Vacation's Over

Things have been pretty tame since I got back from Edinburgh. The first two weeks (or almost three now, I guess) were like a vacation, since I didn't have any real assignments and wasn't doing work outside of class. Now, though, I have two papers due next week (granted, one of them is very short -- but the other has to be an editorial about what US foreign policy should be... yeah, um, someone want to figure that one out for me?) and then two papers due the following week. Ugh. This wouldn't be so hard if I wasn't going to Paris next weekend.

So, since I've just been going to class, I don't really have too much interesting info to report. I did just notice today that the Iraqi embassy is six doors down from where I live. I only just noticed because the sign is very small, but it's pretty interesting because these are all apartment-style buildings, so it's actually very close... like less than half of a block. The embassy for the UAE is around the corner, the Thai embassy is nearby, and there is one more that I can't remember that is next door to the Thai one. It's an interesting area. I think the Israeli one is around the corner by Hyde Park, because the few times I walked that way to the Kensington High Street (there's some good shopping there, like Topshop and Marks & Spencer) there were protesters outside.

Besides class, I have nothing to tell. I'm still not a fan of my International Correspondent class, but the core Journalism class is pretty good (even if I do get restless toward the end of the 4-hour session). Yesterday we took a field trip to see Frost/Nixon, and today, among other things, we watched a British nightly news programme (mme!) in which the anchor was very blunt. He was interviewing the former Prime Minister of Iceland, and the first question he asked was, "How did it feel to have your government collapse?"

These are a few other interesting things:

1. KFC sells fish and chips here.
2. One of my friends saw Jonathan Rhys Meyers (from The Tudors) on the street and he winked at her. A friend of a friend saw Emma Watson (Hermione) at dinner.
3. I have Rome booked for mid-semester break. (In related news, I'm broke.)
4. I might not come home alive because they drive like freakin' maniacs here.
5. The word "maniacal" is pronounced like "maniac" with an L at the end here.

That's it for now. Hopefully I'll have something more interesting to say soon.

Bagpipes & Kilts

Wooo! Back from Edinburgh! I had such an awesome time. The touristy part of the city is pretty small, so even though we only had the weekend, I felt like I really saw it. Here's the run-down:

The train was supposed to take about four and a half hours, but on the way there we had to stop and get on another train because of a fatality a few towns away. We ended up arriving later than we expected, so we checked in really fast before going out. I was staying with one friend at Castle Rock, a hostel with a great view of Edinburgh Castle, while my two other friends were in a nearby hotel. It was what you'd expect a hostel to be -- bunk beds, hippies, and a communal bathroom where I was surprised to run into some middle-aged men (though mostly there were young people). This is the view from outside the front door:


Then we hit a nearby pub in Grassmarket called Biddy Mulligan's. The weird thing about pubs here is that older people and younger people are all in the same place. It's a little disconcerting to see 50-year-olds dancing (particularly when they're not exactly doing a waltz... sorry Mom and Dad), but it's plain disturbing when a man that could be your father hits on your friend. And it was always clear where we were. At one point, some people starting dancing a jig, and we saw a couple guys in kilts (and several more the following day, including bagpipe players). The kilts were not even the weirdest thing, though. First, we encountered several hen parties over the two nights we were there. If you don't know, that's what they call a bachelorette party -- except here, they get all dressed up (not just the tiaras or boas you'd see at home), often sticking to some sort of theme, like the bumble bees we saw on night two:

We woke up early on Saturday so we could be the first people at Edinburgh Castle. It was sooo pretty. We beat the crowds and got to see the Crown Jewels (obviously not as impressive as England's) and a great view.


After the castle we walked the Royal Mile, which has a ton of touristy shops and St. Giles Cathedral. This was really pretty, and the next day two of us got breakfast in their cafe and had the most AMAZING waffles we've ever had. (The other foods I've tried here that are yummy -- chicken kiev, which of course I like because it's basically buttery fried chicken, and millionaire shortbread, which is shortbread topped with caramel and chocolate. Yummmm.) They had these ridiculous things in the gift shop: Holy Socks. I have a pic below. We also went to this Scotch Whiskey thing and I almost bought a little bottle for Daddy, but I didn't want customs to take it, so sorry, Pa, you get nothing.


Off a side street we went to this Chinese Buffet that used to be a cafe. We didn't actually eat there. I just wanted to see it, because it was the cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote a lot of the first Harry Potter book. They had some news clippings inside, and when I took a picture a Chinese lady laughed at me.

Two of the girls wanted to go inside Holyroodhouse Palace, but it was ten pounds to get in and one of the other girls just wasn't in the mood to see another palace, so I stayed behind with her. There was this huge mountain (OK, hill) and she wanted to climb it. I didn't realize that had been her plan. What the hell had I gotten myself into? I don't climb things. When we went to Camp Mason with the Girl Scouts and there was a nature hike, I was one of the girls who stayed behind with mom to paint nails. But I trekked on and we climbed it, and I was so happy I did. About 3/4 of the way up, though, I realized how close I was standing to the steep edge and freaked out. My friend, who is "afraid of heights" (then why the hell did she want to climb this thing?) started freaking out, and we had to sit on the rocks for a minute to calm down. Then an old man walked by and told us that that wasn't a good idea because the rocks might fall. My friend said it was God, warning us. Haha. We got some pretty amazing pictures from the top, though. Here's the sequence:




We went to some pubs and bars that night, including the student union at University of Edinburgh (we went with a few students from there that we met). The university is really nice. The main building sure didn't look like COM (College of Communication at BU).

The next day we went to the National Gallery of Scotland before taking the train home. The trains SUCK and we ended up missing our connection (like about half of the other passengers), and we got back pretty late. We're complaining and getting money back. Damn it.

Diana and the Debs.

I didn't realize that my blogs would be in such high demand, but apparently my fans are eagerly awaiting tales from across the Atlantic, so...

I've mostly been doing class for the week, so my stories are not so completely interesting. My International Correspondent class is kind of boring, except when my professor tells us stories of what he's done. He's traveled a lot and was the first journalist to get a voice-interview with Princess Diana (he was in radio, and prior to the announcement of her and Prince Charles' engagement, she had never spoken on TV/radio). He said she was really nervous and every time he would move the microphone between her and Charles, the cord would pull at her dress, so she spent most of the time "protecting her modesty," I think he put it.

My other class, British Journalism, Culture, and Politics is much more interesting. Today we watched The Daily Show episode from the day of the Inauguration, and next week we're having a field trip to the movies (or "cinema") to see Frost/Nixon. Yay!

The one touristy thing I did this week was go to Kensington Palace, where Princess Diana lived. It was pretty and they had a bunch of her dresses from different events, like international balls and movie premieres for Steel Magnolias and Apollo 13. What I really loved was this thing they had for Debutantes. It wasn't like what it is in America today, where a bunch of rich girls just parade in white dresses in some fancy hotel ballroom. Until the early '50s, well-off girls about 17 years old would come during a three-day period to Buckingham Palace, where they would curtsy in front of the Queen. Then, for the rest of the "season" (several months) there were tons of events to go to and the girls had to get all new gowns and accessories for it and it cost a fortune. And a lot of girls did it, not just rich ones, so some families went into debt. They had clothes and make-up on display which was sooo cute, but they also had a lot of info about what actually happened . The best part, for me, was this one particular sign. It said that girls would talk to their friends and mothers about the boys (or "Deb's Delight") with different codes and acronyms, including (I remember them well, because they were so funny): NSIT (Not Safe in Taxis), MTF (Must Touch Flesh), and VVSITMQ (Very Very Safe in Taxis, Maybe Queer).

Tomorrow I have my interview at FHM, after which I'm leaving for Edinburgh until Sunday night, so I'll post when I get back.

Things I've learned:

1. When they say it rains every day, they mean it.
2. Why isn't New York clean? Oh, because they don't wash the streets. Here, actual street-washing trucks come by with brushes and hoses in the front and scrub the streets to keep them pretty.
3. You can buy codeine over-the-counter here.
4. The Queen is really, really smart and has an awesome memory. When my professor met her, he told her he was from New Zealand. She asked from where, and where he went to school. He told her, and she asked what House he was in (the students are divided into "houses"). He answered, and she said, "Oh, so you were a day-boy." She had visited the school about 25 years earlier (and it's not like Oxford or University of Edinburgh, which everyone knows all about) and happened to remember this little detail about it. My professor said she also gets state papers every night and reads them all and is able to answer questions about them and discuss. Pretty impressive for someone who is just, essentially, a figurehead.
   

USA! USA!

At the Post Office the teller asked me and my friend about the Inauguration, right after we were coming back from watching it. She wanted to know if we watched it, how it was, and how we were feeling. It was nice. I felt very proud and excited (even though the pizza at the party was G-R-O-S-S).

Ugh, Class?

So my second class (I have two now and one during my internship) is called International Correspondent. I knew taking it was a mistake because I don't do well with war or anything gory (plus, I'm super emotional), but I felt like I was supposed to take this class because I'm a journalism major. Plus, the other ones seemed totally irrelevant, and this one is at least relevant in that I'll learn about what goes into making the news I read (I don't really think Cosmo would ever send me to, like, Zimbabwe). Unfortunately, the class is already making me miserable because we watched some war documentary, and today we went to the Barbican (an art gallery) to see photos from a bunch of wars by Robert Capa. At the end, I didn't want to see blood anymore so I sat down, but I ended up losing the group and taking the Tube back by myself, promptly getting lost and spending an hour making my way back to Queen's Gate (where I live).

Soon I'm heading over to our classroom building for an Inauguration pizza party (so I've got my Party Like Barack Star tee on). Watching history + free dinner = good time.

The only other real news is of my experience with British food. I had previously only had burgers -- one at a pub, which was SUPER well-done, and one at a burger place, which was rare. Yuck. So they were living up to their reputation here. Last night a friend from home was here (she is studying in London, too, but in a different program and needed a place to crash before move-in today) so we went out to dinner on the Kensington High Street, which is a really cute area with lots of shops. The food was actually really good there, but maybe that was just a fluke.

Still waiting to run into Hugh Grant, who lives in the area. My RA already saw him. Hmm...

1) at Tower of London
2) Tower of London
3) Tower again
4) Big Ben
5) Piccadilly Circus

Off With Their Heads

Today was exhausting. I seem to be feeling that a lot when I'm here, but at least now it's in a good way.

A few of us signed up for a BU-led trip to the Tower of London. It turns out it was a little more than that -- for a few hours we had a bus tour and got to briefly see a lot of stuff all over the city, like Buckingham Palace, Fleet Street, and Oxford Circus (where I'll be working once my internship starts). We stopped at Westminster Abbey and walked around for a bit. I got some gorgeous pics of Big Ben. Then we stopped at St. Paul's Cathedral. There were some carvings outside of a lot of secular figures including Martin Luther King, Jr, but also Charles Darwin (which seemed a little oxymoronic, being on a church).

Finally, the Tower of London. We drove over Tower Bridge and walked into the courtyard, which was awesome. It was all just really pretty and powerful. Obviously, I headed off to where the Crown Jewels were first. Prettttty. I like sparkly things, as you know. It was so strange, though, because none of it seemed real. The tiaras were like the pink plastic one I sent Anna Katherine, with huge fake-looking stones. There was a scepter (the official title has something to do with an orb) that had the Star of Africa at the top -- that's a reeeeally big diamond. 530.2 carats, to be exact. Like rock candy. I probably could have stayed in there for an hour.

We went to a bunch of the other towers, including the torture tower (I didn't read the descriptions), a place where they had life-size models of horses, and rooms with armor and artillery. And we climbed a lot of stairs. In circles. Somehow, I managed to stay upright.

Things I learned this weekend:

1. Piccadilly Circus is named after the piccadill, the name for the ruffled collar that women wore back in the day. Queen Elizabeth is wearing one in her portrait. They used to be made in this area; hence, Piccadilly Circus.
2. One tiny piece from the room of the Crown Jewels could easily pay for my college education.
3. In a certain part of SoHo there are urinals outside. Like, not stalls with urinals. Round stations where you can walk up and pee. In public. Um...
   

'Ello?

...And I'm Here

OK, so instead of sending out emails, I'm going to post on this blog. This way, you can check it if/when you're interested and I can also post some pictures and stuff... and I'll have a written diary of my trip (or parts of it... this is a family blog). So, here we go (by the way, most of my posts will NOT be this long):

Sunday, the first day, sucked because I only managed to get maybe two hours of sleep on the plane and they wouldn’t give us time to nap/relax when we got there, so as the day wore on I became increasingly achy/exhausted/emotional, and then I was jet lagged through the night and into the next day, and I felt really sick and gross. Not a terrific transition, and they didn’t give us a chance to breathe (or go food shopping--makes sense, huh? Let’s survive on water!). The beginning of the program is really poorly organized (everyone’s annoyed with it), but now that we’ve been here a few days, at least the jet lag is over.

Monday we went on a Thames boat ride and got to see a lot of stuff from the water, like Big Ben (which is the name of the bell, incidentally, and not the actual clock tower) and the Tower of London. Not so great for the jet lag tummy, but kind of interesting. That night we had a big opening-night pub thing. Tuesday and Wednesday we had really boring academic lectures on Britain’s history, England’s government, blah blah blah. But Tuesday after the lectures I went with a group to Piccadilly Circus (I learned that Circus means Circle). It was dark so it was all lit up and very pretty. Got to go to Topshop, which is like a "discount" fashion store (Kate Moss has a line there). Very cool. Wednesday night we went to the Imperial College pub (it’s our neighbor school over here… I’ve been told it’s like the MIT of England, all maths and science, but there were plenty of cute guys at the pub and that hasn’t been my--or anyone else’s--experience from MIT parties… so yeah).

Today, Thursday, was my first class day. My Core class for journalism seems really awesome... it’s British Journalism, Culture, and Politics. Classes are 4 hours, 2 days/week, and I’m having a whole class on the Royal Family (it’s called "Charles, the Crown, and Camilla"... hahaha). There’s a lot of internet focus, and it seems really interesting. Every Wednesday at noon the House of Commons has this thing called PMQ (Prime Minister's Questions) and the two main parties sit on opposite sides and ask the PM questions and he HAS to answer, and he doesn’t get to pick who asks and he gets no preparation (well, he always has to be prepared). It’s awesome. And everyone cheers and boos and laughs and yells while people are talking. We should totally do it that way in America. It makes politics INTERESTING.

Other things I learned in my first few days:

1. Field Hockey is just called Hockey here. And it's a boys' sport.
2. It's not nice to call someone a bellhead. I won't define it, but go to urbandictionary if you're curious.
3. They don't seem to have EasyMac.

There's probably more to add to that list but I can't think. Oh, and I just booked a trip to Scotland for next weekend. Leaving right after my interview at FHM. Yay!


Cheerio, mates.