Oxford

On the train to Oxford

Bonus blog post! Too much adrenaline to sleep on the train to Paris currently (woke up at 4 a.m.), so I figured I’d share my day at Oxford yesterday with you before I reach France.

Let me tell you, there is nothing worse than having your mocha at London St. Pancras train station accidentally upgraded to a medium and not realizing you’ll have to give it up when you hit security. And I thought U.S. airports were bad. The guy at security obviously doesn’t realize the value of a decent U.K. mocha at 6 a.m.—especially when you buy it in GBP (£).  First my peanut butter, then my coffee. Does travel security know no bounds?!

Regardless, I successfully took the first bus out of Hampstead, the first tube out of Finchley Road and am here on the train armed with just my backpack and Longchamp bag waiting until 7:01 to take off to Paris (cue French accent here). I also seem to be the only one on the train with an empty seat next to them. Score.

Anyways, we started our Thursday nice and early, taking off from Hampstead around 8:30 to catch our train to Oxford, which took about an hour. On the train, we got our first glimpse of out-of-London Britain, which was exciting. Those who know me well—or have just traveled from Minneapolis to Wisconsin or Evanston with me—will also know I was also pretty excited at the prospect of seeing some (seemingly) free-roaming sheep and ponies!

Don’t mock.

Balliol College

The hedge mazes in Balliol

Oxford, as many of you probably know, is a bustling town west of London, most notably home to one of the world’s most prestigious institutions, Oxford University. For reference, think Cambridge, Mass. with even cooler architecture.  Plenty of fashionable college students walking around, tourists snapping pictures, market-type shops, and history everywhere you turn.

Bria, God bless her soul (and her iPad) downloaded some digital walking tours of Oxford the night before, so we forwent the £8-13 guided tours and set off on our own.

Our first stop was Balliol College, the oldest college in Oxford. We paid £1 to get in at the student price, and spent about an hour exploring its grounds. It was stunning. From the gardens to the chapel to the hedge mazes, entering Balliol was like being transported to a much earlier time (or at least to Hogwarts). There were amazing, sprawling courtyards with terribly intricate architecture, blooming bright flowers, and curving walking paths. Definitely worth the price of admission.

 

Book lover's paradise

Next on our tour was Blackwell bookshop—any bibliophile’s dream. The inner room of the store houses more books for sale than anywhere else in the world (or so Bria’s tour told us). With endless rows of books, you wonder if bookstores in Europe are doing as poorly as those in the states. The new book smell was incredible (okay, now you can mock).

Centuries-old globes; behind me is a blackboard by Einstein

After exploring some more of Oxford’s fabulous architecture, we headed to the Museum of the History of Science, an almost hole-in-the-wall museum compared to those we’ve visited in London. Though relatively small and only three floors, we saw some fascinating scientific instruments dating as far back as 200 A.D. Among them were astrological instruments, telescopes, barometers, medical instruments, cameras, and globes. I’m not usually a science-y person, but the museum was pretty cool. It didn’t hurt that the museum was housed in a centuries-old building, complete with spiral wooden staircases and ornate frames. They even had bones on display that were found during the excavation of the basement.

After having lunch in a quaint courtyard behind a sandwich shop, we headed to the Bodleian Library, which, as you can imagine, houses about a billion million trillion books for Oxford. It has a beautiful courtyard and a free exhibit on Dickens, which we perused, complete with first editions of his novels and some of his early letters. Pretty cool.

Bodleian Library

Realizing we had a lot of time left in the day, we decided to stroll along the river and through the gardens of Oxford, which was a great decision for a lovely 65-degree and partly cloudy day. As we walked, we came across a rugby field (how British) with a team of five or six-year-old boys decked out in red and black striped rugby shirts practicing. One of the most remarkable things I’ve seen, they were playing as all kids do—obviously universal—in a field overlooked by a breathtaking gothic towers.

Coming across the rugby field

They played absolutely oblivious to the sprawling scene behind them. What to me was a scene out of a movie, to them was just another day at rugby practice. What an eye-opener to different perspectives on life. I stood in awe at the beautiful scene, and they were simply chasing each other and passing a rugby ball. It makes me wonder if Europeans simply take their beautiful surroundings and history for granted, or it’s just a kid thing. I can definitely say, however, us 20-year-old Americans truly appreciate it.

Oxford castle

When we finished the “Dead Man’s Walk” (why a path surrounded by fields and gardens and castles is called that, I have no idea), we headed over to Oxford castle to scope it out before finding food. All that was left was a couple of towers, but it was pretty awesome nonetheless. With some hours left in Oxford—yay for cheap late off-peak trains—we found a pub with £3.99 fish and chips and £1.99 pints, and, for lack of a better word, chilled.

 

It was a late night by the time we got back to Hampstead, especially considering I hadn’t begun to pack for Paris yet, but definitely worth it. Doing all of this travel without having to worry about class has been great. It’s going to be weird when my three-week vacation comes to an end Monday as I begin classes.

Though I was sad to leave my friends at Hampstead for the weekend (especially Bria who I’ve lived with since the first day at the Thistle Bloomsbury hotel), I can’t wait to explore a new country and see some friends from home. Molly and I have planned for months to travel Europe together and now those plans are finally coming to fruition.

Even sitting on this train, I’m now passing rolling hills, quaint riverside towns, and green sheep-filled pastures—all as the sun is rising over the European landscape Kiera-Knightly-in-Pride-&-Prejudice style.

 Is this real life? I’ve had to keep asking myself that lately.

 

 

Magic

Best day of my life. Am I being superfluous? Perhaps, perhaps not.

Harry Potter. For my generation, it was more than a book about a boy with a wand and a scar. Harry represented the triumph of good over evil, a renaissance of reading in the era of video games, and the pressing need for a little more magic in our lives. Harry Potter, for me and millions of others my age, has thrilled and inspired us for the last fifteen years.  

As many of you know, my obsession with the boy wizard has known very few bounds. My book collection lies in my room detached from its spines, the DVDs are scratched from wear,  I've competed in hardcore trivia nights with Maggie and Lisa, and even had my own Harry Potter fansite when I was ten (no shame; I accrued some ten thousand visitors, thank you very much).  When Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows hit theaters it was the end an era—no more premieres or shirt decorating, no more a scowering the Internet and mugglecast for book predictions; a certain joy in my life was gone forever.

Visiting the Warner Brother's Harry Potter studio tour was a return to that era; a return I've been waiting years to make. 

Do you think it's going to be like real wizard chess, Ron?

Our day began somewhat hectically; the journey involved a bus to the tube to a train to a shuttle bus. And, as always when traveling on a tight schedule, things began to go wrong. Our metropolitan line tube stopped after the Baker Street stop for nearly ten minutes and then inched its way to London Euston. From there, the normal pedestrian pathway was closed which led us to book it to the train station (and me getting hit—yes hit, in the arm—by an angry old woman). Upon arriving, the credit card machines to buy tickets were broken and we almost got on the slow train to Watford Junction which would have meant we would have definitely missed our shuttle. Luckily, we made it on the right train with minutes to spare and easily caught our shuttle. The magic was saved.

Badgers, lions, ravens, and snakes line the Great Hall.

As we approached Leavesden, we were greeted with giant chess pieces from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (can you believe I was only nine when that movie came out?!) and the sheer excitement kicked in. Upon entering the lobby, we were greeted with pictures of the cast looking down at us and Hedwig's theme seemingly coming from nowhere. It was one of those Harry-just-got-his-wand-at-Ollivanders-and-everything-is-mindblowingly-beautiful-with-light-while-choirs-sing-in-the-background kind of moments. Waiting in line we even got to see the set of Harry's cupboard under the stairs. Surreal.

FLYING OVER HOGWARTS

From there, we were ushered into a room with international movie posters and then a theater with a short introduction video. As the video centered on the doors to Hogwart's the screen lofted and alas! We entered the doors Hogwarts ourselves. The Great Hall awaited us behind the doors—unbelievable. Lining the walls were costumes from characters of each house—all real, nothing on the tour was a replica or duplicate. 

From there, we entered a huge soundstage area and encountered sets from each of the potter movies; everything from the Gryffindor's boys dormitory to Dumbledore's office to the Potion Classroom. It was the most  incredible feeling to be on the actual sets that were used for a decade to shoot the Potter films. We also saw many of the special effects used to shoot the films and even got to ride a broom through a virtual London and got our pictures taken! Can you say dream come true?!

Hangin' out on the Knight Bus.

After passing through the Ministry of Magic set and Umbridge's office, we stopped halfway trough the tour for some well deserved butter beer (it tasted like daisies and unicorns and rainbows and everything delicious by the way). Outside, we saw and took pictures with the Knight Bus, the flying Ford Anglia, Tom Riddle's grave, #4 Privet Drive, the Potters' Cottage, and Hogwarts bridge. Unbelievable. How many times can I say that in one blog post?! Let me count the ways...

Diagon Alley!

After our jaunt outside, we headed inside to the Creature shop, observing the making of Prisoner of Azkaban's werewolf Lupin, the Gringott's goblins,the merpeople from Goblet of Fire, and everything from grindylows to Kreacher and Dobby. We headed from there into a room with dozens of paper models of sets from the Lovegood's house to Knockturn Alley. We also got to walk down the REAL Diagon Alley which was pretty surreal—one of the only sets fully intact, so you could actually walk down the alley and observe all the shops with painstaking detail. Even the Firebolt in the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies moved.

For an idea of the size of this thing, look at the people at the right.

Turning the corner outside of Diagon Alley was a room-sized model of Hogwarts with every tower, step, and spire. Bria even hid behind the corner turning into the room to see my reaction. If I learned one thing at the studio tour, it was a huge appreciation of the crazy amount of detail that went into the making of these eight movies. Did you know in Ollivander's wand shop alone, there were 17,000 hand-designed wand boxes? Or that the potions class room included thousands of potion ingredients? Or that there were only 22 costume designers for dozens of Goblins, and hundreds of extras? The fact that these films won no academy awards is pretty shocking. Everyone who worked on these sets obviously put their hearts into this monumental project for over a decade.

That'll do, Hedwig. That'll do.

As the tour wound down, we entered the gift shop (amazing stuff, but even a single chocolate frog was £8—ridiculous). I couldn't resist buying myself a stuffed Hedwig, though. She was adorable, her head moves around 360 degrees, and she makes real life owl sounds. Life complete.

Oh, also, the girls we were with saw Stanly Tucci (from the the Devil Wears Prada and other less girly movies) in the gift shop. Super random. But cool?

                                 

           

Fizzing whisbee, anyone?

Right now I'm rolling along the English countryside on a train to Oxford (in fact the snack trolley just passed by—can you say Hogwarts express?). All the while listening to the very American Friday Night Lights soundtrack—the best. I'm all about merging cultures. Tomorrow I head to Paris. This week has just been insane. So many adventures. 

That's all for now, I probably won't have time to blog tonight. So look forward to some really exciting blog posts next week about our day trip in Oxford and my weekend in Paris! Until then, I'll leave you this lovely video (because this blog is clearly for revealing my embarrassing childhood obsessions and notions of everything European):

Surrealism

Devika and I on our first pub crawl!

I write to you from a serene, rainy Sunday afternoon. For the first time in a week and half of arriving, it seems like we are finally getting some proper English weather.

The last few days have been a bit more low-key (if you can even call it that) as we continue to settle into life at Hampstead and enjoy freshers week with no classes. People taking non-Arts-and-Humanities classes start lectures tomorrow, but I've got nothing until October 1. Most of my friends only have one or two classes that start this week though, and we're in the process of planning a couple of day trips for the middle of the week.

So what have I been up to?

Bria and I at an Underground party (everyone dresses as a Tube station)

Wednesday night I joined the British girls on my floor (who I adore to death—they're all so sweet, beautiful, and hilarious!) and went out to a club called Cable to a neon-glow-rave-type-thing. It was kind of strange going to a club, seeing as my perception of clubs mostly comes from Usher and Flo Rida songs, but it was definitely so much more fun than the typical fraternity parties at home. Add that to the list of things that are way more fun in Europe than at home. What more could you want than American pop music and glow sticks?

Getting home was a huge struggle as we tried to navigate London's night bus system while it was about 40 degrees out, but while were waiting for the bus we consumed not one, not two, but FIVE large orders of fries (chips) from this random hole-in-the-wall burger stand with barbecue sauce and ketchup. Good to know my girlfriends here are just like the ones at home—except here we stuff our faces with London Bridge in the background.

Americans at the boat party

Thursday night, our floor dressed up and headed to the Hampstead boat party on the Thames. Floating down the river seeing London's most quintessential sights from a yacht was one of the most surreal experiences I've had here so far. I've had these a lot lately—having to wonder if certain experiences are actually happening. It sounds lame but this trip has been unbelievable so far—I'm having the time of my life.

After spending hours dancing and chatting, Bria, Devika, and I ran, in heels no less, to catch the last tube home (can you believe they stop running at 12?!—even the purple line on the El goes til 1). We got home in record time, and, in true American fashion, whipped up some grilled cheese after midnight. Apparently here they make grilled cheese in the oven? We got some weird looks from the rest of the floor.

I've also gotten a chance to explore a few museums this week. On Wednesday, we went to the Imperial War Museum, which was an amazing place. Besides large war gear just chilling in the entry hall (think tanks, guns, torpedos, mines), they had a great exhibit on secret warfare. After taking 20th Century British Spy Fiction last year, it was awesome learning about the real MI5, MI6, and secret services described in Fleming and La Carre. I learned about their roles in both World Wars and various undercover operations. SO COOL.

There was also an extremely profound Holocaust exhibit that I spent a good deal of time walking through. There was the complete history of the event, survivor testimonies, and a chilling display case of shoes left from victims of Auschwitz. As my grandfather was one of the lawyers at the Nuremberg trials, it was pretty incredible to be able to experience such a moving exhibit.

Hampstead! Yes, where I live (though not this specific building, unfortunately)

Yesterday, I met up with my cousin (or, rather, second cousin?) Diana and her family; so nice to see familiar faces and feel at home. Their house is absolutely beautiful and situated in London's famous Notting Hill area. Even in a city as big as London, they had a shared courtyard with their neighborhood right in their backyard. London is a spectacular paradox in that way; though it's as big as exciting as New York, its also residential, clean, and full of beauty everywhere you turn.

Me and Bash at Portobello market!

After a home made meal of English chicken pie (fantastic), Diana and I headed down to the Portobello market, one of the most famous street markets in London and only a few blocks away from their home. The streets were crowded and stalls sold the most amazing clothes, antiques, produce, and baked goods. It didn't hurt that it was a beautiful day at 65 degrees with sunny clear skies.

The most notable part of the market, though, was probably all of the attention that Diana's labradoodle, Bash, got. We were asked no less than EIGHT times, in the course of an hour, for permission to take pictures of him, mostly from Asian tourists. It was strange.

When we finished up some orange almond cake and good coffee—perhaps the most exciting thing to happen to me thus far, they don't really drink coffee here, and when they do it's pretty horrible—Diana dropped me off at the Victoria and Albert museum.

Victoria & Albert Museum

It's really an incredible place, and I've wanted to explore a museum on my own for a while. It was a great opportunity to do so. Museums here seem so different here, perhaps because they are more spectacular, or maybe because the thousands-of-years-old artifacts actually come from the country you're in, which has so much more history than the U.S. Anyways, I got to see some British fashion from 1700's on, a whole gallery of Raphael (breathtaking), and artifacts from all over the world.

Fashion through the ages at V&A

.....And that's all the excitement around here. This afternoon, we're planning on heading to Camden Town market for a bit and track down a french press to be able to make decent coffee. This morning we made an American breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes, American bacon, and eggs (though the pancake mix, the only small package in the whole grocery store, was pretty horrible—next time we're making our own).

Hopefully this week I'll have some fun day trips to share with all of you. On Friday, I'm leaving for PARIS. Yes, PARIS. I can't wait. Spain was too expensive at this short of notice, so I booked last minute train tickets to France. I'm leaving Friday morning and will be back Monday in time for my first class. How crazy is it that that is possible? An impromptu trip to Paris that will only take a couple of hours in each direction?



I'll be meeting up with Molly (from Seville) and staying with Maddie, another KD who was incredibly nice to let us stay with her and her host mom this weekend. More updates to come—but for now, au revoir!

Whirlwind

Hello everyone!

Sorry for the long delay for this post, but life has been absolutely crazy and nonstop. We lived out our final two days at the hotel (being back in the world of Wi-Fi is a beautiful thing). While we were there, we did all the tourist-y things: Westminster, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Big Ben, Parliament, Trafalgar Square, Victoria, Kensington Gardens, Harrod's.





Every day this city gets more incredible. Every street is lined with more history than you can imagine—definitely not something you can find back in the States. Every neighborhood is so vastly different from the next, its quite a daunting task to even begin to explore it all. Devika and I have also made not one, but two trips to Primark, an incredibly fashionable discount store (think Forever 21 on steroids). The place is constantly packed with crowds and has the best tops for £7, jeans from £11, and jackets from £19. Not too shabby, even with the exchange rate. Before, we were wondering how everyone in this city could afford to be so fashionable, and now we know the answer. That place is going to be hard to resist for the next three months.

Why don't people do this in America?!

It was also great fun exploring the different cuisines around the city, including fish & chips (!) and some positively amazing Thai food. Most days for lunch we would buy £2 sandwiches, which you can find in shops all over the city (a beautiful invention) and join the dozens of others eating picnic style in Bloomsbury Gardens. I must say though, it's pretty nice not having to spend about $25+ a day on food now that I'm living in my accommodations.

On Saturday, we made the move up to Hampstead, the area of North London which most of my friends from Arcadia & I were placed in. It's an absolutely beautiful, high-end residential area of the city that is nothing but pure joy to walk through every day. My room is less than ideal (somehow Bria and I got stuck in Ellison tiny singles while the rest of our friends got sprawling rooms 4 times the size of ours with breathtaking views), but it will be perfectly fine for three months. For those at NU, I'm living in the equivalent of Bobb (social life and all), while everyone else is in Kemper—with crazy views of the city. Our floor, though, makes it completely worth it. Only four days here, and I've already made some incredible British friends that enjoy making fun of my accent and hearing about sorority life—what more could you ask for?

To all those wondering, I am, in fact, eating. Bria and I even made burritos today! Eggs and risotto are next on the list (thanks for the recipes, Jon and Jackie). I must say, though, grocery shopping over here is quite the adventure. Finding broth for risotto, for example, was quite the struggle. Apparently in the UK, it comes in little cubes called "stock" you soak in water. Needless to say, the poor man working at the grocery store had no idea what I was describing as I tried to ask where broth was. Sour cream and cheddar cheese were also difficulties, but everything here seems to be an adventure. It's all about letting go and embracing that.

At the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens

On the academic front, the registration for King's has been an impossible process compared to the U.S. I never thought I would miss NU's online registration process, but the U.K. is pretty ridiculous. You have to individually look up each class and check for schedule conflicts, and if you have any course problems, get in a long line, fill out forms, and talk to multiple people to get it done. Luckily, my ordeal was easier than others and got successfully placed in Elizabethan Shakespeare, Jane Austen in Context, Post Christianity in 20th Century Britain, and the History of Early Modern Britain. I couldn't take an economics class because of schedule conflicts, but I think this will be an exciting schedule for my time abroad!

Around orientation events, we've been spending time getting to know our fellow King's students through pub crawls, socials, and just hanging out around the dorm and in the kitchen. I must say, it's really strange to be a "fresher" again, though I have met a fair number of people closer to my own age. I'm also constantly blown away by the people I've met who have such different life experiences; so far I have met people from the U.K., Australia, Russia, Ireland, Bulgaria, Germany, Poland, Estonia, Italy, France, and all around the U.S. Being in the dorms is such a pivotal part of the study abroad experience—if anyone reading this is still considering programs, I would definitely suggest finding one where you can specifically live among foreign students. Seriously, it's just incredible. I can already tell I won't want to leave as soon as December.

The National Gallery

Today, we didn't have any orientation events so we went to Baker Street (including the Sherlock Holmes museum) and the National Gallery. There's just so much to do here its overwhelming. My classes don't start until October 1st (?!) so right now I'm making plans to go to Spain next week to visit one of my best friends Molly in Seville. More to come later!

London

Greetings from LONDON!

Let's just say the last couple of days have been pretty intense. After someone having a medical situation on the plane (meaning all lights fully on starting two hours into the flight with constant announcements asking for doctors), yesterday I went 48 hours or so on about 1.5 hours of sleep. Besides that, the flight was easy. I even met someone from Arcadia sitting behind me, Sarah, and after we landed, headed to customs for an hour and a half to be admitted to the UK.

Then the fun began.

FINALLY ON THE BUS.

 Arcadia (the school who's program we are all on) assured us when we met up the next bus would be there in 20 minutes—this was around 9:30 a.m. Little did we know, we wouldn't board a bus to our hotel until ONE PM. No one told us what was going on or where the buses were. All I know is that four hours was quite the opportunity for college-students-delusional-from-jetlag bonding time.







When we finally got on our bus, we were lead on a mini-tour of London by our bus driver Tony, who gave us a rolling commentary from a local's perspective, on our way into the center of the city. Needless to say, he was by far the favorite adult we had met thus far—sorry Arcadia.

From there, Erin and I dropped our bags, met our roommates at the Thistle Kingsley hotel—literally right in central London, the middle of everything—and headed out. We successfully bought phones (they only had mine available in pink, be jealous) from Jono at Orange Mobile, who also suggested I put a butterfly sticker on the back of my phone, and went straight to a pub. After the day we'd had, we thought this was a necessary step. So we explored central London and found the White Hart, self-proclaimed as the oldest licensed establishment in the city. The inside looks just like a pub you could have walked in to in the nineteenth century, minus the huge flat screen TV adorned in a vintage gold frame.WHY IS AMERICA SO UNCOOL.







After beers and quesadillas, we went to Arcadia's London Centre for a short orientation meeting and what were we met with? Our "group meal" consisted of a few crackers with brie and shavings of ham. Arcadia. Is. Horrible.

After orientation, some girls and I decided to hit the Tube and make our way to the Thames, Big Ben, and the London Eye, which was remarkable. Seeing London at night was an absolutely unforgettable experience for my first night here. Still feels surreal that I am in this amazing city. Everywhere you turn, there's an incredible amount of culture, history, and fashion. None of us can believe we're lucky enough to spend another three months here.







More to come later! No Wi-Fi at the hotel (staking out at Starbucks currently), so communication of all kinds is seriously struggling. Hopefully things will get better when I move into my living arrangements Saturday.

Cheers!