Holiday Part II, Ireland

Tuesday, 26 March
Early flight from London-Stansted to Shannon in Ireland.  =\ We took a taxi (at 5 am) from the apartment we were staying at to Stratford Station. We then took a bus directly from the station to Stansted airport. This...was an interesting morning, to say the least.  Bus-tangent: We're on this bus early in the morning and basically everyone is asleep and quiet.  Sarah was sitting behind me.  This guy sitting across the aisle from us appeared to be about to cough, but what ended up happening is what we call an 'enthusiastic cough' where what actually happened is he threw up. Now, yes, this in itself was bad enough but just wait, and...how are you supposed to react to that.  Is there any approved reaction to that? And what's worse (because yes, it does get worse, and I shudder a little to say this) is that it definitely got on me. Story aborted.  I don't really want to remember that and I don't have much more that I would like to say about that except for that I literally stuck my jacket under the faucet at the airport and don't want to think about that morning for a while.
As if that morning couldn't get much worse, I was attempting to get cash from the exchange counter while Sarah was waiting in line, and my card continued to fail me. At the same time that I owed Sarah money for our accommodations, I also was going into Ireland with no money and was a little worried. I decided to let it go and worry later.
So here's the thing, I don't really like going through security. Love flying, hate security.  The only thing that makes it any better for me is knowing that everyone else probably dislikes it just as much.  Sarah had her carry-on searched as we went through security there.  We then proceeded to wait (with croissants and hot chocolate) for our gate to be posted even though our flight time was approaching swiftly.  It was a nice and easy flight, SO SUNNY! We went from the gloomy land of England to the sunny skies, then the still-almost-as-sunny land of Ireland. 
Since I had wanted to travel a bit to the Southwest of Ireland, Sarah and I had compromised on traveling to Killarney for a night.  We took a bus from the Shannon airport to Limerick, then Limerick to Killarney.
Killarney was such a touristy town, and so beautiful! We loved it there and everyone was so friendly.  We quickly fell in love with the country of Ireland.  When we arrived, we found our hostel and a room.  We then decided to take a walk around town. We visited the little shops as we walked past and came across a bank which I went into to try and get some cash. I waited in line with a man from Oklahoma who was very nice and there on holiday/business with his wife.  He told me about where to eat dinner and where to visit while in Killarney.  The woman at the counter proceeded to give me a hard time about my signatures on my passport, license, and credit card.  (First, I was stressed enough about getting money as it already was.  Having to cancel my debit card and then all the nonsense I went through trying to get any cash was difficult enough, but then to be hassled about my signature and my credit card was honestly sooo not appreciated.)
Sarah and I then wandered around the edge of town a little where we found an entrance to the Killarney National Park--so beautiful! We found a sign with directions on it which said there was a castle 2.4km away which we decided to walk to.  We got to Ross Castle and it was absolutely gorgeous.  It was nearly sunset and the light and the setting were beautiful.
We got fish and chips again for dinner! (We love fish and chips and it was the place that the man from Oklahoma had recommended) It was getting late at that point and we decided we were exhausted, so we went back to the hostel and had a quiet/early night in.
Wednesday, 27 March
We took a bus from Killarney back to Limerick and then further North to Galway. Sarah had arranged for us to stay with some people she knows in Galway--Cathy and her daughter Mimi. Cathy picked us up from the bus station and took us to their home, only several minutes drive away. We talked for a while getting to know each other a little better and we had home-cooked meals! That night we had chicken and rice with salad and it was delicious (all the food we have eaten on this trip is delicious).  They also have a bunny in their house who we became acquainted with whose name is Angel.
Thursday, 28 March
For breakfast, Mimi made crepes and Cathy made oatmeal.  I learned that sugar and lemon juice are great on crepes. As well as pretty much any other sweet toppings. Delicious!
Sarah and I had wanted to rent bikes since we had gotten in Ireland.  The land is so lovely and you just want to be so close to it.  So we decided we needed to actually 'hire bikes' for a day.  We invited Mimi to go with us and we picked a route to bike. Cathy helped us in planning our venture and we chose a route out of Westport.

Cathy drove us to Westport where we got our bikes, helmets, vests, and a map.  We started out.  It was a long bike ride and it was a bit cold out.  The trip to Newport was 12 km (24 km round trip, about 15 miles). 

Needless to say, we overestimated ourselves, but we did make it--and not without our share of trials.  For example, I went to take a picture when we were almost to Newport and I was taking the camera out of my pocket while stopping, anddd I might have pushed the brake a little too hard too quickly at which point I proceeded to flip over the handle bars of the bike on a downhill slope.  It....hurt a bit--though I was probably laughing harder at myself than wincing in pain, but the bruises say it all.
When we returned to Westport, we met up with Cathy at a small cafe and then picked up tuna for dinner. On our drive back, Cathy took the scenic route which was absolutely beautiful.  We passed loads of sheep just walking alongside the road, and the light was so beautiful on the country as the sun was setting
Friday, 29 March
This day we went to Inisheer (also Inis Oírr in Irish/Gaelic) which is the smallest of the Aran Islands. We flew there in a tiny plane! I was so excited to take this plane there and back.  The island itself is small enough to walk around in the day and is not very inhabited.  For a while, Sarah and I thought that nothing inhabited this island besides dogs.  We came across a beautiful dog (who we named Rory) who just walked with us into town and to the beach while we had no knowledge of who owned Rory and no way of getting him to leave us.  We then encroached upon another dog's territory and Rory left us while this new dog (soon named Patrick) joined us.  We saw other dogs but there were two in particular, Patrick and Olivia, who joined us for a walk around the island.
It was cold, but it was a great day and thankfully the sun came out and we could see quite a distance.  There was really only a small village nestled on this island along with a lot of 'fields' fenced in by stone walls.  There would be empty fields for quite a ways and then all of a sudden in the middle of nowhere there might be a cow or a horse or two.  Many of these pastures didn't have gates and we read that the stone walls get torn down and built back up to let anything in or out. (yay)
We ate lunch in a little family owned pub/hotel type place on the island. Sarah and I both had the seafood chowder which was absolutely amazing! We then went to the other end of the island where we saw the Plassey (a shipwreck that is now above sea level and just chillin' there) and the 'beach.'  We then got to fly back to the mainland and take a bus back to Galway. Cathy had gone to Dublin to a concert so Sarah and I rested a bit and then had dinner with Mimi.  (That night I was also able to talk to my parents and they were able to wire money to Ireland that I could then go get the next morning, yay!)
Saturday, 30 March

This was our Galway day.  Since we had been out and about since we had gotten to Galway, we hadn't really seen much of it.  It's a small city, but very cultural and nice. 
There was a Food Festival taking place during the week/weekend so we walked into town and looked through food and shops.  Mimi took us around and made sure that we got donuts (made right in front of us, nice and warm and delicious!) and Sarah and I also invested in some jewelry--including Claddagh rings.  Claddagh, now kindof part of Galway, is the origin of these rings so it was awesome to get one in Galway.

As Easter was the following day and we were going to be out and about, we had our Easter dinner on Saturday night.  We had lamb (which I had never had before! it was so good!), sweet potatoes, chick peas, and Bok Choy.  Very good! 

Sunday, 31 March

Easter! (and Daylight Savings for Ireland--time switch!) Sarah and I awoke to the amazing surprise of traditional Irish chocolate Easter eggs. It was so generous and so nice of Cathy to do that for us.  Eventually we got around to getting out of the house and traveling a ways to the Burren.  We went for a short walk in the Burren and met up with Cathy's friend there.  Afterwards, we were cold and hungry and we stopped at the Perfumery nestled in the Burren to take a look and to get some soup and hot chocolate/coffee.

That night, Mimi had to babysit so Sarah, Cathy, and I had dinner together.  While Cathy was preparing dinner, she told us about a little bar down the street where we could go to get a pint before dinner. In good Irish fashion, Sarah and I both got a pint of Guinness while we listened to the locals play songs on the guitar/accordian/banjo.  When we got back, Cathy had put together leftovers from each of the days before and made a delicious meal which we ate with chopsticks! It was a great evening.
Monday, 1 April
Monday we left Galway to go to Dublin.  We had stayed an extra day in Galway because we loved it so much there, and arrived in Dublin mid-evening and were ready for dinner and bed.  The people we stayed with were fantastic and the house was amazing. Breakfast foods were provided and we had a kitchen to cook in, so we made dinner one night there and made nice breakfasts each day. 
Cliffhanger!

Holiday update! Part I, London

Friday 22 March
My friend Peter drove me to London (Epping, actually--where I caught the underground in to more- central London) This day was really crazy because I was supposed to be meeting Sarah at the place we were staying (which I was really worried about--with good reason) but then found myself being a little bit lost in London when the map that google had given me with the address was wrong.  Thankfully I had my phone and called the person we were renting a room from for the duration of our time in London and he was able to set me straight and give me directions to get to the apartment.  I was worried Sarah would be just as lost as me--especially as she had just flown in from Italy--but we ended up arriving at similar times and were thankful to see each other.
We desperately wanted fish and chips for dinner and we found the perfect little place with a Friday Evening special on Fish and Chips with a drink for only six quid. (We tried a lot of different fish and chips along the way and this was probably our favorite or them all) Also along with all of this nonsense was the fact that I had checked my bank account several days before my trip and noticed there were extra expenditures and it turns out my debit card had been compromised--an added stress for sure.  My parents worked quickly to figure it out at home and eventually had to cancel my card--which left with no way of accessing cash and hardly any money. Thankfully my parents had made me get a credit card before I came on this trip which I could use a little. We will discuss this nonsense later on.
Saturday 23 March
Sarah and I both had heard of a little dish called Bubble and Squeak ('Bubble') which we were going to comb the city for (basically glorified mashed potatoes for breakfast with other vegetables in it), so we found a cafe online which offered bubble as part of a breakfast meal and traveled across the city to get it.  We found ourselves at a little cafe called 'Cafe Oz' (which we realized later was amazing compared to some other cafes we ended up visiting) where we had brunch (Sarah was able to get breakfast with bubble and I was able to get lunch with bubble).  It was veryy delicious and enjoyable.  After that, we found a nearby payphone to try to call the number on my credit card to understand how I could get cash.  I was supposed to be able to call collect and I had never used a payphone before...it was definitely an interesting time.  I put in change and dialed the number and almost as soon as it started ringing, I needed to put more cash in.  This call was the most expensive call I've ever made.  I recruited Sarah to help me feed money into the machine as I tried to make the call. We started with my coins and watched as the amount dropped at a rapid pace on the screen of the phone and coins had to be fed continuously.  But I got my answers, but I didn't go get cash right away as I had some still.

We then continued to another part of the city where the Natural History Museum is. There was a long queue to get into the museum (while it was snowing) but it moved quickly and we got in. We tend to like pushing buttons and pulling levers, so when we saw an exhibit that had two levers and asked us to pull one of them, Sarah and I both pulled one each.  The computer then proceeded to spit out 'WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?!' and then continued by explaining that though the directions told us to only pull one lever, most people are inclined to pull both of them (even though Sarah and I each only pulled one, hahah, didn't think of THAT did ya, computer?) That night, we went back to the apartment and didn't know what we wanted to do for dinner so we walked to Stratford looking for a place to eat and finally decided on a chinese place, then took the bus back as it was pretty late when we were done.
Sunday 24 March
Sunday we checked off quite a few things on the checklist.  Sarah had some things on her checklist to see so we went around Sunday morning checking off some of them. We moved along to more central London and saw Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, ate lunch, then proceeded to the London Film Museum.  After that, we headed across the river to Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery, where we decided we're not great at looking at art and didn't stay too long.
We then headed across town back to near the Natural History museum to the Science Museum--which we found to be really great.  There were plenty of floors and tons of people so we started in the basement.  Here, we began in the home section which was a collection of appliances over time and how they worked with plenty of buttons for us =) and ways to try things out. 
We went across the basement to a special Google exhibit where we got these cards which saved our creations on them as we went around the room.  There were instruments that were played at the touch of a screen and people around the room and around the world could tap in and control the instruments on their computer or on the screen in front of the instruments.  There was another station where you could get your face drawn in sand after the computer took a picture of it.  It was really neat.  After spending so much time in the basement, we went upstairs and quickly made our way through the bustling ground floor and proceeded to the Agriculture exhibit then the very top floor to the Veterinary exhibit (which was so tiny! and all about horses) and the Medicine/Human Health exhibit thing was was veryy interesting.  It was cool to read through about all the developments in human medicine and philosophy and such over the years in all different aspects of medicine and health.
That night for dinner, we went to a restaurant near the science museum and had fish and chips again! And then finished off the meal with chocolate mousse.
Monday 25 March
Monday was our last day in London so we tried to finish up any final things that we wanted to see. We had brunch at a little cafe on our walk into Stratford where there were some definite complications in communication about our orders.  I was also severely worried about cash at this point and we were working on finding a bank to go into where I could get cash out.  We headed to a museum that Sarah found online that was part of University of London--the Zoology museum.  It was very small, but extremely interesting.  The exhibits were composed mostly of skeletons, dissections, or preserved specimens with little blurbs about the animals.  There were also discussion-provoking questions posted on iPads around the museum which I found interesting to read through. They asked questions like 'Do you think it's okay to breed animals specifically to get qualities that are desirable?' or questions about cloning or other things.
After that museum, we decided we were hungry and so we went to the cafe we had seen the day before that was closed to grab a bite to eat (and of course a hot chocolate!).  I can't really remember what we did after that, but we went to the bank so I could get at least a little cash in Sterling, and then went back to the apartment to pack up our things to be ready for the early morning that awaited us for our trip to Ireland!

It has been too long

Okay, so here I am, so long after the last time I blogged, and you've all missed so much. I'll try my best to update you efficiently.
The last couple weeks have been a whirlwind. I've spent a ton of time in the library, and a ton of time getting to know people who I'm going to miss sooo much.
First, a question: I'm not sure if it's behaviour or behavior anymore...which one? The 'our' and 're' and 'ise's are now soaking into my use of words like colour, centre, and organise.
By the time I officially leave here, I will need to have done eight final assignments. Today I turned in two of those, leaving my count at five done so far.  It has been a long time coming--Lots of hours in the library. Last week I went on Tuesday to the library at 3:30p and had a break at 10p, went back to the 24-hr room until 5:30a, slept for a little while and went back to the library until 3:30p again to finish up my two assignments that were due last Wednesday. Nothing like procrastination.
Last weekend was Paddy's Ball which is a big event, they have a Ball every term and it's a pretty big deal.  Apparently a lot of money and planning goes into it, but it was a blast and totally worth the ticket.  Basically like a big dance party =)
This week is my final week of class at Harper.  I'm terribly sad and know I'm going to cry when I leave on Friday for London. Which brings me to my next point, I'm going on holiday for the next couple weeks! I'll be meeting my friend Sarah from Cornell in London. (She's flying in from Parma, Italy which is where she's studying this semester). We'll be in London a little while, then we're heading to Ireland! We'll be exploring Ireland, then flying to Italy where we will be until I decide to come back to Harper. Harper students are on a month-long break starting this Friday, so they won't be here when I get back, but then I will finish up my remaining assignments and head on home (mixed feelings, I miss home, but I'm going to miss this place). 
That's pretty much all I have to say right now. I'll try to keep y'all updated if I can while I'm traveling, but it's unlikely. You'll hear from me soon!

The Thing About Eggs

Let's begin by saying that I'm not such a fan of many breakfast foods, nor am I very good at getting up and eating breakfast anyway...so I guess it works out okay.  I thought, however, that I might need eggs for something eventually...so I got some.  I thought maybe I could make an omelet or something or need them for cooking at some point. I was wrong.  The thing about eggs is...I always think that I'll like them. I try and I try to like them.  I set out making something spectacular like a lovely omelet and I get disappointed when I taste it and realize I still just really don't like eggs that much.  
Fried eggs I'm a little more comfortable with. Grandma Dates makes magic fried eggs, they're so delicious.  For some reason whenever we're up there visiting, eggs seem so much more tasty and I could eat a couple fried eggs for breakfast if I wanted.  Yet at home (or anywhere else) the magic fades.  I will eat fried eggs with french toast or pancakes, but not generally by themselves.
Needless to say, it took me a while to get through the eggs that I bought.  I had gotten a dozen, and they were lovely eggs, don't get me wrong. I had nothing against them and I was really hoping that I would enjoy them...I just didn't.  Now you know.
Someday I'll develop a taste for eggs. 

It's a new week.

I think we all need a pep talk.

Emails

Let's talk about my Harper email. I don't think I've read one email in its entirety from my Harper email to date. I get so many emails and 99% of them aren't directed towards me anyway.  I've decided there are several types of emails to expect, and I'll now break these down into several categories.

1) First we have the 'Information in Subject Line, not in Email' email.  This is exactly what it says.  All of the information you need to know about the email is in the subject of the email and when you open it there isn't really anything of substance.  This goes a little something like this:
Subject Line: Today's Recipients for Mail
Body of Email:  Thanks.
OR
Subject Line: Bakkavor today Thursday 12 noon onwards 1.10pm Presentation for Finalists Group Study Room 2 Ground Floor Faccenda - Interested join us!
Body of Email: (empty)

2) Next we have the 'Lost and Found' Emails (this category also includes anything about cars and parking):
Subject: OW03 UUP lights left on
Body of Email: (empty)
OR 
Subject: Lost car keys for a Polo
Body of Email: If anyone sees these around campus, please could you hand them in to Amanda at Faccenda Reception.

3) There are probably several other types of emails, but the last one I want to note is the crazy SU emails that I get (Student Union) about events or other things.  These would be considered more important than some of the others shown above and I usually read most of the way through them.  This would include the following pieces of emails:
Subject: Attention All Read
Body of Email: (if you have seen 'Taken', this will be better appreciated as it is a play on the phone call that Liam Neeson has with the guy who takes his daughter) 
I don't know who you are.
I don't know what you want.(Apart from a shovel)
If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you the SU don't have money.
But what we do have are a very particular set of skills; skills we have acquired over a very long career.
Skills that make us a nightmare for people like you. If you bring our shovel back now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you.
But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will get Becca to bar ban you.
Ok now in all seriousness someone has robbed a shovel from the parked 7840 FORD tractor parked outside in the car park. Can we have it back please or else we will take measures to find out who has taken it. 
OR 
Subject: Wednesday Night Theme Change
Body of Email:   
We the SU have decided to change the theme Wednesday night to a traffic light night which, if you ask me, is a better theme than the one proposed with the current weather conditions.
Lads and Ladies traffic light night is a great way to find out who has hitched up (red) or broken up (green) over Christmas and New Years.
Its very simple yet very effective.
Wear red if you are with someone or you just don't want those guy's or gals all over you.
Amber if you are unsure or just don't care
Green for go, bore on, full steam ahead. (If you are single)
Basically we are providing one big dating service for you all at Harper before the lead up to Valentine's day. You could call us cupid really for the work we are trying to do to set all you up for a very rose-mantic day on the 14th.

Finally, another post

First, let me start by apologizing for not having blogged in two weeks! That's crazy talk, yet it's true.  I thought I was getting fairly good at keeping you guys updated, but then I had an independent study week and my life took an independent week of its own, apparently.  Or two weeks.  I looked back at what my last couple blogs have covered and so much time has gone by.  I'll fill you in on the highlights:
-My older sister's birthday was last Tuesday.  Happy Belated Birthday Tiff! (She doesn't really read my blog, but I need to cover my bases.  I actually did start writing a blog on her birthday but then never finished it...Expect another birthday announcement soon..February is mighty popular with relative's birthdays.)  
-I've been able to skype home a bunch this last week which has been really nice.  I guess this 'week off' of class has left me missing home a little. I skyped Dad a couple times now.  It doesn't usually work that I get to talk to him on my normal weekend skype home because of the hours he works, so we scheduled a time before he left for work and while it was evening time here which worked really well.  We've talked a bunch about trucks (I say the 1500 SLT with the chrome.  I checked out the cherry red and I do like it--Abby, tell Dad).  And I had personal skype time with Tiff, and Mom, a little with Britt, and a LOT with Abby. Abs and I needed to catch up and watch some Ellen together.
-I experienced Pancake Day--a phenomenon that I didn't really know existed until a couple weeks ago, at which point I realized I did in fact know what it was.  Pancake Day is Shrove Tuesday--the Tuesday before lent.  Here in England, they're more likely to call it Pancake Day and they actually do eat pancakes. This I found out when I was handed a pancake when I walked into CU.  Following CU, I had a post on my Facebook wall from a friend back home saying that she wished I could be at her Pancake Party.  All of a sudden this holiday was real and all over in my life. Apparently at home we call it Fat Tuesday--something I had heard but had never really connected. 
-Pancakes make me think of all the things that are yummy with pancakes...like bacon.  Thinking of bacon makes me think of pigs. Thinking of pigs makes me think of the pig unit here on campus that I went to in class two weeks ago.  See the chain here?  We went to the Pig Unit, part of the farm here at Harper, to talk about nutrition of the sows during pregnancy and after farrowing.  I wore clothes that were okay to get a little stinky and/or dirty but I wasn't prepared for the stench that lingered long after our departure from the unit. Our class was first taken into a small room, almost the size of a milkhouse, which housed a ton of boots and coveralls.  The game was to find two boots that matched and fit and to change into the boots and coveralls before entering the unit.  How.Exciting.  I was lucky to find two boots that were the same and I guessed that they might fit--thankfully they did.  We proceeded in to the building where the sows that had recently farrowed were housed along with all their little adorable piglets.  It was hard to keep focused with such cute little animals around.  It made me feel like I hadn't seen animals in so long, and I really haven't in a while.  It made me miss kidding season with the goats, and also my beloved Emmy-pup. (I skype Emmy too, she sits there and whimpers when I talk to her. Mention her name and she perks right up.) Back to the Pig Unit, after we were done and we changed out of our coveralls and boots, the stench remained.  Thank goodness my laundry was the next day and I didn't have any classes right after that one. 
That's the update I have for now.  I'll be sure to post again soon!(P.S. I thought I had posted this Sunday, but it turns out it didn't actually post?..Sadness. Take Two.)

Birthday Shout-Out

First, I would like to apologize for the mass of blog posts today. I've been working on the past couple since last week and I just never got around to posting them.
Secondly, I wanted to make one more post because I wanted to make a special birthday shout-out to my Papa K.  Happy Birthday Papa! I miss you and Grandma Bonnie an awful lot and I hope that your day is going well (and I hope that Grandma forced you to sit down and read this!) I heard about the gathering for your birthday and I wish I could've been there.  Love you guys!

'The Talk'

Alright kids, I feel like there is something that needs to be said, so listen up.
Before I continue blogging my English memories, I would like to clarify something because to be honest I feel a little weird about it.  So let's talk about alcohol.  Disclaimer: I don't tend to drink. Not that haven't, just that I generally don't.  Gasp* A college student who doesn't drink in public at an illegal age? Imagine! I'm not saying I haven't had a nightcap, or some sips of wine around my family, but I don't drink irresponsibly, nor really around big groups of people.
Now, I know the types of people reading this post--grandparents, relatives, friends, home church members--it makes me feel a little weird to approach the subject.  But let's talk about it.  If I'm going to be honest with anyone, why not you?  Now, raise your hand if you ever drank underage or drank too much? (Now put your hand down, yuh look like a crazy person with your hand in the air and no one around).  I bet a lot of people would respond to that question.  Alcohol is a present and real thing in life, but yet it's one of those things that certain people in my life tend to not talk about, and it actually just makes the topic more uncomfortable.  It's one of those taboo topics that I feel really strange about but think we need to have a discussion about, especially as alcohol was mentioned in my most recent post.
The topic of alcohol feels so much more relaxed here in England than it does at home, especially since the drinking age is eighteen.  Here, it really is part of the experience as peers and faculty/adults alike invite you to have a drink with them.  Yes, drinking as part of the social scene here can still be excessive, but it is also normal and perfectly acceptable and respectable to have a glass of wine with dinner, or to have a drink or two while out with some friends.
 Having spoke to some of my Christian friends about alcohol before, it always seems like this off-limit, terrible thing.  I get responses like 'You know I don't do that', as if it's unmentionable. If they ever hear that I drank, it's 'Christina! I thought you don't do that!'   It's very difficult, but also very possible, to resist the temptation of drinking during a part of life like college when it seems to dominate everything, but I also can't help but think that alcohol isn't evil.  Excessive consumption is, alcoholism is--I mean, where's the glory in relying on alcohol for happiness or pleasure? But then I ask, what's wrong with a drink or two when consumed appropriately?
Maybe it's just me who feels weird about it, or maybe this talk wasn't necessary. Either way, 1) yes, I just said all that 2) no, I don't feel weird about drinking here as it is legal and I am responsible and 3) don't be afraid to broach the subject--it's a part of our world and, trust me, the topic feels worse when ignored.
This message has been brought to you by Christina--a concerned relative, friend, and college student.

International Dinner

The other night I attended an International Student Dinner in the upstairs of the dining hall on campus.  First, I would like to mention that the description of appropriate attire for the occasion was 'smart dress' which I'm assuming is almost code for formal/business casual--almost an in between.  I was pretty proud of myself for having packed that black dress, tights, and dressy shoes--worked out pretty well for this evening.
I arrived upstairs in QMH (Queen Mother Hall? The building where it was held..) and there were several students already there.  The coordinator of the event prompted me to grab a drink from the bar while guests were assembling and waiting in this small area.  I was able to mingle with some of the faculty members and other international students that I knew while waiting to go in the dining room.

Table Picture

I was somehow seated at table #1. This is the table at which the Vice Chancellor of the college and the international-director-guy also sat.  No pressure or anything.  It was actually a good time, but I would like to note that at no point in my life until now did I think that I would ever be sitting at a table with these faculty members of this college--nor did I think that they would be pouring me wine or toasting to good health with me. 

Yorkshire Pudding

The dinner was absolutely delicious and the company was great! It was all fancy and we each had what seemed like 49,572,948 pieces of silverware and (I think) four different glasses.  Since it was an international dinner, we had different types of food for each of the three courses.   The appetizer (or more correct term? hors d'oeuvre) was Dim Sum, which was very good.  Following that, we had a traditional English Roast meal which consisted of roast from Harper's own beef, with Yorkshire pudding (which I was told was basically a 'pancake gone wrong' and it was very good!) It looks almost like a muffin, but the inside is sortof hollow-y and it's really good.  There were also vegetables and roasted potatoes.  For dessert, we had Vanilla Creme Brulee and Shortbread, which was followed by Coffee or Tea and after-dinner mints.  Overall, it was a very splendid evening and I'm glad that I decided to go!

Leaving London

Now I've finally made it to the final day of this trip.  The weekend felt like it was a week long instead of just two days. We were in London less than 48 hours! It's unbelievable.
Sunday morning we were up bright and early again, getting breakfast downstairs in the hostel and out by 9ish.  Emilie had a friend studying in London who we were going to meet up with at 11:30ish, so we decided to get a little more sightseeing in before we met up with him.  We headed North towards Camden town, which is where the Camden Market is. 
The Camden Market is like a flea market.  It is open (possibly?) every day of the week. There are a bunch of small shops in Camden town, and on top of that there are tons of vendors and stalls with people selling things. If you look hard enough you can find tremendous deals and you can find nearly anything you want there. It was interesting to look around and it was all over.  You turned a corner and there were another tonn of vendors, then you think you've made it through everything, and you're not. 
After having our fill of vendors and people asking us if we were interested in things we had glanced at for two seconds, we headed to Starbucks for some coffee (in my case, hot chocolate) and then took the underground South to Waterloo station (which was huge) and met Emilie's friend there.  He took us across the river on a beautiful walk to where he has his classes in London--right next to Trafalgar Square.  He showed us where he has his classes and the building was absolutely beautiful inside.  Then we bought some lunch right next to Trafalgar Square, and ate our lunch in the square.  We then proceeded to walk back to Waterloo station and took the underground to the Railway Station in Euston and caught the train back to Telford. We got back to campus at about 5:30 (Here, 5:30 might be expressed as 17:30 or 'half five').  
I wanted to have dinner and sleep, but I decided to go to a CU event instead (Christian Union) in...some town...near here. It happens every other week on Sunday evenings as part of a different group from another college and I decided to give it a go.  (Which is another thing I hear said a lot here, let's 'give-it-a-go!", almost like it's one word) It was a good time.
I also find it fairly important to mention that if you are ever in England and would like Lemonade, you're not going to get what you expect.  I tried to order Lemonade that first night in London and I ended up with 7Up. I was thinking maybe they had just messed up, but that is what is considered their Lemonade here, and I don't think they really have normal American Lemonade. Sadness.)

St. Paul's Cathedral

I'm sorry for having left you in suspense about the one place I actually know some history about, but there are a bunch of pictures I wanted to post and a lot I wanted to say about this place, so I decided to split it up.

Front + Lamp post. Such a majestic Building.

So here are the details on St. Paul's Cathedral.  IT WAS HUGE.  The dome stands over 100 meters tall, which is about a football field.  It was absolutely amazing and I'm glad we stopped and took our time there.

Under the Dome-view to high Altar

This is the location where the Royal Wedding of Charles and Diana took place and also, as we found out, the steps with the bird feeding in Mary Poppins.  We decided that since we hadn't really spent any money all day on attractions we were interested enough to check out St. Paul's, so we decided to pay and go in.  (One thing to note is that we couldn't use cameras in the Cathedral so any pictures of the inside of the building are courtesy of google--and also a lot better quality than I would've taken anyway).
We chose to do a virtual tour, where we got ipods and headphones and went through tracks as you walked around (or followed whatever directions it gave you).  We started at the front doors, headed through the nave, sat under the dome, learned all about the mosaics in the domes, and finally finished the virtual tour of that floor at the high altar.  It was absolutely gorgeous and huge.

The Nave

View of Cathedral Floor from Whispering gallery

We then decided to take the stairs to the 'galleries'--there are three, and they are different parts of the dome you can climb to.  The upper two galleries (The Stone Gallery and the Golden Gallery) were closed for restoration, but we climbed 257 steps (yepp, we climbed that) to the Whispering gallery, 30 meters from the cathedral floor.  (If it had been open, there are 528 steps to the upper most gallery, 85 meters from the Cathedral floor).  The Whispering Gallery was pretty cool! First, the view of the Cathedral floor was scary and amazing, but also, if you sat along the wall and whispered, a person on the completely opposite side of the gallery (about 35m in distance I think) could hear you like you were sitting right next to them. Pretty neat stuff.

Chapel of St. Faith's

 We then proceeded to go back down all those stairs, and even below the Cathedral floor, to the crypt.  Typing 'crypt' now, it sounds a little creepy, and I have to admit that I thought it was going to be creepy, but it was very nice.  If you take a look at the picture from the crypt, this is one portion of the downstairs that is called the Chapel of St. Faith's. Not creepy at all, but then if you look at the floor, the larger concrete stones all have a description engraved in them, like 'Here lies...(insert name here)', that part was a little astounding--yet not so much as some of the dates on the stones.

Side of the building--Dome!

Some of the stones dated back to the 1700's when the current Cathedral was built. There were all kinds of dedication and memorial tributes in the crypt and it took some time to look through.  In one part of the crypt, there was a timeline on the wall with historic events mixed in with the history of the Cathedral.  The cathedral has had to be rebuilt after destruction several times (I think this is the fourth structure).  The original was built around year 600 and the current building was started in the late 1600's and took many many years to complete.  All of it is quite impressive, and it was a really enjoyable experience.

London on Saturday

Let me begin by saying that today I received a lovely care package from home! Treats and French dressing! Yay for being able to eat salad! Thanks Mom! Anyhow, The Story Continues... Saturday morning we woke up (pretty early, I might add) and got ready to head out for the day. It was nice to be able to leave our stuff locked away at the hostel.  We also got a complimentary breakfast each morning at the hostel. We were out of the hostel by 8:30 or 9, ready to discover what we could around London.

Street where the hostel was located

We honestly couldn't have asked for better weather on Saturday, at least in this part of the year.  It didn't rain on us! And it was nice and sunny to be able to get some good pictures.  We headed to Piccadilly circus again on the subway.  This early in the morning there were absolutely no people out and about yet.

National Gallery

We wanted to find Trafalgar Square so we headed in that direction, not planning on bumping into it as soon as we did.
But we found it! It was so pretty. Trafalgar Square is home to the National Gallery building as well as a large open square with statues and fountains and a monument.  We then continued walking,

                                               attempting to find Buckingham Palace.

Trafalgar Square

We walked under a large arch and it seemed like the road stretched out in front of us forever, but it didn't look like it was in the middle of a city.  We came across a large open area covered in gravel that was situated behind a large building (we had no idea what it was...we'll discuss this later) so we turned and crossed the road and headed through St. James's Park towards Buckingham Palace. The park was beautiful even in the gloomy state that winter causes. There were so many birds, some that even looked really strange and had big feet. They also had pelicans (that were absolutely huge).

Pelican! with Kristin and Emilie

 At the far end of the park stood Buckingham Palace.  The flag was flying! (which I believe means the Queen is there).  At this point, more and more people were joining in on the act of Tourism with us and they were crowded around the front gates as well as the whole open area in front of the Palace.

Buckingham Palace

While we were there, we checked the schedule for Changing of the Guards (because so many people have told me to see it and we were there right around the right time).  It usually occurs at 1100am everyday, but it depends on the time of year and such.  Anyhow, we found out that it would occur that day, but back at the mystery building, not the palace. We had time to spare when we got back to that building, which...I'm still not sure what the name of it is, but it's essentially a Calvary Headquarters/Admiralty Buildings--government buildings essentially.  It also houses a museum.

Guard

 There were guards on the opposite side of it, both on foot and on horses (I laughed soo hard when someone tried to stand next to the guard and get their picture taken and he turned and walked away...but that's because he had to pace back and forth every few minutes).  It was here that we saw a bit of a changing of the guards ceremony.  Across the road, there was also a movie filming, which was pretty cool--think it had Tom Cruise in it.

Changing of the Guard

Next, we headed down the road that the calvary building was on.  This road had a lot of government buildings on it.  It was here that we saw Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament, and Big Ben.  It was funny because we got to an intersection and here were all these things.  We then crossed the Westminster Bridge while passing the London Eye, and ate lunch at a small restaurant we found.

Big Ben

Next, we decided we wanted to head towards London Bridge, the Bank of England, and St. Paul's Cathedral.  We took the subway to London Bridge, and walked towards where the bank would be. It was quite an adventure trying to find the bank, when in reality it was right across the road from where we started.  We walked way past it and then turned around and walked all the way around the bank once we found it, just trying to find steps (because we thought it was the place in Mary Poppins with the feeding of the birds song...but we later found out it's not.  You should've seen us asking 'natives' where the steps from Mary Poppins were...hahah).  So we never found the steps and had walked a really long way trying to find them.

St. Paul's Cathedral

So we ventured towards St. Paul's Cathedral. (For both our sakes, I'm going to not talk about St. Paul's in this blog post--we actually did the tour and I started typing it, and it's really long. So that will be a whole other post--tomorrow.) But it was amazing!!

Harrods

From St. Paul's, we took the subway to a fancy part of town, home of the huge department store 'Harrods'.  Our motto as we walked through was basically 'looking, no touching or buying'.  Everything in that store is extremely expensive. We saw a big stuffed bear for a kid that was £7,000 (which is ..more than $10,000?). It was a little insane, but pretty awesome to see. So that was a pretty fancy neighborhood.  We saw a woman who had her daughter there trying on clothes, and the nanny was right there as well. Sigh. So we left because we got sick of not being able to even think about buying anything.

Tower Bridge from London Bridge

We headed to dinner.  We decided to get out of that area and head back to Piccadilly Circus where we had seen a restaurant the day before that looked really good.  We got there and they told us the wait for a table would be about 30 minutes, so we waited..didn't seem that long, right? Wrong, 30 minutes turned into an hour. But once we finally got seated and had food in our bellies, it was definitely worth it.
We headed back to the hostel after dinner, it was about 10 or 10:30. Quite a full day, if I may say so myself.  But such a good day! =)

Friday In London

This past weekend, I traveled to London with the other girls studying here from Cornell. We had a blast and walked a tonnn.We left Friday afternoon and took a taxi from school to Telford Central, then the train from Telford to Birmingham New St., then another train to London Euston Station. The trip took about three hours in total, but the train made quite a few stops along the way.  I didn't know much about where we were staying or how we were getting places, but there we were in the middle of a big railway station in London.  Emilie and Kristin had arranged for us to stay in a hostel, so that was our first priority when we got in the city--finding the hostel. Emilie had printed walking directions from the station to there--a two and a half mile walk--so we started walking. First great thing about London: at each of the crosswalks, painted on the street, it tells you which direction to look for traffic.  We only nearly got hit once. No big.

Red Double Decker Bus!

Thankfully we didn't have any big luggage to carry around with us as we each only had our backpacks. It was great to see the city with all the lights and traffic...and the buses! We finally made it to the hostel. The hostel was located in Paddington, which is a residential area in London and the street was very pretty and also relatively quiet.  It was Kristin's birthday on Friday, and it was dinner time when we got there, so after we settled in and got some directions from the main desk about where we might go for a birthday dinner (they were so helpful!), we headed out to the 'underground' (subway station) nearby.  We took the underground to Piccadilly circus, which we found out is basically the Times Square of London.  At night, there are a lot of lights and people and it's a very exciting and bright area.  There are a bunch of shops and places to eat, as well as entertainers on the street.

Piccadilly Circus

We ate dinner at a restaurant right there on the square, literally called 'Grill on the Square' and we had some traditional fish and chips! (My first English meal!) It was absolutely delicious. We attempted to look for some dessert next--ice cream. We couldn't find any ice cream place that was still open that late at night, though there were little shops (shoppes?) located there.  We ending up heading to McDonalds (how American of us) for each of us to get a McFlurry. Their McFlurry is a little different than the kind we have here at home, but it was good ice cream and it was fun to people-watch while there. While at Piccadilly Circus, we checked out M&M world and then took the underground back to Paddington and went on back to the hostel to get some sleep and showers before our busy Saturday.

*Gasp* Cliffhanger! I will report on Saturday next.  Brace yourselves--it was a very busy day!

Triptriptrip

Good Morning, y'all.
It's finally either warming up here or I'm getting used to the cold..I'm assuming both, actually. I haven't had to wear a coat to class the last couple days, even though it's still a little chilly, but class is only a couple minutes away.  That means that I no longer freeze at night and/or have to wear five layers to bed at night. Yay! 

Today is a bright, sunny day and I'm looking forward to maybe taking some pictures. I don't have any classes today, but I'm leaving in about an hour to go to London for the weekend! This is my first big sightseeing/touristy trip! That's all for now, I shall update you soon! Wish me luck!

Groceries

Today I got my groceries delivered! It's a very popular thing here...I know in some places in the United States you can do that, but here, they deliver to ~98% of the addresses in England. Before I came here, I knew that it would be a possibility to do so, and it is so nifty for a college student without a car who also has to cook all their own meals.  Taking the shuttle to town is difficult because you can only get so many groceries before it's more than you are able to wait for the bus with or travel on the bus with, bags in hand.  Trying to get a ride from someone else always makes me feel uncomfortable too.  So delivery, at least for groceries, is very nice.
The store "ASDA" is like the Walmart of England, I think. That's where I ordered my groceries from, I can go online and view all their different products and add them to my "trolley" and choose a time slot to get my groceries delivered. I got a call fifteen minutes before the delivery guy said he was going to show up and he was here on time and also right on schedule with my time slot. How nice! Also, anything that they didn't have in stock on the day of delivery was substituted with something of equal or greater value. For instance, I ordered a block of cheddar cheese which they ended up not having in stock, so instead I got two blocks of a different cheddar cheese worth more than the one I ordered and I got charged the cost of the original cheese I ordered. They okay all the substitutes with you and are willing to refund you the price if you don't want the substitute. I also ordered eggs and there was one broken one, so I was refunded the price of the eggs.
The one thing I was worried about when ordering food was the space that I have in the fridge and freezer.  I have three spaces to put food--the fridge, freezer, and a cupboard.  I share a shelf with another girl in both the fridge and freezer. That being said, the people who live in my corridor are used to living without us two girls here with them and they...take over a little bit in the fridge and freezer.  Our shelves are filled with things that are not ours.  (There's not much to do about that, really..especially when they can't understand us and I don't care too much anyway).  In turn, I was pretty weary of space when I was ordering food, so everything fit!
So that's my grocery ordering experience.  It's pretty handy and my shelf of the fridge, freezer, and food cupboard are now stocked well!

Tuesday

I can't believe that it's already my third week of classes here at Harper! I still have some hiccups in my schedule that I'm trying to work out, so this week I'm still going to new classes that I haven't yet been to.  Maybe in seven weeks when term is over I'll finally have it straightened out!  In the 'set-in-stone' classes, most of my professors have already given me my big assignment that will be due near the end of term.  One of said assignments is a 2,000 word essay which got a 'This-is-the-type-of-assignment-I'm-used-to-doing-on-a-weekly-basis-at-Cornell' response when it was assigned.
Today's ventures brought me to the other side of campus, a solid twenty minute walk with a road crossing involved (gasp!). Apparently there's a shorter way to get there that I have yet to discover as I added visitors to my return journey across campus--visitors who decided we should take the same way back to campus as I took getting to class (where's the adventure in that?)  They were very nice girls (which made me quickly forget the familiarity of the walk I was making), one of whom was from Ireland (love the accent) and is itsy bitsy and plays rugby.  The other was adorable, and English through and through.  My class was in a building that looked like a garage from the side I approached, and I was scared that maybe I was approaching the wrong building. There was a large shop door and only a plywood door to enter into on the side I approached.  Some innocent bystanders told me otherwise and that I needed to go 'round the back.  The back looked more like where I was supposed to be, but still did not have a classroom feel.  The classroom I entered felt more like the entrance way of a house.  The whole back side of the classroom was glass and the classroom was small, which made for good discussion in class. I hadn't yet been to that class, Psychology of Food Choice, in case you couldn't tell by my quandaries about how to get to/into the building. It was good. That's all I have to say about that.
Crossing roads here is a tricky business. Cars drive on the wrong side of the road. Go figure that one out.

Can't sleep? Blog.

Today was quite a bum day.  I still feel so tired all the time, but then can't sleep at night (proven by the fact that it's 1am right now and I'm still going strong). I try to get to bed early and then toss and turn for a while and finally revert back to the internet where I can talk to some people from home as it's still only 8o'clock there.  I believe I have class at nine now everyday.  I didn't originally have classes early Monday or on Friday at all, but because of all the changes to my schedule, I've had to dig into my longgg weekends.
I realized (as I was skyping my family) all of the stuff that I seem to have left out of my blog that I still think are really important things that I want to remember from my experience--like that there was really bad turbulence on the plane ride to Manchester that I was basically too tired to care about.  I can't seem to remember any of the other things right now, but I will certainly make a list for future reference.
You know those red phone booths? There happen to be two (at least) here on campus. Just a fun fact for y'all.

Shopping Center

Shopping center (centre?) is just a fancy way to say mall--and the actual way they say mall here.  Apparently, I was in desperate need of a mobile phone. Facebook just wasn't working for all of my communication needs in the day and age which is 2013.  So today I ventured to the Shopping Centre in Telford with a friend.  For starters, the weather today is sunny, but it snowed last night, so the roads were considerably slushy being that they have no winter weather equipment (i.e. plows, shovels--there was a shovel taken on campus and we got a frightening email about it, they need every piece of winter weather equipment they can get!).  The trip was so different and exciting.  I have no idea how to get to Telford in the future because the roads are confusing and there are tons of roundabouts, but it was a nice trip.  The Mall was big! (At least to this small-town Delaware County girl)  We surely got lost because it isn't so much one strip of mall, but squares and there are 'streets' within it--Easy to get lost (If you don't believe me, look at this map).  I remember looking around and knowing that I had seen that bank before and we must've been walking in circles (squares, actually).  As far as phones go, I am a terrible decision maker--the poor girl who waited on me, bless her for putting up with that.  Hey, I'm foreign.  But now I have a phone, and I'm back in the mobile community. 
I also think that it's important to note that I saw a Staples, KFC, and Krispy Kreme while on this venture today.  'Merica.

Word Nonsense

Here are some words (so far) that I've come across that are different between America and England:

(American Word)=(British Word)

Fries=Chips

Chips=Crisps

Cookies=Biscuits

Stove=Hob

Waiting in Line=Queuing

Schedule=Timetable

Class=Module

Shrimp=Prawns

Garbage=Rubbish

Gas=Petrol

Pharmacy/DrugStore=Chemist?

Trash Can=Bin

Machinery=Kit

Foolish Talk?=Malarky
"Z"="Zed"