Scotland

I just got back today from a weekend in Scotland! We arrived on Friday afternoon. We spent the evening wandering around the Old Town as the sun was setting. We had a late lunch/dinner at a restaurant where I can say I truly had a delicious cheeseburger that met and exceeded my American standards of what a cheeseburger should be. Once it was dark, we went on the “City of the Dead” ghost tour. It began at St. Giles Cathedral, which used to also be some kind of military residence and prison. Edinburgh has an incredibly dark and sad past especially surrounding fear of witches (little girls being tortured and killed) and a difficult time transitioning from a town to a bustling medieval city. At one point (according to the ghost tour guide), Edinburgh had a wall build around it that was supposed to protect the city from the English, but the wall was only two miles by a half mile with a population of at least 100,000 living inside. Consequently, there was nowhere for building to go but up, so Edinburgh was filled with wood houses up to twelve stories high with one central fire chimney running through the center. The city government soon realized these chimneys needed to be swept, so they went to the local orphanages and bought a bunch of three and four-year-olds. A chain would be dropped down the chimney; the child would be tied to it at the bottom and then pulled (kicking and screaming) up the chimney. Voila! A swept chimney.

On the ghost tour, we also went through a cemetery where J.K. Rowling supposedly would come on her lunch breaks and work on the Harry Potter series. The Elephant House café is credit with being where she wrote the first book, but because she was so poor, she could not afford to eat there every day. Often she would pack a lunch and eat it in this cemetery. Over the cemetery wall, you can see a big boarding school with tall spiral towers that is supposedly the inspiration for Hogwarts. Also, in this cemetery are graves belonging to Potters, Malfoys, McGonagall and even a Thomas Riddle.

On Saturday, we were up early to go to Edinburgh Castle. It is an impressive medieval castle and fortress that is the Scottish equivalent to the Tower of London. Like the Tower of London, the Edinburgh Castle houses the Scottish crown jewels, but their crown jewels are nothing compared to the English collection. Inside the castle is a cemetery devoted just to the dogs of military personnel! I thought it was really touching that it even existed, especially as some of the dogs’ graves date back to the seventeenth century. I counted 21 dog graves in total. After the castle, we bought of souvenirs and headed for the Scottish coastline since Edinburgh is really close to the water. I loved going down to the beach! Even though I am on an island, rarely do I get to see water that is so much a part of my life in Seattle. For dinner, we had Chinese food, which I found to be ironic. The Chinese buffet was topped off with dessert at a place called Chocolate Soup… yes, chocolate soup. My memories from Saturday night are filled mostly with Scottish whiskey.

London Life and York

It is almost the end of my first month in London and I am still loving it. Classes have been a transitioning point as the UK education system is very different from the US. The British move through their texts much faster, the secondary reading list is the length of an epic poem and there is a greater expectation for independent study and research to compliment the class. Just this week my reading list includes selected texts on mass culture, the play “The Witch of Edmonton” and the novel Moll Flanders (which is 427 pages in eighteenth century English).

My internship is going well. Last week felt like a slow start with relatively simple and mundane tasks. This Monday was more engaging with a research project I was asked to do for the firm’s chairman. He is doing a pitch later in the week to a potential new client and I did the preliminary investigation for him into the company’s background, business strategy, etcetera. My set workdays are Mondays and Thursdays, but I went in this morning to listen in on weekly staff meeting just to get a further idea of their operations. To say the least I am impressed. I like my co-workers and we are warming up to each other. The first day I felt anxious and awkward, but that is evaporating. I am still nervous around the managing director who sits near me. He seems highly knowledgeable to where it intimidates me, consequently I really want to earn his approval.

I have been exploring some of England and the world’s history and culture by checking out London’s museums. Thus far I have visited the Tate Modern, the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A). The Tate Modern had paintings I liked and others that were just a bit too contemporary for my liking. It was my first time seeing Monet, Matisse and Picasso’s work in person. The British Museum houses a bunch of awesome history. I saw the Rosetta Stone and I loved the Greek statues. They have the top of the pantheon that they stole from Greece. It was impressive, but I feel like the top of the pantheon should be in Athens! It does make me excited for Greece in April though. The V&A has vast amounts of art, furniture, jewellery, really anything the royal couple fancied adding to their collection. They even had a Dale Chihuly glass chandelier sculpture, which I thought was cool. It made me miss Seattle where everywhere you turn around there is a Chihuly.

This past weekend I went to York in north eastern England. It was a surprisingly big town, but it felt like a petite English village. All the streets are cobblestone with tons of leftover medieval architecture. York is home to a long string of invasions including the Romans, the Vikings and the Scots where consequently many of their main attractions are historical and religious sites or both. We went to York Minster, which is a large gothic cathedral. The front actually looks a lot like Notre Dame, but inside it is nowhere near as intricate. We also when to Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal which was a thriving monastery until King Henry VIII decided to repossess all the Roman Catholic Church’s land and wealth in England. The abbey is pretty although it is slowly crumbling away. The grounds have been maintained/redone and they are gorgeous. The estate has an area called the Moon Pond so automatically I was obsessed. It has one large circle pond in the middle to be a full moon and crescent moon ponds on either side of it. We took  fun pictures courtesy of my camera’s auto-timer.

I have class now so I must go. I’ll be back with a report on this upcoming weekend trip to Scotland soon.

Fergie said it best: Londy Londy Londy

I am back in London and I have been here for several days now. Saying good-bye to my mom, John and especially Jeremy was really hard on the third. They have been gone for just over a week now, but sadness comes and goes in waves.

I moved into my dorm room on Saturday! I am really pleased with the building and the location. I have my own single room with a private bathroom (shower, sink and toilet) that is about 4ft x 2ft. Cozy. I share a suite with six other single rooms that includes a common kitchen. I have met both of my neighbors, a French girl named Mary and a girl named Katie from New Jersey. This morning my class schedule was finalized where I am taking three upper-level English literature classes and one academic class that corresponds with my internship at New Century Media. This will leave Mondays and Thursday as internship workdays. Orientation was yesterday where I learned lots of “helpful” information that was also shared with me in kindergarten by Mrs. Crockett. For example, “Don’t take unlicensed cabs,” which is Mrs. Crockett for, “Don’t get into cars with strangers” and “the English education system may be challenging for international students,” which is Mrs. Crockett for, “There will be lots of new things to learn in kindergarten!” Mommy, wow, I’m a big kid now!

I have been exploring my neighborhood quite a bit with a girl named Amy from Minnesota. I live across the street from Madame Tussauds, if that is a London landmark that you might perhaps recognize. There are many shops and restaurants right next door on Baker Street, and upon exploring some more Amy and I found a quaint niche neighborhood just two blocks over and a few more down. I enjoy the vibe there, so I think I will be frequenting it. We are also just a few blocks away from Regent Park, which is one of London’s larger green spaces. I am thrilled to have a park so close. One of my classes is on the campus where I live and the other three are about a 15-20 minute walk, while my internship is about a twenty-minute tube ride. It is safe to say that I am in love with London.

Paris

On our first day in Paris we visited Sacré-Coeur and Notre Dame. Sacré-Coeur was situated on a mountain of stairs we climbed to the entrance. There are an infinite number of hustlers selling goods or singing American songs slightly out of key. One of the best schemes is a group of African men who approach you and attempt to braid bracelets or rings to your wrist and fingers. These braids then work as handcuffs because you are attached to the man. They then demand 10€ and while you are arguing with them their colleagues, which are very strategic and professional, gather around you as an intimation technique, while you are also being pick pocketed. Jeremy was in the beginning stages of being braided until Max whisked him away. Once inside Sacré-Coeur, the architecture and art is lovely.

            Notre Dame was our next destination where the impressive domed top of Sacré-Coeur faded into the truly magnificent gothic steeples of Notre Dame. The stained glass inside is as wonderful as the stone statues of holy figures carved into the outside tiers of the church. We spent quite a few euros lighting candles in the enclaves devoted to religious statues. I was devastated to learn that Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre Dame, is in fact not based on a real person. In the evening we went on a delicious dinner boat cruise on the Siene River. However, we were unable to actually leave the port due to the river’s high water levels from the snowstorm last week. I bravely tried a French delicacy called foie gras… or duck liver.  It was rich with a very poignant flavor. I don’t think I’ll be trying it again. 

            The next day we were up bright and early to see the Louvre. If you were to spend one minute in front of every piece of art, it would take you nine months to see everything the museum has to offer. Consequently, we only made a dent! We strolled through floors of French and Italian paintings, including the Mona Lisa. Her painting is quite beautiful, but with the crowds that are constantly gathered around her with cameras flashing, I somehow felt disappointed. For some reason it was not what I expected to feel when I saw the painting. In the Italian painting section I took a wrong turn down some stairs and magically ended up on in the African and Asian sculptures, which were full of woodcarvings. My absolute favorite gallery was the one devoted to Egyptian artifacts. It was so cool to walk through three floors and countless rooms of hieroglyphic tablets, pottery, and sarcophaguses. I then put some art on myself with some new earrings from the gift shop (courtesy of Jeremy). We spent the afternoon at the Eiffel Tower. We walked up the steps to the tower’s lower level. It was blistering cold so we warmed in the fifteen-minute line for the toilettes. John proposed to my mom underneath the Eiffel Tower by saying, “we need to talk” in a stern voice while pulling a diamond ring out of his pocket. Linda of course said yes.

            That evening Max ordered a delicious dinner, but I skipped on the fois gras this time. We ate at his apartment to ring in the New Year by watching the Eiffel Tower sparkle at midnight. At about 12:30 we decided to go on an adventure to the crowded Champs-elysés famous boulevard. It was packed with partiers and police.  Annalise, Jeremy and I got separated from Max and Flo. Right under the Arc de Triomphe we got caught in the ruckus of low-scale riots. A group of men went running through the crowd and then they started punching another group of men and then those guys started punching random people in the crowd about fifteen feet from us. The police went running through the crowd in an organized formation, broke-up the fights/everyone scattered. We thought it wise to go home at that point.

            Today Jeremy and I went to the Jardin de Luxembourg. It is a very beautiful park with trees planted in perfectly straight and parallel rows with many statues. There is a pretty spouting fountain right in the middle with lots of walking paths. We had lunch at a quaint café. Jeremy had a croque madame for the third day in a row, I enjoyed toasted bread and goat cheese and we both sipped on café au lait. On our way back to the underground metro station (of which we are now masters), we wandered into a big church called Saint Secuile. I don’t believe it is particularly famous, but the lovely thing about European churches is that are all a few centuries old and consequently beautiful regardless.

Tomorrow morning we leave Paris to head back to Manchester.