For those of you who don't have facebook (namely, the adults) I uploaded some new pictures on to my picture site that other people have taken of me. It's under the album "Random Pictures"!
Not much else is new, besides the fact that I have so much work to do! I definitely don't think I could go to UCL full time. Although, I am at a slight disadvantage since I'm only here for the term. The other students who are here full time do not have finals until June--some people have papers, but nothing final. I have papers AND final exams, so it's rough. My friend across the hall from me, who is in the history department, has 8 papers to write! Even so, I think I'd rather have that than have two final exams for econ which count for my entire grade.
Fortunately, I am really into the paper I'm writing for history. I talked to my teacher about writing on a different topic (as opposed to the ones she suggested), so now I am answering the question "What was the impact of the Black Death on religious beliefs and practices?" I have always been really interested in the black death so this paper is actually enjoyable to write. My first paper, which I handed in the other day, was about the papal initiatives between 1050-1100... not as interesting!
I am hoping to finish my history paper as soon as possible so I can just concentrate on my exams for economics, which will take a lot of studying for. Most people here aren't as worried as I am, because they just need to pass (at most schools, your study abroad grades are taken pass/fail rather than A,B,C,D) but whatever I get for a grade here will be factored into my GPA at Conn, so I need to do well.
This will probably be my last post unless something really exciting happens in the next few weeks, but I'll mostly just be doing work! I do hope to, at least, visit Harrod's at night sometime (the Christmas lights are all up and it looks gorgeous) and go on the London Eye. Expect more pictures, anyway!
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Paris
This past weekend I took my last trip of the term to Paris. It was actually also the first trip I took outside the UK, so it's surprising that I wasn't the one who forgot my passport (sorry Sam, I had to mention it!).. not a big deal though, we took a later Eurostar train for no extra cost and got to Paris 2 hours later. The Eurostar is extremely convenient, I would definitely recommend it to anyone thinking of going to Paris from London!
Once we arrived in Paris, we had to take the metro to our hotel. Lucky for us, the line we needed was running and came within 10 minutes (Paris transport was on strike, so most lines weren't running. We also got to ride for free) we easily found out hotel, which was a cheap one but very nice. The first few pictures in my Paris album are views from the balcony off of our room.
The next day, we met Sam's friend Kate who is studying abroad in Paris. It was really nice to have her around, because she showed us all the touristy sites and we usually didn't have to pull out a map. Unfortunately I can't really remember some of the places we saw, but we did go to the Opera House and the Louvre at night. We also went on top of this building where we could see all of Paris--there are pictures in my album.
The next day we went to the Musee d'Orsay, and at night we had an amazing dinner at an expensive French restaurant. I had scallops, which were expensive, but totally worth it. Afterwards, we went to Haagen Daz and got this icecream special, with 18 balls of icecream (multiple flavors) and a variety of fruit, with a bowl of hot fudge in the middle to dip everything in, along with hot chocolate to drink. We were all pretty sugar-high and silly by the end of it, but it was a great dinner.
I didn't end up seeing the Eiffel Tower up close, because it was too out of the way to walk to, which we would have had to do because the metro was down. I had a lot of fun anyway, and Paris is definitely a great city. Plus, I made use of my french! I knew it would come in handy some day! However, I will say that Paris is absolutely FREEZING this time of year. It is actually mcuh warmer in London. We had to make a lot of pit-stops in cafes on the walk back to Gare du Nord.
Overall, a good trip, but I still London is the best city! Check out my photo site for pictures. Sorry, I didn't put captions on any of them because there was some error in uploading and I missed the part where you add captions. Anyway, here is the link again:
http://www.webshots.com/user/justinekelly87
Once we arrived in Paris, we had to take the metro to our hotel. Lucky for us, the line we needed was running and came within 10 minutes (Paris transport was on strike, so most lines weren't running. We also got to ride for free) we easily found out hotel, which was a cheap one but very nice. The first few pictures in my Paris album are views from the balcony off of our room.
The next day, we met Sam's friend Kate who is studying abroad in Paris. It was really nice to have her around, because she showed us all the touristy sites and we usually didn't have to pull out a map. Unfortunately I can't really remember some of the places we saw, but we did go to the Opera House and the Louvre at night. We also went on top of this building where we could see all of Paris--there are pictures in my album.
The next day we went to the Musee d'Orsay, and at night we had an amazing dinner at an expensive French restaurant. I had scallops, which were expensive, but totally worth it. Afterwards, we went to Haagen Daz and got this icecream special, with 18 balls of icecream (multiple flavors) and a variety of fruit, with a bowl of hot fudge in the middle to dip everything in, along with hot chocolate to drink. We were all pretty sugar-high and silly by the end of it, but it was a great dinner.
I didn't end up seeing the Eiffel Tower up close, because it was too out of the way to walk to, which we would have had to do because the metro was down. I had a lot of fun anyway, and Paris is definitely a great city. Plus, I made use of my french! I knew it would come in handy some day! However, I will say that Paris is absolutely FREEZING this time of year. It is actually mcuh warmer in London. We had to make a lot of pit-stops in cafes on the walk back to Gare du Nord.
Overall, a good trip, but I still London is the best city! Check out my photo site for pictures. Sorry, I didn't put captions on any of them because there was some error in uploading and I missed the part where you add captions. Anyway, here is the link again:
http://www.webshots.com/user/justinekelly87
Monday, November 12, 2007
Cambridge, Cardiff, & Kent
I reached the 2000-word mark on my history essay so I figured it was a good time to take a break and update.
I have been doing a lot of traveling lately, which has been great except for the fact that I'm swamped with work! On Thursday, November 1st, I took the bus to Cambridge to visit Johnny. Johnny is studying at Pembroke College at Cambridge University; it is a really nice college that dates back to 1347. We went out to dinner that night, and hung around the college bar later, which is much more posh than the UCL Union bar. The next day (Johnny's birthday!), we walked around Cambridge and got to see a bunch of different colleges, including King's, Trinity, St. John's, and Emmanuel. King's was great to see mostly because of the chapel. Henry VIII put a lot of work into the chapel, including the gift of an organ that is still there today. There were also "HR" initials all over the paneling, as well as "RA" which I think stands for Anne Boleyn.
Trinity had been my favorite college when I visited the university with my dad, but I have to say I liked St. John's much more. It was founded by Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, and it was quite obvious because all the architecture was clearly Tudor. We then went to Emmanuel, since that's where my dad went, and got to go inside the chapel and the dining hall.
That night, we went to formal hall at Pembroke. Formal hall is something that happens every night at Pembroke at 7:30. You can get dressed up, wear your gown (everyone at Cambridge has one) and get served a fancy dinner, though you do have to buy tickets. It was very nice, except for being yelled at in the beginning for being 5 minutes late. Cambridge students are also very fond of pennying other people's drinks (pennying a drink is essentially throwing a penny into someone's glass, and the victim has to drink the whole glass quickly so the Queen doesn't drown). One thing I found interesting was that you aren't allowed to take pictures if the "fellows" are there, which they were, so I waited to take pictures until they had left. I felt a lot like I was in Harry Potter--everyone sits at these long wooden tables, and the fellows sit at tables that are higher up on a platform at the front.
After dinner we had a birthday party for Johnny, which was a lot of fun. I should also mention that the food at Cambridge is amazing, especially breakfast! Certainly isn't your typical dining hall food.
Saturday night we went to see Elizabeth: The Golden Age which was very good, I recommend it! Sunday we just hung around and did some work, and I left around 5:30.
I didn't have much time to rest, and my coach to Cardiff, Wales was the next morning, Monday, at 8am. It was a 3 hour bus ride, but it was only 5 pounds! The bed and breakfast we stayed in was very nice and cute. It was about a 20 minute walk from the center of the city, in an old Victorian house. We had a bathroom with a shower in our room, and nice comfty beds, as well as a great breakfast each morning. Cardiff is a really cool city, it has the typical pubs, bars, and clubs, but it also has a lot of "arcards" which are these sort of outlet stores with neat treasures in them. I found one store that was an "old books" store, and found a book on the Tudors for only 1.50. We also spent one day walking down to Cardiff Bay, which was really pretty, despite how cold it was! We went to Cardiff Castle (or Castell Caerdydd! I think Welsh is the coolest language), which was basically the focal point of the city. The castle dates back to the arrival of the Romans, although most of what survives today is from the 1800's. The inside was amazing, with really incredible architecture and artwork on the walls and ceilings, but unfortunately photography wasn't allowed inside.
The most exciting part of our trip was on Sunday when we saw Prince Charles unexpectedly. We walked up to a war memorial, quite on accident, and a man asked my friend if we had come to see Prince Charles, and told her that we had just missed him by 5 minutes! Anyway, later on in the day, we were walking by the castle and saw all these police standing outside. We overhead that Charles was visiting the castle, so we waited around for about a half an hour to see him. We were practically the only ones standing there (I guess people either didn't know about it or didn't care), and it was really cool when he drove up in his car and rolled down the window to wave.
I arrived back in London late Wednesday night, and on Friday I was off to meet my dad and Uncle Roger and Karen at a bar in London. I got back to my room late Friday night, and was off again at 8am Saturday morning to go on the Butler excursion to Hever Castle. I had always wanted to see this castle because it was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn. The castle was really pretty, and I got to see Anne's bedroom, which included the original headboard to her bed. It's unfortunate that, once again, photography was not allowed inside.
Karen picked me up from Hever, and I went back to their house which is about 30 minutes away in Kent. Grandma had already arrived, and Lucille arrived shortly after. It was a fun family reunion, and we went out to dinner that night at this great fish restaurant (I had crab cakes, and was so excited to be eating a proper meal for once). I got to ride in Karen's new porsche, which was pretty incredible. The next day, Grandma and Lucille left relatively early since it's a 5 hour drive back to Manchester, but me, my dad, Karen and Roger went to go see my cousin Christopher play football (/soccer). Everyone actually calls him Nippy, so it's strange for me to be typing Christopher. He is still only 15, but is of course 7 inches taller than me. I also saw my cousins Samantha (who everyone calls Wiz or Wizzy) and Shiona, both of whom are also taller than me, even Shiona who is only 13. Wiz has the most red hair I have ever seen and I am completely jealous!
I was originally going to stay until Monday morning, but decided to go back Sunday night to get some more work done. The work is really getting stressful now. I have two 2500 word essays for History due by the end of the term, a Macroeconomics coursework for my final grade, and two exams in Enviro econ and Labour Econ which take place the 11th and 12th of December. I am trying to get my history essays done as soon as possible, so that I can concentrate on studying for my econ exams, which are 100% of my final grade.
I am going to Paris this weekend with Sam who is my best friend from Conn, so expect another update next week, if I can pull myself away from work!
I have been doing a lot of traveling lately, which has been great except for the fact that I'm swamped with work! On Thursday, November 1st, I took the bus to Cambridge to visit Johnny. Johnny is studying at Pembroke College at Cambridge University; it is a really nice college that dates back to 1347. We went out to dinner that night, and hung around the college bar later, which is much more posh than the UCL Union bar. The next day (Johnny's birthday!), we walked around Cambridge and got to see a bunch of different colleges, including King's, Trinity, St. John's, and Emmanuel. King's was great to see mostly because of the chapel. Henry VIII put a lot of work into the chapel, including the gift of an organ that is still there today. There were also "HR" initials all over the paneling, as well as "RA" which I think stands for Anne Boleyn.
Trinity had been my favorite college when I visited the university with my dad, but I have to say I liked St. John's much more. It was founded by Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, and it was quite obvious because all the architecture was clearly Tudor. We then went to Emmanuel, since that's where my dad went, and got to go inside the chapel and the dining hall.
That night, we went to formal hall at Pembroke. Formal hall is something that happens every night at Pembroke at 7:30. You can get dressed up, wear your gown (everyone at Cambridge has one) and get served a fancy dinner, though you do have to buy tickets. It was very nice, except for being yelled at in the beginning for being 5 minutes late. Cambridge students are also very fond of pennying other people's drinks (pennying a drink is essentially throwing a penny into someone's glass, and the victim has to drink the whole glass quickly so the Queen doesn't drown). One thing I found interesting was that you aren't allowed to take pictures if the "fellows" are there, which they were, so I waited to take pictures until they had left. I felt a lot like I was in Harry Potter--everyone sits at these long wooden tables, and the fellows sit at tables that are higher up on a platform at the front.
After dinner we had a birthday party for Johnny, which was a lot of fun. I should also mention that the food at Cambridge is amazing, especially breakfast! Certainly isn't your typical dining hall food.
Saturday night we went to see Elizabeth: The Golden Age which was very good, I recommend it! Sunday we just hung around and did some work, and I left around 5:30.
I didn't have much time to rest, and my coach to Cardiff, Wales was the next morning, Monday, at 8am. It was a 3 hour bus ride, but it was only 5 pounds! The bed and breakfast we stayed in was very nice and cute. It was about a 20 minute walk from the center of the city, in an old Victorian house. We had a bathroom with a shower in our room, and nice comfty beds, as well as a great breakfast each morning. Cardiff is a really cool city, it has the typical pubs, bars, and clubs, but it also has a lot of "arcards" which are these sort of outlet stores with neat treasures in them. I found one store that was an "old books" store, and found a book on the Tudors for only 1.50. We also spent one day walking down to Cardiff Bay, which was really pretty, despite how cold it was! We went to Cardiff Castle (or Castell Caerdydd! I think Welsh is the coolest language), which was basically the focal point of the city. The castle dates back to the arrival of the Romans, although most of what survives today is from the 1800's. The inside was amazing, with really incredible architecture and artwork on the walls and ceilings, but unfortunately photography wasn't allowed inside.
The most exciting part of our trip was on Sunday when we saw Prince Charles unexpectedly. We walked up to a war memorial, quite on accident, and a man asked my friend if we had come to see Prince Charles, and told her that we had just missed him by 5 minutes! Anyway, later on in the day, we were walking by the castle and saw all these police standing outside. We overhead that Charles was visiting the castle, so we waited around for about a half an hour to see him. We were practically the only ones standing there (I guess people either didn't know about it or didn't care), and it was really cool when he drove up in his car and rolled down the window to wave.
I arrived back in London late Wednesday night, and on Friday I was off to meet my dad and Uncle Roger and Karen at a bar in London. I got back to my room late Friday night, and was off again at 8am Saturday morning to go on the Butler excursion to Hever Castle. I had always wanted to see this castle because it was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn. The castle was really pretty, and I got to see Anne's bedroom, which included the original headboard to her bed. It's unfortunate that, once again, photography was not allowed inside.
Karen picked me up from Hever, and I went back to their house which is about 30 minutes away in Kent. Grandma had already arrived, and Lucille arrived shortly after. It was a fun family reunion, and we went out to dinner that night at this great fish restaurant (I had crab cakes, and was so excited to be eating a proper meal for once). I got to ride in Karen's new porsche, which was pretty incredible. The next day, Grandma and Lucille left relatively early since it's a 5 hour drive back to Manchester, but me, my dad, Karen and Roger went to go see my cousin Christopher play football (/soccer). Everyone actually calls him Nippy, so it's strange for me to be typing Christopher. He is still only 15, but is of course 7 inches taller than me. I also saw my cousins Samantha (who everyone calls Wiz or Wizzy) and Shiona, both of whom are also taller than me, even Shiona who is only 13. Wiz has the most red hair I have ever seen and I am completely jealous!
I was originally going to stay until Monday morning, but decided to go back Sunday night to get some more work done. The work is really getting stressful now. I have two 2500 word essays for History due by the end of the term, a Macroeconomics coursework for my final grade, and two exams in Enviro econ and Labour Econ which take place the 11th and 12th of December. I am trying to get my history essays done as soon as possible, so that I can concentrate on studying for my econ exams, which are 100% of my final grade.
I am going to Paris this weekend with Sam who is my best friend from Conn, so expect another update next week, if I can pull myself away from work!
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Photos
I have been really busy lately with traveling to both Cambridge and Cardiff, and I'll have to leave an update for later (I've got a lot of homework to do!). I just wanted to post the new link to my photosite. Apparently I reached the limit on my old photosite (350 photos) so I moved to a different site with a limit of 1000 photos. All my photos are now on this site, and I have updated it with photos from Cambridge and Cardiff. Here is the link:
http://www.webshots.com/user/justinekelly87
Enjoy! Will update the blog as soon as possible.
http://www.webshots.com/user/justinekelly87
Enjoy! Will update the blog as soon as possible.
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