Here for the holidays

As strange as it was not being in Massachusetts with my family this Thanksgiving, last Thursday will certainly go down as one of the most memorable days of my entire study abroad experience. My professor invited us all over with his family to celebrate together. We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and all the fixings, as well as 4 (count them) 4 different types of pie! Imagine 30 people all crowded into a small room taking a few minutes to think about what we were thankful for, to think about the families that were so far away, and to know that we could look around the room and be thankful for who was around us and for all that we have learned from each other in such a short period of time. It was a truly special moment, that was followed by a paralyzing food coma for the next 2 hours. (The only thing we were missing was the football--real American football I mean, my professor looked, but unfortunately no games were being aired on a Thursday in Norwich, shocker!)

Then on Saturday some of my British friends wanted to partake in an authentic American Thanksgiving. Unfortunately our kitchen supplies are limited (we don't have an oven...) and so Phoebe and I told them we would prepare the Thanksgiving meal from the first season of "Friends". For those not familiar with this episode the characters had grilled cheese and tomato soup for Thanksgiving.. It was great to celebrate a second Thanksgiving, this time with my best friend and new friends surrounding me. Not exactly authentic as they had hoped, but I think that they understood the sentiment behind the holiday and how nice it is to kick off the holiday season with.
I would not consider myself someone who gets Christmas crazed. I do not get as excited about holidays as others. I always wished I could get as excited as I did when I was younger, but it is a joy that I have not been able to pull out of me, especially in recent years. I always thought that it had something to do with getting older, but my friends all love Christmas, we had a fake tree in our dorm room last year, so I couldn't explain where my lack of excitement was coming from. But this year I feel something different. I refuse to listen to Christmas music until December 1st, and this year I woke up giddy that I would be able to turn on the tunes. Then this afternoon I went to an Advent carol service, hoping to hear "Silent Night" and "Oh Come All Ye Faithful", unfortunately I had not heard of any of the songs that we sang, but it was nice to take part in a service I had never been to before. During the service a Methodist priest started off his sermon by asking us to all think about what it was that we most enjoyed about Christmas. The first thing that popped into my head was the energy that surrounds the season. People walking through the market going shopping, the lights that fill the streets, the trees that can be found in every lobby of every building. All of these things seem to be hitting me more than usual and I'm finding myself closer to the giddy girl I used to be. Perhaps it has to do with the anticipation that with Christmas means sharing the holiday in a city I have grown to love with the people whom I love and haven't seen in months, perhaps British people get more excited about Christmas (which I doubt), but whatever it is, I like this feeling, and I will continue to listen to my Christmas music and hopefully spread the Christmas cheer that I have felt I have been missing for the past few years. Although I am here I think about you all more than I ever have, especially during this holiday season.

I live in Norwich.

So as I anticipated I am horrendous at updating a blog. It is a nice concept, however in actuality I am less than motivated to sit down and write about my goings on from day to day.

I wish I could have written everyday about the amazing and interesting things I do on a daily basis, but the reality is that at the University of East Anglia I am in school just like I would be back at Dickinson. On a regular day I get up, go to the gym, come back to do work until dinner time, eat with my friends, and head to bed. (I have the occasional class too), but overall life in Norwich is pretty standard.

My workload was top-heavy at the beginning of the semester and now that I am having some more free time I am beginning to venture into Norwich city centre. I immediately took for granted that I live in one of the (formerly) most popular cities in England, with a castle, enormous Cathedral, and river winding through the city. Norwich is incredibly beautiful and has something to offer everyone it used to be said, "there used to be a church for every Sunday and a pub for every day of the week."

Last Thursday I decided to head into the city to run a few errands, and once I was finished with those I wandered further into town. I had a sweater on over my t-shirt, and my headphones in and as soon as I stepped into the Norwich market (the oldest and one of the largest in the country) I was surrounded by so much energy. It was one of the warmest days we had and I was able to walk around in just my t-shirt feeling the sun on my skin, and as I took my headphones out my ears were filled with the sounds of a variety of languages and buskers lining up and down the streets. I went from one cobblestone road to another when it hit me, the streets that I was walking along are older than the country I live in. I am not the biggest history fan, but living in such a historic city it is impossible not to become fascinated with it. Amazed at the buildings all around me and passing hundreds of people from all over up and down the streets was a reminder of how lucky I am.

Part of the reason I wanted to go to Dickinson was because of the strong study abroad program they offer. And I do not regret my decision at all. If I had gone to another university I would have ended up spending a semester in London (and don't get me wrong I LOVE London, I have already been back twice since I left two months ago), but a major international city in England is only different from an international city in America if you let it be. Living in Norwich I feel like I am in England. I am learning from my British (and one Norwegian) flatmates and they are learning from me.


There are days when I could not imagine being any place else, and there are days when I wish I could just hop on a plane and fly back to Canton, Massachusetts. But despite this conflict of where I want to be from day to day, one thing I have learned is that I enjoy being by myself.

Being by oneself and being lonely are two different things, and it is a distinction that I have finally come to understand.

I do not like feeling like I have no one to talk to or to turn to. That is loneliness. I am lucky that one of my best friends is here with me and upon arriving in London I made another very close friend who I can always count on. I am not lonely.

But I like doing things on my own time, and in my own way. Wandering down the streets of Norwich by myself, cooking dinner when I'm hungry, reading what it is I want to read for class and not feeling tied down by the professor's requirements. I like being by myself. Being independent.

I like taking on the world, and I am ready for it.

Are you?

xo.

Long Time Coming.

So as I assumed at the beginning of this blog I am not very good at updating, but I am also not good at updating the class blog either, however that one is more informative and shares the opinions/travels of the rest of my classmates. So if you are interested in reading that click here: http://blogs.dickinson.edu/norwichhumanities/ (and if you just want to read my blogs click "Amanda" under the categories section)

But, to continue with my thoughts, travels, etc I am going to attempt to summarize/share everything I have done in the last few weeks without boring everyone. I have also been trying to do my best to write down things in my personal journal so as to remember what I have done (because it is A LOT!)

The first few days we were here I had more reading than I have had in any of my classes at Dickinson, and as much as we all dreaded sitting in our rooms night after night staring at PDFs on a computer screen I realize that in order to truly appreciate this city and all it has to offer I need to learn the history, the variety of cultures, and its roots to understand what a magnificent metropolis I am living in. Now that I feel like I have the basics down, and am beginning to feel more comfortable with the surrounding area I safely can board the tube and travel it wherever my little heart desires. I also am beginning to practice for cooking on my own for once I get to Norwich (okay, my friend Patsy is practicing cooking and I clean up afterwards, but it's a step).

Since it has been quite some time since my last blog post I am going to try and list some of my highlights:
-National Theater
~Watch this Space: an amazing outdoor dance/theater area for free!
~Backstage tour of EVERYTHING! (it employs approximately 860 people--maybe I'll become one of them someday...)

-Southbank
~Nothing in particular, but there are lots of cool street performers
~Oh and I finally rode the carousel!!!

-Regents and St. James Parks
~Absolutely beautiful (no pictures yet, but they're coming...)

-Stonehenge
~After my 4th grade P.A.C.E. project it was thrilling to finally see it in person

-Bath
~Although Bath was designed to be a tourist city I think it was my favorite place. I wandered around by myself for hours finding random alleys and small empty parks all over the area. During my wandering a came across a Catholic church so went into pray. I have been to a lot of churches since I have been here, but most of them have had monuments, shrines, etc. Not this one though. It was one of the most beautiful churches I have ever been to. I sat there for an extended period of time thinking about how lucky I am to be in such an amazing place and to have this opportunity.

-St. Paul's Cathedral
~The interior is absolutely breathtaking. Too incredible for words (and sadly unable to be photographed)
~I also climbed to the top of the dome and had THE MOST AMAZING view of the city!

-Buckingham Palace
~I went at night when no one else was there and it was all lit up, and sadly I did not have my camera with me, so I have no evidence however I found a photo online that I hope allows you to see how super exciting it was!


-Victoria and Alberts Museum
~The exhibits were amazing, I probably will go into more detail about this particular museum when I return possible tomorrow

So, those were just a few of the things I've done. I promise to try and keep up with this more regularly. Look forward to thoughts from my journal on dance, art, and other random things from my mind. In the meantime I have put up ALL of my photos that I've uploaded so far on photobucket. Click here: http://s848.photobucket.com/albums/ab42/apower13/ to see them and I will try and update them as regularly as I can (hopefully more than this blog)

Until then..

xo.
-A.

Back to School

After having spent a glorious few days being typical tourists in London we finally sat down as an entire group for our first classroom setting discussion. We covered a lot of material in a very short period of time, and with a group so large (and with so many outspoken peers it made it difficult for me to express my thoughts/opinions) so I thought I'd share some of our discussion, as well as some of the things I was thinking about. And I would love to hear anyone elses opinions on the subject.

We focused today's meeting mainly on Wilson's "A History of London", a couple of poems by Blake, Wordsworth, and Reading, and Dickens' "Great Expectations". The topics that mainly came up were the restriction that comes with identity, and the different identifying qualities of identity: race, gender, ethnicity, class, etc. In discussing how people become stuck in a place, stuck in London, unable to move up or out of a place in life, we began talking about the American Dream. Focusing specifically on "Great Expectations" and the character Pip and how he wants to move up in class. When we're brought up Americans are typically told we can do anything, we can do anything we want to do. However this is not a typical theme in British culture. Dickens expresses the idea that to remain in ones original class and to be happy with life is a more respectable thing. Joe, who appears to be Pip's foil, remains lower in class but is content with his life. He manages to see the good in a situation opposed to Pip who is constantly trying to move away from this life.

In this I began thinking about the importance of class vs. character. Which is more important? Who is it more important to? Is it a personal opinion? Is it something more related to culture and nationality? For Pip class was the most important thing. He respected the wealthy and the "gentlemen" more, however Joe could be considered a "gentleman" himself, for the way he carried himself and behaved.

Although this course is focused on London, I could not help but tie my American roots into the topic and I began thinking about Jason Michael Carroll's song "Where I'm From". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Hywo9xhNoQ It is a song about two men who meet on a plane. One man is wearing an Armani suit and is clearly a business man, the other is from small-town Middle (or Southern) America, and begins talking about his simple life. At the end of the song you find out that the business man is too from a similar town and background, however has moved up in class and wealth. His roots are planted in the same place as the other man's, however his lifestyle has changed. His character has not changed with his class, simply his appearance. This reminded me of Pip and Joe's relationship, because Pip moved up in class, but his character changed as well, whereas Joe's character never faltered.

I realize this is a lot (and probably a bit sporadic in thought) however I wanted to get my thoughts out there before I forgot what we discussed.

Rule #1: Always have "London A-Z map"

Two 50+lb suitcases, one overweight carry-on, and a sleepless seven hour plane ride later I arrived safely in London on Thursday morning. After arriving at our hotel, the Arran House which is located in Bloomsbury right by the University of London, and pumping with excitement our professor sent us out into the city each with a partner and a tube stop location. Our mission: find the stop, walk around, and make it back to the hotel by 6pm (not using the same form of transportation we used to get there). Easy.

After purchasing a £5 mobile my partner and I were off to find the Tower Hill tube stop. When we arrived the first thing we saw across the street was the Tower of London. Excited to get a closer look we hurried across the street (after looking the wrong way for cars) and were immediately absorbed into a crowd of tourists. Fitting right in we pulled out our cameras and began taking photos of everything in sight. As we made our way around the Tower we saw the Tower Bridge coming into view. We crossed the bridge and whipped out our bus maps and began plotting our route back to the hotel.



No direct buses + rush hour traffic + two sleep deprived girls + lack of knowledge of London= a very difficult journey home (with 3 min to spare)


The next morning we took a boat ride down the Thames to Greenwich and got a very brief tour of many of the major London landmarks, it was kind of a reality check that we are in London. In Greenwich we walked up to the Royal Observatory and the History of Astronomy museum and of course took pictures straddling the prime meridian! We spent the remainder of the day on a group walking tour of our professor learning the history of Greenwich.

Although we had been walking all day I still had a lot of pent up energy and decided to go for a brief run. Long story short, the streets of London are a lot more difficult to navigate than those in Canton and my quick run took me on a 2 hour tour of the city. But I made it back safely with a map from the very nice concierge in hand.

I've had three very exhausting (but exciting) days, with plenty more to come and I can't wait! I absolutely love this city so far and am looking forward to really experiencing some of the things I love (music and dance especially). Most of our syllabus looks like it will history and culture based, so I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say as the days come. Until then..

xo.

The Beginning

At the beginning of the summer I decided I was going to make a blog for my time spent in England for my family and friends to follow while I'm gone. But in true Amanda fashion I procrastinated and began second-guessing this idea. Mainly because I remembered my previous attempt at an online journal that crashed and burned with my teen angst circa 2004 (RIP Amanda and Siobhan's Livejournals). However, I decided to go through with it anyways and hopefully I will be motivated enough to keep this up, even if no one reads it, simply for my own records of what I did while studying abroad.

So here it is.

My first blog entry.

I cannot make any promises about how regularly I'll update this. I can also not make any promises about how interesting these posts will be. But alas, I shall do my best to keep you informed about my travels, thoughts, and adventures while in England. I leave in 5 days, so until then..

xo.
-A