I've been insanely busy lately finishing up my time in London, my classes, and my undergraduate degree.
I really want to add some pictures from my (amazing) trip to Berlin, but it looks like I won't be able to do that until after I go home.
My flight home is this Saturday and although I'm (very) sad about leaving London, I'm excited to be going home.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Friday, November 28, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
O'Bama
One more thing about Ireland...
Barack's great-great-great-grandfather, Fulmuth Kearney, was from Ireland. And every single Irish person in Dublin, from the barmen to the cab drivers, told us this.
There are even t-shirts!
Barack's great-great-great-grandfather, Fulmuth Kearney, was from Ireland. And every single Irish person in Dublin, from the barmen to the cab drivers, told us this.
There are even t-shirts!
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Hearts, Stars, and Horseshoes....
I've been freaking out a bit because half of my pictures from my day in Ireland were corrupted on my memory card. All my scenic day pictures came out fine, though, so that's important. I was only around Ireland for less than 32 hours, so I had the most intense day ever.
Itinerary:
8:00: Wake Up for Irish Breakfast
9:00: Find out what's actually in an Irish Breakfast
9:30: Get eggs instead
10: Get on a bus to Winslow, Ireland, where P.S. I Love You was Filmed. Awwwww.
11:30-3: Hang out in the Irish countryside
5:00: Back to Dublin for the.....Guinness Factory.
6:00: Guinness Factory Gravity Bar for an amazing view of the city
6:30: Dinner in an Italian restaurant because all the pubs close early for dinner
8:00-9: Head back to our friend's place, get ready for the night
10:00-????: Dublin Pub Crawl
So that was the Ireland in a Day Marathon, which was hugely successful if not entirely tiring.
The Spire of Dublin a.k.a. the strangest monument I've seen in Europe. Literally....it's a giant pole.
The Irish Constitution. Erin Go Brah and all.
Traveling through Dublin
Around Ireland, the doors are all painted different colors. Apparently it's so everyone coming home from the pubs can find their house.
Real Life Irish Countryside
The Town of Winslow
Me & a Mountain
I can't even begin to describe how absolutely delicious the Guinness is in Ireland. It's a completely different drink than the US version.
View from the plane
Itinerary:
8:00: Wake Up for Irish Breakfast
9:00: Find out what's actually in an Irish Breakfast
9:30: Get eggs instead
10: Get on a bus to Winslow, Ireland, where P.S. I Love You was Filmed. Awwwww.
11:30-3: Hang out in the Irish countryside
5:00: Back to Dublin for the.....Guinness Factory.
6:00: Guinness Factory Gravity Bar for an amazing view of the city
6:30: Dinner in an Italian restaurant because all the pubs close early for dinner
8:00-9: Head back to our friend's place, get ready for the night
10:00-????: Dublin Pub Crawl
So that was the Ireland in a Day Marathon, which was hugely successful if not entirely tiring.
The Spire of Dublin a.k.a. the strangest monument I've seen in Europe. Literally....it's a giant pole.
The Irish Constitution. Erin Go Brah and all.
Traveling through Dublin
Around Ireland, the doors are all painted different colors. Apparently it's so everyone coming home from the pubs can find their house.
Real Life Irish Countryside
The Town of Winslow
Me & a Mountain
I can't even begin to describe how absolutely delicious the Guinness is in Ireland. It's a completely different drink than the US version.
View from the plane
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Ireland vs. England
On my way to Ireland, someone explained to me the difference between the Irish and the British.
British people are polite, but not nice.
Irish people are nice, but not polite.
British people are polite, but not nice.
Irish people are nice, but not polite.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Three Cheers for the President with A Name Incredibly Convenient for Slogans
I watched T.V. for the first time since I got to Europe two nights ago.
Man, is the X Factor a great show.
Umm...just kidding.
As much as I love Sarah Palin jokes (fabulous parody available here), I'm so excited about the results of the election. It's amazing to see how excited everyone in London is, too. Being abroad for such an incredible event is such an interesting experience because you get to see an entirely different perspective. Yesterday, London-ers were giving Americans high-fives, just because they were American. Everyone was talking about the election and most people at my office had already watched Barack's speech before I came in in the morning.
Unfortunately, I only made it up until around 3 a.m. (an hour before Barack made his speech), so I watched the Daily Show recaps at work the next morning (I'm actually a great, hardworking employee. Coincidentally, I'm looking for a job...resume here).
Yesterday I also went on a really cool photo shoot for Uniqlo. The photographer used a thermal (heat-seeking) camera like the kind from National Geographic. Here's what the pictures look like:
A bit creepy...but posing in front of the camera was a lot of fun. At least you know I'm keeping it real in the LND.
And now, for your moment of zen...
Man, is the X Factor a great show.
Umm...just kidding.
As much as I love Sarah Palin jokes (fabulous parody available here), I'm so excited about the results of the election. It's amazing to see how excited everyone in London is, too. Being abroad for such an incredible event is such an interesting experience because you get to see an entirely different perspective. Yesterday, London-ers were giving Americans high-fives, just because they were American. Everyone was talking about the election and most people at my office had already watched Barack's speech before I came in in the morning.
Unfortunately, I only made it up until around 3 a.m. (an hour before Barack made his speech), so I watched the Daily Show recaps at work the next morning (I'm actually a great, hardworking employee. Coincidentally, I'm looking for a job...resume here).
Yesterday I also went on a really cool photo shoot for Uniqlo. The photographer used a thermal (heat-seeking) camera like the kind from National Geographic. Here's what the pictures look like:
A bit creepy...but posing in front of the camera was a lot of fun. At least you know I'm keeping it real in the LND.
And now, for your moment of zen...
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Happy Halloween (ish)
I just got back from Stonehenge, which was great. The only problem was that the bus left at 8:45 am (clearly not an appropriate time to expect someone to be awake) and our tour guide really liked to talk........about nothing. So instead of instantly passing out as soon as I got on the bus, I got to hear the tour guide ramble on and on with such insightful tidbits as "Stonehenge is an incredible monument" and "It looks like all the Londoners are still in bed right now, but later they'll go get their Sunday papers.....that they won't finish reading until later that week!" Dear Lord. But after she eventually got tired of talking I zoned out until we got to Stonehenge.
It's such a weird landmark because it's in the middle of a bunch of roads......and also it's a bunch of rocks just arranged a pattern in the middle of a field. It was really cool to see, though, especially after all the new discoveries from this summer about how Stonehenge had been a burial site, how the stones probably weren't actually dragged hundreds of miles, and how Stonehenge is older than previously thought.
The reason I was so tired was because the night before my roommate and I had gone to a Halloween-themed British/European Pro Skateboarder Expo.
Really.
It was better than actual Halloween, which was a disappointment. People in England don't usually celebrate Halloween, and when they do it's nothing as great as it is in the US. But I did make sure there was Halloween-themed music at my work on Friday and "bloody" punch (made with Pepsi Max and some sort of berry syrup...very British-y).
My internship is going really well. The last week I was working on making a film for the game Wii Music that will be shown on the European Nintendo Channel on the Wii. In simpler terms, it's a video about a game that no one will watch. But here's the set:
And here's a boy getting his makeup done:
I got to be "Wii Music Band Manager," so I got to make the actors play these two songs (The Entertainer and Ode to Joy) over and over again for 6 hours. It was fairly torturous, but I can't really complain because I was just watching people play a video game.
When I don't go to my internship, I'm taking a class called "Architecture and Urbanism in London." It's great because we just get to walk around a lot and we usually end up at a museum so we can do that after class. Last week, in between seeing Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and Trafalgar's Square I saw the official center of London,
and the official measurement of a foot.
Good times.
It's such a weird landmark because it's in the middle of a bunch of roads......and also it's a bunch of rocks just arranged a pattern in the middle of a field. It was really cool to see, though, especially after all the new discoveries from this summer about how Stonehenge had been a burial site, how the stones probably weren't actually dragged hundreds of miles, and how Stonehenge is older than previously thought.
The reason I was so tired was because the night before my roommate and I had gone to a Halloween-themed British/European Pro Skateboarder Expo.
Really.
It was better than actual Halloween, which was a disappointment. People in England don't usually celebrate Halloween, and when they do it's nothing as great as it is in the US. But I did make sure there was Halloween-themed music at my work on Friday and "bloody" punch (made with Pepsi Max and some sort of berry syrup...very British-y).
My internship is going really well. The last week I was working on making a film for the game Wii Music that will be shown on the European Nintendo Channel on the Wii. In simpler terms, it's a video about a game that no one will watch. But here's the set:
And here's a boy getting his makeup done:
I got to be "Wii Music Band Manager," so I got to make the actors play these two songs (The Entertainer and Ode to Joy) over and over again for 6 hours. It was fairly torturous, but I can't really complain because I was just watching people play a video game.
When I don't go to my internship, I'm taking a class called "Architecture and Urbanism in London." It's great because we just get to walk around a lot and we usually end up at a museum so we can do that after class. Last week, in between seeing Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and Trafalgar's Square I saw the official center of London,
and the official measurement of a foot.
Good times.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
London Living
Here's an awesome number. I just checked the UK-US conversion rate and I found out that every (cheap) beer (or LAH-GAH, depending on where I am) I spend $4.88. And when I did a (i.e. one) load of laundry, it cost me $16. 26.
!
Don't get me wrong, it's all worth it (especially for essentials like those). But I can't wait to start spending those American dollars again.
!
Don't get me wrong, it's all worth it (especially for essentials like those). But I can't wait to start spending those American dollars again.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Rome, Florence, and Pisa
After finals, we had 5 days off from our hectic schedule of going out every night in London to enjoy a break in Italy. 4 of my friends and I headed out to Rome for a day, Florence for two, and Pisa for a day. I took something like 700 pictures because it was all so beautiful.
ROME
The city view outside of the Sistine Chapel
The Vatican
The Vatican courtyard
Jesus says what's up.
There were so many ruins everywhere!
And here's the Coliseum..
We spent 2 hours inside taking dumb pictures on the fallen columns and pedestals
The Trevi Fountain in Rome. I forgot to take a picture of the Spanish Steps.
The next day we took a train to Florence. This is what the Italian countryside looks like.
FLORENCE
There was this GIANT hill you could climb that took you to the best view of the city. The climb was a drag after the extreme sight seeing/lack of sleep that had been going on, but it was worth it.
Florence at dusk
Florence was beautiful. This is the Ponte Vecchio bridge (its actually full of jewelry stores and covered in tourist's graffiti).
The view from the bridge.
The Santa Maria Novella
The front of the Santa Maria
The second day we bumped into a youth Communist rally in front of the church. There were thousands of minors waving signs and playing music. Really, I think they just wanted an excuse to skip school.
That night we decided to act our age and took a carousel ride. Pretty much after a while "When in Rome...." turned into "When in Italy..." and then just an excuse to do everything.
Like eat a whole lot of gelato. At every meal, whenever possible.
We also saw all three Davids, the original and two copies, in addition to a whole lot of other famous stuff (the Sistine Chapel, The Birth of Venus, Da Vinci's Annunciation and Adoration of the Magi, etc.).
The first one we saw was under scaffolding. You could only see two parts of the statue because the rest was covered up. Here's the family-friendly visible part.
The second one was made of bronze and on the previously mentioned giant hill above Florence.
And here's the real one. This is the only illegal photograph I took while I was in Florence, because you can't take pictures anywhere. But I figured that since I spent 20 USD to see one statue, I'd better get my money's worth.
PISA
The next morning we went to Pisa. We were so tired by then so Pisa was perfect. It's a very small area with a little market and more awesome gelato.
Oh, and a tower.
Peek a boo. Um..just kidding. But seriously, it's leaning a whole lot.
Since I was sick of gelatos by the fourth day, I decided to branch out and get an "Ice Burger." It was actually really good.
So there you have it....my last big trip (other than that whole London thing) before I come home.....in 2 months!
ROME
The city view outside of the Sistine Chapel
The Vatican
The Vatican courtyard
Jesus says what's up.
There were so many ruins everywhere!
And here's the Coliseum..
We spent 2 hours inside taking dumb pictures on the fallen columns and pedestals
The Trevi Fountain in Rome. I forgot to take a picture of the Spanish Steps.
The next day we took a train to Florence. This is what the Italian countryside looks like.FLORENCE
There was this GIANT hill you could climb that took you to the best view of the city. The climb was a drag after the extreme sight seeing/lack of sleep that had been going on, but it was worth it.
Florence at dusk
Florence was beautiful. This is the Ponte Vecchio bridge (its actually full of jewelry stores and covered in tourist's graffiti).
The view from the bridge.
The Santa Maria Novella
The front of the Santa Maria
The second day we bumped into a youth Communist rally in front of the church. There were thousands of minors waving signs and playing music. Really, I think they just wanted an excuse to skip school.
That night we decided to act our age and took a carousel ride. Pretty much after a while "When in Rome...." turned into "When in Italy..." and then just an excuse to do everything.
Like eat a whole lot of gelato. At every meal, whenever possible.We also saw all three Davids, the original and two copies, in addition to a whole lot of other famous stuff (the Sistine Chapel, The Birth of Venus, Da Vinci's Annunciation and Adoration of the Magi, etc.).
The first one we saw was under scaffolding. You could only see two parts of the statue because the rest was covered up. Here's the family-friendly visible part.
The second one was made of bronze and on the previously mentioned giant hill above Florence.
And here's the real one. This is the only illegal photograph I took while I was in Florence, because you can't take pictures anywhere. But I figured that since I spent 20 USD to see one statue, I'd better get my money's worth.PISA
The next morning we went to Pisa. We were so tired by then so Pisa was perfect. It's a very small area with a little market and more awesome gelato.
Oh, and a tower.
Peek a boo. Um..just kidding. But seriously, it's leaning a whole lot.
Since I was sick of gelatos by the fourth day, I decided to branch out and get an "Ice Burger." It was actually really good.So there you have it....my last big trip (other than that whole London thing) before I come home.....in 2 months!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
London, Leather Jackets, and Harry Potter
LASTLY, here's what I've been up to in London lately (with fewer pictures...because I didn't take any pictures of me studying for finals).
Since everyone in London has a leather jacket for some reason, I went to Portobello Market on Portobello Road (a 20 minute walk away) and got myself one. I'm officially Britishish now.
Also, last week (instead of studying for my finals over the weekend), my friend who's studying in Ireland, came to visit. We decided to go sight seeing at all the places where they filmed Harry Potter in London.
This is where they filmed Diagon Alley. It was actually just full of business people wearing suits and drinking beers in the street at noon. Because that's what they do in London.
This is the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron....that's actually a glasses store. Someone back in Hollywood apparently edited everything out (including that skeleton to the left of the door).
This is the Australia House...or Gringotts.
And apparently Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross was actually shot at Platform 4...here.
But they have this next to Platform 9 so tourists can take ridiculous amounts of pictures.
Done.
This sign in King's Cross reminded me of Mom...
We took out friend to do some more sight seeing...so here's another picture of Buckingham Castle (or as the Queen calls it, "The Office"). There are guards everywhere in England, so I keep getting pictures of them. I have about 500 by now.
501.
I'm sure this building is important for some reason, but I have no idea for what. It looks pretty, though.
I just finished my second final for my second class today, so the first part of my semester is over (!). Next Monday is my first class of my last class before I graduation and Tuesday is the start of my internship. But before that...I'm going to Italy! I'm landing in Rome tomorrow, going to Florence for two days, and then leaving from Pisa. And by then I'll be out of money, so I'm going to stay in England for a while after that.
Since everyone in London has a leather jacket for some reason, I went to Portobello Market on Portobello Road (a 20 minute walk away) and got myself one. I'm officially Britishish now.
Also, last week (instead of studying for my finals over the weekend), my friend who's studying in Ireland, came to visit. We decided to go sight seeing at all the places where they filmed Harry Potter in London.
This is where they filmed Diagon Alley. It was actually just full of business people wearing suits and drinking beers in the street at noon. Because that's what they do in London.
This is the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron....that's actually a glasses store. Someone back in Hollywood apparently edited everything out (including that skeleton to the left of the door).
This is the Australia House...or Gringotts.
And apparently Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross was actually shot at Platform 4...here.
But they have this next to Platform 9 so tourists can take ridiculous amounts of pictures.
Done.
This sign in King's Cross reminded me of Mom...
We took out friend to do some more sight seeing...so here's another picture of Buckingham Castle (or as the Queen calls it, "The Office"). There are guards everywhere in England, so I keep getting pictures of them. I have about 500 by now.
501.
I'm sure this building is important for some reason, but I have no idea for what. It looks pretty, though.I just finished my second final for my second class today, so the first part of my semester is over (!). Next Monday is my first class of my last class before I graduation and Tuesday is the start of my internship. But before that...I'm going to Italy! I'm landing in Rome tomorrow, going to Florence for two days, and then leaving from Pisa. And by then I'll be out of money, so I'm going to stay in England for a while after that.
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