Thank you and goodnight...

Soon I will no longer have use for a map. Maps are euphemisms, clean, clear, self-explanatory substitutes for all the mess and mayhem, the clutter and ambivalence and blurring and intermeshing eft and warp of the real places they purport to describe. They are fake documents, pathetic simplifications and falsifications. They’re no longer necessary since I have created a new London, not one made out of stone and brick, tarmac and concrete, but a London created out of memory, imagination and shoe leather. I have created it. I have made my dreams come true. -- Bleeding London

Everybody…

Sadly, this is going to be the last blog post of my London study abroad trip. I am now entering into finals month so I probably won’t have any spare time to be updating and I’m sure y’all wont want to hear about my experiences in the Library. British libraries are pretty awesome though…

So:
Thank you so much for following me as I got to know and love London. From getting lost after buying groceries two blocks away from my flat to inevitably leading friends and family confidently through the city, I’ve consistently been excited to come back and share all of my stories. This blog has been more than a vehicle for me to stay in touch from “across the pond” --it has become a way for me to include you in my everyday life. You were just as a part of the Caribbean day parades, Ethiopian New years, pub-crawls and inter-European vacations as I was and I thank you for that. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that my blog would be so widely circulated and taken seriously. Honestly, it has been such a source of pride for me and I cannot thank you all enough. As soon as something exciting or funny happened my first reaction was “YES! I have new material for the blog!”

It feels wrong to say something like “Wow time’s flied…” because while it’s gone by quickly, I’ve also learned a lot. I’ve become more independent... confidant to do things on my own. I’ve had dinner by myself, gone on solo explorations around London and traveled to foreign countries. Despite my newly discovered independence, I’ve also come to appreciate the importance of friends and family even more. In these past few months there have been times when I’ve craved company an ocean away from me, which really just reminds me how lucky I am to be excited about going home to such an amazing group of people.

It’s strange that I’m talking about “going home” already because I’ve tried so hard to make London my home. I feel like I’m just beginning to establish myself in this city and I finally have my routine places… my grocery store, Starbucks, flat on12 Bedford Place... etc and it feels all wrong that I have to begin thinking about saying goodbye.


I loved having you here with me and I hope that you have gotten the same amount of pleasure reading my blog as I have had writing it.

Swiss Miss, The Alps Adventure

I guess my love of “wingin’ it” and disinterest in planning things to completion could possibly be a euphemism for an “adventurous spirit”. When I landed in Zurich, chock full of “adventurousness”, I had no idea how to get to Lucerne --my final destination. I knew that trains went to Lucerne but that was about it. Seeing this as a quest, I envisioned myself strutting off the plane, hopping onto my clearly marked train and poof- I’m in Lucerne! Unfortunately, that plan went out the window when I walked into the train station at 11:00 PM and there were no staff members who could help me figure out where to go, how to buy a ticket and tell me which platform to get on. Oh yeah, and to make matters worse- all the signs are in German! Starting to panic and hearing my parents’ voices in my head reprimanding me for not thinking this one out, I decided to rely on my instinct. I instantly scanned the station looking for well-dressed people (don’t judge me…it usually works) and found a man in a nice suit. Well, this man turned out to actually be a saint because he helped me buy the ticket, got me on the train and then wrote out where I needed to transfer. As a blanket statement, Swiss people are amazing. I lucked out big time because somehow, after an entire day of traveling, I ended up in Lucerne… not planning can be fun too!


After a delicious breakfast, compliments of the Hotel Schiller, Britt, Nina and I decided to go out exploring. Our concierge gave us very detailed directions how to get there but after walking for a half hour we found ourselves in the middle of an industrial park that was pretty much the ugliest place ever. Overall, it was pretty similar to New Jersey. We popped into an office building to ask for directions and, ironically, we were relieved to hear that our concierge sent us the opposite way from town and that we didn’t elect to travel to ugly-ville. After re-orienting ourselves, we explored town for the rest of the day. It was phenomenal. It’s this quaint, old town that is dwarfed by the Alps. The views are sensational. I wish I could verbalize what it felt like to be looking up at the Alps from a covered bridge built in the 1600’s but really there are no words. Britt put it really well- she came away from the trip saying that the world is meant to be seen. And it really is. Switzerland is by far the most beautiful place I have ever been. Mountains, green grass and glacier lakes- it really can’t get any better. After exploring by foot for a while we decided to take a boat tour around Lake Lucerne where we relaxed in the sun and took pictures of each other and the sights about every other minute. After the boat, Nina went back and then Britt and I spent the rest of the day getting lost in the old village. It was physically exhausting but the only way to really see a city.


Mt. Titles, pronounced the way it's spelled, is in Engleberg, a sleepy little Swiss town. We planned on going to Mt. Titles because that’s where all the snow sports are- sledding, skiing, etc but unfortunately, when we got there the mountain was closed due to rough weather conditions. We were bummed but it didn’t even matter because getting to Engleberg was quite the adventure. We had to take a train that turned into a gondola- how fun! We were literally gliding through the Alps in our magical train car- find me something cooler than that. Ok, wait, I just did. There was NOTHING to do in Engleberg. Seriously nothing… everything was closed because it wasn’t ski season yet, so the only thing that was open was the cheese factory that was inside of a monastery. We were expecting a HUGE factory… instead it was one man standing over, literally, a pail of milk. We were cracking up!!! The factory doubled as a restaurant so we got to eat delicious fondue after!

I’m having a tough time with this blog because I cannot describe how it felt to be walking through such natural beauty. Britt and Nina were awesome- it was so refreshing to travel with people who are curious and anxious to explore (Spice we missed you though!!!!!!!!). We sampled Swiss food (they have these crazy pastries that look like little men), walked through castles, pastures and mountains and tried talking to Swiss people as often as possible. The nightlife was also ridiculous in Lucerne. I now know where all of the absurdly good looking 20 year olds live. We went out one night just to see the Swiss culture and had a blast attempting to talk to the locals. Britt asked one guy if he had heard of the rertaurant "Bamboo" and he emphatically responded," yes! I Loved Kill Bill!". Go figure!!

I can understand why Switzerland is a neutral country—it’s too beautiful to comprehend fighting.

Link to my switzerland photo album:http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=49121194904345570/l=308515932/g=14314790/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Decaf:

1.I’m leaving for Switzerland today at 7:00 pm! Should be extraordinarily fun: we’re talking night sledding, fondue and small town living.
2.We saw Macbeth “On Broadway” (West End) last night with the famous. Patrick Stewart aka the Captain in all the Star Trek movies. He had the flu though and it was interesting except for the fact that he couldn’t really project any of his lines. Clearly why they have understudies... I dont know why he didnt use his! I had to sit on my hands the whole time because I was scared I would impulsively shoot him the trekkie sign (you know- the alien come in peace thing with two fingers on each side?).
3.This morning while I was walking to class there was a man on a unicycle peddling right behind me. At first I thought he may have been a clown, but alas, he was wearing khakis and a sweater. Oh London.
4.Just finished reading White Teeth by Zadie Smith for class. It’s fantastic. I highly recommend it.
5.I’ve become a “regular” at my Starbucks. They know my drink order now! You know you’ve made it in a city when the Barista can pick you out of the line and immediately begin frothing the skim milk for the Café Americano. God bless.

We’ll Always Have Paris

I never realized that the time 4 am actually existed, but I came face to face with it on Friday morning. I wanted to get to Paris early so I could have all day to tour so, my only option was to take the 4:45 AM train from waterloo station. Why was my train so packed? How did all these other people know about this elusive 4 am? Strange… very strange. Alex Spice better love me a lot more now… it was rough.

Arriving in Paris a little after 9:30, I immediately set out on my first daunting task-- navigating the Parisian metro system. Mind you, they speak French and are very proud of this but two train changes and a little bit of shame later (they just hate it when non-French speaking tourists try and come support their economy), I found my way to Alex’s stop. Alex lives in the 16th, a very fashionable and old-world French feeling neighborhood. Her apartment, the servant quarter in a sassy building, couldn’t look more “French”. By this I mean beautiful clapboard shutters that frame tiny Parisian streets below and a fantastic view of the Eiffel Tower. It was, sigh, picturesque.

There were so many ridiculous stories from Paris, mostly on account of ridiculous French people, but I only have so much space and so much time so, eh hmm… here are the best of the best: Stories from Paris 2007.

In the Shadow of the Eiffel Tower

Not to sound cultured and well traveled, but I’ve been to Paris twice before this visit and seen a lot of their museums and tourist places. Fortunately, Spice, a newly proclaimed native, decided that instead of going to a museum we were going to emulate the French and have a full-fledged picnic in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. This picnic took us all day because unlike in America, where they have grocery stores, France has specialty stores. We had to go to the bread store, the cheese store, the fruit store, the sausage store… on and on it went until we were finally in front of the tower. Once there, we were envisioning cushy, green grass to loaf about on, but instead, I guess the park was under refurbishment; there was only sandy gravel. But, when in France… so we spread our spread out on the dirt and went to town. We ate slowly, appreciating our food and laborious efforts paying close attention to the pairing of cheese, bread and jams. It was a huge success. Wanting to remember this delicious day forever, we enlisted the help of some French people to take our pictures. I guess there was a language barrier because they got in the picture with us. We were too stunned to tell them that, no we didn’t want them in it… ha ha oh well. Viva la France!

Salad De Museo

Alex and I met up with some Colgate boys who were in Paris also. We all went to dinner at Spice’s favorite French restaurant, Stella’s. Known for their fish more than their service, we were excited to see what was in store of us. The waiter knew that Spice’s French was shaky and the rest of ours non-existent, but he still didn’t help us out with the translations much. There was a salad with mussels (or so spice translated) that the boys both ordered. When it came, there were two big circular pieces of meat. We all tried it. We all agreed that A. this was not a salad with mussels and B. this was the strangest tasting thing we had ever tried. We called the waiter over and he explained that we had ordered “the snout of a Pig”. I almost threw up right then and there, but not wanting to give into the French stereotype that Americans are uncultured I just stared at him, wide-eyed and probably with a look of disgust. First and last time I will ever eat snout. You have my word.