Day Twelve: Exploring London

Okay, folks.  I will start with the bad news first, then talk about the good news. 

The bad – I didn’t get to see the LSO like I had hoped.  It turns out that the girl who booked our tickets booked them for the wrong day (Sunday, not Saturday).  This actually made me cry.  If you think I’m joking about the crying bit, you don’t know me very well.  I literally shed a few tears.  Mark my words, I WILL SEE THE LSO BEFORE I LEAVE THIS COUNTRY.

The good – I was “stuck” in London at 9:30am (that’s “half nine" in British slang) with a bunch of my fellow travelers.  Considering we were ten minutes away from all of the touristy attractions in London, our situation wasn’t really that awful.  After brushing off the disappointment from our failed attempt to see the LSO, we went to see Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Covent Garden, Westminster Abbey, and the British Museum.  The whole thing felt surreal.  I mean, I’ve seen pictures of these iconic places all of my life, but experiencing it in person is incredible.  London is beautiful.  With its soaring buildings, historic landmarks, lush public parks, and – of course – the regal River Thames, London is definitely worth the ninety minute commute from Canterbury.  Standing in front of the massive entrance to Westminster Abbey, I felt chills running up and down my back.  I can’t wait to go back and explore.  There is just so much to do!  We tried to do as much as we could in one day, but London needs to be digested and not just visited.  Next Friday, we get to go inside the Houses of Parliament and tour the Royal Courts of Justice.  This makes my heart really happy.  I’ll be sure to post about it next weekend.

In front of the Buckingham Palace

 Max pretending like he doesn't know us...

Hyde Park

 Entrance to the palace

 Buckingham Palace... the Queen is in!

 Everyone gathers on the fountain

 Buckingham Palace Fountain

 Buckingham Palace Fountain

 Buckingham Palace grounds

 Buckingham Palace Garden

 Buckingham Palace Garden

 A scenic park by the river

 Statue of a famous dude

 London is full of these fancy buildings

 Walking the streets of London

 Parliament

 Beautiful Big Ben

 Parliament

 Is this real life?

 I've always wanted a picture like this!

 The Houses of Parliament

 Westminster Abbey

 Westminster Abbey

 more of the Abbey...

Whilst gallivanting around London yesterday, I tried desperately to learn how to work the Tube.  Thankfully, one of the girls in our group knows how to navigate the craziness that is the Underground Railway.  She seemed to know the best way to get to the attractions, so I tried to follow right behind her and watch how she used the map to get around.  We paid for a one day travel pass, which was £6.50.  With that card, we received unlimited access to zones one and two of the Underground and free bus transportation. 

Color-by-number, or a map of the Tube?  I can't tell the difference.



For those of you who’ve never experienced the Tube, there are three things you need to know:

• It’s loud.

• It’s hot.

• It’s fast.  

I hate to simplify it like that because the Tube is actually very complex.  But, if we’re talking about the basics, that’s really all you need to know.  As for the stations, everyone there is in a hurry.  The escalators are packed full of people.  Unless you want to get run over, you had better stay in the left lane on the escalators.  The right lane is for sprinting (yes, people sprint up and down the moving escalators).  Where are all of these people going so quickly?  I don’t know, but they are booking it so you have to stay out of their way. 

There’s something about the Tube that makes people extremely unfriendly.  Maybe it’s just me, but no one ever seemed to be talking on the Tube.  It’s really hard to find someone to ask if you’re lost and need help.  If you even look at someone the wrong way, they glare at you.  People just stare straight ahead and avoid eye contact of any kind.  Some even close their eyes.  Because I was with my American friends and we were riding for the first time, we were all smiles, trying not to stand out too much, but still wanting to take pictures and talk.  Then there’s the whole “mind the gap” announcement/logo, which is pretty cute but I guess the locals are used to it because they don’t squeal and take pictures of the sign like we did.  Oops.

After walking around London for almost six hours, we were absolutely exhausted and looking for a place to have tea and scones and just chill before the journey home.  We found a cool place called Yumchaa, a small and cozy little tea and pastry shop…  but it was packed!  Not even a single empty chair in the place.  Some friends and I got scones to go, then went to a Starbucks, grabbed tea/coffee there, and sat for almost an hour just to relax.  By then it was getting late, so we headed back to the train station and caught the 7:20pm train back to Canterbury. 

I stole these pictures from the website. It's obvious.

Go to Yumchaa and you could meet up with this hot English hipster... yum.





Overall, my first day in London was a huge success.  Hopefully I can go back and explore next week!

Coffee and scones - the two most important things in my life, in that order.

A weary traveler on her way home from London...

Cheers!

- K

ENGLISH WORDS OF THE DAY:



diary - planner

mate - friend, buddy (I thought this was just an Australian thing, but nope! I was wrong)





Day Eleven: An Uneventful Day

This morning, I was feeling adventurous and decided to take my morning exercise in a new direction, towards the opposite end of town.  Mom, I know you’re not happy to read this, but I was by myself and I had no idea where I was going.  But it was fun.  I discovered a store called Sainsbury’s, which is basically a grocery store similar to Tesco.  I also ran into a cricket park (a large field where the British sport “cricket” is played).  I came back around 10am and then ran to Aldi – YES, THERE’S AN ALDI IN CANTERBURY<3 – to grab some food for the weekend.

What would I do without you?!

Tomorrow, I get to visit the Rochester Castle and Fort Amherst.  I can’t wait to post some awesome pictures! 

Guys, I finally cooked something today and it was hard.  Like I mention in the “About Me” section, I am horrible at cooking and baking, but I love to consume food so… that tends to be a bit of a problem.  But today I went confidently in the direction of my dreams and COOKED CHICKEN.  Wahooo!  It was pretty good, and so far I haven’t keeled over and died, so I think I may have cooked it properly.  Be amazed.  I share a kitchen with a guy who loves to cook and he is always creating something yummy.  This is very intimidating for someone like me, who makes cereal for two out of her three meals each day.  I managed to burn two finger tips on the darn stove top, but hey, at least I have proof that I actually tried. 

I had my first British piano lesson today!  Not gonna lie, it was really scary.  My instructor is this stone-faced, middle-aged man who barely smiled the entire thirty minutes I spent with him.  When I told him I don’t study music back home, he just sort of stared at me.  I could practically hear him thinking so, you’re here because….? But I’m not really worried.  He’ll warm up to me yet. :]  I played some Joplin and a Debussy for him. After working on those two pieces a bit, we scheduled another lesson and he asked me if I was looking to perform while I’m here.  I told him I was, in as informal a setting as possible.  That was the only thing that got him to smile, haha.  I’m excited to see how this goes.  I’ll be taking lessons every other week.

Lastly, our Modern Britain class taught the tutor (Martin) the word “frienemy.”  He is fascinated by this new word, and he told us he was trying to use it in conversation throughout the week.  This basically made my day.  That is all.

Here's some fun pictures from our girl's night of snacking, chatting, and painting nails... :)

P.S. On Saturday, I get to see the London Symphony Orchestra in an open rehearsal!!!! AHHHH.  I’m dying.

Cheers!

– K

BRITISH WORDS OF THE DAY:

All right?- A common way of saying, “Hello, how are you?”

How are you finding it? – Basically “How do you like it?” or “How is it?”

Day Nine and Ten: Cathedrals, Classes, and British Toilets

On Tuesday I took a tour of the Canterbury Cathedral.  It’s taken me a full 24 hours to recover from the beauty of this place.  Here are a few pictures that do not even come close to capturing the majesty of this 1400 year-old structure…

As I walked around inside the cathedral, I tried to imagine how the early Christians might have felt.  This building would have been the largest structure that the peasants and pilgrims would have ever seen.  The Nave of the cathedral has large, vaulted ceilings with pillars soaring high into the air.  This was the spot where the pilgrims would have gathered in the medieval period.  The Crypt is a quiet chamber that is similar to a basement.  It is the oldest part of the cathedral (the 11^th century, if you can think that far back).  It was especially chilling to walk around inside the Crypt because it has some of the country’s oldest Christian paintings on the walls.  The Trinity Chapel is where King Henry IV and Edward, Prince of Wales, are entombed.  There are so many dead people just hanging out in this cathedral – it’s ridiculous. 

On a lighter note, I have started two out of my four classes.  I am enjoying everything about this British University system!  Class meets once a week for two hours – one hour of lecture and one hour of discussion/seminar, generally.  This format makes a lot of sense to me (when compared to our American system) mainly because the class time is extremely structured and there is an entire hour for discussion.  As an English major, I value discussion.  Without class discussion, how does the tutor know the student understands the material?  But, I digress.

Martin, my tutor for the class “Modern Britain,” does not hesitate to share his political views with the class.  He told us at our first meeting, “Anyone who uses Wikipedia will be shot… that, and Fox news.  What rubbish.”  Geez, tell me how you really feel.  However, this Martin guy is pretty hilarious, sometimes without meaning to be.  For example, today we were discussing America’s national debt.  Martin made a remark that resonated with me:  “You’re told that debt as a student is a bad thing, yet your country is billions of dollars in debt.  Explain that to me!” For being so liberal, he sure hates to see America spending money it doesn’t have.

My second tutor, Steve, is a young man working on his PhD.  Today was our first meeting and he lectured on Chaucer (say “Chaw-sah” with a British accent… fun) and The Canterbury Tales.  This poor guy is the most awkward person in the world.  Yet, I really enjoyed his lecturing.  He kept trying to insert sarcastic jokes about the Black Plague, but no one in the class so much as cracked a smile.  I had to keep my smile to myself, I was definitely entertained.  :] 

Although the Brits do many things differently than Americans at University, one thing that seems pretty universal is the activities fair.  For those who don’t know, a college activities fair is basically a time for all of the societies, clubs, and extracurriculars to set up information booths and pass out free candy to bribe – I mean, recruit students to join.  These fairs are 98% awkward and 2% effective.  Most students go for the free food.  It’s always crowded and hard to hear.  And usually, the one club you actually want to be part of runs out of free pizza before you make it to their info table.  Classic. 

Anyway, while at the CCCU activities fair this morning, I signed up for a few interesting societies, like music society, performing arts society, film society, and the Christian Union.  Some random lady tried to recruit me for the Student Socialist Group, but I narrowly avoided that.   I don’t think she realized I am American.  TEAM CAPITALISM.

When people back in the States ask me where I’m from, I generally tell them, “Oh, the Chicago land area” or sometimes I’ll just say “Chicago land.”  I’ve learned real fast that I can’t say that while I’m here in England.  The conversation inevitably goes something like this:

            Me: “Hi, I’m Kristin.  Where are you from?”

            New Friend: “I’m Chris, from Ireland.  Where are you from?”

            Me:  “Oh, Chicago land.  It’s in the States.”

            New Friend:  “Chicago-land?  …Is that a theme park or something?”

            Me:   “……”

And finally, something needs to be said about British toilets.  And British bathrooms in general.  Allow me to be blunt:  you get one and ONLY ONE flush.  In other words, if you are dropping a deuce, you had better make sure it all disappears with that one flush.  Or else the next person will hate you (I may have learned that the hard way…  But I won’t go into detail).  Also, the flushing mechanism thingy is weird.  And the Brits (at least, the residents of Canterbury) don’t believe in hot water.  It’s actually quite depressing.  I haven’t had a warm shower in almost a week.  Guess it’s time to suck it up and assimilate. 

Here's some pictures from our trip to Richborough Roman Fort and Fort Amherst Tunnel...enjoy!

 Inside the tunnel

 No comment...

 Chillin at the castle wall!

How cool is this view?!

Cheers!

– K

BRITISH WORD OF THE DAY:

Queue - a line; EVERYONE LOVES WAITING IN LINES.