Brighton

Our first trip to the ocean! Brighton was a pretty typical little beach town, so experiencing it out of season was an extremely relaxing experience, helped out by the fact that the weather improved throughout the day. Our first stop, was the Royal Pavilion, former home of King George IV. This was really interesting because the exterior was designed with Indian influence, but the interior was decorated with Chinese influence. I have to say I didn't really know what to expect going into the Pavilion, but I was really impressed. Not only did I love all the dragons everywhere (the central chandelier in the Banqueting Room was awesome!), but for the most part, the building seemed much more livable than Buckingham Palace. While it clearly took a good sum of money to put together, I thought that some of the rooms were done very nicely without screaming exorbitant wealth, and actually somewhat reminded me of the atmosphere of my great grandparents' house. Unfortunately, photography wasn't allowed inside, but I did borrow two of the chandelier from the internet because I couldn't look away!

http://www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk/Pages/crystalcleartalksjan-feb10.aspx

The lights pointing upwards are being "exhaled" by small dragons, but up top...

 http://rpmcollections.wordpress.com/2012/07/02/murder-in-the-royal-pavilion-peter-james-not-dead-yet/

Was this beauty, a 12 foot long dragon, carved from wood, and then plated in silver and painted with reds and greens. The outside of the building was also extremely attractive.

It's interesting to think that all of this was built up from a modest farmhouse by the man who was the first King of England to not have rule over America.

In any event, from here, we traveled down to the shoreline to have some excellent fish and chips, and enjoy our first views of the British coast. The pebble beaches were made up of very smooth rocks, and sloped rather steeply down to the water. The new pier was still active even off-season, and the old pier was quite haunting, the burned remains standing about 100 yards off-shore.

As always, it was really nice to have someone on the trip who knew some of the history of the area, in this case one of our professors. He was able to point out some interesting areas such as the hotel where the Irish Republican Army attempted to assassinate Margaret Thatcher with a bomb.

As well as the cute little shopping area that clearly was named after this cute girl I know.

 Eventually, I found a nice fountain to site beside for a few minutes before wandering back through the shops, finding myself some secondhand books, and a nice loaf of homemade bread to enjoy back in London.

My lasting impression of Brighton is that it is a quintessential coastal town, complete with pier, beachside shops, and fish and chip shops with an ocean view. I think that it would be a nice day-trip visit any time of year, but I would love to see it in the height of summer packed with British families looking for their own piece of pebbled heaven.

Amsterdam

This past weekend, we made the (relatively) short trip to Amsterdam, Holland for our first trip out of the country! I don't think I was expecting much because of the city's reputation for having a liking for not so family friendly activity, but it was a rather pretty place. I hadn't known beforehand that Amsterdam is built around a system of canals, a result of it's status as a trading hub from the 17th century on. Amsterdam also houses the oldest stock exchange in the world, the Amsterdam Stock Exchange.

The first day was not particularly pleasant for me. Possibly because of the subpar weather, possibly because of leaving the flat for the airport at 3 am, I was not in a very good mood, and the strangeness of the city struck me immediately upon arriving (after a 2.5 hour journey from the airport in Eindhoven). It is a very 'european' city, in that the majority of people seem to travel by bike, and the streets are not nearly as crowded as I would expect from a major city. However, on Saturday, we visited the Anne Frank House, which I thought was very interesting because, rather than focus on the horrors of the Holocaust, they focused on the tragedy of the individual family, and one girl who represented the thousands of innocent children who were not allowed to lead normal lives. Climbing up the stairs behind the infamous bookcase, and through the rooms which housed Anne and 7 others for two years was an incredible experience because it gave new realism to such a major historical event.

Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed inside the actual house

 

After this amazing cultural experience, we moved on to an amazing culinary experience. The Netherlands is known for it's pancakes and apple pie, so I got them both out of the way in one shot with some amazing pancakes, and the best apple pie I've ever eaten.

Banana and Nutella Pancakes

Insanely good Apple Pie, accompanied by Cinnamon Ice Cream!

On Sunday, we visited the Van Gogh Museum, dedicated to chronicling his progression from novice painter to classical artist, and housing his own works accompanied by those of the artist who inspired him. While I've never been a huge art fan, some of his paintings, especially the landscapes, blew me away with their realism. I found one of his phases especially attractive, in which he intentionally used an excessive amount of paint, and then molded it to convey characteristics and emotions through the texture, as well as the colors. Although pictures can in no way do these works justice, here are a few of the ones that caught my eye.

He intentionally used incorrect colors, allowing the
characteristics of the painting to convey the emotions

When we had our fill of art, we ventured just outside to the famous "I Amsterdam" statue, although I have no idea how anyone manages to get pictures of it without other people in the way.

For lunch, we stopped at a very nice little cafe next to a market square, which was unfortunately closed on Sundays, where I had the best tea of my life. It was only hot water, fresh mint leaves, and some honey but it was incredibly tasty, and I will definitely be attempting to replicate it.

Finally, we finished off the day with visits to some very cool little shops inside the Tulip Museum and Cheese Museum (which included a tasting of the voted world's best cheese), and one last piece of pie to finish off the trip.

Overall, I would say that it was a successful weekend, though I do think it was all that was needed to get the key points of Amsterdam. While I'm glad I went, it wouldn't be somewhere I would want to spend a whole vacation, and I'm glad we were only there for a few days. But either way, it was a valuable experience!

Oxford

This past Saturday, we took a trip to Oxford, our first trip outside of London! It was amazing to be at the oldest University in the UK, educating students since the late 11th Century. After the train from London (about an hour), we met our tour guide and made our way into town. Oxford University has 38 distinct colleges, 8 of which solely admit postgraduate students. Students are admitted into a single college within which they complete their degree.

Classes don't start until the first week in October, so we saw very few of them, but in a stroke of luck, we found that it was an "Open Door" weekend, and areas which are usually off limits to the public were made available. As a result of this, we got to visit New College, the location for filming of a scene from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

After this, we visited the pub where Bill Clinton famously "Did not inhale" during his year spent as an Oxford student.

The architecture of the city was stunning, and it gave an aura of old knowledge, though also one of elitism. Everywhere you looked, the buildings and grounds reinforce the idea that students going to Oxford are destined for great things, which is difficult to refute considering they have graduated 25 British Prime Ministers, 28 foreign presidents, and 48 Nobel Laureates, but also enforces that the Oxford student is more important than the average citizen solely for attending the university. It makes the place feel somewhat unwelcoming to outsiders, and I can only imagine how this is magnified when the town is populated with students. 

A functioning dining hall. What kind of messages
does this send to the students who eat here?

However, we Harry Potter fans did get another thrill. Outside the dining hall pictured above (which was used as inspiration for the Great Hall in the films) was the staircase by which Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the other first years entered Hogwarts for the first time! 

Also used as the entrance in Chamber of Secrets

After the tour, I went to the History of Science Museum. While mostly full of boring instruments, they also had blackboard used by Einstein in one of his lectures to Oxford on his Theory of Relativity, and a flask containing an original culture of Penicillin!

From there, we visited a pub frequented by both JRR Tolkein and CS Lewis during their time at Oxford and beyond (and where Lewis first distributed a proof of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe!). 

Our day concluded with some pub fare back at the Turf Tavern where Bill did not inhale, and former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke DID inhale, though in his case it was a yard of ale (11 seconds!?).

From here, we moved on to a very nice cocktail bar, where they made all the ingredients in-house and then painstakingly combined them into perfect drinks, for a nightcap before getting back on the train home. All in all, it was a long day, but a fun one and definitely worth the trip! I am continuously amazed by just how much history England manages to pack into such small areas.  

Internship

This week was a big one! Not only did classes start, but I finally started my internship! I am placed in a Secondary School on the outskirts of London, which educates students from Year 7 to Year 13 (basically equivalent to 6th Grade to 12th Grade).

The education system here is overall pretty much the same. The UK teaches the same subjects, kids are in school for similar hours, and the students overall are not so different from those in the US. However, there are plenty of little differences, from the structure of the day, to the length of lunch (40 minutes!), to the hole punches (only punch two holes in the middle rather than 3) and the size of the paper (A4 paper is about 1/2 inch taller, and slightly narrower than standard letter sized-paper used in the US).

It looks like my role at the school is essentially going to be that of a Science department assistant, helping classes which can benefit from multiple adults in the room, and teaching the occasional lesson, although I am also hoping to be able to focus on studying the curriculum for comparison to the CT curriculum. Here, the educational standards are set nationally, rather than on a state-by-state basis.

Classes have also been very interesting, as both of my professors are extremely smart, witty, and thought provoking in their lessons, the first of which have gotten me thinking for their own reasons. While we knew what to expect from David, Christine came to us as an unknown and quickly blew me away. We had an extremely intense and honest discussion about the nature of US society vs. UK society which I thought was absolutely brilliant, and I can't wait for more of the same. I think that all term I won't have any problem going to either class (although the 6-9 timeframe isn't ideal).

Overall, I think that this first week of getting into our work has been an exciting one and it bodes well for the rest of term. Up until now, I have been focused on the personal aspects of my trip as far as seeing the sights, eating the food, etc, but after this week, I am excited to get to work on getting the most out of the educational aspects of my journey as well!

Walking the River

Since my last post, I've spent some time walking the Thames (pronounced 'Tems' here) River, mostly on a yet another walking tour by our tour guide, and fearless leader, Brian. It really is fascinating to walk from the east side of London towards the center, as you you start in an area that feels although it has not changed much in the last few years, and feel almost as if you're walking through the years, winding up in modern day by the time you reach the center. We began our walking tour at the Pub from which the Mayflower set out on its voyage, passed by a pub which used to be notorious for 'recruiting' members for the Navy by knocking young men out and putting them on a Naval vessel before they came to, continuing past the Tower of London which was the place many famous people (literally) lost their heads. Eventually, we reached the modern glass buildings which dominate the skyline of the City of London and the Millennium bridge which was essentially built as a symbol of modern times and architecture. 

Bridges which were used to carry shipments
from the merchant vessels to processing

The Tower Bridge (completed 1894) framing St. Paul's Cathedral (completed 1708)

The Millennium Bridge (completed 2000) leading to St. Paul's

Three buildings under construction
(Left to Right: Walkie Talkie Building, Cheese Grater Building, The Gherkin)
Not the official names, but if you call them this, everyone will understand you.

Pirate ship made of old ship parts

El Capitan of said ship

Our organized walk came to an end in a street festival full of booths selling almost anything you can imagine, from clothing to beer. The next night, we decided to continue our walk further west along the Thames, and were rewarded with some wonderful nighttime views of the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, and the London Eye.

The London Eye, framing a gigantic carnival swing ride
 (Not sure who decided to top it like that..)

Big Ben with the Eye in the background

Houses of Parliament

All in all, it was a great first week in London, and I experienced quite a bit in a relatively short amount of time, although I think I've learned to begin carrying my camera around with me at all times because I seem to overestimate the power of my cell phone's camera. In any event, tomorrow I begin my internship and start settling into my semester and really living in London instead of just seeing it!