Oh hey Amsterdam and Bruge...

Hello ladies and gents!! I'm back to report on my adventures in Bruge and Amsterdam this past weekend. Now I'm sure all of you have heard stories from one time or another about what happens in Amsterdam....to see it in real life is a WHOLE different story. For most people, what happens in Amsterdam stays in Amsterdam....

I am not one of those people. LOL.

So let's start from the beginning, shall we? Thursday night, I went to see the Taming of the Shrew with my Shakespeare class. While the play is VERY famous right now in London, I was not really a fan. The acting was WAY overdone, they tried too hard to get laughs, and not to mention that the play was over 3 hours long! So by the time the play ended and I FINALLY got home, it was close to midnight. Keep in mind that I have to be up for Amsterdam at 4 am...Yea, not fun.

Friday, 4am, my alarm goes off, and a "not so happy" Helen Ann rolls out of bed, gets dressed, and heads out the door to walk 15 min to the station, carrying my big travel bag. You know, I learned on the Paris trip not to carry so much, but for some reason, my bag was STILL heavy!!! I didn't even pack that much!! Boggles my mind, I tell ya...But any who, I walked to the station, met up with Matt at his station, and took the tube to the station from which CAPA was getting a coach. We all boarded the coach at about 6:15am, and started the journey of eternity to get to Amsterdam.

Mind you, England is an island. We are in a coach bus. As you probably guessed by now, we took the ferry to get to France. We grabbed the ferry right next to the white cliffs of Dover. Boy were they pretty! They were like one giant mass of chalk. So cool. And this ferry... This ferry was like a cruise ship!!! I felt like I was VIP or first class or some nonsense like that!!! I almost didn't want to get off! But alas, the time came for us to get off, and board the coach, yet again, to go to Bruge. After about a 2 hour coach ride, we reached the city of Bruge. If you've ever seen the Colin Farrel movie "In Bruge," DO NOT LISTEN TO HIS CHARACTER!!! Bruge is an amazingly beautiful city. I was immediately in love. Not to mention, I had some Belgium chocolate and Belgium waffles!!! Not the fake deal that you get on the boardwalk...this was the REAL thing. So yummy in my tummy...

After leaving Bruge, we finally reached Amsterdam. I never realized how pretty Amsterdam was! The city is basically just several circles, outlined by the canals. We took a boat tour so we got to see the full effect. So beautiful. Like most European cities, the buildings were old and fabulous. Of course, at night, my friends and I ventured into the Red Light District to see what the hype was all about. BOY WAS IT SOMETHING TO SEE!!! I couldn't believe my eyes!! Everything you heard about Amsterdam exists, and more...let's just leave it at that. On Saturday, we visited some authentic Dutch towns, where some of the civilians still wear clogs. So cute!!! It was really cool getting out of the city and seeing the simple life of Holland. I was very impressed.

Sunday morning, my friends and I woke up VERY early and checked out of the hotel in order to get in line for the Anne Frank house. We made it JUST before the rush. Let me just say that no place has ever moved me so much as this house. I cried my eyes out. I was so overwhelmed with the tragic history of the house. I walked the stairs that they walked, walked through the secret passage behind the book case, and up the tiny stairs to the secret annex. In the living room, where they ate and some people lived, you could see the pencil marks on the wall of when Mr. Frank measured the heights of the children. We then walked into Anne's room, where all of her original pictures on her wall still hung on the same wallpaper. Of course they were behind a glass case, but it was still so touching. For the first time it hit me: Anne Frank was a normal teenage girl like I was. Looking at her pictures of celebrities, I envisioned my bedroom walls at 13, with pictures of Aaron Carter flooding from the ceiling to the floor. In each room, there were quotes from her diary as well. I couldn't help myself but cry. I didn't want to leave. If I had the chance to go back, I would. I HIGHLY recommend that everyone does this at least once in their lifetime...do yourself the favor. In the museum attachment, we saw video interviews with Mr. Frank, artifacts, pictures, updates on what happened to the members of the family, and last but not least, Anne's REAL diary. It was all so overwhelming...I'm getting chills now thinking about it.

Well, to sum up the rest of the weekend, it took us about 10 hours to finally get back to London. We ended up watching a million episodes of Family Guy on the bus, which made the time go by faster. Of course the tube I needed to catch was suspended for the weekend, so I had to catch a bus back to my homestay. I finally got home at about midnight, and then immediately starting writing my midterm paper. (Don't freak out; I had the paper outlined and almost written on the bus. I just had to type it haha) I handed the paper in today while touring the Globe Theater with my Shakespeare class. Good times...

Well, next week is Spring Break. I'm going to visit our friend Mat from Ursinus who is getting his Phd in Scotland. So excited!!!! I'll talk to you then, unless something exciting happens before then....which it could. I am in London.....

Paris and Professor Snape

Hey everybody! I know it's been a longgggg time since I've written, but once again, my life has been crazy busy. But a good busy. So I'm going to take you back to about a week ago, and start from there...

Ok. So every Tuesday I go to see a play at night for my Living Theater in London class. We see some GREAT shows, and the best part about them is that they are free for me to attend!!! How awesome is that?!?! So last Tuesday, we went to see a play called Damascus at the Tricyle Theater in Kilburn. Now, while I LOVE theater (hello, I'm minoring in it), the constant travelling to the different theaters at night after a long day of classes is kind of dreadful. However, this night turned out to be EXTRA special. So I walk in to the theater, and immediately notice how small it is. The front row was completely free (you could pick where you wanted to sit), so my friends and I decided to try it out. As we are sitting there, one of my friends casually turns to us and says "So did you hear who is in the audience?" Naturally, we responded "other than the rest of our class, no. Who is here??" And she smiles and says, "Professor Snape." My jaw dropped. Now, for those of you who do not know the character Professor Snape from Harry Potter, let me inform you of the actor: Alan Rickman. He has been in countless big time films, such as Harry Potter, Love Actually, Sweeny Todd. The list goes on. So when she said his name, I immediately jumped up and said "Where?!?!?" Embarrassed, my friend pulled me back down and told me to casually look to the back of the theater, where he was sitting. THERE HE WAS. He was just sitting there with his wife, waiting for the show to begin like everyone else in the theater. I made up my mind that I would meet him during intermission, which I did. He was very nice. I told him I appreciated his work, and he smiled and thanked me. I let him go after that because I could tell he just wanted to enjoy his night with his wife, instead of dealing with crazy Harry Potter fans like myself. So alas, I met Alan Rickman. TOP THAT PEOPLE!

Now on to Thursday...Thursday, I had to say goodbye to my new friend Marie-Lou. She returned to France this past weekend. I was very sad about it because I knew the chances of seeing her again are pretty slim. Unless I visit France in the future, or she comes to America. Who knows, maybe if we keep in touch it could happen one day....Let's cross our fingers. She's a great girl and I'm glad to have met her.

Last but not least...PARIS. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I spent Valentine's Day weekend in Paris. It ALMOST tops meeting Alan Rickman. Haha. Seriously though, Paris was amazinggggggg. We arrived early Friday morning. We took the Euro Star, which is the train that goes under the water from London to Paris. It only took us 2 hours to get there. Pretty impressive. I was extremely ill with a sinus infection the entire weekend, but I didn't let that ruin my time there. I saw EVERYTHING. And I mean EVERYTHING. The Louvre, Arch de Triumph, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Mona Lisa, Van Gogh and Claude Monet exhibit...the list could go on forever. It was so much fun. Very exhausting, but fun. The best part was seeing the Eiffel Tower light up and shimmer at night. I have never seen anything like that in my entire life. My heart almost stopped in awe. Positively mesmorizing. Apart from all of the tourist attractions, it was interesting to test my French skills with the locals. I surprised myself in how much I remembered. I was able to help my group of friends get around. I even got into an argument with a lady at a shop who gave me the wrong food and was trying to force me to eat what she gave me!!! I got an applause for that one...major props. We did a bar crawl at night with other CAPA kids which was A LOT of fun. I got to meet some more locals and see the French night life. Alas, at the end of the weekend, I was ready to go back to London...my home away from home.

So far, nothing big has happened since Paris. I did a lot of fun stuff at my internship. I'm beginning to work on projects and things, so I really feel like I'm a part of the HR team now. It's cool. My work actually means something now. I'm not just filing and doing pointless tasks; I'm updating systems and creating new programs for the department. Really cool.

Well, I probably won't blog again until after this weekend, which is my trip to Amsterdam and Bruge!!!! I'll fill you in on all of the juicy details after that. Until then, be safe, enjoy life, and I miss you all....

turning a over a new leaf...

So it's been at least a week since I last wrote, and boy, was it an eventful week! I guess I'll start off with my biggest news: I moved into a new home. Things were not going as I had planned in my previous home, I was not really happy, and I just decided that it would be best for me to remove myself from the situation. On the positive side, I moved into an AMAZING new home stay. They are a couple in their 60s, and they live in this BEAUTIFUL 3 story home. They have the cutest little kitty named Cutie, who I just asbolutely adore!!! He makes me miss the number one kitty in my life, though...my Tootsie. My room is awesome; I have a wrap around desk, lots of shelves, and a huge closet. The house itself is pretty cool because it is very old fashioned; there are not normal locks on the door. Every door has it's own key. It's so cool. The meals are FABULOUS!!! Tonight, I even tried Brussels sprouts!! They refuse to let me make any of my own food. They even pour me my cereal in the morning...I'm like a princess. I'm so spoiled....I wonder if I can get my Mom to continue this act of behavior when I return home......

Saturday I toured the Tower of London, which was so cool. It was weird being in the same spot where people such as Anne Boleyn were beheaded! We then went to where they keep the Crownded Jewels, where I also watched a video of The Queen's Procession. Very interesting.

Sunday, I went to Oxford, which is famous for the University. Funny fact: Oxford University is actually made up of like 35 different colleges. Interesting, I know. We got to tour a lot of them, which left me feeling very jealous. And I thought Ursinus had cool architecture?!?! These colleges were breathtaking. Absolutely amazing. And here comes the best part....

HOGWARTS!!!! Yes, ladies and gentleman, I got to tour Hogwarts. Ok, maybe it's not the REAL Hogwarts, but it's the college that they based Hogwarts off of. They even filmed many of the scenes on the campus. If you have facebook, please take a look at all of my pictures. You won't believe your eyes. Especially the dining hall. I honestly thought I was going to turn my head, and Harry Potter was going to be eating with Ron next to me. It was so cool. By far, the BEST part of the trip. I think our Tour Guide new that, too....haha

On a different note, I thought I would tell you about my interesting morning on my way to work. So I get up and leave an hour and a half before I have to be in work. It only takes me about an hour to get to work, but I always leave early in case there are any problems with the tube. This morning is case in point. So here I am, walking all casually into the station, with my itunes going, ya know, doing my thing...and I see that there are an abnormally large amount of people waiting for the District Line on a Monday morning. So I look around, and see that the sign says there is severe delays, and part of the District Line is suspended. So I took my headphones out to hear if there were any announcements. To my surprise, a man, with the most calm and apathetic voice, gets over the loud speaker and declares, "This is an update. There is severe delays and suspensions on the District Line, due to a person intersepting the train between Earl's Court and Embankment." A PERSON INTERSEPTING A TRAIN?!!?!? So here I am, IN COMPLETE SHOCK AND HORROR, and I look around in a panick to see how people react. To my dismay, I see people throw their arms up in disgust and say things like "Man, now I'm going to be late to work!" WHATTTTTTTTT????!!!!! I'm on the verge of tears, thinking of a poor person ending their life, and the rest of London is pissed about being late to work. I couldn't believe my ears. You know what, I think I should add this to my blog about things that puzzle me about London....whew...I don't get it!

Well, I'm off to bed. I had a very tiring weekend, I have a presentation tomorrow in my Shakespeare class (wish me luck!) and I have an even longer week ahead of me.

Oh, by the way, did I mention that I'm going to Paris this weekend?!?!?! Yea, be jealous.

Looks like I brought American snow with me...

Wow. So I'm not sure if any of you have read the paper or watched the news today, but London got hit HARD with snow. As in 8 inches and still accumulating kind of hard. While this may not sound exciting to you, let me fill you in on a little fact about: London has not seen a snowstorm like this in 18 years. I WATCHED HISTORY TODAY!!! Now, I LOVE snow, but after this morning, I decided it's not meant to be in London. And here is why...

So, I wake up at 6:50 am this morning to get ready for work, ya know, do my normal thing. I look out the window, but I couldn't really see much because of the way my windows are. However, I remembered hearing that it could rain or snow, so I put on my rain boots for extra precautions. I had work at 9 am, so I left the house at 7:30 to get to the station. I open the door, and BAM! There is like 5 inches of snow! I couldn't believe it! London was a sea of white fluffyness! At this point, I'm still pleasantly happy, so I trudge my way to the station. While I was walking, I realized that none of the sidewalks or streets were paved...weird. Kind of made my walk difficult, but I'm always up for a challenge. Unfortunately, I still was unaware of the IMMENSE challenges ahead of me...

I finally get to the station. I'm freezing. My feet are already numb (yes, even with the boots). I then see that my platform for my train is closed off. Hmm. I look up at the information screen, and alas, my train is not working due to the weather. So I quickly looked to see what other trains were operating and where they were headed. I finally find one, I get on with about 1/4 of London inhabitants, and suffer my way to another station. I get off, and immediately find a travel safety person to help me. I've already given up on trying to figure my way around by myself...He told me which station to head to, but I would have to walk about 10 blocks to get to my work. Not happy about the walk, but at least I'll make it to work. I called my boss to tell her I'd be late, but there was no answer...odd.

I get off at the station, and have NO IDEA where I'm going. I walk left, right, up, down...name any direction and I walked it. After asking some nice old lady for directions, I finally reached my work. I quickly ran upstairs, only to find that NO ONE from my department came into work that day!! Can you believe it?!?! Since I had no one to give me orders of what to do, I was told to go home. Ugh. So I trudge my way back to another station, take the train to the farthest destination it could go, only to find that no other transportations were heading farther from there. I had no way of getting home. No bus, no cab, no train. NOTHING. Enter panic and frustration....finally, a cop told me that I would have to head BACK into central london, which is where I started, and hop on a different train which will take me home. After 3 hours of switching one train to another with loads of people stepping on my feet, I made it home. Bliss at last.

To help ease my anger from the morning of hell, I went outside to build a snowman with Indiana and Marie-Lou. It was a work of art, I'll tell ya. Facebook pictures don't do her justice. We then went to a park where we had a snowball fight. I felt like a kid again. It was wonderful. You know what else was cool? While I'm used to snow, everyone else here is not. It's like I'm watching people experience something for the first time in their lives...it's mind blowing. After playtime, we went inside where Davinder made us hot chocolate, and we watched tv and did homework. A nice way to end the day. Now the question still remains...if London has not seen snow like this in 18 years, why all of a sudden????

Helen Ann is in London, and she loves her snow. That's why.

"Only in London..."

Hey everybody! I know it's been awhile since I wrote about my adventures, but have no fear!!! I'm here to tell many a tales about the past few days. Fasten your seat belts, enjoy the ride...

So I had my first full week of work. It kind of flew by. Thursday was exciting because I was finally put into the computer system, which meant I could receive and send emails, and book meetings on my electronic calendar. I also made this cool signature thing that I put in all of my emails. Sounds pretty simple, but it was VERY exciting for me. haha.

Friday, Matt and I decided to check out Harrods, which is the big famous department here in London. It puts Macey's to shame. This place was AMAZING!!!!! I couldn't afford anything put a keychain there, but it was still so beautiful to see. Matt went to the men's section to see if he could find any Ari Gold suits (from Entourage). Of course we found some...this place was so high class!! Eventually we got overwhelmed and decided to leave and tour some of the city. Matt tried a Krispey Kreme donut for the first time in his life. HILARIOUS! We ended up walking much further into London then we expected, and we stumbled across some cool monuments and memorials. Check out my facebook for pictures. Friday night, Matt, Ryan and I took out my roommate Marie-Lou to a pub. We ended up bumping into crazy British Stewart again. It was hysterical. Awesome night.

Saturday I went shopping in Notting Hill with Marie-Lou. We went to some kind of market for a bit, and then we checked out Westfields Mall, which is the largest mall in Europe. IT'S SO HUGE!!!! I didn't even know where to begin shopping! We only stayed there for a little bit because Matt then called us to go out to dinner with him and other CAPA students. We went to this adorable little Italian restaurant. VERY YUMMY!! I decided to be classy, and I had a glass of wine...with my burger...ok, maybe I'm not THAT classy...LOL. After dinner we went back to their flat, where we met some new CAPA students. It was really nice. We all then (about 10 of us) went to a pub in Picadilly Circus. Matt, Marie-Lou and I only stayed for a little bit because we had to catch the tube home.

Now THIS is funny...as we're waiting for the tube, Matt and I were discussing how we miss our families back home. Then, a group of girls tapped me on my back and asked "excuse me, are you Americans studying here?" We said yes, and then they explained that they are students from Penn State, who are actually studying in Spain, but were visiting in London for the weekend!!! THENNNN....Matt asked if they knew this girl (his neighbor from home) and it turns out that one of the girls was her roommate!!!! HOW CRAZY IS THAT?!?!?! How does that happen??? Only in London, my friends...only in London.

Today was kind of boring. I just did homework and watched tv all day. Marie-Lou made a french meal for dinner. VERY delicious. Ok, I'm off to skype my girls Carolyn and Caitlin back at Ursinus...oh I miss them.