The Last 5 Days

5 days and counting until it’s time to head back to the good old states. Yesterday I was thinking about how it feels like it was just yesterday that I even started this blog. I started it almost 4 months ago… but the time went by SO fast. I was looking through some of my old posts, like my 2 week and 1 week countdowns until leaving for London, and my post the day I left. I really don’t understand how this semester went by so fast; it’s definitely been the fastest semester yet. 

With the last five days, I’m currently 3/4 classes done. Two of my classes were done back in October, and I finished my internship a week and a half ago, but we have a paper due today that is an overall analysis of our placement experience. Once that’s handed in in the next hour, I’ll have the next 72 hours to focus on my final paper. Which I’m hoping to have done by tonight so I won’t have to worry about it my last couple days and can just relax… but that’s definitely dreaming big. My paper and presentation, which is a very small and casual presentation about a post-war British play, are both due Thursday, so after that I’ll have 48 hours to spend packing, wandering around, and crying my eyes out because I’ll be missing London.

As you can probably figure out, this past weekend was my last one here. Ahh! It’s so sad to think about 😦 Don’t make me leave!!! Anyway to get back on track: Friday was a relaxing day since I was still feeling sick and tired from my 6 day travel adventures (which you can read about Dublin here and Prague here!) On Friday night, my friend from home Tana was here so we got dinner and caught up, which is always so fun to do. It was seriously a week of friends from home, and I’m definitely not complaining.

Saturday, Kirsten and I decided to go all around London and do some things we wanted to do. First was seeing the Prime Minister’s residence on 10 Downing Street. But that was a bit of a disappointment. The entire block was gated off, and the house was right in the middle of the road, so it was kind of hard to see it. I only recognized it from seeing it so often on TV, otherwise I wouldn’t have realized which building it was. I guess that was pretty cool… but kind of a waste of time. After that we went right down the street to the Churchill War Rooms, which were awesome. Located right near Parliament Square and across the street from St. James Park, the rooms were all underground and were used during WW2 to protect Churchill and others from bombings. There were so many rooms – numerous bedrooms, a kitchen, a conference and meeting room, a room just for the Trans Atlantic telephone, and lots more. There was even a sub level where people could sleep, although it was completely undesirable since there were rats and toilets that didn’t flush. I personally am a huge history person – I even took a class last year called History of War which was one of my favorite classes at BU – so I really enjoyed learning about all of that. After our little history lesson, we walked along Southbank trying to find a Chocolate Festival we read about in Time Out London. We weren’t very successful, and Southbank was RIDICULOUSLY crowded, so that was a bit of a bummer. Oh well – next was heading up to the City of London to walk across the Millenium Bridge and go to the Globe Theatre (which apparently isn’t the original Globe – the first one burnt down). There we met up with Kirsten’s two friends and went to Tate Modern. I’ve heard Tate Modern is a lot to take in, and it really is. Lots of bizarre art, and nothing that really fascinated me. Like I’ve said multiple times before, I’m not a big museum person. So this one could have put me right to sleep. Since I wasn’t feeling so good after that, I decided to go home and nap and Skype with my parents. Oh… and do homework. I’m not digging this whole finals week thing…

I spent all of Sunday doing homework and relaxing. Which is fine, but I’m kind of over school work and would like to just be home relaxing and relishing the holiday spirit with my family. Oh well, just a few days left and I’ll be doing just that!

See you in 5 days, America!

The Last of my Travel Adventures: Prague

Onto Part 2 of my mini vacation!

On Monday, December 3, I left Dublin to head to Prague to visit my friend Carolyn. And Monday was her 21^st birthday! So it all worked out really well. I was so happy to be able to visit her and celebrate such a big birthday with her.

I arrived around 4 PM and we spent about an hour walking around the main area of Prague. Honestly, it is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever been to. It’s strong mix between Bruges and Paris; it’s very medieval looking like Bruges, but it’s still a beautiful and modern city like Paris. It’s also not too much and not too small – although we walked most of the city in about 1 ½ days, we always had options of things to do or places to walk to. After we walked around, we went to dinner for Carolyn’s birthday, and afterwards, went to a hotel rooftop bar to celebrate her being legal! The view was beautiful and was off to the side of Old Town Square, one of the main parts of Prague.

 View of the Castle at night from the Charles Bridge at night

Tuesday we walked all around the city and our first stop was the Lennon Wall. Because the Czech Republic was communist until fairly recently, the only freedom of speech they had was on this wall. Well, at least until the government painted over it. Once communism ended, the wall was never painted over. It was a really cool sight to see. Next, we headed to the Prague Castle. It sits on a huge hill and is absolutely beautiful, especially from the Charles Bridge, the most well known bridge in Prague. Although it took us a little while to find the entrance to the castle and the weather wasn’t perfect, the view from the top was worth it. We went into a church, an older part of the royal palace, and the Golden Lane, which is this tiny road of miniature houses. It’s so precious! It looks like tiny people should live there, like the munchkins from the Wizard of Oz. After that it was time to get warm and get some soup… Goulash soup to be exact! Goulash is a traditional Czech dish, and the soup was SO good. I loved it! Afterwards, we continued to walk around, hang out at her apartment, and got some yummy sushi.

 Carolyn and I at the Lennon Wall

 View of Prague from the Castle grounds

 The Golden Lane. Mini buildings!

 The most wonderful Goulash soup!

On Wednesday, we decided to go up to the Clock Tower in Old Town Square. At every hour on the hour, a loud bell rings and a man plays a trumpet at the top of the tower. It’s really exciting, but it gets ridiculously crowded, especially at noon (which was when we were there). Then we decided to head up to the top of the Clock Tower to see the view. It was so, so pretty! You could see everything from up there, and it was just awesome. After our quick trip up to the top, we walked to Letna Park. Although it was kind of dead there, it was really pretty to walk around and be in a different, not-city atmosphere. The park also has this bizarrely large metronome, which is kind of funny. We also found a really pretty view of the entire city up on another hill that overlooks the entire city. We just found all the great sightseeing spots all over the city! Lucky us! After that, we headed to the Prague Beer Museum, which is actually a pub, and we tried different beers. We tried a honey beer, a “Christmas” beer, a blueberry beer and a chocolate beer. Chocolate was obviously my favorite, but Christmas wasn’t too bad either. They literally had hundreds of beers to try from, and we were so overwhelmed! After that, we went to get one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten – turtlenecks. It’s pretty much baked dough with sugar and nutella. And it was obviously AMAZING. I could have eaten 10 more after that. After developing a drink and food coma, decided to relax, eat, and at night we went to this bar called U Sudu that was downstairs and was pretty much like a cave. It was so cool, but we left smelling like cigarettes since everyone was smoking inside. Oh well.

At the top of the Clock Tower. Sorry I look tired.

View of Prague from Letna Park

Old Town Square! Sorry, should have probably put this picture earlier up in the blog…

Thursday, my last day, was more of a stroll around and do nothing kind of a day. First we walked around and came across the Sex Machines Museum. And yes, we did go inside. It was probably the most interesting but weird museum I’ve EVER been inside. I won’t get descriptive, but some things were just not fun to look at. Since the day started with such nice weather, we decided to walk along the river after that, but then it got a little cloudy, which was fine. It was still a beautiful walk. It was getting really cold, so we grabbed a hot chocolate, and while we were inside, it started snowing! The first snow I’ve seen of Winter! So exciting!! But yeah, after that we decided to hang out before I had to leave. So sad!

Prague is probably one of my newfound favorite cities. It was so beautiful and I hope to go back very very soon! Maybe even with my parents, who are dying to go there. It’s such a bummer that all my abroad travels are over, but I’m really excited to spend my last week in London seeing all of the sites I still need to see, finishing my work for finals, and getting home in 8 days! It feels like just yesterday that I started my blog and major countdown to leave for London, and now I have just over a week before I go home. SO WEIRD!!

Hope everyone is staying warm now that it’s December! Enjoy the weekend.

The Last of my Travel Adventures: Dublin

Since I haven’t blogged in a week, I have a lot to catch up on since I did a lot of traveling this week. It was such a fun trip getting to see two of my best friends and seeing such beautiful, fun cities! My first stop was Dublin to visit Elisabeth, which is what this post is all about! Part 2 (Prague) will come soon… just be patient!

I arrived in Dublin on Friday night just in time for my friend Elisabeth’s Christmas party in their apartment. Yay! Of course I rocked the ugly xmas sweater… what other way is there to dress for a holiday party?! Afterwards we decided to go to a couple bars and see the Dublin night life for a little bit. Since I didn’t get there until late, there wasn’t enough time to do too much Friday. But that’s what the rest of the weekend was for!

Saturday we took the bus into the main part of the city and walked around. I saw Trinity College, the Molly Malone statue, the Spire, St. Stephen’s Green, River Liffey, and some other stuff! Since the city is so small, we walked around most if it in just a few hours with a couple pit stops, one of them being Butler’s Chocolate shop, which had the BEST hot chocolate I’ve ever had. It was hot chocolate with an oreo cookie at the bottom and tasted like heaven. We also saw lots of whacky street performers, which was entertaining, but at the same time a little bizarre. Oh well! Oh and of course we went shopping. We spent the night going to pubs & bars in Dublin, which was a lot of fun. The Irish are crazy, but in a good and fun way! I love it.

Trinity College

The famous Molly Malone statue

My friend Elisabeth & me at St. Stephen’s Green

Sunday was a rainy day, and we originally were going to go to the Jameson Whiskey Factory, but because no tickets were available, we decided to do the next best thing – the Guinness Factory! I’m not a big fan of beer (or whiskey for that matter), but I had to do one of the two, and Guinness was our only option. The factory is a self-guided tour and explains everything about the beer, from how it’s made to how its advertised. Honestly, making that beer and probably most others is such a science. Also, apparently the factory at St. James’ Gate has a 9,000 year lease. Talk about self confidence! Arthur Guinness, who (obviously) created Guinness beer, signed the lease in 1759. So it still has A LOT of time at that factory! I wonder what will happen when the lease is up… After the self-guided tour, we learned how to pour our own pint of Guinness! It was so official – there was a certain angle you had to pour it at and change the angle at a certain time, then let it settle, then fill it up not too much but not too little. We even got a diploma after for all our hard work. Oh, and a free pint! Afterwards we decided to get dinner and do some work for the rest of the night.

At the Guinness Factory!

My pint & diploma. Yay!

Accurate.

Dublin was such a great city! It reminded me a lot of Boston (maybe because there’s so many Irish people in Boston too…) but it was so lively and fun. And all the Irish people are SO nice! Two of the taxi drivers I had literally told me their life story, and another one was singing I Follow Rivers like there was no one else in the cab. All of which I loved. Hopefully I’ll be able to visit Dublin again in the future!

After my visit to Dublin, I headed to Prague to visit Carolyn. All about that trip is soon to come in a new post! Hang tight!

A Week of “Last”s

As the days are winding down until I leave London, there are lots of things coming to an end. This week was my last week interning with ZoneOneRadio, and tomorrow, I’m leaving for my last “Eurotrip.”

As I explained in the past, part of our class requirements for my abroad program is to work at an internship four days a week for seven weeks. We also have to attend 3 tutorials for our internships based on our major, and we have to write papers about our internships that are due each class. It’s really awesome that having real world experience is part of our class requirement, and it definitely doesn’t hurt to put that work experience on resumes! I’m definitely going to miss the office and it’ll be weird adjusting to another schedule that isn’t the usual 10:30 AM – 6 PM work schedule. However, I’m really excited to start my next internship back in the states, which is at Fox News Channel, working for the collegiate affiliate/intern program Fox News Channel University as a Campus Intern. I’ll be producing written news stories and video news packages from my campus back in Boston, which will be put on the FNCU website (www.foxnews.com/fncu) and I’ll also be promoting Fox News Channel & the internship program, which I was part of last summer.

One of the really cool things I got to do while working at ZoneOneRadio was go to the Barbican Collection’s “Rain Room” Exhibit. It’s a dark room where rain falls from the ceiling and you walk through, but don’t get wet. People wait 2-3 hours for the 10 minute experience. It was really cool, but definitely not worth the wait (but we got in without waiting… yay press passes!)

Probably my favorite memory of ZoneOneRadio AND in London was seeing Prince Phillip leave the Westminster Abbey Field of Remembrance Service on November 8. I presented and produced an episode all about Remembrance Day, and we covered this service. Little did I know that Prince Phillip would be there, and that I would be able to catch a glimpse of the royal!

Tomorrow I leave for my last trip while being abroad. First, I’m going to Dublin to visit my roommate from school who’s studying abroad there. Then on Monday I’m going to Prague to visit my friend from home, and it’s her 21^st birthday is on Monday too! And I’ll be back in London on Thursday night. You’re probably wondering how I have all this time off so close to finals… well the Tuesday-Thursday that I’m away are considered “study days,” but since I don’t really have a test to study for, I’m going to be traveling! And our internships are over, so pretty much people who have class on Friday like me have no class between December 1-December 6. I also have the next weekend to do the work that’s due on the last week, so I’ll definitely get everything done. Luckily, I only have one 5 page paper, a 10 minute presentation, and a super easy paper about my internship due in the next 16 days. Yay!

Saturday will be the two-week mark until I leave London and start winter break. I really cannot believe how fast this semester has gone by. Every weekend, workweek and trip has flown by, and it’s really weird to think that in a couple weeks I’ll be packing up for good and heading home. Time really does fly when you’re having fun, or in my case, the time of your life.

Enjoy the weekend!

Also… in case you’re wondering how I feel about going home in 16 days:

http://thattimeistudiedinlondon.tumblr.com/post/34611066266/when-i-realize-that-i-have-to-go-back-to-america-soon

Catching Up on London Life

It’s been a crazy, busy week and weekend. It all went by so fast – and it’s already Sunday night, almost time for a new week!

This whole week was full of working again. I did more social media and editing work this week, which is all a great learning experience. It’s weird to think that I’m only interning for a total of seven weeks, and after this week I’ll only have 4 more weeks to go. Not really digging how fast this time is going by… Only 3 more weekends in London. Scary!

Speaking of only having a few weekends left in London… I’ve finished booking all of my trips! That’s why I only have so few weekends to spend here. The weekend of November 9th, I’m going to Paris! I’ve literally been dreaming of going to Paris since I was probably 7. I love everything French – the language, food, clothes, scenery, everything. I’m hoping to go to Paris again in the future for more than two days, but I really couldn’t be more excited. I may not sleep the 2 days I’m there just to make sure that I don’t miss anything major. And I can’t wait to start using my French (which I haven’t used much of since senior year of high school)! The weekend after, I’m heading over to Amsterdam & Bruges! These are two places that my parents love, so I’m very excited to visit. The canals in Amsterdam and the quaint buildings in Bruges make both places beautiful from what I’ve seen an heard. After that, I’ll be here in Londontown since two of my friends are visiting, but the weekend after I’m going to Dublin to actually see the two friends who are coming the weekend before! And since the week after is a study period and I only have class on Fridays and the internship is over, I have off that Monday-Thursday. So during that time I’m going to Prague to visit my friend, and I’ll be there to celebrate her 21st birthday! So much traveling, so little time. But I really couldn’t be more excited!

Anyway, to continue on what I’ve been up to lately: this weekend was a lot of running around and being busy. I did get to go back to Borough Market though! I have made the decision that it is my absolute favorite place on earth. The food is literally to die for. I even bought fruit and cheese to take home because I couldn’t leave without any food from the market.

This past weekend and this upcoming week is Halloween (also known as Halloweekend/Halloweek). Halloween is pretty much the same here as it is at home. Actually, I’m not 100% sure if the kids go trick-or-treating here, but I’m assuming they do. I guess I’ll find out Wednesday. But one difference I did see in costumes is that almost all British people dress up in costumes but make it zombie-style by slathering on white face paint and adding some red paint to their costumes and faces. It’s kind of easy to see who’s British and who’s not.

Last update: in my Modern British Drama class, we get to see 6 shows during the remainder of the semester. Tuesday is the first show day! We’re seeing a preview to the show “Khadija is 18.” The preview is just a pre-showing pretty much and it’s the same as the regular show. It should be pretty cool! I’ve always loved theatre, so I’m very very excited!

Hope everyone is partaking in a lazy Sunday and had a great weekend! And Happy Halloweek!

So Far, So Fun!

As I’ve posted about twelve times, my parents are in England this week! We’ve been having such a great week! But since they went to Bath yesterday morning and aren’t back until late tonight, I finally have some down time to myself, and I wanted to blog a quick update on everything.

Fighting through the rough jetlag and minimal hours of sleep, my parents were troopers walking through my neighborhood seeing my buildings and exploring Covent Garden and Soho. My dad kept raving about a wine bar that they went to last time they were in London with my brother, so we figured we’d try to find it. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful in finding it, but we found another awesome restaurant, a Tapas place called Pix Pintxos with a great lunch bargain on Sundays, that we can add to the books. Spending the day walking, shopping, and catching up was the perfect start to the week. We ended the long day by going to a delicious Italian restaurant, Signor Sassi, that made you feel like you were in Italy with the waiters singing in Italian every chance they had and the family-sized portions. Yum! And since it was right off Knightsbridge, we got to see Harrods! It was even more amazing to see at night with all of the beautiful lights.

Harrods! So pretty!

The next day, we decided to head over to the Victoria and Albert Museum (which is only a 5 minute walk away, score!). It wasn’t much of an outside day since it was raining pretty hard in the morning. We wanted to do a guided tour, but were ridiculously bored after about 10 minutes. We were pretty much like those students in school who just can’t seem to concentrate on anything the teacher is saying. Well… at least that goes for me. So we decided to choose the better option: we went to the Ball Gown Exhibit that I’ve heard so much about! It wasn’t as interesting for my dad, but my mom and I loved it!

Ball gown worn by Sandra Bullock and featured in a Gossip Girl episode! (^)

Ball gown worn by Beyonce. I wonder if they had to have the mannequin customized for Beyonces crazy curves. (^)

One of my favorites! (^)

 The middle ball gown was worn by Princess Diana. (^)

After spending a decent amount of time dreaming about wearing one of those dresses someday, I had to run to class, but thankfully for my parents, the weather cleared up and they were able to do a double decker bus tour! Later in the day, we went to dinner in SoHo and saw my first show while here! It’s called Baggage, and it’s a very small production. It was in a small theatre and had a 7-person cast. It took place in Primrose Hill and was all about online dating; it was really fascinating to learn some statistics (such as 39% of those who marry someone they met via online dating divorce… sorry that’s one of the few statistics I can remember) and see the show. It was really clever and we all enjoyed ourselves!

Tuesday was a less family-oriented day because I had my placement interview in the morning! I’m officially interning at ZoneOne Radio in London! It’s a community radio station for Central London. It just started in January 2012, so it’s a start-up, which hopefully means I’ll be able to bring a lot to the table. I officially start on October 15th and couldn’t be more excited! Later in the evening I was able to meet up with my parents, and we ate at a pub in Notting Hill Gate and went to Churchill Arms, a famous pub in London that apparently Winston Churchill used to frequent. They had old artifacts hanging on the walls, which was really interesting decor. It was awesome to see!

The past day or two I’ve been catching up with homework and getting organized. On Monday & Tuesday, I have my finals for my classes, and Wednesday I’m off to Rome & Venice with a few friends for our Fall Break! It’s going to be such a fun week! I cannot believe how fast the program is flying by… on Tuesday I was officially here for a month. Craziness!

Travel update: I’ve booked a few more trips since my last trip! In early November, I’m heading to Paris, in mid-November I’m going to Amsterdam & Bruges, and in late November to early December I’m going to Dublin and Prague!! SO EXCITED! I feel like I haven’t done as much traveling as I’d like to so far, but I”m really pumped for my future trips.

I probably won’t have a chance to blog until Sunday, so sorry for the delay in posting. Have a great week & weekend! 🙂

Making Moves and Planning Trips

FINALLY. I booked my tickets to travel around Europe!

On September 21 until September 23, my friend Kirsten and I are traveling to Edinburgh, Scotland! If you’re not sure where it is, click here for a map. I’ve never been too gung-ho about going to Scotland, but it’s going to be a beautiful trip. We’re staying in a hostel in a perfect location and ridiculously close to Edinburgh Castle. We were told to go to a Sky Bar while we’re there, so that’s definitely on our list of adventures. The train ride is between 5-6 hours, and I’m actually excited for it; a long travel up to Northern England and Scotland is going to be stunning. Originally on the weekend we’re going to Scotland, a few of us were originally going to go to Paris, but if I leave later, I’ll be able to crash where my friend Nicole is living! You always have to opt for the cheapest (but at the same time, reliable and safe) option while traveling, since it all adds up and can get very expensive.

In mid-October after our two finals, we have a 5-day long break. My friends and I are traveling to Rome for 2 1/2 days, and Venice for 2 days! I’ve been to Florence before, as I said in my last post, but Rome and Venice are two completely different places. I actually thought Rome and Venice were a lot closer, but they’re actually on completely different sides of the country! Florence is land-locked and located in the hilly Tuscany, while Rome and Venice are both on or close to water with very different atmospheres (from what I hear). We took our nerd-status to the extreme and checked out an Italian travel guide for the best places to go, eat, shop, explore, etc. It’s going to be a great trip! We’re also taking a train from Rome to Venice, which will also be a great part of the trip. Isn’t it the best when the actual traveling part is just as exciting as the rest of the trip? Also, other people in the BU program have awesome trips planned as well; some are going to Greece, Spain, and even Africa!

Looking ahead, I’m definitely traveling to Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam, Dublin, and Prague. My friend actually found a great weekend trip to Amsterdam and Bruges, two beautiful, quaint (sorry, that was the best word I could think of) cities. Because you don’t need too much time in either of the cities, it’ll be a great, but speedy, weekend trip. I have friends in Paris, Dublin, and Prague, so hopefully housing will be taken care of! And Barcelona… well, let’s be honest. What college student wouldn’t want to go there?

 

In other news…

Today was our first day of our Elective A class. As I believe I mentioned in another post, I’m taking “Writing in Today’s Britain: Meet The Writer.” So far, we’ve read Stephen Brown’s play, “Future Me.” It’s a crazy, bizarre play, but definitely compelling. One awesome thing about the class is that we do get to actually meet the authors, and part of our class is to interview the author when they come in. Tomorrow, my job will be to interview Stephen Brown! I found his play somewhat disturbing, but really intriguing, so hopefully it’s a decent interview. We’re reading plays, a memoir, two novels, and poems. It should be a really great class! 

This week is our first full week of classes, so we’re all hoping it gets us more into the swing of things with schedules and what not; so this week will kind of be a slow week. This weekend, I’m going to Oxford and Blenheim Palace, the palace where Winston Churchill was born in the 1870’s. Hopefully I’ll get to do some more exploring of London on Friday and Sunday. I could so get used to this whole three-day weekend thing…