Happy birthday, Mariese!

I hope you have a great day and a fun party. I soo wish I could be there to celebrate with you! I don't even remember the last time I was home on your birthday. I miss going out with you!! Going dancing, clubbing, chillin - EATING! Pho, thai, indian, sushi - anything! Even if I had food allergies, I'd go eat with you! Hope you have a great day, and I am thinking of you and the food that you will be eating! Miss you!!! Happy birthday, Mariese!

Haggis and bagpipes and kilts – oh my!

Okay, so maybe I didn’t try haggis (apparently, it’s a huge sausage made from sheep’s lungs, liver and hearts mixed with spices, suet, oatmeal and onions – I’m sure it’s as good as it sounds) but I did see some bagpipes and kilts while I was in the capital of Edinburgh, but not so much in the more metropolitan city of Glasgow. As I had no class last Thursday, I decided to spend the rest of the week in Edinburgh, which is only a 2.5 hour train ride away from Lancaster, and Glasgow, which is an hour away from Edinburgh. First trip alone and I think it went well, except for getting lost and getting sick

edinburgh.SCOTLAND tues.OCT11/05-thurs.OCT13/05

Right after 312, I rushed to the train station just in time to make my 2:00pm train, arriving at Edinburgh at about 4:30pm. Edinburgh, by the way, is pronounced Edinborough, for those of you who didn’t know. Cause I didn’t.

Just my luck, I arrive and it’s pouring rain, which did not stop for the two days I was there. Trying to tough out the rain without my umbrella, I walked all the way down The Royal Mile, which is four streets starting at Edinburgh Castle, successfully missing my hostel twice and successfully getting soaked. I finally found my hostel, checked in and was happy to see that it was really clean, fairly modern and generally very friendly. I think this is my favourite hostel yet.

While unpacking and drying my things in the room, I was talking to this one guy from France, and this Asian guy came in and started talking to the French guy in French. Somewhat logically (or so I thought), I asked the Asian guy if he was also from France.

Asian guy: No, I’m from China. And you?
Me: I’m from Canada.
Asian guy: (Surprised) Oh. I thought you were Asian.
Me: (Confused) Umm… I am Asian. I’m Filipino…

I didn’t know whether I should explain further that I moved to Canada from the Philippines, so I left it at that. I couldn’t think why he would think that Asian and Canadian were mutually exclusive nationalities. Maybe me being soaking wet threw him off??

It was still fairly early at this point and I hadn’t eaten supper, so I changed and went out walking – with an umbrella this time. I walked down Grassmarket, which is this street with a bunch of pubs and restaurants, and ate at this small Italian restaurant, whilst (I thought it would be appropriate to use 'whilst' here) I went through my brochures and things, figuring out what I was gonna see the next day.

I spent the rest of the night chillin out at the hostel, going on the internet and watching the most ridiculous game show, which was like an adult spelling bee, except they couldn’t spell most of the words. This night was also Night One of me being sick. Good timing.

The next day, I went out into town despite the cold and the rain, and Asian Guy, who was half-awake when I was getting ready, could not believe Little Canadian-Asian Girl was going out into the rain. He went back to bed after I left, I think. Armed again with my umbrella, I walked back down The Royal Mile, which is comprised of Castlehill, Lawnmarket, High Street and Cannongate, and I ended up at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, which is at the end of Cannongate and was once home to Mary, Queen of Scots.

Unimpressed and soaking, I decided, what the heck, I am already here in Edinburgh, I might as well walk up Holyrood Park and go to Arthur’s Seat, which is a hill in Holyrood Park that gives a great view of the entire city. Thirty minutes later, dripping wet and on the side of a mountain with nowhere to go but down, I regretted that decision. I walked up the gravel path as far as I could, passing by this local man, who gave me a look like, Good luck getting up that hill, Little Asian Girl. I don’t know how far away I was from actually reaching Arthur’s Seat when I decided to turn around, but this was the view I was awarded with after my trek.

Just to throw you off, you can’t tell it was pouring from this picture. Maybe I should have taken a picture of myself instead. In the distance, you can see Edinburgh Castle and the tall peak beside it is Scott Monument, built for the Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott. After taking a few pictures and videos, I quickly made my way back down, got back on The Royal Mile and treated myself with a Starbucks Caramel Macchiato and 10 minutes under the hand dryer, trying to dry off my pants, socks and shoes.

I also treated myself by heading off to Princes Street, which runs parallel to The Royal Mile, sandwiching in the Princes Street Gardens. Where The Royal Mile was once the main backbone of the Old Town, Princes Street is that of the New Town, and filled with blocks of shops and malls.

This is pretty representative of the day I had in Edinburgh – dreary rainy day in an otherwise beautiful city. This was taken on Waverley Bridge, right when you come out of Princes Mall, which leads to the Waverley Train Station.

Buying mostly pasalubong (gifts for other people), I exited Princes Mall, and walked through Princes Street Gardens, passing the Scott Monument, the National Galleries of Scotland, and getting a view of Edinburgh Castle from below.

I walked all the way around Edinburgh Castle and rewarded myself with a nice nap at the hostel, and finishing off the night with some awful British TV show, Super Nanny and Lost. Sick Night Number Two.

The next day, I woke up to a beautiful sunny day in Edinburgh (go figure) as I walked to Waverley Train Station to catch my train to Glasgow.

Places I visited in Edinburgh:

Edinburgh Castle

National Galleries of Scotland

St. Giles Cathedral

The Royal Mile

Grassmarket

John Knox House

The Scottish

Parliament

Palace of Holyroodhouse

Holyrook Park

Scott Monument

Princes Street Gardens

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glasgow.SCOTLAND thurs.OCT13/05-fri.OCT14/05

Just coming out of Glasgow Central Station, you can already see how metropolitan and more modern Glasgow is compared to Edinburgh. Right away, as I passed this street full of people and full of shops, I designated that Thursday as a shopping day and Friday would be for sightseeing. I checked into my hostel, which was the hugest one I’ve seen with 9 floors, but not the nicest.

I walked down Argyle Street, ending up at Buchanan Street, which is this long pedestrian shopping street. Something I’ve noticed with all the shopping areas I’ve been to here in Europe is that there are 4 or 5 of the same shops down one street or even within a 5-minute walking distance from one another. And also, all the shopping areas are always packed no matter what day of the week or what time of day it is. Europeans love to shop. It reminds me of St. Catherine Street in Montreal, which is not surprising since Montreal is very European.

It was about 6:00pm when a lot of the shops closed, and not wanting to go back to the hostel just yet, I went and watched Lord of War starring Nicholas Cage at some local cinema. It was the only recognizable movie title that was playing, and it was Nicholas Cage, but I had no idea what it was about. It was an alright movie. Afterwards, I went to Borders and flipped through some books before heading to the ghetto hostel, and calling it a night. More specifically, calling it Sick Night Number Three. I was miserable.

I also realized that girls, particularly Asian girls, in hostels that I’ve been at are freakin loud. I don’t think they realize that other people are in the room. They don’t talk all that loud and I don’t understand it anyways, but it’s more when they’re packing or moving their stuff around. I think I’ll go with the mixed rooms next time.

Friday morning, after buying these fun runners for only £13.00, I went to George Square, where the Glasgow City Chambers are, and also where the City Sightseeing Bus Tour began. The hour-and-15-minute bus tour took us around to various sights around Glasgow, most notably, St. Mungo’s Cathedral built for their patron saint, the People’s Palace & Winter Gardens, the Glasgow Harbour, Glasgow University, and Kelvingrove Park.

After the tour, I walked back to some of the sites to take some proper pictures. My first stop was St. Mungo’s Cathedral and the Provand’s Lordship, built for a cleric of the cathedral, right across the street from one another. I then walked down High Street into Merchant City, to Tollbooth Steeple, where Glasgow’s four oldest streets, High Street, Gallowgate, Saltmarket and Trongate, converge.

Off of Gallowgate, I walked through the Barras Market, which is apparently bustling and lively during the weekends, to the People’s Palace & Winter Gardens on Glasgow Green, for a short but sweet tour of the Winter Gardens.

This is the People’s Palace, built for the industrial workers, with the Winter Gardens behind it. Walking through Glasgow Green, I’ve never seen such a nice park be so deserted. Everyone was probably too busy shopping.

I took the tour bus back up to Kelvingrove Park, which is this beautiful park up northwest of the main city centre, where Glasgow University, the Hunterian Museum and the Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum are.

This is the visitor’s centre of Glasgow University, which also accommodates the Hunterian Museum. If you could only see how amazing this campus is; Waterloo couldn’t hold a candle to it, I’m afraid. We should all be so lucky to go to a school in this kind of environment. Other universities in Glasgow are Strathclyde Univeristy and Glasgow Caledonian University, which are a 5 minute walk from each other and closer to the city centre.

Pooped, still sick, and tired, I took an earlier train back to Lancaster that night, getting home at 9:00pm instead of 11:00pm. I even walked up the hill back to school and did not take a cab. That probably didn’t help me being sick.

Places I visited in Glasgow:

George Square

Glasgow City Chambers

St. Mungo’s Cathedral

Provand’s Lordship

Merchant City

People’s Palace & Winter Gardens

The Barras Market

St. Andrew’s Square

Glasgow Harbour & the Tall Ship

Scottish Exhibition & Conference Centre (aka The Armadillo)

Glasgow University

Hunterian Museum

Kelvingrove Park

Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum

The Tenement House

Tollbooth Steeple

I would have liked to spend more time in Edinburgh and, of course, in better weather, so I can get up to Arthur’s Seat properly, but I enjoyed what I was able to see. Glasgow, on the other hand, was also nice and Kelvingrove Park was definitely a favourite, but a more modern and shopping-oriented city.

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Last Saturday afternoon was spent preparing for Anne’s birthday party that night with the international students and her friends from Germany, Joe and Markus. For once, Mario (who was nicknamed Rodriguelez that night) wasn’t the only guy in the group. I think he was happier to have more guys with him than were Joe and Markus to be in the group of 25 girls.

Me, Anne and Essi finally chillin out after baking and preparing food all day for the party. At about 10:30pm, most of us headed down to Toast, which wasn’t that great because they played crappy weird oldies until midnight, when the “black” music (as Joe and Markus put it) came on. Anne, Essi, Joe, Markus and I left just as it was getting crappier. Joe and Markus left for London the next day, and apparently took my voice with them cause I have lost it and not gotten it back yet, almost 5 days later.

Monday night was Lena & Mario’s birthday party at Lena’s, so after some unofficial Moulin Rouge karaokeing, we went to Toast (can you tell it’s our favourite place?) for Rock Night. They actually played some good music that night, and everyone had a good time.

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Seeing as how it’s study week next week, everyone but Anne, Essi and myself left yesterday for their respective trips. Camille, Nora and Jana will be heading to Germany for the week, to visit Jana’s hometown, after which, I believe, they’ll be going to Norway to Nora’s hometown. Lena will also be going to Germany to her own hometown. Ana, Mario and Maria will be going to their hometown in Zaragoza, Spain for the week, while Jenna and Christina will be visiting Barcelona and other cities in Spain.

Left in Lancaster for the next few days, Anne, Essi and I will be heading to Dublin on Saturday until Tuesday, when we will split off; me, to Barcelona with Ate and the girls to London with Joe.

Dublin promises to be good partying and pubs, while Barcelona is promised to be simply beautiful, according to everyone I’ve talked to.

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Speaking of travels, plane tickets are booked for Italy trip with Jen in November. Plans are also underway for trip to Germany in December before returning (already so soon) to Canada. Still got a 6-day trip available in November, but gotta figure out where to go. Nice and Paris, maybe? I should also look into Stockholm. Decisions, decisions. Am I really here for school?

Happy birthday, Anne!

"...these boots are made for walking. And that's just what they'll do. One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over YOU."

We partied already. We danced already. We drank already. What is there left to do for your birthday? Food and presents, of course!

The boots are kiddy, but very cute. Now if only you wore them in public...

Happy birthday, Anne! Hope you had a good w-end's worth of celebration - especially with your surprise guests!

Life in Lancaster

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, CANADIANS!

Hope you’re all stuffed with yummy food. And eat a bit for me. Please. I am thankful that there is actually yummy food somewhere out there...

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INSERT: I just fixed them all, so you should be able to click all the pictures to see it in full size. Knowing HTML does come in handy.

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In case you wanted to see what I’ve been living in for the last month, here’s what my res room looks like:

Welcome to Room 201 in Gressingham Hall. It’s a pretty decent-sized room, and I lucked out with one of the corner rooms, which is set up a little differently than the rest of the rooms. In the other rooms, the sink and the closet are across from each other and the door is on the wall in between them. They’re a lot like the V2 rooms, only they’re single rooms.

There are 13 of us on this co-ed floor, and the floor is divided in half, with a toilet and a bathtub on each side, and a kitchen separating the two halves. When I say toilet, I mean there is this little room with literally just a toilet in it. I don’t think they believe in full bathrooms here. The bathtub is also in a separate room from the toilet. I’ll have to take pictures of both of these one day. The kitchen is decent, with a little eat-in area, but there is only one fridge and freezer to share between 13 people, so you can imagine it’s pretty packed. Most people on the floor, myself included, have meal plans, but only during the week, so we are all cooking during the w-ends.

As you can see, yes, I do have a sink in my room, which is odd, but comes in very handy. My favourite part of my room would have to be the nice big windows, which lets in a lot of light. Downside would have to be that there are only 2 electrical outlets in the entire room. My room is also pretty bare since I didn’t bring any pictures or posters with me, apart from my Beckham poster that you can’t see in the pictures and the picture of Prague that I put up after these pictures were taken. It’s pretty cozy, and they had even provided us with new sheets and a duvet.

I have also finally started classes here in Lancaster. I am currently registered in the Health Development Program at St. Martin’s College. St. Martin’s is what they call a university college, where they offer college as well as university courses. This also means that there is a wide age-range among the students, depending on which course they are in. Apparently, and correct me if I'm wrong, college here is kind of like cégep in Quebec, where you go to high school for something like grade 7-10 and then go to college, which is like grade 11-12/OAC. In so saying, it is not uncommon to see 16-17 year olds running around campus here. And most especially in the pubs cause hey, there’s no minimum drinking age here.

Also something else I learned was that whenever you say or refer to “school,” as in “I go to school in Lancaster,” they take it as high school or primary school. Literally, school. You have to specify and say that you go to uni (as in university).

All technicalities aside, here’s my class schedule for the next 3 months:

And that is it, my friends. AND – here’s the kicker – my Thursday class, 305, is only on alternate weeks, which means, every other week, my w-end starts on Tuesday at 1:00pm. I’m sure everyone in Waterloo, or any university for that matter, probably wants to kick me right now. I’m in England for an exchange, getting to travel all over Europe and meet all sorts of people, and on top of it all, I have almost no lectures. When life hands you chocolate cake, savor the taste while you can. And I am doing just that.

I’ve already got my next three months of traveling planned, according to my class schedule and those weeks I have no Thursday classes. This is so unlike what I’d be doing if I was in Waterloo right now. In Waterloo, every week in October and November, I’d have a midterm, until the good graces bring on finals in December.

Side note: Speaking of Waterloo, how annoying is it that they changed 444 to MWF instead of TTh? Only Health people will know or care about this, but dammit, I could have had such an awesome schedule for 4B. Now, instead of Fridays off, I have Thursdays and Tuesday s during the day off. What the heck can I do with that? Unless, Mary, what you said is right about being able to switch 444 with a 472, which would work so much nicer. Especially since 444 on MWF conflicts with my plans to take JAPAN101. And now that we have a choice to substitute 445 with a 472, I’m torn on which one to take. I wanna take 3 of them. Ahh.. good schedule this term; sucky schedule next term.

So back to my current schedule, the classes I’m taking at least seem very interesting, and I’m lucky I could take whatever I wanted. Their teaching methods here also seem so relaxed, and much more discussion-oriented than just teaching us the material; something I’m so not used to. Other things I am also not used to: having the same prof for all of my classes, and calling said prof by his first name. Vince (cause I’m allowed to call him that) is my tutor (they don’t call their profs profs; they call them tutors) for all my classes. Apparently, due to staffing problems, he has to teach a bunch of the courses. Too much for one person to handle, you think? Not for Vince, and this is mostly due to the fact that there are only about 3-8 people in each class. My Thursday class has only 3 people in it. That’s me and two other people! I know – why even bother offering the class? But I think it’s pretty common here cause it’s a small university. There’s no walking in late and unnoticed, no trying to keep quiet during discussions, no yawning in class – there aren’t even clocks in the rooms, and with such few people in the classes, it’s hard to nonchalantly glance down at your watch to see if class is almost over or cover your mouth when you yawn.

Also interesting to note would be how they’re grading (or as they say, assessing) us. For pretty much all of my classes, I have to hand in a 2000-4000 word essay at the end of the term (end of term here is end of January, but December for me). This is worth 50% of my mark. In one class, my 4000-word essay makes up 100% of my mark. Kinda daunting, but I’ll deal. The other 50% of my mark comes from either a presentation of some sort or a take-home (seen) exam. Presentation, in this case, can mean anything from a poster board of pictures to a portfolio of articles. Use your imagination.

There are also no required readings or even assigned textbooks for any of my courses. Apparently, they don’t like being bound by the confines of a textbook when they teach. Awesome for me so I don’t have to buy anything. Vince also doesn’t like us furiously taking notes while he lectures, which I am also not used to. I don’t think I can conform to this one. I need to take notes.

In a nutshell, classes here, when they’re actually offered, seem pretty laid-back, and even the course material seems fairly easy – although I’ve only had one week’s worth of class, so it may get harder (You think?). The concepts they present in class only seem to scrape the surface, and they never go too in depth with anything. One other thing I’m not used to is having 2 hours straight of class. At the 50 minute mark, I’m already antsy to get out of there. I guess I can’t complain cause at 50 minutes, half that class is already over for the week.

With such little class time, no wonder people can go to pubs every night.

Enter last Friday night at Lancaster.

After a drink at The Friary, Anne, Essi and I headed over to Toast and discovered £1.00 drinks before 11:00pm every Friday night. We took advantage. The clear drinks are Soho-7, half of the other ones are Malibu & Coke, and the other half are vodka & Coke. I won’t say whose drinks were whose, but let’s just say I only spent £10 that night. Highlights of that night included making friends with the two dancers across the table at Toast and finally seeing some good-looking guys at The Friary. We tried to take a picture as proof. Talking to Mary from 2:00-4:00am was also nice and very unexpected.

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Since I’m done classes on Tuesday this week, I’ll be heading up to Edinburgh, Scotland that afternoon until Thursday morning, and I will then head to Glasgow until Friday night, to return just in time for Anne and Mario’s birthday bash on Saturday. So many October birthdays…

Three countries in eleven days

UPDATE: Good job, Sens. Way to open the season. Maybe next time, Toronto. Maybe next time...

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INSERT: HAPPY 23RD BIRTHDAY, MARY! My little Mary Lam. Hope you have an awesome day and that you eat lots. Wish I was there so we can go out to a buffet. I miss good food! And I miss eating with you! First day back at school, we will go for sushi. My fobby Mary, I miss you. Have a very happy birthday!



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Now, for why you’re really here.

I just came back last Saturday night from an 11-day trip to Salzburg, Vienna, Prague and London, and each city was beautiful in its own way. However, a trip wouldn’t be complete without a going-away party, so the Monday before Christina and I left, a bunch of us went to The Friary and then to Toast for one last night out.

Anne, Christina, myself and Essi at Toast for (horrible) alternative music night. Music sucked cause I didn’t know any of it, but a bunch of the other international students were there, so it was still good times.

Wednesday morning, Christina and I took a train to London, where we got our flight to Salzburg from Stansted.

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salzburg.AUSTRIA wed.SEPT21/05-fri.SEPT23/05

We arrived in Salzburg at about 9:30pm, met some nice (and one not-so-nice-but-good-looking) Australians, and headed to our hostel, which was conveniently located 5 minutes outside of the old town centre. I knew it would be a good hostel and a good trip when The Sound of Music was playing in the common area as we walked into the hostel. It doesn’t get any better than that. Apparently, the hostel plays The Sound of Music every night at 8:00pm, so we watched it the next night.

On the first day, Christina and I spent the morning walking around the old town, which had small winding cobblestone streets, as you would expect, and beautiful buildings, all with white trim. When in a foreign country, you have to at least try to integrate yourself and not look too touristy, so for lunch, we had bratwurst and sauerkraut, which was alright. We were hesitant to try it at first, but this really nice gay man from the States, who’s been to and loves Ottawa by the way, encouraged us to try it, so we did. Afterwards, what better way to integrate ourselves in the culture than…

Christina’s got the coloured pictures of us all dressed up in a dirndl, the traditional Austrian costume. Mine was bright red with a green apron. I looked like a little Asian Christmas ornament. I was tempted to buy it, but that simple one I tried on, which apparently is a casual one for everyday wear, was about €650. Translation: that’s close to $1000 CDN. Do I look like I’m made of money? No, I look like I carve wooden shoes for a living.

Here’s something new I learned: “ß” means “ss.” So Schloß, which means palace, is really schloss. I’m slowly learning German.

That afternoon, we took the 4-hour Sound of Music tour, which went to various locations in Salzburg where they shot the movie, and also where the von Trapps lived in real life. We went into the Schloß Mirabell and the Mirabell Gardens, where they shot that part when they’re singing Do Re Mi; Schloß Hellbrunn, where the gazebo is; the church of Mondsee, where Maria and The Captain were married in the movie; and, my personal favourite, Schloß Leopoldskron, which was used for the back scenes of the von Trapp house.

The tour was nice cause, apart from our tour guide knowing all things Sound of Music and them playing the songs on our bus for the entire trip, we got to go up into the mountains and see the countryside. As well, there were the added bonuses of crazy toboggan rides down the mountain and yummy apfelstrudel. The only places we didn’t go to that I wish we did were the Nonnberg Abbey and Festspielhäuser, the festival house, which was that outdoor venue where they sing at the end of the movie. The festival house was closed, but I walked by it.

The other place Christina and I wanted to visit, but we didn’t have enough time, was Festung Hohensalzburg, which is the medieval fortress that sits above the centre of Salzburg and is iconic of every landscape picture of Salzburg. I have pictures of it though.

Places I visited in Salzburg:

St. Peter’s Church and cemetery

Schloß Mirabell & the Mirabell Gardens

Residenz Square

Schloß Leopoldskron

Schloß Hellbrunn

Church of Mondsee and the town of Mondsee

Nonntaler brücke

Festspielhäuser

Altes Rathaus

It’s too bad I can’t put videos up here cause I took a short video clip in most of the places we visited so I can show you guys back home how it actually was (and so some of you can hear the hot London British accents).

The next day, Christina and I got up early, had some good breakfast at the hostel, and left for the train station to catch a 3-hour train to Vienna.

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vienna.AUSTRIA fri.SEPT23/05-sun.SEPT25/05

We got into Vienna early in the afternoon that Friday, and after checking into our hostel, we walked down Mariahilferstraße, which is this long, wide road just full of shops. Shocking as it may be, I did not buy anything. I did, however, spend money on food – a Caramel Frappucino from Starbucks (yes, Clubbing Buddies, you’ve got me hooked), and a puten schnitzel. One thing I really enjoy when I’m in a different city or country is trying their local foods. Opting out of the pork wiener schnitzel, the chicken version was a breaded flat piece of chicken breast, which was deep-fried. It was pretty good, but a little dry.

Also something else I spent money on was my phone. 12 minutes and 12 pounds later, I got cut off from talking to my mom while I was shopping in H&M (H&M, by the way, is not just at every corner in every European country, but there is likely to be at least 2 or 3 on every street. Not kidding. They love their H&M here). Classic example of me not ever having a cell phone, I didn’t realize that (duh) I’m in another country, so I’m on a different network, so I’m paying international calling fees. I ran out of money on my phone, but somehow, I could still send and receive some text messages. People in Canada, don’t ever take free local calls for granted. Believe me.

Going down Mariahilferstraße, we eventually hit the old town, where there were massive museums and buildings everywhere. We walked through the museum quarter, Schloß Hofburg, Rathaus (City Hall), and the parliament buildings before heading back down Mariahilferstraße towards our hostel.

The next day, we took the U-Bahn (the tube) to the beautiful Schloß Schönbrunn, an enormous baroque palace, which was the Hapsburgs’ summer palace. Besides the huge palace, the Schönbrunn had amazing gardens on three sides and a huge courtyard in the front.

So, you can’t really see the enormity of the palace from this picture, but trust me, it’s big. (And no, you can’t tell it’s big because I’m small in the picture. I’m just actually that small). This is the back of the palace in the gardens. Christina and I took the audio-guided tour of the palace, which also included access to the private garden on one side, entrance to the maze garden, and access to the Gloriette. What is the Gloriette, you ask?

Well, you still don’t know what the Gloriette is from this picture, but this is the view from the top of it. It’s this arced structure that gives a great panoramic view of the gardens, the palace and the city of Vienna.

That afternoon, we went back into the old town, where Christina and I split up for a bit, and toured around on our own. I saw the Danube, Staatsoper (State Opera House), and Stephansdom (St. Stephen’s Cathedral), where Mozart’s funeral was held, and which lies right in the middle of the town, amidst all the shops and cafés.

Here’s a tip we got from another backpacker and from my guidebook: you can get standing tickets for the opera at the Staatsoper a few hours before the show starts for only €2.00-€3.50. So we did just that. We got the €3.50 tickets, which had a perfect view of the stage cause we were on the parterre and directly in front of the stage. It was awesome, and even more so that the show playing that night was Carmen. We were just happy that it was something we had actually heard of.

This was our exact view of the stage. Besides being subtitled on these little screens, the opera was in French, so I could at least understand a good portion of it. We would have been completely gone if it was in German. Only downside was that we were standing for almost 3 hours. To compensate though, there were bars for you to lean against and they had an intermission every hour. At least I can say I got to see an opera at Staatsoper in Vienna. I would have liked to see the Vienna Boys Choir, but the mass that they sing at that Sunday was already sold out (yes, they sell tickets to go to mass, but only cause the Vienna Boys Choir sings at it). Maybe next time…

So, I’ve been away from home for about a month now, and, ironically enough, the first and only good-looking guy I’ve seen this whole time was this backpacker from Calgary named Cameron who was staying at our hostel. Go figure he’s Canadian. I might just have to come back to Canada to find a husband. Haha. Ahh.. I’m only half-kidding.

The next day, I went back to Stephensdom for the 10:15am mass. It was cool to attend mass in a different church in a different country, but the experience was less than enjoyable cause a) I can’t understand German, and b) there was a constant stream of tourists coming in and out of the church, taking pictures during mass. I was appalled and a little insulted.

Places I visited in Vienna:

Stephansdom

Schloß Hofburg

Albertina

Parlament

Rathaus

Museumsquartier

Staatsoper

Mariahilferstraße

Donaukanal (Danube)

St. Peter’s Church

Kohlmarkt

Kärntner Straße

Christina and I met up afterwards, got some food and took a 5-hour train to Prague.

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prague.CZECH REPUBLIC sun.SEPT25/05-wed.SEPT28/05

We got into Prague around dinner time, and after exchanging our money into Crowns and trying to do the conversions in our head (it’s approximately 20Kc for $1.00 CDN), and checking into our hostel, I spent a good chunk of the evening catching up on my emails and using up as much of the free internet at the hostel that I could. I also had to sort out my class schedule, which I only got a few days earlier, but I’ll write about that in another entry.

The next day, Christina and I took the tube to the Old Town and walked around to get ourselves familiar with the town. Prague, I noticed, was very touristy, especially in the Old Town, as every other store on the street was selling the exact same souvenirs. The town was very pretty, but it was way too touristy for me, and it didn’t live up to how great everyone said it was, although most things were relatively cheap.

That afternoon, we took a 4-hour guided walking tour around the city, which took us through Nové Mesto (New Town), Staré Mesto (Old Town), Josefov (Jewish Quarter) and Prazsky Hrad (Prague Castle). We started off at Václavské námestí (Wenceslas Square), which was right in front of the Národní Muzeum (National Museum), through Nové Mesto and into Staré Mesto, where the Old Town Square, Staromestské námestí, and the Astronomical Clock are. Just our luck, the Astronomical Clock was under construction until the end of November, so we didn’t get to see what happens on the hour. Apparently, on the hour, statues and things come out and some music chimes, kinda like a huge cuckoo clock.

On our way to Prazsky Hrad, we passed by Josefov, and onto Karluv most (Charles Bridge), which is this 14th century pedestrian bridge lined with statues that passes over the Vltava River, where at any time of the day, it’s packed with tourists, performers, vendors and artists.

This is part of the outside of St. Vitus Cathedral, which is located at Prague Castle. You can’t really tell exactly how amazing this cathedral was from this picture, but this was definitely my favourite. It had these high, high ceilings, and each stained-glass window was styled differently from the other. My pictures inside came out kinda dark, but they’re in my ImageStation if you wanna see more.

Also a highlight of Prague Castle was that I am convinced that I saw Ben Affleck sitting outside on a bench reading a magazine. Christina couldn’t get a good look, but I swear it was him. Well, I’m about 95% sure cause he had sunglasses on, but I was staring at him and he was kinda looking up, like yes, I know I’m Ben Affleck, so take a picture already. I so wanted to, but I didn’t. Note to self: Never, ever pass up an opportunity to take a picture of what could have been Ben Affleck.

After the tour, Christina and I went back to the hostel to freshen up a bit, and then came back down to the Old Town and had supper at a Czech pub that served real Czech food. I got this roast duck with dumplings, cabbage and bread. Food in Prague is definitely cheap. I took a picture so you can see how big the portion was, but along with it, I had soup and bread for an appetizer and 2 drinks, and it all came up to 300Kc including tip. That’s like $15.00! It was awesome! After dinner, we walked around the Old Town Square, down Charles Bridge and then ended up at Wenceslas Square, before we headed back to the hostel.

Prague is definitely different at night. Here’s a view of Prague Castle from Charles Bridge at night. It really is a romantic and kind of gothic city at night.

The following day we designated for shopping, Christina and I split up for a bit, so we could do our own shopping. I got a few souvenirs and things, but my favourite purchase, apart from the photograph of Prague that I brought, would have to be this white zip-up sweater that says CZECH on the back in blue and red. I had been looking at it in a store and the guy asked me what size I wanted cause the one I was looking at was for kids, and I told him I wanted one to fit me, and he gave me the strangest look, like these sweaters are for men, little Asian girl. Oh well. I like it.

I walked around for a bit more, seeing Národní Divadlo (National Theatre), and then met up with Christina and this Aussie Sarah from our hostel, before it started pouring.

This was also before it started pouring. The weather here in Europe is really finicky. This was taken only a couple hours before it started raining. That's Charles Bridge in the back, and you can see Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral right behind me.

Since we couldn't walk around outside in the rain, Christina, Sarah and I decided to go back to the hostel and let the rain calm down and maybe come back later on that day. We ended up getting groceries and just making supper at the hostel, and meeting other backpackers from the States, Finland and mostly Australia. For the most part, the backpackers we meet at hostels are either Australians or New Zealanders.

Wednesday, we checked out of the hostel and headed down to the Old Town again to do the tour of the Jewish Quarter, which included a tour of the Pinkas Synagogue, which had the names of all the Czech Jews that died under the Nazi regime written all over the walls, as well as a collection of children’s drawings during the Holocaust. We also visited the Old Jewish Cemetery, which had the bodies of 20 000 to 80 000 Jews within a one-block area, when the Jews weren’t allowed to bury their dead outside of the ghetto. It was a really creepy place cause there were tombstones on top of each other. The other places we visited were the Spanish Synagogue, the Maisel Synagogue, the Ceremonial Hall and Klausen Synagogue.

Places I visited in Prague:

Staré Mesto

Josefov

Staromestské námestí

Nové Mesto

Václavské námestí

Karluv most & the statue of St. John Nepomuk

Prazsky Hrad

Klausen Synagogue

Ceremonial Hall

Maisel Synagogue

Old Jewish Cemetary

Old Town Hall & Astronomical Clock

Pinkas Synagogue

Spanish Synagogue

St. Vitus Cathedral

Vltava River

Národní Divadlo

Novometská Radnice (New Town Hall)

Prašná Brána (The Powder Gate)

Národní Muzeum

Orloj (The Astronomical Clock

We walked around a bit more and did some more shopping, going back to that Czech pub for dinner, and eventually ending up at Wenceslas Square, listening to a jazz band as it was a national holiday that day. Afterwards, we went back to the hostel to pick up our bags and headed to the airport to take our 10:00pm flight back to London.

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london.ENGLAND wed.SEPT28/05-sat.OCT01/05

We arrived at Gatwick at about 11:00pm, and after some problems with the FastTicket machine and missing my train twice, I finally arrived at Victoria Station at about 1:00am and met up with Maricris and her friend, Thomas.

On Thursday, I walked around London by myself, seeing Buckingham Palace, going through St. James’s Park, passing by Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and the Parliament, the London Eye, and the Thames.

This is in beautiful St. James’s Park. I walked to Trafalgar Square and saw the National Gallery, after which I walked up to Piccadilly Circus and chilled out in Leicester Square for a bit. It was a bit chilly that day, so I bought a pink Pashmina, which was only £4.00. I also got some books and talked to Mom and Jamin before heading back to Maricris’s to get ready.

For dinner, I met up with Alex at Willesden Green, which is around where he lives, and we had some good pasta and seafood, and mango sorbet. Afterwards, we walked around for a bit and he showed me his old house that they’re renovating, and then we watched tv (the first real tv I’ve watched since I got here) and talked to his mom at their place.

This is Alex and I on the top of a double decker bus on our way to Victoria. Instead of taking the tube back to Maricris’s, we took the bus for a more scenic view of London. And cause the tube stops running at 11:00pm and we missed the last one.

The next day, I was a bit lazy, so I didn’t get up til late, and Thomas and I went down to Oxford St. for some window shopping (I didn’t buy anything except more minutes for my phone and a Caramel Frappucino), and then to the Canadian High Commission to meet up with Maricris. We went down to The Red Room, which is this small pub in the basement, and had a few drinks with some of Maricris’s co-workers, before heading to Canning Town for a photo exhibit.

We headed home afterwards for some dinner, and got ready to go out. Maricris, Thomas and I went to this club called China White (yeah, go figure I’m back at China White), which is supposed to be this really exclusive club where celebrities and models go to. I didn’t see anyone famous, but the place was nice. The bigger room played dance music and the smaller room played hip-hop, but the same songs over and over again. It was fun, but we left early and walked down to Piccadilly and took some pictures.

It’s so odd but also comforting to see someone familiar when you’re in a foreign place.

Saturday, I dropped off my bags at London Euston Station, and met up with Karen, my Ate’s friend who lives in London, for lunch. Did I tell you how jealous I am that she lives here? I’m gonna move to London. Seriously. We had lunch at Fifteen, which is Jamie Oliver’s restaurant. It was really cool, cause I had seen the show and the pictures, and then I was actually there. Oddly though, it was located kinda off in this little alleyway. The food was good, and Karen and I had nice conversation.

Afterwards, we walked back to her place, and then headed down to Borough Market, which is on the other side of the Thames. On our way there, we passed by St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Millenium Bridge, Shakespeare’s Globe Theater, and saw the London Bridge and Tower Bridge from afar. Karen also showed me the apartment that apparently Bridget Jones lives in, in Borough Market.

I met up again with Alex afterwards, and we walked through their little China Town and down to the embankment, where we had drinks on the top deck of this boat called El Barco Latino, which is a club at night. The weather was awesome for about half an hour, until the clouds just came over and started pouring on us. We left and walked down into the city and ducked into the first restaurant we came to. We had supper at this cute Italian restaurant, and had interesting conversations on relationships.

He also didn’t believe that I could eat him under the table, so – and you barkada boys will be proud – I proved him wrong. I had my meal, plus about a third of his. The boy’s a lightweight. I’m definitely gonna get fat while I’m here. They eat tons of potatoes and french fries here.

Places I visited in London:

Buckingham Palace

Shakespeare’s Globe Theater

London Eye

National Gallery

Parliament Buildings

Big Ben

St. Paul’s Cathedral

Tate Modern

Tower of London

Westminster Abbey

Piccadilly Circus

Trafalgar Square

Leicester Square

St. James’s Park

Fifteen

Borough Market

Oxford Circus

Still to see/do in London:

Notting Hill; Portobello Market

Go into Harrod’s

Go on the London Eye

Kensington Palace

Abbey Road

Tower of London

The Da Vinci Code tour

St. Paul’s Cathedral

See a show

Afterwards, I took the tube back to Euston, where I caught my train back to – not Lancaster, but Preston. They’re doing some maintenance on the tracks or something, so the train didn’t go directly to Lancaster. It stopped at Preston, the town before Lancaster and apparently Britney Spears’s baby’s name-sake, and I had to take a coach bus to Lancaster. It took about 4.5 hours to get home.

Sunday was spent in my pyjamas, unpacking, and catching up with Anne and Essi about my trip and what I missed while I was gone.

Monday, I actually started classes, and they’re going well, so far, but I’ll leave that for another entry.

Overall, I enjoyed Salzburg, but I may be biased cause of The Sound of Music, and I am totally going to move to London. I am definitely going back there a few more times before I go back to Canada cause I still have so much to see, among other things. Vienna was also very nice, much more metropolitan than Salzburg, and I think Prague is a little overrated. It was beautiful, but not like what everyone said it would be like.

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No plans for this coming w-end just yet, but the girls and I might take a day trip somewhere close by. I'm thinking of visiting Edinburgh and Glasgow next w-end, and then the w-end after that is our Dublin trip. Anne, Essi, maybe Christina and I are going to Dublin on the 22nd until the 25th, and then I will meet up with Ate probably in Barcelona, spend a few days in Spain, before we head back down to Lancaster for a few days, and Ate goes back to Canada. If I didn’t already mention it, the week of Oct24/05 is a study week, which means no classes. I don’t think they believe in classes here.

Anyways, I miss you all. Wish I could talk to everyone back home.

Rosie and Mariese; you girls are nerds. You both asked about the same thing, and no, nothing. Not yet, anyways. Haha.

I will write about school and classes in the next few days. Let’s just say that I have 8 hours of class a week, and going back to the grind that is Waterloo is gonna be a huge shocker next semester, after having been out of it for a year. It’s okay, though, I’m gonna move to London after graduation…