Coming Home

Ok. It's been awhile, but things have been crazy. The night we got back from Edinburgh we went out for dinner at a cozy little pub then to another comedy club. The pub was called the Imperial and it was actually really good English food. After the pub we went to the Texas Embassy for dessert where my friend Kat donated a "texas item" for them to add on display in the restaurant. It was just a little glass knick knack that said don't mess with Texas, she had to do it for a class, but it is now on permanent display above their bar and that's pretty cool if you ask me. The comedy club was jam packed and the people were rowdy. It was fun, there was a really good bit about the winking and smiling emoticon ;( it's rare but it does have its occasions. For example: "Sorry about your great aunt :("... "But good news about the inheritance ;)" We've been coming up with new situations to use it in ever since.
The next day I got up and and went to the Victoria and Albert Museum to see their sculptures of Roman and Greek myth then spent most of the day preparing for Finals.
Monday I took my final. I think I did alright... but we'll see. Once finals were done we headed over to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard. It was crazy. Honestly, I couldn't see anything. The crowds were huge and I couldn't see over anyone. Next we went to see Number Ten Downing Place. That's the Prime Minister's House. I suppose It's kinda like going to see the White House... Once we finished up there we had lunch in Trafalgar Square then headed over to the Cabinet War Rooms. Those were really cool! I've enjoyed learning so much about the British perspective on WWII. We took a packing break after we finished up the museum. For the evening went out for dinner again then to another (better) comedy club. Comedy Clubs were defiantly my favorite form of night life in England. After we left the club we stopped for one last ice cream at our favorite place in South Ken. The staff knew it was our last night in town (that proves how often we've dropped in there) so they presented us with a huge tub of our very favorite Ferro Rocher ice cream. We had a good time splitting it and spending our last hours together laughing about the night's comedy routine and just soaking up our last night in London.
On Tuesday I was up at 4:45am to finish packing and catch my bus to Heathrow. We flew out at 11:40am. It was a really long travel day. We landed in Dallas at about 3:40pm, it was fun to come out of the international arrivals doors and see my mom's face (I think she missed me haha).
It's been good to be back in Texas for the last 23 hours. We had dinner at a truck stop (far cry from London) and I drank almost a full pitcher of tea (Londoners don't do cold tea and I reallllly missed it). We made it back to the house at almost 11:00pm Texas time but to me it felt like 5:00am (see what I mean about a long day).
It felt weird to wake up in West Texas, good, but still weird. I'm kinda surprised at how much I fell in love with England and with living in London. I hope that I'll go back someday... someday kinda soon actually. I know it won't be the same without all of the wonderful people that I first experienced it with but I have a feeling that I'd still feel at home there. I learned a lot on this trip. A lot about memory and medicine and how to travel yeah, but more about life and people. I learned how the world we live in is simultaneously big and small. I learned to be grateful. I learned when to take my time and when to hurry. I learned to trust myself. I finally learned how to relax. I learned so much, more than I can list, but most importantly I learned that life just keeps moving, whether you want it to or not. This past month has been one of the most important and wonderful months of my life so far. I know I'll always look back on it fondly.
If you've been following my blog I should note that this will be the last one about the trip and that I'm about to upload the last round of pictures. I hope that it's been a decent read and (since I have a good sense of who all is reading this) I can't wait to see you all again, finally face to face.

Edinburgh

I just got back from our brief but amazing time in Edinburgh. We plan to do something or another in London tonight but for now I have the time to regale you with the story of our travels. Again, I'll start from the very beginning as I've found that doing so helps me to remember the trip in full.
We got up quite early to get to King's Cross for out 8am departure and the place was packed. There was a line to the Edinburgh platform, it was really a good thing that we'd made reservations. On the train our seats were a bit sporadic and I ended up seated across from a very old woman who was a retired professor of law, we made friends after I helped her to get her suitcase into the overhead bin. She was really an interesting lady but I have to say that the gang of women across from me were a bit distracting , but man they were a hoot! Just think of the Women from the movie Calendar Girls at their wildest and I think you'll have a pretty good sense of what they were like. It looked like they were out for a hen party for one of the women. (A hen party is a bachelorette party and a stag party is a bachelor party, we've run into lots of them and the participants are always good fun to watch and talk to). Anyway, they gav e me some good advice on things to do Edinburgh and made for lots of laughs on the train. After our 4.5 hour ride we hoped of the train and got our very first taste of Scotland. As we walked from the platform into the station we noticed lots of men walking about in kilts, the full Scottish garb. And then... as if it had just been waiting for us to finish taking in the clothing, the sound of bagpipes cut through the air. It was the perfect arrival! So as we're taking all of this in we grab a cab to take us to The University of Edinburgh, Pollock Halls. When we were just shy of Pollock Halls we stopped to get some lunch (it was still a bit early to check in) and to see the cafe where J.K. Rowling first began writing Harry Potter... it was magical. It's easy to see how this part of the world could help to inspire such stories. Once we got all checked in we immediately set out to climb to the very top of Arthur's Seat, which our dorms happened to be at the foot of. It was amazing. No picture I post can possibly do justice to it. We climbed all the way to the top, and when I say climb I mean it literally, we opted for a tougher route so a couple of times were going almost straight up, like a rock wall... but real. Once we reached the top we were beat but we certainly felt like we'd earned the view. It was perfect, on one side there was the city of Edinburgh and on the other there was the sea. We took lots of silly pictures up there and just talked and enjoyed ourselves before we began our journey down. Once down we cleaned up a bit before heading out the Fringe Festival and the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. I should explain that bit I suppose... You see, we were in Edinburgh at the absolute perfect time. Every year Edinburgh has it's military Tattoo, a program taking place in front of Edinburgh castle that showcases military bands and the like, namely the Scottish though, that means lots of bagpipes. It's really quite popular here and this is the first time in 2 years that Baylor has been able to secure tickets for us. The festival will last for the rest of this month and will play to sold out stands every night. Now because the Tattoo attracts such huge crowds to the city another festival has popped up on the outside of it, this festival is called the Fringe and it can be found all along the Royal Mile up to the castle. Namely it consists of shows, especially comedy. Lots of these shows are free because they're kinda like dress rehearsals or pilots. We managed to get into a free comedy act when we arrived at the Fringe and it was pretty good. After a thorough investigation of the Fringe we made our way up to Edinburgh Castle for the Tattoo which began at 9pm. It was stunning. I'd heard it would be good but it really exceeded my expectations All the acts came marching out of the castle with torches lighting the way. And the music was awesome. Again, pictures just won't do it justice. If you ever happen to be in Edinburgh during Tattoo... you should go! It absolutely blew my mind. After the show we went out for coffee and played stupid games like Hot Seat and Make it or Break it. Talk about a good way to get to know people. haha. We had a really good time just hanging out together. This morning we simply dragged ourselves out of bed, had breakfast, checked out, then caught the train home to London. It would have been fun to stay in Scotland a bit longer but we had to be checked out by 10:30am and had nothing to do with our baggage. Hopefully I'll make it back it there some day. Edinburgh was certainly a highlight of this trip.

"That was Wicked cool"

Today was yet another perfect day in London. Today was our last day of class so of course that was wonderful. As soon as we got out we headed over to the box office to get tickets for Wicked tonight. After we got our tickets we opted to have a leisurely lunch at a quiet little pub then head over to the Imperial War museum. The Imperial War museum was really cool. There was so much in there, I feel like it would take at least a week to see it all. We managed to see a pretty large section of the Berlin wall, the WWI trench experience, and the Holocaust walk. The Trench experience was really interesting. It was just a recreated WWI trench that had some props and models in it and effects going on around it, it felt pretty realistic to me, it was kinda damp and even smelled like mud. The Holocaust walk was awful. Not because the exhibit wasn't good... just because the subject matter. It certainly was a good thing to do though, it made the horrors of WWII become personal rather than just something you skim in a history textbook. It a couple of hours to get through, but I'm glad I did, even though it left me a little misty eyed.
It didn't take to long for our spirits to lift back up though. We did have Wicked tickets after all! The show was absolutely stunning. The set was amazing, the costumes were intricate, the singing sounded perfect to me and the acting was wonderful. It was hands down the best musical I have ever seen and definitely made for one of our best nights our in London. In the morning I leave for Scotland so no blog tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be awake enough on Saturday to get pictures up.

The Cliffs of Dover

So today was pretty much fantastic. We went to Dover. Right after we finished our last readings class we headed to St. Pancras station to catch a highspeed train to Dover Priory Station. Good grief that train flew! It only took us an hour to get there and that was with 4 stops at other stations. Dover was absolutely beautiful, I was pleasantly surprised at how small the town was. It was really just quaint and postcard perfect. The items on our agenda included checking out Dover castle "the key to England" and the famous white cliffs. Dover is only 20 miles of ocean away from France and on really clear days you can see the French coast in the distance. As we toured the castle we learned a good bit of British history. Dover Castle was built by King Henry II. In medieval times Dover sevrved as a point of passage for pilgrims wishing to visit the grave of St. Thomas Becket in Canterbury. During WWII Dover castle was most famous for its use as the base of Operation Dynamo. This operation was the successful evacuation of British forces from France through Dunkirk port after the Nazis had taken over the country. It was all really interesting. The planning and execution of operation Dynamo occurred in a secret network of tunnels beneath the castle, which we got to tour today. The tunnel network at Dover was also used during the Cold War. Dover castle was defiantly my favorite castle of the trip and the white cliffs were certainly a site to see. We enjoyed it all so much that we stayed at the castle until they kicked us out at closing time. There was just so much to see and explore there (people were free to roam and read info at their own pace, no guided tour) we could have easily stayed for several more hours and still not seen it all.

Rub a dub dub... Romans in the tub

There was a mutiny today. We were supposed to go to Oxford, but the profs decided not to require it, sooo... we went to Bath. I was kinda glad to get out of Oxford seeing as how I've already been to Cambridge and believe it to be the better of the two anyway. Bath was great! it was another of those delightful audio tours. It was so strange to think that the paths we walked were thousands of years old and that they were walked by people I study today. Latin was everywhere and that was interesting to me... but I should probably brush up on my vocab before I take the next class.... After we went to Bath we checked out the Jane Austen Centre for a while before we caught the train back to London. Once back in London we headed straight for the Texas Embassy. It was Wade's Birthday and he chose it as the best possible celebration point. While we were there we all headed upstairs to leave our names on the Wall of Texans. It was pretty fun.

It's shocking how quickly a place can become your own. South Kensington has become my home in this city. After a really long day like today I can't help but feel relieved when I come out of our tube stop. It's so similar to the feeling of driving down 608 towards my house or strolling up the academic walkway to Brooks. And as much as I love returning to the quiet in South Ken I've found that I love the heart of the city just as well. I like the rush, it reminds me that life just keeps moving whether you know what is around the corner or not. I've even grown used to the Londoners, with their straight faces and busy movements. Would you believe that tourists annoy me now? or that I no longer need to consult the tube map? I never fancied myself as the city type and while I miss things about home and especially people at home I find that I wouldn't mind staying here. In fact I think it will be quite sad to leave, all the more reason to "suck the juice out of" our last week here.

New pics

I finally got all the new pictures up. New things can be found in the albums London 2 and Paris.

Bikes, Baguettes, and Berets Oh My!

I hope that you are quite comfortable as you read this, Because I plan to re-live my weekend in Paris to the best of my memory in this one. I'll start at the very beginning. After class the boys and I took off early. We wanted to get tickets to the Arsenal match on Sunday and the ticket booth was just a bit beyond Kings Cross St. Pancras Station. We were lucky and managed to nab our 4 seats together. With our prized tickets in our wallets we (and the luggage we'd been hauling) got back on the tube to Kings Cross. We got an early taste of French cuisine at a restaurant called Paul while we waited for our departure time. Once on board the train (yes I said train, this is the one that goes under the English Channel to Paris) I was surprised to find that my seat was not with another Baylor student... odd... I suppose I managed to get the last number or something. Just as I was starting to believe that the seat beside me would remain empty a plump little french man approached and asked me (in French) to excuse him in getting to his seat. I wordlessly complied. You see, I was exhausted from the night before when I'd gone to the London eye and been up packing, I planned to sleep on this train and had no desire to chat with this fellow. To bad for me I suppose. Within two minutes of sliding into his seat he began chattering in French, when he looked at me expecting a reply I simply apologized and said that I only knew English. Well, lucky for me... he knew English too (limited and with a thick accent). I realized I'd have to humor him for a while and so I answered his questions about who I was and where I was going. He was thrilled to find that he was sitting with an American... so thrilled in fact that despite my efforts to read my book or go to sleep he continually interrupted me with questions about The States, my lifestyle, etc... The most ridiculous was the time he shook me awake and said "I'm sorry... but I just have to know... How do you feel about president Obama?" I couldn't believe this guy. I answered his questions though, and decided to do some prodding myself. In the end I suppose we learned a good deal about each others cultures and It was certainly a learning experience... Once off the Train and away from my French pal Kevin we loaded onto a bus and went straight into a tour of the city. It was a lot to take in but helpful for getting our bearings. After the tour we checked into our hotel which was just down the street from the Eiffel Tower. Once settled we went exploring, or as Dr. McCormick put it "set out to discover the magic in the city". I must say that we did find some of that magic. Just as we were approaching the Eiffel Tower it lit up. I must say it was quite a sight to see. The Tower was beautiful and there were people everywhere just lounging on the grounds enjoying the site. We decided to stay put and just enjoy the atmosphere. Before long we got to see the tower sparkle, it was amazing. The next morning we got up early to go up into the Eiffel Tower on a tour. That was pretty cool, the view was stunning and even standing on the Eiffel Tower we just could not get over the fact that we were really there. After leaving the Tower we set off in search of the Louvre. This meant our first time on the Paris Metro or Underground or Subway... whatever you prefer to call it. At first we really struggled to understand their system but after a bit we had a solid handle on it and felt confident in our travels. Once we found the Louvre we booked it to the Mona Lisa. Gosh was she heavily guarded. On a wall all by herself I must say she was interesting to gaze at and even now I can't believe I've actually seen her. After the Mona Lisa we wandered through the Greek and Roman antiquities where I saw many a statue representing a story I'd translated from Latin, seeing them, and knowing what they were representing made the hours of translating feel well worth it. Next we headed for the Champs Elysees, where the event items from the Tour De France were all still set up. As we got closer to the Arch of Triumph we enjoyed browsing through stores that were way out of our league. We then took a break back at the hotel before setting out for our night in the Latin Quarter. The Latin Quarter is right next to the University and is filled with people our age and genuine Paris nightlife (not the touristy stuff) by day, Latin is still spoken in some places there. We really enjoyed ourselves that night. The Latin District was incredibly picturesque. Narrow, cobblestone streets that were free of cars, old buildings with the flowers outside, and French kids gathered everywhere. We had dinner at a really good restaurant and fun chatting with our waiter then we went to club type place called The Princess and the Frog, it was pretty cute.
On our second day in Paris we made reservations to see Moulin Rouge (I'll get to that later...) then set off to Notre Dame. Notre Dame was by far my favorite thing we did in Paris. It was the most amazing cathedral I've seen on this trip and the climb to the top was well worth it. The bell and the Gargoyles were awesome! There were even gypsies outside (you have to look out for those actually... we were told they're quite the pickpockets). After Notre Dame we hit the Musee d' Orsay to see some Monet and Van Gogh. That was pretty cool. I had no idea that Monet's Waterlilies was so big. After the museam it was back to the hotel to get ready for Moulin Rouge. Now, I'm not sure how I felt about this one... I felt wary making the reservations in the morning... but my whole group seemed set on going and they said it was like the New York City Rockettes. I figured that'd be pretty cool to see then, and after all, I'd heard about Moulin Rouge and I figured it'd be a very French thing to go see. So I went for it. I had no idea what I was getting into... the first act was amazing, vibrant, feathery costumes, neat dances and good music. I was feeling really silly for having second guessed at all in the morning... until the second act that is. It was quite similar to the first... just with a lot less costume. It was at this point that I began to wonder if I was witnessing legitimate French culture and entertainment, or just a glorified topless bar... I still haven't quite decided. The show was good though and the effects were mind blowing. I especially liked the bits between the dancing. They had the most talented juggler I've every seen. He could do seven glowing rods at a time, he was going so fast that the rods left patterns of light all around him. They also had some incredible acrobats and a hilarious ventriloquist. The show ended at 1:30am that gave us 15 minutes to get back to the Metro and get back to our hotel before the metro rail closed for the night. We dashed out of the the theatre and into the underground and were quite satisfied with ourselves when we caught our train. It looked like we would make it home in time easily... that is until our train came to a sudden and screeching halt. All was quiet for a while and we figured something had broken down and that we were just experiencing our typical luck with trains. Then an announcement was made in French and we could see shock on the faces around us. That was pretty scary, just being able to see that something was quite wrong but not being able to understand what it was or the instructions we were being given. I turned to the man nearest me and asked him ( in French, I had to learn a few phrases ) if he knew English. Lucky for me his response was "it's my native language" He and his wife then stuck with us and translated the announcements. What had happened was that the train ahead of us had hit someone, likely in a suicide effort. All trains had been halted and we were being given instructions to evacuate through the front of our train. We couldn't believe it. All trip long we'd been nervous around that ledge in the underground and quietly wondered if people ever fell in. It was a terrible thing to think of. I'm just glad it wasn't our train that hit the man, at least we didn't have to see anything. When we emerged from the underground we learned that the kind couple who had helped us were just in Paris on Holiday. The man was from England and his Wife was American. Together we navigated to the Arch of Triumph were we were able to get a cabs to our hotels.
Today we rode the train home to London, dropped our bags off at the college then went to the Arsenal Football Match. It was fantastic. I've never had so much fun at a sporting event in my life. The fans were crazy, the place was packed, and we were as into it as all of them. Arsenal won the match against the Celtics and that also won them the Emirates Cup. It was really something to see.

Time travel

Yesterday we went to the Prime Meridian in Greenwitch . It was about what you'd expect; we climbed a giant hill, waited in line, took a picture with our feet in both hemispheres, and left. We tried to bully ourselves into the museum since we had gone all that way but it was just all very dull (at least to us). After the trek back into town we stopped off for lunch. Now that was fun! Somehow it ended up being just myself, two friends, and the DG family (Dr. DG is my prof here and Head of the Psychology department at Baylor). His oldest son is about to start college... so it was only appropriate that we all share roommate horror stories. It was really cool to just hang out with my professor and his family talking about nothing related to class. It was a good thing that our day was relaxed because last night was the big Jack the Ripper Walk with world famous Ripperologist Donald Rumbelow. Among serial killer experts this guy is top notch. He's a retired Scotland Yard detective and is the one sought out to help Johnny Depp prepare to play Jack in the film From Hell. The walk was perfect, there was a constant drizzle and eerie cloud cover the entire time. Mr. Rumbelow told the story splendidly. His voice and knowledge made a once distant horror feel almost to close for comfort. He made us all feel as if we knew the victims personally, he demystified Jack, and took us back in time so much so that I half expected a horse drawn carriage to come around the corner in place of a London cab.
Today we went to Freud's house. Again, it was exactly what you'd expect... weird. After that Emily and I tubed out to Wimbledon to take a tour and see the museum. After dinner we went to the London Eye and got a magnificent view of the city. It was a good day. Tomorrow I'll leave for Paris. I don't plan to take my laptop so I won't be able to update the blog until I make it home to South Ken.

Why?

Why? why? why? I heard a lot of that today; we toured Stonehenge. We had more of those great tourist audio guides and after almost every bit of information the little British voice would say something along the lines of "But the question remains... Why?" Well, nobody knows... but we do know that Stonehenge means hanging stones and lots of other fun trivia about the place. After Stonehenge we went to hang out in Salisbury where we went to the Cathedral, which happens to be the tallest one in England. Salisbury Cathedral is also home to one of the four remaining copies of the Magna Carta. It was pretty cool to see but regrettably I couldn't snap a photo of it. After we finished exploring the Cathedral we made our way to a famous pub called Haunch of Venison. It was in this very pub that Churchill and Eisenhower met to make plans for D-day. I thought that was pretty cool. It's just amazing how much history we traipse across here. After dinner (back in London) we decided to search out Foyle's, the largest bookstore in Europe. It was a book lover's dream. Five stories packed wall to wall with every sort of book imaginable. I left with the British version of Harry Potter translated to Latin. That's right Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis. It was translated by a latin scholar living in Windsor. After we left the bookstore my pal Bo wanted to check out the Covent Gardens, he didn't know what was there and we all agreed to go simply for the reason that our professors said it was neat. As we were wandering around we were approached by a homeless man. He said he was only 60 pence short of a cheeseburger at McDonalds. For a split second I think we were all stumped, searching our minds for the best reaction. All of us except for my friend Emily, who cheerfully responded that she didn't have the change but would take him to the Subway down the street if he'd like. The look that came over the man's face was pure shock followed by a broad smile and acceptance of her offer. As we stood in line at Subway we learned that his name was Tom and that he'd been living in London for 50 years. Tom was very interested to hear about America and especially Texas. He couldn't believe he was meeting people from "real cowboy country". Once it was time for Tom to order he had no clue how to and we had to help. I've never seen a man so awed by sandwich options or so grateful for anything. I thought we was going to cry as he thanked Emily. Meeting him really made me think. It's ridiculous... I know... that I would have to come all the way to London to realize how blessed I am. I mean I'm surrounded by the homeless in Waco but I'd never spoken to any of them. I guess I just learned to look the other way, then donate to Mission Waco and let them worry about it; I suppose I just never realllllly mulled it over. And you know the strangest part? Tom thought himself lucky. Lucky to live in London rather than somewhere hotter, lucky to be healthy enough to get around, and lucky to have a sandwich in his hand. His genuine gratefulness for the things I take for granted really put some things into perspective. Had I not only hours ago complained about British food? On one hand I felt a bit ashamed and on the other I felt a rush of gratitude for the life I live. Suddenly all of my problems and worries seemed trivial compared to his. I hope I never forget our meeting with Tom.

Real Texans Sign Here

So the last couple of days have been devoted to simple exploration of the city and hitting up some of London's most famous weekend markets. That's meant lots of walking, busing, and tubing and most importantly seeing lots of the city! Yesterday we went to Knotting Hill for the Portobello market. It was absolutely packed with people and interesting things to look at. It seemed to go on forever, we were to exhausted to go the whole way. After the market we found ourselves outside of the London Hardrock Cafe and figured we should go in. Did you know that it's the original Hardrock? Not bad for my first one. Once night rolled around we decided to go out in search of some fun. Guess what we found... The Texas Embassy! It was a restaurant that served real Texas food, had a wall for "real Texans" to sign and had flags and memorabilia from every Texas University. Country from the 90s was playing and they even served Dr. Pepper. It was like the mother ship calling us home, we had to eat there. It was really fun too. Live music started after a while and I made friends with the guitarist so that we could make request. I have to say that British renditions of country and southern rock are a bit different but they were definitely good.
Today we decided to start out in Hyde Park. I love that place and I hope I can find the time to wander around it a bit more. Since it was Sunday folks were speaking at Speakers Corner, now that was an experience. The day before we had talked to Dr. Dunn about our plan to go and he warned us to keep our mouths shut, no matter what. He said we'd regret it if we spoke out, partly because we'd be quickly identified as Americans. To be honest his advice confused us. What could possibly make us want to speak out? and What's so wrong with being pegged American? Well, we found out. Several people come to speakers corner with their step stools so folks can choose who to go listen to. We headed straight for the largest crowd. The man was talking about Christianity, and mostly how he thinks that the Christians need to rise to the challenges of the world. Nothing radical. Then the hecklers started in on him. They called God a figment of his imagination, called him a gullible twit, and took some below the belt hits. They asked condescending questions and were just plain mean. The guy kept his cool though, he was even able to give real answers backed up by scripture to questions they thought would stump him. However, they always interrupted his answer. I feel like I should clarify that these hecklers clearly were not the sort of people who had checked out Christianity for themselves and decided to disagree, their arguments were never intelligent and they demonstrated very poor knowledge of the Bible and basic church structure/history. It escalated pretty quickly and after awhile we noticed that the ENTIRE crowd seemed to be vehemently against this guy. That's when it was hard to keep our mouths shut. We wanted to lend him some support and we wanted to (lovingly, not harshly) try to explain some things to some members of the crowd. But we all reminded each other to heed Dr. Dunns warning (there had been some anti-American expressions) and kept our support down to some affirmative nods and a couple of amens. I have to say I've never been more grateful to live in the USA especially in the Bible belt area. I've never had my faith made fun of or challenged so extremely or with so much... well I feel like I can only call it hatred. I wonder why all of those people feel that way. Have they had bad experiences with Christians? Have they just been taught that way? and what was their problem with America? I mean I know that they have their little stereotypes of us (some of which are a right) but at the end of the day I thought we were buddies...
After getting all worked up in the park we made our way to a couple more markets, then we came to Spitalfield's Market. That was the best one yet. If you ever come here just hit that one and Portobello. Everything at Spitalfield's was really creative and artsy. It was really fun just to walk around and look at it all.

Lost

So Thursday was another really easy going day for the most part. We traveled to Downe to visit Charles Darwin's house. The Origins of the Origin of Species I suppose. It was interesting to walk around the house and stroll through his gardens knowing that he walked the same paths as he worked on his theory. We had to walk a good ways from the road to get to the house and we got caught in a pretty good rain when were were walking back up into town. Once back in town we had to catch a bus to the train station. While on the bus... I was mistaken for a local. An elderly man got onto the bus and since it was so full I got up and offered him my seat. He refused and laughing told me that he was tired of being asked to sit because of his age (granted he was a little more colorful in that expression than I have given him credit for). Anyway, he decided to stick around a chat with me, I thought he'd had me pegged as American until he said "So what's a girl like you hanging around this town for? I hope your not just looking to marry. What you ought to do is go to America, that's a better place for the girls." I was dumbfounded. Then he was dumbfounded when I told him that I was American, he even got all excited when I told him I was from Texas. The whole thing was pretty wild. I guess I'm getting really good at blending... or he just couldn't see me very well and couldn't hear well enough to pick up my twang... Later Thursday night we went to see Chicago. It was really good, In fact I've still be walking around with some of the songs in my head.
Friday was quite the adventure. We decided to make a day trip to Brighton beach after class. We figured we'd just stay all day then catch the 11:15 train home and be back around midnight. That's not what happened though. We got to Brighton and had a good time exploring the beach area and the town. The beach there isn't sand, its all pebbles, and we got a kick out of that. We had diner at a little place overlooking the ocean then went to "check out the nightlife" we were looking for a place to karaoke... probably because Bo and I had been singing the Eagles all day and the rest of the gang wanted to get it out of our systems. Anyway we got directions to a place... which turned out to be a gay place, we didn't stay long. We decided to head back to the train station to get an earlier train home but something was amiss. The poster of regular trains must have been wrong or we read it wrong or something, because there were no more trains going back to London Victoria station. In fact the only train going to London at all was going to London Bridge which is in an area we're not familiar with and is pretty far from our dorms. We decided to go for it though... I mean, we needed to get back to London. So after about an hour, in which we all completely passed out on the train, we woke up to try and get to the tube on time. Just as we were swiping our oyster cards in we hear an announcement " you have two minutes to reach the final trains to..." and the announcement listed our desired stop. We burst into a dead sprint right along with everyone else in the underground. It was insane. We were running up escalators, through people, and for what felt like forever. We made that tube though. What's to bad is that we didn't make the next one. After another dash through another station we learned that we had just missed it. So we went up to the street to grab a bus. We grabbed the wrong the bus. And weren't able to correct ourselves till almost 1:15am. We got on a new bus that would take us really close to home. It was just us on that bus until we went through Piccadilly Circus, when we were joined by an odd fellow who just sat right down next to Bo and began this spill: "I'm with Joe Bo Johnson KING OF THE ROAD! Look at those crains, they're funny and the girls find them amusing" then he would slap himself. He just kept repeating those phrases and slapping himself across the face. While he kept going, some obviously American girls got on the bus followed by a pair of Australian guys. Somehow they got into a huge political argument in which all of the typical stereotypes came out. Sadly for Americans, these girls were terrible ambassadors for us... they were rude and knew less about their own government than the Aussies. As the bus filled up the argument had escalated to full on yelling. All the while this man next to us keeps shouting about the king of the road and slapping himself. By this point we were about to snap, so since we were a good deal closer to home we hailed a cab and made it back to Imperial at about 3am. It wasn't so fun when it was happening but by the time we all were safe in our dorms we just couldn't stop laughing about it. I suppose it was about time for us to get lost.

Super tourist powers

Today was wonderful. I gave my presentation in class and it went really well so that was a relief. I also had a readings class today and it was pretty interesting stuff. After class we tore off to Harrod's in an effort to see Jeniffer Aniston and guess what!? WE DID! It was really fun, she was there to promote her new perfume but we got there to late to get in line to buy some and have her sign it. After our brush with greatness we went to Windsor Castle. This was, in my opinion, the best castle yet. It was straight out of a fairy tale. We liked it so much we even decided to be ultra touristy and get the little headphones to listen to while we walked around. After a mad dash back to London we made it to the Proms and got to listen to some beautiful music. It was really just a nice, easy going day.

P.S. I'm finally caught up on pictures so there's lots of new stuff in the gallery

Whoa. Mind The Gap!

So I've been in England for a good while now. Let me catch you up. Our first night here was pretty uneventful... just class meetings and trying to get all settled. On our first full day we toured the city, poured over maps, and mastered the tube. Once we had the lay of the land we set out to find platform 9 and 3/4 at Kings Cross Station (there's a fake platform there with half a cart sticking out of the wall). It wasn't in plain sight and we getting pressed for time... so.... we had to walk up to a worker and ask them where platform nine and three quarters was. It was hilarious! but I think it helped us all to identify a little better with Harry's confusion in finding the place. Later that night we tried to go check out Big Ben and Parliament but got derailed by a peace rally which was broken up today.
On our second day in London we decided to take a weekend away (weird I know, but we only get 2 free weekends to travel and this was one of them). In the morning we boarded a train the the Lake District, its a beautiful national park with lots of historic sights, neat little towns, and outdoor adventure right smack in the middle of hundreds of lakes and amazing mountains. We completely winged the trip. No reservations for anything and absolutely no clue where we might stay. When we got to the lake district we chose a little town called Windermere and were lucky enough to get the last two rooms at one of the inns. It was all amazing. Our innkeeper was a sweet little old man named Andy and was very interesting to talk to. The town was so beautiful that I wasn't sure which way to look until I almost ran into a swan that is. There are tons of very bold swans in this place, they walk right up to people and around the streets. Our second day in the Lake District was all hiking to a waterfall. The falls were astounding and inspired us to get brave and climb some rocks around them to get a better view. My friend Brad was so inspired that he stripped down to his basketball shorts (in the 40 degree weather) and swam beneath the falls. All in all the Lake District was quite an adventure.
On Sunday we got up and went to church at Westminster Abby. The service was nothing like a Baptist service back home but it was very pretty, especially the choir singing. After lunch we decided to visit Harrod's. Most of us literally got lost in there. That place is huge and incredibly extravagant. There was even a live opera singer there to entertain folks on the escalators. We spent Sunday night at a local comedy club. It was one of our best nights so far! The MC asked who was from out of town and while most of the gang didn't plan to admit my friend Bo, with his thick Texas twang spoke up... needless to say the comics really enjoyed interacting with us for the rest of the evening.
Yesterday I went to check out the Tower of London. That was pretty awesome. I used to read about that place when I was younger and it felt surreal to actually be standing in the midst of all those stories. After the tower we went on a scavenger hunt our prof gave us for the science museum. It was all about the history of medicine and it was really interesting. There's just so much to look at in there that I think I'll have to go back. After dinner we thought It'd be nice to go wander around Parliament while it was all lit up. What actually happened was we found our we could go in to watch the evenings debate. We spent about about an hour watching these guys go at it in the House of Commons over the Academies Bill. It was really cool to watch and gave us a glimpse in the their government and concerns. By the end we had all taken a side on what the Brits ought to do, I side with the opposition myself.
Today we went to Cambridge, University of C.S. Lewis and the 1st man to climb Everest. It was beautiful, maybe I'll see what they offer for graduate work...haha joking... kinda. Anyway, the thing to do at Cambridge is to Punt the Cam, Punting being something like rowing with a giant stick and the Cam being the river that runs through the University. We all took a turn and it was great. Brad zig-zaged us the whole way, Julian crashed us into bridges and a few willows, Nicole lost the stick (lucky for us another boat was able to grab it after a bit), and I just spun us in circles for a while before I got the hang steering the boat and stopping the boat. All in all it's been great. I love London and I'm feeling pretty comfortable here. Hopefully now that things have calmed down some I'll be able to do a better job on this blog. In the meantime, I apologize and I'll have pictures up as soon as I can.

Kobenhaven

I think it's time to talk about Copenhagen or Kobenhaven as the Danes spell it. This place was completely crazy. I mean two days here made for more crazy than I've experienced in my life thus far. I had expected it to be almost just like Stockholm... I was wrong. City wise this was like a level up. It was bigger, less safe, and there was more bustle about it. The night we arrived was the night of the World Cup final so people were everywhere (even though it was 2am) running around in capes and face paint. We watched this while we waited for our bus to come shuttle us to the hotel. While waiting we also saw a drunk man who kept undressing and the ladies of the night competing for attention on their corners. We couldn't believe it. I mean this is stuff that I've seen in movies but never so much as thought about happening in the real world. As this was going on our profs warned us to avoid certain parts of the city... they didn't have to do that when we were in Stockholm so to be honest it kinda put me on edge...
On our first day we toured the city and learned about their government. Our tour guide kept insisting that they weren't socialist but it all sounded like socialism to me. Then (like almost every European I've talked to) she kinda bashed America then asked for our opinion on both Bush and Obama and ended with "we liked Clinton". It's unbelievable how many times I've had that same conversation here. Anyway, on the tour we saw the changing of the guard then took off on our own to find food. The day was incredibly hot, humid 90s due to a heat wave, so we were all sweatin it out in our fall wear we had packed. We pushed through though and gave the city a thorough exploring. We even located a hippie village (almost commune) called Christiania. It's a self proclaimed freetown that Denmark tolerates, it does not consider itself part of the EU. I felt like I was at Woodstock the whole time. A woman we met on the train had suggested the place and told is it would be like time travel back to 1969 America. She was dead right. This place was unreal , I don't have any pictures though. There are two rules in Christiania and as long as you don't break them your fine. 1. No pictures inside, if they catch you they take your camera and smash it 2. No running. I know that sounds super sketch but the people we talked to about it told us those rules and assured us we would be fine, plus we were in a group of 11 that day. It was an amazing thing to see and even though I was reluctant at first I'm so glad I did it.
On our second day we spent most of our time outside the city touring castles and learning about Danish history. The castles were beautiful! It was a really nice day doing that. Later that night we decided to go shoot some pool. It was a Tuesday night so for a long time it was just us at the pool hall along with our Russian friend that we met at dinner who had come along. Then things changed, a few Danes came in and challenged our guys to a game. They were wild. One kept singing into his pool stick and dancing with it... until he decided to dance with me that is. This guy just came right up got me around the waist and before I knew he was spinning me all over the the place. It was fun... I mean he was a decent dancer and all... but it was weird. Later the other guy Yalum (that's a pronunciation spelling... I have no idea how he might spell it) started talking to me about life in the states and comparing it to life in Denmark. It was really interesting but got a little uncomfortable when he turned to politics. I'm really shocked at what a negative view so many Europeans have of us... it wasn't easy trying to politely explain the American way without offending him and worsening his view of us.
All in all Copenhagen made for a very interesting experience and I'm glad I got to have it. However I must admit that I liked Stockholm quite a lot better and with the excitement of London ahead I wasn't to sad to leave Denmark.

It's unbelievable... but it's true

Ok. going back in time here. The last night in Stockholm was... a cultural experience. We went out to a really swank restaurant because we all had lots of Kroner left and it's barely worth converting. We were really enjoying ourselves until we realized the menu was only available in Swedish. Lucky for us (sarcasm) our waiter decided to help by explaining each dish. I ordered what she called "several circles of beef with mozzarella cheese all over the top and special seasoning" I suppose that's an accurate description... she just left out that none of it is cooked. Yep, completely raw meat. Still mooing. I tried a bite but there was no way I was gonna eat it. When the chef saw that I wasn't eating he came to see what my problem was, I told him I was surprised that it was raw, he criticized my tastes, and the whole thing was embarrassing. Oh well, now it's kind of a funny story I suppose.
The next morning we got up to take the train to Copenhagen. I was excited because Denmark had been on my list of places to see. To bad I didn't see it that day. Our 3.5 hour train ride turned into a 14 hour definition of Murphy's Law. Everything imaginable, and some unimaginable, went wrong. First our train was delayed 1.5 hours. No biggie. Then, not long after we all noticed the train wasn't going as fast as we thought it should we were informed that it was not safe to take it across the 8 mile bridge to Denmark and that we would switch trains right before the bridge. This wasn't huge... but it didn't sound good. Next we came to a town that had lost power and apparently that keeps the trains from going through the station. We spent about 2.5 hours there. Next, our engine broke and we had to wait for it to be fixed. After it was fixed we got caught behind a "slow freighter". At this point it was already late, we were annoyed, and with each new bit of bad news our conductor sounded more and more like he was having to tell us someone had died. Then it came, our train stopped, the conductors voice came over the intercom and said "Ladies and Gentlemen... you're not going to believe what I'm about to tell you... the train has been struck by lightning... " He explained some of the damage apologized then concluded with "It's unbelievable... but it's true". As soon as he was done howls of laughter erupted from the most of us. At that point the whole thing was just funny. Our next delay came at the train switch, the conductor for the new train was running about 1 hour late. So to pass the time we chatted with a young Danish couple and their son in our compartment. The man could speak German, French, Danish, Spanish, and English. The Woman spoke Danish and English, and their little boy understood Danish and Spanish. We had a good time talking to them about their lives and how different our counties are. High School Spanish even came in handy for talking to their adorable son. We finally arrived to Copenhagen at about 2am and made it to our hotel by 3am.

The Log Island

Whoa. That was a lot of travel and I'm certainly glad to be out of the air for a while. I'm at my first stop, Stockholm (which means "the log island" see Swedish history for details) When we arrived at the airport (which kinda looked like an Ikea) we were greeted by the word "valkommen" which means welcome in english... but to us it meant "welcome, to your first language barrier". We can't read any of the signs and nothing is pronounced the way it looks. But that's fine, a good deal of people here know some english and they seem to enjoy using the language with us and we enjoy trying to understand them. Another barrier has been a physical one... the revolving door. Just imagine 50 some odd exhausted students with about 100 pounds of luggage each, trying to get through these things while trying to politely avoid the Swedes darting in and out. It's been quite comical.
Once we had dragged all of our bags into the hotel we were turned loose to explore. You can walk just about anywhere in Stockholm in about 30 minutes. Armed with maps (written in Swedish) we found our way to what its called the "Old Town" It's the most historic part of Stockholm and its absolutely breathtaking. There, we looked at monuments, enjoyed some street performers, and found a street cafe where we had actual Swedish meatballs.
Today was the first full day in Stockholm. We started bright and early with a guided tour of the city and learned a lot more about Swedish history. We also saw the Vasa museum, the Vasa is a warship that sat at the bottom of the Baltic for over three centuries and was raised. It's in near perfect condition thanks to the salt and fresh water mixture. We also found our way to the beach today. The water was really cold but it was totally worth it. We met lots of locals and one of my friends got a salsa dancing lesson from a guy from Chile.
Overall it's been great so far and I'm really looking forward to getting back out into the city tomorrow. The people here are quite friendly and laid back but not in the southern way that I'm used to. Sweden is nothing like the the U.S.A and its been really interesting to see those differences play out.

Leaving is a process

In just four days I will be in Stockholm, Sweden (pictured right) staying at the Radisson Royal Viking Hotel. This will be the first stop on the Baylor in Great Britain (BGB) European escapades. In the next four days I'll be frantically packing and finishing up homework for the classes I'm taking while I'm abroad. I will then embark on what I'm sure will be the most epic travel day of my life. I'll be flying out of DFW, spending a ball park 10 hours in the air, then landing at Heathrow to send half of my luggage ahead of me to Imperial College. Then it's back in the air and straight to Stockholm. I'm planning on becoming an airport pro. I will fly more on the first day of this trip than I have in my entire life. Wow. Once settled into Sweden I'll get to become familiar with my first new currency, the Swedish krona. Today one U.S. dollar is equal to 7.66 krona. I'll deal in five currencies on this trip... so converting has become a new matter of interest to me. While in Sweden I plan to see a few palaces and check out the Vasa, a warship that sunk in 1628 and has been revived. Other than that, I'm open to suggestion.
It's strange to think that I'll be overseas in just four days... honestly I can't seem to wrap my head around it. The next blog I write will be in a foreign country (I really have no time for more while I'm at home). I'm excited. I find myself wondering about who all I'll meet and what all there is to see, more than I can imagine I'm sure. This is going to be the trip of a lifetime and I know that I'm incredibly blessed to be getting to go. Thanks to Mom, Dad, Papa, and Nana. And thanks to my church home FBC Roscoe, and to all of my other wonderful friends for all the prayers and support. I'll be thinking of yall while I'm abroad and get ready because I plan to come home with some stories worth telling.

Waiting to go

So, at the request of a few friends I've decided to set up a blog about my summer abroad. I have not left yet but in light of the fact that I repel technology I thought I should see about getting this blogging business all figured out. By and large, I'm still confused. But hey, I have until July 7th. That's the big day, I'll get on a plane all doped up on Dramamine and wave goodbye to all that is familiar to me (I've never been further north than Kansas or further South than Mexico). When I land I will be in Stockholm, Sweden with just a sparsely packed suitcase and a group of Baylor Bears that I've yet to meet. After a brief stay in Stockholm I will board a train to Copenhagen, Denmark. I'll stay a few days there then board a plane to my ultimate destination, London, England where I will stay (except for a weekend in Paris, France and another in Edinburgh, Scotland) until August 10.
I've dreamed of seeing London since I was in the third grade and I can't believe I'll be going in just 40 days. This trip couldn't have come at a better time for me, before now I've never understood the desperate need to break the mold and experience an adventure all my own. Hopefully that's what this trip will be for me, one heck of an adventure. I'm so grateful that I've been blessed with a family and friends who support my going and I hope that this trip will make me a wiser and stronger person for them and for myself.
If you happen to be one of the few following this adventure of mine feel free to talk with me, share thoughts and advice, or even to make fun. You can use the comments here, my facebook, or my Baylor email, I plan to stay somewhat on top of those three during my travels.