Wow, what a weird and wonderful weekend! I went to Scotland with Dan and Melissa! It was a ton of fun and I took close to 400 pictures! Dan and I took a bus trip up from Edinburgh to Loch Ness which was cool if a bit touristy. We climbed up Aurthur's Seat, this big mountain, hill thing in the middle of Edinburgh. Scotland it truly a very beautiful place. I got quite a bit or reading done on Gulliver's Travels for my rise of the novel class and wrote some of my prose piece for creative writing on the four hour train ride there and back. We also went to one of the art museums in Edinburgh, mustly just to use the loo after our walking tour but we took some time to walk around and see the art on the first floor. I wrote in my journal during Art and Society last week about artists during the 18th century using ultramarine blue in their work, especially relating to the Virgin Mary. Ultramarine blue was a color made out of lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, which was incredibly expensive, it was worth more than it's weight in gold. Artists who used a lot of ultramarine blue in their work were sending a message that they were successful enough, and a great enough artist to have attracted a wealthy patron who would pay for ultramarine blue paint. In the museum in Scotland I noticed all of the portraits of Mary, all of the ultramarine blue, and I thought about all of the wealthy patrons, all the artists using that paint. It was a pretty cool connection to my coursework and I think I'd like to write about the use of that paint for my essay. I'd like to learn more of the history, what are some of the most famous paintings and artists to use it and what was the significance.
Today in creative writing we're going to the Tate Modern. I'm kind of curious how our tutor's going to tie this into creative writing, but I'm excited to go and see the museum. I've been wanting to visit on one of my free days but I decided not to, since it's been on our syllabus and I wanted to save the visit for class. Though now I'm wishing I'd gone to see it on my own first to see it with fresh eyes before I see it with academic commentary.
On a brighter note, I got an admissions letter from Georgia Tech yesterday!!!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Best Day Ever
So yesterday was absolutely the best day ever! I woke up at 7, did my morning thing: shower, eggs, toast and coffee, catch the tube to Oxford Circus and went to creative writing class. During class we discussed London specific articles to exemplify setting and I got an idea for my prose piece. Suddenly, the ideas were just flowing and I had the whole story, or most of it in my head! I can't wait to get started on it this afternoon. I had lunch at Pret A Manger because I forgot my sandwich at home and went to theater class. We discussed A Midsummer Night's Dream and afterward I was chatting with Dan and Melissa, two of my classmates whom I'm planning on traveling with. The idea of Paris on Valentines day weekend came up and we're checking out prices on trains, flights and hostels! I'm really excited! Looking forward to pastries and crepes!
While we were chatting after class, Dan and Melissa kept going on and on about the different shows that they want to see. I don't have a list, but I want to see as many shows as possible. So right there in the lobby of the Uni at 5:30 we decided to go see Phantom. Not this weekend, not today, right then, that day. We walked down the the theater, bought tickets for the evening show that night - 40 pound seats for 20 pounds - thank you standby and student discounts! We went to the Texas Embassy, the only place for Tex-Mex food in London, for dinner before the show. We caught Phantom at 7:30 and the 10:45 Tube home to Old Street. I love London. You can choose on a whim, any day of the week to see a West-End Show, or live music, or a film, or a museum, or a gallery or anything!
What makes the day really wonderful though, is the e-mail I got when I got home. I was intending to write this post last night but I was distracted. In my inbox was my first acceptance letter to graduate school tuition and stipend included. (I say first in the meager hope that it's not the last acceptance I'll get!) University of Deleware: bottom of my list but still a good school. Along with the acceptance there was an e-mail about a program they have through NSF about a sustainable energy corriculm they're introducing. I could take classes on economics and policy, solar energy systems, hydrogen solar systems, fuel cells....It looks really interesting! If I get in nowhere else I will be happy to go to Deleware for my PhD. I have a list on my tack board. It has the names of the six schools I applied to and the bottom there's a question: No?! and below it a list of companies to try and beg a job from. I can cross that out now and but a YES next to one school.
I was screaming and dancing around the flat and I ran down to the corner shop and bought a bottle of the first Chardonnay I put my hands on (not the best ever but it would do). I shared the wine with my flatmates, called my mom and dad and talked to some friends from home. I couldn't sleep. I stayed up until 6AM talking with people. I totally lost track of time! I never do that when sleep is involved. My body just forgot to tell me to go to sleep. I love London, I love being here and now I can really relax and live it up. There is an end game. There's life after London and I don't have to obsess over the mystery of what it will be. I don't have to tell people I'm PLANNING on graduate school or I HOPE to go to graduate school when I get back. I AM a graduate student now. I will have a place to live, money to live on and a purpose, once this is over. A weight off my shoulders to KNOW what is going to happen.
Of course my friends thought that it is ridiculous that I was so worried. They said, well of course you got in, but I've never been sure of my own abilities. I'm glad that my first letter was an acceptance. That way when the news comes in from Stanford and MIT I don't have to be concerned that I won't get in anywhere. I already have.
Oh and to top off the best day ever, I got the post and my Student Oyster Card (long story of tedius detail about trying to replace a lost card and my silliness and confusion) finally came! No more using the last cash in my wallet to top up my pay as you go just before I try to catch the last train back to Old Street after an evening movie. (I REALLY wish the tubes ran all night long!) In short, between my story idea, good coffee and good friends, Paris in February, Phantom of the Opera, my Oyster card and my graduate school acceptance letter, yesterday was the best day ever!
While we were chatting after class, Dan and Melissa kept going on and on about the different shows that they want to see. I don't have a list, but I want to see as many shows as possible. So right there in the lobby of the Uni at 5:30 we decided to go see Phantom. Not this weekend, not today, right then, that day. We walked down the the theater, bought tickets for the evening show that night - 40 pound seats for 20 pounds - thank you standby and student discounts! We went to the Texas Embassy, the only place for Tex-Mex food in London, for dinner before the show. We caught Phantom at 7:30 and the 10:45 Tube home to Old Street. I love London. You can choose on a whim, any day of the week to see a West-End Show, or live music, or a film, or a museum, or a gallery or anything!
What makes the day really wonderful though, is the e-mail I got when I got home. I was intending to write this post last night but I was distracted. In my inbox was my first acceptance letter to graduate school tuition and stipend included. (I say first in the meager hope that it's not the last acceptance I'll get!) University of Deleware: bottom of my list but still a good school. Along with the acceptance there was an e-mail about a program they have through NSF about a sustainable energy corriculm they're introducing. I could take classes on economics and policy, solar energy systems, hydrogen solar systems, fuel cells....It looks really interesting! If I get in nowhere else I will be happy to go to Deleware for my PhD. I have a list on my tack board. It has the names of the six schools I applied to and the bottom there's a question: No?! and below it a list of companies to try and beg a job from. I can cross that out now and but a YES next to one school.
I was screaming and dancing around the flat and I ran down to the corner shop and bought a bottle of the first Chardonnay I put my hands on (not the best ever but it would do). I shared the wine with my flatmates, called my mom and dad and talked to some friends from home. I couldn't sleep. I stayed up until 6AM talking with people. I totally lost track of time! I never do that when sleep is involved. My body just forgot to tell me to go to sleep. I love London, I love being here and now I can really relax and live it up. There is an end game. There's life after London and I don't have to obsess over the mystery of what it will be. I don't have to tell people I'm PLANNING on graduate school or I HOPE to go to graduate school when I get back. I AM a graduate student now. I will have a place to live, money to live on and a purpose, once this is over. A weight off my shoulders to KNOW what is going to happen.
Of course my friends thought that it is ridiculous that I was so worried. They said, well of course you got in, but I've never been sure of my own abilities. I'm glad that my first letter was an acceptance. That way when the news comes in from Stanford and MIT I don't have to be concerned that I won't get in anywhere. I already have.
Oh and to top off the best day ever, I got the post and my Student Oyster Card (long story of tedius detail about trying to replace a lost card and my silliness and confusion) finally came! No more using the last cash in my wallet to top up my pay as you go just before I try to catch the last train back to Old Street after an evening movie. (I REALLY wish the tubes ran all night long!) In short, between my story idea, good coffee and good friends, Paris in February, Phantom of the Opera, my Oyster card and my graduate school acceptance letter, yesterday was the best day ever!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Snow!
The latest adventure from London is the "snow storm" that "hit" yesterday. The snow started Sunday when I was on my was back from Camden Market (which was really cool by the way). It continued through the night and by Monday morning the whole city was at a standstill. Most of the tubes were shut down and the ones that weren't were running on severe delays. All classes were canceled at the Uni and half the shops in London were closed! I don't have class on Monday and had attempted to make it to this hair salon to make an appointment to get a cut but it I ended up walking most of the way because of the tube congestion and when I got there it was closed!
Really, it was only about 8inches of snow over the twenty four hour period. The kind of snow that Ann Arbor, and especially Traverse City gets hit with many times a year. Not in the four and a half years I went to the University of Michigan did I have a snow day and I've had class canceled maybe once or twice, usually because a professor went to a conference. Businesses back home RARELY close due to weather!
However, I completely understand. Having to slog through the unplowed sidewalks and streets to get to Baker Street because the Jubilee Line was completely shut down made me realize that everyone here relies so heavily on public transportation that a serious interruption, like we had yesterday from the snow storm, makes it nearly impossible for people to make it into town. With the congestion taxes on driving in the city people just don't own cars and if you're coming in from Zone 3 or farther, it's just about impossible to make it into the city at all, let alone on time.
In other news, I'm a few pages away from finishing Moll Flanders, though I haven't decided what I'm going to write my essay on yet. Tomorrow my Theater class is discussing "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and going to see it performed. Next week is a tour of the Rose and the Globe theaters. Right now I'm about to sit down and start outlining the characters and setting (somewhere in London) for the prose piece that I am due to have a draft of at the end of the month for Creative Writing. If there were some great job that required an English degree, or creative writing, or theaters studies or whatever I would so be there. This is really fun. My homework is reading and writing. To think! I will say I can feel my mind becoming less organized everyday. Engineering forced rational thinking and organization. Without the pressure my mind is slipping back into its natural scattered state - like a garden grown wild without the tenders to weed it. Weekends have been particularly disorganized. I have been doing a lot of wandering around the city, which I love doing, and I am starting to gain a familiarity of places which will help when friends and family come to visit. I think the thing there is to do most in London is shopping. Sure there are a lot of museums and galleries but there are even more shops and markets and places to buy stuff. I'm trying to save though for trips.
Today was another of those wandering days, though it started with a definite goal. I finally found that hair salon, or rather the Clynol Academy, which is a training salon for some of the best stylists in the UK. I can get cut, color, style, everything for 5 pounds! There's quite a wait list to get in and because it's trainees who will be working with my hair it could take up to 3 hours! If I'm in a hurry I found another salon called City Cut and Color that has some of the cheapest prices in London without being one of those SuperCuts type salons. There's also this little student Salon for manicures, messages and waxing right around the corner from the Regent Street camups that I'm going to go to for a pedi (only 8 pounds!). Usually I handle things like foot care myself but with all the walking around that is required in a place like London, after a month my feet need professional help! I was thinking of inviting the girls and making it a Valentines day spa day.
Dan didn't manage to get football tickets (there's a Chelsea game this weekend we were hoping to go to) but I'm looking forward to planning some trips with Dan and Melissa - they have the same travel interests as I do. A lot of the students I've met are really into just partying and drinking and the British students don't really care about Europe (been there done that I guess). Dan and Melissa want to see the sights, museums, gallerys, are and architecture of the places. They'll be the best to travel with I think. We'll be planning stuff later this week I hope.
Really, it was only about 8inches of snow over the twenty four hour period. The kind of snow that Ann Arbor, and especially Traverse City gets hit with many times a year. Not in the four and a half years I went to the University of Michigan did I have a snow day and I've had class canceled maybe once or twice, usually because a professor went to a conference. Businesses back home RARELY close due to weather!
However, I completely understand. Having to slog through the unplowed sidewalks and streets to get to Baker Street because the Jubilee Line was completely shut down made me realize that everyone here relies so heavily on public transportation that a serious interruption, like we had yesterday from the snow storm, makes it nearly impossible for people to make it into town. With the congestion taxes on driving in the city people just don't own cars and if you're coming in from Zone 3 or farther, it's just about impossible to make it into the city at all, let alone on time.
In other news, I'm a few pages away from finishing Moll Flanders, though I haven't decided what I'm going to write my essay on yet. Tomorrow my Theater class is discussing "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and going to see it performed. Next week is a tour of the Rose and the Globe theaters. Right now I'm about to sit down and start outlining the characters and setting (somewhere in London) for the prose piece that I am due to have a draft of at the end of the month for Creative Writing. If there were some great job that required an English degree, or creative writing, or theaters studies or whatever I would so be there. This is really fun. My homework is reading and writing. To think! I will say I can feel my mind becoming less organized everyday. Engineering forced rational thinking and organization. Without the pressure my mind is slipping back into its natural scattered state - like a garden grown wild without the tenders to weed it. Weekends have been particularly disorganized. I have been doing a lot of wandering around the city, which I love doing, and I am starting to gain a familiarity of places which will help when friends and family come to visit. I think the thing there is to do most in London is shopping. Sure there are a lot of museums and galleries but there are even more shops and markets and places to buy stuff. I'm trying to save though for trips.
Today was another of those wandering days, though it started with a definite goal. I finally found that hair salon, or rather the Clynol Academy, which is a training salon for some of the best stylists in the UK. I can get cut, color, style, everything for 5 pounds! There's quite a wait list to get in and because it's trainees who will be working with my hair it could take up to 3 hours! If I'm in a hurry I found another salon called City Cut and Color that has some of the cheapest prices in London without being one of those SuperCuts type salons. There's also this little student Salon for manicures, messages and waxing right around the corner from the Regent Street camups that I'm going to go to for a pedi (only 8 pounds!). Usually I handle things like foot care myself but with all the walking around that is required in a place like London, after a month my feet need professional help! I was thinking of inviting the girls and making it a Valentines day spa day.
Dan didn't manage to get football tickets (there's a Chelsea game this weekend we were hoping to go to) but I'm looking forward to planning some trips with Dan and Melissa - they have the same travel interests as I do. A lot of the students I've met are really into just partying and drinking and the British students don't really care about Europe (been there done that I guess). Dan and Melissa want to see the sights, museums, gallerys, are and architecture of the places. They'll be the best to travel with I think. We'll be planning stuff later this week I hope.
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