Costume Ball

I'm on a marathon of blogging! Keep it up! (Just motivating myself a little).

Costume Ball was on November 21st. For the longest time I was going to go as Amy Winehouse, but I ended up digging through the old costume stuff and finding the best hat ever. So I decided to go as a suffragette. I went into town and found this ridiculously authentic-looking skirt for £4 and a blouse for 8, and then as we were driving back on the shuttle Anne and I decided that I would go as the crazy suffragette that threw herself in front of a horse and died. So, the end result:

Don't know if you can tell, but I have a black eye and bloody lip and horseshoes pinned on my back, and the other side of my sign says 'Free Bob'. I looked awesome, I can't lie to you. I wish I could have brought it all home with me. I would wear it every day.

Bad ideas turned into bad but fun decisions. We drank boxed wine in Alex's room before dinner, we had a ton of wine at dinner, then we went down to the Bistro and I had like 2 Newcastles . . . yeah. BAD IDEA. But fun. The next thing I knew I was smoking hookah at the smoking bench with about 12 random people. Then, I ended up going and hanging out in SDO until about 4am. 'Would You Rather' is way more fun when everyone is drunk.

Paris and Versailles

Bear with me, I don't remember exactly what we did each day. But I'll give it the old college try.

We left after seminar on the 11th of November. We took a train down to London and hopped on the Eurostar. I do NOT envy Phil Taylor, he had to lead us all over the place and make sure he didn't lose anyone. Poor guy. Anyway, we got to Paris pretty late in the day, so that night we just went to a restaurant, had a great meal and wine, and went to bed fairly early so we would be energized for the morning.

[SIDE NOTE: WE DID NOT HAVE A SHOWER. We had a bathtub with one of those spray things, so in order to bathe I had to squat in the tub and awkwardly spray myself clean. Needless to say, it was a chore. But kind of funny in retrospect, especially when I tried to do it drunk and sprayed the floor.]

The next day we just did a walking tour to see the sights. It was awesome! I mean, seeing the Eiffel Tower in real life and not in a Pepe LePew cartoon was surreal.

We kept walking and saw Arc du Triomph, went to the Rodin Museum, and Notre Dame, and just admired the general splendor. It was awesome! That night we went out to get pizza, and it was delicious, although everyone in the restaurant knew we were American and kept staring us down. Oh well.

The next day, we took a train to Versailles to see the palace. It was gorgeous and insane. I've seen some pretty ridiculous houses/castles/palaces, but nothing could rival this. I can't believe anyone actually lived there. The only thing at Versailles is the palace, so after we saw it we ate lunch and got back on the train. We stopped back at Notre Dame to climb to the top -- like I mentioned before, my ass is in wonderful shape from all the cathedrals/basilicas/castles I've climbed to the top of. The view of Paris was unbelievable.

After Notre Dame we headed over to the Louvre. It was awesome seeing the Mona Lisa, Madonna of the Rocks, Venus de Milo, etc. but all the explanations were in French and we didn't feel like paying for the audio guide. I think we were more excited about the glass pyramid and its connection to the Da Vinci Code. Ahh, twentysomethings.

That night we watched the Eiffel Tower light show in the park with bread, cheese and bottles of wine. It was fantastic!

The next day, we just did some shopping around, more general sightseeing. We ate dinner at the BEST crepe place, the guys absolutely loved us and talked to us for about a half hour.

All in all Paris was amazing and I'm so glad I got the chance to go there!

Retroactive Blogging is Hard - Guy Fawkes Day and London Field Trip

Once again I'm going to start this post off with I SUCK AT BLOGGING! But now that I'm back in the States I'll probably keep it up a little bit better while I'm procrastinating my dumb LTU work.

November 5th is Guy Fawkes Night in Britain - if you don't know what it is, look here. Anyway, you burn an effigy of Guy Fawkes and read the poem and all that jazz. Our bonfire was the night before. I don't know why.

That's JR with our massive bonfire and Sara's beautiful Guy Fawkes effigy. Anyway, it was miserable outside, raining and being just generally crappy. After braving the elements for about an hour, most people just migrated to the Bistro. I had a lot to drink that night - I think we counted seven Newcastles. Heather walked me back to my room. Good form, right?

That Friday, we had a British Studies field trip to London. We were supposed to go to the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, and St. Paul's Cathedral. We were split into two big groups by alphabet, and my group went to the galleries first and then St. Paul's. We spent about 20 minutes in the Portrait Gallery before we decided to hit the National Gallery. Sam had to go to the bathroom but Chris and I thought that everyone was behind us -- anyway we got separated and Chris and I were by ourselves, which was kind of cool because we actually looked at paintings. There was this group of school kids who were getting a tour so we followed them around so we could learn stuff, and this little 8 year old girl told the history of the Tudors from Henry VII until Elizabeth!! We were wishing we could bring her home with us so she could take our British Studies test. She knew way more than we did. We felt stupid.

So after we learned about 'The Ambassadors' and all that fun stuff, we ate our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in Trafalgar Square and photobombed some Asians. Then of course we realized that we had a half hour to walk the Strand and Fleet Street before our tours. So we pretty much ran to St. Paul's -- remember the scene in Home Alone in the airport, when they're playing 'Run Run Rudolph?' That was Chris and I. He was way faster than me, I was in a dress and boots. We made it just as the bells of St. Paul's struck 2pm.

I went with DG's group because there was no way in hell I was going with Kingsley. The first thing he said when I got there was, 'Now, we are group A. I'm sure you alllllll got A's on your British Studies exam.' So I did the little sneaky slidey move I'm so good at and slid over to group C. We wandered around St. Paul's and learned stuff. It was interesting, it's a church but it's all military-oriented. Then we climbed up to the top, walked around the dome and got a great view of London. I've climbed so many stairs in Europe - my butt is definitely in its best shape ever.

After that Jessica and I had to walk back to Trafalgar Square to meet up with Kelsey, Anne and Alex, but it started raining. So, yes, I walked from St. Paul's to Trafalgar Square in the rain. It sucked. A lot. And my feet were soggy. But whatever. We met up with them, went to dinner at which Kelsey got drunk off of ONE glass of wine (it was awesome!) and then we split up. Kelsey and Jessica went to see We Will Rock You, and Anne and Alex and I went to see Dirty Dancing.

It was the best/worst thing I have ever seen. The acting was terrible, but the music and the end scene totally made up for it! My mom would have been crying. I tried to call her but she wouldn't answer - bishophead.

After the show we went and caught the 11:30 coach back to Harlaxton. We didn't get back till about 2am, but it was a pretty kickass field trip all in all.

Academic Achievements. . . ish

I guess I should maybe write a little bit about my academic life here.  In British Studies, that life is AWESOME!

I mentioned in my Poland blog that I had a marathon paper writing session the night before I left, because my draft was due that Monday and I was determined to turn in a full draft and not an outline.  Well, the week after I got back I realized that I had no idea what I was supposed to know about Belvoir Castle (where we went on a field trip earlier that month) so I went to see Dr. Green to 'have a chat' about the upcoming test.  So we talk about the test and how I should approach the question blah blah blah, he makes fun of me for being hungover, then he says he has read my paper.  Basically he told me that I don't need to change anything, just a few little things, write my conclusion and turn it in.  BALLER!  I was so excited.  Simon de Montfort will forever be my hero, for being so damn interesting that my 2500 word paper is 'excellent'.

So that was awesome.  Even better was the fact that I got a freaking A on that test (which I took on Nov. 5th I think), like the complete baller that I am.  I thought I did really bad because I didn't write a single date down on it, but oh well.  Either I did well or Dr. Green just loves me, either one is fine with me!  I also got an A on my British Studies presentation, the one that I stayed up until 3am the night I got BACK from Poland completing!  I've also done no worse than a B+ on all of the 5 quizzes we have, so barring a complete failure on this last test I think I'm set for at least a B!

Politics, on the other hand, is a nightmare.  I managed to scrape two B's on my papers so the D and the C paper are dropped, but our final is 40% of our grade and I can't motivate myself to try.  It's just so boring and uninteresting to me that it is literally painful to get out of bed to go to that class.  I don't even want to talk about it.

History is going to kick my ass.  I enjoy the subject and it's interesting, but this class is tough, and when you get a study guide with 136 people, places and events that you need to know, out of which she will pick 7, out of which you need to know 4, AND two essay questions . . . even Dr. Bujak looked at it and said, "Well, this is a bitch."  I got a B- on the midterm, a B+ on my paper and an okay grade on one of my quizzes, but she hasn't yet graded one of my papers and the final is . . . well, a bitch.

So academically speaking that's where I stand.  At least I'm doing well in British Studies, which is my favorite class for a few reasons :) and it's also my easiest one, which some people can't believe.  Someone told me that if I would have taken Genetics as well, I would have had the hardest schedule possible at Harlaxton, and I'm pretty sure I believe them.

Cymru = Wales

Ahhh!  Wales was so long ago I can hardly believe it!  I'll do my best to detail it though, it was a very nice, very relaxing weekend!

However, I slept in super late and woke up at 8am - when we had to leave at 8:30am.  I'm a complete badass, though, so I managed to get up, shower, and finish packing, and make the bus with about 5 minutes to spare.  AMAZING.  And I didn't even forget anything.

The coach ride wasn't too bad because Wales isn't that far away, obviously.  Our first stop was Chester, which is still in England.  It's a Roman town with pretty walls, it's really old and cool looking but I wasn't really into shopping so we just walked around and admired the prettiness.  Then we hopped on the coach and got to the town where we were staying, this BEAUTIFUL resort town on the Atlantic Ocean.  Here's the view from our hotel!

 That night Mallory, Alex and I just had dinner and a few drinks at a pub and called it a night pretty early.

The next day was probably my favorite part of the trip, Caernafron Castle.  I said in a previous post that Blarney was my favorite, but nope, now it's Caernafron.  Edward I built it just after his conquest, and it's so fun to just crawl through everything, take the stairs and find the secret rooms, and just pretend you're a medieval court member.

LOVED IT!  I bought a few souvenirs here, then we set off to Portmeiron Village, which is this lovely little Italian-style seaside village, really idyllic and such.  It was gorgeous, but we didn't do much there, just had a delicious ham-and-cheese panini for lunch and walked around admiring the general splendor.  After that it was off to the Victorian slate mines!  That was really fun, we got to wear helmets and descend into the mines and listen to the life of a Victorian slate miner in Wales.  Daniel got felt up by an old lady in the dark, and I laughed for literally fifteen minutes - so long I got a headache!

We then headed back to our hotel, where we were going to go out but since I didn't feel like clubbing we ended up just parking in the hotel bar and drinking a few, then Daniel, Kelley, Mallory and I just hung out on the beach at night in North Wales!  It was so 'chill' and awesome.

The next day we were headed back, but we got to sleep in till about 10!  That is unheard of here, so it was extra nice!  After breakfast we left and stopped at Swallow Falls, a crazy waterfall that was especially nuts because it had been raining for a few days before we got there!  Then it was back to good ol' Harlaxton and the disgusting Sunday 'roast' dinner we all know and love.

Oh, and I bought some souvenirs in Wales because -- guess what? -- I'm WELSH!  I love my Welsh dragon necklace!

Halloween at Harlaxton

Once again, bear with me -- I've been such a crappy blogger that I have to go back into the depths of my memory to grab the things that happened A MONTH AGO!  This time, it's Halloween at Harlaxton, yet another crazy night here in England.

So Chris and I were sitting around my room with Mary trying to figure out what to be for this party that wouldn't require a ton of money.  We tossed around really stupid ideas for a few minutes before he just said, randomly, "Let's be Jim and Pam."  So the next day we went to town and bought a few things, and this is the end result.

Pretty decent, huh?  So we got together with a bunch of people and did NOT at all drink beforehand, then walked up to The Greg where Harlaxton had rented out the entire thing for the night.  It was really fun, there were some great costumes -- Sam Baker was Michael Jackson, Mary Johnson was John Lennon, etc. -- and there was a dance floor, which was cool!  And it was extra nice because we didn't have to pay for a cab to get us there or back.  

On the way back -- oh dear.  Chris had a little too much to drink so Pam had to drag Jim's ass all the way back to the carriage house, where she ended up having to tuck him in and witnessed him be a complete ass to Manny, which was probably the funniest moment of her life!  Then Alex and I and a few others smoked some hookah, ate some delicious pizza and called it a night.  Altogether it was an excellent Halloween, definitely one I won't be forgetting any time soon!

POLSKA

WOW I SUCK! I've been completely and utterly slacking on these blogs, which is unforgivable. I just hope I can remember enough detail from a month ago -- A MONTH! That's how long ago I was in Poland. Crazy!

So I stayed up really late the night before we left for Poland to finish my British Studies paper. It was an intense marathon writing session but it paid off, as I will detail later. So I slept through politics since I was really tired and I hadn't packed yet. Ed was mad, but oh well. He saw me at lunch and glared at me. One of a few drawbacks of living in the same place as your teachers.

So right after lunch Jessica and I grabbed a cab to the train station, hopped on our train to Stansted, and got there in PLENTY of time. Jessica was nervous since she hadn't done any of this before, and I hadn't either, but I ended up taking charge and just pretending like I knew what I was doing. We ate in the airport and found Ryan and Sam, boarded our flight and all was peachy!

We landed in Poland and took a cab to our hostel Can I just say that this hostel was AMAZING!?

 It was nicer than our room at Harlaxton for sure. And the people were amazing. We met this drunk guy from Liverpool who sang me High School Musical songs, it was so great. But we were exhausted so after a dinner of Polish chips and a Carlsberg we went to bed.

Next morning was the beginning of a very long, but very awesome day! We woke up early and went to the Wieliczka Salt Mines which was amazing. I saw an entire cathedral carved out of the salt. After that we had lunch then we went to Auschwitz-Birkenau, which was incredibly depressing but I'm so glad I went. Not many people can say they have been to Auschwitz, but now I can, and it made me really proud that my papa and great-uncles fought to liberate the people from the camps.

We didn't get back to the hostel until about 9pm, but Jessica and I had to change hostels so we got our stuff and walked around Krakow looking for it. We found it and once again it was super nice and the people again were AMAZING, we got free hot dogs for dinner and free shots (Polish Mad Dogs, SO GOOD! And I'm not a shot person.) Then we met up with Sam and Ryan back at the old hostel and went to dinner. HOLY LORD IN HEAVEN, THE PIEROGIS! So so so so good.

Can I also mention that the currency, the Polish zloty, has an exchange rate of roughly 1 USD = 3 PLN? So I got a liter beer for 12 PLN which -- yes -- means I got a liter of beer for FOUR DOLLARS. AMAZING.

Then it was back to the hostel for Jessica and I, we got a good night's sleep then in the morning we checked out of our hostel, but they said we could leave our stuff all day since our flight wasn't until later that day. So we roamed around Krakow, went to THE BEST MALL I HAVE EVER SEEN, people-watched a souvenir shopped. It's an amazing city, I loved it so much.

We caught a train to the airport, and camped out for a while because our flight didn't leave until about 10pm. I had a beer before I got on the plane, haha. When we landed in England we got a shuttle to our hotel at Stansted, which was nice, and once again I had a really great night's sleep. The next day we took a bus to London, walked around, went to the British Museum, took a picture at PLATFORM 9 3/4 at King's Cross (!!!), then caught our train back to Grantham and saw our friends Courtney and Mallory coming back from Ireland. That worked out well because then we just split a cab back to the Manor and got back by dinnertime!

POLSKA was fantastic and I would recommend that people go there. It's CHEAP, the people are so nice, the hostels are fantastic, and Krakow is incredible. But there are pigeons everywhere.