Roma

Okay, short story.....Italy was AMAZING! I love it there. I mean, cappucino, pizza, wine, and gelato, not to mention unbelievable art and architecture....what's not to love?! We decided that we didn't have enough time in Rome so Ross and I are cutting a day out of France and going back....hope we don't like other places that much or else we might not ever make it back home. And now, since everyone keeps asking me for pictures......
(I can't get the explanations to sit with the pictures on the page, but they start in Rome and move to Florence)

blogs

There's something rather stalker-ish about reading people's blogs. The other day during a stint of boredom at work I started searching blogs and came across a whole list of Calvin Crest people who blog. Now I realize I only worked at Calvin Crest for one summer 4 years ago, hardly worthy of claiming any sort of loyalty to the camp considering that many people consider it their childhood home....but still it was fun to find so many blogs of people I once knew. I looked around a little, read a little here, a little there. And now, wham! I'm totally hooked. I realize that by posting anything on the internet you're making it free game and so I shouldn't feel like I'm invading privacy by reading it. I guess I'm just still in denial that anyone really cares to take the time to read this thing besides my mother. Anyway, I can't help it, I may as well admit it...I'm a blog addict. At least it helps pass the time some days.
There's something incredible happening in London....light in the evening. It's now 5:21 pm and I can still see St. Paul's perfectly. Last night I left work at 6 and it was still light when I got home - amazing! So much better than the absolute darkness at 3 pm that we were experiencing. Ross just sent me a text that we're going to see Billy Elliot on Tuesday. I'm quite excited.

five weeks

I ate the most amazing japanese food ever on Friday. I've always loved waitresses at japanese restaurants because they thank you for everything. "I'll have a tap water" "ok, tap water, thank you!" and then they bow and walk away. I mean, you just can't leave that place in a bad mood. I can't decide if being in the service industry here would be amazing or horrible, or probably most likely, a combination of the two. First of all, you get no tips. So honestly, what's the point? Although that leads to the complete lack of service and good moods in restaurants/pubs/stores/everything here. Today I walked into a furniture store on an errand for my boss and in the window was a sign for a sales associate needed. I walked in and found a completely empty store except for three sales associates sitting around the front desk drinking tea. Not a single one of them said anything to me. They barely looked up from their conversation. I mean really, it has to be kind of great. No smiles. No fake small talk. The customer is never right, because really the customer is barely even a person.
Ross and I bought tickets to Spain. The big adventure begins 19 April. London to Seville for only 20 pounds. Amazing.

mondays

I don't know what my deal is today, but I just can't get out of the Monday funk. I'm pretty bored at work today, there's not really any work for me...which is probably adding to my problem. My friends Trace and Stephanie are leaving London on Saturday. They're going to be travelling for the next six weeks or so and then going back home to Michigan in early May. Ross and I are hoping to meet up with them in Spain, the beginning of our travels and the end of theirs. I met Trace and Andy at orientation for bunac (they both like to brag that I gave them my number, but really that was just because they were too lazy to have mobile phones at that point and didn't have numbers to give me), they quickly became my first friends here. It's hitting me more than I thought it would that they are leaving so soon. For so long I was just trying to settle in and get used to living in London, and now all of a sudden it's almost time to be thinking about going home again. It's strange to start anything when you know there is an absolute endpoint. When I entered the country on October 20 I knew that I would have to leave on April 20, I would have no choice. I'm trying to experience everything I can while I'm here and use this short amount of time as much as I can, but at the same time I can't help but feel a little bit torn. Life over here seems surreal very often. I can't help but feel like it's make-believe sometimes. I find myself thinking that the real world will really begin after I go home. Ross and I got into a conversation about student loans last night which defenitely added to the whole "real world" dread. We both know that we really want to travel and know that this is the best time for it, but there's always that little voice inside our heads that wonders how we're going to pay rent when we get home.
I finally read the last Harry Potter. Now Julie has to stop making fun of me for being a slow Harry reader. But now I'm at a complete loss as to what to read next. Ross and I scoured the bargain table at Borders and picked up Gilead because he swore he'd heard it was good....I only made it 80 pages. I couldn't handle reading about growing up on a farm in Kansas. Any good suggesstions??

good food, bad art

We did a lot of eating and art viewing this weekend. Friday night we met our friends Kate and John for Indian food on Brick Lane in East London. The host at the restaurant told us that he told the chef to make our meals extra-tasty; we were a little worried what "extra-tasty" meant for a table of Americans, but he stayed true to his word, it was quite delicious. Saturday morning Ross and I went to Jamie Oliver's restaurant "fifteen" for breakfast. I spent Thanksgiving at Fifteen with my family but had never been there for breakfast, and Ross hadn't been at all. It was a truly lovely way to start the day, and we couldn't help but notice that it was the same price as going out to Luciles. I'd pick Jamie Oliver's any day. With our stomachs full we had to take advantage of the clear blue sky (a rarity in London in February), and headed over to St. Paul's Cathedral. We climbed the 529 steps up to the top of the dome where we found amazing views of London, and incredible wind!

We heard from someone about an exhibition at the Tate Modern at 10 pm Saturday night. We had no idea what it was, but figured we would check it out nonetheless. The exhibition was actually a performance by a guy called Jonathan Meese. He was standing in a boxing ring, with several odd props (mannequins, plastic skeletons, random helmets and costumes) thrown around the ring, strange cartoon/child-like drawings hanging all around, and loud trumpety music playing, similar to what you would hear on a filmstrip in history class about world war 2. There was a projection screen behind the ring that was displaying a closed circuit film of the performance in the ring. Obviously an outcry of some sort against politics, authority, and namely Nazi Germany, he was yelling into a microphone in half english-half german. He was clearly strung-out on something, or possibly many things...he kept falling over and swaying in and out holding on to the ropes on the ring. The whole time he was yelling profanities into the mic, the only part I really picked up on was when he was holding a book up and yelling "this book is shisa, this book is shisa!" A lot of things were shisa to him. I felt really creeped out by him and the whole vibe in the room, so we didn't stay for very long.
Now, going to art school we've seen some strange things that people call art. I know that it is a personal expression, and art is completely different to each person, but there are times when I feel like we have to draw the line. The first time I came to London I remember the Tate Modern being this amazing gallery of world-class modern art; but now when I've gone back I've been incredibly disappointed and often confused. I find myself wondering why he can do a lot of drugs and yell profanities and get a private show at the Tate Modern, when I saw a woman last week in the tube doing the exact same thing. Everyone just gave her bad looks and took a few steps away. Why is she any different? I'm sure it's an age-old question of why one thing is considered art and another thing isn't, but I find myself wondering about it a lot.

Tomorrow is Pancake Day. It's been on our office diary for weeks now, and I keep wondering about it. Today someone brought it up in conversation and I asked why it's called Pancake Day. "Because you eat pancakes that day" was the only reply. Finally they remembered that it's what you do the day before Lent starts.

up north

First of all, I'm sorry for the lack of posts lately. I don't have a good excuse except that the last few weeks have been fairly busy. I've been meaning to post for some time now, considering that we've gone on trips for the last three weekends, and I want a record of these happenings for myself as much as I want you all to know about my life over here. Hopefully I'll get around to sharing some stories soon, but for now I should focus on the task at hand. The short version of the last few weeks is....a trip to Canterbury and Dover where we saw the Canterbury Cathedral, Dover Castle, and the white cliffs. The next weekend we went to Liverpool with Trace and Stephanie....our original intention was to visit the Lake District, but do to engineering maintenance on the tracks the train wasn't running for the weekend. So we made the best of it and enjoyed Liverpool, learning a lot about the Beatles' beginnings. This weekend was a much more exciting trip since Ross and I got to go to Sweden to visit our dear friends the Ordells.

As our plane descended through the clouds into Stockholm on Friday evening Ross and I couldn't help but notice that the snow-covered forest below had an amazing resemblence to Narnia...there was a very cold looking purple color in the air, and we couldn't help but wonder what we were thinking visiting Sweden in February. We were pleasantly surprised, however, upon stepping out of the plane, it wasn't as bad as it looked and we were incredibly blessed with beatiful sunshine all weekend. Arriving in Motalla we started the weekend on the right foot with a warm glass of glugg (I don't know how to spell that on an English computer, but it's very similar to mulled wine, and delicious), and then settled in with the opening ceremonies of the olympics. Saturday promised to be a very full day so Sven prepared us a traditional Swedish breakfast of porridge and lingenberry jam. The breakfast was delicious, and would have been even better if Ross and I had remembered to set our alarm clock to Sweden time and not woken up an hour late. oops. After breakfast we drove across town to Anders and Maude's new house, then Anders gave us a tour of the police station where he works. We also got the full tour of Motalla and the canal, then Ross and I joined Ulla on a walk through the shops downtown and then back home. That afternoon Tore and Anna came over with their son Carl, possibly the most adorable Swedish-Korean little guy ever. We had coffee and cakes and then went for a walk along the water, down to the lighthouse...don't worry, it was only -2 celsius. I think we were all a little jealous of Carl's mode of transportation-a fur lined sled pulled by Tore. Saturday evening Anders taught Ross and I how to eat Crayfish....we both caught them in streams when we were little, but never ate them. Then we had moose-meat for dinner. It was a whole day of "firsts" for us as far as eating goes. After dinner Anders took us over to his house where we hung out with his girlfriend Maude and two of their friends. We played a new game that they had just gotten, very similar to Taboo, except in Swedish. So, while the four of them had a chance to practice their English for the night, Ross and I each had a translator who would translate the word into English for us to describe to our partner. It was quite the process, but a very good time.

Sunday was a very special day...that's right, we went to Ikea. It seemed wrong to go to Sweden without visiting its most famous landmark. Ulla and Anders drove us and we met Tore, Anna, and Carl there. After Ikea Sven and Ulla took us to Vadstena to see the monastery and castle, and we had a wienerschnitzel lunch at a local restaurant there. Sunday night was very special entertainment with a personal slide show of their travels in Egypt and Yemen, as well as the 7-week road trip in 1968 that Ulla and my mom took across the U.S in a little red vw bug. It looked like quite the adventure. Surpsingly, some slides from Tore's summer in the states also surfaced....luckily Ross only got to see one picture of nine-year old amanda walking the streets of New York in a neon pink baseball hat and a fanny pack. Why my parents let me out of the house looking like that is still a mystery to me.

Monday morning began very early...we had to leave Motalla at 7 am to get to Linkopping to catch the bus to Stockholm. Our plan was to spend the day in Stockholm then catch the bus to the airport for our plane, leaving at 9:30 that night. Unfortunately we didn't have quite as good weather yesterday as we had the rest of the weekend....at 11 am it was -4 and it seemed to get colder as the day went on, the sun never came out. We had decided that we would try to see the art museums and the architecture museum, but when we got to the first one we realized that they are all closed on Mondays. A little lost as to what to do to fill the next 6 hours, we found a cafe in old town and got cappuccinos and sandwiches to warm ourselves up as we decided on our game plan. We went to the Wasa museum, which is dedicated to the Wasa Viking ship that sank in Stockholm's harbour over 300 hundred years ago and has now been recovered and restored. The evening was draining due to a lot of travelling...a 1.5 hour bus ride to the airport, then the flight was delayed, a 2 hour flight that got us back to London at 11:45, then the train into town wasn't operating due to mechanical operations so we had to take a replacement bus service that landed us at Liverpool Station (on the other side of London from our flat), at 1 am. Naturally the tube was shut down for the night and we were at the mercy of the night busses...always a scary thought. After waiting outside (which felt almost tropical after Stockholm) for 30 minutes the bus finally arrived, and 45 minutes later we were home, just over 19 hours after we got on the first bus of the day. Unfortunately when we got home we discovered that there had been a fire in my building staircase over the weekend and the carpet is now more of a pile of ashes than carpet. Luckily it was put out before it spread past the stairs; nothing and more importantly no one was hurt.

Overall it was a delightful weekend. It was great to spend time with the Ordells....it had been six years since I'd seen either Tore or Anders. It was amazing to have home-cooked meals- Ross especially enjoyed that. It was also really fun to see snow...in fact being in Motalla convinced Ross that he wants to live in a mountain town where it's cold and snowy all the time....he's still selling me on that one. We had a wonderful trip and we're very thankful for to our Swedish hosts. (by the way, congratulations if you made it all the way through this novel....work is boring today and I had to keep myself occupied.)

language barrier

On Friday I was ordering corrugated steel that will be used for wall cladding in a plant room. I did my research, called the appropriate manufacturers, and then reconvened with Rob and Liz (the director and project manager) to give them the results. "This company has corrugated aluminum," I told them, thinking nothing about my pronunciation. "Excuse me, aluminum?" Rob said, grinning. "Don't you mean aluminium?" (spoken al-you-min-ee-um). A long debate followed about which pronunciation was correct. He argued that theirs was clearly correct since there is an i between the n and u, causing the extra syllable. I was sure that our spelling did not include the extra i, making my pronunciation correct, which I was able to prove thanks to dictionary.com. I knew that third grade spelling bee championship would pay off at some time. There are several differences between our englishes...such as when I mention anything about a bathroom and they tell me that there isn't one in the office, there is however a toilet. Or the constant jokes that are made about my first week when I was sent to the store to buy biscuits and I returned with crackers, sure that I had side-stepped having to ask exactly what biscuits are....of course they meant cookies. Or my favorite, Sara, the American who's job I took over told me of her first day when one of the guys leaned over to her and asked for a rubber. Her face turned red, and she thought over the possible answers that she could give to this question, until finally, noticing the confusion on her face, he said, "you know, an eraser?" Whoever said that we speak the same language, obviously had no idea what they were talking about.

This weekend was one of the truly great weekends in London. The sun was actually shining for three days straight, and you would have thought that the entire city was on holiday. Everyone was outside enjoying the weather. Ross and I chose to celebrate by walking down to Portobello Road and buying some fresh veggies and bread at the market. Saturday night we cooked dinner for my flat-mate Morgan. It was a truly exceptional meal, even Sean and Julie would have been impressed. Well, maybe not Sean and Julie, but defenitely my mom; at least for cooking a meal without calling to ask her a question about it, if not for the food itself. Sunday we went to the Design Museum, an entire museum dedicated to the things we love. It was pretty great.

plotting

I'm sitting at work right now waiting for the drawings to plot that I need to send out to the engineers and contractors for Heat's big job right now. Waiting for prints is mindless for sure, but it allows me some time to update my blog, so I can't complain. I also can't complain because my waiting for drawings to print means that I've actually been doing some drawing while at work, which is a wonderful change. I was beginning to feel like I would explode if I had to make one more excel spreadsheet. However, after a six month break from designing anything, the glasses have come back out and I'm a CAD nerd once again. It's been an interesting transition getting used to this part of my job. Not only have I had to learn a completely new drafting program, but I have to learn to draw in milimeters. I usually sit with one window open of my drawing and another window of a website that converts measurements between milimeters and inches. Tonight one of the main contractors that we work with is taking our office out to dinner, sort of a belated holiday party. He is Indian and is taking us all to his local social club for a traditional Indian dinner. It should be interesting.
January in London is dark and grey. From my desk at work I have a perfect view of the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral, except in January when there is so much fog that you can barely see down the block. I think it was a combination of the weather and my emotional exhaustion of being around people all the time that drove Ross and I to get out of London this last weekend. We really wanted to go to Paris, but it was last-minute and was going to cost too much. So, we decided to go to Oxford and the Cotswolds. We didn't spend much time in Oxford, because I had already been there and it was raining. We did go to Christ Church to see the Harry Potter sights, and had lunch at the pub where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien spent their days. Saturday night we went stayed in a little b&b in Moreton-in-Marsh, the most accessible of the Cotswolds.

The Cotswolds are a cluster of little towns that are very quintessentially English. They all have funny names like Stow-in-the-Wold. There is a bus service that runs between the towns, except on Sunday when there is no transportation whatsoever. Somehow we didn't get that memo, and of course were planning of visiting all the towns on Sunday. So, following advice from the woman who owned the b&b we took a train one stop to Evesham. From Evesham she said that we could catch a bus to Stratford-upon-Avon, or enjoy walking around Evesham because it's a nice place to visit. Well, Evesham didn't exactly live up to its reputation. There were no busses or trains running out of the town for 2 hours, and it was not a nice place to walk around. We felt like we were in a back-country hick town...and in England that's really hard to find. We found a little cafe to kill some time in and drink tea. When we walked in it felt like one of those scenes in a movie when the music screeches to a stop and everyone stops what they're doing to look at the crazy hippie kids who just walked in. Overall, Evesham was a humuorous experience, but we were glad when the train finally rolled back into town. Luckily that train was headed for London Paddington, which would have been perfectly convenient if the trains were running properly out of Oxford. When we arrived in Oxford we had to get off the train and onto a replacement bus service to Didcot, where we boarded another train for London. Finally we made it back home; I was amazed at how exhausted I was from just waiting for trains all day. Despite the frustrations it was good to get out of the city, and both of our black lungs felt much better after taking a break from bus exhaust and city air for a couple days.

malfunction

To start out, I'll apologize for the lack posts lately. There's been a tragedy. My computer is sick. I don't know what has happened, but he is not doing well. We think that the extra power that is pumped through the electrical system here might have fried him. That, and the fact that the internet at my flat has been down for over a week now, makes for a shortage of blogs. Besides that, life has been really good. Last weekend, and basically the entire week before that was consumed with flat-searching for Ross. He finally found one on Sunday which is a huge relief. And, it's only a five minute walk from my flat which makes me very happy. And to add to the excitement I just got a text from him saying that he has a job! So, things are looking up. This week has felt much more normal, settling back into work and life in London after the holiday. We spent Monday night at a pub with Andy and Trace, which was a much needed time to spend with good friends. The real excitement of the week was getting my mom's christmas package in the mail.....it only took 6 weeks! I'll post pictures of the beat-up box when I get a chance, it's pretty hilarious. I have to run to meet Ross for lunch....there are advantages to him being unemployed!

Christmas, and beyond....

Merry Christmas everyone! I'm sorry I've been really bad about blogging lately, so hold on tight, because here is the huge update.
Christmas in London was fun, though I must admit I was kind of killing time until Ross arrived on Boxing Day. Public transportation in London is shut down on Christmas day, so I went over to a flat where some other Bunac girls live on Christmas Eve, and we had big slumber party for a couple nights. There were about nine of us who were braving our first holiday away from home. We went to St. Paul's Cathedral for midnight mass on Christmas Eve, which was amazing. The setting was beautiful, and was an incredible experience. At the end of the service they opened the huge doors at the end of the cathedral and the London fog kind of drifted in with the moonlight. Christmas Day was spent at the International Student's House where they put on a lunch and afternoon festivities. We had a three course meal, watched the Queen's address to the nation on tv, took a walk through Regent's Park, and then afternoon tea and cakes. It wasn't quite the same as being at home, but I survived with no problem.
Boxing Day brought my real Christmas present when I looked out my window and saw Ross walking down my street. Unfortunately he missed my flat and I had to run after him, chasing him down the street. It made for quite the Hollywood moment though, so I didn't mind. We spent two days here in London, but the city was still pretty shut down because of Christmas, so there wasn't much that we could do. I did wake up to snow one morning, which was an amazing surprise in this snowless land! Ross was less than impressed, considering he had just left Colorado. It didn't take him long to become a Londoner, especially once he bought a wool coat and I did a little work with my scissors on that mop of hair!

On Wednesday we headed out to the country on a little jaunt around England and South Wales. Our first stop was Salisbury where we saw the Salisbury Cathedral, the biggest church spire in England. On Thursday we went to Stonehenge, which was very exciting for both of us since we've learned so much about it in all of our art history classes. The problem is, we're both really cheap, and the view of Stonehenge was just as good from behind the fence as it is inside the fence, so we kind of just huddled outside the barrier and took pictures from there. It was pretty humorous actually. Stonehenge is located out in the middle of nowhere in the cold English countryside, and after 30 minutes we were frozen to the bone and were ready to leave. That afternoon we made our way to Bath. Bath is known for its Roman Baths, built on the only working hot springs in England. The town is very European feeling, it has a fun Italian vibe, which is unusual for the typical half-timber English towns. On Friday we headed to Cardiff, Wales. Cardiff is a city just across the bay from England, and the capital of Wales. Ross and I loved Cardiff. The people were really friendly, and many still speak Welsh with each other. There is a really fun port and a cute main street. It had a bit of San Francisco feel. We loved it so much, in fact, that we thought about just packing up and moving there, but there are no design jobs....so after a night in Cardiff we made our way back to London.

For New Year's Eve, we went down to the River Thames and gathered with the rest of London to watch the fireworks display over the river. The tube was supposedly running all night and free, but because of a worker's strike, about half of the stations were shut down, thus requiring about an hour walk down the river in the middle of the night.
It's back to work for me tomorrow, and Ross has to get serious about settling in here now....finding a flat and job, you know, just a few little tasks. I hope that updates everyone on my life a little bit. I miss you all and hope you enjoyed your holidays!

home

I'm missing home a bit today. I'm pretty sure that this is for two reasons, the first being that I'm sick. I called in to work today and I've barely moved from bed all day. I think that everyone misses their mom when they're sick. I don't really know why, because even if I was at home she would just tell me to rest and drink a lot of liquids, which she did in an email yesterday. But I think it's a comfort thing, just knowing that she's nearby if I need her. I don't spend much time at my flat anyway, and when I'm here I rarely watch tv, but today I found out just how horrible daytime British tv really is. There was no "Price is Right" or "Saved by the Bell" reruns to watch, which everyone must admit that's what they watch when they're home sick.
The second reason I'm missing home is that this weekend is graduation at RMCAD. This is great news because that means that Ross is done with school and comes in ten days! But as I just hung up the phone with him I couldn't help but wish that I was there to celebrate with him this weekend. I'm sure it's a lot of the sickness and the fact that I've been at home all day, but I was jealous hearing about all of my friends in Denver hanging out tonight. Maybe it's the time of year, or the time of life, but I feel like people are starting to move on. It's exciting to see how people are beginning their lives, but it hit me tonight when Ross said that he was going to say goodbye to Tamara today, and that Becca is moving back to Seattle this weekend. Steiner is moving to New Zealand next week, Tamara and Matt just set their wedding date, Drew and Liz are pregnant. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed thinking how life moves on, and sometimes I'm excited to think about how different things will be when I come home.
Last night I had dinner with Trace. He was talking about his sort-of ex-girlfriend, sort of current girlfriend in Michigan, Kristin. He said that if it wasn't for Kristin he probably wouldn't miss home very much. It's true that I like living here. I have a very comfortable life, but there are people at home that I miss very much, that make sick days even that much harder.

"Good Afternoon Heat Architects"

I started at Heat Architects on Thursday. I was told that the office opens at 9:30, and being the overly-excited new girl I arrived about 20 minutes early. I killed some time in a nearby Borders, but was quite surprised when by 9:45 there was still no one there. I was beginning to think that I was one the recieving end of a bad practical joke when a girl (I later learned is named Liz) arrived to open the office. The others arrived around 10-10:15...it's a very different work ethic here, which is wonderful! The office is really laid-back and fun. There are two directors, Robert and Charles, who started the firm five years ago. Two girls from Australia, one guy from Sweden, one from France, and another Bunac girl. It's really cool actually, everyone is in their twenties, and negotiating a new country. I'm basically the admin girl and also stepping in as an architectural assistant when they have a big job. For now I'm just getting into the flow of it all there, keeping the office organized, answering the phone, managing the post. It's a really easy job, and they're so happy to have an admin girl at all that they're thankful for anything that I do. Thursday night was the office Christmas party. It was really fun, but it made for a 14 hour first day.
It's been a lazy weekend in London this weekend. Yesterday Gina (my roommate from Korea) and I went up to Willesden Green where Andy and Trace live. They live in a big house (called a bedsit) with about 20 people. One of their roommates, Guiseppe is moving out today and Andy and two of his Aussie roommates were taking him out to a pub for his last day, they asked us to tag along. We spent the afternoon watching football and playing foosball. Guiseppe and I were the champions of the foosball tournament, no thanks really to me, but my fortune for being on a team with the Italian.

Christmas Time

Holy Moly, I really need to blog more often....okay, here's the big update. I have a new job working at an architecture firm called Heat Architects. They're based in Islington which is in Northeast London. It's a small firm but it seems very cool and laid-back. I start work on Thursday, which also happens to be the night of their christmas party, so I guess I'll get to know everyone pretty quickly! This last weekend was pretty eventful....on Saturday night my roommate Morgan and I helped out our friend Ruthie at a christmas party that her cousins were throwing at their flat. Morgan and Ruthie are both from South Carolina and Ruthie's two cousins both came to London on Bunac visas in the early 90's and never left. They have a lot of American friends here, though, and all night everyone kept saying, "well I declare, it's been ages since I've been in a room full of Southerners!"
Sunday morning began with an early morning jog through the streets of London since Morgan and I found ourselves late and the tube shut down. We were on our way to the International Student's House to go catch the bus to Leeds Castle. It was a trip organized by Bunac, basically two big tour buses and lots of Bunac kids doing the tourist thing for the day. Leeds was really pretty, but I was kind of disappointed when I went inside. The castle was built starting in 840, so it's really super old, but it was sold out of Royal hands around 1600 and since then has been a private residence. Apparently the owners along the way didn't care that they were living in a ridiculously historical building and have renovated the entire interior. Now for an interior design nerd like me it was kind of cool to see rooms that were designed by people I learned about in my history of design classes, it just seemed strange for a castle to feel so new. It's located in a beautiful countryside with sheep and black swans roaming about. There's also a maze on part of the grounds that we were lost in for probably far too longer than we should have.
After Leeds we went to Rochester, a small town east of London. The high street of Rochester is on the path that historically ran from London to Dover, out to sea. But the real claim to fame for Rochester is that it is the town that Charles Dickens set many of his stories. Great Expectations is the best-known example of this, and our tour guide pointed out several pubs and inns that are mentioned in the book and are still operating today. Every year Rochester hosts a Christmas festival, which we were able to enjoy this weekend. The town is really cute. It looks exactly like you would expect an English countryside village to look like with tudor buildings. thatched roofs, and cobble-stone streets. The people who live in Rochester dress up for the Christmas Festival in Dickensian dress, and not just a few people, but the entire town! I seriously felt like we had stepped out of 2005 and into "A Christmas Carol." It was really great, there were street performers singing carols, vendors roasting chestnuts, and mulled wine, and then the night finished with a parade. As cheesy as it sounds, this town was so genuine in their celebration that it was addicting to be around it. we were talking on the way home that you always see towns like that in movies but I never thought that there would actually be a place like that.

Pictures are: Morgan and I at Leeds Castle; G.P, Stephanie, Kate, Me and Morgan on the back side of the castle; and Kate, Trace, Morgan and I with some Dickensian folks.

Progress

It's back to life as normal here in London. My parents left on Thursday morning and my brothers and sisters-in-law on Friday. It was so good to have them here, I got pretty used to having people around all the time, I was a little worried to say goodbye again. I think it really hit me this week that I am living in London and not just on vacation. I didn't realize that it would be strange to say goodbye to my family knowing they were going back to Boulder and I wasn't. But yesterday I was at work, running errands for Janet, and I realized that this is my life right now and after I got over the initial shock of them leaving I could realize that I really am happy here.
Thanksgiving in London was fun. We went to Fifteen for lunch, it was fun to be in a nice restaurant, a very distant change from beer and chips at a pub (which is actually a big night out considering I'm really cheap and usually eat vegetable soup that is only 30p at tesco or a cheese and tomato toastie). We did have pecan pie for dessert, it was amazing and made us feel like we were still appreciating the pilgrims in our own way.
Earlier in the week we celebrated my birthday at the Cambridge, a pub near Leicester Square. Trace, Andy and I happened upon the Cambridge one night and were taken in by its non-smoking upstairs with maroon velvet booths. 14 people in the velvety plush room with birthday cake was quite the scene...My mom bought pink fairy girl" napkins to go with the cake, and since Andy's birthday was just a couple days before we got to share the fairy girl title for the night.
I had two goals this weekend: to finish my creative writing class, and to buy a coat, and I'm proud to say that I have accomplished both of these. It's been a cold fall here in London and it didn't take much to appeal to my mom's soft side when she saw her youngest without a wool coat. But I'm sure that everyone can sleep better tonight knowing that not only am I not shivering when I wait for the bus anymore, but I can officially graduate college! It's been a big weekend already, and it's only Saturday.....

(Pictures are Emily and I in front of the Travel Bookstore from Notting Hill and Andy and I showing off our Fairy Girl napkins)

Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Tonight on the phone Ross asked me what foods I want him to eat for me, since I don't get to this year. I think it's easier for me to not celebrate this holiday since my family is here and none of us are really celebrating, at least not in the traditional way. We do have plans to go to Jamie Oliver's bistro "fifteen" for lunch, and maybe a walk through Hyde Park. According to the weather man winter is supposed to hit London tomorrow, this year is apparently going to be the coldest winter in ten years...you can just imagine my excitement.
We spent the day today in Oxford. About an hour's train ride outside London, Oxford is a great little town with all sorts of history. The buildings are beatiful, green grass, perfectly kept quads. We had lunch in the pub where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien spent their mornings discussing their writings. We visited the gargoyles that inspired the stone statues in the "Chronicles of Narnia," we saw the Great Hall from Harry Potter. Overall it was a great day, however cold! It's been a fun week, great to have my family around. The other night at dinner a comment was made about all the people who have experienced family travel on this trip. Joyce, Emily, Ulla and Sven, Andy, Trace, and Morgan...they all have a new (or first) outlook on our family. We thought about starting our own tour company, Sean came up with the slogan, "Come for the travel, stay for the strange entertainment." But then we got to thinking, we would really need a harsh regiment for making sure people can keep up with our pace. They need to be able to walk at a very brisk pace for hours, stay in any sort of budget accommodation, and be able to put down large amounts of wine at happy hour every night. If this sounds like you, then you might be the perfect candidate to be "an oldroyd extra" as emily put it.
Mom and Dad leave tomorrow, and then everyone else on Friday. It will be very strange to get back into the swing of things on my own here. I'm so used to having people around all the time, it will be an adjustment all over again. Hope everyone's Thanksgiving is wonderful tomorrow!

My family is here! The excitement started yesterday when I walked into the Starbucks down my street where I had planned to meet up with Emily. Hoping that her flight went safely and that she was able to make her way across town on the tube, I told her that I would meet her there after I got off work, and amazingly there she was! After we dropped her stuff off at my flat, and dug right into one of six huge bags of peanut butter m&ms (courtesy of the wonderful Ross) we headed off to find my parents. Coincidentally they also arrived in London yesterday and are staying at a small hotel on the West End. Emily and I ventured over there and they were waiting for us. Being the wonderful parents that they are, they were all ready for us with wine, both red and white...you can't say they don't come prepared! Later in the evening Sven and Ulla arrived, some friends of my family's from Sweden. This morning we went to Portobello Road Market and visited the Travel Book Shop from "Notting Hill". We stopped back at my flat so that they could see it, but since it's not ideally sized for entertaining we didn't stay long. After an hour or so at Harrod's we were ready to sit down and enjoy some afternoon tea and coffee. It was good to be inside and drinking something warm!
Back at the hotel Evan, Joni, Sean, Julie, and Joyce (Joni's mom) had arrived. The four kids are all sharing a double room, only there are three beds...one double and two singles, it's pretty humorous. We had a great happy hour with several different wines and cheese from around Europe that Ulla and Sven brought with them. Emily was thrown into the craziness of the Oldroyds, but she's holding up amazingly well for a newcomer. It feels really good to be with family and friends right now. Good to laugh with people I love. This year marks the 40th anniversary of Ulla and my mom's friendship-they met as camp counselors in 1965. I only hope that in 40 years from now I can celebrate my friendship with some of my friends now.
I know I've only been here for 4 weeks, but I feel like it's been forever. It's wonderful to sit and talk with people who know me, and who have known me for more than a month. While I love my friends here, it's good to have some history with those around me.

It's Wednesday afternoon and I'm laying on my bed looking out my window at the busy street. Yes, that's right, I am in my new flat. I actually have been here for almost a week, but life has been suddenly busy and I haven't had a chance to write in my blog. My new place is small, there's three girls sharing one little room, but it's cheap and you can't beat the location, so we're not complaining. Just across the street is the Bayswater tube station, and when giving directions to my flat I tell people to look between the chinese restaurant and the beachcomber night club and you'll see door 84, ring the buzzer for flat A and that's me! The description makes me laugh almost as much as the actual place does. I live with Morgan, a fellow Bunac girl and another girl who moves in tomorrow. In the other bedroom is Marcio and Lisa, a Brazilian couple-hilarious. Marcio is an out-of-work salsa dance instructor. He is very clean and blasts Brazilian music all day while scrubbing down the apartment. Lisa takes care of an old woman. That's all she told me when we asked her about her job. They're great people though, and I enjoy knowing them. In the morning I walk to work through Hyde Park, which I enjoy even more than the Brazilian music.

This weekend I went to the country. Two hours on the train and it felt like a different world. Trace, Stephanie, Kate, Alex, and I went out to Warwick Castle (built by William the Conqueror starting in 1060 something), it's big and really fun. We stayed the night in Stratford upon Avon at the cutest little bed and breakfast in the world. Sylvia was the name of the woman who owned it with her husband, we never did know his name but he knew all of ours. We loved Sylvia. She especially loved Trace. We had the best traditional English breakfast, and lots of it. On Sunday we visited all of Shakespeare's houses (he had five, basically a multi-billionaire of the time), and enjoyed Stratford. The clean air and friendly people were a welcome change, but at the end of the weekend I was glad to be heading home. It was good to realize that going back to London felt like going home.

My family and friends are coming in a couple days. I can't wait to see everyone and enjoy my life here with them. There are things to do though before they get here. Mainly finish my creative writing assignments before I get another email from my mother asking about them.

Today I was stopped on two entirely separate occasions for directions. And both times I knew exactly how to direct the person where they needed to go. Now possibly I just look like a nice person who won't bite their head off when stopped for directions, but I prefer to think it's that I look like a Londoner.

I move tomorrow. I'm dreading the thought of carrying my luggage through the tube once again.

Yesterday was Guy Fawkes Day here in the UK. Also known as GF or bonfire day, it's a day that the British let off fireworks, hold carnivals, and light big bonfires all over the country. Guy Fawkes was a man who, 400 years ago this year, tried to burn down the Houses of Parliament, including Big Ben. Fortunately, for the country and the history of wonderful architecture, he failed. Although somehow, just for his effort in trying to bring down his home country, his attempt is celebrated by bonfires. Victoria Park is known for having the best Bonfire Day celebration, so of course we ventured out to Zone 2 to check it out. When we got there, a big carnival was set up, along with a smaller version of The Houses of Parliament. The city actually built a recreation of their own parliament and then set fire to it, while everyone watched and cheered as it fell to the ground. It was the craziest thing! I was amazed thinking about a holiday like this in the states, if every county built a small White House and then cheered as it burned. Although then I remembered that I'm from Colorado, and even if we did have a bonfire day it would probably never happen cause we would always be on fire ban. The fireworks show was fantastic though, Imust say.

Another good thing came from Bonfire Day, I met Morgan, a fellow Bunac-er who just came to London 3 days ago. She is from S. Carolina and met some of my friends at a Bunac pub meet last week, we got to talking and since we are both looking for a place to live, we decided to look together. I was going to look at a room today, and she came along, which was great because we took the flat, which means, I have a place to live!! It's great when you're travelling by yourself, everyone you meet instantly becomes your best friend. It didn't matter that we just met last night, now we're living together....it's funny.

Anyway, the flat is in Bayswater, which is near Hyde Park. We live on the side near Kensington Gardens, and down the street from Kensington Palace, where Princess Diana lived. The flat is tiny. Seriously tiny. But, everything is this city is, so it's ok. The room has 3 single beds, and the third is a girl who is in London studying. We were laughing later that neither of us ever thought we would be sharing such a small room with other people again after we moved out of the dorms. The guy who owns the flat is from Brazil, and he talks a mile-a-minute, you really can't help but laugh. The best part about it is that it's really cheap-68 pounds a week, which is 30 less than I'm paying at the hostel, and we don't have to sign a lease. So, even if we're there for a couple months, it will still be saving us money.

After the apartment I went to meet friends at Leicester Square, where every tourist in London was gathered for the premiere of the 4th Harry Potter movie. It was exciting to see the actors, but there were so many people bumping into each other and it was pouring down rain, so it became pretty miserable and cold after a while. It's back to work tomorrow, and I'm tired from sitting out in the rain, so I'm going to go to bed early.

The Evening Standard is a free news publication that you can pick up in tube stations across London. Tonight Trace was looking through it and pointed out an article to me, "about the states" he said. The headline read, "Man Sues Hardware Store over Practical Joke". Basically the story said that a man had gone to the bathroom in a hardware store and someone had put glue on the toilet seat, glueing him to the seat. This was funny to us, first of all, because this is what makes the news in London about the US, but then we noticed where the hardware store was located: Lousville, CO. "Huh, Colorado," Trace said, "Do you know where Louisville is?" Maybe it's not front page news, but I felt proud nonetheless that my state was represented in the Evening Standard.
Several people have asked me what exactly a personal assistant does. My answer is, anything, everything. Today I helped hang wallpaper. Then I went to the grocery store to pick up lunch, fresh pasta sauce for dinner, and biscuits to go with pate that Janet can take when she goes to the country this weekend. It's a good thing that Malcolm tuned me into the whole biscuit/cookie/cracker debaucle before I came to London, because not only have I never eaten pate, but I could have spent hours in the grocery store trying to figure what biscuits you eat with pate before I realized that biscuits are what they call crackers here. After the grocery store I went to the dry cleaners and then I finished out the day making christmas signs that she can hang up in her bar. It's really difficult work, let me tell you.