Jenn Goes Euro

Merry Christmas to All!

2007-12-25T20:29:00.000Z

Ah, so it's December 25th and I am here on the other side of the Atlantic. It's only been about 10 days since I was in London, but it feels like it was a lot longer ago. I hate the way I am able to so quickly resume my old life. Maybe it's it's because I have been crazy busy since I returned from London or perhaps it's something more. Not sure, but in many ways it's like no time has passed since I was here last.

The next four months are going to have a lot of things to do. I will be a college graduate on 26 April (that's Ben's Birthday). In addition, I am volunteering to work at the Annual HIMSS Conference in Orlando this February. Finally, I am going to take that vacation to Destin that I won on ABC 27 before I left for the UK but didn't have the time to take.

With the New Year comes new resolutions. I have no idea just how much things are going to change this 2008, but I hope that the changes that do come are good ones. I am looking optimistically towards finding a job. Not just any job, but a good job. One that pays more than 30,000 a year which has been my previous ceiling. In addition, I hold out some hope that the elections this year will bring about some positive change in our government. Hopefully a new face will help to change our bleak economic outlook.

In any event, I am getting ready to overhaul this blog. So that I can begin to document the next big journey in my life.

~Jenn

Jenn Returns From Euro

2007-12-13T10:42:00.000Z

Last post from London.
Tomorrow I'll be back in the States.

It's bittersweet. I miss everyone over there so much..but London or rather Europe has been an amazing experience. I have made some really great friends over here and seen several places that I never thought I would get a chance to. I am really glad that I am going home at Christmas time because I am pretty sure that if I went home in the summer I would be really depressed about it but being home at the Holidays should stop that from happening.

To everyone who took the time to peek at this blog while I have been away I want to say THANKS. I know it got pretty boring towards the end (mostly because I was too lazy to put in all the details from my trips and stuff) and I apologize for that.

I might do another blog sometime just have to wait and see.

Happy Holidays!
~Jenn

Back from Holland...

2007-12-09T16:49:00.000Z

I just came back from Holland, it was great to see my friends from Greece there. I got go hang out with Inge & Rutger. We went to a bar and listened to Rock & Roll music, it was interesting.

I have just a few days left. Heading home on Friday!!

Can't believe the time has passed so quickly, makes you realize how short life is.

Anyways, I have to work on some school stuff so I'll write more some other time..honestly if I write it all here then I won't have any interesting stories for you anyways...so...if you want to know how it went lemmie know and I'll stop by and see ya.

~Jenn

Hee Hee -- A funny then off to Rome

2007-11-29T19:56:00.000Z

Roma!

2007-11-27T15:18:00.000Z

I am going to Rome in 3 days and am getting excited!!

Anyone who has been before and has some tips on what to see (and how to do it cheaply) email me!

~Jenn

Viva la Barcelona!

2007-11-23T22:28:00.001Z

I am in Barcelona and I am in love.

This city is amazing. I am putting it at the top of all the cities I have visited.
The architecture is phenomenal. The food is absolutely delicious and there are so many cool and creative things to see. Did I mention that the shopping is outstanding?

It's just too bad (or maybe too good) that I am in conservation mode at the moment so I cannot afford to purchase much of anything. That and my baggage allowance on the flight home has kept the spending in check. My only purchase thus far has been a pin from the HRC to add to my ever expanding collection (I have added 8 since coming here).

Today we checked out the Barcelona cathedral (we even went up on the roof where there are beautiful panoramic views of the city). I recommend to any and all who can to come to the city and see it for yourself!

Anyways it's time to go out and check out the party scene .. I'll be back later with photos!

Buenos Noches!
~Jenn

Sorted -- Finally!

2007-11-19T12:38:00.001Z

I have finally updated my pictures.

You'll have to check out the other page - http://picasaweb.google.com/TallyJen75 to see them but I hope it's worth it.

Photos of Stonehenge, Salisbury, Dublin, Paris & Prague.

One of these days I'll even label them.

Anyways hope you enjoy. Off to Spain in a couple days. Keep watching for more pics and news.

~Jenn

I'll be back in the states in a month! Can you believe it?

Czech Republic - Prague

2007-11-18T18:47:00.000Z

I am here in Prague on a short trip. This is by far one of the prettiest cities I have traveled to. Last night I met up with friends from FSU and went out for dinner and drings (yeah, that was an intentional misspelling. I saw that painted on the window of a cafe...actually it was hot drings but anyways I thought it was cute/funny).

Today I did Prague by myself. It was a cold cloudy day but that didn't do much to masque the beauty of this city. I walked around the "Old Town Square" and looked at the different churches with their amazing Gothic architecture. One of the churches looks just like Sleeping Beauty's Castle. Another had a beautiful astrological clock on the side of it. It is rumored (perhaps it's true) that the artist who built the clock was blinded promptly after completing it so that he wouldn't be able to build a more beautiful clock for anyone else.

I spent a little more time walking around the square. I happened upon a band performing in the square that was a "Dixieland band"... can you believe that? I came to Prague to hear the Czechs playing something that sounded a lot like what I would hear back home at a country western place. It was pretty cool though.

After the square I wandered down to the river and walked along the banks to the Charles Bridge. The Charles Bridge is one of the most famous landmarks in Prague. It is a several hundred year old bridge pedestrian bridge that leads to the other side of Prague. The side that holds the Prague Castle. The bridge lives up to it's famous reputation. It has some amazing Gothic status dotted along the sides and there are street performers and artists along the entire bridge. On the bridge I was once again treated to a Western/Eastern fusion of music. There were two men performing one had a steel guitar and the other a harmonica with a brass instrument, looked like a curly trumpet without a mouthpiece. He was singing into it and playing the harmonica into it. It was a sort of cajun/blues song. And had attracted quite a little crowd.

On the other side of the river I took the LONG STEEP walk to the Prague Castle. It took about 20 minutes to get to the top. There were about 140 stairs and the hills were long and steep too but I was not disappointed by the view from the top. You got a brilliant panoramic view of most of Prague and it was breathtaking. Inside the castle walls there is another Gothic church with beautiful architecture. I took quite a few pictures of the stained glass windows and also of the gargoyles which were all unique and interesting. I actually think this church was more impressive than Notre Dame was in Paris.

After the castle I did the Geer thing, I found the mall. It was back on the other side of the river about 15 minutes walk from the Old Town Square and it was very impressive. Apparently it is built in an grand old house or something like that and is at least 6 stories high inside and beautifully decorated. I didn't really do any shopping there (other than the window variety) but it was fun to check it out.

After that sadly I had to return to the hotel because I have a very early flight tomorrow morning and therefore need to get some sleep. So, as soon as I get the Picasa situation sorted out I will post some pictures from my day out.

Hope that everyone is doing well.

~Jenn

Oh..one last thing...

2007-11-14T00:35:00.000Z

Did I mention that I have photos from the Louvre, Musee d'Orsay & Notre Dame Cathedrals up, as well as Stonehenge & Salisbury England and Dublin Ireland?

What are you waiting for check out the pics!

Look here

and also here

Storage Quota??

2007-11-14T00:31:00.001Z

I reached my free storage quota on Picasa now. So, from now on you'll have to check 2 albums to see all my photos.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Jennifer.Geer and also
http://picasaweb.google.com/TallyJen75

I can't believe I already put a gig on there. I still have 4 more trips to go!!

So, hope you enjoy the photos!

~Jenn

Paris

2007-11-11T08:37:00.001Z

I just returned from an amazing trip to Paris. I can't believe that I waited this long to go there! I had such an incredible time in the city I can't even pinpoint what my favorite experience was.

I can tell you my least favorite part though. The Eiffel Tower. I mean...from the ground it's amazing. However from up on the top, it was the most frightening experience I have ever had. Let me preface this by saying I am absolutely terrified of heights, and we decided to go up on a night when it was really windy. It took rides in two different glass elevators to "catapult" me to the top of it, and while I was up there the tower just swayed and rocked. I went with a group of friends and I literally got up to the top, stepped out of the elevator and immediately walked to the que to go back down to the bottom again. I was not impressed! The views are incredible, but I didn't even have wit about me to let go of the railings so that I could free a hand to take a picture. Doh!

I took a lot of pictures while I was there, of course I'll post the slide shows but it's probably easier just to go over the the picasa page and check them all out:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Jennifer.Geer
Ok, well I want to write more about all the museums and churches, the amazing cuisine and the shopping but I MUST work on my class stuff now so I can't do it. But I'll be back sometime in the future to tell you more.

Dublin and now Paris

2007-11-08T08:19:00.000Z

Last weekend I was in Dublin and I didn't have time to write. Now I am in Paris and thought I would give you a little bit of info about the last trip.

We stayed in a hostel called the Four Courts Hostel. It was interesting because I was with a Heather (a girl from the school) and we shared a room with 6 beds, i.e. 4 people we didn't know. This is not an usual situation in Europe but I know that it's a little strange from the US perspective. Anyways, the hostel was interesting. Lots of folks staying there for longer than a couple of nights. Folks from all over Europe (particularly the former Yugoslavia) who moved to Dublin to get work and improve their English. I met a lot of different people there but there was one young man (didn't catch his name) who I met that said something that I think was pretty insightful about the state of Eastern Europe after Milosovich. We were talking about culture and such, as well as communism. He was from Bulgaria. And he told me that many of the older folks thought life was better under Communism. He said that under communism, at least they had a secure job and knew how they were going to pay their bills (food & house) but now there is a lot of choice but people don't have job security.

Another bit that he said which was why I wrote bothered to include this in the blog was about culture. He said that many people feel that Eastern Europe is "backwards, Barbarian, uncivilized" and that it wasn't a fair way to see them. He said it's all about the economy. In his country, it is difficult to earn a living, so time is spent working or thinking about ways to earn a living. There just isn't enough free time left to spend your time thinking about things which are unnecessary to your survival. Further he added, now that communism is gone, people are free to do what they want, but that doesn't really change them. He said sure I can go out and buy a plasma tv, but I never watched tv before so I probably won't now. He then said the most crucial bit, that since people didn't know much of this stuff existed before, they didn't really miss not having it in their lives. Something to think about.

So, while we were in Dublin we made it to the "Guinness Factory" which was pretty cool (we spent about 5 hours there and it wasn't even to drink a lot of Guinness) oh...btw...Did you know that it's the same Guinness who made the beer that is responsible for the Book of World Records? Didn't put 2 & 2 together before I saw it there. Anyways after Guinness we stopped into a little pub to use the toilets and ended up meeting some really interesting Irish folks and having a couple of pints with them. One guy, Danny, even took us for a short walk down the street to point out a couple of interesting Churches and to show us some of the buildings that the Guinness factory build/owned for it's workforce to live in. He swore us to not mention that he showed us around (as it would probably be a blow to his coolness or something) but too bad. I am giving him props here for being a really cool guy and showing us the sights. I am sure he won't ever happen across this blog anyways.

That was pretty much it for Dublin...Chilling out at the hostel and checking out the Temple Bar area. I came back to London for 48 hours and now I am in Paris!

Yesterday we went to the Louvre and saw many of the sites of the city. It's pretty cool. Today not sure what I am going to do. I am uploading my photos as I blog (over 550) and I will put those on sometime soon.

So, I need to plan the day.

Talk to you later!
~Jenn

Halloween & Dublin

2007-11-03T03:50:00.001Z

Heading out to Dublin but before I go I thought I would share my Halloween Photo.

This is my friend Wesley & I getting ready for a night on the town in London.

As my friend Katie Suggested, we're posing as the American Dream Couple.

Ok, well more when I return from Dublin. I have Stonehenge Photos and more Greece I found somewhere??

TTYL
~Jenn

I've done it!

2007-10-31T14:50:00.001Z

I have booked all my remaining weekends to travel.

Here's the rundown:

11/2-11/5 Dublin
11/7-11/10 Paris
11/17-11/19 Prague
11/22-11/25 Barcelona
11/30-12/2 Rome
12/7-12/9 Amsterdam (I am going to Utrech and hang out with those cool folks I met on the easyCruise).

It is getting so close to the time to come back to the states!

Hope that everyone is doing well. I'll be back with photos and details about Dublin after this weekend!
~Jenn

Greece Photos (so far)

2007-10-21T19:09:00.000+01:00

Athens

2007-10-21T11:54:00.000+01:00

Had to say goodbye to my new friends from Holland today :-( It was the last morning of the cruise, but prior to their departure to the airport we went out and had some lunch and walked up to the Acropolis. It was pretty amazing to be in the vicinity of such a rich historical place. I took a lot of pictures and also I took two short videos as well. Hopefully that will help you to better see the scope of the area. It was a LONG walk up a steep hill to get to the top and there were a lot of tourists up there too, but it was completely worth it to see these ancient masterpieces.

When we arrived at my Hotel, the Apollon Hotel I noticed a Kosmos Car Hire brochure, that's very close to my great grandfather's name Kosmas, so I sort of wonder if it's one in the same. It's not too common of a name here according to the hotel receptionist.

I would love to tell you more about the EasyCruise and all the stuff we did in Spetses as well but I really need to take advantage of this precious time I have found to use the internet and get to work on my homework project. So, until then please enjoy the photos!

Later~
Jenn

Jenn + Scooters = Bad Idea!!

2007-10-20T13:36:00.000+01:00

Ok, so we are on another island in Greece today. It's really touristy and such but it's nice. I decided to hang out with two of the Dutch guys that I met the other day. We walked up the side of the hill/mountain and checked out the residential area, had some Gyros for lunch and then the great idea to rent scooters developed.

Anyone who knows me personally knows that I have zero coordination. That being said, it took me all of 10 minutes on that scooter to crash it! Now I have a few boo-boos (right elbow, right knee and left ankle) adding that to my head injury and folks would think that Greece is a warzone or something. Actually it's anything but that. It's an absolutely lovely relaxing place it's just that I am the world's biggest klutz!!

I took a ton of pictures of all of the raw beauty which I will upload to the blog when I get my laptop on wireless. Until then you'll just have to listen to me babble about my misadventures.

Anyways, running out of time on this account. I'll be back tomorrow.

Cheers!
~Jenn

Greece Part 2

2007-10-19T15:02:00.000+01:00

Ah -- I love the media! It is because of reporters that everything on the cruise last night was free of charge! I took happy advantage of the open bar last night and got really really drunk (hehe) and then had some really great Greek food in the restaurant as well. It was really nice.

The first person I met was Steve a guy from London who's daughter works for EasyJet so he gets really great prices on these flights and cruises. He's loves them and has taken the easy cruise five or more times. Wow. He was very funny to talk to. After that I met some really fun folks from Holland. In particular Tim & Inga who were really great to hang out with. Everyone had so much fun hanging out on the boat last night and then today I went with them to a small beach near the military base and we just soaked up some sun and talked about travel. Tim is now or is close to getting his Ph.D. in psychology and Inga is a reporter for a Dutch newspaper so the conversation was good as well. Walking to the beach which was about 20 minutes from our ship was really nice. I love the way that the Greek houses are built into the sides of the hills. There are steps that take ypu up to the different lanes that run between them and there are little motorbikes everywhere. It's a really laid back place and I really like it.

I really wish I hadn't taken my friend's advice back in London when he said I could just wait until I got to Greece to buy some swimwear. Nothing is open so I am swimwear-less. I spent my time thinking about how nice that water must feel instead of experiencing it firsthand. Oh well..

Maybe tomorrow I'll find a swimsuit.
Until then.

~Jenn

Greece....Part 1

2007-10-18T15:57:00.000+01:00

Ok, so I made it to Athens. Finding my cruise ship EasyCruiseOne was quite an ordeal. Before I even made it to the bus from the hotel I had my first mishap. I wasn't watching closely enough and I walked right into the corner of a sign. Ouch. Reach up to touch my head..and return a bloody hand. Ick. Returned to the hotel to see that it wasn't that serious, although it was a little harrowing to cut my head open, I started to actually worry about things that could go wrong when you are travelling along in a foreign country. Hmm. Suffice to say eventually it stopped bleeding and so I assume everything is ok.

As for getting to my cruise ship, yet another adventure. I took the train to the port. No problem, my ticket said Pairues, yet it wasn't specific. I walked like 2km around the port and didn't see the boat anywhere, asked some folks and none had even heard of it before. Turns out there is a Marina quite some way away where the boat was. I took a cab to another area, and got out and tried to catch the boat. Wrong again. Uggh. Finally, when I left that place I got into another taxi and that driver knew where this ship was. It's in a very nice port called Marina Zea. There is an increadible view of the city here and all the other boats around here are private yachts. Today is a special day on this ship. It appears that the owner of this cruise line is having some special event and there is a lot of free stuff going on (buffets, drinks etc.) There is a ton of press too. Very interesting. We'll see how the partying goes as the night progresses!

So, I guess I am just going to go and lie down and chill out for a while now. It has been a LONG day to say the least!!

Hope that everyone is well. I'll be back tomorrow for another update I think.

~Jenn

Fall Break

2007-10-17T14:38:00.000+01:00

All my bags are packed
I'm ready to go
I'm standin here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin
Its early morn
The taxis waitin
Hes blowin his horn
Already I'm so lonesome
I could die

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
cause Im leavin on a jet plane
Dont know when Ill be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

Theres so many times Ive let you down
So many times Ive played around
I tell you now, they don't mean a thing
Evry place I go, Ill think of you
Evry song I sing, Ill sing for you
When I come back, Ill bring your wedding ring

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that youll wait for me
Hold me like youll never let me go
cause Im leavin on a jet plane
Dont know when Ill be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

Now the time has come to leave you
One more time
Let me kiss you
Then close your eyes
Ill be on my way
Dream about the days to come
When I wont have to leave alone
About the times, I wont have to say

Oh, kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
cause I'm leavin on a jet plane
Don't know when Ill be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

But, Im leavin on a jet plane
Don't know when Ill be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

Ok, sorry for the corny John Denver lyrics!!

It's just about that time. Getting ready to go to Greece!I am really excited to see this country because my mother's dad is from there. I will be arriving late tonight, then tomorrow I am taking a cruise which will over the next three days take
me to Poros and Spetses followed up by two days in Athens. I am pretty excited about this adventure!

So, provided I get good internet access in my hotel and on the ship, check back in the next few days and see what has been going on.

Caio!
~Jenn

I'm Rick James Bitch!!

2007-10-13T23:44:00.000+01:00

Yeah, I don't usually update this thing when I am not travelling but I thought that I would put this little update in...

I just met DAVE CHAPELLE!!!

I went to The Comedy Store to see the standard weekend show and after the set was over he just came out and gave us 30 minutes of improv. It was so funny!! His main topic of the news was discussion about the kid who got tased from UF!!

So funny!

Anyways enough of the bragging. Going to Greece this Wednesday night. Should be a good time. I'll send you guys some updates and photos when I can. If not expect a decent recap!

Cheers!
~Jenn

Edinburgh, Scotland - Photos!!

2007-10-10T11:32:00.000+01:00

So, this has been a BUSY week. I am not going to travel this weekend (well maybe somewhere nearby but not out of the UK) however I finally arranged my fall break plans.

I decided to scrap Italy due to having issues securing what I feel will be a lower cost/safe place to stay. Instead I am going to Greece. I found a steal of a deal on an Island Hopping Cruise (It's 80gbp for 4 days which is transportation and lodging combined so quite a saver) so I will be exploring there.

I am already trying to figure out how I am going to get back to Europe after I leave here. I love it and I love the ability to go so many places. I will have lots of unchecked destinations on my to do list. Italy, Poland, Portugal etc. Going to have to get back quickly to see those.

Ok, back to work for me. Stop by here later in the week if I go on any exciting trips this weekend I will update. I might also take the cam out and get some more of London photographed. It has been a while since I have taken any pictures here.

Edinburgh, Scotland

2007-10-06T20:44:00.000+01:00

I spent the day in Edinburgh, Scotland. I am very impressed.

The city center is very cool. It has a sort of medieval feel to it. There is a large hill/mountain in the center of the town. On the very top of it sits the Edinburgh Castle. To get to the castle I had to walk up a winding cobblestone road that had beautiful buildings lining the streets. In between some of the buildings there were staircases (very high ones) that winded through the alleyways between the buildings so that you could get to the top without walking up via the road. It just seemed like everywhere I went today I met really nice people. Not to knock the rest of Europe, but the folks that I met today seemed very friendly and interested in Americans and interested in people enjoying their time in Scotland. Everyone had a suggestion for a site that I should check out and shared an anecdote about their own travels to the US or their desire to travel there.

So, I managed to check out the castle (from the outside) and walked down the "Royal Mile" and also Princes Street. After that I had to make my way back to my hotel so that I could do some homework and here I am updating my blog instead. I took a few pictures of the city that will do more to convince you of what a nice place this is than I can do in this distracted little blog so I'll be sure to post them ASAP (probably Tuesday).

Time to hit the books.
~Jenn

Amsterdam, Netherlands

2007-10-02T09:06:00.000+01:00

Wow, I am really behind. Every time I pick up my computer these days it's to do some work, so I didn't have a chance to update the blog. This weekend I spent a day in Amsterdam. It really wasn't long enough to do anything more than have a couple of meals, walk around and say that I have been there.

I took a couple of photos while I was there most are from the Red Light District. It's actually a pretty part of town...just seedy.

Anyways, sorry I didn't write more this time. I am going to Scotland this weekend, but I have a TON of work to do so I might again delay posting a blog to do my homework.

Anyways, Take Care!

~Jenn

Ljubljana, Slovenia

2007-09-25T12:52:00.000+01:00

Budapest, Hungary

2007-09-25T12:51:00.000+01:00

Vienna, Austria - Photos

2007-09-25T12:50:00.001+01:00

Vienna - More on the City

2007-09-24T12:09:00.000+01:00

I have some time to kill before I head out to the airport so I thought I would fill you guys in on some slightly interesting observations-occurances of the last 24 hours.

To begin, last night I stayed at a hostel called Wombatz. It's a pretty nice hostel as the standards go, more like a hotel with minimal furnishings than a hostel. On the bottom floor of the hostel there is actually a bar, and when you check into the hostel you get a ticket for a free drink so I thought I would go down and check it out. I ended up striking up a chat with a nice German guy named Theo and after a bit of talking we decided to take the train to the center of the city (about 10 minutes) and check out a historical-heritage wine bar. Oddly enough, when we were leaving the train we ran into another group of folks from the hostel who were going in the same direction and since there is always more fun in a crowd we decided to hang out with these guys (2 americans, 2 aussies & 1 canadian). The two Aussie had guitars with them so we found an area near an empty bench and they started playing music and singing. It was really good...until...The Austrian Polizi showed up. You see, there is a law in Austria that you cannot play music outside after 10pm. The police informed them that they would have to pay a fine of 21 euro per person. And, they wanted to see the passports of those guys. When the Aussies told them they did not have their passports or 21 euros on their person the Politzi told them that thez would take them to jail for 21 hours instead. Wow, luckily for those guys the Politzi accepted their driver's license for identification and everyone loaned them enough euros to pay the fine so thez would not have to go to jail! I have pictures of this occasion (before and after the politzi, i'll post them later today)

Another interesting thing in Austria is the recycling. There are actually people who work in the dining room at KFC and it's their job to pick up the trays with the rubbish on them, and then rinse off the paper dishes and sort them, cups in one bin, food in another bin and plastic in the other bin. Isn't that pretty intense?

Something in Budapest that was interesting was the grocery store. It will cost you about 50 forint to use a buggy in the store or you can use a hand basket for free. When it comes time to checkout, you must purchase the bags to put your groceries in unless you brought some from home, and you take all of your purchases out of your cart and put them on the belt, then the cashier rings it all up and puts them back in your buggy, you pay and then you push the cart over to a counter area where you self-bag your groceries. Surprisingly enough, it's a rather efficient process and because people pay for their bags (which are big like shopping bags) they tend to be conservative and there is likely less waste as a result.

So, my time in Austria or (Österreich) is about up, so I will leave this blog for now.

Hope everyone is doing well. Take care.

Jennifer

Sunday in Vienna

2007-09-23T18:18:00.000+01:00

So, almost EVERYTHING is close on Sunday in Vienna, it's a good thing I have a few hours to kill tomorrow before my flight back to London.

I walked down to the Central area of the city and walked around the Museum District. This is a city with a LOT of museums. I took several pictures of the buildings in that area but I didn't take the time to figure out the names of the buildings I was photographing. I think I am finally feeling the exhaustion of non-stop walking around European cities. I took the metro a fair bit today but still I walked a lot too.

Vienna is a pretty city where most people are fairly friendly and speak English. The museum area had a lot of rose gardens and other pretty places to sit and relax. There are lots of guys dressed up as Mozart peddling tickets to various operas and concerts (which I probably should have purchased but I didn't).

Of the entire trip I would rate the food the best in Budapest. I had a lovely veal dish that was very interesting, but the name of this dish escapes me. I am considering taking another trip to Budapest before I go back to the states because I didn't get a chance to go and tour the castles on the Buda side, I only took pictures of what I could see from the Pest side which was still pretty impressive.

I would recommend to anyone planning on doing a tour of this part of Europe to try and stay at least 3 days in Budapest, i.e. 2 entire days where you are not travelling because I think there should be a minimum of one day spent on each side of the river.

In addition, I think that it is better to plan those days to be a Friday and a Saturday because of the early closing of places on Sundays (if they are open at all).

In all, I think I have still spent less money on this 5 day trip then I did in my two days in Norway if you don't count the airline tickets.

Also, something to note. To get from Ljubljana to Budapest takes 8-9 hours by train and to get to Vienna from Budapest by train is about 3-3.5 horus.

Ok, well I am running out of time in this internet cafe so I will close this for now. Hopefully something interesting happens tomorrow.

Until then, Take Care.

Jenn

PS I have a ton to do this weeks so I probably will not update until after my trip this weekend to Amsterdam. Except to upload this trip's pictures of course!

Budapest Hungary

2007-09-21T19:16:00.000+01:00

I made it into Budapest about 5pm tonight. All I have been able to do so far is check into my hostel and have a bite to eat. The city has a lot to offer for my short stay and I am going to have to work tonight to build an agenda so that I can see as much as possible because I will be off to Vienna first thing on Sunday morning. It's just rush rush rush. In the morning I know I am going to check out the central market, but after that where? Maybe Hero's Square, The Turkish Baths or the Palace District. Not sure yet but at least one of those places will be photographically documented.

Last night I had a blast with these great Irish kids who were staying at the hostel. We went out to a Slovenian restaurant and had some authentic Slovenian cuisine and then we did a couple of pubs. I drank Smile beer which I think is Corona by another name.

Anyways, I don't want to tie up this computer too long since there is a que, but I will write again tomorrow evening to discuss the adventures of the day.

Take Care,
Jenn

Ljubljana part 2

2007-09-20T17:40:00.001+01:00

Today I spent the day walking around Ljubljana. It is a really nice little city.

My hostel is very close to the center of town, just 10 minute walk down some neighborhood streets and I am there. The morning was pretty brisk but not nearly as much as last night where it got to -2(c). The city is very pretty, clean and open.

The first thing I did this morning was go to a bookstore because I had already devoured the book that I brought with me that I thought would last the entire trip. Afterwards I walked down the cobblestone lanes to the center of the city which is a square with a monument in the middle with three bridges intersecting on one side. The square is next to the Ljubljanica River.

Across the river and atop a hill you can see the Ljubljana Castle. I didn't get a chance to go up to the castle (sigh) but it was a beauty to behold from the ground view so I can only imagine that it was even more spectacular from up there atop the mountain.

When you cross the three bridges you arrive at the Central Market. It was an interesting little market. All of the stalls were arranged by what they were selling so that similar craftsmen were located together. It started with glassware (mostly candle holders) which were painted to look like stained glass then it moved onto pottery and finally to wooden handicrafts. The items were pretty and relatively low priced and they weren't like the junk that you find in a lot of markets. Further down there were stalls selling fresh fruits. There were several stalls selling fresh sauerkraut and fresh fruit. You should have seen the beautiful green grapes, they were massive! After that came the area with the clothing and shoes, nobody was really selling exactly the same thing and it was nice, it seemed like an outdoor department store. The biggest bargain (which I didn't take because of size) were the candles and lanterns. For less than 2€ you could buy a decent sized colored glass candle holder filled with a candle (about the size of a mayonnaise jar) it was really cool, but the size and weight of those items deterred me from a purchase. The last area of the market had flowers. Beautiful roses and sunflowers, daises and others. They all smelled so good.

After the market I walked down a quaint little lane and window shopped. These stores were built in a place that I assume was a stable or something in years past. The ceilings were all curved up and it reminded me a bit of the stables at Camden Market in London.

This evening I went to the grocery store and had dinner in their restaurant. The food is good and relatively inexpensive. I had lasagne, some peas/corn/carrots and fresh bread. Now I am retiring to the hostel to get some rest prior to my excursion to Budapest early tomorrow morning.

I think that Slovenia is a beautiful country and think it would be a beautiful place to retire one day if it weren't for the cold. I am relatively certain that if it was a few degrees cooler here that they wouldn't be able to hold the hordes of tourists back.

That's all I have for now. I'll write again tomorrow from Budapest!

Take Care,
~Jenn

Slovenia - Day 1

2007-09-19T14:06:00.000+01:00

I am in Ljubljana.

Beautiful so far. It is located in a valley surrounded by mountains (some with snowy peaks). The hostel I chose to stay in is pretty cool too. Free Internet, clean and funky (located in an old house that has been totally redone).

I'll take some photos and such later.

Jenn

Travel Update

2007-09-19T00:56:00.000+01:00

Hey Guys,

I'll be in Ljubljana, Slovenia tomorrow and Thursday,
Budapest Hungary on Friday & Saturday and Vienna Austria on Sunday & Monday.

I hope that everyone is doing great and that I will get a chance to pop online and let you know how it goes while I am there.

If I find really cheap calls somewhere I'll give you all a ring.

Take care,

~Jenn

Days - 86, 87, 88, 89, 90 - WSOP, Bergen Norway & London Life

2007-09-12T21:00:00.000+01:00

I am embarrassed by the fact that it has been 5 days since I last did a proper update to this blog. I have just been SO busy since getting back from Norway and I couldn't find any places to do an update in Bergen.

So, I guess to fill in the gaps I'll tell you about the second day I was in Norway. On Saturday morning I woke up around 6:30 to go catch a train for the "Norway in a Nutshell" tour. The first leg of the trip was a 3+ hour ride on a high speed train through the lovely countryside towards the town of Myordal. On the way to Myordal we stopped ever so briefly at the highest point on the Bergen Railway 1222 meters above sea level. At that hight the weather was quite cold and misty -- essentially we were in a cloud. Shortly after that we made it to Myrodal. In the little town of Myordal we switched trains to the Flam railway. This train was very cute, it was green and had a wood grained interior and it took us from 842 meters down to 2 meters. The ride was relatively spectacular. I saw an amazing waterfall (check out the photos) and several glaciers etc. When we reached Flam, we transferred over to a boat and took a cruise around the fjords. They were equally amazing. The ship twisted along through the little valleys between the peaks and the edges of the cliffs were nearly 90 degrees straight up and very very high! We passed by a few different villages that had a couple of houses in them and within 2 hours we were at Gudvagen.

From Gudvagen, we boarded a bus to go back up the mountain. That was the most harrowing ride ever! The road was SO steep we literally had to drive about 200 feet...take a VERY sharp turn and drive 200 feet in the opposite direction. We did that 13 times before we made it to the summit of the mountain. On the way we saw beautiful waterfalls but I was pretty busy gripping my seat as I am quite terrified of heights and this was VERY high.

From there, we drove on to the town of Voss where we boarded our last train of the day and took it to Bergen. By the time I made it to Bergen I was hungry and exhausted. I found a cab to take me to the hotel and crashed.

Sunday morning I decided to go to Bergen for the day before my flight. The first thing that I did was take a cable car up to the summit of the mountain that boarders the town. It was neat, 7 minutes going straight up and you reach an observation deck where you can view the entirety of this lovely seaside town. After taking photos of the city (which was covered in a cool fog) I went back down the mountain and walked around the annual market. The market sold primarily foods (lots of vendors selling something that looked like a pancake that people were eating with jam on top) and fish etc. It was very interesting. I also walked through the shops that were selling various local wool items (sweaters & hats mainly) and bought a minuscule amount of gifts for friends. Norway is so expensive that everything was ridiculous when you do the conversion. Basically you can divide everything by 5 (exchange rate is 5.50kr to $1.00) so for example McDonalds was 72kr just under $12.50.

The least expensive thing I ate there (which is very popular thing to eat) was a hot dog...to be more specific...a foot-long hot dog with cheese inside wrapped in bacon. A cardiologist nightmare but it was quite tasty!!

So, after a couple hours in Bergen I had to get to the airport to get back to London. The airport was not too far away and on the bus I made small-talk with the kid sitting next to me in his Norwegian Air Force uniform. He was talking about being in town to party with friends and having to go to Stavenger. We talked about the states and he had been over a few times and said he liked it a lot. Especially because everything is so CHEAP!!

When I got back to London, I just slept and tried to play catchup on my homework assignments.

Tuesday though, I went to the Empire Casino to see if I could run into any Celebrity poker players. I was in luck and met two HUGE names in the poker arena: Doyle Brunson & Daniel Negreanu. I got photos with each of them and Doyle even invited me to his private party last night but I had to decline since it started at 7pm and I didn't even get off from work until 10. Oh well...next year I won't turn down any offers like that.

So, that was basically my week in a nutshell. Next week I have HUGE plans. I was planning on going to Stockholm but after seeing the price of things in Norway decided that I would try someplace cheaper. Everyone advised that I try Eastern Europe so that's what I am going to do. I will head out on Wednesday to Ljubljana, Slovenia and spend 2 nights there...take the train to Zagreb, Croatia and spend a night there, then train to Budapest, Hungry for 2 days and finally home via Vienna, Austria where I will spend 2 days as well. I hope that I remember to pack enough memory cards and batteries so my camera will be sorted for the entire trip!

So, I have a lot of work to do on my classes before then so I will probably not blog much in the meantime, however as soon as I get a chance I will tell you all about my amazing trip to Eastern Europe.

Until then,
~Jenn

2007 WSOP London - Empire Casino, Fifty Casino, The Sportsman Casino

2007-09-11T16:41:00.000+01:00

Wow, I went down to see the big dogs play poker today in the 1st ever European World Series of Poker. It was so cool!! I got a photo taken with Doyle Brunson & Daniel Negreanu and saw Phil Gordon, Howard Lederer and others. So cool.

Norway Photos

2007-09-11T00:14:00.000+01:00

I don't really have time to write a blog. And these pictures aren't notated or in specific order YET. But I will get that squared away SOON.

I had such an interesting time in one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. And the MOST expensive.

Hope you like the pictures:

Norway

2007-09-10T14:47:00.000+01:00

Days 84 & 85 - Oslo, Norway

2007-09-07T16:01:00.000+01:00

This week has really flown by! Last night I hung out with the roommates and some other students in the Study Centre {about 12}, we had a pretty good time. So good in fact that I didn't bother trying to go to sleep last night since my flight was so early. Perhaps we will consider that to be a minor mistake. I am pretty tired now. It's about 4pm in Norway and the sun is very low now. Oslo is located at 59'57" North Latitude, Roughly about a half a degree south of Juneau, Alaska. The weather is very mild outside right now and I am starting to wish that I packed a second short-sleeved shirt. It's a very interesting little city.

I have spent the day walking down the Karl Johans Gate which runs from the central railroad station to the Palace. It's a pretty street with some very nice European style buildings and cobblestone streets. The city is having elections on Monday and I walked by a park which had numerous political parties all out campaigning for their candidates. I thought it was really cute that each party had a little shack-building setup and some were sort of interesting. One had a green canoe with their party's name on it. I took quite a few photos because it's much easier to show you then to describe them but since I am not presently able to upload the photos you will just have to hold tight and wait until I get back and find the time to do it.

Tonight I am staying at the Anker Hostel, it's a friendly place and the room is sparce but clean. The mattresses on the beds are hardly much, but it will work for one night. I will try to get by without the duvet because it looks like it is 100 years old...and the pillow is in roughly the same condition.

When you stay at the hostel, you actually have to bring your own sheets or rent them. It's pretty interesting. Tonight I got a private room with a bathroom, however tomorrow I am going on a train+bus+boat tour across the fjords to Bergen where I will be staying at the YMCA which didn't have any private accomodations and I will be staying in a room for 6 with a shared bathroom....hmmm......Wish I had a friend come with to share this interesting experience.

Next weekend (18-24) I have booked flights to Stockholm and intended to go there and to Copenhagen, but I am not positive because Scandanavia is VERY expensive!! I had a chicken nuggets meal at McDonald's today and it cost me 12.50...sheesh!! In London, where things are expensive that meal would have cost me about 8.00, so you see how this beautiful city is simply outrageous. . . And it's scaring me away from doing the Stockholm thing since I know that things are as bad or worse there.

I am contemplating trying to find something much less expensive, i'll let you know how that works out.

Wow, the fact that the sun is pretty much down now has me getting VERY sleepy. I think I will go back to the hostel and get some rest.

Hope that you are all doing well, write me back!!

Jenn

Day 82 & 83

2007-09-05T00:51:00.000+01:00

Last night Spamalot was incredible. It was so unexpectedly good. I would recommend this to anyone who ends up coming to London. Some of my fellow students actually got a chance to meet ERIC IDLE who was sitting in the audience. They even took pictures with him...lucky them.

Tonight I went to Bodean's BBQ where we watched a replay of the FSU/Clemson game. Major disappointment but it was totally expected...entirely. Afterwards we did the pub thing..it was fun too...very fun.

Funny thing happened on the way back to the club, these two guys on bikes were riding down the street...first one stopped second didn't realize what happened and slammed right into the back of the first and his back wheel came completely vertical while and he slid down the front of the bike and hurt the "jewels"...he was in pain but also laughing hysterically as was his friend who he rear ended and the rest of my little group I was out with. It was totally schadenfreude! Fun stuff. It's totally London.

Anyways, time to get ready for bed. I'll catch you guys later! :-)

Night,

~Jenn

Day 80, 81 & 82

2007-09-03T12:52:00.000+01:00

So, I am back after a few days delinquency. I guess i'll catch you up on things.

Friday night I had a fun night with the new roommates and some neighbors. I was introduced to a weird/funny drinking game called "Ring of Fire" it was cool as it involved a bunch of random silly things and a deck of cards and was a great ice breaker. Add some alcohol to the mix and everyone was just bubbly friendly and we had a good time.

Due to a subsequent hangover I took it easy on Saturday morning and didn't make it to the Tate Modern as previously mentioned. The afternoon was spent walking around the city and finally finding my way to a nice park where I sat for a while and fed the pigeons my Rolo candies. Those little birds will eat anything.

Sunday I had to work and started cracking out the books and getting caught up on my studies because I am going to Norway this weekend. It should be an interesting trip.

Tonight we are going to see Monty's Python's Spamalot. I'll let you know how that is. Some of my fellow students who already saw it said it was pretty interesting.

That's it for now,

~Jenn

Day 78 & 79

2007-08-31T23:16:00.001+01:00

So, the flatmates arrived yesterday. It seems like I have a really good group here this semester. There are 2 guys and 2 girls. Yesterday night I worked so there wasn't too much to talk about. Oh, one thing remember that store that I saw get robbed? Well I went by and checked on the owners the next day and they were really nice. When I went to grab a bite to eat at Eve's across the street later in the day one of them was there and he bought my lunch! Very nice.

Today I did a lot of walking around. A store I like called Marks & Spencer was having a Summer Clearance Sale and I went around amongst their different Central London locations and bought a couple of nice shirts and a pair of jeans (only 5 gbp).

This evening I went to the South Bank with my friend Sowmya and 2 of her friends who are here visiting from Germany. We had dinner at Wagamama and then walked around. We walked all the way to Trafalgar Square before they were too tired to continue and returned to Canary Wharf. Now I am here at 11pm updating this blog which I have been bad about keeping up to date these days.

I have a TON of things to do with my classes this term so between work, travel and homework I am going to be busy as can be!!

I am going to the Tate Modern Gallery tomorrow morning so I hope to have some cool things to discuss and pictures to share with you then.

Night,

~Jenn

Day 75, 76 & 77 Part 1

2007-08-29T02:49:00.000+01:00

Today's my Birthday. The 77th day I have been in London. I love the number 7 so that's a cool fact that it's my Birthday :-)

I have been very slow to blog so I'll try to make this one count.

Monday was the August Bank Holiday. We were off from work and I decided not to try to fight the crowds at the Nottinghill Carnival (Billed as Europe's Biggest Street Party) and instead head back to somewhere I knew with my friend Sowmya -- Brighton. Unlike the last time I went to Brighton this time I the weather was perfect for the beach. We left from London Bridge Station at half past one and were on our way to "London-by-the-Sea" as it is often called. The train was buzzing with folks heading down to this seaside getaway. When we arrived we decided to start our trip with a walk down "The Lanes". These are just building with very narrow alleyways in between the shops. It's quite a charming little spot and this time I took a few pictures of the area so that I could give you a better impression.

After ducking into a few shops we wandered over to the Royal Pavilion. The weather was really lovely and I got a few really nice photos of the palace. After that it was down to the shore.

When we got to the beach we went down and had a seat on the beach and got some sunshine and watched the crowds. There were lots of folks on the beach and in that frigid water as well. After hanging out by the shore for a bit we walked up to the boardwalk or pier (not sure what to call the area we were in) and we were drawn to a band playing Beatles tunes. I took a couple of snapshots of them too. The music was really quite good -- Hard to believe they were just Buskers and not the house band. I was particularly drawn to this one guy who played an electric violin. He was incredible. I should have taken a video of it.

After the band ended their set we thought it best to make our way back to Brighton Station so that I would be back in time to check in for my online classes. We stopped for dinner at an Asian Buffet called Wokamania. It was pretty good. They had a fusion of Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Singaporean (is that right?) and Indian food on the buffet and it was quite nice, albeit a bit pricey at 12.90 per plate not including the drink.

The train ride home was packed. The train had 9 cars and we had to walk through 8 of them before we were able to find a seat, but we did and it was a nice smooth train ride home.

When I got home I noticed that it was a bit unusual on my street. The building was a bit dark and there were men working on the sidewalk. When I got to my flat I realized that the electricity had gone out. I decided not to come upstairs since it was dark and instead go to the lobby where the lights were on. I am glad I was paying attention because on the way there I noticed that there were people in the computer lab downstairs and it dawned on me that they would not be able to get out of the room since we have electronic doors down there. I walked down the hall to check on them and they were very glad to see me. I alerted the receptionist and she came down with me and told the folks how to disengage the locks on the door. Since the phones were down in the building and it was pretty much empty there's no telling how long they would have been down there before someone had come and let them out. (Probably about 2 hours).

Tuesday (today) I had to work. I spent the early part of the day very happy because the management were finally able to fix the showers in my flat. I moved into a new flat last Friday and the showers have been pretty much junk so I had been going downstairs to take a shower in the kitchen. What a pain that was. But now we have working showers!! Woo Hoo. After a refreshing shower I went to work. Tonight was pretty unremarkable aside from working on a student's laptop who had basically crashed her system and needed to have the OS and drivers reinstalled and her data backed up. My boss did the data backup but I piece-mealed all her drivers and such back on (all recovery disks were back in California where she was from).

After work I hung out and chit-chatted outside of the building the security guard. We were out there for about 45 minutes when a former student came by. He introduced himself as Aiden and was talking about his time here and how he loves the city so much that he just had to come back after he graduated. I totally can see why...it's great!! Well as it turns out, he just got finished filming part of the new Batman movie and he has a small speaking part in it. He actually worked with Heath Ledger and is a credited actor in it. How cool is that? Of course most actors have more than one job and his other job was a nightclub bouncer so he hung around for about 30 minutes telling antidotes about drunk and disorderly customers. Sometime during this conversation 2 motorcycles with 2 riders each came flying by us. As it turned out just a few doors down they kicked in the front of the computer store and grabbed some stuff and dashed out. It all happened very quickly but it was sort of funny how it happened right there in our plain view. It certainly gave the first few hours of my birthday some excitement.

Anyways, it's now 3:16 am and I need to get some rest as tomorrow I have plans to go out and see some theater and have dinner with friends. Hope to have more exciting stuff to chat about later today or tomorrow.

That's it for now. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Day 72, 73, 74

2007-08-26T20:50:00.000+01:00

In case you were wondering..I'm still here. I have just been negligent with my blogging these days. Everything is just getting so routine now that I haven't really had anything interesting to blog about. On Friday I went to Kensington for the first time but all I did was go into a few shops. Saturday I stayed home and watched videos and this morning I walked around Brick Lane.

I had some great food on Brick Lane. It was Thai.

This afternoon I had to come to work. Nobody has been by the library in the last 2 hours.

Hopefully tomorrow I will head out to the Nottinghill Carnival and return with cool pictures of the festivities.

Until then...Enjoy this video. It's Bangra music and it's pretty cool despite the cheesy vid.

Check out this video: Panjabi MC - Mundian to Bach Ke

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Day 70 & 71

2007-08-23T14:44:00.000+01:00

Yesterday (Wednesday) was pretty unremarkable. Today is more of the same so far, if anything happens contrary to that I'll be sure to advise.

An interesting piece of news from yesterday's Metro, A man was held in jail for "Stealing Broadband" the article can be found at http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=62813&in_page_id=34
It's pretty funny, I haven't ever seen a case where someone was treated so harsly before. This guy was using his laptop to tap into someones unsecured broadband connection to us the internet. His punishment £500 and possibly 6 months in jail. What do you think? Is that really too harsh? I mean the people who were being piggybacked had an open/unsecured internet connection. Aren't they in essence providing free WiFi to the masses?

Hit me back with your thoughts on this. Because I am running out of interesting things to discuss in this blog at the moment I am going to start inserting random weird things that I come across as I see fit.

Hope all are well...If anything interesting happens tonight I'll be sure to come back and update.

~Jenn

Day 69-Movies

2007-08-22T00:04:00.000+01:00

Today was another work day. This evening I went out to see the Bourne Ultimatum. This movie was really cool because about 20 minutes of it take place in London. Waterloo Station is one of the places where a big scene took place. It's really cool to be able to say "I've been there". Aside from that the movie plot was also pretty good. There is an exceptionally intense fight scene that takes place in Morocco. I won't spoil the movie, suffice to say if you think a movie has to have a romantic scene in it to be good you will be disappointed, however if you like an intense action flick it's a great one to see.

Thats all for now.

~Jenn

Day 68 - Part 2

2007-08-20T22:56:00.000+01:00

Well, I am happy to report that my day improved. Thanks to friends. Don't know what I would do without them.

After work I caught up with Sowmya and we met for dinner & theatre. Just what the doctor ordered.

We shared a pizza at an Italian Cafe in Leicester Square and then caught Elling. If I had to choose one play to see twice, this would be the one. It was SO good. It had a very minimal set and only had a cast of 5 but it was terrific. The play is about two guys in Norway who are conditionally released from the nuthouse to have a go at reentering society. Both of the main characters and the supporting cast were terrific. They were so endearing and it was terrific. The entire time I was laughing and on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen to the duo next. Fantastic.

After that we had small talk on the way to the tube and then home. It was a really cool evening and after 5 minutes of complaining about the stupid way my Monday started out, it was completely out of my mind. These type of moments are the best part of living in London.

That's all for now.

Cheers!
~Jenn

Day 66 & 67 (Part One)

2007-08-20T12:08:00.001+01:00

This weekend was fun. I hung out with my non-FSU friends all weekend, going to clubs, playing cards and just hanging out and watching TV, that was all fun stuff. I was introduced to a new TV series that is great called Life on Mars, the series is complete now but a friend has recorded them so I am going to have a chance to catch up with it in my free time.

With regards to Day 67 Part One, It's only noon now, but I have already had enough happen today that I thought I would blog about it.

It's Monday. I got home last night around 2am. At 6:00am the fire alarm goes off in the building. The siren is just outside my bedroom door and the sound it makes is so sickening that it could actually be used as a torture device. It's horrible. It momentarily goes off, but then it resumes. So I have to fumble around 1/2 dressed, get some pants on and my bag and HOPE that it's not an actual fire so that I don't get burned up while I am trying to make myself decent since I have to go out into the street. Needless to say when I got downstairs the night security informed me that it was a false alarm. Someone was cooking with Olive Oil at 6am and burned it and that is what set it off. $#&*£@ is what I want to say. This happens SO often and it is always some inconsiderate person who puts something on the stove and then fails to watch it properly or is too dense to open the vent in the kitchen when they are cooking.

Anyways, I went back upstairs and fell back asleep -- for an hour. At which point someone was knocking on the door. So, I had to get dressed AGAIN and go see who was there. By the time I got up and to the door they were gone. $#&*£@ again!

So, I go back to bed again for what seems like a minute and then the alarm goes off. And I am at work. So, now here is the situation...My roommate asked me to switch my day off with her at the beginning of the month. I really didn't want to do it because my birthday is 29/8 and I would like to have a long weekend as I was originally scheduled to do so. However being the far too nice and conciliatory person that I seem to be with her I agreed. As it turned out, the day I agreed to swap with her my bosses decided to close the library anyways so she got the day off. So, I asked her to switch with me on Sept 2 so that I would have more than one day off this week. Her response was I don't want to have to work 2 Sundays in a row. She suggested that she would work 1/2 the day which to me is still SHIT. Unbelievable. I sent her an email back that said, Oh, well I simply thought that since I was doing YOU a favor by switching my day off with you that you would do the same for me, but I see how it is. So, don't worry about it. What I didn't say was that I am not going to do her any more favors. I am over it. I checked my schedule and I have already conceded far more days off to her than she has for me and I am just over it. No more favors.

So if that didn't already have me irritated, there is still more to be annoyed about. My boss just came back from vacation today. While he has been out, I think I have been doing an OK job with the office stuff. Anyways a student came in and they had an issue with a misspelled name on their account and I corrected it which was apparently the wrong thing to do. Then right in front of the student he jumped down my throat to correct me. I guess this is a British thing, but in the US, generally you are pulled aside and corrected about things that you do wrong and this really made me look like a total incompetent ass in front of this other person, not to mention about 2 inches tall as well.

After all that, I just wanted to get away from the office for a bit to re-collect what's left of my nerves, but I wasn't able to go to lunch because they have to do an orientation. So I will just have to sit here and be miserable for a bit longer.

You know what? This is probably TMI but I am not even PMSing this is just a really shit day. To top it off. I found my 3rd gray hair this week (aggh!).

I can't believe that in 9 days I will be 32 years old.

Can the day get any worse?

I'll let you know later.

~Jenn

Day 64 & 65

2007-08-19T00:05:00.000+01:00

I am not entirely sure what to blog about here today. This week has been sort of dull. I have been hanging out in the city all by myself. Everyone at the study centre is out of town this weekend so for the most part I have been out visiting some local night clubs with friend and then playing cards. The night clubs in London are sort of interesting. Last night I went to two clubs, one was called The Loop and is located in Hanover Square and the other is called TigerTiger and is located in Piccadilly Circus. The second club is one of the larger clubs in London. It was actually the club that was targeted by those recent bomb attempts. It was really packed and the folks there were super friendly. It is a very large club that played lots of really good music. The funniest thing that I heard there, was a remix of the 80s Dolly Parton song 9 to 5. It cracked me up that they were playing that song there.

Tonight I went to a different club called "Wax-Bar" it was another packed place. For some reason I just wasn't really feeling it there so I made it an early night.

Not sure what is in store for tomorrow. I'll let you know when I figure it out.

~Jenn

Day 63 - Dropped the ball

2007-08-17T13:21:00.000+01:00

I was playing cards last night and forgot to come back and blog about it. Sorry.

I didn't get home until 1am anyways.

All of the staff are out of town on holidays. This place is a ghosttown.

Anyways, I don't have too much else to say other than perhaps a brief comment about the news. This month has really been struck with a lot of tragic stories, These miners in Utah who are trapped and then the 3 rescue workers who died yesterday trying to dig them out, the bridge in Minnesota, the Earthquake in Peru and what is starting to look like another active hurricane year. Just a lot of unfortunate things occuring this month.

Hopefully things will start looking up a bit!

Anyways, Happy Friday to everyone! If I get a chance I'll come back later tonight and recap the day.

~Jenn

Day 62-Almost Nothing..but then Something

2007-08-15T23:25:00.000+01:00

Today was almost nothing..but then at the last minute I was invited to the pub with Colleen (the roommate) and Charles (another student/staff member). It was a lot of fun. Basically just drinks and chit-chat but it was good.

I have a substantial buzz so this blog will be short and potentially incoherent, for which I apologize immensely. The conversation consisted mainly of football & politics but was good.

Everyone will be leaving tomorrow for various vacations and I will be alone in the building...nice.

Anyways I am too buzzed to continue, I have stressed out the spell check long enough. Have a good night. :-) <3

~Jenn

Day 61-Nothing Much..

2007-08-15T00:26:00.001+01:00

Not too much happened today. I am just enjoying the summer. Today's temp has been in the upper 60s. It has been very nice aside from some rainy weather around lunchtime.

Otherwise, today was pretty much just another Monday.

Might be going to see a comedy show tomorrow...just have to wait and see.

~Jenn

Day 60 - We Will Rock You!!

2007-08-13T23:27:00.000+01:00

I went to see "We Will Rock You" the Queen Tribute Musical. It wasn't my idea, but it was pretty good. The plot was weak, and the comedy bits were slightly corny, but the music was pretty damn good. There were lots of really talented singers in the production and the sets were very well done. They had a mock up of the Tottingham Court Road Underground Station of the future and it looked really similar to the real one. Interesting..

Other than that...It was just a regular work day. My boss is on vacation this week so wouldn't you know it...all sorts of issues came up today. I had to call him and ask him a question while he is on vacation and that made me feel dumb. Even though there really wasn't any possible way I could have known what to do I still hate having to call someone who is on vacation and ask them questions...

So, that's all for tonight. It's 11:30 and I am going to try to get to bed early tonight ... I regret to inform all you folks who are in Tallahassee and other warmer parts that it is presently 64 degrees and breezy outside.

Until next time...

~Jenn

Day 58 & 59 - Greenwich, Maritime Museum, Indian Food & More

2007-08-12T22:34:00.000+01:00

This was a busy weekend. I am starting to make some local friends now and spending my weekends doing fun stuff. This weekend I was out having fun and was in far too late last night to blog and out again this morning too early to blog again.

It started off yesterday with a lunch at Costa's (an Italian Coffee Shop) in the Holborn neighborhood. Lunch was a simple sandwich, but I mention the lunch because while sitting outside enjoying the lovely weather I managed to catch this amusing scene on my camera:

At one point in time there were two of these guys out there but I didn't get a chance to snap a picture before the other one had gone back inside...

Later in the day we decided to go out to a club...and had to take a train to get there. At one of the stops on the way to the club a group of about 16 school-girls who couldn't have been more than 17 or so got on the train all dolled up to go out in the city. The volume in the carriage immediately went up as they were very excited about their night out. I felt like there could be a secret filming for the upcoming Bratz movie going on and we just didn't know it. It was funny and cute.

The club was a ton of fun too. So many folks there from all over the world all just dancing and acting silly. It was a fun and amusing time.

This morning I got together with my friend Sowmya to do some sight seeing. We started our day with lunch in the Tower Bridge area of town. We had a very interesting Italian dish which consisted of rice, chicken and cheese baked in a ball shape that was covered in seasoned bread crumbs. It was tasty and unlike any other Italian dishes that I have had before. After that we grabbed a boat down to Greenwich. That was a cool trip too. The ride down was about 45 minutes long and included a very brief audio tour of the Thames River, I have already taken this cruise before but I didn't go down the river this far so I have some new pictures to show of areas that I hadn't seen last time I went.

Once we arrived in Greenwich we went to the National Maritime Museum. It was cool. London has a long history of Maritime travel and such so there was a lot to see. There were several smaller boats inside the museum and countless models of boats that were far too big to be included in the exhibits. I took a ton of pictures while I was in the museum. After the museum we went around the corner to see the Royal Observatory. This observatory, which sits atop a hill, is the location of 0 Longitude and the home of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). It was a beautiful day and the area is surrounded by a big park and many Londoners were spending it playing in the sunshine. It was really nice.

After the Museum and the short break in the park we checked out a couple of markets and then went to our final destination of the day, Croydon. We had dinner in Croydon at a South Indian restaurant Chinnai Garden that was incredible. I had an entirely vegetarian dinner and have to say that if all veg. food tasted as good as this did I wouldn't miss meat in the least bit. I don't even know the names of any of the food I ate other that Domas (which is probably spelled wrong) but it was all very good. I had my friend order the food and just asked for anything but fish and nothing too terribly hot and what I got was an assortment of really delicious foods and a drink that was some sort of yogurt drink that was very tasty too. We ended up having dinner with her cousin's cousin and his friend, I unfortunately cannot remember there names but they are both young surgeons and were terrifically fun to talk with. I think we will probably end up getting together again before I leave London.

Anyways, that's all I have for now. Hope you enjoy the pictures. I tried to label all the different places I went.

~Jenn

Day 57 - Hanging Around

2007-08-10T23:35:00.000+01:00

Today I went to the British Museum and walked down Oxford Street. I took a detour from my normal path and found a charming little area called Carnaby Street which had a cute little area of shops and pubs and I also checked out Hamley's Toy Store (the largest toy store in Britain) and Liberty Department Store. Liberty is pretty much along the same lines as Harrod's or Selfridge's on a smaller scale with the exception of the fact that it is in a terrific Tudor building. Inside the the store everything is a deep dark wood and there are lots of ornate carvings in the trims and moldings around doors and the elevators are quite pretty. Outside it looks a lot like the Globe Theatre. It really does stand out against all the stone buildings that surround it. I should have taken a picture but here is a link to the Liberty website with some of their history and photos...

I also went back to the British Museum. I took a few photos, they're here in a slide-show.

Hope you all enjoy!!

Day 56-3 Day Weekend

2007-08-09T23:21:00.000+01:00

Ok, I have a 3-day-weekend..but I am sort of broke. I mean not totally broke, but not in a position to spend a lot of money. I can't decide what to do over the next three days to maximize fun but minimize spending.

I guess that tomorrow I will go around an try to take some pictures of stuff....Not much else I can thing to do..Maybe a museum? Even though I did the British Museum already maybe this time I can go and make better notes of what I see there..that could make for an interesting blog entry....we'll just see.

That's all I have for now.

~Jenn

Day 55-Out and About

2007-08-08T23:51:00.000+01:00

Tonight I went out for a few hours with Sowmya. We wanted to go to the Comedy Store but discovered to our dismay that 20 minutes before we arrived they had exhausted their supply of tickets.

Instead we checked out the Hard Rock and walked around in Leicester Square. I took a few pictures of Piccadilly Circus which is like London's version of Times Square.

Hope you enjoy..sorry for the short blog.

~Jenn

Day 54-Random Photos

2007-08-07T20:49:00.000+01:00

I decided not to write much today and to offer a different sort of blog instead. Please give me feedback about it...Like it better or not? Should I keep doing the slide shows or switch to this sort of thing.

~Jenn

You're greeting upon arrival...

Views of the Reception Area...

View on the ceiling in the reception area...

Exterior Views of the Study Centre..

My new flat...

The stairs...

More stairs...

Still..more stairs...

Living Room...

The Bedroom...

Cool buildings nearby...

And a classic...

Day 53-Work

2007-08-06T23:32:00.000+01:00

Today was a typical Monday.

Worked and did laundry.

Absolutely nothing interesting to report.

~Jenn

Day 52 - Yet Another Late Night

2007-08-06T01:50:00.001+01:00

Ok, going to have to get in earlier for the rest of the week.

Today I was out late again, now I am tired. Just wanted to mention one weird thing ... on my way home I saw a fox scavenging for food. This is pretty odd because there are no trees or grass nearby to hide said fox. I have no idea where he came from, it was just strange.

That's it. My blog for the night.

Hope you are all well.

~Jenn

Day 51 - Another Late Night

2007-08-05T10:55:00.000+01:00

This post is actually going up the day after. I got in last night at 2am.

It was another adventurous day to say the very least.

I went out to Tottingham Hale yesterday to meet a friend to go to Ikea. If you don't have an Ikea store near you and have never been before it's an interesting place to go so you should check it out. Basically it's a Scandinavian furniture store with accessories for the house as well. The store is full of cheap furniture designed for those with minimal living space in mind. It has quite a few neat items there and many many bizarre items there as well. You can check out their webpage if you'd like to see some of the sorts of stuff that they have for sale.

After Ikea we went to a little town called Wood Green where we grabbed some food at a Portuguese Restaurant called Nando's. The food is extremely good there. We had marinated olives, chicken pita w/pineapples, chips & spicy rice. It was really tasty albeit one super spicy little bit on my chicken wing actually made my nose start running. It was still pretty terrific. I would recommend the place to anyone looking for a good meal on a lowish budget in London.

After dinner it was time to head back to Central London. The train was 14 stops away from my destination. Somewhere on that ride I decided to bypass my house and go clear to the other side of London and play poker in Acton at The Western. If you're curious about the distance. Under the streets of the city. If you were driving there it would be 13.5 miles from one place to the other but the train takes you through the city so it takes even longer. Poker was a lot of fun. I ended up finishing the tournament in 6th place and basically just making back my buy in plus 5GBP, but the fun of it was that when I play I get a chance to socialize with the locals which is really the reason I like to play so much. Toward the final table I was seated next to a young Polish guy and we talked about Poland and he asked me questions about Florida and it was nice. He suggested that if I go to Poland for a weekender that I go to Krackow. Now I have to find a way to work that into my plans...What I really wish that I could do is just come back to the US a week or two later than I originally intended and travel around Europe a bit after school is over and before I head back to the US. I am definitely coming back to Europe now that I have been here. It's so cool.

After the poker tourney was over, I realized that I missed the train so I had to find my way back to London via the bus. The part that made me slightly nervous was when the bus for Park Royal ended and I had to find the bus to connect to Central London.
It was about 1am and the streets were darkish and the only folks out in the street (it wasn't super crowded out there in this neighborhood) were young folks who were drinking and hanging out and some iffy looking characters. A couple of guys tried to talk to me/hit on me but I just kept walking and pretended that I didn't hear them. It turned out to be cool though. The bus came and I took it to Oxford Circus and then walked the rest of the way home. There are many clubs on Oxford street so it is always crowded with party kids walking down the streets. I ended up meeting a friendly French kid who was walking near me on the streets and I talked with him for a couple of blocks and then I went to McDonalds which was full of drunks. Very interesting again. On the way out the door the African Security guard started hitting on me. Stuff like this really doesn't happen during the daytime so I don't know whether it's just that the friendly folks come out at night or that I was looking better than usual. Either way, it was funny.

Ok..so that's my long drawn out commentary on last night's adventures. Today I am supposed to go with Sowmya to tour the Palace. If they let you take photos inside I will have them here to post! We're also going to Harrods and this time I will take pictures there too!

Have a great day!
~Jenn

Photos from London Eye Trip

2007-08-05T10:48:00.000+01:00

Here are the late photos from the London Eye that I went on last Thursday. There is a also a picture of my library on the slide show, a few from the OXO Tower restaurant and some one of my Flatmates and I.

Day 50 - Night out on the town...

2007-08-04T01:47:00.001+01:00

Tonight I had a really nice London Evening. I went out with a girlfriend to see the matinée showing of Avenue Q. The show was a little bit crude but a lot a bit funny! I would definitely recommend this show to anyone looking for a light/funny show. The songs are pretty catchy too...however just because it has puppets doesn't mean it's for kids...leave them at home. It's a grown-up show.

After the show we came back to the flat and tried to encourage some of the others here to go out to the club but they didn't feel like coming out so we went on our own. We decided to try our luck in Soho. After checking out several bars we settled on a place called Club 49. The draw to the club was some recognizable hip-hop music however the play list converted over to club/house type music within about 20 minutes of our arrival. We had a couple of really good fruit-juice cocktails at the bar. I had a passion fruit martini, a blueberry daiquiri, and the bartender's secret drink which contained vanilla vodka, passion fruit and other stuff..pine-apple juice & apple juice etc You get the picture. They were tasty drinks. After having the drinks we went downstairs to the dance floor and bounced around for about an hour and a half. It was fun. This was the first club that I have been to since coming to the UK and it was nice.

So, it's 2am now so I am going to end this blog for the night.
I took a picture while out..I'll share it with you later.

~Jenn

Day 48 & 49 - Hey I missed a day...

2007-08-02T18:13:00.000+01:00

I just realized that I forgot to post a blog last night...I was so busy I guess it just slipped my mind! Yesterday was a very busy day and today has been a little different as well...so yeah...that's my excuse.

Last night I moved into my new flat. It is HUGE. It's 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and there are only 2 of us in there at the moment which is very nice. I know this goodness is going to really fly by...

Last night we went to dinner at the OXO Tower. This is a pretty upscale restaurant right on the Thames River. It was OK. A little to gourmet to me. The meal consisted of a salad which had a variety of lettuces, odd nuts and a piece of bread along with a ball of mozzarella that looked like a hard boiled egg. Dinner was a skin-on baked chicken breast (served luke warm at best) on top of a bit of mashed sweet potatoes. Desert was a lemon tart with a raspberry ripple cream on the side. Desert was the best part. From what I hear the meals were about £35 each. I think that £34 of that probably went to pay for the view. The food was OK..but I definitely think it is the atmosphere that sells this restaurant. Everything there was branded with the name of the restaurant from the dinner plates to the stainless steel champagne chilling buckets.

After dinner we went on the London Eye. Luckily it was not raining so the view was terrific. I took a lot of pictures from up to 185m above London. Hope you enjoy them!!

Tomorrow I am going to do the town with a friend. We're going to see Avenue Q and then perhaps a pub or a bar. Should be a lot of fun.

Anyone have any great plans for this weekend to share? I don't have any plans to travel this month really..mostly due to lack of funds (things are really expensive in August in Europe because everyone is on Holiday). This will change in the fall and be countered by lack of time....Murphy's Law applies in Britain too....go figure!

Oh, Eileen I saw that you made the front page of the newspaper. Sorry to hear it was for something like a freak lightning storm and not the purchase of a winning Florida Lotto Ticket. I hope that they can get your house back in order soon!

I also saw that there is some suspicious tropical activity going on right now. I hope that that doesn't come to fruition.

Anyways, time for me to fly... Hope everyone has a great night!

Take Care,
~Jenn

Day 47-Horay Horay!!

2007-08-01T21:54:00.000+01:00

It's moving day!!

Well it's night actually..but I am up to the challenge of moving at night.

We have a HUGE new place and there are only 2 of us sharing it.

For 4 weeks I have the luxury of turning off the lights when I want to go to bed without consulting the other party in my room.

In addition...I have my OWN BATHROOM!!!

It really doesn't get much sweeter! I feel like the Queen of England!

Ok, well I got to get back to moving..

Talk to you guys again later!
Happy Birthday Dad!!

~Jenn

Day 46-Moving Day

2007-07-31T21:41:00.000+01:00

Tomorrow is moving day. It's also the last full day the students will be here. It is definitely going to be interesting. There is a lot to do and just a little time left. We'll be going to the OXO Tower for dinner tomorrow night and then to the London Eye for a ride which should be really cool.

I will try to take a lot of pictures ...

I am almost finished with work for the night and I have to pack for the big move tomorrow (moving to the building next door).

Hope that the new place is nicer...or at least quieter...

Take care,

~Jenn

Day 45-So..

2007-07-31T00:23:00.000+01:00

I didn't want to get out of the habit of blogging since I already put this much effort into it. But I don't have that much to say today. I walked my feet off this weekend...they are really tired.

Also, something isn't right about my bed..not sure what it is .. but I actually have to get out in the morning because it hurts too much to stay in it? Ever have that issue before? It hits me right between the shoulder blades...I am going to flip the mattress and see if that helps.

Ok, well time to try to get some sleep. I have to help my neighbor pack early in the morning.

Have a good night.

~Jenn

This is what goes on when I am not at home

2007-07-30T10:00:00.000+01:00

Seems like Ben & Azreal are having way too much fun in the house without me there...
Wonder what Zoe was up to when this was going down...

Day 44 - Camden Lock, Brick Lane

2007-07-29T23:36:00.000+01:00

Today I had a great time visiting more markets. I thought that the Covent Garden Market would be my favorite market, but I am really beginning to have a hard time deciding what I like most. All the markets are so different yet similar. This morning I visited the Brick Lane Market. It is located a couple of blocks down from the Spitalfields market. I bought a DVD player for 5GBP and 2 movies. I then took a tour though a couple of really cool adjacent markets which had awesome ethnic foods and crafts. I really thought that I had found the neatest market yet...until this afternoon.

This afternoon I went to Camden Lock. When we got off at the Camdentown Tube Station, we faced 2 markets. One had a lot of clothing (mostly hip teenage type stuff) and bags etc. The other had a mix of souvenirs and such. They were really nice. After we finished those markets it was still early so we decided to walk up the high street and check out the sales in the local shops. There were some really cool shoe stores and goth clothing outlets. And just as we were getting to the end of the road we came across another small market. This market was the Camden Lock market. The market hall had a lot of really nice handcrafts and gift items. After looking through the hall we noticed that the market overflowed onto the patio so we walked out there to check out what we thought were a couple of more shops. As it turned out, it was the beginning of a massive market. I was amazed by the number of really cool shops there. This market has to have close to 300 shops. IT is one of the places that I will make sure to bring anyone who comes over to visit because it was so cool. It all runs along a canal which has little narrow boats in it too.

In addition to having so many cool shops, it had an amazing assortment of food choices. Everything looked so yummy! There was something there to please the palate of anyone who goes. I ended up eating Venezuelan corn cakes with beef & chicken & cheese and it was incredible. I didn't realize, however, that there would be 20 or 30 more food stalls just around the corner with all sorts of ethnic foods.

I did manage to take a couple of random pictures today, so I will post what I have when I get the chance tomorrow.

I need to get some sleep now, it has been a LOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGGG Day.

Night!
~Jenn

Day 43-Having free fun in London

2007-07-28T21:14:00.000+01:00

I hope you don't think I am going to have a good answer for that title.

If there is good free fun in this city, I haven't found it yet! :-)

Today I took a walk around Covent Garden and Leicester Square. I found a cute little gift for Olivia but I didn't find anymore gifts which is what I was searching for.

Afterwards I went and played poker at "The Casino at the Empire" they had a beginner's game that cost 10GBP, I ended up coming in 8th place with paid 70GBP. That is pretty much all that I did today. It was fun because I got to meet a lot of Brits who liked my accent. It's funny ...2 out of 3 people here who learn I am from Florida ask me if I have problems with Crocodiles. Isn't that funny? That's what Florida has been sold as to many of the folks over here...and the place for Miami, Disney World and Crocodiles...I don't always bother to correct them (Alligators) and one of these days I am going to play to the fantasy and tell them that the alligators are everywhere.

Anyways, that's all I have for tonight....

Hope all are well.

~Jenn

Day 42-Shopping, Shopping & a little more Shopping

2007-07-28T00:58:00.000+01:00

Bet you can't guess from the title what I did today...

So yeah, I pretty much spent the entire day roaming the streets of London checking out the retail scene. We started our day at 10am and around 10:40 we were on Middlesex Street looking for the Petticoat Lane Market. It was only last week that I was there last, and the Street Sensation market guide said they would be open, but when we arrived it was a ghost-town. Oh well, Spitalfields is just around the corner so we headed over there.

Friday mornings are a great day to go to the Spitalfields if you want any sort of personal attention from the vendors. Last Sunday when I went there were so many people it just wasn't happening...but today we beat the crowd and it was very nice. All of the vendors, most of which are artist and there selling their creations..whether it be handbags, clothing, jewellery or food, were really very talkative today. I saw a lot of very interesting items that would make great Christmas gifts..if only it were November instead of July. I hope that some of the things I saw today are still around that time of the year.

After the Spitalfields I decided to check out something that was in my Little Moleskin London Book. It's called "Whiteley's Shopping Center". According to the book it was on the edge of the Nottinghill neighborhood. The train ride took nearly 25 minutes which in London Underground terms is pretty long. When we got off the train, I was worried that the place could be difficult to find (because despite the fact that I have a good sense of direction in the US, I often find myself getting turned around in London and going the wrong way to places the first time I have been there) but it was actually well marked and easy. The Whiteley's Shopping Center is a 3 story shopping mall. It's not huge (probably had about 45-50 stores) but it is the closest thing to a mall that I have been to thus far. I did get some leads on a few malls that are nearby which I will check out on some of my upcoming exploring London weekends I intend to have this August. I managed to get a cute shirt and some jeans for 8GBP total. Which was quite a deal even by US standards.

After that we walked down Queensway and check out some tourist shops, visited the Loo in Kensington Gardens (which seems like a great place to hang out on a sunny day...it had the coolest playground complete with a life-sized Pirate Ship shaped jungle-gym) and we headed to Oxford Street. We walked down the street, which was extremely busy at 5pm, and went into a few shops ...had dinner at Pizza Hut and called it a day.

It was a shopping marathon and was a lot of fun.

If any of you guys find your way to London while I am over here and want to repeat this adventure please let me know, although by that time I might have figured out even more fun stuff to do...try me.

So, I hope this blog was ok...it almost didn't happen. It's after 1am and I was feeling a bit lazy after all of the walking around today. Sorry that I didn't take my camera out and snap some pictures but I had my hands full with all the shopping bags.

So, that's what I have for tonight. I am going to Covent Garden tomorrow. Hopefully I'll find something cool to talk about from there.

Take Care,

~Jenn

Day 41-Frustration

2007-07-26T21:11:00.000+01:00

Today has been a frustrating day. Luckily...It's Friday to me!!

I have a 3 day weekend in which I am going to check out some more of the local markets (actually take a friend to these places since she has never been and doesn't do this sort of thing alone like I tend to). Tomorrow we're going back to the Spitalfields and Petticoat Lane and probably to the Brick Lane Market as well.

Is there anything that you folks would like me to look out for, for you?
I have no idea if that sentance was correctly contstructed..having the double for in it..if you're part of the grammer police you can let me know.

It's only 9pm...I should probably be in a pub or something ...I am bored...but instead I am in the computer lab composing this blog post.

I'm going to get off now and try to find a life outside the 2d world.

Catch ya tomorrow.

~Jenn

Day 40-The Simpsons Movie

2007-07-25T23:52:00.000+01:00

So, if you couldn't guess from the title, tonight I saw The Simpson's Movie. It was REALLY funny!! I would tell more ...but I don't want to spoil the movie for anyone...So, just make sure you go see it. It's money well spent.

Other than that...there is only one week left until the students go back to Tallahassee. Then I think I will be getting my own bedroom in a flat for an entire month! I can hardly contain my enthusiasm. The only thing that could be better is to get the entire flat to myself. I am ready for the quiet and privacy.

Other than that....the only thing that has really been on my mind is my funding situation for the fall term. FSU has really gone and done something dumb in their financial aid office and despite being in their files for 6 months...they haven't awarded my package yet. I am trying to be patient but it's really wearing thing. One thing that is certain about London is that it is NOT Cheap.

Wow...it's almost midnight so I will get going now.

Hope everyone had a good night. Take Care,

~Jenn

Dover Cathderal & White Cliffs

2007-07-24T22:04:00.000+01:00

Canterbury Cathederal

2007-07-24T22:02:00.000+01:00

Day 39-Canterbury & Dover

2007-07-24T21:49:00.000+01:00

Today the school went on a Daytrip to Canterbury and Dover. It was pretty terrific. Our first stop was Canterbury where we retraced the steps of many pilgrims of the past to view the Sacred Canterbury Cathederal. The Canterbury Cathederal is pretty fantastic. Like most of the British Cathederals it is larger than life (see photos). Instead of describing it with words I will leave the pictures to do the job for me. After the cathederal we had lunch in a small cafe and went to the "Winnie the Pooh Shop" where I picked a couple of things up for my good friend Rebecca. This is where we are going to see if she reads my blog. Because I am not going to mention this to her..if she wants her treasures she is going to have to leave a comment and let me know she was here reading this post...Otherwise..they will be mine forever...muuuhhhh haaahhaaa...

After our time in Canterbury we went down to Dover where we toured the famous Dover Castle. The Dover Castle is equally gigantic and very interesting to check out. Above ground we were able to tour King Henry VIII's private keep and the rest of the main tower and we checked out the gift shop and the castle grounds. Unfortunately my company wasn't interested in checking out the secret tunnels on the grounds. During WWII the tunnels were actually used to hide a secret command center for the Allied Forces. I hope that if I go back again I can take a look at them.

After the castle we went to the water front where we were able to see the amazing white cliffs of
Dover. I was so impressed with the cliffs. They are white because they are made from chalk. And they really are stunning. In addition I managed to take some shots of some crazy guys who were swimming in the English Channel. The water is frigid to say the least. And all they had on were Speedos. I took some pictures after they got out of the water and they were pretty cute too..but I can't imagine swimming in that cold water...Oww!!

This evening I had dinner in Chinatown. I only managed to take a couple of pictures. The meal was quite good however I was disappointed to get prawn wontons instead of pork ones. The taste is quite good but I am allergic to shellfish so I only ate one of them.

I am going to apologize for the brief descriptions that I gave in here today, I have managed to acquire a cold and that along with cold medicine has me feeling like an early bedtime.

So, Hope you enjoy the photos! Have a good night.

~Jenn

Day 38-Save the Planet...

2007-07-23T23:53:00.000+01:00

Today I made it to one of my favorite (cheesy I know) places...The Hard Rock Cafe. Now, the H.R.C. London is no ordinary H.R.C., it is THE H.R.C., the one that started it all in 1971. I went with my neighbor Jessica and we had a lot of fun. In addition to having great burgers & shakes we also got to take a tour of "The Vault" a place where the most special of all the special memorabilia is kept. The Vault is an actual vault. The building that currently houses The Vault use to house the Queen's private bank and this Vault once held the wedding dress of Princess Diana and other treasures. Now it houses all sorts of rock memorabilia. Two of my favorite pieces were Jimi Hendrix guitar & John Lennon's Army Jacket and round glasses.

I took a few pictures of the coolness...hope you enjoy!

Tomorrow I am going to see Canterbury Cathedral and the White Cliffs of Dover. I hope to have lots of pictures for your viewing pleasure!

Until then...Take Care,

~Jenn

Day 37-More Markets..

2007-07-22T21:06:00.000+01:00

Before I get to the markets I just need to mention a milestone with this blog. Today my site counter hit over 1000+ hits. Apparently folks are reading this blog...but who are you people :-) I only have about 10 entries into my guest book so far...so if you're reading the blog and haven't signed it yet please let me know because I think it's cool to see all the places where my readers are coming from.

So, today I had to work this evening so I didn't have too much time to get out and do anything but I did manage to make it to a couple of new markets today. The first market that I went to was the Spitalfield's Market. The Spitalfield's Market is a very nice market. On Sundays there are a lot of artists there as well as organic food vendors. Among the stalls I saw a lot of designer clothing (small designers - not the designers from the big shops), jewellery, and foods. I bought a slice of the best banana bread from a vendor named Bread Not Bombs. It was absolutely fantastic. Being the techy-nerd that I am one of the coolest things that I saw was a vendor selling hand-made jewellery which was crafted from recycled circuit boards. In addition to jewellery they had lamps, keychains and other small items all crafted with different colored circuit board that had been salvaged from old electronic devices.

After Spitalfields, I went to the Petticoat Lane Market which is located only a couple of streets away from Spitalfields. The Petticoat Lane market was an entirely different scene than the Spitalfields. Where the Spitalfields was very design oriented with hip vendors selling the latest fashions at slightly less than high-street prices. The Petticoat Lane Market is an entirely different story. Buzzing with mainly a mixture of Africian and Middle-Eastern merchants this market is theplace to find good bargains on clothing. Multiple vendors were selling womens suits for only £10. Trousers from labels like Topshop and FCUK were selling as low as £5. There were so many bargains to be found at this market that it was almost overwhelming. I have no idea how the merchants are able to sell this stuff so cheaply. In the future I am going to add a link to the side of this page called "Jenn Recommends" and this will definitely be one of the top recommendations.

So, this is all the time I have to blog tonight. I know I still didn't do much justice with yesterday's blog I hope to do more in the near future.

Until next time, take care.

~Jenn

Day 36-Markets and Transportation

2007-07-22T02:15:00.000+01:00

I spent a LOT of time today on the trains. It was really a big adventure with public transportation. This morning I went to Camden Passage Market and the Chapel Market. The Camden Passage was a series of small stalls along an arcade selling lots of antiques and was neat. The Chapel Market was much more of a local market selling the typical stuff like cellphone parts, luggage, shoes, clothes, produce and appliances. It was interesting.

Because the markets were so close to a movie theater I decided to check out a show and watched Hairspray. It was a very good show but the people in the theater were very rude talking most of the time.

I have more to say about tonight but I am pretty tired right now so it'll have to wait until next time.

Take Care,

~Jenn

Day 35-London Zoo

2007-07-20T23:54:00.000+01:00

Today was my day off. I had intended to go to Wales today, but luckily I changed my mind at the last minute. Apparently, there has been a lot of flooding in South Wales and Southwest England and it is not possible to travel there by train. It has been a seriously wet summer even by England's standards.

Instead of going to Wales I decided to check out the London Zoo despite the fact that I checked the weather forecast and it showed a 100% chance of rain. Honestly if you waited for a sunny day in London to do anything you might only get to go out twice a month! So I took the tube to Regent's Park and instead of taking a bus as advised by the announcer at the tube station, I decided to walk to the Zoo. Just about the time I got in the gate of Regent's Park the rumble of thunder started and it began to drizzle. The park is roughly 1 mile from the entrance to the Zoo. With the exception of it being a rather wet walk it was quite nice.

Thanks to the rain, the zoo was nice and quiet and the animals were pretty perky. The weather went from being wet and chilly (I could see my breath) to being hot enough to be sweaty in short sleeves. It really is unpredictable. I took quite a few pictures of the animals at the zoo today. I think that the Taper/Tapur was one of the coolest ones but there are loads of others that were cool too. I REALLY wish that I hadn't left my camera back in Tallahassee because my pictures would be so much better if I had that one (It has 10x Zoom, a wider angle lens and higher megapixel resolution) but Ben thought it was bulky and would attract thieves and he is probably right.

After the Zoo I took a walk through some shops on Oxford Street and then played cards at "The Vic" because it was 10GBP tournament night. I was doing quite well except for one bad move (had pocket queens and raised all in against AK and lost to 2 aces) but oh well. It wasn't a very big investment anyways.

So, that's pretty much all that I have going on for today. It has been nice spending a day in London with all the recent travel, but I haven't given up on going somewhere next weekend. So, until next time. Take Care.

~Jenn

Day 35-Harry Potter

2007-07-20T09:39:00.000+01:00

So, today is the day that Harry Potter comes out. Is there something wrong with me that I could care less? I think I am the only person in London who is not entirely too excited about this. Let me come clean here. I have never read a Harry Potter book or watched a Harry Potter movie so perhaps that is why I am so apathetic about this, but seriously...is it really THAT good? Is my life less fulfilled because I haven't read it yet? If so please enlighten me. I'll be back later tonight with more comments on the day.

Take Care,

~Jenn

Funny Pic But Not....You Decide

2007-07-19T16:19:00.000+01:00

So I still watch the Tally & Pensacola News Journal pages every so often and I saw this story and was a little amused. If you don't pay attention you think the picture goes with the article in which case this is a bit disturbing.

Swan Theater - Thanks Gerri!!

2007-07-19T14:13:00.001+01:00

Here are some pics that I took at The Swan.

Thanks to Gerri for making them visible!

Day 34-Dumb Luck

2007-07-19T11:16:00.000+01:00

I think I must be really freaking lucky...or just have too much time on my hands. I was online and caught an EasyJet promotion for 100GBP off of holidays for one hour only. I managed to book an overnight to Edinburgh in October and an overnight to Amsterdam in September. Grand total (staying at Radisson hotel) was $30.00 each. Amazing. That included flights, hotel room and all taxes. I love this place!

I'll be back later this evening with more news if I bag any better deals.

Until then,

~Jenn

Day 33-Stratford-Upon-Avon

2007-07-19T01:48:00.001+01:00

Today we took a trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon to check out this lovely little town. The town of Stratford is located on the Avon River and is on the North Eastern border of a very picturesque section of England called the Cotswolds. Nearly all of the buildings in this area are built from the "Cotswold Stone" giving them a very cute appearance unique to this area of England. The Cotswolds area is covered in lush green rolling hills and little villages of tans stone buildings with large churches.

We came to Stratford today to see the birth and final resting place of William Shakespeare and to see MacBeth. Although the scenery on the way to Stratford was beautiful, most of the students on the bus weren't enjoying it to the fullest extent due to motion sickness as a result of the constant bumping and turning of the bus as we negotiated the hills and narrow lanes of the Cotswolds' countryside. After 2 hours on the bus we finally made it and not a moment too soon!

Our guided tour of Stratford took us first to the church where Shakespeare is buried. It's a very pretty church and has many of the same characteristics of Westminster Abbey albeit on a much smaller scale. I took lots of pictures inside the church mostly because they actually allowed me. And also, if you've never been to Westminster, you can imagine that it looks a bit like this on the inside yet on a much grander scale. After the church we walked down the street to see the house where Shakespeare was born. We were allowed to take a tour inside, but I decided to pass on this because it was dinner-time and we were absolutely ravenous!

We went to dinner at a pub called the Crown & Rose. The food was decent. I think that if/when I go to Stratford again I will try The Swan/The Dirty Duck instead.

After dinner it was off to MacBeth at the Swan Theater. I took 2 pictures inside the theater before the usher lady yelled at me and told me that photography was not allowed. The pictures are really dark and that's a shame because this theater was really interesting inside and unlike any theater I have ever been in before. Basically the room is shaped like an oval except that the sides are flat and the ends are rounded. At one end of the rounded part is the stage at the other end is seating. The room has three levels of seating. On the floor and two galleries. The galleries are placed one on top of the other and each gallery has two rows. In the front row there are chairs where you lean against a railing to look over the side down to the stage below. On the second row you are either standing or sitting in very tall chairs and leaning against a bar to look over the heads of the people sitting in front of you and down to the stage below. It's a weird setup. I was sitting on the front side of the top gallery and did a lot of leaning. During intermission I asked the girls who were sitting behind me if they could see anything and they said nope. So I am glad I didn't get those seats!

Anyways, It's after 2am so I am going to try to get a little sleep now. I hope that everyone is doing well!

~Jenn

Day 32-Work Work Work

2007-07-17T21:30:00.000+01:00

Today was just a day of work. Nothing really special happened. Tomorrow I am going to take a trip to Stratford-upon-Avon to see the birthplace of Shakespeare. In addition I'll be checking out MacBeth.

So..that's absolutely my most pathetic blog yet.

Tomorrow I will most likely be MIA but hope to have good stories & pics on Wednesday.

Take Care

~Jenn

Dusseldorf Photos

2007-07-16T19:15:00.001+01:00

Day 31(Sort of)-Discount Airlines & Saving Money

2007-07-16T02:49:00.000+01:00

It's 3:55am and I am in the Weeze Airport not to be confused with the Düssedorf Airport. I have been at the airport now for 3 hours. We are scheduled for the first flight to London at 7:05am. Unfortunately, the last train to Weeze was at 12:30 last night so we had to come several hours earlier than should have been the case had we been at the Düsseldorf International Airport which was less than 2 miles from our hotel. We actually spent the night laying on the floor in the foyer between the interior and exterior doors because the airport was closed when we arrived. During this time we met a nice woman from Belarus who spoke no English and very little German (of which I speak 0 myself) but we somehow communicated with her none-the-less. I find that it´s almost fun to try to communicate with someone else when you have no verbal aids. We also met a nice soldier from the British Army who was waiting in the terminal for his friend to pick him up. So for about 30 minutes we had some English speaking company which was fun too.

Before we came to the airport this morning we went to the movies (it is the only air conditioned place that we found in the city) and we watched Oceans 13 in German without subtitles. It was pretty funny even when I couldn't´t understand the dialog 90% of the time. Again, for some reason even though I don´t speak the language sometimes it can still be understood.

I think that this trip was an excellent experience with immersion in a different culture. Unlike my trip to Ireland this trip left more to be learned and was interesting, even fun, even if we didn´t end up doing too much more than the normal everyday things in a new place.

But I digress.. Back to the title of this post: Discount Airlines & Saving Money. Our flight to Düsseldorf cost us 6GBP+Taxes (about $35US). We saved about 120,00 off the price of a ticket to Düsseldorf International, However what we ended up spending in additional travel (shuttles etc.), lost time due to commuting, a lost day in a pre-paid hotel and just all around inconvenience I will definitely take better care in the future to lookout for these issues and advise you to do the same if you find yourself a similar situation. The only upside to the inconvenience was that this is the only time we really spoke with and interacted with the locals.

Ok, well I just made it home so I am going to take a nap before I have to go to work tonight. I'll upload the pictures then.

Have a great day!
~Jenn

Day 30-Düsseldorf --The Last Day

2007-07-15T16:45:00.001+01:00

It´s the last day of my short trip to Düsseldorf. It has been tiring but fun visiting this German city. Today Sarah and I met a nice man from Serra Leone while we were waiting for the train to Düsseldorf from Ratingen (the nearby city where we have been staying). We had a funny conversation about quality of life..and the price of life in Germany. He came to Germany 10 years ago to seek political asylum and we discussed the German job market and taxes. It´s funny how even though it´s Germany not the States, we probably would have had the same type of conversation with someone back home.

When we made it to the city today we decided to go to the Funfare. It was EXTREMELY hot and the sun was shining. We rode the Ferris Wheel, ate some sweets, had a soda in a Beergarten and just walked around watching the people there. It was a nice way to spend our last afternoon in Germany. The high temperature today was 95° which is a big change after acclimating to London. I have to tell you that I don´t really miss the blast-furnace like summers back in Florida. It´s nice if you are swimming at the beach..or are trying to cook eggs on the sidewalk but otherwise it sort of sucks and I prefer the cooler temp.

Anyways I guess that´s all I have to say for today. I took lots of nice pictures which I will upload tomorrow. So until then. Have a nice evening.

~Jenn

Day 29-Düsseldorf Part 2

2007-07-14T21:15:00.000+01:00

So, it's my second day in Düsseldorf and it was at times a bit frustrating navigating the Rheinbahn (public transportation system). Tomorrow we'll be in a bit of bind because there is not a bus that goes to the airport early enough to catch our flight so we are going to have to sleep at the airport instead! This sort of sucks because for one it definitly will not be comfortable but two because we cannot get a refund for the 3rd day we paid for our hotel. I still haven't quite figured out how to travel cheaply (by avoiding unnecessary expenses due to transportation issues). By the time I have it figured out it will be time to go back to the states -- if I have it figured out by then. Being in Europe is a lot of fun. The German people are very nice to talk to. Many speak English and all automatically assume that I speak German which is cool because I look like I fit right in over here.

I am not sure how this area of Germany differs in attitude-culture etc. from other cities. I am assuming that Eastern Germans act differently but I could be mistaken. I would like to go there too, but I doubt I will have enough time or money to travel to all of those places.

As I mentioned in previous posts, I have 4 more trips already planned, France, Italy, Sweden and Norway ... but I want to see more, Holland, Belguim, Spain, Scotland, Russia, Austria, Hungry and Poland. But, I don't have the time off or funds to support such travels. However, now that I have been to Europe, and I have a passport I think that I will be able to come back over in the future and see more places...time will tell.

Well, I guess I don't really have much more to say right now. I didn't feel like uploading any of my pictures today but Monday when I get back to London I will do it. I took pictures of the Rhein, the FunFair on the Rhein and a parade of marching bands which was at the Alstadt (Old Town). That was really neat because they all had different costumes on and carried flags etc. I also got some weird OLD postcards from the Flea Market this morning. Some of them are from as old as 1905.

So until next time...

Gute Nacht!
~Jenn

Day 28-Guttentag Deutchland

2007-07-13T19:44:00.000+01:00

Sarah and I made it to Dusseldorf after having a issues with the transportation. We missed the bus in London and had to race across town to catch a train to the airport. After arriving here in Germany we learned that we are at an airport that is about 45km from Dusseldorf so we had to take a bus. After the bus we found the underground and indavertantly got on the train going the wrong direction. All of this was actually sort of fun anyways because we learned some stuff about the city.

We are presently at an internet cafe right around the corner from our extremely nice hotel. It is empty because we are staying in a business area and this is the weekend but it is quite nice all the same.

Due to having difficulty navigating the city and the distance of our hotel to it we decided to come to the hotel area for the night. However prior to coming here we went over to the Old Town and walked around the Farmers Market and I have some great pictures of all of the nice vegetables, fish, flowers, fresh bread and cheese that they have for sale there. It is my impression to this point that the Germans in this area really like American things, I have heard much more American music etc over here than German.

Day 27-Local Tourism & Travel Plans

2007-07-12T23:04:00.000+01:00

So, today I had a fun day in London. The university took a day trip to Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London. In addition we took a short cruise on the Thames River in between the two locations. We started our tour with Westminster Abbey. Up to this point I had only seen the abbey from the exterior, and today we got a chance to walk around inside and check things out. Unfortunately we were unable to take any pictures while we were inside the Abbey. Parts of Westminster Abbey are over 1,000 years old. Over time it has evolved into its present state. Kings and Queens through the years made changes and upgrades to it. It is the burial site and coronation site of many Kings and Queens as well as famous noble people. I saw the grave of Charles Darwin, Handel and Chauncer to name a few. I have more to say about the Abbey (as it was an incredible place but I need to wind this entry up for tonight.

The Tower of London was also amazing. It is also over 1,000 years old. I have much to elaborate on about this landmark as well but I need to get some rest because I have a very early flight tomorrow.

Tomorrow we'll be going to Dusseldorf, Germany. If you noticed before I a poll on the sidebar asking where I should go next, and now it has changed a bit. This is because I recently got some great airline deals and booked some travel. So I removed the places that I am already going. So, now I have the following trips on my agenda: Sept. Oslo & Bergen, Norway 4 days, Later in Sept. Stockholm, Sweden, Oct. Venice & Milan - will probably take the train to Rome too. 5 days, and Nov. Paris. I have a few shorter weekends that I can still plan things for. I am considering a trip to Wales, Edinburg and Dublin again. I am also taking several little local trips to places like Dover & Stonehenge.

So, I have to wind this up so that I can get some rest before tomorrow. I am posting pictures from today but I haven't commented on them yet. They are from Westminster Abbey, Tower of London and the sites on the Thames between here and there. You can see The Globe Theater, City Hall, the OXO Tower, London Bridge, Big Ben and many more sights. I promise a future update with an explanation of the pics.

Ok, well time for bed! Take care everyone!

~Jenn

Day 26-British Library

2007-07-11T20:40:00.001+01:00

Today I got to take a behind-the-scenes tour of the British Library. It was quite interesting to say the least. In addition to being a library, the British Library also has many documents which I got to take a look at. Some of the most impressive documents were a copy of the "Emancipation Proclamation" signed by Abraham Lincoln, A sealed copy of the Magna Carta, Numerous Beatles songs written on various things: napkins, hotel stationary, etc. by Paul & John, Handel's Messiah, Pages from Leonardo de Vinci's notebooks, a bill of sale for a property signed by William Shakespeare and many many other documents. It was a most impressive selection of archival documents.

In addition to going to the library today I also booked some travel for this September. I decided that since the price was so low that I will check out the Scandinavian scene and go to Norway for a long weekend. My plan is to fly to Oslo and check out the city for a day or two then take the 7-hour train to Bergen which is supposed to be the train ride to ruin all future train travel as it travels through various natural wonders.

As for this blog, I have made two changes. The first is that I added a poll feature to the site. I hope that you the reader will help me to decide where to travel next. Making it a sort of interactive thing. As soon as this poll ends I'll put another one up. I am going to try to go someplace new every time I get 2-3 days off work.

Another new item on the blog is the chatbox. Here you can leave me a note without having to have an account. Just leave your name and a message. If you are visiting from another blog you can leave your address there as well if you'd like.

Ok, well that's all I have for today. Too bad I couldn't take any pictures of the British Library. Tomorrow I am going to the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey. I think you can expect some good pics from that!

Until we meet again!
Take Care,
~Jenn

New Poll

2007-07-11T08:25:00.000+01:00

I have a poll now. I'll add a new one with new dates after this one is finished.

Your opinion really matters :-)

~Jenn

Day 25-Tuesday

2007-07-10T21:06:00.000+01:00

So today was pretty uneventful. Much the same as yesterday was. The only news to report is that FINALLY a day came along where it didn't rain! I have been here 25 days now and this is only the 2nd time and I believe that it actually sprinkled a little that day. The weather today was absolutely beautiful!

Tomorrow I am going to be going to check out the British Library. The British Library is pretty much the British version of the Library of Congress it's rather massive and should be interesting. It is my understanding that they have a copy of the Magna Carta in their archives along with several other interesting documents. I'll let you know how that goes tomorrow (unless it's dreadfully boring...then I'll spare you the details).

So, hope you all have a good night.

Take Care,
~Jenn

Day 24-Monday Monday

2007-07-09T23:13:00.000+01:00

9 July 2007

Today was just another Monday. So uneventful that I might as well have been back home in Tallahassee. I did get good news from back home, apparently I miscalculated my tax return this year to my advantage and in a few days I will be getting some extra bucks...Nice!

This week I am going back to Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London. In addition I am going on a tour of the British Library and Friday Dusseldorf, Germany for 3 days which should be pretty exciting!! :-)

I have a 3 day weekend on 27 July, anyone have any suggestions of where I should travel? My new favorite travel site: Sky Scanner has low cost (under $100.00) fares going to: Belguim, Italy, Northern Ireland and the Netherlands. Any of those sound better than the other? Comment if you have an opinion one way or the other. :-)

Ok, time to get some sleep for me....

Take care and have a nice night :-)
~Jenn

Day 23 & 24-Ring of Kerry and More on Ireland

2007-07-08T16:51:00.000+01:00

There was so much to do in Ireland that it's difficult to even outline this blog. Much less write it all out. Wow. What an amazingly beautiful place Southwest Ireland is. The country is just beautiful, and there are definitely more than 40 shades of green! From the air, it looks like someone took all sorts of patches of green fabric and sewed them all together with a dark green thread to make a huge quilt. I think you would have had to have seen something amazing not to be taken aback by the scenery.

These first pictures were taken outside of my hotel room. My room was on the street side of the building on the eastern side of the town of Killarney. Today was the annual Ring of Kerry bike ride. The bike ride (which had over 100 participants) went along the scenic road that winds through the beautiful County Kerry countryside (Over 100km long). It takes you along the edges of mountains and over beautiful bays and lakes.

After watching the bikers for a little while I went to meet up with the group for my tour of the Ring of Kerry. The tour guide was a native of County Kerry and was very entertaining. As he led us on the tour he told us antecdotes and folklore stories. It is my perception that the Irish are great story tellers. In London, my tours have been historical and matter of fact, but the stories shared by the Irish tour guide gave the place an even more enchanting feeling. This first set of photos is of the Dingle Bay and Dingle Peninsula. The views of Dingle from the altitude on the side of the mountain were increadible. In addition you could also see the Blasket Islands. I tried to take as many pictures of this are as possible. Still I don't think they really give you the full perspective of how magical this place is.

The next stop on our tour was the Red Fox Inn and the Kerry Bog Village. This area was very cute. There was a small museum which cost €4 to enter. Basically it consisisted of 4 buildings that were representative of the types of homes that the turf harvesters and those supporting that community would have lived in. In Ireland, turf is harvested from the bogs and used as fuel for fires. The area is so rich in vegitation that it just builds up and the harvesters cut into the countryside and dig it out and then dry it out (taking months to do so) and then burn it for fuel. This was very demanding work and with the low cost of natural gas the industry is slowly disappearing however at one time it was a major industry in the County Kerry region. The pub was a cute little place with a relatively over priced gift shop. There are pictures from inside the little houses and of some of the animals. I was amused that they kept 2 Irish wolfhounds in a pin like horses or something. The poor dogs were so tired they just laid there and slept while all the tourist stared at them, just like in a zoo.

Our next stop was Waterville. A town that was innundated with cyclists enjoying lunches and Guiness. Because of the large number of people in that city didn't stay in Waterville we just kept moving along the peninsula.

The next stop on our tour was lunch at a cafe on the side of the road in Catherdaniel. The views here were also astounding. This is also the place where the beach is. I had an excellend Sheppards Pie and Apple Pie for lunch. The only thing bad about it was the price €17.50 (they take full advantage of the captive audience and this is the signle most expensive meal I have had since I came here).

Our next stop was the town of Sneem. Sneem is a town similar to Killarney, lots of little touristy shops and taverns. The best thing about Sneem was the "Moving Water". The river there was beautiful!

The last stop on our tour was Ladies View. This was another phenominal view. It is a view of the lower lakes of County Kerry. The area got its name because Queen Victoria sent her lady in waiting up to check it out to see if it was a view worth seeing prior to taking the trip up the mountain side herself. The Lady in Waiting's reply was that it was definitely a suitable view for any lady.

Other random photos along the way:

There were many other interesting trips and anticdotes that I heard along the way. It was an outstanding trip. I would recommned it to anyone who finds time in Ireland. I took a tour with Dero's Tours. It was €25 for the 6 hour ride. Definitly worth the money!

There was one last surprise for me on my way to the airport this morning:

I watched this rainbow as it started until it became full. And if you look closely you can see that it is actually a double. No doubt this is not an uncommon sight here in Ireland and just another example of the luck of the Irish.

Day 22-The Irish Side of Life

2007-07-06T21:09:00.000+01:00

06 Jun 2007
I've officially been in Ireland for 12 hours now. It's 9:44pm and if I didn't have a watch on and you asked me what time it was I wouldn't believe it was later than 5 or so. The entire day has been slow-paced and refreshing and oddly enough reminds me of home.

I woke up this morning at 3:15 to prepare for my trip to Ireland. I had everything in place, taxi, train, hotel, plane tickets etc. Everything planned well in advance so that things would go as smoothly as possible because...if you know me...I mean really know me...I don't do well when things stop going the way I expected them too. I got ready and went outside to meet my 4:00am cab at 3:50am. I had previously booked the cab and secured reservation with my credit card 2 days previously. So, when it was 4:05am and I hadn't seen my taxi yet I started to get a little antsy. I called the cab office and the polite lady told me she was still trying to locate a driver for my cab. 10 more minutes go by and still no cab...ok I am officially panicking because the train I am meeting leaves at 4:25am exactly. At 4:20am I just flagged down a random cabbie and managed to get a ride to the train station. The cab driver noticed my accent and immediately engaged me in conversation about the United States. He was an interesting guy. Immigrated to London from Ethiopia. He made sure to tell me he was a good Christian and what a safe place that Ethiopia was for foreigners. I guess I can understand his position. He was an man of Arab-African descent and I guess he assumed that I would think he was a secret terrorist or something. Anyways, I didn't take it personal. He made for decent conversation which eased my nerves a bit.

He dropped me off at the station at 4:26am. Just missed the train! Next train comes at 4:55 and has a 45 minute travel time. That gets me to the airport at 5:40 for an international flight which I am supposed to arrive 2 hours early for. Stress returned. When we got to the airport it was obvious that I was not the only passenger who was running behind. Nearly everyone who got off the train started running. I jogged along with the rest of them with bag and purse in hand. This is when I started to curse myself for my choice in wardrobe. I wore a pair of baggy jeans and didn't wear a belt. So every step I took had my pants working themselves off. So, I was sort of running...holding my bags...and holding my pants up with the other hand...along with my ticket and passport. I sure looked dumb! To top that off, my Adidas kept coming untied. So, flustered American girl running up the airport ramps with untied shoes and pants falling down. Interesting.

Somehow I made it quickly through the check-in process and proceeded to security. It was at this point that I learned that the plastic baggies were back by the entrance to the terminal and I had to do an about face, and run back to get the baggie to put my little bottles of shampoo and stuff inside, pants and shoes continuing not to cooperate as I rushed back across the terminal. After securing the baggie I entered the security area right behind a bachelorette party. Apparently they were on their way to Belgium and were all wearing goofy white tea shirts with a corny picture of the bride and groom on them except for one who was dressed like she was going to be opening up in Heidi on the West End. Again it was something to see.

I made it through security and ran the rest of the way through the terminal and YES I made it on the plane. I sat in the very last seat on the plane next to a chatty man named John. He was very nice and helpful and had a million questions about the states and about politics etc. It was quite interesting because this is NOT the way that a Londoner would have acted if I was sitting by them, they would never have uttered a single word to me, that's just the way London is. John was interesting and told me lots of anecdotal stories about Ireland and England and was interesting enough to talk to. Actually, he was so animated that several times I saw other folks on the plane looking over at us and listening to the conversation. At first I took the looks they were giving as being annoyed that maybe he was talking too loudly but while we were deplaning they engaged us in conversation and I could see that they were just curious.

When I arrived here I decided to rent a car. I figured this was probably the only chance I would ever have to drive on the wrong side of the road, so I did it. And I have to say, it's both easier and more difficult than I would have expected. Firstly, the car is a manual (n.p. I have driven a stick before), but it's different when you have to shift with your left hand versus your right. Then there is the adjusting to kph instead of mph. Signs that say 100 make it seem like you are going very fast indeed. Actually I would say anything over 35 in the little Ford Fiesta I am driving feels like you're in an Formula One car.

Anyways, I got in the car and just started driving south. I figured that if I just kept going eventually I would run into this place so that's what I did. No map just leave it to instinct. Luckily it wasn't that hard to find. Parking was really the only issue. Despite the fact that this is a small town, the hotel didn't have a parking lot and all the parking around here is metered. So I had to drive around for a while before I found a spot. For a minute I felt like I was in National Lampoon's European Vacation because I did end up driving around the same place 4 times. It wasn't a traffic circle, but I did circle the block.

Anyways, the afternoon was spent walking through the streets of Killarney. I took a picture or two of what I saw. Now that I have been in London for a while I am not quite a awestruck by the streets, but they're still cute nonetheless. I had a slice of strawberry spongy cake in a little desert restaurant and it was fabulous. I should have taken a photo of it. The way that the lady decorated the cake with strawberry and ambrosia syrup was really cute too. Later, taking the advice of my brother I went to the theater located across the street and watched an American Movie - Die Hard 4. I was really surprised by how many families there were in that movie with small kids. I think the action and violence is a little intense but these youngsters (I would say between 6-11 years old) were laughing appropriately at the jokes etc. It was really something. I am not sure what the rating is on the movie but I am sure it's at least PG-13.

Anyways, this blog wasn't the greatest. I will certainly have more to write later about this trip. So much happened today and I have been up far too long to write a cohesive blog. Tomorrow I am taking a 7 hour driving tour of the Ring of Kerry said to be one of the most impressive scenic drives in all of Ireland and perhaps the world. I hope to dazzle you with pictures of these places tomorrow.

Have a great night guys!
~Jenn

Photos:

My hotel and room:

The town of Killarney:

Day 21-Harrods and Derailments

2007-07-05T18:20:00.001+01:00

05 July 2007

Today I decided that it was time to finally go and see Harrod's Department Store. After hearing about the fantastic Annual Clearance Sale in July I decided today had to be the day. Harrods is located at the Knightsbridge tube station. To get to Harrods from #99 you have to get on the Underground and take the Central line to Holton Street and then transfer to the Piccadilly line and take that to Knightsbridge. The entire journey to Harrods was very easy. I was not surprised to see that the tube station at Knightsbridge is very nice and clean and far more updated than some of the other tube stations in town. This station actually had marble floors in the main entrance area and you were literally at the front door of Harrods as soon as you made it up to the street. How convenient.

Because everyone has already told me a million times how lavish the Harrods Department store was I was not surprised at all by what I found inside. It is an extremely large building (about 7 floors total) and has tons of departments, impressive lavish food halls and 28 restaurants some of which include: Harrod's Chocolate Bar, Champagne & Oyster Bar, Mo's Diner and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts to name a few. It's definitely an extreme shopping experience. One of the more impressive sights in the store is the Egyptian Escalator which has some very nice carvings and hieroglyphics and such and at the bottom has a memorial tribute to Princess Diana and Dodi Al-Fayed. It was extravagant and interesting. My favorite part was definitely the toy department. I wish that Olivia would have been able to see all the cool stuff that they had there. It was very impressive. I had lunch in the Mo's Diner which was a little overpriced but tasty nonetheless.

After Harrods it was time to get back over to #99 for work. This transition was not nearly as easy as getting to Harrods. The Piccadilly to Central trip was really pretty unremarkable, except for ignoring the little voice in my head telling me to get off at Liecester Square and take the Northern Line home. So, when we got back to Holton Street we learned that a train had derailed on the Central Line and that our train would be delayed which was a bit of an understatement. It took over 30 minutes for a train to arrive during which time I could have walked home from the Holton Street station but again ignored that rational voice in my head and remained in the stuffy tunnels waiting on the train. I spent quite a bit of my time waiting watching a little brown mouse sniff around at different things down on the train tracks and about 2 minutes before the train finally arrived I got into a conversation with the lady standing next to me which was nice. This was actually the first time I have gotten into a conversation with any Londoners while out and about. They generally just sort of keep to themselves around here. And that is definitely something I like better about the states, making small talk with people while you are out and about.

So, I did make it back to the center and here I am now at work killing time. I still have over 3 hours left here tonight! zzzzzz So, I guess that's all I have for now. I am leaving for Ireland in about 10 hours :-)

Hope that you all have a nice night!

~Jenn

Day 20-4th of July ... the Other Side's Perspective.

2007-07-04T19:59:00.001+01:00

04 July 2007
The 4th of July in the land of those who we gained our Independence from was very entertaining. Not because it was a 4th of July celebration but because we got to take our first Day Trip to Brighton today which was excellent. The trip by motor coach to Brighton took slightly over 2 hours. At least one of the hours can be directly attributed to London traffic. As I get further and further from the Study Centre (which from this point forward I will short-handedly refer to as #99) I am learning more about the geography of the area. However at this point it is my opinion that we spent at least 45 minutes driving in circles.

After we broke free of the city traffic we were on our way through the rural farmland of Southeast England. If you like rolling hills and beautiful farms with cows, horses and little black sheep for your scenery you would have been in luck. It was an absolutely beautiful sunny morning and the countryside was equally as lovely.

When we arrived at Brighton we were let out by the pier and organized for a short tour of the Royal Pavilion. The Royal Pavilion is a fantastic seaside vacation castle built in approximately 1825. It's architect John Nash modeled the Pavilion after the Indian Taj Mahal. The interior of the palace is decorated with Chinese influenced artwork and is absolutely overwhelmingly lavish (unfortunately there aren't any pictures allowed inside). The dining room of the palace was one of the most indulgent rooms, the ceilings were about 24 feet high and there was a dome in the top of the room. The walls were adorned with nearly floor-to-ceiling high paintings of Chinese people. And in the center of the room was a gorgeous chandelier which weighs over one-ton and is held in the claws of a large silver dragon. It's really elaborate to say the least. In addition to the dining room we saw several sitting rooms, music rooms, the kings apartment and Queen Victoria's apartment and bathroom. I really wish I could have managed a few snapshots of it all because it was very impressive.

After the tour we had lunch at a quaint little pub called the Pump House located in a little alley in an area called "The Lanes". There is a picture of the pub in the slide show - if you'd like a better view or a view with captions just click the little symbol in the bottom right hand corner and then follow the link called Brighton Trip (you can do the same thing for all my photos). Lunch included a 1/2 pint of cider and a nice BBQ Chicken Sandwich and Chips. It was pretty good. After lunch we spent a little time browsing in The Lanes and found an adorable boutique called Pussy. Although the name does make it sound a little vulgar, it wasn't. It was a shop full of whimsical little items and I picked up something interesting to send to Olivia next week when she gets back from California.

After The Lanes, we went down to the waterfront and checked out the surf. The wind was really gusty which made the waves really large and the sea air smelled great. I tend to forget how much I love the beach, I could have stayed there for hours. The shore was completely covered in little pebbles and rocks and I managed to come home with a purse full of them :-).

After some time on the shore we went to the Fun Fair on the Brighton Pier. This was a really cool and nostalgic place. I imagine this must be what Coney Island is like in New York. There were video games and carnival rides and even slot machines in the arcade on the pier. I had a few goes at trying to get a prize out of one of those grabby machines but was unsuccessful.

After our fun on the pier it was time to return to #99. The ride back was fun. Our tour guide made up a trivia game for us and gave us Brighton Rock (which is a flavored hard candy stick) as a prize if we got the questions right. I managed to get 2 questions right and shared a stick with my roommate. On the ride home I also got a better view of the chalk hills but wasn't fast enough to get a picture with my camera. They are really interesting so I hope that I will get another chance to take a picture before my time here is over.

So, I guess that is a long enough blog for now. I will be going to Killearey, Ireland early Friday morning and return on Sunday. I hope that I will have some great stories to pass on about my time there and some pictures as well. Cross your fingers for me that it doesn't rain too much. This weekend in London is the kickoff of Le Tour de France, I am going to miss it since I will be in Ireland, but perhaps it is for the better!

Hope that you are all doing great. Drop me a line sometime! Or leave a comment and let me know you came by! (I think you can do it without registering)

Have a great one!
~Jenn

Day 19-A visit to the chemist

2007-07-03T18:24:00.000+01:00

Nothing too remarkable happened today.

EDIT: I did go back to Primark and Selfridges Department stores this morning and when I got off the tube I snapped this picture of the Marble Arch. Beyond the Arch is Hyde Park which was once a royal hunting ground.

However I have had a bad headache all day and made my first visit to the chemist to get some relief after 4 ibuprofen didn't even touch it. I learned that paracetamol is acetaminophen (Tylenol) over here and that it is not sold over the counter, that you have to request it from the Pharmacy clerks...interesting.

Another interesting thing today was that I found out I won a contest back in Tallahassee for a vacation at the Sandestin Resort. I entered it about 2 months ago (it was a trivia thing put on by my local TV station) and they sent me a notification that I won on June 1st but I never noticed it! So today they tried to contact me again and luckily I got the message. I am excited because the vacation is good until 05/08! So now I have something fun and free to do for New Years! Best part...there was also a cash prize! Woo Hoo! ABC 27 is Great!

So, that's all I have for now. I might possibly go to Killearny Ireland this weekend, I found a cheap flight and a cheap hostel. I am going to try to hook it up with my flatmates and see if they are interested in the trip. If I go there will potentially be a delay in my next blog but don't fret I hope the pictures will be worth the suspense (hahahahaha).

Hope you all have a nice night!
~Jenn