So things have been going well since I started on my trip. Leaving London was one of the hardest things to do. ever. I love to the city so much. I just have to keep telling myself I will be back in several weeks.
Portugal
I arrived in Portugal on the 25th, after our flight being delayed 2 hours. Waiting in Luton airport was thrilling. The first few days I was with friends. The Hostel we stayed at was really nice, and the people were really welcoming. They were able to cram all but one of us (8) into a room. On the first full day in Lisbon a friend and I went to the castle remains. You can walk along the ramparts, gaze at adorable cats and try and piss off a peacock whose feathers seem to be unruffable. After I attempted to find the train station to get a ticket, and got rather turned around in Alfama (sp?). One of the only neighbourhoods to survive a huge earthquake from 1755. After that, some of us just wandered around and ended up getting milkshakes at an American Style diner titled, The Great American Disaster. Why disaster, i dont know. The rest of the time was pretty chill, did some planning, etc.
The next morning everyone took a flight to Madrid and I stayed in Portugal, waiting for my overnight train to Madrid. I was able to go to Belem, where there is the Tower of Belem, the Monastery and Monument of Discovery. Ran into some American tourists, one of which had a BC cap on. I made a comment about BU winning hockey, and he came back with some serial killer from craigslist. im pretty out of the loop. anywho, after that I took a train to Sintra, and went to a house there and went through the gardens. In hindsight I prob should have gone to the castle, but that just means I will have to come back.
Spain
The overnight train was interesting. I didnt sleep much and it was cramped with three other women and their luggage. When I got to Madrid I was able to go to the Palace, which I had missed last time I was there. I also got to meet up with some friends for lunch which was really nice, and then it was goodbye time, which was depressing. At least I didnt break down like I did in Tanzania.
On the train ride to Cordoba I got to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks, in English, and worry about all I have left to do for planning- I have a free week since I am bypassing a couple things in Spain. I dont know what to do. I guess I will cross that bridge when the time comes. Right now I just have things planned until May 1st. 2 nights in Sevilla, a day in Granada and an overnight train to Barcelona.
Until next time,
Katie
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Venice and Florence
Basics:
I woke up in the early hours of Wednesday at 3:30 and took the 4:30 train to Gatwick. My flight left around 6:30am and I arrived in Marco Polo airport in Venice a little before 10am. Going through passport control was so easy…they just looked at it, stamped it and let me through. Getting into Venice was easy and not a hassle at all. On the drive in via bus I saw some mountain peaks, it was beautiful. My hostel there in Venice was really close to the bus station/train station and over looked the Grand Canal. I unloaded everything and went wandering. I was in heaven, I took so many pictures, and spent several hours making a large circle around the area, ending up in San Marco. On the way I passed people all dressed up in Carnivale costumes. I spent 4 hours or so wandering, then had a nap back at my hostel. After that I was able to meet up with a couple friends from the London program for dinner and evening wandering. We came across on the walk back to my hostel a small concert thing with Italian men singing reggae. It was amusing. We got a little lost on the way back but all was well. I was sooo sore. The next day we visited a couple churches, went to the Jewish ghetto, San Marco and more wandering. I can’t remember the names of the places which doesn’t help much, but some pictures should help. It was really hard leaving Venice after a couple days. The trip to Florence was uneventful and allowed me to journal and listen to my ipod. Once in Florence I endured a long bus ride to my hostel which happened to be on the outskirts. It was pretty but away from everything. I never paid for the bus the whole time I was there which was interesting. Once I was situated I went to go a meet my friends at the train station. I got lost on the way and once I was at the train station I had to wait over 2 hours in the McDonalds there because their train was late. We went out to dinner which was my first real Italian meal since I had forgotten my debit card for Venice so I lived on Nutella while in Venice, and my friend brought it with her so I had it for Florence. Anyways I had a curfew for 12am. I had an early start and when I made it into the center I mis-read the map and got a bit turned around but was able to see the David, then wandered around a bit, made it to the bridge and randomly ran into my friend Anna which was nice. We went to the Boboli gardens which were immense and beautiful. From there I met up with friends to climb up to the top of the Duomo. The view was amazing. After that I made it to Santa Croce where Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli are all buried. Unfortunately Mach’s was being fixed up so it was covered. From there I went to the Uffizi and saw some of the most amazing art. Then came dinner. The next morning I got up really early and made it to a couple other spots, and managed to see Michelangelo’s Florence Pieta. It was beautiful. Oh and I forgot to mention that the day before I saw Dante’s church and the place where Beatrice is buried, and if you’ve read Inferno, etc. it would make sense. Anyways the train ride to Pisa in the afternoon was a little over an hour. When I was looking up train times to the airport I ran into yet more friends and was able to trek with one of them to the Leaning Tower. It wasn’t a long walk, but with all my crap it made it not so fun . Anywho, it was a 5 minute train ride to the airport and the rest of the trip was uneventful. Venice was a nice place to wander, something always to see, whereas Florence was the place I spent most of my time in museums and churches actually seeing sights. Here are some pictures:
Venice
Me and Canal
San Marco
People in Costume
Sunset
Florence
Picture I took of David
All those stores were jewelry
View from Duomo
I woke up in the early hours of Wednesday at 3:30 and took the 4:30 train to Gatwick. My flight left around 6:30am and I arrived in Marco Polo airport in Venice a little before 10am. Going through passport control was so easy…they just looked at it, stamped it and let me through. Getting into Venice was easy and not a hassle at all. On the drive in via bus I saw some mountain peaks, it was beautiful. My hostel there in Venice was really close to the bus station/train station and over looked the Grand Canal. I unloaded everything and went wandering. I was in heaven, I took so many pictures, and spent several hours making a large circle around the area, ending up in San Marco. On the way I passed people all dressed up in Carnivale costumes. I spent 4 hours or so wandering, then had a nap back at my hostel. After that I was able to meet up with a couple friends from the London program for dinner and evening wandering. We came across on the walk back to my hostel a small concert thing with Italian men singing reggae. It was amusing. We got a little lost on the way back but all was well. I was sooo sore. The next day we visited a couple churches, went to the Jewish ghetto, San Marco and more wandering. I can’t remember the names of the places which doesn’t help much, but some pictures should help. It was really hard leaving Venice after a couple days. The trip to Florence was uneventful and allowed me to journal and listen to my ipod. Once in Florence I endured a long bus ride to my hostel which happened to be on the outskirts. It was pretty but away from everything. I never paid for the bus the whole time I was there which was interesting. Once I was situated I went to go a meet my friends at the train station. I got lost on the way and once I was at the train station I had to wait over 2 hours in the McDonalds there because their train was late. We went out to dinner which was my first real Italian meal since I had forgotten my debit card for Venice so I lived on Nutella while in Venice, and my friend brought it with her so I had it for Florence. Anyways I had a curfew for 12am. I had an early start and when I made it into the center I mis-read the map and got a bit turned around but was able to see the David, then wandered around a bit, made it to the bridge and randomly ran into my friend Anna which was nice. We went to the Boboli gardens which were immense and beautiful. From there I met up with friends to climb up to the top of the Duomo. The view was amazing. After that I made it to Santa Croce where Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli are all buried. Unfortunately Mach’s was being fixed up so it was covered. From there I went to the Uffizi and saw some of the most amazing art. Then came dinner. The next morning I got up really early and made it to a couple other spots, and managed to see Michelangelo’s Florence Pieta. It was beautiful. Oh and I forgot to mention that the day before I saw Dante’s church and the place where Beatrice is buried, and if you’ve read Inferno, etc. it would make sense. Anyways the train ride to Pisa in the afternoon was a little over an hour. When I was looking up train times to the airport I ran into yet more friends and was able to trek with one of them to the Leaning Tower. It wasn’t a long walk, but with all my crap it made it not so fun . Anywho, it was a 5 minute train ride to the airport and the rest of the trip was uneventful. Venice was a nice place to wander, something always to see, whereas Florence was the place I spent most of my time in museums and churches actually seeing sights. Here are some pictures:
Venice
Me and Canal
San Marco
People in Costume
Sunset
Florence
Picture I took of David
All those stores were jewelry
View from Duomo
Duomo
Monday, January 26, 2009
It's Wales, not Whales
I was able to be graced with the presence of my good friend Bethanye for several days and I was able to catch up.
School has been going well. I've been working on readings, etc. Last week we went on a field trip through Dickens London. Truthfully most of it was torn down during the 19th century so there wasn't much to see. We got to go through the Temple, which is where all the lawyers offices (chambers) are. Saw Fleet St. and also saw a church that I guess was the best place to pick up prostitutes. It was a really interesting walk. Also at the time my camera decided to die on me. It was rather tragic.
A few hours before Steph and I left for the weekend I went to the V&A (Victoria and Albert Museum) with my friend Liz. There were some pretty amazing things there, and such a hodge podge of things ranging from jewelry, to statues and paintings and furniture.
This past weekend I went on a Horseback riding trip in Wales, in Gower. We REALLY lucked out on the weather. We took a train from Paddington in London to Swansea, Wales. We ended up in a B&B called Parc-Le-Breos. That first night we divided up into rooms. I got into a quad, and with some skill in rock-paper-scissors, I won myself a queen size bed for the weekend. Besides the room having NO heat, it was rather nice. That first night we all relaxed, watched some British TV (interview with Tom Cruise...) and the movie Man of Fire.
The Next day was full of riding. I landed myself on Joe. I nicknamed him Joe the Plumber Horse :-D. We had to brush them down, and they did the hard stuff regarding the saddle. About 10 minutes into the ride some dogs spooked a horse and the girl riding it met the groun unexpectedly. She was alright and able to get back on the horse. After that I was somewhat tense, and the feeling of my arms attests to my nervousness. Riding English was different. I had been used to Western, but I actually liked English better. Anywho, the rest of the ride was uneventful. The blue skies overlooking the bays and ocean, along with the hills and farms and sheep made the whole thing very beautiful. Along the way we also passed some wild ponies. I didn't know they had them in Wales. After a couple hours, we had lunch in the cultural center there and then hopped back on for a stroll for a little bit. Once we were back all of us were exhausted (there were 12 girls). We showered, had dinner and then went into "town". There was a pub called the White Rose which was nice. We had some good chats. At 10 we called it a night and went back and more chatting happened, but I was so dead from riding. My arms still hurt.
The nest morning around 10, my friend Stephanie and 3 other friends we made on the trip went on a hike/walk down to one of the beaches and then up to the ruins of a castle from the 13th century (???). We again lucked out on the weather and spent 3 hours wandering around, running on the beach barefoot, watching rock climbers and soaking up the sun.
The ride back to London was uneventful and we made it back in time to attempt to get some homework done before classes today (monday).
Tomorrow I get to go on a field trip to Chealsea football stadium for my History of London Popular Culture class and then on Wednesday I have another field trip for my British Politics course in Westminster. I don't know what the Westminster walk entails, but I've seen most of it a million times so hopefully there will be something new.
Here are some pictures
Me and Joe
On the Trail
Three Cliffs
Me :-)
Castle Ruins
Where we stayed
School has been going well. I've been working on readings, etc. Last week we went on a field trip through Dickens London. Truthfully most of it was torn down during the 19th century so there wasn't much to see. We got to go through the Temple, which is where all the lawyers offices (chambers) are. Saw Fleet St. and also saw a church that I guess was the best place to pick up prostitutes. It was a really interesting walk. Also at the time my camera decided to die on me. It was rather tragic.
A few hours before Steph and I left for the weekend I went to the V&A (Victoria and Albert Museum) with my friend Liz. There were some pretty amazing things there, and such a hodge podge of things ranging from jewelry, to statues and paintings and furniture.
This past weekend I went on a Horseback riding trip in Wales, in Gower. We REALLY lucked out on the weather. We took a train from Paddington in London to Swansea, Wales. We ended up in a B&B called Parc-Le-Breos. That first night we divided up into rooms. I got into a quad, and with some skill in rock-paper-scissors, I won myself a queen size bed for the weekend. Besides the room having NO heat, it was rather nice. That first night we all relaxed, watched some British TV (interview with Tom Cruise...) and the movie Man of Fire.
The Next day was full of riding. I landed myself on Joe. I nicknamed him Joe the Plumber Horse :-D. We had to brush them down, and they did the hard stuff regarding the saddle. About 10 minutes into the ride some dogs spooked a horse and the girl riding it met the groun unexpectedly. She was alright and able to get back on the horse. After that I was somewhat tense, and the feeling of my arms attests to my nervousness. Riding English was different. I had been used to Western, but I actually liked English better. Anywho, the rest of the ride was uneventful. The blue skies overlooking the bays and ocean, along with the hills and farms and sheep made the whole thing very beautiful. Along the way we also passed some wild ponies. I didn't know they had them in Wales. After a couple hours, we had lunch in the cultural center there and then hopped back on for a stroll for a little bit. Once we were back all of us were exhausted (there were 12 girls). We showered, had dinner and then went into "town". There was a pub called the White Rose which was nice. We had some good chats. At 10 we called it a night and went back and more chatting happened, but I was so dead from riding. My arms still hurt.
The nest morning around 10, my friend Stephanie and 3 other friends we made on the trip went on a hike/walk down to one of the beaches and then up to the ruins of a castle from the 13th century (???). We again lucked out on the weather and spent 3 hours wandering around, running on the beach barefoot, watching rock climbers and soaking up the sun.
The ride back to London was uneventful and we made it back in time to attempt to get some homework done before classes today (monday).
Tomorrow I get to go on a field trip to Chealsea football stadium for my History of London Popular Culture class and then on Wednesday I have another field trip for my British Politics course in Westminster. I don't know what the Westminster walk entails, but I've seen most of it a million times so hopefully there will be something new.
Here are some pictures
Me and Joe
On the Trail
Three Cliffs
Me :-)
Castle Ruins
Where we stayed
Saturday, January 17, 2009
The First Week
The first week has consisted of just trying to settle in and get used to the time change.
Getting in was easy enough, all my flights left on time and I arrived in London early. Immigration was easy, they didn’t ask for any proof of documents. I was able to catch the shuttle train into Victoria station easy enough. The problem came when I got into a taxi and didn’t know the exact address of where I needed to go. I ended up at the right place after some wandering and waiting.
I am living in what we call the Sorbonne house. It is directly across from the Natural History Museum, about a 10 minute walk from Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, and about 15 minutes from Kensington Palace. The Kensington area is kind of its own little world. I haven’t had a chance to really get out.
On our first day we went on a boat tour along the Thames River and that was the most I’ve seen of the city other than Kensington.
The first 3 days we had introductory lectures about British history and culture. Thursday and Friday we had the first two classes. They are four hours long, but thankfully we have breaks, or I would lose it. My first class is British Politics and we learn the basic facts about the British political systems, etc. My second class is on London Popular Culture over the past 200 years. On Tuesday we are going on a tour of Dickens’ London and we have to have Oliver Twist finished. I have loads of reading and no desire to really do it. I’d rather walk around London. I feel like I’m going to be the only person in this place that will end up doing all the reading. Anywho, I have yet to hear about my placement for my internship. I had a meeting and the woman I talked to said she was trying to get me something in an NGO that deals with refugees. I’d really just like to know.
I really haven’t been doing much besides eating (attempting to cook), sleeping and trying to meet people. To a certain extent its like freshman year all over again, trying to meet new people, yet they already have friends here. I sort of joined the Backgammon club at Imperial College (UK’s version of MIT) and I am attempting to join the swimming club, but we’ll see. It feels like I have been here a lot longer than a week, but I’m behind on the things I want to do and pretty behind when it comes to homework.
Anyways, there’s a quick update, I hope all is well!
Getting in was easy enough, all my flights left on time and I arrived in London early. Immigration was easy, they didn’t ask for any proof of documents. I was able to catch the shuttle train into Victoria station easy enough. The problem came when I got into a taxi and didn’t know the exact address of where I needed to go. I ended up at the right place after some wandering and waiting.
I am living in what we call the Sorbonne house. It is directly across from the Natural History Museum, about a 10 minute walk from Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, and about 15 minutes from Kensington Palace. The Kensington area is kind of its own little world. I haven’t had a chance to really get out.
On our first day we went on a boat tour along the Thames River and that was the most I’ve seen of the city other than Kensington.
The first 3 days we had introductory lectures about British history and culture. Thursday and Friday we had the first two classes. They are four hours long, but thankfully we have breaks, or I would lose it. My first class is British Politics and we learn the basic facts about the British political systems, etc. My second class is on London Popular Culture over the past 200 years. On Tuesday we are going on a tour of Dickens’ London and we have to have Oliver Twist finished. I have loads of reading and no desire to really do it. I’d rather walk around London. I feel like I’m going to be the only person in this place that will end up doing all the reading. Anywho, I have yet to hear about my placement for my internship. I had a meeting and the woman I talked to said she was trying to get me something in an NGO that deals with refugees. I’d really just like to know.
I really haven’t been doing much besides eating (attempting to cook), sleeping and trying to meet people. To a certain extent its like freshman year all over again, trying to meet new people, yet they already have friends here. I sort of joined the Backgammon club at Imperial College (UK’s version of MIT) and I am attempting to join the swimming club, but we’ll see. It feels like I have been here a lot longer than a week, but I’m behind on the things I want to do and pretty behind when it comes to homework.
Anyways, there’s a quick update, I hope all is well!
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