Quick touch in

Hey my loves, 

I figured I'd give you a quick update before I leave for Italy this afternoon! I can't even begin to explain how lucky I am and how thankful I am to have all of these opportunities. One sad note...my camera isn't working :( I can't get it to charge at all and I can't figure out how to get it working. Luckily everyone I am with said they snap tons of photos for me. 

This week I did quite a bit more than I expected. On Tuesday I went and did some exploring around London, found some cool up-scale markets, but didn't make any purchases (on money conservation mode). After that I went to the Tate Britain for my art history class. That night I went to a show/musical called Spring Awakening. It was a pretty...'intense' and moving show. On Wednesday I went to another show, The Twelfth Night, by Shakespeare. I've never seen a Shakespeare but it was really good and I was actually able to understand it. Yesterday, Thursday, after class I went exploring with Eric and Rachel. We went to what is called 'The City' in central London. We went and saw St. Paul's Cathedral (which is one of the most amazing things I've ever witnessed), the Bank of England Museum, Threadneedle Street, The Monument (represents the great fire of London), Leadenhall Market, the Tower Bridge, and the Tower of London. All of those places were within walking distance. After that we made some homemade pizzas and watched a movie. Afterwards Eric and I snuck out for a pint at a local pub called the Greyhound. 

Today I have to pack and get everything ready for Italy. I look forward to blogging when I get back next week. March 8th is when I should get a blog up. Everyone take care, stay clear of the snow, love you all!

Stonehenge, Bath, Greenwich, Oxord, Fulham Game

On Tuesday I went back to that west coast swing dance class. It was really fun but it got way too advanced for me, and I don't think I'll be going anymore. On Wednesday I went to the Victoria & Albert Museum. The museum was amazing and I pretty much stuck to one exhibit on Asia and the Middle East that had some pretty amazing stuff. 

On Thursday I went to Stonehenge. There's nothing to see but the rocks themselves, but let me tell you, its quite amazing. 

These rocks weighed over 8,000 pounds and some were brought from as far as 250 miles away over 4,500 years ago. No one has any idea how it was done or what its purpose was. There are a lot of theories but it is just incredible to think and ponder about. 

After Stonehenge I went to the infamous city of Bath. 

Bath was founded by the

Romans when their empire stretched to the UK. The city is most famous for its Roman Baths which are underground. They were poorly preserved but one still exists today.  It was cool to see the steam rolling off of the

 naturally occurring springs. The city itself has some great architecture as well. The city is built in a valley so at certain points of the city there are some great views. We walked around the city all day and got to take it all in. It was definitely worth going and seeing. On Thursday night we went to a piano

 bar and had a good time there. 

On Friday a few of us went to Greenwich. Again, Greenwich was an awesome city to see. It's in London (or just on the outskirts) but you don't get the big city feel at all. It's a small town with some pretty important things. Greenwich falls on the Prime Meridian, so literally, time starts and is right in Greenwich. Everyone's timezone is based off of Greenwich (PA is +5 and MN is +6). So I got some pictures standing on the Prime Meridian as well as with the 24 hour clock. The 24 hour clock looks a little goofy but it is time, exactly, and the official clock of the world essentially (I set my watch to the 24 hours clock, to the second). In Greenwich we went to the Royal Naval College which has some beautiful buildings and some famous interiors. We also went to The 

Observatory, which was were the first serious study of space and time took place. The building is now a

 museum but it houses some pretty cool telescopes that date back centuries in buildings that had manually opening roofs to view the night sky. We also went to

 the National Maritime Museum which basically told the history of sea travel. 

After those museums we found some walking fish n' chips. I have been waiting to find a place like it, you get your fish in chips wrapped in paper in a cone shape. It was so good, better than anything I've had in a resta

urant/pub. After that we went and found the Trafalgar Tavern, which is a famous pub because Charles Dickens used to go get a pint there on a daily basis. 

On Saturday I caught a train to Oxford. Oxfo

rd is essentially a city built within a college. The college itself dates back 1100 years. Since then it has grown into a University made up of 35 colleges. It is the best university in the world, there are so

 many famous people that attended Oxfor

d that it wouldn't even be worthwhile to start naming a few. The buildings at this school are the most amazing things I've seen up until this point. A lot of the

 architecture was built to mimic Italian buildings. The most amazing part though is that a majority of the buildings are 13th and 14th century gothic. A lot of the UK has gothic style buildings but those were from the 19th century gothic revival. The city is also known for being a bicycle city, literally everyone bikes, it makes for a cool atmosphere. Oxford had tons of pubs, sandwich shops, and cool places to eat and see. I tried some weird African fruit at a market in

 Oxford called a lychee, pretty interesting to say the least. One cool thing about the city is that there are these really na

rrow alleyways featuring pubs and shops that are famous because of the people who used to attend them (while in school). 

While in Oxford I went to a place called the Turf Tavern, I knew it was going to be sweet because of its location.

You literally walked down an alley that was hardly 2 people wide, at the end was a pub that was in the coolest location I've ever seen. It was surrounded by decks were people eat and drink (warmed by charcoal heaters at every table). 

The place was hundreds of years old, I actually had to duck to get in the front door. It is always packed, features some of the best beers, oh and Bill Clinton was a regular when he went to Oxford, there were some pictures of him. By far the coolest p

lace I've seen since I've been here.

On Saturday night we went out and found some new places to go out, had a great time with some of my roommates.

Today, Sunday, I went to a football match (soccer). Football over here is so much bigger than any sport in the US. It seriously doesn't even care, people are so committed and loyal to their clubs. 

Every game is sold out and tickets are RIDICULOUSLY expensive. The coverage the sport gets in the papers and on the news is crazy. We went to the game at one today, and it was something else. People are so fired up and passionate, and most of them a bit drunk. I expected to be bored, because I've never really watched soccer and new there was usually one goal a game. But let me tell you, it was awesome. It's so exciting and easy to follow. I seriously think I prefer to American football. 

Wow, that was quite a bit of stuff and I feel like I missed some things! If I think about it I'll try to post this Thursday or Friday, I won't have really done anything this week, but its nice to reach out. If you forgot...I leave for Italy on Friday! 9 days in three beautiful cities. Not to mention, when I get back I am leaving for Barcelona, Spain that next weekend. I'm starting to get freaked out by how fast time is flying by over here. 

Take care everyone, love you. 

Another boring post

Hey everyone, sorry its been awhile since I've posted but I haven't been up to too much. This is the part of the STUDY abroad, something I kind of forgot about at first. This past weekend I had a lazy weekend and was trying to get over a little sickness that had been lingering around since Istanbul. I am feeling good again though.

For Steve and anyone interested, I started running a little bit again. This past week I went on my first run since November 23rd (the day of the Marathon). I've now managed three runs and hopefully I can keep it a regular thing :)

I'll give you a little walk through of what I did last week, or what I can remember anyways. 

Last Tuesday I took a dancing lesson, West Coast Swing. It was sooooo much fun, West Coast Swing is a modern form of swing dancing that is pretty hip, atleast I thought so. I am doing it again tomorrow night and then maybe the next Tuesday as well. 

Last Thursday after classes a couple of us went out to a bar that had a cover band that was really good. I literally knew every single song that they played and had a great time. I met a really cool guy from Sweden that was in for the night. I hung out with him all night and really enjoyed it. Also, there was a pretty cool girl from Paris that I met! She was definitely a good looker, she wrote her e-mail address on my arm to contact her again (she just moved here and doesn't have a phone in the UK yet) but of course I forgot until the next morning when it completely wiped off. My mom doesn't want me falling for any foreign girls though so maybe it was fate. 

On Friday we didn't do a whole lot, I lounged around Kensington, walked Hyde Park and that sort of thing. For dinner on Friday we went to a pub to eat because it had been awhile. I had to try the famous British dish, shephard's pie. It was very interesting to say the least but now I can say I gave it a try. 

As for Valentine's day, I didn't take anyone on a date (although I was considering), but instead I made dinner for four other girls. Not too many guys can say they wined and dined four girls at once ;) My menu was red pepper bruschetta, tomato basil soup w/ some really good french bread I picked up, and for dessert I handmade some dark chocolate covered strawberries. The girls were definitely impressed and I have to thank my momma for making me such a domesticated guy. 

I spent most of Sunday studying for a test that I had today (Monday). The test was for my Islam class and all of the information was pretty interesting. A plus is that I think I did pretty well on it. 

I have a really busy week this week and I will definitely post at the end of it to let you all know how it went. But as I mentioned tomorrow I am going to my dance class again. Wednesday I think I am going to go out for dinner in Chinatown. On Thursday I am going to see Stonehenge and then spending the rest of the day in Bath (famous Roman city). Thursday night one of the girls on the trip is celebrating her birthday, so I'll go out for that. Friday I want to get to a different part of London, maybe

 Paddington or South Bank. Saturday, I am going to Oxford. I'll be checking out the oldest college in the world, its over 1000 years old and then spending the rest of the day there. And finally on Sunday I am going to a football match (or as we would say in America, a soccer game). I'm kind of excited for that because I here the games are just nuts over here. The game is at 1 on a Sunday and the guy I am going with said we'll

 have to go to a pub to have some drinks before the game (on a Sunday!?!?!). 

Wow, that was a lot, apparently I'll be sleeping for the next two days after this weekend. Next week (on the 27th) my spring break begins! And that means 9 days in Italy! I am crazy excited for that. 

Hopefully it's warming up back in the states and further I hope everyone is doing well. I miss everyone and can't wait to see you all when I get back in May. The Buckass team better be getting on top of my return/graduation party ;) I just got an e-mail today saying I'm already and set for graduation upon my return. For those of you who didn't know, I decided that I am not going to walk for graduation. The reason for that being, all of my friends still have a year left, so I wouldn't really know anyone that will be walking. Hopefully I go to grad school someday, and if so I promise I'll walk for that. 

Love you all and have a great week!

 

Cheers!

Long time no post

Hey hey, well I haven't posted in awhile so I figured I'd let everyone know what I've been up to. This past weekend I was supposed to go see Stonehenge and then visit Bath, however, due to poor weather speculation, that trip was pushed back. So basically since my last post, I haven't done a whole lot. 

Basically, school takes up a majority of my time, actually that's a lie too. The way classes work over here is really cool. Its a whole different learning environment. A lot of learning by doing and seeing. Also, when you only have class once a week there's really no busy work, just suggested readings. I'll have a few papers coming up in the future, which will make this more of an academic program :) So far I am loving all of my classes, I really like my art history class though. I've got to go to some very famous museums (National Gallery, British Museum, Wallace, Tate, etc.)and was able to see some artworks by the worlds greats (Titian, Van Gogh, Monet, Picasso, etc.). 

One thing worth noting was that on Monday this past week I had my classes cancelled because of a snow day. London had its largest snow fall in over 20 years. The bus system which transports 6 million people everyday was shut down completely. Also, the Tube (train system) which services 3 million people a day only had 3 of its 11 lines working. Literally, London never has snow accumulation. They get dustings a couple times a year but nothing ever accumulates. People were using planks of wood to shovel off their door steps and they have about the same number of snow plows as Sartell. Let me remind you that London is a city of over 9,000,000 people. It was estimated that the snowfall cost the London economy $5 billion (3 bil pounds)!!!

This past Thursday night we went to a pretty cool pub/bar/club that has live music (on Thursdays), it was a really good time because the band was playing covers of all of my favorite artists. Plus, it was free to get in and not too spendy either. On Friday, I went to the Imperial War Museum. The Imperial is a war museum for the first and second world wars. It was really cool to see but very depressing. Unlike America during the world wars, London was bombed and hit by the Nazis. Thus, its a pretty big deal (winning the war) over here. There was a holocaust exhibit at the Imperial that really sent chills through me. 

On Saturday a group of us went to Camden Town, which is where some infamous markets are located. The whole Camden area is pretty cool. It's a little bit grungy, you see people wearing some whacked out clothes but the markets are really cool. Anything and everything you could imagine is at these markets. The only downfall of the day was that I decided to be daring with my culinary endeavors...I tried some Moroccan food, because I heard it was amazing. I'm thinking that I didn't get the most authentic of exposures, and I got really sick from it. I've heard the Moroccan restaurants are amazing in London, but at markets, I recommend not getting too crazy. It was a rough night/morning for me but I'm starting to feel a little better tonight. 

I don't have too many plans for this week, at all actually. I have class all day tomorrow and a new museum to see on Tuesday for art history. Eric and Greg (my roommates) are heading to Ireland this weekend to visit some friends. I am going to look at the end of the week for some super cheap flights to maybe join them, but I am trying to reign in my spending a little bit. My spring break is going to be pretty spendy, but I guess I do have to justify that I will be in Italy for 9 days! Also, I am doing a weekend in Paris in April which is going to add up. I'm not too worried though, I could've spent every weekend in this city and not even experience half of the city. Literally there are 10,000 restaurants I'd love to eat at and places to see. 

Well, I hope all is well back in MN and PA, love ya. 

Istanbul

Hey Everyone! I just got back from Istanbul. You guys are probably watching the Superbowl right now, I was going to go to the American Sports Bar to watch the game tonight, but I am sooooo exhausted from the weekend. To say the least, I had a blast! 

Istanbul is an amazing city! I can't even describe it, it is s

o much different than anywhere I have ever been. London is magical, has crazy architecture, and a ton of personality.

 But, Istanbul is seriously something else. I'll start with Thursday. Thursday, we took off in the morning, flew via Turkish Airlines and had a pretty amazing plane. We got into Istanbul and were coached to our hotel. It was really cool to see the city's panorama change as we went further into the city. They have city centers with huge skyscrapers, crazy villages of old and new houses and then the most unbelievable mosques and palaces. We got to our hotel which was very nice and had an amazing view which you got to see each morning for breakfast. That night we went out as a group for dinner at an awesome restaurant. The building we were in had to be a couple hundred years old but it was a small little place that was 5 stories high, but only

 a table or two on each floor. The ambiance was really cool and the food was even better. Turkish food is amazing! I was in heaven for the whole weekend. We

 had a great appetizer, I got some great lamb for dinner, and then had a weird pumpkin dessert. We were also introduced (by one of my professors who was on the trip with us) to Raki, a liquor that comes from grapes. It kind've tastes like black licorice, and you mix it with water. It's clear until you put the water in and then it turns cloudy. 

After dinner we went to a small place and met some local Turks. They were super friendly, great hosts, and had a great time. However, I thought in London people stayed up late. But Turkey is something else, nothing closes so we were out until 4:30 without really even noticing it. The next morning we had to get up bright and early for some sight seeing and touring. We started out by going to the Blue Mosque which is one of the greatest looking buildings in the world. After that we went to the infamous Hagia Sophia, we then went a to a bazaar where there was tons of shops and opportunities to barter with people. We also took a boat trip up the Bosphorus, which splits the city (if you didn't know, one half of Istanbul is in Europe and the other is in Asia). Friday night we found another great Turkish restaurant in a much different part of town called Tacsum Square. Tacsum Square has hundreds of restaurants, bars, and clubs and on a weekend night there is usually 100,000 people on this one strip. It was

 pretty crazy. I had another great lamb dish. After that the group of us from SJU met up with our professor and the other two directors from FIE that came along. It was so much fun, we went to a couple places and all had a blast. Hopefully I just locked in an A!

On Saturday we were up and at it early again. We went to Topkapi Palace, which is wear the Sultan of the Byzantine turned Ottoman Empire actually lived. It's now a very famous museum with some incredible artifacts. They have several items preserved from Muhammad (of the bible and starter of Islam). After the palace, we went to the grand bazaar. The grand bazaar was unbelievable. It's a two-square mile village of little streets that have merchants selling anything and everything. I loaded up on some pretty cools things from the grand bazaar. At this place you could really barter with the merchants. 

On Saturday night we went out again for some great Turkish food, actually no one but

 me enjoyed their food on that night, but that's all that matters. We went back out to Tacsum Square on Saturday and just hung out as a group at a few quieter places. Once again we were out til 4 though. Today was the first day that we didn't have to get up at 8, so we slept in a bit. But at noon we went to a really cool area of town called Ortakoy. There is a very famous mosque there, which is right on the river. There was a great view of the Asian side. The streets around there had lots of little vendors as well, so that was cool to experience. I got a really cool picture of the skyline of Istanbul when I was at Ortakoy today. Eric and I tried some food from a street vendor. Not sure what is was or what was in it, but it was really good. 

We got back in tonight and like I said I am super exhausted. I am so glad I decided to

 do this trip though, it was unbelievable and I would've paid way more to experience everything I got to do. 

Hope all is well back in MN. I probably won't blog again until after next weekend. This week I'm just a student again but Saturday I am going to see Stonehenge. Feel free to e-mail me throughout the week. Love you!