July 7, 2005

Directly from Europe...on a German keyboard.

I've been wanting to post on my weblog since I left for Europe, but it hasn't happened because I forgot the site I needed to go to in order to log in and post. Anyway...Here's what's happened so far:

July 1, 2005
I'm on a flight to Chiago. The guy behind me is SO worried about flying and it's really amusing. I can't believe I'm actually going to Europe. I'm scared, but excited too. I know this is an amazing opportunity and I need to make the most of it. I hope to get through all the books I brought with me. I also hope to learn a lot and have a good experience. I'm looking forward to the time spent with a new group of people.
Right now I'm reading the Screwtape Letters, so I'll be writing down quotes from that in my journal. I'll have my favorite quotes up on my blog after I finish the book.

July 3, 2005
Yesterday SUCKED! We missed our train to Brussels by 3 minutes and then we spent two hours searching for a place to stay. Because of the Live 8 concert, the Gay pride event, an opening of something at the consolate, and Wimbleton, everything was booked full. We stayed in Waterloo train station with some random French man who had dropped his son off to take English classes at a school in London. His train wasn't leaving until noon the next day and he couldn't find a place to stay either. Fortunately, Amber speaks a bit of French, so we were able to talk to him for a bit.
After a few hours, two girls from the U.S. showed up. They had been in London sightseeing and couldn't find a place to stay either. They were staying in Holland, working on a military base. One was from California, one from Iowa and they both attended a University in California. I can't remember which one though.
Everything in London is SO expensive! I spend over 50 pounds in the first daz and I only paid to ride the subway twice, paid for the bus to Oxford, a train back to London and a bagel.

We're on a train from Brussels to Kassel, Germany. We decided not to go to Amsterdam because of the length of the train trip. By the time we would get to Amsterdam, we'd only be there for a few hours. When we were in Brussels, we never left the train station.
When we finally arrived, I took the first picture of the trip since the plane. We got off the train and found information for the Eurail (our train passes). Then, we found a phone and called Eva (who lives in Kassel). It took about 15 minutes to figure out the stupid calling cards. Amber talked to Eva's brother and she's supposed to pick us up when we get to Kassel.
I'm so tired of not understanding the language. The culture is also SO different here. We had to pay to use the bathrooms at the station and there was a really angry old lady who kept yelling at me. She didn't want me brushing my teeth in her bathroom. I told her that I didn't want to brush my teeth, just wash my face, but she stood over me and watched me just in case I tried to brush my teeth anyway. I was going to try to change clothes, but when I opened my bag, I found that my sunblock had exploded in my bag and I tried to throw it away but that made her mad too. She took the sunblock from me and dumped it down the toilet. Then she threw away the bottle. Then, she got mad at me and started yelling at me for using three paper towels. She said that was too much and she didn't care what was in my bag, I couldn't have any more paper towels to clean up the mess in my bag. After yelling at me about that, she tried to tell me that I'd been in the bathroom too long and she wanted me to leave. At this point, I hadn't even used the restroom so I went to the bathroom and washed my hands. She stood over me while I washed them to make sure I wasn't using too much soap and to keep me from taking another paper towel. I just wanted to give her another 35 cents and take three more paper towels...although, I'm sure that would have made her mad. Regardless, I finally left the angry old lady in her bathroom.
After that fiasco, we found a Subway that was surprisingly run by an American and a Canadian. They both played basketball in college and then came to Belgium to play for their national team. It was REALLY refreshing to finally understand what someone was saying. Especially after being yelled at in French I can hardly understand.
Everyone is exhausted. We all slept on the train to Brussels and again on the train to Kassel. It will be nice to sleep on a bed or at least a soft floor with blankets and a pillow. I just hope we can all get to sleep tonight.

July 4, 2005
We arrived in Kassel last night and Eva picked us up at the train station. We stopped at a Turkish shop downtown and got a sandwich that only cost €1.50. It had lettuce, onions, tomatoes, pork and bread. It also had a really good sauce that was kind of like ranch dressing or mayo...but kind of not...it was flavorful, but not overpowering. A very good dinner!
After we had eaten, we went back to Eva's house and I took a shower which felt SO good! I called my parents to wish them a Happy Aniversary and let them know we had gotten in safe. Then we all talked for awhile and we went to bed around 1:30. I set an alarm for 11:25, but Eva woke us up right before it went off.
Amber took a shower before we had breakfast. We met Eva's brother and one of his friends as well as Eva's boyfriend Rölf. We went to Wihelmvs Castle in Wilhemshöhe park where a famous German count lived and built this park for himself in the 1700-1800's. It was VERY prettz. We walked down what seemed like a million steps and over several bridges. We saw some swans at the bottom of the hill by the castle. I wanted to pet them but Rölf said we should stay away from them because they get aggressive.
I had a migraine and Dustin and Kelsey were really tired so Rölf got the car and picked us up at the bottom of the hill. We drove back to Eva's house and got some water. Most bottled water here is carbonated and I don't like it very much.
Amber wrote and sent a mass e-mail to her friend and I tried to post in my blog, but I couldn't remember the login site URL. I took some excedrine for my migraine and started feeling better.
After we sent out the e-mails, we went downtown and walked through the mall. Eva took us to the post office and Dustin and I sent some stuff back to Oxford to lighten our packs.

July 5, 2005
After we went to the post office, we bought ice cream at a local ice cream place that was Eva's favorite spot.
We went to the grocery store to get sausages for dinner, then back to Eva's house. Her mom cooked us dinner. We had krout, mashed potatoes and sausages. After dinner, her friend Sebastian came over. Sebastian drove me to the bar and we met Eva, Kelsey and Dustin there. It was nice not to be crammed into one car. Then Rölf came to the bar and suggested a beer for Amber. She had her first ever beer and she seemed to like it.
We were running short on time so we finished our drinks and I went with Sebastian and met everyone at the train station. Eva explained how the German train szstem worked and we got on our train. There were already two Asian girls in our compartment so we hurried to make our beds. I slept on the top bunk and put my bag above my head. I took two sleeping pills and used my sleeping mask and earplugs, which helped immensely. I slept surprisingly well but I was irritated with the border patrol who woke me up in the middle of the night to check my passport.
We arrived in Prague or Praha (in Czech) around 8:30am and called our hotel. It was really close to the train station so we walked over to check in. When we opened the door to our room, we walked in on a very surprised woman with pink hair still in bed. We went back downstairs and talked to the manager who gave us free breakfast. We ate breakfast and then checked into a different room. This time when we went in, the room was empty :-) It took us a few minutes to figure out the lights. It turned out that they wouldn't work unless you put your room card in a spot on the wall.
We all freshened up a bit and then selected a rout of Prague and the manager of the hotel called and made reservations for us.
We walked to the tour booth and got on the tour bus. Our tour guide looked like Jude Law :-) I took two pictures of him...(yeah...I'm a loser). We drove all over the city. We saw Charles Bridge, Charles University, Wencleslass Square, the Cathedral of St. Nicholas, Vitus Cathedral, the atomic clock, the Jewish district, and Old Town Square. It was raining so everzone got completely soaked. I wore my poncho and looked like a duck thanks to the weird hood. I felt so small because the poncho was so big but I looked pregnant because I held my purse in front of me.
We came back to the hotel to dry off and eat the fruit we had purchased when we went to the grocery store with Eva. I fell asleep till they woke me up for dinner.
We finished drying our clothes with the hairdryer in the room. Then, we ventured out to find food. We walked down to the old town square and found a nice little restaurant tucked away in an alley.
I had chicken breast stuffed with mushrooms, cheese and ham on top of spinach. We only paid about $6 for dinner or 330 kr. I also ordered a glass of the house white wine which was very good. It was called a Czech white wine. We walked around Prague for several hours and looked in lots of shops. I purchased a penguin and two shot glasses, 1 for Julie, 1 for Sam.
I took pictures of most of the statues on Charles bridge. It was a REALLY great day but I'm tired and my feet are really sore.

MORE TO COME...I'm out of time at the Internet Cafe.

Posted by SadyeBabi at 1:40 PM

July 18, 2005

Finally...I have the internet again!!! Woohoo!!!

I apologize in advance for how long this entry will be when I’m finished. I’ve already written over 60 pages in my journal I brought with me and I’m still 4 days behind in terms of the events of the trip. In all honesty, I probably won’t finish typing today. Dinner is at 6:30pm and it’s already almost 6pm.

July 6, 2005
Dustin snored ALL night and woke up the rest of us. I was awake from 5:30am to 8:30am and I was so tired all day. Amber sat up around 7:30 in bed and said, “I’m awake too.” after realizing that we were all up except Dustin (who was snoring away and taking up WAY too much of the bed. She asked me if I could kick him and I told her that it didn’t help at all. When he finally did wake up was when we all went back to sleep and started getting some actual rest. We had discussed what time we wanted to get up the night before, and Dustin had set his alarm about a half hour earlier than ours. He knew that we needed to be up at 8:30. We were so tired that Kelsey and I were hitting “Snooze” in our sleep. Dustin didn’t even try to wake us up. He went down to breakfast, ate and then came back upstairs when we had 15 minutes to leave and told us that it was after 9. I still finished packing before he did and I was ready to go shortly after Amber. He packs worse than most girls do. Ugh! We were so angry with him.

I was so tired all day. We went on a tour of Karlstejn Castle, which was really cool. Our guide was really pretty, but she didn’t speak English as well as the guide from the day before. The castle was built by King Charles IV. It kind of reminded me of Rohan from Lord of the Rings. It was somewhat hard to picture what the rooms must have looked like because there was almost no furniture. The Austrians had even stolen the king’s bed and wouldn’t allow the Czech people to even make a copy. Rather rude, in my opinion.

After the tour, we had a traditional Czech lunch. We ate at a restaurant in the village by the castle. I had some strange Czech appetizer that was a drink. It tasted like Menthol. I didn’t really like it. We had soup that tasted like chicken broth with potatoes, herbs and carrots. I ordered goulash with dumplings. It wasn’t at all what I expected. It was chunks of meat in dark gravy with what looked like & tasted like chunks of bread but into pieces. After that they gave us yellow cake rolled with whipped cream on top. It was really good.

The tour guide announced that we had about 40 minutes to get back to the bus that would drive us back into Prague. We started down the long hill back towards the parking by the village. Every stop we made in a shop, Dustin took FOREVER! We finally made it back to the bus and it was about to pull away from the parking lot. He spent so much time shopping and didn’t really buy anything. Basically, he shops like a typical girl and we almost missed the bus.

We walked around the old town square in Prague for the remainder of the afternoon. I looked in almost every single jewellery shop along the way until I found a ring I liked. I bought a garnet and white gold ring that matched my earrings and necklace I had received for Christmas. I had to have the ring sized down about a half size, which took a ½ hour to do. We were practically running back to the hotel and we almost got lost. We picked up our bags and ran to the train station. The final destination of our train wasn’t listed, so we were somewhat confused. However, we asked a person at information and they directed us to our train.

We got to our compartment and there were already two Korean girls on the top two bunks. However, they were really nice and helped me move my backpack to the top shelf above their heads. It was really great because we didn’t have to worry about waking anyone up when we got on the train. Also, I didn’t have to sleep with my feet on my bag. The two girls were very sweet and gracious.

I felt bad because Dustin took FOREVER to settle into his bunk and he left the lights on for a long time. Both the girls wanted to go to sleep and everyone was ready for bed except him. He probably had the lights on till at least 1am. He finally turned off the overhead light and everyone went to sleep except Dustin. I woke up a couple times during the night because Dustin was snoring so loud. He also woke up the two girls above us. I know one of them tossed and turned for about 4 hours during the night. I felt like I should apologize because he was a part of our group. I don’t think they were upset with me, per say, but I could tell they were REALLY happy to get off the train.

July 7, 2005
We arrived in Munich around 6:45ish and Kelsey and I went to the bathroom to change and freshen up. It cost €1.50 to use the restroom. However, there were no mean people yelling at us. ? We both changed our clothes, washed our faces and brushed our teeth. The bathroom was really nice and clean. The toilets were completely walled in and there was a lot of room to unpack our bags and change.

We found information and asked how to get to Dachau. We put our stuff in the lockers and got a map of the subway. There were 2 lines: the S-Ban and the U-Ban. We figured out that we needed to use the S-Ban to get to Dachau and then use the bus system to get to the concentration camp.

We were just about to leave when Dustin asked if he needed his Eurail pass. The woman at the information had told us that the Eurail pass would work on the subways and he had locked it in the train station locker because he wasn’t paying attention to her. It cost another €4 to unlock it and lock it again. He paid to open the locker again and got his Eurail pass.

We found the S-Ban we needed and took it to Dachau. It was really cold outside for summer and I regretted not bringing my sweatshirt. We arrived at the Dachau station and found the busses. We couldn’t figure out where to buy tickets, but fortunately we found a girl who spoke English and she told us we just had to pay the bus driver if we needed to. We waited for him to arrive and then got onto the bus. We rode the bus to Dachau and got off. We were about a ½ hour early for the camp to open so we had to sit and wait.

About ten minutes before it opened, a huge group of German high-school students showed up. We got up and stood in line so we wouldn’t have to wait after them. We paid for the audio guides and went in a few minutes after it opened. It was HUGE and almost empty. There were foundations of the former dormitories, but other than that, it was mostly empty. They had reconstructed just two towards the entrance.

We walked around and looked at the various statues and plaques near the museum. One in particular stands out in my mind. It was designed by a former prisoner, who survived Dachau. He then submitted the statue design in a contest after WWII. It’s completely black but there are bodies intertwining and the pain and anguish in their faces is unmistakable. Each and every person in the statue seems to be in their own world of terror.

When the prisoners checked into Dachau, they were required to write a letter to their family saying that all was well and they were safe (wholly untrue). Then, all communication and reminder of the outside world was cut off. They lived in a dormitory where there was row after row of beds. No person was more than two feet from another while they slept. The photos show broken and exhausted men.

For days they were required to move one pile of dirt from one side of the camp to the other. The old and the weak often collapsed. If anyone tried to help them they were punished along with the one who collapsed. People were hung until they came close to dying and then cut down to go to bed until the next day’s work started.

If they didn’t have perfectly straight corners that aligned with the meter-stick provided to them during check-in, they were punished. If someone in their dorm died during the night and they didn’t show up for role-call in the morning, the entire dorm would be punished. People would drag the dead and the weak to role-call in the mornings.

There was no concern for anyone. In memos between high-ranking German officers, their comments were: “The more who die, the better.” German officers were encouraged and rewarded for cruelty.

Many prisoners committed suicide because they couldn’t take it anymore. I can’t even imagine the complete and utter despair of being in the camp. They arrested everyone from Jews to Poles, Austrians, homosexuals, women, children, Hungarians, and anyone who even seemed remotely opposed to the Nazis.

There were pictures of prisoners. You could see so deep between the bones. I don’t know how many of them could even stand up. There were also pictures of the piles upon piles of bodies on the ground. It was so heartbreaking!

We saw the crematorium and the gas showers. They made the prisoners believe that they would finally receive a shower and they eve made the room look like a shower room. The next room over was full of piles of bodies and they would put four into the cremators at a time. The only reason they stopped cremating the bodies was because there was a coal shortage.

The entire place was so incredibly depressing. It made my heart hurt for those people. I can’t even imagine what they went through.

The doctors also performed operations on prisoners (especially the new, healthy ones) with no anaesthesia and no pain medication. Just thinking about it made me want to cry.

We also visited the many chapels in the camp, erected after the war. I sat and watched the memory candles burn for a while. It was such a moving place. It just made your heart hurt so much. Thinking about all the families torn apart and all the lives ruined. Even if they survived, I can’t imagine the psychological damage. It would be irreparable.

When we left the camp, we got back on the bus, then we went back to the train station. We stopped at an apothecary to try and find nose strips for Dustin, but we had no luck.

We went back to the main train station and looked u p the art museum with the old art and then looked up the German palace. We got subway tickets and took the subway to the stop near the museum. We got a little lost, but found another apothecary and asked for directions there. Dustin also purchased nose strips (THANK GOD!!!)

We walked to the museum and went through the entire thing. Some of the artwork was simply magnificent. The colours were so beautiful and the paintings seemed alive.

After the museum, we went to the Residenze (the palace). We walked through over 60 rooms covered in lush tapestries and gold mouldings on the walls. Amber and I both agreed that we wanted to live in a palace. We also saw the theatre which had cherubs moulded into the walls and gold accenting. It was simply a fairytale.

It was raining when we finished going through the Residenze so we decided to hang out in the garden and sat under a marble dome in the middle. It was beautiful outside, even with the rain. We met a guy named Yassine who was from Morocco and working in Germany. He was drinking a beer and smoking before he went to work for the evening. He suggested a nice restaurant for us to go have dinner. We tried to find it and when we finally did, we found that it was rather expensive so we decided to go to the square to have a meal. We found a café and we all had crepes for dinner.

After dinner, we went to find an Internet café and spent about an hour e-mailing our friends and looking stuff up. I spend almost the entire hour typing directly out of my journal to my web log (hence, the last time I posted).

After we were done at the Internet café, we went back to the train station and got ready to go on our night train. I changed into my pj’s and, fortunately, the train came early and we got on.

The beds were MUCH nicer on this train. They were really soft and the mattresses were a lot thicker than the previous trains. I slept SO much better on this train than all the rest.

July 8, 2005
We arrived in Venice around 8am and changed in the bathroom, then checked our luggage in with the luggage station. We went outside and got a bus pass for the day and got onto the waterbus.

We went to Plaza dell San Marco and saw Palazzo Ducale. The Palazzo Ducale was the Venetian royalty’s palace. It was so incredible! There were paintings all over the walls and ceilings. It was simply beautiful. In one room, they had two large globes from the early middle ages. Another room showed the date on the wall using dials like clocks. One dial showed the month using the astrological symbols and the other showed the day by roman numerals. Everything was bordered in gold.

The palace was also attached to the prison, which we walked through. I know I wouldn’t have wanted to be in prison back then. Not that I would now…but hey, I’m sure you understand. There was VERY little space in the cells and the doors were so short! Also, there didn’t seem to be anywhere to go to the bathroom. I can’t even imagine the smell. It would not have been a pleasant experience.

After we saw the palace, we went to the Basilica. Sadly, we weren’t allowed to take any pictures inside, but I bought a few postcards with pictures I wanted to take. They still have church there every Sunday. I don’t know how I would feel about attending a church that was a tourist attraction. I’m not sure I’d want to.

Kelsey, Amber and I all wanted to buy Venetian masks, so we wondered around looking in all the shops along the way for masks we liked. Amber found one first. She bought a silver mask with red accents and black and red feathers. It covered only her eyes and had a black ribbon to tie to hold it on. I found one I really liked and bought it. It was a full-face mask that was red and black with a hint of gold, but not too much gold. Kelsey bought a black one with black glitter. It was very simple, but elegant.

I think it would be so much fun to live in Italy and be able to go to Carnival every year. I would have so much fun trying to pick out a mask and costume for the festival.

We bought some gelato and tried to find the bus stop so we could get some lunch. We found a really nice place by the square with a lot of street vendors. There was a very nice couple from California who gave us some tips on where to go in Venice to shop and other fun things to do. The woman also translated the menu for us. Kelsey, Amber and I all shared a pizza. After we were done, we wondered around more. The city had absolutely NO cars. Whatever “street” wasn’t a waterway was like a back alley. No one except the tourists seemed to be in a hurry.

There were many people taking gondola rides down the streets of Venice. No boat seemed to go faster than 10 mph, so the rides were very safe. Most of the boats were very flat and wide. I was surprised to see that they carried ALL the cargo in boats. They even had a UPS boat.

We decided to get on the waterbus and take it all around the city and back to where we started. We got on the boat and managed to get seats at the front. We just sat down and relaxed. The entire city was simply magnificent. It was nothing short of amazing. Each turn we took around the main street seemed to be more beautiful than the one before. I took SO many pictures.

About three stops before we had to get off, we met a man from Mexico. He spoke impeccable English (he had learned from visiting his aunt in Los Angeles). We talked about the city and his vacation with his father. He said he was a lawyer back in Mexico. His father was very pleasant, although he didn’t seem to understand English. He just smiled nodded a lot.

We got off the waterbus and walked back to the Plaza dell San Marco. Amber, Kelsey and Dustin decided to walk up to the top of the clock tower. I took a picture of three of the gondola men. They were sitting together and chatting. Then, one of them took a picture of me with the other two.

I waited at the bottom of the clock. A group of Venetian police officers gathered to talk. One of them was looking at me. I really liked the uniforms (can’t help thinking a guy in uniform is cute!). I asked to take a picture of the group and the officer who had been looking at me asked if I wanted a picture of only him or of him and all his friends. I took both. Amber took a picture of him and me and he introduced himself to us as Dario. Dustin asked for suggestions for a good restaurant. When he asked his friends, they started making fun of him because they apparently thought he was taking me out to dinner. There was a lot of laughing and a few awkward moments. It was really funny. His friend Vincenzo finally suggested a restaurant called Angelo’s. We thanked him for the suggestion.

As we were saying goodbye, Dario said he got off work at 1am, but I told him I would be sleeping, however, it was nice to meet him. When he shook my hand, he also did the le bis (kissed the air next to both cheeks). I kind of wish Americans did that. All the Italians did that with their friends (or so it seemed). I think Americans are so reserved with our emotions and we keep our emotions in check when it comes to our friends. I think the Italian culture is much more warm and open.

We found Angelo’s and had a nice dinner. At first we were confused as to whether or not to leave a tip, but we notices that service was included, so we paid the written amount on the bill.

After dinner, we caught the waterbus back to the train station. We got on the train to go back to the mainland. When we got off, we tried to use the directions to the hostel from the train station provided by the hostel staff.

We got lost twice and stopped in a hotel to ask the concierge for directions. He laughed and asked if the hotel was famous because he ALWAYS had people our age looking for it. He gave us directions and we were on our way.

We weren’t sure if we were getting close or if we were lost again, so we turned to ask some guys standing outside a local bar if they knew, but before we could ask anything they said “Hotel Belvedere?” We nodded and they started laughing and pointed us down the street. Apparently the hostel is known for having bad direction. It won’t be getting a good review from us!

Dustin and I paid for the night and we checked in. The room was weird. It had a tiny bathroom in it and a king-size bed with a set of bunk beds. We all took a shower and then went to bed because we had to get up around 5am.

July 9, 2005
We got up early and booked it to the train station. We got on a train to Rome. The train ride took about 2 ½ hours. I slept for most of the way. When we arrived in Rome, we walked to our hostel. I was surprised at how dirty the city was. Whenever we walked by dumpsters, it smelled like it hadn’t been picked up in weeks. They were all overflowing too. There were mopeds and motorcycles parked all the way down the streets. That’s what most people drove.

We found the hostel easily, which was nice after the previous night. The people at the hostel were very helpful. We couldn’t check into our room till after 2pm, so we decided to go find food. Phil (the guy at the front desk) suggested a place called Alfredo’s. He gave us directions to the restaurant and the ATM. We went outside to find the ATM and walked right by it. We walked all the way down the street and then went around the block. No one saw it the first time.

After we found the ATM, we tried to find the restaurant called Alfredo’s. We were SO lost. It ended up being less than a block from the hostel. The waiter even gave us all free dessert because it was Amber’s birthday. I took a nap after we picked and paid for a tour of Rome back at the hostel. Amber, Kelsey and Dustin went to an Internet café.

Amber woke me up when they got back from the Internet café and I went downstairs for the tour. We had a large group of people going with us. Our guide, Lauren, looked REALLY tan. At first sight, I would have guessed that she was from Rome, but it turned out that she was from the U.S. and went to college in Washington D.C. She was very informed in terms of the tour information. It was really interesting.

A guy that we had run into at the hostel and the ATM was on our tour. His name was Dave (and he was really cool!!!) and he said he was from South Africa. His accent sounded like a cross between Australian and British. He was really nice and talked with all of us on the tour.

We finished the ancient city tour and we were informed that we had free drink tokens at the Alessandro Palace (sister hostel to ours). We decided to go there with Dave and redeem the tokens and get the free pizza that was supposed to be on its way.

We got to the bar and got our free drinks. Amber and I had white wine, Kelsey had a beer and Dustin had a large beer. Dave couldn’t find his token, so he bought a beer. We found a place to sit in the back and sat around talking with Dave until the pizza came.

The pizza arrived and was gone in about 15 seconds. There was a mad rush toward the box and since we were seated in the back of the room, we totally got the shaft in terms of the food retrieval. We ended up with mostly bread, sadly.

We sat around talking for awhile and then Amber brought up the subject of shots (because it was an option for a free drink). Kelsey and I started listing various shots we had liked: kamikaze, jager-bombs, car bombs, Alizé, Hypnotic, blow jobs, etc. Amber asked what was in some of them, but we couldn’t remember all of them. She was also disgusted by the blow job (or at least the name…not that I’m too fond of the name either). Kelsey and I started laughing and explained how it had whipped cream at the top and you were supposed to take it with no hands. (Although, I’ve personally never had one, I have seen someone else take one) We were both wearing our sunglasses on our heads and we tipped our heads back really fast to explain how you’re supposed to take a shot with no hands. Both our sunglasses fell on the floor and we leaned over to pick them up (Kelsey straight back and me to the side). Kelsey fell over and then I fell over a second later. The chairs came out from under us because we had leaned too far in one direction on the slick tile floor. We toppled to the floor and looked at each other for a second and burst out laughing. We sat there for about a minute laughing and then stood up and put our chairs back and sat back down.

Amber, Dustin, Dave, Kelsey and I were still laughing when two guys who had been on our tour walked in with a girl. They sat down at our table and introduces themselves: Markus and his brother Ryan along with Ryan’s girlfriend Siobhan (pronounce shuh-vahn – it’s Irish apparently). Siobhan had already been to Rome, so she didn’t go on the tour.

They asked where the free pizza was and we informed them that it was all gone. We decided to go find food for the three of them and somewhere to sit and hang out where it was quieter and we could talk. We walked out the door and across the street to a pizza place where they each got a piece of pizza.

We wondered around for a while and then found a bar that had a nice place to sit outside. Dave, Dustin, Ryan and Markus all wanted a beer so they bought one and I got a Bacardi Breezer (lime). We “met” a really crazy Mexican man who was rude, loud and obnoxious. The Italian guys at the bar said they were a part of the Military Police. Then, about five minutes later, they started talking about smoking pot. Who knows? It was quite the experience, to say the least.

Several of them were hitting on Amber, Kelsey and me. They wanted to meet us for drinks the next morning around 10am, but we told them no.

We finally wondered back to the hostel and Amber, Kelsey and I all took showers and went to bed. We also made plans to hand out with Dave, Ryan, Siobhan and Markus the next day.

July 10, 2005
We woke up around 8:30ish and got ready to go. We had breakfast downstairs on the main floor of the hostel. They had HUGE (like 10x10”) pieces of bread with butter and jelly as well as cereal. We met up with Dave, Markus, Ryan and Siobhan at breakfast. After we ate, everyone went up to finish getting ready for the day.

We met again on the main floor, then left to go exploring. We went to the Palatine hill, the coliseum, and the surrounding areas. Siobhan had made lunch for Ryan and Markus while we were all gone, so they ate with her. Kelsey, Dustin, Amber and I went to the grocery store. However, when we opened the croissants we had purchased, we realized they had peach jelly inside them. It made for an interesting sandwich. Kelsey refused to eat them though. She had some of the bread Dustin had purchased.

We started our laundry after we finished with lunch. Amber, Kelsey and I shared a load. Markus, Ryan and Siobhan did theirs after ours finished. When their laundry was done, we all met to go exploring again. We went to the pantheon, the Spanish stairs, and the Trevi fountain. As usual, we bought gelato during the afternoon.

In the evening, we found a place to eat and sat and talked for a couple hours. I had pasta with salmon (very good!).

After dinner, we walked to the Alessandro Palace for drinks. I had a couple Bacardi Breezers and a “Sex on the Beach.” We sat around talking and everyone exchanged e-mail addresses. We planned to see Dave in London (if possible) and Markus, Ryan and Siobhan in Paris (hopefully).

We walked back to the hostel, took showers and went to bed.

I will try to type more later, but I want to get this posted so I don’t lose everything I’ve typed. Plus, it’s almost dinner time and my hands are getting tired from typing.

Posted by SadyeBabi at 10:55 AM

July 19, 2005

Once again, I'm addicted to the Internet.

I've checked my e-mail WAY too many times since I've had access to the internet. Although, it does take awhile when you have 6 different addresses...

I'm posting another update to my blog...so here it goes (this one probably won't be as long):

July 11, 2005
We woke up around 8:30ish and got breakfast. We got ready to go and signed up for a tour of the Vatican. We packed our stuff and moved it to the storage room.

Kelsey, Amber, Dustin and I went on the tour of the Vatican with about 10 other people. Our tour guide, Maya, was VERY eclectic and she had a lot of interesting views on the world. She was born in Portugal and also lived in California, Rome and a bunch of other places. Every five years she said she moved to a new place.

We saw the St. Peter's Basilica first. Then, we went through the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. I was more impressed with St. Peter’s than the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo’s Pietza was there. It was so beautiful and made me want to cry for some reason. It seemed so alive!

We ran into Markus and Ryan in the line to the Vatican Museum (although, they weren’t on the tour). After the tour was over, we went back to St. Peter’s and walked around taking more pictures with Markus and Ryan. Amber and Kelsey decided to walk up to the dome of the Basilica but my feet hurt, so I decided to go back to the hostel with Markus, Ryan and Dustin to write in my journal and rest.

We got back and Dustin waited to start his laundry. Markus and I talked for awhile, then he went upstairs to rest and I started writing. I wrote about 10 pages :-) and listened to music on my iPod.

Ryan, Siobhan and Markus came downstairs before they left to go out. Dustin and I made plans with them to meet at Termini (the main train station in Rome) around 8:30 for dinner. They left to go shopping and Dustin and I waited for Amber and Kelsey to return and also for Dustin’s laundry to finish. Amber and Kelsey came back around 6:45 and we told them about our dinner plans. We waited for Dustin’s laundry to finish drying and for him to pack his stuff, then we checked out and picked up our two free drink tickets that came with the tour.

We walked to the train station and got on the subway to head to our stop so we could get to the hotel. We had almost 14 stops before we got to the right one. We anxiously waited for our stop and got off. We walked outside and looked for the Holiday Inn courtesy van, which was nowhere to be found :-(. Amber called the hotel and asked where it was supposed to be. They said it would be there in 15 minutes. We were running out of time, but we waited (because it’s all we could do). It came in about 10 minutes but after we got in, it just sat there for another 10 minutes waiting.

When we FINALLY got to the hotel, we went to check in but the manager (who was the only one of the employees who seemed to understand English) was on the phone the whole time we were checking in. One of the other employees helped us, but he was only in his early 20’s and didn’t understand English very well. Right when he gave us our card, we tried to go upstairs to drop our stuff off and get back to the courtesy van on time, but he stopped us before we could get on the elevator to ask for our passports. He also asked for Amber’s credit card, which seemed kind of fishy because the room was supposed to be paid for with points, because he wanted to make a copy of it. When we got the situation cleared up, we left our passports with him to go upstairs and drop off our stuff.

We hurried up to the room and back down to pick up our passports and leave. However, when we got to the main floor, Amber realized she had forgotten her wallet. We planned to just lend her money and we picked up our passports from the front desk. When we looked outside, the courtesy van was already gone. We would have to wait another ½ hour for it to come back.

We went to our room to sit down and rest for a bit (also so Amber could grab her wallet). Kelsey wasn’t feeling well and her feet hurt from walking to the top of the Basilica. We waited there for a bit and then went downstairs to sit outside and wait for the courtesy van.

It finally came and we got on. We asked the driver for information about how to get back to the hotel after the courtesy van stopped running at 11pm. We got back to the subway and missed the train by a minute. We had to wait for another 10 minutes for the next train to come (which sucked).

We arrived at Termini shortly after 9pm and went to look for Markus, Ryan and Siobhan. Sadly, they were already gone. We were going to try to eat at the train station, but Kelsey didn’t think anything looked very appetizing so we decided to go to the pizza place where Ryan, Markus and Siobhan had pizza the first night we met them. We walked to the pizza place and then went to the bar at the Alessandro Palace to redeem our free drink tickets.

We finished our pizza (which was very good) and tried to decide what to get to drink. Amber decided that she didn’t want wine or beer, so she was going to try a shot. Amber, Kelsey and I went to the bar to figure out what shot to get. We asked the bartender for something sweet and he made (what he called) “The Greatest Shot in the World” which contained vodka, Malibu and Midori. AMBER HAD HER FIRST SHOT!!! I wasn’t a huge fan of the taste and Amber didn’t like being able to taste the vodka. After the shot, I got a Bacardi Breezer (lime again) to get rid of the aftertaste. We convinced Amber to try one more shot. Dustin, Amber and Kelsey had a “Brain Haemorrhage” (peach tree, bailey’s and grenadine). I took a picture of the shot because it looked so cool and then a picture of them as they took it. They all really liked it a lot. We sat and talked for a little while longer and waited to see if Markus, Ryan and Siobhan would show up. I had the front desk call the Alessandro Downtown and leave a message for them when we first arrived at the bar saying we’d be there till 10:30. When I finished the Bacardi Breezer, Dustin and Kelsey convinced me to get one more shot with them before we left. Dustin and Kelsey had a “Nuclear Sunrise” (tequila and other stuff…not really sure) and I tried a “Brain Haemorrhage.” We made a triangle with the shot glasses and the Bacardi bottle and I took a picture. It was about 10:30, so we left to go back to the hotel.

We got on the subway and went to our stop. We looked at the directions and got on the correct bus (public bus) and waited for the sixth stop (which was what the directions said to do). However, it came and went because it was obvious that it wasn’t anywhere close to our hotel. We stopped at another station because the bus driver was going to turn around and go through all his stops again and we asked where to get off to go to the Holiday Inn. He told us we should have gotten off at the 4th stop (which was at least 8 stops back) and he would stop and tell us where to get off on the way back. We waited and then he stopped on the side of a VERY busy street about a ½ mile from the Holiday Inn and pointed to a sidewalk across the four lanes of traffic lined by bushes taller than I was with no lighting. It looked really sketchy. The only comforting thing was that we could see the Holiday Inn in the distance.

We hurried down the sidewalk towards the hotel. I could see a group of people standing and squatting further down the sidewalk where we were headed. I thought it was a group of guys. My first thought was that they were going to attack us. As we got closer, one of the people stood up and pulled their pants up! At this point, I realized it was a group of girls. However, this realization wasn’t very comforting. We walked by them without any incident and made it to the end of the sidewalk, which was blocked off by a wall. Dustin wanted to go around the wall and through a field even though there was no sidewalk in that direction, but we vetoed that idea and moved to the sidewalk about 50 feet from the one we were on that headed towards the hotel. A car pulled up and slowed down. I was scared that the driver was going to get out and try to approach us, so I started walking faster. We finally made it to the hotel and I breathed a big sigh of relief.

We went up to our room, took showers and went to bed.

Posted by SadyeBabi at 3:55 PM

July 20, 2005

Florence and Zurich

July 12, 2005
We woke up around 5am and had the hotel call a taxi. He was a terrible driver. Although, he did fit in with the rest of the terrible Italian drivers…

We got on our train to Florence. We left around 6:15ish and arrived in Florence around 9:30. We got off the train and went to the bathroom. Kelsey and I changed our clothes, washed our faces and brushed our teeth. We checked in our luggage and decided we were going to try to find the museum with Michelangelo’s David. We got a little lost but found it eventually.

We stood in line and Dustin and Kelsey went to find an ATM. Then, when we were about ½ way through the line, Amber, Kelsey and I went to find gelato. We gave Dustin directions but he got lost and took about 45 minutes to come back. We finally got into the museum after a two-hour wait and saw the David (very impressive). We also saw other statues including a copy of the “Rape of the Sabines.” They had strange section of artwork called “Impressions of David” that was modern art “inspired by” David. I didn’t really like it much though.

After we left the museum, we went to lunch. Kelsey had pizza, Amber had lasagne, and Dustin & I had ham and cheese tortellini. It was REALLY good (although, not what I thought I had ordered).

After lunch, we went to the Duemo di Santa Maria del Fiore. It was really pretty and I took several pictures of the prayer trees inside the cathedral. I bought a couple shot glasses for my friends and a gift for Meagan. Then, we walked to a square where they were supposed to be having free concerts all night.

We sat and listened to the music for a while and found some food to eat. Amber, Kelsey and I needed to use the bathroom, so we wondered around till we found one (and it was free!). We came back to the square and listened more. Before we had to leave, we decided to get gelato because it was our last day in Italy. Kelsey and I had waffle cones; Amber and Dustin both had dishes. When I went to pay, I was shocked to find out that my cone cost €12! I paid for it and I definitely ate the WHOLE thing.

We needed to find an Internet café to e-mail Ryan, Siobhan and Markus to make plans to meet them in Paris. We found a place on the way back to the train station and Amber e-mailed them. Then, we went to the station to change and get ready for our night train.

We figured out where our train was supposed to be (i.e. which platform) and waited for it. When it came, we got on and found our compartment. Kelsey and I wanted the top bunks, but when we got up there, it was SO hot we didn’t think we could get to sleep. Also, (strangely enough) on this train, the windows didn’t open. We asked the man who had taken our tickets if there was anyone else joining us in our compartment. When he said no (Thank God!!!), Kelsey and I moved down to the middle bunks. I wouldn’t have wanted to sleep there, much less make anyone else sleep up there. After moving, I fell asleep right away.

July 13, 2005
We arrived in Zurich around 9 and had to get money right after we got off the train. They use Swiss Francs. Kelsey and I went to the bathroom, changed, washed our faces, brushed our teeth and did our hair.

We paid for two large lockers in the train station and then went to the tourist information office to get a map and a list of the sights to see in the city.

We left the train station and headed across the bridge. We stopped in a tourist shop and I bought a shirt. Amber and Kelsey purchased Swiss army knives. We headed up the hill towards a church, then went to a museum where we saw 4 exhibitions and to areas called “The Masters” which consisted of older paintings. I didn’t really like the exhibitions very much. After we left the museum, we walked down the hill to two more churches and saw them. We walked across another bridge toward the train station and found a nice little park.

We decided to get some food and looked at a shop in the park. They only had plain meat cooking and it didn’t look appetizing to me, so we walked across the park toward the river. We found a vendor selling hot dogs (which I could handle eating) and I got a hot dog. Kelsey and Amber got some sort of big hot dog with no bun and Dustin bought a bratwurst (also with no bun). Mine was good, but I had no desire to try anyone else’s lunch.

There was a free bathroom by the vendor’s station, so everyone went there and we decided to follow the street down the river. We walked through a park where there were a lot of people sunbathing in the grass. Then, we turned around and headed back to the main shopping area. On the way back toward the train station, we found a Swiss chocolate shop. It looked SO good and I spent WAY too much money there.

Later in the afternoon, as we were walking through the shops, I bought presents for Kyros, Abby and Drew and then we headed back to the main train station. We bought dinner at the market place in the station and I tried to take a picture of the same store where we had purchased our Swiss chocolate. Sadly, they said it wasn’t allowed. All the women working there had matching teal outfits. It would have been a really cool picture. We mailed a few stacks of postcards home and decided to head back toward the river to sit for a while before our train came. We stopped at another chocolate store and I bought a penguin chocolate from another store. They let me take a picture of the inside of the store. It was really cool!

We got back to the river and sat around talking for a while. It was nice and relaxing. We walked back to the train station and got ready for our LAST night train (woohoo!!!).

When we got on the train, we immediately opened the window and Kelsey and I slept on the top bunks. I got all my stuff put away and was almost asleep when they came to pick up our tickets and passports. I gave him mine and fell asleep shortly after.

I woke up in the middle of the night and had to adjust my sheet and scratchy blanket because I was cold. The sheet was sewn on the bottom and up both sides past my waist (which doesn’t work well with the way I normally sleep) and it was only about two feet wide. The damn thing made me feel fat! After I fixed the stupid sheet and blanks, I went back to sleep.

Posted by SadyeBabi at 10:30 AM

Paris

I’m finally up to date in my journal!!! Yay! Now I just have to get my blog up to date.

July 14, 2005
Bastille Day!!!
We arrive in Paris around 7:30. We got off the train and looked for information. However, it was closed, so we tried asking the ticket people how to get to Orly Airport but the guy we spoke with barely spoke English. While we were standing in line, I realized I had left my passport and train ticket under my pillow on the train. I ran towards the train (which they were already cleaning) and tried to find it. I tried to talk to the guys cleaning out the cars, but they didn’t understand English and seemed irritated with me for being on the train while it was being cleaned. I went to find Amber so she could try to explain to them what I needed (because she speaks a little French). Kelsey noticed that I had looked in the wrong car for our compartment, so I got into the right car and found my passport and ticket (right where I had left it). THANK GOD!!!

I followed Amber down to the subway where we purchased tickets to get to Orly Airpot (which was in Zone 5 – expensive!). We got on the subway and then switched to the OrlyVal after 14 stops. When we arrived at the airport, we went to wait for the shuttle to the Holiday Inn, which arrive in about 10 minutes. By the time we were finally checked into the hotel, it was almost 11am.

We were all hot and sweaty and wanting a shower so we took turns taking showers before we decided what to do for the day. It was the first shower/bath combination we’d had on the trip. I took a rather long one because it felt so good to get clean after two days of no shower.

I borrowed some of Amber’s concealer and did my makeup and hair. We planned to have our pictures drawn at Mont Mart because they were very famous for the artists’ portraits. I left my hair down for the first time in two weeks (which felt really good for my scalp). Then, we waited for Dustin to finish getting ready.

We left to go back to downtown Paris, and headed towards the Notre Dame. We found it and went inside. They were having mass while we were there (that would drive me nuts). People were talking too loud while going through the cathedral and taking pictures with flash (no respect!). When we got out of the cathedral, we walked around the back side of it to take more pictures.

We walked through the surrounding areas and went into a souvenir shop where I bought a t-shirt, a couple shot glasses and some postcards. We decided to find some lunch and walked around till we found a nice little place that served crepes to go. I had banana and Nutella (chocolate) on mine. It was very tasty.

We ate as we walked back to the subway station and figured out where to go next. We decided to go to the Moulin Rouge. We stepped off the subway and went upstairs to the street and into the red light district.

I’m not sure why it shocked me so much, but I didn’t expect the Moulin Rouge to STILL be in the red light district. There were sex shops everywhere and signs glaring offering various (and disturbing) products and services. We walked to the Moulin Rouge and took pictures. I went inside to ask what the Moulin Rouge was now and the girl at the front desk gave me a pamphlet and explained that it was a place for cabaret shows (with scantily clad women). Interesting…not what I expected again.

We went back to the subway and headed towards Mont Mart. We walked up the hill and then up the steps. We went inside a church at the top and then found the place to have our pictures drawn. The man who drew mine was very nice. He asked if I was Swiss because I was wearing a shirt that said Switzerland. When I told him I wasn’t from Switzerland, he thought I was Italian because of my eyes. He said I had very pretty eyes. The portrait took about 45 minutes to draw. He told me not to smile a lot because I kept wanting to smile (I do that when I’m nervous). He said I was beautiful enough without smiling. When he finished, the picture was SO pretty…definitely a glorified version of myself (in Amber’s words about her portrait).

Kelsey had her picture drawn while mine was being drawn and Amber had the same man draw her picture. Dustin decided to get a caricature drawn. Each of us bought tubes to protect our drawings on the journey back.

We walked back down the steps of Mont Mart and back to the subway to meet Ryan, Siobhan and Markus in time to get dinner with them. Amber and I thought we were supposed to meet at 7pm and Kelsey thought we were supposed to meet at 7:30. We got there at 7 and waited. They arrived at 7:30 and apologized for being late. They had gotten on a subway that shut down due to a bomb threat. They had to get off the train and walk to the next station over to get to the Eiffel Tower on another train.

We decided to go find dinner and then a place to watch the fireworks. We walked about two blocks away and found a restaurant that looked good. We sat outside for dinner. Almost all of us had chicken. Siobhan and Amber had a salad. The chicken came with fries, but the waiter was kind of rude, so we never had a chance to ask for catsup. Markus was very upset about the catsup. There was a table next to us with a very rude French woman who had interrupted our waiter while he was finally taken our order and they had catsup, but we didn’t get any. The chicken was a leg and thigh still attached with no sauce of any kind. The food was cooked well, but it was very bland and the lack of catsup made me sad. We didn’t leave the waiter much of a tip because he totally ignored us with the exception of taking our order and bringing our food.

We left the restaurant in search of some place to watch the fireworks. We wondered around for a while looking for a place to sit. Ryan decided to go “away” from the crowds. He had planned to go towards a palace area near a metro, but so many streets were blocked off, we never quite made it to where he was hoping. We were walking further and further away from the Eiffel Tower and we kept passing people going in the opposite direction. We were all teasing Ryan about his “brilliant” plan (because the Parisians seemed to have the opposite idea), but he said that no one would think of his idea, which made it a wonderful plan (ha ha!). We just laughed and teased him. We never did find an open spot. We ended up camping out by a tree and standing during the entire fireworks show.

The fireworks were spectacular! Amber and I had lots of pictures that turned out really well. Markus recorded most of it on his video camera and made sure he had the finale on there. We missed the 4th of July, but I think watching the fireworks by the Eiffel Tower was better than anything we would have seen in Lincoln. I was sad that I didn’t have a video camera that would tape more than 3 minutes at a time.

After the fireworks were over, we waited for the square to clear out more and for the subway station to open up again (because it had been blocked off). Everyone was pushing and shoving and being very impatient.

When the metro finally opened back up, people started pouring downstairs into the subways. We stepped into the fray and we were pushed downstairs. We had to push our way through the crowd to get to our train platform. We were stuck in the tunnel leading to the platform for about ten minutes. I started getting really hot and I could smell someone nearby (it wasn’t pleasant). Some people came pushing their way though to the front. I was starting to get concerned that I was going to be pushed the ground or left behind while everyone else got to the train.

Another train came through and we moved onto the platform. We waited for the next one to arrive and when it did, it wasn’t as full as I was expecting. We were pushed onto the train. I was VERY uncomfortable because there were French people completely surrounding me. Everyone was standing next to me and touching me and we were all sweaty. I felt so gross and I couldn’t breathe very well. I started hyperventilating and I was worried that I was going to pass out. I was scared the people around me would just let me pass out and steal my stuff, then trample over the top of me. There was a guy taking up a lot of room and sitting on the floor by the door. While everyone else was standing, he was sitting against the wall. Ugh!

We started to get close to the stop we needed to get off on and I started worrying about whether or not we’d be able to make our way off the train. At one of the stops, there was a big group of guys who tried to push their way onto the train. Everyone started yelling no, but they just kept pushing.

I was getting smashed and it was getting harder to breathe. About five of them pushed their way onto the car and I felt myself getting light-headed. It was so odd because I’d never had any problems like this before. Markus told me to breathe and started talking about something random so I would think about that instead of being worried.

We finally came to the stop where Amber, Kelsey, Dustin and I needed to get off and we pushed our way out of the car and yelled goodbye to Ryan, Siobhan and Markus. It was hard to get off the car, but easier to breathe once we were off. We went to our next train, which was nowhere near as full as the train before.

Unfortunately, the train didn’t go as far as the stop we needed before shutting down for the night. We got off the train three stops away from our hotel. It was a very sketchy part of town. We saw a taxi stand. It only had a button. I pressed it and the microphone beeped at me. We waited for about 10 minutes and tried to press the button again. The cab finally came and took us back to our hotel. It cost about €14.
So a little over €3 per person…not too bad.

We got back to the hotel and discussed what our plans would be for the next day. Dustin wanted to try to fit Versailles and the Louvre into one day. I didn’t really care to wake up really early because I was tired. We decided to settle it in the morning and then we all showered and went to bed. (This hotel was by far the nicest one – 2 double beds, full bath/shower) :-)

July 15, 2005
The alarm went off around 8:30, but we reset it for 9:30. At 9:30, we got up and got ready to go.

We went down to check out and they tried to charge us for the room (it was supposed to be using priority points, in other words: free). It took about 10 minutes to fix the mistake. We finally got the situation taken care of and hopped on the courtesy van back to the airport.

We bought tickets back to the city and rode the subway to Mont Mart. We had to go up a few steps with our bags, but it wasn’t too bad. When we finally made it to our hostel, the guy was kind of rude when we tried to check in. He said that check-in wasn’t until 4:00 and when we asked if there were any lockers to put smaller things in, he retorted, “We don’t need lockers!”

Amber and I found a safe place for our masks above the fridge and then we all left in search of food. My stomach was upset for some reason that morning (the acid reflux was acting up) and the entire subway ride made me feel really nauseous. We found a place to get baguettes and I also bought a Sprite (the closest thing to 7-up they had). My stomach felt a lot better.

We got on the subway and headed towards the Louvre. It was HUGE!!! We spent over 4 hours there and only saw most of the paintings and a large section of the sculptures (much less than half the collection). We saw the Mona Lisa. I wasn’t really that impressed with it. It is actually really small and green, but whatever. The sculptures were incredible though. Simply beautiful!

After four hours in the Louvre, we went to the Pont Neuf bridge. We sat on it for almost an hour just talking and I wrote in my journal. Then, we headed towards the Bastille. We saw where it had been and then ate at a sidewalk café that looked towards the Bastille site. I ordered a daiquiri which ended up being lemon-flavored instead of strawberry like I expected (interesting, but good).

From dinner, we went to see the Eiffel Tower. We talked through the park towards the tower and took lots of pictures. It was late so it was lit up for the night. We waited until it twinkled to mark the hour and then I took video and more pictures. We walked under the tower and further away. We ended up back at the subway stop we had come in on the day before to meet Ryan, Siobhan and Markus. We went back to the hostel from there.

When we got to the hostel and tried to check in, the guy at the front desk tried to tell us we didn’t have a reservation (we knew we did because it was in the computer earlier that same day). He finally found it and then we started to pay for the room. I paid first and then the credit card machine ran out of paper so Kelsey had to put the other three peoples’ charges on her card. I don’t know why they didn’t have more paper. Then, he told us there was only one room key for the room of six people we were staying in. The key was already checked out, so the room should be unlocked (not a comforting thought, but okay). We went down two flights of stairs to our room.

We walked into a little hallway with three doorways (two with doors). The door on the left led to the bedroom. We dropped our stuff there. The door directly ahead hid the toilet and lost of pipes. It was shaped like a triangle and very cramped (a very inefficient use of space). The third doorway had a sink and shower, but no door. There was a shower curtain, but no door! GREAT!!!

I took the first shower. Kelsey guarded the doorway and handed me my clothes when I changed. It wasn’t all bad, but it wasn’t much fun getting dressed in a wet shower. After I had finished my shower, I started getting ready for bed. Our sixth roommate showed up (the 5th was asleep when we got there and we never met her). His name was Sam and he was on a holiday from Sidney, Australia. He was nice enough. I felt bad for him though because he was REALLY tall…taller than the beds. It had to be uncomfortable. We talked for a bit and then I went to sleep.

Posted by SadyeBabi at 4:46 PM

July 21, 2005

London

July 16, 2005
We woke up around 10 because the train didn't leave till about 1pm. We packed our things and took them upstairs to check out. We left our stuff on the main floor of the hostel and went to find lunch; we all wanted crepes. We walked down the hill and found a nice spot where we all bought nutella and banana crepes. We ate them on the way back to the hostel where we picked up our things and got on the subway to go to the train station.

We arrived at the train station, went through customs and waited in line to get on the train. We finally got on and found our seats. I listened to my iPod and write in my journal for most of the trip.

We arrived in London and tried to use the subway system. However, because of the bombing of 7-7, some lines were closed. We found two police officers and asked about the best way to get to the stop we needed for our hotel. They gave us directions and we got back on the subway.

When we got to our stop, we asked a subway worker which exit to take to the street. Amber talked to him and he showed her where it was on the map and then he started teasing her about how there was only one bed on the map marking the Holiday Inn. He said they wouldn't have a room for us. (You have to love the dry British sense of humour.)

We used the exit he had directed us to and walked to our hotel. When we tried to check in, they told us that the arrangements had been cancelled. They reinstated the reservation, but we ended up with a smoking room. It was actually fairly clean and it didn't smell too bad. The room was really nice besides that though.

We waited for Dustin to take a shower and change. Kelsey, Amber and I talked about what we wanted to see in London. We picked out a few things on the map and when Dustin finished, we left.

We went back to the subway and asked the same guy for directions. He borrowed my pen to get a girl's phone number so we picked on him for "meeting women on the job." He asked if we had found a bed at the Holiday Inn (because there was only one) and we told him that we had. We talked for a bit and he introduced himself as Lee. He gave us directions to each of the places we wanted to go, and suggested that we might not be able to get to all of them given the amount of time we had. We decided to go to Buckingham Palace instead of trying to go to London Bridge and Harod’s as well. We went to Buckingham Palace and took a few pictures.

We got on the subway to go towards Piccadilly Circus. When we switched trains to arrive at Piccadilly, they announced that there had been an unidentified bag in the station; so all trains to and from Piccadilly were stopped.

We got off the train to walk there instead of taking the subway. We met Ryan, Siobhan and Markus in front of Burger King and waited while Dustin went in the apothecary next door to buy more nose strips.

After he bought the strips, we went to search for someplace to eat. We walked down the street and picked a direction. We were trying to find a pub and as we were walking, we realized we were in the red light district of London. There were girls standing in the doorways and one of them said they were offering a free holiday to the guys. We decided we should probably leave the red light district. As we were wondering around, we found a bookstore. Markus saw something in the window that interested him. We went inside and looked around for a while. I reread the last few pages of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None." I lost track of the time and everyone ended up waiting on me. :-(

We kept walking around, looking for a pub to get some food. We finally found one that didn't look too busy. We went inside and sat down and waited, and waited and waited and talked and waited. Finally, we sent Markus to the bar to find out if they were still serving food. They said they had stopped serving for the evening, so we left. We ended up stopping in a bunch of different pubs. We were having trouble finding one that was still serving food. We were going to get on the subway and go to another part of town when Markus finally found a place that was nice and fairly inexpensive. I had beef stroganoff, but it came with rice and gravy instead of noodles. It was good though.

After dinner, we decided to go see London Bridge and Big Ben. We also needed to find out when Westminster Abby's service started. We walked toward the direction we needed to go. When we were about six blocks away, we could see the London Eye. I made a comment about wanting to go up in it. We decided to go find it and see if we could get tickets. We asked for directions. Big Ben was on the way, so we stopped to take pictures. Siobhan and Ryan said they would check the church time for us and we should hurry over to get tickets for the Eye. We walked across the bridge and got there right as they were loading the last ride. Unfortunately, they were sold out of tickets.

We waited for Ryan and Siobhan, and then walked back towards the bridge. Somewhere along the way, one person decided to get ice cream. We went into McDonalds to get McFlurries (Why? I don't know...). When we got to the front of the line, they told us that the only flavour they had was "Smarties." I said I didn't want one if it had Smarties in it. When the McFlurries came, they had little M&M-type candy in them instead of what I knew as Smarties. I tried Kelsey's. It was actually pretty good. We went downstairs to hang out and talk for a while.

When everyone finished eating, we decided to go for a walk. There was a debate about whether to go to bed or not and we decided to go to a pub to get one last drink before we left (since it was the last time we'd see each other...at least in a long time). We found a nice place and went in to get something. Dustin and Markus had rum & coke. Ryan had a beer and I tried a Rossini (pureed strawberries with Champaign) which was very good. :-)

We talked for a while longer and then headed down for the subway so we could get back before they all stopped running for the night. As we were walking down to the subway, Ryan got a bloody nose. I felt really bad for him (it happens to me often at very inopportune moments). We sat on the subway waiting for our stop. We all got off the train. Everyone was kind of quiet. No one seemed thrilled about saying goodbye. Ryan, Markus and Siobhan had to walk to get to their hostel and Kelsey, Amber, Dustin and I needed to change trains.

We stood at the top of the escalators leading toward our next train. We said our goodbyes and gave hugs. Markus, Ryan and Siobhan walked toward the exit and we got on the escalator down to our platform. I looked back to see them walk through the doorway.

I knew I would miss all of them. We had just recently met, but all three of them are amazing people and tons of fun to hang out with. I just hope it won't be the last time I see them. I shared one of the highlights of my life with them and they just made it better simply by their presence. Ryan and Siobhan are so cute together. I think they make a great couple. They seem so happy and content with each other. I hope the best for them. I hope Markus continues to love his job (he seems so happy about it all the time) and I hope for all of them safety and the best in everything. I miss them already, but at least we have e-mail.

We waited over half and hour for our last train to show up. We walked back to our hotel; Amber, Kelsey and I took showers. Because church didn't start till 11am, we decided not to go. We set the alarm for 9am and went to bed.

Posted by SadyeBabi at 11:20 AM

No Worries...

A lot of people here have been getting phone calls from their families and friends asking if we're okay. I'm just writing to let everyone know that all the students at the Nebraska at Oxford program are just fine. We haven't had any bomb threats or anything of that nature here.

We have plans to go to London on Saturday and we will continue to carry on with life as usual. A large portion of the students, including myself, are spending the night in London and coming back on Sunday in the afternoon. I doubt anything will happen while we are there, but I know I can't stop anyone from worrying. The idea is not to let these things prevent you from doing anything you would normally do. We're carrying on with life and doing everything we originally had planned.

Thoughts and prayers are appreciated while we are in London. However, don't worry too much!!!

Posted by SadyeBabi at 1:11 PM

July 22, 2005

Arrival at Oxford

July 17, 2005
We woke up around 9:30 and Amber & I went downstairs for the continental breakfast. They had pastries, toast, cereal, fruit, apple & orange juice. I had a croissant and some cereal and a banana. It was really good. The bread here seems so much fresher than in the states. Dustin came down a little while later, and then Kelsey came down. We ate and went upstairs to pack.

We checked out of our hotel and got on the subway to head towards the train station. We purchased train tickets to Oxford and waited for our train. Kelsey and Amber read Harry Potter (because they had purchased it the night before and they’re OBSESSED!). When the train came, we got on and ran into two guys who had been backpacking and were now going to the Nebraska at Oxford program with us. They sat in the coach behind ours. I wrote in my journal for most of the way to Oxford.

We arrived at Oxford and lugged our bags and souvenirs to Mansfield College. When we finally arrived, I met my roommate Loui who was originally from Hong Kong. My other roommate hadn’t arrived yet. I set my stuff down and walked across the hall to say hi to Brittany (who was in my Early Christianity class during ht first three week session this summer). We talked for a few minutes. Then I went back to my room to lie down. I was really hot and felt gross, so I decided to take a shower. I showered and changed into my sundress, then climbed into bed to take a nap. I napped for about an hour, and then went to orientation.

At orientation, Dr. Holmes introduced himself as the director of the program as well as Lizzie who was in charge of the extra-curricular activities. Then, all the other girls working at the program introduced themselves.

They explained the schedule and the rules of the program. Then, we went to dinner. We sat in a large dining hall with many long tables. We had several courses including an appetizer salad, bread, the main course (lamb) and chocolate cake.

When we went back to our dorms after dinner, I went up to Kelsey and Amber’s dorm and we talked about which activities we wanted to sign up for. We were about to leave when Kelsey realized her paper cash was missing (about £70); we looked all over the room for it and then Amber checked her purse. Her money was gone too. I went to my room to check my wallet and found my money was missing as well. We went downstairs to report the theft and found that a bunch of other girls were already down in the office. In total, over £1,000 had been stolen from 11 different people. All the doors were locked, so the thief had to have a key. Dr. Holmes called the bursar and the local police. Apparently the security cameras had been turned off during the time of the theft. Homes was pissed and he promised all of us that we would get our money back.

Amber, Kelsey and I went downstairs to the pub in the college and had a drink. Then, we headed back to our dorms to get ready for bed. I called Ryan’s cell phone to make sure he, Siobhan and Markus had made it back safely. Then, I unpacked my things and got my laundry together. My other roommate, Megan, had arrived by then and we talked for a while before I turned on my iPod to try to go to sleep.

I tossed and turned a lot. I’m not sure if I was nervous or hat, but I wasn’t able to get to sleep. Then, everyone came back from the bars in the middle of the night and woke me up with their loud talking and slamming the doors. (Grr!)

July 18, 2005
Breakfast was at 8am. I woke up at 7:30 and got there early. They had fruit, muffins, cereal, toast, milk, orange juice and a traditional English breakfast available. Breakfast included a large sausage, beans, eggs, Canadian bacon and hash browns. I just had hash browns.

We had our first lectures. I don’t think the classes should be too hard. After class, I went upstairs to the computer lab and updated my web log. I had just finished checking my e-mails and sent a couple when Lizzie came to get me so the police could interview me. It was actually rather strange because I followed her upstairs and saw the two police officers. She got their coffee orders and brought both of them coffee. I don’t think that happens in the U.S. usually. They needed to see my room, so one of them talked to another one of the girls while the other followed me to my room. He sat at the desk and took my statement. I had to sign a bunch of paperwork and then he let me go. I went back upstairs to the computer lab and typed several days of journal entries and posted them in my blog.

I went to dinner and after dinner a group of the students went to see Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor.” It was REALLY strange but funny. There was only one female in the entire cast and the other three women’s parts were played by men. The play was adapted and also included some singing of popular songs. The basic plot of the story was what two women who were wives of wealthy men received the exact same love letter. Then, after realizing it, they played a trick on the man who sent it which also turned into a trick on their husbands, one of whom was a very jealous man. During this entire time, the other family has to deal with suitors asking to marry their daughter. In the end, both the wives and the husbands work together to get back at the man who sent the love letters (because all he really wanted was their money) and the daughter tricks everyone and runs away with the man she loves (who is poor). The play was outside and my feet ended up very cold by the end of the night. I did, however, have a very good time.

When I got back to Mansfield, I went to bed, but I had a bit of trouble getting to sleep. I did sleep well after I finally got to sleep though.

Posted by SadyeBabi at 1:24 PM

July 26, 2005

The First Week of Classes

July 19,2005
When I woke up (around 7:30am) my back hurt really bad. I sat up in bed and it hurt even more. I decided to go back to sleep for another hour to see if it would help. When I got up again to go to class, the pain was a little better, but not much. I took some Tylonol (which helped, finally) and went to class.

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Dr. Horsewood asked if we had gone over the rules of Mansfield College. We said that we had, but he gave us four more rules:
1.) If you see your professor in the pub, it IS okay to buy him a drink.
2.) The only time it is not okay to buy him a drink, is if he’s with a member of the opposite sex.
3.) If he is with a member of the opposite sex, don’t take pictures.
4.) The professor is NEVER drunk; regardless of how he might be talking or stumbling, he’s never drunk.

He also notified us that class may be cut short if he has a hangover. (He’s a character…rather odd. And he likes his beer. We use it for supply and demand curves a lot in class.)

We also talked about the Oxford police in Dr. Horsewood’s class. He said that the police are usually rather slow at responding to calls, especially the more explosive situations that might involve violence. They usually come around in a few hours or the next day if they can, simply to let the situation die down. However, one of the professors in Oxford University who was in his early 60’s was having a tutor session with one of his students (a woman around the age of 23). She apparently had a crush on him and during their session, she started removing articles of clothing. The professor, not knowing what to do, freaked out and called the police about a naked girl in his office. There were three separate police cars on site within three minutes to investigate the case.

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After class, I started my laundry and took a nap to help with the lack of sleep from the night before. I spent some time in the computer lab and then went to dinner. After dinner, I received compensation for the money that had been stolen. Mansfield College had agreed to pay us because of the security measures they should have taken. Then, I went downstairs to the pub. I tried a Schnapps Raspberry drink that tasted similar to a Bacardi Razz in the states. Then, I went back to my room to shower and go to bed.

I picked up my laundry from the laundry room on the way back to my dorm and found that five articles of clothing had been ruined. Two shirts and two pairs of pants had turned brown in the wash. Other things had changed colours in areas as well. Also, even after two dryer cycles, NOTHING was dry.

I took my clothes back to my room and laid them out all over the place. Then, I took a shower and went to bed.

July 20, 2005
I woke up and my back felt a lot better than the day before. I went to breakfast then got my books to go to class.

The two professors, Dr. Holmes and Dr. Horsewood, pick on each other incessantly. It’s quite funny. Dr. Holmes claims that Dr. Horsewood is tacky and that he drives an “old person” car. Dr. Horsewood calls Dr. Homes “Martin Timothy Samuel” or “the amazing pink pinstripe” and says he stinks at picking winners for the horse races. It’s odd, but quite entertaining. They seem to get along well enough outside of class. On occasion, they’ll both refer to each other as “my learned and distinguished colleague.” It keeps class fun, to say the least.

After class, I checked my e-mail and went to lunch. Around 2, I had a walking tour of Oxford where we got to see all the colleges. We talked about the library. All of the books are downstairs under the town. If you want a book, you have to request it from the library and then they go to down to retrieve it for you. No one is allowed to go down to the stacks though.

We also saw Christ Place where they filmed the Harry Potter movies. It was interesting and very pretty. I talked to the tour guide, Lucinda, about how the school works. Basically, they have lectures and they meet with a tutor twice a week where they have to turn in papers (based on 40 books) that are 3,000 to 5,000 words long. Then, their tutor rips it apart and they write another paper for the next tutor session. They don’t get any grades for the first three years of college. Then, they have a week of exams where they take eight 3-hour essay exams. Based on the performance on those eight exams, they are given a 2-0 (highest) a 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, or 2-4 (failing). Lucinda said that a lot of people drip out during that week and a lot of people crack. They have a really high suicide rate as well. I’m actually kind of glad I don’t go here. I’m not sure I would like it.

After the tour, I went to Oxford’s oldest bookstore with Kelsey to look around. It’s really big and it has a lot of levels in it. Neither one of us bought anything, but it was fun to look.

I came back to Mansfield with Kelsey and updated my web log again. Then, I took a short nap and went to dinner. The rice was WAY too salty. Although it was the most spice we’ve had on food since we’ve been here, it was too salty for almost everyone’s taste. Most people didn’t eat much of the main course.

After dinner, I checked my e-mail and then went back to my room to write in my journal.

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Things I miss most about the U.S.:
1.) Free bathrooms
2.) Free water
3.) Water with ice
4.) Soft toilet paper (thanks Dad & Mom!!!)
5.) Good customer service

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I went to the computer lab to update my web log. After typing for awhile, I updated it and decided to go to bed. I took a shower and climbed into bed. I listened to a new playlist and found a couple songs I really liked (Leona Neass – “Calling” and Frou Frou – “It’s Good to be in Love”).

July 21, 2005
I got up and went to breakfast. I had several pieces of toast and a bowl of cereal. I went back to my room to get my things and went to class. I checked my e-mail before class, but I didn’t have anything interesting…just junk mail. I went to class and we talked about the early 70’s before the rise of Margaret Thatcher in the Conservative Party. Then, in Dr. Horsewood’s class, we talked about GATT. He addressed the rumour about him being banned from UNL. He said it’s not true and he never slept in a sorority. Ha! We also talked about cricket (he explained the rules).

I went back to my dorm and called my parents. They had just gotten up and were about to have breakfast. I talked until lunch and went to the dining hall.

I wanted to update my web log again and then I just surfed the Internet for a while. I went to dinner and then went to Amber & Kelsey’s room. We hung out for a while talking. I went to change into a nicer shirt to wear to the bars (because Lizzie was going to take us out).

I met Amber and Kelsey back in their room after I had changed and we went to the pub downstairs to meet up with Lizzie. We had one drink and then walked to the pub. It was actually quite a ways from the college (about a ½ hour walk).

I had a lot of fun and then when Amber, Kelsey and I left, we had to walk home one of the guys who was quite drunk. He was a little hard to take care of on the walk home, but he made it home safe.

July 22, 2005
When I woke up, I went to breakfast, then class. Lizzie had a bit of a hangover. We had class and we were supposed to have a review session with Dr. Horsewood in the afternoon, but everyone voted to move it to Wednesday. We went to lunch and at lunch, Amber, Kelsey and I planned to see a movie (we wanted to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). My pens had run out of ink from taking notes and writing in my journal, so we decided to go to the stationary store and then the movie theatre to see when the movies were. When we got back, I showered and shaved my legs to go to high tea.

Our group for high tea met outside the dorms and then we walked with Lizzie to the Old Parsonage Hotel. We had small sandwiches, scones, cookies (called biscuits), cake and English tea (with milk and sugar). We talked for almost two hours. The cones were SO good!! They had powdered sugar on them and the butter was really soft and creamy. Mmm… I also love English tea! I pug milk and sugar in it and it tastes so good! I’ve had it with every meal since we’ve gone to high tea.

We were all so full from tea, that we planned to go to a movie and have dinner later than 6:30 ad Pizza Hut. We planned to see an 8:30 movie. We met at 7pm to have dinner but Pizza Hut took a LONG time and we ended up missing the movie. We went back to the campus and downstairs to the pub. I talked with Bill and Ben about the two weeks before Oxford started. Then, I went back to my room, and packed my things for London. I showered and went to bed.

Posted by SadyeBabi at 9:14 AM

Weekend trip to London

July 23, 2005
I woke up at 7:30 and went to breakfast at 8am (where I had tea). After breakfast, I went to Ben’s room to give him my stuff for the trip to London. He had a smaller bag, so he said I could pack my stuff with his instead of taking my huge hiking bag.

I got on the bus and sat next to Michelle. We talked almost the entire way to London about our trips before school started, her boyfriend, ex-boyfriends (especially the difficulty and delicacy of relationships). We also talked about church and beliefs. She’s really sweet and I enjoyed the discussion a lot.

We arrived in London and set out to check in to our hostel. It was only a few blocks away from where we were in Piccadilly Circus. Megan and I were able to check in but the large group of 13 weren’t allowed to check in until after 1pm.

We decided to go to Harrod’s and went in. Each department was separated by designer names. We decided to split up because we all had different things we needed to buy for relatives or wanted to look at. I found someone who directed me to the millinery department where I found a red hat I liked. I almost had a heart attack when I saw the price of £209. I knew there would be no way in hell that my parents would let me buy it, but I called them to see if a miracle would occur. It didn’t; Mom said no. My roommate Megan was with me, and she thought that they had said yes when I told Mom to tell Dad that I loved him. Megan and I wandered around the store a little while longer and then we met outside Harrod’s and then Kelsey, Grant & Amber went back to Piccadilly to check in.

Megan, Bill & I wandered around London more. I looked for a different hat, but I couldn’t find one that I liked. We went back to the hostel to move our luggage from the luggage room to our actual hostel rooms. Then, we went to the play. Bill had trouble getting into his room, so Megan and I ended up showing up late at the play, but the usher still sat us in a row further back than the Oxford students’ section. Megan and I moved to sit with our group at intermission.

I didn’t really enjoy the show that much (because there was a semi-plot and lots of holes in their attempt at having a plot). I was glad when it was over. The dancing and singing was good, but that was about it.

A big group of us (about 17) decided to walk to Trafalgar Square to fine the Sherlock Holmes bar. We found it and ate there, but we were disappointed to find out that there was a £10 minimum per person.

We ate dinner and took the tube back to Piccadilly Circus to go to a bar by our hostel. I ordered a cup of tea at the bar and drank it. Then, while everyone else (except Megan) shared a “Sex on the Beach” fishbowl, I had a “passion fruits” Archers. It was really good. Everyone decided they wanted to see “the red light district” because Dustin was telling them about it. We wandered around and then decided to go back to the bar we started at. I had another cup of tea and then we went to Burger King because the guys were hungry.

Megan and I checked into our room and found a man and another woman who were also in our room. They both seemed to be asleep. I went to find Ben. I got my stuff from him, went to the bathroom to change and then went to bed. I kept everything on my top bunk at my feet.

July 24, 2005
I woke up around 7am because I had to go to the bathroom. I went and then climbed back into bed and went back to sleep. I woke up again at 9 when my alarm went off. We were supposed to meet downstairs at 9:30. I changed and gave Ben my things. Then, Megan and I went to the breakfast room to get some toast.

We ate and then met Dave, Austin, Brian & Ben outside. We waited and waited and waited for Amber and Kelsey. Finally, we decided to send Dave upstairs to find them and Kelsey and Amber came out the front door. They had both been up really late talking.

We went to get on the subway and took it to Victoria station where we left the baggage. When we switched trains, we lost Ben. We hoped that he knew where the church was and he would show up there, but he didn’t. We arrived at Westminster Abbey for church. I felt really underdressed (I didn’t realize we were going to church, so I just had jeans and a t-shirt), but there were a lot of other tourists looking less dressy than I was.

We waited to be seated. The old woman who sat us reminded me of Mrs. Doubtfire. We listened to the organ before the service. It sounded like a song that could accompany a scary scene in a movie. I watched them seat more people. We were arranged in the form of a cross. The altar was in the centre with the choir in front of the organ and other people seated near the choir. Then, there were two sections on either side of the altar facing each other.

The service started and the organist played the processional (again more ‘scary’ music). Three men walked to the front and faced the congregation (back towards the choir & the organ). They were all wearing full green robes. The President spoke and sang the entire liturgy. He even introduced communion and announced the forgiveness of sins. The Reverend gave the sermon (which was about the source of the money that was used to purchase communion) from an elevated pulpit. The third guy had to hold the book for the President during the entire service while he read and sang the liturgy. (How much would that job suck? He never said a word. He just stood there.) One of the women from the congregation read the Epistle lesson and then they moved the cross they carried in at the beginning of the service to the centre of the congregation for the gospel reading.

There was A LOT of standing and sitting (up and down, up and down). Also, we only sang two hymns during the entire service. The rest of the time the choir sang or we chanted. However, the choir did the majority of the singing during the service and a large portion of it was in Latin. I was kind of wishing I were in the choir.

When they had communion, the choir sang while everyone went up. They had wafers like at Trinity Lutheran back home. Then, you could dunk the wafer or eat it, then take a drink from the common cup. You were supposed to say ‘Amen’ twice, after both ‘The body of Christ.’ and ‘The blood of Christ.’ but I didn’t realize it till after I went up for communion. If you chose not to partake in communion, you could still go up and get a blessing. Dave did that because he’s Catholic. After the service, I was surprised that they didn’t dismiss us row by row. I thanked the Reverend and the President before we left.

When we walked outside, it was raining. We hurried to the subway. When we got there, everyone had to go to the bathroom, so I waited while they went.

We got on the subway and took it to London Tower. We were going to try to find someplace to eat, but the woman at the subway said there wasn’t anything open on Sunday around the area. We went to London Tower and wondered around. I got to see the crown jewels. They were behind glass with a moving sidewalk on either side so people couldn’t stop and press their face up against the glass. Everything was housed in a HUGE vault.

Dave, Brian, Megan & Dustin decided to stay to see more sections of the tower. Kelsey, Amber, Michelle and I were exhausted, so we went back to the train station and found a bus to Oxford. We got on the bus and arrived back in Oxford at exactly 6:30. We had just missed dinner at Mansfield. We decided to get fast food and walk back. Amber, Michelle and I had Burger King. Kelsey was going to have McDonalds, but they had randomly closed for two hours, so she had KFC. We walked back to campus and I checked my e-mail, took a shower, ate, read and wrote in my journal for a while. Then, I went to bed. It felt so good to be back in a familiar bed.

Posted by SadyeBabi at 1:56 PM

Stratford

July 25, 2005
I woke up and went to breakfast (where I had English tea with milk and sugar). It was really good! I went to class and then called my parents. In class, Dr. Horsewood explained the British way to give people “the finger.” Instead of one finger, they use the first two; kind of like the sideways peace sign. The origin was from the old wars when the archers would pull back their arrows with two fingers. It basically means “I’ll kill you”. I thought that was weird.

After lunch, we left for Stratford (William Shakespeare’s home town). It was about an hour drive. I listened to music and slept on the bus. When we got there, we went on a boat “cruise” up the river. The captain of the boat was fun. He had a beard and a pipe and he talked kind of like a pirate. He just needed a parrot.

We also saw Shakespeare’s birthplace and home as a child. Then, we went to Holy Trinity Church where he was buried along with his daughter and son-in-law. Then, we went to find food. We had to meet at the theatre at 7pm to see Shakespeare’s “Comedy of Errors.”

I really enjoyed the play! It took about 10 minutes to get used to the old English, but the play was really funny. It was about a man who was indebted and supposed to be executed. In his plea, he tells a story about his wife who gave birth to twin sons and another poor couple who gave birth to twin sons as well. Because the second couple was poor, he and his wife bought the couple’s sons to be servants for their sons. They were travelling to some place they were moving to when they were shipwrecked and separated. He had been looking for his wife and second son ever since. After the setup, we meet both the sons, one who lives in the town where the play is set, one who is visiting and constantly being creeped out because people seem to know him. Both men and their servants (the other set of twins) are confused and get into trouble over and over again in the play. Finally, at the end, the entire family meets. One brother is married and the mother has become a nun. The father’s debt is forgiven and everyone is happy. The play was well done and the acting was superb.

After the play, we went out to the buses to go back to Oxford. We ended up waiting for three drunken guys who had decided not to see the play. They finally came back and joined the rest of the group of drunken guys on the bus. The ride back to oxford sucked!

When we got back, the drunken group went out to the bars. I took a shower, wrote in my journal and went to sleep.

Posted by SadyeBabi at 2:06 PM

August 8, 2005

Catching up...

This will probably be the last entry till at least Friday. I have a lot of studying to do. Also, there aren't many activities planned from here on out. So, I'm sure you will notice that the entries have been getting shorter. I've been spending every morning in class and most afternoons reading or studying. So, I'm sorry that it isn't as interesting as before, but here are my latest journal entries:

July 26, 2005
I went to class and between classes I went to the kitchen to get tea. I started learning the names of the kitchen staff. I met Ed (who’s from Oxford), Alithia (who’s from Spain), and several others also from Spain. They’re all really nice. They said that they liked the Nebraskans because we always say “Thank you” when they serve us.

After class, we had lunch. Then, I went to Debanham’s (the big department store in Oxford) to try to find a red hat. I was so excited when they had several styles of red hats to choose from and they were even reasonably priced! I bought a really nice one for £35. It’s red with a big bow and tiny black feathers. I also got a hatbox with it, which is HUGE.

After I bought the hat, I went with the guys to a sports store that was going out of business and having a clearance. I bought a pair of running shoes and some workout clothes. When we came back, I finished reading the Screwtape Letters.

After dinner, Lizzie announced that she was taking us out again. We went to Po Na Na’s. They had really great dance music and I danced ALL night long. I felt really gross when I got back to campus, so I took a shower and went to bed.

July 27, 2005
I went to class, then lunch. After lunch, Megan and I played our first game of croquet for the tournament. Unfortunately we lot. She was ready to stump out, but the girl on the other team ro-kayed her and then her partner stumped out before Megan. So, we were knocked out of the tournament.

After our croquet game, Megan and I went shopping. All the stores were having huge sales. She wanted to get something she could wear out to the bars. We went to Next which was having a clearance. I found some really cool suits that I liked, but was unable to try on because the store didn’t have any fitting rooms. I bought the suits and Megan took pictures of me, so I could send them to my parents. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to keep them. I called my dad when I got back and then sent Mom and Dad the pictures.

After I finished with that, I went to dinner and then I read my book for a while. I had started “The Jesus I Never Knew” by Philip Yancey. Later in the evening, I went down to the pub on campus and some of the guys were doing tequila shots. I joined in and had a couple shots. We sat around talking for a while, and then I took a shower and went to bed.

July 28, 2005
I woke up and went to class. Most people weren’t really paying that close of attention in class. Everyone seemed eager to go on the extended weekend. After class, I had to pack in about 15 minutes so we could walk to the bus station and get there by 1pm. Brian and I both used the backpacks provided by the program for out luggage. We hurried to the bus station. I had a hard time keeping up with Grant and Brian because their legs were so much longer than mine. The bus ride was about two hours. Brian and I talked for most of it.

We made it to the airport and checked in through security. Then, when we entered the concourse, we were looking for more information about our plane, but we couldn’t really find any. We were about two hours early, so we got sandwiches. After we ate, we checked the screen with the flight information again, but it still said “Please Wait.” We stood by the screen waiting until 40 minutes before our plane was supposed to leave. We rushed down to our gate right after the information showed up and boarded about five minutes after we got there.

Grant and Brian started joking about the “cheap” flights of Ryan Air. One of them mentioned taking out every third screw keeping the plane together. When we started to take off, the plane bounced a few times on the ground. Also, the overhead bins were shaking as if they were going to fall on us. Fun…

After we finished climbing altitudes, I fell asleep until we landed. When we arrived at the airport, we met up with Ben, Josh, Jenna and Bill. We were all staying at the same hostel, so we decided to get a taxi together. We got a large taxi and paid €5 per person. Our taxi driver was hilarious! He gave us a lesson about the Irish people and the Irish language (which included a LOT of swearing). He almost hit a woman who had been jaywalking in the middle of the street while he was driving us. He dropped us off at our hostel. It was raining out, unfortunately.

I took a shower and then we all went out to walk around. We found a nice little Irish shop and bought souvenirs. We also found a discount mall and wandered around there for a while. We were getting hungry so we got some food, then we went to find a pub because the guys wanted a Guiness from Ireland. I had some blue vodka Alco pop. It was good. We sat around talking for a while and then went back to the hostel to get some sleep.

July 29, 2005
We woke up and got some breakfast at the hostel kitchen. We had cereal and toast. After breakfast, we walked to the Guiness storehouse where we took a tour. At the end of the tour, we were given a “free” beer. I drank a little of mine and then gave the rest away. After everyone finished his or her beers, we went down to the Guiness store. I was waiting for Brian and Bill to check out. Then we tried to find everyone else, but they had disappeared.

We walked back towards the hostel and stopped at an Italian place along the way for lunch. The food was really good! Although, Brian and Bill ordered the house red wine and it apparently was awful. We finished eating and walked back to the hostel. It was raining and Bill was sick. Also, Brian and I were very tired so we all took a nap. After our nap, Aaron cooked dinner in the hotel kitchen (which was huge). We had spaghetti and garlic bread which was all very good. After dinner, we sat around and talked for a while, then I went with Bill and brain to a pub down the street. They each had a beer and I had a Bacardi Breezer (Lime). We came back fairly early and I went to bed.

July 30, 2005
We slept in until 9. When we woke up Grand and Jenna were already gone. They went to Galway (which was a 5-hour drive away). Bill was really sick, so we went to the pharmacy to get him some medicine. Brittany went with us to finish her souvenir shopping. After we finished shopping we went to get lunch. We went to Eddie Rocket’s which was a ‘50s-style American diner. The food was really good. I was really tired and Bill was sick so we decided to see a movie in the afternoon. Brian and Brittany went to tour a castle. Bill and I saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (which was AWESOME!). Then, we were both tired, so we went back to the hostel so we could each take a nap. We woke up when Brian and Brittany came back. We left with them, Dave and Austin to hang out for the evening. We ended up seeing another movie: Wedding Crashers (which is hilarious – lots of quotables).

We went to a pub after the movie. I tried a beer that one of the guys had and I actually didn’t mind it! I got a coaster with the name of the beer, but I can’t recall it now. From there, we went to the Temple Bar area. It was PACKED with people. Hardly and of the bars would let anyone in because they were filled to capacity. We decided to go to Dave and Austin’s hotel to get a drink there. We got there and it was pretty full as well. Bill said he wasn’t feeling well and wanted to go back to the hostel. I was tired, so I walked back with him.

We arrived at the hotel and found a guy from the Nebraska at Oxford program drunk and arguing with the woman at the front desk. He was being very rued and I didn’t want to claim him, but I felt bad for the woman at the front desk. He had lost his key and wanted another one. He was insisting that he had a reservation under his name. I managed to straighten things out and the woman found his reservation under his friend’s name. He got a new card but continued to make a nuisance of himself. Bill tried to get him to go up to his room so he wouldn’t get kicked out of the hostel, but he picked a fight with Bill so I separated them and took bill back to our hostel room. I found out later that the guy did get kicked out of the hostel. We listened to the yelling between him and the woman at the front desk for a while. Then I drifted off to sleep.

July 31, 2005
We woke up, packed and checked out of the hostel. We put our luggage in the luggage room for storage before we left for the airport. The key for the luggage room was attached to a very heavy chain and a stuffed lamb. It was cute…but funny. Brittany, Dave, Austin, Brian, Bill and I walked to the mall to get some lunch. We ate and then walked around for a while.

Brian and I left to get our luggage and head to the airport. He was worried about making it on time, so we took a taxi, which was expensive! I had to get more money at the airport to pay the driver.

We had plenty of time before our plane so we sat and waited. We got on the plane and flew back to London. We had 40 minutes till our bus arrived to take us back to Oxford. Grant and Brian wanted food, so we went to find some. I wasn’t feeling well, so I didn’t eat much. We took the bus back to Oxford and I went to bed. I was so tired and not feeling very well. I woke up in the night when Megan came in, but other than that, I slept well.

August 1, 2005
I woke up and went to class where Dr. Holmes announced that the Dean, Cynthia Milligan, had arrived along with her son. She was here to observe and speak with the students for a few days. Her son didn’t seem very pleased to be there and almost every time I saw him, he seemed ticked off.

After classes, Megan and I went through our souvenirs and packed them away. Then we went to listen to the Baroness Scott talk about her position in the House of Lords. It was very interesting. After that, we had dinner and I read for a while. They started a movie in the common room and I went to see what movie they were playing. It was “Love Actually” so I decided to stay and watch the movie. I wrote postcards during the movie, and then I went to bed.

August 2, 2005
I went to class and then handed in my postcards to be mailed. Lucinda looked shocked at the number but said that they would be mailed soon. After that, I went to Debanham’s to buy a strapless bra to go with my dress for the horse races. Megan went with me to Next where I returned a bunch of the clothes I had purchased the week before. Then, we went to the grocery store and the pharmacy. When we got back, I hurried to change before our soccer game against the Duke exchange program at New College. It was a lot of fun! They had quite a few less players than we had, so some of our guys played on their team. However, we still won: 4—2.

I took a shower when we got back, then went to dinner. We walked outside to see Macbeth, which was interesting. They had a lot of people playing more than one role in the play, so it was kind of confusing. I enjoyed it though. When I got back, I read for a while, and then went to bed.

August 3, 2005
I went to class. Dr. Horsewood took almost an hour of his class explaining the various things about going to the horse races. He talked about the track, betting, what to wear, the horses, etc. We had lunch and then all the girls left to get ready. I tried to find a slip to wear under my dress, but I couldn’t find one to buy so I borrowed one from the girl next door. I wore my cherry dress, red shoes, my new red hat, and took my red purse with me.

We left for Epsom and the ride was really long and jerky. I almost got motion sickness because I was trying to read. I gave up and took a nap. We arrived and had our tickets for the Queen’s Stand, which had several bars inside, and it’s own section for betting and looking at the horses in the paddock. I bet on one race and lost £2 but other than that, I just had a great time by the paddock and watching the races. There were quite a few girl jockeys, which surprised me. The horses were simply beautiful and the races were fun to watch.

The food was rather expensive, but I had a good time. I drank a glass of Pimms later in the evening. On the ride back, I read poetry. When we got back, I showered, checked my e-mail and went to bed.

August 4, 2005
I had class and then a group of us went o the set for a movie called “The Cat’s Paw” because they needed extras and asked us to be in it. We sat around for a long time and it was really boring. However, I got a lot of reading done, which was good.

We got off the set late and went to have dinner elsewhere. When we got back to campus, I checked my e-mail, cleaned up my room, showered and went to bed.

August 5, 2005
I woke up and was feeling really bad. I went to breakfast, then class, which was really boring. I had lunch and then took a nap because I wasn’t feeling well. After my nap, I went running with Brian. I took a shower and then went to dinner. It was Lizzie’s Disco Night so everyone went out to The G Bar. I had a lot of fun dancing, but came home around 12:30am because I wasn’t feeling all that well and wanted sleep.

August 6, 2005
I slept in till about 10am. Then I checked my e-mail and looked up the address of the Eagle and Child where C.S. Lewis and JRR Tolkien used to meet every night and talk.

I took a shower and went to lunch. I was still not feeling well, so I took a nap. I had dinner after my nap and then studied for awhile with Megan and Dave. We all walked to the Eagle and Child and talked there for about an hour. We came back and I went to bed around 11pm.

August 7, 2005
I woke up and went to breakfast. The bus left for Thorpe Park (an amusement park) at 9am. We got there around 11 and went in. I stayed with Amber, Megan, Burke, Ben, Aaron and Brian for most of the day. We went on all the rolloercoasters and then Amber and I went on a couple of other rides. It was a fun day and I was finally feeling better and getting over my cold. Megan and I bought a MegaBucket at the Sweet Shop full of candy. We had dinner when we got back to Mansfield. After dinner, I realized I couldn’t find my camera cable, so I called my parents. I did my laundry after I got off the phone. Then, Brian came by and we walked to McDonalds where I got a McFlurry. When we got back, I showered and went to bed.

Posted by SadyeBabi at 9:43 AM

August 12, 2005

I'm coming home!!!

I've finally finished my two exams. I hope that both of them went well. I've spent most of the week studying, so there's nothing really to say about it. I'm bringing home lots of chocolate and souvenirs and I look forward to seeing everyone when I get home.

I'm not on British airways, so I'll still be arriving on time and I look forward to seeing you all in the weeks following. I hope you've enjoyed the constant updates. I've still got lots of pictures and such that I plan on putting in a scrap book...which I have no idea when I'll have time to work on or how I'm going to pay for the supplies, but that's a worry for another day.

Thanks for reading and I'll see you all soon! Tonight I'm going out and I'm going to have a lot of fun!

Posted by SadyeBabi at 7:49 AM

August 16, 2005

My camera is freaking awesome!!!

I took a bunch of panorama pictures with my camera and I spliced them together this morning with the software that came with the camera and they look so awesome!!!

Kassel Cityscape:

These are prague cityscapes:

Dachau Concentration Camp:

Florence Cityscape:

I also have some really sweet videos! Check on Flickr for my uploaded photos. Click here to see all the uploaded photos so far. I only have the panoramas up from Europe so far, but there will be more coming and I'll be posting a few videos that I took on the trip. They're fun!

Posted by SadyeBabi at 7:00 PM