I’m back!! I just got back from the best spring break of my life!! I spent an unplanned 3 weeks in England and Ireland thanks to the volcanic eruption in Iceland. I was stuck in Ireland for a complete extra week! Life was hard, let me tell you! I have so many amazing stories I have to share, and I’m going to start with England. I completely fell head over heels in love with this country. England is fun and beautiful and full of history. London is enormous, and the 5 days I spent there were about 5 or 6 too short. There is just so much to see, and so much to do that I couldn’t possibly fit everything in my schedule. That’s ok though, because I am perfectly content with coming back! In fact, I’m already planning to do so the last weekend in May. Hmm…what shall I tell you about first? Well, I traveled with four other girls, and we arrived in London late Thursday night. When we got to our hostel, we were a little bit surprised by our dorm style room that slept 12 people. See, when we booked the hostel, the website simply told us we were booked to stay in a dorm room complete with a bathroom and shower inside the room. The price was good, the ratings were relatively good…so we went ahead and booked it. We were expecting to maybe have to share the room with one other person. Because there is no way there could be more than six beds in a room, right? Wrong! There were 12 beds in the room, and they were all occupied. And what’s worse, is everyone was asleep by the time we got into the room! So basically there was no way to tell if a nasty 40 year old man was sleeping naked in the bunk bed next to me. The room was pitch black! We had to find a place for all our stuff, and make up our beds, in the dark. By the time I laid in bed, my eyes finally adjusted enough to faintly see that there was a male sleeping next to me. It was kind of awkward because the beds were all pushed up next to each other, and I sort of felt like I was sleeping with a stranger…actually, I guess I was sleeping with a stranger. Needless to say, that was kind of weird to me, and I ended up pulling an all-nighter with one of the other girls who was equally freaked out. By the time morning came, light shone brightly through the windows of this concentration camp I appeared to be staying in. I don’t know how else to describe it. The bunk beds were steel, and the linens were plain white, and the walls were badly painted with orange-red paint. But, it was clean. So that was a plus. As the room brightened up, I snuck a peak at the guy sleeping next to me. He was sort of extremely handsome! He was probably in his early to mid 20’s with dark, wavy hair. He had a little bit of scruff on his face, and he was in great shape. And, he had a tattoo on his wrist. I wasn’t leaning over him as he slept or anything just to see what he looked like. Promise. Anyways, I was pretty excited to talk to him later that night at the hostel. Unfortunately, once we got back, he was gone. And what’s even better, he had been replaced by a 40 year old man with way too much chest hair, who thought it was a good idea to sleep in boxer-briefs. Luckily, we took the bed closest to us and moved around so he had to sleep on the opposite side of the room. Ok, now I’ll actually talk about London! The first day we were there, we went exploring and we walked, a lot. We went to the Natural History Museum, we got a cute, black taxi to take us to Piccadilly Circus, we walked on Fleet Street to St. Paul’s Cathedral, and we went to a cute, little park! Piccadilly Circus is a lot like Time Square in New York. It’s more modern and full of energy. They say if you sit in one place in Piccadilly Circus for more than an hour, you’ll either see someone you know or someone you recognize. I’ll bet it’s more like you see someone you recognize form 20 minutes before because they’re lost and don’t know where they’re going. We decided against sitting for an hour and doing nothing with our lives. Fleet Street was super exciting! For those of you who don’t know, Fleet Street is where Sweeney Todd worked in his barber shop. I found the address of his shop, however, there is no longer a barber shop there. It is now some kind of internet/bookstore something. I did sing songs from the musical while strolling down the street, though. I wanted to film this, but I drew enough attention as it was so I decided against it. Looking back, I sort of regret that decision. But, oh well. I also sang “Feed the Birds” on the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral, which is beautiful by the way! And enormous. It’s one of the biggest cathedrals I’ve ever seen. I took a lot of pictures! A couple of the girls and I went on a Jack the Ripper tour one night. That was pretty cool! The tour guide was a Jack the Ripper expert, who had written two books about him. He was very knowledgeable and super funny. His name was Donald Rumbelow. You can Google him. I bought his book and he signed it for me! He showed us the exact spot where two of the Jack the Ripper prostitutes were murdered. We also saw this pub from the 1600’s. It’s still standing, and in full service! It’s called, “The Ten Bells”. And that pub was once the hang out spot of both the 1880’s prostitutes, and Jack the Ripper. Crazy! There is a picture on my facebook, if you’re interested. That was a pretty cool tour. It was through this tour company called, “London Walks.” I highly recommend taking a few of these tours if you’re ever in London. They are super cheap, and they offer hundreds of different tours. All the tour guides are fun and outgoing, and it’s a great way to see London. We did a few different ones, and they were all amazing. The next day we bought a red bus ticket and did the whole double-decker bus tour thing. That was pretty neat. We went and saw Buckingham Palace, Oxford Street, J.K. Rowling’s apartment, Big Ben, the London Tower, and London/Tower Bridge. J.K. Rowling’s apartment doesn’t exactly fit in with that list, but I wanted to throw it in there. We actually took a boat tour and floated along the Thames River to see London Tower and Tower Bridge. That was a lot of fun! I learned that the Thames River is one of the cleanest rivers in Europe. The English are very proud of this. Apparently, if you take a glass of water from the Thames and let it sit for an hour, all the dirt will sink to the bottom, leaving a glass of clear water. I heard that from three different tour guides. Speaking of tour guides, every single English guide is just fantastic. They all have this dry, sarcastic British sense of humor, and I love it! It was like I was living in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” Later that night, I went and saw “Les Miserables” in Piccadilly Circus. I’ve wanted to see that show for so long, but never had the opportunity. Finally, my dream came true. It was spectacular! The music is beautiful, the voices were amazing, and the story was soooo good. I saw it with two other girls, and we were all crying by the end of the show. Alright, London was absolutely brilliant, but Stratford-Upon-Avon was just as wonderful. For those of you who don’t know, William Shakespeare was born in Stratford. Yes, the one and only, William Shakespeare. And I, Kathryn White, went and visited his homeland. Not even just his homeland, I actually visited his home! I walked on the stone floor that Shakespeare walked on, I strolled the gardens where he strolled, and I visited the church where he was buried. AMAZING. Words can’t even describe that experience. Well, I’m sure Shakespeare could come up with words to describe it, but I cannot. The city was adorable. All the shops and restaurants were named after works of Shakespeare, and there were even actors dressed in Elizabethan attire, reciting lines of Shakespearean dialogue. So what I’m basically telling you is I found Kathrynland. I mean, I really loved it. I took the train there, and saw the beautiful English countryside on the way. I saw real pastures with sheep grazing everywhere. It was just like the movies! Obviously, I am in love with England. Not just the place, but the people as well. I met some of the nicest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. And I fell in love with almost everyone I talked to. Their accents are amazing! As are their word choices. They say “brilliant” and “lovely” and “cheers”. I think those are the top three words in their vocabulary. I’d love to start using them regularly, but it just doesn’t sound the same without the British accent. I don’t know why I wasn’t born in England. That thought crossed my mind at least 50 times while I was there. I would love to move there. It would be like living in a fairy tale. And, I have officially decided that I will marry a man with a British accent. I don’t know why I said “officially”. I don’t really know what that means, but whatever. Anyways, that concludes my London/Stratford rant. I hope I gave you a little taste of what England has to offer. If you have the means, I highly suggest you get off the computer right now, pack your bags, and go visit England yourself. You will not regret your rash decision, I promise.Saturday, May 1, 2010
"Heaven take thy soul, and England keep my bones!" - WIlliam Shakespeare
I’m back!! I just got back from the best spring break of my life!! I spent an unplanned 3 weeks in England and Ireland thanks to the volcanic eruption in Iceland. I was stuck in Ireland for a complete extra week! Life was hard, let me tell you! I have so many amazing stories I have to share, and I’m going to start with England. I completely fell head over heels in love with this country. England is fun and beautiful and full of history. London is enormous, and the 5 days I spent there were about 5 or 6 too short. There is just so much to see, and so much to do that I couldn’t possibly fit everything in my schedule. That’s ok though, because I am perfectly content with coming back! In fact, I’m already planning to do so the last weekend in May. Hmm…what shall I tell you about first? Well, I traveled with four other girls, and we arrived in London late Thursday night. When we got to our hostel, we were a little bit surprised by our dorm style room that slept 12 people. See, when we booked the hostel, the website simply told us we were booked to stay in a dorm room complete with a bathroom and shower inside the room. The price was good, the ratings were relatively good…so we went ahead and booked it. We were expecting to maybe have to share the room with one other person. Because there is no way there could be more than six beds in a room, right? Wrong! There were 12 beds in the room, and they were all occupied. And what’s worse, is everyone was asleep by the time we got into the room! So basically there was no way to tell if a nasty 40 year old man was sleeping naked in the bunk bed next to me. The room was pitch black! We had to find a place for all our stuff, and make up our beds, in the dark. By the time I laid in bed, my eyes finally adjusted enough to faintly see that there was a male sleeping next to me. It was kind of awkward because the beds were all pushed up next to each other, and I sort of felt like I was sleeping with a stranger…actually, I guess I was sleeping with a stranger. Needless to say, that was kind of weird to me, and I ended up pulling an all-nighter with one of the other girls who was equally freaked out. By the time morning came, light shone brightly through the windows of this concentration camp I appeared to be staying in. I don’t know how else to describe it. The bunk beds were steel, and the linens were plain white, and the walls were badly painted with orange-red paint. But, it was clean. So that was a plus. As the room brightened up, I snuck a peak at the guy sleeping next to me. He was sort of extremely handsome! He was probably in his early to mid 20’s with dark, wavy hair. He had a little bit of scruff on his face, and he was in great shape. And, he had a tattoo on his wrist. I wasn’t leaning over him as he slept or anything just to see what he looked like. Promise. Anyways, I was pretty excited to talk to him later that night at the hostel. Unfortunately, once we got back, he was gone. And what’s even better, he had been replaced by a 40 year old man with way too much chest hair, who thought it was a good idea to sleep in boxer-briefs. Luckily, we took the bed closest to us and moved around so he had to sleep on the opposite side of the room. Ok, now I’ll actually talk about London! The first day we were there, we went exploring and we walked, a lot. We went to the Natural History Museum, we got a cute, black taxi to take us to Piccadilly Circus, we walked on Fleet Street to St. Paul’s Cathedral, and we went to a cute, little park! Piccadilly Circus is a lot like Time Square in New York. It’s more modern and full of energy. They say if you sit in one place in Piccadilly Circus for more than an hour, you’ll either see someone you know or someone you recognize. I’ll bet it’s more like you see someone you recognize form 20 minutes before because they’re lost and don’t know where they’re going. We decided against sitting for an hour and doing nothing with our lives. Fleet Street was super exciting! For those of you who don’t know, Fleet Street is where Sweeney Todd worked in his barber shop. I found the address of his shop, however, there is no longer a barber shop there. It is now some kind of internet/bookstore something. I did sing songs from the musical while strolling down the street, though. I wanted to film this, but I drew enough attention as it was so I decided against it. Looking back, I sort of regret that decision. But, oh well. I also sang “Feed the Birds” on the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral, which is beautiful by the way! And enormous. It’s one of the biggest cathedrals I’ve ever seen. I took a lot of pictures! A couple of the girls and I went on a Jack the Ripper tour one night. That was pretty cool! The tour guide was a Jack the Ripper expert, who had written two books about him. He was very knowledgeable and super funny. His name was Donald Rumbelow. You can Google him. I bought his book and he signed it for me! He showed us the exact spot where two of the Jack the Ripper prostitutes were murdered. We also saw this pub from the 1600’s. It’s still standing, and in full service! It’s called, “The Ten Bells”. And that pub was once the hang out spot of both the 1880’s prostitutes, and Jack the Ripper. Crazy! There is a picture on my facebook, if you’re interested. That was a pretty cool tour. It was through this tour company called, “London Walks.” I highly recommend taking a few of these tours if you’re ever in London. They are super cheap, and they offer hundreds of different tours. All the tour guides are fun and outgoing, and it’s a great way to see London. We did a few different ones, and they were all amazing. The next day we bought a red bus ticket and did the whole double-decker bus tour thing. That was pretty neat. We went and saw Buckingham Palace, Oxford Street, J.K. Rowling’s apartment, Big Ben, the London Tower, and London/Tower Bridge. J.K. Rowling’s apartment doesn’t exactly fit in with that list, but I wanted to throw it in there. We actually took a boat tour and floated along the Thames River to see London Tower and Tower Bridge. That was a lot of fun! I learned that the Thames River is one of the cleanest rivers in Europe. The English are very proud of this. Apparently, if you take a glass of water from the Thames and let it sit for an hour, all the dirt will sink to the bottom, leaving a glass of clear water. I heard that from three different tour guides. Speaking of tour guides, every single English guide is just fantastic. They all have this dry, sarcastic British sense of humor, and I love it! It was like I was living in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” Later that night, I went and saw “Les Miserables” in Piccadilly Circus. I’ve wanted to see that show for so long, but never had the opportunity. Finally, my dream came true. It was spectacular! The music is beautiful, the voices were amazing, and the story was soooo good. I saw it with two other girls, and we were all crying by the end of the show. Alright, London was absolutely brilliant, but Stratford-Upon-Avon was just as wonderful. For those of you who don’t know, William Shakespeare was born in Stratford. Yes, the one and only, William Shakespeare. And I, Kathryn White, went and visited his homeland. Not even just his homeland, I actually visited his home! I walked on the stone floor that Shakespeare walked on, I strolled the gardens where he strolled, and I visited the church where he was buried. AMAZING. Words can’t even describe that experience. Well, I’m sure Shakespeare could come up with words to describe it, but I cannot. The city was adorable. All the shops and restaurants were named after works of Shakespeare, and there were even actors dressed in Elizabethan attire, reciting lines of Shakespearean dialogue. So what I’m basically telling you is I found Kathrynland. I mean, I really loved it. I took the train there, and saw the beautiful English countryside on the way. I saw real pastures with sheep grazing everywhere. It was just like the movies! Obviously, I am in love with England. Not just the place, but the people as well. I met some of the nicest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. And I fell in love with almost everyone I talked to. Their accents are amazing! As are their word choices. They say “brilliant” and “lovely” and “cheers”. I think those are the top three words in their vocabulary. I’d love to start using them regularly, but it just doesn’t sound the same without the British accent. I don’t know why I wasn’t born in England. That thought crossed my mind at least 50 times while I was there. I would love to move there. It would be like living in a fairy tale. And, I have officially decided that I will marry a man with a British accent. I don’t know why I said “officially”. I don’t really know what that means, but whatever. Anyways, that concludes my London/Stratford rant. I hope I gave you a little taste of what England has to offer. If you have the means, I highly suggest you get off the computer right now, pack your bags, and go visit England yourself. You will not regret your rash decision, I promise.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Explorations
Hello All!
I’m sitting here in my room, saying goodbye to half my roommates who are off to watch innocent animals be tortured to death. No bull-fights for me. Thanks anyways. Although, if I was going, I would definitely root for the bull to win.
So, first I have to say that a couple days ago, I was very happy to learn that AIFS (American Institute of Foreign Study) decided to have internet installed in our apartments! YAY!! I’m so excited. There is a guy coming tomorrow, and we should be able to use it within a couple days of the installation. This means, I will be able to blog more frequently, and I will be able to Skype at a more compatible time. For those of you who have Skype, you can find me by searching with my email address, which is itskathryn@sbcglobal.net . My Skype name is itskathrynwhite.
That being said, I’m still having a complete BLAST over here in Spain!!! I’m loving it more and more every day. I finally think I know my way around the city, not just my way around the apartment and school areas. This makes it much easier to wander around without fear of knowing whether or not I’ll make it back! I found that every area within Madrid is different from the next. Some are loud and heavily tourist populated, others are quiet and serene, and others are older and fairy tale like. The fairy tale parts are my favorite!
Yesterday, our group went to Avila and Segovia. Both these cities are about an hour and a half outside Madrid. They were both breathtaking and full of history. Avila is a city surrounded by this giant castle-like, stone wall. St. Theresa was born in a convent there, which we got to go inside of and take pictures of! I’ll put those up on facebook. We also got to see her mummified finger! Crazy!! Segovia is known for this GIANT castle that supposedly served as inspiration in the building of one of the Disney World castles in Florida. True or not, the castle was seriously incredible. We don’t have random castles lying around in California, so this was my first castle experience. And yes, I climbed up 150 stairs to the tallest tower and pretended I was a princess. It was amazing! Then, a few other girls and I proceeded to do the “jump on it” dance. Random, but we are now able to say the following sentence: “I climbed to the tallest tower of a castle in Spain and did the “jump on it” dance once I got to the top.” That is pretty awesome, if you ask me. (If you don’t know the “jump on it” dance, then YouTube it. It’s from a Saturday Night Live sketch.)
Tuesday night, a couple of my roommates and I went to see the musical “Chicago”! It was sooooooo much fun! The whole thing was in Spanish, but I have seen that musical a dozen times before, and I know every song lyric that was sung, so the communication barrier wasn’t an issue. It was amazing to me how much the Spanish version of the songs sounded like the English version. I mean, you know they are speaking another language, but every syllable was right on. I sat there singing the English words in my head, and they were in perfect sync with the Spanish words. I don’t know how that’s even possible, but it had to be difficult. The whole show was just spectacular! They had the directors and choreographers form New York work with them, so it was very similar to the Broadway version. And I do have to mention the dancing. Oh my goodness, these Spanish boys can move their hips like it’s their job…which it is. Hahaha. It’s insane! The male dancers were better than the female dancers, and that is pretty rare. I wish all of you could come see it! I LOVED IT!! And so did the other two girls who saw it with me.
A few days ago, I went to this park called, “El Retiro.” It was so beautiful! And, it’s humungous! Its way too easy to get lost there, but once you do, you don’t really mind. There are dozens of statue monuments and water fountains. There is even this lake right in the middle, where you can rent a little boat and spend a few hours drifting amongst the swans! So romantic! I took a bunch of pictures. Then, as you walk a little deeper into the park, there is a huge, glass dome-like building with a garden inside! It served as a royal ballroom! It’s so beautiful! It reminded me of the “I am Sixteen going on Seventeen” scene in Sound of Music. It looks just like the building she dances in. After I explored and took a thousand pictures, I sat on a park bench to read. I sat near a man playing a saxophone for money. And as I read, he played classical music.
Well, that is about all the new and exciting insights I have to share. I hope they were fun to read about, because they were certainly fun to experience! I heard about this Christian church that has a college group who meet every Tuesday. They are really close to my apartment, but that is all I know. I’m going to try it out this week and see what it’s like. It will probably be in Spanish, but maybe I’ll still get a little something out of it! Some of my roommates are going to Portugal this weekend, but they booked tickets during a class that I don’t have! I’m going to see if can find cheap, last minute tickets, but otherwise I’m here for the Spanish Holy Week. That should be interesting! I’ll let you all know what happens! Love you and miss you!
Monday, March 15, 2010
First Impressions
Hola Amigos!
Oh my goodness, I’m FINALLY starting a blog!! Yay! I’ve been meaning to do this since I’ve been here, but everything has been so crazy! I have been in Madrid for a little over a week, and I’m just now feeling settled. And unfortunately, the internet is ridiculously hard to come by. I have no idea why that is. I mean, this is Spain, not Korea. We don’t have internet access in our apartments, so I have to be at school or an internet café to be able to connect. Oh well…I suppose it’s a very small price to pay. I AM IN EUROPE!!! Oh my goodness, it is so fabulous here. It sort of feels like a dream! It’s just now sinking in, and I love it more and more every day.
Ok, I’m going to have to start from the beginning in order to catch all of you up with my life thus far. Some of you may have heard what an adventure it was just getting here, but for those of you who have not yet heard, let me just fill you in. Our study abroad group met at L.A.X. two hours before our flight, only to find out that the airplane that was supposed to fly us to our connecting flight in Philadelphia, wasn’t working properly. That is sort of a scary thought, so I was completely fine with waiting around a while until the problem got fixed. Then, after about 20 minutes or so of waiting, we find out that the plane is actually fine, but the toilets are broken. Are you kidding?? I’m sure people can figure out how to hold it for 3 ½ hours. At this point, the flight was running so late, that we were already going to miss our connecting flight in Philadelphia. So, luckily, U.S. Airways was able to transfer us to another airline, where we could fly straight to Germany and into Madrid. I say luckily only because it was amazing that they were able to accommodate all 32 of us onto another plane. Unfortunately, the whole thing turned into somewhat of a disaster. We had to re-check our bags and go through security all over again. We waited in the check in line for almost over an hour because our flights weren’t transferring in the system. Then, we find out this airline has different baggage regulations. Before, we were allowed one, free 50 pound bag to check in, a free carry-on, and a purse. However, a few people decided to bring an extra bag, and had already paid the $55 fee with U.S. Airways. This new airline, which was German by the way...Lufthansa...or something, was telling those students they had to pay another additional $55 dollar fee, and then proceeded to tell all of us that if our purses and carry-ons weigh more than 16 pounds combined, that we would also have to pay that $55 fee. Ugh!! Soooo ridiculous! I did NOT feel like wasting $55 dollars, so I hid my carry-on from the check in people, and brought it on bored with me. Actually, I think all of us did that. Then, we got into the plane and noticed that all of our bags weren’t going to fit. They took a few of them and put them underneath the plane, but the rest of us just jammed everything in there as fast as we could. One flight attended noticed, and was like, “Umm, those bags are way too big. I’m really surprised they didn’t make you check them.” I just smiled and ran back to my seat!
Once on the airplane, I met two girls from Serbia, who were both ridiculously beautiful by the way, (one could have been Angelina Jolie’s sister) and a German man. He was very nice. He spoke a little English, but had a thick German accent. He read the German newspaper for the entire 13 or 14 hour flight! The girl from Serbia was a doctor. She was very nice, but very chatty. She told me she liked America, but not all American girls are nice like me. She was like, “In Europe, if we don’t like you, we don’t talk to you. In America, if girls don’t like you, they still talk to you and pretend they are friends with you, but then they turn around and speak badly of you to someone else.” I was like, “Sounds like you were in Orange County. I’m so glad we made a good impression on you.”
After the connecting flight from Germany, I FINALLY made it to Madrid!! It was so exciting, but at the same time, I was completely exhausted. I feel much more rested now. Madrid is an amazing city. The part I live in, is very much like New York. It’s very modern and lively. All the people are so gorgeous, and they dress so well! Other parts of the city look more traditional. We went to the Royal Palace and the Prado museum the day after we got here, and that whole surrounding area is very enchanting. It’s more what I expected Spain to look like. Older architecture, cobblestone streets, and adorable street lights! Almost all the apartments (except mine, which is why I say almost) have the cutest little balconies with flowers and vines everywhere. I love it!! We went to a city called, “Toledo” the other day, and it was really lovely. It’s a very ancient city, which homes one of the oldest cathedrals in Spain. I really liked it there. As I was strolling down the streets, I couldn’t help but think of being in a Shakespeare play. That is really what it felt like. It looked like the set of the 1960’s version of Romeo and Juliet...you know, the one with Olivia Hussey? Just a side note, but if you haven’t seen that version, you should go rent it right now. Anyways, it was very much like being in a fairy tale. You can probably tell that from the pictures I took.
In closing, I will briefly write about the whole Spanish men situation. They are all ridiculously handsome with their long dark hair, blue-eyes, and model cheekbones, but they are kind of disgusting. I’m trying not to turn my two awful encounters into an overgeneralization about all Spaniards, but I really can’t help it at the moment. A few of us met a couple guys in Sol, and we agreed to let them take us Salsa dancing. I was actually very excited, because if you know me, you know I love to dance, and also one of the guys was very good looking. Oh man. They ended up taking us to a “discotheque”, not a Salsa place, and that “cute” guy, didn’t wait more than 10 minutes before asking me a really vulgar, inappropriate question. I spent the rest of the night trying to run away from him, and making my very nice friends dance with him so he wouldn’t come looking for me. I owe one of those girls, big time. Then, I meet this other guy, wayyy cuter than the first, and he comes up to me and starts dancing with me. It was exciting for a moment or two, but then something similar happened, and I had to literally push him away from me. Gross. I had given another guy my email address earlier in the night, because he asked if he could take me to dinner, but now, there is no way I will even think about speaking to any Spanish man…for at least a good week or two anyways…haha.
Ok, well, I think that should catch you up on my life so far. I will try to blog again soon, but it may not be for a week or so. I do know I’m going to London and Dublin in April, so I can’t wait to tell all of you about that trip! I’m sooooooo excited!! Love you all and miss you!!
~Kathryn
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