Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost

So this is the end. My month long trip across the pond came to a close about a week and a half ago. It's taken me all of this time to spit out this blog post, for the ending is always the most difficult to write. When I started this series of blog posts, I was super excited for my trip. I couldn't wait to tell you all about it. However, I knew only a bare minimum of what I would be doing while I was there so there really wasn't much to say.

Now it's over and I'm back to reality (sort of). And it's been extremely difficult to put into words all of my emotions about the trip. You could almost argue that I'm still getting over my jet lag. It hasn't fully sunk in yet that I'm back in America, because I totally hit the ground running when I got back. I haven't had a weekend free and only see one opportunity for a free weekend before the semester begins. And there is almost too much to say. Too much to recount. Too many feelings to impart. So I'm going to try and I will also keep this short. I could go into extreme detail but that would only be for my benefit and not for yours.

So I will write some thank yous:

To my family: who assisted both monetarily and emotionally, thank you very much. This was really the trip of a lifetime. I will look back on this time in my life with great happiness and I'm so grateful that you were there to help me get there. Thank you for supporting me during the trip, with Skyping and emails. It was nice to feel connected to home while abroad. And thanks for being here when I returned. It was wonderful to be greeted at the airport

To my friends (aka, my blog readers): thank you for reading. I'm sure it got tiring after awhile. I know it was tiring to write these up everyday. And they probably got boring. I wasn't as funny as I could have been but sometimes I was just too tired to be funny. But thanks for reading all the same. Or thanks for skimming/looking at the pictures. I know I got page views that weren't mine so I know that someone out there is reading this garbage.

To my London friends: First, I'd like to thank all of you. You made the trip a very memorable experience and one that I will not forget. I'd like to especially thank my cacaws! (Jenny and Melissa). You guys were the best and London would have been totally different without you. P.S. Cotswold misses your faces a lot.

To London: Thanks for letting me explore your city. You were awesome. I loved every inch of the city and could spend several months there and still not experience everything I want to. I hope to see you again soon (Please don't rain as much next time. Thanks!)

Well that's all I need to say. I did a lot in a month's time. I saw a lot of London but barely scratched the surface. I didn't go to Wimbledon but I drank some good beers. I saw some amazing historical items and visited some of the coolest libraries ever. I met some authentic British boys and they were just as I expected. I ate meat pies and they were awesome. I had too much food but loved it. I walked way too much and my legs hated me for it. It was all glorious. I soaked up a ton of history while I was there and it just left me with the urge to travel even more...

Which I am doing, since I'm going to Disney in a week. How bout that! Not sure it will be blog worthy but I'll bring my computer anyway and we'll see if something awesome happens that needs to be documented.

Thanks again for reading. You know I'll be back again when I take my next trip. I'm thinking Italy next time? Or maybe back to Ireland and actually blogging? Or Spain? Or back to Scotland for a more in depth tour? You know I'll be somewhere, seeing something, and being all together crazy but awesome. Cheers!

- Kate

I Must Away to the Colonies!

Well it's Friday. My last day in London. I wasn't sad to go, but I also wasn't elated to leave. I felt kind of apathetic about it. I mean, I was sad to leave my friends with whom I had spent pretty much every day of the last month. And I was sad to leave London. Glad that I wouldn't be there for the Olympics and that craziness, but still sad to leave the city. And I was happy to come home to see my family and friends. Not happy to return to work or the research paper that I need (and still need) to work on. But definitely happy to return to the comforts of home.

My last day in London started early....too early, and overall, we really didn't do that much. I woke at 6 a.m., unable to fall back asleep, and just decided to start my day. I packed everything, really happy that I had brought an extra bag with me for all of the gifts and souvenirs I purchased. Melissa, Jenny, and I met up around 10 to get some breakfast and do some last minute shopping. We grabbed lunch and decided what to do for the Olympic Ceremonies. The British Studies Program was going on a boat cruise from 4-8 but we decided not to attend. Something about spending 4 hours on a boat with a hundred or so undergrads doesn't really sound like a good time to me.

For the ceremonies, we headed to Trafalgar Square to see if they were showing the ceremony there. They weren't so we just found a bar nearby that was and settled ourselves there. Jenny, Melissa, and I enjoyed dinner and drinks before the ceremonies started. We were almost unable to watch them with sound because the restaurant had so rule about never turning off their stupid techno beats. However, another patron stepped in and took charge to get the sound turned up so we could all enjoy the ceremony. (Opinion: I personally really enjoyed the opening ceremony. I know that those in the United States got a play-by-play of it, which sounds really annoying, but we were able to see it all without commercials. Danny Boyle is crazy but I still thought it was cool.)


We called it a night rather early since I had to be up at 3 a.m. to get my taxi to the airport. I said my goodbyes :( and got a few hours of sleep before heading to Heathrow. A week before, when I made my taxi reservation, everyone in London was threatening to strike. Thus, I planned on getting to the airport early in case there were any issues. Well, no one went on strike. And traffic was non-existent. I was there before the United Airlines counter even opened. And then....

I found out my flight was delayed two hours. This was just the news I didn't want to hear on about three hours of sleep. So I spent the next five hours at the airport. Being angry. Writing blogs. Purchasing Olympic gear with cash (since they only took Visa and I didn't have a Visa.) I finally boarded the flight at 9:45 and settled in for a nice 7.5 hour flight across the Atlantic. The only saving grace was the fact that I was able to get my own seat and didn't have to share.

I landed safely without an issue and made it through customs without an issue at all. I was home! And someone was there to greet me :) What a great ending to a very, very long flight. And then, my month-long trip to England ended. It was over. I'll add my final words in another blog because it's taken a bit for it all to sink in. Cheers.

- Kate

I Can't Remember the Taste of Strawberries, Sam!

When writing my diary entry about the last Thursday of our trip, I drew a major blank. I stared at the page for a good bit, trying to rack my brain as to what I had actually accomplished on Thursday. And then it came to me.....The Research Symposium. Oh yes, the Research Symposium. But we will get back to that later since it wasn't until 6 p.m. at night and I did other things on Thursday.

The Olympic Torch!

It was our first full day of no classes so we took advantage of it. We started our day off with coffees and a walk to Millennium Bridge to go see the Olympic Torch. It was working its way through London on the last week of its three-month tour and would be going over the bridge and heading down towards the Globe Theatre at 10 a.m. There were a lot of people there but we were able to get right up to the barrier and see the torch as it went by. My pictures are only alright though because everyone was pushing in and getting in the way.

Then Melissa and I headed north into the City of London for our scheduled mani-peds. Yeah it seems kind of ridiculous to do in London but it was totally nice to get a little foot massage after all of the walking we had done that month. They were wonderful and we were even graced by a really, awful customer who yelled at the employees for messing up her one nail. She was a real piece of work. And of course her worthless boyfriend, whom she dragged along, just sat there and let it all happen.

Then we met up with Jenny for lunch at Mother Mash. I do believe I have extolled the virtues of Mother Mash on this blog and do not need to do so anymore. All I will say is that is was just as awesome as the first time and I officially like meat pies. After lunch, we headed over to Forbidden Planet, a comic book/nerd store. Yes, Jenny, Melissa, and I were pretty nerdy, evidence by our frequent references to Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Dr. Who (Jenny and Melissa only), and other movies/tv shows of the like. We nerded out for a good long time before realizing that we needed to head back to the dorms to get ready for......

The Research Symposium! I know you've all been waiting to hear about this and now the moment has arrived. Now the push behind the symposium is so the students can educate the rest of the British Studies group on their research. We are took two courses: one that counted as a classroom course and the other is a research paper. So as the title dictates, it allows one person from each group to present to the program their research. Here is what we expected: The professor talks for about three minutes and discusses what their class did and then introduces the student. Then the student talks for about five minutes, just about their research.

Here is what we got: professors talking for 5-10 minutes. Then the students talking for 10-15 minutes, and just barely referencing their research. Mainly, they just told us about all of the places they visited. And about 90% of the students did this. So instead of running about two hours, it lasted three. And it was about 85 degrees in the room. It was absolutely awful. I'm listened to a lot of professors ramble on for a long time. But three hours? Seriously? And we didn't really get to hear about anyone's research. Some we did, but not most. And it would have gone longer if the director hadn't stepped in to cut the student off.

So that is how my Thursday evening went. And you can be damned sure that as soon as it was over, we found both food and alcohol. Both were a necessity after that shitshow. We put a nice touch on the evening by hanging out on the South Bank once more, watching the Fire Garden and just relaxing. Only one day left...

- Kate

Enter the 21st Century, England, and get some A/C

Wednesday arrived much sooner than anticipated, for I was up at 7 a.m. to do my laundry. Still fighting a cold that I got in Scotland after spending the entire morning in the rain (see Blog: Storming the Castle), I started the day rather sluggishly. However, a nice breakfast of croissants and bread got me ready to kick off the last day of classes. It was hot. So hot out. Hotter than it had been all month. And England doesn’t have air conditioning because it normally doesn’t get into the 80s. But it did on Tuesday and Wednesday. And boy did we feel the heat.

Our last class took us back to the British Library, but this time it was for a tour of the conservation studio. I have to post for this in my school blog, so I won’t get into it here but will link the page when I get that all written up and posted.

Then we were free!! No more classes! So Melissa and I headed down to the Globe for my third and final Shakespeare performance of the trip. We saw Richard III, which I’ve never read but I really enjoyed. Two really famous actors were in it, Mark Rycliffe and Barty Crouch Sr. (I don’t remember his real name so he will forever be called Barty Crouch Sr. It was very well done. Not as depressing as it is normally portrayed, for Richard made it more satirical. We got standing room near the stage and were able to lean on the stage during the performance. It also kept us out of the sun, which was really strong that day.

After the play ended, we headed back to the dorm for a quick shower and change before heading over to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Pub. It was the first pub rebuilt after the Great Fire in 1666. It is also where Samuel Johnson used to go to hang out and work on writing the dictionary. Twas a really cool bar with lots of windy stairs. They had Samuel Smiths Extra Stout on tap!!! But ALL of the taps were broken. So I had to deal with just having a Samuel Smiths Oatmeal Stout. It was just fine but I've had it in America and was dismayed that I couldn't have something new. Next time!

After dinner, we went to the fire garden again! No fire dancing this time, but we laid on these weird orange hammocks/octagonal boats/nests. They were comfortable for awhile until my butt fell asleep. Then it was uncomfortable. We just hung out for a bit and then went back cause we was tired. And that was the end of Wednesday. Only two days left! Cheers!

- Kate

The Beginning of the End

Temple Church, for all you Dan Brown lovers

(Author's Note:So I just realized that this blog has been daily activity heavy and I really haven’t written anything introspective about my trip. I want to do this and I’m currently working on several opinion blog posts. I wrote several of these in an airport, working on about three hours of sleep and annoyed because my flight was delayed. So bear with me a bit.)

Moving on from that, I need to update you all about my last week in London. We only had two days on class, Tuesday and Wednesday, and the rest were free days to just relax and get everything together before exiting the country. On Tuesday, we had two site visits, one the morning and one in the afternoon.

The morning visit took us to the Inner Temple Library. If you know anything about the law system in England, all of the barristers in England must join one of four temples. These are the Inner, Middle, Grays, and Lincoln. They are all located near each other on Fleet Street in London. I am not blogging about this one for class so I will discuss more of it here. When you become a barrister and subsequently join this temple, you are given free rights to use the library of that temple. We visited the Inner Temple, which allows any member of a temple to use the library.

It is a beautiful and old library that has been in existence since the early 16^th century. It was bombed and destroyed during WWII but rebuilt afterwards and reopened in 1958. The architecture in the library is beautiful. It is all English oak, while high ceilings and large windows that allow in a lot of light. There is a gallery above that gives it that 19^th century library feel. However, the shelves are very high which is an issue for the librarians who need to reach books for the patrons.

Each inn has a core collection of law in England and Wales, as well as other special collections that are specific to each library. The Inner Temple, for example, has items regarding to part of the commonwealth nations as well as Scotland. It also has a very important manuscript and rare book collection. While we were unable to see them in person, we did see some of the copies they have on the walls in the library. For example, the library has the only copy of Edward VI’s will, in which he bastardized his step sisters, Elizabeth and Mary, and said that he wanted Lady Jane Grey to be the regent in the event of his death. Edward was a sickly child and this was written on a few months before he passed away. (History Note: Lady Jane Grey did assume the title, only to be arrested nine days later and have her head cut off. Then Mary took the throne, a role she eventually relinquished to Elizabeth.)

This library is very focused upon reaching out to their patrons needs. They spend a lot of time answering reference inquiries for the barristers, many of whom are crunched for time. They also spend a lot of time updating their blog, which compiles all of the news about cases, law, and verdicts that they believe is important to their patrons. This takes up a lot of time, but they recently won an award for it so they are thinking quite highly of themselves right now.

It's so pretty with the rings!

After visiting the library, we headed to lunch at a pub across the street. Called the Bank of England (check on this), it is the site on which Sweeny Todd is based. Lunch was paid for by our professor, which was very nice since I’ve been bleeding money ever since I arrived. We then hurried to our second and last tour of the day at the Royal Geographical Society. I won’t get into this here because I will link my post on the other blog here but it was so awesome. Super, super cool for anyone who likes explorers.

That was the end of our school day, so Jenny, Melissa, and I headed over to Tower Bridge to start checking off our checklist of things to do. Step one, walk across Tower Bridge. We did that but then had to walk all the way back to our dorms, which was much longer of a walk than originally anticipated. We do that a lot. I guess that’s why our calf muscles look so great, but it has led to lots of blisters over the past month. Before heading back, we grabbed dinner at a Mexican place that has the best burritos I’ve ever had. (I plan on blogging about food as well, since I’ve eaten quite well (maybe too well) since I got here.)

Fire Dancing!

I thought this was the end of the night until Jenny “cacawed” outside of my window and made me put on pants to go see something. I begrudgingly put on pants, signed off of my Skype session, and then found myself in a fire garden! It was so awesome. There is a Fire Garden in grounds of the National Theatre for three days every summer. We caught all three days. Melissa, Jenny, and I went to go walk through it and danced to the fire-themed music they were playing. Jenny took videos of our awesome dance moves. I have a feeling these may resurface in the future.

Thus, we ended our Tuesday on a high note. The countdown to the end had already begun with only three more full days left until I said goodbye to London. Cheers!

-         - Kate

The Changing Landscape of London (aka, my rant about the Olympics)

(Author's Note: Sorry for being gone so long. I'm finally back in the United States and I have several of these to load and then finish off my trip. Here is a short piece to tide you over. Be warned: I wrote it at 5 a.m. in the Heathrow Airport.)

When we left London the Sunday before (July 15), it was still a rather calm city. There were Olympic paraphernalia all over the place but nothing to ostentatious. The city was still relatively quiet, as all of the travelers were mainly locals getting to and from work.

Fast forward a week and it all changed. First, the amount of people in the city grew greatly. There were a lot more languages being spoken as Olympic attendees arrived to the city. Moreover, the school year had come to a close in England and everyone was starting their summer holiday. This meant increased foot traffic, busier tube stations, and just an overall heightened sense of apprehension as the Olympic Games inched ever closer. And it also meant a lot of people wandering the city, meandering and thus causing us and the locals annoyance as we tried to get to our destinations on time. The makeup of the city changed as well, as the one-eyed Cyclops mascots popped up all over the city. Images and facts were pasted on the sidewalks. The number of police in and around tube stations increased greatly.

Overall, this change was hard for me to deal with. I remembered a London without these visitors. I remembered a London that I had become comfortable with in the two weeks I had been there. I wasn’t ready to handle the sheer number of people and felt some sort of kinship with the locals who were dreading these Olympic Games. Now I love the Olympics and I’ve always wanted to go to one. I hope to do so one day but I will plan on going when it’s not in a major city. So don’t think for a second that I don’t enjoy the Olympic Games because I do and I love watching the American athletes compete for our country.

This is something else and I think it’s something that only happens when the Olympics are in a major metropolitan area. While we are leaving before things got really insane, some Londoners had to stay in the city to work. Others had already planned their two-week vacation during this time, removing themselves from the city before it got really bad. This might be disheartening to some people, for they believe that the locals should stay to root on their athletes. However, I commiserate with these people, understanding that their lives are going to be uprooted for three weeks. The tube stations will be overrun with people, thus affecting the daily commute of thousands of people. Can you imagine if New York City had the Olympics? Can you imagine how many more people would be in that city? There are too many already and having the Olympics there would upset a rather delicate balance.

Moreover, the Olympics have actually hurt the tourist industry in Britain. You may think I’m crazy saying that, for there are thousands of spectators in the city for the games. But think about this: For most of Europe, August and a few weeks in September are the weeks to go on holiday. This is the most popular month for people to travel to England and thus the tourists business does great during this period. However, because of the Olympics, people are staying away from London. They are traveling other places and staying out of the craziness that is London. They do not want to get involved with the people or the traffic. It’s not a very carefree place to be right now. Thus, museums and sites will probably take a hit this month. All of the tourists in the city are there for the games and not to visit the wonderful sites in London. I know for a fact that my cab driver to the airport said his company was hurting for business.

I love London. It’s one of my favorite cities in the world. It’s easy to navigate and easy to learn. Everyone speaks English and I never felt out of place in the city. I could fit in very easily and could be very comfortable here (if I had air conditioning). But I am very glad to be leaving before the Olympics really get started. It’s had a major impact on the city and it won’t be back to normal for several weeks. I hope that anyone who travels to London for the Olympics comes back in the future to see what it really is like without all of these changes. It’s an amazing place and it deserves to be shown for what it is: a city rich in history, vibrant in culture, and on the cutting edge of technology.