It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas..

If I could just end my internship with last night's Christmas party, by all means, I would do so in a heartbeat - not even because it's so challenging and I'm burnt out now that I'm very aware of how soon I get to home (A WEEK FROM TOMORROW!), not even because there's a BAJILLION things I want to re-visit (and sadly, so many things I want to visit for the first time still!) and I suddenly have come to the realization that despite counting down until when I go home, I haven't seen and done everything that I've had in mind just yet. Instead, it's because I'm not sure I could be anymore flattered by the compliments that I've been graced with this week, and I want to leave at the highest point I can reach.

So I should backtrack a bit first... Luckily (oh man, luckily) for myself, a new work experience student started this past week and will be there until I finish up this coming week. Which, although my first thought was of course (immaturely) "Aren't I enough?" Well, I wouldn't have been.. because as I'd expect no one in America should know (or even care to know) the Chancellor issued the pre-budget report this week... aka, this Wednesday (oh joy, I was lucky enough to work that day!) was CHAOTIC. We offered a 13-page feature on the section, and the editor sent us out to collect not 3, not 4, not even 5 interviews... BUT TWELVE. TWELVE?! Just to put in perspective, on a semi-controversial (moreso political than financial) question, it sometimes takes me a good two - two & a half hours to find someone appropriate for the slots. The PBR couldn't possibly be a more difficult question to ask individuals to comment on - adding the fact that we were sent out just an hour or so after the report was even announced. Unless everyone in the UK has SKYNEWS running 24/7 in their offices (which I doubt), I don't understand how the hell anyone would expect people to be experts on the issue just an hour after its release.

That being said, thank God I had a partner in crime this time... because after they had sent me out for a good hour, I had actually reached a point where I called my mom on the brink of crying. So, once I returned to the office exclaiming that it was more or less impossible - and after the other intern (a graduate student at a London university) returned with the same verdict - they sent us out together to see what would happen. We came back an hour or more later with six interviews, which to our extreme luck the editor had agreed on long before we had even collected six... and we left that night with lots of words of congratulations and gratitude from the entire newsroom staff. DEFINITELY an extremely difficult assignment. DEFINITELY.

So come Thursday, I was assigned two fairly challenging stories - both thankfully more politically and legally based - and the intern and I did the interviews together (in about an hour!) After submitting the second of my stories, my news editor turned around from a few desks over and said, "Alyssa! Excellent job on the **** story. Really nice work - very tight and crisp. Solid writing!" I felt so flattered and so humbled that the NEWS EDITOR was complimenting my writing.. I smiled and thanked him shyly and didn't think too too much about it, although it did send me home with an extra skip in my step.

Fast-forward to Friday where I worked in the features section - and even managed to goof up.. The office Christmas party was yesterday, but I assumed we weren't going since we technically work on Fridays. That being said, it was only about 3pm when (on an empty stomach) I shared a Christmas ale with the features editor and one of the reporters. Delicious stuff, but goodness did it hit me FAST. I barely had ANY but I suppose that's how it goes when you don't eat all day.

I didn't necessarily want to go to the party because I obviously don't know people as well as they know each other, not to mention there's the whole two papers, two projects and a final that I still have yet to accomplish. But I went, because I didn't want to come off as rude or uninterested... and I'm very glad that I did go (even if I was damn near drunk after just one strawberry daquiri). But while I was there, the deputy editor came up to me apologized for coming off as intimidating during my initial interview for the position - and proceeded to congratulate me and thank me, saying that had I not been willing "to dive in and put in the extra effort" it never would have worked out. I couldn't have been more flattered, even if I did try to play it off cooly.

Speaking of things that I tried to play off cooly... four $12 drinks later, I decided to head home before getting 45 minutes from the bar and realizing that my final exam notes were in a bag that I had left at the front of the bar. UGH.

Nevertheless, an awesome night.

Through the Years We All Will Be Together...

This post is going to be horribly written, despite the fact that the past week has absolutely been incredibly amazing - and a nice vacation from the reality that I have a nearly-impossible workload ahead of me in the next five days...

As most people know, whether from my bringing it up every 10 seconds in conversation or through various facebook statuses, Chris visited for the past 10 days or so... While the week saw him in bed sick for the first two or three days, my working shifts until 8pm at my internship and horrible, horrible weather... as always, I had an incredible time and cried when saying goodbye at the airport (thankfully, I was anxious over the fact that I was over half an hour late for class, otherwise I would've made a huge scene, as usual hahaa)

I had dreams of us getting fabulous pictures together at Big Ben, the Monument, Tower Bridge, etc. and none of that happened. In fact, dare I point out, I think we literally got one picture together - and even that was sort of a fail because we asked for a picture in front of St. Paul's and the tourist who took it failed to get any of St. Paul's Cathedral in the background.

It makes me feel terrible to think we missed out on enjoying London itself together, but then I realize it doesn't necessarily matter. There were hilarious moments, like freaking out in the Earls Court hostel because we were CONVINCED a murderer was in the building... watching A Muppet Christmas Carol together... and all of the incredibly delicious dinners - not to mention sneaking into and out of my building a dozen times.

It might not have been what I had in mind in the sense that I wanted so badly to show all of London to Chris myself, but sometimes things don't work out as scheduled... and sometimes, that's just fine with me.

Nevertheless, when we hopped on the 9-hour overnight bus to Scotland, I had very high expectations - and yet the entire trip exceeded them. We did a walking tour first thing in the morning after having coffee and hot chocolate with Justin at Cafe Nero on Princes Street... and despite the cold, POURING rain throughout the 3 1/2 hour tour, I'm pretty sure all three of us had an amazing time. And that night, we embarked on a pub crawl, which was absolutely hilarious - despite the fact the Mexican food + alcohol didn't fair too well with Justin. The next day brought beautiful sunshine and an incredible amount of pictures that will never do the day justice...

But, I think the highlight of my whole trip was when the three of us sat together in a pub for a good three hours and reminisced... about our trip, about our semesters abroad, about Christmastime, and about how despite our distances, despite the turn of events over the past couple years and despite where we may find ourselves in the future, we always seem to find ourselves back together. That in and of itself made the entire 10 days memorable... And with a toast, we vowed to future excursions which - without a doubt - I look forward to.

As miserable as Chris probably was on the National Express bus back to London, I don't think I could stop smiling.. and it absolutely crushed me (as usual) to see him leave today. And that? That had nothing to do with London, and that's totally okay.

Nevertheless, the only good thing Chris leaving symbolizes is the main thing keeping me determined to get work done (although I haven't actually done anything yet) - and that is the fact that in less than two weeks I will be back home decorating the Christmas tree, sleeping in my own bed, eating my parents' cooking, visiting Peddler's Village, seeing A Christmas Carol in Princeton and... oh yes, Christmas Eve & Christmas Day with the family. I've love, love LOVED London, but I can't help but have a one-track mind... only 12 days until I'm home again at the best time of the year...

Turkey for you, turkey for me - Can't believe the Mets traded Darryl Strawberry

I'd be lying if I ever made the claim that I've ever shaken my homesickness since first arriving in London almost three months ago - I haven't - but I'd also have to say that I have, in many ways, acclimated myself to the city, to the point where I often find myself forgetting that I’m an ocean’s width away from my hometown in central New Jersey.

That being said, today offered the blaring reminder that I am, in fact, a foreigner to this country. To say it was easy to get myself out of bed to go to work on Thanksgiving Day, only the greatest holiday ever invented, would be a flat-out lie. I moped the entire way to Gloucester Road tube station, and whenever Christmas songs dared to turn up on my iPod shuffle, a pang of instant homesickness would stab me out of the blue. It’s not so much the turkey dinner, or the American football games, or even the day off from work that I missed out on this year. It was just the fact that it served as another painstaking reminder of just how far away home really is… although, upon second glance at my calendar, I suppose it’s not very far at all.

Nevertheless, I was not in the happiest of moods when I stumbled into work, particularly when a full hour had passed before a single person (of a group of journalists!) remembered that it was Thanksgiving. They all turned to me and apologetically wished me a happy holiday, before stacking nine hours’ worth of work on my desk.

Needless to say, it was a challenging day. But my morning homesickness eventually faded into determination and false hope that I’d be sent home early for the day. I wasn’t, but the idea kept my attitude positive, even as I pursued a horribly challenging story covering a Japanese-based engineering company. The story itself wasn’t necessarily a difficult topic – I didn’t have to deal so much with pre-tax profits and adjusted earnings and everything that goes in one ear and comes out the other at the day’s end. It was the fact that there was no story – and, with just my luck, this was the one time that my editor asked me to write a longer feature. Seriously? Of all the times I dug up sources and picked up the phone and harassed analysts, with no understanding of what exactly it was I was harassing them about… of all those times, THIS was the time that they wanted me to write a full-fledge story? Oh boy, Happy Thanksgiving.

On another note – yesterday, halfway through the day, my other editor walked over to my desk with his usual quiet disposition and said to me: “Alyssa, I wanted to let you know… there’s an office Christmas party on December 11th, and you’re more than welcome to come.” Christmas party! Not only am I not fired, but I’m coming to the office Christmas party? Honestly, you’d think the captain of the high school football team had just asked me to my senior prom. I was so happy and so relieved that last week’s fiasco had not only failed to persuade them to fire me and thus destroy my grade-point average, but they were still considering me a part of the office! I caught myself before I replied, “You bet your bottom I’m going to be at the Christmas party!”

Aside from the overwhelming urge to climb to the top of the tallest building in London’s bank district and mull over my options a few times, I have to say that, bad moments aside, I do actually have a love for this internship. I don’t take back what I said about not wanting to become a financial reporter, but I don’t necessarily hate my job, and I do find parts of it to be very rewarding. Last Friday, while working the features desk, they entrusted me to not only write my own stories and edit their work, but they actually let me place a page using Quark, a program that I proudly list under the “skills” section of my resume, yet one that I also have hardly touched since my former position as senior editor on the high school newspaper staff. Nevertheless, I remembered enough to get by, and lo and behold, come Monday, there was my page, exactly as I had set it out with all of the edits that I had chosen to implement. Alas, a sense of accomplishment and a return of confidence!

Before I finish off this post, I also need to back-track as I failed to mention an important cultural experience I had a few weeks ago on Armistice Day. While I realize that the day is the same of the American equivalent, veteran’s day, there was a moment where I really earned a renewed sense of respect for British culture – and that was the moment of silence. Grant it, there have been a number of times during which I wish there had been a moment of silence in our newsroom (particularly when I’m on the phone), but it was absolutely impressive, not just how everyone quieted in time for the national reflection, but how everyone had actually prepared beforehand. In an office where phones are constantly ringing off the hook, every single reporter hung up from their phone conversations, no matter how important, and told those on the other line, “I apologize but I will have to call you back after the national moment of silence.” And, in return, not a single phone rang during the entire moment in which we gathered around the television for BBC’s coverage of the day of remembrance.

Being that I can still recall September 11, 2002, the first day in my 20-year memory during which our President implemented a national moment of silence - a tradition which, unfortunately, seemed to fall through within the next year or two to follow - I was absolutely moved by how dedicated every single individual in my office had been to commemorating an event that happened over 90 years ago.

Just what you want to be, you will be in the end

DISCLAIMER: Excuse the format, lameness and lack of contractions in this post... the truth is, we're required to write blog posts for class and being that I'm SO exhausted (and quite tired of looking at computer screens all day), I decided to be lazy and copy & paste my entry for class into this blog... I'll eventually go back and add photos and be really-super-obnoxious and re-publish all of the photoless posts later. But until then... enjoy (or don't, since this is a class assignment)... ALSO, I realized that I had the name of my organization in my original class entry - but being that I'm too lazy to reword things, I'm putting in asterisks where I named the paper. HAHA. Sorry =) Needless to say - not one of my better posts. Bear with me.

When I first walked through the doorway, towards the receptionist’s desk in front of the ******* newsroom, I was more nervous than I had probably ever been for an interview, let alone an interview for an unpaid position. Although I may have been through the routine before a number of times in attempts to brace myself for the real world of declining readership and the rise in online journalism, for whatever reasons, I was absolutely shaking in my boots as I sat on the couch waiting to meet my soon-to-be editors.

Despite all of the pep talk that I had heard from our advisors prior to my interview, I somehow knew in my gut that mine would hardly incorporate a laid-back environment or talks over tea and biscuits - let alone a trip to a nearby pub. Nevertheless, it came as very little surprise to me that I was greeted with an empty board room - and what could have served as interrogation lights in a penitentiary - and a one-on-one session with each of the two news editors. While they seemed very nice, they were anything but shy about their expectations for the intern position – nor did they cover up the startling statistic that two of their last five interns were fired.

Being that I still have much to learn about life in the United Kingdom, coupled with the fact that had I still been in the United States I would still know very little about financial news, I was completely certain – and still very much afraid – that I would become another statistic for them to tell their future applicants.

That being said, a lot has already changed. On day one of my internship, I walked in the door at 10a.m. sharp, which is what I was told to do, and yet editors and reporters were creeping through into the newsroom as late as half-past ten. I must have been there maybe six minutes before the head editor, **let's call him Bob**, turned to me and said, “Do you want the BTG story? You can take the BTG story” and walked back to his desk on the other room. The first thought that popped into my mind was, of course, “What in God's name is BTG?”

I am not exactly sure how I not only managed to get through that first day, but also, how exactly nine hours, with no lunch-break, managed to fly by so quickly. And, more importantly, I am not sure how it happened, but I not only wrote that BTG story, it gave me my first byline in their paper the next morning.

I tried to remain stealth about hunting down a copy of that Friday’s paper in a frantic search to see my name in print. I had written before for a national U.S. publication, with roughly the same circulation rates as *****, but there was something so rewarding about seeing my name in print… in a foreign newspaper… discussing a topic for which, just 24 hours earlier, I had known nothing.

As I’m writing this post after having finished only five days of my internship, I have already had several bylines in their paper, I have been sent out twice to collect a dozen interviews on financial and banking topics and – oh, yes – I have even been humbled with compliments by my editors. While each day has, thankfully, allowed for me to look back in retrospect with pride for my accomplishments, every single day has been a complete and utter challenge.

My internship has already taught – or at least reminded me of – several things. The first, being that I am an American, and while I have not ever really forgotten this, there have already been countless times where something t that would be common-knowledge for anyone and everyone in the newsroom remains something blatantly foreign to me. While everyone has been very helpful and understanding thus far of our cultural differences, there have been little moments that serve as a reminder that my lack of background knowledge in both the British financial world and British culture can be fairly humorous at times. It came as a bit of a reality-check for me when I walked into the office one day and proclaimed that I had stayed up the whole night to finally have the chance to see my favorite American baseball team had win the world championship, and yet about half of the people in the room had never even heard of the New York Yankees. That being said, I contributed nothing to the same reporters’ conversation about football a few hours later.

The second lesson that I have already learned from my internship is simple: I am not a kid anymore. Now, grant it, I have realized this a long time ago, but I have realized that, had I taken on an internship in a financial daily newspaper in America (which, by the way, would never happen because undergraduates very rarely receive placement with daily newspapers in the United States, let alone with newspapers that cover topics of which they have no familiarity) I would still be lauded for my successes, specifically because of my age. In other words, although I entered ***** knowing that I would not be “babied” through my endeavors, I have essentially been on my own throughout my first five days. While there are plenty of helpful and generous reporters in the office, everyone is too busy to assist me with however few questions I may limit myself to, and I find myself having to learn things through trial and error.

However, I have noticed, particularly today, that my efforts have not actually gone unnoticed. Just as I was growing more and more convinced that I was doing a poor job and that I was secretly becoming a burden rather than an asset to the organization, as I got up from my desk to leave work (at 7p.m., as usual) both the head editor and the news editor took the time to personally thank me for my work and congratulate me on my early accomplishments.

I still walk into work every day with the fear of failing – of completely blanking on the difference between pre-tax profits and adjusted profits, or confusing banks, or enduring plain-old writer’s block – but the challenges, thus far, have been nothing less than rewarding, In the past two days, I have taken on controversial topics and have actually successfully convinced nearby banking and investing professionals to comment – on the record – despite the fact that they were leery about expressing their opinions publicly. And, oh yeah, I accomplished this feats in the pouring rain.

Sell the kids for food, Weather changes moods..

I had to switch back to Nirvana for my title, otherwise all of my blogposts from here on out would be Christmas songs haha (I'm kind of a little addicted to Pandora's holiday selections.. thank you VPN.American.Edu for existing).

Nevertheless, I thought the opening lines to In Bloom pretty much sum up my weekend - out of money, out of food, and in a rut whenever it rains outside.

Anywho, I literally did nothing and I hate that I did nothing because weekends are prized possessions now that FIE so graciously forked over a very challenging IIC seminar (whatever IIC stands for I have no idea)... but basically for an hour and a half every Monday we discuss our feelings about our internships (aka, I will probably whine about the sheer terror I feel every Wednesday and Thursday) and oh yeah.. P.S. Students? You have a 3,000-word paper on top of finals and the 6,000 other powerpoint presentations due in that week's span. I imagine Dec 10th-Dec 15th are going to be some of the most anxious and challenging days you could really ever fathom abroad.

However, the build-up to Nov 28th, when Chris gets here, is pretty overwhelming, too. I talked his (eyes??) off today on gchat because in the few and precious hours when I don't have any obnoxious assignments to rush through (although I kind of did at the time) I can't help but sometimes stare at my calendar in anticipation of the few weekends of excitement and freedom that are remaining in the London program. Here's a depressing way of looking at it - not including the weekend we all leave, there's only 5 pairs of Friday & Saturday nights left. You mean to tell me that the maximum amount of weekends that I can lose my voice by screaming at mediocre (but when you're holding a drink or two - FABULOUS) rock bands and sweat off several pounds dancing at O'Neill's is FIVE? (Well, actually six. I could squeeze in a run before hopping on the plane back to Jersey).

Anyway, tomorrow is Tuesday.. with that comes one more opportunity to rush out of FIE's building in search for another Christmas lighting ceremony... but it's also the last remaining day before voyaging back to the office and putting my nose to the grindstone. It's satisfying work, let me tell you, but it's also my first taste of the real world. I miss when people were impressed at my accomplishments because of my age. Bye bye, teen years. Hello adulthood.

It's been a hard day's night, and I've been working like a dog..

So in the past week, I've overcome the first of two expected bouts of extreme homesickness (missing Halloween back home), seen my Yankees win the WORLD SERIES (at 5:30am.. 2 hrs before I had to get up), handed in a legitimately tough paper and completed the second of many obnoxious powerpoint presentations. Oh yeah, and I started a little thing called my internship...

For googling purposes, I won't name the organization that I'm working with on here, but if your facebook friends with me (or friends with me at all haha) you should probably know... anyway, I'm working with a daily financial newspaper, I'll give you that much.

And guess what. I don't know a THING about finance.

I literally was shaking in my heels as I walked to the tube on Wednesday for my first day. I know I've been nervous for every first day of work that I've ever had (yes, even Dairy Queen - which, believe it or not, the first day at DQ is really tough). But to be thrown in a scenario where you know in a matter of hours you're expected to have interviewed half a dozen people written half a dozen stories using terms and accounts of events that you've never even heard of - (particularly because all the banks and firms are UK BANKS AND FIRMS.) it's a terrifying thought. And oh yeah, these people are accountable for SIX CREDITS of my 15 credit GPA this semester. Talk about excruciating amounts of pressure.

But, I got through that first day - honestly, I said a prayer of gratitude before I even made it to the stairwell to leave the building. I was in absolute complete shock. I had turned in a story about God knows what - literally, I don't even remember, much less understand what it is I turned in - and interviewed half a dozen people on the streets about a topic which I understood very little. Oh, and I worked from quarter to 10am until quarter to 7pm with no breaks - thank you DQ for preparing me for that little facet in life.

But, the things these people turn out in such a limited amount of time on a DAILY basis - it's absolutely astonishing.. and what's even more crippling, is that I'm pretty sure one of the editors is about my age, if I understood her correctly. Talk about feeling humbled.

Thursday was a little better - particularly because I wrote a story that gave me my first byline in their paper!! So exciting, although I have SO MUCH to improve upon that it literally terrifies me.

Yesterday, alleluia, I worked for the features desk because the financial people don't report on Fridays.. whereas the office normally has close to 40-50 people in the newsroom alone M-TH, this time, there were maybe 8 people - and that was after it took a few hours for people to come in. It was so much more laid back, and I was much less terrified despite the fact that they had actually technically given me almost 3 times the amount of work that the finance desks have handed to me. Nevertheless, it was suchhhh a breath of relief to write about properties for sale and the latest in ski fashions rather than pre-tax profits and revenues and overweight ratings.

So this weekend? I spent last night sitting on my computer watching episodes of Boy Meets World because the thought of going out just sounded like waaay too much stress haha. It wasn't the same kind of staying-in as last week where I was absolutely depressed at the thought of lying in bed all weekend. I NEEDED to just sit there and allow braincells to commit suicide while watching hours upon hours of American sitcoms. It felt SO GOOD. Although, the damper is that I have a major paper due Tuesday and God help me, I have no clue how to write it.

It's also difficult because now I'm already seeing why so many people told me Christmas in London is phenomenal.. I thought they were just referring to shopping and pretty lights but OHMYGOSH there are SO MANY free events including more Christmas lightings, TWO PARADES, a pillow fight flash mob and (da da da DA!) SANTA CLAUS!!! Harrod's has NYC's Macy's beat by a good 3 weeks on that one.. it's so excting yet SO SO frustrating because my work load has quadrupled in the past 8 days.. but I'm sorry, I cannot keep turning down free CHRISTMAS events. And, thank you God for B101's online Christmas music feed... honestly, when I'm at work I crave Christmas music.. it's so calming and reassuring and, yes, it serves as a reminder that I'll be home in 6 weeks. Perry Como's (There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays has ALWAYS been my favorite Christmas song since I was a little girl, but it takes on new meaning here... I hit the nail on the head when I said that starting work would help dull the homesickness because it keeps me busy (and stressed!) and it allows for less time for me to sit on my top bunk and stare at the ceiling and think about how I'm missing homecooked meals and Yankee parades and my 3rd favorite holiday (Halloween's over and I missed it, you blockheads!)...

Although while we're discussing things to be depressed about - I won't even go into detail about the status of my bank account. Ohmygoodness it's absolutely painful, I can't even describe. For a person as anal about finance as I am, to see my bank account officially dip into the triple digits literally makes me sick to my stomach. Then again, it happened after buying tickets to see U2 in NJ and booking a hostel for me and Christopher, so that really helps to alleviate the pain quite a bit. Spring semester is going to be TOUGH though because I HAVE HAVE HAVE to find a job with a lot of hours. There's no other alternative. Oh, and I may be taking 18 credits. OUCCCHH.

Speaking of Christopher, I'm stealing a page from his book and I've elected to get up early to walk to Kensington Gardens - not so much to take photos (although I'm sure I will) but just to enjoy it. It's a beautiful, cold day in London today with absolute clear bluer than blue skies and I have to start learning to make time to enjoy that. After all, with the status of my bank account, it may be a long, long time before I ever do again.

Lover, I'm on the street where the bright lights & the big city meet...

As I'm writing this, I'm still sitting in Chris's room at Le Cenacle in Geneva, Switzerland.. but my bags are all packed, he isn't here and I don't think I could be any sadder at the thought of leaving.. I've loved Switzerland, it's an absolutely gorgeous country with a backdrop of none other than the Swiss Alps and beautiful cobblestone walkways and fountains and fine dining and AH.. so much. But, I'd be just as sad leaving that infamous apartment in Columbus, Ohio as I am to leave Geneva.. and not to put down Ohio, but the only thing that Columbus, Ohio from a few months ago and present-day Geneva have in common is one thing - my boyfriend.

I've been here since last Thursday evening. On the train voyage here, during which I may have overreacted a bit (sorry!), I got lost and flustered being that French makes about as much sense to me as ancient hieroglyphics, and much to my surprise, I bumped into another American girl my age, who was looking for the same train, had just gotten in as part of her fall break from London and was meeting up with friends in Geneva as well. Sometimes, you just have to love globalization. Studying abroad makes you suddenly sympathize with any foreigner whom every American at some point or another was guilty of bashing for "not learning the language." Regardless, I eventually found my way to the main train station, and without a functioning phone, it felt so good to see him standing there. I wanted to throw my luggage aside and leap to hug him, but remembering that my new friend had more or less saved me from curling up into a ball and crying in the middle of the airport, I elected to put that on hold.

Anyway, the night was so much fun - even taking the tram and getting my first glimpse of the city and Jet D'Eau (which I've decided is so far one of my favorite sights that I've seen thus far in Europe) was so much fun. And I can't lie, even though Chris likes to relapse into Engrench on occasion, it was impressive to see him speak French to some of the passersby :) The rest of the night was awesome, except if I remember correctly, we went out to party and have a good time at Spring Brothers bar with a bunch of his friends, and within ten minutes I had horrible stomach pains to the point where Chris and I barely finished a beer before we headed back to Le Cenacle. Gotta hate that sometimes, but seeing as I had an exhausting day and barely slept the night before, it was probably best that we head back early. If I had to walk the mile and a half back (in heels, nonetheless) I don't know how I ever would have made it..

That Friday, I sat in on Chris's Swiss Life & Cultures class - which was absolutely comical. I realize my British Life & Cultures class is sort of a joke because we're barely actually ever IN a classroom, and my professor makes me giggle like an idiot because he reminds me of one of the main characters from Big Bang Theory on CBS, only he's ten times funnier solely because he has an insanely thick British accent. But regardless, their "professor"(??) more or less stood there for three hours and completely made up stuff about the Genevois as if she had done years of research... it was pretty hilarious, and what was even more hysterical was how EVERYONE was on their computers talking to each other. I suppose that means I should give prop to my BLC professor, because he at least disguises himself for being knowledgeable enough that less than half the class is on facebook when he talks. That's pretty impressive for an abroad class, I'd have to guess...

That night we went out to a classier bar (or two?) which was awesome because I'm not sure the two of us ever went alone to a bar before? (Being that I'm still only 20, that would be a legitimate reason why)... it was so much fun, and afterwards, we met up with the crew at Spring Brothers - and being a little ridiculous was just as fun as well. Not to mention it felt good to be in a sports bar, despite being 3,000 miles away from Yankee Stadium for the WS... but that's besides the point, I guess. Ugh :)

We DID take the walk all the way back at the point - which I should have been discomforted by, but I wasn't in the slightest. In fact, as Chris predicted, the walk more or less flew by haha.

On Saturday we hopped on a bus (without my having money, so of course, I was in fear of getting caughted and being fined $80 for the entire trip) to the Swiss/French border... halfway through the voyage, we realized we were supposed to have our passports. After realizing that passport authority was actually checking people for their credentials, we took a lesson learned from the US/Mexico border and put it to good use - we found a hole in the border fence, hopped it "discretely" and ran like hell.

HILARIOUS. I realize in our minds we probably exaggerated the severity of the situation - in fact, dare I say, we may have been able to walk past the passport authority without them even caring to ask what we were up to - but regardless, it was so hilarious (and SO badass, right?)

So we got kind of lost in a beautiful, more or less deserted French town, before finding our way over to the lifts to climb Mt. Saleve. It was sad that there was a layer of thick, low-lying clouds once we reached a certain altitude (despite it being beautiful, warm and absolutely sunny for our whole voyage to France), but the trip was still so incredible.. and despite what Chris may claim, the photographs are still impressive.

We hiked up the top of Mt. Saleve, plopped ourselves down in a grassy field by a herd of sheep, ate delicious sandwiches and Swiss chocolate and just lied there gazing at the Alps. Incredible... Never undestimate the potentials for study abroad experiences.

We came back to Le Cenacle exhausted, but ready to go out and have a good time. I think that was the night we ended up bar-hopping more or less? We were in search of a jazz club that we failed to find, but stumbled on another cute, overpriced bar, where we ordered pints of 1664 solely because it was the cheapest thing on the menu.. we left there and went to what was more or less an outdoor bar, where we had pints of the same drink for half the price, and somehow, eventually wobbled over to Spring Brothers where we met up with some of the gang again.

I had SUCH an incredibly fun time, even if there were no live bands or dancing or three levels of cheap drink service (I'm obviously describing O'Neills in London's Leicester Square)... it was SUCH a good feeling to not be the sketchball third-wheel at a dance club this time, because this time, I HAD my boyfriend with me. That made it a thousand times better than the best bar I've been to in London thus far.

And, the night ended with us begging a Dutch girl about our age for 40 cents because, as per usual, I was just short of getting bus passage. I've been here 8 days now and have yet to be checked on the public transporation system, but I KNOW that I have such bad luck with t hose things... I couldn't help but notice I'm about 60 cents short for the train from the main station to the airport, and that terrifies me because I KNOW I'd be THAT person who gets caught on my very last public transportation voyage before getting back to London. UGGH.

Anyway, Sunday we laid low despite the fact that we had wanted to visit another town or city in Switzerland.. For photos' sake, I wish we had been able to go somewhere outside of Geneva... but as I'm writing this now, I'm pretty sure I have a fever and my eyes feel like they want to close, despite the fact I slept plenty last night. But, I felt so lousy that I didn't even catch all of Game 2 of the WS last night... so you KNOW I must be under the weather...

Anywho, the rest of the week was fabulous, despite the fact that Chris interns during the week... if I had been more energetic, I'd have gotten my lazy rear-end out of bed when Chris left for work and would have voyaged through Geneva...part of me wishes I had done that more, but most of me realizes that I a.) would've gotten lost and b.) would've spent the whole time pretending I knew what I was doing, without every actually stumbling on anything picture-worthy or notorious. Hahaa. But, I enjoyed sharing all of the lunch breaks with Chris this past week.. and we made sure to try to get out to dinner a couple times at night... although cooking dinners were strangely enjoyable, and staying in with the one you love can never be underestimated.

On Wednesday, Chris came down with something so he ended up staying in from work.. which, although I felt bad, and although it meant we really couldn't go out, I was glad that he was "stuck" with me all day, and the same was true for Thursday.

It seems like I've been here for such a long time because I absolutely love all of his friends here, and I've gotten really good at finding my way through Geneva on my own with very little knowledge of French... but gosh, time always goes by so fast when we visit each other. Oktoberfest in Germany together was hilarious, but I enjoyed the week together in Switzerland so much more, just because it felt like "old" times but in a new, exciting city in Europe. My plane leaves in less than eight hours, which means I'll be at the airport in about 5 and a half.. and Chris won't get out of the GREs until about another five hours... it's always so hard to leave, regardless of "where" it is I'm leaving... so I'm sure I'll sob like I usually do and then, as soon as I get to my flat in London, I'll probably put on sweatpants, climb into bed and watch childrens' Halloween movies all night.. but gosh, this week was worth it so, so much...




P.S. -- I just wanted to point out that the U2 lyrics as a title are to celebrate the fact that summer 2010 tickets go on sale SO SOON!!! AHHHH!!! :)

P.P.S. -- I guess now would be the point to brag that the Yanks tied up the WS and it's still anybody's game now (and by anybody's, I mean anybody's on the Yankees... GO NEW YORK!)

Okay, that's all for now. hahaa

Social disease? Well, take your medicine!

I've really been slacking in my attempts to update this blog - I've started to write posts on several occasions and then either my realization that I have a mile-long list of assignments due in just 5 days, coupled with the fact that my computer caught some obnoxious trojan (thank you, big jerks) has led me to never quite get myself to write on here... plus, in my attempts to clean mass portions of my harddrive, I somehow erased my flickr account login information and I have no idea how to access my photos. Wah, wah..

Anyway, in the course of a week, I've traveled to a Sikh temple in Southall, discovered a (semi-delicious) 17pence swiss cake roll at Sainsbury's, landed the internship with City A.M., bought a dress at Camden markets (AHH and wanted to buy about 12), FINALLY met up with Zach and reunited with Ethan. Oh, and I've grown nocturnal by remaining dedicated to the Yankee games, despite the godawful time difference. (I'm currently watching the Yanks en route to making it 5 wins in a row- HECK YES)...

The Sikh temple was pretty enjoyable, despite the long journey to get there and the fact that my professor is quite certainly either a Sikh or a Hindu who is blatantly prejudiced against other faiths. I'm just saying. It's kind of hilarious because she denies it but then she makes little snide remarks that reveal she's lying through her teeth. Hey, even the educated can still be ignorant to their prejudice, I suppose. Regardless, the Sikhs were incredibly nice and I really enjoyed walking inside and witnessing all of the devouted Sikhs (and many individuals who I'm assuming weren't Sikhs) pay their respects on just a random Monday afternoon.

On Wednesday, I (while shaking in my shoes) went to Cannon Street in the cold, dismal weather, starving and with too little money to buy anything but an old Belgium chocolate brownie at Starbucks to hold me over, and finally made it over to my interview with City A.M. - a daily financial paper with a circulation of approximately 350,000. I realize now, what I had already suspected then, and that is (lucky me) I'm one of the chosen few who gets to be faced with an incredibly challenging internship... however, if I can tackle it appropriately, I truly am fortunate because the rewards could be FANTASTIC... Keep your fingers crossed :)

So, to back-track to the main story of the week thus far that I'd like to mention (as I'm getting lazier and my writing is getting poorer due to the fact that it's 3:30am and I'm rushing to get back to solely focusing on the ALCS) that Zach and I met up at Fortnum & Mason - a famous ice cream parlour /restaurant / center for shopping. We ordered Caprese salad which, oh my goodness, my stomach is growling just thinking about it... and the Knickerbocker sundae was AMAZING (which it should have been for 12 pounds). I'm pretty sure I've never tasted such an incredible combination of fruit, whipped cream and ice cream.. Delicious!

Afterwards, however, we decided to go exploring.. the first floor above us had so many beautiful Christmas displays... I waltzed in there and immediately I wanted to go home to NJ and bake cookies and blast some Johnny Mathis. As I craved a meager, homely Christmas, we walked past their plasma screen-TV yule log to check out a fairly decent (yet not elaboate) looking Santa Claus.. and as Zach walked ahead of me, I was about to follow until my eyes caught a glimpse of the pricetag.

636 pounds.

636?!?! That's over $1,000. How the HELL could this Santa, which neither sang nor danced nor did it dispense candy, how the HELL could it have cost A THOUSAND DOLLARS. And here it was just chilling on an unbalanced stack of Christmas ornaments and other overpriced yet cheaply crafted decorations.

Seeing the pricetag on our beloved Father Christmas, we explored the next floor. And the ridiculous only got more nauseating. There were hats that cost nearly $1,000 that I'm pretty sure I've seen sold by the dozen for a five and some change at Walmart. Honestly - disgusting material and even more atrocious patterns. I'd understand if you were so filthy rich that you had to buy only products that further flaunt your need to display just how materialistic you really are. But why on God's earth anyone would pay A THOUSAND DOLLARS for a polka-dotted hat with mismatching peacock feathers protruding from the top, I HAVE NO IDEA.

While the glam and the delicious food and the atmosphere made me fall in love even more-so with London, the absolute snobbiness of the other floors reminded me of what I loathe. Trust me, I even fall victim to the love for shopping and fine dining despite my incessant bragging about Ramen noodles and half-priced coleslaw, but COME ON. Travel the world, donate to a charity, provide a financial bailout to a small country, or just exchange your pounds for US dollars and roll around in a pool of your own cash but BY GOD... please don't buy the thousand-dollar peacock hats..

There Are Places I'll Remember...

Abbey Road Studios sign
Originally uploaded by awolice89

For a person who can't even function in life without a 24/7 soundtrack, and for someone who has officially been in London for over a month, I don't really know why exactly I hadn't ventured over to Abbey Road until this past Thursday..

Logistically speaking, there really isn't that much to see. In fact, dare I'd come to face the reality, the zebra crossing made infamous by the Fab 4 has actually been repainted and moved several feet from where it was in 1969. But, maybe I'm just a sucker for musicians who made an impact in the 60s and 70s (I swear if there's such a thing as past lives, I HAD to have lived in that era), or maybe there really is something magical still about going on a "pilgrimmage" to the site at which the Beates recorded the majority of their songs. I didn't elect to pay to go inside and tour the studios (from what I'm told, it literally just looks like a studio with maybe some plaques or something on the walls), but to actually go to Abbey Road, to actually see nearly 50 people at 1pm on a Thursday afternoon flock to a crosswalk simply because of an album cover made 40 years ago is something incredible.

Since the era of the British Invasion (which, I suppose they don't call it that here.. in Britain...), Abbey Road studios has welcomed recording artists like Pink Floyd, The Killers and Muse.. yet outside, the front wall serving as a fence in front of the building is covered daily in dedications written by devoted Beatles fans. It's absolutely amazing. Over 40 years later and several people, from the Beatles' generation, to my generation, to people younger than myself (can you imagine) were out there writing song lyrics and messages thanking the Beatles for all they've done for British pop culture and for everyone alive in the 60s and beyond. I know there is, unfortunately, a good handful of self-declared artists out there who I have little respect for because their music is just drab melody mixed with Hollywood controversy and words that sound as if their writer spent under an hour paging through a rhyming dictionary just to meet a deadline.. but going to Abbey Road reminds you of the impact music can really have on the world..

After leaving Abbey Road in a (failed) search for fish & chips, believe it or not I bumped into Kelly out of the blue (I've worked with Kelly for years in NJ and shes visiting from the US until tomorrow). It was absolutely hilarious, and 100 times funnier because I completely CALLED that I would bump into her. I swear I'm clairvoyant sometimes..

While I still can't express how much it meant to spend last weekend with Chris, and to see friends like Justin and Rachel.. It also felt really awesome to see a familiar face from home - not to mention I had a really great time during Kelly's visit!...

So that night, Kelly & her friends (who I LOVEEE) and I went to O'Neill's (because every first-timer to London really HAS to go there), and it was absolutely hilarious. I've never actually been there THAT late, and now I know not to be... Given that I'm obviously (very happily) accounted for, and given that most people at a bar 2am on a Thursday night are looking for something in particular, I more or less fled the dance floor at a certain point until everyone was ready to leave. Still feeling the effects of my choice beverages, I couldn't remember where my bus stop was, so I left with the girls and stayed at Regent's for the night (and God bless the girls for ordering such incredible food at 4am. OH MY GOODNESS. So delicious!)

Then, this afternoon we made our way to Camden. Gosh, every time I go there I want to cry over how many things I want to buy. I swear I'm not an overly materialistic person, but it's impossible not to be when you go to the London markets.

Unfortunately for myself (and my sanity) I still have this God-awful project due this week with NO IDEA how to tackle it.. that being said, I should probably get back to writing my homework rather than writing in my blog... UGGH.

Yo man, pick yourself off the ground..

Canstatter Volksfest @ Stuttgart
Originally uploaded by awolice89

Amidst countless al-Qaeda threats, faulty electronic plane tickets and having to confront my fear of small airplanes (and doing so with enormous amounts of cheap red wine), I not only made it to Oktoberfest (technically Cannstatter Volksfest) in Stuttgart, Germany, but oh my goodness did I have an epic time...

So, in my defense, I'm not actually a wine-o in real life. However, I have a big fear of flying and after walking the tarmac and laying my eyes on what barely even looked like a plane because of it's ridiculously small size, I of course wasn't going to pass up free refills of red wine onboard. It was a great idea and it definitely helped, unfortunately it took a good hour and a half for the other 2 glasses of wine to kick in... and the flight was only an hour and 10 minutes long.

That being said, I got off the plane alone, knowing no more than 5 words in the German language, mapless and.. oh yeah... drunk off Lufthsana's red wine. What should have taken me no more than an hour to get from the airport to our hostel took me about two hours.. and my phone took forever to pick up a signal, so needless to say when I had arrived at our (ADORABLE) hostel, I had missed everyone who had left for dinner. Nevertheless, it was a long, dull three hours in the hostel room until Chris and Steve finally arrived. Words can't express how much I've missed Chris and how happy I was to not only see him again but also to see him in GERMANY, but I had been so worn out and cranky from being alone (and hungover at 7pm) that I'm not sure he realized it until later..

That being said, despite the fact that we really did nothing but get lost and search for a restaurant for several hours that night, it was hilarious and it was so awesome to just wander around a random town in a country completely foreign to all of us. We got back, passed out for the night and woke up to a beautiful, sunny, charming Stuttgart..

So we spent our Saturday at Ludwigsburg at the Bluhendes Barock... I'm still not entirely sure what exactly that place is because none of us could understand the signs (nothing was written in English)... but the gardens were beautiful and OH MY GOODNESS the pumpkins were awesome... It reminded me of family trips to the October festivals in Pennsylvania. My mom would've been all over this place (hahaa). Not to mention had I been 10 years younger I would've loved all of the fairy tale castles and displays that they had...so awesome!

So for lunch we went to this place where everything they served incorporated pumpkins.. I had spaghetti with pumpkin sauce, Chris had some pumpkin rice dish and the others had pumpkin quiches and raviolis. SOO delicious. The beer was fabulous as well.. the awesome thing was that we bumped into quite a few Americans who were in town for military purposes... two of the peope we had spoken to on separate occasions had said that they felt that this year, the Cannstatter Volksfest was actually better than Oktoberfest in Munich had been... I have no grounds to make that statement since I've never even been to Munich, but I can't imagine how Oktoberfest could have been much better (or even much bigger?).

So, we all (of course) came back to the hostel to nap before our festivities that night... We made our way back to Bad Canstatt afterwards and OH MY GOODNESS. First off, they had amusement rides that I've never even seen before.. there were so many incredible food stands and beer EVERYWHERE. Honestly, where else are there festivals that have rollercoasters with loops in them and several ferris wheels?? I would've loved to have done a few rounds of rides, but we somehow managed to wedge our way into a beer tent that was in extremey high demand. Oh my goodness.. no words or pictures could describe how insane it was inside. It was only about 7:30pm and people were already dancing on tables and passing liters of beers and diving into huge platefuls of pork and fries (yes, they're fries again in the EU) and AHHH... so much craziness. How anyone could be a server during Oktoberfest, I have no idea. Definitely requires a lot of skill, alot of patience and a lot of energy...

We finally found a reserved table that no one was occupying and plopped ourselves down and ordered a few rounds of beer and DELICIOUS chicken. SO GOOD. It wasn't long before we made a few German friends without understanding much of what they were saying.. there was also a live band playing German drinking songs, but what I don't understand was... why on several occasions did they play "YMCA" and Robbie Williams' "Angels"??? SO weird!

La bonne vie...

Justin & I at the Eiffel Tower
Originally uploaded by awolice89

Despite the countless times I exclaimed to Justin that I don't know any French unless it's a phrase pulled from "Lady Marmalade," I not only made it to Paris but, with his help, I had one of the absolute best weekends I've ever had in recent memory..

So, being the brave-and-daring roommates that we are, Elyssa and I got up at 3am (so early that many of our friends upstairs were just coming in for the night) and we quickly readied ourselves for our near-epic journey to Kings Cross St. Pancras International Rail station in central (is it central?) London where our Eurostar train was scheduled to leave at 5:30am. We lugged our bags several blocks, even encountered a blood-thirsty fox along the way, and caught a bus not 5 minutes before 4am, then caught a second bus, then finally arrived at the train station. After discovering that our seats could hardly have been on more opposite sides of the train (I was in section 14, she however sat near the front), I missed my ipod terribly and nearly caught hypothermia - but nevertheless - made it to Paris after drifing in and out of sleep for the 2hr ride. By the way, WHY were there so many babies in my car?

When we arrived in Paris, the weather looked more like London (and, oddly enough, when we left London it was warm and dry). We dropped our bags off at our hostel - which was actually a very lovely hostel now that I look back on it - we made our way back to a store in which we got by with saying "bonjour" and "merci" and nothing else in order to buy some food. And then shortly thereafter, Justin stepped out of the metro station.

Now, I've had an incredible time thus far in London. I couldn't have lucked out more with my roommate and I've made some great friends here (and have become better friends with those on my program who I already knew). But, I was so, SO happy to finally see one of my best friends in person (NOT skype for once!), especially being that we had stepped into a country in which I knew nothing and could speak no more than 5 words of the language. Being abroad for a semester has been one of the most incredible experiences thus far, but one thing I have wanted so much was for some of my closest friends to be here to share it with me.

That being said, it wasn't more than 10 min until he convinced Elyssa, their friend Daniela and myself to eat food. Typical. We walked to the Sacre Coeur, which was absolutely beautiful even despite the misty weather. Not to mention that one of the street performers was playing "My Heart Will Go On" when I got there. I guess my obsession with that movie is blantant even in foreign lands..

Anyway, afterwards we grabbed some crepes and various baked goods. I was more than aware that the French are known for their food.. but keeping in mind that my diet has consisted of cheese sandwiches, ramen, potato & leek soup and reduced-price crisps.. even the most poorly-made pain au chocolat would have tasted divine. Oh, and it did.

So afterwards, Justin and Daniela had class obligations, so Elyssa and I made our way over to the Seine (and, as I predicted, the sun came out!). After getting proposed to (in French) by a homeless man, we took a thousand pictures by the river, then walked across to the Pont Neuf, which was absolutely beautiful in the warm sunshine.. I honestly thought I was going to fall asleep right then and there, so we quickly left and mistakenly stumbled into what I'm sure was an absolutely beautiful memorial to those displaced during the Holocaust. However, being that we know next to no French and had gotten completely lost, we had no clue where we were or why we were surrounded by blank white walls at all sides until minutes after we had left. So it was kind of comical on our behalves in that sense... We also made our way over to the Jardin du Luxembourg which I absolutely LOVED (particularly the palm trees!)...

Afterwards, I reunited with (my Big!) and good friend Rachel and the group of us carried out the genius idea of a picnic by the Eiffel Tower. Not only was the weather absolutely gorgeous, and the food absolutely cheap, but it was so relaxing (and so French!) to be able to just sit there with friends and more or less stuff our faces with delicious food (and cheap wine!). Plus, I was glad I got to see the Eiffel Tower when it twinkled, because otherwise I would've missed it..

We then went to the Louvre at night to see the infamous cellist who plays absolutely beautifully (the only street performer thus far in Europe that has received a tip from myself). It made me wish I had taken up an instrument that would allow for me to be a street performer myself (for a day, of course) besides the piano... okay,so there were those years of the flute, but I like to not revisit them...

So the next day, Justin skipped class (thankfully!) and we ventured out to the Moulin Rouge (so that he could pick up an application) and then made our way over to a FABULOUS chocolate shop. Oh my goodness, if I could just lock myself there for a while, the damage I'd accomplish would be phenomenal...

Although I barely understood a word of the owner's rapid-fire French, her love for her chocolates translated beyond any language. She was absolutely hysterical. If her long blonde braided hair and the inflection in her voice wasn't enough, her hand gestures and inability to let Justin take half a second of her time to turn to me and translate was absolutely comical. Nevertheless, we bought a (very rare) chocolate bar which was double-sided: half with dark chocolate and half with milk chocolate, for a little over 10 euros.. and oh my goodness, it was DELICIOUS.

We then met up with Rachel again and headed out over towards the Eiffel Tower. To state that the weather was absolutely gorgeous was an understatement. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I haven't been able to bask in the good weather so much in London due to obligations or being sick, or maybe it was because I was with good friends, but I'm pretty sure the weather could not have been any better.

So, being the mountainmen (and women) that we are, we took the stairs to the 2nd platform of the Eiffel Tower... which I'm actually very glad we had done, not only because it saved me a lot of money, but because I think you really get more of the experience that way. And, as Justin read t he posters on each of the landings, it gave me an opportunity to pretend that I was taking breaks to learn about French architecture (and that I wasn't stopping to catch my breath).

Finally, after a journey of an hour or more, we hopped on an elevator and made it to the top! It was absolutely beautiful and I felt like I could see all of France, even if the Eiffel Tower is actually one of the smaller observation decks I've been on.

And, a trip with Justin wouldn't be complete if it didn't involve an act or two of thievery. So, shortly afterwards, we more or less ran to the site of his program's welcome dinner... and, despite the fact that I still knew no French, I waltzed in as if Iwere a student. (Although I'm pretty sure when Anna, who I haven't seen in ages, ran up yelling "What are you doing here?!" some of the program directors may have gotten the idea. I don't think THAT got lost in translation). Regardless, it was a free (and delicious) dinner, and afterwards a busload of people ransacked a nearby grocery store and we all split bottles of wine (which somehow, the two of us ended up inheriting the latter portion of it). There's something classy about drinking on the seine, even if you do completely lose your bearings. It was absolutely hilarious and I had such an awesome time that it was sad to see Rachel and Justin have to leave early to catch their train the next morning to Nice.

Elyssa, Daniela and I then walked around in search of a bar/club and eventually settled on a very American bar, which was actually quite a lot of fun depsite the fact that both the upstairs and downstairs were booked for private parties. We then rushed out to catch the metro before closing time..

After mistakenly bumping into our new shirtless travelling musician roommate in our hostel, we stumbled out of bed in the morning to head over to the Louvre (which we ALSO snuck into) and finally saw the Mona Lisa! After a delicious second dosage of gelatos, we grabbed our bags and headed back to catch the Eurostar home.

While France in and of itself was in every way AMAZING, there were two really awesome things I learned on the trip that I hadn't quite realized I'd take away to London. The first being that even the greatest places can be 1,000 times better when you're with your best friends. The second, being that while away from London, I realized I became homesick for London. That doesn't mean I was at all sad to have been in Paris instead (I was NOT, trust me haha) BUT it means that I've finally started to really settle in here. It's certainly not home (and I rushed home to catch the finale of the Yanks/Red Sox series, which was very much NOT London haha), but nevertheless, I don't feel so much like an outsider to London, especially now that I've experienced being an outsider to Paris [from the inside haha]). That being said, while I'm here I have the unfortunate blessing of homework, and as I'm writing these incredibly long entries, my ESSAY, however, is NOT being written..

Some of History's Greatest.. Just Below Your Feet?

Westminster Abbey
Originally uploaded by awolice89

So this is a very long over-due blog post, but nonetheless I wanted to still write it.. I've more or less discovered that Westminster Abbey has become one of my absolute favorite places thus far in London. I realized that, when spending an extended period of time in Europe, you tend to have lots of opportunities to visit similar-looking Churches, and more or less it gets pretty mundane.. BUT, whatever the reason, I didn't have that experience with the abbey... perhaps it was because I had a free tour instead of a 3-hour in-class lecture but nevertheless, I LOVED it there..

Unfortunately, you're not allowed to take any photographs inside the abbey itself (the photo to the right is from a nave off to the side beyond the Church itself). I'm not sure if it's for preservation reasons or out of respect, but nevertheless there's about 120 less photos on my facebook account than there would have been...

That being said, there's just something so humbling about taking a few steps and realizing you have accidentally stepped onto the grave of Charles Dickens, or one of the Kings or Isaac Newton (although I don't believe you could physically step on Newton's grave). I realize by now - assuming that the British didn't carry out there favorite tradition of digging up corpses and placing them elsewhere - there's not much left in the graves themselves, to put it frankly. Nevertheless, I was in absolute awe. How different would world politics, scientific understanding and literature be without a quarter of those people buried in and around the abbey (I think someone blurted out a number somewhere in the low thousands, but many of those bodies are people that simply had the money to buy graves in the abbey)..

I'm not sure I completely appreciated our tour guide's remark about how "(The British) have THE tomb of the unknown soldier. It's ashame all the other countries have copied us..." I get what she meant, and one thing I've learned quickly here is the British (particularly their professional tour guides, oddly enough) like to speak with uncensored mouths. Nevertheless, the tomb of the unknown soldier has always been one of my absolute favorite places to visit in the DC area, so I'll let her remark roll off my back for now.

On the flip-side to my experiences with seeing some of the graves of those who have accomplished and contributed so much, there's the story of the grave of Queen Mary I (she's actually buried underneath Queen Elizabeth I) which kind of just proves that ANY monarch was buried in the abbey. I find it ironic to Britain that someone who burned nearly 300 Catholics at the stake would be buried in a glorious and extremely valuable grave cite in the nation's most revered Church, but I suppose they've given up their pasttime of relocating people.

To explain myself further, one of the (many) creepy stories our tourguide told us was about Oliver Cromwell, who nearly dissolved the monarchy and ruled more-or-less as the closest thing England's had to a President (save for the modern Prime Minister). Anyway, the story goes that he died in 1658 but when King Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660, Parliament decided that Cromwell's body was ordered to be dug up from the Abbey because of his role in diminishing of the monarchy. They then beheaded his corpse and to further convey the message of what happens when you "mess with the monarch," they irrespectively stuck his head outside of Parliament where it stood on a post for nearly a year. Then, or so the story goes, the wind or some other force of nature knocked the head off the post, and someone from a travelling circus-type group stole the head from Parliament and began travelling throughout London requiring people to pay money to see the head in their little street-side performances. Over time, someone ELSE stole the head (keeping in mind, this IS a human head you're talking about) and attempted to find the best price they could receive for it. After contacting as many of Cromwell's surviving relatives/descendants as they could find, they discovered that no one was willing to pay for the head. It wasn't until 1960 that someone had successfully convinced the school at which Cromwell studied (Sidney Sussex College) to purchase the head. They then buried it, supposedly in their Church somewhere, but there are no labels because they fear that someone will dig it up again as a prank.

Absolutely crazy.

As for my other amusing story from the Abbey (also not quite as poetic and romanticized as my experiences at the famous grave sites) was seeing the coronation chair. Now, it is absolutely amazing to see King Edward's Chair, which all monarchs have sat in during their coronation since 1308. BUT, what's even more impressive (and leaves me in absolute childish envy) is the amount of names scratched into the chair by devilish little Westminster schoolboys who in the 1950s snuck into the church to write messages like "Timmy WUZ HERE" all over one of the most supreme and time-honored symbols of the British monarchy.

Amazing.

"Now the old king is dead - Long live the King!"

Last night of "Viva La Vida" tour - Wembley Stadium 9/19/09
Originally uploaded by awolice89

Insane. Absolutely insane. Every aspect from my day-long attempt to (cheaply) win tickets on the UK version of e-bay, to my epic journey to meet with the (extremely handsome) man who sold me the tickets, to the show itself and the unbelievable (and risky!) journey home afterwards was absolutely INSANE.

Now, just for the sake of shouting out to my friends back home whom I miss dearly - considering that Julie & I had tickets to a show where 70,000 PEOPLE were also in attendance, our seats were obviously no match to the free front row tickets that Katie scored us back in Camden in May (being at last night's show reminded me of how amazing that night was!). And, I know they both would've LOVED last night's show as well (and I miss them DEARLY).

That being said, I HAVE to at least use my blog as an outlet since no one ACTUALLY wants to hear me rave on and on about how much I loved last night's show. So feel free to just skip this entry if that's the case.. just don't ever tell me you did ;)

To kick off - how I got the tickets. Being that I spent the greater portion of my 4-day weekend sick and more or less stuck in bed - and thanks to quite a few people back home pointing out to me that they were seeing U2 this weekend (and that I was NOT) - I decided to spend my day stalking people on ebay. I set a mental limit of what I refused to pay for the tickets (especially considering that shipping would be difficult since the concert was less than 2 days away, AND, if that's not enough a threat, there's currently a postal strike going on and mail processing is often delayed)... I FINALLY learned the art of snaking people in the bidding process and won two (SEATED!) tickets on the top deck.

Then, after being the diligent Coldplay fan that I am, I made sure I paid everything IMMEDIATELY so my British hero who awarded me the tickets could pop those suckers in the mail ASAP. Much to my dismay, who other than BANK OF AMERICA failed me and for absolutely NO REASON at all, they left my payment as "pending" not just for the remainder of the day I purchased them, but for over 36 hours. I had called PayPal twice and Bank of America THREE TIMES. My personal plug here would have to be for PayPal because after they heard how upset I was, they verified (on their own) with bank of america that I had in fact had sufficient funds.. and then they emailed "JK2423498234" or whatever his name was and informed him that my money was on its way and they "urged him to deliver the items as soon as possible."

Then, John & I (yes, I've decided we're on first-name basis now after I called him FOUR TIMES) finally agreed to meet - Thank the Lord he lived just outside London and worked conveniently on a tube stop on the Picadilly Line. Not three hours before the doors opened to the concert did I FINALLY retrieve the tickets. ALLELUIA. No thanks to Bank of America, as usual.

Finally at Wembley..

For starters, we intentionally skipped the two openers - Girls Aloud and White Lies. No offense to anyone who may be fans of those groups, but I youtubed them beforehand and really had no urge to see them. Plus I was still running a mild fever and my epic journey to get the tickets had completely burnt out whatever slim percentage of energy I mustered through my sickness during the day.

Then, Jay-Z came on! I had completely forgotten how many of his songs were actually HIS and not someone else's. Considering Jay-Z was not only opening for quite possibly the whitest band in the history of rock music, but he also did so for quite possibly the whitest audience - he was awesome! And, after the British polished off their beer pints, people started dancing (some way more than others).

Then, Julie and I left to get beers (since it's the first concert where I could go myself to buy an overpriced lousy tap beer!) and after I slammed my elbow into a railing (thus SPILLING my beer all over the man who had sold me the tickets as well as a disgruntled rich lady who wore white to the concert), we sat down.. it started POURING on everyone who was at the center of the dome (mainly just general admission people) and when the speakers played the traditional classical song that always signifies that Coldplay's about to come on, the crowd went nuts.

While I'd have to obviously admit that I'd pick front row at Camden over "different time zone" seats (as Chris Martin called them) at Wembley, I'd also have to admit that I probably had just as much fun last night as I had back in May. There's something insane about catching a band (as big as Coldplay) in their hometown - not to mention the VERY last night of their epic tour. And, aside from Chris Marting forgetting the words to "The Hardest Part" (he literally stopped in the middle of the song, swore, and said "I'm sorry, I really can't remember the words"), I really thought they played better last night, knowing that they were home and in front of 70,000 fans.

Plus, they did "Lost" with Jay-Z, which was SO AWESOME.

The journey from the concert was just about as insane as the concert itself. Massive crowds all tried to catch the last tube of the night (why they can't run the subway system just a LITTLE past midnight on weekends, I don't know and it's really annoying, too). I literally got trampled on and someone pushed me so hard against the doors to the tube that my own elbow stabbed me right in the chest. It was so nuts, but what made it even crazier was NO ONE got angry and everyone laughed it off. And, to top it off, the drunker members of the crowd kept the "Oh-OH-oh-ohhh's" from Viva La Vida going - even so far as Gloucester Road.

SO AWESOME.

I realized last night that because I was out so late at the concert, I more or less am missing my last opportunity to catch the Changing of the guards at Buckingham today (they aren't doing it past October), but it was completely worth it. I get that London has so much history, so many castles and palaces and historical buildings.. but really, I think if you sit yourself in a 70,000-person Coldplay concert at Wembley Stadium, you get a pretty good sense of British culture...

Share and share alike.. especially when it comes to germs

Big Ben
Originally uploaded by awolice89

How naiive of me to think that if I loaded up on vitamin C and sleep and an-apple-a-day and Cold-Eeze and follow all my mom's advice, it would actually work and I'd avoid catching the FIE sickness that's running rampant on all 3 of our housing developments.

It's 12:44pm on a pretty decent day here in London - one of my prized 4day-weekends which will only last for so long - and I'm lying in bed listening to a philly radio station online and staring at the wall. I don't think I have a fever (yet) but my throat is burning and I have an obnoxious cough that likes to flare up every now and then. I haven't started pitying myself enough to whine that "I want to go homeeee" but I do wish I had a better selection of soup here... and a nice mug full of Swiss Miss would be great, too.

Yesterday was pretty awesome though - for my SIS class, we went to Wembley (hopefully where I'll be going in a few days to see a certain CONCERT with a certain BAND). Anywho, my professor told us we were going to a London borough that had a large Indian population.. little did I know it would literally be like stepping into a city in India itself. It was absolutely amazing.. all of the shops were Indian, the entire area smelled of curries and masala and simosas and the PRICES -- aahh I'm tempted to go down there and buy some fresh fruits and vegetables at their shops.. they're probably 1/3 of the price we pay even at the discount racks at Sainsbury's here in Kensington. We went to a temple and saw their preparations for their upcoming festival this weekend, and then we ambushed a poor woman at the local library where all of the books were written in different languages and scripts.

To top it off - and every class should really end this way - we went to a nearby vegetarian Indian restaurant and had a free meal... I'd love to sound cultured and describe what it was that we ate, but I have NO clue what it was.. they handed us several courses and the main one looked like a massive crepe with potatos and spices - DELICIOUS. and their dessert was ice cream and some fried doughnut sort of thing that tasted so sweet...ahhh, SO GOOD. i'm already looking forward to my leftovers in the fridge (finally! a place where i didn't have to feel awkward asking for a bag to take home leftovers!)

Tomorrow - provided I'm feeling well enough (which, I have a very low standard for how healthy I need to feel to embark on a FREE trip) - I'm going to Bath & STONEHENGE! I'm so excited - particularly because I've always had this secret life-list and one of the things on my list of places I need to see has always been Stonehenge.. (the Eiffel Tower is on there too, but that'll have to wait until next week).

I really want to go to Brighton before it gets too cold - it would be nice to see something resembling a beach, just in case I can't afford to go to Malaga, Spain this semester :(

"Here we are now.. entertain us!"

O'Neill's in Leister Square
Originally uploaded by awolice89

While I have a bajillion more photos of swans and lakes and pretty trees to commemorate the fact that once again, we reached the mid-70s and had bright, beautiful sunshine all day today.. I figured last night's trip to O'Neills' bar in Leister Square (coupled with the fact that fog, rain and cold weather are SUPPOSEDLY in our forecast) warranted the photo that I posted. Maybe I'm just blind to the better clubs in DC because I'm still underage back in the states.. (good times, good times)... but I'm pretty sure O'Neill's is one of those not-so-secret places in London that just personifies why Europe is SO awesome.

First of all. Rock music. I can't say I've ever had a vodka and cranberry in a place where a live band covered Nirvana, Aerosmith and the best song EVER by the Killers. I also imagine that if I HAD been at a place like that in DC (which maybe I was actually there but had a few too many vodka cranberries, who knows), there probably weren't so many Irishmen in suits dancing around. In the course of a 20-min span I talked to someone from India, Israel and France. Oh, and I witnessed a really hilarious chick fight among three girls - all with RIDICULOUSLY thick British accents. HILARIOUS.

Basically, so far, in my 11 days of first impressions, O'Neill's has already become my favorite bar by far. The no-cover charge might also have contributed to that.. plus, we were able to catch the (FREE) bus home. So had I not paid 8 pounds to have double shots instead of singles, I would've had an insanely chcap night.. ohhh and I really can't wait to see some of the photos I expect people to upload soon to facebook, although I'm sure many of them won't be tagged.

Sooooo... today marks the first day I officially bought tickets to travel outside of the UK! In two weeks we'll be setting foot in Paris, which I'm SOO excited for.. I feel horrible that I'll be leaving for France on mine & my boyfriend's second anniversary (there's your plug!.. haha), but it seemed to be the only day that fit my schedule and my roommate's.. so it should be pretty exciting (and surprisingly much cheaper than what most people will be paying to do the same excursion). And... the weekend after that - OKTOBERFEST! Not necessarily the classic romantic getaway to mark an anniversary celebration... but potentially an incredibly fun and once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience... although hopefully someday we'll make it to the real schpeel in Munich. Someday :)

I REALLY should learn to go to sleep when my body starts feeling tired.. I spent the day organizing trips and grocery shopping (which, I don't want to waste anyone's time with explaining yet again how much of a penny-pincher I am... but MAN I am SO good at finding sales, it's kind of an embarrassing gift inherited from Grandmom Piechowski). Relaxing in Kensington Gardens was great as always and tomorrow - drumroll - THE THAMES FESTIVAL WITH ZACH & KATE!.. I love that several of my friends from AU are on the same program as I am, but GOSH I am SOOO EXCITED to see familiar, lovely faces from high school... I can't deny it, I've been outrageously homesick. Not down-in-the-dumps homesick, but at a level where my mind STILL can't comprehend being away from home for so long... I'm sure the two lovelies will help alleviate some of that tomorrow night... and if not, only a little over a week until Chris lands in Europe :)

Alright, time to clock out, now that British TV has failed to entertain me and my MLB online package still hasn't cleared :)

It's Always Sunny in.. London?

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Originally uploaded by awolice89

I'd be trying to play humble if I said I didn't get very excited over the fact that my desktop weather says it is currently in the 60s and raining in DC.. That's not to say I wish ill or misery on my friends back at AU, but after hearing a countless number of people tell me, "Oh, you're going to London.. pack an umbrella (wink wink)" it feels good to say that we've been here a day short of a week and haven't even felt so much as a drop of rain. In fact, just to throw salt on any wounds back in the US - it's currently in the low 80s with a slight breeze and beautiful sunshine. But I'm sure there will be plenty of rainy days ahead, so I should probably bite my tongue.

I had 6 hours of classes today, so it looks like my (unfortunate) daily napping habit will continue for at least 1 more day.. my professors seem good but no matter who you are, a three-hour class about an unfamiliar country can get exhausting.. although listening to professors with British accents helps a bit.

I'm still stressed over money issues - although I suppose that's not much difference from how I'd usually be feeling during this time of year in the US. But here, I'm buying my own food, paying for my own books, and had to purchase my own "mobile phone" as well as a UK calling plan.. props to those kids who've been doing that for years, but it is my first trip ever outside the boundaries of the US.. I'd kick myself if I end up sitting inside because I can't afford to see anything.

That being said, I DID buy my desired Euroramen (don't worry, I'm the only person calling it that). I bought 6 packs along with two 5-packs of crisps and a few cans of soup for.. drumroll.. three pounds! My digestive system may need a surgical makeover when I return to the states, but at least my wallet will still hold some weight for a little while longer. And AHH! As I'm writing this, I just remembered that i have one last treasured paycheck from my time spent slaving away at the DQ this past summer.. although, I'm sure as per usual the dollar figure will be smaller than I anticipate.

They haven't cleaned our rooms today like they were supposed to, so my bed is kind of in shambles right now since re-covering a top bunk mattress is a slight challenge when you just want to plop down on the bed and pass out for a few hours. I understand that our classes here should be at the very least a little bit easier than our usual classes at AU, but I really don't understand how people concentrate while abroad.. even if I'm not energetic enough to go out into the city, there's so much within a few square miles that I just want to immerse myself with - and very few of those options involve a textbook and powerpoint.


So I learned a few other life lessons - the first being that evidently notebook sizes are different here..so while my mom did me a favor by packing me a 5-Star Notebook, all of my handouts stick out of the top by a good inch or so. For a country that's so "green-minded," they sure waste a lot of paper by having a couple inches of blank footer space at the bottom of all of their papers.. I also learned that no one actually really uses the term "loo" unless they're a little kid or just a childish adult. And, if you really want to sound like a drunken native, you could make a fool of yourself by saying "I need to see a man about a dog" in reference to having to go to the bathroom. I've also gotten better at winning the ever-continuous Cat & Mouse game that goes on between pedestrians & drivers.. although I still wouldn't duck out in front of a car on certain roads...



Countdown until I rejoin society (aka, FIE takes the insane amount of money we've paid and finally provides us with a 21st century-style internet): 6 days!

A Little Ramen Goes a Long Way..

P1040319
Originally uploaded by awolice89

Don't worry, I haven't actually bought it yet.. but after seeing the massive dip in my savings account after just 4 days across the pond, my roommate's news that Europe DOES have something similar to Ramen (For 9 PENCE!) offers hope that I won't have to cross countries off my wishlist!... i'm really not kidding. Euroramen has become my fail-proof financial plan. It'll also ensure that my bloodpressure remains in an unfortunately high range and that I never miss a day's supply of questionable powdered "veggies" and mystery meat (now featuring curry!). I'm literally SO EXCITED to pick some up tomorrow...

London has been getting more and more fabulous. I'm really loving the people on my program, and I'm sure (whether by choice or by force - hehe) we'll all become really close over the next couple months.. but I'm really excited. Plus, I'm SO excited that we all share similar hopes for travelling to other countries.

So last night we went out for dinner and frozen yogurt.. nothing too "London-esque" but a lot of fun nonetheless. I elected to stay in because I wasn't feeling very good and I know that if I can help boost my immunity (since I have the immune system of a kindergartener) I need to take advantage of any opportunity. Thankfully, it was the one night BBC 3 ran Pirates of the Carribean instead of some lame "TV Experts" show or another rerun of the Beatles' movies.

I start classes tomorrow - actually I only have one, but I'm kind of nervous, kind of excited. So long as I find it and the professor doesn't have too thick a foreign accent (although judging from her portrait, I suspect she does) I will be okay.

Unfortunately, the internet here is AWFUL (although they promise it will be fixed next Tuesday) so for the t ime being i'm more or less skype-less and i've been using my Vodafone minutes already. But, I'm absolutely in love with Vodafone - first off, my phone is ten times better and clearer than ANY phone I've ever had with verizon for the same pricerange. I also am under the impression that all incoming calls are free (and since I purchased a 609 number with skype so that my family and friends cancall me, I'm SO excited to find out if that's true).

And.. drumroll... we're supposed to reach the 70s tomorrow! AHHHH!

Lessons Learned in London (the Hard Way)

P1040284
Originally uploaded by awolice89

So I made it!! I'm finally in London - this is actually the start of my second day here and I've managed to survive my first night here and somehow, I still miraculously have 15GBP in my pocket - thanks in part to over a half a dozen stolen sandwiches and sodas and my mom's decision to pack crackers & candy into my bags before i left..

as expected, i've already made an ass (arse?) of myself on several occasions being culturally ignorant and having no sense of direction. ive already had close encounters with a few cars thanks to my inability to remember to look RIGHT and not LEFT first before crossing the street..

I've also learned that, unlike in DC, the subway system closes at midnight regardless of whether or not you've already paid 5.60 for a roundtrip. The toilets here are incredibly difficult to flush (and incredibly easy to clog.. although I didn't find that one out myself, thank you). You tip 10% NOT 20% (oops) and for cab drivers you round up to the nearest pound, nothing more (even though paige tipped ours about 8 pounds lol). Fries are chips and chips are crisps and whatever the hell prawn cocktail chips are.. they're quite possibly the most fabulous flavored "crisps" around. Diet coke cans are WAAAY too small to support my daily caffeine intake. A bloke is a man, not something you smoke. It's freakishly cold here and traffic is always bad when you're paying for a cab. It's a bill, not a check and you have to ask for it, otherwise you'll be sitting there like a fool for a long time until they ask you to leave. Hard apple cider is AMAZING and i don't understand why we don't sell it out of the tap in America. I thought I learned that a "note" is the equivalent of a dollar bill, but evidently you cant shove 50 pounds into a "note" slot at the self check-out. Food goes "off" (expires) more quickly here than in America, and I'm not sure what kind of mayo-like spread they put on BLTs, but it is FABULOUS. Also, a cheddar & pickle sandwich - isn't a sandwich with cheddar and pickle(s)... although I have absolutely no clue what it is/was. Also, if you buy a BRITISH travel hairdryer, evidently it will still burst into flames - which more or less literally happened to me last night. So now, I will either be airdrying my hair or I will have to live life on the edge and try to stay conscientious of when flames are about to spurt from my dryer again.. sad thing is, the USD-GBP ratio is so bad that i'm leaning towards picking the latter option until I basically run the risk of either burning my scalp or setting off the fire alarm.

However, London is amazing.. I haven't really had the chance to go out and see the city, but we did go to the pub and to some clubs last night which turned out to be a lot of fun.. especially since I didn't buy any drinks at the bar (otherwise i'd probably would have overdrawn my account)... Cheerio!