concluded

The blog ends here.

Well, quite.

After 10 months away - I'm finally home for good. And its everything I wanted it to be - I'm definitely making up for missing 10 months of American meals. :)

That said, I will miss England dearly, despite my year-long complaints. I had a wonderful farewell to it though. We saw the boat races (although even after rowing for 8 weeks, I'm not sure I understand how the bumps work ...). We had tea with gin and tonics with delicious scones and not so delicious fruit cake. We enjoyed ourselves to a great (too great?) degree at the Union party and met some wonderful people (only to leave them a day later - so sad). And I got some quality time with my high quality English friends, who I will miss dearly. Badminton will never be the same, you know.

So all in all - the year was a great success. Despite all the bad food, the homesickness, and the crap weather, my year in England and at Cambridge will be something I miss terribly. However, such is life - things always come to an end.

So here - THIS is the end of this blog.
Much love, dear friends.

See you soon, dear friends.

Exactly one week from right now, I will be on a plane, heading home.

But until then, I have a lot of England is soak up.

My last session of badminton was wonderful on Saturday, even though I lost 3 games out of 5. I'm still not a pro, but I've improved drastically, and I'll really miss playing on a real court, with real rules. St. Louis has a badminton league, but their website is quite intimidating (well, as intimidating as badminton websites can be . . . ), so I'm still not sure if my skills and Euro-racket will venture past the rec set in the backyard when I get home.

I have two more papers, to match two last supervisions, and a Shakespeare movie night with my Shakespeare supervision group. And once all the work is over, May Week erupts.

Cambridge is known for its May Balls (Wikipedia it - apparently the ball at Trinity was named one of the best parties of the year by Time), but the 60 - 150 pound tickets are out of my budget after Spring Break Epic Adventure. However, that doesn't mean I'm going to miss the ambiance of May Week (at least, I'll enjoy its first 4 days, and then its off to home). The Boat Races start Friday, Saturday afternoon John and I are planning to have "a most unusual tea" at Browns (tea, scones, cake, and gin and tonics), before we head off to the Union Garden Party (famous for its abundance of strawberries, cream, and Pimms and lemonade), before our final farewell - Suicide Sunday, when all the grounds are open and students drink champagne on the formerly-forbidden lawns all afternoon.

A good ending, I think.

Europe Photo: Prague, break time, trying to figure out where we are time.

All the Jewellites are gone, except me and John. The hall is a bit weird, being so quiet, and as most of the campus is done with exams, I'm reading to be heading westward - its hard to be motivated to finish work (2 more papers!) when everyone is outside playing, and the crowd is slim inside to distract you.

The up side? Garner, Emily, Anna, Trisha, and Lea left ALL of their leftovers . . . I'm wondering if I can live on Cup O Soups until June 16th (and I'm sure gonna try!). Add to that pile of goods an almost full box of Earl Gray, and I'm 100% back into my tea habit (I fell out of it a while ago when I got sick of PG Tips - I didn't think it would happen, but it doesn't look like I'm going to finish my economy size box of Tips after all . . . ).

TV update: Add to the list of completed TV seasons - One Tree Hill (so bad its good, I know, I'm a little ashamed) and I'm slowly working on How I Met Your Mother.

I'm home June 16, and I'll be in KC at the end of July for some days. So, we should hang out, friends.

From the photo files of John Moore . . . that's me in Budapest, Hungary.

Guess what?
After 9 months abroad . . .

I come home 2 weeks from Monday!

That's all. :)

NHS

No, that doesn't stand for National Honors Society.
Rather, National Health Service!!

After almost three months of general ickness, I decided to try out the National Health Service. As an international student enrolled at Cambridge, I am entitled to full health benefits, just like a normal English citizen. I've heard a lot of mixed reviews about the NHS - some great (Free! How can you beat free?)and some skeptical (the doctors are not so good).

However, I have no complaints. I never had to wait very long, and my doctor was super helpful. The downside is that you HAVE to book your appointment either that day, or 4 weeks in advance. So there were a lot of early-morning alarm clocks that woke me up to call right when the office opened. And they are closed on bank holidays (which seems strange to me - the whole thing was closed, although, of course, the hospital is open, so if its serious enough . . . ). Best part, at the end of the visit, I just left. No need to pay anything - even when they took some tests!

Yes, those tests. Apparently, my body and gluten have had a falling out, and are no longer friends. My English doctor suggested I see a gastro and dietitian when I get back in the States, and that I might want to try gluten free in the meantime. No more blueberry muffins, I guess. But, thank God! Diet Coke is gluten free.

past week

Thought I'd let you know what's new here, in case we haven't chatted in a while . . .

Poor luck had me writing two papers this week (which includes piles of books), so the week in total is a bit blurry. Thursday night saw me working until 1 AM, only to wake back up at 5 AM to finish up that last paper. Ironically, because it was in late, my prof didn't have time to read it. So I read it to him, and noticed billizons of typos - I guess that's what happens when you get up with the sun to discuss Thomas Hardy. It probably wouldn't have been an issue, since it was orally delivered, until he decided he wanted to read it himself to "mark it properly". Whoops!

Wednesday was All You Can Eat Ben and Jerrys at the Union, so I trekked down (not really, we took the bus! we didn't want to risk an ice-cream cramp on the way back) with my friend Emma and Anna to sugar-load. Emma (we play badminton together) is a genius - she insisted we re-line once we got our ice cream, so we ate while we waited to eat some more! It was amazing. My new favorite is the Mango Berry Swirl Sorbet.I had two cups of it (about 6 scoops). :)

Actually, in retrospect, I'm loading in the social hours this week. Last weekend I went to Oxford to Jake's birthday, and got to stay with Janeane, which is always super. And I experienced my first Sunday Roast at a pub - more tasty than I anticipated. Morgan Romine and Gentzler are in from USA/Oxford, so there's been some activity there. And tonight I'm going to my first Eurovision party - basically its American Idol, but all the constants represent members of Europe, and its supposed to be cheese-tastic. AND next week I'm attending my first formal swap with another college - a lecture buddy invited me to an "English major swap". Busy busy.

I'm home three weeks from Tuesday. See you soon, friends.

One month from today I will be heading home. Flight gets in at 6 PM STL time, and I already have my first few meals planned : dinner at IHOP, lunch at Chipotle, dinner at El Maguey, lunch at That's a Nica Pizza - for their yummy roast beef sandwhiches, dinner at Cecil Whit's. I. can't. wait.

Also, in other exciting news - Hermonie Granger (Emma Watson from the HP movies) is coming to Homerton next year. How crazy is that?! Def. wouldn't happen at Billy Jewell!

summer weather

I wish I could tell you that I've been academically busy . ..

but I haven't.

England has been channeling Orlando the past week, and its been in the 80s and higher, with sun, and no clouds. In addition to making my room a sauna (no AC + bee hive outside window = warm warm warm room), it has sucked away my academic motivation. Stuff is still getting done though, don't worry.

But I've also found room in my schedule for other things. Like internet television. I've already caught up on all of this season's Grey's Anatomy, I'm 13 episodes into the first season of Brothers and Sisters, and I'm almost done with the whole show of Scrubs (yes, all 7 seasons) and The Office (US). Aren't you impressed at what I can do, when I put my mind to it? :)

So yes. Internet TV. Some hall bonding at the college bar (we watched Indiana JOnes (#2) down there the other night on the big screen - the archeology students were gearing up for Indy's release here in the UK). Badminton in the hottest gym alive on Saturdays (I lose all my water weight in 1 hour). That's my Cambridge life, 3rd term.

I come home a month from Friday. I can't wait.

Quick update to make you all jealous with my English life . . .

This week, the Union was packed with great speakers and a wonderful debate. Plus, with my mom visiting, and first week of term homework, I was a busy bee.

Monday: Field Marshall, Baron Vincent of Coleshill - former Chairman of the NATO Military Committee spoke at the Union. Union members can RSVP for the dinners they take the speakers to and the Union pays for part of your meal, so I figured this would be a good time to try out the membership perk and pick the guy's brain on NATO policy in the 1990s (if you didn't know, my current internship is with an international affairs journal on their upcoming issue on NATO). Unfortunately, his speech and dinner was pretty dull - the guy was super sweet, but not really willing to give away anything too remarkable as far as career reflections/gossip goes. However, I did make a new friend at the Union, who is just super.

Wednesday: A childhood dream come true. Quentin Blake came to the Union to talk about his latest works in England - he was the illustrator for almost all of the Roald Dahl books, and his work is STILL associated with Dahl, almost 20 years after Dahl's death. Not only is Blake incredibly funny, he is so sweet. I went to this dinner too, and unfortunately was at the other end of the table, so I didn't get any face time with him, but still - I will never have the opportunity to share a table with Quentin Blake again, so I'm not really complaining. Ok, maybe I am a litte. He did some drawings for people at the other end of the table, which made me almost collapse of jealousy into my burger, but I was able to calm myself with the abundance of wine at the table. However he did sign my termcard, so that's something.

Wednesday saw me with three hours sleep as well, as I raced to finish a paper due Thursday morning. It wasn't any fun - working from 12-2AM and then 5:30 - 12 PM, but it was an "outstanding" paper (says my supervisor) so maybe I found my creative timeslot. Shh. Even if I did, I'm not waking up that early again if I can help it.

Then YESTERDAY the Union debated "Is Jordan A Feminist Icon?". Jordan is way trashier Brittany Spears here, but, unlike Spears, doesn't have any talent other than being half naked. She was a "glamour model", which is another way of saying she does topless modeling for The Sun, a British "newspaper". Anyway, she's made tons of money, and has extended her empire into loads of other, non-boob related items such as bed linens and haircare, but the Union debated whether making your success at the pleasure of men makes you a feminist icon because of the extent of your success and self- management, or if feminism deserves more than that (I think the Nos won).

The debate pitted the Editor of the UK Comso Magazine, Catherine Townsend (modern day Sex and the City - type writer), Abi Titmuss (who apparently is REALLY famous now) and Jenni Trent Hughes against the editor of UK Good Housekeeping, 2 student debaters and Edwina Currie - a former MP who had a famous affair with a previous Prime Minister. It was amazing - funny, and at times awkward (esp. when they started taking jabs at one another . . . ), but really top notch. It was a great evening.

I also received news that I'll be returning to Europe - Belgium, in particular, in September. So when I say goodbye in 7 weeks, it won't have to be too sad.

So, in addition to all that excitement, I then got to hang out with my mom for three days! So great! We went to the Roald Dahl museum, had high tea in London, and went punting in Cambridge. So, good start, I'd say, to the last term.

summer school, but not really. just more school, in the summer.

Its weird to think that I started classes up again today, but everyone else in the normal world (read: home) is about to go home, to retire to couches and best sellers and summer jobs. And I have . . . more books. Worse, books I'm not interested in any more. Oh English major - how I wish I dropped you millions of years ago sometimes. But then, I wouldn't be here, would I? What a strange relationship we have, you and me, English major. So complicated.

So I recongize that I just had 5 weeks off (so glorious too, those 5 weeks), but I'm not ready to do this school stuff some more. I'd rather cash in the tution check, and head back into the backpacker mindset. Don't think that would fly with the fam though, or Jewell, or Cambridge, for that matter. They probably already spent my money on some more "Stay off the grass" signs.

It's also strange how comfortable it was to fall back into my routine here, to sleep in "my bed" and go to Tesco, and pick up a case of gosh-awful expensive Diet Coke, and chit chat in the hall way, and do all those things that have become part of my normal life here in England. And to think this whole experience will be over soon - I'll be home in two months, most of the Jewllites leave the beginning of June (for super research opportunities, or family celebrations, and what not), lectures only go on for the first 4 weeks of the term . . .

It will be a different time here, that's for sure. And then, I return home for the end of my college education, the conclusion of my "studenthood", and life changes there too. Growing up. I don't think I'll ever get used to it.

Well, on a less sighful note, I'm hoping that the weather will change too - that it will also be more sunny, and beautiful, and England will redeem itself in my eyes and make up for all those times I had to cycle home in the pouring, freezing rain, and climb into bed to thaw out while my clothes piled high on the radiator.

So far, it's still raining, but warmer than before. Progress, I guess.

It's also sad to think that my traveling is just about over. I'm basically broke, and my main breaks are up with. If I had more money, I might just stay in Europe all of June - the longer I'm here, the more I want to see. Greece, Scotland, more of Ireland, Spain . . . And that's just this continent. I think I may suffer from travel lust the rest of my days now.

But then again, if current-internship goes well, I may be back here in July. Here's hoping.

Forgot to update about . . .

My Thai foot massage - best 20 bucks I have EVER spent.
Don't miss it - so cheap, and so lovely.

Wee little post

Wrap it all up . . .

Back in Cambridge now - hello free internet!! So I figure I should fill you in on teh rest of my adventure . . .

From Prague we flew to Dublin, and we stayed there three nights. Our hostel did the job and had a great kitchen (I love ovens! I missed frozen pizza!), but was not a favorite of mine. Berlin's Circus is still the best place I've ever stayed (go there immediately). The thing that bugged me was that we "had to" keep our food in the kitchen (they didn't want the buggies), but the kitchen "closed" (read: doors locked!) at 9 PM. I tried to make a cup of tea at 9:30 PM once when the doors were left open, and got a bit of an ear-full from a staffer. Woah there Nellie - all I wanted was my Earl Gray. Whoops.

When we left, they had closed the kitchen for the whole day because of some problem with the water, but I wanted to pick up our non perishable food, and basically had to argue with the woman so I could step over a small puddle to get to the cabinet. Part of it might have been that I had been traveling for 5 weeks and was running low on people skills (well, only when people were being unreasonable - I'm good with people skills with nice people), but it irked me.

Other than where we laid our heads, Dublin was fantastic. It's a nicer London - smaller, more manageable, more friendly (but still go to London, its super too). Of course, I'm an English major (although these days I wish I wasn't . . . ) so I also loved to see the Ulysses' signs (noting locations from Joyce's epic). John and I went on a Literary Pub Crawl, where we joined two actors in visiting four pubs, where the crowd would drink and the actors would recite and act bits of famous Irish works - it was a blast. And one again, our failure to make friends with people our own age was apparent (however, to our credit, everyone our age was way more drunk, and way more obnoxious than we were, hence our avoidance of them) when we struck up a conversation with another middle-aged vacationing couple, bringing our new-friends-over-40-list up to around 6 or 8.

I also did a bit of window shopping in Dublin - try and find Sabatoge. Its the best store in life. I found a perfect dress that I had to visit twice before I made the hard decision that 80 Euro is too much when my bank account was under USD $500, despite beauty. Sigh.

From Dublin we took a bus to Belfast, Northern Ireland. We weren't there very long, but it was a great stop. We took a black taxi tour of Shankill and Falls Road - the front lines between the Catholic and Protestant Troubles, and got to snap a few photos of the political-religious murals. The ceasefire has been in effect for a while now, but our driver pointed out that the gates are still closed at night and on the weekend , separating the two communities of Protestants and Catholics, and there isn't any serious talk of the "Peace Wall" coming down. It was terribly interesting, and very strange. Especially since we were walking around about the time school was ending, so kids were running around, kicking soccer balls and playing - right in front of these murals attacking the other group, and commemorating hunger strikers. What a strange environment to live in.

Day 2 we took an all day trip to Giant's Causeway, one of my FAVORITE things ever. It was a gorgeous trip through the countryside of Northern Ireland, and we got to see the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge, some castle ruins, and of course, the Causeway.

Now, we're back at Cambridge. Last term, here I come. I'd rather skip the academic bit and travel some more, but my bank account is sadly empty. I'm hoping to make it out to Scotland and Greece yet, before I turn stateside, but I'm not sure if I can participate in enough brain scans to make up the dough . . . we'll have to see.

In two months, I'll probably be home. I'm stoked.

Praha

The next Paris?

I've never encountered as many tourists as I have here in Prague, except perhaps in Paris. This city runs on them, which makes me wonder if anyone actually lives here . . .

Regardless, it's beautiful. Apparently Hitler wanted to base his government here, so he tried his hardest to avoid it getting bombed, which resulted in more original buildings than many of the other places I have visited. He also tried to preserve the Jewish quarter as best as possible, hoping it to eventually be a museum of an "extinct race". So creepy.

The hostel is a bit of a dive (the beds aren't really beds, but more like a cross between a cott and a couch), but its well located and has a big kitchen. John and I have also abandoned our "authentic" food requirements and have had breakfast at a Bagel place (owned by an American, and so much like home they have free refills) every day. Ok, well, we abandoned that rule ages ago (we had McDonalds in Nice, and LOVED Breakfast in America in Paris), but I feel we've fully embraced our homesick cravings at Bohemian Bagel. We've been on the road 4.5 weeks now - I think its allowed.

We canceled our day trip from Prague to Cesky Krumlov, and instead of taken the city at our own, lesisurely (lazy), pace. Awesome. Today is our last day - John went off to a Medieval Art Museum (no thanks for me!) and I'm trying to finish up an assignment for my internship, and then perhaps Thai foot massage? I cannot find a pedicure place for the life of me (you should see my poor, traveling feet), so a foreign foot rub sounds like a great 2nd choice. I'm embracing the exchange rate as much as possible. We fly to Dublin (back to the Euro - boo) tomorrow, and then off to Belfast (hello GBP, no thanks, I never really want to east three meals a day anyway!) a few days later. Then, back to the Cam.

Spring break, flying by. Its really crazy that its April already.
Oh, and I'm looking at flights home. Whippee!

Naked Butt Count: 2

Still in Budapest. Should be called BUTTapest. I've seen 2 nakey butts today - one in the metro (crazy homeless man?) and one at Budapest's famous baths (he didn't get the swimsuit memo?). Buttapest. Hahha. I'm so funny, oh geez.

We leave tomorrow for an epic train journey to Praha (Prague, in Hungarian). If, or when, you come to Budapest, stay more than 2 days. We are leaving a LOT behind - meaning I need a trip back in my lifetime, soon. You just can't fit it all in, like Rick suggests (Rick Steves, that is - I still love him, but his timeline is OFF for Budapest man).

Today we saw the Jewish Quarter (beautiful), did some laundry (my fleece smells amazing), worked through the language barrier to buy train tickets (that are hand written, no lie. let's hope they are legit), then walked up to city park, had dinner at a "communist kitsch" cafe (freakin delicious! if I knew total economic equality tasted as good as my pineapple, ham, chicken, and rice dinner, I would have joined ages ago) and "took the waters".

Budapest's baths are basically a bunch of pools, some freezing, some lukewarm, some hot tub like. They are delightful, especially in the cool spring air. And if you can ignore the elderly couples macking. (Me and John refrained, of course. We're in public! And we were with a new friend - an American History teacher from CA.)

And when I used the word "cool" (in reference to the spring air), I'm using it lightly. It must have hit at least 75 today. I was wishing for a skirt when the sun was out.

4-5 cities left. All of a sudden its April? France seems so far away, and England even farther.

Much love.

BudaPESHT

So, Ljubljana turned out to be pretty mellow, but me and John met up with Lea and Trisha, and it all ended up being gravy. Plus, we can now saw we got to sample Cockta, the local specialty. Actually, Cockta is a Slovenian soft drink. Under communism, Slovenia couldn't get Coca Cola (the horror!), and so they invented Cockta, which John likened to cough syrup, and Lea swore resembled home made root beer (out of all of us, she was the only one who kind of liked it).

On day 3 in Slovenia, we went to the Skocjan caves, the biggest cave in Europe (golly gee Batman! Bigger than the Batcave!). We went into it as an adventure - its also the hardest cave to reach as a tourist bound by public transit. Trisha, John and I took a 1.5 hour train to Divicia, then planned to hike to the cave (3 km). The only other way is by taxi, so we were told. But once we hopped off the train, some dude yelled at Trisha and me: "To Caves? Free shuttle! Free shuttle?"

John had gone to inquire about hitching on a tour bus that we thought was heading that way (oh hush, a coach full of children and parents? it would not have been dangerous) and the free shuttle, which I had only heard about on one website, seemed a bit sketch, more so because me and Trisha seemed alone. So, the geniuses we were, we told the guy that we were getting a hiking map for the way back, to please wait, and then inquired at the ticket office. It was legit, and so 1 free bus ride later, we visited the most incredible cave in the world. You have to see it to believe it.

So, after visiting the underworld and back (no Dante in sight), day 4 John and I spent at Lake Bled, the most adorable city ever. Ever. It was even Tito's favorite (the famous president of Yugoslavia - we walked by his vacation house at Bled!). Trisha and Lea told us about the disgustingly cute gondola-like boat ride you can take to the island in the lake, which has an old church that is the most popular place to be married in Slovenia, and since it was way cheaper than in Venice, we dove in and embraced the cheese.

Our boat guy was pretty elderly, but adorable (of course, he has to be! He shuttles lovers back and forth to the marriage island!), and he got us there and back, safe and sound (which was quite a feat - it stormed off and on all day, okay, well, when I say stormed, I mean rain, but when we were on the island, it was really windy!). The island has 99 steps to the church, which the groom traditionally climbs while carrying his bride to be. John and I skipped that part, but we did ring the wedding bell - 3x grants you a wish.

Which brings me to today: after an 8.5 hour bus ride from Ljubljana (where me and John utalized our train travel skills to secure a cabin all to ourselves - if you draw the chairs out, and draw the curtains, most people won't try and sit in your compartment unless they have to. Lea and Trisha have another method - they sit on the floor and pretend to do weird religious like meditation), we are now in Budapest. Exhausted, we checked into the hostel (free internet, ok beds, nice staff), bought some mega cheap chinese food, I went grocery shopping for brekkie, and we turned in early.

Well, John did. I stayed up to write this.

We're here for 3 nights, then on to Prague for 5 nights, then back to the UK (well, former UK, then UK). We're on the downhill of backpacking now. Sad really. I'm getting into the swing of it. We met Ruth today, a woman at the hostel who has been traveling for 7 months straight. Whoah. I don't think that's in my cards, but I'm now contemplating a summer trip before I head home for good. I still have to check Greece and Scotland off my list, you know. :)

Much love.

HELLO Eastern Europe!

I'm not really sure what I was expecting when I jaunted into Eastern Europe. In Slovakia, the train station was rough - as in, tourist office closed and moved (although we found it quickly), in need of renovation, and some scary noises - we heard someone scream in the bathroom, and decided it was best to hold the call of nature until we found a WC that wasn't down a dark, dark staircase. But once we started walking into the Old Town, it looked just like any other European city - kind of. Some of the buildings still screamed COMMUNISM! But mostly, the only difference between Bratislava and Germany was that I had no idea how to pronounce any of the street names.

Slovakia is still on their own currency (they change to the Euro in 2009) and so stuff still (seemed) mega cheap. We indulged in hot chocolate (under 2 USD) and I bought some handmade handicrafts for souvenirs. My math skills got a work out (quick: what does 450 Slovenian money mean in USD? Uh . . . 15 dollars, I think).

I'm now in Slovenia (after a glorious night in a real hotel in Graz that was above a grocery store - it was heaven. Huge shower, comfortable bed, cheap diet coke, what more could I want?), which is one of the most economically stable countries of the former Yugoslavia. its a neat little city, but there isn't a terrible amount to do. We're planning on two day trips (caves and Lake Bled), and then to veg a little. The prices are more in line with the rest of Europe, but we've found some cheap options. Burke for 1.30? I'm in. (Its like balaclava, but with meat). 5 euro pizzas? Yes m'am.

Plus, our hostel is strange (very very small) but wonderful in many ways (Hi, um, can you tell me where I can do some laundry? This shirt still seems like Austrian fried food and smoke . . . here? for free? I love Slovenia!). Although the bathroom floods with every shower, and there is only one toilet and one shower for 12 people, it hasn't been too big of a problem yet. Funny observation - I realized that my whole room not only speaks English, but is all from the USA. However, if you go next door, you won't understand a word anyone is speaking. Its all Slavic languages. Geographically separation in hostels? Kind of funny, but also a little thoughtful.

Much love.

Hallo! My Deutsch ist nicht so gut, ja!

Annie and I's trip has turned into more of an adventure than I originally expected. We've done some serious trekking the past few days, in a really great way, of course.

We started in Zurich, and being the banking capital of the world, you wouldn't believe the cost of living. The Swiss franc is about 1 to 1 with the dollar, but prices are way higher. We had a delicious, 7 franc dinner through of sausages and diet coke, so I'm not complaining.

Zurich was freezing, but Luzern (day 2) was absolutely gorgeous - it has a lake via a glacier (crystal clear) and hundreds of swans (who all want to be fed) and is surrounded by the Alps. It was pretty in a whole different way than my other Euro-City favorites.

That night we headed to Basel, to stay with a friend of Anne's from Greentree Church. Lindsey and her roommate (both chemical engineers from MO) were absolute dolls, and I justified splurging on dinner a Lebanese dinner and wine since my bed, internet, and laundry were all free. Trust me, you have not adequately appreciated clean clothes until your jeans no longer fit you. It is a new kind of heaven to slip into clothes that fit and no longer smell of smoke, Euro BO (not mine, promise), and greasy food. I was so happy, it was almost a little silly, but I was too satisfied in my beautiful, clean clothes to judge my emotions.

Thinking about it now still brings a smile to my face. Ahh.

We then jumped on a train to Salzburg - a whooping 7 hour train ride through the Swiss Alps. We were riding the sides of mountains, going through the middle of mountains, and watching the snow come and go on the ground. It was a beautiful ride, and we went through Lichtenstein, so now we can boast of our three country tour.

Then it was time for The Hills Are Alive . . . . Sound of Music tour baby. Tourist central, but wonderful all the same. Absolutely worth the 34 Euro ticket. We're both dying to watch the movie now, and I'm close to buying it on iTunes. But I shouldn't. I'm almost out of hard drive space. Whoops!

Today we landed in Vienna, which is BIG and beautiful. And finally, Rick Steves can guide us around - his Eastern Europe book includes Vienna, and we are renewing our passionate relationship together. I LOVE Rick Steves. Best travel books ever, including his cheese.

We have three nights here (we're staying in the old maid's room in a hotel, what an experience), and we're thinking about a quick day trip to Bratislava (Slovakia).
Internet is still a bit iff, but I'll communicate as best as possible.

Much love.
Auf Weidersahn!



We got to see a bit of Basel the next morning

RICOLA. . .

Switzerland is BEAUTIFUL!

Come here.

It's unreal - the meadows, the super-clear glacier lakes, the snowy alps! Its amazing.

I met Anne really easily in Zurich, and we spent the night there, took a train to Luzern, spent the day there this morning, and now we're in Basel, staying with a friend of Anne's from church.

Which means free WIFI, free laundry, and a free bed.
Loving it, right now!

Fake and Real Europe

Paris was wonderful - you should go. Its a neat city. Although, I'm becoming a lazy tourist. Really, after you seen one important national landmark, every other national landmark isn't that exciting. The Eiffel Tower was neat, but it lacked the wow moment. Through the eyes of a tired backpacker, I suppose.

We went to Disneyland one day (1.5 days budget right there in the ticket), and it was super. You should go there too. Its just like Florida, except it snowed for a few minutes, and Buzz Lightyear speaks in French. Haunted Mansion, oh, excuse me, the "Phantom" Mansion, was a huge, confusing let down, because it was all in French, but the rest of the rides were just as good as their American grandparents. Space Mountain Mission 2 was the best. We went on that twice.

I'm now in Zurich, with Anne, which is a very posh city. After 2 weeks in France, its nice to hear some German, which I kind of understand. Zurich is beautiful, but the cost of living, and doing anything, is extremely high. The Swiss Franc is about 1 to 1 on the US Dollar, but the prices are not comparable. For instance, a Big Mac? 11 Francs. Woah there.

We didn't eat at McDonald's, by the way - we had some good, German sausages. And Diet Coke, naturally.

We're off to Basel tomorrow.

Much love.

Paris!

We under estimated Holy Week travel. Everyone in France seems to go somewhere, and they all take the trains. We planned to leave Nice in the morning, take the 4-5 hour train to Lyon, spend the afternoon and evening there, and then head to Paris (2 hour train) at a leisurely pace the next morning (yesterday).

Except, when we got to the train station, all the trains to Lyon were full. So we went to Marseille, thinking we could get a train out of there, which we did, although all the earlier ones were also full, and so we ended up in Lyon at 5 PM, which didn't leave much time for sightseeing - we were losing daylight. We decided to buy reservations early for our next day train to Paris, and lucky we did - the only one that had seats open was a 7AM.

So, we had to trade our day in Lyon for a extra day in Paris, which is really neat so far. We went to the Lourve last night (free for people under 26 on Friday evenings), and walked around the Latin quarter. Our hotel is pretty nice and has a super strong radiator - we're doing our laundry by hand, and its dry in no time. That's how you tell the place is a winner.

Much love.

Add to list: a couple of more middle aged friends. We have talked to no one our age yet here in France, although we now have 6 new friends to boast about - all about the age of our parents or older. Today, Canadian Couple #2 knew a lot about French transportation. A lot. They took a 20 minute bus ride to inform us. Useful . . . ? No. But friendly.

Marsielle, France has something to do with teh Count of Monte Cristo, although I'm not sure what. Its somehow related to this prison on this island outside of Marsielle's harbor, but the winds were too strong, and our boat trip was canceled. We then went to the top of the city to visit a famous church, and got some amazing views of the area. The south of France is very hilly, and I'm starting to realize the vast number of photos I have of various cities, all taken from above. I still love trains, and the one from Nice to Marsielle yesterday was beautiful - almost all along the coast. The one from Marseille to Nice, however, was darker, because it was at night.

I finished book #1 on this trip - The Kite Runner. I liked it, and read it in three sittings - 2 trains, 1 plane.

Today we went to Ez and Monaco, and both were beautiful. I'm uploading pictures tonight onto the computer, so I'll probably have some up here soon.

By the way, strawberries are uber cheap here, even with the exchange rate. I'm eating myself sick of them. But not really - who can ever get sick of strawberries? They are delicious!

salsa pocket al la french

French pastries are delicious, and I love croissants. Yesterday, we took a side-trip to Russia (when I upload the pictures, you will understand), and on the way, found a beautiful bakery. My adventurous nature got the best of me (what? you didn't know I had an adventurous nature? its really only limited to pastry selection) and I chose a mysterious turnover-looking pastry for lunch. I'm sure it wasn't mysterious to the French, but with my language skills - which have now expanded to include "hello", "please", "goodbye", and "get out of my way", there was no hope of discovering what it contained until I took a bite.

First, I thought it was tomato sauce (like a pizza pocket, cold, and not as delicious). Then, it was spicy. And then I realized it was salsa. In a flaky, golden crust. And a little bit of cheese. Disappointment? Yes. Was it good? Not really.

Update: Yorkie count is in the billions. Everyone in France has a dog, and it appears that over half own Yorkies, or strange wannabe Yorkies that are a little too large. John and I stumbled across an antique market yesterday in Old Nice (if only overseas shipping was free - I coveted about thirty beautiful tea sets), and most of the vendors had their little dogs curled up in packing boxes and things. We tried to make friends with one, but he wasn't really having it. Lesson learned: French dogs can be as rude as French people.

Actually though, the French have been very kind to us. They don't even hate me when I butcher their language. I tried to order some bread goods the other day with the skills John taught me, and the woman had to resort to English to understand me, and HER English was minimal. But she still gave me my benets (delicious golden fried dough with powdered sugar, oh my).

Today we're headed to Marseille - our trip to Avignon has been canceled due to train schedule, but this should be a neat replacement.

much love!

Bonjour!

Its Day 3 of Epic Adventure, and we're still in Nice, France, and it is very nice! John just about died on the bus ride here from the airport on Friday when I told him I thought it looked like Florida, but I'm slowing beginning to see the European side of the city. Nice is part of the French Rivera, so it has lots of palm trees, pastel-colored buildings, a beach (although very pebbly) and casinos, so on the strip, it looks like any other commercialized beach town. But when you get into the old part of the city, it fits much better in my vision of what Europe looks like (old buildings, tiny streets, street performers, and everyone has their dog with them - I have a very simplistic view of Europe).

The weather is BEAUTIFUL. It's in the mid 60s, and all that worrying I did about what coat to bring? Useless. I barely am wearing even a fleece outside. And the sun is shining - meaning I've worn my sunglasses more here than anywhere else! (Well, maybe not as much as Italy . . . ). I'm loving this vacation so far.

We haven't done too much, we're still recovering from the end-of-term-exhaustion, and Nice doesn't have much to boast of other than its atmosphere, and its ice cream. There's a gelato place in Old Nice that has so many strange flavors - I stick to normal ones: strawberry and mango (delicious), but John has tried olive (he liked it, I thought it was gross), beer (you could only taste it in the aftertaste) and rose (kind of like vanilla, actually) and he promised to try the tomato and basil. We've also tried the local specialty - socca, which is like a chickpea pancake and have had some delicious mussels.

Some numbers for you:

4: number of times we've heard "Hey There Deliah"
1: number of times we've been mistaken for honeymooners
4: number of middle aged friends we've made
about a million: number of Yorkies I've seen here in Nice
1: pile of dog poo I've stepped in
1: cup of tea I've had since I've been here (I suspect they jack up the price because this is a popular British vaca spot)

much love!

chatty chat

I miss my friend's voices.
It took calling one to remember that.

I will have to use phone cards more next term. Live and learn.


And to continue the rhyme and slogan (Oh I how I love completed things and The Fund, whose slogan you should know), I started that new internship this week. It's going super, and I am very excited about it. Its nice to be looking at something that is not literary related. Cambridge may be snazzy, but I'm a huge fan of the American system. My toes like many pools, or however that saying goes. I like to cook with many pots? Hm. Not sure.

We leave FRIDAY for our adventure. Can't. wait.

caremail

Dad and Liz sent me this package.
I've had cookies for lunch twice this week. Delicious.

European Tour Part II Spring Break Epic Adventure

March 14 - 20: Nice, France (including day trips to Avignon and Monaco)
March 20 - 21: Lyon, France
March 21 - 27: Paris, France (including Euro Disney, baybay)
March 27 - April 3: Young Life On Tour. (also known as Anne Simon and Katie's trip through Switzerland and Austria, seeing Zuirch, Basel, Salzburg and Vienna, including, naturally, an all day Sound Of Music tour)
April 3 -4: Graz, Austria (meeting back up with John, just in time to register for Fall classes thousands of miles away - please pray that the internet works in Graz Austria at 7 AM in the morning on the 4th!)
April 4 - 8: Ljubljana, Slovenia (including day trips to see the Karst caves and Lake Bled)
April 8 - 11: Budapest, Hungary (spa spa spa la la la i can't wait to see the spa . . .)
April 11 - 16: Prague, Czech Republic (including a trip to Cesky Krumlov)
April 16 - 19: Dublin, Ireland (James Joyce walking tour anyone?)
April 19 - 21: Belfast, Northern Ireland (to see the Giant's Causeway)
April 21: Back to Cambridge!

I'm packing flip flops and a swim suit - here's hoping that the weather will be warm enough somewhere to use them (even if its just in the indoor heated spa baths of Budapest!).

More on Bath

I have loads of reading, but I'm not terribly interested in it this moment (how interested are YOU in the change of perspective from Jane Austen's earlier to later works? Don't lie). So I'll tell you more about the lovely resort city of Bath.

Bath is really lovely. It has a River Avon (England has 3 separate ones, I think) , which actually means "River River" - the Romans mistranslated it when they came, saw and conquered. An architect used the river as an excuse to build an English imitation of Florence's Ponte Vecchico, so the bridge is a bridge, while also being a street full of shops and homes. Its very pretty, but Florence wins, hands down, if its a contest between the two.

The Roman Baths were a bit of a disappointment. I usually love audio tours, but this one was long and dull, so I never listened to more than 5 minutes on any topic in the Bath center. The Bath is still fed by the same Roman pipe and system, but no one is allowed to swim there anymore. Instead, there are "spas" that use the same hot springs and mineral waters that you can pay to get into in other parts of the city. Me and Mom didn't bring our suits, so we passed (although I hear they have better ones in Budapest, and I told John Moore he better pack a suit for that - apparently in Hungary it is "the" thing to do). I did enjoy the Pump Room though, and not just because of its role in two Jane Austen novels (Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, if you haven't done your homework). Its beautiful, and has a nice view of the old grungy Roman baths, and from the looks of it, sells an impressive high tea spread (although we didn't have time to do that either).

The water at the King's Pump is supposed to be medicinal - that's why so many people came to Bath in the old days, to soak in and drink the mineral water to get over whatever ails them. One of the Queens came and soaked, and then got preggers real quick (But I forget which Queen, Anne maybe?) - and that's how the city regained favor in popularity a few hundred years ago. I tried the water, but I'll stick to regular medicine - it smelled and tasted like old feet.

I had my first coronation chicken sandwich (which started a new personal obsession for lunches there, they are delicious!), and me and mom treated ourselves to multiple goodies at Waitrose, an organic grocery store (including Pork and Apple stuffing sandwiches and plenty of Diet Coke -yum!). We also stopped by the Jane Austen Center, and it was just as lame as Rick Steves promised. Jane hated Bath, for the most part, and the Center focused more on her character's lives here than Jane herself. Frankly, I get enough interaction with Anne Eliot and Catherine Morland in class, but it was neat to walk up to where JA used to live, and the souvenir shop had some lovely postcards (and numerous photos of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy).

On Day 2, we took a tour (Mad Max, recommended) to Stonehenge and Lacock, where parts of Harry Potter and the BBC's Pride and Prejudice were filmed. Stonehenge was neat to see, for photos sake (kind of like Pisa), but the audio tour was also really boring and mostly filled with "Well, we don't exactly know what these were for, but we do suspect . . . ". Leading theory is that it was a seasonal clock for planting and harvesting. I did not recognize much in Lacock, but it was a pretty little historical city. I wouldn't mind living there - apart from all the restrictions that are placed on your external improvements from your home, its a favorite place for people to film movies and tv shows, so residents are regularly paid money by Hollywood so they don't park their cars in the street. Easy life, ay?

That's probably enough information. Mucho love!

Please don't play in the Roman baths

Bath was neat. Very pretty, gorgeous weather (I think England is skipping winter this year), good buns (Sally Lunn's buns that is, famous worldwide).

Last night, near 1 AM, when I was trying to finish a paper (2 deadlines in 1 day = utter cruelty), everything started to quake, but nothing fell down. Introducing . . . my first earthquake. It drew all the Americans out of their rooms and into the hall (Lea: England doesn't get earthquakes!) but all the Brits were sleeping. It wasn't really that exciting. Not even a spilled glass of water. Pretty lame for a natural disaster.

Cheers.

toostie roll

Do you like the new title/photo? Tootsie has the adorable/annoying habit of taking over any open suitcases as her own. It may be that she just thinks she's the stuff, and top dog, and can do whatever she wants (which is pretty true - just consider the rules about socks at our house, and if you don't' know, well, come over, take off a sock, and try to find it later - it'll be with the dog), but I always like to think she's asking to come with. Or begging me not to go. Or asking me to leave her some socks.

She looks a little crazy in that photo, but there's no solution to "reflective eye", just red eye. iPhoto, you fail me.

Its currently 2 AM here. I'm going to Bath tomorrow with the Mom (she's in town, didn't you know? she's so jetset), but I had to get some work done first, which required some caffeine, which means now I'm not tired. So I thought I'd get my daily dose of vanity and type about myself for a bit. So here I am.

3 weeks left of term. Do I have anything planned come March 15? Nope. I better get on that . . . wish me luck. mucho misses.

transporting the culture

The weather is gorgeous here - 50s, sunny, you would think that its a Missouri spring. I'm not sure how long it will last, but I'm keeping my window curtains open 24/7 so I don't miss an ounce of sunlight. I thought my plants would appreciate it, but they are all still dying. I must be suffocating them with love, or water, or something.

Last week saw a failed Superbowl party (near midnight + broken tvs = quick loss of interest) and my first Pancake Day (the English celebrate the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday with their own inventive pancakes, which are crispy and served with lemon juice and sugar -- yum!).

I also tried to wow the English with my bowling skills at a Griffens (read: Homerton Sports Clubs) social. However, I turned out to be about average, which was a tad embarrassing considering the massive amount of trash talking I did (not quite). They were amazed, however, when I told that that I took a bowling class for college credit. That stuff doesn't fly at Cambridge, apparently. Too much dedication to the books going on here.

Speaking (typing?) of academics - I'm LOVING my Austen supervision. Jane is a bit more tricky than I originally expected and she's so much more pleasant to read than the stuffy modernists. My mind is in a bit of an odd place these days - switching from TS Eliot's nihilism and Austen's romance - its a shocking literary cocktail. And I'm considering senior honors projects - can you imagine the glory if I could combine my two majors into one essay? I'm thinking of the function of criticism - Brecht's idea that literature should jumpstart social change, and its effects, or what not. Hm. Might be a bit of a sell to the PoliSci, it will require some more thought.

My time here is almost half over, which is weird to think about. I miss Jewell terribly, but I think, when the time comes to leave Cambridgeshire, my heart will break a little. My cold cold heart may be warming to the English these days, I think it just might be.

new and old observations

You know you are in Cambridge when . . .


some of your professors are pretentious enough to dress in all black, all the time

the others still look more fashionable than you

girls don't own jeans, just jean skirts and lots of tights, no matter the weather

more so, they dress nice for everything, but don't brush their hair

people are chastised for cycling home drunk

the average number of sexual partners per college is national news (Homerton is in the
lead, btw, with an average of 7 per person, which is why the test scores are so low, apparently)

no one wears sweatpants anywhere outside of their room (not even to get laundry!)

technology is not embraced - hand written notes are the norm, and clicky typing is a well hated evil

new term, new activities

I'm no longer a rower. I'm a quitter.
But a well rested one at that. :D

Other than sleeping later, not much new to report. I took John out to dinner last night at a Chipolte wanna be called Manna Mexico (2 for 1 burritos = cheap date)! For being so far from the southern border, it wasn't that bad.

AND last week at badminton, I was one point away from winning my first game. Not bad, ay?

Here's a photo of my desk, looking more cheery these days (although the daffodils are dying! I think I better stick to catci and ferns)



So, all in all, its been a good week.

One and a half kleenex boxes later - I'm feeling much better. Thanks for the good vibes (and care packages will STILL be accepted!).

Nothing too exciting to report - back to the reading and the writing, and the obsessive drinking of the Diet Coke and the Buttery's blueberry muffins (which are almost as good at Jewell's blueberry scones).

The crew lists for rowing came out last week, and I didn't make either of the crews - but no worries. I wasn't surprised or disappointed. Rowing is a lot of fun, but I'd rather it be an occasional hobby than a full-time activity - which is what it is becoming for the crews (lots more races this term = lots more training). I'm still on the fence about how involved I'll be - right now I'm still training with them (I need my beach body for Greece, you know), but I'm only a sub for the outings - which is fine except that I'll still have to pay the $50 in subs to stay involved, which seems quite pricey considering the amount of time I will actually be in those expensive boats . . . hm. I have a few weeks to decide, so we'll see.

Anna and I went to a debate at the Union last night - This House believes that Britain should keep American close, but Europe closer. It brought up a lot of interesting points about the sovereignty of nations, and England's differing views on the EU. As a member of the EU, Britain is semi governed by an international body and bound by its laws - which was seen as a good thing by some (Europe is the new frontier!) and a bad thing by others (undemocratic! tyranny!). And of course, it wouldn't be a international policy debate without some anti Americanism - apparently the USA lacks the same values as the English - as in we still have the death penalty - and two states can still kill a criminal by firing squad! Oh please - just because its legal, doesn't mean its in practice - it was a completely misleading shot (haha i love puns . . . ). It was interesting, all the same. In my own opinion - I'd keep America closer - the UK is a good mid point between the US and Europe, and we all know that their egos are too large to completely submit to the being "just another member of Europe". Plus - we may be an ocean away, but we smell better than the French.

much love.

sneeze

I've caught a miserable cold.
Your sympathy and care packages would be much appreciated.

I also bought three new plants - two begonias and a daffodil. The cactus survived winter break.

much love.

nose to the grindstone

By the Cambridge calendar, which starts and ends on Thursdays, I'm still in week one, meaning that the weekend is a fake break in the early part of the school week that only pretends to be a time of peace and relaxation, when instead it is full of guilt regarding the pile of books sitting on my desk that I need to be reading. It's Sunday, and it's time to put my nose back into them.

Here's some useless knowledge for you - the origin of "nose to the grindstone" comes from the practice of knife grinders who would bend over their sharpening stone, keeping their faces near the action in order to keep the blades close to the stone. I wonder how many lost nose hairs (or noses) in that practice . . .

I'm working on Samuel Richardson's Pamela right now, which is 500 page novel from a million years ago made up of letters from a servant girl to her parents. I think it's supposed to be a romance and have a happy ending, but all I've suffered through so far (in 250 pages) is many acts of attempted rape by the man that apparently loves Pamela. What . . . ? Yeah, I don't get it either.

Other than the books, I've been busy with rowing (today is the first day off in a week!) and watching the first two seasons of Weeds. As for rowing - I'm pretty sure I'm still one of the weakest members on the team, but I did better on my 2k than I thought I would, so I'm happy with that. I also had badminton yesterday, and I was quite rusty. It's the worst when you get the shots you think you would miss, and then you miss the birdy when it lands basically at your feet. Shameful, really. As for Weeds - you should watch this show - its HIGHalious. (that's a pun - I love puns - you get it? because the show is about selling drugs? haha - you're amused, I know it). But it isn't afraid to show anything and everything on TV, so perhaps don't watch it when you are babysitting and the like.

I had my first outing back on the river on Friday morning, and it wasn't terribly cold out - especially considering it's January (in fact, the grass is still green here, and flowers are still alive - its very strange to see) - but it started raining the moment we got the boats out, and didn't quit until the afternoon. Rowing in the rain isn't so bad, you're preoccupied by the exercise and all, but cycling back in the rain? Miserable. Poor Cat rode back with me, and had a bike collision with another woman, and landed in the mud. In her words - "this couldn't get more miserable, Kathleen!". Needless to say, I decided the lectures on Spenser weren't worth another 20 minutes in the rain, and retired to read modernist theory in sweatpants with numerous cups of tea and biscuits. I think that's the only way English survive their weather - warm caffeine and chocolate. Or they are sneaking drugs behind my back. Either or.

And in even better news than tea and chocolate - I had Jewell visitors this weekend! Rachel (a Zeta) and Andy are studying at Harlaxton this semester, which is about 2 hours away by train. Rachel came in on a school day trip, so I got to show her around and catch up on some gossip from home, and Andy stayed the whole weekend and filled us all in on his Wheel of Fortune training - he's flying home to be on the show next week. Crazy, right? Did you know I applied for some game shows to finance this year abroad? No call backs. I'm assuming they were to terrified of my intellect to challenge me. That must be it.

Mucho love. Mucho misses.

Cambridge in Numbers

4: number of kleenex boxes I bought
1.5: number of HobNob packages I have already eaten
4: cups of tea a day - avg.
3: number of days it has rained here at Cambridge
3: number of days I have been at Cambridge
5: number of books I have to read this week.

my bargain wonders

Cambridge students aren't allowed to work during term, probably because they don't (or shouldn't) have the time. This rule has led me to earn money via medical research, which leads to events such as this: I donated my DNA (via saliva) for 10 pounds. That's the easiest $19.50 I've ever made (the exchange rate went down - you can celebrate, if you like. I am!).

I was as excited as only a poor college student living in a crazy-expensive country can be, and spent it all on wonderful things like Kleenex and face wash and hand soap. Beautiful. 

Lea didn't share my happiness, and told me she would be worried to donate her DNA - what if they cloned me? But really, could the world be any worse with two Kathleen Adams walking around? I think not.

In other money saving news (I'm making you proud, Dad!), the rowers had a back-to-school dinner at Bella Italia when it was half-price night, and by sharing a plate with a friend, I had dinner for 2.75 pounds.

I may be cheap, but England isn't, so I think it evens out.

Rowing starts up immediately. We had ergs this morning at 8:30, and our crew test (2k on the rowing machine) is next week. There aren't enough girls for three crews, meaning that some will be cut. I think I will be fine with whatever occurs - it's nice to be in shape, but it has definitely dropped in temperature here, and I can't imagine that the Cam is very pleasant at 7 AM these days.

Until my camera is replaced, you will have to be content with old photos stolen from other people's Facebook albums. Here's a night shot of us rowing - the building behind us is the boat house we share with Trinity College.

Back to school . . .

More photos:

http://jewell.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012655&l=e430a&id=125300053
http://jewell.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012658&l=99041&id=125300053

I'm typing this at my desk in Cambridge, and minus the empty bookshelf (which will be full in a few days, I'm sure - once I hit the libraries), it's creepy how natural this feels. I was not looking forward to coming here - school work pales in comparison to being home and relaxing and traveling Europe, and as I'm sure you can imagine, it's not even a pretty color of pale. School work is an unhealthy, translucent, dead fish color of pale when it stands next to those aspects of winter break. But now that I'm here, it's just . . . routine. And that's nice, especially after the chaos of traveling for two complete weeks out of a heavy backpack. I really enjoyed dumping that backpack out, and hiding it in my closet.

Visiting Oxford (where I spent the past three days) was wonderful. Janeane (and all the Oxford Overseas students) live in houses, so we cooked real meals, and I did THREE loads of laundry while I was there - in a machine and everything. Lovely. I barely left her house - I needed some hermit time after the go-go-go pace of Italy, and it was almost as good as being in the US. I'm sure I'll go back to Oxford in the spring and see more of the city than Janeane's house, two pubs, and a Gap, but as of right now - no regrets. It was a good transition from world traveler to uni student.

We got into Cambridge today at 12:30 PM, and lugged all of our luggage back to school, dropped it off, and then me and John took the bus to Tesco (their "Walmart", you could kind of say) to stock up on some food. I spent 40 pounds, but my cupboard is completely full of delicious food, and I can't wait to get hungry again. I'm going to try harder to make real food this term - (no more toast lunches, I promise, Mom!) and I've already started with a container full of curry chicken salad. Awesome. (AND Diet Coke was on sale (!!) - so I now have two ten packs in my wardrobe, and life doesn't get much better than that!)

Now, its 10:27, and everything is unpacked and ready to go for term. Tomorrow is pretty slow - there's a rowing meeting and I've got to figure out my lectures and get some books, and things really start on Tuesday. So I'm milking the rest of break until Tuesday, you better believe it.

Much love, and I miss you all!

photo album

Blogger takes ages to upload photos, but Facebook is much quicker. Here you can see my latest photo album on Facebook from Rome and part of Florence.

http://jewell.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012649&l=9fc99&id=125300053

quicker than typing

Here's 4000 words worth of photos for you. :)

fly cheap means fly crazy

After an hour-long, bouncy boat ride leaving Venice, we arrived at the airport. I'm not sure if you are well acquainted with low cost airlines, but they basically promise to get you there, with no extra frills, for cheap. You have to pay for any checked baggage, and forget the free peanuts, but I really have no complaints. Faster than trains, anyway (can you even imagine going from Italy to the UK on a train? I love them, but not that much).

The seating is also all up for grabs, so picture this: a couple hundred or so people crowded around the gate, waiting for their boarding letter to be called, and having no desire to move for those who can board before them. From there, you get on a bus, which takes you to the train, and once those doors are open, it is a sprint.

I'm completely serious when I tell you that I saw business women in heels running to get the seat they want on that tiny plane. That made me feel like I needed to run (I wanted to fit in), even though I don't care where I sit. I got approving looks for my row 4 window seat though, so I guess I passed.

We're safe and sound in Oxford now - after an hour-long boat ride, two-hour plane ride, and two-hour bus ride (now just get me a horse, and my diverse transit means will be complete). We'll rest here for a few days with some friends from school, and then head back to Cambridge for the books and things.

Much love.

last day in italy

This trip has been really enjoyable, and compared to the first leg of our Europe adventures - much more dry. In numbers:

8: the number of cities we visited (Rome, Naples, Pompeii, Florence, Sienna, Pisa, Venice, Verona)
15: the number of gelato cones I ate (strawberry "fragola" is my favorite, expresso "caffe" was my least)
10: approximately the number of pizzas I ate here
.50 = the cost in Euros of the cheapest Diet Coke I bought in this country
2.50 = the cost in Euros of the most expensive Diet Coke I bought in this country (hey, when you need it . . . )
0 = the number of coffees I had
25 = at least the number of espressos and cappuccinos John had
12 = number of nights we had in Italy
3 = number of nights we had in Italy where we had our own private bathroom (it's some sort of heaven to have to walk less than 5 feet to your own bathtub).

We were told not to spend more than two days in Venice, as while beautiful, it does gets dull, so we saved all of our sightseeing adventures for our only full day in the city. We started in Piazza San Marco (with the pigeons) and took the "secret itineraries" tour of the Doge's Palace (the head governmental building of the Venetian Republic) and learned how Casanova escaped (with the help of a priest, and a piece of iron). From there, we had paninis for lunch, some gelato, wandered the closing markets at Rialto, walked over to the suburb in Venice where people actually live (Santa Elena), and took a break at the hotel. We're off to have dinner at a wine bar, and then back here to pack up. We head to Oxford, UK tomorrow at 10:30, and after we spend a few days there with some friends from Jewell, it is back to the Cam for school. Boo. Traveling trumps studying, I believe.

Much love.

where for art thou . . . ?

We went to Verona today, where Romeo and Juliet are "from". You can walk down the street Capello ( = Capulet) and see Juliet's "house", although don't forget she's pretty fictional. I love tourist traps like this, but it was closed for renovation (the curse of the off season).

Otherwise, the city was beautiful and we had great weather. Love graffiti is big here - the walls of Juliet's house is covered in X heart X and love notes, and you can visit the "posso dell' amore" (well of love) where the young-and-in love buy a luggage lock, write their initials on it, and lock it onto this closed up well. We saw locks like these in Florence too, Rick Steves (our travel guide book friend) says its a revived fad.

We also went to a funky wine bar. I am my mother's daughter - at 3 pm I ordered a dessert wine (to the shame of John!). The owner gave me a weird look, but we also woke him up (at 3 pm) so his judgement is nil to me. :)

Tomorrow is our last day here in Italy - we're spending it all in Venice, and then we're back to the UK.

Photos are taking ages to upload, so you'll just have to wait a little longer.

Much love.

masks and canals

I love Venice.

We're in a hotel that is music themed, and we're in the Elvis room. Aren't you jealous?

The city is beautiful, and the breakfast was free. Awesome.

We're off to Verona today.

Much love.

Italy is for lovers . . . and other things

For your enjoyment - a poem composed by moi.

"How to Know You are in Italy: A Couplet"

The people are kissing on the street
But the toilets have no seats.

Yesterday, we traveled to Sienna (it's where the color "burnt Sienna" comes from - it's the exact color of their soil) and then headed to Pisa today. Sienna was beautiful and Pisa was very, very wet - we only saw the tower and high tailed it back to Florence.

I also bought myself an Italian leather purse ($$$ but oh so beautiful) and John got himself some snazzy shoes.

Tomorrow, we are off to Venice, where we'll do two day trips to Verona and Padua, then back to the UK.

I won't lie - I'm not ready to go back to school. Italy revived my love of travel - minus the thieves, it's a wonderful, wonderful country.

Miss you all!!!!!!!!

Florence / Firenze!

We're safe in Florence - it was a great train ride. Italy is beautiful, even in January.

Florence is wonderful - a nice break from the craziness of Rome. We saw the David (it is HUGE) and walked around. Don't have much more time to say more, other than I miss everyone and love you all even more!

Vatican City

(Me and Janeane at the Vatican)

Things are good here!

We explored the other side of Rome and went to the Vatican, which was neat, although I've seen things that I thought were more impressive (minus the size of St. Peters, that is). It was a good way to spend three hours, though.

From there, we walked along the Trevere River, and saw the Piazza Polopo, did some shopping (Janeane sprang for some Italian leather shoes, I went with a coin purse), had lunch and gelato, and saw the Patheneon again. Nothing too exciting to report, other than tomorrow John and I are going to Florence and Janeane is going back to Oxford.

Miss you all terribly!!

Pompeii

(Me and the Roman Forum)


We took a train from Rome to Naples today (2.5 hours - Italian trains are cheap but dirty, although the view was great), and then from Naples to Pompeii (half an hour) after having pizza in Naples (that's where it was invented, you know).

Pompeii was neat - it's really large, which I guess I didn't expect, even though I knew it was a city. This is the city that was destroyed when a volcano blew up in AD 79, killing almost everyone, but preserving a lot of the city and people. The city ruins are pretty well preserved, considering they are thousands of years old, but the streets are made up of these huge cobblestones that are painful to walk on. We spent about three hours there, and then made our way back to the train station. It was a long day, but pretty neat.

We're going to the Vatican tomorrow, and hopefully seeing the catacombs. Me and John leave Friday for Florence, and Janeane is leaving Friday night for the UK, so we have a lot to fit in still - including some shopping. I hear the call of Italian leather, perhaps in the form of a new, chic purse? 

Love!

Rome!

Well, it's day three in Rome, and I have to say - it is a neat city, but you HAVE to be on your guard.

We've encountered lots of persistent street vendors and beggars, and Rick Steves warned us about pickpockets. It was good advice, albeit unheeded, because I WAS pick-pocketed. And I'm so angry about it.

We made some friends at our hostel, and they invited John, Janeane and I to join them downtown to celebrate New Year's Eve. I will say, the atmosphere in downtown Rome is great - really chaotic, but pretty amazing. Everyone is speaking different languages, and popping champagne bottles, and setting off fireworks (However, no bathrooms - when in Rome, use an alley!). 

Once we got to the main piazza, it was very crowded. Nonetheless, we were in a large group, and circled up, so everyone felt safe. I transferred my camera from the front pocket of my purse to the main pocket, thinking it would be safer, and only took two pictures downtown - those photos were not worth it! When we were trying to leave, a fight broke out on the street, and the crowed started to exit, and it got a little (and then a lot) pushy. Once we were out of the crowd, I realized that my purse had been opened, and my camera was gone -

With all 200 Rome photos on it.

It is so terrible, because my photos were REALLY wonderful - we had done a ton of sightseeing on New Year's Eve, and the lighting was fantastic. The thieves didn't even get a good deal out of it, because without the recharger, the camera will be worthless in 30 minutes, and one of the buttons didn't even work anymore! So it's not even like they will make money off of it - so pretty much, its a crap deal for all involved.

To make the day worse, a bird also pooped on my head. Icky.

So until I can replace it, John is letting me drive him crazy by borrowing his camera every few minutes. And today, we backtracked a bit to "replace" some of the photos, but everything was closed.

Other than that - Rome is a neat city, and the food is delish. We think we're going off to Pompeii tomorrow, which will require an early morning, and the Vatican Thursday.

Mucho Love!
Chao!