Long ago I promised one last post. I thought I would write it much sooner, but it's taken me a while to digest my trip and to reflect on it with an objective eye. My overall impressions have changed a bit from when I first returned. Initially, I just felt tired, jet lagged, and there were parts of the trip that did not live up to my expectations. Now, as I think back, those same impressions are still valid, but I have a more complete overall impression. I've been telling everyone that I was so glad that I went, but I mean it more now. I've concluded that I want to go back, but this time with a spouse, other family member, or best friend. For me, something isn't experienced unless it's done with someone you love. I also think I would have spent more money. I was so concerned about not spending money that I actually saved money by going to Europe! I calculated that if I would have been home, I would have spent more money because of food, gas, etc. Most of what I bought was for other people; I kind of forgot to buy things for me!
Some of the things that stand out to me now, 5 weeks later, are seeing the Globe, the Rosetta Stone, the castle and the Roman aqueducts. Before the trip I spoke Spanish to myself all the time. Since I got back I've barely spoken a word! I think I needed a big Spanish break! It did help me realize that it takes 10 times more effort to learn Spanish here than it would be to learn it there. I've also realized that I don't want to go back to Europe unless I can spend at least a few weeks there. I now know that jet lag is a horrible, terrible experience for me and I need a good 4 days to recover to the point where I can get out of bed and stop throwing up! I've realized how much I love American culture, not just because it's better than anyone else's, but because it's mine. I like the feeling of being comfortable with knowing social mores, and I've never before felt like I fit in so much with people here. It took going to a different country to realize I'm more like other Americans than I thought. If I go again, I will be sure to take a better camera. I've gotten a lot of complements on my pictures, which is very kind of everyone, but I don't feel like I came back with tons of amazing shots like I thought I might. My little point and shoot camera just didn't cut it!
Here are some things I miss about Europe:
- Being around so many international speakers...so many ESL students!
- Digestives! (without chocolate, which is realize is not the popular kind) Yum!!
- All the walking (most of the time)
- Being in such an academic environment
- Seeing more and more places where movies were filmed!
- British accents
- Spain's low humidity levels!
- Spain's subway system
Thanks for taking the time to read all these blogs. I wrote them for me and for you. It was an adventure, although, if I do go back someday, I hope to have an entirely different one!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Back in London
Last night I took the metro to the royal palace, but found out when I got there that the signs all over Madrid were wrong, and that it wasn't really free that day. Very disappointed, but oh well. At least I got to see the outside. Right now I'm sitting in the lobby of an airport hotel in London. We had to fly through London to get home, and it was a lot cheaper if we spent the night here. So....here I am. Very tired and ready to go home and dreading having to get up at 5 am to catch my very long flight tomorrow. Today was spent flying from Madrid to London. It went ok, but I'm so tired! The rest of my time in Spain went well. I was very tired of speaking Spanish, but it was really good for me. The person sitting next to me on the plane today was an American from Chicago who had just taught a year of ESL there. I got the name of the organization who hired her. Seems like an awesome opportunity. I eat McDonalds for dinner tonight since it was the cheapest thing around. Tasted pretty much the same, but the fries were skinnier and less salty. Anyway, I guess this will be my last post from Europe. I honestly didn't have many expectations before I came, and it's hard to process the experience while I'm still here. When I get home I'll post one last conclusion for the trip as a whole. I can't to see you or speak to you when I get home. Soon!
Monday, July 6, 2009
More stuff from Spain
Don't have much time, but here's a little bit of an update. I went to church yesterday. Enjoyed singing in Spanish, but was quite lost during the sermon! After church there was a pot luck. I was determined to speak a bunch of Spanish, but then met an American from Holland, MI! We talked a mile a minute all afternoon. Great to connect with an American. The food was amazing; paella, bread, fruit, the works. Oooops. Just ran out of time. More to come about my shopping experience today.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Sweating in Spain
Sorry this is going to be so long, but this is probably my only shot at the internet before I’m back in the States. I’m going to attempt to put up some pictures on facebook; I think most anyone reading this is my facebook friend, so I won’t bother putting up too many here. One of the first things I discovered was that the keyboards are different here. The letters are in the same place, but all of the punctuation marks are in different places, and it really slows you down when you can’t find a comma! I’ve never been so happy to have the internet back! It’s only been 5 days, but so much as happened that it’s hard to be away for so long. I’ve realized how spoiled I am in the States with regards to Internet (and a lot of other things). I don’t have internet in my apartment in GR, but I can drive or walk the half mile to work and use it there, or walk the half mile to the library in the other direction. Here, I’m in the middle of the suburbs and there isn’t a library or internet café to be found. I can take the subway for an hour to get to downtown, but I haven’t tried that on my own. I’m over at an American’s home for dinner, and they graciously allowed me to use their wifi, which the Spaniards pronounce wee fee.
I’ve been in Spain less than a week, but I already have developed a sort of pattern. Everyone wakes up around 9; I wake up much earlier because I don’t sleep that late in the States, but mostly because my bedroom faces east and I wake up with the sun every morning (there are no shades or curtains on my window). My room is in the basement, thank goodness, because it’s the coolest room in the house. Actually, my “bedroom” is the wine cellar with a bed in it! Kind of ironic, since I don’t drink! It’s been over 100 every day and we don’t have air conditioning. Dad, you wouldn’t last 5 minutes in Spain! The humidity isn’t too bad, but 105 is hot not matter what way you look at it when you don’t have any relief from the heat. I have my own half bath next to my bedroom, which is a nice change from Oxford. My favorite part of the bathroom is the F and C on the knobs for Fria and Caliente (cold and hot).
Everyone lulls around till about ten when we eat breakfast. I can’t figure out if this is the only meal for breakfast, or just this family’s favorite, but they eat toasted Spanish bread with jam, and they dunk it in their tea. The bread here is very hard on the outside and very soft and light on the inside. It’s eaten at every meal. After breakfast everyone goes their separate ways until around noon when everyone goes swimming (there’s a pool in the back yard) until 3:30 or so when we eat “lunch.” I quickly learned to eat a large snack around noon or I don’t make it till lunch! Lunch is the big meal of the day. So far we’ve had meatballs, breaded chicken, spaghetti, etc. Except for salad (with green olives, tuna, LOTS of dressing, onions, tomatoes) they don’t eat any vegetables and they fry everything! They are constantly telling me to eat more, and I have to politely refuse 3 or 4 times a meal. After lunch everyone takes a siesta if they so desire, and then it’s back to the pool at 6 or so until 10 or sometimes later when it’s time for dinner. It’s so hard for me to eat a meal so late at night, but it can’t be helped, so I eat. Of course, we are staying with a retired couple, so if you’re an adult and work, your day wouldn’t look quite like this, but in general, the culture is waaaaay more laid back then I’m used to. Time has no meaning, which of course drives me nuts!!! Two of my days were spent babysitting, and I’ll babysit another half a day on my last day here.
I quickly realized that I don’t really speak Spanish! However, I am grateful for my dictator of a Spanish teacher, Mr. Perez, because without him I would be in a much worse place. I do remember a substantial amount of Spanish, but 3 years of high school Spanish does not cut it here! When someone speaks just to me, slowly, and uses hand gestures, I can usually get the main idea, but when everyone is talking a mile a minute to each other I usually tune them out because I can’t follow a thing. It’s kind of boring at meals to sit around for an hour and not be part of the conversation. It’s certainly been good for me, however, for a number of reasons. First, my Spanish is getting better after only one week. I can’t imagine how helpful it would be to spend a lot more time here; I can see how much easier it is to learn a language in the environment. Secondly, I’ve got a new appreciation for ESL students. I’ve never spent so much time in a place where I feel so out of place and am so confused! I’ve learned a lot about the Spanish culture. As I said in my last post, they are blunt!!! Not mean, per say, but will tell you like it is, and don’t really have much tact. It’s not necessary to thank people when they do something for you; it’s considered strange, because they assume that they are supposed to do things for their guests. It’s just totally unnecessary to show appreciation for certain things, and much to my mother’s dismay, I’m sure, I don’t have to write a thank you note! I’ve learned you can’t be barefoot inside the house, and that Spaniards dress very formally when they are out and about, but dress very immodestly at the pool or beach! I feel like a prude in my one piece bathing suit. Every woman wears a bikini from babies to grandmas, regardless of whether you have the body for it or not. Much to my father’s dismay, it’s considered a bit rude to put your hands/arms/elbows in your lap at the table; they are to be left on the table.
I’ve only left the house twice since I got here. The first time was to go to La Plaza Major (The Big Plaza), in the center of Madrid. We took the Metro, or subway. It makes Chicago’s EL look like nothing, but I must say that the EL is much easier to understand and use! We didn’t have much time in the Plaza, but I got the main idea. There are tons of souvenir shops, and I picked up a few postcards. In the center of the square there are lots of people trying to earn money by various means; music, balloon animals, costumes, etc. Everything is really expensive in Spain, so I’ve quickly realized that I won’t be buying much while I’m here. I was dying of thirst, so I bought a bottle of water for 1.70, which equals about 3 US dollars. I try to take water with me everywhere because you sweat so much in this heat. I can drink a whole bottle of water and still be thirsty. A few days I’ve not drank enough and have become very dehydrated.
My other time I’ve left the house was to go to Segovia, which is about an hour and a half by car. We first stopped by the church and burial ground of Franco, a famous and terrible Spanish dictator. There was a civil war in Spain in the 30’s and he won and took over until he died in the 70’s. The monument is beautiful; the cross above the church can be seen for miles, since it’s on the side of a mountain. I wasn’t able to take pictures inside the church, but it was very simplistic after seeing St. Paul’s Cathedral! There was an incredible view from the church steps, so I took a bunch of pictures. We then headed to Segovia. We found a place to eat lunch, and I decided to have Paella, Spain’s most famous dish. You are first served drinks (I had something similar to Sprite, but better, actually), and some really delicious bread that reminds me of American hard roles that you’d get at any restaurant. After that course you are serviced the second course, Paella, which is yellow rice with various kinds of meat cooked with the rice. I ate it all except for the some of the shellfish. Then you are served the third course; I had pork kabobs and fries. Then you are served dessert. Each of these courses was like an entire meal for me! It’s hard not to eat it though, because it’s good and because it’s so expensive. My meal was about 12 Euros, which would be about 18 dollars. And that was the cheapest place we found by far!!!!
After lunch we walked to a castle, which was the inspiration for Cinderella’s castle at Disney Land. It was incredible, and for the first time since I got to Europe, this establishment didn’t mind letting me take pictures. I’ve been frustrated in the past to pay money for something and nothing to show for it. I like to take something tangible away from an experience. The view from the top was amazing and I took lots of pictures there too. My favorite thing, funny enough, was the moat around the castle. It was sooooo deep; probably 3 or 4 stories. I had no idea it would be so deep! I took a picture of it, but it doesn’t do it justice because you can barely see the bottom. After the castle I bought a few postcards and we headed back to the car for the drive home.
We leave on Wednesday, but have to fly back to England for a day. We’ll arrive in the afternoon to Heathrow, will stay in a hotel and get up really early on Thursday to fly home. If all goes well I should arrive in GR mid afternoon. I’m really glad that our flight takes place in one day and that it isn’t another overnight flight. I’m hoping that my jet lag won’t be so bad; it took 4 days before I didn’t feel terribly ill after we arrived in Oxford. I’ve had a great trip, but I can’t wait for the little things that I miss, like being in the same time zone as my friends and family, the dark curtains on my bedroom window, my roommate’s cats, TV in English, air conditioning, internet, pickles, peanut butter, vegetables (that one’s for you, Mom), being able to make change quickly at the store without having to turn all the coins over to read how much they are worth, my church, and being able to walk barefoot inside!
I’ve been in Spain less than a week, but I already have developed a sort of pattern. Everyone wakes up around 9; I wake up much earlier because I don’t sleep that late in the States, but mostly because my bedroom faces east and I wake up with the sun every morning (there are no shades or curtains on my window). My room is in the basement, thank goodness, because it’s the coolest room in the house. Actually, my “bedroom” is the wine cellar with a bed in it! Kind of ironic, since I don’t drink! It’s been over 100 every day and we don’t have air conditioning. Dad, you wouldn’t last 5 minutes in Spain! The humidity isn’t too bad, but 105 is hot not matter what way you look at it when you don’t have any relief from the heat. I have my own half bath next to my bedroom, which is a nice change from Oxford. My favorite part of the bathroom is the F and C on the knobs for Fria and Caliente (cold and hot).
Everyone lulls around till about ten when we eat breakfast. I can’t figure out if this is the only meal for breakfast, or just this family’s favorite, but they eat toasted Spanish bread with jam, and they dunk it in their tea. The bread here is very hard on the outside and very soft and light on the inside. It’s eaten at every meal. After breakfast everyone goes their separate ways until around noon when everyone goes swimming (there’s a pool in the back yard) until 3:30 or so when we eat “lunch.” I quickly learned to eat a large snack around noon or I don’t make it till lunch! Lunch is the big meal of the day. So far we’ve had meatballs, breaded chicken, spaghetti, etc. Except for salad (with green olives, tuna, LOTS of dressing, onions, tomatoes) they don’t eat any vegetables and they fry everything! They are constantly telling me to eat more, and I have to politely refuse 3 or 4 times a meal. After lunch everyone takes a siesta if they so desire, and then it’s back to the pool at 6 or so until 10 or sometimes later when it’s time for dinner. It’s so hard for me to eat a meal so late at night, but it can’t be helped, so I eat. Of course, we are staying with a retired couple, so if you’re an adult and work, your day wouldn’t look quite like this, but in general, the culture is waaaaay more laid back then I’m used to. Time has no meaning, which of course drives me nuts!!! Two of my days were spent babysitting, and I’ll babysit another half a day on my last day here.
I quickly realized that I don’t really speak Spanish! However, I am grateful for my dictator of a Spanish teacher, Mr. Perez, because without him I would be in a much worse place. I do remember a substantial amount of Spanish, but 3 years of high school Spanish does not cut it here! When someone speaks just to me, slowly, and uses hand gestures, I can usually get the main idea, but when everyone is talking a mile a minute to each other I usually tune them out because I can’t follow a thing. It’s kind of boring at meals to sit around for an hour and not be part of the conversation. It’s certainly been good for me, however, for a number of reasons. First, my Spanish is getting better after only one week. I can’t imagine how helpful it would be to spend a lot more time here; I can see how much easier it is to learn a language in the environment. Secondly, I’ve got a new appreciation for ESL students. I’ve never spent so much time in a place where I feel so out of place and am so confused! I’ve learned a lot about the Spanish culture. As I said in my last post, they are blunt!!! Not mean, per say, but will tell you like it is, and don’t really have much tact. It’s not necessary to thank people when they do something for you; it’s considered strange, because they assume that they are supposed to do things for their guests. It’s just totally unnecessary to show appreciation for certain things, and much to my mother’s dismay, I’m sure, I don’t have to write a thank you note! I’ve learned you can’t be barefoot inside the house, and that Spaniards dress very formally when they are out and about, but dress very immodestly at the pool or beach! I feel like a prude in my one piece bathing suit. Every woman wears a bikini from babies to grandmas, regardless of whether you have the body for it or not. Much to my father’s dismay, it’s considered a bit rude to put your hands/arms/elbows in your lap at the table; they are to be left on the table.
I’ve only left the house twice since I got here. The first time was to go to La Plaza Major (The Big Plaza), in the center of Madrid. We took the Metro, or subway. It makes Chicago’s EL look like nothing, but I must say that the EL is much easier to understand and use! We didn’t have much time in the Plaza, but I got the main idea. There are tons of souvenir shops, and I picked up a few postcards. In the center of the square there are lots of people trying to earn money by various means; music, balloon animals, costumes, etc. Everything is really expensive in Spain, so I’ve quickly realized that I won’t be buying much while I’m here. I was dying of thirst, so I bought a bottle of water for 1.70, which equals about 3 US dollars. I try to take water with me everywhere because you sweat so much in this heat. I can drink a whole bottle of water and still be thirsty. A few days I’ve not drank enough and have become very dehydrated.
My other time I’ve left the house was to go to Segovia, which is about an hour and a half by car. We first stopped by the church and burial ground of Franco, a famous and terrible Spanish dictator. There was a civil war in Spain in the 30’s and he won and took over until he died in the 70’s. The monument is beautiful; the cross above the church can be seen for miles, since it’s on the side of a mountain. I wasn’t able to take pictures inside the church, but it was very simplistic after seeing St. Paul’s Cathedral! There was an incredible view from the church steps, so I took a bunch of pictures. We then headed to Segovia. We found a place to eat lunch, and I decided to have Paella, Spain’s most famous dish. You are first served drinks (I had something similar to Sprite, but better, actually), and some really delicious bread that reminds me of American hard roles that you’d get at any restaurant. After that course you are serviced the second course, Paella, which is yellow rice with various kinds of meat cooked with the rice. I ate it all except for the some of the shellfish. Then you are served the third course; I had pork kabobs and fries. Then you are served dessert. Each of these courses was like an entire meal for me! It’s hard not to eat it though, because it’s good and because it’s so expensive. My meal was about 12 Euros, which would be about 18 dollars. And that was the cheapest place we found by far!!!!
After lunch we walked to a castle, which was the inspiration for Cinderella’s castle at Disney Land. It was incredible, and for the first time since I got to Europe, this establishment didn’t mind letting me take pictures. I’ve been frustrated in the past to pay money for something and nothing to show for it. I like to take something tangible away from an experience. The view from the top was amazing and I took lots of pictures there too. My favorite thing, funny enough, was the moat around the castle. It was sooooo deep; probably 3 or 4 stories. I had no idea it would be so deep! I took a picture of it, but it doesn’t do it justice because you can barely see the bottom. After the castle I bought a few postcards and we headed back to the car for the drive home.
We leave on Wednesday, but have to fly back to England for a day. We’ll arrive in the afternoon to Heathrow, will stay in a hotel and get up really early on Thursday to fly home. If all goes well I should arrive in GR mid afternoon. I’m really glad that our flight takes place in one day and that it isn’t another overnight flight. I’m hoping that my jet lag won’t be so bad; it took 4 days before I didn’t feel terribly ill after we arrived in Oxford. I’ve had a great trip, but I can’t wait for the little things that I miss, like being in the same time zone as my friends and family, the dark curtains on my bedroom window, my roommate’s cats, TV in English, air conditioning, internet, pickles, peanut butter, vegetables (that one’s for you, Mom), being able to make change quickly at the store without having to turn all the coins over to read how much they are worth, my church, and being able to walk barefoot inside!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Estoy en España!
I don´t have much time, but here are the basics. We left yesterday for the bus station, but underestimated how long it would take us to walk there, and had to run the last few blocks with all our suitcases and two little boys. I was DRIPPING in sweat when we got on the bus; thank goodness for air conditioning! The bus ride was fine, as was navigating the airport. We had two hours to kill and then got on the plane. We sat on the runway for almost an hour and then left for our 2 hours flight. As soon as we walked off the plane in Spain a man asked to see our passports. He briefly glanced at them and immediately stamped them without even asking a question! We didn´t wait one minute to go through ¨customs!¨ By this time, however it was 11 pm and we were getting tired. We met up with the family we are staying with and we loaded into the car and headed to our home for 9 days. It was 1 am by the time I got to bed and I was soooo tired! Unfortunately, my window is under a street lamp, and I only got about four hours of sleep last night. I kind of feel jet lagged again! This morning we all got up late and had breakfast at 10am, which is normal for Spaniards. We went for a swim, and now it´s 2:30 and we haven´t had lunch yet! I won´t have much internet, as far as I know, so i won´t be able to put up pictures or give updates very often, but I´ll do my best. Here are some of my first impressions of Spain:
It´s mentally exhausting to try to understand all the Spanish! Because I don´t have much of an accent, everyone thinks I speak better than I do!
It took me a while to figure out how to the flush the toilet: you pull up on a little round knob
I swam in the cleanest pool I´ve ever been in and dried off in about 30 seconds in the arid, 95 degreed weather.
I love the mountains!!!
I miss air conditioning!!!!
Spainards are blunt.
It´s mentally exhausting to try to understand all the Spanish! Because I don´t have much of an accent, everyone thinks I speak better than I do!
It took me a while to figure out how to the flush the toilet: you pull up on a little round knob
I swam in the cleanest pool I´ve ever been in and dried off in about 30 seconds in the arid, 95 degreed weather.
I love the mountains!!!
I miss air conditioning!!!!
Spainards are blunt.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
London!
We left to catch our bus at 7:15am. We made it to the bus stop ok, but when we arrived, I realized that I was a pound short for the bus and they almost left without me! They wouldn't even let my friends off the bus to join me in catching the next one. Finally, they were so annoyed with me they just let me on without the extra pound. The hour and 45 minute bus ride was uneventful. When we arrived we took a while to orient ourselves (thank you Diane, for that map!!!), and we were on our way to Westminster Abbey. I didn't go in because I didn't want to pay the 12 pounds, and also I knew there would be a lot of walking that day and wanted to save my legs. I took a bunch of pictures of the outside and went and found a Starbucks and read a book.
I met back up with my friends and we headed towards (or so we thought) the Globe theatre. We got a bit lost (although we followed a sign that we think was bumped to point in the wrong direction), but with the help of a posted city map, we eventually found it. I wanted to go inside so badly, but it was right before a matinee (Romeo and Juliet), so I didn't. It's still pretty cheap to see a play there; between 5 and 27 pounds! We then walked to St. Paul's Cathedral, which of course was amazing. I was distraught over not being able to take pictures. I had to restrain myself! I won't even try to describe it, because I won't be able to do it justice! We climbed up a few hundred stairs around and around and around, and fiiiianly made it to an observation deck where we were allowed to take pictures of the city.
We made our way to the British museum, and this was about the time where my legs gave out. I begged to stop a minute, and since we were lost anyway, we stopped on a curb to orient ourselves once again. We found our route and set out again, only to get loster (yes, that is a word). We had to ask 2 people where it was before we eventually found it; ironic since it's one of the biggest structures in the city! The museum was huge!!!! We spent two hours there but could have spent days and days! It was the biggest museum I've ever seen, and frankly it was a bit overwhelming. We were sooooo tired at this point that we just rushed through it, seeing a few things of interest. I loved seeing the Rosetta stone, but unfortunately so did about 20 other people at every moment, and I never really got a good look at it. I also loved seeing the Chinese pottery (shout out to Cindy and TJ!) and the Samurai armour and swords.
After the museum we stopped at another Starbucks to load up on caffine for our long walk back to the bus. At this point it started to sprinkle, but it really wasn't too bad. It helped us walk faster, and we found our stop without any problems. The bus arrived, but after some people got off, the bus driver (rather rudely), told us we couldn't get ON the bus there and to do across the street. We had no idea what he was talking about, but we just started walking, hoping to find another bus stop. We walk and walked and walked and couldn't figure out what to do. We asked 2 or 3 people, all of whom sent us in different directions. Part of the problem was that we needed to take something called the Oxford Tube, but the Londoners were confusing it with the underground, also called the Tube. Anyway, we eventually did go into the underground and asked someone who gave us slightly better instructions. We were still looking all over for this magical bus stop when finally, a man out of nowhere asked us where we were trying to go. We told him, and he pointed behind us and said, "right there." I don't remember our reactions exactly, but we all thought about hugging him. I think in reality we just screamed a bunch of thank yous and ran to the stop (a bus was there and about to leave), and got on! We giggled out of relief for about 5 minutes. I took a million pictures out the window (as usual). We were stuck in traffic for about 45 minutes, but I didn't really care; I was just thrilled to have found the bus after over an hour of looking for it.
We calculated that we walked over 8 miles, and that doesn't account for getting lost three times and all the walking inside of buildings. Great, exhausting day! Pictures to come; time to leave for church.
I met back up with my friends and we headed towards (or so we thought) the Globe theatre. We got a bit lost (although we followed a sign that we think was bumped to point in the wrong direction), but with the help of a posted city map, we eventually found it. I wanted to go inside so badly, but it was right before a matinee (Romeo and Juliet), so I didn't. It's still pretty cheap to see a play there; between 5 and 27 pounds! We then walked to St. Paul's Cathedral, which of course was amazing. I was distraught over not being able to take pictures. I had to restrain myself! I won't even try to describe it, because I won't be able to do it justice! We climbed up a few hundred stairs around and around and around, and fiiiianly made it to an observation deck where we were allowed to take pictures of the city.
We made our way to the British museum, and this was about the time where my legs gave out. I begged to stop a minute, and since we were lost anyway, we stopped on a curb to orient ourselves once again. We found our route and set out again, only to get loster (yes, that is a word). We had to ask 2 people where it was before we eventually found it; ironic since it's one of the biggest structures in the city! The museum was huge!!!! We spent two hours there but could have spent days and days! It was the biggest museum I've ever seen, and frankly it was a bit overwhelming. We were sooooo tired at this point that we just rushed through it, seeing a few things of interest. I loved seeing the Rosetta stone, but unfortunately so did about 20 other people at every moment, and I never really got a good look at it. I also loved seeing the Chinese pottery (shout out to Cindy and TJ!) and the Samurai armour and swords.
After the museum we stopped at another Starbucks to load up on caffine for our long walk back to the bus. At this point it started to sprinkle, but it really wasn't too bad. It helped us walk faster, and we found our stop without any problems. The bus arrived, but after some people got off, the bus driver (rather rudely), told us we couldn't get ON the bus there and to do across the street. We had no idea what he was talking about, but we just started walking, hoping to find another bus stop. We walk and walked and walked and couldn't figure out what to do. We asked 2 or 3 people, all of whom sent us in different directions. Part of the problem was that we needed to take something called the Oxford Tube, but the Londoners were confusing it with the underground, also called the Tube. Anyway, we eventually did go into the underground and asked someone who gave us slightly better instructions. We were still looking all over for this magical bus stop when finally, a man out of nowhere asked us where we were trying to go. We told him, and he pointed behind us and said, "right there." I don't remember our reactions exactly, but we all thought about hugging him. I think in reality we just screamed a bunch of thank yous and ran to the stop (a bus was there and about to leave), and got on! We giggled out of relief for about 5 minutes. I took a million pictures out the window (as usual). We were stuck in traffic for about 45 minutes, but I didn't really care; I was just thrilled to have found the bus after over an hour of looking for it.
We calculated that we walked over 8 miles, and that doesn't account for getting lost three times and all the walking inside of buildings. Great, exhausting day! Pictures to come; time to leave for church.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Stonehenge and Bath
Elizabeth and me!
The bath where you throw in coins and make a wish
The Great Bath
I spent yesterday (Saturday), traveling to Stonehenge and Bath. I wasn't that excited about Stonehenge except for the fact that it was a famous place, and now I can say that I've been there. It didn't cost me anything to get "in," although you can see it from the road, so thank goodness I didn't pay to see a big pile of rocks! There was a ton of traffic on the way there, so by the time we got there, we only had about 20 minutes to walk around it and take pictures. There was an audio commentary to listen to, but I didn't really have time to listen to most of it. I did learn that 1/3 of each rock is below ground, that the rocks have been moved a few times over the past 5 thousand years, and that they are set up in such a way that the sun shines through each arch during the corresponding month. So, on June first, it shines through number 2 (or something like that), but in July, it shines through arch 3. It is almost the summer solstice, and on that day the sun shines in a particularly famous way and makes a beam of light shine on some important rock in the formation. So....there were people starting to camp out for the big event.
Bath was pretty cool. We got to tour the Roman baths. It was so dark underground that it was hard to see anything or take good pictures. The Great Bath outside was the easiest to see. The water was a terrible murky green color, and it looked putrid. For 50p (50 pence), you can taste the water! No thanks!
Then I walked over to the Jane Austen Museum in town. It cost money to go inside, and it was only a museum about that time period, and didn't have any of her personal belongings, so I figured it wasn't worth it. I did spend some time in the gift shop, however, and enjoyed looking at all the objects you can buy that says, "I love Mr. Darcy," I bought a few postcards, one with Colin Firth on it; a replica of the drawing that Elizabeth sees in Pemberly and has to admit out loud that he is handsome.
It was a long day with tons of walking and 4 hours on a bus, but overall I really enjoyed it. Today I'm going to a different, more contemporary church. More to come!
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