Just uh Travelin'

Windsor, Bath, and Stonehenge

nrpope — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:27:00 GMT

Yesterday I went on a tour with a couple friends to Windsor, Bath, and Stonehenge. I was a student tour which was nice, and kept the cost low. We had to meet in Central London at 8:15am which meant I was up at 6am and left the house by quarter of 7. We took two buses, then the tube (underground/subway) to the station where the bus was.

First stop was about an hour away in Windsor. I did not choose to go into the castle, but instead went on a walking tour of the town and grabbed breakfast. Come to find out, the Queen was at the castle, which is not unusual, since the flag was flying.

We then had a two hour journey to Bath. It is home to the Roman Baths, which I did not go in, but looking back, I probably should have. I was fine not going into Windsor Castle, but I probably should have went in to see the Roman Baths. Instead I went into the Beautiful Bath Abbey, and then took a walking tour of the town. I really liked Bath. As I was walking around after the tour, I stumbled down one of the not so populated side streets where there were even more shops, and I came upon this little dessert shop. I was craving some sweets, so I stopped in and I was the only one in the lady was very nice. She generously offered me samples of about 10 different desserts of hers, and then a mixture between me feeling bad, and how inexpensive it was, I bought a dessert. When I came back to the group a couple of my friends were envious I happened to get lost and then got to sample sweets!

After Bath, we had about an hour ride through the country side of England. It reminded me a lot of home. There were farms everywhere you looked. The roads were pretty windy as well Our bus driver was crazy and flying. He thought a car was going too slow, so pulls into the other lane and passes with on coming traffic! This would be equivalent to passing on a back road where there is barely enough room for two cars, let alone a bus, and no shoulder, just dirt. Anyway, I am still alive and we made it! Stonehenge was incredible to see and just trying to picture how they brought and placed the rocks was absolutely insane. I am going to put a few pictures below, enjoy!

-Nick

Just another Sunday in London

nrpope — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 10:29:00 GMT

As I am sitting here waiting for the Packers game to come on, I figured I would give you a run down of what my typical class week is like. (Yes, it is 12:30am here, and the game doesn't come on until 1:30am)..dedicated fan here.

Monday:

I have Geology lecture at 9am at Penrhyn Road, which means I have to catch the bus from the Kingston Hill Uni. I try to leave the house by 8-8:15 so I have enough time to walk and catch the bus. I also try to leave early because they will close the doors once the bus is full and it is no fun when the person in front of you gets on, but you don't, and have to wait another 15 mins.

Depending on the time I get there, I can stop to grab a coffee/tea, or just head straight to lecture.

I have a break from 11-1 where I normally meet up with friends and walk to a sandwich shop to have lunch. There are many places all around the campus to eat and most places have lunch specials. I can get a sandwich, crisps (potato chips), and a drink for 3 pounds. Sandwiches I have had here are the best I have ever had.

I then head back to campus for my Geology Tutorial, or Lab, which runs from 1-3. It is pretty self explanatory, we work in groups to complete the assigned lab. There is an instructor plus two tutors walking around if we have any questions.

We get let out of class about 10 minutes early and luckily, my Operations Management class is on the same campus so I have enough time to get there. We have lecture for the first hour/hour and a half, then for the rest of the time, we have a tutorial. Group A and Group B stay for the tutorial alternating weeks.

After class, I generally either meet up with people to grab a bit to eat in town, or head back to my place to cook with my housemate Remmy, and we make some good dinners!

Tuesday:

Once again I have class at Penrhyn Road at 9am. So I leave the house by 8:15 to make it on time. Electronic Business Processes, EBP, has its tutorial first, so we meet in a computer lab to work on our projects/assignments together. My professor combined the EBP tutorial with one of her other class tutorials, so there is really two classes in the lab. This makes for a much more independent tutorial session. We had to make groups for our projects, so I am with two second year students from the UK, and one second year student who is from Poland. I really like our group because everyone takes part and we have some in depth and knowledgeable discussions and debates over different topics we should/should not include in our project.

We are free to leave 10-15 minutes early for a break, or if we need to use the bathroom or get a drink/snack. We then have to be in lecture by 11. Professors here are very strict about allowing people in. We have to swipe our card to have access to the classroom, so if you show up more than 5 past the hour, they will tell you to go home, or come back after break for the second half of class. We normally get a 5 minute break after the first hour.

After class, I either meet up with some friends for dinner, or once again head back to my place and cook some delicious food.

Wednesday and Thursday:

Off.

Off, as in no classes that is. I use my free time to normally do my homework/go to the library and I also catch up on stuff that needs to be done whether it is groceries, laundry, or cleaning up my room. Sometimes I will meet people in town for a bit to eat for lunch in between their classes, so it forces me to get up in the morning and not catch a few more zzz's.

With group projects more of a focus here as well, we also set up times to meet and discuss/work on our projects/papers. I always try to vote for Wed/Thurs since it works best for me, but it really comes down to when everyone is free.

Friday:

I have my class, Business Environment, from 2-5, with the first hour being a lecture, the next two being a tutorial. I really enjoy this tutorial because the teacher brings up the topic for the tutorial, and lets us take up a debate.

Well, that is all for now. I have had a long day. I woke up at 6am to catch a bus/train to London and then on a tour of Windsor, Bath, and Stonehenge. I was then dropped back off in London and had to catch the train back to Kingston. I will write a post about the trip here in the next couple of days and be sure to upload some pictures. This same student tour company is offering a trip to Amsterdam next weekend, which I am considering going on. Hopefully I will have my decision made up here soon.

I also booked my flights for over break. I will be flying into Poland and going to Auschwitz, and then catching a flight to Trapani in Southern Italy, and then onto Barcelona for the last part of the break. I am catching a flight back to London a day early since The Airborne Toxic Event is playing here, and well, I couldn't miss their show here.

Well..GO PACK GO!

Night!

-Nick

A day in Central and at Buckingham Palace

nrpope — Wed, 5 Oct 2011 09:05:00 GMT

Saturday I met with a group of friends at Waterloo Station..main train/tube station in Central. It is a good meeting points because we can all take trains into Waterloo from where we are staying. We decided to meet early (9 am) so we could attempt to get tickets for Buckingham Palace. The Palace closed on October 3rd since the Queen would be on her way back. After a short stroll through St. James Park where the chipmunks would come up to you and you could pet them, we made our way to the Palace to find a long line, err I mean..queue. We were unable to buy tickets online since they were sold out, so waiting in the queue was our only option. It went fairly quick and we were able to get tickets for later in the afternoon. I could go on forever about how gorgeous and extravagant the Palace was, but it would become monotonous. I thought it was also cool that as an added bonus they had Cait Middleton's dress on display from the wedding earlier this year. Along with a whole extra wedding exhibit.

We decided to take a stroll through Hyde Park until it was time for our tour. This little stroll turned into walking through the WHOLE park looking for the other part of the group who opted not to go to the Palace since they had gone earlier in the week. Hyde Park was gorgeous. It was nice walking by the water and throughout the various gardens. They also had a nice memorial fountain dedicated to Princess Diana.

It was about lunchtime but since I had half eaten half fed to the ducks/chipmunks my deliciously awkwardly tasting jam and chocolate spread sandwich, I decided to stop and get a burger. I don't know if the sandwich was good or if I was just hungry which is why I ate it. It sounded so appetizing when I had made it before I left! After annihilating the burger, we stopped by the Museum of Natural History. It was cool to see the exhibits.

Four of us parted and went to the Buckingham Palace tour, but after met up with the other three. So after walking around for about an hour trying to decide where to eat, I think we stopped and read the menu's on about 50 or more places and had been walking nonstop since 9am, I was a little frustrated. I decided to wander down this side street and I read a menu and saw something I liked so I declared it was where I was eating and if others wanted to join, they could. Well, everyone did. So it was nice to have dinner and relax. We were not planning on staying into the night, but since it was getting dark out, we decided to head over by the London Eye and Big Ben. It was awesome to see everything lit up at night. I will upload some pictures for sure. It wasn't until about 9:30pm that we caught a train back into Kingston. Such a long, but fun day! We ended up meeting up with people in Kingston and relaxing for a bit longer, sharing stories and memories from the day, before we parted our own ways for the nights.

That's all for now.

-Nick

Photos: London!

nrpope — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 04:20:00 GMT

it's about time huh?

nrpope — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 03:35:00 GMT

I am slacking in this whole write in a blog to keep people updated, but as of today I have been here for two weeks! I love it here and don't think I could have made a better choice about studying abroad.

I am staying with a host family and four other students, all girls. The house is about a 5-10 minute walk to the KU Business and Law campus (Kingston Hill). There are four campuses and we were placed in accommodation according to what we were studying. When receiving my timetable (or schedule) I was informed that business classes were split between Kingston Hill and the main campus, Penrhyn Road..all of my classes turned out to be at Penrhyn Road. Penrhyn Road is about 3 miles from where I live so instead of walking (got really lost the first night here trying to walk home)I catch the Uni bus (free) from Kingston Hill to Pehrhyn Road. It is about a 15 minute bus ride depending on how many stops. I have learned that when waiting for a bus to pick you up, you have to stick your hand out to let the driver know to stop. It was lovely when I thought it was stopping and it passed right by and I had to wait another twenty minutes for the next bus to come. Likewise, when on the bus and it announces your stop you have to hit the button that lets the driver know to stop and let you off. Once again I didn't realize that my first time and I had to walk from the next stop back to my house.

There are 3,000 international students studying at Kingston this semester, with about 130 of them being Americans. I started classes this week and enjoy them much more than my classes back home. The professors here are much more approachable and they have much more interactive classes. I think I am going to like the classes here much better and I feel like I will also be learning a lot more here than at home.

So what have I been doing for the last two weeks before classes started?

Well, I have enjoyed a lot of days just walking around Kingston and the open-air markets and trying the fresh foods, looking in overpriced shops, siting and enjoying views of the Thames River, and going out to local pubs and restaurants meeting new people.

I have taken a couple trips into Central London with some friends. Central London is where you would picture all of the touristy attractions like Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, London Eye etc..Central is about a 30 minute train ride from Kingston, or about an hour by bus. I also took part in a Thames River cruise to Greenwich. Greenwich biggest attraction is being a place where the Prime Meridian runs through. So, I did the touristy thing and stood in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres at once. We were going to go into the Queen's house, but it was shut down because they were currently shooting part of Sherlock Holmes the day we were there. Wandering around, a couple of us ran into a Harvest Festival going on so we stopped and tried some of the local food samples. There were also very big markets and tons of street food everywhere you looked.

Another event put on for us was a day trip to Brighton. Brighton is a gorgeous ocean-side town. It is where King George IV had his "cottage/summer home/water-view" palace built. We went on a tour of his palace and it was gorgeous..learned a lot of neat and interesting things about him. We were also able to check out the Brighton Pier which had a bunch of carnival type activities, food, and shops on it. It was a very relaxing place to be around.

After the trip to Brighton, 7 of us hopped on a train and went to the Chelsea vs Fulham football (soccer) match. It was an incredible time. The fans were absolutely insane and it was nothing like being at a sporting event in America. Fans were were chanting and moving the whole time throughout the crowd. When they play football matches here, opposing teams fans are only allowed to buy tickets behind their own goal, and that part of the stadium is not accessible from where the home fans are. This is to prevent fights and riots breaking out. They also do not serve alcohol while the match is being played. You are only able to get alcohol before the match starts, or at halftime. They are also very strict about when play resumes after half. I witnessed one guy buying beer and then the associate got a nod from his boss that the play resumed so the next guy in line was not able to buy it. Even if you do buy alcohol, you are not allowed to bring it back to your seat, you have to drink it in the lobby area. The game ended up going into a shoot out after 90 mins of play and then two extra 15 minute halves. Chelsea won 4-3 in the PK shootout. The Fulham goalie saved the first PK, then the Chelsea goalie saved the 3rd PK and the stadium ERUPTED. So in the 5th round the Chelsea player scored, then the Fulham player hit it off the top post and it dropped directly down but did not go in. The stadium went nuts!! Everyone was just jumping around and singing. I was glad to be wearing a Chelsea jersey. I was told this was the game to go to because it was a rival match since the Chelsea stadium is actually in the city/town limits of Fulham. Quite an eventful day to say the least!

One other trip I did was to Camden Town. Which is still considered part of London, but it is a place with TONS of street vendors and outdoor markets. You able to barter with the people at the shops and then they also have a lot of great food that people are just cooking as you walk along. I had some Chinese noodles and different types of chicken and sat and enjoyed views of the Thames. I think I paid 3 pounds and they give you tin filled with as much as you want. You just keep telling them different choices and they keep piling it on! So good!

I know that was quite a long post but it was really quite short considering everything I have been doing. I tried to just give a short overview of the two weeks here. I will try and update more often!

I will also be adding pictures to the photo albums so be sure to check those out too!

Cheers.

Nick