amsterdam

i guess i should write about my amsterdam weekend before i forget! well we got up super early friday to walk, bus, train, shuttle, fly, and train again into amsterdam. we got there and wandered the city for a while, noticing the billions of bikes everywhere. i swear there were SO many it was great, i totally would've rented one to get around if there weren't 9 of us there together. the first day we found dam square, which ended up being our meeting place for the weekend and pretty much central to everywhere we went. coffee shops, bars, souvenir stores, some restaurants, and women in windows lined the streets all packed together. the town was laid out like a checkerboard with old crammed buildings and canals running through every other street. one woman on the metro told us to look up while we walk. it made such a difference, the gray city was actually really pretty.
saturday we went to the I AMsterdam sign and spent a good hour or so climbing on the letters, taking pictures. a few people went to the van gogh museum but the rest of us didn't feel like spending the money so we found the shopping and art districts. we watched a giant chess game outside the hard rock hotel for a while and then met up with everyone again. saturday night there was a squatters protest at dam square with hundreds of people in the rain. half the group stayed and got great pictures of this guy spinning fire, and alex even showed off his fire twirling skills. i was in the tired group that got fries at chipsy king - the best place in the world - and headed back to the hostel.
sunday we all got up at different times to find our last coffee shops and souvenirs before we got to walk, metro, train, fly, shuttle, bus, and walk back home to york street. it's weird calling this home, but hey, it is! for awhile at least.

happy post

this entire past week felt like a vacation with matt here. he got here wednesday, we went out for a great italian dinner and this fun place called zizzi near my flat. thursday we did touristy things allllll day. it was rainy at first just to show matt what real london weather is like of course, so we went to trafalgar square and the national gallery first. then to the london aquarium and the london dungeon - both so much fun, so im actually really happy it rained haha. along the way we saw big ben, houses of parliament, the thames, and the london eye, then made our way through covent garden for the traditional fish and chips at a fun pub called belushi's. early morning friday nine of us left for amsterdam - see next post. we got back sunday and just laid around the rest of the night letting ourselves be lazy after an exciting weekend. monday i had class for a while until matt met me at school and we went to camden market to walk around, shop a little, and grab some dinner. sidenote - while i was at school, matt went and got me flowers, tara almost cried from the cuteness lol. tuesday we slept in a little before going to buckingham palace to watch what we could see of the changing of the guard - so many people. from there we walked around hyde park, had a pizza lunch at the serpentine cafe on the lake, and took the classic telephone booth picture of each other. we stopped by the british museum for a bit, then came home to relax some.

then we saw THE FREAKING LION KING. for anyone who doesn't understand my absolute love for the lion king, it was the first movie i saw in theaters, and for some reason it has always been my favorite favorite favorite show. like my favorite "disney princess" is nala. i love all the music and sing it a lot. i used to roar around the house as a kid. i had the kissing simba and nala dolls - mom where are those i miss them?! haha so anyway, I was beyond happy to be able to finally see the show for the first time in london with matt. i have to be special for him to travel across the world to see me, but he has to be just as special for me to see lion king with him. we had great seats and i was literally smiling the entire show. it was such a great way to end matt's stay here, even though no way is a good way to say bye until christmas.

sad post

matt left this morning
mild drama back home
and its a rainy day

such a tourist

wow its been 10 days since my last post... and ive done so much. here we go.
• stonehenge: rocks. i wish we had gone at a better time in the day so my pictures could've been a little less dull.

• salisbury: cute little town. we had fun taking pictures in and around the cathedral, and also had a fantastic fishnchips lunch.

• east end markets: soooo sweet. first was a flower market that just smelled so marvelous and i wanted every flower i walked by. then we got to brick lane which was a bunch of crammed food shops and people selling trinkets on the sidewalks and so many thrift stores all over. then we walked through a giant clothes market and around the area for a while before heading home.


• thames festival: went at night for the fireworks which were nothing special, but the festival seemed really cool. lots of tents with food, clothes, fun stuff to do, and music throughout. i had a grease-filled cheese&spinach crepe, yum. the way the city lights up at night is fabulous.

• billy elliot the musical: amaaaazing. i mean i love musicals, so of course it was amazing, but seriously that little kid can dance! im very glad it was my first show in london.


• royal opera house: we didnt get to see the actual auditorium because there was a rehearsal going on :( but going on the backstage tour totally made up for it. i got to see four of the primary ballet dancers rehearsing, costume rooms, the entire backstage area the size of a few football fields, and other parts of the building that just made my day. the view from the restaurant terrace was of the covent garden market where the beginning scenes in "my fair lady" were shot, so naturally we went there for lunch.


• bike tour: SO MUCH FUN. i'm so happy i got to do this. it was a 4hr tour around the entire city. we saw everything. it started out on the southbank of the thames where we saw big ben, houses of parliament, the london eye. we went by westminster abbey and buckingham palace, then stopped in hyde park for lunch at the serpentine cafe on the water. the pope spoke in hyde park that afternoon so there were masses of people we had to bike through. we went on to go through covent garden, trafalgar square, leicester square, and china town. when we finally got back home i was so tired but so pleased with the day.

• buckingham palace: wow. its so huge and so intricate, i cant believe i got to walk around inside where so many people have been. it was a self-guided walking tour with a headset which was nice, we could go at our own pace. everything was beautiful, i wish i couldve taken pictures. we have to go back at some point to see the changing of the guard.

well ive done plenty of touristy things so far, but i have an ongoing checklist that needs to be fulfilled! for now though... class presentation and a quiz tomorrow. and two essays and some reading due while matt is here, so tuesday will be work work work cause i have no class. matt will be here in less than 3 days and we're all going to amsterdam this weekend! i am beyond excited :D seriously cannot wait.

"hey, is that big ben?"

alex and i decided to be tourists for the day - go downtown, whip out the cameras, and see the sights. but when it started raining, we thought we'd go to covent garden instead. ended up walking around, stumbled upon trafalgar square with fun statues and fountains just as the sun came out. then all of a sudden alex turns around and goes, "hey, is that big ben?" sure enough, there it was. naturally, we took pictures and walked towards it! ...and found out it was a lot further than it looked. but we made it there, saw the thames river, the london eye, the houses of parliament, westminster abbey, and a ton of random statues. we'll be back plenty of times. still need to see the tower of london and the london bridge and oh, only hundreds of other things around london before i go. i definitely needed this day to feel like i really am in london, living here for the next few months. so cool. but i swear it seems like such a short amount of time now that i'm here and seeing everything there is to be done! i'm starting a checklist for things to do around london. horseback riding in hyde park, classic picture in a telephone booth, find church on sundays (SU students and only SU students should understand). but here are my bigger plans so far for the rest of the semester:

coming soon
this weekend:
friday: stonehenge and salisbury
saturday: thames festival
sunday: east end markets and soho


next weekend (SU love london weekend):
thursday: billy elliot the musical
friday: backstage the royal opera house
saturday: london bike tour
sunday: inside buckingham palace then the turning point festival for jenna's birthday




weekend trips
sept 24-26 AMSTERDAM. nuff said.
with most the flatmates and other cool people we like


nov 5-7 the mandarins do paris!
mara and i are meeting deanna for a marvelous weekend with the girls


nov 26-28 backpacking through england (?)
further planning is in store.




fall break
oct 21-31 spain, italy, greece.
specifically barcelona, florence, tuscany, venice, greek isles, athens.
as of now, tara and jenna are in. plans may change and people may be added, but its a definite tentative plan that i am more than excited about!




also. wait for it... wait for it...
sept 22-29 my boyfriend matt is coming to visit!!
he wanted to surprise me, but obviously had to say something after i booked my flight/hostel for amsterdam haha. so he's coming there too! i never thought in a million years he would fly here to see me with his deathly fear of heights and flying. boy you crazy. and i love you for it! seriously cannot wait.




with the family
dec 16-24 germany, prague, portugal (?)
yep, mom dad and brother are headed overseas at the end of my semester! details to be worked out at a later date. but not too much later... just need to really decide exactly where we're going.




time for bed peeps. night!

new neighborhood(s)?

The flatmates and I walked around a little yesterday before grocery shopping to see what's nearby. edgeware street (aka 'little beirut') is a very arabic area where we stopped in one of the billion lebanese restaurants for lunch. today, our first day of classes, alex and i took the longer of two ways to take the tube to faraday. very nice walk with some little shops and markets and such in between the tall buildings. then in the afternoon a few of us ventured in another direction only to find more shops and restaurants, but much more city-like. phone store, pharmacy, school supplies, starbucks, mcdonalds, kfc, pizza hut, pizza express, sushi, gourmet burger, italian, etc. etc. also walked by a library that says its 24hrs with free wifi so we'll definitely have to check that out. no way am i getting anything done in a flat of 6 or at faraday with everyone around. although i did get started on some reading already! mom & dad - hope you're proud. i did, however, forget to take a 'first day of school' picture on the front stoop, oh well.
so moral of the story, we have everything we could ever need within walking distance, just depends which direction you walk for whatever you want at the moment :)

all moved in!

we're finally in our own flat and it feels so good! took a while and a lot of strength to get 6 people's bags from the hotel and up 2 flights of stairs then up again to our rooms, but its all over now and im pretty much all unpacked in my room. we just made a first night celebration dinner of pasta and garlic bread with cheap and have been relaxing all day with wireless internet finally. classes start tomorrow... so not excited. but im sure it wont be too too bad. i only have classes mondays and wednesdays so im happy.

fish&chips at the rock and sole

ive realized that i have been so adventurous with food here so far. ive tried various grilled veggies on a panini, mushrooms on sandwiches/pasta, tomatoes on sandwiches/salad/pizza, spinach in pasta, lamb shawarma, and the classic fish & chips. none of which i thought i liked, but all of which i can tolerate! im so proud of myself.

WELCOME TO LONDONTOWN!

arrived in london on monday with the rest of the Ireland folk, and the rest of everyone got here tuesday morning for our orientation lecture and video and whatnot. yesterday began the frantic housing big and search for our flat. we looked at a ton of places through different landlords and in different areas, but ended up going with the first place we found... isn't that always the case. we haggled for a better price though and literally everything is included its so great. its two stories with a green door (best part, obviously) in the marylebone area on the west side. 3 twin bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms on the 2nd floor. kitchen, living room, and half bath on the 1st. fully furnished with beds, dressers, tables, chairs, leather couch, flatscreen TV, etc. all kitchen supplies, linens, towels, soap, tp, etc included. washer/dryer with extra dryer. weekly maid service. cable & wifi. landline phone with free calls to US landline & cell phones. maintenance guy, IT guy, 24hr emergency line guy. 10% off at a nearby pub cause our landlord duncan is freakin sweet. and we're being shuttled from our hotel to our flat when we move in on sunday. im super excited to finally be in one place for more than a week and not have to live out of my suitcase any more!


the faraday house - our main school building and student lounge and whatnot - is in a great area too with tons of shops and a few parks nearby. there seems to be little parks every few blocks, which is a really nice contrast to the busy busy city life surrounding us.


i cant wait to explore further, we want to get to the markets asap! already signed up for a free day trip to stonehenge next friday and i wanna see at least ten shows while we're here, student prices are grrrreat. also cant wait to travel even further around europe. i wanna get to italy, greece, morocco, amsterdam, paris, and somewhere in germany and spain. we'll see how many places i knock off this list by the end of the semester!

belfast, ireland

carrick-a-rede rope bridge

dunluce castle

just had the most amazing day in ireland yet! we drove a few hours to the northern coast and it was absolutely amazing. first we went to the carrick-a-rede rope bridge for some beautiful scenery and to cross the bridge. only some of the bravest completed the physical challenge of putting our hands up the whole way across. ellie and a few others afraid of heights even made it across - so proud! then we went on to the dunluce castle to explore the ruins there. I felt like such a kid running around taking fun pictures. lunch was in 'the wee cottage' where the prequel goes every year, so the owners give us the entire restaurant and it was great. most delicious scones of my life and they made a gluten free one for adam - his first scone ever! after we were stuffed full (wolfgang lets nothing go to waste, he tried to give jenna 3 pieces of cake), we headed to the giant's causeway, apparently a wonder of the world. the rocks there grew naturally as hexagonal shapes, it was so crazy. a few of us hiked longer to see even more. we drove along the coastline home and now we're taking over the hotel lobby as usual to get internet.

our first day in belfast we toured city hall then went on a walking tour of the city. it's so much different than dublin, it's very built up and modernized at least in comparison. that night we all got to watch a rugby game! so intense, i might enjoy it more than football (which i never enjoyed all that much lol). the next day (yesterday) we learned a ton about the politics of northern ireland and the republic of ireland - the 'troubles' and the conflict within ireland is just crazy. peace walls covered in fantastic graffiti divide the city. it was so strange to see completely opposite sides where one flies the ireland flag and then two minutes away we see the UK flag. we also took a 3hour long tour to see the billions of murals around belfast, which was interesting, but just way too long. tomorrow is our free day to research and explore more around belfast, then we leave for london on monday! I can't believe the prequel is almost over, it's been so wonderful.

dublin, ireland

guinness storehouse - gravity bar

i spent the last five days in dublin on a prequel seminar with 30some other students and it was a blast! we were constantly busy though, touring local landmarks like the guinness storehouse and the gaol prison, and listening to lectures on Irish economy, urbanization, religion, travellers, etc. the first day we went on a walking tour of dublin city in the area around trinity college dublin, where we stayed.

every day after the group activities, we went off on our own to explore. we made it to a bunch of pubs each night, but hardly made a dent in the number that exist in the area haha. we looked around a little on grafton st., which is the main shopping drag. We ate out a lot in cute little restaurants, like the brazen head, which claims to be ireland’s oldest pub! the only authentic Irish food i think i’ve eaten so far though (instead of ordering a sandwich or something i could probably find in the US) was at the merry ploughboy pub, where we had our group dinner. vegetable soup to start, chicken and potatoes with some sort of tangy sauce i couldn’t make out as the main course, and hot apple crumble for dessert. Yum. we got to see traditional irish dancing there (yes, think river-dance) as well as an irish band that played fun folk songs!

so for this prequel, we have to write a paper in dublin and another in belfast about something having to do with each city (really very little instruction/guidelines). because i had noticed so many homeless people around the city and I used to be involved in my church’s homeless awareness project, i decided to write about the issue in dublin. not only did i research and contact someone from a local organization, but i also wanted to be able to write from experience. so on our free research day, i spent an hour on the streets with a small cup for change in front of me. yup! after a half hour of being ignored by everyone who passed, i was about to give up when a man named john stopped and sat with me for a few minutes, inquiring into my background, so I acted shy and nervous (which I was). he asked where i was from, why i was in ireland, what kinds of problems i was having, etc. he said i must come from a good family because I have nice teeth (thanks dad!) and seem to be well educated. he made sure i was not “sleeping rough” (an irish term for sleeping on the streets) or taking drugs, and then gave me a large gingerbread man (which i took a bite from only after he did the same to make sure it was ok). as he left me, john dropped 75 cents into my cup, shook my hand, and wished me luck. i was so pleasantly surprised and cannot wait to write my paper. strange feeling haha.

this morning we took a 3 hour bus ride to belfast and had a longgg day, but now just chillin in the lobby of the hotel we're staying in to get free wireless! woo! i can already tell belfast is a lot different than dublin, but I'll post again all about it after our 5 days here.