Week Four

I apologize for not updating my blog very often! It is much more difficult to find time now that classes are into full swing.
I started at my placement for community service this week. I have also learned that saying "community service" would be if the service were to be court ordered, but I keep forgetting to say it differently. I guess I keep sounding like some sort of criminal. From my meeting with the coordinator a few weeks ago, I got the impression that we were working at a nursing home and helping with activities.  I was very wrong. Turns out that I am working at a community center, and it is for all ages.  They are really taking advantage of us being business students and giving us a lot of responsibilities dealing with the business aspect of the center.  Over the course of six weeks, we will have to come up with a business plan for their future to show what they could do differently. We already had to sit in on a business meeting for them. Monday was my first day volunteering and I was put in charge of finding speakers to give presentations for the "Monday Club" of 60+ year old women.  I did a large amount of research and will have to contact the speakers soon. The people at the center were really grateful for our work, which made it much more rewarding. To make it even better, we get a free meal while volunteering, which might have been the best meal I have had since I left home. I will be looking forward to that every week!

The rest of my week was pretty much consumed with studying for a Marketing test I had on Thursday.  My Marketing teacher is from St. Thomas and seems like he will be pretty difficult.  I always worry about the first test because it is hard to know what to expect.  I studied quite a bit and think it went pretty well!

On Friday, there was a day trip to Oxford through my program.  I was really excited for the trip, but it turned out to be quite different than i expected.  I didn't have much knowledge about the school before going, and it has a very interesting set up.  There are 38 colleges within Oxford and each of them have their own small campuses. Oxford is made up of 20,000 students, 11,000 of them being undergrad, so there are not many students in each of the colleges.  I was a little bit disappointed that there wasn't one big gathering place for the school, it seemed very spread out and not much like a real school.  On the other hand, the buildings were gorgeous and we were able to get a tour of the Christ's Church, which is the main church for Oxford. We got four hours of free time after the tour and walked around the town, which is small and really cute.  Even though school hasn't started for them yet, it was really cool to see students walking around. Their athletics basically revolve around rowing and rugby, which was also interesting to see rowing memorabilia everywhere.

The Christ's Church

The Christ's Church

Today, I went to Notting Hill and Portobello Market.  I had been to markets in London before, but this was by far my favorite.  This was a really large market, and isn't as much of a tourist area.  There were lots of antiques, food, and clothes to shop for. I also really liked to see where Notting Hill was filmed.  The area is really pretty with brightly painted houses.  I even watched Notting Hill the other day so I would be able to remember it a little more. The blue door was much harder to find than I had imagined, and the book store now sells shoes and is named Notting Hill. Luckily the locals were able to point us in the right direction.

Hugh Grant's bookstore

Nearly American pastries

The blue door!

When looking back at my most recent post, I realized I had forgotten to write about a funny and unfortunate story at the Eiffel Tower. On Thursday night, our whole group went back to the Eiffel Tower so we would be able to see it at night. A few of my friends and I were walking by a man with two golden retriever puppies, so we stopped to pet them.  The owner for some reason decided to take their leashes off while we were petting them, and they obviously sprinted away, so my friends and I chased after them, while the owner just sat there. They ran straight for a couple having a picnic and started eating all of their food and knocking over their wine. Everyone was yelling at us in French, and we were trying to tell them we didn't own the dogs. This caused a crowd of people to come over and also yell in French. We were finally able to gather the dogs and get away from the people, and the owner wouldn't take his dogs back because he didn't want everyone to know they were his.  Once the crowd died down he took the dogs back, thankfully!

Normandy and Paris

This weekend was by far my favorite part of the semester so far! We were constantly moving and always had something to do, which made the time fly! Someone on the trip did the math and we did almost 24 hours of traveling within four days! This was more than expected because our bus driver seemed to have never driven a bus before. We got lost quite a few times and even got in a small accident.  It didn't help that the driver didn't know a word of English. I ran into a few problems with the language barrier throughout the weekend, it really made me appreciate London more. It became a problem when walking around town and asking a civilian which direction our destination was. Needless to say, we got lost quite a bit.

We started the trip off with a bus tour of Paris.  The tour lasted about three hours and took us to see the major sites Paris has to offer. The city is really beautiful and has a lot to offer. I was surprised to see how different the architecture and buildings were than those in London. Even though the countries are so close, it is like being in a whole different world.  I was also very surprised as to how dirty the city is as well.  It is so beautiful in parts and nearby, it is quite opposite. Seeing the Eiffel Tower was by far my favorite part of the trip, it is really incredible.  I was able to see it during the day and at night. After dark, every hour, the tower's lights flicker for five minutes.  I was able to see it twice, which was really awesome. Along with seeing the Eiffel tower, we stopped to see the lock bridge. I also got a French crepe, of course.

Lock Bridge

On Friday, we got on the bus and drove for about five hours till we arrived at Mont St. Michel.  I didn't know much about Mont St. Michel before arriving, but I wish I had looked it up before.  It is located in Normandy and is a small island which has a small town and a famous abbey. I had a tour of the abbey, which was incredible.  Built in the 8th century, it was used as a prison for years before becoming a monastery. I stayed the night at St. Malo, where we had a group dinner.  We got the full French experience for dinner, where the menu consisted of oysters, duck and creme brulee. I tried the oysters but can say the weren't my favorite.  The duck on the other hand was delicious; it was really nice to have an actual meal, unlike most of my time since I left home!

Mont St. Michel

Saturday was probably my least favorite day, mostly because we had to do a lot of traveling. We started out going to Pointe du Hoc, Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery before lunch. I really enjoyed all of the places we went in the morning. At Pointe du Hoc, I was able to go into original bunkers and see the ruined terrain from bombs. The American Cemetery was also very moving. There were about 9,500 American soldiers buried there, along with statues and memorials. For lunch, we stopped by a small port that had little shops and places to eat. In the afternoon, I saw the Longues-sur-Mer World War II artillery battery and temporary Arromanches harbour that was used to bring allied supplies to shore. It was really interesting to see the actual canons that were used and to see what it would have been like to be there.

American Cemetery

Today was a long day of travel, but I was also able to visit the Caen Peace Memorial, a museum telling details of World War II and the battle of Normandy in particular. It took me a few hours to get through the museum because I really wanted to read all of the information and see all of the artifacts.  I was surprised to see how many artifacts the memorial had. Then after a three hour bus ride and three hours to London, I finally made it home! I was really impressed with the Eurostar, it was really quick and quite comfortable as well. Knowing how convenient it was to take, makes me want to plan another trip to Paris before I go!

Two weeks already?

Harvey - our dog

It seems crazy to think that I have been here for over two weeks already.  I am pretty impressed with my transition so far! I woke up early on Sunday to catch the guard change at Buckingham palace that I have been wanting to go to since I got here. The guard change happens every even day and it was really fascinating.  I went with a friend and we didn't know what was going to happen at all, luckily there were people that could tell us where was best to stand.  There were a lot of people there, so next time I go, I will make sure to do it on a weekday.  The preciseness of the guards is really cool.  I wasn't able to get close to the gate to see the actual changing of the guards, so I will make sure to get a spot there next time.  After the guard change, we were on our way back home when we ran into a small market.  There were really pretty original oil paintings. I could have spent an hour looking through them all. I really hope to be able to get one while I am here, if I can figure out how to get it home! Later, I went to Camden Market with Ashley.  London has a lot of markets to go to on Sundays, which is really fun especially while the weather is nice. Camden Market is known for selling clothes but has turned into more of a tourist area, so there were a lot of souvenirs.

So far, this week has been really busy. Monday was packed with classes because those that are normally scheduled for Thursday were moved to Monday due to our trip to France.  One of the major perks to this program is that our teachers are only teaching us, and are able to move around our classes very easily.  I signed up to go on a Jack the Ripper tour, which happened last night. I read about Jack the Ripper before I went, which helped me understand the tour a bit more.  Even though the city has changed a lot since 1888, we were still able to see some of the places of the original crime scenes.  It was a walking tour that took place at night, making it even more real. Today, along with classes, I had a tour of Parliament. The group that I am with gives us a lot of opportunities to see the city and go on tours; I am really glad I decided to do this program! I was able to walk through most of Parliament, some of the building is over 600 years old, surviving a fire and the bombings of WWII.  The building was really incredible, really intricate with gold everywhere.  Along with the tour, I also learned a lot about the history of the government. I find it really interesting to know I was in the same rooms that past kings and queens have been in.

Tomorrow, I leave for France for four days! The whole weekend is planned out and I cannot wait. I will start in Paris tomorrow and end the weekend in Normandy.  It is really awesome that we are able to go for four days and they were able to move our class schedule around for it.  I have met a lot of friends on the trip so far and am excited to spend the weekend with them as well. Every day, we are moving locations to someplace else, enabling us to see a lot of different sites.

The time here is going so fast already, and I have started coming up with ideas for my 9 day fall break! This is happening in about a month, so I am trying to figure out where I want to go during this time.  It is hard to plan a trip to a country that you have never been to, but I know this will make it an adventure! As of right now, I am planning to go a few places in Italy and end the week in Germany at the Werner's for Milena's birthday.

Getting into the swing of things

Overall, I am really happy with the way classes have been going and with my teachers.  With classes starting, I have been a bit more busy, but it helps that the workload doesn't seem to be as tough as it would be in St. Paul. We are starting to figure out the good places to get groceries and what night places have deals for dinner.  The longer I am here and more used I am to the city, makes it seem much smaller.  Right when we arrived, it seemed as though everyone's homestays were really far apart.  Now we know how to get around better and I don't know how we ever thought we were far apart.  It is nice to get to know the people living in my neighborhood, cause we often go to get dinner and meet up before heading places.

I had a nice transition into this week, they had some things planned for us, but still left time to get homework done. I had two meetings on Wednesday after class, along with a performance at the Globe Theater.  Throughout the semester, we have four cultural classes where someone comes in and teaches us about different things.  This week we learned about the difference between the UK and Great Britain, what it means to be English versus British, some history along with where the flag comes from.  I especially liked to hear how the flag came to being, it is actually a few flags put together to make the UK flag we know today.  We also had a meeting to discuss our upcoming trip to Normandy and Paris.  This is going to occur next weekend.  Our class schedule is pretty flexible, so they were able to move around the classes and we are going to be able to go from Thursday to Sunday. They have the whole weekend packed with tours, it will be exhausting but really fun.  The plan is to be in Paris for one day and Normandy for two.  I wish we had more time in Paris, but maybe I will be able to visit it again before I leave in December! We are taking the EuroStar which leaves close to London and takes us under the English Channel and into France.  This will be   a whole new experience dealing with different money and electrical adapters as well.  After the meeting, we ate dinner downtown and headed over to the Globe Theater to watch Richard III. The beginning was very cool and also very interesting to see a replica of the theater Shakespeare's plays started in.  We really had a true experience, having to stand and get rained on during the performance.  They also didn't allow pictures to be taken because they wanted it to really feel like it would have been during Shakespeare's time. On the way home, we made a pit stop and went up the longest escalator in the western hemisphere, it was 9 stories tall!

I went on a day trip yesterday to Brighton, which is on the southern coast of England.  It was a really early morning, we had to wake up and take an hour tube ride to the bus, which was another two hours until we reached Brighton.  I really did not know what to expect, because I hadn't heard of what we would be seeing.  We started the day with a tour of the Royal Pavilion.  The word pavilion sounds much smaller and less extravagant than what it actually was.  It was built for King George IV in the 1820s and the whole building has oriental design.  While going through the palace, I was amazed at the time and money that was spent on it.  I also learned that even though his whole palace was based off of Chinese design, he had never even been to China. It was really unfortunate that we couldn't take pictures because the inside of the palace was beautiful, my favorite being the chandeliers. One of the chandeliers was 30 feet long and weighed one ton. This palace was a get away for King George IV and was located right on Brighton Beach.  After we looked at the palace, we went down to the beach.  Down at the beach, it was a completely different feel than near the palace.  There were cute shops everywhere and even one of the original piers from the 1800s.  On the pier, there were roller coasters and places to eat along with a rocky beach.  Even though it was a little cold and rainy, it looked like this would be a really great place for families to go in the summer. We had about 3 hours to walk around and then headed back for London.

I am getting to know my host family much better and really liking them a lot.  I haven't gotten to know the mom much, but Ashley and I talk to the kids at least a few times a day.  On Thursday, Ellie made us a realy good meal she came up with, it was really nice to have a real meal. Last night, we all sat around and talked for a few hours. Although the conversations often turn toward comparing cultures and us asking them questions, it is surprising to me how many things are so much the same.  I met some of Ellie's friends yesterday and it was really cool to be able to talk to them, it helps me understand even more what it would be like to grow up and live here.

Start of Classes

Last week was great getting to see so many things that England has to offer, that it seems strange classes have already started now!

Sunday was the first day I was able to sleep in and relax a little.  Ashley and I woke up and ended up talking to our homestay brother, Charlie for a few hours.  He seems pretty happy that there are normal students living in the house this year, I guess that has been uncommon for them. He invited Ashley and I to go to the Thames River Festival with him, which was really fun.  There were a lot of events going on, including a parade and live music.  It was also a celebration for the closing of the paralympics.  We walked across Millennium bridge and saw St. Pual's Cathedral as well. Seeing the Eye of London after dark was also very cool.  At the end of the night, there were the most incredible fireworks.  I am a big fan of fireworks and they were like nothing I have ever seen before. Charlie had told us all about the festival, which is an annual thing. It was larger this year because of the Olympics, sounds like I chose a good time to study here!

Monday was the first day of class, but beforehand, I got in my first London shopping experience.  I had been in stores before, but not to shop.  There are so many different things at their stores, and I had heard advice on places to shop.  One store we went to might end up being a regular for me.  I am excited to come back to the states and have things that aren't as popular yet.

My experience with British professors so far have been really good! Three out of my four classes are with British professors.  It will be interesting to see how well I do in these classes comparatively because they are graded much differently.    While most of my classes at St. Thomas are graded on a very large number of assignments, quizzes and some tests, the grades here are based on only 3 or 4 items the whole time.  These are large and equal about 30% of our grade.  It will be nice to not have as much busy work, but I will have to spend a great deal of time on the assignments we do have.  Overall, I think the teachers are more laid back here than they are at home.  I am most excited for my Art History class because it meets once a week for 4 hours and there is only one week we are in the classroom; every other week is spent in art galleries.  I am in a great place to be studying art, because there are galleries and museums everywhere! I had that class for the first time today and really enjoyed it.  Although I am really happy with how my classes have been going, I do wish that there were students from England studying in them as well.  We only study with St. Thomas students because their school calendar is different than ours and they do not start class until the end of September.

I thought it was going to be difficult to understand their accents, but I haven't had much of a problem so far.  I really enjoy talking to the grandchildren of my homestay family.  They are 5 and 7, Alfie and Lilly.  Their accents are really cute.  There have been some interesting things happening around our house the past few days, including the door knob falling off of the door in our bedroom.  Ashley went to leave and suddenly the knob was in her hand. Luckily she was able to fix it, because we couldn't get out.  Also, our light bulb was flickering in our bedroom, so I went to check if it was tightened enough. I didn't realize that our bulbs are different and theirs; I am confused because now the light doesn't work at all.

I am really like being able to see dogs everywhere I go.  They are able to go on all public transportation and even in some restaurants.  I normally have to go say hi to all of the dogs I see, makes me miss our K9s at home! I have a full day tomorrow which includes going to the Globe Theater to see a Shakespeare play.  I am really enjoying all of the things this program has to offer so far!

Busy life in London

The past two days, just like this whole week have been crazy! It is nice that our program has a lot planned for us, but it gets quite exhausting! It is a little sad that I am excited for class to start on Monday because life might slow down a little.  I am getting more used to life here, and may have started to master the public transportation.  It is amazing to see how many people rely on public transportation every day, while I barely even see busses in Wisconsin.

Yesterday, I woke up bright and early to catch the bus to Hampton Court.  Through the program I am with, we have a few day trip options, some of which are included in the price and some that you can pay extra for.  Either way, it is a really good way to find out more about the country and see exciting things.  This tour was interesting because it started with the bus ride there.  On the way, the tour guide told us about the history of the Palace and how it came to be.  The ride was about 1.5 hours, so we got in a lot of information before even seeing the Palace.  This was much more in the county, and at the time was obviously even more far out.  This was clearly a vacation paradise for the kings and their families.  Hampton Court is most famous for being the residence for King Henry VIII.  He is known for having six wives.  Even though he lived there, other royalty did as well, and they all added to the structure and its grounds.  After visiting, I can now see why it is called Hampton Court, because there are numerous courtyards throughout the property.  The Palace had over 200 staff members and could accomodate over 280 guests at the same time, all of which having their own rooms with fireplaces and bathrooms.  Some of the students didn't like this trip as much because there was a lot of history along with it, but I personally enjoyed it a lot.  I think I chose the right place to study because I am really interested in history, especially dealing with the royal family.

Today was also an exciting day.  We were assigned groups to go on scavenger hunts, and had a list of places to go.  My group had the retail district, which I wasn't upset about.  It was fun to get paired with people I haven't been able to talk to much, I really enjoy everyone here on the trip.  We got to see some really cool stores, which I plan to go back to later.  We went into a department store called Harrod's, which was the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen.  This is the most high class store I have ever been in, I was in the jewelry section and saw a necklace that would be the equivalent of around $170,000.  The store was also probably the largest store I have ever been in, with at least 5 restaurants and even an ice cream parlor.  We finished early, and sat in Hyde Park for about an hour.

Hampton Court

Hyde Park

Hampton Court

Harrod's 

Classes start on Monday, which I am excited about, and nervous as well.  I hope the British classes aren't too much different than what I am used to, but I am excited to see what their classes may be like. I am trying to get a website up to show more pictures of my adventures, but have been having some difficulties. I will let you all know as soon as that is figured out.  Although the pictures don't do it justice, you will have more of an idea of what I have been able to experience so far!

The Adventure Begins

In front of the Tower Bridge

My homestay 

A lot has happened over here in the past two days! Yesterday, we started off the day with a short orientation and then went on a bus tour.  The tour was great! we got to see so many things in just a few hours.  It really showed us what the city is all about and where the major monuments are, along with some history. It was hard for me to drive past these things and we were only able to stop at a few! It was surprising to me how close many of the major monuments are.  I still cannot believe how beautiful and intricate the buildings are here, it hasn't kicked in yet that this is real. Last night, I went to the grocery store and now really appreciate the selection we have at US stores.  I have never seen a grocery store as small as that, and this was normal.  College eating here is also much different than it is in the US, things that are cheap at home are actually very expensive over here.  My love for eggs might have to take a 3.5 month break because of this.

Today we had meetings to discuss our placements for community service.  I was placed at a home for the elderly right in the heart of London.  I am very excited about this because I have heard great things about it.  I will be working there every Monday for the majority of the time I spend over here.  I am in a group with  four other students that I get along with really well. This afternoon was the first time we had off, so we decided to explore the city and go back to see some of the things we liked on the tour yesterday, starting off with Buckingham Palace.  It was a perfect day to go and sight-see, about 75 and sunny.  I had seen the palace briefly yesterday, but didn't get to see everything I had wanted.  Even though I had seen the Palace on TV before, I had never imagined for it to be as big as it is.  I spent a few hours by the palace, the fountain and the green garden, which is next to the Palace.  There is an option to take a tour of Buckingham Palace, so I hope to do that before I leave.  Later, I also was able to see Big Ben, Westminster Abbey,  and the Eye of London.  I still cannot get over how detailed the buildings are, and really would love to learn more about all of them. Somehow we were able to get our way through the city without being lost.  Luckily I had a comfortable pair of shoes on, because I did a lot of walking.  On the way home from dinner tonight, it was the first time Ashley and I had gotten lost. It didn't take us too long to find our house, but we ended up walking much farther than we needed to. It doesn't help that most of the houses on our street look the same.


There is a lot of adjusting that has been happening as well.  The most inconvenient and biggest adjustment is that our house doesn't have a shower, only a bath.  I didn't think this was a big deal until I tried to take one.  Water ended up all over the bathroom and I don't know how clean I even got.  Another issue that I have run into, is that there are no public restrooms.  You are able to use restrooms in restaurants and pubs, but if you are walking around, there are no bathrooms to be found.  Our tour guide told us about one of the only public restrooms, and we had to pay to get in.  It is also really interesting how they don't have many bugs here, so they leave doors and windows open a lot; their windows don't even have screens. I have been having a very hard time adjusting to the driving on the left side of the road.  Even though at every intersection, there is a note which way to look, I still somehow can't get the hang of it.  One of the things that I was most surprised about is how funny the cars look. I didn't actually think they had taxis that were so different! Also, everyone is always in a hurry and there are almost no quiet streets, a far stretch from Appleton. Although there are a lot of things different, that's what makes this time even more exciting!

Although I have been here for a few days already, this still doesn't seem real.  I can't imagine that people actually live in this crazy beautiful place! Hopefully by the end of the semester, I will feel less like a lost tourist and more like one of those lucky people to live here.

Finally Here!

It was a very long day, but I finally made it to London! I had a few minor setbacks during the trip, but of course it ended up working out.  From flight delays to trying to figure out the largest airport in the world, I would say it was a roller coaster.  This city is amazing! It is much more interesting than I had ever imagined.  I haven't struggled much with the accent difference yet, but I am sure that might change once I am being taught by someone with an accent.  My host family is very nice! They have consistently had students living with them for twenty years, sometimes even having four at a time.  Needless to say, they are very welcoming and used to this process.  I think that my roommate, Ashley, and I will get along really well with the 18 year old daughter, Ellie.  Looks like we have a few fun things planned for this week already, including a day trip this Friday.