I have been so friggin' tired lately, I dunno what it is. It seems as though everyone is getting sick here, and those that aren't sick are consumed with sleep. Or drinking, which is another fantastic option.
It's a beautiful day today, thank God, and that means I can finally go and see Much Ado About Nothing on the Garden Lawn behind King's. I might have to go and buy some wine.
Tomorrow we leave for Edinburgh, 7am -- an 8 hour bus ride. I shudder at the thought. Maxine, Carlin and I are going to haul ass to the back of the bus where there is tons o' leg room and we're going to annex ourselves back there so we can sleep and read. Carlin and I armed ourselves with 3 butter croissants, 2 chocolate chip pastries, 2 chicken and bacon sandwiches, 2 1.5-liter bottles of water, and various fruit types to share between us and anyone else we feel deserves our food. Some other cool peeps (yes, I just said peeps) are going on the trip too, like Megan and Spencer, which should be a lot of fun.
I'll be sure to take an insane amount of pictures and try not to bitch and moan about how I'm not going to Edinburgh 2 weeks from now when the festival is going on. (PS. I got an e-mail two days ago saying that a spot had opened and since I was next on the waiting list, I could forgo this weekend's trip and go to the Festival instead.... but my friends are going to this one, and I wouldn't want to abandon them. Psh. What I do for friends...)
Whatever. I'll have a blast. It's SCOTLAND! I ain't complaining.
In other news, and old news, I have a book buying problem. Like... even pounds don't stop me! (The "deals" are actually better here, but whatevs...) And I've been exploring the world of British authors. So many new books to explore, and covers to judge! =)
I've already bought (aside from HP) Fred & Edie by Jill Dawson and Hotel World by Ali Smith. The latter is actually extremely experimental and very interesting to read. I also bought Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I hope to finish those last two books before Eclipse comes out, 'cause my reading capabilities will all be going downhill once that heart-attack-waiting-to-happen comes out.
I'm going to be mailing all my books home, because I simply have too many. Carlin and I are also planning on starting our own Book Club (name to be decided). I'm excited about it. We both read the same one and then talk about it. What's not to like? Other people should join and we could start a forum. We both agree that we want a reason to read (and finish) certain books, even if they aren't our favorite. That way, it makes for greater discussion. It's been nice having to read books I didn't particularly love, and that I probably would have chucked after 50 pages if I didn't have to finish.
Anyway. It's dinner time. And the play is soon.
If you didn't read my short story and you want to, it's posted below.
Goodbye for a few days!
Friday, July 27, 2007
Monday, July 23, 2007
A little tipsy right now...
Hello hello hello...
Just a general update here. Nothing has really been happening, except a bunch of business. After finishing Harry, I dedicated myself to focusing on my short story "Token For Perdita," which as of today, my half-way mark got great marks in class! =) So that is exciting. If it is up to snuff at the end of the week when it is due, I'll post it here. It's very, very, very (should I continue?) basic and straight-forward as far as short stories go -- my goal was to just write one, even if it was boring and predictable. Having never written one, I just wanted to do it and see that I was capable of telling even the most pointless of stories in 3000 words.
Today was insane -- Week 4, which means all 4 week classes have their finals this week. For some reason, all 8 week classes don't have lectures this week, so all of my seminars were moved to today, which made my already 2 lecture, 1 seminar, 1 screening Monday very, very full. Needless to say, the movie we watched today, The Way Ahead, was entertaining, and Carlin and I brought our usual cheese, bread, wine and fruit -- this time sharing with our fantastic guy pals, Sean, Dean and Mark. Also, Nick, Ben and Ben's visiting friend Terren were allowed to bask in our bread and chocolates! =)
Carlin and I are the token females and we know how to provide our men with good food and drink! (Wow, these 1940's war films are really rubbing off on me in a bad, bad way...)
Afterwards we rewarded ourselves -- after such an extremely long and exhausting day -- a trip out to The Eagle for a pint, where we talked movies and hot celebs with Dean and Sean. I love these boys, they're so chill and easy to get along with! Thank God we have more screenings. That just means more wine and bread and... well, you get it.
Edinburgh is this weekend, which is more than fantastically exciting -- I cannot wait! Dublin plans have been made concrete -- last weekend of the programme, we're going with an enormous group of people; Carlin, me, Austin and Dan are sharing a hotel room and I made the plane/train reservations last night. Crossing fingers, hoping everything works out. Cannot WAIT for Dublin.
I originally wanted to go to Amsterdam, but I'm afraid that that isn't going to end up happening. I could go, but while being in England, I'd like to try and make plans for day-trips around the country. Bath, Stonehenge, down to see Barb!!! Also, Oxford is so very close -- I want to make sure I see it. And Ely too.
So, we'll see. Almost half-way there. Will be very sad to approach the end, but there is still so much to be done!
Love to everyone. Peace.
Just a general update here. Nothing has really been happening, except a bunch of business. After finishing Harry, I dedicated myself to focusing on my short story "Token For Perdita," which as of today, my half-way mark got great marks in class! =) So that is exciting. If it is up to snuff at the end of the week when it is due, I'll post it here. It's very, very, very (should I continue?) basic and straight-forward as far as short stories go -- my goal was to just write one, even if it was boring and predictable. Having never written one, I just wanted to do it and see that I was capable of telling even the most pointless of stories in 3000 words.
Today was insane -- Week 4, which means all 4 week classes have their finals this week. For some reason, all 8 week classes don't have lectures this week, so all of my seminars were moved to today, which made my already 2 lecture, 1 seminar, 1 screening Monday very, very full. Needless to say, the movie we watched today, The Way Ahead, was entertaining, and Carlin and I brought our usual cheese, bread, wine and fruit -- this time sharing with our fantastic guy pals, Sean, Dean and Mark. Also, Nick, Ben and Ben's visiting friend Terren were allowed to bask in our bread and chocolates! =)
Carlin and I are the token females and we know how to provide our men with good food and drink! (Wow, these 1940's war films are really rubbing off on me in a bad, bad way...)
Afterwards we rewarded ourselves -- after such an extremely long and exhausting day -- a trip out to The Eagle for a pint, where we talked movies and hot celebs with Dean and Sean. I love these boys, they're so chill and easy to get along with! Thank God we have more screenings. That just means more wine and bread and... well, you get it.
Edinburgh is this weekend, which is more than fantastically exciting -- I cannot wait! Dublin plans have been made concrete -- last weekend of the programme, we're going with an enormous group of people; Carlin, me, Austin and Dan are sharing a hotel room and I made the plane/train reservations last night. Crossing fingers, hoping everything works out. Cannot WAIT for Dublin.
I originally wanted to go to Amsterdam, but I'm afraid that that isn't going to end up happening. I could go, but while being in England, I'd like to try and make plans for day-trips around the country. Bath, Stonehenge, down to see Barb!!! Also, Oxford is so very close -- I want to make sure I see it. And Ely too.
So, we'll see. Almost half-way there. Will be very sad to approach the end, but there is still so much to be done!
Love to everyone. Peace.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Punt This Way: Cam Trip #2
Today is a disgustingly British day. Yesterday was so sunny and warm and beautiful -- all day -- and today there is constant downpour. Very upsetting, because I wanted to see Hairspray, but can't walk that far in the rainy rain. So I may just have to postpone that trip until tomorrow or Sunday. Holy crap, I'm just waiting for the frickin' thunder to start. It is raining so hard.Yesterday I went punting for the 2nd time, this time I got a chance to do the actual punting, which was definitely harder than I thought. It's just a matter of getting your coordination down, and figuring out the right way to put the pole so that you turn the way you want. I only went about 100 yards (I parked us), and it took a good 10 minutes or so.
Here are Bri and Austin heading down to the punting area. We're so special 'cause we're King's College members. =) And that punting stick is looooooong.
I was gonna post a lot of pictures, but I figure the videos would be more appropriate. Two of 'em, which was definitely not enough, but I ran out of memory on my camera. Enjoy.
Highlights, mostly having to do with Bri, explained because they're difficult to hear/see:
- Bri thinking that a guy on the side of the river looked like Jerry Garcia.
- Bri making up/reporting trivia about Wren Library, which she mistakenly calls "Wren College," and nobody acknowledging poor punt-master Austin when he corrects her numerous times by saying that it's actually Trinity College.
- Bri telling me, as we're going under the bridge: "I saw so much PDA on the streets today I couldn't help myself but think of what you said yesterday about 'What is this, the city of fuckin' love?'" (it's true.... these people in this town are all over each other).
- Dan attempting to feed a duck wine just after the time ran out on video #1.
- The entrance to St. John's really does look like a vagina.
- We get hit by other punts, several times.
PS. Austin, Dan and Michelle are punting geniuses. I suck at punting.
Here's a picture of that calf I was talking about several, several posts ago. Cute, huh? That's one side of the cam, then there's the other (which, every time I see it, looks like a postcard).
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Smart Dressers
You would have to be a student here to understand how exciting this was. And like most things, the novelty wore off pretty quick.But I'm not gonna lie: Walking on the grass felt pretty cool. Except for the fact that my heels kept crushing through the grass, so I spent all of drink time walking on the balls of my feet to avoid aerating the King's Lawn. I just made life easier for some worms, oh well.
Monday was our second formal hall dinner. Can't say I was feeling my prettiest on this day, but hey! Wine and more wine and lots of free food and good people! I ain't complainin'.
There isn't a lot I can talk about with regards to this dinner, except that it was fun, the food was kind of iffy (but it's Britain... so... what else is new?), and I stole all of these pictures from Maxine and others, because I just don't have the space for a camera in my little, itty-bitty purse.Here is part of the group, clockwise from top: Maxine, Rich, Phil, Dan, Carlin (who's gonna hate me for putting this up because she looks a little possessed =/), Austin, and me. Don't we all look so "smart"?? Meaning fancy. Except "fancy" actually means costume. Whatever.
This is just a good chance to show you pictures of people, since the last post was virtually ALL buildings and pretty nature things. Below: Maxine and Lauren (both SBers); Nick and Michelle; TA ladies Ariella and Becky (heh, that girl off to the side has no clue, the poor thing); then Mark and Spencer (you have to live in England and go grocery shopping to know why these two being friends is more than kind of funny) and Abby -- such a scandalous picture, props to Maxine for capturing it.
There was also karaoke. It was pretty painful, but when isn't it? We definitely managed to kill the party for a few minutes with a rather insane and virtually inaudible rendition of "I've Got Friends In Low Places," which I don't really know, but I yelled along, you know. Then someone saved the mood by playing "Since You've Been Gone," so all was well.
Here are some of the TA boys -- adorable Dave on the bottom and little, tiny Nick off to the right, singing their cute, British hearts out; and then a very beautiful one of the two coolest, most chill SBers ever, me and Bri!
Hurray. Exciting. Fun-ness overload. Ya ya ya.
Walk In My Shoes: The Coffee Run & Creative Inspiration
Today was a very, very surprisingly nice day.
So I've still been extremely busy with schoolwork, and class takes up too much time (as does rest), but I managed to get my sorry ass out of bed this morning, go and get coffee (as I usually do) at Starbucks ('cause the coffee place here, Cafe Nero, sucks!), and forced myself to take pictures along the way.
You can now see what I see, virtually every day, at least 3 times per day, because it is all about 100-200 yards from my room. The common route du Stacy.
From the corner, outside King's, looking down King's Parade. The college on the right, shops/coffee/stuff on the left. Then, of course, the enormous, intimidating front gate of King's, of which I have constant and unlimited access as a member of the College. =)
Next is the tiny little road that leads to the central market (not the center of Cambridge, by any means, but definitely the apparent center of our college universe), past the amazing Barclay's (bank) which I stop at far more than I should. Then, of course, the market place, where you can get pretty much anything. Flowers, bread, clothes, CDs/records/DVDs, really... anything.
Just past the market is the Starbucks. Then I turn around and head down a different road, leading past the Cambridge Bookstore, several extremely photogenic phonebooths and St. Mary's Church -- which is always open and has bells every 5 frickin' minutes.
Then, after entering through the large, fortress-like gate, this is the view we have of the King's main courtyard -- just across through the 2nd black doorway from the left is where my film seminar is. After making a left, you approach this amazing doorway, leading to our main area of hangout: the King's College Bar. Everything happens here.
It's kind of gorgeous, I'm not gonna lie.
Once leaving Bodley's Court, we get a fantastic view of the Backs -- punters on the Cam and the great King's Chapel (here, with a very smiley Spencer and Megan).
And then it's nap-time. Stay tuned for more picture tours.
So I've still been extremely busy with schoolwork, and class takes up too much time (as does rest), but I managed to get my sorry ass out of bed this morning, go and get coffee (as I usually do) at Starbucks ('cause the coffee place here, Cafe Nero, sucks!), and forced myself to take pictures along the way.
You can now see what I see, virtually every day, at least 3 times per day, because it is all about 100-200 yards from my room. The common route du Stacy.
From the corner, outside King's, looking down King's Parade. The college on the right, shops/coffee/stuff on the left. Then, of course, the enormous, intimidating front gate of King's, of which I have constant and unlimited access as a member of the College. =)
Next is the tiny little road that leads to the central market (not the center of Cambridge, by any means, but definitely the apparent center of our college universe), past the amazing Barclay's (bank) which I stop at far more than I should. Then, of course, the market place, where you can get pretty much anything. Flowers, bread, clothes, CDs/records/DVDs, really... anything.
Just past the market is the Starbucks. Then I turn around and head down a different road, leading past the Cambridge Bookstore, several extremely photogenic phonebooths and St. Mary's Church -- which is always open and has bells every 5 frickin' minutes.
Then, after entering through the large, fortress-like gate, this is the view we have of the King's main courtyard -- just across through the 2nd black doorway from the left is where my film seminar is. After making a left, you approach this amazing doorway, leading to our main area of hangout: the King's College Bar. Everything happens here.
Following coffee is usually class. My last class of the day today (Wednesday) was my Creative Writing seminar, which takes place in this humble area: Bodley's Court. As you can see, it is the one area in King's this side of the Cam that has grass you can sit on. And we do. (My class happens just beyond that big bush.)
It's kind of gorgeous, I'm not gonna lie.
Once leaving Bodley's Court, we get a fantastic view of the Backs -- punters on the Cam and the great King's Chapel (here, with a very smiley Spencer and Megan).
And then it's nap-time. Stay tuned for more picture tours.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Lush Fest
Carlin and I are lushes.
2nd week in a row that we've brought wine and some sort of food to our Cinema & Identity screening. Luckily, our professor Patrick is just sad that we don't bring him a Guinness. For sure, next week, we will. As well as our usual wine and spot in the back of the room.
Normally I would think I was annoying during these screenings, and perhaps someone thinks she and I both are, but sometimes our "Oooo"s and "Oh no she didn't!"s are just what the class needs to lighten the fuck up. No one really wants to be there when they can be in the King's Bar or at The Eagle drinking.
Tonight's movie, Millions Like Us, was actually really good, and very well-written. I was not so "comfortable" on the wine that I didn't notice it had really good dialogue. It made me want to watch A League of Their Own.
The two guys who were supposed to drink with us in the back totally bailed, so we say SCREW 'EM! Or rather, whatever. We made a new friend, Dean, and we'll convince him to drink wine with us next time. Maybe we'll even have some beer, step it up a notch.
Been a weird day, slept a lot. My brain is working harder than my body is capable of acknowledging, so the end result is more sleep. It's only 10 p.m. and though I'd rather be out with certain people, I'm glad to just get to read, and maybe actually something for class. Who knows. Miracles happen.
Love to everyone.
PS. I'm sooo over Cute Guy. Though he's still beautiful.
PPS. Seeing Much Ado About Nothing on campus this week, and will be taking part in an all-night Harry Potter Party at the local Waterstone's on Friday night, to get my 7th book. Most people are going on the Dublin trip this weekend, so I can comfortably lock myself in my room, read HP7 all night, and then sleep all day Saturday. I want to be done before the people in California can even get the book, boo ya!
2nd week in a row that we've brought wine and some sort of food to our Cinema & Identity screening. Luckily, our professor Patrick is just sad that we don't bring him a Guinness. For sure, next week, we will. As well as our usual wine and spot in the back of the room.
Normally I would think I was annoying during these screenings, and perhaps someone thinks she and I both are, but sometimes our "Oooo"s and "Oh no she didn't!"s are just what the class needs to lighten the fuck up. No one really wants to be there when they can be in the King's Bar or at The Eagle drinking.
Tonight's movie, Millions Like Us, was actually really good, and very well-written. I was not so "comfortable" on the wine that I didn't notice it had really good dialogue. It made me want to watch A League of Their Own.
The two guys who were supposed to drink with us in the back totally bailed, so we say SCREW 'EM! Or rather, whatever. We made a new friend, Dean, and we'll convince him to drink wine with us next time. Maybe we'll even have some beer, step it up a notch.
Been a weird day, slept a lot. My brain is working harder than my body is capable of acknowledging, so the end result is more sleep. It's only 10 p.m. and though I'd rather be out with certain people, I'm glad to just get to read, and maybe actually something for class. Who knows. Miracles happen.
Love to everyone.
PS. I'm sooo over Cute Guy. Though he's still beautiful.
PPS. Seeing Much Ado About Nothing on campus this week, and will be taking part in an all-night Harry Potter Party at the local Waterstone's on Friday night, to get my 7th book. Most people are going on the Dublin trip this weekend, so I can comfortably lock myself in my room, read HP7 all night, and then sleep all day Saturday. I want to be done before the people in California can even get the book, boo ya!
Sunday, July 15, 2007
London: A Day Trip
Long-ass, picture heavy post a-ho.It is now Sunday and I am very exhausted from the trip to London yesterday. Originally I had planned to stay the night, but numerous things made me come to terms with the fact that I just couldn't afford -- in numerous senses of the word -- to waste a day aimlessly walking around London when I could get a free ride home and my own bed for no money at all just by coming back last night.
I'm SO glad I did. But before that...
LONDON! I don't feel as though I've been to London before, despite my experiences in 3 of it's airports and one night in a hostel where I went absolutely nowhere, so this was very exciting to get to go with a huge group of people, ie. the entire PKP programme.
Half the group (my half) got dropped off at Trafalgar Square, which was exciting and very busy, it being a Saturday afternoon in the summer and all.
We started off at the National Portrait Gallery, which was really great, as far as museums go -- much more organized and easier to navigate than the Met, I'll tell you that much. There were far too many Madonna and Child, Virgin and Baby paintings for my taste, and it's like... We get it. Jesus died for our sins. Can we stop painting about it already?! So the early stuff wasn't quite my taste, except for this one by da Vinci (not surprisingly) which I feel has such a dark, subtle beauty. Like I've said before, I prefer to see the brush strokes. I want to see a painting, not a photograph (though, don't get me wrong, those are extremely impressive and worthwhile as well, yadda yadda...), OK and moving on.
Carlin, Michelle and I sort of jumped through the museum since we were needing coffee and had only a little while until needing to meet our group, so we went straight for all the modernist, expressionist stuff. You know, the stuff I like.
Probably the most amazing for me was Van Gogh's "The Wheatfield with Cypresses," because (I dunno if you can tell) but it looks exactly like "Starry Night." I mean, exactly. Just day time. And in the country. And opposite sides. I was stunned by it, and got to thinking about why one piece of art is more famous than another. That's always a question I guess, but this one... well, I find it just as beautiful, and the brush strokes up close are absolutely breathtaking.
Several other great things we got to see were a few gorgeous sketches by Toulouse-Lautrec, some Cezanne, tons of Monet's, more Van Gogh's and even more Picasso's. The coolest thing for me was probably seeing "The Rokeby Venus" by Valazquez -- what I think is probably one of the most famous and beautiful images ever to display the female form. It's a flawlessly intricate and beautiful painting, in my opinion. And interestingly enough, my favorite part is probably Cupid's wings. Continuing on with my love of noticeable brush strokes, I could probably have stared at the wings for an hour. Anyway, it was cool to see another famous painting, among many.
OK! Enough of museums (until later...), and on to London, the city! Or what we saw of it. Oh, here is me, trying to get into a phone booth. I intended to take a picture of me inside it, but I think it might have been Armageddon-proof, because I just couldn't get inside. Though it was full of garbage. I'm just very easily confused.
After getting some sandwiches nearby (here's Bree, Caitlin, Dan and Austin), a small group of us were led by two of our amazing TA's around central London on a little "guided" tour. I've been meaning to post about the TA's, because they're awesome and hysterical, but I didn't have any pictures or video of them. Until now. This is Aileen and Dave. Carlin and I love Dave. We love all of them, but particularly Dave, because he is like a puppy we want to take home with us. Actually, we wish he was pocket-sized so we can carry him around and have him entertain us at our beckon call. (We're pretty sure he is scared of us because we tell him all the time how much we love him. He just laughs when we tell him, but I'm also pretty sure he thinks we are in love with him, which is just silliness.) Here they are explaining the statue of King Charles I, right on the edge of Trafalgar Square (with Carlin and Austin looking on at the end).
Hehehe. Just times Dave's adorable-ness by one hundred and you can get an idea of how amazing it is to watch him frolic. He taught everyone to frolic at Sports Day last week. He is a master.
Our trail through Central London took us through the Admiralty Arch, down The Mall, past Buckingham Palace, back all the way through St. James's Park, past the Horse Guards Parade, Whitehall, Downing Street and Parliament Square and finally ended at The Palace of Westminster and Big Ben (which is the name of the bell, not the tower/clock, fyi.) Unfortunately, everything past us pretty quickly, because we had to make it to our river boat cruise thing on the Thames, but I don't usually like looking at buildings too long anyway.
(I included links instead of all the pictures I took of everything, simply because I'm not in any pictures and these Wiki-links include pics and facts. I will never be as informative as The Great and Powerful Wiki.)
The only downer was that we didn't get to see the front of Westminster Abbey, just the back of it. Poop. BUT, seeing Westminster Tower was a lot like seeing the Eiffel Tower: not quite real. Even though it was right in front of me, it still felt super-imposed. It was the only building I got starstruck seeing.
After this we took a 15-min. River Thames cruise, which let us out down the river on the South Bank, right next to the Tate Modern and the Globe Theatre, which was so trippy to see. But we still had 3 hours to spare before seeing the play...
The group kind of split up at that point -- the people who were planning to stay the night going off to check into the hotel, and Maxine and I got some food and heading into the Tate. I was feeling a little museumed-out, but that has never stopped me in the past. I love Modern art, but c'mon. I mean... c'mon. Really? That video? Oy. Either way, I just can't deny how incredible I find certain paintings, and I will never be too tired or cranky to stare at some Kandinsky (to the right: "Swinging") or Pollock or... well, the list goes on.
There was a Dali & Film exhibit, but it was £11, meaning a whopping $22. Not worth it, at least as of yesterday. We might go back, though, 'cause it would be an amazing thing to get to see. Dali was on crack, especially in the films he did with Walt Disney. And I dig crack-induced artists.
A few of the paintings I saw and loved, shown below, in this order, were Picasso's "Seated Nude," Nicola Tyson's "Swimmer," and Francis Picabia's "Otaïti."
At this point, my legs hurt so badly I didn't think I could walk anymore (I have tendon/muscle problems, don't ask). But we still had Othello ahead of us, and normally that would mean 3 hours of sitting and watching a play, which would have been GREAT. Except, we're commoners. And commoners, in the Globe, get to stand for the entire performance. Now, I'm all about authenticity, and Lord knows I love me some Shakespeare, especially when people are brutally murdered, but I did not think I could make it through. But I did. And I'm alive. And my feet/legs still (kind of) work.
The show was sensational. Talk about a minimalist production -- my favorite kind! Period-appropriate costumes, no sets except for a table, benches and a bed (of course). No lighting, no sound. The man playing Othello was so good. He was scaring the crap out of Bree and I, because of his intensity, and we were right near the front of the stage and, not sitting in seats, there was nothing to grab hold of. Desdemona was cute as hell, and died the kind of death that Claire Danes in Stage Beauty would be proud of. My favorite of them all was Rodrigo. I thought he was hot, everyone thought I was crazy, and they maybe would have settled for "cute." But I love me the fool, especially when he steals the show. (Merry Wives of Windsor, Shad Willingham, OSF 2006, anyone??) Fools are the best characters to play, and the most entertaining, because they are open to the most interpretation. Every production, the fool is different. ::sigh:: Rodrigo was the best part of the show for me, and the perfect amount of comic relief.
Afterwards, I filmed a very brief video of Carlin and London at nighttime. If you're interested.
So we made it through the show, with just a little bit of rain trickling down on us, and Carlin, Maxine and I hiked our asses to the buses so we could get home. It was 11 pm and we had a 2 hour bus ride ahead of us, and chips from the Trailer of Life food cart in the Market Square were screaming our name.
Unfortunately, though, some girl who sat across the aisle from us had been drinking what must have been 2 bottles of wine during the Othello performance and she started throwing up on herself about half-way through the drive.
It was the nastiest smell to have to sit with for an hour, but luckily we had AC, and being completely frozen was a small price to pay for slightly fresher air. But nothing really helped. As a result, Carlin and I became bandits using the two pashmina scarves I bought.
That's right. You wish you were us.
London was definitely fun. Gonna plan another day-trip or more than one to be able to take our time with non-touristy stuff. It is definitely a city that is over-run with tourists. Ughy ugh.
I'm SO glad I did. But before that...
LONDON! I don't feel as though I've been to London before, despite my experiences in 3 of it's airports and one night in a hostel where I went absolutely nowhere, so this was very exciting to get to go with a huge group of people, ie. the entire PKP programme.Half the group (my half) got dropped off at Trafalgar Square, which was exciting and very busy, it being a Saturday afternoon in the summer and all.
We started off at the National Portrait Gallery, which was really great, as far as museums go -- much more organized and easier to navigate than the Met, I'll tell you that much. There were far too many Madonna and Child, Virgin and Baby paintings for my taste, and it's like... We get it. Jesus died for our sins. Can we stop painting about it already?! So the early stuff wasn't quite my taste, except for this one by da Vinci (not surprisingly) which I feel has such a dark, subtle beauty. Like I've said before, I prefer to see the brush strokes. I want to see a painting, not a photograph (though, don't get me wrong, those are extremely impressive and worthwhile as well, yadda yadda...), OK and moving on.Carlin, Michelle and I sort of jumped through the museum since we were needing coffee and had only a little while until needing to meet our group, so we went straight for all the modernist, expressionist stuff. You know, the stuff I like.
Probably the most amazing for me was Van Gogh's "The Wheatfield with Cypresses," because (I dunno if you can tell) but it looks exactly like "Starry Night." I mean, exactly. Just day time. And in the country. And opposite sides. I was stunned by it, and got to thinking about why one piece of art is more famous than another. That's always a question I guess, but this one... well, I find it just as beautiful, and the brush strokes up close are absolutely breathtaking.Several other great things we got to see were a few gorgeous sketches by Toulouse-Lautrec, some Cezanne, tons of Monet's, more Van Gogh's and even more Picasso's. The coolest thing for me was probably seeing "The Rokeby Venus" by Valazquez -- what I think is probably one of the most famous and beautiful images ever to display the female form. It's a flawlessly intricate and beautiful painting, in my opinion. And interestingly enough, my favorite part is probably Cupid's wings. Continuing on with my love of noticeable brush strokes, I could probably have stared at the wings for an hour. Anyway, it was cool to see another famous painting, among many.
OK! Enough of museums (until later...), and on to London, the city! Or what we saw of it. Oh, here is me, trying to get into a phone booth. I intended to take a picture of me inside it, but I think it might have been Armageddon-proof, because I just couldn't get inside. Though it was full of garbage. I'm just very easily confused.
After getting some sandwiches nearby (here's Bree, Caitlin, Dan and Austin), a small group of us were led by two of our amazing TA's around central London on a little "guided" tour. I've been meaning to post about the TA's, because they're awesome and hysterical, but I didn't have any pictures or video of them. Until now. This is Aileen and Dave. Carlin and I love Dave. We love all of them, but particularly Dave, because he is like a puppy we want to take home with us. Actually, we wish he was pocket-sized so we can carry him around and have him entertain us at our beckon call. (We're pretty sure he is scared of us because we tell him all the time how much we love him. He just laughs when we tell him, but I'm also pretty sure he thinks we are in love with him, which is just silliness.) Here they are explaining the statue of King Charles I, right on the edge of Trafalgar Square (with Carlin and Austin looking on at the end).Hehehe. Just times Dave's adorable-ness by one hundred and you can get an idea of how amazing it is to watch him frolic. He taught everyone to frolic at Sports Day last week. He is a master.
Our trail through Central London took us through the Admiralty Arch, down The Mall, past Buckingham Palace, back all the way through St. James's Park, past the Horse Guards Parade, Whitehall, Downing Street and Parliament Square and finally ended at The Palace of Westminster and Big Ben (which is the name of the bell, not the tower/clock, fyi.) Unfortunately, everything past us pretty quickly, because we had to make it to our river boat cruise thing on the Thames, but I don't usually like looking at buildings too long anyway.(I included links instead of all the pictures I took of everything, simply because I'm not in any pictures and these Wiki-links include pics and facts. I will never be as informative as The Great and Powerful Wiki.)
The only downer was that we didn't get to see the front of Westminster Abbey, just the back of it. Poop. BUT, seeing Westminster Tower was a lot like seeing the Eiffel Tower: not quite real. Even though it was right in front of me, it still felt super-imposed. It was the only building I got starstruck seeing.
After this we took a 15-min. River Thames cruise, which let us out down the river on the South Bank, right next to the Tate Modern and the Globe Theatre, which was so trippy to see. But we still had 3 hours to spare before seeing the play...The group kind of split up at that point -- the people who were planning to stay the night going off to check into the hotel, and Maxine and I got some food and heading into the Tate. I was feeling a little museumed-out, but that has never stopped me in the past. I love Modern art, but c'mon. I mean... c'mon. Really? That video? Oy. Either way, I just can't deny how incredible I find certain paintings, and I will never be too tired or cranky to stare at some Kandinsky (to the right: "Swinging") or Pollock or... well, the list goes on.
There was a Dali & Film exhibit, but it was £11, meaning a whopping $22. Not worth it, at least as of yesterday. We might go back, though, 'cause it would be an amazing thing to get to see. Dali was on crack, especially in the films he did with Walt Disney. And I dig crack-induced artists.
A few of the paintings I saw and loved, shown below, in this order, were Picasso's "Seated Nude," Nicola Tyson's "Swimmer," and Francis Picabia's "Otaïti."
At this point, my legs hurt so badly I didn't think I could walk anymore (I have tendon/muscle problems, don't ask). But we still had Othello ahead of us, and normally that would mean 3 hours of sitting and watching a play, which would have been GREAT. Except, we're commoners. And commoners, in the Globe, get to stand for the entire performance. Now, I'm all about authenticity, and Lord knows I love me some Shakespeare, especially when people are brutally murdered, but I did not think I could make it through. But I did. And I'm alive. And my feet/legs still (kind of) work.
The show was sensational. Talk about a minimalist production -- my favorite kind! Period-appropriate costumes, no sets except for a table, benches and a bed (of course). No lighting, no sound. The man playing Othello was so good. He was scaring the crap out of Bree and I, because of his intensity, and we were right near the front of the stage and, not sitting in seats, there was nothing to grab hold of. Desdemona was cute as hell, and died the kind of death that Claire Danes in Stage Beauty would be proud of. My favorite of them all was Rodrigo. I thought he was hot, everyone thought I was crazy, and they maybe would have settled for "cute." But I love me the fool, especially when he steals the show. (Merry Wives of Windsor, Shad Willingham, OSF 2006, anyone??) Fools are the best characters to play, and the most entertaining, because they are open to the most interpretation. Every production, the fool is different. ::sigh:: Rodrigo was the best part of the show for me, and the perfect amount of comic relief.
Afterwards, I filmed a very brief video of Carlin and London at nighttime. If you're interested.
So we made it through the show, with just a little bit of rain trickling down on us, and Carlin, Maxine and I hiked our asses to the buses so we could get home. It was 11 pm and we had a 2 hour bus ride ahead of us, and chips from the Trailer of Life food cart in the Market Square were screaming our name.
Unfortunately, though, some girl who sat across the aisle from us had been drinking what must have been 2 bottles of wine during the Othello performance and she started throwing up on herself about half-way through the drive.It was the nastiest smell to have to sit with for an hour, but luckily we had AC, and being completely frozen was a small price to pay for slightly fresher air. But nothing really helped. As a result, Carlin and I became bandits using the two pashmina scarves I bought.
That's right. You wish you were us.
London was definitely fun. Gonna plan another day-trip or more than one to be able to take our time with non-touristy stuff. It is definitely a city that is over-run with tourists. Ughy ugh.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
The Perks of Being a King's Fellow
Friday night was insanity, mainly because at about 10 p.m. there was a fireworks show outside my window. My window overlooks the library, which is the only barrier between me and the ginormous King's lawn and a view of the Cam. I was so excited, I couldn't do anything but film it.
It was the longest fireworks show I've ever seen. I found out afterwards that there was a very special dinner/celebration for all the Fellows of King's College and their families (ie. spouses). They proceeded to have a celebration of sorts in the King's Garden which is the area directly outside my window.
I would like to be a Fellow. You get to wear super smart black academic robes (not all the time, though, that would be silly), and most of all you get to walk on the lawn. Every time I see a Fellow tramp across the lawn -- they do it so well, too, they know they're special, and like New Yorkers they walk with conviction and purpose -- I just want to convince one to take me with them! (Fellows and their guests are the only ones besides the gardeners who can walk on the grass whenever they like.) I still have yet to really walk on the grass, like center of the lawn walking.
Soon. Monday night, actually, at drinks for our 2nd formal hall. I can't wait.
It was the longest fireworks show I've ever seen. I found out afterwards that there was a very special dinner/celebration for all the Fellows of King's College and their families (ie. spouses). They proceeded to have a celebration of sorts in the King's Garden which is the area directly outside my window.
I would like to be a Fellow. You get to wear super smart black academic robes (not all the time, though, that would be silly), and most of all you get to walk on the lawn. Every time I see a Fellow tramp across the lawn -- they do it so well, too, they know they're special, and like New Yorkers they walk with conviction and purpose -- I just want to convince one to take me with them! (Fellows and their guests are the only ones besides the gardeners who can walk on the grass whenever they like.) I still have yet to really walk on the grass, like center of the lawn walking.
Soon. Monday night, actually, at drinks for our 2nd formal hall. I can't wait.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Clubin' Cambridge-Style
It seems that even though I have yet to take pictures of Cambridge outside of King's, I can still manage to get pics while drinking. And dancing. There is no end to drinking and dancing here on the Fens!
Everyone has been extremely busy this week, with papers and classes and deadlines and all kinds of things. We needed to release our inner-crazy! OK, I'm stupid, but inevitably this meant liquor. Or beer. Or hard cider. Or if you're me, all three.
Here we have just a few of the SB girls here at King's, and we're all so pretty. And amazing. We're pretty amazing. =) You can't go out to a bar or expect to be able to party without at least one SB kid. From left to right, that's Bree and then you already know Michelle, Maxine and, well, me.
There may not be a ton of places to go in Cambridge, but this place has some totally chill pubs. I feel as though I've been to all of them. I haven't, but at least the ones near King's and Queen's and Emmanuel Colleges are all pretty familiar at this point. The Anchor was our first stop, then The Bath House, where most of these pics are from. We were also out celebrating the 21st birthday of one of our programme gals, Katrina (she's in my Creative Writing class) -- we tried to make it as energetic as possible since she could actually drink before the stroke of midnight and being 21 means absolutely nothing here. BUT WHO CARES! It was fun!
Oo! More cool! My friend Spencer (to the right, also in my CW class -- seriously, everyone's in it) met up with a friend from Irvine who is in the Pembroke programme. She was really sweet and was telling me of some really great places to check out when I go to Edinburgh in 2 weeks (my travel dates are officially set for Scotland: July 28th-30th). One place she mentioned was the Frankenstein, which is a pub/club, and apparently it has quotes from the book all over the walls. Seeing as how that is my favorite novel, I will have to venture there. There was another place she mentioned that is the place to go once the Frankenstein closes, but now I can't remember. Oh well, I'll just have to hunt it down.
(Side-track: I cannot WAIT for Scotland!! I'm giddy and annoying just thinking about it. I promise you'll get to see more than the necessary amount of pictures once I get back from that trip. I just need to go on a trip, pronto. Now. Away from schooling-ness. And Cambridge stone cloisters. Not that I don't love it, but... OK I'm stopping.)
After the pub-ness, we went to another club, The Twenty-Two. Cover charges stink, especially when the club isn't that nice, but I was pretty "happy" at this point, so I didn't really care. There were about a million girls and some sketch guys, but mainly there were little clusters of boys that looked like they were between the ages of 16 and 19. Maybe even 12. =/
See? I don't even know who these guys are, but they're babies and that makes me feel ancient and fat and gray and unaccomplished in my decrepit old age.
I danced with a couple (British?) guys, but you know me: I can't make out with someone if I've never even heard them speak. Sorry to the members of the Stacy Needs to Get Laid Support Group, but I have standards and they begin with being able to know whether potential kissy-partners can speak English or not. I'm not saying they have to, but I at least have to know.
Moving on. The night got significantly better when they started playing this: Panjabi MC's "Mundian To Bach Ke" -- one of the many fantastic songs that "Queer as Folk" was kind enough to bring into my life. I sort of freaked. There's nothing better than dancing and then hearing a song that is one of your favorite dance songs. And seeing as how I love that I can post songs for your listening pleasure, I'm going to. (This is the non-clubbed out version, which I think is better.)
There just isn't enough of that song.
OK. So this picture is more than extremely embarrassing, but it's already out there in the internet stratosphere, so why not take hold of it and shame myself on my own blog? My thoughts exactly.
I always feel good when dancing, 'cause I have pretty decent rhythm. But this picture makes me look dangerous. Actually, I like to attribute it to being from Santa Barbara. We dance differently there, as you can see since Michelle has the same idea. British people don't get it. The guys either love it, or they get scared. The latter is more probable, but who can blame the former?! I kid, I kid...
All in all, a good Thursday night.
Tomorrow we are leaving early early early for London and I am going to do my best to try and get some video. It'll be tough, but either way I'll be taking tons o' pictures.
And tonight, I'm finally getting my Indian food. I'd better be getting my Indian food...
Everyone has been extremely busy this week, with papers and classes and deadlines and all kinds of things. We needed to release our inner-crazy! OK, I'm stupid, but inevitably this meant liquor. Or beer. Or hard cider. Or if you're me, all three.Here we have just a few of the SB girls here at King's, and we're all so pretty. And amazing. We're pretty amazing. =) You can't go out to a bar or expect to be able to party without at least one SB kid. From left to right, that's Bree and then you already know Michelle, Maxine and, well, me.
There may not be a ton of places to go in Cambridge, but this place has some totally chill pubs. I feel as though I've been to all of them. I haven't, but at least the ones near King's and Queen's and Emmanuel Colleges are all pretty familiar at this point. The Anchor was our first stop, then The Bath House, where most of these pics are from. We were also out celebrating the 21st birthday of one of our programme gals, Katrina (she's in my Creative Writing class) -- we tried to make it as energetic as possible since she could actually drink before the stroke of midnight and being 21 means absolutely nothing here. BUT WHO CARES! It was fun!
Oo! More cool! My friend Spencer (to the right, also in my CW class -- seriously, everyone's in it) met up with a friend from Irvine who is in the Pembroke programme. She was really sweet and was telling me of some really great places to check out when I go to Edinburgh in 2 weeks (my travel dates are officially set for Scotland: July 28th-30th). One place she mentioned was the Frankenstein, which is a pub/club, and apparently it has quotes from the book all over the walls. Seeing as how that is my favorite novel, I will have to venture there. There was another place she mentioned that is the place to go once the Frankenstein closes, but now I can't remember. Oh well, I'll just have to hunt it down.(Side-track: I cannot WAIT for Scotland!! I'm giddy and annoying just thinking about it. I promise you'll get to see more than the necessary amount of pictures once I get back from that trip. I just need to go on a trip, pronto. Now. Away from schooling-ness. And Cambridge stone cloisters. Not that I don't love it, but... OK I'm stopping.)
After the pub-ness, we went to another club, The Twenty-Two. Cover charges stink, especially when the club isn't that nice, but I was pretty "happy" at this point, so I didn't really care. There were about a million girls and some sketch guys, but mainly there were little clusters of boys that looked like they were between the ages of 16 and 19. Maybe even 12. =/See? I don't even know who these guys are, but they're babies and that makes me feel ancient and fat and gray and unaccomplished in my decrepit old age.
I danced with a couple (British?) guys, but you know me: I can't make out with someone if I've never even heard them speak. Sorry to the members of the Stacy Needs to Get Laid Support Group, but I have standards and they begin with being able to know whether potential kissy-partners can speak English or not. I'm not saying they have to, but I at least have to know.
Moving on. The night got significantly better when they started playing this: Panjabi MC's "Mundian To Bach Ke" -- one of the many fantastic songs that "Queer as Folk" was kind enough to bring into my life. I sort of freaked. There's nothing better than dancing and then hearing a song that is one of your favorite dance songs. And seeing as how I love that I can post songs for your listening pleasure, I'm going to. (This is the non-clubbed out version, which I think is better.)
There just isn't enough of that song.
OK. So this picture is more than extremely embarrassing, but it's already out there in the internet stratosphere, so why not take hold of it and shame myself on my own blog? My thoughts exactly.I always feel good when dancing, 'cause I have pretty decent rhythm. But this picture makes me look dangerous. Actually, I like to attribute it to being from Santa Barbara. We dance differently there, as you can see since Michelle has the same idea. British people don't get it. The guys either love it, or they get scared. The latter is more probable, but who can blame the former?! I kid, I kid...
All in all, a good Thursday night.
Tomorrow we are leaving early early early for London and I am going to do my best to try and get some video. It'll be tough, but either way I'll be taking tons o' pictures.
And tonight, I'm finally getting my Indian food. I'd better be getting my Indian food...
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Just One of Those Things
I actually anticipated this, but it doesn't make it any less annoying.
My iPod has died. Dead. No longer in service. Normally I'd be upset because all my music is lost, but right now, I only listen to, like, 25 songs anyway, all of which are on my computer. As long as that doesn't break down or get stolen (::knock wood::) my music situation will be fine. And I backed up everything on my external which is at home.
No, the sad thing is the idea of traveling, alone, without it. An Air India flight without music... I don't... I think I would die. The pain would probably be too much for me to handle.
Also, this means I have to take notes now in British Theatre, since I can't record the lectures.
Hmph. What terrible timing, but life goes on.
Good things! Pub crawling tomorrow with Pembroke dudes and King's girls, right after I finally take in the King's Chapel service and the King's Choir -- a 500 year old tradition, the most honored in the country. I wanted to record it for you, Dad, but... well... anyway.
PS. The reason I haven't taken more pictures is because I've run out of batteries. A 4-pack of AA's here costs about £4, which is almost $9. As much as I need batteries (and I will get them) spending that kind of money on something that will only last me a day hurts a little. I'll suck it up.
PPS. We have the cutest, coolest TAs ever. More on that when I have pictures/videos of them.
My iPod has died. Dead. No longer in service. Normally I'd be upset because all my music is lost, but right now, I only listen to, like, 25 songs anyway, all of which are on my computer. As long as that doesn't break down or get stolen (::knock wood::) my music situation will be fine. And I backed up everything on my external which is at home.
No, the sad thing is the idea of traveling, alone, without it. An Air India flight without music... I don't... I think I would die. The pain would probably be too much for me to handle.
Also, this means I have to take notes now in British Theatre, since I can't record the lectures.
Hmph. What terrible timing, but life goes on.
Good things! Pub crawling tomorrow with Pembroke dudes and King's girls, right after I finally take in the King's Chapel service and the King's Choir -- a 500 year old tradition, the most honored in the country. I wanted to record it for you, Dad, but... well... anyway.
PS. The reason I haven't taken more pictures is because I've run out of batteries. A 4-pack of AA's here costs about £4, which is almost $9. As much as I need batteries (and I will get them) spending that kind of money on something that will only last me a day hurts a little. I'll suck it up.
PPS. We have the cutest, coolest TAs ever. More on that when I have pictures/videos of them.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Poop poop
I'd like to send out a general apology for my down-trodden attitude lately. It's strange because I'm having such an amazing time -- I certainly don't mean to complain. Drama happens, and it isn't even my drama, so I'm going to focus on staying out of it. But people just have a way of springing up and causing stuff.
As I always say, I'm over it.
Check this out. Cambridge England clouds. All of us here agree: They don't make them like this in California. It seems like there could be countries 1,000 stories high inside these suckers.
That's the only landscape picture I have. Sitting around for hours watching people play rounders and enjoying the first sun all week only allowed for one angle of one thing. Indeed.
One thing that's been strange is how much I feel like this is home. I mean... I've been here a week. I haven't done any traveling because all Week One activities were Cambridge-based and I've had so much (so much, ouch) class, it's genuinely felt like school. 'Cause it is. But like I said: it'll be nice to travel to London this weekend and not worry about homework and making it to class.
Tonight was interesting: Night time punting on the Cam. I didn't take part in the actual punting, but everyone crowded on The Backs along the river with food and drinks and watched while people hit each other with punts. Also, the black swan and two of his fellow white friends were chillin' with the crowd, beggin' for food. I still can't get over how absolutely beautiful swans are.
And it happened. Finally. I was hoping it would happen and it did, though I hope this person doesn't somehow end up with the hiv. A dude fell in the Cam. Man.... he'll never live it down. No matter what, Hirsh (that's his name) is contaminated. Who knows what's in that water...
Many (too many) Santa Barbara people are crazy and loud. That's all I'm gonna say about that.
This is kind of a pointless update. Mainly: I can't believe how great a time I'm having, and it's difficult for me to explain without pictures, 'cause there just hasn't been a lot of time for it. King's is like home already, and I'm aching to explore more, but that may not happen too much until the next Module in August when I have more time during the week. Right now it's all about weekend trips, starting this weekend, alright! =)
I swear. You'll have pictures soon. They're coming, I just have to take them...
As I always say, I'm over it.
Check this out. Cambridge England clouds. All of us here agree: They don't make them like this in California. It seems like there could be countries 1,000 stories high inside these suckers.That's the only landscape picture I have. Sitting around for hours watching people play rounders and enjoying the first sun all week only allowed for one angle of one thing. Indeed.
One thing that's been strange is how much I feel like this is home. I mean... I've been here a week. I haven't done any traveling because all Week One activities were Cambridge-based and I've had so much (so much, ouch) class, it's genuinely felt like school. 'Cause it is. But like I said: it'll be nice to travel to London this weekend and not worry about homework and making it to class.
Tonight was interesting: Night time punting on the Cam. I didn't take part in the actual punting, but everyone crowded on The Backs along the river with food and drinks and watched while people hit each other with punts. Also, the black swan and two of his fellow white friends were chillin' with the crowd, beggin' for food. I still can't get over how absolutely beautiful swans are.
And it happened. Finally. I was hoping it would happen and it did, though I hope this person doesn't somehow end up with the hiv. A dude fell in the Cam. Man.... he'll never live it down. No matter what, Hirsh (that's his name) is contaminated. Who knows what's in that water...
Many (too many) Santa Barbara people are crazy and loud. That's all I'm gonna say about that.
This is kind of a pointless update. Mainly: I can't believe how great a time I'm having, and it's difficult for me to explain without pictures, 'cause there just hasn't been a lot of time for it. King's is like home already, and I'm aching to explore more, but that may not happen too much until the next Module in August when I have more time during the week. Right now it's all about weekend trips, starting this weekend, alright! =)
I swear. You'll have pictures soon. They're coming, I just have to take them...
Generalities, travels, food, etc.
Mondays are my long day, but yesterday was actually fun because Carlin and I brought a bottle of Shiraz Cabernet (like the lushes we are) and dark chocolate to our Cinema screening (which had a little too many gay undertones even for my liking, but that's what you get with Noel Coward) and along with this guy Ben drank it right out of the bottle. 'Cause we're classy like that.
Afterwards, seeing as how the only thing to do in Cambridge at night besides punting or sleeping in a gutter is going out to a bar, we headed to The Eagle -- the corner pub that is really amazing. It's got an older crowd, but young too; the entire atmosphere is just completely chill.
So Carlin, myself, Ben, this other guy Nick and this girl Sarah all went for drinks and met up with our professor, Patrick Phillips (he's our cinema-expert-yo). We ended up getting into an enormous discussion about race and politics and Carlin seemed excited to put her sociology major hat on. I would have prefered to talk about film, but hey! Drinking with professors is awesome, and I don't really care what's talked about.
Okay, so there is food open late in Cambridge: a cart of burgers, hot dogs (sketch), kebabs and "chips" in the Market Square.
Last week was a good time, all about getting acclimated to the area, and I got to see some nice parts of Cambridge (yes, yes, I know, I should be posting more pictures, and I will, I swear). But now I am getting in the mood to travel again and see more.
There has been some drama with signing up for trips, and while my plans are not necessarily concrete yet for anything, I still have some intended plans:
London this weekend!! Seeing Othello at The Globe and spending all Saturday exploring the craziness that is the Big City. Got a hotel room with some girls and we're all cramming in for Saturday night and treking back on Sunday sometime. Should be craziness.
Dublin. Amsterdam. Edinburgh. Top places of interest, plans are in the works, sign-ups have been a little annoying so I might be taking matters into my own hands. There are only so many weekends, unfortunately...
There are also places in the surrounding areas that I am interested in checking out, and I still have to go and visit Barbara!! (That might have to be during the week at the start of August, hon... how does that sound?)
Ok. Enough bullet-point updates. Pictures are coming, I love everyone in the world and miss everyone too.
Afterwards, seeing as how the only thing to do in Cambridge at night besides punting or sleeping in a gutter is going out to a bar, we headed to The Eagle -- the corner pub that is really amazing. It's got an older crowd, but young too; the entire atmosphere is just completely chill.
So Carlin, myself, Ben, this other guy Nick and this girl Sarah all went for drinks and met up with our professor, Patrick Phillips (he's our cinema-expert-yo). We ended up getting into an enormous discussion about race and politics and Carlin seemed excited to put her sociology major hat on. I would have prefered to talk about film, but hey! Drinking with professors is awesome, and I don't really care what's talked about.
Okay, so there is food open late in Cambridge: a cart of burgers, hot dogs (sketch), kebabs and "chips" in the Market Square.
Last week was a good time, all about getting acclimated to the area, and I got to see some nice parts of Cambridge (yes, yes, I know, I should be posting more pictures, and I will, I swear). But now I am getting in the mood to travel again and see more.
There has been some drama with signing up for trips, and while my plans are not necessarily concrete yet for anything, I still have some intended plans:
London this weekend!! Seeing Othello at The Globe and spending all Saturday exploring the craziness that is the Big City. Got a hotel room with some girls and we're all cramming in for Saturday night and treking back on Sunday sometime. Should be craziness.
Dublin. Amsterdam. Edinburgh. Top places of interest, plans are in the works, sign-ups have been a little annoying so I might be taking matters into my own hands. There are only so many weekends, unfortunately...
There are also places in the surrounding areas that I am interested in checking out, and I still have to go and visit Barbara!! (That might have to be during the week at the start of August, hon... how does that sound?)
Ok. Enough bullet-point updates. Pictures are coming, I love everyone in the world and miss everyone too.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
This is unhealthy.
Thanks Kim. Now I'm obsessed.
I shouldn't be allowed to be obsessed with books and then attribute songs to them. I'm going to go insane.
(This is "Dancing" by Elisa.)
I shouldn't be allowed to be obsessed with books and then attribute songs to them. I'm going to go insane.
(This is "Dancing" by Elisa.)
I'm Salad
(WARNING: the following blog-ness is unavoidable-Stacy-ramblings of self-loathing and doubt. But what else is new?)
For those that understand my Mike Birbiglia references: I am becoming Salad, and I'm freaking out because I refuse to be Salad!! Oy... okay, the last few days have been anything but academic; social-fare all around. I'll just give you a little bit of a run-down to catch you all up to speed...
Thursday night was the PKP programme Pub Crawl. Everyone was supposed to dress as Animal-Hybrids (like a gorillama, aka. a gorilla and a llama, etc.), but there were very few people that actually did this successfully. I didn't even try, just dressed in all black like a blank canvas and had an animal sticker of a little bug. He was a cute little bug.
I was with the SB peeps for most of this night, buying lots and lots of drink, and yet not getting quite drunk at all. My system must not have been wanting me to enjoy myself. No, I enjoyed myself, it was really fun actually: The last place we ended at was this enormous bar called Regal, and it was very open with lots of chairs and tables; no trouble at all hanging out there. This is where Cute Guy became particularly cute to me. Whatever.
Nothing to report there.
On Friday, we went in search of an Indian food place. Okay. Seriously. What is it with my travels trying to make me turn against Indian people? I love them! I grew up with Indian culture around me because my best friends were! As if my Air India experience wasn't enough, we found a place called the Curry King (don't ever go there!) and the 8 of us sat down... Okay, I could go into a long, Johnstone-like explanation of this event, but I will just say that it was the most shocking and unbelievable service I have ever experienced. We didn't even get through with ordering before we stood up and walked out. If you're interested, I can try and recount it to you sometime. All I know is we Californians were completely shocked; you can't get away with service that horrendous in the States. No institution would survive.
I mean, I was in France for 2 weeks and have experienced the European mentality of service; this was more shocking than I could have imagined. Oy. I'm seriously dreading my 6-hour flight home.
::shudders::
Yesterday was actually sunny. The TAs took a group of people over to Pembroke Field where they had sporty games set up for us. I was going to play some volleyball, and then rounders (an interesting baseball-like game with hardly any rules), but found that sitting in the sun doing nothing for a few hours was much more enjoyable than moving. A group of us chatted about school and California weather and Harry Potter and all that kind of stuff.
Then they barbecued for us again, but this time they brought in someone who knew what they were doing, so I had the perfect burger.
And now to the Salad thing. My friend Carlin is really really amazing, and I am thankful to have made such an amazing friend so quickly. All of the boys like Carlin. She is so chill and sends off that "Whatever, I don't really care what you think" attitude, which is great. How can I explain this? It's just such a strange feeling being around her when there are guys around, because I can't ignore the feeling I get of being totally in the way. This is not her doing at all.... but the guys seem to send off this, "Could this girl just leave us alone?!" vibe. ::sigh:: I'm too observant for my own good. But in this case, there isn't much I can do. She isn't really interested in any of them, so I don't want to leave her alone, and she just wants to hang out with friends.
Anyway, I could ramble, but I won't. It just got crazy last night, drama that I won't go into since this is a little too public.
Oh, and not that I haven't used enough Birbig references in the short life-span of this blog, but last night we went out to a dance club, Soul Tree, "which was timely" 'cause "my self-esteem had been hovering around normal and I'd been meaning to knock it down to negative a thousand." It's painful how true this statement is.
Things started off well: we pre-partied in the dorms and got very comfortably drunk before heading out, and Carlin and I had a great time dancing -- so much fun. Cute Guy was there, and then another guy I've started to kind of like (but am giving up on for reasons that shall remain undisclosed) (we'll call him Sweet Guy) was also there. I dunno. I worked what flirting magic my inexperienced self was capable of, and it seemed to fall flat. And then I got kind of emotional -- the kind of emotional that 1 beer, 2 glasses of wine, a rum and coke, a vodka and coke, a Long Island iced tea and a blue lagoon (I don't even know what was in it!), in that order, doesn't really help to avoid.
And poor Carlin. That's all I'll say. Boys shouldn't be allowed within 10 feet of girls who have had too much to drink. Nothing bad happened, just drama, and it's still so early... Actually... I don't feel too bad for her: She got asked out in the perfect way (ie. "So when are you going to let me take you out?" le sigh) by a British stud who looks almost exactly like Henry Cavill in "The Tudors," but with even bluer eyes... What is it with people looking like Henry Cavill here?? Duh-am life is cruel.
And for me, well... it's hard being as perceptive as I have always been and still feeling okay about clearly not being wanted. And it seems to have been a theme of these last few weeks abroad.
::contemplative pause::
Not sure how much more I can take or how much harder I can try, short of throwing myself at people, which I cannot do in the typical sense. Hmm. Fantastic.
PS. The food here is terrible. No matter what I do, I end up with all carbs on my plate when eating in the canteen. I'm detoxing.
PPS. I've been terrible about taking pictures, 'cause my little purse won't hold my camera. To make up for it, here's a picture of one of the King's cows. I tried but couldn't get pictures of her babies (Mom, you would die; they're vomit-worthy cute). They wouldn't come close to us. She was nice, though, and wanted us to pet her. But she smelt really bad.
For those that understand my Mike Birbiglia references: I am becoming Salad, and I'm freaking out because I refuse to be Salad!! Oy... okay, the last few days have been anything but academic; social-fare all around. I'll just give you a little bit of a run-down to catch you all up to speed...
Thursday night was the PKP programme Pub Crawl. Everyone was supposed to dress as Animal-Hybrids (like a gorillama, aka. a gorilla and a llama, etc.), but there were very few people that actually did this successfully. I didn't even try, just dressed in all black like a blank canvas and had an animal sticker of a little bug. He was a cute little bug.
I was with the SB peeps for most of this night, buying lots and lots of drink, and yet not getting quite drunk at all. My system must not have been wanting me to enjoy myself. No, I enjoyed myself, it was really fun actually: The last place we ended at was this enormous bar called Regal, and it was very open with lots of chairs and tables; no trouble at all hanging out there. This is where Cute Guy became particularly cute to me. Whatever.
Nothing to report there.
On Friday, we went in search of an Indian food place. Okay. Seriously. What is it with my travels trying to make me turn against Indian people? I love them! I grew up with Indian culture around me because my best friends were! As if my Air India experience wasn't enough, we found a place called the Curry King (don't ever go there!) and the 8 of us sat down... Okay, I could go into a long, Johnstone-like explanation of this event, but I will just say that it was the most shocking and unbelievable service I have ever experienced. We didn't even get through with ordering before we stood up and walked out. If you're interested, I can try and recount it to you sometime. All I know is we Californians were completely shocked; you can't get away with service that horrendous in the States. No institution would survive.
I mean, I was in France for 2 weeks and have experienced the European mentality of service; this was more shocking than I could have imagined. Oy. I'm seriously dreading my 6-hour flight home.
::shudders::
Yesterday was actually sunny. The TAs took a group of people over to Pembroke Field where they had sporty games set up for us. I was going to play some volleyball, and then rounders (an interesting baseball-like game with hardly any rules), but found that sitting in the sun doing nothing for a few hours was much more enjoyable than moving. A group of us chatted about school and California weather and Harry Potter and all that kind of stuff.
Then they barbecued for us again, but this time they brought in someone who knew what they were doing, so I had the perfect burger.
And now to the Salad thing. My friend Carlin is really really amazing, and I am thankful to have made such an amazing friend so quickly. All of the boys like Carlin. She is so chill and sends off that "Whatever, I don't really care what you think" attitude, which is great. How can I explain this? It's just such a strange feeling being around her when there are guys around, because I can't ignore the feeling I get of being totally in the way. This is not her doing at all.... but the guys seem to send off this, "Could this girl just leave us alone?!" vibe. ::sigh:: I'm too observant for my own good. But in this case, there isn't much I can do. She isn't really interested in any of them, so I don't want to leave her alone, and she just wants to hang out with friends.
Anyway, I could ramble, but I won't. It just got crazy last night, drama that I won't go into since this is a little too public.
Oh, and not that I haven't used enough Birbig references in the short life-span of this blog, but last night we went out to a dance club, Soul Tree, "which was timely" 'cause "my self-esteem had been hovering around normal and I'd been meaning to knock it down to negative a thousand." It's painful how true this statement is.
Things started off well: we pre-partied in the dorms and got very comfortably drunk before heading out, and Carlin and I had a great time dancing -- so much fun. Cute Guy was there, and then another guy I've started to kind of like (but am giving up on for reasons that shall remain undisclosed) (we'll call him Sweet Guy) was also there. I dunno. I worked what flirting magic my inexperienced self was capable of, and it seemed to fall flat. And then I got kind of emotional -- the kind of emotional that 1 beer, 2 glasses of wine, a rum and coke, a vodka and coke, a Long Island iced tea and a blue lagoon (I don't even know what was in it!), in that order, doesn't really help to avoid.
And poor Carlin. That's all I'll say. Boys shouldn't be allowed within 10 feet of girls who have had too much to drink. Nothing bad happened, just drama, and it's still so early... Actually... I don't feel too bad for her: She got asked out in the perfect way (ie. "So when are you going to let me take you out?" le sigh) by a British stud who looks almost exactly like Henry Cavill in "The Tudors," but with even bluer eyes... What is it with people looking like Henry Cavill here?? Duh-am life is cruel.
And for me, well... it's hard being as perceptive as I have always been and still feeling okay about clearly not being wanted. And it seems to have been a theme of these last few weeks abroad.
::contemplative pause::
Not sure how much more I can take or how much harder I can try, short of throwing myself at people, which I cannot do in the typical sense. Hmm. Fantastic.
PS. The food here is terrible. No matter what I do, I end up with all carbs on my plate when eating in the canteen. I'm detoxing.
PPS. I've been terrible about taking pictures, 'cause my little purse won't hold my camera. To make up for it, here's a picture of one of the King's cows. I tried but couldn't get pictures of her babies (Mom, you would die; they're vomit-worthy cute). They wouldn't come close to us. She was nice, though, and wanted us to pet her. But she smelt really bad.
Friday, July 6, 2007
This show's called 'Goddess,' it ain't called 'classes.'
Thought I should take this little night-time break to talk about my classes. Oh, I mean "lectures," as they are known here. "Classes" are for little kids. Oh well, I'm saying classes, 'cause that's what I mean.
Creative Writing
I like it. Absolutely the least challenging of all of my classes, though certainly not the one with the least work. This is my 4-week class, designed to get our creative juices flowing, go figure. Our instructor is Emma Sweeney, an aspiring British writer, and she's... okay. Not really that inspiring, by any means, but she's informative and helpful, and that's what matters.
The end result of the class is supposed to be a 3,000 word story, or an excerpt from one. Part of me really thinks I should attempt a short story, and do my best to perfect it, but with my grade hanging in the balance, I feel it would be in my best interest to stick with what is already on my mind and what I've been working on. So I will probably turn in the first portion of Circus on the Mount, which probably has the clearest voice of anything I've started writing, and I simply love my characters and want to work with them more.
We'll be talking with guest writers (met Jill Dawson last week, and Matt Morrison -- a playwright -- is meeting with us next week), and mainly getting ourselves in the habit of writing everyday. I suck at this. I usually wait for inspiration to hit, and that is really bad. Gotta stop doing that.
1940's British Cinema and Identity
This class was basically designed with my father in mind: film history, Europe (focus: Britain) and WWII. Documentaries and all the fabulous war-related films made throughout the 1940's. We've already watched several documentary shorts by Humphrey Jennings, which was beyond exciting (not really). Future screenings will include:
In Which We Serve
Millions Like Us
The Way Ahead
A Canterbury Tale
Passport to Pimlico
and clips from various other stuff like Henry V and This Happy Breed
I dunno.
My professor is from Oxford, and is very biased against Cambridge, though he thought it best to refrain from telling us exactly why Oxford is superior, and he is a little bit of a diva. He might be murdered by the King's TAs, because he is constantly making demands when he doesn't need to. Luckily, for us, anyway, he likes us and has a really good sense of humor. Tall, skinny, very British man, and extremely, extremely smart; he designed the one and only Film Studies exams for high schoolers going on to college that are still used all over Britain. He's very proud, as well he should be.
Like most classes, our assignments involve one big-ass paper and a final exam. Teachers have a general mentality of "Well... I guess you're supposed to write a paper... so... that's what you'll do, I guess." "Sir, what on?" "Um.... let me think about it." Yeah. So now there are a wide variety of things we can write about, which is both awesome and kind of annoying. Luckily this is one of my 8-week courses, so I have time to think about it. (One of our options is to write a portion of a WWII-related screenplay. Too bad I don't know how to write screenplays.)
Oh, and Cute Guy is in this class. =)
Early Modern British Theatre
These lectures put every university-level lecture I've ever had in my entire life to shame. I have never, in my life, sat through a more jam-packed, informative and mind-boggling spew of theatre-related ramblings. Not ever. This is without a doubt the hardest class I've ever had.
I have two professors, both PhD's, and they both look like they are probably in their early 30's. So far, Andrew has done the lectures and Christopher has led the one seminar. They will be switching off. I can't even begin to describe to you the way that Andrew talks. I mean... I have to laugh out loud sometimes in lecture, he is so fast and so effin smart, knowledge pours out of him in ways I didn't think were possible for what appears to be an average-sized head.
We are reading several plays (1 per week, to be exact):
Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy,
Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus
Ben Jonson's Volpone, Or, The FoxThomas Middleton's The ChangelingJohn Webster's The Duchess of Malfi
Shakespeare's King Lear, Richard II and Twelfth Night (seriously, will I never escape this play??)
The focus is on historical context, relating mainly to religion and the theatricality that stemmed from the development of humanism and the counter-Reformation and beyond and beyond. Another class my father would love, all kinds of goodies relating to the formation of Protestantism in Britain and the resentful attitude of the Puritans and how Queen Elizabeth I was insistent on the traditional hats for 'clergy' and that all alters faced the east, but didn't care at all about actual beliefs and blah de blah, and how this is expressed in certain ways within the plays. Actually, the theme of the plays is revenge, the big bad of tragedies. So... you can just imagine how over-zealous these lectures seem. I'm not sure where I am half the time.
I mean, antiquarianism?!?! What the hell is that?!
Le sigh. I'm recording them. I'll see what I can do about posting a clip so you can understand it when my head explodes. This is, without a doubt, what a Cambridge course is expected to be like. There's a paper, I think, but who really knows what's going on.
HOWEVER! WE GET TO SEE PLAYS! Yay! And lots of them. We'll be seeing Othello in London next weekend, and there is the Cambridge Shakespeare Festival happening for the next month (The Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo & Juliet, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night [ugh! I'm so over it!], and Macbeth [which should be frightening to watch]). I'll keep you updated. I probably won't get a chance to see every one, but who knows.
Who knows, indeed.
Creative Writing
I like it. Absolutely the least challenging of all of my classes, though certainly not the one with the least work. This is my 4-week class, designed to get our creative juices flowing, go figure. Our instructor is Emma Sweeney, an aspiring British writer, and she's... okay. Not really that inspiring, by any means, but she's informative and helpful, and that's what matters.
The end result of the class is supposed to be a 3,000 word story, or an excerpt from one. Part of me really thinks I should attempt a short story, and do my best to perfect it, but with my grade hanging in the balance, I feel it would be in my best interest to stick with what is already on my mind and what I've been working on. So I will probably turn in the first portion of Circus on the Mount, which probably has the clearest voice of anything I've started writing, and I simply love my characters and want to work with them more.
We'll be talking with guest writers (met Jill Dawson last week, and Matt Morrison -- a playwright -- is meeting with us next week), and mainly getting ourselves in the habit of writing everyday. I suck at this. I usually wait for inspiration to hit, and that is really bad. Gotta stop doing that.
1940's British Cinema and Identity
This class was basically designed with my father in mind: film history, Europe (focus: Britain) and WWII. Documentaries and all the fabulous war-related films made throughout the 1940's. We've already watched several documentary shorts by Humphrey Jennings, which was beyond exciting (not really). Future screenings will include:
In Which We Serve
Millions Like Us
The Way Ahead
A Canterbury Tale
Passport to Pimlico
and clips from various other stuff like Henry V and This Happy Breed
I dunno.
My professor is from Oxford, and is very biased against Cambridge, though he thought it best to refrain from telling us exactly why Oxford is superior, and he is a little bit of a diva. He might be murdered by the King's TAs, because he is constantly making demands when he doesn't need to. Luckily, for us, anyway, he likes us and has a really good sense of humor. Tall, skinny, very British man, and extremely, extremely smart; he designed the one and only Film Studies exams for high schoolers going on to college that are still used all over Britain. He's very proud, as well he should be.
Like most classes, our assignments involve one big-ass paper and a final exam. Teachers have a general mentality of "Well... I guess you're supposed to write a paper... so... that's what you'll do, I guess." "Sir, what on?" "Um.... let me think about it." Yeah. So now there are a wide variety of things we can write about, which is both awesome and kind of annoying. Luckily this is one of my 8-week courses, so I have time to think about it. (One of our options is to write a portion of a WWII-related screenplay. Too bad I don't know how to write screenplays.)
Oh, and Cute Guy is in this class. =)
Early Modern British Theatre
These lectures put every university-level lecture I've ever had in my entire life to shame. I have never, in my life, sat through a more jam-packed, informative and mind-boggling spew of theatre-related ramblings. Not ever. This is without a doubt the hardest class I've ever had.
I have two professors, both PhD's, and they both look like they are probably in their early 30's. So far, Andrew has done the lectures and Christopher has led the one seminar. They will be switching off. I can't even begin to describe to you the way that Andrew talks. I mean... I have to laugh out loud sometimes in lecture, he is so fast and so effin smart, knowledge pours out of him in ways I didn't think were possible for what appears to be an average-sized head.
We are reading several plays (1 per week, to be exact):
Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy,
Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus
Ben Jonson's Volpone, Or, The FoxThomas Middleton's The ChangelingJohn Webster's The Duchess of Malfi
Shakespeare's King Lear, Richard II and Twelfth Night (seriously, will I never escape this play??)
The focus is on historical context, relating mainly to religion and the theatricality that stemmed from the development of humanism and the counter-Reformation and beyond and beyond. Another class my father would love, all kinds of goodies relating to the formation of Protestantism in Britain and the resentful attitude of the Puritans and how Queen Elizabeth I was insistent on the traditional hats for 'clergy' and that all alters faced the east, but didn't care at all about actual beliefs and blah de blah, and how this is expressed in certain ways within the plays. Actually, the theme of the plays is revenge, the big bad of tragedies. So... you can just imagine how over-zealous these lectures seem. I'm not sure where I am half the time.
I mean, antiquarianism?!?! What the hell is that?!
Le sigh. I'm recording them. I'll see what I can do about posting a clip so you can understand it when my head explodes. This is, without a doubt, what a Cambridge course is expected to be like. There's a paper, I think, but who really knows what's going on.
HOWEVER! WE GET TO SEE PLAYS! Yay! And lots of them. We'll be seeing Othello in London next weekend, and there is the Cambridge Shakespeare Festival happening for the next month (The Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo & Juliet, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night [ugh! I'm so over it!], and Macbeth [which should be frightening to watch]). I'll keep you updated. I probably won't get a chance to see every one, but who knows.
Who knows, indeed.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Punt, what!
Today was exciting: my first punting experience on the Cam, and surely not my last. Maxine, Graham, Michelle, Lauren and myself all "hired" a... punt?... from King's to take up and down the river. I was too scared to try, but Michelle did extremely well, and then Graham took the bulk of the trip.
It was really hysterical, actually, 'cause our little boaty-boat was filled with water (from the rain, surprise surprise), so we had to scoop it all out, as you can see. Okay... Graham, Maxine and Michelle had to scoop it out. Promise, I offered.
Either way, everything got squared away, and we ended up spending a great almost 2 hours lounging on the Cam. It was really incredible, actually, because it didn't rain a single drop. Kind of shocking, actually, considering it doesn't really go 5 minutes without raining. I love rain, but c'mon. Pick one: rain or shine. Not that difficult.
The best part was actually getting to see more of Cambridge. Not the insides of anything, surely, but the outside, facades of buildings and other colleges, from The Backs, as it's known.
I have never seen so many bridges concentrated into one area before. I know that each of them have names, but I'm really horrible; I'll look them up eventually. (*going to look up bridges*) Okay, this one to the right in the foreground is the Queen's College Mathematical Bridge. The one in the distance is... I don't know.
This next one is the Bridge of Sighs, connecting one part of St. John's College to the other -- probably one of the more beautiful colleges that I've seen (next to Pembroke College -- omg, it's amazing, more on that later when I have pictures), though this picture I'm posting is of the backside of the chapel. I heard one of the punting tour guides tell a group that they called it the Bridge of Sighs because the college used to be a prison an each executed person would breathe their last sigh as they walked across the bridge. He continued to say that people still sigh as they walk across the bridge, though now it's because they have exams to take. He wasn't very funny.
(Note: I'm including Wiki-links to everything, because all the history is so interesting, if you have any interest at all, you should check it out.)
Oh, and check this out!! A black swan!!! I mean... I never thought I'd see one, and there one was, chillin' with us on the river near Trinity college and some punting hire places. Wow, right? Beautiful much?
All in all, punting was a lot of fun. This was a long post, considering the experience was quite brief, but mainly I just wanted to write a little and not just leave you hanging with a bunch of random-ass pictures, as pretty as they might be.
Punting looks hard, but when you're watching the Cambridge boys doing it (the ones that work and haul tourists around), you can kind of see the technique behind it. I'm definitely going to try before these 8 weeks are up, and I am hopeful that I'll be pretty good at it. I'm not so worried about steering well as much as I am about possibly falling in. I would die. Die. I can't imagine something more embarrassing, especially since the Cam is usually so crowded with people. Oy, the horror.
So. To finish all this off, I figured I'd post a video that I took, though it isn't quite as complete and well-put-together as my last ones. =P But you can at least see the landscape a little, even if it's super boring.
Which it is.
These punts only go so fast.
It was really hysterical, actually, 'cause our little boaty-boat was filled with water (from the rain, surprise surprise), so we had to scoop it all out, as you can see. Okay... Graham, Maxine and Michelle had to scoop it out. Promise, I offered.Either way, everything got squared away, and we ended up spending a great almost 2 hours lounging on the Cam. It was really incredible, actually, because it didn't rain a single drop. Kind of shocking, actually, considering it doesn't really go 5 minutes without raining. I love rain, but c'mon. Pick one: rain or shine. Not that difficult.
The best part was actually getting to see more of Cambridge. Not the insides of anything, surely, but the outside, facades of buildings and other colleges, from The Backs, as it's known.I have never seen so many bridges concentrated into one area before. I know that each of them have names, but I'm really horrible; I'll look them up eventually. (*going to look up bridges*) Okay, this one to the right in the foreground is the Queen's College Mathematical Bridge. The one in the distance is... I don't know.
This next one is the Bridge of Sighs, connecting one part of St. John's College to the other -- probably one of the more beautiful colleges that I've seen (next to Pembroke College -- omg, it's amazing, more on that later when I have pictures), though this picture I'm posting is of the backside of the chapel. I heard one of the punting tour guides tell a group that they called it the Bridge of Sighs because the college used to be a prison an each executed person would breathe their last sigh as they walked across the bridge. He continued to say that people still sigh as they walk across the bridge, though now it's because they have exams to take. He wasn't very funny.
(Note: I'm including Wiki-links to everything, because all the history is so interesting, if you have any interest at all, you should check it out.)
Oh, and check this out!! A black swan!!! I mean... I never thought I'd see one, and there one was, chillin' with us on the river near Trinity college and some punting hire places. Wow, right? Beautiful much?All in all, punting was a lot of fun. This was a long post, considering the experience was quite brief, but mainly I just wanted to write a little and not just leave you hanging with a bunch of random-ass pictures, as pretty as they might be.
Punting looks hard, but when you're watching the Cambridge boys doing it (the ones that work and haul tourists around), you can kind of see the technique behind it. I'm definitely going to try before these 8 weeks are up, and I am hopeful that I'll be pretty good at it. I'm not so worried about steering well as much as I am about possibly falling in. I would die. Die. I can't imagine something more embarrassing, especially since the Cam is usually so crowded with people. Oy, the horror.So. To finish all this off, I figured I'd post a video that I took, though it isn't quite as complete and well-put-together as my last ones. =P But you can at least see the landscape a little, even if it's super boring.
Which it is.
These punts only go so fast.
PS. I have a crush. Gell, he looks like... kind of like... a certain actor we happen to like for certain reasons people don't really get except us (and Barb and Kim). Yeah. I'm gonna work on it.
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