Forgot one important thing I love about being home:
you're not confronted with Anti-Americanism 18 times a day.
Seriously Britain, it's getting tiresome. Please shut up now.
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
Monday, 21 April 2008
The Final Continental Excursion
This past weekend was my last trip out of London where I knew when and for sure that I would be returning. It made me quite sad to realize that the next time i depart with luggage will be final.
I was sort of up in the air about leaving London one of my last weekends here, but once I did, I was glad I did it. Belgium was not nearly as boring and blase as everyone makes it out to be. It was partly the company, and every place is really what you make of it, but I had a really good time. Brugge was a cute little city, and granted, there wasn't a whole lot to do there, but we did have a good time. It was very much in stark contrast to London, that's for sure.
We went as part of a tour, which was definitely the way to do it. Not having to deal with travel and having everything planned was soo nice. It was probably also a lot cheaper than had we done it all ourselves. It was also nice to go somewhere and not fly. To get to Belgium, we bused and ferried it. Taking the ferry from Dover to Calais was quite the experience. The white cliffs of Dover were kind of a disappointment, though. Apparently they have tunnels in them with whole villages made during WW2. That would be cool to see one day.
Anyway, the ferry itself was like no ferry I had ever seen before. I imagine it was bigger than some cruise ships. Absolutely packed with people, lounges, bars, cafes, "casino", children's area, food hall, etc etc. The way over was quite choppy and not nice at all, but the way back was a fun experience.
The tour guide definitely could have been better, but the bus driver knew a lot, and we probably learned more about the places we went than if we had done it alone. I'm glad we did it anyway because we got to see Brugge, Tynne Cot (war cemetery), Hill 62 (WW1 preserved trenches), and Ypres. If we had done it ourselves, we probably would have just gone to Belgium.
Brugge was cute. No, there wasn't a whole lot to do, but we walked around a lot, which is always good exercise. Got plenty of chocolate and waffles. And of course, Belgium beer. On recommendation of the tour guide, we went to this place with 400 beers. The menu was like a phone book. Good times. And Brugge does have night life! Who knew?! We found a few places, Dana picked one, based on its awesome name (die Kuppe). There was a big stag party there, but Dana and Allison think I found the only straight guy (important: he bought drinks... English, take note). He also spoke like 6 languages.
What language the signs and everything were in, I still haven't quite figured out. I heard French spoken a lot, but most signs were in German or Flemish. By the way, umm... Flemish? Yeah, still haven't really figured that one out. The only way I can really describe it is German + Dutch - umlauts = Flemish. But don't quote me on that.
The waffles and chocolate were amazing. The weather was great (one day), and the WW1 stuff was really awesome. Definitely glad I got to see all of that. The trenches were the coolest part. Really made you realize how completely crappy WW1 was. I guess, if you needed a reminder or something.
I had written before I think about how I didn't really miss much from home. I completely take that back now. For whatever reason, Brugge was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back, and now I'm very eager and excited to get back home (but still sad to leave).
There is just an ease of things in America that doesn't exist (for me at least) in Europe. Most of it focuses on capitalistic abundance. We went out to dinner in Brugge and asked for tap water. The guy gave us a hard time about it, like he was doing us a favour. When we asked for more, he straight up refused. Everywhere you go you can only get bottled water. What a complete rip off. Like, your tap water is fine, don't give me that crap. Stop trying to nickel and dime everyone. In america, you get free tap water, with ice, and sometime with lemon / lime. And it's endless. Just one of many things. Another thing Europe is fond of doing is giving you bread or nuts or something with your meal (w/o asking you) then charging you for it. It's awesome!
It will be so nice to just have things again. I know that's so completely materialistic of me and somewhat snobbish. But now that i'm living on not doing laundry anymore in London, and trying to not go grocery shopping, I just wish I had more variety. Sure, Belgium had 400 beers, but that's not really what I mean. It's nice to go to a grocery store and just see 98 different kinds of cheese, and chicken cutlets, and peppers and cereal or whatever. Unnecessary? Absolutely. Awesome? Absolutely.
I like having a big wardrobe, sheets I can change and always have back ups, different perfumes to use, napkins I don't have to steal from places with napkins.
This probably isn't an American thing, this is just a home thing. Where I don't feel broke all the time, where I'm not paranoid about spending money, a movie is just a casual thing and laundry is cheap, if not free. Not having to plan every meal and calculate the cost of what you consume, not feeling pressured to do something worth while every minute of every day.
It's the best experience of my life, but damn is it tiring. I just want to go home and walk into a stocked pantry and then sit in front of the TV and choose between 80 different channels while my laundry is laundering knowing there is a nice big comfy bed waiting for me close by.
Also, Brugge had one day of perfect weather. Absolutely gorgeous. And then, as soon as we got back into England, it was raining. It was chilly and humid all at the same time today. The sun was very weakly shining. I miss spring weather. I have been very lucky with weather in London so far, so I can't complain too much. But I miss seasons. It's so nice at home right now, and it's only broken 60 once so far here. Rain still threatens every day.
I really don't mean to bitch and moan, life has been anything but hard here really. I'm just an American gal and I miss it. With the PA primary tomorrow and a huge election going on in general I feel like I'm missing out. Sure, I can tell you almost literally everything Gordy is up to, but who really cares? Even the Brits are starting to ignore him. While it's really awesome to know the going ons of a country so in depthly (is that a word?), I feel sort of wrong about it.
I'm going to be home for two weeks and pack in as much quintessentially American things as humanly possible. Watch out, Blue Bell.
All that being said, I have begun getting very anxious about leaving London. Ah, the ex-pat's (ok, hardly, but you get the idea) life. Always torn between where you are and where you came from. Once I'm in Berlin, I'll miss London and the US (boston and home), then I'll be back and miss Berlin and London. I love experiencing different things and going to different places and seeing and doing, but damn, it would also be nice to stay put for more than 3-4 months.
That's for another time, though, I guess.
I was sort of up in the air about leaving London one of my last weekends here, but once I did, I was glad I did it. Belgium was not nearly as boring and blase as everyone makes it out to be. It was partly the company, and every place is really what you make of it, but I had a really good time. Brugge was a cute little city, and granted, there wasn't a whole lot to do there, but we did have a good time. It was very much in stark contrast to London, that's for sure.
We went as part of a tour, which was definitely the way to do it. Not having to deal with travel and having everything planned was soo nice. It was probably also a lot cheaper than had we done it all ourselves. It was also nice to go somewhere and not fly. To get to Belgium, we bused and ferried it. Taking the ferry from Dover to Calais was quite the experience. The white cliffs of Dover were kind of a disappointment, though. Apparently they have tunnels in them with whole villages made during WW2. That would be cool to see one day.
Anyway, the ferry itself was like no ferry I had ever seen before. I imagine it was bigger than some cruise ships. Absolutely packed with people, lounges, bars, cafes, "casino", children's area, food hall, etc etc. The way over was quite choppy and not nice at all, but the way back was a fun experience.
The tour guide definitely could have been better, but the bus driver knew a lot, and we probably learned more about the places we went than if we had done it alone. I'm glad we did it anyway because we got to see Brugge, Tynne Cot (war cemetery), Hill 62 (WW1 preserved trenches), and Ypres. If we had done it ourselves, we probably would have just gone to Belgium.
Brugge was cute. No, there wasn't a whole lot to do, but we walked around a lot, which is always good exercise. Got plenty of chocolate and waffles. And of course, Belgium beer. On recommendation of the tour guide, we went to this place with 400 beers. The menu was like a phone book. Good times. And Brugge does have night life! Who knew?! We found a few places, Dana picked one, based on its awesome name (die Kuppe). There was a big stag party there, but Dana and Allison think I found the only straight guy (important: he bought drinks... English, take note). He also spoke like 6 languages.
What language the signs and everything were in, I still haven't quite figured out. I heard French spoken a lot, but most signs were in German or Flemish. By the way, umm... Flemish? Yeah, still haven't really figured that one out. The only way I can really describe it is German + Dutch - umlauts = Flemish. But don't quote me on that.
The waffles and chocolate were amazing. The weather was great (one day), and the WW1 stuff was really awesome. Definitely glad I got to see all of that. The trenches were the coolest part. Really made you realize how completely crappy WW1 was. I guess, if you needed a reminder or something.
I had written before I think about how I didn't really miss much from home. I completely take that back now. For whatever reason, Brugge was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back, and now I'm very eager and excited to get back home (but still sad to leave).
There is just an ease of things in America that doesn't exist (for me at least) in Europe. Most of it focuses on capitalistic abundance. We went out to dinner in Brugge and asked for tap water. The guy gave us a hard time about it, like he was doing us a favour. When we asked for more, he straight up refused. Everywhere you go you can only get bottled water. What a complete rip off. Like, your tap water is fine, don't give me that crap. Stop trying to nickel and dime everyone. In america, you get free tap water, with ice, and sometime with lemon / lime. And it's endless. Just one of many things. Another thing Europe is fond of doing is giving you bread or nuts or something with your meal (w/o asking you) then charging you for it. It's awesome!
It will be so nice to just have things again. I know that's so completely materialistic of me and somewhat snobbish. But now that i'm living on not doing laundry anymore in London, and trying to not go grocery shopping, I just wish I had more variety. Sure, Belgium had 400 beers, but that's not really what I mean. It's nice to go to a grocery store and just see 98 different kinds of cheese, and chicken cutlets, and peppers and cereal or whatever. Unnecessary? Absolutely. Awesome? Absolutely.
I like having a big wardrobe, sheets I can change and always have back ups, different perfumes to use, napkins I don't have to steal from places with napkins.
This probably isn't an American thing, this is just a home thing. Where I don't feel broke all the time, where I'm not paranoid about spending money, a movie is just a casual thing and laundry is cheap, if not free. Not having to plan every meal and calculate the cost of what you consume, not feeling pressured to do something worth while every minute of every day.
It's the best experience of my life, but damn is it tiring. I just want to go home and walk into a stocked pantry and then sit in front of the TV and choose between 80 different channels while my laundry is laundering knowing there is a nice big comfy bed waiting for me close by.
Also, Brugge had one day of perfect weather. Absolutely gorgeous. And then, as soon as we got back into England, it was raining. It was chilly and humid all at the same time today. The sun was very weakly shining. I miss spring weather. I have been very lucky with weather in London so far, so I can't complain too much. But I miss seasons. It's so nice at home right now, and it's only broken 60 once so far here. Rain still threatens every day.
I really don't mean to bitch and moan, life has been anything but hard here really. I'm just an American gal and I miss it. With the PA primary tomorrow and a huge election going on in general I feel like I'm missing out. Sure, I can tell you almost literally everything Gordy is up to, but who really cares? Even the Brits are starting to ignore him. While it's really awesome to know the going ons of a country so in depthly (is that a word?), I feel sort of wrong about it.
I'm going to be home for two weeks and pack in as much quintessentially American things as humanly possible. Watch out, Blue Bell.
All that being said, I have begun getting very anxious about leaving London. Ah, the ex-pat's (ok, hardly, but you get the idea) life. Always torn between where you are and where you came from. Once I'm in Berlin, I'll miss London and the US (boston and home), then I'll be back and miss Berlin and London. I love experiencing different things and going to different places and seeing and doing, but damn, it would also be nice to stay put for more than 3-4 months.
That's for another time, though, I guess.
Bruge, Brugge, Bruges, Brugse, Whatever Pictures
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2258593&l=21247&id=919676
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2258585&l=1c4f1&id=919676
Update to come once I actually get the motivation...
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2258585&l=1c4f1&id=919676
Update to come once I actually get the motivation...
Wednesday, 16 April 2008
Repeat the Mantra: We're Embracing London
Wow, so it's been quite a while. I've been fairly busy lately, especially getting my portfolio together for my internship, and just taking in as much of London as possible before heading home.
Unfortunately, since I haven't updated in awhile, I kind of forget a lot of stuff, especially the finer details and the observations, but I'm sure they'll come back to me eventually and I will make sure to write them down or something.
London has been back to its old weather tricks, and now that it's April, it's even crazier than usual. We had some excellent days with perfect weather, following by snow, followed by nicer days with lots of intermittent rain, always coupled with a hail storm here or there. As I write this, it's beautifully sunny outside and slightly brisk with clear blue skies. I'll get back to you in a few minutes and there will be a dramatic change in this. Guaranteed.
Even though my portfolio is finished, I still have two weeks (4 days each) at the internship. As Steve pointed out in class yesterday, I kind of don't want to be anywhere where I'm not really experiencing London at this point in the semester, especially if it's not entirely necessary. However, I guess this is a pretty good place to be and I'm still doing and learning, so it could be worse. I have been packing in quite a lot of London related activities on the weekends and doing a lot more "normal" things that aren't necessarily just in London.
This past weekend, after staying in on Saturday to work on my portfolio, which I really didn't want to do because there's still so much I wanted to see, I packed Sunday with as much stuff as possible. I went out with my friend Steve (not American BG Steve, but British Steve from Imperial College) and we did quite a bit. Got 2-for-1 entry at the aquarium, which was awesome, and was a pretty good aquarium. The London marathon was right nearby so of course we checked out that for abit. It is just people running, but unlike the more serious Boston one where you have to qualify... anyone can be in this marathon. There were a lot of people in goofy costumes and even Masai warriors running to get a well built in their village. It was raining and blowing though and sitting there watching people run wasn't entirely appealing, so we quickly moved on. I went to the Natural History Museum, again, but saw different stuff (the dinosaurs and mammals this time). Usually I'm not into science stuff because I just don't know a lot, but, going with someone who works at the museum and is getting their masters in science definitely improved the experience and I definitely got more out of it (the aquarium, too) than I would have just walking around by myself.
In the past week, I've also seen 21 (the poker movie) and Vantage Point (about the assasination attempt on the President). I liked Vantage Point quite a bit more, but 21 was still good because it was really neat to see all the BU buildings and classrooms and dorms (it was filmed there... not MIT as they would have you believe). Vantage Point was an "edge of your seat thrill ride" as they say.
Went bowling the other day and British Steve (let's just call him Steven for clarity's sake) kicked my ass. The best part being of course that he's only ever played like 3 times in his life before. Whatever, I was rusty.
I went to Blenheim and Oxford the other week, as the pictures indicate. Blenheim was covered in snow, and by the afternoon and Oxford, it had melted away. I thought Blenheim was really pretty, but because of the weather and snow, I didn't get to see as much of the grounds as I would have liked. Also, they had a big thing on Winston Churchill (he was born there), but it was just sort of the same old same old. They even have some of the same stuff as they did at Chartwell, I'm not sure which one is the replica or not.
I think that covers all the major things I've been doing lately. I've also been trying to walk different ways than I normally go and just see different things. This city is so amazing; instead of walking to the usual tube stop on my way home from work and I was just struck that I passed the Royal Court House, nice little parks and cute streets, the Lord Admiralty's house and the dragon statue marking the entrance to The City... and it was just so cool. Even right off the streets I walk down all the time in South Ken are just nice little neighbourhoods with such, well, quaintness. It's really making me feel like there's just still so much to see here. It doesn't matter if its a well-known tourist place or restaurant or whatever, but just streets and the architecture and layout and gardens and just things. I feel annoyed with myself for kind of only just now figuring this out. And this city is so freaking huge, I can't decide entirely where I still want to go and where I don't care as much. I know at some point I'll be back, but I just don't want to look back on this semester and be like "i didn't see or do enough." In a way, I recognize that that's just life and you can never do it all, but still, as I sit here at work in front of a computer, I can't help but think "what's out there I'm missing?" It's weird because when I leave Boston for good, I don't think I'll feel the same way, and not because I saw everything, but more because London seems so much more worth seeing. If that makes any sense.
Anyway, so I'm sure you all know, but Chelsea FC lost on Monday, which means Manchester United is likely to win the league. Shame. If Chelsea couldn't do it, then I'd be for Arsenal, but they did even worse than Chelsea. But, Manchester has Ronaldo and Rooney, so i'm still quite OK with rooting for them. England is now trying to host the 2018 word cup, I don't know how that will work for them. They need to try and beat France next time to make that happen, I assume.
Yes, I am getting into football. Living here, it's kind of like how could you not. I even know the difference between the leagues and which team is which. Chelsea is South London, which is why it's my favourite. They were quite good this season, but had a little slip up playing Wiggin. In 2010, I think it is, I will be so all about rooting for England. Which, actually, I did in 2006 anyway. America always does well in those things, but let's face it, no one there cares about football. I still think it makes more sense to call it football. How often does the foot come into contact with the ball in American football? What's that? Only ocassionally with the kicker? Oh.. I see...
I'm still doing the commuting thing. It's actually gotten better, mostly because I think a lot of people are on vacation around Easter and early April but also I'm probably just getting used to it. I have discoverd that people stare on the tube. And not so much during commuting times, but other times I take it. Like, you know when you're in a situation and someone and you're just looking around and you make eye contact with someone who is clearly looking at you? And that's fine because everyone looks at everyone else if they aren't reading and when you're "caught" you just look away or w/e. Wellll, In London, they don't look away. You catch them, and they keep staring. They continue to stare until you give them that " can i help you? i.e. stop looking at me" look. It's bizarre. And I wouldn't make this an "observation" had it not happened approximately 27 times to me. Maybe that happens everywhere, but I commuted plenty in Boston and never noticed it, so who knows.
Another thing about commuting here is the insane amount of options you have for your commuting reading. In America, as you make your way to the subway (whatever they happen to call it in that particular city), you always have the Metro guy. The guy yelling "metro metro" and handing out those little papers with the green logo. At least in Boston, I think every city has them though. And then in the evening, you can sometimes find them, but more often, you're on your own for reading material.
Well, in London, you've got choice. In the morning, there's the 5, yes 5, dailies of actual substance that you can buy, or you can get the free blue logo Metro. In the evening, as I walk to the tube, I pass the London Paper lady dressed in purple who hands one to me everyday even though I never ever take it, I don't take it from the guy dressed in purple further down the street either. Then, I pass at least 2 London Lite people dressed in yellow, I never take those either. Then, there's always a Metro stand or two in the tube stop. There's also the Evening Standard (which is a semi-legit paper that you have to pay for, and in response to the freebies, it raised it's price) stand at the tube stop, and somewhere along the way, you can buy The Sun, London's most popular tabloid. There's just such a plethora.. a good allegory for the diverseness and immense size of London (see, I actually brought it all together there and made all that rambling semi-legit).
Speaking of the 5 newspapers, I think I've mentioned this before, but part of my internship is reading 3-5 of those papers everyday and making a daily digest. For internship related purposes, it's supposed to be Arab only, but of course, I see and peruse and read a bunch of other articles and it's just great. I know so much about what's going on in this country and it really makes me feel like involved and more like someone that actually lives here. It also makes me great in conversation and able to impress / annoy anyone at any time. It's great !
I was talking with mom earlier today online about things I will miss about the UK. I don't particularly know what that will be until it's gone, but I can think of one thing: the accent. Not so much the accent, but the phrases they use. I am determined to pick up as much as possible in my next few weeks (I already have quite a bit) and I will bring it to the US and be that obnoxious i'm not really British but clearly would like to be person. I also use utensils in the same way. So stupid and inefficient but it makes me feel so classy. I'll also miss work people, and most of the people I live with now. When I'm in Berlin, I know I'll desperately miss living in a place where they speak English. I'm in the kitchen right now and talking with people and I just quoted Churchill, so I'm clearly on a role.
I will also miss going out, albeit for the brief time inbetween Berlin and my birthday. I don't particularly care, but it is fun and it's nice to go out and dance with friends. Also, in America, there's no efficient way to get home. Here, night buses have their downs but they will get you home.
Speaking of night buses. I was coming back from South Ealing the other night (where the Imperial grad student halls are), and missed the last tube, because Sunday the tube closes like 40 minutes earlier (who knew? that doesn't even happen in Boston, so what the hell). I get on the 1st bus, it's late, I'm tired, and pissed. Then these obnoxious hoodies who were wasted got on the bus without any money, then started threatening the bus driver and then started freaking out at other passengers. So then cooler heads amongst the hoodies prevailed and they got into their own fisticuffs, the driver had to put the alarm on, and then when they finally left and we got moving, they chucked a bunch of stuff at the bus. Needless to say, I was really not pleased. Scared is more like it. Although, there were plenty of together people on the bus, it was more of just a nuisance. Chav scum keeping me from getting home... bastards.
As the semester winds down and I need to get rid of my food and avoid doing more laundry, I realize that there is a very close correlation between being lazy and saving money. There's a few ways you could look at it. You are being cost effective because instead of having a nice meal, you're just eating super noodles. Or, you're being lazy because you just don't feel like cooking. You're being thrifty by wearing that pair of jeans 8 times, or you're just being gross and lazy because you don't want to do laundry. Saving money is a great excuse not to actually do much. I strike a decent balance between the two.
Gillian, my supervisor at work, sent me this funny "You know you live in London when..." thing. I thought I would put a few in that were particularly poignant.:
1. You say "the City" and expect everyone to know which one.
4. Hookers and the homeless are invisible.
5. You step over people who collapse on the Tube.
6. You believe that being able to swear at people in their own language
makes you multilingual.
9. You consider eye contact an act of overt aggression.
10. You call an 8' x 10' plot of patchy grass a garden.
12. You think Hyde Park is "nature".
13. You're paying £1,200 a month for a studio the size of a walk-in
wardrobe and you think it's a "bargain".
16. You pay £3 without blinking for a beer that cost the bar 28p.
17. You actually take fashion seriously.
19. The UK west of Heathrow is still theoretical to you.
20. You're suspicious of strangers who are actually nice to you.
22. £50 worth of groceries fit in one plastic bag.
24. You don't hear sirens anymore.
25. You've mentally blocked out all thoughts of the city's air/water
quality and what it's doing to your insides.
27. Your cleaner is Portuguese, your grocer is Somali, your butcher is
halal,your deli man is Israeli, your landlord is Italian, your laundry guy
is Filipino, your bartender is Australian, your favourite diner owner is
Greek, the watch seller on your corner is Senegalese, your last cabbie was
African, your newsagent is Indian and your local English chippie owner is
Turkish.
28. You wouldn't want to live anywhere else until you get married.
29. You roll your eyes and kiss your teeth at the news that someone has
thrown himself under a tube train.
Interesting enough, I was thinking about the general demeanor of the British people and how I feel like in general they are a dour and bitter people (in the most endearing way, of course), and I ran across this book review in the Guardian:
http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2263710,00.html
If you're too lazy to read it, it's basically called "You Brits just love being miserable" The author is an American that traveled all over the world looking for the world's unhappiest people. And lo and behold he found them in Britain. The reviewer obviously disagrees with him. And I definitely do, too. However, in brief observation, I can see how he got that. They do enjoy complaining... a lot. It doesn't matter that they have one of the world's best tube systems, they complain endlessly about it. Potholes are worthy of being in every newspaper and featuring on every nightly news once a report comes out (hello? have you ever been to PA?) and a plethora of other things. They hate the Government for not being more green, but don't want any green towns, don't want windmills anywhere, and don't agree with tidal power. There's really no way to please these people. The guy is ridiculously tough on the British, and like I said, I don't agree with him, but I do think he makes some decent observations. It's worth reading, I think (the article, not the book). Maybe Americans are just a more optimistic and happy people.
Once we lose the seat of world's biggest power, we'll probably be bitter too.
Oops, did I just say that?
Speaking of world powers, in case anyone is wondering, despite living here and despite working at CAABU, I am still following Russian politics and am not pleased. Not at all.
Brugge, Belgium this weekend with two of my neighbours (who are obviously friends). Beer + chocolate, sooo excited.
I heard something funny in class the other day:
To an American, 100 years is a long time. To Briton, 100 miles is a long way.
How true.
I probably forgot about a billion things, so I'll be updating more frequently from now on with all my hilarious and witty observations.
Unfortunately, since I haven't updated in awhile, I kind of forget a lot of stuff, especially the finer details and the observations, but I'm sure they'll come back to me eventually and I will make sure to write them down or something.
London has been back to its old weather tricks, and now that it's April, it's even crazier than usual. We had some excellent days with perfect weather, following by snow, followed by nicer days with lots of intermittent rain, always coupled with a hail storm here or there. As I write this, it's beautifully sunny outside and slightly brisk with clear blue skies. I'll get back to you in a few minutes and there will be a dramatic change in this. Guaranteed.
Even though my portfolio is finished, I still have two weeks (4 days each) at the internship. As Steve pointed out in class yesterday, I kind of don't want to be anywhere where I'm not really experiencing London at this point in the semester, especially if it's not entirely necessary. However, I guess this is a pretty good place to be and I'm still doing and learning, so it could be worse. I have been packing in quite a lot of London related activities on the weekends and doing a lot more "normal" things that aren't necessarily just in London.
This past weekend, after staying in on Saturday to work on my portfolio, which I really didn't want to do because there's still so much I wanted to see, I packed Sunday with as much stuff as possible. I went out with my friend Steve (not American BG Steve, but British Steve from Imperial College) and we did quite a bit. Got 2-for-1 entry at the aquarium, which was awesome, and was a pretty good aquarium. The London marathon was right nearby so of course we checked out that for abit. It is just people running, but unlike the more serious Boston one where you have to qualify... anyone can be in this marathon. There were a lot of people in goofy costumes and even Masai warriors running to get a well built in their village. It was raining and blowing though and sitting there watching people run wasn't entirely appealing, so we quickly moved on. I went to the Natural History Museum, again, but saw different stuff (the dinosaurs and mammals this time). Usually I'm not into science stuff because I just don't know a lot, but, going with someone who works at the museum and is getting their masters in science definitely improved the experience and I definitely got more out of it (the aquarium, too) than I would have just walking around by myself.
In the past week, I've also seen 21 (the poker movie) and Vantage Point (about the assasination attempt on the President). I liked Vantage Point quite a bit more, but 21 was still good because it was really neat to see all the BU buildings and classrooms and dorms (it was filmed there... not MIT as they would have you believe). Vantage Point was an "edge of your seat thrill ride" as they say.
Went bowling the other day and British Steve (let's just call him Steven for clarity's sake) kicked my ass. The best part being of course that he's only ever played like 3 times in his life before. Whatever, I was rusty.
I went to Blenheim and Oxford the other week, as the pictures indicate. Blenheim was covered in snow, and by the afternoon and Oxford, it had melted away. I thought Blenheim was really pretty, but because of the weather and snow, I didn't get to see as much of the grounds as I would have liked. Also, they had a big thing on Winston Churchill (he was born there), but it was just sort of the same old same old. They even have some of the same stuff as they did at Chartwell, I'm not sure which one is the replica or not.
I think that covers all the major things I've been doing lately. I've also been trying to walk different ways than I normally go and just see different things. This city is so amazing; instead of walking to the usual tube stop on my way home from work and I was just struck that I passed the Royal Court House, nice little parks and cute streets, the Lord Admiralty's house and the dragon statue marking the entrance to The City... and it was just so cool. Even right off the streets I walk down all the time in South Ken are just nice little neighbourhoods with such, well, quaintness. It's really making me feel like there's just still so much to see here. It doesn't matter if its a well-known tourist place or restaurant or whatever, but just streets and the architecture and layout and gardens and just things. I feel annoyed with myself for kind of only just now figuring this out. And this city is so freaking huge, I can't decide entirely where I still want to go and where I don't care as much. I know at some point I'll be back, but I just don't want to look back on this semester and be like "i didn't see or do enough." In a way, I recognize that that's just life and you can never do it all, but still, as I sit here at work in front of a computer, I can't help but think "what's out there I'm missing?" It's weird because when I leave Boston for good, I don't think I'll feel the same way, and not because I saw everything, but more because London seems so much more worth seeing. If that makes any sense.
Anyway, so I'm sure you all know, but Chelsea FC lost on Monday, which means Manchester United is likely to win the league. Shame. If Chelsea couldn't do it, then I'd be for Arsenal, but they did even worse than Chelsea. But, Manchester has Ronaldo and Rooney, so i'm still quite OK with rooting for them. England is now trying to host the 2018 word cup, I don't know how that will work for them. They need to try and beat France next time to make that happen, I assume.
Yes, I am getting into football. Living here, it's kind of like how could you not. I even know the difference between the leagues and which team is which. Chelsea is South London, which is why it's my favourite. They were quite good this season, but had a little slip up playing Wiggin. In 2010, I think it is, I will be so all about rooting for England. Which, actually, I did in 2006 anyway. America always does well in those things, but let's face it, no one there cares about football. I still think it makes more sense to call it football. How often does the foot come into contact with the ball in American football? What's that? Only ocassionally with the kicker? Oh.. I see...
I'm still doing the commuting thing. It's actually gotten better, mostly because I think a lot of people are on vacation around Easter and early April but also I'm probably just getting used to it. I have discoverd that people stare on the tube. And not so much during commuting times, but other times I take it. Like, you know when you're in a situation and someone and you're just looking around and you make eye contact with someone who is clearly looking at you? And that's fine because everyone looks at everyone else if they aren't reading and when you're "caught" you just look away or w/e. Wellll, In London, they don't look away. You catch them, and they keep staring. They continue to stare until you give them that " can i help you? i.e. stop looking at me" look. It's bizarre. And I wouldn't make this an "observation" had it not happened approximately 27 times to me. Maybe that happens everywhere, but I commuted plenty in Boston and never noticed it, so who knows.
Another thing about commuting here is the insane amount of options you have for your commuting reading. In America, as you make your way to the subway (whatever they happen to call it in that particular city), you always have the Metro guy. The guy yelling "metro metro" and handing out those little papers with the green logo. At least in Boston, I think every city has them though. And then in the evening, you can sometimes find them, but more often, you're on your own for reading material.
Well, in London, you've got choice. In the morning, there's the 5, yes 5, dailies of actual substance that you can buy, or you can get the free blue logo Metro. In the evening, as I walk to the tube, I pass the London Paper lady dressed in purple who hands one to me everyday even though I never ever take it, I don't take it from the guy dressed in purple further down the street either. Then, I pass at least 2 London Lite people dressed in yellow, I never take those either. Then, there's always a Metro stand or two in the tube stop. There's also the Evening Standard (which is a semi-legit paper that you have to pay for, and in response to the freebies, it raised it's price) stand at the tube stop, and somewhere along the way, you can buy The Sun, London's most popular tabloid. There's just such a plethora.. a good allegory for the diverseness and immense size of London (see, I actually brought it all together there and made all that rambling semi-legit).
Speaking of the 5 newspapers, I think I've mentioned this before, but part of my internship is reading 3-5 of those papers everyday and making a daily digest. For internship related purposes, it's supposed to be Arab only, but of course, I see and peruse and read a bunch of other articles and it's just great. I know so much about what's going on in this country and it really makes me feel like involved and more like someone that actually lives here. It also makes me great in conversation and able to impress / annoy anyone at any time. It's great !
I was talking with mom earlier today online about things I will miss about the UK. I don't particularly know what that will be until it's gone, but I can think of one thing: the accent. Not so much the accent, but the phrases they use. I am determined to pick up as much as possible in my next few weeks (I already have quite a bit) and I will bring it to the US and be that obnoxious i'm not really British but clearly would like to be person. I also use utensils in the same way. So stupid and inefficient but it makes me feel so classy. I'll also miss work people, and most of the people I live with now. When I'm in Berlin, I know I'll desperately miss living in a place where they speak English. I'm in the kitchen right now and talking with people and I just quoted Churchill, so I'm clearly on a role.
I will also miss going out, albeit for the brief time inbetween Berlin and my birthday. I don't particularly care, but it is fun and it's nice to go out and dance with friends. Also, in America, there's no efficient way to get home. Here, night buses have their downs but they will get you home.
Speaking of night buses. I was coming back from South Ealing the other night (where the Imperial grad student halls are), and missed the last tube, because Sunday the tube closes like 40 minutes earlier (who knew? that doesn't even happen in Boston, so what the hell). I get on the 1st bus, it's late, I'm tired, and pissed. Then these obnoxious hoodies who were wasted got on the bus without any money, then started threatening the bus driver and then started freaking out at other passengers. So then cooler heads amongst the hoodies prevailed and they got into their own fisticuffs, the driver had to put the alarm on, and then when they finally left and we got moving, they chucked a bunch of stuff at the bus. Needless to say, I was really not pleased. Scared is more like it. Although, there were plenty of together people on the bus, it was more of just a nuisance. Chav scum keeping me from getting home... bastards.
As the semester winds down and I need to get rid of my food and avoid doing more laundry, I realize that there is a very close correlation between being lazy and saving money. There's a few ways you could look at it. You are being cost effective because instead of having a nice meal, you're just eating super noodles. Or, you're being lazy because you just don't feel like cooking. You're being thrifty by wearing that pair of jeans 8 times, or you're just being gross and lazy because you don't want to do laundry. Saving money is a great excuse not to actually do much. I strike a decent balance between the two.
Gillian, my supervisor at work, sent me this funny "You know you live in London when..." thing. I thought I would put a few in that were particularly poignant.:
1. You say "the City" and expect everyone to know which one.
4. Hookers and the homeless are invisible.
5. You step over people who collapse on the Tube.
6. You believe that being able to swear at people in their own language
makes you multilingual.
9. You consider eye contact an act of overt aggression.
10. You call an 8' x 10' plot of patchy grass a garden.
12. You think Hyde Park is "nature".
13. You're paying £1,200 a month for a studio the size of a walk-in
wardrobe and you think it's a "bargain".
16. You pay £3 without blinking for a beer that cost the bar 28p.
17. You actually take fashion seriously.
19. The UK west of Heathrow is still theoretical to you.
20. You're suspicious of strangers who are actually nice to you.
22. £50 worth of groceries fit in one plastic bag.
24. You don't hear sirens anymore.
25. You've mentally blocked out all thoughts of the city's air/water
quality and what it's doing to your insides.
27. Your cleaner is Portuguese, your grocer is Somali, your butcher is
halal,your deli man is Israeli, your landlord is Italian, your laundry guy
is Filipino, your bartender is Australian, your favourite diner owner is
Greek, the watch seller on your corner is Senegalese, your last cabbie was
African, your newsagent is Indian and your local English chippie owner is
Turkish.
28. You wouldn't want to live anywhere else until you get married.
29. You roll your eyes and kiss your teeth at the news that someone has
thrown himself under a tube train.
Interesting enough, I was thinking about the general demeanor of the British people and how I feel like in general they are a dour and bitter people (in the most endearing way, of course), and I ran across this book review in the Guardian:
http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2263710,00.html
If you're too lazy to read it, it's basically called "You Brits just love being miserable" The author is an American that traveled all over the world looking for the world's unhappiest people. And lo and behold he found them in Britain. The reviewer obviously disagrees with him. And I definitely do, too. However, in brief observation, I can see how he got that. They do enjoy complaining... a lot. It doesn't matter that they have one of the world's best tube systems, they complain endlessly about it. Potholes are worthy of being in every newspaper and featuring on every nightly news once a report comes out (hello? have you ever been to PA?) and a plethora of other things. They hate the Government for not being more green, but don't want any green towns, don't want windmills anywhere, and don't agree with tidal power. There's really no way to please these people. The guy is ridiculously tough on the British, and like I said, I don't agree with him, but I do think he makes some decent observations. It's worth reading, I think (the article, not the book). Maybe Americans are just a more optimistic and happy people.
Once we lose the seat of world's biggest power, we'll probably be bitter too.
Oops, did I just say that?
Speaking of world powers, in case anyone is wondering, despite living here and despite working at CAABU, I am still following Russian politics and am not pleased. Not at all.
Brugge, Belgium this weekend with two of my neighbours (who are obviously friends). Beer + chocolate, sooo excited.
I heard something funny in class the other day:
To an American, 100 years is a long time. To Briton, 100 miles is a long way.
How true.
I probably forgot about a billion things, so I'll be updating more frequently from now on with all my hilarious and witty observations.
Sunday, 6 April 2008
Yes, I'm still here!
I know, I know, I've gotten totally lame about updating, but I've been super busy. Just finishing up one of the best weekends of my life. So, here are some pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2233959&l=a3d5d&id=919676 (some repeats and some new ones)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2254039&l=7bfda&id=919676
as soon as I'm fairly finished this stupid portfolio, i will update, promise!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2233959&l=a3d5d&id=919676 (some repeats and some new ones)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2254039&l=7bfda&id=919676
as soon as I'm fairly finished this stupid portfolio, i will update, promise!
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