Amsterdam!

Hello! I told you I would be better about posting, and I'm already making good on my word! I got into Amsterdam yesterday morning with John, Joe, Conor, Brian, and Mairea. Our hostel is called The Flying Pig, and lets just say that its bumpin'.
Amsterdam is pretty awesome, (and not just because of all the legal substances, dad). Its actually a gorgeous city, a lot like Bruges except much bigger. There are canals everywhere, and a separate lane on every road just for cyclists. Let me tell you, crossing roads was especially difficult, given that we had to avoid cars, trams, and bikes all at the same time.
Of course, we had to see the red light district. It was definitely not what I anticipated. I guess I expected the girls in the windows to look like gussied up eastern european penthouse bunnies. Instead, they looked like girls I could have gone to school with (minus the glow in the dark bikinis). What was even stranger was actually watching men walk up to the doors and bargain with the women. To us it was a huge spectacle, but it was obvious that, to the women, it was just business as usual.
Today was incredibly productive as ar as sight seeing goes, and I've already seen the Sex Museum (which was a mixture of porn, creepy manekins, and plastic butts that fart at you as you walk by), the Anne Frank House, and the FOAM, which is a photography museum. This last place was awesome, as it was featuring a Richard Avedon exhibition. I knew that I liked his work before I went in, but I definitely gained a huge appreciation for someone who can master portrait photography like he has.
So that is the summation of my travels thus far. The weather has been gorgeous, and today I was in constant sunshine ecstasy. We leave for Brussels sometime tomorrow, so you should hear an update soon!

p.s.- I won't be able to upload any pictures, since I'll usually be updating this in hostels. However, I'll try to edit the posts later on with pictures, for the full effect.

Hello! To anyone who has actually had the commitment to check for updates regularly, your efforts have finally paid off. I´m in Madrid!

Last night I had the ¨typical¨Spanish night out, which consisted of going out to dinner around 9, going out to a tapas bar until 1, and then going salsa dancing until 4. Except really it was past five, what with daylights savings. I am now sitting in my hostel with aching feet, a headache, and a wish for about 6 hours more sleep. Alas, Madrid waits for nobody, and today is going to be packed with museums and the like.

Yesterday we went to the Reina Sophia, which is the big modern art museum here, and I got to see Guernica, by Pablo Picasso. Be jealous.

So for everyone who doesn´t know, classes are over, and its time for my eurotrip! This Madrid excursion isn´t technically part of the trip, since I´m getting back to London Tuesday morning and getting on a plan to Amsterdam Wednesday morning. I´´ll try to update you on my travels whenever I can in my hostels. Until then, stay tuned!

In Bruges.

Greetings from Belgium. John and I recently got back from a weekend excursion to Bruges, a city in Northern Belgium famous for its canals. It is the best preserved medieval city in Europe, and you can't turn a corner without seeing a huge church or centuries-old houses. Needless to say, everything was absolutely gorgeous.

The first day was a lot of wandering and picture-taking. The only downfall to the weekend was how cold it was (as countries in Northern Europe tend be), but I think we braved it pretty well. I got a great shot of John in front of the only rays of sunshine that we got all day. For dinner, we attempted to go to a restaurant called The Hobbit (or, the equivalent in Dutch), but since we had no reservations, we were redirected to their sister restaurant across the road, called Tolkien. I don't know what the deal was with the Lord of the Rings obsession, but the food was great so I didn't bother to think about it much.

The next day, Valentines Day, was probably one of my favorite experiences in Europe thus far. For one, the weather was fabulous, and I got to enjoy the most constant sunlight I've seen in about a month and a half. We wandered into an old fashioned toy shop, and amused ourselves with beautifully carved wooden swords and shields and a wide array of puppets. Then we visited the candy shop across the street, where they roll out the candy on a hot table right in front of you. After that, a short stroll down the street (or straat, as we got in the habit of saying), we found a church that contained Michelangelo's Madonna and Child, one of the only Michelangelo pieces that you can find outside of Italy.

Soon after the church, John and I came across a canal that had a line of people sitting next it. We thought, 'is that a line for a restaurant? At 11 a.m.?' We soon realized that it was the line for boat tours (or, bootexcursies), and we took no time to join the line ourselves. The boat tour was awesome, and it gave us such a cool perspective of the city. It makes me wonder why all cities don't have canals...Manhattan could certainly use a few, they would spruce it right up.

After the boat tour, we decided to get some frites (fries) in the Mark't (main square). Right in front of the main cathedral there are two dinky little frite stands, that both claim to be the best in Bruges. We decided to do as the locals do, and each got our own frites from each stand. I still say that my stand's fries were way better (something to do with the seasoning), but John claims his were the best. Either way, they were delicious, and I've decided that mayonnaise on fries is basically the best combo in the world.

For dinner, John and I got dinner in a restaurant called Sacre Cour (Sacred Heart), ad got the Valentines Day treatment. For appetizer, there was carpaccio of tuna, which we later googled and found that it is raw tuna, thinly sliced. Believe me when I say that it was scrumptious. For the main course we had quail in a sweet grape sauce (sooo goood!), and for desert there was the Love Apple, which was a baked whole apple with raspberry sauce dribbled on top. All in all, one of the best meals I've had in a longgg long time.

The rest of the weekend was more sightseeing, more shivering, and more warming up in pubs. We actually got a drink in a pub called The Druids Cellar, which was apparently the regular pub for the cast and crew of In Bruges. It was honestly just your standard Irish bar, but it was cool to think that I could have been sitting at Colin Farrel's favorite table.

I'm in Brussels until Thursday, and then I'm off for Scotland on Friday! I'll be sure to post again about that whole adventure. 

Snow Day!.......so, no excuses

Here are a few things I love about this country:

1) We get about 4 inches of snow, and everyone freaks out and cancels classes.

2) French fries come with EVERYTHING. So do peas.

3) Old men in pubs compliment me on my "healthy complexion"

4) cookies are called "digestives"

5) The tube. (usually)

6) You can get breakfast and curry all day, everywhere. 

7) People ask, "Are you all right?" as a way of saying "What's up?"

8) The free gossip newspapers they pass out to you at every tube station

9) Ridiculous street names such as "Goodge Street", "Tooting Broadway", and "Mudchute Road"

10) Markets where I can get black leather combat boots, a kebab, and a used bra all in one go. (Not that I actually would get the first or last of that list)

Things that I miss about home:

1) My friends and family

2) Being able to order chinese or pick up shampoo at 3 a.m.

3) New York style pizza

4) Being able to go to class with sweats on without getting dirty looks

5) Paying in dollars instead of pounds

As you can see, the good outweigh the bad 2:1. Therefore, you can rest assured that I'm enjoying myself immensely. Yesterday, Jordyn, Conor, Brian, Joe and I all took a day trip to Bath. It got off to a rough (yet surprisingly hilarious) start, due to the fact that public transport sucks on sundays, and we ran in the completely wrong direction when trying to catch our bus. We missed the one we had prepaid for, and had to pay AGAIN for another ticket. However, it was totally worth it, and I had one of my best days thus far in England. The city of Bath was beautiful, and the Romans baths and the museum surrounding it made for some hilarious picture-posing. The main question I came away with was this: why don't we do this whole steam-bath thing here? Its awesome! You just sit around in saunas and hottubs all day, get massaged, socialize, and then go home! Granted, I suppose there are spas and the like today, but it just isn't the same. Here are some of my favorites pics. If you want more, I made an album on facebook.

This guy was calling out to a goddess to bless the waters for spiritual and physical cleansing. Somebody should have told him that the pipes that let the waters flow into the pools were made of lead, and therefore the opposite of physical purification. Also, we were debating whether or not he was paid by the museum for this performance, or if he was just a townie with too much time on his hands. Either way, he was kind of creepy, and Brian had an intense staring contest with him.

Also, its snowing outside! Like, legit big flakes and everything! I guess a little bit of home travelled all the way across the pond. Can you say, snow day? 

I know that my posts have been few and far between, and I definitely left out my trip to Brussels a few weeks ago. However, I'm going again in two weeks, so you can just wait until then to hear about the fun, food, and Trappiste monk beer.

Hey guys, sorry I didn't follow through with the whole "frequent post" promise. If you know me well enough, then you didn't take it very seriously in the first place. These first few weeks have been filled with a ton of activities, touristy and otherwise, and I'll do my best to make the summary interesting.

Soon after my last post, Jordyn, her friend Steve, and I took a trip to the Tate Modern and the Globe Theatre. From the outside, the Tate Modern looks like an ugly factory building (redundant, I know), but the inside was quite impressive. It houses an incredible amount of modern art pieces, ranging from Impressionist to performance art. While some of it was questionable (i.e. canvases made to look like a vagina), I would definitely recommend a visit. Above is a view from inside of the museum (an example of my stealth- we weren't allowed to use cameras in there) of St. Paul's Cathedral and the Millenium Bridge.

After the Tate we visited the Globe Theatre, which was absolutely lovely:

The tour was great, despite it being about 30 below. I plan to return to see a play when its a tad bit warmer. I don't want my only memory of Shakespeare's theater to be one filled with frost bite and numb appendages. 

A few days later, Conor and I made a rather haphazard decision to go to the Natural History Museum. You may not hear a ton about it in travel guides, but definitely GO. The building (or should I say, palace) is gorgeous, inside and out. Not to mention the awesomely hilarious dinosaur pictures that were taken (to be seen on Conor's facebook, if he ever puts them up). 

Which brings me to my most recent adventure: Portland. No, not Maine or Oregon...Portland, England. Its a small island town in the south of England, famous for its lighthouses and cliffs.

 Its also the sight for the 2012 Olympic sailing event, which they've already started building for. As excited as I was about going, I was not prepared for how beautiful Portland was. Kerry and Dave, my host family, showed Jordyn and I all around the island. It was refreshing to be somewhere so opposite of London or New York, and I'm definitely thinking of going back for a weekend trip. Kerry and Dave were fantastic, and they made the whole experience unique. I would highly recommend going on my facebook to see all of the pictures, because the views were breathtaking.

Sorry if that all sounded a bit guide-bookish, but everything was just so great. Next on the agenda is Brussels. I'm leaving tomorrow (!) to see John in Belgium, and I couldn't be more excited. More posts to come! (probably).

So this is for all of you friends/relatives/stalkers who are crazy curious about my goings on in London and elsewhere. So this blog, if I remember to keep it updated, will hopefully quiet those cravings of yours...

I've been here for almost a week now, and everything is finally starting to settle down (sort of). The flats are brand new and gorgeous (at least compared to fordham's standards). Unfortunately, my flatmates seem to be the quiet-types, and I've only met 3 of them! Two are from Turkey, and the other is British-Pakistani. They all seem nice enough, albeit a tad too shy. Here are a few pictures of my room and glorious kitchen..

So 

.

Not too shabby, eh? The only downside is there isn't any common room, but ah well, beggars can't be choosers.

The first few days here were filled with (1) orientation, (2) jet lag, and (3) scrambling to buy necessities. It made me realize how helpless I feel without internet access or a phone. Is that sad? Woe is me, a child of the technological generation. Anyways, it took a little time to get adjusted. The first night was amazing, despite the jetlag, since Conor, Brian and I (friends from Fordham) went out to a few pubs to celebrate our arrival. The entire mood of the pubs was something I've definitely never experienced at home; just sort of relaxed and funky at the same time.

The next few days were a little more frustrating, since I had to find food, a phone, adaptors, and dishware without the slightest notion of where to go or how to get there. The tube turned out to be pretty easy to navigate (especially after dealing with new york subways), but even so, shopping on minimal sleep is never fun. After going out with a gaggle (and I mean a gaggle) of Americans on my first night at Queen Mary, I got a little taste of why we yanks have such a negative reputation abroad. After about an hour of scream-alongs to Bon Jovi and Christina Aguilera, I decided to high-tail it out of there. First night aside, I'm starting to make some great friends here, and I do not foresee any repeats of my first night out.

Today was my first day of being a true tourist. Jordyn, Conor, Brian and I went to Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, and Trafalgar Square. Despite the freezing cold, we walked our way all over the place, and I happened to take a few pictures on the way:

 

 

(did you notice that the fountain in Trafalgar Square is frozen over?? It was really freakin' cold!)

Hm...food...let's see. I've tried some typical British dishes, although I have yet to buy some fish and chips. I've gotten the traditional English breakfast (yum!) as well as some delicious Indian and Bangladeshi food. So far, I haven't had a bad meal here, so I really don't know what all the bad rep is about. 

Hmmm, what else? Oh, the fashion! I officially feel like a spinster here, since all of the women dress fabulously all of the time. Who knew so many cute boots existed in the world? Mom and Dad: I know you don't want to hear this, but it looks like I might have to go on a few shopping trips. Don't worry though, I'll stick to awesome vintage stores and the like.

I'm scheduled to go for a weekend in Portland, a coastal town in the south of England, for my homestay in a few weeks. I'm super excited, and I'll keep you all posted. 

I'll try to keep my next posts shorter, more detailed, and more frequent. I start classes tomorrow, woo! Love and miss you all!