Sitting in the railway station. Got a ticket for my destination.

Railway station... airport, what's the difference anyway? They both signify the beginning and the end of a trip. Today was my last day here in London and tomorrow morning I will be on an 8 hour plane ride back to the US. The rules of travel, to me, are interesting ones. I like to think that the journey back home, no matter how long or short, is the right amount of time for me to debrief, to collect my thoughts, and as the ship approaches the port, the train comes to a halt at the platform, or the plane touches down on the runway, to begin thinking about what comes next.

As I prepare myself for my trip home, I honestly can't believe how quickly the past few weeks have flown by. I have really had a terrific time here, and I wish we had more time to spend. I have to say thank you to the group of people who were here with me. I have really enjoyed getting to know each one of them over the course of this trip- especially in this last week. I think our group meshed pretty well together, especially for coming in as such a random conglomerate of individuals.

I think my previous post still encompasses the way I am feeling about London right now. I have absolutely been able to embrace this place despite my initial assumptions and expectations. This is really such a cool, diverse, historically rich city, and I have definitely grown to learn about it and appreciate it. I don't feel ready to leave, but I have been alloted these three weeks. No more, no less...for now that is. So I prepare myself to be ready to leave and go back home. And with that, I prepare myself to be ready to figure out my next steps, my next adventure.

It feels like I'm all the way back where I come from

As the rain fell methodically outside St. Paul's Cathedral, I lit a candle and heard the Lord's prayer. I sat in the back row of this ancient building, a building in which I have never been before. My head was clear.

It's funny how you can all of a sudden realize that you are feeling at home somewhere. It's a hard feeling to describe- the feeling of getting used to things. As I have gotten more accustomed to London, there have been definite similarities that I have noticed between the UK and home, but there have also been differences that I noticed. I find myself wondering what exactly it is that is making me more comfortable here. Is it the fact that I am discovering more things that are similar to life at home? Or am I just getting to know better the people and things around me?

We went on a tour of the East End last week, an area known historically as the Jewish East End. But over the years, different immigrant groups have adopted that area as their own. Buildings have been transformed from temples to churches to mosques in order to accommodate various communities. Not only here, but all around the world people have culture, rituals, religion, and other things that we, as humans, often rely upon for various purposes. We have had a focus on immigrants and refugees during our trip. I am not an immigrant, nor am I a refugee, but I can connect with those people in the sense that I know what it is like to find a bit of familiarity and embrace it. When we find similar customs in another country, on another continent, we have a better sense of normalcy and a certain peace is allowed to take over our being.

All for one and one for all. Solidarity forever.

Tonight we saw the musical BIlly Elliot. I was so impressed and I am absolutely loving the theater here in London! The kid who played BIlly was so talented and he was probably only 12 or 13 years old. The dancing was amazing and the story was beautiful.

Earlier today it was my group's turn to do a presentation and we taught the class about the differences between the UK and US public health systems. And yes...eventhough I don't report it here, we have actually been doing our fair share of work here... I am taking a class after all!

I can't believe this is the beginning of our last week. Three weeks is such a short time. I feel like I am just getting used to everything, and now it's almost time to leave again...such is life.

All that glitters is gold, and she's buying a stairway to heaven

This weekend was awesome! I had so much fun...I seem to always enjoy what we are doing no matter what it is and can make myself interested in pretty much anything, but this weekend was great! Saturday was probably my favorite day so far (besides the day we saw Wicked). We went to St. Paul's Cathedral in the morning. It was beautiful and so peaceful inside. We climbed hundreds and HUNDREDS of steps to get to the top of the building and see the view from outside. It's a good thing that I've been going to the gym because otherwise I don't think I would have been able to make it to the top. There were THAT many stairs. The view from the top after our 30 minute stair hike was inspiring, and I was thrilled to see London from new heights.

After St Paul's we had a break before our next activity, so I followed a pigeon around for a while and took pictures wherever it led me. But in that time the weather turned rainy-very rainy. I think this made the day even more fun...it just felt authentically London...even though I learned from our tour guide that it is a common misconception that it always rains in London. (I find that hard to believe because we have had our fair share of wet weather here).

But anyway...we went to the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge. I had so much fun there. I'm not sure why. But it was fun to listen to all of the history that went along with the buildings. After the tower, we watched the Tower Bridge open up for a large ship to pass through. Then it was time to climb more stairs up to the top of the bridge. Afterwards Hope, Louisa, Alex, Amy, and I walked along the river and had dinner at a little pub we found. Actually, I'm making that sound too easy. By accident we wound up in the City, the business section of London, because we remembered a pub that we had seen there on one of our tours. As we were walking through the city, we noticed that nothing- absolutely NOTHING- was open. It was a Saturday night at 7pm..how could nothing be open? When we finally made it to our pub, they told us that they were closing and that the city shuts down because its only businesses and nobody lives there, so there is no reason for anything to be open. So we found another pub instead. It was quite an adventure.

On Sunday we went to Hampton Court Palace. It was a beautiful day- probably somewhere around 50 degrees and it was sunny! The palace had a beautiful garden that I spent most of my time in. It was great to finally see the sun and be out in decent weather for a change!

I can't believe this is our last weekend here. I'm looking forward to a busy last week full of agency visits.

I think I'll try defying gravity

Tonight we saw Wicked the musical, and it was amazing. I have never seen the show before, but i knew all the songe because some friends from home had seen the show a while ago and got me hooked on the music. I can't believe it took me so long to see it, but I finally did! (Carissa- I was tempted to buy the shirt that you have, but unfortunately I did not have any cash with me.) The entire show was fascinating but the actress who played Elphaba was incredible. I want to see it again!!!!!!!

I think we'll all have the music in our heads for the next few days, at least!

Every day create your history. Every page you turn you're writing your legacy.

We've had a pretty busy and another cold beginning to this week. Monday we had class, my dentist visit, and then a tour of Westminster Abbey. Westminster Abbey was beautiful. I am still trying to figure out how the people back in the medieval times were able to build such magnificent structures. The high arches and tall columns in this building were so intense. And everything in the abbey was elaborately decorated with either paint or sculpture of some sort. We were shown around by a new tour guide, Abigail, who had many fun and quirky stories to tell us about Westminster Abbey's history, and about the history of England in general.

On Wednesday we woke up to snow again, but still had our East End tour that had been rescheduled from the last snow day. This was one of my favorite days even though my feet were frozen solid and hurt from wearing my cold rain boots. I had decided to go with dryness over warmth...poor choice.

But we had an interesting tour of a different side of London, and I enjoyed it very much. We walked down Brick Lane again, and in and out of side streets learning the history of the East Side and how it has changed from being the Jewish East Side to being more of a "Bengal-town" as they now call it. The colorful storefronts advertising curry, shisha pipes, and fabrics were a chromatic contrast to the bleak and grey weather.

Wednesday night two friends and I went to see the OK Go concert which was a blast! Great music and a fun show overall. This week is flying by and I am trying to savor every day of being here in London.

And I know I'll never lose affection for people and things that went before

Yesterday we started off our second week in England by taking a day trip to learn the history of people and things that went before as we traveled to Stonehenge and Bath! Sean, our Blue-Badge Tour Guide,was with us again and we were all very happy to see him. I was especially excited to see him, because I came close to not being able to make it to our field trip!

I woke up on Saturday to find that my left cheek had become extremely swollen. (I had had my wisdom teeth taken out just before Christmas and thought everything was healed, but apparently it got irritated and well, I was stuck with a painful and swollen face again!) After a fantastic trip to the emergency room on Saturday, I was unable to get any help because there were no dentists on duty at the hospital. And even though I had spoken with my oral surgeon from home and had instructions to get penicillin as soon as possible, a regular doctor here would not prescribe me anything! Ironically, my presentation for this course is on public health differences in the UK and US...I figured I'd consider this experience to be first hand research and lo and behold, my first lesson was that pharmacies here will not accept prescriptions by phone from the US. Luckily, due to my past travel experiences, I had some leftover antibiotics with me and my doctor from home said that it should help treat or keep away any infections. So now that I knew I would live until today without seeing a doctor, I was allowed to go to Stonehenge and Bath and postpone my trip to the dentist :)


So after leaving our hotel bright and early, our first stop was Stonehenge. All bundled up, our class trekked out into the field to see the very unique prehistoric monument. It was extra unique when we visited because it was covered in snow! (I have a theory that the frigid weather helped to keep the swelling down on my face.) It was truly an incredible sight to see this construction, especially because it is a mystery as to how exactly Stonehenge was built. It dates back thousands of years ago, and historians, anthropologists, and archaeologists can only guess how the gigantic sandstones were moved miles to be placed in Wiltshire county

The second stop on our itinerary for the day was the city of Bath. What a cool

place!We visited the old Roman baths. It was exciting to see what was left of this ancient oasis and to imagine what life might have been like back in Roman times. Sean also guided us

around the city to teach us more about how the city was years and years ago. I even ate lunch with Katina and Meghan at the oldest restaurant in Bath (by recommendation of Sean.) It is called Sally Lunn's and it was the most quaint restaurant I have ever been in. We were shown upstairs to our table and enjoyed delicious soup and sandwiches. It was appropriate that we ate here because Sally Lunn was a refugee from France, and we learned all about refugees and immigrants in our classes and agencies

last week!

Overall we enjoyed our time in Bath and I think most of us had a pretty relaxing night after a long day.

This morning we had class and Margaux, Amy, and Stephanie gave a great presentation on the

oppression of women. I did have to leave class early because Professor Patch (who along with Dr. Sullivan, has been so helpful in the midst of my odd and unexpected situation) and I took a quick trip down to the London Clinic dentist office where I continued my first-hand research of the UK public health system and tried to figure out what was wrong with me! I had an appointment with Dr. Davies and after a few x-rays and some poking at my teeth and gums, I am still not exactly sure what was wrong with my mouth, but I was prescribed some more anti-biotics and told that everything should be better from here out. The entire experience was surprisingly simple! We waited in the waiting room, decorated like a formal living room with sofas and classical art, no longer than we would have waited at any dentist's office in the U.S. I went upstairs and sat in the most high-tech dentist chair I have ever seen, with sleek-looking equipment in a room that was half-dentist office and half-living room all at the same time. (There was a couch, table, and desk in the room as well as large windows.) After my visit and a quick picture, I was on my way to the pharmacy to pick up my medication. Through thi unique learning experience I think I have learned how easy the health system here can be to navigate if you have the right resources and connections. The dentist I went to was a private agency- I somehow think that I would have had a very different experience had I been to a government agency.

I am loving London and I'm looking forward to learning even more about the public health system in the UK as we visit our agencies next week.

Pictures

I have uploaded a few of the pictures I have taken since getting to London.
You can click on the link at the top left of this page that says "Pictures" to view them!

Meg

Singing beep beep beep. Get on your feet.

Today my roommate and I did not receive our scheduled wake-up call and woke up at the unfortunate hour of 8:45...class started at 9 and it takes 30 minutes by tube to get there. Frantically we jumped out of bed, got dressed, grabbed our belongings and ran out the hotel door to look for a cab- the quickest (yet most expensive) way to get to our classroom. Or at least generally it is the quickest way to get there...today, however, we managed to take 5 precious minutes to get a cab. (On any normal day we are nearly getting run over by fleets of them as we cross our street.) We also managed to hit every red light on the way to Bloomsbury Square. This at least left us some time to do our makeup, hair, and look presentable for when we made it to class at 9:10, promptly as our visiting speaker was about to start his presentation. Talk about cutting it close.

After class, we went to the natural history museum. The coolest parts of the museum were the dinosaur and human biology exhibits. We were also able to go ice skating in the rink just outside the museum at sunset :)

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Today we had a snowday because it would have taken us forever to get to the agencies we had scheduled for today due to the fact that the tube system all but shuts down at the slightest hint of "adverse weather." So instead, we all went to the Victoria and Albert Museum! I really enjoyed the photography and Middle Eastern exhibits that they had.

After the museum, Katina and I got manicures and pedicures. It was so relaxing and was the perfect thing to do on a snowday! After pampering ourselves. we headed over to Harrod's and browsed through a ton of overpriced items. (I still am having a hard time figuring out how a flimsy scarf could possibly still cost 345 Pounds at 80% off.) We had ice cream at the ice cream bar that they have here- and the moment they brought out my ice cream could possibly have been the most happy I have been on this entire trip! Seriously. It was amazing. Hazelnut, chocolate, and vanilla ice cream drizzled with hardening chocolate syrup, topped with whipped cream and toasted hazelnuts, and garnished with a chocolate straw and a cup made of chocolate filled with nutella. I ate this for dinner and was in absolute heaven.

Cheeseburger in Paradaise

The UK has an interesting obsession with hamburgers. For dinner I went to with some friends to the Gourmet Burger Kitchen where I got a Kiwi veggie burger (from New Zealand) with beets, onions, egg, and a lot of other things on it. It was HUGE and delicious. We ended the night by chilling out at the pub up the street from our hotel.

The beginning of today was a little snowy here in London. All of the tubes were backed up in the morning and the entire city was freaking out over a couple inches of snow. To their credit, it did accumulate a lot more in the suburbs, as we later experienced during our train ride to Edmonton, where our agency visit was located. Before our visit, however, we had class at our normal time. Thinking we were going to be late (and therefore incur a 5 point deduction to our final grade,) Meghan, Katina, and I decided to take a cab to our classroom. We made it about 25 minutes late only to discover that nobody from our class, not even our professors, had made it to class yet! So we grabbed a coffee at the Starbucks down the street and carefully made it back to the classroom without slipping on the icy, snowy sidewalks.

After class Katina, Meghan, Jake, and I ate for a second time at Cantina, one of our favorite cafes here. Then it was off to the Action for Social Integration Agency visit with the whole class. There, we talked to two men who told us about the services they offer at their agency. They help immigrants with legal advice, getting jobs, and anything else they could need in order to integrate into a new society.

While standing on the platform awaiting the train back to central London, everything looked so peaceful as large snowflakes were falling all around us. I felt as if I were about to board the Polar Express! Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me.

Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London. I'll show you something to make you change your mind

Today I got a much better feel for the city of London. After our class, we did a tour of the West Side with our guide, Sean. He is the same one from our bus tour on Saturday. Needless to say, we were all much more awake this time than we were the last time we saw him, as the last time we saw him was right after our flight over here, and we were falling asleep to the rhythmic intonations of his charming Irish accent.

The name of the tour was "2000 years in 2 hours". We walked in and out of alleys and relived years and years of London's history. We saw beautiful streets, buildings, churches, and monuments, and Sean had a witty joke or a story for each stop. I enjoyed lagging behind the group a bit, taking my time to shoot pictures of different things that I found interesting.

After the tour we had dinner on Brick Lane, a street that upon turning the corner made me feel as if I were right back in Kuala Lumpur. Brick Lane is lined with Indian, Thai, and Malaysian restaurants. The familiar scene of restaurant hosts standing outside their respective eateries inviting tourists in and offering discounts or a look at the menu had me remembering and almost reliving my experiences from this past summer.

In fact, many things about London remind me of my summer expedition. At first I found this odd...I would look at a building and its architecture and be reminded of one like it in Singapore. But I have it backwards; London does not look like Singapore...Singapore looks like London. The United Kingdom has had an incredible influence on the rest of the world, especially in its Commonwealth of Nations. Singapore, the hub of British power in southeast Asia, has clear similarities to the city of London in its architecture, the design of the city, and the type of English they use there. Looking back, Singapore reminded me, at the time, of Auckland and Sydney. But really, all of those places are reflections of my current city.

But not only has Great Britain had a large influence in its Commonwealth of Nations, the rest of the world has also put its mark here in England. Much to my pleasant surprise, London has to be the most multicultural city in the world. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was nervous to come here because I thought that everyone was going to be the same, that I would not have any exposure to people from different cultures, ethnicities, and walks of life. But wow, was I wrong! Just on the main street near our Hotel, I have found 2 Filipino restaurants, a handful of Indian places, Italian cafes, French and Thai restaurants, and of course, a few pubs. And this was all within a few blocks. As I continued to explore, I noticed that I was surrounded by so many different kinds of people, and that is my favorite part about London.

Wanna know the secrets only the coble stones know

Today was our first real day here in London. My roomate, Katina, and I were adventurous this morning, tackling the Soho Gym before breakfast. Surprisingly, the breakfast here at the hotel was pretty impressive- toast, cereal, yogurt, hard boiled eggs, tomatoes, cheese, and some cold-cuts. (This is good to know, because I will definitely be taking advantage of this when I run out of money for lunch and dinner ...just kidding, Dad!)

After breakfast, we all took the tube over to our classroom in Bloomsbury and had our first class together. After class we had free time for the rest of the day, so Katina and I took off to explore more of the city.

We visited Oxford Street, Piccadilly Circus, and Kensington
High Street. The city is large and busy, yet there is a quaintness that makes it seem somewhat familiar. The intricacy of the architecture of the buildings is breathtaking and it somehow quiets the broad and noisy streets below, reverting them back to a time in history long before they were crowded with taxis, tourists and telephone booths.

Tomorrow will be an exciting yet busy day as we look forward to an agency visit at the Refugee Council and a walking tour. I can't wait to photograph some of this incredible and CLEAN city!

I woke up today in London, as the plane was touching down

After an interesting day of travel, I landed in London at about 7:30am local time, which is about 2:30am at home.

The trip all started out on Saturday morning when I woke up, put the last few things in my suitcase, and got ready to run to pick up a few unnecessary things at the store. My flight from Newark to DC was scheduled for 3:30pm, so I figured that I should print out my boarding pass. But much to my dismay, when I went to check my email to check in online, I found another message from Continental, kindly informing me at 9:00am that my afternoon flight would be rescheduled for Sunday at 9:00pm. This obviously presented a problem because I had a flight out of DC at 7:00pm on Saturday night- one that I needed to be on along with my professors and classmates!

After expressing my feelings (in British fashion of course) with a few choice words that I will not include in this post, I actually remained pretty calm about that fact that there was an enormous chance that I would be missing my flight to London and probably enduring a rather large, stress-induced headache if I did not act quickly. So I called a friend on my trip, Margeaux, who was driving down to DC. She lives about 30 minutes from me, and thankfully, I caught her just as she was about to pull out of her driveway. My dad speedily, yet safely, drove me to meet her and though a bit frazzled due to the events of the past 45 minutes, I was on my way to catch my flight to London!


After a sometimes turbulent, yet relatively short flight (compared to what I got used to this summer) of 7 hours, we arrived safely at Heathrow Airport. Exhausted, we all jumped on our tour bus to give us an orientation to the city in which we will be living for the next three weeks. I don't have much time now, but I will say that the architecture is beautiful- the buildings and streets are so clean and ornate. Then we checked into our hotel and my roomate, Katina, and I did a little exploring around the neighborhood before taking a much needed nap, which was followed by more exploring and dinner at night.

Now I am off to sleep before my first day of "class" tomorrow.