Across the Pond

Prague, Czech Republic

2010-06-29T09:31:00.000-07:00

new post (demo)

2010-06-29T09:10:00.001-07:00

Hello, this is a sample post. I'm showing how to use blogger.

Favorite picture from Belgium

2010-06-29T07:30:00.000-07:00

this is the end

2008-08-25T14:39:00.000-07:00

I doubt anyone checks this anymore, but just in case you do, I'm officially closing this blog. This is it. The end. Unless I travel to England again and feel the need to blog about it, there will be no more posts. Thanks to all those who read. Really, thank you. It was fun to write, but extra fun to have people actually reading. =)

God's blessings,
Danielle

The end.

FAQ

2008-06-25T21:40:00.000-07:00

Now is the time when I'm supposed to be reflecting on my time abroad, figuring out how I feel about it, what it meant to me, how I've changed, blah blah blah, and lots of other deep thoughts. The difficult part of answering these questions is that it's tough to explain my experience without sounding like I'm writing some generic assigned essay: 'I learned so much and experienced a new culture and now I want to live a better life and all that jazz,' blah-de-blah, even if it is true. So, for all our sake, I'll try to answer some of the questions I've been asked a couple dozen times already as genuinely and specifically as I can.

Question: (This could be you, or anybody) So, how was England?

Answer: (And then this is me) Amazing. I wasn't ready to leave. I'm not really sure how to explain why I loved England so much, but I just did. And that's all I can really say, this question is too vague, sorry. Wow, so much for being specific and unique.

Q: How is it being back?

A: To be honest, I did experience some culture shock upon entering the United States.

For example, people in the States aren't afraid to dress very casual in public. In England, I'd probably never go into town wearing athletic clothes--the closest I ever came was wearing sweatpants to the cafeteria one day, and even then I felt awkward. So in comparison to England, we all look a bit trashy here, walking around in public in cut-offs and athletic shorts and old t-shirts with the sleeves chopped off. I also really noticed how wasteful we can be here. In England, I got used to seeing almost only little compact cars zooming around, combined with an excellent public transportation system. It was a bit of a shock to return to Wisconsin and see so many mini-vans (guilty) and SUVs and trucks--I think I saw one pick-up truck the whole time I was in England and 2 mini vans. And besides the cars being bigger, everything here in Eau Claire is just so much more spacious. The city is quite spread out, roads are wider, houses have backyards and lots of space between them, etc. These are just material differences though. There are other more subtle differences that I think will become more apparent over time, but those are just a couple examples that I noticed right away.

Being back is still taking a bit of getting used to. The first night was extremely surreal. I finally got home at about 3:30 am on Sunday morning and went straight up to my room and sat on my bed, waiting to feel like I was at home. But the feeling didn't come. It took at least a couple days before I felt like I was actually at home--an experience I didn't expect. I feel more at home now, but I think that Winchester will always be a second home--or at least for a good while it will.

Q: Do you have an accent?

A: Really? Remember I was only there for a few months--so the answer is no. To be fair every once in awhile a bit of an English or Welsh inflection awkwardly slips out, but it's been only a week and a half and that's almost gone already.

Okay, that's all I'm writing for tonight, but I've definitely got some more thoughts (and they're more interesting too) so I'll try to post again soon. I'm leaving for a family vacation tomorrow and don't know where and when I'll get internet access, but I'm brining my laptop so I can continue to at least journal some thoughts and then post them later. Until then, take care. =)

and this is the end

2008-06-14T03:28:00.000-07:00

This is it! I'm leaving England for the States. I can't really describe all the emotions going through my head right now, but just wanted to leave a quick note that I'm taking off and will be back in the USA tonight. Wow. That sounds just so strange.

Okay, well, I'll send an update soon when I'm safely landed. I want to write some posts more reflective in nature over the next few days, but right now I've got to run to get to the bus station. Until then, Danielle.

packing already?

2008-06-09T00:00:00.001-07:00

As I write this I'm sitting at my desk, looking out over the early morning Winchester campus at what looks like another beautiful sunny day, while Emily packs up her suitcase to go home. My room is completely torn apart since I effectively have had to begin packing today, sending Emily home with extra clothes and other items I've accumulated since arriving here. I don't leave until Saturday, but with saying goodbye to two of my American friends that are leaving this morning along with Emily and starting the packing process so early, the reality of leaving is really sinking in. I'm leaving and I'll never be back again. When I do visit, it will never be the same. I'll never be a student here again, never live here, never genuinely belong to this campus and this country like I do right now.

. . .

Later

I've just returned from walking Janie and Emily to the bus station at the end of High Street. Janie isn't the only one who's leaving a bit early. Since the finals week period is three weeks long, many students, including myself, have their exams scheduled within the first week or so and are done with all their work before the term is officially over. For the last three weeks, the dorms have been slowly emptying, and one by one I've had to say goodbye to friends, both British and American. I'm not sure what's harder--saying a goodbye every other day or all at once, but either way, it's not fun. This morning Janie and Scott left to go home to Wisconsin for work related reasons, so now there's only a handful of Americans left on campus. Standing at the bus station with Janie and Emily was almost surreal--it really was only just over four months ago that we were standing on that same curb, freezing and tired, waiting for the University shuttle to pick us up and take us to campus so we wouldn't get lost. It almost feels like a different life, not an actual memory.

Yesterday was just one of those beautiful, perfect days you picture when you imagine summer. The few of us Americans that are left on campus--Tim, Karen, Hillary, Janie, and Sam, as well as my sister, Sam's visiting friend, and an English couple named Jo and Sam--made the hike out to St. Catherine's Hill, the same hike we make the first weekend we spent in Winchester. It was an absolutely lovely sunny afternoon, perfect for lying in the grass and daisies, doing cartwheels, kicking a football about, and having piggy-back races across the top of the hill. (Unfortunately Emily has those pictures on her camera so I can't upload them til I get home, but those will come). We headed back to campus after 5 and I changed and joined some of my rugby teammates and British friends for a barbecue at my rugby captain Sparrow's house. After sitting around her backyard talking and enjoying a drink and some burgers, we wandered over to the neighborhood park to play a game of touch rugby, though it quickly disintegrated into tackling and tickling and running around yelling in any direction playing keep away. Fun times.

I said goodbye and headed back over to campus to spend time with Janie and Scott before they left. I found a group of my friends holding a goodbye party of sorts out on the lawn in front of our dorms. We sat in the grass in a circle, talking and singing along to Queen and thinking back on the year. After awhile we picked up and went to the local pub for one last drink before it closed at 11.

Janie and I left the group after this to stop by a different dormitory to pick up a mug she had left there the previous week, and on our way back to Alwyn (our dorm), we stopped to lie in the road for a bit. We lay on the quiet street staring up at the black sky, talking about the semester and how much we loved it. It was just one of those moments when everything slows down and you stop and look around you, realizing just how rare the moment is and just how blessed you are--'this is life, this is living.' I said that there had been quite a few of those types of moments this term--moments when I just had to take a breath and savour everything around me because I wanted to remember it forever. Janie replied that she couldn't recall a single moment like that in Eau Claire during the school year. Sad, but true. Janie and I agreed that when we think back to our semesters at Eau Claire, it's all a blur--we just remember being really tired and doing lots of work. The weeks all blend together as one constant, stressful rush of deadlines and schedules and assignments and work. But here, things are different, and I'm going to miss that so, so much.

Picture update

2008-05-23T13:26:00.000-07:00

Last Friday (one week ago now) I went to the Winchester Summer Ball with some of my Eau Claire friends and rugby teammates. Lots of fun. Here are some pictures to share. Thanks again mom for mailing me that dress. When people asked me where I bought it, it was fun to say it was actually from the US. =)

Above: Left to right, me, Fergie, Spyro, Sparrow (don't worry, these are rugby names and not their real names)

Below: Before the ball. I even got a black purse, and this picture is to prove it (see Grandma!).
Below: Sarah and I.
Okay, now the cool pictures. Here are a couple pictures from the few rugby games I've been in.

My personal favorite:
This tournament was over the weekend so we went camping for two nights. Here's me and some of the other girls hanging out at the camp site:

Here's a picture of two Eau Claire girls and I, (left to right, Hillary, me, Karen) enjoying a sunny day on the lawn outside our dorm. We had such beautiful weather two weeks ago we couldn't stay inside. You can see the tennis courts in the background.

Spyro and I at Tesco (grocery store).

So there's a few visuals for you to enjoy. Now you can put a few faces to some of the girls I've mentioned. =)

Yeah I'm back

2008-05-07T03:23:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the long absence there--sort of took a break from blogging for a bit. But not to worry, I've been alive and well in Winchester for the past couple weeks. As great as Europe was, it's been so amazing to be back in Winchester. Back in my own dorm room, back into a normal schedule with classes and rugby and hanging out with friends.

The last few weeks have been uneventful--that is nothing too out of the ordinary has happened--but they have some of the most unforgettable of my entire trip so far. Since I got back from Europe, I've really been making an effort to spend time with my friends here as much as possible. I figure that England will always be here to visit, but the people and this school won't be--or at least not in the same way.

I have some pictures to post, especially from the Summer Ball last week and from a rugby tournament a couple weekends ago, but I really do have an incredible amount of work to do in the next week. In fact, I'm just starting a 2000 word essay due tomorrow on topic "What, if anything, do you consider special about the 'special relationship' which some claim exists between the US and Britain?" After I finish that, I have a 2000 word essay for my Poetry class due Tuesday, my sister Emily comes Friday (yay!), I have a 2000 word essay on Muhammad due Thursday, a timed essay exam on Thursday, and another timed essay exam on Friday. But on the bright side, after next Friday I'll be all done with school work and class for the semester, and have two more weeks here to just chill and travel with Emily and spend my last days with my friends and teammates.

A lot of people have been asking me if I'm excited to go home, and it's tough to answer. Honestly, the answer is no, but let me explain. It will be nice to be home and to see people again, my cat, my room, my family, etc, but I'm really not ready to leave here. I was talking about this with my friend Hillary, who's also from Eau Claire, for a long time yesterday. We wish we could go home for the summer, see our family and friends, but then come back here next fall. We don't really miss home because we know we're going back... but leaving here will be one of the hardest things we've ever done, because we know most of these people and these places we will never ever see again. Or, if we do, it will never be the same. That's why I'm not terribly excited to go home--I'm simply not ready to say goodbye to Winchester.

On that note, I'd better get back to writing. Once again though, I'm terribly sorry for the long gap between posts there. Hopefully I'm back in the swing of things and you'll hear from me a whole lot more. Hopefully. =)

Oh, and because I get asked this a lot too, I go home to Wisconsin June 14.

And finally they're all online...

2008-04-25T06:27:00.000-07:00

You should be able to click on one of the previous album links and from there find links to view all my other pictures.

Enjoy!!

More pictures: Belgium and Prague

2008-04-24T06:34:00.000-07:00

Brussels & Brugges:
http://picasaweb.google.com/futuremostvivid/Belgium

Prague:
http://picasaweb.google.com/futuremostvivid/PragueCzechRepublic

Germany pictures online!

2008-04-22T04:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, okay, I know, I was gone for awhile. But I have lots of good stuff to share, hopefully soon. Right now though I have to do some reading before class and then I'm going to a musical tonight (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, run by Winchester students) so I'll try to blog tomorrow maybe? We'll see. But for now, here are some pictures from Germany!

http://picasaweb.google.com/futuremostvivid/Deutschland

Nothing like Diet Coke at 5 am to start off your morning

2008-04-14T21:54:00.000-07:00

I'm just sitting in the Learning Cafe again, enjoying a lovely breakfast of banana and Diet Coke while I type up an essay. I've been awake since 4:30 this morning and hopefully I'll have all my asssessments finished and turned in today so I can travel with Jenny to London to meet up with Sara and Jeanine (yay!). My mom asked me what my assessments are about, so I thought I'd quickly mention that here (I think I only posted the due dates and word counts earlier). This is the first round:

HS 1004 - US History
A 2000 word essay (50% of my grade) due Friday Week 9 (2 May)
"How and why did a 'Wild West' mythology develop in the late 19th century?"

RT 1005 - Approaches to World Religions
A research project (50%) (2000 words) due 3:30 pm Thursday 17 April
In what ways are Hindu religious and Indian national identity connected in contemporary India?

FS 1163 - Film History
Folder of Work (50%) due Thursday 17 April
500-1000 word essay summarizing an article, plus a couple other little things

EL 1503 - Poetry
Critical Commentary (50%) 1500 words, due Tuesday 15 April
Critical Commentary on the poem "Diving into the Wreck" by Shelley

AM 2500 - America from the Perspective of Britain (the class all American students must take)
Account of experience (1500 words) due 14 April
I might post this one on my blog later.

Okay, that's all. The sun just rose and is shining right in my eyes as I type so it's kind of hard to see the screen. Oh well. Okay, bye!

Rome to Paris to Brussels to London

2008-04-13T02:14:00.000-07:00

I left the lab late last night and am back again this morning, hoping to finish up my assessments today. To warm up my brain a bit and get myself in the writing mood, I'm going to write a quick blog entry first and catch up on everything.

Our second day in Rome, I really wanted to visit the Galleria Borghese, a museum especially famous for its many Bernini sculptures, and Jenny and Janie preferred to save their money and visit the parks and gardens in Rome. The museum ended up being free for me, since I'm an art student, which made it even more worthwhile. The sculptures were simply incredible--I'm so glad I saw them. I them walked from the Galleria, on the north end of Rome, all the way to the Vatican again on the west side of Rome, stopping by various landmarks, eating gelato, and enjoying one of our few sunny days of the trip. We met up again for supper at a restaurant we found that we eat at everyday, and also got to enjoy our meal with one of Janie's friends living in Rome.

After supper, we headed over to the train station to board our night train to Paris. We had to be in Winchester by Friday afternoon, the only way we could spend so much time in Rome was to agree to take the 15 hour night train that left Rome Thursday night. When we arrived in Paris, we hurried to the international ticket counter to get a reservation for the next train to London. Turns out all the trains to London were booked that day. And the next. And the next. We stood there staring at each other, not having any idea what to do. The ticket man then suggested that we could get on a train to Brussels, Belgium, and from Brussels travel to London that night, getting us in to London at about 10 pm. It was our best option, so we took it. (And just for the record, we did see the Eiffel Tower from the train as we left Paris).

And so, God really does have a sense of humor. Brussels was the very first city the three of us visited, and it was the one city that Janie really disliked. It was probably the one city nobody in our group really cared to visit again. And it was the one city we did revisit. Also, three weeks ago when we did visit Brussels, we had bought a bunch of Belgian chocolate to bring home as gifts. Unfortunately, after three weeks of travel, the chocolate had melted and hardened, took up a lot of space, and was just all around a pain to carry. We gradually tossed most of it or ate it and stressed about it and what we were going to give as gifts now. And now, here we were, on the very last day of our traveling, back in Brussels, able to go to the store and buy some more without ever having to carry it around Europe. So funny. And yes, if you're wondering, we did buy some more chocolate. But not nearly as much as the first time. I think we were all a bit sick of it by then.

After an afternoon in Brussels we got on the two hour train to the St. Pancras station in London. Returning to England, to an English speaking country, was such a relief. I met another girl on the train from Mankato, MN who was studying in Wales and had also just been gone for a month. 'I miss the UK so much!' She told me, and we gushed for a bit about how excited we were to get back. Even Jenny, who had never really been in England, said that going back to Winchester felt a bit like coming home, from hearing Janie and I talking about it.

So anyways, we got to St. Pancras, had to buy tube tickets to get to the London Waterloo train station, bought tickets for Winchester, and pulled in to Winchester at midnight. One of my rugby teammates, Roux (rugby nickname), is being an angel and is letting Janie, Jenny, and I crash at her house for two days until we can get in to the dorms this afternoon (Sunday). This is also the same girl who stored all my stuff over break (we have to move completely out of our rooms), so I owe her. She even came and picked us up from the train station at midnight so we wouldn't have to walk to her house with our backpacks.

And so here we are, back in Winchester. Yesterday morning when we left Roux's house we walked into town to show Jenny Winchester and to get something to eat. We walked down High Street, enjoyed a pasty, and visited Sainsbury's (the local grocery store) for a snack or two. I still couldn't believe we were actually back. That's always amused me about vacations--when you return, it's hard to realize you were actually gone. Once you're back, it's as if you never left. It's not until a while later that it feels like you actually left for all that time.

Okay, well, I think my brain is sufficiently ready to get back to writing my assessments. I'm almost done with three of them--hooray. Hope you've all enjoyed reading about Europe. I'll try to get pictures up soon. Oh, and please, if there's anything you want to hear more about or any questions you have or anything, feel free to email me or leave a comment. I love getting questions and comments or anything. And I'll do my best to reply. Thanks so much for reading and for your thoughts and prayers throughout the last month!

Rome, Day 1 (and PS--I'm back in Winchester!)

2008-04-12T11:46:00.000-07:00

I am currently sitting in the Learning Cafe (a glorified computer lab at the University of Winchester) taking a break from my long day of writing the four assessments that are due next week. And despite the fact that I still have a lot of writing to do and not much time, I am just so thrilled to be back. Oh Winchester, I missed you so. But first, let me catch you up on Rome.

I wasn't even that thrilled to see Rome--mostly because it felt like a giant touristy cliche. After spending two days in this beautiful city, however, I will admit that I too found myself unable to resist it's charm. Like so many visitors before me, I fell in love with this city. The city is simply full of art, culture, and life. Spread through the city are ancient ruins, statues, cathedrals, lovely, shaded parks, and buildings of grand architecture, reminders that this city once ruled most of the known world.

On our first morning in Rome, we took the metro to Vatican City to visit St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. We found it quite interesting that we were required to go through security (including metal detectors) to enter the expansive courtyard in front of St. Peter's, which we found nearly packed by 10:00 am. We then noticed that an older man was reading a long speech in a foreign language (Italian? Latin?) from a chair on the cathedral's steps, flanked by some other men, also in chairs. We watched for awhile, debating jokingly whether or not this man was the Pope. On our way out, Jenny stopped to ask one of the guards if he knew who the guy talking was. Turns out it actually was the Pope (and we almost didn't even realize it).

We moved on to the Vatican Museums, which are actually a single long maze of chambers lined with old tapestries and paintings and packed with tourists pushing toward one of the final rooms, the Sistine Chapel. It took us about 45 minutes simply to walk to through all the rooms and get to the chapel, but it was worth it. Funny note though--after staring at the Final Judgement and the other paintings decorating the walls of the Sistine Chapel for about 20 minutes, Janie turned to me and said, 'Okay, now can we finally go see the Sistine Chapel?'
I thought she was joking, but after a couple moments I realized she was serious.
'Janie, this is the Sistine Chapel.'
'What? Where are the hands?' and she motioned her two index fingers toward each other as she asked this.
She was referring to the famous painting of Adam and God reaching toward each other from opposite clouds. I pointed to the small section in the center of the ceiling above us.
'Oh, woops.'
I find it amusing that we not only almost received a sermon from the Pope without realizing it, but Janie also almost visited the Sistine Chapel without knowing. We are such horrible tourists. =)

After the Vatican, we got back on the metro to visit the Colosseum and sections of old Rome. This area is simply littered with crumbling ruins and was fun to walk around in. We spent the rest of the day going from site to site, taking pictures (which will be posted eventually, I promise) and eating gelati (I am in love with banana gelato).

That night we decided to visit an Anglican church for a free concert we had been given a flyer on the street for. It ended up being one of the highlights of my entire trip. The church had a choir that consisted of three parts-- a girls choir, a boys choir, and a men's choir, which sung in different combinations, but were easily one of the most beautiful things I'd ever heard. There were also some Bach organ pieces played between the choir songs. It was so incredible, I had chills the entire time.

We ended this lovely evening (and wonderful day) with a trip to Trevi Fountain at night, a must for anyone visiting Rome (until I upload my pictures, here's one from the internet so you get the full effect):

I have more to tell about Rome and about the last day or so, but I need to go to bed. I'll write more tomorrow when I need a break from writing. =)

In Rome

2008-04-08T12:07:00.000-07:00

So a lot has happened since the last blog post. A lot. Too much to really type right now, but the main message is we're having a quite memorable experience, and we are safe and happy and God has really been looking after us. So thanks for all the prayers. =)

Right now I am in an internet shop in Rome, Italy (or I should say Roma). I really don't understand why names of cities change from language to language. I mean, it's a proper noun, right? Why do locals say Roma or Munchen and we say Rome and Munich? If anyone has some light to shed on this it'd be much appreciated. Anyways, yesterday morning we left Athens and traveled by train to Patras, got on the ferry in Patras and sailed overnight from Patras, Greece to Ancona, Italy. From Ancona we hopped on a train to Rome, dropped our stuff off at our Rome hostel, enjoyed a warm meal of pasta at a recommended restaurant, and then came here to blog a bit.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me catch you up a bit. The last time I wrote I was in Salzburg, Austria, writing about the previous couple of days in Prague. I didn't get too much posted during that internet time because the guy working behind the front desk kept talking to me, oh joy. Our entire conversation was in German so it was a bit distracting since I had to think extra hard, but with him flirting and me trying to finish the conversation politely and get back to blogging, I wasn't very successful in writing very much. Since then it's been tough to find time to write much. From Austria we went to Venice for two nights. Venice was quite charming. As you might recall, Brugges in Belgium was an incredibly charming, old, quaint city, but it felt almost too cute. Venice has a lot of the same incredible charm but it actually feels lived in. Laundry hangs out of windows and on lines across narrow alleys, children play football (soccer) in cement courtyards between buildings, and the paint is chipping and corners of buildings are crumbling a bit. It definitely feels alive. We spent most of the time there wandering the streets with no plan, simply getting lost, eating lots of gelato, and sitting on the sunny patches of pavement along canals whenever we pleased. It was the best weather we'd had the whole trip (sunny and warm enough to go out in short sleeves) but we were amazed to see all the locals still in their winter coats and scarves.

From Venice we traveled on a ferry for over 30 hours to the port of Patras, where we stayed the night in a creepy hostel that reminded me very much of one of the dirtier hotels I stayed at in India. But it was late and we needed a place to stay, and we were out at 5 am to catch our train to Athens. Athens was different from what I expected. With the exception of the rocky uprise in the center of the city with the Acropolis, the entire city, as far as you can see, is composed of white or off white apartment-like buildings in the rough, square, ugly style of 60s architecture. There really aren't any very modern buildings of metal or glass. When you first get off the train or subway in Athens, you think you must just be in the bad, shady part of the city... but then you realize that the entire city is like that. The people were very friendly though, especially the train conductors who would always come back to check on us and make sure we got off at the rights stops. We wouldn't have gotten very far without them. And my semester in Greek at ILC sort of paid off--I was at least able to read the alphabet, which helped in some cases where everything was in the Greek letters. Thanks Prof. Sippert.

We spent three nights in Athens. On the third day we took a day trip to a city further up along the coast with the hope of spending time at the beach, but like the rest of our trip, it was cloudy and rainy and too cold for swimming. Instead we walked along the coast and then found an adorable restaurant for late lunch/early supper. Actually, that was kind of funny. We walked in to what looked like a clean, little restaurant, and found a couple people, the owners, sitting around a table having a meal. We just sort of hovered there, looking at each other, until eventually we hesitantly moved toward a table to sit down. Eventually one of the younger women came over and spoke in slow English, "Would you like to eat?" Was this not a restaurant or something? We were suddenly nervous that we had walked into someone's private house or something, but there were several empty tables around us with napkins and salt and pepper shakers, so it must be a restaurant.
"Um, yes?" was our answer.
Then an older man came over and began speaking to her in Greek. She waited and then turned to us, "The boss say he cook for you meat or fish and potatoes and salad and bread for 12€."
We said that sounded good and she and another women went into the kitchen in the next room and began to cook for us. They brought us coca cola in bottles and fresh bread, as well as a large bowl of Greek salad (amazing!), followed later by a platter of sliced, fried potatoes and finally by three huge cuts of pork. One of the best meals I've ever had.

And so now that pretty much catches you up to today. We'll be in Rome all day tomorrow and Thursday until the evening, when we're catching a night train to Paris, and then a train from Paris to London to Winchester, trying to make it to Winchester by 5 pm on Friday. Fun fun. I am so incredibly excited to be back in England though. First of all, because I like England, and also, I'm excited to have a room to myself again and I place for my stuff, and the idea of being in a place where people all speak the same language as you is almost impossible to comprehend right now. Yay.

Well, sorry for the long absense in posts. Thanks for any emails, comments, and prayers. I know some people have emailed me and I haven't replied--so sorry. I'm just a little behind and promise to try to catch up as soon as I'm back in Winchester on a more regular schedule. =)

hi!

2008-04-04T05:18:00.000-07:00

Okay, this will be very quick. But just wanted to give you a little heads up on where we are. I'll hopefully post more details later.

After Prague we visited some castles and mountains in Fussen, Germany, then spent a nice sunny day in Salzburg, followed by two days wandering around Venice. We then got on a ferry and spent 36 hours sailing from Venice to Patras, Greece. This morning we finally arrived in Athens, where we'll be for a couple days. Ok, that's all I have time for. But just so you know, we're alive and well!

We miss you Prague!

2008-03-30T09:41:00.000-07:00

Oh no, I am so far behind. The last few days have been wonderful and I haven't had too much time for blogging, so I've got a lot to catch you up on.

After Brussels we headed to Praha (we say Prague) in Czech Republic. Well, at least we tried to go to Prague. We got on a Brussels train, missed where we were supposed to get off and switch trains, and ended up an hour west toward the coast. Woops. So we got back on to the next train crossing from Brussels east toward Germany (you can't really go straight through to Prague from Belgium). But turns out the train we got on was a reservation only train and we had to get off at the next stop and wait for the next train to Köln. So we waited in some city in Belgium (don't even know what it was) for an hour and a half for the next train, traveled a couple hours to Köln, then from Köln switched to a train to Frankfurt. Once in Frankfurt we found a train that was traveling to Dresden, which is quite close to Prague, but still in Germany. By now it was night and dark out, and we figured we'd rather wander around a German city at 10 pm than show up in the Czech Republic at midnight looking for a hostel. In Dresden we found a great youth hostel with the help of two nice tourists who gave us directions.

The next morning we woke up early and hurried to the train station to just catch a train to Prague. We arrived in Prague, found a hostel right away, and started to explore the city. I wasn't really sure what to expect from Prague, but this city blew me away. I loved it so much. We all did. In fact, I feel I can safely say it is one of my favorite cities in the world. It is the perfect blend of old, gorgeous architecture and growing modern life. We can't wait to go back.

The first night in Prague Janie and I decided to go on a night tour we saw advertised on a flyer in our hostel. We walked through Prague, across one of its many bridges, to the old town center to the meeting point. While we were waiting there were fair booths set up and dancers dancing in traditional costume to Czech music. Turns out our tour guide for the evening was to be a quite aged man who had lived in Prague for the last 50 years. He had a sweet hat and a cane and I thought he was going die at any moment, but he had some awesome stories to tell. He had lived through World War II (officer for 8 years), under communist rule, and when it was still Czechoslovakia. He lead us around the old town with a few other girls that had also shown up for the tour, telling us local legends and ghost stories and random fun trivia. We must have looked like a hilarious group--one old man in a heavy coat with a cane, hobbling along with 5 young college girls. At the end he took us to a little Czech pub (part of the tour cost) where we all received a glass of Pilsner Urquell, a famous local beer. There we sat around asking him questions for another half hour or so. So fascinating--something I won't forget for a long time.

The next day we took two more walking tours, each three hours long, back to back, that took us all over the city. We walked over 12 miles that day but it was totally worth it. We saw so much of Prague that we wouldn't have seen otherwise and learned a lot too. After the tour we were starving (we had been touring from 10:30 am to 5 pm) so we had beef goulash and potato dumplings at a traditional Czech restaurant our tour guide had recommended to us. What a perfect day.

Tonight we're actually in Salzburg (yes, that is where Sound of Music took place) but my internet time is unforunately almost done. So time to say goodbye until next time (hopefully I'll be in Venice next time).

In Brugges - Belgian waffles and fries with meat sauce

2008-03-24T10:51:00.000-07:00

Oh no, it's been a few days. Sorry. But don't worry. I'm still alive, I haven't sustained any injuries or gotten in trouble with the law or been robbed or anything. Right now I am in Brussels, Belgium. I'm so glad we spent the couple days we did in Belgium cause I almost just skipped over this eccentric little country. But it has a lot of character and it was fun to visit.

First things first, last Friday Jenny and I toured Potsdam, basically an old royal estate with a palace and gardens just outside of Berlin. It was drizzling the whole day and made for an absolutely enchanting stroll through the gardens. Lovely. Then that night we decided to try out the whole night train thing, which was quite unenjoyable. Eight hours of sitting in a very cramped compartent (just like those little train room things in Harry Potter) with 5 other snoring people with dirty sleep-breath was not very fun. I was so glad to get out at Brussels. We went from Brussels, straight to Brugges (another hour on the train), and then proceeded to walk across the entire city, with backpacks, enquiring at every hostel, only to discover that EVERYTHING was booked for Saturday night. We then took the train back to Brussels, walked several blocks to find an internet cafe, and after an hour of searching, the best thing we could find was a hotel room in Tournai which was about an hour train ride southwest, almost in France. We did get a hostel for Sunday and Monday night (there must have just been a lot of people traveling over Easter weekend). We also met up with Janie (who had spent the previous week visitnig family in Holland) and so now our group is made of three--Danielle, Jenny, and Janie.

Brussels, however, was not what I expected. It acutally reminded me a lot of San Francisco--a very old and dirty San Francisco. I actually met an ex-Marine at our hostel here from San Fran, and he said the same thing. He told Janie he liked Brussels more than Berlin cause Berlin was too perfect and pretty, but Brussels felt more real, more alive. It is ugly, but it is eccentric and crazy and charming in its own way. One of the most challenging parts of being in Belgium is that most things are printed in 2 or 3 languages, none of them English. The main languages here are Dutch and French, but there is also a lot of West-Flemish (in Brugges), some German, and some English. At least in Germany, Jenny and I knew ebough to communicate the basics and kind of know what was going on. Here we are pretty lost unless the local knows English. Thankfully, Janie knows some Dutch, so that has been helpful. Yesterday we wandered around Brussels for most of the day and then ventured out again in the rain later in the evening in search of supper. We ended up at a hole in the wall place ran by an older couple that made us the most amazing gyros and fries. After we came in the place filled up with locals, and we allowed ourselves a little satisfaction at not simply eating at some tourist trap place.

Brugges, which we spent today in, was so amazing. The most beautiful city I've ever been in. The entire city is cobblestone and narrow winding streets with daffodil gardens and horse drawn carriages and street vendors and canals (called the Venice of Belgium). We had pancakes and cider for a late lunch in an old pancake house that reminded me of the cottage from Snow White. Pancakes here are huge and thin, cooked on a large griddle and filled with many different things. Janie had a plain one with orange jam, I ordered the 'Josselin' which was cooked with bananas inside and covered with a hot chocolate sauce, and Jenny got onewrapped around ham, lots of cheese, and an egg. Delicious. We also indulged on some Belgian waffles--pretty much the most amazing thing we've ever had. And let me tell you, we ruin these in the states. Here, you simply order Belgian waffles from a street vendor and eat one plain. They have sugar baked into them and are incredibly delicious. You don't ruin them with sauce or syrup or whatever. I also tried fries from a recommended french fry vendor. Here they put the fries in a bowl or tray and pour a sauce over the top and give you a fork to eat them with. I asked what sauce the vendor recommended, and he said the meat sauce was quite good, so I went for it. It ended up tasting like my mom's beef stew poured over fries, and was so good. I will definitely try to replicate that back in the States. We also saw someone actually making lace in a lace shop in Brugges. Belgium is famous for their lace but doesn't really make it anymore cause it's done cheaper in Asia now, but some few artists keep up the trade. It was unreal how complex making the lace by hand must be. So cool.

Tomorrow we go to Prague in the Czech Republic, which will be quite a long train ride, but we hear Prague is lovely and it will be neat to visit another country. After Prague is back to Germany for Munich and Fussen, then on to Venice.

Ich bin ein Berliner

2008-03-20T13:14:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'll try to type what I can in before my internet minutes run out.

I have to admit, Berlin (and all of Germany for that matter) has definitely exceeded my expectations. I guess I had this idea in my mind of Berlin being a grey, cold city, but it's one of the most beautiful cities I've ever been in. Jenny and I paid 10€ for a 4+ hour tour that took us all over the city and gave us so much info about all the sights and the city's history. Our tour guide, Jim, was actually originally from Minneapolis and had an accent straight out of Fargo, so Jenny and I had no problem understanding him. Small world. The tour was worth every penny, even though it was quite cold (it SNOWED for the last hour we were in Berlin).

Berlin is just amazing. It's architecture is reminiscent of so many periods of its history--from palaces from the times it was ruled by a royal dynasty, to Nazi headquarters buildings and remnants of the Berlin Wall. We stayed until it got too cold and then took the train back to our favorite hostel (so far) in Wittenberg for a warm shower and quiet evening.

This morning we packed up and came to Berlin, checked into a hostel by the train station, dropped off our backpacks, and traveled about an hour to the outskirts of Berlin to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. What an incredible and horrible sight. We spent the 3€ for the self guided audio tours and spent the next few hours, wandering the silent grounds, listening to the descriptions of what took place there not too long ago. Walking through the cabins, the prisons, and the grounds was creepy, as if the crimes committed there still haunted the area. It was disturbing, but at the same time it felt like an experience everyone should have. Those thousands of people that were tortured or killed there deserve to be remembered.

After traveling back and finding a little restaurant for supper, Jenny and I made our way back to the hotel and are in for the night. We'll be in the area one more day and then plan on taking the night train to Brussels Friday night, and then traveling from Brussels to Brugges Saturday morning. Can't wait for Brugges--hopefully it will be warmer than Berlin has been!

Lutherstadt Wittenburg

2008-03-18T06:18:00.000-07:00

Lutherstadt Wittenburg is quite the charming city, from what we've seen so far. We also have an incredibly clean and spacious hostel pretty much all to ourselves. We haven't seen any other guests the entire time we've been here, not even at the big breakfast spread this morning.

Speaking German has been fun--or I should say, attempting to speak German. Jenny always laughs at me, but I'm really enjoying trying. This may be the one chance in my life to make those years of German worthwhile, heh.

Yesterday Jenny and I sampled a German dish--a döner, which is basically shaved meat (like gyro meat) in a thick pita bread with onions and sauces and lettuce and tomatoes. Absolutely amazing. The men that were making us heard us talking to each other in English.
'American?' One man asked.
'Yes, yes, American.' We replied.
Then the other man laughed and said, 'Bush? Bush? Haha. Bush nicht gut, Bush nicht gut!'
Interesting. Just goes to show what the world most readily associates with our country right now.

Last night, to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, Jenny and I walked to an Irish pub on the main street for one drink. Interestingly enough, the drinking age here in Germany is only 16. While we were in the pub, a family came in to drink and smoke together. Probably not something you'd see too often in the States. The town was quite quiet last night, and everything, except a few pubs and restaurants that also served alcohol, we closed by 8 pm.

Today, Jenny and I toured Wittenburg, including the church where Martin Luther is buried, the church where he preached, and some other noteworthy locations, including a creep museum with all kinds of taxidermied animals. Now we're off to sample some German dishes for a late lunch. Hopefully tomorrow we'll visit Berlin.

Some reflections on Germany

2008-03-17T09:01:00.000-07:00

First of all, a little update. Jenny and I are currently sitting in an internet cafe in Wittenburg, Germany. Yes, Wittenburg, as in Martin Luther's home turf. We just got in on the train (8 hours of train) after spending yesterday and last night in Köln, also known as Cologne. We're planning on staying here for a few nights with a couple day trips to Berlin. Laura Ude gave me some awesome directions around town, so thanks Laura, if you happen to read this!

Köln was, like Dortmund, a quite large city with an expansive, clean city centers. Most of the city centers (downtowns)I've seen in England and Europe are cobble stone or brick and don't allow cars to drive on them. This means there are people and their dogs walking all over the place, spread out across the street, just strolling through all the shops. What puzzled me, however, was yesterday in Köln, all the shops were closed (it was Sunday). One would think that this would mean less people would be walking through the city center, but there you're wrong. There were nearly just as many people, shuffling from window to window, looking into the lit but locked shops, literally window shopping with no way of actually buying anything. I guess my little American mind couldn't comprehend it, but it was fun to watch.
I also really love the fact that dogs are allowed almost anywhere in Germany. There're on the train, they're in Starbucks, they're window shopping.

When Jenny and I got off the train in Köln, immediatelz in front of us was a ginormous cathedral (look up the Cologne Cathedral on the internet, it's unbelievable), so of course, we made the foolish decision of, 'Woah, let's go there now!' So, backpacks and all, we paid the 2.50 Euros for full access to the cathedral, including seeing the relics and climbing the tower. So, after viewing all of the lovely treasures they had there we went in to the front of the church to begin the hike to the top of the towers (we also foolishly forgot that it was Sunday morning, Palm Sunday even, and so we were one of the many annoying tourists interrupting church to look and take pictures, woops). That was one of the most intense workouts of my life. Close to 500 feet up (what's that, 50 stories?) with 20-odd pounds on my pack in a narrow winding stone staircase with people in front of and behind you? But it was worth it. We went all the way to the top and could see the entire city from up there. Amazing.

One more quick note cause my time is running out. Germans have really crazy bathrooms. It's really difficult to find a public restroom you don't have to pay for, first of all. But the ones you do have to pay for have fancy lights on the outside or sanitize themselves in between uses and make you wait 2 minutes before the next person comes in. Crazy stuff. Okay, well, I should go. Hope all is well back in the States!

Dortmund!

2008-03-14T09:08:00.000-07:00

Right now Jenny and I are safely in Dortmund, Germany. We have checked into our lovely, clean hostel, showered, napped, and then explored Dortmund a bit to find where the Gilmores' hotel. We just got done hearing Brittany and her quartet group perform at a press conference meet and greet type thing, and are now on our own to explore Dortmund a bit more. It's a beautiful, clean looking city with giant rhino statues everywhere, so we love it already. I'm in an internet cafe typing and an awkward keyboard with lots of letters switched around, so it's a tad bit difficult to type. Ah well, good experience I guess. It's pretty cool to be around all this German though--some of it's starting to come back.

Anyways, not too much is new. Just wanted to say we're alive and well and our journey is off to an excellent start. =)

Last day in Winchester

2008-03-12T06:41:00.000-07:00

I'm waiting for my laundry to finish and I've got some more errands to run and some packing to do, but after that, I'm off to Germany. Germany kick starts my 28 day Easter Holiday excursion across Europe with Jenny K and Janie. I'm so excited to see Jenny again! Oh, it's been far too long. And I'm pretty thrilled about living out of my backpack for a month. In Europe. Right now we've got a month long unlimited train pass and the plan is to go to Dortmund, Germany to visit the Gilmores, then to Berlin and Wittenburg, Brussels, back to southern Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, back to Italy (Rome this time), southern France, pop into Spain for a bit, and then back through France, and home to England. Should be interesting--we'll see how it goes. I'll try to write updates and post pictures as often as I can, but I can't guarantee anything.

Well, I got to go put my laundry in the dryer. Hopefully I'll be writing again soon!

Rainy days

2008-03-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

It's a beautiful, blustery day here in Winchester. Last night a very windy thunderstorm hit the area and six dormitory windows were broken. At about four in the morning I heard a loud crash, and within a couple minutes my next door neighbor was knocking on my door to see if I was okay and to make sure that it wasn't my window that broke. How sweet. Turns out it was the student above me, poor thing.

Today is just as stormy, though not quite so windy. The rain is going in and out, never lasting for more than half an hour, and every so often a patch of sun sneaks through and the wet grass is incredibly green. I walked into town today in between rain clouds to get a couple groceries and saw all the locals with their umbrellas and boots, quite prepared for their typical 'England rain.' Right now though it's a perfect day for staying in and working on homework. I'm quite ready to send the next few hours, warm in my sweater and scarf, catching up on reading in my bed, listening to rainy day music like Jack Johnson and watching the blustery weather through my window. I love the rain.

Assessments = No Fun

2008-03-07T12:41:00.000-08:00

Yes, yes, I know I haven't been writing much this week. But to tell you the truth, not much is new, and it's about time I actually started working on my assessments. You heard me right, I have actually begun to do homework. And it's so hard. The work itself isn't actually that difficult (all paper writing, which I'm used to) it's simply the fact that I'm so out of practice of thinking critically and have lost all of my scholarly motivation and focus. It's horrible. I don't know how students here function.

I was reminded the other day that I never actually posted what classes I'm taking. Well, I'm going to go ahead and post not only what classes I'm taking, but my assessments as well, because I can. Enjoy.

HS 1004 - US History
A 2000 word essay (50% of my grade) due Friday Week 9 (2 May)
A Timed Essay (50%) to be held Friday Week 13 (30 May).

RT 1005 - Approaches to World Religions
A research project (50%) (2000 words) due 3:30 pm Thursday 17 April
(50%) An essay (2000 words) due 3:30 pm Thursday 29 May

FS 1163 - Film History
Folder of Work (50%) due Thursday 17 April
Formal Unseen Exam (50%), TBD

EL 1503 - Poetry
Critical Commentary (50%) 1500 words, due Tuesday 15 April
2000 word Essay (50%) due Tuesday 27 May

AM 2500 - America from the Perspective of Britain (the class all American students must take)
Account of experience (1500 words) due 14 April
Academic Essay (2000 words) due end of week 12

Well, there it is--all my classes and assignments for the term (well, almost all my work, I still get assigned weekly reading for most of my classes). What's frustrating is that since half of these assessments are due the week immediately following Easter Holiday, most professors assume we'll just have time to work on them over break and forget that us international students won't have a home to go to to work on these. One of my teachers hasn't even posted the details on the assignment yet, so I can't start it, but I still need to finish it by this Wednesday. Fun stuff. So that's what I've been up to. Actually, correction, that's what I should have been up to. But, like previously mentioned, focusing has been very difficult lately. My study skills are quite rusty. Instead of reading and writing like I should, I often find myself visiting Janie or Sam's room to talk, visiting the Yahoo Movies website, or finding some other way to procrastinate. I even had to make a sign for myself that hangs about my computer--"Danielle, NO movie trailers until your finish your assessments. GET TO WORK!"

And yes, you guessed it, writing this blog entry is, in a way, a method of stalling the actually process of accomplishing anything. But I should probably get back to reading about Indian national identity and Hinduism and Soviet montage cinema.

Random British Facts!
I've started to make a list of all the British words I hear that are either different from ours or simply used more often here, enjoy these first few (and I don't really know if I'm spelling them all correctly):

British Word - American meaning
stodgy - mushy/soggy
fit - sexy
cheers - thank you
ginger - anyone with red hair... they are also quite made fun of here
toilet roll - roll of toilet paper
mobile phone - cell phone
sweets - candy
canteen - cafeteria
jumper - jacket or sweatshirt
busker - street musician
placard - sign
purse - wallet or coin purse
handbag - purse
wallet - man's wallet
trainers - sneakers

I'll post more as I think of them. =)

American flag

2008-03-04T14:37:00.000-08:00

Don't have time to go into the whole big sermon tonight, but had an interesting conversation in my US History class today. Here's a fun little excerpt to get your attention.

One of the girls in my class was explaining why she really liked America and wanted to move there some day, and one of the things she mentioned was the abundance of American flags. The general attitude of the British was, "We know we're in England, so why do we need a flag?" They said the only time you really see people with flags is during World Cup time. "You mean you don't even have flags at schools?" I asked.
"No, of course not, why would we?" was the general answer.

Interesting. I'll try to write more later (no guarantees).

About that one typo...

2008-03-04T14:27:00.001-08:00

Okay, I was just sitting here in the computer lab waiting for Janie to finish printing some stuff, and I decided to read back through some of the comments I've gotten on this blog so far. In response to the blog I wrote on food, two people commented on the fact that I said British people like to put vinegar and salt on their "fries." I always wondered why Nate Libby and others had such a objection to this, until just now, a month later, I reread that for the fifth time and realized I actually wrote FRIENDS, not FRIES. No wonder people were confused and repulsed. Wow, I am so dumb. How did I miss that so many times? Let me officially set the record straight here--to the best of my knowledge and personal experience, British people do not salt and vinegar their friends.

But yeah, I do love the comments, despite my inability to read or type correctly.

Oh yeah, about France

2008-03-03T14:32:00.000-08:00

So our attempt at visiting France ended up a little differently than we anticipated.

On Friday afternoon we took a train to the London Waterloo station (seen the Bourne Ultimatum? yeah, it's that station), got off and switched trains to go to Dover (yeah, like the white cliffs of Dover). From Dover, the plan was to take the next ferry over to Calais, spend the night in a hotel in Calais we'd reserved, then have most of the day Saturday to explore Calais and the surrounding area. Unfortunately, weather was quite miserable and the ferry was delayed by an hour. And then another hour. And another. And another. The four of us sat at a table in the Port of Dover for the better part of four hours, until eventually the news reached us that at the earliest we'd land in the Port of Calais at about 12:20 am. Ugh. All of us, thinking quite maturely and carefully, decided we'd rather not show up in a foreign country in the middle of the night and try to find our hotel in the dark, so we got directions to a cheap, clean nearby hotel and stayed there for the night. We got there at 11 pm, right as the hotel restaurant stopped serving food, but we found out that we could order Indian food to be delivered (amazing news). Let it be known that that was the first Indian food I'd dared to order since my stay in India, and it didn't even make me nauseous (I will admit, the first time I smelled it I had a little flashback of puking in a dirty bathroom in Chennai, but it only lasted for a moment). I got two orders of delicious naan bread which I had missed so much. Mmm lovely.

Anyways, the next morning, after squeezing the four of us into two twin beds pushed together, we packed up and walked back to that infamous Port of Dover that we had spent so much lovely time the night before. By the time we could board, go through security, wait for everyone to load their cars onto the ferry, cross the channel, unload, go through security again, wait for the bus from the port to the city, and then ride the bus to the city center, it was already early afternoon in Calais, France. The ferry ride was pretty cool though, I'll admit--we got some awesome pictures of the white cliffs which I'll add later.

We had to be pack at the port in a few hours, so we didn't really have time to leave Calais, and much to our disappointment, Calais is kind of a shady city, to be honest. We found a cute little cafe/bar thing and had some delicious onion soup and bread, but the whole culture clash thing was a little awkward. It was pretty obvious that we were tourists, with our backpacks and everything, and then we spoke mostly English (Karen spoke some good French) made us even more uncomfortable and stared at. After the cafe, we walked around a bit, found a cute bakery and bought a cute little pastry each, found a wine and cheese shop and bought a bottle of cheap French wine, then walked around the city for a bit, looking for a place to sit. The only benches we could find were the bus stop and two in a really shady section of town, which we promptly left. We then spotted an "Irish" pub and, figuring that was our best bet, wandered back inside. We spent the rest of our time in Calais in the pub talking, enjoying some drinks and hot chocolate and eating our pastry, laughing about the weekend and deciding to leave Calais a bit earlier and get the next available ferry back to Dover. Oh man, what great tourists we made.

So all in all, it was actually a quite hilarious weekend--one of those this-will-make-such-a-great-story-later-but-is-kind-of-annoying-now weekends. We got back into Winchester at 12:30 am that night, and I slept all the way to 11 am Sunday. Hey, either way, it is still pretty sweet to say I went to France. =)

Stupid Americans

2008-03-03T14:29:00.000-08:00

I haven't really experienced much culture shock with regards to England and the people, but I have definitely had my share of confusion and frustration with this school. I guess I can't talk for the entire English school system, but let me tell you, this school is frustrating. None of the offices can answer your question the first time around, they usually send you to a different building, different office, until you've gone around the entire campus looking for an answer to a simple question, like "What is my address here?" (and by the way, I've gotten about three different answers to that question, all of which are valid, I think). Everybody thinks they're super busy, but really, this is nothing compared to the volume of work we have to do at Eau Claire. Up until now, when the deadlines are actually approaching, I've felt like I've been on vacation, and my brain is seriously turning to goo in my head. I'm waiting for it to dribble out through my ears any day now. I can't even focus on cleaning my room, let alone writing one of the five papers that are due right after break.

Just today, my professor started explaining the first assessment (each class has two assignments in the semester which your entire grade is based upon) which is due in about five weeks and receiving a bunch of dumb questions, of course, most of them repeating things she had just explained. There was an entire option that she didn't even mention, however, so my friend Janie and I thought we'd just ask her after class about the option (listed on the syllabus, mind you) of making a video or a website instead of writing just an essay. When we went up to ask her, she acted flustered and annoyed, telling us that she couldn't teach us how to use that technology and that we'd be on our own (and might I add we didn't ask for her to teach us that). She then went on to tell us that we were making her late for her meeting, that "this is what office hours are for," that if we wanted to do this we would need to meet with her and have a lengthy conversation, that she was really busy that week, and that we should have talked to her about this earlier. She said a lot more I can't remember, but every thing she said basically sent the message that we were being very inconsiderate to her and her busy schedule to bring up this project, and that we were inconveniencing her by wanting to do this type of project, even though she listed it on her own syllabus as an option. She was so short with us and so demeaning that it hurt and I still feel upset.

And it wasn't just this class, it's been other classes and professors too. I feel like the moment I open my mouth, I'm slapping a stereotype sticker on my forehead. It's as if people respect me when I'm silent, but as soon as I start speaking and they realize by my accent that I'm American, I've lost a lot of credibility in their eyes. This was confirmed to me this afternoon in my America from the Perspective of Britain class that all Americans are required to take. Today we examined the "stupid American" stereotype to try to figure out why most British people automatically associate Americans with stupidity. Our professor (whom I respect a lot, please don't assume that I'm frustrated with everyone here) suggested that it's not simply about the fact that they think President Bush is an idiot, but that simply by looking at the television shows that we export, it's not very surprising--South Park, My Name is Earl, and others (can't remember them all, but there were more). Many people associate us with stupidity, perhaps consciously, perhaps unconsciously, but either way, it does make things difficult. It's interesting though--I don't necessarily blame people for seeing our country as a whole as stupid, based on the information they receive. But I forget that their opinion of the USA can directly affect their opinion of me. I guess I naively assumed that they'd judge me individually, but that's not always the case. I am a stupid American. A stupid, lazy, consumerist, arrogant American.

Wow, I covered a lot of territory with this blog. What started out as frustration with a teacher kind of evolved into a lament for the stupid stereotype of my nation. Yikes. I do feel better though. I do want to add, that despite all of this, I am still thoroughly enjoying my time here. Issues like this don't arise constantly, but moments like these do hit every once in awhile and cause me to stop and reflect on the bigger picture. Here are a couple videos music videos that deal with these issues. The first is from an American punk rock band that sort of satirizes the lack of awareness of most Americans, and the second is from a UK artist criticizing consumerism (especially USA). And finally, a very embarrassing collection of interviews that aired on an Australian news channel. This is the video they actually played at my study abroad orientation. Although this video could have been editing easily, the main point is that this is what other countries are watching and using to shape their opinion of America. So scary.

NOFX "Franco Un-American"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzpTmcq7nBg

Adam Freeland (UK artist) "We Want Your Souls"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvwK-3cQ6gE

"Stupid Americans" - Australian news clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJuNgBkloFE

see you Sunday

2008-02-28T16:10:00.000-08:00

Just had a little chat, and we're planning on traveling to Calais, France tomorrow night, spending the night there, and getting back to Winchester late Saturday night, so I won't be writing again until Sunday, sorry. Have a great weekend everyone.

2008-02-28T11:33:00.000-08:00

I'm going to go ahead and label today as "inspiring," although it didn't begin in an obviously inspiring way.

I woke up late, shuffled to class without showering, spent two hours in my film class, then went back to bed and took a three hour nap. I got up for a quick shower before heading down to a film showing. Thursday afternoons I have a film showing for my film history class, and this afternoon the chosen film was the 1926 black and white film, Metropolis. It lasted for 2 and a half hours. And did I mention it's a silent film? Yikes. Interesting movie, but really, after 2 plus hours of exaggerated acting that could have been condensed into 45 minutes without losing anything, I was getting a little annoyed. Sorry Fritz Lang. And the music sounded like a musical jewelry box on repeat and just about lulled me into sleep. Despite all this, I felt mildly accomplished for finally watching a German expressionism movie, and mildly inspired.

Anyways, after the lovely experience that is Metropolis, Janie (one of my Eau Claire friends) and I went over the the Student Union building to hear a discussion called "The Real Cost of Coffee – Fairtrade farmers raise awareness at the University of Winchester." Back in Eau Claire, I remember just beginning to become aware of what Fairtrade meant, but here Fairtrade is a much greater interest of the nation. In fact, the University of Winchester has been Fairtrade for 14 years. That means they are at least 14 years ahead of UWEC in that respect. They had a speaker from England, Uganda and Mexico (with a translator) to speak, and it was truly inspiring. Janie, a journalism student who worked for the Spectator (the UWEC newspaper), borrowed my paper and pen to scribble down some notes and plans on writing an article and sending it to the Spectator back home. On a related note, Janie and I, frustrated about the lack of recycling bins here, have started collecting the bottles and cans from our neighbors and friends to make sure that they get recycled. Pretty excited about all of this.

Oh, and yesterday, first rugby game, should probably mention that. First game went okay--not great, but not horrible. We didn't lose by too much, but we've got a lot to work on. I did manage to score a conversion kick though, acquire a couple more sweet bruises, and get thoroughly scolded for accidentally high tackling a short girl around the neck. Woops. =)

Anyways, I'm off to Janie's room to plan a possible trip to France tomorrow with Hillary and Karen (two other EC girls). Pretty excited about that. =)

oh rugby

2008-02-26T03:38:00.001-08:00

m just going to go ahead and gush about rugby for a bit here, so bear with me.

I love rugby. And guess what? England loves rugby too. England actually watches rugby and knows how the game works, and I love that about England. Go England.

This past weekend I spent most of my time with the girls from the rugby team. I so glad I joined a team, even if just for the social aspects of being a team member. Although I've been hanging out with the local kids, it's always been with at least a couple other American students too. So being on team that hangs out together at least a few times a week and having the chance to be with just them and no other Americans has been a unique treat.

Right now in England there's a tournament going on called the Six Nations tournament, which is a rugby tournament that lasts about two months fought by the following six teams: England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France, and Italy. This past Saturday there were three games in a row on, so our rugby team spent most of the day together watching them. First, since our assistant coach had been bragging about his culinary skills, we went to the supermarket, bought a bunch of various ingredients, and brought them to his house so he could cook for us while we watched the first two games. Later that night we all walked down to the O'Neill's Pub to watch the England vs. France game. The atmosphere at these events is so awesome. The pub was extremely crowded--we squeezed 6 people around a small table, and throughout the rest of the pub people were standing shoulder to shoulder in front of the tv screens and sitting on the floor and steps in front of the large projector screen. They all sang aloud at the national anthem, they cheered at when tries were scored and yelled at the players when they made errors. It was beautiful.

Sunday was more rugby, this time rugby practice. Practices here, like everything else I've experienced in England, are more casual, laid-back, almost sloppy in a way. We don't really do any conditioning or drills. We just sort of show up and the coach splits us up into two small groups and throws a ball at us and has us play rugby. Or do one certain drill. For two hours. Pretty unstructured and totally different from what I've grown up to believe a sports practice should be.

Well, anyways, first game is tomorrow (now today, it's 1 am) so I'd best get to bed. =)

Random Fact #7: Instead of doing the dishes, you do the "washing up." Therefore, dish soap is called "washing up liquid."

Special Relationships and things to ponder...

2008-02-25T09:54:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the gap between posts there. For the next week, I'm really going to try my best to post once a day and see how that goes. But for now, this post won't be too long since I've got rugby practice soon, but I have a few thoughts on my mind I'd like to jot down quickly.

First of all, we've been talking in class a lot about the "Special Relationship" between the US and the UK. Ever heard this phrase before? Neither had I. Apparently it's a very widely known and commonly used phrase that is important to Britain, but rarely used in the United States. In Winston Churchill's 1946 speech that first coined the phrase "The Iron Curtain," he also coined the phrase "The Special Relationship" to describe the unique bond of the US and the UK. Unfortunately, I think it reflects something about this relationship that it is a large concern and interest of the British people but something most Americans are ignorant of.

A couple interesting excerpts from a British article about the current state of this Special Relationship...

A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP?
Ian Williams, The Guardian, February 11, 2007
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ian_williams/2007/02/special_relationship.html

"...The special relationship was indeed special and one-sided from the beginning, putting Britain in the role of the battered mistress: frequently screwed and badly treated, but clinging to the protection of the stronger USA. But no matter how humiliating, it could be argued that Britain used to benefit from it. No longer.

There was a rare moment of candour last year by a US State Department official, Kendall Myers. "There never really has been a special relationship or at least not one we've noticed," he said and added: "We typically ignore them and take no notice. We say, 'There are the Brits coming to tell us how to run our empire. Let's park them'. It is a sad business and I don't think it does them justice."

... The gains to the US are clear. It gets a difficult-to-sink aircraft carrier moored off Europe, and a significant diplomatic and military ally to save it from the total isolation that its policies would so often have otherwise condemned it to. And it comes without sending aid or covering for maverick military adventures, as it does with Israel.

A former British foreign secretary once explained to journalists that British policy was the same as it was in the time of Pitt the younger: "To ensure that no combination of powers arises in Europe that can threaten Britain."

That policy has sunk with the wooden battleships of the era. Britain should stop acting as Washington's Trojan Horse in Europe, and join in building a multilateral Europe rather than providing latter-day sepoys for the American empire."

A simple Google search will bring up many similarly fascinating and controversial articles, many of the criticizing the relationship, or at least criticizing the United States. Interesting the incredible amount of dislike for the Bush administration over here. Recent international polls (like this one http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/70046760-27f0-11dc-80da-000b5df10621.html) name President Bush or the United States as the biggest threats to world peace.

Just one more thought to leave you with on the topic of the perception of the United States. Yesterday at rugby practice (which is going excellent, by the way) one of my teammates brought Krispy Kreme donuts to practice for me cause I was so excited they have those over here. I offered them to my teammates, and one of them kept saying, "Oh, I heard about these donuts. They're like a thousand calories in each one." I said these were the same as the ones in the States and they didn't actually have that many calories, maybe 300-400.* "Well," she said, "the ones in America are probably a thousand calories though." It's as if by simply being made in America the same donuts from the same company magically must be 3 times as many calories because we are assumed to be a quite gluttonous nation. Interesting.

*I just looked it up. A glazed Krispy Kreme has 200 calories.

Random Fact #6: Band-aid type things are called "plasters" here.

Britain and the French

2008-02-19T11:10:00.001-08:00

I'd never really wondered before what the British think of the American Revolution... or of America. I mean, we used to be one of their colonies. A colony. A territory who is by nature dependent on their mother country and exploited for her benefit. And here we are today, pretty much the most powerful nation in the world. Throughout my classes here, when the United States is brought up, it has usually been in the context of describing the unique relationship, the unique bond, or the unique love/hate attitude between Britain and the States. I guess in my mind our ties with Britain ended a couple hundred years ago. But here, the United States seems to still be a closely connected product of Britain. I've never given much thought really to our relationship, other than study it during certain moments of time, especially wars.

Today we were randomly split into two groups--one supporting the colonies declaring independence against Britain as the right action, and one disagreeing with the validity of their claims to independence. I was assigned to the group defending the colonies. We ended up winning, but it was still pretty interesting. The entire process of studying the Revolutionary War has been interesting. Although it's not too far off from what I remember from grade school and high school, the focus is slightly different. Here in England, much more focus was made on the fact that up until the last year or so before the Declaration of Independence, the colonists still very much viewed themselves as British citizens and simply wanted to protect their natural British rights. I also remember it being implied in our American text books that according to the Quartering Act, British troops occupied colonists' private homes. This however, was not true, and our teacher made a point to be clear on that issue. There is also more focus here on the involvement of the French in the war. Not just the magnitude of the involvement, but what that meant to England... what it still means today.

That's another thing I've been surprised about--the resentment toward the French. There is simply a general negative attitude, even today, toward the French. They are constantly the target of jokes and insults. In class today, we talked about the surrender of of the British army at Yorktown at the end of the Revolutionary War. History tells us that a British band played "The World Turned Upside Down" while the British army threw their arms down angrily in one last act of defiance and rage. However, our teacher told us that eye witness accounts of the surrender specify that the British army were not angry at the site of the colonial army, but at the presence of the French and of their humiliation in being defeated by them. Interesting that even today, Britain is more bitter with the French than the Americans regarding the American Revolution. "And England would still rather have the colonists owning that land than the French," my teacher said today, "After all, the colonists were still British."

Rugby and KitchenAid

2008-02-19T04:45:00.000-08:00

On Sunday afternoon I finally heard back from the captain of the women's rugby team here at Winchester, after two weeks of emailing and calling her. She told me to go ahead and come to Monday night's practice. I'll be honest here--I have not been that nervous in a long time. I literally had no appetite yesterday, which is quite a remarkable feat for me. I guess I had this idea in my mind that since rugby is a bigger sport out here than in the States, most people have played or at least started playing it before coming to Uni. But I was wrong (at least for girls). Turns out the team captain is one of the most experienced girls on the team has the same amount of experience as me--less than two years. So, needless to say, it turned out pretty well. We didn't do any tackling yesterday, just passing and running, but it was great. I'd really been missing rugby and it was awesome to play again. What a great game.

Anyways, not much else happened yesterday. I mostly did some exploring of Winchester. Yesterday as a class all of the American students had to hike out to St. Catherine's Hill (which some of us had already visited the other weekend). On the way back I went through the Winchester City Center and looked through all the shops I hadn't been into yet. It was quite interesting--there are really some adorable little stores here. Unfortunately, as I had guessed and as my teacher confirmed, Winchester is an extremely expensive city--one of the most expensive to live in in England. It's a beautiful old town within an hour's train of London, so there are quite a few commuters here who want a lovely home outside of London but still have a nice job in London, hence the high prices. Good for them, but it kind of stinks for the students. Oh well, I still love it here.

While exploring, I found an adorable kitchen store with a whole shelf full of Kitchen Aids and blenders in different colors. I also found Jenny's kitchen aid, and it was so cute I had to take a picture.

Well, I have to go do some reading for my US History class in an hour. Today in class we're debating the Revolutionary War and whether or not the colonies had a worthy argument for declaring independence... should be interesting.

Random Fact #5: England has no written constitution.

First trip to London

2008-02-17T08:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the first of several (God-willing) successful trips to London.

We met outside or dorms at 6:50 am for an early morning walk to the train station. I almost didn't make it though--Janie happened to notice my light still wasn't on after 6:30 and came over to my room to wake me up. I am exceptionally skilled at turning off my alarm in my sleep without noticing, but thankfully Janie woke me up just in time for me to shower quickly and be ready on time.

Anyways, London was lovely, of course. It's crazy to think about just how old this city is, and how much power it has held over the years as the capital of England, which at one point was an enormous empire holding land all over the globe. Incredible. You can just feel that history and culture throughout the city, which is one of the things I love the most about it.

We decided that yesterday should be about getting a good overview of all the main sites in the city and not worrying so much about getting tickets for specific tours and spending money on events. With the exception of a pound or so spent on postcards, we really only spent money on our train ride and our lunch and supper--not bad for spending an entire day in London. Our train took us to Waterloo Station, where our group of 11 split into two and my half headed west toward Big Ben. We walked along the Thames, stopping for pictures of Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace. We then wandered north through Trafalgar Square and Picadilly Circus, hopped on the London underground (aka, the "tube") to Elephant & Castle, a station on the outskirts of London for a cheaper, less touristy lunch location.

When I got to the counter of the restaurant to pay for lunch, I realized my wallet wasn't in my purse (yes Mom, go ahead and groan and say I told you so, heh). I hadn't taken it out since hours earlier when I took my train ticket out of my wallet to board the train in Winchester. I called a friend in Winchester who offered valiantly to walk to the Winchester train station to see if a wallet had been turned it, and in the meantime there wasn't really anything to do but wait. But then, miraculously, one of the restaurant staff came over to our table and said someone had just turned this in and asked it if was any of ours. Thank God--it was mine. My drivers license, student id, and credit card were all still there, which was what I was most concerned about cause it would have been annoying to replace, but my cash was gone. Bummer. The weird part was when I went to talk to the staff again to tell them the cash was missing, they said a man had turned it in at the counter claiming to have found it in the women's bathroom. Interesting. I had been in the bathroom earlier but I never even opened my purse while I was in there. From what I can remember, my purse was slung over my shoulder and zipped up until the moment I went to pay for my food. Oh well, it will remain one of my life's unsolved mysteries. But I'm still pretty happy I got it back. =)

Moving on. So after lunch we jumped back on the tube (we got an unlimited day pass for the tube with our train ticket, pretty sweet) and headed over to London Bridge (I believe this is the third or fourth London Bridge or something, and the previous London Bridge is in Lake Havasu, Arizona). From London Bridge we walked down to Tower Bridge, across to the Tower of London (a giant fortress and prison where some royalty were even housed and executed), back across London Bridge, and over to the Globe Theatre (Shakespeare's theatre). We then took the tube up to Camden Street Markets, a maze of vendors and shops selling everything imaginable. It was fun to get away from all the really touristy things and experience what felt like a more personal part of London.

By then it was getting later and quite chilly, so we took the tube back to Waterloo Station, had some supper at a weird, tacky diner near the station, and then got on a train to go back to the Uni, pulling into Winchester at about 9:30 pm. We were exhausted. Overall, it was an awesome and overwhelming day. But even though I felt like we walked and traveled all day and crammed a lot in, we barely scratched the surface. A couple of us are going to try to go back again soon, this time to spend all day visiting the museums and art galleries, especially some of the visiting exhibits, which include Salvador Dali's artwork, a Star Wars exhibit, and all of King Tut's stuff.

I'm going to post my pictures in a separate album again like last time, so I'll post that link as soon as I upload my pictures. I don't have too many cause my batteries died halfway through the day (hadn't changed them in a long time), but I'll post what I do have. Well, time for supper. Until next time.

London calling

2008-02-15T14:38:00.001-08:00

Just finished watching Little Miss Sunshine in my room with some friends. Such a great movie--"wasn't that a stardust fantasy?" (totally thought of you, Jenny). Anyways, quick update before I'm off to bed early. We're leaving at 6:50 tomorrow morning on a train for LONDON.

Another great week here at the University (or "Uni" as they say). On Tuesday night we strolled over to the Winchester Cathedral because it was free tour night. From what I hear the Winchester Cathedral is the oldest cathedral in England, and boy is it beautiful. I can't even imagine how they constructed it--it makes me dizzy to even think about it. There are also many people buried in the floor of the cathedral including (drumroll please), Jane Austen (and if you don't know who she is, shame on you!). Yes, I had the amazing privilege of standing over the remains of Jane Austen. Amazing. While we were there a boys choir came in to sing, which was incredible. Ever since second grade at St. Stephen's when Sara Pfeiffer would play British boys choir music, I've wanted to hear a group sing live--and it was just as magical as I expected. Here's a short video clip, hopefully it will work (and mind you this was taken with my regular photo camera, so quality is rubbish):

On Wednesday my Eau Claire friend Karen and I took the train to Southampton, this time for shopping. So much fun. We found this crazy clothing store where everything was only about 3-6 pounds. But not too much about clothes right now--that will come later, complete with fashion photos and everything (hopefully, but I make no promises). Here's a lovely pic of Southampton at sunset (yes, Southampton is a seaside city... infact, the Mayflower sailed from this port). The bottom picture is Karen and our bags from shopping.

When we weren't shopping, we spent most of the day trying to find a Mexican restaurant. We had heard rumors that there was one there, but asking the locals only provoked baffled looks. It's only been two weeks and we're already craving some enchiladas and guac (I failed to mention this is in the food post yesterday, but there really isn't any Mexican food here). Though, judging by what we've seen so far, the British version of Mexican food would probably include mayo, prawns, vinegar, and lamb, or something odd like that. Oh England.

So anyways, tomorrow most of the Eau Claire group and a couple Englishmen are taking the train to London for a day of exploration. Sure to have some good pictures and stories tomorrow.

And PS, my lovely friend Dani is getting married tomorrow and I have to miss it--I'm so sad (well, sad for me, so happy for her). God's blessings Dani and Jake!!

Chips, kebabs, and Shake Away

2008-02-14T04:23:00.001-08:00

So I've been getting some questions about all the little things about my trip... like food and clothes and laundy and all that good stuff. I'll do my best to incorporate as much about that as possible, both as a record for myself and as insight into another culture for whoever might be reading this.

So today, lets talk about food. Mmmm....

How I get my food: The students here get 36 pounds a week to spend on food, which, when you do all the math, means you can buy about one full meal on campus a day. The canteen (what we would call the cafeteria) is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner on weekdays and is closed on the weekends. Everything is paid for separately. For example, a bowl at the salad bar is about 2 pounds, chips are 1 pound, a serving of meat might be 2.50 pounds, a banana is about .45, etc... I haven't been to a breakfast yet, but lunches and suppers generally follow the same format. There are three different counters in the canteen, plus a salad bar and a cooler with drinks, cut fruit, premade sandwiches, etc.

At lunch, one counter is usually sausage and bacon and potatoes, left over from breakfast as well as a meat and pastas or chili, etc, the second counter always has chips (french fries) and pizza or a steak pocket (stewing beef in a flaky crust, sort of like a homemade hot pocket) or jacket potatoes or something along those lines. The last counter has a Subway like assembly line where you have them make a sandwich for you. Sandwiches here aren't our typical American varieties though... there's a lot of chicken salad, ham and pickles, egg salad, turkey and cream cheese or mayo, cream cheese and cucumber (yay!), thick ham and relish and sausage, plain chicken, hummus and green salad, prawns, turkey and cranberry, etc... Also, we have not seen sliced cheese since we arrived. The closest thing in the sandwich line is chunks of brie cheese. They even use shredded cheese on burgers instead of sliced. Also, their chips are bigger than ours, more like the big thick ones we see at restaurants sometimes. A lot of Brits put vinegar and salt all over their friends instead of ketchup. Another popular thing is to fill a plate with chips (fries, remember!) and then top with shredded cheese and ketchup and eat with knife and fork, like nachos. Another thing I've seen a lot of is a plain jacket potato topped with a large portion of baked beans. They really like those canned baked beans here. I've seen people walking around the dorms just eating them with a spoon straight from the can, and they pour them over lots of random stuff at the canteen.

At supper, the first counter almost always has a couple roasts--beef, ham, turkey, or lamb, or sometimes a variety. There's usually also vegetables (usually peas, carrots, and/or cauliflower), small white boiled potatoes, then a pasta or at least something vegetarian as an option. Kitchen staff wait on the other side of the counter to carve the meat for you and place it on your plate or to scoop up portions for you. There's usually also always a pudding and a custard, one of the best parts. Pudding is pretty much any dessert, usually ends up being a brownie/cake like sustance. Custard is what we might call warm vanilla pudding (tastes just like that lovely hot jello pudding we make in the microwave). The idea is to put the pudding in a bowl and then pour the custard over the top to fill the rest of the bowl. Quite good, once you realize that their desserts aren't usually as sweet as ours. In fact, I haven't noticed it too much, but a lot of my American friends have said that the food here is more bland and they have to add a lot of salt.

Well, if you've been doing the math, the canteen food only accounts for about 5-7 meals a week, depending on how you spend at each meal (whatever you don't spend that week gets erased and you start over at 36 pounds the next week). That means you're on your own for quite a bit. I've been to the grocery store about twice now for a few simple things I keep in my room--a box of cereal for breakfast, milk (which I keep in the shared fridge down the hall), Digestives (which sound kind of gross, but are actually delicious whole wheat cookies--they were made in the war time for soldiers and have lots of fiber in them, hence the name), apples, yogurt, and some chocolate (they have amazing chocolate here that puts Hershey's to shame!). This works for breakfast and sometimes lunch. There's also farmer's markets most days of the week here, which is nice for buying fresh bread or fruit (I bought a loaf of wheat bread last week). Farmers markets here though are about 50% meat (pheasants, rabbits, partridges, lamb, beef, etc...) 30% breads, and the rest fruits, vegetables, and beer. A bit different from ours.

In town there are also some excellent food shops I've had lunch at, including a pasty shop (pasties are sort of like turnovers filled with potatoes and different vegetables, meats, and/or cheese) and a kebab shop. My favorite discovery so far though is Shake-Away, a modern wonder. Imagine Coldstone with twice the topping choices and add a blender--you get Shake Away. Basically, it's a brilliant milkshake store with a zillion mix-ins, including cakes, muffins, all different chocolate bars, lemon meringue, etc... So good. My friend Karen and I have decided to make it our tradition to go once a week.

Well, that about sums up food for now. I'll add more if I think of anything or come across anything too out of the ordinary. Next time I'll try to write about clothes or something fun like that. We'll see. Anyways, I'm off to figure out how laundry works around here. Should be a blast.

The most beautiful game on earth

2008-02-11T13:43:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, one of my dreams came true. That is, I was able to attend a proper English football match (to avoid any confusion in the following account, I will using soccer's true English name, football--so when I say football, I'm not talking about the Packers).

Thursday night at supper I happened to sit with two guys from Eau Claire and one of their English neighbors that I hadn't talked to all week. I mentioned I wanted to go to Southampton that Saturday (a nearby bigger city connected to Winchester by a twenty minute train ride). Will, the English guy, mentioned that the Saints (the Southampton team) were playing that weekend, and I pretty much freaked out. "Really? Can I go? Can I get tickets? Are they really?" Will the proceeded to give me a bit of a lecture cautioning me about attending these football games, and that you had to be careful.

Little football education for you all... Football, or "soccer" as we call it, is huge in England. Actually, I huge pretty much everywhere except the States. Anyways, in England you have the premier league, in which you find teams like Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, etc, and you have the Football League, which is the league right below the premier league. Within the Football League, the highest division is the Championship League, which is where the Southampton Football Club (aka the "saints") play (wow I hope I got that right). Basically, it's kind of like the major and minor leagues, and sometimes they switch teams from one to the other, depending on how their doing (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

Each team has what is called their Firm. Now, the Firm is essentially a fan club, but it's really so much more. A team's firm (or firms, some have more than one) is their most dedicated and loyal fans--the real hardcore ones. England takes football and the football teams' firms so seriously, that at times the firms are pretty much gangs. They fight, they riot, they destroy the other team's buses or the other fans' cars, etc... It's intense.

So, back to last week. That night Will told us (Micah and Alex from Eau Claire, and me) that if we were serious about going to a game that weekend, he'd take us, but we should watch the movie "Green Street" first. So we headed up to his room and watched it (interesting movie by the way), still wanted to go, he bought tickets, and that was that.

On Saturday then we got to experience the complete English football experience. It started up with a walk down to the train station in Winchester at about half ten (they don't say half past ten, they just say half ten here) and riding the train to the City Center of Southampton. Even that morning you could see people boarding the train in Winchester with Saints jerseys on, heading to the game. When the four of us got to Southampton, Will, a Southampton native and a huge Saints fan, took us to his traditional pub where he sat for a couple hours, had lunch, some beer (for the record, the legal drinking age here is 18, and I am being very careful), and talked football. Then, with plenty of time, we joined the other fans migrating to the stadium. Micah and I bought jerseys (BOGO, so 20 pounds each), so now I feel like a true Saints fan.

Where you sit is very important at a football match. It's probably also one of the only events where the seats sell from top to bottom. That is, the firm(s) sit behind one of the goals at the top, and the rest of the fans fill in below. That end (not sure which) is completely packed. As you spread out around the stadium, the seats are less filled. We were about seven rows up behind the goal, below the firms. Excellent seats. We could hear all the cheers but weren't right in the middle of the action. One corner section is designated for the away visitors. Three columns of seats are covered between the visiting and home fans so that they cannot sit next to each other. That would be chaotic. It's kind of hard to tell, but here's a picture:

One of the sweetest thing about the whole event was the cheering. Each team has their own songs and cheers that all the fans know and sing together. Throughout most of the game, we were on our feet singing "Oh when the Saints..." or "Red Army! Red Army!" or whatever it was they were saying. So great. There is security all over the place though. There was even security at the Southampton train station to make sure no fights broke out. Also, after the game home fans aren't allowed into one of the parking lots so the visitors can leave without a fight. Crazy.

They ended up losing 3-2, but I loved every minute of it. Brilliant. Here are a couple more sweet photos and I'm off to bed.

Left to right, Micah, me, and Will
Alex, Micah, me

Random Fact #4: Instead of getting food "to go," it's "for take away," and it's usually cheaper.

Pictures from our hike

2008-02-10T11:49:00.000-08:00

I definitely have to update everyone on my day yesterday (first British football match = AMAZING) but for now, here are pictures from Friday's hike up St. Catherine's hill. Enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.com/futuremostvivid/WinchesterHikeToStCatherineSHill

Love you all and hope all is well back in the states. I love getting comments, even though I can't reply to them all. Thanks so much for reading, it means a lot! =)

lovely day

2008-02-08T08:55:00.000-08:00

So much has been happening since the last time I wrote, but I'll try not to make this post ridiculously long. First of all, like I promised, I'll mention BOP. Bop is the once a week dance party on campus that you need to buy tickets for--I think I heard someone say that they sell about 800, and they completely sold out this week. Lots of students dress up in either nice clothes or in crazy costumes, and a lot of sports teams or groups of friends dress alike--we saw some groups of people dressed like firemen, nerds, the cast of Peter Pan, etc. Bop, like I said, is held right on campus. Just this past summer they remodeled the main student building, called the Student Union, which is the main hang out on campus, with the cafeteria (they call it the canteen), a grill & bar, a tv lounge, pool tables, a 24 hour computer lab and coffee and tea bar. Pretty amazing. So, the point of this story is that Bop was pretty sweet in this brand new huge student center. Fun fun. Sorry, I don't have any pictures though.

So that was Wednesday night. Yesterday was my first Film History class, which I am going to love. We had to go to a film viewing yesterday and watch an hour's worth of 1 minute short silent films from the 1890s. Some of the most bizarre things I've every seen, but it was a good time. Since not many of us have class today, Friday, I told my friends I wanted to hike outside of Winchester to this hill we can see in the distance from our dorm rooms. So I found a map and we set off after lunch today. It was absolutely amazing. This city is straight out of a story book. About a 15 minute walk through town took us through some narrow, quaint housing districts, past the Winchester Cathedral, past the ruins of a small castle, past a huge walled college (more like our high school) with students in uniforms, past Jane Austen's house, and out to a muddy path along a lovely river, complete with ducks, swans, and a boys' school's rowing team. We followed this path for another mile or so to get to St. Catherine's hill.

The view from this hill was incredible. We could see the entire city of Winchester along with all of the surrounding countryside--green rolling meadows, hedges, and some sheep for as far as we could see. On the very top of the hill, we found two rope swings. We explored, took some classic jumping photos (see picture), had a snack, chased some sheep, and strolled back to the university. What a lovely day. I just love it here.

My internet is acting really weird and not letting me post pictures, so I'll try again later. So long!

my address

2008-02-06T03:09:00.000-08:00

So, a couple people have been asking about my address. I'll post it here if anyone's curious to see where I live, but I don't want to imply that I'm expecting mail in any way. So here it is:

Danielle Ryan c/o
Alwyn Hall West 33
University of Winchester
Sparkford Road, Winchester
SO22 4NR

Every Wednesday night the school has a big event/dance thing called 'Bop.' I'll write more tonight or tomorrow and let you know what that's like. But I got to go--my friend Hilary and I are going shopping in Winchester to get a new more British outfit. =)

Random Fact #3: In England, they say trousers instead of pants, and pants instead of underpants. Could cause some confusion.

Lucky Charms and Skittles

2008-02-04T09:23:00.000-08:00

Not much today but a bunch of orientation meetings and running around trying to figure out where my classes are (odd system they have here). I'm off to supper soon (my first eating experience in the cafeteria), so some Wisconsin friends and I are going to go together to try and figure out what happens.

Last night I hung out in another dorm room with a couple other Wisconsin students, three British students, and a Danish girl named Nana and we talked for hours about a bunch of fun cultural stuff. And they vented for a bit about how upset they were that the US not only took an English icon, Jane Austen, and made a movie about it (as opposed to a British studio making it) but that they cast the American Ann Hathaway as the lead with a fake sounding accent. "I hate that... but otherwise we love you" one of them said.

Also, at supper last night some British guys said, "I know this is a random question, but did you happen to bring any Lucky Charms?" They were practically falling off their seats waiting for me to answer. I said no, much to their disappointment. Then one of them asked if I happened to bring any Skittles, which I actually did, and he got super excited. I ran in to him again today and gave him a bunch, and he get going on about how great they were and how thankful he was. Apparently, England now regulates sugar, and they took Lucky Charms and some other candy away, so they really miss it.

Random Fact #2: On an English keyboard, the @ sign and the " sign are switched around.

Day 2: Shopping and exploring Winchester

2008-02-03T06:39:00.000-08:00

My first day here was awesome. I love it already. I just got back from going to the supermarket and some other shops with four of my Eau Claire friends my two new friends, Alice and Maria. Maria is actually from Seattle but was also here last semester, so she knows what she's doing. They are the nicest girls. Everyone here you run into in the dorms is super friendly and tries to introduce themselves and invite you to go out with them and their friends that night.

Today I bought some groceries (cereal and milk... but I have no bowl or spoon, so I'll have to figure that one out) and a cell phone that will work for texting and calling my friends here (pay as you go) and a hair dryer. The store that I bought the hairdryer in is called Argos, and was the coolest thing. You go in and look through their catalog until you find what you want (their catalog is like 2000 pages long), write down the serial numbers on a little card, then hand it to the cashier. They look it up and charge you, and then you go over to another counter where they bring you your item from the back room.

Anyways, orientation is tomorrow, so I'll have more good stuff to report then, but for now here's some pictures of Winchester:

Some shots of my dorm room. In case you missed it the first time, I get my own room. So far I haven't met or seen anyone in my hall, but I'm sure I'll run into someone soon.

That's the view from my dorm room. Beautiful, right?

That's Maria on the left and Alice on the right, making a wish at a fountain in the middle of the old army barracks. Now they rent the barracks out as apartments.

The streets of Winchester. They're all these beautiful, quaint buildings with modern shops inside. Love it. We had a pasty today at the pasty shop on the right.

Fun fact #1: The light switches in England are opposite ours--down means on and up means off.

Day one in Winchester

2008-02-02T06:35:00.000-08:00

Yes, I'm finally here in Winchester. I got here safely and with no problems, so thanks for all the prayers.

The fun thing about this trip was that we took off in the evening (around 5:45 pm out of Chicago) to head toward London, which is six hours later than the US. That means that when we finally landed in London, our bodies said it's 2 am and about time you got to sleep, when it was really after 7 am here-- the start of another whole day. We still hadn't had a chance to sleep from the previous one (unless you call a couple restless hours on the plane a night).

Well, fun jetlag stories aside, this trip is going splendidly. We took a bus from London Heathrow airport to pull into Winchester around noon, which seriously felt like wandering into a Beautrix Potter illustration or a Jane Austen novel. All the streets are narrow and the buildings are brick with black or white trim. It is just so completely charming and British. I'll be sure to post pictures soon.

Our rooms are single person rooms in co-ed dormitories. Mine is good sized (probably the size of my sister's room back home), with a small closet, a sink, a desk, a dresser, a book shelf and (best part) a huge bulletin board that covers almost an entire wall. Can't wait to start filling that up. I'll post some pictures of this later too. Right now though we can't access the internet from our rooms (not til we get passwords and accounts set up tomorrow) and I didn't feeling like bringing my camera stuff down to the lab. So maybe tomorrow. There are about 7 other people from my group living in the same dorm, so there'll be some familiar faces around. There are also about 50 US students total on the campus this semester, and I keep bumping into students from Missouri and New Hampshire. It's funny, cause once you're out of the US, you pretty much feel like anyone from the US is practically from the same city.

Well, first thing on the schedule is a NAP, then hopefully a shower, then maybe some supper (haven't eaten since the airplane breakfast this morning.) But, just now I'm alive and well and will send you some pictures as soon as I get organized. =)

learn something new today

2008-01-30T22:01:00.000-08:00

So, I'm sure the question on all of your minds right now is how in the world am I going to be able to communicate with Danielle while she's in England. Well, fortunately I am here to answer your question. What I recommend is a little tool called Skype. Skype is a program you download that allows you to talk over the internet--like an internet phone line. The best part is, it's free. If you have a laptop with a built in microphone you're good to go. Otherwise I think you might have to get a separate microphone thing.

So anyways, it's really easy to get this set up. Just go to www.skype.com, download the application, and chose a username for yourself. Then search for me to add me. My name shows up as D Ryan and my username is dr.scrumhalf in Eau Claire, WI. Hopefully that'll help. So, if there are any questions, don't hesitate to ask. =)

Oh, and little update-- I leave tomorrow. YIKES.

let the countdown begin (20 days?)

2008-01-07T14:50:00.000-08:00

Yesterday marked exactly three weeks until my departure. Three weeks! Yikes.

Here are the facts so far:

I depart February 1 from Chicago and am flying nonstop to London
I come back to the States on June 14
I will be stuyding at the University of Winchester, Winchester, England
I will have a room in their dorms to myself (from what I hear, all their dorm rooms are not only single person but 1.5 times bigger than ours here)
I have Easter Holiday March 15 - April 13 during which I will not being coming back to the US but instead traveling in Europe (Jenny is visiting!)
I will miss my cat (and friends, family, and Mexican food too)
I am super excited

Hopefully this blog will be a way for me to keep everyone updated over the next several months. I'll try to post often and even include some interesting pictures or video clips on occasion. Anyone is able to make comments on my posts (not just those with a gmail account).

Well, I believe that was sufficiently boring and informational. Here's a few pictures of Winchester to ponder until my next post (and let the countdown begin!).

That would be Winchester Cathedral (above). Looks beautiful.