Sorry everyone for the lack of updates. Truth be told, now that we are into the swing of things here at school the crazy trips and stories are starting to be replaced by books and lectures. We still manage to go out to a lot of great places here in London, but we are all starting to really slow down a bit. These past couple days have been a perfect example of that. I stayed in on Monday and Tuesday night and on Wednesday went to the pub for a couple drinks with some friends. We made friends with a couple of people from England so we talked to them for a bit, but after that went home.
We got up early today and went to the Globe. For my non-theatre friends out there the Globe was where Shakespeare wrote and had his actors perform all the plays he wrote in the 1600's. The actual globe burnt down about 400 years ago, and only 12 years ago did an American come to London and rebuild it. The rebuilt Globe is nearly an exact replica of the old. Thatched roof, 100% wood three teared their seating. The whole thing is held together by wooden pegs and lime plaster. Even though the place was only 12 years old it honestly felt like it could easily have been built in the 1600's. And of course, I forgot my camera, and doubt that I'll get to get back inside there before I come home. I wanted to cry when I realized it, just because it was SO cool. I am by no means a theatre person, but it was impossible to ignore that this place is "kind of a big deal."
I'm off to Brussels tonight your time. Should be an exciting trip. We are touring a couple museums....I'm most excited for the national beer museum and a possible train ride to the city of Bruges, which my theatre teacher promised was one of the coolest cities in the world. I'm coming back Monday afternoon and going to be hitting the books right away, I have a test and a paper due on Thursday. Look for an update Monday night for my trip.
Other than that try and stay warm. Take Care.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
My Weekend Schedule
Just a quick update for everyone back home who may be wondering about my weekend travel plans while I'm here. I finally have all my travel booked except for one weekend, for there I'm debating a couple places still but here goes (in parenthesis I'm putting the cost of travel round trip):
Jan 30-Feb 2:Brussel, Belgium ($75)
Febuary 6-Feb 8: London with one day trip out to Oxford ($1)
February 13-15: Zurich, Switzerland ($130)
February 21-24: London, with a one day trip to Brighton ($1)
SPRING BREAK:
Feb 27th-March 2: Madrid, Spain ($34)
March 2nd-March 3rd: Lisbon, Portugal (?)
March 3rd-March 5th: Sevilla, Spain (?)
March 5th-March 8th: Marrakech, Morocco ($44)
SPRING BREAK OVER
March 13-March 15: London, with day trip to Bath
March 20-March 23: Dublin, Ireland ($10)
March 27-March 30: London, with day trip to Stonehenge ($1)
April 4th-April 5: OPEN DATE
April 10-April 13 (Easter): Vatican City/Rome ($120)
April 17-April 20: STUDY (Finals Week)
Then I Come Home
Jan 30-Feb 2:Brussel, Belgium ($75)
Febuary 6-Feb 8: London with one day trip out to Oxford ($1)
February 13-15: Zurich, Switzerland ($130)
February 21-24: London, with a one day trip to Brighton ($1)
SPRING BREAK:
Feb 27th-March 2: Madrid, Spain ($34)
March 2nd-March 3rd: Lisbon, Portugal (?)
March 3rd-March 5th: Sevilla, Spain (?)
March 5th-March 8th: Marrakech, Morocco ($44)
SPRING BREAK OVER
March 13-March 15: London, with day trip to Bath
March 20-March 23: Dublin, Ireland ($10)
March 27-March 30: London, with day trip to Stonehenge ($1)
April 4th-April 5: OPEN DATE
April 10-April 13 (Easter): Vatican City/Rome ($120)
April 17-April 20: STUDY (Finals Week)
Then I Come Home
Sunday, January 25, 2009
I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry
Sorry everyone. I know I've slacked on the blogging in the past couple days so forgive me, but I have good reason. I have done so much in the past couple days that I haven't really had a free second to send everyone and update or make some phone calls. Don't worry tough, I'm alive and well and have a couple of cool stories to share.
Wednesday night I went to Complicit. Overall I was a little disappointed in the play. The story was that of the American journalist who was the whistle blower on the the governments torturing of prisoners at Abu Grahib prison in Iraq. Richard Dreyfuss played the journalist and he did a phenomenal job. It was cool seeing the guy from Jaws act in person. The rest of the actors weren't that great though, in fact they kinda stunk and it was a little distracting trying to follow the plot when the actors were all over the place. In the end though I guess the play did its job. I think it was trying to get you to think. If we torture these terrorists and whatnot are we any better than they are? Or in does it make us worse? (deep i know, don't worry it gets much lighter from here)
Thursday was awesome. A few of us went to this bar called O'neills. It is 3 floors tall with the first being an Irish pub, the second being a standard American style bar, and the third being a huge open space with live bands dance floor. The music they played there was great. It was all 90's American style music. We danced to The Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Outkast...pretty much any band that was cool when I was in 7th grade was being played, we formed a mini dance club right in the middle of the bar and even added some British people to our party. I actually shouldn't say we...Kelly added British people to our party by dancing with a 60 year old man, and 45 year old woman.
I also did something, that may or may not have been dumb that night. We had a booth where we were sitting and had all of our stuff. I few people went up to get drinks and as they left this British guy, must have been about 40 years old and bald came up to Kelly and asked her if she wanted to get hypnotized. She immediatly responded "NO", and when he turned and asked me, I immediatly responded with (you guessed it) "Hell Yeah". So this random guy grabs my arm and starts shaking it, moves his fingers in front of my eye and the next thing I know I'm out cold. I don't remember anything from when I'm out so I'm basing this next part on what I was told. I apparently sat there just bouncing up and down in my seat for a few minutes. The people who were getting drinks came back to this old man whispering in my ear and me out cold. Finally he wakes me up again and is done with whatever he was doing. Shakes my hand and walks away. I come back to consciousness to Jordan giving me the please stop and walk away sign. But I'm still very dizzy and a little out of it. The next half hour is very blurry as I was out of it. We're still afraid that he put some code word into my head that will make me go crazy or act like a duck if I ever hear it. Although everyone said that it was not a good idea, I disagree it was definitely one of those experiences that I'm happy I had.
Friday was the alumni dinner where all the Wisconsin graduates in the UK comes to London for a reception. All of us study abroad students were invited. We got all dressed up and got to mingle with all these old people. Best of all we got free food and drinks. I talked to a couple of alumni who just up and moved to London after school and started working. It was interesting to see how everything and everyone started their lives over and still loved it. A few of the Alumni took us out to a bar afterwards and paid for drinks there. I was talking to one of them who was well, kinda creepy. His name was Asif and he was born and raised in Palestine studied at UW and lives in London. He seemed like a nice guy but then he pulled me aside and said something to the effect of, "This is great, but I want to take just the guys out on me...show you what London is actually like. You know, not these pubs but I'm talking prostitutes, and drugs and clubs that go until 2PM the next day." I was like, holy wow, I'm so proud to be a Badger right now.
Yesterday was Windsor Castle. A.K.A. The house where the queen lives. The place was just amazing. It is the worlds largest inhabited castle and we got to see so much. Queen Mary's doll house, St. Charles church, and Eton College. I can't even begin to explain all of it so the pictures I took will have to do. Windsor Castle is right up there with Westminster Abby as the coolest things I've seen in my life.
Look for more pictures soon. Take Care everyone.
Wednesday night I went to Complicit. Overall I was a little disappointed in the play. The story was that of the American journalist who was the whistle blower on the the governments torturing of prisoners at Abu Grahib prison in Iraq. Richard Dreyfuss played the journalist and he did a phenomenal job. It was cool seeing the guy from Jaws act in person. The rest of the actors weren't that great though, in fact they kinda stunk and it was a little distracting trying to follow the plot when the actors were all over the place. In the end though I guess the play did its job. I think it was trying to get you to think. If we torture these terrorists and whatnot are we any better than they are? Or in does it make us worse? (deep i know, don't worry it gets much lighter from here)
Thursday was awesome. A few of us went to this bar called O'neills. It is 3 floors tall with the first being an Irish pub, the second being a standard American style bar, and the third being a huge open space with live bands dance floor. The music they played there was great. It was all 90's American style music. We danced to The Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Outkast...pretty much any band that was cool when I was in 7th grade was being played, we formed a mini dance club right in the middle of the bar and even added some British people to our party. I actually shouldn't say we...Kelly added British people to our party by dancing with a 60 year old man, and 45 year old woman.
I also did something, that may or may not have been dumb that night. We had a booth where we were sitting and had all of our stuff. I few people went up to get drinks and as they left this British guy, must have been about 40 years old and bald came up to Kelly and asked her if she wanted to get hypnotized. She immediatly responded "NO", and when he turned and asked me, I immediatly responded with (you guessed it) "Hell Yeah". So this random guy grabs my arm and starts shaking it, moves his fingers in front of my eye and the next thing I know I'm out cold. I don't remember anything from when I'm out so I'm basing this next part on what I was told. I apparently sat there just bouncing up and down in my seat for a few minutes. The people who were getting drinks came back to this old man whispering in my ear and me out cold. Finally he wakes me up again and is done with whatever he was doing. Shakes my hand and walks away. I come back to consciousness to Jordan giving me the please stop and walk away sign. But I'm still very dizzy and a little out of it. The next half hour is very blurry as I was out of it. We're still afraid that he put some code word into my head that will make me go crazy or act like a duck if I ever hear it. Although everyone said that it was not a good idea, I disagree it was definitely one of those experiences that I'm happy I had.
Friday was the alumni dinner where all the Wisconsin graduates in the UK comes to London for a reception. All of us study abroad students were invited. We got all dressed up and got to mingle with all these old people. Best of all we got free food and drinks. I talked to a couple of alumni who just up and moved to London after school and started working. It was interesting to see how everything and everyone started their lives over and still loved it. A few of the Alumni took us out to a bar afterwards and paid for drinks there. I was talking to one of them who was well, kinda creepy. His name was Asif and he was born and raised in Palestine studied at UW and lives in London. He seemed like a nice guy but then he pulled me aside and said something to the effect of, "This is great, but I want to take just the guys out on me...show you what London is actually like. You know, not these pubs but I'm talking prostitutes, and drugs and clubs that go until 2PM the next day." I was like, holy wow, I'm so proud to be a Badger right now.
Yesterday was Windsor Castle. A.K.A. The house where the queen lives. The place was just amazing. It is the worlds largest inhabited castle and we got to see so much. Queen Mary's doll house, St. Charles church, and Eton College. I can't even begin to explain all of it so the pictures I took will have to do. Windsor Castle is right up there with Westminster Abby as the coolest things I've seen in my life.
Look for more pictures soon. Take Care everyone.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Avoiding the English
So tonight is suppose to be the big match up between the USA and England at the Union pub. Luckily for me I already have tickets to go see the play Complicit. It is the premiere tonight so that is exciting. It is actually directed by Kevin Spacey. And the lead actor is Richard Dreyfuss. It seems weird to me that such big name American actors would come over here and stage act, but it will be exciting nonetheless. And best of all it gives me an excuse to not embarrass myself and America in a drinking contest.
Yesterday was really cool. I think that the Brits are more excited about Obama than any American. It was also fun because the only TV we have is about the size of my laptop so we all packed around the TV and watched his speech. I'm cautiously optimistic that everything will work out. We'll see, all else fails I'll just stay over here ;) Last night we went to a bar called Ain't Nothin' But... It had a little stage in the back corner and there was a live American Blues/Jass/Swing band that played. They were amazing. One of the best times I've had so far over here. The entire place was about the size of Grandma and Grandpa Fairchild's house, but they packed it shoulder to shoulder and the band played all night. You had just enough room to dance in place. I will definitely be back there.
Travel is already proving to be really stressful. The most nerve racking thing in the world is trying to book hostels and plane/train tickets. I finally got Belgium finished when it comes to hostels and train. I'm now working on Easter in Italy. I've already punched a wall one time trying to book so we'll see how that goes.
I'll be sure to let you all know how the play goes. I hope its half as good as the last play I saw here. This is the 2nd of 12 different plays that I'm going to see. Take Care.
Yesterday was really cool. I think that the Brits are more excited about Obama than any American. It was also fun because the only TV we have is about the size of my laptop so we all packed around the TV and watched his speech. I'm cautiously optimistic that everything will work out. We'll see, all else fails I'll just stay over here ;) Last night we went to a bar called Ain't Nothin' But... It had a little stage in the back corner and there was a live American Blues/Jass/Swing band that played. They were amazing. One of the best times I've had so far over here. The entire place was about the size of Grandma and Grandpa Fairchild's house, but they packed it shoulder to shoulder and the band played all night. You had just enough room to dance in place. I will definitely be back there.
Travel is already proving to be really stressful. The most nerve racking thing in the world is trying to book hostels and plane/train tickets. I finally got Belgium finished when it comes to hostels and train. I'm now working on Easter in Italy. I've already punched a wall one time trying to book so we'll see how that goes.
I'll be sure to let you all know how the play goes. I hope its half as good as the last play I saw here. This is the 2nd of 12 different plays that I'm going to see. Take Care.
Monday, January 19, 2009
America Rules
Last night i paid 5 pounds to watch the NFL game at the only American Sports Bar that we can find. I was really questioning the decision to spend money to watch the Eagles play the Cardinals but afterward it was well worth it. It felt awesome to be packed into a bar with 500 other screaming Americans (most of whom were Eagles fans) yelling at a TV again. I was lucky enough to get pushed up against a wall where i stood next to a guy who looked just like Bob Marley. He was born and raised in the Netherlands and had never been to America. Yet he knew more about football than I do and he was talking smack all game. I was cheering for the Cardinals so we went back and forth over a couple beers during the course of the game. I had a blast and cannot wait for the Super Bowl now. GO CARDINALS!!!
Anyway 2 random updates quick:
1. PICTURES!!! They are not labeled yet so they don't really have much meaning but they are up and ready for you all to view at www.flickr.com/loganinlondon Check back in a couple days to see more and hopefully have captions so you know who/what you are looking at.
2. Send me letters. If you love me and want to send me a letter I finally have a mailing address for you:
Metrogate House
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Attn: Logan L Thein
3-7 Queens Gate Terrace
London
SW7 5PE
Anyway 2 random updates quick:
1. PICTURES!!! They are not labeled yet so they don't really have much meaning but they are up and ready for you all to view at www.flickr.com/loganinlondon Check back in a couple days to see more and hopefully have captions so you know who/what you are looking at.
2. Send me letters. If you love me and want to send me a letter I finally have a mailing address for you:
Metrogate House
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Attn: Logan L Thein
3-7 Queens Gate Terrace
London
SW7 5PE
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Weekend Update
I had a blast this weekend. Nothing crazy happened, it was just a very relaxed weekend. On Friday we got up early and went to the British History Museum. I saw countless mummies, ancient Greek sculptures, buried treasure, and even the actual Rosetta stone. After that, we came home and took naps. I few of us then went out to the Union pub and hung out there all night. It was a ton of fun. The pub stayed open late so we had another long night.
Everyone was so exhausted that most of us slept til about 1 on Saturday. The Chelsea game started at 3, so by the time we got woken up and to the pub to watch it, it was already halftime. When got there we also realized that the game wasn't licensed to show on TV so we were watching a guy watch the game and tell us what was going on. It was like radio on TV. Chelsea was losing 1-0 with 2 minutes left in the game. They then scored 2 goals in 2 minutes to win after 88 minutes of playing like garbage. The place went nuts. Everyone was screaming, singing jumping, so much fun.
A quick backtrack to Friday night though. While we were at the pub Jordan and I were talking to a couple of English guys who insist that they are the Imperial College beer pong champions. I was cool with, but Jordan wasn't and decided to open his mouth. He apparently challenged them to a beer pong tournament for Wednesday night at the Union. Not only did he do that, but he made a best of 3 games. Beer Pong, a British game called matchbox (which none of us have heard of) and if its tied after that a game of football. Not actual football, but soccer. So i somehow got looped into this and now I am defending America's honor on Wednesday to show the English that America is still better than them. To make it worse I have to go to a play Wednesday night for class. I'm not too sure how its going to look when I have to say, "Sorry, guys can't come out drinking tonight, I'm going to see Complicit instead." Just in case though we went out and bought ping pong balls, and cups to practice before Wednesday.
Today we went to Little Venice and to Camden. Lexi would have gone crazy here. It is the world's largest outdoor market. It had anything and everything imaginable. I went to the belt buckle store and got a couple of fancy name brand belt buckles for 10 pounds. I then went to Aldo and got a pair of shoes that were $110 dollars American, for 15 pounds. They are very fancy. We got a tour by boat (just like in Venice which was very cool, if felt like you were sitting below the water.
I also booked my first official trip today. On the weekend of Jan 30th, I'm taking the chunnel (the train that goes under the English Channel into France) and going to Belgium for the weekend. I'll be sure to bring back some waffles and chocolate for everyone.
One last quick update, I'll be posting another update in a few hours with my mailing address and how to access all the pictures I've taken. I had to upgrade an account and pay $20 for it, but it was the only way I could show you all my pictures so I figure it was worth it. Take care, and talk to you all soon.
Everyone was so exhausted that most of us slept til about 1 on Saturday. The Chelsea game started at 3, so by the time we got woken up and to the pub to watch it, it was already halftime. When got there we also realized that the game wasn't licensed to show on TV so we were watching a guy watch the game and tell us what was going on. It was like radio on TV. Chelsea was losing 1-0 with 2 minutes left in the game. They then scored 2 goals in 2 minutes to win after 88 minutes of playing like garbage. The place went nuts. Everyone was screaming, singing jumping, so much fun.
A quick backtrack to Friday night though. While we were at the pub Jordan and I were talking to a couple of English guys who insist that they are the Imperial College beer pong champions. I was cool with, but Jordan wasn't and decided to open his mouth. He apparently challenged them to a beer pong tournament for Wednesday night at the Union. Not only did he do that, but he made a best of 3 games. Beer Pong, a British game called matchbox (which none of us have heard of) and if its tied after that a game of football. Not actual football, but soccer. So i somehow got looped into this and now I am defending America's honor on Wednesday to show the English that America is still better than them. To make it worse I have to go to a play Wednesday night for class. I'm not too sure how its going to look when I have to say, "Sorry, guys can't come out drinking tonight, I'm going to see Complicit instead." Just in case though we went out and bought ping pong balls, and cups to practice before Wednesday.
Today we went to Little Venice and to Camden. Lexi would have gone crazy here. It is the world's largest outdoor market. It had anything and everything imaginable. I went to the belt buckle store and got a couple of fancy name brand belt buckles for 10 pounds. I then went to Aldo and got a pair of shoes that were $110 dollars American, for 15 pounds. They are very fancy. We got a tour by boat (just like in Venice which was very cool, if felt like you were sitting below the water.
I also booked my first official trip today. On the weekend of Jan 30th, I'm taking the chunnel (the train that goes under the English Channel into France) and going to Belgium for the weekend. I'll be sure to bring back some waffles and chocolate for everyone.
One last quick update, I'll be posting another update in a few hours with my mailing address and how to access all the pictures I've taken. I had to upgrade an account and pay $20 for it, but it was the only way I could show you all my pictures so I figure it was worth it. Take care, and talk to you all soon.
Friday, January 16, 2009
In Da Club
Even though I was exhausted yesterday I decided to go out with some of the people from the house. I'm really trying to live by the "when in Rome" type motto so when people decided to go out to this club I decided to go. So I got all dressed up, tried to look as European as possible (turns out I can't really do that), and headed out. We found this flyer for a discount at this place called The Candy Box so we went there. We got there and I was asked for ID for the first time all trip. I was then sent through a medal detector and got frisked, it felt like I was getting on a plane or something. I then had to pay a 5 pound cover charge and was ushered down a few flights of stairs to this underground basement.
I was overwhelmed already...and then the music started. Holy hell was it loud. I've honestly never heard anything remotely close to that load. Combined with the strobe lights, black lights, and disco balls it was definite sensory overload. But I grabbed a beer (which were only a pound, which was awesome) and headed out to the dance floor. I danced and danced and danced all night. Rode in a Taxi home for the first time which was different. We were screaming at each other the rest of the night because we were so deaf from the club we couldn't hear a thing. My ears are honestly still ringing 16 hours later. How anyone can do that every night is beyond me. I've lost all will to move after 3 hours in one of those things. But at the end of the day, another thing that I got to do that I never would have done had it not been for London.
Needless to say though, won't be doing that again...at least not for a while :)
I was overwhelmed already...and then the music started. Holy hell was it loud. I've honestly never heard anything remotely close to that load. Combined with the strobe lights, black lights, and disco balls it was definite sensory overload. But I grabbed a beer (which were only a pound, which was awesome) and headed out to the dance floor. I danced and danced and danced all night. Rode in a Taxi home for the first time which was different. We were screaming at each other the rest of the night because we were so deaf from the club we couldn't hear a thing. My ears are honestly still ringing 16 hours later. How anyone can do that every night is beyond me. I've lost all will to move after 3 hours in one of those things. But at the end of the day, another thing that I got to do that I never would have done had it not been for London.
Needless to say though, won't be doing that again...at least not for a while :)
Thursday, January 15, 2009
The Reason We Invaded Iraq...
Last night I went and saw the play 'The 39 Steps'. It was awesome. Its a satire on an old Hitchcock movie. The entire play was just 4 actors. Those 4 actors played 139 different roles in 100 minutes. They were so good. It was very funny, and they used a weird style of where they knew they were acting and would purposely screw up in order to make the play even more funny. It was in this ancient underground theater that would shake because the subway system runs right next to it.
Today though kinda stunk. Thursday is my busy day, I have class from 9:30-5 with only about an hour and a half break in between. But I suppose school is a part of this whole thing so I'll survive, prolly.
After all these years I finally figured out the real reason we went into Iraq. We wanted to steal all their recipes. Their food is delicious! Honest to God, I may have just eaten the best meal of my life. I went to this tiny Iraqi restaurant for dinner tonight. I ate this amazing chicken with bread, rice, and all these amazing dips. After such a long day though I'm exhausted. A lot of people are going out to this cool club tonight but I just don't know if I can make it. I am going to the British Historical Museum tomorrow though so that will be awesome.
Also....if you are reading let me know by leaving a comment every now and then. I like hearing from everyone, even if it is just to say Hi, that would be great. Talk to you all soon.
Today though kinda stunk. Thursday is my busy day, I have class from 9:30-5 with only about an hour and a half break in between. But I suppose school is a part of this whole thing so I'll survive, prolly.
After all these years I finally figured out the real reason we went into Iraq. We wanted to steal all their recipes. Their food is delicious! Honest to God, I may have just eaten the best meal of my life. I went to this tiny Iraqi restaurant for dinner tonight. I ate this amazing chicken with bread, rice, and all these amazing dips. After such a long day though I'm exhausted. A lot of people are going out to this cool club tonight but I just don't know if I can make it. I am going to the British Historical Museum tomorrow though so that will be awesome.
Also....if you are reading let me know by leaving a comment every now and then. I like hearing from everyone, even if it is just to say Hi, that would be great. Talk to you all soon.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Starting to Settle Down
Classes have now started and although they seem like they will be very easy, we are all starting to get a basic routine down. But let me backtrack to yesterday and the Natural History Museum. I went with a friend and walked around for over an hour and a half and saw so many amazing things. The worlds largest diamond, a dinosaur (which i had never seen before), and a blue whale (which is freaking gigantic). So many other things that I can't even begin to list. I don't even think i saw a 10th of what was there and I had to leave. I'll definitely be back.
Today was more relaxed. I couldn't sleep so I took an ambien really late and that meant i missed all morning sleeping. I went to class which was, well, class. After that I came back home and learned to play Euchre. I'm already addicted, its so much fun. We went out to the pubs and came back home to play more Euchre.
Tomorrow I have class and then I'm going to see the play The 39 Steps. I'll be sure to let you know how it is.
On one final note, I have my pictures uploaded online now, but I'm not sure how you can get to them. I'll keep working on it. P.S. don't worry about me at all. If i write something on here its because it was funny, interesting and harmless. I promise if I ever did anything stupid you wouldn't find out about it. Take care.
Today was more relaxed. I couldn't sleep so I took an ambien really late and that meant i missed all morning sleeping. I went to class which was, well, class. After that I came back home and learned to play Euchre. I'm already addicted, its so much fun. We went out to the pubs and came back home to play more Euchre.
Tomorrow I have class and then I'm going to see the play The 39 Steps. I'll be sure to let you know how it is.
On one final note, I have my pictures uploaded online now, but I'm not sure how you can get to them. I'll keep working on it. P.S. don't worry about me at all. If i write something on here its because it was funny, interesting and harmless. I promise if I ever did anything stupid you wouldn't find out about it. Take care.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Kissing Colombians and Crying like a Baby
Sorry I missed a day yesterday, so I'll try my best to catch you up on my past two days here. Needless to say they were incredibly busy and exciting.
Prior to coming over I had really started to get into Soccer. I figured that I should keep up socially on the sport of my new country so I watched all the games, learned all the players and teams and made my friend Mitch explain how everything all works. For whatever reason I chose Chelsea as my adopted team. Turns out that i live in Chelsea so it couldn't have been better. It just so happened that the first soccer match of my trip was Chelsea vs. Manchester United. For those of you all who are not into soccer, Chelsea and Man U are hands down, far and away the best teams in England, and arguably all the world. This rivalry makes Boston vs. New York, Duke vs. North Carolina, and Little Chute vs. Xavier seem like some useless t-ball game.
Before the game we all got together and got on the tube (London subway system) and headed down to the stadium. Everyone who didn't already have Chelsea gear went to the gift shop and bought a bunch of stuff. Then we headed down the street to the pub to watch the game. People really got into it. Definitely a good time. The game however sucked. Chelsea went and laid an egg. They just got demolished 3-0. At this point too everyone had been drinking for quite a while and it was not a pretty site. It took a lot for me not to cry. I was trying so hard to be European and fit in that we may have gotten a little too into the game.
After that disappointment we went and asked the bartender if there was a place in town that we could watch the NFL playoffs, and he responded with "right here". It was awesome. But of course, sitting at the pubs for over 8 hours, has its side effects, namely our ability to not be the stereotypical loud obnoxious American. Ha, we are all having a good time and about half way through the 3rd quarter the jukebox came on with Brian Adams "Summer of '69". Needless to say none of us missed a word. Also needless to say we got a couple of very funny looks from people.
We calmed down a bit after that and a group of young people sat down next to us. I went over and talked to, or at least tried to talk to them and found that they only spoke Spanish. They were from Colombia. I talked to them for about an hour and struggled for 95% of it. Turns out finishing taking Spanish would have been a great idea. We were able to get through some things and had a pretty cool conversation. On a side note I noticed that people are very open here. And they are not afraid to talk about perceptions and things of that nature. I have never once been afraid to say I was American and in fact the people I have talked about it are very interested in our culture and talking about the myths and stereotypes that are associated with America.
Anywho, back to the story. I get up to leave then and reach out to shake their hands which i do and one of the guys leans towards me as if he was going to kiss me. I flinch for a second and he laughs and explains that it is customary to do an air kiss type thing on their left cheek to someone as you say goodbye. I go down the line to the couple colombian guys and girls, shake there hands and do the kiss thing and walk away thinking....that was kinda cool.
We all get on the tube to head back after the Eagles won, we sit down on the tube and realized 2 main things. 1. English beer has A LOT more alcohol in it than American beer and 2. Pints are A LOT bigger than glasses. We get off the tube near our house and as we are walking down the street I have taken the Chelsea flag that I was using to cheer, and put it on as a cape. One of the guys we were with starts singing American Pie. At that point it was all gone. We sang at the top of our lungs all the way back to the flat and when we all woke up this morning we realized that, that was not a good idea, and although that type of stuff may be standard procedure in Madison, it prolly won't fly over here.
I'll finish getting caught up tomorrow. Today was more chill. I went to the Natural History Museum and my last oreintation, and started doing some school work. Things are starting to settle down but I'll talk about that tomorrow. Goodnight America!
Prior to coming over I had really started to get into Soccer. I figured that I should keep up socially on the sport of my new country so I watched all the games, learned all the players and teams and made my friend Mitch explain how everything all works. For whatever reason I chose Chelsea as my adopted team. Turns out that i live in Chelsea so it couldn't have been better. It just so happened that the first soccer match of my trip was Chelsea vs. Manchester United. For those of you all who are not into soccer, Chelsea and Man U are hands down, far and away the best teams in England, and arguably all the world. This rivalry makes Boston vs. New York, Duke vs. North Carolina, and Little Chute vs. Xavier seem like some useless t-ball game.
Before the game we all got together and got on the tube (London subway system) and headed down to the stadium. Everyone who didn't already have Chelsea gear went to the gift shop and bought a bunch of stuff. Then we headed down the street to the pub to watch the game. People really got into it. Definitely a good time. The game however sucked. Chelsea went and laid an egg. They just got demolished 3-0. At this point too everyone had been drinking for quite a while and it was not a pretty site. It took a lot for me not to cry. I was trying so hard to be European and fit in that we may have gotten a little too into the game.
After that disappointment we went and asked the bartender if there was a place in town that we could watch the NFL playoffs, and he responded with "right here". It was awesome. But of course, sitting at the pubs for over 8 hours, has its side effects, namely our ability to not be the stereotypical loud obnoxious American. Ha, we are all having a good time and about half way through the 3rd quarter the jukebox came on with Brian Adams "Summer of '69". Needless to say none of us missed a word. Also needless to say we got a couple of very funny looks from people.
We calmed down a bit after that and a group of young people sat down next to us. I went over and talked to, or at least tried to talk to them and found that they only spoke Spanish. They were from Colombia. I talked to them for about an hour and struggled for 95% of it. Turns out finishing taking Spanish would have been a great idea. We were able to get through some things and had a pretty cool conversation. On a side note I noticed that people are very open here. And they are not afraid to talk about perceptions and things of that nature. I have never once been afraid to say I was American and in fact the people I have talked about it are very interested in our culture and talking about the myths and stereotypes that are associated with America.
Anywho, back to the story. I get up to leave then and reach out to shake their hands which i do and one of the guys leans towards me as if he was going to kiss me. I flinch for a second and he laughs and explains that it is customary to do an air kiss type thing on their left cheek to someone as you say goodbye. I go down the line to the couple colombian guys and girls, shake there hands and do the kiss thing and walk away thinking....that was kinda cool.
We all get on the tube to head back after the Eagles won, we sit down on the tube and realized 2 main things. 1. English beer has A LOT more alcohol in it than American beer and 2. Pints are A LOT bigger than glasses. We get off the tube near our house and as we are walking down the street I have taken the Chelsea flag that I was using to cheer, and put it on as a cape. One of the guys we were with starts singing American Pie. At that point it was all gone. We sang at the top of our lungs all the way back to the flat and when we all woke up this morning we realized that, that was not a good idea, and although that type of stuff may be standard procedure in Madison, it prolly won't fly over here.
I'll finish getting caught up tomorrow. Today was more chill. I went to the Natural History Museum and my last oreintation, and started doing some school work. Things are starting to settle down but I'll talk about that tomorrow. Goodnight America!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Too Soon for Nazi Jokes...
Funny little thing happened last night that I wanted to share with everyone before I forgot. My friend Megan and I (no Grandma, it's not like that) were sitting at a pub having a couple beers, which by the way are amazing over here. Anyway I sit down and she is talking to this guy named Adrian. I sit down and start talking to a friend of his. I find out his name is Hamar and he is from Kuwait. We are all chatting and I find out that Adrian is from Germany. Anyway, after a while Adrian starts joking around and making comments like "look at me I must be a Nazi...and of course my friend here is obviously a terrorist." Those stereotypical jokes continue for a bit and I swear to you he must have called himself a Nazi 12 times. We eventually start talking about football. Not fake football, but actual, real American football. Adrian starts ripping on the Packers and I start to get into a bit with this guy, I think we are still joking around so I say, "Lay off the Packers right now before I have to kick your Nazi ass all over this pub." I said it with a big smile and everyone else around us starts laughing. Adrian sits there with a straight face, doesn't laugh at all. No emotion. I am immediately like, oh crap, what did I do? Turns out making Nazi jokes are something that is ok to do if you are German but not for anyone else. To make things worse on the way out of the pub I was retelling what happened the story to a couple other guys and forgot his name, and accidentally called him Adolf. Yeah, that's right. I was definitely on a roll.
Oh whatever, live and learn.
Oh whatever, live and learn.
I Nearly Did Something Kinda Dumb Today...
Today was probably one of the most amazing days of my life. There is simply no way to put into words what I all saw today. We went on a tour of the Royal Borough today. The tour bus picked us up at 9AM and we went around town by bus and then we got dropped off and had the chance to see everything by foot. It was simply incredible. I got pictures of Big Ben, Westminster Abby, Parliament, The London Bridge (as in London Bridges falling down...), the London Towers, and countless more statues of important people that I can't remember. I paid 9 pounds for a tour of Westminster Abby. They didn't allow cameras inside to help preserve everything in there, which is a shame because there is just so much to show from inside. I got to see the spot where Princess Diana's casket laid during her funeral. I also got to see where every king and queen in the history of England was coronated. Surrounding the center of the Abby are a serious of memorials to basically the "Whose Who" of British history. Kings, Queens, Dukes, and Saints are all buried there and I got to go and see all their tombs. I even got to see memorials to famous scientists like Newton and Darwin. Just a crazy day. And that was all before 2PM.
When we came back home we ran into some trouble though. The planned protest that was scheduled for today got a little bigger than expected. In fact the crowd got to about 100,000 people, or so the estimated, I doubt it was that big. Anyway of course the street that the demonstrators picked was Hyde Park Gate....my street. And it was right in front of my house. I pushed through the crowd and got home, but as Grandpa Thein said, I always have to see whats on the other side. So, I grabbed my camera and headed back out. It was so incredible. Thousands of people screaming and chanting in support of Palestine and against Israel was just nuts. I got a little scared when they started chanting "death to george bush" "death to america". Overall it was just cool to see, and since I always take things like that with a grain of salt I wasn't really offended or anything like that. One thing that I thought was really cool was that at around sundown today many of the protesters stopped, and in the middle of the street, turned towards Mecca and started to pray, very surreal site to say the least.
Anyway, as we are walking down the street towards the Israeli embassy we see a puff of smoke and we stopped and people started running in the other direction. Turns out someone did something stupid and the riot squads released tear gas. We booked it the other direction and of course the riot police cut off the otherside as well and we were kinda trapped for a few seconds. Needless to say I made it out alive, and now we are chilling at the flat waiting for everything to calm down. Don't worry though it was never dangerous or anything like that. Overall it was just a very cool experience. I'll give more updates soon though.
When we came back home we ran into some trouble though. The planned protest that was scheduled for today got a little bigger than expected. In fact the crowd got to about 100,000 people, or so the estimated, I doubt it was that big. Anyway of course the street that the demonstrators picked was Hyde Park Gate....my street. And it was right in front of my house. I pushed through the crowd and got home, but as Grandpa Thein said, I always have to see whats on the other side. So, I grabbed my camera and headed back out. It was so incredible. Thousands of people screaming and chanting in support of Palestine and against Israel was just nuts. I got a little scared when they started chanting "death to george bush" "death to america". Overall it was just cool to see, and since I always take things like that with a grain of salt I wasn't really offended or anything like that. One thing that I thought was really cool was that at around sundown today many of the protesters stopped, and in the middle of the street, turned towards Mecca and started to pray, very surreal site to say the least.
Anyway, as we are walking down the street towards the Israeli embassy we see a puff of smoke and we stopped and people started running in the other direction. Turns out someone did something stupid and the riot squads released tear gas. We booked it the other direction and of course the riot police cut off the otherside as well and we were kinda trapped for a few seconds. Needless to say I made it out alive, and now we are chilling at the flat waiting for everything to calm down. Don't worry though it was never dangerous or anything like that. Overall it was just a very cool experience. I'll give more updates soon though.
Friday, January 9, 2009
My First Day
I am not going to count yesterday as my first day in London just because everyone was walking around like a bunch of zombies so we didn't really get to do a whole lot. Last night before a meeting we all went out to a pub called The Goat. It was a good time. We got a chance to talk and get to know everyone's names. We were all so out of it last night that everyone had forgotten by today anyway so we got to do that again.
Woke up at 9ish today and we had a walking tour of my borough and the neighboring Chelsea borough. The tour guide was great and really knowledgeable. I got the chance to learn some pretty cool things from the tour. A couple of the exciting points were that, as I told you all yesterday, My flat is surrounded by two embassies. But right next to one of the embassies was the house that Winston Churchill...yes, Winston Churchill was born and raised in. We got a chance to walk through the park. Kensington and Hyde Park are attached to each other so we got to see all these famous statues. We also learned that the side street a couple blocks down from us is called Millionaire's row. The guide explained though that that could be renamed to be Billionaire's row for the present day. The cheapest 2 bedroom apartment that you could buy on that street is close to 500,000 pounds. We also saw the house where Queen Victoria lived, as well as a bunch of Queens, Princes, Princesses and Kings that I can't remember anymore grew up.
One place we couldn't see was the house where Princess Diana lived. It was blocked off because it was next door to the Israeli embassy. And with everything that is going on right now....that wasn't exactly the safest place to be. There are demonstrators and protesters out there all the time and the entire street is blocked up for safety purposes. Needless to say, the sentiment over here is VERY anti-Israel.
We walked to this really cool Thai food place and ate there today. It was delicious but after we all ordered, we found out that there was a 10 pound minimum on all orders so I spent more money there than I had really hoped.
But in all, life is good. I'm still alive and in one piece so I can't complain. We are doing a tour of all the royal palaces and buildings tomorrow, so I'll do my best to get pictures up for you ASAP.
Woke up at 9ish today and we had a walking tour of my borough and the neighboring Chelsea borough. The tour guide was great and really knowledgeable. I got the chance to learn some pretty cool things from the tour. A couple of the exciting points were that, as I told you all yesterday, My flat is surrounded by two embassies. But right next to one of the embassies was the house that Winston Churchill...yes, Winston Churchill was born and raised in. We got a chance to walk through the park. Kensington and Hyde Park are attached to each other so we got to see all these famous statues. We also learned that the side street a couple blocks down from us is called Millionaire's row. The guide explained though that that could be renamed to be Billionaire's row for the present day. The cheapest 2 bedroom apartment that you could buy on that street is close to 500,000 pounds. We also saw the house where Queen Victoria lived, as well as a bunch of Queens, Princes, Princesses and Kings that I can't remember anymore grew up.
One place we couldn't see was the house where Princess Diana lived. It was blocked off because it was next door to the Israeli embassy. And with everything that is going on right now....that wasn't exactly the safest place to be. There are demonstrators and protesters out there all the time and the entire street is blocked up for safety purposes. Needless to say, the sentiment over here is VERY anti-Israel.
We walked to this really cool Thai food place and ate there today. It was delicious but after we all ordered, we found out that there was a 10 pound minimum on all orders so I spent more money there than I had really hoped.
But in all, life is good. I'm still alive and in one piece so I can't complain. We are doing a tour of all the royal palaces and buildings tomorrow, so I'll do my best to get pictures up for you ASAP.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Cheerio Colonists
After a miserable 10 hours of delays, flights, turbulence and being scared to death I FINALLY landed in London. It turned out that there were about 15 of us on my flight so we wondered London aimlessly together as we tried to find our flat. We got there and found that our neighbors were the Dutch embassy, and some embassy with palm trees in the front yard. I have room 1B. The guys are in rooms 1A, and 1B, while the girls are in the rest of the rooms through 2G. I really got the shaft when it comes to rooms. My room is very tiny. Smaller than my dorm freshman year. At least I have a bathroom and a kitchen right next door.
I've met a lot of very cool people already. It was great to know that everyone is in the exact same position as you are so making friends and meeting people easier than it is back home. I can see already though that this trip is going to be really expensive. I'm sure I'll make it work though.
Right now though I'm just so overwhelmed with everything that I don't know what to say. Its 9:40 PM here on thursday right now, and I haven't slept since 9 AM on Wednesday. I'm heading to bed and talk more about everything tomorrow.
I've met a lot of very cool people already. It was great to know that everyone is in the exact same position as you are so making friends and meeting people easier than it is back home. I can see already though that this trip is going to be really expensive. I'm sure I'll make it work though.
Right now though I'm just so overwhelmed with everything that I don't know what to say. Its 9:40 PM here on thursday right now, and I haven't slept since 9 AM on Wednesday. I'm heading to bed and talk more about everything tomorrow.
Monday, January 5, 2009
1st Post/Leaving Tomorrow
Officially being Tuesday now I guess I can say that I leave for London tomorrow. Whether or not I am actually ready to go may be a different story. As I decided at lunch today, doing something like this is nothing you can ever actually be ready for. At least in my opinion, you just have to go do it and work from there. As far as preparations go though, I'm pretty much set. Surprisingly, I'm really not that nervous about the trip as a whole. And outside of my completely rational fear that my plane will crash into the Atlantic, I'm sure everything is going to go fine.
If you are reading this your names are most likely Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, Dad, Luke or Lexi. And that's really what this is for. I will do my best to upload pictures as I see or do something exciting, and post on here at least a couple of times a week to keep you updated on whats going on. If I start to slack on this don't be afraid to yell at me. As much as it is for you guys, I also want to do this for myself. Make sure I have something to look back on 20 years from now when I'm all old and boring. It's your job to make sure I don't forget!!
For any of my friends that are bored enough to stumble across this...I realize it will be tough, but try to have fun without me. I know it will be hard to enjoy your weekends when I'm not around, but I'm sure you'll manage. ;) One final thing too, while you are walking up icy hills in -12 degree weather to get to class, I'll most likely be at some awesome party, with some awesome people in some awesome European country. I don't mean to brag but...well, yeah, actually I do. (See you miss me less already).
I really have no clue how to blog or what to do with this site so I guess I'll just leave it at this for now. I'll of course stay in touch with everyone. Whether it be email, skype, facebook or AIM I'm gonna make sure none of you all forget about me.
If you are reading this your names are most likely Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, Dad, Luke or Lexi. And that's really what this is for. I will do my best to upload pictures as I see or do something exciting, and post on here at least a couple of times a week to keep you updated on whats going on. If I start to slack on this don't be afraid to yell at me. As much as it is for you guys, I also want to do this for myself. Make sure I have something to look back on 20 years from now when I'm all old and boring. It's your job to make sure I don't forget!!
For any of my friends that are bored enough to stumble across this...I realize it will be tough, but try to have fun without me. I know it will be hard to enjoy your weekends when I'm not around, but I'm sure you'll manage. ;) One final thing too, while you are walking up icy hills in -12 degree weather to get to class, I'll most likely be at some awesome party, with some awesome people in some awesome European country. I don't mean to brag but...well, yeah, actually I do. (See you miss me less already).
I really have no clue how to blog or what to do with this site so I guess I'll just leave it at this for now. I'll of course stay in touch with everyone. Whether it be email, skype, facebook or AIM I'm gonna make sure none of you all forget about me.
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