London Calling

Hello mates

I know I haven't been TOO on top of updating as often as I'd like, so I apologize. Especially since this post might be a little on the short side...I've got a midterm due tomorrow.

On another note

LONDON WAS AWWWESOME.

Man, I keep asking my friends which city they'd want to live in (of all the cities they've visited so far) and my answer back would definitely be London. (with a vacation house in Ireland and Valencia...) For those who haven't been there yet, the culture is so cool. The whole driving on the left side of the road, the 'lingo', and the accents. It's definitely a culture I would love to adapt to sometime in my life. Even their currency is entertaining (but way stronger than USD, so I'd have to become rich before I move over there...)

This is the first thing I wrote in my journal for my London trip. I get a kick out of this kind of stuff...

"So I was on the train listening to "I am the Walrus" and there was an accordian player playing in sync to the song. It was as if he was performing the song himself." That was on the train to the Charles de Gaulle airport. At the airport in London some little girl was shaking her candy box in sync to another song called "Sleepyhead" I was listening to. The little things that make me smile...

Anyway, we got to the hostel safely, but didn't feel very safe at our hostel the first night. It was run by some really weird people, and they wanted cash only for all the nights we were staying there. The bathrooms were always soaking wet, but overall by the end of our stay it wasn't that bad. The beds were really comfortable and bigger than the bed I have here in Paris! Over the course of our stay we had interesting roommates. A frisky couple, some guy who I never actually met because he came in late and I woke up early, two smelly Malaysians and an older man who wore tighty whiteys... I'm always amused by the charisma of these hostels I stay in. I come across some interesting people here.

The first day Priyanka, Paul (the friend of a friend who so kindly met us in London) headed out to start our touristy adventures. First was Westminster Abbey, which I later found out I didn't properly see it, but it was still cool to walk up to and see the Parliament next door, as well as Big (Little) Ben. Our next goal was to catch the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. The place was so packed we couldn't see over the crowd of people hovering the gate at every corner. This is another part of the culture I was really interested in though... The fact they still have the guards with red coats and tall fuzzy hats guarding the QUEEN's palace. You don't see that sort of stuff in America... We continued the day walking around London, found the Waterloo train station, and got a few good photos of me in front of the Waterloo sign. Apparently seeing a play in London is equivalent to seeing a play in NYC - I had no idea. The three of us decided to see Oliver! It was a really fun musical, and the little boys were so cute and talented.

The next day was dedicated to more 'checking off the list of things to do in London'. The first thing I had to do that morning was see Abbey Road - I'm such a big Beatles fan. I managed to get decent pictures of me walking across just like the Beatles, but it was a one time shot really. That street is ridiculously busy, and I'm sure anyone driving on that street gets driven crazy from all the tourists. There were at least 5 more people trying to get the shot when my friends and I were. I got to sign the wall in front of Abbey Road studios with my favorite quote though :) The second half of the afternoon was spent at the Camden Market. Wow. This market was spectacular! So much awesome stuff there, clothes wise, accessories, vintage wear, artwork, I've never seen such a style like this. I believe I loved this London fashion even more than I do of Paris' and I wish I was able to get something from there. I could definitely get lost looking around in that market, especially since there was a whole branch of stores to discover just from walking through a regular clothing store. I for sure want to go back there. (there was a cute dress I found I keep thinking about! ;-) ) The evening was pretty relax after that, Priyanka met up with her London friends while Paul and I went back to the hostel to call it an early night after dinner since we had to get up early the next day.

Saturday was probably my favorite day yet. I booked a tour for Paul and I go see Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Oxford. It was indeed a long day trip, but we were on a really comfortable bus so I didn't mind the travels. We first got on the bus with extra charges being shoved in our face - it was an additional 16 pounds each to actually go into Windsor castle, and 6 pounds each to go UP to Stonehenge. We decided to walk around the little town of Windsor castle and save some money, which I thought was a great decision. The town is so cute, and we walked down this "long walk" (literally) that leads to and from the castle and got some beautiful pictures.

The next trip was to Stonehenge which was the HIGHLIGHT of my trip. (We thought it'd be worth it to go up, so we paid the extra 6 pounds) The whole first half of the day was cloudy and literally 5 minutes before we arrived there the sky cleared up and we got perfect shadows and sunlight on Stonehenge. It was perfect We were only given 45 minutes to walk around (which I personally didn't find to be enough time) but just to be there was so fulfilling. Some of the stories they gave to us on our audio guides were really interesting, and just the overall experience of being on the English countryside seeing this mysterious landmark was a great experience.

Oxford was our last stop. I realized how little time they gave us at these places, only because there is so much to explore in each one. The town of Oxford was extremely busy and there were people everywhere. It was kind of intimidating too...the University was established in 1249, and they have some of the brightest scholars in the world that go there. It was fun too though...Hogwarts (The school from Harry Potter) has a lot of its characteristics based off of Oxford, so I felt like I was at Hogwarts. Dorky, I know, but hearing students talk in English accents, I couldn't help myself. The long day wore us out so we relaxed again while Priyanka and her friends were out getting fancy at the Ritz Carlton...

Sunday was Paul's day to leave unfortunately, so it was just Priyanka, myself and her two London friends. They previously booked a great tour package that included Madame Tussaud's Wax musseum, the London Bridge and the London Eye, all of which were wonderful. I've never been to a wax museum before! I got some great poses with the 'celebrities' there.

Monday we left, it was a long day of traveling because we flew in and out of Luton airport, but it was nice to get back to Paris. London was probably my favorite trip so far, next to Ireland (I just can't pick one over the other) and I am definitely going back! (Everyone is invited) Like how I feel about all of my trips, the exposure to each culture is eye-opening, and I am glad to check so many things off my life to do list. It's a shame we're restricted by time and money to visit so many places for a first, and even second time, but do what you can in your life, it's so much better than in the pictures.

Next on my list, and unfortunately last on my list are my trips coming up tomorrow. Priyanka, Mihee and I are going to Amsterdam until Monday, and then flying directly to Rome for our LAST school trip! It's crazy how time flies by, but to see where I've been in the last 2 1/2 months is really amazing. My friends and I were comparing our 'list of cities' we've gone this trip, and the length was unbelievable. November is the month dedicated to getting my work done and my final projects completed, which none the less I am very excited to work on. :)

Here are some highlight pictures from my trip! Enjoy

-Becca

Big Ben

Prevented people like me from getting hit by cars

Beatles wall, my friend wrote that "Let it Be"

Camden Market

Windsor Castle

Stonehenge

Proof for mom!

Oxford

Chillin' with Bob Marley

more pictures: picasaweb.google.com/oolretaw

Fall and Fashion

My intentions aren't to rub in that Chicago is having some awful weather, but I am practically in eutopia right now. Fall has always been my favorite season. The transition from humid, hot 80 degree weather to refreshing crisp 60 degree air has it's own personality. The fact that I'm here in Paris experiencing it only amplifies it, and I am really, really teaching myself not to take anything for granted. It's so important you soak in the moment of now so you don't have any regrets of the future. I always used to be someone who relied on future plans to keep me busy, but in order not to miss out on anything, I try and close my eyes and breathe in the air and realize I'M IN PARIS!

Unfortunately when I came home from Spain, I immediately caught a cold that kept me inside most of my Wednesday earlier this week. It was around 5 pm, I was feeling slightly better, when I decided that I refused to lose a day in Paris because of this stupid cold. I dressed up cute, took my bike and did one of my favorite rides down the canal. [Riding bikes here is such a blast in Paris. Since they have bike lanes, and there's no traffic in them, just your occasional pedestrian who is just asking to get run over, the rides are smooth especially when you're going downhill.] I took my bike that day to the Parc de la Villette and took some pictures of the funland.

I liked that outfit so I took a picture of it!

I discovered this park a couple weeks ago after one of our Urban Exploration walks when I was on my own. It was designed by Bernard Tschumi and I was taken aback by it so much for some reason. The park is accented by the building's bright red color, and just the huge size of the park made me want to do somersaults on my bike. There were so many children there the 2nd time around, I couldn't help but take some cute pictures while they were in their own little worlds playing. When I got there my battery exhaustion light was flashing on my camera, so I could only explore one half of the park, so now I get to go back again! Plus theres a bookstore there I would love to check out. I am obsessed with bookstores.

I love the bright red of the buildings.

makes you wonder whats at the end of the bridge, no?

haha, I'm such a creep but this kid was sooo cute and he was coming right at me so I had to move out of the way for him.

I think it was the Urban Exploration walk we had this Thursday that really made me excited for this weather. As I said, we were all so used to the 80 degree temperature from Spain. The walk was called "A String of Pearls" which focused on the 'jewels' of Paris, like mansions, palaces, gardens, etc. We arrived at Place de Vosges in the 4th arrondissement, which was a courtyard designed by a King in the 1600's. We were all so cute dressed up in our fall jackets, scarves, hats and boots. The sun hit everything so perfectly like it always does in mid-October. Of course we arrived there and were freezing our butts off, and the entirety of the walk was focused on staying in the sun, but it was such a glamorous way to view the city. We passed by so many [expensive] boutiques I was so tempted to walk into and by a couple of schools, which for some reason is so fun for me to see all the young French students here. Our teacher brought us to a couple of round about 'places' with statues in the middle of kings or soldiers lost in wars, and a giant one near the end of the walk with your classic designer stores wrapped around it such as Dior. We walked through a park, saw the most beautiful carousel, little girls riding ponies [yes I wanted to ride one too], and ended up looking over the Obelisk near the Louvre with the Eiffel Tower in the distance. It was a great walk after being sick and coming back from Spain, and I am so looking forward to the second half of my trip here.

Place de Vosges

Love is in the air...

This was the window to a perfume store. The top started out as just a clear window but it gradually was a gradient of the prettiest shade of pink down to the bottom of the facade.

Pretty carousel near the Louvre/Obelisk

Oh and my birthday is in a month! I am so excited! There's still so much to do here ahead of me... My roommate Priyanka and I have our list of places to go in the last few free weekends we have left here.

-London (fall break)

-Amsterdam (Halloween weekend)

-Rome (last class trip, beginning of November)

-Prague (weekend before my birthday)

Then my two best friends Lindsay and Emma are visiting me during the week of Thanksgiving, the next two weeks are devoted to my finals, and then my parents are visiting me! I have about 10 days to kill before I come home to the states, so that will be a mixture of my parents' visit, packing up/cleaning our apartment, and taking my last and final trip to....the Greek Islands [Mykonos]! It's sad to see my trip has already reached its midpoint, but that doesn't mean it's going downhill. I am so excited to see what is in store for me the next few weeks, and then I get to come home and see everyone. I miss everyone so much and wish I could share my experience physically, but I guess that's what this blog is for in terms of sharing =]

Please send me emails and comments of how everyone is doing and if there are any exciting updates. I miss you all! My email is oolretaw@gmail.com

oh and one more thing. Fall is the best season for fashion, especially here in Paris. I've been obsessed with looking at fashion on websites. It inspires me to be creative with my wardrobe, which I definitely have been trying to do.

http://lookbook.nu/ and http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/ are my most inspirational websites to look at. Check them out; fashion is such an art! That's one more area of my artistic ability I'm trying to become an expert at!

Band recommendation: Badly Drawn Boy. I can't stop listening to them right now. [along with the Jazz of course... Frank Sinatra knows what he's talking about]

Currently reading: Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami. It was a recommendation from one of my friends here, originally written in Japanese. It's really good so far, I wish I had more time to read it!

Love always,

Becca

Espana!

I apologize for the delayed blog post, but the Spain entry is finally here!

Side note: Okay, I'm not gonna lie, I still cannot turn the jazz music off. I discovered the iTunes online radio, and you can choose whatever genre you want. Of course I chose the vocal jazz station, and I seriously cannot turn my own music on anymore. I loooove Jazz! If you have any I can borrow or let me burn to my computer when I get home, I will be more than happy to accept that.

Anyway. I'm back from Spain! What a magnificent trip. Unlike my Berlin trip, where I was getting homesick for Paris, I did NOT want to leave Spain... I luckily wrote notes about each day in my little journal I keep with me so I wouldn't forget what I did each day. I'm just going to give a few sentences of each day so I don't have to publish an essay here on my blog....

Day 1: "checked into hostel, cool interiors, checked out food --> hungry, tapas bar! broken egg + potatoes w/ garlic, huge meal! sangria :)"
haha, my notes are so thorough... basically we checked into our hostel, which was reallly cool inside. very suitable for young students traveling in Barcelona. of course we were all hungry and scoped out some food to eat, and there's nothing like a real Spanish meal like tapas. It was so delicious...I got patatas braves with this excellent garlic sauce, along with something they call a broken egg. It was sooo good. It was really nice too to get such a large portion. I was beginning to starve here in Paris, since you pay so much for such little portions. The waitress literally came out with a giant wok/bowl of egg, chicken, and fries. I really miss the food in Spain... Oh... and yes, the sangria part. Our hostel had the most delicious sangria on tap (yes) and you could get a .75 litre cup of it for cheap. Please, have some sangria when you go to Spain. Definitely worth your while.

our hostel hallway

broken egg! tasted better than it looks

sangria!

Day 2: "check out, crappy breakfast, train station to Valencia, missed 11 am train, hoping to make the beach"

okay, that day was the start of our weekend in Valencia. our hostel so kindly offers a free breakfast, however the cereal tasted like dusty air, the juice was like watered down orange flavoring, and the milk was sitting out on the counter, hotter than the temperature outside. We had to catch an 11 am train to Valencia, which we unfortunately missed, but luckily there was one an hour later. The train ride to Valencia was probably one of the most relaxing commutes I've ever had. It was 3 1/2 hours, but the whole time I either read or stared out the window over the Mediterranean sea. At one point my music synced up to the poles we kept passing in the train. The simple pleasures in life... Yes, we made it to the beach, and had to meet up with the architecture school in Valencia for a tapas dinner (which took about 3 hours), but we got to meet our Spanish partners in our group for the charette/competition we had the next day.

My view most of the way to Valencia on the train

Roomies at the beach in Valencia (Priyanka, Mihee, Me)

Dessert after dinner. Me and my friends devoured this in about 4 minutes.

Day 3: "charette!"
Ah yes. 9 am started the charette at the University of Valencia architecture school. A group of 5 of us (2 from IIT, 3 from Valencia) spent allll day working on a problem assigned to everyone. They gave us an existing site in Valencia to remodel into a restaurant/cafeteria. I left out part of my notes which said my group won 2nd place out of 7 groups! yayy!

IIT: Me, Mariana

Valencia: Jordi (green), Daniel (blue), Eduardo (black)

2nd place winners!

Day 4: "Calatrava, Beach! Train, sunburnt"

This was the day after the Charette, and the wife of the professor in charge of the charette took us on a tour of the Ciudad de las Artes y Las Ciencias, all designed by Santiago Calatrava. It was an interesting stretch of buildings....Architecturally my favorite building ever is the Milwaukee Art Museum by him, so it was good to see some more of his work. I have to say the MAM is still my favorite, but there was a bridge there in Valencia that looked a lot like the suspensions back in Milwaukee =] It made me all giddy and happy. After walking around the Ciudad, a couple of friends and I decided to hit the beach again in Valencia until our train ride back. I got plenty sunburnt, but it was such a great feeling to be at the beach in October while hearing everyone complain about Chicago's wonderful fall weather! We made it back to Barcelona a-okay, had some sangria to celebrate, and went to bed.

Calatrava

reminds me of the Milwaukee Art Museum!!

Me at the Mediterranean

Side note: as I may have mentioned in my previous post, before we even left for Barcelona, our professor split us into 3 teams to create an itinerary for the 3 days we had tours there. It was our responsibility to create a tour for a Mies/Expo/Old Town day, "Shoreline" day, and "Gaudi" day.

Day 5: "Barcelona Pavilion, so hot, olympic stadium, lunch @ Ramblas, sangria with the Horns, shopping w/ Pri, pass out"

That day was the start of our actual school trip tours through Barcelona. We usually spend 3 days in the actual city with our class and the title was "Mies/Expo/Old Town"...or something like that. We started off at the Barcelona Pavilion, the building the architecture program practically drills into our heads from day one at IIT. I've already been to it about 3.5 years ago, but being in Barcelona again with 3 years of architecture school behind me really made me appreciate my surroundings, especially that building. It was sooo hot that day... We continued up to the Olympic stadium, down to the old part of town, Las Ramblas, and ended with sangria with our professor and his wife at their hotel. Very yummy. That night was my shopping night with my roommate. It's amazing how expensive Paris was. My roommate found a pair of shoes she wanted for 20 euro less in Barcelona...Definitely made me hesitant to shop in Paris the rest of my stay here. I miss the prices of Barcelona!

Day 6: "shoreline, beach"

This was a really good tour put on a group of our students. It was focused on architecture down the shoreline of Barcelona. It was a really beautiful day, and the group gave us an extra couple of hours during our break, so of course, myself and two others headed straight to the beach. The tour continued a few hours later; we hit the Gehry fish, a really interesting hotel that was completely cantilevered on one side, the park designed by Jean Nouvel, and eventually we ended up at this giant solar panel right at the shore. It was a long day of walking, especially back to the hostel, but probably one of my favorite days of my trip. (I apologize for the lack of knowledge of the names of any of these buildings, but you can definitely check out my pictures of the entire day.)

Gehry fish

friends at Jean Nouvel park

Day 7: "Gaudi day!"

Ah yes, saving the best for last. This was my group's tour! You can't go to Barcelona without visiting any of Gaudi's buildings... I seriously want to skip to the best part... Okay, well we walked down the main street with a lot of Gaudi's buildings, like Casa Battlo, Casa Mila, Casa Vicens, made our way up to Park Guell (amazing)...

THEN. At 4 we had a tour of Sagrada Familia thanks to a couple of students who know just the right contact. This was not your ordinary Sagrada tour...None of us really had any idea how in depth we would get to see this spectacular building by Gaudi. We were handed construction hats at the very beginning, were let into a gated construction area while other tourists were watching us, with extreme envy in their eyes. We got to see windows which were still in need of work while they contrasted with its neighboring windows who had the most beautiful patterns of stain glass already inserted in them. Of course we continued to a very, very tall elevator. This is when my stomach flipped; I realized we were going up this very tall elevator... then I remembered how terrified of heights I am...

Up we went, close and personal to some of the towers that were already built on the Sagrada Familia. It was so breathtaking and unreal to be up there. I looked at the girl who booked us this tour and just smiled, I couldn't believe it. Of course I was completely freaking out too, but that's beside the point. You could look over the narrow railings over Barcelona and what has been completed so far of this very complex cathedral.

Yeah, we kept going up, (it took me some convincing by peers to keep climbing the see through stairs and scaffolding, but we made it to the highest point of construction, where the last tower is to be built. It was really cool, because about 20 feet from the ceiling was a wooden floor for construction workers to walk around. After the last tower is to be built, the floor is going to be removed, and no one else will be able to get as high as we were. You'll be able to look up at the star/flower patterned ceiling, but unless you know how to fly, good luck getting up at that point! I couldn't believe where I was at that moment, I took about 100 pictures in 30 minutes. That was my favorite part of the whole trip, and I'm so glad I didn't chicken out and stay down lower while everyone else explored. I know now my goal is to be alive when the Sagrada is finished (along with seeing the Cubs win the world series....) but who knows when either of those will happen.

Casa Mila

Parc Guell

beautiful stained glass at Sagrada

construction hats!

very tall elevator

view from the very tall elevator

this is my "I'm on top of the Sagrada Familia but I'm not going to look down" look

Group photo!

some friends and I at the center of the building, 20 feet from the ceiling. this is the floor that will be removed once the tower is finished and no one will be up there again!

Another highlight of my trip was meeting up with an old middle/high school friend, Cat Weitzenfeld. She is studying abroad in Barcelona this semester, so we met up a couple of times, and she tagged along on our awesome Gaudi tour. Her stomach was flipping as much as mine was!

That Friday was our last day of the 3 day class tour, but a lot of us stayed until Monday morning. We basically just chilled around Barcelona, went to the beach, went shopping, got some pretty jewelry from this sterling silver jewelry store =] I got a ring from there last time I was in Barcelona, and I wear it every day still. I had to get something else! It was hard leaving Barcelona, because of the weather (80's and sunny), the prices that were much cheaper than Paris, and knowing Spanish. That was so relieving to remotely understand people around me and be able to converse.

A scary part of Barcelona though were the massive amount of pick pocketers. We unfortunately witnessed so many, which made me really paranoid everywhere I went. I actually felt safer coming back to Paris, although of course still just as cautious.

We came back to 60 degree, perfect fall weather, and unfortunately I caught a cold and had it for 2 days, which is why I have been so behind on updating this blog.

Anyway, my next trip next weekend for our fall break is to London! I am going with Priyanka and I am SOOO excited! I hope to visit Abbey Road, the Waterloo metro stop, Stonehenge, your basic site seeing, and of course, Chipotle. Someone told me they opened a Chipotle in London, and when I hear that word, I'm on the prowl. I am meeting a friend of a friend there who I've never met but will be with us the whole weekend, so it will be fun to meet someone new and have a fellow tourist by my side too. That reminds me... I still have to book my ticket...

So much for not posting an essay... Au revoir, and I will be back soon, hopefully, but for now it's time to work on my midterms for next Wednesday!

OH! I updated my photo website. You can see all my Barcelona/Valencia pictures. They're sorted in different albums so its easy for you to figure out. Take care!

http://picasaweb.google.com/oolretaw

-Becca