Flyin' Solo in Scotland

The past 8 days I had an amazing time in Scotland! The adventure started the same night London program ended on April 14th- I left that night on a bus at 11:45pm from London Victoria. I was a little nervous because I was going to Inverness and there was nothing on any of the screens about the bus to Inverness so I asked- apparently I was supposed to get on the bus going to Aberdeen and change at Perth, nice of megabus to let me know! Lesson: when in doubt ask someone in a neon yellow vest- they know what's up and look sharp while telling you. After a long, 12 hour bus ride I made it to Inverness! Which is way north in Scotland. The hostel was 10 minutes from the bus station and this was the view:

River Ness

I couldn't check in until 2:00 so I went for a walk along the river because it was beautiful and sunny. The banks of the river were grassy and green and dotted with beautiful daffodils and I walked for about 20 minutes and stumbled upon the Ness Islands which were awesome! Here they are:Basically there are these bridges on either side of the river and and you can walk to the islands which have all sorts of walking paths and more bridges connecting each part. I sat a read on the island for a bit and a big black dog jumped up on the bench and sat next to me- I'm pretty sure he was checking out my kindle. First scottish friend: giant black wolf dog who could probably eat me if he felt like it- I'm ok with that. Explored the islands a bit before heading back to my hostel which was very nice. Safe, clean, central location, super cheap- what more could a girl want? Well maybe a dreamy man in a kilt... but I digress. This was the room I stayed in, bottom bed was mine:

It was nice because even though I was in a 10 person room I never actually had 9 other people there. First night only three people who were from Australia. Then second a few more people came but they all left after one night and the last night there was just a very nice French couple. People at the hostel were very friendly and let me use their Internet for free even though I was supposed to pay for it and told me all the places to visit. All in all awesome!

This castle was across the street from my hostel (though I took this pic from across the river to get the daffodils). I think it is a courthouse now or a sheriff's office or something... whatever it is looks super cool. I was wiped from the 12 hour bus ride so I went to bed early and then woke up early the next morning and walked the other direction along the river until I came to the end and it opened up into the North Sea:

Saturday afternoon I did a boat tour of Loch Ness! No monsters unfortunately but it was absolutely beautiful. A bit cloudy and windy on the boat but decent weather and I sat outside since the view was better. The cruise was about half an hour then it dropped us off at Urquhart Castle:

We had an hour to explore the ruins which was cool. The castle was blown up during the Jacobite rebellion back on some important day in history hundreds of years ago that I can't remember... but they did it so it wouldn't fall into the hands of the Jacobites. And speaking of Jacobites the next day I got up early and hopped a bus to Culloden Battlefield, which was where the last battle between the Jacobite and the English happened and the Jacobites were destroyed. Now, I'm going to come clean and say that I am not in fact a brilliant history buff but only know about Culloden from the time-traveling romance-ish novel "Oulander" that I got for freen on kindle (fabulous book, don't knock til you read it!). But dubious historical knowledge aside I went and it was a perfect sunny day, the information center was really good and I learned a lot. I also got to hold actual highlander weapons:You can't see it in the pic but I have in awesome dagger in the hand holding the shield. Which I didn't understand because how do you stab someone from behind the shield? The kilt-wearing guide showed me how they used to swing the shield around and cut their enemies throats- charming. And morbidly kind of awesome. I almost stabbed him with the sword while trying to give him my camera. It was blunt though so no worries and he politely offered to hold it so I didn't stab him or, more likely, myself. This is the battlefield:

Memorial

Actually getting back to Inverness was a bit of an adventure because there are no actual bus stops marked so I just started walking... left. They told me to go left but not how far. I was surrounded by giant green fields, lots of sheep and mountains, but no bus stops. Eventually I found one and hung out for about 45minutes til it came but didn't mind because it was sunny and beautiful. I was greeted with a "hi there luv, what the hell did you walk all the way out here for?" by the bus driver- apparently I should have stayed at Culloden and he would have picked me up there... ah well nice walk at least. That afternoon I wanted to see some nature so I walked to the end of the city and climbed a baby mountain and here is the view:

Hike wasn't too bad and the view was worth it. I don't think I was on an actual touristy place. I was looking for Craig Phadraig but got impatient trying to find the trail so I just sort of picked a different one. Still a train though I wasn't just bushwacking so no worries.

Monday morning I took a three hour bus to Edinburgh! Reminded me a bit of London though it is smaller and less busy. The hostel (Caledonian Backpackers if anyone ever goes) was AMAZING! Basically a giant building covered in these crazy bright murals. What I picture a hippie commune might look like, though without the drugs and "free love." There was a bar with pool tables, a wii, beanbag movie theatre, free breakfast, free laptops you could borrow, huge kitchen, free lockers... awesome. It was clean and centrally located too so that was nice.

Tuesday I did a free 3 hour walking tour (though it wasn't really free since they work on tips and my guide was good so i paid) so that was a nice way to see a lot of the city and learn the fun historical facts. After my tour I decided to climb Arthur's seat which is basically a giant cliff at the edge of the city with a great view. I decided to walk which took an hour to get there and, after my three hour walking tour that morning I was kind of dying before I even started the hike- but I thought who knows when I would get the chance again so power through and climb! Worth it- here was the view:

And this is the cliff:

And this is the spot I sat at the very top:

Wednesday I did a 9 hour coach tour of Scotland that went West basically. Picked me up from the hostel in Edinburgh. We went through Glasgow, the went to Loch Lomond which is Britain's largest collection of fresh water:

View from the boat since there was time for a 1 hour boat cruise. We drove through the Trossachs which is the "gateway to the highlands" and a national park- mountains, forests, lochs whole Scottish nature package essentially. And best part I found a highland cow who basically posed for me:
We then stopped at a tiny village called Aberfoyle for lunch. Met the weirdest goat/sheep thing:

My last day I explored the city. Here are a few pics of Edinburgh Castle and beautiful springtime shots since the city was as gorgeous as the weather:

This is a pic of the Royal Mile which I explored- basically a mile between two castles with lots of shops and touristy things and men in kilts playing bagpipes. I also went to the National Gallery which was free and had a lot of great paintings. For lunch I finally tried haggis! The dish is "haggis, neeps and tatties" aka parts of sheep I don't want to think about, mushed turnips, and mashed potatoes. I ate at a pub called the Last Drop which was famous because back when they hung criminals they would take them here for the last shot of whiskey before hanging them out front. Morbid but cool. But back to the haggis verdict: Not bad! Like groundbeef but not quite, a bit chewier and spicier. I ate it all, I think I had a toned down touristy version of haggis because I learned on my tour that back in the old days the would take all the parts of the sheep like the heart and intestines and such and stick in in the sheeps stomach and serve that. I'd like to think I didn't eat that but.... eh- tasted fine. Except the turnips- gross. I met a few cool Canadians at my hostel and one of them was a magician- not the I do random card tricks amateur but an actual touring magician (we youtubed him) and he did magic for us which was awesome. He also had a lot of good stories about being mugged and chased through Paris... not sure I believe everything, it was a bit Bourne Identity-esque sounding but he was entertaining nonetheless.

So- all in all fabulous trip. I alternated between singing Destiny's Child "Independent Woman" and Nina Simone's "Feelin' Good" all week because that was how I felt the whole time- Independent and GOOD! It was liberating to be by myself in a random country I have always dreamed of visitng- I planned it all and dealt with any problems all by myself, went to some amazing places and meet some cool people. Felt strong, confident and independent and all in all had a blast!

Spring time in London!

Hello! I've got a lot of updates because I haven't written in awhile as I have been busy with midterm papers and work (there's that pesky "study" part to the whole study abroad experience- pity) so I will just back track by day by day, or at least the days that were interesting. Jumping right in:

Tuesday March 1, 2011- Edward II
Tonight my Shakespeare in London class went to see Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II at the Rose Theatre, which was Bankside’s first theatre in 1587. The theatre itself is on the site of the original, which was pretty amazing to think about as I was watching the show. The place was incredibly small and we were seated about 5 feet from the actors. It was all basically underground; behind the stage you could see the excavation site of the original theatre which was filled with water as they are currently working on it. They could not turn the heat on because of something to do with preserving the site but I thought that made the experience even cooler, no pun intended, well maybe slightly intended. The acting in the show itself was incredibly strong, especially for such a small production and I enjoyed the show immensely.

Wednesday March 2, 2011
Tonight my Modern Theatre and the London Stage class went to the performance of Woman in Black which was much scarier than I anticipated. I figured a play could not be anywhere near as scary as a movie but I very very wrong. The suspense they created through the use of light and sound was fantastic. I nearly had a heart attack in the bathroom at intermission when another woman opened the door too fast- we both jumped about a foot in the air then laughed about it after; nice to know I wasn’t the only one feeling a bit jumpy. I then had a whole conversation with another random stranger in the bathroom about our speculations about what would happen next in the show and how freaked out we were by it, something I take as a sign that the play was really getting to everyone, which was great. After the play I severely warned my roommates that if anyone made any sudden moves, choose to wear black or did not announce their presence before entering the room I was in then there would be hell to pay. Needless to say we choose to walk home in a large group.

Friday March 4, 2011-Sunday March 6, 2011- Visitor from Ireland
This weekend a friend of mine from Stonehill (Maura Kelly for those of you who know her) who is studying in Galway, Ireland visited me so I got to play tour guide in London. On Friday night we went and saw The 39 Steps which was pretty funny. It was more slapstick type humor and was not at all what I expected it to be, but it was funny and we had a good time and the tickets were cheap! God I love student discounts.

Saturday we went to all the big touristy spots like the London Eye, Houses of Parliament, the Globe Theatre and Trafalgar Square. That night we did a ghost walking tour of London in the area around St. Paul’s cathedral. Our guide was wearing a giant black cape when he came over to meet us which I took as a promising sign the tour would be good. It was a nice blend of the history of the city with entertaining ghost tales and was only 6 pounds. We then went to a 50’s style bowling alley for milkshakes which was entertaining as everyone was dressed up. My favorite: a group of women wearing the Pink Ladies jackets from Grease.

Changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace

Melanie, the Stonehill intern who works at the British Museum, got me two free tickets to see the Book of the Dead exhibit which was great because today was the last day it was open (thanks Melanie!). The Book was not actually a book but a large collection of spells and scrolls and there were explanations all about the Ancient Egyptians views about death and the afterlife. To be honest my knowledge of the subject came solely from the movie The Mummy which I am unashamed to admit is one of my all time favorite movies/guilty pleasures. Despite the fact that Brendan Frasier was not there I still enjoyed the exhibit, even more so because it was free. We then went to Brick Lane to check out the markets. They had every type of food from every nationality imaginable. I was not brave enough to try Ethiopian and stuck with the tried and true Chinese food, but I will work my way up to it eventually!

Tuesday March 8, 2011- King John
Tonight my Shakespeare class went to Twickenham to see King John. First time on the overground train. The show was not terrible... but definitely not one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, which makes sense because it was a history which is not my favorite genre. A few of the actors had to ask for their lines, which I have never actually seen happen before in a professional production. It didn’t detract too much from the performance on the whole. I did feel bit bad because it must be awful to forget your lines, but they all carried on admirably even after making mistakes.

Wednesday March 9, 2011- UNBELIEVABLE
Ok this is the story I am most excited to tell because I still can't really believe it happened. Here's the tale: Today at my internship we had a very interesting guest speaker in the course I am auditing, Responding to Terrorism. He is the superintendent of the London Metropolitan Police and the head of the Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear division. He talked about the challenges the police face when dealing with terrorist attacks, particularly CBRN attacks and was able to explain how the command structure for an attack worked and who was responsible for responding to what. After the presentation Brooke (my supervisor) invited anyone in the class who was interested to come out for a drink at a pub nearby and ask the superintendent any questions they liked. About five of us ended up going out afterwards and I ended up sitting next to him, which brings me closer in the story to one of the best moments in my study abroad experience thus far: We were chatting about books and movies and how I was enjoying my time in London and the conversation somehow came to how I was taking a Shakespeare course. I mentioned that I had visited the Globe for a tour but was disappointed because I would be unable to see a show there because their season did not start until after I left. At this point he said something to the effect of “I do not mean this inappropriately at all but as it so happens I am on the board at the Globe and have an extra ticket to see a performance of Macbeth there tomorrow night. My friend could not come at the last minute so if you would like the ticket you are welcome come.” (!!!) Apparently there was an event where thousands of UK schoolchildren were allowed to come to the Globe for free to see Macbeth, which was playing for a few nights, and tomorrow was the last night. A chance to go to the Globe and see Macbeth for free- unbelievable!!! He gave me his card at told me to meet him in the foyer at the Globe tomorrow night.

Thursday March 10, 2011- Macbeth at the Globe
Tonight was incredibly exciting because I got to see Macbeth at the Globe Theatre! I was a bit nervous because: 1. I was going with the Superintendent of the London Metropolitan Police 2. I had just met him the night before. 3. He is a good friend of my supervisor’s so I really wanted to make a good impression. I found that all nervousness was needless as he was a perfect gentleman, very interesting to talk to and knew a lot about Shakespeare and the history of the Globe. (And for all you nasty minded people it was NOT a date, as I have already been accused of, he's older than my dad and a friend of my boss's so keep your minds out of the gutter folks) He told me stories about doing the security for the Globe when the Queen came to a show and how they basically had to take it all apart to search for bombs. He also is working on the security for the Royal Wedding and the 2012 Olympics. He said everyone involved wishes that Paris had got to host the Olympics instead of London because it is the biggest security nightmare they have ever had and he plans to retire the day after it is all over. The show itself was great and I especially enjoyed it because it was mostly school kids who got very in to the performance, which was wonderful to see. Though they kept “awww”ing in sympathy when Lady Macbeth was breaking down, so I think they missed the point that she was totally evil but that is ok at least they were in to it! The actors and production team really played up the action in the show by having soldiers repelling down on the stage and pushing their way through the crowds and performing elaborate fight scenes. The supernatural bits were fantastic as they had so many great effects. It was very interactive and, of course, at the Globe! One of the coolest things they had was two body bags on the stage at the beginning, which you kind of forgot about when the soldiers came on and dragged them to the side and then did their lines. Then the witch comes out and does the whole "When shall we three meet again" speech and the two bags sit up! I almost screamed and all the kids did, the witches were in the body bags the whole time and all zombie-esque which was fantastic and freaky. But wait- there's more! As if seeing Macbeth wasn’t enough I found to my surprise I could also go to the after party! I basically felt like the English major equivalent of Cinderella the whole night. Free champagne, all the actors in the play milling about and apparently a bunch of British celebrities according to one person I talked to- not that I knew who anyone was but I guess that is alright; you can’t get nervous if you have no idea if the person you are talking to is famous or not. The party was where the exhibit in the Globe is and I got to go in again and see the exhibit, though this time with a free glass of champagne- too cool. All in all an INCREDIBLE experience, I still can still barely believe it happened. It is all the more incredible because it occurred because I just happened to sit next to and chat with the guest speaker from class that day who just happened to be on the board at the Globe and just happened to have an extra ticket for a show that was ending the next night and I just happened to mention I was studying Shakespeare- CRAZY world!

Friday March 11, 2011
Lindsay and Tara visit! I took them all around today and boy did we WALK. Everywhere. The Globe, London Eye, Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, British Museum, National Gallery, Buckingham Palace, St. James Park… needless to say my feet were ready to fall off by the time I got home but it was a great day full of general merriment and jubilant jubilesquing. It is finally starting to feel like spring in London and it was sunny and gorgeous. That night we went out for Indian food, which I love, and it was nice to be with friends from Stonehill when I have been away from there for so long.

Saturday March 12, 2011
Dr. Rogers invited me over for dinner tonight, which was very nice of her. She lives in Putney which I really liked; it felt more like the country in the area where she lived even though we were still in the city. She made meatloaf, which I learned was an American thing because all the other people there were British and told me that she was the one who introduced them to it. It was delicious and great to have a taste from home. I never thought I would actually miss something like meatloaf- go figure.

Sunday March 13, 2011
This morning I had my first official English breakfast, which was delicious. I still find it odd that there are baked beans involved but I suppose if you can eat them for dinner why not breakfast… I also tried Black Pudding. Which I found out right before I took a bite was pig’s blood though it looked like sausage. To my credit I ate it anyways; as long as I didn’t think too much about what I was eating it wasn’t half bad! I guess we eat most of the other parts of the pig to put it in perspective so why not a little bit more... :S

Monday March 14, 2011
I am starting to realize that I have not really been talking about my internship at all with all the other exciting things going on so I will give a quick recap of what I doing there right now. I am still working on my final paper, which has ended up being a lot about the Psychology of Terrorism. I am examining terrorism from an individual psychological perspective and a group perspective. I have also recently become interested in the rhetoric of extremist groups, which cropped up a lot in my research, and asked Brooke if it would be acceptable to adjust my topic slightly to include all the new information I have found. She is very flexible and said that this is fine and that we would meet and talk about it in more detail next week. I am also still working on my Terrorist Profile which has grown to about 35 terrorists. I have one officey project where I am trying to scan all her papers and put them on the computer so she can have a paperless office so I've been working on that too. For the Responding to Terrorism course we have to do a group presentation on some sort of biological weapon and how we would inform the public about the threat. My group is doing a presentation about anthrax which I have been researching and found is actually pretty interesting. My portion of the project in particular is about the 2001 anthrax attacks in America and the lessons we can learn from that. I am not too happy when I stumble upon a picture of what someone with anthrax looks like because I am a bit squeamish but besides that I think it will make for an interesting presentation.

Tuesday March 15, 2011: Sherlock Holmes Museum

I got to go to the Sherlock Holmes Museum today at 221 Baker Street ("The most famous address in London") FOR CLASS! Life is good. It was a replica of what they think the house would look like based on the stories. Dr. Watson was sitting upstairs, who I was enormously disappointed to find was NOT in fact Jude Law, nor was RDJ present, but I guess you can't have everything in life. After that our class went to Regent's park which was really really pretty- sunny and spring in London!

Wednesday March 16, 2011: National Theater

Today during class we got to do a backstage tour at the National Theatre which was pretty cool. We saw behind the scenes of the set of Frankenstein, which was playing at the time, learned about the set, costumes, props etc. We saw the workrooms and how they were building the sets for the upcoming shows. Our guide was knowledgeable and nice and all in all it was a cool tour!

Tonight my Theatre class went and saw the play Frankenstein at the National Theatre, which was an adaptation of the novel. The set looks much different with light and sound then the empty stage did during the tour. All in all the show WAS INCREDIBLE. The effects were great- very cinematic, the stage amazing, the story was engrossing and they definitely went for the interpretation of the novel where humans made the monster evil. It was graphic, disturbing, enthralling and emotional and my classmates and I talked about it the whole 25 minute walk home which shows that we were affected. I think when you sit back passively and just observe something it clearly does not do much for you and when pressed to have an opinion you will probably respond "it was interesting;" when you can't stop talking, arguing and interpreting and feeling- then it is art.

The National Theatre is right on the Thames and I had some time to kill before the show so I took a few pictures at night- here is one of my favorites!

Friday March 18, 2011: English National Ballet

Alex, another girl in the program from Clark, interns at the English National Ballet and had free tickets to see their performance of "Black and White," which was basically a collection of different dances from different performances the had done it the past. They were amazing and the music was beautiful. And ballet dancers are solid muscle. I went with Alyssa and we chatted with a nice Irish lady who was sitting next to us. She thought we were Canadian because of our "soft accents." Beats the kid who in Ireland who thought I was from Long Island (tad offended, especially because he was American and should know the difference!). All in all cool show!

Thursday March 24, 2011: Comedy Show

Laura got free tickets to a comedy show at the Shaftesbury Theatre called "Comedy Rush" where there were 60 comedy acts in 60 minutes and was nice enough to bring Melanie and I along so it was a Stonehill girls night out! Each comic had one minute to make us laugh, some did it better than others :) All in all it was pretty funny- I have yet to discover what "British humor" means when someone says "oh that is just the British sense of humor;" do we have an "American" sense of humor? I don't think so- I think things are funny or they aren't... but anyways good night!

Saturday March 26, 2011: Brighton!

Today I was up bright and early to catch the train to Brighton! Brighton is a famous seaside town on the south coast of England (in East Sussex). The day started off cloudy but the sun came out eventually and it was very nice! I went with Hannah, Melanie, Christine, Alyssa and Laura and had a great time. We explored the random shops and side-streets where we found a little flea market selling all sort of random things. Then we went to the Royal Pavilion (which we didn't go in, too expensive) then a free museum that had the most random collection of stuff but was cute. Then it was down to the ocean!!! What I learned: the beach there isn't sand but rocks. No in the sense that sand is techincally rocks but actual rocks. Couldn;t be too comfortable to lay on but the beach was still pretty crowded for a not-that-warm-but-still-nice day! We had fresh fish and chips (french fries) for lunch and ate at a table that was basically on the beach- it was delecious!. Then we walked to the pier which had an amusement park on it. There were free chairs so we grabbed 6 and relaxed (or napped allegedly in my case) in the sun for awhile before exploring the rest of the pier. More exploration of the shops then it was back to the train station for the 1.5hr ish ride back to London. Long day and great day- glad I went! Rocky beachFish and Chips!

Royal Pavillion

Budapest!

This blog is going to be really long but I saw SO MUCH this past weekend because it was the long awaited trip to Budapest, Hungary! For starters here is a map so everyone can see where Hungary is since I had no idea, just the vague "Europe-ish" so if you know, great if you don't no shame!

I joined a Travel Club through the International Student House, which is an organization in London that gets really good discounts on trips for International Students. This trip had 12 students on it and was a mix of nationalities: there were students from India, China, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Uruguay, Turkey, Canada, Germany and Malaysia. It was an awesome opportunity to meet new people and a unique experience because I realized I have never been in a situation where I was the only American student. On Friday we all met at the ISH house on Great Portland street at 5:30am and went to Heathrow. Our flight was 3 hours long and we got into Budapest around 12. We were met at the airport by someone from our hostel "Happy Flats." The hostel was actually really nice, nothing like the horror stories you hear and no bedbugs I am happy to report! I shared a flat with three other girls from the program. After dropping off our stuff and getting a quick bite to eat we went on a 3 hour bus tour of the city, which I learned was actually divided into “Buda” and “Pest” which are divided by the Danube river and we drove through both. The city is amazing and beautiful and even though it was freezing I had a great time exploring. That night we had a group meal and tried some traditional Hungarian food and I learned that the Hungarians are fond of very large portions, cream, cheese and lots of sauce. They are famous for their paprika so I tried chicken paprika and some sort of traditional noodles that was delicious!

Saturday morning we ate breakfast early then headed to a local indoor market filled with fresh fruit, veggies, butcher stalls, fish and upstairs they had all sorts of souvenirs.

After the market came the best part of my trip:to Szechenyi Spa Bath which was AMAZING. Budapest is famous for their baths and I can see why after this experience. There are all sorts of natural thermal water springs under the city, which they use for their spas. There are plenty of baths in the city and the one we went to was a huge place with about a dozen thermal baths inside and one large outdoor thermal bath. We soaked for hours outside which was a neat experience as it is winter- the mad dash in a swimsuit and flipflops from the pool to the door was invigorating to say the least. I also paid a little extra for a very reasonably priced massage and learned that severe language barrier + little clothing + different cultural conceptions of modesty = a few awkward encounters. My masseuse spoke very little English and I obviously speak no Hungarian. She didn't leave when I was supposed to get undressed like they do in massages I have had in the past and the most awkward moment came when she told me to sit up during the massage so she could do my shoulders (no shirts in massages remember) I didn't move and didn't really know how to say "Um, beg your pardon?" in Hungarian so I just went with the old communication barrier stand-by and stared at her blankly. She sighed and asked "You American?" "Yes" I replied. "You speak English?" "Yeah..." "You not understand sit-up?" Well, ok then! What am I supposed to say to that when my Hungarian is non-existent... so what the hell, when naked in some random back room at a spa in Budapest do as the Hungarians do.

Fun fact about the lions on the bridge: the sculptor forgot the tongue so everyone laughed at him. Our guide said he then drowned himself in the Danube but he was joking about that. I think. We finished Saturday off with more traditional Hungarian food for dinner at a restaurant where we got cheated because we were tourists I'm pretty sure. When I tried to order a glass of tap water (water was safe to drink there) I was informed they did not have tap water. I refrained from sarcastically asking if they had 1. A cup. 2. A sink. But ended up buying expensive bottled water because we had no choice but the food was delicious so I was slightly mollified.

Sunday: In the morning we went to the Castle Labyrinth, which is located beneath Castle Hill. It is a maze miles long of tunnels and huge underground rooms that were originally intended as cellars and bomb shelters. There were reproductions of cave paintings all over the walls and the barely lit passageways reminiscent of an Indian Jones movie made for a creepy and interesting adventure.

Flash makes everything seem brighter, but it was very dark and we kept getting turned around and lost.

This fountain underground was not water but wine!!! With a sign saying DO NOT DRINK.

After the labyrinth we went to the National Gallery and checked out some Hungarian paintings.

National Gallery

View of Parliament and the Danube

After that we had some free time so a few of us went to the House of Terror, which was an incredibly sobering experience. A museum now, in 1944 the building was the “House of Loyalty,” the headquarters of the Hungarian Arrow Cross Party- the Hungarian Nazis. Then between 1945 and 1956 the building was home to some notorious communist terror organizations. The exhibit displayed the stories of the atrocities committed by both the Nazi and Communist regimes that devastated Hungary. I watched videos of the heartbreaking testimony of survivors and made my way through a series of disturbing exhibits, ending the tour in the basement of the building that was full of cells and torture rooms where prisoners were held and executed. Not the most cheerful experience, but an amazing one nonetheless. After dinner some of us chose to brave the cold and head down to the Danube to see it at night, which was totally worth it! After the walk we then got drinks as a group at a pub near our hostel and I had a great night getting to know the people on my trip.

Danube at night

Monday: Sadly it was our last day in Hungary so we sought to make the most of it and see as much as possible before our flight that night. The larger group split into about three groups since there were different things we wanted to see and my group went the largest synagogue in Europe located in the Jewish quarter of the city. We went on a tour which was very informative though pretty hard to understand (I though we were on the wrong one at first but then realized the guide was actually speaking English, just with a VERY heavy accent). We learned about the tragic history of the Jews in Hungary during the Nazi occupation which just felt so much more real there than in a textbook. There was a beautiful metal memorial in the shape of a weeping willow with the names of each of the victims inscribed on the leaves that was particularly poignant. On the tour I got the shock of all shocks when I met a girl (Hannah Rosen for those of you who know her) I know from the English Department at Stonehill! She is studying abroad in France and was just in Budapest for the weekend and neither of us knew the other was visiting the city. Small world and amazing coincidence that we both happened to be on the same tour at a synagogue in Hungary at the same time!

Memorial close up

Memorial

Inside the Synagogue

Synagogue from outside

Hero Square in the city center

One of the many amazing views of the city

St. Mathias church, which we got to go inside of.

We had to cut the trip to the synagogue short because we were rushing to do a tour of Parliament, which we were disappointed to find was not doing tours today because of a special event. So we got lunch instead! After lunch we returned to the market we had visited the first day for souvenirs and then it was back to the hostel and then the airport for the trip back to London. All in all it was an amazing experience: I had some great food, visited some beautiful places, had some once in a lifetime experiences and meet some wonderful people!

Brawls, Bacon "Burgers," Bulgogi and Bibimbap

Ok so I'm a bit behind so here is my latest recap:

Friday February 11, 2011: Cinderella

While I have been enjoying my theatre experiences in the West End immensely, I decided it was time to venture out and explore some smaller, less well-known productions. I went to the King’s Head Theatre in Islington with my friend Christine and we saw the opera Cinderella. The theatre was very small and was also a pub, which was pretty cool. A modern take on an old favorite, the show was great and the theatre was small and intimate. I sat front row, about 5 feet from the actors. We were so close that we got hit with glitter from the fairy godfather. The best part was that they kicked us all out into the pub for intermission and as a surprise did the ballroom scene in there! It was funny to watch because a lot of people were just drinking at the pub and were not actually seeing the show and then all of a sudden Prince Charming and his servant are having a drink at the bar and burst into song, the ugly stepsisters are pushing their way through the crowd trying to catch the prince, and Cinderella rides in through the front door on her “coach” (a Barclays bike covered in a glitter). It was a great way to involve to audience and take the show outside of the traditional theatre space and I enjoyed the experience immensely (even if I did jump about a foot in the air when Prince Charming popped up right behind me and started singing at the top of his lungs).

Saturday February 12, 2011
Today I went on my own to explore Berwick Market in Soho, which was a bit of a disappointment as there were only about 4 stalls. However, I didn’t let that kill my adventurous mood and decided to get lost and just start exploring random streets (and for any concerned Friend's and family members rest easy, its a super touristy area middle of the afternoon and a nice area) Somehow in my wanderings I ended up back at Tottenham Court road, which is actually pretty close to where I live. I wasn’t ready to go home yet so I stopped at a pub and finally tried fish and chips for the first time, which was delicious. Another must-do touristy thing-check!

Saturday night I went with my roommate Alyssa to see “The Taming of the Shrew,” which I am slightly embarrassed to say is one of my favorite of Shakespeare’s comedies and, even if it is horribly sexist, I still laugh every time I see it. But the fun started before the show even did- here's the story: Alyssa and I sat down in the second row and there were two empty seats next to us. Two guys walked up and asked if they could sit there and we said that's fine. One of the guys seemed reeeeeally really drunk and was talking/slurring loudly and his friend kept getting angry and telling him to be quiet and was mad because he was ruining the show (which hadn't started yet but was about to). I'll leave out the language for the benefit of my lovely readers with delicate sensibilities but some swearing and heated words back and forth ensued and finally the non-drunk friend jumps up and yells that he is not going to sit there and deal with his friend (again omitting more swearing) and he just storms out and doesn't come back! Alyssa and I are of course SUPER uncomfortable and had no idea how to handle it since there really isn't much you can do in that situation. So, the lights go down and the show starts and it is just Alyssa, me and our sulking drunk companion sitting in the second row. The actors are in the middle of the first scene when suddenly the guy gets up and staggers toward the stage! I am absolutely horrified as I watch him go up because I'm sure he's about to ruin the show and as it turns out HE WAS IN THE SHOW! None of it was real! That whole scene was just two of the actors doing their own little preshow for their own kicks I would assume because Alyssa and I and probably whoever sat behind us were the only ones who saw it. So there you go- I went from highly uncomfortable and mortified to highly amused. Good actors because we were convinced!

The show itself was an interesting production at the very small (seriously, I felt like I was in someone's basement) Courtyard Theatre in Shoreditch because they set the play in 1960’s Hackney in the London mob world. Baptista was a mob boss and the other families were trying to marry her (they made Baptista a woman) daughters in order to get more power in London’s underworld. Petruchio became “Pete” and they interestingly tried to twist the show to make it a tragedy- abusing and killing certain characters that didn't actually happen in Shakespeare's version. It was interesting to see how the staging of a production can completely change the tone because they did not alter the script at all, just used setting and costume to morph a comedy into a tragedy. Tragic moments aside, I still found a lot of the show very funny and on the whole thought it was a great adaptation of one of my favorite plays.

Food fail: After the show we walked around and found this little hole-in-the-wall food place. I asked for a bacon cheese burger and what I got was a bagel with cream-cheese, ketchup and bacon. That's it. I may be an English major but I can handle this much math: Cream cheese + bagel + bacon + ketchup does NOT = burger. Not sure what the communication breakdown there was but there you have it. I ate and it wasn't bad, wasn't good either. I like all those things separately but together...

Sunday February 13, 2011 Oxford
Today Alyssa and I took the Oxford Tube (very confusingly named because it is a bus) to Oxford for the day. I loved the city; there was plenty to see while still retaining a charming feel and was free of the chaos and crowdedness that can occasionally be overwhelming in London. We declined the eager guide’s offer in the Tourist Information Center to join a bus tour, opting instead to explore on our own armed only with a map and two pairs of comfortable walking shows. We walked through an awesome covered market and looked at a few of the colleges (which I was outraged to find want to charge you admission to see; in protest I stuck my camera through the gate and snapped a few pictures anyway). We went to a pretty cool Natural History museum that belongs on Hoarders- there was so much stuff packed into this small area it was overwhelming in an awesome kind of way.

Botanical Gardens Best candy store ever! I got a "cable" that was, as you can see, a GIANT piece of strawberry licorice filled with this sweet white filling. SO GOOD!

Cutest candy animals at the market

Wednesday February 16th

Went to see the "Magic Flute" with my theatre class at the Royal Opera House. We all got dressed up because it was a huge fancy opera production and no one gets dressed up anymore which is a shame so we decided to revive the tradition (and lots of people were actually dressed up so it was nice). The show was completely in German but the had subtitles on a screen above the stage so we got the gist of what was going on. The production started off with a mishap because the conductor fell as he was coming out and they made us all leave the theatre which was a pain with hundreds of people and then 5 minutes later had us all come back in. Poor guy was too shaken to conduct so they luckily had a back-up and the show could still go on. It was good... but REALLY REALLY long. When at intermission they say there are 95minutes left it gets a bit draining. But it was free so I'm not going to complain! I think I like musicals and plays better than operas so far but I still enjoyed it very much.

Friday February 18, 2011

I meet up with Kelly at Trafalgar Square to hear all about her adventures and we got lunch then went to the National Gallery. The place was so huge we could only see a little bit. The best part was I saw at least 5 paintings I had studied in my high school humanities class- nice to see I remembered and even more cool to actually see them live! Failed in my attempts trying to climb the big monument in the middle of the square. I got up to highest spot I could on the monument but was unable to climb the lions :( So I took a nice picture with the lion's butt because that is as far as I got!

We decided to be spontaneous and stop in and see if they did student discount tickets at various theatres and ending up seeing the musical "Shoes." I asked the woman at the box office what the show was about and she said "Shoes." And she wasn't kidding: the entire thing was about shoes. No plot, no characters just incredible/elaborate musical numbers devoted to flipflops, boots, Birkenstocks, stilettos, various designer brands, etc. etc. I got such a kick out of the whole thing and had a blast! Favorite part: Jesus wearing Birkenstocks shepherding the ugg boot wearing folks dressed as sheep. Apparently the critics hated it because nothing happened: I say settle down people; not everyone can do Hamlet and dramatic/ serious plays, sometimes it is nice to just see some witty song and dance all about shoes!

Saturday February 19, 2011

Went out for my first Korean food experience with Changmi (who was nice enough to guide us through the menu so I could avoid the super spicy things), Nina, Christine and Hannah. I got Bibimbap with bulgogi which was this rice/veggie/steak mix in a really hot big stone pot. SO GOOD and I am looking forward to trying more Korean food soon. Afterwards we went to this 50's style bowling alley that is right across the street from my flat. Lots of people were dressed up which was entertaining to see. We went for the milkshakes which were expensive but delicious!

Well, that's all I've got for now, more updates to come when I have more adventures!