The weekend before last my study abroad group and I traveled north to the "Lake District". The Lake District is so far north that it's actually incredibly close to Scotland (maybe about an hour). From London this is about an 8 hour bus ride through the English countryside...which is UNBELIEVABLY gorgeous! I thought that living in the East Coast would expose me to the nicest scenery...yet I was wrong! The British really know how to keep their natural areas scenic, clean...and STUNNING. The countryside is full of wide open trimmed grasslands (Think the Sound of Music) with breathtaking hills and beautiful trees. To top that off, the area is full of farm animals; there are cows, horses, pigs and MANY sheep. Now I think I know where the concept of counting sheep to go to bed comes from...
While in the Lake District I participated in Adventure Weekend where I did some really cool activities. On Saturday morning I went horseback riding throughout the beautiful English hills! In the afternoon...I went abseiling. "Abseiling" involves suspending yourself backwards over a large cliff and then repelling downwards until you can climb to the ground. It was SUCH a rush, but really fun!
On Sunday the group and I ventured into the neighboring town and sat in a small cafe. In this cafe I had a cup of hot chocolate and the most amazing Scottish scone ever! It seriously looked like on of those biscuit commercials you see on the T.V! I think I was really excited about the English experience of sitting in a cafe!!!
LAST weekend I headed off to one of the most famous landmarks...STONEHENGE! In case you didn't know, Stonehenge is a prehistoric landmark created before 2000 B.C!!! It was truly incredible to actually see a famous location that I've read about in history books throughout elementary school! Later I visited Lacock with it's beautiful Abbey.
In other news...last Wednesday I started my radio show on Insanity! In the show I play my favorite American Pop tunes while speaking about current pop news!!! It was SO much fun; I got to control all the equipment, speak with the many listeners and really learn how to create my own flow on the radio! I now have an official time for my radio show:
INSANITY RADIO SHOW-
TIME: Wednesday's from 11:00-1:00pm; TO LISTEN: Go to-http://www.insanityradio.com/ and press listen! If you have ANY requests or want a shout out, text: 011-44-07807-340-535
(Yes, that's a long number!)
This week I'll be in a fashion show for the ACS (Afro-Caribbean Society) where I will be wearing traditional and then modern African outfits, should be pretty cool! I then have a radio show on Wednesday and for the weekend I shall hang out in London!
Other than fun social activities...classes are great!!! They are really interesting, especially my Hitchcock and Point of View class. I've learned so much about film and I've discovered that the mechanisms of creating a film has ALOT to do with psychology; quite a coincidence :-)
Until next time,
Ari <3
So this weekend I think I visited one of the most STUNNING places on Earth! On Saturday my friends and I journeyed to Bath, England (About a 2 hour train ride from my Uni) and arrived in Paradise. The city of Bath is located in the English countryside, so it's surrounded by plush greenery, breathtaking hills and beautiful trees. It has the subtle glory of the countryside complete with steep hills that remind me of San Francisco. Now...we all know that the countryside is gorgeous, yet what makes Bath ESPECIALLY incredible is it's city. It has beautiful European architecture, yet it is incredibly clean with some of the coolest shops you can imagine. (With the addition of some of your high-end stores.) I think what makes it the most intriguing is that it has a great combination of old and new.
Now for the history...Bath, England is known of for it's ancient Roman Bath's and incredible Roman architecture. Someone told me that for centuries the Romans visited Bath's bubbling springs, which spew thousands of GALLONS of boiling hot water everyday! Pretty cool I think :-) Once I visited the Bath museum I was in shock. The Roman architecture still stands strong with several large, Roman Baths filled with turquoise blue waters. Inside of the museum I saw several artifacts used by the Romans that were especially intriguing.
While exploring Bath, I also visited the Bath Abbey church...which again was GORGEOUS. I have no idea how a town can have such an abundance of incredible sights. The architecture in the church stood high, graced with detailed pillars and gracious sunlight...I was once again speechless. After seeing the sights in Bath Abbey, we visited the Fashion Museum that host's some of the most remarkable fashions from every era. It was so cool to see the variance of styles; and possibly how styles emerge from another decade.
After we saw the museums, my friends and I decided to break into groups and explore all parts of the city. AGAIN, I couldn't take my eyes off it. The picturesque streets, beautiful parks, and amazing shops we're enough to get my mind buzzing for hours. In the middle of the day I stopped and had some tea. (Pretty British of me). The small cafe was called "Tea Emporium" where I had a sip of "Hawaiian Cocktail" tea...well it was so good that I had to buy a bag to share with people in the states!
Bath is probably one of the most amazing areas I've seen so far...truly a gem of a city. If there was a place similar to there in the states I'm sure it would be publicized all over!
Throughout the rest of the weekend I went to London (twice) and did some sightseeing! In one day I saw Buckingham Palace, House of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, and Greenwich...which really only took a couple hours :-) That's the thing about London, it's SO incredibly historical and interesting AND it is easy to get around. On Sunday I went to one of the markets in London to do some shopping, and the selections we're great! I'd have to say that the London markets are similar to Canal Street in NY...except there are ORIGINAL artwork and products that are unique. I'd say that some of the items you find are pretty rare...which is so cool.
At Uni school has been great. I would say that now I have the flow of classes down and they are so far so good! All of my classes are interesting in different ways, I come to lectures excited and ready for what I'll learn next. In my free time I've been hanging out with Brits and joining some cool societies. I recently joined Insanity Radio (student radio) society and applied to be a presenter (meaning that I'll have my own show). I was accepted to the station and now I have a show on Wednesday's about "American Pop". I'm still deciding on catch title for my show, yet I'm excited! The show should be for two hours on Wednesday afternoon and everyone in the states can listen to it through the radio. I will be sure to post a link to the website with exact dates and times as soon as possible :-)
This weekend I'm journeying off to North England to go on an Adventure trip with my program IFSA-Butler. There I will be exploring the area and the outdoors while doing some cool activities! I'm excited to see more of England; it's great to see all parts of this incredible country!
Until next time,
Ari <3
So now I can say that I have officially settled into my flat at Royal Holloway. Above you can see a picture of the ENORMOUS castle that graces the campus, it's GORGEOUS! For the past week, I've gotten into the student life here on campus. Not only do I love meeting new people, but I was also kind of curious to see if British students are any different from Americans. Well, after visiting various pubs, parties, clubs and dining halls; I've seen that British college students and Americans have a lot more in common than one would think! Learning that was pretty reassuring...letting me know that we're all kind of connected in some way.
One of the only HUGE differences I've seen is the vocabulary and presentation of food. When I talk to some of my friends at Uni (slang for University) I find my self repetitively asking...wait what was that? What does that mean? It's as if I need a small translator book sometimes! So far I've learned several slang words. Some of which are: biscuit=cookie, 20 quids=20 pounds (the world "quid" is equivalent to buck), if someone is standing in a "queue" they are standing in a line, "chips" are fries (which they eat A LOT of) and "crisps" are chips. When you board a train you may find a notice that says "mind the gap," which means watch out for the gap. There are various other funny phrases which haven't come to mind, but I'll use them for future posts :-)
In terms of foods...they pretty much have everything that Americans have, but less variety. They eat a lot of patatoes and such, but living here there has been a variety of meals that are pretty similar to the U.S. I think the big difference is the supermarket! America has it good, but it's nothing to be discouraged about. I would say that Bristish food isn't terrible, (as it is rumored to be) it's just not as creative and well-seasoned. Also, London is pretty diverse as it is so if I want I could get the best Italian or Indian (even though it's not my favorite) food around!
In other news...the other day I went to the neighboring town, Staines, (which is another adorable village) where there was an outdoor market. For some reason Brits love having Markets on Wednesday, which is pretty awesome...it's as if you NEVER stop shopping, which could be a problem in the future. I saw the movie "Fame" with some friends from school in the cinemas. The movie...well if you don't like the same highschool musicalplot I suggest that tyou DON'T SEE IT, but the experience was great!
As for classes...the reason I'm studying abroad. My schedule for classes isn't TOO strenious so it's nice to have the extra time to wind down properly. As of now I only have classes on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Monday I take the class: Hitchcock and A Point of View, a film class that so far is really interesting. (It's pretty cool to learn about Hitchcock in London!) Tuesday's I take my Developmental Psychology class followed by Psychoanalysis and Film. On Thursday I finish off with a beautiful two hour Sensation and Perception class (a requirement for psychology). So far the work consists of reading really interesting documents and texts, which is pretty cool. At home I'm pounded with papers every week, but here I feel like more of an adult as I read and then discuss topics with my proffessors.
On the weekends I like to get into London but during the week I frequent the events on campus. It's good to know that I have a nice place to come back to, get my studies on, meet interesting people & party during the week while I can go into London for weekends. Best of both worlds! Tomorrow night there's this huge Black Tie party on campus that I apparently "NEED" to attend. It's always fun to dress up and dance! Next week there are various parties on campus as well :-) This Sunday I'm popping into London for some sightseeing to visit the British Museum, take a boat trip along the Thames to Greenwich and then a visit to the Royal Observatory (Home of Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian line).
I have been here for about 3 weeks now, and so far I feel like I've been here for about...two days. Everything goes by so fast! Lately I've been planning trips across Europe to Barcelona, Paris and possibly Switzerland, Italy and Amsterdam. When I look at my calender to plan, I find that I'm not really here for too long. Since I'm in study abroad program, all of October I'm visiting various sites of London. For most of November I'll be traveling around Europe and popping into London with some locals to see the Christmas displays, which are apparently incredible! After November, I'm in London for 2 more weeks and then off to Jersey! It's amazing how time can fly, but for now I'll just live in the moment!
Until next time,
Ari <3
