Jen · Goes · to · Europe

went to berlin for 4 days. that was tough. partially because of the time of the year and partially because it's berlin, the city was full of berliners, large groups of italian tourists, and me all by my lonesome. it was kinda rough going at first being a young girl travelling on my own and not knowing any german. to be honest, i was a tad scared. that, and berlin sort of has this grey cloud of it's history hanging over it. so it was depressing at times. but as trying as an experience it was.....it was equally rewarding. the christmas markets brought me to tears with how wonderful they were. one thing i will say, is germans know how to do christmas.....and how to do it right!!! i started missing my family quite a bit and had visions of some day spending christmas with the family in germany - going to the christmas markets, going skating, tubing, the nieces and nephews (yes, this is dream.....i only have 1 niece right now) going on the carnival rides, drinking gluehweine and eating those crazy german doughnuts, and all those other wonderful things which are hard to describe but just make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside with christmas spirit.

and now i'm back in london. i have 5 days to find a way to get all my stuff to canada (eek......i'm way over my luggage limit.......and i mean way over!), take photos of things, see whatever i haven't seen yet, and generally say goodbye to people. god, i don't want to leave here. taking the bus into the city last night from the airport reminded me how much i really love london. this has become home. and it's a beautiful, exciting, and wonderful home full of opportunities. i feel like i've changed so much as a person being over here and learned so many things about myself and about the world. and i don't want to lose that. i don't want to go back to canada and forget what i've learned and who i've become. also, being here has made me realize how little of the world i've seen and how much i still want to see. i want to travel, learn languages, do so many things. argghh........this is beginning to get a little melodramatic so i think i'll stop talking about this for now. either way, my point is that it's a pretty depressing idea to realize that i'll go back to canada and basically be guaranteed to not leave the country for the next 2 years (if for no other reasons than that my bank account is empty!) particularly when all i want to do is explore the world. anywho, less writing, more packing,

lots of love and see (most of) you soon

remembrance day in london was amazing! it brought tears to my eyes. on the sunday i went to see the big event at the cenotaph. i stood under the statue of winston churchill (across the street from big ben and kind of far away from the cenotaph). when the veterans marched by i was practically in tears. there were so many of them that i had veterans walking by me for about 45 minutes. and some of the divisions were still marching in rhythm even though they were all 80+ years old. wow. i don't think i'll ever forget that. it was such a crazy thing to experience.

basically that's been the highlight of my life lately. i've been pretty stressed about school and money and school and money and having to go home. basically, i'm running out of money and have way too much schoolwork to do in way too little time (i know, it's the usual story). but it still freaks you out everytime. i'm also feeling really weird about the fact that i'm going home in about 3 weeks. on the one hand, i really want to see everyone but on the other hand i really don't want to leave here.......it's such a freakin wonderful place. plus i know that when i go home it'll be christmas time which is good cause i'll see all my family and have christmas (and you can't argue with presents under a tree & gorging on food). but on the other hand my family always goes a little nutty over the holiday season (as most families do) and i'm not sure how i'll be able to handle being stuck in my parents house in a small town with no mode of transportation and no where to go even if i had a way of getting there. london makes cambridge & guelph seem very small and boring and insignificant. hell, i don't even know how i'm gonna deal with living in guelph next semester. like, there are totally things i've been missing but i also feel like it's gonna be so damn boring there. who knew i would like big city life so much!?!

ooh, in art history class the other day we went to the frederic leighton house museum (he's this victorian painter who i'm now writing a paper on for class). anyway, it was this amazingly beautiful house that he had designed specifically to show off particular objects & art he had picked up around the world. for example, he had all these tiles and things from the middle east so one room in his house is actually called the "arab hall" and is full of all of them. i only bring this up because being in that house made me feel wonderfully connected to the man. i don't know why and maybe i'm crazy (hell, i know i'm crazy) but it just felt like i understood him for some reason. i also was in love with his house....as in i wanted to make one for myself.

hmm.....i don't know what else to say about what i've been up to. thinking about the future. i'm still trying to decide where i want to live when i'm older. or even just where i want to go when i'm finally done my b.a. so many options:

1. go to korea (or another random country) and teach english as a second language
2. try to get a job in publishing/journalism preferably in toronto or montreal
3. get into a grad school not in canada
4. do other random travelling/working strange jobs possibly related to writing

basically at this point i'm trying to cover all my options and leave it open to take any of the 4 roads when the time comes. anyway, lots to think about.

oh ya, i totally forgot to tell you guys! i booked a trip for when school is done to go to paris & berlin for 3 nights in each city! i'm totally excited for it.....and a little scared as well considering i'll be travelling on my own again. however, every time i get scared i just remind myself that those 3 days in belgium were some of the best days of the past 4 months.....hell, even some of the best days of my life! i really do enjoy travelling on my own as much as that surprises me. it also kind of surprises me how savvy of a traveller i am. cause did i mention that all my transportation & accomodations costs for 6 nights comes to $300 canadian!!!! yes, i do rock! *takes bow*

anyway, i should either get back to homework or, more likely, crawl into bed seeing as it's 2 a.m. london time. hope that's enough of a journal to stave off all your appetites for the time being. love you lots,

jen

Current Mood:	happy
Current Music:	Claire's wonderful i-tunes

basically it's been a lot of schoolwork.  my theatre class has gone to see "see how they run", "major barbara", and "king arthur".  i also went to go see "the wonder" at the white bear theatre (as we're supposed to see 1 extra production on our own time).  "see how they run" was really funny.  it was in a west end theatre (sort of the london equivalent of broadway) and was originally written and performed during WWII.  "major barbara" was written by george bernard shaw and was performed at the orange tree theatre in richmond.  richmond is way south of the city in zone 4 (it took us a good hour and 15 minutes to get there) and the orange tree theatre is a theatre-in-the-round.  it was a pretty weird experience on that level.  i had the one actor sitting beside me for a good 20 minutes.  i was so petrified that i might twitch and actually hit him that i was practically sitting in ashleigh's lap.  poor ashleigh.  "the wonder" was pretty cool too.  once again, it was a pretty long trip to get there and when i finally did i realized that the theatre was actually in the back room of a pub.  it was such a strange experience to go out into a pub during intermission and buy a pint of stella and watch the football match for a few minutes then return to a theatre production.  either way, it was an excellent play and a really intriguing venue.  "king arthur" was staged at the arcola theatre in hackney which is a really dodgy area of town.  we had to take the tube and then take the bus to get there.  when we got to the tube station the central line wasn't running so we left the queensway station and walked to the bayswater station to take the circle line.  when we finally got to our end destination we ended up taking a bus southbound instead of northbound and didn't realize our mistake until we got to london bridge.  so we turned around and got on another bus.  when we finally got to the theatre the bus stop was way past the theatre so, once again, we had to turn around and walk back.  we eventually arrived at the play 25 minutes late.  the play itself was in a promenade setting so you walked around and in between the actors.  i really didn't like it but that could've had a lot to do with being so late and feeling quite unwell. 

my art history class has gone to the victoria & albert museum, the hayward gallery, and the imperial war museum (which i stayed home for since i was sick).  at the victoria & albert museum we ended our class chatting in the 1960s print area.  apparently, although i didn't notice myself, jude law was in the same room as us.  i was blind and walked right past him to go home.  stupid, stupid jen. 

last saturday (nov. 4th) i went with chris to go see a number of sights for my urban studies class. we went to the barbican (a 1950s post-war housing development).  i really liked the barbican and thought it was quite beautiful.  it was like this little self contained space inside of london.  however, apparently lots of other people didn't like it.  we also went to the museum of london which charts the history of the city.  it was pretty cool but we definitely spent way too much time in the pre-historic section and not enough time in the other areas.  we then went to chinatown so that i could try to pick up some ingredients to make bami goreng (and indonesian dish).  it was getting later so we stopped for dinner @ a chinese restaurant.  it was delicious! mmm...chinese food.  after that we ended up wandering to leceister square, covent garden, piccadilly circus, regent street, and oxford street before finally trudging home.  it was a tiring day. 

sadly i didn't do anything to celebrate guy fawkes day (nov. 5th) but that's because i was stuck at home doing schoolwork.  there were fireworks all over the city friday, saturday, and sunday night which i got to listen to however. 

tuesday (nov. 7th) was my 21st birthday.  i had been really tired the week before (mostly because i had stayed up till 4 am almost every night) and went to bed at 10 pm monday night.  so i ended up waking up pretty early tuesday morning and got dressed.  i had no idea what i wanted to do but wandered downstairs and saw brad who took me out for brunch.  it was really nice and managed to cheer me up.  i then came back home and called my mum at breakfast as well as talked to claire for a little while.  after that i went to camden.  i ended up buying a really pretty necklace from a really nice kiwi girl who i chatted with for a while.  i came home and we had a potluck in the basement.  i think it went pretty damn well as lots of people showed up with all kinds of food.  afterwards we went out to the prince albert for a couple drinks and came home.  i was a little bit wankered at the time (lol)!  i had been trying to call anna all day with no success but i did finally get through to her at about 2 am london time.  so it was really nice to chat with her.  that, and she sang to me!  (hey, it's tradition!)

anyway, so that's about all the update i can think about.  if it doesn't sound like this could've possibly taken up the span of 3 weeks keep in mind that i've only told you the interesting things and there were quite a few days simply spent in the british library researching.  and many days at home trying to get work done on assignments. and a couple days spent procrastinating here and there. 

Current Location:	Victoria House
Current Mood:	awake

Thursday I took a flight to Amsterdam where Anita picked me up at the airport (she didn’t recognize me with my short hair).  We went back to her place in Badhoevedorp where she made us dinner.  Afterwards we drove around (and got fairly lost), passed through the area where Mum used to live and went to Coby & Frans’ house.  I also met their daughter Linda (she’s 14).  It was interesting having a conversation with Frans during which he spoke Dutch and I spoke English (you can imagine we didn’t get very far).  Afterwards, we went back to Anita’s and had an early night to bed.  Friday morning Anita and Jeff both went off to work and I slept in.  Monique was supposed to pick me up in the afternoon and take me touring around but she had been in Belgium in the morning picking up tiles for her bathroom and the traffic was so bad she didn’t get back until 5 pm.  So I got a phone call from Jeff telling me to take the bus to Amsterdam Leidseplein (which is in the Centraal area) and go find myself something to do for the afternoon. 

I took the bus.  It was scary.  Especially not knowing when to get off (luckily there was a very kind older lady who told me when my stop was).  I got into Leidseplein and was so overwhelmed by not knowing the language or where I was or what to do that I sat on a bench by a canal for a little while till I had squeezed one tear out (those of you who know me know that one tear is a lot).  Finally, I got up and decided to go find myself a map and a phonecard (which I purchased at the tourist info booth - Leidseplein is right in the touristy part of Amsterdam).  After that I hunted for Dutch food until I found a pub that served poffertjes.  I ordered poffertjes and tea (my tea came with speculaas - that made me so happy) and by the time I was done I was feeling much better.  So the rest of the afternoon I spent wandering around the area.  There were a lot of shops and I eventually bought a pair of boots (they’re very puuurty).  I stopped to leave Mum a message at work then took the bus back to Badhoevedorp.  Soon after Jeff, Anita, Monique, Rick (Monique’s husband), and Liam (Monique’s baby son) came back and we all sat around for a dinner of pizza.  I was also able to call Mum and actually talk to her on the phone this time.  In the morning Jeff drove me to the airport (which is coincidentally the train terminal) where I bought my train ticket to Den Haag HS and hopped on the next train.

Current Location:	Brussels (but we'll pretend I'm still in the Netherlands)
Current Mood:	cheerful
Current Music:	weird euro-pop radio

I believe the last time I updated I ended with my trip to Camden Market on Saturday. On Sunday Karen had organized a Beatles Magical Mystery Tour for the Guelph students. It was fairly interesting. We wandered around Soho, saw the roof where the Beatles played their last concert, and went to Abbey Road. Not quite my cup of tea but then I thought the tour guide was a little rude so that may have clouded my judgement.

Monday night the theatre class went to see Ben Jonson's "The Alchemist". Ben Jonson was a contemporary of Shakespeare and so the language was a little difficult to handle. However, like the keener that I am, I had read the play in advance to make it easier on myself. The one thing I will say is that the production was done to perfection. The set was amazing; the actors were superb; Julia was almost in tears she loved it so much. I feel a little like a wet blanket but as much as I could appreciate it, it wasn't quite my thing. There's just something in my that doesn't react to slap-stick farcical humour. I much prefer dry wit and sarcasm.

Tuesday was predominantly spent booking stuff for this weekend as well as next week's reading week vacation. (I imagine there are a good number of people who'll want to kill me right now for having so much free time. In my defense, I've taken homework with me to Edinburgh and will be doing the same for reading week.)

Wednesday's Art History class involved wandering around West End art galleries and even more attempts by Terry (the prof) to lose students and/or get them run over. He's a lovely bloke and has amazing stories to tell about the art/artists but it doesn't phase him when he leaves students behind (which happens at least once every class) or when he attempts to jay-walk very busy streets with 20 Canadians trailing him. (I imagine my mother is having a heart attack right now and calling the University to complain. Don't worry mum, I always look both ways before crossing the street and bring my mapbook with me everywhere.) We ended the class by sneaking into Sotheby's Auction house and looking at a display of photographs and another of jewellery to be auctioned. It was kind of painful. I love both art and jewellery just a wee bit too much!

Wednesday night we had a "Welcome to London" party at the Victoria League. It basically involved lots of wine and hors d'oeuvres and a few stuffy old men from the Victoria League committee asking us questions about school and the future. I think you all know what that is like. After the old men left I ended up getting fairly wankered and stayed up till 3 a.m. despite the fact that I had to wake up at 7 in order to catch the train. So that's that. I'll post this when I get back to London along with (hopefully) a nice long post all about Edinburgh.

Current Location:	Peterborough (well, actually London but we can pretend)
Current Mood:	excited
Current Music:	Joydrop "Sometimes Wanna Die"

After Theatre class yesterday we went to get on a bus to go to the National Theatre for our backstage tour.  Just as we were all getting on the bus Kelly was still buying her ticket so her and Jeanie (the professor and only person who knew where we were going) had to wait to catch the next bus.  Because of this, there was a group of about 20 Canadians who had no idea where we were going.  I opted to go ask the bus driver for help but he had no idea where the National Theatre was either!  So I pulled out my book (Thanks Mum!) and with the help of Paula managed to find out where we were and where we were going.  We got there fine and Kelly & Jeanie showed up about 2 minutes after us but it was a little frightening at first. 

Then today after Biography class I decided to take the bus home instead of the tube (noticing a trend here) so that I could get a slightly better lay-out of the city.  (If you didn't know already, the tube map is really simplified and it can be hard sometimes to figure out where things are in relation to eachother if you always take the tube.)  Just when were getting near the Bayswater area the bus stopped and the bus driver told us we all had to get off the bus and switch to the one in front.  Well when we got off both buses took off.  I looked around and saw Kensington Park and walked through it and managed to find my way home anyway (and this way got to enjoy more of the beauty of the buildings in the neighbourhood). 

Anyway, I told all these stories just because I feel like I've been trying (at least a little) to venture into more different parts of the city and it's really cool to me that I feel so confident about a city so big.  As much as Charlene may disagree with me, I can navigate myself pretty damn well (just not around Southern Ontario...lol). 

Oooh...........also on Monday night we went to go see "The Voysey Inheritance" at the National Theatre for the Theatre class.  I loved it!  *grin*  And I'm also madly in love with Dominic West who played the main character Edward Voysey!  It turns out I recognized him from a number of movies including Mona Lisa Smile, Chicago, 28 Days, and A Midsummer Night's Dream.  So fit! 

Current Location:	Victoria House
Current Mood:	sore
Current Music:	Sarah Harmer (from "I'm a Mountain")

Monday (Today) we had Urban Studies class in the morning and Theatre in the afternoon.  Afterwords, Claire and I went down near St. Paul's Cathedral to find dinner and ended up eating in a really interesting pub.  The food was okay....just regular pub grub but the interesting thing was the fact that the pub actually predated the Great Fire but had to be rebuilt afterwords.  It was also mentioned in Charles Dickens' "Pickwick Papers".  It was crazy to think about that kind of history in just one little pub.  The funny thing is I found out all this information from the menu which also listed the pub as a favourite of David Hassellhoff's when he's in town!  LOL! 

Afterwards we headed over to the Globe Theatre to see Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors".  In all honesty, I really wasn't looking forward to seeing it since when I read the script in August I found it very boring and cliché.  However, the acting was superb and it was very very funny to see on stage which surprised even jaded little ole me.  At one point in the play 2 men are on stage and the 1 man is discussing a woman whom he describes as being as big as the globe.  The other man starts questioning him as to whether or not he saw different countries in the parts of her body.  Partway through this back & forth bit, a member of the audience yells out "Spain".  It flustered the two actors so much.........it was pricelessly hilarious!  At first we all thought it was just someone being silly but oddly enough when we consulted the script during intermission Spain was the very next country the actor was supposed to ask about.  It took him a good minute or two to collect himself enough to continue on with the play.......he actually was so flustered he swore under his breath (I only saw because I was really close to the stage - we were groundlings and had to stand). 

Anyway, I'm exhausted since I left the house at 9:15 am and have only returned now (11 pm).  Mondays are LONG days.  Talk to you all soon.

Current Location:	Victoria House
Current Mood:	tired
Current Music:	John Mayer (whatever song Claire is playing on her laptop)

Thursday I went with Ashleigh, Jamaica, and Nicole to go shopping in the Notting Hill area.  Good times.  Friday I took the tube to Westminster and did a little trip all by myself.  Ok, so this is totally geeky but when I was a kid I was amazingly in love with William Wordsworth's poem "Composed Upon Westminster Bridge".
   
    Earth has not anything to show more fair:
    Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
    A sight so touching in its majesty:
    This City now doth, like a garment, wear
    The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
    Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
    Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
    All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
    Never did sun more beautifully steep
    In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;
    Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
    The river glideth at his own sweet will:
    Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
    And all that mighty heart is lying still!

Part of my utter childlike geekiness had to do with the fact that I told myself that when I "grew up" I would go to London and see Westminster Bridge.  So that's the childhood fantasy I decided to fulfill Friday afternoon.  It was beautiful and I was just able to wander around the Thames and see the London Eye, Parliament Buildings, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and some buskers who were involved with the Thames River Festival which is going on this weekend.

Today I'm just planning to stay home and do some writing and organizing for my classes.  I'm kind of playing it by ear.  One thing I do have to say is that I've come to the realization that I'm ecstatically happy right now.  I just have the feeling like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.  It probably has a lot to do with the fact that I've been dreaming of being here for as long as I can remember (seriously, as long as I can remember........I can remember wanting to come to England my entire life!) but I really feel like everything fits and is as it should be.  It's difficult to describe but I'm smiling and that's what matters.

Current Location:	Victoria House
Current Mood:	enthralled
Current Music:	Ani di Franco "Willing to Fight"

ok, so i've been really trying to make some lovely posts for all of you to read but i've come across some technical difficulties basically surrounding the fact that kodak easyshare software is totally not user friendly.  for some reason, it takes me forever to get anything accomplished and it must all be done one at a time.  sadly, you will all have to wait a little longer for my wonderful picture posts until i figure out a solution or just give up and spend a day writing an lj post.  

hmm.....so i'm sitting on the back patio of the house writing on my laptop and drinking fanta orange while brad the gay aussie opera singer practices in the room next to me (makes for wonderful background music - did i mention i'm already secretly in love with brad?).  i had class this morning for my historical biography course.  it took about 45 minutes to get to the building using the tube.....to be honest, i'm still kind of angry about that much of a commute every day (karen told us most everything would be walking distance!!!) we also had our first theatre class yesterday afternoon which ended in a 3 hour walking tour of shakespeare's london (in flip flops no less).  basically i've been able to aquaint myself with a small area of london surrounding where i live and only the last day or 2 have ventured out of that neighbourhood.  i still haven't seen anything touristy unless you count "the monument" which is dedicated to the memory of the great fire and was where we ended our theatre class tour yesterday.  part of me finds living here very exhausting in the sense that i haven't yet found the time or a good place to rest and be rejuvenated.  i'm used to being able to walk down an empty street and look at gardens and trees and birds and animals.  even the smallest most insignificant street here is as busy as the busiest street in guelph.  and there is a distinct lack of animals.  as you will see in one of the upcoming picture posts there are some beautiful trees in the garden off the back of the house....yet i haven't seen a single animal in all of london not including people walking their dogs.  where are the birds?  or squirrels? it's weird but i totally miss the squirrels.  don't get me wrong, things have been good it's just a really drastic change for me in some ways.  i've never been so constantly surrounded by people in my entire life. anyway, i should get going......i have emails to write and time just seems to escape me these days.

ciao

Current Location:	victoria league back porch
Current Mood:	contemplative
Current Music:	opera scales

Ok.......more to tell but have to leave to meet Guelph people @ zee ole pub!

We had gotten to check-in in Toronto early so I got to choose my seat according to aisle or window.  I chose window so I could see and what do they give me........the one “window” seat w/out an actual window!  I’m gonna ask if I can switch seats before we leave just so I can see better.  I want to know what the united kingdom looks like from the air.  I bet it’s beautiful.  I’m beginning to get excited........it probably has a little to do with the fact that I didn’t sleep all night (and haven’t slept properly/thoroughly all week).  Regardless of the excitement, today is going to be an “interesting” day.  I have a whole new city to navigate all on my own....with very few directions I might add.  Anyway, I’m rambling right now........probably has to do with the aforementioned lack of sleep.  I’ll give you all a proper update later...........like in a month, when I’ve finished sleeping.

Current Location:	Glasgow, Scotland
Current Mood:	groggy
Current Music:	ringing in my ears

This all feels a little like a dream come true.  I've wanted to go to London for as long as I can remember.  And not only am I getting to go there but I'm also taking courses that I'm hugely excited about and that involve a lot more hands-on and field trip experience than I'm normally used to.  Even more crazy is the fact that the whole semester is set up so that I can visit as much of Europe as I want.  It's almost too much that I don't even know where I want to go. 

Current Location:	Guelph, ON
Current Mood:	artistic
Current Music:	Metric "On a Slow Night"

Sigh, it's so nice to think about this trip again without being super stressed out.  I've just been worrying way to much about paperwork and money lately and not thinking about how much fun I'm going to have.  New rule: less stress more day dreaming!

Current Location:	Guelph
Current Mood:	cold
Current Music:	"Promiscuous Girl" by Nelly Furtado