As my fifth week in London begins, the tourist side of me is slowly fading. London is finally becoming my home and I feel that I have officially settled into this city. I have even been asked for directions multiple times, proving that I am hopefully blending in and coming off as a true Londoner.
Since I last posted, there have been plenty of amazing places, people and events that I have been so lucky to encounter. Some highlights include watching a polo game, watching the US draw with England for their first game in the World Cup and coming to find my family and ancestors have a strong presence in Scotland.
I was able to attend Polo in the Park thanks to one of my flatmates, Michelle, who worked the event for her internship. She worked the press box and helped check in the press as well as escorted them to talk to polo players. She was kind enough to provide everyone in my program with free tickets to Friday's events, where the first games took place. Semifinals followed on Saturday and the final game took place on Sunday. Kristina, Nick, Kevin and I were able to attend a game between Buenos Aires and Paris. It was an intense game, and the announcers were hilarious. I believe they may have been slightly intoxicated because the commentary they were giving was random and made the match way more entertaining.
"Oh and look at Tito, look at him going for the goal, OHHH WHAT IS GOING ON?!! How did he miss that goal!!??!?"
This photo comes from the Polo in the Park Website and is from the match that we went to. Buenos Aires had some handsome men on their team.
They also explained certain parts of the match that most people may not understand, which was really helpful. Paris ended up winning the match that we saw, but New York won the overall tournament! It was a shining moment for the states.
It has also been SO exciting living in London during the World Cup. The football hype is so intense here and the England vs. U.S.A. game was crazy. I went to a local pub, the Duke of York, to watch the game, and the entire place was packed with people shoulder to shoulder and everyones' eyes were glued to the television. When England scored the first goal, everyone went crazy. Then everyone went really silent when their goalie, Robert Green, missed a ball that rolled into the goal and gave the U.S. the point that ended the game in a draw. To be honest, the U.S. struggled to keep up with the pace of England's team, but hopefully they will continue to win. I'm also glad we weren't beat up that night, as many were extremely angry from the results. We also got free hot dogs, wings and drinks from the owners at Duke of York. It is one of our regular hang outs and we have met many different people who are regulars there as well.
Jess, me, Lauren, Chelsey and Meara holding our free hot dogs at Duke of York, and they are the first hot dogs we have found in London! It was so exciting.
I even met a man there from Scotland, and we got into a big discussion about my ancestors. He ended up telling me that the Hendrys are one of the major families that are present in Scotland, and that they have been around for much of Scotland's history. It is really making me want to research more and more into my past, so that when I visit there it will be even more special. He even told me that one of the best Snooker players (a game similar to pool) is Stephen Hendry. Although there is probably a slim chance I am related to Stephen, it was so fun to hear all of this from a Scottish native.
Many journalists will also be excited and maybe jealous that I visited the Associated Press located in Camden the other week during our class. Jess, another student in my program, works in the sports department there and was able to set up a tour for us.
The first photo is of the lobby of the AP building, while the second photo is of part of the photo and video department.
I loved hearing about the photo department. The photo editor of the London Bureau said there are around 1500 photos that cycle through each computer a day. Every topic you could imagine is covered by photojournalists all over the place, and the department is responsible for narrowing down the photos sent in and decides which ones will be distributed to publications all over the world.
I can't wait to see what this week has in store, especially since we are leaving for Dublin, Ireland this Thursday!
Monday, June 14, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Catching up
I have already been in London for more than two weeks, and have been putting off posting because each day I don't write, a million things happen and I feel I am already so far behind! However, I'll try my best to sum up everything that has happened so far.
First of all, the second we made our way from Heathrow airport, I knew I had made the right decision to come to London. I couldn't contain my excitement as we drove farther into the city, passing buildings for BMW and Mercedes with multiple floors of window displays in view from the road. Almost every car I see here is an Audi, BMW or Mercedes (even the trucks). Even on the way to Stonehenge and Bath, our favorite tour guide, Eric, pointed out a Ferrari that was one of only 250 made. No big deal.
Our flat is in Marylebone, which is very central. It's near Hyde park and Oxford Street, a very busy shopping area. It's been pretty exciting getting to know the area and there are three pubs within a seconds walking distance. Our favorite so far holds a quiz bowl every Thursday night. The flats themselves are a good example of British plumbing, however. One of our toilets doesn't really like to work and the other occasionally gives us a hard time. We are also lucky enough to have a somewhat rotten egg smell come around every once and a while for no apparent reason. It's just great. We have a lot of Febreeze and try to cover it up with apple spice, but it usually just ends up smelling like apple spice and rotten eggs, an even better aroma.
Other than that, things couldn't be better. The city is everything I hoped it would be and more.
Our tour guide, Eric, showed took us on a coach tour of London. We went everywhere, and saw so many beautiful things. We saw busy areas with old buildings that had pieces blown out of them from bombs in WWII.
We also recently went to Stonehenge and Bath, two very amazing places to go.
It is so crazy because I have learned so much about Stonehenge in all of my history classes at Mizzou and never thought that I would see it with my very own eyes one day. One of my history teachers my freshman year talked about how some say Stonehenge was used for religious purposes, while others think that it was used as a sun clock to mark the seasons. Our tour guide, Eric, also said people think aliens could have been involved. There are also theories that they pulled the rocks on logs all the way to that site. It is just amazing to see how it was all put together and how a group was able to pull that off. It was definitely a neat experience.
Bath is somewhere I definitely want to visit again before I leave. The buildings are unreal. Especially the Royal Crescent, which was constructed by John Wood the Younger around 1774. Today, they are used as apartments and office buildings. In front of the building is a trench hill known as a "ha-ha," and, according to Eric, got its name from when people would trip and fall after walking on the trench and their friends would point and laugh at them. The Royal Crescent has been used in films including The Duchess (2008), which I want to watch again just because I want to see the part that is filmed there. We also visited Bath Abbey, which was built because of a dream King HenryVII's secretary, Oliver King, who was also Bishop of Bath and Wales. He had a dream that angels were climbing up and down ladders and telling him to restore the church. The Norman Abbey church was taken down and in 1499 the Bath Abbey was constructed. If you look at the Abbey, you can see the angels on both sides climbing up and down ladders just like in the Bishop's dream.
The angels climbing up and down ladders on Bath Abbey were included from a dream that the Bishop of Bath and Wales, Oliver King, that inspired him to construct this church.
For lunch, a couple of us had pasties, which is basically a meat-filled pastry. I had a chicken-vegtable one that was to die for. We ate them in a square near the Abbey while people surrounded a musician that played for the public. Afterword four of us went to the oldest house in Bath for cream tea.
Sally Lunn's restaurant is the oldest house in Bath. Her recipe book was found in a hidden compartment and now the restuarant uses her recipes to make delicious buns with jelly and cream.
It was amazing and I was definitely full from all the bread we ate that day. We then went to tour the Baths that the Romans used for public bathing. The water itself was bubbling, which is from the hot temperatures in the earth's crust. The museum that connects throughout the baths demonstrates the lifestyle of Romans at the time the baths were used as well as many artifacts found from their era. There were even displayed old folded up papers with curses on them that people threw to the gods to curse those who had wronged them. The water was green in color and "is a bathroom to many of the ducks and pigeons," as we were warned by a museum worker. However, for 50 pence I was able to drink bath water!
Even though I feel like we have accomplished so much, there is still so much to do and see! I hope to do and see it all. Let's just hope that the next couple months will cover it.
First of all, the second we made our way from Heathrow airport, I knew I had made the right decision to come to London. I couldn't contain my excitement as we drove farther into the city, passing buildings for BMW and Mercedes with multiple floors of window displays in view from the road. Almost every car I see here is an Audi, BMW or Mercedes (even the trucks). Even on the way to Stonehenge and Bath, our favorite tour guide, Eric, pointed out a Ferrari that was one of only 250 made. No big deal.
Our flat is in Marylebone, which is very central. It's near Hyde park and Oxford Street, a very busy shopping area. It's been pretty exciting getting to know the area and there are three pubs within a seconds walking distance. Our favorite so far holds a quiz bowl every Thursday night. The flats themselves are a good example of British plumbing, however. One of our toilets doesn't really like to work and the other occasionally gives us a hard time. We are also lucky enough to have a somewhat rotten egg smell come around every once and a while for no apparent reason. It's just great. We have a lot of Febreeze and try to cover it up with apple spice, but it usually just ends up smelling like apple spice and rotten eggs, an even better aroma.
Kelly, Ali, Kristina and I on the tube on our first night out to Zoo Bar.
Other than that, things couldn't be better. The city is everything I hoped it would be and more.
Our tour guide, Eric, showed took us on a coach tour of London. We went everywhere, and saw so many beautiful things. We saw busy areas with old buildings that had pieces blown out of them from bombs in WWII.
We also recently went to Stonehenge and Bath, two very amazing places to go.
Me in front of Stonehenge. They won't allow people to touch the structure anymore because too many people were vandalizing the rocks as well as chipping pieces off for souvenirs.
It is so crazy because I have learned so much about Stonehenge in all of my history classes at Mizzou and never thought that I would see it with my very own eyes one day. One of my history teachers my freshman year talked about how some say Stonehenge was used for religious purposes, while others think that it was used as a sun clock to mark the seasons. Our tour guide, Eric, also said people think aliens could have been involved. There are also theories that they pulled the rocks on logs all the way to that site. It is just amazing to see how it was all put together and how a group was able to pull that off. It was definitely a neat experience.
From left to right: Nick, Michelle, Nick, Chelsey, Lauren, me and Kristin at Bath.
Bath is somewhere I definitely want to visit again before I leave. The buildings are unreal. Especially the Royal Crescent, which was constructed by John Wood the Younger around 1774. Today, they are used as apartments and office buildings. In front of the building is a trench hill known as a "ha-ha," and, according to Eric, got its name from when people would trip and fall after walking on the trench and their friends would point and laugh at them. The Royal Crescent has been used in films including The Duchess (2008), which I want to watch again just because I want to see the part that is filmed there. We also visited Bath Abbey, which was built because of a dream King HenryVII's secretary, Oliver King, who was also Bishop of Bath and Wales. He had a dream that angels were climbing up and down ladders and telling him to restore the church. The Norman Abbey church was taken down and in 1499 the Bath Abbey was constructed. If you look at the Abbey, you can see the angels on both sides climbing up and down ladders just like in the Bishop's dream.
The angels climbing up and down ladders on Bath Abbey were included from a dream that the Bishop of Bath and Wales, Oliver King, that inspired him to construct this church.
For lunch, a couple of us had pasties, which is basically a meat-filled pastry. I had a chicken-vegtable one that was to die for. We ate them in a square near the Abbey while people surrounded a musician that played for the public. Afterword four of us went to the oldest house in Bath for cream tea.
Sally Lunn's restaurant is the oldest house in Bath. Her recipe book was found in a hidden compartment and now the restuarant uses her recipes to make delicious buns with jelly and cream.
It was amazing and I was definitely full from all the bread we ate that day. We then went to tour the Baths that the Romans used for public bathing. The water itself was bubbling, which is from the hot temperatures in the earth's crust. The museum that connects throughout the baths demonstrates the lifestyle of Romans at the time the baths were used as well as many artifacts found from their era. There were even displayed old folded up papers with curses on them that people threw to the gods to curse those who had wronged them. The water was green in color and "is a bathroom to many of the ducks and pigeons," as we were warned by a museum worker. However, for 50 pence I was able to drink bath water!
Nick and I drinking water from bath.
The hot "spa water" has 43 minerals in it and basically tasted like heated up water. The trip to bath and stonehenge was so incredible and I can't believe that I have actually been both places!
Recently, my flat has also checkedo out the V&A museum as well as the Natural History museum. My favorite from V&A was definitely looking at the fashion wing, where we saw one of the latest peices that Alexander McQueen created before his death this past February.
The Natural History Museum was also great because we saw the dinosaurs, which is always exciting, as well as an exhibition called The Deep. The Deep gave a look inside to what lives in the farthest depths of the ocean. There were many dead specimens that were really creepy. They also had models of certain animals, like a king crab that would probably come up above my knees! It was ridiculous. As of now, the farthest that any man-made structure has gone in the ocean is around 10,400 meters, with 11,000 meters being the bottom.
Kristina, Lauren, Chelsey and I on our way into the Natural History Museum.
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