Things I didn't write about, but still happened:
Dublin: Wicklow, city tour, Vanessa's eyeballs, pub crawl (Th-Sat)
Romeo and Juliet at the Globe, Fiestaaaa (Sun)
Burritos (Mon) - what else?
Tues? - discovery of Greek
Studying, Acrobatics (Wed)
Studying (Thurs)
Actuarial Final (Fri)
Greenwich- Maritime and Astronomy museums (Sat)
Movieum, Brick Lane, Hayfields (Mon)
Elephant and Castle (Tue)
Spoons (Wed)
Probability, Tottenham Court Road (Th)
Thorpe Park, BBQ (Fri)
Last day, protest, horses, Oxford Street, dancers in stores, Dames's family (Sat)
Flight home (Sun)
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
The rest of Scotland and MCFLY!!
May. 6th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Friday, 1 May
Kevin and I got up at seven in the morning to get ready, grab food, and get to Haggis Adventure Tours for our day trip. On the way out of the city, we passed a school that had been sold and was being done over into apartments. It used to be a school for deaf and blind children, and their big charity event was an annual football match where the blind kids would play the deaf. This obviously put the blind kids at a bit of a disadvantage, so it was decided to put a bell in the football for them to hear the ball to kick at it and not lose as badly. Three years ago, they cancelled the match, though, as a cat had cut across the pitch the blind children were practicing on; wearing a collar with a bell on it, it attracted the attention of the blind children, who kicked it to death. Whoops.
We drove through the countryside a little bit, passing Sterling and Scone castles (we couldn’t see them too well) and made a pit stop at a place that had a woolly coo, Hamish. He looked like a baby woolly mammoth, without a trunk, and was adorable. He thought my camera was a snack, which was almost bad. I guess a tour guide got bovine herpes from “kissing” Hamish by having him eat a Digestive out of his mouth. Teehee!
We drove through the Highlands for another couple hours, occasionally stopping to take pretty pictures. We saw the lake where Sean Connery has a house, and also a certain chunk of mountains that is used in a lot of movies, such as Braveheart and Harry Potter. We also passed a little glen where the MacDonalds live; they don’t like the Campbells and won’t let any one by the name of Campbell stay in their town because hundreds of years ago, the Campbells took advantage of Highland hospitality and stayed in the MacDonald’s homes for a couple weeks, until they killed them all in the morning. We also passed the tallest mountain in Scotland (Nevis, I think). The name of North Face originates from the treacherous North Face of the mountain, which is kinda cool.
We eventually ended up at Loch Ness. I forget the name of the town we were in, but it was very cute, and they had a manmade canal for little boats to go through. Kev and I watched those for a few, and also walked down to the lake to eat our bagged lunch. The view was very pretty; it probably would have been nice had we done the boat tour as well, but what we did was more relaxing. A swan tried to eat some of our food; I think Nessie was really a giant black swan. How terrifying would that be?
Before getting back on the bus, we tried to go see this old abbey that’s being redone into flats, but it was private property so we got scared and ran away. We slept for a lot of the drive back, in between watching the Highlands and rainbows (Scotland had lots of rainbows, man) out the window.
We got back a bit early from our trip, which was good, so Kev and I went on a seach for some dinner. We ended up at Maggie Dickson’s Pub- the woman who was hanged, pronounced dead, and then woke up going “jk! And you can’t retry me because I’ve been punished for that crime (hiding a pregnancy) once already! LOL.” They had a decent deal of 2 dinners for eight quid, so I got some fish and chips and a soda, and then when we were eating, some woman came by our table and asked if we wanted a sample of Jack and coke. So we got a couple free samples of Jack and coke, which was fab.
After dinner, we went to do a ghost tour. Rhiannon, Er’s friend, came to meet up with us, so that was cool. We got free wind-up flashlights; mine ended up being extremely bright for a while, but then died. I think I over wound it, which I didn’t think possible. Oops. The tour was pretty cool. It started at Waverly Bridge, where lots of people go to commit suicide- they were going to put nets as a preventative measure, but decided drunk people would think it a fun game to jump into the nets. They’re so right. Then we went to Calton Cemetery and heard the story about the woman who was buried alive and awoken from her coma due to the pain of graverobbers cutting off her fingers to remove her rings; they tried to argue that she would’ve died if they hadn’t dug her up, so they saved her life, but they still got hanged for it. We also went up Calton Hill, which is supposedly the portal to the faerie world, but that wasn’t explained too well. We did relearn a bit about changelings and redcaps and grindylows, though. Redcaps like to eat your intestines, and grindylows turn into pretty horses that, when you try to catch them, you get stuck to the horse and it runs back into the water and you drown. Our tour guide was really fun and entertaining, Kev tried to be his biffle, and I don’t blame him a bit.
We went to the Bank Hotel to enjoy our complimentary pint, and chat a little bit longer, until Rhiannon had to go and Kev and I decided to crash.
Saturday, 2 May
We went and wandered around Edinburgh castle for a while; we went into the War Museum, where I was distracted by a video about bagpipers and dancing in kilts, as well as the information about how when a sailor first crossed the equator, there would be a ceremony where people dress up as mermaids and Neptune and throw the sailor in a tub of water and give him a certificate. Scots are fun. We also saw the Crown Jewels and the Stone of Destiny (you can barely see where it was broken; I was too short to notice it, and had to stand on tiptoe when Kev pointed it out) before rushing outside to see the one o’clock gun go off (since it’s cheaper for one cannon blast than the twelve necessary to mark noon). The war memorial was also pretty cool, and had books with all of the soldiers’ names who died in action- I found Kev some Mc and MacQueens. There was also a really cute, tragic dog cemetery.
From the castle, we went into a kilt shop that had actual looms and stuff working in it- it was a really cool shop, and huge.
We lunched in the Elephant House, which was a cafe covered in elephant trinkets and books, and served very delicious beef and mushroom pie with some of the best mashed potatoes and gravy ever, as well as awesome chocolate cake. But the food easily could have tasted so good simply because that was the place where JK wrote a large portion of Harry Potter, since they would let her sit there all day with a single cup of coffee. You could see “Hogwarts” as well as Greyfriars Kirk and the castle from the large windows, and it was so so cute. Kev and I decided that it was far too loud for any real work to be accomplished, but that was probably because of JK’s fame, and it must have been much quieter on the whole when she initially wrote there. (Several times we also passed the hotel in which she finished the last book, and engraved the date on the back of a bust in the room she was staying in).
After we were full, we moseyed over to Arthur’s Seat (nothing to do with the king- maybe I’ll look up the origin of the name someday). We apparently took the exceedingly difficult way up, starting on a remarkably steep path, then diverging to go up and down the rocky crags before that small path met up with the level large one we initially left. After hanging out on the top a bit and enjoying the stellar view of the city, the mountains and the water, we decided to take the easy route down. Somehow we missed that and ended up slipping and sliding down what must have been a waterfall in the rain, but was dry since it was a sunny day. Yeah, we rocked that mountain.
I got back in to campus around eleven, and sent in the last of my forms to confirm my employment for the summer, so I will definitely be working a full-time internship from Newton. Go team!
Sunday, 3 May
This was largely a recovery from travel type of day. I watched a couple of movies and discovered textsfromlastnight.com (bad news bears), and then went to see X-Men Origins at Genesis when I figured I needed to get out of the room. It was really good. I will say nothing else about it.
Monday, 4 May
I did some more chilling and catching up on photos and LJ early in the day. Vanessa and I took a little while to plan our birthday party- we’re going to have sombreros and a piñata, be jealous- and then I went to Boulevard Brasserie at Covent Garden for the BC farewell dinner. I got duck as a starter, and it came looking like lunch meat with two pieces of yummy bread, cranberry sauce, and lettuce, so I decided to make a sandwich- the kid next to me copied my idea, and all the flavours mixed deliciously. I had chicken kiev and mashed potatoes as the main course, and profiteroles (cream puffs!) smothered in chocolate sauce for dessert. And lots of free wine. I talked to Paul Wooten for most of the meal, and then Liz came and visited towards the end. I ended up going back to Mile End on my own since everyone else was going to get drinks after, but Liz and one of her friends walked to the underground with me before they went back to their campus.
I ended up going to Hayfields once I got back, and played some pool. I was completely terrible, and accidentally hit Damien in the face with the pool cue after one of my crap shots, and I felt really bad. We left pretty early since Hassan and Damien had a final the next day.
Tuesday, 5 May
OMG MCFLY! I had McDonalds for the first time in a long time and it was delicious, and then went to the concert. David Achuerleda opened, and he was really good- everyone got very excited when he sang “Angels,” by Elton John. After he finished and before McFly went on, they were playing random music (“Mihnomihna” and the like), which was really funny. And then McFly was there, and they were wonderful. All About You, Obviously, Star Girl, Five Colours, Do Ya?, Another Song for the Radio, and The Last Song were among the many played. As “break times,” Tom explained how they called to order a pizza at every city, and the one with the fastest delivery time would be their favourite city to go to, so then Dougie called Dominos from on stage. When the pizza arrived, he threw the pizza on the people down front. (I was so jealous- the girls behind us, at the very back, got asked if they wanted to move down front, probably because they were enthusiastic during the opener, but also because they were too close to the spotlight operator. I almost bought those tickets. I am so dumb.) At the end, they threw everything into the crowd- towels, water bottles, poured the coke from Dominos on everyone... it was really funny. SUCH A GOOD EXPERIENCE. I bought a show shirt and am very glad for it. I tried calling Erin when they were singing All About You, but I don’t think it came across the phone very well. I couldn’t even hear if it went to her voicemail or if she picked up or if it failed to dial. The only really sad thing about the concert was that it was a small venue (good for being close despite being up back) but that made it a bit hazy from the heat, so they were harder to see and my pictures are pretty blurry. A good portion of them will be posted anyways, though, because I was so excited. Love McFly.
I had to have Caitlin hold on to my room key so that Carly could let herself in when she got to my campus, but that worked out fine.
Friday, 1 May
Kevin and I got up at seven in the morning to get ready, grab food, and get to Haggis Adventure Tours for our day trip. On the way out of the city, we passed a school that had been sold and was being done over into apartments. It used to be a school for deaf and blind children, and their big charity event was an annual football match where the blind kids would play the deaf. This obviously put the blind kids at a bit of a disadvantage, so it was decided to put a bell in the football for them to hear the ball to kick at it and not lose as badly. Three years ago, they cancelled the match, though, as a cat had cut across the pitch the blind children were practicing on; wearing a collar with a bell on it, it attracted the attention of the blind children, who kicked it to death. Whoops.
We drove through the countryside a little bit, passing Sterling and Scone castles (we couldn’t see them too well) and made a pit stop at a place that had a woolly coo, Hamish. He looked like a baby woolly mammoth, without a trunk, and was adorable. He thought my camera was a snack, which was almost bad. I guess a tour guide got bovine herpes from “kissing” Hamish by having him eat a Digestive out of his mouth. Teehee!
We drove through the Highlands for another couple hours, occasionally stopping to take pretty pictures. We saw the lake where Sean Connery has a house, and also a certain chunk of mountains that is used in a lot of movies, such as Braveheart and Harry Potter. We also passed a little glen where the MacDonalds live; they don’t like the Campbells and won’t let any one by the name of Campbell stay in their town because hundreds of years ago, the Campbells took advantage of Highland hospitality and stayed in the MacDonald’s homes for a couple weeks, until they killed them all in the morning. We also passed the tallest mountain in Scotland (Nevis, I think). The name of North Face originates from the treacherous North Face of the mountain, which is kinda cool.
We eventually ended up at Loch Ness. I forget the name of the town we were in, but it was very cute, and they had a manmade canal for little boats to go through. Kev and I watched those for a few, and also walked down to the lake to eat our bagged lunch. The view was very pretty; it probably would have been nice had we done the boat tour as well, but what we did was more relaxing. A swan tried to eat some of our food; I think Nessie was really a giant black swan. How terrifying would that be?
Before getting back on the bus, we tried to go see this old abbey that’s being redone into flats, but it was private property so we got scared and ran away. We slept for a lot of the drive back, in between watching the Highlands and rainbows (Scotland had lots of rainbows, man) out the window.
We got back a bit early from our trip, which was good, so Kev and I went on a seach for some dinner. We ended up at Maggie Dickson’s Pub- the woman who was hanged, pronounced dead, and then woke up going “jk! And you can’t retry me because I’ve been punished for that crime (hiding a pregnancy) once already! LOL.” They had a decent deal of 2 dinners for eight quid, so I got some fish and chips and a soda, and then when we were eating, some woman came by our table and asked if we wanted a sample of Jack and coke. So we got a couple free samples of Jack and coke, which was fab.
After dinner, we went to do a ghost tour. Rhiannon, Er’s friend, came to meet up with us, so that was cool. We got free wind-up flashlights; mine ended up being extremely bright for a while, but then died. I think I over wound it, which I didn’t think possible. Oops. The tour was pretty cool. It started at Waverly Bridge, where lots of people go to commit suicide- they were going to put nets as a preventative measure, but decided drunk people would think it a fun game to jump into the nets. They’re so right. Then we went to Calton Cemetery and heard the story about the woman who was buried alive and awoken from her coma due to the pain of graverobbers cutting off her fingers to remove her rings; they tried to argue that she would’ve died if they hadn’t dug her up, so they saved her life, but they still got hanged for it. We also went up Calton Hill, which is supposedly the portal to the faerie world, but that wasn’t explained too well. We did relearn a bit about changelings and redcaps and grindylows, though. Redcaps like to eat your intestines, and grindylows turn into pretty horses that, when you try to catch them, you get stuck to the horse and it runs back into the water and you drown. Our tour guide was really fun and entertaining, Kev tried to be his biffle, and I don’t blame him a bit.
We went to the Bank Hotel to enjoy our complimentary pint, and chat a little bit longer, until Rhiannon had to go and Kev and I decided to crash.
Saturday, 2 May
We went and wandered around Edinburgh castle for a while; we went into the War Museum, where I was distracted by a video about bagpipers and dancing in kilts, as well as the information about how when a sailor first crossed the equator, there would be a ceremony where people dress up as mermaids and Neptune and throw the sailor in a tub of water and give him a certificate. Scots are fun. We also saw the Crown Jewels and the Stone of Destiny (you can barely see where it was broken; I was too short to notice it, and had to stand on tiptoe when Kev pointed it out) before rushing outside to see the one o’clock gun go off (since it’s cheaper for one cannon blast than the twelve necessary to mark noon). The war memorial was also pretty cool, and had books with all of the soldiers’ names who died in action- I found Kev some Mc and MacQueens. There was also a really cute, tragic dog cemetery.
From the castle, we went into a kilt shop that had actual looms and stuff working in it- it was a really cool shop, and huge.
We lunched in the Elephant House, which was a cafe covered in elephant trinkets and books, and served very delicious beef and mushroom pie with some of the best mashed potatoes and gravy ever, as well as awesome chocolate cake. But the food easily could have tasted so good simply because that was the place where JK wrote a large portion of Harry Potter, since they would let her sit there all day with a single cup of coffee. You could see “Hogwarts” as well as Greyfriars Kirk and the castle from the large windows, and it was so so cute. Kev and I decided that it was far too loud for any real work to be accomplished, but that was probably because of JK’s fame, and it must have been much quieter on the whole when she initially wrote there. (Several times we also passed the hotel in which she finished the last book, and engraved the date on the back of a bust in the room she was staying in).
After we were full, we moseyed over to Arthur’s Seat (nothing to do with the king- maybe I’ll look up the origin of the name someday). We apparently took the exceedingly difficult way up, starting on a remarkably steep path, then diverging to go up and down the rocky crags before that small path met up with the level large one we initially left. After hanging out on the top a bit and enjoying the stellar view of the city, the mountains and the water, we decided to take the easy route down. Somehow we missed that and ended up slipping and sliding down what must have been a waterfall in the rain, but was dry since it was a sunny day. Yeah, we rocked that mountain.
I got back in to campus around eleven, and sent in the last of my forms to confirm my employment for the summer, so I will definitely be working a full-time internship from Newton. Go team!
Sunday, 3 May
This was largely a recovery from travel type of day. I watched a couple of movies and discovered textsfromlastnight.com (bad news bears), and then went to see X-Men Origins at Genesis when I figured I needed to get out of the room. It was really good. I will say nothing else about it.
Monday, 4 May
I did some more chilling and catching up on photos and LJ early in the day. Vanessa and I took a little while to plan our birthday party- we’re going to have sombreros and a piñata, be jealous- and then I went to Boulevard Brasserie at Covent Garden for the BC farewell dinner. I got duck as a starter, and it came looking like lunch meat with two pieces of yummy bread, cranberry sauce, and lettuce, so I decided to make a sandwich- the kid next to me copied my idea, and all the flavours mixed deliciously. I had chicken kiev and mashed potatoes as the main course, and profiteroles (cream puffs!) smothered in chocolate sauce for dessert. And lots of free wine. I talked to Paul Wooten for most of the meal, and then Liz came and visited towards the end. I ended up going back to Mile End on my own since everyone else was going to get drinks after, but Liz and one of her friends walked to the underground with me before they went back to their campus.
I ended up going to Hayfields once I got back, and played some pool. I was completely terrible, and accidentally hit Damien in the face with the pool cue after one of my crap shots, and I felt really bad. We left pretty early since Hassan and Damien had a final the next day.
Tuesday, 5 May
OMG MCFLY! I had McDonalds for the first time in a long time and it was delicious, and then went to the concert. David Achuerleda opened, and he was really good- everyone got very excited when he sang “Angels,” by Elton John. After he finished and before McFly went on, they were playing random music (“Mihnomihna” and the like), which was really funny. And then McFly was there, and they were wonderful. All About You, Obviously, Star Girl, Five Colours, Do Ya?, Another Song for the Radio, and The Last Song were among the many played. As “break times,” Tom explained how they called to order a pizza at every city, and the one with the fastest delivery time would be their favourite city to go to, so then Dougie called Dominos from on stage. When the pizza arrived, he threw the pizza on the people down front. (I was so jealous- the girls behind us, at the very back, got asked if they wanted to move down front, probably because they were enthusiastic during the opener, but also because they were too close to the spotlight operator. I almost bought those tickets. I am so dumb.) At the end, they threw everything into the crowd- towels, water bottles, poured the coke from Dominos on everyone... it was really funny. SUCH A GOOD EXPERIENCE. I bought a show shirt and am very glad for it. I tried calling Erin when they were singing All About You, but I don’t think it came across the phone very well. I couldn’t even hear if it went to her voicemail or if she picked up or if it failed to dial. The only really sad thing about the concert was that it was a small venue (good for being close despite being up back) but that made it a bit hazy from the heat, so they were harder to see and my pictures are pretty blurry. A good portion of them will be posted anyways, though, because I was so excited. Love McFly.
I had to have Caitlin hold on to my room key so that Carly could let herself in when she got to my campus, but that worked out fine.
BAT BIRD!
May. 3rd, 2009 at 11:56 pm
Wednesday, 29 April
Diff Eq was exceedingly easy. The final was held in the Octagon, which was (shockingly) octagonal, and several stories high; the upper stories were all lined by bookcases, and the dome at the top of the room was a skylight- quite the cool room, really. I went through the exam carefully and reasonably quickly, utilizing my well-organized binder. I finished right after they stopped letting people leave the room, so I read the novel I brought in with me. Mwahaha.
I had quite a lot of time to hang out and pack before I met up with Kevin to catch our flight to Edinburgh, which was decently empty, so we were able to get seats in the emergency exit row- comfy! In reference to guessing who says "yup yup yup!" - "bat bird!"
We had to walk up Cockburn Street to get to our hostel on the Royal Mile. Teehee.
Thursday, 30 April
We found out about a free walking tour of Edinburgh so decided to take that. It started at 11 and we finished around 3:30, so it was really long and informative, which was cool, and worth our money (badumdum CH). Doug, our guide, bothered me a little since he was pretending to be Scottish, but is actually from Philadelphia and has only lived in Scotland for two years. That also bothered Kevin, though he was more put off by his sense of comedic timing.
I liked the story about the Stone of Destiny, and how in the fifties four nerdy academic types tried to steal it back from the Brits, who were keeping it in Westminster Abbey; they actually succeeded, breaking it in the process, and fixing it, and leaving it in Scone since the fuzz were trying to track them down. It ended up being turned in to the authorities and ultimately returned to Scotland like fifty years later. We also heard about how they used the ashes of burnt 'witches' to build walls and buildings.
After the tour, we sat in our hostel for a little bit, then wandered down to check out Holyrood Palace and the new parliament building- it was very modern and rather African looking. We went to the cathedral for a bit, though you had to pay to take photos, and it's not really a cathedral since they haven't a bishop and got pissed off when one got sent there, so they took him away after a woman threw a chair at his head in the middle of the service.
After a delicious huge meal at Gourmet Burger Kitchen (we got a two-for-one deal), we went and wandered around Greyfriar's Kirk, a cemetary. There's a memorial to Greyfriars Bobby, a loyal doggie who sat next to his master's grave for fourteen years until he died. There's also a school right next to the cemetary, which used to be for orphans but is now the most expensive primary school in Edinburgh, though a quarter of the students are orphans. Oh yeah, and said school? Inspiration for Hogwarts. Woot. Also, we scavenger hunted all through the graveyard for HP character names, since JK got lots of them there. McGonagall, Thomas Riddle (Sr and Jr) and Scrymgeour were notable successful hits.
We debated going to the Beltane festival, but decided to go to bed instead since we were tired.
Wednesday, 29 April
Diff Eq was exceedingly easy. The final was held in the Octagon, which was (shockingly) octagonal, and several stories high; the upper stories were all lined by bookcases, and the dome at the top of the room was a skylight- quite the cool room, really. I went through the exam carefully and reasonably quickly, utilizing my well-organized binder. I finished right after they stopped letting people leave the room, so I read the novel I brought in with me. Mwahaha.
I had quite a lot of time to hang out and pack before I met up with Kevin to catch our flight to Edinburgh, which was decently empty, so we were able to get seats in the emergency exit row- comfy! In reference to guessing who says "yup yup yup!" - "bat bird!"
We had to walk up Cockburn Street to get to our hostel on the Royal Mile. Teehee.
Thursday, 30 April
We found out about a free walking tour of Edinburgh so decided to take that. It started at 11 and we finished around 3:30, so it was really long and informative, which was cool, and worth our money (badumdum CH). Doug, our guide, bothered me a little since he was pretending to be Scottish, but is actually from Philadelphia and has only lived in Scotland for two years. That also bothered Kevin, though he was more put off by his sense of comedic timing.
I liked the story about the Stone of Destiny, and how in the fifties four nerdy academic types tried to steal it back from the Brits, who were keeping it in Westminster Abbey; they actually succeeded, breaking it in the process, and fixing it, and leaving it in Scone since the fuzz were trying to track them down. It ended up being turned in to the authorities and ultimately returned to Scotland like fifty years later. We also heard about how they used the ashes of burnt 'witches' to build walls and buildings.
After the tour, we sat in our hostel for a little bit, then wandered down to check out Holyrood Palace and the new parliament building- it was very modern and rather African looking. We went to the cathedral for a bit, though you had to pay to take photos, and it's not really a cathedral since they haven't a bishop and got pissed off when one got sent there, so they took him away after a woman threw a chair at his head in the middle of the service.
After a delicious huge meal at Gourmet Burger Kitchen (we got a two-for-one deal), we went and wandered around Greyfriar's Kirk, a cemetary. There's a memorial to Greyfriars Bobby, a loyal doggie who sat next to his master's grave for fourteen years until he died. There's also a school right next to the cemetary, which used to be for orphans but is now the most expensive primary school in Edinburgh, though a quarter of the students are orphans. Oh yeah, and said school? Inspiration for Hogwarts. Woot. Also, we scavenger hunted all through the graveyard for HP character names, since JK got lots of them there. McGonagall, Thomas Riddle (Sr and Jr) and Scrymgeour were notable successful hits.
We debated going to the Beltane festival, but decided to go to bed instead since we were tired.
Since I'm still so far behind...
May. 3rd, 2009 at 12:18 am
Thursday, 23 April
I was reasonably productive with my paper, and went through a source before Caitlin and I met up to go to Trafalgar Square. Being St George’s Day, there was to be a show in the National Gallery in front of the painting of St George and the dragon, so we commandeered some seats whilst listening to a talk about the painting. Mostly I was playing with the toddler seated in front of me, though. After the talk, most of the chairs were cleared away and we ended up in the front on the floor to enjoy a “mummery.” If I remember, I’ll look up what exactly that is, but in general it’s a traditional show type that often incorporates music. Several becostumed people danced and sang up to the portrait and then re-enacted said portrait as a beginning stance. They acted out the story of St George in quite an entertaining fashion- the dragon was, of course, French, and the swords were flowers as the National Gallery would not allow them to use fake swords.
We grabbed muffins at Costa Coffee after, then sat on the steps in Trafalgar Square, enjoying the drunken Englishmen who had overtaken Nelson’s column, waving St George’s flag around.
The two of us then met up with Hilary, Kevin, his friend Amy, and Damien to go to Brick Lane, which was delicious as per usual, and a slightly better deal than the last time. Somehow I did not end up with a completely distended belly this time ‘round, so Caitlin, Damien and I went and got dessert at Cookies and Cream after.
Friday, 24 April
After doing a bunch of work, Hilary and I watched Men in Tights in my room, which is a most excellent film, which she had surprisingly not seen the entirety of. We also had a Cadbury hot sticky chocolate pudding which was heavenly; I am definitely buying more of those next time I go grocery shopping!
Saturday, 25 April
To continue our St George’s Day activities, Caitlin and I met up to find St George’s Gardens (near Russell Square), where a local small festival was going on. The Master of Ceremonies was walking around on stilts, covered in British flags, and the two of us watched jealously as small children got to play with the archery set (we wanted a go, but decided we were a little outside the target age range). We got tea and cake and set up on the sunny lawn, reading a bit while there was a Bollywood dance lesson going on a bit aways (taught by two blondes, strangely). Soon after, the Punch and Judy tent was set up and ready to go. That puppet show explained so much to me about the British sense of humour- Judy would leave her baby with Punch, explain calmly that if Punch were to go after her child with a stick, we must call her back. When, as he inevitably would, Punch did indeed go after the baby with a stick- twice- and everyone called Judy back, she decided that Punch should teach the child to walk while she went away again. After Punch tricked the Copper into hanging himself- and rubbing it in his face by saying “you are stupid” rather than “I am sorry” when the officer told him to “say you are sorry!”- Crocodile Dundee was called to settle the matter by setting a crocodile on Punch so she could bite his nose. It was really funny, kid’s show or no!
I spent a long time downloading Huck Finn with Elijah Wood in it to reference for my last paper.
Sunday, 26 April
I stayed up until 4AM finishing my paper. 2500 words exactly, booyah.
Monday, 27 April
I spent an hour wandering through the library and available computer lounges, trying to find a computer to pop onto and print off my paper and some study materials. No luck. I finally ended up in Computing Services, where the receptionist was kind enough to clock me in and let me use their printers- which evidently were free, so I did lots of free printing of materials for my Diff Eq final after I printed my paper.
I had a phone interview with Pearson, which I thought went pretty well (this was the ‘second level’ one, with the managers), and they had worked with Rennie (Mirollo, he was the prof I first graded for). However, I got a job offer from EMC that same day, which I decided would be in my best interests to take- I would get to work for three or four more weeks, get paid five dollars an hour more, and for an hour a day more; I also get two paid days off, which is nice. Rather than studying, I spent a lot of days in communication with the various companies, and also verified that I can live with my aunt in Newton and drive with my uncle to work most days- so I’ll be in the Boston area this summer :-)
Tuesday, 28 April
I spent a few hours making a study guide of the materials from the second half of the term, and going over my midterm study guide, as well as making sure that all my notes and solutions were in order for my exam. I spent an hour or two doing work in the ITL as well, which is where the computer science kids hang out (it reminded me of the math lab, actually); that was overall an entertaining and mostly productive experience. After dinner at Wagamama’s (yay Wagamama Ramen and Apple and Lime juice!), I went over past finals and their solutions while doing laundry so I would have clean clothes to pack for Scotland.
Thursday, 23 April
I was reasonably productive with my paper, and went through a source before Caitlin and I met up to go to Trafalgar Square. Being St George’s Day, there was to be a show in the National Gallery in front of the painting of St George and the dragon, so we commandeered some seats whilst listening to a talk about the painting. Mostly I was playing with the toddler seated in front of me, though. After the talk, most of the chairs were cleared away and we ended up in the front on the floor to enjoy a “mummery.” If I remember, I’ll look up what exactly that is, but in general it’s a traditional show type that often incorporates music. Several becostumed people danced and sang up to the portrait and then re-enacted said portrait as a beginning stance. They acted out the story of St George in quite an entertaining fashion- the dragon was, of course, French, and the swords were flowers as the National Gallery would not allow them to use fake swords.
We grabbed muffins at Costa Coffee after, then sat on the steps in Trafalgar Square, enjoying the drunken Englishmen who had overtaken Nelson’s column, waving St George’s flag around.
The two of us then met up with Hilary, Kevin, his friend Amy, and Damien to go to Brick Lane, which was delicious as per usual, and a slightly better deal than the last time. Somehow I did not end up with a completely distended belly this time ‘round, so Caitlin, Damien and I went and got dessert at Cookies and Cream after.
Friday, 24 April
After doing a bunch of work, Hilary and I watched Men in Tights in my room, which is a most excellent film, which she had surprisingly not seen the entirety of. We also had a Cadbury hot sticky chocolate pudding which was heavenly; I am definitely buying more of those next time I go grocery shopping!
Saturday, 25 April
To continue our St George’s Day activities, Caitlin and I met up to find St George’s Gardens (near Russell Square), where a local small festival was going on. The Master of Ceremonies was walking around on stilts, covered in British flags, and the two of us watched jealously as small children got to play with the archery set (we wanted a go, but decided we were a little outside the target age range). We got tea and cake and set up on the sunny lawn, reading a bit while there was a Bollywood dance lesson going on a bit aways (taught by two blondes, strangely). Soon after, the Punch and Judy tent was set up and ready to go. That puppet show explained so much to me about the British sense of humour- Judy would leave her baby with Punch, explain calmly that if Punch were to go after her child with a stick, we must call her back. When, as he inevitably would, Punch did indeed go after the baby with a stick- twice- and everyone called Judy back, she decided that Punch should teach the child to walk while she went away again. After Punch tricked the Copper into hanging himself- and rubbing it in his face by saying “you are stupid” rather than “I am sorry” when the officer told him to “say you are sorry!”- Crocodile Dundee was called to settle the matter by setting a crocodile on Punch so she could bite his nose. It was really funny, kid’s show or no!
I spent a long time downloading Huck Finn with Elijah Wood in it to reference for my last paper.
Sunday, 26 April
I stayed up until 4AM finishing my paper. 2500 words exactly, booyah.
Monday, 27 April
I spent an hour wandering through the library and available computer lounges, trying to find a computer to pop onto and print off my paper and some study materials. No luck. I finally ended up in Computing Services, where the receptionist was kind enough to clock me in and let me use their printers- which evidently were free, so I did lots of free printing of materials for my Diff Eq final after I printed my paper.
I had a phone interview with Pearson, which I thought went pretty well (this was the ‘second level’ one, with the managers), and they had worked with Rennie (Mirollo, he was the prof I first graded for). However, I got a job offer from EMC that same day, which I decided would be in my best interests to take- I would get to work for three or four more weeks, get paid five dollars an hour more, and for an hour a day more; I also get two paid days off, which is nice. Rather than studying, I spent a lot of days in communication with the various companies, and also verified that I can live with my aunt in Newton and drive with my uncle to work most days- so I’ll be in the Boston area this summer :-)
Tuesday, 28 April
I spent a few hours making a study guide of the materials from the second half of the term, and going over my midterm study guide, as well as making sure that all my notes and solutions were in order for my exam. I spent an hour or two doing work in the ITL as well, which is where the computer science kids hang out (it reminded me of the math lab, actually); that was overall an entertaining and mostly productive experience. After dinner at Wagamama’s (yay Wagamama Ramen and Apple and Lime juice!), I went over past finals and their solutions while doing laundry so I would have clean clothes to pack for Scotland.
Since I'm wayyyy behind...
Apr. 27th, 2009 at 01:57 pm
Friday, 17 April
After getting off the airplane from Italy, I caught a train and then a couple trams to my friend Paul's home in East Croydon. We were supposed to have a pool party but it was drizzly and dreary, so instead the group of us went to a pub; it was very nice and in good condition, so it felt weird, since I'm so used to Hayfields. I didn't really do much there, just talked a bit with a girl named Matilda who was visiting from Sweden, with her stepsister Matilda, who is friends with Damien and Paul. Otherwise I just stole sips from people's drinks and revelled in the burger that was in my tummy, since I was very very hungry (seriously, I inhaled it in under a minute, go me!). I fell asleep watching TV with them after the pub closed.
Saturday, 18 April
I was supposed to go shopping in Camden with everyone, but since I needed to go back to my room to drop my stuff off, I ended up not going... I was so tired, so I just sort of collapsed instead and used it as a rest day.
Sunday, 19 April
I met up with Carly and her family near Hyde Park, and we went and got a nice big lunch at a pub and talked a bit. Nachos here are very interesting- the chips are actually more like Doritos than tortilla chips. But sooo delicious. It was really nice to hang out with them, little bits of home are always good.
After lunch, I went to read in Hyde Park for a bit and enjoy the lovely sunny day while I waited for Caitlin and Hilary to make it in to meet up with me. I was excited to see them, since I hadn't for quite a while by that point in time- I think it'd been three weeks since I'd seen Hilary, and I'd only seen Caitlin once in that span of time. We wandered around Hyde Park, and then I think we ended up in Kensington Gardens a bit. We passed a giant group of rollerbladers (I mean giant, there were over a hundred people) on our way to check out the Peter Pan statue, the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, and the Italian Fountains. It was lovely and hot out, so there were lots of people rowing and doing paddling boats on the ponds, and even a couple people swimming, and lots of people playing in the Princess Di fountain. As we wandered around we talked about the trips we'd taken and shared some funny stories, generally catching up, then eventually made our way over to Speaker's Corner. There were loads of people up on soapboxes, talking about different things- some wearing very interesting outfits, as my facebook photos will soon show. There was also a group of people doing free hugs, and Hilary took two.
On our way to the tube, we passed the "Animals in War" memorial, which was a bit dramatic and cheesey, but still a cool thought.
Monday, 20 April
I have no idea what I did earlier in the day, I think just some work, but in the evening we went to go see Les Mis, which was most excellent. The whole cast was very talented, but Epamine had a killer voice, and Javert was also very impressive. I wanted to take Gavroche and little Cosette home with me, they were so adorable! We all put in 50p to these little contraptions and got opera glasses from them, since we were pretty far up back; they came in handy for solo numbers or if we were curious about someone's face, so it made our cheap seats very legitimate.
I didn't find this out until the next day, but apparently they were filming the cafe scene from Harry Potter 7 just a bit further down the street from us. How we missed this, I will never know, but I am so sad that I came so close to seeing Dan, Rupert and Emma, and we missed them.
Tuesday, 21 April
FREE ICE CREAM! Ben and Jerry's free cone day. Glorious. Vanessa, Damien, Caitlin and I went to Tower Hill and got in line; Damien took a cup off a tray they were carrying up the line to try to disperse it some, and then all four of us got cones (I love their chocolate fudge brownie). Then we went 'round and got back in line, and I got another cone.
Since it was another gloriously hot day out, we decided to hang out in the area a little bit longer, and wandered over to the Tower of London. They were just setting up for a demonstration of medieval warfare on the lawn, so we took a spot by the fence to watch the show for free (mwahahaha). At one point in time, when some of the paying customers were launching the trebuchet, one of the men asked if we wanted a go (since we were cheering loudly and participating as much as possible from our vantage point). When we said yes, he told us we should go buy tickets then, cheapskates! This prompted an adorable little boy on the field to pass by us a few minutes later and say, "Hey! You're cheap! Go buy tickets, cheaps!" There was also a kid who was hysterical to watch- when they were charging the Tower with a ladder, he tripped and fell, so a cast member said he stepped on a giant piece of metal; when they took up the charge again, the kid limped and hopped on one foot with the rest of the audience. Fantastic.
After our free show, we went through the line one more time- this time I took a freebie off a tray whilst waiting, but it was brownie in cheesecake and tasted a little funk, so I got a caramel chewchew at the desk. Don't worry, I did donate some money too! But it was a delicious, fun, free day, and I got a bit of a tan, so that was cool.
Wednesday, 22 April
I had a phone interview earlier in the day with a publishing company, Pearson. The internship sounded pretty cool- I'd be helping edit and publish a college level stats textbook.
That evening, we went to see Oliver! The show was fantastic- hoards of singing and dancing children. I want to take the Artful Dodger home with me, he was SUCH a ham. Also, Nancy had some serious lungpower. The stage was wicked deep, though it didn't seem it until Oliver started running upstage through the set and he got very, very tiny. I did the opera glasses thing again, which was a good choice. Also, I had to sit on my own for the first act, since they didn't have five tickets together- 4 and 1 was the best they could do. I switched off for the second act though. We were all a bit disappointed- I think Kevin and Hilary more so- that Rowan Atkinson wasn't playing that evening as Fagan, because he had had surgery recently. Twas a bummer, but alas.
It was boiling in the theater, so it was so nice when we got outside after and it was just slightly cool; we took a bit of a walk to Holborn rather than the Covent Garden station to get back to campus.
Friday, 17 April
After getting off the airplane from Italy, I caught a train and then a couple trams to my friend Paul's home in East Croydon. We were supposed to have a pool party but it was drizzly and dreary, so instead the group of us went to a pub; it was very nice and in good condition, so it felt weird, since I'm so used to Hayfields. I didn't really do much there, just talked a bit with a girl named Matilda who was visiting from Sweden, with her stepsister Matilda, who is friends with Damien and Paul. Otherwise I just stole sips from people's drinks and revelled in the burger that was in my tummy, since I was very very hungry (seriously, I inhaled it in under a minute, go me!). I fell asleep watching TV with them after the pub closed.
Saturday, 18 April
I was supposed to go shopping in Camden with everyone, but since I needed to go back to my room to drop my stuff off, I ended up not going... I was so tired, so I just sort of collapsed instead and used it as a rest day.
Sunday, 19 April
I met up with Carly and her family near Hyde Park, and we went and got a nice big lunch at a pub and talked a bit. Nachos here are very interesting- the chips are actually more like Doritos than tortilla chips. But sooo delicious. It was really nice to hang out with them, little bits of home are always good.
After lunch, I went to read in Hyde Park for a bit and enjoy the lovely sunny day while I waited for Caitlin and Hilary to make it in to meet up with me. I was excited to see them, since I hadn't for quite a while by that point in time- I think it'd been three weeks since I'd seen Hilary, and I'd only seen Caitlin once in that span of time. We wandered around Hyde Park, and then I think we ended up in Kensington Gardens a bit. We passed a giant group of rollerbladers (I mean giant, there were over a hundred people) on our way to check out the Peter Pan statue, the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, and the Italian Fountains. It was lovely and hot out, so there were lots of people rowing and doing paddling boats on the ponds, and even a couple people swimming, and lots of people playing in the Princess Di fountain. As we wandered around we talked about the trips we'd taken and shared some funny stories, generally catching up, then eventually made our way over to Speaker's Corner. There were loads of people up on soapboxes, talking about different things- some wearing very interesting outfits, as my facebook photos will soon show. There was also a group of people doing free hugs, and Hilary took two.
On our way to the tube, we passed the "Animals in War" memorial, which was a bit dramatic and cheesey, but still a cool thought.
Monday, 20 April
I have no idea what I did earlier in the day, I think just some work, but in the evening we went to go see Les Mis, which was most excellent. The whole cast was very talented, but Epamine had a killer voice, and Javert was also very impressive. I wanted to take Gavroche and little Cosette home with me, they were so adorable! We all put in 50p to these little contraptions and got opera glasses from them, since we were pretty far up back; they came in handy for solo numbers or if we were curious about someone's face, so it made our cheap seats very legitimate.
I didn't find this out until the next day, but apparently they were filming the cafe scene from Harry Potter 7 just a bit further down the street from us. How we missed this, I will never know, but I am so sad that I came so close to seeing Dan, Rupert and Emma, and we missed them.
Tuesday, 21 April
FREE ICE CREAM! Ben and Jerry's free cone day. Glorious. Vanessa, Damien, Caitlin and I went to Tower Hill and got in line; Damien took a cup off a tray they were carrying up the line to try to disperse it some, and then all four of us got cones (I love their chocolate fudge brownie). Then we went 'round and got back in line, and I got another cone.
Since it was another gloriously hot day out, we decided to hang out in the area a little bit longer, and wandered over to the Tower of London. They were just setting up for a demonstration of medieval warfare on the lawn, so we took a spot by the fence to watch the show for free (mwahahaha). At one point in time, when some of the paying customers were launching the trebuchet, one of the men asked if we wanted a go (since we were cheering loudly and participating as much as possible from our vantage point). When we said yes, he told us we should go buy tickets then, cheapskates! This prompted an adorable little boy on the field to pass by us a few minutes later and say, "Hey! You're cheap! Go buy tickets, cheaps!" There was also a kid who was hysterical to watch- when they were charging the Tower with a ladder, he tripped and fell, so a cast member said he stepped on a giant piece of metal; when they took up the charge again, the kid limped and hopped on one foot with the rest of the audience. Fantastic.
After our free show, we went through the line one more time- this time I took a freebie off a tray whilst waiting, but it was brownie in cheesecake and tasted a little funk, so I got a caramel chewchew at the desk. Don't worry, I did donate some money too! But it was a delicious, fun, free day, and I got a bit of a tan, so that was cool.
Wednesday, 22 April
I had a phone interview earlier in the day with a publishing company, Pearson. The internship sounded pretty cool- I'd be helping edit and publish a college level stats textbook.
That evening, we went to see Oliver! The show was fantastic- hoards of singing and dancing children. I want to take the Artful Dodger home with me, he was SUCH a ham. Also, Nancy had some serious lungpower. The stage was wicked deep, though it didn't seem it until Oliver started running upstage through the set and he got very, very tiny. I did the opera glasses thing again, which was a good choice. Also, I had to sit on my own for the first act, since they didn't have five tickets together- 4 and 1 was the best they could do. I switched off for the second act though. We were all a bit disappointed- I think Kevin and Hilary more so- that Rowan Atkinson wasn't playing that evening as Fagan, because he had had surgery recently. Twas a bummer, but alas.
It was boiling in the theater, so it was so nice when we got outside after and it was just slightly cool; we took a bit of a walk to Holborn rather than the Covent Garden station to get back to campus.
OMG
Apr. 24th, 2009 at 02:40 pm
I just booked tickets for a McFly concert and I am SO EXCITED.
I'll catch up this past week later. But for now...
SQUEE!
I just booked tickets for a McFly concert and I am SO EXCITED.
I'll catch up this past week later. But for now...
SQUEE!
Rome in almost a day, and Pigeon Brothels
Apr. 21st, 2009 at 08:45 pm
Wednesday, 15 April
We slept in a bit in Pisa; when I got up, I met the other girl in my room- she was from Amherst, MA and studying abroad in Scotland, so that was kinda random. At the cafe we got breakfast at, these two "money police" dudes were hitting on the woman working at the counter and gossiping with her for a long time, and kept saying goodbye and going back to talk more, it was really funny. We chilled in the Piazza dei Miracoli again, and saw a bit too much of the pigeon mating process until a child came and kicked them. In the train station in Livorno, we ate lunch and there was an adorable child watching the train arrivals. Keener decided he was going to be a commuter when he grew up.
Upon arrival in Rome, we checked our bags at the train station and headed over to the Spanish Steps. I Rocky Balboaed them for a few steps, but there were just too many to run up singing the entire way. After admiring the sun setting over the city, we went and got dinner at a place near Piazza Navona, where we were served the biggest gelato I've ever seen. We walked the city at night a little bit, checking out Bernini's fountain in the Piazza Navona and passing Hadrian's Tomb and the Pantheon en route to the Trevi Fountain, which is GORGEOUS at night. After people watching, our real adventure began as we attempted to find our hostel.
After grabbing our luggage, we got the A train to Flaminio, where we were supposed to get the F train. Unfortunately, we had just missed the last one, so needed to wait and take a tram, which took quite a while to arrive. Fortunately, a small knot of slightly intoxicated French guys standing near us burst out into a song about waiting for "Le Tram." I looked around and noticed music notes on their hoodies- so apparently they were an a capella group, thus explaining the tight harmonies. After the tram finally arrived, we took it to another place and got on the 200 bus, and both of us spaced out and ended up getting off with the majority of the crowd. Which was wrong. We went over to a nearby hostel and asked directions, and they rushed us back to the bus so we wouldn't miss the last one. After finally getting to Prima Porta, we had to call the hostel and wait for a shuttle to come pick us up at the bus station, and ended up being checked in to our "hostel" aka camping site by quarter to one in the morning.
Thursday, 16 April
I was aoken by the sounds of people typing, which didn't make sense as Keens and I were the only two in our room, and neither of us had a laptop with us. After going to the bathroom, I came back and realized that there was an animal in our ceiling. After the intensifying cooing, I realized that the sound in the ceiling were pigeons. Mating. Yes, our room was a pigeon brothel. Go team.
Getting in to the city was much easier and took about an hour instead of the three hours it took us to get halfway to Florence. We went to the Vatican and in to St Peter's Basilica, which was gigantic. It could easily swallow several of the large cathedrals I've been in before. There was a mass going on in a side chapel, which was probably the size of my church at home. There was also this woman who had lined up a shot in the middle of a hallway and wanted to take a photo, so she gave me a death glare when I accidentally got into the frame, rather than saying anything. Litlte bit out of the spirit of being in a church, really. The Swiss Guards were cool, they sort of looked a bit like clowns, or like they were wearing the boy costume from Mother Ginger in the Nutcracker.
We got lunch near the Vatican, and were seated near a southern couple, so it was very interesting listening to the woman trying to speak Italian with a southern accent, and also recalculating her miscalculated bill incorrectly. After food, we went back to the Trevi where I made the wish, and we people watched some more. We then wandered on to the monument of Vittorio Emmanuelle II, and then tried to get into the place where St Ignatius is buried, but it was closed which was a bummer. We went in to the Pantheon, where the first two kings of Italy are buried- Vit Emm II and Umberto- as well as Raphael (not the ninja turtle, though). I liked that there was a sign in there telling you that you couldn't nap.
The Jesuit Church (St Ignatius of Loyola, of course) was really cool, though I quite liked the model that one of the Jesuits worked on for twenty six years or so of all sorts of churches and places of worship from different places gathered under one dome. Definitely such a Jesuit thing to do. Some guy was trying to ask us for directions to "God's Eyes." We still have no idea what he was talking about.
We passed by Hadrian's Tomb again, but it was closed, and then went by the Trojan Column and the Roman Forum, which were both cool and old. There were a lot of helpful signs near the Forum to explain what everything was, which was nice. Keener gave me a cheap tour of the Colosseum from the exterior, peeking in when we could, since it was twelve euro to get in which was a bit out of budget. He knew a lot of cool stuff, like were Caeser sat, and where the nosebleed section was, and how they put sand on the floor to soak up the blood, and how there was an outer concourse but a lot of the most exterior wall is missing now, since stones and iron were taken to build other things. The entrances were numbered, which was also cool and a lot like football stadiums and things now. We checked out Constantine's Arch while we were there, then went to find the Domus Aurea. After much aimless wandering, we asked for directions, but the couple wasn't from the area so went and asked "grandfather" (as they called the old men emerging from this cool random old building), so we were able to find Nero's old house. It was closed for renovation, though, but was pretty cool. We hung around the Trevi a bit more the rest of the evening before an uneventful return to the pigeon brothel.
Friday, 17 April
We saw the Tiber River before peacing from our crappy hostel, and then went and people watched on the Spanish Steps before going back to the train station. After saying goodbye to Keens, I got to the platform for Fiumacino airport, but some crazy dude kept coming up and bombing through the ticket kiosk and telling me to put money in the machine, so I eventually just bought the one he kept getting even though I was pretty sure I qualified for a student discount. It was just sort of confusing and weird to my tired mind. Getting back to England was relatively uneventful, which was nice. And thusly ends my Italian adventure..
Wednesday, 15 April
We slept in a bit in Pisa; when I got up, I met the other girl in my room- she was from Amherst, MA and studying abroad in Scotland, so that was kinda random. At the cafe we got breakfast at, these two "money police" dudes were hitting on the woman working at the counter and gossiping with her for a long time, and kept saying goodbye and going back to talk more, it was really funny. We chilled in the Piazza dei Miracoli again, and saw a bit too much of the pigeon mating process until a child came and kicked them. In the train station in Livorno, we ate lunch and there was an adorable child watching the train arrivals. Keener decided he was going to be a commuter when he grew up.
Upon arrival in Rome, we checked our bags at the train station and headed over to the Spanish Steps. I Rocky Balboaed them for a few steps, but there were just too many to run up singing the entire way. After admiring the sun setting over the city, we went and got dinner at a place near Piazza Navona, where we were served the biggest gelato I've ever seen. We walked the city at night a little bit, checking out Bernini's fountain in the Piazza Navona and passing Hadrian's Tomb and the Pantheon en route to the Trevi Fountain, which is GORGEOUS at night. After people watching, our real adventure began as we attempted to find our hostel.
After grabbing our luggage, we got the A train to Flaminio, where we were supposed to get the F train. Unfortunately, we had just missed the last one, so needed to wait and take a tram, which took quite a while to arrive. Fortunately, a small knot of slightly intoxicated French guys standing near us burst out into a song about waiting for "Le Tram." I looked around and noticed music notes on their hoodies- so apparently they were an a capella group, thus explaining the tight harmonies. After the tram finally arrived, we took it to another place and got on the 200 bus, and both of us spaced out and ended up getting off with the majority of the crowd. Which was wrong. We went over to a nearby hostel and asked directions, and they rushed us back to the bus so we wouldn't miss the last one. After finally getting to Prima Porta, we had to call the hostel and wait for a shuttle to come pick us up at the bus station, and ended up being checked in to our "hostel" aka camping site by quarter to one in the morning.
Thursday, 16 April
I was aoken by the sounds of people typing, which didn't make sense as Keens and I were the only two in our room, and neither of us had a laptop with us. After going to the bathroom, I came back and realized that there was an animal in our ceiling. After the intensifying cooing, I realized that the sound in the ceiling were pigeons. Mating. Yes, our room was a pigeon brothel. Go team.
Getting in to the city was much easier and took about an hour instead of the three hours it took us to get halfway to Florence. We went to the Vatican and in to St Peter's Basilica, which was gigantic. It could easily swallow several of the large cathedrals I've been in before. There was a mass going on in a side chapel, which was probably the size of my church at home. There was also this woman who had lined up a shot in the middle of a hallway and wanted to take a photo, so she gave me a death glare when I accidentally got into the frame, rather than saying anything. Litlte bit out of the spirit of being in a church, really. The Swiss Guards were cool, they sort of looked a bit like clowns, or like they were wearing the boy costume from Mother Ginger in the Nutcracker.
We got lunch near the Vatican, and were seated near a southern couple, so it was very interesting listening to the woman trying to speak Italian with a southern accent, and also recalculating her miscalculated bill incorrectly. After food, we went back to the Trevi where I made the wish, and we people watched some more. We then wandered on to the monument of Vittorio Emmanuelle II, and then tried to get into the place where St Ignatius is buried, but it was closed which was a bummer. We went in to the Pantheon, where the first two kings of Italy are buried- Vit Emm II and Umberto- as well as Raphael (not the ninja turtle, though). I liked that there was a sign in there telling you that you couldn't nap.
The Jesuit Church (St Ignatius of Loyola, of course) was really cool, though I quite liked the model that one of the Jesuits worked on for twenty six years or so of all sorts of churches and places of worship from different places gathered under one dome. Definitely such a Jesuit thing to do. Some guy was trying to ask us for directions to "God's Eyes." We still have no idea what he was talking about.
We passed by Hadrian's Tomb again, but it was closed, and then went by the Trojan Column and the Roman Forum, which were both cool and old. There were a lot of helpful signs near the Forum to explain what everything was, which was nice. Keener gave me a cheap tour of the Colosseum from the exterior, peeking in when we could, since it was twelve euro to get in which was a bit out of budget. He knew a lot of cool stuff, like were Caeser sat, and where the nosebleed section was, and how they put sand on the floor to soak up the blood, and how there was an outer concourse but a lot of the most exterior wall is missing now, since stones and iron were taken to build other things. The entrances were numbered, which was also cool and a lot like football stadiums and things now. We checked out Constantine's Arch while we were there, then went to find the Domus Aurea. After much aimless wandering, we asked for directions, but the couple wasn't from the area so went and asked "grandfather" (as they called the old men emerging from this cool random old building), so we were able to find Nero's old house. It was closed for renovation, though, but was pretty cool. We hung around the Trevi a bit more the rest of the evening before an uneventful return to the pigeon brothel.
Friday, 17 April
We saw the Tiber River before peacing from our crappy hostel, and then went and people watched on the Spanish Steps before going back to the train station. After saying goodbye to Keens, I got to the platform for Fiumacino airport, but some crazy dude kept coming up and bombing through the ticket kiosk and telling me to put money in the machine, so I eventually just bought the one he kept getting even though I was pretty sure I qualified for a student discount. It was just sort of confusing and weird to my tired mind. Getting back to England was relatively uneventful, which was nice. And thusly ends my Italian adventure..
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