Bertolet and Team Take a Bath

Like every week so far this past week has been incredibly busy. In school alone I had a paper, a test, and had to read Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I loved Pride and Prejudice. Call me what ever you want for enjoying a "girl book", but it is a good book. At first I thought I was going to hate the book because Mrs. Bennett and the little Bennett girls would never shut up, but once I realized that they were supposed to get on your nerves and they would make you like Elizabeth, Jane, the Gardiners, Mr. Bennett, Mr. Darcy, and Mr. Bingley all the more I understood why Austen made them so annoying. It was also pretty neat to be able to see where Jane Austen lived in Bath and see her tomb in Winchester Cathedral. It makes learning much more hands on and enjoyable.

This past weekend I did some serious traveling throughout England. On Friday, we went to Warwick to see Warwick Castle. Warwick Castle is incredible, but the lame Renaissance Festival going on inside the castle was not incredible. We knew we were in trouble when the signs outside of the castle were claiming that Warwick Castle was "the number one family attraction in England", and that it was possible to buy season passes. Season passes are great if you are going to Six Flags or White Water, but not that great for a castle built in 1068. There was a guy spitting fire, a extremely cheesy joust (think medieval times meets WCW wrestling), an exhibit showing the torture devices used in Warwick, and a falconry exhibit which made my want to chant War Eagle every time the bird landed on the arm of the trainer. That doesn't sound that bad, but think of that with about a thousand other people and the majority of those people are toddlers dressed up in knight outfits crying and waving plastic swords. It became old quickly. The one redeeming factor was the train ride. Warwick is Northwest of London, almost to Birmingham, and it was the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen. I must have seen a billion sheep and cows.

The next day, on Saturday, we went by train to Salisbury and Stonehenge. Stonehenge is one of those things that I am glad I have done, but have no real desire to do again. It does boggle one's mind to think how people 5,000 years ago could move such massive rocks, especially from as far away as Wales, but all one can really do is look and take some pictures. We took some pictures and decided that it was indeed done by aliens then headed to the town of Salisbury. Salisbury sits on the Salisbury plain, it looks like the Midwest, so very flat. It was beautiful though. Nothing but green pastures, hedges, fields of gold flowers, streams, and sheep. Salisbury is a very neat old town, and the cathedral has the tallest church spire in Britain. Salisbury used to be very important and was the place where Magna Carta was signed. Magna Carta (the great charter in Latin) was a document signed in 1215 by King John of England and the barons. The Magna Carta basically said the king couldn't do anything he wanted and that he was not above the law. It also laid the groundwork for trail by jury and habeas corpus (an appeal against unlawful imprisonment). It is the founding document of democracy in the English speaking world. Inside the cathedral is one of four remaining copies and the best preserved at that. Pretty neat.

Saturday was my roommate and friend Ben's birthday, so that night we decided we were going to have a Euro Trash Bash. We went to a couple stores and bought some cheap European clothes: tight pants, bright and tight shirts, fake glasses, and hair gel. I also shaved a moustache and chops (I still have them). About fifteen of us went out to some North African restaurant and had a surprisingly good meal. By the time we were done with our meal it was 11:00 and so we set of to find a Euro Trash club, one with a lot of techno. Remembering my last experience with a club as soon as it was midnight I took off so I could catch the tube home and wouldn't have to walk home like everybody else did.

On Sunday we went to take the waters, or that is what we would have said if it were 1700 and we were going to Bath. Bath is known for its hot springs and its baths. As early as the first century the Romans had built baths there. To this day you can still see the Roman baths. They are pretty incredible. There is not much difference between a modern spa and the Roman baths. They had steam rooms, saunas, hot baths, warm baths, and cold baths. There were even people available to give massages. After seeing the Roman baths we walked around Bath and saw all the sights, including Jane Austen's house. We then headed home to get ready for another long week of school.Remember to check out my Flickr page for more Pictures!

Pictures

I have just figured out how to post pictures and videos on my blog, which is great because it gives you a face for my silly writings, but if you want to see more go to my Flickr page. The address is http://www.flickr.com/photos/38508554@N08/sets/

Vienna, Salzberg, Germany, and Tajikistan

"So here we are, four American college kids in the cheapest suits imaginable with a very small man from Tajikistan, who is also the sleepiest person in the world, sitting on the seventh row of a Mozart concert in Vienna."

I am on a roll when it comes to blogging, my third in five days.

I am back in London. No more Austria for me, at least for a little while. This past weekend has been one of the best weekends I can remember. We never stopped doing things. I haven't even slept. Over the past two nights I have probably gotten five to six hours of sleep in total. Go. Go. Go.

Saturday morning we decided to get a late start, because we were so tired from walking all through Vienna on Friday. We met at 10:00 and and got some breakfast. In Vienna, it is still legal to smoke in restaurants, so we enjoyed a healthy dose of second hand smoke with our eggs and coffee. We then went to the Hundertwasser's apartments. Hundertwasser is the Picasso of architecture. The building is wacky. No straight lines and crazy colors. There is cafe on the balcony of the apartments, so we got some coffee there. We then decided to go see the Danube, because it is a major river in Europe and I had to memorize it in eighth grade World Cultures. We decided to go through Prater Park on our way to the river. Prater Park is a beautiful natural park with meadows, walking trails, bike trails, woods, and an amusement park. That's right an amusement park, actually it was half amusement park and half carnival. It was a very strange experience to go from walking in the woods to suddenly being in an amusement park. People were everywhere, and like most places in Europe techno music was blaring. They had an American themed bumper cars ride complete with Uncle Sam, eighteen wheelers, Confederate flags, girls in bikinis, and state names. Pretty much everything that is America. Then we saw it--The Boomerang. A roller coaster that went backwards and forwards. Of course we rode it. Actually by most American amusement park standards it was a pretty lame roller coaster, but by Austrian standards it was awesome. From there we went to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, an art and history museum. It was one of the best museums I have ever been to. It had extensive collections of Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Greek and Roman artifacts, but the most impressive was the art. They had works from some of the best ever, including Titian, Veronese, Raphael, Rembrandt, Durer, Rubens, Bruegel, Van Der Weyden, and Van Eyck. Those are just the people I remember from art history class. I am sure that a more informed person would have enjoyed it even more than me. We then headed home to rest up before the Mozart concert.

While at home we met the most interesting person. His name was Farzod, but we called him Oddjob, because he was small and we couldn't really understand what he said when he first introduced himself. He was from Tajikistan, and he didn't speak English very well. Here are some sample conversations between Farzod and myself:

Farzod: What is your name?
Me: Joe
F: Jim?
M: No, Joe.
F: Jim?
M: No JOOOEE
F: Jim?
M: Yes, Jim.
F: Oh, ok, I am Farzod.

Me: Oh, cool, you are from Tajikistan. I have never met anyone from Tajikistan. I know it is by Afghanistan and China, but what is it like?
Farzod: It is between Russia and Afghanistan.
M: Oh, ok, but what is it like?
F: No, no, no it is between Russia and Afghanistan.
M: Oh, well, I am from America.
F: Oh, the land of dreams.
All of us: Yeah, I guess you could say that.

Me: Farzod, I am going home to go to sleep. Goodnight.
Farzod: Huh?
M: I am going to sleep.
F: NO! I sleep here.
M: Ok.
F: Keeps pointing at his bed.
M: Goodbye, Farzod.
F: He gets up and shakes my hand.

I am not making those up. I couldn't they are too good.

When we first met Farzod we thought he was really into partying, but we were wrong. We came to this assumption because every time we saw him he was sleeping. We would wake up in the morning, and he would be sleeping. We would come home in the middle of the day, and he would be sleeping. We would get back at night, and he would be sleeping. The boy could sleep. Our only conclusions was that he was going out and staying out all night long and then sleeping all day. When we finally got up the nerve to ask him why he slept so much he said that he had been working the night shift at the hospital and that he was in Vienna training to be a doctor. We felt dumb. However, he did sleep on average at least fifteen hours a day. He was always asleep. Well after our long discussion with Farzod, we had to get dressed to go to the concert. The attire was dressy so I had bought a 25 pound suit from Primart--their version of JC Penny. The suit actually doesn't look that bad. As we were about to leave Farzod came and asked if he could come too. None of us had the heart to tell him no, but we told him how much it cost and that it might be sold out. He didn't understand any of it. He got dressed in jeans, corduroy blazer, and a tie but because he is so short he had to tuck the back skinny part into his dress shirt, like a kid when he wears his Dad's tie. We took the subways over to the concert and went inside to pick up our tickets and for Farzod to buy a ticket. Tickets cost 25 Euros with a student ID. Farzod could not afford a ticket, so we all pooled our money and bought him a ticket. I think the ticket lady was so impressed by our kindness that she gave us 80 euro tickets, even though we only bought 40 euro tickets. We were on the seventh row. So here we are, four American college kids in the cheapest suits imaginable with a very small man from Tajikistan, who is also the sleepiest person in the world, sitting on the seventh row of a Mozart concert in Vienna. It was like the Beverly Hillbillies at the opera. As soon as the music started Farzod feel asleep--like always. At first the only reason I went was to say that I had seen Mozart in Vienna, but I must admit I actually enjoyed it. After the concert we all went home and went to bed because we had to be up at the crack of dawn to catch a train to Salzburg.

The train left at 5:55 in the morning, so I was up at 5:00 and had gone to bed only four hours before. However, I had too much adrenaline coursing through me to be tired. I was ready to go. It is about a two hour and forty-five minute train almost all the way across Austria and it is beautiful. On the train we meet a bizarre man named Cole Artur, who had lived all over, and he informed us that the world was coming to an end because he gets "too much paper with chemicals on it in the mail everyday". Got it. Once we got to Salzburg, we had no idea what to do. We didn't even know where the city was in relation to us. Then we bought a guide book with a map and the city was at that point all but concurred. We walked downtown and had some stroudls and coffee. The main attraction is Salzburg is the Hohensalzburg, a castle built on top of a mountain in 1077. It served as the home to the Archbishop of Salzburg, who was not only the religious leader, but also the secular leader. The archbishops always had tons of money due to the salt mines located close by. Salzburg means the salt city. In the olden times if one had salt one had money. Salt wasn't just used for cooking but also for preserving. The saying "isn't worth his weight in salt" is a Roman saying meaning that if one got a slave he probably bought the slave using salt and if the slave wasn't any good then he wasn't "worth his weight in salt". Salt was valuable. This meant the Archbishops could build an incredible castle, and that they did. The castle is huge and looks very intimidating on the mountain. One has to take a trolley to simply get to the castle. We spent about 3 hours touring the castle and looking at the spectacular views of Salzburg and Austria to the east, and the Alps and Germany to the west. We ate lunch on the west side and had fabulous views of the Alps. While we were eating we noticed a tiny dot passing between to mountains, we quickly decided that it had to be a gondola. We had to do it. We spent the next thirty minutes trying to find a way to get to the gondola. The person in the tourism booth told us it to take bus 25 to the Untersberg stop. After about a 25 minute bus ride we were at the gondola, we quickly paid our 19 euros and were on our way up. In some parts it was straight up. On the way up the views were incredible. Once we got to the top to the views were even better. If not the prettiest thing I have ever seen, then it is up there. We hiked about thirty minutes into Germany, through snow and over rocks, in my loafers--the same loafers I wore to the concert the night before. We were now about 6,000 feet above sea level, and to our east was nothing but Alps and Germany, and to the west was nothing but valley and Austria. It was incredible. It was the end of May and we were having a snowball fight. We stayed up for about an hour then took the last gondola down and then a bus to the train station. We then caught the train back to Vienna. On the train we met the only normal people we met the whole weekend. They were three college students from Australia and they were studying in Vienna for six months. They were from Australia, but one was originally from Hong Kong and one from Sri Lanka. Very neat, smart, and cool people. We got back to Vienna around 10:30 and went straight to our hostels.

The next morning we were up at 4:00 to catch our 6:55 flight back to England. Both Airports were a breeze and we where back at Regents College by noon. It was an incredible weekend, but I am very tired, so I must go.

Another List

Hear is another list of things I have learned, but this is the German model, the BMW if you will.

-People in Austria speak English very well, they just don't like to. I bought some soap today from an Austrian style CVS and went to check out when the lady behind the counter barked something at me in German. I gave the universal sign of confusion--elbows bent, hands shoulder height, palms facing the sky, and slight tilt of my head. Her eyebrows furrowed, she rolled her eyes and smugly said "Do you want a bag?" She had no accent.

-Vienna is beautiful. A very new city by European standards, very little dates before the 17th century. This is due mainly to the fact that the Ottoman Empire was always a very real threat. Then when the Ottomans started to decline and the Hapsburgs made Vienna their capital the city flourished.

-Vienna is very laid back. Lots of outdoor cafes and plazas for sitting and eating.

-The Danube is swift and dirty.

-London has exponentially more pigeons.

-Vienna is considered by many as the furthest east major Western city (I wish I could word that better). This idea even dates back to the Romans. It has a very different feel than any other European city I have been to.

-Having a glass of wine at an Italian restaurant in the middle of a plaza over looking a baroque style church feels good.

-German street signs always appear as if they are yelling at you.

-People at hostels are much too happy. I walked in my hostel and people from about a thousand different nations were sitting around listing to Bob Dylan, sharing instruments (bongos, guitars, and ukuleles), drinking beer, laughing, and telling stories. I felt like I was in some uber cheesy utopia.

-I want to be miles away if bongos are being passed around, because most people can't play so they end up playing the same beat. BOOM BOOM BOOM TAP BOOM BOOM BOOM TAP BOOM BOOM BOOM TAP drum roll.

-People love to make fun of America. They do this as they sit around listening to their iPods, playing on their Mac Books, wearing an entire outfit of Nike gear, and drinking a coke. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Okay, so here are two quick stories from today, my first full day in Austria.

-We met a Dutch girl named Claudia, very attractive and spoke very good English, but she hated America. She said she never wanted to go to America because she was afraid of running into George W. Bush..... Yeah, just randomly running into W. As we all know, Bush is so bored and confused by his lack of power that he has been wondering the streets of major American cities since January. Watch out.

-We went to the Austrian natural history museum and came across one of those large plywood things with some painting on the front and holes cut out where the peoples faces used to be so that you can stick your face in the painting. Most of the time these things are at carnivals and the painting is of a gorilla and girl in a bikini pinching the gorilla's nipple. This one was of a Renaissance painting and the heads of four people had been cut out. Since there are four guys on our trip we decided to get our picture taken in it. Clay went and asked someone that worked at the museum to take the picture. The guy he picked didn't speak any English. I handed him my camera and pointed to the button and then went and got in the picture. He stood all the way against the opposite wall and took the picture. I got my camera back and looked at the picture and I couldn't even see our faces, because he was so far away. So I asked him to take it again and showed him where I thought he should stand. He must of thought that I was asking to take his picture because he promptly walked around the back and stuck his face though. All the other guys left the room because they were laughing so hard. So here I am with this German speaking museum worker and his head is sticking out of a Renaissance painting. I quickly took the picture and left before I fell on the floor of laughter. It is the funniest picture I have ever seen. He never once smiled.

So as I was typing this a guy and girl walked in made up two separate beds then turned the lights and crawled in the same bed. These are little beds too. I swear if I am woken up in the middle of the night. I might punch someone...or tell on them. Not sure.

Well tomorrow we have another full day in Vienna, but then on Sunday we take the train to Salzburg, Austria. If you have never seen pictures of Salzburg I implore you to Google them. Think Sound of Music.

Books, Buses, and Babes...okay babes is pushing it, but the alliteration is awesome.

5-21-09 12:20 AM

It has been almost a week since my last post, and I am sorry about not keeping ya’ll up to date. This lack of blogging is caused by my hectic schedule, not by my forgetfulness. I promise. It has been such a long time I am having trouble remembering what all I have done since my last post.

Last Saturday the entire Auburn class went to Canterbury, the home of the Archduke of Canterbury, the head of the Anglican Church, and also the destination of the pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales. We went to Canterbury because our teacher is obsessed with Chaucer, lets just say he wears a Canterbury Tales neck tie on a regular basis. Canterbury is about an hour and half from London and it was a beautiful train ride through the countryside. Once one is out of London it becomes rural quickly. We toured the cathedral and the city for about 4 or 5 hours. Canterbury is very small and very lovely, a stream runs through the middle of it, and the stream is full of trout. The guys walked through a park where we saw two strange looking teenagers walking their ferrets. Actually they were dragging their ferrets, we could hear the ferrets claws scratching against the asphalt as their “masters” pulled them along. Ferrets are dumb pets.

Once we got back to London we decided to go out to a local pub called The Volunteer. I had a great time there, then made the worst decision I have made on the entire trip. I agreed to go to Piccadilly Circus and try and find a place that stayed open a little later. The tubes close at midnight so we had to take a bus. We waited for about fifteen minutes at the bus stop and during that waiting we lost half of our crowd. They decided they were too tired. In hindsight I was too tired too. It was now just me and four girls: one girl from University of Florida, one from LSU, one from the University of South Carolina, and one from a small school in Wisconsin. We finally got on a bus and made it to Piccadilly Circus and went to a place called Club Storm. I hate Club Storm. Club Storm is one of those places that you hear exist in Europe, but you aren’t really sure if they are as bad as they sound. They are worse. Techno music was screaming out of the speakers and half the people were making out on the dance floor and the other half were strange looking men with mullets. We stayed for about an hour and left at 1:45. On the way out the girl from South Carolina saw a friend from USC and of course she joined in on our party. We are now a party of six, really only two because four of the girls are drunk. We walk around for about an hour trying to find a bus station with a bus that will take us home. We can’t. Well the whole time was not searching, we (myself and the girl from LSU) also spent some of the time making sure the girls kept their shoes on and telling them it was not a good time for pizza. Finally, I hailed a cab and we all piled in, the problem is London cabs only hold five. I got out and told the Cabbie to take the girls to Regent’s Park. He says okay and starts to pull away when the door opens and Hope, the girl from LSU, gets out and says she is staying with me. I am a little upset, but Hope is by far the most level headed out of all the other girls, so I finally give in. We walk around for about another hour and finally find the right bus stop. We get on the bus and start heading home. Hope and I are just sitting on the bus and talking when I notice that I don’t recognize anything anymore. I get up and ask the bus driver who informs me that we missed our stop about ten minutes ago. Who know you had to tell the bus driver to stop at your station? She stops the bus and Hope and I cross the street to the other bus stop and wait for the bus to come back by. We are in northwest London all by ourselves, except for these four German guys waiting at the stop and throwing full Heinekens in the road so cars run over them. After about twenty minutes another bus picks us up and we make it back to Regent’s Park. We walked back to the school at 4:45 as bird were chirping and the sun was coming up.

The next morning I woke up after very little sleep and went to All Souls Church. It was a wonderful service and sermon. It was an expository sermon, which are always okay with me. The church was extremely international, there were almost as many Asians as white people. I went to bed very early Sunday night.

The next day I meet up with Camilla and some of the other Auburn folks and had a great time hanging out with them. Then on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I was doing school work almost all day, including writing my first paper while being over here. I did take a break on Wednesday and went to some of the really fancy men’s stores and looked at price tags. I also went in the Beretta store where I picked up a gun that cost 300,000 USD. Pocket Change.

Right now, it is Thursday night and I am laying in a bed at a hostel in Vienna, Austria. I am staying in a hostel by myself, my three traveling partners are in a different hostel about two miles down the road. It is a long story. This is my first ever hostel experience and so far so good. While I was typing this a girl from Korea who is sleeping on my top bunk leaned down and asked if she could “tern de wights off?” A couple of minutes ago three guys walked in and walked over to the window and smoked some weed. I am probably second hand high right now, which I am not sure is even possible. The hostel I am staying in is very clean and the staff has been very friendly. The only problem so far is that it is about the temperature of the sun in here, oh and the internet doesn’t work (I am typing this on Word and am going to post it later). You just can’t beat fifteen euros a night.

Hopefully Austria will be exciting, it has to be. The three other guys and myself don’t speak a lick of German. I don’t even know how we made it to our hostels with out getting terribly lost. Lets just hope I don’t have to take the bus anywhere.

Press Ups

The first thing I need to do is apologize to Alysha for a insensitive and careless comment I made in my last post. I am sorry.

Since my last post I have been very busy. Wednesday morning Clay, Jordan, Brittnee, Rachel, and I met in the lobby with intentions of seeing the Prime Minister take questions from Parliament. The PM only sees Parliament on Wednesday mornings at 11:00, and they leave forty spots open to the public. Well when we got there the House of Parliament guards told us that all the spots were already full and that most people make reservations months in advance with the help of a representative. Dang. Not to worry, Westminster Abbey is right across the street. We walked over and paid our 12 pound student fee and picked up a headset for the self guided tour. The Abbey is incredible. It was finished in 1065, one year before the Norman invasion of 1066, and is the last Saxon style church built in England. Most churches built after Westminster Abbey are known as Norman style churches, or as they are called on the mainland Romanesque. However, very little of the original church is left because different monarchs have added rooms or done renovations. I saw the tombs of Elizabeth I, Geoffrey Chaucer, Handel, and almost every other monarch and famous person from England. When I was about to leave a priest came up to me and asked if I was there to attended the service. I thought about it for a split second, and didn't see any reason why I shouldn't attend. So, I said, that is exactly why I am here. The service lasted about 30 minutes and consisted mainly of sitting, standing and reading responsive prayers out of the bulletin. The cool thing was at the end they said if you would like to receive communion please come and kneel at the alter. I went down and knelt at the alter and priest handed me a wafer off an extremely shiny plate, then another priest tilted my head back and poured some very odd tasting wine in my mouth. The priest then dismissed us. I didn't really know what I was doing the whole time but the lady next to me was dressed in nun gear so I just followed her lead and everything worked out alright. I think it is pretty cool to have taken communion at Westminster Abbey.

We then walked past the Prime Minister's house, into Trafalgar Square, past St. James Park (I think), then to Buckingham Palace. The palace is a site to see, but that is really all one can do. There is a big fence and guards in tall hats with automatic weapons guarding it. We stayed about ten minutes and then took the tube to the Tower of London. We walked around Tower of London and then across the Tower Bridge, not to be confused with the London Bridge (which was bought by an American and is now in Arizona), to the south side of the Thames. We stopped and got a drink at this really cool bar over looking the Thames, Tower Bridge, and Tower of London. It was pretty dark by this point so we decided to head home.

The next day was Thursday, and on Thursdays I have class from 10:00 to 5:20 with only a 30 minute break for lunch. So nothing too exciting happened during the day, but that night everything changed. The four guys decided that we would go to Camden Park and walk around for awhile and grab a bite to eat. We ended up eating at this place called Woody's Grill, an appropriate name for a restaurant made entirely of wood, however not a very appropriate name for a Middle Eastern restaurant. Being guys, what originally attracted us to Woody's was the two huge spinning things of meat in the window. We walked in and what they should have said is "Welcome to Moe's", but they didn't. Woody's was a Middle Eastern Moe's. I got a lamb burrito looking thing. They kept asking me if I wanted different things on it and since I couldn't understand what was being said I kept saying yes. My buritto was huge. When I put my burrito down to pay it rolled of the counter and they had to make me one again. We ate pretty fast then headed back to dorm to meet the girls to go out to a few pubs. Once we got back to the dorm we sat around and waited on the girls for about 2 hours. By this time it was 9:00. We walked to the Globe Pub, Sir Arthur Doyle and Charles Dickens drank there, and ordered a few drinks. We had been there about an hour when this extremely drunk and British 50 year old man came up and started hitting on Leslie, a very attractive Auburn coed, so naturally I acted like she was my long time girl friend. Well he kept telling me and her that she was the must beautiful girl in the bar and that if she was his girl he would treat her like a lady should be treated. He also told me that I was the ugliest person in the bar with my curly hair and big nose, and that she was way out of my league. I kept telling him that we were in love and that I would be willing to fight over her. Jokingly of course. Well he said he accepted my offer and so I stood up. Well I guess he didn't realize it when I was sitting down, but a good head taller than he was. We both then decided that we shouldn't fight over her and that we should have a press up competition instead. We quickly cleared the air that a press up was the same as a push up so I accepted only on the grounds that he go first. I didn't think he would do it, but never underestimate a drunk person. He got down on his hands and knees and did about ten of the worst push-ups I have ever seen. I am far from Trent or Chris Goodson when it comes to push-ups, but I was able to do a few more than ten. The most surprising thing is that he then shook my hand and left with out really saying a word. We then sat around and laughed for a long time about how strange it was and that I might have been the first person in the 250 year history of the Globe Pub to have a push up competition. That pub closed at 11:00 and so we were forced to go to a few more pubs, but none were as exciting as the first.

This morning we had to be at the train station at 10:00 to go Hampton Court Palace. Hampton Court was the royal residence for Henry VII and for about 200 years after him. The palace is very neat, but the gardens around the palace are wonderful. We stayed for about 3 or 4 hours eating, walking through the house, and around the gardens. There is a maze on the grounds that was very disappointing in its difficulty. We then rode the train back and have been hanging out in the dorms every since. It is raining pretty hard.

Tomorrow we go to Canterbury which I am very excited about, but I am probably more excited about the two hour train ride through the English countryside. Pray for good weather.

Oh The Things I Have Learned

Well it is Wednesday morning so I guess it is the beginning of my fourth day and I have already learned a lot. I have decided to make a list of the things I have learned because I like lists.

-When they say London is an international city they are not lying. There are as many Indians, Arabic/Persian/Middle Eastern, Asian, and Africans as there are white people. Everywhere you look a new language is being spoken, don't know how one sees a language, but you get the picture.

-English bacon is not bacon, but rather a combination of country ham and Canadian bacon. I still eat it though.

-An extensive public transportation system is far superior to driving cars. The tubes (subways) are easy, quick, efficient, and go everywhere. I don't want to say that I have mastered the tubes, but I have become much more proficient at getting from point A to point B. I still spend much of my time looking at my tube map praying I am on the Bakerloo line heading towards Baker Street.

-There are no such things as waiters/waitresses. No matter how long one sits at a table in a pub no one will ask for your order. I learned from experienced. I sat for about 30 minutes and was about to get up and complain about the service, when I noticed the only person working the pub was the barkeep. I promptly stood up and awkwardly ordered a beer. This is a sample conversation between me and the barkeep. Me: "Umm, yeah, like, umm, what is your favorite beer?" awkward eye contact Barkeep: "Well are you looking for something dark, light, hoppy, nutty, full-flavored, sweet, bitter, wheaty or Guinness?" more awkward eye contact Me: "Yes" even more awkward eye contact and a long silence Me:"Okay, you guys got Budweiser?" Barkeep: "Yup" Me: "I will have one of those." Barkeep: "That will be (some amount of money that I can't quite understand)." I then hand him 20 pounds and receive about fifteen to twenty coins back, at least 3 lbs worth of specie. Okay so it normally isn't that bad, but I am no pro.

-The parks over here are way better than parks in America. I was not expecting to be blown away by the flora and fauna on this trip, but I really have been. Regent's Park has a garden right in the middle known as Queen Mary's Garden which has about 3 billion different plants and trees and 2 million ducks and pigeons. It is quite incredible.

-People from the southern United States are way more normal, nice, and attractive than Yankees. I already knew that but there are some Yankees from schools I have never heard of in my classes, and I have some advice. NFL themed hoodies are never okay, unless you are in Green Bay in November. Oh and hair gel should be treated like a fossil fuel, use only when necessary so that we do not run out in forty or so years.

-Going to one class for three and a half hours is awful, especially if you have two of them back to back. Four day weekends sure will be nice though.

-It is possible to get 4 papers and two tests assigned in one class even if you do only meet twice a week for six weeks. That is a test or a paper a week. The good news is that we really only have class on Thursday because every Tuesday will be spent at a different cathedral around England. Thank you Lady Sophie Laws (that is my Religion and the Arts teacher, she is a member of the aristocracy, and is married to a Lord--crazy ).

-Concerts are the same everywhere. People bobbing their heads, awkwardly dancing, making out, and getting high.

-It is chilly over here. I don't think it got out of the 50's yesterday. No rain so far though. Which is a little bit of a bummer, because I really want to try out my new rain coat.

-Oh and London is legit, dog, for real.

Well that is a brief list of the things I have learned. Hopefully there will be more to come.

P.S. I totally got this British girl's e-mail address at the Andrew Bird concert. Everyone knows what that means, right?

Jet Lag

Well, we arrived at Gatwick airport yeasterday at 6:45 in the morning, and I didn't sleep a wink on the plane. Since everything was new and exciting I wasn't very tired. Baggage reclaim, it's what the British call baggage claim, was a breeze and the line for immigration was short too. Things were looking great. When I got to the front of the line I was sent to a miserable immigration officer, she was short, fat, black and on a power trip. I showed her my passport and she immediately called for backup. Two other immigration officers came over and after showing my drivers liscense and Tiger Card (I was about to pull out my SCUBA liscense, the only other form of photo ID I had on me) they finally believed the passport was actually mine. I then had to present every document I had on my person to this lady who took about ten minutes to read each one and asked as many questions as possible. This whole time everyone else in my group is standing on the other side watching me squirm. Finally after an eternity I was allowed to enter the country.

We then took the Gatwick express from the airport to Victoria Station in downtown London (on the train ride I saw a fox wondering through someone's backyard--I felt very British). Once we got to Victoria Station it was about a twenty minute tube ride to Baker Street stop, and then a ten minute walk from there to our dorm. The school is in Regents Park, a beautiful park with tons of ducks, joggers, and gardens. The school is beautiful as well but the beds are awful. Most summer camps have better beds. We hung out around the dorm for awhile and ate lunch there, I had a truly terrible chicken salad sandwich. After lunch a group of us set out to explore our neighborhood and purchase cell phones. We found cell phones and found out that British people drive awesome cars. I saw three Farraris, two Bentleys, and a slew of Range Rovers, BMWs, Jaguars, Lexus, and Mercedes. No Fords or Cheavys. A then smaller group of us set out to find bath towels. Finding Atlantis would have been easier. We asked about ten people and no one knew what we were talking about, or let alone where we could find one. We finally found a towel at Marks and Spencers. If a Target, Nordstroms, and Ikea had a baby together it would be M & S. After that we walked back to the dorm where I tried to get the internet on my laptop to work to no avail. Me and the other three guys then went to a pub called Volunteers where I almost fell asleep in my beer. I came back and ate dinner at the dorm and went to bed at 7:00. Which is why I am making this post at 6:00 in the morning.

Waiting...

Well, this is my first blog and first ever blog post, and I am more nervous about this post than I am about spending six weeks in a foreign country. Don't ask me why.

Tomorrow is the big day. I fly out of Atlanta tomorrow at 5:35 pm (Atlanta time) and should arrive in London at 7:00 am (London time) Sunday. I am traveling with nine Auburn students, one student from NC State, and two Auburn faculty, and I know none of them. By no means am I looking for a new set of best friends, but normal people sure would be great. You know people that are somewhat culturally aware, like they can name Auburn's new football coach and what Brittany Spears actually means by If U Seek Amy. People I can talk to. However, if the people do turn out to be wacky I will still have Camilla Thompson to keep me company. Camilla and are to be world travelers, or at least European travelers. We shall leave no country unexplored, no museum unvisited, no discotheque undominated... Okay, so that might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but not that big.

Well, I hope that my first ever blog was not too much of a disappointment, and that everyone will stay tuned. I am going to try and make at least two posts a week and post a few pictures, but I can't promise anything. My next post shall be London.