May 2011
1 post
"everything is going wrong, but we're so happy"
As my bank account dwindles and the stress of the inefficient day to day life of Italians starts to wear on me, I’m trying to hold on to what is amazing about this country. In the course of the past five weeks, I’ve been to 5 of Italy’s regions, seen Venice & Rome, Michelangelo, Leonardo & Donatello, sunsets over Lago di Garda, and starry nights over Firenze. My...
April 2011
1 post
"time may change me, but I can't change time"
My apologies for the cheesy David Bowie entitled blog, but I’m currently in my favorite WIFI cafe and Changes is on…
Its probably the best cafe ever. They have these things called “Delicious Milk Shakes”. A few flavors: “chunk monkey” (chocolate banana and coffee), cookie choc chips & vanilla cream, granola and vanilla, “blueberry breakfast”...
March 2011
4 posts
Fikas, Falafel, Fromage, Friends!, et BEAUCOUP de...
Amongst the “whirlwind” weeks of my life, this one is rapidly creeping to the top. A week ago, Kayla, Sara & I were sitting in our flat in London in EXTREME study mode as we neared our 2 final exams Thursday afternoon. But before I get to that… Let me just say The final few days in London were amazing weather wise. Kayla’s aunt was in town and we went to the Kensington Palace...
if love be blind, love cannot hit the mark
One minute ago, in real time (it will change before this post ends), it was St. Patrick’s Day. I am a person who centers her life around dates; the day I got accepted to CC (December 24th, 2007), the day I started at NIH (June 2nd, 2010)… I remember days when I met new friends or went to a new place for the first time. My good friend Tom sometimes likes to point it out like a spectacle...
How much does a polar bear weigh??
Tonight, a group of friends and I went to a pub at Imperial College London and after drink number two they challenged me to try out a pick up line. I found a group of men from the college football club and went to try my luck. (Men are ordered by positions they sat around table, clockwise from me)
Katie (waves around at group and puts elbows down on table, clears throat, makes eye...
I love my friends, they are wonderful.
Yes, you! I woke up this morning to a handful nice long emails/messages from friends at school - a few from people I hadn’t heard from since leaving. And in the past week I have skyped with four of my best friends. I needed it, so thank you guys! I’ve been battling a bad bout of food poisoning since Friday in the middle of the night, and today, I think I finally got over the hump....
February 2011
16 posts
"By Invitation Only": 24 Hours at England's Most...
Teaching is thought to have begun at Oxford as far back as 1096, less than a decade after the founding of the first University at Bologna, making Oxford the second oldest still running University, coming close to a millennia of academia in this little British town, about sixty miles northwest of central London. The idea of Oxford has, in my mind (and presumably the rest of the world), always been...
we drink along in double time, might drink too...
Wednesday evening, after a fun, sunny day meandering through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park with my roomies etc, I headed to Brick Lane. Now, we’ve all seen Chinatowns, and I’m guessing most of you have at least heard of London’s gigantic Indian population (makes sense). Brick Lane is basically “Indiatown”; its the heart of London’s Bangladeshi-Sylheti...
the transition from travel to home
Somehow, we’ve reached week three; day 17. In some senses, that seems like a miniscule amount of time, I feel like it was months ago that I was sitting, terrified, on the front steps to my flat with no clue how to enter the building at 8 am keyless on a cold January morning. On the other hand, we’re here for less than 6 more weeks. In 10 days, it’ll be halfway. I...
darwin and dickens underfoot.
Well, its been a busy past few days yet again. Before I talk about Sunday - Wednesday (today!) … this is the picture of the star of As You Like It - Orlando/Jonjo O’Neill - out in the front of the roundhouse, posing as a street musician (discussed in last post!)
Onwards….
On Sunday, I decided I really needed to get some “Katie” time in. I set out towards...
all the worlds a stage
We walked into the Roundhouse Theatre and as I entered I remarked about how odd it was that they were allowing someone to play music & panhandle inside the venue. He stood in “bum-like” clothing with his guitar and a cardboard sign reading “its not about the money”. As I walked up towards my seat I couldn’t get over how beautiful his voice was; the rendition of...
P. C. Thirty-one said, "We've caught a dirty one."...
I love London.
I’m tired and overwhelmed, so I’m not sure if I can articulate it any more clearly than that.
The past few days have been a whirlwind & I don’t plan on slowing down. We’ve been all around the city on foot and still haven’t seen much yet (in a sense) so its a good thing I have eight weeks here. We found our “local pub” of choice on...
Listen
“There is a tide in the affairs of men.
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to...”
– Brutus (Shakespeare, Julius Caesar)
January 2011
3 posts
my big adventure?
If you’re reading this blog, I’m going to assume we at least vaguely know each other. Presumably, you’re one of my family members or a loyal/bored friend. I came to the decision to go abroad for a semester after a lot of deliberation. It was never a question of whether or not I could handle the isolation from friends and family or the culture shock. I know these things will...
