Paris is Always a Good Idea

Hello, or shall I say Bonjour!  As you can tell from the title, this weekend I traveled to Paris with Bridget, Jenna, Taylor, and Ashley, and boy was it beautiful.  There were some good and some not so good parts of the weekend, but all in all it was a wonderful experience.  And I can now say that I saw THE Eiffel Tower in person!  Anyways, I will end the anticipation and tell you all how it all went.

The group of us that were going decided to take a bus to Paris because in the end it was cheaper, but let me tell you that was probably not the best choice.  It took forever!  We left London at 6AM Friday Morning and were taken to the Bus that was waiting for us.  On the way we picked up a bunch of kids in Canterbury and it turns out they were going to Paris to go to Disneyland.  Any who, we made our way to The ferry dock located by the famous Cliffs of Dover, which are believed to have been apart of Shakespeare's King Lear.  I was a little nervous going on the ferry, because I have never been on a boat that large.  It was quite interesting to say the least.  I did end up getting a little sea sick, so I tried taking a nap.  The most fun thing about it was trying to walk down the halls and down the stairs.  It was even funnier watching other people.  After getting off the ferry we were finally in France; Calais to be more specific.

I couldn't believe that I was yet in another country.  We stopped for lunch, and then it all hit us...how are we supposed to order when we don't know French?!?  At least on their menu they had English subtitles, but other than that it was definitely and experience.  The sub was delicious though!  I got salami and gherkin.  As for the countryside, it initially reminded us all of back home, good ole' Wisconsin.  But when we got to Paris it was definitely not like Wisconsin anymore.  When driving in one of the first things we saw was The Arc de Triomphe.  It stuck out for sure among the city, because it was located on a central island and it was very large.  The next thing we saw was of course the Eiffel Tower.  It was so surreal standing in front of one of the most iconic structures and I never realized how detailed it was! 

The first thing that was on our itinerary was a boat ride on the Seine River.  It was very chilly and we could all not wait to get on the heated boat.  But it turns out the boat was very warm...What made the boat ride fun and interesting, other than seeing all of the 22 bridges and landmarks, was the guy that was leading the ride.  We instantly all thought that he looked like the main character from the Disney movie, Ratatouille!  He of course spoke in French but when he translated it into English it was very amusing.  After the boat ride, we were then off to our hotel which was pretty nice.  We stayed at the Ibis hotel which is located in Bercy Village.  The hotel is right across from a lot a restaurant, which was very convenient  because we were all starving.  Finding a place to eat dinner was a very difficult task, because we did not understand the menus, so we decided to eat at a place that had pictures.  Even though it had pictures, it was still hard to tell what everything was.  This was of course my first time being in an area where English is not the most used English and it is very interesting when your waiter doesn't understand what you are trying to say, so we all just pointed at things haha.  It turns out some of us ate gazelle pizza?  It was good!

On the way back to the hotel we grabbed gelato macaroons, because when in Paris you have to have macaroons.  They were to die for.  They came in four flavors, vanilla, chocolate, pistachio, and strawberry.  The pistachio one was the absolute best.  After going back to the hotel, Jenna, Bridget, and I decided to go and check out some of the pubs around.  We came across one titled the Frog.  Right when walking in we noticed that they were playing American music.  We all got a cocktail and just relaxed for a bit.  The bartenders were wearing a t-shirt that said WTF, and in smaller letters is said "what the Frog."  I still really want one ;).  We then called it a night and got ready for the next day.

On Saturday we did a walking tour of Paris.  The first stop we made was to the Sacré-Cœur Basilica, The Basilica of the Sacred Heart.  It is placed atop a hill and we climbed up around 200 steps to get to the top.  At every tier, the view was absolutely gorgeous!  Before climbing up the stairs, our tour guide warned us of people who were trying to scam us.  These guys would try to put a ribbon on your wrist and if they succeeded, they would argue with you that you had to pay them.  We all thankfully avoided them and there weren't any problems.  The inside of the basilica was breath-taking.  We have been inside a lot of churches and cathedrals, and this one is definitely towards the top of the list.  We then went on to tour another church that we could take pictures in.

After a break to look around, we met up to go see Moulin Rouge.  I have never seen the movie, but it was cool seeing it.  We also got to walk through the streets of Paris and it was neat seeing all of the architecture and homes.  We then hopped on a bus and made our way to Notre Dame.  It was so stunning from the outside, especially when standing on the bridge.  While waiting in line, there was a guy dressed up as the hunchback from the Disney movies.  Hunchback of Notre Dame is one of my favorite movies and I was excited to go here.  Again the inside was so pretty and it was very detailed.  I loved all of the circular stained glass windows.  After touring Notre Dame, we were given free time to go and get lunch.  We ended going to a café and order crepes, which were really good and filling.  After our break, we were off to Versailles.

Versailles is probably my highlight of going to France.  Jenna, Bridget, and I decided to add it last minute, and I am glad I did or I would have regretted it for sure.  When pulling up you see the extravagant gates and an even more extravagant building.  It turns out that the palace has 700 rooms in it!  We only got three hours here, but you could have easily spent an entire day.  Other than the ceilings in the interior, my favorite part was the gardens.  Although it was a little cold and some of the statues were wrapped up, it was still very beautiful.  And the fact that the sun was shining made it even better.  After touring only a portion of it, it was time to head back.

The last thing that was on our schedule was to climb the Eiffel Tower.  I was very excited but also a little nervous, due to the fact that I am afraid of heights, and by afraid I mean terrified.  After waiting in line for what felt like forever, we were finally on our way up.  The elevator ride was very cool and I even took a video of it.  We got off on the second floor and the view was so pretty, especially with all of the city lit up at night.  At night, we learned that the Eiffel sparkles for five minutes at the top of every hour.  We were outside on the second floor when this happened and it was definitely a sight to see.  After taking all of our pictures we headed inside and I got hot chocolate at a café that was located on the inside.  Not a lot of people can say that they had hot chocolate in the Eiffel Tower ;).  Then we were on our way down, and almost missed our bus.  We practically had to push Jenna onto a lift so that she could make it down there to stop it.  Let's just say Jenna saved the day.  It would have been a nightmare trying to travel around an unknown city where hardly anyone speaks English.

After we made it safely back to our hotel, we all got ready to go out and get food.  We ended up going to the Frog again, because Ashley and Taylor hadn't been there.  The food was really good.  And it was nice having a waiter that spoke English.  We decided to spend our last night in France by checking out some clubs around town.  I went with Jenna and Bridget, and we ended up going to one called Wanderlust, and it was pretty disappointing.  We met five girls who were visiting from Turkey and we all decided to go to another club.  That was worse then the first.  So we all decided to talk to the Turkish girls and it was interesting talking to them and learning more about Turkey.  After a little while we separated and went back to the first club.  There we talked to some people who are from Paris.  They asked us a lot about where we are from and we also discussed stereotypes of each area.  Although we didn't find a fun place to go, we did get to meet people from different parts of the world and I feel like that is one of the most important parts of this trip.

We ended up getting back to the hotel around 3am...and we had to get up at 7, joy.  After getting up and moving out of the hotel, we were onto our last destination, The Louvre.  The Louvre is one of the world's largest museums and it houses the famous Mona Lisa.  The museum was pretty interesting and there were a lot of famous artworks and sculptures housed in it.  The Mona Lisa was a lot smaller than I pictured it and the ropes surrounding it were so far away that it made it look even tinier.  After we departed the Louvre, we were back on the bus and headed back to England.  The ferry ride back was not as bad.  We distracted ourselves by playing cards and talking.  We ended up getting beck to London around 11 and we were utterly exhausted.

All in all I had a great time in Paris and I can say that I for sure can cross a few things off of my bucket list.  The next country I am planning on visiting is Germany and I can not wait!  At least I know some of the language, so that will help.  I will hopefully be posting another blog post at the end of this week to tell you how classes and interning goes, and I promise it will be a lot shorter.  I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your week, Au Revoir! - Heather

Feeling Like a True Londoner

Hey there!  Me again.  If you haven't noticed from my previous blog posts...I. Love. London!!!  There is always something to do or something to see and you are never bored.  And if you, then are you are doing something terribly wrong.  Any who, let me go on and tell you how my week went.

On Thursday we went and saw Romeo and Juliet at the New Diorama Theatre.  I really wasn't looking forward to this play, because I really do not like the story, but the production was amazing!  When walking in we were really confused, because the actors were warming up and they were in very casual dress.  None of us know that the play was going to have a modern twist, but we were all pleasantly surprised.  The actors were very believable and they really made the story come to life and they brought it into the modern times.  All in all I really enjoyed it and I would definitely consider going to another play of the company's.  Next week we get to read Julius Caesar.
















For the weekend a group us went and checked out the Spitalfields Market.  The market was so cute and it had a lot of cute clothes, art, and antiques.  It was definitely my favorite market so far.  We also got cupcakes at the market from Lola's Cupcakes.  They were so delicious!  I got raspberry and chocolate and then we all split an Oreo one.  After the market we made our way to Tate Modern which is a museum full of modern art.  We walked along the Thames River and it was beautiful!  I will definitely miss how scenic it is here.  We then crossed the millennium bridge to the museum.  As for the museum itself, it was very interesting.  There were a lot of neat things there, but then there were a lot of strange things as well.  I guess that is what you get with are though.  This weekend it definitely hit me that I am in London and I still cant believe it!!!  I never want to leave!

Following the weekend, on Monday for my Art and Architecture class we went to see the Banqueting House.  It was really pretty inside and the history of it was quite interesting.  For my internship this week I continued to help out with the material library and I also started saving images of design ideas that they will use for inspiration in the future. 

Tomorrow I leave for Paris and I can not wait!  It will be so neat to see the Eiffel Tower and I can't wait to take lots of pictures.  I will let you all know how it goes.  Talk to you soon :) - Heather

The Weeks are Flying By

Let's see.  The last time I left you, I was the day right before the Packer game.  I guess I have to start this blog post on a sour note, due to the fact that they lost :'(.  We had it, and then, poof, it was all gone.  It sure was an experience being able to cheer on our home team all the way from London.  But it would have been even cooler for them to have made it to the Super bowl.  Oh well there's always next year.  Go Pack Go!

So let me catch you up on last week.  For my art and architecture class we got to visit the Queen's house which is located in Greenwich.  Although it was cold outside, we were able to capture some beautiful photographs of the building.  We spent a lot of time talking about the exterior façade and why Inigo Jones decided to make the choices he did, such as the columns.  For my Shakespeare class this week we read Hamlet.  I had already read this play previously in High School so it was pretty easy.  I actually really enjoy my Shakespeare class, even if we have to read a different play every week.

As for my internship I continued to help organize files, but now I am tasked with building their digital material library.  Such as I had to go and save different material textures so that they can use them when rendering images.  I continued to do that this week as well.  I also am building their CAD Block library.  For those of you who have never used CAD, I blocks are any simple object that can be imported into a drawing, such as furniture, plants, or people.  In addition to this I also had to search for PNG images, which are images that don't have a background, and save them.  Those will be used later on for when we use Photoshop.

This past weekend we went to the Portobello Market, which has a lot of antiques and collectables.  There was some really cool stuff there, but a lot of it was a bit pricey.  There was a beat boxer that was performing on the street there and anyone who knows me knows that I love beat boxing.  He was really good and of course I had to take a video.  The food there is also really good!  I got a Nutella crepe that had fresh strawberries in it and it was absolutely delicious.  For dinner I had Paella for the first time and I love it.  It was the first time I had prawns and mussels.  I for sure have found out that I like anything that is seafood.  There is so much to look at at this market and we didn't even walk all the way through.  I definitely want to go back and check it out again.

For my art and architecture class this week ,we went and visited St. Paul's Cathedral.  The cathedral is absolutely stunning and it was a lot larger than I expected!  We weren't allowed to take pictures on the inside, but I didn't know that until I snapped a few in the beginning, oops.  As for my Shakespeare class we are reading Romeo & Juliet this week, which I have also read before, and its not really a favorite of mine.  Tomorrow we get to go see it at the New Diorama Theatre.  I'll have to let you know how it goes!  Cheers, - Heather

Another Week Down

As the weeks are ending it seems like days are going by so fast now.  Before I know it I will be back in the US looking back on the wonderful experience that I am lucky to be having right now and the wonderful people that I have met.  I am definitely getting more comfortable with the city and I even figured out my way walking to work, with a little help of course ;).  London is so large and I can not wait to see more of it.  This week I planned my first trip out of the country and it is to the beautiful city Paris.  I will be there on February 6th-8th and I absolutely can't wait!

Well this week definitely started off with a bang.  On Sunday night we of course had to go and watch the Packer game, so we went to a pub called Belushi's which was in Camden.  It was so awesome being able to support the green and gold all the way from London, and of course they won :).  We are planning on going to that same pub next week, and they even said that they will have a table ready for us.  I am so excited.  Go Pack Go!

This week for my internship I continued to organize their sample library.  This was a good opportunity for me to get to know some of the manufacturers that are used here in the UK.  After I finished this task I moved onto organizing the brochures and books that are in the office.  It's a good thing I like organizing haha.  Next week I get to organize all the files on the network, which will be a very large and important job.  And I might even get to help build a model for one of their projects!

As for my classes this week, on Monday I had my art and architecture lecture.  We went to the National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery.  We walked around and discussed the differences in the portraits from various times in history.  This week for my Shakespeare class we were assigned to read Henry IV part II.  And on Thursday after class we got to see the play at the Barbican Centre.  Although we didn't have the best seats, they were all the way in the back up top, it was still cool watching a Shakespeare play in London. 

On Friday a group of us decided to just walk down Oxford street and hang out.  My new favorite store is definitely Primark.  Their prices are super inexpensive and its pretty good quality.  Then on Saturday we all went to The Borough Market, which is one of the largest food markets.  They have so many free samples that you could just make a meal out of it.  I can officially say that I have tried truffle oil, its not that great.  Besides that I also had one of the best tasting pineapple pieces I have ever had in my life.  The produce there tastes so fresh.

I am hoping to try and post a blog post at least once a week to keep you all updated.  Also, feel free to contact me on Facebook.  Well until next time I hope you all have a wonderful week! -Heather

Busy, busy, busy

As I go into my second week of interning and taking class at Birbeck University, I shall tell you about how my first week went.  So last time I left you we were all on the bus for London.  When we got here we finally got to see where we would be calling home for the next few months.  I have to say I was a little surprised at first, along with a few others, but I have learned to love it!  We actually get a lot of room and everything else is pretty nice, besides the $6 laundry.  Anyways, on Sunday we unpacked and just relaxed after going non-stop the past few days.  I still couldn't believe that we had only left the US 5 days earlier, it felt like we have been gone for at least 3 weeks!  I ended up going to bed early, because we had a really busy day on Monday.  So I must have the worst luck ever, because when I woke up the next morning I felt horrible and later found out that I had food poisoning.  This is the first time this has ever happened to me and of course it would happen on the day that I had so much running around to do.  We had orientations, a three hour class, and we also had to get our phones and Oyster card to ride the tube.  I don't know how but I managed to get through it all. 

I started my internship on Tuesday morning.  I was so nervous about getting lost, and of course I did.  I ended up asking like three cafe's for directions, but in the end I got there, and on time.  The neighborhood I am in is really nice and it has a homey vibe to it.  I am interning at a high-end residential design firm called Sporadic Space.  There are six other employees there and I found out that each one of them is from a different country outside of the UK.  I though this was really interesting and I am excited to learn about all of their different cultures and backgrounds. 

After my internship and had to make my way back to Birkbeck University for another orientation and that is when I got so lost that I was wondering around for at least half an hour.  I never realized how big London actually is.  Again after asking a few people, I made it.  I'm sure this will not be my last time to get lost, but I am learning to just embrace it, who knows I might find something new and interesting on the way.

This semester my schedule consists of interning Monday-Wednesday while also having two classes, one on Monday and one on Thursday.  Since these classes are only one day a week they last for three hours, which is complete torture.  At least the classes I am taking, Art and Architecture and Shakespeare, are interesting.  It is nice have a three day weekend because it will give us extra time to travel and plan things.  This past weekend a group of us walked down Oxford Street which is a huge shopping Street.  We also visited a couple markets around here.  I really like going to markets and I can't wait to go to more!  You can find so many unique things and it is kind of fun to bargain with the sellers. 

On Sunday our Point group all went to see Big Ben and the London Eye.  It was an absolute gorgeous day out, too bad the London Eye was getting repaired.  I got some really cool pictures of these places and of course I had to take the cliché selfie.  I still can't believe that I am in London and that I am able to visit all of these famous landmarks.  This trip is definitely making me want to travel more and I haven't even left yet!  Now that I have wifi I will definitely try to keep you all more updated on want I am doing, but if you ever want to contact me just send over a message on Facebook.  Talk to you all later :)

                      -Heather

Well it's been Awhile

Hello again :).  Well I haven't blogged in a while, but I swear I have an adequate excuse...no internet.  I am one of those unlucky souls that no matter what I did I could not get wifi, but at last I have succeeded and here I am ;). 

Last time I posted I was in Bath.  The following day (January 1) we traveled to Wiltshire to see the grand Salisbury cathedral.  When walking in I was instantly in awe.  The interior was breathtaking; the arches, the stained-glass windows, the ceiling, I didn't know what to look at!  Again it was really neat seeing all of the architectural aesthetics that we have been studying over the years.  Towards the center of the cathedral there is a fountain that if you bend down and look at the surface you can see beautiful reflections of the windows in it.  It was really neat.  While at the cathedral we were also able to see the Magna Carta.  It is so cool being able to say that I saw this very important and famous document in person!  Too bad I couldn't take any photographs to prove it.  After touring we got lunch at a nice little French restaurant called Café Rouge.  After waiting for what felt like forever we finally got our starter, breadsticks.  We all thought that we only got one or two, but then the plates of breadsticks just kept coming and coming, it was absolutely insane.  For the main course we got grilled chicken and ratatouille followed by ice cream, it was delicious. 

When we all finished eating we were on our way to Brighton.  After resting up from a nice long nap, we were awoken to seeing the beautiful Brighton Pier illuminating through the night sky.  It really was like seeing a small glimpse of home since I am so used to living so close to a large body of water, I kind of really made me miss it a little.  Anyways we made our way to the Ambassador hotel...and of course my luck I get put on the third floor...again.  Now let me explain to you how the floors work here in the UK compared to in the US.  In the US we count the first floor as being one, while here they count it as being the ground floor.  So in actuality, I was on the fourth floor...awesome.  So I had to drag both of my suitcases up multiple flights of narrow stair that had swinging doors in between each.  Sorry to complain, but I felt like an old lady worrying that I was going to pull a muscle or something.  Geez laweez.  Our hotel was actually pretty close to the pier and I could even see it out my window, which was the only good thing about being on the third floor.

After moving in, a group of us decided to explore and find food.  We stumbled upon a little restaurant called Betty La La's.  It was absolutely adorable!  The interior was very contemporary and chic.  We were sat in in the back section that had a dim pink light hanging above and the furniture also had its own flare to it.  Along with our dinner we ordered cocktails.  That was my first time having a cosmopolitan and it was very good.  When showing the owner of the restaurant our ids, she was very amused at how they looked and she asked us about where we are from and why we were all there, she was very sweet.  And when we passed her restaurant the next day she recognized us and even waved.  If I ever find myself back in Brighton, I would definitely like to stop back there.

The following day we had a walking tour scheduled and much to our dismay it was pouring out.  Of course we had to experience our first heavy UK shower during this tour.  Although it was not the preferred circumstance, the tour was pretty interesting and really like walking around a little down by the pier even though we couldn't go very far due to the waves.  After this we went and toured the Royal Pavilion.  It was so extravagant inside and each room had its own unique quality.  For lunch we all met up to go to the Regency Fish Restaurant.  I chose to get the seafood platter, because it had calamari.  But when I received my food, there we like these little fried fish things that still had their eye balls.  It was really creepy, but of course I had to try it and it was actually pretty good.  For dessert I had amaretto tiramisu which was amazing.  As a continuation on to trying new foods I choses to get a duck kabob wrap and I have discovered that I really like duck!

That night a group of us decided to go out and explore the town a little more.  We went into a pub that was call Kings & Queens and the interior of it really made you feel like you were taken back to medieval times.  Ceiling was vaulted and there was lots of wood beams.  We then went to another pub that we had stopped in the night before which was called the Mucky Duck.  Honestly the only reason we decided to go there the first time was because of the name.  We encountered a few people who were from Ireland and they were so funny and nice!  Its so cool being able to socialize from people who are from all over the world. 

The next morning after having an authentic English breakfast we were finally on our way to London!!!  But before we actually got to London we made a few stops to a couple of castles, no big deal ;).  The first castle we stopped at was Battle Abbey in Hastings.  I think this was one of my most favorite tours on this intro trip, because there was so much to look at and we were able to just explore and look around.  In one part of the castle we walked in and it reminded me of a horror movie.  It was like a dark, dingy cave.  The next castle we went to was Bodiam in Robertsbridge.  We got to go all the way to the top and although it was a nice view, I still don't like heights.  We also ate lunch at a café here which some new duck friends that we made.  Honestly, they wouldn't leave us alone and we even named one Daffy.  Then we were on our last stop, London!  Sorry for the long blog post, but I thought that I would just catch all of you up on what is going on.  To create just a little suspense I will wait to post a blog about when we actually made it to London.  Hey, I do have to make this a little more interesting, right?

 

                                                              -Cheers, Heather

New Year, New City

Yesterday was New Years Eve, but it definitely didn't feel like it.  We are all still trying to adjust to this whole new country thing, but of course we had to celebrate someone.  We decided to go out for awhile, but the no-sleep thing was definitely kicking in and me and a couple hours decided to come back to the Y.  I really wanted to stay up till midnight.  So Ashley and I just sat in the lobby and watched a New Years special on the telly (TV for all you Americans hah).  When it struck midnight, it was so cool seeing all of the fireworks going off around Big Ben.  I really wish we would have been in London for that.

On New Years Day, which didn't feel like that at all, we spent our whole day walking and exploring the city of Bath.  The first thing that stuck out to me was the architecture.  It was so neat seeing the different column types that we have studied in the past and being able to point out different aspects of the buildings.  History has always been so interesting to me and being able to walk around the actual city was extremely cool instead of just learning out of a book.

The first tour we went on started at 9am and we went and saw the Royal Crescent.  For those of you who don't know the Royal Crescent is a row of terraced houses that are shaped in a crescent shape, hence the name.  The building itself had so much detail in it and their is so much history within its structure.

Following this we got the opportunity to tour the Bath Abbey which is an iconic church located here.  the ceiling, the walls, the floor, the windows oh my I couldn't even.  It was gorgeous!  When looking at the floor I noticed little plaques in memory of people that lay there, I later found out that about 4,000 people were buried there!  It was so weird to think that we were walking on top of people's grave sites.

After touring the church we were free to find a spot to eat lunch.  After walking around the city for awhile, we finally decided on a little café that had crescent sandwiches and coffee.  We ate our food outside, because sometime if you choose to eat inside a restaurant they charge you a fee.  And even though we are in England, we are still broke college students.  If I had to raise one complaint about this city, it is that it has WAY to many pigeons.  They just fly everywhere they want and it creeps me out.  It's like they can sense that I don't like them, because they just like to come toward me.  It makes sitting outside very unpleasant, but beside that lunch was very enjoyable.

The last tour that we went on was to the Roman Baths.  The building that is there now was actually constructed on top of the building that was there over one hundred years ago.  When touring the lower parts of the building you could even view the parts of the existing structure.  The bath itself was really cool to see, and at the end you could taste the water if you wanted.  One suggestion to anyone who decides to visit here...don't try it, it is awful.

We had a long day of tours and chose to just go back and relax and then find out where we would like to go for dinner.  All we knew was that we wanted a place that had pasta, wine, and that was inexpensive.  After endless searches we stumbled upon Jamie's Italian Restaurant.  After going there we discovered that the famous chef, Jamie Oliver, is the owner!  How cool!  The food was delicious too.  Italian food and wine, I must say that is the best combination.  This was a great way to end the day and I can't wait for the adventures tomorrow, cheers! -Heather