After we left for Paris it was impossible to blog (and I had to pay for it in London so I was trying to type really fast and I didn’t have time to edit the way I needed to) so I just stopped blogging. I kept a journal so over the next few days I’m going to be posting from the journal as though we were still in Paris and London. It will be carefully edited because I’m not paying through the nose to use internet; Mom, you won’t have to cringe anymore. You’ll still get the feel of everything we experienced and all that happened on our trip.
Hope you enjoy because we had a marvelous time!
The plan…
Prince Charming
We started the day with an early morning wake-up call (me not being able to go back to sleep and making sure everyone got up on time), a lousy hostel breakfast (warm milk, corn flakes, and toast), and a tube trip to St. Paul’s Cathedral (and the day started looking up!) Oh. My. Gosh. Truly, St. Paul’s is incredible. The dome, and architecture, and the everything. I am completely amazed by this work of art. It is impossible not to be put in a mood of worship within that place.
Then we took off for the Tower of London (didn’t go in) and the Tower Bridge (because it’s pretty) followed by a trip to the British Library. Beowulf was out to rest away from the lights but they did put Sir Gawain and the Green Knight out for me to enjoy; I’m sure they were just thinking of me when they made that selection. Jane Austen’s writing desk was still there – it was good to see her again.
From their we went back to Trafalgar Square to a little cafe I found my last trip here, ordered sandwiches, and took them to the steps of the National Gallery for a picnic. We all went and got Phantom tickets (the other three decided to join Brandon and I) and then split up with Becca, David, and Katie Belle taking off for Harrods and shopping and Brandon and I headed for Egypt, Greece, Assyria, and China via the British Museum. We spent two hours there before running back to the hostel, taking a quick walk through Hyde Park to Kensington Palace and then catching a cab (because when you are in London you really must ride a cab at least once) to go see Phantom! We walked up the street to get a spinach pasty to go and enjoyed that while waiting for the doors to open.
This was the single best Phantom I have ever seen! His voice was perfect; deep, classically trained yes but with an edge that suited the character extremely well. I have never seen nor heard a better Phantom. He was just phenomenal! I cried at the end and again, Christine chose Raoul over the Phantom. Seriously, if she doesn’t want him (as she has proved all six times I have seen the show) then may I please have him?
Tomorrow I am off to Bath, The Cotswolds, and Stonehenge. Just a quick day tour but I am excited to get to see some countryside. Andrew (really nice guy from Scotland we met in the hostel) felt Bath was an excellent choice. Nothing like the approval of a Scotsman to solidify a girl’s plans…just saying.
Much love to everyone back home!
I should know better…
Life lesson of the day: Continetal Breakfasts are not worth it!
Sometime you should ask me about my first trip to Europe and my breakfast experience in Scotland. For those of you who know the story, I just had another one here in the hostel in London. After meeting Andrew in our hostel room last night (a perfectly charming Scotsman down from Inverness) I was thinking this hostel thing might just not be the worst idea I’ve ever had. Alas, breakfast rolled around and I am left once again wondering if maybe I’ve lost my marbles.
If I could impart one thing to the Brits it would be the idea of refrigerated buffets. Still not there so I downed some luke warm OJ and left. I figured a little vitamin C couldn’t be a bad thing. Brandon and I both came back upstairs for a little computer fix and I can only hope the other three will emerge from the dungeon shortly hopefully unscathed by the warm milk and crowds of children. Yes, there are children here but I’m still a little too bitter to comment. I thought we were staying at a hostel where only 18-35 year-old people were allowed. Boo
We are off!
“It” has now become “him”
Tom (brother) called to tell me Shareana (sister-in-law) had her final ultrasound and officially found out they are having a little boy. I can stop calling the baby bump “It” and transition into official pronouns. It is now him.
Football and Dissertations
From the standpoint of a student development theorist a college football game is a dissertation in and of itself.
I attended my first football game when OSU played Hawaii. Allow me to be clear – this was my first football game EVER. I know nothing about football. I know the scoring system but I couldn’t tell you the difference between a guard and a quarter back. The only reason I know those terms is because when I ask, the players tell me their positon. It means nothing but I ask, none-the-less, just in case one day a trigger might be magically tripped in my brain that allows me to understand what a running back does…other than run – back – towards something – maybe – who really knows. Incidently the hall in which I work houses the freshmen football players for Oregon State. A great group of guys for the most part, I have to say. One of the guys tried to explain football to me in a language I understand. The entire concept of “downs” has continually eluded me. So one of my players asked me to close my eyes and picture a pair of shoes at the check out counter that I really really wanted (my mind immediately strayed to a pair of Nine West red patent leather pumps). I am then told I am 10 aisles from the check out counter and in my hand is a credit card. I have four attempts to move the 10 aisles to my coveted pair of shoes. The catch is there are mean people that are going to try to take away my credit card because at the other end of the store there is a pair of shoes they really want but they need my credit card to buy them. It’s a race to see who can get to their pair of shoes first. This was the best single explanation for football I have ever heard. For years people have preached yards, endzones, defensive line and other garble that meant nothing to me. This guy really knew how to speak a language I both understand and care about. Seriously, his wife is going to be a lucky woman.
Anyway my first football game. I went with one of my RA’s, Shelly Clark and one of the new RD’s who is in the CSSA program. This was a cultural experience for me. First, everyone wears orange. Not Larry Roper orange (a tame genteel, pumpkin spice) but bright, blind your eyes, flagger orange. It’s not like the 35,000 people that attended the game have a phone tree to call eachother and discuss coordinating colors. They just all show up in organge and they all magically match. I, sad to say, was a part of the perpetuation of poor fashion choices as I too donned bright Beaver Orange. Next, as you walk up to Reser students start taking out their student IDs. Why do they do this? There are no signs that say, please have your ID ready…they just do it because they know that’s how things go. I can’t get them to take their pizza boxes to the trash but within moments of getting in line they are digging in their pockets for their IDs. Some even walk into like with their ID already out, wielding it like Excalibur.
Next – you look at your ticket and see which section you are in. You enter the student section in your assigned area and immediately start to sneak as close to the 50 yard line as possible. This is hard for me. I come from a theatre background…you have an assigned seat, people don’t sit in your seat and you don’t edge closer to the stage just because there is an empty seat. This is not theatre, this is football and they don’t care. I personally would rather have tickets a little closer to the end zone. I mean, I’d rather be closer to where the good stuff happens then farther away. If I go back to the shoe store analogy, why sit in the boot section when what I really want to see are the peep toed pumps? Anyway, after sneaking as close as possible to the 50 yard line people then stand on the bleachers (which incidentially have printed on themin large black block letters “Do not stand on bleachers”) to get a better look at the field. Then from a huge inflatable helmet on the stage right (I will always be a theatre geek at heart) side of the field the football team bursts forth to cheers and screams similar to what Ceasar must have heard upon his return home from “conquering” Egypt.
Then to my amazement, the freshmen in the audience picked up on the football culture as though they had been doing it all their lives. These are people who have not spent a single day in the classroom or living in our residence halls. They just came down for the game because…well, because they are freshmen at OSU and that’s what freshmen do, I guess. There are all these arm movements, and things you do and say in time to the music or not…it’s all very complicated.
Realization to me…you know how when the other team has the ball, everyone is screaming and yelling? All my life I have thoughts fans did that just because the other team had the ball and they were pouting. Turns out, no, they do it so the players can’t hear the plays called from the sideline. Not pouting, malicious. And what’s with this high five stuff. Whenever the Beaver’s made a touch down everyone starts cheering (totally understand) and high five-ing. Really now, what’s that about? Three guys in front of me turn around and start giving me high fives and I’m thinking, “Why are you giving me a high five…we didn’t just run the ball into the end zone. They did. We aren’t dripping in sweat and wearing funky padding and ugly shoes…they are. Where do you get off high five-ing like you are something special?” But EVERYONE does it. It’s a thing, a culture, a tradition and these freshmen, who have never been to a game before as a student pick up on it like they have been doing it since they were three. It is truly stunning. I can’t get them to study for their midterms but they can hum every little jingle the band plays.
Maybe that is what academia needs… a marching band. Maybe if i had a marching band, students would clean up after themselves, study for their tests, and make good choices. That’s it, I want a marching band!
My feet are KILLING me!
Last time I wrote I was in Alnwick. I have since been to York (the Cathedral was AMAZING), Leeds (great Italian food…go figure), and now Cambridge. I’m at an internet cafe paying for time so this may not be extensive.
Cambridge is a fun little college town with a funky feel. I was at Jesus College today and met with some Admissions and Registration folks. Very interesting process. Being able to talk to them was so much fun.
We then went on a walking tour of Cambridge and for the first time I was glad that I brought no cute shoes with me. Woof! I saw Trinity College (which King Henry VIII founded) and King’s College (Henry VI) along with a handful of the bazillion colleges that make up Cambridge University. I’m going back to Trinity tomorrow. Also going to stop and see the Wren Library (famous architect Christopher Wren built the Library for free) where works by Byron, Tennyson, AA Milne (the original Pooh Bear), Darwin and others grace the walls. Handwritten manuscripts by some of the greats in British Literature. I get goose bumps at the thought.
Getting a little tired of living out of a suit case…even more tired of lugging the damn thing about with me. Last night we stopped in Leeds which had the first en suite room of the stay. And American television. I watched Bones and was so bloody excited, I almost cried!!
My time is almost up so I must away – oooh, I’ve been waiting to use that since Pride and Prejudice…it fits being as I am in England!
See you all soon!!!
