Tuesday, July 26, 2011

can't make it a month


without going to paris... rough life i know.

we have one 3 day weekend and it just occurred. the majority of the group when to either paris or amsterdam. seeing as how hookers and hash aren't my style, i chose the best city in europe, possibly the world. yes i was there a month ago with mom but that was more of a tourist visit. this trip was relaxed because stacey is also a paris veteran so we got to do things at our own pace.

see jo. see jo ride the bus in disgust.
we left oxford at the crack of dawn friday morning to catch our bus. our travel group consisted of myself, stacey, christina, and kevin. poor thing traveling with 3 girls. we headed to london, via bus. i doubt i will make this mistake again unless 100% necessary. im not a bus fan. once in london town (before 8 am) we hopped on the tube and made our way to the eurostar train. this was my first real experience on public transportation. the train ride was about 2 hours and i really enjoyed myself. i had a window seat and stacey was my seat buddy. we were one car (or carriage as they say here) away from the snack cart and that was nice to be close to, im an avid snacker fyi. 
a neon sign saying tourist would have been less obvious.

"secret" garden by the eiffel tower
we got to paris mid morning and made our way to the best western "les theatres" .... wait for it.... IN THE RAIN! bad luck and bad weather aren't synonymous though. im a metro pro so in my newly purchased bright red poncho i guided my bright yellow ponchoed ducklings expertly to our hotel. we dropped off our stuff and started to find kevin's hotel... in even more rain. special times in paris when its raining so hard you can't see across the street to read a sign and the people you're looking for refuse to give you an address. my hotel was a stunning 68 euros for two nights divided among us (illegal guests were never discovered, anne frank should have contacted me... i work for waldo)im all for a nice hotel, but when you're there two night and will be sight seeing and going out for the majority of those 48 hours, is chic hotel worth it? no. and when you say my hotel is right by the arc de triomphe don't lie. sure its cool if it is but no one cares if it isn't. and news flash 15 minutes away isn't right by it. so after a set of vague miserable directions mother goose and the ducklings arrived. i deposited one duckling and was informed of a bike ride that had been scheduled... for those of you who know me, i do not bike. i REALLY do not bike in paris rush hour traffic... at dusk... for over two hours. so i passed and decided to  meet the group at the boat stop. took a pal with me and we sat under the eiffel tower for a while in a dog park while i chatted with locals. i've got to admit my ego was out the ceiling being the only french speaker. we met up with the boat at 10 and did a mini cruise down the seine which was nice. after that we asked the biker guide what bar locals head to. so we went with him and a few coworkers to "la dernier metro" when no one could speak english and stayed for about one drink before heading home.

we stood here for at least 15 minutes stalking
a potential photographer...
day two started off early for everyone but stacey and i. we slept in a little bit then made our way to versailles. this is one of the few tourist spots i'd never seen. i'm so glad we went! it was GORGEOUS. and beyond massive. clearly the sun king was compensating... we got within a few hundred yards and guess what... the sky opened up. so we sprinted back to the nearest establishment and waited out the rain with a crepe. once it quit we headed back and went to the gardens.

rowing is difficult
when i say gardens everything else i've ever seen claiming to be a garden is actually a patch of weeds. this garden went on for miles in all directions!! the flowers were enough but throw in the hedges a mile high, the fresh OJ stands, the sculptures, and the fountains, and you have versailles. at the end of the post i'll put up some scenery shots...y'all know how artsy i am. but as we strolled along we saw a particularly large pond... there were boats on it. naturally me being part fish, i demanded that we commandeer a vessel. and to the tune of 11 pounds for 30 minutes we did! it was beyond entertaining. i rowed since i have knowledge of boats, thanks papa, and stacey sat and photographed me and the scenery. which included a family of swans. the swans had babies with them! and as i rowed towards them and they leisurely paddled towards us i suddenly recalled that swans are aggressive and territorial, now add in some floating lumps of fluff that they're feeling inclined to defend. i nearly lost an oar trying to get us away from a white hissing beast. but we survived and it didn't rain while we were on the water! after our boating venture we headed home. the train ride is a long one... often full of asians. we saw one man sporting keds and a silver rain coat... a true gem. and he also had inner ear problems or germaphobia because he refused to sit or hold on to anything so i watched (with great amusement) as this spiky hair sporting thick frame wearing doofus fell all over the train... and then we were accosted by an accordion playing individual. he stayed on our train a good 5 stops... i nearly paid him to leave. an accordion from 3 feet away isn't nice... one played by a homeless man who hasn't maintained his instrument is torture at this distance. i nearly punched a hole in that thing.

bon soir 
i know you've seen it but this was
an especially great day for a pic
once back in the city we headed for sacre coeur. my most favorite parisian spot. stace has been coveting my white scarf so i took her to that store and got stuff for mom too! and as i was seeking out a painting for my dear mother i stumbled upon one that i would "accept" not a great one but one i could grab just to give her... FOR 1900 EURO! so a 2500 dollar painting from a nameless artist on a canvas from the streets. i nearly laughed in her face... sorry mom, no painting. after that debacle we ate dinner at the bottom at a delish italian restaurant since french food is awful. we took the metro home and touched base with the tourist half of our group and learned that the plan was to head to the eiffel tower for a nightime trip up... little did they know, it closes and the lines are miles long. oh well. we all met up there for one of the boy's birthday's at midnight! we sang happy birthday to him in french at midnight under the tower and popped a bottle of champagne! i'd kill for that french of a celebration. most of the girls headed home and we sat with luke and kevin and our third roommate christina for a while longer before dragging our exhausted behinds home to the best western...

copines.
sunday may have been my favorite day yet. THE TOUR DE FRANCE WAS ENDING IN PARIS! hah like i could care less... i hate cyclists and i think those road bikes should be illegal. so stacey and i stayed as far away from the crowds of asians as possible and let our friends take photos for us. we headed to rue cler for a market run. fresh EVERYTHING. bread, meat (ew saw a chicken with talons and face on it) fruit, veggies. you name it they just picked/made it. we stocked up on baguettes, cheese, fruit, and tartes and headed back to the eiffel tower. we looked like locals with our picnic. so fun playing music and basking in the sun, which is such a rarity in oxford... there were tourists by the thousand and we watch two girls make fools of themselves and give americans a bad name. cartwheels, handstands, legs propped up anything embarrassing you can do with your body in public they did in front of the eiffel tower. yelling at each other to move left right up down ha ha ha all the while. i was ashamed. stacey and i were much more discreet with our tourist shots.

we headed home, picked up our luggage and got on our train home. sad to say au revoir to paris, but strangely homesick for oxford. home meant homework. so we worked on our train and bus ride and some very tuckered kids got home sunday night.

versailles flowers

the rain foiled my photos

so upon arriving to windsor castle in a torrential downpour my faithful friend said "oh you wont need anything, can i put my ipod in your purse" so i let him and promptly left my purse on the bus... with my phone and camera in it. basically there is no evidence i went to windsor castle. im fine with that it wasn't that cool. the highlight was a doll house. someone with way too much money and time on their hands made a mini house. everything in it works. from the lawn mower to the plumbing, its a mini home. quite charming, if not slightly creepy. also due to rain and guests being sopping wet and damaging things, most parts closed. so we sat at a coffee shop for an hour. they had delish hot chocolate though. i stole that photo from facebook. nelly and i are just too cute right?

after windsor (which was monday afternoon the 18th) we came back to school. hey a day with shorter/less class is still a good day in my book.

cotswolds. a ruin. 
the same week we skipped out on thursday the 21st for cotswolds and kelmscott. again, we weren't lucky in the weather department... it was pouring again. our bus took us first to cotswolds. then we hiked up to the actual site of cotswolds... in the rain. really a lovely time for a stroll. not to mention 2/3 of our group has some form of pneumonia by now. im not sure how im remaining healthy but knock on wood i've yet to get sick! fun fact of cotswolds. some man fled there and had an old friend brick him into a wall to hide... the old friend died. no one ever found him until he was a skeleton in the closet.
are we at cotswolds or kelmscott or do you care?
cheers to losing taste buds for a drink that doesn't need them.
we got back on our buses (still in the rain) and headed down the way a little bit to kelmscott... once we got there we realized something was off. we were missing two members of our group. specifically two boys. once they were contacted they were told tough luck, catch a bus home. if this had happened to me i would have probably caught a flight all the way home. we were only 20 minutes away and they wouldn't consider going back for them! it was semi their fault because we were told to go back to the buses but i'd still have been relatively irate. but im sure its different for guys. kemlscott followed suit and refused indoor photos... the owner of this home is some designer and maybe i have bad taste but it looked like every pattern on earth threw up on a wall. not my favorite stuff. and the ceilings were for midgets. the stairs were alternating as in one foot went up at a time left right left. how did kids every run down the stairs? im sure he had paraplegic children within a month. so we sat in the garden in the rain for a while, enjoying scalding hot watered down hot chocolate.

just for you mom :)
one thing the kelm had in its favor was orchids. i've never seen one growing in the wild (or not in a pot) but they had some that were really pretty! now that im mostly up to date on the blog i've got to do some much needed laundry. next to come is my weekend in paris which was incredible, and my thrilling evening sitting at the high table for dinner. tomorrow we leave for london for a 3 day excursion so hopefully tonight i can squeeze in details from dinner & paris before im behind again. hope i'm still as entertaining as watching your grass grow :)

as museums go...

chunk of the parthenon the brits stole from greece.
i'm not a fan. the frist at home holds my interest, as do a few sculpture gardens, and certain parts of the louvre. but in general i'm not into waltzing around a massive building full of things that don't impact me. call me snooty but why should i care? i'm a horrible artist so i really just wind up feeling bad about myself.

see jimmy. see jimmy run.
see jimmy get histoplasmosis.
after st. pauls we had a little picnic in the park. adorable, we know. imagine approximately 50 college kids picnicing, now say awww. no we're not cute we're essentially a group of adults. that is of course until the inner child comes out. and did it ever. one of the guys in our group is apparently the self proclaimed pigeon man. you know how i feel about pigeons, rats with wings, the plague in the air, vermin, filth etc etc etc. jimmy thought it would be hilarious to throw the birds a piece of bread and then race into their midst hoping to catch one. the only question i have is what would he have done had he gotten a hold of one? been pecked blind? been pooped on without a doubt, and he'd probly have been so excited he'd have squeezed the poor thing to death. it was disturbing and lucky for us he didn't discover his love of pigeons until the end of our lunch.

rosetta stone
poor simba.
after the lunch we walked to the british museum. there are apparently lovely things here but i was held captive by my teacher. my class was the ONLY class who had to tour with her. and when i say tour i mean people followed us around because she talked so much in front of each piece people assumed she was a guide. we looked at approximately less than 10 pieces in nearly 2 hours. granted we saw some cool things like the rosetta stone! and some that were horrific like assyrian lion hunt wall reliefs. looking closely at the photo you will see a lion that has been hunted by an assyrian king. this man (whose name escapes me...shocking i know) was clearly bloodthirsty and cruel. the lion has been shot in the back, it is now paralyzed, dragging its back legs, and throwing up blood. fair sport right?

she stopped and talked about a head for approximately 40 minutes, the bronze head of augustus. nothing spiffy just a bust. everyone was on the verge of fainting because just like their bars, the brits don't air condition their museums. while she rambled about this eerie head i noticed something worth looking at. an alligator suit of armor! its the only one intact in the world. very cool. not the best photo but its was fascinating to me.

carmen, saira, stacey, some stranger.
after the museum, which seemed to drag on forever, probably because i was miserable and forced to sweat while looking at things that don't interest me at all.... we headed to the tower of london. this is an ominous place which is home to the crown jewels and probably some of anne bolyne's dna. (she was beheaded here) they also have ravens, which are not, as i thought, like crows, but more like a black eagle. easily a foot long and tall. solid black and so creepy. they have signs everywhere warning that they bite. if a raven bit you i bet you'd lose a finger. so i didn't mess with them. we waited in a bizarrely long line to see the crown jewels. i understand the line. they're INCREDIBLE, each door protecting them weighs 2 tons each. and photos are strictly not allowed. its the most secure location within the area. after the tower we headed to our 4 hour boat ride. this was actually a booze cruise. please note the photo BEFORE the boat.

carmen, myself, and adam at dinner. 
they didn't know what they were getting themselves into putting all of us on a boat with a bar and no activities. they didn't even list the locations we were passing. needless to say that was one of our more out of hand nights, but all in good fun. we had a nice dinner early in the ride. there were many occasions at the bar when people would order a bottle of wine (it was cheaper to get a bottle and just share) and the bartenders would ask how many glasses. sadly several individuals replied "a straw" highly entertaining evening. lots of dancing and laughing and then a bus ride home... they had barf bags thank god, because yes people vomited on the bus... how foul. i was asleep thank goodness. once home we all crashed and i stayed in town for the weekend.

i know you've missed me, almost as much as i miss the sun

HELLO, a ghostly version of my usual summer self here! this is a real post. im terribly sorry its been so long but im fairly sure that there are less hours in a day over here. i never have time! but i've been exceptionally busy and loving every minute of it! since my last post i have been to the following places: london, windsor castle, cotswolds & kelmscott manor and paris (each doesn't garner its own post of course but i may do that just for reference and in case y'all can't sit and read for hours, also my photo spacing is temperamental so to give each one its own deserving attention i'll split things up into small groups or solo posts as needed.)

st. paul's (outside)

I'll start chronologically. we went on a day trip to london friday the 15th. our day began at st. paul's cathedral. i've been to MANY churches in my day... catholic school saw to that but st. paul puts everything i've seen to shame. if you have any sort of an inclination towards a god of any kind-pay him a visit here. i've been to rome & i've seen st. peters sure its great but does it have 7 MILLION mosaic tiles in the ceiling? no, but st. pauls does. also if you stand at the top of the dome and whisper someone across can hear you. apparently people propose there. (i personally would rather have my soon to be fiance in reach once he pops the question but hey to each his own.) of course, like so many of the frustrating trips we take, photos are forbidden indoors. i think this is about as stupid as can be. wouldn't a tourist attraction want people taking pictures to show off and say look where i went don't you wanna go? well luckily for st. pauls, i'm spreading the word. as many of you know stealth is my middle name & mrs. doubtfire was my tour guide. so with my flash off i proceeded to snap some illegal shots to the best of my ability to show you what you better come see. the ceilings were the most impressive by far. but its hard to be discreet looking up so i did my best & earned myself a few photos of my own chin, but two turned out very well. enjoy:
stealth shot of the ceiling...
7 MILLION tiles
best i could do, gives you an idea of
size & how ornate it is

Thursday, July 21, 2011

a long week!

these are the fools i have to deal with on a regular basis...
i know its been AGES (8 days exactly) and SO much has taken place... now isn't a good time to update but tonight when i return from my field trip i will fill y'all in on it all WITH pictures :) tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn i leave oxford for paris! my favorite european city ever of course. so i hope this tiny morsel of hope is enough to keep you drooling for my MASSIVE update which will arrive in approximately 8 to 10 hours.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

napping is key here

i have had two naps thus far and they've both treated me nicely. i've gotten lucky with my curtains. they're hideous but a dark color, most people have pale ones and can't block out excessive light, mine do.
view straight out the window over my desk...not too shabby :)

the past two days (tuesday and wednesday) have been great. i'm starting to this they'll all be great. its a tad chilly, which is actually for the best... since nothing is air conditioned here. the bars are really the only place it gets me. ordering water goes over really well with british bartenders. the first glass is fine... by the end of the night my sweaty self was only earning half full glasses with no ice. they were displeased... i could have paid for the h20 sorry i sweat. maybe if you air conditioned your bars i'd order a drink instead.

meg the mutt
tuesday was our first lecture & high table. we have a lecture before dinner. all fancy and such ;) our lecture tuesday was a charming man who has been at oxford since the 1800s according to him... we had a mini history lesson for the most part. when women were allowed etc etc. apparently when oxford started the townspeople would regularly murder students, glad thats no longer a tradition. oh and on another positive note-hitler was a huge supporter of oxford. after our fancy dinner, which was thank god not lamb this time i went to see my favorite oxford employee. colin. he is such a doll. he's our porter (door man) and he brings his dog meg to work. she has an official oxford university college bandana. there is also a tortoise named percy. he's not as fun to touch as meg for obvious reasons but he's rather adventurous and was a gift from SMU so he deserves mention...i guess.

saira, me, stacey, shannon, clara, before 
after dinner we all concluded since wednesday class was only going to be 45 minutes we would do the only logical thing... go out. so we went to a bar/club called camera. which was fun, but this was where i had to order water. the bars here are more like clubs, dancing is the more popular activity. adam, a new friend is possibly the most entertaining dancer i've ever seen. it must have something to do with his long hair and 6'5 frame. our group is fairly close knit so its always entertaining when some creepy older dancer would try and infiltrate our circle they were promptly edged out.

the main entrance to the palace
gardens

class came all too early as always, but today we only met for 45 minutes before going on our first field trip! as a child i always loved field trips because my mom always drove so i felt cool and popular. today however a mute drove our bus the approximate 20 minute journey away to blenheim palace! the duke lives here, currently. i may or may not have seen him strolling around in some sweats having a sammich on the lawn. casual.. but a bit stand off-ish because he won't allow photos to be taken in his house. outside is free game though. he has a lovely garden and massive palace. after our tour with a small man who had a lisp and a middle part of thinning hair we came home. and yes i did say our tour with a man who has a lisp. how on earth you get a job as a tour guide when you're not an eloquent speaker is a total mystery to me. he was also one of the most retiring men i've ever come across. our group of 70 (divided up for tours) is intimidating im sure but still... also he is unobservant. clearly we're a group of college aged americans yet some how this middle aged ASIAN man, yes they still haunt me but not to the levels of excess as before, was in our group. our private tour funded by our tuition had a leech... who was always in the front listening to things i couldn't hear. rude. get out of my space small tan man. i don't like you, not one bit. after the tour we headed home and i hit the books. we've covered the entire odyssey in 3 days time. yes an epic tale, that there are entire classes based on was covered since monday... i have a test in it tomorrow. not looking forward to it but hopefully it'll go well. my first paper was well received, a B/B+ with several comments was nice to discover today. my next one is due tuesday. several people are going to london this weekend, but i have way too much school work to afford two days off. we're all going as a class to london friday! we have a cruise too i'm very excited. more pics to come as always! but for now... goodnight
my birthday roses from papa in full bloom! 

Monday, July 11, 2011

are you alright?

birthday girl quickly breaking the rules!

either british people are very concerned, or "Are you alright" means can i help you in oxford slang... just a thought of the day. anyway! sunday & our first day of classes....
the main quad of oxford university
college, home for the next 5 weeks!
please excuse the visitor.

my friend stacey and i at our reception after convocation
sunday (my birthday, just as a reminder) was a laid back day. at 1:30 we had a tour of oxford & walked around for about two hours hitting the major points. our guide was a scottish lady, i informed her of my love for her country. we had our convocation ceremony in the chapel which is so gorgeous. they have painted windows, not stained, painted. it might be prettier than stained glass... after that we had dinner... and the dinner the night before was a cold meal, so i was crossing my fingers for some warm sustenance... the 1st course of gazpacho was not inspiring. but our food was served warm! however it was lamb... so i had some potatoes. we sit in a harry potter esque dining hall which i love. in fact the dining hall where they filmed harry potter is just down the street!

I live in a tower which only has 3 rooms as i said. my room is quite nice so stacey has moved her mattress into my room and we're roommates :) after dinner she had a paper to write, but i being the ever prepared in advance type had already finished. so i watched a movie and went to bed. (after i forced an engineering student to help me with my internet). the sun rises at 4:30ish here so sleeping with curtains open is a big mistake, one i wont make again soon... at 5:00 there was some sort of car wreck out front and then before i knew it my alarm went off for class!

our welcome banquet. very formal...with cold soup
day one of classes: breakfast isn't the best meal here but we ate and headed to class! we lecture from 8:45 to 10:15 (my first class is class and gender in ancient society) then we have a tea break and head back for more of class # 1. my teacher in this class is a lady from SMU. her child is here which i think would be beyond boring for a 9 year old or lead you down the path of being a freak forever. after class we have lunch. the only meal which will keep me alive at this rate. normal food at normal temperatures.

after lunch we have a break and then meet with our tutorial teachers. mine is named michael nicholson. he's the dean... casual i know. he is also what i presume is a functioning alcoholic. not only have i heard rumors. but  the evidence is everywhere. he actually has trays of cups and shot glasses... and bags of multiple bottles of wine/booze. but i can tell he's awesome because he mutters things under his breath all the time. after our hour with him stacey and i ran some errands. i now have a european phone if anyone wants to call or text that i think you dial +44 then 07741621969 i have no idea why their phone numbers are so long. its a pain.

this afternoon before dinner i had my first small group tutorial. me and my tutor and two other students will meet with him to discuss papers. since mike (my blog name for my prof) has already mortified me infront of my whole class by pointing out that i am the only nerd who turned in the paper early he announces he's already read mine and i don't have to read. SCORE! anyway the poor girl who ended up voluntarily reading hers is a moron. literally couldn't pronounce horace walpole (our author) or manfred/hippolita (character names) or the title of the book she said ontranto with a yankee a the whole essay.. its otranto with a short a. awful. and her paper was literally a summary. i felt so bad for her. thankfully we didn't end up discussing it...possibly because it was so bad? anyway after that was dinner which wasn't as bad as the cold meal.

now its time for me to decline pub invites and go read homer's odyssey... so fun.