Where the Harry Potter hall was.... grrr
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
Oxford
There was a day trip planned through school to go to Oxford one Saturday a couple weeks ago!! I jumped on that bus and got to go see where all the smartie pants studied..
First thing learned- Oxford is not just one school. Oxford is the town where a bunch of different smart schools are located. Each school offers all the same majors; one school does not specialize in one area, which I find quite weird. It must be hard for the students applying to decide which school to go to since all of them offer everything... very peculiar to me.
Right when we got there, our tour guide, who was graduate student at one of the school warned us that we really really really need to be careful of bikers. They are very dangerous and many people have gotten seriously hurt when they weren't paying attention. Great one more thing to have to worry about when crossing the street... bikers. I instantly became worried about my well-being.
We walked around the town, viewing all the different schools for an hour or two. It was yet again a GORGEOUS day.. actually quite hot. I definitely dressed to warm for the adventure. Our guide was kind of odd though. When she would try to explain things, she hesitated a lot and she really didn't seem to know what she was talking about. Which is yet again odd considering she attends one of the most prestigious universities in the world. I zoned her out half way through the trip when she couldn't remember what the name for an arch was.
The last time we made was to the famous Harry Potter dining all. Yes, the dining hall that is in the Harry Potter movies is in Oxford. But did we see it, NOOOOOOO. It was under construction that day. The one day out of the whole year it was under maintenance. You would think that since we were going through the school they would have warned us or known that it was not opened that day. After learning this, EVERYONE was furious. That was really the only thing I was interested in seeing and it was shut downnnn.
The next 4 hours we had to ourselves. A group of 10 or so of us got lunch at a cute little pub on the river. It was lovely and the sun was sooo wonderful. Unfortunately when I got home later that night, I discovered that have of my face only was enjoying the sun... I was two faced: burnt on one half and pale on the other. Attractive I know.
We walked around for quite awhile after our long, lovely lunch. Happened to come across an Alice in Wonderland shop. (Meg is OBSESSED with Alice in Wonderland, we always joke about how she is like Alice) Ended up spending quite some time in that store with the rabbit....
Then we went to a church tower, climbed the top and saw a wonderful panoramic view of the glorious Oxford willage. Our guide lady also informed us that we COULD NOT by any means go on the grass. TRuly, I have never seen such well-kept, green, short grass in my life. Luke and I wanted so badly to step on, but were nervous that there was an alarm system or something on it that would get us in trouble. Anyways, from the tower view it looked even better! We were able to refrain ourselves, luckily and made it the whole day without going on it.
Our last stop was a famous pub that many famousssss people hang out.... wish I remembered the name of it but I will figure that out and get back to ya. It was a very cozy, relaxed setting and I could definitely see some celebs hanging, sipping on some drinks at that place.
First thing learned- Oxford is not just one school. Oxford is the town where a bunch of different smart schools are located. Each school offers all the same majors; one school does not specialize in one area, which I find quite weird. It must be hard for the students applying to decide which school to go to since all of them offer everything... very peculiar to me.
Right when we got there, our tour guide, who was graduate student at one of the school warned us that we really really really need to be careful of bikers. They are very dangerous and many people have gotten seriously hurt when they weren't paying attention. Great one more thing to have to worry about when crossing the street... bikers. I instantly became worried about my well-being.
We walked around the town, viewing all the different schools for an hour or two. It was yet again a GORGEOUS day.. actually quite hot. I definitely dressed to warm for the adventure. Our guide was kind of odd though. When she would try to explain things, she hesitated a lot and she really didn't seem to know what she was talking about. Which is yet again odd considering she attends one of the most prestigious universities in the world. I zoned her out half way through the trip when she couldn't remember what the name for an arch was.
The last time we made was to the famous Harry Potter dining all. Yes, the dining hall that is in the Harry Potter movies is in Oxford. But did we see it, NOOOOOOO. It was under construction that day. The one day out of the whole year it was under maintenance. You would think that since we were going through the school they would have warned us or known that it was not opened that day. After learning this, EVERYONE was furious. That was really the only thing I was interested in seeing and it was shut downnnn.
The next 4 hours we had to ourselves. A group of 10 or so of us got lunch at a cute little pub on the river. It was lovely and the sun was sooo wonderful. Unfortunately when I got home later that night, I discovered that have of my face only was enjoying the sun... I was two faced: burnt on one half and pale on the other. Attractive I know.
We walked around for quite awhile after our long, lovely lunch. Happened to come across an Alice in Wonderland shop. (Meg is OBSESSED with Alice in Wonderland, we always joke about how she is like Alice) Ended up spending quite some time in that store with the rabbit....
Then we went to a church tower, climbed the top and saw a wonderful panoramic view of the glorious Oxford willage. Our guide lady also informed us that we COULD NOT by any means go on the grass. TRuly, I have never seen such well-kept, green, short grass in my life. Luke and I wanted so badly to step on, but were nervous that there was an alarm system or something on it that would get us in trouble. Anyways, from the tower view it looked even better! We were able to refrain ourselves, luckily and made it the whole day without going on it.
Our last stop was a famous pub that many famousssss people hang out.... wish I remembered the name of it but I will figure that out and get back to ya. It was a very cozy, relaxed setting and I could definitely see some celebs hanging, sipping on some drinks at that place.
panoramic view!
Wimbledon
Considering the weather has also been super nice, we are able to do other activities besides going to the park that are touristy. One day a couple weeks ago Luke, Lain and I took the tube alllllll the way until you could not go anymore at the WIMBLEDON stop. We walked around the area surrounding where the tennis matches were for about an hour. Wimbledon is a suburban area, which I really like. Being in the city has been very eventful, but seeing houses and parks was really comforting and made me really excited to go home.
Weather was sooooo beautifulll. Wimbledon also is not as big slash exciting as I thought it would be... still AWESOME to see though. Saw the scoreboard of all the people who had won. ALSO, as we walked out of the courts... there were other courts next to wimbledon. There were little kids playing that we stoppped to watch. Kids were crazy goooood. Working to go next to door to the big courts Forrr Suree.
Weather was sooooo beautifulll. Wimbledon also is not as big slash exciting as I thought it would be... still AWESOME to see though. Saw the scoreboard of all the people who had won. ALSO, as we walked out of the courts... there were other courts next to wimbledon. There were little kids playing that we stoppped to watch. Kids were crazy goooood. Working to go next to door to the big courts Forrr Suree.
Good Life
Ever since we got back from Prague, the weather has be UNBELIEVABLE!! It has made it sooo hard to stay inside and do school work. Most of our days are spent at the Kensington Park, a couple blocks away from our campus. We either do homework there and bring blankets, take a stroll in the park or mainly kick the soccer ball around. It has been so much fun getting a bunch of us in our program who have or haven't played soccer to try to juggle or play pick-up soccer games. Also since the weather has been nice, one of our housing directors, Thomas (who is by the way is the cutest English Man I have met since being here) anyways, he's in his late 20s maybe early 30s and has organized pick up soccer games for every Friday afternoon. He sends emails out early in the week so everyone in the program who wants to can join in the park to play soccer. Literally it has been so amazing and so much fun. SO much fun. It has made me really miss soccer though but that's okay because I can actually play now without my knee hurting!
A couple weeks ago, only a few of us showed up to play Friday. Instead of playing 6 on 6 or 7 on 7 like we had played in previous weeks, we only had enough to do 3 v 3..... thus a lot of running. It was also extremely hot that day. Got a sweet tan actually. That's besides the point...afterwards, we decided to go jump in the pond that was located in the middle of the park. Many people thought we were crazy. When I said it was hot, I was talking like 60, 65 degrees. When we jumped into the pond, people started to take pictures of us. In the pond, there are little row boats you can rent as well so people rowing by also snapped some shots of us as well. The water was BEYOND freezing. I had jumped in with my tshirt and shorts and when I got out I was soaking wet, with nothing to dry off with. Making the truck home made me resent jumping in.
One afternoon, instead of playing soccer, we decided to throw a baseball and frisbee. There was a group of probably 6 or 8 of us in a huge circle right near the pond tossing the ball and frisbee. You had to be on your toes because you had to watch for the frisbee and baseball. I freaked out one time when the ball was thrown to me and then a second later the frisbee was thrown to me too that I accidentally chucked the baseball into the pond. The ball had landed just far enough into the pond where you it was arm distance away, almost reachable but not quite. It was a the tip of our fingers. This kid Tyler almost fell trying to reach for it. We didn't know how deep the water was so we literally had a line of the 6 of us holding arms to dip Tyler over the pond to try and grab the ball. Yet again, people surrounding the pond took pictures of the stupid American kids trying to get a baseball out of the pond. They probably just didn't understand why the baseball was that important to us, considering they don't have baseball in the UK.
A couple weeks ago, only a few of us showed up to play Friday. Instead of playing 6 on 6 or 7 on 7 like we had played in previous weeks, we only had enough to do 3 v 3..... thus a lot of running. It was also extremely hot that day. Got a sweet tan actually. That's besides the point...afterwards, we decided to go jump in the pond that was located in the middle of the park. Many people thought we were crazy. When I said it was hot, I was talking like 60, 65 degrees. When we jumped into the pond, people started to take pictures of us. In the pond, there are little row boats you can rent as well so people rowing by also snapped some shots of us as well. The water was BEYOND freezing. I had jumped in with my tshirt and shorts and when I got out I was soaking wet, with nothing to dry off with. Making the truck home made me resent jumping in.
One afternoon, instead of playing soccer, we decided to throw a baseball and frisbee. There was a group of probably 6 or 8 of us in a huge circle right near the pond tossing the ball and frisbee. You had to be on your toes because you had to watch for the frisbee and baseball. I freaked out one time when the ball was thrown to me and then a second later the frisbee was thrown to me too that I accidentally chucked the baseball into the pond. The ball had landed just far enough into the pond where you it was arm distance away, almost reachable but not quite. It was a the tip of our fingers. This kid Tyler almost fell trying to reach for it. We didn't know how deep the water was so we literally had a line of the 6 of us holding arms to dip Tyler over the pond to try and grab the ball. Yet again, people surrounding the pond took pictures of the stupid American kids trying to get a baseball out of the pond. They probably just didn't understand why the baseball was that important to us, considering they don't have baseball in the UK.
doing hw in the park the basball
prague continued....
Alright sooooo next morning... snuck out of the room in hopes of NOT seeing our not so friendly roomie. They served breakfast at the hostel, which was very convenient so naturally we consumed as much free food as we could possibly intake.
After stuffing our faces with bowls, and bowls of cereal we went on a hunt to find Lauren. She had landed early early in the morning and was wandering around the city trying to find us. We finally ran into her hours after the hunt started. Just a little tid bit, there are approximately 4 different clock tower churches in Prague... all on different corners of the city. yessss
Since it was Easter, in the main square there were little stands of food and people selling trinkets all over. There were also decorations for easter, with easter eggs in the trees and little people dressed up as bunnies. Along with food, people were selling KAVA!!!!!!! I was amazed to see signs for kava all over! (remember kava is the polish word for coffee). Thus I was advertised everywhere, and thus felt pretty special of my heritage right then. Another reason why I loved Prague so much. I was constantly reminded of myself everywhere I turned and able to smile every time I saw a sign for coffee.
It was a nice day that day so we decided the best way to see all the sites was a free walking tour. Free is always better too. Our tour guide was pretty hilarious. He had a weird sense of humor and was extremely animated so it made the tour pretty entertaining. We walked around for literally three hours, which was great but sooo sooo long and we were dead afterwards, considering we did not get a lot of sleep the night before because of our roommate situation....
Went back to the lovely hostel and took a quick cat nap before our adventurous pub crawl. I have a friend studying abroad in Prague and she said the best thing to do at night in Prague is go on a pub crawl because then you can experience many places in just one night. Took her advice and it was a complete success. We went to three different pubs and then a club to the end the night off. Yet again met soooo many people from all over. One group of kids were actually study abroad students as well studying in Spain. Other then them, they were mainly young adults in their 20s from Ireland, Australia, Portugal, China.... that is about all I can remember. Mostly people from Australia though. We met a lot of different groups of people from Australia, ironically.
Since we booked our hostel only a couple days before we arrived in Prague, the hotel didn't have room for all four of us to be in the same room each night. We were all placed in different rooms with random people. Of course, the four of us were too scared to sleep by ourselves that we paired up and bunked in each others rooms. I slept with Lauren in one room and Bree and Meg slept in another room. There were no issues that morning, thankfully. When Lauren and I woke up we went into Meg and Bree's hostel room to see the kind of people they were rooming with. Surprise, surprise that there were three boys from Australia and another older lady from Australia. These boys were SOOOO SOO funny. We sat in the hostel room for over two hours talking to these mates. They were telling us hilarious stories about there experiences in Europe and giving us some of the hot songs in Australia. Ironically again we discovered that the boys were just in Prague for the holiday and were currently living in Noting Hill, London.... the town right next to Kensington.... small small world it is. But the holiday they were here for was not the Easter holiday. It was Sports Day in Australia. That was the holiday they were here for. I guess in Australia they have a full day of just constant sporting events. It was their favorite holiday of the whooolllllleeee year. There plan was to go to an Australian pub alll day and night and watch the events. Us girls were not really into watching sporting events all day while we were in Prague so we decided we would meet up with them later that night at the pub to end the holiday off.
Our plan for the day was to do a spider bike tour. We saw advertising for an eight-person bike tour while we were on a hunt to find Lauren the morning before. It was a beautiful day so we were determined to find this spider vehicle.
The streets in Prague are very very confusing. They were so small, and all intertwined that it made it hard for tourist to get around. Luckily, we had tour guide Meg figured out the maze and led us to our destination.
The bike was SOOO BIZARRE. It was shaped in a circle with eight little mini bikes around the circle. It's hard to describe but all in all we looked soo silly. As we were riding down the streets, people could not stop staring. I felt like a celebrity with all the pictures that were taken of us.... apparently the spider bike is not used that often so people were in awe when we traveled through the city on it. Our tour guide was pretty excited about it and he appreciated us advertising his bike and tour company.
After the tour, we went to the clock tower church that was right behind out hostel. We climbed to the top to get a panoramic view of the entire city. It was crazy how all the building tops had the same red roofs. At the stoke of every hour, a little man toots a little horn. He plays a little song from the tower top and people crowd around to listen to him do his performance. We happened to be up there on the hour so saw him playing his song.
Dinner time came around pretty fast. We went to the oldest cellar in Prague that was underground. There was a little banjo band playing in the dark cellar as we ate our huge portions of food. Pretty coool.... then we promised the Australians we would stop by the pub to see how the events were going. It was a pretty small pub and we were so tired from the night before that we were literally planning on stopping in, say hello and peace out to go to bed. This was not the case at all. The boys made us try the Australian drink.. rum and coke before we left. We only had one drink and clearly they had way more cus they kept on buying us more and more and more. haha. I don't know why but they were so entertaining and sooo much fun. The pub was playing Australian music and every time one of their favorite songs came on, they jumped up on either the bar or table to do some sort of dance and sing to the music. Luckily, they had made friends with the owner earlier on in the night, so he was completely fine with three, pretty big boys dancing all over his tables. Only once out of many many attempts did they manage to drag us up on to the table with them.
Next day, we shopped a little more at the easter square celebration and bought some souvenirs. After that we walked all the way to the river to the famous Charles Bridge to hike up the hill to see the Prague Castle. Yet again we witnessed a wonderful view of the city.... went to bed soon afterand woke up early and flew home back to London.
Last european trip, and it was a great way to end it. Exhausted from traveling, that's for sure.
After stuffing our faces with bowls, and bowls of cereal we went on a hunt to find Lauren. She had landed early early in the morning and was wandering around the city trying to find us. We finally ran into her hours after the hunt started. Just a little tid bit, there are approximately 4 different clock tower churches in Prague... all on different corners of the city. yessss
Since it was Easter, in the main square there were little stands of food and people selling trinkets all over. There were also decorations for easter, with easter eggs in the trees and little people dressed up as bunnies. Along with food, people were selling KAVA!!!!!!! I was amazed to see signs for kava all over! (remember kava is the polish word for coffee). Thus I was advertised everywhere, and thus felt pretty special of my heritage right then. Another reason why I loved Prague so much. I was constantly reminded of myself everywhere I turned and able to smile every time I saw a sign for coffee.
It was a nice day that day so we decided the best way to see all the sites was a free walking tour. Free is always better too. Our tour guide was pretty hilarious. He had a weird sense of humor and was extremely animated so it made the tour pretty entertaining. We walked around for literally three hours, which was great but sooo sooo long and we were dead afterwards, considering we did not get a lot of sleep the night before because of our roommate situation....
Went back to the lovely hostel and took a quick cat nap before our adventurous pub crawl. I have a friend studying abroad in Prague and she said the best thing to do at night in Prague is go on a pub crawl because then you can experience many places in just one night. Took her advice and it was a complete success. We went to three different pubs and then a club to the end the night off. Yet again met soooo many people from all over. One group of kids were actually study abroad students as well studying in Spain. Other then them, they were mainly young adults in their 20s from Ireland, Australia, Portugal, China.... that is about all I can remember. Mostly people from Australia though. We met a lot of different groups of people from Australia, ironically.
Since we booked our hostel only a couple days before we arrived in Prague, the hotel didn't have room for all four of us to be in the same room each night. We were all placed in different rooms with random people. Of course, the four of us were too scared to sleep by ourselves that we paired up and bunked in each others rooms. I slept with Lauren in one room and Bree and Meg slept in another room. There were no issues that morning, thankfully. When Lauren and I woke up we went into Meg and Bree's hostel room to see the kind of people they were rooming with. Surprise, surprise that there were three boys from Australia and another older lady from Australia. These boys were SOOOO SOO funny. We sat in the hostel room for over two hours talking to these mates. They were telling us hilarious stories about there experiences in Europe and giving us some of the hot songs in Australia. Ironically again we discovered that the boys were just in Prague for the holiday and were currently living in Noting Hill, London.... the town right next to Kensington.... small small world it is. But the holiday they were here for was not the Easter holiday. It was Sports Day in Australia. That was the holiday they were here for. I guess in Australia they have a full day of just constant sporting events. It was their favorite holiday of the whooolllllleeee year. There plan was to go to an Australian pub alll day and night and watch the events. Us girls were not really into watching sporting events all day while we were in Prague so we decided we would meet up with them later that night at the pub to end the holiday off.
Our plan for the day was to do a spider bike tour. We saw advertising for an eight-person bike tour while we were on a hunt to find Lauren the morning before. It was a beautiful day so we were determined to find this spider vehicle.
The streets in Prague are very very confusing. They were so small, and all intertwined that it made it hard for tourist to get around. Luckily, we had tour guide Meg figured out the maze and led us to our destination.
The bike was SOOO BIZARRE. It was shaped in a circle with eight little mini bikes around the circle. It's hard to describe but all in all we looked soo silly. As we were riding down the streets, people could not stop staring. I felt like a celebrity with all the pictures that were taken of us.... apparently the spider bike is not used that often so people were in awe when we traveled through the city on it. Our tour guide was pretty excited about it and he appreciated us advertising his bike and tour company.
After the tour, we went to the clock tower church that was right behind out hostel. We climbed to the top to get a panoramic view of the entire city. It was crazy how all the building tops had the same red roofs. At the stoke of every hour, a little man toots a little horn. He plays a little song from the tower top and people crowd around to listen to him do his performance. We happened to be up there on the hour so saw him playing his song.
Dinner time came around pretty fast. We went to the oldest cellar in Prague that was underground. There was a little banjo band playing in the dark cellar as we ate our huge portions of food. Pretty coool.... then we promised the Australians we would stop by the pub to see how the events were going. It was a pretty small pub and we were so tired from the night before that we were literally planning on stopping in, say hello and peace out to go to bed. This was not the case at all. The boys made us try the Australian drink.. rum and coke before we left. We only had one drink and clearly they had way more cus they kept on buying us more and more and more. haha. I don't know why but they were so entertaining and sooo much fun. The pub was playing Australian music and every time one of their favorite songs came on, they jumped up on either the bar or table to do some sort of dance and sing to the music. Luckily, they had made friends with the owner earlier on in the night, so he was completely fine with three, pretty big boys dancing all over his tables. Only once out of many many attempts did they manage to drag us up on to the table with them.
Next day, we shopped a little more at the easter square celebration and bought some souvenirs. After that we walked all the way to the river to the famous Charles Bridge to hike up the hill to see the Prague Castle. Yet again we witnessed a wonderful view of the city.... went to bed soon afterand woke up early and flew home back to London.
Last european trip, and it was a great way to end it. Exhausted from traveling, that's for sure.
Monday, 26 April 2010
CZECH ME OUT= Prague
Heyooo. Prague was a blast! Absolutely loved how different it was than another place. The buildings seemed untouched, yet still extremely old. I guess the city of Prague is the only place in Europe that DID NOT get bombed or damaged by the war and that's why the buildings are in unbelievable condition.
So we got in late Friday night and checked in to our very first hostel!! It is surprising that ever other place we have gone, we have been able to stay either friends or managed to find a cheap hotel. We were still very excited slash nervous for the nights we were about to have in Prague's Square Hostel....
Anyway, we got in late and got to our room and learned that we had two other roommates in our room. It was a 5 person room with me, Meg, and our friend Bree from London... Lauren accidentally booked her flight for Thursday April 1st, instead of Friday the 2nd with the rest of us so she was not able to get out till Saturday early, early morning... but yah we had two other roommates in our room. Our hostel mates weren't in there when we got there so we were curious who we would be coming home to, once we back from getting food.
As we strolled through the city, we ran into a group of three American boys. They were trying to get information from us about where a good pub was located, but since we had just arrived, we were pretty worthless. We got to talking and learned that one of the boys was Ali Farokmanesh's younger brother, Charlie. [ A little tid bit- Ali Farokmanesh is a basketball player for Northern Iowa who dominated in the game against Kansas in the first round of March Madness] We got on this topic because Meg and mentioned that she was from Kansas and right away Charlie butted in by saying he was the famous Farokmanesh's younger broha. Quite an interesting run-in.
When we got back to our room, we were sad to see that our roomies had still not come back yet. We were quite nervous for them to come in at night, that we decided to put three mattresses in the loft located right above the two sets of bunk beds. Some one had already claimed the loft area, but we noticed that the clothes looked like a boy who went to St. Louis, so he couldn't be that mad if we moved his mattress to one of the bunks down below. Additionally, we wrote a sweet little note to him telling him how we were excited to be roommates and that we had three girls sleeping in the loft because we were scared and hoped he didnt mind.
FOUR HOURS LATER: we were woken by the note being crumpled up and thrown in the waste basket. The boy was not as friendly as we had hoped and did not appreciate the sweet little note we had left him. He was also was not American. He was dutch. Naturally, the three of us pretended to be sleeping when he climbed the ladder to the loft to yell at us and didn't move a muscle when we angrily got into his new bed located on the bottom bunk.
TWO HOURS LATER ( AKA 5am): We were woken again, but by the note being reopened from the waste basket and instead of the dutchman climbing the ladder, it was the hostel manager who had decided to get in on our little moving session. The manager was able to wake us up and forced us to move all three mattresses down to the spots we found them at and then move dutch boys back up. Not what we thought the first night in a hostel was going to be like.....
So we got in late Friday night and checked in to our very first hostel!! It is surprising that ever other place we have gone, we have been able to stay either friends or managed to find a cheap hotel. We were still very excited slash nervous for the nights we were about to have in Prague's Square Hostel....
Anyway, we got in late and got to our room and learned that we had two other roommates in our room. It was a 5 person room with me, Meg, and our friend Bree from London... Lauren accidentally booked her flight for Thursday April 1st, instead of Friday the 2nd with the rest of us so she was not able to get out till Saturday early, early morning... but yah we had two other roommates in our room. Our hostel mates weren't in there when we got there so we were curious who we would be coming home to, once we back from getting food.
As we strolled through the city, we ran into a group of three American boys. They were trying to get information from us about where a good pub was located, but since we had just arrived, we were pretty worthless. We got to talking and learned that one of the boys was Ali Farokmanesh's younger brother, Charlie. [ A little tid bit- Ali Farokmanesh is a basketball player for Northern Iowa who dominated in the game against Kansas in the first round of March Madness] We got on this topic because Meg and mentioned that she was from Kansas and right away Charlie butted in by saying he was the famous Farokmanesh's younger broha. Quite an interesting run-in.
When we got back to our room, we were sad to see that our roomies had still not come back yet. We were quite nervous for them to come in at night, that we decided to put three mattresses in the loft located right above the two sets of bunk beds. Some one had already claimed the loft area, but we noticed that the clothes looked like a boy who went to St. Louis, so he couldn't be that mad if we moved his mattress to one of the bunks down below. Additionally, we wrote a sweet little note to him telling him how we were excited to be roommates and that we had three girls sleeping in the loft because we were scared and hoped he didnt mind.
FOUR HOURS LATER: we were woken by the note being crumpled up and thrown in the waste basket. The boy was not as friendly as we had hoped and did not appreciate the sweet little note we had left him. He was also was not American. He was dutch. Naturally, the three of us pretended to be sleeping when he climbed the ladder to the loft to yell at us and didn't move a muscle when we angrily got into his new bed located on the bottom bunk.
TWO HOURS LATER ( AKA 5am): We were woken again, but by the note being reopened from the waste basket and instead of the dutchman climbing the ladder, it was the hostel manager who had decided to get in on our little moving session. The manager was able to wake us up and forced us to move all three mattresses down to the spots we found them at and then move dutch boys back up. Not what we thought the first night in a hostel was going to be like.....
Our comfy beds... in the loft
Sunday, 25 April 2010
Around in London
Sooo a couple weeks ago, a girl in our program was trying to study at Starbucks BUTTT it was way too crowded. She was wandering around aimlessly looking for a seat and who do you know got up and gave her his seat.... dun da da daaaa yup ROBERT PATTINSON!!!!! ahhh the vampire was out during the day and was kind enough to give his seat away. He also sat and chatted with her for a little and made fun of Americans for a little as well.
Also,
Kim Catrall (Samantha from Sex in the City) has a house on the corner of the same street where my school is.... YUPPPP Im bound to run into her one of these days. I guess she is working on some play in London and is renting the house out while she works! do dod doooo
Also,
Kim Catrall (Samantha from Sex in the City) has a house on the corner of the same street where my school is.... YUPPPP Im bound to run into her one of these days. I guess she is working on some play in London and is renting the house out while she works! do dod doooo
Pisaaa
So the last day in Italy we went to Pisaaaa to see the leaning Tower of Pisssssa.. There honestly is nothing else in the town besides the Leaning Tower. Dead town. But happy I still saw it because it was so entertaining making pictures with it...
Pretty canals in Pisa
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
Italia continued...
Later that night...
Another really cool thing about Erica's program is that instead of having a cafeteria like we do here in London, they get vouchers for certain restaurants in the area. Which is really nice because the restaurants are really really nice which means really really great food. Since the girls had been traveling a lot, they had a lot of leftover vouchers to use up.
That night, they took us a really fancy restaurant. Right when we walked in the door, the bus boy gave us a glass of champagne as we waited for a our table to be ready. The restaurant was right on the river and there was a band playing right in the center of where we were eating.... so romantic... haha. Included with the vouchers were two main courses. It was the best meal I have had since being aboard!
It was pretty late once we finished dinner that we just went back to Erica's and hung out before we went to bed. This trip was really great having people show us around. For once too, I didn't feel rushed. We had three entire days to conquer Florence and it was nice to be able to sleep in a little bit and take our time going from place to place.
We decided to see more of the Italian lands Saturday. The plan was to go to Rome for the day, but everyone was telling us that there was no possible way we could see everything in just one day. Plus it cost a ton of money to get there from Florence so we figured we needed a new plan. Siena was the next best thing.... it was 1/8 the price and took half the time to get there.
We took the train to the beautiful lands of Siena on yet again another beautiful day. On the train, it was really cool to be able to see all the country on the way there. I hadn't seen any open land in a really long time Siena was different than any other place I have ever been. It was fairly small but pretty neat.
El Campo is the main deal, where the Tower is located and many cute little restaurants overlooking the square. Gelato stands also surround El Campo and most of the people around had a cone in hand. We walked around the area for a couple hours, searching for this mysterious playground, with a supposedly amazing view that Erica and Alli had been to before. Before going to Florence, Erica and Alli spent two weeks in Siena taking Italian lessons so they knew what they were doing.
I just can not get over the streets... they were so narrow and antique looking that I felt like I was in Harry Potter and about to enter some secret passage somewhere in the city. I loved it! There were also kids playing soccer, running throughout the city.
We literally spent all day, wondering the streets. This trip also consisted of a lot a lot of walking. I am not complaining at all, but I was always sore at the end of the day! ha.
Another really cool thing about Erica's program is that instead of having a cafeteria like we do here in London, they get vouchers for certain restaurants in the area. Which is really nice because the restaurants are really really nice which means really really great food. Since the girls had been traveling a lot, they had a lot of leftover vouchers to use up.
That night, they took us a really fancy restaurant. Right when we walked in the door, the bus boy gave us a glass of champagne as we waited for a our table to be ready. The restaurant was right on the river and there was a band playing right in the center of where we were eating.... so romantic... haha. Included with the vouchers were two main courses. It was the best meal I have had since being aboard!
It was pretty late once we finished dinner that we just went back to Erica's and hung out before we went to bed. This trip was really great having people show us around. For once too, I didn't feel rushed. We had three entire days to conquer Florence and it was nice to be able to sleep in a little bit and take our time going from place to place.
We decided to see more of the Italian lands Saturday. The plan was to go to Rome for the day, but everyone was telling us that there was no possible way we could see everything in just one day. Plus it cost a ton of money to get there from Florence so we figured we needed a new plan. Siena was the next best thing.... it was 1/8 the price and took half the time to get there.
We took the train to the beautiful lands of Siena on yet again another beautiful day. On the train, it was really cool to be able to see all the country on the way there. I hadn't seen any open land in a really long time Siena was different than any other place I have ever been. It was fairly small but pretty neat.
El Campo is the main deal, where the Tower is located and many cute little restaurants overlooking the square. Gelato stands also surround El Campo and most of the people around had a cone in hand. We walked around the area for a couple hours, searching for this mysterious playground, with a supposedly amazing view that Erica and Alli had been to before. Before going to Florence, Erica and Alli spent two weeks in Siena taking Italian lessons so they knew what they were doing.
I just can not get over the streets... they were so narrow and antique looking that I felt like I was in Harry Potter and about to enter some secret passage somewhere in the city. I loved it! There were also kids playing soccer, running throughout the city.
We literally spent all day, wondering the streets. This trip also consisted of a lot a lot of walking. I am not complaining at all, but I was always sore at the end of the day! ha.
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
Italia!!!
Sooo I know I am a couple weeks behind but I am going to make up for lost time!
March 25th thru the 28th I went to visit my friend from Boulder, Erica Fabrizio in Florence. Ironically, two of my guy friends here in London had a friend studying in Florence too. What is even more ironic is that their friend was friends with my friend, Erica in Florence... what are the odds.
So together the three of us travelled yander to the beautiful country of Italy. It was so nice being able to go see Erica with other people. I always planned on going to see her, but it made me nervous going to Italy not knowing the language and by myself so this trip made itself made me very happy!!
We arrived in Florence late Thursday night... it was wonderful outside. Like t-shirt, pants weather. It hadn't really gotten warm in London yet so it was nice not having to worry about wearing a jacket. The two girls met us at the train station and all of us walked back to their apartment. Through their program, they lived in apartments with other civilians in Florence. Luckily, Erica lived right across the street from their friend, Alli. They literally open their windows and yell out to each other when they need something. It is pretty cool. The apartments are super super nice to and super super big. Each girl has their own room to themselves then there is a big living room with a TV (in Italian ha) and an enormous kitchen and a cute little balcony in the back. They literally live on their own.
Anywho, after we settled in, we walked to a local pub, Red Garden in hopes of catching some of the March Madness games. Surprisingly, the games were on!! We were able to watch Syracuse lose to Butler in the sweet 16 round. On our way to the pub, we met up with one of my sorority sisters form Boulder who was studying in Florence too! It was so nice seeing her too. ALSOOOOO at the pub, I ran into two of my friends who I went to high school with who were studying through the same program as Erica in Florence and they were all friends!! Connor Thacker and Sarah Sigfussion... literally it has been so weird meeting people and finding such random connections with people... IN EUROPE!!! I feel like I more weird connections with people in Europe then I did the states.
After the games Erica and Alli wanted to take Billy, Tyler and I to the "secret bakery". We had no idea what they were talking about and kind of just went along with it laughing... when we arrived at our destination, which was an alley with no one in sight and with no stores open whatsoever, we were so confused. A little after standing around for awhile, in this alley ft, a man popped out of a window door and whispered to Alli, in Italian what she wanted. hahaha. It was honestly the most bizarre thing. This place was literally a secret bakery. It is the only place "open" late late at night, which it is not supposed to be but anyways it makes a lot of busy at night when kids come home at night and want something to eat. Apparently, if this man got caught, he could get into a lot of trouble... thus why its a ssseeecccrrreeettt.
The next morning, we woke up, went to get some delicious bagels for one euro and made our way to the Duormo. It is a huge hugeee church and you can climb the top and literally see the entire city of Florence. There were 300 steps to the top and we had to climb through the thinest hallways EVER. In addition, it was a spiral staircase kind of deal so we were dizzy in this process AND as we were going up, people were coming down so it was quite the adventure trying to get to the top.
When we did make it to the top though, it was such a site to see. Florence is a lot bigger than I imagined. The weather was yet again perfect and we didn't have to wear jackets.
We walked around Florence a little bit afterwards and decided to go to Galleria dell' Accaemia to see Michelangelo's famous DAVID! It is HUGE by the way, and really the only exciting exhibit in the entire museum. Well, the museum is not that big to begin with, exactly why there were so many people crowded around the Daivd. There are strict rules against taking pictures for the sculpture, but rebel me wanted a picture. I had Alli and Billy guard me while I sneakily tried to take out my camera. When the guard got distracted talking to a tourist, I snapped a quick shot. The minor detail I forgot to check before I took the picture was the flash. The David light up when I took the picture so every tourist gave me the stare down after I had taken the picture. Unfortunately the guard saw the flash too and started running at me, screaming in Italian. I decided to book it out of their after this and waited for the rest of the group to finish going through the museum in fear I would be departed out of the country.
Our group! The little halls we had to through to get to the top of the Duromo
THE DAVID!! Im good
Billy, me, Erica, Alli, and Tyler!
March 25th thru the 28th I went to visit my friend from Boulder, Erica Fabrizio in Florence. Ironically, two of my guy friends here in London had a friend studying in Florence too. What is even more ironic is that their friend was friends with my friend, Erica in Florence... what are the odds.
So together the three of us travelled yander to the beautiful country of Italy. It was so nice being able to go see Erica with other people. I always planned on going to see her, but it made me nervous going to Italy not knowing the language and by myself so this trip made itself made me very happy!!
We arrived in Florence late Thursday night... it was wonderful outside. Like t-shirt, pants weather. It hadn't really gotten warm in London yet so it was nice not having to worry about wearing a jacket. The two girls met us at the train station and all of us walked back to their apartment. Through their program, they lived in apartments with other civilians in Florence. Luckily, Erica lived right across the street from their friend, Alli. They literally open their windows and yell out to each other when they need something. It is pretty cool. The apartments are super super nice to and super super big. Each girl has their own room to themselves then there is a big living room with a TV (in Italian ha) and an enormous kitchen and a cute little balcony in the back. They literally live on their own.
Anywho, after we settled in, we walked to a local pub, Red Garden in hopes of catching some of the March Madness games. Surprisingly, the games were on!! We were able to watch Syracuse lose to Butler in the sweet 16 round. On our way to the pub, we met up with one of my sorority sisters form Boulder who was studying in Florence too! It was so nice seeing her too. ALSOOOOO at the pub, I ran into two of my friends who I went to high school with who were studying through the same program as Erica in Florence and they were all friends!! Connor Thacker and Sarah Sigfussion... literally it has been so weird meeting people and finding such random connections with people... IN EUROPE!!! I feel like I more weird connections with people in Europe then I did the states.
After the games Erica and Alli wanted to take Billy, Tyler and I to the "secret bakery". We had no idea what they were talking about and kind of just went along with it laughing... when we arrived at our destination, which was an alley with no one in sight and with no stores open whatsoever, we were so confused. A little after standing around for awhile, in this alley ft, a man popped out of a window door and whispered to Alli, in Italian what she wanted. hahaha. It was honestly the most bizarre thing. This place was literally a secret bakery. It is the only place "open" late late at night, which it is not supposed to be but anyways it makes a lot of busy at night when kids come home at night and want something to eat. Apparently, if this man got caught, he could get into a lot of trouble... thus why its a ssseeecccrrreeettt.
The next morning, we woke up, went to get some delicious bagels for one euro and made our way to the Duormo. It is a huge hugeee church and you can climb the top and literally see the entire city of Florence. There were 300 steps to the top and we had to climb through the thinest hallways EVER. In addition, it was a spiral staircase kind of deal so we were dizzy in this process AND as we were going up, people were coming down so it was quite the adventure trying to get to the top.
When we did make it to the top though, it was such a site to see. Florence is a lot bigger than I imagined. The weather was yet again perfect and we didn't have to wear jackets.
We walked around Florence a little bit afterwards and decided to go to Galleria dell' Accaemia to see Michelangelo's famous DAVID! It is HUGE by the way, and really the only exciting exhibit in the entire museum. Well, the museum is not that big to begin with, exactly why there were so many people crowded around the Daivd. There are strict rules against taking pictures for the sculpture, but rebel me wanted a picture. I had Alli and Billy guard me while I sneakily tried to take out my camera. When the guard got distracted talking to a tourist, I snapped a quick shot. The minor detail I forgot to check before I took the picture was the flash. The David light up when I took the picture so every tourist gave me the stare down after I had taken the picture. Unfortunately the guard saw the flash too and started running at me, screaming in Italian. I decided to book it out of their after this and waited for the rest of the group to finish going through the museum in fear I would be departed out of the country.
Pretty Florence at the top of the Duromo!
Billy, me, Erica, Alli, and Tyler!
Tuesday, 6 April 2010
DuBlin
So back to Alex and Amanda's visit....
Tuesday, day before St. Patty's day, we departed for Ireland.
Our hotel was a little outside of a city, but it was fine because we got some walking in and got a chance to see the area around Dublin.
St. Patrick's day we woke up early to get the Guiness Museum in before the St. Patrick's day parade.
Like the Heinken Museum, it was AWESOME! Much bigger than Heinken and there was a lot more to do. The museum had a infinity bar at on the 7th floor where we received our free beer.... at 11am ha. It was also cool being up that high because we could see all of Dublin! It is not very big I noticed from being this high and water is not too far away. It was really funny because we pre-ordered our Guiness tickets online and they had a special on this day for anyone named Patrick, or anything similar to it like Pat, Patty, Patricia.... these people were VIP... Very Impotant Patricks who got access to certain rooms and a free entrance fee. haa
After the museum we were on our way to the parade. Let me tell you... it was the geratest, most entertaining, exotic, lively parade I have ever been too. They really go all outttt. The theme this year was "Around the World" so there were themes fro different countries. People went all out on their costumes and really went above and beyond on the floats. Seriously, I can't even describe what I saw, you just gotta see the pictures.. The streets were packed with people in green, that one could hardly move to walk anywhere. Also, many of the shops were closed, due tot he holiday.
Meg and I were a little nervous about going to Ireland for St. Patty's because soo soooo sooo many people told us that in Dublin they consider St. Patrick's Day a "religious holiday" and no one really does anything... these people were quickly proved wrong.
Like I said, streets= mass chaos. For blocks and blocks there were people everywhere!! We tried so many places to go in to get some food and have a drink after the parade but everywhere was swarmed with people! It was awesome though because we met so many people, who were beyond friendly. The first pub we went to, we met these three guys from Ireland who informed us a lot about Ireland. We learned that "craic" (yes pronounced like "crack") means to have fun and one of the guys went to the states fro business and asked his co-worker where the good places to have craic were.... long story short, he almost got fired because of it. hahaha
Anywho, people were dancing all over the tables and chairs and literally anywhere there was room... which there was not a lot of because it was so crowded so it was quite entertaining.
Tuesday, day before St. Patty's day, we departed for Ireland.
Our hotel was a little outside of a city, but it was fine because we got some walking in and got a chance to see the area around Dublin.
St. Patrick's day we woke up early to get the Guiness Museum in before the St. Patrick's day parade.
Like the Heinken Museum, it was AWESOME! Much bigger than Heinken and there was a lot more to do. The museum had a infinity bar at on the 7th floor where we received our free beer.... at 11am ha. It was also cool being up that high because we could see all of Dublin! It is not very big I noticed from being this high and water is not too far away. It was really funny because we pre-ordered our Guiness tickets online and they had a special on this day for anyone named Patrick, or anything similar to it like Pat, Patty, Patricia.... these people were VIP... Very Impotant Patricks who got access to certain rooms and a free entrance fee. haa
After the museum we were on our way to the parade. Let me tell you... it was the geratest, most entertaining, exotic, lively parade I have ever been too. They really go all outttt. The theme this year was "Around the World" so there were themes fro different countries. People went all out on their costumes and really went above and beyond on the floats. Seriously, I can't even describe what I saw, you just gotta see the pictures.. The streets were packed with people in green, that one could hardly move to walk anywhere. Also, many of the shops were closed, due tot he holiday.
Meg and I were a little nervous about going to Ireland for St. Patty's because soo soooo sooo many people told us that in Dublin they consider St. Patrick's Day a "religious holiday" and no one really does anything... these people were quickly proved wrong.
Like I said, streets= mass chaos. For blocks and blocks there were people everywhere!! We tried so many places to go in to get some food and have a drink after the parade but everywhere was swarmed with people! It was awesome though because we met so many people, who were beyond friendly. The first pub we went to, we met these three guys from Ireland who informed us a lot about Ireland. We learned that "craic" (yes pronounced like "crack") means to have fun and one of the guys went to the states fro business and asked his co-worker where the good places to have craic were.... long story short, he almost got fired because of it. hahaha
Anywho, people were dancing all over the tables and chairs and literally anywhere there was room... which there was not a lot of because it was so crowded so it was quite entertaining.
Thursday, 25 March 2010
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