Obama, Edinburgh and Alan Rickman

Goodness I have not posted in a while. Very poor form of me.

To cover the most important bits in my memory:

The week after Halloween was big because it was the Wuthering Heights paper deadline. Lots of energy went into preparing for that and I think the paper I wrote turned out to be darn fine. I'm hoping for a much better grade than what I got on the first one for Bleak House.

During this week, a little historical event happened in the United States: Barack Obama became the first black President of the United States!!!!! It was such an event and I SOOOOO wish I could have been in Chicago for it!!! I would have been at Grant Park, or at least somewhere on campus enjoying the CNN coverage with a bunch of people. Instead, I was stuck in England watching at midnight for the earliest reports and homesick for my city!!! And I got so tired, too, that I actually went to bed around 2:30 am because I couldn't handle staying up any longer! Once Ohio went to him, I thought it was dunzo anyhow. Plus, I couldn't handle being in the lounge anymore with some of the people in there. Many of them were not at all interested in the election and were appearing to steal food that was provided, and this one guy kept being an obnoxious jerk in support of McCain. Of course, this obnoxious jerk is an obnoxious jerk every day, so this was not surprising. But I just didn't feel like being crowded on anymore by people. But I was really upset that I couldn't stay awake because around 5 am the big cheers and whoops and hollers broke out because he was officially the winner and was speaking in Chicago at Grant Park and I wasn't there, nor was I present to watch it on TV and I felt like a loser, all because of the stupid time zones!


But I was of course awake from the celebrating going on in the dorm and didn't sleep well because I had to wake early for my class, so the night following the election was interesting because I went to see No Man's Land, a Harold Pinter play with Michael Gambon (Dumbledore) and David Bradley (Filch) in the lead roles. I think because we were all so tired, some more so than me, we pretty much waved goodbye as the meaning of the play flew over our heads. The beats to the play were really strange and the point of the play never seemed particularly clear. It just didn't work for me. But, Dumbledore was brilliant and I was mondo impressed. And I also found it hilarious how he has this jaunty skipping step that he showed off at the end. It was pretty funny. Just wish he would put the kind of intensity I saw on display in the play into his role as Dumbledore. Though, not like he has a lot to do anymore, being dead and such.

Last weekend, in between writing my paper for Helsinger on Wuthering Heights, I popped into the Tower of London with Ali, but found that for 14 pounds, it's not particularly worth it. I mean, it's interesting, but I'm not a big enough history buff to be enthralled and not care about my money. Also, I find audio guides are very helpful and make it feel like more of a tour worth your while, but they were 4 pounds for them, so that wasn't happening. Ultimately, I did find my mom a souvenir in the gift shop, but still no luck finding souvenirs for others.


The next day was all about writing the paper, and then packing for the Edinburgh trip. We left on Monday, November 10 for a 9-hour bus ride to Edinburgh. Oddly, I snoozed enough that it didn't feel too long. We arrived in the rainy, COLD, windy city with no idea where to go for our hostel, and very hungry. After finding the hostel, the sketchtastic place that it was, we went out looking for food and took far too long looking. I resigned myself to charging a night or two at the Balmoral and paying it off for the next few years if anything scary happened at the hostel, or I was unhappy enough. But luckily, it was okay enough.


The first full day was nice and the weather was so much better! Edinburgh Castle was the first stop, and was also quite breathtaking because of the views. But again, you start to feel like 10 pounds is a lot of money to simply walk around a place that is so old. It's actually a very good thing that I have put off visiting all the museums in London -- they're all free!! I won't have to spend money and they'll take up plenty of time now!


Anyhoo, back in Edinburgh, we also met up with Ali's friend who is at University of Edinburgh, so she showed us around some. We ate at some Rowling haunts, particularly The Elephant House for dinner. That is the cafe which Rowling wrote most of Philosopher's Stone at. We walked to a student pub to join members of the Chocolate Society of the university in chocolate carving, and I was NOT carded when I ordered a pom pom drink, whereas Katie and Ali were. Ha!


Wednesday was my favorite day because we visited Holyrood Palace, the place of business for the queen these days. It had so much historical significance inside to ooh and aah about, though it is a shame we can't take pictures. But all the same, it felt more worth my admission price. We saw Mary Queen of Scots' room, Charles II's room, the Queen's bedchamber which is permanently protected by glass and low lighting now, and also the room where Mary's secretary was stabbed 56 times. This place had an audio guide and I feel like that helped.


Afterward came my favorite part of the trip: Climbing Arthur's Seat. A 825-foot highland hill, it's a very wild and mountainous hill to hike, and quite an adventure and exercise. But I have some sort of wild mountain outdoorsy side to me, and I handled the hike like it was nothing. My friends, on the other hand, had a more difficult time playing the outdoor explorer. They say I must have been a shepherd or goat or something in a past life. Either way, getting to top offered some extraordinary views. It was a great feeling.


That night was a little less fun, though, because places in Edinburgh close around 5 or 6 pm and there's very little to do if you don't know the city that well or if you're not interested in drinking or clubbing. So we had Indian food, and the menu was written with a Scottish accent attached to the words, so it was weird to follow. We then stopped at The Elephant House again for dessert, and then spent the rest of the night talking in the kitchen at the hostel.

The final day in Edinburgh on Thursday was a little rainy and also not so much fun. We'd exhausted the tourist things pretty much and went around window shopping and roaming Topshop. I found a dress I really love but am not prepared to spend the money on. Then, I left on a bus to the airport alone because I had an earlier flight back to London whereas the others were going on to Dublin. There was a surreal moment thinking how a few years ago I never would have imagined myself being the world traveler and going around a foreign city alone and just being independent and not afraid. It was a nice feeling.

I got to board the plane from the tarmac instead of from a gate tunnel, which I've never done before and thought was cool. I then had quite the journey back from Luton airport because the Tube doesn't reach it. That was annoying and rather pricey.

I spent the rest of that night eating A LOT and uploading photos to Facebook.

My Friday was supposed to be a work day for my classes and I was going to be productive. BUTTTTT, after climbing Arthur's Seat two days before, I was absolutely exhausted still and I totally stayed in all day working on more photos and just generally being lazy. But, since I knew Alan Rickman's play that he directed was ending this weekend, I checked to see if there were tickets and I found a standing ticket for only 7.50 for Friday night. I bought it and decided it was better than chancing Saturday. As it turned out, not only was the play brilliant and I enjoyed it a great deal (nothing like what my roommate was suggesting it might be like), but the standing ticket didn't matter at all. The theatre is so intimate that it was a better view than pretty much all of the previous seated tickets I've had in the past. I was truly impressed by the acting and the set and the beats and the flow and everything about it. It was also quite funny.

As it goes, whenever I like a play, I buy the program, because in London they are always 3 pounds and not free like they are in the US. For this night, how it worked was this: I visited the bathroom and waited in a bit of a queue for several minutes. Then, I rummaged around for the coins for the program. This took some time. But somehow, this correct amount of time had me paying for the program right when Alan Rickman, the fantasy love of my life, was walking up the stairs. I saw him for only five seconds or so, barely anything, but it was enough, because I was a scared chicken and did not follow him into the bar, his destination. I couldn't handle the idea of being in there and being the fan in front of people. Had I been on the stairs as he was coming up, I would have been perfectly fine with saying hello and giving my praise of the play and also throwing in a "You're Severus Snape and that's just awesome!" comment. But he had disappeared into the bar and all I pictured was me looking awkward and having to tap him on the shoulder while people looked at at the fangirl spectacle. I also heard on IMDB of someone's bad experience of making a fool of herself by interrupting him in a conversation and badgering him for a picture and generally being too flippant about him. I did not want to risk a potentially poor experience like that. Had he been on the stairs, or had I met him coming in the building while I was going out, I think I would have been perfectly fine. When I saw Ralph Fiennes, I froze and stared like a gaping fool. I just had "It's Voldemort" flashing in my head. But when I saw Rickman, he just looked like your average guy, and you know, if you didn't know what he looked like well enough, you might miss him. And because he just appeared so apart from his characters, and looked so normal, it made him seem approachable. Well, seem; I didn't approach, now did I? But that was more me than him. Again, I think it would have been fine had I been on those stairs ten seconds earlier.


Perhaps there will be another chance encounter in my future. You never know, I have three weeks left and the man uses the Tube. I could be on the right car one day. Or I could just hope for the day he films a movie in Chicago. Or that I'll be in NY when HBP has its premiere finally. Something.

Anyhow, Saturday was a nice day because my friend Alison was visiting from her Rome program with her roommate, so we spent the day roaming the city. Westminster Abbey is overrated, because it's 9 pounds to look at stone plaques that say someone famous is buried nearby, or to look at really impressive memorials that say something in Latin about someone buried nearby. And you can't take photos. So you spend an hour and feel like you didn't really get your money's worth. Again, such a good thing that all the museums are free and they're the last things for me to do, other than visit some parks.

Also, visited Camden Market which was a definite funky experience. Also took a really crazy trip in search of Abbey Road. It was nice to travel with some different people, and especially someone I've known for a while now. Had that amazing cheeseburger again at the Borough Market and took them to My Old Dutch. Also had a glass of wine at the Hung, Drawn and Quartered and was not carded there either. It's good to be recognized as someone over 18.

And so my account of the past two weeks concludes. I have a LOT of reading and work to look forward to in the last three weeks, particularly this week. But it'll all be over. In fact, three weeks from this very moment that I'm writing, I'll be home! And we're all very aware of how many weeks are left. It's not that we don't love London, it's just that London is missing the important people we want to share the experiences with. I am so homesick for Chicago it's actually surprising. But again, we all are. So I'll be home in three weeks and probably eating Taco Bell in between a breathless account of my trip, and counting down until move-in day back in Chicago. That sounds about right.

Halloween

So I had a very unconventional Halloween this year. I enjoyed it immensely, but it felt quite different. Britain does not celebrate Halloween the way we do in the US; they recognize it, they have parties and people do dress up, and there are the random decorations here and there. But children do not trick-or-treat. Most houses are barren of decorations. And the people who dress up pick from one of three costume ideas: The slutty angel, some painted-faced ghoul, or a pirate. That's all I saw on Halloween on the Tube and the street. But I'm sure others dress up in different gettups, I'm just surprised that Halloween didn't feel quite so festive as it normally does. It felt like we skipped October 31 and moved right on to November 1.

A normal Halloween would include a Doc Films screening of something terrifically horrifying like last year's extraordinary Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter, and would probably include a good day of random people dressed up on the quads and seeing all the many homes in Hyde Park decorated. Then the nearest Friday to Halloween would include a trick-or-treat through the dorm by neighborhood kids, and we all dress up, and there would be an Off-Off show to take in with some horror themes, followed by a Halloween-themed movie back at the dorm. I imagine this year would have included just that, only I would have taken in the movie over at The Apartment, as I call it. And I probably would have worn my catsuit costume idea, which is now saved for next Halloween.

Anyhoo, my actual Halloween involved getting up at 6 am and taking two trains and a bus to get to Haworth, Yorkshire where the Bronte parsonage is located. We toured the home where the Brontes lived, and even saw the creepy sofa (THE sofa) where Emily Bronte died. There were a few minutes spent hanging with a few horses and making friends with one who really liked me (aka, he kept trying to eat me), and we chased after some sheep at one point but they ran from us, the great fluffy things, and then we set off for over two hours on a tour of the moors. It was quite the hike, full of steep climbs and LOTS of mud, and I felt quite proud to have bought some boots the night before for this very purpose, but unhappy that they were giving me blisters. It was absolutely stunningly beautiful. I still don't know if my vocabulary quite describes the views of the moors. I mean, rolling green lands, ranges of clouds floating in and hanging there above the green, sheep Maahhhing in the valley and carrying to us on the wind, the waterfall trickling down the side of one valley and escaping into a narrow river, and hills and trees and the blue sky and the stray rustic home spotted across the valley. It was very humbling, very surreal, and we were constantly looking for the movie crew. I can't imagine how it must be to live there and to have those lands as your backyard. We were all in a trance, especially when we went down to the waterfall. I don't think there was a single person who wasn't thinking how much they wished they had their friends and family and significant others back home with them to see it all. It's the kind of thing you want others to see, just so they can experience how powerful it is. Because it is just that, powerful. I know I have an obsession with landscapes, but the moors will just knock you to your bum because they're such a visual power.










I also saw Quantum of Solace yesterday. I was not particularly impressed. I didn't really like it. It felt like it borrowed too heavily from the Bourne films, it wasn't cohesive by any means, it was abrupt in every sense, from the shots to the scenes to the ending. At 100 minutes, I wanted a little more exposition. This story felt like a little dalliance before the actual third act arrives. For a film that was supposed to tell us about Quantum, the organization behind the events of the first movie and Vesper's suicide, we learned very little and instead it allowed Bond to get sidetracked trying to investigate some lame water/oil maneuvering in Bolivia. And so much was ridiculously unrealistic, more than your average Bond story, that I couldn't help but roll my eyes. When you drop out of a plane and swim to another person in the air who has the only parachute, and you pull the chord two seconds before you hit stone earth in a sinkhole, and you are perfectly okay, both you and the Bond girl in the evening dress, frankly, I get agitated. The wonders of the first film were all the live stunts performed. This had a few of those, but it used CGI for its big action set pieces, which are supposed to be those moments when you show off; instead, the CGI detracted. EVERYONE remembers the opening running stunt in Casino Royale and the way Bond blast through the drywall. We didn't see that here. And we remember how Bond was human in the last film. In this one he's positively indestructible, and it's aggravating to see Bond always getting up again and again like he's Superman. Furthermore, don't even get me started on the lack of dialogue and humor that powered much of Casino Royale. Casino Royale spent a lot of time on a lucky poker game, but it was powered by bits of gun fighting and poisoning and snarky dialogue. This film lacks snark, wit, and intelligent dialogue, and instead is fueled by a lot of irrelevant snippets and throw-away lines. A lot of the dialogue doesn't even help the plot proceed. The plot lingers and things happen and you find no explanation for why Bond is flying here or there, or why Bond brought Mathis in for two minutes, or why the villain even matters a great deal. The villain doesn't even present conflict or obstacles for Bond; he just sort of goes after him out of curiosity and interest in bringing down someone slimy. I found the movie too slap-dash and jumpy and bleak to hold my interest much, and that's unfortunate, because I had such high hopes. Perhaps the third film will straighten things out, and my wish for the Casino Royale director to return will be granted.

Alone time, or Someone that you think that you can trust is just another way to die

Okay, this post was a long time coming. It'll be split up actually, because I'm super tired and I have to get up in 5 hours to go to Bronte Country. So I'll just cover part of the week, and briefly.

Last weekend, I was hoping to see the Tower of London. I did not see it. Too many people were disinterested or too busy or too tired to go. This is a common theme. Many people in the program have an "Oh, I'm tired, let's just go back to the dorm" attitude. I like to go out and do things, and I put experiences in London first, with writing a paper all weekend second. So ultimately, I jumped into the group going to Highgate Cemetery and I saw the graves of George Eliot and Karl Marx. It was a very pretty graveyard in the way creepy, tree-lined and shady graveyards can be. I took lots of pictures. I'll one day soon put some on here when I have time. We also had lunch at a pub, courtesy of Emily, but unfortunately this whole day trip was accompanied by an unwelcome companion who is quite obnoxious, and that made it difficult to enjoy thoroughly. Also, a few of us went up to Hampstead Heath and climbed Parliament Hill to get the view of London. It was quite magestic. Pictures don't capture it as well. The other unfortunate thing about walking around beautiful parks like this is you start thinking about who you would have liked to be there with you.

Saturday night there was mad fun playing Apples to Apples for 3.5 hours, and some of that time was accompanied by wine. Always helpful.

Anyhoo, Sunday was supposed to be big fun because it was World Zombie Day and I was going to get snapshots of all the people dressed as zombies, but thanks to the rain and other barriers, I missed it and I was quite upset. But I did visit Borough Market again and I had more chips that burned my mouth, and I also had a delicious brownie! In addition, I found where The Leaky Cauldron's exterior was filmed for Prisoner of Azkaban. Later that evening was all about the paper and posting pictures to Facebook.

Which brings me to Monday, also about writing a paper. I took a while. But I also visited 12 Grimmauld Place's exterior and also King's Cross! There are pictures of me in front of the Platform 9 and 3/4 sign with the cart. I will get more tomorrow since we'll be at King's Cross again.

Tuesday was a mental health day/sleep recovery day/avoiding three hours of poetry discussion with Helsinger day. I read some Wuthering Heights and sent postcards into the mail (which already arrived today, actually!) and also got my absentee write-in ballot out too. Good show. I'm such a good citizen, electing my leader and all *cough* Obama *cough.*

We continued with Doctor Who as well, at night, finishing season three. We also learned last night that David Tennant is going to leave the show in 2010, which isn't much since there isn't a 2009 season and he's only doing five episodes in 2010! Just when I've developed a raging David Tennant crush, he's gotta go and do this to me! I'm gonna try like no other to get a ticket to see him in London when they come here!! I want to meet him! Lol. Stage door alert.

Anyhoo, I went to Leicester Square last night for the Quantum of Solace premiere. Totally skipped reading for today's Royce class to go. I was so tired after standing for 4 hours in the same squished position. It wasn't worth the troubles of going alone and standing around just to see some famous people walk by, and to find yourself pretty much attacked in the process of a mob of girls launching an attack towards Daniel Craig. A little scary. And my camera is crap. Not that great of pictures, a lot of blurry ones or shots of famous people with their backs to me. But I have a few decent Daniel Craig pictures, because he was like two feet from me at one point. And so was Hagrid! Robbie Coltrane ambled by. Very cool. And Judi Dench is the bomb. As one guy near me said loudly, "Oh man, Judi Dench ... what a woman!!!"

Foot Adventures and All That Jazz

Do not come to London if you don't like walking. Certainly you can take the Tube, catch a bus, or break the bank taking a black cab, but seriously, you will walk your bum off (and I wish my bum would hurry it up already given all the walking I've done)!

Last Saturday I was left to my own devices while most of my friends here ran off to Stratford-upon-Avon to stalk David Tenant in Hamlet. I did not go because I bought advance tickets for the BFI London Film Festival and so I saw Frost/Nixon last Saturday instead. Much walking that day followed. For one, I managed to get myself lost - using my London A-Z Guide maps too - and I NEARLY missed the film. The map made it seem like the cinema I needed was somewhere down a side street NEAR Leicester Square; I THOUGHT it was IN Leicester Square. Turns out, the map i silly and I should have just gone looking around Leicester Square in the first place. But anyhow, I used the toilet and popped into the auditorium at the very beginning of the credits.

Now here's the fun part about my first experience in a foreign cinema: the auditorium itself was huge. It was standard movie seating, not stadium, but it was very wide and deep. According to the interwebz, the auditorium I was in holds nearly 800 people! I thought I was in the room that houses 500, but I guess my eyes were deceived and I saw the film with another 799 people! But anyhow, it was a decent film from Ron Howard and I got dibs on the review for the Chicago Maroon. Brilliant performances, too, and if Frank Langella doesn't win Best Actor this year, then a true will have been committed. Unless I see even more powerful performances in the coming months.

Following the show, I decided I would just wander around the city before going back. I hadn't done this yet and I was in a walking mood. I was going to look for Covent Garden but got myself lost and ended up on Oxford Street down near Tottenham Court Road. I walked all the way down Oxford Street, went up Regent Street, saw a lot of stores I doubt I will ever afford until I'm stinking rich, and then decided it was time to take a trip to Elephant and Castle to check out the Peacocks store situation. So I went off to a really random part of town, found a shady kind of shopping centre not unlike many shady places in the US, and was not impressed by the store there. So I headed back and sat online chatting with friends for a while before finishing my paper finally!

Sunday!!! Another day all to myself, and finally without that ghastly paper to fidget with. I was feeling like it was a pyjama day, and I was going to plan my movie locations tour for the next day, but while I was planning, I found that Who Framed Roger Rabbit used a building in London to film as the exterior of the ACME Factory, so being a mad crazy wild fan for that movie, I HAD to go find it. So I decided I would set out looking for that darn Winchester Pub from Shaun of the Dead first, and stop by the ACME Factory after; except, after a 50-minute Tube journey out to Kensal Green, and a half-hour walk, I learned that the Monson Road I thought I needed was actually a Monson Road I did not need: the Duke of Albany pub, aka The Winchester, was all the way down around New Cross Gate, so the trek to Kensal Green - which, by the way, is like Immigrant Central - was completely useless save for seeing a part of London very much unlike the centre. And by the time I was heading back, it was too dark to go elsewhere, so I returned to get ready for Monday.

Monday, after our first class with Prof. Helsinger and Bleak House, I decided I would have another foot adventure, so I planned to go down to New Cross Gate. But it did not happen. After several Tube changes, I learned that the East London Line was closed until Summer 2010 and that the only way to New Cross Gate is by bus, and I was not feeling comfortable enough to go looking then and there, so I decided to go all the way over to Shepherds Bush on the Hammersmith and City Line to find the ACME Factory ... and I did!!! It was great, just like it looked in the film, except without Toon Town behind it. And there was a ton of construction going on. They're turning it into a bus station partially. Somewhat ironic; the buses ought to be named the Cloverleaf Buses: in the film, Doom's company Cloverleaf buys out the tram company and tries to get the ACME Factory so he can tear down Toon Town and put a freeway through there. If they'd done that, I'd have been nearly laughing, except not, because then this cool film landmark would be gone! But I have pictures, and they'll eventually be online at some point. I haven't loaded them yet because I'm waiting until I build up a better collection.

The rest of the week was touch and go ... attending classes and trying to not fall asleep, visiting the Sambourne and Leighton houses which are preserved homes from Victorian times (some real sights, I'll tell ya), and trying to not fall apart under the weight of wanting to eat something other than the food I've been making lately. Although, Tuesday night we did go see Chicago!!! However, no matter how much excitement one might think is attached to seeing that musical, I have to say, I was not too impressed. It's not that great of a production. And it's not the English cast, it's the production itself. The film improves upon the story, the characters, the dances, and the songs in so many ways that it makes the film a remarkable piece of entertainment while the stage musical is left to continue in the shadow of the film. The actors lacked the bite of those from the film, the songs and dances lacked energy (for example, the stage Mama Morton just stands there singing her song, and nothing else, whereas Queen Latifah puts on one heck of a performance in the film), and ultimately the musical doesn't function well telling a story; the acts are all ordered up so as to tell a story, but it feels irreverent and contrived, whereas the film at least gives a reason for why these people are singing and performing cabaret acts. In the end, I would replace the whole cast, especially Velma, Roxie, and Billy Flynn: Velma, simply because Catherine Zeta-Jones played that role to the tee and put on a real show, and she also made Velma more of a vixen than the stage musical does (the stage Velma works like a talentless two-bit singer who complains like a child, whereas Zeta-Jones was a real witch, and all the better for it); Roxie also plays better when the actress makes her more conniving. Zellwegger dug into the role and touched on the dialogue and lyrics in just the right way. And ultimately, Richard Gere impressed me far more than the actor I saw, and he, too, really threw himself into his role - the tap dancing scene was actually ADDED to the movie! In conclusion, I put Chicago at the very end of my list of favorite theatrical performances I've seen. The only real strong conviction I had about the production was that the chorus was astounding and I really wish I could dance like that!

Today was another foot adventure day. We had to meet up in the lobby to join my prof to go to Chancery Lane, the courts, and also Lincoln's Inn. These are all places related to Dickens' Bleak House. We actually sat in on a trial in which a man apparently is accused of beating a man with a vase; we're not sure if the man was killed or if there is more to the story than just the questions we heard, but the guy was Chinese, seemed like he was fudging with the system by requesting a translator and acting like he doesn't know much English, and kept on lying on the stand. The prosecutor totally had him cornered and it was almost hilarious. He's going to jail. Also, Prof. Helsinger and a few others sat in on a trial involving a man who killed someone with an axe!

We then walked around Chancery Lane and Prof. Helsinger, who luckily knows exactly where she's going, showed us where Dickens imagined Krook's place to be, and where Snagsby's shop was, and then where the actual legal offices were in Lincoln's Inn, and then also where we can imagine Tulkinghorn living. Then we saw where the old graveyard is located that was used as Lady Dedlock's final stop at the end of the novel ... it's been converted to a playground today. Prof. Helsinger ASSUMES they tried to remove all the bodies, but she can't be positive they got to them all, simply because it would be a heck of a job.

After the tour, the whole group went to Covent Garden so Emily could pay for our lunch. Unfortunately, Emily hasn't been the greatest Graduate Assistant/RA-type person, so the lunch was not planned and we had to find a place to go, and then everyone of course had their own ideas of what they wanted to eat, and the first place someone shouted out was chosen, and then they didn't have certain things people wanted, and it was a hassle to seat us all, and the whole time I was thinking it was lame that it was not properly planned. This is London, you don't just walk up to places and expect seating for 25 and service to be provided to 25 people suddenly. And the whole spontaneous choice thing doesn't work well when you KNOW everyone is going to be like, "Let's go here!"

But whatever. After lunch, we broke off to go in our separate ways, so my group wandered for some dessert in Covent Garden and looked at some other shops. I really wanted hot chocolate because it's starting to get much cooler, so I tried Ben's Cookies, but because most places in London have a minimum charge to use cards, I ended up buying four cookies and a hot chocolate for more money than a normal person pays for such things. But it's London, and at least the exchange rate dropped to $1.54 today on account of a weaker sterling pound. And I have two cookies left for tomorrow and Sunday! And the hot chocolate was really good.

A few of us decided we'd look at Oxford Street shopping, so after browsing a nice place called Oasis in Covent Garden that we hope to one day afford, we headed off to Primark, a very intimidating place. The place was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO crowded, SOOOOOOOOOOOOO inexpensive (we're talking 5 pounds for knits, and 10 pounds for dresses, and at a quality I would say is at least level with Wet Seal, or even some stores like Kohl's), and it was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO big. We didn't have enough time to properly tour the place, and I wasn't feeling the shopping bug today as I felt kind of gross and frumpy in my UChicago hoodie and too-big jeans, and I'm really tired of my hair, especially because it's starting to frizz! But we're going to go back Monday morning before class because it'll hopefully be an easier time to shop. And with the exchange rate dropping, it'll be a good deal! We're all hoping the exchange rate goes to $1.30 range so we can all purchase a bunch of things.

Anyhoo, we all came back from Primark and I'm just typing before I go off to cook some dinner. It's the continuation of Season Three of Doctor Who tonight! We have the whole season from the library and we've been watching for the past two nights. Good stuff! LOVE David Tenant!

Also of note, I think I may be developing lactose intolerance! I've been having weird cravings for milk lately, but I've been having--how shall I put this?--intestinal difficulties which I blame the milk on. But maybe not, because some days I don't. Mystery!

I'll have a new blog update Sunday night as this weekend proves to be a busy one. The whole next week will be a busy one!

One Down, Three To Go

The first leg of the London quarter is complete: we had our last class meeting with Murrin on Wednesday and our papers were all vaguely due on Wednesday, Thursday, or in email form at least for when he gets home to Chicago to read them. I am doing the latter and sending it by email tonight. I am still editing. When he said that we could email if we missed dropping them on Thursday, I decided I would take that opportunity and put a little love into the paper. Classic Michelle Procrastination struck last Friday, so while everyone ran off to lock themselves in their rooms and read and write and research, I did not hit the books until Sunday night. The problem I had with time was that I kept changing my topic idea and finally decided on Harry Potter meets The Mabinogion meets Voyage of Bran. The trouble is - now that I've typed out 15 pages! - I think I went off in tangential directions on aspects of these Other Worlds in these texts and I didn't restrict my handling of the texts to my thesis. So I think I'm just going to tweak my thesis so that the rest of the stuff fits. At least my conclusion and many of my ideas are good. I realize nowadays that I really have a problem with structuring papers. I should work on that. At least I have time for editing, though. Sometimes I just send the paper in. But I feel confident about the class nonetheless because I participated in class and didn't miss any of our class meetings, so as long as he digs the paper some, I think a B+ or A- is guaranteed. The paper would really have to impress to get an A. I don't know if it is, strictly because my organization of thoughts is wacky. But oh well.

Also, I have a newly found love of milk. I think it's just the milk here in England, but it tastes really good, so because I've been living off a lot of water and occasional packets of Crystal Light, and a Coke Zero here and there, adding the milk at dinner has been a change of pace. Maybe I'll make up for all the calcium I never got as a child.

Postcards ... I need to find some good ones and send some out.

McCain ... wouldn't it be funny if he ran his campaign as though he were Gollum, complete with Gollum's voice and mannerisms? "I promisesss tax cutses, my fellow Americanses." That's straight out of a hysterical conversation last night. I swear.

Europe ... where should I go for my 7th week break? I'm torn between going somewhere really exotic and out of the way, like a resort in Egypt, or to Croatia, or even Prague, which is actually not as exotic as it sounds - everyone wants to go to Prague to be exotic, so everyone there is not so exotic because there are too many people with that thought. But if you go to Morocco, now that's something. Hint: Yeah, I kinda want to go to Morocco. I mean, first choice is Greece, but it's basically out of the question. But I'll probably just end up dropping into Paris for a day or two and then visiting Ireland with everyone else.

Best Cheeseburger Ever and Being Spontaneous

The past few days proved to be quite eventful. Wednesday night I had been suffering from a bout of boredom/homesickness, but I was hella tired, so it wasn't a surprise. Thursday night was more fun because we watched the first three episodes of Blackadder Goes Forth, a delightfully funny sitcom from the 80s which I'm glad to have seen. We finished with the other three episodes on Friday night. I really want to see the rest of the Blackadder volumes, specifically the one with Miranda Richardson. Also, following the episodes of Blackadder, Katie produced an infernal copy of Beowulf ... and not the Zemeckis version. It was a 1999 movie with Christopher Lambert of Mortal Kombat and Highlander fame, and also Rhona Mitra, among other unknowns. It was a weird sort of postmodern deal that was more fantasy/sci-fi with Matrix-like fight scenes than adept adaptation of the epic poem. There was a Will, a Carl, and a Roland in the film as well, and Hrothgar wore jeans at one point. Also, Grendel's mother was definitely a porn actress. We suspect this film itself was a thrown-out script for a softcore porn film, and it just happened to get tinkered with and made as the film I saw. Either way, I'll be seeing it again when I'm back in Chicago ... paired with Zombie Strippers, another film recommended to me by Katie, who said it's at least worth one or two viewings for its sheer awfulness. My tastes in film have been corrupted at the U of C! I point the finger at one whose initials are CKG!


So here in London we have Fridays off from classes. I am a fan of this. A group of us wandered around looking at consignment shops in Chelsea, which basically means designer clothing priced 60 pounds less than it was when the original buyer paid for it --> still way out of our price range. Afterward we headed over to the Borough Market, which is perhaps my favorite place to get food in London now. We strolled by the stands containing vegetables and fruits and past the tables of pastries and cookies and pies. The overwhelming selection and need to sample every piece of cheese offered kept us there for two hours as we pondered the wine selections, stared at a pig's head at a meat counter, sampled some venison and pork, and took in the wonderful food scents.


After a once-over of the place, I decided it was time to settle upon an actual bit of food for dinner, so I strolled back to the Northfield Farm stand which I had my eye on earlier. 4 pounds for a beef, lamb, or pork burger. As someone who hasn't been a fan of cooking meat at all since I arrived in London, it was a nice idea to get a little meat in my diet rather than my protein-packed beans of late. So I placed my order for a beef burger and paid over the 4 gold one-pound coins and received what I would deem, within minutes, to be the best cheeseburger I'd ever consumed in my whole entire life. Nothing has ever compared to the deliciousness of this burger. The beef was not a patty but rather chunks of beef that were placed on the bun, and then stilton cheese was added. I squirted ketchup on and took a bite. It was heaven indeed. My feeling is that everyone I know should be told of this delicious find and brought to London simply for the consumption of one of these burgers. It's something not to be missed out on in this life.


Juliet: Banoffee pie?
Mark: Eghh, no, thanks.
Juliet: Thank god ... you would've broken my heart if ya said yes.
Mark: Wellll, lucky you.

I also had a slice of banoffee pie. Can't pass up a Love Actually reference.

So then yesterday, Saturday, Margaret and Lisbeth and I met up. Where? you ask. At the Borough Market, of course! More money to spend. Margaret had not been yet and was fascinated by all the foodie options. We took her around for a quick look and she and Lisbeth settled on a meat pie - not pussycat or priest or royal marine, but plain old lamb. I bee-lined for the fish and chips, but just got the chips because adding the fish is just too expensive. And besides, the portions you receive with side orders here are enough that you're not hungry for more food. I also found the cheapest can of Coke Zero in London so far at 80 pence. We lunched on the Southbank along the Thames and then returned to find dessert. They picked out ice cream but I found myself a double chocolate cherry muffin. Unfortunately the cherry part was somewhat lacking, but it was still a treat!

We parted with Margaret then as she's been a bit sick and we decided it was time to head back to the dorm, but we decided to walk back along the water, which took an hour and a half on account of photo opportunities. Though, I did pick up my tickets from the BFI Southbank as I purchased a ticket to see Frost/Nixon at the London Film Festival next Saturday, and also a ticket for Rachel Getting Married from the festival. It'll be my very first film festival experience. Granted, I didn't get a premiere ticket, but you never know who might show up. Though, when I say that I mean Alan Rickman, and I'm sure he is a member and has perfect seats for any show and any premiere, and not a 12:30 afternoon ticket that is not a premiere. But oh well. Either way, I get to see Frost/Nixon and that film WAS a sold-out engagement for a while, so I got lucky. Alas, not enough to nab a ticket for Quantum of Solace ... though I still plan to try the queue. I'm going to that premiere just so I can stand along the red carpet and see Daniel Craig arrive. Hello blue eyes, and I don't mean Frank Sinatra!

And now I come to the truly thrilling part of my weekend ... why spontaneous decisions earn great rewards....

Yesterday, while Lisbeth and I were walking along the Southbank to meet up with Margaret, I needed to make an emergency bathroom break stop, so Lisbeth said the National Theatre is a good place to sneak into. So we went in looking for the toilets, and while passing through the lobby, we spotted a poster of Ralph Fiennes for a production of Oedipus. I was not aware that he was appearing in any productions, and I assumed it was for some time later in the season when I would not be in London. However, after I used the bathroom we inquired at the box office and the lady told us the play was actually just beginning previews and two tickets for the center stalls had been returned for that night's performance!!!! Lisbeth and I sort of looked at each other in a "Are you doing the exchange rate math in your head right now and chickening out, or are you going to say 'To hell with frugality, let's see Ralph Fiennes live!'?" These tickets are usually 41 pounds, which is like $73, but because they were returns, they were only 28 pounds, which turned out be only $50. I really couldn't pass that up, so I basically swore off paying for pricey tickets for David Tennant in Hamlet. And I decided on getting a standing room ticket for Rickman's play Creditors instead of anything more pricey. And as Lisbeth said, I'll live off tinned carrots for the rest of my time here if it means I will enjoy spending money on entertainment tickets. My ways of not feeling guilty for spending money on stuff!

So we spontaneously pulled out the plastic and got our tickets to see Ralph Fiennes. We returned to the theater later last night, and I must say, the production was amazing. The seats: they were the very center and were just nine rows back from the stage. PERFECTION! Ralph Fiennes: Absolute commanding performance and, since this was the second play I've seen in a week where the lead actor must throw himself to the ground due to some personal agony, I have to say that Fiennes is so much more convincing than Branagh! Nothing personal but Voldemort beats Lockhart anyday. There is something about Ralph Fiennes' movement and the way you just HAVE to stare at him in a scene. And you really feel the performance in his voice too. And beyond that, the play itself was interesting to see. My familiarity with Oedipus has always been through colourful Freud and not the original story. If you know Freud, you know everything is about the Oedipus complex. If you read a story and someone loses their hands, it's actually a reference to Oedipus gouging out his eyes and is therefore symbolic that the character who loses his hands has an Oedipus complex and something funny must be going on with his father and mother. Just look for it. Right? Whatever. Point is, it was nice to see the source of the twisted Freudian version which somehow found its way into literary theory!


Oh yeah, and being so darn impressed with Ralph Fiennes, we totally waited at the stage door after the play for just over an hour, and I now have his autograph in my programme as well as the satisfaction of being able to say that I stood in the presence of Voldemort and have lived to tell the tale. Ugghh, but I really should block out the Harry Potter bit - I feel like I do him a disservice to be more concerned with Voldemort than Eodipus! But how does one convey one's appreciation for his work when he basically makes one stammeringly speechless? Other than thanking him for the autograph, I managed to say this: "I didn't want to mention Harry Potter too much, but, I'm a fan." Oi. He probably has heard that two-thousand, one-hundred, fifty-eight times. Or thereabouts. Perhaps this was just preparation for the day when I might meet Alan Rickman; so that I will not make a fool of myself in front of him and instead portray myself as a calm and worldly person who is not a drooling fangirl.

Kenneth Branagh and Cans of Coca-Cola For GBP 1.95

Last night I saw Ivanov with Kenneth Branagh! It's a Chekhov play, but tinkered with by Tom Stoppard, so naturally Chekhov's rule about guns and making sure you use them if you show them actually came true. Not that I'm going to say how or why. But anyhoo.

Branagh was very intense and it was a great performance. A little slow in the first act because the full cast was not yet introduced. My favorite character from the show didn't arrive until the second act. He was played by Kevin McNally, the actor who plays Gibbs in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. He was hilarious and hammed it up and stole many scenes. It was striking how funny it was despite being a tragedy and very dramatic given its themes.

The play was also an important event in that my UK crush brought a guy friend to the play, but it became somewhat apparent after a while that he brought the friend because they are gay, in fact. After the show I saw them walk away and they were very close together, and I suspected they were probably holding hands. And that is cute of course because Ceri is adorable, so you just want to go "Awww." But unfortunately that's a chapter already closed. I very much doubt there will be any cinematic-like London romances occurring while I'm here. I'm just irritated that I've taken up a fancy for the Moulin Rouge soundtrack. Not a good soundtrack to be obsessed with this week.

So moving on. After Ivanov I ended up really hungry and a few of us went to a pub, but they end their food service at 9:30, so I grabbed some chips and a can of Coca-Cola from a place called Hamburger Union in Leicester Square. Here's the kicker: the can of pop was GBP 1.95 . That is an outrageous price for a can of pop, but it was better than paying 3 pounds for a glass of wine, or buying anything else in Leicester Square for what would be just as much probably, so whatever, I dealt with it. I was thirsty. But the chips were good. I'd been wanting some since Tintern Abbey's pub/cafe place where I could smell them.

So then four of us went off walking for the others to find food because they wanted something else, but we spent a half hour wandering in a circle pretty much, and ended up at the Haagen Dazs we were actually going to go to originally. Also, beware the prices in there, too. GBP 7.10 for their main specialty ice creams in the long stem glassware. I got a scoop of banoffee ice cream on a cookie and that was GBP 4.50, so I had a bit of a food night while out. It was all very worth the prices, of course, but still, I'll be cooking for myself for a while now. I plan to tread carefully with what I buy until 7th week, then I'll see where the finances are, and maybe I'll treat myself a little more often. We'll see.

So yeah. Got back around 12:30am last night. Had some reading to do. Totally shirking the reading as usual. Bad policy. But I blame the texts ... I don't want to read them and nobody else does too.

Ooh, final note: Piccadilly Line was shut down last night for two hours on account of "a person caught under a train." Yeah, they had a little eraser board posted at the Leicester Square station saying that the reason that Tube line had been shut down for a few hours was on account of somebody ending up on the tracks. I have no clue if they fell by accident, were pushed, or jumped with intent, but either way, they did not mind the gap.

Let's Talk About Food

The other night I talked with my mom on the phone because she was getting so nervous as she hadn't heard from me for a few days on account of the Wales trip. She wanted to "hear my voice." During this brief conversation she asked me if I've been eating. Firstly, anyone who knows me ought to know that I will be eating. I don't like being hungry and headachey, so I eat. The question is, WHAT have I been eating?

There are a few options in London for how to eat. They range from bank-breaking to penny-skimping. Let me outline where I fit in that stretch. I live in what is called the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, perhaps the most expensive in the city. Rich people live here. And likewise the stores in the area want the rich people's money so their prices are high. So what does one do? Does one eat out at all? Only eat in?

Eating out options so far have proven scary. I see 5 GBP for a sandwich and I shrink away from the window menu. $10 for A sandwich is not in my price range. I have yet to go to a pub for a dinner, but it'll happen soon. I need to hook up with Margaret for a dinner. But I did go to the Tate Modern cafe where I had a salmon chunk which had some sort of tasty topping on it, some sodabread pieces, "dill pickles" - which were more like crosses between cucumbers and pickles because they weren't actual pickles yet - and then a batch of chips with tap water. It was about 9 GBP or so! There are other restaurants where one can really spend some money. The really nice restaurant we went to in Cardiff for Italian food was about 14 GBP per meal.

And I have to say, always paying mind to exactly what the exchange rate for a meal is and turning down places to eat on account of the pricey menus is rather irritating because if something was only $5 for a sandwich, it's not so bad, but the darn exchange rate just blasts it all to hell. Oh well. It's why I have taken up making my own food.

Thus, let me explain my grocery store options: Waitrose, the very large and plentiful and super-clean grocery store where a can of tuna is about 1.85 GBP and everything else is likewise higher priced by about 60-90 pence. But they have selection. Then, there is the Sainsbury's near IES Center in Bloomsbury. They have a little bit of a selection, but the place is CRAMMED with people at all times and the one experience I had there was aggravating. Plus, dragging your grocery bags back with you on the Tube is a serious hassle. Which brings me to the Tesco Express stores. These are like 7-Elevens except they price their items cheaply and also have all the essentials, right down to packages of meat and such. The one drawback is the selection can be a bit small and the cashiers are always shocked if you buy more than four items. Nevertheless, it's been my chosen place to shop because I'm living cheaply and it pays off to buy a loaf of bread that is only 59 pence.

Now let me tell you what I'm actually buying from Tesco. First off, ALL of us have discovered our love for sandwiches. Though, I cannot recommend the prawn and mayo ready-made sandwich from a Spar store because, again, that did something to my stomach on Sunday. But as for sandwiches we make ourselves, I have my ham, cheese, and mayo in the fridge and that has lasted me. I'll continue with that until the mayo is gone. At which time I'll take up with peanut butter and jelly because A) that stuff is gonna last me, and B) I heard that's what half our group has been living on for dinner and I suddenly really want peanut butter and jelly sandwiches; I haven't had one in maybe, six years. So that's the story with sandwiches. Every day, lunch is a sandwich. But here's the kicker: they're great! They don't start tasting bland or boring because the cheese here - my God - the cheese here is so good that it makes the sandwich.

As for breakfast I've had a bit of a selection. I have Nutri-Grain Bars in my room for those mornings when I'm in a hurry. I bought some bagels and cream cheese because they seemed quick, filling, and delicious. I also plan to pick up some cereal soon because the milk here is also to die for. I had a craving for some milk last week - I know, when does that happen? - and I picked up a cheap 2-pint carton of milk and it was really good with dinner.

And speaking of dinner, let me tell you about tortelloni! Tesco sells these packages of tortelloni that are heatable in a microwave and are good for two dinners. Ricotta and spinach, four-cheese, and tomato and basil. I must say, I have five of these in the fridge right now. And I had a ravioli-style one Sunday night. They're very simple to make and they taste great. On the other hand, I don't want to be living on starchy foods for my entire stay, so I also have a TON of canned goods in my cupboard including plenty of beans and vegetables. I have a bag of frozen peas I should dig into soon, actually. And one cannot forget, rice and beans and cottage cheese: my favorite mixture. Took me forever to find cottage cheese though. And the portions aren't very large, so that may be a special thing. But I still have rice and beans! And now hummus and pita as well! That was my late-night snack last night.

Also, interesting note: English people eat their proper dinner around 8 pm here, and they have a 4 pm sort of light snack meal, such as a little sandwich or some cheese and crackers. Something to tide them over. It's actually quite helpful to adapt to this system as we all have, especially because it curbs late-night eating. Well, save for last night. I just lost track of time and never eat anything until around 10:30. But I digress. Point being, eating dinner around 8 pm gets rid of irritating midnight food raids. And also you don't feel the need to eat SUCH a big dinner as you might if you consider a 6 pm dinner to be the last big time to eat. And it keeps you more energized for the night, too.

Lastly, I'd like to talk about pastries. The UK is like the Land of the Pastry. Hay-on-Wye had my little blackcurrant pie; Tesco Expresses have little baked good selections like chocolate muffins and doughnuts and danishes; and nearly every cafe around has some kind of baked good to tempt you with. And then there is the Hummingbird Bakery near the South Kensington Tube station. Let me tell you, they have cupcake selections and cake selections and all you want to do is spend 1.85 GBP every day to get one. But I have resisted. So much so that I haven't eaten one yet. I plan to not eat a cupcake from there until 7th week, at which time I'll feel the program will be nearly over and it will be okay to indulge. As for now, I look with longing. And also, I just don't want my waistline increasing. Because if you eat the right delicious things here ... it will!

Walking Around Wales

At this moment I am writing I have a pressure headache behind my eyes, I'm tired, I still have catch-up reading to do for tomorrow's class, and Facebook doesn't want to upload photos when I have about 120 to upload! Stupid ethernet. However, I have so much to tell about my weekend in Wales that those other hiccups of the moment are insignificant.

Oct. 2, 2008: I'm up early around 7:15 am so I can shower and be ready to board the coach for our 2.5-hour drive to Cardiff, the capitol of Wales. I grab a bagel and pop some Dramamine to prevent motion sickness, and after the late-arriving profs show up, we're off. I had my own seat and I felt fine for the first 45 minutes or so, but suddenly ... my stomach begins feeling queasy. I decided I'd pop another Dramamine, surprised that it had been over an hour since I took the first and it didn't seem to be helping. But, nothing can stop peristalsis and I got sick on the bus. AWFUL experience. EMBARRASSING experience. And to top it off, I spoke for the first time to Ceri, my UK Crush, by apologizing profusely while he cleaned the aisle. Face plant!

After feeling a bit better, we arrived in Cardiff only for a major need to use a toilet overcame me and I had to pee - asap! So we were wandering looking for the hostel while I was needing an adult diaper as I was ready to wet my pants. (At this point I'm wondering if the whole trip would be this difficult.) Anyhow, we get to the hostel to find that it's a really great place to stay, and after changing and cleaning up some, we all set out to Cardiff Castle and lunch. Constance and I wandered around the castle admiring the keep, the Victorian-infused house, and the beautiful grounds. Afterward we met up with Lisbeth again and found some others and visited the National Museum and Gallery of Wales for a brief bit of time. Then it was time for shopping at a store called Peacocks which is like the UK version of Forever 21. I bought a really amazing coat that I LOVE and also very very snazzy black boots which are my new favorite shoes.

After dressing up for dinner a bit in my new clothes and some other items, we went to a very nice Italian restaurant where we were served a three-course meal. I started with calamari, had cannelloni as my main course, and finished up with tiramisu. Ceri also had red and white wine sent around to everyone, so it was the first time I've properly been served alcohol and I didn't need an ID. But anyhoo, the other great bit of irony is that I ended up eating dinner beside Ceri at the table I sat at. Joy. But actually it was nice because I did talk to him properly for a bit and he was completely sympathetic about the whole bus sickness deal.

After dinner everyone was torn about what they wanted to do. I had dressed before dinner because I figured nobody else would be going back after dinner to change, and I heard a lot of people saying they were changing clothes before dinner. Also, we went to a really nice place so you'd think people would ditch the hoodies. But no. Most people were still sporting jeans, sneakers, and a heavy hoodie. So I was the only person - other than some of the guys - properly dressed for a night out in Cardiff. The end result is that the guys went wandering, some of the girls wanted to follow, but nobody was dressed for 'clubbing' and nobody had a plan, so everybody acted awkward and indecisive. All of us had our bags and none of us felt comfortable leaving our stuff somewhere, so I scratched the plan of staying out and went back to the hostel where I hung with Laura in the common room, a dude from England, and a New Zealand girl; all of whom wanted to watch Zoolander. The plan was to catch the debates after, but it failed and I went to bed.

The next day, after a nice breakfast, we jumped in the coach again and traveled over a few hills to St. Fagan's where they have the Museum of Welsh Life. It's pretty much a Greenfield Village-esque place where all the buildings were moved from their original locations and reconstructed within the outdoor park. The focal point is St. Fagan's Castle, a 16th Cent. manor house which has stunning views on its grounds.


Following the park, we stopped at a massive Tesco Extra to find food, then drove out to an old Welsh mine where we got to go down for a tour. I'm so glad I'm not claustrophobic! It was really awesome! We couldn't take cameras down, though, because the batteries apparently would spark and cause the methane in the air to, well, flame up and be bad. But it was cool to see the actual coal shield and the stables for the horses. They used horses to power the mechanisms until 1959. 72 horses would be housed - permanently - underground until their deaths. Also, our guide told us many grisly stories about mine explosions and cave-ins. Not a nice job to have. Also note: hard hats are not a fashion statement by any means; especially when one is having a Frumpy Nerd Day. Also, the views from the mine were AMAZING. The photos do not do the scenery justice. You gotta be there, man. Another note: Zoolander is quite appropriate viewing for the mine - "I think I've got the black lung, pop - cough cough."



After the mine we got back on that bloody coach again for another 2.5-hour ride to the coast of Wales. This hostel was a step down, but we liked the rooms and again, hello ocean!!! First time I'd ever been so near the ocean. After dinner a few of us went out blindly in the dark to find the ocean. Did I mention at all that Wales is freezing cold, by the way? Chicago is a windy city? Try anywhere in Wales! But anyhoo, we listened to the waves for a bit before returning to the hostel. A few of us hung in the common room watching a Welsh game show and trying to guess the answers without having a clue what the heck the questions were. Laura and Jodie were doing horribly, then Jodie left the room and suddenly Laura got five in a row. Granted, the Peter Jackson one was just obvious. But still, pretty impressive. She is now dubbed the Cuchulainn of Welsh game shows. I think you have to be in our Multicultural Literatures of Medieval Britain class to get that reference. Anyhoo, a great bonding experience for everyone occurred when Katie brought out her Catchphrases game and our whole group played for two hours. It was quite fun and awfully hilarious. I did pretty well, I thought.

The next morning we woke and had breakfast before taking a proper look at the coast. It was breathtaking to say the least, even though it was windy and rainy, though a little warmer. I had a moment when I went climbing up the road and was looking out from the cliff that I was a lot like Marianne from Sense and Sensibility; a lot of whipping and dripping hair with the wind and rain, and the picturesque scenery behind me. I basically wanted to sit and stare at the water forever. It was so peaceful, even with the gale storm upon me. But then I had to run back to be on time for more coach travels!


Onward! Today's journey brought us to Pembroke Castle which is full of rich Tudor history. Our guide was very knowledgeable and energized about what he had to tell us. Of course, the gale followed us, and Ceri seemed to be longing for temperate and smoggy, but I was totally put into an outdoorsy mood in Wales and completely enjoyed stomping through soggy grass and mud and puddles within the grounds of an old castle where Henry VII was born.


Following Pembroke, we took a quick detour to St. David's where this absolutely stunning cathedral is located. Beautiful pictures ensued. I don't think anyone will deny that this was everyone's favorite place for photos. I'm really partial to the coast, but the scenery here was incomparable. And I so wanted to stay in the little village. They had a lot of quaint little tea shops and cafes and I wanted to spend some money on a scone and clotted cream and darjheeling, but alas, more coach travels awaited!!!


Another 2-hour drive and we arrived at our final hostel for the trip, the converted Baskerville manor house. Yes, indeed, the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes' story, The Hound of the Baskervilles. All of us girls were packed into the dormitory-style room in the old servants quarters. 12 girls ... 2.5 bathrooms ... it all worked fine. The older crew got their own private rooms, of course. But still, the hostel was quite nice and the dinner provided was amazing: I got my chicken with stilton sauce again!!! And after dinner proved to be quite fun as the hostel includes, not only two pub areas, but there is also a nightclub behind the house which serves the entire area surrounding Hay-On-Wye, the village we were nearest. So buses actually bring in residents from the area so they have something to do with their time in the middle of Gorgeous Nowhere, Wales.


The first thing we did was a bunch of us hung out in one of the pub rooms because it was less crowded, save for a creepy bunch of men holding a bachelor party. Nobody felt comfortable going near the bar, even the guys, so we sort of sat chatting at a table quietly. Everyone actually wanted Emily, Ceri, and Isla to come join us and be the adults there to protect us, and also to chat with us because we like them, and also because it's Emily's birthday, so three of our number went and awkwardly offered to buy Emily a drink and suggested they come sit with us if they wanted. They did such an unfortunate job of being mature and calm that they described themselves as appearing like the three little kids coming from the other room to talk with the adults. So needless to say, the adults didn't come to play with the kids. However, our number grew quite large, my glass of wine was very tasty for a change (a bottle of wine Prof. Murrin bought my dinner table the night before was quite hard to drink), and finally both guys and girls were mingling. Before the Wales trip, there was definite gender segregation going on, so the trip brought us all together. We decided that we'd try out the nightclub, which turned out to be an odd experience, but also very fun. We were somewhat left alone to our circular group (Why do U of C-ers always gather in a circle when they dance?) and we actually spent about 1.5-2 hours there. And shockingly, but most awesomely, Emily showed up. I was quite sad she did not bring Ceri and Isla with her, simply for the benefit of Ceri appearing, and possibly requiring his presence in our dancing group, but alas, I go back to the off-limits 30-year old part and I'm less sad.

Note: I finally got to sleep in a bunked bed for the first time ever at the Baskerville hotel.

So the next morning we had breakfast provided by the hotel, hurried back onto the coach, Ceri counted our number again for the 30th time to make sure no one was missing, and we left for the actual village of Hay-On-Wye because it's number of book stores makes it famous. I couldn't find To Kill A Mockingbird in three stores so I decided it was a loss and went looking for sweet baked goods. I bought a piece of blackcurrant pie which is probably my new favorite pie flavor. On the other hand, I had a mayo and prawns sandwich which really messed up my stomach.

So, our last stop before heading back to London's smog was Tintern Abbey, so again, we jumped on the coach for another hour-plus ride. This time we took a really backwoods scenic route where our amazing bus driver navigated over some really tight and narrow streets - nay, lanes - and our bus was scraping the trees a-plenty before we got to this little remote location within a valley where - surprise - people actually inhabit the place - so we all jumped out to look at the ruins of the abbey for a half hour before we all rushed the nearest toilets and jumped back on the bus for our 3-hour ride back into London.


All in all, it was a fantastic trip. Completely unforgettable, particularly the sights. I'd love to go back again one day in a different situation. This time was different because everyone had their own agendas. Walking around alone along the coast and enjoying the SUPER fresh air was fine because there is a kind of personal experience to it that was nice, but naturally you come back to wishing your family or closest friends are there to enjoy it all with you. The trouble with the abroad group is we are all together for the quarter, but we're not buddy-buddy friends, so it's a little different.

Ultimately, I couldn't have asked for a better weekend. Even with the awful coach riding, particularly the one heading into Cardiff, and the fact that I've had a cold the entire trip, still, I loved the trip and I can't wait for the Yorkshire visit as I'm sure it will be just as thrilling. I also really hope I can make it up to Edinburgh and over to Ireland, because I really love the countryside. I may be a city person, but I can definitely appreciate remote valleys and cliffs.

First Week In London

Well guys, I've come to the conclusion that I ought to take a page out of Margaret's book and start my own blog so that I may chronicle my own adventures in the UK. This will allow me to store every little fun detail of my experiences for all to read so that I won't have to repeat every story to all the people I know. Already I've participated in some fun activities and have been telling people all about them, so I'll just start from the beginning ... the flight.

Sept. 24, 2008: My flight leaves at 6:10 pm from DTW. The day before I was still in Chicago and had a missed-bus experience and arrived back home on a train, luckily. The day of my flight, epic packing took place, which also resulted in my forgetting my new umbrella and my retainer. But oh well. My teeth haven't been shifting on me and I like the rain. Moving on.

So I arrived at the airport, was checked in, was making last-second phone calls and texting, I boarded the plane, we were all chilling in our seats ... only for our plane to be declared unsafe for flight as some "fasteners" on the shell of the plane were not fastened as they should be. So we were all switched to another plane an hour after I should have been in the air. Our new plane was indeed secure and we took off two hours late.

The flight itself was enjoyable. I had two seats near a window all to myself, and the Northwest Airlines media services were quite enjoyable. I watched The Happening, a terrifically horrible movie, followed by my dear favorite Toy Story. Then I tried sleeping. With two seats to myself I didn't do so bad with about two hours. Around 8 am we landed, and after a quick move through customs, I was greeted by Margaret who rode the Tube into the city with me before her classes! It was so great to see a familiar face!

Unfortunately, it was up to me to get to the IES Residence Hall with all my bags: count 'em, a 44-pound suitcase, a 24-pound duffel with a wonky strap, a 20-pound backpack, and my little messenger bag. Firstly, I'm a weakling, so it was rough going. Secondly, even though Margaret helped me plot my walking course from the Tube station, I wasn't sure which Tube exit to take, and decided it best to seek help from a guy in a reflective vest I assumed was some kind of street officer. He helped me decide on the direction to go, and after 30-40 minutes of dragging my luggage through Chelsea, the most expensive and posh neighborhood in Chelsea, and on 2 hours of sleep no less, I finally arrived at IES where I sluggishly began to settle my stuff in my room.

After half-unpacking, cat napping, and going to the introduction meeting, I finally got some food from the local Tesco and Waitrose stores and began adjusting to my new neighborhood that would be my home for more than two months.

The next day included an introduction to the IES Center, some lunch, a coach ride around London, and then concluded with a visit to the British Museum, which will be frequented more often in the future. We stopped at a local cafe and walked on to Covent Garden for browsing. That night, internet was finally available in our room and I was made even happier.

Saturday was something of a free day, though we were provided with tickets with Yard Standing to see Timon of Athens at The Globe Theater. A very entertaining and surprising play, it was very funny for a tragedy and was notable for its inclusion of some very outlandish bathroom humor. The play itself includes some "whores," so granted, there are typical Shakespeare innuendos. But there was a lot of sexuality and I'm sure the cast was a very close and trusting group by the time the curtain went up. Also, nudity. Early in a play, a somewhat older actor, perhaps early 60s, runs around with a loincloth something covering his nether regions, though he was generous enough to flash his bum. However, in the second act, the actor playing Timon spends his time on stage in underwear. And there is a particular scene which, in their interpretation, includes Timon pulling down his pants and acting out a scene of defecation. Not only did the audience members who did not have a girl's head blocking their view of the stage see clear full-frontal nudity, but the scene was kind enough to include the actor smearing his fake feces on the faces of the two other actors. Despite being undeniably gross, it was a riot. Furthermore, the play also included a netting system above the stage and yard standing so that the actors appearing in the ensemble as birds, and also other Athenian characters, could, with the aid of wires and hooks and bungee cords and Cirque du Soleil-like ribbon things, drop down from above onto the stage or into the audience. It was quite a complex bit of set design and I was very impressed, though I doubted Shakespeare ever made use of such things in his play during his time. Nevertheless, any time a guy bungees down into the audience and springs back up and then ends up on the stage is cool with me.

After the Shakespeare play, Emily, our grad student advisery person, paid for all of us to eat at the Tate Modern's cafe, a somewhat pricey place. My salmon piece and sodabread and dill cucumbers/pickles and bowl of chips (fries, people) with a glass of tap water came to about 9 GBP or so, which is like, $17 and some change. But it was filling and really good and I didn't pay. Emily has a big budget for treating us all out to places, so I'm cool with her covering.

Afterwards we spent an hour or so wandering through the Tate Modern, though modern art wasn't exactly everyone's cup of tea that night, so everyone seemed eager to split. Though, I did see a very impressive painting of Jane Seymour (the headless wife of Henry, not the actress) where her head was actually a piranha's. It was a very fierce painting, quite striking and really made an impression. It was the favorite among many of us.

After the Tate Modern there was a 20-minute search for The Leaky Cauldron pub used in the films, but to no avail as I think we were misinformed as to its location. So we went back to the residence.

Sunday was a free day, and boy was it free. I stayed in my pajamas and got money matters and phone calls and internet stuff taken care of, and some bits of reading. I also realized my affinity for heatable tortelloni packages from Tesco this day.

Monday, our first day of classes. We had an early start so we could go visit the University of London's Senate House Library so we could get a tour and our library cards. I will return if I must write a really informed paper, and also so I can get a glimpse at their special collection selections because they have some original Jane Austens and yeah, two Shakespeare folios worth 2.4 million GBP each, or something like that.

The first class was fun. I did my reading and felt prepared. Professor Murrin is a hoot and is very informed. But we're still stuck on understanding what the hell "kidneys of valour" could be. After the class I got more food from Sainsbury's grocery store. Buying food in London stores has become a specialty this week of mine.

And now we're caught up to today! My waking time these days is 8 am, a horrible time to wake up. Why? Because Michelle likes her sleep and, if she stays up past midnight, as she's doing now, she won't get her good sleep in. So she must look into staying on top of her reading so she doesn't have to do the reading after spending time on the internet at midnight! But I digress. So class was today. More fun. Murrin still hilarious and knowledgeable. Readings are easy because I'm reminded of Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and Narnia.

Following class, a little exploration of London occurred in our first experience with London rain. We visited nerd central, Forbidden Planet, where I looked around at the coolest Lord of the Rings action figures and busts and nifty/pricey 399.95 GBP Balrogs, and other sweet action figures. Major Doctor Who section. There was a TARDIS wheeled suitcase thing, presumably for children who don't pack a lot. So cute. We all wanted it. Then we stopped by Angels, a costume store, which actually had two old 1992 Batman Returns Catwoman masks, one of which I may purchase for my amazing Catwoman costume I plan to make for Halloween next year. I also learned that some sort of Halloween festivities may be occurring, so I must now give thought to what in the world I could go as for Halloween here. Suggestions are welcome!

Anyhoo, went back to res hall. More Tesco shopping. I am now stocked for a few weeks. More tortelloni, more canned vegetables, and mmm, bagels. And some snacks. They were necessary. I basically sat on the internet earlier and was fiddling with more tasks and such, then Lisbeth, my awesome roommate, told me about a store in Cardiff in Wales - we'll be, um, going to WALES on Thursday!!! - that is really cheap considering the exchange rate, but has great clothes, so we were shopping online and we pretty much intend to buy stuff once we're there. And yeah, did I mention that we're going to Wales on Thursday?! It's going to be amazing. And I must say, we have a guy at the IES Center - he's totally off-limits on account of that, as they usually are - but he's Welsh, his name is Ceri Bevan, and darn it if he's not my UK crush for now. He's going to Wales with us. But again, off-limits.

Anyhoo, the night was capped off with ... tortelloni and Dr. Horrible! There was an attempt to watch The Tudors on the internet but someone's computer failed at the job and we watched NPH instead. Always a nice alternative. And there was some fun talking in the common room after. I'm pretty much chatty with all the girls now, nearly, but the boys are still a group to be dealt with. There is a real gender segregation thing going on, though I have become friendly with two of the guys who are a little more interested in hanging with us girls. And the separation will probably be shot to bits once we all go to Wales on a bus together. Although, my prediction is that there will be no study abroad couples in this program because all the guys are after English girls, and all the girls are MOST DEFINITELY after English guys. We shall see.

And now you're brought up to speed with the past several days I've had in London, England. In the future, I plan to post shorter, sweeter, less time-consuming messages than this. I never thought I'd need a blog, or would be able to maintain one, until I realized just how much I could share with people so far, and a full week hasn't passed! And without movie watching and TV and friends and other distractions, I have plenty of time to get work done and be a blogger for the quarter!

Enjoy! And wish me luck while I'm abroad! Specifically in finding Alan Rickman. You know that's a story you want to read from me!