It's been a while! Lots of work this past week and the next few as well, but I am coming back to the United States in only 2 weeks and 2 days! This trip has gone incredibly quickly, but I'm happy with the time frame...I've really loved London but I'm ready to go home.
I went to Nice with Sophie and Kate two weekends ago, which was absolutely beautiful. Such a blue ocean and smooth pebbles on the beach and gorgeous views of the mountains. We walked through the Flower Market, and I have officially determined that the orchid and lily are my favorite flowers. (I figured I should have one, for being-swept-off-my-feet purposes and all.)
AND I rode a bicycle for the first time since my car accident in tenth grade! It was easy to pick it back up, kind of like...well, like riding a bike. Riding along the coastline was so much fun. I did, of course, get horrendously sunburned, but I write now with a subtle tan that will disappear completely within the next three days. We also took a train to Monte Carlo in Monaco, which claims to be its own country, but passports were not required. Everyone there looked like they had just stepped out of a photoshoot. And I went to a casino and blew through 10 euros, though I did learn to play poker and I'm not horrendous at it.
My parents came last weekend! It was so nice to see them; I showed them London, and it all went very very quickly. But I was really glad I got to show them where I live and the places I go every day. Plus they got me boots :).
And now we have work. Lots and lots of work. Joy. Ah well, that's what the end of the semester is always like.
British Grammar of the Day:
One does not (insert verb here) anything; one "has a (insert verb here.)"
For example: I'll think. = I'll have a think.
We laughed. = We had a laugh.
This principle extends indirectly to a number of other common phrases, for example:
To try = to have a go, i.e., Have a go at eating this pork pie and mash.
To take a nap = to have a nap, i.e., College students need to have a nap as often as infants.
Also, a note on the word "do." I fail to understand why the Brits add "do" to the end of many sentences ending with a verb, but they do. (I just did too.)
i.e., "Are you aware of this obscure historical fact? No reason why you should do."
Cheers~
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
Spring Break, Purim, Easter, etc...
It has been quite some time since my last update. A lesson in procrastination: turns out that the more you put off, the more you have to do. So this is a short rundown of a long past few weeks...
Sami came for spring break, and we basically took London. Highlights included: the SCIENCE MUSEUM(!!!), where we got to play with science experiments involving magnets, shadows, seeing through walls, bubbles, colors, the works (please see my scientific work of art here: http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/launchpad/sociallight.asp?videoID=60f3a7ad79534a9d8a7ea070f9c990df ); Billy Elliot the musical, a really stirring dance production with an incredibly talented 13-year-old boy in the lead role; tea and scones at the Kensington Gardens Orangery in the pouring rain; the Tate Modern as a whole--I love that place; the Vanity Fair exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery; the Irish festival in Covent Garden/Trafalgar Square on Saint Patrick's Day; and cupcakes at the famous Hummingbird Cafe in Portobello Market. Apologies for the dry recollections of what was actually an exciting (albeit long-ago) week.
The science museum's infrared cameras prove that I have some serious circulation problems. Note that my nose is the same color as my hair--which is DEAD:
The Spirit of Saint Patrick! (If our lips look unnaturally pink, it is due to some fierce experimental make-up at B Never 2 Busy 2 B Beautiful, a make-up store unaware of the extraneous nature of that first "b.")
We also experimented with socialized healthcare when my poor beleaguered roommate ate something funky and ended up with hives. We had to walk to the emergency room at 4 in the morning, having been informed by the 999 (not 911) operator that, because she was still breathing, she would not receive an ambulance dispatch for several hours. Super. After being turned away at not one but two doors to the emergency room, we were finally accosted by SECURITY (that's right) and led to the correct entrance. Where Matt the night nurse pumped cortizone into Laura and told us that our majors were useless. Hi, Matt. You're a nurse on the graveyard shift.
Post-allergy, Laura and I visited the Disney store at Covent Garden to make our room decor complete:
Then all us Yale-in-Londoners reunited for a 3-day field trip to Bath, which was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. We saw Stonehenge, historically exciting but cold and ultimately just a pile of rocks (says the camera-toting man beside me to his wife: "Smile and say, 'This is overrated.'")
But then we saw Stourhead, an enormous experiment in landscaping around a beautiful man-made lake with tunnels and Greek statues. It was so serene and gorgeous, frankly breathtaking. I would love to stroll there with a wrinkly friend when I retire.
The pub at Stourhead, no joke:
Also, I HIKED up a mountain!! I do not think Anna and/or Daniel read this, but they experienced my hiking failures in the California heat this summer, and this view from the mountain serves as my proof that it was just the lack of sunscreen and trees:
Finally, we arrived at Bath. I LOVED it. It used to be a big vacation spot for the British aristocracy, but it fell into disfavor in the early 1900s, and has renewed its popularity within the past 50 years or so. It was a beautiful mix of medium-sized town with stores and cafes and nightlife, Georgian architecture set against rolling green landscape, and historic site of Roman ruins and a natural hot spring that once served as a Roman bath.
And Andrea, Josh, Laura, and I went to a SPA for two hours, which was the absolute most luxurious thing I have ever done in my life. Enormous warm bath on the bottom floow, aromatherapy steamrooms with lavendar, mint, eucalyptus infusions, open-air bath on the roof with stunning views of the sun through the clouds and on the mountains. If I had seen this place earlier, I would have stayed an extra week to hang around Bath. It was truly one of the most simultaneously (paradoxically?) calming and exciting places I have ever been.
Fancy schmancy place where we took High Tea with hot cross buns and cinnamon butter, complete with pianist serenading us with Over the Rainbow, Fer Elise, etc:
Side of the chapel, angels climbing Jacob's ladder:
Me outside the chapel:
Bookstores amuse me:
Then today, I attended my first church service ever--Easter at Westminster Abbey!! It was really very interesting to see the ceremony of it, with the precession and the crosses and even the incense, which seemed rather Gothic to me but certainly gave a sense of awe to the whole proceeding. And I took communion, questionably sacrilege I know-- but I figure that the Anglican church doesn't actually believe in transubstantiation anyways, so I can deal with eating a bit of Christian symbolism for the sake of cultural experience. I was also really interested in the differences between the Christian and Jewish service, particularly the representation of G-D. While the pastor's sermon relating the tale of Easter seemed to describe a fluid transition between Old Testament and New Testament G-D, the Christian service was all about G-D's love, which simply does not exist in the Judaic service. In fact, I was really struck by the Christian focus--even rhetorically--on the words "love" and "death," particularly the combination of the two in Jesus' love for humanity allowing him to triumph over death. Judaism deals very little with death or the afterlife, and I couldn't help but feel that Christianity tended toward a more modern sentiment of answering man's fears and desires for continued life after death. It was a more comforting feeling than the Jewish service, I would say, but it also felt simply less ancient to me (a historical fact) and therefore less rooted in the spirituality of generations. In conclusion: I am Jewish through and through. But this was a really interesting experience, and I would love to see a Protestant service someday.
And for an alternative religious experience...Laura and I attended the official LONDON STUDENT PURIM PARTY on Thursday night!! All of London's student Jews came out for the equivalent of Jewish Halloween, and Laura and I dressed up with feathers in our hair (thank you, 96-pence art pack from Tesco), and we serendipitously met fellow costumed Purim-goers on the tube and followed them to the party and it was lovely.
Pretty cemetery (this has nothing to do with anything, but I guess we could extrapolate to the whole being dead/not thing that plays into Easter):
And I feel much better having rectified my blogging delinquency. Naptime :).
P.S. Eurotrip anyone?
Sami came for spring break, and we basically took London. Highlights included: the SCIENCE MUSEUM(!!!), where we got to play with science experiments involving magnets, shadows, seeing through walls, bubbles, colors, the works (please see my scientific work of art here: http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/launchpad/sociallight.asp?videoID=60f3a7ad79534a9d8a7ea070f9c990df ); Billy Elliot the musical, a really stirring dance production with an incredibly talented 13-year-old boy in the lead role; tea and scones at the Kensington Gardens Orangery in the pouring rain; the Tate Modern as a whole--I love that place; the Vanity Fair exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery; the Irish festival in Covent Garden/Trafalgar Square on Saint Patrick's Day; and cupcakes at the famous Hummingbird Cafe in Portobello Market. Apologies for the dry recollections of what was actually an exciting (albeit long-ago) week.
The science museum's infrared cameras prove that I have some serious circulation problems. Note that my nose is the same color as my hair--which is DEAD:
The Spirit of Saint Patrick! (If our lips look unnaturally pink, it is due to some fierce experimental make-up at B Never 2 Busy 2 B Beautiful, a make-up store unaware of the extraneous nature of that first "b.")
We also experimented with socialized healthcare when my poor beleaguered roommate ate something funky and ended up with hives. We had to walk to the emergency room at 4 in the morning, having been informed by the 999 (not 911) operator that, because she was still breathing, she would not receive an ambulance dispatch for several hours. Super. After being turned away at not one but two doors to the emergency room, we were finally accosted by SECURITY (that's right) and led to the correct entrance. Where Matt the night nurse pumped cortizone into Laura and told us that our majors were useless. Hi, Matt. You're a nurse on the graveyard shift.
Post-allergy, Laura and I visited the Disney store at Covent Garden to make our room decor complete:
Then all us Yale-in-Londoners reunited for a 3-day field trip to Bath, which was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. We saw Stonehenge, historically exciting but cold and ultimately just a pile of rocks (says the camera-toting man beside me to his wife: "Smile and say, 'This is overrated.'")
But then we saw Stourhead, an enormous experiment in landscaping around a beautiful man-made lake with tunnels and Greek statues. It was so serene and gorgeous, frankly breathtaking. I would love to stroll there with a wrinkly friend when I retire.
The pub at Stourhead, no joke:
Also, I HIKED up a mountain!! I do not think Anna and/or Daniel read this, but they experienced my hiking failures in the California heat this summer, and this view from the mountain serves as my proof that it was just the lack of sunscreen and trees:
Finally, we arrived at Bath. I LOVED it. It used to be a big vacation spot for the British aristocracy, but it fell into disfavor in the early 1900s, and has renewed its popularity within the past 50 years or so. It was a beautiful mix of medium-sized town with stores and cafes and nightlife, Georgian architecture set against rolling green landscape, and historic site of Roman ruins and a natural hot spring that once served as a Roman bath.
And Andrea, Josh, Laura, and I went to a SPA for two hours, which was the absolute most luxurious thing I have ever done in my life. Enormous warm bath on the bottom floow, aromatherapy steamrooms with lavendar, mint, eucalyptus infusions, open-air bath on the roof with stunning views of the sun through the clouds and on the mountains. If I had seen this place earlier, I would have stayed an extra week to hang around Bath. It was truly one of the most simultaneously (paradoxically?) calming and exciting places I have ever been.
Fancy schmancy place where we took High Tea with hot cross buns and cinnamon butter, complete with pianist serenading us with Over the Rainbow, Fer Elise, etc:
Side of the chapel, angels climbing Jacob's ladder:
Me outside the chapel:
Bookstores amuse me:
Then today, I attended my first church service ever--Easter at Westminster Abbey!! It was really very interesting to see the ceremony of it, with the precession and the crosses and even the incense, which seemed rather Gothic to me but certainly gave a sense of awe to the whole proceeding. And I took communion, questionably sacrilege I know-- but I figure that the Anglican church doesn't actually believe in transubstantiation anyways, so I can deal with eating a bit of Christian symbolism for the sake of cultural experience. I was also really interested in the differences between the Christian and Jewish service, particularly the representation of G-D. While the pastor's sermon relating the tale of Easter seemed to describe a fluid transition between Old Testament and New Testament G-D, the Christian service was all about G-D's love, which simply does not exist in the Judaic service. In fact, I was really struck by the Christian focus--even rhetorically--on the words "love" and "death," particularly the combination of the two in Jesus' love for humanity allowing him to triumph over death. Judaism deals very little with death or the afterlife, and I couldn't help but feel that Christianity tended toward a more modern sentiment of answering man's fears and desires for continued life after death. It was a more comforting feeling than the Jewish service, I would say, but it also felt simply less ancient to me (a historical fact) and therefore less rooted in the spirituality of generations. In conclusion: I am Jewish through and through. But this was a really interesting experience, and I would love to see a Protestant service someday.
And for an alternative religious experience...Laura and I attended the official LONDON STUDENT PURIM PARTY on Thursday night!! All of London's student Jews came out for the equivalent of Jewish Halloween, and Laura and I dressed up with feathers in our hair (thank you, 96-pence art pack from Tesco), and we serendipitously met fellow costumed Purim-goers on the tube and followed them to the party and it was lovely.
Pretty cemetery (this has nothing to do with anything, but I guess we could extrapolate to the whole being dead/not thing that plays into Easter):
And I feel much better having rectified my blogging delinquency. Naptime :).
P.S. Eurotrip anyone?
Friday, March 7, 2008
Sunflowers
Spring break!!! I am staying here in London for break, but SamiBo is coming to visit me, and we are going to hit up everything that London has to offer. Much walking to everywhere. It will be lovely to have nothing better to do with my day than to start walking in the morning and come back whenever we feel like it. I am so excited!! :)
So today, Laura and I went to East London for an East Festival celebrating that region of the city. There was this hugeee food fest area with all sorts of really fresh stuff, so we got a veggie burger loaded with crap and walked around some. Among the things we saw: A dress made out of ties. A wool-maker. A felt-maker. A petting zoo!!--sheep, a pony, a donkey, chickens. We also got some wares from a van called "Choc Star," which apparently drives around the city and sells chocolate goodies and is both famous and fabulous. Yum.
Then we stopped at this Salvation Army-like place. I bought a "teaching children poetry" book. Laura bought a blue sunflower. Both of these add importantly to the free yellow daffodils some street vendor gave us. They also contribute to the decor of our newly spotless and organized flat! It's true. We worked hard.
Then for dinner (I swear we did more than eat today--there was much walking between choco-van and dinner time), we mashed sweet potatoes into kidney and black beans with tomato paste, added zucchini carrots onion broccoli bell pepper coriander chili and cumin, and had sweet potato-bean burritos with guacamole and salsa. Culinary masterpiece. And we made coffee raspberry muffins from scratch. Really, Laura and I are domestic goddesses. There are just no other words.
And now we are going to complete a lovely day by watching the glories of Whitney Houston in "The Bodyguard."
Musing of the day:
If one happens to get on the wrong tube line on the way back from a grand outdoor festival, and one happens to be carrying quite a large artificial blue sunflower, it is probably wise to exit the train and backtrack at the next stop, rather than creating a commotion by whipping around furiously trying to read alternative maps posted around the walls of the car.
Q&A of the day:
Where do you find a mop in this city? Answer: Nowhere.
So today, Laura and I went to East London for an East Festival celebrating that region of the city. There was this hugeee food fest area with all sorts of really fresh stuff, so we got a veggie burger loaded with crap and walked around some. Among the things we saw: A dress made out of ties. A wool-maker. A felt-maker. A petting zoo!!--sheep, a pony, a donkey, chickens. We also got some wares from a van called "Choc Star," which apparently drives around the city and sells chocolate goodies and is both famous and fabulous. Yum.
Then we stopped at this Salvation Army-like place. I bought a "teaching children poetry" book. Laura bought a blue sunflower. Both of these add importantly to the free yellow daffodils some street vendor gave us. They also contribute to the decor of our newly spotless and organized flat! It's true. We worked hard.
Then for dinner (I swear we did more than eat today--there was much walking between choco-van and dinner time), we mashed sweet potatoes into kidney and black beans with tomato paste, added zucchini carrots onion broccoli bell pepper coriander chili and cumin, and had sweet potato-bean burritos with guacamole and salsa. Culinary masterpiece. And we made coffee raspberry muffins from scratch. Really, Laura and I are domestic goddesses. There are just no other words.
And now we are going to complete a lovely day by watching the glories of Whitney Houston in "The Bodyguard."
Musing of the day:
If one happens to get on the wrong tube line on the way back from a grand outdoor festival, and one happens to be carrying quite a large artificial blue sunflower, it is probably wise to exit the train and backtrack at the next stop, rather than creating a commotion by whipping around furiously trying to read alternative maps posted around the walls of the car.
Q&A of the day:
Where do you find a mop in this city? Answer: Nowhere.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Sigh...Education
Sadly, little of note has happened here since my last update. I spent the entire weekend and week working on a history research paper, an art history research paper, and two theatre reviews, all due during the week. Thursday was a day of recuperation. Until this point, I had mostly forgotten that I am indeed still in school, and must work as such.
Thursday night, all of us hung out in Kate and Sophie's place next door, which was all the more fun because we had all been stressed in equal measure this week. Then yesterday Laura and I saw this "Sleeping and Dreaming" exhibit at a museum nearby, but we were disappointed at the surface-level mix of art, history, and science that the museum failed to adequately bring together.
And at night...I saw Wicked in London! Josh called at 6 PM saying he could get tickets, so of course I freaked out and agreed. One hour later, I was up in the rafters in the Apollo Victoria Theatre for twenty pounds. Totally worth it. The girl who played Elphaba was fantastic, but Glinda's speaking voice was so damn annoying I wanted to take a munchkin hostage until it stopped. Glindas should stop trying to imitate Kristin Chenoweth's voice, which is naturally high-pitched, and just speak. So annoying. But still a lovely play, even though I missed Erica / twinnies / Debbie who I have seen the play with at home.
And I just bought tickets to go to Nice, France at the end of the month!! Very exciting :).
Thursday night, all of us hung out in Kate and Sophie's place next door, which was all the more fun because we had all been stressed in equal measure this week. Then yesterday Laura and I saw this "Sleeping and Dreaming" exhibit at a museum nearby, but we were disappointed at the surface-level mix of art, history, and science that the museum failed to adequately bring together.
And at night...I saw Wicked in London! Josh called at 6 PM saying he could get tickets, so of course I freaked out and agreed. One hour later, I was up in the rafters in the Apollo Victoria Theatre for twenty pounds. Totally worth it. The girl who played Elphaba was fantastic, but Glinda's speaking voice was so damn annoying I wanted to take a munchkin hostage until it stopped. Glindas should stop trying to imitate Kristin Chenoweth's voice, which is naturally high-pitched, and just speak. So annoying. But still a lovely play, even though I missed Erica / twinnies / Debbie who I have seen the play with at home.
And I just bought tickets to go to Nice, France at the end of the month!! Very exciting :).
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Noah's Ark, Paris Style
Long-awaited Paris update!! I have been putting this off because there is oh-so-much to say, but now I realize that the longer I wait the less I have to say because of my lamentable forgetfulness, so here goes... ('tis long but interesting, I promise...)
On Thursday (Valentine's Day), Laura, Josh, and I concluded class and raced to the airport, having cut our time very close between class and flight. Somehow we arrived with time to spare, so of course we sat around in the bookstore and cafe until we had no time to spare, and had to literally run to the gate before they shut us out. So we went Easyjet to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, and the entire flight was only about one hour until we were deposited onto foreign(ish) soil.
We found our hotel (more on this later), and went to a cafe for a late dinner. As I experienced when I was in Paris this summer, France offers very little in the way of meals if the only meat you like is chicken. I know not what the vegetarians do. There is so much ham that I can only think it symptomatic of France's anti-Semitism. Still, I did not end up with food poisoning this trip, which I sadly cannot say for my first Parisian experience. Reason #1 for which this trip was awesome.
Josh had made reservations for the night at a place called "Hip Hotel." When we reached the address listed, we found a building called "Hotel Atlas." First indication that there was a reason our accommodations were so cheap. (More on this later.) We entered and encountered County Man, with whom our interactions went like this:
Us: (breaking out the rusty French) C'est combien? (How much does the room cost?)
County Man: *mumble mumble* the jist is "I owe you 64 cents."
Us: OK.
County Man: *counts some change, gets up to 60. Looks at it. This is incorrect. Tries again. Gets 65. Incorrect again. Starts over.*
Us: C'est pas grave, garde-le. (It's fine, just keep it.)
We are told that our room is on the 5th floor (really the 6th, because Europeans consider the ground floor as floor zero), and that there is no elevator. We climb a very windy staircase. We continue to climb. We understand why the French are so skinny. We arrive at the room with buns of steel.
The room consists of: 1) Tile floors. 2) A cot for Josh, comfortable enough. 3) A bed for Laura and me. We throw our bags onto it, and they do not bounce. We throw ourselves onto it, and experience pain. Turns out there is no significant difference between our bed and a slab of concrete. There are also no pillow cases, but the sheets have been wrapped around the pillows such that we do not notice for the first 2 minutes. 4) A lamp that actually gives off shadow instead of light. It is so dismal that we call it the Light of Despair. We grow to love it as the week progresses. 5) A bathroom that smells like cat litter, in which we find a shower with iffy-looking faucets. More on this later.
The room is so horrible that it is the best part of this trip. Much laughter commences. I will absolutely stay in this hotel should I ever return to Paris.
On Friday, we walked around Paris. My geography is a little iffy, so I may be confusing places I saw on Friday with Saturday. We went to the Place de la Concorde on which there is the l'Obelisque, and from which you can see a straight line both to the Jardin de Tuilleries and the Louvre, and down the Champs Elysees to l'Arc de Triomphe. So pretty.
We also went to the Place des Vosges, the oldest square in Paris in an area called le Marais. It was lovely to walk around, even though it was horrifically cold. I ceased to feel my body after an hour. But then we experienced the wonder that is Starbucks in Paris. We know we are stupid American sell-outs for not going to a French cafe. But the Viennese hot chocolate (not even on the US Starbucks menu) was heaven in a cup. Got us through the rest of the day.
Place des Vosges:
Also saw the Centre Georges Pompidou, which is a modern art museum whose construction the French were not altogether happy with, although I think it is really interesting and fits with the modern art it contains:
Then at night, we went to a new cafe for dinner and had some delish food outside under a magnificent space heater. I met up with my friend Alex, who I had not seen since the summer before senior year, so it was nice to see him. Then we went to an area called Rue Mouffetard, which had much student life and bars and such.
We then took the metro back to Hotel Questionable. A note on the Paris metro v. the London tube: the metro is cheaper, the tube is nicer, the metro has Kinder Bueno vending machines. Paris wins.
Arriving at Hotel Questionable around 2 in the morning, we found all the lights off and the door to the "lobby" locked. We were not given a key, so we knocked on the door, only to encounter...Grumpy Man! Grumpy Man has the night shift, which as far as I can tell involves being awoken from his nap by stupid hotel patrons who need to get in. Grumpy Man mumbled in an angrier manner than County Man, then let us in so we could stairmaster it to sleep.
When we awoke on Saturday, we realized that we had only reserved the hotel for 2 nights, that we had nowhere to go for night 3, and that it was 11:45 and checkout was at noon. So Josh went downstairs and met Asian Lady, who was talking to a group of students who had clearly been searching all day for a place to stay. Asian Lady was offering the students a room, at which point Josh interrupted to ask if we could keep ours for an extra day, at which point she said yes and told the students that she actually did not have a room for them. We felt kind of bad, but honestly...we would have become the nomads if the other students weren't.
So we decided to utilize our location in the Asian district to get some pho (pronounced: fuh), a Vietnamese soup advertised everywhere, mostly because we thought "pho" was a very silly word. It was delicious. Then we walked around some more, this time to Notre Dame and around the Hotel de Ville, the government area of Paris. We found a yummy rhumerie (rummery? I suppose.) They also had an ice-skating rink set up, along with tubing areas for little kids, and it was all very cute and wintry and festive. Though I will repeat my happiness that I have always lived in an area with real seasons, snow included. Paris and London do not generally snow, and I miss that part of winter. Am very glad that I got to see some snowfall at Yale before I left. But I digress.
Hotel de Ville:
Then we met up with Roland, a relative of mine who lives in Paris, and his girlfriend. They were very very sweet and took Josh, Laura, and me out to a lovely full-course dinner, then drove us around Paris at night. Tres belle. Roland was a jokester; the three of us loved him. We met up with Gerald and Andrea, who had also come to Paris but were not staying with us, for a little while as well.
Then on Sunday, we all split up during the day. I went to the Louvre on my own, which was much fun and very leisurely and a nice little bit of independence (not to mention language practice.) I ate at a very French cafe, then met up with Alex again and went to the Eiffel Tower and ate a nutella crepe. The US needs to embrace nutella more than it does, I think. Though all this crepe consumption does make me miss American pancakes. Who wants to do IHOP with me when I return? (Ella, remember our venture on route 17 when we could barely drive?)
Sunday was also a landmark occasion hotel-wise, when all of the clues came together to determine why this was the best worst hotel room ever. Having asked Desk Man to let us stay another extra night that morning, we reflected that karma would not be pleased. Sure enough, after Josh and I showered in the morning (not together), we made the always-welcome discovery that our shower would not shut off. In fact, although the showerhead was dry, water began bursting uncontrollably from the faucets. I alerted Desk Man, who told me that the mechanic does not work on weekends.
Me: But the water is going to go into the room! (This conversation was conducted in French. Most unfortunately, I could not remember the word for "flood." NB: it's "d
Desk Man: You can use the public shower.
So we decided to just shut the shower doors and hope that the drain would perform its job well. Which worked, miraculously, all day long. But at around 8 PM, disaster struck. Josh put down his foot only to find two inches of water in the bedroom. Turns out one of our travel-sized shampoos had floated up and lodged itself in the drain, flooding the place. So Josh started bailing out water with the trashcan, Laura started alternately saving our stuff and jumping around frantically on the bed, and Josh discovered after twenty minutes that there was a hole in the trash can and abandoned the effort. He went downstairs to Desk Man.
Josh: We were told this morning there would not be a problem. I think there's a problem. There is water in our room.
Desk Man came up to check, looked around, and left for 30 minutes. Upon his return, he asked if we would like a new room. We said yes, and were given room number 1 in the hotel. What this means is that our window was eye level with pedestrians, and we could open the window and step directly onto the street. Reasons #2 and 3 for which this was the best worst hotel room ever. We found the entire fiasco utterly hilarious.
We awoke at 5 AM Monday morning to catch the plane back, having gone to sleep only two hours earlier. We were tired indeed, but too afraid to use the shower. Laura, always unusually chipper in the mornings (I love it), was especially awake and without groggy morningness. I cannot say the same for myself.
So we returned from our Great Paris Noah's Ark Adventure and got ourselves to class by 11. By 2 we were at the Royal Academy of Arts in London for a personal tour of their new "From Russia" exhibit, featuring loads of famous art by Matisse and also modern art.
This one was my favorite, by Kandinsky. I love the colors:
The constant activity did not stop there. Tuesday morning we woke up early to catch a train to Oxford for English class. We spent the day touring Oxford, where most unfortunately we were unable to enter the dining hall where they film Harry Potter. To be honest, I found Oxford surprisingly disappointing. Yale is based on Oxford and shares much of its architecture, though in a smaller and admittedly grittier area. But I guess this is why I was mostly unimpressed. Also, I think Sterling is the most beautiful university library in the world. Oxford's felt cold and unwelcoming by comparison.
We also ate lunch with students and chatted about the Oxford educational system, which is so incredibly different from the American system that I don't think you can even really compare the two. You go to college for 3 years, choose a "major" the second you step foot in the door, ONLY take classes within your major all three years, don't have "class" in the traditional sense but instead meet with the teacher individually for one-hour "tutorials" about an ungraded essay you research and write every week, and have no tests at all until one huge exam at the end of the third year that determines your graduation rank. It sounds like absolute hell to me.
Basically: I love Yale. But Oxford IS beautiful from above:
Us in the Oxford library:
And now, I have been procrastinating on two rather large research papers both due this week. I must go work on those. Women in 17th century England were a remarkably boring group of people.
P.S. I made cupcakes and frosting from scratch on Thursday night! Like, no mix involved. Big deal stuff.
P.P.S. Those of you who have been reading will know that this is mostly cribbed from this blog, but ah well... http://www.yaleherald.com/article.php?Article=6218
In conclusion: Paris was the best weekend ever. I did not stop laughing the entire time.
Evidence, in the metro:
On Thursday (Valentine's Day), Laura, Josh, and I concluded class and raced to the airport, having cut our time very close between class and flight. Somehow we arrived with time to spare, so of course we sat around in the bookstore and cafe until we had no time to spare, and had to literally run to the gate before they shut us out. So we went Easyjet to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, and the entire flight was only about one hour until we were deposited onto foreign(ish) soil.
We found our hotel (more on this later), and went to a cafe for a late dinner. As I experienced when I was in Paris this summer, France offers very little in the way of meals if the only meat you like is chicken. I know not what the vegetarians do. There is so much ham that I can only think it symptomatic of France's anti-Semitism. Still, I did not end up with food poisoning this trip, which I sadly cannot say for my first Parisian experience. Reason #1 for which this trip was awesome.
Josh had made reservations for the night at a place called "Hip Hotel." When we reached the address listed, we found a building called "Hotel Atlas." First indication that there was a reason our accommodations were so cheap. (More on this later.) We entered and encountered County Man, with whom our interactions went like this:
Us: (breaking out the rusty French) C'est combien? (How much does the room cost?)
County Man: *mumble mumble* the jist is "I owe you 64 cents."
Us: OK.
County Man: *counts some change, gets up to 60. Looks at it. This is incorrect. Tries again. Gets 65. Incorrect again. Starts over.*
Us: C'est pas grave, garde-le. (It's fine, just keep it.)
We are told that our room is on the 5th floor (really the 6th, because Europeans consider the ground floor as floor zero), and that there is no elevator. We climb a very windy staircase. We continue to climb. We understand why the French are so skinny. We arrive at the room with buns of steel.
The room consists of: 1) Tile floors. 2) A cot for Josh, comfortable enough. 3) A bed for Laura and me. We throw our bags onto it, and they do not bounce. We throw ourselves onto it, and experience pain. Turns out there is no significant difference between our bed and a slab of concrete. There are also no pillow cases, but the sheets have been wrapped around the pillows such that we do not notice for the first 2 minutes. 4) A lamp that actually gives off shadow instead of light. It is so dismal that we call it the Light of Despair. We grow to love it as the week progresses. 5) A bathroom that smells like cat litter, in which we find a shower with iffy-looking faucets. More on this later.
The room is so horrible that it is the best part of this trip. Much laughter commences. I will absolutely stay in this hotel should I ever return to Paris.
On Friday, we walked around Paris. My geography is a little iffy, so I may be confusing places I saw on Friday with Saturday. We went to the Place de la Concorde on which there is the l'Obelisque, and from which you can see a straight line both to the Jardin de Tuilleries and the Louvre, and down the Champs Elysees to l'Arc de Triomphe. So pretty.
We also went to the Place des Vosges, the oldest square in Paris in an area called le Marais. It was lovely to walk around, even though it was horrifically cold. I ceased to feel my body after an hour. But then we experienced the wonder that is Starbucks in Paris. We know we are stupid American sell-outs for not going to a French cafe. But the Viennese hot chocolate (not even on the US Starbucks menu) was heaven in a cup. Got us through the rest of the day.
Place des Vosges:
Also saw the Centre Georges Pompidou, which is a modern art museum whose construction the French were not altogether happy with, although I think it is really interesting and fits with the modern art it contains:
Then at night, we went to a new cafe for dinner and had some delish food outside under a magnificent space heater. I met up with my friend Alex, who I had not seen since the summer before senior year, so it was nice to see him. Then we went to an area called Rue Mouffetard, which had much student life and bars and such.
We then took the metro back to Hotel Questionable. A note on the Paris metro v. the London tube: the metro is cheaper, the tube is nicer, the metro has Kinder Bueno vending machines. Paris wins.
Arriving at Hotel Questionable around 2 in the morning, we found all the lights off and the door to the "lobby" locked. We were not given a key, so we knocked on the door, only to encounter...Grumpy Man! Grumpy Man has the night shift, which as far as I can tell involves being awoken from his nap by stupid hotel patrons who need to get in. Grumpy Man mumbled in an angrier manner than County Man, then let us in so we could stairmaster it to sleep.
When we awoke on Saturday, we realized that we had only reserved the hotel for 2 nights, that we had nowhere to go for night 3, and that it was 11:45 and checkout was at noon. So Josh went downstairs and met Asian Lady, who was talking to a group of students who had clearly been searching all day for a place to stay. Asian Lady was offering the students a room, at which point Josh interrupted to ask if we could keep ours for an extra day, at which point she said yes and told the students that she actually did not have a room for them. We felt kind of bad, but honestly...we would have become the nomads if the other students weren't.
So we decided to utilize our location in the Asian district to get some pho (pronounced: fuh), a Vietnamese soup advertised everywhere, mostly because we thought "pho" was a very silly word. It was delicious. Then we walked around some more, this time to Notre Dame and around the Hotel de Ville, the government area of Paris. We found a yummy rhumerie (rummery? I suppose.) They also had an ice-skating rink set up, along with tubing areas for little kids, and it was all very cute and wintry and festive. Though I will repeat my happiness that I have always lived in an area with real seasons, snow included. Paris and London do not generally snow, and I miss that part of winter. Am very glad that I got to see some snowfall at Yale before I left. But I digress.
Hotel de Ville:
Then on Sunday, we all split up during the day. I went to the Louvre on my own, which was much fun and very leisurely and a nice little bit of independence (not to mention language practice.) I ate at a very French cafe, then met up with Alex again and went to the Eiffel Tower and ate a nutella crepe. The US needs to embrace nutella more than it does, I think. Though all this crepe consumption does make me miss American pancakes. Who wants to do IHOP with me when I return? (Ella, remember our venture on route 17 when we could barely drive?)
Sunday was also a landmark occasion hotel-wise, when all of the clues came together to determine why this was the best worst hotel room ever. Having asked Desk Man to let us stay another extra night that morning, we reflected that karma would not be pleased. Sure enough, after Josh and I showered in the morning (not together), we made the always-welcome discovery that our shower would not shut off. In fact, although the showerhead was dry, water began bursting uncontrollably from the faucets. I alerted Desk Man, who told me that the mechanic does not work on weekends.
Me: But the water is going to go into the room! (This conversation was conducted in French. Most unfortunately, I could not remember the word for "flood." NB: it's "d
Desk Man: You can use the public shower.
So we decided to just shut the shower doors and hope that the drain would perform its job well. Which worked, miraculously, all day long. But at around 8 PM, disaster struck. Josh put down his foot only to find two inches of water in the bedroom. Turns out one of our travel-sized shampoos had floated up and lodged itself in the drain, flooding the place. So Josh started bailing out water with the trashcan, Laura started alternately saving our stuff and jumping around frantically on the bed, and Josh discovered after twenty minutes that there was a hole in the trash can and abandoned the effort. He went downstairs to Desk Man.
Josh: We were told this morning there would not be a problem. I think there's a problem. There is water in our room.
Desk Man came up to check, looked around, and left for 30 minutes. Upon his return, he asked if we would like a new room. We said yes, and were given room number 1 in the hotel. What this means is that our window was eye level with pedestrians, and we could open the window and step directly onto the street. Reasons #2 and 3 for which this was the best worst hotel room ever. We found the entire fiasco utterly hilarious.
We awoke at 5 AM Monday morning to catch the plane back, having gone to sleep only two hours earlier. We were tired indeed, but too afraid to use the shower. Laura, always unusually chipper in the mornings (I love it), was especially awake and without groggy morningness. I cannot say the same for myself.
So we returned from our Great Paris Noah's Ark Adventure and got ourselves to class by 11. By 2 we were at the Royal Academy of Arts in London for a personal tour of their new "From Russia" exhibit, featuring loads of famous art by Matisse and also modern art.
This one was my favorite, by Kandinsky. I love the colors:
The constant activity did not stop there. Tuesday morning we woke up early to catch a train to Oxford for English class. We spent the day touring Oxford, where most unfortunately we were unable to enter the dining hall where they film Harry Potter. To be honest, I found Oxford surprisingly disappointing. Yale is based on Oxford and shares much of its architecture, though in a smaller and admittedly grittier area. But I guess this is why I was mostly unimpressed. Also, I think Sterling is the most beautiful university library in the world. Oxford's felt cold and unwelcoming by comparison.
We also ate lunch with students and chatted about the Oxford educational system, which is so incredibly different from the American system that I don't think you can even really compare the two. You go to college for 3 years, choose a "major" the second you step foot in the door, ONLY take classes within your major all three years, don't have "class" in the traditional sense but instead meet with the teacher individually for one-hour "tutorials" about an ungraded essay you research and write every week, and have no tests at all until one huge exam at the end of the third year that determines your graduation rank. It sounds like absolute hell to me.
Basically: I love Yale. But Oxford IS beautiful from above:
Us in the Oxford library:
And now, I have been procrastinating on two rather large research papers both due this week. I must go work on those. Women in 17th century England were a remarkably boring group of people.
P.S. I made cupcakes and frosting from scratch on Thursday night! Like, no mix involved. Big deal stuff.
P.P.S. Those of you who have been reading will know that this is mostly cribbed from this blog, but ah well... http://www.yaleherald.com/article.php?Article=6218
In conclusion: Paris was the best weekend ever. I did not stop laughing the entire time.
Evidence, in the metro:
Thursday, February 14, 2008
love
this is neither the forum nor the time for this kind of sentiment (i have two essays due tomorrow that i should really work on, seeing as it's 3:15 AM and i still have to pack for Paris tomorrow), but i am just feeling so grateful for my wonderful friends from home. not that i don't love and adore all my Yale lovelies...but i have some of the most incredible and supportive and loyal and always and forever THERE for me home friends. i love them so much after so many years. they are my rocks.
sorry. i was just so bursting with the love that i could not control it. paris tomorrow (today...12 hours...shit not ready) through very early monday morning...i am psyched!! should be a wonderful way to spend the weekend. then it's nose to the grindstone to churn out 2 MORE essays for the next week. eeks!! so much to do, so little time.
happy valentine's day <3... y'all are a few of my favourite things :)
sorry. i was just so bursting with the love that i could not control it. paris tomorrow (today...12 hours...shit not ready) through very early monday morning...i am psyched!! should be a wonderful way to spend the weekend. then it's nose to the grindstone to churn out 2 MORE essays for the next week. eeks!! so much to do, so little time.
happy valentine's day <3... y'all are a few of my favourite things :)
Monday, February 11, 2008
A Rundown
On Friday, Laura, Josh, and I walked down Oxford Street towards Kensington Gardens. I do not know how I could have missed Oxford Street before now, but it was so much fun, very much like the busiest shopping districts in New York City. We passed through a really high-end district, with Louis Vuitton (I can't even spell that) next to Tiffany next to Sotheby's next to craziness. Unlike the cheapie places I populate, the places here gave out free samples, so we all got some delicious Belgian chocolates just for walking in the door to a store we could never afford. A+.
Kensington Gardens was magnificent. So green, so serene (that rhymes), and so many birds! Ducks, geese, swans everywhere. I have never seen so many swans just chillin' in all my life. It was really beautiful. Not to mention the fact that the weather was LOVELY, warm and sunny and rain-less, a rare thing for London.
One of the few pictures sans birds:
Swans!:
Then we had tea at the Orangery, but not before Laura and I indulged in some silly pictures by Queen Anne:
Then on Saturday, Laura and I went out to Notting Hill, which was lovely and white even if I did expect Julia Roberts to come out of a bush at any moment. We went to the Portobello Antiques market, which went on for blocks and blocks and sold incredible old books and silverstuff and relics and etc. And I got some delicious spiced apple drink, which made me reminisce about going to farms with my family when I was little, picking apples and going on hayrides and buying apple butter. I hope I did not complain about that at the time; it is a really sweet memory now. I am thinking Autumn might be my favourite season. I would never want to live somewhere without it. Thanks, Mum and Dad.
Classy Notting Hill sign:
May I quote, "Come and snog in safety! They'll never know." Ooooh, the British. I love the word snog. Will introduce it to the Americas when I return.
Below, we have the most intense matryoshka dolls I have ever seen. They actually got bigger to the left, out of the frame of this picture because it was just too much for one small camera lens to capture:
Me being superfly in front of a leopard car. Unsure if this was an antique, or if someone actually drives this:
Then yesterday, we went to Trafalgar Square intending to see a Hogarth we had talked about in art history class at the National Gallery, but we ended up dead in the middle of Chinese New Year: London Style. Apparently, London hosts the second-largest Chinese New Year celebration in the world. That's second to China, people. Do not ask me why. But it was crazy--hundreds and hundreds of people crowding block after block of the city, firecrackers going off in Leicester Square every other hour, paper dragons all over the streets, piano prodigies on the stage, the works. Quite an experience:
Then later that night, I went over to the boys' flat and received a lovely meal, then hung out with Gerald's two friends from Spain who I could not understand at all. Must learn Spanish, would be helpful in my life. I did hear the Spanish lisp, though, so that was something. We also watched a Cuban movie, and I have learned that the word for bus in Cuba sounds like "wawa." This, incidentally, is also the name of a rather delicious chain of convenience stores along the Jersey Shore, and it really made me want some Arizona Sweet Tea and a hot dog as per my beach days with Debbie long ago.
Also, I made dinner all by myself for my two suitemates and myself on Thursday!!! Homemade tomato-basil sauce with zucchini, over whole-wheat spaghetti, side of honey-glazed carrots. It is the shining accomplishment of my LIFE. No joke. I am putting it on my resume and I don't care how many potential employers laugh and throw away my file.
In other news...I am going to Paris this weekend!! Thursday through Sunday. Exciting stuff. Also, Miss Samantha Lil Bo is coming to visit me over spring break!! This makes me immensely happy.
What makes me less happy is summer. Freaking out over summer plans over here. Considering Kentucky. Someone please tell me how ridiculous an idea that is.
Word of the day:
Sheets = turns out it just means pages, like in America. Couldn't we have said this in the first place?
Contemplation of the day:
Will being in Paris on Valentine's Day make me barf?
Kensington Gardens was magnificent. So green, so serene (that rhymes), and so many birds! Ducks, geese, swans everywhere. I have never seen so many swans just chillin' in all my life. It was really beautiful. Not to mention the fact that the weather was LOVELY, warm and sunny and rain-less, a rare thing for London.
One of the few pictures sans birds:
Swans!:
Then we had tea at the Orangery, but not before Laura and I indulged in some silly pictures by Queen Anne:
Then on Saturday, Laura and I went out to Notting Hill, which was lovely and white even if I did expect Julia Roberts to come out of a bush at any moment. We went to the Portobello Antiques market, which went on for blocks and blocks and sold incredible old books and silverstuff and relics and etc. And I got some delicious spiced apple drink, which made me reminisce about going to farms with my family when I was little, picking apples and going on hayrides and buying apple butter. I hope I did not complain about that at the time; it is a really sweet memory now. I am thinking Autumn might be my favourite season. I would never want to live somewhere without it. Thanks, Mum and Dad.
Classy Notting Hill sign:
May I quote, "Come and snog in safety! They'll never know." Ooooh, the British. I love the word snog. Will introduce it to the Americas when I return.
Below, we have the most intense matryoshka dolls I have ever seen. They actually got bigger to the left, out of the frame of this picture because it was just too much for one small camera lens to capture:
Me being superfly in front of a leopard car. Unsure if this was an antique, or if someone actually drives this:
Then yesterday, we went to Trafalgar Square intending to see a Hogarth we had talked about in art history class at the National Gallery, but we ended up dead in the middle of Chinese New Year: London Style. Apparently, London hosts the second-largest Chinese New Year celebration in the world. That's second to China, people. Do not ask me why. But it was crazy--hundreds and hundreds of people crowding block after block of the city, firecrackers going off in Leicester Square every other hour, paper dragons all over the streets, piano prodigies on the stage, the works. Quite an experience:
Then later that night, I went over to the boys' flat and received a lovely meal, then hung out with Gerald's two friends from Spain who I could not understand at all. Must learn Spanish, would be helpful in my life. I did hear the Spanish lisp, though, so that was something. We also watched a Cuban movie, and I have learned that the word for bus in Cuba sounds like "wawa." This, incidentally, is also the name of a rather delicious chain of convenience stores along the Jersey Shore, and it really made me want some Arizona Sweet Tea and a hot dog as per my beach days with Debbie long ago.
Also, I made dinner all by myself for my two suitemates and myself on Thursday!!! Homemade tomato-basil sauce with zucchini, over whole-wheat spaghetti, side of honey-glazed carrots. It is the shining accomplishment of my LIFE. No joke. I am putting it on my resume and I don't care how many potential employers laugh and throw away my file.
In other news...I am going to Paris this weekend!! Thursday through Sunday. Exciting stuff. Also, Miss Samantha Lil Bo is coming to visit me over spring break!! This makes me immensely happy.
What makes me less happy is summer. Freaking out over summer plans over here. Considering Kentucky. Someone please tell me how ridiculous an idea that is.
Word of the day:
Sheets = turns out it just means pages, like in America. Couldn't we have said this in the first place?
Contemplation of the day:
Will being in Paris on Valentine's Day make me barf?
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