Oxford, a play, Portobello & Camden Town, Harrods again, and Liverpool

It has been awhile since I last wrote and I have a lot that I have done! On Wednesday we took our day trip to Oxford with Philippa. We took the train and when we arrived it was freezing! I wish that the weather was like my first week here! Sunny and warm! Anyways we first met up with two students who Philippa knew that attend Oxford University. One was girl in here first year studying geography and the other was a second year boy studying engineering. They talked about life and studying at Oxford and then answered any questions that we had. I learned that it is cheaper to go to Oxford than it is to go to Ball State! At least it is for now, the government is thinking of increasing tuition rates. Oxford has over 40 different colleges, which are basically schools separated into majors. We took a tour of the church on Oxford and saw a beautiful dining room where the students eat, which is also where parts of Harry Potter were filmed! I also saw a library that holds over 80 million books underground. Every book that is published in the UK has to be sent to this library before is can be published. We took a lunch break where I found a great Mexican place called Mission Burrito. It is kinda hard to come by Mexican in England so it was really good! Then Philippa took us to a store where we could buy Oxford apparel. I think I was the only one that didn't buy anything! We were free to go after that so I headed back to the flat and took a nap and went to bed early! I was exhausted!






On Thursday I meet up with Curtis and we went to lunch at a cafe near Regents Park. He got the English Breakfast which he has been getting a lot lately and I had a salad. They don't really put dressing on salads here so I didn't think it was very good. After lunch we walked around Regents park for awhile. It was very pretty and I can't wait to go back towards the end of my trip when the trees and flowers are blooming! From there I went to class for British Life and Culture. We watched a movie called Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and then discussed social class in the UK. Straight from class I got on the tube for a long ride for a play we were going to see. It took almost an hour to get there! We grabbed some food right next to the theatre and made it just in time! We had a quick talk with the director of the play beforehand. It was a round theatre and the first round theatre I had ever been to. The play was a modern play about people at a dinner party when the tsunami hit Haiti. It was better than I expected it to be, but I was still a little upset that it was so far away and we got back so late!



On Friday I had British Life and Culture and then I went straight to meet Curtis at the tube. We went to Portobello Market. The market was a lot different than I thought it would be. It was a lot of fun to just walk through the market and experience the atmosphere, but I didn't think it was the best place for shopping. The stuff in the street stands was just a bunch of random stuff or of clothing items that you can't try on. All of the indoor stores were all really expensive. We just walked around for awhile and enjoyed it though! From there we went straight to Camden Town. This also has a very big market, but it has a very different vibe. Camden is where you can find a lot of music and punk and rock. This is where Amy Winehouse lived and died if that tells you anything. It was really fun though! I stopped at an H&M and bought a shirt and then we just walked around for a little while longer. From there we went straight to Harrods and walked through the furniture and toy floors! The toys were a lot of fun to play and look at! They had a whole section dedicated to Harry Potter wands. It looked just like the movie! You could pick from any character! We found an Italian Restuarant that Curtis went with his family when they were visiting his sister, Kristen, in London. They had the best burschetta ever! We also each got a pizza. Then it was time to go home and rest up for Saturday!

Saturday morning we got up to get on the train to go to Liverpool to watch Everton take on Chelsea in a football match. It was about a 2.5 hour train ride and when we arrived in Liverpool I was not very impressed. It was a very dirty city. Maybe it was just the part of town we were in but it wasn't very nice at all! The only thing I thought that they really had going for them was that the Beatles came from there! And the football of course! Also, we tried to grab lunch before the game at a pub, but none of them served food on match days so we found a small cafe and ate there. Everything was much cheaper than it London so that was nice! The game was a lot of fun! I didn't realize that Landon Donovan and Tim Howard, both Americans, played for Everton! Everton won 2-0 over Chelsea!

Lion King and British Pop Music

Tonight I saw Lion King with my program. Curtis was able to tag along with us! He tried to take me back when we were first dating, but I already had tickets to see it with my Grandma and Mom. I decided to take him this time since he missed out! Afterward we got a drink at a pub. Here is a preview of Lion King:




I had British Pop Music with Rob today. I have been learning some very interesting things in this class! If you are interested here is a brief overview of the things I've learned the past 4 weeks in his class.

So who really started British pop music? Well the Beatles of course! It all started with four boys from Liverpool as Rob would say. The Beatles first band name was actually called the Quarrymen though. The band consisted of John Lennon and was soon joined by Paul McCartney who brought along George Harrison. Also in the band was Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best. The bands name changed many times. It changed from the Quarrymen to Johnny and the Moon Dogs to Silver Beatles to just the Beatles. At the time the Beatles were the worst band in Liverpool. They soon got a gig in Hamburg, Germany. This made the Beatles. They spent 12 hours performing everyday in a pub. All the practice is how the Beatles got good. This is where Paul and John discovered that the money was in song writing so they started writing a lot of songs. Harrison was deported because someone found out that Harrison was underage and performing and drinking in pubs. Stuart decided to stay in Germany, but the rest of the boys moved back to Liverpool. This is what I find very interesting, the Beatles were turned down by every recording studio in England. One man, Dick Rowe, told them that there was no future in guitar based music. Wow were they wrong. After a long time the Beatles were about ready to give up, but decided to give it one last chance. They auditioned at Abbey Road Studios. Rob said that the manager said that he told the Beatles that their music was "shit" and that he didn't like them. The manager asked the Beatles if there was anything that they didn't like about him and Harrison replied that he didn't like his tie. This is what got the Beatles signed. He signed them because he liked their personality. The manager told them that they had to sack Pete Best because he wasn't a good enough drummer. The Beatles went to Liverpool and asked the best drummer in Liverpool at the time to join their band. Ringo Starr could not turn down a band who signed with a recording studio and joined the band. On the first album though the manager actually had a man named Alan White to play drums on some of the songs, because he didn't think that Ringo was good enough. Their first single "Love Me Do" made 17 on the charts, but was still an average song. The second one was called "Please, Please", which made number 1. Rob said what made the Beatles so great was the tension between Paul and John. I mean whose band was it really? Then the Beatles made the song "She Loves You" and it moved the Beatles in front of all other bands at the time. Beatles Mania started. Their first album was recorded in 12 hours. The last song recorded was "Twist and Shout". Ever wonder why Lennon's voice sounds like it is about to give out? Well that's because it was about to give out. I always thought that this was on purpose, but after 12 hours straight of recording a whole album Lennon could only do 3 cuts of the song before he lost his voice. They went on tour the next day. This is what Rob would say is "F-ing Rock N Roll Baby".



This is all I have time to write for now. I am going to Oxford tomorrow and need to get some sleep! I will continue with Beatle mania and how they shaped the path for all other British bands tomorrow!

Seeing some of Switzerland

On Thursday after class I went to meet up with Curtis. He made some chicken, rice, and strawberries with chocolate for dinner! Then we went to see Chicago! I have really been wanting to see Chicago for a long time. It was not what I expected, but it was still really good! Here is a preview:





On Friday I headed off to Geneva, Switzerland with Curtis. We had a very smooth flight to Geneva. Once we got to Geneva we took the train to our hotel. We were walking around trying to find our hotel at 8:00 so we decided to stop at a McDonald's to get a quick dinner and ask someone where our hotel was. For both of us to eat it was 22 franc! It was ridiculous! I also find it odd that at most European McDonald's and other fast food restaurants you have to purchase packets of ketchup and mayonnaise separately. It is quite unfortunate for ketchup lovers like me to have to buy expensive packets of ketchup, but I have just been skipping ketchup with my fries for now. We found our hotel and it was really nice! We walked around the city for a little bit and then returned back to get some sleep for Saturday. We woke up really early on Saturday morning so that we would be able to watch the sunrise over the Alps by the lake. When we went outside it was awful! It was freezing and the wind was VERY strong! We walked for a little bit and found a coffee shop to sit inside because we were early for sunrise! We got some very good Swiss hot chocolate and decided that we should just head back to the hotel for our free breakfast. We got our free breakfast and went back to bed for awhile. We ventured back out into the city when the sun was out and it warmed up a tad. It was still probably 10 degrees and strong winds, but the sun made it feel a lot better! We walked around a lot and saw the town. Switzerland gives tourists free transportation for the trains, buses, trams, etc. We rode on some of the buses to stay warm and to see a lot of the city. A bus even took us out into the Swiss countryside and then back into the city. We stopped and went to a pizzeria for lunch. After sitting inside for lunch I still couldn't feel my toes so we went back for a break at the hotel again. We went out again walking around, but it was getting dark and very cold! After awhile we starting trying to find a place to eat dinner. We had to walk on the bridge across the lake to get back to our hotel and find some place to eat. This was probably the coldest I have ever been! It was so awful! Curtis even got windburn on his face!




On Sunday we packed up and walked around some more before heading to the airport on the bus. We ended up buying some Swiss chocolate at the airport because it was actually cheaper than what we found in the city. Then we headed to British Airways to check in and get our boarding passes. This is where we starting have a lot of trouble. British Airways self check in machines were not working. This meant we had to stand in a line for over an hour to get our boarding passes. The line was massive! On top of that London had gotten about 2 or 3 inches of snow Saturday night. London freaks out when they get snow. London hardly ever gets snow and when it does the city pretty much shuts down. All flights to Heathrow London were canceled. Luckily we were flying back to Gatwick London which was only delaying their flights. When we finally got up to check in we were told that we had been put on standby. We got in through security and had to hang around for awhile. The screen said to wait about an hour for info on our flight. When that came around it said to wait another hour. Then another hour. Finally, our gate number popped up on the screen. We ran to the gate so that we could make sure that we were put off of standby. We were able to get on the flight! We had to wait around for awhile still though. However, British Airways gave Curtis and I each a 23 franc voucher for food at the airport. I had already eaten dinner so I bought even more Swiss chocolate and goodies! The picture below is what we ended up bringing back with us! Once we all boarded the plane the pilot told us that we had missed our time slot to take off. We had to sit on the plane for an hour! Finally we took off! We arrived safely back to London. Once we spend awhile getting through customs we had to wait on our baggage! We did so much waiting around, but we finally made it home! It is weird coming back to London and just feeling like it is home and being so happy! It is such a wonderful place!




Today I had British Life and Culture and we learned a lot about social class in the UK. I had Art History after and we went to Tate Britain Art Gallery. I saw some very cool things there! I had to do some research on the artist John Everttt Millias. Here is one of his most famous painting which is located in the gallery.


Some things I've learned:
-Switzerland is expensive
-Weather can ruin a trip
-London does not know how to deal with snow
- Swiss chocolate in London is much cheaper
- You can almost always find someone who speaks English in foreign countries
-David Beckham is still considered working class here in the UK
-Kate Middleton is still considered a middle class commoner even though she is a part of the royal family
-The Queen's father died 60 years ago today and marks her accession to the throne
-Londoners think that American democrats are conservatives and republicans are just very conservative
-Even if you become a Knight in England it still does not move you up in social class
-It is much harder to move around in social class here in the UK than it is in the US. The US definitely prides its self on hard work and how much money you can make. It doesn't matter how hard you work or how much money you make, you will still probably be seen the same way.

Windsor, Eton, and a Comedy Show

On Wednesday for our day trip we went to Windsor, which is right outside of East London. Windsor is where the Queen lives most of the time in Windsor Castle. We met with our program at Paddington Train Station at 9 to take the train to Windsor. When we first arrived we were dropped off right by the castle. We were able to see a lot of stuff at the castle! Unfortunately the Queen was not at the castle when we were. Windsor Castle along with most other castle in England was built by the Normans when they invaded England. They build castle all around the outside of London that were one days march from each other. They did this so that they could escape if under attack. The first thing I saw was Saint George's Chapel. The chapel was very beautiful. A lot of Kings and Queens were buried here including Henry VIII, the Queens Mother and Father, Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert, and many more. From the Chapel we went to see Queen Mary's Doll House. This is a replica of the Castle that is 1/12 the size of Windsor. It was given to Queen Mary as a gift. The toilets in the castle flush and the miniature Rolls Royce work as well. From there we went to view the State rooms in the Castle. This included seeing a royal table that could seat about 162 people! All made of mahogany wood! Under the table is the biggest piece of carpet in the world. Philippa said told us that if there is a fire alarm that the workers in the castle are trained to have enough people come and roll up the carpet to take out of the Castle. Crazy! This part of the Castle is not usually used by the Royal family unless it is for a significant occasion or needed for entertaining. The rest of the time this part of the Castle is open up to the public to view. The part of the Castle where the Queen lives is a lot more modern and less elaborate than what I was seeing. The stuff I was seeing were mostly extravagant furniture, gifts, paintings, and armor that were hundreds of years old. Unfortunatly you are not allowed to take pictures inside any of the places I went. I pulled some photos from the inside of the castle from the internet so that everyone can see though!

After we went to Windsor I stopped and got some lunch at a small cafe in the town surrounding the Castle. The village surrounding the Castle was very cute! After lunch some of the people met up with Philippa early to go on a walk. There is a path leading up to the castle that the Queen usually uses when she is driving somewhere. We walked along this path. The path is about 3 miles long and leads you up a hill where there is some statues of stuff and is where a lot of land is, which is usually used to charity events or polo matches. We didn't make it all the way up but we went about half way and turned around so that we could meet up with the rest of the group. It was very pretty!




From town we went to Eton College, which is right by Windsor. Eton college is an elite boarding school for boys ages 13-18. This is where Prince William and Harry went. Philippa has a friend who teaches English and drama there, so he took us on a little tour and showed us the place! It costs about 30,000 pounds to go to school there for a year! There are about 1300 boys who go there and they all live there and all have their own rooms! The boys and the teachers all wear uniforms. Below is a picture of the boys in their uniforms that I pulled from the internet too! It was very interesting to learn about some of the schooling systems in the UK and compare it to the US. To get into Eton you have to be able to speak Latin and another language besides English. I found it very interesting that in the UK they give out scholarships but almost never do they give out full ride scholarships, because they don't want students to lost their motivation. At most they usually give out 80% scholarships. 19 Prime Ministers attended Eton! It was a very cold and long day so by the time we were done at Eton I was ready to get on the train!


Straight from our train ride back to London we had to go downtown to Picadilly to go to a improv comedy show! It was pretty good! I was so tired by the second half though that I was almost falling asleep!



Today I am going to try and get some half priced theatre tickets and see Chicago or some other show! This weekend I will be going to Geneva, Switzerland! I probably won't be able to post for awhile, but I will write right when I get back from my trip!

Tour of Parliment, The British Museum, and a traditional Enlgish dinner

On Monday we met at Parliament for my British Life and Culture class and we went on a two hour tour of Parliament. The Parliament building is not as old as I thought that it would be. It was built 150 years ago. We went to see the Queen's room, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. The Queen or any other royalty are never allowed to go into the House of Commons. The House of Lords is filled with gold and has a throne for the Queen. The House of Commons is very plain and has no gold. Unfortunately you aren't allowed to take photos inside so I have none to post from my tour. After touring Parliament I went to The British Museum with my Art History class. Philippa took us around to show us some interesting stuff. The Rosetta Stone is at The British Museum, which is the key to understanding Egyptian hieroglyphs. When the Egypt was ruled by other empires one of the Kings had a message put in three different languages put on a big piece of stone. Because Egyptian hieroglyphs was put with two other languages with the same message people were able to figure out hieroglyphics. I was also able to see some real mummies! It was a very interesting exhibit. The Egyptians also mummified animals so I was able to see a snake, bird, crocodile, and cat mummy. The 2012 Olympic Medals were also on display in the museum. My favorite thing that I saw was probably a tree that was made out of guns. It is called the Tree of Life, which was made after the Mozambique Civil War. The war lasted for almost 16 years and when the war was over the soldiers turned in their weapons. It is quite odd that the Tree of Life is made from weapons that killed so many people during the war.







Yesterday night, I came back to the flat and had to prepare a traditional English meal with my flat for Lyndon and his wife. We had spotted dick and toad in a hole. Spotted dick is almost like a cake and toad in a hole is sausage made in a dough. Lyndon and his wife came by each flat and sampled some of the meal. At the end they decided on a winner and my flat won! We got a bag of crisps and 4 different kinds of alcoholic drinks for a prize!


Today I had class with Rob and we learned about the Rolling Stones and a bunch of other rock n roll bands. For British Literature my teacher took us to the British Library where we saw real mauscripts from Charles Dickens, Shakespeare, Beatles lyrics, and the Magna Carta.

Shakespeare, Shopping, London Icebar, & Abbey Road

On Thursday I went to the New Red Lion Theatre to see a The Works of Shakespeare Abridged. This was a comedy that incorporated all 37 of Shakespeare's plays with three actors. We had a lot of difficulty finding the theatre, because it is a very small unknown theatre that holds less than 50 people. I was not the biggest fan of the performance, but a lot of people from my program thought it was really funny.
On Friday after class I headed to Trafalgar Square to meet Curtis for lunch. I took him to Pizza Express, which was really good. Then we went shopping! We went to Covent Garden where we bought some art work to put in our apartments next year. We bought a piece that had 9 photos of all the major places in London framed! We then went to Oxford Circus to do some more shopping. I bought a sweater there and Curtis bought 3! From there we headed back to his flat and met up with his friend Tony. They were having friends from school who were studying in Dublin and at Oxford visit for the weekend. We decided to make them dinner for when they arrived so we went to buy groceries at Sainsbury's and Iceland. We made chicken fettuccine Alfredo. It took a while for Luke and Ryan to get to us. None of the boys had exchanged their international phone numbers and they weren't sure where Luke and Ryan were being dropped off at, but we finally found them! We then headed to the London Ice Bar!! The London Ice Bar is a bar where the whole place is made of ice. The seats, the bar, the tables, and even the cups are all made of ice. They give you a big blue hooded jacket and gloves to wear while you are in there. It was a ton of fun! We were only able to stay in there for about 45 minutes, because it is such a popular place to go. From there we went to try and find a pub to go to, but we ended up getting into a club for free so we went there instead. Ryan had quite the dances moves and provided much of the entertainment for the night. Then it was an adventure to get on the night buses! We finally made it home after a very fun day though!





To the left is a picture of my ice cup!










Today we went to Abbey Road where the Beatles had their studios. It is about 10 minutes away from my flat. We found out that we were taking pictures for awhile on the wrong cross walk, but we got some pictures on the right one too! I was also able to see the studios where the Beatles produced their albums. My teacher Rob used to work there, which is pretty cool! Rob also told us that a lot of people write their names on the gate outside the studios so I came prepared with a pen and was able to write my name and Curtis' name on the gate.

A tour of Westminster Abbey and War Cabinet Rooms

Today was our Wednesday day trip around London. I started off with Philippa at Westminster Abbey. Philippa seems to know just about everything and everyone! She studied history at Oxford and is a living encyclopedia. All of the workers and monks at Westminster Abbey came up and where talking to her while we were there, because they all knew her. She walked us into a courtyard that is right outside the Abbey first. Here is where the best boys school choirs is located and where the author of Winnie the Pooh lived. Then we walked into the Abbey. Thousands of people are buried in Westminster Abbey and it took almost 700 years to build due to money problems. It is very interesting walking around London and the Abbey because a lot of the city is new mixed with old. This is due to bombing that have taken place in London and buildings or parts of buildings to be rebuilt. There is a burial in the beginning of the Abbey that is dedicated to an unknown warrior during the first World War. Philippa said that she had seven great aunts that never married, because nearly one million men where killed in a battle during World War I. She said that for 2.5 days men walked constantly marching to battle across the street in front of the Abbey. One random soldier was returned from France and buried in the Abbey. It is the only body that no one walks on in the building. I however got to walk on hundreds of Kings and Queens bodies and also other famous Brits such as Issac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Charles Dickens. The Abbey does not hold services for the public and is a private church. The Abbey had to make their money by selling burial spots. Some people in the Abbey are just random people that didn't do anything but had a lot of money. The Abbey was a beautiful place, but as Philippa said it is almost like a junkyard. There are burial places that all look completely different for famous Brits, Kings and Queens, and random people. There is Catholic items and Protestant items in the Abbey. There is also some different types of architecture, because it took so long to build. Philippa was also able to have one of the monks include Ball State University in a short prayer service that was announced to the whole church.
After this we grabbed a small lunch and Philippa took us to Saint James Royal Park, which is located right outside of Buckingham Palace. She also showed us where Prince Charles and Camilla live in the Clarence House. From there I went to the War Cabinet Rooms Museum. This is the actual place where Winston Churchill and other leaders stayed during the bombings in World War II. It is an underground building with cement that is 6 feet deep above to protect them from bombings. I was able to see where Churchill and other leaders had meetings about leading the war. It is exactly how it was when the meetings where taken place during the war. It also had a separate museum dedicated to Winston Churchill. I was able to learn a lot about Churchill. Some interesting things that I never knew before was that Churchill was also a writer and artist. He often worked 18 hour days. He always had a drink at every meal and was very specific about his meals. He was the first person to earn an honorary citizenship from the United States. He was the first person in over a hundred years to receive a public funeral at Saint Paul's that the Queen attended. He was an active member of Parliament until he died at the age of 90.
After my day trip ended I came back to the flat and had some dinner. Then I went over to Curtis' flat to plan some traveling and I also skyped with Monty!

Some things I've learned:
Private schools are called public schools here



Here is a video of a man that we met on our tour at Westminter Abbey. It is a priest that had been at Westminster Abbey since he was 16 and this is him doing some cartwheels at the Royal Wedding.