Jenny's Eurotrip

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2009-12-10T17:45:00.002-05:00

Well it is about a month after my last post so it just goes to show that I really slacked on writing posts my last few weeks in London. I've been putting off writing a last entry because I knew there would be a lot to talk about. Every day in Europe had some sort of new experience or place that I had never seen or experienced before so trying to recall about 3 weeks is just overwhelming. I chose to finally type this today because of 3 reasons- 1) I just began to unpack my suitcases today and 2) I just took my sim card out of my international phone to send back to the company and 3) I'm finally getting over my cold that I've had since I was in Italy my last week. It has been 13 days back in the US and I'm still trying to transition back to my normal life. It is a very strange situation to be living in a different country so far from home for three months and then to suddenly within a few hours be thrust back into the life i've known in my home country for the last 21 years. It was an incredible experience and it opened me up to a whole world that I never knew existed. To put the trip into words would be very difficult and in some ways I think that only people who have had a study abroad experience like that know what I am feeling right now. I am so grateful for the experiences I had overseas and I acknowledge that 99.9% of people in the world will probably never get to do that. I am very lucky to have had the resources to have been able to truly take advantage of the program and its location this fall. There were many things I liked about the UK and miss, and there are plenty of aspects that I do not miss. I am happy to be back home and engaging in a familiar routine again but I've had some "down" periods since I've been back and I am contributing that to the fact that I'm returning from such an experience. Sometimes I feel like I was here in the US the whole time and never went abroad because nothing really changed here at home. However, I have all of this knowledge and experience that I didn't have before I left and when I think about that it grounds me and reminds me that I was really gone for that length of time.

The last week in the UK was busy as I was finishing up projects for my British Culture class, taking an in-class final and packing up all of my belongings for home/Italy. I had two large suitcases and a backpack. I had to divide my belongings between the smaller of the two suitcases that I was bringing to Italy for the week, and everything else I wouldn't need. I left the other two bags with a girl who was from a different college and studying with FIE until December. I traveled with my friends Amy, Catey and Sachi for six days beginning Nov. 22nd. We took EasyJet to Venice which I enjoyed immensely. Out of the three cities I visited, I thought Venice was definitely the most unique. There are no cars and everyone travels by boat! The city is old and quaint. The sidewalks are narrow and frequently become picturesque bridges over the canals. I was able to ride a gondola one morning and was amazed at how quiet it was. Without all of the traffic sounds it seemed much more peaceful. I experienced riding the water ferry a few times which was their main mode of public transportation. Tuesday morning we took a train to Florence and spent a little over a day there. We did a lot of walking around and sightseeing but I don't remember the names of very many places that we saw. We did see the David by Michelangelo which was really neat and we saw the two replicas of the statue as well. Florence was the other girls' favorite city but I didn't care for it as much as the other ones I saw. The last city I visited was Rome, where we also did a lot of walking around and exploring. We saw the Fountain di Trevi, the Pantheon and several of the piazzas the first night we were there(Wednesday night), went to Vatican City (St. Peter's Basilica & Vatican Museums) Thursday on Thanksgiving and went to see the Colosseum and Ancient Ruins on Friday morning before I left later afternoon for the airport. Our hostel was in a great location, as were our hostels in the other cities, and it was easy to walk to a lot of the major sights. The only time we took the subway/metro was to go to the Vatican. Thanksgiving was a tough day to be over in Italy; we were all a little homesick and missed spending the day with our families and feasting on turkey. We googled "turkey dinners in Rome" that morning but couldn't find any restaurants that were offering feasts. However, we did have a delicious italian meal out that night, sharing a bottle of wine, bruschetta and buffalo mozzerella, bread, and each ordered our own entrees (I ate veal which was very good- just to get the record straight my favorite animals are cows but I try my best to separate eating beef from my love of cows because it is just too good!)

The last night in Rome was an adventure- I was supposed to take a British Airways flight back to London Heathrow airport but there was a Ground Handling crew strike and my flight was cancelled and not able to leave the airport. Originally the woman at the BA customer service desk told us that buses might be picking us up and taking us to the Pisa airport where we could get our flight; however, they eventually switched our tickets for new plane tickets on an AirItalia flight leaving just about an hour later than the one I had previously booked. They were switched for free and I was so relieved it had worked out so well because my flight back home was the next morning at 10:30 or so, out of London. I was really tired when I returned to London but I took the tube all of the way back to South Kensington, picked up my luggage from my friend and sorted everything out back at the hostel. The hostel was ok considering I only slept about 3 hours there that night but I am pretty sure I saw cockroaches in the bathroom and if I hadn't been so tired and desperate for sleep I would have been freaking out pretty bad. The next morning I somehow got my two large suitcases, backpack and large bag of souvenirs to the airport and checked in and 8 hours later I was sitting on my luggage at the Newark airport waiting for my family to pick me up (they ran into some traffic coming from Williamsburg where they spent Thanksgiving). All in all it was a great trip and although I did miss Thanksgiving I am glad I spent an extra week traveling without having to worry about any schoolwork back in London. I was happy to finally be going home and not have to live out of suitcases anymore. Although I have sort of been doing that the past 13 days because since I have been too lazy to unpack, I've just gradually picked clothes and items out of my suitcases when I have needed them. But I'm finally getting organized today!

So to wrap things up- this is the final blog entry from my Eurotrip. Thank you all for tuning in to this website and keeping tabs on me during my adventure. I was happy to discover that a number of my family and friends were reading these entries. I enjoyed writing them on here especially since it wasn't as easy to communicate with people as much as I wanted to while I was in London. So this is it! Drum roll pleaseeee. Signing off from my computer in my parent's home office in NJ- Cheers! (or as they say in Ireland- Slainte!) :-)

Ireland and Wales!

2009-11-13T06:20:00.003-05:00

Hello! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to write another blog post. The past two weeks or so have been pretty busy with traveling, school work and trying to see the last few London sites on my list before coming back home in 2 weeks! Last weekend I took a trip to Ireland with 9 other friends from Drexel who are studying abroad with me. We flew out of London Gatwick and arrived in Dublin on Thursday night. Our hostel, the Abraham House, was pretty close to the bus station (we took a bus from the airport in Dublin). The hostel was alright but probably the dirtiest I've stayed in so far in Europe. All 8 of us girls stayed in one room and the bathroom smelled like mildew the whole time we were there and we found hair ties and random things around the room, so we assumed it hadn't been cleaned all that well. The first night we went to Burger King for dinner (I know, so European right?) and then we went out to a nearby bar off of one of the main streets in Dublin, O'Connell Street. Friday we all ventured out into Dublin but because of the size of our group we decided to break into two groups of four. My group walked around for a little while and then headed over for a tour of the Jameson Distillery. We had heard good things about the tour and I enjoyed it. There was a brief movie of the history of the distillery and then a tour guide took us around the building and showed us the different stages of the process of making whiskey. Cassie, Shari, Amy and I all volunteered to be whiskey taste-testers so at the end of the tour, they set up little glasses of Jack Daniels, a Scotch whiskey and Jameson and he taught us the right way to drink it and then asked which one we liked best. I liked Jameson the best. Then we also were given a free drink. At the end, each of us received a certificate for being master Jameson whiskey-tasters! Next we headed out to lunch and I had a delicious tomato and mozzarella panini. We then met up with the other girls and went to the Guiness Brewery for a tour there. Different from Jameson, this was a self-guided tour of the 7 story complex explaining the history and process of making the beer. On the top floor there is a bar that has 360 degree views of the city of Dublin which was really neat, and they give you a free pint of Guiness. Now before everyone thinks I'm some kind of alcoholic for going to both of these places in one day, let me remind you that I was only in Dublin for a day and a half and both of these places were recommended as top sites to go to! After this we went back to the hostel to rest for a while and that night went out to a famous bar called the Temple Bar, which is a pretty touristy bar but still fun to go to anyway. I paid a ridiculous 8 pounds for an irish coffee but I figured I'd better try one if I'm in Ireland. We hung out for a while in the Temple Bar area and then came back to the hostel. I woke up pretty early to do a "Wild Wicklow" Bus tour of the Wicklow Mountains which was probably the highlight of my trip to Ireland! I was most looking forward to seeing the Irish countryside and the scenery but since we only had a weekend there I had to pick a day tour fairly close to Dublin. Our bus tour took us through Glendalough to an old monastery, Ennis Kerry, along the coast and through the mountains. One of my favorite movies is "P.S. I love you" and we saw where a lot of the Ireland scenes were filmed. It was just such a beautiful area! I wish I could have spent more time out of the city, even though I liked Dublin as well. It is a very walkable city! The last morning (Sunday) I woke up early and toured around myself. I saw St. Stephens Greene and St. Patrick's Cathedral. I ate lunch at an authentic Irish restaurant and had a delicious corned-beef omelette, and then shopped around for a while. I went to this one store that specialized in the history of Irish names. I decided to see whether they had anything on Crossan and they did! So I purchased a sheet of paper with our family's history which I thought was cool! It was a little pricey but I thought it would be a neat souvenir since the Crossans came from Ireland. At around 3 pm or so we went to the airport and then flew back to London. We took Ryan Air for the first time which I was a little concerned about since it is so cheap! They give you the very basics- no free drinks & you have to pay to use the bathroom on the plane. You also don't have assigned seats so it is first-come-first-serve.

Monday our class took a trip to Greenwich where I got to stand at the 0 degree longitude line. I also went to Brick Lane with my Shakespeare class to get some Indian food and learn about Jack-the-Ripper since he was from that area. Harrod's is now all decorated for Christmas and I went there on Monday as well to look around. The store is just huge! It's incredible.

In about a half hour I'm leaving to go to the coast of Wales for the weekend! It's an "Adventure Weekend in Wales" and was organized by FIE (We still had to pay for it though). I signed up to do different activities including mountain biking and sea kayaking. We're also all doing some hiking. I really have no idea what to expect so I'm excited! I'm going to get going since I have to finish packing my bag but I'll write more when I return on Sunday night! Cheers :-)

Halloween in London!

2009-10-29T17:16:00.003-04:00

So even though it is not yet Halloween, my friends and I went out to a club called "Walkabout" last night for a Halloween-themed night and we all wore costumes! I'm not a big Halloween person (I haven't been since trick-or-treating came to an end); however, I put together a cheap, last minute costume and this is it! Enjoy!

My homemade Jack-o-lantern halloween costume!

My snazzy leaf hat (made from leaves found in Kensington Gardens)

Jenny, pleased with her work!

Jenny-o-lantern!

Danke! - My trip to Bavaria to see Julia!

2009-10-27T13:34:00.009-04:00

"Danke" means thank you in German, and was pretty much the only German word I could say properly in Germany this past weekend (although Julia was a very good teacher and I learned a few other words!) After a long and stressful week of final exams and final projects, last Thursday night I left for Nuremberg, Germany. I had my contemporary british theatre class and left from the class to catch the tube to Liverpool Street station where I took a Stansted Express train to London-Stansted Airport. This whole process took about 2 1/2 hours. The Stansted airport was actually very nice I thought. It is much smaller than Heathrow and easy to navigate as well. There were barely any lines and since I had checked in online a head of time I wasn't as stressed. I flew on AirBerlin which I was very happy with too. Usually I get assigned a seat at the very rear of the plane; however, this time on the way to Germany I was in the 4th row and on the way back I was in the 2nd row. Therefore I got my food (twix bars) and drink (waters) right away and was able to get off the plane sooner! The only thing that was kind of weird was on the flight back, we had to take a shuttle bus from our gate our to the plane which was located in the middle of the runway area with a staircase going up to the plane. It was like when the president climbs into Air Force One and ascends the stairs. Weird! Anyway, the plane ride was about an hour and a half and Julia met me right after I got out of the baggage claim. We took a subway from the airport and then a train to the town she is living in while going to college, Bayreuth. Her apartment was just a street or two down from the train station and we went to bed pretty quickly- we were tired!

Friday we went to Munich! We took a train (we took a whole lot of trains over the weekend) to Munich and it took about 5 hours to get there. During the day, we went to Marienplatz, the town square; Hofbrauhaus, a famous beer house; the Royal Gardens and palace; the Women's Church; and the Olympia Park, where the 1972 Munich Olympics were held. I really enjoyed seeing the Olympic stadium and the swimming hall, and we even went up into the Olympic Tower which had some really nice views of the city! At 5 pm we went back to Marienplatz to hear the bells from the City Hall. There are also figurines in the tower of the City Hall that dance when the bells chime which was cool. For dinner we went to a really good German restaurant called Donisl. I had a potato dumpling, bread dumpling and roasted pork- it was delicious! I also tried a Radler which is half lemonade and half beer. It was refreshing!

We finished up in Munich and took a couple hour train ride to Passau, where Julia's Mom's boyfriend, Albert, picked us up and drove us to her home in Waldkirchen. It was really nice to be driving in a car for the first time since I got to London! When we got to her house, I met her Mom, who is so nice! I wasn't able to communicate with her too well because she doesn't speak much english and I don't speak much German but Julia translated for us. Her Mom had made a really delicious cheesecake and opened a bottle of wine, and we sat and talked for a while. It was nice and in the morning (Saturday) we had a full German breakfast with sausages, and German bread (including a Bavarian pretzel!) I really like German food!

Now I must make the distinction- I am saying "German" this and "German" that but really I was in the state of Bavaria the whole time I was in Germany. So I really enjoyed the Bavarian food and country while I was there. Bavaria was taken over by Germany a few hundred years ago but they still have a lot of pride, and I got to experience that pride too. I have a new found love for Bavaria :-)

After the breakfast, we picked up a car from a family friend and she drove us around Waldkirchen, her hometown. I was able to see her old school, the town and the department store where her Mom works. Afterward we stopped at a supermarket and I picked up a bunch of German chocolate, and we headed back to her house. We said goodbye to her Mom and then drove to Passau, the neighboring city to Waldkirchen. We were on a tight schedule because Julia had planned for us to take a ride on a boat, translated as "Crystal Boat." It was a two-hour boat cruise to Austria and the boat was decked out completely in Swarvoski Crystals (the chandeliers, stairs, statues, side of the boat..). It was a beautiful boat and I thought it would be the perfect place to have a wedding reception it was that nice! Julia and I both got Apple strudel and ice cream which was really good. It was a little cold out so we stayed inside most of the time but the top deck of the boat offered some really nice views. After the cruise, we walked around Passau and I found myself a Bier Krug (the beer mug with the cap on top). I thought it would be a nice souvenir and it even says "Bavaria" on it with the crest and flags so I can remember my time there. At night we took a very long train ride (3 different trains) back to Julia's apartment in Bayreuth, where we stayed.

Sunday morning Julia drove us to see her university in Bayreuth. She took me on a tour of her campus and showed me the law building where she has a lot of her classes. Afterwards we went to the main city area of Bayreuth to see a castle and some beautiful gardens behind it. We went to a restaurant for lunch called "Oskar" where I finally got to try some authentic Bavarian sausages, cheese-noodles and sauerkraut. Did I mention I love Bavarian food? Also, one of Julia's friends, Lisa, joined us for lunch which was very nice. After lunch we went to a Castle a little further away that was covered in beautiful colored stones, and had a maze of hedges that led you there. It was a beautiful park area with walking paths and gardens. I enjoyed being out in the country a little more.

After the park, we headed back to Julia's apartment where I picked up my luggage and we took the train to the Nuremberg airport. Overall, I had a really fun weekend visiting Julia (thank you so much again for your wonderful hospitality!) and I enjoyed touring around Bavaria. It was especially neat because I was shown places I probably wouldn't have known about since Julia is from Germany (Bavaria) and can educate me more about the area and some of the interesting places to see!

After going strong during the weekend, I was very tired once I returned. Yesterday I had my first British Culture and Visual Media class which seems interesting but more work than I expected it to be with several papers and presentations. We went to the Houses of Parliament for the first part of the day and then had class for a few hours. Then I went to Sainsbury's to pick up groceries and last night I just stayed in. Today Anna, Jess, Catey and I went to St. Paul's Cathedral where we got an audio tour. The structure outside is huge, but the inside is simply magnificent! I really enjoyed visiting there today and I ended up spending several hours there. There was a choral concert midday and there was also a half-hour Christian church service in the space at the front of the cathedral near the alter, and I went to receive communion. I hadn't been to church in a while and although it was a shorter communion service, it was nice, and pretty neat to be doing that at St. Paul's Cathedral. Also, part of the tour of the cathedral took us up to the Whispering Gallery, Stone Gallery and Golden Gallery which are three more levels up in the dome that give you great views. The Golden Gallery was located at the top of the dome, very high up! We had to take hundreds of stairs to get up there! It was worth it though.
That has pretty much been the last few days in a nutshell. I hope you enjoyed the update and pictures!

P.S. GO PHILLIES! I'm tired of all of these Yankees fans telling me that the Phillies stand no chance. We have to prove them wrong- two years in a row!! Cheers!

Bayreuth

Palace near Bayreuth

A park near Bayreuth

Pretty fall colors! (I miss this back at home!)

Julia!

Me!

Pretty palace near Bayreuth with the colored stones!

Little house at Royal Gardens in Bayreuth

Passau

Us in Passau

Statues in Waldkirchen (to protect the corners of the buildings)

Main Street in Waldkirchen

Julia and I on the boat cruise

The inside of the Crystal Boat

The chandelier (made entirely of Swarvoski crystals!)

The Crystal Boat (half covered by the ticket building)

Dumplings and roasted pork (Dinner in Munich)

Hofbrauhaus

Royal Gardens in Munich

Representing our countries!

Hofbrauhaus

The Swimming hall from the 1972 Munich Olympics

Me standing in front of the Olympic stadium

GO PHILLIES!

2009-10-21T20:32:00.003-04:00

Wow, this past week has been extremely busy for me! Since last Thursday, I've had a lot of school work to do including a 23-page marketing plan, Shakespeare essay assignment, Contemporary British Theatre journals and a theatre review, an in-class Shakespeare essay exam, and tomorrow I have an essay exam for theatre. At the same time I have had a pretty bad cold so it hasn't been the most enjoyable couple of days! However, that will change very soon! Tomorrow is my last day of classes for this 7 week term, and next week I start my British Life & Culture class. As soon as my class ends tomorrow at 4 pm, I will be heading sraight to the tube to go to Liverpool street station where I will take a train to London-Stansted Airport to go to Germany! I am visiting my friend Julia this weekend. She goes to university in Bayreuth and we will be visiting there, Munich, Passau and the town where she is from and her family lives. I am sure I will have a really fun time and I am looking forward to sightseeing in these different places! I still have more work to do so I will have to limit this post tonight but I will post as soon as I return from Germany and I'll try to put up some cool pictures!

P.S. I'm listening to the Phillies game online right now. They're one game away and currently leading 3-2. Jayson Werth just got a 3 run homer! GO PHILLIES! Let's go to the World Series again!

CHEERIO!

London and Paris with Mike Pictures

2009-10-15T05:56:00.013-04:00

Here are some pictures taken in the last few days in London and Paris! I have a more detailed description of what we did/saw on the post below this one. Enjoy!

Big Ben at night

Tower Bridge

Millenium Bridge (the bridge in the 6th Harry Potter movie that the dementors destroyed)

Sunset over the Thames

St. Paul's Cathedral

Piccadilly Circus

Mike and lion statue at Trafalgar Square

Sherlock Holmes House- 221b

Going to Hogwarts! Platform 9 3/4

At Gare du Nord station before taking the train back to London

One of the metro stations in Paris that we went through a lot

The restaurant we ate at on Champs Elysees

Mike and I at the restaurant

Mike and I before dinner on the Champs Elysees

Me in front of the Louvre

Mike in front of the Louvre

The Pantheon

Jardins du Luxembourg

Mike and I at Luxembourg

Luxembourg Palace

Mike filming (he filmed over 4 hours on this trip)

Bridge in Paris

View from the Eiffel Tower

Paris street signs

Mike and I on the double-decker bus tour

Seine River

Patisserie

Arc de Triomphe

Eiffel Tower at night

Mike and I in front of the Eiffel Tower- soaked!

Notre Dame Cathedral

Notre Dame

View across the Thames River in London

Me in front of the London Eye

Mike and Big Ben

Mike and I in front of Buckingham Palace

Mike and I when he first arrived

We'll always have Paris!

2009-10-14T17:34:00.003-04:00

Hey everybody! Sorry it's been another few days since my last post. The last couple weeks have been busier for me- it is getting near the end of this 7 week term and the assignments and projects are building up now. The end of next week marks the end of the 3 classes I am currently taking and then for the following 4 weeks I will be taking 1 class (it meets 3 days a week) and going on my last few weekend trips before I return home! It's hard to believe how fast the time has gone by so far!

This last weekend was a lot of fun! Mike came to visit me from home and spent 5 days here in Europe. He flew in from Newark on Thursday morning and left Tuesday morning. It was really good to see a familiar face from home, and we had a great time exploring London and....PARIS! Yes, we went to Paris this weekend! I'm pretty impressed with our ability to plan a 2.5 day trip to another country considering we've been 4000 miles apart the last month and a half, but we did it and it was a fantastic trip! There are so many famous sites we wanted to see in the city so we decided to do a Hop On Hop Off 2 day bus tour of the city (basically, there are buses that run between the 9 most famous sites in London including Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, Champs-Elysses, Trocadero, Musee D'Orsay, Musee du Louvre, Opera, the Grand Palais and Champs de Mars) and we also purchased 2 day unlimited metro passes. Both of these worked out great- we used the bus tour primarily just Saturday and then used the metro passes to get to where the tours started from our hostel. Paris was absolutely beautiful and we both had such a great time! I've heard people say before that Paris is overrated but I didn't think so; all of the famous sites were well worth seeing. My favorites were the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame. Here is an 'itinerary' of Mike's visit:

Thursday:
-Mike arrived at Heathrow around 9 am
-Went to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens
-Ate lunch at Gloucester Arms pub
-Went to Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, London Eye, Westminster Abbey, walked down the Thames River
-Mike walked around the river area while I took a tour of the National Theatre for one of my classes
-We went to the Globe Theatre to see "Love's Labours Lost" for my Shakespeare class
-Returned back to South Kensington to pack up for Paris

Friday:
-Left around 4 am to take a night bus to St. Pancras International rail station for our eurostar train
-Arrived in Paris at Gare du Nord station about 2.5 hours later
-After a little while of not knowing how to get to our hostel, we bought some maps and headed to Saint Ambroise station to the Hotel Garden (really a hostel)
-We dropped our things off and then headed to Notre Dame, where we toured the inside of the church
-Ate lunch at the Cafe de Quasimodo (ate some quiche lorraine, salad and a crepe!)
-Went back to the hostel to take a nap
-Went out at night to see the Eiffel Tower (it was pouring though so we got soaked!)
-Went to Le Coq for dinner at the Trocadero (ate cockerel casserole for the first time- described as "the cock that crows in the morning"..so basically a rooster?)
-Arc de Triomphe
-Took the metro back to the hostel to sleep

Saturday:
-Went to the Cite metro stop near Notre Dame to go to a patisserie for breakfast (I got a pain du chocolat which was delicious!) and then hopped on the sightseeing bus
-Took the bus to each of the following sites but did not go into the museums: Musee d'Orsay, Opera, Champs Elysees, Grand Palais and Trocadero
-Got off the bus at the Eiffel Tower where we stopped to have lunch! First, the elevator in the tower took us to the second floor where we could get out and walk around and soak up the views. Then we walked down staircases to the first floor of the tower to the restaurant in the Eiffel Tower where we ate lunch. I had a chicken caesar salad, macaroni with asparagus and mushrooms, and Mike got a chilled carrot soup, salmon and vegetables. We both had cheesecake for dessert. The view from our table was looking out over the plaza towards the Trocadero, and the food was great!
-Got back on the bus to go past the Champs de Mars and the Louvre
-Hopped on the metro to Jardins du Luxembourg and the Pantheon- really enjoyed the jardins and seeing Luxembourg palace!
-Went back to the Louvre to see the pyramids
-Went back to the hostel to change into fancier evening clothes and then went to the Champs Elysees for dinner at George V where I had duck and Mike had a burger I believe. Mike paid for the dinner which was really nice of him, and the food was very good. I don't think I remember a bad meal in Paris actually.
-Saw the Eiffel Tower one last time and then returned to our hostel to sleep

Sunday:
-Checked out of the hostel and headed back to Gare du Nord station where we took a train around 10 am back to London
-We arrived back in London around 11:30 am and dropped our things back off at the house I live in
-Ate lunch at High Street Kensington at Balans where I had my first full english breakfast
-Headed to Baker Street to see the Sherlock Holmes museum (didn't actually go on the tour)
-Went to Trafalgar Square, and Leicester Square
-Walked around South Kensington
-Went to Piccadilly Circus at night to walk around and ate a a very good mexican restaurant in Leicester Square
-Went back to SK to sleep

Monday:
-Walked around Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens in the morning, and saw the Peter Pan statue!
-Mike explored the city while I had class from 12-4 and then we met back up to go on a walking tour for my Shakespeare class around Southwark
-Our walking tour ended at the George Inn pub (a historical pub dating back to the early 1600s)
-We took the tube to the Tower of London and then headed back along the south bank of the Thames river to Founders Arms to eat
-Went back to SK to sleep

Tuesday:
-Left SK around 6:30 am to take the tube to the London Heathrow airport
-Dropped Mike off at the terminal 4 station
-Came back to SK for my marketing class

That is a pretty abbreviated version of the weekend but it gives you an idea of the different sites we saw! I definitely recommend Paris to anyone (even Mike preferred Paris over London!) Since he left I've been trying to get some assignments finished and turned in. I have one class today from 1-4 pm and then a theatre performance of "Mother Courage" at the National Theatre tonight for my Contemporary British Theatre class. Two days ago was my roommate Catey's 21st birthday and we went out to celebrate at night for that. That is pretty much all that is new here in London!

I hope everyone is doing well! I'm officially half way finished my study abroad in London- another month and a half to go! I'm looking forward to seeing everyone and being at home, but I will definitely miss London!

Cheers!

More London Pictures + Stonehenge/Bath

2009-10-05T05:11:00.010-04:00

Portobello Road Market

The Roman Baths

The Entrance to Roman Baths

Stonehenge!

Chelsea's Pitch

Chelsea Football Club

Kaila, Kelsey and I in front of the pitch

Chelsea's locker room

At the Press Desk at CFC

Fountain in Trafalgar Square

Tower Green at Tower of London

The building that houses the Crown Jewels

The White Tower (the oldest tower in Tower of London)

The Tower of London at night

Me with a Yeoman Warder (Beefeater)

Jess and I at Buckingham Palace

St. Paul's Cathedral

Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey again

Big Ben

Piccadilly Circus

Trafalgar Square

These are some random London pictures from my adventure here so far! I've taken several hundred pictures so it is hard to include them all but I tried to pick some that show places I've been to and some of the people i've been traveling with. I'm going to do another post later with pictures from my daytrip to Brighton, and one with pictures from Scotland!

London Pictures

2009-10-05T04:53:00.012-04:00

Entrance to Metrogate House, the building I live in

Metrogate House

Looking down Queens Gate Terrace, the street I live on

Street sign for Queen's Gate Terrace

Catey (my roommate) and I at London Heathrow Airport

Amy, Kelsey, Catey and I (My suitemates)

My room

Looking across the Thames River at the London Eye

Us in front of the Tower Bridge at night

Watching the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace

Spending a night out at Imperial College

Deep Scottish Love (DSL)

2009-10-03T17:56:00.019-04:00

Hello everyone!

I'm sorry it's taken a while for me to post about my most recent trip to Scotland last weekend. It was such a busy, fun-filled weekend that I felt a little overwhelmed about trying to type it all up in a blog. I have a lot of really good pictures- about 300 to be exact- from the Scottish Highlands which I wish I could post but I'll have to show you all when I get home. The scenery was just beautiful! Everything was so picturesque with the highlands, mountains and rolling countryside stocked with sheep, cows and hairy coos. (Obviously I was very excited about the cows because I LOVE cows!) This was also my first multi-day tour with tour guides and a set itinerary. It was a neat experience and I would definitely try a tour like this again sometime. While there were some times where I wished we had been able to stay longer, we fit a lot into 3 days and I think it was the best way to get a good overview of Scotland. The last night we were there (Sunday night) we spent a few hours in Edinburgh before boarding our coach bus back to London Victoria Station. While it was cheaper than a train or plane, 9 hours each way on a coach bus is extremely uncomfortable and I don't anticipate doing that again if I can help it- especially if I am going to be on a bus for the rest of the weekend during the tour!

So the name of the tour we went on was "Skye High" Haggis Adventure, and it was led by our guides, Matt and Debs. We drove a bright yellow bus with "Wild and Sexy" written on the outside of it and our guides were pretty cheesy but very entertaining! We were almost late to the tour because our coach bus was late to the station but we hopped on a taxi there and made it in time. "We" refers to Catey, Jess, Amy, Shari and I (all from Drexel). So just to make it easier since we did so much and it is hard to include every detail, I'm just going to write an outline of each day. Here is a map of the route we took in Scotland during the tour:

Friday:
- Arrived in Edinburgh at 8:30 for tour
- Dunkeld- shimmering River Tay and the ruined Cathedral. Back to the Lowlands!
- Through the Cairngorms National Park to Kingussie for lunch (venison burger)
- Drumochter Pass- the highest road in Britain
- Inverness- meaning ‘At the mouth of the River Ness’
- Culloden Moor- where Bonnie Prince Charlie led the Highlanders in the doomed final Jacobite
uprising, and changed Scotland forever
- Clava Cairns - prehistoric burial chambers
- Past Perth- an ancient capital of our nation
- Forth Road / Rail Bridges
- Drove the full length of mysterious Loch Ness, past ruined Urquhart Castle
- Talk and demonstration of authentic scottish dress, bloody history of clans, weapons at The
Clansman Centre in Fort Augustus
- Dinner at Morag's Lodge hostel (haggis! chili)
- Stayed the night at Morag's Lodge

Saturday:
- Breakfast at hostel (toast, porridge, OJ)
- Loch Garry- affectionately known as “Scotland’s Loch”, and on to ‘The Road To The Isles’
- Eilean Donan Castle on Loch Duich
- Lunch at MacKenzie's Cafe (chicken and sweet corn bridie, macaroni pie)
- Isle of Skye & Cuillin Mountains
-Glen Shiel & the Five Sisters of Kintail
-Broadford and ‘Beinn na Caillich’
-Sligachan Glen
-Portree and Trotternish
-Glamaig
- Kilt Rock
- Dinner at Scot Kitchen in Fort Augustus (Local scottish-caught salmon)
- Quizzo and 'toga party' at hostel
- Stayed the night at Morag's Lodge

Sunday:
- Ate my own snacks for breakfast
- Glencoe- site of the infamous bloody massacre in the winter of 1692
- Fort William and Ben Nevis- the highest mountain in the UK
- Great Glen- Lochs Linnhe, Lochy, Oich, and.. Ness! & where Harry Potter Quidditch scenes
were filmed)
- Lunch at the Green Welly Stop in Tyndrum (Cullen Skink - the finest Mallaig peat smoked
Haddock, with onions, tatties, fish stock and cream & sticky toffee pudding)
- Visit to see Hamish, a famous hairy coo
- Through the Trossachs- Rob Roy MacGregor country
- Rannoch Moor- the largest expanse of uninhabited wilderness in Europe!
- William Wallace Memorial
- Stirling passing by Linlithgow Palace
- Arrived back in Edinburgh
- Went to Elephant House for hot chocolate (where JK Rowling wrote first two Harry Potter
books)
- Dinner at Whiski (Steak and ale pie, raspberry and currant cider)
- Bus back home at 10 pm

I think that is all pretty accurate- I'm not sure all of the times are right (before lunch, after lunch,etc.) but those were the places we saw each day. It was a VERY busy trip but I had so much fun and I would love to go to Scotland again! The Scottish Highlands are just beautiful and it was a nice escape from the hustle and bustle of London for a few days!

I am going to head to bed but I'll post tomorrow with updates about London! Cheers!

P.S. The name of this post is "Deep Scottish Love (DSL)" for the strong emotions the guides told us we would inevitably feel about the highlands and about our tour-mates while we were there.

Going to get me some Haggis!

2009-09-24T13:13:00.003-04:00

So tonight is a VERY exciting night. Why is that? Because I'm leaving at 11 pm to take a coach bus to Edinburgh, Scotland!! It is currently 6:15 pm here, and I still have not packed for it. I am currently doing my laundry down here in the basement of my building, and I'm typing this from the computer lab. Back to Scotland, basically I will be going with 4 other girls on a 3-day tour of the Scottish Highlands with the Haggis Adventures Tour group in Scotland, which leaves tomorrow morning around 8:30. Needless to say tomorrow is going to be a very long day, and I hope I can get some shut eye tonight! We're going to see Edinburgh, Isle of Skye, Lochness, Eilean Donan Castle on Loch Duich and Glencoe! To be honest I really don't know too much about Scotland so I am looking forward to learning and seeing all that I can. We will be getting back around 6:45 am on Monday morning.

This week has been a pretty good week. I'm having a momentary lapse on what I did on Sunday, I'm assuming it wasn't anything too significant. Monday I just had 6 hours of class, Tuesday I had 3 hours of class in the morning and then Catey, Jess and I decided to go to Trafalgar Square to see the National Gallery and a life-size chess board that contenders are playing daily. It was pretty neat! We wandered down through Leicester Square (where a lot of the theaters are located and the 1/2 price ticket booth), and over to Chinatown. It was a lot of walking but a nice walk! Tuesday night Cassie, Catey and I went to what was Princess Diana's favorite pizza place, right down the street from where I live. It was the second time I have been there and it was delicious!!

I've been trying to be more productive this week, and so I decided to start walking to get more exercise and hopefully tone up a little bit. I went for a "power walk" in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens two days, and finally saw the Peter Pan statue! I also saw the Princess Diana Memorial and may have seen the Queens horses in an exercise yard there. I can't be sure those were actually them though. There were also two nights where I walked down to Knightsbridge and to Earl's Court. The area I live in is a great place to take walks. I feel like there is always something new I haven't seen.

Yesterday I made a very exciting purchase- a brown corduroy blazer! I've been looking for one for a long time now and finally found one at H&M, so I feel compelled to announce that! I had class until 8 pm last night and spent the rest of the night back here. This morning Kelsey and I went to the Science museum for about an hour and a half and then I had Contemporary British Theatre class from 1-4 pm.

I apologize for not posting a new entry in a while, but I will definitely post one once I get back from Scotland! Until then, cheers!

The Scottish Presbyterian and the Pub Psychologist

2009-09-19T14:28:00.003-04:00

So I'm trying to make it so each title is an inside joke based off an experience, or just some funny memorable moment. Last night, Catey, Kelsey and I decided we wanted to go out somewhere. After a long time of searching through our London travel books and the internet, we found this place called Portobello Gold, the oldest bar in Notting Hill (Yes, the place where the movie with Julia Roberts was based off of). We took the tube down 2 stops to Notting Hill Gate and then roamed around down there trying to find this bar. We finally get there and notice that everyone else there is at least in their 30's, so it definitely wasn't a college student scene. However, we decided to each get a drink and sit down at a table to talk and relax. We met some very interesting people at the bar who decided to approach our table. First, the Pub psychologist. He was a drunk older man who came over to us and asked "Are you depressed? Are you feeling low? Do you feel like you're going to lapse? Because I am the pub psychologist. It's what I do..free of charge!" We all looked at each other not knowing what to think but we told him no, and he kept talking about I don't even know what. Over the course of the night he came back about 5 or 6 more times, each time asking if we were okay. We finally decided to play with him a little and told him our friend Catey was feeling a little low to see what he would do. What a funny guy. Next was this scottish man who came and sat down, offering us about 20 minutes worth of wisdom. Some of his takes on life: 1) Worth is more important than love 2) You meet people when you need to meet them 3) Have faith and confidence in yourself 4) Don't be irish - apparently his wife is irish and she gives him a splitting headache. It was just hilarious meeting these people and quite an experience!

Moving on, on Wednesday night we decided to go to Imperial again because we didn't have any plans but wanted to do something. We ended up meeting a whole group of British students who bartend at the union bar there. They had a day off but still decided to go there to hang out and joined us at one of the tables. We played some games and then they invited us out with them to Fulham to a club. It was really cool getting to meet some local people and going out to dance for a few hours. We went to a place called Fiesta Havana.

Thursday night after class I went to a play called "Stockwell" at the Tricycle Theatre off the Kilburn tube stop. It was further out of the city- almost out of Zone 2. It was a type of verbatim theatre (similar to the Laramie Project) where the entire performance was quotes from people who were at the incident or involved in the event. This story was about the brazilian man who was killed by the Metropolitan police after the London bombings a few years ago. He was thought to be a terrorist and was shot, even though he was an innocent man. It was a very sad story but very informative to me because I had never heard what happened before. The theatre was small and intimate. We were actually in the front row which I was very excited about. (You could sit anywhere but there just happened to be 3 seats open front and center).

Friday we went on a day trip to Bath and Stonehenge. It was very surreal going to these places I have heard so much about. We had about 45 minutes in Stonehenge, where we saw the rock formation and got cheese scones, and then we went to Bath to tour the Roman Baths. It is hard to believe how old the baths are- it just blows your mind! In Bath, we also went to this little restaurant called Sally Lunn's, famous for its sweet buns. It has been there since the 1400's I believe- really old! It was a long day on the coach bus but still a lot of fun! Last night when we arrived back I just wanted to sleep but I regained some energy somehow and that is when we went to Portobello Gold. I came full circle in this post!

Right now I am doing my laundry and I hope to do something tonight but I'm not sure what everyone else is doing (It is 7:46 here at the moment). I hope everyone is well! Cheerio!

Thames, Fireworks, Camden (better than Jersey!) and SCOTLAND!

2009-09-15T18:53:00.003-04:00

Hello everybody!

The last few days have been pretty eventful so I have quite a bit to talk about on this post. First of all, Sunday night we went to the Thames Festival, which was being held on the banks of the Thames River. It was a Saturday-Sunday event but we opted to just go Sunday night to the Night Carnival and fireworks. The Night Carnival wasn't actually a carnival- it was actually a parade with really elaborate, unique costumes, dancers and masqureaders! Most of the floats and dancers were glowing in the dark with lights or paint. I'd never seen anything like it before- here is a website with a description and pictures because it is kind of hard to describe:

http://www.thamesfestival.org/weekend/detail/night_procession/

Catey, Anna, Jess, Cassie, Kelsey and I had a lot of fun watching the parade next to the river, which overlooked Big Ben, the London Eye, the House of Parliament and a number of other London landmarks. Following the parade there were some really great fireworks over the river which were very close to us. I don't think i've ever been so close to fireworks before and there were some really loud booming ones since they were literally right over our heads. I love fireworks!

Yesterday in my international marketing class we went to a place in London called Camden Town, which is a huge marketplace (actually made up of 4 different markets). The markets sell pretty much anything you could imagine and there are all kinds of ethnic foods represented. We're doing presentations in our marketing class in a few weeks and each group is presenting on a different attraction in London. Camden Town is one of the groups' attraction, so that's why we spent the afternoon there. I saw a lot of things that I would like to get there, but I had just dropped £185 on an FIE sponsored Adventure Weekend in Wales trip (Nov 13-15!) and a ticket to ride the London Eye (on my birthday, Nov 18!!!!). So all I bought was a lemonade and some indian food, and it was delicious! I definitely want to try to get back there sometime before I leave.

Last night there was a welcome reception for all 300 or so FIE students at the International Student House a few stops down on the tube. There was free nibbles, a bar with 2 free drinks per person, a DJ and dancing, free t-shirts and a raffle drawing for trips and money. I went with a couple other girls and we had a great time! Free anything is good, and there was plenty of it! The nibbles were good (basically just appetizer food), and we had fun dancing to old-school middle school dance music. It felt SO much like a middle school dance it was pretty funny. We had to wait in line to get downstairs to the area with a big dance floor, and then people were pretty much hanging out with their groups of friends. The music was from when we were in 7th or 8th grade, and then they turned on disco lights. I was imagining a slow song coming on and people dancing arms length apart from each other, awkwardly turning the opposite direction from the person or talking with their friends. Oh good times!

Today I had just one class- international marketing. Today was also the first day it has rained in the last week and a half that we have been in London. It was rather depressing really, and it made me so sleepy that I took a nap for a good portion of the afternoon. This evening we went to Sainsbury's to buy groceries and then Catey, Jess and I booked a trip to Scotland for the weekend of September 25-27. It is a 3 day guided tour through the Scottish highlands to see Loch Ness and different sights out there. The brochure is a little cheesy with crazy pictures and funny descriptions but it looks like it is going to be so much fun! Here is the website for it:

http://www.haggisadventures.com/Scotland/Skye-High.html

So you're probably thinking that I am crazy. It seems like every post that I write, I have booked another trip- Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Bath and Stonehenge. Well I'm also planning a weekend in Paris and a week long trip to Italy after my program ends. But that will be all as far as weekend trips go! I want to do some day trips to Windsor, the Cotswolds, and maybe a day or two in Amsterdam!

Well I have class at 9 am and it is currently 12:19 am here in the UK so I'm going to hit the sack. Cheerio! :-)

Adventures in Brighton

2009-09-13T10:03:00.002-04:00

On Friday morning 8 of us took a train at 10:36 am to a town on the coast of England called Brighton. We took the tube to London Victoria Station and then transferred onto the train, which took about 50 minutes to get to Brighton. It was a beautiful day and it turned out to be a lot warmer than I thought it would be even though it was on the water. The town was very quaint with small cobblestone streets and it was a nice escape from busy London. After leaving the station we went down to the coastline and walked along the beach for a while. I was excited to be right along the English Channel for the first time! The beaches were stone, not sand, which was different but nice because I was wearing clogs which could have gotten very sandy. On the "boardwalk" (more like a winding pathway along the beach) there were a number of outdoor cafes and little shops. For lunch I stopped at a fresh seafood stand and bought a cup of fresh crab and prawns (which are basically like shrimp except a little larger). Both were VERY good but they didn't tie me over so I later bought an ice cream cone with a flake. Basically, it was a vanilla ice cream cone with a chocolate cookie in the side of it, which is called a flake. It was delicious! After sitting by the water for a while we went to Brighton Pier, which jutted out over the channel. The pier has a lot of amusement rides, arcades and shops. It reminded me of a pier at the Jersey Shore. I loved it because I love amusement parks and rides in general. After that we went back into town to the Royal Pavilion, a beautiful palace where George IV lived I believe (we didn't go inside to tour it). Instead we went shopping! There were several streets of boutiques, antique and vintage stores that Kelsey, Amy, Lisa and I went into. The 8 of us split up into 4 and 4 during the day which I think was easier. For dinner we went to this italian restaurant (I have no idea what it was called- all we saw was "All you can eat pizza and pasta for 6 pounds" and we were there). We decided to split the Pizza Overload which came with two pizzas, chips (fries), garlic bread, all you can eat salad bar, and two enormous sundaes. We were full before the pizza came out and we ended up bringing like 10 slices home with us. It was still delicious though! After dinner we met back up with everyone at a pub near the train station and hung out there before going back. I had my first Fosters, which was good but after all of the food I had eaten I could barely finish a pint. All in all we had a very fun day in Brighton!

Yesterday was a rather lazy day. Catey and I slept until almost noon since we had no particular plans. I was happy to get some extra sleep! Basically my afternoon consisted of doing my wash and booking a trip to see my friend Julia in Germany! I'm going to fly out of London-Stansted on October 22nd to Nuremberg, Germany, and then return to London on October 25th. I'm going to stay with Julia in Bayreuth for a day or two and then we're going to Munich. I met Julia when she was a foreign exchange student who came to my high school for a year. We've kept in touch since and I'm really excited to have her show me around for a few days! Last night a bunch of us went out to Imperial for a while to hang out and that was pretty much the day.

Today I've been reading "As You Like It" for my Shakespeare class. Tomorrow our class is cancelled because there is a FIE welcome reception at the International Student House which we have to take the tube to get to. There is free food, two free drinks, a raffle, and other fun activities. The only class I have tomorrow is International Marketing from 1-4 pm. We are going to Camden Market (our first of several field trips). I just want to get a head start on the Shakespeare since it takes me longer to get through. Tonight we're going to the Thames Festival along the Thames river. It has been going on yesterday and today, but tonight there is a Night Carnival and fireworks so we're leaving around 6:15 pm to head over there!

Hope everyone is doing well! Cheers!

IRELAND!!

2009-09-10T19:06:00.002-04:00

This is going to be a shorter post because it is 12:07 am here and I am pretty tired tonight, but I have GREAT NEWS! Last night 6 other girls and I planned a trip to IRELAND!! Ireland is one of my top countries to visit and we booked both the plane and the hostel last night. We're traveling November 5-8 (a Thursday to Sunday night) and we'll fly into Dublin. We got a really great deal on both the plane and hostel- 30 pounds for the round-trip flight and less than 30 pounds for 3 nights at the hostel, which also includes breakfast!

Come to think about it I have several pieces of good news...
-Classes are finished for the week so I have 3 days ahead of me to relax!
-Tomorrow we're taking a day trip to Brighton which is located on the coast, and the trip only cost 6 pounds! It sounds like a beautiful town and I'm really looking forward to it!
-Tonight I saw my first London show! FIE sponsored a trip to see "Blood Brothers" at the Phoenix Theatre in Leicester (sp?) square. Not only did Kelsey and I have 2nd row seats with no one in front of us, but we met several of the actors after the show! It was pretty neat and we had such a good view during the performance! I don't think I've ever been that close. The story itself was rather sad. We all preferred the first half better since it was happier and more upbeat. I won't spoil the show for anyone just in case you go see it! It was an interesting play though. Near the end during this really intense part in the play, Kelsey tapped me on the arm and whispered "mouse!" and pointed to the stage. I looked just in time to see this little mouse crawling on the side of the stage and I gasped so loud! (Mom, I can just picture your expression right now as you read this!) I really don't like mice and tried to lift my feet off the ground for several minutes after that. I guess it is good that it has been this long until I saw a mouse- our tour guide from earlier in the week told us we're never more than 6 feet from a rat or mouse in London...

Also, I finally was able to post some pictures! These are only about 1/4 of the pictures I've taken so far since it still takes time for them to load onto the internet, but at least the ones of my house/room, Hyde Park, and Kensington Palace are up. I'll try to get the others up really soon!

Here is the link to the website the pictures are uploaded on:

http://jennygoestolondon.shutterfly.com/

Enjoy! Goodnight everybody! (Cheers!) :)

3 hours of classes, 6 times a week

2009-09-08T17:34:00.002-04:00

Not even a week after finishing up finals at Drexel, I have once again begun classes...only this time in a new country, in a new continent with new british professors. For the next 7 weeks I am taking 3 classes- international marketing, shakespeare and elizabethean england and contemporary british theatre. The 4 weeks after that I will be taking a British Culture and Visual Media class. Since Drexel is on the quarter system, the schedule over here is a little wacky! So far, I have had international marketing and shakespeare. Both of the professors are engaging and very knowledgable, so I anticipate that they will be good classes. However, there is still work involved including multiple writing assignments, a presentation, and a marketing plan...which I'm not too thrilled about. All of the classes are 3 hours long, and I have each 2 times a week. The classrooms are pretty small and in one class I have 23 people so we're all crammed in to a space about double the size of my bedroom, but it isn't that bad. For my shakespeare class we're going to the Globe Theatre 3 different times to see plays, and in marketing we're going to the Chelsea Football Club, Tower of London, Camden Market, Piccadilly Circus, and one other place too. I really like how they are incorporating field trips into our classes and I'm really looking forward to it!

Last night after class, I went out to Imperial College again for another snake bite with Cassie, Anna and Amy, which was a lot of fun. I don't remember the last time I laughed so hard. We were only there for about an hour but we had a fun time talking. I also bought a Cadbury chocolate bar from the vending machine which was DELICIOUS!!

Today since I only had one 3 hour class (shakespeare) from 9-12, I had the rest of the day to myself. Jess and I decided to go to the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington, just a few minutes walk away. We spent almost 4 hours there- the place was huge! There was so much to see including scuplture, British art, Asian art, Medieval art, fashion, glass, photography...everything really. We were exhausted by the end, and we had to take multiple bench breaks to try and refresh ourselves. But we made it into most if not every single gallery so we were happy about that.

Afterwards, we went on an adventure trying to find our required shakespeare books- The Twelfth Night, As You Like It, and Macbeth. We went to Waterstone's Books on High Street Kensington but were only able to find 2 so we took the tube to Piccadilly Circus to their other location and couldn't find the bookstore for a while. It was a mess and we probably took the tube about 5 different times trying to find them! But we now each have brand spanking new copies of all 3 and we're still alive, so life is good.

For dinner I had leftover soup, two clementines and a bowl of corn flakes. Everyone's diets have been off horribly so far. One of my friends has been living off Nutella and toast the last few days. Another friend eats bagels and cream cheese at almost every meal. I'm trying to eat healthy but I have a feeling I'm going to lose a few pounds while I'm over here! I haven't been snacking like I am used to doing back home.

Well contrary to this long post, I am exhausted. It's almost 11 pm here and I need a nice, relaxing night of sleep. Cheers!

P.S. FIE is sponsoring a FREE trip to Stonehenge and Bath next Friday so I signed up today. I'm really excited!! :-)

Please mind the gap!

2009-09-07T06:24:00.004-04:00

The tube is the 'subway' system in London and whenever it approaches its next stop, a british voice comes on the speaker telling everyone to "please mind the gap!" There is a pretty significant gap between the tube train and the platform, and I love when the voice comes on to remind you!

So last time I wrote I was talking about our plans to go to our first pub in London- Anglesea Arms. Well, two nights ago was when we were going to the pub, and we found that particular pub a few blocks away; however, it said '21 and over only.' We were outraged!! We thought we would never be turned away from a place in London because of our age, and we were very disappointed! But we carried on, venturing around South Kensington to find another pub but each one had the same sign- '21 and over only.' So finally we went to a pub, it was '(something) arms'- I forget the name. But even though it still had that sign, we decided we were going to get ourselves some fish and chips. So we all ordered the meal and each got a beer so we could have the authentic experience of this british delicacy. I tried a beer called "Old Speckled Hen" which wasn't bad, but I really wanted to have a "London Pride". I'm not sure the man behind the counter understood what Kelsey and I wanted. The fish and chips was actually very good! Very unhealthy I'm sure, but we all enjoyed it. There were a lot of local people there at that pub, it wasn't a touristy place. However,with our group of 10, it was hard to really talk to anyone else.

After the pub, we went back to our house but then decided we wanted to go back out and try out the outside bar at the Imperial College Student Union. The local college has their own bar which I found to be kind of funny. There were a lot of college-age students there, including a good number of FIE kids (with the program that I am in). The bar's specialty is a drink called "snake bite" which is half beer, half cider with black currant. It was unique but tasted good! And better yet it was only 2 pounds which is pretty much as cheap as things will get. After our Imperial College bar experience, we went back to the house and just relaxed the rest of the night.

Yesterday morning we went to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard around 10:30 am. We'd been given a suggestion by our bus tour guide to stand by a lamppost in front of the fountain across the plaza from the palace. I have to do some research on how the changing of the guard works because although we were able to see the old guards from Clarence House (where Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry live), the old guards from Buckingham Palace, and new guards entering the palace, we couldn't see a lot of the action behind the gates because there were so many people squeezed against the fence. There were bands playing though which were very good! They played the Pirates of the Caribbean theme song, "You Raise me Up," and another song I didn't know. I love the palace guards' uniforms! The bear-skin caps are so sweet! So we saw that whole process which was neat, and then we actually toured the state rooms of Buckingham Palace, which are the public rooms of the palace. They are only open during August and September when the Queen is traveling elsewhere, and I'm really happy we were able to go inside. The rooms inside are so majestic, it's just incredible! We saw the state dining room, the grand staircase, the ballroom and walked through a number of other rooms. There was also a special display of dresses the Queen has worn to different places she has visited and gifts that she has been given by different countries. The tour included a free-audio tour with a headset that narrated through the different rooms. The tour ended in the Palace Gardens which were also very beautiful. We opted not to see the Queen's Gallery or the Royal Mews (where the horses and carriages are), since it cost extra money and we weren't as interested in seeing them.

Yesterday afternoon I took a very much needed 3 hour nap! Afterwards I was more awake than I probably have been since I got here. I made pasta in the kitchen and hung out with a bunch of the other people on our floor. There are mostly girls on the study abroad program, so I have been spending the majority of my time with other Drexel students- Catey, Jess, Anna, Amy, Kelsey, Lisa, Cassie and Sachi. We haven't had a lot of interaction with other schools because most of our floor is Drexel and our tours were mostly Drexel kids as well. There are also students from American University, Northeastern, U of Florida and a few other schools living in our building though, I believe.

Last night around 10 pm, Cassie, Kelsey, her friend Kelly from Temple, Catey and I went exploring out in the city. We took the tube to Tower Hill, which is where the Tower of London is located. We walked around the tower and along the Thames River, which was spectacular at night. We could see the Tower Bridge and the London Bridge. There was even a cruise ship traveling on the river and we saw the drawbridges go up at the Tower Bridge. We also went over and saw St. Paul's Cathedral which is just enormous and the architecture is incredible. At around 11:45 or so we decided to head back to the house because we have our first day of classes today!

It is 11:56 am here and I have my first day of classes today (international marketing and shakespeare for 3 hours each! ahhh) so I should probably go get a shower and eat breakfast.

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!! I hope you have a great day and hopefully we'll get a chance to talk later :-)

Cheers!

Roast Chicken Potato Crisps

2009-09-05T13:12:00.002-04:00

What is the title about you might ask? I got my first taste of roast chicken potato crisps (chips) the other day and was so taken off guard because they actually taste exactly like chicken, just in chip form. It was like something out of Willy Wonka!

Last night was a lot of fun! We went to Picadilly Circus for the first time. There are a lot of lights there, like a mini-Times Square and young people everywhere! The nightlife is so much better than Philadelphia- maybe it is because we can actually go to clubs and bars now. It was my first time taking the tube somewhere and their tube system is very nice and clean. Once we got to Picadilly there were all of these club promoters asking if we wanted to go into their places and we were all a little skeptical and unsure of where the best place was to go but there was a club called Zoo Bar which was really crowded outside of it and the guy who worked there said he could get the 6 of us in. We paid 5 pounds to get in and then a little more on some adult beverages. My first legal drink at a bar was a cranberry vodka which was pretty good. It was really crowded inside but the music was good and it was a fun atmosphere. We danced some and met our first british mates! At around 2:30 am our group decided to head back and I took my first double decker bus which was neat! We rode on the 2nd level and took the bus (#97 I believe) back to Kensington. Needless to say we're all pretty tired today.

This morning we started out with a walking tour of Kensington that lasted about 2 hours. Our tour guide was great, and not only showed us the local area but told us a lot about the history and other bits of information we wouldn't find elsewhere unless we did a good amount of research. When we got back to Metrogate around noon, we made lunch in the kitchen. I tried microwaving a packet of mac and cheese and it wasn't very appetizing. At 2 pm a bus picked about 50 of us up for a double-decker bus sightseeing tour of London which lasted about 2 1/2 hours and we saw all of the famous sights like Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the Tower of London, London Bridge, Harrod's, Buckingham Palace, etc etc. There were too many places to count! I want to post all of my pictures up but the connection with this blogger site is awfully slow. We also saw where Gringotts bank and Diagon Alley were in the Harry Potter films! That was pretty cool.

Tonight we're going to a pub called Anglesea which is apparently down Queens Gate Terrace further. It's a real local place, which was recommended by our bus tour guide. We're all dying to try fish and chips, and get a pint of Fuller's (sp?) beer, a local brewery in London!

Noticeable differences discovered so far between the U.S. and Britain:
1. People drive on the opposite side of the road and you have to be SO careful not to get hit when crossing. Likewise, the driver is on the right-hand side of the car and the passenger is on the left.
2. Taxi cabs here are black and don't look anything like a NYC taxi.
3. Everything is in pounds and pence here, and there are no 1 pound bills, just big heavy coins.
4. You need a converter for any appliances.
5. Things are pretty expensive. Most everything is.
6. People are very nonchalant about drinking, and don't make fools of themselves by getting too drunk. They've been drinking since they were 16 or so.
7. Firearms are illegal! Fun fact I learned at yesterday's orientation. I feel a lot safer here than in Philly.
8. Telephone booths have pictures in them of naked women. One, there are few telephone booths in Philly (and they're definitely not red and distinct like in London), and two, you will definitely not see full out nude pictures.
9. Tipping is only 10% at restaurants, you don't tip at bars and you don't tip for taxi cabs- just round to the next pound.
10. There are double decker buses everywhere! So cool.
11. You won't find many SUVs or trucks here. All of the cars are very small and there are a good number of the mini smart cars.
12. The British are more reserved and less flamboyant than Americans. It hasn't been hard to determine who is American.
13. Items at the grocery store are smaller. And everything is in metric. When making my mac&cheese today I just poured in milk and water and hoped it was about the right amount. I don't know how much 250 ml is!
14. Things go bad sooner here (food) because there are less preservatives.

I'll keep expanding this list in the future, but they're some interesting things that I have noted.

Well we're off to the pub soon! Cheers!

First Post from the UK!

2009-09-04T14:12:00.007-04:00

Hey everyone! I've been in London since 10:15 am or so yesterday morning (UK time). I flew into London-Heathrow airport- it was about a 6 hour plane ride- but I made it safe and sound! During the flight, around midnight U.S. time, we were given a full meal on the plane. I had beef with a roll, carrots, green beans, a salad and brownie. About two hours before landing in London, we were given a small breakfast of fruit and a croissant. I only slept about 2 hours, but I was happy to get some kind of sleep. The chairs were not too comfortable to sleep in and they kept turning on and off the lights and would make occasional announcements so it kept interrupting any sleep I was trying to get. I was flying Continental on a 757 I believe, and all of the seats had small screens on the back where you could watch tv shows, movies, listen to music and play games. I watched The Office, Friends and listened to some music during the flight too. Once we arrived at the airport, we had to turn in UK border agency cards that we filled out on the flight with all of our information including passport number, our local address, how long we would be there, where we came from, etc. We gave this to customs, along with our passports and immigration letters, and I got the first stamp in my passport!

We took a bus from the airport to our new home in South Kensington. Entering the bus was a little different since the driver drives on the right side of the car instead of the left. The trip took about a half an hour and we finally arrived, received our keys and starting unpacking in the rooms. The building I live in, the Metrogate House, is on a very nice street in Kensington. It is a very rich, affluent neighborhood- a lot of Jaguars, Porsches and other nice cars. This isn't typical of a lot of London but the area is very nice. The house itself has a variety of different rooms including singles, doubles, triples and even 4 person rooms. I live in a suite-style room. Once you walk in the door, there is a bathroom on the right, a bedroom right in front of you, a closet to the left, and a door leading to another bedroom on the left. Both bedrooms are doubles, and I live in the one on the left. I'm rooming with my friend Catey, and my 'suitemates' are Kelsey and Amy. I've had classes with both of them, and all three are really nice. I think we got pretty lucky with our room styles/locations too. We only have to go up one flight of steps (we're on the 1st floor but it's really on the second level), and our windows look out at the street, Queens Gate Terrace, which is a nice view. Some of the other rooms in the building have a view of the back of buildings and the views aren't as attractive. Also, other rooms have bunked beds and are a little smaller. I even have more room than I did in Crossings, including closet space! I was able to fit all of my clothes in there. There are two beds, two nightstands, two closets, and a mini-fridge in our room. I even have milk, orange juice and some snacks now- we went to a grocery store called Sainsbury's last night.

Yesterday after we got here several of us just passed out on the beds and left everything packed on the floor. After an hour or so of sleeping, I started unpacking and organizing everything. At 6 pm we went on a walking tour of Kensington led by one of the Residential Life Supervisors (RLS) and we found out where the local places are including Imperial College (we have a student card there to use the Imperial College Union facilities), Boots Pharmacy, Barclay's (bank) and other local restaurants and stores. The rest of the night was ours, and I went with 5 other girls to an indian restaurant for dinner. My first time using pounds and pence! European currency is a little confusing to use so far but I think I'm getting the hang of it. After dinner, we went to the grocery store and then my friends and I stayed in for the night, although some of the other kids went out to a bar nearby.

Today we had a Student Life and Academic orientation this morning in a lecture hall at the neighboring Imperial college with other universtities. Each university has a custom-made study abroad program. Some schools are only doing internships, some have classes and internships and then Drexel only has classes. I think we also have one of the shorter programs because the other schools are on the semester system and go til mid-December. After orientation, I went to get pizza down the block from our residence. I forgot the name of the place but it used to be Princess Diana's favorite pizza place apparently. Then we ventured over to Hyde Park which is BEAUTIFUL! It's a little like Central Park in NYC but it is much more open and just lovely. Kensington Palace and gardens are located in Hyde Park too and we walked around the exterior but didn't go inside to tour around today. We sat down on some steps in front of the opera house for a while and then I went with two girls to the bank, phamacy and grocery store to get some extra food for dinner. Things are rather expensive here so I've been trying not to spend too much money on food and other things so far.

Tonight we are planning on going out to Piccadilly Circus which apparently has a lot of bars, clubs and pubs. My first time being able to order a drink here (since the drinking age is only 18 and if you are taller than the bar counter you are basically served)! I'm looking forward to going out and hopefully meeting some british college-age students!

I've been trying to post pictures on here but the internet connection is really slow so i'll try to put them up as soon as I can! Cheers!

See ya USA!

2009-09-02T12:00:00.004-04:00

In 10 hours I will be on a plane!! I've been thinking and planning about today for months now and it is finally here. I don't think it will actually hit me that I am leaving though until I get on the plane..or until I actually get there. I finished the last of my 4 finals yesterday morning which was a huge relief! (Yesterday was the first day of finals for all of the other Drexel kids, but I started taking mine last Friday to get them all finished.) I left Drexel last night around 11 pm after spending a great day with Mike for his birthday and then we got back home around 1 am this morning. Ever since waking up around 9:30, we have been making copies of important documents, getting my clothes, toiletries and electronics together, and making sure I understand how my phone plan, currency, etc works over there. There is so much to remember and I keep running across things around the house that I need so I hope I don't forget anything really important!

My plane leaves from Newark Airport tonight out of Terminal C at 10:10 pm. My parents and I are going to leave home around 5 pm to get there by 6. My sister Lindsay is going to take the train to the airport from Stevens in Hoboken and meet us there, and then I have about an hour to spend with them before I head through security and join the other Drexel students who are studying abroad too. I used to really enjoy flying, but the last few times I have been on a plane, I've been really nervous and uncomfortable. I've decided I am a land person, and I'm looking forward to being back on land after a 7-7.5 hour flight over the Atlantic ocean. We're arriving around 10 something in the morning- their time. I will be 5 hours ahead over in London so it's going to really mess me up the first few days. I have a feeling I'll be getting terrible jet lag. I hope I can sleep on the plane for at least a few hours! My first red eye flight.

I sent out my address to a couple people already but just in case you didn't get it or find it more convenient to just look on here, here is my London address for the next 3 months:

Jennifer Crossan (Drexel University)
c/o Metrogate
3-7 Queen's Gate Terrace
London SW7 5 PE
United Kingdom

Feel free to send me letters while I am there! I'm going to do my best to send plenty of postcards from the UK and wherever else I travel to! The best way to contact me will be on skype, facebook or email. My email address is still jlc88@drexel.edu, and once I remember my skype username I'll post that on the blog. I will have an international cell phone but I won't be using it a lot since it is more expensive, and it will either cost me a lot or cost you a lot.

I'm going to try and keep this blog up almost every day so I hope you guys enjoy reading it and please keep in touch! :-) Talk to you all soon from London!

One Week Away

2009-08-26T20:27:00.002-04:00

One week and an hour or so from now I will be on a plane flying out of the Newark airport to the London-Heathrow airport where I will be living for the next quarter. I have never been outside of the U.S. or Canada before and I anticipate that Europe will be much different than what I am used to. I have a lot of mixed feelings about going away for such a period of time. 3 months may not seem like that long but I have never been gone that long without seeing friends and family on a regular basis. I am so excited about seeing a new part of the world that I've only heard and read about, but I'm also kind nervous, anxious, unsure what to expect, and sad about leaving my family and friends. Drexel's study abroad office warned us that students traveling to London tend to experience a greater 'culture shock' than students who travel to countries that require the knowledge of a second language. I think that is because we don't expect London to be THAT different from Philadelphia, but there are a lot of differences that I'm sure we will pick up on while we are over there.

I've been trying hard to concentrate on planning for London but it's been really hard with everything else I have going on this summer! Right now I'm in my 4th straight quarter of classes and we are approaching finals week. I have to take all of my finals by the first real day of finals, Tuesday, because my plane leaves Wednesday. I have my hotel rooms division management final Friday, Finance and Business of Sport on Monday, and Marketing on Tuesday. I am also busy moving out of the apartment I have lived in the past year. Unlike when I lived in the dorms freshman year, I have to move out all of my furniture as well, in addition to clothes, books, and all other random college items. Last week I became very overwhelmed with everything happening all at once, but I have started to get my things for London together and have planned out the last few days I will be here so I make sure I get everything I need to done. In the past week, I got a new camera, raincoat, laptop case for our 9" little Acer, long-sleeve shirts that I can layer with when the weather gets cold, a portable hard drive, my international phone, international student identity card...and I have to be careful because I only can bring one large suitcase, a duffel bag and a backpack probably.

As I'm sure you've probably seen by now, this first post is stressed-out Jenny, pre-London. My parents keep telling me that once I am over there I will really be 'getting away' from Philadelphia and Drexel and a lot of the activities I am involved in here at school, so it will hopefully give me the chance to relax. One week away! I don't think it has hit me yet that I will be 4000 miles away from home in just a few days!