Since my last post I have travelled from London to Amsterdam, then Amsterdam to Barcelona. Amsterdam was a lot of fun. It ended up being really really expensive for me though. We spent the first night in a nice Hotel near the airport which was made nicer by the fact that our room was upgraded. The first night we just went into town to walk around and get a feel for the city. We were all really tired from the day of travelling (especially because I was lugging around a 50+ pound duffle bag) so we called it an early night. The next morning we moved from our hotel to our hostel (still lugging my massive bag). The hostel we stayed at was called Flying Pig Beach Hostel. It was really an awesome place. During the warm months it is really really busy because it is right on the Atlantic so everybody comes to surf and windsurf. When we were there is was frigidly cold and snowing so there weren't a lot of beach goers there. We went to the Van Gogh Museum, the Anne Frank House, Leiden (a cool city outside of town, but still not as far as our hostel), and visited the infamous Red Light District. It was a very fun vacation and the Dutch were extremely friendly people, all of whom knew English which made it a lot easier.
We woke up at 6 a.m. in Amsterdam on Weds. and were out the door by 6:30 to catch a bus. Again, I lugged my bag across the city to the airport and then across Barcelona to our hostel. Our hostel is literally right on the beach in Barcelona. It is beautiful, but not particularly warm, so it is just slightly less enjoyable. Barcelona has been very nice so far. I spent too much money in Amsterdam and now I have to be very cheap as a result. I don't really have very many plans for Barcelona other than relaxing on or around the beach and going into the city center a couple of times. Today, everybody else decided to go to the Olympic Park but I am coming down with a cold and really didn't feel well enough to go. It has been alright though...I just threw on my iPod and started walking around near the Hostel. Now I am sitting in the bar looking out at the ocean and the palm trees and listening to more music. What a change of pace from the perpetual hustle and bustle of London!
It is strange not being in London anymore and to be frank, I miss it. I got really comfortable in Earl's Court and greater London and grew to like it a lot. It will be interesting to see how Florence will compare. I think the language barrier might put an unfair bias on London being my favorite but I am going to do my best to appreciate Florence and all of the places I am visiting for that matter because I know that each one of them has many qualities. It is hard to beat the diversity of London but if more of these nice beaches and palm trees keep popping up London might find itself some competition!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
Ciao London
Well, I leave London in tomorrow. It has been a great journey. I feel like I have seen a lifetimes worth of London, but I know that if I ever come back here it will continue to impress me. London is an amazing city that is almost as modern as it is historic. Indeed you can really see or do anything you please here as long as you are willing to pay for it. I have had the unbelievable opportunity to do a lot of things most people will never do while earning college credits. Before I came here I debated whether or not I should come, betting on the fact that I would come back here sometime in life anyway. I know now that there is no way I could have had the same experience any other way because no vacation would ever have provided me with the amount of information or experiences that I have had in my 2 months living in London.
We are really busy these last couple of days because we are trying to see everything we didn’t make time to see before now. Today we saw the Tower of London. It was really amazing and extremely old. It was just unfortunate that it is Easter Weekend and everybody in Europe seems to have come to London on vacation. The lines at the Tower were phenomenal, but so were the crown jewels!
I am a little bit sad to be leaving. I really grew comfortable to London life. I could definitely spend an entire semester in London and it is weird to think that two weeks from now I will be settled into an eight week stay in Italy. London has treated me very well (except the exchange rate!) and I hope Florence will do the same. I’ll keep you updated on the trips I am taking to Amsterdam and Barcelona during our break.
Much Love,
Lee
We are really busy these last couple of days because we are trying to see everything we didn’t make time to see before now. Today we saw the Tower of London. It was really amazing and extremely old. It was just unfortunate that it is Easter Weekend and everybody in Europe seems to have come to London on vacation. The lines at the Tower were phenomenal, but so were the crown jewels!
I am a little bit sad to be leaving. I really grew comfortable to London life. I could definitely spend an entire semester in London and it is weird to think that two weeks from now I will be settled into an eight week stay in Italy. London has treated me very well (except the exchange rate!) and I hope Florence will do the same. I’ll keep you updated on the trips I am taking to Amsterdam and Barcelona during our break.
Much Love,
Lee
Monday, March 10, 2008
My stint as an MBA student...
So, we had a three day weekend this past weekend and it was uneventful, which was nice. We do so much during the week that the weekends are often very nice breaks to just chill around the apartment. We just went to a couple pubs and made a couple nice dinners for a change and it was all very relaxing. We also are beginning to wind down with classes and as a result have to begin working on our final projects. I am writing a paper on Speaker's Corner as theater. Speaker's Corner is essentially a concentrated area of free speech in the middle of Hyde Park where people can go every Sunday and stand on a box and speak their mind. I am writing a paper arguing that, through the eyes of Bertolt Brecht, Peter Schumann, and Peter Brook (three theater experts that we have studied in the course) Speaker's Corner is theater. It is about as interesting of a topic as I could come up with that didn't delve into the business side of the theater world in London, which would have involved a massive amount of research and interviews that I didn't want to do. As a result, I got to go to Speaker's Corner and take notes on all the theatrical events happening around me. A couple highlights:
1.) A man yelling F*** Mohammed, F*** Jesus, and F*** you who was standing next to a man with a sign that said "Everything is OK". The profane man was actually trying to prove a point but it wasn't well received by much of the audience...
2.) A man yelling that the white man took all the land from the red man and that they should give it all back.
3.) A man with a sign that read "I am an attention whore, listen to me"
4.) Many, many, many people preaching their particular religion. Islam is especially common.
Anyway, it is a very interesting place that I would recommend anyone visiting London should see.
Today, four of us had the opportunity to sit in on a lecture at the University of London. It was excellent for me for a couple of reasons. First, I finally was able to escape the land of fiction and theater. Second, these grad students were learning many of the things that I have already covered in my undergraduate degree. This gave me confidence in Ripon that has been lacking of late. Third, these people pay a lot of money to attend school here and as a result they get dinner catered for them in the middle of the class and we got to eat for free (always a plus when you are dealing with the kind of exchange rates we are dealing with over here)! Also, one gets really tired of Spaghetti after a while. But seriously, it was a really great experience that I didn't expect to happen but our Profs. Son-in-Law was the Prof. of the class and invited a few of the more business minded students on the program to come and sit in on the class. We learned about marketing to the developing and poorer nations of the world and discussed if it was ethical to make money off of the poor. It was interesting and a surprisingly Riponesque class considering there were about 20 students including the four of us. We split into small groups and had class discussions, both of which were unexpected surprises for me going into a Grad. School classroom at the University of London. I enjoyed it very much though!
We'll I think I will stop for now. I really need to get back to my paper but at least this was a somewhat productive form of procrastination on my paper. It is a whole lot better than Solitaire or checking my email incessantly. Keep in touch!
Much Love,
Lee
1.) A man yelling F*** Mohammed, F*** Jesus, and F*** you who was standing next to a man with a sign that said "Everything is OK". The profane man was actually trying to prove a point but it wasn't well received by much of the audience...
2.) A man yelling that the white man took all the land from the red man and that they should give it all back.
3.) A man with a sign that read "I am an attention whore, listen to me"
4.) Many, many, many people preaching their particular religion. Islam is especially common.
Anyway, it is a very interesting place that I would recommend anyone visiting London should see.
Today, four of us had the opportunity to sit in on a lecture at the University of London. It was excellent for me for a couple of reasons. First, I finally was able to escape the land of fiction and theater. Second, these grad students were learning many of the things that I have already covered in my undergraduate degree. This gave me confidence in Ripon that has been lacking of late. Third, these people pay a lot of money to attend school here and as a result they get dinner catered for them in the middle of the class and we got to eat for free (always a plus when you are dealing with the kind of exchange rates we are dealing with over here)! Also, one gets really tired of Spaghetti after a while. But seriously, it was a really great experience that I didn't expect to happen but our Profs. Son-in-Law was the Prof. of the class and invited a few of the more business minded students on the program to come and sit in on the class. We learned about marketing to the developing and poorer nations of the world and discussed if it was ethical to make money off of the poor. It was interesting and a surprisingly Riponesque class considering there were about 20 students including the four of us. We split into small groups and had class discussions, both of which were unexpected surprises for me going into a Grad. School classroom at the University of London. I enjoyed it very much though!
We'll I think I will stop for now. I really need to get back to my paper but at least this was a somewhat productive form of procrastination on my paper. It is a whole lot better than Solitaire or checking my email incessantly. Keep in touch!
Much Love,
Lee
Monday, March 3, 2008
Ain't Nothin' But...
Forgive me for how long it has been since my last post. I have done so much that I couldn't possibly get it all down in one post. So I will just note some of the highlights:
Last week we went to Stratford Upon Avon to visit that have to do with Shakespeare. We saw his Mom, Sister, and Doctors houses as well as his birthplace. It was all well and good but for the most part it was pretty underwhelming. It was just nice to get out into the country and away from the paved paradise of London. I think was healthy for the entire group. The best parts of the trip by far were the performances we saw while we were there. We saw Richard II and Henry IV part I which were both performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company and better performed than any of the plays we have seen thus far into our stay.
For the most part we have seen all of the tourist attractions around the city so we spend our time meandering around markets during the day trying to find cheap food/souvenirs. It is nice knowing that we have successfully escaped the freezing temps and blowing snow for warm, sunny days. We all just find our ability to walk around outside with no jacket a real blessing!
Classes are starting to wind down now as we only have about 2 weeks left in London! I can't believe how fast it has gone by and the amount of stuff that we have fit into such a short period of time. It really feels though, like the program should be done after London is done because it feels as though we have done a semesters worth of stuff! It is really crazy to think that we will not be done but just moving on to another 8 weeks program in a completely different country that doesn't speak English. It is going to be an interesting journey!
Sorry this has been such a short entry but I am kind of typed out between writing papers and keeping up with people through instant messaging. If you have any questions of comments feel free to comment on this entry. Miss you all!
Last week we went to Stratford Upon Avon to visit that have to do with Shakespeare. We saw his Mom, Sister, and Doctors houses as well as his birthplace. It was all well and good but for the most part it was pretty underwhelming. It was just nice to get out into the country and away from the paved paradise of London. I think was healthy for the entire group. The best parts of the trip by far were the performances we saw while we were there. We saw Richard II and Henry IV part I which were both performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company and better performed than any of the plays we have seen thus far into our stay.
For the most part we have seen all of the tourist attractions around the city so we spend our time meandering around markets during the day trying to find cheap food/souvenirs. It is nice knowing that we have successfully escaped the freezing temps and blowing snow for warm, sunny days. We all just find our ability to walk around outside with no jacket a real blessing!
Classes are starting to wind down now as we only have about 2 weeks left in London! I can't believe how fast it has gone by and the amount of stuff that we have fit into such a short period of time. It really feels though, like the program should be done after London is done because it feels as though we have done a semesters worth of stuff! It is really crazy to think that we will not be done but just moving on to another 8 weeks program in a completely different country that doesn't speak English. It is going to be an interesting journey!
Sorry this has been such a short entry but I am kind of typed out between writing papers and keeping up with people through instant messaging. If you have any questions of comments feel free to comment on this entry. Miss you all!
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