Where did October go?

Well, let's see... It went to Dublin, Paris, Edinburgh, and managed to spend a little time in London, too.

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last wrote -- nothing monumental has happened, things are starting to seem more normal here as we adjust a little more each week, and now we only have five weeks of class left! And I have four essays and three presentations to hand in before we leave. How did that happen?

My camera broke in Munich so I haven't had a camera in while... therefore no photos to post on the blog, so I didn't want to bore you with just words. Un petit summary of the past few weeks, with highlights of course:

October 17-19 - DUBZ

I met Uncle Danny in Dublin on Friday morning, where we were greeted by cold weather, rain, and lots of beer. Really, we decided that the entire culture of Dublin, and perhaps Ireland as a whole, revolves around the pub. They drink, and they drink, and they drink. The most popular tourist attraction in Dublin, we learned, is the Guinness Storehouse. We went, of course! It is a 9 story building with displays and stories and videos about the history of Guinness and how the stout is actually made. It smells like hops inside! Of course, there is a huge souvenir store filled with all things Guinness, and a bar at the top floor where you can pull your own draft and get a free (well, "free" with the price of the ticket to the factory) pint of Guinness. The best part about it is the floor to ceiling windows around the entire circular room, with amazing views of Dublin, and James Joyce quotes stenciled on the windows. I didn't have my free pint because I was starting to get a cold, but Uncle Danny got the full effect:


We did some other touristy things - took tours of Dublin Castle and Trinity College, and then mostly walked and ate! What else could you want, anyway? There was a lot of shopping on one of the main drags, and we even went into the Irish "Primark" called Penneys. It's operated by the same company and looks just the same - well, a little more crappy, if possible. It was still very exciting, though. We had dinner with Travis and then I met up with Sean and Sam, two guys from Penn who are studying in Dublin, on Saturday night. Temple Bar is a very happening area of Dublin - it's lined with pubs on either side, which are filled to the max nightly. It seemed a little touristy though - I could hear a lot of American/non-Irish accents around. It was still fun though, and nice to stay in a pub past midnight or so (when they tend to close in London....).

Dublin verdict: Like many European cities. Glad I went. Don't need to go again. Thanks Unc!

Oct. 22-27: La visite de la famille! et Paris!

Shop, walk, eat, shop, walk, eat, buy Longchamps and Herve Chepelier bags, eat, get fat.

Went to Portobello Road market yet again, and also to Borough Market -- this incredibly large and delicious food market with tons of samples and fresh vegetables, fish, meat, olives, pasta, sandwiches, sausage, brownies, cheese.... everything. I can't wait to go back every week - it's right near the London Bridge Tube station so it's nice and convenient. We walked around to every possible shopping area in London, tried on countless pairs of boots, and ate the traditional British food that Alison missed from her time in London (I don't know how you can miss English food, but perhaps I will someday). We went for tea and scones and little sandwiches at Harvey Nichols, a nice department store right near Harrods. (FYI, all the cool kids call it Harvey Nicks.)

Paris - what can I say? It's still beautiful, I remember the city and the neighborhoods pretty well from my month there before senior year of high school, and the food is the best I've had since I've been in Europe. Really - even better than the German food. Every meal was delicious - so many moules, steak au poivres, soupe l'oignon, frites, CREPES (obvy), falafel... need I say more? We also shopped our hearts out in Paris and bought plenty of gifts, and walked a ridiculous amount, which made us feel slightly better about all of the food we ate (but not really). We spent an afternoon with Josette walking in Ile de Saint-Louis and having tea in the Marais, where our hotel was. Le Marais is the Jewish neighborhood/gayborhood of Paris -- this means great little boutique shopping, beaucoup des patisseries, falafel, and amazing Jewish bakeries. It was the perfect place to stay. Laura is studying in Paris and hung out with us pretty much the whole weekend -- not only was it great to see her but her French really helped... although I must say I impressed myself with my own! I can't believe I remember how to speak French. Then again, when things got complicated we all looked at Laura to fix whatever situation we were in.

Paris Verdict: Better food than London, better shopping, better exchange rate, and more beautiful people. However, not quite as advanced as London, in a lot of ways. Still glad I made the decision to come to London (not just because I can take classes in English)!

Nov. 1-8: David!

I have the BEST boyfriend, seriously. David flew all the way out here from California, made plans for us to go to Edinburgh, and spoiled me the entire week. We had a really relaxing time (I had the week off from class for reading week) just walking around, eating, sleeping in, and doing a little sightseeing. Edinburgh was nice -- the train ride up was very long but we entertained ourselves with the first season of Entourage (SO good, but bad for my whole movie star desire complex), and the city was really cute. We stayed in "old town," where the castle and the Queen's Palace are. We had some good meals, and even tried haggis and black pudding. And by try, I mean the tiniest bite ever. It was salty, that's all I can say. David's aunt has a Scottish friend who showed us around one day -- he took us out to lunch and then drove us around the outskirts of Edinburgh to see some cool bridges and little fishing towns along the coast. He even brought us to his little house for tea. A little odd, but a very nice and smart man.

On a hill with a nice view of Edinburgh and the coast

In front of Edinburgh castle with a bunch of tourists behind me.

By some cool bridge on our car trip...

Edinburgh verdict: Nice old and cold city with weird food and funny accents. Glad I went, don't need to go back.

David and I returned to London on Tuesday AKA OBAMA DAY!!!!! OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA! So exciting. I am SOOO jealous that I was not in the US for election night -- the rallies and parties in the streets looked amazing and I get goosebumps when I watch. We went to a bar that had BBC news broadcasting the election from about midnight to 2:30, and were there when the PA results came in. BBC sucked, though, since they didn't really even know the names of the states and what was going on, and their panel was terrible too. We came back home and watched the rest of it on MSNBC.com's live streaming on my laptop. Not as exciting to be on your own as opposed to a big room cheering at every announcement, but I still got choked up as the results came in and he gave his speech. The newspapers the next day were ALL filled with election coverage, and really great photos of Obama on the cover... and headlines like, "Change has come," or, "America just got a little bit cooler." It's interesting to be here while all of this is happening - people are excited but very skeptical too. I wish I could feel the energy back home, though.

Anyway, the rest of the week we did Portobello Road, Chinatown, The Tate Modern, the Design Museum (really cool), Parliament and Westminster Abbey, and walked along Southbank. We had a few really good meals and by very early Sunday morning it was back to normal, and by normal, I mean a ton of schoolwork.

In Chinatown pointing to a lot of drying meat.

So, that brings me to today, Wednesday, November 12th. David loaned me his camera so I can stop boring you with words and just show you the good stuff from now on -- then again, we won't be doing too many exciting things within the next few weeks because now it's time to crack down on those essays. I knew this would happen. Oh well. We are here to study, after all....