seen so many neat docs! I can't even remember all of them-- one of the original 180 Gutenberg Bible, Jane Austen's writing desk/her notes for 'Persuasion', a letter from John Maynard Keynes, hand-written lyrics by the Beetles, Mozart, and Purcell, and, get this, the MAGNA CARTA (one of the four copies)!
The documents are stored in a large, darkened room ringed with greenish-blue fluorescent light strips. Melissa and I wandered around at our own pace, quietly containing our outbursts at each passing document. That is, until I watched a swarm, literally swarm, of young leadership high schoolers descend upon Melissa on their way to the Magna Carta. Run, Melissa, run! The quiet room was suddenly abuzz with the furtive whisperings of young tourists. My decision? See the Magna Carta and then get out! Turns out they were part of a rather giant group from somewhere in the Southern US-- a few from churches.
After the Library, Melissa went on back to the flats while I continued on to the British Museum. And then the craziest thing happened. While approaching the entrance, I saw some terribly familiar ties, dress shirts, and dresses. Hm. AHHH!! They have the same lanyards! Oh no, these are the same people who overtook the British Library!! Impossible! I hurried on up ahead so I wouldn't get caught behind them...
For me, the main draw of the Museum was the Rosetta Stone. Yes, the Rosetta Stone, the one used to crack Egyptian hieroglyphics, the same stone I remember, down to the page, learning about in 6th Grade social studies. It was something like seeing the Mona Lisa in the Louvre-- everyone is pushing and shoving to get a good pic, so there isn't much time to look at the thing itself. But, unlike the Mona Lissa, the Rosetta Stone is quite big. I wandered around a bit of the rest of the Museum, stopping at things like Greek Parthenon sculpture and Aztec ruins. It's strange to see North American artefacts here in London.
And so ended another glorious holiday in London. I'm terribly enjoying these days spent exploring the city! It's nice to be a tourist, not a student nor an intern, just a tourist out for fun.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
On Holiday in London: Part 1
Ah, how nice it is to be touring the city. Finally, a break from work! I had hoped to get Friday the 18th off, but Oliver preferred that I stay while Una was gone. No worries, though, I made sure to take off this past Thursday and Friday. Three straight weeks in Oliver's office, goodness. Fortunately, I also took off this Friday and our last day is Thursday August 7th. That means no more full weeks!
Knowing that I had these days off, I made a plan a few weeks ago (actually, the Saturday right after Katie Beth left) for all the things I wanted to do in London. Basically, if I follow it relatively closely, I'll get to see everything I want to in London. So here I now relate the tales of my touring escapades:
(I know, I know, it's been forever since I posted. I began this post on Thursday but never got 'round to finishing it. Truth be told, I'm getting tired of the computer.)
Alrighty, I began Thursday morning by taking the Tube out to Highgate Cemetery to see Karl Marx's grave. Now, I am by no means a fan of that guy, but he was quite important to world events (read: the destruction of millions of people...). Exiting the Archway station, I unfolded my trusty printed Google map and hiked up a hilly street towards the Cemetery. What a gorgeous morning it was too! A few clouds in the sky and just warm enough to wear shorts. Before getting to the Cemetery, I had to go through a park and while stopping at the map I ran into a couple also trying to get to the grave yard. Through broken English and lots of hand gestures, we eventually figured out the correct path and set out.
The entrance fee was £3 but I didn't buy a map- preferring to go at it on my own. What a great decision! Just a few feet into the Cemetery, I found a small, dirt path leading off into a dense mass of trees, moss, and vines with a few tombstones peeking out here and there. Ten foot wide paved path or one foot wide dirt path? Of course I picked the dirt! And so off I went, jumping over tombstones, swatting at bugs (yes, real bugs! Haven't seen too many of those in London), gingerly stepping over thorns, and breathing the wonderfully fresh air. Sometimes the vegetation was so dense only a few pricks of sunlight made it to the morbid ground beneath. It was so much fun to go 'exploring' in the old, forgotten parts of the cemetery where tombstones are covered with vines and sometimes knocked over. With just a smattering of clouds and a sprinkling of tourists, the Cemetery was a great way to spend the morning.
Exploring was even more fun than actually seeing Marx's grave (though how on earth that could be fun is beyond me)! At his grave, I asked the lady of the couple I'd met earlier who had also made it to take my picture. It should be on facebook. (Speaking of which, I hope I remember to write about my photo uploading marathon at work)
After Highgate Cemetery, I rode the Tube back into central London. My next stop was the Royal College of Music Museum which is right across from the Student Union where I took my class earlier this summer. Because the Museum has such strange hours, most tourists can't get to it. It was neat to see the collection of old instruments, including a bag pipe wall and the oldest discovered piano-type instrument.
Next on my list was the Handel House Museum where George Frederic Handel lived for over twenty years- also the place where he composed "Messiah." I took a Music Appreciation class last summer, so I'm slightly (read: miniscully) more attuned to old music types. Again with walking in the places where these people walked, it was very cool. Took me a while to find the House because it was on a busy shopping street, but no worries. Near the end of the tour, a lady came in to practice Baroque music on the period harpsichord. I kinda like harpsichord music-- it's got a spooky type feel to it.
To round out my day of sight-seeing, I headed over to Westminster Abbey for an Evensong service. Originally intending just to do the tour some day later, when I heard Katie Beth describing the service I thought I might like to attend one. I went to the Wesminster station which exits right outside Parliament and Big Ben to look for some supper before the service began. Hint to all future London travellers: Sandwiches abound everywhere, but the trick is finding cheap ones. Solution? Tesco Express! Basically, mini grocery store stocked with food needing no preparation. So, I bought a chicken sandwich, a banana, and a pint of milk. I love pints of milk! Because the temperature is considerably below 'ice-cold', it's just the right temp for swigging half the pint in one go. And for only 46p who can argue? I took my meal over to the center park that has statues of famous Brits (like Winston Churchill) and watched the London world go by. Ahhhhh.
While the regular choir boys were on holiday, the service was still a fantastic experience. It's quite something to be worshipping with a choir and organ in a structure built hundreds and hundreds of years ago. As a Southern Baptist, I never really attended large, opulent churches, and I even considered them to be something of an extravagance- a worldly display of material treasures. But, it's a different story when using the structure as it was intended. In that form, the beauty becomes a form of worship in itself.
And so ended a wonderful holiday out in London. It was so relaxing and wonderful to get to romp around the graveyard in the morning, see a few things in the afternoon, and worship my Father in the evening. How amazing.
Knowing that I had these days off, I made a plan a few weeks ago (actually, the Saturday right after Katie Beth left) for all the things I wanted to do in London. Basically, if I follow it relatively closely, I'll get to see everything I want to in London. So here I now relate the tales of my touring escapades:
(I know, I know, it's been forever since I posted. I began this post on Thursday but never got 'round to finishing it. Truth be told, I'm getting tired of the computer.)
Alrighty, I began Thursday morning by taking the Tube out to Highgate Cemetery to see Karl Marx's grave. Now, I am by no means a fan of that guy, but he was quite important to world events (read: the destruction of millions of people...). Exiting the Archway station, I unfolded my trusty printed Google map and hiked up a hilly street towards the Cemetery. What a gorgeous morning it was too! A few clouds in the sky and just warm enough to wear shorts. Before getting to the Cemetery, I had to go through a park and while stopping at the map I ran into a couple also trying to get to the grave yard. Through broken English and lots of hand gestures, we eventually figured out the correct path and set out.
The entrance fee was £3 but I didn't buy a map- preferring to go at it on my own. What a great decision! Just a few feet into the Cemetery, I found a small, dirt path leading off into a dense mass of trees, moss, and vines with a few tombstones peeking out here and there. Ten foot wide paved path or one foot wide dirt path? Of course I picked the dirt! And so off I went, jumping over tombstones, swatting at bugs (yes, real bugs! Haven't seen too many of those in London), gingerly stepping over thorns, and breathing the wonderfully fresh air. Sometimes the vegetation was so dense only a few pricks of sunlight made it to the morbid ground beneath. It was so much fun to go 'exploring' in the old, forgotten parts of the cemetery where tombstones are covered with vines and sometimes knocked over. With just a smattering of clouds and a sprinkling of tourists, the Cemetery was a great way to spend the morning.
Exploring was even more fun than actually seeing Marx's grave (though how on earth that could be fun is beyond me)! At his grave, I asked the lady of the couple I'd met earlier who had also made it to take my picture. It should be on facebook. (Speaking of which, I hope I remember to write about my photo uploading marathon at work)
After Highgate Cemetery, I rode the Tube back into central London. My next stop was the Royal College of Music Museum which is right across from the Student Union where I took my class earlier this summer. Because the Museum has such strange hours, most tourists can't get to it. It was neat to see the collection of old instruments, including a bag pipe wall and the oldest discovered piano-type instrument.
Next on my list was the Handel House Museum where George Frederic Handel lived for over twenty years- also the place where he composed "Messiah." I took a Music Appreciation class last summer, so I'm slightly (read: miniscully) more attuned to old music types. Again with walking in the places where these people walked, it was very cool. Took me a while to find the House because it was on a busy shopping street, but no worries. Near the end of the tour, a lady came in to practice Baroque music on the period harpsichord. I kinda like harpsichord music-- it's got a spooky type feel to it.
To round out my day of sight-seeing, I headed over to Westminster Abbey for an Evensong service. Originally intending just to do the tour some day later, when I heard Katie Beth describing the service I thought I might like to attend one. I went to the Wesminster station which exits right outside Parliament and Big Ben to look for some supper before the service began. Hint to all future London travellers: Sandwiches abound everywhere, but the trick is finding cheap ones. Solution? Tesco Express! Basically, mini grocery store stocked with food needing no preparation. So, I bought a chicken sandwich, a banana, and a pint of milk. I love pints of milk! Because the temperature is considerably below 'ice-cold', it's just the right temp for swigging half the pint in one go. And for only 46p who can argue? I took my meal over to the center park that has statues of famous Brits (like Winston Churchill) and watched the London world go by. Ahhhhh.
While the regular choir boys were on holiday, the service was still a fantastic experience. It's quite something to be worshipping with a choir and organ in a structure built hundreds and hundreds of years ago. As a Southern Baptist, I never really attended large, opulent churches, and I even considered them to be something of an extravagance- a worldly display of material treasures. But, it's a different story when using the structure as it was intended. In that form, the beauty becomes a form of worship in itself.
And so ended a wonderful holiday out in London. It was so relaxing and wonderful to get to romp around the graveyard in the morning, see a few things in the afternoon, and worship my Father in the evening. How amazing.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
In Sight!
Ahhh, I can see it. The end, I mean. My mind's eye can see things about 3.5 weeks in advance if I concentrate hard enough on 'seeing' the date in my mental calendar. Right, so about this time last week I was pushin' to see the end. And there it was! August 10, bright and shiny. Now it's super easy because.............August 10 is almost 2.5 weeks away!!!!!!! (Random thing about my mental calendar-- it's 3D and curves to the left)
But before I ramble on too much about that wonderful Sunday, let me relate a few of my most recent happenings. I apologize for not posting sooner-- time just seems to get eaten away.
Last Friday night I went with Emily, one of my flatmates, to St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church on Trafalgar Square so we could do some brass rubbings. Basically, you take a piece of black paper and tape it against a plate of brass that has a design etched into it. The brass plates range from about 1x1 foot drawings of dragons to knights over six feet tall (those are expensive). I chose a picture of St. George (England's patron saint) killing a dragon, and for £6.50 it was priced in the middle-low end. Boy, you gotta rub hard with the crayons they provide! It ended up looking really neat, and I've put it on my postcard wall.
Early last week, Ray, an intern I work with, and I decided to go to Greenwich to see the Prime Meridian, so on Saturday we got on a boat that took us for an hour-long ride up the Thames. I didn't know the Meridian was so close to central London. Anyways, it was a little cloudy while on the ride, but by late-morning the weather had turned absolutely gorgeous which was fantastic given that Greenwich has a giant park feel to it. It contains over five giant and absolutely free museums, so we wandered around the National Maritime Museum (saw the uniform Admiral Nelson wore when he was killed in battle-- Trafalgar Square is in his honor) and the Queen's House (not sure what purpose it served, but we did see the earliest example of a cylindrical staircase without a supporting column. It was anti-climactic).
After the museums, we headed over to the observatory to see the Meridian. Had to battle some pretty intense crowds of Asian tourists to get a picture with one foot planted on either side of the line, but after enough barreling through humans we got our pictures. We got a few together- each of us on one side of the line. I told him to stand on the East side (he's Asian). ;)
Then we watched a random red ball drop at 13:00, which is 1:00 PM for all you States-side. Again, a bit anti-climactic. But! We opted to take the Tube back to central London to save time and stumbled on the Greenwich Market on the way. There, we bought hog sandwiches very similar to the ones Katie Beth and I had in Cardiff Castle. Delicious! I also bought a wonderfully rich dark chocolate brownie- amazing! Food at these markets is pretty cheap and tastes much better than the ubiquitous sandwiches available at chains like Pret a Manger (don't ask me how to pronounce that though...I just say "Pret").
(Now don't get your knickers in a twist. Ray and I were just sight-seeing buddies.)
We met Emily at the Cabinet War Rooms and proceeded to tour the secret underground head quarters where Winston Churchill met with his cabinet regarding World War II. They've restored the rooms to what they looked like during the War, so it was neat to see things like the green handsets on the black phones indicating that they scrambled the user's message. Or stuff like the rooms used by various higher ups in the cabinet and the various meeting rooms where big time decisions were made. Crazy stuff! All for the very low (*cough, cough*) price of £12.50 with student discount!
Ray had to leave early 'cause he was heading out to Amsterdam for the weekend, so Emily and I wandered back to a near Tube station later on. We stopped by Downing Street so I could get a picture of where the prime minister lives (it's not nearly so cool as I imagine the White House to be. Obviously our country is superior what with our cooler housing. ;) ) Oh! She also snapped a picture of me in a red phone booth, so I've taken care of that 'thing to do' in London. I don't quite know the significance of red phone booths-- perhaps they're just iconic because no one else has them.
On Sunday, I continued my pancake adventures this time knowing exactly how much batter would make me two good sized cakes. Take that plus two rashers of bacon, a cool glass of milk, a warm cup of tea, and a bright sun streaming in through the kitchen window and you've got one terribly content Laura Beth reading along in Exodus. After wrapping up my one hot breakfast a week, I went off to church to fellowship with the folks at Bethesda. It was so nice to get to meet with them again! I must say, I will miss them on returning to the States.
After church I was going to go to the Handel House Museum where George Frederich Handel lived but figured I didn't have enough time because the afternoon church service starts at 4PM. So I just went back to the flat and caught up with communication back home. (I apologize to any and everybody if I haven't replied recently.)
Yesterday I went off to work same as all ways, but I've been excited all week because I'm taking off Thursday and Friday to do some sight-seeing. Plus, of course I'm going to use my maximum days allowed off! Just have to get through tomorrow and then I'm free and clear until next Monday. Absolutely fantastic. AND!! After that, I just have two four-day weeks of work (I'm taking off next Friday too). Oh my goodness, it's actually coming. August 10th is actually coming!
Oh, and last night my flatmates and I went to a wonderful little Thai place just a thirty second walk outside our flat. I had 'Thai iced tea' which is sweetened iced tea with cream and spices- it was very good! Because of Air India, I am almost permanently repulsed by chicken curry, so I shied away from that part of the menu. Instead, I opted for some stir-fried pork which which was much better than curry would have been (or at least I think). Mm, I have decided that I'm not the biggest fan of ginger though. The pork had ginger in it and even a few of my Harrod's chocolates had ginger in them. Ah well.
Right, so those are the most recent happenings in the life of this little London resident. Hopefully I'll be able to post a bit more frequently in the coming days. You know, it's kinda funny-- I figured when I started working I wouldn't have many events to relate and I'd just be left to philosophize on life or something. But it turns out there are still events to be had even with working. I keep coming up with ideas about things I should post here, but they get crowded out with the events I have to write about. I'll get to 'em eventually though, don't you worry!
But before I ramble on too much about that wonderful Sunday, let me relate a few of my most recent happenings. I apologize for not posting sooner-- time just seems to get eaten away.
Last Friday night I went with Emily, one of my flatmates, to St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church on Trafalgar Square so we could do some brass rubbings. Basically, you take a piece of black paper and tape it against a plate of brass that has a design etched into it. The brass plates range from about 1x1 foot drawings of dragons to knights over six feet tall (those are expensive). I chose a picture of St. George (England's patron saint) killing a dragon, and for £6.50 it was priced in the middle-low end. Boy, you gotta rub hard with the crayons they provide! It ended up looking really neat, and I've put it on my postcard wall.
Early last week, Ray, an intern I work with, and I decided to go to Greenwich to see the Prime Meridian, so on Saturday we got on a boat that took us for an hour-long ride up the Thames. I didn't know the Meridian was so close to central London. Anyways, it was a little cloudy while on the ride, but by late-morning the weather had turned absolutely gorgeous which was fantastic given that Greenwich has a giant park feel to it. It contains over five giant and absolutely free museums, so we wandered around the National Maritime Museum (saw the uniform Admiral Nelson wore when he was killed in battle-- Trafalgar Square is in his honor) and the Queen's House (not sure what purpose it served, but we did see the earliest example of a cylindrical staircase without a supporting column. It was anti-climactic).
After the museums, we headed over to the observatory to see the Meridian. Had to battle some pretty intense crowds of Asian tourists to get a picture with one foot planted on either side of the line, but after enough barreling through humans we got our pictures. We got a few together- each of us on one side of the line. I told him to stand on the East side (he's Asian). ;)
Then we watched a random red ball drop at 13:00, which is 1:00 PM for all you States-side. Again, a bit anti-climactic. But! We opted to take the Tube back to central London to save time and stumbled on the Greenwich Market on the way. There, we bought hog sandwiches very similar to the ones Katie Beth and I had in Cardiff Castle. Delicious! I also bought a wonderfully rich dark chocolate brownie- amazing! Food at these markets is pretty cheap and tastes much better than the ubiquitous sandwiches available at chains like Pret a Manger (don't ask me how to pronounce that though...I just say "Pret").
(Now don't get your knickers in a twist. Ray and I were just sight-seeing buddies.)
We met Emily at the Cabinet War Rooms and proceeded to tour the secret underground head quarters where Winston Churchill met with his cabinet regarding World War II. They've restored the rooms to what they looked like during the War, so it was neat to see things like the green handsets on the black phones indicating that they scrambled the user's message. Or stuff like the rooms used by various higher ups in the cabinet and the various meeting rooms where big time decisions were made. Crazy stuff! All for the very low (*cough, cough*) price of £12.50 with student discount!
Ray had to leave early 'cause he was heading out to Amsterdam for the weekend, so Emily and I wandered back to a near Tube station later on. We stopped by Downing Street so I could get a picture of where the prime minister lives (it's not nearly so cool as I imagine the White House to be. Obviously our country is superior what with our cooler housing. ;) ) Oh! She also snapped a picture of me in a red phone booth, so I've taken care of that 'thing to do' in London. I don't quite know the significance of red phone booths-- perhaps they're just iconic because no one else has them.
On Sunday, I continued my pancake adventures this time knowing exactly how much batter would make me two good sized cakes. Take that plus two rashers of bacon, a cool glass of milk, a warm cup of tea, and a bright sun streaming in through the kitchen window and you've got one terribly content Laura Beth reading along in Exodus. After wrapping up my one hot breakfast a week, I went off to church to fellowship with the folks at Bethesda. It was so nice to get to meet with them again! I must say, I will miss them on returning to the States.
After church I was going to go to the Handel House Museum where George Frederich Handel lived but figured I didn't have enough time because the afternoon church service starts at 4PM. So I just went back to the flat and caught up with communication back home. (I apologize to any and everybody if I haven't replied recently.)
Yesterday I went off to work same as all ways, but I've been excited all week because I'm taking off Thursday and Friday to do some sight-seeing. Plus, of course I'm going to use my maximum days allowed off! Just have to get through tomorrow and then I'm free and clear until next Monday. Absolutely fantastic. AND!! After that, I just have two four-day weeks of work (I'm taking off next Friday too). Oh my goodness, it's actually coming. August 10th is actually coming!
Oh, and last night my flatmates and I went to a wonderful little Thai place just a thirty second walk outside our flat. I had 'Thai iced tea' which is sweetened iced tea with cream and spices- it was very good! Because of Air India, I am almost permanently repulsed by chicken curry, so I shied away from that part of the menu. Instead, I opted for some stir-fried pork which which was much better than curry would have been (or at least I think). Mm, I have decided that I'm not the biggest fan of ginger though. The pork had ginger in it and even a few of my Harrod's chocolates had ginger in them. Ah well.
Right, so those are the most recent happenings in the life of this little London resident. Hopefully I'll be able to post a bit more frequently in the coming days. You know, it's kinda funny-- I figured when I started working I wouldn't have many events to relate and I'd just be left to philosophize on life or something. But it turns out there are still events to be had even with working. I keep coming up with ideas about things I should post here, but they get crowded out with the events I have to write about. I'll get to 'em eventually though, don't you worry!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Standing Ground
Now that I've gotten to today, I'm not terribly inclined to relate the positive aspects of my job. Mostly 'cause I figured out they're all derived from negatives. Le sigh. Oh well, here's a look:
Business is necessarily a huge field. It seeps into all of life because the very act of living requires transactions, which are the heart of business. Typically, business has main divisions and some of the most common are Information Technology, Marketing, Finance, and Human Resources. A college student only capable of two, maybe three, internships before graduation really has to focus his search to figure out just what he'd like to go into.
That said, I need experiences to help me narrow down the field. Pro Capital markets hedge funds, which are financial products. The company (remember, put that in quotes) hits two of those divisions I just mentioned- it has taught me things about finance and marketing, namely, that I don't like either, but it's especially helpful to know that finance isn't quite the cup of tea I imagined it to be. I enjoy number application (i.e. through graphs and models), but finance is so utterly impersonal. The ratios, statistics, and rates do mean things, but they represent nebulous blobs of business activity. I like more readily tangible signs of work.
People are so much more interesting than numbers. I like to figure out people, especially when they become interesting to me. Not everyone is interesting. Quirks in personalities, hot button issues with a personal twist, motivations, desires, and the list goes on. I like answering the question 'Why?' Why does a person do this or that at this time in this way and in this place? I like secret things, characteristics beneath a person's surface.
Anyways, that's kinda side tracking off into something non-business related. That's also enough positive for now (Just one, Laura Beth? Oh, there are more, I think, but I can't and don't have the inclination to think them up right now), let me rant a while about the Ukraine meeting.
So on Monday Oliver asked if I would like to sit in on a meeting with two fund managers from the Ukraine. I said I would, and then settled back into whatever I was doing. But before he went back to his desk he told me that I should introduce myself as a research analyst, tell them I've been working at Pro Capital for "quite a while", and give a general impression that I'm a permanent employee. I flat out told him "Oliver, I won't lie. I also won't declare my internship status, but I won't lie." Oooooh, that got to me. He wanted me to pretend to be a permanent employee. If you want that Mr. Boss, hire one! Don't run through unpaid interns every three months. You will not use me like that. During my lunch break I went to a sandwich shop and bought a chocolate cookie bar thing to help assuage my indignation.
Consequently, I don't feel the least bit of remorse when I waste time at work. The only thing keeping me at work is the recommendation letter I'm getting out of this and that I will receive a grade for the internship. Otherwise, I'd high-tail it outta there and go do some sight-seeing.
I've found that when I get frustrated at work I put my hands on my hips. I've done that a few times in the past two days. Oh Oliver, goodness.
A while ago, he asked us to find private equity fund of funds on Google because Bloomberg doesn't have a search option for that. So we did. But see here folks, Google is an internet search engine, certainly not a hedge fund database. So when we finally got an email back from a fund today, Oliver was quite irate that we didn't have information besides an email address for the company. Ray, my fellow intern, tried bumbling through a vague explanation. I would have none of that, though, because I had spent two days pushing my honed Google skills to the max just to bring in maybe twenty email address. My hands went to my hips.
*stern voice on*
"Oliver, you asked us to find email addresses. We found email addresses."
Oliver looks up and puts his hand to his forehead in a salute.
"Aye, aye captain."
That's right, back off. We did our job just as you had asked. Oh I wanted to throttle him. Google can't work wonders for your business! You gotta pay for that stuff! Goodness. That was probably the most intense I've gotten with Oliver. Funny thing is, about ten minutes later after a mildly intense discussion he apologizes and/or thanks/praises us for the work we're doing. By the end of today, his effusive mannerisms were approaching what he uses on Una, his assistant.
I learned confidence in my work at the pharmacy. When you're working with drugs, money, and people you have to be sure of ever step you take and be readily available to defend your actions should a problem arise. Tracey, the yelling, impossible-to-please pharmacist, never once raised his voice at me. When I'm working now I don't back down easily nor do I take criticism personally. I stand my ground.
But looking all buff is only necessary on occasion. For the past few days I have had to do some work, which is mildly annoying. If I'm not on the internet, I'm looking at the Outlook calendar counting down days. There isn't a day that passes when I don't think about going home. Sure, it isn't the gnawing of before, but I still think about leaving a lot. Sometimes I even make pie graphs with an online generator (though I could probably use Excel if I was bored enough). I try not to talk about it much, but ask (though you couldn't as just about everyone reading this is in the States- I think) how many days I have left and I'll have a swift answer, even with a rough estimate of the hours. Next Tuesday is a special day. On that day I enter the teens for the total days I have left and the single digits for the days of work remaing. Every morning when I sit at the table in our kitchen before my tea, milk, orange, and toast, I thank God for bringing me through another day. I'm not sad, just waiting.
Business is necessarily a huge field. It seeps into all of life because the very act of living requires transactions, which are the heart of business. Typically, business has main divisions and some of the most common are Information Technology, Marketing, Finance, and Human Resources. A college student only capable of two, maybe three, internships before graduation really has to focus his search to figure out just what he'd like to go into.
That said, I need experiences to help me narrow down the field. Pro Capital markets hedge funds, which are financial products. The company (remember, put that in quotes) hits two of those divisions I just mentioned- it has taught me things about finance and marketing, namely, that I don't like either, but it's especially helpful to know that finance isn't quite the cup of tea I imagined it to be. I enjoy number application (i.e. through graphs and models), but finance is so utterly impersonal. The ratios, statistics, and rates do mean things, but they represent nebulous blobs of business activity. I like more readily tangible signs of work.
People are so much more interesting than numbers. I like to figure out people, especially when they become interesting to me. Not everyone is interesting. Quirks in personalities, hot button issues with a personal twist, motivations, desires, and the list goes on. I like answering the question 'Why?' Why does a person do this or that at this time in this way and in this place? I like secret things, characteristics beneath a person's surface.
Anyways, that's kinda side tracking off into something non-business related. That's also enough positive for now (Just one, Laura Beth? Oh, there are more, I think, but I can't and don't have the inclination to think them up right now), let me rant a while about the Ukraine meeting.
So on Monday Oliver asked if I would like to sit in on a meeting with two fund managers from the Ukraine. I said I would, and then settled back into whatever I was doing. But before he went back to his desk he told me that I should introduce myself as a research analyst, tell them I've been working at Pro Capital for "quite a while", and give a general impression that I'm a permanent employee. I flat out told him "Oliver, I won't lie. I also won't declare my internship status, but I won't lie." Oooooh, that got to me. He wanted me to pretend to be a permanent employee. If you want that Mr. Boss, hire one! Don't run through unpaid interns every three months. You will not use me like that. During my lunch break I went to a sandwich shop and bought a chocolate cookie bar thing to help assuage my indignation.
Consequently, I don't feel the least bit of remorse when I waste time at work. The only thing keeping me at work is the recommendation letter I'm getting out of this and that I will receive a grade for the internship. Otherwise, I'd high-tail it outta there and go do some sight-seeing.
I've found that when I get frustrated at work I put my hands on my hips. I've done that a few times in the past two days. Oh Oliver, goodness.
A while ago, he asked us to find private equity fund of funds on Google because Bloomberg doesn't have a search option for that. So we did. But see here folks, Google is an internet search engine, certainly not a hedge fund database. So when we finally got an email back from a fund today, Oliver was quite irate that we didn't have information besides an email address for the company. Ray, my fellow intern, tried bumbling through a vague explanation. I would have none of that, though, because I had spent two days pushing my honed Google skills to the max just to bring in maybe twenty email address. My hands went to my hips.
*stern voice on*
"Oliver, you asked us to find email addresses. We found email addresses."
Oliver looks up and puts his hand to his forehead in a salute.
"Aye, aye captain."
That's right, back off. We did our job just as you had asked. Oh I wanted to throttle him. Google can't work wonders for your business! You gotta pay for that stuff! Goodness. That was probably the most intense I've gotten with Oliver. Funny thing is, about ten minutes later after a mildly intense discussion he apologizes and/or thanks/praises us for the work we're doing. By the end of today, his effusive mannerisms were approaching what he uses on Una, his assistant.
I learned confidence in my work at the pharmacy. When you're working with drugs, money, and people you have to be sure of ever step you take and be readily available to defend your actions should a problem arise. Tracey, the yelling, impossible-to-please pharmacist, never once raised his voice at me. When I'm working now I don't back down easily nor do I take criticism personally. I stand my ground.
But looking all buff is only necessary on occasion. For the past few days I have had to do some work, which is mildly annoying. If I'm not on the internet, I'm looking at the Outlook calendar counting down days. There isn't a day that passes when I don't think about going home. Sure, it isn't the gnawing of before, but I still think about leaving a lot. Sometimes I even make pie graphs with an online generator (though I could probably use Excel if I was bored enough). I try not to talk about it much, but ask (though you couldn't as just about everyone reading this is in the States- I think) how many days I have left and I'll have a swift answer, even with a rough estimate of the hours. Next Tuesday is a special day. On that day I enter the teens for the total days I have left and the single digits for the days of work remaing. Every morning when I sit at the table in our kitchen before my tea, milk, orange, and toast, I thank God for bringing me through another day. I'm not sad, just waiting.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
A Primer on Pro Capital
And I promised y'all something about work, didn't I? Alrighty, here we go!
So I work at Pro Capital Ltd. which is a third party hedge fund marketer. By law, hedge funds (which are kinda like private mutual funds) are not allowed to market their products directly; they must use a marketer like my company. The marketer connects investors with fund managers. But perhaps I use the word 'company' a little too loosely. Basically, my 'company' is Oliver, the head guy, and his office assistant Una plus two to three interns. We all work in a relatively spacious, if not terribly cold from air-conditioning, room. I sit before two 19 inch screens which come in handy when I'm working.
The first day I arrived, John, on of the other interns, showed me a hedge fund book and some packets that I was to read for the day. I enthusiastically set about my task...for about four hours at which point I decided I had had enough of hedge funds. Well, it wasn't that bad, but reading on one subject all...day...long gets to be a little boring. The next day, I did the same thing, but by then I had figured out how to look like I was reading when I was actually just day dreaming. Looking back, those first two days foreshadowed the rest of my internship.
Oliver's business operates by doing searches on Bloomberg which is a financial database and finding suitable hedge funds to email inquiring if they are interested in having their fund marketed to UK, continental European, and Middle Eastern investors. Sounds kinda neat, yes? Um, no, not really. The mechanics are a little droll.
We begin by doing a search following Oliver's criteria for different fund characteristics like 3 month, 6 month, 1 year, 3 year, and 5 year returns as well as the fund's Sharpe ratio (a measure of payout for risk taken on). The resulting list of funds from Bloomberg is compared against the funds already present in Oliver's Hedge Fund Database. If a fund has never been entered, we print out the fund's description and its graph. Once enough fund printouts are compiled, we drop the whole stack on Oliver's desk, and he goes through them to see which ones he likes.
After we get back the 'chosen ones', we enter their information into the Hedge Fund Database, find a contact email, and send out a marketing inquiry email. All the while, we keep track of our activities on an Excel spreadsheet. If positive responses come back, which is maybe 10% of the time, we arrange conference calls. When the call time comes around, one of the interns usually sits in to 'learn' or really to take notes and enter them into the database later. If Oliver likes what's happening, he will continue communication, but by that point the interns' job is done.
Yep, that's what I do. Overall, it's exceedingly boring. Now comes what really happens at work:
I get in at 8:30 AM after 45 minute of transportation on the Tube, sit down at my computer, and pull up the internet to check my email. After about twenty minutes of that, I grab some printouts, open up the Hedge Fund database, and start a new entry. Each entry from the database to the sent email takes me at least half an hour. Yeah...each entry should take maybe ten minutes at the absolute maximum. When I'm not typing into the database or an email, I'm on the internet on facebook, TruView, Hotmail, or some other random site. Around noon, Oliver leaves for lunch/exercise and Una leaves twenty minutes later. That leaves a solid hour of unsupervised interns doing absolutely nothing.
Oliver and Una come back and I take off for lunch around 1:45ish. Thing about the french (my boss is french) is that they consider any lunch time shorter than an hour to be absolutely uncivilized, so we all get a full hour for lunch. I take my baguette sandwich and sides to the lunch park I found a few weeks ago to stand up for my hour and read from the books Ginger sent me. In fact, I just finished "The Magician's Nephew" and will start "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" tomorrow.
I get back to the office about 2:45ish so that way there aren't too many hours left in the work day. I've discovered that my most productive times are in the morning between 9:00 and 11:00. Anyways, I basically do the same thing in the afternoon-- more wasting time. But see, here's the deal, when telling my boss all I've done it really ends up sounding pretty good. Add a good dose of confidence and an explanation that what I'm doing can take quite a while (which it can), and you've got a boss content with his little intern from Truman State. (Plus, he's french, and there's definitely a little gender bias working in my favor)
So what are some of the things I do while working? Hm, well, on collegehumor.com I read for an hour on confessions of bad things roommates had done. Once I went to addictinggames.com and poked around for something to do. I facebook stalk quite a bit. Lolcats, Postsecret.com, and msn.com are also good hangouts. I try to stay away from financial sites because then I just get depressed what with all the money I'm losing. Other than that, I pull up the calendar on Outlook and count down different types of days like how many I have left until leaving or until I'm done with work. And then I'll get on timanddate.com and use the duration calculator to find exact hours.
There have been a few neat points though. One day I got to research the competitive environment for residential real estate in Brazil. Try figuring that one out when your only resource is Google. I know I can turn a mean Google search, but really? Tomorrow, a fund manager from the Ukraine is coming to the office, and Oliver has requested that I sit in on the meeting. That should be neat.
What gets me about this guy is that his business rides on non-paid interns. Sure, it saves overhead, but I really don't think one's business should be dependent on the work of transient students just looking for a little experience and something to put on their resumes. Plus, I feel used. Oh I despise that.
I think interns over the years have painted him a pretty rosy picture of the internship. He talks about how we 'learn so much' while doing our jobs. Junk, absolute junk. I have to be overwhelmed with information before I feel like I'm learning a lot of facts. And let me tell ya, it takes a lot to do that. Once I'm to the point where I literally can't take in information any faster, that's when I'm learning a lot. Last summer at the pharmacy, I was learning a lot. There were hundreds of drugs on the shelves, hundreds of people coming through every day, and hundreds (times a lot) of dollars passing through my hands into the cash register. Right, so that basically means I get bored quickly unless I'm constantly bombarded with new things. Maybe Louie (our dog) feels like that.
It used to be something of a game, the whole trying not to do much but still be reasonably productive. Now it's just ridiculous. There are some good points, but because I need to dry my hair and get to bed (it's only 9:20PM for goodness sakes!) I will write about them later and leave you now to ponder just what job Laura Beth might like/be good at. Any suggestions? I've got a few ideas.
So I work at Pro Capital Ltd. which is a third party hedge fund marketer. By law, hedge funds (which are kinda like private mutual funds) are not allowed to market their products directly; they must use a marketer like my company. The marketer connects investors with fund managers. But perhaps I use the word 'company' a little too loosely. Basically, my 'company' is Oliver, the head guy, and his office assistant Una plus two to three interns. We all work in a relatively spacious, if not terribly cold from air-conditioning, room. I sit before two 19 inch screens which come in handy when I'm working.
The first day I arrived, John, on of the other interns, showed me a hedge fund book and some packets that I was to read for the day. I enthusiastically set about my task...for about four hours at which point I decided I had had enough of hedge funds. Well, it wasn't that bad, but reading on one subject all...day...long gets to be a little boring. The next day, I did the same thing, but by then I had figured out how to look like I was reading when I was actually just day dreaming. Looking back, those first two days foreshadowed the rest of my internship.
Oliver's business operates by doing searches on Bloomberg which is a financial database and finding suitable hedge funds to email inquiring if they are interested in having their fund marketed to UK, continental European, and Middle Eastern investors. Sounds kinda neat, yes? Um, no, not really. The mechanics are a little droll.
We begin by doing a search following Oliver's criteria for different fund characteristics like 3 month, 6 month, 1 year, 3 year, and 5 year returns as well as the fund's Sharpe ratio (a measure of payout for risk taken on). The resulting list of funds from Bloomberg is compared against the funds already present in Oliver's Hedge Fund Database. If a fund has never been entered, we print out the fund's description and its graph. Once enough fund printouts are compiled, we drop the whole stack on Oliver's desk, and he goes through them to see which ones he likes.
After we get back the 'chosen ones', we enter their information into the Hedge Fund Database, find a contact email, and send out a marketing inquiry email. All the while, we keep track of our activities on an Excel spreadsheet. If positive responses come back, which is maybe 10% of the time, we arrange conference calls. When the call time comes around, one of the interns usually sits in to 'learn' or really to take notes and enter them into the database later. If Oliver likes what's happening, he will continue communication, but by that point the interns' job is done.
Yep, that's what I do. Overall, it's exceedingly boring. Now comes what really happens at work:
I get in at 8:30 AM after 45 minute of transportation on the Tube, sit down at my computer, and pull up the internet to check my email. After about twenty minutes of that, I grab some printouts, open up the Hedge Fund database, and start a new entry. Each entry from the database to the sent email takes me at least half an hour. Yeah...each entry should take maybe ten minutes at the absolute maximum. When I'm not typing into the database or an email, I'm on the internet on facebook, TruView, Hotmail, or some other random site. Around noon, Oliver leaves for lunch/exercise and Una leaves twenty minutes later. That leaves a solid hour of unsupervised interns doing absolutely nothing.
Oliver and Una come back and I take off for lunch around 1:45ish. Thing about the french (my boss is french) is that they consider any lunch time shorter than an hour to be absolutely uncivilized, so we all get a full hour for lunch. I take my baguette sandwich and sides to the lunch park I found a few weeks ago to stand up for my hour and read from the books Ginger sent me. In fact, I just finished "The Magician's Nephew" and will start "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" tomorrow.
I get back to the office about 2:45ish so that way there aren't too many hours left in the work day. I've discovered that my most productive times are in the morning between 9:00 and 11:00. Anyways, I basically do the same thing in the afternoon-- more wasting time. But see, here's the deal, when telling my boss all I've done it really ends up sounding pretty good. Add a good dose of confidence and an explanation that what I'm doing can take quite a while (which it can), and you've got a boss content with his little intern from Truman State. (Plus, he's french, and there's definitely a little gender bias working in my favor)
So what are some of the things I do while working? Hm, well, on collegehumor.com I read for an hour on confessions of bad things roommates had done. Once I went to addictinggames.com and poked around for something to do. I facebook stalk quite a bit. Lolcats, Postsecret.com, and msn.com are also good hangouts. I try to stay away from financial sites because then I just get depressed what with all the money I'm losing. Other than that, I pull up the calendar on Outlook and count down different types of days like how many I have left until leaving or until I'm done with work. And then I'll get on timanddate.com and use the duration calculator to find exact hours.
There have been a few neat points though. One day I got to research the competitive environment for residential real estate in Brazil. Try figuring that one out when your only resource is Google. I know I can turn a mean Google search, but really? Tomorrow, a fund manager from the Ukraine is coming to the office, and Oliver has requested that I sit in on the meeting. That should be neat.
What gets me about this guy is that his business rides on non-paid interns. Sure, it saves overhead, but I really don't think one's business should be dependent on the work of transient students just looking for a little experience and something to put on their resumes. Plus, I feel used. Oh I despise that.
I think interns over the years have painted him a pretty rosy picture of the internship. He talks about how we 'learn so much' while doing our jobs. Junk, absolute junk. I have to be overwhelmed with information before I feel like I'm learning a lot of facts. And let me tell ya, it takes a lot to do that. Once I'm to the point where I literally can't take in information any faster, that's when I'm learning a lot. Last summer at the pharmacy, I was learning a lot. There were hundreds of drugs on the shelves, hundreds of people coming through every day, and hundreds (times a lot) of dollars passing through my hands into the cash register. Right, so that basically means I get bored quickly unless I'm constantly bombarded with new things. Maybe Louie (our dog) feels like that.
It used to be something of a game, the whole trying not to do much but still be reasonably productive. Now it's just ridiculous. There are some good points, but because I need to dry my hair and get to bed (it's only 9:20PM for goodness sakes!) I will write about them later and leave you now to ponder just what job Laura Beth might like/be good at. Any suggestions? I've got a few ideas.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
A Touring Resident
I noticed something very interesting a little over a week ago. As I was waiting for Katie Beth and Melissa to show up for "The Merry Wives of Windsor" (which was absolute hilarious! Oh yeah, plus we were almost completely late....made it by about 20 seconds, oh my) at the Globe, I realized I didn't feel like a tourist. I was standing off to the side in my black suit and heels holding a sugared latte and looking out over the milling crowds for two familiar figures. Tourists passed by. Tourists with their maps, their across-the-shoulder bags, their shorts and T-shirts.
I'm not quite like them anymore. I've lived in London for two months now, and in the midst of that time I've cooked, cleaned, studied, toured, and worked for myself. I can get to a good many places on the Tube without looking at a map, and I've got the entirety of the Piccadilly line for Zone 1 memorised (I ride it every day to work). I've got a church, grocery store, flat, Tube station, and work place. It's kinda like my own little mini-adult world.
So when I go off touring, like this weekend, I smile whilst passing by tourists. I might be seeing the sights, but I'm doing it more like a resident than a transient tourist.
Last week, Melissa mentioned wanting to go to Windsor Castle, so I passed along the idea to my flatmates. Six of us ended up going-- Erika and Melissa as well as my flatmates Kelsey, Emily, Jenni, and Michelle (plus me). Melissa and Erika got us open tickets for Saturday which meant we could leave and return whenever for only £5.40! In true form carried over from times with Katie Beth, we arrived about five minutes late for the 9:28 AM train and subsequently missed the changing of the guard at Windsor. Ah well (I think we would have missed it anyway because they weren't letting people in until around noon-ish anyway). The one-hour ride was pleasant, and we found six seats for all of us.
Going in, I didn't really know what Windsor Castle would be like except that I had heard Eliza Doolittle mention it in a "My Fair Lady" song. The place is a large collection of a castle and cathedral church structure with gardens sprinkled throughout and remains the largest occupied castle in the world. It was neat to walk through rooms where the Queen regularly walks for grand state dinners and receptions. The church, St. George's Church, is used by the Order of the Garter (which is the Queen, Prince of Wales, and 24 other uber special people). We saw a bunch of famous royalty people buried there.
Walking through that place made me want to see Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark what with all the knight effigies and all. Maybe I'll get to that tonight after a phone call home.
We got into the Castle around 11:45 but decided to finish touring before leaving and getting food. So once we were done, we found a pub and settled in for a large lunch. And large it sure was! The specialty of the place was pie-- kinda like pot pies. I ordered a steak and ale pie not knowing if the ale would throw off the taste too much (I'd previously bought a steak and kidney pie from Sainsbury's. Folks, don't do that. It's nasty.) but knowing I like trying new dishes. It was amazing! Ethyl alcohol has a boiling point of about 170 degrees Fahrenheit, so all that's left in the dish is the taste. The steak tasted like the breweries my class visited smelled like. The crust was delicious, and the green beans/cabbage/lettuce and mashed potatoes made for a very filling lunch! All that for only £6.95. A typical sit-down meal will run you about £8-10.
I've decided I kinda like pub fare. It's hearty and not the type of high-fallutin' stuff you might get at other places. Gotta make sure I have some more fish and chips before I leave. Though I'd rather it weren't there, I've gotten used to having the bar around. It'll be interesting heading back to the States and having to get used to my under-21 status again.
But the real adventure of the day was returning back to London. We walked back to the Windsor Riverside station (where we arrived) and found 'emergency engineering works in place'-- basically it was closed but there were nearby bus stops and another train station. So we marched it down to the other station and boarded the train. Except that our tickets were for the other station headed to any London terminal. If a conductor came by to check our tickets, we could be charged a penalty fare of £20. Oh goodness. Part of our tickets revealed the wrong station, so I showed my fellow travelers how to show our tickets but cover that little part up at the same time.
The sign at the other station hadn't give us specific instructions, so we stayed on the train. The six minute ride to the next stop was a little nerve-racking, but we made it through fine. We changed trains and rode on to London still with no one checking! We were home free after slipping our tickets through the gate at Paddington and being released into the Underground. Hooray!
When we got back, Emily and I went to the grocery store to buy a few staples like toilet paper and paper towels (except Sainsbury's was out of their cheap napkins). We also returned to find an IT guy wiping the hard drive of the flat's computer. IE was doing some updating, but he managed to save all my pictures on his USB drive, so once we got them transferred they were safely stored on my drive. Because he had a faulty disk he couldn't finish up, so we (I) were (was) left without desktop internet access last night. Funny how not having tech will make you do different things. I decided to get up on my bed and read for a while before going to bed. Oh, I also had this amazingly flavourful cranberry tea with two of my Harrod's chocolates. Delish.
This morning I continued my pancake endeavours. Oh, I don't suppose I've written on that. Well then, let me tell that wonderful tale. :) Last Saturday while at the grocery store, I picked up a 9p bag of "pancake mix" and some bacon to make on Sunday. Turns out that European pancakes are much different from American pancakes. European pancakes are crepes. Found that out pretty quickly when I poured the batter onto the pan only to have these thin little masses start cooking. I decided to add some baking powder and flour, but that only made 'em fat crepes, so I declared them to be American crepes and proceeded to slather 'em with margarine and raspberry jam and pour on the syrup. The bacon turned out just fine, though.
Round two this morning! On Friday afternoon, I stopped by Whole Foods to pick up some more English breakfast tea and take a look at their pancake mixes. Buttermilk pancake mix imported from Vermont? Surely this is the real thing! So this morning I quartered the recipe and was delighted to be mixing a lumpy batter for real American pancakes. Everything turned out exactly right except for the pan which is supposedly non-stick but only a teensy, eensy bit so. I do rather like raspberry jam on my pancakes, though. Anyways, once I had everything made, I arranged it on my plate, poured a glass of milk, and brought over my cup of tea. Ahhhh, glorious.
Unfortunately, because the District and Circle lines were down this weekend I wasn't able to make it to church. Also, because of a random digging on Cromwell Road (a road I cross to get to the grocery store), all the buses in the area were running on severe delays. Sigh.
After breakfast, I loaded up my bag and set off for the National Gallery (accessible via the Piccadilly Line). Wow. The National Gallery holds artwork from 1300-1900. Some of the most renowned artists have paintings there. I saw Rembrandt, Renoir, Monet, da Vinci, van Gogh, Rapheal, and a host of others. Seriously, wow. I've been in school long enough to have studied/heard of these famous folks, so it's neat to see their works up close and personal. One thing I will miss once we leave-- not having access to such artwork. I'm a big fan of Middle Ages/Renaissance paintings.
Right outside the National Gallery is Trafalgar Square, and today was the perfect day to see it. When I'd been there previously there were always shows or exhibitions set up. Today they had the fountains on, and the sun was glinting off the water and nearby whizzing cars. People were scrambling on top of the bronze lions and sitting under neath Admiral Nelson's statue. That's how Trafalgar Square is meant to be seen.
Because it was still early in the afternoon, I decided to head up to Speaker's Corner, a part of Hyde Park with a history for allowing all types of free speech. Basically, people go there and can talk about anything and everything unless it incites violence or uses too many obscenities. Because of the Tube closures, I had to navigate a bit to get there, but it was well worth the trip. Such an interesting atmosphere. I approached a smallish paved area dotted with variable-sized clumps of people and could already begin to hear shouts coming from the gatherings' middles. Usually, one person on a small stool talks in the middle of a small crowd while onlookers/listeners shout back responses. In the space of less than ten groups I heard people talking about support for Mugabe in Zimbabwe, Iraqi violence, Marxism, Christianity, Islam, and one creepy man asking for dirty favors. Any topic goes. I watched for a little while but decided to head back soon because I hadn't eaten since the pancakes.
And so now I'm back, typing away at a computer that now has access to the internet. Hooray! I stopped by the grocery store again to buy ingredients for my baguette sandwich, and I've still got that half a pizza from last night to finish. Maybe I just might get to that Indy movie tonight.
Ah, and before I close let me provide a little update on the mouse saga. Last night, Emily put some of my peanuts in the middle of a sticky trap, but the next morning we realised the trap had been moved and a few peanuts stolen...with no caught mice. Hm. While I was out and about, somebody picked up a heavy duty snapping trap at a hardware store and put a peanut in it. Die mice! I'll probably walk in on something tomorrow morning...
I'm not quite like them anymore. I've lived in London for two months now, and in the midst of that time I've cooked, cleaned, studied, toured, and worked for myself. I can get to a good many places on the Tube without looking at a map, and I've got the entirety of the Piccadilly line for Zone 1 memorised (I ride it every day to work). I've got a church, grocery store, flat, Tube station, and work place. It's kinda like my own little mini-adult world.
So when I go off touring, like this weekend, I smile whilst passing by tourists. I might be seeing the sights, but I'm doing it more like a resident than a transient tourist.
Last week, Melissa mentioned wanting to go to Windsor Castle, so I passed along the idea to my flatmates. Six of us ended up going-- Erika and Melissa as well as my flatmates Kelsey, Emily, Jenni, and Michelle (plus me). Melissa and Erika got us open tickets for Saturday which meant we could leave and return whenever for only £5.40! In true form carried over from times with Katie Beth, we arrived about five minutes late for the 9:28 AM train and subsequently missed the changing of the guard at Windsor. Ah well (I think we would have missed it anyway because they weren't letting people in until around noon-ish anyway). The one-hour ride was pleasant, and we found six seats for all of us.
Going in, I didn't really know what Windsor Castle would be like except that I had heard Eliza Doolittle mention it in a "My Fair Lady" song. The place is a large collection of a castle and cathedral church structure with gardens sprinkled throughout and remains the largest occupied castle in the world. It was neat to walk through rooms where the Queen regularly walks for grand state dinners and receptions. The church, St. George's Church, is used by the Order of the Garter (which is the Queen, Prince of Wales, and 24 other uber special people). We saw a bunch of famous royalty people buried there.
Walking through that place made me want to see Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark what with all the knight effigies and all. Maybe I'll get to that tonight after a phone call home.
We got into the Castle around 11:45 but decided to finish touring before leaving and getting food. So once we were done, we found a pub and settled in for a large lunch. And large it sure was! The specialty of the place was pie-- kinda like pot pies. I ordered a steak and ale pie not knowing if the ale would throw off the taste too much (I'd previously bought a steak and kidney pie from Sainsbury's. Folks, don't do that. It's nasty.) but knowing I like trying new dishes. It was amazing! Ethyl alcohol has a boiling point of about 170 degrees Fahrenheit, so all that's left in the dish is the taste. The steak tasted like the breweries my class visited smelled like. The crust was delicious, and the green beans/cabbage/lettuce and mashed potatoes made for a very filling lunch! All that for only £6.95. A typical sit-down meal will run you about £8-10.
I've decided I kinda like pub fare. It's hearty and not the type of high-fallutin' stuff you might get at other places. Gotta make sure I have some more fish and chips before I leave. Though I'd rather it weren't there, I've gotten used to having the bar around. It'll be interesting heading back to the States and having to get used to my under-21 status again.
But the real adventure of the day was returning back to London. We walked back to the Windsor Riverside station (where we arrived) and found 'emergency engineering works in place'-- basically it was closed but there were nearby bus stops and another train station. So we marched it down to the other station and boarded the train. Except that our tickets were for the other station headed to any London terminal. If a conductor came by to check our tickets, we could be charged a penalty fare of £20. Oh goodness. Part of our tickets revealed the wrong station, so I showed my fellow travelers how to show our tickets but cover that little part up at the same time.
The sign at the other station hadn't give us specific instructions, so we stayed on the train. The six minute ride to the next stop was a little nerve-racking, but we made it through fine. We changed trains and rode on to London still with no one checking! We were home free after slipping our tickets through the gate at Paddington and being released into the Underground. Hooray!
When we got back, Emily and I went to the grocery store to buy a few staples like toilet paper and paper towels (except Sainsbury's was out of their cheap napkins). We also returned to find an IT guy wiping the hard drive of the flat's computer. IE was doing some updating, but he managed to save all my pictures on his USB drive, so once we got them transferred they were safely stored on my drive. Because he had a faulty disk he couldn't finish up, so we (I) were (was) left without desktop internet access last night. Funny how not having tech will make you do different things. I decided to get up on my bed and read for a while before going to bed. Oh, I also had this amazingly flavourful cranberry tea with two of my Harrod's chocolates. Delish.
This morning I continued my pancake endeavours. Oh, I don't suppose I've written on that. Well then, let me tell that wonderful tale. :) Last Saturday while at the grocery store, I picked up a 9p bag of "pancake mix" and some bacon to make on Sunday. Turns out that European pancakes are much different from American pancakes. European pancakes are crepes. Found that out pretty quickly when I poured the batter onto the pan only to have these thin little masses start cooking. I decided to add some baking powder and flour, but that only made 'em fat crepes, so I declared them to be American crepes and proceeded to slather 'em with margarine and raspberry jam and pour on the syrup. The bacon turned out just fine, though.
Round two this morning! On Friday afternoon, I stopped by Whole Foods to pick up some more English breakfast tea and take a look at their pancake mixes. Buttermilk pancake mix imported from Vermont? Surely this is the real thing! So this morning I quartered the recipe and was delighted to be mixing a lumpy batter for real American pancakes. Everything turned out exactly right except for the pan which is supposedly non-stick but only a teensy, eensy bit so. I do rather like raspberry jam on my pancakes, though. Anyways, once I had everything made, I arranged it on my plate, poured a glass of milk, and brought over my cup of tea. Ahhhh, glorious.
Unfortunately, because the District and Circle lines were down this weekend I wasn't able to make it to church. Also, because of a random digging on Cromwell Road (a road I cross to get to the grocery store), all the buses in the area were running on severe delays. Sigh.
After breakfast, I loaded up my bag and set off for the National Gallery (accessible via the Piccadilly Line). Wow. The National Gallery holds artwork from 1300-1900. Some of the most renowned artists have paintings there. I saw Rembrandt, Renoir, Monet, da Vinci, van Gogh, Rapheal, and a host of others. Seriously, wow. I've been in school long enough to have studied/heard of these famous folks, so it's neat to see their works up close and personal. One thing I will miss once we leave-- not having access to such artwork. I'm a big fan of Middle Ages/Renaissance paintings.
Right outside the National Gallery is Trafalgar Square, and today was the perfect day to see it. When I'd been there previously there were always shows or exhibitions set up. Today they had the fountains on, and the sun was glinting off the water and nearby whizzing cars. People were scrambling on top of the bronze lions and sitting under neath Admiral Nelson's statue. That's how Trafalgar Square is meant to be seen.
Because it was still early in the afternoon, I decided to head up to Speaker's Corner, a part of Hyde Park with a history for allowing all types of free speech. Basically, people go there and can talk about anything and everything unless it incites violence or uses too many obscenities. Because of the Tube closures, I had to navigate a bit to get there, but it was well worth the trip. Such an interesting atmosphere. I approached a smallish paved area dotted with variable-sized clumps of people and could already begin to hear shouts coming from the gatherings' middles. Usually, one person on a small stool talks in the middle of a small crowd while onlookers/listeners shout back responses. In the space of less than ten groups I heard people talking about support for Mugabe in Zimbabwe, Iraqi violence, Marxism, Christianity, Islam, and one creepy man asking for dirty favors. Any topic goes. I watched for a little while but decided to head back soon because I hadn't eaten since the pancakes.
And so now I'm back, typing away at a computer that now has access to the internet. Hooray! I stopped by the grocery store again to buy ingredients for my baguette sandwich, and I've still got that half a pizza from last night to finish. Maybe I just might get to that Indy movie tonight.
Ah, and before I close let me provide a little update on the mouse saga. Last night, Emily put some of my peanuts in the middle of a sticky trap, but the next morning we realised the trap had been moved and a few peanuts stolen...with no caught mice. Hm. While I was out and about, somebody picked up a heavy duty snapping trap at a hardware store and put a peanut in it. Die mice! I'll probably walk in on something tomorrow morning...
Friday, July 11, 2008
No Free Nights?
So once I started my planning awesomeness I was kinda looking forward to having free evenings. But, now that I actually look at the five nights of the work week I find that I've already booked two of them. Wednesday night is church and Thursday nights I plan to go to the late hours of the British Museum. That leaves Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. And would you believe that all of those nights (well, except Friday, thankfully) were full this week?
On Tuesday night, Melissa and I went to Harrod's. What with my recent distraught-ness, my mom quite literally told me to go to Harrod's and spend the $50 she was going to spend to get me a cake or flowers on my birthday. I've never done anything quite like that before- just spent money for a fine item just for the sake of doing it. We got into Harrod's, and, oh my, what a place! The atmosphere reminds me of a cruise ship's retail shops. Opulence abounds and everywhere are items proudly bearing price tags in the hundreds of pounds. I even held a silver glass that cost $4000 on sale! Melissa and I wandered around a bit and just gazed at everything.
Harrod's also has a food place that carries (kinda) reasonably-priced foodstuffs. I had to circle through the chocolate room three times before deciding on my chocolate box! You know I was definitely behaving out-of-character when I selected a box that didn't have the best chocolate-to-£ ratio possible. By golly, I was splurging! At the counter, I picked out four separate truffles to eat that night, too. Walking away, I discovered a very unfamiliar satisfaction in the fact I was carrying a $50 box of chocolates. This splurging business seems to have its merits. Sometimes it's good to buy something nice just to have it.
On Tuesday night, Melissa and I went to Harrod's. What with my recent distraught-ness, my mom quite literally told me to go to Harrod's and spend the $50 she was going to spend to get me a cake or flowers on my birthday. I've never done anything quite like that before- just spent money for a fine item just for the sake of doing it. We got into Harrod's, and, oh my, what a place! The atmosphere reminds me of a cruise ship's retail shops. Opulence abounds and everywhere are items proudly bearing price tags in the hundreds of pounds. I even held a silver glass that cost $4000 on sale! Melissa and I wandered around a bit and just gazed at everything.
Harrod's also has a food place that carries (kinda) reasonably-priced foodstuffs. I had to circle through the chocolate room three times before deciding on my chocolate box! You know I was definitely behaving out-of-character when I selected a box that didn't have the best chocolate-to-£ ratio possible. By golly, I was splurging! At the counter, I picked out four separate truffles to eat that night, too. Walking away, I discovered a very unfamiliar satisfaction in the fact I was carrying a $50 box of chocolates. This splurging business seems to have its merits. Sometimes it's good to buy something nice just to have it.
My £25 box of chocolates!
And for the record, I'm not a particular fan of people going off on emotional bouts. Mostly, I think people should be able to deal with their problems. Not that bouts are wrong (in fact, sometimes they're quite necessary), just that one shouldn't foist one's problems on others all the time. What I'm saying here is that it feels almost shameful when I can't figure out something myself. What a strange gal!
Right, so on Wednesday night Melissa and I went to church and continued studying Psalm 18. It looks like it'll take to the end of my time in London to finish because Pastor Jared takes us through about 10ish verses a night. After we got back, I hopped in the shower because I've started taking them at night. Since I leave the flat by 7:45AM (up at 6...), I like having time in the morning.
Every once in a while, my flatmates will send out facebook messages inquiring about going to an event or show. Early this past week, Maneeza sent out one for seeing "39 Steps", which is a play on the West End, for Thursday night. Since seeing "Spamalot", I decided to see one big play/musical every month but didn't happen to get around to it in June so I figured one this week would be perfectly fine. Plus, we got tickets for £15! After work, my flatmates and I all met at Piccadilly Circus before heading in. I get off work a bit before them (have to go in earlier), so I wandered down to a Subway for supper. Hint, to all those going to London, do not expect BBQ flavoured chips from BBQ Rib flavoured chips. What is it with the Brits and needing meat on their chips? They've got chicken flavour too! Anyways, it was a little disappointing, but hey, the chipotle sauce on my Sub Club was quite good.
We all made it into the theatre, and although our seats were limited-view (Kelsey sat in front of a pole!) we laughed ourselves silly as the plot unfolded. Basically, it was a comedy spy-type play set in the UK in the 1930s. Hilarious! The cast of four actors played over 100 roles! Even though it did take an evening, it was so nice to be out with the gang like we had done during Session I.
And now we come to Friday night. Ahhh, no plans. Well, not really. No previous engagements, but I do need to get a few things done, like this blog entry. As per tradition, here I sit at the computer typing away while happily downing half a Sommerfield (the other grocery store with a small venue by the Tube) ham and cheese pizza. On sale from £3.50 down to £2! And it's really quite good, too. I'm saving the other half for a meal this weekend, though I really do want to eat it right now....
Ugh, I have news on the mouse, or rather mice, too. The sticky trap under our kitchen counter caught one day before yesterday, so we had to wait for it to die. I tried not to look or think about it. Because I'm up first in the mornings, I get to brave the kitchen and all that dwells within. I'll usually swing the door open wide and proceed to kick and shake the shelves, refrigerator, and cabinets to reassure myself of the mice's absence. But sometimes it doesn't work. Like this morning. As I was sitting down to read a chapter in Exodus, I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. Eek! There was a mouse climbing on the shelf! I high-tailed it outta the kitchen, ran back to my bedroom, and decided I really could sleep until 7AM to avoid further interaction with Mr. Mouse and friends. Ugh.
Because I was a little more rushed in the morning, I didn't have time to prepare my usual lunch of carrots, fruit (usually an orange or melon), and baguette sandwich. Ah well, it'd been a while since I paid for lunch, so it was probably okay. Fantastic decision! As I walk from the Tube station to the office, I pass by numerous restaurants/cafes, one of them being a place called 'Tortilla.' Now you see, I'm a little suspicious of all things Mexican here in London mostly 'cause I figure it can't be too authentic, so I didn't quite know what this place would entail. As it turns out, it's something like a Chipotle (kinda) with the big (kinda) burrito you order. I got a burrito and bottomless drink for £5. Mmm, very good. I'm thinking that might be a once-a-week treat.
Alrighty, that's probably enough about the week for now. I realize I haven't written much about work or what I'm doing, so I'll be sure to get to that soon. Tomorrow, we're off to Windsor Castle! But this little lady better head off to bed in the mean time; she's a sleepy one.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Chilled Survival Mode
Oh goodness, I love to plan. Like, I knew I really liked it, but wow, it's survival for me. Basically, Katie Beth left and by lunch time I was an unfeeling planning machine. As I stood in the lunch park eating my baguette sandwich (which was amazing), I wasn't bemoaning life. Although she had just left a few hours earlier, I felt like it had been days, even weeks since we had spent time together. A very weird feeling.
Remember that strangely adaptable part I mentioned at the beginning of this trip? Here it is again. I found myself slipping into another way of living London life without so much as a hiccup. Mind you, though, that was after she left. I will rise to whatever a situation requires of me, be it hanging out every night or figuring my own night's entertainment. I don't like anticipating the change, but when required I can definitely make it happen.
And so there I was, trusty messenger bag slung across my shoulder, arms crossed, pondering the five weeks I have left before leaving. I imagine the quiet exterior disguised what was happening underneath-- a delightful race as my mind rushed to figure out details. I love it when my head does that. I almost just sit back and watch it work through the big picture. Blazingly fast, searching every nook and corner for possible actions. Before I knew it, I had a plan for a plan (oh goodness, Laura Beth)! I was going to stay in the flat for the weekend.
But before I tell that story, let me relate this Yank's celebrations of July the 4th. Two days after we arrived, I declared we were going to The Texas Embassy and then somebody else thought up going to the Hard Rock Cafe for the Fourth. Brilliant! Wow, that doesn't seem all that long ago. Guess it was though 'cause the Fourth was definitely last Friday. Anyways, we managed to get a table at the Hard Rock Cafe (I'd never been to one before) amidst all the other celebrants. I ordered a Pepsi (they didn't carry Coke, goodness), a chocolate milkshake (the shake was actually not terribly runny, unlike most London shakes), and the 'legendary Hard Rock Cafe burger.' Oh my, it was glorious. I got all 10 oz of the burger down and most of the fries--which I dipped in the milkshake. Again, amazing!
I fairly grinned as I took the weighty sandwich in both my hands and took a (giant) bite. Wow. That's right, I'm an American. And I'm in London celebrating my country's awesomeness. I really like how being abroad has kinda jump-started my patriotism. I asked Katie Beth to bring me a US flag from the States so I could put it on my postcard wall. It hangs there amidst all the cards featuring UK sites I've visited.
Probably one of the coolest parts of that evening was when I told my flatmates that Katie Beth had left earlier that day they were amazed that Session II was already over. It's nice to know that people feel like a good chunk of time has passed.
I got back to the flat to try to webcam with my family while they were in Florida celebrating my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary, but we couldn't get the blasted thing to work. Arg. It was both sad and frustrating. Plus, I was getting down to the last £1.40 on my phone, and it costs 4p a minute to call the States. But then it was off to bed to sleep away the troubles and get focused for the awesome planning marathon.
And sleep I sure did! What with doing stuff with KB for the past weekdays I had been staying up until midnight-ish most nights. Getting up at 6 really tends to cut your sleep time pretty quickly. Friday night I was in bed by 10:30 PM and slept until 10:30 AM. It was glorious. I didn't have to set an alarm to be anywhere for a day of activity. All I had to do was get up and get some breakfast. Ahhhh.
Then my favorite part! The planning! I sat down and made a list of all the things I wanted to accomplish-- blog, letters, emails, recipes, groceries, new Tube pass, top up the phone, weekend sight-seeing plans, evening activities. (So on Friday I had actually been making plans to make a plan to make plans. Definitely rocking my life.) And then I set about doing them! I ran errands, found recipes, made grocery lists, and wrote a blog entry. Funny thing, it took most of the day to do all that. But no worries, I was 'taking care of life'-- basically getting everything in order. I like having all my ducks in a row as best I can arrange them.
I couldn't tell you what I had been eating for supper the past four weeks, but I can say that tonight I fixed glazed pork chops accompanied by rice with basil and salad. And, I even had Melissa over to share supper, and she brought over some excellent shortbread (which I now very much like, thanks to an introduction by Katie Beth in Inverness) to eat. It was so wonderful to sit down to a tasty meal that actually looked nice ('fancy' as one of my flatmates called it). Interestingly, I'm beginning to notice a bit of self-satisfaction when I cook. One of my favourite parts is knowing I've prepared something that would have cost me double or triple at a restaurant. Sweet!
But anyways, back to the weekend. On Saturday night, I cooked a spicy beef/veggie frozen pizza and plopped myself down in front of the flat's computer to watch "James Bond: Diamonds Are Forever." Fantastic. I haven't just chilled and watched a movie since watching "Kate & Leopold" so many weeks ago (and on the laptop too! :( ) I was a little bummed Katie Beth and I never got to watch a full movie, but I figure you can watch movies anywhere so no worries. I still carry over a bit of my family's Friday night tradition of eating pizza and watching a movie. It's still a little weird not to eat pizza on Friday night, so I try to make do with what I've got. It was nice just to relax, chill.
The next morning I went to church and met a gal from Louisiana State University who was visiting for the first time. She arrived on Tuesday, so it was nice to talk to her. Plus, the church was celebrating July birthdays with a lunch upstairs, so we got food! Again, a little bummed not to have Katie Beth (or Melissa for that matter) sitting beside me. But it was more of a "Ah, those were good times when we went to church" rather than the typical bemoaning life dialogue. Seriously, it's the weirdest thing. If you'd talked to me this weekend, you'd have a hard time believing she'd just left on Friday. It's like I wiped it all from my present life-- it's all memories, not really part of the present. Survival mode, I think. It's like my brain decided the only way it was gonna make the next five weeks happen was by perceiving the past four weeks as so very far, far away.
So my head doesn't think in terms of Katie Beth and me running off for the weekend anymore. That thought process in not helpful. *laughs* I even thought of it in terms of Borg-- it is irrelevant to my current concerns. Cold, but as I said, in response to a rather random bout of emotions I turned all unemotional. Again, survival. It's impossible to keep running on fear, regret, and sadness. Plus, the tears just had to go. Gotta turn around at some point even if that means turning rather frigid for a little while.
I don't feel much right now. Mostly I'm concerned with making sure I have food to eat for the coming week, activities to take up my time in evenings, and plans for sight-seeing on the weekend. It's like all the bad feelings have been walled up, shut away just enough so I can't access them unbidden. But if I really think about it, or look at pictures, a trickle starts. I know it will quickly turn into a stream, so I let it run just long enough to give flavour and depth to the happy memories that I allow out at the same time. Ah, to savour. Soon, perhaps in a few weeks.
Remember that strangely adaptable part I mentioned at the beginning of this trip? Here it is again. I found myself slipping into another way of living London life without so much as a hiccup. Mind you, though, that was after she left. I will rise to whatever a situation requires of me, be it hanging out every night or figuring my own night's entertainment. I don't like anticipating the change, but when required I can definitely make it happen.
And so there I was, trusty messenger bag slung across my shoulder, arms crossed, pondering the five weeks I have left before leaving. I imagine the quiet exterior disguised what was happening underneath-- a delightful race as my mind rushed to figure out details. I love it when my head does that. I almost just sit back and watch it work through the big picture. Blazingly fast, searching every nook and corner for possible actions. Before I knew it, I had a plan for a plan (oh goodness, Laura Beth)! I was going to stay in the flat for the weekend.
But before I tell that story, let me relate this Yank's celebrations of July the 4th. Two days after we arrived, I declared we were going to The Texas Embassy and then somebody else thought up going to the Hard Rock Cafe for the Fourth. Brilliant! Wow, that doesn't seem all that long ago. Guess it was though 'cause the Fourth was definitely last Friday. Anyways, we managed to get a table at the Hard Rock Cafe (I'd never been to one before) amidst all the other celebrants. I ordered a Pepsi (they didn't carry Coke, goodness), a chocolate milkshake (the shake was actually not terribly runny, unlike most London shakes), and the 'legendary Hard Rock Cafe burger.' Oh my, it was glorious. I got all 10 oz of the burger down and most of the fries--which I dipped in the milkshake. Again, amazing!
I fairly grinned as I took the weighty sandwich in both my hands and took a (giant) bite. Wow. That's right, I'm an American. And I'm in London celebrating my country's awesomeness. I really like how being abroad has kinda jump-started my patriotism. I asked Katie Beth to bring me a US flag from the States so I could put it on my postcard wall. It hangs there amidst all the cards featuring UK sites I've visited.
Probably one of the coolest parts of that evening was when I told my flatmates that Katie Beth had left earlier that day they were amazed that Session II was already over. It's nice to know that people feel like a good chunk of time has passed.
I got back to the flat to try to webcam with my family while they were in Florida celebrating my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary, but we couldn't get the blasted thing to work. Arg. It was both sad and frustrating. Plus, I was getting down to the last £1.40 on my phone, and it costs 4p a minute to call the States. But then it was off to bed to sleep away the troubles and get focused for the awesome planning marathon.
And sleep I sure did! What with doing stuff with KB for the past weekdays I had been staying up until midnight-ish most nights. Getting up at 6 really tends to cut your sleep time pretty quickly. Friday night I was in bed by 10:30 PM and slept until 10:30 AM. It was glorious. I didn't have to set an alarm to be anywhere for a day of activity. All I had to do was get up and get some breakfast. Ahhhh.
Then my favorite part! The planning! I sat down and made a list of all the things I wanted to accomplish-- blog, letters, emails, recipes, groceries, new Tube pass, top up the phone, weekend sight-seeing plans, evening activities. (So on Friday I had actually been making plans to make a plan to make plans. Definitely rocking my life.) And then I set about doing them! I ran errands, found recipes, made grocery lists, and wrote a blog entry. Funny thing, it took most of the day to do all that. But no worries, I was 'taking care of life'-- basically getting everything in order. I like having all my ducks in a row as best I can arrange them.
I couldn't tell you what I had been eating for supper the past four weeks, but I can say that tonight I fixed glazed pork chops accompanied by rice with basil and salad. And, I even had Melissa over to share supper, and she brought over some excellent shortbread (which I now very much like, thanks to an introduction by Katie Beth in Inverness) to eat. It was so wonderful to sit down to a tasty meal that actually looked nice ('fancy' as one of my flatmates called it). Interestingly, I'm beginning to notice a bit of self-satisfaction when I cook. One of my favourite parts is knowing I've prepared something that would have cost me double or triple at a restaurant. Sweet!
But anyways, back to the weekend. On Saturday night, I cooked a spicy beef/veggie frozen pizza and plopped myself down in front of the flat's computer to watch "James Bond: Diamonds Are Forever." Fantastic. I haven't just chilled and watched a movie since watching "Kate & Leopold" so many weeks ago (and on the laptop too! :( ) I was a little bummed Katie Beth and I never got to watch a full movie, but I figure you can watch movies anywhere so no worries. I still carry over a bit of my family's Friday night tradition of eating pizza and watching a movie. It's still a little weird not to eat pizza on Friday night, so I try to make do with what I've got. It was nice just to relax, chill.
The next morning I went to church and met a gal from Louisiana State University who was visiting for the first time. She arrived on Tuesday, so it was nice to talk to her. Plus, the church was celebrating July birthdays with a lunch upstairs, so we got food! Again, a little bummed not to have Katie Beth (or Melissa for that matter) sitting beside me. But it was more of a "Ah, those were good times when we went to church" rather than the typical bemoaning life dialogue. Seriously, it's the weirdest thing. If you'd talked to me this weekend, you'd have a hard time believing she'd just left on Friday. It's like I wiped it all from my present life-- it's all memories, not really part of the present. Survival mode, I think. It's like my brain decided the only way it was gonna make the next five weeks happen was by perceiving the past four weeks as so very far, far away.
So my head doesn't think in terms of Katie Beth and me running off for the weekend anymore. That thought process in not helpful. *laughs* I even thought of it in terms of Borg-- it is irrelevant to my current concerns. Cold, but as I said, in response to a rather random bout of emotions I turned all unemotional. Again, survival. It's impossible to keep running on fear, regret, and sadness. Plus, the tears just had to go. Gotta turn around at some point even if that means turning rather frigid for a little while.
I don't feel much right now. Mostly I'm concerned with making sure I have food to eat for the coming week, activities to take up my time in evenings, and plans for sight-seeing on the weekend. It's like all the bad feelings have been walled up, shut away just enough so I can't access them unbidden. But if I really think about it, or look at pictures, a trickle starts. I know it will quickly turn into a stream, so I let it run just long enough to give flavour and depth to the happy memories that I allow out at the same time. Ah, to savour. Soon, perhaps in a few weeks.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Shifting Gears
If you've ever watched me drive a stick shift, you'll know I'm not terribly good. First, I'm a wee bit afraid of it-- although I love to drive, I'm scared I'll always kill the engine or do something terribly wrong. Second, it takes a lot of concentration, especially when you're a beginner. You've gotta watch traffic, pay attention to the running car, and mentally calculate when to shift gears. It's a lot to do at once!
To flip that back to my trip, I've come to another period of change this summer. Looking over the past seven weeks, I can see several periods of gear shifting. Arriving in London, attending classes, stopping classes, Katie Beth arriving, starting work, Katie Beth leaving. Every few weeks, something would change. Gears would have to move; I couldn't really stay in one.
But see, I don't switch gears easily, not in a car nor in my life. Switching requires change, which for me is usually movement from comfortable living to uncomfortable living. Remember during my first week when I was pretty down in the dumps about being in London? By the end of classes, I had 'adjusted' as best I could to a schedule of class in the morning, sight-seeing or lectures in the afternoon, and blogging/emailing at night. Then classes ended, and I found myself wanting them back. Think about it, I wanted something that had very previously caused a bunch of discomfort but because I had adjusted, it had become familiar. Weird.
And so there I was, marching off to work every morning wishing to be back in class. Every evening, Katie Beth would regale me with stories about her day's adventures, and every night I would wish I had been there for them. Interesting thing about having Katie Beth here-- I wasn't able to shift gears into 'working full time' mode. I was stuck somewhere between 'student' and 'intern.' Perhaps that's why two weeks before she left I was already struggling with the idea that she would be leaving kinda soon.
Don't get me wrong by any stretch of the imagination. I would by no means have given up the time we spent together for a faster adjustment into 'intern' mode. The times we had will probably be my fondest memories of this study/work abroad experience. I am so very glad she was here, if only for a quarter of my trip. That time was precious.
BANG.
Last Tuesday I decided that's how Katie Beth had come in and that's how she would leave. She arrived June 11th, my birthday and the night we went to the Texas Embassy for supper. Last week, we got together to do something every night. Monday we made cinnamon biscuits (delicious!), Tuesday we went out for supper at a reasonably priced Chinese place, Wednesday we went to Bible study at Bethesda, and Thursday we watched "The Merry Wives of Windsor" at the Globe and ate ice cream afterwards. Friday, the next morning, she left. I couldn't have picked a better way for it all to end.
I just watched the Session III people drag their suitcases up the stairs to their flats above ours. Three and a half weeks ago, the arrival of new people signaled that Katie Beth had made it and that I would see her in just a few hours. Honey, Katie Beth left for home yesterday. Wow. But now their arrival means that I'm just five weeks away from boarding my own flight home. Their arrival signals the passage of time. I decided not to be friendly and say 'hi' to the newcomers, mostly for my own protection-- I'm trying to shift gears today.
To flip that back to my trip, I've come to another period of change this summer. Looking over the past seven weeks, I can see several periods of gear shifting. Arriving in London, attending classes, stopping classes, Katie Beth arriving, starting work, Katie Beth leaving. Every few weeks, something would change. Gears would have to move; I couldn't really stay in one.
But see, I don't switch gears easily, not in a car nor in my life. Switching requires change, which for me is usually movement from comfortable living to uncomfortable living. Remember during my first week when I was pretty down in the dumps about being in London? By the end of classes, I had 'adjusted' as best I could to a schedule of class in the morning, sight-seeing or lectures in the afternoon, and blogging/emailing at night. Then classes ended, and I found myself wanting them back. Think about it, I wanted something that had very previously caused a bunch of discomfort but because I had adjusted, it had become familiar. Weird.
And so there I was, marching off to work every morning wishing to be back in class. Every evening, Katie Beth would regale me with stories about her day's adventures, and every night I would wish I had been there for them. Interesting thing about having Katie Beth here-- I wasn't able to shift gears into 'working full time' mode. I was stuck somewhere between 'student' and 'intern.' Perhaps that's why two weeks before she left I was already struggling with the idea that she would be leaving kinda soon.
Don't get me wrong by any stretch of the imagination. I would by no means have given up the time we spent together for a faster adjustment into 'intern' mode. The times we had will probably be my fondest memories of this study/work abroad experience. I am so very glad she was here, if only for a quarter of my trip. That time was precious.
BANG.
Last Tuesday I decided that's how Katie Beth had come in and that's how she would leave. She arrived June 11th, my birthday and the night we went to the Texas Embassy for supper. Last week, we got together to do something every night. Monday we made cinnamon biscuits (delicious!), Tuesday we went out for supper at a reasonably priced Chinese place, Wednesday we went to Bible study at Bethesda, and Thursday we watched "The Merry Wives of Windsor" at the Globe and ate ice cream afterwards. Friday, the next morning, she left. I couldn't have picked a better way for it all to end.
I just watched the Session III people drag their suitcases up the stairs to their flats above ours. Three and a half weeks ago, the arrival of new people signaled that Katie Beth had made it and that I would see her in just a few hours. Honey, Katie Beth left for home yesterday. Wow. But now their arrival means that I'm just five weeks away from boarding my own flight home. Their arrival signals the passage of time. I decided not to be friendly and say 'hi' to the newcomers, mostly for my own protection-- I'm trying to shift gears today.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
No mas, no mas
Alrighty, so now you know what’s recently gone on in the physical world of Laura Beth, let’s detail a little of the emotional. (Ha! G'luck with that. This ain't happy, yet. As before, with the troughs and peaks, I've reached another trough. But, even now I can feel it moving back up, which I hope to detail soon.)
(Ah, I also wrote most of this on Sunday and Monday night. In my next post, you'll see how a few things change.)
I want to go home. Period. I’m tired of the city, tired of thinking about working someday, tired of kinda sorta living by myself, tired of using this blasted flat’s computer because mine doesn’t work, tired of the dirty/cramped flat, tired of being tired at 9:30PM because I have to get up at 6AM. I want 'normal' things.
Katie Beth is leaving on Friday; I’ve been sad since early last week. I mean, my goodness, I was biting back tears most mornings. Waiting for the Northern Line train, clicking around on the internet searching for private equity fund of funds, chomping down on a McChicken sandwich. Seriously? I’m usually not the crying type, but lately I’ve been finding myself capable of turning on the water works at a moment’s notice. Even now, if I was alone and not about to webcam with my daddy, I’d go curl up and sob for a little while.
Seriously, Laura Beth? Seriously? What in the world is the matter? Well, things hurt, quite a bit more than I’d like. The gnawing is there, every morning. Has been for the past 2.5 weeks since I started working. It’s not just Katie Beth leaving, I’m also getting my first taste of working full-time-- an idea of what it’ll be like after college. I just want this trip to be over. I thought about asking my boss if I could come in late on Friday to see her off, but I’m afraid I’ll cry as her coach drives away to the airport, whisking her back to home, fiancé, and the States. No, I’ll head off to work this Friday as I normally do, trying my absolute best to forget that she won’t be there in the evening.
I don't like crying. If I cry, I feel like I haven't been able to handle my problems. Nor would I let someone see me cry- it's a more public announcement of failure. Perhaps not failure, perhaps more like recognition of hardship. And here I am talking about it, hmph. That's quite enough of that, moving on.
Dangit, I’m angry now. That’s about as colourful as my language gets, and by golly, I’m using it. I haven’t been angry this entire trip up until now. I was just over at Katie Beth’s flat and a lot of the Session II people stopped in for a bit. I had to leave, I couldn’t stay up late, I had to work the next morning. Why can't I play like everyone else?
I try to calm myself by thinking about all the wonderful times I’ve had here. Katie Beth and I really have had some truly enchanting experiences, as my Grandma put it. But I can’t think about them yet with out getting sad and then frustrated that they’re ending. Arg, arg, arg. Why, blast it? Why can’t I go home now? Why do the fun times end? Are there going to be any more good things in the next six weeks?
Don’t mind me, that’s my irrational, doom and gloom side coming out to play. Nasty little beast, feeds off anger and frustration. Mix in sadness and you’ve got an exquisite recipe for a glum Laura Beth. It goes away as I adjust to the feelings, but my goodness, do I have to have them again? Le sigh.
Why such strong feelings about Katie Beth leaving? Well, you see, she’s the most familiar thing I’ve seen all summer. We go to Truman, we go to the BSU. We know a lot of the same people, same buildings, and same places. I’ve known her much longer than a few weeks, unlike the rest of my flatmates. I can talk to her about my day and not feel quite so much like I’m wasting her time. She’ll tell me stories about what’s going on at home, and it’s genuinely interesting to catch a glimpse into her life. I’m happy to listen.
She’s my friend, one that has grown much closer over the past few weeks. We travelled on the weekends and escaped from the city for a few short days. I could run away from the troubles and simply enjoy her company and the landscape around us. No mas, no mas. My fellow escapee is leaving. No more late night planning, no more talks. ‘Tis sad, you know.
(Doom and gloom, I’m tellin’ ya.)
I think what I'm going to miss the most is having someone around who doesn't mind my requests. If I know what someone would like to do/have, I can't stand imposing what I want on them. It's a strange feeling. But see, I could ask Katie Beth to do things with me without worrying as much that she'd rather not. I think I saw her every day except last Wednesday when the Session II folks were on a day trip. She's such a fantastic young woman, and I've loved getting to know her. Goodness, I'm gonna miss her.
(Ah, I also wrote most of this on Sunday and Monday night. In my next post, you'll see how a few things change.)
I want to go home. Period. I’m tired of the city, tired of thinking about working someday, tired of kinda sorta living by myself, tired of using this blasted flat’s computer because mine doesn’t work, tired of the dirty/cramped flat, tired of being tired at 9:30PM because I have to get up at 6AM. I want 'normal' things.
Katie Beth is leaving on Friday; I’ve been sad since early last week. I mean, my goodness, I was biting back tears most mornings. Waiting for the Northern Line train, clicking around on the internet searching for private equity fund of funds, chomping down on a McChicken sandwich. Seriously? I’m usually not the crying type, but lately I’ve been finding myself capable of turning on the water works at a moment’s notice. Even now, if I was alone and not about to webcam with my daddy, I’d go curl up and sob for a little while.
Seriously, Laura Beth? Seriously? What in the world is the matter? Well, things hurt, quite a bit more than I’d like. The gnawing is there, every morning. Has been for the past 2.5 weeks since I started working. It’s not just Katie Beth leaving, I’m also getting my first taste of working full-time-- an idea of what it’ll be like after college. I just want this trip to be over. I thought about asking my boss if I could come in late on Friday to see her off, but I’m afraid I’ll cry as her coach drives away to the airport, whisking her back to home, fiancé, and the States. No, I’ll head off to work this Friday as I normally do, trying my absolute best to forget that she won’t be there in the evening.
I don't like crying. If I cry, I feel like I haven't been able to handle my problems. Nor would I let someone see me cry- it's a more public announcement of failure. Perhaps not failure, perhaps more like recognition of hardship. And here I am talking about it, hmph. That's quite enough of that, moving on.
Dangit, I’m angry now. That’s about as colourful as my language gets, and by golly, I’m using it. I haven’t been angry this entire trip up until now. I was just over at Katie Beth’s flat and a lot of the Session II people stopped in for a bit. I had to leave, I couldn’t stay up late, I had to work the next morning. Why can't I play like everyone else?
I try to calm myself by thinking about all the wonderful times I’ve had here. Katie Beth and I really have had some truly enchanting experiences, as my Grandma put it. But I can’t think about them yet with out getting sad and then frustrated that they’re ending. Arg, arg, arg. Why, blast it? Why can’t I go home now? Why do the fun times end? Are there going to be any more good things in the next six weeks?
Don’t mind me, that’s my irrational, doom and gloom side coming out to play. Nasty little beast, feeds off anger and frustration. Mix in sadness and you’ve got an exquisite recipe for a glum Laura Beth. It goes away as I adjust to the feelings, but my goodness, do I have to have them again? Le sigh.
Why such strong feelings about Katie Beth leaving? Well, you see, she’s the most familiar thing I’ve seen all summer. We go to Truman, we go to the BSU. We know a lot of the same people, same buildings, and same places. I’ve known her much longer than a few weeks, unlike the rest of my flatmates. I can talk to her about my day and not feel quite so much like I’m wasting her time. She’ll tell me stories about what’s going on at home, and it’s genuinely interesting to catch a glimpse into her life. I’m happy to listen.
She’s my friend, one that has grown much closer over the past few weeks. We travelled on the weekends and escaped from the city for a few short days. I could run away from the troubles and simply enjoy her company and the landscape around us. No mas, no mas. My fellow escapee is leaving. No more late night planning, no more talks. ‘Tis sad, you know.
(Doom and gloom, I’m tellin’ ya.)
I think what I'm going to miss the most is having someone around who doesn't mind my requests. If I know what someone would like to do/have, I can't stand imposing what I want on them. It's a strange feeling. But see, I could ask Katie Beth to do things with me without worrying as much that she'd rather not. I think I saw her every day except last Wednesday when the Session II folks were on a day trip. She's such a fantastic young woman, and I've loved getting to know her. Goodness, I'm gonna miss her.
Finally, a chance to sight-see
The next morning, Saturday, we got up and went downstairs a little after eight for the breakfast we'd ordered the night before. One of the things I wanted to do while in Scotland was have a full Scottish breakfast. A full English breakfast is eggs, sausage, bacon, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, and baked beans, while a full Scottish breakfast is all that plus blood pudding and/or haggis. It was the first hot breakfast I'd had since my Grandma's send off breakfast six weeks earlier! The breakfast was fantastic, and the blood pudding was ok-- in fact, I probably could have eaten it if I didn't know it was thickened with blood.
We went back up to the room, gathered our stuff, and checked out downstairs. The lady found another few band-aids (read: plasters in the UK) for Katie Beth's finger, and then we were on our way to meet the Jacobite bus for our tour of Loch Ness. The bus took us through Inverness and along the River Ness which is a supplied from Loch Ness. And the Loch! Oh it was gorgeous! So I always figured Loch Ness to be perhaps just a little bigger than a large pond, yeah no. The Loch is one mile wide and 23 miles long!
We got to the dock and boarded a touring boat that took us on a half hour ride over to Urquhart Castle, which was the third most important defensive position in the Scotland back in its day. In the 18th Century it was blown up to keep it from enemies, but its ruins still remain for tourists to ooh and aah over. At the dock, there was a private boat in our spot, but our captain guy made sure he moved away in no small hurry (we were the much bigger boat).
Because of that minor delay, our one hour at the Castle was cut a little short, but we still got to walk around a bit and see a video showing its history. I've decided I really like the Scots. My mom's side is Scottish, I took an early Scottish lit class, and I've now been to Scotland. Must be fur real.
After a bit of anxious running to find Katie Beth and board the bus after stopping by the bathroom, we made it back to the City Centre with enough time to find lunch before going to the train station. We'd been wanting to try kebabs ever since seeing a takeout flyer for 'em in Cardiff, so we stopped by a little shop to try 'em out. I think they're a lot like gyros except without the cucumber sauce. Mm-mm, good! Except that I ordered a large because I figured the portion size would be about regular to me what with the whole European sizing and everything. Not at all! It was even bigger than an American large! I couldn't get my hand around the humongous glob of pita bread, garlic sauce, donner meat (kinda like spiced, processed beef), lettuce, tomato, and cucumber!
For the first time since our trip began, the transportation we booked worked out exactly right! The train was on time, we were on time, everything was great. We made it back to Edinburgh about 4PM but immediately hastened to Edinburgh Castle because it was closing at 6PM. Navigation was easy because the Castle towered over everything. While we did pay over £10 (can't think of the exact price right now-- too sleepy! Getting up at 6AM will do that to ya...) to get in for 1.5 hours, it was neat to walk through the Castle directly mentioned in one of the main books we read for my Scottish lit class. And we got to see the Scottish crown jewels! While they don't have quite the grandeur of the English ones, they were pretty neat to see.
After our quick dash through the Castle, we wandered back to the bus station before I was comfortable with us stopping for supper (wouldn't want to miss the bus again!). I dragged Katie Beth up and down the street to find just the right place to eat-- good food, reasonable price--almost impossible to find. I finally settled on a little Polish restaurant 'cause I'm all up for trying new foods especially if it looks like the entire staff is Polish (then the food must be pretty well authentic!).
Afterwards, we went back up to the bus station and waited for about an hour and half for the bus/driver to arrive and then take off at 10PM. While waiting, we chatted with a mom and her daughter from Canada and a young guy from New Zealand. Wow, the people you meet. I dawdled on my way back from the bathroom (for which I paid 20p for the pleasure of using. My goodness, that day I probably sunk over a pound just into accessing bathrooms) only to find Katie Beth right near the front of the bus line to board the bus-- without a ticket. I ran up, and we boarded with no problems. Hooray! But, we did have to sit almost all the way in the back which is where the engine is, so it's quite hot. Ah well.
As we settled in, I blew up my head/neck pillow and swallowed down some sleeping pills to prepare for the journey. Oh, as well as shoving earplugs deep into my ears because an older Indian man was snoring loudly just in front of us. I think I got about six hours of sleep total (in three hour chunks). Very weird trip. I'm almost glad we missed the night bus the first time because it's such a strange experience. You don't really go to bed, you just kinda try to sleep away the time. I drifted off to sleep while there was still light in the sky- Scotland has very long summer days because it's so far north.
We made it back to London safe and sound! We pulled into the Victoria train station around 7AM and got back to the flats by 7:30. I wanted to sleep but chose a shower and try (but desperately failing if you've emailed/facebooked me recently) to keeping up with emails. At 10:30, Katie Beth and I left for church. She had mentioned really wanting to attend a Sunday service, so I finagled the bus tickets to make it work and still spend the same amount of time in Scotland. Fantastic plan, horrible execution. Oh well!
Scotland was beautiful, though. I'd love to go back for a much longer visit but probably not this summer. The people were so nice there, almost Midwest-like actually. Plus, I've found I prefer Scottish brogues to English accents. It's a bit more rough around the edges.
All in all, I think missing the night bus cost Katie Beth and I $230 each. Gross. But you know what, absolutely priceless memories right there. We didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked, but what time was available was amazing. I imagine we'll be laughing ourselves silly recalling this weekend come this fall when school begins.
But this weekend was the last that I will travel with Katie Beth while in London (though there are now plans in the works for a visit to her house [on a farm] in early fall. AMAZING!!). I knew this point would come, but when she arrived three weeks ago I never figured it would come this fast. It seems like only a few days ago I was taking her over to the Earl's Court tube station to get her oyster card, quietly watching how she was taking in the big, rushing city. Wow.
So that was our trip to Scotland. As I said, planned out down to the letter for maximum results but cut away by leaving just a little too late on Thursday night. Ah well. The country was beautiful, and I got to spend more time outside the city and with Katie Beth so it's definitely all ok.
I haven't posted picture links in a while, but I am getting them up. Perhaps I'll have an entire post with the links. We'll have to see- I don't usually have much time after work before needing to get to bed. Kinda like right now...sleep........
We went back up to the room, gathered our stuff, and checked out downstairs. The lady found another few band-aids (read: plasters in the UK) for Katie Beth's finger, and then we were on our way to meet the Jacobite bus for our tour of Loch Ness. The bus took us through Inverness and along the River Ness which is a supplied from Loch Ness. And the Loch! Oh it was gorgeous! So I always figured Loch Ness to be perhaps just a little bigger than a large pond, yeah no. The Loch is one mile wide and 23 miles long!
We got to the dock and boarded a touring boat that took us on a half hour ride over to Urquhart Castle, which was the third most important defensive position in the Scotland back in its day. In the 18th Century it was blown up to keep it from enemies, but its ruins still remain for tourists to ooh and aah over. At the dock, there was a private boat in our spot, but our captain guy made sure he moved away in no small hurry (we were the much bigger boat).
Because of that minor delay, our one hour at the Castle was cut a little short, but we still got to walk around a bit and see a video showing its history. I've decided I really like the Scots. My mom's side is Scottish, I took an early Scottish lit class, and I've now been to Scotland. Must be fur real.
After a bit of anxious running to find Katie Beth and board the bus after stopping by the bathroom, we made it back to the City Centre with enough time to find lunch before going to the train station. We'd been wanting to try kebabs ever since seeing a takeout flyer for 'em in Cardiff, so we stopped by a little shop to try 'em out. I think they're a lot like gyros except without the cucumber sauce. Mm-mm, good! Except that I ordered a large because I figured the portion size would be about regular to me what with the whole European sizing and everything. Not at all! It was even bigger than an American large! I couldn't get my hand around the humongous glob of pita bread, garlic sauce, donner meat (kinda like spiced, processed beef), lettuce, tomato, and cucumber!
For the first time since our trip began, the transportation we booked worked out exactly right! The train was on time, we were on time, everything was great. We made it back to Edinburgh about 4PM but immediately hastened to Edinburgh Castle because it was closing at 6PM. Navigation was easy because the Castle towered over everything. While we did pay over £10 (can't think of the exact price right now-- too sleepy! Getting up at 6AM will do that to ya...) to get in for 1.5 hours, it was neat to walk through the Castle directly mentioned in one of the main books we read for my Scottish lit class. And we got to see the Scottish crown jewels! While they don't have quite the grandeur of the English ones, they were pretty neat to see.
After our quick dash through the Castle, we wandered back to the bus station before I was comfortable with us stopping for supper (wouldn't want to miss the bus again!). I dragged Katie Beth up and down the street to find just the right place to eat-- good food, reasonable price--almost impossible to find. I finally settled on a little Polish restaurant 'cause I'm all up for trying new foods especially if it looks like the entire staff is Polish (then the food must be pretty well authentic!).
Afterwards, we went back up to the bus station and waited for about an hour and half for the bus/driver to arrive and then take off at 10PM. While waiting, we chatted with a mom and her daughter from Canada and a young guy from New Zealand. Wow, the people you meet. I dawdled on my way back from the bathroom (for which I paid 20p for the pleasure of using. My goodness, that day I probably sunk over a pound just into accessing bathrooms) only to find Katie Beth right near the front of the bus line to board the bus-- without a ticket. I ran up, and we boarded with no problems. Hooray! But, we did have to sit almost all the way in the back which is where the engine is, so it's quite hot. Ah well.
As we settled in, I blew up my head/neck pillow and swallowed down some sleeping pills to prepare for the journey. Oh, as well as shoving earplugs deep into my ears because an older Indian man was snoring loudly just in front of us. I think I got about six hours of sleep total (in three hour chunks). Very weird trip. I'm almost glad we missed the night bus the first time because it's such a strange experience. You don't really go to bed, you just kinda try to sleep away the time. I drifted off to sleep while there was still light in the sky- Scotland has very long summer days because it's so far north.
We made it back to London safe and sound! We pulled into the Victoria train station around 7AM and got back to the flats by 7:30. I wanted to sleep but chose a shower and try (but desperately failing if you've emailed/facebooked me recently) to keeping up with emails. At 10:30, Katie Beth and I left for church. She had mentioned really wanting to attend a Sunday service, so I finagled the bus tickets to make it work and still spend the same amount of time in Scotland. Fantastic plan, horrible execution. Oh well!
Scotland was beautiful, though. I'd love to go back for a much longer visit but probably not this summer. The people were so nice there, almost Midwest-like actually. Plus, I've found I prefer Scottish brogues to English accents. It's a bit more rough around the edges.
All in all, I think missing the night bus cost Katie Beth and I $230 each. Gross. But you know what, absolutely priceless memories right there. We didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked, but what time was available was amazing. I imagine we'll be laughing ourselves silly recalling this weekend come this fall when school begins.
But this weekend was the last that I will travel with Katie Beth while in London (though there are now plans in the works for a visit to her house [on a farm] in early fall. AMAZING!!). I knew this point would come, but when she arrived three weeks ago I never figured it would come this fast. It seems like only a few days ago I was taking her over to the Earl's Court tube station to get her oyster card, quietly watching how she was taking in the big, rushing city. Wow.
So that was our trip to Scotland. As I said, planned out down to the letter for maximum results but cut away by leaving just a little too late on Thursday night. Ah well. The country was beautiful, and I got to spend more time outside the city and with Katie Beth so it's definitely all ok.
I haven't posted picture links in a while, but I am getting them up. Perhaps I'll have an entire post with the links. We'll have to see- I don't usually have much time after work before needing to get to bed. Kinda like right now...sleep........
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