I fail at research

I'm doing it now, well, technically after I post this. But yesterday, my day without class, I read Harry Potter, finally got out and worked out, running to the post to drop off a letter, watched Will and Grace, laughing out loud while I ate lunch and later dinner, and skyped with Kayla and Mom. No regrets on the skype or work out, or even Harry Potter, just on the lack of getting Ivory Trade research done.

I bet you'll never guess what today will consist of.

This week

Now to back in Ireland. Funny thing, I had an amazing time in London, could have easily explored for way longer, yet at the same time I was content returning to Ireland. It left me feeling happy with my country decision, which is definitely a good thing!

This week is RAG week: Raise a Grand, although I've no idea how they actually do it. It's more of a get trashed 24/7 as opposed to only in the evenings. No joke, on Monday I saw guys walking around campus with beers around 11 am, others already swaying. Centrepoint is usually fairly quiet, not this week! I think my apartment might be one of two in the complex not hosting a party (although Rachel did come back for the first time in over a week with friends and Irene said it kept her up til 3...). But things have been chill.

School has picked up a bit. I've got a presentation on a paper about the Ivory Trade (to ban or not to ban, that is the question). Funny thing, I've yet to write the paper, like most of the class. Instead I've been doing readings for other classes, studying ever so little for the test I had today (another one I feel good about) and reading Mandy's British copy of HP7.

I did catch Ash Weds mass yesterday. It was the shortest one of my life! I don't quite get mass here but whatever. It was nice because I got to see some awesome people, like Melissa my "sister", who I hadn't seen in a while.

I've also been looking at price tickets to Spain. I'm looking for those 5 euro ones that are really 25 after they charge me 10 for check in and 10 for credit card handling. Not having a whole lot of luck with Ryan Air just yet. Also looking at going to Nantes and Pais Vasco, again, neither one really cheap... hmmm I'll keep looking I guess.

That's it for now, sorry London was such a novel. I had such a great time and half of it is for me so that way I can remember the awesomeness.
Oh, even better, returning from London I got a package from home with contacts, electric toothbrush replacement, chocolate (good thing I'm doing moderation not complete abstinence this lent!) and photos. Thanks Mom!

slowly but surely

Last Friday was the Cambridge day of fun!

We started off our morning meeting up with Curt for some toast and corn flakes, yum. (Free food, can't beat it). Since Ellen wasn't going to get out of class until 1, we decided to explore the British Library for a while. Oh my goodness, if that was my library I would be there all of the time!

We didn't even get to see much of it with our 1 and a half hour visit. Actually, we only got to check out the Sir John Ritblat Gallery: Treasures of the British Library, and it was phenomenal, I'm getting chills just thinking about it. This gallery took us through time, literature, music, religion, science, geography and politics! I saw the original copies of Handel's Messiah, Mozart's notes and an original book of compositions, Beatles' song lyrics (even with cartoon sketching on one of them), Jane Austen's handwriting in her original copy of Persuasions, Original Daoist, Hindi, and Buddhist sacred texts, one of the earliest copies of the Bible (A fourth century Codex!!!), early Qu'ran copies, the Magna Carta, Leonardo DaVinci's notes next to Sir Isaac Newton's diary entries... so much history, culture and tradition in there! I was sad to see the clock speed by so fast in a room that seemed to stand still in defiance of the sands of time.

Nonetheless, our sad departure from the library brought us to the happy adventuring in King's Cross Station. We first wanted to buy our tickets and make sure we knew where our train was leaving from. After that was settles, I started to ask our big security guard friend if it'd be ok to leave that area even if we'd already swiped our ticket through. Immediately he said, "You're looking for Harry Potter?" How'd he know?! ; ) He told us how to get to "Platform 9 3/4" Which was actually between platforms 8 and 9. Either way we took tons of pictures and had loads of fun before buying lunch and hopping onto the train towards Ellen!

In the Cambridge Station we waited ever so shortly for Miss Ellen to arrive. She came along with Carly, a truly fun girl, and the two showed us to Homerton College where they are living for the year. After settling down, we embarked upon our tour of Cambridge, led by the lovely Ellen. Wow, I had no idea how huge and sprawled out Cambridge was. I don't remember the exact number of colleges that make up the university, somewhere around forty or more?, but it was amazing. In each college I kept having to be reminded that students actually live there. Students actually live in King's College, near that giant of a "chapel" that still blows my mind! Students actually live where Sir Isaac Newton studied. Ellen showed us around loads of colleges, took us by a pub where Watson and Crick would chill over a pint while discussing the structure of DNA, introduced us to punting along the river, and made me jealous of their every day of the week open market. It was a lovely walk and the company was only better!

We weren't the only guests at Homerton and as such there was quite the feast to enjoy that night! I helped ever so slightly, mostly just hung out, while Ellen cooked a scrumptious meal for 20 or so (a pasta with a cheesy pesto sauce with tomatoes, sans the chicken for me... I still have yet to eat meat, it almost feels weird to think of it...). After the meal in the hallway (at least I think after it) we went back to town to pick up two other girls who had come to visit. Basically, after a visit to the co-op, the night became one of hanging out in the hallway, good stories, laughter, friends and fun. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and wish I hadn't gone to bed but had only stayed up. Thanks again Ellen, you were a fantastic host and it was so good to see you!

Sadly the next morning we had to leave in order to meet up with Curt at Platform 9 3/4 at 10. I mean, how cool is that, to say that you're meeting up at Platform 9 and 3/4? Anyways, we met up without a problem. We actually split up again, he to view the changing of the guards (in which the band played Lion King, I was jealous!) and we went to Hyde Park. Again, time escaped us and we didn't get to see but a fraction of the park, but that fraction was gorgeous. The day was lovely, the people happy and the park beautiful. Only had it been after everything had bloomed could things have been more perfect. I kind of wish my Hyde Park was like that, it's ok, I love my neighborhood all the same. We met back up with Curt and a new friend, Renata, who he'd met the previous day. Renata was a treat! A Brazilian girl studying in Portugal who was traveling solo for a month. She said that the beautiful thing about traveling alone is that you're never alone! She gave me some ideas...

Anyways, we wound up with a whirlwind of a day. We went to St. Paul's Cathedral, the Millenium Bridge, and then walked along the river towards the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge. Beautiful, absolutely beautiful. We then split ways again.

Little did we know we chose the perfect day for using the underground... not. The lines out to where we were were out. We wound up walking all over, from closed stop to closed stop until we finally found a break! We raced around, in hopes of getting to the Museum quickly so that I could see the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon, so that Ellen and others wouldn't disown me, and then to Westminster Abbey for Mass at 5. Well, I did indeed see the stone and greek monuments. "No wonder Greece is pissed" escaped my mouth upon seeing such impressive structures within the British Museum. And the Rosetta Stone, having unlocked the Egyptian culture for us, gave me chills! Sadly that's all that I got to see in this last visit to the museum (good thing I'd caught it thursday!) before racing over to the Abbey. Unfortunately the race was in vain: the service was held at 3 on Sat, not at 5. So we were 2 hours 20 mins late, not just 20 mins late.

All I could do was laugh and look for a bench to sit at. All was well though: Big Ben at sunset was beautiful. From there we went back to Tottenham Court Road to get Mandy HP 1 and 7 british versions, catch a bite to eat (falafel for me!) before heading back to the Tower Bridge to catch it at night ( a wise tip from Renata). It was beautiful all lit up, and this time we knew how to best get back to a working underground! Then we returned to Big Ben and Parliament to see him all lit up. Again, terribly Impressive.

Favorite memory: Mandy reading aloud the first chapter to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as we sat in a bench facing Big Ben and Parliament. It was truly magical, had goosebumps the whole time. A motorcycle even drove by shortly after Hagrid arrived on Sirius' bike! It was the perfect ending to a wonderful adventure. From there we hopped on the underground for the last time to connect with the Stansted Express Train to take us to the airport.

Staying over at the airport Saturday night to Sunday morning, not so much fun. Didn't really sleep at all. Bright side, we did find Curt again and even ran into a friend we'd met here in Galway on her return back to the lovely Emerald Isle.

London was a fantastic adventure!

The rest of that first whirwind day

After adventures at the Queen's residence, we ventured over towards Big Ben and Parliament. First stop was Westminster Abbey, and was it ever beautiful! The Gothic-style church reminded me so much of Notre Dame. I have been so blessed and have seen so many things! We did not go in b/c there is a charge, but, service is free. We are all about the free and were up to checking that out, but that's for another day's telling. Right next to the Abbey we crossed the very busy street (street crossing is quite interesting, you just go when you see a clear shot when there is no real crossing). The park we crossed to had statues of great men, my favorite of which was Nelson Mandela who I had to take a picture with. From Nelson, we had the best view of Big Ben!

Since beginning to 'grow up' I've always talked about how if I want to go to London, stand on one of Big Ben's hands, look to the second star on the right and fly on straight 'til morning. It was amazing and of course Peter Pan songs got stuck in my head. We ventured closer and were further awed by the beauty of Parliament. I love the yellow stone and all of the delicate details (Check out my facebook photo albums for the photos). I believe this area was Mandy's favorite, and quite possibly mine as well. From the Westminster bridge we caught sight of the London Eye, the huge ferris wheel. NO need to pay 35 pounds to get on, a look and a pic were plenty.

By now we were hungry and went back towards Piccadilly Circus in search of food. I was determined to get Indian food while in London, and Indian food I did get. I felt sort of bad because Chelsea wasn't up to Indian, but I was determined. I knew that while in London I would buy at least one thing and that was going to be it. It was Mandy's first Indian food experience and I believe she liked it. I LOVED my vegetable dish and naan (which was sweeter since I got the nutty naan). Delicious! Although, the service was REALLY slow, the only sourness to the meal was the rudeness of the waiter when we asked for our bill. It was odd how frustrated his rudeness made me, but maybe it's because my father always taught me politeness... anyways...

We then got Chelsea and Mandy Cinnabon and I had a fun chat with the woman working the register there about Cadburry's Chocolate, true story. From there we went to Trafalgar Square to visit the National Gallery. Outside the Gallery, while Chelsea ate her cinnabon, Mandy and I watched a street performer do some silly stuff. Not quite the juggling Rachel, kayla and I caught in Paris, but hilarious nonetheless. The gallery itself was impressive. Mandy was really cute. About halfway point she said she had the chills in realizing just then that these were the original copies. That we were looking directly at some of Monet's paintings, that he did, not a replica. The coolest example of this were the few unfinished paintings that went up. I have to admit, it is pretty cool that they were the real deal.

Off to Oxford street we went. (I think). It was suggested that we check out a store with cheap shopping along there by my high school friend Megan Madrigal. Sadly, I did not find it, no biggie though. We did find a cool bookstore that we later returned to on Saturday and Mandy bought books 1 and 7 of the British Harry Potters. We walked to Tottenham Court Road, mentioned in the HP books for a pub they went to. We didn't find the pub but a very nice professor and a student noticed we were looking at our map to find our way home and gave us some lovely directions. I truly love meeting kind people and we met so many in this adventure!

On our way home we passed by the British Museum and noticed parts of it were still open, so of course we went in! The first exhibit we hit was Living and Dying, which showed how cultures throughout the world deal with daily challenges. With my love of worldy cultures, I was in heaven. Anecdote time! So I went into the room by myself, the other two a ways behind me, and I started flashing my camera on the Andean case of devil costumes used at carnavals (made me think of Rachel and her Kechwa studies). Suddenly a guard started to approach me quickly, I thought I was in trouble for using my flash like I'd done in the Louvre once or twice. I started to apologize and he started to reach out as to grab my camera, smiled and shooed me to go stand by the display so he could take my picture by it. Then he told me to follow him to the Easter Island statue he'd seen me gawking at a minute before and took my picture there. He just brightened my evening! I truly loved the display, it was phenomenal, so much culture, history and tradition in one room.

We also caught the Africa display right below that exhibit. Africa was amazing. The pieces that stood out were the Throne of Weapons and the Tree of Life. Both were made from decommissioned weapons after the war in Mozambique. The chair was sort of eerie because it made me think of an electric chair at first. After reading about it, it was sort of beautiful because it made something beautiful and useful out of something that had caused death and suffering previously. The tree of life was particularly amazing because it symbolized hope to me. The decommissioning project bought back weapons in exchange for agricultural goods to help promote growth in the post war country.

Our whirlwind day brought us back to the hostel. I took my first hostel shower, it was hot and I was happy. Going upstairs to ask the front desk a question with Mandy, we wound up watching this crazy British show called Skins. We met a guy who had been listening to Mandy explain to me the plot line of One Tree Hill, thinking we were talking about Skins and thanked us for explaining that tricked out show. After clarifying things, we wound up all sitting together, exchanging travel stories. Curt was studying for a year in Germany. We were joined by another guy and all wound up talking until about 2. Mandy and I had made arrangements to meet up with Curt again, if not for breakfast, which we did, then on Saturday at Platform 9 and 3/4 when we returned from Cambridge. How cool is that, to meet up there? I'm such a HP fan :)

That night, although Mr snores a lot had left, it took me a while to fall asleep. Probably because I was so excited after the day's adventures!

London Adventures, part 1

So, Wednesday I printed off the paper, did some stuff on the computer. Managed to throw my belongings into my backpack right before leaving, forgetting my cell phone in my apartment, but making it to the bus stop in plenty of time. Mandy and I rode the bus out to Shannon Airport (Chelsea met up with us later, she had to take the later bus). At the airport, coming off the coach, we met a girl named Ifa.

She wound up joining us during the wait and flight. She looks much older than her 17 years. Quite an interesting story, quickly summarized: she is young, lived in Ireland by herself for quite some time working and schooling it and now decided to move to England and see where life takes her. She was a sweetheart who introduced me to the Bueno candy and offered each of us a toblerone which made me think lovingly of Kayla. We sadly parted ways at the Stansted aiport when she went to go meet a friend and we went to the train to take us to London.

We changed train to the underground. There we were blessed by the information imparted upon us by a kind worker who informed us that we'd best be sleeping at the airport our last night because we'd miss the transport to the airport otherwise. Thank you kind sir! We made it to our hostel without a hitch and sort of called it a night around midnight or so. It was a cheap hostel with 18 people to our room. It was warm, but felt good to me since I'm always cold. My only complaint was the guy snoring right across from me who I passionately wanted to smother. Don't worry, I do not want to visit prison or the hospital and I was too tired to try and figure out how to do it without getting caught. I eventually fell asleep.

The next morning, we ate our free breakfast of toast and cereal and went off exploring! It was sort of this weird "I'm in London!" realization about every ten minutes or so for me. We went off towards Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards at 11:30. We walked through Picadilly Circus area and saw some amazing sights, China Town, stores galore and globalization at its finest (Cinnabon, Starbucks, McD's... you get the picture). We walked through Green Park to get to the palace. We arrived plenty early to get near the gate. I wound up walking around and sort of lost my front row 'seat.' It was okay though, I got to see the soldiers on horses leave and return and sort of had some nice "this is crowded" conversation with the people who moved in front of me when I'd left. The actual changing of the guards ceremony itself was a little anticlimactic. But that's ok, it was still interesting. It was quite the ceremony, topped off with a concert, that included, no lie, ABBA songs like "Dancing Queen" and "Mama Mia."

Ok, I'm exhausted, I'm stopping here for the night.