Edinburgh-The hot mess tour

This past weekend I went to Edinburgh, Scotland with my good friend Natalie (who will from here on out be referred to as Nata).  We have named this trip the "Hot Mess Tour" due to the amount of times one of us fell down, my inability to climb up and down the ladder to my top bunk and the amount of stupid stuff we did this weekend.  Here is a picture of me and Nata:
I am well aware this is a horrible picture of me but this is the only picture of the two of us from this weekend on my camera...


Friday:  We got into Edinburgh with hungry stomachs around 8pm.  We checked into our hostel before we headed off to go get food.  Our hostel was awesome!  Our room was labeled "addictions" and sat beside various themed rooms such as Starwars or Gotham City.  The beds we were assigned were named sex and drugs.  After dropping our backpacks off we went to go find cheap, fast food.  The first thing we saw was a Pizza Hut.  We knew it was lame but we were starving and had not had American food in a month.  However, Pizza Huts here are not the same.  There was wine and a waiter dressed in a button down and slacks and it was just real fancy.  We split a large cheese pizza and some tap water and left with our bellies full.  Then, we just walked up and down High Street/The Royal Mile looking for a pub with some culture.  We stopped in and got a rum and coke and some baileys and called it a night taking a leisurely stroll back to our hostel.  


Saturday:  We woke up early on Saturday with Arthur's Seat in mind.  We put on our walkin' shoes, ate some breakfast and set out to make the trek.  Arthur's Seat is part of the Salisbury Crags (the gaelic word for mountains) and was once a Volcano.

I, chubby, short-legged girl that has never been hiking climbed all the up to the top.  It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.  With the City on one side, Crags on another and the ocean on yet another I had my breath taken away. Nata and I sat up there in silence for a good 2-5 minutes and then started to take five hundred pictures but none of them could do it justice.

 I could have stayed up there forever, but we decided we had much more to see so we climbed back down.  We went back up High Street to a museum called Camera Obscura which is named for it's camera lens that projects a live 360  degree image of the city onto a screen, but also houses an assortment of weird illusions, holograms and a mirror maze. It was awesome and totally worth the 7 pound entry fee.  Then we went up to Edinburgh castle but refused to pay the 15 pound entry fee so we just took pictures from outside of it.  Then we went up to Prince's Street, got some cheap sandwiches from M&S and ate in the park on a bench with a view of the castle.  After that, we walked up and down Prince's Street, but since neither of us had money to spend, we decided to spend our time elsewhere.  Before we had left Harlax. we had looked for some theatre in Edinburgh but since we were there right after the fringe festival we couldn't find anything but we found an intriguing new ballet called geometry and grace and at this point we decided to find the theatre and get some student rush tickets.  We then went to a near by museum, The Scottish Gallery and observed Scottish History.  We got out and stumbled upon two things: Greyfriar's Bobby (the famous dog statue--I didn't really get it...) and The Elephant House (the coffee house where J. K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter).  Now, everyone who knows me knows my undying love for Harry Potter and most that know me, know that I have a sweet Hedwig costume that I wear as often as I can get away with.  

 Needless to say, I wanted to get some coffee there.  Natalie forced me out of there and made me move on.  So, we proceeded to try to find the Edinburgh Museum of Childhood which we had been looking for since we had gotten to Edinburgh, only to find out it was directly across the street from our hostel. It was real cute.  Then, we went to find a cheap dinner before the ballet. We stopped and had some hummus and falafel sandwiches. Delicious. 

Then, we headed to the ballet. It was wonderful!  After the ballet we went to a bar that we had heard about called Frankenstein.  It was decorated in spooky, electrical stuff and the DJ played Thriller.  After that we went back to our hostel and called it a successful day. 

Sunday: We woke up early on Sunday and headed straight for the train station because for some reason, we had it in our heads that our train left at ten, only to find out it didn't leave until 18:30.  We had ten more hours!  We had all this extra time so we walked along High Street and went into every tourist shop we could find to find the cheapest scarf possible for Nata and I had an idea in my head of the perfect hat I wanted to find and eventually she found a 6 pound scarf and I found my perfect hat!  We also stumbled upon a sign that said "free personality tests" and we wondered up a long, winding staircase.  I didn't want to go but Nata reminded told me she had gotten some advice to do stuff that make you nervous so we went up.  We had found ourselves taking a 200 question survey and had discovered we were in the Scientologists of Scotland center. Trapped.  We got a sweet Scientology DVD and got out of there as fast as possible.  Then we went to the National Museum which had some pretty sweet classic art.  Then we started looking for the writer's museum, but when we got there, we discovered it wasn't open Sundays. Lame.  So, we wondered down High Street and found a couple of Cathedrals to go into. Then we made our way back to Hollyrood and we sat beneath Arthur's Seat looking up at the Scottish sky for about and hour and a half.  After that we went to another couple of monuments that I don't remember the names of.  We went back to our hostel for some tea, got our bags and went to the train station.  We were safe and sound in the carriage house 5 hours later.

Coming Up next: Oktoberfest!

Lincoln-the one in Europe.

On Wednesday, Everbody from Harlaxton went on a field trip to Lincoln, a historic town that was a major city for the Romans during the Roman invasion (43AD-550AD...No, I didn't just google that. Not just a hat rack my friends).  I woke up and went to breakfast in the refectory and picked up my packed lunch.  Then we loaded the bus and took the hour long drive to Lincoln.  When we first got off we split up into groups alphabetically and followed our assigned schedules (thank god for Grace Yeary and Rachel Zupp for their last names and the alphabetical proximity to mine).  We were assigned Phil Taylor as a tour guide and walked around the roman ruins throughout the town with him.

This is the "famous" Lincoln Arch.  Cool. 

Then, we got two hours to wonder around the city of Lincoln and eat our packed pb&j.  Lincoln is a real cute lil' city.  We wondered down steep road and hiked back up steep hill.  It was steep. OBVI.

Then, we found a park to eat lunch in and illegally used the "customers only" loo in a bookstore.

Our schedule then told us to go to the castle to get a staff-guided tour.  We were split up randomly and put into tour groups of about six.  I wound up in a group with my bestie Nata and we had the cutest tour guide, Margarette.  First we went into the jail where people used to await trials and we saw the Magna Carta (the 1215 version).  Then we walked all over the castle grounds.

Last, we met back up with Dr. Phil and he took us all around the cathedral.  

My favorite thing about the cathedral is the story of the little imp:  Within the carvings of saints and other religious figures in the cathedral, you can find one little imp.  It is said that he was sent by the devil to cause destruction in the cathedral and an angel found him and froze him as a part of the architecture to show Satan what would happen to all the little imps he might send.  I got a post card with the story of the imp on it in the gift shop to send to my momma but I lost it. Sorry Mommy.  By this time we were exhausted and it was time to load back on the bus.  I fell asleep pretty soon after the bus started off and woke up as we arrived back at the manor and it was time for dinner followed by Como video filming and a night in the bistro.

Coming up soon: A trip to Edinburgh with Natalie.

Liverpool

One of my best friends and fellow duck, Rachel Zupp and I get lost and found in Liverpool:

Friday:  Rachel and I got into Liverpool Friday around 2:30 hungry and lunchless.  We started our hour-long trek to our hostel outside of the city in which we got lost at least five times since Liverpool collectively decided to not put up any street signs.  We finally made it to our cozy and cute little run down hostel just outside of the main city action, put our bags down, used the “Lou” and decided to get a day bus pass and head to find a place for lunch in the downtown area.  Yet again, we got a little lost when we got on the bus headed for the wrong direction headed for the suburbs.  We were the last two people on the bus when the bus driver stopped and asked us if we had any clue where we wanted to go.  We stared up at him with our starving, poor little eyes and said “we just want to go downtown sir”. He said he was headed back that way and we could just stay on the bus. An hour after getting on the bus we finally got off in Queen’s Square downtown.  We ate DINNER (which means we saved money by completely, unintentionally missing lunch) at a place called Ask where we got wine (makes the walking go faster and our feet hurt less) calamari and a chicken pizza. Delicious.  Then we headed toward the river where all the touristy stuff is located stopping in some stores for some light shopping but we both wound up with nothing.  We finally made it to the dock and we saw a huge ferris wheel.

Priced at 5 pounds 50 for a ride we got on just as it started to rain and saw the city from above with an informative voice over to tell us all about the 25 million pound ferris wheel.  When we got off, it was raining pretty hard so we started to look for a bus station and guess what?  We got lost again and wound up in the club and bar district.  The place you least want to be when your too tired to be interested in clubs and bars.  When we finally found a bus station we found that our bus had stopped running at the late hour of 21:00 so we reluctantly took a cab with empty pockets but the total was only 4 pounds.  We got back to our hostel and found we were sharing a room with an adorable Spanish couple who are looking around Liverpool for a flat so the woman could go to school in Liverpool.  All in all, it was a great day!  There’s no better way to see all a city has to offer than to get lost in it.  After writing this I hit the hay. 

Saturday: Rachel and I started off the day with an awkward, free breakfast with everyone else in the hostel.  First we got some retail therapy when I went back to buy a sweater that had haunted me the night before.  Then, we started walking towards Albert Dock where the museum called “The Beatles’ Story” is located on Albert Dock. 

We walked along and listened to our audio books about John, Paul, George, Richard (Ringo) and the rest of the Beatles gang. We laughed, we cried, we felt like we were on an acid trip and overall the exhibit was awesome!  Then we got on a “hop-on, hop-off” tour bus that only cost 4 pounds!  We learned all about the cities’ history and architecture and hopped off to grab lunch and soak in some art at a small modern art museum.  Lunch was delicious!  I had quiche and Rachel had a brie and grape sandwich.  The art was very interesting and had an fun interactive element. We then got asked to take a survey about the museum and met a cute little British woman who was giving the survey.  I’m pretty sure she’s my new best friend.  Then, we hopped on again and headed to the cathedral area.  In Liverpool there is a Catholic Cathedral constructed by an Protestant and a Protestant Cathedral constructed by a Catholic on the same street.  The Catholic one is in-the-round and looked really cool from the outside, but we didn’t go in it, because we didn’t know how to get to it.  The Protestant Cathedral was beautiful inside and out!  We spent about an hour in there lighting prayer candles and listening to the live choir sing.  We hopped back on the bus one more time and drove past China town on the way back east to Albert Dock.  From there we bought some present for our families and wondered around the Dock area.  We found a house that had been made into a museum that said “tour a war-time household”.  It was a short, but cute little 40’s-style house.  Then Rachel and I took a leisurely stroll along side the river bank.  We stopped at a bench to soak in the Liverpool sky and the smell of the salty sea.  Then, we found a Pizza Express (a chain throughout Europe that is pretty much like a California Pizza Kitchen).  We split a pizza and had a glass a wine.  Livin’ the fabulous life. However, things then took a turn for the worse when I started to feel a little off.  About halfway back into town I turned to Rachel and informed her that we should find the restroom (forgo any attempt on fitting in with the culture and saying WC or lou since this was dyer) because I was going to puke.  I ended up puking in Costa Coffee on the floor and in the bathroom which the polite man informed me was out of order as my head was in the toilet.  After that Rachel and I just walked and people watched for a while.  We found ourselves exhausted and with our pub-hoping plans dashed by the puke incident.  We decided to own up to our lame selves and walked back to our hostel to shower and do free laundry.  However, laundry proved to be a much harder endeavor on the UK washing machined than anticipated and I ended up rinsing my clothes by hand.  We were also greeted by another surprise when we got back and the spanish couple was gone and a snooty med-student from london had taken their place.  Rachel Zupp said it best when she declared “he would be on the bad side in Harry Potter”.

Sunday Sunday in Liverpool, we got up, showered, ate breakfast and checked out of our hostel.  We finally got the bus system figured out and took it directly downtown.  First, we went to the Tate Liverpool which had a really awesome sculpture exhibit with some really famous work by Dali (Krista!), Picasso and Degas. And a really cool room where you were given headphones and walked into a room with disco balls and a dance floor labeled “dance here” surrounded by artwork.  We also at lunch in the Tate Cafe.  Then, we moved on to the Merseyside Maritime Museum.  If you didn’t know, the company that owned the Titanic and all of the other big ship-liners at that time was based in Liverpool. They had a temporary exhibit called “Seized” about customs, imports and taxation at that time.  Then we went to the main part of the museum which was pretty cool as well.  There was also a free piece of theatre about a fictional survivor of the Titanic. A one woman show in which the actress controlled to light cues herself by “subtly” reaching her hand to the button on the other side of the trunk she was sitting on.  Truly an inspirational masterpiece.  Or not.  Anyway, after that we were very tired and we had pretty much been through everything there is to do in Liverpool so we went to the train station, got some dinner and waited for our 2 1/2 hour train ride.  We had scheduled a train to Grantham, but since the track was being cleaned at that point, the rail station got a replacement bus from Nottingham to Grantham for us to take.  However, did not communicate to us that it was parked in the tram station as opposed to the bus station in Nottingham.  So, to finish off our trip, Rachel Zupp and I spent 20 minutes at 8pm running as fast as we could around the street off Nottingham.  We finally found our bus, and 45 minutes later we were back in the carriage house comparing travel stories with our friends.  Here is a picture of my and my Zupp on Albert Dock (I stole this from her as my camera died on saturday and I did not bring along the charger):

Coming to a webpage near you soon:  Lincoln: A British Studies Field Trip.

London Calling

Hello, Everyone!

The London Experience:
On Thursday night we arrived in London around 9 tired and hungry, so I went to a pub and had a beer and some oreos with some friends, then hit the hay.

Friday, I woke up early and walked to Buckingham Palace (a very long, Brian Goner-paced walk) to see the changing of the guard. BUT just my luck...the changing of the guard was canceled that day. So, I moved on to Trafalgar Square.

I wandered into the national museum which was wonderful. Then I moved on toward the embankment and found Big Ben, The Parliament Building, The London Eye and Westminster Abbey.  I laid with some friends outside Westminster and looked up at the British sky for a few minutes before moving on.

We walked across the Millennium bridge to an area filled with street performers.  I was chosen to be Charlie Chaplin's personal assistant for a trick. Then, I had a Ragtime moment.  I stumbled upon an old, jewish man making silhouettes and found a tear trickling down the side of my cheek (anybody that's ever been to a UET party would say that they weren't surprised).  He made me a silhouette and wished me luck in life.  We walked along the river before we decided to eat dinner and head back to the hotel.  Then, we went to Soho to dance our asses off, but found no dancing around...even in the gay district. humph.

Saturday I woke up early again to try the Changing of the guard again. Success!  All was great and the royal marching band played Abba.  Then, we took the underground to the museum of natural history where we found some lunch at a farmer's market and wondered in to see all of the dinosaurs and monkeys.  After that, we took the subway to Portobello Road to do some serious shopping and great deals. I found a 3 pound purse, a wallet, a journal and some scarves and called it an expensive day.  That night most of UET Harlax. Fall 2010 (minus a few of my favs.) trekked down to the National Theatre where we saw a new work of theatre called "Welcome to Thebes". It was SPECTACULAR and will stick with me for a long while. It tied classic greek theatre (Oedipus and Antigone) to today's issues in Iraq and the genocide in Africa.  It is theatre like that which reminds me why I do theatre and places like the National Theatre that remind me why I do management.  An amazing facility that does great things for the community and changes the lives of its' theatre-goers.  In an industry as hard as theatre, sometimes you need a little reminder.  And, I got a drink at intermission!  Just like an adult!  That was when I called it a day again and slept like a rock.

Sunday, I had to be checked out and on a bus by 10am so I got to sleep in a tidge bit.  Then, Harlaxton chartered a bus to take us to Hampton Court Palace, home of Henry VIII and all of his wives.  It was great, but I was exhausted and ready to be back in my dorm, fast asleep on my bed.  This picture goes out to all mah ducks. It was taken at the children's play room of the Hampton Court Palace.  As you can see, I'm lookin' rough. We finally got back to Harlaxton in time to do my homework, skype some friends and go to bed in time to wake up refreshed for class the next day.

Harlaxton begins

Well, here you go mommy.  You wanted it, you got it.  When my Mom told me I should start a blog about my travel abroad experience I wasn't sure what I would write about. Then I took my first weekend trip to London and I knew exactly what I would talk about.  You can thank Rachel Zupp for my mother's inspiration.

So I'll start off by talking about Harlaxton.  I am now attending Harlaxton College in Grantham, England which is located in the Lincolnshires.  All Harlaxton students take a 6 hour course called British Studies.  I, through luck of the draw, have the most adorable 30-something british man as my professor.  I am also enrolled in Biology 100 and Modern British Politics which will most certainly be interesting as I am one of five people in the class.

The town of Grantham is about 3 miles away from Harlaxton, but it is a pretty good sized town with everything you could need and only an hour away from London by train.

However, the best thing about Harlaxton is that every weekend is a long weekend.  Which means that I get out of class thursday around one, catch a train to London and fly somewhere spectacular.  I will galavant through the most cultured, art-filled (theatre-filled!), beautifully architectured, history rich cities in the world and YOU get to read about it.