From London to Cambridge!

Saturday, 30 June

Starting at nine in the morning, I had IFSA-Butler orientation in the basement conference center of the St. Giles Hotel. We went over a lot of stuff, most of which I pretty much already knew, but it was good to hear it again now that I was in England. After lunch we had a guided tour of London, and we kind of retraced the same route we had taken the night before. Even so, it was good to hear the little tid bits of info once again when they were really starting to become relevant.

After lunch at the hotel, we had a guided tour of central London. Unfortunately, it was a lot of the same sites we had seen the day before so we didn’t really see anything new, but with this version we had access to our lovely tour guide (whose name escapes me...) and all of her wonderful stories, tips, and fun historical facts about the city. It was well worth it!

After two hours of walking, our guide dropped us off at the Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly Circus. If you were interested to know, the Criterion is London’s only theatre that is completely underground. Our guide told us that if we felt the floors rumble or saw the walls shake, it wasn’t due to special effects. No, that would be the Underground. But fret not. It was a good show. We saw The 39 Steps, which had four actors play over a hundred different roles altogether throughout the entire performance! Wow!

After the show, we had dinner at a really good Indian restaurant and then stopped for some delicious and expensive ice cream at ‘The Icecreamists’ in Covent Garden. We had seen the shop earlier on our tour, and promised ourselves that we would go back. I know it’s ridiculous, but my ice cream was £7. Over $10 for only three little scoops! Why, London, why must you be so expensive?!?!

But for better or for worse (probably better...) that was our last day as an IFSA-Butler group in London. We were headed to Cambridge in the morning!

Sunday, 1 July

The lifts at the St Giles are the devil. But I suppose the stairs were worse. Especially with my heavy luggage, narrow stairs, and nine stories.

I waited 20 minutes for the elevator, but every single one was full. How, I do not know, since I was on the ninth floor, and there were only twelve stories to the hotel. But whatever. Running surprisingly late, I was forced to take the stairs. Which was a blast. And a half.

We took a cab from the hotel to King’s Cross, but sadly it wasn’t a black London cab, but this weird Ford minivan type thing. Disappointing. But I did get to see the luggage trolley on Platform 9 ¾!! I thought the train station was really neat, since there was the old part where the trains came in and there was a newer area with shops and whatnot connected to the front. A nice blend of old and new England.

Harry Potter...?!

King's Cross Station

The ride to Cambridge went rather quickly. It was actually somewhat of a relief to get out of London, and it felt much more peaceful once I started seeing green, trees, and farmhouses through the train windows. I also caught a glimpse of this wonderfully English outdoor pastime called ‘lawn bowling’, of which I had never before heard. Huh, the stuff you learn when you study abroad...

The train station at Cambridge was rather busy, and instead of waiting a while for a cab we decided to walk from the station to the colleges. I daresay, those twenty-five minutes were the hottest minutes I’ve spent thus far in England. Up till then, it had been rather cool, but the moment I needed to drag my rolling luggage a mile over uneven cobblestone streets, of course the sun would come out and beat down on me the entire time. IT WAS HOTT. And of course I was a sweaty mess by the time I got to Pembroke. Yay, welcome to Cambridge...

But that is the end of my complaining! My room at Pembroke overlooks the garden and the library. My window looks directly out to the library clock tower. I’m in love. My room is actually a lot larger than I thought it would be, too, which is definitely nice. However, the plumbing situation is a bit of a downer. I’ve been spoiled living in the dorms in Madison, and I’ve never had to walk down two flights of stairs, or even the hallway to get to the bathroom. So this is a bit different, but certainly not something that I can’t manage.

My first view of Pembroke College

I checked into the program, met some students on a group trip like IFSA-Butler, and started to explore with them. After a while, I headed back to my room for a nap. Dinner was a buffet in the King’s College dining hall, which seriously has to be the nicest dining hall I’ve ever been in. And the food was really good! After dinner, a group of us meandered around a bit more, then stopped for some tea at the Copper Kettle right on King’s Parade, across the street from King’s College. I had an entire pot of Earl Grey before bed. Which was probably not the best idea.

Monday, 2 July

Today we had a large group welcome and orientation at the Cambridge Union Society. From there, we broke up into smaller groups for library inductions and ‘practical’ tours of Pembroke and King’s Colleges, and then a few key spots around town. They were ‘practical’ tours in the sense that they were: this is the library, this is where you can to laundry, this is the program office, blah, blah, blah... They said they wouldn’t bore us with the: and to your left, you will see the Old Court of Pembroke College, which was founded in 1347... I think I’d actually rather have the latter tour. Shoot.

I did get to tour the inside of the King’s College Chapel. I don’t have a picture of the outside yet, but the inside is INSANELY AWESOME. I love England.

The inside of King's College Chapel

Tuesday, 3 July

In the morning, I did a bit of reading for my classes. I also took a break and just strolled around Pembroke to see the sights again and take some pictures. I can’t get over how cool the college is, and how nice everything looks!

My Facebook Album of Pembroke Pictures

I had my first classes is the afternoon, which were very interesting! I’m really excited for them!! Afterwards we all met for drinks within our colleges for the reception before the first formal hall. It was a lot of fun, but it was rather loud in the Pembroke Hall, which always makes it difficult for me to carry on a good conversation. After a lovely three-hour interlude, I got back to academics and did some reading before going to bed.

Traveling and My First Day in England!

Thursday, 28 June

I said goodbye to Mumsy and Popsicle at Austin Straubel, and they watched me get through security before they headed out. My flight from Green Bay to Chicago was nice, and I didn’t have to wait all that long to get on my next flight to Newark. Butttttttt when I did get on that flight, it was a wee bit warm on the plane. And then we spent over an hour just sitting on the tarmac in our increasingly warm plane. I was wedged between my two plane buddies, two older (and larger) men who were nice enough to chat to, but I was very much looking forward to getting off...

Newark was also a lovely experience, and I had been told it would be by at least half a dozen people. The airport was rather confusing, the staff quite unhelpful, and the patrons rather aggressive. After some excessive overcrowding at the baggage claim, I had to take the train to Terminal B. I had no idea that I had to get to Terminal B. Or how to get from Terminal Wherever-I-Was to Terminal B. And everyone I asked about it simply directed me to the United Airlines check-in desk. Soooooo that was fun.

But of course I eventually found my way, had some Wendy’s for dinner, then sat down to read a bit before my flight. The airplane was really nice and the flight attendants very friendly and British. For some reason or another, my left butt cheek always seems to cramp up whenever I sit in the same position for too long, and no matter how many times I got up to stretch it was still a bit of a bother. Oh, and I really wasn’t able to sleep at all. Win.

Friday, 29 June

After a lovely and rather long day of traveling, security, and a ridiculous line at UK customs, it was nice to be through Heathrow and finally start to see the city. The bus ride from the airport to the hotel was strangely enjoyable, maybe because I was beyond tired and I finally got to stretch out on a two-seat bench, maybe because there was just so much to see out the bus’ big windows. Seeing all the old houses along the motorway was really neat, but I can’t imagine living there due to all the traffic and noise.

I then had the chance to check into the St. Giles, London, where I’ll be staying for the next few days for IFSA-Butler orientation. I must say, the rooms, and especially the bathroom are rather small, but at least the view from the window is pretty good. I can see all the way down to the Thames, including Big Ben and the London Eye!

View from my hotel room

Ever-reliant on technology, as usual, after getting settled and showering I headed to the Starbucks around the corner to do some web browsing and see what there was to do in the area. I eventually realized that the British Museum was not far away at all, so I thought I would go ahead and visit before dinner. I headed out down Oxford Street (completely in the wrong direction) until I reach Oxford Circus. Even though I wasn’t going where I wanted to or thought I was going, it was still a really cool area to see. There were so many people on the sidewalks! Not to mention all of the shops and stores, which I fortunately had the will power to stay out of...

Oxford Street

Because I had thought I knew where I was going, and because It looked like a short and easy enough of a walk, I left after only snapping a quick screen shot of a map on my phone. Despite being given at least half a dozen maps over the last several hours (or days, weeks, months...) I did not have one on me at the time. Which probably wasn’t the best idea. And which also probably breaks every known inexperienced-tourist/study abroad student rule known to man. Whoops. But after asking a nice newsstand man which direction to Bloomsbury Street, I corrected my error, retraced my steps (a lot of my steps...) and made it back to the hotel, then beyond to the British Museum.

Just looking at the outside of the building I was amazed. I love architecture, and older buildings in England and Europe in general are stunning because they are beyond the simple frameworks that many American buildings have. At least, that’s what I’ve come to notice. But you walk through the wrought iron gate and you just see the façade of the museum and all the arches (and don’t get me started on arches! Ahh!) Once inside and through the main entryway I came to the covered courtyard (called the Great Court) in the middle of the building. Even though you don’t usually go to a museum to look at the building, I couldn’t stop looking, and I must say the Great Court was one of my favorite parts of the museum.

The British Museum

The Great Court of the British Museum

Dinner at Giraffe, which was alright. I wasn’t really sure what the theme or the story of the restaurant was, but when we left the back room where we were at the place was absolutely filled to the brim. Young people everywhere, loud music, and plenty of alcohol. There must be something about the Giraffe that I don’t know...

After dinner a group of us meandered a bit about the West End. We found our way to the Thames and just started to walk along toward Parliament. We took some photos of Big Ben, then headed back towards the hotel via Whitehall and Trafalgar Square. At an early ten o’clock, I was beat and decided to call it a night. My first day in London was quite the adventure!

The London Eye and the old city hall (?)

A rather awkward photo of me on Westminster Bridge...

Off to England . . . Tomorrow

Well, it's just about time. I leave for England tomorrow!

Yesterday I drove to Oshkosh to take the GRE for the first time. Boy, what a joy that was... Now that it's over with, it doesn't seem so bad, but studying for the last month was not something that I enjoyed doing. Endless flashcards of vocabulary words and root lists to memorize. Not fun. I got an instant 'unofficial' score, and I think I did alright, but I'll probably end up taking it again just to see if I can do any better. I'm glad I got that out of the way though before my trip!

After talking to Brianna (who just got back from a short little jaunt in England!) I hit a bit of a snag with my plans for packing. I had noticed that there were both size and weight restrictions for carry-on bags for my international flight from Newark, NJ to London on Virgin Atlantic, but because I had never heard of or experienced any airline weighing carry-ons before I pretty much ignored that bit of info about the weight. Which was apparently the wrong thing to do. So Virgin does weigh carry-ons, and whereas I can have up to a 40 pound carry-on on my United flights to Newark, I can only have a 13 pound carry-on for the flight to London. I still have yet to figure out exactly what I'm going to do about that...

Apart from the baggage dilemma, I think I'm all set to go! I'll be heading to the airport in Green Bay tomorrow morning, and from there I'll be on my way to London! I'm so excited!!

Let the Countdown Begin!

Well, only 87 hours until I start making my way from my home in Green Bay, Wisconsin to my 2012 summer adventure abroad in Cambridge, England. It's Sunday evening, and I just have to survive the mounting anticipation of my departure until 11:00 AM Thursday morning. Needless to say, Thursday seems like it is much to far away for my liking...

My bags are (mostly) packed, as much as they can be at this point. And at the moment they are far too full and way too heavy, so I'll have some thinning out to do over the next few days.

I haven't made as much headway as I would have liked on my list of pre-arrival required readings. I only remembered I had this list after I moved back home to Green Bay for the summer, so I've only been working on it half-heartedly over the last month; my non-academic summer to-do list often took priority. Whoops.

I actually feel kind of bad because I really should have figured out specifically what direction I'll be going in for my senior thesis next year. It's been quite the adventure so far: back in April I submitted a proposal for a research award through the history department. At that time, I was interested in looking into the early days of the European Coal and Steel Community, the forerunner to the modern European Union, and trying to determine what factors led to Britain not joining into the early European integration efforts. However, I suppose luckily, after attending a political science research conference on the EU, I realized I was less interested in the politics of the EU than I had initially thought. It's not that I'm no longer interested, just simply that I have found another project that seems to have much more potential than the early politics of the ECSC.

Now I'm working on a project on gender and women's issues in early twentieth-century Britain. I became interested in what I call 'the phenomenon of the upper/middle-class Anglophone woman' after reading a book about indigenous child removal in the United States and Australia in the nineteenth century and the role women played in the formation and implementation of child welfare policies. These women often acted as experienced mothers, and often removed children from the care of indigenous mothers who were deemed sub par in the art and science of child rearing. From the Boer War at the turn of the twentieth century to the end of the First World War in 1918, there was a dramatic shift in the way motherhood was perceived in Britain. During the Boer War, mothers were blamed for their ignorance in rearing children when only two of five volunteers were healthy enough to serve in the armed forces; with the passage of the Maternity and Child Welfare Act of 1918 it was finally realized that a number of factors (beyond just the competence of mothers) determined the health of the nations' children. I don't know exactly why yet, but I'd like to find out why it was that this change in attitudes took place.

I've got a whole list of places that I'd like to visit once I arrive, some of them university libraries and archives! Hopefully I can manage to find a healthy work/play balance, because as much as I'd really like to see as much of England as I can, there is truly no better place for me to conduct my research than England. We'll have to see how it goes!