Spring in London

March 22nd, 2009


Spring has arrived in London. The sun has decided to show its face. Helps me stay motivated to run through Hyde Park in the mornings and do activities outside whenever I can. My roommate and I decided to take advantage of the perfect weather and go to Brighton. It was too cold to swim, but just hanging out by the beach eating sandwiches and icecream was divine. After sitting on the beach for awhile, we then decided to go to the pier. We picked one really fun ride to ride and screamed as much as we could to make the experience worth it. Brighton is a really cool area. I would have loved to stay and go out there at night, but we had to catch the train back to London.

With a month left, I have been able to reflect on the experience so far. This program has been absolutely amazing. I realize I need to capitalize on the time that I have left at MSN doing as much as I can. This includes seeing everything that I need to see in London. When I fly out on April 26 back to Lawrence, I have no idea what to expect. After applying to about 20 internships for this summer, I have yet to hear back from them. I won’t hear back for about another month, but I’d like to know what I’ll be up to this summer.

I do know that upon graduation, I will be looking for jobs in London. Working at MSN is great. This week at work, we brainstormed ideas to develop our video offerings. I know what would be good additions to the site and I really love the ability to contribute. If I want to try something, I have the equipment and am given the green light to try. I do look forward to learning more when I get back to Mizzou, but I already feel like I’m in the real world.

I anticipate that Columbia will be a lot different when I return. I know that being home will feel significantly different from when I was there in December. It is impossible that living in a different country won’t change you. It hasn’t hit me now since I feel like London is home. When I’m actually home, I will feel quite a bit different. It will be great to see all of my family and friends when I get back.

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MSN update

March 16th, 2009

MSN has been going really well, and I realize that I have one month left. I really don’t want to leave. I’m getting invaluable hands on experience. Every morning, I show up, am held accountable, communicate with editors and film and edit videos. People count on my work and offer feedback. I will really miss that as I enter my senior year. Back to the notes, the tests and the papers. The MSN crew is also really great. The editors are fun, knowlegeable and include me in their trips to the pub. I will miss all of this and more. Here is a link to a couple of recent Vox Pops:
Jade Goody’s Legacy

High Street Fashion

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A very sunny, very perfect weekend in London

March 16th, 2009

I’ve travelled most weekends while here. That’s why when this weekend rolled around, I was really excited to stay here in London. It’s not that I didn’t want to travel. Many of my friends went to Dublin for the weekend before St. Patty’s Day. I just really wanted to stay here especially after the busy week of Spring Break.

It started with going to Primark on Saturday morning. I’ve been there a couple of times and swear I will never go back each time. It’s a huge store with cheap clothing and accessories. The crowds and lines make for a really unpleasant shopping experience. I say that I’ll never go back, but the prices are too good to avoid. We then headed toward Notting Hill and went to Portobello market. It was crowded there as well, but at least it was a beautiful day outside, and I enjoyed looking at all of the unique items.  

We then headed home, took a nap and got ready to go out. We headed out to dance in the Shoreditch. It isn’t close, but it’s an area with a lot of young people and it’s quite busy on the weekends. After dancing at a couple of different clubs, we then headed home via a couple of night busses. That’s one skill that I’ve learned thus far. Initially I was terrified to take night busses. Now, I’m getting a lot better at reading the night bus schedule and figuring out how to get home. It helps to look at it before you leave for the night.

On Sunday morning, I went running in Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. It was the loveliest day in London. No cloud in the sky.  Spring has arrived. I hope that it’s not teasing me. My flatmate and I then went to Piccadilly Street to see the St. Patty’s Day parade. Before I came to London, I had watched the New Year’s Eve Parade down the same street. Now, I got to see a great parade there in person. The parade ended with a festival in Trafalger Square with live Irish music.

The  weather was so ideal  that we headed down to the other side of the Thames to catch the London Eye. It gave us such a perfect view of the city. We could see everything in perfect clarity. We also saw some great street performers including a breakdance group. I had never seen such a crowd gather for a street show before. However, come again, there aren’t too many street shows in Columbia. It was great. There is no need to go anywhere to have an absolutely awesome time. I already know that I will miss London quite a bit.

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Under the Tuscan Sun (or rain): Florence and part 3 of our vacation

March 10th, 2009

 

There is quite a lot to say for Florence. Florence is the birthplace of the Italian renaissance. was a nice respite after the touristy city of Rome. We hit up the Uffizi the first day after booking reservations. There we saw Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and Allegory of Springtime. You really have to sift through the religious iconography to find something truly stunning. Not that the religious iconography isn’t stunning, mind you, but it not necessarily my cup of tea. There was also Rembrandt’s Self Portrait and Portrait of an Old Man. However, many rooms were closed off and you just had to pop your head in to see them. Not the best museum design if you ask me.

 

Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence, which is the fourth largest cathedral in the world.

We then went to the Academia where we saw Michelangelo’s David. He was huge and I stood in awe for a couple of minutes. The museum didn’t hold much else that we wanted to spend our precious moments in Florence in, so we left. Then we wandered. We checked out the Ponte Vecchio, the only bridge in Florence to survive WWII. We popped into a few stores to check out the latest fashions and wanted all leather goods in the markets.

We also saw Piza. We had some great weather and were able to eat pizza ouside after we took some conventional holding up the tower photos. I really enjoyed Piza. Even though there wasn’t that much to do, the shops were cute, the pizza was delicious and the weather was unmatched. Once back in Florence, we took a bit of a climb to Michelangelo’s Peak, which offers a great lookout over the city. Once again, we arrived just in time to see the sunset. Afterwards, the hostel offered some great respite. We took a dip in the pool, caught up on the Internet and played some pool. I want to go to Florence again just to stay there again.
We woke up early and were off again… rounding out the trip with Venice. We took the train, dropped off our bags and headed to St. Mark’s Square. We didn’t plan too much there since we only had a day there. We walked into St. Mark’s Basilica, where the entire church was composed of elaborate mosaics. Simply gorgeous.  Then we visited the Doge’s palace and saw the golden staircase and some elaborately decorated rooms by Veronese and other Italian artists.

Afterwards, we got lost in the winding streets of Venice. We bought lots of Moreno glass, which were fairly inexpensive and absolutely gorgeous. Some of the shop owners were really sweet. We kept walking over Rialto bridge and through more winding streets until we got hungry and paid way too much for some pasta. Once again, never order off the tourist menu. We had our last gelato of the trip and took a waterbus back to our hostel.
On the waterbus to the bus to take us to the airport, I realized just how amazing this experience has been. Yes, it was a pricey trip, but I had such a lovely time. I have never seen so much recognizable art. I saw those places that everyone talks about. Now my eyes won’t glaze over when people have that conversation about their European adventures. I will have my own memories tied to each of these places. Before we left, we toasted over some Tuscan wine that someday, we would return.

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Roman Holiday: Part 2 of Spring Break

March 9th, 2009

“You may have the universe if I may have Italy ” Giuseppe Verdi.

 

After Athens, we took a flight to Rome and had three days there. Once again we started with a walking tour which took us to the Coliseum, Roman Forum, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable since her background was in archaeology. To be in the Coliseum was unparalleled. You see it everywhere, but it’s so different when you are actually inside. This was especially true when we turned the corner of a winding street to see the Trevi Fountain. We said “wow” and our guide just gave us an understanding look.

 

Trevi Fountain

Some highlights of Rome included a walk though the Borghese Gardens and seeing Bernini’s masterpieces in one of the largest private collections of the Borghese Gallery. The movement and details of the sculptures in a museum made for an enjoyable afternoon. We did a lot of museum hopping. We went to see the sculpture of the She-wolf with Romulus and Remus at one of the National Museums in Rome. The most impressive collection was the Vatican. This museum had an unparalleled collection. We saw Rodin’s The Thinker as well as many ancient sculptures. What I really enjoyed of course was the Sistine Chapel. I spent the most time there, craning my neck to get a good view. Being in that room and imagining Michelangelo painting flooded back memories of fourth grade. We would get under our desks and draw a picture that was taped on the underside of our desk. Not sure how Michelangelo could do it. By that point, we are really on cultural overload so we decide to have a stroll about the city.  Even just walking around, you see such architecture and statues that are simply amazing. I’m sure if you’re reading this all the way through, I will use the word “amazing” too many times. But that’s really how Italy is.

Our hostel was less than desirable. Avoid STA. My advice: always use Hostelworld.com. The lovely 2 Ducks hostel lacked hot water, had bed bugs and the breakfast was a joke. Not the best place to stay, but that encouraged us to never be there. We decided to go on a pub crawl to various bars around Rome. I knew that we weren’t going to meet many Italians this way, but it was still a good way to have a fun night. I understand why we didn’t stay out too late on any day of our trip since we had a lot to see. But after the crawl, we were still up by ten and ready to explore more of Rome.

 

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

We ate gellato every day of the trip. I mostly went for the different chocolate flavors, which were always spot-on. We also tried the pizza. It was simply divine. When we were in the Traverse district, we walked a distance looking at each menu for the most delicious, authentic expereince. We found the best place we could. Never go for the tourist menu if you can help it. It’s always better to walk a bit further and find something better. Next stop: Florence…

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It’s not easy being Greek: Spring break part 1

March 9th, 2009

The trip was amazing. Athens. Rome. Florence. Venice.

 

The first city was Athens. The Acropolis was closed. Go figure. We are there for 2 days and the guards are on strike. We still go on a walking tour and get a good idea of the history of the city. We walked through Plaka, or old town, as well as a hill to get a good view of the city and the Acropolis. We visited Hadrian’s Arch as well as Zeus’ temple.

The food was awesome. We found this inexpensive place with lots of locals and delicious lamb kebabs. Come to think of it, there really weren’t that many tourists since it’s not the best time to visit Greece (too cold to Island hop). However, that was fine because we were able to meet a lot of locals. It was Carnival. On Saturday night after dinner, we searched for a fun place and settled on a small bar with loud music and dancing folks. We had a lot of fun throwing streamers, dancing and meeting some Greeks.

To be among such history is really overwhelming. Just walking through a museum and thinking, hey I’ve seen that before, is really fun and doesn’t happen unless you are in a museum of a large city. Even then, it’s usually only one or two pieces that I recognize. At the National Archaeological Museum and saw the famous Kore, Agamemnon’s Mask and the bronze sculpture of either Zeus or Poseidon. I appreciate my Greek Culture class immensely.

For sunset, we climbed the mount that St. Paul spoke to encourage the Grecians to follow one God. While climbing up the hill, we found some dog friends. In Athens, there is a city program to have dogs. They drop them off at parks and feed them, and the population takes them as their pets. We even named them. We had Delphi, Zeus, Nike and Poseidon.

Athens was not a particularly beautiful city nor did we have the best weather.  Not as clean as I would have hoped, but the ancient history made up for it. Then we headed to Rome…

 

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