Fall Break Plans

In less than 48 hours I will be on a flight headed for Athens, Greece! I can't believe that fall break is already here! This semester has gone so fast. So, if you are curious, these are my plans for my 10 day break from London life:
My friend Leah and I are flying to Athens, Greece for a few days then flying to Naples, Italy for day trips to the Island of Capri and Pompeii, then we will finish off our trip with 4 days in Rome. I'm praying for good weather and safe travels for us! I'm sure we will have a great time. I'll be sure to update soon after I return to London on November 4th.
Cheers! Amy

Canterbury

Early Saturday morning of last weekend, Carin, Leah and I left on our pilgrimage to Canterbury. Though I admit it was quite different than the pilgrims' journey in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales because we traveled by bus instead of horse...oh well! The hostel we stayed at in Canterbury was wonderful! (most hostels are a little dodgy) The staff was so welcoming and in our bedroom of seven women there was two Canadians, one German, one Australian, and us three Americans! It's crazy how many people from all over the world end up in England.

We saw many sights in Canterbury: The very well done Canterbury Tales attraction that depicted scenes from the famous work of Chaucer. I read some of the tales in high school English, but I had forgotten how funny they are! We also went to the gorgeous Canterbury Cathedral for church on Sunday morning. It was stunning how beautiful the interior was! It also happened to be the start of the Canterbury Festival, so we joined the exciting night parade one evening! I felt a little like I was in marching band again as we walked to the beat of the brass and drums leading the parade. :)

The best part of the trip was our decision to rent bikes and ride them the 7.5 miles to the coastal town of Whitstable. There is a special trail for this called the Crab and Winkle Way (amusing, I know.) It was a perfect fall day and I loved, loved biking under the orange trees and hearing the crunch of leaves under my bike tires. I kept thinking as I pedaled, "I'm biking in the English countryside on an autumn day with two amazing friends. How perfect!"

The coast of the North Sea was great, though the water was freezing! We had a fun time just relaxing before we had to bike back. What a fabulous weekend in Canterbury we enjoyed!

Stonehenge and Bath

I saw one of the seven wonders of the world this weekend! It almost felt weird seeing something "in real life" that I have seen hundreds of times in picture form. Above is a picture of my roommate, Abby, and I in front of the grand rocks.



Leah and I tried making a human stonehenge with Venice... it didn't work very well.

After the ancient rocks, we got back on the coach (they don't call it a bus here) and went to the quaint little town of Bath. The town is appropriately named as we quickly learned when we toured the Roman Baths there. The Romans once invaded the area and built up a temple and leisure facility out of the natural hot springs in Bath. I really enjoyed seeing the baths because the museum was very well done and the ancient peoples' obsession with the baths is interesting. We touched the warm bath water, even though the museum people told us not to...

An important facet of Bath for me was the fact that Jane Austen lived there! I can see now why Bath was such great inspiration for her novels. We found the Jane Austen Centre and I took a lovely picture with Miss Austen... well, sort of.

Norway

"Thvedt. That is a Norwegian name," confidently stated the man as he stamped my passport to allow me into Norway. He recognized my last name! Few times in my life have I had someone even pronounce my name correctly at first meeting me! I had been in Norway only a few minutes and already I felt like I belonged and was meant to spend the weekend there.

My traveling partner for the weekend was Liz, who is Norwegian herself, and we had a grand time checking out Oslo's sights and museums. My first impression of Norway was that it is so beautiful! I really didn't have any idea that the area around Oslo had everything: mountains, water (fjords), and a plethora of orange and yellow fall trees. We were also blessed with gorgeous weather all weekend! The sky was blue and the air was autumn crisp.

I can't say I learned much Norwegian while I was in Oslo, though. I know now that "utgang" is exit and "tuck" (sp?) is thanks. I experienced a bit of culture shock with everyone speaking a different language and all the signs being in Norwegian as well. Thankfully, almost everyone we talked to also spoke English (how spoiled we are!).

Oslo had wonderful museums! I saw "The Scream" by the Norwegian artist Munch, the Kon-Tiki museum was really well done (be jealous Dad!), The Viking Ship Museum, Norwegian Open-air Folk Museum, Vigeland Sculpture Park and great views of the fjord from on top of the Akershus Fortress.

I will remember Norway for its beauty, learning "utgang" means exit, our inability to find a grocery store, how expensive it is, and how good it was to go to a place that felt a little bit like home.

See more of my Norway photos at: http://nwciowa.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009937&l=381e9&id=110800716

I feel so American!

I've never felt more American than I do living in Britain. I think about it all the time! I feel like I look different, talk different, and act different than the natives. Maybe this thinking is a little extreme, but the fact that I am from the US and not the UK is frequently on my mind. Another thing that I've found is how good it is to see familiar (American) things! Though maybe this is cheating on the idea that I am here to experience another culture... Here are a couple of examples:

I was in Boots the other day (which is a pharmacy chain) and a man near me dropped some change. Helpful me picked it up to hand back to him and I found in the exchange that I was handing back a DIME! American money--not pence or pounds!! It is good to be reminded of home.

On the tube today coming back from my first London Metropolitan University drawing class (which, by the way, went very well), I said "You're welcome" to the man that borrowed a pen from me and the lady sitting near me quickly piped up, "Where are you from?" Come to find out that she recognized my accent as her own and we talked about the US (she is from Louisiana) and London and how good it is to hear someone talking the same "language." Again, good reminders of home.

Speaking of language, I've had a few questions about British sayings and words. So, here are some fun words to spice up your British vocabulary:

UK vs. US

pavement = sidewalk

flat = apartment

coach = bus

boot = car trunk

ground floor = our first floor

take the mickey = tease someone

pants = underwear (this is a must to know)

queue = line

smack bang = smack dab (as in smack bang in the middle!)

spot on = correct

sweets = candy

jacket potatoes = baked potatoes (I love this one)

biscuits = cookies

tipped = messy

zed = z

chemist = pharmacist

If you want to sound British other things you can say are, "Sorry" (say it a lot), "Right" (to begin and end many sentences), and "Let's have a go." Like I've said before, they may speak English here, but vocabulary differences abound!

Ireland

I visited some very green hills this past weekend! Lenae, Venice, Kara and I took off Thursday afternoon for Ireland and what an adventure we had! I'll tell you some of the highlights:

We stayed in a little town south of Dublin named Rathdrum. Getting to Rathdrum on Thursday night was a struggle! We missed our train by 10 minutes, had to find a bus and a taxi to finally get to our hostel. I'm learning how important it is to be flexible when traveling because nothing ever seems to go as planned, especially with public transportation! But, above all, I am very glad that we decided to stay outside of Dublin because we opened our curtains on Friday morning to the gorgeous, green landscape of Ireland!

On Friday we tromped around the small town of Rathdrum and found some exercise hiking around the hills. Again, it was so good to get out of the city and walk on grass and be surrounded by trees and endless sky. This was the Ireland I had pictured and hoped to see. We even saw a rainbow! And since we were in Ireland, there must of been a leprechaun and a pot of gold at the end of the colors!

Saturday we got up very early to catch the train (we didn't miss it this time!) back into Dublin. We spent the morning in Howth (just a town up from Dublin) which is right on the coast. We went to the very tip of the town to the cliffs by the sea. I think this was my favorite part of the weekend! The wind whipped our hair as we stood in awe of the crashing waves and wide expanse of the sea.

Back we went into Dublin! We explored the city and found sights such as Dublin Castle, Trinity College, Temple Bar, Bewley's James Joyce room for coffee, and even found Beresford there! And since we were too cheap to pay for another night in a hostel, we spent the night in the airport (though we didn't sleep much) and were very ready to get on our plane to head home on Sunday morning. It was so good to arrive back at Vandon house in London! It's starting to really feel like home.