Author Archives: pricemv

Cordoba!

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Last weekend, we went on an excursion from Rosario, Argentina to the province of Cordoba, also in Argentina, and we stayed in a town called Villa Carlos Paz. It was a much shorter bus trip than the trip to Iguazu, which was good. But this time we left at 3 in the morning, which was an adventure all on it’s own.

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And our bus was smaller.

But after our early start, the trip shaped up to be really amazing. We ziplined, did archery, got to ride on a chairlift, and trekked through the mountains of Carlos Paz. We also got to try the famous alfajores of Cordoba, which are a classic Argentine pastry, and Cordoba is supposed to be the best producer of them.

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Chairlifts miiight have been the best part.

Another thing that was awesome about the Cordoba trip is that we finally got to bond with some of the people from the other group that’s here studying, which worked out great. They’re mostly students from the University of Oregon, and it’s nice to be able to talk about some familiar things at home, and to meet other students.

On the way home, our bus driver mysteriously stopped the bus twice, and we all started talking about who we would eat first, since we were now in the Hunger Games. It doesn’t matter that that isn’t how the Hunger Games works. And we never did reach a consensus on who it would be before the bus started back up again.

We also visited several museums, including the house of Che Guevara and Manuel de Falla, a Spanish composer who lived in Argentina. While in Manuel de Falla’s house there was a slight incident where a burning log flew out of the fireplace.

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Note the burned ash all over the ground.

Luckily no one was injured, and we set off on our 6 hour bus ride back to Rosario. It was a great weekend!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

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Wow.  Things have been so busy.  I keep expecting to crash, but I seem to have an endless supply of energy (hopefully that continues).  I have done so many things in the last week and had so many wonderful experiences.  I think I’m going to make a list of them to keep them straight and to keep myself from rambling on and on in circles.  (Speaking of going in circles:  I do that a lot here.  I get lost on a fairly regular basis and have to consult maps and wander around until I find what I’m looking for.)

1)       Class:  I, of course, have attended my class (it is a study abroad program, after all).  I am really enjoying my class, which is on the Legend of King Arthur.  It is so incredibly amazing to be studying King Arthur in England.  There are some exciting field trips coming up to various Arthurian sites!

2)      Sherlock Holmes:  A couple friends and I had a Sherlock Holmes Day!  We went to Speedy’s Café for lunch one day and then went to the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221B Baker Street.  It was so much fun and a great day with friends.

The Sherlock Holmes Museum and Gift Shop

3)      The Tower of London, the British Museum, and the British Library:  For our first class field trip last week, we went to these fantastic places.  It was a spectacular day-long trip.  We left at 7:45 in the morning and didn’t get back until 9:00 at night.  The Tower of London was absolutely amazing.  The amount of history in that one location is really astounding.  There are parts of walls still standing that originally from the Roman Britain Era (1st Century AD – 410AD).  And, of course, the Crown Jewels were lovely!  I really have no words to describe the British Museum and the British Library.  They were really, really amazing places.

A piece of old Roman Wall from the original foundation of The Tower.

The Rosetta Stone at the British Museum

4)      Paris:  There was a weekend trip to Paris.  It was a lot of fun.  It was Bastille Day which was kind of good and kind of bad at the same time.  It was really cool to be able to be in France on a National Holiday; there was a parade and a fireworks show.  However, that also meant that about half of the stores were closed, so I wasn’t able to get much shopping done.  It was still a great trip!  I went to the Louvre and the Musee D’Orsay.

This was as close as we could get to the Eiffel Tower without actually buying tickets to climb it.

5)      Charing Cross:  Charing Cross is an area of London that is especially known for its bookstores.  It was my birthday on Monday, so as a birthday present to myself, I went to a bunch of bookstores!  (This may not seem like a great present to some of you, but it was the perfect day for me!  I love books!)

The food here is really interesting.  I haven’t decided exactly how I feel about it.  I actually haven’t eaten out very much; I’ve mainly had meals in the Refectory (Cafeteria) on campus.  I don’t really know what I expected from the food before I came here…  Probably the best food that I have had so far was the scone with clotted cream and jam that I had for a midmorning snack at the café in the Tower of London.  I wasn’t expecting to like clotted cream, but on a scone with a bit of jam it is really quite lovely.

My scone with clotted cream and jam. Yummy!

Also, if you go to a café or restaurant that serves chips (fries), you will normally see a bottle of malt vinegar on the table.  Apparently, most British people eat their chips with it.  I was really surprised to hear this because it seems like a strange combination.  I was a bit hesitant to try it, but once I did I discovered that I really liked it!

The Tube is actually a lot easier to use that I had expected.  I was really surprised that it is as easy to use as it is.  Before I came, I thought that the Tube was really scary and that I would get lost.  I had planned to avoid it as much as possible.  However, I use it to get almost everywhere (along with the double-decker busses).  I’m really glad that it is so simple to use.

Cheers,

Emily

Traveling in Honduras

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For the past week and a half I have been traveling non-stop trying to find workers to interview, many appear to be shy and scared. It was hard but I found a couple people in Santa Barbara and Tegucigalpa that were willing to be interviewed, because of the low amount of interviews I will have to travel back to those places, when we have more communication with workers. While traveling it became apparent that Tegucigalpa the capital of Honduras has a completely different environment than San Pedro Sula and Santa Barbara, the reason I say this is because there is such a high crime rate, even the locals are scared to walk down the capital’s streets. The whole time I was in Tegucigalpa I was escorted by at least one worker. The streets are extremely crowded and “it’s very easy and likely that you will be robbed”-Taybo (CGT organizer). Hearing all of the advice that people had given me before I left and while I was there made me a little paranoid, I can’t emphasize how frighten I was the walking down the street. I will return to Tegucigalpa again but not as scared as I was the first time, because I have a better sense of the surroundings and at least know secure hotels and taxi drivers. I don’t mean to make Tegucigalpa sound scary at all I think it was my host family’s way of trying to protect me by making sure I understood how different regions in Honduras can be. I do have to say that the weather in Tegucigalpa was amazing it was warm with a nice breeze; it was a nice change of climate from the hot humid weather of San Pedro where there is rarely breeze. So I am looking forward to the cool weather.

Welcome to the châ…pala….château?

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At the end of my second week studying in Angers, our program took an excursion to look at three famous châteaux of the Loire Valley, and I am still wondering how they could pick three out of the more than 300 châteaux of the region! As we began our tour, we started with Château d’Azay-le-Rideau. The château is pictured below:

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This appeared to be a very old and very large house that we assumed to belong to a wealthy family in French history. As we continued on our journey, we traveled to Château de Chenonceau (my personal favorite) which is pictured below:

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It was larger and grander than the first, and it actually spans an entire river! It had impressive gardens and had a long driveway bordered in trees making it appear even grander. The final château of the day was the Château de Chenonceau and it was so impressively large it was no surprise to learn it had been built and used by French royalty.

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These were three very different buildings, but one strong commonality between them is their designation as a château. More than the comparison between these three, the comparison of the three to the Château of Angers had me wondering what exactly is a château, and how is it different than a palais (Palace)? The Château of Angers was built as a fortification and clearly looks like a castle built for the purpose of protections:

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After coming in to contact with this word describing such different buildings I decided to do some research. I found a lot of information on the internet, but there were multiple answers given as to the difference between château and palais. One source recommended that the difference was an urban/rural differentiation. Urban buildings of this nature are called a palais, while buildings in the country are referred to as a château. Another source was claiming that the difference is based on reinforcements. A palais is an unfortified building and a fortified building, no matter its use, is a château.

As I reflected on this information, I reached out to my main resource with native French speakers: my host family. I asked my host father what he believed to be the distinction of a château and palais. His answer supports the idea that a château is a fortified building and he used the Château of Angers as an example. It was built for defense, and although people did live in it and it has been used for many other purposes, it is qualified as a château because it was fortified. A palais can also have different purposes, but it does not have the same fortification. While this is what he said, I do not feel that this is necessarily excluding the idea of urban and rural. A house that was built in town would probably not need the same level or protection that a house in the country would need. It may be that a house in the country is a fortified house and one in the city would be left without such measures.

The distinction between château and palais was certainly not something I thought about before I journeyed over to France, but understanding these differences is an important part of learning a language and culture. The Loire Valley is well known for the hundreds of châteaux that span its reaches and I am excited to discover what else it has to offer.

2 weeks left in Angers!

Maggie

Here at long last!

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Well, I am finally in Australia! It is crazy to say that. It was a long 3 flights and a very taxing couple of days, but it is all worth it now. I had no trouble with my flights except when I got into Sydney. I stood in line for immigration and border patrol for over an hour which delayed me a lot and I had to be put on the next flight because my bags were not to the counter in time. At the time I was freaking out but I met a very nice pilot (the one flying my plane) who helped me call my instructor and let him know that I would be a few minutes late getting into Brisbane. The first thing I noticed was that they do not treat tourists as “tourists”. They are very pleased to help and happy to meet a new person. This was my first impression in the airports because while I was in LA I was told I could not be helped and to go find someone who worked in that area. When I arrived in Sydney the very nice lady walked me through everything and took me to the area I need to go. She did not act put out or like it was a burden like the guy in LA.

I was picked up by one of my instructors Sonyaa. Let me tell you now, she is going to make this trip awesome. She is probably about 65 and is full of life. She drives like a crazy person and if definitely a character. She is going to be teaching us about Australia’s environment. Once I finally got to campus (the car ride seemed to take forever) the first thing I did was call home and let my mom know I was safe and sound. Then I hooked up my laptop for internet and posted to facebook. It sounds a little dumb, but honestly, how many times do you get to say “I’m in Australia” for a status update? Not very often. After all of this was done I showered and changed and went to get some lunch. I am a little shocked by how small the portions are and how expensive they are. I had the “beefy nachos” which had quite a lot of food, but that was it. That was supposed to last me all day with no snacks in between. Dinner was a lot smaller than lunch and it was only one entrée.  Back home we have dinner plus fruits and veggies and maybe some dessert. While I was looking around people were eating just one plate and calling it good. I will have to get used to eating smaller portions and carrying snacks because stores are not open when I am hungry.

I have found people are very nice here. I have had to ask about a million questions, some not so intelligent sounding but every time the person just smiles and answers the question. The best thing that I have discovered about Australia is how relaxed and happy they are. I noticed right away the difference on my long flight from LA to Sydney (16 hours!) the difference between Americans and Australians. The Americans mostly kept to themselves and if a stranger talked to them it was short conversation. The Australians however, wanted to talk. As soon as they found out I was American they wanted to know where I was from, why I was traveling, etc. They also offered me an abundance of information of things to say and things to do. For example: saying I am mad has to be done just right. If it is said wrong it means you are beyond drunk and need to be put out of your misery.

Sometimes it is hard to make out the accents here. Yes, they speak English but the wording and the accents combined make it difficult sometimes. I have had to ask more than once for someone to repeat themselves and they always laugh and joke that they have a country bumpkin accent. Some of the words are different here. My favorite so far is the “zebra crossing” pronounced “zebraa” not “zeebra”. It is simply the crosswalk. There are also “lifts” which are elevators. Little things like that, that make it different than home. I also learned you do not say the number 0 like an “o” it is “zero”.

This is some of my group. We take cabs everywhere.

So far I do not have a lot of questions except why are stores closed to early??? I am used to stores closing around 9-11 depending on the day. I went to the mall with some friends last night and it closed 10 minutes after we got there. It was 5:30 in the evening! I have a feeling this summer is going to be an early one for the sole fact that there is nothing to do at night and we have early classes anyways. As of now, I really like it here. The university is beautiful and the people friendly. I hope this 4 weeks is as good as the first day!  Katherine

This is a beach called Surfer’s Paradise, which is part of the Gold Coast region.  This is one of the many beaches we will be visiting and I cannot wait!

 

Week 1 of classes and Tamarindo Beach

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[slideshow] Hola! So far, everything is going spectacularly! Classes have been great. For me, Spanish class is definitely difficult. There is a lot of homework, but I have already noticed a huge difference in my fluency and my fluidity. The homework has consisted of readings and a vocabulary for the most part. The readings have been simple (once I look up the words that I didn’t know), and the questions have been easier to answer.  I’m feeling so good about it.

Our afternoon class is great too. Our teacher totally looks like a skater bum, and he is a complete hippy, so it makes us feel a little bit more at home. The class is called Environmental Impacts and Social Development, and it is a lot like a humanities class, or environmental science class, would be like back home. I love it though. We had a background class last time where we just talked a little bit about the history of Costa Rica, and what our perceptions were before we arrived. It was nice to have a class devoted solely to figuring out what we thought Costa Rica would be like versus what it is actually like.

Classes are from 8-12 (Spanish) and from 6-8 for us, so our days are pretty much all spent either in class or doing homework. This last Thursday, we had an AWESOME welcoming fiesta at the school. Kelsey and I got there late because it started at 6 and we had class, but we caught the tail end of a dance presentation by the gym down the street. Then they had another routine, and it was to the Shania Twain song “Feel like a Woman”. It was so funny! Then we had BBQ and cervezas. Thinking about how much that would NEVER happen at a school in the states is interesting to me. Especially the beer part XD.

This weekend, after classes, we went to a place called Tamarindo beach. It’s about 5 hours away from San Jose, so that was pretty rough. The CIS director in San Jose, Lisa, gave us all some stuff to keep us from getting super car sick though, so it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The people here drive like crazy though!! They use the horn for EVERYTHING. I asked one of my teachers about it, and they said that it is because the roads are so small. There is only so much you can do on a tiny road in a huge bus, so they honk to let people know where they are, to get someone’s attention, to say the light is almost green, when they are happy, when they are grumpy at the person in front of them, and even (so says one of the speakers at orientation) to tell you that you look nice that day ;).

After the crazy bus ride, we got to Tamarindo at about 7. We all went to our hotel rooms, dumped our crap, then went out! We went to KOI, a decently swanky restaurant that had sushi (which I didn’t eat) and Asian stir-fry (which I did eat). The food was DELICIOUS!!! And we went with a huge group, so it was tons of fun. Afterwards, we went downstairs in the same building to Aqua, which is a Discoteque (dance club). It was free drinks (with cheap rum, vodka, and local booze called Cacique [I think…]). We drank a couple of drinks, went dancing, and then all went back to the hotel for some much needed sleep!!!

The next day, another group of us went to breakfast at around 9 (which was waaaay too early). We had eggs and toast, which were both delicious. After breakfast, 3 of us, Kelsey, Jasmine (a girl we met who is from Virginia), and I, went around and looked in all of the little stores. I needed swim trunks, so we went shopping! It was nice to have some girl time!! Then we changed and went down to the beach. Tamarindo is on the Pacific side of the island, so the water smelled so much like home. It was warm though, which is so wrong for someone coming from Oregon. If you can keep your feet in the Pacific Ocean for more than 10 minutes and NOT have them fall off, something is just not right! We spent all of the morning and part of the afternoon there. We body surfed (or at least attempted too), swam around, and met a few of the Ticos (which is the Costa Rican word for Costa Ricans) who live in the area. All of them are incredibly nice and helpful. A bunch of the CIS students wanted to learn how to surf, and the Ticos were more than willing to help them out! After the beach, we went to lunch. I was feeling pretty sick at that point due to eating some pizza, and pretty good pizza at that, so I hung around in the room for the next few hours. Jasmine and Kelsey went shopping some more, and then met me back at the room. We went back to Aqua for a couple of hours, and then went to bed.

Today was the drive home. It was not too bad though. We stopped after a couple of hours at this place in the middle of nowhere. It was so beautiful. There were parrots and monkeys (I’m not sure what type) just living in the trees! They were gorgeous!!

After getting back to my Tica home, I ate dinner and now I’m working on homework and this.

Seriously though… This weekend was amazing. It was the definition of Pura Vida <3.

Until next post!!
~Megan

There Is No Peanut Butter Here

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Two weeks down, two more to go. I’ve been having a great time exploring Barcelona, but truth be told I’m starting to get a little homesick. I miss English-language TV and my coffee maker and peanut butter – seriously, there’s tons of jam at the supermarket but I haven’t seen a single jar of peanut butter anywhere. What do people even do with jam besides make PB&J?

Don’t get me wrong, I like Barcelona and I can’t believe I’m going to miss it. Since my last post, I’ve been to Plaza Espanya, the National Art Museum of Catalonia, Parc de la Ciutadella, Parc Joan Mirom, several of the old palaces, and the zoo.

This week was the last week for two of my roommates, Emily and Erica. My other roommate, Erin (my name doesn’t fit in with the others), is leaving this week, so I’ll be on my own the last week. It’ll be a bit lonely.

Plaza Espanya

A Palau, or palace

Parc de la Ciutadella

The zoo was my favorite part of the week. I love zoos – I think I took more pictures at the zoo than I have of everything else in Barcelona combined. It was a really nice, visitor-friendly zoo with tons of animals. The Zoo de Barcelona became famous for having the only albino gorilla ever, as far as anyone knows. Unfortunately, he died in 2003.

But there are still plenty of other awesome primates!

When I’m not exploring, I’m at my internship – you know, the whole point of this program. I work at the Well Woman Clinic, which focuses mainly on pregnant women and new parents. My boss and the other people who work here are friendly, welcoming, and (I suspect) relieved that they have some unpaid labor for everything they wanted to do but never got around to doing.

My job duties include opening the door, greeting clients, making posters, translating the website into English (this is a big project that’s taken most of this past week), updating the Facebook page and website, watering the plants, and whatever else people tell me to do. It’s tolerable. And it’ll help me get into nursing school.

So all in all, Barcelona continues to be lots of fun! Next week I’m going on a tour of the soccer (er…football) stadium with some of the other interns. It should be fun.

Adios for now,

Cicely

Santa Claus and Batman Play Backwards Pool

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Part 1: “Lost in Translation”

Good grief, where to even begin?! I’ve been posting many updates along the way to Facebook in the hopes that when it came to blog time, I’d have a more concise report. No such luck.

I was thinking back to my first few nights and how there is something comforting about airports and everyone being out of their element and often far from home together. There is the same sense of communal up-rootedness here at this workshop. It’s exciting! At first I was confused by the students that chose to hang out with the others from their home country or those who spoke their native tongue because I was really excited to mingle and meet people from all over and learn as much as I could. However, as time has passed, I’ve found myself drawn to the other Americans too and felt like a bit of a hypocrite. Don’t get me wrong, I love spending time with my friends from all over! More on that later. It’s just nice to remember how to use English slang and discuss familiar pop-culture once in a while!

Welcome party! Left to Right: Alida (Greece), Gwendoline (Belgium), Vivra (Finland), Nili (coordinator from Israel), Gabi (Cali), Me, Helena (Brazil) 🙂 

Lost in translation….indeed. I already have so many great stories of miscommunications and mispronunciations; it keeps me entertained though the pain of 8 hours of dancing every day.

Sometimes conversation is painful, I have a roommate that only speaks Italian. No English. We’ve gotten to be good at interpreting gestures and Google translate’s bad grammar. My other roommate is from California and the two of us have naturally clicked. It’s hard that it feels like we’re leaving the other out because she doesn’t understand. Meals can be this way too when there are enough students at one table that speak one language and the others don’t understand. Luckily everyone is kind and inclusive. A smile goes a long way.
On a lighter note, one of my ballet teachers has a thick Russian accent. So far, my favorite things that he says are “battement” (ballet step pronounced in French like “bot-mah” – a large kick) which sounds like Batman when he says it. And “center” sounds like Santa, as in Santa Clause. Please stand on Santa. 🙂

This brings me to another story. My Belgian friend who speaks French was asking my roommate and me who we had danced with during pas de deux (ballet partnering) class. She wanted to know if we had danced with “Oht-man”. I questioned, “Hot, man?” She replied, “Yeah! Oht-man.” In confusion I inquired, “Which one is the hot one?” Her response, “Oht-man!!” Eventually we came to conclude that it was a Spaniard named Ottman not a hot man. So many laughs!

However, my partner was Tuomas from Finland:

This picture is actually kind of embarrassing but I wanted to provide a visual of pas de deux class. I’m in motion and therefore not in a proper position……excuses….

While I’m on the topic of amusing people, Gabi (my Californian roommate) and I have grown to be friends with two boys from Finland (home of Santa Clause….) that are our age. We went to visit them and the other guys on their floor on Tuesday night and played the most unique game of pool I have ever experienced. It was backwards you see. Whoever retrieves the most balls stuck inside the broken table wins….almost…it was a group effort. What makes this even better is the muscular male ballet dancers lifted and tilted the table to roll the balls to arms reach and of course, this was done with perfect turn out in a 2nd grand plié position (ballet squat). So graceful!

The boys lifting the table in grand plie. Not shown is our job to reach into the pockets and retrieve the balls or peer through the crack to direct the table tipping.

Anyway, Finland has become a fascinating topic of conversation in the evenings. Did you know the Fins love saunas? A few of us have invented a new Olympic sport known as sauna hopping. This involves 3 saunas in a triangle and one must make the most creative snow angels in the fastest time between saunas. Their Independence Day from Russia is December 6th 1917 and the amount ticketed for speeding depends on annual income. I’m learning more than choreography! Another fun fact is that instead of saying “Excuse me” or “sorry” when bumping into one another for example, the phrase used is “Oho” which translates to “oops”. Apparently small talk is also less common. Who knew the Fins were deep conversationalists! Perhaps one of my favorite parts about talking with them is that their English is quite good and has a slight British accent, which adds to my amusement. J

Tuomas and Joni 🙂 (The girls and I in the background) I also learned that Fins don’t have much small talk. We tease them about their deep conversations!

Part 2: “I will survive”

I’ve noticed that things are smaller (such as dishes and portions) as well as quieter. I went to what would be the equivalent of Portland’s Saturday Market along the river in the city. The street was so packed that every step you bumped into at least two people, yet is was so quiet you didn’t need to raise your voice! Now I know how to spot American tourists/how not to be one! Oh yes, and on the topic of differences, the metric system – what a headache. I’m hoping it gets easier. I’m also hoping that I’ll start believing Euros are real money and stop feeling like it’s all just pretend.

About surviving…of course the need to repeat that phrase (see title) to myself is usually only during the last rehearsal of the day and/or when presented with really unappetizing looking food. This makes me sound ungrateful and unhappy, so let me just say, my cheeks currently quite sore from smiling so much and my abs hurt from laughing. Actually in addition, my whole body has that satisfying day old soreness-from-a-really-good-work-out feeling.

I haven’t talked a lot about the dancing aspect – the main reason for this part of my trip. Somehow it’s been slightly over shadowed by the people I’ve met. Incredible dancers I’ve met, mind you.
So last Saturday night I was so nervous for Day 1’s audition I was making myself sick. Just by talking to the other dancers and sort of seeing people stretch out plane ride stiffness was intimidating. This was close to the most nervous I’ve been about dancing in my life. It seems so silly in hindsight. That night and a bit on Sunday morning (my time) I was able to talk to some friends from home and other girls I’ve danced with before. This helped a bit; their encouragement and good wishes calmed me some. I was also calmed by the other dancers here, some of which were as nervous as I was. At least we were all in the same boat. The audition went really well and I was placed in the more advanced of the two groups we were split into with a few of the friends I’d made already. I was so surprised it took me a full day to realize I could be proud of that accomplishment!

Pointe class. I’m the one in all black. Three beautiful dancers/friends in front of me!

Since then class and rehearsal have gone well. Each day includes ballet class, usually pointe class, rehearsal for the ballet show and rehearsal for the modern piece and jazz. Evenings include showers, stretching and messaging. Oh and chocolate. It’s exhausting and several of my injuries have caused me grief but I’m just happy I got through week 1! I’m not used to classes like these; it’s a different style of ballet but such good experience. I also get distracted by some of the incredible dancers I have the privilege of sharing a studio with and motivated by some of the hardest working dancers I’ve ever met! I repeat: hardest working dancers. It’s inspiring to see their passion and drive.

Coppelia rehearsal (I’m far left).

Surviving food. Those of you who know me, already are familiar with my eating habits. “Are you a vegetarian?” …no…. “So why aren’t you eating the meat?”, “Why do you have your salad on a separate plate?” It’s hard to explain. I’m picky and particular and prefer things a specific way. I proudly report, that I am making huge strides in overcoming these ridiculous personal problems. I’m trying new things and gladly eating stuff I may not have considered looking at in the States. And ordering things somewhat blindly from menus and not freaking out when all my food gets mixed. May seem petty to you, but it’s (sadly) a pretty big deal for me! I just hope that I form new, less picky habits that come home with me.

The incredible chocolate that waits for me at the end of the day. To die for. Or rather, to dance for!

Here goes week 2! Good friends by my side. Pile of clean laundry and chocolate in my closet. Smile on my sore face. <3

Emily

Gaining my Footing

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Gaining my Footing

Throughout my limited exploration this week I have noticed that a lot of the major differences are in the details. For instance on the coach buses that transported us to the college campus and also took us on the tour around London we were required to wear seat belts!

This was fascinating to me because back home buses like that do not even have seat belts. Now this does not apply to their public transportation buses, just their private tour buses. When asked about it, the tour guide Kathy, simply responded. “Well, it’s the law”. They also strap their seat belts in from right to left, while we strap ours left to right. I actually think I prefer their method better because it didn’t wrench my neck when I tried to look out the window!!

This difference I attribute to their tendency to do everything on the left. They queue on the left, they drive on the left, and they buckle on the left they even pass on the left. Everything is backwards from my practice!! It is still taking some getting used to. I finally got to the point where I can cross the street!!

Interestingly enough I learned that the reason they tend to do everything on the left is because back when they used swords as forms of defense the majority of the population, like now, was right handed. Which meant in order to fight with your right hand you would have to travel on the left side in order to face your opponent openly.

I don’t know if this is true or some fanciful excuse but I thought it was fun, I read it in one of the many brochures’ passed around in the Tube stations 🙂

Also on my first day here I saw these really wild looking, what I thought at the time to be, bike racks!! I thought they were really cool and very secure. Turns out though, after a little more investigation they are bikes set up for rent that would allow individuals to bike around town for a day! Pretty cheap, only a pound! I considered doing it, but honestly the rules of the road are so beyond my grasp at this point I decided not to risk becoming road kill!!

Also, there is a huge collection of phone booths around London! All bright read and easily located. Even though most individuals have cell phones these days and I have not seen anyone use one yet. After some consideration, and shopping, I have noticed that they are a staple of the British stigmatization so maybe they are left as more of a hall mark than for actual practical application.

Everything here is massively exciting, it’s all new and fun and I love meeting the individuals here and discussing the differences in our cultures!! I just know the rest of my month will fly by, but I’m going to love every second of it!!!   Angela