First week of class, Paris, and St. Therese

Apologies for the extreme delay in posting, but school started last week, and I've been extremely busy (and sick)! I love all of my classes. Mondays are my busiest day with three classes (Advanced Software Engineering from 9 to 10, Renaissance Art History taught in the National Gallery from 2 to 4, and Image Processing from 4 to 5). Then I only have one two or three hour lecture per day, except no classes on Thursdays. On Friday, I have a three hour lecture: Financial Institutions and Markets. It's fabulous!!

Classes here are pretty different from home. Much less time in the classroom and MUCH more time reading textbooks. I've almost finished my first textbook (I don't think I've ever read one cover to cover before!). There are multiple full textbooks for each class! But most of them are pretty interesting, so that's a plus! Other than classes, I have gotten pretty involved in the Catholic Society, the tennis club, and the investment society (maybe the gliding and riding societies, too, but I haven't quite decided)!

This Saturday, Aurora and I went to Paris for the day. We took the Eurostar, which left at 6:22am from London (I had my first experience on the Night Bus, getting to the station at 4:50am) and arrived in Paris at 9:30 (they're one hour ahead). Then, we spent the day sightseeing. Our first stop was a crepe shop (where I got a delicious breakfast crepe, while Aurora got nutella spiked with Grand Marnier (ew)... it reminded me of how Nana used to spike our brownies when we were little) on the way to Sacre Coeur, which was absolutely beautiful. It sits up on a hill that overlooks Paris. The architecture is very Eastern European, with domes and Taj Mahalish looking structures. Then, we took a bus down to the Eiffel Tower. After getting tons of pictures of the Eiffel Tower, my camera died! So, Aurora had to be in charge of pictures for the rest of the day and she loves taking random candids (of me)... Then, we walked to the Arc de Triomphe and continued on down Champs-Elysees. (I can't pronounce any of these places!) We stopped at a delicious French restaurant where we took pictures of our food to show Lizzie (Gill, let her know they should be on fb soon!) since Gill and Lizzie take pictures of ALL the good food they find.

After lunch, we continued down Champs-Elysees, past the Vogue magazine covers, to the Louvre. It was enormous! We got in for free (after I convinced them I was an EU resident between the age of 18 and 26, with my UCL ID card and ISIC card, neither of which said anything about me living here)!! We wandered around (since I have a such a profound knowledge of art), while Aurora told me what was famous. I did, however, recognize the Mona Lisa, which just isn't all that impressive (sorry Mona Lisa fans...). It's this really little kinda dull piece of art, and I didn't even think it was the prettiest da Vinci piece in the room, but somehow it is the most famous piece of art in the world...

Next, we wandered through the streets, finding Paris-ish paintings and sketches to bring home with us. We stopped at a small French cafe, where I had French Onion soup (I had to try it in France) and bottled tap water! Finally, we went to mass at Notre Dame. Notre Dame was also beautiful, but completely different than Sacre Coeur. While Sacre Coeur was extremely eastern looking, Notre Dame is very much the opposite. It has a very Gothic and western look and feel. The only problem was mass was in French... After this, we took the metro back to the train station to catch the Eurostar back to London! (We mastered all types of their public transportation!) Overall, Paris was an interesting city. It was definitely very beautiful, but I never got the real city feel... The streets are so much wider than any European city I've seen, and the parks aren't nearly as nice as London's!! (I still like London the best of all the cities I've seen here!)

On Sunday evening, the relics of Saint Therese came to the Carmelite Church in Kensington in London. University students were asked to help with the veneration for an hour, so I volunteered to read reflections on her life and clean the glass case holding the relics. When I arrived at the church at 8:15 (the relics were on display beginning at 8), the queue was over a kilometer long! It was absolutely incredible! People came from all over the world (and many straight from the airport). Luckily, I didn't have to wait in the queue! It was truly a beautiful and blessed evening for everyone!

Sending love from London to all! I can't wait for this weekend when Gillian and Lizzie are coming to celebrate G's 20th birthday in London! We have lots planned (including tea and Les Mis!)... I hope everyone is doing well!

A Weekend in Prague

I just returned from a two day trip to Prague. It was probably the most beautiful city I have ever been to. The old buildings are gorgeous, and many of them remain because of the nonviolent manner of the Czech people during the Second World War.

My trip getting to Prague was a little less enjoyable, but no huge problems. My flight was at 4 in the afternoon from Luton London airport (where most of the budget airlines fly out of), so needless to say it isn't as easy to get to as the more popular London airports. I had prepurchased train tickets online, but I needed to pick them up at Euston Station. I had been to Euston Station before, so I knew it was just two stops away from Farringdon (where I live and was planning to take the train to Luton from). I hopped on the tube and arrived at Euston in just a few minutes. I asked the closest security guard where I could find the national rail ticket machines, and he informed me that those machines were located at the Euston Station a couple blocks down, so I walked there and printed my tickets. I was somewhat surprised when I read my tickets and saw no where on them "Farringdon", but instead "ThamesLink" to "Luton" and on the return "Luton" to Ul2. I was extremely concerned with this and asked the man at information what I needed to do to get to Luton Airport with these tickets. He advised me to go to Kings Cross St. Pancras (back to the other Euston Station, on another tube and finally at Kings Cross) and ask at information which ThamesLink is the fastest to Luton.

I finally arrived at St. Pancras, to find that the underground comes in on the opposite side of the very large station than the ThamesLink trains leave from, so at this point I was a little panicked and ran through the station. I finally arrived at the information desk and the man told me to go upstairs to an East Midlands train, but when I repeated it back to him "Ok, so go up the escalator and find a Midlands train to Luton Airport?", he responded, "No, you want to go to the airport? Your ticket it just for Luton!". So the plans changed a bit and I headed down the escalator to a different train which would stop at Luton Airport before it got to Luton (so I could just get off there). I ran down the escalator to catch the train (that was leaving in one minute) to find the red lights above the doors flashing (signifying the doors were about to close). Instead of standing back, I decided to jump through the doors, which closed on me. I was stuck in the train door with my bag still outside the train as it started to move, so I pried the door open enough to squeeze through, and when I thought I was in, I let the doors shut, but my bag was still stuck in the door! I again pried the doors and this time was successful (although the entire train was staring at me).

After an uneventful rest of the journey to Prague, I arrived at about 7:30 at night. I called my sister and her friend (who I was meeting there) to find out where to meet up, and they were already at a restaurant for dinner. I took the bus to the underground and finally found the restaurant. I have decided Prague has the easiest public transportation to navigate (not to mention we never paid for it either!!).

After a delicious dinner, we set off to find the hostel (all of our first hostel experience). We caught the underground to the tram, but unable to understand the long (not English or Spanglish, which is the only language G and Lizzie can understand these days) names, we got off at the first stop. At this point, as we realized we had gotten off NINE stops too early it began pouring rain. After about ten minutes of waiting in the rain for the next tram, we finally found one that would bring us to our stop.

We found ourselves at a seemingly desolate stop "Smichovski Nadrazi" with the instructions "to find the foot bridge over the train tracks and cross it". We stopped to ask the only other person in sight where we could find such a bridge, but she spoke no English. After trying to act out what we were saying, she pointed left. We decided to try, and about 50 meters up, we found set back off the road a huge footbridge that crossed no less than 15 sets of railroad tracks. In the pouring rain, we walked as quickly as possible across the tracks and finally saw the red hostel sign across 5 road crossings.

The next day, we had some adventures finding a good breakfast (we finally found an "American Breakfast" complete with scrambles eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, and a tomato... so delicious!). We then wandered around the city, across the Charles Bridge, to see the Prague Castle. Of course, there were very serious guards at the castle, who can't move, so Gillian and Lizzie saw it as the perfect opportunity for pictures (I think they touched the back of his neck accidentally in some poses). While wandering through Prague, I found a small Antique shop with beautiful pieces of jewelry. I learned, in that shop, that the Czech Republic was famous for Garnets. They had many beautiful antique garnet pieces, and I fell in love with a cross. I bought myself the cross as my souvenir from Prague!

In the afternoon, we had a three hour SEGWAY tour of Prague. We actually paid to have everyone in Prague stare and take pictures as we passed on our Segways visiting all the main sites and parks in Prague. Although extremely embarrassing, it will probably go down as one of my greatest touring experiences! Because the Segways are much faster than walking, we got to go all over the city in just three hours. (I highly recommend it to all who don't mind being in other tourists pictures and videos!) We had a great evening and wandered through some of Prague at night, where Gillian and I tried every Czech dessert (crepes, candied almonds, and sugar rolls) in a matter of fifteen minutes. All in all, we had a great trip to Prague, and I didn't get stuck in any train doors on the way home! Now, I'm back in London, and I can't wait to explore more of the city tomorrow when Aurora comes to visit!!

An overnight trip to Oxford

I can't believe how quickly the first week has gone! The hours of each day fly by, since we have been very busy with orientation, sightseeing, going to the pubs, and visiting friends. On Monday, I went for an almost 4 hour run. I decided I had been in London too long without seeing all the city sights. It was perfect weather for a run, about 68 degrees and sunny, so I left my flat and headed toward the Thames, hoping to find some famous sights. After a little while of running directly south, I found the Thames. I crossed the river to run on the South Bank toward the Tower Bridges. I saw the Millennium Bridge, the Tate Museum, the Shakespeare Globe Theater, and then ran along the Queen's Walk to London Bridge (it's really ugly, just a concrete blob) and finally to the Towers Bridge. When it was time to head back to my flat, I ran across the London Bridge and along the North Bank of the Thames. After being gone for almost 4 hours, I arrived back at my flat with a much better perception of the city's layout!

Yesterday, I headed to Oxford, England to visit Aurora. I found very cheap train tickets, and ventured into the country. I arrived, slightly surprised, to much cooler, more overcast weather. The town was beautiful and extremely old. I wandered through the town for a few hours before meeting up with Aurora (since she was in class). I toured the Broxbourne Library and found some free exhibits as well as the Museum of the History of Science (also free!!). After spending over an hour in the museum, I ventured back outside to find the place where Aurora and I were meeting for afternoon tea. We had a lovely tea, and then she took me on a tour of Oxford. We walked around for nearly 2 hours (including an amazing walk around the Deer Park) while she showed me some incredbile colleges and churches. After attending mass at a beautiful church, we decided to find Indian food for dinner (both of our favorites!). We had a delicious meal, and then set out on an "Aurora and Whit" styled pub crawl, which included dessert at one pub and us wandering in an out of many without ever stopping! We had a really fun night, and ended it with a cab ride back to her house.

In the morning, Aurora made me crepes, and then I set off for the railway station via taxi. I arrived back in London just in time to attend some orientation sessions at UCL

Last Day of Orientation

Today was the final day of the IFSA Butler Orientation. This morning we heard from a former policeman concerning safety. I learned a few things (perhaps things Mom and Dad didn't mention in Gill and my pre departure "chats"):

1. In Paris, muggers throw babies at you so you catch the baby and drop your handbag. He recommended we drop the baby and keep our purse.

2. If you walk without a walk signal, you will get hit by a car, but since the speed limit in London is no higher than 30mph you have time to jump to absorb the hit.

3. Men are about 3 to 5 times more likely to be the victim of violent crime than women because they tend to be loners and walk alone at night in desolate areas.

4. Scream if someone tries to mug you, but be ready to let your bag go and run the other way if they look like they might get violent...

We had a fabulous two and a half hour, three course Mediterranean lunch with the entire study abroad group, then went on a walking tour to find UCL and the surrounding pubs and clubs. I'm ready to rest now, then out to dinner and pubs for the night. Hoping to visit Camden Market tomorrow, which is only on Sundays, for groceries, clothing, gifts, etc.

The picture here is of UCL from the main gate, so beautiful!!

First Night Out!

I'm so sorry for the delay in reporting back since the packing extravaganza! After many dilemmas trying to distinguish the necessary from the desired, I finally finished packing a few hours before my flight. I arrived at the airport about four hours early (the recommended amount of time from the travel agency) to a very long line of students near my age. After checking my bags and having pizza with Mom and Dad, I proceeded through security. I arrived at the gate to a very intimidating scene; about 50 college age students grouped in two rows of seats all talking like they already knew each other.

Of course, being me, I went to the other side of the gate, too nervous to join the group. I sat down across from a boy who looked to be about my age. After he asked me to watch his bags while he went to get food, I decided I would ask if he was part of IFSA Butler (the study abroad group). He looked at me like I was crazy and asked what Butler is and why everyone kept asking him if he was part of it. I explained the situation, including the fact that the entire cult of college aged students was part of my group. He convinced me that all of the others probably went to Butler University and I was the one student on the program coming from a different university. Comforting...

I also discovered he, too, was from Vanderbilt, but he graduated last year and was attending LSE for graduate school for the year... small world!

After an eight and a half hour plane ride, we arrived in London. Extremely jet lagged, I finally worked up the courage to begin meeting other students. The first two people I met were also from Vanderbilt! After an hour and a half long bus ride, bringing everyone to their accommodations, we were finally dropped off at Farringdon Road (the street where my flat is). We were greeted by some graduate residents (our for of RAs) and shown to our appropriate flats. Two other girls and I were listed for flat 10. I was ecstatic, believing the three of us had a two bed two bath flat to ourselves, until the GR announced he too was in our flat and the three of us girls would have to share one room.

We entered the room to find a bunk bed and a single bed with about one and a half feet of walking room in between. We were in shock. After about thirty minutes of reorganizing the layout of the room, we decided it was as good as it would get, and began to unpack!

We had free time until dinner, when the entire group met up at a British pub for a traditional British meal of Shepherds pie and mashed potatoes. Being too tired to go out on our first night, my roommates and I made our way back to the room and watch a movie and go to bed.

Today, we had orientation most of the day, but had plenty of time to explore London. We found our way from the west side of Bloomsbury to the east side, back to the flats on multiple occasions. This evening we had fish and chips and then went to see Avenue Q. On the way back to the flat, some of the girls and I went to a small British pub, where we met plenty of English men. The first one asked why we were drinking the disgusting "bitters" (the beer from the brewery), to which we replied, in a very American way, that we wanted the "British experience." (The Brits were drinking Japanese beers...)

That's enough for now, it's getting very late!! Sorry this is soooo long, but I wanted to give you all an update on my first days here. More orientation tomorrow, classes don't start for a couple weeks. I miss you all!!

Packing has officially begun...

I can now share the pain Gillian experienced about two weeks ago. While she seemed somewhat unnecessarily dramatic at the time, I have come to agree that I HATE packing. With about 56 hours until my flight (who's counting?), I finally decided to get serious. I had it all planned out in my head, but somehow it hasn't exactly worked out as I imagined. I thought I had a practical vision of what I needed, but laid out down the entire hallway, I'm not sure it's going to fit in the two medium bags I picked out.

At this point, there are only two major problems (aside from the fact that mom and I are going shopping today and that I haven't added any shoes or boots to the piles in the hall). One: my two and half foot high pile of essential sweaters that I will not be able to live without, and two: the piles of toiletries covering my bathroom counter top that I am convinced will be impossible to find in England. Mom's been out for the morning, so I'm just waiting for her to come back with a brilliant solution and some vacuum packs (as she did for Gill)...