...And I'm back!

Wow. It has been tooooooo long. Spring break and schoolwork got in the way of any bloggin I would have been doing.

So lots to update about! For starters, spring break. Mike and I had a very unimpressive time. Let's do a little review, shall we?

Mike on the Acropolis!

After our departure from London....

ATHENS DRIVERS ARE SCARY!

Day 1: First day in Athens. Saw the Acropolis (Parthenon, Porch of the Caryatids, etc.) and Olympic stadium. End with a long chat with an older Indian couple on the roof of our hotel where we could look out on the Acropolis all lit up at night.

Colosseum

Pantheon

Day 2: Arrive in Rome. Tour Colosseum.
Day 3: Roman Forum, Pantheon, Trevy Fountain, Spanish Steps
Day 4: Vatican-- St. Peter's, Sistine Chapel
Day 5:  Depart Rome, arrive in Barcelona. Visit Plaza Catalunya.

Trevy Fountain

Day 6: St. Patrick's day! Dip toes in the Mediterranean sea and hang out on the beach. Visit one of Gaudi's lesser known cathedrals, as well as a block of apartments he designed.

Beautiful Barcelona.

Day 7: La Sagrada Familia, Olympic stadium, and explore some amazing gardens that led us to a point from which we could overlook all of Barcelona to the sound of some incredible classical guitar.
Day 8: Back to London, and my family!


Absolutely incredible trip.  I think my favorite part of it had to be exploring the gardens in Barcelona... it was just complete and utter paradise. Best day of Spring Break by far. Can you believe that in a row, I saw the Parthenon, colosseum, Pantheon, and the Vatican?!?!?!?

London has been so nice.  Seeing my family was amazing, I had missed them so much.  I've been drowning under a lot of reading and class trips that take up some time, but all in all things have been just great. This Thursday will be the student event that I've been coordinating, and we're going to have a boat cruise of the Thames with food and a bar and a DJ. All the students and professors will be there-- should be a great time!

Friday was my 21st birthday, and I had a wonderful celebration with my friends on Thursday night. We got all dressed up and they made me feel really special, presenting me with the silliest had I have ever seen, which I will wear in public as often as possible.

I may be going to Scotland for Easter... can't wait. I love St Andrews. Hopefully we'll also get to visit the highlands. After that, it's Stonehenge and Bath, and then back to Concord! Ahhhhh! I'll be sad to leave, but I'm excited to get back to the U.S.A.


Till later...

E

Spring break!

I am officially done!

I have a big week ahead... tomorrow, Athens with Mike.  Then on Sunday, we fly to Rome where we'll meet up with Gillian, Jessie, and Elizabeth.  We depart for Barcelona Wednesday, where we'll meet up with Leo and Jack and stay until Saturday, coming home just in time for the GOMEZ FAMILY LONDON INVASION!


Yaaaay!

I'm going to try to get to an internet cafe a couple of times while I'm gone... until then, ta leme argotera, arrivederci, and hasta luego! 

London History paper

First paper I wrote for our history class-- critique of an exhibit in the Museum of London. It's kind of mean... beware!! (again, critique!!)

One of the main challenges of designing a museum or exhibition is the problem of creating a viewer experience that is informative and accessible to an audience that ranges in age, interest, and background knowledge.  In most cases, the museum is able to create a user-friendly experience; however, one often encounters at least one item or exhibition that is unsatisfying in some way.  Whether this is because the viewer does not find the item interesting or because they simply don’t ‘get it’, the issue usually comes from something very simple: a lack of context.

             There are two artifacts in the museum of London’s Ancient London exhibit that I would like to examine, one of which I find to be ineffectively presented, and the other of which I find to be exceptionally well presented.  The first item is an example of a simple wattled and daubed wall.  The artifact stands against the far wall of the exhibit and is set behind a minimal barred structure to keep viewers from disturbing the other items featured alongside the wall, a feature which includes a series of typical cookware items and baskets from the period, as well as several photographs depicting example buildings that a wall like the one shown would have been a part of.  The photographs also show the interior of one such building, depicting paintings that would have covered the smooth daubing of the walls.  To the left of the artifact, there are several small panels listing the photographers and the locations in which the photographs were taken.

            Beyond the aforementioned panels, there are no labels or signs giving information about the wall, the photographs, or the artifacts shown.  The result of this is that anyone who approaches the item, attracted by the colorful pictures and the interesting set up, becomes rapidly disengaged due to the lack of information.  The result is an exhibit that is eye catching, but uninformative and forgettable.  Personally, I was drawn to the artifact because we had recently spoken in class about that particular building technique, and I was interested to see an ancient example of it.  I was, however, disappointed to find that the exhibit provided me no historical context with which I could develop some kind of understanding about the history, use, and significance of these objects.

            This is a problem that could have been solved very easily.  By providing a label with a comprehensive heading such as “Deconstructed example of a typical [insert culture here] home” and then explaining the context of the wall in more detail below, the exhibit would allow the viewer an at-a-glance context for the object, as well as the option to more comprehensively learn about this context by reading on below.  I was surprised that the museum had made this choice, especially because this wall was not the only item which did not have information provided alongside it.  The display itself is beautiful, and it is well situated to feature the objects.  However, it is the story of an object that allows us to understand it—without that, why should we care? 

            Just a few steps from the example home is a display which I thought was especially well presented.  This display, called “London Before Londinium,” showed examples of different stone tools, each of which was placed on a map over the location where it was discovered.  This map not only depicted the layout of the Roman city, it also included a few comparatively modern landmarks to help provide a sense of the area to a contemporary viewer.  Above the glass case where the artifacts were shown was a large photograph of modern London showing the footprint of the Roman Londinium in white lines.  Next to the photograph was a poem written by a modern poet titled “AD 50” which provokes the reader to “imagine the world beyond the city, that country a lifetime away…” 

            This display works well because it is accessible on several levels. The first is visual: the large photograph of a recognizably modern London, the map, and the stone tools all allow the viewer to get a quick sense of what the display is going to describe.  Next, the poem and its title provide a sense of time and give the viewer an idea of what he or she is being asked to do.  Finally, the detailed label below gives more detailed information about the display, the items, and the era that they represent. 

            It is unfair to judge a museum or display for not fully describing a time or concept, because of course no collection of items can fully do justice to the richness of history as it was happening.  A museum can only hope to give a viewer a basic sense of what the exhibit is trying to describe.  However, when a museum is unable to communicate to the viewer any context for what he or she is looking at, there can be no hope of said viewer walking away having gained anything from the experience.  Though the museum does a very good job of showing a wide range of items and eras, it falls short in some places where it could really convey a strong sense of what London might have been like when these items were in use.  By simply providing more information in an accessible, concise way, items like the wattled and daubed wall have the potential to be informative and, ultimately, help provide a better understanding of the relationship of modern Londoners to the history of the city.

More Chocoblog

Day 9 of chocolateering:
Toffee Crisp

Crispy rice, caramel, and chocolate. Yum yum yum. Only way it would be better is if it were cadbury, and not nestle. Fun texture. The only problem is that it disappears before you realize you've started eating it.

Day 10:
Lion bar

Another Nestle creation. Wafer in the middle, caramel around, covered in crispy rice and then chocolate. So much crunch! So much NOM! It's best if it's not cold, or it's hard to eat. I think I like Toffee Crisp better, but Lion is awesome.

Day 11:
Boost bar
NEW ADDICTION! They advertise it as an energy bar... I think that's just a nice way of accounting for the fact that it has over 300 calories (not kidding).  First of all, it's Cadbury.  Then it's caramelly yumness inside, with little bits of biscuit in the mix.  It. Is. So. Good. I'm addicted.  The problem is, it's very dense, so it makes you feel a little bit like you might choke while you're eating it.  I do not care.  WORTH IT.

Top secret trip: Venice 2011

Yes sir, ladies and gentlemen, the secret location was VENICE!

And it could not have been more perfect.

I have kept the location secret since October, and until the night before we left Hansoo had no idea. Through a toothbrushing mishap he found out it was Italy, but that was all he knew.

DAY 1
The next morning, we took the Gatwick express to the airport. When we arrived, I had printed our boarding passes already, so I pulled him aside just before we had to ender security. I handed him an envelope labled "top secret", and through a couple clues he figured it out... we were going to Venice!

On the plane we hadn't been able to get seats together so I sat the row in front of him, both of us in the window seats. This was an awesome decision (the window seats, I mean)... about 15 minute before landing, I was looking out the window and noticed that in the distance, the cloud covering below us seemed to have separated to form denser clumps of clouds. It wasn't until we got closer that I realized it wasn't clouds at all... it was the Italian Alps!

We arrived at the airport and followed the signs outside to the Alilaguna waterbus service. It was already an amazing day... sunny and in the high 50s. So much nicer than the UK.  The boat ride took a little over an hour, and then we were there... the San Marco waterbus stop.  It was just outside the piazza San Marco but I was so overwhelmed by the little shops selling masks and the colors and the water and just being there that, for the moment, I had no concept of my location on a map.

I pulled myself together and began to take us through along the canal to the street where we would need to turn.  It was when I found that street that Venice really hit me and I began to get incredibly, ridiculously excited.

The streets of Venice are very narrow, and every turn feels like a secret passage.  Our trip took place on the weekend preceding Carnivale, so many of the streets were lit up from above with blue twinkly lights.  The city smells like water and delicious food, and there is this mysterious tension of feeling like you might turn a corner and find a piazza alive with some kind of weird masked party.  (This is actually not an exaggeration, there were a lot of people walking around in period costume and masks).


Down a few more streets and across a bridge, we found our hotel nestled in the corner of a turning street.  It was so beautiful. Our room was a little one up on the third floor, decorated in traditional Venetian style (beams in the ceiling, luxurious looking cloth on the walls, matching bedspread on a bed with a decorative headboard).  The really cool part, though, was the view.  Out of our bathroom window we could see the campanile of San Marco coming up over the rooftops, and in the room the window looked out on rooftops stretching in front of us as if you could walk across them all to the sea.

We did some exploring and had dinner outside since it was ridiculously warm for February.  Then we shared a gelato and stopped into a wine bar on our way back to our hotel, where the full moon shined in through our window.

DAY 2

Hansoo and the grand canal!

Being the worlds biggest nerd, the one thing that I really wanted to see in Venice was Il Redentore, a building by Palladio featuring his characteristic stacked pediments on the facade.  We woke up and set off for Giudecca, enjoying the sun and all the people who were out.

The coolest part of seeing Venice in the daytime has to be the water; it is stunningly blue! We definitely did the shameless tourist thing the whole weekend with our cameras, but it was worth it. We stopped into the Museo Della Musica and Hansoo told me about the instruments displayed there.  (The museum is full of baroque string instruments, and Hansoo studied violin for a long time)

When we turned the corner and Il Redentore came into view, I got so excited that I spun in a circle and turned the other way.  I spent way too much time writing and learning about that thing, so seeing it was like seeing a movie star.

On our way back we also walked by Santa Maria Della Salute, a building by Baldessare Longhena.

We took a lunch break and I got the most delicious Bruschetta ever. In Italy, they pronounce it BrusKetta instead of the soft ch sound that we use. Hansoo got some pizza and we sat in our windowsill looking out over the rooftops, enjoying the warmth and the breeze and our delicious Italian food.

We spent the rest of the day exploring, walking around the canal and the Piazza San Marco, and I took us to the Caffe Florian, a famous old cafe where Casanova used to hang out, which was established in 1720.  We sat by the window looking out on the piazza, enjoying a glass of prosecco and some yummy puff pastry savory things that I don't know the name on.

Our restaurant

Pesto and pinot grigio!

Later on, we decided on a restaurant for dinner. Let me tell you, we got so lucky. We walked up right as someone had just left, so we got a table right by the water of the canal... and the restaurant was right next to the Rialto bridge!  I had the most amazing plate of pasta pesto I think I will ever have. It was just fantastic.

On the way back to the hotel, we enjoyed the moon and Hansoo got us each one of these cool light-up things that some men on the piazza were trying desperately to sell. They were actually awesome... you launch them into the air and they fly really high, and then you catch them when they come back down.  We played with them for a while. I was really bad at it. As we left the piazza, some Italian guy high-fived Hansoo, and I'm pleased to say that I understood enough Italian to know that he told Hansoo that I was pretty and that he was a lucky boy. (Oh hey, hear that Hansoo? :) )

We walked for the last time through the lit up streets, and stopped to look up and enjoy the moon shining down through the twinkle lights. I tried so hard to take a picture, but I couldn't capture it. Oh well. I guess I'll just have to remember it.


ELIZA OUT!

Secrets, hot chocolate, and the Prime Meridian

Back in London on Monday after an awesome trip to St. Andrews. Hansoo and I checked out a couple crumbling castles/churches and then spent way too long collecting rocks on the beach. So fun.

Afterwards we warmed up with hot chocolate in a shop that has hot chocolate happy hour with hot chocolate for a pound! So much happiness in my belly.

Needless to say I did not try haggis.

Mike and I on the Prime Meridian!

This week's walking tour took us to Greenwich on a boat down the Thames, where we checked out the Queen's House, the Royal Observatory, and of course, the Prime Meridian. It was very cool to stand on both sides, but I actually especially loved seeing the actual meridian being projected as a green laser... so cool! I had no idea that they actually projected it.

The Royal Observatory is situated at the top of a hill from which you can look out on London. It was a beautiful view, and we got one of the rare sunny and clear days in London.

Now, excitement... tomorrow Hansoo is coming to London, and Friday morning we embark on the much anticipated SECRET TRIP!! I've been planning it since October, and I won't reveal the location here until we get back because it's a surprise to Hansoo. Although anyone else reading this probably knows where we're going... anyway, I'm so excited. More later!

Bagpipes, ho!

Tomorrow I depart to visit my lovely boyfriend in Scotland! Here is a list of things I will be doing:

1. Freezing
2. Walking along the north sea
3. Having lots of fun

Here is a list of things I will NOT be doing:

1. Eating haggis
2. Eating black pudding
3. (therefore) throwing up

This may well be a lie. If a certain asian coerces me into trying these dishes I will keep you all posted. Although considering how well done I cook my beef, I doubt blood and innards will be on my menu.

Now onto more delicious things!

Day 6: Mars Bar

Three Musketeers meets Milky Way. Three Musketeers likes Milky Way. Three Musketeers and Milky Way get married and have a baby named Mars Bar.




Day 7: Double Decker

Soft nougat on crispy rice inside a shell of Cadbury chocolate. So good. The texture is really fun. Imagine a charleston chew where the inside is soft instead of super chewy, but then on top of a Rice Krispie treat.  Oh, and the chocolate is Cadbury, so multiply the deliciousness by a million.

Teatime!

Had a lovely tea today at Tea and Tattle with the lovely Rachel who I haven't seen in ages. Utter amazingness-- I had chamomile tea with a scone that had raspberry vanilla jam and clotted cream on it. Pretty sure I could feel my aorta clogging as I ate. Don't care. Worth it. Rachel had a tea for one and was kind enough to let me try her lemon drizzle cake which was also fantastic. Gotta love England.

She was telling me about the potential healthcare reform as well as the rising cost of education, which I've overheard students protesting against in the square near where I live. She's a med student so it was really interesting to hear about it from her.

A great day...looking forward to more of this with the rest of the UK Waukeela girls!!

Day 6 of chocolateering: Crunchie
"Milk chocolate with a golden honeycombed centre"
It's kind of weird, but in a good way. It's definitely fun to eat... the texture is really interesting. It is very crunchy but with lots of little air bubbles. It tastes like honey but not super sweet. Definitely try it!

Dear chocolate... What?

Day 5: Wispa and Flake

Okay, now I am just confused.

Two things:
1) A Wispa bar is Cadbury chocolate... with lots of tiny air bubbles in it.
2) If you remember my description of a Twirl, it's this awesome layered cadbury dipped in another layer of chocolate on the outside to keep it all in place.

Flake is the same thing... just messier.  There's no outside chocolate, so all the crumbly layers just... crumble!

So I am so confused. ..... They make different candy bars based on texture? Whaaaaat?


Intriguing.

High heels + cobblestones = surprisingly, not that fun

WELL.

It's been too long since I posted. It wouldn't matter because no one reads this except my mom, if it weren't for the fact that I have done EIGHT MILLION AWESOME THINGS!


Let's see... for starters, I went to Westminster Abbey with Mike. Amazing-- especially because Jeremy Irons is the recorded voice that explains everything on a little headset as you go through. It was really interesting. I was surprised by how many very cool, very dead people there are in the abbey! I saw the graves of Shelley, Handel, Jane Austen, Chaucer, and so many more. Poet's corner was a highlight.

I stood at the head of Chaucer's tomb and recited the only bit of Chaucer I know: an excerpt from the millers tale:

The miller, that for dronken was all pale,
So that uneths upon his hors he sat,
He n'old avalen neither hood ne hat,
Ne abiden no man for his courtesie,
But in Pilates vois he gan to crie,
And swore by armes, and by blood, and bones
"I can a noble tale for the nones,
With which I wol now quite the knightes tale."

So my beautiful homage was a passage about a slobbering drunken man.

I also visited the British Museum which was fantastic. I went crazy. As soon as I walked through the door towards where I was going... "oh hey there, Rosetta stone!"

It's really incredible to have heard so much about this artifact that had such a huge effect on our understanding of history and hieroglyphics and language in general and then suddenly have it in front of you with no warning. Just amazing.

I also loved all of the greek architectural items, particularly the Elgin Marbles. For those of you who haven't heard of them, it's a series of metopes from the Acropolis that were taken back to Britain by the Earl of Elgin, who claimed that they were going to be taken down and destroyed. The Greeks, on the other hand, don't quite agree with this version of the story, and are demanding the return of the marbles along with many other allegedly stolen artifacts. The museum staff (understandably) avoids this issue, and if you ask them to point you in the direction of the "Elgin" Marbles, they will seem puzzled and tell you they have never heard of them. The Parthenon Friezes, on the other hand...






I went on my first walking tour on Monday, and we got to see the Pageantmaster Court where London theater first cropped up, the site of Blackfriar's Theatre, walked down Fleet Street (no thank you, meat pie place next to the barber shop), and ended at the Temple Church, built for the Knights of Templar. Seeing the site of the theatre was incredible, because I didn't realize that that was where we were for the 15 minutes we were there... there are so many little courtyards that you might walk past and have no idea that they were, oh I don't know, a theater that Shakespeare worked with. There is literally too much history to keep track of here. There are just random gravestones from the 1300's around the edges of the courtyards sometimes. So crazy.






Finally, we ended at a candy store we passed called "Mr. Simm's sweet shop" that looked like honeydukes from Harry Potter. Amazement. Please see this photo for a comprehensive explanation of my emotions at the time.



Then tragedy struck: I LOST MY THEATER TICKET ON THE WALKING TOUR

I was devastated on so many levels... especially because this was literally the first impression my professor was going to have of me. Ack!! Very luckily, the people at the box office were incredibly helpful and someone had found and returned my ticket to them.

We saw The Woman in Black... a very scary play, which I won't tell you about in case you see it! Totally awesome, though, kind of a meta-theatrical experience.

Anyway, I just got back from an open evening at Christie's Education, and I'm thinking about taking a class about the art market. We'll see if I can afford it. But I am pooped... signing off for now! Goodnight!




::edit::

I forgot to mention that I went on a CANDLELIT MUSEUM VISIT! We waited in line for 2.5 hours to get into the Sir John Soane's Museum, and it was completely worth it.

Sir John was an architect, and his house is a ridiculous hodgepodge of architectural stylistic examples (a colonnade through his main hallway, a huge collection of urns representing different cornices, etc.) as well as tons of cool Wunderkammer-type items and an original Egyptian sarcophagus.

You look up and in every direction the building looks different, and you're very aware of the way the windows within the house work in the candlelight. If you ever get the chance, GO! Just make sure you get there by 5:30 (every Tuesday night) if you want to be sure you get in and have enough time to look around.

The Chocolate Diaries

In an effort to make the most of my time here, I have decided to catalogue my chocolate eating. As I said in a recent post, this benefits me in two ways. 1) I get to eat too much chocolate and 2) feel like I am accomplishing something. Here is my research thus far:

Day 1: Kit Kat Chunky

You know the pieces you break off on the KitKat? Imagine one GIANT one of those, with better chocolate! I had had these before (always with Lemon Fanta... yum!) and loved them. All the chocolate here is just better-- imagine a KitKat, made giant, with much creamier, thicker, smoother chocolate.






Day 2: Starbar

I originally chose this because the description reminded me of a Snickers-- nuts and caramel. The inside, though, is the texture of caramel and tastes like caramel, but with peanut butter blended in. So it's very smooth. It's good, but I think I'll stick with snickers.

Day 3: Twirl

If you like Cadbury... wow. Just, wow. They basically took Cadbury chocolate and piled layers of it on top of each other. It looks a bit like ribbon candy, if you squished it together. The inside is just squiggly layers of chocolate with air in between them so the texture is really fun, and for some reason it makes the flavor better. 

Day 4: Poppets

Okay, so as if it's not enough that these things are called POPPETS, they are also SO TASTY.  They're a bit like Milk Duds, but instead of being caramel on the inside, they are toffee with the texture of caramel on the inside. Poppets are like Milk Duds' hotter brother.

This is why I will be three million pounds when I come home. I really hope you will all understand.

Shopping thus far...

Primark:
Everything that I WISH forever21 was. Same price range, so nice and cheap, but the clothes are British fashions so it is much, much cuter! The problem is, it is huge, very busy, and VERY overwhelming. I spent an hour in there and ended up not buying anything because I just couldn't process everything. But I will persevere!

H&M:
More like the NYC H&M stores of America than some others I have been to-- reasonable prices, but generally more tasteful fashions. You won't find very many graphic t-shirts here. I got an awesome black dress for about $32.

I'm still trying to get the hang of British fashion. It doesn't help that it's so gloomy outside that I just want to snuggle in my PJs the entire day. The one thing I have down is the long black belted pea coat, which pretty much every single person in this city has. Thank you 'Bela and Pop-Pop!

Iceland:
The cheapest grocery store. I got giant bags of vegetables for 1 pound. Amazing!

Sainsbury's:
The best for every day shopping, in my opinion. They have a great lunch deal where you can pick a sandwich from a pretty wide selection, a bag of crisps, and a drink and it only costs 3 pounds.

Brixton:
Caribbean area of London! So cool. They have wonderful spices and seasoning mixes, as well as all of the foods you were obsessed with on your trip to Jamaica but could never find again anywhere else. And a giant tray of cow feet (ew?). Really cool to check out if you're a foodie.

Tesco:
Very small, express grocery store that stays open late. Has all the basics (milk, eggs, a few vegetables, cereal, bread, and of course CADBURY!)


I have decided that every night I have to try one new chocolate thing. This way, I can eat an obscene amount of chocolate with the excuse that I am achieving something in the name of research.

Anything that can go wrong, will.

Greetings from merrye olde Englande!

Well, after a robbery, an incorrect class schedule, a few days without internet or a mobile phone, a minor explosion, and a first degree burn (unrelated to the explosion), here I sit in my lovely flat with a Sainsbury's sandwich and a glass of diet coke having returned from my first day of my theatre course... loving London.

Some first impressions:

1. Everyone is so friendly! Every single person I have interacted with from across a checkout counter has seemed just overjoyed to be there. Love it.
2. I think everyone should know that the first English person I spoke with upon arrival was my taxi driver, who strolled around the cab in a newsboy hat to greet me with a cheery "'ello!" in a cockney accent that lived up to all of my preconceptions of the hilarity of British vernacular.
3. It is much, MUCH warmer here than at Colgate (hah.)
4. It is much smaller than I think I expected-- the city itself is huge, but the distance between where we live and anywhere we were interested in visiting so far has been walkable!


I have explored the city pretty respectably these past couple of days, but I think that the best decision I made was to just ditch the group with my friend Mike and walk around the tourist-y area of London.  Shamelessly took pictures in front of Big Ben. Shamelessly stopped walking in the middle of the sidewalk to look around. Shamelessly had a nerdfest of art historical joy in every room of the National Gallery (I'm talking audible squeaking).

As we walked, I noticed a damaged piece of a building that I could just see over a tall wall that had a beautiful statue and looked like it had once been under an arcade or something. It looked like a ruin, and also looked like it had been burned. We thought maybe there had been a fire, but now I wonder if it was from the Blitz?

Outside the National gallery, there were several people giving out "Free Hugs" like in the video. I got a big hug from a very nice lady. Good start to an awesome semester :).