A Royal Yet Humble Weekend

Well, I’m just about over my cold! On Friday, I celebrated by taking a long excursion down the river Thames to find Hampton Court Palace. I really needed to make up for all of the opportunities to explore that I missed last week. Something about my hour-long walk along the Thames was immensely satisfying. For the first time, I was really exploring the countryside of Britain. Only walkers, cyclists, boaters and fishermen could be seen along the paths. Pavement eventually turned into clay, surrounded by tangled grass and broad trees. There were no cars, no buses and I half expected a horse and carriage to come rolling around the bend.

ThamesPath1

My first glimpse of Hampton Court Palace was not disappointing. From behind a great stone wall, the building loomed in the distance and it looked rather inviting. I ventured on to the Palace grounds and wandered the beautiful gardens that are open to the public. Once I arrived back at Kingston’s town centre full of shops, it was hard to believe that just an hour before I had been standing in the Palace grounds in the countryside!
ThamesPath2
ThamesPath2

The theme of my weekend thus became Royal Residences. The following day, I went with a couple of friends to Windsor Castle, the official residence of the Queen. I expected it to be a small, modest castle but it turned out to be a sprawling fortress! To add to the excitement, the Queen was actually in residence as indicated by the royal flag. Inside the state apartments were various displays of art, china, armor, shields and weaponry. Most beautiful was the garden moat surrounding the Round Tower on the grounds. Although I enjoyed my tour of the Castle, I wound never want to live there due to constant drafts, large size and uber elegance. Unfortunately, I had placed my camera’s memory card in the wrong bag and do not have pictures to share. However, I plan to go back!

As my weekend did involve visiting royal residences, most of my joy came from being in the countryside and observing the local environments. Hampton Court Palace and Windsor Castle were impressive, but imposing, and rather guarded. The countryside, however, possessed an open quality and a humbleness that appealed to me more than crown jewels ever could.

Sickly, but Scholarly!

Hello everyone! The delay in my posting can be attributed to an illness I somehow acquired this past week. It’s been fun but exhausting adjusting to the London lifestyle, which is basically being a pedestrian. Londoners walk everywhere in all types of weather, especially the pouring rain. After my own walk through London in the rain on Sunday, I felt rather run down and so began my fever week. Luckily I did well on my Monet presentation despite the fever. I hope I’m 100% better by the time my mom and brother come to visit. Since being sick is not exciting, I will discuss the second of our fieldtrips instead.

On Saturday of last weekend (which seems like an eternity ago), I visited the old university town of Oxford with my fellow study abroad students. With collared shirts and lace-up shoes in mind, most of us felt we should dress “scholarly” when visiting such a place. We toured the Sheldonian Theatre which holds convocation and graduation ceremonies. The round wooden building features a dome which offers amazing views of the Oxford Colleges. It was quite a climb, but what a view!
OxfordfromdomePedestrians roam London, and bikers wheel their way through Oxford. With the exception of bicycle shops, I had never seen so many bicycles in one place. I ate lunch at a pub called “Eagle and Child” where J.R.R. Tolkien (author of the Lord of the Rings trilogy) and C.S. Lewis (author of the Chronicles of Narnia) would often meet for literary discussion and a pint. I felt considerably humbled by being where such great authors and minds gathered, that I later bought myself an “Oxford University” sweatshirt to instill some intellectual pride.

We met our professor, Philip, for a historic walking tour of the city. The tour ended at Christ Church, which was the highlight for most people. The reason? Christ Church was a filming location for the Harry Potter films. Its staircase is indeed the one that is supposed to lead up to the Great Hall of Hogwarts. I had never seen so many people take pictures on a staircase before. As a Harry Potter fan myself, I’ll admit that I posed for a few as well. The building’s own “Great Hall” was beautiful, but I left quickly due to no heat. It was colder inside the building than outside.
Interior

What impressed me most about Oxford (aside from providing a film location) is its age and history. Some stones walls, almost caked in black soot, haven’t been cleaned since the middle ages! The place had a real Gothic, medieval quality about it. I realized I would not want to be a student at Oxford, but I would really like to visit again!

Driving on the left hand side of the road…

Good morning, everyone! (Sunday morning, that is…) The majority of you are probably waking up Saturday right now… crazy! I was thinking about dates the other day, and realized that if I were to have been born at the exact same moment, but here in New Zealand (or anywhere else past the dateline) I would have been born a day ahead… I’d have a completely different birthday- not to mention Zodiac sign! (I knew what being on the cusp meant before, but now it makes even more sense).

So this is an incredibly brief blog simply with the intention of keeping eveyone on the edge of their seats. You see, as one of only a couple other kids who is of vehicle renting age, I have to wake up early early tomorrow to go rent a van for myself and 6 others who I’ve known for barely a week- one that I have yet to meet even! We then are heading up North and road tripping/camping a big loop to just about the top of the North Island and back down before classes begin on the 27th. To give you a small taste of what this road trip entails: I will be the first person in our group of people to drive on the “wrong” side of the road! (I have enough trouble remembering which direction to look before I cross the road on foot!) We then are going to hike, camp, sky dive, go to white, sandy beaches, hike, camp, etc… until next Saturday! So goodnight, my friends… and you will be hearing from me with stories apleanty soon enough.

:o)

…PS. I have indeed been paying close attention to the direction of flush in every toilet thus far… Unfortunately, they all seem to just go straight down. I can assure you that I have not yet given up on my mission to find a circular-directional flush.

From an entirely different sky…

I’m here! And it’s beautiful, and sunny… and a city.

The trip over here went much more smoothly and was much more relaxed than I expected it to be. I drove up to Rochester airport in a snowstorm, checked my luggage, handed off my winter coat to my parents, and went through security… up until I went through security, I had all kinds of nervous knots in my stomach and wished that my parents could hold my hands through everything. But as soon as I got to the other side of the scary metal detectors, I suddenly felt completely independant and ready for whatever was to come. I waved to my mom across the glass walls who was easily spotted in her bright green fleece and arms waving back and forth like a flourescent traffic flagger… :o)

I gradually met up with different people going over to New Zealand throughout my 22 or so hours spent through airports and the air, and was able to sleep the majority of the overnight 13 hour 15 minute and 5 seconds of airborn time across the Pacific Ocean. (On the coolest Jumbo Jet I’ve ever seen…)
Our jumbo jet!

Once we finally all got here, we were dropped off at our halls and greeted quite kindly by the Kiwis who ran our building. They later took us around town to some of the good places to know (such as the grocery store- as we are on our own for food while living in the Stafford apartment building. Living here is unlike anything I’ve experienced before.

Window view to the left Window view to the right

My window overlooks, well, a city. There are tall buildings to one side and to the other a big green hill covered in trees. Because it’s all so new, I’m waiting for the moment that I feel like I really do live here. I imagine it will be once classes begin and I have a daily schedule to follow.

I have been here only three days and things all ready feel totally familiar, as the result of getting lost in the city countless times and then finding my way back with everybody. I’ve been able to befriend quite a few really cool people all ready- mostly other Americans so far, but I can’t wait for the other local students to move in so that I can start meeting Kiwis as well.

For now, I’m learning what it’s like to live in a city, because it is very much one. The streets are lined with coffee shops and cafes. Wellington supposedly has the second largest number of cafes and coffeeshops in the world next to Manhatten! It great having things so close- we walk everywhere that we need or want to go, and though I’ve been running (I’ve signed up for a 7k road race this weekend!), it feels great being so active all of the time. We have found a local farmers market up the street that happens every Sunday, and the produce is great! (And much less expensive than a grocery store). Wellington is a fairly decent size, but very clean, and beautiful buildings. The architecture here is very unique, yet EVERYTHING compliments one another in a fantastic, harmonious way. Another thing that I’ve noticed is the amount of sculpture and artwork throughout the city- the sidewalks are decorated in tiling, there is sculpture everywhere, and even the manhole covers take part in the decoration! What’s unique about the artwork here compared to that of NYC or any other city that I’ve been, is that it all relates to one another and tells the story of the New Zealand culture.

Decorated manhole cover

Just yesterday some of my friends and I went to the beach and had our first swim in New Zealand ocean water, then my friend, Aurora and I dug a great big hole in the sand… topping off the complete beach experience! I all ready got a minor sun burn on my face… (I was luckier than others.) I also just found out that we are under a hole in the ozone layer, so sunscreen is even more my friend that it ever was before! Some of the foliage here is unlike anything I’ve ever seen! And the sea life- we found a starfish yesterday thinking that it was one of the greatest treasures that we would find in this water! Then we looked around the bottom of the clear clear salt water and counted nearly 20 more only around our feet.

Aurora and I in our super deep hole (we The starfish that we found

Orientation starts tomorrow for us, so I’ll be meeting even more people, and get to know even more of the city and what’s going on. Random brochures and flyers for events can really only do so much…

There is a rugby game coming up that some of my friends and I are going to check out- get a taste for the city’s rugby pride (which seems to be pretty significant), and sometime before classes begin there is a small group of us who hope to go camping and hiking for a few days further up the north island. so hooray!

I hope that everything is going well with everyone!

STUDY Abroad…

“It’s called Study Abroad. Although you are here to be abroad, you’re primarily here to study,” said Dr. Philip Woods, teacher of British Life and Culture.

Knights Park

Yes, school has begun! I’m enjoying my modules a lot (modules are what we call classes in America) and my tutors (professors) are great. I’m taking “Parisian Art World”, “Italian Renaissance Archticture”, “Art of Renaissance Florence”, “British Life and Culture”, and “Shakespeare: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”.

Next week, I will be presenting an actual Monet painting to my “Parisian Art World” class at the Courtauld Institute of Art in central London! What a humbling and daunting task! I have presented slides of paintings before, but never the real thing! Perhaps I’m on my way to a career as an art museum tour guide?

The Italian Art History modules are exciting as well. During spring break, I am going to Florence for an onsite Art History course! I’m really looking forward to this opportunity having studied Florentine art and architecture in depth for so long.

“British Life and Culture” is full of study abroad students like myself. Our tutor is a lovely man who slightly resembles Paul McCartney. We discuss our cultural similarites and differences, and also take field trips to other parts of Britain. This weekend, we are going to Oxford, the oldest university in the English speaking world!

“Shakespeare: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” is great to take while in England! It seems so authentic here and I have learned a lot more about Shakespeare than I previously knew.

All of my classmates are very friendly, as are the tutors. It is funny that the British accent isn’t as noticeable to me anymore, perhaps because it is no longer a novelty but the norm here. One of the great rewards of my experience so far is that now I can finally listen to what British people say rather than how they say it!

Three days and counting…

It wasn’t until just this morning that I realized how little time I have left here in America before I head down to live with the Kiwis for five months! Three days and whole wonderful medley of excitement, nerves and lists lists lists. Lists of what I have yet to do, to pack, people to contact, blogging… However, throughout the listing process, I’ve realized that there is only so much that I really need to bring with me, and only so many times that I can say goodbye to people before it seems like I’m never going to leave.

My excitement is on-going as I’ve spoken with people about my upcoming journey, hearing about other’s experiences in New Zealand- or abroad in general, and gaining associations and connections one after another! It’s the times that I talk with people about my trip that I forget about every one of my nerves, and then I just can’t wait to be down there- living in a city for the first time in my life! It’s rather the times when things are more quiet and New Zealand is not the first thing on my mind that provokes a feeling of nostalgia of what I‘m going to miss before I‘m even gone: playing with my dog, eating dinner with my family, hanging out with friends in familiar places here at home…

This past weekend I was in New Paltz for four days to visit, say goodbye to some good friends before I leave, and to go through Orientation. Goodbye, New Paltz! It was so strange (and made me feel so lazy) to hear people talk about their classes and work, and what the semester feels like so far and to know that I’m not and won’t be a part of it all! It’s those times that I’ve found it’s best to consider how much I will be experiencing soon rather than what I will be missing out on here. It makes for a much more positive outlook on the distance I’m soon to be traveling.

So overall, I can’t wait to arrive to the land beyond down under, but as it’s gradually gotten closer, the nerves have been growing and the trip itself has been feeling more and more real. But to think! The next time that you hear from me, I’ll be a day ahead of you and all ready have New Zealand experiences to share!

Keep in touch!