Lets Get Bizaaayy!!!

So as I write this, our bratwurst is soaking in 3 liters of simmering Stella Artois beer and onions. I just finished chopping carrots which will soon become caramelized as well. Our seasoned potatoes are in the oven as well, and Cait is whipping up a batch of her mom's deviled eggs with Mindy. It's my birthday dinner! We're going all out. Should be a fun evening. Earlier today Cait took me out to Camden Market for a mini-shopping spree on her bill as part of my b-day. Didn't get much. Some jeans, a vintage t-shirt from 1985 which I haggled down £3 because I told the guy I was born in '85, and a mousepad created from recycled computer chips. Cait got some earrings made from the same material, just to wear when we go investigate the London club scene high on E, of course, because those are usually the kind of people into it.

Anyway, this last week has had its fun twists and turns...like when I went to work on Tuesday and Cait's Mac was frozen, meaning she couldn't do any work. After fooling around with it, I determined the only solution to induce a restart was by unplugging it. So, I found the cord in back and pulled it out. About a second and a half later all the lights went out and an alarm began to buzz in another room. Yep!! We spent the next hour navigating around with cellphone and iPod light, playing with the circuit board before calling an "engineer" to solve the problem. We went out for coffee, came back, still no power. A productive day at work while our boss was in Jerusalem giving a lecture!! We realized that the wiring below the computer was nuts...3 power cords, one plugged into another...it turned out the mother-board on the computer was completely shot. That computer is out of use at the moment. Classes have been entertaining enough - - these NYU kids are a bit over the top though, asking pointless questions that have been answered during the lecture or one could easily deduce with the provided information. I'm probably just being an ass, but there is just a noticable difference from classes at UR, which is interesting. On a separate note, a friend of mine from 1st-3rd grade named Samer ended up being in my Politics of the Middle East class...small world. I still have to hang out with my RA from sophomore year who is here as well, and another girl I knew from Jacksonville who's studying abroad here.

Last weekend was the Thames festival as well, which I think I mentioned before. The second night consisted of fireworks following a parade of dancers and musicians from all over the world. Needless to say it was packed, and three of us were lucky enough to wedge a spot on the Embankment along the river for a front row seet. My favorite character was a costumed character from a London Theatre group, who looked like a crazed axe murderer wearing a chef's apron...then for the picture with him he suddenly raised his apron to reveal a bit more cloth on the costume that protruded from his crotch. Most enjoyable!!! Tomorrow we head out to Leeds and Canterbury for the day. Finally making the pilgrimmage to visit ol' Tom Becket. Amsterdam is in a week too. A few of us have also been planning trips to other places during our time here. Dublin, Prague, Krakow, Rome, Greece...the last two which will be the hardest to save money for. Oh well. All worth it in the end.

I've finally started to run here too, since Regents park is pretty much our backyard. My first run there was only supposed to be 20ish minutes, but it turned into 45 minutes when I got lost. Eventually found my way back thanks to the BT Tower in the distance (its about 3 blocks from our flat). But I ran past some incredible homes, some of which had their own security forces armed with automatic weapons. I was sore for 2 days, despite stretching.

Anyway, I'll post some pics fromt the festival a little later. Gotta get back to the kitchen and help out. Oh, and it still hasn't rained here yet. =)

Work + Play

I'll start with describing these pics a bit. The first contains the butt of the Globe during our walk along the Thames. Next is us in front of Buckingham Palace and the Queen Victoria Memorial. The next is of Southwark (pronounced "Suth-ick") bridge with the Feast on the Bridge happening. After that we have yours truly at the hole-in-the-wall that is my work (it's better inside :) And then we have Cait and I at a club for a friends birthday...mmmmmm.

Well, the internship is finally happening. I've been sorting through 136 year old maps of the Middle East, mainly from what is now Israel, Syria and Jordan. I'm just verifying the information (the date, who did the surveying, the information on the map, condition of it, what areas it shows, and what other maps you can look at of a nearby area). Then I put it on the computer. Fun stuff. We'll have more to do in the coming weeks, as I only have to put the info on the computer after going through each individual map. There are some amazing maps of what is now the Gaza strip and, of course, Jerusalem. The PEF was the first major documentation of the Holy Land. They cover everything too...elevation, land features, buildings, even trees, wells, cisterns, ancient burial sites, vineyards, "ancient roman roads,"...some get incredibly detailed with amazing shading. I'll try to snag some copies of good maps to post. Anyway, its basic now, but once our supervisor gets back from a conference in Jerusalem, we'll be able to talk more about other tasks on top of our archival stuff (since we're just the bitch interns...but at least the hours are flexible and we get free tea).

Classes seem interesting too. Three hours, though. The Eastern Europe Politics class was still a bit of an intro session, just talking about the term "eastern europe" and what we associate with, why we call it that, blah blah. Just kinda basic discussion topics. They have an entire library here, though, with all sorts of records about the area, though - biggest in the world. It'll make paper writing easy. Politics of the Middle East kicked off with Egypt as the top topic. Just lecture for now though. All in good time.

So, today we hit up the River Thames festival (goes all weekend). Woke up around 8AM (on a Saturday, mind you) and started off at Buckingham Palace, since it was the last day of the summer palace tours. Amazing. Just amazing. No pictures inside, however, but just amazing. The detail and opulence were just mindblowing. Even the paneling bordering the doors...there were leaves going up the side, and each leaf was gold, with the stem and veins clearly visibile on each one. The special display was Queen Elizabeth's Wedding. They had the dress, wedding gifts, jewlery, all of it. Incredibly opulent as well, of course. Anyway, after that we made our way to the Thames and walked along it for a while. They had tango lessons going on, japanese street music, music performances by people from all over the world, art displays, every kind of food imaginable, a closed bridge covered with sand (Feast on the Bridge) and tons of people (at least 50 people touched my butt inadvertantly)...madness! We ended at Borough Market, which is a more upscale street market. It's where experts go to find the finest wine, cider, cheese (from Cheshire, where the Chesebro name originates, which is why it may be pronounced "Chez-bro!"), bread, meaet, and baked goods. Oh, and it has yet to rain since we've been here - the weather today was sunny and around 70. Perfect! We were going non-stop rom 8:30 AM until about 3:30. Then we passed the fuck out when we got back.

Tomorrow is Sunday, so we're going to The Church. Not church, The Church. It's a pub only open on Sundays. Awesome. Also the festival continues tomorrow, and we'll see fireworks in the evening. Anyway, clubs tonight. Got to rest up.

Internship

This morning Cait and I went and met our boss over at the PEF. It's
down this narrow, quaint (I've been using that word a lot since I've
been here since everything is so historic) street calledMaryleborne
Lane, with charming cafes and restaurants. Our place of work is a bit
of a hole-in-the-wall though, but its packed with loads of historical
stuff from "The Levant," or Palestine and "The Middle East." After
giving us a brief history of the Palestine Exploration Fund, Felicity
told us that we'd be documenting 19th Century photographs and maps from
the area, taken and drawn by these Victorian men with a keen interest
in the area. We go in tomorrow for more formal training. I'm excited
though, as many of these photos and maps come with descriptions written
at the same time.

Interesting facts about PEF - They pioneered the field of archeology (rather than "historical geography" or engineering, as were the fields of many of the first acheologists), as it didn't formally exist as a field or a term at the time, putting into practice many of its fundamentals.
- While they were looking for items in such a holy region, they went in with more scientific goals, while many before them had a spade in one hand, and a bible in the other, leading to many false findings and bias.
- Since they began in 1865, they had access to many holy sites after schmoozing with the Ottoman Empire, many of which have been off limits ever since, so their findings are incredibly valued.

Anyway, time to do some cleaning and read for class tomorrow.

******Be sure to check the post below this one since my internet was out, and scroll to other past posts to check out more pictures + a video from speakers corner!! - - - Until next time, kids!

Recent Happenings

Sorry its been a bit...the internet has been down at our flat and only just came back up today. I wrote an entry during the weekend on Word that I will now paste...enjoy!

Soooo. I’m taking two classes. East European Politics and Politics of the near and Middle East. I was going to take two classes on the same day, but I figured the “interest” factor and excitement from the professor was more important…as my other option proved a bit drab and dry after trying it out. Still no word from my internship contact, but they’ve been on “holiday,” so it should be quite soon.

In other news, with our extra time to sight see (since everyone else on our program started their internship last week), Cait and I took the train an hour south to Brighton on the sea. It’s got a super-ultra hip club scene, a plethora of independent cafes and restaurants, “The Lanes,” narrow streets similar to the ones in Camden Market with allll kinds of shops, and plenty of touristy stuff as well – such as the worlds oldest aquarium, a Coney Island typed pier, and a hedonistic palace designed like something out of the Indian Mogul Empire. It’s also got the largest homeless population outside of London (didn’t seem that bad though) and a very active gay and lesbian community (we saw two women marry on the beach – the weather couldn’t have been better for a wedding!). It was incredibly relaxing to get out of busy London for two days…though its barely been two weeks. Either way – great time, despite the ruins of the first pier that collapsed into the water after lack of use just sitting there.

So, Hyde Park in London. Formerly hunting grounds for the Royal Family, its now the largest park in the city. Anyway, Speakers Corner is in the northeast corner, and every Sunday afternoon people can bring a soap box and preach, yell, teach, talk, discuss, whatever they want! Three of us showed up around 10am and there were only two speakers, but after a lovely boating excursion further in the park for a bit, we returned to about 5 or 6 “speakers” and swarms of people. Fire and brimstone, political messages for the West, a self-proclaimed fallen angel…they were all there. One guy asked me to get on his step-ladder and ask everyone listening to dance. Great Kodak moment.
Getting further into classes this week, plus the internship begins. Should be fun.

**Here's a link of one of the speakers at Speakers Corner. Not one of the best, but the entertainment factor was rather high. He also sparked a side religous discussion next to me. What a guy.***** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umsb3cvZAmQ

Hawt Stuff

More city exploring. Yesterday a few of us navigated our way on the tube to Waterloo station (where the new Bourne film had a climactic scene) - getting around on it isn't tough (not only because of my experience in Boston, but because everything is SO well marked!). We wandered around the Thames by the eye - loads of street performers doing the most odd things...human statues that randomly solo on the guitar then go still, or lizzards riding green bikes that pedal to the metal when you drop some quid in their jar and make awful squeeking sounds. It was a great day (meaning the sun pop through the grey clouds at times) so we paid £15 for a "flight." It was a fun 20 minute ride with a great view of the city. We then crossed Westmister bridge and walked up the Thames along the Embankment. Our goal was to hit the Portobello Market, but we didn't get there in time and the Blackbriar area was deserted. Then we quickly walked up ghost-like streets to a tube station and came home where I made some scrambled eggs, bagles, and toasted PBJ's for dinner.

Today I went to Harrods with one of my flatmates. After being blasted by perfumed, eyed by the plethora of security guards, and browsing the luxury goods, I decided that I did not want to pay £2750 pounds for the hot red, tight fitting leather jacket that looked like it came out of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. It was fun to browse, at least. Mohamed al-Fayed has a wax statue of himself in there as well...not worth getting a picture with, though. We then navigated our way on the tube to Camden Town, the exact opposite of Harrods. Hole-in-the-wall shops line the narrow, cobble-stoned alleyways and are packed with vintage clothing, handmade crafts, punk/goth clothing, indian, japanese, chinese...you name it, its there. It's like Canal street in NYC, but less sketchy and a helluva lot more hip. I spent a total of £30 on a vintage track jacket, polo, and shoulder bag - haggled a bit too! I'll be back there for sure to ensure that I blend in with the incredibly hip Londoners. Some random guy singled us out and offered us some weed as well...I guess we really do stand out. At least I know its not my shoes.

Salisbury + Stonehenge

Long day. Got up around 7:45 to take a two hour bus trip to Stonehenge and Salisbury. The bus driver had a super loud, beeping GPS system, that only allowed you to sleep for so long - great drive. Stonehenge was fascinating, of course. Just mind boggling, really, picturing people 5000 years ago lugging these stones (the largest weighing 45 tons) about 250 miles and lining them up with the movements of the sun... There were a lot of ancient burial mounds in the area too, plus the drive there along the English countryside was amazing. It's a shame you can't go right up to the stones anymore though...

Salisbury was the next stop. The main attraction there was the cathedral - the tallest in the UK. It was under renovation on one side outside, unfortunately, but it was pretty incredible. Construction began in 1220 and it took 38 years to complete - it also holds one of only 4 copies of the Magna Carta - this is the highest quality one too. I won't bore you with other details, but finally seeing architecture and sculpture that one has only seen in books and on TV is just pretty goddamn amazing - tons of different thoughts and feelings just keep you in awe for every step. I can't speak for everyone though, as one kid in our group busted out his cell phone while in the room with the best preserved copy of the Magna Carta and was promptly rebuked and kicked out by an employee. We sat out in the grass for a bit taking it all in, and some "Goth" kids came and sat near the Gothic cathedral...so appropriate.

The town was quaint, with many buildings dating back hundreds of years. There were a lot of punk ass, hooligan kids roaming the streets too. A handful of 13 year old kids were near us while we were eating on the steps of the 250 year-old former town hall...two boys randomly started throwing punches and swearing loudly - they both already had many bruises and scabs on their faces...we kept our bags close and cameras away. That was just one of many groups of teens in the touristy area. But it was quaint, and nice, otherwise, with a vibrant market full of produce, meat, cheeses, and random odds & ends.

Then we had a another 2 hour, loud GPS navigated bus ride home to London. Making some pasta for dinner - thus begins cheap eating, after being taken out by our program director and going out as a group for the first two nights of dinner.