Tag Archives: england

10 London Things

I can’t believe that it’s already the third week in March. Mainly because it means I only have ONE WEEK OF CLASSES LEFT. Yup. One of the craziest things about UCL is that unlike at Penn State, where I would’ve just been coming back from spring break, I will have no more official classes after this week. I have a four week break (!) before term three, or the examination period, officially begins. Many full-time students haven’t had any sort of exam all year because it all comes down to one exam per subject during this period. Luckily for me, I only have one exam to prepare for (which is 100% of my grade for the course) and one essay. Such insanity coming from a school with 16ish week semesters. Most British unis are like this, but some are even worse–Oxford and Cambridge only have eight week terms! So as you can probably imagine, I have some pretty major plans for that time.

Before coming here, a common thing that I heard from people who had studied here in the past was that I shouldn’t forget London. After all, I didn’t just come here to jet off to other European countries every weekend (well, not entirely)– I came here to experience London. I’m so incredibly lucky to be living right in the center of London, where I can casually walk to Soho or Covent Garden to go shopping, pop into the British Museum after class, or be in Notting Hill or Shoreditch in less than 15 minutes on the tube. I’ve fallen into a routine here, so sometimes I have to step back to pinch myself and realize that I’m actually here. I realize that I haven’t really written about the city much (I hope to change that) and that I’ve mainly been focusing on my trips, so here are just 10 amazing things I’ve done in London in the last three months!

Shows, Shows, Shows!

It was on my to-do list to see a west end show, and almost three months in, I’ve seen The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Wicked, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Bend It Like Beckham The Musical. It’s definitely possible to get reasonably priced tickets for most shows, especially if you go on a weeknight–I paid less for all of those shows combined than I did to see the Book of Mormon in Chicago. We also went to the ballet at the Royal Opera House, and ironically it was one of the cheapest activities I’ve done in London at only £4 (for literally the worst nosebleed seats in the entire place, but hey, you get what you pay for!)

Shoreditch/Brick Lane
Brick Lane

Shout out to Ouarda Paluzzi for being the first to show me the wonders of Shoreditch and what a unique place it is. Home to awesome street art, the best Indian food in London, my favorite chocolate joint Dark Sugars, rainbow bagels, the famous Cereal Killer Cafe, and probably hundreds of vintage stores, Shoreditch is a hipster’s paradise and is one of my favorite places to just walk around because the surroundings are always changing.

Holland Park and Notting Hill

Portobello Road in Notting Hill

It’s not the biggest park in London, but it’s a perfect escape from the hustle and bustle–and it’s also the only park I know of in London to have peacocks roaming around. It’s in Notting Hill which is probably the prettiest (and most expensive) neighborhood in London, with its iconic ivory and pastel houses and Portobello Road market.

Soho (always)

Because of how close it is to where I live, my friends and I find ourselves there multiple times a week. Whether it’s to eat, grab a drink, shop, or just walk around, all roads seem to lead back to Soho. My favorite street is Wardour Street, which is packed with restaurants that all look SO GOOD (including a Hummingbird bakery and one of London’s only Chipotles).

Covent Garden

Another place that I can walk to (which is awesome because the tube station there is always a nightmare), it’s my favorite place to shop in London. It has any and every store you could think of, including iconic British brands like Cath Kidston, Barbour, and Jack Wills.

Sky Garden
Sky Garden

Don’t buy tickets to the Shard’s observation deck–make a free reservation at Skygarden! On the top three floors of what is affectionately known as the Walkie Talkie (I have no idea what the actual name is), it’s a huge urban garden on top of a skyscraper with panoramic views of London. There’s also a restaurant and bar, and I’ve heard they do morning yoga there sometimes!

Markets!

Borough, Old Spitalfields, Southbank, Covent Garden, Greenwich, Leather Lane, Camden Lock, Columbia Road, Portobello Road–the list goes on. Exploring different markets is my favorite London activity, and each one has their own unique vibe. Markets will get their own post soon!

Westminster at night

It’s great during the day, but on a weeknight the crowds are gone, and you’re free to walk around and enjoy the most iconic London landmarks all up in lights, from the Houses of Parliament to the London Eye.

Bakeries

I don’t know how much weight I’ve gained since I’ve been here. I don’t want to know how much weight I’ve gained since I’ve been here. Calories aren’t supposed to count while you’re on vacation, so I’m extending that to apply to study abroad as well. That being said, bakeries! London has so many! I watch too much Bake Off not to try to go to as many sweet stores as I can, and some are dangerously close to my flat. Lola’s Cupcakes, Ben’s Cookies, Hummingbird Bakery, Kontidor and Cooke, and Choccywoccydoodah have been some of my favorites!

Greenwich
The Prime Meridian

I love Greenwich because while it’s still in London, it feels a million miles away. It has a cute downtown area with tons of restaurants and shops, and a beautiful park that has spectacular views of the city if you climb to the top of the hill. It’s also where the Prime Meridian, or Longitude 0, passes through, so you can stand with one half of yourself in the eastern hemisphere and the other half in the western.

That’s all about London for now–next up, Copenhagen!

Location: London

Hot Chocolate

Dark Sugars

I’ve done a lot in the past month and a half. I could write about all the crazy things I’ve done in London, my day and weekend trips, or my life at UCL. But for some reason I really just want to talk about one thing, and that is hot chocolate. I don’t know what happened, but my friends and I have somehow found ourselves on a quest to find the best hot chocolate in London, and maybe, the UK. It all started the chocolate store Dark Sugars in Shoreditch. I’m a chocoholic. It’s my favorite food. I eat it every single day. And I’m telling you this store changed my perceptions on chocolate, and possibly even MY LIFE. Maybe it was the insane

Dark Sugars

generosity when it came to free samples (and this store isn’t exactly cheap), maybe it was trying the raw cacao beans they have in store, maybe it was the pink champagne or gin and lime truffles. But their hot chocolate is a chocoholic’s DREAM. We tried just the plain flavour (but they had several spice flavors like cinnamon and chili). They take big blocks of dark, white, and milk chocolate and chop and grate it down, mix it with warm frothy milk and cocoa powder and put even more shavings on top. When you get about halfway done it turns basically to thick, melted chocolate. This store is truly my happy place.

While I’ve yet to find a hot chocolate in London that has surpassed the one at dark sugars, that hasn’t stopped me from trying to find one. The most memorable are as follows:

Choccywoccydoodah

-Choccywoccydoodah, Soho: this place is insane–the vibe is a mix of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate factory, the tea party in Alice in Wonderland, and a Hot Topic. With a name like Choccywoccydoodah, we knew it had to be good and it didn’t disappoint. I got the dark chocolate and cherry hot chocolate and a slice of their six-layer taster cake. Need I say more?

Chin Chin Labs

-Chin Chin Labs, Camden Market: I’ve heard that this is the best place in London for hot chocolate–while I don’t think it topped my Dark Sugars experience, I can definitely see why it has such a good reputation. The place gets points for location alone– smack dab in the middle of Camden Lock Market, one of the best street food scenes in London, and their Nitro ice cream is supposed to be phenomenal. Their hot chocolates were delicious and not too sweet, and the dollop of bruleed marshmallow fluff on top made my day.

Mary’s Milk Bar

-Mary’s Milk Bar, Edinburgh. Okay, so this one isn’t in London, but I couldn’t not include it. This little place wasn’t far from our hostel in Edinburgh’s grassmarket neighborhood, and is Buzzfeed and Insta famous. They serve their hot chocolate as floats, with a scoop of any one of their homemade ice creams. They suggested the salted caramel. It was a good suggestion. The only thing I didn’t like about this place was their limited hours so we couldn’t come back and get it again!

Said

-Said, Soho: This was a bit of a different take, but was still great. Served in an espresso mug, this little shot of chocolate was intense and super thick, and it tasted like drinking brownie batter. Heaven.

Location: Wc1x 0hd

One Month Later…

I’ve really been slacking on my blogs. I know. I thought when I went to study abroad I would be blogging non stop, but I’ve been busier than I ever thought I would be. This is a big reason why:

This is a map of every place I’ve been since I’ve last blogged. List wise, it goes like this: Oxford, Dover, Cambridge, Salisbury, Bath, Paris, Edinburgh, Melrose, Roslin, St. Andrews, Anstruther, Pittenweem, Glasgow, Luss, Glencoe, and Fort Augustus/Loch Ness–in short, I’ve been exploring England and Scotland and I went to France for a weekend. Whew. I’ve no idea how to go about describing all the incredible things I’ve done over the past month, so I’ll give a list of a few of the highlights.

-Scotland. Just Scotland. I hope to get a blog up on my week excursion up north soon, so stay tuned!

Dover

-Climbing the Cliffs of Dover: It may have seemed like maybe not the best idea to head down to Dover in January, but the weather that day was 100% on our side–which in England means any day that is over 40 degrees and not raining! We climbed along the tops of the misty cliffs and it was absolutely breathtaking! I still haven’t gotten all of the mud off my shoes though!

-Cambridge: Cambridge is simply gorgeous. The old buildings, the boats punting along the river, and the random professors walking around in full academic regalia is an amazing change of pace from London, even if it’s only an hour away!

-Drinking the water from the Roman Baths in Bath:

Bath

don’t worry, it was the filtered stuff at the end of the museum, not the algae-riddled water in the main pools. It certainly wasn’t great–something about the taste of sulfur and iron is generally not refreshing. Did I mention it was warm?

-Theatre in London: We saw the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime and Wicked in London’s famed west end–relatively inexpensive tickets are not as difficult to come by as one might expect in London!

Champagne at Louis Vuitton

-Paris: Paris isn’t a new city for me, but it was awesome to go with friends (and to get away from the pound for a while– it might not be great for the global economy but the state of the euro right now is great for a student budget). Croque monsieurs, steak frites, macarons, french onion soup, crepes, champagne, the Mona Lisa, and the Eiffel Tower at night is how I want to spend every weekend ever.

-Market Crawling: Old Spitalfields, Borough, & Camden Lock markets are a foodie’s paradise–aka my paradise. You can get full on samples alone, but it’s impossible to leave without picking up something amazing.

-Pub culture and Icebar: I’m really going to miss being able to drink when I go back to the states. Pub culture is just awesome, sitting back and enjoying a pint with friends is a great way to end a day. Some friends and I went to a bar in Soho called Icebar (I believe they have multiple locations), and everything inside was made from ice, from the bar itself to the cups we were drinking out of! A poncho and gloves were included, seeing as it was around 25 degree in there–but as chilly as it was, it’s still warmer than Penn State.

That’s all for now–cheers!

Location: wc1x 0hd

Hello From the Other Side!

I can’t believe that two weeks ago, I was lugging my 60lb suitcase up my flat’s five flights of stairs. My cab had just dropped me off, I received my keys at reception, and I began my first day of 180 in London. Since then the time has flown by, but at the same time I feel as though I’ve been here for months. I’ve made a great group of friends (including some fellow Penn Staters!), enrolled in classes at UCL (which was in no way a simple endeavor), and have been surviving without a meal plan (!) for the first time ever.

I live in Bloomsbury in the borough of Camden, which has long been the academic hub of London (you may have heard of the famous Bloomsbury Group, which included British intellectuals like Virginia Woolf and John Maynard Keynes). It’s a great area within itself, but it only takes a few minutes on the tube to reach popular tourist stomping grounds like Piccadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace, and Soho.

University College London

University in England is more different from Penn State than I ever could’ve imagined. For one, British uni students only go for three years, and gen eds are a foreign concept all together. They’ve come into college knowing what they’re going to study, and then are given their classes (no waiting lists at all). The biggest difference, by far, is the level of independence that it expected of students. For most classes, you’re given a reading list of an average of 60 titles (including articles, books, and full textbooks) that you’re expected to read–there’s no homework or reading quizzes, but essentially how well you do on your assessments is tied to how widely read you are. My entire course grade (depending on which class) is based either on two 2,500 word essays or a single two-hour exam in May. For what will transfer as 16 US credits, I only have eight hours of class a week (and no class Fridays!), and I get a no-class “reading week” in February and four week break in March/April before exams (but after this break I also do not have any more class!). Ultimately, I haven’t decided if this way of operating stresses me out more or less than at PSU, but it definitely allows for time to travel around England and Europe. Because I have so much free time during the week to do schoolwork, I can fill my weekends and breaks with trips–and I’ve got quite a few on deck (stay tuned!)

Tower Bridge

So far it’s been nothing but a dream, and I have a harder time thinking about leaving London than I do missing America. I’m extremely grateful to my parents for supporting me while I’m on this crazy adventure of a lifetime, and it’s crazy to think that the next time I’ll be in America I’ll have lived abroad for almost half a year.

I want to take advantage of everything the city has to offer, because this will be the only time I’ll ever be able to live as centrally in London as I do now. I want to take advantage of everything that Europe has to offer, because I could never book a week vacation to Scotland from the US for less than $150. I want to take advantage of this adventure that I’ve literally been waiting my whole life for, and I want to be able to look back and say that I went to bed every night absolutely exhausted.

Cheers!

Location: WC1X 0HD

The past month: travel edition

Since it’s been some time since I’ve last posted I’m going to post two separate posts; one highlighting my travels since I last wrote, and another discussing my life in Leeds. This is my travel post:

Dublin, Ireland (Feb. 15 – 17): As all of my friends are flying to Dublin this current weekend, I opted out seeing as I went this weekend – the weekend of my birthday, to celebrate and visit a friend from home. Dublin was certainly not what I expected. I knew it was town of drinking, but to be honest I thought there would be more tourist attractions. We did the Guinness Tour (which included a free pint, overlooked Dublin, and was really interesting), as well as some of the other major attractions like Trinity College, but mostly we spent time in pubs.

I rang my birthday in at the Temple Bar, one of Dublin’s most well-known pubs, and it was really fun. The live band that was there played all of my favorite songs and everyone was so nice. The only problem I faced was flying back to Leeds the morning after. When I returned, however, my birthday was just as great. We went to our first afternoon tea since coming to England and then went out at night to a club we hadn’t been to before. All in all, turning 21 in Dublin (and also Leeds) was an experience I’ll remember forever.

York and Ilkley, England (Feb. 22 – 23): The following weekend was our attempt at staying in Leeds for a weekend the first time since arriving in January, but that didn’t really happen. Saturday, two friends and I went to York, which is under an hour away by bus and train. It’s a pretty town that has a man-made wall surrounding it. We walked the wall and visited some really interesting places. The Shambles is an area of York that still maintains its Old English buildings. So, when you’re shopping in the area it honestly feels like you’ve gone back in time. We also saw the birthplace of Guy Fawkes, which as a fan of history (and “V for Vendetta”) I found really interesting. The highlight of the day however came when we climbed to the top of the York Minster. It’s a beautiful building, but the stairs we climbed were treacherous. I think each of us at some point thought we were going to fall, especially since they were spiral, vertigo-inducing stairs. They warn you at the beginning it’s an intense hike upward, but we played it off until, of course, we were grasping the railing asking the person in front, “How much further?” Yet, reaching the top was really cool. You could see all of York, from a birds-eye-view. If only, they had an elevator to go back down.

After spending the night in Leeds, we travelled, also locally, to the Ilkley Moor. Ilkley is a spa town that highlights the English hillside. We hiked the moor for about an hour, stopping to enjoy the view and appreciate just how beautiful the English countryside truly is. Leeds is definitely beautiful and has its fair share of lush countryside, but when selecting to study here, the moor and its sheep were what I imagined England to be like.

Bath, England (Feb. 28 – March 2): This was a bit of brutal travel experience. We left Friday night around midnight after going to the Canal Mills night market in Leeds. We took a bus from Leeds to London, and then from London to Bath. But because it was a bus, I found it difficult to sleep, so when we got to Bath in the morning around 10 a.m., I was exhausted. But we had plans to attend to and no time for sleep. We checked into our hostel and explored a bit, before catching our tour bus to Stonehenge. The guide we had was great, he told really interesting stories about Jane Austen in Bath, as well as the history of Stonehenge (he was also really understanding when we passed out from lack of sleep on the bus ride to and from Stonehenge).

Stonehenge, itself, was really cool. We, of course, took a great deal of photos and marveled in its beauty. I also marveled in the immense amount of English sheep that were just grazing next to the rocks. It was surreal to me to see how Stonehenge is fairly close to a roadway. The juxtaposition of this ancient and historic landmark, next to a modern invention really brought things full circle for me. After that, our guide took us to Lacock, which was one of those trips we thought we’d do because it was included in our tour, but had no idea what it was. We were pleasantly surprised.

Lacock is this old-English town, where most of the residents are related to someone who lived there in the medieval days. In fact, in order to rent a home there, which everyone does (the trust of England owns the houses), you must be able to prove a blood-line and those who can get priority in living in the area. Lacock was also really cool because it is home to many filming locations for many movies. Because the town maintains it’s old English charm, it’s cheaper to film there than build a set. The most interesting film, in my opinion, was Harry Potter. The Lacock Abbey was home to many scenes from the film, including the scene with the Mirror of Erised and the classroom’s of Snape & Quirrell. Not to mention we saw Professor Slughorn’s home and the home of Lily and James Potter. As an HP fan, this was all very unexpected and exciting for me. Lacock was also a filming home to the BBC’s productions of “Cranford” and “Pride and Prejudice.” A church in Lacock was also where the royal wedding of Laura Parker Bowles and Harry Lopes occurred. So, basically the town is ripe with history.

Once, we returned to Bath we ate a fantastic dinner at Sally Lunn’s, the oldest house in Bath, which is famous for these buns. Naturally, they were incredibly good. After that we explored and had another excellent meal: a platter of desserts at a local pub. It was our intention to go out and explore the nightlife a bit more, but Bath isn’t really known for its great nightlife scene and we were extremely tired, so we ending up going back to the hostel fairly early that night. The following day we explored Bath, seeing the Roman Baths and taking a walking tour of the area. The Roman Baths were really cool and the museum that precedes entering it was enlightening. We got to taste the bath water too, which was not refreshing…at all. After the walking tour around Bath, which highlighted a lot of the area’s history, we went the Jane Austen museum, where we learned about how she used Bath to draw inspiration in her writing and we also went to the tea room there to have afternoon tea and taste the other popular bun of Bath: the Bath bun.

I personally believe Bath is a beautiful city that everyone should visit it once. All of the buildings have the same architecture and color-scheme, so it’s really unlike any city I’ve ever seen before. The architect also tried to mimic Rome, so there’s an area that is meant to look like the Coliseum.

Stratford-upon-Avon (March 8): The last of my excursions: a friend and I did a day-trip to Stratford-upon-Avon, or the birthplace of Shakespeare. As an English major and self-proclaimed Shakespeare fanatic, this was a trip I was looking forward to. The town itself was not what I expected, but I still enjoyed the day. We saw Shakespeare’s birthplace, his grave and the home of his daughter and her husband, as well as the site where Shakespeare lived before he died. All of it was really interesting and full of facts about the writer. His grave however, I thought would be tombstone outside…it was not. It was inside the Holy Trinity Church, the place he was baptized, and he was placed next to his wife, Anne. The New Place, or where Shakespeare lived before he died, had this really gorgeous garden, with sculptural representations of Shakespeare’s works. I could have honestly spent all day walking around it.

I ended up spending too much money on souvenirs and eating lunch in a place called “Othello’s,” but we also walked around and experienced the area’s beauty. It was certainly obvious that Shakespeare could find inspiration in an area such as Stratford.

Location: Leeds, England

LONDON

This weekend I went to London.

London has always been a place I wanted to go. Growing up around Philadelphia and New York, I was always interested in the other side of things. London seemed to be culturally more historic and when I was deciding where to study abroad, proximity to London was certainly a factor.

————-

We arrived at the hostel late Friday night, where we ran into a bit of a mishap with the receptionist. One of the girls with me had booked one bed, but the hostel was charging her for two. After arguing for a bit — and returning to see the manager in the morning — she eventually got it worked out. But after we finally settled into the hostel, it was around midnight. The hostel itself was really nice. It was clean and provided us with bedding, as well as showers. Not to mention the other people in the room where our friends and a random, really nice woman traveling alone. Location-wise it was in the Elephant and Castle part of London. Seeking a pub to go to, we went to the nearest one, suggested by a hostel employee. It was a bit sketchy, however, and seeing how we were being stared at upon walking in, we decided to leave and explore a little more until finally going back to the hostel and meeting up with the others from Leeds.

The next day was far more exciting. We woke up early and did a walking tour around Westminster. We saw all the major tourist attractions, including Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Parliament and Big Ben. The tour guide we had also took us to smaller, historic places and told us really interesting stories I would have never known on my own just walking around. We also got lucky and arrived at Buckingham Palace just as the changing of the guards was occurring — which we learned happens every other day at 11:30 a.m. during the winter.

After that, we ate lunch — and got warm — at a local pub. It was raining on and off all morning, which actually was a blessing in disguise, as we got to experience two beautiful rainbows over Big Ben.

We spent the afternoon walking around and going to the South Bank area of London, where I got to see the Globe Theatre. As an English major, with a special interest in Shakespeare, it was one of my favorite parts of the trip. We also went to the Borough Market where we sampled the most delicious locally grown foods, like cheeses, breads, mulled wine, truffle oils, and brownies. After that we walked back to our hostel.

By then our feet were killing us, so we all relaxed in the hostel for a bit. We took the tube a lot, but we still seemingly walked miles throughout the morning. (Side note: the tube system in London is far better than the subway system in New York. Not only was it cleaner and easier to navigate, but it was more comfortable.)

Earlier in the day we purchased tickets to a pub crawl in London, so we returned to the area for that later at night. The pub crawl consisted of four very different pubs and it ended at a nightclub. Each pub gave you a free shot and had special drink deals for those in the pub crawl. It was really fun, but extremely tiring. We started drinking at 7:30 p.m. and by 1:30 a.m. we were extremely exhausted. So, naturally, in typical American fashion, we went to McDonald’s before returning to the bus (the tube shut downs really early, we learned) back to the hostel. Fun fact: I learned that if you order a meal at McDonald’s and show your student ID card you can get free fries or a cheeseburger. Hopefully, that reigns true in the states as well (looking at you, East College Ave McDonald’s).

The next day, we woke up, checked out of the hostel and went to the Camden Markets. It was really cool — probably the coolest part of the trip. We started the journey with crepes from this amazing stand, and went to go shopping in the markets. We ended up in the arts and crafts area where I was enamored with everything I saw. There were so many cool and interesting pieces, ranging from paintings to jewelry, and I wanted to buy it all. (Hi mom, don’t worry, I restrained myself.) After that, we split up and some of the group went to an American-style diner, while another girl and I went to the Camden Village Food market. Basically, it was booths upon booths of various cultural foods…and it was all so cheap. After walking around, we paid 4 pounds (!!!) for a buffet-style plate of thai food and sat on the water to eat it.

After that, we went back to the Westminster area and explored London further and hung out in the Victoria Station for a while, before catching our bus home. (All in all, I loved London. I felt so comfortable there. For me, it is cleaner and more spread out than New York. I liked the old style of the buildings and the variety of things that I saw. I can definitely see myself returning in the future.)

As we were walking to the coach station to board our bus back to Leeds, one of my friends posed an interesting question. He asked us if we have started to think of Leeds as home yet. He is currently studying at Leeds for a year, and is in his second semester now, so for him Leeds is home.

For me, I’m not so sure yet.

At the question, I instantly thought, “‘Home’ is covered in a few feet of snow right now.” But then again, as we were rushing to the bus station my mind wasn’t on America, it was on Leeds and my flat, my room, and my bed.

So, I think maybe after about three weeks being here, I’m finally starting to call this place my own, (even if I’m still hanging onto the food and people from home).

– Kelsey

Location: University of Leeds

Two week mark

Yesterday marked two weeks since landing in Leeds and beginning my study abroad adventure. My initial reaction remains that Leeds is similar to America in some ways, but also extremely different. Fashion-wise, I have yet to see a student not look completely put-together in class or on weekends. I’m not entirely sure you can even purchase sweatpants here. But then there are also trends present here that are not present at home, and it should stay that way. For example, the “scrunchie” is ever-present here and with every one I see I am reminded of my wardrobe circa second grade.

But besides that, the culture here is very fun. And, of course, being legally allowed to drink helps that. However, I have yet to discover how to do laundry here or how to print (I’ll keep you posted on that progress). Eating here is growing annoying. I am lucky enough to have a meal plan, but it has a monetary limit that runs out daily, so if you don’t spend the full amount every day, it doesn’t roll over to the next day, which I feel like is a waste. And, the hours are odd, i.e. if I want food from the Refectory (dining commons) between 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., I have to pay with cash, my plan doesn’t work. But, I’m adjusting.

Last weekend, I went to Liverpool with the “global” program here. It was only a day trip, but it was really cool to see a different city, especially one that is home to the Beatles. We went to the Liverpool Cathedral, where the nicest man, seeing that we were American, gave us a tour of the lesser-known areas of the building. Not only did the cathedral have great architectural beauty, but we learned that Paul McCartney got denied from singing in the choir there and that they had a statue honoring Frederick Stanley, who not only was involved with the cathedral, but also originated the Stanley Cup.

While in Liverpool we also explored the museums and went to the Beatles Story, a museum documenting the rise of the Beatles. It was all very interesting, but my favorite part was when we went to The Cavern, a Liverpool pub where the Beatles first started out. Having grown up to the sounds of the group, it was enlightening and humbling for me. The Cavern was a really cool place, where a performer was playing cover songs to a packed house when we walked in and all I could think about was being there 50 or so years ago, seeing the Beatles and feeling like they were going to be something big – imagine, literal history in the making.

As for my time at Leeds, I’m finally beginning to feel settled in – though I did get lost for the first time on Monday when I went to set up a UK cellphone. Having walked through Leeds City Centre multiple times at that point, I thought I was fine to find the shop by memory. Nope. I got lost and I ended up going shopping for clothing instead. I’ve since ventured out again and found the store, which was an adventure in itself. The man at the store tried to tell me that I needed to buy a whole new phone and pay a fairly high price to maintain a pay-as-you-go plan. I ended up leaving and going to another store, where I got a way better deal. Sometimes I feel like employees at stores can tell as soon as I speak that I am American, and thus they try to sell me things at higher costs, because they think I don’t know the difference.

This week, I took the bus again and only got slightly less lost than the lost time I did. (yay, progress!) I really don’t get how fellow riders know when it’s their stop. There is no voice telling you the next stop, or flashing marquee like on the White Loop. This week, we also went to a nightclub that used to be a church, which was interesting. It was extremely crowded and played awful music, but being able to say that I was there is a story in itself. A bunch of us here also discovered that we love The Library, which is a pub off campus. We watched the Super Bowl there on Sunday, though it was definitely not the American experience I was used to. Not only did I know more about football than the people around me (as most were not American), but also the commercials shown here are not the same as the ones shown in America, and they are always the best part of the Super Bowl. Also, the announcers were British for the broadcast, which was weird, too.

Besides that, classes this week were really interesting. I finally started my seminars, which are basically when your lecture module is broken into smaller groups and you meet at another point during the week to discuss topics more informally. In my Reporting of Politics it was a bit scary as my professor went around asking us questions about passing policy in Parliament – something I know little to nothing about. It is a bit nerve-wracking being expected to know about another political culture than my own, but I was surprised by how much the other British students did not know as well. The English girl next to me even said that she studied American politics more and knew a lot more about it than British politics. Nonetheless, it’s an interesting system, and next week our class is devoted to the Royal Family, so that should be interesting.

For my museum studies class we went to the Leeds City Museum instead of going to class, which was cool. The museum is small, but the exhibits featured, not only the history of Leeds (including recent things like the Leeds Festival), but also nature-oriented exhibits.

Today, I went to my Eighteenth Century Literature lecture and then seminar. The seminar has six other students beside myself, and we met for discussion in my professor’s office. It was a different environment than I’m used to, though Penn State does have relatively small English class sizes, but I liked it. It forced me to talk and I can tell it’s going to be a really active seminar for the rest of the semester.

Tonight, I’m going to London with some friends for the weekend. It should be fun, but I really should pack, since we are leaving in about an hour (!!!).

Cheers (as they say here),

Kelsey

Location: University of Leeds

Life in Leeds

Well, it’s been about a week since I arrived in Leeds and it already feels like I’ve been here for longer.

Getting here was a bit hectic, as my original flight was cancelled due to snow. I ended up flying out the following day, but because that flight was delayed, as well, I arrived at Heathrow later than anticipated and ended up missing my connecting flight. Picture this: I literally ran through the airport, with someone who works their guiding me, just to miss my flight. Naturally, the next flight to Leeds from Heathrow wasn’t for another five hours after that, so I began my abroad adventure sitting in the terminal for hours, unable to sleep, for fear someone would rob me. Side note: Heathrow Airport is huge. It’s its own city, equipped with shops, restaurants, trains, etc.

When I finally arrived in Leeds, almost the entire flight were other study abroad students. Together, we figured out how to get a taxi to the university and discovered how to find our residences. Driving in England is terrifying, by the way. Not only is everything opposite, but everyone is extremely aggressive – the taxi driver, however, told me, this is mostly because the area is mostly student drivers. The area of Leeds where I am is home to multiple universities. Through the drive to campus, the taxi driver filled me in on the area and asked me plenty of questions about America. We bonded throughout the drive, him laughing at my confused face…me laughing to mask the fear of being alone in a new country for five months. You could say, he was the first friend I made.

Upon arriving, I was placed in temporary housing for the the first few days of my experience, which was a beautiful, hotel-like room, but it lacked other people around. I’ve since moved into my permanent residence (on Monday morning), have unpacked, and finally feel like I’m settling in. We have our own rooms, but I share a bathroom – if you can call it that – with one other girl, who is really nice and from Kenya. She told me she would have loved to study law at Penn State, but her country has different laws about where she can go. The bathroom is barely a bathroom because it’s ultimately a toilet and then a shower head. There is nothing to divide the two, and both me and my flatmate have access to the room from our own rooms. We have our own sinks, however, in our rooms. There are about 10 people who live, in total, on my floor and we all share a kitchen and living room. I haven’t met them all yet, but the ones I have seem friendly. There is also a dining hall called the “Refectory,” which I can eat in. Gathering from there, and the various restaurants I’ve eaten at outside of campus, the food here isn’t bad. It’s not great either. It’s different and I can certainly tell I will greatly miss Italian food from home already. The British also seem to eat less meals, breakfast and dinner. Though dinner seems to be earlier. This makes sense though, because the food is really filling.

Anyway, we also had orientation for the study abroad program. There are tons of students from all different areas of the world. Oddly enough, most of the people I’ve met are either from Canada or Australia…not America. But everyone is extremely nice. I also went to a meeting for my school of study: communications, where I learned about the system here and met my tutor, or adviser. Basically, learning in Leeds is extremely different from home. Each week, for my three classes, I have a lecture period, and a seminar period, though those two times aren’t necessarily right after another. The lecture is when the professor goes over the material and the seminar is used for discussion. We also don’t have exams, per say. All of my classes boast a lengthy essay as an assignment and then a final exam at the end of the semester. Classes, also, only run for eleven weeks, with a large, month-long Easter break in April. Classes end in early May, but the semester itself doesn’t until June.

Besides that, I’ve spent my time in Leeds meeting people, exploring the city, and going to class. I’ve learned that being American is enough to spark a conversation with literally anyone. I’ve also learned that the British say “literally” literally all of the time. The Union building here is like the HUB at Penn State, but ten thousand times better. Not only does it have clubs, pubs, and dining, but there is a theatre, offices, a cafe, stores, a market, and events occurring every day. The clubs and societies here are really big, and I’m currently looking into joining the English society and the hiking club, among other possibilities.

Nightlife here is really interesting, too. For one, I can legally drink here, by two years, (yet, still I look young enough that I’ve gotten carded twice already). Everyone seems to go out most nights of the week, and though I’m used to a flourishing drinking culture at home, is a bit intense, even for me. Music, being something I’m really into, is also fascinating. The other night, at a “pre-drink,” as Notorious B.I.G played through the speakers, one of the British boys discussed rappers, like Kendrick Lamar and A$AP Rocky, which I find really cool. Music is definitely one of those things that crosses cultural lines always. At the clubs, I’ve noticed they love to play old American pop hits. At one point, the Jonas Brothers played, and everyone seemingly knew all of the words.

The city, itself, is gorgeous. The buildings are a mix of modern and antique — and they all are beautiful. It’s amazing to think that there are homes around here that are older than all of America. The shopping here is also a dream. There are tons of stores and a great deal of variety. No matter what you are in need of, I think it’s impossible that you wouldn’t find it downtown.

I also started my classes on Tuesday (I somehow managed to not have classes on Monday). I’m taking an English class called Eighteenth Century Literature, a communications/journalism called Reporting on Politics, and an art class about museum studies, which allows for multiple trips to local museums. So far, I’ve only attended the first two. English taught here is really enlightening and has already changed my perspective. The major authors at home, aren’t necessarily major here. My professor teaches in almost the same way as my professors at Penn State, but the base knowledge you are expected to have is very different. He makes references to famous and well-known authors and poems, but they are all, obviously, British. There are no Hemingway mentions or anything of the like. So, it’s going to take a bit of research on my part, especially to write a well-crafted 1,700 word essay for the class. My reporting class is also very different. I know enough about British monarchy and politics to get by in American conversation, but now, I’m learning the intricacies, from a new perspective, and learning about how the British see American politics.

All in all, there are plenty of other things I could probably write, but this is already quite long. Following this, I’m going to try to write more often, as I don’t want to overlook things in trying to encompass one week in one post, like I’m doing now. But, if the first week has taught me anything, the next 4 months and 3 weeks will be extremely interesting!

– Kelsey

Location: University of Leeds

The final countdown

Six days stand between England and me. Although, it’s been years since I first decided that I wanted to study abroad, it’s all come down to less than a week.

Oddly enough, it all came full-circle for me today at the dentist. I was getting a cleaning in preparation for my 5-month hiatus from America, and I was telling my dental hygienist about my trip: how I was studying abroad at the University of Leeds in England for the spring.

It was in that same office that in my junior year of high school my same hygienist talked to me about applying to college and what I was looking for in a university. Among academics and a beautiful campus, I was quite sure even back then that it needed to be somewhere with a great study abroad program. As a liberal arts student, studying abroad is almost necessary. Most of my friends within my college have studied abroad, are currently studying abroad, or plan to study abroad.

So, on some level, I’ve been preparing to leave for a while. Yet, it’s now six days away from my flight and I’m not entirely ready.

Mentally, I think I am. I’m over the nervousness – for now – and I’ve moved on to the excited phase (though, I do think the day of my flight I will mentally be a mess). Physically, however, I have not packed. Since I was accepted into the abroad program I knew it was going to be an issue, but packing really is an extremely taxing task. First of all, I will be in Leeds for five months, which means I will be there when the seasons change. I don’t know what I want to wear to sleep tonight, let alone what shoes I want to wear in the spring, four months from now. Not to mention, suitcases are very limiting. My parents and I have already agreed to pay for a second suitcase, because there is just no way I can fit everything in one, especially if I plan to bring things back with me when I come home.

Besides packing, I believe, I finally have completed everything I need to do. Luckily, for Leeds I don’t need to apply for a visa ahead of time, I just need certain paperwork when I land, and I have compiled all of that. My housing is taken care of and my classes are finally scheduled. I say finally, because that was a bit of an ordeal.

Leeds full-time students are required to have at least 60 credits of class, and for a while I had 30. Mainly this was because I was trying to figure out what classes would be helpful to my two majors and what would work in my schedule. After talking to many, many different advisors it has finally been solved.

So right now, I’m in the waiting period. All of my friends have returned to school, and I’m spending my last days in America with my pets, my parents, and my own anticipation.

Location: Pennsylvania

T-minus One Day…

Want to read a rousing account of adventure and hijinks of a college student studying abroad? Well then, you have probably come to the wrong blog. However, if rambling accounts of misadventure are more your style, then read on!

Hi, my name is Kelsi and I am a junior at Penn State studying chemical engineering (and minoring in English). This lovely spring semester I will be leaving behind the sunshine of State College and instead study in sun-starved northern England at University of Leeds. Although Penn State doesn’t really get too much sunshine, Leeds is in another league. In January, Leeds averages 54 hours of sunlight A MONTH. Which is actually wonderful because I am slightly allergic to the sun (ie I break out in hives the first couple sunny spring days) and burn very easily. But I digress, if you’re reading my blog, you probably want to learn other details about me that are more interesting than my propensity to burn.

What do I live to do when I’m not slathering on large amounts of SPF 100 to avoid the sun’s rays? Well, I absolutely love reading and often will stay up into the wee hours trying to finish a book. In fact, to “research” for England, I attempted to read every British book (from this century) I could find in the public library.

When not cozying up with a great book, you can probably find me outside. I love running but view treadmills as evil machines that must be treated with great caution so I’m constantly trying to find new running routes. I’m excited to be in a new place so that I can inject some new life into my running routines and not have to worry about getting sunburned on my run.

I also like to hike and backpack and hope to go on some backpacking adventures while I’m in England. Below, you can see me in all of my hiking glory. This picture was taken by my lovely sister when we climbed Longs Peak, a 14,259 ft mountain in Colorado. Although I won’t encounter any mountains of this size in England, I hope to have some equally epic adventures 🙂

Hopefully, in the coming months, I will be able to write about amazing places, people and adventures. However, you might have to settle for accounts of me getting horribly confused by the differences in American and British culture and my complete mis-adventures. Stay turned for my next segment: Kelsi thought she was finished packing two days ago but now realizes that she forgot several key items and is panicking.

Location: Mechanicsburg, PA

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T-minus One Day…