Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Happppppy 27th Birthday to MEEEEEEEEEEE!


Okay. I've decided that 27 is the limit, it's as far as this girl goes. Nothing against 28, 37, 62, etc., but I think I can do without. I'm just going to oscillate back and forth between 25-27 for as long as it's believable, and maybe longer depending on how bold I get. :)
Luckily, I have a fabulous new crew of friends who helped me through the mildly traumatic event. It also helped that I book-ended my birthday with weekends in Sevilla and Paris! Check out my picasa web albums here and here to see pictures from the festivities. On my actual birthday, I was sick, so we stayed in and ordered pizza, but we made up for it a few nights later by going out on the town for some delicious thai food! :) All in all, it was a fabulous birthday. And I bought myself new boots! :)

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

See ya in Sevilla!






Is there anything better than a place where oranges grow year round? Probably not. We spent the last weekend in January and the last few days of my 26th year in the beautiful city of Sevilla in the south of Spain. We arrived late Friday evening, but that did not stop us from walking around the city in the starlight and misty rain to find some tapas bars and sangria by the pitcher.
Saturday morning, we got up bright and early to the prettiest day I've had in 2009 yet. The sun was shining, it was in the low 60s, and the day was ours for the taking! First stop, the Cathedral and La Giralda. The Cathedral was built in 1401 on the site of the city's old mosque left over from the Arabic presence in southern Spain. La Giralda, a former minaret tower in the mosque, was converted into a big bell tower the for the Cathedral. We climbed to the top of the tower for amazing views all over Sevilla. Interestingly enough, the tower was built with ramps instead of steps. Great butt workout, really, but it was built that way so the Arabic soldiers could ride their horses all the way to the top to look out for enemies and guard the city. Super neato. The Cathedral also is where Christopher Columbus lies in pieces (not sure why they split him up).
Next we headed to the Alcazar, the Royal Palace of Sevilla. Built in 1181 but continuously updated for the next 500 years, Real Alcazar is a hodgepodge of Arabic, Christian, and Andalusian styles of architecture. It was fabulously, fabulously beautiful. Every inch was rich in detail and ornate. The gardens out back were probably my favorite, though. We played among the fountains and the labyrinths, the orange trees and statues. It felt like a truly magical place.
Saturday evening, we went to a live Flamenco show that made me wonder what I had been doing with my life as of yet, and question why the answer to that question did not include the study of Flamenco dance. It was insane! Followed by a lovely dinner of tapas, sangria, and many unknown fried things, it was a perfect evening.
Now, up until this point, our trip was just about as perfect as it could be. Sunday, however, the winds changed, and bad luck befell us with a vengeance!!! The calamities include:
  1. My roommate's laptop was stolen out of our locked hotel room.
  2. Torrential rains kept us from most of the city's attractions all day Sunday. We got soaked.
  3. Half of us came down with a bitter, bitter cold.
  4. Our plane to London was forced to make an emergency landing in Birmingham due to the largest snow storm in the last 20 years which raged through London, forcing the closure of all 3 major London airports.
  5. After keeping us in the plane on the tarmac at Birmingham for 3 hours, they finally let us out around 2 am to find no trains or buses available to Oxford for the next 15 hours.
  6. We had to barter with a truly neurotic cabbie to drive us the hour and a half back to Oxford. 5 seater cab, 8 people, 3 sick at that for an hour and a half.
However, we did finally make it back around 6 am that morning , and we were all very grateful to make it to our beds. Needless to say, many of us did not make it to class that day. :) All in all, I had one of the best days and one of the worst days since I have been on this fair continent, but we all kept our heads and remembered to laugh through it all. Check out my picasa web album of Sevilla for pictures of the city, the one called Sevilla The Cathedral for pictures of the church and La Giralda, and Real Alcazar for pictures of the palace.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Oxford University




Well, I had been feeling rather ashamed because for the last month, I was walking around this grand city of Oxford not knowing what I was looking at, so I decided, "THIS MUST STOP!" I promptly signed up for an Oxford walking tour, and let me tell you, I'm so glad I did! I still feel as though I've barely scratched the surface of learning all of the history of this place, but what I did learn, I will share with you now. :)
First things first: Oxford University is made up of about 40 independent colleges ranging from 0-600 students each. I include zero purposefully--there's one college, All Souls, that is so exclusive, it doesn't even have students. It's just a college for people to be professors in. Pretty awesome setup, really. Oxford University itself provides administration to the lot and also the fabulous Bodleian library system. Each college is responsible for its curriculum, admitting students, etc. If you apply as an undergraduate to Oxford, you're really applying to individual colleges within it, and you have to be accepted to that particular college to get in. There's only one university with this same set up, and that's Oxford's sister school Cambridge. Cambridge was set up actually by a few disgruntled Oxford students in the 1300s I believe who were sick of the damp weather here. I don't blame them really, Oxford always looks like it just rained, even when it hasn't for days. It's so damp that the streets are always wet.
Please check my picasa web album entitled Oxford Walking Tour to see the pictures and explanations about some of the historic colleges I visited on the walking tour. Some little nuggets to get you excited: a famous alley seen in Harry Potter, Edmund Halley's observatory where he spotted his comet, and Bill Clinton's old dorm room are all included!

London Calling!






London! What a fabulous weekend we had there! It all started in the Oxford train station where we spotted a British celebrity, Anna Popplewell, famous for her roles in the Chronicles of Narnia series as the oldest sister Susan. Click here to see a picture of her to jog your memory! Funny enough, she was on our train to London, and we ended up sitting with her. We were polite and did not annoy her. Plus, she was interesting to watch as she was memorizing lines for an upcoming production of Emma! I also saw her pick her nose... that's a child actor for you, I suppose!
When we arrived in London, we went to the famous Harrods department store, where everything was luxurious, designer, and costly! I almost bought my first pair of designer jeans, but then I thought better of it. :) The best part about Harrods was the food halls--imagine a gourmet food market full of fancy cheeses, foods, chocolates, and meats. They even had a fish section! The fish section actually made me kind of nauseous, because fish smells like fish, no matter how much you charge for it, so I did not tarry there for long!
We then traveled to Tunbridge Wells, an exclusive suburb of London, for a party of a friend we knew there. On the way, we met the Crown Jeweler!!! He is in charge of the Crown Jewels for the Queen, and also designing all of her new jewelry! Pretty cool, eh! He was our second British celebrity of the day. We were stoked. Click here to see a picture of some of the crown jewels guarded at the Tower of London.
Day 2 included the National Gallery of Art, Trafalgar Square, a walk down Parliament Row, and sightseeing by Westminster Hall, the Abbey, and Big Ben. Later we rode the London Eye, the gigantic ferris wheel constructed for the millenium which opened in 2003. It was truly a lovely day. We concluded the evening by going to see Chicago, the musical, in the lively West End district. It was a fabulous production, and it had us all singing little ditties about foxy ladies committing murder for the entire next week. After the show, we had some drinks, enjoyed the bars of London, and called it a night. Please click here to see my picasa web album called London town for pictures of our lovely trip. :)