June 2010
1 post
The Prodigal Child Returns
So, this is embarrassing. Truly. For you see, having recently spent a month traveling around Northern Europe, I have been horribly, inexcusably and detrimentally amiss at updating you on these travels. For what reason this, I’m still not entirely sure.
Here are a few theories:
1. My Severus Snape-like creative writing professor (though I would venture to say that’s too flattering a...
April 2010
5 posts
The Last Escalator Ride
It doesn’t seem real.
Just like that, it’s over.
I still can’t find my words to write a blog eloquent enough to summarize a completely non-summarizable experience. I will have to trust that with time speech will find my mind and my fingers. My writing abilities will return (perhaps during my three week stay in Sweden).
However, for now I must learn to say farewell to...
Closet Controversion
Me:
My closet is staring at me.
My clothes are threatening to manifest them in to a Bedknobs and Broomsticks-esque ghost of Christmas future.
*themselves.
I can't leave London.
Evanie:
I think you should stay
obviously the universe is telling you the same thing
Me:
This is true.
It's not often that my bras give me verbal warning about things.
*warnings
It's definitely a sign.
Evanie:
for sure
Me:
Damn, you take advantage of this place while you're here, k?
I sort of forgot how amazing was for a while.
Evanie:
I'll do my best
Me:
As I gaze into the future I see full-on 100%, ultra-violet culture shock (or at least that's what my gladiator sandals told me).
Me:
I'll stop now. I just thought it was important to let you know of closet conversations.
And that the "No day but today" policy doesn't only apply to Rent characters.
I really should blog.
Evanie:
hahahaha
have you slept lately?
Underground Utterings
My dear audience, whoever you might be, I am terribly sorry. I have been amiss at updating you lately.
This is for several reasons:
1. I’ve gotten a bit burnt out from writing due to the five books and (at least) one paper I have to read and write each week. Needless to say, I shall not be taking five literature classes at the same time ever again.
2. London has become so familiar to me....
Paris, Ma Ville Natale: Part Deux
Bonjour mes amis!
I do apologize for the long delay in the second episode of my Parisian adventures. However, I have successfully written a ten page paper concerning Shakespeare’s brilliance (not that needed to be proved…)
In any case, on to day two of Paris—the love of my life.
Daylight savings time is pretty great…if it’s Fall and you get an extra hour of sleep...
March 2010
5 posts
Paris, Ma Ville Natale
I will candidly admit that I have never been in love before. Not really anyway.
However, what I felt and still feel for Paris is the closest thing I think I’ve ever experienced to true love.
Even before I arrived in London, I knew I would kick myself if I didn’t visit the city of light and love. So Evie and I planned this weekend trip which turned out to be one of the most magical...
WatchWWI Commemoration Bugle ceremony. Has occurred nightly, without fail since the end of WWI.
La Belgique: Tragique et Manifique
Humans.
I’ve been learning a lot about these strange creatures as of late. Perhaps that’s what traveling does to you. In fact, I believe it to be rather inevitable when thrown into a culture so different from one’s own.
It was on a two day excursion to Belgium that my humanly inherent blinders were peeled back and both horrified, and exhilarated, I caught a glimpse of what...
What a Loser! Jolly good
Hello dearest comrades. It has been a good while since we last were in contact concerning my reports from the small island in the North Atlantic.
I do apologize for this. But as you might imagine, I have been terribly busy lately. This blog will be dedicated to the events and lessons acquired last week. So they are not terribly fresh in my memory but I will try my upmost to convey them as...
1 tag
London: The Week That I Stuck Around
It’s half-time folks. I’ve been here for about two months. That’s half of four and half of the four months I’m supposed to be here.
This has culminated in a combination of feelings, most distinctly of accomplishment—a true feeling of cultural assimilation and personal realization achieved, and that of panicky regret that I have not visited nearly enough places or met...
February 2010
4 posts
1 tag
Inklings Illuminatio Mea and Unexpected Towers
Everyone wishes they were intelligent, talented and wealthy. However, it’s not until you visit a hotbed of intelligent, talented and wealthy people does one realize just how strong that want can be.
Yes that’s right ladies and gents, I’ve visited (not attended) the ultimate daddy of educational instituations, the place that birthed 25 English Prime Ministers, at least 30...
Escalator Eyes, Celebrity Demise, and Ghostly...
Isolation is trendy in London. This is probably a trait common to most cities, but I’m starting to notice it more and more. The biggest faux-pas of all—striking up a conversation with a stranger on the tube. Nevertheless, I always see such interesting, (and good looking people) who I wouldn’t mind having a bit of a chat with. Yet, I am restrained by these (literally) unspoken...
Sights and Sighs
During the months before I left for London, IES quite kindly sent my mother a packet of information about what I would be experiencing for the next few months. Inside the packet there was a small chart, color coded and rather eye catching. In a rather large, mocking font it stated: “The Roller Coaster of Study Abroad.” It was a measurement of the “Ups and downs” of the...
Kentish, Keats and Clotted Cream
The week started off with me saying farewell to Notting Hill and taking a rather nerve-racking taxi ride to my next place of residence. The driver who was a bit speckled with nervous sweat asked me if I knew how to get to my destination and proceeded to flip through a large dusty, outdated book of London maps. However, after some interesting maneuvering on his part, I managed to arrive safely in...
January 2010
57 posts
A True and Tragic Tale: The Glasgow Swindlers
So, normally while watching Braveheart, I’m rooting for William Wallace: the protector of freedom for all, courageously defending his nation and his people against the evils of King Edward.
All has changed.
A few trusted friends came to school today with a supposition: “Hey Katrina! Would you like to fly to Scotland for a weekend on a $20.00 (yes, that’s dollar not pound)...
Rolling With The Punches, Minding the Gap, and...
Yeah. It’s been a while. Every night I’ve come home with the intention of blogging. So I sit down and then all of a sudden, I’m snoozing at the speed of light.
London’s got me busy to say the least.
So where to start…Hmm…
Well first off there’s The Agency or what they call the people who assign my host family to me. Personally, I think it makes the...
Fish, Chips, Ale and History
These past two days have been positively chalk full of whirlwind touring. Yesterday, we took a bus tour throughout the highlights of London, seeing Big Ben, Parliament, Tower Bridge, Central London, Buckingham Palace…all that stuff. I tried to take some decent photos but it’s hard through a bus window and on a murky day.
Most of my photos ended up like this…I’m not...
Pickpockets and Pictorals
Yesterday wasn’t too terribly eventful. We continued out orientation and were spoken to by a couple Bobbies (that’s London language for Police officer) about safety in London. Did you know that Bobbies don’t carry firearms? They feel safe enough in a city of 10 million not to. That’s pretty cool. In fact, the violent crime rate here is INCREDIBLY miniscule compared to that...
Dopplegangers, Vegetarian Mishaps, and British...
Preface:
Advice: Never attempt to spend two days on three hours of sleep.
Further Advice: Never attempt this whilst traveling to and in London.
Even Further Advice: Never just lay down in your warm, comfortable, delicious bed and attempt to close your eyes for few seconds. This may result in waking up six hours later, in the middle of the night, wide awake and ready to explore London…at...
The Great Temptress: Adventure
Alright.
Ok.
So…
I’m flying out tomorrow.
The past few days have consisted of the following thought processes:
1.
Katrina the Practical, Earthy, Simple, Realist (#1): “Alright, so it says here…pack three shirts. Perfect. It is better to live simply. Buddha says so. It is cleansing to purge a life of material objects and live for experiences. (Proceeds to light...
A Young Victory
Saw “A Young Victoria” today which admittedly, is a rather contrived title.
To be quite honest, I thought the plot was so-so.
However, whether it’s due to the costumes, the mannerisms, or the dashingly handsome British men, I honestly think period films can do no wrong.
Also, I’m terribly excited to go visit the Victoria and Albert museum in London. Another thing to...
In the Final Days
Alright, so after reading loads of London this and that, I’ve come up with a sort of loose list of what I want to see/do/accomplish whilst abroad. Here it is:
Notting Hill Area
1. Portabello Road- Ok so it’s quite possible I’m interested in this just because of Angela Lansbury and her bed-knob travels but I’ve actually heard it’s a rather brilliant place. Lots of...
Resemblances
I was just told by a friend that my face looks like the one in this picture:
deviantArt: Loish
Curious. Quite Curious.
I wonder what would happen if I got blue dreads?
….
Yeah, I’d never do that to my hair.
Side-Note...
…and this Weather better not stand in the way of the great Katrina. What is a little blizzard compared to a hurricane anyway?
Time Hurries On...
Exactly one week from now, I will be on a transatlantic plane headed to the land of Harry Potter.
Meep.
