Finals are over!! Yay! It's so weird, I feel like I was just taking them two months ago. Oh, that's right, because I was! Now I just have one more class and my internship after spring break. We had a big meeting yesterday about our internship and how we need to act, and working in the British workplace and all that good stuff. They also talked about the portfolio we will need to do for our internship. It seems pretty basic; just a daily log and then a final conclusion as well as examples of things we have done while there. Shouldn't be too difficult as long as I stay on top of it. Only having one class will also be nice.
This blog is primarily for myself (let's not forget that), so I'm going to be honest here. Mom and Dad, just trust me on this one.
I've noticed something very peculiar about studying in London. No one, and I really do mean no one has any motivation to do anything. Finals and papers are just a few hour blip in the radar screen of life here. I was studying with Steve on Tuesday night for our Wednesday final and I actually had to keep him from ADD-ing to travel websites multiple times. Yes, I had to actual try to convince Stephen Henrick that he needed to study more. That's what this semester has done to people. People were starting whatever papers they had hours before they were due, some haven't even started papers that were due days ago. It was finals week, most everyone had two finals ranging in difficulty, and yet I knew very few people who haven't gone out at least once this week. Procrastination is at a maximum. Drunkenness is at it's normal high. And it's weird because you know no one would be acting this way in Boston, but it's just something about London.
I do have to admit that the academic set up is almost made for this. Finals really could not have been easier. I studied, but not for days like in Boston and I probably did better on those finals than the majority I had taken in my life.
This is where indeed that I admit that I went out on Wednesday night a full 36 hours before my final and stayed out much later than I should have. But hey, Allison wanted to and you know she kept begging me even though I was adamant about leaving to get back and get some studying in before sleep, etc etc. You know how it is, friends sometimes, you just can't say no. Anyway, I never would have done that in Boston. Never. For what it's worth, I did start work on my papers quite a while ago (long before the average person) and was able to hand both of them in early. People were astonished at this. For the most part, everyone is getting their stuff done, but decidedly half-assedly. I think part of it is that the weird set up of the semester (We're already 1/2 finished academic wise) gives it this "not real" sheen where it's hard to believe that each class is actually worth a real grade on a real transcript somewhere thousands of miles away. I also know from people that have done other study abroad programs (abroad, not the US) that this is generally the case everywhere. I cannot explain it. Something about this town just screams "HAVE FUN! Work?! Pshhhhh" And I, like others, have a difficult time not heeding the call.
Along with easy academics, part of it is the culture here. I sit here now drinking out of an Evian water bottle (no, i don't buy Evian regularly, it's filled with tap water-- although bottled water is much cheaper here than at home) and the marketing campaign for Evian here is "Detox with Evian." As in, you've obviously had too much to drink, so have some of our water to help you get over it. I don't think you would find this in the US. I know you wouldn't find this in the US. No matter where you go or when you go, you are bound to find crowded pubs and clubs somewhere in this town on any given night. I think it's a creeping European thing here that work just doesn't so much matter. So, basically, I blame French influence here. Thanks a lot France.
But seriously, for all my diligent readers (Dexter, I guess), fear not. I am studying, I am doing work, I am getting things done. As I said, I did really well on my finals, am participatory in class, pay attention, and made sure to write two decent papers of appropriate length. The papers could have been better, but they always could be better. Also, we had to hand our topics in after only a week of class, so my breadth of knowledge on the classes were fairly shallow and at least for the British Political Institutions, I had to pick something we had already discussed which turned out to be a fairly simplistic argument that had likely been done many times before. Oh well, I did my research, reached the word limit, etc and I'm fairly happy with them, especially the one on Energy / Russia for The EU and UK Class.
So yes, I did go out on Wednesday, and had a totally kick ass time. We went to Walkabout, which was having a student night so everything for students was ultra cheap and I spent 4 pounds all night. Allison and I went with 3 girls downstairs but soonish after we got there one didn't feel well so they peaced out and Allison and I stayed. The place was your average club, but they played fun music and since it was student night it was a young crowd which was a good time.
I noticed something funny about myself that I guess Allison will attest to. People (ok guys) have a tendency to come up to me and just start joking around. I don't really do anything (stand there and dance which we all know I'm good at) and multiple times people just come up to me and strike up a conversation about whatever. At one point someone passing by, one guy did something stupid (tripped or something) and looked around and saw I noticed and came over and decided a toast was appropriate.
I also have noticed that whenever I get into a conversation with a British person, they inevitably think I support Bush and the conversation will inevitably devolve (or evolve if you want to be optimistic) into making fun of the way each other talks. Like, literally, in some way or another, this is always a guarantee. It's kind of fun, actually. They seem to think all Americans have a penchant for saying "Word" and "like whatever" and it is one of the best things to see any British guy try to imitate such American phrases. Take my word on this. It is truly hilarious.
I love the accent so much, we can be talking about anything, as long as they just talk. Also, I've said it before and I'll say it again, but accent or not, on average English guys really are just cuter (sorry guys). Especially Detective Dave. Allison will attest.
Oh! Also! I got into a British political conversation with him and damned if I didn't know basically everything. I knew basically everything that was going on in current politics and got major points for supporting the Tories (sorry Gordy, you've just made too many mistakes). So, as much as I will say the academics here could be a little more rigorous, it was clear to me that I have learned quite a bit. It was very nice to be able to hold my own and show off a little bit. I made fun of hm for crazy British politics, and he made fun of me for living in a country that elected Bush twice. He kind of won by default. Poop.
Aaanyway. So yes, good night out. Success on finals. Good week all around.
I also learned that it is not a good idea to talk about how much you hate the coinage here. For you see, all the coins have the Queen's face on them, and insulting the coins is "insulting my Queen." Not a road you want to go down. Lesson learned.
Tomorrow is Munich!! Tuesday is Prague!! I'm quite excited, although it hasn't really hit me yet. Liane and I have done a bunch of planning and we have made sure that our days will be full to the brim with everything we can possibly do in both cities in the time allotted. And be sure I will be eating soft pretzels in less than 48 hours. Yessss!!
I realize that people are going to read this post and be like "What's happened to Katie?" and blame London for various kinds of American corruption, etc etc But rest assured I am tame compared to my compatriots and being safe and well and happy and living in (relative) moderation. And doing it all as cheaply as humanly possible.
That's all that's really gone down since I last wrote I suppose. I have been spending a lot of time studying ( I didn't even go to quiz night this week!), believe it or not, which has put a damper on general observations and leaving my room.
I will obviously be gone until next Saturday, but check back then for what promises to be an update on the best spring break ever!
-Kate
P.S. Oh!!!! I'M GOING TO BERLIN THIS SUMMER!! AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! I COULDN'T BE MORE EXCITED!! :-D :-D :-D
Friday, 22 February 2008
Sunday, 17 February 2008
Stonechester Murphys
It's been a fairly uneventful week due to the end of classes, paper writing, and upcoming finals.
As always, last Tuesday, Allison and I went to quiz night. We were back on our British team (with expanded and updated members, including girls and an Irish guy) and we oddly came in about 6th place. The team that always wins cheats (I'm sure of it), so I think we've really got to figure out how to do that. I think Allison and I don't really care about the winnings or winning, we just like hanging out with British people.
I've come to realize this past week that if I were to do study abroad all over again, I would definitely do it differently. I love being in London, and I don't regret that, but I think I would unenroll at BU for a semester or year and then enroll at a real school over here. Something just feels kind of wrong about doing BU in London. I live in a dorm full of American kids, take classes with American kids, go out with American kids, etc etc My professors are English, but that's the extent of it. It's really difficult to break into the British scene if you have no ins. It's been pointed out to me that there are so many of us that if you really wanted to, you could avoid British people the entire time you were here if you wanted to. While there are certainly times when I may feel that way, I feel like I'm being gipped of the real London experience. I'm trying to get out there by myself or meet people at Imperial, but it's extremely difficult. There's also that stiff upper lip thing to get past and the fact that talking and hanging out with a British person multiple times doesn't necessarily make you friends. How you get past that barrier, I'm not sure. I also have this sneaking feeling everyday that I'm running out of time. I'm looking for more and more ways to immerse myself and often coming up short. There just aren't those opportunities for us as American kids studying at our satellite American school. We did get part membership to the Imperial Union, but that's already expired. I've got to say, BU does a pretty terrible job at getting us involved in real activities here. They sponsor club nights and stuff and then a ton of us end up going and it just becomes another club night with American people all around. Lesson learned I guess. BU + BU campus + BU students does not equal British experience.
Valentine's Day was this past Thursday. It seemed that the Brits make the same deal out of it as we do. Hallmark holidays spreading across the world. Of course there was the requisite people who are pissed at the world over being single and resolved to be bitter all day and usually wear black, then there's the people who are single but insist on loving everyone all day anyway, then there are the people in real relationships that do cute things and blah blah blah. Then there was Kate Seif. I maintained strict apathy throughout the day on the matter and I think it was much better for it. I did got out for ice cream with Allison. It was delicious.
As I've said, classes are ending. I have just finished both of my papers and now I'm on to study for the two finals and start planning spring break. Overall, the classes were Ok. I realized that I actually have had just as many hours of each class as I would in a normally scheduled semester but I just don't feel like I've learned as much at all. I did learn a lot of basic important stuff which I'm happy about. I guess when you don't know much about the British insitutions and roles of the EU and all that stuff, you've got to build up quite a lot so not a lot gets covered. I guess they were good classes, though. It was kind of hard for me to feel like they weren't really anything more than a distraction from tourism and other things I would do on a vacation. I feel like my internship will be really neat at first then turn into office life tedium. It's going to be rough sitting in an office every day when there's so much out and about I still haven't done and want to do.
I discovered something random the other day that is now going to annoy me every day. I realized that the sidewalks in Kensington are slightly tilted. You wouldn't really think anything of it until you have to walk on them long distances everyday, and sometimes in heels. It's very slight, but just enough to be annoying and noticeable. My one leg is perpetually lower than the other and it just feels awkward. Now that I've noticed it, I'm doomed to tilted hell whenever I walk.
I'm reading a book by Bill Bryson right now. He's an American author who lived in England for 20 years and writes hilarious travel books. The one I'm reading now is all about this tour he took all over England. It highlights all the hilarious and silly things about England you just wouldn't get if you didn't live here. I highly recommend it (Notes from a Small Island) if you want to get a good, well written and funny flavour of what it's like being here. Especially about the people. He does it much better than I ever could.
I took another day trip to Stonehenge yesterday. I'm not going to lie, I'd like to say it was something really awe inspiring and important, but it really was just rocks. It was great to see it and now be able to say that I've seen it, but that's kind of the extent of it. The audio guides for English had run out, so all the information I had was given to me by the BU tour guide for the day. I did learn a bit so that's always important. It is really neat to see something that's so crazy old and speculate about why they built it. Some of those rocks are apparently 40+ tons.
I've got to quote Bill Bryson here because he just puts it really well:
"Impressive as Stonehenge is, there comes a moment somewhere about eleven minutes after your arrival when you realize your fascination has peaked, and you spend another forty minutes walking around the perimter rope looking at it only out of a combination of politeness, reluctance to be the first from your bus to leave, and a desire to get the 2.80 worth of exposure from the experience."
After Stonehenge, we went to Winchester, which used to be the capital of England way back when. (Way back when what? Well, I guess way back when it was the capital...) It was an adorable little town (once you got off the main drag, which I guess is often the case) with a pretty river running through it and of course hundreds of years of history. We went to the Cathedral (making it my 4th cathedral on this trip so far and probably upwards of 15 in my life in general) which is apparently the 2nd longest in Europe. It didn't feel that long, but I figured they probably knew better than I did on such matters. Jane Austen was burried there and her house was right near by. Although I am not her biggest fan, I do find her works lighthearted and it's nice that they have a happy ending. Because of this, we made the trek to her house to flash some pictures. Then we headed to the Great Hall where there was an 800 year old replica of King Arthur's table (As in Knights of the Round Table). You know your country is crazy old when something 800 years old is already a replica. The whole town in general had a very old feeling to it, which I really liked. It's definitely something new for us Americans to walk amongst things in everyday life that are 500 years old. It was nice, like Canterbury, to see the "real England," albeit a touristy one.
Then I brought myself back to very much the present and headed out shortly after returning home to South London, specifically Brixton to hit up the Brixton Academy (corporate sponsership by Carling) to see the Dropkick Murphys. That's right, i'm 2000+ miles away from home and I still went to see the Dropkicks. I think that makes me an awesome fan. As soon as I got on the Southbound Victoria line I knew this concert would be slightly different. Boston draws a rowdy crowd of course, but I've got to say, these people were much rougher, and much drunker. There were of course far more boys than girls, as is the case at any punk concert, which leads to bigger mosh pits, more alcohol consumption, and rowdiness in general. Also, the Academy is about 3 times bigger than Avalon (where I normally see the Murphys) so far more people were there.
You know that postcard that everyone sends to people from London that has the picture of those quitessentially punk people with crazy hair and piercings all over the place and arms full of tattoos. Ok, well, imagine a room full of those people. The London Punks are a very real and in full force phenomena. Others try to imitate (New York), but indeed, as long as the Sex Pistols did it first, London will always have that going for it. I have never seen more liberty spikes, mohawks, peircings, etc in one room.
On the other hand, it was nice to know, like the goth club, that some things just don't change. People take their shirt off to mosh who would really be doing the world a favour to keep their shirt on. People still are pushy and the tallest person in the room will always manage to find me and stand in front of me.
It was a good show, and the opening band was right excellent. From America, but I had never heard of them. Good enough for me to go home and buy their stuff. Really enjoyable. I do however think that if you don't see the Dropkicks in Boston, it's just not the same. There were people all over the place wearing "Shipping Up To Boston" shirts with pictures of the Prudential Tower and the Hancock Tower on the back (the Pru was taller, which made me laugh at their obvious ignorance of the Dropkick's home town) and the crowd went wild when they played that song. I just feel like they were really missing out from not really knowing what the MBTA is, or Lansdowne street, never having seen the Bruins play, not knowing what exactly Tessie is or why the Sox are such a big deal, etc etc It gave me a sense of eliteness I'm so good at having, but being amongst the unknowing crowd just made it a little less fun.
Also, despite the place being owned by Carling, the beer was still crazy expensive. Despite this, people had this awesome habit of tossing their 1/2 drunken cups into the crowd in front of or behind them. Great!! I love it when it rains beer. Oh wait. Also, despite the smoking ban, people there were not deterred to have a cig whenever they felt like it. In the end, I left smelling like English people's sweat, spilled beer, and cigarettes. I'll give it to Boston that that would not happen, it would just be Bostonians sweat instead.
I'm really glad I went though. I feel like more of a local when I do things here that I would be doing if I were home. I feel more like I'm in the in crowd. Plus, coat check was about a billion times more efficient here than Avalon, so I can't complain. Too bad about going into Zone 2 though. The Tube is draining my finances. I don't think I even use it that much, but it seems every time I turn around i am adding more money to it.
That's one of my biggest peeves of being here. I feel like I'm being nickeled and dimed together. Transportation is crazy expensive no matter how you slice it. And if you think you've been really thrifty and economical when planning a trip, like I did with Barcelona, it turns out that you end up spending literally about a hundred + more just on getting back and forth from airports. I only eat two meals a day but I feel like I'm going grocery shopping all the time, and I always buy what's on sale, but it never seems to help. If I'm not putting money on my Tube card, I'm at the ATM. No matter what phone plan I have, it's always expensive to use it (luckily, I don't really need to much). I wear things multiple times and only do laundry when I run out of underwear, but even that takes a bit of money. It's soo expensive. I'm trying really hard to be economical without being a loser (i.e. never going out or something) and I'm finding it's really difficult. Nearly impossible. Money just seems to flow through my hands like water and it's the most frustrating upsetting thing about this trip. Then there's the fact that every time I use my debit or credit card I get charged 3-5% extra by Visa or whoever else feels like taking a chunk of my money. Whenever you exchange money to Euros, you always get screwed there and lose some money, even if you do it at a bank. I really feel like I can't win. I was expecting to spend money here, but I didn't think it would be on things like the freaking tube or groceries. Every time I spend money, I convert it, and just get upset. I avoid looking at my bank account, but whenever I do, it's really sad. So many little subtractions. Ughhhh!!!! As a cheap person by nature, this is driving me nuts!!
On a separate note, I've decided that the public toilets in general are much nicer than anything in America. Wherever I've gone, in London or otherwise, the toilets have never grossed me out. Kudos to them for this. As a girl, I appreciate this to no end. The bathrooms always have great things in them, like crazy condom machines and these things called "fuzzy brushes" that are apparently edible toothbrushes. I haven't tried one, and won't, but they are intriguing. The only downside to the bathrooms is that none of them ever have paper towels. They are all hand dryers. This is fine, but a lot of them are weak and take forever to actually dry your hands. I hate leaving the bathroom with wet hands, so I always have to end up standing there waiting for a long time, holding everyone else up and making it seem like I was in the bathroom for a long time. Oh well. I'll take that over gross bathrooms. Oh, I guess one other thing. The flushes always seem to be too weak. They never quite get the job done. They should work on this. We need some industrial powered flushers over here.
I'm off to get some dinner and start some spring break planning. While I know this will mean more obnoxious nickel and diming, I am still very excited!
-Kate
As always, last Tuesday, Allison and I went to quiz night. We were back on our British team (with expanded and updated members, including girls and an Irish guy) and we oddly came in about 6th place. The team that always wins cheats (I'm sure of it), so I think we've really got to figure out how to do that. I think Allison and I don't really care about the winnings or winning, we just like hanging out with British people.
I've come to realize this past week that if I were to do study abroad all over again, I would definitely do it differently. I love being in London, and I don't regret that, but I think I would unenroll at BU for a semester or year and then enroll at a real school over here. Something just feels kind of wrong about doing BU in London. I live in a dorm full of American kids, take classes with American kids, go out with American kids, etc etc My professors are English, but that's the extent of it. It's really difficult to break into the British scene if you have no ins. It's been pointed out to me that there are so many of us that if you really wanted to, you could avoid British people the entire time you were here if you wanted to. While there are certainly times when I may feel that way, I feel like I'm being gipped of the real London experience. I'm trying to get out there by myself or meet people at Imperial, but it's extremely difficult. There's also that stiff upper lip thing to get past and the fact that talking and hanging out with a British person multiple times doesn't necessarily make you friends. How you get past that barrier, I'm not sure. I also have this sneaking feeling everyday that I'm running out of time. I'm looking for more and more ways to immerse myself and often coming up short. There just aren't those opportunities for us as American kids studying at our satellite American school. We did get part membership to the Imperial Union, but that's already expired. I've got to say, BU does a pretty terrible job at getting us involved in real activities here. They sponsor club nights and stuff and then a ton of us end up going and it just becomes another club night with American people all around. Lesson learned I guess. BU + BU campus + BU students does not equal British experience.
Valentine's Day was this past Thursday. It seemed that the Brits make the same deal out of it as we do. Hallmark holidays spreading across the world. Of course there was the requisite people who are pissed at the world over being single and resolved to be bitter all day and usually wear black, then there's the people who are single but insist on loving everyone all day anyway, then there are the people in real relationships that do cute things and blah blah blah. Then there was Kate Seif. I maintained strict apathy throughout the day on the matter and I think it was much better for it. I did got out for ice cream with Allison. It was delicious.
As I've said, classes are ending. I have just finished both of my papers and now I'm on to study for the two finals and start planning spring break. Overall, the classes were Ok. I realized that I actually have had just as many hours of each class as I would in a normally scheduled semester but I just don't feel like I've learned as much at all. I did learn a lot of basic important stuff which I'm happy about. I guess when you don't know much about the British insitutions and roles of the EU and all that stuff, you've got to build up quite a lot so not a lot gets covered. I guess they were good classes, though. It was kind of hard for me to feel like they weren't really anything more than a distraction from tourism and other things I would do on a vacation. I feel like my internship will be really neat at first then turn into office life tedium. It's going to be rough sitting in an office every day when there's so much out and about I still haven't done and want to do.
I discovered something random the other day that is now going to annoy me every day. I realized that the sidewalks in Kensington are slightly tilted. You wouldn't really think anything of it until you have to walk on them long distances everyday, and sometimes in heels. It's very slight, but just enough to be annoying and noticeable. My one leg is perpetually lower than the other and it just feels awkward. Now that I've noticed it, I'm doomed to tilted hell whenever I walk.
I'm reading a book by Bill Bryson right now. He's an American author who lived in England for 20 years and writes hilarious travel books. The one I'm reading now is all about this tour he took all over England. It highlights all the hilarious and silly things about England you just wouldn't get if you didn't live here. I highly recommend it (Notes from a Small Island) if you want to get a good, well written and funny flavour of what it's like being here. Especially about the people. He does it much better than I ever could.
I took another day trip to Stonehenge yesterday. I'm not going to lie, I'd like to say it was something really awe inspiring and important, but it really was just rocks. It was great to see it and now be able to say that I've seen it, but that's kind of the extent of it. The audio guides for English had run out, so all the information I had was given to me by the BU tour guide for the day. I did learn a bit so that's always important. It is really neat to see something that's so crazy old and speculate about why they built it. Some of those rocks are apparently 40+ tons.
I've got to quote Bill Bryson here because he just puts it really well:
"Impressive as Stonehenge is, there comes a moment somewhere about eleven minutes after your arrival when you realize your fascination has peaked, and you spend another forty minutes walking around the perimter rope looking at it only out of a combination of politeness, reluctance to be the first from your bus to leave, and a desire to get the 2.80 worth of exposure from the experience."
After Stonehenge, we went to Winchester, which used to be the capital of England way back when. (Way back when what? Well, I guess way back when it was the capital...) It was an adorable little town (once you got off the main drag, which I guess is often the case) with a pretty river running through it and of course hundreds of years of history. We went to the Cathedral (making it my 4th cathedral on this trip so far and probably upwards of 15 in my life in general) which is apparently the 2nd longest in Europe. It didn't feel that long, but I figured they probably knew better than I did on such matters. Jane Austen was burried there and her house was right near by. Although I am not her biggest fan, I do find her works lighthearted and it's nice that they have a happy ending. Because of this, we made the trek to her house to flash some pictures. Then we headed to the Great Hall where there was an 800 year old replica of King Arthur's table (As in Knights of the Round Table). You know your country is crazy old when something 800 years old is already a replica. The whole town in general had a very old feeling to it, which I really liked. It's definitely something new for us Americans to walk amongst things in everyday life that are 500 years old. It was nice, like Canterbury, to see the "real England," albeit a touristy one.
Then I brought myself back to very much the present and headed out shortly after returning home to South London, specifically Brixton to hit up the Brixton Academy (corporate sponsership by Carling) to see the Dropkick Murphys. That's right, i'm 2000+ miles away from home and I still went to see the Dropkicks. I think that makes me an awesome fan. As soon as I got on the Southbound Victoria line I knew this concert would be slightly different. Boston draws a rowdy crowd of course, but I've got to say, these people were much rougher, and much drunker. There were of course far more boys than girls, as is the case at any punk concert, which leads to bigger mosh pits, more alcohol consumption, and rowdiness in general. Also, the Academy is about 3 times bigger than Avalon (where I normally see the Murphys) so far more people were there.
You know that postcard that everyone sends to people from London that has the picture of those quitessentially punk people with crazy hair and piercings all over the place and arms full of tattoos. Ok, well, imagine a room full of those people. The London Punks are a very real and in full force phenomena. Others try to imitate (New York), but indeed, as long as the Sex Pistols did it first, London will always have that going for it. I have never seen more liberty spikes, mohawks, peircings, etc in one room.
On the other hand, it was nice to know, like the goth club, that some things just don't change. People take their shirt off to mosh who would really be doing the world a favour to keep their shirt on. People still are pushy and the tallest person in the room will always manage to find me and stand in front of me.
It was a good show, and the opening band was right excellent. From America, but I had never heard of them. Good enough for me to go home and buy their stuff. Really enjoyable. I do however think that if you don't see the Dropkicks in Boston, it's just not the same. There were people all over the place wearing "Shipping Up To Boston" shirts with pictures of the Prudential Tower and the Hancock Tower on the back (the Pru was taller, which made me laugh at their obvious ignorance of the Dropkick's home town) and the crowd went wild when they played that song. I just feel like they were really missing out from not really knowing what the MBTA is, or Lansdowne street, never having seen the Bruins play, not knowing what exactly Tessie is or why the Sox are such a big deal, etc etc It gave me a sense of eliteness I'm so good at having, but being amongst the unknowing crowd just made it a little less fun.
Also, despite the place being owned by Carling, the beer was still crazy expensive. Despite this, people had this awesome habit of tossing their 1/2 drunken cups into the crowd in front of or behind them. Great!! I love it when it rains beer. Oh wait. Also, despite the smoking ban, people there were not deterred to have a cig whenever they felt like it. In the end, I left smelling like English people's sweat, spilled beer, and cigarettes. I'll give it to Boston that that would not happen, it would just be Bostonians sweat instead.
I'm really glad I went though. I feel like more of a local when I do things here that I would be doing if I were home. I feel more like I'm in the in crowd. Plus, coat check was about a billion times more efficient here than Avalon, so I can't complain. Too bad about going into Zone 2 though. The Tube is draining my finances. I don't think I even use it that much, but it seems every time I turn around i am adding more money to it.
That's one of my biggest peeves of being here. I feel like I'm being nickeled and dimed together. Transportation is crazy expensive no matter how you slice it. And if you think you've been really thrifty and economical when planning a trip, like I did with Barcelona, it turns out that you end up spending literally about a hundred + more just on getting back and forth from airports. I only eat two meals a day but I feel like I'm going grocery shopping all the time, and I always buy what's on sale, but it never seems to help. If I'm not putting money on my Tube card, I'm at the ATM. No matter what phone plan I have, it's always expensive to use it (luckily, I don't really need to much). I wear things multiple times and only do laundry when I run out of underwear, but even that takes a bit of money. It's soo expensive. I'm trying really hard to be economical without being a loser (i.e. never going out or something) and I'm finding it's really difficult. Nearly impossible. Money just seems to flow through my hands like water and it's the most frustrating upsetting thing about this trip. Then there's the fact that every time I use my debit or credit card I get charged 3-5% extra by Visa or whoever else feels like taking a chunk of my money. Whenever you exchange money to Euros, you always get screwed there and lose some money, even if you do it at a bank. I really feel like I can't win. I was expecting to spend money here, but I didn't think it would be on things like the freaking tube or groceries. Every time I spend money, I convert it, and just get upset. I avoid looking at my bank account, but whenever I do, it's really sad. So many little subtractions. Ughhhh!!!! As a cheap person by nature, this is driving me nuts!!
On a separate note, I've decided that the public toilets in general are much nicer than anything in America. Wherever I've gone, in London or otherwise, the toilets have never grossed me out. Kudos to them for this. As a girl, I appreciate this to no end. The bathrooms always have great things in them, like crazy condom machines and these things called "fuzzy brushes" that are apparently edible toothbrushes. I haven't tried one, and won't, but they are intriguing. The only downside to the bathrooms is that none of them ever have paper towels. They are all hand dryers. This is fine, but a lot of them are weak and take forever to actually dry your hands. I hate leaving the bathroom with wet hands, so I always have to end up standing there waiting for a long time, holding everyone else up and making it seem like I was in the bathroom for a long time. Oh well. I'll take that over gross bathrooms. Oh, I guess one other thing. The flushes always seem to be too weak. They never quite get the job done. They should work on this. We need some industrial powered flushers over here.
I'm off to get some dinner and start some spring break planning. While I know this will mean more obnoxious nickel and diming, I am still very excited!
-Kate
Saturday, 16 February 2008
Pictures of Old Stuff !
http://bu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2232730&l=40f18&id=919676
http://bu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2233959&l=5dc71&id=919676
http://bu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2236370&l=bf9ca&id=919676
http://bu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2233959&l=5dc71&id=919676
http://bu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2236370&l=bf9ca&id=919676
Saturday, 9 February 2008
Remember, Churchill Was 1/2 American
This week has been fairly uneventful. It's sort of crunch time for the semester and I've got two 3000 word papers due in less than two weeks (progress on these has been minimal, unforunately. I'm 1/2 done with one). But, I sort of fulfilled my promise to get up early this past week and go see things. I succeeded in doing so on Wednesday and Thursday.
On Wednesday, Allison and I went to Kensington Palace (which is just down the road from me in Hyde Park). It's not really very Palace-like, but still quite stately. Queen Victoria lived there for pretty much all her life, but nowadays, it's probably most famous as Princess Diana's home (she lived there even after the divorce up until her death). We couldn't see where Diana stayed, but they did have a "Remembering Diana" exhibit. It wasn't exactly what I expected, it was mostly just pictures of her and slideshows and things of that nature. I was expecting to see a lot more on her life in general and the kinds of things she did to make her so popular, I can't say I really learned a lot. There was a lot of stuff about her and the boys, and I came to a conclusion that I had already really had from watching the Queen (the movie with Helen Mirren). The Queen and Charles are bad parents and grandparents. I know that they didn't really like Diana, but I assume that no matter who the mother is, grandmas and dads should love their grandsons/sons pretty much no matter what. I just get the impression that neither of them are really doing a good job raising the boys in a family of love or anything. I know a lot of people grow up without parents, but I have to think it's one thing to have your mother die, it's another to see her in the tabloids called a whore for the next 10 years. As a future Queen Mother, I just would have thought that maybe the stiff upper lip would have been dropped a bit for the boys' sake. I guess not. Unfortunately, you couldn't take pictures in the palace (which seems to be the norm for a lot of places here), but it was interesting. I had no idea Victoria had lived there and grown up there. It was interesting to find out more about her life (which I know hardly nothing about) and her sister's / heir's life. Apparently Queen Anne had something like 15 children, none of which lived past 11 years old. This probably contributed a lot to the fact that she quickly degenerated into an obese invalid unable to rule. Shame. The more I find out about these royals the less and less glamourous they seem. Of course, though, Harry, I still think Princess Catherine sounds pretty amazing, so don't be deterred.
On Thursday, Steve and I went down to Westminster to the War Cabinet Rooms and Churchill Museum. It was kind of expensive, but obviously totally worth it. The War Cabinet Rooms are basically this underground labyrinth of rooms used by the Prime Minister (Churchill) and his cabinet during the war, reinforced to withstand the Blitzkrieg. Everything was set up the way it would have been in 1941. In some instances, when VJ-Day happened, the people working down there walked out and turned the lights off for the first time in more than 6 years and everything was left just the way it was for the next 50 years. Neat. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of battery 1/2 way through and I only got a few pictures. I'll have to steal the rest from Steve. Everything was kind of dimmed and behind glass walls, so the flash was necessary, but then left huge spots on the glass when you took the picture. Oh well. You can still get the general idea.
A new addition to the War Rooms was the Churchill Museum, which, needless to say, was pretty awesome. It was extremely high tech and chock full of information. Unfortunately, we had to get to class, so I didn't have a whole lot of time to look at everything, but it was really well done, I was very impressed. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of batteries half way through the Cabinet War Rooms and so now I will have to steal them from Steve at some point.
My only issue with the play was the obnoxiously sassy service in the gift shop. I went to buy some post cards, as did Steve, and before I had even put the change in my wallet and put my purse away, the DB behind the desk says to us "do they say thank you in America?" I didn't even really know how to respond to this. My usual tactic is to take my purchase and say thank you before I walk away, not while I'm still standing there. I think that's pretty standard fair, right? I mumbled something and walked away indignantly, but got progressively more pissed off as time went on. What the hell does being American have to do with it? What does he say to British people that don't say thank you? Why didn't he even wait like two seconds, I had just been given my receipt. It was so annoying and put such a mar on an otherwise really great museum experience. I mean, we weren't being annoying. Ughhhhhh!
I still love that you really can't go anywhere in this town without being reminded of Churchill. Everything is named after him, there are statues, and as I've already mentioned, there's even an insurance company called Winston. Even one of the halls in the dorm here is called Churchill. So, given all that, you think people would have some idea of the things he said, but I guess not. They don't really talk too much about him being half american, except when they talk about his mother... and they don't really talk about her in the best light. Churchill was insanely patriotic, but he also a big fan of Americans. Clearly, that's a lesson the British have lost. It explicitly says in his "History of the English Speaking People" that Britain has fallen from world power, and yes, that's a shame, but the Brits should be happy that the Americans were taking up that role because the two peoples were so similar. But seriously, I don't think they teach that part about Churchill in schools here. Too bad he didn't drive that point home more... it would make my life a lot easier here.
Friday evening was my moment in the sun. Christy, Steve's friend (and mine) was visiting for the weekend from Paris so we decided to have a little dinner party for the ocassion. I researched recipes and stuff and bought the ingredients and made the BEST DINNER EVER!! It was so good, and everyone there (Steve, Emma, Christy, Dave and Kyle) all thought it was awesome. I was so proud of myself for actually cooking a real big meal that everyone approved of! I made a salad with a dressing I made myself (pear, spinach, grapes, walnut, sweet onions, and romaine lettuce... the dressing was cider vinegar and olive oil with some sugar, etc). The main course was peach baked chicken which was chicken baked with brown sugar, peaches, lemon juice, ginger powder and cloves. The chicken came out sooo juicy and good and delicious :-) I also made green beans and roasted potatoes. I am very proud of myself, and everyone was very pleased with the meal. Christy made nutella and banana crepes for dessert. Steve provided the wine and the bros brought the margaritas afterwards. Now i've got a super cooking boost. I'd say cooking for myself has gone quite well and I think i've been eating decently since I got here, suprisingly enough.
Anyway, afterwards we went to LSE's club called Crush. It was kind of slow at first, but definitely got going. Steve and I decided to leave before everyone else and when Steve went to go ask the bouncer where the nearest bus stop was, he asked him where he was from. When Steve said America, the bouncer promptly replied "i won't help americans." Very nice. I don't really know what to say about this and still be diplomatic. It's becoming more and more evident to me that people who have probably never gone to America, hardly encounter Americans in a normal setting are the most anti-American here. I had walked ahead and luckily didn't hear it, which was probably for the best.
These various things at that moment made me extremely homesick and in general just annoyed at things in England in general. I understand that there are plenty of americans here that are probably obnoxious tourists, or teens here that are just crazy drunk or whatever, but then it's taken out on just two young people that are just politely inquiring or going about their business. It just also pisses me off because people in the US just wouldn't do that. I guess I have a limited view of Americans, but I will always maintain that they would never blatantly ignore someone for being British (and anything else European for that matter). It's hard for me as an IR student to be polite about all this when I really just want to frankly say "fuck you, we're better." Steve and I needless to say had a less than polite conversation about the British and Americans after the bouncer's comment which I guess I don't need to convey here. I know America has done some crappy stuff, but so have the British. I never once thought we were better as a nation or a people. We do things differently, and I would say that I prefer the way we do some things, but of course I would, I've lived there for 20 years. It's just really frustrating to try to be a mini ambassador but face such obnoxious crap from people all the time. I was expecting this to happen though, so I guess I'm not like completely taken aback or completely distraught. I just miss being in a place where I'm not immediately identifiable and then immediately looked down upon. There's really nothing that I can but keep my cool (which I always knew would be extremely hard for me specifically) and just try to put the best American face forward. A taste of life abroad I guess.
Saturday was fairly uneventful. I meant to get my laundry done but by the time I got there, I realized the place closed earlier than I had thought and I didn't have time to finish it. I was gone all day Sunday, so I had to leave it there for them to do again so I could pick it up on Sunday and not run out of underwear. I made them use the detergent that I had bought so at least my clothes smelled better this time. I actually got back from Canterbury and Leeds Castle about 5 minutes before it closed so I was in serious danger of not getting back in time to get it and would have had to go another night without sheets and towels... eep!
I went out with Jon on Saturday night and had a semi fiasco on the Tube. I topped up my Oyster Card (which means putting money on my card that is basically a debit card for the subway) with 20 pounds and finished the transaction at the little machine, as I have done many times before in London, and even more in Boston. When I went to go tap into the subway, the little screen said "seek assistance." To make a very long story short, when I put money in the machine, it somehow did not transfer to the card and they checked multiple times and basically said I had made a mistake and oh that sucks. I was insistent that I hadn't, and after being accused of being a tourist (tourists often get it wrong, I guess), I got really indignant, showed that no tourist would have their picture on their card and insisted repeatedly that I had done it correctly (which, by the way, I know I did.) Basically, what ended up happening was that I went down to the special service and security area (ooo, the inner workings of the London tube) and filled out this form then I got my money back. Woo hoo!! They were actually all really nice about it and I was amazed that there was actually a process where I could just get my money back that easily. It was awesome. I'm annoyed that it happened in the first place, but I am impressed with the the fixings. I will never again top up with the machine though and will always do it with the person at the counter.
On Sunday I took a day trip to Canterbury and Leeds Castle in the South East of England. It was the most beautiful day (this past weekend was the warmest on record in February for 105 years) and I didn't even need my coat!! So sunny and the Castle grounds were just breathtaking. It actually reminded me somewhat of Valley Forge (except for the moat and the castle part). There were black swans there, which was really unusual, as well as albino peacocks. The Castle itself was really nice and had been totally revamped by this really rich lady in the 1970s. I can't imagine living in a place where Kings and Queens presided and you go outside and there's a moat! So amazing. We were so lucky to have such a nice day, it really made everything look so beautiful.
Afterwards we drove to Canterbury and saw Canterbury Cathedral. I asked one of the guides there a question and he did a really great job answering everything and explaining a lot about the Canterbury Pilgrims and the Saint Thomas Beckett and how he died, and why, etc. I was really happy that I asked him because I never would have learned that much about the place just walking around. We were there for a brief time (it was Sunday, so the place had limited hours) but it was still really great to go and see it. We had a bit of time to walk around the town, which for a small town was insanely touristey (I guess not surprisingly) and full of chains and everything. The people there were really nice though, and we asked an antique shop owner where we could find an authentic pub to go eat. He directed us off the beaten path to a place aptly enough named Thomas Becketts. It was really delicious, and I finally had my fish and chips. Also, the rumours about warm beer in the countryside is true. I have to say, it's definitely better cold... very cold. It was a really nice day outside of London and it was great to see the countryside and a different part of England.
It was great on the way out of the city in the morning, I could tell where we were and what neighbourhood we were driving through, which made me feel much more like a local, well a little bit. I'm finally starting to get a feel of where things are, at least in my immediate area. The map of London is coming together in my head. Hopefully it will be there fully by the time I leave.
Sunday night I finally went to a goth club here. It was disappointing to say the least. It was like the size of my bedroom and there were few people there. I did meet some cool people and am not deterred from going to others. I'm glad I went out and did something I wanted to do on my own. I met about 3 British people, an Italian, a Greek, and two Americans. Not very typical for a night out. The Italian guy had been here for like 14 years and was ready to go back. He still had a very thick Italian accent, and I appreciated that he still kept his home connection and accent and everything. One of the American girls I met was, um, interesting. She was from NC and was here studying paganism and nature or something at Oxford, which, um, what? It was hard for me to keep my disbelief and bemusement out of the conversation, I think she noticed. For only having been here for like a year, she had almost completely dropped her American accent and was saying things no self-respecting American would ever say, like "dahnce" instead of "dyance". Duh. I don't really have a whole lot of respect for people who totally abandon where they come from, be it America, Italy, England, wherever. Or if you're studying something not real.
I was having a conversation with a British lady who was telling me how much she liked New York. She made an astute observation about London that I thought was interesting. She said New York was like a real city that was meant to be all together, whereas London was just a collection of neighbourhoods put together. It's pretty accurate. It's interesting, and I think correct. Every city has varying places, but it's crazy that places like Kensington, Westminster, The City, the East End, SoHo, Piccadilly, etc etc all belong to the same city when they're all so different. The neighbourhoodsdefine where you live (ex, you don't put Upper East Side as part of your mailing address, but you would put Chelsea, London, UK on the address here) and are all quite distinct. I kind of like it though. You can go so many different places and see so many different kinds of things and not even leave Zone 1!
I'm not sure if I've mentioned this already, but I just wanted to give a shout out to the cleaning ladies. I was incorrect about what they do. While they do expect us to do a lot of stuff, if we don't, they gladly do it for us. They clean our rooms and kitchen really well and really nicely. I left some dishes in my room this morning and when they came to clean, they had taken the dishes out and took them to the kitchen and washed them for me. So nice! Our kitchen never gets nasty, and I always clean my room up as much as possible before they come, so we try to make it easier for them. It's amazing to live in a dorm with a cleaning service. Rock on BU London!
I also wanted to put here, if you're still reading, which seems unlikely, that I recognize that my last post was perhaps less culturally understanding as I meant to make it. Basically, what this blog is is something for people to read and for me to amuse myself with in later years and to procrastinate with in the here and now. It's much more interesting, I think, to write about the time Emma threatened to punch a guy in the face, or the inescapable dance floor BO than it is to talk about how pretty the cathedral was and how nice in general it was to get out and travel and all that stuff. I just wanted to put it out there that I recognize that it did not put Barcelona in the best light, and definitely didn't portray it as well as I feel I should have. It is a beautiful city and an amazing place. Take everything I write with a grain of salt and don't take it as pure fact. I'm writing to amuse and rant, and all that other random traveller stuff. So please keep that in mind when reading and if you ever want to hear more about the touristy sites and things of a different nature, do tell me.
I met a BU student on Sunday on the day trip who had just spent hte weekend in Prague. She was getting Steve and me all excited because she was talking about how nice it was and, more importantly, how cheap it is. The exchange rate is insane and apparently all the food and stuff is crazy cheap. Very nice! Spring break is going to be awesome :-)
There's some stuff that I keep forgetting to put in here that are mostly for my own benefit later on and here they are.
When I went on that field trip the other day down to Westminster, I learned something interesting about London's history with terrorism. We saw 10 Downing Street (where the PM lives) and the tour guide told us about a time when the IRA (Irish Republican Army) threw a bomb at the place and almost succeeded in blowing it up and just missed the PM. I hadn't really realized it, but the IRA was crazy active in London for a really long time and really did a lot of terrorizing. We freak out now about terrorism and preventing it all the time, but they've been dealing with it for awhile (on a smaller scale). Interestingly, London has no sidewalk trashcans because for too long, they were too easy to put bombs in for the IRA. Even though they aren't a problem any more, they still don't have the trash cans. I had never noticed it, but it is interesting. This makes parades (like the one on Saturday for New Zealand Day) a very very messy affair.
Awhile ago, I was walking around Westminster (seem to go there a lot), and there was a protest amongst two Pakistani groups. One group was supporting Musharaff while the other was supporting Bhutto / blaming the General for her death. I found this interesting because I don't think you would see a political protest regarding other countries in America. It's a testament to how multicultural London is and how many different kinds of people live here. It was definitely intersting to see political activism like that in a seemingly unrelated place.
OK, I think that's definitely enough out of me for tonight. If only I could write so much about British political institutions and I would be golden!
Keep on being uber American for me on the other side of the pond in my absence!
-Kate
On Wednesday, Allison and I went to Kensington Palace (which is just down the road from me in Hyde Park). It's not really very Palace-like, but still quite stately. Queen Victoria lived there for pretty much all her life, but nowadays, it's probably most famous as Princess Diana's home (she lived there even after the divorce up until her death). We couldn't see where Diana stayed, but they did have a "Remembering Diana" exhibit. It wasn't exactly what I expected, it was mostly just pictures of her and slideshows and things of that nature. I was expecting to see a lot more on her life in general and the kinds of things she did to make her so popular, I can't say I really learned a lot. There was a lot of stuff about her and the boys, and I came to a conclusion that I had already really had from watching the Queen (the movie with Helen Mirren). The Queen and Charles are bad parents and grandparents. I know that they didn't really like Diana, but I assume that no matter who the mother is, grandmas and dads should love their grandsons/sons pretty much no matter what. I just get the impression that neither of them are really doing a good job raising the boys in a family of love or anything. I know a lot of people grow up without parents, but I have to think it's one thing to have your mother die, it's another to see her in the tabloids called a whore for the next 10 years. As a future Queen Mother, I just would have thought that maybe the stiff upper lip would have been dropped a bit for the boys' sake. I guess not. Unfortunately, you couldn't take pictures in the palace (which seems to be the norm for a lot of places here), but it was interesting. I had no idea Victoria had lived there and grown up there. It was interesting to find out more about her life (which I know hardly nothing about) and her sister's / heir's life. Apparently Queen Anne had something like 15 children, none of which lived past 11 years old. This probably contributed a lot to the fact that she quickly degenerated into an obese invalid unable to rule. Shame. The more I find out about these royals the less and less glamourous they seem. Of course, though, Harry, I still think Princess Catherine sounds pretty amazing, so don't be deterred.
On Thursday, Steve and I went down to Westminster to the War Cabinet Rooms and Churchill Museum. It was kind of expensive, but obviously totally worth it. The War Cabinet Rooms are basically this underground labyrinth of rooms used by the Prime Minister (Churchill) and his cabinet during the war, reinforced to withstand the Blitzkrieg. Everything was set up the way it would have been in 1941. In some instances, when VJ-Day happened, the people working down there walked out and turned the lights off for the first time in more than 6 years and everything was left just the way it was for the next 50 years. Neat. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of battery 1/2 way through and I only got a few pictures. I'll have to steal the rest from Steve. Everything was kind of dimmed and behind glass walls, so the flash was necessary, but then left huge spots on the glass when you took the picture. Oh well. You can still get the general idea.
A new addition to the War Rooms was the Churchill Museum, which, needless to say, was pretty awesome. It was extremely high tech and chock full of information. Unfortunately, we had to get to class, so I didn't have a whole lot of time to look at everything, but it was really well done, I was very impressed. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of batteries half way through the Cabinet War Rooms and so now I will have to steal them from Steve at some point.
My only issue with the play was the obnoxiously sassy service in the gift shop. I went to buy some post cards, as did Steve, and before I had even put the change in my wallet and put my purse away, the DB behind the desk says to us "do they say thank you in America?" I didn't even really know how to respond to this. My usual tactic is to take my purchase and say thank you before I walk away, not while I'm still standing there. I think that's pretty standard fair, right? I mumbled something and walked away indignantly, but got progressively more pissed off as time went on. What the hell does being American have to do with it? What does he say to British people that don't say thank you? Why didn't he even wait like two seconds, I had just been given my receipt. It was so annoying and put such a mar on an otherwise really great museum experience. I mean, we weren't being annoying. Ughhhhhh!
I still love that you really can't go anywhere in this town without being reminded of Churchill. Everything is named after him, there are statues, and as I've already mentioned, there's even an insurance company called Winston. Even one of the halls in the dorm here is called Churchill. So, given all that, you think people would have some idea of the things he said, but I guess not. They don't really talk too much about him being half american, except when they talk about his mother... and they don't really talk about her in the best light. Churchill was insanely patriotic, but he also a big fan of Americans. Clearly, that's a lesson the British have lost. It explicitly says in his "History of the English Speaking People" that Britain has fallen from world power, and yes, that's a shame, but the Brits should be happy that the Americans were taking up that role because the two peoples were so similar. But seriously, I don't think they teach that part about Churchill in schools here. Too bad he didn't drive that point home more... it would make my life a lot easier here.
Friday evening was my moment in the sun. Christy, Steve's friend (and mine) was visiting for the weekend from Paris so we decided to have a little dinner party for the ocassion. I researched recipes and stuff and bought the ingredients and made the BEST DINNER EVER!! It was so good, and everyone there (Steve, Emma, Christy, Dave and Kyle) all thought it was awesome. I was so proud of myself for actually cooking a real big meal that everyone approved of! I made a salad with a dressing I made myself (pear, spinach, grapes, walnut, sweet onions, and romaine lettuce... the dressing was cider vinegar and olive oil with some sugar, etc). The main course was peach baked chicken which was chicken baked with brown sugar, peaches, lemon juice, ginger powder and cloves. The chicken came out sooo juicy and good and delicious :-) I also made green beans and roasted potatoes. I am very proud of myself, and everyone was very pleased with the meal. Christy made nutella and banana crepes for dessert. Steve provided the wine and the bros brought the margaritas afterwards. Now i've got a super cooking boost. I'd say cooking for myself has gone quite well and I think i've been eating decently since I got here, suprisingly enough.
Anyway, afterwards we went to LSE's club called Crush. It was kind of slow at first, but definitely got going. Steve and I decided to leave before everyone else and when Steve went to go ask the bouncer where the nearest bus stop was, he asked him where he was from. When Steve said America, the bouncer promptly replied "i won't help americans." Very nice. I don't really know what to say about this and still be diplomatic. It's becoming more and more evident to me that people who have probably never gone to America, hardly encounter Americans in a normal setting are the most anti-American here. I had walked ahead and luckily didn't hear it, which was probably for the best.
These various things at that moment made me extremely homesick and in general just annoyed at things in England in general. I understand that there are plenty of americans here that are probably obnoxious tourists, or teens here that are just crazy drunk or whatever, but then it's taken out on just two young people that are just politely inquiring or going about their business. It just also pisses me off because people in the US just wouldn't do that. I guess I have a limited view of Americans, but I will always maintain that they would never blatantly ignore someone for being British (and anything else European for that matter). It's hard for me as an IR student to be polite about all this when I really just want to frankly say "fuck you, we're better." Steve and I needless to say had a less than polite conversation about the British and Americans after the bouncer's comment which I guess I don't need to convey here. I know America has done some crappy stuff, but so have the British. I never once thought we were better as a nation or a people. We do things differently, and I would say that I prefer the way we do some things, but of course I would, I've lived there for 20 years. It's just really frustrating to try to be a mini ambassador but face such obnoxious crap from people all the time. I was expecting this to happen though, so I guess I'm not like completely taken aback or completely distraught. I just miss being in a place where I'm not immediately identifiable and then immediately looked down upon. There's really nothing that I can but keep my cool (which I always knew would be extremely hard for me specifically) and just try to put the best American face forward. A taste of life abroad I guess.
Saturday was fairly uneventful. I meant to get my laundry done but by the time I got there, I realized the place closed earlier than I had thought and I didn't have time to finish it. I was gone all day Sunday, so I had to leave it there for them to do again so I could pick it up on Sunday and not run out of underwear. I made them use the detergent that I had bought so at least my clothes smelled better this time. I actually got back from Canterbury and Leeds Castle about 5 minutes before it closed so I was in serious danger of not getting back in time to get it and would have had to go another night without sheets and towels... eep!
I went out with Jon on Saturday night and had a semi fiasco on the Tube. I topped up my Oyster Card (which means putting money on my card that is basically a debit card for the subway) with 20 pounds and finished the transaction at the little machine, as I have done many times before in London, and even more in Boston. When I went to go tap into the subway, the little screen said "seek assistance." To make a very long story short, when I put money in the machine, it somehow did not transfer to the card and they checked multiple times and basically said I had made a mistake and oh that sucks. I was insistent that I hadn't, and after being accused of being a tourist (tourists often get it wrong, I guess), I got really indignant, showed that no tourist would have their picture on their card and insisted repeatedly that I had done it correctly (which, by the way, I know I did.) Basically, what ended up happening was that I went down to the special service and security area (ooo, the inner workings of the London tube) and filled out this form then I got my money back. Woo hoo!! They were actually all really nice about it and I was amazed that there was actually a process where I could just get my money back that easily. It was awesome. I'm annoyed that it happened in the first place, but I am impressed with the the fixings. I will never again top up with the machine though and will always do it with the person at the counter.
On Sunday I took a day trip to Canterbury and Leeds Castle in the South East of England. It was the most beautiful day (this past weekend was the warmest on record in February for 105 years) and I didn't even need my coat!! So sunny and the Castle grounds were just breathtaking. It actually reminded me somewhat of Valley Forge (except for the moat and the castle part). There were black swans there, which was really unusual, as well as albino peacocks. The Castle itself was really nice and had been totally revamped by this really rich lady in the 1970s. I can't imagine living in a place where Kings and Queens presided and you go outside and there's a moat! So amazing. We were so lucky to have such a nice day, it really made everything look so beautiful.
Afterwards we drove to Canterbury and saw Canterbury Cathedral. I asked one of the guides there a question and he did a really great job answering everything and explaining a lot about the Canterbury Pilgrims and the Saint Thomas Beckett and how he died, and why, etc. I was really happy that I asked him because I never would have learned that much about the place just walking around. We were there for a brief time (it was Sunday, so the place had limited hours) but it was still really great to go and see it. We had a bit of time to walk around the town, which for a small town was insanely touristey (I guess not surprisingly) and full of chains and everything. The people there were really nice though, and we asked an antique shop owner where we could find an authentic pub to go eat. He directed us off the beaten path to a place aptly enough named Thomas Becketts. It was really delicious, and I finally had my fish and chips. Also, the rumours about warm beer in the countryside is true. I have to say, it's definitely better cold... very cold. It was a really nice day outside of London and it was great to see the countryside and a different part of England.
It was great on the way out of the city in the morning, I could tell where we were and what neighbourhood we were driving through, which made me feel much more like a local, well a little bit. I'm finally starting to get a feel of where things are, at least in my immediate area. The map of London is coming together in my head. Hopefully it will be there fully by the time I leave.
Sunday night I finally went to a goth club here. It was disappointing to say the least. It was like the size of my bedroom and there were few people there. I did meet some cool people and am not deterred from going to others. I'm glad I went out and did something I wanted to do on my own. I met about 3 British people, an Italian, a Greek, and two Americans. Not very typical for a night out. The Italian guy had been here for like 14 years and was ready to go back. He still had a very thick Italian accent, and I appreciated that he still kept his home connection and accent and everything. One of the American girls I met was, um, interesting. She was from NC and was here studying paganism and nature or something at Oxford, which, um, what? It was hard for me to keep my disbelief and bemusement out of the conversation, I think she noticed. For only having been here for like a year, she had almost completely dropped her American accent and was saying things no self-respecting American would ever say, like "dahnce" instead of "dyance". Duh. I don't really have a whole lot of respect for people who totally abandon where they come from, be it America, Italy, England, wherever. Or if you're studying something not real.
I was having a conversation with a British lady who was telling me how much she liked New York. She made an astute observation about London that I thought was interesting. She said New York was like a real city that was meant to be all together, whereas London was just a collection of neighbourhoods put together. It's pretty accurate. It's interesting, and I think correct. Every city has varying places, but it's crazy that places like Kensington, Westminster, The City, the East End, SoHo, Piccadilly, etc etc all belong to the same city when they're all so different. The neighbourhoodsdefine where you live (ex, you don't put Upper East Side as part of your mailing address, but you would put Chelsea, London, UK on the address here) and are all quite distinct. I kind of like it though. You can go so many different places and see so many different kinds of things and not even leave Zone 1!
I'm not sure if I've mentioned this already, but I just wanted to give a shout out to the cleaning ladies. I was incorrect about what they do. While they do expect us to do a lot of stuff, if we don't, they gladly do it for us. They clean our rooms and kitchen really well and really nicely. I left some dishes in my room this morning and when they came to clean, they had taken the dishes out and took them to the kitchen and washed them for me. So nice! Our kitchen never gets nasty, and I always clean my room up as much as possible before they come, so we try to make it easier for them. It's amazing to live in a dorm with a cleaning service. Rock on BU London!
I also wanted to put here, if you're still reading, which seems unlikely, that I recognize that my last post was perhaps less culturally understanding as I meant to make it. Basically, what this blog is is something for people to read and for me to amuse myself with in later years and to procrastinate with in the here and now. It's much more interesting, I think, to write about the time Emma threatened to punch a guy in the face, or the inescapable dance floor BO than it is to talk about how pretty the cathedral was and how nice in general it was to get out and travel and all that stuff. I just wanted to put it out there that I recognize that it did not put Barcelona in the best light, and definitely didn't portray it as well as I feel I should have. It is a beautiful city and an amazing place. Take everything I write with a grain of salt and don't take it as pure fact. I'm writing to amuse and rant, and all that other random traveller stuff. So please keep that in mind when reading and if you ever want to hear more about the touristy sites and things of a different nature, do tell me.
I met a BU student on Sunday on the day trip who had just spent hte weekend in Prague. She was getting Steve and me all excited because she was talking about how nice it was and, more importantly, how cheap it is. The exchange rate is insane and apparently all the food and stuff is crazy cheap. Very nice! Spring break is going to be awesome :-)
There's some stuff that I keep forgetting to put in here that are mostly for my own benefit later on and here they are.
When I went on that field trip the other day down to Westminster, I learned something interesting about London's history with terrorism. We saw 10 Downing Street (where the PM lives) and the tour guide told us about a time when the IRA (Irish Republican Army) threw a bomb at the place and almost succeeded in blowing it up and just missed the PM. I hadn't really realized it, but the IRA was crazy active in London for a really long time and really did a lot of terrorizing. We freak out now about terrorism and preventing it all the time, but they've been dealing with it for awhile (on a smaller scale). Interestingly, London has no sidewalk trashcans because for too long, they were too easy to put bombs in for the IRA. Even though they aren't a problem any more, they still don't have the trash cans. I had never noticed it, but it is interesting. This makes parades (like the one on Saturday for New Zealand Day) a very very messy affair.
Awhile ago, I was walking around Westminster (seem to go there a lot), and there was a protest amongst two Pakistani groups. One group was supporting Musharaff while the other was supporting Bhutto / blaming the General for her death. I found this interesting because I don't think you would see a political protest regarding other countries in America. It's a testament to how multicultural London is and how many different kinds of people live here. It was definitely intersting to see political activism like that in a seemingly unrelated place.
OK, I think that's definitely enough out of me for tonight. If only I could write so much about British political institutions and I would be golden!
Keep on being uber American for me on the other side of the pond in my absence!
-Kate
Monday, 4 February 2008
You Make Me Want to Speak Spanish
I went to Barcelona, Spain this past weekend with Emma. Needless to say, it was an adventure.
We left early Friday morning and took a bus to Luton Airport which I believe is about an hour North of the city. It was kind of neat to get out of the city and see the highways and stuff like that. Basically, they're all pretty much just like ours. There's a lot more rural areas right outside London than there would be around other major cities in the US, but it was mostly unremarkable. They were in the process of planting hundreds of little trees on the sides of the road, which I thought was a nice touch. They also had a lot of bright purple piping around... I have no idea why. There was in general a whole lot of construction going on. I'm not sure if they have something specific going on or if it's always like that. It didn't seem to be affecting traffic, so kudos to them for pulling that off.
The airport was quick and easy, and very tiny. The lady at checkin was on a foul powertrip (as earlier discussed), but otherwise no problems. We were allowed to pick our own seats on the plane, which was awesome because Emma and I got to sit together and we sat in the emergency exit row which had about 3x the amount of leg room as other rows. Had there been an emergency, we were told we had to basically become a member of the crew, but it thankfully didn't happen. That would have been a trip, to say the least. Once we got there, we had to take quite a long bus trip from Reus airport (which is about 80 minutes south of Barcelona, along the coast) into Barcelona. Then it was the metro and a long walk to our hostel.
We had read on the website where we booked the hostel that there was a crazy hill leading up to the place, but Emma and I didn't think much of it and chalked it up to a vacationers laziness. Oh man, that hill was beyond insane. The last thing we wanted after a day of various travelling was to climb that thing, but climb we did. Luckily, later on we found a different way to get up there that involved almost entirely stairs... stairs are just in general a lot easier than crazy steep hills. The craziest thing was seeing all these cards parked parallel on hills with gradients of like 100+ degrees. The most mindblowing aspect of this of course is that in Europe, everyone drives a manual, which if you've ever driven one, you know is almost impossible to parallel park, and impossible on a hill... combine the two, and succeed, and you are an amazing driver. These hills were covered with these master parkers. No BMW radar can help you there.
We got settled in to our hostel and took a leg break. The woman at the desk spoke basically no English, and my Spanish skills came to their first test. I passed with flying colours. I haven't taken Spanish in years, but it all came back to me and frankly, I kick ass at Spanish. I had forgotten what it was like to be in a country that doesn't speak English (I haven't done it since i guess 9th grade) and it struck me once we got off the plane and all the signs were in Spanish. I was under the silly culturally imperialistic notion that I would have no problem getting by with English.
The hostel itself was fairly nice. Definitely clean, which is a huge bonus in my book. The location was pretty bad though, but I guess there's no real way of knowing that until you get there. It was a safe area so that was nice, but was pretty far out of the way (in the West part of the city). We had 8 other roomates, which needless to say equated to little sleep. We got back pretty late on Friday, but our French roomates got back even later (they by the way also made the room smell like France, you get the drift) and thought it was a good idea to chat with each other for awhile. They also snored. Emma and I were not pleased with them. I would have said something, but alas, no parlez frances. Emma and I consoled our anger by being immature and talking about them in English in front of them the next day and being loud when we got up. We have no idea if they could understand us, but that seemed unimportant at the time. Don't worry, I'm not causing any cultural warfare... it's not like our countries were very fond of us anyway. Emma and I are also smart, whenever we're being especially obnoxious, we make sure to speak with an English accent. Ok, maybe we are causing a bit of cultural warfare, but they were annoying and rude (French? rude? no!).
Anyway, enough about Frances. My first hostel experience was on the whole decent, although it could have been better. None of my stuff was stolen, and I wasn't grossed out, so I guess that's all that matters.
We went out to dinner fairly late, but thought we were being so culturally adept because the Spanish eat dinner late. We were only partially right, there were plenty of people out and about eating, but there were also plenty of closed places. We went to this Italian place on Las Ramblas (a big walkway / road right near the waterfront) and had a pretty decent meal for fairly cheap, along with some excellent Sangria. Following that, after a short walk on Ramblas, we were inundated with offers to go to various clubs. Ladies in Spain, much like here, get special treatment. That first night out, we spent absolutely no money on club entry or drinks. It was a good time. I had eaten too much though right before dancing, which wasn't very conducive to an awesome time. The club was quite nice though and right out in the water. The walk to it over a boardwalk type bridge with boats all around and seagulls was very reminiscent of New Jersey, and I had a little moment. We took the night bus home (which was no small feat as we had no idea where we were going and no one spoke English) and arrived fairly late.
The next day, Emma and I got breakfast and hightailed it around the city to pack in all the touristy things we could manage. We hit up La Sagrada Familia (the cathedral Gaudi started to build in the 1800s and they are still building... not even close to finished, but still really beautiful), Casa Botllo (another Gaudi building), and La Padrera (Gaudi building), and La Catredal Barcelona. We only spent 5 Euros the whole day, which was also pretty great. We wanted to go to the picasso museum, but we also wanted to get dinner and get back to the main street near us to see Carneval.
We went out to dinner, and I had a really good paella, and emma had tapas. She got artichokes and one of them had a caterpillar in it.... it was sooooo gross and made us both slightly lose our appetites. I still think the paella tasted really good though. She got it comped, so that was good. We had to push for it though which was unnecessary.
We rushed back to Passeig Maragall (street near us) to claim a spot along the Carneval route. And then we waited. And waited. And waited some more.
Carneval = biggest disappointment ever. The Mummers Parade, Macy's Day, and basically any high school homecoming is better than what they did. It was unorganized, not cohesive, and in general just kind of boring. We missed the magic fountain for that. It was like, the reason we came to Barcelona and it was a let down. It happens I guess. It was neat to say, and awesome to say that I've been there and seen it. Carneval is basically like a Mardi Gras to celebrate and indulge before lent. I didn't see any hint of that anywhere. It looked more like a halloween than anything else. Lots of kids as pirates and princesses. We even saw one kid who appeared to be dressed up as a terrorist. I was not amused.
We also thought it would mean that there would be a ton of extra people in the city and it would be a crazy night, but it started to rain shortly after, and the night started off kind of as a dud. There was no one around coaching us on where to go, but alas, we were mistaken. We finally ended up at a place with cheap drinks, then headed back to the same club we were at. At the bar (sorry, lounge) we met this guy who spoke only Spanish. He was French and living in Barcelona. He kind of imposed himself on us, and it turned out to be the ultimate spanish exercise. I basically became the translator for the evening. It became extremely tedious and whenever Emma and I reverted to English for various snippets, he insisted we speak in Spanish. It was fun for awhile, but just got annoying-- it was so hard to have to plan every sentence and conjugate every verb correctly, etc. He came with us to the other club at Emma's beckoning and it was easier to avoid conversation while dancing with loud music.
It was interesting to note that basically everyone we came into contact with there could tell that we were not Spanish. They automatically deferred to English when they talked to us. The only exception is whenever we ran into other Americans, they would assume we were Spanish. There were quite a few American students around and it was funny to see how excited everyone got when they ran into someone from America that (most importantly) spoke English. After mucho espanol, I was relieved when someone asked me to dance and they turned out to be American (from MA, no less). We met a lot of cool Americans though and had an awesome night.
I am really proud of how well I did with my Spanish though. I was able to get by in essentially every situation and was the speaker for Emma and myself the whole time (she picked it up as things went on). It was awesome to have Spanish people compliment me on my Spanish (I got 3 altogether) and a great feeling to know that I still got it, it's somewhere ingrained in me if I ever really need to use it.
Mom will laugh at me, but something else I noticed on my trip was how ornate European sidewalks are. Even here, they put so much more effort into them, and it's very rare to see concrete slabs. I only really paid attention to it because when it started to rain the sidewalks became extraordinarily slippery. It was interesting because I would think that that would be a problem for the citizens whenever it rained. But maybe they just have better walking skills than me.
It was amazing for me to notice how different a place can be when you participate in the nightlife. I think you get a much better idea of the general culture of the place, especially in Europe where it's such a central part of everything, when you can go out. We noticed that clubs had people at them ranging from like 16 to 50. I don't think you'd ever really see that mix in the US. People also go out, and go out a lot. Cities here have buses that run well 24/7 and on Saturday the Metro stays open all night in Spain. There's a whole lot of people out and about at all times, and in general, it's just intriguing to see that side of a country. We were on the Metro headed back to the hostel and we ran into these young guys dancing and singing in the car, and we were invited to join and for a few stops we had a dance party to our own rendition of "I wanna know if you'll be my girl," which needless to say was awesome and hilarious. I could be wrong, I don't know because I don't go out in the US, but I feel like that that would not likely happen at home.
On the flip side, it also did not take long for Emma and I to notice that Barcelona was a fairly sketchy city. As one of my BU friends put it who was also there this weekend, "that city is just full of Euro Trash" I don't know if I would go that far, I don't really know what the true definition of Euro Trash is, but there were definitely some off characters. Basically every 30 feet there, there is someone selling beer from 6 packs. They approach you and say "beer? cerveza?" very half-heartedly. It's all the same kind of beer too. Emma and I were perplexed by this. Also, within minutes of leaving our hostel for the first time, as we were walking along the ornate sidewalk, a guy started to approach us and Emma and I secured our purses in our hands and huddled together, and he just walked by, got really close to Emma and gave her a very loud air-kiss. It was sooo creepy. Later on, Emma was exchanging money and I was waiting outside. I was standing there when this guy started walking towards me, and on instinct, i kind of grabbed my purse more securely, and he, too, gets up close to me and I guess having noticed my move, says "don't worry" and winks. Again, creepy. When we were waiting for the bus, a down on their luck person approached everyone at the stop and asked for 20 cents to make a call. I literally had no coins and ignored him anyway because we didn't speak Spanish and I didn't know how to say "coins" Even though no one else gave him money, he was particularly pissed at Emma and me for this and began to speak very angrily at us and eventually flipped me off, like, Dane Cook style, BAM! Luckily, a guy next to us told him off and gave him 20 cents. I'm not sure what I did, but for real, I didn't have any coins. The second night, these two guys kind of followed us out of the club (both were named Abdul... which, um, what?) and insisted on talking to us in Spanish despite our refusal to do so and just kept in general being annoying. Also, Emma was apparently an extremely hot ticket and she got checked out and in some cases whistled at approximately every 10 minutes. I hate to generalize a city like that, but there were more sketchy characters in 2 nights of being there than in years in other cities. The first thing my friend Steve said to me when I first saw him today (he was there this weekend, too) was "Spain is full of sketchy people." So, just a warning and an observation. I still think the place is amazing, so that's just a cultural difference I guess? Noted.
Barcelona was a fantastically beautiful place. It was also very clean. Within an hour of Carneval being over, it looked like it had never happened. Everything was picked up, hosed down and put away. It was nice being near the water, even if it definitely wasn't beach weather.
We had a really good time, and I'm so glad that I went with Emma. We were a really great match for travelling and we had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, we were in a time crunch, so we didn't get to see that much, but I still got a good feel for the city, so that's good.
I realized today that I have 2 more weeks before the semester is 1/2 over and I have finals and papers due in that time. I must get cracking. And I was so enjoying having nothing to do ever... My motivation is shot. Here's to a busy week of school and, oh, fine, I admit it "learning stuff."
-Kate
We left early Friday morning and took a bus to Luton Airport which I believe is about an hour North of the city. It was kind of neat to get out of the city and see the highways and stuff like that. Basically, they're all pretty much just like ours. There's a lot more rural areas right outside London than there would be around other major cities in the US, but it was mostly unremarkable. They were in the process of planting hundreds of little trees on the sides of the road, which I thought was a nice touch. They also had a lot of bright purple piping around... I have no idea why. There was in general a whole lot of construction going on. I'm not sure if they have something specific going on or if it's always like that. It didn't seem to be affecting traffic, so kudos to them for pulling that off.
The airport was quick and easy, and very tiny. The lady at checkin was on a foul powertrip (as earlier discussed), but otherwise no problems. We were allowed to pick our own seats on the plane, which was awesome because Emma and I got to sit together and we sat in the emergency exit row which had about 3x the amount of leg room as other rows. Had there been an emergency, we were told we had to basically become a member of the crew, but it thankfully didn't happen. That would have been a trip, to say the least. Once we got there, we had to take quite a long bus trip from Reus airport (which is about 80 minutes south of Barcelona, along the coast) into Barcelona. Then it was the metro and a long walk to our hostel.
We had read on the website where we booked the hostel that there was a crazy hill leading up to the place, but Emma and I didn't think much of it and chalked it up to a vacationers laziness. Oh man, that hill was beyond insane. The last thing we wanted after a day of various travelling was to climb that thing, but climb we did. Luckily, later on we found a different way to get up there that involved almost entirely stairs... stairs are just in general a lot easier than crazy steep hills. The craziest thing was seeing all these cards parked parallel on hills with gradients of like 100+ degrees. The most mindblowing aspect of this of course is that in Europe, everyone drives a manual, which if you've ever driven one, you know is almost impossible to parallel park, and impossible on a hill... combine the two, and succeed, and you are an amazing driver. These hills were covered with these master parkers. No BMW radar can help you there.
We got settled in to our hostel and took a leg break. The woman at the desk spoke basically no English, and my Spanish skills came to their first test. I passed with flying colours. I haven't taken Spanish in years, but it all came back to me and frankly, I kick ass at Spanish. I had forgotten what it was like to be in a country that doesn't speak English (I haven't done it since i guess 9th grade) and it struck me once we got off the plane and all the signs were in Spanish. I was under the silly culturally imperialistic notion that I would have no problem getting by with English.
The hostel itself was fairly nice. Definitely clean, which is a huge bonus in my book. The location was pretty bad though, but I guess there's no real way of knowing that until you get there. It was a safe area so that was nice, but was pretty far out of the way (in the West part of the city). We had 8 other roomates, which needless to say equated to little sleep. We got back pretty late on Friday, but our French roomates got back even later (they by the way also made the room smell like France, you get the drift) and thought it was a good idea to chat with each other for awhile. They also snored. Emma and I were not pleased with them. I would have said something, but alas, no parlez frances. Emma and I consoled our anger by being immature and talking about them in English in front of them the next day and being loud when we got up. We have no idea if they could understand us, but that seemed unimportant at the time. Don't worry, I'm not causing any cultural warfare... it's not like our countries were very fond of us anyway. Emma and I are also smart, whenever we're being especially obnoxious, we make sure to speak with an English accent. Ok, maybe we are causing a bit of cultural warfare, but they were annoying and rude (French? rude? no!).
Anyway, enough about Frances. My first hostel experience was on the whole decent, although it could have been better. None of my stuff was stolen, and I wasn't grossed out, so I guess that's all that matters.
We went out to dinner fairly late, but thought we were being so culturally adept because the Spanish eat dinner late. We were only partially right, there were plenty of people out and about eating, but there were also plenty of closed places. We went to this Italian place on Las Ramblas (a big walkway / road right near the waterfront) and had a pretty decent meal for fairly cheap, along with some excellent Sangria. Following that, after a short walk on Ramblas, we were inundated with offers to go to various clubs. Ladies in Spain, much like here, get special treatment. That first night out, we spent absolutely no money on club entry or drinks. It was a good time. I had eaten too much though right before dancing, which wasn't very conducive to an awesome time. The club was quite nice though and right out in the water. The walk to it over a boardwalk type bridge with boats all around and seagulls was very reminiscent of New Jersey, and I had a little moment. We took the night bus home (which was no small feat as we had no idea where we were going and no one spoke English) and arrived fairly late.
The next day, Emma and I got breakfast and hightailed it around the city to pack in all the touristy things we could manage. We hit up La Sagrada Familia (the cathedral Gaudi started to build in the 1800s and they are still building... not even close to finished, but still really beautiful), Casa Botllo (another Gaudi building), and La Padrera (Gaudi building), and La Catredal Barcelona. We only spent 5 Euros the whole day, which was also pretty great. We wanted to go to the picasso museum, but we also wanted to get dinner and get back to the main street near us to see Carneval.
We went out to dinner, and I had a really good paella, and emma had tapas. She got artichokes and one of them had a caterpillar in it.... it was sooooo gross and made us both slightly lose our appetites. I still think the paella tasted really good though. She got it comped, so that was good. We had to push for it though which was unnecessary.
We rushed back to Passeig Maragall (street near us) to claim a spot along the Carneval route. And then we waited. And waited. And waited some more.
Carneval = biggest disappointment ever. The Mummers Parade, Macy's Day, and basically any high school homecoming is better than what they did. It was unorganized, not cohesive, and in general just kind of boring. We missed the magic fountain for that. It was like, the reason we came to Barcelona and it was a let down. It happens I guess. It was neat to say, and awesome to say that I've been there and seen it. Carneval is basically like a Mardi Gras to celebrate and indulge before lent. I didn't see any hint of that anywhere. It looked more like a halloween than anything else. Lots of kids as pirates and princesses. We even saw one kid who appeared to be dressed up as a terrorist. I was not amused.
We also thought it would mean that there would be a ton of extra people in the city and it would be a crazy night, but it started to rain shortly after, and the night started off kind of as a dud. There was no one around coaching us on where to go, but alas, we were mistaken. We finally ended up at a place with cheap drinks, then headed back to the same club we were at. At the bar (sorry, lounge) we met this guy who spoke only Spanish. He was French and living in Barcelona. He kind of imposed himself on us, and it turned out to be the ultimate spanish exercise. I basically became the translator for the evening. It became extremely tedious and whenever Emma and I reverted to English for various snippets, he insisted we speak in Spanish. It was fun for awhile, but just got annoying-- it was so hard to have to plan every sentence and conjugate every verb correctly, etc. He came with us to the other club at Emma's beckoning and it was easier to avoid conversation while dancing with loud music.
It was interesting to note that basically everyone we came into contact with there could tell that we were not Spanish. They automatically deferred to English when they talked to us. The only exception is whenever we ran into other Americans, they would assume we were Spanish. There were quite a few American students around and it was funny to see how excited everyone got when they ran into someone from America that (most importantly) spoke English. After mucho espanol, I was relieved when someone asked me to dance and they turned out to be American (from MA, no less). We met a lot of cool Americans though and had an awesome night.
I am really proud of how well I did with my Spanish though. I was able to get by in essentially every situation and was the speaker for Emma and myself the whole time (she picked it up as things went on). It was awesome to have Spanish people compliment me on my Spanish (I got 3 altogether) and a great feeling to know that I still got it, it's somewhere ingrained in me if I ever really need to use it.
Mom will laugh at me, but something else I noticed on my trip was how ornate European sidewalks are. Even here, they put so much more effort into them, and it's very rare to see concrete slabs. I only really paid attention to it because when it started to rain the sidewalks became extraordinarily slippery. It was interesting because I would think that that would be a problem for the citizens whenever it rained. But maybe they just have better walking skills than me.
It was amazing for me to notice how different a place can be when you participate in the nightlife. I think you get a much better idea of the general culture of the place, especially in Europe where it's such a central part of everything, when you can go out. We noticed that clubs had people at them ranging from like 16 to 50. I don't think you'd ever really see that mix in the US. People also go out, and go out a lot. Cities here have buses that run well 24/7 and on Saturday the Metro stays open all night in Spain. There's a whole lot of people out and about at all times, and in general, it's just intriguing to see that side of a country. We were on the Metro headed back to the hostel and we ran into these young guys dancing and singing in the car, and we were invited to join and for a few stops we had a dance party to our own rendition of "I wanna know if you'll be my girl," which needless to say was awesome and hilarious. I could be wrong, I don't know because I don't go out in the US, but I feel like that that would not likely happen at home.
On the flip side, it also did not take long for Emma and I to notice that Barcelona was a fairly sketchy city. As one of my BU friends put it who was also there this weekend, "that city is just full of Euro Trash" I don't know if I would go that far, I don't really know what the true definition of Euro Trash is, but there were definitely some off characters. Basically every 30 feet there, there is someone selling beer from 6 packs. They approach you and say "beer? cerveza?" very half-heartedly. It's all the same kind of beer too. Emma and I were perplexed by this. Also, within minutes of leaving our hostel for the first time, as we were walking along the ornate sidewalk, a guy started to approach us and Emma and I secured our purses in our hands and huddled together, and he just walked by, got really close to Emma and gave her a very loud air-kiss. It was sooo creepy. Later on, Emma was exchanging money and I was waiting outside. I was standing there when this guy started walking towards me, and on instinct, i kind of grabbed my purse more securely, and he, too, gets up close to me and I guess having noticed my move, says "don't worry" and winks. Again, creepy. When we were waiting for the bus, a down on their luck person approached everyone at the stop and asked for 20 cents to make a call. I literally had no coins and ignored him anyway because we didn't speak Spanish and I didn't know how to say "coins" Even though no one else gave him money, he was particularly pissed at Emma and me for this and began to speak very angrily at us and eventually flipped me off, like, Dane Cook style, BAM! Luckily, a guy next to us told him off and gave him 20 cents. I'm not sure what I did, but for real, I didn't have any coins. The second night, these two guys kind of followed us out of the club (both were named Abdul... which, um, what?) and insisted on talking to us in Spanish despite our refusal to do so and just kept in general being annoying. Also, Emma was apparently an extremely hot ticket and she got checked out and in some cases whistled at approximately every 10 minutes. I hate to generalize a city like that, but there were more sketchy characters in 2 nights of being there than in years in other cities. The first thing my friend Steve said to me when I first saw him today (he was there this weekend, too) was "Spain is full of sketchy people." So, just a warning and an observation. I still think the place is amazing, so that's just a cultural difference I guess? Noted.
Barcelona was a fantastically beautiful place. It was also very clean. Within an hour of Carneval being over, it looked like it had never happened. Everything was picked up, hosed down and put away. It was nice being near the water, even if it definitely wasn't beach weather.
We had a really good time, and I'm so glad that I went with Emma. We were a really great match for travelling and we had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, we were in a time crunch, so we didn't get to see that much, but I still got a good feel for the city, so that's good.
I realized today that I have 2 more weeks before the semester is 1/2 over and I have finals and papers due in that time. I must get cracking. And I was so enjoying having nothing to do ever... My motivation is shot. Here's to a busy week of school and, oh, fine, I admit it "learning stuff."
-Kate
Sunday, 3 February 2008
My Right Honourable Friend... the Ass-licker?
The following stuff happened a few days ago, and prior to a weekend away, so I may be a bit dodgy on some of the details and will inevitably forget mostly everything I wanted to say.
On Thursday, as planned, I got up early and headed to Westminster Abbey. It was a cold, windy, rainy day (our first in quite awhile), which was kind of a pain to deal with, but the Abbey was definitely worth it. I went the last time I was here (1998), and I have to say, it was nothing like I had remembered. Like most cathedrals, it was completely breath-taking, but there was just a certain aura about the place that just made it seem far more unique. I unforunately was unable to take pictures (not allowed), but it was probably better that way. In places like that, one usually gets caught up in getting all the right shots and everything and doesn't really see what's around them with their own eyes. There were so many nooks and crannies and passageways all around the place, it was like a never-ending discovery of old and important stuff. Britian's oldest door is also located there. How anyone could possibly know that that is the oldest door, I have no idea, but there it was (wasn't that impressive if you were wondering). The Abbey has so much history (it's been around since the 1000s, although the oldest parts now date back to the 1200s due to reconstruction and fires and general disrepair) and it's really neat to walk through and see something from 1300 next to something from 1970. The things people had created for their final resting place are beyond amazing. Some of the most ornate and expensive things you could ever think of were created just to show off where a person was burried. I have no idea what makes a person special enough to be burried there, some Kings were, some weren't, some Queens, not others. I suppose it's just happenstance and how much money you had. I had also forgotten just how big the place was. There were multiple rooms, buildings, and gardens all fairly stunning in their own way.
I did see Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary's tomb, I find it very interesting that the two are burried together. There was an interesting plaque there about religions (specifically catholicism and protestantism) coming together. I'm not sure when this dates back to, but I highly doubt it was Elizabeth's choice. I can't imagine either would be very happy about their final resting place. Moreover, on most tombs, there is a sculpture of how the person looked with lots of symbolism, etc to describe them. The sisters had one large tomb, but only one sculpture, and I was unable to tell which one it was. Seems like Elizabeth kind of got shafted. I also found it interesting that Mary Queen of Scots was burried in the Abbey. I know she died in England but because her death was a result of being killed for treason, I find it odd that Elizabeth would have her burried there, especially in such an elaborate way. The mysteries of histories.
One place I found especially moving was the area more dedicated to modern history. I lit a candle there and had a little moment interrupted by an idiot teenager (Briton) lighting a piece of paper on fire with her little brother. Moving beyond that, it was very interesting to see throughout the entire Abbey the close connection with America. There was a stained glass window for various American Ambassadors to the Court of St. James, a special plaque for Roosevelt, and if my memory serves me correctly, I think there was also something there for Washington and Lincoln. One doesn't find dedications to French leaders there. It was kind of a nice feeling to see things like that and to know that I'm in a place (the Abbey at the moment and England in general) that appreciates and likes America (well, in practice, still haven't figured out in principle). In that same room was the dedication to the unknown soldier and all the memorials for soldiers in the World Wars (earlier there had been a dedication to soldiers that had fought for the Crown on various occassions) and right in the middle of the floor, next to the plaque was a nice, large dedication to the man himself, Sir Winston Churchill. Next to it was a fake flower bouquet with a little note on it dated 1965 from his daughter, which was quite touching.
Overall, the Abbey was definitely worth the trip and I'm glad I went. It will never cease to amaze me the amount of history this country has. We will never have buildings as old as theirs in the US and our history and sense of tradition will never compare to the UK's.
Following the Abbey, I went to Tesco's (a grocery store chain that also has a lot of little 711/Wawa type stores) and came to the conclusion that British crisps are in general just better than American chips. Sorry America, maybe next time. And also water is much cheaper here, which is great, and as it should be.
Then it was time to meet my class in the tube to go on a fieldtrip of the Westminster area and Whitehall area. The tour guide was an adjunct faculty member and I thought did a pretty decent job. He showed us the obvious places like Parliament (technically called the Palace of Westminster) but also the Treasury area and civil service buildings and even MPs' most popular bar. Parliament has a buzzer that goes off throughout the building whenever they need to have a vote, and you need to show up within 8 minutes in order to vote, and MPs were so dedicated to this pub, they had the buzzer line extended to the pub. Apparently every so often, you can catch a bunch of MPs busting out and running down the street to the House of Commons in time to vote.
We also learned about Parliament etiquette. In Britain, it's fairly popular to harass and harangue the opposing parties (most notably seen in Prime Minister's Question Hour). There's lots of backhanded insults going on and tonnes of humour. We learned that apparently if you say something and the Speaker of the House (very unlike Nancy, it's a much more important and legitimate role) doesn't strike it from the record, it can technically become Parliamentary language. This has happened with "Bollocks" (which if you don't know means testes) and in Australia, the term "Ass licker" has even been adopted (sparlingly I assume) in Parliamentary language. Amazing. I can never imagine someone like say, Dick Cheney using such swear words in a public setting.... Oh wait.
The weather could have been better, but it was a pretty good tour all around. We terminated at Parliament and were given the opportunity to go visit the House of Commons or the House of Lords. It was a crappy day and there wasn't anything that special going on in government that day, so we were able to get in fairly easily. After dealing with a very crabby and unpleasant usher (although, as I have come to find, most people in lowly positions of authority are that way here... more on this later), we went into the House of Commons. It was a lot smaller than I had expected, and much nicer looking than it is on TV. Winston apparently had it rebuilt to be as small as it is after it was bombed during WW2 to give it a more dramatic setting when it was full of MPs. The debate that was going on was on some sort of taxx reform and there were hardly any people there and it was a lot like watching CSpan, only with an accent. It was still really neat to go in a see it and I'm glad I did. I did not go to see the House of Lords because there was a long line and I had other stuff to do.
Following my governmental adventures, I discovered the wonderful world of Primark. I had to go there to get flipflops (which I didn't have and was not about to stay in a hostel without). Primark is apparently an Irish department store and it was amazing. Everything there is crazy cheap and if I ever need anything, that is certainly where I will head. I got flip flops (fairly decent looking, too) for 1 pound. It's nice to know that in this city where money seems to flow through my hands like water despite how much I try there is a place like that.
So, I've noticed here that people that have vague authority (like an usher, or airport check in people and things of that nature) are, for a lack of a better term, total jerks. I'm not sure if it's because I'm American, or why that is, but it's wildly unacceptable. The police here are really nice and helpful, but certain people all just seem to have a very noticeable stick up their ass. I don't know, I guess in a foreign country you're bound to run into some resistance from someone somewhere.
Product Appeal
I would like to make an appeal to PepsiCo to get their crap together and get into the European Market. CocaCola owns this continent and I'm getting tired of it. Diet Pepsi is better, and if Europeans can't realize that on their own, they need some good old fashioned market incentives to discover it. I don't particularly care, but it just seems odd to me that Coke can be sooo big over here, but then the only stuff Pepsi can sell well is Dr Pepper (regular, not diet) and Pepsi Max.
I realized that I have yet to have fish and chips here. I kind of need to get on that because obviously it's kind of a big deal here and I do enjoy fish and chips. Mostly I'm talking about this stuff now because I'm fairly hungry. I let my food stores run low before I went away for the weekend and now I'm in dire need of grocery shopping. Most places in the city are open 24 hours (for food) and other places are open quite late-- except Sundays. Things are generally only open for about 6 hours and are done by 5 or 6. It's kind of annoying, but at the same time really great that places keep their other hours such as they are.
I guess that's about it for pre-Barcelona. I'm ridiculously tired right now, so I think I'm going to write about that particular adventure manana, as they say. It'll be a good one though, so stay tuned.
-Kate
p.s. spell check wasn't working, so ignore all spelling errors and chalk it up to my current sleepiness and not any lack of general brilliance on my part :-)
On Thursday, as planned, I got up early and headed to Westminster Abbey. It was a cold, windy, rainy day (our first in quite awhile), which was kind of a pain to deal with, but the Abbey was definitely worth it. I went the last time I was here (1998), and I have to say, it was nothing like I had remembered. Like most cathedrals, it was completely breath-taking, but there was just a certain aura about the place that just made it seem far more unique. I unforunately was unable to take pictures (not allowed), but it was probably better that way. In places like that, one usually gets caught up in getting all the right shots and everything and doesn't really see what's around them with their own eyes. There were so many nooks and crannies and passageways all around the place, it was like a never-ending discovery of old and important stuff. Britian's oldest door is also located there. How anyone could possibly know that that is the oldest door, I have no idea, but there it was (wasn't that impressive if you were wondering). The Abbey has so much history (it's been around since the 1000s, although the oldest parts now date back to the 1200s due to reconstruction and fires and general disrepair) and it's really neat to walk through and see something from 1300 next to something from 1970. The things people had created for their final resting place are beyond amazing. Some of the most ornate and expensive things you could ever think of were created just to show off where a person was burried. I have no idea what makes a person special enough to be burried there, some Kings were, some weren't, some Queens, not others. I suppose it's just happenstance and how much money you had. I had also forgotten just how big the place was. There were multiple rooms, buildings, and gardens all fairly stunning in their own way.
I did see Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary's tomb, I find it very interesting that the two are burried together. There was an interesting plaque there about religions (specifically catholicism and protestantism) coming together. I'm not sure when this dates back to, but I highly doubt it was Elizabeth's choice. I can't imagine either would be very happy about their final resting place. Moreover, on most tombs, there is a sculpture of how the person looked with lots of symbolism, etc to describe them. The sisters had one large tomb, but only one sculpture, and I was unable to tell which one it was. Seems like Elizabeth kind of got shafted. I also found it interesting that Mary Queen of Scots was burried in the Abbey. I know she died in England but because her death was a result of being killed for treason, I find it odd that Elizabeth would have her burried there, especially in such an elaborate way. The mysteries of histories.
One place I found especially moving was the area more dedicated to modern history. I lit a candle there and had a little moment interrupted by an idiot teenager (Briton) lighting a piece of paper on fire with her little brother. Moving beyond that, it was very interesting to see throughout the entire Abbey the close connection with America. There was a stained glass window for various American Ambassadors to the Court of St. James, a special plaque for Roosevelt, and if my memory serves me correctly, I think there was also something there for Washington and Lincoln. One doesn't find dedications to French leaders there. It was kind of a nice feeling to see things like that and to know that I'm in a place (the Abbey at the moment and England in general) that appreciates and likes America (well, in practice, still haven't figured out in principle). In that same room was the dedication to the unknown soldier and all the memorials for soldiers in the World Wars (earlier there had been a dedication to soldiers that had fought for the Crown on various occassions) and right in the middle of the floor, next to the plaque was a nice, large dedication to the man himself, Sir Winston Churchill. Next to it was a fake flower bouquet with a little note on it dated 1965 from his daughter, which was quite touching.
Overall, the Abbey was definitely worth the trip and I'm glad I went. It will never cease to amaze me the amount of history this country has. We will never have buildings as old as theirs in the US and our history and sense of tradition will never compare to the UK's.
Following the Abbey, I went to Tesco's (a grocery store chain that also has a lot of little 711/Wawa type stores) and came to the conclusion that British crisps are in general just better than American chips. Sorry America, maybe next time. And also water is much cheaper here, which is great, and as it should be.
Then it was time to meet my class in the tube to go on a fieldtrip of the Westminster area and Whitehall area. The tour guide was an adjunct faculty member and I thought did a pretty decent job. He showed us the obvious places like Parliament (technically called the Palace of Westminster) but also the Treasury area and civil service buildings and even MPs' most popular bar. Parliament has a buzzer that goes off throughout the building whenever they need to have a vote, and you need to show up within 8 minutes in order to vote, and MPs were so dedicated to this pub, they had the buzzer line extended to the pub. Apparently every so often, you can catch a bunch of MPs busting out and running down the street to the House of Commons in time to vote.
We also learned about Parliament etiquette. In Britain, it's fairly popular to harass and harangue the opposing parties (most notably seen in Prime Minister's Question Hour). There's lots of backhanded insults going on and tonnes of humour. We learned that apparently if you say something and the Speaker of the House (very unlike Nancy, it's a much more important and legitimate role) doesn't strike it from the record, it can technically become Parliamentary language. This has happened with "Bollocks" (which if you don't know means testes) and in Australia, the term "Ass licker" has even been adopted (sparlingly I assume) in Parliamentary language. Amazing. I can never imagine someone like say, Dick Cheney using such swear words in a public setting.... Oh wait.
The weather could have been better, but it was a pretty good tour all around. We terminated at Parliament and were given the opportunity to go visit the House of Commons or the House of Lords. It was a crappy day and there wasn't anything that special going on in government that day, so we were able to get in fairly easily. After dealing with a very crabby and unpleasant usher (although, as I have come to find, most people in lowly positions of authority are that way here... more on this later), we went into the House of Commons. It was a lot smaller than I had expected, and much nicer looking than it is on TV. Winston apparently had it rebuilt to be as small as it is after it was bombed during WW2 to give it a more dramatic setting when it was full of MPs. The debate that was going on was on some sort of taxx reform and there were hardly any people there and it was a lot like watching CSpan, only with an accent. It was still really neat to go in a see it and I'm glad I did. I did not go to see the House of Lords because there was a long line and I had other stuff to do.
Following my governmental adventures, I discovered the wonderful world of Primark. I had to go there to get flipflops (which I didn't have and was not about to stay in a hostel without). Primark is apparently an Irish department store and it was amazing. Everything there is crazy cheap and if I ever need anything, that is certainly where I will head. I got flip flops (fairly decent looking, too) for 1 pound. It's nice to know that in this city where money seems to flow through my hands like water despite how much I try there is a place like that.
So, I've noticed here that people that have vague authority (like an usher, or airport check in people and things of that nature) are, for a lack of a better term, total jerks. I'm not sure if it's because I'm American, or why that is, but it's wildly unacceptable. The police here are really nice and helpful, but certain people all just seem to have a very noticeable stick up their ass. I don't know, I guess in a foreign country you're bound to run into some resistance from someone somewhere.
Product Appeal
I would like to make an appeal to PepsiCo to get their crap together and get into the European Market. CocaCola owns this continent and I'm getting tired of it. Diet Pepsi is better, and if Europeans can't realize that on their own, they need some good old fashioned market incentives to discover it. I don't particularly care, but it just seems odd to me that Coke can be sooo big over here, but then the only stuff Pepsi can sell well is Dr Pepper (regular, not diet) and Pepsi Max.
I realized that I have yet to have fish and chips here. I kind of need to get on that because obviously it's kind of a big deal here and I do enjoy fish and chips. Mostly I'm talking about this stuff now because I'm fairly hungry. I let my food stores run low before I went away for the weekend and now I'm in dire need of grocery shopping. Most places in the city are open 24 hours (for food) and other places are open quite late-- except Sundays. Things are generally only open for about 6 hours and are done by 5 or 6. It's kind of annoying, but at the same time really great that places keep their other hours such as they are.
I guess that's about it for pre-Barcelona. I'm ridiculously tired right now, so I think I'm going to write about that particular adventure manana, as they say. It'll be a good one though, so stay tuned.
-Kate
p.s. spell check wasn't working, so ignore all spelling errors and chalk it up to my current sleepiness and not any lack of general brilliance on my part :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
