October 2009
11 posts
Dublin Sunday
Sunday was probably my favourite day in Dublin. Four big highlights:
1. Fish and chips takeaway from the oldest chipper in Dublin. It was doused in salt and vinegar and coated in grease, which made them by far the best fish and chips I’ve had so far. To make it better, we ate in the park next to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which is one of the prettiest places in Dublin. Amazing...
Dublin Saturday
Given the 2 hours of sleep the night before, miles of walking, and working-day-length pub crawl, it’s probably not surprising that we slept in a bit Saturday. After finally getting around to moving, we ate a take-away lunch on a hedge outside a cafe in Dublin’s main shopping district because we were too cheap to pay the extra 2 euro to eat in. Fun fact: European restaurants seem to...
Dublin Friday
This weekend I went to the capital of Ireland. This is what happened.
Lesson one of the weekend: never book a 6:30 am flight.
3:00 am: wake up after 2 hours of sleep 3:30 am: take the 25 Night Bus to Stratford 4:05 am: board National Express coach to Stansted 5:00 am: Arrive at airport and go through security really quick because very few people besides businessmen are stupid enough to book a...
British Flight of the Conchords?
It was the open mike night at our local pub tonight. We watched a few local bands and dudes with acoustic guitars (plenty of terrible versions of Travis, Coldplay, Oasis, and Radiohead songs), but the definite highlight was a band of 2 goofy-looking English guys with acoustic guitars who played a few gems including a song about dating a Nazi (at this point we hadn’t realized they were a...
Fun Fact of the Day
My professor for “Disraeli, Democracy, and Empire” shared with us that Oscar Wilde applied to teach English at Queen Mary but was rejected because the college board deemed that it would be irresponsible to allow him near young people.
I can’t imagine why.
Updated Travel Plans
Travel Plans (take 2):
Dublin: October 16-18 (still booked)
Paris: October 30 - November 1 (booked, flights to Barcelona were too expensive that weekend)
Italy (Rome —> Florence —> Venice): November 6 - 15 (flights booked, rest of the middle stuff needs work)
Travel planning has come along nicely, I’m also definitely taking a daytrip to Stonehenge and Bath at some point this...
Blogging is Hard
So, I haven’t updated on my British goings-ons in a while, so here’s a summary of the past week or so:
Wednesday: Went to a Indie-type bar called “catch-” on 22 Kingsland Road with some friends of various nationalities. It was a really good time, got to hear some cool local music and hang out with people who aren’t American.
Thursday: Met Devin and Jason at the...
I finally have a complete schedule
After a week of navigating the strangely non-computer-driven British educational scheduling system, I finally have a concrete schedule for the semester. Here goes:
Monday: British Political Systems Lecture 10-11, Cinema and Society: the US in World War 2 Lecture and Film Screening 11-2, British Political Systems Seminar 2-3.
Tuesday: Literature in Time: Texts and Contexts from the Eighth to...
September 2009
16 posts
Travel Plans! Woo!
Here are my travel plans for the semester (so far):
Dublin: October 16-18 (confirmed and booked)
Barcelona: October 30 - November 1 (still in planning)
Italy (Rome —> Florence —> Venice): November 7 - 15 (also in planning stages)
If I can make the time for it, I’d also really like to visit Paris, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, and/or Munich. I probably won’t be able to...
I have ruined my English street cred
We have spent the last 3 days doing excessively touristy things in London. I’ll probably write more later, but for now:
Thursday: walked through Westminster, saw Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, the Wellington Arch, etc, etc.
Friday: Spent the day at the Tate Modern. All sortsa really cool art.
Saturday: Visited Trafalgar square where some weird...
Weekend in Woking
As part of Arcadia’s study abroad program, we spent this past weekend in Woking, a biggish town in Surrey, just a little bit outside of London (translation: a 2 1/2 hour drive through barely moving traffic). I lived in a house with two parents (Mark and Karen) their two 13- and 15-year-old daughters, two Polish boarders, a Doberman named Ruben, 3 birds, and Matt, another American...
Enrolment and Registration
Sorry to all that I’ve been delinquent in posting here, but the last week has been crazy hectic. I’ve barely had time to stop and think, let alone write a blog post, so in the next few days I’ll write some updates about the Woking homestay, last few days of Arcadia orientation, and the move-in to my flat here at Queen Mary (with pictures). For now though, I think I’ll...
One Thing I Am Certain About
I’m still trying to figure out all these uniquely British things, but one thing I know is true: if you want to be buried in St. Paul’s, kill a lot of Frenchmen. As a side note, the cathedral is beautiful, but unfortunately has a total ban on taking pictures. Arthur Duke of Wellington’s tomb was absurdly ornate, extending from the basement, to the first floor, and about 30 feet...
Day One
Internet will definitely be spotty at best until next sunday when I finally get to move into my dorm/permanent London living space. So in this short time here are a few notes:
Driving on the left side of the road is confusing as hell. Almost got hit by a double-decker bus today because I looked left instead of right crossing the street. And didn’t even notice I almost got hit until...
Off to England! →
Bags are packed, tickets ready, everything is set to go. Not sure when I’ll have internet for the first update on my time in England, but until then, I’ll start my actual travels the best way I know how. With a video of a 4-year-old drumming the Who’s (some native Londoners) classic “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” (Click the link, the kid disabled embedding)
Less than 36 hours until departure
And I am still not really ready. Wednesday was my last day of work(huzzah!) and I’ve had a ton of time to prepare, but, surprise, while I’ve started packing, nothing’s actually in suitcases or bags yet, just sorted into piles in the living room. Still a day for that I guess. But, any day that gives me another opportunity to talk about barbecue is a productive day. I met my...
One last thing, I have enabled comments: →
Please God don’t let this happen:
And a Concert before I Go
Indie cred be damned, Friday night I ventured out to the middle of nowhere in Kansas to see Weezer, Blink-182, the Republic Tigers, Stellastarr*, Matt and Kim, and a few others I didn’t care about too much. I have observations:
Definitely the frattiest crowd I have ever been a part of. Just by sporting flannel I think I looked more like a hipster than most anyone else there. I’m...
7 Days Left... Should I be preparing? Maybe?
No. Instead I should just be going around and doing a bunch of Kansas City things. I’ve spent much of the last week or so going to several stereotypical Kansas City places with the family. This basically gives me the opportunity to plug the best part of KC: food.
Last week was a trip to Stroud’s, a famous old KC pan fried chicken place. This means delicious chicken noodle soup,...
August 2009
2 posts
“Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will...”
– From one of my very favorite historical figures. And one of the all-time great total badasses.
2 Weeks!
Hello all! In the coming months I plan to use this page to chronicle my time abroad in London (approximately 3000 miles east of America) and my travels throughout Europe. Up until now, I’ve never left North America, so here’s to hoping I don’t make a fool of myself. As for details, I’ll be living in a flat in Pooley House in the Westfield Student Village on the campus of...