The Worst Pies in London

Okay so at this point, things are wrapping up. The last major assignments are coming up, the last grocery runs, and the last opportunities to run around and do everything in London! So some of the days are a little boring, but we still have some great adventures left! I’ll do a quick run through of the week, focusing on the fun stuff!

Monday, April 23^rd: LAST PRACTICUM. Sad to say I don’t think the teachers, or the students, really noticed when I was there or not, but hey- it was still a good experience.

Tuesday, April 24^th: Just class. Nothing special, until…SWEENEY TODD. So most people don’t like the plot, which I understand- the Demon Barber on Fleet Street that makes meat pies out of his victims. Not the most upbeat plot, but I still love the music. Plus after being in it my junior year at Marist, I had to go see the West end production. I’m so glad I did because it was PHENOMENAL. Up there with Billy Elliot quality, easily. Michael Ball, who played Sweeney Todd, was the original lead in the musical Les Mis if that gives you any idea of how talented he was. Ms. Lovett is played by Professor Umbridge from the Harry Potter movies.

I came out of the theater speechless, mind blown. The talent was absolutely remarkable and it made for a great production! I wish I could explain it better than that, but I’m so glad we went! (I went with 2 girls in the program, Sarah & Dorothy.) It’ll probably be my last musical in London (probably), so it was a good one to end on! Now I just really want the cast recorded CD…

Wednesday April 25^th: For art class today Lisa led us on a Street Art tour! The rain initially made us all hesitant, but it ended up being really interesting. Lisa knows a street artist (“Don”) who met up with us during the tour. We ended up seeing more of his work then anyone else’s, but I really like his. I probably like it because we had a chance to sit down and talk to Paul (aka Don) about his technique and his thought process behind his art. He was a bit spacey, enthusiastic, and hard to follow with his train of thought, but he did have some great lines.
 

“Graffiti is all about me, me, me, but street art is more thinky thinky.” (a great explanation of the difference in my opinion)

“Street art is about putting your soul out on the street.”

He was going to paint a piece outside for us to see!! Sadly though, the rain didn’t let up enough for the walls to dry.

Thursday, April 26^th:

We didn’t have class today because our GST research paper was due so it was a final work day. To reward ourselves for finishing our papers, KJ, Neenz & I (who Dr. Hall has named K cubed) went to the Kew Gardens! We all LOVED it!! It was raining earlier in the day, but it cleared up, so our weather was gorgeous! The Garden itself are huge, and we got lost a few times walking around. (Oh by the way they use the word garden for what we would just call yard).

We went into a palm house (like a green house) for our very own Costa Rica adventure…or so we said. We climbed a tree, took flower pictures, walked along the Xstrata Treetop walkway, and went into the Kew Palace. The Kew Palace ended up being great because it is where King George III & his family lived. Since we studied him in Theater & saw The Madness of King George III we could really appreciate where we were!

Thursday night we had our last Theater play: The Conquering Hero. This was a theater in the round, which means that we sat all around the stage. It was a really small theater; so small I had to pull my feet in a couple of times for an actor walking in front of me (I was in the front row). I was really impressed by the play too. It was really intense, all about a family during World War I. It was a serious note to end on but definitely well done!

Friday, April 27: Day 2 of our 5 day weekend.

First stop was Harrod’s for some final souvenir/gift shopping (I’m almost done…almost).

Then we (Kj, Neenz, & I) went to the Kensington Gardens to go to the Kensington Palace. This is the palace that Will & Kate have decided to make their permanent residence. The palace is huge, and we were able to tour an area that has been set up to honor some monarchs (Monarchs I believe that lived in the Palace)- Princess Di, Queen Mary II, Queen Victoria, King George II. I’m curious as to how much will change once Will & Kate have officially and completely moved in..I guess we’ll see!

The countdown is down to 10 days. For most people that’s a countdown to go home; for me it’s a countdown for the end of the program but also for my parents’ arrival in London!

real Dutch

There were so many potential titles for this blog…

Sheep!

bikes on bikes on bikes

bread on bread on bread

4 Masses in 40 hours

Women’s Retreat

…to name a few.

My weekend in Holland started very early on Friday, April 20^th. Actually, it should have started early on Friday, but really it started late on Thursday because I couldn’t fall asleep! At 12:45 I gave up on trying (I had been trying since 10:30), hung out with some flat mates, and took an hour nap at 2. My taxi driver picked me up at 3:45 sharp to take me to the coach to get to the airport… After a worker had to direct me to the bus stop, my morning went smoothly.

On the other end, Elske picked me up in Eindhoven, Holland where we wandered around until it was time to pick up Amy and Lauren from the train station. 

I know these 3 girls all from my summer as a missionary at Covecrest. Elske was a year round missionary, and Amy & Lauren were doing the same 6 weeks as me. So, after we were all reunited we headed to Odiliapeel, Holland where Elske and her roommate live in an old rectory connected to a church. We went grocery shopping and had our first Dutch meal: bread and bread and bread! For multiple meals we ate this dark Dutch bread with some sort of spread: either peanut butter, nutella, or butter. Most of the time, on top of the spread, we put these chocolate sprinkles! Real Dutch.

From there we went and saw a WINDMILL, went and met a cloister nun (Sister Bernadette-I’ve never met a cloister nun before) who Elske knows, and headed to her parents’ house for another dutch meal in Uden, Holland.

Dinner was a sausage dish and a potato with onion and carrot dish: it was pretty plain but really good. For dessert we had some sort of vanilla, caramel cream that was really really good, even though I don’t really know what it was. And then we had ice cream-sort of in the style of a Carvel’s ice cream cake (her dad has quite a sweet tooth). Neither one of her parents spoke any English, so Elske was our personal translator. It made conversation a little awkward, but her dad was really funny! Maybe the language barrier added to the humor, but he would say something, either one English word, or something Elske had to translate, and he had us all laughing!

After dinner we went to church for daily Mass and then back to Elske’s for a girls’ night. We feasted on snacks, baked these delicious chocolate muffins (cupcakes), painted our nails, and did face masks.

Saturday, April 21^st was an early morning as Elske was singing in the Cathedral in s'-hertogenbosch, Holland for Mass for a Power of Fire festival for confirmation teens. We hung out a little, and then Elske and her brother Frank gave a talk to the teens. 

The whole festival was really cool to witness, even though we didn’t understand any of it. We were meeting Elske’s friends all day long, and some could speak English better than others.  After visiting the “Shroud of Turin” exhibition in the Cathedral, we headed to Utretch, Holland, to meet up with more people! Here we met the Brothers of St. John (Brother John Mary Jesus, Brother Clements), a visiting Sister from France, and three teens that have been helping with Life Teen in Holland (Roberto, Caroline, and another girl). Brother John Mary Jesus celebrated a vigil Mass for us, the Brothers provided us dinner, and then we all headed to the Michael W. Smith concert: Symphony of Life!

The concert was unbelievable! I really had no idea what to expect, but it looked like it was in a conference center with 10,000 people there and a full orchestra to play with the musicians!! There were 3 Dutch musicians, and then Michael W. Smith. The first three all spoke Dutch so someone helped translate for the three of us, but they sang in English, so I found that interesting! The concert was really something else!! 

After that we headed back to the Brothers’ community for some drinks before we headed home. They served us beer out of their own personal keg- such a different experience! By far Holland is the most culturally unique place I’ve been…with the food, language, and everything!!

We didn’t get to bed until two that night and had to be up early on Sunday, April 22 to take Amy & Lauren to the train station. My flight was until later so we headed back to Uden for Mass, which ended up being a First Communion Mass, so that was another cultural experience! Then we had lunch with Elske, Frank, and his girlfriend back at their parents’ house. Another cultural food item: bread, cream cheese, salmon, & lettuce. Another one is how they eat boiled eggs: they hit the side with a knife, cut off the top, and then scoop the egg out with a special spoon! They were amused with my attempt to cut it, but I did it!

After that my weekend in Holland was over! At the airport I bought slippers that look like the wooden clogs, some delicious stroop waffles to take back to my roommates, and before I knew it I was arriving back in London! It was a relaxing, religious, whirlwind of a weekend!! I didn’t know if I’d ever see Elske again once she left America, and there I was, visiting her in her own home!! Holland was such a great, and different, experience!!

Super Short

Okay so to be completely honest this is a quick catch up blog so I can talk about my weekend in Holland…

April 18^th: This Wednesday we went to a Crypt Gallery for my art class. Most of this artwork I didn’t really like, but because it was all site specific for the Crypt that was cool. Site specific just means the artists created the work to go specifically in that location, so some of the themes were pretty sweet.

April 19^th: In GST we had our neighborhood presentations, which I would say went pretty well. After that quite a few of us spent some time on the internet looking up Greek Week dances for our sororities because that was Wednesday night back at Elon.

Thursday afternoon I spent three and a half hours in Café Nerro working on a research paper so that I could enjoy my weekend away without worrying about it!

Super boring blog…sorry…I would just skip these few days, but I haven’t skipped a day yet!

The next blog will be all about my weekend in Holland- I had such a great time!

What a Pity!

20 days left in the program… 1 month until I leave London….this is crazy, where has the time gone?!?!?

Saturday, April 14^th: Not much to report…Worked on homework, evening Mass, movie night in the flat with Transformers. The End.

Sunday, April 15^th I visited Nick, a missionary brother from this past summer, at the retreat center where he is living and working now in England. Visiting his community was such a relaxing day! It’s surrounded by fields, and we spent the day chilling and relaxing with the people he lives with. We made a massive amount of vegetable and spaghetti Bolognese for six or so people which was nice. Nick also led a praise and worship session during Adoration, which was so incredible! I haven’t been able to do that in months, so that was such a blessing!

Monday, April 16^th would have been a practicum, but I wasn’t feeling too hot, so I stayed home. KJ treated me back to health in time to go to class. Only one practicum class left!

A little back story before I continue with Monday…KJ, Neenz, and 2 other girls went to Switzerland this weekend to go hang gliding. On the tube ride home they met and befriended 5 Austrian guys visiting London for the weekend. They exchanged phone numbers so….

On Monday night we met up with them after class to just hang out at a pub. Dominik, Berney, Alex, Philipp, & Benny…they’re hilarious. They are all pretty good at English, really good actually, but the language barrier does cause some hilarious stories such as… they learned that Americans/Englishmen say “What a pity!” We told them “what a shame” or “that’s too bad” is a bit more common… They also had a really really  REALLY hard time distinguishing Vs and Ws, in their speech and listening to us. So for a while, “visiting” sounded a lot like “whisiting.” They call cell phones “handies,” and they actually say “ex-gf.” We spent a few hours at the pub with them, and they really didn’t want us to go home. It was so much fun hanging out with them!

Tuesday, April 17^th just starts with class: GST & Theater. In Theater we watched a video about the making of War Horse, and that was actually really cool (though a bit long)! Afterwards we met back up with the Austrian boys for lunch. They are flying out tonight, but had some more time in the afternoon so we showed them around.

We took them to Hyde Park where they were fascinated by the SQUIRRELS. Seriously- they’ve never seen squirrels before and thought they were so cool. Ha. We told them to come to Elon, and they’ll see more squirrels then they’ll want to see in their entire lives… We also walked them around Oxford Street, before they had to head back to their hostel to get their bags and go to the airport. KJ, Neenz, & I were all actually really sad to say goodbye to them. They were such sweet and funny guys! It’s that atmosphere of meeting other tourists and befriending them for a short while and then going your separate ways that I’ll really miss back in the States! Even though they had to leave (sad day), we made some great memories just hanging out with them.

For example…they know the phrase “Like a boss.” When someone was eating really polite during lunch they said they were eating “like a sir.” Haha oh language barriers….

Prince Harry

Thursday, April 12^th: This day deserves its own blog post.

In the morning time, we had our last GST tour with Sean Boyle, which is pretty sad. It’s theme was “21^st Century London,” and it was really about the modern buildings that are up or are being built. We focused on 2 famous architects. They like their bizarre names and nicknames like the Gerkin, Darth Vader’s Helmet, the Cheese Grater, the Walkie Talkie, Shard, the Quill (aka baby Shard). So no more Thursday tours!

Now Thursday night: I expected a super chill chill night. I was feeling lazy, and I knew Friday was going to have to be a productive day. I’m sitting upstairs just reading a little after 8 when Ginna Claire comes in.

GC: “What dress should I where?” (holding 2 fancy dresses)

Me: Where are you going?

GC: Same place you are. Put on a dress.

And so the spontaneous girl’s night began. Emma, Lindy, & I got all dressed up and blindly followed Ginna Claire on our adventure.

Stop 1: the Madison at St. Paul’s

This is a fancy restaurant and café on the rooftop with a beautiful view of St. Paul’s and London. GC really wanted to get dressed up and have some sticky toffee pudding. We made friends with some of the waiters who were so friendly and helpful because apparently the Madison restaurant and bar is the place to be for “suits” on a Thursday night, so it was busy! But we made friends, enjoyed the view, and decided to go to this Piano bar on High Street Kensington.

Transportation #1: On the tube after the Madison we met Tom the Banker. He was laughing at us talking to some other Americans about living here, so we struck up a convo with Tom. He was super nice, and it was just fun to meet people. We also met another guy on the tube who was very interested in Lindy the country girl, but that doesn’t need to be a part of this story.

Stop 2: Pianobar at Kensington.

This place is so nice! Pretty swanky again, but also so chill. I definitely want to come back because we weren’t there for more than 10 minutes when GC friended Ben. Basically, he said hi, and not to long after that he said “get your stuff and your friends we’re going to boujis.” Now if you don’t know, because I didn’t before London, bouji’s is known as Prince Harry’s nightclub. Talk about swanky. I guess technically you can get in some line and pay some cover charge, but you don’t really get in unless you’re on a VIP list. But Ben told us we’d get in with him, and there was no charge.

Okay at this point I know it sounds a little sketch, but there were 4 of us, he’s American, GC met his other friends, the club was nearby, and we heard him tell the cab driver to go to bouji’s.

Transportation #2: In this short cab ride, we quickly learn that Ben must be from old Manhattan money, and he has made more than his fair share of new money as a nightclub founder in Edinburgh, as a nightclub and restaurant owner with his brother in Restaurant, and as a precious stone trader in London.

“What kind of stones?”

“The kind you want on your ring.”

So we also learned he’s a bit arrogant, really only wanted to talk about himself, and was loaded. Fun fact, he’s been to Tokyo, Hong Kong, and three other places all in the last 6 weeks. For business? Nope. For pleasure. On the weekends. I think you’re learning what type of guy Ben is…

Stop 3: BOUJI’S!!

Again, you only get in if you’re on a guest list, but Ben and his friends walk up to the bouncer. He greets them, they chat, he chats up some hostess type person, and they send us in. Now once we actually get in the club, we only briefly see Ben once, and he even leaves before us. So we’re pretty positive he does this a lot…just lets guests in because he can.

Let’s pause here for a second….how do you even get to that status where you are a regular at a VIP club, Prince Harry’s VIP club?? The bar sold bottles of drinks, bottles!, that were like 500pounds probably on the cheapest end. I’m pretty sure it was more like 800 all the way up to 2,000 pounds. That is not how I’d spend my money if I had that much to just toss away…Someone could spend all of the money I've spent all semester in one night easily. Crazy! Later one Emma was looking up private membership, and of course it's super exclusive not to mention expensive. Feel free to look it up... http://www.boujis.com/

Anyways, back to the night.

So the 4 of us girls are in bouji’s, and it’s 80s "Material Girl" theme. Quickly one of the girls working there comes over to us, hands us little hand lace things (it’s 80s), sunglasses (not cheapy plastic things), pins, & like lollipop/dum dum candies. Someone else comes back later to give us more pins and beaded necklaces-again, not cheap plastic necklaces. WE MET PRINCE HARRY! Just kidding. We didn't. But it's still cool that we were in "his" nightclub:) This is not a life I would enjoy living long term...not even consistently short term...but it's definitely so cool to experience as part of the London nightlife! The 4 of us just enjoyed our spontaneous girls’ night- we were pretty chill just hung out and danced, and then tackled the night bus system to get home.

I can’t even believe this night happened. It’s definitely going down as one of the top nights in London!  It was so chill too, just a spontaneous adventure to dress up and get sticky toffee pudding….

Tweed on Tweed on Tweed

April 8^th:

EASTER!

So the morning started with Easter Mass of course. Mass is still mass, and Easter is still Easter, but this Easter Mass was not quite the celebration that I’m used to. A lot of that is just due to the atmosphere and community of the church that I found. Still, it’s Easter Sunday, and I was determined to make it special.

About 6 of us in my program all pitched in to have a nice Easter brunch! We had flowers, hard boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, different kinds of pancakes, hash browns, fruit salad, and chocolate eggs. We all had work to do, but we made an effort to have a nice brunch, and it was so nice! Even for those that weren’t really celebrating Easter as the religious holiday and miracle, I think everyone there really appreciated the little taste of home.

 April 9^th:

Easter Monday

Easter Monday here is a bank holiday, and almost every Easter Monday there is Point-to-Point. Point-to-Point is a horse racing event that is meant to raise money for the hunt. So Neenz & I took a train out to Basingstoke where Tim and Ginna Claire picked us up. Monday was spent in the countryside of England. First we had a nice pub lunch that was a treat from three dads. Usually they would picnic before Point-to-Point but it was rainy, windy, and cold!!! Because of the weather there weren’t as many horses racing, but we still watched two or three complete races.

Now this was an experience! The horse racing itself was really cool, and Tim’s parents (especially Mrs. Carpenter) were so friendly, talking about the races and everything. The whole atmosphere, even the weather, felt very British! There seemed to be an unofficial uniform of hunter rain boots (excuse me-wellies) and tweed on tweed on tweed! There were tweed hats and jackets everywhere! 

 There were some stands that we looked around too, and one of them was just selling chickens and quails! We watched as a man stuffed two chickens in a box for the couple that just bought them.

After we had enough of the rain, Tim decided we were going to drive until we found a country pub. So we drove. And drove. At this point we’re really driving around the countryside just trying different villages for a pub. Eventually we found Woolpack Inn.

After the pub, we went back to Tim’s flat where he cooked us a delicious stir fry, and we watched Notting Hill! The three of us girls hadn’t seen it before, so Tim insisted we watch it. It was cool to watch the movie and recognize all of the different places! Plus it’s a good movie. Tim has been so generous and kind, welcoming us all as his friends and just helping us experience London!

April 10^th:

Back to class…

So we do take classes and do work here I promise! Tuesday morning was the usual, GST and then Theater. For lunch I went with Dr. Hall and four other girls to Hummus Bros. Elon has given Dr. Hall some money, and he’s using the leftovers in his budget to treat us to meals in small groups. So Hummus Bros is a hummus restaurant-clearly-that is delicious! You get a plate of hummus with the toppings that you want and 1 or 2 pitas. Delicious. I plan on going back.

After lunch, KJ, Neenz, & I headed north to Golders Green to do research for our project in GST. We wandered around, researched in the library, and then headed back into the city to find dinner before our play that night. While wandering around Southbank center looking for food, it started to rain and then it started to hail! The hail wasn’t that large, but it was definitely ice falling from the sky. So that was an experience.

Tuesday night we had our 7^th play for our Theater class, She Stoops to Conquer. This is a National Theater play, and it was good! Not my favorite but still a lot of fun with some really bizarre characters!!

April 11^th:

One month until my birthday!

Wednesday morning was lazy as usual, and then I adventured one stop down on the Tube line for a little taste of home: Subway! There are Subways everywhere, but this was the first time I gave in and had a sub! It was just as good as at home, and they even had American cheese!

Wednesday afternoon, my art class went to the Tate Modern for the Damien Hirst exhibition. We’ve studied him in class, so it was really cool to actually go to his exhibit! He’s a contemporary artist, really famous, but I’m not really a fan. I can appreciate his themes, I even like some work here and there, but I personally think he’s kind of arrogant…and disturbed. He does a lot with animals in formaldehyde. I highly suggest you look up his work, though be prepared, he’s unique. He rubs me wrong though, as an artist who wants to make a lot of money and get away with bizarre things just by calling it art. Oh well, each to his own, right?