Do as the Romans...

Our Rome visit is now almost over. I take the bus out at 4:50 in the morning to the airport to fly to Frankfurt Germany. We have spent the last three days walking more than you could ever imagine. It feels like we have covered every inch of the city and yet still have not seen everything. We saw the Colloseum, Roman Forum, and ruins of the Royal Palace. The next day we spent from 8:30 until 6 at Vatican City. We stood in line to see the Vatican Museum which was HUGE. It included artifacts from thousands of years ago and from all over the world. Every room held amazing paintings, sculptures and mosaics. It ended in the world famous Sistine Chapel which was incredible, but there was something even more amazing then the beautiful artwork. Lindsey and I were staring in wonderment, when suddenly Lindsey says
"is that Lauren?" I looked up and could not believe my eyes. Here in the middle of hundreds, thousands throughout the museum, millions throughout the city was Lauren Oxendine, our fellow Oxford groupie standing in the chapel with us! Now finding Sarah and Amy at Buckingham Palace was a blessing, but it was pre-planned. This was a miracle. After chatting we parted ways, but it was so cool. Then Lindsey Jennifer and I grabbed some more Italian food (I will never eat pasta again...something I never thought i would say, we have eaten it for almost every meal..). We then headed back into the Vatican to St. Peter's Basilica and then to the top of the dome. Now the basilica is quite possibly the pinnacle of the cathedrals and churches I have seen so far, but quite rightly so. It is HUGE and very ornate and contains so much history in one building that one could spend months there and never get bored. We then climbed to the top of the dome. We had the option of climbing stairs or taking the elevator ) a three euro difference) being broke we took the stairs. 524 stairs later we made it to the top! I have never been so tired. It was long and narrow. The view from the cupola though was totally worth it. You look out over the entire city of Rome. You can see everything, all the way to the mountains. It was beautiful. So after this i wanted to attend mass at 5 having grown up Catholic so I ran back down all 524 stairs to the basilica. Mass was all in Latin so I could not understand anything but the sign of the cross. From here we went out and saw the Trevi Fountains which was incredible but reminded us of how thirsty we were. I must say that though it is not any hotter here than at home there is no air conditioning in most buildings and therefore you just sweat constantly. We decided to throw caution to the wind at this point and took a much needed break from Italian and went to the Hard Rock Cafe. Free refills, chicken tenders, and cheeseburgers later we were content and ready for the ride back. Too bad the subway was closed!!! So we hiked all the way across town to our hostel. Today we woke up later and went out to the Vatican one more time to see the tomb of Pope John Paul II, then Circus Massimo, the Royal Palace, the Pantheon, and Piazza Navona. It was very busy but a semi-relaxing day. We then went for pizza and saw the colloseum and trevi fonts at night! Rome is incredible. The ruins are great but the city is a little dirty and shady. Parts are incredible and others you walk a little faster than normal. I cannot wait to leave the heat though!

Back Tracking to Venice...

Venice was incredible! I know that sounds cliche but there are no other better words to describe it. I have been in old cities now enough to understand the feeling of stepping into a piece of history, but I have never felt that feeling so much as I did in Venice. The entire city seems to be in another world. Everything is so layed back and all of the buildings are so old! The entire town makes you feel like you are walking back in the days of the Roman Empire or similar. The palace area is especially moving. The giant courtyard is almost overwhelming. Jennifer Rogers, Lindsey Holt, and I are all travelling together through Italy. We met up with Jennifer after leaving London and have since been having the time of our lives. We took an eccentric tour of Venice lead by none other than ourselves. We spent all day Monday just wondering the tiny streets and canals happening upon whatever came our way. We used no maps and really payed little attention to the signs. We took the wrong canal bus and actually ended up right in the middle of the Royal Palace area, what a grand fluke! We fed pigeons, posed with carnavel guys, and ate a LOT of gelato. It has been fantastic!

When in Rome...

Hey Everyone.


Lindsey and I are now in Rome with Jennifer Rogers. We met up with Jennifer on Sunday in Venice and spent all day Monday walking through the city which was breathtaking. We are now in Rome taking a break and checking e-mails since the hostel in Venice charged 1.50 euro for only 15 minutes of use on the worst internet connection i have seen in a long time. This is free! We will stay here in Rome for three days and then i fly out to Frankfurt to meet friends and Lindsey and Jennifer fly to Prague. All is going well and we have had a blast so far! Hopefully I can post pictures sometime.

Sarah stole my blog title :(

So here Lindsey Tessa and I are in London. Well Lindsey is currently absent due to a last minute trip back to Oxford to retrieve her passport. Luckily she realized it before we hopped on our plane to Venice tomorrow. Tessa and I stayed behind here to see a movie (The Fantastic Four which Tessa has been begging to see ever since we got here). We had a blast check sarah's comments on her fellowship blog for a funny story. Lindsey took her two friends to oxford for company so dont worry we did not ditch her. I am sick and tired and feeling homesick but i cannot wait for what is to come!!! Miss you guys already!

The End of Days

I have two days left here and a very short morning and I must say I am beginning to be depressed. Not only have I managed to catch a cold that has left my head in a dreadful state, but I have also managed to become completely and utterly attached to a place I have only lived in for three weeks. Lindsey says that it is because it is the first place we have been and that I will say the same thing about every other place we visit, but I really do not believe so. Of course each place will have its charms, but this town mixes beautifully the historical and the technological to only the level of necessity. At the same time that you desire to feel removed from the fast paced modern society, you can also find every convenience that I need (though Tessa and Lindsey would argue that ice and showers would ultimately be a necessity). It is this lacking though that I love. At the same street that you find fast paced tourist marketing, you also find peaceful crevices where you can soak up the ancientness of the city. If I had my choice I would stay and fly over a few family and friends I could not live without. I have even inquired (though half joking) about how to be hired on the kitchen staff. I am telling you it would not be all that bad at all. It seems like quite a fun job and you meet so many interesting people that way. Alas this is just fantasy and in reality I will be on a plane in three weeks for the USA which in the end I am sure will not be all that dreadfully awful. I do miss you all, but most definitely NOT Joplin. Mom, Dad do not despair I will return. For now I will leave you with some of the humorous pictures we have collected.

The Cathedrals

Ok so one of the most amazing things about this trip so far for me has been the incredible chapels, churches, and cathedrals we have seen along the way. It started out here at Merton with what I thought was just an amazing chapel that though dark has a hauntingly spiritual feel to it that I find myself sneaking off to to take a break in the day. Then there were the churches at the Cottswalds which were just saturated with history and mystique. On Saturday we experienced the grandeur of Westminster Abbey and then on Sunday the interestingly different service at Christ Church down the road in Oxford from Merton. By far my favorite has been the Catholic Cathedral we found in London though on Saturday. Construction began on the church in 1895 and was completed eight years later. The style though is like nothing I have ever seen before. The architect, John Francis Bentley, styled it after the Early Christian Byzantine style which resembles little of the Western Roman architecture seen in most Catholic churches. The high domes in the nave were enough to make anyone's jaw drop and the nine chapels that line either side, each with its own distinct and intricate design, was phenomenal. We attended half the mass though I imagine we all would have stayed had time allowed. The service was so similar yet so different to that that I grew up in. The grand scale to which it was all done is like nothing I have ever seen before in the United States and the organist was well...he rendered you speechless. Every emotion set out in the song was poured into his playing and at times you literally felt the earth and heavens would just open up. His playing though eccentric to say the least brought life and meaning into the words on the page which is something little seen in churches today. The service at Christ Church on the other hand was a polar opposite almost. The formality of it all follows very closely in the feeling you get in the Catholic mass but the service we attended Sunday morning was spoken with no choir. Recitation of prayers and responses was the main body of the service and differed about as much as possibly it could from the contemporary worship services you might see in Joplin. No less meaningful though. After the long day in London the day before though it was more difficult to stay awake in. At least during the sermon. It went on and on and on and though I tried I could not make much sense of what he was trying to tell us. I found myself looking around which is easy to do when you are in a church as big and ornate as Christ Church is but:

1. After Westminster Cathedral Christ Church was really not as grand as I thought it would be. The college is incredible but the cathedral just did not match up.

2. I found myself in charge of elbowing a certain member of our party who has been struggling with insomnia and finds he can only sleep during important things like church, lectures, and class. But gave up entirely when I noticed that not only was half the congregation asleep but most of the clergy were also thorugh the sermon. Oh well.

Each experience has had its memorable points though and I must say have been a big highlight of my trip here.

Pictures

Hey Guys

Sorry but I am not patient enough to post all my pictures here, but if you want to you can check out more at
http://www.resedagboken.se

This is my personal web log for friends and family, but you are all more than welcome to check it out. Search under the alias: klynn85 This should bring up my travel log called Eurotrip. Click into the Photo Album

If it is not in English click on the British flag (you should all know that one by now :) ) up in the right hand corner to change to English.

Any problems let me know

London Day Trip

So I unintentionally tricked you all into reading the boring account of our past week thinking London would be in there somewhere but alas I decided to make it its own entry and forgot to change the subject. After the week's end we decided to wake up early Saturday morning for breakfast and then head out on the Oxford Tube to take a day trip to London. The day was incredible. After an hour and a half journey on the double decker coach playing a strange karaoke game for all the bus to hear we made it to London. We left the bus with 15 minutes to get to BUckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards. So we booked it a few blocks before running into what can only be described as a gigantic human road block. Now in this planning half of us had taken the coach down while those with train tickets took the train and would meet up with us...at the palace. This was quickly turning out to have been an incredibly naive idea. What you have to consider is that:

1. They only do this once a day so if people want to see it they are all there at the same time.
2. It is a Saturday and no one is working.
3. It is the middle of July when everyone takes vacations to places like...London.

There had to be at least 5,000 people there. It was a massive sea of heads. So we dive into the masses as a group and head as close as we can to the palace. In this mess is where a true miracle occurs. Literally not five minutes into the palace grounds amidst thousands of people we literally run into Sarah and Amy, our train people. THe odds are incredible but it happened and we were all so excited that we had found each other that we started squealing and jumping around hugging each other. I am sure that any onlookers thought we were nuts. At this point Lindsey and I kind of broke off to go try and get closer and were semi-successful. It was an incredible procession of music and guards and horses. I cannot imagine doing that everyday. You really get the immersion of being around royalty there. After this Kristiyan, who is London visiting his mom, found us and took a few of us all over London. We started out going to Chinatown, via Hyde Park and a bus ride, for lunch. Then went walking around all over the area seeing the cinema and theatre district where all the world premiers are. Then on through many different markets and squares. We ate dessert pastries at an amazing French bakery in Picadilly Circus where everything was made to look like artwork. Then we walked to Trafalgar Square which was probably one of my favortie sights. The square is huge and full of beautiful fountains and monuments. It is then surrounded by incredible buildings with every kind of architecture you could imagine. From there we hopped on the subway and went to Oxford Circus which is one of the biggest shopping districts. I am pleased to say I did no shopping though. Self control is a must in a country where everything is double the price it shows and already was pricey to begin with. A can of coke here is easily almost $4 in a restaurant because there are no refills. We then hopped on the subway which is incredibly efficient even despite the events of the 7th and went to Westminster. We came out of the subway to the view of the Westminster Bridge over the Thames, London Eye (a giant ferris wheel), Big Ben and Westminster Abbey all right there. It was like walking into the pictures of your history book. Our group had to tear me away to go anywhere. We walked all around seeing the aforementioned sights and going to a park. The sheer size of the buildings was incredible. Washington D.C. has huge buildings but the Houses of Parliament here are so massive I could not believe it. Then you add the incredible detail in every inch of the building and you are truly shocked. Every time you look you see something you did not see before. Westminster Abbey was the same, though we only saw the outside that day. We then headed to Victoria Station to catch the subway again, but got side tracked when Kristiyan told me of a cathedral down the road. We decided to go take a closer look at the outside and then were so amazed we went in. Now I have been to my fair share of Catholic churches and even a few cathedrals, but I have never seen anything like this. They were about to start mass so we decided to stay for a while. The detail was incredible, room after room on the sides for private prayer adorned with gorgeous gold leaf and marble and stones. The ceiling was phenomenal with at least three massive domes over the main congregation. The front of the cathedral was enormous with an incredible altar that had the biggest crucifix I have ever seen over it. The style though was not Roman at all really it looked more Greek which made it even more surreal. So then the organist starts to play and you literally feel like you have walked into a strange symphony. He was eccentric to say the least and emotions evoked by his playing were something I have never seen before. I owuld not have described it as talent for it sounded so crazy but you got the mood more from that playing then any I have ever heard before. From here we finally made it to the station and left to meet up with Kristiyan's sister for dinner at Chili's. I know, American food but it was so good. We looked around the area known as Canary Wharf and then headed home. The day was incredible and I cannot believe we saw so much. I was so glad we had Kristiyan to help us around because I doubt we would have found it all ourselves. The bus ride home we sat on the top level in the front where it looks like you are running over everything. Kind of trippy if you ask me.

The Work Week

This week was the week of work. After basically goofing around the whole first week we were here it was finally time to get to work on our papers for the class we have been taking. I decided to write mine on the development of heroism in The Lord of the Rings and the types of heroes portrayed. Not the most difficult topic on the academic scale but good enough for me while I am here. After working studiously for about three days I had my paper and we were free to have fun. We took a walking tour of Tolkien in Oxford on Thursday for our class and then has high table that night. High table is the formal dinner at Merton during which your professors and the director join you for pre-dinner wine and sherry and then a three course meal on a raised platform. We all dressed up and it was very formal yet a ton of fun. That night we all went out as a big group with Natalie and Chris, a couple of natives, to the Purple Turtle for a night of dancing. It was a great end to the week of work just to go out and dance with all the people in our group. Friday morning was a little more grueling since we had been out until 4:30 that morning. That night was quiz night at the college bar, which our team successfully got second to last place in. For our defence it was four very tired and zoned out people trying to remember facts I am pretty sure we never knew to begin with. It was still fun though, even if we got stuck next to the evil version of the Golden Girls. More to come later!

Goals Complete

So in reference to the goals I had set for myself in the previous week I am happy to say I basically accomplished all of them. Now when I say basically I am referencing the first goal. Now I have managed to talk to many locals lately but I must say that quite a few of those conversations were not meaningful in the way I would have hoped for. I have had encounters with some very very different people. We did successfully find fish and chips at Startford, only to be served them at dinner the next day :) Then lets see, no rain since I set the last goal so props to God for keeping the skies clear and sun bright. As far as goals for this week I am limiting it to one and only one...

GET MY PAPER DONE!!!

Ok and quit have run ins with the creepy low lifes. That would be really nice...

Well thats all for now

The Rarity of Air Conditioning

Ha I finally managed to post a picture and how appropritae a picture it is. The weather here started out so dreadful and wet, but now it is starting to remind me of a good day back home. Lots of sun, clear skies and finally no rain! The idea of summer with no humidity I must say is so appealing I would be surprised if any of us left. This semi-casino was our joke because they had all these signs and all we found of air conditioning inside were three rotating fans on stools. Alas the Brits just don't adjust well to heat.

Startford Upon Avon

Today was a high stress day. I pray it is the first and last. After a very uncomfortable morning encounter, I rushed out to the lecture of the day at Exeter College. The lecture was over Modern China and the role China may play in upcoming history. It was very interesting, but loomed over by the very brief announcement that bombs had gone off in the London underground. All the guy in charge told us was that it was turning out to be far worse than first imagined. Now having no tv, radio, or newspaper access readily available none of us had any clue and he left us all worried and with far less information than everyone back home probably had. The irony that you can be an hour and a half away from something so big and know less than those thousands of miles away is very frustrating. We got back to the university just in time for a quick lunch and then set off to Shakespeare's home in Stratford Upon Avon. After a quick bus ride we entered into one of the most beautiful towns I have ever seen. A river runs through the middle of Stratford where people are constantly rowing and tourists have the chance to take their own shot at it. There are beautiful bridges, swans, and flowers everywhere. The Royal Shakespeare Theatre sits right in the middle of the town, next to the river and an amazing park. I love parks in England because they are so open and green, perfect for soccer or laying out and reading. The buildings in the town are very old and display a very traditional English town. Even newer buildings are modeled to appear in the style. We went to the site of Shakespeare's birth and death and then continued to wander in and out of shops for a few hours. Tessa Lindsey and I found a great sweets shop and a very unique Christmas store. After looking at the sites we headed for a store we had seen on the way in with a clothing sale. I know, we are in England at the site of Shakepeare's life, but we are girls and this was a very good sale. No extensive shopping went on though just a couple of items. After this we found a gate that we found led into a beautiful garden where Shakespeare's house had once been and was the site of his death. Before heading to the theatre to see a production of Twelth Night we stopped in at a small restaurant to have our first fish and chips in England. It was very good of course and topped off with ice cream for desert from a sarcastic old man who had more than a couple words to say about my incompetency with British coins. we then watched a pick up soccer game with some guys who are far better at soccer than i could ever hope to be :) The play was quite good but more than a little crude, but I guess it is Shakespeare. One thing that surprised me very much was that they were all in modern dress for the play, whereas we had all been expecting what you see in the movies I guess. It still was a great production though and worth the experience. That night when we returned to Oxford we went out to the Kebob van again. Now this experience is starting to get more and more interesting. We went the other night after going to the very exclusive (though only during term) university club, Purple Turtle. Everyone comes to these vans where you can get burgers, fries, and various other fast food after getting out of the clubs because nothing else is open anymore. Now this particular night I ran into quite possibly the most arrogant male I have ever met and another who was most definately the most rascist. Now the first guy was just outright rude to everyone and was getting on my nerves quite a lot but I rose above it and said nothing although i really think the occassion called for someone putting the guy in his place. The other guy caught me completely off guard because he was actually very nice and very cute and then the talk turned sour when he started talking about race. It was a huge eye opener to realize someone our age could be just as bad today as society was decades ago. Well I must be off to go punting. Will explain what exactly punting is...after I figure it out myself :) something to do with standing in a boat and going down a river with a stick I have heard.

Two Days...

I am here in Oxford now after quite a hassle with the plane, customs, and busses. But they say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger so I must be pretty tough by now. In all reality though it really was not too difficult a journey, I am sure there have been worse and I did get here 5 minutes early.
Oxford is incredible. The sheer beauty of the buildings and gardens is enough to amaze most, but when added with the history behind this city it is truly breathtaking. Our program is based at Merton College with seminars at Exeter College. So far the people here are quite friendly and the food is truly filling. I think one meal is almost the same amount of food I normally eat in one day. So much for losing weight. The tutors seem very friendly and the class on Tolkien will be a blast I hope.
So far I have had very little interaction with the natives (sounds like a Jane Goodall film or something I know) but really if this goes on I may have to resort to blatant invites or confrontations. Who goes to Europe to hang out with a bunch of Americans? Not me!!! It is only the second day though so there is hope!

Goals for the next week:

Meet at least one local and have a meaningful conversation

Eat fish and chips

Find this lake Dr. Kluthe kept swearing was here

Pray daily for no more rain

That's enough for now. Will post more later. For now check out the pictures.