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Sunday, September 21, 2008

Croeso i Gymru, Welcome to Wales

Wales this weekend reaffirmed my belief that Europe is truly the greatest place on Earth. Not only that, but the UK in general is the closest thing to Heaven I can get to right now. Wales is incredible. But when our train pulled into Paddington station this afternoon, I got off the train and took a deep breath – I was home again. In London.

Our weekend started very early Friday morning. We took the fast train straight to Cardiff, but when we hit the Bristol train station, I couldn’t help but hear Hagrid saying how “Harry fell asleep just over Bristol,” or something along those lines. I just need to face it. I can relate anything to Harry Potter something.

We stayed at a very cute hostel just outside the Millennium Stadium, the first home of Welsh rugby. Our first day we explored Cardiff Castle (which dates back to 75 AD when it was a Roman fort) and took a bus tour around the city that ended at the Inner Harbour. It was there at the docklands where we had an amazing Italian meal, met a woman from near Elon, and saw a beautiful carousel, ferris wheel, the Wales Millenium Centre (home to Welsh National Opera) and other sights set to the backdrop of a sunset we can’t always see in London. There was a marvelous waterfall coming straight down an enormous metal pole, with smaller poles surrounding it that lit up and changed colors once it was dark enough. It was a beautiful first night in Wales.

We woke Saturday to a glorious breakfast of nutella toast and cereal. Oh, how I’ve missed nutella. My favorite part of Wales, by far, was Swansea and the Gower Peninsula in the south. We started in Mumbles, drove out to Rhossili and then back around and home to Cardiff – all over the Gower Peninsula. We walked along the coastal path from Langland Bay to Caswell Bay and saw breathtaking views of sailboats and water smashing against the rocks below. It was a long walk, but completely worth it. The sun was so bright and hot, and we were all dressed for cooler weather, but when we finally reached the beach and got to play in the sand, it made everything cool down again – especially when I saw a giant 99 Flake and got to hug it.

That night, a couple of us sat in the common room of our hostel to watch “Friends” and “Sex and the City.” I’m not a huge fan of the latter, but when three guys came in to join us, just the fact that they were being such good sports made everything so much more entertaining. One guy, a bit older, is from Crete. Another guy came in and he’s from Germany. I told him that I would be visiting some friends and family in Aachen and Murrhardt, and he recognized Aachen, but I had to explain that Stuttgart is where my family lives closest to because Murrhardt is too small a town for him to know where it is. Our final new friend told us he went to William and Mary and was just about to start a Ph.D. program in Ireland. He will be there for three years! How brave is that!?

And today consisted of a trip to Raglan Castle and Tintern Abbey. After the abbey, we had a marvelous lunch that consisted of a bacon and cheese baguette, and a potato and leek soup. SO good. I also ordered Welsh Cakes for dessert – a new favorite. And before catching our train home, our tour guide gave us two more packs of Welsh Cakes for the ride home. God bless him.

While it was wonderful to visit the countryside for a weekend, it does feel good to be back in London. And I can’t wait for my internship again tomorrow.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

A...A…Alan R…R…R…Rickman!!!!!

This morning we were on our way to the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising for our Media & Culture class. There was a huge group of us from Elon and we were weaving our way through Paddington station to get to the Circle line. But this is just the background information you need. Here’s the important stuff:

As I’m walking up the stairs approaching the hall leading to the Circle line, I look up. I’m climbing on the left and a man came around the corner to climb down on the right. Holy gosh and golly gee. There was NO doubt and NO question in my mind. That furrowed brow. The distinguished face. The tight-lipped serious near-grin. The grayed and airy hair. Alan. Rickman.

I. Was. Breathing. In. the. Same. Vicinity. As. Alan. Rickman.

As chills ran all over my body, my heart was absolutely pounding in my throat. God help me when I finally find Rupert. Because if this is how it feels to just SEE Alan Rickman. Well. I will be more than a wreck with Rupe.

I just couldn’t believe it. Here I am in the bloody tube station on my way to a museum in Notting Hill and Alan Rickman is in the same bloody tube station going about his business as though he weren’t Alan Rickman. Is that allowed? Is he allowed to just walk around Paddington station? My gosh, I can’t believe it. One of my favorite actors of ALL TIME!!

Scenes from all his movies were flashing in my mind. There he was watching Kate Winslet sing at her piano in “Sense and Sensibility.” I could see him sitting down and asking Laura Linney how long she has been in love with Karl in “Love Actually.” And, my GOD!! He was lurking the halls of Hogwarts getting Daniel, Rupert and Emma in trouble for something. Oh. My. Gosh.

Well, now that I’ve written this all out, I can finally allow myself to scream. That was my deal with Morgan (one of my roommates). I had to bottle it all up and then I could scream later. So let me get on that, shall I?

Monday, September 8, 2008

Ladybird

We were eating lunch in the flat yesterday and Morgan spotted a ladybug (called ladybird here) on a chair. What a wonderful sign. I lifted the window, my favorite one, and was thinking of letting her out onto our balcony, but since there are no plants for her out there, I picked her up and took her down the stairs and outside to our neighbor’s garden. I placed her on a leaf there near some beautiful red berries. It took her a second until she started to crawl around the leaf, but I hope she’ll be content there. And possibly come to visit us again soon! Good things are in store for us now.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

the weather WILL turn

It was an early start for us yesterday as we left the flats around 8 a.m. Breakfast was grab and go with the pink lady apples, bagels, jam and cream cheese we have in the kitchen. Our coach driver, as we knew once we finally arrived back at the flats, was awful. I’m still wobbling from the ride. I didn’t realize that the majority of people still drive a clutch here. I know that I haven’t learned so I can’t quite judge, but I DO know that my 15-year-old brother who just got his learner’s can drive a stick better than our coach driver today.

I slept for nearly the entire two-hour ride to Salisbury, just southwest of London. When we arrived, it was a gorgeous and quant town with narrow roads. The people walking along the sidewalks would stare up at the coach as though it were a rare occasion to see something so large come through their town. When we got off the coach, it was lightly drizzly, but hardly noticeable. We went straight up to Salisbury Cathedral, a 750-year-old cathedral that houses one of four of the remaining copies of the Magna Carta of 1215. It has a gorgeous spire – the tallest in England at 404 feet high – and also holds the world’s oldest working clock. It was neat to see how the gears still ticked rotated so slowly as they triggered the other enormous gears around it. Historic figures and saints stand stuck on the outside walls of the cathedral. One part that we weren’t expecting at all was when we walked into the Chapter House and were surrounded by gorgeous stained glass windows of mint green, yellow and springy colors that let the light flood in more than the other stained glass windows around the cathedral. When we approached a display at the back, we were faced with an original copy of the Magna Carta. Our jaws dropped when we saw the elegant handwriting on muted forest green paper. No one told us we would be seeing the Magna Carta!

When we left Salisbury, we drove through countryside with checkerboards of different green and brown fields. The path had natural overhangs of trees forming a tunnel of green that looked like it was carved by a number of buses and vehicles that have squeezed down the street over the years. We then encountered peach-orange fields that Elise and Dr. Barnett dubbed “Hay Henge” as the hay standing at increments in the field was stacked in squares rather than the barrel shape we’re used to at home.

As we approached Stonehenge, I couldn’t believe I was finally seeing it. It was built around 3000 BC and is connected with the sun and the passing of the seasons. I couldn’t help but think of “Children of Eden” from senior year at Lackey and the song “A Ring of Stones.” We modeled the set after Stonehenge by hanging rings of sheer curtains from the top of the stage. It was so neat looking. But the real Stonehenge is way cooler, of course. Outside Stonehenge was someone called the modern-day King Arthur, a man who has pledged to stay at Stonehenge until it is returned to its natural state: without concrete and fences, a cafĂ© and other goofy touristy things that take away from the magic of the site. He stood behind a wooden gate with cloth banners that say: “English Heretics Take Up Thy Fence and Walk,” “Set Free the Stones,” “Honor Thy Spoken Word” and “Return Stonehenge to the Free, Open, Sacred Landscape.” Honestly, I can’t blame him. It’s just like the Great Wall. I can understand wanting to protect it, but why on earth does it have to be encircled by hideous fences and be made into a tourist trap!? Oh, well.

After the awe of Stonehenge, we headed to Avebury. This is when the weather turned on us. The sky was absolutely perfect at Stonehenge, a beautiful and clear blue with fabulously soft white clouds. As soon as we arrived in Avebury, the sky turned a bit gray and ominous looking. We popped into one small museum to learn about the henge (and David decided to color at the kid’s corner) and about the people who built it. Enter downpour. We dashed over to the next museum – thank goodness I had my umbrella – but everyone was drenched. We spent a long bit of time there before braving the rain to actually see the stone circle that was built around 2500 BC. The stones are smaller than the ones in Stonehenge, but the circle of stones itself is 14 times larger. We sloshed through the mud and flooded paths to see part of them before surrendering and wading back to the coach. We were some of the first back, but were followed by the rest of the crew shortly. It was a nice but damp sleep back to London.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Hopping the Pond

Good night, Maida Vale. As I sit at our pale wooden dining room table, I love staring out the window with the full-length sheer curtains parted and held on either side by silver bolts. I can see a circle of rain haloing the streetlight across the way, and can hear it hit our balcony and black iron railings. This is my favorite spot in the flat, even more so than the comfortable red couches just a few feet away. I love staring out the window that’s at least twice my height so I can get a full view of the double deckers driving by and our neighbors’ silhouettes through their own windows. This place has a magical feeling to it. The moment I step outside the flat, the air is crisp and whimsical. Besides the rain, the weather has been marvelous. I love the palette of pashminas around the city. No matter what, a pashmina is necessary to look truly British. I must get on that asap.

Despite how exhausted we all have been since we arrived, I feel like I don’t want to sit still. There’s so much to see and so little time to do it! These three months feel nearly over although they haven’t even begun. Sleeping can’t be that necessary when you’re in a city like this. Last night was a perfect example. My roommates and I stayed up past midnight London-time just chatting about London and other British things, eating Frosties (British Frosted Flakes) and enjoying the silence of the neighborhood save the occasional drawn out swoosh of the pavement that buses make driving on the rain-soaked road.

Yesterday we went on a walking tour of our neighborhood, Maida Vaile. The area is also called Little Venice because of the charming canals with their quaint and colorful narrow boats lining either side. Some are homes, some are restaurants, some are covered in flowers and some take trips to Camden Town on the weekends. That’s one of the many things on the to do list.

After the walking tour, we hopped on a coach and toured the city. I blew a kiss to the Thames for Bethany, as promised, and smiled at Big Ben. I can’t wait to see him again and to actually tour parliament with my class next week. The queen was not in Buckingham Palace, but I know that my flatmates and I will be soon before the tours close at the end of the month. The queen will be back in October, though, so perhaps the ever-gorgeous princes will accompany her. For now, we plan to go clubbing at their favorite spot in London. We’ll close our eyes at how much it probably costs to get in to William’s club of choice, but I suppose it will be worth it. I’ve promised a few friends to pass along their numbers to him. Though we all know I’m not interested in either of those princes. I just have to find mine around here somewhere.

Today was a very low-key day where we traveled to our classroom building at Bloomsbury Square and learned more about living in London and got details about our internships. Afterward, we had our first semi-official grocery shopping trip, which was especially an adventure for Stacey and me when an older British man approached us and asked if all that food was just for me. I laughed and said that I was sharing and that we were stocking up. He must have taken that as we were “bulking up” for the boys and suggested we buy wine and beer as well. We decided to pass on that and when we ran into him at the queue, he shook his head and commented again at the amount of food we were buying. Note to us: Apparently we should go grocery shopping nearly every day rather than “stock up.”

For now, we are happy with our lunch meats, fruit, rice, pasta and sauces on reserve for the next several days’ meals. We have to pack lunches for our excursion tomorrow to Stonehenge, Avebury and Salisbury, a trip I’m really looking forward to. So until then, I’m going to enjoy the pattering off of the rain and the hours of laughs that I’m sure are in store among the flatmates until we finally drift off in mid-conversation, surrender and go to bed.