Thursday, July 22, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Ceroc
I was at a BBQ last weekend in Surbiton and after it got dark suddenly people started dancing in the kitchen. Really good dancing- like on Dancing with the Stars! I asked what they were doing and it's called Ceroc. It's a huge craze over here in Europe. If I check the main Ceroc site here there's about five different places I can go most nights of the week to take lessons and dance after. And they're all different places.
Monday night I went to the O2 center which is like a mall, I think, and I took my first lesson. I wish we had this over in America!
This isn't exactly the same dance I learned Monday, but it's pretty close. They had in a few arm things I don't know how to do yet.
You get a really good workout doing it, too. And you meet a lot of people- When I went to my second lesson/dance on Wednesday night there were about four people I recognized from Monday and I'm terrible with faces...
I really, really wish we had this, but I know why we don't.
Monday night I went to the O2 center which is like a mall, I think, and I took my first lesson. I wish we had this over in America!
This isn't exactly the same dance I learned Monday, but it's pretty close. They had in a few arm things I don't know how to do yet.
You get a really good workout doing it, too. And you meet a lot of people- When I went to my second lesson/dance on Wednesday night there were about four people I recognized from Monday and I'm terrible with faces...
I really, really wish we had this, but I know why we don't.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Wow. Ok. Sorry.
I didn't realize I'd gotten so far behind on blogging until Mom mentioned it.
I spent a day in Oxford last weekend- no really outstanding pictures from that but it was really something seeing the city and walking around it. We payed extra to see Christ Church College- part of that was used for Harry Potter- and it was really beautiful. I can't really picture people going to school there, but then again I didn't see any classrooms either.
The day after that was when it got really awesome...
We took the train out to Salisbury, then from there went on the Stonehenge tour. Imagine a somewhat curvy country road, riding in a doubledecker bus at alarming speeds. Yeah, scared me too. And then we're driving through a big open area of fields and the driver says, Look Forward, and there it is. And then we actually get there and get out of the bus and walk under the road and onto a little sidewalk and right up to the stones. I couldn't have been more that 20 or 30 feet from the stones at one point. THAT CLOSE. All that was keeping me from them was this little, tiny, chain on some posts about a foot high and not a guard in sight. If we weren't all thinking the same thing I'll be surprised but no one jumped the fence. I think I took about a hundred pictures right there.
It was an audio tour too, which was interesting. It needed better writing but it was about an hour long and really informative. Except for the part that said "...and then the stones were levered up ramps of dirt and lowered into holes in the ground, upright, like teeth into the gums of the earth.". You could see the moment where everyone got to that part of the audio track. The looks of horror.
After that we went to Avebury which is... A big hill. A gigantic hill with trenches and such. And while we were climbing it we took a wrong turn and walked about 3/4 the way around the hill instead of straight to the top like everyone else. Let's put it this way, I explained two years of Days of Our Lives plot lines while we walked, that's how big the hill is. Finally we found a way up and played with some whippets on top of the hill (Fergus and Alfie) and watched one of them climb a ten foot stone wall like a spider or a goat.
From there back to Salisbury and the market (where we bought freshly made donuts and dried apples) then to the Cathedral which has the most incredible baptismal font in it. It sort of doubles as a reflecting pool and gets a large portion of the stained glass in it. I took a picture but it was pretty dark in the cathedral. It's not worth posting on here.
This is Brighton, where I went on Tuesday night.
It is the dodgy capitol of the world. (Dodgy = Skeezy). If you have seen The Lost Boys and/or a pier by a beach with amusement park rides on it, you have seen Brighton. We hopped the train after our field trips were done and an hour later we were at the seaside. Which is another reason to love the train system here. An hour that I spent eating a sandwich and writing in my journal, then knitting a glove, and there is the freaking ocean! I think we spent two or three hours in the town, laying on the beach, throwing rocks in the ocean, riding a carousel, walking on the pier, then eating the best Chinese food I have ever had in my life. And then we came home.
Oh, and I threw seaweed at Sarah and she screamed.
Tonight we went to see WarHorse which probably the biggest play in all of London. It's about this boy named Albert who has a horse named Joey who gets conscripted into WW1 and then Albert joins the war even though he's 16 to go track down his beloved horse. All of the horses are done with these incredible wicker frame puppets. There is no moment you do not believe you are seeing real horses.
Tomorrow I leave for Cardiff!
I spent a day in Oxford last weekend- no really outstanding pictures from that but it was really something seeing the city and walking around it. We payed extra to see Christ Church College- part of that was used for Harry Potter- and it was really beautiful. I can't really picture people going to school there, but then again I didn't see any classrooms either.
The day after that was when it got really awesome...
We took the train out to Salisbury, then from there went on the Stonehenge tour. Imagine a somewhat curvy country road, riding in a doubledecker bus at alarming speeds. Yeah, scared me too. And then we're driving through a big open area of fields and the driver says, Look Forward, and there it is. And then we actually get there and get out of the bus and walk under the road and onto a little sidewalk and right up to the stones. I couldn't have been more that 20 or 30 feet from the stones at one point. THAT CLOSE. All that was keeping me from them was this little, tiny, chain on some posts about a foot high and not a guard in sight. If we weren't all thinking the same thing I'll be surprised but no one jumped the fence. I think I took about a hundred pictures right there.
It was an audio tour too, which was interesting. It needed better writing but it was about an hour long and really informative. Except for the part that said "...and then the stones were levered up ramps of dirt and lowered into holes in the ground, upright, like teeth into the gums of the earth.". You could see the moment where everyone got to that part of the audio track. The looks of horror.
After that we went to Avebury which is... A big hill. A gigantic hill with trenches and such. And while we were climbing it we took a wrong turn and walked about 3/4 the way around the hill instead of straight to the top like everyone else. Let's put it this way, I explained two years of Days of Our Lives plot lines while we walked, that's how big the hill is. Finally we found a way up and played with some whippets on top of the hill (Fergus and Alfie) and watched one of them climb a ten foot stone wall like a spider or a goat.
From there back to Salisbury and the market (where we bought freshly made donuts and dried apples) then to the Cathedral which has the most incredible baptismal font in it. It sort of doubles as a reflecting pool and gets a large portion of the stained glass in it. I took a picture but it was pretty dark in the cathedral. It's not worth posting on here.
This is Brighton, where I went on Tuesday night.
It is the dodgy capitol of the world. (Dodgy = Skeezy). If you have seen The Lost Boys and/or a pier by a beach with amusement park rides on it, you have seen Brighton. We hopped the train after our field trips were done and an hour later we were at the seaside. Which is another reason to love the train system here. An hour that I spent eating a sandwich and writing in my journal, then knitting a glove, and there is the freaking ocean! I think we spent two or three hours in the town, laying on the beach, throwing rocks in the ocean, riding a carousel, walking on the pier, then eating the best Chinese food I have ever had in my life. And then we came home.
Oh, and I threw seaweed at Sarah and she screamed.
Tonight we went to see WarHorse which probably the biggest play in all of London. It's about this boy named Albert who has a horse named Joey who gets conscripted into WW1 and then Albert joins the war even though he's 16 to go track down his beloved horse. All of the horses are done with these incredible wicker frame puppets. There is no moment you do not believe you are seeing real horses.
Tomorrow I leave for Cardiff!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Lost in Translation
For future reference "Quiet Hours 10PM to 8AM" actually means LETS SLAM THE DOORS AS HARD AS WE POSSIBLY CAN EVERY FIVE SECONDS UNTIL SOMEONE ACTUALLY COMES OUT IN THE HALL AND STABS US IN THE EYE.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Very English
So. Before I get to all the "what have I been doing" stuff I have to tell you what happened this afternoon. I go to school in two buildings- the dorms I live in and one I have to walk about four blocks to that looks like it's Hogwart's In London Campus. Really it's just the UCL Cruciform building, but it's pretty badass looking. To get to my class I have to walk down a hallway which makes a sort of left hand curve around a stairwell. But you can see into the stairwell from the curve because there's windows- open arch style. When you get around the curve you make an extreme right hand turn to get on the stairs.
As I'm walking to class I see someone coming up the stairs and I think I've got to be careful coming around the corner because I might collide with the person and knock them down the stairs. So I sort of pause a second coming around the corner so they have time- only no one comes up. I peer around the corner and there's no one on the stairs. Or in the hallway.
NO ONE.
I even turned around to look behind me. I'm the only person in the hall at this point. And I kept looking around for a second before I was like ....was that a ghost?
On the way out of the building my friend Sarah made me ask the desk people if the building is haunted and they looked very grave and said ...did you see something? And I told them in the stairwell, and they started to tell me about people they see in the classrooms after everything is locked up at night, or noises. The building is over 300 years old. Of course it's haunted.
Saturday we did go to Camden Lock and it was just as punk rock and awesome as it was last time I was there. And everyone here in London has colors in their hair so I decided to get some too. And some stockings, since that's also the thing. After the Market I came back to the dorm and got in touch with my friend Steve who lives here and we planned a pubcrawl. That was a blast! And Steve is hilarious and the night went on just long enough to be really really fantastic and still let me get up early Sunday for...
The Battle of Hastings! Which was hot, and miserable, and sunny. But the abbey was beautiful and something right out of Highlander (which I've been rewatching) and the countryside makes you want to lay down on the grass and take up painting. Or fishing. After, I had this enormous Full English Breakfast at the restaurant we went to called... A Taste of Battle. da da ching!
Then we headed home on a rather mysterious train. See, we went to the train station at the right time for our train but there was no train there. And we waited and found out the next train we could take was in an hour. Then the digital signs at the station change and say the next train coming down the line (not the one we're waiting an hour for) is not for civilian use. About all of us ran out onto the platform to see if it was nuclear weapons or cattle or what, but the train stopped and looked normal enough. There were people on it so we all ran around like crazy people getting our bags and jumping on the train. And inside the train the intercom was like NOT FOR CIVILIAN USE and we were like "oh no do we get off what's happening" and the train conductor yelled at me to get back on when I hopped off. And then the train started up again and we were all asking each other what was going on.
I pointed out if the train was MI-5 only they were probably going to come down to our carriage and shoot us. And we all nervously laughed.
No one shot us. Thankfully. And then nothing happened last night- I thought about doing more mudlarking but decided not to go when I realized I'd have to go alone. Then class today, and then a ghost.
DOVER BTW
As I'm walking to class I see someone coming up the stairs and I think I've got to be careful coming around the corner because I might collide with the person and knock them down the stairs. So I sort of pause a second coming around the corner so they have time- only no one comes up. I peer around the corner and there's no one on the stairs. Or in the hallway.
NO ONE.
I even turned around to look behind me. I'm the only person in the hall at this point. And I kept looking around for a second before I was like ....was that a ghost?
On the way out of the building my friend Sarah made me ask the desk people if the building is haunted and they looked very grave and said ...did you see something? And I told them in the stairwell, and they started to tell me about people they see in the classrooms after everything is locked up at night, or noises. The building is over 300 years old. Of course it's haunted.
Saturday we did go to Camden Lock and it was just as punk rock and awesome as it was last time I was there. And everyone here in London has colors in their hair so I decided to get some too. And some stockings, since that's also the thing. After the Market I came back to the dorm and got in touch with my friend Steve who lives here and we planned a pubcrawl. That was a blast! And Steve is hilarious and the night went on just long enough to be really really fantastic and still let me get up early Sunday for...
The Battle of Hastings! Which was hot, and miserable, and sunny. But the abbey was beautiful and something right out of Highlander (which I've been rewatching) and the countryside makes you want to lay down on the grass and take up painting. Or fishing. After, I had this enormous Full English Breakfast at the restaurant we went to called... A Taste of Battle. da da ching!
Then we headed home on a rather mysterious train. See, we went to the train station at the right time for our train but there was no train there. And we waited and found out the next train we could take was in an hour. Then the digital signs at the station change and say the next train coming down the line (not the one we're waiting an hour for) is not for civilian use. About all of us ran out onto the platform to see if it was nuclear weapons or cattle or what, but the train stopped and looked normal enough. There were people on it so we all ran around like crazy people getting our bags and jumping on the train. And inside the train the intercom was like NOT FOR CIVILIAN USE and we were like "oh no do we get off what's happening" and the train conductor yelled at me to get back on when I hopped off. And then the train started up again and we were all asking each other what was going on.
I pointed out if the train was MI-5 only they were probably going to come down to our carriage and shoot us. And we all nervously laughed.
No one shot us. Thankfully. And then nothing happened last night- I thought about doing more mudlarking but decided not to go when I realized I'd have to go alone. Then class today, and then a ghost.
DOVER BTW
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Lazy Day
The last few days have been really busy. I haven't even uploaded the pictures from them to the computer, but when I do- probably tonight- I'll make another big post full of pics.
Thursday we went to the Globe for a tour of the museum and it was sort of at lowtide so before the tour (we got there early and then the museum opened half an hour late) I went mudlarking. It's basically when you go on the shores of the Thames and look for stuff. Coins, spoons, pottery- anything that might have been dropped into the river since people first showed up in the area can be found on shore.
Thursday night we went back to the Globe for a performance of MacBeth which was super gory and had this sort of canopy thing coming out from the stage with holes in it. If you wanted to stand with your head in one of the holes you were one of the severed heads in hell. Guess where I stood? You also had a higher risk of being bled on or terrorized by the weird sisters.
Friday a group of us went out to a place called Folkstone which I guess is the boonies. I think it's about an hour away by train and it's within seeing distance of the White Cliffs of Dover, if you don't mind hiking all the way down the rocky shore we were on, then climbing onto an abandoned wharf/lighthouse base/nuclear instalment. The view was incredible.
Today it looks like Sarah and I are going up to the Camden Lock markets. I think she's looking for a dress and I want boots. Who knows what we'll really find.
Anyway, update later.
Thursday we went to the Globe for a tour of the museum and it was sort of at lowtide so before the tour (we got there early and then the museum opened half an hour late) I went mudlarking. It's basically when you go on the shores of the Thames and look for stuff. Coins, spoons, pottery- anything that might have been dropped into the river since people first showed up in the area can be found on shore.
Thursday night we went back to the Globe for a performance of MacBeth which was super gory and had this sort of canopy thing coming out from the stage with holes in it. If you wanted to stand with your head in one of the holes you were one of the severed heads in hell. Guess where I stood? You also had a higher risk of being bled on or terrorized by the weird sisters.
Friday a group of us went out to a place called Folkstone which I guess is the boonies. I think it's about an hour away by train and it's within seeing distance of the White Cliffs of Dover, if you don't mind hiking all the way down the rocky shore we were on, then climbing onto an abandoned wharf/lighthouse base/nuclear instalment. The view was incredible.
Today it looks like Sarah and I are going up to the Camden Lock markets. I think she's looking for a dress and I want boots. Who knows what we'll really find.
Anyway, update later.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
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