Well, I guess had to come sooner or later. Today, was finally the first day of class. My nearly two week vacation and UK travels without worrying about school work or opening a book (that I had to read) are now over. I guess five months was long enough for summer.
My first class, Urban Form and Formation, seems pretty simple and easy. Its 4 projects (2 group, 2 individual) that focus on a book called A Pattern Language. Its a "do-it-yourself" guide on the so-called proper way of aspects of city-planning, building and construction. The book, by Christopher Alexander (a prof at UC Berkley), gives 253 rules to follow. I will let you know how the class goes.
My next class (another city-planning course) is about politics and environmental issues. Today in class we had a little debate role-playing businesses, government and residents about the expansion of Heathrow Airport (London's main airport). This seems a little harder with one large paper (2,500 words) and a group presentation at the end of the term. We also picked our group for that end of the term presentation. Somehow, in our group of 5, we have two Americans (me and Rachel), a 3rd-year student from Sweden, another affiliate student from Australia and a girl from Italy. I only mention the composition of our rag-tag crew as we are learning/studying about the Politics of Britain, of which no one of us is truly familiar with the system here.
Since I mentioned her before I guess I should go into further detail about my study-buddy/park-sitter friend Rachel. Rachel, look below as she is the one pretending she is a lion, is in those two classes previously mentioned and another one that I have Wednesday (History- Britain and the Wider World). I thought I would give her a shout out as we are in 3/4 of the same classes and we are going on nearly all the trips together (including Oktoberfest this weekend and Amsterdam the following weekend). She is from the D.C. area and is basically on the same track as me (URBS Major and HIST minor at PENN). Although she is a quite better speller.
I shall mention other people as they naturally come up in my adventures. Until then, cheers.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Portobello Road Market
Yesterday, another great London day, we decided to check out another market. This one up in Notting Hill, a few tube stops west of where we live in a very wealthy neighborhood of the city. The houses were huge and in great condition. I could see why they would base a film entirely on this neighborhood. The market was packed and full of stands beneath brightly colored houses.
The first few blocks of the market were primarily only antique, jewerly and vintage stores but further down there were also food stands. The food looked soo good that I decided to take a picture or two:
After shopping around, I ended up picking up my first souvenir (a 1843 replica map of London) and get some food. we stopped at S&M cafe (recommended by Rachel). Here I had Sausage and Mash, another famous English food. I ended getting the No. 1 (Traditional S&M) and it looked like this:
It was great and it was also the best sausage I ever had. Not too long after that, most of us left to go home, while the others continued to shop (they were girls). Once we got back, we met up again to lay out in Regent's Park. At first the goal was to read a book, but it was too nice to do that. I just wanted to relax and take it all in.
The first few blocks of the market were primarily only antique, jewerly and vintage stores but further down there were also food stands. The food looked soo good that I decided to take a picture or two:
After shopping around, I ended up picking up my first souvenir (a 1843 replica map of London) and get some food. we stopped at S&M cafe (recommended by Rachel). Here I had Sausage and Mash, another famous English food. I ended getting the No. 1 (Traditional S&M) and it looked like this:
It was great and it was also the best sausage I ever had. Not too long after that, most of us left to go home, while the others continued to shop (they were girls). Once we got back, we met up again to lay out in Regent's Park. At first the goal was to read a book, but it was too nice to do that. I just wanted to relax and take it all in.
Are you ready to straddle two hemispheres??
After picking up my two History classes (Britain & the Wider World and Slavery in the Classical World) Friday morning and attending the Freshers Fayre (student activities fair to encourage the first year students to join clubs), a group of us decided to go to Greenwich. And what a day we decided to go. It was sunny all day and hovered around a warm 70 the entire day.
To get there we either could have taken a bus or a boat. We opted for the boat and caught it right near the London Eye. Here are a few pictures:
Right in front of the eye there is a huge park around 6-7 acres. When we went it was filled with businessmen on their lunch break, tourists and street performers. Make sure you see Big Ben and Parliment in the background.
Greenwich is pretty far away it seems, but once we got there, it was awesome. The town was pretty small and cute, but the observatory was built on a huge hill overlooking the city of London. Once we struggled our way up the small mountain, we were taken away. It was really breathtaking and beautiful. You could see so much. Here is a picture:
In case you were wondering, right beyond the main field is the Old Royal Naval College.
After heading down the hill, we went into the Naval Museum for a few minutes but not that long (it was a long day). We eventually got on the boat and went home to grab some food. I did snap these pictures right after getting off the boat near the Ferris Wheel:
To get there we either could have taken a bus or a boat. We opted for the boat and caught it right near the London Eye. Here are a few pictures:
Right in front of the eye there is a huge park around 6-7 acres. When we went it was filled with businessmen on their lunch break, tourists and street performers. Make sure you see Big Ben and Parliment in the background.Greenwich is pretty far away it seems, but once we got there, it was awesome. The town was pretty small and cute, but the observatory was built on a huge hill overlooking the city of London. Once we struggled our way up the small mountain, we were taken away. It was really breathtaking and beautiful. You could see so much. Here is a picture:
In case you were wondering, right beyond the main field is the Old Royal Naval College.Once we got to the top, we could see the line. As we cautiously approached it, we wondered the consquences of our mental state would be. This is the picture of me as I put my foot down:
And right after:
Turns out the West is the same as the Eastern Hemisphere. Who would have thunk that??
Besides straddling the line. Greenwich offered many great things such as a Ferris wheel, two great museums (one dedicated to figuring out Longitude & a Naval Museum) and a planetarium. At the planetarium they had a meteorite that is very old (4.5 billion years) and probably very dirty, check out this picture for proof:
And right after:
Turns out the West is the same as the Eastern Hemisphere. Who would have thunk that??Besides straddling the line. Greenwich offered many great things such as a Ferris wheel, two great museums (one dedicated to figuring out Longitude & a Naval Museum) and a planetarium. At the planetarium they had a meteorite that is very old (4.5 billion years) and probably very dirty, check out this picture for proof:
Friday, September 26, 2008
Queen Mum, Mineral Water & Big Stones
I know I am starting to sound repetitive but I had another great day. Besides the down point of my day being the first five minutes after waking up at 7 in the morning for the first time since I stopped working about a month ago, the rest of the day was quite glorious (which is still an understatement).
The first stop of the day was Windsor Castle. Here is a little background (obtained from our great tour guide Debbie. With the British kingdom left without a proper heir to the thrown in during the medieval ages, a fight to be king was sure to be taken place between the kings brothers to try to take the thrown. After brothers battled it out, it was between Harold Godwinson, the final brother left standing, versus William of Normandy. With the help of hired mercenaries, William won the battle (Battle of Hastings), which eventually lead to him taking the crown of England. As King he was not to popular at first as he gave away their land to the mercenaries as payment. However, one of his main goals was to establish a state-of-the-art defense system for london. After building the Tower of London, he build a series of castles 25 miles away (the number of miles an army could march in one day) from the Tower with each castle being 25 miles between each castle, creating a network of defense for the city. One of the castles was Windsor Castle, the only one remaining of William's castle network as the rest were raised sometime around the English Civil War. Well enough of history of now. Let's get some visual pleasure:
Here is a somewhat normal view of the castle. The largest and first part of the castle is the round tower to the right of the picture. Depending on where the queen is, the flag with either fly the standard British flag or the European Union flag.
As it once was a castle used for defense from rebellions, the castle still has its old walls (including this portion of the wall to allow archers to shoot arrows throw the narrow slots.
At 11:00, the guards change. I have a video too but I couldn't upload it for some reason.
The first stop of the day was Windsor Castle. Here is a little background (obtained from our great tour guide Debbie. With the British kingdom left without a proper heir to the thrown in during the medieval ages, a fight to be king was sure to be taken place between the kings brothers to try to take the thrown. After brothers battled it out, it was between Harold Godwinson, the final brother left standing, versus William of Normandy. With the help of hired mercenaries, William won the battle (Battle of Hastings), which eventually lead to him taking the crown of England. As King he was not to popular at first as he gave away their land to the mercenaries as payment. However, one of his main goals was to establish a state-of-the-art defense system for london. After building the Tower of London, he build a series of castles 25 miles away (the number of miles an army could march in one day) from the Tower with each castle being 25 miles between each castle, creating a network of defense for the city. One of the castles was Windsor Castle, the only one remaining of William's castle network as the rest were raised sometime around the English Civil War. Well enough of history of now. Let's get some visual pleasure:
Here is a somewhat normal view of the castle. The largest and first part of the castle is the round tower to the right of the picture. Depending on where the queen is, the flag with either fly the standard British flag or the European Union flag.
As it once was a castle used for defense from rebellions, the castle still has its old walls (including this portion of the wall to allow archers to shoot arrows throw the narrow slots.
At 11:00, the guards change. I have a video too but I couldn't upload it for some reason.Besides these pictures, I have many more that will be posted to the right, along with the other pictures that I took yesterday. Also, the guards at Windsor did not allow pictures to be taken inside the actual castle and rooms, which is a shame as ALL of the room are soo ornate and beautiful. There was the dining room which was able to fit 160 people at a table and had shields on the wall with every knight that was ever crowned. Another room had all different kinds of guns and swords along with booty from military victories from the world (including a gold lion head with crystal teeth from India and a crown from Ethoipia). Well, I think it is time to move on.
Our next journey, over 2 hours away is Bath in the Western Part of the Kingdom. I took some great pictures of the English countryside, including this:
The countryside reminded me a little of Northern California, as the rolling hills were filled with livestock and endless greenfields. Before we got off the bus at Bath, we had a little tour of the town. Here we saw Bath's circus, which is comprised of dozens of rounded row homes facing a circular park (Jack Nicholson and Nicholas Cage have houses here). Also, all of the older building are made out of the same limestone facade meaning that they will have the same color exterior, which ends up making a very pretty town!
Anyway, back to the Roman Baths. Discovered by Celctic tribs and then the Romans once they conquered, the natural hot springs of Bath were used for its healing powers and eventually as a toursit trap for a small town of around 100,000. Here is a picture of the baths:
In the same complex, the museum had a lot of other cool things from the Romans for instance mosaics and curses left by people that told of stories written to Roman Gods. As we were getting on the bus I saw this statue, I thought it explained their obsession perfectly:
After Bath, we had one more stop and it was Stonehenge. And no it was not built by aliens, but real people (supposedly). Although it was in the middle of no where and surrounded by 3 highways, Stonehenge is incredably nice place. I took the most pictures here. Here are a couple:
Well, that was pretty much it for that day. I will post the rest of my pictures on the right hand side since I took so many. Enjoy and stay tuned for Greenwich and Portabello Road Market tomorrow!
Our next journey, over 2 hours away is Bath in the Western Part of the Kingdom. I took some great pictures of the English countryside, including this:
The countryside reminded me a little of Northern California, as the rolling hills were filled with livestock and endless greenfields. Before we got off the bus at Bath, we had a little tour of the town. Here we saw Bath's circus, which is comprised of dozens of rounded row homes facing a circular park (Jack Nicholson and Nicholas Cage have houses here). Also, all of the older building are made out of the same limestone facade meaning that they will have the same color exterior, which ends up making a very pretty town!Anyway, back to the Roman Baths. Discovered by Celctic tribs and then the Romans once they conquered, the natural hot springs of Bath were used for its healing powers and eventually as a toursit trap for a small town of around 100,000. Here is a picture of the baths:
In the same complex, the museum had a lot of other cool things from the Romans for instance mosaics and curses left by people that told of stories written to Roman Gods. As we were getting on the bus I saw this statue, I thought it explained their obsession perfectly:
After Bath, we had one more stop and it was Stonehenge. And no it was not built by aliens, but real people (supposedly). Although it was in the middle of no where and surrounded by 3 highways, Stonehenge is incredably nice place. I took the most pictures here. Here are a couple:
Well, that was pretty much it for that day. I will post the rest of my pictures on the right hand side since I took so many. Enjoy and stay tuned for Greenwich and Portabello Road Market tomorrow!Wednesday, September 24, 2008
A lot of walking...
Yesterday afternoon, Rachel and I (a Penn Student who is also taking some of the same courses that I am taking) had a walking tour along the southern bank of the River Thames. To get the place that we needed to get to we decided to walk as it was sort of a nice day. However, that would change. First, we needed to get lunch and we ate at Trafalger Square on Nelson's column. Here is a picture for proof (NOTE: Big Ben in background):
And here is a funny picture of Rachel acting like a lion:
After lunch, we continued walking to the River Thames. Taking lovely pictures of cool buildings and of the historic government part of London. But it started to rain. At first, it wasn't too bad, but it was not fun walking a mile in it.
When we met up with the rest of the group who we were taking the tour with. We found out that we were going to be walking all the way to city hall. Making a one way trip around 4 miles! Whatever, it was fine. We would just feel it in the morning.
On the way there we saw a lot of cool buildings and bridges. This included the Tate Modern Museum (an old power plant turned museum), London Bridge (which we would later walk across) and OXO apartments (an old warehouse that got away with advertising there properties using windows at the top of the building, instead of a normal neon sign like in the states).
We also saw the Globe Theater and an old shipping wharf turned office complex. Eventually, we got to city hall which has a great view of Tower bridge.
And City Hall was also a modern work of art. It is a very eco-friendly building that does not have AC or heat (only at the front entrance because of the cool breeze from the River Thames).
At city hall, we had a boring (but informative) PowerPoint presentation of the structure of planning institutions of London. We decided to walk back to campus via a downtown route which would take us through the business district and past historic and architectually-interesting buildings. Here are a few pictures with captions:
I thought that this was a cool building with an awesome exterior.
Here is St. Paul's Catherdral. A huge building with soo many details and interesting forms.
Here is a circus that we ran into on the way back.
The place on the right reminded me a little bit of the restaurant Parc in Philadelphia.
Eventually, we got really hungry (about 8 out of 10) and after a very long day of walking Rachel and I ate a five pound ($9) all-you-can eat Chinese buffet right near Trafalgar Square.
It was a great day, but it just had a lot of walking (more than 8 miles total)...
Tomorrow, I am going to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath. So expect a rundown in the next few days.
And here is a funny picture of Rachel acting like a lion:
After lunch, we continued walking to the River Thames. Taking lovely pictures of cool buildings and of the historic government part of London. But it started to rain. At first, it wasn't too bad, but it was not fun walking a mile in it.When we met up with the rest of the group who we were taking the tour with. We found out that we were going to be walking all the way to city hall. Making a one way trip around 4 miles! Whatever, it was fine. We would just feel it in the morning.
On the way there we saw a lot of cool buildings and bridges. This included the Tate Modern Museum (an old power plant turned museum), London Bridge (which we would later walk across) and OXO apartments (an old warehouse that got away with advertising there properties using windows at the top of the building, instead of a normal neon sign like in the states).
We also saw the Globe Theater and an old shipping wharf turned office complex. Eventually, we got to city hall which has a great view of Tower bridge.
And City Hall was also a modern work of art. It is a very eco-friendly building that does not have AC or heat (only at the front entrance because of the cool breeze from the River Thames).
At city hall, we had a boring (but informative) PowerPoint presentation of the structure of planning institutions of London. We decided to walk back to campus via a downtown route which would take us through the business district and past historic and architectually-interesting buildings. Here are a few pictures with captions:
I thought that this was a cool building with an awesome exterior.
Here is St. Paul's Catherdral. A huge building with soo many details and interesting forms.
Here is a circus that we ran into on the way back.
The place on the right reminded me a little bit of the restaurant Parc in Philadelphia.Eventually, we got really hungry (about 8 out of 10) and after a very long day of walking Rachel and I ate a five pound ($9) all-you-can eat Chinese buffet right near Trafalgar Square.
It was a great day, but it just had a lot of walking (more than 8 miles total)...
Tomorrow, I am going to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath. So expect a rundown in the next few days.
In Da Club
Two nights ago, I went to the club. Not just any club, a european club. There were three floors of dancing. I mainly was on the 3rd were they played hip-hop music nothing too new, but mainly the old stuff. My personal favorite was when they played the "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" theme song ("West Philadelphia born and raised...). I was very excited as it made me feel at home.
After an hour or so on that floor we went to the first floor where they played the classic techno beats of Europe. Although it hurt my ears, I could see how they could find it fun. Anyway, here are a few pictures from the night:
After an hour or so on that floor we went to the first floor where they played the classic techno beats of Europe. Although it hurt my ears, I could see how they could find it fun. Anyway, here are a few pictures from the night:
The British Museum
Wow! I don't know how to explain the great this place is, I could sit in there for a few days and still not be able to see everything that I would want to see. Even walking up to this palace of history is overwhelming, it is so large, but it is even larger in the inside. The great reading room and the glass dome are breath taking. Here are some of the highlights:
This glass dome was finished in 2000 and connects all of the museum together. It is so cool to look at.
The Glass Dome
This glass dome was finished in 2000 and connects all of the museum together. It is so cool to look at.Rosetta Stone
A big head.
There were 2 of these, one on either side of the hall. They were about 25 feet tall and had so much detail.
This is just a detail of a 40 foot-long mural-esque wall. The seen depicites an Assyrian king hunting wild lions. They would be built to symbolize the protection provided by the king. [NOTE: information was obtained from overhearing a tour guide]
Going up one of the stairwells, there were these taken murals from the mediterrian sea countries (I forget if it was Greece, etc.). This one here is a dolphin. I thought it was pretty awesome and it puts to shame our modern ones (esspecially the ones done my senior year at Masterman).
Besides these highlights, there is still so much to see and left to photograph. I will upload them all to one album so check it out when there is a British Museum update!!!
One of the most important discoveries of modern time is here and its pretty easy to find. It was great to see the real thing as opposed the replica in the Penn Museum.
Egyptian stuff
Here is me giving my offering to the gods.
Here is me giving my offering to the gods.
A big head.Assyrian stuff
There were 2 of these, one on either side of the hall. They were about 25 feet tall and had so much detail.
This is just a detail of a 40 foot-long mural-esque wall. The seen depicites an Assyrian king hunting wild lions. They would be built to symbolize the protection provided by the king. [NOTE: information was obtained from overhearing a tour guide]Mosaics
Going up one of the stairwells, there were these taken murals from the mediterrian sea countries (I forget if it was Greece, etc.). This one here is a dolphin. I thought it was pretty awesome and it puts to shame our modern ones (esspecially the ones done my senior year at Masterman).Besides these highlights, there is still so much to see and left to photograph. I will upload them all to one album so check it out when there is a British Museum update!!!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Here are some old pictures that should have been posted a while ago:
Trafalgar Square
It was so awesome. The statue (Nelson's Column) was so tall while the fountains on either side were equally amazing.Piccadilly Circus
This intersection was packed. There were so many people. It must have been from the nearby theater district and West End pubs.Hyde Park
The rest are from our picnic in the park and knife protest concert.
Camden Markets
The first market that a bunch of us decided to go to was Camden Markets, a collection of four separate markets about one and half miles north of our main campus in Bloomsbury. Obviously the markets were in the town of Camden Town, an area known for its unsafe neighborhoods at night. Luckily we were going on a quite Sunday mid-morning journey.
And oh what an experience it was. There huge numbers of stalls, mainly selling the same England tourist odds and ends (Football jerseys, I Heart London shirts, postcards, etc.), however, there mainly awesome vintage and art stores with a head shop thrown in here and there. It was a quite exciting place that was extremely crowded.
The most overwhelming feeling is when we entered the food court area. Here dozens and dozens of vendors would shout and yell trying to grab any ounce of attention to try and get us to purchase their food, which ranged from Chinese to Thai and Argentinian meat to Caribbean jerk chicken. This place was so international.
The best part about Camden however was the old turn of the century canal, which was still in use. It was awesome being near the water and just chilling out there from the bustling crowd of the market.
Unfortunately, the only purchase we made was on the way back at the 99 pence store.
And oh what an experience it was. There huge numbers of stalls, mainly selling the same England tourist odds and ends (Football jerseys, I Heart London shirts, postcards, etc.), however, there mainly awesome vintage and art stores with a head shop thrown in here and there. It was a quite exciting place that was extremely crowded.
The most overwhelming feeling is when we entered the food court area. Here dozens and dozens of vendors would shout and yell trying to grab any ounce of attention to try and get us to purchase their food, which ranged from Chinese to Thai and Argentinian meat to Caribbean jerk chicken. This place was so international.
The best part about Camden however was the old turn of the century canal, which was still in use. It was awesome being near the water and just chilling out there from the bustling crowd of the market.
Unfortunately, the only purchase we made was on the way back at the 99 pence store.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Last Night and This Morning
Last night was truly awesome and this morning wasn't half bad. Being in London for a few days now a few of us from Penn decided to leave the immediate surroundings and go explore around our neighborhood to check out the local touristy things. Last night we went through Covent Gardens and SoHo and through Chinatown. We ended up seeing Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square, two great open plazas which are simply breath taking.
And this morning, we ended up walking down Oxford Street looking in department stores and other retailers. Although I only ended up getting a pillow and a pillow case just the experience of walking down this quite crowded avenue is a moment to remember. Not to mention Hyde Park, the other major park (the other being Regent Park) at the end of main Street, where the group of us had a picnic while listening to music from the pre-knife-protest-concert-area. Although roomy like Regent, Hyde a slightly different unexplainable feel to it.
Look for these photos in the coming days.
And this morning, we ended up walking down Oxford Street looking in department stores and other retailers. Although I only ended up getting a pillow and a pillow case just the experience of walking down this quite crowded avenue is a moment to remember. Not to mention Hyde Park, the other major park (the other being Regent Park) at the end of main Street, where the group of us had a picnic while listening to music from the pre-knife-protest-concert-area. Although roomy like Regent, Hyde a slightly different unexplainable feel to it.
Look for these photos in the coming days.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Regent Park
About 20 minutes ago, I returned from my first visit to Regent Park and it was great! Its about 66 degrees F and sunny and what a day did I pick to go to one of the best and most famous parks in the world. With huge open spaces and quaint English gardens, Regent Park has so much to offer and its full of life. It is almost impossible to describe in words. Luckily, I took a bunch of pictures so hopefully they will do a much better job than me. These pictures will hopefully posted later tonight and are from only the most southern part of the park and the surrounding area.
I'm here!!
Currently, I am standing in a McDonalds at the West End using their Wi-Fi to write this post. So far this trip is awesome! I am having a lot of fun and meeting some great people. Most of my hall is international students from all over the world, which allows for some interesting experiences to say the least including someone who is not to be named playing and singing drunken Russian songs with his acoustic guitar.
My flight over was fine, n0thing too bad except for the fact that I only slept 2 hours on the plane. Making my way from Heathrow to the West End was a bit of a challende
I am also trying to eat well while not spending too much, luckily there are many places to eat cheaply, including my favorite Tesco (a Wa-wa type store but bigger and more grocieries). The area that I am living at is also great as it is in the business corridor of the West End but it is filled with tons of shops and restaurants. I just love the neighborhood. Especially since I just found out that we are very close the buzzing Covent Gardens which makes up for our more residential West End/Camden neighborhood.
This city is great and I can't wait to share more when I have the internet in my room. That way I have the leisure of posting pictures in my room, but until then, enjoy.
My flight over was fine, n0thing too bad except for the fact that I only slept 2 hours on the plane. Making my way from Heathrow to the West End was a bit of a challende
I am also trying to eat well while not spending too much, luckily there are many places to eat cheaply, including my favorite Tesco (a Wa-wa type store but bigger and more grocieries). The area that I am living at is also great as it is in the business corridor of the West End but it is filled with tons of shops and restaurants. I just love the neighborhood. Especially since I just found out that we are very close the buzzing Covent Gardens which makes up for our more residential West End/Camden neighborhood.
This city is great and I can't wait to share more when I have the internet in my room. That way I have the leisure of posting pictures in my room, but until then, enjoy.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Last Days
So, I leave for London Monday. It is weird to say that because I never thought I would be doing this, you know going to a place I never been before all by myself while knowing nearly no one else there. The other day it just hit me that I was actually doing it; I really don't remember when I realized but now I am somewhat nervous and ready for an adventure. I have pretty much all the things I need for my trip, I just need to fit it all into my new luggage which will be sooooo much 'fun." Well, this will most likely be my last post before I head over "the pond" so wish me well!
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