October 14 2014: So I've finally had some actual teaching classes instead of just standing around and talking to (at) my students. It's crazy though because this week I'll have 3 new classes of students who have never seen me. And we still don't know if this is my final schedule. I've worked with 7 different teachers so far and will possibly work with a few more. I was putting together an exciting presentation involving listening to songs and filling in the blanks on lyrics that I pass out but got the days mixed up so today's class (who I've seen every week) got a boring presentation instead. oops. They didn't seem to mind learning about how schools work in the USA though. I'd say we made it through 75% of the class before the talking got really bad. It's hard to make presentations for classes since they might not always have a computer (or it has to turn on, and log in, and take absolutely forever aka 5-10mins) so the length of time varies. I don't want to have lots of empty time but I also don't want to try to cover too much in one day. Have I mentioned I hate having 10 billion classes? I love all the kids, I really do, but it's hard to remember what we've covered in each class when each teacher is doing different things with different grades of students (I have first years all the way through fifth years). I'm trying to make the presentations more interactive because otherwise the kids lose interest and the teachers don't seem to be as strict (some) and the kids just talk over everyone. It's kind of annoying tbh. If it doesn't improve I'll have to step it up and tell them that yeah, it might not be the most exciting thing to sit here and listen to me talk, but it wasn't exactly a party creating the lesson either and they'll shut up and at least pretend to listen while I'm talking. Someone asked me in class yesterday what my favorite part of teaching was. I wasn't exactly sure what to say but I think it's when students are genuinely interested and you can see them thinking and understanding. There's only a few in each class that tend to talk and ask lots of questions but it's worth it when you know you're getting through to at least a few.
Quidditch is still going great. I went to a bar last week with a few of the team and Irish music was played. Definitely wasn't expecting to find that in Italy. It's been kinda rainy this past week but today was sunny and gorgeous. My host brother took me to a bookstore in Saronno where I bought some books in English to read. We've also talked for hours about all kinds of things. It's nice to chat in English during the week to someone my age (usually it's just on the weekends with the quidkids). One of the girls this week who will be joining the team during her stay in Italy is from Oxford. Our levels of Italian are pretty similar and she understands my jokes, woo (my puns don't have the same effect to non native english speakers). I was feeling kinda bleh the past few days but I think it's allergies. Finally found cough drops and then the next day I'm feeling back to normal. Host family is still wonderful, I think "reply all" should be eliminated as an email option, and I'm already ready for the weekend. Check my facebook for pictures because adding them here is a pain (sorry for those of you without facebook. wait til I get back or find Mom and ask her to show you).
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Lazy
Wednesday October 8th:
Each day I come home and I go "I should write a blog post!" then proceed to take a nap, check facebook, and do anything but. Here's a brief rundown of what's happened in the past almost week since I've posted.
Classes on Thursday, Friday, and Monday were basically all the same. I introduced myself and answered all kinds of questions. Some of the standout questions were "What do you think of marijuana legalization in the USA? What do you DISlike about Italy? Do you like Italian boys." Those were interesting to answer. Most of the kids want to know what TV I watch and what movies I like but sadly that list is very short so there isn't much to discuss.
Over the weekend I went to Milan, twice. Saturday for Quidditch practice but I didn't practice because I got awful blisters on my heels from my new shoes that I wore last Thursday. I had a lovely chat with Velia since she was recovering from a cold then a nice dinner where I tried kebabs (not meat on a stick but kind of like Turkey (the country) barbecue sandwich). On Sunday I slept in then ventured back to Milan for aperitivo with some quidditch friends. You pay like 10euros for a drink (alcoholic or not) then get an unlimited buffet of tasty food. Some places are cheaper but the food selection correlates to price. I had couscous, mini pizzas, brownies, pasta, breadsticks, french fries, onion rings, risotto, and who knows what else. I tried a bit of everything that looked good. Then we wandered around near the duomo, I found some headphones because I managed to lose mine somewhere, and I caught the train back to Saronno. I think I can use the trains and busses now, at least to and from Saronno and around Saronno, which is a relief. However, all the school kids ride normal busses so today my bus was jam packed with kids age 8-18, mostly elementary and middle school aged though. There had to be at least 30. It was like the p2p but possibly worse.
I have a schedule for this week which is lovely. tomorrow I get to sleep in! I don't have to be at school until 11:10 so I'll catch either the 10 or 10:30 bus, probably the 10. Much better than waking up and leaving by 7:30. However, everyone's schedule changes next week so I still can't plan too much. One class today asked if I would cook something around Christmas time and they would also cook something for everyone to share. Recipe suggestions are welcome please!!
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Day 2 At School
October 2nd: Today I went to school with Grazia again because I don't have a schedule yet. Nobody needed me until 10 though so I sat around and worked on stuff like finding important emails from my UNC account and sending them to my personal email. *boring* I showed one of the teacher's my presentation on North Carolina and she didn't know what Oreos were. I found oreos at the grocery store and my friends on the quidditch team know what they are. I think it's an age difference and the students at school will know. The students asked many of the same questions from yesterday but there were a few new questions. They asked me to speak some Italian so I said something like "My name is Alex, I have a younger brother, he is 18, I am from the USA." Then they asked if my brother was cute (this class was students aged 17 and 18). I said yeah, but he has a girlfriend. I think the girls were genuinely disappointed. One class had only one boy! The students don't switch classes either. I don't know how he does it. I taught 3 classes in a row and it was all basically the same. One class got to hear that awful 50 states song that most kids learn in elementary school (I never did and probably can't name all of the states).
The fun began when I decided to leave at 1:10 with the students since Grazia had a meeting with other teachers. I wasn't sure how to get to the bus stop, buy a ticket, and get off at the right stop. One of the girls (Francesca) in the class offered to show me the way and help. We walked to the bus stop which isn't too far, maybe 10 minutes, and she showed me where to buy the ticket. The guy selling tickets was super nice too. Francesca explained that my bus is orange and the blue busses go to other cities. When it arrived she told the driver that I didn't know when to signal the bus to stop (I had a street name and the description "near the elementary school") but he knew exactly where and said he would tell me. We left at 1:45 and at the second bus stop 20 elementary school kids crowded on. The bus was a public bus but me and the driver were the only non-students. The kids had bus passes or tickets that the driver tore instead of having the kids all stamp the tickets at the machine. My stop happened to be where many others were getting off the bus too. I recognized it and the driver confirmed. I took my shoes off for the short walk to the house (3 mins?) because they're new and I have awful blisters now. ughhh. But, I made it, and confused Gianluca when I walked in the door without his mom. I was proud that I made it and I think I can do it by myself now. woo!
I was confused when I walked upstairs and noticed my bed was neatly made. Usually I just straighten it up a bit but no use tucking in all the sheets when I'm just gonna sleep in them again (this has been my philosophy for years, nobody sees my room anyway). I assumed Grazia tidied it for me yesterday because she went upstairs to put snacks in my room while I cooked tacos for lunch but I know she couldn't have done it today. I asked Gianluca and apparently the housekeeper comes every day and his job includes making beds and emptying my little trashcan by my desk. umm, what? Yeah, I had no idea but it's super nice. I'll have to give him some Reese's or something. I met him my first day here and he carried both of my suitcases for me.
After a nice nap Grazia and I took Aika for a walk. I fixed a small sandwich because I had a slice of pizza at noon and I was hungry again by 6. She lives really close to the edge of town and there's lots and lots of corn fields and other fields with a path through them 3 mins the other way from the bus. It was super pretty and relaxing. I don't think I like cities all that much. This felt more like home. Then I went to work more on my presentation of North Carolina and this blog (which I'm finishing now 4 hours later...). Dinner was pasta alla carbonara. The noodles were really thick spaghetti noodles but hollow....it was super strange and also very difficult to eat. However, it was very tasty. I'm not a fan of the pancetta though, too salty. I'm super slow at eating. Gianluca managed to eat two portions of pasta and most of his double burger with cheese wrap thing before I was finished with my pasta and apple. I didn't want a burger because it's so much food. He barely cooked the burgers and it was kinda weirding me out to look at. Gianluca went to go change outfits so he could watch his friend play soccer and I got my computer to show my host parents my NC presentation. Gianluca saw about half before he had to leave. He helped translate a lot (it's entirely in English) and google translate was quite helpful too. Tomorrow is Friday, huzzah! I'm excited and it's been a great first week. Missing NC after reading a post about UNC things. Link is below.
http://www.bustle.com/articles/38650-i-wish-they-all-could-be-carolina-girls-23-things-only-unc-students-can-truly-understand
The fun began when I decided to leave at 1:10 with the students since Grazia had a meeting with other teachers. I wasn't sure how to get to the bus stop, buy a ticket, and get off at the right stop. One of the girls (Francesca) in the class offered to show me the way and help. We walked to the bus stop which isn't too far, maybe 10 minutes, and she showed me where to buy the ticket. The guy selling tickets was super nice too. Francesca explained that my bus is orange and the blue busses go to other cities. When it arrived she told the driver that I didn't know when to signal the bus to stop (I had a street name and the description "near the elementary school") but he knew exactly where and said he would tell me. We left at 1:45 and at the second bus stop 20 elementary school kids crowded on. The bus was a public bus but me and the driver were the only non-students. The kids had bus passes or tickets that the driver tore instead of having the kids all stamp the tickets at the machine. My stop happened to be where many others were getting off the bus too. I recognized it and the driver confirmed. I took my shoes off for the short walk to the house (3 mins?) because they're new and I have awful blisters now. ughhh. But, I made it, and confused Gianluca when I walked in the door without his mom. I was proud that I made it and I think I can do it by myself now. woo!
I was confused when I walked upstairs and noticed my bed was neatly made. Usually I just straighten it up a bit but no use tucking in all the sheets when I'm just gonna sleep in them again (this has been my philosophy for years, nobody sees my room anyway). I assumed Grazia tidied it for me yesterday because she went upstairs to put snacks in my room while I cooked tacos for lunch but I know she couldn't have done it today. I asked Gianluca and apparently the housekeeper comes every day and his job includes making beds and emptying my little trashcan by my desk. umm, what? Yeah, I had no idea but it's super nice. I'll have to give him some Reese's or something. I met him my first day here and he carried both of my suitcases for me.
After a nice nap Grazia and I took Aika for a walk. I fixed a small sandwich because I had a slice of pizza at noon and I was hungry again by 6. She lives really close to the edge of town and there's lots and lots of corn fields and other fields with a path through them 3 mins the other way from the bus. It was super pretty and relaxing. I don't think I like cities all that much. This felt more like home. Then I went to work more on my presentation of North Carolina and this blog (which I'm finishing now 4 hours later...). Dinner was pasta alla carbonara. The noodles were really thick spaghetti noodles but hollow....it was super strange and also very difficult to eat. However, it was very tasty. I'm not a fan of the pancetta though, too salty. I'm super slow at eating. Gianluca managed to eat two portions of pasta and most of his double burger with cheese wrap thing before I was finished with my pasta and apple. I didn't want a burger because it's so much food. He barely cooked the burgers and it was kinda weirding me out to look at. Gianluca went to go change outfits so he could watch his friend play soccer and I got my computer to show my host parents my NC presentation. Gianluca saw about half before he had to leave. He helped translate a lot (it's entirely in English) and google translate was quite helpful too. Tomorrow is Friday, huzzah! I'm excited and it's been a great first week. Missing NC after reading a post about UNC things. Link is below.
http://www.bustle.com/articles/38650-i-wish-they-all-could-be-carolina-girls-23-things-only-unc-students-can-truly-understand
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
First Day Teaching!
October 1st: Today was my first day in the classrooms. First off, high school works WAY different than in the USA. The school format is class begins at 8:10 (many students waltzed in late, they were the older students) and you have two, one hour classes, then break. Then two more one hour classes, a short break, and then 2 more 1 hour classes and school is over at 2:10. They go to school on Saturday and the teachers switch classrooms, not the students. Students pick which high school to attend based on what they want to study. I'm at a technical high school where the focus is economics, business, tourism and the like as well as the basics math, italian, foreign language, history, etc. I don't really know the specifics. Teachers aren't at school all day, you can leave when you are finished or show up late if you don't teach until later. My host mom is a math teacher and she teaches for the first 3 hours on Wednesdays. Tomorrow (Thursday) she teaches the first 3 hours and the last hour. Then it changes every few weeks. It is super complicated and all the teachers carry schedules of where to be and when. Oh, and it changes 10 days from now.
So, the first class was a 4th year English class. The teacher asked me to introduce myself and then answer questions from the kids. Oh, the questions. Do I watch Pretty Little Liars, who's my favorite italian actor/american actor, favorite: movie, music, sports, teams, places to vacation? Do I like Italy, where else have I traveled, how is the currency, have I ever seen a celebrity (I mentioned the athletes that come back to UNC games, nope, haven't seen Johnny Depp, other coast), how is the weather at home, where did I study, what did I study, college parties (that was weird to discuss), do I smoke (smoking seems to be more prevalent here), my favorite car (a Ford mustang in case you're wondering)...the list is endless. Most were cultural related but they also had some really intellectual questions. They wanted to know my opinion on politics, Obama, ISIS, 9/11, and if easy access to guns was influencing the mass shootings. I was caught off guard but answered as honestly as I could, making it known that this was my personal opinion and not what all Americans thought. Even though it was early in the morning, my surprise visit was received very well and the kids were shy at first but their English was pretty good (better than my Italian). I want to work more with them but I think they only have this class once a week (I don't understand the complicated schedules).
Class 2 was full of either first or second year students, I think first. They looked really young and really didn't want to talk. I think two brave souls talked to me in English and that was after lots of encouragement from the teacher. This class wouldn't ask questions so I told them a few differences between my hometown and Saronno, a bit about my family and the weather, then we discussed the differences between American and Italian high schools. The grading is completely different, the course structures and materials, basically everything really.
After school (at 11:10 today) we went to the police station to turn in my paperwork. Since we had to pay for parking and there wasn't a line at the station we decided to take a look at downtown Saronno. We also had gelato :D yumm. Then we went to a supermarket so I could get some snacks and some food that I know I'll eat (type of cereal, lunch meats, etc.) I found oreos, ritz crackers, and pepperidge farms Milano cookies. no goldfish :( but now I have plenty of snacks to take to school and eat during the afternoon since dinner is so late. I found taco seasoning and taco shells at the store and offered to make lunch. It was lots of fun! The tacos were well received. I took a nice long nap since I didn't sleep too well last night and woke up so early then did some work and had dinner. We had spaghetti (the sauce had no vegetables, I'm not sure if this is normal or was because I don't like them) then the second course we had ricotta cheese (not a fan) and prosciutto. I also had an apple. The dog came inside for a bit and caught grapes thrown to her. She's adorable. Oh, Gianluca (host brother) loved the Reese's cup and asked for his mom to get peanut butter at the store (we found it today). I don't know what tomorrow has in store but I'm excited. good night everyone (well, good evening. I'm 6 hours ahead of the East coast).
So, the first class was a 4th year English class. The teacher asked me to introduce myself and then answer questions from the kids. Oh, the questions. Do I watch Pretty Little Liars, who's my favorite italian actor/american actor, favorite: movie, music, sports, teams, places to vacation? Do I like Italy, where else have I traveled, how is the currency, have I ever seen a celebrity (I mentioned the athletes that come back to UNC games, nope, haven't seen Johnny Depp, other coast), how is the weather at home, where did I study, what did I study, college parties (that was weird to discuss), do I smoke (smoking seems to be more prevalent here), my favorite car (a Ford mustang in case you're wondering)...the list is endless. Most were cultural related but they also had some really intellectual questions. They wanted to know my opinion on politics, Obama, ISIS, 9/11, and if easy access to guns was influencing the mass shootings. I was caught off guard but answered as honestly as I could, making it known that this was my personal opinion and not what all Americans thought. Even though it was early in the morning, my surprise visit was received very well and the kids were shy at first but their English was pretty good (better than my Italian). I want to work more with them but I think they only have this class once a week (I don't understand the complicated schedules).
Class 2 was full of either first or second year students, I think first. They looked really young and really didn't want to talk. I think two brave souls talked to me in English and that was after lots of encouragement from the teacher. This class wouldn't ask questions so I told them a few differences between my hometown and Saronno, a bit about my family and the weather, then we discussed the differences between American and Italian high schools. The grading is completely different, the course structures and materials, basically everything really.
After school (at 11:10 today) we went to the police station to turn in my paperwork. Since we had to pay for parking and there wasn't a line at the station we decided to take a look at downtown Saronno. We also had gelato :D yumm. Then we went to a supermarket so I could get some snacks and some food that I know I'll eat (type of cereal, lunch meats, etc.) I found oreos, ritz crackers, and pepperidge farms Milano cookies. no goldfish :( but now I have plenty of snacks to take to school and eat during the afternoon since dinner is so late. I found taco seasoning and taco shells at the store and offered to make lunch. It was lots of fun! The tacos were well received. I took a nice long nap since I didn't sleep too well last night and woke up so early then did some work and had dinner. We had spaghetti (the sauce had no vegetables, I'm not sure if this is normal or was because I don't like them) then the second course we had ricotta cheese (not a fan) and prosciutto. I also had an apple. The dog came inside for a bit and caught grapes thrown to her. She's adorable. Oh, Gianluca (host brother) loved the Reese's cup and asked for his mom to get peanut butter at the store (we found it today). I don't know what tomorrow has in store but I'm excited. good night everyone (well, good evening. I'm 6 hours ahead of the East coast).
First Day in Saronno!
September 30th: I arrive at the train station in Saronno with Alisa who decided to accompany me because my suitcases are a total pain for only one person. Grazia spotted me/us immediately and we followed her to her car. Luckily she found a spot close to the station (which is rare). Alisa headed back to Milan and Grazia and I went to ITC Gino Zappa, the high school where she teaches math and I will be helping with English. I was introduced to many teachers and administrators, did some paperwork, then it was off to the police station for more paperwork. Unfortunately, we didn't have the paperwork so we went on home. Her housekeeper, Giueseppe (sp?), hauled my suitcases up the stairs for me which was super kind and super helpful! I'm staying in Grazia's oldest son's old room. It hasn't been changed so there are the planets on my ceiling, a spongebob outfit, plenty of books and toys, and wall art from when I think he was 5 years old. It's very cozy and I have a desk and a place to put everything. My window is actually two doors that open up onto a balcony. There aren't blinds, just a white curtain, which doesn't really block the sun in the morning but I got up before sunrise today anyway. For lunch, Grazia made breaded turkey breast with olive oil and lemon juice and cooked some carrots for me when she realized that and potatoes are practically the only vegetables I eat. We shared many laughs throughout the day with our Italian and English broken speech. I am going to be a PRO at charades! Carrying my dictionary around has proven quite helpful for both of us. The last girl she hosted, Angelica from Philadelphia, was a pescatarian and it was her 3rd trip to study in Italy so she spoke much better Italian than me. I'm pretty much the opposite of vegetarian which she found quite amusing. I went to take a nap and she went to school for a meeting. When I went back downstairs later, she had gone to the supermarket and bought red apples for me and nutella and bread for the toaster. In case you haven't noticed, she's super nice. Dinner was risotto (rice and mushrooms) which was very tasty but dinner is usually around 8pm :0 I'm going to have to get used to this. We also had prosciutto sliced very thin (ham essentially) and fruit. I shared Reese's cups with everyone (Grazia, her husband, and son, Gianluca). Gianluca was at Tchoukball practice but normally would eat dinner with us too (he arrives home from university in time for lunch as well). He loved the Reese's and requested peanut butter from the store. Apparently this sport exists in the USA but I've never heard of it until now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tchoukball
Grazia's house is very nice. It's a townhouse with 3 stories and a basement. Her husky, Aika (eye-ka) is very friendly. Many people smoke in Italy, I'm thinking more than the USA. She lives on the outskirts of Saronno so it's very quiet here and there is a park nearby but also a bus stop and small grocery store. Time for dinner so I'll write more later. check out my facebook for photos!
Grazia's house is very nice. It's a townhouse with 3 stories and a basement. Her husky, Aika (eye-ka) is very friendly. Many people smoke in Italy, I'm thinking more than the USA. She lives on the outskirts of Saronno so it's very quiet here and there is a park nearby but also a bus stop and small grocery store. Time for dinner so I'll write more later. check out my facebook for photos!
Monday, September 29, 2014
The Center of Milan
Monday September 29th:
Alisa showed me around Milan today! We started by going to "Via Marina" for our good friend named (you guessed it) Marina! Then we headed to the very center of Milan and saw the castle. We didn't go inside because money and it's not castle-y but museums of other things. There were 3 big food trucks with gelato....except we missed the gelato festival by ONE DAY! this was super depressing but probably best for our health. I saw loads of different police cars and police. They do it a bit differently at home. We saw the regular police (polizia) as well as the bank police, military police (carabineri), and the traffic police. I liked all the cars and vans. We also saw actual military guys (perhaps carabineria in different uniforms?). Then we saw the "living room" of Milan which is a huge pretty shopping mall of sorts. I didn't dare go inside Louis Vuitton, Prada, or Versace but merely admired through the windows. Also, a touristy thing for good luck is to stand with your heel on the bull's balls and turn in a circle 3 times. Yes. You read that correctly. I had to participate.
For lunch we made our way to Luini where they serve panzerotti and many other delicious things. We went for the panzerotti fritti aka fried calzones. Mine had ham and mozzarella and was amazing! Marina was super jealous. We then admired the duomo of Milano (third largest in the world) from the cafe at the top of la Rinascente, a high end department store. Inside the cathedral was super pretty and awe inspiring. We then took a trip to see the bronze horse that Leonardo designed and the stadium where AC Milan plays. I was hungry and we passed a McDonalds so I had to try it. THEY HAD ICE IN THEIR SODAS AND IT WAS GLORIOUS! I miss ice. Also, have I mentioned that the light switches are on the outside of the room? I mean sure, turn on the light then go inside the room...works like a charm except for pranks and accidents. One of the girls on the quidditch team mentioned that her mom would sometimes accidentally turn off the light in the bathroom when she didn't know someone was inside. I know Evan would take full advantage of this if light switches were on the outside of rooms at home. We finally made it back to Alisa's apartment where naps were first on the agenda. Now I'm mostly packed up and ready to move to Saronno tomorrow morning!
Buonanotte!
Alisa showed me around Milan today! We started by going to "Via Marina" for our good friend named (you guessed it) Marina! Then we headed to the very center of Milan and saw the castle. We didn't go inside because money and it's not castle-y but museums of other things. There were 3 big food trucks with gelato....except we missed the gelato festival by ONE DAY! this was super depressing but probably best for our health. I saw loads of different police cars and police. They do it a bit differently at home. We saw the regular police (polizia) as well as the bank police, military police (carabineri), and the traffic police. I liked all the cars and vans. We also saw actual military guys (perhaps carabineria in different uniforms?). Then we saw the "living room" of Milan which is a huge pretty shopping mall of sorts. I didn't dare go inside Louis Vuitton, Prada, or Versace but merely admired through the windows. Also, a touristy thing for good luck is to stand with your heel on the bull's balls and turn in a circle 3 times. Yes. You read that correctly. I had to participate.
For lunch we made our way to Luini where they serve panzerotti and many other delicious things. We went for the panzerotti fritti aka fried calzones. Mine had ham and mozzarella and was amazing! Marina was super jealous. We then admired the duomo of Milano (third largest in the world) from the cafe at the top of la Rinascente, a high end department store. Inside the cathedral was super pretty and awe inspiring. We then took a trip to see the bronze horse that Leonardo designed and the stadium where AC Milan plays. I was hungry and we passed a McDonalds so I had to try it. THEY HAD ICE IN THEIR SODAS AND IT WAS GLORIOUS! I miss ice. Also, have I mentioned that the light switches are on the outside of the room? I mean sure, turn on the light then go inside the room...works like a charm except for pranks and accidents. One of the girls on the quidditch team mentioned that her mom would sometimes accidentally turn off the light in the bathroom when she didn't know someone was inside. I know Evan would take full advantage of this if light switches were on the outside of rooms at home. We finally made it back to Alisa's apartment where naps were first on the agenda. Now I'm mostly packed up and ready to move to Saronno tomorrow morning!
Buonanotte!
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Firenze & Quidditch
Today is Sunday September 28th but I'm just now getting around to writing...
On Friday September 26th: Alisa and I took a high speed train to Firenze to visit Marina/Maureen Melita (my Italian 101 teacher and friend). The train went over 200km/hr! The view out the window was gorgeous because of all the pretty mountains and countryside. We arrived in Firenze, dropped our bags off at Marina's apartment, then set off for lunch! We ate at a fantastic sandwich shop where all the sandwiches are on baguettes and they were lovely and put only turkey (freshly sliced) and mozzarella (super fresh and delicious) on my sandwich instead of everything (like vegetables). Marina and Alisa's sandwiches were much more complex but all were equally tasty to each. I had a Fanta because yum, sugar, and it tastes better over here in Europe. Can sodas are way more common than fountain sodas. Probably not gonna drink too many more of them because they're usually 3 euros each. Water is also typically bottled because the water in the city is kinda bleh tasting though completely drinkable. The fountains are nice so I'll definitely have to get a re-usable water bottle. After lunch we saw Dante's church where his beloved Beatrice is buried and we saw "il duomo" which is actually named the Basilica of St Maria the flower but the dome is really pretty and easiest to see. It was super pretty inside and out. We also went and saw Michelangelo's David which is ginormous and awe inspiring. Marina was really happy because you are now allowed to take pictures of it. I'll get around to posting mine on facebook eventually... Then we had a lovely dinner at Trattatoria Anita, where Marina has been a regular for years, and enjoyed some amazing food and chats with the waiters/owners. After a taxi ride back to her apartment we went to sleep then Alisa and I headed back to the train station in the morning so I could make it back to Milan in time for Quidditch.
Saturday September 27th: Quidditch!!! well, first we had lunch at an amazing pizza place (Brick Oven Pizza) with oval shaped super thin crust pizzas. Then I stopped by a grocery store to buy my own shampoo and things. Learned the word for conditioner in Italian, lol. Then we got ready and went to Quidditch! It happens in Parco Lambro not tooooo far from Alisa's house. We took the bus to the subway then got off after 2 stops. We then walked and found the entrance to the park but couldn't find the rugby fields. We found a bar (which in italian is often coffee and snacks, so more of a "snack bar" but they're just called bars) in the park and the owner gladly gave us directions from there. Alisa was going to stay and watch for a bit because she has never seen it but the MOSQUITOES. holy ****. I didn't know I could hate anything so much. You thought the mosquitoes were bad in North Carolina? think again. I only seem to have one bite though so perhaps they were more like gnats or either weren't hungry. However, I wore my sunglasses for the entire practice so I didn't end up with any in my eyes and I definitely ate a few. When you stopped moving your arm had to continuously be waving around your face and body to keep them off. It makes playing quidditch extra difficult. Anyway, I was introduced as a player from the States and I don't know what else was said because it was definitely in Italian. Most of the team knows at least a little bit of English. We had a lot of fun doing drills, scrimmaging, and then playing ultimate quidditch (like ultimate frisbee, but with brooms and a quaffle instead of a frisbee). I learned all the terms in Italian for Quidditch and tried to help. I did keep mixing up everyone's names. Francesca was super nice and told me that she wasn't Clara...which is why she had never answered me when I was shouting for her when we were beating together. lol. I didn't feel like wearing my tall socks and wore normal socks with my cleats which was a mistake I won't be making again. I now have blisters because my socks were too thin. After practice we were going to go to an aperetivo but it was too late (aperetivo = buy a drink for like 8 or 9 euros and get loads of snacks/food to eat). We ended up going to a pizza place near Michele's apartment (where all the quidditch stuff was stored) where I tried gnocchi. I think either the gnocchi was not so good or either I don't like it. The pizza looked quite good. After pizza half of us went back to Michele's (where he stayed because he's old and pulled a muscle or something) to pick up our things and have some limoncello. Valeria and Gianluca helped me find my way back to Alisa's apartment and I slept for ages. Don't worry Mom & Dad, just because I'm in Italy doesn't mean I don't sleep in and watch video games :] Not sure what the plan is for the next few days yet but I'll post about it to be sure.
On Friday September 26th: Alisa and I took a high speed train to Firenze to visit Marina/Maureen Melita (my Italian 101 teacher and friend). The train went over 200km/hr! The view out the window was gorgeous because of all the pretty mountains and countryside. We arrived in Firenze, dropped our bags off at Marina's apartment, then set off for lunch! We ate at a fantastic sandwich shop where all the sandwiches are on baguettes and they were lovely and put only turkey (freshly sliced) and mozzarella (super fresh and delicious) on my sandwich instead of everything (like vegetables). Marina and Alisa's sandwiches were much more complex but all were equally tasty to each. I had a Fanta because yum, sugar, and it tastes better over here in Europe. Can sodas are way more common than fountain sodas. Probably not gonna drink too many more of them because they're usually 3 euros each. Water is also typically bottled because the water in the city is kinda bleh tasting though completely drinkable. The fountains are nice so I'll definitely have to get a re-usable water bottle. After lunch we saw Dante's church where his beloved Beatrice is buried and we saw "il duomo" which is actually named the Basilica of St Maria the flower but the dome is really pretty and easiest to see. It was super pretty inside and out. We also went and saw Michelangelo's David which is ginormous and awe inspiring. Marina was really happy because you are now allowed to take pictures of it. I'll get around to posting mine on facebook eventually... Then we had a lovely dinner at Trattatoria Anita, where Marina has been a regular for years, and enjoyed some amazing food and chats with the waiters/owners. After a taxi ride back to her apartment we went to sleep then Alisa and I headed back to the train station in the morning so I could make it back to Milan in time for Quidditch.
Saturday September 27th: Quidditch!!! well, first we had lunch at an amazing pizza place (Brick Oven Pizza) with oval shaped super thin crust pizzas. Then I stopped by a grocery store to buy my own shampoo and things. Learned the word for conditioner in Italian, lol. Then we got ready and went to Quidditch! It happens in Parco Lambro not tooooo far from Alisa's house. We took the bus to the subway then got off after 2 stops. We then walked and found the entrance to the park but couldn't find the rugby fields. We found a bar (which in italian is often coffee and snacks, so more of a "snack bar" but they're just called bars) in the park and the owner gladly gave us directions from there. Alisa was going to stay and watch for a bit because she has never seen it but the MOSQUITOES. holy ****. I didn't know I could hate anything so much. You thought the mosquitoes were bad in North Carolina? think again. I only seem to have one bite though so perhaps they were more like gnats or either weren't hungry. However, I wore my sunglasses for the entire practice so I didn't end up with any in my eyes and I definitely ate a few. When you stopped moving your arm had to continuously be waving around your face and body to keep them off. It makes playing quidditch extra difficult. Anyway, I was introduced as a player from the States and I don't know what else was said because it was definitely in Italian. Most of the team knows at least a little bit of English. We had a lot of fun doing drills, scrimmaging, and then playing ultimate quidditch (like ultimate frisbee, but with brooms and a quaffle instead of a frisbee). I learned all the terms in Italian for Quidditch and tried to help. I did keep mixing up everyone's names. Francesca was super nice and told me that she wasn't Clara...which is why she had never answered me when I was shouting for her when we were beating together. lol. I didn't feel like wearing my tall socks and wore normal socks with my cleats which was a mistake I won't be making again. I now have blisters because my socks were too thin. After practice we were going to go to an aperetivo but it was too late (aperetivo = buy a drink for like 8 or 9 euros and get loads of snacks/food to eat). We ended up going to a pizza place near Michele's apartment (where all the quidditch stuff was stored) where I tried gnocchi. I think either the gnocchi was not so good or either I don't like it. The pizza looked quite good. After pizza half of us went back to Michele's (where he stayed because he's old and pulled a muscle or something) to pick up our things and have some limoncello. Valeria and Gianluca helped me find my way back to Alisa's apartment and I slept for ages. Don't worry Mom & Dad, just because I'm in Italy doesn't mean I don't sleep in and watch video games :] Not sure what the plan is for the next few days yet but I'll post about it to be sure.
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Ciao!
Thursday September 25, 2014:
I have made it to Milan!
I left Charlotte airport at 1:20pm to JFK where I had a lovely 3 hour wait until the next flight. I didn't feel like carrying my (heavy) carry on bags around the airport so I walked to the first place I found which happened to be a convenience store and Baskin Robbins/Dunkin Donuts combined. So, I had chocolate icecream for dinner. I ended up with a window seat on the plane which was great but the only TV screens were in the middle aisle hanging from the ceiling so that was a bit unfortunate. On the way to JFK I had a window seat too and nobody was sitting in the middle seat :D We took off about 20 minutes late because there was an overhead compartment a few rows ahead of me that wouldn't stay closed so maintenance had to come fix it before we could leave. The flight food was decent; I had chicken and potatoes and then talked to the nice lady next to me for quite some time because she accepted my salad gladly. She was a huge Harry Potter fan and enjoyed hearing about Quidditch. Rio2 was played on the TV but I tried to sleep. It sort of worked. We landed and the customs line was surprisingly quick. I was interrogated upon arriving at London & Helsinki: "Where are you going? What are you doing? How long are you staying? How did you meet this friend?" etc. The Italian officials looked at my passport, stamped it, and handed it back. Easy as that. Alisa was waiting for me with my name on a sign (I felt important haha) and thankfully watched my luggage so I could use the bathroom before the trek to the city. I couldn't figure out how to work the hand dryers and neither could anyone else in the ladies restroom so we gave up. Sadly, a precious hand sanitizer (the glittery one too!) leaked during my flight. Oh, and my medical bracelet snapped too. Gonna have to get a decent one instead of the one from CVS I suppose.
To Milan! We took a bus (more like a charter bus/coach) to the main train station in Milan from the airport where we then caught a city bus to Alisa's apartment. Thankfully she had bought tickets and led the way! Her apartment is absolutely lovely (I have 2 beds, heheh) with many flags of all the countries she has been to and cute furniture. The bathroom is different, the toilet flushes weird. It's like a handle to flush that is a shower handle but instead of controlling temperature it controls how much water is used. I got on facebook, checked some emails, sent some texts (yo, I don't get charged for texts or data usage so feel free to keep in touch! calls are 20 cents a minute but that's what we have skype for, right?) then we went to a pizza place right around the corner.
I ate pizza with a fork and knife. This might be one thing where I have to say screw it, this is easier to eat by hand! The pizza was delicious though! I had plain cheese (: We got back to the apartment and bought train tickets to Florence for tomorrow morning. We are off to visit Marina (she taught my Italian 101 class). I then took a much needed nap and tried to watch Cloud 9 on twitch but the internet was going in and out so I gave up and slept. Thankfully they won both of their games :] I chatted with Alisa a bit and then with people back home because they were up and moving finally :p I now know where and when Quidditch practice is on Saturday and Michele and Valeria offered to meet up tonight. Michele came by and picked me up since I didn't want to walk alone in the dark in an unfamiliar place and we met Valeria at a pizza place (I'll have to get the names of these places eventually) that ONLY serves margherita pizza (plain cheese) and drinks. You know the pizza is gonna be good when the line is out the door and it's all for some cheese pizza! Michele ordered for me, the only options were small or large (he ordered large and I definitely couldn't eat all of it). It was thick crust unlike the thin I had at lunch and super cheesy and amazing. The fork and knife worked much better with the thick crust but I still think hands are best. We then went to an awesome gelato shop and it took a long time to make a decision of what flavors to try. I tried dark chocolate and bacio (milk chocolate with hazelnuts, baci are a type of italian chocolates that are amazing, Martina brought them to my Italian 102 class to share). Valeria had bacio and mint while Michele had mixed fruit and lemon. Everyone is super friendly and keeps paying for things for me (though I tried to pay). I didn't know how to order at the gelato place. I'm definitely going back because there were plenty other flavors I want to try!
Michele and Valeria walked me back to Alisa's apartment and made sure I could get inside before leaving. We took a car part of the way to the pizza place but it was more hassle to find parking. It's kinda like zipcar. Tonight I sleep some more and wake up to get on the train to Florence! I couldn't be more appreciative and thankful to everyone who has helped me get this far (Alisa, Marina, Michele, April, etc). We'll see if I can fall asleep with so much excitement (and caffeine & gelato).
Buonanotte,
Alex
I have made it to Milan!
I left Charlotte airport at 1:20pm to JFK where I had a lovely 3 hour wait until the next flight. I didn't feel like carrying my (heavy) carry on bags around the airport so I walked to the first place I found which happened to be a convenience store and Baskin Robbins/Dunkin Donuts combined. So, I had chocolate icecream for dinner. I ended up with a window seat on the plane which was great but the only TV screens were in the middle aisle hanging from the ceiling so that was a bit unfortunate. On the way to JFK I had a window seat too and nobody was sitting in the middle seat :D We took off about 20 minutes late because there was an overhead compartment a few rows ahead of me that wouldn't stay closed so maintenance had to come fix it before we could leave. The flight food was decent; I had chicken and potatoes and then talked to the nice lady next to me for quite some time because she accepted my salad gladly. She was a huge Harry Potter fan and enjoyed hearing about Quidditch. Rio2 was played on the TV but I tried to sleep. It sort of worked. We landed and the customs line was surprisingly quick. I was interrogated upon arriving at London & Helsinki: "Where are you going? What are you doing? How long are you staying? How did you meet this friend?" etc. The Italian officials looked at my passport, stamped it, and handed it back. Easy as that. Alisa was waiting for me with my name on a sign (I felt important haha) and thankfully watched my luggage so I could use the bathroom before the trek to the city. I couldn't figure out how to work the hand dryers and neither could anyone else in the ladies restroom so we gave up. Sadly, a precious hand sanitizer (the glittery one too!) leaked during my flight. Oh, and my medical bracelet snapped too. Gonna have to get a decent one instead of the one from CVS I suppose.
To Milan! We took a bus (more like a charter bus/coach) to the main train station in Milan from the airport where we then caught a city bus to Alisa's apartment. Thankfully she had bought tickets and led the way! Her apartment is absolutely lovely (I have 2 beds, heheh) with many flags of all the countries she has been to and cute furniture. The bathroom is different, the toilet flushes weird. It's like a handle to flush that is a shower handle but instead of controlling temperature it controls how much water is used. I got on facebook, checked some emails, sent some texts (yo, I don't get charged for texts or data usage so feel free to keep in touch! calls are 20 cents a minute but that's what we have skype for, right?) then we went to a pizza place right around the corner.
I ate pizza with a fork and knife. This might be one thing where I have to say screw it, this is easier to eat by hand! The pizza was delicious though! I had plain cheese (: We got back to the apartment and bought train tickets to Florence for tomorrow morning. We are off to visit Marina (she taught my Italian 101 class). I then took a much needed nap and tried to watch Cloud 9 on twitch but the internet was going in and out so I gave up and slept. Thankfully they won both of their games :] I chatted with Alisa a bit and then with people back home because they were up and moving finally :p I now know where and when Quidditch practice is on Saturday and Michele and Valeria offered to meet up tonight. Michele came by and picked me up since I didn't want to walk alone in the dark in an unfamiliar place and we met Valeria at a pizza place (I'll have to get the names of these places eventually) that ONLY serves margherita pizza (plain cheese) and drinks. You know the pizza is gonna be good when the line is out the door and it's all for some cheese pizza! Michele ordered for me, the only options were small or large (he ordered large and I definitely couldn't eat all of it). It was thick crust unlike the thin I had at lunch and super cheesy and amazing. The fork and knife worked much better with the thick crust but I still think hands are best. We then went to an awesome gelato shop and it took a long time to make a decision of what flavors to try. I tried dark chocolate and bacio (milk chocolate with hazelnuts, baci are a type of italian chocolates that are amazing, Martina brought them to my Italian 102 class to share). Valeria had bacio and mint while Michele had mixed fruit and lemon. Everyone is super friendly and keeps paying for things for me (though I tried to pay). I didn't know how to order at the gelato place. I'm definitely going back because there were plenty other flavors I want to try!
Michele and Valeria walked me back to Alisa's apartment and made sure I could get inside before leaving. We took a car part of the way to the pizza place but it was more hassle to find parking. It's kinda like zipcar. Tonight I sleep some more and wake up to get on the train to Florence! I couldn't be more appreciative and thankful to everyone who has helped me get this far (Alisa, Marina, Michele, April, etc). We'll see if I can fall asleep with so much excitement (and caffeine & gelato).
Buonanotte,
Alex
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Last Day in Helsinki
Monday August 18th:
Today Jonna and I went to Helsinki! We took a bus this time to see some new things (instead of the same countryside that we saw via train). I saw Jonna's high school and we walked past some museums and an amusement park and the opera house. We saw a LOT! The weather was rather iffy though (definitely needed my jacket and long pants!) so we headed to Starbucks and also gave the Burger King in the train station a proper try. We walked through a wonderful park as well. Soon it was time to head to a mall where we were meeting Jenni because their favorite hockey team was making an appearance. It was the first day that tickets went on sale. I ate a cronut (it was fantastic) and bought lots of Finland souvenirs while Jonna and Jenni got autographs and pictures with the hockey team. We met with another friend (Janna?) and chatted in a coffee shop in the mall. They preferred speaking Finnish so I used the free wifi to help Stephan make his Latin 1 syllabus. We took the train home then it was crunch time! Packing is hard...especially when you've bought new things! I guessed as well as I could how heavy my suitcase was and packed a lot of the heavier stuff into my carry on bag. We went to sleep not nearly early enough!
Tuesday August 19th:
Bright & Early (4:30am) was wake up time! We were out the door by 5 so we could catch the bus around 5:20 to get to the airport. We finally made it and I got all checked in after saying good bye to Jonna. We're gonna try and see each other somewhere between Finland and Italy in the next few months. I bought some Finnish chocolate at the duty free shop and also some snacks because I wasn't really excited about plane food. I lucked out again with the plane! I had the window seat and there was an empty seat between me and the guy in the aisle! It was great :D I tried to sleep on the plane but it wasn't too easy. The announcements were in Finnish, Swedish, and English so that got old real fast. I did love the free piece of chocolate at the end though! The lady in customs asked to see my flight tickets back to the States after I told her I was only back in London for the day. I was so glad that I had printed them off and kept them in my carry on (the receipt from my email). She let me through (huzzah!) and it was off to London! (continued on next post)
Today Jonna and I went to Helsinki! We took a bus this time to see some new things (instead of the same countryside that we saw via train). I saw Jonna's high school and we walked past some museums and an amusement park and the opera house. We saw a LOT! The weather was rather iffy though (definitely needed my jacket and long pants!) so we headed to Starbucks and also gave the Burger King in the train station a proper try. We walked through a wonderful park as well. Soon it was time to head to a mall where we were meeting Jenni because their favorite hockey team was making an appearance. It was the first day that tickets went on sale. I ate a cronut (it was fantastic) and bought lots of Finland souvenirs while Jonna and Jenni got autographs and pictures with the hockey team. We met with another friend (Janna?) and chatted in a coffee shop in the mall. They preferred speaking Finnish so I used the free wifi to help Stephan make his Latin 1 syllabus. We took the train home then it was crunch time! Packing is hard...especially when you've bought new things! I guessed as well as I could how heavy my suitcase was and packed a lot of the heavier stuff into my carry on bag. We went to sleep not nearly early enough!
Tuesday August 19th:
Bright & Early (4:30am) was wake up time! We were out the door by 5 so we could catch the bus around 5:20 to get to the airport. We finally made it and I got all checked in after saying good bye to Jonna. We're gonna try and see each other somewhere between Finland and Italy in the next few months. I bought some Finnish chocolate at the duty free shop and also some snacks because I wasn't really excited about plane food. I lucked out again with the plane! I had the window seat and there was an empty seat between me and the guy in the aisle! It was great :D I tried to sleep on the plane but it wasn't too easy. The announcements were in Finnish, Swedish, and English so that got old real fast. I did love the free piece of chocolate at the end though! The lady in customs asked to see my flight tickets back to the States after I told her I was only back in London for the day. I was so glad that I had printed them off and kept them in my carry on (the receipt from my email). She let me through (huzzah!) and it was off to London! (continued on next post)
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Back to Helsinki
Sunday August 17th:
We slept in (wooo) then ate brunch and enjoyed the sunshine on the deck with Leo. Johanna's mom made a traditional porridge type food with the currants we picked from their backyard on Friday. She also made biscuit type things and a pie. All were tasty (biscuity things being my favorite). We then headed to see the nice old castle ruins of Raasepori! I do wish things had been labeled a bit better with explanations but we managed to figure out what was what. Honesty seems to be big here. You're supposed to pay to have a ticket to go inside the castle but nobody is there to check or enforce it. Same with the local trains; well, they might come by and check but nobody has on any of my train trips thus far. Also, the produce labeling at the grocery stores. Finns are very honest an up front with everyone. It's kinda nice.
Side note, things I forgot to write about on other days. On my way to the train station on Friday, a man spoke to me in Finnish. I was a bit wary and replied "I only speak English." He then said "oh, okay, I was just saying happy weekend!" He asked me where I was from and if I was visiting and told me he hoped I had a great time in Finland. It was a nice start to my journey :] The ladies at the bus stop were also super nice and helpful. I knew my stop was the last stop but one lady was getting off at the stop before mine and said she would make sure to let me know when to get off. Nobody seems to mind too much that I don't speak Finnish or Swedish. I did try and learn a few words like "hello" and "thank you" in each to be polite.
Back to today. Johanna and her mom helped me get a train ticket (we don't have the ATM cards where there is a chip in the short end. They've been common in Europe for years but don't seem to exist in the States yet). My card wouldn't work and the machine only accepted card so Johanna bought my ticket and I paid her in cash. I had to buy a coke and used a 50 Euro note since it was the only thing the machine gave me. The train ride was really nice. It was a 2 story train and the seats were assigned since it was so big and intercity. It also had wifi! I put my earphones in to drown out the sounds of the crying baby so I checked out the window at each stop to make sure I got off at the right place (instead of listening for the announcements). I made it!
Jonna picked me up and we headed to Sipoo where her Mom, step-dad, and brothers live. Her older brother and his wife and their sons were visiting for dinner too. Her nephews are named Alex (6 years old) and Anton (almost 4). Alex greeted me when we got there by telling me "My name is Alex" in English. He had been practicing for me :] They don't speak English yet but their mother is a native Swedish speaker so they speak Swedish and Finnish already. The boys had tons of energy (duh) and reminded me of when Evan and my cousins were younger. Dinner was lovely and Jonna drove me around Sipoo after to show me her school buildings and the town. Henry drove us back to Helsinki where we went to the grocery store to get stuff for breakfast. Now i've been uploading photos and writing and watching Geordie shore. ha. Time to sleep so I can wake up and see more Helsinki tomorrow!
We slept in (wooo) then ate brunch and enjoyed the sunshine on the deck with Leo. Johanna's mom made a traditional porridge type food with the currants we picked from their backyard on Friday. She also made biscuit type things and a pie. All were tasty (biscuity things being my favorite). We then headed to see the nice old castle ruins of Raasepori! I do wish things had been labeled a bit better with explanations but we managed to figure out what was what. Honesty seems to be big here. You're supposed to pay to have a ticket to go inside the castle but nobody is there to check or enforce it. Same with the local trains; well, they might come by and check but nobody has on any of my train trips thus far. Also, the produce labeling at the grocery stores. Finns are very honest an up front with everyone. It's kinda nice.
Side note, things I forgot to write about on other days. On my way to the train station on Friday, a man spoke to me in Finnish. I was a bit wary and replied "I only speak English." He then said "oh, okay, I was just saying happy weekend!" He asked me where I was from and if I was visiting and told me he hoped I had a great time in Finland. It was a nice start to my journey :] The ladies at the bus stop were also super nice and helpful. I knew my stop was the last stop but one lady was getting off at the stop before mine and said she would make sure to let me know when to get off. Nobody seems to mind too much that I don't speak Finnish or Swedish. I did try and learn a few words like "hello" and "thank you" in each to be polite.
Back to today. Johanna and her mom helped me get a train ticket (we don't have the ATM cards where there is a chip in the short end. They've been common in Europe for years but don't seem to exist in the States yet). My card wouldn't work and the machine only accepted card so Johanna bought my ticket and I paid her in cash. I had to buy a coke and used a 50 Euro note since it was the only thing the machine gave me. The train ride was really nice. It was a 2 story train and the seats were assigned since it was so big and intercity. It also had wifi! I put my earphones in to drown out the sounds of the crying baby so I checked out the window at each stop to make sure I got off at the right place (instead of listening for the announcements). I made it!
Jonna picked me up and we headed to Sipoo where her Mom, step-dad, and brothers live. Her older brother and his wife and their sons were visiting for dinner too. Her nephews are named Alex (6 years old) and Anton (almost 4). Alex greeted me when we got there by telling me "My name is Alex" in English. He had been practicing for me :] They don't speak English yet but their mother is a native Swedish speaker so they speak Swedish and Finnish already. The boys had tons of energy (duh) and reminded me of when Evan and my cousins were younger. Dinner was lovely and Jonna drove me around Sipoo after to show me her school buildings and the town. Henry drove us back to Helsinki where we went to the grocery store to get stuff for breakfast. Now i've been uploading photos and writing and watching Geordie shore. ha. Time to sleep so I can wake up and see more Helsinki tomorrow!
To Ekenas!
Friday August 15th:
Today Jonna and I slept in then started getting ready and packing. I was headed to Ekenas to visit Johanna and Jonna was headed to Turku for a soccer tournament with her work friends. Jonna drew me a nice map of how to get to the right bus stop from the train station. I'll have to take a picture of it. I left around 1:15, bought stamps and mailed postcards from Estonia (didn't have time there), went to McDonalds, caught the train to Helsinki, found the right bus (some other people were also there and confirmed I was at the right stop), and made it to the Seurasaari Open-Air Museum where Johanna works! I got there just in time for her 3pm tour in English :D After the tour and some exploring her friend Anna showed up to take us back to Ekenas. First, a stop at the airport to pick up their friend Julia from Switzerland who was also visiting. We arrived in Ekenas sometime between 7 and 8pm and had a nice dinner thanks to Johanna's mom. Johanna's puppy, Leo, was super friendly and adorable. I also met Johanna's younger sister, Julia. We spent some time catching up and watching TV before going to bed. Learned that Johanna also has a brother, Casper, but he spent time playing video games in his room, lol. Sound familiar anyone?
Saturday August 16th:
We woke up and after breakfast biked into town and met Anna and Julia on the way (under a bridge because it was pouring rain and yet also sunny out). The weather wasn't too cooperative. We walked through the market (I tried some peas) and got a key to a water tower. We explored the old church (very pretty) and then Johanna went to get her hair cut and the rest of us explored the water tower. The view was incredible from the top. We then biked back and had lunch before setting off to explore Fiskas. They make the orange scissors! The old town was really neat and all of the hand made crafts were cool (and too expensive to buy for the most part). I did buy an awesome cheese slicer thing (i swear they don't exist in the states). When we went to the glass shop I found two things I really wanted to buy. They were only 10 euros each so I decided I would get both. I went to check out and the guy at the register (also the guy who makes everything) spoke to me in Finnish. I asked for English and he replied Finnish or Italian is best. So, I decided to give my Italian a try. He was pleased and spoke to me for a few minutes (even with my awful Italian). He gave me both for 15 instead of 20. Johanna was shocked that there was someone up here speaking Italian (and Finnish) and that I got a discount. It made my day.
We went back and ate dinner (potatoes, meatballs, and eggs) then took a nap and also discussed the many differences in our cultures and schools and politics and languages. The weather was finally looking decent so Johanna and I decided to go have a drink or two in town on a terrace. We were sitting outside drinking pear cider and watching the sunset over the harbor when Anna and Julia walked by and convinced us to go to the nightclub with them. I was astoundingly underdressed (did not prepare) but went anyway. It was fun, though Finnish people seem to be a bit rude. The drinks were cheaper by about half than in Helsinki. Johanna and Anna kept running into people they knew since it is such a small town. We had plenty of fun and then had to go to Prissburger which is the typical drunk food/place to go after drinking in Ekenas. Then we biked back and slept a lot!
Today Jonna and I slept in then started getting ready and packing. I was headed to Ekenas to visit Johanna and Jonna was headed to Turku for a soccer tournament with her work friends. Jonna drew me a nice map of how to get to the right bus stop from the train station. I'll have to take a picture of it. I left around 1:15, bought stamps and mailed postcards from Estonia (didn't have time there), went to McDonalds, caught the train to Helsinki, found the right bus (some other people were also there and confirmed I was at the right stop), and made it to the Seurasaari Open-Air Museum where Johanna works! I got there just in time for her 3pm tour in English :D After the tour and some exploring her friend Anna showed up to take us back to Ekenas. First, a stop at the airport to pick up their friend Julia from Switzerland who was also visiting. We arrived in Ekenas sometime between 7 and 8pm and had a nice dinner thanks to Johanna's mom. Johanna's puppy, Leo, was super friendly and adorable. I also met Johanna's younger sister, Julia. We spent some time catching up and watching TV before going to bed. Learned that Johanna also has a brother, Casper, but he spent time playing video games in his room, lol. Sound familiar anyone?
Saturday August 16th:
We woke up and after breakfast biked into town and met Anna and Julia on the way (under a bridge because it was pouring rain and yet also sunny out). The weather wasn't too cooperative. We walked through the market (I tried some peas) and got a key to a water tower. We explored the old church (very pretty) and then Johanna went to get her hair cut and the rest of us explored the water tower. The view was incredible from the top. We then biked back and had lunch before setting off to explore Fiskas. They make the orange scissors! The old town was really neat and all of the hand made crafts were cool (and too expensive to buy for the most part). I did buy an awesome cheese slicer thing (i swear they don't exist in the states). When we went to the glass shop I found two things I really wanted to buy. They were only 10 euros each so I decided I would get both. I went to check out and the guy at the register (also the guy who makes everything) spoke to me in Finnish. I asked for English and he replied Finnish or Italian is best. So, I decided to give my Italian a try. He was pleased and spoke to me for a few minutes (even with my awful Italian). He gave me both for 15 instead of 20. Johanna was shocked that there was someone up here speaking Italian (and Finnish) and that I got a discount. It made my day.
We went back and ate dinner (potatoes, meatballs, and eggs) then took a nap and also discussed the many differences in our cultures and schools and politics and languages. The weather was finally looking decent so Johanna and I decided to go have a drink or two in town on a terrace. We were sitting outside drinking pear cider and watching the sunset over the harbor when Anna and Julia walked by and convinced us to go to the nightclub with them. I was astoundingly underdressed (did not prepare) but went anyway. It was fun, though Finnish people seem to be a bit rude. The drinks were cheaper by about half than in Helsinki. Johanna and Anna kept running into people they knew since it is such a small town. We had plenty of fun and then had to go to Prissburger which is the typical drunk food/place to go after drinking in Ekenas. Then we biked back and slept a lot!
Ooops, it's been awhile
Thursday August 14th:
I'm behind a few days but I've been to busy to write (ahem, lazy). Anyway, Thursday we woke up the earliest yet (9am) to go have free breakfast at our hotel. Then we decided to explore the old part of Tallinn. We found giant flowers (that I wasn't supposed to take pictures of but didn't notice the signs until later), plenty of touristy souvenir shops, and lots of pretty buildings. We even found the church that Jonna had never seen. After seeing what we could we headed back toward the hotel. I was able to leave my backpack and laptop in a safe area instead of lugging it around all day after checking out. loved it! We shopped around the mall connected to our hotel then in the H&M across the street and other shops. We found this great restaurant for lunch but the system was not well explained and took ages. You decided what you wanted (pizza, pasta, salad/antipasto) then stood in line and they made it fresh in front of you. cool, except the pasta took ages. they didn't have precooked portions of the pastas ready so we waited for each meat to cook, vegetables to be added, sauces, spices, pasta to cook, stirred together, etc. Probably would have jumped in the pizza line if I realized how long it was going to take. At least with pizza you could go sit down after ordering and wait. The food was good but I couldn't eat all of mine. A shame, I couldn't carry around the leftovers either. We shopped a bit more then headed back to the hotel to grab my bags.
After leaving the hotel we went toward the ship and the alcohol shop. Alcohol is much cheaper in Estonia because of the super high taxes in Finland and you don't have to pay duty/tax on what you bring back on the ship (unless it's a TON). So, Jonna and I carried a total of 4 24 packs of cider cans and 1.5 liters of vodka between us along with our shopping and overnight stuff and snacks. You think it's not too heavy and then after walking a bit to the ship it's awful. We were able to store everything in a locker for the ride though! Amazingly the rain held off all day until we were on the way back. Jonna's brother, Henry, picked us up when we got off the ship. I hated getting off though because people all want to be the first off but THEY ARE SO SLOW! If you have a stroller or you're old or you walk slow then you need your own lane. People just spread out and crawled off the ship and we couldn't stop but it was an awkward pace and everyone was carrying tons of heavy stuff (mostly alcohol). Gah. They don't even move over if they see you're trying to move faster. Get it together people! Britain does this with the underground elevators. right side if you're slow, left if you're walking/hurrying. Johanna mentioned that yeah, that's kinda just how Finnish people are. It drove me crazy. Anyway, we went to Jonna's house in Sipoo, then drove the car back to her place in Helsinki.
I'm behind a few days but I've been to busy to write (ahem, lazy). Anyway, Thursday we woke up the earliest yet (9am) to go have free breakfast at our hotel. Then we decided to explore the old part of Tallinn. We found giant flowers (that I wasn't supposed to take pictures of but didn't notice the signs until later), plenty of touristy souvenir shops, and lots of pretty buildings. We even found the church that Jonna had never seen. After seeing what we could we headed back toward the hotel. I was able to leave my backpack and laptop in a safe area instead of lugging it around all day after checking out. loved it! We shopped around the mall connected to our hotel then in the H&M across the street and other shops. We found this great restaurant for lunch but the system was not well explained and took ages. You decided what you wanted (pizza, pasta, salad/antipasto) then stood in line and they made it fresh in front of you. cool, except the pasta took ages. they didn't have precooked portions of the pastas ready so we waited for each meat to cook, vegetables to be added, sauces, spices, pasta to cook, stirred together, etc. Probably would have jumped in the pizza line if I realized how long it was going to take. At least with pizza you could go sit down after ordering and wait. The food was good but I couldn't eat all of mine. A shame, I couldn't carry around the leftovers either. We shopped a bit more then headed back to the hotel to grab my bags.
After leaving the hotel we went toward the ship and the alcohol shop. Alcohol is much cheaper in Estonia because of the super high taxes in Finland and you don't have to pay duty/tax on what you bring back on the ship (unless it's a TON). So, Jonna and I carried a total of 4 24 packs of cider cans and 1.5 liters of vodka between us along with our shopping and overnight stuff and snacks. You think it's not too heavy and then after walking a bit to the ship it's awful. We were able to store everything in a locker for the ride though! Amazingly the rain held off all day until we were on the way back. Jonna's brother, Henry, picked us up when we got off the ship. I hated getting off though because people all want to be the first off but THEY ARE SO SLOW! If you have a stroller or you're old or you walk slow then you need your own lane. People just spread out and crawled off the ship and we couldn't stop but it was an awkward pace and everyone was carrying tons of heavy stuff (mostly alcohol). Gah. They don't even move over if they see you're trying to move faster. Get it together people! Britain does this with the underground elevators. right side if you're slow, left if you're walking/hurrying. Johanna mentioned that yeah, that's kinda just how Finnish people are. It drove me crazy. Anyway, we went to Jonna's house in Sipoo, then drove the car back to her place in Helsinki.
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
We're in Tallinn (Estonia)
Wednesday August 13th: So, we both thought we were gonna wake up early to get stuff done. We slept in instead. I still managed to wake up, shower, eat brunch, finish my postcards, and pack in time. Postcards from Finland are now in the mail! We left around 1:15 to go to Prisma (the grocery store) to buy stamps and a snack then it was on the train to Helsinki. We then took a tram to the port/harbor idk where we boarded the cruise ship Finlandia for Estonia. Jonna showed her ID to get our tickets that she pre-ordered online and then we walked onto the ship. No security, no customs, didn't have to show my passport, nothing. It was kind of strange. The ship ride was fun! We bought snacks (chocolate duh) and read our books. The ship had wifi and my snapchat app decided to lock me out. After unlocking it, it instantly re-locked. I tried changing my password and it still re-locked. Now it says the network is blocked because of suspicious activity. It's driving me a bit insane but I'll live. After arriving in Estonia we walked to our hotel which is about 1km from the dock. After waiting in line for what seemed like ages we checked in and went up to our room which is on the 21st floor. Then it was straight back down because we were starving. We ate at a place inside the hotel but also connected to the shopping mall right behind the hotel. It was super tasty American tex mex kinda place. Burgers, chicken, steaks, tacos, etc. Then we sought out an icecream place in the mall before everything closed at 9 and explored a grocery store. The "share a coke" thing here isn't names but song titles/lyrics. Jonna says the bottles say something like "Share a coke and sing/dance to..." so there are lots of great coke pictures coming. We're easily amused... In case anyone was wondering Finnish and Estonian are similar languages and are partially intelligible with each other. Jonna is able to understand words and phrases of Estonian (despite not having learned it). She thinks it's so weird to be able to go to a country and speak Finnish with everyone because hardly no other countries speak Finnish. Basically just Finland and then people who work in touristy areas of Estonia, like the capital Tallinn where we are. English is understood here too, yay! Though our waitress spoke in Finnish to Jonna when I had some questions and Jonna translated. It worked a bit better that way. Now we're hanging out in the hotel room and gonna turn in early so we can wake up early and shop! The boat doesn't leave until like 8pm tomorrow night so we have a full day tomorow! Plus free breakfast from the hotel :D That is what is gonna get us out of bed tomorrow morning. Pictures are uploading to Facebook as I type.
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
More Finland!
Monday August 11th: Jonna and I slept in then ate some breakfast and took photos of the gorgeous scenery. We also jumped on the trampoline and just relaxed in general, playing with the dogs and reading. We eventually packed up and got on the road back to Helsinki (of which I slept most of the way, hadn't had any caffeine). We stopped by the post office to pick up Jonna's router then met Jonna's brother at her apartment to give him back the car. He drove us to Ikea where Jonna works so we could explore! Ikea was a lot of fun. Of course we had the meatballs for dinner (delicious). We planned on walking to Helsinki (we were in Vantaa, very close by) and taking a bus home from there since it would be cheaper (because districts and pricing) but it was starting to rain. When the bus arrived we tried to pay but the bus driver explained that we didn't need to, the machine was broken. Win!!! Free ride back :] We then set up the router (after a quick trip to Prisma, the grocery store kinda like a Super Target/Walmart, to buy another ethernet cable. and chocolate. always chocolate). Jonna went for a run, I skyped and played league. All was well and relaxing. It stormed in the middle of the night and we had to shut the window because the rain was blowing inside. I woke up at 7am sweating (no blankets) and opened the window again because it had stopped raining. I do miss air conditioning.
Tuesday August 12th: Today we went to Helsinki! We rode the train in and then went straight to Starbucks (the only one in Finland, besides the airport). We then walked around the Esplanade and the market by the water where I bought tons of postcards and other gifts. Next we took the ferry to Suomenlinna (an island, used to be military) to explore it. It was gorgeous of course. Unfortunately the museums on the island weren't free and we didn't feel like paying so we just walked around the island and enjoyed the weather and scenery. Jonna doesn't like the birds though. One of them tried to chase us! After returning to Helsinki we went to the grocery store to grab a few things (they print their own price labels for fresh produce, unlike the cashier doing it all at the grocery stores at home. As a former cashier, I love this). I grabbed more chocolate to bring back (we'll see how much actually makes it to the States) and we made pasta and had leftover chicken for dinner. Oh, also tried out the burger king in the train station. My crispy chicken sandwich looked kinda weird but it tasted good. Whatever. Might go back for icecream :D It's quite convenient and probably better than the milkshake I had at Ikea. I filled out like half of my postcards (it's tiring work guys) and chatted with Jonna about all kinds of things ranging from high school gossip that she never heard to college gossip and wage differences and maternity leave differences. Somehow this all connected quite well. We're off to Estonia tomorrow! Pictures and updates later :] Finland is nice!
Tuesday August 12th: Today we went to Helsinki! We rode the train in and then went straight to Starbucks (the only one in Finland, besides the airport). We then walked around the Esplanade and the market by the water where I bought tons of postcards and other gifts. Next we took the ferry to Suomenlinna (an island, used to be military) to explore it. It was gorgeous of course. Unfortunately the museums on the island weren't free and we didn't feel like paying so we just walked around the island and enjoyed the weather and scenery. Jonna doesn't like the birds though. One of them tried to chase us! After returning to Helsinki we went to the grocery store to grab a few things (they print their own price labels for fresh produce, unlike the cashier doing it all at the grocery stores at home. As a former cashier, I love this). I grabbed more chocolate to bring back (we'll see how much actually makes it to the States) and we made pasta and had leftover chicken for dinner. Oh, also tried out the burger king in the train station. My crispy chicken sandwich looked kinda weird but it tasted good. Whatever. Might go back for icecream :D It's quite convenient and probably better than the milkshake I had at Ikea. I filled out like half of my postcards (it's tiring work guys) and chatted with Jonna about all kinds of things ranging from high school gossip that she never heard to college gossip and wage differences and maternity leave differences. Somehow this all connected quite well. We're off to Estonia tomorrow! Pictures and updates later :] Finland is nice!
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Second day in Finland!
Sunday August 10th: Finland is 7 hours ahead of those of y'all on the east coast, in case you were wondering. Jonna and I eventually got ready and packed to go to Hatala (I think?) which is about an hour and a half driving from Helsinki. First we went by the store and Subway (just for Evan). I just checked the weather: it's currently 66F and slightly cloudy. sunrise is at 5:06am and sunset is 9:23pm. This place is gorgeous! Many Finnish people have "summer homes" aka vacation homes that are out in the country that they visit during the weekends throughout the year. Jonna's mom's cousin owns this house and it's on a gorgeous lake. It's a log cabin and reminds me of Sonya and Derek's house :] We relaxed after driving (and we realized I could use the internet) then went to enjoy the saunas and swimming. The smoke sauna was first. Apparently these aren't nearly as common and I don't know the exact differences except it smelled smoky inside? It was super hot and humid but that's the point. Jonna and I wore bathing suits though it's completely normal to go nude. At public saunas there are even signs prohibiting bathing suits from being worn. Jonna told me a lot about the saunas. You go with people you know, usually at your house (most houses have the regular saunas) and it's hot and you get sweaty but it feels like you have new skin. You feel so much cleaner after (true, confirmed). We didn't stay too long in the smoke sauna (Jonna isn't a huge fan of it) and we went swimming in the lake. It felt a lot colder because we had been inside the hot room. The lake is gorgeous. We could see the full moon rising and the sun setting which was amazing, especially over each side of the lake. The lake has fishies (Jonna doesn't like them). Then we hit the regular sauna which is a bit overwhelming at first. It's hard to breathe when Jonna threw the water onto coals? I don't even know what. But it was truly awesome. I can see why the Finnish people like these so much, especially when it's cold outside. Jonna told me more about saunas. The dogs like them too (though not one of her dogs) and children also use the saunas. It's quite normal. The newer saunas have showers between the entrance and the sauna that you use when you're finished. This one is older so we used buckets of water and bathed like it was 200 years ago. It was quite the experience. My words can't really do it justice.
We had a lovely dinner after taking multiple photographs and videos of the view. Jonna's mom made chicken in some kind of tasty sauce with noodles. Bread, cheese, vegetables, chips, and dip were also on the table. I ate plenty of carrots (Jonna can confirm for you non believers!). They tasted good, especially with the sauce from the chicken. Now I've been skyping and typing. Bed soon, no idea what we're doing tomorrow. Possibly waking up at sunrise to see the view over the lake. Then of course going back to bed for a few hours :]
PS Check for postcards in the mail! They should be arriving very soon! <3 Message/comment when you get them please.
EDIT: I mention that I'm from North Carolina. People in Finland know vaguely where this is. My follow up: "halfway between New York and Florida. I went to the university that Michael Jordan went to." That seems to do the trick :] Jonna is teaching me some Finnish words and phrases that I promptly keep forgetting. I can remember about half of how to say "my name is..." and I know how to say "thank you." We've had a lot of fun discussing the differences in languages between Finnish, Swedish, English, and Spanish (Jonna knows a bit of all of these).
EDIT: I mention that I'm from North Carolina. People in Finland know vaguely where this is. My follow up: "halfway between New York and Florida. I went to the university that Michael Jordan went to." That seems to do the trick :] Jonna is teaching me some Finnish words and phrases that I promptly keep forgetting. I can remember about half of how to say "my name is..." and I know how to say "thank you." We've had a lot of fun discussing the differences in languages between Finnish, Swedish, English, and Spanish (Jonna knows a bit of all of these).
FINLAAAAAAAAAAAAAND :]
Saturday August 9th: 5am is really early. especially when you go to bed at 1am. well, Charlie and her Mum and Dad all woke up early with me to say good bye (I said it was okay, because I am coming back after all, but they got up anyway). Charlie drove me down to the station around 5:45 and tested my knowledge (I remembered all the stations to take and switch etc). Then I caught the 5:53 train (pfft.. it showed up at 6am) to Liverpool Street and went all the way to Heathrow. Yeah, that's about an hour and a half journey. At least I found seats for the entire ride (every train and underground ride!). That was lovely. There were plenty of other passengers headed to Heathrow too. It took many a moving sidewalk before I made it from the stop to terminal 3. Then it took a bit of figuring out where to find Finnair check in. I scanned my passport at the machine and it printed my baggage tags and it was off to stand in line. Apparently Helsinki is a HUGE airport for sending people to Asia/India. Many of the people in line with me were headed to Japan, Singapore, Delhi, and elsewhere in Asia. I didn't feel like talking much. A nice elderly couple got in line behind me and I told the man about the check in for the luggage. His wife was very appreciative. They were on a group tour of the Baltic Sea area and were connecting in Helsinki. Thank goodness I made it to check in when I did. I was finished by 8am and the line had tripled in length behind me when I was leaving toward security. The nice old couple waited for the rest of their group but I saw them again on the plane (they sat a few rows behind me). The security was way more strict than Charlotte. Charlotte let my hand sanitizer through in my purse, these guys wanted lip gloss and lip stick and hand sanitizer all in plastic bags. they made the guy in front of me go find a new container for his hair gel since it was 150mL and the max was 100. Even though he had used quite a bit, the size of the container was apparently an issue. After security I hit up Starbucks (that line was insane) and a grocery store for snacks (Kinder and Cadbury!) and drinks for the flight. I'll be bringing more substantial food on the long flight home. The airplane meals are..interesting. I sat around for a bit, ate a lovely ham and cheese croissant from "Eat" and was super happy because they heated it up for me. Starbucks apparently couldn't heat up the cinnamon roll so I passed on that. Weird. I found a nice seat close to the message board of all the posted flights and waited and waited for the gate to be posted. It was possibly the closest gate in walking distance (woo) but more waiting.
Flight time! I was wondering why I had a group 1 boarding status but soon found out! EXIT ROW SEAT!!!! I had sooooooooo much leg room (there are pictures, obviously). I wish I had this for my flight home! It was really enjoyable. The flight was nice. I took a nap or two and then the lunch cart came by. My choices of sandwich were "tuna and egg on white bread" or "reindeer and cheese on brown bread." Yes, you read that right. REINDEER. The wrapper was in Finnish but Jonna confirmed. I didn't eat it or open it. I just kept thinking of Rudolph and his friends. I had some coke and chips instead. I was still pretty full from breakfast anyway and I had some scones from Harrod's in my bag. I spent the rest of the flight reading. Helsinki airport has free wifi with NO time limit. It was glorious. I found Jonna after the seemingly endless customs line. There were tons of Asians in line around me (at the "all passports" line). A person who worked for the airport came over and started talking (in Finnish) to the blonde lady in front of me. She realized she could go through the European passport line. Then the worker turned to me and started again in Finnish. I was like umm, English? She explained about the European line and then I explained that I'm American. Score, 2 points to USA for getting in the right line. I stuck out for being white and it was kind of odd. I wasn't expecting it in Finland. Anyway, got my bag (borrowed from Charlie) and found Jonna!
Jonna and I drove to her apartment which is only about 15 minutes away. WE ARE BACK TO DRIVING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE ROAD AND IT IS SO WONDERFUL!!! We went to the grocery store (which I could have spent all day in. I think it's fascinating.) and watched FC Barcelona play a Finland team in Helsinki (we watched on the tv though) and Finland got wrecked. It was a friendly game and Barcelona won 6-0 after putting in all their subs at 60 minutes. All the airport signs were in Finnish, Swedish, and English. Then the road signs in Helsinki are in Finnish and Swedish. Outside of Helsinki and major cities the signs are just in Finnish. The grocery store had a weird collection. I found some English things (M&Ms, Ritz crackers, tampons) but the vast majority was Finnish. The Finnish word for "orange juice" is "appelsiini" which is really confusing when trying to buy juice. The pictures are very helpful! I bought apple juice while Jonna bought orange juice. We had meatballs (from Ikea) and mac n cheese (that I brought) for dinner and watched more TV. We found plenty of English programs (Survivor, Hotel Hell) and everything not in Finnish has Finnish subtitles.
It gets dark outside at 10:30pm. You can still see just fine at 10! It starts getting light at 4am and sunrise is like 5:30am. Jonna says that it is early for sunset (was 11:30 a few weeks ago). Jonna doesn't have black out curtains but it's alright, we are excellent at sleeping (ask anyone who knows us, especially our moms). We took a train to meet her friends in downtown Helsinki at a bar. Her friend had a free ticket that let two people in for free but the nice guy said to just save it for next time and let Jonna and I keep the ticket and get in free. My driver license sufficed as ID (don't want to lose my passport) though Jonna had to show him wear my birthday was on the license. Next was bag/coat check which is typically mandatory 3 Euro fee even if you don't have anything. I stood there looking foreign (so I thought) as Jonna checked her purse then asked the guy if I needed to pay since I didn't have anything (she talked a lot for me when people started talking to me in Finnish. She's probably said "she doesn't speak Finnish" multiple times now and it won't be ending any time soon. He was nice and said I didn't need to pay :] I only had my small wallet and phone (in case I found wifi). Jonna's friends have names I can barely pronounce much less spell but they're all very friendly! let's see...Thia, Nora, Mariot, and yeah, that's all I can even try to spell. Everyone made an attempt to speak English when I was nearby and I had quite a few nice conversations about where I'm from and how I like Finland so far.
How I know Jonna: She studied abroad in NC back in high school, stayed with Megan Gray my junior year. Jonna and I became good friends (prom pics, check it out). She came to my graduation from LNHS a year later and we explored Harry Potter World among other things. Now it's my turn to visit!
The music was a mixture of Finnish pop and English. Maybe Swedish, how would I know? Alcohol is SO expensive. Finland has the highest alcohol tax in the European Union at 38%. My hard cider was 6 Euros, a rum and coke was 9. Ew. Actually, everything is expensive really. Except phone plans (Jonna realized a few hours ago that her phone can be a mobile hotspot and now I have wifi to type this. She pays like 20 Euro a month for unlimited texting and phone calls plus some amount of data but rarely goes over and she can do the hotspot thing no big deal). I pay twice as much and get much less. I'll be switching carriers when I get home. Back to the bar...everyone danced on the huge dance floor with abandon. It didn't matter what you were doing as long as you were moving, even if you were just swaying a bit in place. Any effort was appreciated. Jonna and I were standing near the edge of the dance floor talking when a guy came up and started talking to me in Finnish. I stared back confused while Jonna told him (in Finnish) that I only speak English. Apparently he didn't believe her and said something to the effect of "yeah sure" sarcastically and walked away, rejected. I didn't know any of this until Jonna explained. My "what?" must have gone unheard (it was very loud) and the poor guy thought I was pretending to be foreign as an excuse not to talk/dance with him. Apparently I don't look too foreign. I'm pale and fit in! It also helped that I wasn't wearing any of my UNC t-shirts I guess. We headed back (bus this time) after finding some wifi in McDonalds where we stopped to use the bathroom. We managed to sleep until 1:30pm :] did anyone really doubt our sleeping abilities?? I woke up around 8:30 thinking it must be nearly noon, checked the time, and easily rolled over and kept on sleeping! I like it here :]
Flight time! I was wondering why I had a group 1 boarding status but soon found out! EXIT ROW SEAT!!!! I had sooooooooo much leg room (there are pictures, obviously). I wish I had this for my flight home! It was really enjoyable. The flight was nice. I took a nap or two and then the lunch cart came by. My choices of sandwich were "tuna and egg on white bread" or "reindeer and cheese on brown bread." Yes, you read that right. REINDEER. The wrapper was in Finnish but Jonna confirmed. I didn't eat it or open it. I just kept thinking of Rudolph and his friends. I had some coke and chips instead. I was still pretty full from breakfast anyway and I had some scones from Harrod's in my bag. I spent the rest of the flight reading. Helsinki airport has free wifi with NO time limit. It was glorious. I found Jonna after the seemingly endless customs line. There were tons of Asians in line around me (at the "all passports" line). A person who worked for the airport came over and started talking (in Finnish) to the blonde lady in front of me. She realized she could go through the European passport line. Then the worker turned to me and started again in Finnish. I was like umm, English? She explained about the European line and then I explained that I'm American. Score, 2 points to USA for getting in the right line. I stuck out for being white and it was kind of odd. I wasn't expecting it in Finland. Anyway, got my bag (borrowed from Charlie) and found Jonna!
Jonna and I drove to her apartment which is only about 15 minutes away. WE ARE BACK TO DRIVING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE ROAD AND IT IS SO WONDERFUL!!! We went to the grocery store (which I could have spent all day in. I think it's fascinating.) and watched FC Barcelona play a Finland team in Helsinki (we watched on the tv though) and Finland got wrecked. It was a friendly game and Barcelona won 6-0 after putting in all their subs at 60 minutes. All the airport signs were in Finnish, Swedish, and English. Then the road signs in Helsinki are in Finnish and Swedish. Outside of Helsinki and major cities the signs are just in Finnish. The grocery store had a weird collection. I found some English things (M&Ms, Ritz crackers, tampons) but the vast majority was Finnish. The Finnish word for "orange juice" is "appelsiini" which is really confusing when trying to buy juice. The pictures are very helpful! I bought apple juice while Jonna bought orange juice. We had meatballs (from Ikea) and mac n cheese (that I brought) for dinner and watched more TV. We found plenty of English programs (Survivor, Hotel Hell) and everything not in Finnish has Finnish subtitles.
It gets dark outside at 10:30pm. You can still see just fine at 10! It starts getting light at 4am and sunrise is like 5:30am. Jonna says that it is early for sunset (was 11:30 a few weeks ago). Jonna doesn't have black out curtains but it's alright, we are excellent at sleeping (ask anyone who knows us, especially our moms). We took a train to meet her friends in downtown Helsinki at a bar. Her friend had a free ticket that let two people in for free but the nice guy said to just save it for next time and let Jonna and I keep the ticket and get in free. My driver license sufficed as ID (don't want to lose my passport) though Jonna had to show him wear my birthday was on the license. Next was bag/coat check which is typically mandatory 3 Euro fee even if you don't have anything. I stood there looking foreign (so I thought) as Jonna checked her purse then asked the guy if I needed to pay since I didn't have anything (she talked a lot for me when people started talking to me in Finnish. She's probably said "she doesn't speak Finnish" multiple times now and it won't be ending any time soon. He was nice and said I didn't need to pay :] I only had my small wallet and phone (in case I found wifi). Jonna's friends have names I can barely pronounce much less spell but they're all very friendly! let's see...Thia, Nora, Mariot, and yeah, that's all I can even try to spell. Everyone made an attempt to speak English when I was nearby and I had quite a few nice conversations about where I'm from and how I like Finland so far.
How I know Jonna: She studied abroad in NC back in high school, stayed with Megan Gray my junior year. Jonna and I became good friends (prom pics, check it out). She came to my graduation from LNHS a year later and we explored Harry Potter World among other things. Now it's my turn to visit!
The music was a mixture of Finnish pop and English. Maybe Swedish, how would I know? Alcohol is SO expensive. Finland has the highest alcohol tax in the European Union at 38%. My hard cider was 6 Euros, a rum and coke was 9. Ew. Actually, everything is expensive really. Except phone plans (Jonna realized a few hours ago that her phone can be a mobile hotspot and now I have wifi to type this. She pays like 20 Euro a month for unlimited texting and phone calls plus some amount of data but rarely goes over and she can do the hotspot thing no big deal). I pay twice as much and get much less. I'll be switching carriers when I get home. Back to the bar...everyone danced on the huge dance floor with abandon. It didn't matter what you were doing as long as you were moving, even if you were just swaying a bit in place. Any effort was appreciated. Jonna and I were standing near the edge of the dance floor talking when a guy came up and started talking to me in Finnish. I stared back confused while Jonna told him (in Finnish) that I only speak English. Apparently he didn't believe her and said something to the effect of "yeah sure" sarcastically and walked away, rejected. I didn't know any of this until Jonna explained. My "what?" must have gone unheard (it was very loud) and the poor guy thought I was pretending to be foreign as an excuse not to talk/dance with him. Apparently I don't look too foreign. I'm pale and fit in! It also helped that I wasn't wearing any of my UNC t-shirts I guess. We headed back (bus this time) after finding some wifi in McDonalds where we stopped to use the bathroom. We managed to sleep until 1:30pm :] did anyone really doubt our sleeping abilities?? I woke up around 8:30 thinking it must be nearly noon, checked the time, and easily rolled over and kept on sleeping! I like it here :]
Friday, August 8, 2014
Two Days in One because I'm tired!
Thursday August 7th:
Charlie and I went to visit her friend's house in somewhere UK (not too far away) to have a BBQ with her school friends (before university). It was a TON of fun :] Charlie's friends are super nice and hilarious. I didn't understand the inside jokes but everyone was super kind. Grilled/fried onions on burgers is super popular I believe. The burgers and sausage things were so tasty. As was the grilled squeaky cheese called "halloumi." delicious! they grilled on cute little disposable grills in aluminum foil pans. i'm not sure if this is normal? i guess people don't normally have the space for a whole grill or often would use it since it's so cold for most of the year. everyone liked the brownies i made :] sunflower oil apparently is a good substitute for vegetable oil and charlie had never heard of canola oil. couscous was very popular and I ate the most tasty chips ever that I plan on hunting down when I get back to the states. might be better for me if i can't find them though honestly. I finished writing the last of my postcards too. that's about it for thursday, it was super nice and relaxing. definitely needed a break from the city!
Friday August 8th:
To London! Well, first to Shenfield to visit the candy store. They're super nice and give samples to all the people getting off the trains at the end of the day so I decided to go buy some things (took lots of convincing, haha). They had a lot of American candy and peanut butter and hersheys and cereal as well as the home made treats and English candy. Loads of fun! Then we went to mail my last postcards and luckily the post lady had a water sponge thing so we didn't have to lick all of the stamps again! It still took awhile and some really interesting sticker placing. I counted on using the small stamps again but she gave me the pretty Commonwealth Games stamps which are bigger. (PS google the Commonwealth games. Has anyone else in the States heard of this before???) Charlie is a pro though and we figured it out :] I stopped by the bakery to buy a brunch sandwich (chicken breast and cheese) which was quite tasty. I also managed to drop a ten pound note and somehow lose it which is super sad but it happens I guess.
Next, to London! We took the train from Shenfield to Stratford then to a station in Westminster to see parliament and Westminster Abbey (where Will and Kate got married). I have pictures :] The weather was rainy when we left but had cleared up by the time we reached London. We walked to Buckingham Palace to see the State rooms and the Royal Childhood exhibit. It was AWESOME! Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the palace but it was sooo exciting. We learned a lot about the Royal Family (some of it I probably should have known but history is not my forte). Then we had scones and tea at the palace in the outdoor cafe! Phil texted Charlie asking what we were doing (he was planning on meeting us when he was free) and he response of "Having tea and scones at the palace" didn't seem too realistic without clarification. The palace is only open during the summer so we had to make sure he understood we weren't being sarcastic to him. We then explored the gift shop (woo) and made our way to Harrods. We beat Phil so we had emergency Starbucks (hadn't had any caffeine yet, this was like 3:30pm) but had to drink it all before going inside so that wasn't as nice.
Harrods. Wow. This store is HUGE. 5 stories and I don't even know how long and wide. We spent hours inside and didn't see half the store. I saw areas that I didn't find last time I visited. We saw the Disney Cafe (yea, that exists) and all the fancy jewelry and designer clothes and evening wear. The food floors, toy land, and gift shop were my favorites. I have quite a few pics from toy land. It was too insane and crowded to take many pictures elsewhere. Security was plenty as were tourists and actual rich people who could afford to shop there. People from the United Arab Emirates tend to visit this time of year and shop and have nice vacations. Some of them bring their super fancy sport cars and it angers the Britains but nothing is ever done about it really. We saw a car that was UAE and the license plate was 1. That essentially translates to "i have money and i'm important" We think it might have been the ambassador because Phil said that he saw an ambassador's car and it was also 1 (different country, can't remember which).
After an exhausting exploration of Harrod's we went to dinner at Pizza Express. It's actually way nicer than it sounds. I had a lovely lasagna, Phil had a huge calzone, and Charlie had a great salad. The dough balls appetizer was delicious (should have gotten the double) and my dessert (chocolate gelato + chocolate sauce + chocolate cake pieces) was amazing. A trek back in the rain to the underground and a sad farewell to Phil (who is also leaving London this weekend) and Charlie and I eventually made it back. I've been procrastinating (taking a break?) packing but need to finish as I'm starting my journey in a few hours to Heathrow and on to Finland! Updates tomorrow from Helsinki :]
Charlie and I went to visit her friend's house in somewhere UK (not too far away) to have a BBQ with her school friends (before university). It was a TON of fun :] Charlie's friends are super nice and hilarious. I didn't understand the inside jokes but everyone was super kind. Grilled/fried onions on burgers is super popular I believe. The burgers and sausage things were so tasty. As was the grilled squeaky cheese called "halloumi." delicious! they grilled on cute little disposable grills in aluminum foil pans. i'm not sure if this is normal? i guess people don't normally have the space for a whole grill or often would use it since it's so cold for most of the year. everyone liked the brownies i made :] sunflower oil apparently is a good substitute for vegetable oil and charlie had never heard of canola oil. couscous was very popular and I ate the most tasty chips ever that I plan on hunting down when I get back to the states. might be better for me if i can't find them though honestly. I finished writing the last of my postcards too. that's about it for thursday, it was super nice and relaxing. definitely needed a break from the city!
Friday August 8th:
To London! Well, first to Shenfield to visit the candy store. They're super nice and give samples to all the people getting off the trains at the end of the day so I decided to go buy some things (took lots of convincing, haha). They had a lot of American candy and peanut butter and hersheys and cereal as well as the home made treats and English candy. Loads of fun! Then we went to mail my last postcards and luckily the post lady had a water sponge thing so we didn't have to lick all of the stamps again! It still took awhile and some really interesting sticker placing. I counted on using the small stamps again but she gave me the pretty Commonwealth Games stamps which are bigger. (PS google the Commonwealth games. Has anyone else in the States heard of this before???) Charlie is a pro though and we figured it out :] I stopped by the bakery to buy a brunch sandwich (chicken breast and cheese) which was quite tasty. I also managed to drop a ten pound note and somehow lose it which is super sad but it happens I guess.
Next, to London! We took the train from Shenfield to Stratford then to a station in Westminster to see parliament and Westminster Abbey (where Will and Kate got married). I have pictures :] The weather was rainy when we left but had cleared up by the time we reached London. We walked to Buckingham Palace to see the State rooms and the Royal Childhood exhibit. It was AWESOME! Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the palace but it was sooo exciting. We learned a lot about the Royal Family (some of it I probably should have known but history is not my forte). Then we had scones and tea at the palace in the outdoor cafe! Phil texted Charlie asking what we were doing (he was planning on meeting us when he was free) and he response of "Having tea and scones at the palace" didn't seem too realistic without clarification. The palace is only open during the summer so we had to make sure he understood we weren't being sarcastic to him. We then explored the gift shop (woo) and made our way to Harrods. We beat Phil so we had emergency Starbucks (hadn't had any caffeine yet, this was like 3:30pm) but had to drink it all before going inside so that wasn't as nice.
Harrods. Wow. This store is HUGE. 5 stories and I don't even know how long and wide. We spent hours inside and didn't see half the store. I saw areas that I didn't find last time I visited. We saw the Disney Cafe (yea, that exists) and all the fancy jewelry and designer clothes and evening wear. The food floors, toy land, and gift shop were my favorites. I have quite a few pics from toy land. It was too insane and crowded to take many pictures elsewhere. Security was plenty as were tourists and actual rich people who could afford to shop there. People from the United Arab Emirates tend to visit this time of year and shop and have nice vacations. Some of them bring their super fancy sport cars and it angers the Britains but nothing is ever done about it really. We saw a car that was UAE and the license plate was 1. That essentially translates to "i have money and i'm important" We think it might have been the ambassador because Phil said that he saw an ambassador's car and it was also 1 (different country, can't remember which).
After an exhausting exploration of Harrod's we went to dinner at Pizza Express. It's actually way nicer than it sounds. I had a lovely lasagna, Phil had a huge calzone, and Charlie had a great salad. The dough balls appetizer was delicious (should have gotten the double) and my dessert (chocolate gelato + chocolate sauce + chocolate cake pieces) was amazing. A trek back in the rain to the underground and a sad farewell to Phil (who is also leaving London this weekend) and Charlie and I eventually made it back. I've been procrastinating (taking a break?) packing but need to finish as I'm starting my journey in a few hours to Heathrow and on to Finland! Updates tomorrow from Helsinki :]
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
The Shard!
Wednesday August 6th:
Today Charlie dropped me off at the station in Shenfield. I wrote down the route I was taking to meet Phil. Shenfield to Stratford then on the tube to Borough (not London Bridge because I don't have a phone and that station is huge). Phil found me quite easily at Borough station then we walked to Borough market to have a look around. Phil used to live quite close by for his first year at university so he knew the area pretty well. Borough market was plenty fun! Lots of free samples (Phil took full advantage of this, I tried a few things). After looking at all the stalls (ranging from fresh baked bread, flowers, fresh meat, fresh seafood, cooked foods, paella, ethiopian, thai, caribbean, pastries, fudge, candy, icecream, cheese, italian meats, pasta, and more) we decided on what we were having for lunch. I had a "burgito" which was little burger patties then wrapped in a tortilla with cheese and ketchup to make a burrito. I also bought a Tango orange soda which tastes amazing. Phil had vegetarian falafel which he claims was incredible. Then we had amazing milkshakes and figured out what to do next.
PS Tango ads in the 90s were WEIRD. Phil told me about them. here you go. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhOeG-uTJxw
We were very close to the Shard so we decided to walk over and have a look. We had heard that you could go up the Shard and see so we asked about it. Turns out, you can go to the very top floor and look around for as long as you like! Sold! 30 pounds and 10 minutes later we were through security and in super fast elevators on our way to the top! We got out on the 68th floor (a gift shop) and walked up to the 69th to have a look around. It was INCREDIBLE. Way better than the London Eye for sure. After browsing around every side and Phil pointing out all the landmarks we walked up to the 72nd floor where it's actually open to the elements. We had a nice breeze up there! Phil pointed out the landmarks (and we made a video) then we thought about what else to do nearby.
Phil mentioned Greenwich (pronounced "grin-itch" by all British people or "grin-idge" if you live there) where the Prime Meridian is located as well as the Royal Maritime Museum and the Naval College. We exited the Shard directly across from the train station and caught the next train over! We walked around Greenwich then even under the Thames and through a park and the Navy College then up a super steep hill to the Royal Observatory where the Prime Meridian is marked. You could pay and take your picture by the fancy one but we made do with the bit marked that was free :] The view of Canary Wharf and the City of London was excellent. I think Phil finally managed to explain how boroughs work. I don't think I can properly explain it here though, it would take too long. We decided to take the DLR back into town which is an automated light rail! We got to sit at the very front and pretend to drive the train. So much fun! I don't care if the other passengers thought it was odd that two college grads were play-driving a train. It went all through Canary Wharf which was cool to see. Then it was back on a tube, sort of good bye to Phil (might see him again on Friday, not sure yet), and on to Liverpool St station where I grabbed some food for dinner (KFC, they don't have mashed potatoes! what?! but they had Tango so that made it better) and hopped on a train to Shenfield. I was going to take a taxi back to Charlie's house but Charlie happened to be driving by when I walked out of the station (talk about timing!) so she drove me back :] Tomorrow is a BBQ at her friend's house. Should be relaxing :]
Today Charlie dropped me off at the station in Shenfield. I wrote down the route I was taking to meet Phil. Shenfield to Stratford then on the tube to Borough (not London Bridge because I don't have a phone and that station is huge). Phil found me quite easily at Borough station then we walked to Borough market to have a look around. Phil used to live quite close by for his first year at university so he knew the area pretty well. Borough market was plenty fun! Lots of free samples (Phil took full advantage of this, I tried a few things). After looking at all the stalls (ranging from fresh baked bread, flowers, fresh meat, fresh seafood, cooked foods, paella, ethiopian, thai, caribbean, pastries, fudge, candy, icecream, cheese, italian meats, pasta, and more) we decided on what we were having for lunch. I had a "burgito" which was little burger patties then wrapped in a tortilla with cheese and ketchup to make a burrito. I also bought a Tango orange soda which tastes amazing. Phil had vegetarian falafel which he claims was incredible. Then we had amazing milkshakes and figured out what to do next.
PS Tango ads in the 90s were WEIRD. Phil told me about them. here you go. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhOeG-uTJxw
We were very close to the Shard so we decided to walk over and have a look. We had heard that you could go up the Shard and see so we asked about it. Turns out, you can go to the very top floor and look around for as long as you like! Sold! 30 pounds and 10 minutes later we were through security and in super fast elevators on our way to the top! We got out on the 68th floor (a gift shop) and walked up to the 69th to have a look around. It was INCREDIBLE. Way better than the London Eye for sure. After browsing around every side and Phil pointing out all the landmarks we walked up to the 72nd floor where it's actually open to the elements. We had a nice breeze up there! Phil pointed out the landmarks (and we made a video) then we thought about what else to do nearby.
Phil mentioned Greenwich (pronounced "grin-itch" by all British people or "grin-idge" if you live there) where the Prime Meridian is located as well as the Royal Maritime Museum and the Naval College. We exited the Shard directly across from the train station and caught the next train over! We walked around Greenwich then even under the Thames and through a park and the Navy College then up a super steep hill to the Royal Observatory where the Prime Meridian is marked. You could pay and take your picture by the fancy one but we made do with the bit marked that was free :] The view of Canary Wharf and the City of London was excellent. I think Phil finally managed to explain how boroughs work. I don't think I can properly explain it here though, it would take too long. We decided to take the DLR back into town which is an automated light rail! We got to sit at the very front and pretend to drive the train. So much fun! I don't care if the other passengers thought it was odd that two college grads were play-driving a train. It went all through Canary Wharf which was cool to see. Then it was back on a tube, sort of good bye to Phil (might see him again on Friday, not sure yet), and on to Liverpool St station where I grabbed some food for dinner (KFC, they don't have mashed potatoes! what?! but they had Tango so that made it better) and hopped on a train to Shenfield. I was going to take a taxi back to Charlie's house but Charlie happened to be driving by when I walked out of the station (talk about timing!) so she drove me back :] Tomorrow is a BBQ at her friend's house. Should be relaxing :]
Today was so busy I didn't have time to write!
Tuesday August 5th: The whole gang meets up in London!!
Today we all (Me, Charlie, Sophie, and Phil) met up in King's Cross station! Charlie and I met Sophie at Liverpool St. where we then caught the tube down to King's Cross St. Pancras (long name, huge train and tube stations. St Pancras is trains only but right across the street from King's Cross. complicated and ginormous) which is the station closest to where Phil lives. You know what's at King's Cross??? HARRY POTTER! Well, not him exactly, but Platform 9 and 3/4 which is how you get to Hogwarts. Everyone knows this (if you don't, you have approximately one hour to find a copy of the first book and start reading or else). We didn't know exactly where in the station it might be since the station is so big but it is actually by platform 9 and 10, though not on the platform because then you would need a ticket. The line ("queue" as the British say) was inside and then the overflow was directed to wait outside to keep out of the way of people in there for traveling not Harry Potter sightseeing. We waited in line for a bit over an hour but it was so worth it. We had plenty of time to discuss poses, what scarf we would wear, if we would wear the glasses and/or wand, etc. I was sorted by Pottermore into Ravenclaw so I chose that scarf, Charlie chose that one cause it matched her outfit, Sophie picked Hufflepuff because she likes yellow, and Phil is clearly a Slytherin. For the group photo I wore Gryffindor so we could all be different (and there was only 1 Ravenclaw scarf out there). The one lady controlling the line was SUPER enthusiastic and also from Australia. She told us multiple times that it is completely FREE (which is rare in London) and that they also take a professional photo that you have the option to buy. It was a long wait but we had plenty of time to each pose a few ways then take a group photo. Oh yeah, the scarves, there is a person who holds the scarf out to make it look like you're running. We all decided that she has the best job there (compared to enthusiastic line lady, photographer, and people working in the shop). Next up: the shop!!! It is way too tiny for the amount of people it attracts. We squeezed in, looked at our photos, and then I proceeded to buy just about everything. Plenty of postcards, keychains, a sweatshirt (I forgot to bring one with me, now I have something to wear on the plane!), etc etc. Pictures will be on facebook :D and videos. we were bored in line...
After King's Cross we set off to find some lunch. Phil kept suggesting Ethiopian food and some vegan buffet. Nobody was being decisive (besides saying no to phil and to my idea of well, there's a mcdonalds). We found a burrito place and it was fairly tasty. The burritos were huge and my quesadilla was yummy. Then we set off on the great milkshake adventure only to have three of the places Charlie googled no longer exist. Lots of walking, no milkshakes. Icecream shops just aren't as common. We set off toward the Museum of London (taking the tube again) which is in Barbican. Barbican is like a city within a city (in London). It's all connected by walkways above the road which are labeled like streets. It's kinda neat. The museum was really cool. We hit the gift shop first and I bought more postcards and things then explored. The Roman part of the museum was my favorite. It's basically a history of London. Then we tried to find milkshakes (to no avail), said good bye to Sophie, then Phil, then back to Charlie's house! We had spaghetti for dinner (very tasty) then watched "Don't tell the Bride" which is wear the groom plans the wedding without any input from bride or bridesmaids! I had pity for the bride for about 10 seconds then realized she signed up for it! It was funny though. I'm still writing postcards and will be for quite some time.
Today we all (Me, Charlie, Sophie, and Phil) met up in King's Cross station! Charlie and I met Sophie at Liverpool St. where we then caught the tube down to King's Cross St. Pancras (long name, huge train and tube stations. St Pancras is trains only but right across the street from King's Cross. complicated and ginormous) which is the station closest to where Phil lives. You know what's at King's Cross??? HARRY POTTER! Well, not him exactly, but Platform 9 and 3/4 which is how you get to Hogwarts. Everyone knows this (if you don't, you have approximately one hour to find a copy of the first book and start reading or else). We didn't know exactly where in the station it might be since the station is so big but it is actually by platform 9 and 10, though not on the platform because then you would need a ticket. The line ("queue" as the British say) was inside and then the overflow was directed to wait outside to keep out of the way of people in there for traveling not Harry Potter sightseeing. We waited in line for a bit over an hour but it was so worth it. We had plenty of time to discuss poses, what scarf we would wear, if we would wear the glasses and/or wand, etc. I was sorted by Pottermore into Ravenclaw so I chose that scarf, Charlie chose that one cause it matched her outfit, Sophie picked Hufflepuff because she likes yellow, and Phil is clearly a Slytherin. For the group photo I wore Gryffindor so we could all be different (and there was only 1 Ravenclaw scarf out there). The one lady controlling the line was SUPER enthusiastic and also from Australia. She told us multiple times that it is completely FREE (which is rare in London) and that they also take a professional photo that you have the option to buy. It was a long wait but we had plenty of time to each pose a few ways then take a group photo. Oh yeah, the scarves, there is a person who holds the scarf out to make it look like you're running. We all decided that she has the best job there (compared to enthusiastic line lady, photographer, and people working in the shop). Next up: the shop!!! It is way too tiny for the amount of people it attracts. We squeezed in, looked at our photos, and then I proceeded to buy just about everything. Plenty of postcards, keychains, a sweatshirt (I forgot to bring one with me, now I have something to wear on the plane!), etc etc. Pictures will be on facebook :D and videos. we were bored in line...
After King's Cross we set off to find some lunch. Phil kept suggesting Ethiopian food and some vegan buffet. Nobody was being decisive (besides saying no to phil and to my idea of well, there's a mcdonalds). We found a burrito place and it was fairly tasty. The burritos were huge and my quesadilla was yummy. Then we set off on the great milkshake adventure only to have three of the places Charlie googled no longer exist. Lots of walking, no milkshakes. Icecream shops just aren't as common. We set off toward the Museum of London (taking the tube again) which is in Barbican. Barbican is like a city within a city (in London). It's all connected by walkways above the road which are labeled like streets. It's kinda neat. The museum was really cool. We hit the gift shop first and I bought more postcards and things then explored. The Roman part of the museum was my favorite. It's basically a history of London. Then we tried to find milkshakes (to no avail), said good bye to Sophie, then Phil, then back to Charlie's house! We had spaghetti for dinner (very tasty) then watched "Don't tell the Bride" which is wear the groom plans the wedding without any input from bride or bridesmaids! I had pity for the bride for about 10 seconds then realized she signed up for it! It was funny though. I'm still writing postcards and will be for quite some time.
Monday, August 4, 2014
What day am I on? Beach Day!
Monday August 4th: Today we're going to Southend to hang out at the beach! Charlie's Mom took the day off to drive us here. She's been coming here since she was a kid. It's somewhere in England about an hourish from Charlie's house. It's actually on the Thames estuary so it's nice and calm. The beach was rather pebbly and plenty of seaweed. When we arrived it was almost low tide (got there around 11, the lowest point of low tide was noon) so we walked down to the other end where there is an amusement park and the world's longest people pier where we rode a train on the pier to the very end and enjoyed the sea breeze and peace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southend_Pier
After the pier we went and rode two little rides (one of which I videoed, will be on facebook eventually). Then we went to a traditional fish & chips place where Charlie and her mum had fish and I had chicken nuggets :] All was well! We then began the trek back to the other end where we parked and grabbed some icecream (they call the syrup "sauce" and they put it under the scoops not on top. weird) and headed to the beach! Pretty sure I took a nice nap, though I had a book to read. The water was pretty cold and I would only have considered swimming in it if there wasn't a breeze and if the sun was out and it was super warm. Alas, the sun was partially out and it was rather windy so no swimming today. I did get a bit sunburnt though, let's hope it turns into a tan. Rossi's is apparently a local icecream place that's gone national in England. The icecream was quite tasty. I'm bathing in aloe lotion. The ride back was nice, not too traffic-y. I'm amused at the street signs, the tiny size of the roads, the roads being like tunnels in the country (walls of green plants covering fences on each side), and all kinds of little things. Charlie thinks I'm odd for noticing the little random things. (: Her mum doesn't mind.
We got home and I washed all the sand off my feet. I then collapsed onto the bed with some snacks and my book and took another short nap. Then I started working on my postcards and finding addresses. I learned that I didn't buy nearly enough postcards yet and I'm going to spend an absolute fortune on stamps. Charlie's sister, Lizzie, and her boyfriend, James, came over for dinner. They're very nice. James had a budweiser and I can't imagine why because there are so many other (better) beers here to choose from, surely. Dinner was pork chops and jacket potatoes. Jacket potato is the best name for a baked potato. It just makes it so much more exciting to eat! Fancy little potatoes in their tuxedos (ok, not really, but it's nice to imagine). Charlie's mum went on holiday and brought Charlie and Lizzie gifts back, as well as "gifts" of a fanny pack each. I can't remember what exactly they called them because "fanny" is not a polite word over here. Lizzie made fun of it and said "fanny pack" in an "American" accent and I was like yeah...I wasn't gonna say it, I'm an informed tourist! There was a family dispute over the usage of fanny packs so Charlie's mum bought them as gag gifts. It was pretty funny. Charlie and I played pool and discovered we're about the same skill level. That skill level is "painfully slow and not too great" but it was fun! I won, sort of. We were just happy to finally finish the game! Then, back to the postcards and uploading photos. Tomorrow is King's Cross for Harry Potter things then the Museum of London (what an original name...).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southend_Pier
After the pier we went and rode two little rides (one of which I videoed, will be on facebook eventually). Then we went to a traditional fish & chips place where Charlie and her mum had fish and I had chicken nuggets :] All was well! We then began the trek back to the other end where we parked and grabbed some icecream (they call the syrup "sauce" and they put it under the scoops not on top. weird) and headed to the beach! Pretty sure I took a nice nap, though I had a book to read. The water was pretty cold and I would only have considered swimming in it if there wasn't a breeze and if the sun was out and it was super warm. Alas, the sun was partially out and it was rather windy so no swimming today. I did get a bit sunburnt though, let's hope it turns into a tan. Rossi's is apparently a local icecream place that's gone national in England. The icecream was quite tasty. I'm bathing in aloe lotion. The ride back was nice, not too traffic-y. I'm amused at the street signs, the tiny size of the roads, the roads being like tunnels in the country (walls of green plants covering fences on each side), and all kinds of little things. Charlie thinks I'm odd for noticing the little random things. (: Her mum doesn't mind.
We got home and I washed all the sand off my feet. I then collapsed onto the bed with some snacks and my book and took another short nap. Then I started working on my postcards and finding addresses. I learned that I didn't buy nearly enough postcards yet and I'm going to spend an absolute fortune on stamps. Charlie's sister, Lizzie, and her boyfriend, James, came over for dinner. They're very nice. James had a budweiser and I can't imagine why because there are so many other (better) beers here to choose from, surely. Dinner was pork chops and jacket potatoes. Jacket potato is the best name for a baked potato. It just makes it so much more exciting to eat! Fancy little potatoes in their tuxedos (ok, not really, but it's nice to imagine). Charlie's mum went on holiday and brought Charlie and Lizzie gifts back, as well as "gifts" of a fanny pack each. I can't remember what exactly they called them because "fanny" is not a polite word over here. Lizzie made fun of it and said "fanny pack" in an "American" accent and I was like yeah...I wasn't gonna say it, I'm an informed tourist! There was a family dispute over the usage of fanny packs so Charlie's mum bought them as gag gifts. It was pretty funny. Charlie and I played pool and discovered we're about the same skill level. That skill level is "painfully slow and not too great" but it was fun! I won, sort of. We were just happy to finally finish the game! Then, back to the postcards and uploading photos. Tomorrow is King's Cross for Harry Potter things then the Museum of London (what an original name...).
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Oh right, why am I here?
Mom pointed out that some of you reading this might have no idea who the people are that I'm talking about and why I'm over here anyway. So, here's the story.
My second year at UNC I started working for UNC ResNET which is basically in dorm tech support. I got assigned my housing and ended up living in good old Craige again, which nobody wants. So, I didn't blame my friends for not wanting to room with me. I ended up being randomly assigned a roommate and they ended up being foreign exchange students. The first semester was a girl from Singapore named Yiqing aka Rayne. We didn't have too much in common but got along fine. She was only staying for a semester before heading back to Singapore though. I didn't get assigned a roommate until the last minute for spring semester. Not gonna lie, I was super upset at first. It's kinda nice having a room to yourself. Then, I found Charlie on facebook and realized we each had a photo of us doing our nails in the exact same way (I believe it was the Halloween one, can't remember now). Charlotte aka Charlie showed up from England and we had a blast! I was her first roommate because England does things differently so we were both nervous. We met Phil when I went to the desk for something and heard him in front of me and offered to set up his wireless since he mentioned being new. Turns out he was living with the other ResNET person in Craige and already had it fixed but came to hang out with me and Charlie. My memory is currently failing me in how we met Sophie but she also lived in Craige. I'll remember it tomorrow and come back and edit. We also met Johanna (who also went to King's College with Sophie and Phil) because she too lived in Craige and her and Phil decided to play Quidditch! Yay! Johanna will make an appearance sometime next week when I get to Finland.
I graduated from UNC a year early (technically not until July 25th or so) and landed an internship for 4 months in Saronno, Italy which is just north of Milan. This is the program http://siteprogram.pacioli.net/home/project-definition
I thought it would be great to visit Charlie, Phil, Sophie, Jonna, and Johanna (again, read on later) while on the other side of the Atlantic but money is a bit tight (eww, student loans). I actually read my emails and saw one about a travel fellowship. I decided to apply.
http://studentaffairs.unc.edu/sites/studentaffairs.unc.edu/files/TravelFellowshipCriteria2014.pdf
That doesn't mention it specifically but on the cover letter it asked a few specific things: Name, Year, Major, Did you earn Boy Scout Eagle/Girl Scout Gold? Umm, hello, this is what made my application so strong. See, I earned my Girl Scout Gold and I also earned the Venture Crew Silver (oddly, the highest is Silver. Gold, and three Bronzes were also earned prior to Silver, and I got the Quest Award too). Venture Crew is part of Boy Scouts of America. So I had the equivalent of Boy Scout Eagle + my Girl Scout Gold. It made me a bit more confident in my application and it paid off!
http://studentaffairs.unc.edu/awards/gerald-unks-undergraduate-travel-fellowship-winners-announced.html
I actually had a class with Osiris last fall, Ling 547 "Language Deficits and Disorders." We were in the same group for the final project. I remember talking to him about being in scouts after he wore a troop shirt one day.
Anywho, I received the $4,000 and I used most of it on plane tickets. Family and friends have been very generous and sent me graduation cards and money which are also helping with the costs. Luckily I am able to stay with Charlie's family and with Johanna and Jonna so hotel costs are nonexistent. I think this is a pretty good background but if anyone has any questions just comment or message me on facebook. :]
-Alex
My second year at UNC I started working for UNC ResNET which is basically in dorm tech support. I got assigned my housing and ended up living in good old Craige again, which nobody wants. So, I didn't blame my friends for not wanting to room with me. I ended up being randomly assigned a roommate and they ended up being foreign exchange students. The first semester was a girl from Singapore named Yiqing aka Rayne. We didn't have too much in common but got along fine. She was only staying for a semester before heading back to Singapore though. I didn't get assigned a roommate until the last minute for spring semester. Not gonna lie, I was super upset at first. It's kinda nice having a room to yourself. Then, I found Charlie on facebook and realized we each had a photo of us doing our nails in the exact same way (I believe it was the Halloween one, can't remember now). Charlotte aka Charlie showed up from England and we had a blast! I was her first roommate because England does things differently so we were both nervous. We met Phil when I went to the desk for something and heard him in front of me and offered to set up his wireless since he mentioned being new. Turns out he was living with the other ResNET person in Craige and already had it fixed but came to hang out with me and Charlie. My memory is currently failing me in how we met Sophie but she also lived in Craige. I'll remember it tomorrow and come back and edit. We also met Johanna (who also went to King's College with Sophie and Phil) because she too lived in Craige and her and Phil decided to play Quidditch! Yay! Johanna will make an appearance sometime next week when I get to Finland.
I graduated from UNC a year early (technically not until July 25th or so) and landed an internship for 4 months in Saronno, Italy which is just north of Milan. This is the program http://siteprogram.pacioli.net/home/project-definition
I thought it would be great to visit Charlie, Phil, Sophie, Jonna, and Johanna (again, read on later) while on the other side of the Atlantic but money is a bit tight (eww, student loans). I actually read my emails and saw one about a travel fellowship. I decided to apply.
http://studentaffairs.unc.edu/sites/studentaffairs.unc.edu/files/TravelFellowshipCriteria2014.pdf
That doesn't mention it specifically but on the cover letter it asked a few specific things: Name, Year, Major, Did you earn Boy Scout Eagle/Girl Scout Gold? Umm, hello, this is what made my application so strong. See, I earned my Girl Scout Gold and I also earned the Venture Crew Silver (oddly, the highest is Silver. Gold, and three Bronzes were also earned prior to Silver, and I got the Quest Award too). Venture Crew is part of Boy Scouts of America. So I had the equivalent of Boy Scout Eagle + my Girl Scout Gold. It made me a bit more confident in my application and it paid off!
http://studentaffairs.unc.edu/awards/gerald-unks-undergraduate-travel-fellowship-winners-announced.html
I actually had a class with Osiris last fall, Ling 547 "Language Deficits and Disorders." We were in the same group for the final project. I remember talking to him about being in scouts after he wore a troop shirt one day.
Anywho, I received the $4,000 and I used most of it on plane tickets. Family and friends have been very generous and sent me graduation cards and money which are also helping with the costs. Luckily I am able to stay with Charlie's family and with Johanna and Jonna so hotel costs are nonexistent. I think this is a pretty good background but if anyone has any questions just comment or message me on facebook. :]
-Alex
4th Day/First Trip to London!
WOW! So, today was my first day in London (besides riding underneath it) and it was incredible. We did a ton so bear with me :]
Charlie drove me to the Shenfield train station this morning and helped me buy an Oyster card. Basically, you put money on it and it gets you around London and some other places (like the train from London to Shenfield) for cheaper and quicker (you tap it on a card reader instead of feeding a ticket through the machine each time). There were multiple trains leaving soon but one is faster than the other (it stops at less stations). That one was running 14 minutes late but would still be quicker than the other train going to the same place so I decided to wait for that one. I went to the right platform to wait and Charlie went to play rehearsal after texting Phil and Sophie what time to expect me at Liverpool St. Station (at the McDonalds because wifi and the station is rather large). I got a coke and some gum from the little convenience store on the platform and sat down to read the Golden Compass while I waited. The first train went by and I knew that wasn't the one I wanted. The next train showed up what I thought was 15 minutes later so I hopped on. Then I realized that my watch was 5 minutes fast and I should have waited for the next train. Oh well, they were going to the same station. Phil greeted me about halfway between one of the station exits and McDonalds because I was ten minutes later than they were expecting. Sophie was waiting for us by McDonalds in case we somehow missed each other. Many hugs later, we set off. Phil, as predicted by Charlie and me, was wearing his "Run UNC" shirt.
We decided to walk to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge first since Charlie's mom mentioned something about lots of poppies because World War 1. We passed multiple skyscrapers with weird names/nicknames like the Cheese Grater, the Shard, the Walkie Talkie (that one burned the jaguar so they're re-doing the windows! google it), the Gherkin (we passed this one first), and the BT tower (this was later on). Here's a link if you're curious. http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/01/07/260194440/londons-cheeky-skyscrapers
The Tower was super crowded because it's really touristy. We went there on the trip 5 years ago. We also attempted to iceskate there but underestimated the time it would take on the tube and ended up not skating after all. The poppies were still being set up and won't be completed until August 5th so I'll have another look at it when I go back into London on Tuesday or Wednesday. We also passed a monument titled "The Monument" according to Phil. Idk what's so special about it. Then we passed London Bridge (no it wasn't falling) and Southwark bridge which was very pretty. We saw Shakespeare's Globe from across the Thames but didn't go see it up close. Phil was outraged because it's a reconstruction and not in the right place cause it really burned down years ago. I haven't read much Shakespeare so I wasn't too troubled. Next up was Millennium Bridge (as seen in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) and it's pretty neat. Then we walked on to St Paul's Cathedral (just the outside though) as we were on a mission to find lunch. We decided on a place called Gourmet Burger Kitchen. Sophie only had a milkshake, Phil is apparently vegetarian now, and the "skinny" fries were super weird. I forgot to take a photo. We then continued walking to see Kings College London (where Sophie and Phil went to school) and Somerset House which is in Westminster. Which is in London. I don't understand it exactly. Phil and Sophie tried to explain and I still don't understand. Trafalgar square was also in walking distance (though "walking distance" has been redefined by Phil). We sat around for a bit to see if Charlie wanted to join us. A guy did magic tricks (only one of which I haven't been able to figure out the trick) but it was alright. A group of French students came over to watch and one was wearing a Teemo hat!! I let him know I liked it. Phil butt-dialed Charlie and she said it was amusing to listen to us. She didn't end up coming so we had to figure out what was next. As we were leaving a guy saw Phil's shirt and asked him if he went to UNC. We said yeah, and the guy was all "cool, kind of, I went to NC State, but cool!" It's a small world?
To Baker Street and our first underground/public transport of the day besides the initial meeting up. We went to see Sherlock Holmes's house (though its not real, and Phil also has issues with this) then spent tons of time in Regent's Park with the birdies (the ducks were so cute). It was like being in another world. Where did the city go? We were still in London (district one as well, aka the dead center) but you couldn't see too many buildings or hear much of the traffic. After Regent's park we walked to Primrose Hill which was incredible. You could see the London skyline and all the skyscrapers we were so close to earlier in the day. Phil had mentioned a place where there were alcoholic milkshakes at this american diner so we looked up how to find it. Turns out it was in Camden which was fairly close so that was the next stop (district two, just barely). The milkshakes were incredible, the music was hilarious (I have videos), and Phil is great. After the diner we took the tube to Waterloo station and saw South Bank which is right by the Thames river, though the opposite side we were on earlier. We saw the London Eye and street performers and everything was bright and colorful. We also could see Parliament and Big Ben across the Thames. It was nearly 9pm by this time so we decided to head on back. We took the northern line together then Phil went on and Sophie and I got off to get onto the central line at Tottenham Court Road (which Phil and I think was also in Harry Potter, haven't confirmed yet) then on to Liverpool St. We had McDonalds (super slow) and got some snacks before I caught the train (the quick one this time) and Sophie texted Charlie so she could pick me up from the station in Shenfield.
Now: I'm writing this, applying lots of aloe lotion because I apparently got sunburnt. It was super windy so I felt cold all day but it was sunny. Photos are being uploaded to facebook and I'm writing another blog post as a background. Tomorrow is beach day!
Saturday, August 2, 2014
3rd day in the UK/Aug 2nd
August 2nd: It's Saturday! However every day has felt like Saturday so it's not as exciting. I woke up around 10:15 and went downstairs to find Charlie. Her dad had gone shooting clay pigeons and we were waiting for him to return before heading to the fair. Got ready, tried to wake up Mom and Dad via facebook message and finally suceeded around 1:30 my time (8:30 at home) just in time for us to leave for the fair. We drove to ermmm, I don't remember where. Anyway, the fair had tons of cool old cars, crafts, food, traditional dancing (Morris? idk the spelling), a dog show, and more. It was like the NC State fair but smaller. There's also this game where you throw little wooden balls (7 for a pound) at coconuts that are sitting on little stick things and if you knock off a coconut then you get to keep it. I knocked one over on the 2nd try and Charlie got one too! We haven't cracked open the coconuts yet but her dad is very excited. Apparently this is a normal fair thing, kind of like throwing baseballs at milk bottles at home. I tried a traditional pasty/pastie? and it's alright. It has ham, potatoes, onions, carrots and idk what else. It's a bit too oniony for my tastes. I also tried Pimms which is some kind of summer alcoholic beverage with apples/fruits. It's kind of like sangria but not. I wasn't a huge fan but Charlie and her mum drank my share with no complaints. We got home from the fair and I was able to skype with Mom, Dad, Nana, and then Stephan to catch everyone up on what I've been doing (because obviously I just started the blog). I still think it's strange that peanut butter is not too exciting over here and nobody wants chocolate that has peanut butter inside. Fine, more Reese's for me.
After skyping we went to dinner at a carvery where you can order burgers and things or you can order the carvery special thing where you go and get in line and tell the guy what meat you want (turkey, ham thing that I forgot the name of already, beef, or pork) and they carve you off a slice as you watch. Then you go down the line and serve yourself however much potatoes, corn, peas, yorkshire pudding (a pastry thing), uhh and other vegetables I missed plus gravies and sauces and take it back to your table to eat. You may or may not know that Britain doesn't really do the whole "unlimited" drink refills for free but this place did, IF, you ordered pepsi products. So, I didn't get a coke, but a pepsi. The waiter rarely came by though so I didn't even get a refill. What a shame. The food was super tasty and we had icecream sundae's after (mine had brownies and chocolate syrup, surprise surprise). Also, they left a tip for our waiter. I forgot to ask Charlie if that's normal because I didn't think it was (and he rarely came by the table anyway). I'll get around to asking Charlie.
Then we went bowling! Charlie's family seemed to think I'd be great at it since I mentioned having my own bowling ball at home. However, I can't even remember the last time I bowled and only scored an 80 then a 79. At least I was consistent? Charlie's dad won both games. It was amusing that the same exact bowling system (computer wise) is used at the lanes at home. It was oddly familiar. After bowling we came back and Charlie fixed her shoe for her play and I watched more League (missed C9 and 'CLG' unfortunately). I should have gone to bed sooner but I'm weirdly awake. Yay for melatonin. Tomorrow morning I meet Phil and Sophie in London! Charlie is taking me to the train station to buy an Oyster card which is basically a fun little card that is your ticket around the train/underground stations. You just tap it and the gate opens and it charges you money based on where you get off. You reload it at little kiosks in the stations. Apparently it's cheaper so I'm all for this. I have to figure out how to carry all of the candy to Phil and Sophie, I don't think it will fit in my purse (yeah, I brought a lot). I'm having a nice relaxing time. I'll probably have free wifi throughout the day tomorrow so I'll post pictures on facebook/instagram or snapchat :] Hopefully I'll stay on top of the blog daily summarizing for everyone.
After skyping we went to dinner at a carvery where you can order burgers and things or you can order the carvery special thing where you go and get in line and tell the guy what meat you want (turkey, ham thing that I forgot the name of already, beef, or pork) and they carve you off a slice as you watch. Then you go down the line and serve yourself however much potatoes, corn, peas, yorkshire pudding (a pastry thing), uhh and other vegetables I missed plus gravies and sauces and take it back to your table to eat. You may or may not know that Britain doesn't really do the whole "unlimited" drink refills for free but this place did, IF, you ordered pepsi products. So, I didn't get a coke, but a pepsi. The waiter rarely came by though so I didn't even get a refill. What a shame. The food was super tasty and we had icecream sundae's after (mine had brownies and chocolate syrup, surprise surprise). Also, they left a tip for our waiter. I forgot to ask Charlie if that's normal because I didn't think it was (and he rarely came by the table anyway). I'll get around to asking Charlie.
Then we went bowling! Charlie's family seemed to think I'd be great at it since I mentioned having my own bowling ball at home. However, I can't even remember the last time I bowled and only scored an 80 then a 79. At least I was consistent? Charlie's dad won both games. It was amusing that the same exact bowling system (computer wise) is used at the lanes at home. It was oddly familiar. After bowling we came back and Charlie fixed her shoe for her play and I watched more League (missed C9 and 'CLG' unfortunately). I should have gone to bed sooner but I'm weirdly awake. Yay for melatonin. Tomorrow morning I meet Phil and Sophie in London! Charlie is taking me to the train station to buy an Oyster card which is basically a fun little card that is your ticket around the train/underground stations. You just tap it and the gate opens and it charges you money based on where you get off. You reload it at little kiosks in the stations. Apparently it's cheaper so I'm all for this. I have to figure out how to carry all of the candy to Phil and Sophie, I don't think it will fit in my purse (yeah, I brought a lot). I'm having a nice relaxing time. I'll probably have free wifi throughout the day tomorrow so I'll post pictures on facebook/instagram or snapchat :] Hopefully I'll stay on top of the blog daily summarizing for everyone.
Second day in the UK
Friday August 1st:
Woke up at 11:30 when Charlie asked if I was awake. Ooops, idk how I slept so much. We made chicken sandwiches, got ready, and went to Lakeside which is a gigantic mall. We got stuck in traffic on the drive there but that was fine. The lack of air conditioning was rather sad (in the car) but windows are nice. I did realize that their signs and cars and everything is MILES per hour, not kilometers. who knew? It's different in actual Europe apparently. There are TONS of roundabouts and stoplights for the roundabouts. The stoplights are rather easy to miss if you aren't used to them. I sat in the passenger seat and it was so odd because I felt like I should be driving. At the mall we went into H & M, Primark (3 stories! found lots of great deals here), Forever 21 (also 3 stories), 5 guys (one of the few places with unlimited soda refills), some milkshake place which was mediocre, Cinnabon (Charlie had never tried one!), McDonalds (just checking it out), Boots (bought some toothpaste, ha. knew I forgot something). Chinese takeout was for dinner and was pretty good, though Rice Fun and Joel's and Gourmet Kingdom are still better. American TV and called it a night. I was able to watch League of Legends games (woo! superweek!) and I'm going to beat Carl in fantasy.
Woke up at 11:30 when Charlie asked if I was awake. Ooops, idk how I slept so much. We made chicken sandwiches, got ready, and went to Lakeside which is a gigantic mall. We got stuck in traffic on the drive there but that was fine. The lack of air conditioning was rather sad (in the car) but windows are nice. I did realize that their signs and cars and everything is MILES per hour, not kilometers. who knew? It's different in actual Europe apparently. There are TONS of roundabouts and stoplights for the roundabouts. The stoplights are rather easy to miss if you aren't used to them. I sat in the passenger seat and it was so odd because I felt like I should be driving. At the mall we went into H & M, Primark (3 stories! found lots of great deals here), Forever 21 (also 3 stories), 5 guys (one of the few places with unlimited soda refills), some milkshake place which was mediocre, Cinnabon (Charlie had never tried one!), McDonalds (just checking it out), Boots (bought some toothpaste, ha. knew I forgot something). Chinese takeout was for dinner and was pretty good, though Rice Fun and Joel's and Gourmet Kingdom are still better. American TV and called it a night. I was able to watch League of Legends games (woo! superweek!) and I'm going to beat Carl in fantasy.
First Day/How do I blog?
You know, after you think a bit, "blog" is a funny sounding word. Whatever. It's now August 2nd but I'll just recap and pretend it's a few days ago...
July 30th: Airports are so strange. Mom and Dad went with me through the check in and where you check your bags but then they couldn't go any further sooo I ventured on through the line to get scanned and make sure I wasn't dangerous. Somehow my hand sanitizers made it through without issue. Had to chug my mountain dew while in line which in retrospect probably wasn't the best idea. I had some quiznos which was fantastically overpriced then proceeded to wait and wait and wait. We were supposed to board at 6:10 and didn't get around to it until 7:30 or so. I sat next to a nice girl from Kernersville who was traveling to go on a cruise to Scotland and Ireland after spending a few days in London. Her grandmother and cousin were also on the plane sitting in the aisle next to us. Sitting near the back is the worst when you're hungry. I didn't bring enough snacks and the food got to us last. We had a choice of BBQ chicken with mac n cheese and green beans or cheese tortellini. The chicken was decent, didn't touch the green beans or my salad. Tried to get some rest and managed to sleep for about 3 hours or so. We hit some awful turbulence as we were flying over the last bit of land near/in Canada for 15 minutes and I couldn't sleep much after that. The stars were really pretty outside. I couldn't see any land until we were very close to landing, plenty of clouds. Customs took awhile but honestly was quicker than expected. We landed early (7:31am) somehow, even after taking off late, and I was buying my train ticket to Shenfield around 9:45. It would have been earlier but I apparently waited in the wrong line for awhile. Who knew? It said "tickets" but whatever. The guy in line was nice to talk to. Oh, it's now July 31st. So I got on the Picadilly (dark blue) line at a few minutes until 10am and proceeded to stay on it for ages. It's the underground that also goes above ground which was cool. I liked looking out the windows and I was standing near the door so I got some fresh air every stop (which was a lot of stops by the way).
https://www.tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/standard-tube-map.pdf
yeah, so I started way at the bottom left corner at Heathrow 1,2,3 (dark blue) and went to Holborn (red) where I went to Liverpool Street and proceeded to find some food! (all by myself)
It was nearly 11am by this point (the Picadilly line took the longest) and I was starving. I walked up the stairs (no escalators, it was awful. all the other stations had them. wtf liverpool st) with all my things and there was a store that had signs for a "meal deal." I didn't know what that was but it sounded like food so off I went. I got a coke, a plain ham sandwich, and a chocolate mousse for less than 4 pounds. Charlie later informed me that this was a "Boots" which is kind of like Walgreens/CVS. I couldn't find Charlie so I wandered to information and asked for a payphone, which I found, but it didn't work. Starbucks didn't have free wifi so I wandered up to the next level which was near the street and found a McDonalds! Advertising free wifi on the door! I sat at the outside tables and promptly figured out the wifi and messaged Charlie. We somehow just missed each other but she found me in 30 seconds. After exchanging sweaty hugs (I felt so gross) we got on an actual train to Shenfield where Charlie's mom (mum) picked us up! It's only about a 5 minute car ride to her house from the station and seriously, everything here is adorable. I took all my things to the room Charlie's Mum has gotten ready for me. It used to be Charlie's sister's room. Charlie thinks it looks much better now with its gray/white/green/black scheme compared to the old hot pink and black. my window opens up to the backyard which is adorable and lovely and I can see other cute little houses nearby and the neighbors' gardens. the one drawback: no air conditioning. They don't normally need it. This summer is very hot apparently, the heatwave of 75 degrees F. It feels like springtime and it's amazing! All the houses have the windows open and it's so nice to feel the breeze and hear all the birds outside.
Anyway, Charlie drove us into Shenfield (after searching at the Tesco right down the street) for bread (fresh, not the prepacked loaves) and we bought some things for sandwiches and snacks. We also got a pizza that we baked for lunch when we got back; it was super tasty. I could barely keep my eyes open so I had a nice nap from 2:30-5ish then we planned out the week, watched TV (real housewives of Atlanta), and had dinner of BBQ chicken and two types of yummy potatoes! Icecream bars for dessert (: We watched a bit more TV but I was exhausted and went to bed around 10:30pm. I woke up around 2:30/3am super hot and couldn't get back to sleep for awhile. Opened the window to cool down a bit then fell back asleep until Charlie woke me up at 11:30am. I managed to sleep nearly 12 hours. Okay, That's a ton of reading so I'll start a new post for the next day.
July 30th: Airports are so strange. Mom and Dad went with me through the check in and where you check your bags but then they couldn't go any further sooo I ventured on through the line to get scanned and make sure I wasn't dangerous. Somehow my hand sanitizers made it through without issue. Had to chug my mountain dew while in line which in retrospect probably wasn't the best idea. I had some quiznos which was fantastically overpriced then proceeded to wait and wait and wait. We were supposed to board at 6:10 and didn't get around to it until 7:30 or so. I sat next to a nice girl from Kernersville who was traveling to go on a cruise to Scotland and Ireland after spending a few days in London. Her grandmother and cousin were also on the plane sitting in the aisle next to us. Sitting near the back is the worst when you're hungry. I didn't bring enough snacks and the food got to us last. We had a choice of BBQ chicken with mac n cheese and green beans or cheese tortellini. The chicken was decent, didn't touch the green beans or my salad. Tried to get some rest and managed to sleep for about 3 hours or so. We hit some awful turbulence as we were flying over the last bit of land near/in Canada for 15 minutes and I couldn't sleep much after that. The stars were really pretty outside. I couldn't see any land until we were very close to landing, plenty of clouds. Customs took awhile but honestly was quicker than expected. We landed early (7:31am) somehow, even after taking off late, and I was buying my train ticket to Shenfield around 9:45. It would have been earlier but I apparently waited in the wrong line for awhile. Who knew? It said "tickets" but whatever. The guy in line was nice to talk to. Oh, it's now July 31st. So I got on the Picadilly (dark blue) line at a few minutes until 10am and proceeded to stay on it for ages. It's the underground that also goes above ground which was cool. I liked looking out the windows and I was standing near the door so I got some fresh air every stop (which was a lot of stops by the way).
https://www.tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/standard-tube-map.pdf
yeah, so I started way at the bottom left corner at Heathrow 1,2,3 (dark blue) and went to Holborn (red) where I went to Liverpool Street and proceeded to find some food! (all by myself)
It was nearly 11am by this point (the Picadilly line took the longest) and I was starving. I walked up the stairs (no escalators, it was awful. all the other stations had them. wtf liverpool st) with all my things and there was a store that had signs for a "meal deal." I didn't know what that was but it sounded like food so off I went. I got a coke, a plain ham sandwich, and a chocolate mousse for less than 4 pounds. Charlie later informed me that this was a "Boots" which is kind of like Walgreens/CVS. I couldn't find Charlie so I wandered to information and asked for a payphone, which I found, but it didn't work. Starbucks didn't have free wifi so I wandered up to the next level which was near the street and found a McDonalds! Advertising free wifi on the door! I sat at the outside tables and promptly figured out the wifi and messaged Charlie. We somehow just missed each other but she found me in 30 seconds. After exchanging sweaty hugs (I felt so gross) we got on an actual train to Shenfield where Charlie's mom (mum) picked us up! It's only about a 5 minute car ride to her house from the station and seriously, everything here is adorable. I took all my things to the room Charlie's Mum has gotten ready for me. It used to be Charlie's sister's room. Charlie thinks it looks much better now with its gray/white/green/black scheme compared to the old hot pink and black. my window opens up to the backyard which is adorable and lovely and I can see other cute little houses nearby and the neighbors' gardens. the one drawback: no air conditioning. They don't normally need it. This summer is very hot apparently, the heatwave of 75 degrees F. It feels like springtime and it's amazing! All the houses have the windows open and it's so nice to feel the breeze and hear all the birds outside.
Anyway, Charlie drove us into Shenfield (after searching at the Tesco right down the street) for bread (fresh, not the prepacked loaves) and we bought some things for sandwiches and snacks. We also got a pizza that we baked for lunch when we got back; it was super tasty. I could barely keep my eyes open so I had a nice nap from 2:30-5ish then we planned out the week, watched TV (real housewives of Atlanta), and had dinner of BBQ chicken and two types of yummy potatoes! Icecream bars for dessert (: We watched a bit more TV but I was exhausted and went to bed around 10:30pm. I woke up around 2:30/3am super hot and couldn't get back to sleep for awhile. Opened the window to cool down a bit then fell back asleep until Charlie woke me up at 11:30am. I managed to sleep nearly 12 hours. Okay, That's a ton of reading so I'll start a new post for the next day.
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