I had two days of orientation this week which gave me an incredible feeling of deja vu- I quite feel like a freshman again. Not exactly something one wants to repeat, but new campus, new classes, new registration process, a million and one questions- yep. Should've seen it coming. The City University campus is quite small and I am still pondering how they pack 22,000 students in there. It's located in Northampton Square, a really nice little park-like courtyard. Most of the buildings at uni (slang for university) are connected which I imagine will be nice when it starts raining and gets cold, but for now it has this magical effect where suddenly you look up and you're in a new building and you don't know how you got there. This also makes it more difficult to answer your million and one questions because you have to run all over campus for each one. But alas, I think I've figured most of it out for now.
Although there were a few difficulties with registering, I am really excited for my classes! I am taking World Politics, 19th Century Opera, Music of the Middle East, and two unique classes called Historic London, and Performing Arts in London. These are led by the same professor- an eccentric ball of energy with lots of really interesting facts to spew out. She led a small tour of the neighborhood by the uni packed full of great tidbits that you'd never get in a travel book. Historic London meets at a different location every week and we'll learn about English history which I'm really looking forward to as a way to appreciate and soak up the culture here. Performing Arts in London is the class I just cannot wait for- we're going to FIVE shows! A ballet, an opera, a Shakespeare production, a contemporary play, and a musical. I am so excited to know that I will actually get to see all of these productions because one of the things that drew me to London was it's appreciation for and abundance of performing arts.
I really like the area of my campus. If you walk in one direction for 10 minutes, you're at a tube stop and in a really busy city neighborhood. If you walk 10 minutes in a different direction, you end up in the beautiful, charming neighborhood of Clerkenwell. With it's whole-in-the-wall pubs and old apartments, each door a different, vibrant color, it is a quiet retreat from the busy London feel. I met up with my freshman roommate, Ilana, on Friday for dinner at pub in this area which was a wonderful experience. We were the only non-locals there. I sat contentedly between a table of business men discussing Much Ado about Nothing and a couple bikers drinking their pints while some guys played darts and another table read through a script. It was the perfect atmosphere.
Saturday was a day of exploring London on foot with my friend Elizabeth who is working in a small village in England for the year. Among the places we saw was the National Gallery- a beautiful collection of art, and free to the public! And today, I went to the first women's football training for the City club. It was quite fun although it has been far too long since I've played. Afterwards the team went out to a pub for pints. They said this was quite a typical thing to do. My body is going to have to adjust to this because a pint of beer on an empty stomach after running around for an hour was... unexpected. But the coach and the girls were really nice. The coach actually said their unofficial mascot was a moose he bought on 16th street during a visit to Denver (the official mascot is a carrot. I'm not kidding.) I just met a few people while making dinner in our hall kitchen, one a very sweet guy who surprisingly was a boxer on the German National Youth team. Overall, it's been a relaxing weekend of settling in. The calm before the storm, I expect.
Side note: British English is really different. It's really hard to understand sometimes and I feel like it is a completely different language at the moment. Well, that's all for now. I'm sure this week will bring lots of surprises and challenges. Cheers!
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Love at first sight!
After only about 24 hours, I must say- I am in love. London is incredible and even thought I've just gotten here, I already feel at home! We got in yesterday evening and even though google maps took us a very confusing, roundabout way, I didn't mind a bit. We maneuvered the underground during rush hour traffic, walked through the busy streets bustling with bikers, taxis (the cutest ones you'll ever see), double decker buses, and lots of commuters, and got pleasantly turned around in neighborhoods lined with charming brick houses, each with different colored doors. Let me tell you, getting lost in London is actually enjoyable- because it means you get to talk to British people, and thus hear the most wonderful accents ever. I'm considering pretending to be lost throughout my entire stay here just so I can ask for directions and listen to the accent all the time.
Other notable moments here include finding the British version of Chipotle (a very comforting find only a 10 minute walk from my flat), orienting myself with the wonderful neighborhood, meandering around the neighborhoods with historic and beautiful government buildings, using my fob correctly on the first attempt, figuring out what a fob is, and moving into my modest but comfortable flat. Overall, London just has a great charm to it. The most ordinary things have me smiling all the time like the businessmen in suits riding bicycles down busy streets and the funny-sounding names of the stops on the tube. I know this term will bring it's challenges but I am really glad with my choice to study here and I think it will be an amazing three months! I begin orientation tomorrow and will hopefully get more of an idea of what I'm in for and meet the other students here. Thanks for reading!
Other notable moments here include finding the British version of Chipotle (a very comforting find only a 10 minute walk from my flat), orienting myself with the wonderful neighborhood, meandering around the neighborhoods with historic and beautiful government buildings, using my fob correctly on the first attempt, figuring out what a fob is, and moving into my modest but comfortable flat. Overall, London just has a great charm to it. The most ordinary things have me smiling all the time like the businessmen in suits riding bicycles down busy streets and the funny-sounding names of the stops on the tube. I know this term will bring it's challenges but I am really glad with my choice to study here and I think it will be an amazing three months! I begin orientation tomorrow and will hopefully get more of an idea of what I'm in for and meet the other students here. Thanks for reading!
Sunday, September 18, 2011
España- un país increíble!
Hola desde España! Sorry in advance for this Suart Portman-length post but these past few days in Spain have been a whirlwind and there is much to write about! After 3 planes, 3 subway trains, and about 17 hours of travel, my mom and I finally arrived at our hotel in Madrid. Exhausted, we plopped down in a restaurant right outside of our hotel in Plaza Santa Ana. I'm slightly confused because I translated the name to mean something of a German brewery but our tapas seemed quite Spanish to me. Either way, we managed to order and eat with minimal English which was intimidating but everything here is delicious so it doesn't really matter if you actually know what you're ordering. After dinner, we walked around a bit and saw some of Madrid's beautiful, old European buildings lit up at night and headed back to our hotel to crash.
Friday was museum day. Madrid has an incredible amount of really fine museums, though none of which can compare to El Prado. El Prado is just massive and it seems like every room has a masterpiece in it. There were masterpieces by everybody who's anybody- Goya, Bosch, Ruebens, Titian, Velazquez, Renoir, El Greco, Caravaggio, Rembrandt... The list goes on and on. I thought it was really cool that even though they had a very diverse collection of art, there was a special emphasis and a lot of pride surrounding the Spanish art. After El Prado, we walked around a park and made our way to El Centro de Arte Reina Sofia- Madrid's contemporary art museum. They had tons and tons of works by Picasso, Miro, and Dali including the museum's centerpiece- Guernica. There were pictures of Guernica in about five or six of its stages of completion. It was really interesting to see the changes that Picasso made and the amount of thought that he put into this piece (which is so big it takes up an entire room). Finally, we visited Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza- a museum based around a privately assembled collection. Works here included more Picasso, Gaugin, Goya, and Van Gogh. Although impressive in itself, I was on art overload and ready for some more tapas. We ate outside in Plaza Santa Ana next to a small playground, overflowing with adorable and energetic little Spanish kids. Complete with being serenaded by some busking accordion players, we headed back for the night to plan for the next day.
On Saturday, we got up at the crack of dawn- strike that 2 hours before the crack of dawn- to catch our train to Barcelona. Just FYI the nightlife is just starting to die down at 6am and there are some shady characters on the street. Our slightly disconcerting walk to the train station was more than worth our amazing stay in Barcelona. The 3 hour train ride was occupied by watching the gorgeous Spanish countryside and trying my best to follow Rango in Spanish as it played on the train's TVs. Our first order of business in Barcelona was the Catedral de Barcelona- a beautiful cathedral in the old city center. Next, we wandered around and arrived at Mercat de La Boqueria. This was a huge, bustling market with tons of amazing sights and smells. With over 300 stalls, there's barely any room to walk, adding to its appeal :) After buying some lunch here, we strolled down La Rambla (a street with lots of little vendors) to our metro station. We arrived at the modernista side of town with lots of incredible architecture designed by Gaudi- my favorite of which was La Pedrera. It's impossible to describe his work so check out my pictures. The roof was especially fun and had a great view of the city.
That night my mom and I saw a concert at Palau de la Musica Catalana. We had dinner before the concert outside the hall which included tapas, croquetas, and cava- a traditional Catalonian wine. Now to describe the concert- the hall was by far the most beautiful hall I've ever seen. I don't think there could be a more beautiful hall in the whole world. An amazing stained glass inverted dome is the centerpiece with ornate, modernista details in every corner of the hall. Our seats were up behind the stage next to the organ pipes which provided an awesome view and an interesting perspective of the musicians. The concert itself consisted of folk-inspired pieces. However, the first piece was a piece for solo organ by Bach. This program explains that this is "in order to rediscover the relationship of silence and the sublime beauty of the organization of sounds" (or so google translate, Catalan tells me). At each concert this season, they will have a moment of silence which blossoms into a work by Bach, "an act of purification to prepare us to move into the concert." Hell yeah, Barcelona is fucking awesome. I will try to keep this short but the rest of the concert was equally as awesome. All of the musicians entered at the same time by section. The acoustics were great and so was the conductor. And of course, it was infinitely interesting to watch the musicians.
The next day began with Gaudi's culminating masterpiece- La Sagrada Familia. This is undoubtedly the most beautiful and awe-inspiring thing I have ever seen. The front entrance is covered with sculptures of the crucifixion of Christ and as you walk in, there is a line drawing in the tile floor of the Palm Sunday procession. This entrance opens up to the beyond massive nave. The pillars split at the top to look like tree branches and the ceiling decorations look like stars. The building is so tall, it really does feel like you're looking up to heaven. A quote from Gaudi on the premises describes his inspiration from nature which you can see in almost every detail: "The great book, always open and which we should make an effort to read, is that of Nature." I really can't do this cathedral justice, so go check out some pictures for yourself. After this, we went to Parc Guell- a park with lots of Gaudi quirks hiding around every corner. Finally, a beautiful ride back to Madrid, and dinner at the historic Plaza Mayor -the site of Spanish inquisition trials and executions and bull fights. (Dinner was slightly more pleasant).
Tomorrow we're back to London. Lugging my luggage through the tube will surely be entertaining to locals. I will be posting pictures here (if I can figure out how) or on facebook. Miss you all so much! If you actually read all of this, props. Adios por ahora!
Friday was museum day. Madrid has an incredible amount of really fine museums, though none of which can compare to El Prado. El Prado is just massive and it seems like every room has a masterpiece in it. There were masterpieces by everybody who's anybody- Goya, Bosch, Ruebens, Titian, Velazquez, Renoir, El Greco, Caravaggio, Rembrandt... The list goes on and on. I thought it was really cool that even though they had a very diverse collection of art, there was a special emphasis and a lot of pride surrounding the Spanish art. After El Prado, we walked around a park and made our way to El Centro de Arte Reina Sofia- Madrid's contemporary art museum. They had tons and tons of works by Picasso, Miro, and Dali including the museum's centerpiece- Guernica. There were pictures of Guernica in about five or six of its stages of completion. It was really interesting to see the changes that Picasso made and the amount of thought that he put into this piece (which is so big it takes up an entire room). Finally, we visited Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza- a museum based around a privately assembled collection. Works here included more Picasso, Gaugin, Goya, and Van Gogh. Although impressive in itself, I was on art overload and ready for some more tapas. We ate outside in Plaza Santa Ana next to a small playground, overflowing with adorable and energetic little Spanish kids. Complete with being serenaded by some busking accordion players, we headed back for the night to plan for the next day.
On Saturday, we got up at the crack of dawn- strike that 2 hours before the crack of dawn- to catch our train to Barcelona. Just FYI the nightlife is just starting to die down at 6am and there are some shady characters on the street. Our slightly disconcerting walk to the train station was more than worth our amazing stay in Barcelona. The 3 hour train ride was occupied by watching the gorgeous Spanish countryside and trying my best to follow Rango in Spanish as it played on the train's TVs. Our first order of business in Barcelona was the Catedral de Barcelona- a beautiful cathedral in the old city center. Next, we wandered around and arrived at Mercat de La Boqueria. This was a huge, bustling market with tons of amazing sights and smells. With over 300 stalls, there's barely any room to walk, adding to its appeal :) After buying some lunch here, we strolled down La Rambla (a street with lots of little vendors) to our metro station. We arrived at the modernista side of town with lots of incredible architecture designed by Gaudi- my favorite of which was La Pedrera. It's impossible to describe his work so check out my pictures. The roof was especially fun and had a great view of the city.
That night my mom and I saw a concert at Palau de la Musica Catalana. We had dinner before the concert outside the hall which included tapas, croquetas, and cava- a traditional Catalonian wine. Now to describe the concert- the hall was by far the most beautiful hall I've ever seen. I don't think there could be a more beautiful hall in the whole world. An amazing stained glass inverted dome is the centerpiece with ornate, modernista details in every corner of the hall. Our seats were up behind the stage next to the organ pipes which provided an awesome view and an interesting perspective of the musicians. The concert itself consisted of folk-inspired pieces. However, the first piece was a piece for solo organ by Bach. This program explains that this is "in order to rediscover the relationship of silence and the sublime beauty of the organization of sounds" (or so google translate, Catalan tells me). At each concert this season, they will have a moment of silence which blossoms into a work by Bach, "an act of purification to prepare us to move into the concert." Hell yeah, Barcelona is fucking awesome. I will try to keep this short but the rest of the concert was equally as awesome. All of the musicians entered at the same time by section. The acoustics were great and so was the conductor. And of course, it was infinitely interesting to watch the musicians.
The next day began with Gaudi's culminating masterpiece- La Sagrada Familia. This is undoubtedly the most beautiful and awe-inspiring thing I have ever seen. The front entrance is covered with sculptures of the crucifixion of Christ and as you walk in, there is a line drawing in the tile floor of the Palm Sunday procession. This entrance opens up to the beyond massive nave. The pillars split at the top to look like tree branches and the ceiling decorations look like stars. The building is so tall, it really does feel like you're looking up to heaven. A quote from Gaudi on the premises describes his inspiration from nature which you can see in almost every detail: "The great book, always open and which we should make an effort to read, is that of Nature." I really can't do this cathedral justice, so go check out some pictures for yourself. After this, we went to Parc Guell- a park with lots of Gaudi quirks hiding around every corner. Finally, a beautiful ride back to Madrid, and dinner at the historic Plaza Mayor -the site of Spanish inquisition trials and executions and bull fights. (Dinner was slightly more pleasant).
Tomorrow we're back to London. Lugging my luggage through the tube will surely be entertaining to locals. I will be posting pictures here (if I can figure out how) or on facebook. Miss you all so much! If you actually read all of this, props. Adios por ahora!
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Here we go!
Hey guys! Thanks so much for reading my blog! I'm not sure how often I'll be able to post, but I'm hoping I'll update weekly. As most of you know, I'll be spending the semester studying in London which I am beyond excited for! But first- it's vacation time!
My mom and I are currently in the airport waiting for our flight to Toronto from which we'll be hopping the pond to London and then straight to Madrid! I currently have four different currencies in my wallet- let me just reiterate how excited I am right now. My mom and I will be spending 3 days in Madrid and one day in Barcelona. Highlights to include lots of Picasso, equally as much tapas, practicing my Spanish (hopefully while avoiding any major embarrassment), attending a concert in the beautiful Palau de la Música Catalana and indulging in Gaudí's Modernista architecture. After our trip there, we'll fly back to London and get settled into my flat. After a few days of orientation, I finally start classes on the 26th.
So thanks again for reading. I'm so excited to have this time to travel with my mom and start this adventure! More interesting posts and pictures to follow soon :)
My mom and I are currently in the airport waiting for our flight to Toronto from which we'll be hopping the pond to London and then straight to Madrid! I currently have four different currencies in my wallet- let me just reiterate how excited I am right now. My mom and I will be spending 3 days in Madrid and one day in Barcelona. Highlights to include lots of Picasso, equally as much tapas, practicing my Spanish (hopefully while avoiding any major embarrassment), attending a concert in the beautiful Palau de la Música Catalana and indulging in Gaudí's Modernista architecture. After our trip there, we'll fly back to London and get settled into my flat. After a few days of orientation, I finally start classes on the 26th.
So thanks again for reading. I'm so excited to have this time to travel with my mom and start this adventure! More interesting posts and pictures to follow soon :)
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