Barcelona, Spain

I can't say I particularly enjoyed my two years of Spanish language classes in high school. Maybe that's why I was only mildly excited to spend the weekend in Barcelona, Spain. A few friends convinced me to go and since flight tickets were pretty cheap, I went! And I surprised myself by loving it! Barcelona was a such a relaxing place to be because we were not running everywhere to see "the important sights" because there just are not a ton of significant places to see there. Instead, we could relax and walk along the famous Las Ramblas street, sit on the beach and watch the waves crash in, or eat far to much gelato ice cream. :) I was also able to go to the Picasso museum there. It was really neat to see Picasso's early work and a lot of the ceramics he did later in life. I'm glad I made the trip to Barcelona! It is a place I would one day love to return to.

This last picture is just a random one that Kelly and I took with a Spanish couple. Yep.

Thanksgiving UK Style

Happy late Thanksgiving friends and family! I hope you had a grand day eating turkey and sitting around a table full of family. Though the Brits do not celebrate Thanksgiving, our program directors were not going to ignore the fact that the 54 Americans living in Vandon House still did. Each of us took a part of the process to get lunch on the table. I was involved in the cooking on Thanksgiving morning. And yes, I wore an apron that said "Burt's Butchers" on it. In total, over 80 people attended the lunch which included students, visiting families, and a few of our professors even came. It was really fun to look down the long table and and see everyone chatting and eating and laughing. Not quite Thanksgiving at home, but it was the best alternative I could have hoped for!

A ticket to ride...to Liverpool!

I went up to north England yesterday to see the birthplace of The Beatles! After a long train ride through darkness and then the early morning light we arrived in Liverpool. The town itself was plain and grey in color. It had almost an industrial or coal mining feel. Anyway, we went to The Beatles' Story museum that went through the fab four's lives from beginning to now. The museum was very well done and it was interesting to hear about how it all started. One of my favorite room was the John Lennon memorial room that was completely white with a white baby grand piano, white curtains, white carpet- everything white. His song "Imagine" was playing and it was so relaxing and beautiful. I also loved the room that was a block of televisions all playing the same scene of screaming and crying teenage girls who had got a glimpse of The Beatles.

Another Liverpool highlight was going to see The Cavern Club where The Beatles played almost 300 times during their start. It was about 2 in the afternoon when we went down the stairs into The Cavern, but a rock band was on stage playing and the place was packed with people! It was a nice little taste of what it would have been like with The Beatles on stage. We also ventured out of the city center to find Penny Lane, a school the boys went to, John Lennon's house and Strawberry Fields. All in all, it was great to be a Liverpool "day tripper!"

Pretending to climb over the fence into Stawberry Fields

Classes

I had someone ask if I ever went to class. I suppose this is a good question because my blog posts may have led you to believe that I'm not really STUDYING abroad. So, here is my response and update on the 12 credits I am taking here in London.

British Experience: Talk about what we think of London, ask questions, discuss travel, ect. We also get London assignments which are usually specific museums or parts of the city we must go to and journal about. Our assignment for this class is to always be journaling!

Contemporary Britain: Learn about British life by studying everything from the Royal Family to Britishness to Government to the media. It's interesting to compare Brits to Americans.
(The previous two are classes that everyone in the program is required to take together.)

Calligraphy: I love this class! It's a joy to go to each Tuesday morning and just sit and write beautiful letters for a couple of hours. My professor is wonderful and knows her stuff because she is a professional calligrapher. I also find this class interesting because I am the youngest person in the room by about 30 years. :)


Art in London: This is another class I have with my peers here in Vandon House. We meet each week at a different art gallery in London. It's a great way to visit the galleries! And almost like having a free tour guide each week with our professor showing us around and pointing out the artist's intentions or a different view of a piece.

Drawing: I have this class at London Metropolitan University, so I feel very small when I go there. It's a good class though with lots of interesting students. I realize how much I love drawing whenever I go!

So, that's what I do here when I'm not playing. :) But above all, I think the greatest learning experience is being away from home and trying to understand the culture here. I'm also learning a lot about traveling and flexibility.

Movie Premire

I went to a movie premire a couple of weeks ago for the new movie Lions for Lambs. I've never actually heard of this movie but, oh well, Tom Cruise would be there so I went. We got there early to get a good place and actually got very close to the man himself! I have to give credit to my friend Lenae for taking the above picture of Tom. He is much shorter in person than he seems in movies. It was a fun night and pretty neat to see such a famous face!

Tonight we had a fun girls' night with the Westminster Chapel gals. Every month they have a girlie night at someone's flat and tonight the Amerians hosted! You Northwestern people, Fern girls especially, will be pleased to know that we taught our British friends to play Nerts (aka Dutch Blitz)! The Brits loved the fast paced card game and were very good for first timers. It was so cute when they got angry or missed a chance to lay a card! Just try to picture someone with an English accent angry over a card game... very amusing. :)

Roma

The last four days of our trip were spent in Roma (Rome). I enjoyed seeing all the history and art in Rome. There were fountains everywhere! And sculptures and beautiful buildings and open plazas. St. Peter's and the Vatican were so cool to see. We even saw the pope while we were standing around outside St. Peter's! It was All Saints day so the Pope opened his window way up high and gave a blessing in different languages. Though he was just a little speck in the window, it was pretty neat to see and hear such a significant person. Another highlight was seeing the Sistine Chapel. Sure, waiting in line for 3 hours was not fun, but being able to stare up at Michelangelo's handiwork was phenomenal. While we were waiting in the line of people that streached for what had to be almost a half mile long, I was struck by the fact that all these people (the Vatican gets thousands of visitors per day) were waiting in line to see art and ultimatly Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling. From an art major perspective: How cool is that?!

Pompeii

Ahhhh, a sunny day walking the streets of the ancient city of Pompeii! A quick trip from our base in Naples brought us to the entrance of the uncovered ruins. Mt. Vesuvius, the volcano that erupted and buried the city in 79 AD, loomed in the horizon as Leah and I explored the city. It is much bigger than I had anticipated! And they are still uncovering parts of the ruins! It was so neat to see how the people of 79 AD would have lived and worked. The city contained just what a city should: houses, temples, government buildings, a bakery, a theater, and much more. Many of the floor mosaics and wall paintings are still intact and surprisingly full of vibrant color. I think my favorite thing was seeing the street stepping stones that I have read about. The stones are placed across the deep streets so citizens could walk across without stepping onto the dirty streets. I really enjoyed our relaxing stroll through Pompeii. Even though the idea of a city being covered in ash and lava is pretty morbid, it is so interesting to see Pompeii now.

Down! Down!

After Greece Leah and I skipped over to Naples, Italy where we met up with Emily for a few days. Though we spent little time in Naples and instead took a ferry to the Island of Capri. It was a gorgeous day and we walked around the little Island, at some ice cream, and had my first taste of amazing Italian pizza (how do they make it so good?!). The highlight of the day was for sure the boat cruise around the island. The waves crashed up around us and misted our faces as we flew across the water. The Mediterranean Sea is very salty and I could taste the salt when I licked my lips.

Then my favorite part of the day took place: The Blue Grotto. If any of you reading this have read The Christy Miller series, you will understand my inspiration for coming to the Blue Grotto in the first place. Our big, 50 person boat came to a halt in front of the island wall and at the base of the wall was a small cave hole. Surrounding our boat were small rowboats, each containing a scruffy man holding ores. One by one, each rowboat came up to our boat and pulled 3 to 4 people into the small hull. Our turn came and the three of us gingerly stepped into the little rowboats, said a prayer and off we went towards the small opening in the island cliff. We were laughing and taking pictures when our boatman yelled, "Down! Down!" and we slammed our backs down to the bottom of the boat. We had to lie down or we wouldn't make it through the small opening. Once through, we sat up and were surrounded by a brilliant, bright blue-- everywhere! The cave was stunning how blue it was. Out boatman even sang to us in Italian as he paddled us around the grotto. What an experience!

It's all Greek to me!

Athens, Greece was the start of our 10 day fall break away from London and into far away lands! Athens was a beautiful city with beautiful, dark skinned Greek people. Have you ever seen the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding?" (and if you haven't, you really should- very funny!) The people in that movie are excellent portrayals of the men and women I met in Greece! They are big and loud and want to explain the history behind everything and insist that Greece is the best place to be! Also, I now fully understand the phrase "It's all Greek to me!" It looks nothing like English and even after staring at a word for a long time and trying to find the same word on a map for example was hopeless. Hopeless!

A few of my favorite things about Greece were:

1) Seeing the Acropolis! I've always wanted to see the Parthenon and I was not dissapointed at all. It's huge and set high on a hill in central Athens. All the ruins were neat to see. It's hard to fathom how old some of the structures were!

2) Our 8th floor hotel room with a huge balcony! Leah and I drug chairs out of our room onto the balcony any chance we got. It was so nice to relax and view the city from above.

3) The weather was amazing-- we were eating chocolate covered cookies and the chocolate was actually MELTING. Beautiful!

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.

Harrods

I went to one of the largest department stores in the world yesterday. After class a group of us went to explore (and get lost in- for real!) the 5 large floors of consumerism called Harrods. And if some of you have something like JCPenny's in mind, think bigger, much bigger and think of overly-super expensive lines like Prada and Gucci. Harrods is so big that there are a couple of restaurants on each floor, a supermarket, carpet store, a huge department of chocolate (oh, yes!) and even a pet shop! (There are actually over 330 departments in Harrods.) My favorite parts were the Christmas department because it was so good to hear Christmas music again and I also loved the Tiffany & Co. department because of all the gorgeous diamonds. One of the massive rings we looked at cost 105,000 pounds! Which would be a rock that would be priced at about $210,000 in the US... yikes! Needless to say, I did not purchase anything at Harrods because I think I would prefer to have money to eat for the rest of the time I am in London instead.

The Church Chapter

I have found a wonderful church here in London to attend! I was looking forward to going to many different churches during my stay in London, but since I have found Westminster Chapel I just want to go there from now on. The people are so welcoming and my first time there the younger greeters even told us (Leah and I) where to sit so we would be with the rest of the young people. The service reminds me a lot of my home evangelical free church. I recognize most of the contemporary songs that we sing, though because of the English accent the song "I stand in awe of you" sounds more like "I stand in awer of you." I really enjoy worshiping with the people here. Even though I am living in London, I still don't get a lot of real, meaningful contact with British people. After attending church a few times and the Wednesday night service for people in their 20s, I feel like I actually could call a few of these Londoners my friends!

I really felt at home at Westminster Chapel on Sunday when the Vandon House group stayed for the meal after the service. Every Sunday the church serves a noon meal for £3 (about $6). Since we were new to the church, our group was offered vouchers to eat for free! (How could we pass up free food that we didn't have to make ourselves??) It was delicious lunch of potatoes, beef stew, and cold rice pudding for dessert. I offered to help clean up afterwards and had a great conversation with an older gentleman while we put away dishes together. He is originally from Ireland and it was a good thing we got to talking because I am traveling to Ireland (Dublin area) this weekend! He was able to give me some pointers and places to see.

Something I've noticed about British people, especially those I have met at church: When they find out I am American they always ask where I am from in America. About half the time when I tell them "South Dakota," they actually have an idea of where that is! Now, if I were back at home in the US and met someone from England, I would never think to ask what part of England they are from, because I know squat about UK geography. I've noticed this in topics like politics as well-- British people know tons more about America than Americans know about Britain. In reflection of this point, I wonder if being American makes me so focused on my country that I forget about the rest of the world. One of my goals in coming to London for a semester is to become a better global citizen, so I hope to learn to think out of the "American-box" while I am here.

Oh, and I forgot to mention one thing! Westminster Chapel is located only a few doors down from Vandon House! It's amazing how God works in situating such a vibrant, Christ-centered church only a block from a houseful of American students!

Greenwich

Yesterday, our group went to Greenwich, which is a small suburb of London. Greenwich is significant because the prime meridian is located there. The Royal Observatory is located on top of a hill that overlooks London. The prime meridian line is clearly shown, so I was able to take a picture with a foot in each hemisphere!


The Observatory also has many telescopes... and clocks because time all over the world is measured from Greenwich.

In Greenwich (which, by the way, is pronounced "Grenich") Leah, Venice and I ate at a delicious Chinese restaurant. Venice is from Hong Kong so she loved taking us there and advising us on what to order. It was so nice to eat out, even though it is expensive, because we have to make all our own food in Vandon House. ***As a side note, if any of you reading this have any simple, good recipes-- SEND THEM TO ME! I am learning to be a better cook, but I am running out of ideas.***

Another Greenwich highlight was The Painted Hall of the Old Royal Navel Academy. The entire hall was painted from floor to ceiling with nautical references, angels, royalty, and mythological figures. It was so beautiful! I spent some time laying on the cold, stone floor just staring up in wonder at the skill of the artist. The hall was meant to be a dining room for the academy, but after it was painted it was thought to be too well done for just eating in, so it's been open for tourists ever since. I wish I could better describe to you how incredible it was!

Unique to London

Do you remember my adventure with Leah and Karley to the longest escalator in western Europe? Well, one night last week the three of us were off on another slightly ridiculous trip! We saw in the paper that a huge sculpture of a swimmer had been unveiled by Tower Bridge, so we hastily grabbed our cameras and were off! The swimmer was pretty neat... rather weird, but why not have a huge swimmer trying to freestyle through solid ground?

The unexpected joy we found next to the swimmer was Tower Bridge at night. So gorgeous all lit up! I forget sometimes that I am in London, but walking across Tower Bridge couldn't be a better reminder. It is such a unique landmark to this city.

News! News! I was caught out in my very first London rain a couple of days ago! Surprisingly, It didn't rain for the first 19 days I was here. So when it finally did rain on Thursday, I was completely unprepared without umbrella or raincoat! It started pouring as I was walking along the Thames, so I dodged into the Tate Modern art museum (thank goodness for art!). I guess I will soon have to get used to taking my umbrella and wearing my raincoat when I go out.