Vocab Words

Some words that I would like to export:
-Dodgy (adj.): iffy, of shady origins or background. [American English: sketchy, shady]
-Flat (n.): residence that is multi-level and includes seperate living spaces for individuals or families. [American English: apartment]
-Queue (n. or v.): formation used for individuals to wait their turn for a service. [American English: line]
-Pudding (n.): final course in a meal, usually sweet. [American English: dessert]
-Rubbish bin (n.): container which holds unwanted waste items. [American English: trash can, wastebasket]

A word I would not like to export:
-Loo (n.): toilet. [American English: bathroom, restroom]
*Note: When asked my surname at the pub after church one Sunday, I simply pulled out my Driver's License, threw it on the table and walked away. The entire table exploded into incredulity and then uncontrollable laughter. They could scarcely speak because they were rolling on the floor.

Currently reading:

Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour

It's an anthropological book about, obviously, the English.

To be perhaps redundant (but clear), it's about the people/culture of England--not of the United Kingdom or Britain, or Northern Ireland, Wales, or Scotland.

Call me boring, but I'm really enjoying it so far : )

News from North America

I heard that there's serious fires back home. Thankfully it hasn't touched LA or A-town. But unfortunately, look at everywhere it has hit: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-me-fire23oct23,0,4293348.story?coll=chi-homepage-fea

Side note: I feel that the rumours are true--Individuals outside of the US, and specifically CA, are much more informed. Or at least I feel more informed while outside of the States. I was reading The London Paper today, and although it's admittedly a tabloid, even there I heard about the fire crises in California.

Must be very smoky/ashy right now. Is everyone okay?

Back at Home

As we're travelling about, very often my flatmates and I will say, "When we get back home we'll do this..." "...I hope the weather is good back home." etc.

And we're really talking about London.

I'm thankfully home for these next two weekends. I am rather worn from jet-setting every consecutive weekend : ) although I don't regret any of the trips I've had.

Crossing the street has become easier. I look the correct way now & haven't been hit yet : ) When outside the UK (where cars drive on the right side of the road), like in Austria & Germany, I got confuzzled because I've become so used to left-side driving.

Also, I absolutely adore the Tube and all the independence and ease that it brings me. I can just go to the station and end up in a completely unique part of town.

I think a huge reason why I'm enjoying myself so much is because I'm truly a student here without any responsibilities. I know approximately 19 people on this continent (plus some random Brits) which is so freeing; I can go anywhere and do anything I want at any time. My roommate agrees that it's quite a vacation here.

Rugby World Cup 2007

Last night was the final match-up: England v. South Africa. To show our support, we all wore red and took the tube up to the Grand Union, a pub in Camden Town, to watch the game on a wide screen.

The place was packed. We ended up standing on the tables so we could see.

Although the British are known for not displaying emotion, their hearts were really into the game. At random or brilliant moments in the game, they would sing in unison, "Swing low, sweet chariot...coming for to carry me home!"

I also did my best to sing the British anthem "God Save the Queen." It's the same tune of "My Country 'Tis of Thee."

At the end, South Africa played the better game and took the Cup. As one would expect from the British public, they showed their disappointment by singing and applauding.

Congrats to South Africa : )
but, good game Johnny Wilkinson.

Bagpipes & Kilts

We took a 9 hour bus to Edinburgh, Scotland. Ouch.

However, it was another of the best weekends ever. We arrived on Thursday at 8am and took the bus to find our host.

It would have been quite an uneventful journey had he given me proper directions. Rhys (pronounced "Reese"--it's a Celtic name) had written me very detailed, but inaccurate information on how to get to his house. Therefore, I showed up at the correct house number, but on the wrong street. Of course I confidently rang the bell, and the door was opened by an older gentleman with whom I proceeded to have a very confused conversation, as you can imagine.

To cut short the story, we managed to get ourselves to the actual house and promptly became obsessed with our host, Rhys.
He is originally Welsh but was raised in England and now attends university in Edinburgh. He speaks and dresses like a young Englishman, also speaks Spanish (because he lived there for a bit), and a tiny bit of Welsh. He's also lived in India for about a year and London and Florida...and a number of other places around the globe. I was quite impressed.

He is on the whole 'quintessentially British,' as I told him, and has a penchant for bantering and arguing as every good British citizen does. He noted my sarcastic humour as being unusual for an American, or indeed a non-Brit--and I'm still not sure if I like that about myself.

While he was in class, we took a walk about the city and saw Holyrood Castle, residence of the Queen when in Scotland.


We're pretty sure she was there when we passed by because she isn't in London at the moment and her royal standard was flying!



We passed by Scottish Parliament, which is the most modern, heinous building I've ever seen.
I think my camera actually made it look better than it does in person. Rhys says that the building turned out this way because the original famous architect died with only an impressionist sketch of what he wanted and a group of people tried to interpret for themselves what he was going for.


Next we climbed Arthur's Seat, the extinct volcano which sits, watching over the city. It was an amazing view.

In my opinion, Edinburgh is one of the most beautiful large cities anywhere. It's more like a little-big city. It's very clean and green; it seems like everyone goes running and walking with their dogs.


The next day, we took the train to North Berwick (pronounced "North Barracks") which is a little fishing village on the sea.

We ate at a little shop called the North Berwick Fry which is famous for having the best fish & chips. I think we used up an entire bottle of vinegar. Mmmm.

And the best part that happened was the celidh (pronounced "kay-lee") which is a traditional Scottish dance. It is definitely not a spectator sport. The emcee announces the dance and talks everyone through it and then the band plays and all the newbies stumble their way through it. It was a lot like square dancing, except the men were wearing kilts.

It was intimidating at first because the hardcore dancers took the dance steps really seriously and I didn't want to mess up. Amongst ourselves, we gave names for two particular kilted men who were overly serious about the celigh: "Fascist Scot" and "Braveheart." It was so much fun!

I'll look for pictures of that.

Amy Winehouse

Evidently the stars also shine in London.
After taking the Eurostar from Paris back to London, we saw her on the train platform.

Paris

So we went to Paris as a USC group.

I know it's the most famous, incredible city, etc. but it's not my favorite. I don't know if it's because I don't know much about French culture, language, people. My only point of reference is Victor Hugo and my adorable French speaking friends (you know who you are).

Anyway, the museums were incredible, so that was worth it. The Musee d'Orsay held impressionist artwork, which I thought I hated, but I really am impressed now that I had an explanation of what it all means.

Here's one of my favourite paintings called "Danseuses bleues" ("Blue Dancers") by Edgar Degas.

The Lourve was incredible.


Mona was there:

The Winged Apollo was present:

Venus de Milo was accounted for:

I've never read The DaVinci Code, so I didn't really understand a few things...


We also were there for Nuit Blanc, which is the night when Paris doesn't sleep and all the museums and famous buildings stay open through the night. On this night, they have a tradition of displaying contemporary art in Concorde; I don't get modern art as a rule, but fire was involved and the whole place was lit up--gorgeous.



Plus, France had just beat New Zealand during the Rugby Cup! People were wildly excited. Horns were honking in the street and French flags were waved. I've never seen more trashed streets.

There were a few little things we saw also, like the Ceremony for the Unknown Soldier at the Arc du Triumphe:

And I climbed the stairs of that little thing called the Tour d'Eiffel.



And finally...

Home, sweet, London : )

A German-speaking weekend

**Beware: Long story**

On Thursday evening, we boarded a plane for Salzburg!
On the way, I sat next to the ringleader of a group of 7 British boys who were taking a holiday to Salzburg and Munich together. As I found out, they had gone to University of Southampton together and were now all in the working world. We had a nice conversation…and then I fell asleep.

Upon arriving at Salzburg’s W.A. Mozart Airport, my travel buddy, Mo, and I walked to our hostel. Once we walked into the lobby, we saw the same group of guys that we had met on the plane! We waved to them and went to the front desk to check in. When I gave the receptionist my name, she started laughing and told me that I was placed in a 4-person room with 3 of the guys from that group. It was a rather interesting experience for my first time in a hostel. I had a lovely chat with one of the guys who came in early for the night. He’s a very British environmentalist. Other than that, I slept early so that we could get an early start on Munich!

Also that night, Mo & I wandered down to the river. We found a little stand that was open and bought ourselves Burenwursts and bread rolls. We camped on the bridge that overlooks the river and ate there. We looked a bit homeless : )

The next morning we woke up early and found fruhstuck (German word for breakfast) at a little pastry shop. It was delicious.

When we arrived in Munich it was quite rainy. Still, we made our way to Oktoberfest—and it was really intense. We went inside one of the many beer tents which was decorated in green and white. It was so crowded that we had to make friends in order to be able to sit down at a shared table. The best part was the pretzel that I bought : )

I didn’t escape from this festival without also consuming a metre-long bratwurst, apfelstrudel with vanilla sauce, and a tasse schokolade (hot chocolate).

The funny part is that I never knew what Oktoberfest was until freshman year when EVK was celebrating it.

Anyhow, we didn’t have a place to stay the night in Munich since every type of accommodation had been booked since July, so we planned on spending the night in the Hauptbahnhof (central station). On the way, 2 German boys asked us for directions to the station, and we told them that we were also rather lost. They asked some locals for directions and we decided to follow them there. The boys asked where we were staying & we told them our sad, homeless story.

Fast forward.
We found ourselves on a train to Agatharied, a Munich suburb about 1 hour outside the city, also home of Gery and Matthias—the two boys that found us at the train station. Gery and Matte are actually neighbors and also best friends from birth.
“Are you sure this is okay with your family?” I asked Gery.
“Yes. My mother is cool.” He replied in his not-too-shabby English.

We alighted from the bahn in a gorgeous German suburb where the stars were shining brightly. Gery’s place was a large, beautiful 6 story house. He and his mother made up a bed for us girls on the couches in the living room—a very welcome change from the cold and wet outdoors. We slept like babies.

In the morning, we were greeted by his mother and 3 family friends along with a huge German fruhstuck, complete with an assortment of breads, cheese, fruit, eggs, tea, and coffee.

During breakfast, Gery informed us that we could take a train straight from his house back to Salzburg, however, we could only buy train tickets from the neighboring city. He said he’d drive to get the tickets, but he could only take one of us along to purchase them since he drives a motorcycle.

My hand shot up in the air.

I got to ride through the German countryside through green fields of white geese on the back of a motorcycle with a German boy. It was really fun. I got to wear a motorcycle helmet and this jacket that he’s wearing below.

But eventually, we did make it back to Salzburg safe and sound. And then, I got to see some of the Sound of Music sights/sites.

*sigh of happiness*

My favorite part about this trip to Austria & Germany is that German really is the language spoken. I couldn’t help but pick up a few words…which is pretty good considering that I went with zero knowledge about German. And now, as a result, I really would like to study the language.