Perfect music to listen to when you’re on a plane ride home from London and just a tad depressed to be leaving…
Studying abroad in London has proven to be my favorite college memory so far. And yes, I realize I have only attended university for a quarter. But I don’t see how the ten days I spent in London could be matched by the next two quarters of school. I attended London, England with 23 other freshman honors students over winter break. We all took a class focusing on British culture and then we actually traveled to the country once the quarter ended. Most of our time was spent in the quaint but enormous city of London, but we got the chance to travel to Stonehenge, Bath, and Cambridge. Our time was well balanced between free time and planned activities. We saw the historic sites of London. We experienced the city’s theatre and arts. We saw the ancient architecture. We learned how to maneuver the subway. We imitated citizens’ accents. We were on the go for most of our time in the city, but I would not trade the exhaustion for any of the unforgettable memories.
The people in my group made each moment in London more memorable. Spending close to 24 hours a day with these people allowed us to grow incredibly close in such a short amount of time. My strongest memory from the trip was at Stonehenge. I had finally caught my breath after laughing hysterically at the ridiculous photos we were taking in front of the historic site and I just took a moment to actually look at the people around me. I soaked it all in. Here I was in the middle of England at a place older than anything else I’d ever seen before in America. It was almost surreal. I was experiencing all of these firsts with these people who I had just met but already knew so well. Within a few days in England, I had already grown closer to these friends than anyone else I’ve met yet on campus.
I wanted to study abroad mainly to meet new people. I don’t live in an honors dorm, so taking this class and making the trip allowed me to meet other students who shared a similar foundation to mine. It was also my chance to travel the world. This study abroad experience had a large impact on me- maybe even more than most people. Because of this trip and the group I was in, I’m contemplating switching my major. The group I was in focused on linguistics and accents across different cultures. I loved it. Not only did I find a new city and new friends that I loved, but I also found a passion for a potential area of study.
The best week of my life came to a close all too quickly. We woke up at an ungodly hour to eat our last gourmet hotel breakfast and then head to the airport. It was a long layover in Newark- 7 hours- but it still passed too quickly. It was my last day with these people, so of course I dreaded its close. Honestly, if it weren’t for this trip, I would have considered transferring schools. But I’ve found a possible major that few schools other than Ohio State offer, found they have more (and rarer) foreign languages to study, offer other equally quality study abroad programs (hello Honors Athens!), and (most importantly) I’ve found people who I don’t want to leave. I oddly felt as if this group of people was my niche, and we plan on meeting every Wednesday night winter quarter to catch up and hang out with each other in good old Columbus. I’m ending this journal a bit depressedly. I’m just now coming off my London high and I’m already craving that experience again. Here’s to hoping I find that feeling again at some point in my life-
LuvChelsie
DAY #8
I had been nervously saving my money for our last day in London- withdrawing money from the ATM, setting a general daily budget, and constantly second-guessing how much money I should take to my biggest (well, most likely) shopping expenditure of the week. I was planning for a big day and my wish came true right away. As we were heading down the stairs to the Tube, I was lingering behind with two other students when the bell sounded, signaling that the train was leaving. The last thing we wanted was to get separated on the Underground, but we weren’t within reach of the train. So, being the odd individual I am, my natural instinct was to run towards the train in what I remember as a sort of slow motion movie scene with an intense look of concentration on my face. I leaped into the closing train doors to the squeals and protests and disbelief f my classmates. Chelsie! What are you thinking?! But you know what? I got us on that train. And we were not separated. Mission accomplished…except I was too weak to reopen the subway doors that were pressing in on me…
After my embarrassed classmate pried me out of the doors and we finished our eventful ride, we arrived at Camden Market, an impoverished, run-down street cluttered with clumps of tents and street vendors. I set off with two of my girlfriends as we quickly learned the tactics of group haggling. Mention another vendor with a cheaper price. Compare the item in question to a better item in America. Act disinterested. Pretend like you only have a set amount of money with you. Vendors will do anything for a sale. We shuffled and ducked our way through a predominantly dress-oriented tent cluster and then moved on to the next group of tents down the street that seemed to sell mostly hats and accessories. After being unable to refuse so many good deals, we headed over to the Museum of London, which was in all honesty a terribly boring museum. I think my expectations were just too great. The V&A Museum and the National Museum just set my standards too high. I can’t even really tell you what the museum focused its displays on.
That night we had our group dinner at a local Indian restaurant called Poppadom Express. It was all too perfect that our last night was spent as a group over food- I was going to miss these people…and I do. Already.
Our last night out on the town was spent with the majority of the group at the Fountains Abbey Pub. We all stood up and toasted to our first impression of the group and our favorite memory from the trip. We couldn’t contain our smiles that night; we just genuinely enjoyed spending time together. We laughed and giggled our way through the night, recounting stories from the trip and closing the night with promises of seeing each other as soon as returned to school from our holiday break. These people became my family, and that night (while it was our last in London), will not be our last time together.
With the pretext in mind that all European countries are markedly advanced in fashion in comparison to the United States, I expected fashion in London to be unlike anything I’d seen before. That wasn’t completely true. While their sense of style was in fact quite different from an American’s, I would feel completely comfortable sporting their fashion trends here in the states. They set themselves apart in a subtle, non-obnoxious way.
The first trend I noticed in Britain was a common outfit among the girls, where they paired shorts of any fabric with leggings, tights, or stockings. It was pretty surprising. Here we were in the middle of winter and girls were wearing jean shorts and wool shorts with sheer, patterned hose. I could not brave the cold in that outfit. But they pulled it off.
Many British clothing pieces for females were less form-fitting, tight, and revealing than American clothes. Their clothing was more modest in London, without sacrificing style. Many of the clothes available in stores were loose tunics, frocks, and sweaters.
The newest American fashion statement seems to be leggings. In Britain, I found what I like to call stockings. They weren’t quite pants, but they weren’t leggings either. I purchased a tan and cream pair of stockings with a winter-esque design that kept me warm and stylish in the London cold. Males seemed to keep warm with the common 1920s-style newsboy hat.
The big color scheme in London stores seemed to be pastels and baby-doll colors. White and cream variations. Peach. A light bronze. Hair clips could be found in many stores which is even more indicative of the girlish fashion sense. The best places to shop were on Oxford Street and Knightsbridge Street, or haggling in Camden and Greenwich markets.
Beneath the traditional British peacoat, scarf, and bundles of warm layers, there lay a distinct sense of fashion.
DAY #7
On Friday morning, my group began its day chaotically by piling into our tour bus for our trip to….Cambridge! Once I had systematically dozed off on the bus, I awoke to the enchanting sight of snow flurries sticking to our bus…which was currently stopped on the highway shoulder due to maintenance problems. But no worries. We were off again in no time.
We arrived at the picturesque little town of Cambridge uncharacteristically late and facing an unwelcome burst of cold. So the two elderly ladies who would be serving as our Cambridge tour-guides decided to save us both time and frostbite by giving us a shortened bus tour rather than the planned walking tour. It was a welcome change. Once we got a feel for the woodsy, park-filled town of Cambridge, we unloaded at the American Military Cemetery Memorial where World War II British and American soldiers had been buried. It reminded me Washington, D.C. and Arlington National Cemetery.
After the somber memorial, we toured King’s College with our two tour guides. It was one of 31 colleges that comprises Cambridge. We spent most of our time within the college chapel. The campus was rather deserted since courses were not in session, but it was by far the prettiest campus I’ve ever seen. And one of the quietest.
After the tour, we received our routine free time where a few of us dropped in Caffe Nero for lunch and then perused Cambridge Market, snapping some pictures in front of the iconic red phone booths along the way. Cambridge Market was filled with vegetable vendors, booths that sold warm drinks, and tents that sold jewelry, accessories, and clothes. We stumbled into a fudge factory that everyone seemed to be fascinated by, but I still think my grandma’s fudge is superior (I’m biased). We grew familiar with the few streets we repeatedly strolled. I was glad we had arrived at Cambridge later than we had planned and that our time was cut short; it was a beautiful town but it didn’t have much to do. It was a college town…Brit style.
On the bus ride back, I sang quite loudly and off-pitch to songs on my iPod along with five other friends. WE at least found it entertaining. I don’t think the rest of our sleeping group did…
That night our group went to one of the sketchiest parts of London we’d seen yet- Hackney. Dark characters slinked around the streets and no respectable institutions occupied a business here. For the first time in homey England, I didn’t feel safe. But I was with my boys so I didn’t mind too much. Why were we in Hackney? To see the British pantomime Cinderella. Pantomimes apparently debut only during the holidays In London, so this was a limited edition show. The show at first felt like it was geared for children, but all the local adults seemed to be engrossed in the show. It reminded me of a farse that contained dancing, a simple fairy-tale plot, and largely obnoxious male drag-queens.
We ended the night in our own sort of musical…on the subway…in Hackney…in a rough area…dancing…and singing…to old school rap…SO typical…
DAY #6
TOWER OF LONDONNN!
I had heard SO much about this place before the trip. Well. Mainly about the crown of jewels. But I still had no idea what to expect.
From the outskirts, the Tower of London looks like a sort of fortress. We couldn’t see the entire attraction because of the white stone wall protecting the village-like arena from sight, but I imagined castles and turrets occupying the land.
We were set free when we stepped foot into the fortress, but I felt like we had been transported back in time. All the buildings looked to me like they had been at their prime in the Middle Ages. I loved it. White washed stone seemed to be the chief building block of the little fortress. Our first stop was the white chapel-or castle-I can’t remember. Life size pieces of armor were on display along with other ancient artifacts and recreations. But what I found more breath-taking was the architecture of the castle. The winding staircases. The stone arches. The crumbling yet strudy walls. The wooden floor. The layout. Everything in this building amazed me. I was walking on a floor that held so much history- and important history at that.
We walked out of the white chapel and into the stone courtyard and there, right in front of us, was the building that held the crown of jewels. The beautiful, glistening, shimmering, hunks of rock jewels on countless crowns and tiaras and swords. I was dazzled.
And then we viewed the torture chamber. Which was solemn and depressing and dark and everything the crown of jewels wasn’t.
We ate lunch at Eat and with our tummies full, we were ready for our boat cruise to Greenwich. We passed right under the Tower Bridge after it opened specifically for us. The view from the upper deck of the boat was spectacular. The glistening River Thames. The dilapidated buildings lining the shore. The modern skyscrapers in the distance. Ahhh. The boat itself wasn’t an elegant cruiseship, but the view made it feel like one.
Finally, we arrived at Greenwich. Greenwich was (and here I insert a very thought-out, one-word description of the place) clean. The buildings are white. The town homes are ritzy. The streets (in my memory) are stone. The parks…were there! And they were huge and clean without litter and dogs milled around within their borders. We had to make the very long trek up one of the longest and steepest hills I’ve ever seen. I don’t particularly care for any sort of physical exercise, so this was a big deal. At the top of this hill lay our destination: the Royal Observatory Astronomy Centre, where the main event was snapping pictures over the prime meridian. By straddling the marked prime meridian line, you could stand in two different hemispheres at one time. We got pretty creative with our pictures, doing the Bernie and (of coures) the Tebow over the line.
The girls and I fell in love with Greenwich Market as soon as we stepped into the cluttered square. It resembled what is in my head a flea market, where white lights were hung over tented booths enclosed in a quaint, brick square of shops. I didn’t haggle, but I did find some deals, mainly the 1 pound vintage Jane Austen novel I snatched up.
The last stop of the day was Covent Garden where more mainstream commercial stores awaited us, but for once, we were all shopped out. So we rode the Tube back to the hotel and spent the rest of the night roaming the city and settling in at our new favorite pub: The Fountains Abbey.
Brits love their soccer. It is the epitome of sports in Europe, and England is no exception. As a large tourist group, we of course went to watch a soccer game…or football game, if we’re using Brit lingo.
Wednesday. December 14. 2011. 8:00 p.m. Fulham vs. Odensa. Fulham, England.
At the Fulham stadium, one set of seats was allotted for Fulham supporters and the opposite set for the away team. We sat in the seating behind the goal which was designated for the neutral ticket-payers. The game was intense. Fulham took an early lead and held that advantage for the majority of the game. Due to the sheer atmosphere and large support of Fulham in the stadium, our group was easily swayed into rooting for the home team. Yet I still fully support Chelsea FC in all circumstances- we share a name after all.
Second half. One minute left in the game. 2-1 Fulham. Fulham shoots and!….misses. Odensa retaliates. Dribbles down the field. 20 seconds left in the game. Odensa shoots and!…scores. And ties the game. And ends the game. The stadium was distraught.
While our group was not ecstatic about the outcome of the game and supporting a losing team, we all could recognize the beauty of the sport and the talent in the game that seemed to be lacking in America. We didn’t let the loss get us down too much. Early on in the week, our group had found joy in striking the Tebow at any venue we could. The Fulham soccer stadium was one such venue. The boys got down on their knees and performed their best still image imitation of Tim Tebow the football player, which was quite ironic given that we were capturing the wrong type of football. The running joke soon sent us into a fit of laughter, and our down spirits were quickly uplifted.
And in other sports…London is also home to the Wimbledon Tournament and consequently the Wimbledon Courts. We attempted to make a trip to the stadium on our free day, but to no avail. Still. The idea that tennis is such a major sport in England proves the country’s class and elegance as a whole. In my summers, I wake up a tad early just so that I can watch the current tennis tournament playing on one of the main stations. The Wimbledon has always been my favorite tennis tournament and I was on its home turf in London. The next British sport I want to watch? Rugby. I know little about the sport (I really can’t tell you a thing about it), but the sport must have some sort of value to be so popular in England.
The highly awaited 2012 summer olympics is being hosted by London, and Londoners’ pride and excitement at this bit of news was clearly evident. The London Eye will boast the olympics logo for all to see. On our fourth day in London, our group got to not only witness where the summer olympics beach volleyball events will take place, but we also got to walk through the area. It didn’t feel real. I couldn’t be close to something this massive and international. But I was. And it was all too real.
DAY #5
After starting the morning off a little later than we had hoped, I began my free day at approximately 10:00 a.m. along with at least half of our study abroad group.
We set off for the Millennium Bridge, situated over the ice blue River Thames. The bridge was entirely modern with a sleek design and open only to pedestrians, so we used the bridge to walk across the river and reach Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Half of us took a tour of the historic stage and stadium, learning about Shakespeare’s plays, the recreation of the theatre, and the general layout of the Globe. It was extreme juxtaposition. The globe theatre dates back centuries ago and the Millennium Bridge is this modern engineering project…and yet these two architectural designers are side by side.
We then took the Tube to Putney in an attempt to tour the Wimbledon. That didn’t happen, but we’ll get to that later. The Tube ride there was worth it in itself. Becca and I popped in the iPod earphones and decided to give Tube riders the gift of our lip syncing and interpretative dance. It was great. At least to us. When we finally got to Putney, we stopped in a little restaurant called Putney’s Pies. We tried chutney and bread for the first time and I unknowingly ordered a 15 pound shepherd holiday special pie. Complete with turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy. It was delicious, but it was also 15 pounds. Some people who ordered the regular shepherd’s pie did not agree to the delectableness of the food. In fact, it made Ryne so angry that he…well…let’s just say he left the staff a surprise in the bathroom. We’re a pretty mature group.
We quickly left that joint in pursuit of the Wimbledon. Which we found out was NOT within walking distance and would cost extra money to take the Tube that far. Our natural fallback plan was to go shopping, so the large group broke off into more manageable smaller groups. The girls and I headed to Knightsbridge for shopping at places other than Harrod’s and then made a 20 minute visit to Piccadilly Circus just to fully soak in the culture and atmosphere of the mini New York Times Square. Before we left, we made a pitstop at Starbucks for- what else?- TIFFINNN! (andalsothisdeliciouscaramelshortbread).
Then we met the entire group back at the hotel for our only scheduled activity of the day: the Fulham soccer game. I was in an extremely goofy mood at this point. To be truthful, I wasn’t even acting weird in comparison to how I normally act, but no one in the group had seen the real Chelsie until this point. My groupmates legitimately thought I was drunk. I guess I have this knack for acting drunk when I am completely and totally sober because I get that a lot. The walk from the Tube to the game was incredibly long and dark and sketchy…but full of bonding time. We got to the game with more than an hour to spare, which was fairly typical of our group. I got sleepy and cold all at once.
During the first half of the Fulham vs. Odensa soccer game, I tried to nap and Michael as my pillow. It didn’t work. So I went and ordered myself a mug of hot cocoa, used Thomas as a lap blanket, and genuinely enjoyed the game.
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(The above dots indicate my intentional ommission of the game’s events…the next post will be centered on athletics, so don’t you worry all you sports fanatics!)
The walk to the Tube from the game was filled with three consecutive piggy back rides for yours truly. Gotta love those boys. It took us forever to get home on the Tube and we weren’t in the best area, so what other remedy was there but to sing AND dance while waiting? Mainly to “Grillz” by Nelly. We were all (mainly me) being abnormally (well, normally for me) weird and crazy. We didn’t even notice the weird stares we got from strangers because, believe it or not, the British listen to American music and vice versa and the British DO in fact know old school Nelly rap.
The Tube ride home was a long one and we quickly became famished. The solution? A late night run to Food City for some sammies that we would eat in the hotel lobby. Gearing up for another longgg day.
Amidst the dissonance and inharmonious racket on the streets of London, a sort of beautiful refrain could be found among the speech. Now don’t get the wrong idea. London is not this raucously loud city. I could sleep peacefully at night without fear of awaking to an obnoxious noise at an ungodly hour. I digress and return to my original point. The accents we found in England were gorgeous, affluent, fluid, and confident and rang beautifully everywhere we traveled.
At times, British English confused me and my American English habits. When I first heard of tiffin, I was confused as to why they would put “biscuits” in a chocolate dessert, only to realize that “biscuit” implied “cookie”. Despite having heard the cliche menu item many times, I pictured my fish really being served with chips rather than french fries. I heard little children complaining to their parents that they “needed to use the toilet” rather than the “restroom”. I often forgot how dirty the word “bloody” truly is to a Brit. I learned that “arse” means “butt” and “snogging” means “kissing” (thank you Harry Potter for that heads up). I grew used to the more intellectual exclamation of “brilliant!” rather than America’s less than adequate “cool!” I grew accustomed to British English, but I still found it beautifully foreign.
Our group was able to directly compare and contrast the British language upon viewing the theatrical performance of Blood Brothers. Wealth and social class are large determinants in Britain of how a person speaks, whereas regional boundaries affect speech in America. Anyhow, Blood Brothers told a story of twins separated at birth, with one twin belonging to the poorest of the poor families and the other possessing any item he could ever dream of wanting. The Cockney accent (full of glottal stops) was evident in the poorer child, while traces of a more sophisticated British accent and knowledge could be detected in the wealthier child. In real life, I noted the distinctive Cockney accent belonging to one of the local bartenders. It was all too fitting of the accent/social status connection; the bartender did not live luxuriously and he spoke with the accent typical of the working class.
Before the trip, my group focused on the linguistic aspect of London in class. As a result, I’m seriously contemplating switching my major from English to linguistics. I don’t know what I would do with a linguistics degree. I just know that I love learning about it. I find myself imitating accents and picking them up quickly (since college, my parents have accused me of developing a Cleveland accent complete with long a’s, despite having grown up in Columbus my whole life). So amidst the new friends and new memories I’ve created from this trip, I have also developed a new passion and possibly a new career field.
