Three rows from Josh Hartnett... Does it get much better than that?

Thursday morning I had class as usual and then went to Covent Garden to meet my grandma and her friend, Pam, for lunch. We went to a lovely Thai restaurant because I really just can’t get enough of Asian food. I would be completely okay with eating it for every meal – including breakfast. :)

After lunch, we walked to the Palladium Theatre where “The Sound of Music” musical is playing to see if we could get tickets for that evening’s performance. Tickets were available and we actually ended up with very good seats for not too much money. Then we went by a few shops on Carnaby Street, a somewhat trendy area, and walked into a shop with really unique shoes. I got a fabulous pair of black flats with silver polka dots (thank you, Grandma Jane) and Pam bought a cute pair of dancing shoes. Then we went by Berwick Street Market, which mostly just had fruit and vegetable stands – but really, whenever I see the word “market” I have to go.

We decided to head to the National Portrait Gallery in Trafalgar Square because the weather was getting pretty rainy and dreary, which is just typical London weather. On our way to the Gallery, we walked through the “XXX” rated side of town… if you know what I mean. That was definitely unintentional, according to my grandmother, but you never know…. Hahaha, only kidding. The National Portrait Gallery was lovely. I really enjoyed it just because it was different from the other art museums I’ve been to – there was a lot of photography, which was a nice change of scenery for me. And I enjoyed all the captions by the pictures because they usually tell you something interesting about that particular person that you probably didn’t know before. For example, before Margaret Thatcher became the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, she was a research chemist, among other things. And of course I think that makes her even more fantastic.

Then we all had tea in the café located at the top of the Gallery. It gave a beautiful view of the Clock Tower (Big Ben is the bell, not the tower) and the London Eye (the giant Ferris wheel). After tea, we walked back to Carnaby Street in the London mist and participated in a silent disco while they lit the Christmas lights. We all had headphones on, so we could only hear the music; therefore, it was silent to everyone else! So I’m sure we all looked fabulous to them since we were dancing to music they couldn’t hear. And Christmas lights were never technically lit, but we did get confetti sprayed on us, which was fun. It was just a really random, memorable experience. I mean really, how many people get to say they went to a silent disco on Carnaby Street in London to watch Christmas lights being lit?

After that, it was onto dinner at an Indian restaurant. I have never had an encounter with Indian food, so this was all new to me. But since it is somewhat Asian, I was a fan. :) I got chicken thali, which was a variety of chicken with yellow curry, rice, an eggplant mixture, and potatoes in a special sauce. It was definitely delicious. I better learn how to cook Asian food… because we all know Muncie’s options for ethnic food are hopeless.

After dinner, we went to see “The Sound of Music”, which was spectacular! That was one of the musicals I had really wanted to see while I was here. I used to watch the movie with Julie Andrews all the time at my Grandma Luba’s house. And the live musical was just as fabulous.

On Friday, I met Pam and Grandma Jane at the tube stop near Pam’s house. We all left from there in Pam’s car and went to Cambridge. The town is adorable, lots of cute shops bustling with college students. The university is old, but still very beautiful – it’s actually hard to believe it’s a university at all! It’s seems like it should be a museum or something. It’s just very different from what I’m used to at my beloved Ball State University.

After a wonderful lunch of fish and chips at a pub, we went on a punt ride down the river Cam. A “punt” is what they call the little boats they use. So instead of a walking tour of the university like we do at BSU, we had a river tour with our own little guide paddling the boat. It was a really fun time and it didn’t rain, so yay for that! Do you want to know why the town is called Cambridge? Because of a bridge was built over the river Cam… and that’s how they got “Cambridge”. So clever.

Today I went “cheap clothes shopping”, as Pam calls it, with her and Grandma Jane at a market in East London. I didn’t find any clothes, but I did find a handbag VERY similar to the green giraffe print one that got stolen! So I was PUMPED about that. It’s kind of large and in charge, but I love it and it was cheap. :)

After the market, Grandma Jane and I took the tube to Leicester Square and went to the theatre where “Rain Man” is playing. That’s the production that Josh Hartnett is currently starring in. Luckily we were about to buy some tickets for the matinee performance. Before the show, we had lunch at a restaurant in Chinatown because the theatre is nearby there. I know, surprise surprise that I ate Chinese food. And of course it was fabulous – we had peking duck as part of our meal… AMAZING.

“Rain Man” was absolutely wonderful! I’ve never seen the movie with Dustin Hoffman, so the storyline was brand new to me. And it was the first drama I’ve seen since I’ve been in London. And we were three rows from the stage… meaning I was only three rows away from Josh Hartnett. So yeah, put all those things together and I had a wonderful afternoon. :)

Tomorrow, I am going to church at St. Paul’s Cathedral with Pam and Grandma Jane. And then we’re heading to Pam’s house for a traditional English dinner… I don’t really know what to expect, but I’m sure it’ll be wonderful!

Until next time,
Rachel

“When you sneeze, we catch the cold.”

I know that I have been neglecting my blog lately and am very sorry about that! It’s just that this whole experience is slowly winding down and I’ve been busy trying to spend time out and about in London and doing all that unwanted homework that I HAVE to do. But I guess, technically, I am supposed to be “studying” while I’m here. :)

Last week was mostly spent doing things in and around London – I went to the O2 Centre in Greenwich is see a movie. This is a huge monstrosity of a building planned by the former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has a celebration for the millennium. Well, it wasn’t done is time, cost taxpayers way more than what was expected, and is in a horrible location that definitely does not attract many visitors. So basically, it’s a waste. I mean, it was a really cool building, but it wastes an enormous amount of energy every day. I also went walking through Kensington Gardens one day and stumbled upon a memorial for Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband. I have no idea how I never knew it was there because it definitely large and in charge.

This past weekend I went on a group tour of Wales. On Saturday we stopped in a few towns to see a very old castle, the ruins of a famous abbey, and to shop around in all the different bookshops. Sunday was that day I was really looking forward to because we were going horseback riding in the countryside! The countryside in Wales really reminds me of upstate New York. So anyway, on Sunday we left the hotel and it’s raining. We arrive at the horse stables and it’s raining. We mount the horses and start riding… and guess what? It’s still raining. It pretty much rained the entire time we were on the horses, which made all of us decide we wanted to come back a little earlier. I basically went numb about two-thirds through the ride because I was completely soaked and shivering. It seriously looked like I walked into the shower with all of my clothes on. But on a brighter note, my horse, Smokey, was fabulous. They called him a “gentle giant” and he really was. I felt completely safe while I was riding him – he liked to stop and eat every chance he had, but can you really blame him? I mean, most of us like to do that too. :)

On Monday I had British Life and Culture class – we spent a lot of time talking about what had happened the previous week in the States with our presidential election. It was amazing to be in London during that time and to watch the reactions of the British. The day after the election, I walked into a newspaper shop and Obama was on the cover of every major newspaper in the United Kingdom. Pretty amazing. And everyone here is so thrilled about his victory – but it also presents the question that our British professor brought up on Monday… Will the Brits ever have a black Prime Minister? They’ve already had a woman, which we are yet to do, but what about a minority leader? One man we talked to in Wales said something that really stood out in my mind – he was referring to the actions of the States and said, “When you sneeze, we catch the cold.”

That night we went to the musical “We Will Rock You”. It’s based entirely on Queen’s music and was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! I know I say that about most shows I see, but this one was truly extraordinary. Everything was wonderful – the band, the lights, the stage, the performers – it was awesome. The storyline was a little weak at the beginning, but the music definitely made up for it. By the end of the performance, the whole audience was singing and clapping along, and I don’t think any of us wanted it to end. It was definitely the best musical I’ve ever been to.

On Tuesday, my first visitor came to see me! My Grandma Jane arrived in London on Monday night, but I didn’t see her until lunch on Tuesday. We ate at the Chinese restaurant that we both loved when we were here together several years ago – and of course, it was just as good as we remembered. She brought along gifts with her – Orbit sweet mint gum and candy corn. Can you believe they don’t have candy corn anywhere in London? That’s just ridiculous. So anyways, we had lunch, went to Oxford Street to find her a cheap, pay-as-you-go cell phone, and then headed to Harrods to do a little belated birthday present shopping for me. She bought me this fabulous, environmental day planner made from recycled paper – I absolutely love it! And then we had traditional English afternoon tea there too. The tea was lovely, along with small sandwiches, raisin scones topped with clotted cream (talk about a heart attack waiting to happen – but still amazingly delicious) and strawberry jam, and a few assorted pastries. It was a lovely English day with my grandmum. :)

Wednesday is our weekly day trip day, and this week we went to Brighton. It’s on the southeast coast of England and is very much a “beachy” sort of town. The Royal Pavilion is there (I believe it was built by King George IV), which is considered a royal palace, but it is definitely not as large of a residence as Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle. The inside is definitely extravagant and over the top, with a very, VERY prominent Oriental theme going on. There is also a very long pier in Brighton, which is sort of “carnival-ly”. If you’ve ever read the book “The Five People You Meet in Heaven”, this is exactly the scene in which I imagined that book to take place. Funny story though - I was walking on the pier eating a small piece of fudge and then before I even knew what had happened, a HUGE dinosaur seagull swooped down from behind me, landed on my hand, and snatched the fudge right out of it! It was ridiculous because that thing was huge and freakishly fast. And it must have been stalking me for quite some time to spot that piece of fudge. So it’s safe to say after that happened, I quickly turned around and headed for the shore.

My favorite part of Brighton was DEFINTELY all the unique shops they had there. I had lunch at a little “hole in the wall” Chinese restaurant (but of course those are always the best) with one of my friends and then we went shopping all around town. One shop we found was called Vegetarian shoes and their motto was “Treats for your feet for those who don’t eat meat.” I thought it was hilarious – and very clever too.

After we rode the train back from Brighton, we went to this new shopping centre in London called Westfield. It’s humungous, brand-new, and very modern and contemporary. One part of it is called The Village and only contains designer shops, like Armani, Gucci, and all those stores that are way too expensive for my lifestyle right now. :) But there were also shops that I can actually afford, like Levi’s, H&M, and places like that.

Today I will be spending most of the day with Grandma Jane and Pam. I don’t know what they have planned, but I’m sure whatever it is will be tons of fun! And I promise I’ll try not to go so long before I post again!

Until next time,
Rachel

Thank you, Eiffel. For the Tower.

A weekend in Paris. Interesting to say the least. Not a bad trip – just interesting. And it was very quick. We arrived in Paris Friday morning and left late Saturday night. The first day was wet and chilly, so after lunch at a cute, little French restaurant with crepes, we headed to the Louvre Museum.

The Louvre is where the Mona Lisa is housed, so it was cool to see her. She’s much smaller than you would expect. But for anyone who knows me, I’m not a huge fan of museums and I don’t know much about art, so after about an hour, I was good to go. I just think it’s more fun to explore a city that I’ve never been to than to spend my day in a building. But we stayed a little longer since the others wanted to look around more. Really though, that place is HUGE, and it would probably take about 4 and a half days to make it through the entire thing.

After the Louvre, we walked towards the Arc de Triomphe. We walked through some gardens and parks along the way, which were lovely with all the leaves on the trees changing colors. But fall is definitely not the ideal season to visit Paris – spring or summer would be much better because there’s just so much to see that’s outside. By the time we made it down to the Arc, it was dark because it was actually a lot farther away than we thought. But it was fun walk and it was cool to see the Arc at night.
After that, we headed to our hotel. It was by the airport, which is definitely not in the centre of Paris, so we had to take a train back out to it. Thank goodness for public transportation – otherwise we definitely would’ve been in trouble. When we got to the hotel, it was actually really nice – but of course there has to be a story to go along with it. There were four of us who went on this trip. Well, when we walked into our room, there was only one bed. Awesome. How that happened I don’t exactly know, but regardless, there was still only one bed. So me and a guy slept on the floor. He took the curtain down from the window and slept on that. I, on the other hand, used my towel for a blanket. So yeah, not the best sleep ever, but at least it was only for one night. We ate dinner at the restaurant in the hotel, which was one of the first hot meals I’ve had in a long time that did not consist of English muffin and American cheese sandwiches. :)

The next day when we checked out of the hotel, it was raining. Not exactly pleasant, but no matter what, I was going to see the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Eiffel Tower, because really, that was pretty much the whole reason I went to Paris in the first place. Before we went to Notre Dame, we went to a restaurant where I had a croque (I think that’s the name of it). It’s basically two slices of bread with some sort of cheese, either mozzarella or asiago, melted on each slice. Then they are stacked on top of each other with tomatoes in between and an egg on top. Probably one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had in my life. Seriously, it was delicious.

Notre Dame Cathedral was beautiful and HUGE. We toured the inside while mass was happening, which was probably somewhat awkward for them, since random people were walking around them, taking pictures, and staring. I really wanted to climb the stairs to the top of Notre Dame because you get to see the bells and the gargoyles along the way, but the line was too long and not everyone wanted to wait.

Then we FINALLY headed to the Eiffel Tower. Unlike the Mona Lisa, it is much bigger than you would expect. We rode the elevator up to the second level, because the very top was closed due to the weather (But I don’t really understand why… It’s not like it was foggy or snowing… just a little rainy). But the views from the second level were still extraordinary. It was so beautiful – and the sun even started to come out while we were up there. After taking tons of pictures, Mel and I decided to go back down to the bottom because we thought the boys were already down there. WRONG. After standing on a bench underneath the Eiffel Tower for at least 45 minutes looking for them, they were nowhere to be found. So, we decided to walk through the Parc du Champs de Mars to get pictures of the Eiffel Tower from a different view. After that, ee decided to walk under the Eiffel Tower one more time and look for them, but if we couldn’t find them, then we were just going to meet them at the airport. Well, somehow in that crazy mass of people, we saw them. Amazing. They said they had been looking for us the whole time, but I find that hard to believe. You know how boys are – they probably got distracted and then finally realized that we weren’t near them anymore.

After the Eiffel Tower, we headed over to a street near there, went into a few shops, and ate dinner. We went to a sandwich and dessert café, which was absolutely adorable. I got a baguette sandwich (because that’s just something you have to do… hello, it’s called a FRENCH baguette for a reason!) filled with goat cheese. It was AWESOME. And then for dessert I had a chocolate éclair – really, you just can’t go wrong with French pastries.

By the time we left there, it was dark outside, so we walked by the Eiffel Tower one more time to see it all lit up. It was spectacular – I can’t even describe it. It’s just something you have to see in person – and even then it doesn’t actually seem like you’re really there looking at it.

After that, it was time to head to the airport. We made it to London without any major problems, but it just seemed to take FOREVER. It’s just one of those things – when you’re traveling home you just want to be there. You don’t want to take a plane, a shuttle, a train, and the tube – you just want to instantly be at your place. Is that too much to ask? Ha.

But all in all, it was a good trip. I saw almost everything I wanted to see, and learned that springtime in Paris is probably better than fall in Paris. And as much as I love traveling, there’s just something about coming back to London that makes me feel all warm and cozy on the inside. :)

Until next time,
Rachel

The good and the bad.

So, I know I have neglected posting on here since my return from Italy. And you would think that was because I have been relaxing, sleeping, and recovering from that trip. WRONG. This past week has actually been one of the busiest weeks I’ve had here, so there’s definitely a lot to share.

Okay, let’s start with last Saturday, two days after I returned from Rome. The whole time I’ve been in London I really wanted to take a day trip out to the coast of England to see Dover. So I took the train and journeyed out there by myself. It was lovely because I didn’t have to worry about other people complaining about walking or not wanting to see what I wanted to see – it was MY trip. And I loved it. I spent most of the day roaming around Dover Castle, which is absolutely humungous and sits on a hill high above the city of Dover. The views from up there were quite impressive – because Dover sits right on the water, it was clear enough for me to see the coast of France! I mean, obviously not the best view considering it is 40 miles away, but nevertheless, I saw it. I also took a tour of the Secret Underground Wartime Tunnels, used in the Napoleonic Wars and, more recently, during WWII. Very interesting – my dad would’ve loved them! And I learned about a man named Bertram Ramsey (a vice admiral in the British navy), who basically saved all the English, Belgium, and Holland soldiers who were trapped in Dunkirk, France during the war. For some reason, he is highly underrated. I had never heard of him until that day, and it seems like his name should’ve been all over our history books.

Besides the crazy winds that were blowing most of the day, it was a really good trip. And as much as I love traveling with people, sometimes it’s just nice to have a day for yourself – which was exactly what I did. :)

The next eventful thing happened Tuesday night, but this is definitely not as pleasant as my fun, little trip to Dover. I was sitting with a friend at this restaurant, called Wok in a Box (fast-food Chinese – actually really good), when I got up to leave and noticed my purse was missing. Yep, it had been stolen. NOT COOL. And the crazy thing is that it was on my leg, and somehow I didn’t even know when it was taken. It was just not a good night. When I realized that it was nowhere to be found, I felt so sick to my stomach – one of the worst feelings I’ve ever had. I think I was initially in shock because I didn’t actually start crying until I made it back to my flat and was talking to my dad. But I tried to pull myself together as much as I could and tried to figure out what needed to be taken care of. There was a lot of stuff in there – all my cards, most of my identification, my iPod, my camera, my UK mobile, the keys to my flat, and of course all of it was in my fabulous green giraffe print purse that I bought with Daniel in Las Vegas. I filed a police report that night and Mom and Dad and I called all the credit/debit card companies and all that stuff. So everything was pretty much taken care of fairly quickly, but it still just was not fun. I do not understand how a person can justify doing that to another person – how they can even think that it is an okay thing to do. But I guess that’s why I’m not a criminal. On the optimistic side of things (it’s always good to try to find the silver lining), all of my pictures were off my camera, my journal and laptop were not in there, and my passport was safe and sound back at my flat. So it definitely could’ve been worse.

My dad sent me an email shortly afterwards that basically sums up how I feel about the situation: “Do not let this ruin your time in nor your perception of London and of England. This kind of thing could happen anywhere… you can't stop living and doing all the fun things you had planned. The thief only should get what is in the purse, don't let him / her ruin anything else!” Thanks, Mom and Dad. :)

So onto happier news… Wednesday morning we left for an overnight trip to Manchester and Liverpool, England with the London group. We went on tours of both cities and were to observe the regeneration, industry, and other things about each city. It was a really interesting trip because most of the time when you think of England, you think the only big city is London. That’s definitely not the case. London is more like its own country than a city, I think. Both Liverpool and Manchester are quite large and each is unique in its own way. Both of the cities remind of big cities in the states - Manchester is sort of like Indianapolis and Liverpool has been compared to Gary, Indiana by other students, but I wouldn’t say it’s quite as rough. My impression of Manchester was that it was really new and contemporary (hence, regeneration), with lots of modern shopping and art centres. We DEFINITELY did not have enough time there. And we saw the Manchester United Football Stadium, which was cool just because it’s so famous AND because David Beckham used to play there all the time. Then we went to Liverpool Wednesday night, stayed at a very nice hostel, and went on a tour of the city the next day. It didn’t grab my attention quite as much as Manchester, because it was a little rougher and not quite as fun and new, but it was still very awesome because of that one band that started there… Who were they again? Hmm… I can’t really think of their name right now…. Oh wait… THE BEATLES. The city definitely attracts a lot of attention because of them. We actually drove on Penny Lane, which was really cool. We headed back to London later that day, which took longer than expected because a big bus and London traffic don’t exactly mix. I was content though – the girl I sat with on the bus had her laptop so we watched episodes of “The Office” and the movie “Sex in the City”. :)

The next day, I went to Paris with Mel, Kenny, and another boy, Sam. And it just happened to be my 20^th birthday. :) I will write all about the adventures of Paris in my next entry, so stayed tuned!

Until next time,
Rachel