So that was Oxford: I left pretty early the next morning. Took the train up to Holyhead, stopping off in Birmingham for an hour or so. I’d like to go back and check that city out at some point. It has the potential to be pretty cool from what I saw. I got up to Holyhead (on the western coast) around 3pm or so but all the ferries to Dublin were canceled for the day so I had to wait until 2:40am the next day to cross the sea. The left luggage station closed at 4pm so I had to bring my huge backpack wherever I went, which thankfully I’ve pared down on the amount of stuff I’m lugging around so it wasn’t too bad. I ended up walking around the town for a bit and a lot along the seaside. I found some old castles and a beautiful national park. It was lovely; I could have stayed there so much longer but I didn’t want to get caught in an unfamiliar place after dark so I headed back pretty early.
I got dinner in the café in the ferry station around 6pm or so and settled down for a long wait. An Irish guy, David, from Waterford, joined me after a bit. We had a good talk and he was pretty interesting so that was cool. Eventually around 9:30 or so I just got really tired so I dozed for a bit on the seat I was in until 12:30am when the café closed. Then waited in the lobby for an hour before we started boarding the ferry.
Now, when I hear ferry, I think of the little boat maybe twenty yards long that goes to Catalina but this boat was more of a ship. It was huge, I’ve never been on a boat nearly it’s size! There were eight decks just for cargo, which included hundreds of eighteen wheeler trucks. The passenger decks were awesome and there was even a movie theater! I just ended up sleeping at a table for the two hour trip. I was a little worried about the immigration entry because going through it in the UK was slightly terrifying but he just opened up to the page with all the other stamps, stamped it and handed it back without saying a word. There was a bus into the city and the driver was kind enough to point me in the right direction to my hostel.
27 May 2011
26 May 2011
Went to Oxford
After I finished with London (which is kind of overrated from my experience, or maybe it’s just not my type of city) I headed over to Oxford. I took the bus there which was a really pleasant experience (I was able to just go up to the stop, pay the driver 11 pounds and get on, baggage and all. The bus was super clean and there was free wifi. When we got in, there were quite a few stops and I didn’t know where to get off and the driver was kind enough to help me out). I’ve never taken Greyhound in the US but from what I’ve heard/seen it doesn’t seem like it’s quite as nice, inexpensive and awesome.
My hostel was just a few blocks from the bus station (which was right in town) which made things quite nice. I stayed at the Oxford Backpackers Hostel and if you ever stay in Oxford, I seriously recommend staying there. You walk up the stairs and are immediately greeted by the sounds of people and a cacophony of colors that is just really welcoming. There is a huge common room to the left with a few couches and comfy chairs, a pool table, a few picnic tables, a bar (that I never saw open but I didn’t stay there on the weekend so it might just be then) and a decently sized kitchen that is fully outfitted. The room I stayed in had eighteen beds so it was a little crowded but it was super cheap (less than 10 pounds I think) and was really comfortable (especially after the bed I’d been sleeping on in London, absolutely worst bed ever).
When I went to leave to go out for a walk after I’d gotten settled I realized that I’d left my water bottle on the bus. It’s a really cute metal one that I’ve had for about six months now so I was pretty bummed about it but I went to the bus station and it was there so that kind of made my day. After that I just walked around town, familiarizing myself with the general layout. It’s a rather centralized town that is quite small and the university takes up about half of the area, I’d estimate. I hadn’t eaten lunch because I’d been on the bus so I had a really early dinner (around 4:30) at this nice café (Coco, I think). I don’t remember what I had but at that point anything would have tasted good, I was so hungry. Later I went out for another walk and found this little street that seemed pretty trendy, northwest of the major thoroughfares. It seemed like that’s where a lot of locals were; there were lots of cute little restaurants and cafes but not too many shops.
The second day, I walked all about the campus. It is a thoroughly confusing maze of old buildings. I accidentally found this super old tavern that my dad recommended to me, the Turf Tavern. It’s from the 13th century or something like that and is in the middle of the campus. I ended up going there for an afternoon drink later. For lunch (this was on a Tuesday), I went to the Eagle & Child, which is where the Inklings went ever Tuesday for lunch, and sat in the Rabbit room, possibly in the same place as Tolkien or Lewis! I got the vegetable melt there which was bizarre because they put the cheese on top of the sandwich instead of inside (maybe that’s normal, idk) and this drink called Pimm’s. I have no idea what’s in it but it was quite tasty.
After lunch, I went to the Bodleian Library and drooled over myself for the hour long tour. If I could live there I would; it was absolutely beautiful. They filmed the library scenes and medical wing scenes from Harry Potter there. And the books were absolutely gorgeous, some of them were housed in these special boxes that I know how to make from working at Shields, lol. I think I’d be willing to pay the tuition at Oxford just so I could use the library; I wouldn’t study anything, just go there and marvel.
That night I went to a fabulous restaurant, called Zizza’s or Zizzi’s, something like that. It’s wonderfully decorated, there was a really good crowd there and the food was amazing. I got the spinach ravioli, which was good but the dessert, omyg, the dessert: the chocolate melt with marscapone, to die for.
My hostel was just a few blocks from the bus station (which was right in town) which made things quite nice. I stayed at the Oxford Backpackers Hostel and if you ever stay in Oxford, I seriously recommend staying there. You walk up the stairs and are immediately greeted by the sounds of people and a cacophony of colors that is just really welcoming. There is a huge common room to the left with a few couches and comfy chairs, a pool table, a few picnic tables, a bar (that I never saw open but I didn’t stay there on the weekend so it might just be then) and a decently sized kitchen that is fully outfitted. The room I stayed in had eighteen beds so it was a little crowded but it was super cheap (less than 10 pounds I think) and was really comfortable (especially after the bed I’d been sleeping on in London, absolutely worst bed ever).
When I went to leave to go out for a walk after I’d gotten settled I realized that I’d left my water bottle on the bus. It’s a really cute metal one that I’ve had for about six months now so I was pretty bummed about it but I went to the bus station and it was there so that kind of made my day. After that I just walked around town, familiarizing myself with the general layout. It’s a rather centralized town that is quite small and the university takes up about half of the area, I’d estimate. I hadn’t eaten lunch because I’d been on the bus so I had a really early dinner (around 4:30) at this nice café (Coco, I think). I don’t remember what I had but at that point anything would have tasted good, I was so hungry. Later I went out for another walk and found this little street that seemed pretty trendy, northwest of the major thoroughfares. It seemed like that’s where a lot of locals were; there were lots of cute little restaurants and cafes but not too many shops.
The second day, I walked all about the campus. It is a thoroughly confusing maze of old buildings. I accidentally found this super old tavern that my dad recommended to me, the Turf Tavern. It’s from the 13th century or something like that and is in the middle of the campus. I ended up going there for an afternoon drink later. For lunch (this was on a Tuesday), I went to the Eagle & Child, which is where the Inklings went ever Tuesday for lunch, and sat in the Rabbit room, possibly in the same place as Tolkien or Lewis! I got the vegetable melt there which was bizarre because they put the cheese on top of the sandwich instead of inside (maybe that’s normal, idk) and this drink called Pimm’s. I have no idea what’s in it but it was quite tasty.
After lunch, I went to the Bodleian Library and drooled over myself for the hour long tour. If I could live there I would; it was absolutely beautiful. They filmed the library scenes and medical wing scenes from Harry Potter there. And the books were absolutely gorgeous, some of them were housed in these special boxes that I know how to make from working at Shields, lol. I think I’d be willing to pay the tuition at Oxford just so I could use the library; I wouldn’t study anything, just go there and marvel.
That night I went to a fabulous restaurant, called Zizza’s or Zizzi’s, something like that. It’s wonderfully decorated, there was a really good crowd there and the food was amazing. I got the spinach ravioli, which was good but the dessert, omyg, the dessert: the chocolate melt with marscapone, to die for.
22 May 2011
Got Throughly Homesick
There is such a thing as traveled-out and I've reached that state. I think I was already there with still a week left to go in the internship but the small chance that was dangling by a thread that I'd still be able to go to Spain with James and Stephanie was staving it off, making everything ok. Now, I don't really have anything to look forward to (minus my cousin's wedding, but no offense Janne, Spain is just so much more exciting) except going home. I've still got a month over here, possibly more depending on when I can get my flight changed to. Plus I've been sick the last week, not hacking and coughing up my lungs, thank god but a terribly swollen throat (tonsils, lymph nodes all that good stuff) and just being plain exhausted all the time. Like today, I woke up from a ten hour sleep and in about half an hour, all I wanted to do was curl up and go to sleep for another twelve hours. I just miss home and knowing where I'm going to be for the next month or two and having a routine and having a place where I can just stay in my pajamas all day, eat some cereal and watch some movies or read a book. I feel like since I'm traveling and in a new place, I've got to go out and see it and get to know it ... but sometimes all you want to do is stay in. And that's hard to do in a hostel.
Anyway, that's where I am right now, at least emotionally/mentally. As for physically, I'm in the west part of London near Notting Hill (like that one movie with what's her face and Hugh Grant, totally watched that one night while I was here and feeling like crap). I've gotten to see a good bit of the city just wandering around. There's this place near London Bridge (omg, there is actually a London Bridge, totally didn't know that!) call the Borough Market, or something like that, that is fabulous. I went there yesterday with an old friend from high school whom I haven't seen in almost five years. It is this HUGE farmer's market with full on built stalls and wonderful food to buy. There was one place that had Apple and Elderberry juice that was to die for. Yeah besides that, I've been to some museums (but at this point they're all starting to feel the same) and I saw the changing of the guard outside Buckingham Palace which was pretty cool. And they are setting up some stands for the Queen's Birthday; apparently she has two birthdays: her actual birthday and her official birthday. Her actual birthday is early on in the year so she decided to give herself a second one to make more pleasant (weather-wise I assume) for everyone to celebrate. Well that's London in a glance; I think I'd have more to say on it, if I wasn't so travel-worn already so, hopefully I'll be able to make another trip back later in life when I'm feeling a little fresher (I hope the rest of my trip plays out better).
Oh and last weekend was a blast! I spent it in Berlin visiting an old roommate from the Trees who is studying abroad there. I was only there for two nights but he showed me a good time. The first night we pregamed at his place, went to a house party that was practically a little America with a few other people visiting and then around three in the morning went out clubbing until eight. Our group was me, the old roomie, an American friend of his I've met in the states, an Irish girl from County Mayo (Clare) and a few other people that I don't really remember. At the house party we met some pretty cool people, one guy in particular: this British guy named Tom was just throughly interesting. For a good chuck of the night he was part of a conversation on politics focused on American policies. There was another American girl taking part that was so pretentiously dumbassed I wanted to slap her a few times so I ended up taking breaks from the debate for various intervals. Most of the other Americans I met there were pretty similar though and they really got on my nerves. I don't really know how to describe them sensibly so I'm just not going to try (I might be able to in conversation so ask me about them if you're really that interested).
Anyway, around three in the morning, the party was dying down so a bunch of us (including Tom and Clare) went clubbing at Tresor (not sure how it's spelled). Soooo much fun! Most of the people were just doing the European sway from foot to foot and do a fist pump every now and then. I tried doing that for a while but it got boring so I started going full at it, my kind of dancing which is mostly just spastically moving around to whatever beat there is. It was starting to get pretty hot and there were a few guys were their shirts off, so I figured why the hell not and took mine off too. I'm pretty sure a few guys took pictures of me while I was dancing, so that's cool, I guess. The next night we went to another house party that may as well have been a club for the amount of people that were there and the fact that they were giving out jello shots. Oh shit, I almost forgot: earlier that night, I needed some cash so Clare took me out to show me where an ATM was and get a flash of vodka. We had a good conversation, I forget about what, but sometimes if I'm taking with just one person and they have an accent, I pick up on it (especially if I'm not particularly sober) so I started taking in an 'Irish' accent. I really hope she didn't think I was poking fun, don't think she did but whatevs. Then when I was leaving the Sunday, there was a minor fiasco with the public transport and me not knowing German but it all worked out in the end so that's cool.
Tomorrow, I'm headed off to Oxford for a few days and then to Ireland to visit family and the likes, so that should be fun!
Anyway, that's where I am right now, at least emotionally/mentally. As for physically, I'm in the west part of London near Notting Hill (like that one movie with what's her face and Hugh Grant, totally watched that one night while I was here and feeling like crap). I've gotten to see a good bit of the city just wandering around. There's this place near London Bridge (omg, there is actually a London Bridge, totally didn't know that!) call the Borough Market, or something like that, that is fabulous. I went there yesterday with an old friend from high school whom I haven't seen in almost five years. It is this HUGE farmer's market with full on built stalls and wonderful food to buy. There was one place that had Apple and Elderberry juice that was to die for. Yeah besides that, I've been to some museums (but at this point they're all starting to feel the same) and I saw the changing of the guard outside Buckingham Palace which was pretty cool. And they are setting up some stands for the Queen's Birthday; apparently she has two birthdays: her actual birthday and her official birthday. Her actual birthday is early on in the year so she decided to give herself a second one to make more pleasant (weather-wise I assume) for everyone to celebrate. Well that's London in a glance; I think I'd have more to say on it, if I wasn't so travel-worn already so, hopefully I'll be able to make another trip back later in life when I'm feeling a little fresher (I hope the rest of my trip plays out better).
Oh and last weekend was a blast! I spent it in Berlin visiting an old roommate from the Trees who is studying abroad there. I was only there for two nights but he showed me a good time. The first night we pregamed at his place, went to a house party that was practically a little America with a few other people visiting and then around three in the morning went out clubbing until eight. Our group was me, the old roomie, an American friend of his I've met in the states, an Irish girl from County Mayo (Clare) and a few other people that I don't really remember. At the house party we met some pretty cool people, one guy in particular: this British guy named Tom was just throughly interesting. For a good chuck of the night he was part of a conversation on politics focused on American policies. There was another American girl taking part that was so pretentiously dumbassed I wanted to slap her a few times so I ended up taking breaks from the debate for various intervals. Most of the other Americans I met there were pretty similar though and they really got on my nerves. I don't really know how to describe them sensibly so I'm just not going to try (I might be able to in conversation so ask me about them if you're really that interested).
Anyway, around three in the morning, the party was dying down so a bunch of us (including Tom and Clare) went clubbing at Tresor (not sure how it's spelled). Soooo much fun! Most of the people were just doing the European sway from foot to foot and do a fist pump every now and then. I tried doing that for a while but it got boring so I started going full at it, my kind of dancing which is mostly just spastically moving around to whatever beat there is. It was starting to get pretty hot and there were a few guys were their shirts off, so I figured why the hell not and took mine off too. I'm pretty sure a few guys took pictures of me while I was dancing, so that's cool, I guess. The next night we went to another house party that may as well have been a club for the amount of people that were there and the fact that they were giving out jello shots. Oh shit, I almost forgot: earlier that night, I needed some cash so Clare took me out to show me where an ATM was and get a flash of vodka. We had a good conversation, I forget about what, but sometimes if I'm taking with just one person and they have an accent, I pick up on it (especially if I'm not particularly sober) so I started taking in an 'Irish' accent. I really hope she didn't think I was poking fun, don't think she did but whatevs. Then when I was leaving the Sunday, there was a minor fiasco with the public transport and me not knowing German but it all worked out in the end so that's cool.
Tomorrow, I'm headed off to Oxford for a few days and then to Ireland to visit family and the likes, so that should be fun!
11 May 2011
Kicked Myself In The Face
The outlook is not very good for me being able to go to Spain. Everything I can find online leads me to believe that it is very unlikely that I will be able to get an extension. I contacted the US embassy here in Brussels (not very helpful at all, I'm glad this isn't a pressing emergency or I'd probably be dead) and they just told me to ask elsewhere (granted, I think legally they aren't allowed to help me or something but still the way the woman responded was terrible). So I emailed the Spanish embassy in London, figuring that I'm going to be going there next week so if I need to I can make an appointment with them later but apparently the email address I found there wasn't actually to the embassy but to a company that they contract work out to. The guy I contacted there thought it was really unlikely that I would get an extension and he said that Ireland and the UK count towards the 90 days (but I haven't been able to find that anywhere and I'm pretty sure he's wrong, god, I hope he's wrong). So, now I've emailed the actual embassy and I'm waiting to hear back from them on whether or not I'll be able to get to Spain. I've got eleven days left until I'm at 90, so I really hope that the UK and Ireland don't count because then at least I'll be able to go to my cousin's wedding in June. If I can't go to Spain though, I'm going to be throughly bummed out.
Random fact: I already drink a decent amount of water, but apparently when I'm stressed out, I drink even more so I've had to pee a LOT today, lawl.
Random fact: I already drink a decent amount of water, but apparently when I'm stressed out, I drink even more so I've had to pee a LOT today, lawl.
10 May 2011
Finished My Internship
So, internship is all done. I spent the last two days cleaning up the site and writing up how to do certain things so that when I left, the information would be available. I had a meeting with my two advisors at 16:00 yesterday and they hadn't asked me to write up that information. The purpose of the meeting, I guess, was to learn a few specific things. They were really impressed that I'd taken the initiative to do that on my own. And towards the end of the meeting, they basically said that if I ever wanted to move back to Brussels I could have a job there, probably as a Team Leader or something like that. It was awesome! I've been seriously considering moving here. I sent my boss an email telling him about the student evaluation he needed to do and at the end asked him to keep me in mind if there are every any opening that I might be qualified for. So who knows maybe I will end up moving to Brussels some day?
On another note: I think I've figured out how to handle the whole visa problem. I've already got plans to visit a friend in Berlin this weekend, so I'm doing that and then immediately leaving for London (the UK and Ireland are not part of the whole Schengen Zone). I'm going to explore those two islands for the next month and while I'm there I'm going to contact the Spanish consulate about getting an extension so I can walk the pilgrimage route in June. This way, I'll have 7 days left out of the 90, which should be just enough to get me in and out of Norway and possibly at the very least in to Spain. So, hopefully, everything will work out okay.
And on still another note: today I packed up all my extra clothes into boxes that I'm going to be sending home and did a test run pack of my backpack. All seems to be well and it isn't too heavy even with my laptop inside, so that's good!
On another note: I think I've figured out how to handle the whole visa problem. I've already got plans to visit a friend in Berlin this weekend, so I'm doing that and then immediately leaving for London (the UK and Ireland are not part of the whole Schengen Zone). I'm going to explore those two islands for the next month and while I'm there I'm going to contact the Spanish consulate about getting an extension so I can walk the pilgrimage route in June. This way, I'll have 7 days left out of the 90, which should be just enough to get me in and out of Norway and possibly at the very least in to Spain. So, hopefully, everything will work out okay.
And on still another note: today I packed up all my extra clothes into boxes that I'm going to be sending home and did a test run pack of my backpack. All seems to be well and it isn't too heavy even with my laptop inside, so that's good!
08 May 2011
Royally Fucked Up (Kinda)
So, I majorly misunderstood how the visa system works over here. There is this agreement (the Schengen Accords) between almost all of the continental EU members that regulates how visas are handled. I thought that through that agreement I was allowed to stay ninety days in each country. It turns out that it is only 90 days for all of the member countries combined! Right now I'm at 76 days! Which means that if I stay in the Schengen Zone for more than another two weeks, I'll be breaking international law.
Obviously, this is throwing a wrench in my plans. I hadn't planned to far in advance so that's nice because I don't need to cancel trains and that kind of stuff but my plane back to the states isn't until July 27th and I'm supposed to be in Norway and Spain for a month and a half combined.
Argh, I'd been planning to go to Italy and Switzerland and France for the next month until my cousin's wedding. But if I do that I'll definitely go over the 90 day limit and I have to leave the Zone, which means my passport will get checked, to catch my flight to Norway.
I could risk all that to experience everything. A lot of sites I've found online say most people don't experience anything too bad but if I overstay when I try to leave the border guard will see that I've overstayed and I could be arrested, deported and blacklisted from visiting any Schengen country for the next five years! argh
Obviously, this is throwing a wrench in my plans. I hadn't planned to far in advance so that's nice because I don't need to cancel trains and that kind of stuff but my plane back to the states isn't until July 27th and I'm supposed to be in Norway and Spain for a month and a half combined.
Argh, I'd been planning to go to Italy and Switzerland and France for the next month until my cousin's wedding. But if I do that I'll definitely go over the 90 day limit and I have to leave the Zone, which means my passport will get checked, to catch my flight to Norway.
I could risk all that to experience everything. A lot of sites I've found online say most people don't experience anything too bad but if I overstay when I try to leave the border guard will see that I've overstayed and I could be arrested, deported and blacklisted from visiting any Schengen country for the next five years! argh
05 May 2011
Gave My First Professional Presentation
Today, at work I presented (in French!) the project I've been working on for the last ten weeks to the Extended Management Team. Granted, I was doing the presentation with my two advisors but I had to explain how to do specific things on a website (that I made!) in French to about thirty mid- and upper-level managers! :o It was a really good experience.
For the last two days, I've been unbelievably nervous, like, haven't been sleeping well nervous. But yesterday, after I'd eaten dinner I opened a beer, started streaming How I Met Your Mother and when the show needed more time to load, I'd run through my script. Yeah, I don't do well talking in front of people even in English for the most part so I wrote out exactly what I wanted to say and practiced it a bajillion times. When it came to the actual presentation, I was still nervous but not as much. I was able to get through it, I said umm a lot but I didn't ever slip into English, like I sometimes do and I was able to use a few different verb tenses without stumbling over them, which was nice.
And after the presentation was finished and my advisor and I were getting ready to leave, my boss's boss told me I'd done a really good job in front of everyone and the guy closest to me asked how I'd enjoyed my time here. It was such a relief to be done with it.
For the last two days, I've been unbelievably nervous, like, haven't been sleeping well nervous. But yesterday, after I'd eaten dinner I opened a beer, started streaming How I Met Your Mother and when the show needed more time to load, I'd run through my script. Yeah, I don't do well talking in front of people even in English for the most part so I wrote out exactly what I wanted to say and practiced it a bajillion times. When it came to the actual presentation, I was still nervous but not as much. I was able to get through it, I said umm a lot but I didn't ever slip into English, like I sometimes do and I was able to use a few different verb tenses without stumbling over them, which was nice.
And after the presentation was finished and my advisor and I were getting ready to leave, my boss's boss told me I'd done a really good job in front of everyone and the guy closest to me asked how I'd enjoyed my time here. It was such a relief to be done with it.
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