Munchen, Fairytale Shakespeare, and the Shawshank Redemption

I know, I'm the worst blogger ever but I'll do my best to squeeze the past week into one post. (PS remember you can click on the photos to make them bigger!)

Our adventure to Oktoberfest started at 3 a.m. when our driver came to pick us up. An hour long cab ride and we were finally at Heathrow, before the check in counter was even open. A quick stop at Pret for breakfast, and we were on our way to Munich or Munchen as it's spelled in Germany. I thought coming to London was a bit of a culture shock, being in a country where everyone is speaking a different language is an entirely different story. However, our first purchase while in Germany was Starbucks so I guess some things are the same everywhere.We couldn't check into our hotel when we arrived, but they offered to store our bags. As soon as we were free of our luggage, we were off to explore. As opposed to tackling the tents on 3 hours of sleep, the London crew decided to visit Marionplatz or the center of Munich. Basically it's a square with a golden statue of Mary in the center and towering buildings all around. It's strange though because these clearly historic buildings resemble castles or churches and yet, they house department stores and restaurants. Basically we wandered around for a few hours visiting markets, eating (they even have capri suns in Germany haha), and just trying to get a feel for the city. We had impeccable timing because in the center of the square there is a glockenspiel that only goes off once a day- and we managed to see it! It's kind of hard to explain but there is music and it moves around. Click here to watch a video of it. Lindsay and I even tried on some traditional Bavarian clothes in a department store. I couldn't quite tell whether it was just for Oktoberfest or not, but I'd say at least 1/3 of the people we saw were wearing some form of traditional clothing whether it was the jumpers or lederhosen. Then we hopped on the subway (which made me very grateful for the tube- their public transportation doesn't hold a candle to London's) back to our hotel. In retrospect, I'm glad we had somewhat of a cultural experience while in Germany, but I also feel like going to Oktoberfest on Friday would have been fun as well since it's apparently MUCH less crowded on weekdays. The rest of the night was spend catching up with the other Wake people staying at our hotel. In total, I'd say there were at least 45 of us who had traveled from Italy, the UK, France, Spain, and the Czech Republic to Germany all for the same weekend. Also, should you choose to stay at this Marriot in Munich, be sure to emphasize that you would like a cot if you have 5 people staying in a room. The language barrier must have been large during the booking process so they gave us a crib instead, providing endless entertainment, but nowhere to sleep.

On to the main event. Saturday morning we arrived on the Oktoberfest Grounds around 8:30. Doors open at 9. We did NOT get there early enough, but by the grace of god we managed to get a table in the Hofbraeuhaus tent. Getting a table is essential because you must have a seat to be served. Hofbreau is the most American tent because the "beer wenches" (not my label) speak English whereas in all other tents they do not. Once we had settled in, I grabbed a quick pretzel (or breazel as the Germans say it) for breakfast. To be honest, I was expecting more from an Oktoberfest soft pretzel, but I managed to scarf it down before we got our beers. Finally, the beer wench stopped at our table and we each shelled out 10 euro for our liter. Keep in mind that it is barely 9:15 at this point. And so the prosts began (prost is the equivalent to cheers- and everyone thinks its really fun to clink glasses really hard and make beer spill out). Over the course of the morning we made friends with the people around us: Duke students one table over, sketchy French men, Italian tourists, etc. Drinking songs in other languages filled the tent and everyone was having a great time until the scary police officers kicked us out of our table at around 11:30. Apparently you can pay LOTS of money to reserve tables and those people get priority. That's okay though- by this point we were hungry and needed a bathroom break.

First stop, food. I purchased what I thought was a chicken sandwich, but thinking back, really it could have been pork. I have no idea, but it was fabulous. Everyone acquired lunch with choices ranging from cheese bread to sandwiches, bratwurst to roasted peanuts and we began wandered around the grounds. For some reason I hadn't grasped that Oktoberfest is essentially a giant fair complete with games and rides. I didn't venture onto any roller coasters, but they looked really fun. The rest of the day consisted of exploring the grounds and unsuccessfully trying to squeeze our way into outside tables. The amount of people there was insane--I would've loved to see the crowd on a weekday just to compare. We were so tired after our day of festivities that we went back to the hotel and took naps-waking up only to eat dinner and hang out at the hotel bar with our Wake friends. Here are just a few more photos from our whirlwind weekend in Germany:The entrance of Oktoberfest

The 2nd floor of the HB tent (where we miraculously found a table)Statue in Marionplatz.Posing where I got my sandwich.

Me and emily in the tent.

I might have some more additions later if I can steal my friends' cameras.

Back in London, I took Sunday to recoop, but Monday I was back in class. Photo was pretty much the same as always, but Monday night I went to see Shakespeare's All's Well that Ends Well at the National Theater. Our teacher gave us fair warning that it would be a much different show than the performances we had seen at the globe, but I had no idea. The first (and best) difference was that we got to sit down to watch the show. The set was amazing- the director had a fairytale-esque interpretation of the show so everything was creepy and magical and over-the-top. Overall I liked the adaptation, but the text of the play isn't my favorite (it's essentially about a woman so in love with her master that she stalks him...). At the interval (intermission) of performances in London they always sell little ice creams, so naturally we went and bought some and took pictures of the sunset off the deck of the theater.

Tuesday and Wednesday were fairly uneventful- filled with classes and taking pictures for photo- we get to use the darkroom next week! My photography mission even took me past the residence of the muffin man:
My Thursday adventure was an epic failure this week. My friend Lindsay didn't have class for some reason so she decided to join me- it was a gorgeous day so we decided we were going to go to the top of St. Paul's Cathedral which is apparently a better view of the city than the London Eye if you go on a clear day. We get there ready to hike up the stairs only to realize St. Paul's is CLOSED for a private event. Keep in mind their website made no mention of this closure. Brushing it off we head across the street to Paul's, a cute bakery we had gone to before. The first time we went I had THE BEST hot chocolate so naturally I was ready to get that again. Nope, not happening. They were out. So a strawberry tart sufficed. While devouring strawberries and custard, we made a plan to visit Primark, a huge clothing store we heard was trendy and cheap. Back on the tube we went. The inside of this store practically left me speechless. There is really nothing like it in the US- the closest thing I can think of would be a cross between Forever 21 and Walmart with 800 extra people thrown in. I was not mentally prepared for this sort of shopping. People stripping down in the store to avoid the huge line to get into the fitting rooms. Clothes scattered everywhere. We walked around for a while, finding a few cute things- barely anything in our sizes but eventually we were just so overwhelmed that we had to go home. After a nap we were headed back to the theater- for the stage adaptation of The Shawshank Redemption. Honestly, I liked it, but it just made me want to watch the movie. Red was a dead ringer for Morgan Freeman though. I'm off to do laundry- I'll try to post more often :)

Not enough time in the day

I'm headed to Munich for Oktoberfest tomorrow morning the ungodly hour of 3 a.m., but I haven't blogged in a while so I'll throw up some pictures quickly before I take a nap. And be sure to click on the pictures to make them bigger! I promise I'll write a real post ASAP!

Inside the Foreign Commonwealth Office:

Outside the Royal Courts of Justice:

More Royal Courts of Justice:

Before Billy Elliot:

Lunch from my Thursday adventure to the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms:

Inside the Globe Theater where I saw As You Like It and Troilus and Cressida as a Groundling (which basically just means you have to stand for the whole show):

St. Paul's Cathedral:

Outside the play 39 steps (based on the Hitchcock movie):

The rainbow London Eye during the Thames River Festival:

Have a good weekend everyone!

sneak preview

I don't have much time, but I figured I'd write a quick update of what I've been doing and then I'll come back later, put up pictures, and fill in the details.

This week has been absolutely jam packed. In the past week I have gone to a festival on the Thames river (complete with beat boxers, lots of sausage stands and a norwegian sounding folk band), seen As You Like It at Shakespeare's Globe Theater, explored the National Portrait Gallery, visited the Imperial Warooms and Churchill Museum, explored St. James Park, seen the musical Billy Elliot, celebrated a new friend's birthday and gone on a backstage tour of the Royal Opera House. Oh and I went to my classes too. I'm just about to make myself some dinner and head over to Picadilly Circus to see the play 39 Steps, but hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to put up some pictures!

Shopping, Rocks, Churches, Markets

During the flurry of registration, I somehow managed to secure both Thursdays and Fridays off from class. 4 day weekend every weekend! But unfortunately, none of my other room mates were so lucky, so Thursdays are now my adventure on my own days. After I woke up and ate cereal I was on my way, headed to Oxford Street. Approximately 45 minutes later I found myself only one block away from my apartment at the grocery store. I had literally walked in a giant circle. So, I leaned against a wall took out my pocket map, reassessed my location and started off in the right direction this time. Turns out, when you're walking in the right direction, it only takes 10 or so minutes to get to Oxford. I had walked a decent way down the street-- past some interesting stores selling spangly tops and really ugly platform shoes-- when I passed a mall-like building. Noticing they had a sign advertising public toilets (People always just say toilets here, never restroom, never bathroom- I still haven't gotten used to that yet). I pop in, and you have to pay to go to the bathroom. For some reason the coin operated turnstile just confused me too much so I left and continued down the street. I looked in a few stores, but my favorite, by far was Topshop. I went there with my family when we traveled to London a few years ago, but it was even bigger than I remembered. They even had a vintage Nashville Hard Rock shirt-turned dress for sale! What are the odds? I was too overwhelmed so I didn't buy anything and just got lunch at EAT before heading back to Bedford. Little did I know I would be navigating my way back just a few hours later.

I had seen advertisements for New York's Fashion's Night Out all summer, but hadn't considered that it would be going on in London as well. My roommate, Jada, is always in the know about all things fashion, so she suggested we check it out. It was back to Oxford Street for me! I feel like New York's was probably 8 million times cooler than the London version-- A couple of stores were giving discounts, and a few had refreshments (like these awesome Vogue cupcakes), but we didn't see anything too exciting.

The next morning I was up at 7:30 ready to see some rocks. I was headed to Stonehenge on a Syracuse trip. About a 2-hour bus ride later we arrived at the historical site. I wish I had something more exciting to say- I was glad I went to see it, and it's really cool how people managed to move these giant rocks around when they didn't even have wheels, but in the end, there's only so long you can look at rocks (especially since you aren't allowed to touch them or anything.) So we hopped back on the bus to Salisbury, home of the tallest steeple in all of Europe. We were given time to go get lunch and then it was on to the Cathedral. In the words of our fedora-wearing tour guide, Salisbury Cathedral is a "perfect example of Gothic architecture." Pointed archways, huge stained-glass windows and stone carvings filled the church. I wish we could have stayed there longer because there was so much to look at- all the architecture and famous burial tombs, not to mention the magna carta, but, alas, it was back on the bus for a 3 hour bus ride home. Needless to say we were all pretty worn out by the end of the day.

Saturday my friend Kristen who is studying this semester at Oxford decided to come visit London. We spent the day with our other friend Mackenzie exploring the famous Portabello Road Market, taking "artsy" pictures for my photo class, and way too much food. No purchases were made (other than crepes of course), but I'm sure I'll be back. Maybe I'll go on a weekday next time- I feel like there would be less of a crowd, and maybe it'd be easier to navigate the stalls. Today's been pretty lowkey so far- We had a picnic in the park near our apartments and I've pretty much just been doing homework since lunch. Next week is "Love London Week" where Syracuse has lots of events planned so hopefully I'll have lots to write about!

Never to Pass This Way Again

It's been a crazy first week here in London, and yesterday we started classes! Saturday was our first day without any orientation programing, and we took full advantage of our free time in the city. One of my teachers had emailed us an optional assignment so two of my roommates (who are also in my class) and I decided to start off the class on the right foot and go see the Richard Long exhibit at the Tate Britain. Overall, it wasn't my favorite art exhibit. It was rather conceptual-- all about the artist manipulating the landscape (moving stones, walking a line in the grass, making a circle out of tree branches) or something... Anyway, the last work in the exhibit was titled Never to Pass this Way Again-- rather significant at the start of my semester here. I need to keep reminding myself that I'll never be able to do something like this ever again so I need to take advantage of it!

After a leisurely dinner in our flat, the Wake girls I'm living with and our new friends from University of Miami hopped on the tube to the London Eye, which is the largest ferris wheel in the world. You get in these pod things and go around the circle up really high and you can see all the lights of the city, especially Big Ben. The pods go really slow so the whole trip ends up taking about 45 minutes.


The program I'm on does lots of weekend trips to different areas in the UK-- and they've already been paid for out of our tuition so it kind of seems like they're free even though they're not. Anyway, on Sunday was the trip to Greenwich so I decided to go! We loaded onto a big bus (sitting in the VERY front because some of my friends tend to get motion sick...) and proceeded to drive all around London as a bit of a sightseeing tour. About 40 or so minutes later we arrived in "the birthplace of time" as Greenwich is known because they have the prime meridian (0 degrees) located there. We walked through a tunnel under the Thames river and were essentially set free to do whatever we wanted. Well I was starving, so my first motivation was to find some lunch. Greenwich has a huge market with all sorts of vendors-- everything from food to jewelry and antiques to scandalous anime pictures. After looking around for a while I decided on a Mediterranian? (I couldn't quite tell the nationality of the people cooking, but they weren't British) grilled chicken sandwich. It was pretty much the best grilled chicken sandwich I have ever eaten. Slathered in sauce and green things that I couldn't tell what they were on toasted ciabatta bread. So yummy. After I ate probably enough food for three people I was off to the painted hall. I can't quite remember the history of this building (now it serves as the naval acadamies' dining hall), but it was absolutely beautiful. Everything was covered with gold and the ceiling was painted as well as the walls so they had these mirrored pushcarts all around so you could look at the ceiling for a long time without hurting your neck. A quick trip into the chapel across the street (where pictures weren't allowed) and we started up the hill to the Prime Meridian and museum of Astronomy (and timekeeping). It was less of a hill, more of a mountain and thank heavens we all wore sensible walking shoes or I don't know if we would have made it all the way to the top. Once there we walked around the museums that included all sorts of telescopes and information about the first astronomers. There were also several rooms filled with clocks and watches which were interesting but kind of freaked me out at the same time. Finally we got in line to see the Prime Meridian. It's pretty much just a line on the ground but they have this interesting statue thing at the end. The most fun thing is to put your feet on either side and be in 2 timezones and 2 hemispheres at the same time. Or to hop back and forth.Then on Monday we started classes-- pretty standard, but my photo teacher is santa. I have to go sign up for the events next weekend-- but hopefully I'll be able to post again soon!

Welcome to Londontown

'Ello! Sorry for the delay in posts- We haven't had internet in our flat until recently, and I just never had enough time in the computer lab to update! I'll give you a brief time line of my life since leaving the states.

On Sunday I flew into New York to stay with Liz and her family for a night before we flew to London. Three of our friends from Wake who are doing the program (Lindsay, Megan, and Madelyn) also stayed with the Keatings. Basically our night consisted of lots of weighing, reorganizing and reweighing luggage to fit an entire semester's worth of stuff into 2 50 pound suitcases. We had a lovely last supper at Liz's beach club filled with fried chicken, cherry pie and everything American. Traveling to the Newark airport was slightly stressful as we got a little lost - but no worries we left plenty of time for delays in getting there. However, dealing with our bags was a different story. 5 girls each with 2 bags, a purse and a carry on was just a debacle all together. Constantly suitcases were falling over and no one really knew where the line was, and then ALL OF THE SUDDEN this airport man picked our group out of the hords of people checked us in at a little kiosk so we didn't have to wait anymore. We must have just looked pathetic with all our bags.

The flight over was long, but surprisingly I was able to sleep a decent amount. Right when we got through customs the Syracuse guides (mostly British college students) were there to help us find the buses and we were on our way!

45 minutes later we arrived at our flat. I am SO happy we did prearanged housing- We lucked our with our flat. Since we have an 8-person apartment (the 5 girls who were at Liz's plus one Syracuse girl and 2 from Colorado Boulder) we have a big common room and nice kitchen-it's in a good part of town and so close to where we'll have class. Plus I can't imagine having to find an apartment right when we got here. 16 Bedford place- doesn't that just sound like an address from a story or something? We're up one flight, which was a struggle on move in day with my suitcases, but Liz and I have a balcony off our room so it's worth it (plus there are 2 more stories above us-- I can't image having to drag my suitcase up three flights of stairs!)

Our other (non-Wake) roommates seem nice- slightly intimdated by us as a group, but very friendly. It's also nice because we've been getting to know the other kids in prearanged. (Buildings 12-20 are all syracuse abroad students so it's almost like a cluster of dorms). There seems to be a slight divide between Syracuse students and those of us coming from other colleges, but I think that will change once we start classes next week. It's been interesting to meet people from other schools-- most of the people I've been hanging out with (aside from WFU kids) go to Boulder, University of Miami, and Dickinson college, but honestly people are from all over. On the plane I even sat next to a girl in our program who's from Ecuador!

So far we've mostly been getting settled in: trying to organize our rooms, getting a lay of the land, buying phones etc. so we haven't had much time to explore the city but I'm already having so much fun. I've met great people, and I'm really excited about this semester. I have to go get ready for dinner but I'll post pictures of the inside of our flat once it's clean enough for other people to see it!