i am writing from montblanc, in spain, in the montains! i am working on a farm this week through an organization called WWOOF, world wide organic farming... something like that! it is so relaxing being here, for the next week i will be living on the top of a mountain, helping run a guest house and taking care of animals and helping out in the garden. also i will only be speaking spanish! this is really fun, but i realize there are so many more things i want to say that i dont know how to say. i can get by pretty well so far though and i am learning more words everyday. it took me a while to remember how to speak spanish, but i think i am getting in a good groove. i wish i could post pictures! it is sooo beautiful here, there are just rolling hills and mountains of green and the air is fresh and its so beautiful and life is so simple. its all about food and people and maintaining the land. everything is run on solar power, i think, and we only use the amount of water we absolutely need. water here is sort of scarce, its a strange mix because it sort of feels tropical but at the same time it is a desert... i dont really get it yet how it all works!
barcelona was incredible. i met amazing people through couchsurfing, not to stay with them but just to hang out during the days. Andres from chile showed us around the city by bike, Rosita from sicily hung out and we spoke in spanish about sicily and barcelona and she took us to a cool place for dinner and we all had a lot of laughs all trying to speak spanish! We also hung out with kathryn´s sister rachel who is studying abroad in barcelona and she was so much fun! really sweet person. barcelona is a beautiful mix of the beach, gaudi´s architecture, interesting people, good food, and a ton of stuff to do, all night long! people go out til like 5am, we couldnt handle staying out that late but we did have some good times! it was a great experience and i am excited to wind down now and sink into the simple lifestyle of working on this farm! i am the only volunteer right now, so i bought a book which i currently forget the name of, and i have been journaling a lot, and there seem to be a million places to go on walks to explore. right now though i am so tired from barcelona that i have been napping in the hammock and not doing a whole lot!
this experience since my semester ended has been so special, everything seems to be culminating to the next thing... like there are so many things about these travels that only can happen because of something in my past that has led me here. it feels like destiny. it is really amazing, i have to go now! adios,
jodi
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
amazing.
the journey has begun. my semester ended, i got really sick the last few days, just made it to the kew gardens and then it was all packing and trying to rest after that! the kew gardens are beautiful though, amazing collections of all kinds of trees and flowers and cacti and other plants.
i dont have time for everything really... but i had an amazing time connecting with my relatives in glenluce scotland! where they live is beautiful and they were all soo kind to me for having not known i existed and all. i stayed on the street where my great, great (yes count em) grandfathers sister lived. she married a man who owned a grocery store, they had a daughter named Mattie. Mattie is my great grandfathers cousin. She is now 92 years old, and she lives on the same street where the grocery store was where my grandfather went to visit maybe 50 or 60 years ago! It was magical driving around scotland, i saw a castle and robert burns' cottage, and most importantly i was in the company of some really really sweet distant relatives who took such good care of me. it was mattie and her son and daughter George and Veda. I even saw my great great grandfathers sisters grave! i know its sort of ridiculously distant... but it was a great trip.
after scotland i stayed in keswick with another distant cousin named Nan and her husband Sam. they live in the lakes district. the view out of my window was of a mountain and a field of sheep below it. i also had a keyboard in my room with headphones so i could play music! we went to see wordsworths cottage in grasmere and i mainly just drank tea a lot and ate good food and read my book and relaxed! i did a hike on the last day and it was beautiful,cant wait to share pictures. i will have to have a picture party at this point when i get back because uploading will take forever.
after that i flew to Florence to stay with Rachael and it was sooo amazing!!! My first night there rach and i went to an open mic at Be Bop and played a bunch of songs together!! The next night we were giving out food to the homeless with ppl rach volunteers with and they took us out for a huge dinner and i practiced what little italian i knew with everyone and ate more than any human should! but it was sooo delicious. wednesday i went to see the david and the boboli gardens and we all went out later that night to go dancing. thursday i met up with Emily and Jamie from LC and got a tour of san lorenzo from rachaels friend carolina. then i climbed the duomo and ate the freshest mozzerella ever! the man was making it at a market and i almost died when i ate it, we got a huge ball of it and went to the park. i love italy.
i am in bologna now staying here for a night before i go fly to barcelona to meet up with spencer and chris (they rock they were on my london program)! today i ate the best pizza ever, they rolled the dough before my eyes and put it in the oven and put it right on my plate fresh out of the oven. it was incredible. then i ate the best gelato ever... and almost died again. instead i came back here to update you all. i miss everyone and i am looking forward to the rest of my travels. wish me luck! lots of love to all of you,
Jodi
i dont have time for everything really... but i had an amazing time connecting with my relatives in glenluce scotland! where they live is beautiful and they were all soo kind to me for having not known i existed and all. i stayed on the street where my great, great (yes count em) grandfathers sister lived. she married a man who owned a grocery store, they had a daughter named Mattie. Mattie is my great grandfathers cousin. She is now 92 years old, and she lives on the same street where the grocery store was where my grandfather went to visit maybe 50 or 60 years ago! It was magical driving around scotland, i saw a castle and robert burns' cottage, and most importantly i was in the company of some really really sweet distant relatives who took such good care of me. it was mattie and her son and daughter George and Veda. I even saw my great great grandfathers sisters grave! i know its sort of ridiculously distant... but it was a great trip.
after scotland i stayed in keswick with another distant cousin named Nan and her husband Sam. they live in the lakes district. the view out of my window was of a mountain and a field of sheep below it. i also had a keyboard in my room with headphones so i could play music! we went to see wordsworths cottage in grasmere and i mainly just drank tea a lot and ate good food and read my book and relaxed! i did a hike on the last day and it was beautiful,cant wait to share pictures. i will have to have a picture party at this point when i get back because uploading will take forever.
after that i flew to Florence to stay with Rachael and it was sooo amazing!!! My first night there rach and i went to an open mic at Be Bop and played a bunch of songs together!! The next night we were giving out food to the homeless with ppl rach volunteers with and they took us out for a huge dinner and i practiced what little italian i knew with everyone and ate more than any human should! but it was sooo delicious. wednesday i went to see the david and the boboli gardens and we all went out later that night to go dancing. thursday i met up with Emily and Jamie from LC and got a tour of san lorenzo from rachaels friend carolina. then i climbed the duomo and ate the freshest mozzerella ever! the man was making it at a market and i almost died when i ate it, we got a huge ball of it and went to the park. i love italy.
i am in bologna now staying here for a night before i go fly to barcelona to meet up with spencer and chris (they rock they were on my london program)! today i ate the best pizza ever, they rolled the dough before my eyes and put it in the oven and put it right on my plate fresh out of the oven. it was incredible. then i ate the best gelato ever... and almost died again. instead i came back here to update you all. i miss everyone and i am looking forward to the rest of my travels. wish me luck! lots of love to all of you,
Jodi
Monday, April 7, 2008
Whirlwind Week
The end is in sight and there's no slowing down! Last week I had lots of work due (for London studying standards) and this week we have finals! So on days where I didn't do as much, presumably I was working on papers and studying ;)
After my spontaneous trip to Wales where I got to sit on the beach and play guitar, and work on the train ride back, I worked on my paper for Matthew's class about feminism in musicology and practice. It was really interesting but I probably didn't give myself enough time to decently discuss everything in this 8 page research paper.
Wednesday night I ventured to the national theatre with Dylan and our LC visitor from the Munich program, Cathrine (spelling?) who is a lot of fun and we all went to see "The Hour We Knew Nothing of Eachother," which is an hour and 45 minutes long, with absolutely no dialogue, but plenty of interactions and so much content. It takes place on a city street as characters walk by and the whole thing was constantly interesting and really hilarious. So glad I got to see it.
Thursday we had 6 hours of theatre class, all presentations, including mine on Community Theatre which is this cool idea/practice founded by Ann Jellicoe where you get a community together who has never acted or necessarily been involved in theatre and put on a huge production involving hundreds of people in the community, with the help of a handful of professionals (the playwright, and some who teach acting skills, stagemanaging). It was interesting but really exhausting to sit there for 6 HOURS!
After class we raced to the Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn, which normally might take 45 minutes to get to but the Jubilee Line was closed--I read in the paper the next day there was a power failure and people were stuck on some trains for 3 hours! luckily i didn't leave sooner. I got separated from the group and asked a number of strangers who pointed me in the right direction so I made it just in time for the 15 minute late entrance into this awesome play about immigration into the UK and how challenging it is for people to go through this process with all the many cultural differences. It was SO good. Not to mention before we left, I made a dish inspired by Rachael-- pasta with meat sauce and garlic and deliciousness with red wine and dark chocolate with hazelnuts to follow (I had to indulge after 6 hours of class!).
Friday was beautiful outside! Tessa and I woke up early and I wore my sandals for the first time ever in London. It was also warm on thursday but i didn't get to go outside much. But yes we woke up early and made it 5th in line to buy front row tickets to see Hairspray the musical! We waited for almost 2 hours, and I wrote some letters to my long lost relatives in Scotland while we waited, and we got the tickets! then we bought picnic supplies and back to the flat to pick up my guitar, a few others, and some study materials and went to hyde park to the princess diana memorial with a sheet and laid in the sun and dipped our feet in the fountain and I took a nap and then played frisbee and guitar! It was SO NICE and WARM.
Saturday we took a trip to York, I had another picnic in the museum gardens there among some ruins near the river, and tasted some local brews at a pub, and then went to the open galleries all around town, one of which was in a guys house on Portland street, which was so fitting because it reminds me of first thursdays in portland where they open up all the galleries all over town late at night (except this was during the day). the art was really cool and interesting. i prefer small doses to the intense huge museums i've been going to everywhere! i ended the day going to evensong at the minster, which was a huge huge church, with a crazy painted organ, and a funny choir complete with a 9 year old girl picking her nose :).
Sunday... you won't believe this, but I woke up to HUGE snowflakes falling. In the morning I made a snowman, and went to see the olympic torch go by notting hill gate, and then ate delicious pizza at this italian pizza place in the area. THEN went back to make HOT COCOA to warm up... then we went to see more of the olympic torch, which was wild because the free tibet protests got soo intense they made the torch runner have to turn around and change his course. it was so chaotic with the protestors chanting, people cheering on the runner, police sirens going off, and churchbells of st pauls ringing in the distance, it was really overwhelming and incredible. after THIS dylan and i headed to the globe theatre to see an amazing mix of 5 minute scenes from shakespeare plays-- sooo good! we stood in the pit and it snowed again towards the end, it was absolutely freezing, but so amazing to see a performance in this space. and there's MORE, right after this performance we raced back to royal albert hall for a performance of british classical music. that building is soo beautiful, it was nice to be in big warm comfortable chairs after a day spent out in the cold. by the night the snow had melted, and now its sunny again but still cold.
talk about a weather shift! Today I've been getting some work done, and tonight we have a class performance where I'm going to sing a cappella with the group and maybe play a song on guitar. This is sort of the condensed version, can't wait to show pictures of the snow in hyde park! it was magical, and especially CRAZY considering i had been in sandals and a t-shirt two days prior to the snow!
OH one more thing -- My letters reached the relatives in Scotland and one has responded and is allowing me to stay with her for a night, I am soo excited to meet them! It is my grandfathers cousin and her daughter who I'll be visiting in SW Scotland. More on travel plans to come. I love you all, and think of you often,
Jodi
After my spontaneous trip to Wales where I got to sit on the beach and play guitar, and work on the train ride back, I worked on my paper for Matthew's class about feminism in musicology and practice. It was really interesting but I probably didn't give myself enough time to decently discuss everything in this 8 page research paper.
Wednesday night I ventured to the national theatre with Dylan and our LC visitor from the Munich program, Cathrine (spelling?) who is a lot of fun and we all went to see "The Hour We Knew Nothing of Eachother," which is an hour and 45 minutes long, with absolutely no dialogue, but plenty of interactions and so much content. It takes place on a city street as characters walk by and the whole thing was constantly interesting and really hilarious. So glad I got to see it.
Thursday we had 6 hours of theatre class, all presentations, including mine on Community Theatre which is this cool idea/practice founded by Ann Jellicoe where you get a community together who has never acted or necessarily been involved in theatre and put on a huge production involving hundreds of people in the community, with the help of a handful of professionals (the playwright, and some who teach acting skills, stagemanaging). It was interesting but really exhausting to sit there for 6 HOURS!
After class we raced to the Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn, which normally might take 45 minutes to get to but the Jubilee Line was closed--I read in the paper the next day there was a power failure and people were stuck on some trains for 3 hours! luckily i didn't leave sooner. I got separated from the group and asked a number of strangers who pointed me in the right direction so I made it just in time for the 15 minute late entrance into this awesome play about immigration into the UK and how challenging it is for people to go through this process with all the many cultural differences. It was SO good. Not to mention before we left, I made a dish inspired by Rachael-- pasta with meat sauce and garlic and deliciousness with red wine and dark chocolate with hazelnuts to follow (I had to indulge after 6 hours of class!).
Friday was beautiful outside! Tessa and I woke up early and I wore my sandals for the first time ever in London. It was also warm on thursday but i didn't get to go outside much. But yes we woke up early and made it 5th in line to buy front row tickets to see Hairspray the musical! We waited for almost 2 hours, and I wrote some letters to my long lost relatives in Scotland while we waited, and we got the tickets! then we bought picnic supplies and back to the flat to pick up my guitar, a few others, and some study materials and went to hyde park to the princess diana memorial with a sheet and laid in the sun and dipped our feet in the fountain and I took a nap and then played frisbee and guitar! It was SO NICE and WARM.
Saturday we took a trip to York, I had another picnic in the museum gardens there among some ruins near the river, and tasted some local brews at a pub, and then went to the open galleries all around town, one of which was in a guys house on Portland street, which was so fitting because it reminds me of first thursdays in portland where they open up all the galleries all over town late at night (except this was during the day). the art was really cool and interesting. i prefer small doses to the intense huge museums i've been going to everywhere! i ended the day going to evensong at the minster, which was a huge huge church, with a crazy painted organ, and a funny choir complete with a 9 year old girl picking her nose :).
Sunday... you won't believe this, but I woke up to HUGE snowflakes falling. In the morning I made a snowman, and went to see the olympic torch go by notting hill gate, and then ate delicious pizza at this italian pizza place in the area. THEN went back to make HOT COCOA to warm up... then we went to see more of the olympic torch, which was wild because the free tibet protests got soo intense they made the torch runner have to turn around and change his course. it was so chaotic with the protestors chanting, people cheering on the runner, police sirens going off, and churchbells of st pauls ringing in the distance, it was really overwhelming and incredible. after THIS dylan and i headed to the globe theatre to see an amazing mix of 5 minute scenes from shakespeare plays-- sooo good! we stood in the pit and it snowed again towards the end, it was absolutely freezing, but so amazing to see a performance in this space. and there's MORE, right after this performance we raced back to royal albert hall for a performance of british classical music. that building is soo beautiful, it was nice to be in big warm comfortable chairs after a day spent out in the cold. by the night the snow had melted, and now its sunny again but still cold.
talk about a weather shift! Today I've been getting some work done, and tonight we have a class performance where I'm going to sing a cappella with the group and maybe play a song on guitar. This is sort of the condensed version, can't wait to show pictures of the snow in hyde park! it was magical, and especially CRAZY considering i had been in sandals and a t-shirt two days prior to the snow!
OH one more thing -- My letters reached the relatives in Scotland and one has responded and is allowing me to stay with her for a night, I am soo excited to meet them! It is my grandfathers cousin and her daughter who I'll be visiting in SW Scotland. More on travel plans to come. I love you all, and think of you often,
Jodi
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Gotta Love the Irish
Hey everyone!
Sorry its been a while since I've blogged, as you can guess I've been very busy living and traveling. I actually just took a trip to Wales VERY last minute to spend the night at what I planned to be a bed and breakfast by the sea, but I'm in a cheap hotel instead. The plus side is I'm sitting in the lounge/bar downstairs with wireless internet listening to these men play some beautiful jazz music with some wonderful saxaphone tones. Our program allowed for 75 pounds to go towards sleeping accommodation IF we stay in the UK, and since the republic of Ireland is technically part of europe, my hostels there won't be reimbursed -- SO I decided to take a little getaway trip by myself to a little town called Llandudno (double L = Cl sound, and I don't know about the "dn" part) and stay the night here compliments of LC. The train ride was beautiful and surprisingly packed, I lucked out when a man missed his train and so i could take his reserved seat at a table and do some work on my papers.
I'm in Northern Wales just north of snowdonia national park, I'm going to see if I can at least train my way back through the park tomorrow.
I guess it's almost been TWO weeks. Two weeks ago I had a crazy week. For the past two months I've had extremely irritated itchy skin, esp at night, and after seeing many doctors I found out that I had scabies--tiny mites that burrow into your skin and lay eggs. So Thursday night after seeing a wonderfully bizarre play called the Homecoming (about a truly odd family, but with very good acting), my entire flat had to be treated for scabies (I live with 18 other people). Luckily my friends here are incredibly awesome, and we sort of turned it into a party. You have to cover your skin in a creamy lotion and leave it on for 24 hours. So "operation drunk and creamy" was taken on, whether or not people drank-- it was really nice of everyone to take this potentially awkward uncomfortable circumstance and make it a celebration! Since the treatment I've been doing much better. I think we've all bonded a lot as well since that! I was upset with doctors i'd seen for not catching what I had sooner, I was thinking of spreading scabies awareness so no one has to endure such terrible itchiness as I did! Thats for another time though.
Saturday morning I left way early in the morning for Ireland. Spencer and I took a bus to find Rachael Maddox at her hostel in Dublin, and the three of us wondered the streets and met lots of nice dubliners. Then we met up with Tessa and Kelsey and the amazing guy they were couchsurfing with -- Eric! He took us to a 2pm pillowfight just at the top of Grafton Street (where Once was filmed). I participated in a much larger pillowfight in Portland my freshmen year, and they've been spreading around the world. Complete strangers meet in a specified place and at 2pm a horn blows and they pull pillows out of their bags and hit eachother with pillows! It was a little intense but really fun. Then the police broke it up, guess they didn't like the pillowfight idea.
Eric showed us all around Dublin, we got the best chips in town, saw lots of cathedrals and the castle there and Trinity college, and ended at one of the oldest pubs in town for a half-pint of guinness. We all liked him so much that Spence, Rach and I asked if we could stay at his place on Tuesday night after we went to Galway and the west coast of Ireland, and he agreed! That night we went to the famous Temple Bar and Rach and I danced a lot and met strangers, and the night ended with live street performers and dancing in the streets! I have some video :) It was very hippy and amazing. We slept on Dylan's friends floor that night, which was unbearably COLD and we all woke up shivering! I moved to a tiny couch and fell back asleep all crouched in a ball. Not ideal! but free.
Sunday morning (Easter!) we spent on a bus going to Galway, slept most of the way, and checked into a hostel there. In honor of bakeries being closed for Easter, there were people giving away fresh baked bread that was going to get thrown away, so we ended up walking around with this loaf of bread for a while! Theres a lovely river that goes through town, and we walked along there... returned to the hostel for a nap, got Doner Kebabs! And ate our fresh bread with Nutella. That night we went out to a pub which ended up being really amazing, fun music, followed by LIVE amazingly talented performers doing mostly cover songs ranging from The Who, to Rage Against the Machine, to Muse. It was really really good though! And we were right up close. Galway seemed like a pretty welcoming city. Pretty diverse and seemed pretty gay-friendly as well from what I could tell.
That night we had a experience I probably shouldn't write about because people will fear for the rest of my travels! We stayed in a mixed hostel with 12 bunks, and at 4 in the morning we wake up to some guy yelling at this other guy... then i hear a stream of piss, and quickly dash to the foot of my bed to gather my coat from the floor, fearing that there is someone peeing on the floor. But its WORSE, my clothes were fine, but this guy had gotten out of bed, and PEED on this other girls bed, like on her hair and pillow and everything! It was absolutely disgusting. I felt sooo bad for this girl. The guy got kicked out of the hostel and they changed her mattress and sheets and mopped the floor and she took a shower, and we all fell back asleep. SO bizzarre and gross. Needless to say I'll be sleeping on the TOP bunk from now on, just in case. And female dorms are much more preferrable as well! eesh.
The next morning we caught another bus South to Killarney National Park. We found a nice cheap hostel with nice people in our rooms and no troubles. It was raining when we arrived and sort of cloudy but after walking to the tourist info center, we found out the national park was within walking distance and there was a bike rental place across the street! So we rented bikes for the afternoon, and the lady said we could return them in the morning. This transformed the whole day into magic. We rode to these beautiful glacial lakes alongside mountains and castles, and walked out on some rocks and took in the peacefulness of the water. The sun even came out a few times!
That night we made the best burrito/fajitas (fajitos?) They were delicious!! we got groceries at the store, and they lasted us for dinner that night and lunch the next day. That night we crashed and went to bed really early so we could wake up early for more bike riding. We made it to this waterfall called Torc waterfall, and ate lunch there and then rode back, it was really exhilirating and a little challenging but mostly beautiful and wonderful. I love riding bikes! Esp in such a beautiful place. I need to buy a bike for Portland this summer.
After bike riding we got a bus back to Dublin and met up with Kelsey, Tessa, and Dylan and the two friends they made. They went to Northern Ireland when we went West, and they had a really good time, it was fun exchanging stories. That night we went to a pub with some singer songwriters, and had to hurry back to catch the last bus to Eric's flat 15 minutes outside of Dublin with a perfect view of the city. He took us in and made us tea and hung out for a while, and we all slept so soundly on the floor with matress pads, and woke up to the sun pouring in through these floor to ceiling windows (I love waking up to the sun on my face!) And we had breakfast there and he left for class and we cleaned up his livingroom/kitchen and did all his dishes and left a thank you note! He was really really sweet, made me feel better about the whole couchsurfing idea. If you don't know, couchsurfing is a website where you can sign up and have a profile and find peoples couches to sleep on while traveling for a night or two. They get reviews from ppl who have stayed with them, and pass some security clearences. I know it sounds dangerous and maybe it could be, but it also opens up doors for a really cool way to get to know a stranger and a new place. In this case it turned out wonderfully.
Wednesday morning we went back to town and ate at a cafe and then went to the Guinness Store Factory. I didn't know what to expect but it was really cool, you learn all about how beer is made, and you walk up 7 stories of the store house til you get to the top with an amazing view. We even got to pull our own pint of guinness, and I got a little award for "pulling the perfect pint" I tried to make a shamrock in the foam but it didn't turn out too well! Then we drank the beer with a 360 view of Dublin. Not bad! Rach and I even met some scottish guys celebrating a birthday and talked to them for a while. It was really fun! That afternoon we flew back to London (an hour long flight! really quick). And Rach came back to London a few hours after me with Tessa and Kelsey.
Thursday Rach and I walked through the Kensington Gardens and over to Hyde Park and the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. It was nice to walk through there because theres so much of the gardens I haven't even seen yet. It was a wonderful day out too. Some friends from Lewis & Clark are spending their spring break here so thursday night we all went out to this Gay club called "The Ghetto" which was really interesting. I'd never been to one before, its completely different not having guys seeking after you, it ended up being a lot of fun.
Friday I did a little work in the library and then we all went to the Tate Modern Art Gallery. That night rach and I went to see this really awesome live performance of A Brief Encounter. The actors sang and played instruments as we walked in the theatre, mostly 1950's standards, and that music was the backdrop of the play, which mixed film with live performance really well! I was so impressed and pleased on so many levels. I think the film originally primeired at the same theatre that we saw the live performance, so that was really cool too!
Saturday Rach and I went to Brighton, which is a beach town on the south coast of England. I expected it to be different and smaller than it was, but it was still really beautiful. the beach is covered in pebbles instead of sand. it was really cold out, but we walked around and ate some food on the pebble beach next to raging waves and then found a cafe to hang out in and write postcards and journal. When we returned there was a sign on our door that said "Earth Hour, please turn off your lights from 8-9pm") SO of course we participated, and all gathered around ONE candle and with some of the a cappella singers visiting from LC we sang and later played guitar and had many sing a longs and it was sooo soo nice! I missed singing with everyone so much. Rach had to leave at 3 in the morning (because of the time change!) to catch her flight back to Italia, but it was so nice being able to spend spring break with my best friend from home. Now I'm in Wales! I want to get a start on my papers but I almost feel like resting and waking up early tomorrow.
Pictures are still coming... I have a lot to post! If worse comes to worse I will make an amazing slide show and have a party in MD and then in Portland and invite you guys to come see everything, I'll pick out highlights, though there are so many!
I'm planning my after-the-program travels. My studies end April 15th!! which is very soon! Right now I'm planning to go back to scotland and try to meet my distant relatives there, and then go to Florence to visit Rach, possibly go to Switzerland, and then Barcelona and then Tunisia to visit a friend, and end in Sicily to hopefully be with relatives. IF you have travel advices for areas close to the ones I'll be in, please email me! Or if theres any friends of friends I could stay with, let me know!
Thanks!! Have a great week,
Jo
Sorry its been a while since I've blogged, as you can guess I've been very busy living and traveling. I actually just took a trip to Wales VERY last minute to spend the night at what I planned to be a bed and breakfast by the sea, but I'm in a cheap hotel instead. The plus side is I'm sitting in the lounge/bar downstairs with wireless internet listening to these men play some beautiful jazz music with some wonderful saxaphone tones. Our program allowed for 75 pounds to go towards sleeping accommodation IF we stay in the UK, and since the republic of Ireland is technically part of europe, my hostels there won't be reimbursed -- SO I decided to take a little getaway trip by myself to a little town called Llandudno (double L = Cl sound, and I don't know about the "dn" part) and stay the night here compliments of LC. The train ride was beautiful and surprisingly packed, I lucked out when a man missed his train and so i could take his reserved seat at a table and do some work on my papers.
I'm in Northern Wales just north of snowdonia national park, I'm going to see if I can at least train my way back through the park tomorrow.
I guess it's almost been TWO weeks. Two weeks ago I had a crazy week. For the past two months I've had extremely irritated itchy skin, esp at night, and after seeing many doctors I found out that I had scabies--tiny mites that burrow into your skin and lay eggs. So Thursday night after seeing a wonderfully bizarre play called the Homecoming (about a truly odd family, but with very good acting), my entire flat had to be treated for scabies (I live with 18 other people). Luckily my friends here are incredibly awesome, and we sort of turned it into a party. You have to cover your skin in a creamy lotion and leave it on for 24 hours. So "operation drunk and creamy" was taken on, whether or not people drank-- it was really nice of everyone to take this potentially awkward uncomfortable circumstance and make it a celebration! Since the treatment I've been doing much better. I think we've all bonded a lot as well since that! I was upset with doctors i'd seen for not catching what I had sooner, I was thinking of spreading scabies awareness so no one has to endure such terrible itchiness as I did! Thats for another time though.
Saturday morning I left way early in the morning for Ireland. Spencer and I took a bus to find Rachael Maddox at her hostel in Dublin, and the three of us wondered the streets and met lots of nice dubliners. Then we met up with Tessa and Kelsey and the amazing guy they were couchsurfing with -- Eric! He took us to a 2pm pillowfight just at the top of Grafton Street (where Once was filmed). I participated in a much larger pillowfight in Portland my freshmen year, and they've been spreading around the world. Complete strangers meet in a specified place and at 2pm a horn blows and they pull pillows out of their bags and hit eachother with pillows! It was a little intense but really fun. Then the police broke it up, guess they didn't like the pillowfight idea.
Eric showed us all around Dublin, we got the best chips in town, saw lots of cathedrals and the castle there and Trinity college, and ended at one of the oldest pubs in town for a half-pint of guinness. We all liked him so much that Spence, Rach and I asked if we could stay at his place on Tuesday night after we went to Galway and the west coast of Ireland, and he agreed! That night we went to the famous Temple Bar and Rach and I danced a lot and met strangers, and the night ended with live street performers and dancing in the streets! I have some video :) It was very hippy and amazing. We slept on Dylan's friends floor that night, which was unbearably COLD and we all woke up shivering! I moved to a tiny couch and fell back asleep all crouched in a ball. Not ideal! but free.
Sunday morning (Easter!) we spent on a bus going to Galway, slept most of the way, and checked into a hostel there. In honor of bakeries being closed for Easter, there were people giving away fresh baked bread that was going to get thrown away, so we ended up walking around with this loaf of bread for a while! Theres a lovely river that goes through town, and we walked along there... returned to the hostel for a nap, got Doner Kebabs! And ate our fresh bread with Nutella. That night we went out to a pub which ended up being really amazing, fun music, followed by LIVE amazingly talented performers doing mostly cover songs ranging from The Who, to Rage Against the Machine, to Muse. It was really really good though! And we were right up close. Galway seemed like a pretty welcoming city. Pretty diverse and seemed pretty gay-friendly as well from what I could tell.
That night we had a experience I probably shouldn't write about because people will fear for the rest of my travels! We stayed in a mixed hostel with 12 bunks, and at 4 in the morning we wake up to some guy yelling at this other guy... then i hear a stream of piss, and quickly dash to the foot of my bed to gather my coat from the floor, fearing that there is someone peeing on the floor. But its WORSE, my clothes were fine, but this guy had gotten out of bed, and PEED on this other girls bed, like on her hair and pillow and everything! It was absolutely disgusting. I felt sooo bad for this girl. The guy got kicked out of the hostel and they changed her mattress and sheets and mopped the floor and she took a shower, and we all fell back asleep. SO bizzarre and gross. Needless to say I'll be sleeping on the TOP bunk from now on, just in case. And female dorms are much more preferrable as well! eesh.
The next morning we caught another bus South to Killarney National Park. We found a nice cheap hostel with nice people in our rooms and no troubles. It was raining when we arrived and sort of cloudy but after walking to the tourist info center, we found out the national park was within walking distance and there was a bike rental place across the street! So we rented bikes for the afternoon, and the lady said we could return them in the morning. This transformed the whole day into magic. We rode to these beautiful glacial lakes alongside mountains and castles, and walked out on some rocks and took in the peacefulness of the water. The sun even came out a few times!
That night we made the best burrito/fajitas (fajitos?) They were delicious!! we got groceries at the store, and they lasted us for dinner that night and lunch the next day. That night we crashed and went to bed really early so we could wake up early for more bike riding. We made it to this waterfall called Torc waterfall, and ate lunch there and then rode back, it was really exhilirating and a little challenging but mostly beautiful and wonderful. I love riding bikes! Esp in such a beautiful place. I need to buy a bike for Portland this summer.
After bike riding we got a bus back to Dublin and met up with Kelsey, Tessa, and Dylan and the two friends they made. They went to Northern Ireland when we went West, and they had a really good time, it was fun exchanging stories. That night we went to a pub with some singer songwriters, and had to hurry back to catch the last bus to Eric's flat 15 minutes outside of Dublin with a perfect view of the city. He took us in and made us tea and hung out for a while, and we all slept so soundly on the floor with matress pads, and woke up to the sun pouring in through these floor to ceiling windows (I love waking up to the sun on my face!) And we had breakfast there and he left for class and we cleaned up his livingroom/kitchen and did all his dishes and left a thank you note! He was really really sweet, made me feel better about the whole couchsurfing idea. If you don't know, couchsurfing is a website where you can sign up and have a profile and find peoples couches to sleep on while traveling for a night or two. They get reviews from ppl who have stayed with them, and pass some security clearences. I know it sounds dangerous and maybe it could be, but it also opens up doors for a really cool way to get to know a stranger and a new place. In this case it turned out wonderfully.
Wednesday morning we went back to town and ate at a cafe and then went to the Guinness Store Factory. I didn't know what to expect but it was really cool, you learn all about how beer is made, and you walk up 7 stories of the store house til you get to the top with an amazing view. We even got to pull our own pint of guinness, and I got a little award for "pulling the perfect pint" I tried to make a shamrock in the foam but it didn't turn out too well! Then we drank the beer with a 360 view of Dublin. Not bad! Rach and I even met some scottish guys celebrating a birthday and talked to them for a while. It was really fun! That afternoon we flew back to London (an hour long flight! really quick). And Rach came back to London a few hours after me with Tessa and Kelsey.
Thursday Rach and I walked through the Kensington Gardens and over to Hyde Park and the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. It was nice to walk through there because theres so much of the gardens I haven't even seen yet. It was a wonderful day out too. Some friends from Lewis & Clark are spending their spring break here so thursday night we all went out to this Gay club called "The Ghetto" which was really interesting. I'd never been to one before, its completely different not having guys seeking after you, it ended up being a lot of fun.
Friday I did a little work in the library and then we all went to the Tate Modern Art Gallery. That night rach and I went to see this really awesome live performance of A Brief Encounter. The actors sang and played instruments as we walked in the theatre, mostly 1950's standards, and that music was the backdrop of the play, which mixed film with live performance really well! I was so impressed and pleased on so many levels. I think the film originally primeired at the same theatre that we saw the live performance, so that was really cool too!
Saturday Rach and I went to Brighton, which is a beach town on the south coast of England. I expected it to be different and smaller than it was, but it was still really beautiful. the beach is covered in pebbles instead of sand. it was really cold out, but we walked around and ate some food on the pebble beach next to raging waves and then found a cafe to hang out in and write postcards and journal. When we returned there was a sign on our door that said "Earth Hour, please turn off your lights from 8-9pm") SO of course we participated, and all gathered around ONE candle and with some of the a cappella singers visiting from LC we sang and later played guitar and had many sing a longs and it was sooo soo nice! I missed singing with everyone so much. Rach had to leave at 3 in the morning (because of the time change!) to catch her flight back to Italia, but it was so nice being able to spend spring break with my best friend from home. Now I'm in Wales! I want to get a start on my papers but I almost feel like resting and waking up early tomorrow.
Pictures are still coming... I have a lot to post! If worse comes to worse I will make an amazing slide show and have a party in MD and then in Portland and invite you guys to come see everything, I'll pick out highlights, though there are so many!
I'm planning my after-the-program travels. My studies end April 15th!! which is very soon! Right now I'm planning to go back to scotland and try to meet my distant relatives there, and then go to Florence to visit Rach, possibly go to Switzerland, and then Barcelona and then Tunisia to visit a friend, and end in Sicily to hopefully be with relatives. IF you have travel advices for areas close to the ones I'll be in, please email me! Or if theres any friends of friends I could stay with, let me know!
Thanks!! Have a great week,
Jo
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Staring over the Atlantic
This weekend I had the pleasure of going to St. Ives for two days, and it was so incredibly fantastic. Before I get there, let me recap a tiny bit.
Wednesday night we went to see "Sarajevo" which was a really cool intimate play, one of my favorites so far. they used technology and live video recording to show "skype" conversations and I thought it was a really cool view into the ways and problems of communication in long distance relationships. it also showed how fragile of a "long distance" relationship we have with the war and violence that goes on in places like Sarajevo, the cast was a good entry of everyday peoples interaction with such a huge issue abroad.
Thursday we got a tour of the National Theatre, which fit perfectly with the research I had just been doing for a paper about when plays used to be censored by the Lord Chamberlain. We've come a long way, the National Theatre is 40% subsidized by the government and there is no censorship from the people providing funds. So the opportunities are endless! Which I think is important for theatre. We also go to see rehearsals going on in the three different theatres, and that was REALLY cool. To have a directer say "cut!" and then tell people to do things differently changed the experience of watching theatre in such a professional arena a lot. Thursday night we rode the tube for an hour and a half to the 'burbs of London to watch a comedy called "Relatively Speaking" which was about an affair, but it played out really ridiculously, and kind of reminded me of the Importance of Being Earnest, where misunderstandings rely on the tiniest most particular phrases.
Friday I got some work done and then we all went out for Tessa's Birthday! Her birthday was on friday, but we sort of half celebrated my birthday too because that was on tuesday. We went late night bowling, and I had a lot of fun and met some cool people there! I woke up somehow at 6 the next morning and packed my bags for St. Ives.
Ah, St. Ives was SO perfect and relaxing. It's on the south west coast of England, and its simply BEAUTIFUL. Seeing the ocean filled me up inside. I spend lots of time walking on the shore, hiking up big hills, climbing on rocks, and staring into the endless opportunities of my life as seen as the ocean. I had a lot of good time to myself, and I even got to go to the ocean at night and lay on the sand and look up at the stars. Sunday I decided to go to another coastal town called Penzance for a few hours before catching the train back home. I came back from this trip so well rested, and I even made use of the 7 hour train ride by doing homework!
Last night Dylan and I went to see Harder They Come, a reggae musical, and it was SO AMAZING! This is the first non-upper-middle-class-white audience I've seen. It was a complete mix up of cultures and ages. And by the end of this incredible musical everyone in the Barbican, including myself of course, were singing and dancing in the stalls. I can't express how wonderful this was! I've been to so much theatre this semester but this really united the audience and changed things up from the standard, sit, recieve play, applaud, get up, go, way of things. Now I've got some work on my hands, but I still have lots and lots of pictures, they will come soon. Lots of love to all of you back home,
Jodi
Wednesday night we went to see "Sarajevo" which was a really cool intimate play, one of my favorites so far. they used technology and live video recording to show "skype" conversations and I thought it was a really cool view into the ways and problems of communication in long distance relationships. it also showed how fragile of a "long distance" relationship we have with the war and violence that goes on in places like Sarajevo, the cast was a good entry of everyday peoples interaction with such a huge issue abroad.
Thursday we got a tour of the National Theatre, which fit perfectly with the research I had just been doing for a paper about when plays used to be censored by the Lord Chamberlain. We've come a long way, the National Theatre is 40% subsidized by the government and there is no censorship from the people providing funds. So the opportunities are endless! Which I think is important for theatre. We also go to see rehearsals going on in the three different theatres, and that was REALLY cool. To have a directer say "cut!" and then tell people to do things differently changed the experience of watching theatre in such a professional arena a lot. Thursday night we rode the tube for an hour and a half to the 'burbs of London to watch a comedy called "Relatively Speaking" which was about an affair, but it played out really ridiculously, and kind of reminded me of the Importance of Being Earnest, where misunderstandings rely on the tiniest most particular phrases.
Friday I got some work done and then we all went out for Tessa's Birthday! Her birthday was on friday, but we sort of half celebrated my birthday too because that was on tuesday. We went late night bowling, and I had a lot of fun and met some cool people there! I woke up somehow at 6 the next morning and packed my bags for St. Ives.
Ah, St. Ives was SO perfect and relaxing. It's on the south west coast of England, and its simply BEAUTIFUL. Seeing the ocean filled me up inside. I spend lots of time walking on the shore, hiking up big hills, climbing on rocks, and staring into the endless opportunities of my life as seen as the ocean. I had a lot of good time to myself, and I even got to go to the ocean at night and lay on the sand and look up at the stars. Sunday I decided to go to another coastal town called Penzance for a few hours before catching the train back home. I came back from this trip so well rested, and I even made use of the 7 hour train ride by doing homework!
Last night Dylan and I went to see Harder They Come, a reggae musical, and it was SO AMAZING! This is the first non-upper-middle-class-white audience I've seen. It was a complete mix up of cultures and ages. And by the end of this incredible musical everyone in the Barbican, including myself of course, were singing and dancing in the stalls. I can't express how wonderful this was! I've been to so much theatre this semester but this really united the audience and changed things up from the standard, sit, recieve play, applaud, get up, go, way of things. Now I've got some work on my hands, but I still have lots and lots of pictures, they will come soon. Lots of love to all of you back home,
Jodi
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
parle vou espanol?
This weekend was so incredible! Yesterday was my birthday, and in celebration I took the Eurostar to Paris--which takes you UNDER the English Channel, and pops you up on land in paris france in just 2.5 hours. I will begin at the beginning, and this could be long so skim around for things that interest you.
I arrived on Friday, after sleeping maybe 1 or 2 hours the night before, waking up at 330am to catch a 4am bus and the 530am eurostar. i arrived in paris and was immediately greeted by Ru at the train station with a giant hug! She sort of snuck up on me so it was nice to be almost tackled while i was opening my bags. Quickly--Ru is our friend Rach, Judy, and I met on our last adventure, the Road Trip to New Orleans. We met her at a hostel in Atlanta, went out to eat, and immediately connected, and recently we found out she will be studying in France. She is Croatian, studying English and French, and she's amazing! So positive and fun. OK-- so Ru and I get on the metro and come out at the river looking across at Notre Dame, which was beautiful! And we walked through there, and on our way to the hostel to meet with Rachael Maddox and her friend Anna! Background: Rachael is my best friend from home and she's studying in Florence and she is AMAZING! Anna is her friend from Florence program.
That day was joyous, just knocking on Rach's door at the hostel and having her open it, and then talking and wondering the city together was really really perfect.
We walked along the river and stopped at a little cafe and got a carafe (sp?) of red wine, vins rouge. which seemed to come out of a tap, right into this ceramic container, and it was sooo delicious! Then we made out way to the Musee de Orsay, with impressionist pieces, Manet, Monet, sculpture and more. It is a beautiful museum and relatively easy to get around, not too big. Then we ate paun formagge (cheesy bread) and pizza outside of the Louvre and made our way in. It was free on Fri night for under 25s, but it was SOOO crowded. The building is magnificent, but i've truly never seen a museum so large in my life! I was really exhausted by this point in time and we decided only to spend an hour at the Louvre, seeing things we really wanted to see and then leaving. SO in the rush I got lost in the museum and really stressed out! but i made it to the mona lisa and virgin on the rocks by da vinci, and saw some other pieces i recognized from art history class which was really cool -- and after getting lost again trying to make it to another section of the building i gave up and went to the front to meet everyone! and had a conversation with an older frenchmen about art and music and following dreams, which relaxed me after the stressful art-hunt.
after THIS we returned to the hostel and got CREPES! which were SO GOOD! i got one with nutella and banana, and almost died it was so good. freshly poured (crepe) and melted (nutella) and sliced (bananas) to perfection. we decided to celebrate my birthday early and met some argentinian men at the hostel and a woman from costa rica, and bought a few bottles of french wine and drank them downstairs in the kitchen. It was really fun to speak to our new friends in spanish and they sung happy birthday in english, spanish, and portuguese throughout the night! Then i somehow made it out to a bar nearby with great music and danced the night away, met some cute french boys who couldn't speak english, and called it a night at 3am! it was pretty insane that i stayed awake that long but very well worth it. and i definitely practiced my spanish, even if it was in france.
Saturday we were all pretty worn out, but we met Ru for all you can eat pasta lunch (only 2.80!) which was perfect, and then we split our ways and went to Montemarte, a city on a huge hill in Paris that overlooks the entire city with a giant beautiful church at the top. So we meditated/basically fell asleep in the church prayer area, and then walked to see artists painting in this square and got icecream, and eventually headed back to the hostel for a NAP! That night we got sushi and then went to the Eiffel Tower at night! IT was SOOO BEAUTIFUL! i didn't expect to freak out seeing this monument, but i felt so happy inside. it was also womens day in europe that day so the three of us felt wonderful, drinking a little wine in the grass by the eiffel tower, talking, laughing, having a great night. we had SUCH a great night that we missed the last metro at midnight, and had to catch a cab home. but it wasnt too expensive. we managed to eat another crepe before they closed up around 1 or 2am, and then called it a night.
Sunday it was pouring down rain, anna had to leave at 12, we sat in a cafe and ate food (mozzerella melted with tomato and ham) and drank coffee. the rain was probably perfect for rachael and i because it gave us an excuse to sit and talk for 3 hours! she had to leave around 4pm to catch her flight. and by that time the sun had come out again and i walked around the city and took pictures and stumbled upon beautiful gardens and an incredible mosque. when i got back to the hostel my hostel-roommate Kristen from Boston was home and we discussed travel plans (she had just been to ireland, i'm going in 2 weeks) and talked about our weekends, and then we decided to get dinner together at a little french restaurant, which was delicious and i tried Es Cargo! the waiter gave us a free caraf of wine (i know.. more wine, but it was too good in france to pass up!)
Monday I was really on my own and it was pouring down rain. kristen left in the morning and i checked out after breakfast (which was a croissant and baguette--the all carb diet of france). i decided to take the metro to a museum which happened to be closed when i arrived! so desperate to get out of the rain i walked around and saw a store that said "Musique" and I went in expecting to find CDs or something but it was a music store with hundreds of acoustic guitars just waiting to be played. this was perfect for me. i just sat down and played various guitars for a whole hour, the shop was pretty empty so it was okay, and the owner of the shop said what i think in french meant "you play the guitar beautifully"...or maybe i just made that up! after an hour had passed the museum was open. its the Pompidue, modern art museum. it cost a lot to get in but it was well worth it! There was an exhibit by Louis Burgeious, this amazing french woman who moved to new york city and made really cool art exploring identity, mixing of sexual symbols, and dealing with other life difficulties through sculpture and art. she had a series of "cells" where you could look in which represented memories of childhood. modern art is always a little crazy, but i liked this because it had enough explanations for me to feel like i could grasp or have an idea of what was going on for her in creating these pieces, rather than just being completely puzzled. i liked this.
in the afternoon i met with Ru to go to spanish class (in france!) i felt like i learned more french than spanish! but i got to practice spanish and we even listened to manu chao "me gustas tu" and read the lyrics and i love that song! so it was really fun. Ru and i got cheap dinner at her school, and she took me to the train station!
Last story -- I got off the tube on my way home, and this homeless man asks me for change. here i'll type the exchange
H: Hello with the beautiful face, could you spare any change tonight?
M: eh, no sorry!
H: don't be sorry, just have a really good night tonight! and don't get lost!
M: (walking away), okay thanks!
H: do you want this pizza? do you live with a lot of people?
M: (thinking i do live with 19 people) pizza?
H: yeah i don't want it, just take it
(there is a giant pizza, bigger than i've ever seen in a pizza box on the ground. he slides it over).
M:I can't take pizza from YOU, you should save it for later.
H:I get food all the time, I know I'm fat but I can't eat this much pizza, just take it!
M: Ok... (holding the pizza box) well what do you want? you want money?
H:I'd love some money!
M: what do you want to buy with it?
H: I want some beer, love!
M: well i have a pound, is that ok?
H: a pounds great!
... i walk out of the station with a giant pizza, ppl at the bus station approach me saying "is that a pizza? thats the biggest pizza i've ever seen!" and we all ate it when i got back to the flat, and we're still alive! it was really tasty.
thats my story of when i get pizza from a bum in the undergound.
my birthday was fun, but really busy with class and stuff, spencers parents took us out for belgian beer and a belgian brewery. it was tasty, i talked to my parents and called it a night! i need to go to class, i hope you enjoyed what you read! i'll post pictures and you can just see the weekend that way if reading takes to long! :) lots of love to all of you,
I'm now 21 years old! pretty strange, but good!
adios,
jodi
I arrived on Friday, after sleeping maybe 1 or 2 hours the night before, waking up at 330am to catch a 4am bus and the 530am eurostar. i arrived in paris and was immediately greeted by Ru at the train station with a giant hug! She sort of snuck up on me so it was nice to be almost tackled while i was opening my bags. Quickly--Ru is our friend Rach, Judy, and I met on our last adventure, the Road Trip to New Orleans. We met her at a hostel in Atlanta, went out to eat, and immediately connected, and recently we found out she will be studying in France. She is Croatian, studying English and French, and she's amazing! So positive and fun. OK-- so Ru and I get on the metro and come out at the river looking across at Notre Dame, which was beautiful! And we walked through there, and on our way to the hostel to meet with Rachael Maddox and her friend Anna! Background: Rachael is my best friend from home and she's studying in Florence and she is AMAZING! Anna is her friend from Florence program.
That day was joyous, just knocking on Rach's door at the hostel and having her open it, and then talking and wondering the city together was really really perfect.
We walked along the river and stopped at a little cafe and got a carafe (sp?) of red wine, vins rouge. which seemed to come out of a tap, right into this ceramic container, and it was sooo delicious! Then we made out way to the Musee de Orsay, with impressionist pieces, Manet, Monet, sculpture and more. It is a beautiful museum and relatively easy to get around, not too big. Then we ate paun formagge (cheesy bread) and pizza outside of the Louvre and made our way in. It was free on Fri night for under 25s, but it was SOOO crowded. The building is magnificent, but i've truly never seen a museum so large in my life! I was really exhausted by this point in time and we decided only to spend an hour at the Louvre, seeing things we really wanted to see and then leaving. SO in the rush I got lost in the museum and really stressed out! but i made it to the mona lisa and virgin on the rocks by da vinci, and saw some other pieces i recognized from art history class which was really cool -- and after getting lost again trying to make it to another section of the building i gave up and went to the front to meet everyone! and had a conversation with an older frenchmen about art and music and following dreams, which relaxed me after the stressful art-hunt.
after THIS we returned to the hostel and got CREPES! which were SO GOOD! i got one with nutella and banana, and almost died it was so good. freshly poured (crepe) and melted (nutella) and sliced (bananas) to perfection. we decided to celebrate my birthday early and met some argentinian men at the hostel and a woman from costa rica, and bought a few bottles of french wine and drank them downstairs in the kitchen. It was really fun to speak to our new friends in spanish and they sung happy birthday in english, spanish, and portuguese throughout the night! Then i somehow made it out to a bar nearby with great music and danced the night away, met some cute french boys who couldn't speak english, and called it a night at 3am! it was pretty insane that i stayed awake that long but very well worth it. and i definitely practiced my spanish, even if it was in france.
Saturday we were all pretty worn out, but we met Ru for all you can eat pasta lunch (only 2.80!) which was perfect, and then we split our ways and went to Montemarte, a city on a huge hill in Paris that overlooks the entire city with a giant beautiful church at the top. So we meditated/basically fell asleep in the church prayer area, and then walked to see artists painting in this square and got icecream, and eventually headed back to the hostel for a NAP! That night we got sushi and then went to the Eiffel Tower at night! IT was SOOO BEAUTIFUL! i didn't expect to freak out seeing this monument, but i felt so happy inside. it was also womens day in europe that day so the three of us felt wonderful, drinking a little wine in the grass by the eiffel tower, talking, laughing, having a great night. we had SUCH a great night that we missed the last metro at midnight, and had to catch a cab home. but it wasnt too expensive. we managed to eat another crepe before they closed up around 1 or 2am, and then called it a night.
Sunday it was pouring down rain, anna had to leave at 12, we sat in a cafe and ate food (mozzerella melted with tomato and ham) and drank coffee. the rain was probably perfect for rachael and i because it gave us an excuse to sit and talk for 3 hours! she had to leave around 4pm to catch her flight. and by that time the sun had come out again and i walked around the city and took pictures and stumbled upon beautiful gardens and an incredible mosque. when i got back to the hostel my hostel-roommate Kristen from Boston was home and we discussed travel plans (she had just been to ireland, i'm going in 2 weeks) and talked about our weekends, and then we decided to get dinner together at a little french restaurant, which was delicious and i tried Es Cargo! the waiter gave us a free caraf of wine (i know.. more wine, but it was too good in france to pass up!)
Monday I was really on my own and it was pouring down rain. kristen left in the morning and i checked out after breakfast (which was a croissant and baguette--the all carb diet of france). i decided to take the metro to a museum which happened to be closed when i arrived! so desperate to get out of the rain i walked around and saw a store that said "Musique" and I went in expecting to find CDs or something but it was a music store with hundreds of acoustic guitars just waiting to be played. this was perfect for me. i just sat down and played various guitars for a whole hour, the shop was pretty empty so it was okay, and the owner of the shop said what i think in french meant "you play the guitar beautifully"...or maybe i just made that up! after an hour had passed the museum was open. its the Pompidue, modern art museum. it cost a lot to get in but it was well worth it! There was an exhibit by Louis Burgeious, this amazing french woman who moved to new york city and made really cool art exploring identity, mixing of sexual symbols, and dealing with other life difficulties through sculpture and art. she had a series of "cells" where you could look in which represented memories of childhood. modern art is always a little crazy, but i liked this because it had enough explanations for me to feel like i could grasp or have an idea of what was going on for her in creating these pieces, rather than just being completely puzzled. i liked this.
in the afternoon i met with Ru to go to spanish class (in france!) i felt like i learned more french than spanish! but i got to practice spanish and we even listened to manu chao "me gustas tu" and read the lyrics and i love that song! so it was really fun. Ru and i got cheap dinner at her school, and she took me to the train station!
Last story -- I got off the tube on my way home, and this homeless man asks me for change. here i'll type the exchange
H: Hello with the beautiful face, could you spare any change tonight?
M: eh, no sorry!
H: don't be sorry, just have a really good night tonight! and don't get lost!
M: (walking away), okay thanks!
H: do you want this pizza? do you live with a lot of people?
M: (thinking i do live with 19 people) pizza?
H: yeah i don't want it, just take it
(there is a giant pizza, bigger than i've ever seen in a pizza box on the ground. he slides it over).
M:I can't take pizza from YOU, you should save it for later.
H:I get food all the time, I know I'm fat but I can't eat this much pizza, just take it!
M: Ok... (holding the pizza box) well what do you want? you want money?
H:I'd love some money!
M: what do you want to buy with it?
H: I want some beer, love!
M: well i have a pound, is that ok?
H: a pounds great!
... i walk out of the station with a giant pizza, ppl at the bus station approach me saying "is that a pizza? thats the biggest pizza i've ever seen!" and we all ate it when i got back to the flat, and we're still alive! it was really tasty.
thats my story of when i get pizza from a bum in the undergound.
my birthday was fun, but really busy with class and stuff, spencers parents took us out for belgian beer and a belgian brewery. it was tasty, i talked to my parents and called it a night! i need to go to class, i hope you enjoyed what you read! i'll post pictures and you can just see the weekend that way if reading takes to long! :) lots of love to all of you,
I'm now 21 years old! pretty strange, but good!
adios,
jodi
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Weekend Exploration
This weekend was so jam-packed. Saturday we went up to Cambridge and had a tour and then wondered around for a while, and ended the night with evensong in the amazingly beautiful Kings Cross Cathedral. Its one of those places you walk into and just say "wow" and continue to stare up into the height and intricacies of the ceiling and the beautiful colored stained glass. Their boys choir was incredible as well, thats something I didn't realize was such a big deal here in London -- Boys Choirs, you get these 12 year old sopranos singing sooo high. The choir is so skilled though and the way their voices echo in that space is just magical. We stayed for a Messaein organ recital, but it was really bizarre and hard to enjoy, he's on the verge of atonality and so for me I have to step back from it and just sort of observe the strangeness of the compositions.
After that long day, we woke up early the next morning and drove to Stonehenge. It was pretty cool! We all got audio tours which were sort of ridiculous. I mean, very informative, but comical in the way you communicate with this speaking voice box. So there were some good laughs and try-to-be-original photos taken in front of this prehistoric mystery. parts of the past our ancestors left behind. They recently found a body buried near there that was 2,500 years old. pretty crazy! After stonehenge we made our way to Bath and I paid my 9 pounds to see the Roman Baths. It was pretty cool! Its one of the few remains of when romans used to rule what is now England. Basically this sweet hot spring has been pumping millions of gallons of water out of the ground for hundreds of years, so Romans used it to make all these baths, and people from all around came and formed the town of "bath" around these baths, and the spring still flows today. it was pretty amazing!
Sunday night you can imagine the tiredness. Regardless of that though -- Monday I headstarted my day walking around London with Dylan looking for a good deal on theatre shows we're both interested to see. I don't have tons of money to spare on shows, and fate must have wanted us to do otherwise because the one show "Speed the Plow" featuring Kevin Spacey, is sold out completely, and the Magic Flute South African style offers no student discounts! We agreed to reconvene at 6:30pm for Speed the Plow to see if there were any return tickets, and if not, have an adventure. On the way to the theatre, we pick up the free London Paper (which are handed out on every corner and littered in every tube train)--and under tonights events were two things of interest -- 1 BOYZ 2 MEN, yes i almost dropped everything and paid 33 pounds to have my heart stolen by those lovely, now very old romantic men. and the other thing was Jimmy Eat World. So speed the plow rejected us again, and on a whim we took the tube to the station where the jimmy eat world concert was. sure enough we are immediately approached by scalpers with tickets to the show. tickets were supposed to be 18.50, but since we dont have tons of money AND this whole concert idea was so spur of the moment, we walked away from a 15 pound ticket offer, and somehow managed to get tickets for 12 pounds each! So I went to a concert that night and it was really fun! A band from Belgium called "Styrafoam" opened with drums, synthesizer, and guitar --some dancey good songs remniscent of The Postal Service, but a little rockier. And Jimmy Eat world was a blast! The venue was great! Its called the Roundhouse and its completely round so you can circle around and get pretty close.
There's London for ya-- full of surprises. Tuesday I had art class in the Tate Britain, which I really really loved. They had neoclassical sculptures including the three graces, and they were all so delicate and beautifully carved in milky marble making it seem so pure and perfect. I also fell in love with the William Blake room which had lots of his paintings and sketches and a few original books (but not the "Innocence and Experience" books--i wonder where those are!). His paintings are very spiritual and imaginative, people used to think he was crazy but theres some cool stuff in his paintings that you just don't find in the formal paintings of his contemporaries. Above all else, he's a poet, but its cool to see this stuff as part of his life occupation being a creative artist. Tuesday night we headed off to Rational Rec -- the interarts monthly event led by our music teacher Matthew. His 3 dance pieces were featured and they also did screen printing and we contributed to making a book all in one night! It was pretty cool, esp the dance party at the end with some fun techno music.
And today, we had class with matthew and guest speakers who were german performers from last night's performance who talked to us about composing and mixing styles/genres of dance, music, and how to write scores that are different than traditional scores. it was a cool class! tonight we went to see our first ballet, which i really really liked a lot. the body can do so many amazing things! they also opened up with a really thoughtful performance which integrated video projections and audio recorded voices of the dancers themselves talking about what its like to be on stage, and then the performance really gets going... there was this one american guy dancer who was so beautiful and captivating. his body just flowed, it was like magic! Later there were pieces done by whole orchestras, the music alone was beautiful (Chopin, Debussy), but the dancing with it added such life! I really enjoyed the ballet. It was in the Royal Opera House which is SO FANCY its not even funny! We're going to see Salome there tomorrow night and dressing up. And THEN this weekend I'm off to FRANCE to meet Rachael and our friend from previous travels in the US, Ru who is a wonderful woman from Croatia studying English and French currently studying in Paris! I'll be there Friday-Monday, getting back to London just in time for my 21st Birthday on March 11th. :) So there is a lot going on!
I hope you all are having wonderful weeks and not getting too jealous of this crazy experience I'm having, I appreciate your love and support and miss lots of you from back home. Take care,
Jodi
After that long day, we woke up early the next morning and drove to Stonehenge. It was pretty cool! We all got audio tours which were sort of ridiculous. I mean, very informative, but comical in the way you communicate with this speaking voice box. So there were some good laughs and try-to-be-original photos taken in front of this prehistoric mystery. parts of the past our ancestors left behind. They recently found a body buried near there that was 2,500 years old. pretty crazy! After stonehenge we made our way to Bath and I paid my 9 pounds to see the Roman Baths. It was pretty cool! Its one of the few remains of when romans used to rule what is now England. Basically this sweet hot spring has been pumping millions of gallons of water out of the ground for hundreds of years, so Romans used it to make all these baths, and people from all around came and formed the town of "bath" around these baths, and the spring still flows today. it was pretty amazing!
Sunday night you can imagine the tiredness. Regardless of that though -- Monday I headstarted my day walking around London with Dylan looking for a good deal on theatre shows we're both interested to see. I don't have tons of money to spare on shows, and fate must have wanted us to do otherwise because the one show "Speed the Plow" featuring Kevin Spacey, is sold out completely, and the Magic Flute South African style offers no student discounts! We agreed to reconvene at 6:30pm for Speed the Plow to see if there were any return tickets, and if not, have an adventure. On the way to the theatre, we pick up the free London Paper (which are handed out on every corner and littered in every tube train)--and under tonights events were two things of interest -- 1 BOYZ 2 MEN, yes i almost dropped everything and paid 33 pounds to have my heart stolen by those lovely, now very old romantic men. and the other thing was Jimmy Eat World. So speed the plow rejected us again, and on a whim we took the tube to the station where the jimmy eat world concert was. sure enough we are immediately approached by scalpers with tickets to the show. tickets were supposed to be 18.50, but since we dont have tons of money AND this whole concert idea was so spur of the moment, we walked away from a 15 pound ticket offer, and somehow managed to get tickets for 12 pounds each! So I went to a concert that night and it was really fun! A band from Belgium called "Styrafoam" opened with drums, synthesizer, and guitar --some dancey good songs remniscent of The Postal Service, but a little rockier. And Jimmy Eat world was a blast! The venue was great! Its called the Roundhouse and its completely round so you can circle around and get pretty close.
There's London for ya-- full of surprises. Tuesday I had art class in the Tate Britain, which I really really loved. They had neoclassical sculptures including the three graces, and they were all so delicate and beautifully carved in milky marble making it seem so pure and perfect. I also fell in love with the William Blake room which had lots of his paintings and sketches and a few original books (but not the "Innocence and Experience" books--i wonder where those are!). His paintings are very spiritual and imaginative, people used to think he was crazy but theres some cool stuff in his paintings that you just don't find in the formal paintings of his contemporaries. Above all else, he's a poet, but its cool to see this stuff as part of his life occupation being a creative artist. Tuesday night we headed off to Rational Rec -- the interarts monthly event led by our music teacher Matthew. His 3 dance pieces were featured and they also did screen printing and we contributed to making a book all in one night! It was pretty cool, esp the dance party at the end with some fun techno music.
And today, we had class with matthew and guest speakers who were german performers from last night's performance who talked to us about composing and mixing styles/genres of dance, music, and how to write scores that are different than traditional scores. it was a cool class! tonight we went to see our first ballet, which i really really liked a lot. the body can do so many amazing things! they also opened up with a really thoughtful performance which integrated video projections and audio recorded voices of the dancers themselves talking about what its like to be on stage, and then the performance really gets going... there was this one american guy dancer who was so beautiful and captivating. his body just flowed, it was like magic! Later there were pieces done by whole orchestras, the music alone was beautiful (Chopin, Debussy), but the dancing with it added such life! I really enjoyed the ballet. It was in the Royal Opera House which is SO FANCY its not even funny! We're going to see Salome there tomorrow night and dressing up. And THEN this weekend I'm off to FRANCE to meet Rachael and our friend from previous travels in the US, Ru who is a wonderful woman from Croatia studying English and French currently studying in Paris! I'll be there Friday-Monday, getting back to London just in time for my 21st Birthday on March 11th. :) So there is a lot going on!
I hope you all are having wonderful weeks and not getting too jealous of this crazy experience I'm having, I appreciate your love and support and miss lots of you from back home. Take care,
Jodi
A word on the election--
Hey People,
So my incredible a cappella group back at Lewis & Clark has done an amazing performance and composition of YES WE CAN in an event for Barack Obama rightfully called Barackappella.
Check it out on YouTube! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l07COcgwmXU
More from London soon. Vote Barack!
So my incredible a cappella group back at Lewis & Clark has done an amazing performance and composition of YES WE CAN in an event for Barack Obama rightfully called Barackappella.
Check it out on YouTube! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l07COcgwmXU
More from London soon. Vote Barack!
Friday, February 29, 2008
An Extra Day
Sometimes you get so busy that you just WISH you could SQUEEZE one more day in the year to do EVERYTHING ELSE you didn't get to do the rest of time! So here I am on leap year, getting a little extra time in to catch you guys up! It's been two whole weeks since the last blog and the definite best time yet to be had on this adventure was last weekend in SCOTLAND!
Last week I went to the V&A (Victoria and Albert) Museum and discussed the Great Exhibition in class, and explored around the other exhibits including a really amazing one of musical instruments from different time periods, they had some of the most beautifully made guitars i've ever seen! some had delicate carvings in the sound hole that looked brittle enough to break, like those paper cut out snowflakes you make out of tissue paper -- but carved out of wood! there were also tons of instruments i'd never heard of, most of them resembling a cello or violin but very different! This museum is meant for the public to be able to walk through and see all the different fashions and inventions from around the world after 1500. So its huge and has tons of collections from all over the place (and its FREE so i can go back whenever i want).
wednesday night we went to see a midsummer night's dream (again!) but this time it was in a warehouse and much more intimate (the actors/actresses were walking through the audience). I really liked the movement in this piece, the fairies were really creepy and moved like strange and curious creatures which i thought was cool! thursday night we saw the Mikado, maybe i was just a little too exhausted for this one but i really didn't enjoy it all that much! it was really funny though, an absurd opera (operetto) about japanese ppl in a town with laws against flirting with lots of plot twists. it was fun, i just didn't fall in love with it.
then we have FRIDAY -- a 615 train through the east coast of england all the way to northern scotland, the most beautiful train ride i've taken, we went by small towns and along the cost of england and scotland and it was just breathtaking. we arrived in the small town of Pitlochry (population 900), and immediately loved it. there were 7 of us and we wondered up a big hill to our hostel with a great view overlooking the town nestled inbetween huge hills and "mountains" (not the big tall snowy kind, but the kind that are too big to be called hills). i have at least 7 pages of journaling about pitlochry alone. it was just so nice to be in a small place where you can only hear the wind blowing by and there is no such thing as traffic, where ppl actually notice you when you walk into a pub and they say hello! we got dinner at a pub with some of the best mashed potatoes i've had in a long time. then we went to the festival theatre for a fiddle concert. it was sooo perfect. Pete Clark is the mans name and i think his songs are available on the web (search pete clark and scotland music). the show was in the foyer of the festival theatre so we sat at tables and had tea while listening to this incredible fiddle player playing some of the most joyful and most heartbreaking songs, I was totally clued in the whole time, esp when he added a fantastic classical/jazz guitarist to his set who was soo incredible! this was my favorite concert so far.
that night some of us headed off the bed, but kelsey and i thought we'd stay up for some small-town pub time. we walked into one of the 3 pubs in town and there was live music playing and i started talking to someone who happened to grow up in Pitlochry, he was really nice! he bought us both drinks and we all talked for a long time about the US, England, Scotland, traveling, etc. And he was just soo kind, i still can't believe it. he kept saying to watch out for scottish men, and to just RUN if you come across a shady one. he studies medicine in edinbourgh and just made our night really lovely! such a friendly young chap.
saturday we had to leave pitlochry to meet up with the group in glasgow, we went to see the glasgow school of art which is designed soo interestingly by charles macintosh. i loved the building and i also loved the art created by charles' wife whose name i am forgetting at the moment, but her paintings were REALLY cool. i then got tea at the willow tea room (another building designed by macintosh). interesting fact though, there was a feminist lady (whose name i forget again! sorry) who opened the first tea house for women to go independent of their husbands to talk and enjoy time together. before this, only men could go places to talk about life/politics, and if a women tried going someplace on her own ppl would assume she's a prostitute. soo i felt very happy to be in one of these tea houses which was made with the purpose in mind of serving independent women. gotta love those early feminists.
saturday night we saw she stoops to conquer, which was really fun, and then went out on the town... but the big crowded places were so much less appealing after our quaint night in pitlochry! sunday we took off to Edinbourgh, saw the castle, hiked up arthur's seat for beautiful views and joyous winds that made you feel like you could fly right off the cliff if you even went on your tiptoes. and we took some fun jumping pictures up there! it was really fantastic. later that night i ate haggis, neeps and tatties (haggis is the gross intestines and other organs of various animals, neeps are turnips, and tatties are mashed potatoes!) complimented by some scottish whisky (had to try it at least!) from a distillery just north of pitlochry. needless to say i enjoyed the meal thoroughly and ate everything clean off my plate.
sunday night may have been the highlight (so many highlights!) we went to see a scottish folk singer who is chinese by blood but totally scottish, has lived her for a long time, and plays some of the best scottish songs i've heard! he had the thick accent and a perfect singing voice and got the whole pub singing and dancing. after building some confidence and seeing that he let other musicians play a song or two, i asked him if i could play one! i got up and played railroad track and just let loose and had so much fun playing it, i wasn't nervous at all, i felt like part of the crowd like these people were lifting the song right out of my lungs and dancing around in the airwaves. it was really a thrill, i loved it and got to know lots of ppl after i played! i want to go back there so badly! i might make it during spring break.
monday we got up reallly early and took a train back to england, to the lakes district where william wordsworth lived and spent time writing beautiful poetry. we stopped in keswick and happened to get on TV! they were filming a news special about keswick becoming a fair trade town, selling only fair trade coffee and other things. so we ran through a white banner pretending to run to the coffee shops to get coffee and then wondered to where we needed to go next -- the LAKES. the lakes were so beautiful!! we walked around one of them and off into the valley where we sat and ate digestive biscuits (they are everywhere in england, and much tastier than they sound) and grapes. apparently the graphite in pencils was discovered in keswick, so it really IS an important town with a pencil museum and everything :). We accidentally took a bus the wrong way and it was downpouring and we got off and stayed at a hotel for an hour til the next bus came and took us to Grasmere, where wordsworth is buried, and such a beautiful town!! surrounded by mountains and lakes. they had some really good gingerbread too. but it was downpouring there as well! we then went to the final stop and windmere, got some chinese food and took the train all the way back to london.
it was the best weekend i've had, as you can see from the amazingness of it all that i attempted to capture in words. this week's highlight was going to see the importance of being earnest last night, AND going to an open mic called "the star" where i sang two songs (flashing yellow lights, and found a love), and met some sweet musicians with some really good tunes. now its the weekend again and i'm going to go to a market and to work (i know, i actually have homework for once in my life) at a coffee shop. tomorrow is cambridge, and sunday we're going to stonehenge and bath! enjoy your extra day of life today!
Love,
jo
Last week I went to the V&A (Victoria and Albert) Museum and discussed the Great Exhibition in class, and explored around the other exhibits including a really amazing one of musical instruments from different time periods, they had some of the most beautifully made guitars i've ever seen! some had delicate carvings in the sound hole that looked brittle enough to break, like those paper cut out snowflakes you make out of tissue paper -- but carved out of wood! there were also tons of instruments i'd never heard of, most of them resembling a cello or violin but very different! This museum is meant for the public to be able to walk through and see all the different fashions and inventions from around the world after 1500. So its huge and has tons of collections from all over the place (and its FREE so i can go back whenever i want).
wednesday night we went to see a midsummer night's dream (again!) but this time it was in a warehouse and much more intimate (the actors/actresses were walking through the audience). I really liked the movement in this piece, the fairies were really creepy and moved like strange and curious creatures which i thought was cool! thursday night we saw the Mikado, maybe i was just a little too exhausted for this one but i really didn't enjoy it all that much! it was really funny though, an absurd opera (operetto) about japanese ppl in a town with laws against flirting with lots of plot twists. it was fun, i just didn't fall in love with it.
then we have FRIDAY -- a 615 train through the east coast of england all the way to northern scotland, the most beautiful train ride i've taken, we went by small towns and along the cost of england and scotland and it was just breathtaking. we arrived in the small town of Pitlochry (population 900), and immediately loved it. there were 7 of us and we wondered up a big hill to our hostel with a great view overlooking the town nestled inbetween huge hills and "mountains" (not the big tall snowy kind, but the kind that are too big to be called hills). i have at least 7 pages of journaling about pitlochry alone. it was just so nice to be in a small place where you can only hear the wind blowing by and there is no such thing as traffic, where ppl actually notice you when you walk into a pub and they say hello! we got dinner at a pub with some of the best mashed potatoes i've had in a long time. then we went to the festival theatre for a fiddle concert. it was sooo perfect. Pete Clark is the mans name and i think his songs are available on the web (search pete clark and scotland music). the show was in the foyer of the festival theatre so we sat at tables and had tea while listening to this incredible fiddle player playing some of the most joyful and most heartbreaking songs, I was totally clued in the whole time, esp when he added a fantastic classical/jazz guitarist to his set who was soo incredible! this was my favorite concert so far.
that night some of us headed off the bed, but kelsey and i thought we'd stay up for some small-town pub time. we walked into one of the 3 pubs in town and there was live music playing and i started talking to someone who happened to grow up in Pitlochry, he was really nice! he bought us both drinks and we all talked for a long time about the US, England, Scotland, traveling, etc. And he was just soo kind, i still can't believe it. he kept saying to watch out for scottish men, and to just RUN if you come across a shady one. he studies medicine in edinbourgh and just made our night really lovely! such a friendly young chap.
saturday we had to leave pitlochry to meet up with the group in glasgow, we went to see the glasgow school of art which is designed soo interestingly by charles macintosh. i loved the building and i also loved the art created by charles' wife whose name i am forgetting at the moment, but her paintings were REALLY cool. i then got tea at the willow tea room (another building designed by macintosh). interesting fact though, there was a feminist lady (whose name i forget again! sorry) who opened the first tea house for women to go independent of their husbands to talk and enjoy time together. before this, only men could go places to talk about life/politics, and if a women tried going someplace on her own ppl would assume she's a prostitute. soo i felt very happy to be in one of these tea houses which was made with the purpose in mind of serving independent women. gotta love those early feminists.
saturday night we saw she stoops to conquer, which was really fun, and then went out on the town... but the big crowded places were so much less appealing after our quaint night in pitlochry! sunday we took off to Edinbourgh, saw the castle, hiked up arthur's seat for beautiful views and joyous winds that made you feel like you could fly right off the cliff if you even went on your tiptoes. and we took some fun jumping pictures up there! it was really fantastic. later that night i ate haggis, neeps and tatties (haggis is the gross intestines and other organs of various animals, neeps are turnips, and tatties are mashed potatoes!) complimented by some scottish whisky (had to try it at least!) from a distillery just north of pitlochry. needless to say i enjoyed the meal thoroughly and ate everything clean off my plate.
sunday night may have been the highlight (so many highlights!) we went to see a scottish folk singer who is chinese by blood but totally scottish, has lived her for a long time, and plays some of the best scottish songs i've heard! he had the thick accent and a perfect singing voice and got the whole pub singing and dancing. after building some confidence and seeing that he let other musicians play a song or two, i asked him if i could play one! i got up and played railroad track and just let loose and had so much fun playing it, i wasn't nervous at all, i felt like part of the crowd like these people were lifting the song right out of my lungs and dancing around in the airwaves. it was really a thrill, i loved it and got to know lots of ppl after i played! i want to go back there so badly! i might make it during spring break.
monday we got up reallly early and took a train back to england, to the lakes district where william wordsworth lived and spent time writing beautiful poetry. we stopped in keswick and happened to get on TV! they were filming a news special about keswick becoming a fair trade town, selling only fair trade coffee and other things. so we ran through a white banner pretending to run to the coffee shops to get coffee and then wondered to where we needed to go next -- the LAKES. the lakes were so beautiful!! we walked around one of them and off into the valley where we sat and ate digestive biscuits (they are everywhere in england, and much tastier than they sound) and grapes. apparently the graphite in pencils was discovered in keswick, so it really IS an important town with a pencil museum and everything :). We accidentally took a bus the wrong way and it was downpouring and we got off and stayed at a hotel for an hour til the next bus came and took us to Grasmere, where wordsworth is buried, and such a beautiful town!! surrounded by mountains and lakes. they had some really good gingerbread too. but it was downpouring there as well! we then went to the final stop and windmere, got some chinese food and took the train all the way back to london.
it was the best weekend i've had, as you can see from the amazingness of it all that i attempted to capture in words. this week's highlight was going to see the importance of being earnest last night, AND going to an open mic called "the star" where i sang two songs (flashing yellow lights, and found a love), and met some sweet musicians with some really good tunes. now its the weekend again and i'm going to go to a market and to work (i know, i actually have homework for once in my life) at a coffee shop. tomorrow is cambridge, and sunday we're going to stonehenge and bath! enjoy your extra day of life today!
Love,
jo
Monday, February 18, 2008
The Cotswolds
The way I travel is very... free-form. I sort of take the days as they come and welcome adventures, strangers, etc. On one of the many plane trips I took over christmas break (i believe this one was on my way to AZ, but not totally sure), the man sitting next to me showed me pictures of his travels and I told him I would be traveling to England and asked if he had any recommendations. He wrote on a sheet of paper and told me numerous times to go to Cotswold, claiming it to be the most beautiful place in england. I proceeded to joke about Cotswold (trying to say it really british, and refer to it as where i was going to day instead of, the beach or whatever). So the name has stuck with me.
Meanwhile, I signed up for a HOST weekend visit, which basically means I apply and get matched with a family/person in england to stay with for the weekend. My person was Elizabeth, an extremely kind old woman who lives alone in Oxfordshire. So I took the bus to oxford expecting her to live in oxford, she picked me up there and we drove way out into the country where the air is crispy cold and we arrived at her little stone cottage in the village of little barrington (population-30?) where I spent a weekend in what is known as the Cotswolds. Rolling hills, beautiful views, farmland, sheep, nice people, old churches, rivers, streams, and lots of beauty. I love when these things come around in this way. How I can intend on going somewhere and somehow end up just in the right place without knowing it until I am there.
Highlights of the weekend included: lemon and honey for my sore throat (freshly squeezed), having tea 5+ times a day, walking the hills of farms in big rubber boots, seeing beautiful stained glass in amazing churches still being used by the village ppl today, having a proper sunday brunch, riding in the back of a pick up truck up a giant hill and walking down catching so many beautiful views, playing guitar for 3 women in their 70's, and 2 children under 10, teaching elizabeth to use something called a "DVD player." :)
And the ultimate low of this week is... drumroll... i left my jacket in the cotswolds at that lovely farmhouse i had sunday lunch at, and now i do not have a jacket, wallet, keys, oyster card, camera, hat, gloves, -- nothin! today i wore so many shirts and sweaters i looked like a stuffed animal from the waste up and i got locked out of my flat, but luckily there are many free museums nearby so maybe it was best that i ended up at the victoria and albert museum. i hope to receive this jacket in the mail very soon, and then write thank you letters promptly for all the inconvenience it caused.
riccardo and i worked on a new song today where we both tried desperately to communicate in a song what its like to go someplace to try to relax and end up having thoughts of someone you still love who has moved on from you come back into your brain--the cruelty of a break up. he said in italian they say an expression which means you scratch your head in order to get rid of the thoughts inside of it. i don't think this translates so well into a song in english but ironically we've both had problems with itchy skin so it made for some laughs.
last week i found an amazing open mic night at a place called "The Sun" and i will be going back again for sure. it reminded me of college perk, and had a great vibe and pretty good talent as well. thursday night riccardo had a show and i made it to the second half after seeing an incredible string quartet do berg, schubert, and bach pieces. he did a great job! i sang with him on one song and met cool people from poland and italy and learned a few more italian words.
i now have a higher appreciation for the luxury of our oyster cards and can't wait to get my coat back for warmth and free transportation! i'm going out for thai food tonight though, because spencer convinced me and it will make me happy and warm inside even if i don't have a coat!
so much love to all of you, take care,
jo
Meanwhile, I signed up for a HOST weekend visit, which basically means I apply and get matched with a family/person in england to stay with for the weekend. My person was Elizabeth, an extremely kind old woman who lives alone in Oxfordshire. So I took the bus to oxford expecting her to live in oxford, she picked me up there and we drove way out into the country where the air is crispy cold and we arrived at her little stone cottage in the village of little barrington (population-30?) where I spent a weekend in what is known as the Cotswolds. Rolling hills, beautiful views, farmland, sheep, nice people, old churches, rivers, streams, and lots of beauty. I love when these things come around in this way. How I can intend on going somewhere and somehow end up just in the right place without knowing it until I am there.
Highlights of the weekend included: lemon and honey for my sore throat (freshly squeezed), having tea 5+ times a day, walking the hills of farms in big rubber boots, seeing beautiful stained glass in amazing churches still being used by the village ppl today, having a proper sunday brunch, riding in the back of a pick up truck up a giant hill and walking down catching so many beautiful views, playing guitar for 3 women in their 70's, and 2 children under 10, teaching elizabeth to use something called a "DVD player." :)
And the ultimate low of this week is... drumroll... i left my jacket in the cotswolds at that lovely farmhouse i had sunday lunch at, and now i do not have a jacket, wallet, keys, oyster card, camera, hat, gloves, -- nothin! today i wore so many shirts and sweaters i looked like a stuffed animal from the waste up and i got locked out of my flat, but luckily there are many free museums nearby so maybe it was best that i ended up at the victoria and albert museum. i hope to receive this jacket in the mail very soon, and then write thank you letters promptly for all the inconvenience it caused.
riccardo and i worked on a new song today where we both tried desperately to communicate in a song what its like to go someplace to try to relax and end up having thoughts of someone you still love who has moved on from you come back into your brain--the cruelty of a break up. he said in italian they say an expression which means you scratch your head in order to get rid of the thoughts inside of it. i don't think this translates so well into a song in english but ironically we've both had problems with itchy skin so it made for some laughs.
last week i found an amazing open mic night at a place called "The Sun" and i will be going back again for sure. it reminded me of college perk, and had a great vibe and pretty good talent as well. thursday night riccardo had a show and i made it to the second half after seeing an incredible string quartet do berg, schubert, and bach pieces. he did a great job! i sang with him on one song and met cool people from poland and italy and learned a few more italian words.
i now have a higher appreciation for the luxury of our oyster cards and can't wait to get my coat back for warmth and free transportation! i'm going out for thai food tonight though, because spencer convinced me and it will make me happy and warm inside even if i don't have a coat!
so much love to all of you, take care,
jo
Sunday, February 10, 2008
sunburnt, full, and happy
This week was action packed! Which is why I probably haven't been to the blog for 6 whole days. Valentine's day is coming and couples seem to be displaying their love for one another everywhere I go! Maybe I'll have some lucky encounter between now and Thursday involving roses and dinner --- okay probably not! But I am happy, tonight we made MORE crepes and I just had a great filling of triple chocolate icecream. If I had a pound for every pound of food/drink I consume, I'd be a very rich lady! Too bad it works the other way around...
I won't bore you trying to recap every day, but I will tell you some highlights! Saving the best for last. Tuesday we went to Rational Rec, which is the arts event put on by my music teacher Matthew, and Spencer who is interning with him! It was really bizarre and VERY different, there was a song that involved the audience collectively making "raspberries" or loud fart sounds! All of the composers are classically trained but they seemed to have taken to a different path of exploration in their music writing. I can't say I enjoyed it, but it made me think a lot about art and what the purpose of music is/can be. One French woman wrote a score of music on a huge posterboard that involved the guitarist going down an avenue and different buildings represented different guitar effects/pieces of music. So the path changes depend on who is playing the piece. It was a really cool idea! I'm glad that venue exists for progressive thinking in the composer/performer world.
Wednesday I saw the INCREDIBLE Cirque du Soliel! We bought standing room, matinee tickets and ended up getting SEATS in the second row of the circle, which is eye level with all of the high-up acrobatics! It was sooo incredible and beautiful! I was really nervous for some of the people because they were SO high up hanging on one rope with one hand! It was incredible though, they defied everything I thought was possible for human beings, and flew around gracefully and magistically (when i would be PANICKING for fear of my life!). Then I went to see "James Son of James" a theatre production put on by professional dancers, which I loved. It was sort of a dark comedy, and it was opening night so they had an open discussion with the performers. I loved how they expressed the plot/emotions through dance in certain moments. I really really enjoyed it.
Thursday we all went to see Messiaen's Tarangalilia Symphony played by the London Philharmonia. I had a hard time falling in love with this piece because it jumps around so frequently, but by the 8th movement I was "moved" it all just came together and was so passionate and incredible and the conductor looked like he was moving the ocean into a magnificent storm with his body! It was amazing, I felt like crying afterwards. Instead, we went to the a pub/restaurant on a boat for Matthew's Birthday! They had a great view of the city on the Thames.
Friday I met with Riccardo/Orrin and we discussed songwriting and lyric writing and it was really fantastic. I'm excited to work more on this, hopefully Riccardo will write something in Italian which we will work together to translate. Friday night I saw the first play that I geniunely did NOT like at ALL! It was supposed to be a comedy but wasn't that funny, and I didn't get anything good out of it, I left feeling sorry for the company that they spent so much time and energy putting on such a bad play! Anyways--
SATURDAY -- the biggest highlight. I went to Dover with 6 others, and it was beautiful! We hiked up to the castle and decided not to pay 7.50 to get in, and went to the white cliffs instead... except they didn't have a marked path to the cliffs, so we ended up hiking through the woods, crossing a highway, going underneath a used-to-be barbed wire fence, and hiking up a huge hill to arrive in the beautiful rolling hills where we continued to hike and take sooo many pictures. it was SO beautiful! We could see france from the cliffs. And if we had passports, we may have just taken the ferry over there! It was so so beautiful, the pictures will do the talking for me on this one. Spending all day outside on the crystal clear day I actually got SUNBURNT in ENGLAND in February! Quite an accomplishment I'd say. The night ended with italian food at La Scala and a walk to the waterfront under the stars, touched the channel! :)
Today I was tired and went to the park and fell asleep in the sun and wrote some letters, and went to the Chinese New Year Celebration at Trafalgar square. Dragon Dances, fireworks, and cheap chinese food were the highlights! I hope you all have a lovely week! I'll let you know how the next couple days go!
Love,
Jodi
I won't bore you trying to recap every day, but I will tell you some highlights! Saving the best for last. Tuesday we went to Rational Rec, which is the arts event put on by my music teacher Matthew, and Spencer who is interning with him! It was really bizarre and VERY different, there was a song that involved the audience collectively making "raspberries" or loud fart sounds! All of the composers are classically trained but they seemed to have taken to a different path of exploration in their music writing. I can't say I enjoyed it, but it made me think a lot about art and what the purpose of music is/can be. One French woman wrote a score of music on a huge posterboard that involved the guitarist going down an avenue and different buildings represented different guitar effects/pieces of music. So the path changes depend on who is playing the piece. It was a really cool idea! I'm glad that venue exists for progressive thinking in the composer/performer world.
Wednesday I saw the INCREDIBLE Cirque du Soliel! We bought standing room, matinee tickets and ended up getting SEATS in the second row of the circle, which is eye level with all of the high-up acrobatics! It was sooo incredible and beautiful! I was really nervous for some of the people because they were SO high up hanging on one rope with one hand! It was incredible though, they defied everything I thought was possible for human beings, and flew around gracefully and magistically (when i would be PANICKING for fear of my life!). Then I went to see "James Son of James" a theatre production put on by professional dancers, which I loved. It was sort of a dark comedy, and it was opening night so they had an open discussion with the performers. I loved how they expressed the plot/emotions through dance in certain moments. I really really enjoyed it.
Thursday we all went to see Messiaen's Tarangalilia Symphony played by the London Philharmonia. I had a hard time falling in love with this piece because it jumps around so frequently, but by the 8th movement I was "moved" it all just came together and was so passionate and incredible and the conductor looked like he was moving the ocean into a magnificent storm with his body! It was amazing, I felt like crying afterwards. Instead, we went to the a pub/restaurant on a boat for Matthew's Birthday! They had a great view of the city on the Thames.
Friday I met with Riccardo/Orrin and we discussed songwriting and lyric writing and it was really fantastic. I'm excited to work more on this, hopefully Riccardo will write something in Italian which we will work together to translate. Friday night I saw the first play that I geniunely did NOT like at ALL! It was supposed to be a comedy but wasn't that funny, and I didn't get anything good out of it, I left feeling sorry for the company that they spent so much time and energy putting on such a bad play! Anyways--
SATURDAY -- the biggest highlight. I went to Dover with 6 others, and it was beautiful! We hiked up to the castle and decided not to pay 7.50 to get in, and went to the white cliffs instead... except they didn't have a marked path to the cliffs, so we ended up hiking through the woods, crossing a highway, going underneath a used-to-be barbed wire fence, and hiking up a huge hill to arrive in the beautiful rolling hills where we continued to hike and take sooo many pictures. it was SO beautiful! We could see france from the cliffs. And if we had passports, we may have just taken the ferry over there! It was so so beautiful, the pictures will do the talking for me on this one. Spending all day outside on the crystal clear day I actually got SUNBURNT in ENGLAND in February! Quite an accomplishment I'd say. The night ended with italian food at La Scala and a walk to the waterfront under the stars, touched the channel! :)
Today I was tired and went to the park and fell asleep in the sun and wrote some letters, and went to the Chinese New Year Celebration at Trafalgar square. Dragon Dances, fireworks, and cheap chinese food were the highlights! I hope you all have a lovely week! I'll let you know how the next couple days go!
Love,
Jodi
Monday, February 4, 2008
Homemade Crepes & Beautiful Days
This morning I ran out of bread (well.. it was moldy), and i had no cereal, but I DID have eggs, milk, butter, and flower, which is ALL you need to make crepes! So what began as a desperate situation turned into the best breakfast I've had in a long time, complimented by strawberry jelly, cinnamon and sugar mix, and, yes you saw this coming -- nutella! mmm mmm, i guess it was more of a desert than a light breakfast, but that is ok with me! The irony is that tomorrow in london there is a huge pancake-flipping relay race (pancakes in london=crepes). this tradition started in london on Tuesday because it is the day before lent, and it is the last day people can eat milk and eggs, and crepes are perfect for using up the last of the milk and eggs! So i found this especially appropriate.
This weekend I went to Borough Market and wondered around the streets of london in the sunshine! I also went to an art exhibit on sleeping and dreaming which was really interesting. One of the many free art museums in London, making it so easy to walk in for an hour or two and then carry on with something else.
I've been meeting with Riccardo a LOT lately. We finished writing a song together called "Let it Out" which may be posted soon on his and maybe my myspace (www.myspace.com/riccardolopez). It's a fun acoustic song with a rock and roll feel to it, really straight forward and punchy! I like it.
So I met with him sunday from 12-5pm, and today from 12-5pm! Sunday night I went to Camden to a cuban bar/club for salsa dancing! We made it back in time for the Superbowl! which began at 11pm for us, and was definitely not the same because there were NO commercials! Which is half the fun of the superbowl. I actually don't even know who won. I fell asleep around 1am and haven't heard the news. (ok i just asked someone, sounds like a really exciting game!! NY won!) You have to be really dedicated to stay up til 4am watching the superbowl in london without any commercials.
okay i'm getting a little sleepy! i just had my first real assignment for school! I wrote a report on Robert and Elizabeth Browning and I'm going to speak about them tomorrow at the portrait gallery in front of their portraits! Pretty cool, huh? I'm going to bed though, I'll write more about their interesting lives later!
Jodi
This weekend I went to Borough Market and wondered around the streets of london in the sunshine! I also went to an art exhibit on sleeping and dreaming which was really interesting. One of the many free art museums in London, making it so easy to walk in for an hour or two and then carry on with something else.
I've been meeting with Riccardo a LOT lately. We finished writing a song together called "Let it Out" which may be posted soon on his and maybe my myspace (www.myspace.com/riccardolopez). It's a fun acoustic song with a rock and roll feel to it, really straight forward and punchy! I like it.
So I met with him sunday from 12-5pm, and today from 12-5pm! Sunday night I went to Camden to a cuban bar/club for salsa dancing! We made it back in time for the Superbowl! which began at 11pm for us, and was definitely not the same because there were NO commercials! Which is half the fun of the superbowl. I actually don't even know who won. I fell asleep around 1am and haven't heard the news. (ok i just asked someone, sounds like a really exciting game!! NY won!) You have to be really dedicated to stay up til 4am watching the superbowl in london without any commercials.
okay i'm getting a little sleepy! i just had my first real assignment for school! I wrote a report on Robert and Elizabeth Browning and I'm going to speak about them tomorrow at the portrait gallery in front of their portraits! Pretty cool, huh? I'm going to bed though, I'll write more about their interesting lives later!
Jodi
Friday, February 1, 2008
are you SERIOUS??
Hey everyone,
I just get shocked every now and again at how my life is here. This week I went to Hampton Court, ate lunch in one of the most beautiful gardens (which i'm sure is even more beautiful when the green fields are colored by the spring bulbs... some which were confused and already sprung in January!) Monday I met Riccardo Lopez, italian singer-songwriter who I'll be working with an promoting. Since then we've met twice and almost finished writing a song together! He's a lot of fun and a great person to be working with.
Tuesday I had art class, in the national gallery... I looked at some van eyck paintings which were pretty amazing! the detail he gets is just ridiculous. Next week we meet in the portrait gallery.
Wednesday I met with Riccardo and worked on music and then went to a comedy club for an improv show, which was hilarious! I did wish though that there had been some females up on stage, i thought the humor could have been a little more interesting with some women up there -- but it was still really really funny and i'd love to go again. they have a pretty good student discount. tessa and i were brave and sat in the front row! nothing terrible happened to us either,just a great view and good times.
Thursday I had a busy day! Unfortunately my guitar had a little injury and I needed to get it patched up. Luckily it wasn't too expensive, but i carried it through the wind and rain to Denmark street, the ultimate guitar street, there must have been 9 different guitar stores, so when it came to getting a repair job done... i just went door to door til i found someone who was available. its a cool area, i might do an open mic over there some time! Thursday night we went to see a midsummer night's dream, the opera by britten. It was really really wild to see that production as an opera. It was also atonal, but i thought it worked pretty well. i will post more pictures soon (just not tonight) and you can see part of the set i got a picture of (probably illegally).
Today I picked up my guitar at the shop and met with Riccardo and Orrin. Its really fun working with these two. Writing songs is fun! And tonight i saw dido queen of carthage in the kensington palace, which was really cool! we got to walk through the royal apartments and sit at the dining room table during this production. the actors communicated some with the audience and it was really really intense and tragic! a really cool experience though. i just feel soo weird sometimes when i think of all the wild things i get to do here! its really awesome but i already have no idea how i'll go back to living in the states doing something remotely normal, instead of going out night after night to see amazing productions at the expense of this program. studying abroad is awesome. i just feel very privileged to be here -- thank you mom and dad!!
i need to get new pictures up, give me til the end of the weekend. i hope you all are well!! send me some mail if you feel inspired to, i'd love to hear about your life:
Jodi McLaren
Metrogate House
3-7 Queens Gate Terrace
London, SW7 5PE
Take care everyone!
Jodi
I just get shocked every now and again at how my life is here. This week I went to Hampton Court, ate lunch in one of the most beautiful gardens (which i'm sure is even more beautiful when the green fields are colored by the spring bulbs... some which were confused and already sprung in January!) Monday I met Riccardo Lopez, italian singer-songwriter who I'll be working with an promoting. Since then we've met twice and almost finished writing a song together! He's a lot of fun and a great person to be working with.
Tuesday I had art class, in the national gallery... I looked at some van eyck paintings which were pretty amazing! the detail he gets is just ridiculous. Next week we meet in the portrait gallery.
Wednesday I met with Riccardo and worked on music and then went to a comedy club for an improv show, which was hilarious! I did wish though that there had been some females up on stage, i thought the humor could have been a little more interesting with some women up there -- but it was still really really funny and i'd love to go again. they have a pretty good student discount. tessa and i were brave and sat in the front row! nothing terrible happened to us either,just a great view and good times.
Thursday I had a busy day! Unfortunately my guitar had a little injury and I needed to get it patched up. Luckily it wasn't too expensive, but i carried it through the wind and rain to Denmark street, the ultimate guitar street, there must have been 9 different guitar stores, so when it came to getting a repair job done... i just went door to door til i found someone who was available. its a cool area, i might do an open mic over there some time! Thursday night we went to see a midsummer night's dream, the opera by britten. It was really really wild to see that production as an opera. It was also atonal, but i thought it worked pretty well. i will post more pictures soon (just not tonight) and you can see part of the set i got a picture of (probably illegally).
Today I picked up my guitar at the shop and met with Riccardo and Orrin. Its really fun working with these two. Writing songs is fun! And tonight i saw dido queen of carthage in the kensington palace, which was really cool! we got to walk through the royal apartments and sit at the dining room table during this production. the actors communicated some with the audience and it was really really intense and tragic! a really cool experience though. i just feel soo weird sometimes when i think of all the wild things i get to do here! its really awesome but i already have no idea how i'll go back to living in the states doing something remotely normal, instead of going out night after night to see amazing productions at the expense of this program. studying abroad is awesome. i just feel very privileged to be here -- thank you mom and dad!!
i need to get new pictures up, give me til the end of the weekend. i hope you all are well!! send me some mail if you feel inspired to, i'd love to hear about your life:
Jodi McLaren
Metrogate House
3-7 Queens Gate Terrace
London, SW7 5PE
Take care everyone!
Jodi
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Burn's Night Celebration
Despite whatever idea of plans I had earlier in the day, they all completely changed when I learned that yesterday was Burn's Day -- a scottish poets birthday, which meant that many pubs across london were celebrating with a truly scottish celebration. I went to a pub called Rob Roys where some friends of mine had just finished eating dinner. I ate dinner at home to save money, but if I had known how much food I would be offered later that night I don't know if I would've made a point to go home. The celebration included various scottish assets. Cricket was playing on the TV (a game i've yet to understand), a man playing bagpipes walked through the tables, occasionally stopping for some sort of toast invovling the strongest whiskey i'd ever taken a sip of, this stuff just runs through your entire body and really "warms you up" i only tasted a sip of someone elses and it was so strong tasting! Later in the night one of the men wearing a scottish kilt recited a poem to everyone in front of a huge plate of haggis, if you haven't heard of this and are easily made sick to the stomach... skip over this description: its a collection of mostly lung and heart, and also kidney and liver and the fat from around organs all mixed together and typically served with mash and turnips. pretty gross ey?
but i tried it anyway! it was free for a big plate of haggis, buttery mashed potatoes, and turnips. it tasted okay... but the texture was really really hard to handle! chewy and pasty, but the taste itself was good. i don't know if i'd order it again, but i'm glad i tried it.
Later that night we went to brixton planning to hear an afro-latin quartet, but the place was packed and it was hard to hear the music. so we found yet another place celebrating burns night, this time with a whole scottish band and lots and lots of scottish dancing. not knowing how to dance the scottish way we mostly watched and clapped and listened, it was really nice though. i thought i'd re-cap that night just because it was so great! even though i'm in "england" there are so many nationalities that are celebrated here (example: today is aussie day!). but i think they don't much celebrate 4th of july for americans... ;) alright, i'm off to enjoy the SUN, yes its actually sunny here today!
jo
but i tried it anyway! it was free for a big plate of haggis, buttery mashed potatoes, and turnips. it tasted okay... but the texture was really really hard to handle! chewy and pasty, but the taste itself was good. i don't know if i'd order it again, but i'm glad i tried it.
Later that night we went to brixton planning to hear an afro-latin quartet, but the place was packed and it was hard to hear the music. so we found yet another place celebrating burns night, this time with a whole scottish band and lots and lots of scottish dancing. not knowing how to dance the scottish way we mostly watched and clapped and listened, it was really nice though. i thought i'd re-cap that night just because it was so great! even though i'm in "england" there are so many nationalities that are celebrated here (example: today is aussie day!). but i think they don't much celebrate 4th of july for americans... ;) alright, i'm off to enjoy the SUN, yes its actually sunny here today!
jo
Friday, January 25, 2008
Discovery of FREE events.
Thanks to the LC program, each of us are given a 90 pound stipend every thursday. I originally optimistically planned on saving a third of this money for traveling after the program... until I ran out of money very quickly! So yesterday was the lucky pay-day. And little me was sooo excited when someone announced they were going to see WICKED that night. I felt after saving so much money last week that I could give myself some treats this week, this is afterall a once in a lifetime chance to spend 4 months in london, so why should i spend it being so uptight and worried about money that isn't even coming out of my bank account?? I mean this money really has FUN written all over it (and art, and music, and food!) and so little needs to be said about how much money I now have of my stipend, I gladly let go of it for one of the best nights yet!
It started with buying the tickets, wondering around the city through hyde park and to the buckingham palace for some photos.. and then we all joined in for an italian dish, and i was impressed by andrew's sauce making skills! everyone pitched in some form of ingredients and we managed to have veggie cream sauce, chicken, pasta, salad (with dressing!) and some white wine. As if this weren't great enough, Dylan and I went in on fresh bread and i took a jar of nutella along. we ate a whole baguette, covered in nutella right before the show. and then the SHOW was magnificent. brought tears to my eyes, made me laugh, made me smile, and made me want to go see wicked every night of my life! soo i'm off to a good start this week!
Monday night dylan and i went to a blues jam session at a blues bar, and it was SO AMAZING (not to mention free). I will definitely be going back there for more blues, its good for the soul, and these guys are talented!
I'll do some quick re-capping. Tuesday I had my first art class and I was so delighted when I found out that we were all heading to the tube and having class at the british museum... not only that but all of our classes will be held at galleries and museums, a wonderful place to discuss art and artifacts is when you're feet away from the actual art objects themselves... getting the 360 view of marbles from the parthenon. we had a discussion about whether or not the marbles should be returned to greece, because a turkish ruler bought them a long time ago and sold them to the british museum... unlike the egyptian ruins which were basically stolen and put there. its worth thinking about, and trickier of an issue than it seems about where this art belongs (in a place like london in a free museum for ppl to see? or in the place where it is most historically significant?)
After class I walked around the gallery more, saw an exhibit on money, and mummies. and then i decided to walk home from hyde park (which is huge! and beautiful) and i stopped by the princess diana memorial fountain.. where supposedly crazy ppl go skinny dipping, but if you see it you'll be as confused as me because its basically a circular pool of rapids a foot or so deep.
Wednesday I had music class, which I really love, and later that night I went to an open mic night, my first open mic in london! it was really fun, two friends came along and i played my newest song and heard some really good acts. the power went off halfway through the show while someone was trying to read lyrics off of a page while playing, so someone held a candle up to help him... then we all had to leave for safety reasons because of the power outage! but it was a fun time. I'm off to meet with the music manager I'll be working with this semester. Tonight I'll be seeing more free music, this time of the afro-latin groove style. I'll report back later! Take care,
Jodi
It started with buying the tickets, wondering around the city through hyde park and to the buckingham palace for some photos.. and then we all joined in for an italian dish, and i was impressed by andrew's sauce making skills! everyone pitched in some form of ingredients and we managed to have veggie cream sauce, chicken, pasta, salad (with dressing!) and some white wine. As if this weren't great enough, Dylan and I went in on fresh bread and i took a jar of nutella along. we ate a whole baguette, covered in nutella right before the show. and then the SHOW was magnificent. brought tears to my eyes, made me laugh, made me smile, and made me want to go see wicked every night of my life! soo i'm off to a good start this week!
Monday night dylan and i went to a blues jam session at a blues bar, and it was SO AMAZING (not to mention free). I will definitely be going back there for more blues, its good for the soul, and these guys are talented!
I'll do some quick re-capping. Tuesday I had my first art class and I was so delighted when I found out that we were all heading to the tube and having class at the british museum... not only that but all of our classes will be held at galleries and museums, a wonderful place to discuss art and artifacts is when you're feet away from the actual art objects themselves... getting the 360 view of marbles from the parthenon. we had a discussion about whether or not the marbles should be returned to greece, because a turkish ruler bought them a long time ago and sold them to the british museum... unlike the egyptian ruins which were basically stolen and put there. its worth thinking about, and trickier of an issue than it seems about where this art belongs (in a place like london in a free museum for ppl to see? or in the place where it is most historically significant?)
After class I walked around the gallery more, saw an exhibit on money, and mummies. and then i decided to walk home from hyde park (which is huge! and beautiful) and i stopped by the princess diana memorial fountain.. where supposedly crazy ppl go skinny dipping, but if you see it you'll be as confused as me because its basically a circular pool of rapids a foot or so deep.
Wednesday I had music class, which I really love, and later that night I went to an open mic night, my first open mic in london! it was really fun, two friends came along and i played my newest song and heard some really good acts. the power went off halfway through the show while someone was trying to read lyrics off of a page while playing, so someone held a candle up to help him... then we all had to leave for safety reasons because of the power outage! but it was a fun time. I'm off to meet with the music manager I'll be working with this semester. Tonight I'll be seeing more free music, this time of the afro-latin groove style. I'll report back later! Take care,
Jodi
Sunday, January 20, 2008
A day of punk rockers and ancient egyptians
Yesterday a few of us went to Camden Town which is known for being home of the punk rock scene. It is also home of a giant stretch of many many many different markets covered by numerous umbrellas. You sort of have to squeeze through from stand to stand to see all of the clothing and jewelry on display, but its an interesting experience! After going to every market stand imaginable, a few of us ate at an organic food store that reminded me of Portland. Then Dylan and I headed over to meet his brother Sean at the British Museum. I love this about London, you can be out and about shopping, wondering, eating lunch, and then you can decide to hop on the tube for a few minutes (or sometimes just walk down the street) and find yourself a free museum full of amazing art/artifacts.
So it went yesterday: from Camden market to the british museum I went. I posted some pictures because unlike every other museum or famous church in London, you actually can take pictures at the British Museum. So I have a picture of the Rosetta Stone, which was quite remarkable to see! Everything there was wild, things from over 3,000 years ago, still here on earth while the people and their language and their customs have all died and been returned to the earth in indistinguishable forms. There is a recreation of the Parthenon, and many many many other things in even the small portion of the museum I perused. I admit that I didn't retain all of the information of the things I saw and even took pictures of! But I thought of the opportunity to take pictures as a way to appreciate these ancient ruins as an art form, so I hope you like the few photos I've got posted.
Since the last post I saw Stomp, which was a rhythmic world of its own! I found myself half-dreaming while it was going on, I thought it was because I was really tired, but I found the rest of the group had the same sleepy dreamlike feeling as well. They are absolutely incredibly coordinated and skilled! Thursday night we went to see a pantomime, which contrary to what I had pictured with silent actors walking around -- this was the most lively show I've been to! It was a modern day rendition of cinderella complete with audience participation (boos, awwws, cheers!, singing...) the evil step mom (a male cross-dresser) and a really hilarious spin on the whole story in general.
Friday we went to the Borough Market and OH MY GOODNESS! they have the BEST food ever, not that I could afford any of it, but thanks to countless free samples of fine cheeses, teas, olive oils, dips, sausages, sweets, hummus, (you name it-- they had it!) I got to enjoy it all! So that was something I'd love to go to again, because who doesn't love tasting a little bit of delicious food for free?? I also went to the Globe Theatre recreation, and then to Brixton where the afro-carribean community lives. They had markets there and a completely different vibe than central london. Friday night I went to a club that played punk/indie rock, the crowd was a little older but Kelsey and I made the most of the experience. Last night I was out way too late at a club called "the big chill house" a bunch of us went and even though it was crowded and sort of hectic i think we all had a really good time dancing and meeting people. I'm still navigating the whole club scene, looking for the right types to go to!
Today I'm heading back to westminster abbey to hear "evensong" a free choral church service, followed by an organ recital. I can't wait, that place is sort of magical (and sort of creepy with all the dead people buried all around, but it IS still amazing). Thanks for sticking with this post! Take Care,
Jo
So it went yesterday: from Camden market to the british museum I went. I posted some pictures because unlike every other museum or famous church in London, you actually can take pictures at the British Museum. So I have a picture of the Rosetta Stone, which was quite remarkable to see! Everything there was wild, things from over 3,000 years ago, still here on earth while the people and their language and their customs have all died and been returned to the earth in indistinguishable forms. There is a recreation of the Parthenon, and many many many other things in even the small portion of the museum I perused. I admit that I didn't retain all of the information of the things I saw and even took pictures of! But I thought of the opportunity to take pictures as a way to appreciate these ancient ruins as an art form, so I hope you like the few photos I've got posted.
Since the last post I saw Stomp, which was a rhythmic world of its own! I found myself half-dreaming while it was going on, I thought it was because I was really tired, but I found the rest of the group had the same sleepy dreamlike feeling as well. They are absolutely incredibly coordinated and skilled! Thursday night we went to see a pantomime, which contrary to what I had pictured with silent actors walking around -- this was the most lively show I've been to! It was a modern day rendition of cinderella complete with audience participation (boos, awwws, cheers!, singing...) the evil step mom (a male cross-dresser) and a really hilarious spin on the whole story in general.
Friday we went to the Borough Market and OH MY GOODNESS! they have the BEST food ever, not that I could afford any of it, but thanks to countless free samples of fine cheeses, teas, olive oils, dips, sausages, sweets, hummus, (you name it-- they had it!) I got to enjoy it all! So that was something I'd love to go to again, because who doesn't love tasting a little bit of delicious food for free?? I also went to the Globe Theatre recreation, and then to Brixton where the afro-carribean community lives. They had markets there and a completely different vibe than central london. Friday night I went to a club that played punk/indie rock, the crowd was a little older but Kelsey and I made the most of the experience. Last night I was out way too late at a club called "the big chill house" a bunch of us went and even though it was crowded and sort of hectic i think we all had a really good time dancing and meeting people. I'm still navigating the whole club scene, looking for the right types to go to!
Today I'm heading back to westminster abbey to hear "evensong" a free choral church service, followed by an organ recital. I can't wait, that place is sort of magical (and sort of creepy with all the dead people buried all around, but it IS still amazing). Thanks for sticking with this post! Take Care,
Jo
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Class Begins, and I don't want time here to end
We had our first class today with Matthew, our Classical Music in 20th Century Britain class, and I love it! We created music in a circle, listened to 5 very different pieces, and talked about music, culture, and art. The discussion was so good, and its the first 3 hour class where I didn't take any notes AND felt completely linked in to the conversation. If all of our classes are anything close to as good as this one, I am going to LOVE waking up for school.
Monday night, while debating whether or not to buy tickets to a musical, I think it was Nathan who said: If you're going to go broke, you might as well go broke for watching musicals. And that sounded convincing enough! So I let go of 20 precious pound to see a fantastically hilarious and almost too crude, but ultimately great musical called Avenue Q. The play opens on Avenue Q where a nice looking young fellow moves there after getting a BA in English and doesn't know what to do with his life, he spends the play looking for purpose (this "person" is actually a muppet!). All the more reason to feel GREAT about my BA in English. The play was hilarious though, and well worth the $.
Tuesday our art class was canceled, so instead of class we got a tour of the Westminster Abbey, paid for by the program. Little did I know, Westminster Abbey is the burial ground for a LOT of different really famous people, to name a few: Isaac Newton, Handel, Chaucer, many many Kings and Queens, Charles Dickens, etc. The one tomb no one walks over (there are literally plaques above graves everywhere you walk), is the tomb of the unknown soldier, surrounded by poppies. I'd like to link you to a poem if you're interested about this idea: taking a representative body out of the war carnage to honor and commemorate all of the soldiers. (look up "body of an american" by Toomer). My english class readings from the past are making me so thankful now that I am here, there is so much to appreciate knowing!
Tuesday night we had a free dinner with all of the other schools on FIE programs. I met lots of other students and to my happiness, the dinner turned into a dance party, beginning with 90's US hits from middle school and highschool and sort of moving through time. It was a great way to spend the night, I stayed and danced soo much. Tuesday was also Andrew's 22nd birthday! So people were celebrating when I got back and we went back to the Churchill. I got some older british men to sing me beatles songs and our a capella group sang until the owner of the pub told us to quiet down, and the people in the pub were upset that we stopped singing and applauded us! It was really fun!
This afternoon I ate lunch in the kensington gardens and threw a frisbee around with dylan for a long time. It was a sunny, relatively warm afternoon and it felt good to be outside! Tonight we go to see STOMP! I'm going to make some dinner, I found some indian spices to put on vegetables, I'll see how it goes. I love you all back home and I hope things are going well in your perspective areas of life,
Jo
Monday night, while debating whether or not to buy tickets to a musical, I think it was Nathan who said: If you're going to go broke, you might as well go broke for watching musicals. And that sounded convincing enough! So I let go of 20 precious pound to see a fantastically hilarious and almost too crude, but ultimately great musical called Avenue Q. The play opens on Avenue Q where a nice looking young fellow moves there after getting a BA in English and doesn't know what to do with his life, he spends the play looking for purpose (this "person" is actually a muppet!). All the more reason to feel GREAT about my BA in English. The play was hilarious though, and well worth the $.
Tuesday our art class was canceled, so instead of class we got a tour of the Westminster Abbey, paid for by the program. Little did I know, Westminster Abbey is the burial ground for a LOT of different really famous people, to name a few: Isaac Newton, Handel, Chaucer, many many Kings and Queens, Charles Dickens, etc. The one tomb no one walks over (there are literally plaques above graves everywhere you walk), is the tomb of the unknown soldier, surrounded by poppies. I'd like to link you to a poem if you're interested about this idea: taking a representative body out of the war carnage to honor and commemorate all of the soldiers. (look up "body of an american" by Toomer). My english class readings from the past are making me so thankful now that I am here, there is so much to appreciate knowing!
Tuesday night we had a free dinner with all of the other schools on FIE programs. I met lots of other students and to my happiness, the dinner turned into a dance party, beginning with 90's US hits from middle school and highschool and sort of moving through time. It was a great way to spend the night, I stayed and danced soo much. Tuesday was also Andrew's 22nd birthday! So people were celebrating when I got back and we went back to the Churchill. I got some older british men to sing me beatles songs and our a capella group sang until the owner of the pub told us to quiet down, and the people in the pub were upset that we stopped singing and applauded us! It was really fun!
This afternoon I ate lunch in the kensington gardens and threw a frisbee around with dylan for a long time. It was a sunny, relatively warm afternoon and it felt good to be outside! Tonight we go to see STOMP! I'm going to make some dinner, I found some indian spices to put on vegetables, I'll see how it goes. I love you all back home and I hope things are going well in your perspective areas of life,
Jo
Monday, January 14, 2008
The Journey Begins!
I arrived into London Heathrow on Thursday January 10th at 5am, having had little sleep and already passed my first test: dealing with a cancelled flight, rebooking in boston, and navigating the giant airport to reconnect with the group! Despite the challenges, I arrived feeling proud of myself, a bit overwhelmed, and ultimately delighted by the british airways flight attendants and the complimentary red wine served with dinner (chicken and rice with tea and bread) -- so much better than my countless southwest flights of starvation!
Whats London like?? It's HUGE! Our neighborhood alone has SO much in it (Kensington Gardens, Kensington Palace, Royal Albert Hall, Victoria and Albert Museum, Natural History Museum ALL in walking distance!) So I've been busy.
Thursday was a tired blur, I fought to stay awake all day with no sleep. I am living in a flat with 18 other people, who I love, and living in a room with 4 of those people. All of us share a kitchen, and so far I've made Thai food that was delicious- - i love the grocery stores here because there is SO MUCH ethnic food for cheap! Thursday night we all went out to dinner using the number 9 bus into Trafalgar Square. The place was pretty crowded and it took a long time for all of us to get seated, 4 at a time. It was paid for though! So I ordered an 8oz steak, which I'll probably never eat again in london, not because it wasn't delicious but because I don't have that kind of $$(=single pound sign)!
Friday we had some orientation meetings and received the oyster card: free access to all of london via bus and tube! After the meeting I got my international cell phone set up and then headed off to meet Rachael Maddox, who was leaving for Florence the next morning! It was so nice to see her and talk for a few hours over sandwiches at a cafe and some comfy couches in the hotel. Friday night I went out to a pub called The Duke of York for my first beer in London (Stella) recommended to me by someone there. We read over the London paper and found out about some upcoming events!
Saturday we had a two hour walking tour followed by a 3 hour bus tour! I was very tired after that, but decided to make thai food and then go out to another pub recommended to us called The Churchill, which I loved! it was all wooden inside and very old with big pots hanging from the ceiling, not only did they have good london brewed beer, BUT they had a thai food menu!! soo i will be going back for dinner soon!
Sunday was another busy day, full of RUSSIA! In the morning I went to a Russian Orthodox Church and heard the most BEAUTIFUL choir, the songs brought tears to my eyes. I guess their choir has sang on lord of the rings soundtracks and stuff. But it was all a bunch of beautiful russian men and women and CUTE babies/children going to church! they all were such beautiful people. I took a nap after that and then went to Trafalgar Square for the Russian new year celebration!! Before entering the mad crowds, I decided to go to the Portrait Gallery where I saw faces like: William Shakespeare, John Donne, Chaucer, Milton, Mary Shelly, Virginia Woolf, SO many more, but I loved seeing those authors who I've spent so much time with in my literature classes right there painted like real people I could say hello to in their young age. ALSO we had our first star-spotting -- CHRIS ROCK walked right by me in the portrait gallery! it was so bizarre.
Around 530 we all took to the russian new year, just in time for the countdown (they were going by the time in russia) the new year consisted of a bunch of fake snow pumped into the sky and lots of yelling, chanting, and singing! After that a russian pop star took to the stage and it was soo great! an attractive russian man singing boy-band-ish songs with back up dancers to spare! We stayed until the metal band which was not worth staying for in terms of music quality considering the pain in my feet from walking all day but I'm glad I saw these old guys rocking out with mullets singing and playing their hearts out. Around 7 I gathered 2 friends and headed to a pub that plays films for a german film and dinner! I saw the lives of others, such a great film! So I heard more Russian and German than English yesterday, I like how international this city is.
Today I decided to make the move to make this blog! Pictures are coming and should be accessible on the right hand side. I'll write when I have amazing days like the past couple! Take care!
Jodi
Whats London like?? It's HUGE! Our neighborhood alone has SO much in it (Kensington Gardens, Kensington Palace, Royal Albert Hall, Victoria and Albert Museum, Natural History Museum ALL in walking distance!) So I've been busy.
Thursday was a tired blur, I fought to stay awake all day with no sleep. I am living in a flat with 18 other people, who I love, and living in a room with 4 of those people. All of us share a kitchen, and so far I've made Thai food that was delicious- - i love the grocery stores here because there is SO MUCH ethnic food for cheap! Thursday night we all went out to dinner using the number 9 bus into Trafalgar Square. The place was pretty crowded and it took a long time for all of us to get seated, 4 at a time. It was paid for though! So I ordered an 8oz steak, which I'll probably never eat again in london, not because it wasn't delicious but because I don't have that kind of $$(=single pound sign)!
Friday we had some orientation meetings and received the oyster card: free access to all of london via bus and tube! After the meeting I got my international cell phone set up and then headed off to meet Rachael Maddox, who was leaving for Florence the next morning! It was so nice to see her and talk for a few hours over sandwiches at a cafe and some comfy couches in the hotel. Friday night I went out to a pub called The Duke of York for my first beer in London (Stella) recommended to me by someone there. We read over the London paper and found out about some upcoming events!
Saturday we had a two hour walking tour followed by a 3 hour bus tour! I was very tired after that, but decided to make thai food and then go out to another pub recommended to us called The Churchill, which I loved! it was all wooden inside and very old with big pots hanging from the ceiling, not only did they have good london brewed beer, BUT they had a thai food menu!! soo i will be going back for dinner soon!
Sunday was another busy day, full of RUSSIA! In the morning I went to a Russian Orthodox Church and heard the most BEAUTIFUL choir, the songs brought tears to my eyes. I guess their choir has sang on lord of the rings soundtracks and stuff. But it was all a bunch of beautiful russian men and women and CUTE babies/children going to church! they all were such beautiful people. I took a nap after that and then went to Trafalgar Square for the Russian new year celebration!! Before entering the mad crowds, I decided to go to the Portrait Gallery where I saw faces like: William Shakespeare, John Donne, Chaucer, Milton, Mary Shelly, Virginia Woolf, SO many more, but I loved seeing those authors who I've spent so much time with in my literature classes right there painted like real people I could say hello to in their young age. ALSO we had our first star-spotting -- CHRIS ROCK walked right by me in the portrait gallery! it was so bizarre.
Around 530 we all took to the russian new year, just in time for the countdown (they were going by the time in russia) the new year consisted of a bunch of fake snow pumped into the sky and lots of yelling, chanting, and singing! After that a russian pop star took to the stage and it was soo great! an attractive russian man singing boy-band-ish songs with back up dancers to spare! We stayed until the metal band which was not worth staying for in terms of music quality considering the pain in my feet from walking all day but I'm glad I saw these old guys rocking out with mullets singing and playing their hearts out. Around 7 I gathered 2 friends and headed to a pub that plays films for a german film and dinner! I saw the lives of others, such a great film! So I heard more Russian and German than English yesterday, I like how international this city is.
Today I decided to make the move to make this blog! Pictures are coming and should be accessible on the right hand side. I'll write when I have amazing days like the past couple! Take care!
Jodi
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