Pictures

I realized that I haven't posted any pictures on here for those who don't have Facebook to see! Here are a few for your enjoyment!

Standing in 2 hemispheres!
White Cliffs of Dover

And the traveling begins!

Okay all, exciting things to talk about! :)

Let's start with Thursday; in class we talked about the media and the phone hacking scandal that has caused a great deal of anger from the public. I found this to be much more interesting than the discussion of British politics the week before, however we did get a bit off topic during my seminar. The rest of the day was spent just hanging out in Vandon. Thursday night our programme was able to go to a concert by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Cadogan Hall. I enjoyed the music as I am a fan of classical music, but would have enjoyed it more if it was choral. The violins were probably the most enjoyable to watch.

Friday was our day trip to Greenwich. We took a boat ride from Westminster Pier which was lovely but quite chilly. Luckily it was warmer on land and turned out to be a quite beautiful fall day. We went to the Royal Observatory where I was able to stand on the Prime Meridian with one foot in each hemisphere! Lots of fun touristy pictures were taken. We then explored the Maritime Museum a bit and ate lunch at Cafe Sol, a delicious Mexican restaurant with great tacos and margaritas! Before headed back to our part of London, we meandered around the Greenwich Market that had a lot of hand crafted clothes, jewelry, and art, as well as a lot of vintage items.

Saturday, Dan, Chelsea, Sarah and I went around to a few small nearby markets for some fruit and veggies. Since we have to join a club for British Experience Seminar, I decided to go to the University of London Sailing Club "fresher's meal" at Bella Italia for supper. I went, and despite the awkwardness of not knowing a single person, ended up having a good time with 23 of the club members. I had some good food and talked with a few Brits as well as a Psychology masters student from Boston. As kind of an initiation, they had us eat our dessert in a race without using silverware or hands! Not trying to win, I stuffed my face in my chocolate cake quite entertained by the situation. After dinner, they were going to head out to a few bars and clubs, but since it was already late, I headed back to Vandon because I was going to have a very early Sunday morning...

Sunday morning at 7:30am, Chelsea, Dan, and I boarded a bus that drove the 2 and a half hours to the English coastal town of Dover, where the White Cliffs are located. It was an absolutely gorgeous fall day, which we started at the rocky beach. Chelsea was like a little kid in a candy store when she saw the ocean. We found some sea glass to take as souvenirs! We had brunch at a pub in town that was so cheap and delicious! We headed to the Western Heights area first, walking up and around the fortification that was built to protect Dover from the French invasion during the 1860's. We were only able to access the moat, but it was still really cool. From the top of the hills, we had great views of the Dover Castle on the other side of town, the port, and part of the cliffs. We were trying to find the ruins of an old church somewhere in the area, but failed and just ended up walking back and forth for a long while. Chelsea and I then went to tour the Castle of Dover which was massive! One would need a full day to see everything there. We focused our tour on the Great Tower, were we got to see rooms in the castle as they would have looked back in King Henry II's time. We were able to climb to the castle rooftop which had spectacular views! Then we went to the Roman lighthouse, built over 2000 years ago, and the church of St. Mary-in-Castro. Much of the time I felt like I was in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and Chelsea and I ended up quoting a bit of it. ;) We finally began our hike over to the White Cliffs, where Dan was exploring a bit on his own. We met up with Dan and sat and watched the sunset over the cliffs. The views were breathtaking!! Despite being in much pain from hiking somewhere between 25-30 miles total (yes, really) the trip was well worth it. I would love to go back and just spend more time on the cliffs, and go tour the lighthouse that we didn't quite make the trek to.

Today I was quite tired and sore, and after yoga, spent the day relaxing and working on a religion paper. It is now time for bed as I start another 2 days of my internship, and on Thursday we go to the Cabinet War Rooms for Contemporary Britain. Then Thursday night is the start of fall break!!!!!!! I am excited for more traveling!

Homework? What is that?

With midterms approaching, we have assignments due. These assignments are hardly difficult or even that many compared to what a college student is used to, but when studying abroad, finding the time and motivation to complete them is difficult. But, on Sunday, I stayed in and worked on them all afternoon, somehow finding the ability to be productive.

Sunday evening, our religion class attended an Anglican church service. It was in a small building that had previously been a pub, and still smelled somewhat like one. ;) The congregation was small and the service very informal. The priest at the church does not lead the services each Sunday; instead members of the congregation take turns organising and leading worship. The service was simple, and did not really evoke much feeling in me. Definitely different from the Holy Cross Church we visited a week ago, with its formal Catholic-style services that are the same every week. This was the distinction our professor wanted us to see; how while the Church of England is the largest denomination in the UK, each church within it can be strikingly different.

Monday, I went to yoga, then headed down to Brixton to go to Iceland, a UK supermarket chain, to buy some cheap groceries. After lunch, I met with two other girls to plan a weekend trip to Paris. After that, I got a haircut to try and liven my curls a bit. I worked on more homework that night as well.

Tuesday, I spent the morning at my internship playing with 3 young girls (about 1-2 years old) who were there while their mothers took adult learning classes at the centre. I then went to a primary school with Lily, to watch her do her activities. The kids were full of energy today which made it difficult for Lily to get through the session in the already short amount of time. This session, they created a fictional person, named Alex (notice how this name could be used for a girl or a boy), who is 10 years old (same as the students) and dealing with various problems, such as bullying. The kids talk about Alex's problems and how he/she could solve them such as who to go to for help. This school was in the middle of Soho, in a building that looked like it used to be flats. The kids were more knowledgeable than I expected; I don't think 10 and 11 year-old kids in Iowa schools would know what dyslexia or Asperger's syndrome were unless they knew someone who had it. They also seemed to have a larger vocabulary than I remember having at that age! I wonder if it is the UK, or London, or just being in the middle of a multicultural city that this is.

Today, I spent the morning at the Bayswater Children's Centre (not family centre, where my internship is) to help with reception as they were overly busy with clients coming in. When I returned after lunch, the Family Centre was the busiest I have seen it thus far; the phone would not stop ringing and the door would not stop buzzing. I spent the first part of the afternoon helping Lily with the report for her project evaluations, working quickly so I could finish before I assisted another advisor with a meeting with a 12-year-old client with a physical disability applying for disability assistance. My heart broke by the sadness and anger that was so clearly visible on the boy's face. He has a healthy twin and wants to know why he has to live in a wheelchair and be in pain while his brother can run and play like a normal child. His mother is hurting because her son blames her when he lies awake at night crying from the pain and having to be treated like a baby. Anyway, I helped by taking notes and filling out a long form that will need to be finished the next time they come to the centre. The meeting went quite slow, my co-worker going off subject often and not asking the questions that were needed to complete the long form that the family came for. I was also unsure how much I help in a way that was appropriate, I will try to talk to my co-worker more beforehand next time I go in a meeting with him.

Well, classes in the morning, I need to get some sleep! Tomorrow night we get to attend the London Philharmonic and Friday we are spending the day in Greenwich! :)

Cheers!

Fall (weather) has arrived!

Well today I saw Mom and Scott off, and they should be about back to the States by now. In all honesty, I am a bit jealous of them; I am starting to miss home, mainly from me being sick of living in a city, something I am hoping will be relieved as I start my travels. Fall break is in less than 2 weeks! Ireland & Italy, here I come! Anyways, here is what my family and I have been up to the last few days:

On Wednesday, I went to my internship and had a pretty pleasant day there. I began working on a little report for Lily, the Domestic Violence in-school Coordinator that is doing those activities at schools. I am going through the pre- and post-evaluations the students and teachers have filled out from her sessions. I am going through and doing a little quantitative analyses and will create a report for her to put in her files. Nothing fancy, but at least it's finally something I can use a little of my Psychology skills on! I WILL go with her on Tuesday afternoon to help with her activities at a primary school in Soho. From their pre-tests, it seems the kids there, in grades 5 and 6, have pretty progressive ideas about what is expected of boys & girls/men & women. One of the questions on the form asks, "Are there any jobs that are only for girls or only for boys?" and I did not see anyone answer that there were, apart from a few saying something like "policemen are boys, policewomen are girls." I wondered how kids in Iowa schools would respond. Mom and Scott came at the end of the day to see where I am interning, and my mom had a nice conversation with my supervisor about the social services. Then we headed over to the Phoenix Theatre where we saw the musical Blood Brothers. It was a great musical!! I don't know why I don't hear about it more, apparently it has been running for 20-some years. I think I enjoyed it more than Wicked. Before that, we ate at Spaghetti House, where I had the best dessert ever: a kind of layered ice-cream cake that had 3 layers of different flavors of gelato!! :)

Thursday, I had class and Mom and Scott headed to Windsor Castle for the day. I spent the rest of the day doing laundry and just hanging out in Vandon whilst they were away. Yesterday, Mom, Scott and I went to tour Westminster Abbey, which was an experience much like that at Buckingham Palace and St. Paul's Cathedral. Of course, my mom mostly enjoyed it because of the Royal Wedding held there last spring. (She's kind of obsessed with the Royal Family). ;) They continued on to the British War Museum whilst I went back to Vandon for a while. That night we tried to make it to the end of Portobello Market, but were only able to go into a few of the shops that were still open. They didn't get the full experience of the market, but they at least got to have a taste.

I think my family had a full and fun time here in the great city of London. If you see them sometime soon you should ask them about it, and maybe ask my mom about her experience with the pigeons... ;)

(That is, if they recover!)

Super tourist!

Hello all,

So my mom and uncle Scott arrived here this weekend bright and early on a very warm Saturday. They were both quite out of it after the long trip over, but after freshening up, they were ready to get out. So, we hopped on one of those sight-seeing double decker tour buses to see the city. We sat on the top which was outside, and saw all the main sights of London. Afterwards, we ventured back towards Vandon House and ate at a pub. We took a short walk through St. James' Park to end the evening.

Mom is determined to eat all the English dishes, so the next morning we had lunch at another pub where she had the full traditional English breakfast, which entails bacon, sausage, eggs, roasted tomato, baked beans, mushrooms, and toast. Mom also had her heart set on touring inside Buckingham Palace, but it was the second to last day the Palace was open for touring and we were told tickets were sold out. However, whilst my mom and uncle were checking out London souvenirs at a little shop across the street, there was a sign saying the shop sold tickets. So of course my mom asked, and surprisingly enough, they had some! We bought some and went over to the Palace, somewhat skeptical that they would actually work, but we got in in 5 minutes! I was enthralled by the palace; mainly because of the history I was walking amongst. We saw some State Rooms, Kate Middleton's dress and the cake from the Royal Wedding last spring, and the Palace Gardens. It was a wonderful tour. I decided I want my house to have a balcony overlooking a backyard garden someday. Sunday evening we took a ride on the London Eye just before sunset. This was the second time for me on the Eye but I enjoyed it even more this time since it was nice out which allowed for pretty pictures!

Monday morning we headed over to have a quick tour of St. Paul's Cathedral. So beautiful! I want to attend a service there sometime whilst I am here to get the full experience of the place. I had my yoga class at noon, which I am beginning to really enjoy! It's just really relaxing; I can let out the stress and frustration I am beginning to have from living in a city. Plus, I didn't run into that creepy guy this week! Mom and Scott met me for lunch afterwards and then headed over to Westminster Pier to board a boat that took us down the Thames to Tower Bridge. We toured the Tower of London there which was also incredibly awesome! The highlights of this tour were the Crown Jewels and the Bloody Tower where King Henry's illegitimate sons were supposedly murdered. We ate at The Slug and Lettuce, a great cheap place to eat on Monday nights.

Today, I had my internship. I went to the Queen's Park Children's Centre to help out with some filing over there; so exciting! (Not.) I was supposed to go to a primary school this afternoon to do domestic violence preventive activities, but I did not get back from Queen's Park in time to leave with Lily. I was so disappointed, and ended up doing more boring tasks the rest of the day. I met Mom and Scott at Herrod's afterwards to experience some high-class shopping. I was pretty overwhelmed and felt a bit out-of-place at this huge, designer-label filled store. The entire time I was thinking, "Really? Is any of this stuff necessary for anyone?? So much money could be spent towards a million better things!" I had a slight urge to set such a place on fire or steal or break something.

So yes, these last few days have been quite full and super touristy. The next few days will be a bit toned down, with my internship and classes on Thursday. At least the hot weather has gone!

Cheers for now!

One month has gone by...2.5 more will go just as fast!

I give you my apologies as it has been over a week since my last post! I am sure you are all wondering what I have been up to! Well, I will try to get you up-to-date in my life in London.

Can you believe I have been in London for a whole month now? I'm not sure how to feel about it; it doesn't feel like we have been here long yet at the same time it seems like those first few days in the new city were so long ago. We are about a third of the way through the program and I haven't gotten to do any traveling outside of England yet! But don't worry, I have many plans, mostly for weekend trips in November, such as Paris, Germany, and Wales, and of course, lots of traveling during fall break: Ireland, Italy, and Greece.

I will start with last week after my last post.

On Thursday we had class in the morning, which many of us were late to thanks to crowded tubes. Mark was not pleased with us. We were learning about different types of media in Britain. Religion class in the afternoon was quite interesting; we discussed how religion is defined and then took an online quiz to find out what religion our beliefs follow. On both Friday and Saturday, I went to Portobello Market. I LOVE this place. There are some great antiques, gifts, clothes, and food. We didn't make it all the way to the end of the market as it seems to just go on and on forever. I bought a tube map tea towel and some photos. I also found the best gift ever for my boyfriend: the first pressing of the first Beatles album, "Please, Please Me" as well as their "Rubber Soul" album. I wanted to keep it a secret, but of course, I couldn't contain myself with a gift like that, so he got it out of me. He is really excited about them though! I had Gelato (Italian style ice cream) for the first time on Friday at the market. It was so delicious. Saturday night, a group of us went out to a pub for Alex and Cameron's birthdays. It was a fun night that included karaoke which Alex got up and sang Elton John to Anna (too cute!).

On Sunday, I spent my afternoon at Hampstead Heath park up north. It is a very large park with a lot of ponds and trees that makes you forget you are in a city. I found myself a large tree that had fallen to sit and read on. I was a bit lost wondering around that place but it was quite enjoyable to hike around there on such a beautiful day. I went to Westminster Chapel's evening service again on my own and there were 3 men who got baptized during the service. It was something I had never seen before: a tiny pool under the floorboards where the person was fully submerged in. I was glad I attended that night as the stories these three men shared where quite moving. Later Sunday night, a group of us went to get poffertjes from a place called My Old Dutch restaurant as a surprise for Cameron on his birthday. It was almost like Tulip Time! ;)

Monday I went over to City Lit for my first yoga class. I really enjoyed the class; it consists of just 8 women of various ages and a male instructor who was really helpful. We went through some basic breathing and stretching exercises and a few poses. I am supposed to practice "The Cat" pose this week. However, one thing that makes me not look forward to going back there: a very awkward guy who kept following me around and asking me all sorts of questions. He told me he would see me next Monday...yikes! That afternoon, I went to see "Crazy Stupid Love" with Shannon at a cinema that was much larger and nicer than the one Margaret and I went to a couple weeks ago!

Tuesday and Wednesday I had my internship. I really didn't do much at all this week. I would go around and ask everyone if they wanted me to do something for them, but they all responded with, "No, I don't have anything you can do at the moment." They were all busy, but with things I apparently cannot help with. It was very frustrating just sitting around with nothing to do. I came here for an internship where I could get some real experience working in the psychology/sociology field, but so far haven't done much yet. I do like the organisation and what it does, and the people are all very nice and good at what they do. I have learned a bit from just listening to conversations and doing some reading whilst I am there. However, next Tuesday, I will have things to do: I am first going to another branch to help out with some things there and then in the afternoon I am going to a school with the Domestic Violence in Schools Coordinator to do those activities I discussed in my last post. I hope it all goes well and that I will have things to do all the time from now on...

Yesterday, we had class in the morning where we discussed the recent London riots and then for Religions in London, we met at Holy Cross Church of England to tour and talk to the priest about the church. It was very pretty inside, a very Catholic-like church that is 123 years old with large arches going up along the sides.

Today, we left in the morning for Stonehenge and Bath. We spent around a half hour at Stonehenge walking around on the path, and then moved on to Bath, where we toured the Roman Baths and had a little time to walk around the town. Bath is such a lovely town with a gorgeous hilly countryside (apparently several celebrities have homes there). The weather was so beautiful for the trip, and I got some really great photos of both places. The weather here has actually been very nice for about a week and a half now; sunny and warm, little rain. This weekend though, it is in the 80s!! Very nice, especially for the arrival of my mom and uncle Scott tomorrow morning! They are coming to visit me for a week with a very full itinerary! ;)

I have been very tired this week, having trouble staying awake in class and at my internship when I am doing boring tasks or sitting waiting to do something. It is the worst in the mornings, and it makes me wonder if something is up with my thyroid or if I just have not been getting enough sleep. I haven't been going to sleep as early as I would like, usually due to the noise outside or talking to my boyfriend on Skype. But, it still should be enough that I can keep my eyes open during the day! This week has also included a lot of planning for fall break trips, which can get stressful. Something I have noticed about myself lately is how irritated I get by the crowds, particularly on the tube, who get in my way as I try to get to class or my internship or other places. I guess that means I am becoming an official Londoner!

Well that's about it; you are now caught up in my London adventure. I will try to write more often this coming week as I see and do all sorts of things with my mom and uncle. Hopefully I will have more energy this week!!

Cheers!

Internship: Week 1

This is how my first week of interning at Bayswater Family Centre went:

Tuesday, 20th September

I was supposed to arrive at 9:30am, but tube ride took about 5 minutes longer than it had on Monday, so I arrived a few minutes late. This did not make a difference as the only person who knew what time I was supposed to arrive, my supervisor, does not come in until around 10. I spent the morning browsing the website for Action for Children, the corporation which the centre does services for, reading about its policies and services, particularly about child protection. I was so tired this morning that I was afraid of falling asleep at the computer; luckily I was in the corner so no one could notice. The information covered topics I was familiar with from previous work and volunteer experience, such as dealing with children who may be dealing with abuse as well as confidentiality guidelines. I made a few copies, was introduced to most of the staff, and had a tour. I was given an hour lunch break and was allowed to leave fairly early--around 2:45pm--since they didn't have much work for me to do.

Wednesday, 21st September

I started at my internship around 9:30am again, and was given the task of laminating and cutting a stack of pages for a domestic violence advice team member for the morning. I quickly became interested in the activities she was using these pages for as some had photos of people with t-shirts saying, "This is what a feminist looks like," one of them being President Obama, and others lists of statements of which one was to determine whether or not it was an abuse situation. Other pages had lists of various occupations, types of toys, and colors. I was told these had to do with gender stereotypes, which if you know me and my psychology/sociology interests, you know this caught my attention! I found out later that this temporary coworker of mine co-ordinates with local schools to conduct sessions with students as well as with groups of teachers on domestic violence related topics. She was using these materials I was preparing for some drama-like activities for primary students that are supposed to be an effort to prevent domestic violence in the kids' future intimate relationships. The gender-related activities get at how they have already formed these ideas of how boys and girls/men and women are supposed to behave in society. This activity is important since domestic violence stems from the use of power to control others, and men are often seen as the one in a relationship as having the power. She told me how she has had long discussions, debates almost, with groups of students over the statement, "Real men never cry." She said that I would likely be able to come along with her on her school visits and help with these activities, and so at the end of the day I talked about it with my supervisor, who said she was actually going to bring it up with me since many of the visits are on Tuesdays. So, I am now quite excited for my future Tuesdays! :)

The rest of the day, I made packets which are filled out by new clients that come in, as well as composed an email from an administration worker's notes on getting some money for some money management training sessions. It was a full day compared to yesterday. I have definitely noticed the slower pace of work compared to the U.S. work environment. The staff spend a lot of time chatting and making tea throughout the day, and a workday here has much fewer hours than in the States. It's a wonder much work gets done! I had been told in the morning by a office manager that she would have a task for me within a half hour, she just had to finish another task first; she never finished it while I was there! Nevertheless, it is an enjoyable place and I can see myself learning a lot here. I find out a lot about the work they do just by listening to the conversations around me.

I can't wait to tell you how next week goes! :)