Amsterdam

I just got back from a long weekend in Amsterdam. I can't say it was exactly what I expected, but I had a good time, despite the fact that my hostel was in the red light district and my hostel smelled like weed 24/7. But it's good to experience new things, right?

The trip started Thursday night around 1030, when we (victoria, julianna, ginan, michelle, annie, kelsey & I) began our trip to London Gatwick airport. We had to catch the tube at russell square and take it to fulham broadway where our Easybus was scheduled to pick us up at midnight. All was going well until Annie, Michelle and I got separated from the others during a sidetrip to tesco. After realizing that the group had moved on without us we caught the tube and took it to the station where we were supposed to switch trains to another train that would take us to fulham broadway. The tube gets screwy around this point and we ended up taking the wrong one which put us really behind timewise. we were late for the bus, and the other group had to beg our driver to wait a few minutes later for us to make it. After sprinting through the tube with our backs in tow, we FINALLY made it to the bus. At this point I was sweaty and gross, and really needing a shower. But this was just the beginning.

Victoria had forgotten her boarding pass at the flat and had to go back to get it, then ended up having to take a cab to the airport which cost her over 100 pounds. But we finally all made it to the airport. I napped there for a few hours (our flight wasnt until 6:15 in the morning). This was interesting as I slept on a bench and since we all knocked out we almost missed our flight, even though we had gotten to the airport 5 hours before our flight was scheduled to leave. The drama continued when Julianna and Michelle's suitcases didnt fit in the carry-on designated bins. Michelle managed to sneak through but Jules had to buy another bag and transer all her stuff before going through security. At this point or flight was ending with the boarding process, so we had to run to the terminal and when we got there everyone had already boarded & theey said they had to go. We stalled as long as possible & julianna BARELY made it on the plane.

We finally arrived in Amsterdam and took the train to centraal station. Our hostelguide, John, met us and walked us to our hostel through the red light district, where there were several overweight, ancient looking hookers that looked GROSS. Before we got to our hostel john asks, "are you guys smokers? do you want to stop and get some weed on the way there?" this shouldve been an indicator of how the rest of the weekend would go. Since I was staying in the same hostel as the boys, we of course stopped. FInally we made it to the hostel and it was AMAZING. It was two stories, with an amazing view. I dont know why it was called a hostel, it was more like a cabin.

After napping a bit, we went on a canal cruise around amsterdam. this gave us a good overview of where things were and it was really pretty. Amsterdam is such an old city with such beautiful architecture. Afterwards we walked through the city and got some really good Olliebollen (which is a pastry made with raisins & powdered sugar) & then we went to the Sex Museum. It was interesting if not mostly disturbing, lol. I went out with Michelle, Annie, Michael, and Ginan to a bar called queens. I got a really good drink & tried some dutch fries :)

The second day I went to Anne Frank House, which was the warehouse that Anne Frank & her family hid in during WWII. It was so moving to see how she had to live in order to keep from being discovered. It made me want to read her diary, which I probably will do this summer. After the house we got some really amazing pancakes at The Pancake Bakery. I got a mexican pancake and a brazilian pancake. The mexican one had chicken & peppers, the brazilian one was sweet with caramel ice cream & nuts. we walked to Vondell Park and looked for the Iamsterdam sign, but we couldnt find it. We ended up just walking a lot in the snow. It was freezing and snowing and a far walk. This is probably why I got sick.

Sunday I went to the Van Gogh museum. this took a while since I take my time at museums. Unfortunately i didnt have time to go to the Rijksmuseum :( There just wasnt enough time and I was basically dying (my illness had steadily progressed since I couldnt get any drugs, not being able to read Dutch and all...). I went to bed early after eating with Michael & Michelle at Wagamama's. It was so good. I had the Wagamama's Ramen.

This morning I woke up early to make it to the airport with plenty of time, so as not to repeat the stress of the airport experience to Amsterdam. I have to say, I was quite ready to come back to London. Amsterdam just wasn't my cup of tea. I enjoyed the museums and the city, but I was so over the red light district and the constant smell of marijuana. After going on this trip Im definitely against legalizing weed because I felt like the city was so much dirtier and stinkier then it should've been. But I'm glad I went now because I don't think Amsterdam is a city I'd like to go back to, unless it was just for the museums.

Regent's Park

Im a tad bit behind on my posting, but hopefully I can catch up soon. On Sunday a glorious and rare occasion came to pass--the sun came out! This put a bit of a damper on my original plans to be bummy, sit in my sweats all day, and do some homework. As tempting as it was to carry on with my original plans I just couldn't pass up the good weather. I decided to go to one of the royal parks-- The Regent's Park.

The Regent's Park is a short tube ride away from Russell Square, on the Bakerloo line at Regents Parl (hard to guess). It's rather large, containing the London Zoo at the north and Primrose Hill. It also houses Queen Mary's Garden which I'm sure is beautiful in spring, but was kind of dull. Kelsey, Annie, and I brought sandwiches and ate lunch on one of the benches. It was nice to watch the people in the park. There were a lot of joggers and bikers taking advantage of the good weather. Families were also out and about, on walks and playing football (soccer). There were a lot of people reading as well, though as the sun went down it got extremely cold.

We didn't get a chance to walk the entire park as it got cold very quickly, but I definitely want to revisit Regent's Park as well as the other royal parks. It was nice to escape the hustle & bustle of the city and be surrounded by some greenery.

Hip-Hop ya don't stop.

On Friday I went to my first real british club courtesy of one of our ACCENT staff members, Matt. It was in Brixton, in a sketch area but it was brilliant. It was called Plan B. There were a couple djs spinning throughout most of the early night, then at midnight two local rappers got onstage and started doing their thing. I couldnt understand a lot of what they said, but the atmosphere was really invigorating, just the raw music and the energy the crowd was giving off. I also liked intermingling with the british folk, met lots of guys (hey, it was a hiphop show) and listened to them talk about the music. I watched a lot of guys who were really drunk dance ridiculously, which I guess was entertaining if not mostly disturbing. The night ended with a mission to find a way home, since the tube stops running at midnight (isnt that stupid?). Ended up taking the night bus to the british museum and then walking the block home. Overall, the first real night out was a success.

Week One.

I have officially survived my first week in London. I can't believe I have already been here for a week! The Annenberg program is amazing, and I definitely feel like I've seen a lot of the popular sights. Now I'm trying to settle into the daily hustle & bustle of actually living in one of the world's busiest metropolises. This includes searching the local Sainsbury's, Waitrose, and Tesco for the cheapest McVitties and figuring out which line to take on the tube. I feel like I'm doing a pretty good job at this so far.

Let me recap some of the last week on a day-to-day basis:

Wednesday, 6 January 2010: Departed from LAX at 6:30 pm after being delayed for an hour. I was so antsy. I just wanted to go! I slept a bit on the plane, and watched Fame (which sucked) and The September Issue (which was fabulous). Sat by a british bloke who teaches at SDSU...he was coming to the motherland to visit family. Very nice chap, and he pointed out some of the sights as we flew over London in the morning.

Thursday, 7 January 2010: Arrive in London around noon and take a bus to 19 Bedford Place. I remember feeling slightly carsick during this ride because I was sitting backwards, nevertheless this was the first look I got at London and I was excited! That evening the group went out to a pub just a few blocks from the ACCENT center, where we take classes. This was where i tasted my first authentic british food...and unfortunately, I was underwhelmed.

Friday, 8 January 2010: Early morning start with an orientation at the ACCENT center. This was very helpful, but I don't remember that much about it because jetlag started kicking in at full force. That afternoon we took a walking tour of Covent Garden and the surrounding area. It was really neat to see what was right in our backyard. That night the whole group went out for Patrick's 21st birthday which was fun. We ended up going to this little bar in the basement of a lebanese restaurant which we basically took over and converted to a club.

Saturday, 9 January 2010: Went to Portabello Market, a street market with lots of local vendors selling silver, tea sets, warm accessories, books, pictures, and much, much more. It was freezing that day and the entire market was outdoors, so I saw as much as I could before I felt like my feet were going to fall off. Ate a scrumdiddlyumptious ham and cheese sandwich that was only £2.

Sunday, 10 January 2010: Took a coach tour of London. This was really helpful because I got a better picture of the layout of london in comparison to where I am staying. We got to see part of the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, the tower of london, the tower bridge, westminster abbey, parliament, big ben (which is NOT the name of the clock, but the name of a bell!), St.Paul's Cathedral, Piccadilly Circus, Harrods, and more.

Monday, 11 January, 2010: First day of class!!! I started off this day sick, unfortunately, and went to boots in the morning to ask a chemist (not pharmacist) what I should take for my runny nose. The plus side to this trip was discovering Waitrose, which is a large supermarket that kind of reminds me of Target. It's a bit pricier than Sainsbury's but its AMAZING. This also led to my discovery of the New Brunswick shopping center, an outdoor shopping center that houses lots of shops and food places (including Crussh, which i think is the british equivalent of Jamba Juice). Class was okay, kind of boring because it was the first day but it seems like its going to be really interesting. My professor works for the BBC, and we are actually going to design a media project for social change. Cheers to classes that actually matter.

Tuesday, 12 January 2010: NO CLASSSSSS!!! I met up with Stephanie, one of my friends from USC who is studying at King's College, and we went to the British Museum and Harrods. The British Museum is MASSIVE and I only got to see the Thebes room, which houses mummies and other ancient egyptian artifacts (most of which I knew about because of references made to them in The Mummy) , and the Parthenon room which had lots of statues that the brits took from the greeks.

Wednesday, 13 January 2010: Rhetoric of London class in the morning, My professor speaks like the typical british professor--slow and very proper. I would normally be ecstatic about this, except at 9:30 in the morning this tends to put me to sleep. That afternoon we took a tour of the Tower of London which was one of my favorite things so far. I got to see one of the oldest buildings in london, where so many people of historical notoriety once passed through. Of course, being obsessed with The Tudors, my favorite former residents were Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. It was kind of creepy to be in the Tower when it was closing...one of the guards shooed us away, but I definitely left wondering about all the horrible torture that so many people endured hundreds of years prior to my visit. For dinner I went to this really good portuguese chicken place called Nando's. It was the best chicken I've ever eaten. At night Kelsey, Annie, Michelle and I booked our trip to Berlin for the first weekend in february... which was so exciting!

Thursday, 14 January 2010: Full day of class proved pretty interesting, actually. In the am I had Media Consumption taught by Shawn Powers. It seems like it's going to be very helpful in bridging a lot of the other communication classes I've taken. Interpreting Popular Culture is probably going to be my favorite class. It's all about the music scene in London and how it developed and changed from the blues age to now. There's a particular emphasis on the Beatles and we are going to focus on punk for a class period so I am SO EXCITED. Also, any professor that mentions The Clash, Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and The Smiths on the first day of class is alright by me :)


And now, to balance out this mass of text with something more visually stimulating, here are just a few photos out of the hundreds I have already taken.