Colchester
Hey Everyone,
So what an interesting weekend it’s been. Since Brendan is here, and one of the principal hobbies that we both share is a love of the card game Magic: The Gathering, we decided to experience the British Magic scene. It started Friday night, when we went into central London and participated in a small event near Russell Square. This was alright, it was low-key, and it was fun in the end. But the main event was the next day. There was a much larger tournament in a town Northeast of London called Colchester, and we decided to go. After a short train journey from Liverpool Street, we arrived in the quaint little Essex town of Colchester. Situated on a hugely steep hill, Colchester is the sort of place you likely think of when you think of towns in the English countryside. Whilst there were certainly signs of the modern world there (an ASDA, a Pizza Hut, etc.), most of the houses and other buildings looked like they had been there for some time. And some of the churches there looked to be close to 700 years old, if not older. Shame is that we didn’t bring a camera, but trust me when I say that it was a nice little place.
Anyway, after some searching and a bit of getting lost, we found the tournament’s locations hidden behind a larger building in a hall that looked as though it was the home base of the UK equivalent of the Boy Scouts. The Hall was decked out in pictures of the Queen and other British things, and there were all sorts of “scout” paraphernalia about as well. I won’t bore you with the details of the tournament itself, but I’ll just skip to right near the end. I had long been out of the running, but Brendan (who is much better at Magic than I am) had just won his semi-final match and was waiting to play in the final. The time was about 10:15 pm, and we knew that the last train to London left at 11:03. If this was just some random tournament, we would have surely just gone, but this wasn’t. This was a Pro Tour Qualifier, a tournament that grants the winner a free trip to play in a Pro Tour Magic tournament, the top prize for which is usually something in the neighbourhood of $40,000. Yes, people can make a living playing Magic. So it was important that Brendan try to win, and not rush, in the finals. As it turns out, Brendan did win at about 10:55, and after finalising the paperwork and such, we booked it to the train station. Of course, we got there at 11:05 or so, and the train had left (damn the punctuality of British trains!!!). We were informed that the next train would leave at 7:00 the next morning. So we set out looking for a hotel to stay the night in Colchester. To make a long story short, there are none…so that meant that we would simply have to wander the streets overnight.
Actually, looking back on it now, it was one of those experiences that will stick with me for the rest of my life. But whilst living it, it was a nightmare. First of all, it was a chilly night, and I was not properly dressed to be outdoors the whole night. Second of all, there isn’t much open in Colchester past 1 or 2 am, so the time passed very very slowly at fir st. But after some wandering around (which included an exhaustive search for a hotel, moving from Kabab shop to kabab shop, trying at all costs to avoid having to talk to drunk college kids, and a failed attempt to hand out in the 24-hour ASDA, which is apparently only open 10-7…yeah, go figure), we did eventually, at about 4 am, find a 24-hour convenience store with a bus stop bench outside it. Here we spent the rest of the night, which included a riveting chat with a boy from Essex who “didn’t speak no blood yeh, cuz he’s the king yeh, an he doan caer if his fly’s down yeh cuz he’s the king yeh,” trying to fend off some drunk girls looking for cab money in exchange for being pretty, and having a nice chat with the guy tending the store. Apparently, he’s a minister during the day, but it doesn’t pay well enough. Good man, very kind.
Anyway, at 7 we finally boarded the train to London, got back to my dorm, and slept all day. It was great, but the thing I think that has stuck with me the most is now having some sort of idea of what it might be like to be homeless. I mean, I had a coat, and money to buy coffee, and was allowed into shops with no question and I was still miserable. I can’t even imagine how it would be to have no coat, no proper clothes, no money, and to be so stinky and dirty that no one will help you. Never again can I take my life for granted, because I have it so good that if I were the type to have a guilty conscious I’d be ashamed to be alive. Really, life is very, very, very, very good.
PM Questions and Brendan's Visit
Hey All,
Well it’s been a very interesting and fast-paced end of the week! I’ll start with my second and much more exciting visit to Parliament. On Wednesday morning, Kevin sent me a text message saying that he had scored tickets to another session of Parliament. But this time, it was no ordinary session, but rather the Prime Minister’s Questions! This is the bit that you may have seen on TV where the opposition parties and anyone else gets to ask Tony Blair questions about his policies and his plans and he has to answer them. Can you imagine that happening in the states? Anyway, while it wasn’t a verbal fistfight by any means, it was very interesting to see the leader of the British government have to defend his decisions in front of a live audience!
And then, Brendan came. As I’ve foreshadowed a bit, my friend Brendan arrived Thursday morning to visit for a whole week. After getting a bit lost trying to find his gate at the airport, I found that his flight was a bit delayed anyway, so it wasn’t a problem at all. It was great to talk to him face to face on the tube ride back from Heathrow (no small journey let me assure you), and also great to see someone else familiar. I guess you never realise how much you miss the regulars in your life until they become people you only get to see once in a while.
But the real fun of Thursday was that it was Thanksgiving. Normally, this day means nothing to the Brits, who have no such holiday and do not (obviously) recognise the US version. But because of us three Americans living in my flat, my flatmates decided that we should cook and have a Thanksgiving dinner anyway. Good thing we have so many people who know how to cook! Kerri bought a 20 pound turkey (we couldn’t find a bigger one) and Germaine, Stacey, and Kerri did most of the cooking. In the end, we had all of the Thanksgiving staples, from turkey to stuffing to mashed potatoes to cranberry sauce, it was all there! And with Brendan and Kevin and a few of Kerri’s friends in on the action as well, we had quite a group around our modestly sized table. But the food was excellent, and the conversation was even better! It’s truly amazing how much more the average British kid knows about the world, about politics, about government, and about everything than the average American (who is, by the way, nearly useless). We had a great time, and for British cooking the food was exceptional! I’m so glad that I managed to get flatmates who are this cool J.
Kingston Calling
Hello All,
It always seems like the exciting stuff happens on the weekends (funny how that is, isn't it?).
This time, Kevin and I had a sort of random and all-over-the-place sort of weekend, which started Friday with some mundane laundry and homework action. As the evening drew nearer, however, we both decided that we wanted to go do something fun, so we chose to seek out the legendary crosswalk, made famous by the Beatles, on Abbey Road. After some internet research, we set out for a stretch of Abbey Road (it's a big road) situated near the border of the London Boroughs of Camden and Westminster, north west of the city center. But our journey didn't meet with the success that we had planned. After more than an hour wandering about a rather residential part of Camden, we were still unable to find any trace of the crosswalk. So we decided to grab some drinks and head home to watch a moviefilm.
Saturday, after sleeping in well past noon, Kevin set out to do some work on his dissertation. I was planning to go home and just chill out, but then I got a text message from our mutual friend Ryan, who's also studying abroad in England this term, that said he was coming to London for the day. So, I met up with him and we walked around Central London for a few hours, just chatting and catching up on each other's experiences in London thus far. As dinner time approached, we went back to South Kensington to meet up with Kevin, and from there we decided that we'd go back to Ryan's university to go to a club there with some of his friends. Ryan goes to school in a suburb of London called Kingston, a good 20 minute train journey south west of London.
When we arrived, Ryan showed me around the area near his school. Kingston is a very nice little suburb, with lots of houses and much more green space than in London. A bit later, Kevin met up with us, and we, along with Ryan and his friend Russell, all went to a club in downtown Kingston. The venue was small, crowded, smokey, and not very well decorated, but we still had a good time.
Sunday was a day of relaxation after a busy weekend, and we culminated the evening by, you guessed it, watching another movie. Thanksgiving fast approaches, and Brendan will be here visiting soon!
Stay tuned...
The Value of Effort in Education
Hey All,
It's been a pretty uneventful week by and large, so today I mostly want to share with you all some thoughts that I've had recently based upon my experiences in my classes this week.
To start out with, the topic discussed in my Music Aesthetics class on Tuesday was the very same topic on which I plan to write my essay in that class--Music as if a Language. Officially, the title of the essay is "Is Music a Language?", but the lecture was essentially completely relevant to my work. The tutor in this class, Anthony Prior, is that brilliant sort of professor who knows his subject matter inside and out (in this case, the philosophy of music and musicality) and puts it to good use by playing devil's advocate with whomever is brave enough to challenge a position that he explains. He also has a very dry, English sense of humour, which makes the class all the more enjoyable.
Wednesday, in my hands-on journalism class, we did some peer reviewing and talked at length about reviews--how to do them, the ethical implications, styles, fears, etc. The level of participation was high, and a lot of constructive conversation came out of the class.
Thursday, in my Latin American cinema class, we had a record high for number of students who actually saw the film. This meant that, for the first time all semester, I wasn't the only one talking the whole class, which made for a much more pleasant experience.
Basically, after reflecting on this week in classes, I've determined that education really is so much more exciting when you get into it. One might think that I would have had a realization of this nature before, and in some ways I have, but I've never really had this same perspective on my education before. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I was living an enriched life, a full life.
Just a few thoughts that I've had :).
AMSTERDAM!!!
Hey Everyone!
Well it took a little bit of time to recover, but it's finally time to tell you all about Kevin and I's time in Amsterdam. We left Kev's place at 10:30 am on Thursday morning, with just enough time to catch our 11:00 train to Gatwich Airport, from which we would be flying. Flying from Gatwick is a lot cheaper than flying from Heathrow, thus the extra effort to get there. Besides, Heathrow is a monster of an airport, and getting through security and such would have been a whole different nightmare all its own.
Anyway, we arrived at London Gatwick a little bit before noon, and since our flight was at 1:35, we had a bit of time to wait. We tried to get some lunch, but because of the ludacris prices at the airport restaurants, we had to settle for McDonald's (ick). Soon enough, though, we were on our way to Amsterdam via Easyjet, and we landed at Amsterdam Schipol Airport at about 3:45 (hour flight plus hour time change). Immediately, the excitement of the trip was evident, as we had a blast just looking at all of the ads that were up in Dutch, the zaniest language ever. I honestly have no idea how anyone can speak it quickly, its words have more extra letters and silent letters than English words have in their entirety, and the whole thing sounds very difficult. At any rate, it was okay, because unlike most Americans (and most Brits), almost everyone in Holland is at least fluent in two languages, and just about everyone speaks brilliant English.
After taking a train from Schipol to Amsterdam Station Centraal (yes, the two a's both belong), we emerged into a whole different world. The Oulde Zildje (old city), where the station and our hostel are, is like no place I've ever seen. The streets are narrow and mainly made of cobblestone, and what little space to travel in must be shared by cars, trams (think T trains on the streets in Boston), pedestrians, but most importantly bicycles. Honestly, while it's true that there are more museums per square mile in Amsterdam than anywhere else in the world, it's probably also true that there are more bicycles there than anywhere else as well. Everywhere we went there wer dozens of bikes chained to just about every fixture that could be seen, and most of the streets had cycle lanes exclusively for bikes, though those often filled and many bikes also travled on the sidewalks and on the streets. We must have been nearly run over a hundred times in two and a half days. Intense. I think that the masse of bikes can be attributed to the general attitude of the Dutch, and to their attitudes towards environmentally friendly transport and good health. It's a model upon which other cities, especiallty London, should base themselves.
The second remarkable thing about Amsterdam is the canals, which are beautiful. Between every two streets in the old city are canals with bridges crossing them to connect the streets, and along the canals are the most beautiful old buildings, with grand old European architecture. Many have been there for nearly 800 years. Within the canals are a myriad of water birds, from mundane seagulls and ducks to beautiful little black birds with white beaks and majestic swans. On occasion, a river tour boat passed by, but mainly the canals I think are relics of the past, once used to defend the city but now just a part of its grandeur. Also, the lack of railings along the canals lets people get very close to the water, which makes the whole experience just feel that much more real.
So Thursday, after touching down, checking into our hostel, and spending some time just taking in our new surroundings, we decided to first get something to eat. We ended up at this little Italian place that made excellent (and fairly big) pizzas for only 6 euros, a far cry from London prices! Next, we decided that we would try to find Amsterdam's gay neighborhood, Amstel/Reguliersdwars. We ended up at a little coffee shop called Betty's Too, which was totally decked out in Betty Boop paraphernalia. After a coffee and some relaxation there, we continued to explore Amstel and the nearby areas, just wandering around the streets. The dynamic of the city is remarkable, with a sort of controlled "anything goes" attitude prevailing in most respects.
Later that night, we decided to, for experience's sake, take a trip to the infamous red light district. While I won't describe exactly what goes on there, it is a sight to behold I assure you. I wouldn't want to spoil the experience for anyone who may visit it in the future, as the shock and awe of it all is a vital part of the experience for a Westerner (with the possible exception of someone from Las Vegas).
Friday, we slept in a bit before embarking into the city to do some of the more touristy things. We checked out the Amsterdam Dungeon (waste of time and money)--where we had to slot in with a huge British family on holiday--and afterwards went to a little café for lunch. The place was mostly unremarkable except for the friendly resident cat. Missing our kitty so much, we were of course delighted at the chance to pet a friendly coffeeshop kitty. Next, we walked down to the museum quarter, where many of Amsterdam's famous museums are. We walked by the massive Riks Museum, which mainly exhibits works by Rembrandt, and ended up going to the Van Gogh museum just down the road. While it was beautiful inside, and the artwork was of course stunning, it was about as much fun as an art museum can be.
On the way back to the hostel, we walked by a little mini-market and happened to notice a young kitten sitting in the doorway that looked remarkably like our cat! So of course we had to detour to pet this one too. We also had a brief chat with the store's owner, and seemed to connect over our love for our cats. In reference to the movie Euro Trip, we dubbed this kitty Vaandercat.
That night consisted mainly of some more wandering, including the exploration of a mall-like complex near the Reguliersdwars, but we did end up having a fairly deep conversation with a coffeeshop owner and another patron of the shop late in the evening. The topic was U.S. foreign policy and Iraq, and it was simply remarkable how much two ordinary citizens of Holland happened to know about the world around them and how articulately they were able to voice their opinions on the matter in what was obviously their second language. It just made me think a lot about Americans and Brits, and how little of the world around them many of them seem to understand or want to know anything about. If I can say one thing about the Dutch people that I've encountered, it's that they do pay attention, and they do force themselves to learn.
Saturday, we simply did some more wandering about the area just east of where we were staying. Here, we walked by the Jewish History Museum and strolled through an area of fairly affluent-looking homes. The combination of the beautiful craftsmanship and the cobble-canal backdrop made the area simply gorgeous. Other small items of note were a frantic dog wandering about at highspeed--but still seeming like he knew where he was going, an Italian coffeeshop with the attitude that the customer is always wrong, an anarchist bookstore, and another vaandercat named smokey that took particular affection to Kevin as we ate at another small café.
Exhausted, we returned home Saturday night and spent Sunday doing pretty much nothing at all. But the experience was so worth it because if finally gave us the chance to see something new, an entirely new worldview in action! Be sure to check out the pictures page (the link is in another blog entry below) for an update with pictures from this amazing trip.
Till next time!
Class Registration and the Mid-Term Elections
Hello All,
This will probably be a quick post, as not a lot has happened during the beginning of this week.
Monday was just another boring day with little to do in terms of required work. Sometimes I find these periods of downtime to be particularly enjoyable, though, as they give me time to relax and to think. Sometimes, living in London, times to do these things can be few and far-between, if they're available at all. The city is so busy, has so many people, and moves at such a fast pace that it often begs the question: "Is this really worth it?" No matter what I may gain from this trip, I think the thing that will stick with me the most is a new-found appreciation for downtime.
Anyway, Monday night was a bit more exciting. You see, it's reading week here at Goldsmiths' College, which means that most classes do not meet. The time is designated for doing research and thinking regarding essays or projects that will be due in about 5 weeks' time; of course, the actual application of this time is, for many, simply an excuse to travel, to party, or to sleep. I guess I'll be doing a bit of all four. I have made some headway on my research for the two essays that I'll have to write, Kevin and I will be going to Amsterdam Thursday - Saturday, and I'll most definitely be sleeping in when I get the chance. Monday night contained the partying.
My flatmate Becks had her friend Adam visiting her for the week, so along with Kevin, Jess, Germaine, Frankie, and Kathy, I went out to a club called G-A-Y. As the name suggests, the club is predominantly for gay people, mostly of the younger generation, although a lot of straight girls make it out there as well. I would guess the security of being able to dance without being oggled all night is the main driving factor for many of them. Most of the club was fairly typical for a gay club: not a lot of space, a stage, house music, etc. There were, however, a few good things about it.
For starters, the cover charge was only 50p, which is very cheap. Also, drinks were only 2 pounds each, also very cheap. But the best part of all was the second dance floor upstairs that played 70's and 80's dance music and was much less crowded. This is where we spent most of our night, and it was a lot of fun.
I didn't get back in until about 4:30 am, so Tuesday really just became mostly a lost day. I slept in, did some work on my research in the early afternoon, and then went to Kevin's place in the evening to try and follow some U.S. midterm election coverage. Yay!
Wednesday I spent doing a bit more work, but mostly I just spent a lot of time going over the results of the elections. It looks like the Democrats will win both houses, and a few key republicans were knocked out of their seats. Luckily, Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) was one of them. Rick may be one of the most evil men alive, it's good to finally see him out of office!
Eventually though I had to stop reading and go to my journalism class which, because it's not part of the main college, was still meeting this week. Afterward, I went to Kevin's flat and attempted to register for classes, with mixed results. I got a whopping one of the classes I wanted, as the online system wouldn't let me sign up for the other three due to some sort of major restriction. I have no idea why this would be, so as usual I'll have to phone up my advisor to try and sort it out. Stupid NU.
But regardless, our train leaves Victoria Station at 11 am tomorrow to take us to Gatwick Airport, from which our flight to Amsterdam leaves! I'm very excited about this trip, and I'll post a blog entry detailing the whole thing as soon as I can.
Til then!
Borat, Fulham, Wimbledon, and some Natural History
Hey All,
Well what an exciting weekend it's been! Where to begin?
Thursday night was the special premier of the Borat Movie. If you're not familiar with Borat, he is a character played by British comedian Sacha Cohen. Borat is a journalist from Kahzakstan who is sent by his government to America to learn cultural lessons to fix Kahzakstan's problems. What follows is a searing satire of the closed-mindedness of the West and of the world in general. It's great stuff.
Our movie viewing party consisted of myself, Kevin, and two of the other Hansard Scholars: Ehmad and Shaun. We first tried to go the Odeon Cinemas at High Street Kensington. To our dismay, however, the tickets sold out while we were in line! So we ran to a nearby internet cafe and went online in search of another theatre. It was 9:00 pm, however, so it looked like our search would fail. But then we thought to check the theatre at Surrey Quays, and of course there was a 9:30 pm showing. So we bought the tickets online and rushed to Surrey Quays. Somehow, we made it just in time for the film to start (it's about a 45 minute tube ride from Kensington), but boy was it worth it! One of the funniest movies I've ever seen!
Friday was just a boring laundry day, and almost completely unremarkable. Saturday, though, was much more exciting! Kev and I bough tickets to see a Barclays Premiership Football match between Fulham FC and Everton at Craven Cottage in Fulham, an area of southwest London. The kickoff was at 12:45, but we had our tickets waiting for us at the stadium. Since the e-mail that I was sent when I bought the tickets said that the ticket office closed at noon, I figured we had to be there by then. But we woke up late, and didn't arrive until about 12:30! Luckily, the e-mail must have been lying, because the office was still very much open. And as it turned out, our seats were amazing! They were four rows back of the home-team net, and although the sun was brutal, the view was amazing! And so was the game. Fulham, which boasts two former U.S. soccer stars--Carlos Bocanegra and Brian McBride--won 1-0. The atmosphere was so intense, and the whole experience was a blast!
Afterward, Kev and I decided to go explore the Wimbledon area of London which was nearby. Really, Wimbledon is very quaint, with lots of little shops and restaurants and cute old fashioned architecture. It was very nice.
Today, all we really did was go to the Natural History Museum located only a few blocks from Kevin's flat. The museum had free admission, and was situated in a gigantic building with beautiful architecture! The main exhibits were on dinosaurs and mammal evolution, and the whole thing was pretty cool.
Keep checking the picture site for more updates as we can upload them, and thanks as always for reading!
Halloween!!!
Hello everyone!
Well, one thing that I had been wondering was whether or not the British celebrate Halloween, and I guess the answer is yes! I found this out Monday when I decided to go grocery shopping with one of my flatmates. The local supermarket, Sainsbury's, was having a 50% off halloween costumes sale! That was a big clue, but then Jess told me that there was a Halloween dance at the Student Union and that costumes were required. Now, I'm not normally a dress up kind of person, but how could I refuse? I'm in London, I'm young, I'm healthy, why not have a good time?
So I picked out the only costume that would fit me (there were only kids' costumes left, so I had to pick the biggest of those), which ended up being a skeleton with some plastic chains on the front. Pretty nice, I liked it a lot!
On Halloween, my regularly scheduled class was cancelled to make room for one-on-one sessions with the professor regarding our essays. This is my Music Aesthetics class, and after meeting with the professor I decided on the topic "Is Music a Language?", a challenging but I think interesting question. The professor gave me a list of some sources that he thought would be helpful, and I was on my way.
As it turns out, I decided to augment my costume with a giant sombrero that was for some reason lying about the flat. So I really looked like I was going to un celebracion del dia de los muertos, which was fine by me.
The actual dance was a bit underwhelming really. It was open to the general public, so the place was very crowded, and the live band that they had was not very good. Additionally, the large crowd made it impossible to get to or from the bar, so I left after only an hour or two, but it was still fun to dance in costume. And I got so many compliments for my costume as well, as despite my (what I would call) lackluster effort in its construction, the general level of creativity at the dance was extremely poor.
And today has proven to be another boring one, with a day spent reading articles and the night spent at my journalism class. Oh well, they can't all be exciting. But the Borat movie comes out tomorrow night, so I'm very excited for that.
Oh, and good news! Pictures are finally online! Just follow this link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevininlondon/setsAnd as one last note, I want to wish a belated happy birthday to my best friend Brendan (Oct 29), who just turned 21. Happy Birthday Bren!
