Erin go Braugh

This past weekend trip to Dublin was my first weekend trip away from London since I've arrived here in January. I have taken day trips to other parts of England, such as Bath, Salisbury and Buckinghamshire, but this was my first trip outside of the country. I officially have two stamps on my passport: Heathrow and Dublin Airport!

I  went with four of my friends from Nichols College back in the states. It was a kind of reunion of sorts, as we have been doing our own things in the last month or so. We are all good friends, but sometimes we act like siblings that constantly bicker and fight. I still love them though!

Our flight to Dublin departed from London Stanstead Airport, which is about an hour from Central London. Since we had a flight that departed at 630, we got a shuttle that departed at 2 am. And as all of  you know I am quite the night owl, which meant I did not go to bed at all.

We flew with RyanAir, which although is the cheapest option, is also infamous for its no thrills. Think Southwest, but even less thrills. Not even a free soda and bag of peanuts! The flight wasn't too awful, but I don't think I would fly them again unless it was absolutely necessary. (Lucky me gets to fly them 5 more times when I do my journey around Europe after the semester is over!)

Upon arriving in Dublin, in the early morning hours, it did not feel entirely different than London. Grey clouds and overcast blanketed the sky as we touched down, and I was a little disappointed that we picked such a similar climate to book a trip. But my disappointment soon melted away! We took an AirCoach, which dropped us off just steps from our hostel on O'Connell St, which is one of the main thoroughfares in the city.
Our hostel, the Mount Eccles Court, was in a nice residential section lined with Georgian townhouses. As it was my first hostel experience, I expected the absolute worst, but overall it wasn't as bad as it could have been. According to one of my friends, it was one of the cleanest and nicest hostels she had stayed in after being in Italy for Spring Break.

Once we got settled in, some of our group needed some rest. I was not one of them surprisingly, so me and my friends Lindsey and Fatima decided to go on a walk, mainly because I needed to get a pair of flip flops for the showers in the hostel. We explored O'Connell St. and the shopping thoroughfares that are off  O'Connell St. We then decided to pick up the rest of our party, grab lunch at Eddie Rocket's, a diner we saw in passing,   and take a Free Walking Tour recommended to us by the lady that checked us in to our hostel.

The Free Walking Tour is a three hour walking tour that takes you to all the main spots of the city. They also operate in a few other cities across the world. They don't charge anything, but they do offer other touring packages, such as pub crawls, that they mention throughout the tour. Other than that, it was really informative and you got to learn more about the history of Ireland and Dublin itself.

Here are some of the sights we saw on our journey.

The Dublin Castle

Trinity College

The Temple Bar District with tons of pubs and restaurants!

Leinster House & National Library of London

St. Stephen's Green

After our tour, we wandering back to our hostel to get some rest before we grabbed dinner and went out for the night. We decided to go back to Temple Bar to get dinner, and we ended up at a really nice, but reasonable restaurant and pub called Farringtons. I had Steak and Guinness Casserole, which was delicious and the most traditional Irish food I had all weekend. After our dinner, and a few drinks, we decided to go to a place we had stopped in earlier in the day during our tour, called The Purty Kitchen. Despite the odd name, it actually was a really nice place, with a pub on the ground floor with live music, and two floors of a nightclub on the first and second floors. We had a blast and it was the perfect ending to our first day in Dublin.

Dublin at Night - The River Liffey and Ha'Penny Bridge

On Saturday, we decided to just walk around the city center, exploring the River Liffey and all it had to offer. There were tons of photo opportunities, both traditional and nontraditional. One of the unfortunate things about Dublin, and Ireland in general, is the toll the recession had on the Irish economy. It was a big booming economy, but its bust was felt greater than in other countries in the EU. There was a lot of boarded up buildings, stalled construction projects, and hotel and office developments that looked empty and unused. 

I'm going to end this post, because it's getting a little lengthy, but I would highly recommend going to Dublin, and Ireland in general. I can't wait to go back again and explore the more coastal, small villages of Ireland. Erin go Braugh!

PS Click here to see even more picture from Dublin from my facebook album, even if you're not on facebook!

Hello Strangers

I have really been abandoning my blog as of late, which kind of upsets me as I wanted to keep this as a lasting memory of my time here. But sometimes there isn't enough hours in the day to do everything that you need to do!

I've seen and done a lot since the last time I posted. The London Eye. St. Paul's Cathedral. Victoria &
Albert Museum. Windsor Castle. Hampton Court Palace.  And this was all just during my mid-term break when my parents were here!

Lately I haven't been seeing as many sites in London as I would like, but I've been extremely busy with schoolwork and don't always have the time or energy to do everything all at once. There's still a few big things I want to do, and even though I only have about a month left here (gasp!) I hope I can get through everything I want to see in London at least.

I just got back from a weekend in Dublin which was really fun! I will talk more about it later after I've rested and recuperated from my lack of sleep!

For those not on facebook click here, here, and here to see the albums from my journey! It's a great way to spend a Sunday!

I am absolutely knackered (tired for you Yanks!) and I need to rest! I will try to blog as much as possible in the upcoming month! Cheers!

A Nighttime Stroll Along the South Bank

In my last post I told everyone that I was about to go to the River Thames to go strolling and take nighttime shots. This is the story of that adventure.

After departing the National Theatre on Monday, my friend Megan was in awe of the buildings lit up along the South Bank of the River Thames, and she suggested that we come there the following night, cameras in tote, and go for a stroll along the banks to take some nighttime pictures and relax.  I suggested we did the the following night, and it was decided.

Cut to Tuesday night. We arrived at the Waterloo Tube Station at around 730, and after a few short steps from the station entrance, the massive London Eye was looming over our heads, lit up in shades of blue and orange. It was simply breathtaking, and we couldn't resist taking the uber touristy pictures in front of the London Eye.

We continued on the South Bank, then decided to cross over when we saw how regal and majestic the Big Ben and Houses of Parliament looked at night. It was just begging to be photographed! And to make it even more perfect, there was hardly anyone walking around at night because it was a frigid night.

We looped around the walkway on the North side of the River Thames, and walked along the river until we found a tube station. Though we were a little chilly and our cheeks were a little rosy, it was a perfect way to spend a night in London. It was pretty cheap too!

P.S. Click here and here to see more photos from my semester!

Cheers!

Mid-Terms Week

Yet another week has passed in London, so I feel like it's appropriate to try and keep you in the loop as to what I've been up to lately. Apart from the tons of papers and exams I've been writing and preparing for, I did manage to do an interesting thing, or two, over the last week.

To start, last Tuesday I went to see a performance of The Blue Dragon at the Barbican Theatre, which is a continuation of a series of plays created by performance artist Robert LePage, who has a reputation for rather imaginative and innovative plays.

The Entrance to the Barbican Theatre

I thought it was visually spectacular, and it was by far one of the most technical plays I've seen thus far in London. It incorporated all sorts of multimedia into the play, which included ingenious projections and multimedia clips, as well as an elaborate set. However, the play, which is set in modern Shanghai and looks at the juxtaposition between old and new China, was a fairly conventional drama of estranged lovers that now live in Quebec and Shanghai. I enjoyed the technical aspects, but it was a little lacking in the writing and acting performances. 

For the rest of the week I didn't really do much sightseeing, besides going between the library and my dorm room. As it was the week before mid-terms, I had two major papers due, one for my Politics in the UK class, and one for my Social History class, so I was more focused on work than anything else. 

I did, however, go to see the Museum of London on Friday with a couple of friends, because there was a really interesting exhibit there that I wanted to see an exhibit they were holding called London Street Photography, which was a collection of candid photographs from the streets of London, starting in the mid 19th century. I really liked the museum, because you got to learn more about the history of London, from its prehistoric roots. To top it all off, it had free admission, which is common with so many of the museums throughout London.

On Friday night, we decided to go to a local pub called Angel in the Fields, which is only a fifteen minute walk from our college, situation on Marylebone High Street, a charming section of central London full of small cafes, pubs, boutiques and flats. It's not off the beaten bath completely, but if you didn't know it was there, you could certainly miss it in your travels to London. It definitely is worth some exploration, as its not as busy and overwhelming as other parts of Central London can be at times.

The highlight of my week was getting to see Jessie J perform at Heaven, a club in Soho. I was introduced to her music only recently by someone from London, but I was blown away by her raw talent, especially after seeing her live. She's pretty big in the U.K., and has a couple of hits here, but she's trying to break it in the U.S. too. You definitely should look her up on YouTube, you won't regret it! The tickets only cost £5, and the place was jam packed! I definitely feel lucky to see her right at the cusp of her becoming a mega star; it's something I'm sure I'll talk about for years to come! I even got to get in to the VIP Area because of my friend from London, which was definitely a fun experience. I wish I brought my Bloggie so I could share with you how good she was live, but here are a couple of pics of her performing. 

Jessie J at Heaven! Fun Fact: She wrote "Party in the U.S.A. for Miley Cyrus!"

Last night I went with my class to see Frankenstein, an adaption of the novel which was directed by Danny Boyle of Slumdog Millionaire  fame. It was an extraordinary show, and it was definitely not what I expected. The focus shifted away from Dr. Frankenstein and instead focused on the creature, who you start to feel empathy for as he becomes corrupted by the humans around him. What makes this performance even more interesting is the fact that the actors playing Dr. Frankenstein and the creature, Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller,  switch roles nightly, so you never know who will be what character will be performed by which actor. I had a greater appreciation for the set changes, especially after seeing them doing run through of certain changes during my tour of the National Theatre. I am grateful that I decided to take the Contemporary London Theatre course instead of the Musical Theatre course as it has made me appreciate dramatic theatre much more than I did in the past.

Sorry for the rather lengthy post. Hopefully I didn't bore you and you made it to the end! Tonight I'm going on the South Bank to take pictures of the Big Eye and Big Ben at night. I'll be sure to post them tomorrow!

P.S. For more pictures Click on this link!

Week in Review

Can't believe another week has passed since my last blog post! Time has just been flying by, and this is not a good thing at all. Before I know it, I'll be back in the states and this experience will slowly fade into memories.

On that happy note, let me recap the week this far. It was pretty eventful to say the least!

On Monday, after my courses for the day, I went to see a play with my Theatre Class called The Knowledge. It was about a young teacher trying to keep an inner city class in control. It was a powerful and gripping play, especially since the theatre space was a tiny stage surrounded on four sides by only two rows of seats. It almost felt like we were in the classroom experiencing the interactions between student and teacher firsthand. In my time here, it was by far the best play I have seen, and I hope it moves to a bigger space in the West End to get more widespread attention that it deserves.

After the play, I dashed off to Soho to meet up with friends and go to an Anti-Valentine's Day Party at a bar and club in Soho called CandyBar. It's a really chill members only bar, and has great music and a really cool atmosphere that is sophisticated without being pretentious. We've been about 4 times already in our time here! I had a really great time, and had fun dancing and having a good time with my friends.

On Wednesday, Fatima, Lindsey and I travelled to Notting Hill, the locale of the classic rom-com with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant. While the Blue Door and other iconic images of the movie are no longer there, we did manage to find the private park from the movie, and got to see the Notting Hill Market, full of unique antique stores, food vendors, flowers, and tons of other great vendors selling everything under the sun. I really would like to go back again. Hopefully I'll get a chance to go again!

This was the closest thing to the blue door I could find!

Thursday night we went to The Rocket, a pub that is really popular with our campus, especially because it has really cheap and good drinks. We are poor college kids, after all (well the RACL students are at least.)

After drinks at The Rocket, we went to a night club called The Den which was a blast. It's a black light party, so everyone wears white clothing for the blacklights, and they give away free glow sticks and glow bodypaint too. The music was fun and hypnotic and it reminded me of the television series Skins.

Of course the Friday morning after our late night clubbing was rudely awoken by a fire drill at 10 am, which wouldn't have been so bad had I gone bed at a decent time. For my Theatre class, I had to go on a backstage tour of the National Theatre at the Southbank of the River Thames, so I went on a tour with two of my friends. It's really an amazing performance space, with three different theatres that serve different purposes, a black box for more minimalistic performances, a classical Greek amphitheatre style, and the standard proscenium arch theatre space.

What is most spectacular about the theatre is all of the set designs are made in premises, as a way of attracting the best and most talented stage designers with a steady stream of performances. Most theatre companies contract out the set and stage design to other companies, so its truly rare for everything to be made in house.

In the first theatre we went in, the Olivier, we actually got a glimpse of the set changes for a show that our theatre class will be seeing, Frankenstein directed by Danny Boyle of Slumdog Millionaire fame. It was truly spectacular to see the inner workings of a performance space. The most innovative aspect of the space was the revolve, which has a drum that goes down 20 m (or 4 stories) and actually can hold complete pieces of set, which can be raised to the stage. They also have the capacity to suspend items from above the stage in 360 degrees. The space is so innovative that words do not do it justice, but unfortunately we were unable to take any pictures of the space.

After the tour we ate at a delicious Italian restaurant called Strada, where I had an amazing Spaghetti with Ragu, as well as some pizza bread with tomato and pesto. It looked like something out of Eat.Pray.Love !







 South bank of the Thames in front of the National Theatre.



Well, that is all for now. Tonight I will be taking it easy and relaxing after dinner at The Rocket. Can't wait for the Smothered Chicken with chips there! It's so delicious. Cheers!

The One Month Mark

Believe it or not, I've already been in London for a month. The time is just going by far too fast for me to even comprehend! I want to make sure I make the most out of my trip, but sometimes I feel like I haven't truly explored the city as much as I'd like to. While it's important to see the "tourist" areas, I want to make sure that I get the most out of this experience and not regret not doing something in my time here.

Enough about talking about thinking negatively. I have to not think about how much time I have left and just learn to make the most out of my time here. I finally got to see the London Eye, House of Parliament and Big Ben this past Friday on a school sponsored Scavenger Hunt. It was really fun, and I got to learn some things I might not have learned otherwise! Plus, I got to meet a German student that was from a school within my campus, the European Business School. I brought my camera, but I didn't have a chance to take any pictures of the most iconic London spots because I was on a time crunch to answer the trivia questions.

Friday night I met up with a local I had previously met on a night out in Soho, and we went out with some of his friends to a nightclub. I had a great time and it was nice to hang out with people who were actually locals, and not just students from Regents American College. One of the best things about London is how cheap it is to get into most places if you plan ahead of time. Since there's so many clubs in London, there are tons of club promoters trying to lure you into their establishments with free drink offers, free entries and other gimmicks. If you make sure you are in areas that are heavily trafficked with a lot of options, such as Leicester Square, and you are in a big group, its perfectly fine to go into these clubs from the promoters. Oftentimes you can get in ahead of the line, or queue as the Brits call it.

Today was very relaxed, and I chose to stay in and  watch some movies (Notting Hill, naturally!) with friends after a walk around Regent's Park, taking advantage of the sunny weather that doesn't come around too often here. It's so exciting to see the flowers already starting to bloom, and the cherry blossoms are already blooming! I'm sure people back home are envious of my spring weather when they're dealing with the mountains of snow and ice in New England. I definitely chose the right time to leave! That's all for now!

P.S. Here's the link to the facebook photo album for this semester. It's a lot easier to post multiple photos on facebook, but this link should work for everyone, even if you are not on facebook. Cheers!
http://www.facebook.com/LDNCallingAlbum

Regent's Park

At a fountain in the park (Left to Right) Brianna, Lindsey and Fatima

I can't believe how green everything is already!

These benches were just begging for a photo shoot!

(2) Weeks In Review (!)

I'm really slacking on this whole blog thing. Combined with the lack of internet connection two (!) weekends ago, plus my classwork, I haven't really had time to do an update. So I'll try filling you guys in with as much as I remember.

Two weekends ago I went on a day trip to the Bath, where the famous Roman Baths are located. It was so surreal to walk the very places that the Romans walked nearly two thousand years ago. I always thought the baths was just a leisure spot for the Romans, but it also served as a temple, as they the Romans thought the hot springs were a gift from the goddess of healing Minerva.

Spring Room in Bath, where the hot springs flow to the surface.

Main Bath House

Main Bath House from the ground level

Pulteney Bridge

To make it short, other highlights of the past couple of weeks was a trip to see Wicked in the West End with my friend Lindsey from Nichols, a new friend EJ, and here her friend Sydney. It was me and Lindsey's third time seeing the show, but we still enjoyed it nevertheless!

Tuesday Night trip to Soho, Leicester Square and Chinatown!

At the Baker St. Station 

Stonehenge!

I'll elaborate more on the rest a little bit later! Now I'm off to Soho with my roommate!