Since last post, nothing too exciting has happened.. just going along with the day to day activities of living in Florence. I had my mid-term exam Wednesday morning, wasn't too difficult.
Yesterday after class we went to the Ufizzi Gallery. The gallery holds many, many works of art. Not being an art historian myself, I was unfamiliar with a lot of the pieces, but I did get to see the Birth of Venus, one of the few I recognized. We toured the gallery for about 2 hours, then headed home.
Yesterday was another gorgeous day, a little colder than we have been used to. Sunny though!
I had my first laundry experience abroad yesterday. I was running low on essentials, so I was forced to find a laundromat. It's pretty expensive 7 Euro for a wash and dry. Had to be done! We made a group trip out of it, a few of us went together.
Today was a sunny, beautiful day. Jackie and I spent a while working on logistics of our spring break trip. As of now we are flying from Rome to Athens and spending the week in the Greek Islands. Dont be too jealous!!
After finishing up typing this, I'll try to post the most recent pics.. More to come after the weekend in Venice!
Ciao for now,
Megan
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Vecchio, Pisa, Sunny Afternoon in Florence
Ciao!
The last few days have been action packed with activities. Today we finally had a sunny day in Florence! Its been pretty overcast since we got here, so it was a relief to finally see blue skies and sunshine, I got a whole new perspective on the true beauty of Florence.
Sunday, Jan 25th, our group travelled to Vicchio in the Tuscan countryside for a local soccer match. The bus ride was along a windy, steep road with beautiful views of the countryside. Upon arrival, I would say the stadium was about the size of the Essex High School football stadium, for all you Vermonters, and it was packed. Fans got pretty riled up with noisemakers and cheers for the local game. It was pretty cold, we were told it had snowed the night before. The mountains in the distance were capped with snow, not a site that I miss much! The game was a little slow paced, and ended in a 0-0 tie. After the match, we had free time to walk around the town. The town consisted of a small square with a few shops and not much else! Since it was late afternoon on a Sunday nothing was open except a small cafe. We were all very cold, so we decided to sit and get a warm drink. I ordered a ciocolata calda (hot chocolate). It ended up being more like warm pudding, but delicious. It was very viscous and had to be eaten with a spoon. The local Vicchio soccer team was cooking us dinner, so we wandered back to the field after warming up in the cafe. We sat in a heated tent right near the stadium. A few members of the team also came to eat with us. It appeared their booster club, or equivalent, cooked dinner for us. No easy task with 166 students! Everything was of course delicious. I think they were trying to make us feel at home with the music, they kept playing the YMCA... We took the bus home, and I was exhausted and turned in early.
Monday morning was back to class. After class, about half of our group took a bus to Pisa to see the sights there. The bus ride took about an hour and 45 minutes. The town itself isn't very big, we toured the Baptistry, Duomo, connecting burial grounds, and of course got plenty of pictures of the Leaning Tower. The Leaning Tower was built as a bell tower for the church. Today if all of its 12 bells rang at once, it would fall over immediately. We learned that the original creator of the Tower was fired then exiled because of the mishap. All of his successors also had no luck and the tower leans 5 m. All of the buildings have a small lean to them, but the Tower is the most prominent because it carries so much weight on such a small surface area. The other buildings cover more ground so the lean is less noticeable.
Today, Tuesday, we had class in the morning. It was spent mostly to review for our 'midterm' tomorrow. Hard to believe we've been in Florence for a week and a half already, time is flying by! After class, Jackie, Lizzie, Suzanne, Jess and I climbed to the top of the Piazzale Michelangelo and got the most beautiful views of Florence. I highly recommend doing this for any future travelers to Florence, it was breath-taking. I took many pictures, I'll post them as soon as I can!
Tomorrow after class, I will visit the Uffizi Gallery. Friday morning we leave for Venice, where we will be all weekend. Monday afternoon, I will be visiting Siena. Next Thursday we move to Rome! Only a few precious days left in Firenze.
That's it for now! I'm having a blast, I may never come home!!
The last few days have been action packed with activities. Today we finally had a sunny day in Florence! Its been pretty overcast since we got here, so it was a relief to finally see blue skies and sunshine, I got a whole new perspective on the true beauty of Florence.
Sunday, Jan 25th, our group travelled to Vicchio in the Tuscan countryside for a local soccer match. The bus ride was along a windy, steep road with beautiful views of the countryside. Upon arrival, I would say the stadium was about the size of the Essex High School football stadium, for all you Vermonters, and it was packed. Fans got pretty riled up with noisemakers and cheers for the local game. It was pretty cold, we were told it had snowed the night before. The mountains in the distance were capped with snow, not a site that I miss much! The game was a little slow paced, and ended in a 0-0 tie. After the match, we had free time to walk around the town. The town consisted of a small square with a few shops and not much else! Since it was late afternoon on a Sunday nothing was open except a small cafe. We were all very cold, so we decided to sit and get a warm drink. I ordered a ciocolata calda (hot chocolate). It ended up being more like warm pudding, but delicious. It was very viscous and had to be eaten with a spoon. The local Vicchio soccer team was cooking us dinner, so we wandered back to the field after warming up in the cafe. We sat in a heated tent right near the stadium. A few members of the team also came to eat with us. It appeared their booster club, or equivalent, cooked dinner for us. No easy task with 166 students! Everything was of course delicious. I think they were trying to make us feel at home with the music, they kept playing the YMCA... We took the bus home, and I was exhausted and turned in early.
Monday morning was back to class. After class, about half of our group took a bus to Pisa to see the sights there. The bus ride took about an hour and 45 minutes. The town itself isn't very big, we toured the Baptistry, Duomo, connecting burial grounds, and of course got plenty of pictures of the Leaning Tower. The Leaning Tower was built as a bell tower for the church. Today if all of its 12 bells rang at once, it would fall over immediately. We learned that the original creator of the Tower was fired then exiled because of the mishap. All of his successors also had no luck and the tower leans 5 m. All of the buildings have a small lean to them, but the Tower is the most prominent because it carries so much weight on such a small surface area. The other buildings cover more ground so the lean is less noticeable.
Today, Tuesday, we had class in the morning. It was spent mostly to review for our 'midterm' tomorrow. Hard to believe we've been in Florence for a week and a half already, time is flying by! After class, Jackie, Lizzie, Suzanne, Jess and I climbed to the top of the Piazzale Michelangelo and got the most beautiful views of Florence. I highly recommend doing this for any future travelers to Florence, it was breath-taking. I took many pictures, I'll post them as soon as I can!
Tomorrow after class, I will visit the Uffizi Gallery. Friday morning we leave for Venice, where we will be all weekend. Monday afternoon, I will be visiting Siena. Next Thursday we move to Rome! Only a few precious days left in Firenze.
That's it for now! I'm having a blast, I may never come home!!
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Chianti Valley Wine Tasting
Buongiorno!
It's a rainy Saturday afternoon here in Florence, perfect time to update the blog!
After class yesterday, the majority of the kids in our program took a 45 minute busride to Castello Il Palagio, a castle that dates back to the 1200s. It was nestled between many other vineyards and had a picturesque setting. I took some pictures, but it was a gray, cloudy day, but you'll get the overall idea! There, they handpick their grapes for wine and olives for olive oil. Many wines will have the 'Chianti' label, but if you want authentic, wine from hand picked grapes, you must look for 'Chianti Classico'. This is the label for their brand!
After a brief tour of the wine cellars, we were seated in the dining area. Each place setting had 5 different wine glasses. We were given lessons by the local somalier, named Sebastieno. He was quite the looker! We swirled, smelled, then finaly tasted the wine. We were instructed to taste for different things, such as blackberry, a hint of wood, or a taste of white wine. We tried 5 different types of red wine, sampled their cheese and bruscetta doused in their olive oil. It was all delicious. I could have stayed all night.
We sadly had to board the bus home. When we returned to our hotel, it was nearly dinner time. Our hotel has been providing us with breakfast and dinner. The breakfast is the same everyday with scrambled eggs, undercooked bacon, yogurt, cereal, fruit, and pastries. Dinner has been quite the variety. Every night is a 3 course meal, dessert is usually fruit, but we've been surprised with different cakes on a few occasions. Last night though, was the first bad meal of Italy. The first course was good, a creamy tomato soup, that tasted like it had bread pieces in it. Then we all thought we were getting meatballs, but when the plates were served it was nothing more than chicken nuggets. We were disappointed to say the least. I guess one bad night is nothing to compalin about! Tonight we arent getting dinner served at the hotel, and we are on our own. My friends Lizzie, Suzanne, Jess, Jackie and I are going to find a restaurant in teh city to have dinner.
I finally skyped with people from home today! So good to see familiar faces and catch up with stories from Vermont. I appreciate all the comments, so good to hear from everyone!
Sunday we are going to watch the Viccio-Cavriglia soccer match.. I'll let you know how it goes!
I'm working on putting up pictures from Florence. Stay tuned!
It's a rainy Saturday afternoon here in Florence, perfect time to update the blog!
After class yesterday, the majority of the kids in our program took a 45 minute busride to Castello Il Palagio, a castle that dates back to the 1200s. It was nestled between many other vineyards and had a picturesque setting. I took some pictures, but it was a gray, cloudy day, but you'll get the overall idea! There, they handpick their grapes for wine and olives for olive oil. Many wines will have the 'Chianti' label, but if you want authentic, wine from hand picked grapes, you must look for 'Chianti Classico'. This is the label for their brand!
After a brief tour of the wine cellars, we were seated in the dining area. Each place setting had 5 different wine glasses. We were given lessons by the local somalier, named Sebastieno. He was quite the looker! We swirled, smelled, then finaly tasted the wine. We were instructed to taste for different things, such as blackberry, a hint of wood, or a taste of white wine. We tried 5 different types of red wine, sampled their cheese and bruscetta doused in their olive oil. It was all delicious. I could have stayed all night.
We sadly had to board the bus home. When we returned to our hotel, it was nearly dinner time. Our hotel has been providing us with breakfast and dinner. The breakfast is the same everyday with scrambled eggs, undercooked bacon, yogurt, cereal, fruit, and pastries. Dinner has been quite the variety. Every night is a 3 course meal, dessert is usually fruit, but we've been surprised with different cakes on a few occasions. Last night though, was the first bad meal of Italy. The first course was good, a creamy tomato soup, that tasted like it had bread pieces in it. Then we all thought we were getting meatballs, but when the plates were served it was nothing more than chicken nuggets. We were disappointed to say the least. I guess one bad night is nothing to compalin about! Tonight we arent getting dinner served at the hotel, and we are on our own. My friends Lizzie, Suzanne, Jess, Jackie and I are going to find a restaurant in teh city to have dinner.
I finally skyped with people from home today! So good to see familiar faces and catch up with stories from Vermont. I appreciate all the comments, so good to hear from everyone!
Sunday we are going to watch the Viccio-Cavriglia soccer match.. I'll let you know how it goes!
I'm working on putting up pictures from Florence. Stay tuned!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Florence: Week 1
London pictures are up!! On the right hand side of the blog there should be a slideshow of pictures showing. If you click on a picture, it should open up to a slideshow and you can view them on a larger scale. The internet is relatively slow, it takes a while to upload photos, I'll be working on Florence ones this weekend.
Another note, my friend Jackie is also writing a blog for our trip abroad. You may want to check it out, she probably has things that I have forgotten, we've been doing pretty much everything together! http://jackieinitaly.shutterfly.com/
We started school on Monday. We are attending Eurocentres in Florence, a school for international students to study the Italian language. We have class daily from 9:30 am to 1pm with a 15 minute break. The early session is for grammar and the 2nd session is to work on our conversation skills. I am in a class solely with kids from my study abroad program, but there other classes that have international students from Switzerland, Japan, Portugal, etc. in them. In those classes the only common language is Italian, so it makes for good practice! I've been picking the language up relatively easily, it has helped immensely that I have a background in French. Many of the words are similar and sentence structures are the same. I did make a big mistake today though. We were asked to present a paragraph in front of the class to describe ourselves. For part of my description, I said "Sono bruto" which I thought meant brunette, but it actually means ugly! The teacher laughed and corrected me.
AIFS (my study abroad program) has activities planned for the students nearly every afternoon while we are in Florence.
Monday afternoon we had a meeting on our housing in Rome. I am staying very close to the school, near Campo di Fiori. I was placed with my friend Jackie, which is too good to be true! We will have 2 other roommates as well. Monday evening a local restaurant held a welcome cocktail social for our group. I'm still meeting new people everyday, there are so many of us!
Tuesday after class, I participated in a walking art tour of Florence. Our guide is a local art historian from Holland who was very knowledgable. We first walked to Piazza Pitti, which was the first Medici palace. There the Medici family began constructing their 'corridor' above the city. There is a hallway of sorts that was built over the city of Florence strictly for use by the Medici family. This corridor passes through their church, where they sat above the rest of the congregation, above the Ponte Vecchio, and finishes at their newer palace. With this corridor they didn't have to walk on the streets, they were able to have private links to the main parts of the city. We followed along the corridor throughout this art tour, stopping by churches, the Ponte Vecchio, and then continued on to the Duomo. It was cold, and getting late, and I was tired, but I learned a lot of Florentine history!
Tuesday was also Barack Obama's inauguration. Italians seem to love Obama, and there were several people with signs in public squares praising the new president. I didnt realize the international influence that this day would have! Nearly every channel on our television was playing the inauguration, translating it into Italian.
Wednesday afternoon, we had the opportunity to see Michelangelo's David at the Accademia Gallery. This gallery was relatively small, contained maybe 3 rooms of paintings, then a hallway filled with unfinished sculptures by Michelangelo, leading to the David. We were accompanied by the same art historian from Tuesday. I learned that despite most people's thought, David's hands ARE in proportion to the rest of his body. Experts have measured the sculpture, and David is in exact proportion to what a 25 year old man should be. Fun fact to know!
Today, Thursday, I have the afternoon free. I'm finally responding to all my emails, and updating this blog! I have a busy weekend already planned. Tomorrow we are spending the afternoon at a wine tasting event. Aileen and Craig - I'll be sure to try all the different red wines for you!! Sunday our group is going to a local semi-pro soccer game. Can't wait!
Another note, my friend Jackie is also writing a blog for our trip abroad. You may want to check it out, she probably has things that I have forgotten, we've been doing pretty much everything together! http://jackieinitaly.shutterfly.com/
We started school on Monday. We are attending Eurocentres in Florence, a school for international students to study the Italian language. We have class daily from 9:30 am to 1pm with a 15 minute break. The early session is for grammar and the 2nd session is to work on our conversation skills. I am in a class solely with kids from my study abroad program, but there other classes that have international students from Switzerland, Japan, Portugal, etc. in them. In those classes the only common language is Italian, so it makes for good practice! I've been picking the language up relatively easily, it has helped immensely that I have a background in French. Many of the words are similar and sentence structures are the same. I did make a big mistake today though. We were asked to present a paragraph in front of the class to describe ourselves. For part of my description, I said "Sono bruto" which I thought meant brunette, but it actually means ugly! The teacher laughed and corrected me.
AIFS (my study abroad program) has activities planned for the students nearly every afternoon while we are in Florence.
Monday afternoon we had a meeting on our housing in Rome. I am staying very close to the school, near Campo di Fiori. I was placed with my friend Jackie, which is too good to be true! We will have 2 other roommates as well. Monday evening a local restaurant held a welcome cocktail social for our group. I'm still meeting new people everyday, there are so many of us!
Tuesday after class, I participated in a walking art tour of Florence. Our guide is a local art historian from Holland who was very knowledgable. We first walked to Piazza Pitti, which was the first Medici palace. There the Medici family began constructing their 'corridor' above the city. There is a hallway of sorts that was built over the city of Florence strictly for use by the Medici family. This corridor passes through their church, where they sat above the rest of the congregation, above the Ponte Vecchio, and finishes at their newer palace. With this corridor they didn't have to walk on the streets, they were able to have private links to the main parts of the city. We followed along the corridor throughout this art tour, stopping by churches, the Ponte Vecchio, and then continued on to the Duomo. It was cold, and getting late, and I was tired, but I learned a lot of Florentine history!
Tuesday was also Barack Obama's inauguration. Italians seem to love Obama, and there were several people with signs in public squares praising the new president. I didnt realize the international influence that this day would have! Nearly every channel on our television was playing the inauguration, translating it into Italian.
Wednesday afternoon, we had the opportunity to see Michelangelo's David at the Accademia Gallery. This gallery was relatively small, contained maybe 3 rooms of paintings, then a hallway filled with unfinished sculptures by Michelangelo, leading to the David. We were accompanied by the same art historian from Tuesday. I learned that despite most people's thought, David's hands ARE in proportion to the rest of his body. Experts have measured the sculpture, and David is in exact proportion to what a 25 year old man should be. Fun fact to know!
Today, Thursday, I have the afternoon free. I'm finally responding to all my emails, and updating this blog! I have a busy weekend already planned. Tomorrow we are spending the afternoon at a wine tasting event. Aileen and Craig - I'll be sure to try all the different red wines for you!! Sunday our group is going to a local semi-pro soccer game. Can't wait!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Goodbye London, Hello Florence!
So much has happened since the last post!
Les Mis was awesome, very well done. We had sub-par seats, but you get what you pay for I guess. It was still good enough. We left London around 5 am on Friday, and drove about an hour to Gatwick airport. We travelled in a huge group, 97 of us. This made things difficult in the airport to make sure everyone was through security, and such. We had a while until our flight, so Jackie (friend I made on the trip), and Lizzie (roomate from UVM) walked around the airport, got some food and waited. Our flight was delayed due to transmission problems, or something liek taht.
The flight took a little over 2 hours, and I slept for most of it. I sat next to two girls, one from California, one from Minnesota, who were both amazed I was from Vermont.. neither had ever been to the east coast! While sleeping, I missed a great view of teh Alps I hear! Next time I guess....
We arrived in Pisa and hopped on a bus to our hotel. The drive took abuot an hour and we drove through gorgeous small towns with beautiful scenery. Once we approached Florence, the traffic picked up. Italians are crazy drivers!
At the hotel, I moved into my new room, and its huge! My roomate and I must have the honeymoon suite or something, we really lucked out. Jackie is once again next door to me, its worked out well! My new roomate, Jen, is from Mass, and attends UMass Lowell. The first afternoon, Lizzie, Jackie, and I spent the afternoon walking around Florence. We explored for a while, we just wanted to orient ourselves to the new city. That night, we were served a 3-course meal, everything was so good! That ngiht, everyone aws pretty tired, so we went and got gelatto and went back to the hotel.
Saturday was full of administrative stuff for the program. We had ice breaking activities to get to know the other kids in teh program at some palace in Florence. I dont have my itinerary sheet near me, and I dont'remember the name! We had about 2 hours of ice breaking activities. This was followed by a 3 course lunch consisting of a pesto lasagna, then roasted chicken with cheese, tomato, potatoes and cooked spinach, then some sort of dessert cake. It was all fabulous. After lunch, an italian cop spoke to us for about an hour tellign us things to be aware of, watch out for, etc.
I spent the late afternoon/early evening resting, I still haven't hada full nights sleep here yet! I've been catnapping since we landed in London and running off of adrenaline, so much to see and do! The hotel served us another 3-course meal (if I come back fat, I blame the Italian cooking). After dinner, a few of us decided to check out the nightlife in Florence, and went to a discotech last night, had lots of fun!
Today, Sunday, I finally got to sleep in. Jackie and I went to a little cafe around teh corner for lunch. There, we met a couple that lived in Florence, the woman was from Texas, the man from Italy, who were so friendly and helpful. They gave us lots of ideas and things to do in Florence. Can't wait to do them all!!
We had a practical walking tour of the city this afternoon, learned where teh school was, post office, pharmacy, etc. After, walked through San Lorenzo market. You can pretty much buy anything out of leather.
I only have 2 minuets left at the cafe! More to come later! Pics are coming soon I promise!!!
Les Mis was awesome, very well done. We had sub-par seats, but you get what you pay for I guess. It was still good enough. We left London around 5 am on Friday, and drove about an hour to Gatwick airport. We travelled in a huge group, 97 of us. This made things difficult in the airport to make sure everyone was through security, and such. We had a while until our flight, so Jackie (friend I made on the trip), and Lizzie (roomate from UVM) walked around the airport, got some food and waited. Our flight was delayed due to transmission problems, or something liek taht.
The flight took a little over 2 hours, and I slept for most of it. I sat next to two girls, one from California, one from Minnesota, who were both amazed I was from Vermont.. neither had ever been to the east coast! While sleeping, I missed a great view of teh Alps I hear! Next time I guess....
We arrived in Pisa and hopped on a bus to our hotel. The drive took abuot an hour and we drove through gorgeous small towns with beautiful scenery. Once we approached Florence, the traffic picked up. Italians are crazy drivers!
At the hotel, I moved into my new room, and its huge! My roomate and I must have the honeymoon suite or something, we really lucked out. Jackie is once again next door to me, its worked out well! My new roomate, Jen, is from Mass, and attends UMass Lowell. The first afternoon, Lizzie, Jackie, and I spent the afternoon walking around Florence. We explored for a while, we just wanted to orient ourselves to the new city. That night, we were served a 3-course meal, everything was so good! That ngiht, everyone aws pretty tired, so we went and got gelatto and went back to the hotel.
Saturday was full of administrative stuff for the program. We had ice breaking activities to get to know the other kids in teh program at some palace in Florence. I dont have my itinerary sheet near me, and I dont'remember the name! We had about 2 hours of ice breaking activities. This was followed by a 3 course lunch consisting of a pesto lasagna, then roasted chicken with cheese, tomato, potatoes and cooked spinach, then some sort of dessert cake. It was all fabulous. After lunch, an italian cop spoke to us for about an hour tellign us things to be aware of, watch out for, etc.
I spent the late afternoon/early evening resting, I still haven't hada full nights sleep here yet! I've been catnapping since we landed in London and running off of adrenaline, so much to see and do! The hotel served us another 3-course meal (if I come back fat, I blame the Italian cooking). After dinner, a few of us decided to check out the nightlife in Florence, and went to a discotech last night, had lots of fun!
Today, Sunday, I finally got to sleep in. Jackie and I went to a little cafe around teh corner for lunch. There, we met a couple that lived in Florence, the woman was from Texas, the man from Italy, who were so friendly and helpful. They gave us lots of ideas and things to do in Florence. Can't wait to do them all!!
We had a practical walking tour of the city this afternoon, learned where teh school was, post office, pharmacy, etc. After, walked through San Lorenzo market. You can pretty much buy anything out of leather.
I only have 2 minuets left at the cafe! More to come later! Pics are coming soon I promise!!!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
London, Day 2
Hello again!
After last night's blog, we had a cocktail social with our group. We filled up the entire restaurant area of the hotel, with overflow! A group of us decided to take the subway to the SoHo section of London for dinner. There, we found a small Indian cuisine restaurant where we ate. We've eaten out nearly every meal while here, its hard getting used to not leaving a tip, there is a 'service charge' on all bills. After dinner we walked around the area, stopped by a couple pubs. There was a soccer game last night, so the pubs were filled with fans watching the game.
This morning our entire AIFS group took a 3-hour bus tour of London. I was really hoping that it would be on a double-decker bus, but unfortunately, just a regular old tour bus. After the self-guided walking tour yesterday, we had hit many of the same spots we saw again today, but learned more about what we were seeing. In addition to yesterday's site, we drove across London Tower bridge, saw the City of London, which is the financial district and the original city the Romans built. We also saw Piccadilly Circus, the Times Square of London. After the bus tour, we had the afternoon free. The weather was colder today, with a stronger wind, nothing like Vermont though!
With our afternoon, we walked through Piccadilly Circus, and sort of stumbled upon Leicester Square, which is houses all ticket sale outlets for London plays. We had lunch on a side street, had my first ever fish and chips! With influence from the show biz all around us, 3 of us decided to purchase tickets for a show tonight. We will be seeing Les Miserables at Queen's Theater. After lunch, we walked to the Center of London, where the National Gallery is. This art museum is free and open to the public. After a brief tour, mostly to warm up, we headed out to do some shopping.
Pics to come soon! I'm hoping this weekend I will be able to use my own computer and access the Internet. So far, I'm relying on computers provided by the Internet cafe.
A couple observations about London:
1. 'Way Out' signs replace 'Exit' signs.
2. Stop lights also turn yellow inbetween going from red to green
3. Crosswalks all indicate which way pedestrians should look before crossing (i.e. look left), on coming traffic won't yield for people!
4. In the city, you won't find SUVs or old cars (guess I can't bring my Volv here), all cars look new, shiny, and expensive
5. Everyone always looks so good! Its dress to impress atmosphere
6. The city is very clean, very little trash on the streets
Thats it for now! We are leaving tomorrow to fly to Pisa, then on to Florence. I am instructed to be checked out, ready to go by 4:15 am, yes am, to catch the flight. Bright and early!
After last night's blog, we had a cocktail social with our group. We filled up the entire restaurant area of the hotel, with overflow! A group of us decided to take the subway to the SoHo section of London for dinner. There, we found a small Indian cuisine restaurant where we ate. We've eaten out nearly every meal while here, its hard getting used to not leaving a tip, there is a 'service charge' on all bills. After dinner we walked around the area, stopped by a couple pubs. There was a soccer game last night, so the pubs were filled with fans watching the game.
This morning our entire AIFS group took a 3-hour bus tour of London. I was really hoping that it would be on a double-decker bus, but unfortunately, just a regular old tour bus. After the self-guided walking tour yesterday, we had hit many of the same spots we saw again today, but learned more about what we were seeing. In addition to yesterday's site, we drove across London Tower bridge, saw the City of London, which is the financial district and the original city the Romans built. We also saw Piccadilly Circus, the Times Square of London. After the bus tour, we had the afternoon free. The weather was colder today, with a stronger wind, nothing like Vermont though!
With our afternoon, we walked through Piccadilly Circus, and sort of stumbled upon Leicester Square, which is houses all ticket sale outlets for London plays. We had lunch on a side street, had my first ever fish and chips! With influence from the show biz all around us, 3 of us decided to purchase tickets for a show tonight. We will be seeing Les Miserables at Queen's Theater. After lunch, we walked to the Center of London, where the National Gallery is. This art museum is free and open to the public. After a brief tour, mostly to warm up, we headed out to do some shopping.
Pics to come soon! I'm hoping this weekend I will be able to use my own computer and access the Internet. So far, I'm relying on computers provided by the Internet cafe.
A couple observations about London:
1. 'Way Out' signs replace 'Exit' signs.
2. Stop lights also turn yellow inbetween going from red to green
3. Crosswalks all indicate which way pedestrians should look before crossing (i.e. look left), on coming traffic won't yield for people!
4. In the city, you won't find SUVs or old cars (guess I can't bring my Volv here), all cars look new, shiny, and expensive
5. Everyone always looks so good! Its dress to impress atmosphere
6. The city is very clean, very little trash on the streets
Thats it for now! We are leaving tomorrow to fly to Pisa, then on to Florence. I am instructed to be checked out, ready to go by 4:15 am, yes am, to catch the flight. Bright and early!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
London, Day 1
Cheers from London!
I left Boston around 6pm on Tuesday, January 12th. The plane ride went relatively smoothly, except for about 20 minutes where we experienced some of the worst turbulence I've ever felt. I had to hold on to my tray table, things were flying everywhere! The captain said we had tail wind of 200 mph. This helped speed us along, and we landed about 30 min ahead of schedule, just before 5am London time. I had been able to sleep on and off, I was too excited to sleep! We were served drinks almost every half hour, a snack of pretzels, dinner, and then breakfast. We definitely didn't go hungry.
Upon arrival, I had no idea where to go or what to do! I found two boys who were also going through the Rome program, Ryan and Brian. The three of us together found customs/passport check. There were many students waiting to go through a passport check. The line was about a half hour long. The customs officer just asked a few questions, and we were set to go. An AIFS (my program) representative was waiting for us in arrivals. On the bus, I met Jackie, another girl in the program, and we sat together on the bus. London was still dark, and very foggy. We took a bus from Heathrow to our hotel, near Hyde Park in London. There wasn't much to see on the way, the fog was too heavy! We arrived to the hotel around 7:30 am. After checking in, I rested for a little while, then met up with my new friends again to walk around London.
A group of 5 of us decided to explore London and see what we could discover. We first went to get lunch at a pub just down the street from our hotel at Lancaster Gate. I had a club sandwich, which includes chicken, hard boiled egg (this surprised me), ham, lettuce, and 'chips' (french fries). After lunch, we walked through Hyde Park ending at the Prince Albert memorial. The park was quiet, and there were many joggers and dogs. From there we walked down Kensington Road, which was uneventful. From there we saw the famous Harrods. We walked through, and I was very impressed with the upscale, swanky merchandise. We were asked several times if we needed any assistance.
After Harrods, we set the goal of finding Buckingham palace. We found our way, and I was very impressed with the presence of the building. The guards outside had their tall furry hats and guns, with police by the gate. From Buckingham palace, we could see the Eye of London, a large Ferris wheel, in the distance. The group decided it would be fun to ride it to get a great view of London. We were so focused on our walk over there, we didn't even realize we were standing in front of Big Ben! After some photo ops, we headed over to the Eye of London, only to discover this week is their yearly maintenance and it will be closed until Friday. It was still cool to see, we were all kind of bummed we didn't get to ride it, but maybe next time!
At this point, we had been walking for nearly 3 hours and were pretty tired, and still jet lagged. We deiced to brave the London tube to try to make it back to our hotel. Everything went very smoothly, and we made it back. I'm now writing to you from an Internet cafe about 3 blocks from my hotel.
Our AIFS group is hosting a cocktail social tonight, so we can meet everyone else going to Rome! There is about 170 of us in total. Tomorrow morning we will have a 3 hour sightseeing bus tour of London, then free time in the afternoon.
Cheers for now!
I left Boston around 6pm on Tuesday, January 12th. The plane ride went relatively smoothly, except for about 20 minutes where we experienced some of the worst turbulence I've ever felt. I had to hold on to my tray table, things were flying everywhere! The captain said we had tail wind of 200 mph. This helped speed us along, and we landed about 30 min ahead of schedule, just before 5am London time. I had been able to sleep on and off, I was too excited to sleep! We were served drinks almost every half hour, a snack of pretzels, dinner, and then breakfast. We definitely didn't go hungry.
Upon arrival, I had no idea where to go or what to do! I found two boys who were also going through the Rome program, Ryan and Brian. The three of us together found customs/passport check. There were many students waiting to go through a passport check. The line was about a half hour long. The customs officer just asked a few questions, and we were set to go. An AIFS (my program) representative was waiting for us in arrivals. On the bus, I met Jackie, another girl in the program, and we sat together on the bus. London was still dark, and very foggy. We took a bus from Heathrow to our hotel, near Hyde Park in London. There wasn't much to see on the way, the fog was too heavy! We arrived to the hotel around 7:30 am. After checking in, I rested for a little while, then met up with my new friends again to walk around London.
A group of 5 of us decided to explore London and see what we could discover. We first went to get lunch at a pub just down the street from our hotel at Lancaster Gate. I had a club sandwich, which includes chicken, hard boiled egg (this surprised me), ham, lettuce, and 'chips' (french fries). After lunch, we walked through Hyde Park ending at the Prince Albert memorial. The park was quiet, and there were many joggers and dogs. From there we walked down Kensington Road, which was uneventful. From there we saw the famous Harrods. We walked through, and I was very impressed with the upscale, swanky merchandise. We were asked several times if we needed any assistance.
After Harrods, we set the goal of finding Buckingham palace. We found our way, and I was very impressed with the presence of the building. The guards outside had their tall furry hats and guns, with police by the gate. From Buckingham palace, we could see the Eye of London, a large Ferris wheel, in the distance. The group decided it would be fun to ride it to get a great view of London. We were so focused on our walk over there, we didn't even realize we were standing in front of Big Ben! After some photo ops, we headed over to the Eye of London, only to discover this week is their yearly maintenance and it will be closed until Friday. It was still cool to see, we were all kind of bummed we didn't get to ride it, but maybe next time!
At this point, we had been walking for nearly 3 hours and were pretty tired, and still jet lagged. We deiced to brave the London tube to try to make it back to our hotel. Everything went very smoothly, and we made it back. I'm now writing to you from an Internet cafe about 3 blocks from my hotel.
Our AIFS group is hosting a cocktail social tonight, so we can meet everyone else going to Rome! There is about 170 of us in total. Tomorrow morning we will have a 3 hour sightseeing bus tour of London, then free time in the afternoon.
Cheers for now!
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