Life in London is, to put it in one word, fantastic. While I do miss friends and family, I am having a very hard time imagining leaving this place. Since the last time I wrote, I have been attending classes, had my official interview with my internship, making friends with some locals, and exploring the city.
On Sunday, I had a day trip to Bath and Avebury. Bath is the home to all things Jane Austen, Nicholas Cage, the Bath rugby team (which apparently is huge), and Roman Baths. We drove to Bath this morning, which is about two hours away from London, and it is seriously one of the most picturesque little towns I have ever been to. I felt like we were walking through a painting, and it was fantastic. In Bath, there are these natural hot springs that the Romans built a bathhouse around, which is now converted into a museum. We went to the museum, and walked around the original bathing areas, which are actually really cool. The water is said to be magical, and there was a statue of a King whose leprosy was said to have been cured by the water in Bath. Also, in the museum were old remains of notes that people would throw into the baths, and they were curses on people who wronged them. They were really funny things like "Curse the man or woman into water who stole my gloves, and make the! m never enjoy the light of day until now to eternity." Must have been leather.
After the museum, we walked around the town of Bath, which is literally the definition of quaint, and I had the BEST scoop of creme brulee ice cream ever. Also, there was a rugby match that was just beginning, so EVERYONE was drinking a beer (it's legal to walk around with alcohol in public) and wearing blue and black rugby shirts. The english love their beer, dogs, rugby, and various innard meats (think liver, sausages, and kidneys). I will attempt to get up the pictures as soon as possible, but the town was amazing.
After we went to Bath, we went to Avebury, which is--dare I say it--maybe even cuter than Bath. Avebury is so much better than what I pictured of the English countryside. It is the quintessential English town with one town pub and the social center was hopping. Haha. In Avebury, there are these very large rocks, which are situated naturally in a circular formation. It was actually pretty cool for just being a bunch of rocks. Also, I may or may not have slipped a "that's what she said" joke in the Avebury church, which was pretty inappropriate, but only one other person besides God heard me, and he wasn't offended.
Saturday, some of my friends and I discovered Notting Hill, which is easily my favorite place in London. On the weekends, they set up an antiques market that lines the road for what seems like ages, and there are so many vendors with the COOLEST things. I found about 7 antique engagement rings that I would be perfectly happy with :). We had lunch in Notting Hill at this really hip little cafe, and I can't just help but to feel like I am actually cool. Haha. I wish I could describe the atmosphere of Notting Hill better, but it is just such a friendly and fun place and it is the PERFECT Saturday afternoon.
On Friday, I had my interview for my internship, which I am SO excited for! It didn't actually feel like an interview because my boss and I just chatted for about an hour until she was like "uh I guess we should talk about hours and stuff". The atmosphere is really great, and it sounds like I am going to have a lot of hands on experience. Also, when I told my boss that I was potentially interested in design, she got really excited and told me that she would have a lot of projects for me. I was also really impressed with the Company's list of clients as well. Since it's a licensing company, they create all of the merchandise like clothes, toys, cups and basically anything you can imagine for their clients, which include Universal, Pixar, MGM, loads of Sports teams in the UK, CBS news, and a bunch of random other things like sesame street, the WWE and Dilbert to name a few. Haha. Also, on my tour of the company, my boss showed me this room of all of their products that they ha! ve created, which is more like a museum or a shrine than anything. To say the least, I am pretty excited to work for this company. You can look them up at www.cplg.com.
After my interview on Friday morning, I met up with some friends at Harrods, which is the definition of extravagant. I have never been surrounded by so much couture in my life--it was silly. Not only does Harrods have literally EVERY designer you could ever imagine (think Oscar dresses and diamond encrusted shoes that are on pedastools that you are not allowed to touch unless you get someone to retrieve it for you if you have an extra 100,000 to drop on a pair of stilettos) but Harrods also has an extensive collection of art (even some Bob Dylan orginal paintings), an antiques selection, a bookstore, sushi, fudge, cookies, an entire "formage" room (which I had to be dragged out of considering my obsession with cheese), and so much more. Just to further illustrate the extravagance that is Harrods, there was a woman wearing a full length ball gown singing opera for all of the shoppers.
Monday through Thursday, I attended classes, which include sociology and economics. The sociology class is all about the national health care system in the UK, which is about 80% public, and the UK welfare system. The economics class so far has kinda just been a current events class in which we've discussed everything from Borris Johnson and adding another terminal to Heathrow to the recession in the UK, which seems to be a bit worse than that in the US. This is evident from the constantly falling pound, which is about 1.3 to the US dollar, which is a 23-something year low.
Anywho, at nights, we've been getting to know London's night life, which include various clubs around the city. We went to this one club with what seemed like the coolest and hippest 18-23 year old Londoners, and they danced to American music from the 50s and 60s like Bob Dylan and Elvis. It was pretty bizarre, but really really fun.
Anyways, I hope everything is great with all of you, and I miss you guys! I also just got a skype account, so you can find my at lfrick1988. Also, if you want to tell me about your lives too, you can e-mail me at lfrick@bu.edu.
Love you all!
Lindsey
Monday, January 26, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
WELCOME TO LONDON!
**WARNING: This was written using my computer’s thesaurus’s
extensive collection of words relating to the word “awesome”. **
Hellooooooo from London!!!!!!!!!
I have been here for a week now, and I am absolutely in love with this city! It is VERY similar to Boston, and I swear that there are about five identical buildings
Conversation excerpt from a few days ago:
Me: This place is exactly like Boston!
Friend: Lindsey, Boston is in NEW ENGLAND.
Me: Oh yeah.
Anyways, I live in South Kensington, which is part of the Kensington and Chelsea borough (so I am by proxy a Chelsea Football fan), and I live across the street from the London Natural History museum. The neighborhood in which we live feels like Little France: we are right next to the French Embassy and two French schools (one of which is where Madonna sent her kids to school before the divorce with Guy Ritchie). I’ve also been informed that Orlando Bloom lives in the same neighborhood as us, and YES, I do carry my camera around everywhere…just in case.
Cruise along the Thames: Actually, it is necessary to carry a camera around here because everything is gorgeous. One of the best parts of London is its amazing architecture and the unique blend of historic and modern buildings. We witnessed this first hand on a boat cruise that we took on our first day around the River Thames. Some of the things we saw included the London Eye (a huge ferris wheel on the River), Big Ben, Parliament, the London Aquarium, the Globe Theatre, the Tate Modern Art Museum, and a lot of various pubs and hotels where important things have happened (such as the capture of one of London’s most notoriously terrible politicians who dressed up as a servant woman, but was recognized and captured in a pub).
Lectures and Classes: About three days in, we started a series of lectures, which were designed to teach us Americans about the history and pop culture of London, Britain, and the UK. All of the professors and administrators have been great, and they are all very young and hip. They keep telling us to ask them for recommendations for pubs and clubs around the area. Ironically, we ran into two of our administrators at a club on Thursday, who were wearing clothes from Abercrombie and Fitch and dancing harder than any of their younger counter parts. So far, I have only had one class, which was my Economics class, and I really like the teacher (who told us not to call him Professor). So far, our homework is to read news articles, which I already do regularly, so I still feel like I am on break. It seems like he has some pretty interesting classes lined up for us, and we are going to have to write a final paper about the causes and consequences of the recession in Britain. We also watched a movie about Margaret Thatcher, which was actually very interesting. The other class that I am taking during this half is a sociology class that I am excited for, which starts tomorrow. Basically, I have two classes for the first five weeks that I am here, and then we have a week long break in February. When we return, I start my marketing class and my internship, which is doing marketing and design for the licensing company of DreamWorks and MGM. I have a formal interview with my boss this Friday.
After Class Explorations: Everyday after class, I would go out with a friend or two, and we would explore more of the city. So far, St. Paul’s Cathedral has been one of the most beautiful and breath-taking places I have ever seen in my life. The outside is incredible, but it is the inside that is truly masterful, and YOU CAN’T TAKE PICTURES ON THE INSIDE . Oh well. My friend Sarah and I attended an evening choir service, which, again, was one of the most beautiful things I have ever experienced. After the service, we walked around the City of London, which is known as “the heart of London”. We then walked over the Millennium Bridge, which is unbelievable at night, and that took us to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. The next day, we went decided to take the tube (aka- the London Underground), which is in my opinion even better than the NYC subway much less the T in Boston, to a random stop to walk around. We ended up getting off at St. James’s Park, and we walked over to Buckingham Palace, and no, I did not get to see the Queen. We did, however, see a man leaving the gates of the palace. We got so star struck by this random man that we followed him about a block while quietly brainstorming a very colorful list of this man’s potential identities until we agreed that that he was probably a member of the royal wait-staff. Also, when we were walking down the street, we passed two soldiers who were carrying really big guns like the kinds that I have only seen in the war movies. After that we had lamb burgers, which were REALLY good (sorry to all of my vegetarian friends), and then we found our way back to our flat.
Being sick in London: sucks. We had a great first week, but the combination of not really getting over the jet lag and not sleeping that much and doing a LOT of stuff has basically rendered our entire program sick. It’s pretty pathetic, and I am sure that we will all find it to be very funny once it’s long over, but right now, I would say about 65% of the program if not more is miserable. At least we’re all miserable together though.
Windsor Palace: On Saturday, we went to Windsor Palace, which is the Royal Family's countryside residence in the town of Windsor. We got to go inside of the castle, which is absolutely gorgeous. The part of the castle we visited was very much like a royal museum with China that dated back as far as to the 1200's, original paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, which were 500 years old and in incredible shape, a sword collection, and a doll collection. The other part of the castle is where the royal family lives, but they were not currently at the castle. Interesting fact: You can always tell where the royal family is based on the flag that is flying at either Windsor or Buckingham Palace. If it is the Union Jack (the flag of Great Britain) they are in the other palace, but if it is the royal flag, they are in that palace.We also went into this chapel, which was the burial place for MANY old Kings, Queens and other important people including King Henry the VIII, the only wife of his that he liked (I forgot her name) and their unborn child. We also got to see the changing of the guards outside of this chapel, and I got a picture with one of them and his silly hat.
OK so that’s the end of my first novel so far…haha. I hope that you all are doing well wherever you are, and tell me about what you are up to!
Miss and love you all!
Lindsey
extensive collection of words relating to the word “awesome”. **
Hellooooooo from London!!!!!!!!!
I have been here for a week now, and I am absolutely in love with this city! It is VERY similar to Boston, and I swear that there are about five identical buildings
Conversation excerpt from a few days ago:
Me: This place is exactly like Boston!
Friend: Lindsey, Boston is in NEW ENGLAND.
Me: Oh yeah.
Anyways, I live in South Kensington, which is part of the Kensington and Chelsea borough (so I am by proxy a Chelsea Football fan), and I live across the street from the London Natural History museum. The neighborhood in which we live feels like Little France: we are right next to the French Embassy and two French schools (one of which is where Madonna sent her kids to school before the divorce with Guy Ritchie). I’ve also been informed that Orlando Bloom lives in the same neighborhood as us, and YES, I do carry my camera around everywhere…just in case.
Cruise along the Thames: Actually, it is necessary to carry a camera around here because everything is gorgeous. One of the best parts of London is its amazing architecture and the unique blend of historic and modern buildings. We witnessed this first hand on a boat cruise that we took on our first day around the River Thames. Some of the things we saw included the London Eye (a huge ferris wheel on the River), Big Ben, Parliament, the London Aquarium, the Globe Theatre, the Tate Modern Art Museum, and a lot of various pubs and hotels where important things have happened (such as the capture of one of London’s most notoriously terrible politicians who dressed up as a servant woman, but was recognized and captured in a pub).
Lectures and Classes: About three days in, we started a series of lectures, which were designed to teach us Americans about the history and pop culture of London, Britain, and the UK. All of the professors and administrators have been great, and they are all very young and hip. They keep telling us to ask them for recommendations for pubs and clubs around the area. Ironically, we ran into two of our administrators at a club on Thursday, who were wearing clothes from Abercrombie and Fitch and dancing harder than any of their younger counter parts. So far, I have only had one class, which was my Economics class, and I really like the teacher (who told us not to call him Professor). So far, our homework is to read news articles, which I already do regularly, so I still feel like I am on break. It seems like he has some pretty interesting classes lined up for us, and we are going to have to write a final paper about the causes and consequences of the recession in Britain. We also watched a movie about Margaret Thatcher, which was actually very interesting. The other class that I am taking during this half is a sociology class that I am excited for, which starts tomorrow. Basically, I have two classes for the first five weeks that I am here, and then we have a week long break in February. When we return, I start my marketing class and my internship, which is doing marketing and design for the licensing company of DreamWorks and MGM. I have a formal interview with my boss this Friday.
After Class Explorations: Everyday after class, I would go out with a friend or two, and we would explore more of the city. So far, St. Paul’s Cathedral has been one of the most beautiful and breath-taking places I have ever seen in my life. The outside is incredible, but it is the inside that is truly masterful, and YOU CAN’T TAKE PICTURES ON THE INSIDE . Oh well. My friend Sarah and I attended an evening choir service, which, again, was one of the most beautiful things I have ever experienced. After the service, we walked around the City of London, which is known as “the heart of London”. We then walked over the Millennium Bridge, which is unbelievable at night, and that took us to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. The next day, we went decided to take the tube (aka- the London Underground), which is in my opinion even better than the NYC subway much less the T in Boston, to a random stop to walk around. We ended up getting off at St. James’s Park, and we walked over to Buckingham Palace, and no, I did not get to see the Queen. We did, however, see a man leaving the gates of the palace. We got so star struck by this random man that we followed him about a block while quietly brainstorming a very colorful list of this man’s potential identities until we agreed that that he was probably a member of the royal wait-staff. Also, when we were walking down the street, we passed two soldiers who were carrying really big guns like the kinds that I have only seen in the war movies. After that we had lamb burgers, which were REALLY good (sorry to all of my vegetarian friends), and then we found our way back to our flat.
Being sick in London: sucks. We had a great first week, but the combination of not really getting over the jet lag and not sleeping that much and doing a LOT of stuff has basically rendered our entire program sick. It’s pretty pathetic, and I am sure that we will all find it to be very funny once it’s long over, but right now, I would say about 65% of the program if not more is miserable. At least we’re all miserable together though.
Windsor Palace: On Saturday, we went to Windsor Palace, which is the Royal Family's countryside residence in the town of Windsor. We got to go inside of the castle, which is absolutely gorgeous. The part of the castle we visited was very much like a royal museum with China that dated back as far as to the 1200's, original paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, which were 500 years old and in incredible shape, a sword collection, and a doll collection. The other part of the castle is where the royal family lives, but they were not currently at the castle. Interesting fact: You can always tell where the royal family is based on the flag that is flying at either Windsor or Buckingham Palace. If it is the Union Jack (the flag of Great Britain) they are in the other palace, but if it is the royal flag, they are in that palace.We also went into this chapel, which was the burial place for MANY old Kings, Queens and other important people including King Henry the VIII, the only wife of his that he liked (I forgot her name) and their unborn child. We also got to see the changing of the guards outside of this chapel, and I got a picture with one of them and his silly hat.
OK so that’s the end of my first novel so far…haha. I hope that you all are doing well wherever you are, and tell me about what you are up to!
Miss and love you all!
Lindsey
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