Semester Abroad in London

Week 17: Final-ly Bidding Farewell

2007-05-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

Even though finals, for me, started last Friday, I still had to study for one final…well, final. I spent most of Sunday (5/6) and Monday (5/7) trying to feel better, and of course studying for my Organisational Behaviour final examination on Tuesday (5/8).

Shortly after 10:30 AM on Tuesday morning, I was officially done with the semester! To celebrate, Becca, Rasa, and I spent the day hopping from one Tube line to the other until we hit all TWELVE of them! Why? Just so we can say we did. Serving over 4 million passengers a day, this metro system has been serving the Greater London area since 1863, making it the oldest railway in the world. The lines that we more commonly hit include District, Circle, and Piccadilly; but with this mission, we successfully hit the other nine: Bakerloo, Central, Hammersmith & City, Jubilee, Metropolitan, Northern, Victoria, and Waterloo & City.

First, we made a stop off the Jubilee line at the St. John’s Wood station so I can walk them over to Abbey Road. Julie joined us soon after to jump on the Victoria line to take us to King’s Cross St. Pancreas, where the faux Platform 9 ¾ exists. Along the way, we also made our way to the Northern line’s Angel station, which contains the longest escalators in all of Europe, with a vertical rise of 90 feet and a length of 197 feet. On the other extreme, the shortest thing of the day was our Tube ride on the Waterloo & City line, which served more like a tram between Bank (Central line) and Waterloo station.

Notice also the peculiar things that make the Tube, the Tube. From the famous Underground red circle logos found everywhere to the painted on “Mind the Gaps” (and the extremely large gaps) cautions on the floor to the cheeky rubbish public notices to the colorful walls acting as billboards…there is no other metro system I have ever experienced as bizarre and wonderful as the London Underground. We managed to remain mostly in Zone 1, but hitting each of the Tube lines hit our wallets pretty hard too, with an estimated cost of £15. Worth every penny!!!

Later that evening, we (Rasa, Becca, Cloud, Julie, Jessie, Phizz, and I) spent a (nearly) all-girl’s night at the Zoo Bar in Leicester Square. As usual, the fun starts with getting ready and taking pictures *before* we get to the club, while our make-up is still fresh! There is, however, a cute picture of Rasa and me smiling in the club for a promoter floating around on the website.

Wednesday (5/9) was a much slower day for me. Rasa and Julie went to Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum with immortalized figures such as William Shakespeare, Justin Timberlake, Marilyn Monroe, Tiger Woods, Whoopi Goldberg, and even the Royal Family (plus many other Londoners, musicians, actors, athletes, comedians, and world leaders). While they were taking photos with life-size wax models of celebrities, I was…packing. (How exciting.) It does take skill, however, to fit my life into two suitcases weighing less than 25 kg each.

Saying good-bye is very hard for me. Rasa’s and my first good-bye dinner was with Tito Rich that evening. He took us to a very tasty Mexican restaurant, where we enjoyed appetizers, a pitcher of margarita, and our own entrees. Living in London was definitely easier because of family. Tito Rich took very good of me (and Rasa too!). Much love and gratitude!

We did not get to go on the Walking Tour on Thursday (5/10) morning, but that opened up the opportunity to speak with the Registrar Office to make sure everything was set with my records (and to hopefully keep a good rapport with the staff).

We (Rasa, Becca, Cloud, Julie, Phizz, and Chris A., and I) then went out that evening to Nando’s for a causal farewell dinner. After first stepping in, I wondered why on earth have we not been here before! Not only was the entire full of delicious-sounding chicken entrees, but there also were fountain sodas! I have not seen one my whole time abroad, and I was awed at the fact that ICE was available. Oh, and might I mention this place was walking distance from the dorms!

Later that evening, we spent the majority of our time in Cloud and Becca’s dorm, refusing for the sun to rise. However, Friday, May 11 still arrived. With all of our bags packed and rooms all clean, we bid farewell to the city we called home the past semester, the city that will never leave our hearts. Thank you London, we will see each other again soon!

Coming home,
Danielle

Week 16: Very Lively 'Dead' Week

2007-05-07T19:16:00.000-07:00

One of the perks of working so hard the past couple of weeks is one week off from academic work (before finals, that is). Finals, unfortunately, were Friday of this week for me; not one, not two, but THREE back-to-back finals that I would have to conquer. But enough of schoolwork for now.

Monday (4/30) was a very busy day for us. Becca, Rasa, and I first witnessed (finally!) the Change of the Guards. The gates of Buckingham Palace were absolutely packed before we even got there. We thought we were going to beat most of the pack by getting there 30 minutes prior, but no – there were tourists EVERYwhere.
We did, however, get right up to the gates to watch the guards for a bit before the actual parade. After two hours of being surrounded by so many people, it was a relief to get away and walk through Green Park for a while. We even got a closer glimpse of the guards walking through the park!

Then, as Rasa got a head start on shopping, Becca and I meandered around Trafalgar Square, the heart of London. The obvious first photo opportunity is Nelson’s column, where we even took pictures with the four lions that guard it and fountains that surround it. The southern end of the Square is the true heart of the city – Charing Cross, from where all distances in London are measured. In the background is the National Gallery, where there are two statues. One is of James II and George Washington. The second statue was a gift from the state of Virginia. To honor our country’s first president’s declaration of never stepping on British soil ever again, U.S. soil was sent for the statue to be set. The four corners of the Square are four plinths, a base on which a statue rests. In one of my photos, I caught the Clock Tower (colloquially known as Big Ben), a double-decker bus, and the equestrian statue of George IV, viewed from the North.

Finally, we joined Rasa on King St. and in Piccadilly Circus to do some London souvenir shopping! Of course, we made our way through Hamley’s again, where we shared HUGE bear hugs with Hamley the bear. Rasa and I also scored last-minute seats to that night’s live showing of The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre. I am totally going to miss seeing live musicals!

After such a busy Monday, I thought that Tuesday (5/1) would be a quieter day. Rasa and I received disconcerting news from her mother that U.S Customs was particularly interested in the boxes she and I were trying to ship home. Renie said that more paperwork was needed before they can allow the boxes into the border.

To get away from the stress that I may have spent nearly $200 shipping priceless items home just so it can sit in limbo, I joined Cloud and Becca in Kensington Park. We spent a leisure afternoon doodling on a sketchpad and even on ourselves. This definitely served well as a distraction for a while J … Later that evening, Becca and Rasa recorded some interesting videos on my camera while I took a shower. Their videos included You-Tube-like renditions of Pop music; some videos even included… Nutella. Yes, Nutella. Only the videos can explain.

The fun continued on Wednesday (5/2) as Christel, Julie, and I took a trip to Abbey Road. Known for EMI’s Abbey Road Studios, a recording studio that has served many performers such as The Beatles, of course. Abbey Road is also iconic because The Beatles named their final 1969 studio LP Abbey Road, for which they also captured their album cover as they used the zebra crossing. Countless tourists, including Christel, Julie, and I, re-enacted this legendary moment before we wrote classic Beatles lyrics on the gate just outside of Abbey Road Studios.

On Thursday (5/3), I finally had to suck it up and face the fact that I had THREE finals the next day. Rasa, Chris A., and I spent some time in Starbucks, which helped me stay up the entire night in the Student Lounge. With Phizz playing World of Warcraft next to me, I studied using the notes that I typed up from my classes.

My first final on Friday (5/4) was for Marketing from 9:00 AM – 12:00 noon, then I had my Management information Systems final from 12:30 – 3:30 PM, and my last final was on Theories & Systems of Psychology from 4:00 – 7:00 PM. My…brain…was…fried. Despite the utter loss of all brain function, I decided to join the rest of the gang for a movie night at the Odeon for the Spider-Man 3 world premiere.

For our last Saturday (5/5), us girls decided to hit up Portabello Market one last time to wrap up our souvenir shopping, which included some knock-off designer gear (shh!). Then, we ended our evening with a lovely Italian dinner, enjoying each other’s company and reflecting on how blessed we are to have spent the past four months in Europe. Unfortunately, I was not feeling my best later that evening. Maybe it had to do with the sad fact that I have one week left in London.

Almost home!
Danielle

Week 15: Handling & Shipping

2007-04-30T19:01:00.000-07:00

Many students believe that there is a conspiracy among professors who assign papers and presentations of have quizzes and examinations within a day or two of each other. I speak from experience; it is SO true!

Like I mentioned before, my MIS and MKT presentations were both on Monday (4/23). I think both of them very well (in my opinion, the best of the bunch!). The time I spent working on these assignments did not leave much time for my Theories & Systems paper, but I spent most of Tuesday (4/24) working on it. I did, however, take some time out to meet and catch up with my Uncle at Starbucks. Then, I spent another sleepless night writing my paper that was due on Wednesday (4/25).

After handling academic matters, now it was time for shipping things home. Considering that we are only allowed two free checked suitcases on our flight back to L.A, Rasa and I decided to buy a couple of medium-sized boxes to send home via UPS. I filled mine mostly with souvenirs from all the places we visited outside of London; and on Thursday (4/26), Rasa and I hauled our boxes back to the store to send to Renie, Rasa’s mom. It cost cheaper to send to same recipient, so our boxes were headed to Bakersfield. I say cheaper, but it still cost over £90!

Afterwards, Rasa and I finally visited the Collegiate Church of St. Peter, better known as Westminster Abbey. This gothic inspired church used to be London’s cathedral in the 16th century and now mainly serves as the coronation place and burial site for English monarchs. Queens and Kings are not the only people buried here. Rasa and I saw graves in the Nave of individuals such as Charles Darwin, Sir Isaac Newton, and the Unknown Warrior. Westminster Abbey also served as the funeral site of Princess Diana in 1997. Even though Westminster Abbey is tremendous, after walking through the Chapter House, College Garden, museum, cloisters, and ambulatory chapels, we felt that we saw the majority.

We had to head back to the dorms quickly because we had to get ready for our “Oscar Party” that evening at Nectar Bar. The evening was reminiscent of a “grad night” because of the festivities, including announcing superlative-type awards. From getting ready to walking there to dancing it up to the Tube ride back home – the entire night was such a blast!

Thursday was a great start to the weekend, because our next stop was the Imperial War Museum on Friday (4/27) – after I got out of bed, of course. Christel, Rasa, and I jumped on the Tube and exited on Waterloo (just a quick walk from the museum). After walking through airplane exhibits, listening to disturbing war testimonies, and ‘testing’ submarine communication systems, my favorite part was walking through a garden dedicated to Gandhi.

Before heading out to Portabello Market on Saturday (4/28), I took my camera with us (Rasa, Becca, Cloud, and Christel) to the cafeteria (just to give a true idea of what it was like eating in the basement) and Young Street (our typical walk to the High Ken Tube stop). We also made a stop to shop in Camden Market before heading back to the dorms.

After such a busy weekend, Rasa and I spent our Sunday (4/29) resting and recharging our batteries for the week we had ahead of us. (Although, we did allow a little time for play!) Come back next week to see how we spent our ‘dead’ week!

Your London Blogger,
Danielle

Week 14: Catching up with Richmond

2007-04-23T19:53:00.000-07:00

Nearly the entire week of 4/16 was all about school, from group projects to actually going to Richmond (the campus, that is). With only a week left before both my MIS and MKT papers and presentations due, I hardly had time to do anything else. After a really long Monday (4/16), all I did on Tuesday (4/17) was work with my group mates to split up duties for our MIS project. On Wednesday (4/18), I took time from writing papers to bid farewell to the guys who headed back to Los Angeles.

Finally, I was able afford a break on Thursday (4/19) to take a trip out to the Richmond campus, where all the lower division classes are held (kind of like what Doheny is for Chalon). Rasa and I hopped onto the Tube and bus to enjoy the scenery and “real” campus feel of the gardens and structures that we saw in the brochures. We also got the chance to buy our Richmond gear before heading back to Kensington.

It was back to the books on Friday (4/20), as my best MKT group mate – Tina – and I spent most of the day locked in her room working on a creative brochure for our group project. The deadlines for my work were coming up so fast that I even passed on a trip out to Brighton (pebble) Beach with the girls on Saturday (4/21). *Sigh*

With one last day to prep for two group projects, I hardly had any sleep on Sunday (4/22), but hopefully it was well worth it…

Wish me luck!
Danielle

Week 13: Family & Friends

2007-04-16T21:25:00.000-07:00

Elbert Hubbard once said “no man (or woman) needs a vacation so much than the person who just had one.” I can definitely attest to that! I woke up Monday (4/9) feeling physically better. I felt even better throughout the week when I found out during both one of my Monday/Wednesday classes and my Tuesday class that deadline for looming assignments had been postponed. Enough about schoolwork though.

I spent Wednesday (4/11) packing very lightly for my first (and only) solo trip. After class on Thursday (4/12), I took the Tube to Heathrow for by British Airways flight. Never again was I going to anywhere else for any other carrier. I even enjoyed a whole row all to myself (not that the flight was very long; nevertheless, I was very comfortable). Before I knew it, I was in Copenhagen, Denmark!

My arrival was a little anticlimactic, however. Before I could meet up with aunt and uncle, I had to pick up my luggage (more like my smaller-than-a-duffle-bag size bag). After everyone else on the flight left, the carousel continued to go round and round, but my bag was nowhere to be found. So, I got in line and reported my luggage as missing at the desk. Then, I was greeted and comforted by my aunt and uncle. After a bit more investigation, we decided to head out of the airport.

Let me just say – Denmark and its language are absolutely beautiful. Copenhagen was the first city (outside of London) that I could truly see myself living in. Han Christian Andersen is the pride of the city, so it was only fitting that our first stop was —what has been commonly called— Den lille havfrue (the Little Mermaid). After just a brisk walk along the water in Churchill Park, there she was. A solemn young figure modeled after the title character in Andersen’s 1837 fairy tale. Why did I describe her as solemn, you may ask. Read the original version. You’ll understand.

Then, my aunt and uncle treated me to a traditional Danish dinner at one of their favorite restaurants. I had a very delicious white fish topped with a mountain of baby shrimp sandwich on rye called Stjerneskud (Shooting Star). Obviously, this was not your regular ‘American’ sandwich. Danes do not just stick things between two pieces of bread. They lay out the pieces of bread and stack the ingredients on top. They call it smørrebrød (open sandwich). Delicious!

Upon our arrival to their house—it really hit me: I have nothing else to wear except the clothes on my back. Lucky for me, my aunt still had some of my cousin’s clothes (whom I will introduce more formally later on), which she offered to me (even more luckily—they fit!). Later that evening, we stopped by a family member’s house on my uncle’s side. I sat their in awe (and pitched in when I could) listening to cousins, aunts, and uncles easily transitioning from English to Danish to Tagalog and anywhere in between. Most of the girl cousins were my age and graciously made plans to take me out in a couple of days.

I woke up Friday (4/13) morning to a familiar smell. I walked into the kitchen and was warmly greeted by my aunt who had cooked a traditional Filipino breakfast of white rice, eggs over easy, and tocino. A true taste of home! My elation continued when my aunt informed me that she had been calling the airport and they found my luggage! So, we headed back to their airport to reunite me with my bag. We came back to the house to drop it off and shortly after, we hopped onto the bus (gotta love convenient and reliable transportation, especially when gas is over 10 Krone a liter!) It costs about 1 U.S Dollar to buy 5.6 Krone. Therefore, 10 Krone is about $1.80. So, it would cost $1.80 to buy 1 liter of gas. One liter is only .26 of a gallon. To buy 1 gallon, you would have to buy about 3.8 liters. So…you would have to pay nearly SEVEN dollars for ONE gallon of gas in Copenhagen. No wonder everyone bikes around here!

We ended up on the world’s longest net of Strøget (pedestrian streets) lined with shopping and dining. My cousin Michelle, better known by her nickname Cielo (pronounced Shell-o), met up with us to, well, walk around. Soon, we reached the memorial anchor to mark the beginning of Nyhavn (New Harbor), which actually is not new. In fact, it was built in the 1670’s, making it the oldest part of the Copenhagen harbor. We all grabbed a Danish-style hot dog from a pølsevogn (sausage wagon), where a vendor squirts the requested condiment into a roll with one hole at the end and then inserts the sausage, which is thin and long. (I decided to try sennep, the traditional, sharp flavored, golden brown mustard of Denmark. That mustard definitely had kick!)

Before we could even finish our hot dogs, we were in a boat for a tour of the manmade canal trimmed with boldly-colored and picturesque houses and restaurants. (Famous Danes such as Andersen and H. Holms lived in these houses; number 67 and number 55, respectively). We also passed by the old Stock-Exchange building, Holmen’s Church, the Little Mermaid statue, a Danish library, the Viking Ship Museum, the Christiansborg Palace, and much more!

After our boat tour, we strolled over to Amalienborg Palace, the heavily guarded residence of the Danish Royal Family. Denmark’s constitutional monarchy the is one of the oldest and most established institutions. The ‘palace’ is more like a square of palaces because there are four of them: Moltkes Palace (Christian VII's palace), Schackske Palace (Christians IX's palace and residence of Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik), Levetzaus Palace (Christian VIII's palace and residence of Crown Prince Frederik) and Brockdorfske Palace (Frederik VIII's palace).

Lunchtime arrived before I knew it and I could not wait to try another open sandwich. Oh so good! Danes love their carbs because the weather requires it, so I did not feel bad having another sandwich. I definitely earned my meal, though, because our next stop was Rundetaarn (the Round Tower), which was built to serve as an astronomical observatory, student church, and university library. The tower is called round for obvious reasons. What is not so obvious, however, is the unique (at least in European architecture) spiral walk, which winds for 209 meters (more than 8200 feet!). Reaching the top offers the reward of not only the magnificent view of old Copenhagen but also the beautiful 350-year old wrought-iron lattice that surrounds the platform. After wrapping up with souvenir shopping, we stopped by Cielo’s apartment where I met her boyfriend and father of her baby.

Our next stop was a family members’ house for dinner. There, I not only met Michael, his wife Angela, and their son Paolo, but I also met my cousin’s son Benjamin! I kept the two young boys company while also learning more about Danish cuisine, traditions, and even more of the language, which to my untrained ear sounded Oriental in pronunciation and Germanic in vocabulary. We enjoyed a delicious family meal before heading back to my aunt and uncle’s house.

The next morning (4/14), my aunt and uncle took me to a Danish wholesale market (think a smaller-scale Costco) to basically spoil me. (I totally regretted bringing only such a small piece of luggage because I could only get what could fit in it!) I picked out an awesome pair of sandals, a medium-sized purse, and of course—chocolate! Danish chocolate is A-MAZ-ING. Just ask my friends (especially Rasa) because I brought back a box of creamy milk chocolate and white chocolate bars.

My fun just started because I met with the cousins I mentioned earlier and they took me to Tivoli—Copenhagen’s 150-year old amusement park. The old-world carnival-style atmosphere was definitely a treat because there were more than just roller coasters. In addition to an on-site lake, which is a remnant of the city’s moat, there were also fountains and live entertainment.

Later that evening, the cousins and I met up with my cousin Cielo at a pedestrian street, where we had dinner at Hoppes Bar. Then, we headed out to lively part of town where I just had to hop on a bike just so I can say I rode a bike in Denmark. We shared great drinks and conversation before calling it a night because I had to be up early the next morning to catch my flight.

I had the pleasure of hanging out more with Benja on Sunday morning (4/15) before I was dropped off at the airport. I expressed by gratitude and bid my Danish family goodbye and headed back to London, where a different set of familiar faces was gathered.

I did not mention it earlier, but the day I headed out of London was the day that Becca’s guy friends were heading into London. While I was gone, the guys got a chance to see the city and hang out with the rest of the gang. On Sunday night, we all headed out to International Night, a cultural performance of the different cultures represented by Richmond University.

What a week for family and friends! With friends visiting from Los Angeles and visiting family in Copenhagen, I am pooped! With less than a month left of my European excursion, I will spend my time hitting more spots in London, but also preparing to head back home.

See you soon!
Danielle

Week 12: Fools Rushin' Into Ireland

2007-04-09T16:04:00.000-07:00

The first week of April definitely had its mixture of everything! Our April Fools’ Day (4/1) was a continuation of the night before. We all made it back to Cloud and Becca’s room for some fun and games. Then it was back to business with preparing for my longest day of the week: Monday. I did however get to ‘refresh’ my hair compliments of Rasa on Monday (4/2) night. Then, summer business was sooner than I thought because on Tuesday (4/3) I rushed to call people from a prospective interview site. I was even able to send a cover letter and resume thanks to London being 8 hours ahead of Los Angeles. Cross your fingers for me; I hope I have an internship waiting for me when I get back home.

Wednesday (4/4) was back to being about being in London. I met up with my MIS group members and you have heard (read is more like it) ramble on about how these group projects are a requirement for all my classes. Each group I have been a part of abroad definitely has its own personality. My marketing group, as I have mentioned before, is composed of 2 degree students and 1 other study abroad student. We have been meeting practically every week sometimes twice a week since the very beginning of the semester. I met lovely ladies in my psychology group who are from other U.S states (Arkansas, Texas) and even another girl from Bulgaria! My organizational behavior group was made up of all study abroad students all over the U.S. ranging from California to Rhode Island.

In these three groups, one has remained constant: I had at least another American student in my group. For MIS, not only was I the ONLY study abroad student in the entire class, but I was also the only American in my group. My other group members were from Azerbaijan and Bulgaria. Our group project was not assigned until less than 3 weeks from the due date of the project, so we had very limited time together. In that time however, the communication was also limited. Not because they did not speak English—they spoke it very well—but because I did not speak their languages. Our first meeting was Wednesday (4/4) and I guess I got a taste of how it is to be left out as my group members first discussed their opinions before answering a question I had asked them. I will not lie and say it was not uncomfortable, but it was a short meeting because I had to head off to Freud’s former home in London for my psychology class.

Sigmund Freud fled to London in 1938 and died a year later in the house now turned museum we went to visit. After perusing the two-story house with the infamous couch and Freud’s collection of items from all over the world, the entire class strolled down the street to a coffee house to chat. Yes, you read right—coffee with the professor. My classmates and I had always been in awe of his wealth of knowledge. We could never discuss this in class because we were always too busy trying to write down everything he said during lecture, so my classmate (with whom I also have for Marketing) would share that exhausted look as we walked back to Atlantic House together.

Thursday (4/5) was Day 1 of my Ireland adventure! Wait. Pause. Let me not get too far ahead of myself. I did indeed have class that morning, as did my fellow Ireland ladies—Rasa, Becca, and Julie. In fact, this little rush I did might have been helpful BEFORE we missed our flight! Yes, of course there were so many factors involved that made us miss our check-in time by TWENTY minutes (like the frustrated girlfriend who yelled at her boyfriend sitting in the front row of the bus already as she hailed a cab or the sheer confusion at the Victoria bus station in general…but don’t let me get into it).

So there we were in Stanstead airport at 3:45 PM as our airplane was barely lifting off. All hope seemed lost, despite our purchase of ₤50 (each) Standby tickets. Then, shortly after 4:30 PM, Julie nearly knocked over an airline employee as she announced that seats were available to the next flight out to Dublin. Lucky that Julie did get us first in line because we were not the only people vying for spots (and it IS quite a challenge to get 4 spots all on the next flight). We were in the clear and arrived in Dublin safely that night.

So what if we missed the Pub Crawl? It was a free event thanks to our membership to ISIC. Besides, after we (FOUND and) settled into our hostel for the night, we made our own stop to a pub (where we named a drink after me) and more importantly, to the local convenience store to grab some munchies. Only Rasa, Becca, and Julie will share my laughs as I try to explain what happened in the surrounding minutes of midnight to kick off Julie’s 21st birthday. However, I will try to explain. Rasa and I were first booked in a different room from Becca and Julie. To get in the same room, we agreed to room that accommodates six people. No one was in the room when we arrived, and still no one was there when we got back with our popcorn, Ben & Jerry’s phish food, and liter of Coca Cola. So who would have thought that precisely the moment we decided to start Friday (4/6)—the celebration of our dear friend Julie’s birth—two strange men would enter and drop their belongings in our room? Awkwaaard.

The rest of Julie’s birthday was quite eventful, despite the fact that we happened to be in Ireland on one of two dry days that the Irish observe. That’s right—no alcohol to be sold or consumed on the day she turned 21. How ironic. But hey—we’re in IRELAND! Our 3-day bus tour kicked off with our first stop at Locke’s Whiskey distillery turned museum. We were able to slide by the ‘dry’ day rules by sipping a shot of some very strong whiskey. Our bus tour continued west to Clonmacnoise monastery founded 1500 years ago by along the River Shannon. Our next stop was simply to grab some lunch from Super Valu, Ireland’s grocery chain. Afterwards, our tour guide let us in on the myth of the ancient portal tomb, Pol na Brone Dolmen.Our next stop was the fairy bush, where Irish superstitions are exemplified. To keep any and all possible fairies, leprechauns, and banshees happy, everyone was to exit the bus and daintily walk the circumference of the fairy bush, very careful not to enter the bush of course.

Hands down my favorite part of the day was experiencing the beautiful Cliffs of Moher. My breath was taken away at the sight of the Atlantic (and the fact that one wrong step can lead to a face-first meeting with the ocean). We had our fun ‘rescuing’ each other from the edge of the cliffs as we ventured further than we were technically supposed to. We made it back safely to our bus in time for our next stop: Flanagan’s Village Hostel, where we enjoyed bowls of traditional (and delicious!) Irish beef stew with soda bread. Then, we found out that our bed situation was again, not perfect. Since one of the beds in our room was meant for two people, we did not want to split one of the couples in our group. So, Julie, Rasa, and I got singles in the same room, which left Becca in a bed next door, full of strangers. Only she can tell you how that night went.

The night was not yet over though. Our tour guide led us on a ‘short’ walk (more like a hike!) to the pebble beach nearby, where we shared quiet moments to enjoy a gorgeous sunset. Then, it got a little too cold for Julie and Becca, so they decided to head back to the hostel. Becca and I, on the other hand, braved out the chill to savor the sparkling sky. For a city girl like me, huge buildings and bright lights commonly overpower the sky; but there were no buildings, no lights, nothing to pail the sheer beauty of the night sky during those moments in Ireland. The utter darkness did have a drawback, however. Becca and I clutched onto each other, as we nearly had to feel our way back to the hostel. The sparkling sky and shooting stars were definitely worth it! I was even lucky enough to get the top bunk with a skylight, and I fell asleep gazing at the stars.

The next morning (Saturday, 4/7), we hopped on the bus again onto the Tarbert Ferry, which took us across the Shannon. That morning, we passed by cities and sights such as the Tralee, Sliabh Mish mountains, Dingle village, and beehive dwellings. By lunch, we reached Coumeenole beach of the Dingle peninsula, known as the site for David Lean’s 1969 film – Ryan’s daughter. After lunch, I was the first of the group to fold up my jeans and leave a piece of my soul – as legend has it – in the water, where it will be waiting for my return in 40 years. After the rest of the gals joined me, our tour guide mentioned how some of the locals were in awe of us (possibly because of our tan skin) and had invited us to a party that night! (Too bad we were leaving...)We headed back on the bus and heard stories of the legendary three sisters and the mystical sleeping giant. Then, it was time yet again to get off the bus in order to hike to the most western part of Europe (a.k.a the closest we will get to being home!).

Before we knew it, we were at our temporary home for the night in Killarney. We did not even get a chance to really settle in before it was time to go out and experience something truly Irish for dinner (lamb chop and potatoes), drinks (Guinness), and dancing (swarming Irish men). After successfully finding our way back to our hostel, our rooming situation was as perfect as it could have gotten – all four of us were in the same room, just sharing with one other girl. As for me, I thought I lucked out again with getting the top bunk with a skylight. Think again. I was too lazy to close the skylight shut and even though I could feel the chilly air penetrating through my blanket. I should have known better to keep myself (especially my torso) warm, because in just a few hours I felt terribly sick for the next 24 hours. Needless to say, I did not sleep very well that night (and neither did my room mates, thanks to me).

Nevertheless, we had to be up early on Easter morning (4/8) and ready to get back on the bus. We were off to receive the gift of gab (eloquent speech) by kissing the stone at Blarney Castle. Now, walking around and climbing stone staircases were already challenges for me that day, but now they wanted turn me backwards upside down to kiss a slab of rock that I am sure thousands of other tourists have stuck their lips?! Eh, what the heck, right? After walking around the beautiful estate, we found our way to some souvenir shops before heading back to the bus. In order to encourage our timely arrival to the bus, our tour guide informed us at the beginning of our bus tour any tardy tourists would have to entertain the rest of the bus with a song. There were only a couple of instances that this happened, which did not include any of us girls. Until, of course, a bit of miscommunication occurred, which left Rasa rushing back to the bus with bags of souvenirs. Despite her efforts, she was handed the mic and accepted a request to sing her rendition of Madonna’s ‘Like a Virgin.’ Our last sightseeing stop brought us underground, where nature has created an acoustically perfect cave. I still was not feeling up to par at this point, and this sight is difficult to explain, so you will just have to ask one of the other girls to explain.

The rest of the trip was a blur for me. I remember sleeping the rest of the bus trip back to Dublin City at the same hostel we arrived in on Thursday. We did not stay the night though; we just got our things together and headed back to the airport, where I mostly laid in line with our belongings. After being shuttled from the airport to the airplane, we spent what seemed forever in the tiny airplane back to Stansted, where we then had to hop on the Tube back to Victoria in order to catch a bus to High Ken, where we walked our way back to Atlantic House to hike up 3 and half stories into our dorm room, where I finally curled into bed and knocked out. What. A. Trip.

No worries, I felt muuuuch better the next morning. Check out my blog about next week to hear how my trip to visit family in Denmark went!

Gifted with Gab,
Danielle

Week 11: Extra Wicked Mexican Food!

2007-04-02T14:08:00.000-07:00

After 6 hours of classes on Monday (3/26), I totally deserved a Wicked experience! Literally! Rasa, Becca, and I went to the Apollo Victoria Theatre to watch the musical Wicked—The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz. The musical is inspired from Gregory Maguire’s novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which he wrote while living in London. (Totally fitting to watch it here!)

It was back to reality on Tuesday (3/27) as I spent the entire day and night away from room, whether it be in class or in the computer room preparing for a group presentation and meeting with another group for a project. Rasa finally got an appointment with the doctor, who was not able to do anything for her viral infection other than suggest bed rest. What actually helped was Cloud treating her to a Caramel Frap followed by some shopping.

The entire Wednesday (3/28) was dedicated to preparing for my looming psychology group presentation (and when I say looming, I mean 4:00 PM!). My group did well presenting the difficult content of R. D Laing’s book on schizophrenia called The Divided Self.

So, I’ve explained the “Wicked” portion of my title, but what about “Extra” and “Mexican Food”? Thursday and Friday was all about putting in extra hours. I don’t just mean spending more hours on schoolwork, I mean spending extra hours in the classroom! I felt the pain of not starting my weekend on Thursday (3/29) right at 10:21 AM due to my “make-up” lecture of my 3 hour-long class (which was cancelled 2 previous Mondays ago!). MSMC professors, please don’t get any ideas ;-)

After a group meeting early that evening, the gang (which has apparently grown) headed over to Quiz Night at Imperial College. Who has joined us, you ask? Amazing people! In addition to Julie (from Boston; attends Emmanuel) and Christel (from Chicago; attends Eureka College), our new buddies include 2 Richmond degree students and 2 study abroad students—Jess (from Rhode Island; attends Providence) and Chris a.k.a Phizz (from Ventura; attends Cal Lutheran University). Oh, and apparently, we all have “secret” nicknames that start with L—‘gotta’ love inside jokes! After Quiz Night, some of us just weren’t satisfied, food-wise. So what was open at 11:30 at night? McDonald’s! I am not one to prefer fast-food, but I *was* hungry and it was fun because we all collected pieces of the London version of the Monopoly board game.

You would think that I was done with school by the time Friday (3/30) morning came along right? Wrong! I spent another hour listening to a lecture, this time a guest lecturer from AMICUS—the UK’s largest industrial union organization. After that was over, I was finally able to get my weekend started with (by now, you should know) a nap! Afterwards, the girls and I headed to Harrods—the world’s most famous department store. This place is huge! If you feel that you’ve ever gotten lost in a mall, this was ten times worse! (Or better actually!) World-renowned designer products surrounded us at every turn! We vowed to return right before we leave London to pick up a few souvenirs from Toy Kingdom…yes, TOY KINGDOM!!!

Finally, the day I had been looking for ALL semester: on Saturday (3/31), we found Mexican food!!!!! It took us a full hour before finding a place that could seat nine, but it was SO worth it! We (legally and responsibly) enjoyed margaritas along with delicious fajitas, enchiladas, chimichangas, and burritos! Very much needed taste of home!

Speaking of home…I know that May 11 may sound far away, but really—it’s right around the corner! Summer planning is in the works: internships, vacations, becoming an auntie, and oh…my 21st birthday! (JULY 2!) *hint hint* =)

We’re in the final stretch! Stay tuned for two more trips outside of England—Ireland and Denmark!

Hasta Luego!
Danielle

Week 10: Dropping & Picking

2007-03-26T10:30:00.000-07:00

The week after spring break was a total blur of dropping and picking. I’ll allow the week’s events and occurrences explain. Off and on during Sunday (3/18), snow, hail, and rain dropped from the sky. Then on Monday (3/19), my uncle picked me up from the Tube station so we could grab some dinner together before he headed off to the States. The next day (Tuesday 3/20), I dropped off a letter at the post office. Then on Wednesday (3/21) Becca and I looked in 3 different bookstores before finally picking up the book I need to read for my psychology class.

Like I said, a lot of dropping and a lot picking. The only day it took a break was on Thursday (3/22) where I spent the day camped out in the laundry room getting loads of laundry done…before dinner! The last dropping and picking happened when I dropped the ball and stayed in the wrong terminal for 2 hours to pick Grace, a friend from high school, up from Heathrow airport. We got back to my dorm pretty late so we just stayed in for the night.

I took Grace out on Saturday (3/23) around town, starting with…some Starbucks! I know, I know—but it was a comforting taste of home. Then we strolled around Kensington Gardens where we saw the Albert Memorial and Kensington Palace. We followed that up with some shopping at Portobello Road Market and the Victoria & Albert Museum. By the time we came back to the dorm, the lack of sleep and change of time zones must have caught up to Grace because she was out like a light. We let her catch up on sleep as the rest of us attended the “Kinda Late Show”—a student-planned, student-produced, and student-hosted rendition of a “late”-night talk show. She was awake by the time we all headed out and celebrated at a near-by pub with get this—a smoke-free section! That was definitely a first.

We got off on a late start on Sunday (3/25) due to Europe’s daylight savings. Grace headed out with some of her other London friends as I spent the day cracking open my books for the first time since Wednesday night and as Rasa stayed in bed to try and recuperate from her sickness.

It’s hard to believe that it’s the end of March already, which means planning, planning, and more planning. More of that in next week’s blog!

Lots of love,
Danielle

Spring Break (Part II)

2007-03-26T08:54:00.000-07:00

Most of our spring break was dedicated in Italy! We started our first full day in Rome on Monday (3/12) with a guided tour through the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica. By mistake (because it’s what our voucher said! But apparently it was on certain dates…), we arrived at the meeting point an hour and a half early. We were worried for a while until we found a very friendly couple from New Jersey who were in the same boat. We were able to figure out that the meeting time was actually at noon. This gave Rasa and I time to grab some lunch at a local pizzeria. For those of you know my eating habits, I am not a pizza person; but heck I’m in Italy and I *will* have some pizza. So maybe my stomach is just picky because my tomato pizza was delicious! As a side note, the way they serve pizza is not the in the circular pan or anything…it’s long and rectangular; and they cut (yes, cut—not slice) your piece as big as you like because then they way you pay for it is by its weight. We had a little time left to walk around and do some window-shopping before meeting our tour guide. We walked over to the Vatican Museum and waited in a not-so-long line. The line to get into the Vatican Museum can sometimes wrap around the block or even further! So we were lucky, partly because it was a Monday. Before long, we had our headphones and were able to listen to our tour guide. She has lived in Rome for seen years, is from Michigan, and has an art history degree. She was very impressive and knowledgeable as she led us through the courtyard, garden, multiple galleries and rooms. Then, we spent 15 minutes in silence and awe as we gazed at the walls and ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The countless imitations and “copies” of Michelangelo’s masterpiece do not even begin to capture the stunning beauty and inexplicable brilliance of the Sistine Chapel. I second-guessed my eyes as I could have sworn that people were popping out of the ceiling. Before we knew it, Rasa and I were being led into St. Peter’s Basilica. Our first stop was La Pieta, which is now behind a bulletproof glass because someone attacked it with a hammer some years back. Fortunately, unlike in the Sistine Chapel, we were allowed to take pictures in the Basilica. Rasa and I were snapping away so mach that we actually lost our tour guide halfway through the Basilica. Luckily, we were able to find her after about 15 minutes of wandering around. She was wrapping up the tour outside the Basilica.

By this time, it was already 4:00 PM so we headed over The Vatican souvenir shop, which was right next to the entrance of the Basilica. After about an hour of debating with myself, I picked up some beautiful sterling silver rosaries for my family. For my mom and older sister, I picked out Sworvaski crystals; for my grandma and younger sister, I picked out pearls; and for my dad, I picked machite stone, which is the green stone that Michelangelo crushed to paint inside the Sistine Chapel. Before heading out, I also picked up some postcards and sent them from the Vatican post as Rasa went to get holy water from the Basilica. As we were exiting the Basilica, the sun was setting and again I tried to reach Laura, hoping that Rasa and I were going to be able to contact and meet up with her that night. Unfortunately, it was getting dark so Rasa and I decided to pick up some dinner and head back to the hotel. I was really glad to pick up my phone to hear Laura’s voice later that evening! She and I were both relieved to finally get in touch with each other. We made plans to meet the next day…

Rasa and I spent Tuesday (3/13) in beautiful Firenze (Florence)! The Eurostar train ride was only about 90 minutes and we were strolling around Florence before we knew it! We started off our visit by walking towards Il Duomo (The Cathedral). The line to enter seemed long so we wandered through the countless roads of flea markets. We shopped around and kept note of the prices for souvenirs we were interested in before sitting down to have lunch. Oh, how I LOVE Italian food, especially in Italy of course! Rasa and I both really enjoyed tortellini and lasagna accompanied by pleasant service. By the time we headed back to Il Duomo, the line was much shorter so we perused and photographed inside before heading back outside to get in line to climb La Cupola. Apparently, climbing to the top of the dome of the Cathedral is THE thing to do, so we did. The one setback? Climbing to the top is 463 steps and Rasa is asthmatic! Needless to say, by step number 200 or so, we stepped aside to take a break. Getting to the top and seeing the view, however, definitely made up for the pain of climbing all the way to the top. The sun was shining and it was SO beautiful getting a 360-degree view of the city! Rasa and I relished in the sights before heading back inside to get a closer view of the paintings on the ceiling of the dome. It was mid-afternoon by this time so we headed towards the Academic Gallery where the original statue of David is. Unfortunately, the line to enter went down the block and was estimated to take at least an hour. Rasa and I did not have that kind of time to spare so we settled in picking up a snack and finishing up our shopping. I was also successful in finding the post office in Republico Square before we had to head back to the Eurostar station to catch our 5:30 train back to Rome.

When we arrived back in the station at Rome, we were warmly greeted by Laura!!!! Once we had a visual of her, we RAN over to her for a great big hug! We were so excited to each other and trying to catch up on all that we have been up to that we jumped between stories of being in London, Paris, and all over Italy (for Laura). We had a chance to sit down at Piazza Novona—a Baroque-style fountain of the four (largest of the 17th century) rivers—while we caught up and waited for Laura’s friends—Rachel and Kim—to meet us for dinner. Nearby, we had a very nice meal in what seemed to be a family-owned restaurant. We shared appetizers such as bruschetta and fried pumpkin cakes; then I ordered spaghetti while Rasa had fettuccini with artichoke. We definitely LOVED the food and the great company. What a day! Actually, what a week! (And it’s not even done…)

On Wednesday (3/14), Rasa and I finally took advantage of the fact that breakfast is included with our hotel, so we picked up some pastries and juice before hoping on the metro to the Coliseum! I could hardly believe that this massive monument is just there…in the middle of the city! It’s almost unreal. The line to enter was long, but we were able to cut because we signed up for an English didactic tour. Our tour guide, a native Italian with an archeological background, had us imagining how the Colosseo (as it was known by the Romans) must have been when it was first built in 80 A.D., when it was all white with stone slabs acting as the ceiling. The elliptical shape and 3 tiers allowed over 70,000 spectators to have a great view the action below. The arena below was a maze-like den where thousands of beasts were “hunted” and killed. We walked through the different levels and arches as he pointed out that the Colosseo was used as a quarry during the middle ages to build other monuments, like St. Peter’s Basilica. Since the fall of the Roman Empire, the Colosseo faced many threats until Pope Benidict XIV finally declared it a sacred monument. The cross on a pedestal at the entrance is still used as the starting point of Stations of the Cross observed on Good Friday. Charles Dickens put it best when he said that touring the Coliseum is, “seeing the ghost of old Rome floating over the places its people walk in".

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking through the other Roman ruins and monuments across from the Colosseo like the Palatino and Arco di Costantino. Before we knew it, Rasa and I had to head back to the hotel room to drop off our stuff and meet up with Laura. We met another friend, Pam, who was with Laura to meet us at the obelisk in the Vatican that night. They led us to Praise and Worship service hosted by a seminary where we spent about an hour signing songs of, well—praise and worship. This was definitely no tourist-y experience, and that was what was so special about it! Laura introduced us to some more of the friends that she has thus far met in Rome. After getting a special trip to the roof of the seminary—which has arguably the best view of Rome—Laura took us to Oldbridge’s—which has arguable the best gelato in town. What a night!

We spent Thursday (3/15) leisurely walking through some of Rome’s other well-known monuments such as Fontana de Trevi, The Spanish Steps, and Piazza del Popolo. We also attended mass at in St. Peter’s Basilica that evening. Even though I hardly understood what the priests were saying because the service was all in Latin, it was definitely special. The evening continued to special because we met up with Laura and Pam again to walk over to Laura’s apartment where she and her roommates were whipping up a homemade dinner. The meal was delicious! We had two kinds of salad, fried zucchini, chicken Parmesan, spaghetti, and chocolate cake. It was the first homemade meal I had since leaving SoCal. Thanks Laura!!!! I couldn’t imagine a better way to spend our last night in Rome.

The next morning (Friday 3/16), Laura was under the weather with a fever, so Rasa and I left her to recuperate while we spent the last of our day in Rome walking around. We picked up some Oldbridge’s as we did some more souvenir shopping. We then had lunch outside at a café where we had some risotto. We finished the last of our souvenir shopping (and grabbed some more Oldbridge’s!) before heading back to Laura’s apartment to give her our hugs and goodbye before our driver picked us up. (Yup! Rasa and I got the VIP treatment with out own personal chauffeur driving us in a Mercedes to the airport.) We arrived back in London late Friday night where we met up with Cloud and Becca to catch up and share stories for a little bit. We decided to get some rest and have a tell-all over dinner the next day.

Rasa and I spent most of Saturday (3/16) catching up on much-needed sleep. Actually, we spent most of the weekend doing so because all I wrote in my planner that weekend was that we went out dinner at Garfunkle’s (where we shared our spring break adventures) and that it hailed on Sunday. Yes, hail! I was definitely missing the sunny, SoCal-like weather back in Rome!

Speaking of, I hope all of you back in SoCal are dealing with the freaky weather I had been hearing about.

Arrivederci!
Danielle

4 Midterms Worth the 8 Days of BREAK! (Part I)

2007-03-19T06:38:00.000-07:00

What exciting thing can I say about midterm examination week? Oh I know! When it was over, I went on SPRING BREAK! But let me not get too ahead of myself…

My first midterm was on Monday (3/5) at noon. This exam was sort of a preview for the rest of my midterms because I pleasantly surprised that the Exam Book (better known to American students as “Blue Book”) is *provided* by the professors. That was the “good” part, I guess. The other part is that my hand already started to cramp up after writing 2 essays in 80 minutes. There would be no break for my hand because my next two midterms (back-to-back) on Wednesday (3/7) afternoon was 160 minutes of writing 2 essays, 16 definitions, and 8 “short” answer paragraphs! It all finally ended when I wrote my last 2 essays for my last midterm on Thursday (3/8) morning. Needless to say, my brain was FRIED and Rasa will attest to me being “off” for the beginning of our spring break…

Spring Break 2007 officially started (for me at least) on Thursday (3/8) at 10:10 am. How did I start it? I took a very-much deserved NAP as I waited for the other girls to finish class. By noon, Rasa, Cloud, Becca, and I gathered to have lunch because Becca and Cloud were headed to Berlin for the weekend and Paris until Friday. Rasa and I, on the other hand, were packed and ready to go to Heathrow for our flight to Athens, Greece! We probably should have slept for the 3.5 hours (instead of intently watching Casino Royale), because by the time we arrived in the Athens airport at 2:00 am local time on Friday (3/9), we were definitely beat and bed-less. So what did we do? Instead of dragging our luggage around in a new city, we decided to stay (and try to sleep) in the airport until the public transportation services started. By 5:30 am, we jumped on X95 bus, which took us to Syntagma, the heart of Athens. Our hotel was just one metro stop away, but unfortunately our room was not yet ready. It was back to sleeping for us…this time in the hotel lobby until 9:00 am when we were nicely informed that our room was ready. We plopped our stuff down and went straight into bed! So our first 10 hours in Athens was pretty…boring, but just wait, it gets better! Rasa and I conquered our first tourist spot: the Parthenon! That’s right, we hiked all the way to the top of the Acropolis and saw the various temples, including the Temple of Dionysus. We enjoyed the gorgeous view of the city for several hours before hiking down the other side of the mountain and ending up in (so appropriate) an area for…SHOPPING. Road after road of shops and carts full of Greeks warmly inviting us in. Rasa and I both made some souvenir purchases, but I think our favorite purchases were our very tasty gyros (our first meal of the day, mind you, at 6:00 pm!). Rasa and I were so tired and possibly jet-lagged that we were in bed by 8:30 pm that night. Before our REM sleep can kick in, however, we were both up, awake, and DEHYDRATED. We were so thirsty that we put on some sweatshirts and made our way down to reception to buy some bottled water. Back in our room, we channel surfed and found an old Christian Bale movie playing. This kept us entertained until we fell asleep again…

On Saturday (3/10), we visited some more monuments like Zeus’s Temple, the Olympic Stadium (where the first modern Olympics were held), and the Congress building. I was also send off my postcards after being some confusion with a local that I was indeed next in line. All I could do was point to my number (64) and that she was 66! Sending out those post cards was worth it…Rasa and I were determined to have an authentic Greek lunch so we decided to eat at a restaurant at the foot of the Acropolis. The waiter was very helpful in helping us select our dishes; Rasa ordered pasticcio while I had a selection of gyros. Great choices!

So a random thing about Athens that you will not find in any post card of tourist book (or maybe you would…), but there are dogs…everywhere! We must have counted over a dozen on Saturday. The one dog that sticks out the most was a mixed lab that we spotted first at the crosswalk across from Zeus’ Temple. Yes, I said crosswalk! He indeed waited in front of the human pedestrians and basically led the way when the light turned green. Rasa and I thought it was cute until we were walking back from the Temple and there he was again! This time, we walked alongside us. We only made it to the middle divider, which wasn’t that big so when the dog was in the way of the car about to rev up because his light turned green, the car honked. What did the dog do? Get on the middle divider? NO, he strolled right up to the driver’s window and barked like mad! Not only at the car passing by, but all the rest of the following cars! A car was coming by so fast that Rasa and I squealed and turned the other way, covering our eyes and ears hoping that the dog didn’t get run over! This dog, I’m telling you, had AT-TI-TUDE! That light took forever because he just kept barking away while Rasa and I were impatiently waiting for the little green man to light up. (By the way, in Athens there are 3 pedestrian lights: green, yellow, and red—like car lights!) Finally, we (including the dog) made it across the street. So you’d think that the dog was done crossing, but no—he just looked around and walked right back to the same crosswalk and sat down, waiting to cross…again! We made it to the Metro station all right and we made our way to the Monastraki stop where we did some flea market shopping. We picked up our last of Athens souvenirs and some more gyros to-go before sunset. Back in the hotel room, we had to prepare to wish Athens goodbye. We set up for a taxi to pick us up at 4:00 am the next morning (if you could call that morning!)…

On Sunday (3/10), our taxi (for 10 euro) dropped us off at the X95 bus stop. We were just in time to catch the bus back to the airport. We were checked in for our Alitalia flight and had time to spare to sit back and relax at our gate. When it came to boarding, we were apparently flying in a very small plane because we had to be shuttled to our plane that we boarded as the engines were blowing us near off the stairs! We squeezed through the aisles and found our seats. We were not sitting for more than one minute until Rasa (with earphones muddling her ability to hear herself) said “I HATE small planes!” and then followed it with “And someone has bad B.O!” All I could do was stare at her with terror and think to myself “Did she really say that?” She was obviously not fazed as she merely looked at me with a blank face and then proceeded to listen to her music.

Finally, in Rome, we may have been the only Americans (or at least the only ones whose final destination was Rome) in that flight because we definitely felt targeted (and not helped) when we arrived in Italy. We were approached (without any signs as a warning) by several guards in very intimidating uniforms for our passports. Then, we ended up in what felt like the middle of nowhere because no one else seemed to be picking up their luggage. Finally, we found our luggage and now our next obstacle was getting to our hotel. Multiple taxi drivers tried to get our business but our best bet was a shuttle that took us wherever we wanted to be dropped off for 15 euro each. This was definitely the right choice because even our driver had a difficult time finding out hotel; so imagine Rasa and me (with our luggage) looking for it!

Yet again, our room was not ready so we reluctantly left our luggage with reception in order to catch the 40 express bus to the Vatican. Why did we rush to the Vatican on a Sunday morning? To hear the pope address the people! We arrived at St. Peter’s Basilica early so we had time to go through security and enter the papal crypt where I took the moment in front of Pope John Paul II’s tomb. By 11:30 am, I was sitting in the square trying to get a hold of Laura, an MSMC schoolmate studying abroad in Rome. I was writing all over my hand trying to figure out what code(s) to use in order to call her. I even pulled out my laptop and tried to connect to the internet. Unfortunately, I was still unable to reach her. Finally, I used my mobile to connect to the internet. I don’t know how much it’s going to cost my uncle, but I was desperate! I left her a short message on Facebook, begging her to try and reach me. My troubles briefly left when at exactly noon, the crowds roared because Pope Benedict XVI was standing outside his papal apartment and waving hello. Yes, we heard the pope speak! Live! Right in front of us! (Well, ok, he was like 50 feet up and like 25 yards away), but STILL! We heard the pope speak! We did some window-shopping along the Vatican before heading back to the hotel and unpacking. Once we were settled in, we headed back out to the Termini station where we bought Eurostar roundtrip tickets for Florence. We picked up our first dinner in Rome (pizza and panini) to-go because we were tired and just wanted to head back to our hotel.

What a week! And I’m not even halfway through my spring break adventure…More to come soon!

Hope everyone had a wonderful and safe break!

XOXO,
Danielle

Week 7: Short & Sweet...

2007-03-05T04:11:00.000-08:00

Good day everyone!

If you were successful in reading my blog last week, you will understand why this one will be much shorter.

I essentially spent the first part of last week recovering (and reminiscing aka typing the blog) about my exciting weekend in Paris. I was also very happy to see that my package from my best friend back home arrived on Tuesday (2/27).

My relaxation did not last too long because I did have to finish my paper for Organisational Behaviour. I chose to write 2000 words on the content and process theories of motivation as they apply to workplace. This may not sound too exciting to you, but for me – this is extremely interesting! As Mia Reyes would say, my words “oozed” out of my fingertips.

I had planned on catching up on more sleep on Thursday (3/1), but my wish to get out got the best of me. (By the way, WHERE did February go????) I joined Julie and Becca for a “short” trip to the post office. Well, knowing us, it did not end up this way! I brought them to pick up post cards at Leicester Square, which turned into some souvenir shopping. (Just looking, because we plan on saving London souvenirs for last!) While walking around, we walked into Lush, a homemade cosmetics boutique. We had encountered one before in Bath, England and we can’t get enough of how *fun* it is in there. We spent some time smelling, touching, and experimenting with the soaps, creams, bubble baths…you name it! We finally pulled ourselves out of the store, only to pass by Trocadero, a plaza that Julie and I have been into. We just *had* to bring Becca inside! We discovered floors to this arcade/shopping area/food court that even Julie and I didn’t know existed! Our maturity level went from cosmetic-shopping sophisticated young women to bug-eyed racecar-driving teens. The only thought that comforted us as we walked out was that we definitely had to bring Rasa and Cloud back…so we can be an even bigger GROUP of bull-riding, slot machine-playing, bumper car-riding gals having a great time. On our way down Regent St., our maturity level dove all the way down to pony-wanting, tiara-wearing princesses as our jaws hit the floor when we entered Hamley’s (basically toy heaven). We must have spent at least 2 hours in there going from section to section, finding a new friend we desperately wanted to take home. Finally, we made our way back to the dorms because it was time for dinner. I had planned on getting some sleep after dinner, but I couldn’t resist a nice stroll with Rasa to Kensington Gardens. Our MP3 players in ear, we circled around, walking past multiple Embassies (including the U.S Embassy) before heading back to the dorm.

I finally slept in a bit on Friday (3/2). After lunch, Becca, Julie, and I made the short walk to the Natural History Museum where we had hoped to see the giant squid on display. Unfortunately, the squid was…booked! I never thought I would ever say something like that, but yes, we shall return to see a giant squid. (I should mention that the squid is just one thing on display in the Darwin Centre, which is the wing that in fact needs prior booking – not just the squid itself). Since we were already there, we definitely enjoyed our time seeing what else the museum had to offer. We trekked through the dinosaur exhibition where we came eye-to-eye with a “teenage” T-Rex, waved hello to mammals (including giant ones and scaly ones!), kissed a giant blue whale, and cuddled (well, almost) with Chi-Chi the panda bear. And this was only through the animal portion of the museum! We held, hugged, and carried the world before ‘ascending’ to the core of the earth (see pictures). Obviously, we were in the “Earth” portion where we not only learned about Earth, but also the other planets (Becca and Julie decided that Mars would barely be suitable as another home). And if you can believe it, we spanned the billion of years in 15 minutes as we passed through Earth “From the Beginning.” Those of you have taken BIO 5 with Dr. Stark should remember the video that compressed the Earth’s ‘lifetime’ into 12 hours and stated that humans appeared 20 seconds before noon. It was something like that, but with exhibits! As always, we perused through the gift shop before exiting. (No worries, we were able to control ourselves from buying dinosaur heads with moving jaws.)

The only highlight of the weekend was Saturday (3/3) night where delays and closures of the Tube led Julie, Rasa, and me back-tracking, bus-waiting, and jay-walking (which is legal here) before finally meeting up with Cloud and Becca at TGIFridays. What can I say? We were in the mood for a taste of home. We made our way to Piccadilly Circus in time to watch the lunar eclipse before catching the N9 bus back to the dorm. Click on the first picture above for a closer view of the lunar eclipse.

It is that time of the semester…midterms! Four to tackle before hopping on a plane this Thursday evening! I apologize in advance for not posting another blog until the week of the 18th. Trust me, however, when I say that my blog after Spring Break will not disappoint! In the meantime, I hope you all keep me up to date with your spring break plans!

Missing home,
Danielle

Week 6: Golden!

2007-02-26T12:40:00.000-08:00

Bonjour! Parlais vous Anglais? Oui oui! Tres bien! Translation please: Hello! Do you speak English? Yes, yes! Great!

That makes up about a quarter of the French I used this past weekend while I was in Paris! More about my French adventure later in the blog…

The girls and I unwound on Monday (2/19) night by watching the videos I have recorded while being here. There were definitely some great laughs. The night didn’t end there though because we decided to get Becca and me “on film” while attacking Julie with our foam darts!

Tuesday (2/20) was all about taking care of business. After class, I got serious about researching for my paper that is due on March 1. Then, I accompanied Rasa to her doctor’s appointment in the afternoon. The walk to the office takes longer than the actual visit! Then, we were off to Boots (think Sav-on or Walgreen’s) to pick up her prescription and some travel-size toiletry bottles for me. We came back the dorms where I saw my name posted on the bulletin for a receipt of a package! It was the package I sent myself by surface! Took almost 6 weeks, but it got here and it was definitely worth the cost and wait. That night, I spent nearly 5 hours with my Marketing group mates analyzing and interpreting the surveys we conducted. (For you Psych majors, I totally wanted to use SPSS! I could not find the program, so I settled for Excel…so NOT the same!)

Becca and I joined Rasa on Wednesday (2/21) to the Bank of England Museum where we learned how the first bank of England was established. We saw everything from the first cheques that were written to the establishment of the “note” and the evolution of the pence (and its metal counterparts). We even touched and lifted a real gold bar (in a heavy-duty case with a security camera watching) worth over 135,000 Great Britain Pounds! (That’s nearly $275,000!) I get excited holding a crisp $100 bill, so you can imagine how my eyes lit up as I literally had thousands of dollars in my hand. Before I had to part from Becca and Rasa (because I had class at 3pm), we stopped by The Monument in London, which signifies the Great Fire of 1666. Upon my arrival back to the dorms after dinner and a short stop at a pub to celebrate Cloud’s successful first art project, I was very happy (in my always nerdy way) to see that MSMC’s Fall 2007 course schedule was posted on WebAdvisor. I busted out with my handy course catalog and my own personally designed and tailored spreadsheet of classes. I am waiting on some dates and times for a couple of classes, but am thus far on schedule!

I could barely wait for the afternoon on Thursday (2/22)! After class and lunch, Rasa and I headed out to exchange some Pounds for Euro. We double-checked our luggage and met with our group by 4:00 pm. A group of about 30 students lined up the streets with our luggage to the nearest tube station to head to the Waterloo stop. Dragging luggage into a full tube coach is difficult. So difficult that I lost my bearing when the train jolted to a start and I opened the sliding doors! Not only was I embarrassed by the fact that I nearly toppled over a stranger, but also the conductor made an announcement reminding passengers that obstructing the doors is dangerous. I could do nothing but laugh and claim, “Yup, that was all me.”

We hopped on the Eurostar after a short delay and were in PARIS, FRANCE late that evening. Outside the Paris Eurostar station, I could hardly keep my smile to myself as I scanned the city. We quickly jumped on a coach to our hotel, where we literally just grabbed our room keys to dump our bags and head down to the nearest metro station to purchase our 2-day passes. Rasa and I needed to pull out some Euro (for reasons to be explained soon) so we stopped by an ATM. Before heading back to the hotel, we stopped by a local kebab place with some newly made friends.

We were up and ready early Friday (2/23) morning to join the bus sightseeing tour that our tour manager set up for us. (Just a note that I will be going back and forth between the English and French names for the sites and monuments.) Our first stop was the Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel) from across the River Seine. We quickly snapped photos because we had to be back on the coach. No worries, we were going to get a much closer and better look of the Eiffel Tower later on.

We made our way to the Arc de Triomphe Etoile, a monument that was dedicated to Napoleon’s soldiers. We rounded it and then headed down Avenue des Champs-Elysees where we circled around Place de la Concorde (for those of you who saw The Devil Wear Prada – it’s where Anne Hathaway’s character threw her cell phone in the fountain). In the middle is a 3,300-year old Egyptian obelisk (obelisque) with hieroglyphics of pharaoh Rameses II. This is just one of three of Cleopatra’s needles. The other ones are in London and New York. Before the obelisque was brought to Paris in the 1830’s, the Place de la Concorde, or the Place de la Revolution as it was called then, occupied the guillotine that took the lives of thousands of people, including King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

We made our way a bit north again and passed by buildings such as The United States Embassy until we stopped in front of the Opera Garnier (Palais Garnier formerly called Académie Nationale de Musique)– the “biggest” (over 115,00 square feet!), but ironically the “smallest” (only 2,200 seats) opera house in Paris. The Opera Garnier was not completed for more than 3 decades because of several setbacks, including the Franco-Prussian war. More interestingly (at least to me) another setback was that the water from a subterranean lake had to be pumped out. Sounding a little familiar? For you Phantom of the Opera fans, you’re right! The Palais Garnier serves as the setting for Gaston’s Leroux’s masterpiece.

After hopping back on the coach, we rode back down towards the River Seine to Musee du Louvre, which we will visit the next morning. We then crossed the bridge (but not completely over the River Seine) to stroll by Cathedral Notre Dame (The Church of Our Lady). Yes, Notre Dame is on like its own little island on the River Seine! Notre Dame was another stop we would make the next day. Some of the notable buildings we drove by were Institute de France, Musee D’Orsay, and Assemblee Nationale before making our third stop at Les Invalides, a monument and museum that was originally a home and hospital for war veterans. After the completion of the Les Invalides and Eglise Saint-Louis des Invalides (chapel for the soldiers), King Louis XIV ordered a royal chapel to be contsructed. Église du Dôme was obviously inspired by St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Italy. It now serves as a tomb for French military leaders, including Napoleon Bonaparte.

Our final stop of the bus tour was an exclusive French perfumery called Fragonard. We all went on a tour and learned secrets to how perfume is best made (and what the difference is between eau de toilette and eau de parfum is). So, here we are in Paris, France in a perfumery that makes and sells perfume exclusively at this location. Can you blame me for purchasing two bottles? At about 30 Euro a pop (discounted price because we were in a tour group), my mother and older sister will definitely be enjoying their (only!) Parisian souvenirs.

From the perfumery, we walked down Champ de Mars to the Tour Eiffel. Again, being in a tour has its perks because we were able to line up in the short “GROUP” line to ascend the Eiffel Tower, masterpiece of Gustav Eiffel, built in 1889 for the world fair. You think you know how high you will be, but the view is just unbelievable! And that was from just the second floor. We stood in another line to take the lift to the 3rd floor, 320 meters (over 1000 feet) from the ground. What a rush! (And to think that Eiffel Tower had two major close calls of being torn down; one being Hitler.) We braved some light rain and wind while we were all the way at the top before stopping by the gift shop. We relished the views while coming down the Eiffel Tower and snapped a few more photos before hunting down a place to grab some food.

What was I in the mood for? What else but a Nutella crepe?! Because it was somewhat wet outside, we decided to pop into a café (Café Da Guerre) where we all ordered crepes. Communicating with the waiter wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be because he handed us menus in English. After savoring our different crepes, we were on our way to do something different. We hopped on a long metro ride to the Denfert-Rochereau stop, where we walked the catacombs (les catacombes). This unused quarry was used in the 1800’s because the cemeteries were overflowing. We had to take poorly lit spiraling stairs for what seemed forever to make it to bottom. The low, dark, and damp underground corridors did nothing but heighten our anticipation of the actual 1.5 kilometers of aesthetically and deliberately positioned skulls and bones of over 6 million Parisians. There were no cameras around, but I have never felt more watched in my life.

We made it out of the catacombs just in time to stop by Monoprix, Paris’ most common grocery chain, to pick up some snacks to take on the boat cruise. On our way to the boat, we passed by Place de l'Alma, where there is an equally sized replica of the Liberty flame. This spot also marks right above the underpass of Princess Diana’s fatal accident 10 years ago. As our boat was disembarking, we enjoyed a gorgeous view of the Eiffel Tower sparkling from what must have been hundreds of big light bulbs. On the hour, for fifteen minutes, we were delighted with this wonderful sight as the boat made its way down the River Seine. We saw the night views of the Louvre, Notre Dame, and the Statue of Freedom, a small-scale copy of the Statue of Liberty in front of Pont de Grenelle.

Before heading back to the hotel, Rasa and I grabbed some kebab sandwiches avec frites (with fries) to-go from a local eatery. We (or at least I) scarfed our food down while watching some TV. We laughed at the first 10 minutes of The 40-Year Old Virgin dubbed in French before switching it to the German edition of MTV (in English with Deutsch subtitles). We didn’t stay up too late because we had yet another full (and even longer) day on Saturday.

We met with our tour manager on Saturday (2/24) morning to head to Musee du Louvre. We made a quick stop at the Napoleon’s Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (Triumph Arch) to take photos and enter the museum via le Carrousel du Louvre (take these stairs to avoid lines!). We barely made dent in the once fortress turned palace turned art museum (one of the largest in the world, in fact). Established in 1793, the Louvre Museum is home to some of the most famous pieces of art like the Venus de Milo, the Mona Lisa, the Madonna of the Rocks, the Seated Scribe, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, and many others. (And I mean MANY others because if you took one minute to look at every single piece housed in the Louvre, it would take you nine months!) The now-famous Da Vinci Code inverted glass pyramid (La Pyramide Inversée) was the first thing we saw as we passed by various shops. In two hours, we barely perused through the Ground and First floors of parts of the Sully and Denon wings to view the pieces of art I mentioned earlier before wandering into Egyptian antiques, the foundation of the original medieval moat underneath the museum, and a hall of sculptures. We finally found our way the Napoleon Hall. This reception area is right under the 666 panes of glass of the Louvre Pyramid where we were able to take the escalators up to exit.

We did some souvenir shopping before heading towards Cathedral Notre Dame. On the way, we found another small café named Creperie Sarransien et Fromentin, where I had (yes, another) Nutella crepe, with strawberries this time! Not before long, we were out and about the little streets of Paris, where no tour guide would ever take us. We did some more shopping, this time picking up some jewelry for friends and family. We finally found ourselves in line to enter Notre Dame, located on the Ill de la Cite. This beautiful gothic cathedral was not only the setting for Victor Hugo’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” but also the seat of the Archbishop of Paris. So much is to be said before entering the cathedral. The flying buttresses (the semi-arches) allow for massive stained glass windows. However, none of these compare to the 3 round stained glass windows, especially The West Rose Window. Other features include the South Tower (the one on the right), which houses the 14-ton Emmanuel bell, the King’s Gallery and the three massive doors, (from left to right) Portal to the Virgin, Portal to the Last Judgment, and Portal to St. Anne. Inside, the beauty was not only in the architecture, but also the sculptures, the most notable being the Virgin of Paris. Before exiting the cathedral, Rasa and I picked up a couple more souvenirs.

The walking for the day was not yet over. We made our way down Avenue des Champs-Elysees, where some of the best Paris shopping can be done. No worries, all we did was window-shop all the way to Arc de Triomphe Etoile. We took the stairs to go underground to access the Triumph Arc, (now used as a round-about) which was commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 to show off his successful battles. We snapped our photos and then jumped on the metro back to the hotel to get ready for our night out!

We passed at least a dozen stops on the metro to arrive at the bottom of Basilique Sacre Coeur. The Basilica of the Sacred Heart, completed in 1914, sits on the highest natural point in Paris – Montmatre - in the red light district where artists like Dali, Monet, and Picasso worked. We walked through the Basilica and looked up in awe at the mosaic in the apse, entitled "Christ in Majesty". After a short walk, we found ourselves at the Auberge de la Bonne Franquet, where we enjoyed a four-course meal and wine. The girls and I shared h’orderves, including onion soup and yes, escargot! We also enjoyed duck and beef followed by cheese with bread. For dessert, we savored a piece of raspberry cake. I hurry through in explaining the latter portion of dinner because I had a minor allergic reaction to my entree. I spent the good portion of an hour barely peering through my right eye because it puffed up due my allergy to mushrooms. (The beef was cooked with mushroom sauce and apparently removing the big chunks of mushrooms from my plate was not enough...) No worries, by the time we made it down from Sacre Coeur, the swelling went down. Plus, the night was not over!

Rasa, Julie, Christel and I had a fabulous time enjoying champagne while watching Bal du Moulin Rouge, the world-famous cabaret since 1889. Popular greatly thanks to its French Cancan and its extravagant display of performers, The Moulin Rouge offers nothing less than a spectacular 2 hours of original music, exciting dances, fabulous backdrops, and ornate costumes. Minutes before the show began, we raised our champagne glasses cheered to an unforgettable night in Paris. The curtains retreated to the opening number, a high-energy Paris danse danse, where we found ourselves in the Garden of Moulin Rouge. The intensity only flared as pirates, priestesses and pythons dominated the stage. (Yes, I said pythons! They were in a huge glass aquarium that rose from below center stage!) The circus came rolling around for the next dance with acrobats, jugglers, clowns, siamese twins, and ponies! The midpoint of the show was appropriately reserved for what gave Moulin Rouge its popularity – le French Cancan du Moulin Rouge. The Quadrille is a dance characterized by its Revolutionary movements, loud shrills, and rowdy rhythm. Other notable acts between The Moulin Rouge were Feerie performances such as the female-male duo that showcased body control and flexibility that surpass those of gold-medallists. Terry Parade was a ping-pong juggling musician who wowed us with his uncanny ability to juggle up to 5 ping-pongs 15 feet in the air…with his mouth! Finally, Eric Boo gave a knee-slapping performance by extracting unsuspecting members of the audience to star in his own romantic comedy, where he ends up with the girl! Then, the show continued by paying tribute to Parisian women through the 20th century. They celebrated the liberation of Paris, danced the boogie, and even sang “I Will Survive” in English! The Moulin Rouge closed with the entire troupe sparkling on stage with bright pink (and lit) feather costumes. I was able to snap a few photos in the foyer before waving goodbye to an extraordinary experience.

Before we knew it, we were on our way back to London (and reality) on Sunday (2/25) morning. I spent the rest of the day recuperating from an evidently exhausting long weekend in one of the most magnificent cities in the world. If you made it to this point, congratulations! I promise the next week’s blog will be much shorter and less exciting due to the terror called midterms!

Wish me luck!
Danielle

Week 5: The Old and The New

2007-02-19T16:03:00.000-08:00

Good day everyone!

Today marks the 5th week that my friends and I have been here in London and we are about to begin our 4th week of classes. Why mention classes so early in a blog? Well, because MIDTERMS are already coming up!

Mondays, like last Monday (2/5), sure drain me out because I am in classes from noon until 6 with only 10-minute “breaks” to run to the next class. I guess one good thing about Mondays is breakfast: made-to-order omelets (like back at MSMC!). Those of you who see me at breakfast know how I love my omelets! After a long day in classes, it is nice to relax back in the dorm room.

Like I mentioned in my previous blog, Rasa and I were determined to get to the Museum of London. Well, on Tuesday (2/6), we were finally successful! Rasa, Becca, and I took the Circle line tube to the Barbican exit, which drops us off just a block away from the museum. I enjoyed learning more about how London came to be the city is today. Not only were there exhibits of bones and artifacts from “London before it was London,” but also the wall that the Romans built to guard the city. As we continued through the timeline of the city, we discovered more about how London was affected by fatal disasters such as the Black Death and Great Fire. We also got to stroll through a section made to resemble London during the Victorian era. As we moved into more contemporary times, I particularly enjoyed looking at everyday items such as furniture, silverware, clothing, and yes, even a portable toilet. Finally, we wrapped up our museum outing by stopping by the gift shop, of course!

We made it back to the dorms just in time for yet another Marketing group meeting of mine. Our project is that we, as a group, are an independent consulting group hired by Richmond to research and analyze aspects of marketing. So far, we have researched competitors and have conducted a SWOT analysis. Upcoming steps include devising a strategy and investigating consumer behavior.

I showed my friends my love on Valentine’s Day (Wednesday 2/14) by sending them grams accompanied by a rose. We spent the afternoon window-shopping on High Street Kensington before we all had to get to our first class…at 3:00 PM! The five of us: Rasa, Becca, Cloud, Julie (friend from Boston), and I decided to have our own little fun with a girls’ night…IN! We have combed the city of London for a karaoke bar but have thus far been unsuccessful so we decided to make Cloud and Becca’s dorm room into our own little personal music studio.

We couldn’t avoid it any longer. Thursday (2/15) became the oh-so-dreaded LAUNDRY day. Collectively, Rasa and I had 5 loads of laundry to do, but we were smarter about it this time. We essentially camped out in the small damp room to grab the first 2 available washers and eventually the driers. We brought our books to keep us busy during the long and tedious 3.5 hours. That night, my cough returned. I have a theory that laundry days bring about my sickness. Clean clothes are necessary though! I will have to figure out a better system of avoiding illness but still attaining clean clothes…

I spent all of Friday (2/16) in bed because of a sore throat and fatigue. I was hoping that lots of liquids and rest would help make me feel better. By early evening, I was feeling better so I decided to give MSMC Admissions a surprise call! That definitely helped me feel better. After a quick dinner in the caf with the girls, I headed back to sleep because we had do be up bright an early the next morning.

We ventured out on yet another day trip on Saturday (2/17). This time, our destination was one of UK’s most prehistoric sites: Stonehenge! This 5000-year old site is also a World Heritage site, which means it is under guardianship for the sake of preservation and conservation for future generations. I cannot recall being in the presence of something as old while it is in its original site. Not only did we learn that “henge” archeologically means “bank” (and that there really *was* a bank surrounding Stonehenge), but also that the Bluestones (the smaller stones) are originally from 240 miles away! There are theories on why Stonehenge was erected in the first place and also on how the stones were transported; but the real reasons and methods remain mysteries. These are tidbits of information that are commonly known, but something new I learned was that the reason why there are only portions of Stonehenge left is because people actually used to hammer away at the stones and take pieces home as souvenirs! Not only was this legal, but another use was to build roads! Luckily, coming even 20 feet within the stones is now prohibited (unless you’re a crow).

Just a dozen miles away is the city of Salisbury, our next and final stop in the daytrip. We spent the first hour going past the farmers’ market and searching for some food. We finally got lunch and continued with our shopping. Of all places to shop, we stopped by a 2-story toy store. We were particularly interested in toys that we may not find in the States. There were definitely some interesting and let’s just say “anatomically correct” toys that we definitely would not find at Toys R Us. I was excited about the purchases I made: a “Brit Chicks” (think Bratz) notepad that I bought for my little sister and a 3-D puzzle kit of the Eiffel Tower, Tower of Pisa, and Big Ben. Another stop we made was at Woolworth’s (think Target!) where I scored on some 74p Galaxy bars with hazelnut and 99p Nutella! If you could only taste them; then you would understand my excitement. Before heading back to the coach, I took pictures of swans and ducks on the river. I have come to understand that birds are definitely *not* afraid of people around here. If anything, they enjoy the attention.

Sunday (2/18) was Chinese New Year! We are now officially in the year of the boar. Unfortunately, my cough kept me in bed while the other girls went to Leicester Square where they saw fireworks and a parade. I wish I could have joined them, but even if I was feeling okay, I had yet another Marketing group meeting. We devised and conducted a survey for Richmond’s study abroad program’s students. We are attempting to measure their satisfaction and perception of value with their “purchase” of investing in studying abroad here in London.

I hope all of you back in the States enjoyed your long weekend! Obviously, I did not have Monday off for Presidents’ Day (although it would have been nice…). Rasa, Julie, Christel, and I are heading off to Paris for the weekend; so if there are any requests, please have them ready for me by Wednesday!

Until next week, this is Danielle signing off from London!

Week 4: Planning Ahead

2007-02-12T12:19:00.000-08:00

Greetings everyone,

We have officially been in London for four weeks now and what four weeks they have been! In this week’s edition of my London update, things are a lot more about planning the rest of our stay here in Europe and realizing that school has to fit in somewhere. Read on and find out where Rasa and I are going for SPRING & EASTER BREAKS!

The beginning of the month and week was all about getting rest for me…I stayed in (again!) on Monday (2/4) night and watched Bridget Jones 2. I enjoyed watching it more this time because of all the places and things that are *so* London! Examples: Bridget’s Vodafone (mobile company) when she is texting Marc that she misses him, Picadilly Circus (think of when it says “Bridget Jones & Marc Darcy – the real thing!”) and the Galaxy (yummy chocolate bars) she hands out to the Thai prison women. My laptop speakers also came in so Rasa and I can compete with the DJ who lives next door…haha.

Rasa and I joined my uncle for lunch on Tuesday at a trendy Asian restaurant. We had delicious dumplings, pad thai, udon noodles, and sweet & spicy prawn (shrimp). We also stopped by to check out my uncle’s flat in South Kensington, just a tube stop away from our dorm. The rest of my day was taken up by a group meeting for my marketing class. The group project is worth 40% of our grade, so we are making sure we get together often. My groupmates include another study abroad student from Minnesota going to school in New Mexico, a degree student from Bulgaria, and another degree student from Connecticut. (A degree student means that they attend and plan to graduate from Richmond University).

Wednesday (2/7) was spent making sure classes are in order because apparently Rasa and I were still listed in Blackboard (yes, we use Blackboard here!) class that we had dropped out of. No worries, we took care of it. Wednesday night, we went to Imperial College to check out the surf simulator, but we must have missed the action. We were definitely the life of the dance floor though!

My favorite day of last week was definitely Thursday (2/8) because I watched snow fall basically all morning! Rasa and I then spent ALL afternoon, and I mean from 1-6pm in the travel agency, booking our vacations. The wait was definitely worth it because we are heading to (drum roll please) Greece and Italy for spring break! We will spend 3 nights and 2 days catching the sights of the ancient ruins; followed by 5 fantastic nights and 4 fabulous days roaming in Rome. Oh, but I am not done…for Easter break, we will be trekking the beautiful country of Ireland, beginning with Dublin! I can’t wait!!!!!

Rasa and I were finally able to sleep in on Friday. We had plans to visit the Museum of London, but multiple errands and delays kept us from reaching the museum before closing time. No worries, we will definitely go sometime this week! Plus, our friends were able to book some day trips with us, which I will talk about in a bit. Another plus was I got a taste of Galaxy with hazelnut. SO GOOD!

On Saturday (2/10), I woke up everyone early for brunch, but BOO, the cafeteria did not open until noon! After getting brunch, we headed to Camden Market, (like Portobello Market, but less organized). We never really knew what to expect on the next block or turn. We did, however, enjoy some chocolate covered strawberries! This was my only purchase because after all the booking Rasa and I made on Thursday, I have basically put a lock on my wallet.

Rasa, Becca, Cloud, and I took a coach to Bath, England on Sunday (2/11). This amazing city is the site of the only hot springs in the UK. If I thought the mixture of old architecture and new buildings in London was breath taking, I almost lost my breath walking among the mixture Roman ruins and British shops. The locals definitely take the juxtaposition for granted as they briskly walked past us. We definitely took our time “soaking” up the scenery – but not until after we visited the Roman Baths. We enjoyed very delicious (and relatively cheap) baguettes at a shop nearby before heading farther north into the city where we stopped by The Circus (a round-about) and the Royal Crescent (semi-circle composed of 30 houses, including a museum), which together represent the soleil-lune, or the sun and moon. The 2.5-hr bus-ride (each way) was definitely worth the unforgettable sights!

I hope that these anecdotes of mine are fulfilling expectations! I promise that they are only going to get more exciting as we head out of England!

Don’t think I have forgotten about all of you…please let me know how you are doing! I love hearing from you =)

Hugs, hugs, and more hugs!
Danielle

Week 3: Time for Rest

2007-02-05T12:18:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

No worries, this week's recap is definitely not as long as last week's. I spent the better half (or worse in this case) suffering from a fever, sore throat, and chest congestion. I finally saw the local doctor on Friday afternoon and got prescription medicine. To say the least, I am feeling much better. My body totally let me know that I needed to get some REST!

The highlights for the week was celebrating Becca's birthday on Monday (1/29). Rasa, Christel, and I sneaked down to her room at midnight and greeted her a HAPPY BIRTHDAY. That evening we went to Planet Hollywood at Piccadilly circus and presented her with her birthday gifts. Then on the tube ride back to the dorms, we had everyone in our portion of the tube to sing Happy Birthday!

Tuesday (1/30) afternoon and evening was entirely taken up by LAUNDRY. Rasa and I snatched the first available washers (there are only 3 washers and 3 driers for 4 floors-worth of college students) and stayed in the nearby lounge to assure that we would be able to get the next available dryer. Not only are there a limited amount of laundry appliances, but the room itself is closed by 11:00 pm. This left Rasa and me with slightly damp clothing all around our dorm room that needed to be hung dry. At least we have clean clothes!

That evening is when my sickness began. I was burning with a fever but woke up Wednesday morning with not much of a temperature and still attended my classes. I even went with my friend to the doctor's Thursday (1/30) morning after class. Moreover, I went to the post office with Becca and Rasa. I made the assumption that I was going to be able to sleep Thursday night and feel all better Friday morning. Boy, was I wrong. The chest congestion kicked in; and me having weak lungs - this kicked my butt. The nurse is at the other campus on Fridays so Rasa and I planned to head over there after lunch. Well, I guess that Friday afternoons are the worst time to get sick because the nurse is gone by 1:00 pm and everyone from the student's affairs office was still at lunch. When I finally did get to talk to someone who gave me the number the doctor's office, the clinic was closed for another hour for lunch as well. *Finally* I reached the doctor's office and made an appointment for later that afternoon. I picked up my antibiotics for the flat fee of 6 pounds and 65 pence, so I was a happy camper.

I stayed in yet another night on Friday because I would need all my energy for the Saturday trip to Stratford-upon-Avon and Oxford. Going to these two beautiful sights was like walking back in time. First, we strolled into the Elizabethan to Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon, where we learned about the playwright's childhood. Then, we rode over to Oxford, an exquisitely unique city where I truly felt that I stepped back in time. Besides the common contemporary interest of the famous Harry Potter set, Rasa and I stood in awe with the overwhelmingly beautiful architecture.

I hope you like all the pictures and feel as if you’re here with us, because we are definitely wishing you all were!

Cheers!
Danielle

Week 2: The "Study" Portion of "Studying Abroad"

2007-01-29T12:16:00.000-08:00

Hello from Londontown!

The first day of classes was on 1/22. Mondays are my “busiest” days with three classes back to back starting at the aching hour of 12 noon starting with Management Information Systems. Everyone in my class had a foreign accent, including the teachers. I really enjoy it though; it is a part of being in Europe! More study-abroad students were in my next class, Principles of Marketing. We already have a group project due on Wednesday 1/31. I am out of my last class for the day – Theories & Systems of Psychology – and ready for dinner by 6:00 pm. All three of my classes are in different buildings about a five-minute’s walk away from each other. (At least I don’t have to trek up any hills!) To celebrate the ending of our first day of class, we (the girls and some new friends) went out to a pub on Gloucester Road. We didn’t stay too long because I had class early the next morning…

I walked into my class at 9:00 AM on Thursday (1/23) morning greeted by my first and only woman professor (I was stoked!). She teaches the class I was most looking forward to: Organisational Behaviour – the combination of business management and psychology. Yes, I *am* a nerd, and darn proud of it!

After Rasa got out of her class at 11:50, we walked down to High Street Kensington (aka High Ken) to purchase our ISIC (International Student Identity Card). We also scoped out the prices for our textbooks. Rasa is lucky enough to not have to buy more than 2 textbooks, where as I have 6 books to buy for only 4 classes. The class Rasa, Cloud, and I thought would be our “fun” class unfortunately was not what we were hoping for, so after a discussions at dinner, we decided to drop it.

So how is the food in the cafeteria? Not too bad. MSMC girls, imagine our old caf (not including the other dining area) cut in half! But the good thing? I don’t feel guilty eating potatoes and pasta in one meal. I need those carbs for all the walking that I do! We ended the school night with a few rounds of Uno and BS downstairs in the common room (which contains the ONLY TV I have seen all this time). I sure do miss my shows, but there’s always the DVD collection, right?

Rasa and I woke up Wednesday (1/24) morning to flurries on the bushes and cars outside our window! I grabbed my camera of course to capture the moment before it all melted away. We also stopped to take pictures of the ice/snow leftover on the cars. I don’t have class on Wednesdays until 3:00 in the afternoon! So, Rasa, Becca, and I went shopping at High Ken for Becca’s dress whose birthday we would celebrate on Saturday. We found an awesome dress just in time to get back to Atlantic (our dormitory). Rasa and I spent the rest of the day taking care of classes – dropping/adding as necessary. We are definitely lucky to have only 12 units that will transfer over. I am going to have to savor this semester because it will be the least amount of units I will ever take!

What do I absolutely love about Thursdays? I have only one class, which ends at 10:20 am. What does it mean when it is 10:21 am on a Thursday? My weekend officially begins! Love, LOVE, LOVE! What did I do? Go back to my room and NAP! We had some errands to do and I ended up buying my own cute little dress from French Connection UK. We then hopped on the tube to Bayswater, which has tons of places to eat. We ate at a great Pizza/Pasta restaurant in a shopping centre. (We will definitely have to go back and check out the shopping there!) We met up with a few of our new friend’s friends at a local pub afterwards. Gotta love 3-day weekends!

Something that is awesome about London is that you can soak up the culture by visiting their museums…FREE! On Friday 1/26, Rasa, Becca, Cloud, Christel (classmate from Chicago), and I visited Tate Modern, a power plant turned national museum. We gazed at original pieces of art from the 20th and 21st century like Picasso, Monet, and Matisse. We also enjoyed an exhibit called The Unilever Series: Carsten Höller. His “artwork” is called Test Site and is literary a series of slides. Not frames or picture slides, but slides, the kind you hop in and slide out of. What a blast! We did a “trial run” from the THIRD level before we each screamed and giggled our way down from the highest (5th) level! We quickly hopped back on the tube because I had a group project meeting. After dinner at the caf, we went out to a pub. Rasa and I called it an early night because we needed to be up early the next morning.

Saturday 1/26 was JAM-PACKED! Rasa and I woke up bright and early to meet my uncle at Piccadilly Circus (think NY Times Square – London style). He took us out for breakfast at Patisserie de Valerie in Soho followed by a walk-through of Chinatown (where he picked up some cheap calling cards for me). We strolled through Leicester Square (think Broadway) before crossing Embankment Bridge towards the London Eye. Our 30-minute “flight” was definitely worth the 2-hour wait! The sun peeked out just as we reached the very top. We enjoyed the 360-degree view of London and then headed back to the dorms to get ready because the night had just begun. The ladies and I dolled up for a night out to celebrate Becca’s 21st birthday! We hopped on the tube over to Piccadilly Circus and ate dinner in Chinatown. Then we strolled down the street over to O’Neill’s, a very popular 4-story bar. We toasted to Becca for turning the big 2-1 and danced the night away (on every floor!).

This has been Week 2 of my London adventure. Stay tuned; the fun has barely begun!

Love,
Danielle

Week 1: Orientation

2007-01-22T12:16:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!!!!

My first week in London has been AMAZING! The flight was long but overall pleasant and once we got to London, it was go GO GO! Fellow MSMC students here to Study abroad in London are Merrisa Alaniz (aka Rasa) who is also my roommate, Claudia Estupinian (aka Cloud), and Rebecca Perez (aka Becca) who are roommates just 2 floors below me.

On Tuesday (1/16) we moved in (onto the 3rd floor with no elevator!) and before we can even get situated, we took our first walking tour of London. We live in the Kensington Borough (socially comparable to Brentwood for L.A.). After the walk, however, I was obsessed with finding flip flops to use as shower shoes because I forgot to bring some. Finding flip flops in London during January is pretty tough, but we found some! ("Only" for 10 pounds of course!)

Rasa and I were woken up on Wednesday (1/17) by one of the program coordinators because the group was leaving in 10 minutes! Apparently, our clock radio's electricity was not fast enough to keep up...but either way, we had to rush to get ready to walk to our Welcome. After that, the day was just all about taking care of paperwork and necessities like Oyster Cards (for the Tube), and mobiles. Before long, we were off to our next walking tour - Jack the Ripper night tour. I didn't pay attention very well because I was taking photos, so maybe one of the other girls can fill you in.

We did not get much sleep Wednesday night due to our excitement that we were actually finally able to connect to the internet and that the wind was blowing hard against our window. We were able to crawl out of bed in time for our Bus Tour in the morning. We saw and stopped by landmarks such as Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, St. Paul's Cathedral, the City of London, and more! Then, we arrived back to our dorms a little past noon to take care of our course registration. I was able to add a 5th class, so we'll see how that goes...15 units is *not* bad! (Hopefully!)

That afternoon, Rasa and I met with my uncle who has been living in London for about 4 years now. He took us around a little bit and promised to take us to other sites like the London Eye in future weekends. That night, we went to see Les Miserables at the Queen's Theatre. That was so great! I really enjoyed it. I definitely want to go see more plays while I am here.

Friday (1/19) was a little bit slower. We just had an orientation for the library in the morning. In the afternoon, the 4 of us went shopping for other necessities like detergent and school supplies (the paper is a different size here). That night, we went on another walking tour, which included 3 pub stops. The drinking age is 18 here, so allow me to insert this idiom: when in Rome (or in this case London) do as the Romans do! (*Responsibly*)

All of Saturday late morning until mid-afternoon was taken up by SHOPPING at Portobello Market. Think European downtown L.A. Antiques, fruits, vegetable, coffee shops, clothes, knock-off bags all around! A caution for "pick-pocketers" was at almost every corner it seemed. Not even a camera in every corner of London can stop someone from stealing valuables when we're walking so close to other people on a 3-ft wide pavement (aka sidewalk). We won’t let this keep us from shopping here again though!

Barely any time passes by before we had to be ready for our Orientation Boat Party on The Mercia at Embankment Pier. We danced and enjoyed the scenery as The Mercia went along River Thames. We met up with another MSMC student - Clarisse Velasco - who is interning here in London.

Wow, and that was the week! Rasa and I got much needed sleep last night. Now, we are just uploading and sharing pictures.

I miss the Mount and all of you of course and I don't think it has really hit me yet that I won't be back for another 3 months and 3 weeks. Classes start tomorrow, so I don't know how many pictures I will be taking, but you will still hear from me! Let me know how you are all doing as well!!!

Hugs all around,
Danielle