Random Things in My Life

Last week was a doozy! Ok, maybe not. I just like saying "it's a doozy!" I had 3 interesting things happen. #1- Covant Garden, tea. I finally found a flavor of tea that I enjoy! It was vanilla and honey, mmmm. There was a tea shop that had free samples- and thanks to them, I now know what kind of tea I will be drinking on Wednesday April 23, 2007 at the RITZ with my roommate!

#2- I set my alarm clock on Tuesday for 8:40PM... Problem: I have class at 9AM. Solution: have body alarm clock wake me up at 8:47AM, and still make it to class on time.

#3- I woke up 2 days in a row from strange dreams soaking wet with sweat. It was weird, but I'm ok.

Why Don't They Wear Kilts in America?

Happy April Fools Day! The origin of this fun holiday is, funnily enough, Scottish just like "the water of life" also known as whisky! (April Fools -not the whisky part!). So I got back last night at midnight from Scotland. It is quite pretty up there. My friend Corey and I took the train from King's Cross up to Edinburgh and it took 5 hours. Since we got up bright and early on Friday, I slept the ride there. Once we got off the train, one of the first things I saw was a dude in a KILT! (Welcome to Scotland!) We headed right over to Edinburgh Castle and dropped £11 to get in- exactly the amount I had on me. It was quite a hazy day, so the view was not that great and it was windy and thus a little bit chilly. We got our £11 worth and spent a few hours looking at everything in the castle (museums, a chapel, the great hall, the crown jewels...) in fact until it closed. The crown jewels were at the end of a very long museum-like display about the history of the jewels (which consisted of a crown, a sword, its hilt, a belt for the sword and the Stone of Destiny). The story of the jewels is that they've been around for a long time (since the 1500s) and they've only survived because people keep hiding them! Every time there's a war or the potential for them to get stolen or melted down to pay the army, someone makes sure they are under a floorboard or locked in a vault somewhere! The Stone is the same that was returned by England that used to be in the coronation chair in Westminster.

the castle

After our few hours in the castle, we got dinner from this French vendor guy who was selling ratatouille and potatoes in these huge frying pans - it was reallllly good. Then for dessert I got a toffee crepe from the lady a stall down! That was also tasty and very messy. At that time, it was about 6 or so and everything started shutting down. We decided to find the hostel and it ended up being on High Street (part of the Royal Mile, not too far from the castle). Around 10, I decided I was too tired to function any longer so it was bedtime. We shared a room with 4 other people and they were all friendly enough and we all went to bed right around the same time.

I had a terrible night's sleep- there were rowdy people shouting and singing in the street and it sounded like the window was open. I even got up at around 4AM to see if I could shut it, but there was a bunk bed in the way of 2 of the 3 windows, so I just got back in bed and finally the loud people went to bed themselves and I fell asleep.

Me and my personal Stone of Destiny

We got up around 9 and got food for lunch before heading over to Nelson's monument and the national monument. They were both on a hill that overlooked the city to the East and we could see the ocean! (today was much nicer, weather-wise). Then we headed over to, and conquered, Arthur's Seat which is a long extinct volcanic ridge! It over looks the whole city and the higher we climbed, the better the view became!


Arthur's Seat

We ate lunch at the top and waited until 1 for the 1 o'clock gun to go off at the castle. The gun is a clock for the city and it goes off everyday (but Sunday) and it used to be for the sailors so they knew what time it was! According to the 1 o'clock gun, my watch was about 8 minutes fast (oops). We trekked down the rocky hill thing and visited the remaining wall of a chapel from the 1400s then went back into the city center.

can you guess which gun this is?

Up by the castle there was the Whisky Heritage Center... and we went on a tour. It was lame compared to Anheuser-Busch. We rode in a little barrel thing (like in a haunted house) and watched 3 videos in separate rooms. One of them was a "ghost" who talked about how old whisky is... he was green. We also got a sample and I have to say that whisky is not for me. I had a sip and let Corey drink the rest. I did learn that to be Scotch Whisky, it has to mature for 3 years on Scottish soil. Hmm, very interesting. After that delightful little trip, we went window shopping and then got back on the train.

I sat next to a woman and behind her two sisters. She was so funny- she chatted non-stop and whenever she saw something interesting she would point it out, mid-conversation: "Oooh, Tina, look at that one! That's a LOVELY little house! Oh T look at that tree, it's GORGEOUS!" It was entertaining.


On Thursday before the Scotland adventure, I saw the play Equus... it was crazy. I enjoyed the whole 'going to the theater' part but the show itself was very strange and a bit creepy. SPOILER ALERT! It was about a boy who was obsessed with horses (and ended up blinding 6 of them with a hoof pick) and really I noticed a lot of horses this weekend. Every time I did, I would think of EQUUS- even the whisky we sampled was called White Horse! Ahh! After the show we jumped out back and met Daniel Radcliffe! I took his picture and was close enough to touch him, but decided not to get his autograph. He was pretty friendly and also short.

my first celebrity encounter

The week of the BUG

So the exciting thing that happened this week is I got to change rooms from our crappy, bug infested room with the yellowish-green walls and putting green carpet to a newly refurbished room with crisp white walls and a red carpet. The reason: bed bugs.

Yes, it is gross, that's what we (me and my roommate Christina) thought, esp my roomie who was the one the bugs liked to bite! We washed all of our clothes and moved all of our crap up to the new room and I am happy to say that we like this one much better (even though I can no longer see the London Eye from my window at night. Oh well!) It was a very dramatic situation and the whole school knows and is talking about it. Our room is not the only one with bugs- I think so far about 20 mattresses have been destroyed! I am just fine- I did a presentation this morning and got an A on it and tonight I am going to see the play Equus (staring Daniel Radcliffe- aka, HARRY POTTER) and I might even get his autograph...

Weekend Trip in Beautiful Nice and Monaco

I would love to return to Nice and Monaco at some point in my life- maybe as the princess of Monaco perhaps, like Grace Kelly? Nice is located on the French Riviera which means it's supposed to warm since it's right on the coast of the Mediterranean... however the "warm trip" I took with the school was slightly dampened by the fact that it rained (pun!) and I needed a jacket! Other than that, this trip was amazing! I'll let the pictures speak for me:

We left at 5AM Friday morning and arrived in France in the mid morning. We got to our hotel and dropped off our bags then took a walk straight to the water, pausing briefly for lunch. The beach was great- instead of sand there were pebbles! (and some big rocks too, but not much sand at all)

[The sign says "Danger Tidal Barrier NO ENTRY" Natalie and I thought it would be fun to pose with the sign]

We saw a curious waterfall at the top of this cliff with stairs leading up to it, so we decided to go ahead and go up there. It was a good thing we did, because the view was amazing!

At the top we walked around a bit and discovered a playground. Since we're all big kids, we decided we needed to test out the jungle gym thing, and spent some time hanging out on it.

The next day we took the 20 minute train ride (€5) over to Monaco. For some reason I just thought the place was stunning- The train took us along the coast and we emerged from the train station and turned around and there were cliffs all around us! There was not really any flat area, everything was built right into the hills which turned immediately into mountains! It was just really pretty- palm trees, mountains, blooming flowers and the sparkling water!

We broke off into little groups (there were about 15 people on the trip, but I explored with a group of about 7 and in Monaco there were just 4 of us most of the day). We passed by the casino then headed up to the palace and cathedral where Princess Grace is buried. To get to the palace/cathedral, we had to climb lots of stairs. We had great timing because we got to the top and decided to head into the gift shop and at that point it started pouring! We were happy to shop for a bit and then it cleared up and we continued our journey wandering around the coast.

The week after spring break- faster than LIGHTNING

Italy wiped me out- I spent the day after I got back sleeping and once I woke up, I did some laundry. Since laundry and dryer tokens aren't sold on the weekend, I got mine before I left (smart move, Amanda!). I didn't, however, get a dryer coin (not quite a smart move, Amanda). So I did the only thing I could have and hung up my wet clothes all over the room. It worked, and thankfully my roommate wasn't there to see my socks and underwear all over the place! On Monday in architecture class, our professor puffed in at least 10 minutes late, red-faced and could not stop coughing! He had been to Cuba during the break and announced that he thought he might have been bitten by an "interesting bug" and was also feeling feverish! We thought he was going to pass our or die, or at least cancel class- but no, he wheezed thru the lecture and even managed to let the class out late! In my acting class, we decided on the play we are going to perform at the end of the semester as our final. We are doing a bunch of scenes from A Doll's House in pairs and I got the character of Nora and mine is the first scene of the play. T is going to play the other guy in the scene and we've already started practicing (since neither of us is really an actor).

The weather in England really threw me off. It has been spring-y and cloudless some days and on others, snowing! Some days, it's both. The weather really is strange...

My Italian Spring Break - part 4

Day 7

Today Megan, Corey, Lindsay, Sarah and I woke up early and caught the 8:30 train to Florence! Since I booked my ticket separately from the other girls, my seat was in a different carriage. When I got to my seat, some lady was already sitting there, next to her husband and after a few confusing minutes I finally got what she was trying to tell me (in Italian) and switched seats. I loved the ride there; the countryside was beautiful- lots of hills and mountains and everything was green! Once we got to Firenze (that's Italian for Florence) we bought some maps and decided to head towards the big cathedral (Duamo) then find some tower that we heard about. We ended up climbing the dome of Duamo and the view was definitely worth the 463 stairs to see it!

Megan, Sarah, Lindsay, me, Corey

Florence

"Pondering Florence"

After that slightly sweaty and cramped little walk, we got some lunch then went and saw the famed statue of David. We were lucky enough to have practically no line and once we bought our tickets, turned a corner and there was David. It was a really impressive statue- I was not expecting it to be so huge! The odd thing we noticed was that his hands seemed a little bit big. We passed thru the rest of the museum then walked around looking for the replica statue that's outside in a square with a lot of other statues, as well as a famous bridge.





The highlight of the day, and perhaps the entire trip to Italy was being HIT BY A MOPED. Yes, it's true. We were on our way to see David and I (unfortunately) wasn't paying very much attention while we were crossing the road and out of nowhere this lady on a moped ran me over! More like, I tripped over her front wheel, but it was still kind of scary! I was uninjured by the moped incident, thankfully.

the fake David

Day 8

I spent our last day in Rome sneezing and mopping up my runny nose. We took the Metro to the Vatican and I waited at the exit of the Vatican museum while the rest of the group saw the Sistine chapel. (I plan on seeing it later when I go back to Rome in May.) When the group came out, we headed back to St. Pete's Square and 2 girls went in to see the Basilica while the rest of us basked in the sun. Interesting factoid- you are not allowed to lay down in St. Peter's Sq. Some police man in a police golf cart rolled by and told us not to lay down!

Once the girls got back, we Metro-ed back to the hotel and picked up our luggage then headed to the airport. Our flight was delayed AGAIN! so we waited in the airport, tired and cranky then finally got back to London at 12:30. We jumped on a bus back to the city which dropped up off at Liverpool St which meant we had to take 2 more buses back to the college. I didn't get into bed until 3:30 AM.

My Italian Spring Break - part 3

Day 4

We checked out of the hotel around 10 and left our bags there, then had the day to just wander and be on vacation. We strolled around Venice and basked in the sun. For lunch, I got this huge calzone which was awesome- the bread was so good! We decided to head over to the airport (destination: Rome) a little bit early, so got our huge backpacks and walked back to the bus station. We went over no less than 8 bridges (I counted them to take my mind off the enormous weight I was lugging around). We arrived at the airport, along with about 10 more Regent's students who had the same flight, and this time there were no problems checking my bag. The problem occurred when our flight was delayed for 2 hours... I read up on Rome and watched the shenanigans of the other bored people. Finally, we got on the plane and an hour later we landed in ROMA. We had to take another bus into the city and we got dropped off by the train station. The hotel was two streets away. It was the scariest hotel ever. We eventually found the sign (it wasn't lit up) then went into the lobby (it was pretty dark and creepy). Now, to the left and right were these two Tower of Terror elevators - they only fit 2 people, they had cobwebs all over them and you had to manually shut the doors. I decided to skip the elevator and climb up the 5 flights of stairs to the room. The room was not bad, though there was no view at all. And the "shower" was a curtain around a shower head next to the toilet...

Day 5

What's the first thing you do when in Rome? Visit the Colosseum, of course! We got up at 9AM and hit the streets with our complimentary tourist map of the city. It ended up being a short walk and once there, Rachel, Sarah and I decided to skip the 21 euro tour everyone else did and just go right in. It ended up being a good choice because the line wasn't bad at all and we were our own tour guides. Rachel read aloud the little info signs (no doubt made for tour groups like us) and we had a grand old time adding to the history of the Colosseum and Rome as well as posing as ancient statues on the many pedestals that lay about (that is what we decided they were there for).

After the Colosseum, we mosied on over to the Pantheon/ Forum. We found this little field absolutely covered with wildflowers and decided it was a great place for a nap. We ended up meeting more Regent's kids in the field and after a while, headed back to the meeting spot with the rest of the group. From the Colosseum, we decided to visit the Trevi Fountain. There were so many people there; I was not expecting such a huge crowd! We got some gelato (I got black cherry, cookies and cream and chocolate- SO GOOD) then headed over to see the Spanish Steps. I think we were all disappointed when we got there and all it was was a lot of people on a lot of steps. We climbed to the top anyway and watched the sunset.

the fieldthe fountain
the sunset

It was Megan's birthday, so we took her out to dinner! We found some tiny restaurant and they put us in a tiny room (it had cool color changing lights) and then we had a really great meal. (Italian food is always so good!) After dinner, we walked back by the Trevi Fountain to see it at night, then it was back to our hotel.

Day 6

I saw the Pope! As you might be able to guess, our travels on day 6 took us to the Vatican. We got up nice and early, had breakfast in the hotel (they had pre-packaged toast, surprisingly tasty) then hopped on the Metro. The Metro is an experience- they are not afraid of jamming on the breaks and don't care if people get thrown to the ground in the process! It was also very crowded and a little smelly. (I prefer the tube in London.) We emerged from the Metro all in one piece, then made our way to the Vatican which has huge, huge walls around it. We got thru the metal detectors and into St Peter's square joining about a million other people! Pope Benedict finally drove out in this little golf cart thing (he didn't drive it, he stood in the back and waved). Some priests read from the Bible (in 6 different languages) then the Pope spoke for a LONG time.

Next we got some lunch at a little restaurant that was recommended to us and was right around the corner from the Vatican. The dessert was strawberries- but they must have added sugar or even magic to them, because they were the best strawberries any of us had ever tasted!

After, we traveled to a castle, but since it cost money to go in, Rachel and I were tour guides again and told everyone else the story of the castle. Then we headed over to the Pantheon, took some pictures then rested for a while in by the fountain. Once we were all set with resting, we went back to the hotel, stopping for dinner. We bought train tickets to Florence then went to bed.

My Italian Spring Break - part 2

Day 2

We got up nice an early and strolled down the streets, window shopping and taking pictures. Venice sells two main products: glass and masks. We headed towards the Grand Canal and Sarah, Rachel and I decided to go ahead to San Marco's square, since the other girls were still shopping. We simply followed the signs that pointed to San Marco down these twisty, narrow allies, over countless bridges and canals until we found ourselves on an enormous bridge- the Rialto!

A few more streets away, we emerged into the sunlight in St. Mark's Square! It was filled with crowds of people, but there might have been just as many pigeons (if not more)! We decided to get a closer look at the birds and ended up spending over an hour feeding them and naming the ones that landed on us. Rachel was the official photographer for Sarah and I- we had probably too much fun with those birds.

We took a peek into St Mark's Cathedral (the floors were amazing marble tiles) then decided it was a good idea to go up the huge bell tower. After a super quick elevator ride to the top, we found ourselves with a great 360* view of Venice!

After the bell tower, we wandered along the water and ended up finding this little tree-lined walkway/park. We took a stroll thru it and decided to watch the sun set over the water.

Then we picked up dinner (I got a tasty cheese sandwich on great bread) and headed back to the hotel, where we met up with the other group. We played cards had some fun and laughs, then bedtime.

Day 3

We "slept in" til 10 and met the other group for brunch (I got this loaf of salted bread with olive oil. It tasted like a soft pretzel and lasted me practically til dinner time). The group decided to head down to St Mark's and perhaps find a gondola. Rachel and I decided to skip the expensive boat ride and explore a bit instead. We headed for the peninsula we saw from the bell tower the day before and so off we went! On the way, we discovered a mini outdoor gallery of sorts and in the middle was this giant face. Obviously, we had a photo shoot posing with the face:

We got onto the peninsula and walked along the water (which was an amazing color) and got to the tip at which there was a church. We went inside and rested for a little then headed back, meeting up with the other 6 and getting dinner near the hotel again. Everyone was tired, so we had an early night.

Visual of how much I enjoyed Venice: