Life in Oxford

The Trouble with Scotland... is That it's Full of Scots!

2008-04-30T23:02:00.001+01:00

**This is a REALLY long post. So I'm sorry if you get bored.**

No, the Scottish peoples are certainly some of the most warm and friendly people in the world. They cling to their roots and their heritage and it’s still evident in their styles of life and living today that they have been through as much as they have. After listening to continual tales of the Highland clans and their ways, I am proud to have come from such a resilient people. My heritage on my mom’s side stems from Glasgow in the Lowlands, however from what I can gather through connections in last names and the clan systems, we could have come from one of the more powerful clans in the north, The MacDonalds, or we could be part of a clan known from further north in the Highlands, The MacDougals. Either way, along the line a McKee was married and that would set us also under the umbrella of the MacInnes clan. I don’t know much about any of these clans other than knowing that the MacDonalds are known as one of the more powerful clans in Scotland and they are eternal enemies of the Campbell clan. But enough history!!

I finally got to spend a FULL day in Edinburgh, unlike last time I was there, and I saw the woolen mills, the Edinburgh Castle on the ONE free Sunday a year and I climbed to the top of Arthur’s Seat where I got rained on and tried to walk down an old river bed only to slip constantly and end up dirty as well as soaked on my way back to the hostel. Day one of my tour left from Edinburgh and I learned quickly that the bus was full of girls and Aussie’s. We had 22 girls and 6 guys, 20 of the total was from Australia and New Zealand. We had two Taiwanese girls, a Chinese guy and girl and our token Americans, a lady from Florida/Alabama and I. The day started in Edinburgh and took us to Stirling and the Wallace Monument. These I had already seen, luckily enough, because our guide didn’t find it worth our time to go up into the monument and this was a photo stop only. It turned out to be the first of many AMAZING photo stops and the first of just under 1,100 pictures that I took in total that week. From Stirling we headed north into the foothills of the Highlands and stopped for a rest and a look at Hamish, a Highland hairy coo. Yeah, they say coo and not cow, but either way, he was a nice looking bull. A little further north, Rob Roy country, we stopped at a small church nestled in a valley that just so happened to be where Rob Roy, his wife and his son were all buried. Now I have to watch Rob Roy! We took a lunch stop and headed west towards our nightly destination of Oban, a coastal town on the central west coast of Scotland. We stopped another time or two for photo stops at random Lochs (I’ve never seen so many lakes in all my life) and each one was better than the last. The further we went North, the higher the mountains got, each one covered with fresh caps of snow and clothed with what will be brilliant heather come late July. We went deep into the mountain passes and randomly the bus stopped. Time for a walk. We hiked for about a half hour or so up into the hills where a gorgeous little waterfall was running. It was about 60 degrees and the sky was as blue as could be. A sip from the stream, since it is fresh mountain water, and we were off again with more tales of Campbells betraying MacDonalds and found even that there is a hotel, to this day, that will not allow Campbells to stay because of the atrocities they performed centuries ago. We drove until we came to Oban and checked into a nice little hostel on the seashore. A quick stop at the local castle ruin, fish and chips and the sunset on the beach, and everyone headed over to the Maccey Dannies for the night. There we met James (yeah, another James), a sturdy Englishman living in Scotland who owned a nearby café, Roxy’s. Pints and pool were the nights activities, although strangely a couple of us found an xBox in the back and played a little racing along with some darts while the rest either played or watched pool with the locals. I tried to armwrestle James (seriously, this guy was about 6’2”, 265 lbs.) and lost. The night ended with a walk in the rain back to the hostel.

The next day started cloudy but was soon bright and sunny, following the tone set by the previous day. We headed to the Isle of Skye, which was the end destination for the night, and we had a few photo stops on the way. One led to my favorite photos; the mountains behind a clear view of a lake that looks exactly like a map of Scotland. Pretty amazing scenery, although Scotland is the kind of place where, no matter WHERE you are, you can just throw your camera in the air in any direction, click the shutter and you have a postcard-quality picture. Arriving into Skye and Lochalsh we passed mountains that looked to be both on and in the lochs, mirroring themselves in the clear blue waters. A photo stop at the castle where the movie Highlander was filmed and we made it across the bridge to Skye. We stopped for lunch at the beach across from our hostel for the night and a few of us tried to skip the rocks that were there, not really having any luck. After lunch we headed into the Isle and it’s endless fields of peat and heather and stopped at a legendary stream for a quick dip. It was said that if you dipped your face into the water for seven seconds, and seven seconds only, you will have eternal beauty, so obviously, those who go on Haggis Tours are the most beautiful 80 year-olds in the world! We’ll find out! Continuing deep into the island we finally stopped for a FANTASTIC view across the channel to the mainland as well as a waterfall and some cliffs that resemble the folds in the back of a properly folded kilt, aptly named Kilt Rock. My camera SADLY ran out of battery at that point, so I didn’t carry it with me on the afternoon hike up the muddy mountainside towards the Old Man of Storr, a rock jutting form the hills said to be an old man crying over his wife who fell many years ago. They used to love walking up the same path we took to watch the sunset. They did this every day for years until finally the woman just couldn’t make it up what with being so frail and all. The fairies decided to do them a favor and allow them to sit upon the cliffs forever so they could watch their beloved sunsets and turned them to stone upon the mountainside. For years they stood, watching the land and the sunsets until the old lady stone fell, because that’s what rocks do sometimes. The view from where we stopped was easily the best view of the week and when you had as many great views as we did, that’s saying something. After playing fetch with some workers’ dog once we got to the bottom, we headed back to Saucy Mary’s for the evening of traditional music. Dave and I, one of the Australian guys, waited until the end of the evening and headed out to the bay for a very cold, but memorable and refreshing swim.

Day three took us to several different places, lots and lots of photo stops as we headed east through the heart of Scotland to Invershin where we stayed at a “haunted” castle, Carbondale Castle. We stopped several times during the day, but it was mostly leisurely driving. There were photo stops for a couple of waterfalls and lochs and the main leg of the day was spent rummaging around a couple of old caves in a valley. Nothing spectacular, but it was fun to get a little dirty. We also stopped at the best beach in the whole world. There was no sand, but rocks. And every rock you laid your eyes on was the best skipping rock the world could offer. So after about 30 minutes of laying bets and losing and winning them on who could throw the farthest and longest and most skips, we headed to the castle for the night. There was only one VERY small pub we could go to that night, but it was by far the best night of the week. Inside the Invershin Hotel pub, there were traditional-style dresses for the girls to try on and kilts for us guys. The kilts weren’t real, but they were fun to wear and we all had a great night pretending to be Scottish. I played the bódhran wrong until one of the locals showed me how to properly beat the head and move my fingers to change the pitches while Dave played some bongos. I must say, it was a rather Scottish night sitting there in a kilt with a bódhran and a glass of Highland single malt, but I felt rather at home.

Day four was more driving, but lovely driving as it would take us to Inverness and Loch Ness where we tried to spot Nessie. There were several photo stops along the way and of course, we stopped at the Loch Ness gift shop where some Nessie hats were bought and some of the best licorice I have EVER tasted. The highlight of my day was stopping at some old cairns and standing stones. I got to walk around inside of a cairn carrying a stick for a spear, pretending I was an old Celtic warrior. It’s nice to be a kid again. Our last stop before staying in a hostel near the coast of Loch Ness was at a small thatched hut where a TRUE Scotsman showed us what life would have been like in the Highlands way back when. Truly we are SO lucky to not have to deal with what they did. Their women would have had to be tougher than most of us men today, working from dawn to dusk taking care of the animals and the children, fixing the meals, attending to the upkeep of the house, hunting, fishing, gardening whatever they could and just making sure the house is in order. Apparently the men could be away up to 9 months out of the year in battle and on hunts. The way he explained how the kilts were made and worn and used made us all gag. A guy and a girl from our tour got to try on the traditional dress and kilt of the old ways and they looked pretty good! I was the lucky sucker who he demonstrated the weapons on and I must say, those are some TERRIBLE ways to die. I bought a nice hat at his shop and we headed to the hostel for live contemporary music, which was good, but way too loud. Games of Jenga, Twister and Limbo were the choice activities for our last night and eventually the night was over.

The last day was a lot of driving again back down to Edinburgh and was rather a quiet day. Most of us were rather beat from the long week and didn’t want to get out for all of the photo stops. There were several good pictures taken, but really, to say it was a fun-filled day would be a lie. So I’ll just leave it at we stopped several times for photos and ended up back in Edinburgh safe and sound. If I were to compare the Ireland and Scotland trip I’d say Scotland wins hands down. The people on both were amazing and I made some pretty good friends all around. The country and activities and nights were fun on both tours as well. All in all, up to this point, I’d say they were at a dead heat. But once Scotland’s mountains and lochs are put against Ireland’s rolling hills and coastal scene, Scotland is the place to be. I am SO glad I didn’t go home for these two weeks and decided to stay here; I would have regretted it had I known how awesome these two weeks were. Heck, if I knew these two weeks were going to be this good, I wouldn’t have even considered coming home. But now it’s the last full week of my travels, I’m on the ferry to Italy from Greece and there is one GREAT post coming about our trials and tribulations dealing with this ferry. I’ll just say that we should have been on this ferry yesterday and should be in Rome right now. We’ll leave it at that. Until then, Cheers and I hope you enjoyed to SUPER long post about Scotland… my land…

KALO PASCHA!

2008-04-27T09:42:00.002+01:00

That's Happy Pascha in Greek, or at least I hope it is. Anyway, Pascha spent in Greece was a good experience. I can't say it was my favorite Pascha thus far, that still is the first with Archbishop Job, and the Greeks don't get quite as excited as we get, but it was still a COOL night. We spent the day sleeping and preparing for our feast of feta, salami, olives, wine and some amazing chocolate tiramisu cake and around 11pm headed across the street to Sts. Cyril and Methodius Church where we found we weren't late AT ALL. Apparently the Greeks over here are on Greek time as well, if you know what I mean. The services lasted until around 2:15 and we headed back to the hotel for our feast and the amazing wine that Jon picked out for us. Now 8 hours later, we're heading to Athens for the night and on to Italy tomorrow night. A week and a half of Italy, Paris, Oxford and the traveling in between and we'll be home to complete the journey of a lifetime. Quite an amazing time these last months and certainly weeks have been for yours truly. Hopefully, if I get time in Italy, I'll get to catch you up on some Scotland, but if not, I'll just have to do it when I get home for those of you who won't be able to come over and see all the pictures and videos I've got. Until then though, I love you all and Happy Pascha! Christ is Risen! Christos Anesti! Cheers!

Where to Even BEGIN!

2008-04-20T17:27:00.003+01:00

I really don't even know where to start. I can't really explain how amazing the last two weeks have been. I can't describe the places I've been. I can't portray in words the friendships I've made. I can't begin to tell you all of how my life has been since I've left Scotland. I can show you pictures, but I've got WAY too many to put on here or on Flickr so I think I'm going to just have to wait until I get home for that. I'll do my best here to simply tell you where I've been and put up a picture or two.

It all starts in Ireland.

I spent a day in Dublin tasting Jameson Whiskey, having a pint of Guinness at the Guinness Storehouse and just generally walking around the great city of Dublin. I felt like I had already been there before for some reason, so maybe that's where I am in my dreams. I've discovered that the more I travel the easier it is to find your way around new cities. It just becomes natural to remember which was is which and where the bus or train station is, which usually becomes your center point of focus since it's where you start your journey in each new place. I went to Belfast for a day and took a tour of Northern Ireland by going up to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge and up to the north coast of Antrim where the Giant's Causeway is. THAT is an interesting place. Perfect 3D hexagons jutting from the ocean. Upon arriving back in Dublin that night I readied myself for the week-long tour of the Republic of Ireland that was to follow.

We spent 5 days in Ireland traveling the perimeter of the whole Republic. Day One was spent driving through central Ireland stopping at the Hill of Tara (seat of the high kings of old), Trim Castle, the John Locke Whiskey distillery, Knock (a popular place of pilgrimage) and our final destination of Westport where we spent the night with our pints of Guinness and traditional Irish music. Day two was the beginning of the GREAT scenery that followed in the days hence. It started with Clew Bay and on through the Connemara and the Valley of Doolough to Galway where we finished the night with traditional Irish dancing and a bit of clubbing at a place called Central Park. Day Three was through the Galway Bay to the Pol na Brone Dolmen and the Burren, which is basically just all limestone and is said to look like what the moon would look like. We stopped at a GORGEOUS beach for lunch, then we went to the Cliffs of Moher, which is REALLY a place to see. The water was turquoise and simply beautiful. We finished off in Doolin where we had more Irish music and I had a lovely chat with two couples from Glasgow who wanted me to call them when I got to Glasgow so they could walk me around. Day four was easily the most photogenic. We crossed the river Shannon before heading to Dingle via Kerry and it's beautiful countryside. We stopped on Slea Head for a view like THIS:

The whole day was basically that kind of view. We finished off in Killarney where we didn't really enjoy traditional Irish music but a cover rock band instead. Not exactly fitting, but fun nonetheless.

I spent my days trying to be cheap but ending up spending money on food and Guinness anyway, but it was in the company of those we met on our trip who, by the end of the week, seemed to be childhood mates. The quick bonding on the bus with the Canadians and Australians and Scots and fellow Americans made the week so much more invigorating and worthwhile. Traveling in Ireland was great not only because of the views but because of the people who we shared our views with. It was amazing being able to spend time with other people my age who LOVE to travel and who are simply making the most of the life that God has given them. Some do it for reasons other than that, but it all came down to getting out of our boxes and exploring some of the world around us. I will DEFINITELY go back to Ireland someday, and now I at least know some places that I'd like to go back to! If any of you want to go to Ireland for a true Irish experience, I'd just say go on the same tour that I went on, but if you don't want that, Doolin and the Dingle peninsula are the places to go. Small and surrounded by gorgeous hills and mountains and coastlines, these truly capture the heart of traditional Irish living. I LOVED it and unless you're weird, you would love it as well. Now that you've read about Ireland and if you think that was nice... just wait till I write about Scotland. It was the same trip, only different people (mainly Australians and New Zealanders) and views MUCH better than Ireland. I didn't think it was possible, but it happened. Yeah... wow... cheers...

Future Postings

2008-04-08T18:48:00.001+01:00

Be on the lookout for future postings strewn about here and there. I'm on the road for the next week and don't always get internet access but I AM having an amazing time. I've been across half of Ireland so far in the past couple of days and with the next three will be making my way back across. So yes, the postings will come eventually, but I think I'm just going to have to put together a huge slide of the pictures and videos I'm getting. And believe me, you want to see them. This place is CRAZY awesome. Ok, I'll let you know then. Bye.

Wandering Shephard, Not Quite Desperado

2008-04-03T09:56:00.002+01:00

I like to imagine that certain points in life can be described simply with a soundtrack. I'm not quite certain what song would describe my time over here in England, but I'm sure if I think hard enough I'll come up with something. For the next month, however I'm going to be living to the beat of "Wandering Shepherd" by Dan Fogelberg. I'll be heading all over Ireland and Scotland and Italy and seeing a bit of France and Greece in the next 5 weeks starting tonight. I'll be that "traveling pilgrim" that will rest for several nights in airports and on the beach with a bottle of wine and some cheese. I'll be that "wandering shepherd" and I'll keep wandering until the flight home on May 7th when "Desperado" by The Eagles will take over. Then it'll be all about "drawing the queen of hearts" and enjoying the "fine things that have been laid upon my table," and not always wishing for "the ones I can't get." That being said, let's put down the needle and let the music begin. (Yeah, I said needle; records just sound better!)

Tonight I fly from London to Dublin where I'll spend the night in the airport before spending the day drinking Guinness in the Factory and learning how Jameson Irish Whiskey is made. I'll spend the night in Dublin and in the morning head north to Belfast to walk around town and try to get a feel for what it's like to be in a place where fighting has been going on for YEARS over independence and religious motives. After sleeping in Belfast on Saturday night, I'll spend Sunday in the footsteps of giants at the Giant's Causeway and possibly visiting the Bushmills distillery before heading back to Dublin for the night. Waking up early Monday, we'll start the tour throughout the whole of the Republic of Ireland for 5 days. Sleeping in the Dublin airport that Friday will ensure that I'll catch my early flight to Glasgow next Saturday. I'll spend the day in Glasgow, possibly looking up some old family lore and legend before going to Edinburgh to get a dram and head to bed for the night. Sunday in Edinburgh (probably one of my favorite cities thus far on my travels) will consist of Liturgy at St. Nicholas, the Edinburgh Castle and perching on Arthur's Seat to watch the sunset. Monday, I'll leave on another adventure tour from Edinburgh westward to circumnavigate all but the northeast of Scotland, even stopping for a day on the Isle of Skye. Once we hit Edinburgh on Friday though, I'll be ready for some warmth. Good thing it's next on the schedule.

On Saturday, April 19th, I'll fly from Edinburgh to Nimes in France where I'll catch my train through Avignon and the Provence region into Nice where I'll get to spend a day on the beach and a day searching the French Riveria before flying from Milan to Athens on the 22nd. Catching a train to Thessaloniki will take me to my hotel, the Queen Olga , where I'll be staying for two nights before ol' JWey comes to town VERY late on Thursday the 24th. We'll be staying in that hotel for the next three nights whilst we explore Thessaloniki and spend PASCHA IN GREECE! Plenty of church, then plenty of celebration and "Christos Anesti! Alethos Anesti!" and plenty of lamb and wine later, we'll go to Athens for a day on Sunday and Monday. Monday night will be spent on a ferry to Bari where we will either rent a car to drive through Italy or catch a train to Rome. Either way, Rome, Pisa, Florence and a couple of days in the Cinque Terre region will round out the warm-weather travels before we fly to Paris on May 4th for two days. After wandering around looking over burgeoning artists shoulders at their new masterpieces while eating croissants and nursing a bottle of wine for two days we'll fly to Oxford to get my things that I'll be leaving here, having one last pint in the Eagle and Child and heading to the airport in London to come home. The the good times will be over!! Ok, not really, cause then life will truly have to start, once I get back... :) This is going to be fun... Cheers!

A Day Away

2008-03-20T19:19:00.000Z

I had picture time with some stray sheep, I learned again why I enjoy microbrewery beer so much more than large-scale brews, I had water fresh from the spring (like we used to when I was a kid), and I walked. And walked. And walked.
I can see the hills in the distance, dark against the misted rain and clouds, while my feet still feel them underfoot. I’m heading back to Oxford after a couple days of walking and exploring. In west England there is a small area broken into several towns surrounding these hills. The hills are the Malvern Hills, and Colwall, Malvern Link, Great Malvern, West Malvern and Hereford are the main towns surrounding and settling within these hills. The highest of the hills reaching 1352 feet, the Worcestershire Beacon, lords over others such as Sugar Loaf and the British Camp (Herefordshire Beacon). Spanning 9 miles north-south in total, I walked along the tops of the precipices for about 5 of those miles, then back, and my feet surely understand what they have just done.
It’s an exhilarating experience walking along the tippy-tops of these big ol’ hills. Once the wind kicks in and you realize you’re looking across England into Wales and across the length and breadth of England all just by turning around, you feel as small piece in a vast puzzle but also infused with life. Maybe it’s just the wind that makes you sure you’re alive or the fact that you really are seeing great distances with the naked eye, but either way, this is reality. It’s not a movie or a photo, but a real land and a real wind and a real sky and a real mist that I was experiencing. Perhaps it was the water that flows in Malvern from the wells. There are several famous wells, such as St. Anne’s and Holy Well, the water flowing through and in Malvern is VERY good water. There’s a little fountain in the middle of town from which I filled my water bottle at least thrice. So yes, I’ve had life-infusing water. Now if the water takes away my blisters, well then THERE is some real infusion. Cheers.

And I'm...

2008-03-08T00:09:00.003Z

Staying.

After a lot of thought and a lot of advice seeking and prayer, I've decided to stay the course and wait it out here in the big islands. I was ready to transfer funds from my bank here to my bank at home to pay for my tickets home and back and almost did two nights ago but couldn't because it wasn't within the time restraints. I didn't sleep. I awoke after maybe an hour of sleep and headed off to open the hotel. Opening the hotel isn't fun simply for the fact that I have to be awake at 6 in the morning, however once I'm up it's like any other time I'm up early in the morning, I'm happy. I opened the hotel and had some strong coffee and cheese and needed to get a newspaper for a customer from the tuck shop. As I was walking to get the paper I realized that my entire life that I can really remember has been spent under the thumb of employment. I've never not had a job. I came here to relax and haven't been able to at all because I know that I will just end up back at work. So I decided I needed at least one week on a beach by myself; no job, no places to go, no pre-plans, no phone, no contact with home... Just me, maybe a couple books, and the sand. What would it be like to wake up in the morning, walk to get breakfast under a bright sun, lay under it until lunch, go eat, walk around the down for awhile and find something to do that night with no strings attached. It would be at least relaxing and peaceful one would hope. That's what I hope to gain from my week on a beach. However, before that week, I had two other weeks to deal with before I could work on my tan.

Then I remembered special tours run by a group called Radical Travel . They have set tours throughout Scotland and Ireland where you can pick from a single day trip to up to eight days on a guided tour through the Highlands or throughout the entire loop that is the coast of Ireland. I had watched a video about them during my orientation when I first got into London back in October. It seemed fun and so I looked them up. Here's what I found and here's what I'll be doing for two weeks in April before meeting up with my ol' friend Jon.

After a day in Dublin and a day in Belfast, I'll start, on April 7th, a tour through Ireland called The Shamrocker Irish Adventures 5-day Celtic Rocker

After ending up in Dublin after the Irish adventures, I'll fly to Glasgow for a day looking up old family histories and do a day in Edinburgh climbing Arthur's Seat before leaving on the 14th for The Haggis Adventures 5-day Compass Buster

Here's an idea of what that trip could be like: (This is the aforementioned video I saw in orientation)

I have that and the flights to get me to these tours all booked and paid for so you can be sure I'm not going to change my mind. What I'm not clear on is where I'll spend my beach week, although Gibraltar is leading the pack for the cheapest flight and the coolest features; wouldn't YOU like to walk around a town where monkeys are as free to do what they please as you are?

So there you have it my friends, my mind is made up. I hope you all enjoy the little video and I'll be keeping you posted whenever possible with the latest adventure. I've got a few days off now, so it looks like Cambridge and Cheltenham could be in the works this week. I miss you all, but I'll be home sooner than you think. Thank you for the prayers and advice. Cheers!

Oh, and in case you're wondering, heck yeah I'm trying the haggis!!

Coming Home?

2008-03-06T01:05:00.003Z

Alright, I REALLY didn't want to do a post about it, but if you really know me, you will know I like to make well thought-out decisions and get as much advice as possible, as well as weigh all the options. So, here goes: I've got a decision (we won't call it a dilemma because that insinuates a possible negative outcome) to make sometime within the next few days. The decision is either to come home early on April 3rd and come back to Greece/Italy/Paris with my good friend Jon who is coming to visit me on April 24th for two weeks OR stay here as planned and travel a little bit before making my way to Greece to meet Jon. I'll lay them out here as options A and B.

A: Fly Home Early
Pros
- Bring home enough money to fix my car (which DESPERATELY needs fixing), have enough to have a GREAT time in Greece with J-Twoody and probably have enough to come back home for good in May and not have to worry about where the next tank of gas is coming from. (Yes, Mom, I know you could help, but I you know how I like being independent.)

-I wouldn't be alone anymore! I'd be with family, I'd get to drive down to Texas to see my niece, possibly get to drive to Virginia to visit with Tim, and get to see Natalie a month sooner than I've expected.

-I'd have the time to look and hopefully interview for some jobs for when I get back in May for good.

-Confession before Pascha would be nice...

-I wouldn't have to find a place to store my stuff while I'm away in Europe AND I wouldn't have to buy about $400 worth of camping equipment.

Cons
-I'd miss out on seeing the Highlands, the Guinness Brewery, and the French Riviera at the ripe old age of 23. I don't feel SO bad about it because I KNOW for a fact that I will see the Highlands and the Brewery before I die, and most likely the Riviera as well, I just wouldn't be doing it as a youngster out on his own in the big wide world, however it would be really cool to come home from having done that.

B: Stay Here As Planned and TRAVEL
Pros
-I walk the length of Loch Ness and live in the Highlands out of a tent for a few days; just me, the land and God.

-I visit the Oban Whisky Distillery while on my way to visit the island of Iona where St. Columba and St. Columcille were born.

-I visit Glasgow, the city where my mom's side of the family is from.

-I get to visit the Guinness brewery and possibly Armagh where St. Patrick's relics are held.

-Either see more of England or head to Portugal where I drink port wine from the source, head through Spain to the French Riviera and simply relax on beaches for awhile before heading to Greece to meet Jonny.

-I learn to live without relying on fast food, cars or buses, indoor plumbing and the daily shower.

Cons
-I do all of the awesome stuff I just said by myself with no one to talk to or enjoy it with.

-No internet or way of communication for at least a week at a time.

-I have to find somewhere to store my stuff and hope it doesn't get stolen.

-I come home having traveled a lot and very happy with myself but also without a penny to my name and a job unfound.

-I learn to live without relying on fast food, cars or buses, indoor plumbing and the daily shower.

Conclusion:
Either way I look at these options, it sure is nice to know that I'm going to be happy with whatever I do. If I choose option A, I see my niece, my family, my girl, my friends, and I get to really start my future on a strong foot. If I choose option B, I'll still see my niece, family, girl and friends eventually, but I would do it after having had walked across Scotland, venerated relics, lived where I don't speak A WORD of the local language and survived. I would have had a great time, alone or not. I will be happy regardless. I'm glad I have such a wonderful "problem." I am so blessed. And I'm taking opinions...

Golden Balls

2008-02-25T18:03:00.002Z

British television has the WORST programs I've ever seen. The soap operas are on at night and are no better than the States' but they seem worse because they are on when everybody can watch them and not when the kids are away at school. There are several shows similar to "Flip That House" and there's always "Weakest Link" with the extraordinarily annoying host and her "I'm mad at the world for no apparent reason" tone and slow wink at the end of every show. But in all the wasteland that is British television, one show I can't get enough of is "Golden Balls" . This show CRACKS ME UP! You could read the rules on their website, but I'll just explain them to you here.

Round 1: Four players are given four "golden balls" each containing amounts of money or the word "killer." You DON'T want to take Killer balls through because in the end they can "kill" the amount of money you could possibly take home. Each player will show the other players two of their balls and hide the other two. The players will then discuss and try to figure out who has the other Killer balls and who has the big cash amounts. It's either honesty or lying to get through to the next round and a player vote will determine who goes. The player that is voted off "bins" (throws away) their four "golden balls."

Round 2: Two new cash amounts and one more "killer ball" is entered into the pot with the remaining 12 balls. The three remaining players receive five "golden balls" and show two and hide three. Lying and honesty again are the only tools to stay in the game as the players play a little "Clue" with each other to find out who is lying about their hidden balls and finding who has the Killer balls. Again, it's very important to weed out who has the Killer balls, and you'll see why in the next round. Another round of voting and the player who is voted off bins their balls again.

Round 3: This is called "Bin to Win." The two remaining players sit across a table from each other, the ten golden balls they brought through plus another Killer ball. The players will end up selecting five balls that will total a cash jackpot for them to win. In order to pick the five balls to "win" they must go through a series of rounds where each player will pick a ball to bin, then a ball to win. Example: Jack picks a £75 ball to bin. Then he picks a £1,500 ball to win. The £1,500 ball is put into the five and stays there. Lucy then picks a ball to bin. She picks a £1,600 ball to bin. Then she picks a Killer ball to keep. Their jackpot total just went down from £1,500 to £150. If they pick another Killer ball to keep, it would go down to £15. That's why you don't want to take Killer balls into each next round, because the less Killer balls you have in the end, the bigger the odds that your jackpot won't get cut. This goes on until the final five balls have been kept. Assume a jackpot of £20,000.

Round 4: Split or Steal. The players must now decide together whether they will Split the money, each going home with £10,000, or if they will steal. If one of the players Splits and the other Steals, the player that Steals gets the entire jackpot. If they both Split, they split the jackpot. If they both STEAL, they both go home with nothing. On the rarest occasions, they will both Split, I haven't actually seen it yet. Most of the time they both will say they're gonna Split, then both Steal and the show keeps the money and they go home losers. Tonight, the guy on the show lost because he split and the girl stole. I can only wonder what went through that guy's mind.

If you know how to play the game Mafia, this is very similar. You are trying to convince the other players that you are being honest and truthful when in fact you might not be. You want to get to the next round, so you will do whatever it takes to get there. The fun of the show is watching the players bluff and blunder their way into the next round, only to lose the money in the end by being greedy. This show doesn't have any real intrinsic value in it by making you feel good or philanthropic or charitable after you watch it like some shows will. Instead, it's just a fun show to watch, especially when in the end of the game that is supposed to be won, is lost by two greedy Brits. Ah, humanity. Cheers.

Thoughts on a Walk

2008-02-22T20:11:00.001Z

I went on a walk today through, where else, Christchurch Meadow. I haven't gone the long way round (which happens to be the title of a book I bought after my walk, but that will come later) so I did this time. I only realized about two minutes into my walk that I was completely ruining the walk by having my ears bombarded with constant melodies, harmonies and such. Music is great in it's own time and place, which usually is most anywhere, however not on a walk. The birds were yelling at me to take out my ear pieces and I couldn't hear them under the Clapton Chronicles. An extra loud bird made me realize my mistake and I ashamedly uncovered my ears to reveal the natural songs that I was missing. The songs came from several different birds making me wish that I could put a name to each song's owner. Alas, I am not a birdwatcher, and cannot tell you who sings what song, but I can say that I enjoy the songs either way.

The path and the birds guided me to a river where boats were tied down and a lone rower was working his oars. Runners passed and a swan looked for food under the water's surface. It wasn't murky water, but it wasn't a clear river either, offering more of a green tint than anything. Ducks quacked and squabbled over landing spots on the water as two geese watched me walk by with intense curiosity. The rower was turning around to head back the other way. Down the river were more ducks and geese and boats and runners who had their own birds to sing them on their way. The wind was warm, but just quick enough to give you a chill under your jacket if you you're not careful. A bridge approached as the rower quickly rowed by and I turned towards the separate lane instead of crossing the bridge. The water decided to turn too and on the new path the river turned to a creek and continued by my side. The water was definitely green, something you would expect an old worn emerald to look like. The ducks followed, content to kick their feet up and dive for food every so often. Rowers on the St. Anne's College Club ran to practice as the clocks of Oxford city started chiming 11 o'clock.

"...old green water... That tree looks like a big fungus... I wonder what that guy's reading about... That chime sounds like the one in A Christmas Carol... We should have grey squirrels in Indiana... That guy already passed me once... I wanna play rugby... Panini or pasty?... I'm in Oxford... This place is so OLD!... Harry Potter was filmed here..."

Ireland

2008-02-10T09:48:00.000Z

All my life I've wanted to go to Ireland. Before I fell in love with Scotland, I wanted to go to Ireland. When it was just a far off dream and something I never thought I would get to do, I longed to see the greens of the Emerald Isle. This past week, I got to go. It was a memorable trip, albeit way too short. Arriving at the Shannon airport on Tuesday around 4:30 as the sun was setting behind me, barely peeking through some clouds. A quick ride into Bunratty which is directly between the airport and the city of Limerick and I found myself next to Bunratty Castle, home to the Earls of Thomond since the 1500's and the original Durty Nelly's pub. I stopped in for a sandwich and chips and a pint since it had just started raining, and an hour later I walked, in the dark, down the Irish lane to my B&B I had booked for the two nights I was to be there. Greeted with a Bailey's coffee by the fiance of the daughter of the owners (get all that?), I was shown to my room where I fell right asleep, ready for the morning.

I woke up to the sunrise over the hills that separate Bunratty from Limerick and watched the sky get bluer and bluer as I ate a terrific Irish breakfast (yogurt, scones and toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, beans, juice and coffee). Julie (the daughter of the owners who were apparently still in Spain) and I sat and talked about the differences between the Irish and American educational systems, debt, marriage and what I should do for the day. I decided to head to a small town, Ennis, and do some window shopping and people watching. It turned out to be a rather modern town, although it was small and provided quintessential Irish accents as I passed by people on the streets. It was a beautiful day.

I headed to Limerick in the evening. Julie suggested a pub where traditional music was always being played and who would want to miss that? I didn't end up at that pub mainly because I didn't know where it was and it was raining once I got into Limerick and I just wanted to sit and have a Guinness. So I walked across the street from the station and ended up in The Railway, which according to Julie is a local's bar and she had never heard of an American going into that pub. So, for one day, I WAS Irish. I had spent the day walking through shops and stores in a small Irish town, and ended the day preparing for the Ireland/Brazil soccer game (and in Ireland it's soccer, not football, I love Ireland for that) by enjoying the locals and the Guinness and Bailey's. Another restful night in the featherbed and awoke to find Brazil won 1-0 due to poor defense. The second Irish breakfast made me quickly forget.

The walk I had down to my morning activity of walking through Bunratty Castle and the Folk Park (a "living" 19th century village showing what life was like in Ireland at that time) was one of the best walks I've had since I've been traveling. It was about 60 degrees and the sky was slightly overcast. I had Irish jigs and reels playing in my iPod as the birds fought to have their songs be heard as well. Just realizing that I was in Ireland, living the dream, smelling the green grass and watching a man walk through his field while his dogs chased each other around him made me happy. It also made me want to put an offer on the house that I just passed that's for sale. Probably a pretty penny but worth every one!

After the castle and park I decided on one last Guinness before I headed home and it was the best one yet. I hope I can come back to Ireland before I head for the green, green grass of home. If I do, it will most likely be a quick trip to Dublin, but someday I hope to return to the haven that is the Irish countryside. Until then, I'll just listen to the jigs and remember the sun rising over the hills.

Stonehenge, Salisbury and the Historic Dockyards of Portsmouth

2008-01-28T22:02:00.000Z

This was the start of my day on Sunday, January 27th. I woke up at 4:30, met Martin, Andrej and David (the Czech cleaners/maintenance guys from work) and we headed south to Stonehenge. We got there a little before 7am, and the sun was just starting to rise. There was a security guy walking around inside, so despite our great plans to hop the fence, we decided against it. Once the sun was up enough for us to see, we realized that even if we had paid £5 for a legitimate viewing, we would be paying that for the chance to stand 10 feet closer than the outside fence allows you. So we watched and froze and took our pictures from the road while the sun gave us a fantastic backdrop. Once we were cold enough and had seen enough of the rocks, we headed toward Salisbury to see what was there.

A quaint town, Salisbury, and very British. We walked around and inside the cathedral in the centre for some time, and once we had seen enough, started down for Portsmouth. I enjoyed the courtyard/graveyard at the cathedral most I think. It was something you would expect from an old movie; the type of small courtyard where the Bishop would walk in the mornings. Ooh, Godfather III, reminded me of that courtyard that he walks in when Michael goes to confess to him. Just a very tranquil, peaceful place with two giant trees growing in the center.

Once in Portsmouth, we headed to the Historic Dockyards where they hold some of the old Royal Navy warships such as the HMS Victory, who was so famous for her victory against the French off Trafalgar Bay and for the death of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson during that battle. Apparently he was a very great man, stood only 5'2", and is very revered in Britain. Good thing they didn't catch me with this picture.

The HMS Warrior was cool because you could walk around it at your leisure and touch and see most of whatever you liked. Or maybe we just weren't following the rules. Either way, it was a neat experience, especially because I've never been too interested in the seafaring world, mostly just sitting on the shore. After a lunch at the Ship and Castle, we walked through a couple of the museums, then headed home. It was a good day all in all, and it's nice be able to write something about something again, even if it is a rather small post. I'll leave you with a peaceful photo, my favorite from the day, which kind of encapsulates what I feel a lot when I'm here. It's either looking forward, or a sad way of thinking of days gone by. Or maybe, just maybe, it's about enjoying the sunset you're watching and making the most of that. Cheers.

Fun in the... Rain?

2008-01-16T00:49:00.000Z

So after a relaxing 3ish months without really doing any exercise of real consequence, I decided to do something other than sit and wait for the next time I go exploring. Well the next time to go exploring WAS going to Monday and Tuesday but I decided against it at the last minute and I'm kind of glad I did. I wasn't prepared in any way, plus I was still a little tired, so I spent Monday sleeping and just sitting around (the normal routine for days off, which I must say, as boring as it is really is nice when I think of how often I get to do it at home), and today I actually got up to do something. It was raining, but that was alright, I woke up and showered and had some cereal (I never enjoyed bran flakes so much!), then decided to go for a little run. I've had several spurts where I go on a running kick and for a few weeks I'll run at least a couple miles every other day. I've done it living at home, in the Hood, in Carmel and I figured I'd try it here. Yeah, the first two minutes were great and Coldplay was singing some lovely tunes on the way, but once I got onto the main road by my house, I decided I WOULDN'T run all the way to the shops and back, which are a little over a mile from my house. Running two miles isn't too hard for me, but this was crazy! So instead, I made a small circle and ended up sticking to the neighborhood I live in and that turned out to be exactly a mile (according to Google). So after some major huffing and puffing, I finally relaxed to wait for my new hobby to start: Fencing.

Yep that's right, fencing. Every Tuesday for the next seven weeks I'm taking a fencing class from the Oxford Fencing Club. How fun will this be!? I've always wanted to take fencing in general, but I never thought I'd actually be able to take it! And in fact, Indianapolis has a fencing club as well, so if I really like it (and anybody ELSE that wants to take fencing with me!) I might be able continue the hobby! Hey! So yeah, basically all we did today was work on footwork and proper lunge techniques, so it was a lot of talking, but learning to parry (defend) next week should prove for some real fun! So, yes, I will keep you all posted on how musketeer-like I probably won't become!

I'm having a good time this month and three weeks from now is Shannon, Ireland, where some great coastline is awaiting me. Next week, maybe some hills in the Cotswolds and a small town called Malvern. We'll see. Time to really start preparing for April and the big trip though. Alright! Until then! Cheers!

Lazy

2008-01-07T00:45:00.001Z

Well that certainly was a bloody waste of two days and possibly five! I had Friday and Saturday off of last week, and I worked this evening. I had the option of not working tonight, but seeing that I need every pence I can get my hands on, I decided to work. Well, I go into work and as is necessary, I check the rota to see what my schedule is for the coming week. Whaddya know? I have Monday and Tuesday of as well! So basically, because the weather was supposed to be bad (and turned out great) on Friday and Saturday, I didn't plan any outings. Well, if I'da known on Thursday (when I was told that I could have Sunday off if I wanted) that I'd be having Monday and Tuesday off as well, I could have gone to Paris for 5 days! Or Bruges! Or Spain or Dublin or Cornwall or even the Lake District for 5 days! Sheesh!! Instead, I was lazy on Friday and Saturday, slept in, didn't shower, basically just hung around the house doing nothing. I certainly won't do that for the next two days where, hopefully, I can do a couple of day trips, one to Bath and maybe one to the coast. But I'm still a bit irked that I could have had a lovely time visiting somewhere outside of central England. I'm not sure if it's just Oxford, or if it's the longing to see mountains or the coast, but I really am ready to just keep it moving along. Anyway, hopefully I can get some time in Bath or Windsor or Bournemouth for the next couple of days. Sorry for the outburst. I need some fresh country air.

What Am I Doing Here!?

2008-01-02T08:15:00.000Z

So Winter Camp was this past weekend and my family and all my best friends were there, and for a third straight year, I missed it. I'm also going to miss an annual hockey trip that will take place in a few weeks, as well as the birth of my first niece/nephew in about a month. So, here I am, sitting in the hotel for what seems like the 50th day in a row, trying to decide what the heck I'm doing here, missing the good stuff at home, NOT doing anything here. But, again, it dawns on me that I'm doing exactly what EVERYBODY back home wants to be doing. So, I must continue on, be happy that I'm here, and figure out how to make the most of it. So that's the task right now. I'm trying to figure out how to make the absolute most of out the rest of my time here and I'm coming to a dilemma that you all can help me with, I think.

I've brought back to England a book, "All My Road Before Me," by Lewis, and it's basically the diary he kept while in school at Oxford from 1922-1927. The coolest thing is reading through some of his days and having him say, "Walked to Cornmarket, dropped of papers to be typed. Walked through the fields to Shotover; the school children on holiday made for a loud walk," is the coolest thing ever because I know EXACTLY where he's talking about and probably the routes he took to get there from his house in Headington. It's just so cool to be living his life 44 years after he died and about 80-odd years after he himself did it. So trying to mock a few of those days is a new goal, as is trying to accumulate £2,100 before March 17th. I think if I can do that, then I'd have enough to quit work and start my travels a couple weeks early, giving me seven full weeks of world travel before coming home to the American soil. £300 a week could tide me over couldn't it? Sure it could, how couldn't it!? That's about €450ish/$600 a week, so that should DEFINITELY do. So let's hope for that! But the part I'm at here in the planning process is where I'm hitting my dilemma and where I need your help. When I came here, I wanted to see as much as I could, just spreading myself thin, trying to hit as many places as possible. But now, I'm thinking I might just want to take it slow and spent a little more time at locations I like, instead of trying to just hit as much as I can.

For example, I would like to go to Oporto, Portugal, origin of port wine. Why? Because I like port wine. I don't speak Portugese, but that's half the fun. So I'm justified in going there because I have a reason and a desire. But Casablanca? It's out of my way, probably pretty costly, and the only reason I want to go there is to say that I've been there, and only that because of the movie. So I don't really have a reason to go there. Then there's the whole argument I brought about a few posts ago about America having all the scenery that Europe does, yet doesn't have the history, so I should enjoy all the history I could while I'm here. Well, to tell you the truth, I'm not really too into history unless it affects me personally! I'm sure seeing Normandy or Auschwitz would touch me, so I wouldn't mind seeing those places, but to see where Winston Churchill or Mussolini was born doesn't affect me, therefore I wouldn't care to see those places.

Basically, what I'm getting at, is I would love to be able to enjoy ALL that I can while I'm over here, yet at the same time, I'd love to just spend a week traveling up the coast of Ireland, then hopping to the Scottish Highlands for a week, then spend a week traveling through Belgium, Holland and Germany into Switzerland and spending a few days just cooped up in a cabin in the mountains not doing anything. Then I'd make my way down the coast of the Eastern Adriatic through Croatia, Montenegro and Albania into Greece, just soaking up the April sun as much as it will let me. That's something I'd like to do. But then I' wouldn't get to see Spain or Portugal or much of France, or any of that. So basically, I'm not sure if I should just go ahead and try to see as much as I can, regardless of whether or not I really have a reason to go, or just take it easy and relax the whole time I'm traveling. You all let me know while I look at pictures of the ocean, Ireland's green hills and the monkeys of Gibraltar.

2007 - The Year

2007-12-31T22:37:00.000Z

2007 started off like most years do. Another semester of school was about to start and of course, I was working New Year's Day. My how things have changed. I still have another class to take, and I am working New Year's Day, but this time, it's in England. So no, 2008 doesn't look to be your normal year. I've got some pretty wild things planned, and hopefully it will be even more successful than 2007. I can decide that a year from now.

As everybody is always making New Year's resolutions, I do 10. For the last few years, I've made a Top 10 list of things I want to do. It always includes reading a certain amount of books, learning something new and doing something crazy like sky-diving. Last year I wanted to read 12 books, a book a month. I did that, so in 2007, I wanted to read 16 books, just to up the number. I didn't get that number, I think I got to 10, so now I'll most likely go back to 12 for 2008. I wanted to master 5 meals this year. I got 2, so maybe that was a little far fetched. I wanted to skydive, bullride or go bungee jumping. I didn't do that. That's still on the list. But the big one that I can successfully write off is this one: "Go on a vacation somewhere OUT OF HERE! (3 weeks to 3 months)"

My original plan was to spend a month by myself in a cabin in Montana, just unwinding from half of my life spent working AND going to school, both full time. I've always been going full-force, as most of you know, so I really wanted to relax. Well, I'm certainly relaxed now! I'm half way through my working here in England, then I get to start my actual traveling time and get to really see the world. But as for 2007, getting out of Indiana, and the USA has truly been an awesome opportunity. I've seen a few great places, met some nice people and learned a lot about the world, but most importantly, I'm gaining confidence in myself. I usually am a pretty confident person, but to be able to say that I up and moved halfway across the world simply because I could, and was able to live and live well at the same time, well, that gives me an extra boost.

I'm thankful for 2007, and I'm looking to make 2008 the best year yet. So here's to the year past, to the year ahead and for the auld lang syne. Cheers!

A Great Christmas

2007-12-28T18:08:00.000Z

That certainly was a full Christmas! For those of you who don't know, I came home for Christmas to surprise the family and the girl, and were they surprised! I'll give a little background first, then the surprises and the outcome of the few days back in the States.

It all started back in March when I decided once and for all that I was going to actually do this whole moving-over-here thing. I bought my ticket in May-ish, right before Phil told me that he and Suzi were thinking about a May 2008 wedding. I wanted to spend more time over here than four months, so I went ahead and moved my trip up to early October. That allows me to work for the full six months that I'm allowed and still have a month or so for travel afterwards. So now, I had two tickets going to England, one in October, one December 27th. I was planning on just getting my December ticket refunded, but I would have only gotten $75 out of it after the $225 cancellation fee. The hotel had no rooms booked from the 23rd to the 27th, so I wouldn't have worked like I had planned either, so by mid-month, I was going to be sitting by myself for four days during Christmas. I wanted to go home.

Joel and I talked about surprising the family. I asked the boss for the days off and after much deliberation and negotiating, she reluctantly let me off from the 23rd to the 28th. I bought a $487 ticket to Chicago for Sunday the 23rd, only Joel, Luke, and JWey knowing. As the sun rose on the 23rd, so did my spirits as I rolled into the airport on the bus from Oxford. A few minutes later after a quick check-in and security sweep, I grabbed a bagel and some water and waited for my plane. A 7 1/2 hour flight back, I got into Chicago around 3:30, Chicago time. The Blue Line to the Union Station brought me to a delayed train headed to Crawfordsville and finally around 6:15 we left. We stopped for an hour 10 minutes later because of a signal somewhere near 80th Street and we were on 59th, so I got to sit for longer. FINALLY, I got into Crawfordsville at 11:30 and walked to the gas station across from the library and called Sam:

"Sam, don't act surprised or get excited or anything, just come and get me from the gas station across from the library."
"What? What library?"
"The Crawfordsville Libary! I'm home and I'm waiting at the gas station that's across the street from the library. Don't get surprised or anything, just come get me!"

Sam pulled up and I hopped in. We went to Taco Bell because I haven't had any for 3 months and I was DYING for some good ol' fake Mexican food. Arriving home, Gabe ran, Micah looked like he was dreaming and commented several times that he felt that way, and Mom couldn't decide whether to cry or laugh, but a calm prevailed. Nice job, Mom! It was nice because nobody knew that I was coming home so it was truly a surprise for all. What good night that was! After 15 hours of sitting, it was good to be home and with my family. The next day and Christmas went by quickly with visits to a friend in Indy and getting some shoes, seeing some of the extended family, church, then obviously the Christmas dinner with the family. Halo 3, ping pong, Apples to Apples and good conversation and dance was the platform for Christmas night and again, not enough sleep followed. I woke up the next day with the next surprise ready to go. Sam, Nicole and I drove to Cincinnati where I was going to surprise a certain girl I've been wanting to see for the duration that I've been abroad.

We got to Cincy later than I wanted and later than I had warned, so at 11:45 I finally got to see Natalie. Finally. A day with her family entailed a walk to a waterfall, personal concerts by Nat and her brother and sister, some games, some videos, a game of backgammon and some of the best chili I've ever had. My Christmas was now complete, and although I was the one surprising everybody, it turned out to be one of the best Christmases I can remember. It would have been nice to be home for at least a couple more days, but I couldn't change that. I am now rejuvenated and ready for more travel. I didn't think I got enough of home to really want to not be there, but I'm certainly ready now to get back out and see the world. I'll do a list sometime within the next couple of weeks with a few different possible itineraries for my March/April travels and maybe my readers will be able to make suggestions and give me some good input, yeah? Hey? As for now, I'm gonna make some soup and get ready to head to bed. Happy New Year and Cheers!

Part 3 of 3 - Days 2 and 3 in Vienna

2007-12-14T14:12:00.000Z

Day 3 in Vienna is a short one. Simply wanting some sleep added to the fact that it's raining outside keeps me in the hostel until just before 1:00pm. I walk out to the bus stop as the rains cease, and I know I want to actually do or see something today. I am a little angry because I wanted to see the Lipizzaner horses do their morning workout before I take a tour of the stables and performing grounds. I was afraid I wasn't going to get to see the horses at all and just see where they practice, eat and sleep. I get to the Spanish Stables which are housed in the Hofburg Palace around 2:00pm and I buy a ticket for the 3:00 tour. I walk around the Michaelerplatz for a bit doing some window shopping, finding by luck an Orthodox icon store with about a hundred or so extremely old icons, all hand-written. The average cost of one is around €15,000, which is approximately $20,000. Yeah. Pretty amazing stuff. From this store, in which I'm scared I'm going to break something, I walk down Kohlmarkt street which hold all the highest end stores in Vienna. Here is where Armani, Gucci, Prada and all their friends decided to set up shop and with them came some expensive restaurants. But before all of these most importantly, a little bakery/chocolatier called Demel . Demel is known for it's amazing selection of chocolate goodness in every shape and size as well as it's pride and joy: Sacher Torte. After walking among the most scrumptulescent array of chocolate, cookies, cakes, apfel-everything-you-can-imagine, and of course sacher torte, I decide to come back later and try one of these tasty treats. I head back to the stables where my tour begins.

We walk through the practice square and are told about the history of the Lipizzaners . From there we go to the stables where we actually see the horses, although of course are not allowed to touch. I make friends with one called Siglavy Priam, his name taken from his father (Siglavy) and his mother (Priam). I relish in the fact that he doesn't take his eyes off me the whole time I stand there and stare into his dark brown eyes. His white body and mane make me think of Shadowfax from the Lord of the Rings and immediately I want to jump the stable gate, jump on a ride through the streets of Vienna until we reach the mountains, then just head west to the English Channel, turn south, and ride from Bordeaux to South Africa. Now THAT would be an adventure. But I stay where I am and listen to the English feminist ask why there aren't any female riders in the school. I go back to dreaming with Priam.

After the stables we are taken to the performance hall which is quite impressive. Sand and dust and small pieces of wood cover the ground in a 8-inch thick mixture to soften the landings for the horses when they jump or run or trot or whatever trick they are doing. People take pictures although they are forbidden and they know it. The tour guide asks them to stop. Five minutes later you see a few more flashes and they innocently cry out "We couldn't hear you!" Yeah. Right. We are taken to one of the balconies from which show-goers would witness the performances put on by these horses. It's nice to feel like royalty from up here.

Tonight, since it's my last night in Vienna, I want to see an opera at the Staatsoper. So I set out with my map to find it. I was told that you could buy standing room tickets at the Volkstheater, which I thought odd because the Volkstheater is a completely different opera house. After being turned down by the guy in the lobby of the Volkstheater, I made my way to the Staatsoper to see if I could buy a ticket there. You can't walk in the front doors, and it doesn't look like there is a ticket office anywhere. So, defeated, I walk back towards the main center of town to figure something else out for the night. As I'm about the cross the road, I look back at the Staatsoper and on the side of the building there are a few people and it looks like a queue. I walk over and see the sign "Stehplatz," which means "Standing Room," and get in line. I'm scared that I'm getting in line to get into the actual opera, which doesn't start for another hour and a half, but also because I haven't bought a ticket! After a while, we curl around the corner and there is the box office. Whew! A couple minutes and €3.50 later, I've got a ticket for the opera "Norma" and I've got an hour to kill. I walk across the street to a little cafe called Aida and sit down. I have a coffee and a slice of sacher torte, and although I don't feel very Viennese, I know I'm doing what they do, so it feels to go be "in the culture." After my little snack I walk back across the road, check my coat and bag, and stand for an hour and a half listening to a concert performance of the opera, quite impressed at certain points, and a little bored at others.

With the night coming to a close, I walk out into the crisp night and the stars are barely showing past all the city lights. I make the trek up to the hostel for my last night of sleep in Austria and hit the hay. The next day, although I had plenty of time, I wanted to make sure that I was SURE to go home. I walk around a few different Christmas markets again, walk through the Hofburg and Michaelerplatz's a couple times, through the Stephansplatz a couple times, all just killing time before heading back to Bratislava. I go in Stephansdom hoping I can climb the tower to see over all of central Vienna, but a High Mass is being celebrated so we can't go in. I take a few pictures and keep walking. The last day, looking back now, I had plenty of time to see and do things, but really, I had seen and done all I had planned. I had eaten the foods I wanted to, I had a few mugs as souvenirs and was ready to get back to an English-speaking country. I get on the train for Bratislava, fall asleep and wake up just in time to get off the train, catch a bus to the airport (yeah I got a bus this time) and wait for my flight to take off. I get a hot chocolate at the airport and it was the BEST hot chocolate I've ever had. I don't know what was different about it, but it was AMAZING.

After a bumpy ride on the plane and some nice conversation with a Welsh couple, I finally come back to England in once piece and have to sleep the night in the airport. "Platoon" is showing on the TV next to the Subway that I park next to, and as my energy is draining, so is my American pride. Have you ever seen that movie? I don't like to comment much on Vietnam at all because I have NO CLUE what went on, but this movie really seemed like propaganda from any country but America giving cause to hate Americans. I wasn't too happy and was shrinking in my seat next to all these British people watching the movie. A couple hours later, though I'm on a bus to the train station. I get to the Bristol Temple Meads train station a half hour before it opens, go figure, so I wait and pace in the cold waiting for the doors to open. 40 minutes later I am waiting on the train, talking to a fellow who is going to Swindon to sell some die-cast collectible stock cars or tractors or something at a show he and his friends go to every weekend. We wish each other well as he gets off the train and I head back to Oxford. An hour later, I'm finally home, and although I have to wait another half hour before I can leave because of the rain and I don't have an umbrella, I can safely say I know where I'm going and how to get from point A to point B, which leaves me with the most comforting feeling ever, especially after living off a map and seven German words for three days. It was indeed a good trip.

Cheers!

Part 2 of 3 - Day One of Vienna

2007-12-10T13:21:00.000Z

After staring at the city for about 10 minutes, I decide to go to bed so I can have a full day the next day (Thursday). After about nine hours or so of sleep, I get up, shower and head to the bus stop, which is just outside the entrance to the giant hotel next to my hostel. A ride on the bus to Ottakring, I decide to walk to the Schönbrunn palace where, supposedly, one of the three best Wienachstmarkt's (that's Christmas Market for the non-Deutsch speakers) in Vienna is going on. I have a nice stroll on a lovely day next to the Westbahnof train station for about a mile or so, until I reach the Schloss Schönbrunn and the Wienachstmarkt. I take a few pictures and have a walk around the courtyard looking at the building itself, then enter the market and buy an apfel-zimt (apple cinnamon) crepe and a Baileyspunsch. The punsch comes in a commemorative mug that each different market produces each year and the first one you buy, you also pay a deposit of €2, so if you keep the cup, you've paid for it. Anyhow, I buy the food and walk around the circle of booths, munching and enjoying my taste of Ireland with a Viennese touch. I tire of the booths quickly, not finding anything too interesting besides some rather spot on Nutcracker dolls. I decide to head to a different Christmas market, but remember that there was something behind the palace that I wanted to see.

So I walk around the palace to the back gardens and I am utterly amazed to find a veritable Mount Olympus on a hill overlooking the back garden and the palace. Extensive vineyards and the world's first zoo (the Tiergardens) surround the vast courtyard and gardens. I pass a large fountain and sculpture of men and horses as I make my way up the hill to what is called the Gloriette. From the Gloriette, you can see all of Vienna, like from my hostel, and with the sun shining through the pillars of the Gloriette I felt like I was in a great epic, just having finished a long battle that has now been won. A spectacular view.

After some sitting on the Gloriette debating whether or not to go into the cafe they have there, I decide against the expensive cake and coffee and head back to the streets. I hop on the tube and head for Rathausplatz where the next great market is supposed to be, and I am not disappointed this time. In Vienna there is about a square mile that is packed full of buildings that take Oxford's to the mat. The Rathaus is huge, with it's giant clock watching over Vienna by day and night. It tells the time to the Museumquartier and the Parliament building down the street, and shows off it's garb of the Advent calendar to the Burgtheatre across the park. The Museumsquartier relays the time to it's friends, the National History Museum and the Leopold Museum, who all cradle the Maria Theresienplatz. A five minute walk from the Rathaus across the park and past the Burgtheatre you will find the Hofburg, which houses everything from the Hapsberg Dynasty, and through the Hofburg you find Michalplatz, which past that is Stephansplatz and Stephansdom. So really, a half an hour's walk will take you past some of the most beautiful, articulate and downright fabulous architecture you are ever liable to see. Anyway, back to my day.

I walked through the Rathausplatz Christmas Market admiring the absolute perfection to which everything was run. These aren't tents with dodgy middle-aged men selling toys and trinkets and ornaments that they obviously bought at the local store. "These are primo gifts!" (Bonus points to somebody who tells me what movie that's from) Seriously. The booths are handfashioned to house exactly what they are selling. For example: A lady was selling crystal. Her booth had a mural painted on the back wall and the tables were lined with blue felt. On the blue felt were mirrors that tabled the crystal dishes, vases, cups, saucers, shot glasses, and pretty much anything you can make with crystal. The booth itself shone like crystal from afar as the halogen lights came down through the crystal, off the mirrors and bounced back through the crystal at you, beckoning you to come and admire the goods. It was visual onomatopoeia. The thing was, every booth was like this, housing whatever goods they sold: stuffed animals, ornaments, tons and tons of schokolade (chocolate) goods and gingerbread cookies, wienachtspunsch stands galore, and so much more than I can describe to you. We don't have anything like it in America, I'll just say that.

I decide to come back later for some apfelpunsch and truffels (yeah that's how they spell it there), so I go find Stadtpark, which is where the statues of the great composers are. The first one I find is Strauss: the great golden composer is now forever holding a note on his golden violin with his golden bow and you can almost hear the note itself being played into the now pinking sky. Or maybe it's just some Vivaldi playing on my iPod. A walk around the park brings statues of Breckner, Makart, Schindler into view, and I realize that Mozart and Beethoven have their own parks for their statues. I love the statue of Strauss though, so I sit and we have a little chat. A man just a few steps away sits at a small table selling tickets to the konzertes of Mozart and Strauss selections that will be played in a nearby house that night. I want to make the Staatsoper, so I don't buy a ticket.

Instead, I'm thinking I want some actual food, because by now I haven't had more than the crepe and some kasernockrl (cheesey noodles, fantastic) at the palace, and it is starting to get dark, so I head to find the Bier Tesle. This is a restaurant now housed in the same house where Beethoven finished his 9th symphony, so I definitely wanted to get there. I find my way from Stadtpark there, which isn't too far, and sit down for a look at the menu. Beef goulash and spetzle are the decision and I pick a nice dunkel to enjoy with it. I don't know what spetzle is, so I look it up in my phrasebook and it's "homemade noodles." Doesn't look like any noodle I've had, but it has the same texture, and tastes awesome, so I'm not complaining. The dunkel isn't up to the par that I thought it would be, but it's still good, so I'm happy. I finish the dinner and head back to the Rathausplatz for some truffels and another walk around.

An apfelpunsch (which was the best drink I had the whole time there) in my hand, I walk around the market again trying to pick out the best truffels for my date with the Viennese skyline. I find the perfect ones, and yeah, they were the perfect ones. Simply dark chocolate truffels and I also indulge on a stick of Bailey's cream covered in chocolate and head for the hostel. Once I get back up, I buy a coffee from the machine and head to the back of the hostel for my date. I sit with my back against the wall as Frank, Sammy and Deano play me some Christmas music. And the truffels and coffee and the Viennese skyline - lights twinkling, the Gloriette shining, all the platz's Christmas lights shining brightly - and I have moments of joy that I won't forget. Sammy is roasting his chestnuts, Deano is trying to get his girl to stay because "It's Cold Outside," Frank believes in Santa Claus, and with a view like this, I am reaffirmed in my belief in God. Sure, humans made the lights and the chocolate and the hostel at my back, but God made the hill where the hostel is, He made the cocoa beans for my chocolate and of course, He made those that made this fantastic city so beautiful. So with the day at and end, I go to sleep, trying to think of what I'm going to do tomorrow. Yeah, and this is only Day One.

Cheers!

Part 1 of 3 - Arrive Bratislava

2007-12-09T17:18:00.000Z

I’m late. I knew I somehow would be, even though I was supposed to have 20 minutes to get to the train station from work, which is only a 10-minute walk. The boss is taking over the shift, so of course, I end up leaving five minutes later than I’m supposed to, and food before the train is definitely out of the question now. I walk/jog to the station where I board the train with a couple minutes to spare, however, I’ve now sweat through the shirt that I had planned to wear to an opera in Vienna, hopefully, but it seems a little gross now. I keep checking my tickets to make sure that I’m going to the right place, and that I know when to switch, and what train to switch onto to get to the airport. I arrive at Bristol Temple Meads Coach Station around 4:50pm, with my flight leaving at 5:55. There’s no possible way the bus could get me there in time for boarding, especially since I wanted to check my boarding pass that I just printed off because I’m a little wary of it’s authenticity. I open up a door to a black cab and ask the guy how much.

“20 quid,” he states.

I have no other choice but to agree, since it will only take about 15 minutes to get to the airport in cab, while the £5 bus would probably take around 40 at this time of day. He drives me through Bristol, pointing out small things of interest, like the suspension bridge and the view from the hills. Ben Harper’s new album is playing in his CD player and I kind of want to get it now. He drops me off at the airport and I hop a few flowerbeds to the front door where I find the departure times. “Bratislava – Letisko, Boarding: 30 mins.” Great. I just overpaid by about £18 with the cab, including the tip. Oh well, I won’t make that mistake again. I go upstairs, get past security and find something to eat. I settle for what I thought was a tuna and swiss panini, but it turned out to be a turkey and swiss panini, which ended up being a little burnt. I hadn’t eaten anything that day, so this is fine with me. Halfway through the sandwich I get called to board, so off to Bratislava I go.

I board and sit at the window and start looking through some Slovakian phrases and places I wanted to visit in Bratislava. A lady with a baby sits next to me and her mother next to her. The baby’s name is Thomas and his mother’s Alexandra, and they’re from Bratislava. In between some uncomfortable breast-feedings (yeah, girls, EVERY guy is uncomfortable with it, even though you aren’t, just for the record) Alexandra gives me tips on things to eat and places to go. Thomas is happy the whole ride back to his country.

We arrive around 10:00pm Slovakian time, gaining an hour, and I get my next new country stamp in my passport. Smiling and looking for the number 61 bus, I exit the airport ready for an adventure. I got one immediately. I found the cash machine and pulled out 2000 skk’s (Koruna’s), which is about $100. I can’t for the life of me find the bus, so I walk around and realize that all the buses are turned off and are unoccupied. Crap. I ask a security guy what’s with the buses, and he speaks minimal English. The cab driver he was talking to wasn’t helpful either, so I just asked him how much to the city centre. He said “tisit” and I thought he was asking “city?” Tisit is 1000 in Slovakian. I say “Spitalska” and he nods and off we go. I knew I was in for it halfway through the ride when I looked into the review mirror to have him staring at me as he sped quickly down the highway. We arrive at my hostel and he says in English,

“One thousand fifty.”

Awesome. Dirty, rotten, no-good, okay okay okay. Here’s your money you thief, and he leaves. I check into my hostel and decide not to go out because, even though it’s safe apparently, I’m not too sure about the surroundings. It looks like it’s from a bad drama film where the Russian’s come and get the American kid. It ended up being a very safe place, with the police roaming, and I had a good day the next day. Instead, I spend the night talking with the English-turned-Irish guy in my room who lives off of gambling and collecting welfare from Ireland. He left England because of how many Eastern Europeans (Polish, Czechs, Russians, etc.) were coming to England and taking the jobs at lower pay, yet he decided that he liked Bratislava so much that he spends weeks there at a time. Strange trade-off, I thought.

The next day, I get up around 9:00am and check out. The first thing I decide to do is see the castle. I make my way up through the Old Town and make the trek up the hill to the castle. From the castle walls, I can see the whole of Bratislava, and I have a great view of the old Communist apartments across the Danube. Just knowing what sort of things happened among those streets made the place very depressing. Because I see Slovakia as a small offshoot of Russia (in my small American mind), I was depressed from the start. Only until a grandfather and two of his young grandsons walk through the garden I’m sitting in do I realize that happiness can be found anywhere. The smiles on the kid’s faces certainly didn’t show their country’s sad history. It showed the new life of Slovakia, and what the future can hold for them.

The rest of the day, I walk through the Old Town, up and down the main shopping street about five times trying to decide what to eat. I settle on McDonald’s simply because I want to be full and I KNOW McDonald’s will do that. Just my luck, however, as soon as I finish my Big Mac, I stumble upon the Old Square and the Christmas Market where sausages by the hundreds walk past in the hands of merry-makers. The smell of mulled wine and sausage and onions fills the air. One of the things Alexandra told me to try was “Slovakian food,” or basically just bread with lard and onion. It looks nice, so I grab a piece at a stand and get it down. It tastes like bread with lard and onion, though, and the onion stayed in my mouth for the remainder of the day.

After walking through the market a few times, I decide to head back to the castle, after buying a train ticket to Vienna for the night. I can’t understand anything anybody says, so when I come upon the American Embassy, I head in to speak to an American (they work there right?) about the best medium to Vienna. Dead wrong. Slovakian’s that speak English work there and after a long wait and explanation, I just decide to go to the castle to watch the sunset. Even though it went down over the hill next to the Communist blocks, forcing me to be ever mindful of them, it was a nice sunset. It turns colder, and I walk to the train station. I get a ticket to Vienna and ride on down the way. Once in Vienna, I decide that God will have to guide me, so I leave the station, turn right, and walk. God did guide me, and I came upon the city centre at Karlsplatz, where a Christmas Market was going on, and further down was Stephanplatz. An Asian lady played some songs on the piano in the middle of the cold square, while onlookers gazed at her QUICK fingers. I was highly impressed. Not as impressed, however, as I am until I finally make my way to my hostel, which is situated on a hill above Vienna, next to a 5-star hotel. I check in, then walk to the back of the hostel outside, and sit. And watch. And listen to the silence as I gaze at the city lights and monuments and history and wonder that is Vienna. Beautiful. Absolutely amazing.

A Preview of Stories to Come

2007-12-07T21:57:00.000Z

Hallo! I am in the GREATEST HOSTEL IN THE HISTORY OF HOSTELS, the Palace Hostel, in my last night in Vienna (Wien) typing on a German keyboard. I keep typing "z" instead of "y" because they are switched, and the backspace button is short so I keep pushing the "home" key, taking me to the top of the page. Anyway, I don't have a lot of time to write, so I'm going to let you all have a small preview of the joys to come.

1. Meeting a nice cab driver in Bratislava who decided it would be best if I paid 1050 Korunas ($50) for a 10 minute ride that should have cost about 150 Korunas

2. Christmas markets galore

3. Sacher torte and coffee before an opera in Vienna

4. Staring into the eyes of one of the finest trained horses in the world

5. Seeing every light in every building in Vienna from a hill above the city, and enjoying truffels and coffee while Christmas music played in the background

These are just a few, very few, things that I have enjoyed during my time in Central Europe. I'll do a couple of posts, so you can read them at your own pace. Until then, which is probably Sunday night, Prost!! (that's cheers in German...)

Poor British Transport

2007-12-01T17:22:00.001Z

Well I'll go ahead and let you all a little deeper in my world. People say that British public transport is some of the best in the world. When it comes to the tube in London, I'll agree. When it comes to the Chunnel from London to Paris, I haven't done it, but because they have it, I'll agree with them there. And here in Oxford, I'll usually agree for the most part, especially if you are a user of the #5 bus to Cowley Road. Those buses come ever three minutes I swear. But if you are waiting for the #15 to the City Centre from Wood Farm Road or visa versa, the whole "Great British Transport" bit is pure bollucks. I've had times where I get there and a bus is there just pulling up and my day starts well. I've had days where I'm late and the bus just makes me later by not coming until 20 minutes after the last bus came, even though they're supposed to be around every 10-15 minutes. If I'm already late, I don't mind being later. But today took the cake.

To preface the story, it's raining. It does that from time to time in England as the WHOLE WORLD knows. Well, sometimes that will make the buses run a little more scattered or a little late, but doesn't mess them up too bad. I think they shouldn't be affected by the rain AT ALL because the British people have had to deal with the maritime climate and precipitation for THOUSANDS of years, so how can a little rain affect the system SO MUCH?! Well here's how it affected it today:

I get out of the house and it's just barely sprinkling; I'm fine. I get to the end of the road and the bus is just getting ready to leave, but the driver is checking some things on the bus, so he's just waiting there. I get to the door and hold up my pass so he'll open up the door and let me in. Well, because I wasn't there the first time he opened the door (even though he stopped for a couple minutes after opening the door) he won't do it again and leaves. This happened last week too: I got to the bus and he was just getting ready to leave so I run up and he shuts the door and takes of, so I sprint down the road after it to the next stop. I understand that they are on a schedule and they can't stop and open the doors every two seconds, but they can't hold the door open for another 3 seconds??? Don't they want my money? Geeez...

Anyway, I wasn't going to run after this bus because I saw on the clock that there would be another one in roughly 7 minutes. Well, I wait and the 7 minutes turns into 10 and the bus that was supposed to be 20 minutes away is now 7 minutes away while the bus that was 7 minutes away is now 6 minutes away. The 20 minute bus becomes Due and the 7 minute bus is still at 3 minutes. The 7 minute bus then becomes Due and both pull up right next to each other. The next bus that was 30 minutes away is now Due also, so within 2 minutes three buses pull up to the same stop, while I've waited for 25 minutes for a bus that was supposedly 7 minutes away. Now it's 2:00 and I told the guy I would be there early at 2:00 and now I look like a food again. Thanks Oxford Bus Company.

I don't like to complain and I understand that these buses aren't always going to be perfect. But really, I haven't seen the #5 Cowley Road bus stop go without a bus at least every 10 minutes, whereas I wait for an average of 15-20 minutes for my buses every time, save the rare 2 minute waits. Why can't I live on Cowley Road?

Welp, there. That's all the complaining I'm going to do this week. I am in Oxford, for goodness sake, living a dream. Oh bans, quit crying Caleb! But as for the busman, he and I will be at odds for good...... just you wait busman... I'm going to win the next round. I will!

Cheers!

Hey, Whaddya Know? A New Post!

2007-11-29T23:14:00.000Z

It seems my posts come in spurts. I don't do a post for a week, then I do five. Well, the trend will continue because next week is going to hold probably at least three posts, possibly four just on my four day trip to the Three Capitals (Bratislava, Budapest and Vienna) as I like to call them, and each capital will get a post. I seriously can't wait to go. I found a great website called 43 Places that has tons of tips and reviews of places all over the world, and I think they're up to over 100,000 different cities. It's pretty neat, and I've got my itinerary for Bratislava and some of Budapest from there at least, so I hope it works out!

As for tonight! Well! I had the night off from work so I decided to partake in some more Oxford culture by getting a ticket for the Oxford Millenium Orchestra's performance of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and Nutcracker suites, as well as selections from Borodin's Prince Igor opera, which contained a very special song to my heart, the Polovtsian Dance. Oh, bans, that was great. The night began with a nap after work, and was SUPPOSED to start with a nice dinner, probably at The Mitre, but ended up with a couple cheese sandwiches from Marcs & Spencer (hey, it's only £2, so I'll live!), then a pint at a poorly chosen establishment. Here is why it was poorly chosen:

The location was good because I only had about 20 minutes before the performance started, so I picked The White Horse, which is right across from the Sheldonian Theatre, the venue of my evening's entertainment. I walked in, and didn't know what to get because I've been wanting a porter for about a month now, since it's porter season. I don't get to enjoy too many ales since I don't want to spend money in Oxford that I could spend in other countries, so a porter would have been a good way to start the night. Well, they didn't have any so I just stood there trying to pick one. The bartender decided to wash some glasses while I decided, and I didn't mind because he was just being efficient. When he "efficient"ly didn't come back to me for about three minutes, I wasn't thrilled, but I ordered anyway. Here's how the order went down.

"I'll have a go at the Smithy."
A blank stare from the tender, maybe he didn't hear me.
"Just a pint... Of the Smithy."
Continued blank stare. Does this guy speak English?
"Just a pint..."
"Please?? Can we have some manners?" said the tender.
"Oh, sorry, please?"

So yeah, my first encounter with a rude Englishman, and I decided to take the high road and just accept MY unnoticed rudeness and pay for the drink once he pulled it. I would have loved to let him pull it, then tell him to shove it and leave. But I didn't. I tried to get my revenge at the end by saying "Thanks!" and waiting for him to ignore me, but he said thanks and cheers and I just left. We'll leave it at a simple conclusion to not go there again and not recommend it to anybody.

My night wasn't ruined though because I then headed across the street to the performance. I found a seat, then a girl who was friends with the people I was sitting next to came in and I moved to another seat so we wouldn't all be squished during the two hours of music to come.

The first piece was the Overture to Prince Igor. I want to see the opera because it has the Polovtsian Dance in it, which was the first song after the interval, and I LOVE that piece. I enjoyed the Valse of the Swan Lake Suite, and it made me want to waltz, obviously! From there, the next songs were intriguing, but the Mazurka to finish off the Suite was a very energetic and festive piece. After the interval, the Nutcracker Suite took hardly any time at all because I enjoyed it so much. I've always loved the Nutcracker, saw it as a kid with an amateur ballet company, and I would LOVE to see it done properly in it's full glory. To a lot of Americans, and probably Russians too, I guess, The Nutcracker and many of its themes represent the heart of Christmas. And as Christmas is being rolled out all over the world, what better way to kick it all off then to hear some real Nutcracker!?

So that's my post for today, and until next Sunday when I will post about my GREAT trip to eastern Europe, Cheers!

My First Production

2007-11-16T13:59:00.001Z

The Royal Shakespeare Company's tour of King Lear landed at the New London Theatre last night, and I was fortunate enough to score some £5 tickets. Well, I wasn't, but my friend Chris was. So after work yesterday, I headed over to London to enjoy an evening of the theatre. The bus, of course, that's supposed to - and constantly boasts about it - stop every 10 minutes didn't come for a half an hour. Because of that, every stop took 15 minutes so people could buy tickets and hop on. So two and a half hours later (what should have been an hour and a half), I arrived in Covent Garden and Chris and I made it to the show.

Ian McKellan, you know him as Gandalf from Lord of the Rings, played the part of King Lear and was fantastic. Every other line sounded like he was going to yell at Peregrin Took or Samwise Gamgee, but he stuck to the script and played an amazing crazy person. I haven't seen, or been in, a production for so long that I forgot how pulling it is. How incredibly intoxicating. I really enjoyed it, mainly because there was so much heart and fullness, and also because it was REAL Shakespeare. This was no high school play. At least six of the characters were ones I could recognize by face and name the films they'd acted in, and of course, having the caliber of Sir Ian McKellan 100 feet from you was always exciting as well. I'm ready to come home and try to get into the Beef'n'Boards productions. Man, that would be fun. So, we'll see. Till then, I'll try to keep getting £5 tickets and watching the classics. Cheers!

The Welsh Are from Wales

2007-11-14T23:33:00.000Z

And they have a killer coast. It's all rocks on the beach of Aberystwyth , but at least they're round and smooth and fun to throw. As for the town itself, it boasts a small population of 10,000, which nearly doubles to 18,000 when the University of Aberystwyth is in session. The life in a small town is rather quiet, especially when you step into a corner pub and find only the bartender and three older gents jawing and laughing at one man's anecdotes about his wife drinking a bottle of port each night before they retire to bed. I found it to be something out of a storybook, and my storybook became one of old assumptions come true when a few men and a woman came in for some whisky's and were all missing nearly all half of their teeth.

On the day I arrived, I hadn't slept save a few hours of stolen and frequently interrupted REM cycles on the train over. Even so, I got off the train and found that where there were no hills, there was the coast, and where there was the coast, there was my hotel. I walked through the town square and past plenty of little shops to the coast where the morning rain was just letting up and the waves were splashing gently against the rocks and the cliffs that guarded the town's northern and southern borders. I found the Gwest'y Marine Hotel and checked in. The lady on the phone was speaking Welsh, and though the language itself was written alongside the English version on every sign in town, I only heard it a couple more times. Apparently only 160,000 still speak it, and that number is dropping. Very similar to the Gaelic language, where only 80,000 still speak that (if I remember correctly) within it's old realm of the Scottish and Irish countrysides. I dropped a few things off in my room and headed of for some food and to explore. I walked along the "Promenade" which is the mile and a half coastline and one of the main attractions of Aberystwyth. It lead me to the old castle that now only has bits and pieces of its former glory, dashed to rubble from over 900 years of the sea and her fury and storms. I decided to go back to town before I explored the castle, which really did turn out to be a small exploration of a few old towers, some gravestones, and remnants of several staircases, and had a pint and some fish pie. Not bad at all, only I had the smell of fish from the sea to keep the taste of the pie in my mouth for the rest of the day.

I went to the castle and the sun was going to set in a few hours, so I decided to find a hill to watch in on. To the direct south, there was a rather massive climb that I didn't think I wanted to try, but a smaller hill to the east a bit that I might try. Well, wouldn't you know it, I got to the east hill after going through the marine part of the town, and realized that the southern hill would be blocking my view. So I found my way to the coast again (after much toil and going this way and that) and walked up the hill. I didn't want to miss any of the sunset, and it had taken me about an hour and a half to get to the hillside, so I tried to jog up it. Good luck. I stopped every few steps because I'm a pansy and I'm out of shape, but finally I reached the top and the wind was blowing so hard that I could do the whole lean-out-over-the-edge-with-arms-outstretched-and-let-the-wind-hold-me-up deal. Don't worry, it wasn't a cliff or anything and I wasn't going to tumble to the sea and certain death, although I would have had a fun roll trying to stop myself if I had fallen. The sun began to set and here was my view:

Yeah. I was reminded more this trip, probably because of my solitude, about how great God's creation really is. And again, I was inspired to travel more and more, to see as much as I can before I die. Strangely enough, the Disney song "Circle of Life" came on as I was heading to the hill, and the words "more to see than can ever be seen, more to do than can ever be done..." hit me smack in the face. There is more than can ever be seen, but I intend to see as much as I can.

I headed down the hill because the wind was picking up and I wanted a brew. I wanted a nap first, and the nap turned into an all-night sleep-a-thon, and I woke up for breakfast the next morning. I love the English breakfasts, but this was came with the room fee and was a buffet, so I was stoked. Sausages, bacon, eggs, hash browns, mushrooms, tomatoes, beans, yogurt, tea and orange juice was a nice way to start a day that ended up full of food. I checked out of my room and headed out, my feet killing me because of the width, or lack thereof, of my shoes. I wanted to find The Devil's Bridge and the surrounding waterfalls, but that was too far of a walk, plus I didn't know how to get there. So, you remember the eastern hill that I wanted to go on? Well, it turns out that it's a nature reserve and there's a footpath that leads all the way around it and all the way to the top, where there is a monument. Not a big one, per se, but one nonetheless. So I bought a loaf of brown bread, a couple apples, an orange and what was called a custard slide - which was custard in between wafered shortbread with icing... mmmmmmmm!!! - and headed up. The rain started, but at least it wasn't too cold, and I made it to the top to enjoy my little meal. I wasn't really hungry by the time I got up there because it only took me about an hour to scale the smallish hill, but I ate anyway and enjoyed the view. A rainy day by the ocean isn't like a rainy day in the country or in the city. It's perfectly appealing and not in any way an inconvenience, unless you're trying to stay dry, that is. I didn't really care, so I walked about halfway around the hill admiring all of central Wales' hills and valleys, and of course, sheep. It was a nice walk, and although my feet made it feel like it was a few hours time, only another hour or so had passed and I had at least five left before my train was due to head out. So I headed down to town to find a pub, journal some thoughts and read. I found the pub, had a couple of Guinness while I wrote and read, then headed across the street to the train station. I still had three hours, at least. So I went to the connected pub and had another pint, my first Abbot Ale, which is popular here and I can see why. I was very impressed! I started dozing at my table while reading my book, The Brothers Karamozov, and I know the people that were eating near me were watching and snickering as my head bobbed up and down. I let another half hour go by, then got up to get a coffee and a treacle sponge. A Treacle Sponge is basically a piece of naked, rich fluffy cake and it's served in small pool of hot custard. Absolutely amazing piece of dessert, and I've enjoyed it twice immensely now. Actually, the first time I had it, I had it while waiting for my bus to Scotland, so I guess this Treacle treat could be considered my "waiting food."

I finally left the pub and went to wait outside the station for my train. A boring train ride and a Whopper Meal from the Burger King in Birmingham New Street Station later, I'm home, giving you my last two days. I hope you enjoyed them as much as my sore feet and I did. I hope your feet aren't sore, and check out the pictures . I'm sorry there's so many coastlines and rocks and such, but I didn't want to weed all of the bad ones out. The ones of the sun on the sea are the best, and a few of the castle pictures are cool too. Cheers!

A Litte More on Scotland

2007-11-06T22:50:00.001Z

Sorry the last post wasn't infused with feelings and insights and such. I wanted to get an update to you all, but I had to rush off to see Walter Hooper in the city centre. I'll post about that next. As for more Scotland... mmmmm...

So, when I got there the sun had just risen and the sky was cloudy. Go figure. From there I just assumed that I would have to get lucky to not get rained on, although my umbrella provided some assurance that I wouldn't get too wet. We went to Liturgy, Chris and I, under a cloud-covered sky, feeling a couple drops of drizzle. After the gallery, we walked to the near M&S (Marc Spencer) to grab some dinner. The cold was beginning to bite. We sat outside with our makeshift dinner, a smoked ham and mustard for Chris and a seafood mix sandwich for me, sharing a block of Davidstowe Cheddar and two kinds of crisps; Sour Cream and Red Onion was Chris' pick and mine was Roguefort and Bacon. All I can say is that I will never have a favorite crisp (chip) other than Roguefort and Cheddar. Wow. Holy goodness of life those were the best chips I've ever had and I am going to find the nearest store that has them and load up. Wow. The other crisps were good as well, but really, I could eat bags and bags of the other and never get tired of it. Wow.

The next day we woke to a cloudy sky as well.

"Please, just let us get through today without a downpour..."

Wow. This is the day we ended up with.

When we stepped off the train at Stirling, the remnants of the early morning rain still hung in the smell of the air and the puddles on the ground. We expected more. As we walked up to Stirling Castle, we saw some blue coming in from the west. Soon, the blue was all we could see, and I don't think I will ever see such a day in Scotland again. Hopefully, I will, but I have to be Bilbo Baggins, Luckwearer, in order to be granted such a day again. This blue sky provided us with mile upon mile views. From the north, south and west we saw Highlands. The east provided the industrial smokestacks of Falkirk. Green, orange, yellow, red and blue were the choice colours that the landscape decided to wear that day. Now I want to see Maine in the fall. People say that nowhere greater is there to see the trees in the fall than in Maine. I want to compare Maine to here, because truly, these colours were absolutely magnificent. And yes, I'm trying to spell like a Britishman because I'm here.

The bus ride today from the airport provided the excellent scenery it always does, and I am going to be sad to see the trees go bare soon. The English countryside is all that it is cracked up to be, I must say. I'm getting more and more impressed with England as the days progress. The beer is outstanding, the people don't smell, their teeth is as good as ours, the food is flipping amazing (especially the cheese), the countryside is fantastic and history, of course, is deep enough to keep the most intense history buffs elated. I'm elated. I'm glad this weekend finally came. I came upon what I knew I would, which is my love of traveling. I can't wait to get out and see more. Wales, Ireland, France, Northern England, more of Scotland, Belgium, Italy... And when I get home, I most certainly won't be sitting at home during the weekends and the days off. Something Chris said makes a lot of sense:

"We have the same quality of landscapes available in the States as anywhere in the world. Here, the history is much older and the roots run deeper. So if you don't have time to see everything here, see the things you can't see at home. Go to the castles, monuments, museums and do things you can't in America. If you have time to enjoy the scenery, fine, but if you don't have the time, do that at home."

I'm paraphrasing, yes, but the matter is that while I'm here, I need to enjoy all that I can't when I'm home. However, it also says that I need to enjoy things at home. So now, I want to do things that people here can't. I want to go to the Indy 500. I want to see Mt. Rushmore. I want to see the Grand Canyon and climb some Rockies. I want to walk the Appalachian trail and see the Liberty Bell. I want to go to Gettysburgh (yeah, Mom and Dad, I actually want to go now!) and see Graceland. I don't do any of these things that I have so close to me at home, but I'm over here doing things that we can't do at home. It's strange; here, people don't do the things I'm over here to do. They would, however, love to go to the Indy 500. They want to see the Rockies. My travel bug has bitten. The lust has begun.

Sorry for the rambling, but hey, you're the one checking on my life, so here's what you get! Hahaha... Cheers...

The First of Many!

2007-11-06T18:29:00.000Z

This was the weekend of my first outing. Scotland was the destination, beginning in Edinburgh, making a day trip to Stirling and the Wallace Monument, then home for a C.S. Lewis Literary Society meeting. The account is as follows:

I was to leave Oxford by bus to Victoria Station in London to catch the 9:00 bus, and I didn't wake up. I left Oxford at 7:50, arriving in London at 9:45. This required me to buy a new ticket and wait until 11:00pm before the next bus left. The trip didn't start well. Getting to Edinburgh at 7:30 on Sunday morning, I was dead tired from minimal sleep on the way up, but still met with my friend Chris Kies, who is over here for four weeks touring the Isles. We made our way to the Greek church there for Matins and Liturgy, and I must say, it was very nice to venerate an icon and receive a blessing from a priest again. After Liturgy we were introduced to a guy named Chris who is from Alabama and getting his PhD at Edinburgh University in Religious Studies, more specifically Orthodox Prayer. That was nice meeting somebody from home and getting contact for when I go again. We then proceeded to the Scottish National Gallery and enjoyed some William Blake prints, as well as Monet, Degas, Van Gogh and Raphael works. I'm not a lover of art and only certain works will do something to me, but I did enjoy the series of prints by Blake: The Story of Job, which is based on the account of Job and his time of desolation. Neat interpretations.

From there we found the pub Greyfriar's Bobby, which happens to be one of the most famous in Scotland, and had a Scotch. Oddly enough, everybody in the room we were sitting in was from America, mostly west coast. From there we found another pub and enjoyed some ales. The next morning we headed to Stirling. Stirling Castle provided amazing scenery and an extremely interesting history, which I'm afraid, you'll have to look up for yourself. The Wallace Monument followed. The Wallace Statue in front is based on Mel Gibson in Braveheart, but still a good remembrance. In the monument itself was Wallace's Sword and a good history of how Wallace grew up, got involved with the resistance of Edward the I, defeated armies, was tortured and killed and became the country of Scotland's greatest hero.

This is the view atop the Wallace Monument in Stirling, Scotland. From this perch, with the wind clapping your face, you can see a great deal of central Scotland. The War for Scottish Independence and the rule of William Wallace took place here. The foothills of the Highlands are behind me in the photo. To my right - where you can't see - is Stirling University. A little further west of the University is the actual town of Stirling, where Stirling Castle sits on a hill, overlooking the city. Between the Monument and Stirling Castle is the field where the Battle of Stirling Bridge took place, where the blood of a few Scots and many an Englishman seeped into the soil. I walked up Abbey Craig, where the Monument is, which happens to be the same crag where Sir William his partner Sir Robert Moray watched the English cross the plains, and from whence the Scottish guerrillas ran down to crush the oncoming army of Edward the Longshanks. From my spot on top of the mountain I could see where the Battle of Bannockburn, Falkirk, and Stirling Bridge all took place, and just knowing that 700 years ago, men fought and won their freedom here... really neat...

As for Edinburgh, I kind of wish I was living there. Granted, I would like to live everywhere and I'll say that after every trip, but Scotland really is a great place. The city itself is clean, and the fact that there's a castle and a nice crag that holds it like bookends as well as the Scottish accent coming from most lips, well, all the better! I enjoyed my first real Scotch, Craggenmore, and it certainly tasted like Scotch. I don't have the palate for Scotch, and I won't become a lover or connoisseur, but I'm sure I will have more in my lifetime. The ale, however was a much different story. I tried six different kinds in the pub of choice, The Bow Bar, and each of them was better than your average beer. Now, don't think me a lush, this was over two nights and four of those were half pints. I didn't get to see all I wanted, like Edinburgh Castle for example, but that just means that now I HAVE to go back to Edinburgh. So, all in all, the trip to Edinburgh was a success in all ways but one: NOBODY had Scotch eggs. For those of you who don't know what that is, a Scotch Egg is basically a hardboiled egg wrapped in sausage and deep fried. Chris and I asked several store owners, bartenders and patrons of the pubs if they knew where we could find them. Some people hadn't even heard of them let alone where to find them. So apparently, I will have to wait until I get home to have a good Scotch egg. Hmph.

I'll upload the pictures onto Flickr later, and perhaps give some more elaborative insights. Until then, cheers!

Workin...

2007-10-27T19:00:00.000+01:00

Well, I'm sitting here at work, enjoying the fact that I have nothing to do tonight, hardly any calls will come in, and the place is fully booked so nobody new can come in. I've got endless amounts of tea and a nice piece of carrot cake and some scones awaiting for when I choose, and maybe even a ham sandwich if I so desire. I'll admit, I don't want to only make £6.75 an hour, but I am in Oxford, and I haven't even begun to see the money that I'm making, so before I cry about how much money I'm not making and how much I'm not going to be able to travel, I need to actually give it a month.

As for travel, well... There's only so much you can do when you work every day for 10 days and sleep the rest of the time that you're not working. However, this week should prove eventful. I am going to do a tour of the Kilns, Lewis' home, visit his grave site, and raise a Guinness to the late Lewis on Thursday at the Eagle and Child. I hope to do a tour of Windsor Castle this week, maybe Friday or Wednesday, and I hope to do a tour of the Oxford Castle Unlocked, which is the old jail in town. The Sheldonian and Bodlian Libraries are also of interest, at least for some slow reading before work. I haven't tried really anything that Oxford has to offer, so while I'm here, I'm going to do as much as one can. That's why I'm here right?

My two November trips are coming up as well. I have a friend from home, well he's Joel's friend, but I shall call him a friend as well, who is traveling through Scotland, England and Ireland for a few weeks. On the 3-5, we'll be doing Edinburgh. Hopefully the castles, a day trip to Stirling, a scotch tasting hopefully, and just discovering what Edinburgh has to offer. I'm looking forward very much to that. Not paying for it, but I'll get over that. ;)

As for the next trip it will be on the 17th and 18th, and it's horseback riding in Wales. The Brecon Beacons Park, a national park, is what we will spend a day riding through, stopping along the way for many sites. On the way to the park there will be plenty of sightseeing stops, but it's a straight drive through the The Cotswolds, and is sure to be a welcome weekend away. Plus, they pick me up in Oxford, and drop me off in Oxford! Nice!

Welp, I'm gonna keep on working. I hadn't updated you all for awhile, so I figured I would. I think I said that pictures of my house are up on my flickr site, but if I didn't, then they are! I'll continue posting throughout the week, letting you know of how the week goes. Until then, Cheers!

A Good Day

2007-10-24T02:41:00.001+01:00

Ah, what a day. Wake up at two in the afternoon after watching the Colt's win, and what's this? It's an absolutely gorgeous day outside! Of course, I slept through the morning, but that's ok! That's ok! I made up for it. Today's agenda:

-Covered Market for some dinner including an amazingly soft cheese, some apples and some cashews. Oh, and some chocolate.

-Christ Church Meadow to eat and enjoy the evening's crisp breeze, all whilst enjoying a dazzling sunset.

-The Eagle and Child Pub, popular watering hole of Jack Lewis and John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, for the second night in a row, and some great Guinness.

-After the Guinness, I had some time for a little Brothers Karamazov and a Titanic Stout at the Tuft Taver, which is connected to my hotel of employment, and across the street from the Hollywell Music Room, which is where I attended a rather intimate performance of Hugo Wolf's compositions of German poems. A fun event for only £5, I must say! And I haven't seen operatic performances enough in my life!

Afterwards, I came home and talked with one of my roommates about everything under the sun for a couple of hours. We will probably, if I'm not working, go to a place on the other side of Headington next Tuesday for a quiz night, which should be a great time! Yay for friends! ;)

So that's my night, and my first REAL day off. Yesterday was off, but I didn't really do anything. Tomorrow is a day of work, which shouldn't be difficult. The next thing to do now is start preparing my days off... Mmmmm.... Traveling...

Cheers!!!

...is where I live.

2007-10-21T18:27:00.000+01:00

I'm just gonna throw these pictures up here for your enjoyment and to help convince myself that I made the right decision by coming to Oxford and not going somewhere else. As an avid fan of C.S. Lewis, like so many of my brothers, these maps should prove some good points.

This first one is a map. The red dot is where I live. The green dot is where C.S. Lewis lived. Hmmmm... 1.3 miles

This one is a map. The green dot is where I live. The red dot is where Mrs. Moore, Jack's friend that he would visit frequently as a young man (as noted in All My Years Before Me). 0.8 miles I actually walked past it twice today on my way to work and didn't even know it.

Dang. I've got my first two days off tomorrow. I'll definitely be walking around Headington, the home of C.S. Lewis.

Cheers!

Life Starts

2007-10-18T19:19:00.000+01:00

Well then. God answers prayer, and I have a place to live for the remainder of my stay here in Oxford.

20 Palmer Road
Headington,
Oxford

Just east of the city, about 15 minutes to downtown by bus or bike, and I move in tomorrow. I will live with a 30 year-old full time nanny, Judith, a younger 20-something automotive engineer, Robin (sp? it's a guy), and a 23 year-old IT guy, Richard. So, that's my house for five months, and I'm happy. Now I have a place to store my clothes, yesssss... and I'll write the letters I've wanted to, blog regularly, and finally do some traveling. I'll post pictures of around my hotel soon, as well as my house when I have them. As for now, I'm going to check into my hostel for one more night, get something to eat, and head to a movie. Alright? Cheers!

Young

2007-10-17T11:52:00.000+01:00

October 16

I had fish and chips for the first time today. Alongside a Guinness, the only thing that could have made it better would be a coat, or maybe a friend to eat it with. Right now I’m sitting in a pub on Magdelan Street in Oxford waiting until 8:00pm so I can go view a house. It seems kind of far away from work, but if I really think about it, it’s only a few minutes by bus, and it seems like it’s a quiet area. I would like to live a few minutes from work, if possible, but if the place is nice and the people are nice, then why not take it right? The Cotswolds are calling my name, I’ll say that much. I’ll probably buy a bike here in the next week or two, that way I can get outside the city on my days off this week. I wonder though, how am I going to get around when I travel somewhere? I know how I’ll get to places, but once I’m there, I’m going to have to hire a bike every time I go somewhere. That will get old real fast. But, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, yeah?

Oxford is young. The people are young, the staff’s at the pubs are young, the nature seems young. It just seems like a place for young people. That’s the feeling a college town will give you, I assume. I think it will be a fun place to live. It’s a lot bigger than it seems, more like Lafayette or Bloomington, really. Lots of shops, lots of pubs, lots of people. I like it. Plus, Joel’s weekly installments of The Office make life easy and fun! The pub is getting busier, and I really wish I had a coat because it definitely got cold when the sun went down. Usually it doesn’t get this cold, so I will have to remember to start wearing a coat! And maybe I can buy a scarf now! Ok, I will buy a scarf! Thanks, scarf selling guy!

October 17

I had a good day of work yesterday. The job will be quite easy once I am used to the routine. One bad thing, I work Friday, Sat, and Sun mornings this weekend, so again, no church. I can at least make Vespers on Saturday. As for that, I hope to be able to get all my Sunday mornings off. I'll have to work on that.

Still waiting on the call for one place, the only one I've looked at. Tonight is the last night in my hostel, so I really need to find a place, now! Anyway, that's what I'm doing now. I'll see you all later on.

Moving...

2007-10-15T13:50:00.000+01:00

Finally moving to Oxford. London is a nice place, but I"m a country boy through and through. I'm looking forward to leaving work and being able to head to the country for the evening, or at least to a big park for a walk, away from traffic and cars and people and profit and yeah... London, and I guess I should say Europe, is a bit too liberal for me. Advertising is more risque, and the people are like in any big city; frowning. Nobody smiles here. I like to smile, and if people aren't returning it, then life is no fun. Where I'll be working in a hotel, I'm in control, so people have to look at me, and if they're not smiling, my job is to get them to. I like being paid to make people happy. That's the sign of a good job.

So now I've got some money in my pocket (the last of the cash that I brought with me), a job, and a new town to explore. I've explored London, and I only need to see Tower Bridge to complete what I wanted to see in London. I've had traditional pub food, except I haven't had fish and chips; I'll do that in Oxford. I've had the ales, I enjoyed a few English breakfasts, and I think I've done well experiencing London. As for the rest of England, I want Bristol, Cornwall, Manchester, York, Newcastle, Cambridge, and the Lake District before I leave. I'll do Wales within the next month hopefully, and Ireland this month or next also. I think the highlands of Scotland will have to wait until March, although Glasgow and Edinburgh can be done soon too. Christmas in the Swiss Alps at a place called The Mountain Hostel in Gimmelwald, Switzerland, suggested by Luke. Right now, that's all I've got. Although I found some pretty cool places to do adrenaline pumping stuff like land surfing and coasteering. But we'll see: I don't want to give mom a heart attack. ;) JOKING MOM!!

It's been a lovely day here, but now it's kind of clouding up. Honestly, England has gotten a bad break with all the assumptions that it's all rain and cold. I've had one day of rain here, and it was rather refreshing. I've been here over a week and a half, so I'm pretty happy. I realize that once it gets colder it will rain more and October is actually the rain season, but so far so good. When I was in Oxford last week I found an amazing place to find some panini's, and it had some sweet looking apple pie too. Although, for work of course, I need to sample a lot of pubs within the next week, that way I can suggest good places to people. Same with walking around Oxford. I need to get to know my way around! That is something I'm really looking forward to: Finding out where the good spots of Oxford are, in order for me to pass them on. So here's to fun nights out in Oxford!

I'll be taking pictures on my tour of the hotel so I can really know what rooms are what and what each one offers, so I'll share those with you all soon. As for my pictures of Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, St. Paul's, and the British Museum, refer to my Flickr page in the next couple days, and they will all be up.

I'm gonna quit writing so I don't get sick on this bus now. Cheers!

And Now to Follow Up That Last Post....

2007-10-11T23:08:00.001+01:00

PICTURE TIME!!! I'll hopefully get to make them a little bigger soon.

My Flickr Photos

I just got this: thanks for the prayers.

"Dear Caleb

Thank you for coming to Bath Place this afternoon.

Having this evening completed the scheduled interviews I am pleased to confirm that I would like to offer you the position as discussed.
I am available on Tuesday afternoon the16th of October at 3pm to give you a preliminary training shift.
All being well I would then insert you into our rota for the rest of the week for full training.
I hope this is agreeable and would ask that you confirm this arrangement as soon as possible.

Many thanks, I look forward to hearing from you.

Yolanda"

If you want to check the place out, go to The Bath Place Website

That's my new job...

Cheers!

Wow

2007-10-11T21:16:00.001+01:00

Wow. That is all I have to say right now. I’m going to let your minds wander and wonder at what I could be talking about. My hints are:
• I went to Oxford today
• I had my interview
• I am going back on Monday to work half a shift with the manager to see if I can actually do the job
• Pictures are available at
• Barring a terrible day on Monday I am moving to Oxford
• I can’t wait to work in Oxford
• Holy crap, I love Oxford
• If you want old England, go to Oxford
• I love Oxford
• Oxford, Oxford, Oxford
• If I get paid £6.75/hr like it says, which is what I will make, I don’t care. I’m working in Oxford
• £14/hr? What’s that? That’s not in Oxford, so sorry!
• Yeah…Oxford.
• I’m gonna take fencing.
Good luck with that everybody. I hope your minds someday have the same “blowing up” experience mine had today. Check out the pictures and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Wow.

Oh yeah… Cheers. Mates.

Sweet, Another One

2007-10-10T17:09:00.000+01:00

Alright, I've got another interview tomorrow, this time with a hotel in Oxford called Bath Place (www.bathplace.co.uk) for a front desk position.
Upsides:
1. It is in Oxford, a couple blocks from where C.S. Lewis lived. Dang.
2. Days off are consecutive, the shift before the day off is 7-3 and the shift
the day after the days off is 3-11, so basically three days off in a row.
3. Oxford actually is only an hour away from London by bus, so...
Downsides:
1. Pay is £6.75/hr, and accommodation is NOT included. So I'd have to live on
£1070/month, which really isn't too bad, but I'm pretty confident I could pull
at least £10 in London.
2. The lady I talked to seemed nice, but kind of nervous and a little out there.
She didn't seem dodgy or anything, but it certainly wasn't Julie Andrews on
the other line.
3. London is growing on me.

So after my trip to Oxford, I'll know for sure. I'm actually going to look for a hostel in Oxford for tomorrow night, so that could be a lot of fun. I'll take plenty of pictures, so get ready!!!

I also opened a bank account today. Free and at a pretty big bank in London, HSBC, and that was a fun experience. I got there, put my name in to be helped (it was like putting my name in for a restaurant back home), and they told me it would be about 20 minutes. I say ok, and go to get some food. I eat, come back in 15 minutes, and they'd already called over me. The lady who first took my name saw me still sitting and starting going crazy with "I'm so sorry, you had just popped out and we called you directly, I'm so sorry, I'll try to find somebody, etc." I sat for a couple more minutes waiting and she returned with more "Sorry's" in her lovely British accent and led me to a room where a young black girl was to take my information and help me out. Apparently, the first lady had pulled her from cashier duty just to open my account. I'm sitting here stunned as I'm being offered coffee while I wait and being apologized to non-stop, receiving service like never before back home. I actually can't remember having been served like this before. Anyway, we get going and since I don't have a job yet I have to get a special override from the first lady in order to get "the proper" account, as she put it, which basically is a free checking account with free internet/telephone banking and a free ATM card. The black girl and I get to talking and she had been to New York and Miami before and had loved it. She said she really enjoyed the atmosphere "at the universities" and how the students were all about their own school, sports, Greek, clubs, everything. She would have been a cheerleader if she had gone to an American school. She found it amusing how the black guys in the clubs in Miami would just start hugging them and calling them "mama" and doing what those of us who have been in clubs witness every time. It's funny to me, but even funnier when I hear a Brit talking about it. She proceeded to do her American accent, which was hilarious (quite good actually!), and poke fun at my British accent. Then I left with a new bank account, and now all I need is a job to make some money to put into it. Woot Woot!

It's 5:55pm here, the sun is setting, and the sky is clouding. It rained early morning, sunned up during the day, clouded up in the afternoon, and is now staying overcast. BUNAC is having a pub meet tonight in Camden Town, and there's a song about Camden Town and I can't think of it. Dang it, that's gonna drive me nuts. Anyway, BUNACer's will go and people who work there go too. So I'll probably go because I haven't anything better to do.

As of right now, the best thing I can do is go take a shower, since I haven't yet today, and get geared up for the interview tomorrow, yay. Time to get "suited and booted" as they say here.

Cheers!

Still in the Saddle

2007-10-10T13:15:00.000+01:00

I'm not "back" in the saddle, cause I never got off the horse in the first place. I'm still looking for a job, still applying, still wondering whether or not I really want to work in London (unless of course I get the AmEx job), and wondering where I want to go if I don't live in London. I applied today for a front desk job for a small hotel in Oxford, which would be great if accommodation was included, however I think it's just going to pay £6.50/hr, which is of course half of the AmEx job. I shouldn't have even interviewed for the other job because now I'm turned off at the thought of making only $13/hour as opposed to $28 an hour. HA! I'm in flippin' England regardless! I just need to go have a pint and enjoy myself here, right Mrs. Combs? Or should I just get some ice cream. By the way, is there a way I could justify paying $7 for some ice cream on a stick? I can justify paying that much for a pint and a half of cidre, but I don't know about ice cream. I'll just wait until tonight for the BUNAC pub meet. I don't have anything better to do, so I plan on heading to that. I don't want to sit in my hostel and watch Lord of the Rings then go to McDonald's again. So bitter's coming tonight!

As for other jobs, I'm just gonna have to open myself up to anything. I am going to see what work would be like in the Lake District, because I know life would be amazing. So, anybody have any towns they want me to live in? Or specific areas of England at all? Luke, you want me to move to Cornwall and surf all winter? It's crazy because there's so many jobs available. Oh, man, I'm ready to have a job.

Since I applied for that hotel job in Oxford, hopefully I'll get an interview requiring me to go to Oxford! I haven't left London yet, and I'm ready to go I've got at least the weekend to see them, especially since it's the Colt's bye week, so Sunday night is definitely free. Oxford would be nice, perhaps a day trip to Cambridge in the next couple of weeks. Paris is only two and a half hours by train, as well as Brussels. The world awaits. And so do I.

Pictures soon, the camera is being charged right now. Cheers.

First One Down, Hopefully a Few More To Go

2007-10-09T12:36:00.000+01:00

Had my first interview this morning. I don't think it's possible for anything to have gone any better, aside from getting offered the job on the spot. Well, things went great during the first part where I met with two younger girls (woot woot!) for the preliminary stuff, then they had me meet one of the two VP's I'd be working for, if I get the job. He really wanted me to understand that this job wasn't going to be very stimulating at times and I'd probably get really bored once in a while. I said that I've stocked beer in grocery stores for the last two years, so I think I'm good with monotonous work. We had a good talk about interests, and of course, the World Cup this weekend, especially since England is in the semi's, as well as South Africa, which is where he's from. I felt kind of dumb because when he asked my interests, I mentioned music and that I liked to play the djmbe, which was an African drum. He then proceeded to ask where it's from and I said, "Southern Africa, I think." "Oh, really? I'm from South Africa. I've never heard of it." Dang it! Busted! So I fuddled my way around it and told him that he'd like it if he heard it, and tried to make a joke of not being able to play drums with my hands and feet at the same time, so a hand drum is best for me.

The conversation went well, and I think I gave a really good interview. I've had so many in the past 5 years that I feel like it's second nature to have somebody questioning me about my next 10 years and where I want to be and blah blah blah. So this interview was very laid back and casual; a change of pace that was greatly welcomed. If I get that job, I'll be extremely happy. Here's the surroundings: A five to seven minute walk north up Buckingham Palace Road takes you to, well, Buckingham Palace, past the Royal Mews. A seven to ten minute walk directly west down Victoria Street takes you to Westminster Abbey, and you can change your clock to match Big Ben every day during lunch! And a couple steps further and you can sit in on a Parliamentary decision at the Houses of Parliament. Or perhaps walk across Westminster Bridge over the Thames to the Florence Nightingale Museum. But you certainly wouldn't have enough time during lunch for that. Directly south on Wilton Road takes you to the Queen Mother Sports Centre, so I'll find out what that's about later. Past Buckhingham Palace is St. James's Park, so lunches with the ducks and ravens could be an every day occurence. A two-minute ride on the tube would take you to Harrod's where endless shoppers indulge in every type of store and atmostphere possible. If you happen to get an early day on Friday and want to hop on the Express Train to Gatwick airport for a weekend trip in Brussels or Belfast, well it's just across the street from the office. And this isn't just an ordinary office.

This thing is smack dab in the middle of the business world. You know the movies where a man goes to a job interview and the revolving doors are about 20 feet tall? Then he walks into a giant white/grey room where the only thing in the whole room is a desk off to the left with two receptionists? He has to get a building pass made, custom with his picture and name on it. He walks to the elevators with the lovely British narrator telling you that "The door is opening. The door is closing. Arriving at the second floor. The door is opening." Then he pushes through some 10 food glass doors where the handle goes all the way up and down the door. After he says he's there for an interview, he has a seat on the white leather couches that don't allow you to sit all the way back or you'll look like a 10-year old kid on the bus with his legs hanging off the seat, kicking the seat in front of him. Yeah, I'm not that short, so they were some big couches. Then he is introduced, is offered coffe, water, whatever, and he goes into a small conference room. Outside the conference room is apparently the lounge, full of three columns by about six rows of ottoman seats opposite of small round tables. Several possible co-workers discuss the previous days events and last night's football match between Chelsea and New Castle United, and perhaps the big rugby matches going on this weekend.

After the initial interview, he is walked through the narrow corridors to a room with several white cubicles, clearly viewable for the visitor's eye, and is handed over to the big man in the office, a middle-aged white man with a blue and white checked shirt and black slacks. His office isn't spectacular, but it's got some remnants leaving the impression of a sports fan, probably football more than anything else. A Dell monitor hangs on the wall with small clutters on the desk. The interviewee's cover letter is on the table with something highlighted, probably his mobile number. He is told to "take off his jacket, take off his tie, this is a relaxed office. We don't wear ties here, and on Friday's we were jeans. This is comfortable place. Sometimes we say, 'Heck, let's take the afternoon off and head to the pub,' really this place isn't very rigid. However, this job can be boring. I want you to know that. I want your eyes opened to the realities of this job, just for your own good."

After the interview, I am walked out and head off into the rain to write my thank you email, and search for other jobs. I was the first of four, or so they said, to be interviewed, and the others wouldn't be interviewed until later in the week, and possibly early next week. So I should know in a week's time, and you will know as well.

I really want this job. To have a team to assist, being a part of international affairs (Membership Rewards and Partnerships for American Express's "Outside USA" operations), and the surroundings of the office. I think it would be fun, somewhat challenging, a place to meet some new people, a great way to live in London, and it would provide stellar income for what I've been expecting. Oh, I want this job.

So! I have applied to two other office jobs, and Harrod's, which is the mall, to see if there are any openings in "Nordstrom Land" for me to fill. Here's hoping for at least another interview sometime soon, although none have been offered yet. I'm going to book another hostel for probably another week, so there goes more money, and while I'm not hurting for pounds yet, I definitely would like to start making some to replenish all that I'm spending. I'm going to buy an umbrella and some food now, and perhaps I'll have more information on the job hunt as the week progresses.

Cheers!

Oh Goody!!

2007-10-08T21:27:00.000+01:00

Today was tourist day. A day which, on purpose, I looked like a tourist, got in people’s way, like a tourist, and ate American food, like a tourist. After my “free internet place,” which is the BUNAC office where I look for jobs and accommodation, closed, I went home to drop off the computer and pick up the camera for a little sightseeing. I must admit, London at night is absolutely amazing. I will post the pictures from my little excursion which started in Piccadilly Circus, went through St. James’ Park to the Horse Guard, back through to Buckingham Palace, then past the Guard Museum to Westminster Abbey and Parliament Road, and ended up back at Piccadilly Circus via Trafalgar Square. I have pictures and video from the Piccadilly beginning through Buckingham Palace. Then my battery ran out and I didn’t get to take pictures of Westminster Abbey – which I must say, has to be photographed at night, so I’ll do that later – or of Trafalgar Square. I’ll post those whenever I get my camera some battery squash (Britain’s word for juice).

The neat thing about all this is that it could be my new home. I have an interview tomorrow morning for a Team Assistant position at American Express. No, I don’t expect to begin a career in the credit card industry (don’t worry Mr. Ramsey!), but this would offer a good job with great pay and weekends off. Plus I’d have work, home, and church within 15 minutes walking distance from one another, and it would be in the heart of one of the biggest cities in the world. I know what you’re thinking. “Living there will be way too expensive, even if you get paid well.” Well, I’m here to say that I’m pretty confident that I can score a decent place for decent money. I don’t want to say how much I could be making, but I did a little budgeting, and if I can find a place that is within the average of London near work, I’d be sitting very pretty. This job looks quite interesting too, especially since I would be working for a team of about 10, basically doing secretary stuff, probably getting coffee and making appointments. But if that allows my weekends to be spend skiing in Switzerland, hiking the Cairngorms, listening to Irish bands in little towns outside of Cork, watching the sunset in Bordeaux over a nice bottle of wine, or enjoying a litre of weizen while trying to count to ten in German, I’m all over it.

I’d better go iron my suit for tomorrow, seeing that it has been in my suitcase folded since I got here. Please pray for this interview, and especially for finding a studio or flat once I actually get a job. While I am getting used to London, I’d really like a job that will let me get out during my weekends in order to experience the rest of Britain. I promise I’ll upload pictures later, as well as the video’s I’ve got too. So thanks for keeping up with interesting parts of my journey, although once I find a job, I’m sure the weeks will not only fly by, but get a little less interesting for you. So Cheers!

P.S. I know I'm forgetting to say something, but I'm sure I'll remember later, so don't worry! Buuuiiiyy!!

Another Movie Star

2007-10-08T00:29:00.001+01:00

Well, then. I must say that passing time in London with friends is much better than not. Tonight was spent in an American sports pub, although still run by Brits, watching a bit of the Argentina-Scotland rugby match, and watching the Colts go 5-0 for the fourth season in a row, an AFC historical first. I paid way too much for the four chicken fingers that I got, but the Guinness, Carlsberg, and Strongbow helped me out. Go Colts!!

Hadley’s boyfriend, Chris, is a “capital” fellow. On the tube on the way home, I asked him if “capital” was ad adjective the British used anymore. Apparently not. He used the word capital to describe London, as in capitol. Anyway, I can’t describe the kind of guy he is. I said that I really liked him because of the way that he treated Hadley, but I’ll say that I really enjoy his company as a friend as well. He’s very open with conversation, and, even though I haven’t been to his home or really to anything that is his, he is a great host. I’ve been invited to spend “Thanksgiving,” or at least his family’s portrayal for Hadley’s honor,” with them. That should be an excellent experience, especially since it’s outside of London. I like London and the fact that I am learning my way around one of the biggest cities in the entire world. However, I am a country fellow at heart, and with that comes a longing for country scenes. If I am blessed enough to find a job and a place to live this week, perhaps I can spend a few pounds and go to Scotland, Ireland, or maybe just out of London to Oxford, Cambridge, Felixstowe or maybe even Brighton, possibly. It all depends on the directions the pounds, or soon-to-be-lack-thereof, point.

Another thing that I’ve already said once has happened again. Do you all remember how on my first night here I saw Jamie Foxx at a movie premiere? Well, that was at Piccadilly Circus, which is kind of the life of central London. Well, tonight I was to meet Hadley and Chris there to go to the Colt’s game and I ended up seeing a TV show being filmed called “He Kills Coppers.” It’s not that big of a show I guess, but a guest star on the show was an actor that I like very much, named Rafe Spall. His name doesn’t sound English but he is. I know him from Green Street Hooligans as “Swill,” and A Good Year as “Kenny.” Anyway, as soon as I got to Piccadilly Circus, I walked to the statue that Hadley told me to meet her at and low and behold, this guy and another actress are having their pictures taken. Of course I left my camera at the hostel because I don’t expect to see anything cool and it’s a great relief to not be wearing my backpack. So this guy, Rafe, is literally a hand’s reach away from me and all I can do is smile and laugh at the way other people are gawking at him the way I wish I could. So, besides the Colt’s winning of course, that was the highlight of my night.

Tomorrow I plan to call several employers and try to find a job. I actually have a number they can contact me at, so that is a boost to confidence. Wish me luck, and I’ll let you know how it goes. Right now, this French girl just took a chair next to me as a footrest and asked if I spoke French, and since I don’t, I said no, so I’m going to learn some French.

And as always, Cheers!

It's About Time

2007-10-07T16:42:00.000+01:00

FINALLY!! So did anybody really expect me to make it to Liturgy and be able to relate anything to you? Good, I hope not. I couldn’t get to sleep till about 2 again, so waking up and actually being able to find the church wasn’t going to happen. Instead, I woke up around 11:30am, threw on some clothes and went to find the church, that way I won’t miss it next time. Well, I walked around trying to find breakfast beforehand, and decided to just have McDonald’s because it is much more affordable to pay £4 for that than £10 at a pub. McDonald’s also has free wi-fi so that was a bonus. Now I have really don’t need to pay for internet at all. I’m so ready to get my own place so I can just have internet through the phone line or something!!!

I took the tube to Knightsbridge, which is basically the Carmel of London. Harrod’s is there, which is a huge mall, basically like the Magnificent Mile of Chicago. Anyway, I started walking in what I thought was the right direction out of the station. Luckily I did, because I found the phone store that I had been looking for and it was actually open. So I went in and got a phone. Now that I’m back and looking at it, I realized that I actually paid £10 worth of a phone. This thing looks like the Motorola SLVR back home, but works like Dad’s first cell phone in 1996. After I get a job and start making some money, I’ll have to get a new one because this barely has a phonebook. The screen and pixilation is so old-school that when I put Hadley in my phone book, it comes out like HAdLEy. Pretty funny really. But you know what? I’m going to have this phone for a small time and it’s going to serve it’s purpose just fine. So I’m happy.

Anyway, after I bought the phone, I continued heading in the wrong direction. When I realized I had gotten to Hyde Park, which was the opposite direction from where I wanted to go, I turned around and eventually found the church. It’s a nice looking church, tucked away in a very ritzy part of Knightsbridge. Only the best for the Russians. I got there and it didn’t look like an Orthodox church so I had to ask somebody, and it was. There was a wedding getting ready to start, so I didn’t go in.

I don’t have anything to do for a little while now, so I’m going to charge my computer while I take a nap, then I’m heading to meet Hadley to watch the Colt’s. The Cubs didn’t win a playoff game, so that’s no fun. But at least they didn’t win the World Series when I wasn’t around. So good day everyone, and cheers…

More Rugby...

2007-10-06T21:41:00.000+01:00

A correction from my last post. I am "knackered," not "knickered," seeing that knickers are underwear. I'm tired, not getting "underweared." Dang it!

Anyway...

So tonight’s big match is France/New Zealand. I start going for New Zealand for the following reasons: England doesn’t like France, and I’m in England. I want to move to New Zealand after next summer, if it’s possible. The French are pansies and I don’t want to go for the team that will surely lose. Well, I’m sitting in a little bar near my hostel nursing a Guinness (of course), smiling as New Zealand scores a tri (a touchdown for us who love American football) and I give a little congratulatory “alright!” Go figure: the guy who has been standing next to me for the last 15 minutes is French, and I didn’t even realize it. So, I’ve already pissed off the French, and that’s not a good start, seeing that I’m not even in France.

My next job here is to learn about rugby: what the rules are, who is good and who is bad, ad how this tournament is going to go. England beat Australia earlier today. New Zealand is ahead 16-13 with about 15:30 to go in the second half. I don’t’ know if the winner will play England, but I do know that for my own sake, I hope England wins. That way I’ll have a bunch of happy British around that won’t be mad when I ask them directions.

Before my Guinness, I was walking around Russell Square – where my hostel is – looking for something to eat. I walked by a guy selling giant “hot dogs” which turned out to be sausages for about £2.50. I’ve never had a better sausage, especially with the onions. After that, I found the bar to wash it down, and to wash down the second course (the Guinness), I decided to try what everybody seemed to be getting: Magner’s. Magner’s is an Irish cidre (yeah, that’s spelled correctly), and the bottle contained a lot more than I thought it did. When she said it cost £3.70, I was kind of appalled. Then I opened the bottle, and it didn’t seem to end. It’s neat because they give you this bottle, which is basically two pints, and a glass with ice in it. So after the French missed what we would consider a field goal, the French guy left, and I enjoyed my Magner’s to the end. Now it’s 9:36pm, and I’m going to watch the last nine minutes of the match with some Chinese guy with long hair yelling and pounding the table, who is obviously a fan of France. Tomorrow I hope to be able to tell you what a Russian Orthodox Liturgy in London is like, as well as what it’s like watching American football, although not the Colts since they don’t play until 10pm here. So, goodnight everyone, and Cheers!

British Stores are Closed on Saturdays

2007-10-06T16:12:00.000+01:00

I wanted to buy a phone today, but I forgot that most British stores like that will close on the weekends. Yay.

Today’s internal clock seems to still be on American time. I couldn’t go to sleep for the life of me until around 2ish – which would be about 10:00pm back home –even though I had been walking and was exhausted. But that makes sense, seeing that if I had been walking all day back home, I’d have been just as knickered and would have crashed around 10:00 anyway. So, I eventually fell asleep whilst the party in my hostel continued (they had an Oktoberfest till 4am, apparently), and I woke up today around 1pm.

I went to get a shower, had to change my card for the luggage room because mine didn’t work, again, and found I had to dry my towel because there’s no safe place to hang it. So, 50p ($1) and ten minutes later, my towel was dry and I got a shower. I walked around Bloomsbury and Holborn a little, just trying to figure out which was north and south, so maybe next time I won’t get lost. I stopped in a Café Nero for some food, got a caffe mocha and an egg and sprout sandwich, and was on my way. Yeah, and as small as that food was, it cost me £3.50. So $7 for what should cost about $2. Yeah. So I continued on my walk around, trying to learn the way, and continued getting my legs sore. I found a small corner pub called the Cawthorne Arms where the rugby match between England and Australia was on. Australia ahead 10-6 (and no, I don’t know what that means), and I grabbed a £3.10 Guinness (still delicious though), and tried to map out some sights to see today. I decided on Westminster Abbey and London Tower, which are only a couple of stops down the tube, so about 10 minutes away. I could walk there in about 20, but what the hey, right? While I was there, a couple of older chaps sat down behind me and watched the game, criticizing both teams as they watched. A group of young lads and girls watched the game with their bitters, Bulmers’, and Guinness’s and some plates of food, and they reminded me of the group from Indy back home, except only a couple of them were married. But they were laughing and joking and watching the game with as much enthusiasm as we watch our beloved Colts.

I didn’t go to London Bridge or Westminster Abbey yet, although I might have enough time before Vespers. I’m going to try to get to Vespers around 5:30 at the Russian Cathedral of the Dormition of the Mother of God and All Saints in Knightsbridge. I certainly hope it’s in English, but even if it’s not, it will be nice to have a piece of home here. Last night, for the first time so far, I wanted to be home, mainly because of Men’s Group and some JBC’s from Wendy’s. But today, sitting in that pub, I really think I’m going to enjoy myself here. Once I get my job and actually get settled in, this is going to be an amazing place. If my only worry is whether or not I should get Guinness or a bitter, I should be in good shape. And any decent paying job - £7ish/hr for 35hr/week, which is almost all of them in London – will assure me that is my only worry.

I’m looking forward to the days ahead, but trying to stay in the moment, here and now, and not thinking about the past. I want to be able to come home in May and say I had an amazing time, saw everything I wanted to see, experienced the best, drank good wine and good beer, had good food, and made good friends. Because if I come home wishing or thinking ‘what if,’ then what am I doing at all? So here’s to the next few months. Here’s to finding a job. Here’s to Vespers tonight and Liturgy tomorrow being in English. Here’s to England just winning the match and advancing in the Rugby World Cup (that should make for a few good parties later tonight). Here’s to my next password to get onto the wireless internet in my hostel being “turdle” – I guess the British can’t spell “turtle” Here’s to my next pint and to your new comments.

Cheers everyone!

English Coffee is Different

2007-10-05T10:28:00.000+01:00

Instant coffee in England is different. It’s not a bad different, but it’s certainly not the instant coffee I remember having when I’d wake up at home as a kid trying to follow in Dad’s footsteps. The Guinness, however, is better. And that’s a good thing. I’m going to try to make it to Oxford this weekend, and since that’s closer to Dublin, I’m going to test Art’s theory that the Guinness gets better the closer to Dublin you get. I think I’ll actually do a real test by taking a bus or a car through the towns to the ferry, stopping and having a pint a few of the towns along the way, seeing if they’re any better.

There’s a couple who look like newlyweds sitting at the table across from me. What are they doing with they’re honeymoon? Spending it in London. Dang, what a way to live. The British, I’ll give it to them, know how to live. When they take a holiday, they don’t go to Cornwall, or the beach like American’s do. They go to Taiwan, Australia, or South America. If you go skiing in the Alps, that’s just like us going to Colorado, so they don’t really think that’s a big deal. WHAT??? That’s how I plan to spend my Christmas I think. If I can afford it, a small bed and breakfast in the mountains so on Christmas morning I can go skiing. Or perhaps to a couple of festivals in Germany. I’m not sure, but I know I’m going to sit around my flat the whole holiday.

As for last night, my first night out, Hadley met up with me in Holborn (just east of central London), and we walked throughout central London trying to find a pub to eat in. We stopped in Covent Garden to watch a guy doing some tricks with a little circus act, although he didn’t get any of them done. Then we walked around the square and down to Leicester Square (pronounced Lester), where they have a lot of movie theatres that do premier’s and stuff. Well, go figure “The Kingdom” with Jamie Foxx, Chris Carter, and Jennifer Garner was being premiered, so I saw Jamie Foxx get out of a car, wave at the crowd, then bolt in the door. That was pretty cool. From there we walked to Piccadilly Circus, Soho, and up to Oxford Circus, stopped at an Irish pub called O’Neil’s because it was the only place that wasn’t swamped. All the businessmen go out on Thursday nights because Friday is considered “no work” day. On Friday nights they go back home to their wives and families who live outside of London. Interesting lives, I’m sure. Anyway, O’Neil’s had good Guinness, Hadley had some half pints of Foster’s (the cheap beer around here). She had some sausages and colcannon (fancy Irish word for mashed potatoes), and I had some amazing Irish Stew with soda bread. Yeah, good hearty meal to start off my trip. We met her boyfriend, Chris, there who just got done playing some football with his mates (and yes, I’m writing in English talk here, so I mean soccer and friends). I really like this guy. He’s extremely nice, and very respectful to Hadley, so that was great to see one of my friends with such a good guy. So yesterday was a good day. Plenty of walking, learning the tube, about £50 later, and I’m ready for the next day.

Tonight I’m going to a roller derby disco, I think, to celebrate on of Hadley’s friends’ birthday. Now that I’ve realized that its 10:15 here and I was supposed to be at my orientation a couple of stops down the tube at 10:30, I’m debating on whether or not to go to Oxford. Yeah, I probably will, but we’ll see. So anyway, I’m going to walk around London some more, buy an Oyster card (tube pass), look at some mobile’s, then see where I go from there! So have a good day all, and I’ll be taking pictures today.

Laters!

Thoughts While In the Air, and Waiting in Miami…

2007-10-04T16:17:00.000+01:00

(In the air over southwest America…)

The only thing I’m afraid of at this point is getting to England and not being able to find the proper voltage converter for my computer, leaving it useless until I order one from Apple.com, paying a fortune for it, rendering my computer useless until I get the darn thing. Other than that, Michael Buble is accompanying me on the flight, making me want to start singing. However, the guy with the “Get Your Energy Up” book, next to me, probably doesn’t like Buble. Which, of course is why he has his own music!

I wonder where all these people are going… Are they going to London? Are they just flying to Miami because Indiana is going to get cold soon? Are they moving somewhere like me? Are they searching for adventure, love, recognition, health, or themselves? What am I leaving for? I was asked that the other day and all I could think of was “because I can!.” Tim asked me if I had any goals or any expectations out of this journey; I can’t say that I don’t have any expectations, but I truly have no goals. It’s nice – seeing that I’m so goal-oriented – to not have goals dictating this trip. I’m not trying to pay off debt. I’m not trying to find a wife. I’m not trying to advance my career. I’m not going to learn difficult theories or solve problems. I’m going to England to live because I can. If I don’t go now, I’ll never have this chance again. I’ll never have the chance to live in another country, another world, in the capacity that I’m going to be now. I’m not studying abroad for three months. I’m going to relax, work, live, hike, boat, walk, drink, eat, worship, talk, and probably learn a little bit. I’ll be working and living for about six months, then afterwards, I’ll be traveling Western Europe. The expected geographical high points of this trip: Scottish Highlands, Irish moors, Western Sahara (if I can swing it), Mount Athos, and probably the Swiss or French Alps. The personal relationships won’t be forgotten: what I see won’t be forgotten: what I learn about the world outside of America won’t be forgotten. I am excited. I’ll be freaking out as soon as I get there, I’m sure. But right now, I’m excited.

And in the words of Caedmon’s Call:

“I’m about to shock my family and my hometown again. But this time I’m leaving… And once I’m gone, I cannot look back. I’ve got to trust this is right. ‘Cause maybe on my way to find you, or maybe I’m gonna make the mistake of my life.”

(Sitting in Miami…)

Well, I got here safe; decent flight over. I walked past the Sam Adam’s bar and thought to grab one, but you know what, I think I’d rather wait a day and enjoy a nice frothy Guinness before I drink any more American brews. I called Joel to check the voltage on my computer to see if the converter I bought would work. He said Apple’s use 60 watts, and this thing does up to 1600 watts, so I hope I don’t fry my computer. What is not fun is that I didn’t grab and American three-prong to two-prong adapter. Now I won’t be using my three-prong cord at all, unless I find one over there. ANYWAY! Enough about the computer, I’m sure you would rather not hear all that.

As we flew over Miami, I realized why they called the Florida Gator’s stadium ‘The Swamp.’ Instead of seeing cornfields and soybeans, I saw fields of water. It’s pretty crazy really, and an interesting sight seeing the rains fall on the Gulf of Mexico while the sun shines on the Atlantic Ocean. A rainbow let me know that the rains had already replenished the Atlantic and had spread across Miami to the Gulf. And I’ve always enjoyed flying over clouds. A Coke, a few songs and an easy landing brought me here, where I’m charging my computer, waiting the hour until 7:40 until we board. The flight leaves here at 8:05pm, which happens to be 8:05pm at home as well. Eight and a half hours from then, I’ll be in London. So give me 10ish hours and I’ll be in a different country starting a different life. I probably won’t write any on the plane, so these are the last words written in the good ol’ U.S. of A.

Cheers!

(On the plane over the Atlantic, 11:44pm Indy time…)

Ok, so I am going to write more, mainly because I can’t help but relay my last conversation. The last 3 hours, the first three of the flight, have been spent chatting with a man, we’ll call him Tom, from Manchester. In the overhead bin is a dirty backpack, impossibly holding more than a couple shirts and a pair of pants. He is coming home after a 6-month sabbatical from life he spent with his wife, two girls and son. This is a small holiday after he left his position as the CEO of a chemical operation that was just recently bought out. They spent the first five months traveling through Asia: China, India, Vietnam, Borneo, Singapore. From there they hit an east-coast drive through Australia, camping along the way, spending about five days in Sydney with some family after the ten-day drive. From there they hit Santiago, Chile (yeah, the other side of the world), and worked their way around Ecuador and Brazil. The whole while they were just camping and being a family. Tom’s family then went back home because school starts in September there. Tom stayed for another month traveling through Bolivia, hitting the national rainforests and meeting up with other amazing individuals. One such guy is a Norwegian fellow and his wife who decided to buy some horses in Uruguay and ride them around South America a couple of years ago. Since then they’ve started a restaurant in Santa Vista (?), simply living in Bolivia. WOW!!! Another fellow he met is a Swiss guy who started a Swiss cheese operation there. Who does that??

Do you want some inspiration for traveling? Sit on a plane talking with an amazing family man who has just returned from taking off 6 months of his life traveling the world. He and his wife used to sail the coast off of Scotland squeezing between the western islands, stopping as they pleased. They used to live in northern Holland for a couple of years. However, after helping build the successful branch there, he moved back to the outskirts of Manchester. A true family man, a great guy to talk to, and a great introduction of British inhabitants. Talking about everything from how much a quid is to how long Her Majesty has been in power; from college and University (he and his wife both went to Cambridge) to how many Welsh still speak Welsh. I’ve made my first British friend, and if it’s this easy every time, I’m going to have a heck of a time here.

…

Still in the air, but now directly over Cork, Ireland. Sadly, cloud cover won’t let me see the majestic rolling green hills to the north of us as we head across the Irish Sea. This is crazy. If the plane were to go down now, I’d end up somewhere off the coast of Ireland, about 20 miles from Waterford, Ireland. I’m nearly 35 minutes (just over 200 miles away) from London, and seeing Vienna, Athens, Madrid, Addis Abeba, Milan, and so many other cities in Europe and Africa showing on the map on the little screen in front of me, I’m getting pretty pumped. I haven’t gotten any sleep on this flight, so the day will be long, but hopefully coffee and adrenaline will see me through till at least 8:00 or 9:00 tonight. Then I can retire for the night and hopefully grab about 10 or 11 hours of sleep before job-hunting tomorrow. You at home are all asleep still, seeing that it’s 4:20am there, 9:20 here. We are at a ground speed of 606 mph, cruising, but dropping, at an altitude of 33000 ft. We are approaching the initial descent, so time to get my stuff ready. See you in London!

Well, I'm Here...

2007-10-04T12:54:00.000+01:00

Well, I made it and it's great. Just being here is interesting, but I'm sure heading to the post office here in a sec to get some sterling will be even more interesting. So anyway, I've got a nice post come, but I'll have to upload it from my laptop, and that's expensive for right now. We'll just say I had a great plane trip over due to a nice man from Manchester. So, that's it for now; have fun at home everyone!!!

Caleb

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off To England I Go!

2007-09-30T05:08:00.000+01:00

Oi! Well, then, here is my official traveling blog to keep you all here Stateside updated on where I've been, what I've done and what I've seen. With whatever videos and photos I post on here, you hopefully will be able to join me in my endeavors and enjoy all the beauty that I take in. I apologize in advance for how amateur my photos will be, and also that you won't be able to taste whatever I'm enjoying in the photo, whether it be sea water, Guinness, haggis, or one of the other delicious foods native to Britain. I'm sure that's an oxymoron: delicious British food, however I aim to debunk that myth and prove once and for all that the British know how to cook. If you don't believe me, try some tea and cucumber sandwiches at Elaine's on Main in Crawfordsville.

So here's to "all you poor schlepps at home" as Dad would put it (although he's referring to being on the ground as opposed to being in the air), and please enjoy all that I bring you from my point of view in Britain. I'll hopefully be bringing you a bit of all of Western Europe, including Ireland, England, Scotland, Spain, Portugal, some of Morocco, France, Italy, Greece, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, all time and monetarily permitting. Please comment on as much as you like, as well as hit me up for suggestions and requests for places to visit, foods or drinks to try and anything else you can think of.

I will keep you updated on my jobs and living accomodations, my travels and whatever else I can think to keep you posted on. If I don't post for awhile, don't be alarmed! I'm probably just compiling my next few posts! So sit back, relax, grab your family and friends and a bowl of popcorn, and enjoy watching me galavant across a continent, achieving a life-long dream. I love you all here, and I will miss you greatly.

Cheers!