Westminster Abbey and Randomness

On Saturday I went to London, not with the Family but with my friend Courtney. It was a beautiful day. The weather here has been improving steadily and apparently it should keep warming up. It was perfectly sunny and blue-skied and warm in the sunshine. We went to Westminster Abbey and got inside this time. It was really beautiful. Our tour guide was Jeremy Irons…or at least he was the voice on the audio tour haha. The architecture was amazing, of course, but the coolest part was seeing where all these famous people were buried in these incredible tombs—Mary Queen of Scots, Edward Longshanks (who I mostly know about from Braveheart), Oliver Cromwell, Geoffrey Chaucer, and way more who I can’t even remember right now. Plus all the people in the Poets’ Corner—Jane Austen, all the Bronte sisters, Keats, the Shelleys, Ben Jonson, John Dryden, George Handel, a huge sculpture of Shakespeare…they even had actors like Laurence Olivier in there.

I got to see the tomb of Elizabeth I, which was cool because I used to read all these books about her. Apparently her death mask was very lifelike so I sort of got to see what she looked like (she wasn’t a looker). Her tomb is right over her half-sister Queen Mary’s, which is funny because they didn’t get along well in life…well at least it doesn’t seem like they did given that Mary had Elizabeth imprisoned while she was queen. Hmm. There were also a lot of tributes and sculptures that Elizabeth I had made for people who she favored who died during her reign. So many people are buried there, including random people you’ve never heard of. There was one enormous sculpture that was really chilling; it was of a man trying to shield a cowering woman from this skeleton rising up from below who was hurling a spear at her. Apparently this was something a man had had made after his young wife’s untimely death in childbirth. I also saw the oldest door in Britain, which is in the abbey and apparently from the 1000s. Lots of cool stuff!

That was the only “cultural” thing we did for the day. After that we went to Paddington Station because she wanted to get a Paddington bear. Then we went to Brick Lane to hunt down this fish and chips place someone had recommended to her. It took forever to find including a lot of wandering around and getting slightly lost and having to ask directions, but it was SO WORTH IT. It’s called Poppie’s of Spitalfields and it was the best fish and chips I’ve had. You can get it takeaway wrapped in newspaper, but we sat inside, which is set up like a fifties diner. Their chips—fries—were so good. Yum. It’s kind of pricey but you do get a huge piece of fried fish. I’m going to be craving that again soon!

That place is in kind of a hipster-y area so that was interesting. We checked out a vintage shop across the way. It was super lame. Everything in there looked old and worn and it was way overpriced for used stuff! Anyhoo. Then it was off to Oxford Street for some shopping. We went to Primark, a popular store that has cute stuff for really cheap...kind of like a mix between a Charlotte Russe, Rue 21, and Target. I got a skirt for 3 pounds. Not too shabby. After that we went back to Hatfield, had a long wait for the bus to the Forum (I—hate—buses), and got back relatively early.

On Sunday I planned a trip to Asda with Andrea and Zed, but it closes at 4 on Sundays. Lame. So we trolled around the Galleria and ate at a Chinese buffet where I ate way too much to be allowed. Then last night I made the best macaroni and cheese in the entire world (Red Leicester cheese = delicious) and Tom put out this huge fancy spread of baguettes, all these different types of cheeses, and wine. So he, his girlfriend Katie, Enda, Cameron, and I sat and had a very French meal.

It has been pointed out to me that I talk a lot about food in my blog...and I’m doing it again...whoops. I guess my priorities are pretty clear, huh? Anyway, I am going to Bath and Stonehenge on Sunday. (Wonder what I’ll get to eat there?...)

On a different note, I’ve been wanting to do this for a while, so now that I’m essay-free (for a little while at least) I’m going to compose a list of British words/phrases that I hear a lot. I knew some of them, but some I had no idea about. So here goes, in no particular order:

Biscuits = cookies, but only a certain type. For instance, Chips Ahoy would be called cookies, but shortbread things or stuff that you’d have with tea are biscuits.

Chips = French fries, but again there are some differences. They call the things at McDonalds fries, but everywhere else it’s usually chips. I think maybe the really thick ones are called chips and the thin ones are fries…still trying to work it out…

Fit = attractive

Boff = attractive/good

Nice = same basic meaning but they use it way more than Americans do, and I feel like it usually refers to something that’s more like good quality/delicious. A lot of times they use it to describe a food that tastes really good. Like, “Those biscuits are quite nice, aren’t they?”

Bruv = short for ‘brother,’ like ‘bro.’ Sometimes certain London accents make the ‘th’ sound like ‘v,’ so ‘broth’ becomes ‘bruv.’ I really want to start using it but I feel like people might start looking at me funny. Yeah, bruv! (Or, if you see someone you really like, bruuuuuvaaaaay!)

Well = very (“I was well jealous!”)

Bare = very (“Oh he was bare cool!”)

Proper = very (“This room’s a proper mess!”) (They have a lot of words that mean ‘really’ or ‘very’ now that I think of it)

Innit = I initially thought it was just “isn’t it,” but it can also be used for emphasis (“Mate, we need some more food, innit!”)

Ladybirds = ladybugs

Hoover = vacuum (used as a noun and a verb, like “I need to do the Hoovering”)

Washing up liquid = dish soap

Full fat soft cheese = cream cheese (that’s what it’s called on the wrapper, anyway. Why all the adjectives? Why not call it cream cheese??)

Spirits = liquor

Sausage dog = wiener dog/dachshund (I love this one!)

Take the mick = make fun of (“You takin’ the mick, mate?”)

Take the piss = make fun of (much different from take a piss, as I’ve explained to one of my American friends)

Pikeys = Irish hooligans…kind of like gypsies…still not totally sure about exactly what they are

Other funny things: a lot of times they pronounce A’s differently than we would. Usually almost the opposite. For instance, for the word pasta we pronounce it ‘paw-stuh.’ They say ‘past-uh.’ And for nachos they say ‘naa-choes’ rather than ‘naw-choes.’ I’m probably not explaining it very well but oh well. It’s really weird and I keep getting corrected for saying these words “wrong.”

For the record, words I’ve had to explain: jerk, jetlag, sketchy, Sketchers (as in the shoe, which they don’t have here), college (here ‘college’ is more or less the same thing as American high school; while Americans use college/university interchangeably, here they only use university or uni for short to mean the stuff after high school). I’m sure there are plenty more I can’t think of right now, so the list might grow at a later date.

Birthdays, Castles, Pancakes, and Chocolate...Sounds Like a Good Time

A lot has happened since the last time I wrote, it seems like. Mike’s birthday party was a blast. We successfully surprised him, which I didn’t think we could pull off. That day Grayson and I went to Asda and bought some snacks, drinks, and a cake (the others paid us back later). My fingers almost fell off from carrying all those bags back to campus, but it was worth it! Then later that night I went over to the other campus, Dehav (where he lives), and Zhen (or Zed, since she is adopting the nickname Tyler gave her), Grayson, Andrea, and I waited with his flatmates. I have to say Mike has the sweetest, coolest flatmates. They decorated the kitchen for him and everything.

We started making the food and setting everything out, all the while anxiously checking out the window to see when he’d get back. He was so flustered when he walked through the door and we yelled surprise—he doesn’t really like anyone making a fuss over him. Then he just immediately went back to his usual self—rushing around giving people drinks and food, making sure everyone was accommodated, at his own party! Funny. At some point Andrea and Mike’s female flatmates—Becca, Phoebe, and Steph—insisted on straightening my hair, so I was rushed off to Becca’s room. I had a girl on each side of me with a straightener. I felt like quite a celebrity. The girls were thrilled, but the boys weren’t as excited by the hairstyling endeavors. They eventually came out of the kitchen to find us and I distinctly remember Phoebe’s boyfriend saying in disgust, “Is this what the night has come to?” Haha. Anyway, they did a good job. Of course, with all the damp in the air it was curling by the end of the night, but oh well.

Then we walked to McDonalds where I had my first English “Macky’s,” as they call it. (“Do you want to have a Macky’s?”) It’s good…not the same, though. The McChicken is really different. It’s more just like a big chicken nugget with bread and lettuce and then the mayonnaise is sweet. The fries were good though, and we can get a free burger or McFlurry by showing our student ID. Win. Anyway, when I got back I was treated to an unusual sight—most of my housemates sitting on the floor of the hall, having a chat. This also includes two housemates from The Upstairs—I barely ever see anyone who lives up there so it was a big deal. So I finally got to talk to Ollie and Steven, two housemates who I rarely see. They are both pretty nice. Ollie is a self-confessed recluse so I guess I won’t be seeing him much. Tom, Cameron, and Chelsea were there too, so we had a long talk…or mostly Tom monopolized the conversation talking about stuff that annoys him because that’s what he does… Yeah. They complained about the Polish at length. Apparently the English think that the Polish come in and steal all their jobs and whatnot. It was really kind of interesting/entertaining to listen to.

What else? On Wednesday I went with the Family and some of Andrea’s flatmates to the Forum, which is the night club on campus. It was fun because they play plenty of American music too. I met some new people, including a Scottish guy with whom I got into an argument about the Revolutionary War. The other night I also got into a debate with some people over Native Americans. I have no idea why I’m so interested in discussing American history lately. Or why so many British people think they understand it better. Hmm.

Anyway, when I got back to my house that night, I ended up getting lectured on the Notting Hill Carnival by Tom. This is apparently a festival in London in September in which people just go completely insane for two days. He kept showing me videos of policemen beating unruly drunks, and despite all this he was still trying to convince me that it was a good time. Huh, thanks, but I think if I were there in September I’d still pass.

On Saturday I went to Windsor Castle. It was very cool. We got there in time to see the changing of the guard. Their uniforms are gray. I always thought they were red but oh well. Anyway, I wish I could’ve gotten pictures of the inside of the castle, but alas, they wouldn’t let us. We saw the Dollhouse and toured the state apartments, which were the best part. You know you’re among grandeur when you stop being impressed after seeing the 15^th gold and crystal chandelier that’s taller than you are. After a while they just become old hat haha. There was also a photograph gallery celebrating all the years of the Queen’s rule, which has been going on since 1952! Apparently she loves horses, so there were many pictures of her riding horses and a lot of pictures of her with her beloved Corgies. One thing I’ve learned about the royal family here—they love their dogs! There was a huge statue of Queen Victoria in Windsor Castle that included her beloved dog looking up at her adoringly. Anyway, the only weird thing about the photo gallery was that they included a picture of the Queen meeting Lady Gaga. So glad that is how we Americans are being represented! (That was sarcasm, if you can’t tell.)

Anyway, the other cool thing was that the Queen was in residence while we were there! We actually went up to one of the workers (who wear navy-and-red cape-like garments…it was pretty sweet) and asked if they ever get to see/talk to the Queen. She said not usually, but every year at Christmas the Queen gives all of her staff a gift. Everyone has to stand in a line while she walks in, and if she comes up to you and chooses to speak to you personally, you have to call her “Your Majesty” the first time you address her and “Ma’am” after that. Anyway, we ate some delicious Cornish pasties for lunch—I’m addicted to those things—and had a pretty good time.

Tuesday was Pancake Day, a lovely tradition in the UK in which the celebrants…well…make and eat pancakes all day. My housemates and I were going to make pancakes that night, but everyone was running errands and it got to be too late so they called it off. I despaired of ever getting any pancakes, but the next day Enda popped his head into Chelsea’s and my room, saw that we were here, said, “Lovely” and then left without further explanation. A few minutes later he and Tom came in with plates of pancakes they’d made for us. It was really nice. They weren’t American-style pancakes though…Here they make them more like crepes. They’re thinner, wrapped in a roll-type shape, and filled with something. Enda put Bailey’s ice cream in mine. It was really good!

I think I paid them back because I shared some of the candy Mom sent over from the US. They are really enthusiastic about American chocolate. They’d never had Reese’s PB cups before…proof that this country is backward and savage… It was funny because the black wrapper around the outside of the Reese’s really puzzled them; you could tell they weren’t sure if it was part of the candy or not. I really considered letting them bite into the wrapper before I nicely explained that you have to peel it off.

(Oh, and in case you’re thinking, gee, it doesn’t sound like she is doing anything school-related over there—well, in between all this I managed to write a 2,000-word essay for my History of the English Language class. Booyah.)

Oxford, Bruv!

The weekend went by too fast, and now I am contemplating another week of class. (Well—okay, a few days of class, but still.) My roommate has been away on a trip to Barcelona and it has been heaven having the room to myself. Tom, Enda, and I celebrated my freedom from roommates on Thursday night by eating cheese and digestives (aka crackers) and playing Monopoly in my room. The next night I cooked dinner with my friend Courtney, because neither of us knows much cooking and we are determined to learn. We made spicy mayonnaise chicken and homemade mashed potatoes and it was delicious, but I have to admit we wouldn’t have been as successful if her flatmate Liam hadn’t stayed in the kitchen to guide us.

Then I went over to Mike’s kitchen for dinner with the Family (as we call our group). I wasn’t going to eat anything, but Grayson and Tyler (the boys did all the cooking!) made a meal that put mine to shame: homemade mashed potatoes, a veggie mix, and chicken much better than mine. So yes, I ate two meals…so sue me. Grayson also bought a pomegranate and I had pomegranate seeds for the first time, which are addictive. Then we played Monopoly—weird that I played it twice in two nights because I don’t even like Monopoly, but Grayson was excited about finding the British version (pounds instead of dollars obviously and the names are different—there’s Oxford Street, Trafalgar Square, King’s Cross, etc.). Possibly the best part was Mike, who’d never played before but kept giving away all his money trying to cut all these deals with everybody.

On Saturday we went on the school-sponsored trip to Oxford. We had a nice English gentleman as a tour guide, but I wish he would’ve told us more about the history. I was looking forward to seeing which I would like better, Oxford or Cambridge, but it’s hard to tell. I definitely learned more about Cambridge and I think we did more there. At first we walked around with the tour guide. We saw the college—I want to say it’s called Christ College—where they filmed the Great Hall scenes for the Harry Potter movies. You could go in but it cost 8 pounds, so I decided against it. We did get to explore New College for free, where we entered one of the dining halls and it looked close enough to something from an HP movie. I can’t imagine going to school there. All the dorms are in these beautiful old buildings. Must be nice! We also saw the Radcliffe Camera and the Bodleian Library, which is in an area filled with buildings ranging from the thirteenth century to the nineteenth. Pretty cool. I was hoping to run into Philip Pullman somewhere, but no luck!

Had lunch at a pub called the King’s Arms, where I got a pretty boring roast beef sandwich. The chips (fries) were good though. One of the people I was with did get the ploughman’s lunch, though—I got to try it and I liked it! Also, something really random happened while we were there. I looked up and all of these characters out of Super Mario Brothers were trooping in through the door. They were a bunch of Oxford students in homemade (but really good) costumes. I saw Mario, Wario, Princess Peach, Bowser, Koopa Troopa, and (best of all) Toad, big mushroom hat and all. I was a bit disappointed there was no Yoshi, but you can’t get everything out of life, I guess. It was bizarre. I managed to get a few sneaky pictures of them, though. On the way out we asked what it was for. They said they were just celebrating being halfway done with the school year and decided to dress up in costumes just for fun. I respect that.

Probably the coolest part of the trip was this open area we found in New College—a big yard filled with old trees and encircled by crumbly, medieval-looking stone walls. Everything was scattered with snow and so pretty. We walked around there for a long time just taking pictures. Afterwards we tried to get into the Bodleian Library, but it was too late for tours so we ended up going to a bookstore that’s supposedly in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the biggest. And it was enormous. You could get lost in a place like that!

Then we got back on the bus and the school took us to a shopping center called Bicester (pronounced “Bister” for some odd reason) Village. I don’t know why they took us there because it was full of places no one could afford—Prada and Tommy Hilfiger and so on. There was actually a line to get into the Prada! We ended up going into a Pret a Manger and sitting for 2 hours. You see this Pret a Manger restaurant all over the place here—I saw so many in London. It sells sandwiches, soups, coffee, etc. I haven’t actually eaten there yet because I was still too full at the time. I did get made fun of for calling it “Prett-ay-Mayn-jer.” It’s a French name so it’s “preh ah mahn-jhay.” I think I like the way I say it better.

On Sunday Mike, Andrea, Zhen and I went to St. Alban’s, which turned out to be kind of a fail because everything closes at 5 on Sundays. But Andrea got the shoes she wanted and we had dinner at Nando’s, so it wasn’t a complete loss. Nando’s is really big in Canada and the UK and it’s known for its spicy chicken. It was pretty good, but I prefer Chick-Fil-A personally! The Brits don’t really seem to do fried chicken much; everything is always grilled. This is why I am very much looking forward to eating my mom’s fried chicken when I get back home.

And I guess that pretty much catches you up. Tomorrow is Mike’s birthday so we are throwing a surprise party for him. Other than that, it’s just school and (possibly) a trip to Windsor Castle on Saturday!

St. Alban's, Laundry, and London

I’m already running behind on my blogs! I’ll try to be better about that. I don’t suppose there is a ton of new info. I did my laundry on Monday after putting it off for as long as I could. I know, I know, the concept of me doing laundry is astonishing, but I did it. And it was perfectly fine. Although a bit expensive—2 pounds for washing and 1 for drying! That’s rubbish, innit? Aside from that, things have been going well. Classes seem fairly easy—just a lot of reading, but I’m more than prepared for that! It’s a bit difficult making myself do homework, though. Ah well.

What else have I done? Hmm. Last Wednesday I went on a trip to St. Alban’s, a little town about 15 minutes away by bus. St. Alban’s seems much more like the traditional British experience than Hatfield, which is a very modern town. St. Alban’s has cute little shop-lined streets, an old church, a town square, markets every Wednesday and Saturday. I went with Grayson and an Australian exchange student named Emily. We browsed through the market, then wandered over to the church and graveyard and snapped some shots of it. We met up with Andrea, Zhen, Tyler, and Tyler’s English flatmate Elliott, a really cool guy who recommended a little restaurant that sells piping-hot Cornish pasties. I’d never had a Cornish pasty but it was delicious. They’re basically a golden-brown pastry case filled with steak, onions, potato, etc. Definitely good on a freezing cold February day. After that we went back to a dessert stand in the market and got brownies.

We had some trouble figuring out what we wanted to do next, but the extreme cold led everyone to the consensus of “let’s find someplace warm to sit down.” Emily, who’d been before, led us to a pub called O’Neill’s where we ended up spending the next several hours. It was empty except for an old man sitting by himself, so it was nice having the place almost to ourselves as we had a few beers and sat and talked. It was really fun! Emily tried to teach me how to say things in an Australian accent (I failed abysmally), Grayson and Elliott discussed Billy Joel and American vs. British candy, and I explained the merits of the T-Pain microphone I’d gotten for Christmas. We ended up ordering dinner at the pub. Then a drunk guy from the next table started chatting with us. He and the two Irish girls he was with tried to convince us to come to a place called Lloyd’s, which was just down the street and “a good laugh.” We followed them to see if it was anything interesting, but it turned out to be pretty much completely empty, so we didn’t stay too long. The nice thing was that the guy who had started talking to us bought us the cab ride back to Hatfield, so that was really cool.

We went to London last Saturday—again—and had a great time—again. I really never get tired of that place. It seems like we’ve been visiting a lot of markets, because again that was the first thing we did when we got there. This one is called Borough Market, which unlike Camden Market only sells food. If you ever go, just make sure you’re hungry. They had everything: fresh-baked bread, Greek honey, all sorts of raw seafood, steaming vats of soups and stews, fish and chips, all sorts of baked goods, sandwiches and burgers… Mike got a loaf of olive-filled bread and we all split it, then we roved around for free samples. I swear I’m going to become known in London as “The Grazer.” I finally got a chicken sandwich and we sat down next to an Australian woman and a French man, who were both here on work. They were really friendly and we talked to them for a good while. After the market we went to Tower Bridge, took a million pictures, and then toured the Tower of London. The Tower’s different from what I thought—I was thinking it was just one building, but it’s more like a fortress filled with a bunch of different buildings that you can explore. It’s worth doing once for sure, but it’s kind of expensive. Still, I got to stand very close to the spot where Anne Boleyn got her head chopped off so there’s something to be said for that. One of the funniest things about touring is that there are usually a lot of little kids running around, and English accents in little kid voices are adorable. I guess Tyler overheard some little kid going past with his dad say (very defiantly), “At least I’m happy!” so saying that in an English accent kind of became the motto for the day.

After the Tower we just wanted to be somewhere warm again, so we went to a nearby restaurant for dinner. I have an intense soda addiction so I had to get a Pepsi while I was there. Mike had split up from us before we went to the Tower to meet up with his brother’s friend, so we waited around to hear from him before taking the tube to Piccadilly. By the time we left the pub it was snowing steadily. Andrea wasn’t thrilled by the snow—she’s from Canada so I guess it must seem old hat—but I thought it was really beautiful. Tower Bridge and Piccadilly in the snow were amazing. Of course, my camera battery died right then so I didn’t get more than a few pictures, but oh well.

Piccadilly was very cool. Parts of it are a little like Times Square with all the flashing billboards. We spent a while tramping through the snow with everyone’s shoes getting steadily more soaked, trying to find a good pub that wasn’t ridiculously crowded. We finally found a place called the White Horse, where we sat and defrosted before meeting up with Mike and his friend, who has lived in London for a long time and knew the area. He bought us a round, which was really nice, and then took us to a hotel bar that was much less crowded. We sat and talked before finally realizing we ought to be leaving to catch the last train back to Hatfield. There followed an epic adventure…epic when you look back on it, a bit frightening at the time…in which we discovered that the Underground was closed and we were very far from King’s Cross, and we had a very short amount of time to get there. I honestly don’t know how long it took to walk all that way. All I know is that we sprinted through what had become just short of a snowstorm to get to King’s Cross on time. Andrea shouted, “Run! Run!” a lot and we all struggled to move as fast as we could while sticking together. My shoes had no traction and I slipped and fell in the snow once or twice, but hey, at least it was a soft landing. The entire time I was thinking, We’re going to be stuck here, we’re going to freeze to death under a bridge, but at last, drenched, snow-covered, and gasping for breath, we arrived at King’s Cross to discover all the trains were delayed an hour so we hadn’t needed to rush after all. So we got on the train to wait and let ourselves recover. It left around 2 a.m., but because it was going so slowly through the bad weather we didn’t make it back into Hatfield until 3. The best part of this was that everyone was still in a good mood—it would’ve been miserable if everyone had been cranky. So once we got to the station we just joked around and played in the snow until the taxi came. It was a pretty epic night.