Ridiculous Random Thoughts?
Add Your Observations
Ridiculous Random Thoughts?
Add Your Observations
November in London
The last month of autumn has come and gone so quickly its truthfully unbelievable. I didn’t do any travel outside of London, but I did have a lot of homework and great experiences. I realize that throughout the month I didn’t update the blog. This is mostly because I was camera-less for a few weekends so that my roommate could borrow it when she traveled.
Anyway. November. The month started with my returning from Berlin to find out that I hadn’t missed anything on the Booze Cruise that weekend after all, since the people in charge of the boat turned it around and kicked everyone off. Yeah, we’re a classy bunch. Soon enough the school week was over and I was enjoying a pint and some yummy curry with Kate before heading off to an awesome Imogen Heap concert. I love her even more now.
The weekend and next school week went by in another blur, all leading up to the premiere of Harry Potter 7 Part One. While I couldn’t camp out all night or day to get a good place beside the red carpet - as I was working with disabled children until about 5 PM - I was left to run over with my flatmate Laura as soon as we arrived at the Leicester Square tube station. The HP7 premiere was something I knew I wanted to attend from before I even set foot on English soil, and it was great to live the dream and see live interviews with the stars while watching them walk down the red carpet. Even with our late arrival, we managed to secure a spot on higher ground (read: on the umbrella stand of a random Mexican restaurant) and see the stars. So, yes, I completely gave into the cult of celebrity. It’s Harry Potter. It was fully justified.
The rest of the weekend was rather odd, as I was the only one of my flatmates staying in London. I spent Friday in sick and most of Saturday involved working on both my global medicine paper and figuring out what classes I would take next semester (Cell Bio, Physics, Intro to Poverty Studies and Research into Rare and Neglected Disesases, with an extra physics lab and seminar for med-school applicants. Honestly not that bad.) Sunday I decided I could remain on the couch no longer and visited the Museum of London and the Tate Modern, with some Remembrance Day parades, carnivals at St. Paul’s and fireworks scattered in between. Both museums had really cool layouts and were fun to explore; the Museum of London fascinated the anthro student in me and, once more, I was a kid in a candy store at the Tate Modern. Monet, Matisse, Picasso, Lichtenstein, Warhol. Awesomeness.
Again, the next school week went by in a flash. Our flat - sadly minus Emily - went to see Jersey Boys that Tuesday, though. And - as I believe Meredith so aptly put it - “We were just seeing Jersey Boys … on a Tuesday.” The show was absolutely amazing - the vocals were good, the story was well put together, and the scenery and staging were phenomenal. That Thursday I lugged my laptop to Global London and Riverside in order to DART at Starbucks as soon as we got into Victoria. Fortunately, after a little trouble with getting department approvals for my research and poverty studies classes, I got everything I wanted. I even only have one class on Wednesday, so I’ll probably fill that with volunteer work.
Anyway, that Friday morning was absolutely amazing because I actually got to watch HP7 at 9:30, the earliest possible time it was showing in London. So. Freaking. Good. Seriously - it was a great adaptation of the book as well as incredible standing on its own as a film. Great cinematography, decent acting, awesome score and a fantastic mix of humor and darkness that defines the Harry Potter series. I loved it and will probably find a way to go see it again. After gorging on some cookies, chocolate and tea with Kate, though, I had to head back to finish my huge Global Medicine research paper and study for my upcoming physio test. (Boo.)
So, that loveliness pretty much consumed my weekend, although I did get to meet families that had come in for Thanksgiving and go to the British Museum. This time I spent most of my energy in the Greek, Roman, Chinese, Japanese and modern art sections of the museum. (That place is huge!) It was a good way to end the weekend.
The next school week itself went by in another ridiculously quick blur. But, when class was done on Thursday, it was time for Thanksgiving. Provided with food by the London Program we cooked our own dinner for thirty-one peope, including randoms from other flats, families and even my awesome global medicine professor. It was quite a production, but I was shocked that we got it done and it tasted fabulous. Particularly the mulled wine and pies Laura and her mom made. It was such a good time just hanging out with everyone over good food, a unique but fantastic Thanksgiving experience.
Anyway, again, most of the weekend had to be spent actually working as I had both a big global health presentation and global london paper due this week. (My work load, however, pales in comparison to most of the arts and letters students on the program. Oh my god.) I did check out the V&A and Natural History Museums on Sunday, rounding out a month of exploring the great museums London has to offer. The V&A was so cool - filled to the brim with objects of artistic expression - but I think the Natural History Museum would have been a lot more interesting when I was younger and didn’t already know most of the information.
Anyway, now November is done. My paper’s almost finished and my presentation went well. I’m trying to get moving on the two other papers I have due next week as well as my finals before heading to Dublin this weekend to see my lovely Siomha, but before I do I figured it was time to reflect on all November had offered. After five straight weekends of travel throughout Europe, November at a glance seemed dull. But, looking at everything I’ve in fact done, I realize this is only because the extraordinary has become commonplace in my London life. Yesterday I even walked straight into a student protest, and then I continued on my way to class as if nothing had happened. The only time something like that happens at ND is when crazy alumni get involved or in the annual discrimination clause conflict. Just being here exposes me to so many incredible daily experiences, I’ve just become acclimated to them. This means that (a) I’m going to be super bored when I go back and (b) I need a forum like this blog to reflect on all the incredible experiences that have in fact been had.
So, see you November. It’s been great. Now I’ve got 18 days to make the most of before I head back to the States.
Last weekend Kate and I made our way to Berlin to hang with a high school friend, Brian. I honestly had no idea what to expect from the trip, having done very little research beforehand. (I had depended on Brian to make a good tour guide … but he was ultimately looking in guidebooks rights along with us.)
What I didn’t expect was such a modern city, given the ancient world we’ve experienced in Europe thus far. It had an atmosphere unlike any I’ve seen here. Not only was the juxtaposition of the few remaining old monuments and the new architecture fascinating, but the city was also beautiful in its golds and reds of autumn. And then there was the relatively recent WWII and Cold War history that runs throughout the city, available to see in even the most unexpected places.
Oh, and it wasn’t infected by tourists. Bonus points.
We started off our first day by heading to the Brandenburger Tor. After a few quick pictures, we headed on to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Above ground lies a somber, abstract maze of a memorial which on its own evokes powerful emotion. Beneath the memorial, however, was a free museum which focused on the personal histories of those who perished during the Holocaust. It brought me to tears.
After regrouping at Tiergarten, with the leaves in all their glowing glory, we meandered over through Potsdamer Platz to the East Side Gallery. (This was a completely and totally indirect route. But that’s okay.) The gallery - a stretch of the wall with various art installations - was one of the coolest things we saw of the trip.
Afterward, we finally met up with Brian, dropped off our stuff (my shoulder wanted to murder me after carrying that damn duffle bag) and got doener for dinner. So good, but so filling. Probably not good food pre-drinking.
Cutting a long story short due to the members of the adult population who read this blog, we opted to stay in that night with our delicious fifty cent beer. And then Kate ran into a shelf and Brian cut himself on a broken glass door. Fun times. We quickly made the executive decision that night number two wouldn’t be so problematic.
Anyway, the next morning we began our wandering around Berlin back at Potsdamer Platz, where some sort of festival involving people in stilts and scary masks. I still have no idea what was going on there. Next we stopped by the Reichstag building, although we didn’t go up in the glass dome because of the absolutely ridiculous line. We made our way over to the Berliner Dom … which was closed … afterward and eventually ended up at the DDR museum. It was a super cool interactive look at East Germany during the Cold War.
That night, naturally, we had to celebrate Halloween. And while there were no initial plans to go in costume … the three of us ended up all going as hipster harry potters in glasses, scars and flannel shirts. Actually, I was a cross-dressing hipster Harry, as I didn’t bring pants on the trip. So I was either a very confused young Harry or Fleur Delacour transforming via polyjuice potion into him a la the 7th book. Anyway, we all headed to one of Brian’s friend’s awesome apartments in the city. (Seriously amazing decor. So jealous!) And then we made our way to a sweet Halloween party at an art gallery, complete with some amazing homemade costumes and glow in the dark drinks. (Yeah … don’t know what those were or whether they were safe for human consumption.)
After an interesting night, we spent the rest of our last day before the flight back to London checking out the Olympic Stadium. Who would have thought that there was so much Nazi symbolism behind the architecture? It was really fascinating. We intended on going to a flea market afterward, but then thought we didn’t have time. And then we remembered the daylight savings time change had occurred. Back at Brian’s apartment.
So I took a nap. And, finally, after an amazing but exhausting trip, we headed to Schoenfeld airport and flew home to London. It took forever to get through immigration, and I have thus decided that flying into Gatwick is unlucky. (It was, after all, the same airport we were headed to when we were delayed by a flock of seagulls.)
I had fully planned on finding out where everyone was and going out Halloween night, but I arrived home at 1 AM to find everyone fast asleep in their beds. Booze cruise had apparently been a bit much for everyone. So, I turned in for the night as well.
After a month of what feels like near constant travel, I’m excited to be spending at least a couple of weekends in England now. Sure, there may be some day tripping, but there will, more importantly, be some much needed downtime.
So, onward to my final fall break post: Roma!
We again took a train with Hogwarts Express style compartments … but it wasn’t nearly as fun this time as we all had to split up into different rooms. I slept some of the way but enjoyed the views - of first the sunrise and then the gorgeous early morning light over the Italian countryside - for more than half of the ride. We arrived, regrouped and made our way to the hostel.
After leaving our things in the luggage room, it was time for our first real day of being super touristy and tracking down every major attraction in site. The itinerary looked like this: Colosseum, Forum, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Piazza del Popolo, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain. Naturally, there was some minor feasting between and after. That night, we did a little pre-gaming and headed to an Irish pub to meet up with ND students studying in Rome. (Yes, during our Europe trip we had Chinese food, Mexican food, and we went to an Irish pub. Such a global experience. </global london mockery> ) To be honest, it wasn’t all that fun … as we could have done the exact same thing in London. Oh well.
The next morning we headed to the Vatican which - despite the fact that Rome was probably my least favorite location - was one of my favorite parts of the trip. (Hey, they technically are two different countries.) St. Peter’s was absolutely breathtaking in its magnitude - both physical and historical - as well as its beauty. Similarly, the Vatican museum was overwhelming. So much art! I was a kid in a candy store and quickly fell behind everyone else. (Although I still exited first after spending no time in the gift store. My trip-mates loved their souvenir shopping.) We enjoyed an absolutely beautiful sunset over the Vatican afterward and promptly headed to our last Italian feast.
Suitably enough, we ate in the Piazza outside the Pantheon. It was kind of surreal. It was also bizarre because of the overly friendly wait staff and the street vendors who kinda-sorta molested Sara and Emily…
Our last night in Rome ended with some (hilariously formal) pillow talk recalling our adventures. (“All who agree this was a good moment, say aye.” We’re ridiculous.) We also thoroughly enjoyed exploiting Sara’s tendency to sleep talk.
We had a fair amount of time the following morning to hang around Rome before our flight home, so we grabbed a quick lunch at a bar by the Pantheon and chilled on the Spanish Steps. Then, it was time to catch our taxi and return to London. While it broke my heart to leave Italy and our amazing trip - neither knowing when I would return nor if I ever would have such a fantastic traveling experience - it was quite clear by everyone’s crankiness and exhaustion that the time was right to depart. Sure enough, after finally making it home to the flats (after being delayed for three hours because the plane hit a freaking flock of seagulls!) it was wonderful to curl up in my horribly uncomfortable bed in KM.
Florence, day two!
First, the night after Venice is most certainly worth mentioning. After all, it involved Fish Pub, a Mexican bar in Venice with all you can eat Mexican food and three Coronas for ten euros. Yes, we took full advantage. They had the best guacamole of all time. When the bar evolved into more of a club scene - with a pretty amazing mix of American and Latino pop - the dancing started and the STLs came out. So. Much. Fun.
Understandably, we got a late start the following morning. We had waffles with gelato for breakfast and met up with Angelo, who joined us for the rest of the trip. The first official stop of the day was the Duomo, a beautiful church dating all the way back to the 13th century. We climbed the tower there (a surprisingly easy feat after all the climbing we’d been doing) and took in some great views of Florence from it’s center.
Next, we went to the Boboli Gardens. Again, they were gorgeous with their array of sites: classical statues, peaceful lawns, rose gardens and views of both Florence and Tuscany. Of course, we managed to goof off as much as we sat in quiet contemplation.
Finally, we feasted at another great restaurant (another marinara pizza for myself … they became the staple of my diet for the rest of the trip) and headed back to the hostel for our last night in Florence. All too soon, the sun was up and it was time to head back to the now rather familiar train station to embark for Rome.
While spending the night in Florence, we made a day trip to one of my favorite places from our trip: the ever-so-beautiful Venice.
Getting there - as occurred so many times on the trip - was an adventure in itself. We hopped on a train thinking we could buy tickets on board. Unfortunately, this was not the case and there was in fact a 50 euro fine! Fortunately, Matt and I hadn’t been able to find seats with everyone else and so were able to be forewarned of the horrible luck of our friends. So, we hoped off at the next stop, which happened to be Bologna, to actually buy tickets and wait for the next train.
After some bonding time wandering around Bologna (the first two pictures) for an hour, Matt and I boarded a new train to Venice and chatted it up with a guy whose name I most unfortunately can’t remember from Oregon. He was a reference assistant who at one point worked at the UC Berkeley library. Interesting guy. He said we’d make it into the memoirs he was writing on the trip, so it’s only fair he makes it into the blog.
Anyway, we (finally) made it to Venice and managed to wander over to the Piazza San Marco to meet up with everyone else. Along the way, there was a fantastic amount of colorful architecture and, of course, canals! We hit up the best gelato place of all time (craving it so much right now) and then - as we had to do - took a gondola ride! Our tour guide was really cool. He even sang for a little while. And we enjoyed the quintessential Venice experience riding along the beautiful canals. (Sidenote, I should count how many times I use the word “beautiful” on this blog. It’s getting ridiculous. Continuing on…)
Afterward, we went inside the beautifully (See? I can’t help it.) gilded San Marco Basilica and made our way back to the train for Florence. We managed to (again!) have our own compartment. (Yay!) From there, we went straight to Fish Pub for an awesome night of great music, ridiculous dancing and yummy Mexican food.
On to Firenze!
Day One!
We caught a train early in the morning from Cinque Terre to Florence/Firenze, and it was again rather awesome. This time, we got compartments. Oh yes, Hogwarts-style compartments complete with a sliding glass door. It sort of completed my life.
Anyway, enough with my nerdiness. We arrived in Florence and checked into our hostel. Then, with nearly a full day before us, we explored a truly beautiful city. Our first stop was Santa Croce. (Actually, our first stop was food. I got a delicious fruit tart.) It’s a beautiful church, home to the graves of Michelangelo, Galileo, Dante and Machiavelli. Then, we made our way to the river and the famous Ponte Vecchio, one of the last shop-covered bridges in Europe. (The jewelry! Oh, to one day have enough money to shop during my travels…)
And then there was more “hiking”. This wasn’t intentional hiking, mind you. We just might have kinda-sorta gotten lost and ended up walking through a residential neighborhood in the Tuscan hills for at least an hour. Ultimately, it was pretty awesome. We finally made it to our intended destination, the Piazzale Michaelangelo. Here we found a breathtakingly beautiful, peaceful church and an incredible view of one of the most amazing sunsets I’ve ever seen over the whole of Florence and the Tuscan hills.
But the day was not yet over. We made our way back down to the city - via a far more direct route - and feasted at a quiet restaurant with hands down the best pizza I’ve ever had. (Marinara pizza! What a revelation!) We spent the night with some bottles of wine playing ten fingers back at the hostel and promptly (and understandably) passed out. (Although apparently I talked in my sleep. In Spanish. Tipsy me is more interesting than I thought…)
We spent day two of the trip in Venice, which I’ll give it’s own post after this. (Spoiler alert: it was awesome!)
