TravelStream™ news feed for member ms.whiting on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/ms.whiting en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 03 Dec 2007 13:16:12 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1196704320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1196704320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1196704320/tpod.html Mon, 03 Dec 2007 13:16:12 -0500 Jude Law and a Semester Abroad - 3.5 glorious months in London and beyond!

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Barcelona, Spain

Woooow! What an amazing weekend I had. I know it was actually a week ago but I've just been so busy I havn't been able to update. Barcelona was fantastic! It was such a crazy trip but I would have expected nothing less with 12 girls going! It was great to get out with the girls and just let loose for a couple of days. And I didn't even get homesick on Thanksgiving which shocked me. I was too busy drinking sangria and eating paella to really miss the turkey all that much! I wish I could have seen everyone on Thanksgiving but I know it will always be there next year. Since I've been to Barcelona before I didn't feel the pressure like I did on my other trips to run around and see everything. Plus we were there for 4 days which was really nice. It was a very laid back trip compared to Paris and Dublin. I was worried that with such a big group of girls it would have caused problems too but everyone got along great. Being in Spain made me realize how much I absolutely love Florida. Seeing the beach and hearing people speak spanish and eating Spanish food made me so happy and appreciative of where I'm from. I shocked myself with how much Spanish I spoke! I was the only girl in our group who really spoke it much so I was forced to be the translator most of the time. I actually enjoyed it though and didn't feel awkward. We saw all the major sights, ate some great food, had some even better drinks, and basically just loved life for 4 days. It was nice to get out of rainy, cold London for a few days. I saw sunshine and palm trees! I think it was the closest to being home I could have gotten for Thanksgiving weekend in Europe. I stayed in a hostel for the first time which was quite interesting. Thankfully it was a really nice, clean hostel so I can't complain. Still a little awkward sharing a room with someone you've never met though! As far as I could tell there weren't any creepy people though so that's good! :-)Coming home to London was nice, as always! The city is so beautiful right now because of all the Christmas decorations. It seems like every corner has lights or garland. I def. think they do Christmas much better here than in the states! It's so fun just walking down Oxford street and seeing all the shop windows with their Christmas displays. Of course no on can do Christmas like Disney though so I can't wait to get home and go to EPCOT before Christmas!I was sitting in class today and realized that exactly two weeks from today I will be back in Orlando. That seems so crazy and surreal. I remember feeling the same way back in Orlando when I was thinking about coming here. Now I can't ever imagine going home!!! I'm getting really excited about seeing everyone though. I'm really excited for Christmas now too! This will probably be the last time I write before I come home because things are going to get sooooo busy. We have a lot going on in our program plus we're all trying to live up our last two weeks! I'll update when I get home to wish everyone a merry christmas and let you know how the last two weeks were :-)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1194976500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1194976500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1194976500/tpod.html Tue, 13 Nov 2007 13:37:43 -0500 Jude Law and a Semester Abroad - 3.5 glorious months in London and beyond!

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Paris, France

Wow wow Wow! What can I even say about Paris? I absolutely fell in love with the city. It lived up to all the high expectations I had and then some! It is so breathtakingly beautiful and romantic. I didn't see any of the negative things I've always heard about the city and people and was just blown away by the whole thing. I guess I will start from the beginning!Saturday morning we got up SUPER early *4:30 am* and headed to the Waterloo station to catch the Eurostar *or the chunnel for us Americans*. We were taking the trip with a tour group so we met up with our guide and the rest of the people going. The Eurostar was really nice! The trip only took a little under 3 hours. Going through security and customs and everything was waaa less stressful than if we had gone through an airport. We mostly slept on the way there since it was so early. We arrived in Paris about 11:30 am local time *they are an hour ahead of London* and exchanged some money and took our luggage to the hotel. Then it was onto the Metro and off to the Lourve! I had heard from a couple of people who have been to Paris to not really bother with the Lourve if you are only going to be there for a weekend. I'm so glad I didn't take that advice! I loved the museum. It's almost mind boggling how big it is! We spent 3 hours there and barely stopped to really look at anything. We managed to see all the highlights. The museum itself is so beautiful architectually. It used to be a palace so it's very ornate and grand looking. The works of art inside really did outshine the building though. To see the Mona Lisa in person is a very surreal feeling. After we had seen most of the Lourve we followed our tour group down the river and to Notre Dame. By now it was starting to get a bit dark out and the city was starting to light up. I couldn't get over how much cleaner the Seine is than the Thames! The water looked beautiful. Notre Dame at night was equally as amazing. We got to go in and watch a Vespers service for a while. I love gothic style artchitecture so it was really neat to see the most famous example of it in the world. After we explored the Cathedral for a little bit we went to a bar right around the corner and enjoyed a couple of happy hour drinks. We decided to go cheap on dinner and had some crepes. I feel like a fat cow after this weekend because all we did eat, but it was the best food I've ever eaten! I don't know how French people stay so skinny. Everywhere you go there's delicious food. I had the most unbelievable pastries and bread while I was there. Coming back to London has def. been a drag since I'm no big fan of the food here!Sunday morning we got up early and headed up to the Sacre-Coeur (Sacred Heart) Basilica. It was up on a hill overlooking the city and it seemed like we walked up 39372 steps to get there but it was well worth it! The view was unbelievable and the church was even more spectacular. I don't know what happened but me and Emma started getting real emotional in the church! I think it just kind of dawned on me where I was and how lucky I am to be having these amazing experiences. I am thankful for every day that I'm spending here and know that the time I'm spending here and traveling is literally changing my life. Something about Paris got under my skin and I was sure feeling it in that church! After a few shed tears we all regained our composure and went out and did some shopping. We also saw the Moulin Rouge which was pretty neat since that is one of my favorite movies!After we explored that area of town we headed to the Eifel Tower. It literally took my breath away when I saw it. First off, I couldn't believe how big it was! It looks quite small in pictures compared to how large it really is in person. I don't know how something that is really just a bunch of steel can be so beautiful! After we spent a good while gawking at it we went and got lunch in a cute little cafe. Exactly what you would picture as the stereotypical parisian cafe. At that point it was time to meet up with our group and go on our boat cruise. It was actually perfect timing because right when got on the boat it started raining really hard. We were able to sit in the enclosed boat and see the city as it lit up for the night. I know I keep saying this, but it was so beautiful! Everything you see there looks like it is out of a movie. It looks to perfect to be a real city that is hundreds of years old. Right as our boat was docking the Tower started doing its flashing lights bit for the night and I about died. I'm such a sucker for Christmas lights and things like that anyways and this was like the ultimate light show! All I could hear was that U2 song in my head!!! We capped the amazing day off by heading back to the bar from the night before and making some new friends. A very hilarious night ensued! Monday morning we got up early again and went to see the last few things we had on our list. We saw the Arch du Triumph and climbed to the top of Notre Dame. Both amazing and both beautiful... pretty much like everything else in Paris! Sadly it was then time to meet up with our group at the hotel again and head out. I was so heartbroken to leave. I just fell in love with the city. It was a perfect weekend and I've never felt such an instant connection with a city like that expect for London. And London's where I got to come home to! How lucky am I!?! I will absolutely be going back to Paris in my lifetime. There are so many things there I still want to do and see. I will never forget this weekend for the rest of my life! Everything in London is still going good. Spending more and more time with my roomates as we are winding down and preparing to come home soon. Homecoming is such a bittersweet feeling right now. I know my life is going to be incredibly different when I get back. No more care-free London life in Orlando! We only have 5 weeks left before we leave and I plan on making them the best 5 weeks since I've been here!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1193679660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1193679660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1193679660/tpod.html Mon, 29 Oct 2007 15:03:25 -0400 Jude Law and a Semester Abroad - 3.5 glorious months in London and beyond!

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London, United Kingdom

Wow! Sorry for the delay in updating but it has been quite hectic around here lately!After I got back from Ireland things were pretty normal around here. More hanging out with everyone, going to class, working at my internship, etc. etc. It was great coming home and hanging out with everyone again! I really missed my roomies and my other friends in the program. As usual that Friday night we decided we needed to go out. We headed to one of our favorite bars here, Walkabout, and were having a great time until I headed to the bar to buy a drink and realized my wallet was gone! I immediately sobered up and starting scouring the place for it but, alas, it was nowhere to be found. I quickly left headed straight home and cancelled all my credit/debit cards and then stayed mad at the world for about 24 hours. I called the bar in the morning and they hadn't found it so at this point I had officially decided it was stolen. Huge bummer. It turned into a really big headache to get everything sorted out and really put a damper on my week last week. I was feeling pretty down about and stressed that I didn't have access to any money or my keys *which were attached to my wallet*. Everything is sorted out now but it ended up costing me a bunch of money and even more of my time. I'm over it now and realize that it was all material things that can be replaced, it was still a headache though!There was no time for moping though as the next day was the rugby world cup final!! The people here take their rugby VERY seriously so I put on my England jersey and headed down to our corner pub. It was a lot of fun! Reminded me of watching football back home. Unfortunately the Irish didn't have a very good night that night *USC game* and neither did England! *they lost to South Africa* It was still entertaining though! I love hanging out with the people in our program. They are so much fun! It's never a dull moment!!Sunday morning I got up and met up with Mike and two of his friends who were here from Barcelona. We went down to Tower Bridge and did the little tour there. Tower Bridge is the bridge that everyone thinks is London Bridge but it's not. We got to see some great views from the top of the tower. It's such a beautiful landmark. Later that night we went to Ice Bar which is a bar, yes, made completely out of ice. The bar is ice, the walls are ice, the seats are ice, even your drink is served in a solid block of ice!! It was crrazy but very fun *and cold*! It's a good thing they throw a huge parka and gloves on you as soon as you come in the bar!!The rest of the week was filled with various running around trying to get all of stolen wallet nonsense taken care of. Trips to the housing office, bank and police station. Tons of fun! It was, thankfully, my full week off though! The schools here have what they call half-term, which is a week long break in, well you guessed it, the middle of the term! I didn't have to work at all so I got a whole week to go explore the city by myself! Tuesday I went down to the Knightsbridge area which is where Harrods is! I wondered around Harrods for quite a while. It was really neat to see all the opulance *the children's clothing section was nothing but Dior and Roberto Cavalli!*. I would love to be filthy rich someday and just come in there and have a field day!!! The area around there is also very posh. There is one street that's nothing but designer store after designer store. Crazy to think that people can actually afford that stuff!! Wednesday I got the Parliament hook-up. Mike is interning there so he can get visitors in. I got to walk around and see the inside and I was amazed at how beatuiful there main government building is! Must be nice. There are parts where the original architecture is still there from the 1200s. Really neat stuff. I also watched the changing of the guard that morning at Buckingham Palace and walked through St. Jame's Park. I saw the biggest pelicans I've ever seen in my life there!!! After that I went to Westminster Abbey. I was in awe of it. It is so beautiful and there is so much history. Just to even think that you're standing in the same place where every monarch from the UK has been crowned is pretty amazing. Plus all the tombs and of course the architecture. It was def. one of my favorite things I've done here.Friday night we went out to say goodbye to one of the girls in our program. She was doing a different internship type thing and had to go back mid semester. We went out to Planet Hollywood and had a wonderful time. Of course we acted like loud obnoxious Americans and loved every second of it! Me and my roomate Emma are like two peas in a pod. She's just as crazy *maybe even more so* than I am and that's why we get along so well!!Saturday morning we got up and FINALLY made it to The Tower of London! I can't believe it's taken me this long to get there because it's one of the main things I've wanted to do since I got here. We decided it was fitting though since it's the weekend before Halloween! It was the perfect sort of day to go... cold and dreary out! I looooooooved it! I want to live there! I can't even express how cool I thought it was. Like I said before, I'm a little obsessed with the Tudors right now so it was so neat to be standing in the exact spot where Anne Boelyn and Katherine Howard were beheaded. I know that sounds horribly morbid but I love history so much and love being places where history actually happened. We did the "beefeater" tour and it was sooo great. Our guide was hilarious! He kept cracking jokes about Americans and flirting with all the women. Suuuch a good time!That night we all went and got some Chinese buffet *def. not as good as home but it will have to do!* and then went to a party one of the other flats from our program was having. I think I need to start staying in on the weekends or something because it seems that tragedy strikes on the weekends!The party itself was great... crazy and fun and all my favorite people were there. Then after the party we headed over to the boy's apartment to hang out and that's when things went crazy! Being the graceful young woman I was sitting on the floor and swung my head to the side and managed to crack my nose on the wooded bed frame. At first I kinda laughed it off, and then I realized that my nose was gushing blood! It's not broken or anything but it did bleed for a while and hurt quite bad the next day! I really am hoping at this point that I'm even going to make it back to America in one piece!!!Needless to say, after Saturday night I spent all day yesterday at home laid out on the couch! But it was nice to have a lazy day. Tomorrow I'm going back to work and I'm really not looking forward to it. I'm getting bored with my internship and would much rather be out doing things in the city! But it could always be worse and I do enjoy it sometimes. Hopefully I will start doing more things in the classroom. I can't wait for Halloween on Wednesday! We are having a party at our flat and all getting dressed up just like we would at home. The Brits don't really seem to care about Halloween much. We're going to have to show them how us Americans do it!! I'm still undecided on a costume. I'm just gonna have to see what I can scrounge together from my clothes since I'm too poor to go buy anything!!!! It is making me a bit homesick though because I wish I was there to go to Halloween Horror Nights and trick-or-treat and go downtown and everything buuuut there's always next year! :-)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1192474260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1192474260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1192474260/tpod.html Mon, 15 Oct 2007 16:10:19 -0400 Jude Law and a Semester Abroad - 3.5 glorious months in London and beyond!

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Dublin, Ireland

My what a weekend it has been! My week was pretty boring so I don't really have anything interesting to talk about there. All of my roomates had papers to write so no one really wanted to do much. I just worked a lot and hung out around the house... nothing exciting!Friday however I left work early and made my way to the airport to head to DUBLIN! I went there by myself but was meeting Valerie, Bridget, Jenna & her BF there. Valerie has a friend from home studying abroad in Dublin so she said I could stay with them there. Traveling is quite a hassel in London because none of the aiports are close to the city. I had to catch a coach that goes to the airport but it took an hour and a half to actually get to the airport! Then I had to wait for the plane and check in and do all that fun stuff and on top of that our plane was late. Thankfully the flight was only under an hour so soon enough I was in Dublin! I got off the plane and headed straight for the bus. The girls I was meeting had told me to take this specific bus to the downtown area and to meet them at a pub called The Porter House at 5. Well since my plane was so late and the bus took FOREVER getting downtown I didn't get down there until about 6:30. I get off the bus and start walking around and of course, I can't find the bar! I headed to a pay phone to try and call Valerie's friend so I could find out where they were. Well after 10 minutes of trying to figure out how to use the pay phone the number I called didn't even work! I started going into shops and asking people if they knew where Porter House was and after the third try someone was finally able to point me in the right direction. I found the bar and walked around about 3 times *it was huge* and couldn't find them anywhere! At this point I was starting to get a little frustrated since it was now 7:30 and I'd been traveling since 12. The girls had said if anything went wrong to just meet them at Valerie's friends apartment. They had given me the name of the complex and her building/room number. I, however, couldn't find the bus stop again so I ended up just hailing a taxi and trying to find my way there. I eventually got there but, of course!, they had given me the wrong building number. So I had to wander around with this nice girl I met in the laundry room who helped me eventually find the right building. I got into the building by asking some girls through their window what the code was to open the door and headed up to room 55. After lots of knocking and no answering I started to get a bit worried. I had already tried to call them a few times but it kept saying that the number wasn't working. So after much wondering around and a newfound sense of panic beginning to build I decided to try the neighbors. Of course she didn't know who lived in that apartment but she did give me some good advice. She suggested I go to the security officer of the complex and see if he had a record of phone numbers for the residents. I tracked the security officer down and thankfully he had the correct phone number for Valerie's friend. I called them and found out they were back at The Porter House but was able to get into her apartment to at least drop all my stuff off. Then I headed out to start my vacation!We hung out at the bar for a while and then walked around the Temple Bar area. We got to catch a live Irish band playing in one of the pubs which was a nice treat. After eating some late night food we decided to head home and get some rest. Saturday we got up and headed back downtown to see the sights. We went to St. Patrick's Cathedral but unfortunately we weren't able to go in because they were having a graduation ceremony. After that we went to the Jameson Distillery. We did the tour which was actually quite informative and interesting. I know all about the complex process that is making whiskey now! The best part of the tour was the end when you get to go to the bar and have a complimentary glass of Jameson! I was shocked but I actually liked it! Jenna and Bridget and Jenna's boyfriend did a little taste testing thing that was funny. They were threatened with getting kicked out if they didn't choose Jameson as their favorite!It only seemed natural that after our Jameson tour we would head to the Guinness Storehouse. It was quite different than the Jameson one. First off it was HUGE and very modern. It was a self-guided tour that had all kinds of interesting things to see. Who would have thought there was so much to learn about Guinness! The building is 7 stories tall and packed with everything there is to know about the famous black brew. The best part about it is the Gravity Bar. The entire 7th floor is a bar with an almost 360 view of Dublin. And free Guinness! What's not to love. I actually chocked down a full Guinness and enjoyed it. I even surprised myself with that one. We stayed up in the bar for a while and just enjoyed the beautiful view of the city. The clouds even parted and the sun came out for us :-)By then we were all getting pretty tired and grouchy from being on the move all day. We started to hunt for somewhere to eat but everywhere was PACKED because there was a big football game on that everyone was watching in the pubs. We finally found somewhere to sit and enjoyed some tasty pub grub. By the end of dinner we were all exhausted and decided we would just head home and hit the hay. I felt like such a wuss but I just couldn't work up the energy to go out! I do enough of that in London to make up for it I guess! I had to get up early and head to the airport on Sunday so I didn't have much time in the city. I didn't get to see Trinity College which I was bummed about and a couple of other historical places I wanted to see. I would def. want to go out into the countryside if I ever go back to Ireland. Dublin was really cool and I'm glad I saw it but it reminded me very much of London. Same kind of vibe and same kind of scene. I must say the Irish people though are incredibly friendly and do not seem annoyed by tourists at all! I would like to see more of them but in a different setting. I barely even saw any green land and I was in Ireland!! Very weird. It was a strange feeling being excited to come "home" when home is London for the time being. I'm glad to be back though. I've gotten so used to being here and everything is so familiar to me now. It looks like it's probably going to be another very chill week here. I have quite a bit of work to do. This weekend we have a seminar thing for our program. There's also a big festival going on in our neighborhood, Bloomsbury, so that should be fun. I'd like to take a day trip on Sunday but I'll have to see what the roomies want to do. Oh and the last bit of exciting news... I BOOKED MY TRIP TO PARIS THIS WEEK!! I can't even believe it I'm sooooooooooooooooooooooo excited!! Paris is the only place I've wanted to go as badly as London! We are going the weekend of Nov. 10th. We will be there for 3 days/2 nights. This is def. the trip I am looking most forward to!!! :-)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1191872880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1191872880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1191872880/tpod.html Mon, 08 Oct 2007 17:08:15 -0400 Jude Law and a Semester Abroad - 3.5 glorious months in London and beyond!

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Hampton Court, United Kingdom

Once again, another action packed week in the City. The weeks are flying by but I wouldn't have it any other way! This week was full of a little bit of everything... some theater, some music, some craziness, and some culture!Monday started off quite lovely with a trip to see "Macbeth". The current production going on in the West End right now stars Patrick Stewart as Macbeth and has been updated to take place in WWII-era Europe. It was absolutely fantastic. The acting was unbelievably good and I was shocked at how scary they were able to make a stage play! I'm not going to lie, I had some trouble following it at times because I've never read that particular play so I didn't know the story but regardless, it was great. It was interesting to have seen a very traditional Shakespeare production the week before and then this modern one. I enjoyed both for that reason!Tuesday night we went back to Sports Cafe which has become quite the weekly ritual. It's fun and gives me a little taste of home every week since they play all American music and it's mostly Americans there as well! We went on Thursday night as well because they have 20 wings for 3 pounds! Best deal I've found in London. Someitmes you just need some greasy food and cheap beer... even if it is London!Friday night we decided we wanted to do something besides go out to the pub *go figure* so we lucked out and found cheap tickets to go see Spamalot!!! That was on my top 5 list of things I wanted to do while I was here so I was beyond excited to go!! Spamalot is the musical based off the movie "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". I love Monty Python and that type of humor so I knew I would love the musical... and thankfully I was not dissapointed! It was absolutely hilarious. I don't think I've ever even laughed so hard in a movie. The songs were so over the top and the entire thing was basically making fun of musicals. Most of the dialogue was word-for-word from the movie but it was still hysterical. Two of my roomates and our friend Mike went and we were all cracking up the entire time.Saturday morning we managed to get up early and hop on the train to Hampton Court. Hampton Court was Henry VIII's main palace. That is where he spent most of his time with all 6 of his wives. The palace was later inhabited by many of the Tudors and until the past century was a frequent residence of most of the monarchy. I was so excited to visit this particular palace because this summer I read "The Other Boelyn Girl". It's historical fiction based on Henry VIII and his relationship with both Anne Boelyn and her sister Mary. I got really into the book and the Tudors in general so this was also on the top of my list for places to visit. The palace was beautiful. It was much differnet than Windsor. It was not nearly as ornate and over the top. Half of the palace was done in the Tudor style and remains exactly like it was when Henry VIII was there. The other half was re-done by William and Mary and done in the more popular Baroque style of their day. We took a couple of guided tours which were quite fun because the guides were dressed in period costumes and acted like they were members of the court. After we toured the palace we headed out to the palace grounds. All I can say is... WOW! There were endless gardens and trees and flowers and ponds and fountains and just a lot!! Just when we thought we'd seen the last garden there would be another one! It was unbelievable. It was exactly what I pictured a palace to look like. We ate lunch at a little cafe that was on the site of where they used to do jousting! I had afternoon tea *which for me was actually hot chocolate* and then we went into the maze! I don't know how we did it but we made it to the middle of the maze in like 5 minutes! Apparently we are maze masters. It was another great day out of the City.Once we got back from Hampton Court we had to race home, quickly change, and then head off to Wembley Arena to see Damien Rice! Damien Rice is an Irish folk/acoustic singer who I've been really into for about 4 or 5 years now. Problem is since he's Irish he doesn't tour the states that much! I've been dying to see him for the longest time but apparently I just had to come accross the pond since he wasn't going to come to me! We lucked out and got really good seats the day before the show. It was great. He is so talented and his songs are beautiful.During his encore he came out and gave a little speech about the horrible atrocities that are going on in Burma right now. A group of Burmese refugees came out and explained what's going on in their country. Damien then sang a beautiful song he wrote for the rightfully elected Prime Minister of Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi. The song is called "Unplayed Piano" and I recommend you download it if you havn't heard it yet. The song "Walk On" by U2 was also written for her and Bono has been a huge advocate of hers over the years. If you don't know her situation take a minute to read about it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aung_San_Suu_Kyi). She is an amazing woman who should serve as a role model for all of us. I think it's quite sad that these violations of human rights are being generally overlooked by our country and most of the western world. We will spend billions of dollars and thousands of soldiers lives to "liberate" the people of Iraq because they were ruled by an evil dictator, yet the same thing is going on in countless other places and we seem to do nothing about it. I don't mean to get too political, but I think it's quite interesting to be viewing all of these things in a foreign country. I saw an anti-war rally outside of my college today after class. It once again showed how un-fond of our government the people here are. I'll keep my thoughts to myself on that one since most of you already know what they are!!The past couple of days have been pretty lazy. I had to work on a paper and such for class yesterday. Today I took a trip down to the Natural History Museum where I actually got to see some dinosaur bones! Living a childhood dream there. The museum itself was beautiful. Very interesting architecture. I'll post some pictures so you can see what I'm talking about.This weekend is going to be undoubtedly wonderful because I'm going to Dublin!!!! I can not WAIT! I only wish I had some more time to spend there but I'm sure it will be a great trip. I will def. post next week with pictures of the green isle :-)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1191252060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1191252060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1191252060/tpod.html Mon, 08 Oct 2007 14:56:21 -0400 Jude Law and a Semester Abroad - 3.5 glorious months in London and beyond!

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Windsor, United Kingdom

I can't quite believe it but it's been one month since I first arrived in London. It is really starting to feel like "home" for the time being. We finally bought a few things for the flat so its making it a bit more comfortable. I think I've finally got my side of town all figured out and I know the tube like the back of my hand by now. Once again, I still can't quite get over how quickly I've acclimated to it here, especially considering how different it is from home! The only thing I don't think I will be growing accustomed to is the COLD WEATHER! There were a couple of days this week where I really wasn't sure if I was going to make it or not. The cold here is so bitter and it seems like no matter how many layers of clothes you put on you're just not going to stay warm. Thankfully though it turned out to be a beautiful weekend so I was able to go do some fun things!This week was extremely busy but I got to do some really great things! On Monday we came into our Shakespeare class and our proffessor suprised us by saying we were all going to see "The Merchant of Venice" at the Globe theater! We went on Wed. night and it was absolutely amazing. I wish the season wasn't getting ready to end because I would love to go back and see another show. It was FREEZING and I honestly thought I was going to have to leave at one point because it was so cold, but besides that the production was great. I never realized how much you miss out on when you just read the plays and don't see them live. It was hilarious and bawdy and so much fun. The theater and all of the actors seem so authentic. I really feel like it's what watching a Shakespeare play back in the Elizabethean era would have been like.I also went and saw a movie here for the first time. We went and saw "Atonement". It's with Keira Knightly and is based off a very famous novel. I'm not sure if it is playing in the states but it was fantastic! The movie theaters here are not quite up to par with the ones in Orlando though! We are quite spoiled back home. On Thursday night my friend Jenna got us free tickets to go see the musical Footloose through her internship. I was very surprised at how good it&nbsp; was! It was very fun and made you want to get up and dance, which some people actually did! I can't wait to go see some more musicals here. There are so many I want to see I'm going to have to narrow the list down a bit. Friday night I went with Mike and my roomate to go see a band that his co-worker is in. Mind you he works at Parliament so it was pretty funny to see this man who I'm sure wears a suit and tie every day rock out on stage. I felt like such a local!Saturday was a wonderful day because I got to see Ed and Sherri! It was so great to see some people from home. We had a great day in Windsor. The castle was so beautiful. I love anything old and elaborate and this was deffinetely both. I loved seeing all of the historical pieces and paintings they had throughout the castle. The chapel that is on the grounds is also extremely beautiful. It was all gothic style architecture and King Henry VIII and one of his wives were buried there! I think this weekend we are going to try and go to Hampton Court to see his castle. If you've read any Philipa Greggory you will understand my slight obsession with the Tudors. We also got to see Eaton way off in the distance from the castle. I kept thinking how nice it must have been for the Princes to just be able to go up the road for dinner at Grandma's house! Ed and Sherri were also kind enough to bring my goodie "boxes" from home. Needless to say as soon as we got back on Saturday I made some macaroni and cheese! I couldn't even handle how good it tasted. I was so happy to see familiar things from home! Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who sent me stuff... it really means so much!Yesterday was another exploring day. I wandered around the city for a bit with a couple of my roomates and then we went to the National Gallery. I forgot how much I enjoy looking at art. Some of the pieces in the museum almost took my breath away. They have something from most of the major painters from 1500-1900. My favorites were the Italian and Flemish painters. So many of their paintings seem to jump off the canvas they look so real. Unfortunately I couldn't take any pictures inside the Gallery so I'll have to get some postcards or something of my favorites!Last night all of my roomates and I went on the Jack the Ripper walking tour! It was fantastic! And... creepiest part of all.... last night just happened to be the anniversary of the night when he killed two women. Talk about dramatic effect! While many of the original places are no longer standing you still got the general idea of what it was like during that time period and the relative location of things. The pub where all the prostitutes used to go and where one of the bodies was found is actually still standing though! Going on the tour was def. one of my favorite things I've done since I've been here. After that we all came home and watched <i>From Hell! *The Johnny Depp movie about Jack the Ripper* I keep wondering why I'm so tired and then I realize how many things I do in a given week! This week I'm sure will be just as busy! Tonight we are going to see <i>Macbeth with Patrick Stewart as Macbeth! We also have a couple of meetings this week for our program and I'm sure we will go somewhere for the day on Saturday. Oh, and I'm going to see Damien Rice on Saturday night!! Can't wait! :-)Hope everyone is doing well and soaking up all the sunshine for me!!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1190569680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1190569680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1190569680/tpod.html Sun, 23 Sep 2007 15:37:26 -0400 Jude Law and a Semester Abroad - 3.5 glorious months in London and beyond!

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Cambridge, United Kingdom

Another week down and once again, the time has flown by! I can't believe that next week I will have been here for a month! That doesn't even seem possible. I guess a busy schedule really does make the time go faster.This week was my first full week of my internship and it made me feel much better about how things are going to go. I think I'm really going to be doing a lot more. This week I'm actually going to teach some lessons which I'm very excited about! I really miss being in front of a classroom and not feeling like I'm kinda just there on the sidelines. I still feel very lucky though because the teacher I'm working with is fantastic and everyone else is still being so nice to me! Besides work this week I went to the British Museum again on Monday since it's my day off. It was so nice to be able to just wander around with my ipod on and see all the amazing things there. What an awesome way to spend the afternoon. I feel like I'm going to be so bored when I come back home!! There was lots of hanging out at the pub this week as well, but that's certainly nothing new. Tuesday was the first very cold *and rainy* day they've had since I've been here and I hated it! I don't know what I'm going to do come winter time. I wanted to just go home and curl up in my bed all day! Thursday night we had to meet with one of the women who works for the internship program here named Chauntelle. Rollins wants us to meet with her every other week just to check up and chat. We all went to Starbucks and caught up. It made me feel kinda good to hear how a lot of people weren't liking their internships. Definitely made me feel lucky! Friday night I went over to the boy's flat and watched rugby *even though I had no idea what was going on!* and I cleaned their kitchen for them because the girl in me just couldn't handle the filth!Saturday morning we had to get up bright and early to take the coach to Cambridge! The internship program had a whole day lined up for us in the town. At first I was kind of bummed because while we were driving up there it looked like the weather was going to be really crappy. As soon as we actually got into Cambridge though it was beautiful! Sunny weather and a perfect temperature. The coach ride was nice because we got to see some of the more country-side of England. Cambridge itself was absolutely gorgeous! The whole town is nothing but beautiful old buildings and cute little pubs. When we first arrived there a tour guide got on our coach and took us for a little bus tour around the city. It was kind of annoying because you couldn't really see much from the bus and we all wanted to get out and be able to walk around. We did stop though at this huge grave yard for American soldiers killed in WWII. There are over 4,000 soldiers there. It was a beautiful site but very sad at the same time. It was kind of weird seeing such a blatantly American memorial in the middle of England! After that we headed off to eat lunch. We ate in this huge dining hall at Gonville and Caius College. It was this very fancy meal where they brought all the different courses out and we had some amazing roast pork chops and all kinds of other food.&nbsp; One of the other girls and I&nbsp; were geeking out because we felt like we were in Harry Potter! We kept expecting food to magically appear on the tables and we kept yelling "10 POINTS FROM SLYTHERIN FOR BAD TABLE MANNERS" at random moments during the meal. I wish I could have taken some pictures but you're weren't allowed to for some reason.After lunch we did the best thing of the whole trip. We went punting on the River Cam! Cambridge is famous for this apparently. The boats are like gondolas kind of and you have a person who pushes the boat along down the river with this big stick thing. It was absolutely amazing. The views were spectacular, the weather was perfect, and it was extremely calming. I even fell asleep for about 20 minutes on the boat because I was so relaxed! I popped in my ipod and listened to some john mayer goodness. It was the best nap I've ever had in my life. After the boat we headed to The Eagle pub and had a pint and then I did some quick shopping. I made a bee-line for Disney store and picked up a stuffed Pooh bear who's wearing a Cambridge sweater! I couldn't believe they even had such a thing! Then I got a little bit lost with one of my roommates but we eventually made it back to the bus. I loooooved Cambridge. We've all said we would really like to try and make another trip up there before we leave. It's such a different atmosphere from London. Very laid back and green, nothing like the city! I wish I would have had more time to just walk around and see some more of the city but we were on a pretty tight schedule. Today we all decided to take a lazy day! We pretty much just layed around the house *I didn't get up till noon!* and went and got some stuff for the flat. It feels good to finally take a breather and NOT do anything! It's been like a non-stop whirlwind since we got here. Nice to take a break :-)Some more exciting news.... this week I booked my Thanksgiving trip and we are going to BARCELONA! I'm so excited! I didn't think I wanted to go there since I've already been but all the girls who I'm close with here are going so I know we are going to have a blast. We found an awesome deal on a hostel and a flight so for both for 4 nights I'm paying less than $200 U.S. Can't wait! I need to start booking some other trips here soon.Oh and I almost forgot!!!! I SAW JOHN MAYER THIS WEEK!!! Yes, I actually got to see John Mayer in concert IN LONDON. I've seen him before but it was before my massive obsession started happening. I can't even express how good he was. His guitar playing is insane. We got to see him at Royal Albert Hall which is a world famous venue and an absolutely gorgeous place! It was great and I'm so glad I ended up going. Of course it only increased the already-unhealthy amount of time I spend listening to him a day but oh well.&nbsp; Just one more great memory to add to this trip!I'm so excited because Ed and Sherri are coming this week! I'vedefinitely been feeling the homesickness a little bit lately so itwill be so great to see some familiar faces from home! I am also lookingreally forward to finally getting to eat some MACARONI AND CHEESE sinceI've been deprived of it now for almost a month! I'm going through veryextreme withdrawls!Well that's all the excitement I've had in the past week so I will leave you with a song! This is my favorite JM song right now *even though it seems to change week by week* but I feel like this song is a perfect snap shot of my life right now. Enjoy and I love and miss you all! &lt;33x5 by John Mayer"I've been gone too longI'm sorryI've been gone too longI hope you don't mindI've been gone too long I'm sorryI've been gone too longCan I still come home? Can I still come home?I'm writing you to Catch you up on places I've been You held this letter Probably got excited, but there's nothing else inside itDidn't have a camera by my side this time Hoping I would see the world through both my eyesMaybe I will tell you all about it when I'm in the mood to lose my way with words.Yesterday skies were painted colors of a cowboy clicheAnd strange how clouds that look like mountains in the skyAre next to mountains anywayDidn't have a camera by my side this time Hoping I would see the world through both my eyesMaybe I will tell you all about it when I'm in the mood to lose my way but let me sayYou should have seen that sunrise with your own eyesIt brought me back to life You'll be with me next time I go outsideJust no more 3x5sI guess you had to be thereI guess you, guess you, guess you had to be with me. Today I finally overcameTryin' to fit the world inside a picture frame. Maybe I will tell you all about it when I'm in the mood to lose my way but let me sayYou should have seen that sunrise with your own eyesIt brought me back to life You'll be with me, with me, with me next time I go outside Just no more 3x5sJust no no no no no no 3x5sTo keep this love alive"
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1190035440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1190035440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1190035440/tpod.html Mon, 17 Sep 2007 10:08:32 -0400 Jude Law and a Semester Abroad - 3.5 glorious months in London and beyond!

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London, United Kingdom

Wow! What a busy and hectic couple of weeks it has been. I'm sorry I have not updated until now! There has just been so much going on that I havn't had time to sit down and do a proper posting. Where do I even start? I've seen so much in the past 2 weeks it's hard to even wrap my brain around it. I still don't think it's quite dawned on me that I'm actually <i>in London and will be for a while. I feel completely settled in my flat though. I love my roomates! Another girl moved in with us last week due to some housing conflicts she was having so that brings the grand total of us up to 8! It's actually kind of nice having so many roomates because there's always someone to hang out with or go do something with. It does make for a very cramped fridge though!Last week I actually had to start having responsibilities. Booo! :-( I started class on Monday. It's a Shakespeare class and I think it will be good. We are reading some good plays and the class is mostly just discussion based with minimal work so I'm okay with that! Then on Tuesday I had my interview at the school. It wasn't really an interview, more of just a "hi, you're here, okay here's the school, be here tomrrow at 8". So my first official day of work was on Wed. It was their first day of term as well so it was a little hectic but I really like the teacher I'm going to be working with. We have very similar personalities and all of the teachers there have been beyond nice. I'm working with what would be a 1st grade class in the U.S. The boys are adooooorable. They are so polite and look like little gentlemen in their vests and ties! And I love the way they say "Ms. Whiting". I'm hoping to start doing some teaching or take on some more responsibilities next week. We did a ton of great things this week. Last saturday we went on a walking tour which was very informative and interesting. I learned a lot of neat history tidbits like where "plague pits" are in the city and how the Globe theater came to be on the other side of the river. Then on Sunday we went on a bus tour which was neat because we got to see the rest of the city without having to walk so far! We also ended up outside of Buckingham Palace which was exciting. During the week we went and saw <i>The Lion King. It was amazing! I absolutely loved the music. It's much more "African" sounding in the musical version and they have some really wonderful new songs that they made just for the musical.This weekend we did some more exploring. On Saturday we walked down to Covent Garden which is a great little area with a bunch of outdoor cafes and shops. I found a Disney Store! I literally started running when I saw it! Unforutnately I couldn't really look because we were in a time crunch but I will def. be going back! After Covent Garden we walked down to the river where there was this huge outdoor festival called the Thames River Festival. It's a huge end-of-summer celebration. It reminds me of the art shows and stuff back home but much bigger! There were all kinds of vendors set up with crafts, jewelry, art, and lots of food! We hung out around there for a while until it was time to go to the London Eye! It was the absolute perfect day to go because there wasn't a cloud in the sky so we had a spectacular view of the city. Unfortunately a lot of my pictures didn't come out that well because it was too sunny! I started to get a little clausterphobic in the pod thing so I was thankful when it was over, but I'm glad I did it. Saturday night we went to this restaurant/bar that plays American sports and I *unfortunately* watched the Michigan Notre Dame game. Don't care to dwell on that too much, but I was still thankful that I was in England watching college football!Yesterday we went to Camden Market which was great. It's kind of like a big outdoor flea market but much cooler and no rednecks! Haha I saw a lot of cool stuff but restrained myself and only bought a necklace for 4 pounds. After the market we went back down to the Thames to see the grand finale of the festival. There was a huge fireworks display that honestly put the nightly Magic Kingdom ones to shame! I was shocked. I can't tell you how amazing it was to stand on the bridge and watch fireworks go off over the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral. The river at night is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen! I couldn't take any pictures because the flash has stopped working on my camera after a very unfortunate and freakish run-in it had with someone's pint one night!All in all it has been an absolutely amazing 2 weeks. I feel so lucky to even be here, let alone to be here for 3 more months! I feel like I'm not going to want to come home! Everything is going to seem so boring after being here. I want everyone to come here so then I don't have to miss anyone but still get to be in London!!! :-)This weekend we are going to Cambridge which I'm very excited about. Hopefully we will start taking some trips out of the country here soon. I'm off to try and snag some john mayer tickets so wish me luck! I miss and love everyone &lt;3
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1188904920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1188904920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1188904920/tpod.html Tue, 04 Sep 2007 15:22:09 -0400 Jude Law and a Semester Abroad - 3.5 glorious months in London and beyond!

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London, United Kingdom

I'm typing this from the living room of my amazing London flat! I can't believe I finally made it here. After all the months of preparing and buying and worrying and more buying I am finally in London! I don't even know where to begin with everything. I guess I'll start at the beginning, meaning the plane. Boy. What a JOY that was. Small plane, no sleeping, crying children, crappy food, and no personal video screens. What a bad way to fly international. Once we finally got to Gatwick I was absolutely exhausted and then I still had to drag my two huge bags, both of which were over the weight limit btw, and my huge carry-ons through the hour long line at customs and then the hour long wait for the motor coach. Thankfully however the fine Brits are much nicer and give you the little luggage trolleys for free! They tended to go sideways on their accord though so it was an interesting experience!We finally got to our flats and I must say, I lucked out! Our flat is HUGE. And when I say huge, I don't just mean huge by apartment standards, I mean HUGE! Our living room is the size of most people's entire apartments. There is not much to the place looks wise, but all the appliances are brand new, we have a little garden out back, and it's right in the middle of a wonderful neighborhood.After the endless hours of unpacking and re-arranging to try and get all of my clothes into my tiny little closet and dresser we decided to go out and do some exploring. Me and some of the girls found a grocery store and picked up some of the essentials. I must say, I'm still in a bit of sticker shock seeing the prices on some of the food. Nothing here is "adjusted" to make it less expensive. I can of refried beans is almost $4 U.S.! I'm kinda scared of going to the grocery store now. We gave up on food and decided to all go out to dinner. We ended up in this great and very quaint little Irish pub right around the corner from our flat. I had a very interesting meal... chicken with some sort of bacon that was more like a slab of ham with cheese and something they called bbq sauce. But there was beer so what more could I honestly expect or want from a pub?? We stayed out pretty late but I had a wonderful time and got to meet some of the locals. And because of that I think I'm already adjusted to the time difference for the most part :-)Today I woke up and went out and about in the city with a couple of girls. Had lunch at a cute little cafe where I had the strangest sandwhich ever. As far as I can gather it was like a chicken salad-type sandwhich but it was just chicken, corn, and mayonaise all mixed together. It was delicious! Haha We ended up getting VERY lost but it was fun! It's good to know that as long as I have my <i>A to Zed map I can pretty much never get lost without finding my way back. We walked all over the place and found the tourist hot spot by accident. We were walking down a street and all the sudden we were in Trafalgar Square! And then I turned to my left and saw Big Ben! So all in all we saw Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, Parliament, Westminster Abby, and the Thames. Then we decided to head back and got on a bus that deffinetely did not take us where we were expecting! We wound up all the way by St. Paul's Cathedral and then had to hoof it back to our flat. Unfortunately we couldn't take the tube because all the tube workers are on STRIKE right now until Friday! Perfect timing huh?So far it has been a great couple of days. Just getting used to the adjustment and settled in. I can't wait to go out and explore some more and see all the rest of the great stuff. I'm going to see <i>The Lion King on Thursday and can not wait! Who knows what other craziness I will see this week! I bought a cell phone today too so I don't feel so disconnected from the world anymore :-) I'll write again soon! Thanks for all the well-wishes I got from everyone!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1188061800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1188061800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ms.whiting/london2007/1188061800/tpod.html Tue, 04 Sep 2007 14:46:17 -0400 Jude Law and a Semester Abroad - 3.5 glorious months in London and beyond!

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Orlando, Florida, United States

Home sweet home
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