I know this is not about my travels, and I know some of the members of the audience are asking for more updates, but I will let this be my one day so far that I let myself miss New York City.
And the one day I act like I am not terribly upset I wasn't invited.
19 January 2010
17 January 2010
And so I got here.
The first picture taken, from my bus, from the left side of the road - snow on the ground in a lovely neighborhood.
It's a toss-up between the brownstones of New York City and the whitestones (surely not the appropriate term, but I like to think it's brilliant) of London. The penchant for white is one of many instances of London's cleanliness; apparently we're benefitting greatly from the upcoming Olympics, and the subsequent beautification efforts, but I love it! It's a shame I won't be able to be here for them, but who knows what will happen in 3 years.
The first few days were full of orientation sessions and tours of the area - the tours usually got too large to be effective but it was nice to get out nonetheless. That's one thing - of a few - I'm looking forward to getting away from now that "Freshman Year Welcome Week, take 2" is over: the tendency to travel in packs of no fewer than 10. That's not to say I haven't done it, but it gets cumbersome, and I worry that I'm less likely to venture out and meet new people when I'm in a large group full of people I'm at least somewhat familiar with.
Nights out have been so much fun; I'm certainly still adjusting to (read: fascinated by) the freedoms inherent in a drinking age of 18, but I'm enjoying it! The first night, I went with my roommate and her friends to the wine bar across the corner for yummy (and much appreciated, after plane food for so long) onion soup before a pretty early night in hopes of beating the jet lag. (So far, it's been a rough battle with no clear winner). Since then, I've been exploring the different clubs and pubs in the area, meeting tons of new people, American and English.
A few nights into it all, I sucked it up and embraced my tourist side, going down to the London Bridge.
This is a monument, designed by Sir Christopher Wren (the British LOVE ol' CW - you can't walk more than 8 steps before running into yet another structure he's responsible for), for the Great Fire of London (1666). You can walk up inside, all the way to the top, but it was, of course, not open to the public by the time we went. As follows is a more informed description of The Monument:
One thing that was surprising about the London Bridge was that it was literally not a whole lot more than a road and sidewalks over the water (the Thames, of course). It seems a little excessive that we're taught, at such a young age, the moving composition that tells the story of this anticlimatic structure.
This is the Tower Bridge, taken from the London Bridge. According to Wikipedia, the Tower Bridge is so called because of its proximity to the Tower of London, which seems pretty obvious now that I think about it. My point is, I am going to the Tower of London this weekend - so excited! - so look forward to pictures of those. Pictures that, I promise, will be up with a quicker turnaround than the one I've been operating on so far; my bad.
The next day (I think this was the Sunday after I arrived, at this point), I went on a bus tour of the city, organized by NYU and administered by a hilarious woman who started out by quizzing us about our surroundings (we don't actually reside in London itself, but rather in one of the 31 boroughs) before then going on to split the tour pretty equally between describing the sights and pointing out nice cars & department stores. Unfortunately, my camera died pretty early on (thank goodness for rechargeable batteries!) but what follows is what I got. Most of these are on Facebook, so I apologize for the repetition!
The St. Pancras International Rail Station, right next to King's Cross; both of which are right down the road from me. It's a huge station and gets a little mall-like on the inside, which I must admit I haven't explored fully for exactly that reason.
Queen Victoria had this put together, in honor of her late husband Albert, whom she was clearly obsessed with. It's taking me quite some time to come around to the love of gold everywhere; I guess I understand that it's a symbol of wealth but it just reminds me more of suffocating Grandma style. Clearly, I will never be royalty. But that's not to say William, that you can head on up to Nido if Kate Middleton isn't doin' it for ya anymore. I can sign guests in until midnight.
This is Wellington Arch in Hyde Park. It commemorates Britain's victories in the Napoleonic Wars, which they are very very proud of.
Upon arriving at Buckingham Palace, we were all quickly distracted by Justin Bieber, the 15-year-old musician discovered through Myspace who you've probably heard before, but don't realize because you thought it was a girl the whole time.
This was the one picture I managed to get of the palace itself before my camera bit the dust, but be assured that Buckingham Palace is on my list of obligatory, must-see visits that are taking place this weekend, so better pictures (and maybe even a play-by-play of the Changing of the Guards, if I can get myself out of bed in time) are a-coming.
The next day, classes started. My schedule is;
Monday 10am - 1pm: Management and Organisational Analysis
Monday 2 pm - 5pm: Introduction to Marketing
Monday 6:30 - 8pm: Issues in Contemporary British Politics & Culture
Tuesday 10am - 1pm: British Art in London
Tuesday 2pm - 5pm: The English Novel in the 19th Century
My Management and Marketing classes are okay; I can say with certainty, though, that I am thankful that I am going into neither of these fields. They're going to be quite a bit of work each, but I guess it will keep me out of trouble and be interesting enough. Both of the professors are nice and fun, so they both have that going for them.
The Issues class met for the first time last night, and last night served as just a primer to little tidbits of British culture, presented in a funny, very British style by the seminar leader. Each week will be different speakers; we have an assigned book and the author will be coming to speak in a few weeks, so that should be interesting (although most of my peers are not big fans of the book, and I have yet to start it as my nap came first in line for today's to-do list).
British Art and English Novel are both very fun though, and I'm very glad that I've let myself have the most artsy semester I've had yet, and probably will have. For British Art, we started at Westminster Abbey and Whitehall (the political center of London) and discussed the architecture there; today we went to the National Gallery and start looking at some portraiture and mythological works. It's a ton of information each class (I take on average 8 pages of notes over the 3 hours!) but it's all very interesting and I'm really excited to get to go all over the city (and even beyond - we're going to Greenwich next week) guided by someone who knows so much about what we're looking at. My English Novel professor is kooky but becoming more and more adorable with each class; we just finished Pride and Prejudice and have started to discuss it. Next is Jane Eyre, which I'm hoping to get a start on soon so it's not a long night like last night was.
My sincerest apologies for the delay in this post. As I said, I'm starting to settle into my routine and I hope that this will be conducive to timely, regular updates here and on Facebook. I've still got my trip to Greenwich to talk about (last Friday) and will hopefully have tons to relay after this weekend, which I'm spending here in London to get work done and go sightseeing!
The first picture taken, from my bus, from the left side of the road - snow on the ground in a lovely neighborhood.
It's a toss-up between the brownstones of New York City and the whitestones (surely not the appropriate term, but I like to think it's brilliant) of London. The penchant for white is one of many instances of London's cleanliness; apparently we're benefitting greatly from the upcoming Olympics, and the subsequent beautification efforts, but I love it! It's a shame I won't be able to be here for them, but who knows what will happen in 3 years.
The first few days were full of orientation sessions and tours of the area - the tours usually got too large to be effective but it was nice to get out nonetheless. That's one thing - of a few - I'm looking forward to getting away from now that "Freshman Year Welcome Week, take 2" is over: the tendency to travel in packs of no fewer than 10. That's not to say I haven't done it, but it gets cumbersome, and I worry that I'm less likely to venture out and meet new people when I'm in a large group full of people I'm at least somewhat familiar with.
Nights out have been so much fun; I'm certainly still adjusting to (read: fascinated by) the freedoms inherent in a drinking age of 18, but I'm enjoying it! The first night, I went with my roommate and her friends to the wine bar across the corner for yummy (and much appreciated, after plane food for so long) onion soup before a pretty early night in hopes of beating the jet lag. (So far, it's been a rough battle with no clear winner). Since then, I've been exploring the different clubs and pubs in the area, meeting tons of new people, American and English.
A few nights into it all, I sucked it up and embraced my tourist side, going down to the London Bridge.
This is a monument, designed by Sir Christopher Wren (the British LOVE ol' CW - you can't walk more than 8 steps before running into yet another structure he's responsible for), for the Great Fire of London (1666). You can walk up inside, all the way to the top, but it was, of course, not open to the public by the time we went. As follows is a more informed description of The Monument:
One thing that was surprising about the London Bridge was that it was literally not a whole lot more than a road and sidewalks over the water (the Thames, of course). It seems a little excessive that we're taught, at such a young age, the moving composition that tells the story of this anticlimatic structure.
This is the Tower Bridge, taken from the London Bridge. According to Wikipedia, the Tower Bridge is so called because of its proximity to the Tower of London, which seems pretty obvious now that I think about it. My point is, I am going to the Tower of London this weekend - so excited! - so look forward to pictures of those. Pictures that, I promise, will be up with a quicker turnaround than the one I've been operating on so far; my bad.
The next day (I think this was the Sunday after I arrived, at this point), I went on a bus tour of the city, organized by NYU and administered by a hilarious woman who started out by quizzing us about our surroundings (we don't actually reside in London itself, but rather in one of the 31 boroughs) before then going on to split the tour pretty equally between describing the sights and pointing out nice cars & department stores. Unfortunately, my camera died pretty early on (thank goodness for rechargeable batteries!) but what follows is what I got. Most of these are on Facebook, so I apologize for the repetition!
The St. Pancras International Rail Station, right next to King's Cross; both of which are right down the road from me. It's a huge station and gets a little mall-like on the inside, which I must admit I haven't explored fully for exactly that reason.
Queen Victoria had this put together, in honor of her late husband Albert, whom she was clearly obsessed with. It's taking me quite some time to come around to the love of gold everywhere; I guess I understand that it's a symbol of wealth but it just reminds me more of suffocating Grandma style. Clearly, I will never be royalty. But that's not to say William, that you can head on up to Nido if Kate Middleton isn't doin' it for ya anymore. I can sign guests in until midnight.
This is Wellington Arch in Hyde Park. It commemorates Britain's victories in the Napoleonic Wars, which they are very very proud of.
Upon arriving at Buckingham Palace, we were all quickly distracted by Justin Bieber, the 15-year-old musician discovered through Myspace who you've probably heard before, but don't realize because you thought it was a girl the whole time.
This was the one picture I managed to get of the palace itself before my camera bit the dust, but be assured that Buckingham Palace is on my list of obligatory, must-see visits that are taking place this weekend, so better pictures (and maybe even a play-by-play of the Changing of the Guards, if I can get myself out of bed in time) are a-coming.
The next day, classes started. My schedule is;
Monday 10am - 1pm: Management and Organisational Analysis
Monday 2 pm - 5pm: Introduction to Marketing
Monday 6:30 - 8pm: Issues in Contemporary British Politics & Culture
Tuesday 10am - 1pm: British Art in London
Tuesday 2pm - 5pm: The English Novel in the 19th Century
My Management and Marketing classes are okay; I can say with certainty, though, that I am thankful that I am going into neither of these fields. They're going to be quite a bit of work each, but I guess it will keep me out of trouble and be interesting enough. Both of the professors are nice and fun, so they both have that going for them.
The Issues class met for the first time last night, and last night served as just a primer to little tidbits of British culture, presented in a funny, very British style by the seminar leader. Each week will be different speakers; we have an assigned book and the author will be coming to speak in a few weeks, so that should be interesting (although most of my peers are not big fans of the book, and I have yet to start it as my nap came first in line for today's to-do list).
British Art and English Novel are both very fun though, and I'm very glad that I've let myself have the most artsy semester I've had yet, and probably will have. For British Art, we started at Westminster Abbey and Whitehall (the political center of London) and discussed the architecture there; today we went to the National Gallery and start looking at some portraiture and mythological works. It's a ton of information each class (I take on average 8 pages of notes over the 3 hours!) but it's all very interesting and I'm really excited to get to go all over the city (and even beyond - we're going to Greenwich next week) guided by someone who knows so much about what we're looking at. My English Novel professor is kooky but becoming more and more adorable with each class; we just finished Pride and Prejudice and have started to discuss it. Next is Jane Eyre, which I'm hoping to get a start on soon so it's not a long night like last night was.
My sincerest apologies for the delay in this post. As I said, I'm starting to settle into my routine and I hope that this will be conducive to timely, regular updates here and on Facebook. I've still got my trip to Greenwich to talk about (last Friday) and will hopefully have tons to relay after this weekend, which I'm spending here in London to get work done and go sightseeing!
13 January 2010
Finally, a chance to breathe (and update here!). I'm going to cheat, split this into two posts, and backdate the first (if I can figure out how) so that it's more true to how my life is actually going. So here is round 1, about the excitement that was the travel itself.
After what was admittedly a rough goodbye to my hometown (how can it be easy when it's this gorgeous?), I boarded a series of planes starting at 7am on 12/01/2010.
20 hours later, a new sun, a new continent, a new semester!
And here we go...
After what was admittedly a rough goodbye to my hometown (how can it be easy when it's this gorgeous?), I boarded a series of planes starting at 7am on 12/01/2010.
20 hours later, a new sun, a new continent, a new semester!
And here we go...
Well, here I go!
I am sitting outside my gate at JFK after a long, long day of travel. I got to Dallas later than scheduled due to de-icing procedures, Air-Trained it to Terminal A, only to find out that my 1030 flight to JFK had been cancelled. The reasoning they gave was out-of-service equipment, so at the end of the day I'm thankful that they caught it before any of us were on the plane, but it certainly made the afternoon exciting. We were all moved to a 1100 flight to LaGuardia, then upon arrival American Airlines called car services to get us to JFK. Traffic was rough, and I shared a cab with a woman with 90 minutes to catch her flight to Rome, but all turned out well and we both made our flights. Just at 12 hours later and I am ready to go. Now, here's hoping my recently-purchased (500) Days of Summer downloads in time for me to have it on the plane!
I am sitting outside my gate at JFK after a long, long day of travel. I got to Dallas later than scheduled due to de-icing procedures, Air-Trained it to Terminal A, only to find out that my 1030 flight to JFK had been cancelled. The reasoning they gave was out-of-service equipment, so at the end of the day I'm thankful that they caught it before any of us were on the plane, but it certainly made the afternoon exciting. We were all moved to a 1100 flight to LaGuardia, then upon arrival American Airlines called car services to get us to JFK. Traffic was rough, and I shared a cab with a woman with 90 minutes to catch her flight to Rome, but all turned out well and we both made our flights. Just at 12 hours later and I am ready to go. Now, here's hoping my recently-purchased (500) Days of Summer downloads in time for me to have it on the plane!
05 January 2010
t-minus 7 days.
I can't take credit for this PostSecret, but it fits, and it's a large part of all of the different emotions I'm experiencing regarding my departure in one week. Of course I'm excited, to live in London for four months and go to all these places I keep listing over and over again as I sit in Barnes & Noble reading travel guides. I'm also ridiculously nervous and anxious (when am I not?), and I've taken to dealing with these emotions by letting my allergies keep me in bed for the better part of the morning, watching Meryl Streep movies on Netflix. Then I sit up, and let all of my suitcases stay half-packed for yet another day, because what's really the point in unpacking, when I'm going to be repacking in a matter of days? Oh my. Days. Days that I need to spend getting in all the Austin I can - trails, and Tex-Mex and barbecue, and Waterloo Records, everything that makes this one of my favorite cities. One of my favorite, out of the two I know. In just a few short months, my decision of favorite will require sifting through a much longer list!
01 January 2010
Introduction.
0935 January 12, 2010 - 1645 May 15, 2010.
One girl, with just size 7 feet, taking on a big continent with more history and stories than she could ever imagine. Not quite sure what she's starting as, but eager to see where (and what) she ends up. Follow it all, in words and pictures, here.
One girl, with just size 7 feet, taking on a big continent with more history and stories than she could ever imagine. Not quite sure what she's starting as, but eager to see where (and what) she ends up. Follow it all, in words and pictures, here.
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