On November 29, we got to meet and talk with an MP (Member of Parliament). Jeremy Corbyn is the representative for Islington North which is a small borough within Greater London. A county is broken up into boroughs. So, in the county of Greater London, he represents the section called Islington North. He was very nice but tended to drone on and on. But I'm not trying to complain; I realize what a great opportunity it was for us to be able to meet an MP and get a tour of the Houses of Parliament. It was amazing to be able to sit there and talk to an MP and get to see all of the Parliament. While wandering around I would just get overwhelmed by where I was and who I was listening to. It was great!
On Friday, November 30 I worked on a little homework and then my science class met at the Science Museum and we wandered around for a while. After looking at a bunch of the things we had studied (which was really neat!) we explored a little by ourselves. I looked around a medical exhibit which did a brief history of medicine. It was really interesting to see all the advances that have been made and how ingenious people had to be. After that we headed over to a pub where we sat around and talked for a while.
Then we all headed back to the Janet Poole House to get ready to go see the Royal Concertgebouw. They performed Schumann's Manfred Overture, Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5. I thought it was a spectacular performance, especially compared to the London Symphony Orchestra concert we went to at the beginning of the term.
Saturday, 1 December, I just worked on papers and then on Sunday I went to EveryNation church with Laura and David like normal. The rest of the day I worked on papers again.
On Monday, David, Laura, Mary, Heather, Andrew, and I had our own little Christmas party. Laura, Mary, and Heather had just discovered mulled wine (I had already had it in Germany) and so they wanted to try it. So we had mulled wine, Christmas crackers (the kind with horrible corny jokes and little prizes in them), and after that we watched 'Love Actually'. It was a lot of fun to just hang out together. We had a ton of fun with the Christmas crackers. There were a lot of very random, yet useful prizes in them. One of the prizes was fingernail clippers; another was a pen and later on I got 3 little star-shaped erasers. The jokes were horrible corny English jokes. We thought they were really funny while someone who had just arrived in England might not get them. :-)
I had been worried about doing my paper, since the library is only open from 9am to 9pm every day except for Sunday, when it isn't open at all.... But Andrew let me use his computer that night since he said he didn't need it. All of my friends were so kind! Whenever one of them didn't need their computer, they would let me use it. Since I had my portable hard drive, I didn't have to save anything on my computer or mess with sending myself emails with papers in them and crazy things like that.
On Tuesday we had class and then Laura and I went to our last Queen Mary Connect Group. There weren't many people there that week, but it was still great to be there. And they actually gave us goodbye presents! I was very surprised and happy. I didn't think we had made that much of a difference, but it was nice to know that they would miss us. :-)
Wednesday we had class and I worked on papers...of course. And that night Mary let me use her computer to finish my WWII paper. On Thursday we all met at 6pm to turn in our WWII papers like our teacher had asked us to but he never showed up. I mean, that's not really surprising because he's pretty scatterbrained and would usually get to class late and stuff like that, but we were kind of irritated that he asked us to come in at an odd time to turn them in and then didn't even show up.
But it was fun because we all just hung out together in the basement of the Winston House for a while and then after about an hour gave up on him and people sort of went there separate ways. We didn't really have a goodbye party or any sort of real closure of the semester, which a lot of people thought we should have had. But I didn't really mind at that point because I was hungry... I ended up going with Heather, Laura, Mary, and Christina to have dinner in the crypt at St. Martin's In the Fields. Afterwards, we took pictures of the huge tree in Trafalgar Square. Norway has given England a gigantic Christmas tree since 1947 in gratitude for their support during World War II. We also took pictures as we walked up St. Martin's Lane, Monmouth Street, Shaftesbury Avenue, and past Neal's Yard back towards Tottenham Court Road and home. I took a picture of the theatre we saw Carmen in.
The next day I went to Oxford. And I'll tell you about it in my next post! :-)
Being Back in America:
Another thing that I noticed coming back to America is that, although we so much more space here, people have much less personal space. In England, you made concerted efforts not to come into physical contact with anyone. During rush hour on the Central Line, however, this practice was given up for a couple of hours each day when everyone crammed on and we were stuck like sardines in a can. That would be a horrible time to have anything bad happen on the line. But, most of the time, people have a relatively large amount of personal space. Coming back, especially at school, people stand much closer to each other when talking and just in general. I have managed to get pretty used to that by now though.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Stratford-Upon-Avon
Let's see, I last updated to the Sunday after Thanksgiving, which is 25 November. So, most of the time after that I was working on papers and reading and studying for exams. But I did take a couple trips and do some stuff around town.
On Monday the 26th, I went to Stratford-Upon-Avon. It was very pretty and there were way too many things to do and not enough time/daylight. I went to see Shakespeare's Birthplace, New Place, Nash's Place/Hall's Croft, and Holy Trinity Church. I got to Stratford-Upon-Avon at about 11am and then I went to Shakespeare's Birthplace and by the time I got out, it was already time for lunch! So, I found out about cheap places to eat and found a little sandwich place.
After having lunch, I went to see Nash's Place which was really interesting. Nash was Shakespeare's brother-in-law and was also a doctor. He had a really big house and I just wandered around in there for a while. I thought the kitchen was the most interesting place. It had a huge fireplace where you could cook all kinds of food. It gave the impression that the kitchen was definitely the warmest place in the house, which would be really nice in the winter time, but not really during the summer...
But after that, I headed over to Holy Trinity Church where Shakespeare is buried. When I got there, there was a really nice old lady who I talked to for a while and then I wandered around the church and saw all the little monuments to Shakespeare. I got there a little while before they closed, so as I was leaving, they were locking up the gates and it was getting pretty dark. So, I headed slowly back to the train station. I stopped to see the river on the way back and take a couple pictures.
Then I got to the station and there were tons of kids there! It was jam-packed with kids who apparently had just gotten out of school. There were train attendant people who were herding the kids around. After a while a train came and took all the kids away. It was then that I figured out that I was a whole hour early! I was kind of disappointed but there wasn't much else to do in town and it was already dark so I just sat and waited.
The next day, 27 November, Laura and I met our small group from our Connect Group at Weatherspoons for dinner before our Connect Group meeting. It was a lot of fun to just get to hang out together for a little while. And of course, I had my classes on Tuesday and Wednesday, the 27th and 28th.
Being Back In America:
It's been weird because there are so many things that I got used to in England that are different here. I think in each post I'll talk about one. The first thing that sticks out is, of course, the accent. I have gotten used to hearing the English accent everywhere and being back in America has been weird. In London, you'll either hear the English accent or another language. By the end of my time there, I was used to that and would stare (or try not to) at any American who wasn't in my group because I didn't expect to hear it. So, coming back, when I hear an English accent or a different language being spoken, I don't really react, but when someone comes by talking with an American accent, I have to work hard not to stare.... I think I'm starting to adjust, but that was one thing that struck me that I was certainly not expecting! :-)
On Monday the 26th, I went to Stratford-Upon-Avon. It was very pretty and there were way too many things to do and not enough time/daylight. I went to see Shakespeare's Birthplace, New Place, Nash's Place/Hall's Croft, and Holy Trinity Church. I got to Stratford-Upon-Avon at about 11am and then I went to Shakespeare's Birthplace and by the time I got out, it was already time for lunch! So, I found out about cheap places to eat and found a little sandwich place.
After having lunch, I went to see Nash's Place which was really interesting. Nash was Shakespeare's brother-in-law and was also a doctor. He had a really big house and I just wandered around in there for a while. I thought the kitchen was the most interesting place. It had a huge fireplace where you could cook all kinds of food. It gave the impression that the kitchen was definitely the warmest place in the house, which would be really nice in the winter time, but not really during the summer...
But after that, I headed over to Holy Trinity Church where Shakespeare is buried. When I got there, there was a really nice old lady who I talked to for a while and then I wandered around the church and saw all the little monuments to Shakespeare. I got there a little while before they closed, so as I was leaving, they were locking up the gates and it was getting pretty dark. So, I headed slowly back to the train station. I stopped to see the river on the way back and take a couple pictures.
Then I got to the station and there were tons of kids there! It was jam-packed with kids who apparently had just gotten out of school. There were train attendant people who were herding the kids around. After a while a train came and took all the kids away. It was then that I figured out that I was a whole hour early! I was kind of disappointed but there wasn't much else to do in town and it was already dark so I just sat and waited.
The next day, 27 November, Laura and I met our small group from our Connect Group at Weatherspoons for dinner before our Connect Group meeting. It was a lot of fun to just get to hang out together for a little while. And of course, I had my classes on Tuesday and Wednesday, the 27th and 28th.
Being Back In America:
It's been weird because there are so many things that I got used to in England that are different here. I think in each post I'll talk about one. The first thing that sticks out is, of course, the accent. I have gotten used to hearing the English accent everywhere and being back in America has been weird. In London, you'll either hear the English accent or another language. By the end of my time there, I was used to that and would stare (or try not to) at any American who wasn't in my group because I didn't expect to hear it. So, coming back, when I hear an English accent or a different language being spoken, I don't really react, but when someone comes by talking with an American accent, I have to work hard not to stare.... I think I'm starting to adjust, but that was one thing that struck me that I was certainly not expecting! :-)
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Alive and Home
I am back at home with my family again. My mom and I got back from England at 1:30am Thursday, 20 December. We had a very very long wait in the JFK airport (6 hours in the terminal and another 2 on the plane), but we finally made it back. In the coming days, I will be looking back to the last couple of weeks that I was in England and telling you what all I did. I hope everyone had a good Christmas!!
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Pictures of Scotland!!!
This is a view of a Loch between two old mountains. This was around where the highlands began. I think it's beautiful!
Here is me at Loch Ness! It was pretty cold...but the water was even colder! It was also very very windy. Some of the guys in our group actually got in the water too!!!! They were crazy...
This was a stop we made on the second day on the Isle of Skye. Aren't the mountains beautiful??
There's our bus!! (with the website conveniently on the side.) ;-)
This was the 'fairy castle' that we got to see. There were lots of little hills around it that we had fun climbing on. This was probably our longest stop aside from the hike we took earlier in the day. It was a ton of fun!!
This is looking around from the top of the 'fairy castle'. You could get a very good view of everything around.
This is Angelina, my friend from Alaska, and me on the Isle of Skye right before we headed back to Edinburgh. 
Here are two of the 'Three Sisters'. Aren't they AMAZING?? It was so neat to be down in the valley and just look up at them. So majestic... 
This is the famous 'hairy coo', Hamish. We had fun watching him eat snacks from one of our more crazy members of the group... :-) Scotland is an amazing place! I'm sure this doesn't need saying, but if you ever get a chance to go there, definitely go!! :-D
More Scotland! (a little late...)
On Saturday, we drove around the Isle of Skye. It is a pretty big island, compared to the little islands we on our coast. I had a great time! Most of the day it was raining and freezing cold, but inspite of that, we had a wonderful time! We took a long hike up to the Mountain of Storr, through very very dense, quiet woods and we also climbed up on a 'fairy castle' (it was basically a small mesa) and climbed on all the hills around the fairy castle. And of course, our guide, Neil, told us tons of stories and myths to go along with all of the places we saw. We got back to the hostel in time to see three fourths of the qualifying football match between Scotland and Italy. Sadly, Scotland lost to Italy who are apparently great at football. But it was fun to watch it anyway!
The next day was our trek back to Edinburgh. We started off at 8am and we stopped to see the Three Sisters, a group of mountains. That is probably my last and best memory of the Scottish Highlands. They were beautiful! We stopped in a valley that the Three Sisters surrounded. It was gorgeous. I am so glad I got the opportunity to see the Highlands! After that we headed hard for Edinburgh. We stopped at a little gift shop place to see a famous highland cow, Hamish. Some of the people fed him (you could buy snacks for him in the gift shop). After that we went to see the Braveheart memorial. Neil pointed out that it was very ironic that the statue of Braveheart (with Freedom engraved on the front) was locked up behind bars every night to protect it from vandals.
We made it back to Edinburgh at about 5:30pm and I headed back to my friend's flat. We (Becky, one of her flatmates, and I) went to see Elizabeth: The Golden Age. It was a pretty good movie. Probably not the kind of movie I would pick myself to see, but it was better than I expected it to be.
Then I spent the night there and got up early in the morning because I had plenty of things that I wanted to see in Edinburgh. I left at 8am to climb Arthur's Seat. It took me a while to figure out which cliff was Arthur's Seat...I finally had to ask a nice lady who pointed me in the right direction. When I got up to the top, I could see most of the city as the sun was rising (behind heavy cloud cover, of course) and the wind was buffeting me around. It always came from one direction and there was a stone column proclaiming that this was Arthur's seat so I pinned myself to that for fear of being blown off! But all was well and I made it down safely.
Then I went to the Holyrood House which is where the Queen stays when she comes to visit Scotland. It is right across from the .....interesting..... Parliament building. The people of Scotland don't really like the Parliament building...it's pretty ugly and they spent millions of pounds on it, too.
But after I saw that I met up with Becky and we went up to Edinburgh Castle which we explored until it was time for me to meet my train back. So, I went back and grabbed my stuff and left. It was a nice trip back. There weren't as many people on the train so I was able to stretch out some and I think I even slept a little, which is odd for me. :-)
On Tuesday and Wednesday we had classes as usual. Tuesday night Laura, David, and I went to our Connect Group. That has been a lot of fun. We've gotten to meet more British students and really have some fellowship with them. They've always been so welcoming and kind. It's really been great.
On Thursday, we had a Thanksgiving dinner at the University Women's Club. It's a really nice club (Judi Dench is a member!!) and they had turkey (we think..it was all sliced so we couldn't really tell) and pumpkin pie! That was a surprise...but I am spoiled by my mom's cooking so I didn't like the pumpkin pie much...I didn't really eat much... But, I got to talk to my family before I left for dinner!!! It was so much fun to talk to them!! :-D It made me really happy! It also made me miss home more, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make to be able to talk to them! It'll be good to be home...as the end of the semester approaches, we are more and more ready to go home... While I am ready to *visit* home, I am not ready to leave London/Europe for good... It's really been a wonderful trip. I have been so blessed to be able to come on this trip and travel so much!
Anyway, back to the play-by-play. ;-) Friday and Saturday I wasn't feeling to well so I drank loads and loads of orange juice (since Tropicana was on sale!!) and watched lots of TV shows and movies and slept a lot. It was good. Then on Sunday I went to church and then afterwards, I just wandered around for a while since the sun was out. I hadn't realized how little sun I was getting. The sun rises at 8am and sets at 4pm and since we are in class most of the day, I wasn't getting much sun. So it felt wonderful to just wander around a little park/cemetary in the sun for a while.
Oh!!! How did I forget... On Friday we got a tour of the Houses of Parliament!!! O.O It was sooo neat!! It was amazing to get to see where all of Britain's legislature is made and it was really fascinating to get to learn a little about how their government works and some of the traditions that happen. Britain is very very dependent on traditions, we have found. Not that that is bad, it is just very different from the US, perhaps since we are such a young nation comparatively. Sadly we were not allowed to take pictures. But it was amazing just to be able to go in and see that place!! (Especially since there are guards EVERYWHERE around the Houses of Parliament...)
I will tell about this week perhaps tomorrow... things are getting stressful with lots of papers to write so I will make no more promises about when I'll update, that way I won't break any promises! :-)
Prayer requests: Focus and diligence on my papers, strength and less sleepiness (I've been pretty worn out this whole week, perhaps from all the traveling and now the absence of light for the majority of each day...). Thank you so much for all your prayers!!
The next day was our trek back to Edinburgh. We started off at 8am and we stopped to see the Three Sisters, a group of mountains. That is probably my last and best memory of the Scottish Highlands. They were beautiful! We stopped in a valley that the Three Sisters surrounded. It was gorgeous. I am so glad I got the opportunity to see the Highlands! After that we headed hard for Edinburgh. We stopped at a little gift shop place to see a famous highland cow, Hamish. Some of the people fed him (you could buy snacks for him in the gift shop). After that we went to see the Braveheart memorial. Neil pointed out that it was very ironic that the statue of Braveheart (with Freedom engraved on the front) was locked up behind bars every night to protect it from vandals.
We made it back to Edinburgh at about 5:30pm and I headed back to my friend's flat. We (Becky, one of her flatmates, and I) went to see Elizabeth: The Golden Age. It was a pretty good movie. Probably not the kind of movie I would pick myself to see, but it was better than I expected it to be.
Then I spent the night there and got up early in the morning because I had plenty of things that I wanted to see in Edinburgh. I left at 8am to climb Arthur's Seat. It took me a while to figure out which cliff was Arthur's Seat...I finally had to ask a nice lady who pointed me in the right direction. When I got up to the top, I could see most of the city as the sun was rising (behind heavy cloud cover, of course) and the wind was buffeting me around. It always came from one direction and there was a stone column proclaiming that this was Arthur's seat so I pinned myself to that for fear of being blown off! But all was well and I made it down safely.
Then I went to the Holyrood House which is where the Queen stays when she comes to visit Scotland. It is right across from the .....interesting..... Parliament building. The people of Scotland don't really like the Parliament building...it's pretty ugly and they spent millions of pounds on it, too.
But after I saw that I met up with Becky and we went up to Edinburgh Castle which we explored until it was time for me to meet my train back. So, I went back and grabbed my stuff and left. It was a nice trip back. There weren't as many people on the train so I was able to stretch out some and I think I even slept a little, which is odd for me. :-)
On Tuesday and Wednesday we had classes as usual. Tuesday night Laura, David, and I went to our Connect Group. That has been a lot of fun. We've gotten to meet more British students and really have some fellowship with them. They've always been so welcoming and kind. It's really been great.
On Thursday, we had a Thanksgiving dinner at the University Women's Club. It's a really nice club (Judi Dench is a member!!) and they had turkey (we think..it was all sliced so we couldn't really tell) and pumpkin pie! That was a surprise...but I am spoiled by my mom's cooking so I didn't like the pumpkin pie much...I didn't really eat much... But, I got to talk to my family before I left for dinner!!! It was so much fun to talk to them!! :-D It made me really happy! It also made me miss home more, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make to be able to talk to them! It'll be good to be home...as the end of the semester approaches, we are more and more ready to go home... While I am ready to *visit* home, I am not ready to leave London/Europe for good... It's really been a wonderful trip. I have been so blessed to be able to come on this trip and travel so much!
Anyway, back to the play-by-play. ;-) Friday and Saturday I wasn't feeling to well so I drank loads and loads of orange juice (since Tropicana was on sale!!) and watched lots of TV shows and movies and slept a lot. It was good. Then on Sunday I went to church and then afterwards, I just wandered around for a while since the sun was out. I hadn't realized how little sun I was getting. The sun rises at 8am and sets at 4pm and since we are in class most of the day, I wasn't getting much sun. So it felt wonderful to just wander around a little park/cemetary in the sun for a while.
Oh!!! How did I forget... On Friday we got a tour of the Houses of Parliament!!! O.O It was sooo neat!! It was amazing to get to see where all of Britain's legislature is made and it was really fascinating to get to learn a little about how their government works and some of the traditions that happen. Britain is very very dependent on traditions, we have found. Not that that is bad, it is just very different from the US, perhaps since we are such a young nation comparatively. Sadly we were not allowed to take pictures. But it was amazing just to be able to go in and see that place!! (Especially since there are guards EVERYWHERE around the Houses of Parliament...)
I will tell about this week perhaps tomorrow... things are getting stressful with lots of papers to write so I will make no more promises about when I'll update, that way I won't break any promises! :-)
Prayer requests: Focus and diligence on my papers, strength and less sleepiness (I've been pretty worn out this whole week, perhaps from all the traveling and now the absence of light for the majority of each day...). Thank you so much for all your prayers!!
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Scotland update!
Well, this past weekend I went to Scotland for 5 days. It was a great trip! I left London at 10am and took the train to Edinburgh. The train ride is about four hours and forty minutes long. I spent most of that time looking out the windows at the changing scenery. :-D So, I got to Edinburgh at about 2:30. I hadn't had lunch so I went and grabbed lunch at the place that me and my friend, Becky were going to meet. She showed up right as I had taken my first bite. So, we headed back to her place to drop off my bags and then we decided to go down the Royal Mile.
The Royal Mile has the Holyrood House at the bottom, the official residence of the Queen when she comes to Scotland, and at the top is Edinburgh Castle. Edinburgh Castle is at the top of a huge hill and Holyrood House sits at the bottom of that hill, so there is a definite 'top' and 'bottom' of the Royal Mile.
Becky lives right off the Royal Mile about halfway down, so we walked down the rest of the Royal Mile and then we decided to climb Calton Hill. Apparently it is one of the highest points in Edinburgh. We got a very good view of the city as the sun was going down.
Then we headed back and I met her flatmates. They were all really nice and hospitable. Becky and I watched North and South after grabbing some dinner. North and South is a good movie, comparable to the Pride and Prejudice story line. It was a good movie and they have several clips of Edinburgh in it although it is set in a fictional town.
The next morning I headed over to High Street Hostel at 7:30am (just as it was starting to get light....the sun rises at 8am and sets at 4pm now that it's winter here in Great Britain.). Every city in Great Britain has a High Street, it is just like our Main Street in the US, usually the middle of the town with the most shops and restaurants. I had to be there at 7:45am for the MacBackpackers trip that I was going on. It was a wonderful trip! If you ever go to Scotland, I suggest you take one of their trips! They are cheap and wonderful! Here is the website!
We drive around on a small coach (bus) that can carry 26 passengers. There were 21 of us plus our tour guide, Neil. There were five girls from Hong Kong and Thailand who were just taking a holiday trip, five students from Illinois who are studying in London, one girl from Alaska, one guy who is originally from Illinois but is now traveling around, three Australians, a couple who were from the US but are now living in Edinburgh, three people from India on the trip and me. I became friends with the girl from Alaska, Angelina, the American who is traveling around now, Tim, and one of the Australians, Al. It was a lot of fun!
Neill, our guide, would tell us tons of historical stories and myths and faerie tales as he drove us around for the next three days. We would pass a lake, a town, a mountain, a castle, or anything, and he would start off on a story about it. He was a good story teller so it was really entertaining to listen to him. We drove up to Loch Ness (Loch means Lake in Gaelic, I found out) and saw a bunch of places on the way there. Loch Ness was HUGE!! It's really deep and really really long (as in several miles long).
When we got into the Highlands, the number of people and houses that we passed dropped sharply and suddenly there were hills and mountains. They are beautiful and awe-inspiring. I'm sure they are even more beautiful in the summer, but they are beautiful in a different way now. I learned that 'iver' means 'at the mouth of' in Gaelic, so Iverness means 'at the mouth of Ness'.
We stopped at a forest called the Hermitage that had been the basis for Shakespeare's Birnham woods in Hamlet. We also got to see 'Dunsinane'. But the Hermitage was really pretty!
Then we got to see the 'hairy coos' (hairy cows) that they have up in the Highlands. Those cows are very very hairy! The hair is in place of a layer of fat to protect them from the cold. Apparently they are very well adapted to the weather in the Highlands.
We also stopped at a battlefield where the British and Scottish had fought over Scottish independence. The Scottish fought under Bonnie Prince Charlie. It is called the Battle of Culloden. It was very flat there and aside from the constantly blowing wind, it was really really quiet. After the battle, the British had made the defeated Scottish bury their dead in mass graves so they had divided them up by clan and then put a stone over each clan's mass grave. I saw the stone for the Clan Donald. 'Mac' means 'son of' so MacDonald is of course 'son of Donald'.
The whole time we were heading for the Isle of Skye, where we stayed for 2 nights and one day. We spent all of Friday driving to Skye and all of Sunday driving back to Edinburgh. The hostel we stayed it was really nice and really cheap.
Tune in tomorrow for the rest of the story! ;-)
Prayer requests: Please pray that I would be motivated to get out and explore London more in the last 2 weeks and that I would be able to focus and get my work done quickly and well. Also, I've been pretty tired out lately. I don't know if it is just from all my traveling or if my body is trying to fight off a sickness. I am hoping and praying that I won't get sick before I go home. Thank you for all your prayers!
The Royal Mile has the Holyrood House at the bottom, the official residence of the Queen when she comes to Scotland, and at the top is Edinburgh Castle. Edinburgh Castle is at the top of a huge hill and Holyrood House sits at the bottom of that hill, so there is a definite 'top' and 'bottom' of the Royal Mile.
Becky lives right off the Royal Mile about halfway down, so we walked down the rest of the Royal Mile and then we decided to climb Calton Hill. Apparently it is one of the highest points in Edinburgh. We got a very good view of the city as the sun was going down.
Then we headed back and I met her flatmates. They were all really nice and hospitable. Becky and I watched North and South after grabbing some dinner. North and South is a good movie, comparable to the Pride and Prejudice story line. It was a good movie and they have several clips of Edinburgh in it although it is set in a fictional town.
The next morning I headed over to High Street Hostel at 7:30am (just as it was starting to get light....the sun rises at 8am and sets at 4pm now that it's winter here in Great Britain.). Every city in Great Britain has a High Street, it is just like our Main Street in the US, usually the middle of the town with the most shops and restaurants. I had to be there at 7:45am for the MacBackpackers trip that I was going on. It was a wonderful trip! If you ever go to Scotland, I suggest you take one of their trips! They are cheap and wonderful! Here is the website!
We drive around on a small coach (bus) that can carry 26 passengers. There were 21 of us plus our tour guide, Neil. There were five girls from Hong Kong and Thailand who were just taking a holiday trip, five students from Illinois who are studying in London, one girl from Alaska, one guy who is originally from Illinois but is now traveling around, three Australians, a couple who were from the US but are now living in Edinburgh, three people from India on the trip and me. I became friends with the girl from Alaska, Angelina, the American who is traveling around now, Tim, and one of the Australians, Al. It was a lot of fun!
Neill, our guide, would tell us tons of historical stories and myths and faerie tales as he drove us around for the next three days. We would pass a lake, a town, a mountain, a castle, or anything, and he would start off on a story about it. He was a good story teller so it was really entertaining to listen to him. We drove up to Loch Ness (Loch means Lake in Gaelic, I found out) and saw a bunch of places on the way there. Loch Ness was HUGE!! It's really deep and really really long (as in several miles long).
When we got into the Highlands, the number of people and houses that we passed dropped sharply and suddenly there were hills and mountains. They are beautiful and awe-inspiring. I'm sure they are even more beautiful in the summer, but they are beautiful in a different way now. I learned that 'iver' means 'at the mouth of' in Gaelic, so Iverness means 'at the mouth of Ness'.
We stopped at a forest called the Hermitage that had been the basis for Shakespeare's Birnham woods in Hamlet. We also got to see 'Dunsinane'. But the Hermitage was really pretty!
Then we got to see the 'hairy coos' (hairy cows) that they have up in the Highlands. Those cows are very very hairy! The hair is in place of a layer of fat to protect them from the cold. Apparently they are very well adapted to the weather in the Highlands.
We also stopped at a battlefield where the British and Scottish had fought over Scottish independence. The Scottish fought under Bonnie Prince Charlie. It is called the Battle of Culloden. It was very flat there and aside from the constantly blowing wind, it was really really quiet. After the battle, the British had made the defeated Scottish bury their dead in mass graves so they had divided them up by clan and then put a stone over each clan's mass grave. I saw the stone for the Clan Donald. 'Mac' means 'son of' so MacDonald is of course 'son of Donald'.
The whole time we were heading for the Isle of Skye, where we stayed for 2 nights and one day. We spent all of Friday driving to Skye and all of Sunday driving back to Edinburgh. The hostel we stayed it was really nice and really cheap.
Tune in tomorrow for the rest of the story! ;-)
Prayer requests: Please pray that I would be motivated to get out and explore London more in the last 2 weeks and that I would be able to focus and get my work done quickly and well. Also, I've been pretty tired out lately. I don't know if it is just from all my traveling or if my body is trying to fight off a sickness. I am hoping and praying that I won't get sick before I go home. Thank you for all your prayers!
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope it has been a great day, remembering all that we have been blessed with! I have so much to be thankful for! It is late right now and I am exhausted. I had a bad migraine yesterday and when I get a really bad one, it really wears me out. So, I will have to tell y'all all about bonnie Scotland tomorrow. :-) I just wanted to let you know that I am still alive. ;-) Have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving!
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Germany!
On Wednesday I had class and got all packed up and ready to go to Germany the next morning. Then, Thursday morning I woke up at 3am and headed to the airport. It was weird to be traveling around at that time of night. But it was pretty uneventful.
I got to Germany, Dusseldorf at about 9:40am. Jens, my friend from camp, picked me up and we had breakfast at a little town called Kevelaer. After that we went to a bakery to pick up some bread for his mom. Then we went back to their house which is in Duisburg. Then I met his parents and sister. They are all really nice. I've noticed that people in Germany don't speak as much English, in general as people in Holland. After that I took a short nap because I hadn't gotten much sleep the last night...
After that we went for a walk along the Rhine river. That was very pretty...on one side...on the other side it was packed with industrial machines and factories. But the other side, the one we were on had farms and fields and was really pretty. I saw a bunch of different birds!
Then, that night, after dinner, we went to a local school, where Jens's mom works with the kids after school to see the St. Martin celebration. St. Martin was apparently a knight who was riding along one day (I think returning from a battle or something) and found a poor man who was very cold. St. Martin cut his coat in half and shared it with the beggar. But there is a tradition now for the kids to make lanterns and walk through the town singing. After the main celebration, the kids break off into groups and walk from door to door singing for candy. It's kind of like Halloween but with a definitely more Christian slant and nowhere near as sinister sounding. That was fun and I got to see another Fresian horse!! :-D
On Friday, we went to the zoo in the town that Jens will shortly be moving to. It was a lot of fun! It was very very small after going to the Ashboro zoo, but it was really neat. We also fed one of the elephants! And then he stretched out over the moat thing and we got to touch his trunk!!! (we found out later we weren't supposed to feed or touch them...there was a little sign off in one corner.) But it was so much fun!! I took a bunch of pictures! Part of the time it was raining, but I didn't care. :-) Then we went to the place that he has lectures, which is right on the border of a botanical garden. We didn't get to go into the garden, but it was very pretty to look at from the outside! After that we went to see a nearby race track. It was deserted, but it was fun to walk around it in the woods. That night, after dinner, we went to a nearby landscape park with his sister, Lena, and his mom. That was really interesting because it was an old steel (I think) factory which had been made safe for the public and they had put a lot of flourescent lights all over the structures. We went up to the top of one of the huge structures, and we could see several cities....it was crazy! We were so high up.... But it was pretty cool to see! I'll have to put up pictures later.
On Saturday, we went with Mrs. Hilgert to go grocery shopping and after that we went to the Farmer's Market. That was a lot of fun and it took up the whole morning. After lunch, we just hung around the house.
On Sunday, we had planned to go into town and wander around, but it was pouring and the wind was really strong, so they changed plans. We decided to go to the mountains, because it had snowed there the last night!!!! So, we got all ready and then drove up to the mountains and tramped around in half a foot of snow!! I told them that was probably more snow than I would see for a looong time...yay for NC.... :-P But it was a ton of fun!
On Monday, the good weather had returned and so we went into the town and went to an aquarium. That was really fun because they didn't *just* have fish and water animals. They also had some desert animals. It was really interesting to see and they had a lot of funny looking fish there. After that we went back for lunch and then Jens had to go to class so I took a nap. After that I had tea with Mrs. Hilgert and then Mr. Hilgert took me back to the airport and I left for London.
When we were boarding the plane, there was an American guy checking tickets! It was really weird to hear an American accent in Germany and after hearing a lot of German over the past 5 days. But it was also really nice to hear the accent. :-) Then I made my way back to the flat and made guacamole for my dinner. :-D
Yesterday I had class and we went to a concert for a famous string quartet from Budapest. They were really good! Today I am going to Regent's Park to take pictures for my friend! And hopefully, if I have enough time, I might go into the zoo. :-) Tomorrow I leave for Scotland for 5 days! I'm really excited about that! Laura, David, and Mary went this past weekend and they really enjoyed it and said it was beautiful. So, it should be a great time!
Prayer requests: Safe travel to Scotland and around Scotland in the next 5 days. Also, that I'll get enough rest and that I won't get sick. It seems like more and more people are getting sick.
I got to Germany, Dusseldorf at about 9:40am. Jens, my friend from camp, picked me up and we had breakfast at a little town called Kevelaer. After that we went to a bakery to pick up some bread for his mom. Then we went back to their house which is in Duisburg. Then I met his parents and sister. They are all really nice. I've noticed that people in Germany don't speak as much English, in general as people in Holland. After that I took a short nap because I hadn't gotten much sleep the last night...
After that we went for a walk along the Rhine river. That was very pretty...on one side...on the other side it was packed with industrial machines and factories. But the other side, the one we were on had farms and fields and was really pretty. I saw a bunch of different birds!
Then, that night, after dinner, we went to a local school, where Jens's mom works with the kids after school to see the St. Martin celebration. St. Martin was apparently a knight who was riding along one day (I think returning from a battle or something) and found a poor man who was very cold. St. Martin cut his coat in half and shared it with the beggar. But there is a tradition now for the kids to make lanterns and walk through the town singing. After the main celebration, the kids break off into groups and walk from door to door singing for candy. It's kind of like Halloween but with a definitely more Christian slant and nowhere near as sinister sounding. That was fun and I got to see another Fresian horse!! :-D
On Friday, we went to the zoo in the town that Jens will shortly be moving to. It was a lot of fun! It was very very small after going to the Ashboro zoo, but it was really neat. We also fed one of the elephants! And then he stretched out over the moat thing and we got to touch his trunk!!! (we found out later we weren't supposed to feed or touch them...there was a little sign off in one corner.) But it was so much fun!! I took a bunch of pictures! Part of the time it was raining, but I didn't care. :-) Then we went to the place that he has lectures, which is right on the border of a botanical garden. We didn't get to go into the garden, but it was very pretty to look at from the outside! After that we went to see a nearby race track. It was deserted, but it was fun to walk around it in the woods. That night, after dinner, we went to a nearby landscape park with his sister, Lena, and his mom. That was really interesting because it was an old steel (I think) factory which had been made safe for the public and they had put a lot of flourescent lights all over the structures. We went up to the top of one of the huge structures, and we could see several cities....it was crazy! We were so high up.... But it was pretty cool to see! I'll have to put up pictures later.
On Saturday, we went with Mrs. Hilgert to go grocery shopping and after that we went to the Farmer's Market. That was a lot of fun and it took up the whole morning. After lunch, we just hung around the house.
On Sunday, we had planned to go into town and wander around, but it was pouring and the wind was really strong, so they changed plans. We decided to go to the mountains, because it had snowed there the last night!!!! So, we got all ready and then drove up to the mountains and tramped around in half a foot of snow!! I told them that was probably more snow than I would see for a looong time...yay for NC.... :-P But it was a ton of fun!
On Monday, the good weather had returned and so we went into the town and went to an aquarium. That was really fun because they didn't *just* have fish and water animals. They also had some desert animals. It was really interesting to see and they had a lot of funny looking fish there. After that we went back for lunch and then Jens had to go to class so I took a nap. After that I had tea with Mrs. Hilgert and then Mr. Hilgert took me back to the airport and I left for London.
When we were boarding the plane, there was an American guy checking tickets! It was really weird to hear an American accent in Germany and after hearing a lot of German over the past 5 days. But it was also really nice to hear the accent. :-) Then I made my way back to the flat and made guacamole for my dinner. :-D
Yesterday I had class and we went to a concert for a famous string quartet from Budapest. They were really good! Today I am going to Regent's Park to take pictures for my friend! And hopefully, if I have enough time, I might go into the zoo. :-) Tomorrow I leave for Scotland for 5 days! I'm really excited about that! Laura, David, and Mary went this past weekend and they really enjoyed it and said it was beautiful. So, it should be a great time!
Prayer requests: Safe travel to Scotland and around Scotland in the next 5 days. Also, that I'll get enough rest and that I won't get sick. It seems like more and more people are getting sick.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
The rest of Holland!!
On Saturday, we got up early and drove to Amsterdam. We parked outside of the city, since it would be cheaper, and rode the metro into town. The first thing we did was take a boat tour of the city, since it has canals everywhere. That was a lot of fun and we got to see a lot of the city in a very short time. The houses are very interesting because space is such a premium that they make the stairs in the houses narrow and very steep, so it is hard to move things, so each house has a pulley at the top of their house, outside for moving furniture and big heavy things up and down stairs. It was really interesting to see all of the different houses. Also, all of the canals are completely man made.
After that, we went to have lunch with Paulien and Gijs's aunt, uncle, and cousin. That was a lot of fun! On the way there we saw the US Embassy from a distance. It looked like small fortress and Gijs told us that it was very very hard to get in there and that the security was extremely tight; that you could only take in the necessary papers and you could not take in even your cell phone or anything like that. But then we got to their aunt and uncle's house. Their son, Sam, is 8 years old and is learning English in school. His dad tried to get him to ask for our help with his English homework, but he didn't want to. But by the end of our visit, he was asking Jemima (my friend from Australia) if she was a kangaroo and if she had a pouch and he was asking me what kind of food we eat in America. It was a lot of fun to see another typical Dutch household and they were very nice and welcoming.
After that we wandered around Amsterdam some more and Jemima and I went looking for birthday presents for Gijs since it was his birthday the next day. We got stuck behind some police on horses (I didn't mind that!!) who were flanking an animal rights demonstration. But finally they moved out of the way (herded by the mounted policemen) and we could continue with our shopping.
After that we went and looked at the flower market. That was a lot of fun! They had a lot of tulips, but they also had other flowers and plants including bonsai!!! I looked for a long time at the bonsai but finally decided not to get one for myself.
When we were done with that we went looking for an Indonesian restaurant, but couldn't find one that was any cheaper than 15 or 20 Euros per entree. So we finally ended up going to a Mexican restaurant where we ran into their uncle and cousin! They ate with us but finished before us and headed out. After dinner, we headed back home.
I have noticed that traveling around Europe, whether on the train, plane or by car, I always watch the countryside. Sometimes I try to sleep a little or something, but usually I watch the countryside go by. I think I am trying to absorb as much of it as I can in the short while that I am here. It's also very interesting to look as because it is so different from what I am used to seeing. And, because Holland is so flat, you can see a lot of stuff as you drive around.
On Sunday, it was Gijs's birthday so Paulien and her mom spent the morning making good snacks for all the relatives who were going to arrive in the afternoon. When they were done with that, Paulien took Jemima and me to see one of the windmills that was close by. It wasn't running that morning (everything shuts down on Sunday in the whole of Europe, it seems) but thankfully it was open so we climbed up and saw how it worked and got a picture of us there and all that. It was really neat to see how they grind up the grain using wind power. We also got to see the kitchens where they make different breads and pasteries every day.
After that we headed back and got ready for the relatives to arrive. While we were waiting, Gijs, Paulien, Jemima, and I started a game of Monopoly. Soon the relatives started arriving so we put it away for later. For a while Jemima sat around and greeted the guests, but Paulien said we didn't have to stay and could use the bikes (everyone in Holland has bikes, we've found) to ride around. Jemima was getting restless so we headed out for a while. We tried to go to another mill, but it was closed so we rode to another close by town to look for a present for me to Gijs, but all the stores were closed. So we just rode around for a while. It was a lot of fun despite being pretty chilly.
Once everyone left, we had some good tomato soup with some good fresh bread. Taoh, their dad made the soup and it was very good, if a little bit spicy. But I found out why it was spicy...he had put sambal in it! Sambal is ground up red peppers (the really really hot kind) with oil that you can get in Indonesia. After dinner, the whole family went to watch a show they watch every week about an emergency room. It was really interesting. It was a Flemish show with Dutch subtitles...and I could still understand what was going on and what they were usually talking about!! It was fun to watch it. :-)
After that we continued our Monopoly game, until only Paulien and I were left. :-D Then we headed to bed.... I went very reluctantly, knowing that I was leaving the next day. I definitely did not want to leave... I had a fantastic time there and it was so much fun being with my friends and seeing their way of life and getting to meet their family.
The next day, everyone but Jemima and me had work so we headed to Eindhoven, where I was flying out from for the day. I finally was able to find a present for Gijs and gave it to Jemima to pass on. We wandered around town, having lunch in a nice little park. At 4:15 we went back to the train station and I got on the bus to the airport and she got on the train to go back home.
I was very sad to be leaving them all. I had such a good time there and it had really begun to feel like another home to me. They were all so very kind and seemed to really enjoy talking to me. Coming back here was hard because I don't have anyone as close to me here as Jemima, Gijs, and Paulien are. But I am so glad that I did get to see them! And hopefully I will be able to visit again soon.
Well, today I had music class and science class. They were both good. Afterwards, I met up with David, Laura, and Shannon and we went to Nando's which is a sort of typical American restaurant and got food and FREE REFILLS!!!! (which are almost unheard of here....) and after that we went to our connect group for church. I don't know if I have told you, but we are going through the Purpose Driven Life book as a church and we have connect groups which meet during the week and we watch a DVD by Rick Warren, the author and discuss what we've learned. Laura, David, and I have been meeting each morning to read each days reading together and talk and pray about it. That has been really good and I've enjoyed it a lot. I believe we're all going to learn a lot from this.
Tomorrow I have Shakespeare class and WWII class and then some of us are going out to eat or get coffee with Heather's parents who are here visiting. They want to meet us all. That should be fun! And then after that I will finish packing for Germany since I am leaving at about 3 in the morning to get to Stanstead Airport at 5 for my flight at 7:05am. Apparently, my friend, Jens, has my visit all planned out. It should be fun!! :-)
Prayer requests: More sleep since traveling is pretty tiring and safe travel to and from Germany. Thank you so much!!
After that, we went to have lunch with Paulien and Gijs's aunt, uncle, and cousin. That was a lot of fun! On the way there we saw the US Embassy from a distance. It looked like small fortress and Gijs told us that it was very very hard to get in there and that the security was extremely tight; that you could only take in the necessary papers and you could not take in even your cell phone or anything like that. But then we got to their aunt and uncle's house. Their son, Sam, is 8 years old and is learning English in school. His dad tried to get him to ask for our help with his English homework, but he didn't want to. But by the end of our visit, he was asking Jemima (my friend from Australia) if she was a kangaroo and if she had a pouch and he was asking me what kind of food we eat in America. It was a lot of fun to see another typical Dutch household and they were very nice and welcoming.
After that we wandered around Amsterdam some more and Jemima and I went looking for birthday presents for Gijs since it was his birthday the next day. We got stuck behind some police on horses (I didn't mind that!!) who were flanking an animal rights demonstration. But finally they moved out of the way (herded by the mounted policemen) and we could continue with our shopping.
After that we went and looked at the flower market. That was a lot of fun! They had a lot of tulips, but they also had other flowers and plants including bonsai!!! I looked for a long time at the bonsai but finally decided not to get one for myself.
When we were done with that we went looking for an Indonesian restaurant, but couldn't find one that was any cheaper than 15 or 20 Euros per entree. So we finally ended up going to a Mexican restaurant where we ran into their uncle and cousin! They ate with us but finished before us and headed out. After dinner, we headed back home.
I have noticed that traveling around Europe, whether on the train, plane or by car, I always watch the countryside. Sometimes I try to sleep a little or something, but usually I watch the countryside go by. I think I am trying to absorb as much of it as I can in the short while that I am here. It's also very interesting to look as because it is so different from what I am used to seeing. And, because Holland is so flat, you can see a lot of stuff as you drive around.
On Sunday, it was Gijs's birthday so Paulien and her mom spent the morning making good snacks for all the relatives who were going to arrive in the afternoon. When they were done with that, Paulien took Jemima and me to see one of the windmills that was close by. It wasn't running that morning (everything shuts down on Sunday in the whole of Europe, it seems) but thankfully it was open so we climbed up and saw how it worked and got a picture of us there and all that. It was really neat to see how they grind up the grain using wind power. We also got to see the kitchens where they make different breads and pasteries every day.
After that we headed back and got ready for the relatives to arrive. While we were waiting, Gijs, Paulien, Jemima, and I started a game of Monopoly. Soon the relatives started arriving so we put it away for later. For a while Jemima sat around and greeted the guests, but Paulien said we didn't have to stay and could use the bikes (everyone in Holland has bikes, we've found) to ride around. Jemima was getting restless so we headed out for a while. We tried to go to another mill, but it was closed so we rode to another close by town to look for a present for me to Gijs, but all the stores were closed. So we just rode around for a while. It was a lot of fun despite being pretty chilly.
Once everyone left, we had some good tomato soup with some good fresh bread. Taoh, their dad made the soup and it was very good, if a little bit spicy. But I found out why it was spicy...he had put sambal in it! Sambal is ground up red peppers (the really really hot kind) with oil that you can get in Indonesia. After dinner, the whole family went to watch a show they watch every week about an emergency room. It was really interesting. It was a Flemish show with Dutch subtitles...and I could still understand what was going on and what they were usually talking about!! It was fun to watch it. :-)
After that we continued our Monopoly game, until only Paulien and I were left. :-D Then we headed to bed.... I went very reluctantly, knowing that I was leaving the next day. I definitely did not want to leave... I had a fantastic time there and it was so much fun being with my friends and seeing their way of life and getting to meet their family.
The next day, everyone but Jemima and me had work so we headed to Eindhoven, where I was flying out from for the day. I finally was able to find a present for Gijs and gave it to Jemima to pass on. We wandered around town, having lunch in a nice little park. At 4:15 we went back to the train station and I got on the bus to the airport and she got on the train to go back home.
I was very sad to be leaving them all. I had such a good time there and it had really begun to feel like another home to me. They were all so very kind and seemed to really enjoy talking to me. Coming back here was hard because I don't have anyone as close to me here as Jemima, Gijs, and Paulien are. But I am so glad that I did get to see them! And hopefully I will be able to visit again soon.
Well, today I had music class and science class. They were both good. Afterwards, I met up with David, Laura, and Shannon and we went to Nando's which is a sort of typical American restaurant and got food and FREE REFILLS!!!! (which are almost unheard of here....) and after that we went to our connect group for church. I don't know if I have told you, but we are going through the Purpose Driven Life book as a church and we have connect groups which meet during the week and we watch a DVD by Rick Warren, the author and discuss what we've learned. Laura, David, and I have been meeting each morning to read each days reading together and talk and pray about it. That has been really good and I've enjoyed it a lot. I believe we're all going to learn a lot from this.
Tomorrow I have Shakespeare class and WWII class and then some of us are going out to eat or get coffee with Heather's parents who are here visiting. They want to meet us all. That should be fun! And then after that I will finish packing for Germany since I am leaving at about 3 in the morning to get to Stanstead Airport at 5 for my flight at 7:05am. Apparently, my friend, Jens, has my visit all planned out. It should be fun!! :-)
Prayer requests: More sleep since traveling is pretty tiring and safe travel to and from Germany. Thank you so much!!
Monday, November 5, 2007
Holland!
Sorry I haven't been updating recently. Until November 1, I was working on a paper and not doing much else. But on Thursday, I left for Holland to visit 3 friends from camp! I was really excited!
I left at about 1:45 to get to the Liverpool Station to take the Stanstead Express (a train that goes straight to Stanstead Airport and back) to the airport. I sat around waiting for the plane for a while, having to get there 2 hours early... I thought about changing my money (from pounds to euros) but decided that I'd do it when I got there because I thought I'd have more time. Anyway, the flight was very very short. We had been at cruising height for about 20 minutes when we started descending.
When I got out of the plane and into the tiny, tiny airport at Eindhoven, I was kind of overwhelmed by the language change.. I knew it would be weird, but I was tired and so I was kind of overwhelmed by it.
My friends were not able to pick me up at the airport so I had to get a bus to the train station and then catch a train to a town closer to them. But, there was no place to change my money there since it was such a small airport!! Thankfully they had an ATM and I had my credit card... To make a long story short, I had a lot of trouble getting a bus ticket, getting in contact with them, and getting on the right trains...but I finally made it! And I was sooooo happy to see them!!!
We went back to Gijs (the closest American's can get to saying his name is 'Hi-sh') and Paulien's house, going through Belgium--I was in 3 different countries in 1 day!!! I met their parents and they heated up some food for me since I hadn't eaten since lunchtime. And then we headed to bed.
On Friday, Paulien had to work so Jemima and I went to a town in Belgium called Brugge. We took a boat tour of some of the city since it was interlaced with canals. Then we wandered to the city centered and looked around. As we were heading back to the train station, we had some Belgian waffles and Belgian chocolate! They were both really good! It rained about half of the time we were there, but it was a London sort of rain, really really light with tiny raindrops. We found a shop devoted entirely to TinTin, the cartoon character who originated in Belgium. We had a lot of fun just wandering around aimlessly.
When we got back home, Paulien's mom fed us a late dinner. She gave us mushroom soup, which I was rather wary of at first, but it was wonderful!! It was very creamy and had chives, bits of ham, and slices of mushroom in it. It tasted great after wandering around in the cold, wet all day. Then we had some more typical Dutch food, mashed up carrots and potatoes with sausages. It was really good too! Then we headed to bed for an early night so that we would be well rested to go to Amsterdam the next day with Paulien and Gijs!
I'm going to finish my Holland update tomorrow...I'm tired from traveling and need to get my clothes washed in time to be ready for Germany in 2 days!!
Prayer requests: that I would get enough sleep and that my trip to and from Germany would be safe and go well. Thank you!!!
I left at about 1:45 to get to the Liverpool Station to take the Stanstead Express (a train that goes straight to Stanstead Airport and back) to the airport. I sat around waiting for the plane for a while, having to get there 2 hours early... I thought about changing my money (from pounds to euros) but decided that I'd do it when I got there because I thought I'd have more time. Anyway, the flight was very very short. We had been at cruising height for about 20 minutes when we started descending.
When I got out of the plane and into the tiny, tiny airport at Eindhoven, I was kind of overwhelmed by the language change.. I knew it would be weird, but I was tired and so I was kind of overwhelmed by it.
My friends were not able to pick me up at the airport so I had to get a bus to the train station and then catch a train to a town closer to them. But, there was no place to change my money there since it was such a small airport!! Thankfully they had an ATM and I had my credit card... To make a long story short, I had a lot of trouble getting a bus ticket, getting in contact with them, and getting on the right trains...but I finally made it! And I was sooooo happy to see them!!!
We went back to Gijs (the closest American's can get to saying his name is 'Hi-sh') and Paulien's house, going through Belgium--I was in 3 different countries in 1 day!!! I met their parents and they heated up some food for me since I hadn't eaten since lunchtime. And then we headed to bed.
On Friday, Paulien had to work so Jemima and I went to a town in Belgium called Brugge. We took a boat tour of some of the city since it was interlaced with canals. Then we wandered to the city centered and looked around. As we were heading back to the train station, we had some Belgian waffles and Belgian chocolate! They were both really good! It rained about half of the time we were there, but it was a London sort of rain, really really light with tiny raindrops. We found a shop devoted entirely to TinTin, the cartoon character who originated in Belgium. We had a lot of fun just wandering around aimlessly.
When we got back home, Paulien's mom fed us a late dinner. She gave us mushroom soup, which I was rather wary of at first, but it was wonderful!! It was very creamy and had chives, bits of ham, and slices of mushroom in it. It tasted great after wandering around in the cold, wet all day. Then we had some more typical Dutch food, mashed up carrots and potatoes with sausages. It was really good too! Then we headed to bed for an early night so that we would be well rested to go to Amsterdam the next day with Paulien and Gijs!
I'm going to finish my Holland update tomorrow...I'm tired from traveling and need to get my clothes washed in time to be ready for Germany in 2 days!!
Prayer requests: that I would get enough sleep and that my trip to and from Germany would be safe and go well. Thank you!!!
Friday, October 26, 2007
Senate House Library
I have finally convinced myself to go to the library...don't ask me why it was that hard, but for some reason I always have a hard time convincing myself to come to libraries... I get more work done in here, but I can't be persuaded to leave the comfort and distractions of my own room... :-)
Anyway, on Monday and Tuesday we had classes (Music, Science, and Shakespeare) like usual with one exception. Our WWII teacher is out of town (in Florence) and so we didn't have that class, sadly. He is very entertaining and of course the subject is very interesting.
Recently I have been reading the Harry Potter books...and they have devoured my life! Once you start one it is very difficult to put it down before you have finished it entirely... But I am between books right now. :-)
Yesterday I came into the library to work on my science paper. When we got a tour of the library, it seemed so complicated and confusing, but I have begun to learn my way around and it was not difficult to find books. Just took a little searching. But it's a great place...especially if your computer does not work... :-P But hopefully I'll be able to get it fixed soon.
So, not too much going on here right now. Just working on a paper and on Sunday afternoon I may go to either Regent's Park or Kew Gardens. Haven't decided which. That's about all for now! Sorry there haven't been any pictures in a while... Since my computer is shot, I can't upload any yet.
Prayer requests: Focus (working on my paper) and sleep. That's about it! Thanks so much for your prayers!
Anyway, on Monday and Tuesday we had classes (Music, Science, and Shakespeare) like usual with one exception. Our WWII teacher is out of town (in Florence) and so we didn't have that class, sadly. He is very entertaining and of course the subject is very interesting.
Recently I have been reading the Harry Potter books...and they have devoured my life! Once you start one it is very difficult to put it down before you have finished it entirely... But I am between books right now. :-)
Yesterday I came into the library to work on my science paper. When we got a tour of the library, it seemed so complicated and confusing, but I have begun to learn my way around and it was not difficult to find books. Just took a little searching. But it's a great place...especially if your computer does not work... :-P But hopefully I'll be able to get it fixed soon.
So, not too much going on here right now. Just working on a paper and on Sunday afternoon I may go to either Regent's Park or Kew Gardens. Haven't decided which. That's about all for now! Sorry there haven't been any pictures in a while... Since my computer is shot, I can't upload any yet.
Prayer requests: Focus (working on my paper) and sleep. That's about it! Thanks so much for your prayers!
Monday, October 22, 2007
Yay! An update!
Hey, I'm updating on Laura's computer while she's gone. (Don't worry, I asked ;-) ) Just wanted to let y'all know that I am alive and what I've been doing the past four days...
Friday, I went to the Greenwich Observatory with my 'History of Science in London' class as well as Jemima. It was a lot of fun and really interesting. We got to see all the original models of the first clocks (and most of them were still working!!). We also got to see (and stand on!) the Greenwich meridian!! It was a lot of fun and Jemima and I got to hang out more and talk. It was so good to see her again!
Then, I went to see the opera, Carmen, with the rest of my program. It was good and bad... The music was good, of course. But, it had been translated (badly) into English and in addition to that, they had a little screen at the top of the stage that projected the lyrics...just in case we couldn't understand the ENGLISH.... It was very very distracting... Also, they used cinematography that was odd and just suceeded in confusing us rather than adding to the opera. The director (who is actually a film director who was chosen to put on this opera) had cut out a lot of the dialogue (read: ALL of the dialogue) and that made it very confusing a lot of the time. So, while the music was good, that was about all that was good... :-/ But I'm still really glad that I got to see it and hear it. I recognized several of the songs...I'm guessing I've heard them at home. :-)
Saturday, Jemima and I got together at 10:15 to watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. It was a very elaborate and long performance to change TWO guards who stand in front of the palace... But it was really fun to see all of the people dressed up and to see all the horses. :-D After that we went to the Royal Mews which is where the horses for the royal family are kept as well as the carriages. We found out that mews comes from mutare which is Latin for 'to change' and a mews was where the falcons were kept when they were molting. Once, the Royal Stables, which were at Charing Cross, burned down and King George III moved the horses and carriages to the Mews which was closer (right behind Buckingham Palace). Over time, the mews became associated with horses rather than falcons. But, we got to see some of the horses (!!!!) that served the queen by pulling carriages and things like that. It was really neat! We got to see a bunch of the carriages, too.
That night, I went out with a friend to watch the Rugby World Cup Final between England and South Africa. My friend is from South Africa and they won, so he was really happy. :-) It was a lot of fun to watch a rugby game! I'd never seen a whole game before and it was really interesting and fun to watch. I'll probably try to see UNC's rugby team play when I go back.
On Sunday, I went to church. We had a Filipino guy, Rico, speak and he was really good! We also met some people who were from North Carolina! We found that we had several mutual friends and they invited us to have Thanksgiving dinner with them! Carol, the lady, had gotten pumpkin pie filling, which is unheard of here, sent to her from America. So I'll get to have pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving!! Then we headed back here and I made some more Apple Beth. :-D
Today I haven't done too much. Jemima and I had planned to meet up, but sadly, it didn't work out. But I'm not too worried, because she is going to be visiting Paulien and Gijs at the same time that I do. So, I'll get to see her again! :-D I'm really excited about gettting to see them!
Prayer requests: That I'll be able to get my computer fixed soon. It looks like I'm going to have to find a IBM repair center around here. Hopefully I'll be able to find one and hopefully it won't be too expensive. So, you can pray for that. Also, it wasn't the best time for my computer to die, because I have a bunch of papers coming up in the next couple of weeks. Other than that, stuff is going pretty well. Thanks so much for your prayers!
Friday, I went to the Greenwich Observatory with my 'History of Science in London' class as well as Jemima. It was a lot of fun and really interesting. We got to see all the original models of the first clocks (and most of them were still working!!). We also got to see (and stand on!) the Greenwich meridian!! It was a lot of fun and Jemima and I got to hang out more and talk. It was so good to see her again!
Then, I went to see the opera, Carmen, with the rest of my program. It was good and bad... The music was good, of course. But, it had been translated (badly) into English and in addition to that, they had a little screen at the top of the stage that projected the lyrics...just in case we couldn't understand the ENGLISH.... It was very very distracting... Also, they used cinematography that was odd and just suceeded in confusing us rather than adding to the opera. The director (who is actually a film director who was chosen to put on this opera) had cut out a lot of the dialogue (read: ALL of the dialogue) and that made it very confusing a lot of the time. So, while the music was good, that was about all that was good... :-/ But I'm still really glad that I got to see it and hear it. I recognized several of the songs...I'm guessing I've heard them at home. :-)
Saturday, Jemima and I got together at 10:15 to watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. It was a very elaborate and long performance to change TWO guards who stand in front of the palace... But it was really fun to see all of the people dressed up and to see all the horses. :-D After that we went to the Royal Mews which is where the horses for the royal family are kept as well as the carriages. We found out that mews comes from mutare which is Latin for 'to change' and a mews was where the falcons were kept when they were molting. Once, the Royal Stables, which were at Charing Cross, burned down and King George III moved the horses and carriages to the Mews which was closer (right behind Buckingham Palace). Over time, the mews became associated with horses rather than falcons. But, we got to see some of the horses (!!!!) that served the queen by pulling carriages and things like that. It was really neat! We got to see a bunch of the carriages, too.
That night, I went out with a friend to watch the Rugby World Cup Final between England and South Africa. My friend is from South Africa and they won, so he was really happy. :-) It was a lot of fun to watch a rugby game! I'd never seen a whole game before and it was really interesting and fun to watch. I'll probably try to see UNC's rugby team play when I go back.
On Sunday, I went to church. We had a Filipino guy, Rico, speak and he was really good! We also met some people who were from North Carolina! We found that we had several mutual friends and they invited us to have Thanksgiving dinner with them! Carol, the lady, had gotten pumpkin pie filling, which is unheard of here, sent to her from America. So I'll get to have pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving!! Then we headed back here and I made some more Apple Beth. :-D
Today I haven't done too much. Jemima and I had planned to meet up, but sadly, it didn't work out. But I'm not too worried, because she is going to be visiting Paulien and Gijs at the same time that I do. So, I'll get to see her again! :-D I'm really excited about gettting to see them!
Prayer requests: That I'll be able to get my computer fixed soon. It looks like I'm going to have to find a IBM repair center around here. Hopefully I'll be able to find one and hopefully it won't be too expensive. So, you can pray for that. Also, it wasn't the best time for my computer to die, because I have a bunch of papers coming up in the next couple of weeks. Other than that, stuff is going pretty well. Thanks so much for your prayers!
Friday, October 19, 2007
Computer
Well, my computer died.. Something about a User Interface DLL failure... I'm not sure what it is, but I am trying to figure it out. But just to let you guys know, my updates will be sporadic until I can fix it or get it fixed... Just wanted to let you guys know!
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Jemima!
Today I didn't have any classes and Jemima called me up to tell me she was in London. I met up with her at Big Ben and then we wandered around Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park for several hours, finding several different places that I could see horses, including the Royal Stables!!!! I am so excited about that!! We were going to go immediately to see it, but it had just closed a couple of minutes before we got there, so we are going to go again later. It was sooo fun to talk to Jemima again! It was good to see a familiar face and to talk to her about stuff and not have to explain who each person was every minute.
We talked about camp and about London and all sorts of stuff! We ended up having a couple of slices of cake on the edge of the Hyde Park pond and then I took her back to Victoria station with plans to meet up both tomorrow (she's going to Greenwich with us!!!!) and on Saturday to see the changing of the guard and the Royal Stables!!! It was so nice to see her and get to talk about camp and all our friends there. It was good to hear about her travels and all that.
Tomorrow our History of Science in London class is going to see the Greenwich Maritime Museum and Observatory. That should be so fun! And it will be awesome to have Jemima along with us!! I'm really interested in seeing all the stuff they have, especially the chronometers. I think it'll be a fun field trip!
Prayer requests: I got a good night's sleep last night!! It felt really good and my tendonitis hasn't been hurting today! It was so good to see Jemima! And I'm really excited that I'll get to see her again tomorrow and on Saturday! Thanks so much for your prayers!
We talked about camp and about London and all sorts of stuff! We ended up having a couple of slices of cake on the edge of the Hyde Park pond and then I took her back to Victoria station with plans to meet up both tomorrow (she's going to Greenwich with us!!!!) and on Saturday to see the changing of the guard and the Royal Stables!!! It was so nice to see her and get to talk about camp and all our friends there. It was good to hear about her travels and all that.
Tomorrow our History of Science in London class is going to see the Greenwich Maritime Museum and Observatory. That should be so fun! And it will be awesome to have Jemima along with us!! I'm really interested in seeing all the stuff they have, especially the chronometers. I think it'll be a fun field trip!
Prayer requests: I got a good night's sleep last night!! It felt really good and my tendonitis hasn't been hurting today! It was so good to see Jemima! And I'm really excited that I'll get to see her again tomorrow and on Saturday! Thanks so much for your prayers!
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Exploring London
On Saturday I had to register for classes so I decided to stay close to home. I went to Pollock's Toy Museum which is just a couple blocks away from me, I found. It was rather disappointing after all the other museums that I've been to. It was a bunch of toys crammed in a small house, normal size relative to houses here. The toys were all crammed in small cases and covered with dust. But it was still a lot of fun to see all the old toys and all the different countries that they were from. Then I headed back to the flat and registered for classes at 1:30.
Sunday I went to church and then headed back to the flat. That afternoon I made some Camper Stew (which is not made of campers, contrary to the apparently popular belief) and some Apple Beth. It actually turned out much better than I had hoped! I didn't have the right sugar for the 'Yucky Dough' that goes on the Apple Beth, because apparently our 'powdered sugar' they call 'icing sugar' which I found out after the fact... But it ended up very good anyway. I just have 4 different types of sugar on my shelf now...
On Monday I went to the London Aquarium. That was a ton of fun! They had a huge tank in the middle of the whole building that you could see on both floors. There were several places on both floors where you could see the tank. In this tank were maybe half a dozen sharks as well as lots of sting rays and other larger fish. I believe that there were several different types of sharks. Some looked more different than others. They also had freshwater fish, rainforest fish, and tropical fish and there were also small jellyfish and seahorses! There was also a 'petting pool' where we could pet sting rays. I got to pet one, on the top it was rough and felt a bit like sand paper and on the bottom it felt like jello. It was really neat! I had a lot of fun wandering around and looking at all the different animals.
That night, everyone came back from Ireland and France. It was interesting because I had gotten used to having the room to myself and not really ever talking to anyone so it was a shock when I suddenly had 2 roommates again. It took me a bit to readjust and get used to having to talk and having to share 'my' space with 2 other people and having to relinquish the idea that it was 'my' space. It was an interesting adjustment.
On Tuesday I had music class and then we went to a vocal performance at the Royal College of Music by Jennifer Smith and some of her students. It was a very good performance of a bunch of French poems. After that I had science class. We talked about our field trip for Friday. We are going to the Greenwich Maritime Museum. I am excited about that! It'll be interesting to see all of the old chronometers and other developments as well as the Greenwich meridian.
This morning we went to the Cabinet War Rooms which is basically a bunker that Churchill and his close cabinet worked in during the entirety of World War II. That was amazing!!! After the war was over, they had taken only what they needed from the bunker and then sealed it off. Then a while ago it was opened back up and people set it up the way it would have looked with some of the original furniture and wax figures and opened it up as a museum. It was amazing to walk around in there and imagine what it had been like. They even had most of the original maps still on the walls from 1945. Someone had drawn a Hitler on one of the maps in one meeting room and in another room you could see pin marks in the maps marking the progress of sea and air craft. It was awe inspiring to see all of that and imagine Churchill walking around in the halls and talking to FDR on the secret secure telephone that Bell Telephone had installed in a room that had been a broom closet. I spent about 2 hours wandering around and looking at stuff... I was so absorbed by it all that I forgot to take pictures until the very end and then went *back* through and took a couple pictures. It was really amazing.
After that I had Shakespeare class and we talked about King Lear and then we had WWII class and talked a bit about the Cabinet War Rooms since that had been a class field trip. Then we talked about the Italy front during WWII.
And I just finished talking to my sister on Skype. It was fun to talk to her again and catch up. :-)
Prayer Requests: Patience and more sleep. I think that's about it. Thanks so much!!
Sunday I went to church and then headed back to the flat. That afternoon I made some Camper Stew (which is not made of campers, contrary to the apparently popular belief) and some Apple Beth. It actually turned out much better than I had hoped! I didn't have the right sugar for the 'Yucky Dough' that goes on the Apple Beth, because apparently our 'powdered sugar' they call 'icing sugar' which I found out after the fact... But it ended up very good anyway. I just have 4 different types of sugar on my shelf now...
On Monday I went to the London Aquarium. That was a ton of fun! They had a huge tank in the middle of the whole building that you could see on both floors. There were several places on both floors where you could see the tank. In this tank were maybe half a dozen sharks as well as lots of sting rays and other larger fish. I believe that there were several different types of sharks. Some looked more different than others. They also had freshwater fish, rainforest fish, and tropical fish and there were also small jellyfish and seahorses! There was also a 'petting pool' where we could pet sting rays. I got to pet one, on the top it was rough and felt a bit like sand paper and on the bottom it felt like jello. It was really neat! I had a lot of fun wandering around and looking at all the different animals.
That night, everyone came back from Ireland and France. It was interesting because I had gotten used to having the room to myself and not really ever talking to anyone so it was a shock when I suddenly had 2 roommates again. It took me a bit to readjust and get used to having to talk and having to share 'my' space with 2 other people and having to relinquish the idea that it was 'my' space. It was an interesting adjustment.
On Tuesday I had music class and then we went to a vocal performance at the Royal College of Music by Jennifer Smith and some of her students. It was a very good performance of a bunch of French poems. After that I had science class. We talked about our field trip for Friday. We are going to the Greenwich Maritime Museum. I am excited about that! It'll be interesting to see all of the old chronometers and other developments as well as the Greenwich meridian.
This morning we went to the Cabinet War Rooms which is basically a bunker that Churchill and his close cabinet worked in during the entirety of World War II. That was amazing!!! After the war was over, they had taken only what they needed from the bunker and then sealed it off. Then a while ago it was opened back up and people set it up the way it would have looked with some of the original furniture and wax figures and opened it up as a museum. It was amazing to walk around in there and imagine what it had been like. They even had most of the original maps still on the walls from 1945. Someone had drawn a Hitler on one of the maps in one meeting room and in another room you could see pin marks in the maps marking the progress of sea and air craft. It was awe inspiring to see all of that and imagine Churchill walking around in the halls and talking to FDR on the secret secure telephone that Bell Telephone had installed in a room that had been a broom closet. I spent about 2 hours wandering around and looking at stuff... I was so absorbed by it all that I forgot to take pictures until the very end and then went *back* through and took a couple pictures. It was really amazing.
After that I had Shakespeare class and we talked about King Lear and then we had WWII class and talked a bit about the Cabinet War Rooms since that had been a class field trip. Then we talked about the Italy front during WWII.
And I just finished talking to my sister on Skype. It was fun to talk to her again and catch up. :-)
Prayer Requests: Patience and more sleep. I think that's about it. Thanks so much!!
Friday, October 12, 2007
Craziness!
Tuesday we had music class and after music class, Laura's parents took us (Laura, Heather, David, and I) out to eat! They were really sweet! After that, I had science class and our teacher postponed the field trip. Which was a bit disappointing because that was the reason I was not going to Dublin with everyone else, because I want to go to Greenwich. Everyone had already made their plans for the weekend. So, all of my friends are gone this weekend.
That night we (the whole program) went to see MacBeth at a nearby theatre. I was interested in seeing it because Patrick Stewart was playing MacBeth. It was a very good interpretation of MacBeth. It was set in communist Russia. They had a very stark looking set: a very bare room with white tile walls, a sink, a counter, and a refrigerator with a television on top. It was a very scary play with a lot of blood and a lot of loud sudden noises. I enjoyed it as a play, but it is definitely not something I would have chosen to go to on my own.
On Wednesday I had Shakespeare class and we talked about MacBeth and Love's Labours Lost. I ended up telling our teacher that I went twice and she was very happy that I liked it so much! Then we had a short break so I came back and made guacamole for dinner. :-) Then we had WWII class.
Thursday we (Heather, Chris, little Katherine, and I) had been invited to have dinner with Dr. Oehler and his wife. He gave us some things to get for him. He wants us to get to know our neighborhood better so he sent us to get cheeses and dessert. He sent us to two different places to get each thing. We got to taste cheeses at the cheese monger. It was fun.
Dinner at Dr. Oehler's flat was a lot of fun. At first we were pretty stiff and uncomfortable but after a while we relaxed and had fun talking to Dr. Oehler and Alice, his wife.
Yesterday pretty much everybody left for Dublin (and Tracy left for Paris). I decided that I wasn't going to sit around here the whole weekend and miss them. So I made a plan for myself to see different places that I probably wouldn't go with my friends here. Yesterday I went to the Museum of Natural History. It was a lot of fun! I probably only saw about a fourth of the museum, but it was the fourth that I really wanted to see. Perhaps I'll go back with Jemima when she gets here.
I really loved seeing all the mammals and the birds (surprise, surprise). I also listened to a little recording about the sounds and songs that marine mammals make. It was really interesting to hear all the different sounds. Did you know that whales sing songs that have themes and different phrases within the themes? It was really neat to listen to a whale and hear the theme and the different phrases!
I also spent a lot of time in the bird room. It was a lot of fun to see all the different birds there. I also got to see a bunch of hummingbird nests, which were amazing! But it made me sad when I saw a huge display of hundreds of hummingbirds that had been someone's personal collection. They had tons of the same kind of hummingbirds. It made me sad that so many little birds had to die for someone's whim.
Today I am going to go to Pollock's Toy Museum. I found out that it is really close to me! After that I have to register for classes for next semester. I also might call up on of my friends who is here in London now and get together with him. I haven't seen him since summer 2006, so it'll be neat to see him again.
Tomorrow, after church and lunch, if there is time, I want to go to the London Aquarium. On Monday I am planning to go to see the London Zoo! I wanted to go horseback riding in Hyde Park, or in any park that I can in London, but I am finding that it is extremely expensive. I guess I'll just wait until the end of the semester to see if I have enough money left (which is looking very very unlikely) and then I might be able to go... We'll see.
Prayer requests: That everyone would have safe travels this weekend. That registering for classes would go well this afternoon (morning, EST). Thanks so much!!!
That night we (the whole program) went to see MacBeth at a nearby theatre. I was interested in seeing it because Patrick Stewart was playing MacBeth. It was a very good interpretation of MacBeth. It was set in communist Russia. They had a very stark looking set: a very bare room with white tile walls, a sink, a counter, and a refrigerator with a television on top. It was a very scary play with a lot of blood and a lot of loud sudden noises. I enjoyed it as a play, but it is definitely not something I would have chosen to go to on my own.
On Wednesday I had Shakespeare class and we talked about MacBeth and Love's Labours Lost. I ended up telling our teacher that I went twice and she was very happy that I liked it so much! Then we had a short break so I came back and made guacamole for dinner. :-) Then we had WWII class.
Thursday we (Heather, Chris, little Katherine, and I) had been invited to have dinner with Dr. Oehler and his wife. He gave us some things to get for him. He wants us to get to know our neighborhood better so he sent us to get cheeses and dessert. He sent us to two different places to get each thing. We got to taste cheeses at the cheese monger. It was fun.
Dinner at Dr. Oehler's flat was a lot of fun. At first we were pretty stiff and uncomfortable but after a while we relaxed and had fun talking to Dr. Oehler and Alice, his wife.
Yesterday pretty much everybody left for Dublin (and Tracy left for Paris). I decided that I wasn't going to sit around here the whole weekend and miss them. So I made a plan for myself to see different places that I probably wouldn't go with my friends here. Yesterday I went to the Museum of Natural History. It was a lot of fun! I probably only saw about a fourth of the museum, but it was the fourth that I really wanted to see. Perhaps I'll go back with Jemima when she gets here.
I really loved seeing all the mammals and the birds (surprise, surprise). I also listened to a little recording about the sounds and songs that marine mammals make. It was really interesting to hear all the different sounds. Did you know that whales sing songs that have themes and different phrases within the themes? It was really neat to listen to a whale and hear the theme and the different phrases!
I also spent a lot of time in the bird room. It was a lot of fun to see all the different birds there. I also got to see a bunch of hummingbird nests, which were amazing! But it made me sad when I saw a huge display of hundreds of hummingbirds that had been someone's personal collection. They had tons of the same kind of hummingbirds. It made me sad that so many little birds had to die for someone's whim.
Today I am going to go to Pollock's Toy Museum. I found out that it is really close to me! After that I have to register for classes for next semester. I also might call up on of my friends who is here in London now and get together with him. I haven't seen him since summer 2006, so it'll be neat to see him again.
Tomorrow, after church and lunch, if there is time, I want to go to the London Aquarium. On Monday I am planning to go to see the London Zoo! I wanted to go horseback riding in Hyde Park, or in any park that I can in London, but I am finding that it is extremely expensive. I guess I'll just wait until the end of the semester to see if I have enough money left (which is looking very very unlikely) and then I might be able to go... We'll see.
Prayer requests: That everyone would have safe travels this weekend. That registering for classes would go well this afternoon (morning, EST). Thanks so much!!!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Tower of London, the Ritz, and Spamalot
On Monday I met Papa and Ann at their hotel at noon and we went down to the Tower Bridge and had lunch at a little restaurant. I had Shepherd's Pie, which was really good!
Then we went to the Tower of London and got a tour with one of the Beefeaters. He was really funny and told us a ton of interesting stories about the people who had lived and died there. It is really interesting because all of the Beefeaters who give tours actually live in the Tower of London, so it is still making history.
After the tour, since it didn't cover everything, we went to see the Royal Jewels. They were beautiful! We went on the Tower Walk and saw where different people had been imprisoned. We also saw several crowns that had had borrowed jewels in them that had been removed. They looked so sad. They didn't look at all like what they should have been. They were pitiful to see.
After the Tower of London, we went to high tea at the Ritz! That was a lot of fun! The food there was great and so was the tea! We had a bunch of different finger sandwiches as well as scones and pastries. Ann told me that the original reason for high tea was because back when women wore corsets, they were so prone to fainting (because they couldn't breathe) that they had to eat before the regular dinner around 8 pm, or 20:00 as they would most likely say here. The Ritz was very very fancy, of course, and they had live music.
After high tea, we went to se Spamalot. That was a lot of fun and very funny! It was the basic plot of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, only with more songs and with a few minor changes. It was really funny! We really enjoyed it.
After that, I got the stuff that Mama had sent me :-) and then said goodbye to Papa and Ann since they were leaving on Tuesday and I had class then.
Then we went to the Tower of London and got a tour with one of the Beefeaters. He was really funny and told us a ton of interesting stories about the people who had lived and died there. It is really interesting because all of the Beefeaters who give tours actually live in the Tower of London, so it is still making history.
After the tour, since it didn't cover everything, we went to see the Royal Jewels. They were beautiful! We went on the Tower Walk and saw where different people had been imprisoned. We also saw several crowns that had had borrowed jewels in them that had been removed. They looked so sad. They didn't look at all like what they should have been. They were pitiful to see.
After the Tower of London, we went to high tea at the Ritz! That was a lot of fun! The food there was great and so was the tea! We had a bunch of different finger sandwiches as well as scones and pastries. Ann told me that the original reason for high tea was because back when women wore corsets, they were so prone to fainting (because they couldn't breathe) that they had to eat before the regular dinner around 8 pm, or 20:00 as they would most likely say here. The Ritz was very very fancy, of course, and they had live music.
After high tea, we went to se Spamalot. That was a lot of fun and very funny! It was the basic plot of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, only with more songs and with a few minor changes. It was really funny! We really enjoyed it.
After that, I got the stuff that Mama had sent me :-) and then said goodbye to Papa and Ann since they were leaving on Tuesday and I had class then.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Every Nation and Cheese
Today, I went to church with Papa and Ann. Some other people from the program showed up, Katherine, Katlin, and David. Laura also showed up with her parents, who are very sweet! Church was really good. It was very refreshing and afterwards I got to briefly meet some other students. I am thinking about going on their student retreat, but it costs 40 pounds and I don't know if I can afford that. I am thinking of making a budget for myself so that I know I can make it through the semester. That will be interesting.
After church, we went out to eat at the Hamburger Union. It was very good! We all enjoyed the food and it is really close to my flat, so I might end up going there again, providing my proposed budget will allow it. :-)
After that, they went back to the hotel and I came back to the flat and read some more Bleak House and then took a little cat nap while Tracy banged around. Then I made a quick spaghetti dish for myself and then headed over to the Winston House.
Tonight Dr. Oehler and his wife, Alice put on a little cheese tasting. They had four different kinds of cheese from around England. They were pretty good although there was really only one that I really liked. It was called Seator's Orkney. It was soft and buttery and didn't have a strong bite to it. I enjoyed it. Ann and Papa came and got to meet a bunch of the people in my program. Then there was a movie that they were going to show, but Ann and Papa decided to head out since they were so tired and I decided I didn't really want to see another war movie... Since I've been here, in the last two or mabye three weeks I have seen: The Gladiator, Braveheart, and The Wind That Shakes The Barley. I figure that is enough gory, violent movies to last me for quite a while. So I came back here and watched Evan Almighty and was very happy to get look at my cousin. :-) Yay, Jesse!!!
Prayer Requests: That Ann and Papa's luggage will get here....very very soon...before they leave... Because it has a bunch of stuff that I need and they need clean clothes... I think that's all for now. Thank you so much!
After church, we went out to eat at the Hamburger Union. It was very good! We all enjoyed the food and it is really close to my flat, so I might end up going there again, providing my proposed budget will allow it. :-)
After that, they went back to the hotel and I came back to the flat and read some more Bleak House and then took a little cat nap while Tracy banged around. Then I made a quick spaghetti dish for myself and then headed over to the Winston House.
Tonight Dr. Oehler and his wife, Alice put on a little cheese tasting. They had four different kinds of cheese from around England. They were pretty good although there was really only one that I really liked. It was called Seator's Orkney. It was soft and buttery and didn't have a strong bite to it. I enjoyed it. Ann and Papa came and got to meet a bunch of the people in my program. Then there was a movie that they were going to show, but Ann and Papa decided to head out since they were so tired and I decided I didn't really want to see another war movie... Since I've been here, in the last two or mabye three weeks I have seen: The Gladiator, Braveheart, and The Wind That Shakes The Barley. I figure that is enough gory, violent movies to last me for quite a while. So I came back here and watched Evan Almighty and was very happy to get look at my cousin. :-) Yay, Jesse!!!
Prayer Requests: That Ann and Papa's luggage will get here....very very soon...before they leave... Because it has a bunch of stuff that I need and they need clean clothes... I think that's all for now. Thank you so much!
Friday, October 5, 2007
Love's Labours Lost...Love's Labours Lost....
So, Thursday night I went to see Love's Labours Lost at Shakespears' the Globe with everybody in our program. It was fantastic! I really enjoyed the whole performance. I was really disappointed when it finished. I wanted to see it again....so I decided to go again! I went Friday at 14:00 to see it again. It was just as good the second time around.
But there was one hilarious incident in the second showing... At one point the actors are throwing bread around on stage and then they stand still and talk in small groups because they have heard sad news. Well, since it was during the day, some pigeons spied the bread and started landing on stage! At that point, the actors had completely lost our attention, so the girl who was in the middle of her monologue stopped and walked over to the pigeons and stomped to drive them away. They all flew away in a flurry and she returned to her spot and waited until we had finished laughing and then said, "As I was saying..." and continued with her monologue. It was fantastic. I really enjoyed that moment and admire her presence of mind.
Today Laura and I got up at 5:15 to go to the airport to meet her parents and Papa and Ann. Her parents got in about 5 minutes after we got to the international arrivals part of the terminal, at about 7:50 or so. Then they decided to wait with me for Papa and Ann to arrive, which was supposed to be a 8:00 originally. We decided to get some coffee and sit and talk while we waited for them because they had moved the flight up to 9:03. Well, we waited until about 10:00 and then talked to the people at information who told us to wait 20 more minutes... We waited until 10:30 when I decided to find the DELTA information desk and make sure Papa and Ann were actually on the plane that had landed at 9:01, allegedly. They told me that Papa and Ann had been rerouted and that they had just landed. Well, I went back and we waited until 11:30 or so when they finally appeared, without luggage... Their luggage has been lost. It is supposed to be delivered to their hotel tomorrow morning.
I had a lot of fun talking with Laura and her parents. They are such sweet people! They were so friendly and very talkative. :-) I really enjoyed talking with them.
Once I got Papa and Ann to their hotel, we decided it was time for lunch since it was about 1:30 and I hadn't eaten anything aside from a croissant and some tea on the train, the Gatwick Express at about 7:00 or so. We headed to the Thai restaurant that I went to on my first day here and we sat down and had a really nice lunch. While we sat there, some guy walked in, sat down for a minute and then walked out. We all wondered what he was doing... We found out when Ann went to get her wallet out to pay... He had lifted it from her purse that she had hung on the back of her chair. Papa was able to go get some money and pay for lunch. They went back to their hotel and I came back to the flat.
We met up again at 19:30 for dinner. Ann and Papa had wanted to get naps, but had to spend all that time contacting credit card companies and getting all that straightened out. We had a nice dinner at an Indian place. It was a nice little place and the food was good, if a little spicy for me.
Tomorrow they are going to church with me and then we are going to the British Museum. That should be fun!
Prayer Requests: That Ann having her wallet lifted doesn't make this a bad visit... :-( Also, that she is able to get all of that stuff straightened out. All three of us are pretty exhausted, so you could pray for a good sleep for all of us tonight. Thank you!!
But there was one hilarious incident in the second showing... At one point the actors are throwing bread around on stage and then they stand still and talk in small groups because they have heard sad news. Well, since it was during the day, some pigeons spied the bread and started landing on stage! At that point, the actors had completely lost our attention, so the girl who was in the middle of her monologue stopped and walked over to the pigeons and stomped to drive them away. They all flew away in a flurry and she returned to her spot and waited until we had finished laughing and then said, "As I was saying..." and continued with her monologue. It was fantastic. I really enjoyed that moment and admire her presence of mind.
Today Laura and I got up at 5:15 to go to the airport to meet her parents and Papa and Ann. Her parents got in about 5 minutes after we got to the international arrivals part of the terminal, at about 7:50 or so. Then they decided to wait with me for Papa and Ann to arrive, which was supposed to be a 8:00 originally. We decided to get some coffee and sit and talk while we waited for them because they had moved the flight up to 9:03. Well, we waited until about 10:00 and then talked to the people at information who told us to wait 20 more minutes... We waited until 10:30 when I decided to find the DELTA information desk and make sure Papa and Ann were actually on the plane that had landed at 9:01, allegedly. They told me that Papa and Ann had been rerouted and that they had just landed. Well, I went back and we waited until 11:30 or so when they finally appeared, without luggage... Their luggage has been lost. It is supposed to be delivered to their hotel tomorrow morning.
I had a lot of fun talking with Laura and her parents. They are such sweet people! They were so friendly and very talkative. :-) I really enjoyed talking with them.
Once I got Papa and Ann to their hotel, we decided it was time for lunch since it was about 1:30 and I hadn't eaten anything aside from a croissant and some tea on the train, the Gatwick Express at about 7:00 or so. We headed to the Thai restaurant that I went to on my first day here and we sat down and had a really nice lunch. While we sat there, some guy walked in, sat down for a minute and then walked out. We all wondered what he was doing... We found out when Ann went to get her wallet out to pay... He had lifted it from her purse that she had hung on the back of her chair. Papa was able to go get some money and pay for lunch. They went back to their hotel and I came back to the flat.
We met up again at 19:30 for dinner. Ann and Papa had wanted to get naps, but had to spend all that time contacting credit card companies and getting all that straightened out. We had a nice dinner at an Indian place. It was a nice little place and the food was good, if a little spicy for me.
Tomorrow they are going to church with me and then we are going to the British Museum. That should be fun!
Prayer Requests: That Ann having her wallet lifted doesn't make this a bad visit... :-( Also, that she is able to get all of that stuff straightened out. All three of us are pretty exhausted, so you could pray for a good sleep for all of us tonight. Thank you!!
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Class and the London Symphony Orchestra!
Tuesday I had class as usual: music class and science class. Yesterday I only had one class: Shakespeare. We did not have our World War II class because we were all going to hear the London Symphony Orchestra play!
We heard a violin concerto by Elgar and we heard Mozart's Requiem. The concerto was alright...the solo violinist got kind of squeaky at points, but overall it was pretty good. But I loved the Requiem! It was beautiful. The soloists were really good! The soprano was my favorite. The tenor was probably the worst...he was kind of reedy and didn't seem to know the music very well.
I just got back from a free concert at Bishopsgate where they have free lunchtime concerts. It was a violinist and pianist playing Bach's Partita for Solo Violin No. 2 in D Minor, Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 7 in C Minor Opus 30 No. 2, and Tchaikovsky's Waltz-Scherzo for Violin and Piano Opus 34. They were really good! Sometimes the violin was a little shrill, but overall they were great. Both the violinist and pianist are 21. I thought it was interesting that the pianist was born in Israel and had come to London in 2002. I thought they both did very well considering their age, but then I'm not an expert on how good people usually are at that age. :-)
Tonight we are going to see Love's Labour's Lost at the Globe which is right on the other side of the Thames from us. I've walked past the Globe a couple of times. We will be groundlings, so we will be right up near the stage and we will be standing the entire time... Thankfully it is not one of his longer plays. But I am excited to get to see a Shakespeare play in the Globe! :-)
Prayer Requests: I am still really tired. Andrew got out of the hospital yesterday afternoon and was able to go with us to hear the London Symphony Orchestra!
We heard a violin concerto by Elgar and we heard Mozart's Requiem. The concerto was alright...the solo violinist got kind of squeaky at points, but overall it was pretty good. But I loved the Requiem! It was beautiful. The soloists were really good! The soprano was my favorite. The tenor was probably the worst...he was kind of reedy and didn't seem to know the music very well.
I just got back from a free concert at Bishopsgate where they have free lunchtime concerts. It was a violinist and pianist playing Bach's Partita for Solo Violin No. 2 in D Minor, Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 7 in C Minor Opus 30 No. 2, and Tchaikovsky's Waltz-Scherzo for Violin and Piano Opus 34. They were really good! Sometimes the violin was a little shrill, but overall they were great. Both the violinist and pianist are 21. I thought it was interesting that the pianist was born in Israel and had come to London in 2002. I thought they both did very well considering their age, but then I'm not an expert on how good people usually are at that age. :-)
Tonight we are going to see Love's Labour's Lost at the Globe which is right on the other side of the Thames from us. I've walked past the Globe a couple of times. We will be groundlings, so we will be right up near the stage and we will be standing the entire time... Thankfully it is not one of his longer plays. But I am excited to get to see a Shakespeare play in the Globe! :-)
Prayer Requests: I am still really tired. Andrew got out of the hospital yesterday afternoon and was able to go with us to hear the London Symphony Orchestra!
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