Lately...

Soccer in Regents Park: (Friday 2/18) On Friday, about 12 of us went to Regents Park to play some pick up soccer. When we had teams of six, we named ours the "Dynamite" and I proceeded to ask everyone what position they wanted to play. When everyone was silent, I knew I was taking it too seriously. My team ended up losing, which was rough for me. I tried to play offense as long as possible, but after realizing that our only defender was too busy singing show tunes to play defense, I had to pick up his slack. Basically every time I got the ball I dribbled towards the goal. Then I realized I was being selfish and started passing. It was hilarious. At one point, when I was complaining that no one was playing defense, my friend Sonya reminded me that no one was taking it as seriously as me. Haha, what else is new. I am a Rhodes. 

Dinner with Maggie and her Sister at The Tomas Cubitt: (Friday 2/18) Friday evening, I went to dinner with Maggie and her sister, Janie, at The Tomas Cubitt. The restaurant has a fancy dining room upstairs, but we opted to sit in the bar area and have drinks and dinner. We started with chili lime calamari (so yummy!) and I had salmon with mashed potatoes and broccoli for dinner. We also shared a side of roasted sweet potatoes, which made me miss home. I can never seem to find sweet potatoes here. Anyways, dinner was absolutely wonderful. I loved getting to know Maggie's sister, as Maggie is such an amazing friend of mine. After, we went to a bar together and continued to chat and drink wine. It was definitely one of my favorite nights so far. 

Hospital (Monday 2/21): After tripping on the sidewalk on Saturday night and falling really hard on my shoulder, I decided to go to the hospital yesterday to get it checked out, since it still really hurt and I couldn't move it very much. I wanted to make an appointment to see a doctor, but the program director warned me that it would be at least 60 pounds. However, he told me if I went to the Emergency room at the local hospital, I could be seen for free. It was definitely an experience I will never forget. I waited a little over an hour and the nurse poked and prodded at my shoulder and told me it wasn't broken, which I already knew. She then told me to take some ibuprofen and come back in a week if it still hurt. It is actually feeling much better today, so I think I will survive. While in the waiting room, I attempted to get some reading done for class, but I couldn't help looking around at all the people there. This one man came in saying he had just been hit by a taxi and moaning and groaning. He took his shoe and sock off in the middle of the floor to show the nurse that his toe was bleeding, then rolled up his sleeve to show her a cut on his arm, while he pleaded that his injuries were far more important than everyone else's. I would never laugh at someone in pain, but I was convinced this guy was not actually hurt. He was so rude to everyone in the waiting room, including the hospital staff, that a woman finally said something to him. Anyways, it was an experience to remember. 

Skyping with the Family: In the past two weeks I have gotten to skype with my parents, Jess and Ian, and even my grandparents!!! Jess showed me her dog Toby's new tricks, my parents and I planned what they want to do when they get here, and my grandparents filled me in on the snowstorm that turned off their electricity and water and forced them to stay at my parents house for a while. I am so thankful for Skype so I can stay up to date with all of these important things :) 

Countdown until Mom & Dad arrive: 18 DAYS!!!!! I am so excited, I can't wait :)

Imperial War Museum

Imperial War Museum: (Wednesday 2/16) Our field trip to the Imperial War Museum on Wednesday was very interesting. Approaching the museum, we were greeted by two large guns facing out from the front entrance. Inside, we saw the "little boy" atomic bomb, the remnants of a car used as a car bomb in Baghdad and various military airplanes and tanks. We then walked through World War I and II exhibits. After our guided tour, we were free to explore on our own. Most of us went to the holocaust exhibit that we had heard so much about. It took me about two hours to walk through, reading every detail and taking in every photograph and scene (that I could bear to look at). The most memorable was the scaled model of Auschwitz as well as the glass case of the last things people held on to before entering the camps (shoes, buttons, mugs, photographs, etc.). It was a very moving experience. I have been to the Holocaust museum in Washington DC, but I was a lot younger and this one is much larger. I was silent the whole way home. 

War Horse Theatre Performance

War Horse Theatre Performance: (Tuesday 2/15) Out of all the performances I have seen so far, War Horse is probably my favorite. I went to the play having no idea of what to expect, and came out stunned. I laughed, cried, and found myself at the edge of my seat towards the end so worried about what was going to happen. My friend Adam next to me had to politely remind me that it was a play and that everything was going to be okay. The performance was absolutely amazing. It is so hard to describe, but there were sets of three actors moving these huge wooden horses. At first, I didn't think they were that realistic, but by the end I was so wrapped up in the story that I had to remind myself that they were fake. Two actors operated the horse from underneath (covered by the body of the horse), while one operated the head and stood next to the horse. The simplest things like twitching of the ears made the horses really come alive. Ironically, my mom actually emailed me the next day saying she heard such good things about the show from a friend and wondered if I had heard of it and if I could get her tickets. I think I will probably see it again with them when they get here.

Valentines Day Dinner & Crepes

Valentines Day Dinner & Crepes: (Monday 2/14) After getting roses from Andy, Grayson, Sonya and I went to dinner at a restaurant on the Thames called Founders Arm. The restaurant had a gorgeous view of the Thames and of St. Paul's Cathedral, which was breathtaking lit up at night. I was really hungry so I ordered the Tower burger, which the waiter warned me was really big. I reassured him that I could handle it only to get it and realize that it had two FULL SIZE hamburger patties on it. It was so big I had to take one off. The funniest part was, it was supposed to come with tomato on it. Their version of sliced tomatoes on a burger was one small cherry tomato (no larger than a grape) sliced in half and put on the burger, alongside two dinky pieces of lettuce. For that much meat you think they could have out a few more veggies. Too funny. After dinner we went to get crepes. We are now on a first-name basis with the Crepe man at our favorite Crepe shop. Banana and Nutella is my go-to crepe, and it is heavenly. It was a great end to a fun Valentines Day with my friends. 

Mexican Food, Margaritas, & Ben's Cookies

Mexican Food, Margaritas, & Ben's Cookies: (Saturday 2/12) On the way back from the museum, we stopped for mexican food and 2-for-1 happy hour margaritas at Benito's Hat Mexican. It was actually really good and satisfied my craving for Mexican. I got a burrito that was delicious. After, since we were in the area, we stopped at Ben's Cookies. I know I have said it before, but they are seriously the best cookies ever.

Victoria and Albert Museum

Victoria and Albert Museum: (Saturday 2/12) This museum was a bit overwhelming, so Sonya and I decided to pick a few things we wanted to go to and come back another time. We went to the photography exhibit, which I loved. They had a special exhibit featuring photography without cameras. So neat. We then went to the jewelry collection, possibly my favorite museum exhibit thus far, which contains over 6000 items. The jewelry dated from to Ancient Egypt to modern day designers. My favorite pieces were the exquisite tiaras made for various princesses (who's names I cannot remember). I also loved the spiral design of rings, starting with diamond rings in the center and spiraling out with rubies, sapphires, pearls, etc. They were absolutely gorgeous. Sonya and I each picked out our two favorites and I snuck an illegal photograph before we left.

Hampton Court

Hampton Court: (Friday 2/11) After visiting Windsor Castle, went to Hampton Court, which was also amazing, but truthfully paled in comparison to Windsor. I told our tour-guide it would have really been a better idea to tour Hampton Court first and then go to Windsor Palace and she laughed and said that people always say that but it works better logistically to do Windsor earlier. Anyways, at Hampton Court we toured various rooms and learned all about King Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey. The Palace was originally built for Wolsey, King Henry VIII's most trusted advisor and a powerful figure in the church; however Wolsey failed to help Henry annul his marriage with Catherine of Aragon, which led to his downfall. King Henry VIII took back Hampton Court and removed most of the traces of Wolsey, including his coat of arms, replacing it with his own. One of my favorite parts of Hampton Court, in addition to the arms displayed in beautiful patterns on the walls as they were at Windsor, was the astrological clock on the Tudor gatehouse, showing the current date, time, astrological sign, and moon phase in beautiful gold, red, and blue colors. My other favorites were the Fountain Court, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, and the magnificent gardens that we were able to walk through and take pictures of. The picture of me jumping in my blog is in front of the fountain in the Privy Garden.

Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle: (Friday 2/11) On Friday, we went on a group trip to Windsor and Hampton Court. I have a new found love for the English Royal family. I found myself wishing I was Queen Elizabeth so I could vacation at Windsor Castle every weekend, which she does. We first went to Windsor Castle, which absolutely took my breath away. It is on my list of Top 5 most beautiful places in Europe. I wish I could have taken photographs inside to show you all, but unfortunately I could only do so outside. We visited St. George's Chapel, the State Apartments, and walked around outside. On our tour inside, we received headsets on which we pressed a button for every different room we walked into. While some people whizzed through, Grayson and I took our time, making sure to take in everything and hear every word, which unfortunately left us fifteen minutes to grab lunch before taking off. My favorite part were the magnificent chandeliers, followed closely by the hundreds of portraits from the Royal Collection and the arms collections. I wish I could describe the rooms with guns and swords on display. The guns are hung on walls in beautiful patterns, turning an object of violence into pure beauty. The views from the rooms that overlooked the gardens and at the rest of the city were amazing. While we were inside St. George's Chapel, the Queen arrived! It was so exciting to know that we were there at the same time, but it sounds more exciting than it was. We didn't see her car or anything, we just saw the flag hoisted, signifying her arrival. She goes there just about every weekend to relax. What a life.

 

 

 

Field Trip to the East End & Brick Lane

Field Trip to the East End & Brick Lane: (Wednesday 2/9) My favorite part about this field trip was learning all about the history of the East End and the cultures of people who have lived there. Originally populated by the French Huguenot refugees, followed by the Irish weavers, then the German Jews, Brick Lane is now mostly populated by Muslims (Bangladeshi). The mixing of cultures reminded me a little bit of Toledo, Spain (although Toledo is much more beautiful). We strolled through Spitalfields market, had bagels at "Beigel Bakery" (overrated--they wouldn't even toast my bagel!), saw a church-turned-synagogue-turned-mosque, and walked down Brick Lane (famous for its Indian and Bangladeshi restaurants). As we walked down Brick Lane, we were approached by multiple restaurant workers trying to get us to come in for good deals on dinner. My friend Melissa, who studied here this summer, told me to come here one night for Indian food and to not settle for anything less than free wine, free poppadom and 30% off the bill. We will definitely be back for some Indian food soon!

Canals in Amsterdam, Day & Night

I AMsterdam

Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Heineken Brewery, Amsterdam