Life as a Londoner...

Its been a crazy couple of weeks here in Londontown! I feel like my days have been going so fast and I've been doing so much, but at the same time, still have so much to do!! This is going to be a long post, I can tell, so brace yourselves! Or just skip to the pictures at the bottom.

Since I'm so far behind in the updates, I'll do a brief recap of my trip to Scotland, like I promised! We went to Edinburgh, the Scottish Highlands and Loch Ness the weekend of January 28-30.  It was amazing.  Friday we had to get up at about 4:30 to make it to the tube in time to be at King's Cross (yes, Harry Potter lovers, THE King's Cross - we didn't make it to Platform 9 3/4 but I will be back) by 6:30. We took a train to Edinburgh, had a nice bus tour of the city, ate some lunch at The Conan Doyle Pub, walked around the shopping district since the museums were closed, and we crashed early at our guesthouse watching some Scottish soap operas and game shows.


Saturday was our exciting day of trekking through the Scottish Highlands (which were beautiful). We drove through Glencoe, past a good number of lochs on our way to Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle.  It was absolutely phenomenal.  The castle was being attacked in 1692, so those inside blew it up.  We were able to walk through the remains and see some great views of Loch Ness.  We took a boat ride across the Loch, I caught Nessie, and we moseyed on back to the bus!  We ate dinner at this little cafe that was also a techno-music place, and right next to the tables was a turn table and the walls literally bounced with the music playing in the restaurant. But they had the best pizza I'd had in a long time. 


Sunday we walked through Edinburgh after we checked out of our guesthouse.  Edinburgh itself is an ideal city. It has the feel of a big city, with intense crosswalks and busy areas, but in reality, there is less than a million people who live there.  We visited the National Gallery Museum of Scotland, which had a Vermeer exhibit, and a good collection of Impressionist and Renaissance works. We hiked (it was quite a steep hill) to Edinburgh Castle for a view of the city below though we didn't actually go through the castle. We went to the National Museum of Scotland which basically tells the history of Scotland - from its development geographically by the breaking apart of tectonic plates (I watched the very informative video) to its development as a powerful country.  Next, (the most exciting part) we ate at The Elephant House, which is rumored to be the cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote the first few Harry Potter books.  It was amazing. There were pictures around the cafe, and I didn't know it at the time because the girl's loo was out of order, but if you went inside, you could sign your name for Dumbledore's Army. I was quite upset when I found out and I didn't have a chance to do it.   After that exciting day, we took the train back to London, which was a harsh jerk back to reality and school work.


That week, my friend Adrienne and I attempted to take the tube to our Architecture in London tour but unfortunately, someone "took ill" on a train/platform at the Marble Arch / Bond station (they kept changing the story). This meant that all trains were held in their platform until the ambulances arrived.  So we didn't make it.  Wednesday night we went to a football game! It was Fulham v. Newcastle and it was amazing. We were supposedly in the neutral zone of the stands, but we were definitely in the Newcastle section...I wanted to cheer when Fulham scored, but feared death.  So I cheered internally, especially when Fulham ended up winning 1-0.  Thursday I had a paper due, which consumed a lot of my time and energy for those days. I was also sick which didn't help much. Friday we went to Camden Market, which is known for their clothing stalls and other shops. We walked around a lot and tried on ridiculous outfits. We went into this store called Cyberdog which is all futuristic and neon clothes (many of them glow), so that was an experience. Unfortunately, that weekend I spent the entire time in bed resting. I watched Miracle, which I had never seen before, and was really surprised how much I enjoyed it... then I watched Buffy. :)

This past week has been filled with classes. Tuesday night we saw Wicked on the West End since our program adviser could get us cheap tickets. It was strange to be at a show that they play every night opposed to being at an Omaha show that plays for three days only and every show is sold out.  At the Apollo Victoria Theatre, it wasn't even close to being sold out. We were on the floor level and were allowed to move closer if we wanted to.  That was a new experience.  Wednesday, since it was nice out, we journeyed out to Hyde Park which was once the hunting grounds of Henry VIII. It is a huge park and there is a lake in the middle where you can rent kayaks or paddle boats if you're up to it and brought heating pads or just enjoy hypothermia.  We also walked by Marble Arch, which is London's version of the French Arc de Triomphe. Still impressive, and they also had this strange horse statute that I thought was a leg at first. I'm not quite sure how that worked out. There was also a piece of artwork that looked like a gummy bear family.  You'll have to see it to understand.


Friday was another busy day. Deanna, Adrienne and I went  to the Notting Hill market at Portabello Road.  They have a  lot of little antique shops, fruit and veggie stands, waffle and crepe stands, and just a lot of places that are more than willing to take your money. And they happily took a lot of mine!! We tried these amazing waffles drizzled with Belgian dark chocolate and I got a box of raspberries that never made it home, and my friend Adrienne bought a suitcase that journeyed with us for the rest of the day and became a joke (and we named him Louis - French pronunciation).  After spending several hours there, we took the tube to Abbey Road. Or as close as we could since the tube was closed at the station we needed, so we had to go to the next one and back track back to Abbey Road.  We found Abbey Road Studios and signed our names on the wall outside. We got some poor man to take our picture walking across the crosswalk a la Beatles.  The man taking the picture was genuinely confused when we asked because there were only three of us: "But there were four Beatles!" Adrienne just said that she had the suitcase acting as a fourth person; he even has a name!! They thought we were crazy and we walked across the wrong way (but there was no one on the other side to take our picture!), but it was perfect and very touristy.  I loved it.

We went to Covent Garden and managed to find a hair salon I had looked up so I could get a haircut.  We walked around for a while at all the little shops before we met a few other girls for dinner at an Italian restaurant called Cafe Pasta. It was delicious, but I would go back for the garlic bread alone. It was simply...indescribable. I'm already dreading not having it in the States.


Today was an IFSA-Butler outing to Hampton Court and Windsor.  Hampton Court was the residence of Henry VIII, so there was a lot of exhibits dedicated to him.  We saw his apartments, Queen Mary II's apartments and staircase, and went through the most famous maze in the world in the Hampton Court Gardens.  We then went to Windsor, home of Windsor Castle which is the official residence of the Queen. It is the oldest castle that is still used a residence.  We didn't go through it as it was quite expensive, but it was so cool just being outside of it.  We took pictures in front of it, and also a long road appropriately named The Long Walk.  We walked around Windsor to find Eton, the college (aka high school) that the princes attended and also the current Prime Minister David Cameron.  It was closed to the public, but was still an impressive campus to walk outside of.  Then we bussed back!! It was a busy day and the tube was packed on the way home, and I just wanted to crash. Instead, I found out I can watch Channel 4 TV on their website, which is a British TV channel.  I watched a TV mini-series called The Promise which is about the Jewish and Arab conflict in Israel. It was fascinating and I want to read more about it. Luckily, the next episode is on tomorrow night so I don't have to wait too long in suspense!

Tomorrow is a homework day. It must be. I have lots of papers coming up due and I want to focus on those rather than having to worry about my regular coursework.  Adrienne and I are going to find the Prince Albert Memorial so we can write a paper for our Architecture in London and then I have readings for my other classes to work on.

This coming weekend, Deanna and I booked a tour to Paris! I'm so excited. As St. Vincent (aka Annie Clark) would croon... I'll dance fair Paris to the ground.  Its going to be great. Our days are booked with tours and sightseeing and we added on the trip to Versailles. SO excited! :)

Deanna and I at Urquhart Castle on the shores of Loch Ness in Scotland! 

The sun setting over Loch Ness, taken from the Jacobite Spirit, the ferry that took us across the Loch.

A stop in the Scottish Highlands.

Me outside Abbey Road Studios in London.

In order: Adrienne, Louis the Suitcase, Me and Deanna walking across the zebra crossing a la The Beatles.  Going the wrong way with a suitcase and missing one person. It was lovely. :)

Standing in the main courtyard of Hampton Court Palace, the Tudor residence and main residence of Henry VIII during his reign.

Odd statue of a horse next to Marble Arch.  From far away, I thought it was a leg...

Gummy bear-looking family next to the horse!

I promise to update sooner than I did this time.  I hope.

Now I can tell you to go listen to some UK music that I've been listening to since before I got here.  I'd recommend Florence & the Machine (non-Glee versions, please) or Laura Marling for some England music, or else Marina and the Diamonds (she's from Wales) is also quite entertaining. Adele just came out with a new cd and thanks to Sara Schulte, I am obsessed with the song "Someone Like You." The girl can sing.  I'm done pimping out British music now. :)

Until next time...which will be after Paris!! Yay!

Megan

Mind the gap!

Sorry for the delay in updating; time seems to get away from me here!! The days always seem to go by so fast!  The past week and a half have been great, though I'm still adjusting to life here (like the sun starting to set at 4:00 every day).  Figuring out how to work the oven was a whole other story that was a lot of trial and error, but I proved victorious and only slightly burned my food the two times I've used it.

Last week was the first week of classes, and I survived.  There seems to be a lot of reading, and its a lot different than in the States. It's very independent and its up to you to teach yourself what you need to know.  My friend Deanna and I went to the Victoria & Albert museum, which was even more amazing than the British Museum (which I didn't think was possible).  They had amazing collections of European history and a great Medieval and Renaissance room that had a plaster cast of Michaelangelo's David statue.  We spent a good three hours there before we left, and even then, there was still much more to see.  The good thing is that the majority of the museums here are free!! So we can go back whenever we want.  That Friday a group of us went to the school bar, where they had a Back to School disco.  Everyone was dressed up in their school uniforms and that was a really good time.  The rest of the weekend was made up of laundry and homework.

This week was another week of classes, though for one of my classes, we had to meet at Parliament in order to see the architecture (the course is Architecture in London).  Of course half the tube was shut down that afternoon, so we had to jump a few trains in order to get there.  I only had classes on Monday and Tuesday, but Thursday and Friday afternoons were spent in the library attempting to get the books and information I needed for my courses. Last night (Friday) was particularly exciting because a few of us decided to go to a drag show in the East End.  It was a group called The Lip Sinkers at a bar called Bistrotheque.  It was a great show and so much fun.  They lip-synced to songs from each decade and had really awful costumes that were actually amazing, and it was just a great time. 

Today was really exciting to me because we went to the Tower of London.  Once again, due to tube closures, it took a bit longer to get there (and involved more walking than originally planned).  We got there in time for the Yeoman Warders's tour at 12:30 and stayed there until 4.  It was phenomenal.  We may have been there for three and a half hours, but it still feels like there was so much more to see. We followed the path of a body that had been executed (like Anne Boleyn); so we walked from where they were brought to the tower through Traitor's Gate, to where they were killed, and then their body was lain in the chapel within the fortress's walls.  It was so amazing because that structure has been there since the Norman Conquest in 1066.  That's nearly 1000 years and you can just feel the history there. We walked through several of the towers, like the White Tower, which now holds the Royal Armouries, and displays all the armor of the previous kings.  We got to see the Crown Jewels and they had a film streaming of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953.  We also went to the "unofficial torture chamber" where they tortured prisoners off the books. 

I could go on for hours about the history of the Tower of London, but I'll stop for now. Hopefully this wasn't unbearably long! Since at this point I have epically failed at uploading pictures on Facebook, here are some more from the past week!

Next weekend I'll be going to Scotland, so I can talk all about Edinburgh, the Highlands and Loch Ness! :)

Megan 

My second favorite sculpture at the V&A museum.  It's by Rodin and called The Fallen Angel.  It shows a fall angel being held by a woman. Its a little hard to make the two figures out in person, and even harder in the picture.  At first I didn't like it at all, but then you just see it and then you love it.  My favorite is a little more macabre, and is the cast of Donatello's Judith and Holofernes, which is Judith slaying Holofernes in order to save her people.

This is the memorial on Tower Green, marking where Anne Boleyn and Kathryn Howard (both wives of Henry VIII) were beheaded in the Tower of London, along with five other British nobles.  The bottom of the memorial reads "Gentle visitor pause a while, Where you stand death cut away the light of many days.  Here, jewelled names were broken from the vivid thread of life. May they rest in peace while we walk the generations around their strife and courage,  Under these restless skies."

This is me with my strapping new iron boyfriend, one of many iron sculptures with bows and arrows and other weapons along the tower walls to illustrate its use as a defensive structure and a fortress of the city.  Of course, it is important to remember that the Tower of London is first and foremost a Royal Palace of the Queen.

 

First day of classes...

    Bonjour!! It's been an exciting weekend and Monday here at Queen Mary.  Saturday I met up with my friend Becky from Rockhurst.  Well, meeting up took longer than expected.  We were unaware that they had closed half the tube for engineering repairs for the weekend, so it took a tube ride, a few walks, a replacement bus line, and 45 minutes for us to finally catch up with the other! But after that, it was a great afternoon.  We took the tube into central London (which always freaks me out because whenever I'm in the tube I think of that scene from Atonement where they use the tube stations as bomb shelters during the Blitz and a water main breaks and everyone inside drowns... cheery thoughts as I'm walking down in to the bowels of the city!!!) We walked all around Oxford Street and Piccadilly Circus, which are big tourist/shopping areas of the city.  It was ridiculously busy and packed with people.  Luckily, it wasn't raining, and the sun even made an appearance in the late afternoon, which is always a nice surprise.  That evening was pretty relaxed, and I skyped with my friend Erica from back home and later with my brother Sean! :)

     Sunday morning was the bus tour of the city, with stops at Buckingham Palace and St. Paul's Cathedral.  We didn't go inside either sites because of money and time constraints, but it was good to get a glimpse.  I definitely want to go back to Buckingham Palace to see the history there (Queen Victoria was the first monarch to live there in the mid-1800s).  St. Paul has a tour that allows you to climb to the top of the bell towers to see over the city, which would be a very cool thing to see.  We saw some amazing buildings that still showed damage from the Blitz, but did not critically harm the building so it was not repaired.  That was truly a sight to see.  Later I skyped with the parental units, and then I went out with my flatmate and a big group of people to the nearby pub called Half Moon Theatre.  It was a lot of fun and we spent a couple hours there just hanging out. 

     Monday morning, I had my first class.  I got up at 9 intending to look around campus to make sure I knew where the classrooms are.   At 945 I'm sitting at my desk, eating a bowl of Frosties, half-dressed and I looked at my schedule (called a timetable here) and notice that my class was actually at 10.   Fortunately I made it on time and even got to chat with a student.  The class is Society and State in Britain from 1450 - 1720, and apparently, its a course that runs all year long, from September to May.  So myself and a couple other girls are coming in halfway through with no idea what they covered before the Christmas holiday (they will take the final for the class in the spring).  Needless to say, we feel a little overwhelmed and unprepared for the course, but the teacher seems very helpful.  After an hour lecture, we have an hour seminar for the same class, which we meet in smaller groups to discuss topics more in depth.  It's definitely a different system than the States, but so far, I like it. It allows for students to ask questions in the seminar, and the teacher can discuss what the group seems to be having trouble with, rather than taking class time.  My second class is Architecture in London: 1837 to Present.  This consists of alternating lectures and field trips, so next week, we are meeting at Westminster Station to look at the Houses of Parliament (which, I can tell you from my lecture today, were designed by AWN Pugin, who was a Catholic architect at the time when Catholics were not allowed in political positions, therefore it was not publicly addressed that he was designing the seat of power for the monarchy and state!) 

     Tonight, the school hosted a Thames River boat cruise.  It was a lot of fun for being freezing cold on the river and there not being enough seats for everyone on board!! They had a buffet dinner and a dance floor.  I bet they got a laugh out of watching us Americans dance!  I was supposed to meet my flatmates at the pub on campus for a little get together, but we walked by and the line into Drapers was about half way across the quad.  It's Monday, which is one pound pints for the students, so apparently many take advantage of that! Next Monday I'll have to get my seat early. 

    Tomorrow is another day of classes. I have the International Politics of the Developing World, which sounds incredibly interesting.  That class also includes a seminar.  I also plan to go talk to the history department to see if I can get into a class called Europe since 1890 because I really want to take a class on World War II in England.  It's one of my favorite periods in history!  Wednesday I have no classes, and Thursday is U.S. Foreign Policy (but if I change into the new history class, I won't have any class on Thursday or Friday, which would be exciting to have no class on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, which I just realized. I don't even know if that's legal here!! That would be amazing!! I'm almost giddy with the idea of it! That's so much traveling I could do for five whole days every week!! I have to go mull this idea over!!)

     Here are some more pictures (since I've epically failed uploading any to Facebook...my bad).

Becky and I in Piccadilly Square Saturday afternoon!

The amazing Buckingham Palace.  This is still the royal residence, but Queen Elizabeth II was not in residence that day, which is indicated by the color flag flying above the palace.  This custom started after the death of Princess Diana, when the Queen was not in residence, and there was no flag to fly half-mast for the mourning of the Princess.

This is the Parliament buildings lit up at night from the boat on the Thames River cruise. It should be noted that Harry flies past these in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. :) 

Alright, I'm off to bed as its an early morning tomorrow!

Until next time!

Megan

Surviving the first week in London!!

     I can't believe I'm finally here in London!! After a year of planning, its so strange to be sitting in my flat in London!! Its been a crazy five days since we arrived Monday morning.  Sunday was a day of traveling, and my first flight left Omaha at 6am, went to Chicago, then DC, then New York.  My flight from JFK left at 730pm so luckily I had plenty of time to figure out that airport because it was massive and very confusing.  Nothing like our humble Eppley... An overnight flight later we're in London around 8am.  We were taken to our place of orientation at the St. Giles Hotel off Tottenham Court Road. (Harry Potter 7, anyone?!)  After getting a cell phone and some lunch from the grocery store Sainsbury's, I took a nap at noon, intending to sleep until 2. Four hours later, I woke up for dinner at a local pub with all the fellow IFSA-Butler travelers.  After a traditional English meal of shepherd's pie and a dessert of spotted dick, a few of us went to a pub near the hotel called The Rising Sun.  Honestly, we were all too tired to really appreciate it, but it was pretty cool to see how old some of their bars really are.

     Tuesday was all orientation with IFSA-Butler where they proceeded to scare us into safety and studying so as not to be mugged or fail classes. Useful tips, I guess. That night we took a tour around Convent Garden and Camden Market area. We walked through Trafalgar Square, saw where the Harry Potter premiere was, where they filmed Gringotts bank in the first Harry Potter (is there a theme here?), and major points of the West End district.  We went to see the play The Woman in Black, which personally, I've never been to a thriller/suspense/horror play, so imagine my surprise when I'm jumping out of my skin throughout the performance.  Very unexpected, but very good! We walked the 30 minute back to the hotel for bed.

      Wednesday was our first meeting for Queen Mary, which was short and equally frightening in terms of what is expected of us class-wise.  We don't get credit for showing up to class or even participating, like in the States. Instead, its based purely on academics - one or two grades throughout the semester and maybe a final exam or a big paper.  After that we had a free afternoon, so several of us walked to the British Museum, which was only a few blocks from our hotel.  Its free to the public, except major exhibits, and they have an amazing collection of ancient artifacts from Egypt, Greece, and the Romans. It was brilliant.  They also have a great Asia exhibit that has a small tea room on display as well as their famous tapestries. Unfortunately, it cost money to see the Egyptian Book of the Dead exhibit, so we missed that one. I hope to make it back sometime this semester if I watch my bank account!!  From the British Museum, we walked about a mile or so through the city to get to the London Eye, which essentially is a huge ferris wheel that takes you 135 meters above the city. You can see for miles around London and the surrounding areas.  We managed to navigate the tube (or underground) to get home, rather than walk, which was a very interesting experience. We ate dinner at this charming little French restaurant called Cafe Rouge, which made me want to speak French/go to France. It was a perfect little place to eat.

     Thursday was a very exciting day because we got to move into our flats or dorms at Queen Mary.  One flat holds 8 or 9 rooms along a long hallway and then all the flatmates share a kitchen. The view from mine isn't very picturesque but I do get to see light rail trains pass every ten to fifteen minutes which is pretty cool. We get our own bathrooms and a fridge, which is nice.  There are two other American students that I know of living in my flat, and the other students have yet to return.  Term starts Monday, so they should be arriving in the next day or so.  Today was a maze of trying to figure out scheduling and classes. It is a very confusing process but I proved successful!! I'll be taking two history and two political science classes, so it is a good mix of subjects.

     This afternoon has been particularly exciting because we have been without internet since we arrived. You had to pay for internet at the hotel and at the school, you need a user ID and code, which we got today. Even then, I need an ethernet cable to get internet in my dorm.  I guess I always took 24/7 wifi for granted!! Luckily McDonald's is pretty classy over here and they have free Wifi, along with small coffee shops!
 This weekend I am meeting up with a fellow Rockhurst student who will be in London and we will do some exploring!!  Sunday the school is hosting a bus tour for the international students, along with a Thames River boat cruise on Monday.  That will let us see the sights and get to know fellow students!!

    Bravo and thank you if you made it through that long monologue of my life for the past few days!!  Hopefully I will update soon with some more exciting stories from the weekend! Until then, here are a few pictures of my dorm and some places I've been to thus far (more will be posted on Facebook throughout the semester so check there if you want to see all of them! :)

I'm in front of the Parliament and Big Ben which is across the River Thames.

The London Eye which is situated on the banks of the River Thames.  The capsules take 30 minutes to make a full rotation along the wheel!

My dorm room...this is pretty good living for the middle of London, which can be comparable in pricing to Manhattan in New York City.  Next to my closet in the back is a door to my own bathroom, which is an adventure all on its own!

     Okay!! I'm all out and my fingers are getting numb! Its freakishly cold in these dorms!!! Last night I wore a long-sleeved thermal, a long-sleeved t-shirt, a sweatshirt then long-john type pants covered by pajama pants to bed and I was still freezing!!! I thought I knew cold but it just gets right to your core and you won't know you're cold until you start shivering uncontrollably!

...Now I'm really done!! :) 

Megan