A Wale of a Time

Wellllll hellloooooo everyone

So I know to all five of you who read this, I have not blogged since Stonehenge. But FEAR NOT for I am catching up on this chilly evening with a many a blogs. I will start off with Wales. We left on Friday, January 20th and it was an adventure from the very beginning. There were 10 of us going, Lia, Erin, Dana, Allie, Julianna, Lizzie, Erica, Emily, Val, and myself, and most of us had class until 4 on Friday. So we decided to catch a 6 o clock bus, leaving our flat at 5. When we left, we took a bus as the tube station is quite a walk. However, we underestimated the amount of rush hour traffic we would hit, so we started freaking out around Nightsbridge. Realistically, the coach station is not far from where we live, but it was a trek during rush hour. When we got to Hyde Park Corner, the bus said "this bus is terminating" and kicked us all off. We didn't know how to get to the bus station, but we knew it had to be close. Luckily, I was chatting it up with the lady next to me and she was so helpful. She not only directed us and asked others to help us, but she ran with us to the Bus station to make sure we made it on time. We got there with 15 minutes to spare.

The bus ride was about 3 hours, and I slept for most of it. When we got to Cardiff, the capital, we weren't dropped off at a station or anything. It was literally a stop. So when we got off, we looked around, saw a Hilton, a castle wall, and two museum type buildings. Julianna asked someone for directions to the bridge, as our hostel was around it somewhere. As we trekked through Cardiff, we noticed that for a Friday night it was very quiet. We walked and walked and eventually asked someone for the street our hostel was on, and eventually we found it. The road was along the river, and very quiet. It was somewhat sketchy, so naturally, my paranoia was kicked into high gear. When we got to the hostel, we checked into our rooms and noticed the cleanliness of it. It really was very nice. We put our stuff down and went to wander around and find a pub or something. We asked the front desk for directions and such and the lady said as long as we stay in front of where we were(the city center) and didn't wander behind our hostel(which was where we just came from trying to find the place) then we shouldn't have any problems. She gave us maps and we were off. We wandered in and out of a few pubs, but walked around the squares. We eventually found a pub to grab a drink in called, Brains something. We went there because there was enough seating for all of us(traveling in a pack can be difficult) and we all just wanted to chill. We were sitting there and a lady started talking to us. She asked if we were Americans, and was shocked that so many girls had come to Cardiff.  

We were talking to this lady for a while, and she was explaining the Welsh culture apart from the English. She told us that the Welsh want to be their own country, they do not want to be speaking English, and they do not want to be represented through the United Kingdom. She also told us that calling any Scottish, Welsh or Northern Ireland person English is the greatest insult you could possibly say to them. She explained the great relationships the three nations have apart from England. In the pubs, each country's flag us hung except the English flag. She expressed to us their disdain for the Royals, how they are not theirs and what they stand for is solely English. She explained that the National Anthem is all about the Queen, but they do not feel the sense of pride about it because the Queen Elizabeth the Second is not "their Queen." She also began explaining to us the biases that go on in sports against Welsh, Scottish, and Irish players. If the United Kingdom team is doing well, the commentators refer to it as an "English player" however if they are doing poorly, they make the distinction between Welsh, Scottish, and Irish. As we were sitting there listening to this woman talk about Wales, we realized how much pride she has for her nation. Though it is small, she spoke about it like it was paradise. She loved telling us about its history, how it became associated with the United Kingdom, all the Welsh origins, and she spoke about all of it with a huge grin on her face. She just loved talking about her country, an aspect I found truly invigorating. As fascinated as we were by her and her life, we learned she was just as interested about our lives in America. She asked us questions about our homes, about our cities and towns. She wanted to know about American culture just like we were eager to learn about her Welsh culture. At the end of the night, we thanked her for welcoming us to her country in such a cultural way and she thanked us for coming, a first we had experienced on this trip. 

On Saturday, we all got up around 9 and went downstairs for breakfast. The hostel had a lovely sun room to eat the breakfast they provided in, with an outdoor patio which, had it not been raining, we would have eaten on. We set out and began wandering through the town squares. The squares were really cute, they were very clean and each square had "arcades" in them. Arcades are little shopping plazas that are kind of like outdoor malls, but with little boutiques and restaurants. Around 11, we realized we pretty much explored the squares and wanted to go into the castle. We went through the castle, walked through the Air Raid shelter(which actually did an air raid when you walked in, much to our surprise) went into the house, which was turned over in the 1940's so pictures of it in its original decor were available, and saw the actual castle. It was small, and the majority of it was the house and the outer wall. Other than that, there wasn't much in the courtyard.

After the castle, we wandered around the same area we had been in all day and learned that that was pretty much all there was to Cardiff. We looked on our map, and realized we had seen all there was to see except the museum. So, we went to the museum, which was cool, and walked back to our hostel around 5. We got ready to go out for the night and around 7, went to a place called the Live Lounge. Erica had a friend that studied in Cardiff last semester and said that we absolutely had to go to the Live Lounge. On our way, we saw people in costumes. We realized that we had seen people in costumes the previous night also and wondered if it was a theme party or something. There were costumes of all sorts, golfers, nerds, gypsies, Hooters girls, etc. It was weird, but when we go into the Live Lounge, Erin Dana and I found a booth to sit in with some English people, who happened to be boys. We started talking to them and again grilled the locals with questions about their lives. We found out they were from the country side of England and Cardiff was the closest city to go out in(we felt bad for them). We asked them about their school systems, how trade school worked here, how they felt about the Welsh and how they thought the Welsh felt about them. They understood there was a rivalry, but I don't think they understood why. I got into a debate with one of them as he decided to tell me that Americans do not have a culture, at which time, my nationalism and ethnocentrism came out, loudly. The English are just as much dis-liked by the Kingdom like the  Americans are dis-liked by the English. It's weird, but they really are completely different cultures and should be separated as such. We asked them about the costumes, to which we were told that there is an indirect meaning between women wearing costumes and sex. Apparently wearing a costume at any given time sends the message that you are willing to get freaky that night. Weird.

After the Live Lounge, Julianna, Lia and I walked around the squares some more. We met back up with Erica and Val and started walking back to our hostel, but found a pub on the way and decided to stop in it. It was around 1 and said "Whatever, when in Wales. We're only here once" and went on in. So we stayed there until around 3:30. I talked to some random people, asked them again about their culture(I really do like talking to locals) and tried gaining a deeper understanding of the Welsh/English conflict. It was weird because the Welsh have their very own accent. It sounds foreign, not English, but only for the ones that speak Welsh on a regular basis. You can tell whether or not they speak mainly English or mainly Welsh based on their accent. One of them asked me whether or not I liked New York City better or Cardiff, to which I said you cannot compare the two. I liked Cardiff, I really did, but it is in no way a city.

On Sunday, we packed up and checked out. We had a few hours to kill before our bus at 2, so we went down to the Bay. It was pretty, but more industrialized then I would have guessed. We walked around, and found an American 50's themed diner. KC would have LOVED it, so I took lots of pictures of it for the rugrat. 

On our bus ride home, we were all so anxious to get back to London. We realized that this trip solidified London as our home. We weren't saying I want to get to my bed in London it was 'I just want to get home.' It reinforced the fact that this really is our home, and how truly lucky we are to have the privilege of calling London home for the next few months.

Blog ya later

Blogging blogging blogging

Hellooooo

Where to begin. Well classes are long, boring, and stupid. On Wednesday, my Islam and the West course began, which was absolutely painful. I suppose it was because it was the first class, but I'm not a fan of the professor. He talks in circles and reminds me of Carol, so you know we're already in a bad situation. Oh well, at least Allie and Lia are suffering through that class with me. Wednesday night was the FIE welcome reception dinner. We were able to meet other students who are at FIE as well as mingle with different teachers. They gave us free drinks so it was worth it. While talking to other students, Lia was talking to a kid named Chris from some school in Indiana, who coincidentally had my name and was looking for me. He knows Nikki from Marist and she told both of us one an-others names, I just forgot his until that moment. Whoopsie. After, the large group of like 14 girls from Marist tried going to the Imperial College bar, but when there was a cover fee, we hopped on the tube and went into Camden with Chris and his friends. Camden is a kind of sketchy neighborhood full of bars though. We went to a pub called the Elephant Tusk I think. It was cool; I like interacting with locals. I think that's one of the aspects I love about this culture, that you don't drink to get drunk like we do on the weekends. You just chill in a pub and have a beer and it's totally casual. At one point in the night, Dana disappeared with Chris' friend Mike, literally giving me a heart attack. They went for a nice stroll around the neighborhood, and were not answering their phones, and being the naturally paranoid person that I am, I started buggin. They came back like a half an hour later and all was fine, but Allie, Erin and another girl from the program came home and Lia and the rest of them went to another bar. 

On Thursday, the five of us (Lia, Allie, Dana, Erin and I) don't have class. But we all agreed to not set alarms and when we woke up we would explore. We got up around 12 and left around 2 and walked across Hyde Park to Notting Hill. We went the wrong way and ended up going through a different neighborhood, which was eclectic. There was a mall which is good to know. When we were done walking through there we headed the direction of Notting Hill and found Diana's cafe. We didn't eat there, and instead walked over to High Street, which is becoming our stomping grounds since it is so close. We ate dinner at a pub called the Goat's Tavern, which was absolutely delicious. We headed home because FIE got us tickets to see The 39 Steps. I wasn't a fan of it, and pretty much napped through it but I think everyone else liked it. Afterwards, we went out for Ice Cream and then met up with some of the house at a pub. Allie, Dana and Erin and I left after like 20 minutes and went home. 

On Friday, I didn't have class until 1 so I got to sleep until 11. I got up and went to the second Islam and the West class, which was still very painful. Our teachers keep talking about some site called Moodle, but I just want iLearn. Ermm on Friday night the five of us went to Princess Diana's favorite Pizza place, and it wasn't as good as we had hoped it would have been. Way too much hype over it in my opinion, but I am a Pizza snob so who knows. That night we all stayed in and hung out because we had to be up very early for a trip on Saturday. 

Saturday morning was the earliest since arriving, waking up at 6:30 to be on a bus at 7:45. Allie, Erin and I ran to Starbucks beforehand. When we got to school to check in, Lia, Allie and I found out our names weren't on the list because we found out we weren't actually signed up. We thought we were, but we weren't but they still let us go so who cares. The day was a trip to Stonehenge and Bath. Stonehenge was about an hour and a half away, but for the parts of the bus ride I was awake for, the country is beautiful. Stonehenge was literally a bunch of stones in the middle of Kansas amounts of open land. When we got there we had an hour to walk around and do whatever, but we didn't even need it. It's one of those things that you go to just to see it and once you see it that's it. So we took our pictures, appreciated the vista as well as the nearby sheep, and got back on the bus to go to Bath. Bath was another hour and half for which I got another great nap in. The bus toured us around the town a bit, showing us the most expensive housing, called the Royal Crest, which was shaped like a horse shore. When we got there we had a museum tour of the ancient Roman Baths. They were really cool because some of them were from natural, un-touched hot springs. The museum was actually kind of cool because it had preserved parts of the village courtyard in it as well as the ancient Roman stones for the ground. We all felt like we were in Rome, not England. After the tour, we had about three hours to wander around Bath. We got lunch in a pub, delicious again (and I branched out of my Turkey/ Chicken sandwiches to a Middle Eastern wrap)and went to the Jane Austen Exhibition. Afterwards we walked around, looked into shops. The whole town reminded me of my family. It was right up their alley's. My mom would have adored the little shops, the token guitar player in the corner, and the street vendors. The coolest thing about it was that it wasn't like roads, it was old village styled where the cars were on the outskirts of everything. All the shops faced inward, courtyard style, and it reminded me of Sienna. I really liked it and would love to go back. We didn't really have much time to do a lot except see it, but I still felt like it was a great experience.

When we got home, we all decided we wanted to go out. We went into Piccadily Circus to a bar called O'Neills. It was cool because it was college kids and had multiple levels, each level having a different theme kind of. On the top floor before the terrace, there was a live band, my favorite level. Below that was dancing and below that was tables and below that was a mix of both and the bottom floor was bathrooms, which had women giving out free gum while trying to scam you into giving them money. It was weird. It was a little bit of a rough night, so I was not in the mood to hear that Americans suck. When we were on the terrace, someone was yelling it at us and I don't really know my exact reaction but Lia just goes Yeah I'm from Canada and the guy goes "Oh, you're fine" and walked away. Absolutely ridiculous.  We stayed until the lights came on, and even then we were talking to random assortments of people. Lia was getting great pick up lines from an Irishmen, I was talking to someone from France, and everyone was just everywhere. When we finally left, we really wanted fried rice so we went to the Chinese Place next door and the guy said we could use the bathroom. When I got back to the front, the guy was yelling at us because he claims he saw one of us take chop sticks off a table(no one did) and started telling us he was going to call the police. LOL. Going out is such a fiasco here. We pretty much got home and crashed.

Today is lazy Sunday, which is fine because everything here's closed anyway. I think it's finally hitting me that I'm in London because today's the first day I'm feeling homesick. Hmm.Homework, Internships, Skyping with the fam. Peace.

And it continues

Hip Hip Cherrio

Well I don't really remember where I left off thus I'm not sure where to start. The past few days have been full of the continuation of settling into our glorious London lives. On Saturday night, Flat 2(Marist) decided it was time to scope out the night life. We wanted to go to a bar, but they all close at 11, and as we aren't used to leaving until at least then, we missed that. So to Piccadilly Circus we went! It was very eventful, full of all of us 11 girls shouting about how our heels were killing our feet, and having serious problems finding where to pee, we we scooped into a club, swarmed by creepy men, and ran out of there as fast as we could. Then, we went somewhere called the Penthouse. It was a really cool location, it started six floors up and then was three floors of a club through levels 6-9. It had a sweet view of the London Eye and Big Ben, and the venue was awesome, but the crowd was weird to say the least. Nonetheless, we will not be returning.
 

On Sunday, we had a bus and walking tour . The bus tour was cool, it took us through all the touristy sights and we were able to get out at Buckingham and the Tower of London. We came home and I slept while Allie and Lia did whatever it was they were doing. Then we had a walking tour around Kensington, which I liked a lot more than I thought I would. It took us through the park, Billionaires Road, and through Terrace Stables. Then Lia, Allie, Erin, Dana and I went to a pub called ArcAngel for dinner. It was really cheap and very American. Sunday night we all just hung around the flat, watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and got ready for the long dread of class starting the following day.

 

On Monday, we got up and went to class. I had a 1-4 British Life and Cultures class, which is just Marist students. It was very historical, and very boring. But the professor is such a cute old British man. Then, I had a 5-8, Financial Management class which I kinda liked. As much as I don't understand economics, I find it very interesting and like talking about it. After class, Dana and I went grocery shopping, came home and ate dinner with the rest of the flat.

Today, we didn't have class so Lia, Allie, Jillian, Erin, Dana, and Emily took a bus to Hammersmith. Hammersmith is basically a really cheap area to shop, get groceries and eat. It was flippin sweet and we can't wait to go back.There was the equivalent of a Dollar store called 'Poundland' and anyone who knows Lia, knows Lia was in heaven.  We got lunch in a pub, and came home. Then Emily had class, so the rest of us got bikes and rode around Hyde Park. It was quite a work out, but there was a man riding a horse and I thought about stealing it. We came home for dinner, and just hung out. Around 8, pretty much everyone in our flat decided we wanted ice cream so we went on a hunt. We found Ben and Jerrys, came home, and went to the nearest pub, Gloucester Pub, got a drink and came home.

The day to day routines are long and tiring, but I love exploring London and adapting a London, stress free attitude about things. I'm not sure what else to write about, so I'll see y'all later.

Adventures

Hello mates

So I have been in London for three days and feel quite at home. I didn't think I would adjust so quickly, but I suppose it's a good thing. Throughout the past few days we have been doing an abundance of exploring. Yesterday, Friday, we had orientation lectures all day, which proved to be very boring. Some of the policies are absolutely cracked. For example, if you are more than five minutes late to a class you are marked absent. These classes are three hours a piece, so I highly doubt that missing the first ten minutes warrants an absence, but whatever we'll just have to leave super early. We had an hour break in between the different meetings so Allie, Lia, Erin, Dana and I went to Pret A Manger for lunch. After our second lecture, the five of us walked to Kensington Palace, which is conveniently right around the corner, and Will and Kate are moving in there shortly. So I think we'll bake cookies and welcome them to the neighborhood. Then we just walked through Hyde Park. We walked to the Round Pond and around the Long Water, and saw the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. While we were walking along the water, the swans were harassing us. They were really quite frightening and literally swam at the pace of our walk and anytime we got too close to the water they did a weird little swan warning look. Either way, it was enough to keep us away from the water.

 

We eventually found ourselves much further from our apartment then we had originally planned. So we decided to venture further into Central London while trying to figure out the bus system. We wanted to go to High Street, but went the wrong way and ended up in Oxford Circus. When we got off the bus we all felt like we had stepped into New York City, smells included. I think it was the first time any of us felt like we were actually in a city, since where we live is so residential. We wandered around and got dinner at a restaurant called Garfunkels. We then figured out our way home through the tubes, which  our stop coincidentally ended up being on High Street. We walked home and when we got back everyone on our floor was going out. However, from our day of exploration we all just wanted to sleep.

Today, we did not have any orientation stuff planned so we had the day to ourselves. I slept until 11:30 and we actually left around 2. Erin, Dana, Lia, Allie,and I went to High Street. It has loads of shops including the UK version of TJ Maxx, TK Maxx. When we were in there, Dana realized she left her straightener on, and being as how she didn't want to pay to re-build 37 Hyde Park Gate after it burned down, she walked back to turn it off. I had to go to the UPS store to try and mail my phone, so we went together. I ended up not sending it because it was 60 pounds to ship, which is absolutely absurd. We walked back to High Street, and got on a bus that took us about 10 feet from 1 stop to the next. But whatever, at least we're embracing public transportation. We just kept wandering and ended up finding this cute little square with a French Cafe in it.

We ended up get lunch at Pizza Hut, very European of us. We didn't stay out too long, and just came back and hung out. I called my Mom and Skyped with my Dad and K.C. I think we're going to go out with everyone on our floor tonight. Tomorrow we have to be up early for a Coach and Walking tour at 10 and 2. Still phoneless. See y'all later.

GREETINGS

Hello to anybody reading this!

Lia, Allie and I just woke up after a very pleasant slumber, full of some lovely REM sleep after being up for about 30 hours. I still can't believe we're here, it feels so unreal. But we're all so excited to start exploring London.

Going through security was relatively painless, but the TSA agent did find it necessary to search through Lia's bun in her hair. Our flight was very quick, but we didn't take off for an hour after the time because we would have landed too early. It was less than six hours because the winds were crazy fast. Then at the end, we were circling and it was nauseating and about five people started throwing up all at once. And then it smelled. But other than that it was quite smooth. I really liked flying Virgin Atlantic, it was very colorful and the food wasn't as bad as usual plane food tends to be. They gave us nice sleeping masks, and big blankets, and headphones, and socks and a little toothbrush and stuff. When we got to the airport, going through the UK border only took about a half an hour. But none of us had any problems getting through with our Visas, so that was great! Then, when we got to the baggage claim area, all our luggage was already pulled off the belt and waiting for us! Being as how we each had about 150 lbs of luggage, we reserved a car to take us into London. However, finding the driver was an adventure in and of its own.  Allie and Erica waited with about 10 suitcases while Lia and I went to hunt down the car service taking us to our school, as we did not see one with a sign for us. We heard the airport page "Katherine Katie Shafer" and after much paging back and asking everyone under the sun if they were looking for us, Lia finally found him.

When we got to London, we picked up our keys and went to our 'flat.' Our flat is in a big old Victorian house, and there's three floors of students. Marist is on the second floor, and Lia and Allie and I are sharing a room. When you enter our room, there's a little vestibule kind of thing, with a closet and the door to the bathroom. Lia and I have bunk beds and I'm on top, and anytime one of us moves the entire unit moves with us. My bed isn't too bad, but I think I might go buy another pillow. The floors are quite squeaky and the building itself is semi creepy, especially at night. Literally outside of our bay window is the Netherlands Consulate, which we can see business people working, thus the curtains are closed. This floor has a common kitchen, living room/study room, and dining room. In the common study/living room thing, is a view of Hyde Park, which is like looking out onto Central Park. The neighborhood is very nice, very residential and above all, very safe. Will and Kate live up the road and, according to the RA, a few doors down is Dubai Royalty. So all in all, I'd say we're in a good area. The school itself is about a 10 minute walk, and it's kind of cool cause every building has a code you need to enter for it to open, so I feel like a spy or something.

Yesterday, Lia, Allie, and a few other girls from Marist, Erin, Dana and Erika, went on the stupid tours they make you take. They showed us around the neighborhood and took us to Imperial College(which is apparently the MIT of London,great for bachelor candidacy) because we have access to their student center with our student ID cards. It was good that we went cause we got to know the area and we were able to go food shopping just to get started. We stopped at Starbucks mid-day for some coffee because we all looked like zombies. After the grocery store, we all came back and un-packed. We either have a shortage of closet and dresser space or we brought too much stuff. Either way Lia, being the crafty professional organizer that she is, crafted easily accessible storage via our luggage, without it feeling like we are living out of suitcases. After, me and momma were able to Skype for a little but but then we had a floor meeting, so it wasn't too long. And it rained on and off all day, but nothing unbearable.

The showers deserve their own blog, because they are certainly interesting. There is very little water pressure, and it tends to go from drastically hot to drastically cold but whatever, we're in London. Afterwards, we all kinda plopped into bed and passed out no later than 8 PM, closing in on 34 hours, but we all woke up around 6:30 AM, hence the blogging since we don't have to be in our orientation stuff until 9:15.

Oh and also, this place is haunted:FACT. And yes mom, I just saw you roll your eyes while shouting "Katherine, it is not! Don't tell your little sister." I had to pee so badly in the middle of the night but kept hearing all these weird noises and I was too scared to get out of bed(which, please remember before you judge me family, is also a climb). But then, Allie got out of bed around 4 AM, so I felt safe enough to pee.Though the hallway of our floor has some serious Jack Nicholson in the Shining kinda stuff going on.

Oh and also, I do not currently have a phone. Verizon can be very ridiculous, and my blackberry does not work here. Thankfully, I have THE BEST MOM EVER and she is sending me one that will. However, to all 7 of my bbm contacts, I will not have a phone for probably two weeks.

Today we have Welcome programs allllll day, which none of us want to go to. But I think we are going to explore the neighborhood afterwards and take a trip down to Kensington Palace. Who knows. I'll try and get some pictures up soon, but I think I may have broken my camera or something again cause it was being funny yesterday on the plane. CHEERS!