Sunday, 15 February
It is ridiculous to get to the different gates at Stansted- it took like five minutes of mostly jogging to get to our gate, just to have to wait a while.
We flew over the Alps on the airplane, and it was gorgeous. I took several photos out the window, then Vanessa and I listened to my Lord of the Dance music and pretended to Irish jig in our seats.
Customs at the airport was fantastic- the signs for 'things to claim' and 'nothing to claim' pointed through the same door... the exit. I had a realization that made me very excited, and that realization's name is GELATO.
We got off of the bus from the airport and stepped into a sea of masks and costumes, and stands selling 'helLOVEnezia' teeshirts and Carnival masks. Also, Haider got really excited about the sun, and started rummaging in his bag for a mysterious something. We were guessing sunglasses/sunscreen/hats, etc, but what he finally pulled out was... a meter to measure the wattage of the sun.
Hilary and Caitlin ended up catching up with us while we were waiting for the bus to get to the hostel, which worked out well. We found the area pretty easily, but had some issues with finding the check-in area. First, Haider talked to a German kid (who for some reason said 'cheers!' as he was walking off, so I think he was just messing with everyone). We also had this beautifully executed moment when we were looking for the entrance, and two of us went to the left of this large dome on the ground, and two to the right, and one stayed behind, and then from there we went in different directions each. It was cool, okay? After that we were yelling, 'scusi!' down the small dome (there was like a walkway under the sidewalk, I don't know) but the guy down there was doing construction so that didn't work.
There were two dogs (or "PUUUUUUUUUUUPPIES!" as Kevin would say) in the small place near our hostel we ate dinner. Quotes of the meal: Kevin- 'Your ears are so soft, I want to cut them off and take them with me!'
Haider- 'Coca s'il vous plait!'
I quickly became obsessed with Carnival masks when we went back in to the city, the displays on the carts and in the stores were so pretty! I got two scoops of gelato (yuuuuum) and some tiramisu while we wandered around. We were trying to find the places where music would be playing; the first square was supposedly jazz music, which is apparently messed up techno? Not quite what I wanted, man. We decided to try to find the other location, but got lost down some back alleyways, which was actually really fun and a good way to get a feel for Venezia. I also loved how we would turn a corner and be like 'woah!' since we'd suddenly be in a plaza with some random, huge, gorgeous buildings. It was fabulous.
So was the guy peeing in the canal. I felt bad, but it made me laugh when Vanessa was talking about some housing trouble she's having back at USC.
We got unlost really quickly, and hopped on the 12/ instead of the 12, so we didn't know that it ended at a slightly different place and didn't quite go to our hostel.
Monday, 16 February
The hostel was really nice, albeit really cold at night- we had three double rooms, each with its own toilet and shower, and a shared kitchen (with pots, pans, and whatnot included). That worked out well so that we could get up early Monday morning and go buy eggs and breakfast things, and also cold cuts and snacks for lunch. It worked out to be eight euros each for breakfast and lunch for two days, which meant more money for gelato!!
We took a gondola ride in the morning- since it wasn't busy, we bartered them down to ten euros each, rather than fourteen. It was so cool, and fun! Our gondolier didn't sing, but he was pretty chatty and seemed to enjoy the questions asked. It was a really nice, sunny morning, so it worked out really well for our gondola-ing.
After the gondola, we meandered down to San Marco, mask shopping. We all succesfully found masks that suited us very well- mine had bells on it and was sort've like a jester's hat, which served well to alert my friends to when I would be making a break to the gelato stand. It was called 'Emily's gelato jingle,' since my sashaying to the stand had a distinct frolicksome tone to it.
When we sat down to lunch, we started talking to a nice couple on the bench across from us, thanks to Haider's sun meter. When they asked what Italian we knew, Kevin responded, 'buon giorno, Principessa!' which made the woman laugh. Apparently she also likes the movie Life is Beautiful. I also enjoyed watching the pigeons- one of the males was unsuccessfully trying to woo a female; he was all fluffed up and chasing her around.
San Marco was fantastic. The area is gorgeous and busy to look at in general, but the plaza was packed, with people in fabulous costumes all over. We hit it up a few hours before sunset, so there were lots of gorgeous views with the late afternoon light over the water and cathedral. Also, there were these really cool silvery gray raptors (well, men on stilts, really) wandering around to sort've primitive music, pretending to eat people (apparently Kevin got attacked). It was such a surreal moment, especially when I snapped a picture of one of them right in front of St Mark's. I literally was speechless. That's saying something. We chased them down to get some video, which I'll be posting up on facebook once my laptop is working again.
While near St Mark's, I bought two bags of confetti for a euro. We determined that whenever we threw some, we had to shout 'Viva Venezia!' It was really fun, especially targeting small children and tour groups, who seemed (aside from my friends of course) to get the most joy out of it.
The inside of St Mark's was pretty gorgeous, and I snuck some photos on Vanessa's camera (my battery had died :-( ). We're going to maybe incorporate one or two into our papers on Westminster Cathedral, since Bentley spent a lot of time at St Mark's when he was getting ideas to design it.
We wandered over to the Ponto Rialto and had some fun taking sunset and confetti pictures there. After gazing at the sun setting over the Grand Canal, we slipped into a pizza and gelato shop to warm up and use the bathrooms and snack. After that, we went and met Keener back in San Marco... I wanted to sneak up on him, but he was up a little high so he could have a clear view and saw us coming, and was able to recognize me even with my mask on (hey, I wore it for two days solid).
After introductions, we went and checked out the tango exhibition on the other side of the plaza, then traipsed over to the Rialto again to find some food. There were some very Brick Lane moments there- Haider was literally restraining himself from haggling by using me as a shield whilst doormen offered us extra wine to eat there. We found a place (I don't know the name, sadly), toasted Venezia with vino, and ate yummy Italian food (lasagne and fish, yesplease). While we were waiting for the bill, Vanessa and I were cracking up at the juxtaposition of the cross conversations happening down the table a bit- Kev and Caitlin were discussing which movies had won Oscars in which years, and Hilary and Haider were talking about Pokemon.
After paying, we meandered a bit mroe and got gelato, and then Keener had to leave us to get back to his dorm. He never did get to see Haider's face... at any rate, my friends really liked Keens, and Keens seemed to enjoy them as well, so that was really fun.
Hilary fell asleep on her computer cord when Vanessa was using it, then half woke up a little while later and happily said she didn't want to put it away when I asked, so then I just straight-up told her mostly asleep self to do it. It was pretty funny.
Tuesday, 17 February
We were able to check our bags at the train station, which was really good (we got nervous when the lockers were out of order, but there was an alternative place). After booking our trains for later that day, we headed back to San Marco (just stopping at an artist's stand on the way), and went up the campanile. We'd been nervous there wouldn't be enough time, but luckily there was, since it was a gorgeous, panoramic view of Venice. Then we got pizza on the way back to the train station (and gelato, of course) to supplement our sandwiches so we could stretch out our packed lunches to cover dinner as well.
I really want to go back to Venice someday for Carnival, and dress up in some of those gorgeous costumes.
Also, 'Il maximus de circo ha rubato Hilary!' Haider put that in our Italian language packets, so we started saying it to Hilary without telling her what it meant (she and Caitling left before getting the phrase packs he made up). She appreciated it a lot more when she discovered it meant 'The Circus Maximus has kidnapped Hilary!' She might not have enjoyed the, 'eh, that's a shame,' response Kevin and I decided on, though.
I limited myself to thirteen scoops of gelato my entire thirty-six-ish hours in Venice.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Skating, revisited
Operation: get recommendations for OL application was a success. I also did laundry. And printed off lots of stuff to study for my midterm while I'm on trains and planes. All in between classes! What a productive day.
I went ice skating again this evening, which was fun. The rink was a small circle though, which started to get obnoxious when I wanted to work on skating backwards or powering forward. It was still really nice to go skating again- I miss Reilly and my skates though.
Kev, Vanessa and Haider came over, and Haider had printed off a list of Italian phrases for us- including such "likely phrases" as, "Haider, stop looking like a terrorist!" "Caitlin, we love you. Please make some more brownies," "The Circus Maximus has kidnapped Hilary," Vanessa, stop dancing, the ice on this lake is thin," "Kevin, those are not thermals, that is a mime costume!" and "Emily, what is the name of the biker on your bunkbed?" It was pretty fantastic. Kevin was fabulous and figured out most of our train schedule for us, which was nice, and we have two potential options to make sure no money is lost on the hostels in Luzern, which is encouraging.
After we had some ice cream, I went to meet Carly at the Tube station (since she was phoneless and couldn't call me when she got off). While I was waiting (she had some delays), this trio of Asians stumbled towards the handicapped exit- one girl freaking out, and one guy attempting to drag a girl who is passed out drunk. As he tried to pick her back up off the floor, he explained to a tube worker that her boyfriend had dumped her. Another Tube worker was trying to show them how to use a fireman's hold to carry her better, but the girl had called some friends to come help carry her home. By the time Carly got here, the three of them were sitting against a wall- actually, the drunk girl was passed out on the floor- and the Tube worker and I were making eye contact and laughing.
I went ice skating again this evening, which was fun. The rink was a small circle though, which started to get obnoxious when I wanted to work on skating backwards or powering forward. It was still really nice to go skating again- I miss Reilly and my skates though.
Kev, Vanessa and Haider came over, and Haider had printed off a list of Italian phrases for us- including such "likely phrases" as, "Haider, stop looking like a terrorist!" "Caitlin, we love you. Please make some more brownies," "The Circus Maximus has kidnapped Hilary," Vanessa, stop dancing, the ice on this lake is thin," "Kevin, those are not thermals, that is a mime costume!" and "Emily, what is the name of the biker on your bunkbed?" It was pretty fantastic. Kevin was fabulous and figured out most of our train schedule for us, which was nice, and we have two potential options to make sure no money is lost on the hostels in Luzern, which is encouraging.
After we had some ice cream, I went to meet Carly at the Tube station (since she was phoneless and couldn't call me when she got off). While I was waiting (she had some delays), this trio of Asians stumbled towards the handicapped exit- one girl freaking out, and one guy attempting to drag a girl who is passed out drunk. As he tried to pick her back up off the floor, he explained to a tube worker that her boyfriend had dumped her. Another Tube worker was trying to show them how to use a fireman's hold to carry her better, but the girl had called some friends to come help carry her home. By the time Carly got here, the three of them were sitting against a wall- actually, the drunk girl was passed out on the floor- and the Tube worker and I were making eye contact and laughing.
Free stuff and lots of work
Whoopsies, someone was a little overtired the last couple days and fell asleep before remembering to update. Fortunately only a couple exciting things happened, so you all didn't miss much in my life ;-)
On Wednesday, I mostly did a lot of work. I also went to this small group meeting to discuss Provide, and what's good about the club and what could use some improvement. I really like their system on this campus- there are only two groups, Provide and RAG (Raise and Give); Provide does volunteer work, and RAG is fundraising. For both clubs, if you want to get involved, you're able to get almost any placement you want. There are a lot of opportunities and minimal conflicting interests. I often wish BC was more like that- having just one place to go to if you want to volunteer, and none of this arduous application process and competitive selection. If someone wants to volunteer, then let them volunteer. When I mentioned how I thought it was great that Provide has a lot of options and opportunities, and that it was so easy to get involved, and explained why, the other students were horrified by what one often has to do at BC to be involved.
That aside, I got another mug and a comfy hoodie, so that was fun.
Later that night, when I was getting papered out (I still haven't even started the writing portion, I'm still gathering facts and quotes), I gathered Caitlin and Vanessa and we went on a chocolate-finding adventure, which resulted in delicious Budgens chocolate cake, as well as some cookies and muffins for a later date, and milk to drink with everything. Operation: Get Emily Chocolate was a huge success, and there was much happiness in the land.
I really need to go grocery shopping, but I want to wait until I'm back from my trip. As of this morning, the study abroad advisor still hadn't received a definitive answer about whether I could take my midterm at a different time, so I'm glad that I just decided to suck it up and come back Wednesday night instead of Saturday. It also relieved a lot of paper stress, since I will have almost all day Thursday, and all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday that I can write said papers. I'll be spending Sunday early afternoon into sometime on Tuesday in Venice, and then will go up to Luzern with everyone and spend the night and the next day, and head to the airport early Wednesday evening. I'm really sad that I won't get to go skiing in the Alps (how fabulous would that have been??), but at the same time I'll be saving a lot of money... and won't have to buy snow pants and ski gloves and goggles, which would've been hard for me seeing as how I already own all of those, they're just in Maine and I'm a little bit far away.
Yes, I know that I am totally rationalizing my disappointment. But it's helping.
Yesterday was pretty fun- Actuarial and tutorial for that, then a couple hours to do a bit more work, and then the 1950 version of King Solomon's Mines. I find it intriguing that the romantic plotline in the book involves a white British man and a "Native," but the movie cuts that out entirely and instead introduces a white British woman. I'm thinking about writing on that for my second paper for this class, and maybe watching a couple other versions of the film.
Vanessa and I then decided to go to Westfield Shopping Centre, since I've been looking for a new pair of sneakers and she needed to find rainboots and a present. We are now very mad at Haider for telling us of the existance of this magical place... it was HUGE (over 250 stores I've heard), and had these interactive directories that gave you directions to various stores. There was a string quartet chilling and playing in one of the atriums. And the stores were fantastic. Highlight of the evening, though, had to be Crepe Affaire. A Thai chicken crepe for dinner and a nutella crepe for dessert? Sooooooooooooo good. We didn't talk at all while we were eating, since we were pretty much in heaven.
We got home pretty late, and I realized I had to fill out my Orientation Leader application since that's due the day I'm getting back from my trip; Hopefully Howard and Chambers will fill out the forms for me, I shot off some emails last night and hope to forward them the forms before I leave for Venice Sunday morning.
I also had a lot of trouble falling asleep last night, so kept getting out of bed and watching weird Youtube videos. Probably not the best way to get drowsy, but it was at least entertaining.
I was going to go to the gym today, but I realized that it's an off day since I successfully went two days in a row! And now my muscles hate me a bit. But that's okay, they'll man up soon enough.
On Wednesday, I mostly did a lot of work. I also went to this small group meeting to discuss Provide, and what's good about the club and what could use some improvement. I really like their system on this campus- there are only two groups, Provide and RAG (Raise and Give); Provide does volunteer work, and RAG is fundraising. For both clubs, if you want to get involved, you're able to get almost any placement you want. There are a lot of opportunities and minimal conflicting interests. I often wish BC was more like that- having just one place to go to if you want to volunteer, and none of this arduous application process and competitive selection. If someone wants to volunteer, then let them volunteer. When I mentioned how I thought it was great that Provide has a lot of options and opportunities, and that it was so easy to get involved, and explained why, the other students were horrified by what one often has to do at BC to be involved.
That aside, I got another mug and a comfy hoodie, so that was fun.
Later that night, when I was getting papered out (I still haven't even started the writing portion, I'm still gathering facts and quotes), I gathered Caitlin and Vanessa and we went on a chocolate-finding adventure, which resulted in delicious Budgens chocolate cake, as well as some cookies and muffins for a later date, and milk to drink with everything. Operation: Get Emily Chocolate was a huge success, and there was much happiness in the land.
I really need to go grocery shopping, but I want to wait until I'm back from my trip. As of this morning, the study abroad advisor still hadn't received a definitive answer about whether I could take my midterm at a different time, so I'm glad that I just decided to suck it up and come back Wednesday night instead of Saturday. It also relieved a lot of paper stress, since I will have almost all day Thursday, and all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday that I can write said papers. I'll be spending Sunday early afternoon into sometime on Tuesday in Venice, and then will go up to Luzern with everyone and spend the night and the next day, and head to the airport early Wednesday evening. I'm really sad that I won't get to go skiing in the Alps (how fabulous would that have been??), but at the same time I'll be saving a lot of money... and won't have to buy snow pants and ski gloves and goggles, which would've been hard for me seeing as how I already own all of those, they're just in Maine and I'm a little bit far away.
Yes, I know that I am totally rationalizing my disappointment. But it's helping.
Yesterday was pretty fun- Actuarial and tutorial for that, then a couple hours to do a bit more work, and then the 1950 version of King Solomon's Mines. I find it intriguing that the romantic plotline in the book involves a white British man and a "Native," but the movie cuts that out entirely and instead introduces a white British woman. I'm thinking about writing on that for my second paper for this class, and maybe watching a couple other versions of the film.
Vanessa and I then decided to go to Westfield Shopping Centre, since I've been looking for a new pair of sneakers and she needed to find rainboots and a present. We are now very mad at Haider for telling us of the existance of this magical place... it was HUGE (over 250 stores I've heard), and had these interactive directories that gave you directions to various stores. There was a string quartet chilling and playing in one of the atriums. And the stores were fantastic. Highlight of the evening, though, had to be Crepe Affaire. A Thai chicken crepe for dinner and a nutella crepe for dessert? Sooooooooooooo good. We didn't talk at all while we were eating, since we were pretty much in heaven.
We got home pretty late, and I realized I had to fill out my Orientation Leader application since that's due the day I'm getting back from my trip; Hopefully Howard and Chambers will fill out the forms for me, I shot off some emails last night and hope to forward them the forms before I leave for Venice Sunday morning.
I also had a lot of trouble falling asleep last night, so kept getting out of bed and watching weird Youtube videos. Probably not the best way to get drowsy, but it was at least entertaining.
I was going to go to the gym today, but I realized that it's an off day since I successfully went two days in a row! And now my muscles hate me a bit. But that's okay, they'll man up soon enough.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Bra-sil *clapclapclap*
Vanessa and I went to Westminster Cathedral today; it was pretty cool, actually. I personally think the outside of the building is rather ugly, but the inside is really pretty- I liked Bentley's marble halfway up, mosaics the rest of the way up, motif that he stole from Italy. We paid the extra two-fifty to take the lift up the tower, which had a fantastic view of Buckingham Palace, Parliament, the Gherkin- pretty much all of the really big, London-y things. I took many a picture, though a lot of them are for me to reference when I'm trying to write my Architecture paper.
I'm starting to get a decent amount of my reading done for my papers. Since I still haven't heard back from Harry (the study abroad adviser here) about what the registrar's office said regarding my midterm, I decided to assume there was no way around it, so am starting to make my plans to get back to London Wednesday night instead of Saturday. Plus side: I'll have almost all day next Thursday, and all day Fri-Sun, to work on my papers. Also, I get to sleep in as much as I want. And I'll be saving a decent chunk of money. Minus side: I don't get to go skiing in the Alps because I have a FORTY-MINUTE midterm scheduled for a week when nothing is supposed to be scheduled.
I actually think that the plus side outweighs the minus, at least.
USC Kevin, Vanessa and I went to the Brazil v. Italy game at Emirates tonight. The ride there was INSANE- the Tube was absolutely packed with people flocking to the game, and when it pulled in at Arsenal (the station) we could see a huge bottleneck at the exit... when the doors opened, you could hear the bedlam, fans for both teams were doing chants and singing songs and waving flags, it was spectacular. The Italian supporters were particularly prone to bursting out into song (so I guess I know where I got that from, eh? The Irish are singers as well, I suppose). When we finally got out into the street, it was still packed, and I just wanted out of the crowd a bit since I was getting claustrophobic... until Vanessa and I noticed the Brasil v. Italy scarves they were selling. We each bought one since it was getting cold and they were way adorable.
The Arsenal stadium was HUGE, and very cool and modern looking. Our seats were pretty high up, but we still had a good view (of a game that I understood very little of), and the atmosphere was just very fun. It looked awesome when the wave started going around. Brasil ended up winning two-nil, both the goals were down our end. The first time it was a very standard run-the-ball-down-the-field, beat-the-keeper type of shot, and then the second time was really exciting since it was more of the type where you think they've gone too far past the net and have a bad angle and there's no way they're going to be able to make it in, but they somehow miraculously sink it in the opposite corner.
We decided to catch a bus back to campus- good call, much less crowded- and it let us off right in front of Milano's Pizza. So of course we ate there. I also ran to a store really quickly to grab more cough medicine, since I sound like a dying penguin. I want this cough to just go away, kaythanks.
I'm starting to get a decent amount of my reading done for my papers. Since I still haven't heard back from Harry (the study abroad adviser here) about what the registrar's office said regarding my midterm, I decided to assume there was no way around it, so am starting to make my plans to get back to London Wednesday night instead of Saturday. Plus side: I'll have almost all day next Thursday, and all day Fri-Sun, to work on my papers. Also, I get to sleep in as much as I want. And I'll be saving a decent chunk of money. Minus side: I don't get to go skiing in the Alps because I have a FORTY-MINUTE midterm scheduled for a week when nothing is supposed to be scheduled.
I actually think that the plus side outweighs the minus, at least.
USC Kevin, Vanessa and I went to the Brazil v. Italy game at Emirates tonight. The ride there was INSANE- the Tube was absolutely packed with people flocking to the game, and when it pulled in at Arsenal (the station) we could see a huge bottleneck at the exit... when the doors opened, you could hear the bedlam, fans for both teams were doing chants and singing songs and waving flags, it was spectacular. The Italian supporters were particularly prone to bursting out into song (so I guess I know where I got that from, eh? The Irish are singers as well, I suppose). When we finally got out into the street, it was still packed, and I just wanted out of the crowd a bit since I was getting claustrophobic... until Vanessa and I noticed the Brasil v. Italy scarves they were selling. We each bought one since it was getting cold and they were way adorable.
The Arsenal stadium was HUGE, and very cool and modern looking. Our seats were pretty high up, but we still had a good view (of a game that I understood very little of), and the atmosphere was just very fun. It looked awesome when the wave started going around. Brasil ended up winning two-nil, both the goals were down our end. The first time it was a very standard run-the-ball-down-the-field, beat-the-keeper type of shot, and then the second time was really exciting since it was more of the type where you think they've gone too far past the net and have a bad angle and there's no way they're going to be able to make it in, but they somehow miraculously sink it in the opposite corner.
We decided to catch a bus back to campus- good call, much less crowded- and it let us off right in front of Milano's Pizza. So of course we ate there. I also ran to a store really quickly to grab more cough medicine, since I sound like a dying penguin. I want this cough to just go away, kaythanks.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Wipeout!
In Diff Eq this morning we learned about complex numbers and some identities involving those (all of which I fortunately know thanks to Complex Variables; probably the most difficult elective I've ever taken, but the most useful).
I went adventuring after that- and by adventuring, I meant I went to Russell Square to find the Senate House Library at University of London. When I got off the Tube and started walking through the park, I had severe deja-vu, and realized that I had passed said park several times four years ago, since it was quite close to where Erin lived whilst in London, and also near the hotel we stayed in. Despite the rain, I took my time walking through said park and orienting myself.
Then I got to do several figure eights around a large section of buildings on the Uni of London campus, trying to find the hidden secret entrance (not even joking here) to the Senate House Library. I also had to sign up for a card, which they felt compelled to take my picture to put on (seriously, must everything here have my picture on it? It's worse than getting your license, since it's just like, "surprise! you look like a drowned rat, smile!"). After writing down the codes for the books I needed, I went to find them, and the most adorable old man librarian came up to me and asked if I needed help, so I decided to let him help me find my books. He suddenly went from being rather quiet and slow to spritely, running shelf to shelf and finding all of the books he possibly could on Bentley and Westminster Cathedral (way more than my list had) and talking to me about it. "Are you Roman Catholic? I am, I've been to Westminster Cathedral a few times, if you go to such-and-such a place they're exactly the same, Byzantine style..." It was really fun. I ended up having to power-read one of the shorter books while I was there (since I could only take eight out and also had a few on Pinocchio to read) and then having to buy a Senate House Library tote to get all of the books back through the rain and the Tube.
When I switched at Holborn to get back on the Central line, this man in a business suit, trench and briefcase had an epic, Indiana Jones-esque moment where he sprinted and threw himself through the narrow crack of the closing doors to land, miraculously (and briefcase still in hand) on the train. The moment was ruined a little bit by him wiping out, though. He seemed to just have a bit of injured pride in the end.
I made a massive bowl of "smashed" (ie mashed potatoes) for lunch, then met up with USC Kevin and Hilary for our field trip. We met the class in Trafalgar Square and walked to Buckingham Palace; afterwards, Kevin decided to lead us through the park to Green Park station. It was all mud, and I wasn't wearing my rainboots. The puddles would've been great fun if I had been, though.
After Actuarial, we tried to go to an acrobatics gym, but there weren't any adult classes tonight; it just ended up being a fun bus ride instead. At Hayfields, I almost beat Caitlin at Mario Kart (almost) and Caitlin and I beat Damien and James at pool (ha!). I had some spectacular shots- there was one that was legitimately epic, I dug a ball out of the middle of some others and got it to ricochet into a random pocket (kaping!)
I went adventuring after that- and by adventuring, I meant I went to Russell Square to find the Senate House Library at University of London. When I got off the Tube and started walking through the park, I had severe deja-vu, and realized that I had passed said park several times four years ago, since it was quite close to where Erin lived whilst in London, and also near the hotel we stayed in. Despite the rain, I took my time walking through said park and orienting myself.
Then I got to do several figure eights around a large section of buildings on the Uni of London campus, trying to find the hidden secret entrance (not even joking here) to the Senate House Library. I also had to sign up for a card, which they felt compelled to take my picture to put on (seriously, must everything here have my picture on it? It's worse than getting your license, since it's just like, "surprise! you look like a drowned rat, smile!"). After writing down the codes for the books I needed, I went to find them, and the most adorable old man librarian came up to me and asked if I needed help, so I decided to let him help me find my books. He suddenly went from being rather quiet and slow to spritely, running shelf to shelf and finding all of the books he possibly could on Bentley and Westminster Cathedral (way more than my list had) and talking to me about it. "Are you Roman Catholic? I am, I've been to Westminster Cathedral a few times, if you go to such-and-such a place they're exactly the same, Byzantine style..." It was really fun. I ended up having to power-read one of the shorter books while I was there (since I could only take eight out and also had a few on Pinocchio to read) and then having to buy a Senate House Library tote to get all of the books back through the rain and the Tube.
When I switched at Holborn to get back on the Central line, this man in a business suit, trench and briefcase had an epic, Indiana Jones-esque moment where he sprinted and threw himself through the narrow crack of the closing doors to land, miraculously (and briefcase still in hand) on the train. The moment was ruined a little bit by him wiping out, though. He seemed to just have a bit of injured pride in the end.
I made a massive bowl of "smashed" (ie mashed potatoes) for lunch, then met up with USC Kevin and Hilary for our field trip. We met the class in Trafalgar Square and walked to Buckingham Palace; afterwards, Kevin decided to lead us through the park to Green Park station. It was all mud, and I wasn't wearing my rainboots. The puddles would've been great fun if I had been, though.
After Actuarial, we tried to go to an acrobatics gym, but there weren't any adult classes tonight; it just ended up being a fun bus ride instead. At Hayfields, I almost beat Caitlin at Mario Kart (almost) and Caitlin and I beat Damien and James at pool (ha!). I had some spectacular shots- there was one that was legitimately epic, I dug a ball out of the middle of some others and got it to ricochet into a random pocket (kaping!)
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Harrods
I had the most expensive milkshake of my life today. But it was SO good.
Caitlin, Vanessa, her friend Trisha and I went to Harrods today. Caitlin and I meandered through the shoes and evening wear sections first (sticker shock anyone?) and decided to go upstairs... to the toy department! We were in grave danger of never emerging again from THAT one, they had fantastic stuffed animals, and really cool rocking horses, and giant beautiful doll houses, and the snazziest whirly flashy things ever (like a helicopter that really flies and light up wheels to attach to your sneakers). I want to be an employee there, they get to play with everything (like said helicopter and wheels, and also two guys had to stand there and throw boomerangs at each other, and one guy was doing magic tricks). It's magical. Luckily, Vanessa and Trisha showed up before we got too sucked into that vortex (though I almost bought many of their awesome board games).
We proceeded downstairs to the food court, which was another vortex in and of itself. THE CHOCOLATE ROOM. Really, I can't say much else. It was gorgeous. I wanted to keep it. I need that room in my house. No, I really don't. (But I do). The chocolate was so pretty and yummy looking and it just smelled fantastic. And then the other room was awesome- their Chinese food looked so good, and they had a sushi bar... and then we went back upstairs (and through the sparkly pretty glassware room) and to the Harrods Chocolate Bar. I wanted the entire menu. I settled for my overpriced shake, but it was the chocolatiest best one I've had in a while.
We took a couple minutes back at campus after, so Van and Trisha could eat their cheesecake and I could do some reading, and then we went to East End Thrift (to recover from sticker shock). It was definitely a very ecclectic store, but had fantastic deals. I again exercised great restraint.
The rest of my day wasn't that exciting- I read. A lot. And I also looked up and found a bunch of books to use for my papers at the Senate House Library, which is kinda far away, but the books are at least there (contrast with the on-campus library where there is a waiting list of a million people since everyone in my classes need the same books). I'll be hitting that up tomorrow so I can get some serious work done on these papers.
Caitlin, Vanessa, her friend Trisha and I went to Harrods today. Caitlin and I meandered through the shoes and evening wear sections first (sticker shock anyone?) and decided to go upstairs... to the toy department! We were in grave danger of never emerging again from THAT one, they had fantastic stuffed animals, and really cool rocking horses, and giant beautiful doll houses, and the snazziest whirly flashy things ever (like a helicopter that really flies and light up wheels to attach to your sneakers). I want to be an employee there, they get to play with everything (like said helicopter and wheels, and also two guys had to stand there and throw boomerangs at each other, and one guy was doing magic tricks). It's magical. Luckily, Vanessa and Trisha showed up before we got too sucked into that vortex (though I almost bought many of their awesome board games).
We proceeded downstairs to the food court, which was another vortex in and of itself. THE CHOCOLATE ROOM. Really, I can't say much else. It was gorgeous. I wanted to keep it. I need that room in my house. No, I really don't. (But I do). The chocolate was so pretty and yummy looking and it just smelled fantastic. And then the other room was awesome- their Chinese food looked so good, and they had a sushi bar... and then we went back upstairs (and through the sparkly pretty glassware room) and to the Harrods Chocolate Bar. I wanted the entire menu. I settled for my overpriced shake, but it was the chocolatiest best one I've had in a while.
We took a couple minutes back at campus after, so Van and Trisha could eat their cheesecake and I could do some reading, and then we went to East End Thrift (to recover from sticker shock). It was definitely a very ecclectic store, but had fantastic deals. I again exercised great restraint.
The rest of my day wasn't that exciting- I read. A lot. And I also looked up and found a bunch of books to use for my papers at the Senate House Library, which is kinda far away, but the books are at least there (contrast with the on-campus library where there is a waiting list of a million people since everyone in my classes need the same books). I'll be hitting that up tomorrow so I can get some serious work done on these papers.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Simon Cowell
A bunch of us went for a really nice walk today. It was pretty sunny out, and not ridiculously windy. We started at the Houses of Parliament and looped our way around, and were going to go into Westminster Abbey but they were having a mass soon so weren't letting people in, and we didn't feel like going to church. I ran into Carrie who had come into town for today, which was really nice, so we chatted for a few before she and Mark went in to the Abbey (they decided to go to mass) and my friends and I moved on down the street towards Trafalgar Square.
We stopped along the way to watch and see who was going to come out to a black Bentley... it ended up being Simon Cowell, which was really cool, followed by Ant and Dec. I guess we accidentally stumbled upon an audition site for "Britain's Got Talent." It was pretty exciting, actually. We waved to his car when it U-turned and drove by our side of the road. Yes, I know I'm a tool.
I climbed on a lion in Trafalgar Square. It was a project- we made Kevin jump up on the base of Nelson's column to help pull us shorties up, and then he had to give all of us a leg up onto the lion itself, but it was SO WORTH IT. I felt SO COOL. Seriously. It was way fun, and I want to do it again someday!
We walked from there across the Thames and down along the other side, past a lot of cool street performers (their three/four person bands sound like a lot more performers than that, they're crazy good! And the living statues were pretty fun, I got a photo of a really funny one). They also had a crazyawesome book market.
We crossed the Thames again via the Jubilee walkway, and went up to St. Paul's (gorgeous in the sunset, by-the-by), and went in a little bit, but a lot was closed off due to mass. We're going to go back again sometime soon when we haven't been out walking all day, and go up all the way to the top of the dome. It's going to be killer. (Seriously, though. It's going to burn.)
Since I was starving, we went to this place called Byrons, which had good burgers and shakes (little too pricey for my liking, but I was hungry and it was yummy). After that, Vanessa, Caitlin, and Trisha (Vanessa's friend) and I went to see Revolutionary Road. It was good, but definitely quite depressing and frustrating (which I guess was the point). I still think my favorite character was the old deaf dude, especially for the scene at the end.
The ride home was fun- we got to ride at the front on the top level of the double-decker bus.
We were going to play cards with USC Kevin and his flatmate Dave (we'd knocked on their window to invite them along to the movie, and they told us to stop by after), but were all too tired (slash I can't stop coughing). We knocked to tell them we weren't coming in, and Dave answered the window with a bathrobe tie around his head (a white one with purple and pink stars on it) and told us that everyone was ninjas in there, and we had to get our own ninja head cloth things (too tired to think of the name) if we wanted to come in. He also told us that every man has a pink and purple star bathrobe.
Needless to say, entertaining day.
We stopped along the way to watch and see who was going to come out to a black Bentley... it ended up being Simon Cowell, which was really cool, followed by Ant and Dec. I guess we accidentally stumbled upon an audition site for "Britain's Got Talent." It was pretty exciting, actually. We waved to his car when it U-turned and drove by our side of the road. Yes, I know I'm a tool.
I climbed on a lion in Trafalgar Square. It was a project- we made Kevin jump up on the base of Nelson's column to help pull us shorties up, and then he had to give all of us a leg up onto the lion itself, but it was SO WORTH IT. I felt SO COOL. Seriously. It was way fun, and I want to do it again someday!
We walked from there across the Thames and down along the other side, past a lot of cool street performers (their three/four person bands sound like a lot more performers than that, they're crazy good! And the living statues were pretty fun, I got a photo of a really funny one). They also had a crazyawesome book market.
We crossed the Thames again via the Jubilee walkway, and went up to St. Paul's (gorgeous in the sunset, by-the-by), and went in a little bit, but a lot was closed off due to mass. We're going to go back again sometime soon when we haven't been out walking all day, and go up all the way to the top of the dome. It's going to be killer. (Seriously, though. It's going to burn.)
Since I was starving, we went to this place called Byrons, which had good burgers and shakes (little too pricey for my liking, but I was hungry and it was yummy). After that, Vanessa, Caitlin, and Trisha (Vanessa's friend) and I went to see Revolutionary Road. It was good, but definitely quite depressing and frustrating (which I guess was the point). I still think my favorite character was the old deaf dude, especially for the scene at the end.
The ride home was fun- we got to ride at the front on the top level of the double-decker bus.
We were going to play cards with USC Kevin and his flatmate Dave (we'd knocked on their window to invite them along to the movie, and they told us to stop by after), but were all too tired (slash I can't stop coughing). We knocked to tell them we weren't coming in, and Dave answered the window with a bathrobe tie around his head (a white one with purple and pink stars on it) and told us that everyone was ninjas in there, and we had to get our own ninja head cloth things (too tired to think of the name) if we wanted to come in. He also told us that every man has a pink and purple star bathrobe.
Needless to say, entertaining day.
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