Hey guys,
I have but 2 minutes to shoot you something quick so here it goes:
Wimbledon was absolutely amazing. We had grounds passes but queued (or waited in line) for 2.5 hours and ended up with court one tickets. I'll give more details about matches later when I have more time. It as an absolutely phenomenal experience though.
The cruise/ferry over to Amsterdam was pretty awful... 15 hour travel day, but it's okay.
I've only been in Amsterdam for a day and a half, but I can sum it up in 4 words: Kristina, you belong here. Everyone rides bikes and the coffee shops are all so eccentric yet chill. We're headed to the Heinekin brewery here in a few minutes, then we have a canal tour of the city, then to the Anne Frank house tonight. Tomorrow we're off to Paris via charter bus with a stop in Brussels, Belgium.
Hopefully I'll have free wifi in Paris? Fingers crossed.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
A Quick Wimbledon Update
So I heard back, finally. We had centre court passes.. which would have been amazing seeing that Venus Williams, Roddick and Murray all the three centre court matches tomorrow, but she said that a golf client randomly showed up so she had to produce tickets... so unless she can get her hands on more, we just have grounds passes tomorrow. It's totally fine though because there's still some amazing matches that aren't on centre court. I plan on watching the Melanie Oudin vs. Jankovic match followed by the Mauresmo vs. Flavia Pennetta match, both on court 3. So look for me! I'll probably end up watching the Safina match as my third.. she is number 1 in the world, so it'd probably be a good last hurrah. =)
London
Wednesday definitely started out with a bang so to say. haha. So we've all bought oyster passes so we can go anywhere on the Underground for free for the week and Wednesday was our first group tube trip to the National Gallery. Imagine the tube as the metro or the L, it's all the same thing.. but they run way more frequently, like every 2 minutes, so there's no reason to rush to get on one ever. Nonetheless, a group of like 6 of us ran down the stairs and jumped on the train.. 5 of us made it.. the last tried to literally superman dive onto the train and got caught halfway between the doors. Literally, a bigger girl with her arms and upper body was on the train and legs and bottom half was on the platform when the door closed. It was absolutely hilarious. Just try and picture it and I hope you laugh.
Anyways, the National Gallery was pretty cool. The Monets were my absolute favorite. I can't even describe how amazing they are in person. After the museum 8 of us went and got sandwiches and wine and picniced in St. James park, outside Buckingham Palace. It was way fun.. I've made good friends with 3 other girls (one from Ohio State, one from Purdue, and one from University of Indianapolis) and a couple guys (one from Ball State and one from Minneapolis).. there must be some sort of midwest bond, haha. But anyways, it was just like great conversation in good company and really pretty.
After our picnic we saw Wiked which was pretty good, but really long, then hit up a little bar across the street after. London pounds suck and they don't have bills smaller than 5 pounds, so when you get change back after breaking a 10, it's all in coins.. they're awful to carry around so we ended up buying a pitcher in change, I guess it didn't help much with the American reputation, but it was hilarious.
Yesterday we had another lecture then a visit to Westminster Abbey. It was gorgeous. I walked over Darwin and TS Eliot's tombstones amongst others, I felt pretty special. haha. We had an AIFS boat ride last night down the Thames.. oh man it was crazy. I got to drive the boat. haha. We'll leave that story there for now. Details can be asked for later.
Today I was awfully hungover, but we went to the Tate Modern.. by far the coolest art museum I've ever seen. There was so much recent art that it's crazy to think that people are still living and creating this stuff. The Picasso's were pretty sweet as well. In the afternoon we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum.. kind of like the Natural History museum.. a cultural museum. It was pretty awesome as well. There was a lot of down time today which was crucial.. then two of the girls and I got sushi and gelato. Right now we're just hanging out, drinking wine and eating strawberries.. girls night in. All in all, London's been perfect.
I'm getting kind of nervous about Wimbledon tomorrow because I haven't heard back from my mentor about meeting times and tickets tomorrow.. so hopefully it all works out. The earliest matches start at noon, I don't know what court we'd have tickets for, but definitely watch anyways! There's some awesome matches tomorrow!
Okay, I probably won't write again until Amsterdam (or maybe even Paris).. of which we leave for at 4:20AM on Sunday morning... coincidence? haha. Love you all!
Anyways, the National Gallery was pretty cool. The Monets were my absolute favorite. I can't even describe how amazing they are in person. After the museum 8 of us went and got sandwiches and wine and picniced in St. James park, outside Buckingham Palace. It was way fun.. I've made good friends with 3 other girls (one from Ohio State, one from Purdue, and one from University of Indianapolis) and a couple guys (one from Ball State and one from Minneapolis).. there must be some sort of midwest bond, haha. But anyways, it was just like great conversation in good company and really pretty.
After our picnic we saw Wiked which was pretty good, but really long, then hit up a little bar across the street after. London pounds suck and they don't have bills smaller than 5 pounds, so when you get change back after breaking a 10, it's all in coins.. they're awful to carry around so we ended up buying a pitcher in change, I guess it didn't help much with the American reputation, but it was hilarious.
Yesterday we had another lecture then a visit to Westminster Abbey. It was gorgeous. I walked over Darwin and TS Eliot's tombstones amongst others, I felt pretty special. haha. We had an AIFS boat ride last night down the Thames.. oh man it was crazy. I got to drive the boat. haha. We'll leave that story there for now. Details can be asked for later.
Today I was awfully hungover, but we went to the Tate Modern.. by far the coolest art museum I've ever seen. There was so much recent art that it's crazy to think that people are still living and creating this stuff. The Picasso's were pretty sweet as well. In the afternoon we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum.. kind of like the Natural History museum.. a cultural museum. It was pretty awesome as well. There was a lot of down time today which was crucial.. then two of the girls and I got sushi and gelato. Right now we're just hanging out, drinking wine and eating strawberries.. girls night in. All in all, London's been perfect.
I'm getting kind of nervous about Wimbledon tomorrow because I haven't heard back from my mentor about meeting times and tickets tomorrow.. so hopefully it all works out. The earliest matches start at noon, I don't know what court we'd have tickets for, but definitely watch anyways! There's some awesome matches tomorrow!
Okay, I probably won't write again until Amsterdam (or maybe even Paris).. of which we leave for at 4:20AM on Sunday morning... coincidence? haha. Love you all!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Getting Acclaimated to London
Hello!!
I'm officially in Europe! I arrived in London at to our hotel at about 7:30AM Monday morning (or 2:30AM ET) along with 6 other students who were on my flight in as well. We're staying in the Kensington area at a hotel called the Copthorne Terra. It's actually pretty nice.. there's lower seeded Wimbledon players staying there as well.. to put it into perspective. The first day was kind of a blur. A lot of walking around Kensington and figuring out the area. The hotel is 1 block from the closest tube station, 2 blocks from High Street which has a ton of shops and supermarkets, etc., and 4 blocks from the Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park (perfect for running!). After a welcome dinner a bunch of people and I went to a local grocery store, bought a bottle of wine and some Stella and hung out for a while before heading to a "University" pub. That's right, Imperial University is a different small University about a mile down the main road and their union has a bar in it. Hilarious and awesome. It was all college students and drinks were cheap. The bartenders kept making fun of our American accents.. but I suppose it's something I just need to get used to.
Yesterday (Tuesday) we had a guided bus/walking tour that took us all over London. We ventured past Harrods, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Museum of Natural History, Buckingham Palace (where we got out and were able to walk around for a bit), and down into the West End - which is beautiful. We drove through (then later walked through) Picadilly Circus, SoHo (unbelievably gay you can't even begin to imagine..), Covent Gardens, and Oxford Square. The bus tour also stopped at the Tower of London where we were given admission tickets to the Tower and visited the crown jewels amongst other things. Interesting fact: all the spiral staircases inside the Tower are built backwards so that if someone was trying to besiege the castle it was virtually impossible to fight with a right-handed sword.
Today we had our first lecture on Art and are headed here in about an hour to the National Gallery then to a showing of Wiked downtown in the West End.
I'm out of time, so that's all for now, hopefully I'll be able to post more tomorrow or Friday!
Miss you all!!
I'm officially in Europe! I arrived in London at to our hotel at about 7:30AM Monday morning (or 2:30AM ET) along with 6 other students who were on my flight in as well. We're staying in the Kensington area at a hotel called the Copthorne Terra. It's actually pretty nice.. there's lower seeded Wimbledon players staying there as well.. to put it into perspective. The first day was kind of a blur. A lot of walking around Kensington and figuring out the area. The hotel is 1 block from the closest tube station, 2 blocks from High Street which has a ton of shops and supermarkets, etc., and 4 blocks from the Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park (perfect for running!). After a welcome dinner a bunch of people and I went to a local grocery store, bought a bottle of wine and some Stella and hung out for a while before heading to a "University" pub. That's right, Imperial University is a different small University about a mile down the main road and their union has a bar in it. Hilarious and awesome. It was all college students and drinks were cheap. The bartenders kept making fun of our American accents.. but I suppose it's something I just need to get used to.
Yesterday (Tuesday) we had a guided bus/walking tour that took us all over London. We ventured past Harrods, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Museum of Natural History, Buckingham Palace (where we got out and were able to walk around for a bit), and down into the West End - which is beautiful. We drove through (then later walked through) Picadilly Circus, SoHo (unbelievably gay you can't even begin to imagine..), Covent Gardens, and Oxford Square. The bus tour also stopped at the Tower of London where we were given admission tickets to the Tower and visited the crown jewels amongst other things. Interesting fact: all the spiral staircases inside the Tower are built backwards so that if someone was trying to besiege the castle it was virtually impossible to fight with a right-handed sword.
Today we had our first lecture on Art and are headed here in about an hour to the National Gallery then to a showing of Wiked downtown in the West End.
I'm out of time, so that's all for now, hopefully I'll be able to post more tomorrow or Friday!
Miss you all!!
Friday, June 19, 2009
Overview/ Test-run
Hey guys!
Thanks for checking in! I thought blogging would be a better idea than emailing in efforts to keep everyone updated on my life overseas. This way I don't bombard your inbox and you can read at your leisure. :)
I basically just wanted to give this thing a test-run before I leave to make sure everything is set up, ready, and working when I get to Europe. I'm going to do my absolute best to post every 3-4 days at most while I'm gone. The only restraints I may have are finding internet access and time to sit down and write.
FYI: I leave for London this Sunday, June 21st in the afternoon and arrive at like 6AM Monday morning (UK time). I'll be in London until the following Sunday and then I head over to Amsterdam and beyond.
If you have thoughts or comments or anything while I'm gone, PLEASE don't hesitate to email me! Just because I'm in a different country doesn't mean I want to be out-of-the-loop!
Okay! Love you all and I'll miss you!
Thanks for checking in! I thought blogging would be a better idea than emailing in efforts to keep everyone updated on my life overseas. This way I don't bombard your inbox and you can read at your leisure. :)
I basically just wanted to give this thing a test-run before I leave to make sure everything is set up, ready, and working when I get to Europe. I'm going to do my absolute best to post every 3-4 days at most while I'm gone. The only restraints I may have are finding internet access and time to sit down and write.
FYI: I leave for London this Sunday, June 21st in the afternoon and arrive at like 6AM Monday morning (UK time). I'll be in London until the following Sunday and then I head over to Amsterdam and beyond.
If you have thoughts or comments or anything while I'm gone, PLEASE don't hesitate to email me! Just because I'm in a different country doesn't mean I want to be out-of-the-loop!
Okay! Love you all and I'll miss you!
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