Everything but the Turkey

Thanksgiving Feast in New Cross!

Who: 17 Americans and Europeans - nostalgic for their family recipes or wondering what this whole Thanksgiving thing is all about. Planned and executed by Dalila and me - with assistance from Laura and Aida, Dalila's flatmates. And Mike made the cornbread.
What: 2 chickens, 4 pounds of meatballs, 3 pans of stuffing, 3 pans of sweet potatoes, 2 loafs of cornbread, cranberry sauce, green beans, roasted root vegetables, and corn. Dessert: Maple Walnut Cake and Dulce de Leche Bread Pudding.
Where: Dalila's flat at Goldsmith's, about 30 minutes outside Central London. Two ovens, 8 burners, 2 sinks, and a lot of aluminum foil pans.
When: Two weeks of planning, our mouths watering over epicurious.com's beautiful photographs of their Thanksgiving recipes, a full day of braving the aisles of Asda (part of the Wal-Mart family) and Sainsbury searching for ingredients we didn't realize were particularly American, and cooking from 9:30 am Thursday until the ravenous troops arrived at 6. We stuffed our faces with seconds, and maybe even thirds (just the sweet potatoes, of course) late into the night.

And yes, it was perfect, if I do say so myself. It may not equal a Thanksgiving at the Squire household, but for a bunch of college students in a tiny dorm kitchen, it was as gourmet as could be. Enjoy the photos, and don't get too hungry...

Me with the classic sweet potato, pineapple, and cornflake casserole. They don't sell canned sweet potatoes in England (they sell canned EVERYTHING ELSE, though...) so we washed, peeled, chopped, boiled, and mashed 12 sweet potatoes to compensate. It tasted the same, don't worry.

Two chickens in the oven, beautifully cleaned and dressed by Laura (she is a farmer's daughter, after all).

Chestnut, Prune, and Pancetta stuffing (thank you, epicurious)

Another shot of the feast

Dalila working her magic with the green beans

The masterminds...watch out Giada

Dalila's flatmates enjoying this American craziness - we even made everyone go around and say what they were thankful for. Painful as usual.

Dalila, Mike, and Sami on the air mattress in the kitchen (there weren't enough chairs)

A typical photograph of me and LP who visited from Thursday to Tuesday!

Laura came from Paris for the weekend and I attempted to show her a slightly less touristy version of London - my two favorite places were at the top of the list: Borough Market and Portobello Road. We also made sure to see Harrod's, which was nauseatingly Christmased out, and managed to do plenty of damage at Topshop. And she got to enjoy the lovely London weather - it has been freezing here most days and the rain isn't even a surprise to us anymore. We just expect it. It was nice to reminisce and increase the female population around here for a while (Sami and I are feeling boy-ed out).

A couple of weeks ago, I braved the Toni and Guy hair academy to get a trendy London cut for only 5 pounds. Although the girl who cut my hair spoke Spanish only, and after practically every snip she needed to show the teacher before she could proceed to the next section of my hair, it actually turned out great! It also took 3 hours, but hey, when you only have 8 hours of class a week, that's nothing. I also went to the London Transport Museum with Brandon (it's like crack for us URBSies).

Brandon "driving" a tube train in the Museum. Cooooool.

The preparation and execution of our feast took up a lot of my time so I haven't been up to too much these days. I can't believe there are only two weeks left! That's right - I leave two weeks from today. I'm really excited to be home and then go back to Penn, but I have to get a lot done here before that happens. Plus there's everything I haven't seen here that I meant to see - so I better get those 2 papers done soon. OH - update on the professor situation -- Michael Collins does NOT hate me, even though I skipped our last recitation last week to cook for Thanksgiving... but it's not my fault. He changed the day at the last minute and obviously you can't really change when Thanksgiving is. Anyway, I met with him to get an essay back and he was really friendly and conversational, and complimented my writing style. So, the coast is clear... and now he knows that our grades here get factored into our GPA at home so I'm hoping he'll be a little forgiving for our final grade!

Two essays to go... See you on the other side.

The peace sign backwards

Yesterday in class, I did something really stupid. Get ready.

So, in my British history class, there are only about 12 people in the recitation and it is quite the intimate setup. I have already embarrassed myself greatly in front of my professor (a young, intelligent, and energetic guy - I may or may not have a crush on him - that's besides the point though) TWICE. The first was when I didn't exactly realize that the Dominions fought in WWI and WWII (it's not that I denied it per se... I just didn't really ever think about it. I mean - did YOU know that? Do you even KNOW what the Dominions are? Right.) and the professor called me out on it - on the first day of recitation. The second time, I was in the hallway telling Brandon about my paper that I had handed in that morning, and explaining (quite loudly on our way out of the building) that I didn't exactly stick to the structural guidelines that the professor had suggested, because I liked my way better for the question I chose. Of course, the professor was right behind us and I said, "great timing," and proceeded to talk to him for about five minutes to try to cover my arse and mend the situation (which I think I did a pretty good job of).

As if those two events weren't enough to make him annoyed at the stupid American exchange student in his class, I think I really pissed him off yesterday. I gave a presentation which I was kind of nervous about, considering the past events, but it turned out fine and I was over it. Throughout the class, I participated a lot (you're expected to on the day you present because you know more about the material than everyone else). I was sitting in the professor's line of vision, pretty close to him. All in all, class was going fine. He didn't have his watch on, and usually when he forgets it, he asks us to let him know when we only have a few minutes left in class so that he doesn't go over. So, when there were just a couple of minutes left, I looked down at my watch. It wasn't obvious, but I thought he saw me out of the corner of his eye. I looked up, and he looked up too, but he was still speaking. I thought his gaze meant: how much time do we have left, Rachel? There were two minutes left, so I held up two fingers, with my palm facing me. That's just the way my hand was at the time. He stopped talking and gave me a puzzled look. I said, two minutes left -- and as soon as the words left my mouth, I realized what I had just done. You see, instead of the middle finger, the British use their first two fingers to insult someone. It even has a historical source: During the Hundred Years War, if the French captured any British archers they would cut off their first two fingers out of spite. If a British archer still had his, he would give the two-finger salute during a battle, taunting the French by saying, hey, screw you, I have mine!

So, as you can guess, I was absolutely humiliated. I immediately buried my head in my hands, nervously giggling and babbling, oh my GOD I'm so sorry I didn't mean it that way at all It means nothing when you do that in the US I was just telling you there were two minutes left in class You aren't wearing a watch I thought you saw me I'm so sorry oy oy oy OY. Brandon was sitting next to me cracking up - the rest of the class was either confused because they didn't see what happened, or probably thinking, what an idiot. My professor sort of gave a smile but seemed a little bit annoyed and continued with his point. At the end of the class I apologized profusely again and he seemed to understand, so that's good. I think it will be okay and he probably already forgot about it. I have to meet with him next week to get a paper back and am convinced I'm going to do something equally if not more stupid - it seems to be quite the trend with this guy. Anyway, that's what NOT to do in your class when you study abroad in England, ok? Keep that in mind.

Other notable events and activities of the last couple of weeks:

Don't eat breakfast before going to Borough Market. I made that major mistake on Friday and was extremely disappointed. Michael came to visit the London crew all the way from Madrid so we did our best to show him the best sights in London....Borough Market obviously being a major one. We had somewhat of an English breakfast and then made our way down to more food... and I just couldn't do it. There were so many samples and by the time Brandon and Michael got their sandwiches, I couldn't even get my own. It was a low point in my life, for sure. I managed to buy 7 pounds worth of dried fruit, though, and some serious dinner ingredients. We bought wild boar sausage and Cumberland sausage, potatoes, green beans, and some strawberry beer for Sami, and then cooked a delicious dinner for everyone that night. Don't worry - I redeemed myself at Portobello Road the next day (my other favorite place in London...) and ate a "hog sandwich" - basically it was a little mini-restaurant with one picnic table, a counter, a big sign that says HOG SANDWICH 4.50, and a huge grill with a pig rotating. It was seasoned with so much rosemary and fennel and served on a nice roll with arugula and applesauce. DEElish. I'm going to start to refer to pork and pig as hog from now on, too. Michael got a schnitzel sandwich - one look at those bratwurst and schnitzels and he was all sentimental about our days in Deutschland.

Vinopolis. Saturday night a huge group of Penn kids went to this great wine tasting at "Vinopolis" down near London Bridge. We even got to taste some rum, champagne, and Bombay Sapphire along with so much wine that I had to give my extra tickets to the boys. There was a little 15-minute session where they taught you about wine and wine tasting, but I couldn't even get anything out it because the speaker had such a thick Spanish (?) accent - it wasn't even worth trying after a while. I just held my glass up to a piece of white paper and looked at its beauty.

Whoever said the British don't drink to get drunk was lying. Sure, their drinking age is 18. Sure, they're used to the pub culture and just have a few drinks and enjoy themselves. Sure, Americans are known for binge drinking. But on our very long tube ride from the wine tour to our next destination (see below), a few of the guys befriended these two Brits across from us. One was relatively friendly and asking us where we were from, and his friend was leaning over with his head buried in his hands. He was swaying back and forth and didn't look so good. Sure enough, the friend pukes all over the floor of the tube and I of course flip out and grab my stuff and walk through the door to the other car as soon as it stops (only 5 seconds later). Everyone's like, Rachel, where are you going? What's the big deal? The train starts moving again and within 10 seconds, everyone gets up and joins me in the new car because - YEAH - it smells like vom.

I'm still a klepto - or at least people try to make me appear as one. On Saturday night, we went to this great pub very far from where we live - nothing like the dark, packed, and early-closing pubs that all look alike near us. Both Brandon and Michael asked me if I had my big purse with me (which obvy I did) and wanted me to take these really interesting pint glasses. I didn't put them in my purse, but I successfully handed over two pint glasses to the boys when we got home. Don't know how that happened (in case I didn't mention this before, I took a stein from our beer tent in Munich at Oktoberfest -- it's kind of the thing you HAVE to do when you go. I took it for Brandon, not me).

I finally went to Topshop - just worth noting because it's the most incredible women's clothing store in London.... ridiculously trendy things to the point of being very weird, a humongous shoe department that keeps going and going, an entire clothing line by (or for?) Kate Moss, and the best purse department ever. I went on a Tuesday morning so the crowds were minimal - very wise. Topshop is coming to New York, so don't you worry.

And yes, I even managed to go to class. Just three papers and two presentations left - 3 weeks is plenty of time, right? Sorry I don't have any pictures this time...

Cheers!

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....

Peace up, A-town

Traveling is amazing. Seriously - the fact that we can take 3 or 4 day trips every weekend and not even bring a single schoolbook with us is beautiful. Of course, the recovery day (you know, when you adjust from being on vacation back to being in the real world) can be wasteful... especially if you get back on a Monday, feel lazy on Tuesday, and are ready to go by Wednesday... the last day of class! And then leave again on Friday. It's a nice little cycle. Then again, I am feeling more and more like this is three months of vacation - we have schoolwork and we go to class (more updates on that later) - but it is a lot more.... indulgent, if you will... than normal, non-abroad life. I am anticipating quite a rude awakening come January 16, the first day of class next semester.

Anyway, on to Amsterdam! Unfortunately my camera broke last week at Oktoberfest so I didn't have my own this weekend. I've snagged some from the other people on the trip, so 100% cred to them (Corey, Jenny, Michael). I'll keep this one short because my last one for Oktoberfest was quite the reading assignment, sorry.

We arrived on Friday afternoon, to beautiful and sunny weather. An easy bus ride from the airport took us to our hostel, StayOkay Vondelpark. It was in a nicer area of the city - about a 20 minute walk from the red light district, but right near the museums and a huge park (Vondelpark). The hostel wasn't great - it probably ranks above Istanbul's Chillout hostel, but below the others I've stayed in. It worked though, and we didn't have any random people in our 6 bunkbed + 1 rolling trundle + 1 sink, shower, and toilet, teeny room.

Mike really enjoyed the rolling bed.

Amsterdam is one of the most beautiful cities I've seen throughout my travels. The entire city is built around canals - basically every other block there is a bridge to go over another canal. So, all of the water, tree-lined streets, brick sidewalks, and beautiful architecture really make it a romantic and very pretty city. We had great weather the whole time, which of course adds to the experience in any city. You could sit along the canal - literally the edge of the sidewalk is the edge of the canal:

(Brandon, Michael, Mike, and Corey)

This is how all of the streets looked!

The girls by a canal (Dalila, Jenny, and me)

The entire city is walkable - we never even needed to take public transportation. It is pretty touristy in a lot of areas, but that makes for some competitive prices on food! We ate SO much - traveling really makes you realize how bad English food is. French fries, waffles, Dutch pancakes, Indonesian food, Argentinian Steakhouses, Falafel -- basically we just ate the entire time. The waffles there are unbelievable. In any bakery or sandwich shop you could find these delicious fresh waffles with different chocolate toppings, and most places you could get them heated up with whipped cream or ice cream. Here's Jenny with a chocolate covered one -

I know it seems crazy to talk about waffles this much, but if you knew how many we ate and how many waffle searches we embarked upon, you'd understand.

At an Argentinian Steakhouse on the first night. Rare Steak, Chorizo, Fries, and Ice cream. What more could you want?

The red light district was crazy! We went there Friday and Saturday night, and just walked around (to the boys' dismay, we never made it to a live sex show). The prostitutes literally stand in the window and smile at people passing by, or dance to whatever music they have playing. They are practically naked and completely made up in different costumes and sexy lingerie. It was a really weird experience and definitely inspired a few conversations among the group about prostitution. I think the general consensus was that we're glad it's not legal in the US, and that since this is such a crazy exception, it makes it more acceptable? I don't know. We really just wanted to hire a prostitute for a couple of hours, take her out to dinner, and talk to her about her life, but I don't think that would have gone over well. The major question is whether they really are choosing to do that -- if they are 100%, then it's fine by me -- or whether they're forced into that by some sort of class/economic situation... in which case I am less accepting of the "sex industry." Either way, this could inspire some great material or discussion for the next issue of The Fword! I don't have any photos because you're not allowed to take any, so you'll have to use your imagination. There are a lot of red lights, a ton of people on narrow streets, and a whole lot of half naked women. I think that pretty much sums it up.

Now, the moment you've all been waiting for, I'm sure -- the "Coffee shops." In the "Centrum" area (city center), there were literally coffee shops on every corner. Obviously, I've never seen anything like it, but it was even crazier than I expected. You smelled weed any time of day if you walked past, and a lot of people even smoked outdoors (even though that's supposedly less legally acceptable? I don't know). Interestingly enough, they don't sell alcohol at the coffee shops - just coffee, tea, juices, and a whole lot of marijuana. Again, I think I'm happy it's not like this in the US.

A famous coffeeshop where a scene of Ocean's 12 was filmed! Who knew? Thanks for the trivia, Corey.

Besides the beautiful city itself, there is a lot to see in Amsterdam - we went to the Van Gogh museum and the Anne Frank House (or Huis, in Dutch...). The Anne Frank House was definitely well done, but also a little creepy.

One more thing to mention about the trip - the bicycles! EVERYONE rides a bike in Amsterdam. People of all ages, wearing anything from a business suit to a dress and high heels, even when it was very cold out at night... all across the city! On any lamp post, bridge railing, sidewalk, etc., there were dozens of bikes leaning against each other. Most of them didn't even have locks! The bikes are those cruiser types, with the low seat and the high handlebar and a cute basket in front. It looks like so much fun! The bikes have the same traffic rules as the cars, if not the right of way in many cases. They ride on the street sometimes, but there are a ton of wide bike lanes that you better not get caught walking on.

Bikes along a canal

Dalila and I have black raincoats so people think we're sisters.

In other news, I am randomly featured on the 34th Street Blog (Under The Button)! I've always wanted to be famous. Of course, whoever found me doesn't know me that well... they really think my name is Rachel Knight Squire. People, come ON. Facebook lies -- and who would be named Knight Squire???? Wow. Anyway, thanks for the shoutout, whoever wrote it! Now I'll have to try harder. Check it out: http://underthebutton.com/2008/10/around-the-world-in-10-blogs/
In honor of that, here is a broken button that we found in the Museum area of Amsterdam:

Classes are going well -- definitely not as good as Penn classes, but I can't complain, considering the workload. I like my history class a lot, but the rest are just okay. Maybe they'll get better? I'm off to the theater tonight (Ivanov with Kenneth Branagh) and Dublin with Uncle Danny this weekend.

Cheers!

Danke, Munchen

Lederhosen, bratwurst, and hendl, oh my!

This weekend, Brandon, Andy, Jenny, and I traveled to Munich (Munchen) for Oktoberfest! There were soooo many people there and so much to see - I'm sure I'll forget some things. Anyway, we got there on Friday night pretty late, and checked into our hotel. On the way to the hotel, we saw tons of oktoberfesters on their way home, decked out in all sorts of German attire. Suspenders and shorts and knee socks for the guys, and those low-cut patterned dresses with aprons for the women. Really - all of the Germans were wearing them! And it wasn't just young idiots - a lot of the people we saw were over 40 or 50 and there with their whole families. That was our first taste, but we finally made it to our hotel. It was a 2 person room but there was a king bed and a living room so it worked out perfectly - plus we each basically paid hostel prices since we split it four ways! It was very late so nothing was open except for our hotel bar. We had our first Hefeweisbier (wheat beer) in Munich and some currywurst too. I am DEFINITELY going to start putting curry sauce in my ketchup when I eat hot dogs. I highly recommend it. We went to bed soon after to prepare for our big day.

Saturday we woke up crazy early and headed down to Theresienweise (the stop on the U-Bahn where the fairgrounds are). The subway was PACKED with people headed to the festival, and when we got off the train, the platform was absolutely filled - like when you're going to a baseball game at National's Stadium, or when we went to that pro-choice march on the National mall. TONS of people. Keep in mind, this was 7:45 AM!! We were told by some insiders (aka Michael and about.com) that you have to get there very early in order to get into the tents, or else you won't get in and you won't get served. We walked into the fairgrounds with a ton of dressed up Germans around us. It definitely reminded me of the Prince William County Fair - except instead of rednecks it's Bavarian-themed. There are rides, bumper cars, souveniers, and SO much food! Stands with nuts (the candied kind that smell amazing and make you want to buy them), bakery items (particularly, humongous pretzels that are the absolute best thing to eat while/after drinking beer), and a ton of MEAT -- bratwurst (sausage), various schnitzels (fried pork, veal, etc), hendl (roasted chicken - generally half or whole), and even pork knuckle. Ew! The basic set up of the fair is like this: there are about a dozen huge "tents," each owned by a different restaurant. They are HUGE on the inside - like 2 stories and 5000 seats at least. Just rows and rows of picnic tables. There are also smaller tents with just 30 tables or so, but we didn't go into any of them. Anyway, it's really hard to get into any of the tents without a reservation (which Germans make like 2 years in advance if they're really into it), so that's why we had to get there so early. You either make it in in the morning when the doors open, or you're out for the majority of the day.

We were supposed to meet at the Hofbrauhaus tent (one of the more famous ones, and the only tent that you don't need a seat to get served) with a few other Penn people. We got there and there was already a crowd of about 75-100 people outside the front door. We parked ourselves there and put up our hoods and waited... and waited... and then all of a sudden people started yelling and pushing! There would be a 5 second pause and then another "aahhhhhh" and a push forward. It was kind of funny at the beginning, but it got tighter and tighter until people's elbows were in my neck and my ribs were squeezed so tight I thought they would break! We got closer and closer to the open door (the crowd was very wide and were trying to squeeze into two small doors at opposite ends of the entrance). Andy was a few people ahead of us, and just kept getting pushed to the side -- closer to the door! The three of us were packed like sardines and really uncomfortable, and then we lost sight of Andy. He made it through the door! All of a sudden the whistles started blowing and the doors SLAMMED SHUT! There were two people between us and the door. I saw my life flash before my eyes, and the day go down the drain. I knew it was over. The three of us stood there for over an hour -- squeezed at first but after people started bailing out, there was more room to stand. We saw people singing, laughing, holding steins of beer up at NINE IN THE MORNING, and just oktoberfesting it up while we waited outside! The security guards were being really mean and wouldn't tell anyone what time they'd reopen the doors. We stood and stood and came up with all sorts of strategies to get into other tents - none of which we were confident enough in to leave the door where we were already standing. Finally, the whistles started going like crazy again, and the German polizei moved in and started pushing people out of the way - "not an entrance" "entrance closed"!! CRAP. Now what? Where to go? Everyone was pushed away from the door, and then, we saw it. The outdoor seats! DUH! Each tent has outdoor, or "garten" seating. Of course, it was drizzling and gray out, but I had my raincoat, so what the hell. We plopped ourselves at a table with four Italian men (apparently the Italians all come to Oktoberfest the third weekend - there were a TON). It was crowded outside too, with lots of happy drinking people, singing songs, randomly raising their beers in a toast. We flagged down a large German woman who could carry like 12 steins at a time by resting them on her large bosom, and ordered a stein each. That is the ONLY size they serve there! It is one liter - about 3 beers.

For the rest of the morning we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, the group of Italians left, and about 8 more came over throughout the next couple of hours. Drinking that early in the morning is very odd. We made good friends with this new group -- I learned all of their names, some new Italian, and they complimented me on my Italian accent. Sergio, Paulo, Paulo, Stefano, Massimo, Rocco, Nicola... I think that's it. Somehow we decided to leave the outside of Hofbrauhaus (we had a pretzel, don't worry) and find some friends in another tent -- Hacker something was next door. So, off to a few more closed doors with mean security guards. By this time we knew any waiting wouldn't be fruitful, so we went around the tent to the back. All of a sudden, we saw it. An open door! There were NO guards in front - just a wide open door with people walking in and out. We couldn't believe it! We were finally inside and didn't even think it was true.

We somehow managed to find Michael and a bunch of other Penn kids amid the waiters and waitresses carrying huge trays of 1/2 chickens, Germans walking around in lederhosen and dresses, and people standing on their tables every few minutes screaming "Prost!!" (cheers). The tent was awesome on the inside - like nothing I've ever seen before. There really were so many people, and a big wooden gazebo in the middle of the room with a 12 piece band playing German music - and often some random American oldies songs too. People were having such a good time - lots of Germans, of course, but also Italians and Americans. We stayed there for a little while and soaked it all in but as the afternoon wore on, our restful night's sleep wore off and it was clear what we needed: naptime. So, we met up with Andy, picking up a pretzel along the way, and headed back to our comfortable, quiet hotel for what turned into a 4 hour nap! By the time we knew it, it was 8 pm. We were tent-ed out, so we headed to downtown Munich for dinner.

We found an authentic Bavarian restaurant much like the smaller tents at Oktoberfest - picnic tables where you sat with other random Germans - but this one was much more calm and not as overwhelming. We got - yep, you guessed it - weinerschnitzel, bratwurst, potatoes, and hefeweisbier. What else, honestly? Then again, by the end of the evening I was not feeling 100% -- all of the beer and meat had certainly caught up with me. It was clear we needed to call it a night.

The next morning we actually got some sleep and went to the tent around 11 am. This time we saw much more of the carnival scene - sampled some candied nuts, bought some souveniers, and saw the insides of some more tents. It's much different when you're not freezing cold/stressed about getting inside a tent/on your second liter of beer... right? We sat outside Hofbrauhaus again and had our final beer and wurst, and played a nice game of Rummy 500 (I dominated, btw). We said goodbye to Oktoberfest and headed to a park near some Munich museums to relax for the rest of the afternoon before our flight. One hard day was definitely enough for us, especially since we knew we were going to get on the plane that night and head to class the next morning!

Our trip home wasn't so smooth - at least an hour and a half delay on our EasyJet flight back to London, 30 minutes in customs, and then the train back to London wasn't running so we had to pay 18 quid for a "replacement bus service" back to London, which wasn't even near where we lived, so we had to take another city bus and walk to go home! I was finally in bed at 3:30 am. Oish.

It was definitely a good trip, though, and worth the traveling time and expenses! I don't know if I would go back - in fact, I think once is enough for me - but I'm glad I went. Maybe I can bring back what I learned to Penn for our own little Palace Oktoberfest next year? What do you guys think?

Photos of Oktoberfest:

Brandon and Jenny with their first liters at 10:30 am.

Outside of the Hofbrauhaus tent

Posing with Paulo and Sergio, or was it Stefano? Who knows.

Inside the Hacker tent - Brandon and Jenny with Bryant, another Penn kid who came up to me and started speaking German... I said, no sprecken ze deutsche (I don't speak German), and he started laughing... and I realized I knew him from Penn! Good one.

Some more of the Hacker tent gang

Inside Hacker tent - check out the skylights and the murals on the wall... and all of the people!

View of the carnival itself on Sunday morning

Inside Hofbrauhaus tent

The outside of Hacker

In other news, I have been going to class, in case anyone was curious. Classes are great! I have had 2 art history classes - London Architecture. We take field trips almost every week. The class is almost all American students, and our prof. is a Ph.D. student who doesn't speak loudly enough when we are touring around. We went to Hampton Court last week (Henry VIII's and other kings' castles) and Westminster Abbey this week. Not too shabby. The other course is history - "Britain and the Wider World." We'll only cover from 1880-1935 before we leave in December, but it should be really interesting. It's a lecture (1 hr) and recitation (1 hr) each week, with two papers for the whole term. It doesn't seem like you need to do all of the reading. So, in total, that's 8 hours of class between Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday... and that's it. It's crazy. And barely any work for the classes - pretty much just doing the papers toward the end of the semester - which I am definitely going to get done BEFORE December. If I do one a week between now and the end of the year I should be ok! It's a really nice break from classes and work at Penn, if nothing else. Plus plenty of time to read, sleep, walk around London, eat lots of food, and travel. Sounds pretty good to me.

Off to Amsterdam bright and early tomorrow morning. Gutte nacht!

Shanah Tovah!

Happy New Year! We celebrated Rosh Hashanah tonight with a yummy dinner cooked by Dalila, complete with round challah, apples, honey, and good friends. It was so nice to have a real meal cooked in her huge Goldsmith's kitchen. Goldsmith's is another London university that Penn kids can go to - it's a little farther south of the city (like a 45 min bus ride from us at UCL) but has its own neighborhood charm going on. Think Market Street between 40th and 43rd, without the liquor stores and with better architecture.

Saturday was another day at Portobello Road, and this time we had traditional bangers (sausage) and mash at S & M Cafe, under the overpass on Portobello. We discovered even more vintage clothing and shoes and bags and jewelry - it really is an amazing market. Saturday night we walked down to the hopping Leicester Square and had expensive ice cream at an outdoor cafe. It was worth it for the people watching, and we figured we enjoyed the ice cream way more than going to a pub and having 1.5 pints of beer, right?

Sami and me on the top of the double decker bus on the way back from Portobello. A tip: DON'T take the bus on Saturday going down Oxford Street. It took forever and a day.

This is from Friday but I forgot to put it up. This is me straddling the Prime Meridian! Weird angle so my legs look odd... but you get the idea.

A model of an Evergreen brand cargo ship at the National Maritime Museum. Thought of Evergreen Trucking ;)

Sunday we relaxed in Regent's Park and played cards, of course. The park was packed with people reading and playing frisbee and canoodling on the grass - we are so lucky to have it right near our campus! I wish the weather would stay like this forever - low 60s and sunny during the day, and around 48-50 at night. It really is perfect, and so easy to dress comfortably for the weather. I've even been good about jogging every other day or so. The British kids on our hall make fun of us for jogging which is SO weird. It's called exercise! They're like, why don't you just go to the pub or something? (Just try to say that in a British accent - it's so much better). They don't understand why we actually want to work out. We have become pretty friendly with a few kids on the hall, and are learning some more British lingo. Freshmen are freshers, gash is a really bad derogatory word for the female genitalia that you should never say, wanker is still wanker (and awesome), "give me a shot" means like, "hit me up on the celly yo" or something... and then the usual ones like holiday for vacation, lift for elevator, takeaway for takeout. And the 1st floor is the Ground Floor here, and our 2nd floor is their 1st floor, and so on. When I think of more I'll impart my wisdom, but that's all I can remember for now.

Today was the first day of class, too - how could I forget! Brandon and I went to the Bartlett office an hour before our first requested class was supposed to start, because for the past week we had received NO emails from the office telling us which classes we got into, or where the class would be held. Honestly, what is the administrator doing if it's not that? We went and she was like, oh, yes, I was going to email you later today. That would help a TON... Anyway she told us where the classes were and we were on our way.

Our first class was Urban Form and Formation. It's an elective for the Urban Planning/Architectural Studies kids here (the way it works in the UK is less liberal arts and way more specialized - you take almost every class in your department from your first year on, and you really only take electives within your own department. very different - i like the way we do it at home much better!) and there were about 25 people in the class. The professor was this younger Irish guy who was very nervous and had shaky hands the whole time. He had longish hair and a beard and reminded me of someone from the Harry Potter movie -- like a really friendly Professor Snape, maybe? Anyway, he was super nice and excited about the class, especially this one book that the whole course is based on. There are four assignments for the class, spaced through the semester, and it's pretty much impossible not to get an A (I think), seeing as an A here is anywhere from 70% to 100%. We'll see what I'm saying come finals. The class should be interesting - a lot about public space and, duh, urban form... similar to what you'd see in an URBS class at Penn about the built environment/public space.

Our second class was a bit bigger, with about 35 people. It's a 3rd year requirement class, so very different tone than the other. It's called Urban and Environmental Politics. The teacher is this middle-aged Asian woman with okay English that you definitely have to get used to listening to. She took about 15 minutes figuring out the powerpoint projector after being 10 minutes late to class... then proceeded to explain every single detail of our two assessments for the course. Literally, she read exactly what was on our handout! So weird. She seems to like class participation, though, so that should make things entertaining. We had to split up into groups for the first assignment (not due until December 8th, but apparently she thought we should form groups TODAY), and we read an article about the Heathrow expansion controversy in our groups. We were assigned one side of the argument (residents, business, gov't, environ groups, etc.) and had to come up with some ideas/tenents of the argument. I was writing them down for our group and of course when it came time to present, I was the one who had to go up to talk about it. Little did I know, I was getting myself into a 30 minute panel/role playing debate thing in front of the whole class with five other people! It actually turned out to be fine and for some reason I wasn't the slightest bit nervous about it. I and two other guys were the clear actors of the group and basically entertained the class (or at least I thought so) with our sleazy arguments and sweet-talking. Then the prof switched our roles and we jumped right into our new arguments. It was pretty funny and much better than listening to her lecture... at least I didn't feel like I was falling asleep. Anyway, what an interesting way to start the first class! And now everyone knows me, haha.

Starting class is nice - I feel like I'm settling in much more to a routine of being in SCHOOL and don't feel weird for not going out at night! More class tomorrow - field trip for Art History! Sorry there aren't more pictures... I think there is a picture of our Rosh Hashanah feast somewhere that I will have to put up.

A Tale of Four Cities, Part 3

Prahahahahaha (Sept 11-14)

Our extremely early arrival in Prague led to some loitering outside our hostel before the reception was open - but once we got inside we were greeted with free internet (8 fast brand new computers), a huge breakfast for about $6, and showers! The hostel was really nice - lots of way too friendly people once again, but a lot bigger than the one in Budapest. There were 6 levels (of course we were on the top floor - but there was an elevator) and our room was amazing! Apparently they don't usually rent that out to people but they "knew we were couples" (what??) and so there were two mattresses in the main part of our room and then a big double bed with two twin mattresses in a smaller bedroom off of that. Sami and I took the bedroom, obviously. We had a kitchen, too, but we didn't really use it. The best part was our roof deck! A ladder from our room went up onto the roof of the hostel -- a huge area just for us! The view was beautiful and you could see everything from up there.

Kitchen/boys' part of the room. In the back was Sami and my room, with a little balcony off of it.

The roof deck! Or terrace as we liked to call it.

View from our roof -- Prague Castle is in the distance

The first day we got a ton of sightseeing done - we saw most of the Old Town, Old Town Square, the Astronomer's Clock (it's this big weird clock in Old Town Square that is supposed to do some cool things every hour when it rings... the first time we missed it by seconds so we went BACK to see it later. totally not worth it.), and the Jewish Ghetto. We had kilbasa in the square from a stand - they were so delicious but I have no idea what was in them. Don't want to know.

We were deciding what to do and saw a man beginning a tour of the Jewish Ghetto in Old Town Square, and figured it was worth it to have someone lead us around. He was pretty entertaining and kept talking about "my people" and "my country" - the Czech people. He tried to give some interesting history lessons but his mannerisms and accent were more interesting than his stories. A lot of it was a basic overview of Jews in Eastern Europe... what the ghetto was... Jewish traditions... the Holocaust - stuff we knew quite well. Maybe Michael learned something, I don't know. Anyway, we got to see the famous old Synagogues in the Ghetto, and also the Jewish Cemetery. It was the only cemetery that Prague Jews were allowed to be buried in for centuries, so they just kept putting more layers of dirt and tombstones in the cemetery, piling them on. It was pretty spooky.

Middle of Old Town Square - by far the most touristy place we had been.

Jewish cemetery

Our tourguide, Roman

Kilbasa!

After our history lesson we went to - yes, you guessed it - a park! Letna Park was north of Old Town Prague, and had an amazing view of the city. At the edge of the park, overlooking the city, is a giant red metronome. It sits where there was once a giant statue of Stalin and several men backing him up. We saw photos of it and it really was quite imposing. Breshnev ordered the statue to be dynamited soon after Stalin left power. Now there is just this odd concrete area with a huge metronome, keeping time for Prague. Sort of symbolic and spooky? And definitely a great view.

Sami and I doing the silly Titanic pose from where the metronome is

Andy, Sami, and Michael by the metronome

We napped in the park, and then walked to a biergarten and played cards. There were tons of people in this park - businessmen, teenagers skateboarding, mothers and strollers, and even a weird stoner next to us - literally smoking a joint at the picnic table beside us in broad daylight! Crazy.

That night we took it easy and had pizza (yay for normal food) at a place near our hostel. We sat up on our roof for a few hours and had a nice night talking and playing games. Andy, Michael, and I even attempted to sleep up there for the first part of the night - but the freezing cold night air and the hard wood deck wasn't the greatest so we had to give in.

Friday we did more sightseeing but nothing intense, as usual. We went to Prague Castle and walked around the grounds for free. It is a HUGE building that the President is supposed to live in, but this one doesn't because apparently he is very modest. It is gorgeous, though, and has a really interesting mix of architecture - lots of things added on over the years for sure. The window from which the famous Defenestration of Prague occured is there too - see the photo below! Mrs. Wyrsch would be proud. There is also a huge cathedral on the inner courtyard of the castle which was really pretty. It wasn't one of the gaudy gold kinds that all seems the same - it was more stone and grand - unlike most of what I've seen before.

In the cool subway station - reminds me of those dot candies on the long sheets of white paper. Anyone?

Window of the Defenestration of Prague

Imitating the statue outside Prague Castle...
We were quite the spectacle

For lunch we had some more traditional sausages at a very traditional pub near the castle - we were definitely the only Americans. The beer was delicious and cheap, and they kept track of your order by tallying everything up on a piece of white paper that they left on the table. Weird. We walked through Petrin Hill area (a huge hill/forest south of the Castle) and went to another beergarden and played cards. Noticing a pattern yet? We went to this kids' attraction, the "Hall of Mirrors" which was really just a room with some messed up glass. Honestly, Mac's Photobooth is more exciting. But we managed to take some goofy pictures and pretend we were five for 20 minutes, so that was nice.

Hall of Mirrors

That night we had another non-Czech dinner (can't take too much sausage, seriously) and went to this cool wine cellar called U Sudu in Nove Mesto (new town) afterwards. It was like a labyrinth -- room after room, winding around, up and down stairs, with different music and decor in each one. It was really smoky but we felt pretty authentic so it was okay.

At the labyrinth

For our last full day in Prague, I allowed everyone to sleep in (so nice of me, right?) because we didn't have too much sightseeing left to do. We went to the Museum of Communism which was great! Learning about the history of the places we visited made it so much more interesting - especially when the history takes place in the last century. It is so much more alive and relevant that way. I bought a great poster with some words in Czech that I have no idea what they say. Oh well, it's decorating my room right now and I like it. We walked across the famous and romantic Charles Bridge - lots of people selling jewelry and art. There are statues lining the bridge, some with interesting stories. Michael and I managed to lose Andy and Sami after turning around for 5 seconds... the first time anyone really got lost on the whole trip. It was okay within ten minutes though - and the grudges only lasted for 15 minutes or so :) Our last stop was this very modern building that looked like it was falling over into itself. It was the only modern thing like it in Prague, so it really stood out. I have no idea who the architect is or what it is called, but I'm sure I could look it up. I know that people in Prague don't like it because it's a bit of an eyesore, but it's very intersting how different is from the rest of the buildings there.

Entrance to the Charles Bridge

View of the Charles Bridge and much of Prague from somewhere...?

Weird building... can't remember the name of it.

The last night in Prague we finally decided to experience the crazy Prague nightlife! We decided we deserved a good meal in a good restaurant so we went to a delicious French/Czech restaurant listed in our guidebook. We had a drink at a little Czech bar (by the way, they serve only one kind of beer at almost every place we went -- In istanbul, it was Efes everywhere, in Budapest, just one type at every bar, and here, the same. you just order beer.) with graffiti written in chalk all over the walls. We made our way to a crazy club that was like a jillion stories high with all different types of music and bars and cocktails... and lots and lots of Eurotrash. We were SO glad we were with the boys. There were so many guys there in tight white t-shirts and tight tight jeans, and they all looked the same. They ALL looked gay. It's totally true - the European exception, I like to call it. Anyway, we had a good time dancing and being silly and not talking to or making eye contact with anyone else. We met some Brits on the way home waiting for the tram, which got us pretty excited about heading to London. They knew their US geography as well as we did, and they also were obsessed with Scrubs and One Tree Hill. Weird series to pick, don't you think? We slept on the roof one more time and saw the sun rise over Prague castle. It was beautiful!

In da club

Michael and Sami drinking our yummy Rum/Lime/Sugar/Ice drink... what could be bad?

Weird fog thing on one of the levels. Not sure what's going on here but it is funnyyyy.

We made our way to the train successfully, and said goodbye to Praha. We managed to get some more souveniers here, and probably took the most pictures here than anywhere else. Prague was definitely a lot of fun and there was a lot to see, but it was by far the most touristy place we went. There were Americans everywhere - nice because everyone spoke English, but very different from Budapest and worlds different from Istanbul. We didn't really get a feel for the residents of Prague itself and the Czech people, because the city seemed to be filled with tourists only. Not really bothersome - just very different.