This past weekend in Paris was seriously one of the best weekends of my life. Paris is absolutely stunning in the fall, plus I got to see two of my best friends from home. Oh yeah ... and crepes with chocolate and banana is my my new favorite food.
Only the 10 single-semester Loyola students went on this trip, which proved to be much less hectic than all 30 of us traveling around. We all met up at the airport Friday evening and landed in Paris around 9pm. Getting to the hotel was a bit of a mess, but by the time we checked in it was around 11pm. Our hotel was only a few blocks from the Eiffel Tower, so we all walked over after we ditched our bags to soak in the nighttime atmosphere. The Eiffel Tower all lit up and sparkling at night is probably the most incredible sight I'll ever see. It was almost surreal to think that I was actually in Paris. Some of Jill's friends from Loyola who are studying in Cork, Ireland (and also happen to be my roommates for the spring semester) were also touring Paris the same weekend, so we met up with them under the Eiffel Tower and hung out until 1am or so until we just had to crash so we could get up and tour in the morning.
Another absurdly early wake up call, unfortunately with no coffee in sight (you'd think you could find coffee in Paris ... apparently not where we were). We all headed over to the Louvre and got Museum passes courtesy of Loyola which let us tour everything free for 2 days. Before we toured the Louvre galleries all of us caffeine addicts grabbed coffee and croissants in Starbucks. We saw the Mona Lisa first ... amazing in person. I didn't really understand all the hype over the Mona Lisa until I saw it for myself. It really is just that amazing. We quickly toured the rest of the painting galleries in just a couple of hours and headed out to find lunch and explore Paris. Most of the Loyola crew wasn't that enthused about touring (why not I can't even imagine), so Rachel and I branched off with a plan to conquer the city by ourselves. We ate quiche (typical, right?) in the Louvre courtyard like proper tourists, then walked along the Seine river taking in all the sights and shopping at the art vendor stands along the way. We walked all the way down to Notre Dame to tour the cathedral, then waited in line to climb to the top of the towers to chill with the gargoyles. SO many stairs! But by the time we got to the top the sky was clear and sunny so we could see all of Paris. What a beautiful city. We walked back down along the Seine River, grabbing coffee and crepes along the way, to the Musee de Orsay to see their extensive impressionist collection. We stayed until the museum closed at 6pm, and then Mary and Clarice met up with us! Mini-Ocho reunion in Paris! I was SO ridiculously excited to see them. They took Rachel and I on the metro to get dinner and see their nice Paris apartment. We spent hours at dinner just catching up and eating the most amazing French food ever. Their apartment is close to the Eiffel Tower as well, so we walked back over there at night. Mary, Rachel, and I bought tickets to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was too windy to go all the way to the very top, but we got up to the second tier. Paris is even more stunning at night. It seemed so surreal that I was actually standing on the Eiffel Tower ... isn't that something you only see in movies? When we went back down to ground we saw Jill and my future roommates all hanging out on the green behind the tower. At night the field behind the tower is just one international party/photo shoot. Everyone just brings a blanket and a bottle of wine and just hangs out. So European.
Exhausted as we were, we got up early again on Sunday to see the rest of the city. Rachel and I took the metro to Mary and Clarice's apartment and they took us to the market to get baguettes for breakfast. Clarice had a huge paper to finish, but Mary spent the day being our tour guide. We went to Concorde Plaza, then walked all the way down the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triumph. Again, being proper tourists, Rachel and I climbed up another huge spiral staircase all the way to the top. It was a bit hazy on Sunday, but we could still see the Eiffel tower in the distance. We had extra time, so Mary took us to the Musee de l'Orangerie, the small Monet museum that's pretty tricky to find. Rachel and I are both huge Monet fans, so we were really excited that she could take us there. Since she's an art history major, she's by far the best person to tour museums with. The museum is small, but was definitely my favorite gallery in Paris. It just had 2 huge oval rooms with Monet's giant waterlily paintings. You could just sit in the center of the room all day and lose yourself in the paintings. Absolutely stunning. By 3:30 we had to leave Mary and get back to the hotel to pickup our luggage. We met up with Jill again and navigated the super-confusing metro/RER/train route to the airport. Luckily we had planned enough time to get a little lost. We got to the airport in time, but just absolutely drained from 2 packed days of walking all over Paris. I'm definitely considering going back to Paris for another weekend while I'm here. There's just so much more to see and do!
This week I get to be a tourist in Newcastle. Anna and Janine arrive in just a matter of hours ... another mini-Ocho reunion! I'm almost bouncing off the walls with excitement. Even though I've been here for a few weeks, I still haven't had time to see all the typical tourist sites in Newcastle. So Wednesday I'm just skipping classes and going out in the city and to the coast with them. Then Friday morning we all head off to Dublin. This should be a crazy week, but so much fun. I'm just so happy to see more of my best friends from home that I can't stop smiling!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
"Crouch. Touch. Pause ... ENGAGE!"
I heard the referee say that about a million times yesterday each time we set up a new scrum in the rugby game. I played my first FULL 80-minute game of rugby yesterday as hooker ... on the 1st team! No joke, my first actually full rugby game I started on the varsity squad. Yeah, this came as quite a shock to me, too. I was supposed to be the starting hooker for the 2nd team, but when I arrived at the field yesterday the captains and coach bombarded me and told me that the 1st team starting hooker was sick, I was next in line for the position, and I had better get upstairs and put on a 1st team jersey. I'm sure it took about 5 minutes for the look of fright/disbelief to leave my face. Plus, the 1st team was playing Leeds University ... the best team in the country last year! Believe me, I was scared out of my mind, but the coach and captains told me I was ready for it.
But anyway, I totally dominated and won almost every ball in the scrums, and had perfect line-out throws. Their front line engaged and hit really hard though, so between the scrums and tackling my entire body is completely battered and bruised. I seriously look like I've been hit by a truck or something. It didn't really register with me how dangerous the sport is until the scrum collapsed on me, or maybe it was when I was caught on the bottom of a 6-person pile up and I couldn't breathe that I realized I must be out of my mind. But it was all in good fun, and I really love my teammates. Newcastle won, too! Final score was 17-15. Close game, and very exciting. Apparently I did a really good job again. Who knew?
The best part of all was that I had my own cheering section! My flatmates Sarah and Fran came to watch me play with my friends Matt and Mark. They brought along my camera so I now have evidence for the folks at home who can't quite believe that I play at the front and center of the scrums. The whole rugby team went out again last night for our usual Wednesday night socials. Theme of the week ... Cavegirls! I've never seen so many short, fuzzy leopard-print skirts in my life, but we all looked amazing. Going out with teammates is half the fun of being on a sports team. It looks like I'll be flip-flopping between the 1st and 2nd teams a lot, which is completely fun since I get to know all the girls equally well.
As for the academic side of things, I finally had my first Biochemistry lab practical on Tuesday morning. We did an experiment determining the concentration of unknown proteins by using spectrophotometry and setting up a standard curve with known concentrations of protein. I got to work with a friend from Loyola as a lab partner, too. It was so nice to be back in the science lab doing stuff that actually interests me, and that I'm good at. I have another practical tomorrow, this time on Ion-Exchange Chromatography. Should be interesting. I have an Archeology project due tomorrow, too. And somehow I've twisted it around to be a science project. We had to pick any topic relating to Archeology and research it ... so naturally I chose radiocarbon dating. Hey, at least I understand what I'm reading about!
Tomorrow I fly off to Paris with the single-semester Loyola group. There will only be 10 of us in this trip, which will be less hectic I'm sure. We arrive late on Friday night and leave early Sunday evening, so we don't really have much time there. I plan on touring with the group on Saturday afternoon, but then branching off after the tours are over to have dinner and hang out with Clarice and Mary in their Paris apartment. SO excited!
But anyway, I totally dominated and won almost every ball in the scrums, and had perfect line-out throws. Their front line engaged and hit really hard though, so between the scrums and tackling my entire body is completely battered and bruised. I seriously look like I've been hit by a truck or something. It didn't really register with me how dangerous the sport is until the scrum collapsed on me, or maybe it was when I was caught on the bottom of a 6-person pile up and I couldn't breathe that I realized I must be out of my mind. But it was all in good fun, and I really love my teammates. Newcastle won, too! Final score was 17-15. Close game, and very exciting. Apparently I did a really good job again. Who knew?
The best part of all was that I had my own cheering section! My flatmates Sarah and Fran came to watch me play with my friends Matt and Mark. They brought along my camera so I now have evidence for the folks at home who can't quite believe that I play at the front and center of the scrums. The whole rugby team went out again last night for our usual Wednesday night socials. Theme of the week ... Cavegirls! I've never seen so many short, fuzzy leopard-print skirts in my life, but we all looked amazing. Going out with teammates is half the fun of being on a sports team. It looks like I'll be flip-flopping between the 1st and 2nd teams a lot, which is completely fun since I get to know all the girls equally well.
As for the academic side of things, I finally had my first Biochemistry lab practical on Tuesday morning. We did an experiment determining the concentration of unknown proteins by using spectrophotometry and setting up a standard curve with known concentrations of protein. I got to work with a friend from Loyola as a lab partner, too. It was so nice to be back in the science lab doing stuff that actually interests me, and that I'm good at. I have another practical tomorrow, this time on Ion-Exchange Chromatography. Should be interesting. I have an Archeology project due tomorrow, too. And somehow I've twisted it around to be a science project. We had to pick any topic relating to Archeology and research it ... so naturally I chose radiocarbon dating. Hey, at least I understand what I'm reading about!
Tomorrow I fly off to Paris with the single-semester Loyola group. There will only be 10 of us in this trip, which will be less hectic I'm sure. We arrive late on Friday night and leave early Sunday evening, so we don't really have much time there. I plan on touring with the group on Saturday afternoon, but then branching off after the tours are over to have dinner and hang out with Clarice and Mary in their Paris apartment. SO excited!
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Another week in Newcastle
I actually stayed in Newcastle this weekend to relax and put my life back together since I've been so busy lately. I haven't had time to blog in a week, so here goes ...
Wednesday was the rugby game in Lancaster! 8am wake-up call! It's about a 2.5 hour bus ride away, which went surprisingly fast just chatting with all the 1st team girls and enjoying the English countryside. I was on the bench for most of the game since the 3rd year hooker has seniority, but I actually got to play for the last 15 minutes. It was SO much fun. I won all the balls in the scrums, had a couple great line-out throws, and got a little trampled in the rucks. Apparently I did a good job because the captains and coach told me afterwards that the scrums didn't change once I went in, which meant I was doing just as well as the starting hooker. After 80 minutes of stress, bruises, and screaming, we WON! It was a very exciting game, indeed.
We all went to grab a bite to eat with the Lancaster team, then headed back to Newcastle. The bus ride home turns into the "party bus" and everything gets a little crazy. The theme for this week's rugby social was "Fairies," so we had tutus, wings, and glitter everywhere for the ride home. We met up with the 2nd team girls near the Student Union, then went right along to our usual Wednesday night hot spots, rugby bags in tow. 20 hours straight with the rugby team ... hows that for team bonding!
As for my Newcastle womens rugby future, who knows which team I'll be playing on. I was talking with our coach after the game, and it looks like I'll be flip-flopping between teams for the rest of the season, depending on who our opponents are. I'll either be starting for the 2nd team and playing all 80 minutes (yay, game experience!), or being a backup for the 1st team (they'll pull me up if an injury occurs). The 1st team girls are amazing, but I would much rather play more than watch from the side and only get on the field for the last bit. Both 1st and 2nd team play home games in Newcastle this week, and I should find out which team I'm on tomorrow at training. I'm wishing for starting on the 2nd team. All my flatmates and friends from my block are anxious to see me play and are planning to come cheer me on ... well, my rugby guy friends will be cheering, the girls will be hiding their eyes as I get tackled. Oh well, what's a couple more bruises, anyway?
We watched the Rugby World Cup last night in the pub down the street. England lost, but it was still an entertaining game. The rest of the weekend has just been relaxing for the most part. I actually visited the library (shocking, I know) yesterday and caught up on some reading for classes. I have to work on an Archeology project today that's due on Friday, and then prep for my Biochemistry lab practical that's scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. 5 weeks into study abroad and it's finally time to crack the books ... at least until essays and projects are finished.
This Friday I leave for Paris with the Loyola group and we stay until Sunday. I'm planning to see Clarice and Mary while I'm in Paris. Then on Tuesday Anna, Janine, and Laura from Rome are coming up to experience the Newcastle craziness for a few days, then next Friday all 4 of us have a flight booked to Dublin for the long weekend. I'll return to Newcastle Monday morning at the crack of dawn, but sleep is willing to be sacrificed for cheap flights! I'm really excited to see new places, but even more pumped to see my friends again. There's just something different about traveling with people who know you so well.
Yes, I'm still having a brilliant time. I'm balancing friends, fun, and rugby quite nicely. Still covered in bruises from being tackled, but then again I match all the other rugby girls. I'm finally caving into academic pressure and doing some work (blah!). I don't think I'd mind the work as much if it were subjects I'm actually interested in, but Archeology and Sociology for humanities core credit are just boring. I'm actually excited about Biochemistry lab practical on Tuesday, though. We'll just take this week one day at a time until I get to see the Paris and Rome girls in less than a week!
Wednesday was the rugby game in Lancaster! 8am wake-up call! It's about a 2.5 hour bus ride away, which went surprisingly fast just chatting with all the 1st team girls and enjoying the English countryside. I was on the bench for most of the game since the 3rd year hooker has seniority, but I actually got to play for the last 15 minutes. It was SO much fun. I won all the balls in the scrums, had a couple great line-out throws, and got a little trampled in the rucks. Apparently I did a good job because the captains and coach told me afterwards that the scrums didn't change once I went in, which meant I was doing just as well as the starting hooker. After 80 minutes of stress, bruises, and screaming, we WON! It was a very exciting game, indeed.
We all went to grab a bite to eat with the Lancaster team, then headed back to Newcastle. The bus ride home turns into the "party bus" and everything gets a little crazy. The theme for this week's rugby social was "Fairies," so we had tutus, wings, and glitter everywhere for the ride home. We met up with the 2nd team girls near the Student Union, then went right along to our usual Wednesday night hot spots, rugby bags in tow. 20 hours straight with the rugby team ... hows that for team bonding!
As for my Newcastle womens rugby future, who knows which team I'll be playing on. I was talking with our coach after the game, and it looks like I'll be flip-flopping between teams for the rest of the season, depending on who our opponents are. I'll either be starting for the 2nd team and playing all 80 minutes (yay, game experience!), or being a backup for the 1st team (they'll pull me up if an injury occurs). The 1st team girls are amazing, but I would much rather play more than watch from the side and only get on the field for the last bit. Both 1st and 2nd team play home games in Newcastle this week, and I should find out which team I'm on tomorrow at training. I'm wishing for starting on the 2nd team. All my flatmates and friends from my block are anxious to see me play and are planning to come cheer me on ... well, my rugby guy friends will be cheering, the girls will be hiding their eyes as I get tackled. Oh well, what's a couple more bruises, anyway?
We watched the Rugby World Cup last night in the pub down the street. England lost, but it was still an entertaining game. The rest of the weekend has just been relaxing for the most part. I actually visited the library (shocking, I know) yesterday and caught up on some reading for classes. I have to work on an Archeology project today that's due on Friday, and then prep for my Biochemistry lab practical that's scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. 5 weeks into study abroad and it's finally time to crack the books ... at least until essays and projects are finished.
This Friday I leave for Paris with the Loyola group and we stay until Sunday. I'm planning to see Clarice and Mary while I'm in Paris. Then on Tuesday Anna, Janine, and Laura from Rome are coming up to experience the Newcastle craziness for a few days, then next Friday all 4 of us have a flight booked to Dublin for the long weekend. I'll return to Newcastle Monday morning at the crack of dawn, but sleep is willing to be sacrificed for cheap flights! I'm really excited to see new places, but even more pumped to see my friends again. There's just something different about traveling with people who know you so well.
Yes, I'm still having a brilliant time. I'm balancing friends, fun, and rugby quite nicely. Still covered in bruises from being tackled, but then again I match all the other rugby girls. I'm finally caving into academic pressure and doing some work (blah!). I don't think I'd mind the work as much if it were subjects I'm actually interested in, but Archeology and Sociology for humanities core credit are just boring. I'm actually excited about Biochemistry lab practical on Tuesday, though. We'll just take this week one day at a time until I get to see the Paris and Rome girls in less than a week!
Monday, October 15, 2007
1st Team!
I just got back from rugby training and got spectacular news ... I made the 1st team for the game this Wednesday. I'm on the 1st team roster as a fresher who has never played rugby before, and this is a serious varsity university sport. I'm so excited I can't even explain it. I don't know how I did it, but the captains and coach agree I'm a natural at the game. I'll be the first substitute for hooker, but I'm sure to get some playing time since I'm the first sub on the roster and the only one who plays hooker. I was doing really well at training today, so everything is looking great. The game on Wednesday is in Lancaster, so we leave here at 9:30am, play all afternoon, shower and change on the bus and go straight to the social outing. Basically, I'll be with the rugby team for 20 hours straight. Free travel through England, good sports, extreme fun ... life can't get better than this!
Edinburgh and Holy Island
This weekend the entire Loyola program here took a bus trip to Edinburgh, Scotland. We left late Friday afternoon to get to our bed and breakfast around 8:30. This bed and breakfast certainly showed where all the study abroad program fees go (we'll see if we get sweet accommodations in Paris in a couple of weeks). Friday night we were all so exhausted and hungry that we just walked down a few blocks to get dinner and hang out in the pub for a bit. I had my first "bangers and mash" meal ... interesting. Really, sausage and mashed potatoes aren't my favorite, but I had to try it once.
Saturday we got up ridiculously early and spent the entire day touring around Edinburgh. We saw the Edinburgh Castle first, then walked down the Royal Mile to grab some lunch on the way to the Holywood Palace (the Queen stays there when she visits Scotland). All these castles and palaces in the UK are absolutely stunning. It's hard to imagine people living there so many years ago. Call me a nerd, but I love visiting historical places. After our palace tour, we had tea in a cute little cafe, then headed up the King Arthur's seat. King Arthur's seat is basically a HUGE rocky mountain cliff with an incredible view of Edinburgh from the top. Jill, Rachel, Kyle and I hiked to the top of King Arthur's seat (which was absolutely exhausting, yet amazing), and naturally decided to climb the adjoining mountain as well. As if one mountain wasn't enough, we just had to be insane and climb the higher one! (yes, yes ... photographic evidence that i was actually enjoying nature to come soon) We actually met 3 American guys at the top of the mountain who are studying in Cork, Ireland and they actually knew our Loyola friends who are on study abroad there! Small world, right? After that, we grabbed some dinner (noticing a trend with food on these trips?) and went on a ghost tour of Edinburgh. Yes, I survived. Those of you who know how I freak out at scary stuff know the ghost tour was a big step for me. But that's what study abroad is about ... doing stuff you would never have done before.
Saturday night we went out to a Scottish nightclub. Again, it really doesn't compare to the Newcastle nightlife. We're on a mission to go out on the town in every country we visit ... so far so good.
Sunday was another absurdly early morning and the bus took off for Holy Island. It's somewhere on the boarder between England and Scotland. We visited yet another castle and the priory. This place was absolutely gorgeous. By far the best scenic views I've ever seen. We had a but of a short day there due to the timing of the tides. The island is attached by a road to the mainland that submerges underwater with the tides. So if we didn't leave the island by 2:30, we would have been stuck there until 8pm when the tide rolled out again.
I got back around 5 Sunday afternoon to catch up with the flatmates and other people in my block of flats. Apparently I missed a pretty great party in my flat for the Rugby World Cup semifinals on Saturday night. And England won! This means I have to stay in Newcastle this weekend to watch the final game of the Rugby World Cup and witness the insanity that is English sports. We all watched the semifinal game between South Africa and Argentina last night. I figure I can learn a bit about the sport I'm playing by watching it. Rugby practice, then who knows what later tonight. Fun stuff!
Saturday we got up ridiculously early and spent the entire day touring around Edinburgh. We saw the Edinburgh Castle first, then walked down the Royal Mile to grab some lunch on the way to the Holywood Palace (the Queen stays there when she visits Scotland). All these castles and palaces in the UK are absolutely stunning. It's hard to imagine people living there so many years ago. Call me a nerd, but I love visiting historical places. After our palace tour, we had tea in a cute little cafe, then headed up the King Arthur's seat. King Arthur's seat is basically a HUGE rocky mountain cliff with an incredible view of Edinburgh from the top. Jill, Rachel, Kyle and I hiked to the top of King Arthur's seat (which was absolutely exhausting, yet amazing), and naturally decided to climb the adjoining mountain as well. As if one mountain wasn't enough, we just had to be insane and climb the higher one! (yes, yes ... photographic evidence that i was actually enjoying nature to come soon) We actually met 3 American guys at the top of the mountain who are studying in Cork, Ireland and they actually knew our Loyola friends who are on study abroad there! Small world, right? After that, we grabbed some dinner (noticing a trend with food on these trips?) and went on a ghost tour of Edinburgh. Yes, I survived. Those of you who know how I freak out at scary stuff know the ghost tour was a big step for me. But that's what study abroad is about ... doing stuff you would never have done before.
Saturday night we went out to a Scottish nightclub. Again, it really doesn't compare to the Newcastle nightlife. We're on a mission to go out on the town in every country we visit ... so far so good.
Sunday was another absurdly early morning and the bus took off for Holy Island. It's somewhere on the boarder between England and Scotland. We visited yet another castle and the priory. This place was absolutely gorgeous. By far the best scenic views I've ever seen. We had a but of a short day there due to the timing of the tides. The island is attached by a road to the mainland that submerges underwater with the tides. So if we didn't leave the island by 2:30, we would have been stuck there until 8pm when the tide rolled out again.
I got back around 5 Sunday afternoon to catch up with the flatmates and other people in my block of flats. Apparently I missed a pretty great party in my flat for the Rugby World Cup semifinals on Saturday night. And England won! This means I have to stay in Newcastle this weekend to watch the final game of the Rugby World Cup and witness the insanity that is English sports. We all watched the semifinal game between South Africa and Argentina last night. I figure I can learn a bit about the sport I'm playing by watching it. Rugby practice, then who knows what later tonight. Fun stuff!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Game Day and such ...
Yet another exciting week here in Newcastle. As if Oktoberfest wasn't enough of a party for one week, Monday night was the Fresh Duck'd bar crawl. Basically, all the Freshers at Newcastle University invade the town for one last group party. The bar-hopping started at 5pm, but since I had rugby practice until 8 I met up with my flatmates later in the crawl. Oh, college ... where else do you go out until 4am on a Monday night?
Tuesday was packed with classes. Biochemistry, Archaeology, and Sociology are luckily getting gradually more interesting. There's a lot of reading outside of lectures that I have yet to do, but I have more important stuff to be doing (like country-hopping, playing rugby, and going out with the flatmates!).
Wednesday I flat out skipped my Archeology lecture to travel to Sunderland for my first rugby game! All 35 of us loaded the bus around 10am only to return to the University at 6pm. Long day, but SO much fun. There are so many girls in the rugby club because we have 2 teams. The 1st team is like the varsity squad, and the 2nd team is mainly Freshers and plays in a different league. All the girls split the time on the field for the game against Sunderland so us Freshers could get a sense of the game with some veteran players on the field. I played an entire half of the game at "Hooker." (No ... not that kind of hooker. Go Google rugby positions and look it up.) Apparently I'm the perfect size being short but really strong, and can run faster than the other forwards. Basically, I'm at the front and center of the scrums, I get picked up by my shorts and grab onto the players in the prop position to fight the other team for the ball, I get to be a driving force in all the mauls and rucks, and throw the ball in at line outs (yeah ... I perfected the spiral throw!). I'm battling and tackling girls twice my size! I really caught onto the game well and apparently had some really great plays. I had no clue I was doing well until the veteran players kept telling me that I was doing extremely well. At the end of the game, each team does "Man of the Match" where the captain of each team picks the best forward and back from their own team and the best player from the opposing team. Guess who was named "Forward of the Game"? ME! No joke ... I rocked my first rugby game so well that the captains had a hard time believing I had never played before. Later on at the weekly rugby social the captains told me that right now they're thinking about putting me up with the 1st team. How can I be ready for the 1st team?!?! I'm a little hesitant ... since I'm only here for a semester I'd almost rather get more playing time and start on the 2nd team than be the back-up for the 1st team, then again the 1st team girls are so much fun! We'll just see what happens. All I know is that I must find a rugby team to play on when I get back to the States. This is SO much fun!
More boring lectures today, but I finally got my package from home that I've been waiting for. I had rugby training (again!) today which was really tough since I was so sore from the game yesterday (getting hit by opposing teams' props literally twice my size hurts a bit). I decided to take the night off and just stay in and recover tonight from all the rugby games and socials.
Tomorrow I head up to Edinburgh, Scotland with the Loyola group. We'll be there until Sunday! It's such a beautiful city, and we seem to have Saturday pretty booked up with touristy stuff, then on the way back to Newcastle Sunday we stop at an island to explore.
I'm booking my flight to Rome for the weekend of Thanksgiving to see Anna and Janine as soon as I find a travel buddy. I just need someone else from Newcastle to go with me so I don't have to stay in a hostel by myself. And apparently the Rome ladies are heading to see Clarice and Mary in Paris in November for my birthday weekend ... looks like my 20th birthday party will be in France! Life can't get better than this ...
Tuesday was packed with classes. Biochemistry, Archaeology, and Sociology are luckily getting gradually more interesting. There's a lot of reading outside of lectures that I have yet to do, but I have more important stuff to be doing (like country-hopping, playing rugby, and going out with the flatmates!).
Wednesday I flat out skipped my Archeology lecture to travel to Sunderland for my first rugby game! All 35 of us loaded the bus around 10am only to return to the University at 6pm. Long day, but SO much fun. There are so many girls in the rugby club because we have 2 teams. The 1st team is like the varsity squad, and the 2nd team is mainly Freshers and plays in a different league. All the girls split the time on the field for the game against Sunderland so us Freshers could get a sense of the game with some veteran players on the field. I played an entire half of the game at "Hooker." (No ... not that kind of hooker. Go Google rugby positions and look it up.) Apparently I'm the perfect size being short but really strong, and can run faster than the other forwards. Basically, I'm at the front and center of the scrums, I get picked up by my shorts and grab onto the players in the prop position to fight the other team for the ball, I get to be a driving force in all the mauls and rucks, and throw the ball in at line outs (yeah ... I perfected the spiral throw!). I'm battling and tackling girls twice my size! I really caught onto the game well and apparently had some really great plays. I had no clue I was doing well until the veteran players kept telling me that I was doing extremely well. At the end of the game, each team does "Man of the Match" where the captain of each team picks the best forward and back from their own team and the best player from the opposing team. Guess who was named "Forward of the Game"? ME! No joke ... I rocked my first rugby game so well that the captains had a hard time believing I had never played before. Later on at the weekly rugby social the captains told me that right now they're thinking about putting me up with the 1st team. How can I be ready for the 1st team?!?! I'm a little hesitant ... since I'm only here for a semester I'd almost rather get more playing time and start on the 2nd team than be the back-up for the 1st team, then again the 1st team girls are so much fun! We'll just see what happens. All I know is that I must find a rugby team to play on when I get back to the States. This is SO much fun!
More boring lectures today, but I finally got my package from home that I've been waiting for. I had rugby training (again!) today which was really tough since I was so sore from the game yesterday (getting hit by opposing teams' props literally twice my size hurts a bit). I decided to take the night off and just stay in and recover tonight from all the rugby games and socials.
Tomorrow I head up to Edinburgh, Scotland with the Loyola group. We'll be there until Sunday! It's such a beautiful city, and we seem to have Saturday pretty booked up with touristy stuff, then on the way back to Newcastle Sunday we stop at an island to explore.
I'm booking my flight to Rome for the weekend of Thanksgiving to see Anna and Janine as soon as I find a travel buddy. I just need someone else from Newcastle to go with me so I don't have to stay in a hostel by myself. And apparently the Rome ladies are heading to see Clarice and Mary in Paris in November for my birthday weekend ... looks like my 20th birthday party will be in France! Life can't get better than this ...
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Oktoberfest!!!!
Basically, it's like one huge carnival / international frat party where about 5 million liters of beer are consumed each year. Fantastic! This weekend was all that I had expected and SO much more. Definitely topping the list of best weekends ever! This is going to be a long update, but only because so many of you requested mucho details from Oktoberfest.
So Cait and I left Newcastle at 6:45am on Friday morning to hop on the metro and get to the train station, then headed up to Edinburgh on the train, jumped on a bus to the airport, then flew into Munich at 2:45. Insanely busy and hectic day, but Anna and Janine were waiting at the airport for us. After an hour, Clarice's plane had landed and the 5 of us made our way to the HotelPension Zum Gockl in Allershausen (one of Munich's cute countryside suburbs). We checked in to two absolutely gorgeous hotel rooms that were SO much better than what we had expected. On the hunt to find traditional German food, we walked a mile or so into town to find a restaurant. They didn't speak much English, but with the help of my lovely European language phrase book we were able to translate enough to actually order something edible. By the way ... wurst and sausages are totally overrated. After a long day of traveling and exploring Allershausen (and to rest up for the big party the next day), we all crashed relatively early and tried to get some sleep. But honestly ... 5 college girls counting down the hours until Oktoberfest are like a bunch of little kids waiting for Santa ... WAY to excited to sleep much!
6am wake up call .... BEERFEST! We all got up ridiculously early because we knew the lines at the beer tents were going to be absolutely insane on the final weekend of Oktoberfest 2007. Naturally, we monopolized on the free breakfast at the hotel and caught a cab to the nearest train station to head into Munich. SO crowded on the trains. And you would think that people would be sober going to the biggest keg party in the world?? Heck no, all these German guys were pre-gaming and downing beers on the metro. Classy. Half the guys were dressed in lederhosen (the traditional German garb), which just made me happy. We leave the metro in a giant swarm of people, not knowing where the heck we find this Oktoberfest. Our idea? "Follow the lederhosen!" Seriously, all we had to do was follow the mass exodus from the train station and join the swarms of people on a pilgrimage towards the tents. Get lost? Just follow the smell of the beer!
I was expecting kind of like an huge field party with tents set up on grass and everything. Oh no. This was like a giant carnival and massive buildings that they claim to be "tents" where everyone just drinks and is insanely happy all day long. We ended up at the Hofbrau Festzelt tent (which is apparently the most popular and famous tent ... who knew?) and had a wild time. even at 9am there was a huge line outside ... and by line I really mean mosh pit. Picture one huge international spooning session, and you've got the mess that is the Oktoberfest beer tent lines. Even though the 5 girls linked arms and tried not to get separated, at one point I was surrounded by an Aussie, an Italian, and a German guy. All I saw was shoulders for a while since I'm so small, and I think I was basically picked up and moved by the crowd in the stampede once the doors opened. After while of waiting, we finally pushed our way into a tent and found a bit of table to squish in at. Well, even though we were in Germany, somehow us girls managed to find Little Italy. Mostly everyone in out section spoke Italian, and luckily Anna and Janine could translate since they're studying in Rome. As soon as you find a seat, the beer maids come over and take orders. Liters of beer literally as big as my head. Who starts drinking at 9:30am? Oh yeah ... EVERYONE at Oktoberfest. Hilarious. And German beer was absolutely amazing. But we mingled and met SO many different people from all over the world, and naturally between the beer and atmosphere of Oktoberfest everyone is uber-friendly. It's seriously the best keg party in the world. I'll definitely want to go back.
We stayed in the first tent for a few hours, and after we downed a couple beers and huge pretzels we headed outside to see the rest of the party. People everywhere just lining the streets still drinking, eating and selling everything you can imagine. We found a shop with souvenir beer steins and T-shirts, then went in search of more food. Chocolate strawberries were by far the most phenomenal food I had all weekend. I'm not such a huge fan of Bratwurst, but at least I tried it. After lunch we hopped to another beer tent and made new friends, and walked around the carnival some more. We managed to sneak out with our liter beer mugs from the second tent (poor college students and free souvenirs ... amazing!).
We ended up leaving the largest beer fest on earth sometime in the late evening, maybe around 8 or so. We found dinner, took the train back to our hotel, and crashed in bed by 10:30. It was so early for us to be crashing, but considering we had been up since 6am and partying since 9am, we figured it was a pretty good showing.
We awoke around 7 the next morning refreshed and ready to tour Munich. We packed up our backpacks and suitcases and took the taxis and trains into the heart of Munich. We saw the new city hall center, the Rathaus, with it's famous Glockenspiel. Unfortunately, the Glockenspiel is under renovation and everything is pretty much closed on Sundays, so we couldn't go to the top to get an aerial view of the city. But we enjoyed the atmosphere of the town square, saw an oompah band on the street, and had one more traditional German meal ... with beer, of course. Sunday was just a nice relaxing day to take in the city before heading our separate ways back to Newcastle, Paris, and Rome. We took the train back to the airport and all flew out of Munich.
So about 64 hours later I arrived back in Newcastle late Sunday night. As usual, the entire block of flats was in my apartment since we're the only ones with a TV and everyone was happy to see me. Apparently, they missed their "Little America" this weekend. I'm glad to be back. Now it's off to classes, rugby practice, and a campus-wide bar crawl.
So Cait and I left Newcastle at 6:45am on Friday morning to hop on the metro and get to the train station, then headed up to Edinburgh on the train, jumped on a bus to the airport, then flew into Munich at 2:45. Insanely busy and hectic day, but Anna and Janine were waiting at the airport for us. After an hour, Clarice's plane had landed and the 5 of us made our way to the HotelPension Zum Gockl in Allershausen (one of Munich's cute countryside suburbs). We checked in to two absolutely gorgeous hotel rooms that were SO much better than what we had expected. On the hunt to find traditional German food, we walked a mile or so into town to find a restaurant. They didn't speak much English, but with the help of my lovely European language phrase book we were able to translate enough to actually order something edible. By the way ... wurst and sausages are totally overrated. After a long day of traveling and exploring Allershausen (and to rest up for the big party the next day), we all crashed relatively early and tried to get some sleep. But honestly ... 5 college girls counting down the hours until Oktoberfest are like a bunch of little kids waiting for Santa ... WAY to excited to sleep much!
6am wake up call .... BEERFEST! We all got up ridiculously early because we knew the lines at the beer tents were going to be absolutely insane on the final weekend of Oktoberfest 2007. Naturally, we monopolized on the free breakfast at the hotel and caught a cab to the nearest train station to head into Munich. SO crowded on the trains. And you would think that people would be sober going to the biggest keg party in the world?? Heck no, all these German guys were pre-gaming and downing beers on the metro. Classy. Half the guys were dressed in lederhosen (the traditional German garb), which just made me happy. We leave the metro in a giant swarm of people, not knowing where the heck we find this Oktoberfest. Our idea? "Follow the lederhosen!" Seriously, all we had to do was follow the mass exodus from the train station and join the swarms of people on a pilgrimage towards the tents. Get lost? Just follow the smell of the beer!
I was expecting kind of like an huge field party with tents set up on grass and everything. Oh no. This was like a giant carnival and massive buildings that they claim to be "tents" where everyone just drinks and is insanely happy all day long. We ended up at the Hofbrau Festzelt tent (which is apparently the most popular and famous tent ... who knew?) and had a wild time. even at 9am there was a huge line outside ... and by line I really mean mosh pit. Picture one huge international spooning session, and you've got the mess that is the Oktoberfest beer tent lines. Even though the 5 girls linked arms and tried not to get separated, at one point I was surrounded by an Aussie, an Italian, and a German guy. All I saw was shoulders for a while since I'm so small, and I think I was basically picked up and moved by the crowd in the stampede once the doors opened. After while of waiting, we finally pushed our way into a tent and found a bit of table to squish in at. Well, even though we were in Germany, somehow us girls managed to find Little Italy. Mostly everyone in out section spoke Italian, and luckily Anna and Janine could translate since they're studying in Rome. As soon as you find a seat, the beer maids come over and take orders. Liters of beer literally as big as my head. Who starts drinking at 9:30am? Oh yeah ... EVERYONE at Oktoberfest. Hilarious. And German beer was absolutely amazing. But we mingled and met SO many different people from all over the world, and naturally between the beer and atmosphere of Oktoberfest everyone is uber-friendly. It's seriously the best keg party in the world. I'll definitely want to go back.
We stayed in the first tent for a few hours, and after we downed a couple beers and huge pretzels we headed outside to see the rest of the party. People everywhere just lining the streets still drinking, eating and selling everything you can imagine. We found a shop with souvenir beer steins and T-shirts, then went in search of more food. Chocolate strawberries were by far the most phenomenal food I had all weekend. I'm not such a huge fan of Bratwurst, but at least I tried it. After lunch we hopped to another beer tent and made new friends, and walked around the carnival some more. We managed to sneak out with our liter beer mugs from the second tent (poor college students and free souvenirs ... amazing!).
We ended up leaving the largest beer fest on earth sometime in the late evening, maybe around 8 or so. We found dinner, took the train back to our hotel, and crashed in bed by 10:30. It was so early for us to be crashing, but considering we had been up since 6am and partying since 9am, we figured it was a pretty good showing.
We awoke around 7 the next morning refreshed and ready to tour Munich. We packed up our backpacks and suitcases and took the taxis and trains into the heart of Munich. We saw the new city hall center, the Rathaus, with it's famous Glockenspiel. Unfortunately, the Glockenspiel is under renovation and everything is pretty much closed on Sundays, so we couldn't go to the top to get an aerial view of the city. But we enjoyed the atmosphere of the town square, saw an oompah band on the street, and had one more traditional German meal ... with beer, of course. Sunday was just a nice relaxing day to take in the city before heading our separate ways back to Newcastle, Paris, and Rome. We took the train back to the airport and all flew out of Munich.
So about 64 hours later I arrived back in Newcastle late Sunday night. As usual, the entire block of flats was in my apartment since we're the only ones with a TV and everyone was happy to see me. Apparently, they missed their "Little America" this weekend. I'm glad to be back. Now it's off to classes, rugby practice, and a campus-wide bar crawl.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Settling in
I've had at least one lecture for all my classes now. Biochemistry seems like an absolute cakewalk right now, though I'm sure all the review will end soon. But hey, I'm not one to complain about an easy class while I'm traveling all over the place. Archaeology is going to be a lot more work than I bargained for, but it shouldn't be that horrible. Plus, I can't take an archaeology class back at Loyola, so it should be a really fun experience. Any my professor seems really nice, so I guess it should all even out. Sociology should be alright I guess. Humanities classes just really aren't my forte. So far, so good on the academic scene.
Still playing rugby. I've officially made it through the first week of training alive. I have the most disgusting, yet amazing bruises covering my entire body. Small price to pay for a game so fun. We haven't gotten official positions yet, but we'll get to that next practice. Our first game is this Wednesday! I surprisingly have a class on Wednesday afternoons, even though the University technically is supposed to have Wednesday after 1pm free for sports matches. So I split my time between tacking people on the rugby pitch and learning about archeaology. Or just skip the boring stuff and go right for running in the mud ... sounds like a plan. I really like my teammates, too. The freshers and older girls mix together really nicely, and I had a great time at the rugby social last night. We do a team bar crawl every Wednesday to visit all of our local sponsors. Each week is a different theme, and last night was Lara Croft night. So basically about 30 girls looking hardcore and tough like we just walked out of Tomb Raider took the Newcastle nightlife by storm, complete with army face paint and everything (naturally, we all still managed to look ridiculously cute!). Rugby players looking tough and nasty? Who would have thought?
I leave tomorrow for Oktoberfest! So beyond excited right now. I'll fill you in when I get back. This time I promise to put up pictures on webshots (time is tight, sorry!).
Still playing rugby. I've officially made it through the first week of training alive. I have the most disgusting, yet amazing bruises covering my entire body. Small price to pay for a game so fun. We haven't gotten official positions yet, but we'll get to that next practice. Our first game is this Wednesday! I surprisingly have a class on Wednesday afternoons, even though the University technically is supposed to have Wednesday after 1pm free for sports matches. So I split my time between tacking people on the rugby pitch and learning about archeaology. Or just skip the boring stuff and go right for running in the mud ... sounds like a plan. I really like my teammates, too. The freshers and older girls mix together really nicely, and I had a great time at the rugby social last night. We do a team bar crawl every Wednesday to visit all of our local sponsors. Each week is a different theme, and last night was Lara Croft night. So basically about 30 girls looking hardcore and tough like we just walked out of Tomb Raider took the Newcastle nightlife by storm, complete with army face paint and everything (naturally, we all still managed to look ridiculously cute!). Rugby players looking tough and nasty? Who would have thought?
I leave tomorrow for Oktoberfest! So beyond excited right now. I'll fill you in when I get back. This time I promise to put up pictures on webshots (time is tight, sorry!).
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
RUGBY!!!!
Last night I had my first rugby practice with the Newcastle University Women's Rugby team ... full contact! I'm so ridiculously bruised and sore this morning, but I had SO much fun. This could by far be my favorite sport ever. Sure it's a little aggressive and all the girls are bigger than me, but I'm keeping up just fine. Nothing takes the stress out of a bad day like tackling people to the ground. I decided to sign up for the Freshers team just to meet new people and avoid paying gym fees, but now i think I'm totally hooked. All the veteran players and new Freshers are so nice, and I'll be spending a lot of time with them. Two practices and one game per week, plus a rugby pub crawl every Wednesday night. Our first match is a week from tomorrow, then we have a tournament up in Edinburgh next weekend. I'll already be in Edinburgh for the weekend on a Loyola trip, so I'll just split my time between the American crew and rugby time. Hey, this rugby thing could also be a great way to travel cheap. Score!
On a less exciting note, classes started yesterday. Well, one class anyway. I had my Comparing Cultures sociology lecture, which I think will actually be a really great course. Biochemistry and Archeology start tomorrow. Luckily, all the extra seminars and labs don't start for a few weeks, so for now I have Tuesdays and Fridays off with no classes. After I pull my life together and organize all my coursework today, Tuesdays and Fridays will be filled with day trips. Newcastle itself is a huge city with a lot to explore, so maybe I'll just stick around here for a bit. I've found my way around town already and know at least where the mall, clubs, and grocery stores are. That's all I need, right? I've actually been out running during the day through the city and it's helped me to get my bearings a lot. The Tyne riverside is absolutely stunning. One of these days I'll just be a complete tourist and take a million pictures of this town. It's so sad that i only have 10 weeks left here.
I think that's all I've been up to for the past couple of days. The weekends here are really relaxed. Most students just stay in and hang out around campus since all the cheap student nights out on the town are during the week. I decided not to travel this weekend since I just really needed to recover from all the traveling thus far and get to know my neighbors. I really like my flatmates and the other people in my block and we're a pretty tight-knit group already. Most people gather in my kitchen in the evenings to cook dinner and watch TV since my flat has the largest kitchen set up. This kind of seems like a weird version of Freshman year at Loyola all over again.
As usual, still loving it here. It might seem strange, but I'm really not missing home. Not that I don't love you all on the other side of the Atlantic, but I've just blended in here so nicely and very quickly. More classes and rugby tomorrow, then Oktoberfest on Friday! I'm so excited to see The Ocho girls meeting me in Munich! I can't wait!
On a less exciting note, classes started yesterday. Well, one class anyway. I had my Comparing Cultures sociology lecture, which I think will actually be a really great course. Biochemistry and Archeology start tomorrow. Luckily, all the extra seminars and labs don't start for a few weeks, so for now I have Tuesdays and Fridays off with no classes. After I pull my life together and organize all my coursework today, Tuesdays and Fridays will be filled with day trips. Newcastle itself is a huge city with a lot to explore, so maybe I'll just stick around here for a bit. I've found my way around town already and know at least where the mall, clubs, and grocery stores are. That's all I need, right? I've actually been out running during the day through the city and it's helped me to get my bearings a lot. The Tyne riverside is absolutely stunning. One of these days I'll just be a complete tourist and take a million pictures of this town. It's so sad that i only have 10 weeks left here.
I think that's all I've been up to for the past couple of days. The weekends here are really relaxed. Most students just stay in and hang out around campus since all the cheap student nights out on the town are during the week. I decided not to travel this weekend since I just really needed to recover from all the traveling thus far and get to know my neighbors. I really like my flatmates and the other people in my block and we're a pretty tight-knit group already. Most people gather in my kitchen in the evenings to cook dinner and watch TV since my flat has the largest kitchen set up. This kind of seems like a weird version of Freshman year at Loyola all over again.
As usual, still loving it here. It might seem strange, but I'm really not missing home. Not that I don't love you all on the other side of the Atlantic, but I've just blended in here so nicely and very quickly. More classes and rugby tomorrow, then Oktoberfest on Friday! I'm so excited to see The Ocho girls meeting me in Munich! I can't wait!
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