If you read my earlier post, you'll know that today was supposed to be pretty simple-- leisurely morning, then a walk in the afternoon. However, it did not end up that way. I joined up with the group, and we all walked over to the Tate Modern. The plan was to go through the Tate Modern together, then walk over together to the National Gallery and walk through that together. It all went well until I stupidly walked a bit in front of the rest of the group, and didn't find them again. The other professors I've done walks with tend to count heads every few paces and make sure everyone stays together before moving on, but this one is highly in favour of students striking out on their own, so his stated policy on if you lost the group was that 1: it wasn't too far from the dorm, you could find your own way back or 2: you could do your own version of the same tour and look at the National Gallery yourself. So, after realizing that they had gone on without me, that's what I did. I finished looking around the Tate Modern (Calders and Rothkos and Picasso's, oh my!) and then made my way outside and asked someone who looked official (with a museum name tag) where the nearest tube station was. She happened to have a stack of basic maps of the area, and gave me directions to wind around a certain building, then follow a series of orange lamps to the Southbank tube station. I followed the directions, but after the first orange lamp-post I failed to find any others. However, every few blocks was a map of the area and the tube stations or bus stops within 15 minutes' walk, so I just kept walking towards the tube station. I finally got there, and it looked very much not open. I stopped at the corner, comparing the map there with the map I held (and wishing I had an actual map) when one of the station's employees, a motherly Irish woman, came over to see if she could help. I explained my problem, and she told me that I had found that station alright, but it was closed for the day to fix something. Then she gave me directions to the next nearest tube station, which happened to be Waterloo, the station closest to our dorms. I thanked her profusely and went on my way, deciding to continue on to the National Gallery with a double motive in mind: to see the paintings there, and to get a map from one of the kiosks outside. It was a bit tricky remembering how to get from Leicester Square to Trafalgar Square, but I must have looked confident doing it because someone with a British accent asked me for directions. When I got the National Gallery, I wandered into an entirely new area of art which included Monet, Manet, Renoir, Seurat, and Van Gogh, including the one and only Sunflowers. Then, when I realized my feet ached and the gallery was closing in less than an hour, I decided to head back, and got a wonderful map on my way back.
Tomorrow is the first day of real class, and mine is heading out to tour the library of St. Paul's Cathedral! Then tomorrow night is the official welcome event from King's College, at the Somerset House. If you want to read up on where we're going beforehand, here's a blog written by one of my instructors that has some great info.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
In London
Well, just in case you were beginning to wonder, I'm alive and in London.
I don't know what time the computer will say I'm writing, but right now it is 11:45 AM in London, which means that in South Carolina it is 6:45 AM, and in Texas it is 5:45 AM. Pardon me for yawning.
I suppose I should start at the beginning (as the song says, "a very good place to start.") On Thursday morning I woke up mostly packed, unpacked the few things I needed to get ready, repacked them, and then ran out the door and hopped in the family car. We picked up Dad from work, then headed out to Charleston. We had a wonderful lunch at Hyman's, then continued out to the Charleston airport. I checked in on time at about 4:00, and when we asked a lady at the check-in desk about help in making a very quick connection from my first flight to my second, she said she had moved me up closer to the front of the plane. After giving and recieving goodbye hugs, I sniffled my way through security and then hung around by the gate for the 2 1/2 hours until my flight, during which I was stalked by a little toddler girl about to go on her first flight. It turned out that when the check-in lady said she had moved me up closer to the front of the plane, it was an understatement. I was on the second seat in the entire airplane! The stewardess stood next to my seat to give the safety demonstration. The flight passed safely and without a glitch, and the stewardess, whose name is Melissa, gave me directions to my next gate and recommended a fish and chips shop that she goes to every time she's in London.
When we landed in Dallas I had to wait a couple of minutes for my valeted bag to be brought up, but as soon as I got it I began bustling over to my next flight, leaving somewhat imminently. I was looking for the right shuttle when a couple of people zoomed past me, running with backpacks and a frenzied look in their eyes. "I bet they're on my next flight," I thought, and it turns out I was right. It was in this scramble to the gate that I learned the art of riding up and down escalators with a rolling bag. We were all just in time to board, and the plane took off on time at about 9:30 Dallas time. Dinner was a couple of hours into the flight, and then everyone settled down to try and sleep. I'm not sure how much sleep I was able to get, because I was seated near the wings in the loudest part of the loud plane. I could hear the scraping, groaning sound of what I'm hoping was just the raising and lowering of the landing gear at take-off and landing, and was immensely grateful to my mother for giving me a pair of good earplugs during the entire loud, uncomfortable 9-hour flight. Because of the 6-hour time difference between Texas and London, it was around noon on Friday when we arrived at Heathrow.
In following the correct patterns from landing to the correct gate, I got a mini-tour of the airfields, and began counting all of the different countries I saw. Since I thought I would begin blogging imminently after my arrival, I didn't think to write them down, so I only remember a few: Saudi Arabia, Canada, Ireland, Australia...And there were several planes there that didn't have their name in English on the side, so who knows how many countries were represented at the airport that day. After debarking from the plane, I followed the crowd along to the border check. There are two lines in this area: UK or European passports, and everyone else. The line moved along smoothly and quickly, and although I didn't know it there were many other students coming in for a University of Southern Mississippi program, so the Scottish gent who looked at my passport didn't even have to look at all of my papers before he gave me the go-ahead. The next area led to baggage claim, where I managed to snag my suitcase on the first try. Then I scurried on out to the next area, passing through the "nothing to claim" area and on to the long line of people waiting for whomever they were picking up. I was just beginning to worry when I saw someone at the very end of the line holding a "British Studies" sign, and he told me where to hang out while he directed the rest over and they were bringing the "coaches" (buses). It soon felt like a third of the airport was standing with me, and that was when I realized just how many people were coming for the same general program I was, if not for the same class. We ended up having to wait for the buses for a good long while, because of some small glitch, but eventually we were loaded up and on our way to the dorms.
We saw several sights on our way out the windows of the bus, like the London Eye and the houses of Parlaiment. We were the last few to arrive for the program, getting to the dorms at about 3:00 that afternoon. We had just enough time after check-in to refresh a little bit before it was time for Neighborhood Walk with our classes at 4:00, here's a link to a Google map of my class's walk, although not in precise order. We finished ours with dinner at Texas Embassy, which gave it a good try but didn't quite get to Texas level. Then it was back to the dorms to settle in for the night.
The dorms we're staying in during our time in London belong to the Waterloo campus of King's College London. This link gives you virtual tours of the Waterloo Bridge and the academic building across the street which includes the classrooms we use and the computer lab where I am currently typing (the Waterloo campus). If you click on the tab "King's Accomodation" at the top, then click on "Stamford Street" at the bottom, you'll get a 360 degrees look at an example room of where we're staying. What it first brings up is the common kitchen in a flat, shared by eight people. I had thought to perhaps use the kitchen pretty frequently, but came to realize that buying everything required (pots, pans, plates, silverware, etc) would burn too much of a hole in my pocket. It's when you click the small picture in the middle that says "bedroom" that you see one of our rooms. The thing that looks like a slightly ajar closet door with a towel hanging on it is the bathroom, which is pretty much the same size as an airplane lavatory with an extra couple of feet at the end for the flat, uncurtained shower area. The picture's a fair representation of the room, except that it's missing the little heat waves to show that it has no air-conditioning. That's one of the most noticeable differences between London and back home: air-conditioning is not standard. Because the buildings are built to hold in heat, it is often cooler outside than inside. If everyone weren't jetlagged and wilting in the heat, I wouldn't be too surprised to see an adventurous bunch hauling mattresses out to the courtyard. As it is, we hang around wherever it's cooler and joke about the possibility of sleeping outside.
Other differences: you always look right when about to cross the street, drivers are rather aggresive so if you're not a local you'd better just wait for the light, intersections look differently (different system for pedestrians etc). It's sometimes Coke Light instead of Diet Coke, you can never predict what language a random person on the street will be speaking, and coins are more prevelant. The @ sign and quotation marks are switched on the keyboard, which has really affected my attempts at typing all this. Almost everything is pronounced differently than an American would think, like the Thames sounding like Tim's and Leicester sounding like Lester, which led to me thinking about the Goofy Movie which I watched as a kid and what Leicester's Possum Park would be like. ~Last but not least, the tube works along certain lines and then in certain directions. Let me make that clearer. While the metro in Washington DC runs in colors and then the last stop to show which direction you're going, like Red line, Shady Grove, the tube runs in lines and then whichever direction you're going, like Northern line, North or South.
I've already learned something about myself on this trip that I hadn't realized before: when I enjoy traveling, it's really about with whom I'm traveling.
The society of the students and our professors is a different one than I'm used to. I'm used to a team environment, where everyone sticks together most of the time. Here, we do group activities when scheduled, but otherwise we drift around with whomever's nearby or just on our own. I must admit that I've already broken the promise to never go anywhere by myself, because it's expected that if you have something to do you go out and do it on your own, and that's how things are set up.
However, I've kept the promise to attempt to learn a London accent, although not altogether successfully because what I've found is that there is no London accent. If you limit it to English, and British speakers, then there's still a wide range in what you'll hear in a single day in London, from an almost Cockney type of accent (Frasier fans, think of Daphne's brother) to a very precise accent (think Emma Thompson, or Colin Firth).
I have been very successful in another promise, which I forgot to put here earlier: I promised to have several pictures with me in them. I've been a good little cheesy tourist here and there, and so far I have a picture of me in a red telephone booth, me with the London Eye in the background, and me & a friend with one of the Queen's House Cavalry guards --who are not the black-hatted type, but still aren't allowed to move for the most part, except we caught ours smiling occasionaly.
I have also been successful in promising to write on this blog as soon and as often as I could, because I don't even have my own computer card yet. We're supposed to get them tomorrow, and in the time being we check out and then check in a card from the security desk. I'm actually assisted in this promise by the fact that for my class we're actually supposed to be keeping a blog, something I didn't realize until our first class yesterday.
Well, I've written more than enough for now (my apologies for the length), so I'd better finish up. Today, Sunday, July 4, I didn't have anything in the morning and so allowed myself to try and sleep in and beat the jetlag, somewhat successfuly. All I have scheduled is a LondonAlive walk (part of the orientation process) at 2:30 this afternoon, which is supposed to last only until about dinnertime. Tomorrow begins the actual schedule of visiting libraries, museums, and archives. I'll write more then, and try to include details of where I'm going and what I'm doing as time passes. My goal with this blog is to share as much of the experience with y'all as I can.
I don't know what time the computer will say I'm writing, but right now it is 11:45 AM in London, which means that in South Carolina it is 6:45 AM, and in Texas it is 5:45 AM. Pardon me for yawning.
I suppose I should start at the beginning (as the song says, "a very good place to start.") On Thursday morning I woke up mostly packed, unpacked the few things I needed to get ready, repacked them, and then ran out the door and hopped in the family car. We picked up Dad from work, then headed out to Charleston. We had a wonderful lunch at Hyman's, then continued out to the Charleston airport. I checked in on time at about 4:00, and when we asked a lady at the check-in desk about help in making a very quick connection from my first flight to my second, she said she had moved me up closer to the front of the plane. After giving and recieving goodbye hugs, I sniffled my way through security and then hung around by the gate for the 2 1/2 hours until my flight, during which I was stalked by a little toddler girl about to go on her first flight. It turned out that when the check-in lady said she had moved me up closer to the front of the plane, it was an understatement. I was on the second seat in the entire airplane! The stewardess stood next to my seat to give the safety demonstration. The flight passed safely and without a glitch, and the stewardess, whose name is Melissa, gave me directions to my next gate and recommended a fish and chips shop that she goes to every time she's in London.
When we landed in Dallas I had to wait a couple of minutes for my valeted bag to be brought up, but as soon as I got it I began bustling over to my next flight, leaving somewhat imminently. I was looking for the right shuttle when a couple of people zoomed past me, running with backpacks and a frenzied look in their eyes. "I bet they're on my next flight," I thought, and it turns out I was right. It was in this scramble to the gate that I learned the art of riding up and down escalators with a rolling bag. We were all just in time to board, and the plane took off on time at about 9:30 Dallas time. Dinner was a couple of hours into the flight, and then everyone settled down to try and sleep. I'm not sure how much sleep I was able to get, because I was seated near the wings in the loudest part of the loud plane. I could hear the scraping, groaning sound of what I'm hoping was just the raising and lowering of the landing gear at take-off and landing, and was immensely grateful to my mother for giving me a pair of good earplugs during the entire loud, uncomfortable 9-hour flight. Because of the 6-hour time difference between Texas and London, it was around noon on Friday when we arrived at Heathrow.
In following the correct patterns from landing to the correct gate, I got a mini-tour of the airfields, and began counting all of the different countries I saw. Since I thought I would begin blogging imminently after my arrival, I didn't think to write them down, so I only remember a few: Saudi Arabia, Canada, Ireland, Australia...And there were several planes there that didn't have their name in English on the side, so who knows how many countries were represented at the airport that day. After debarking from the plane, I followed the crowd along to the border check. There are two lines in this area: UK or European passports, and everyone else. The line moved along smoothly and quickly, and although I didn't know it there were many other students coming in for a University of Southern Mississippi program, so the Scottish gent who looked at my passport didn't even have to look at all of my papers before he gave me the go-ahead. The next area led to baggage claim, where I managed to snag my suitcase on the first try. Then I scurried on out to the next area, passing through the "nothing to claim" area and on to the long line of people waiting for whomever they were picking up. I was just beginning to worry when I saw someone at the very end of the line holding a "British Studies" sign, and he told me where to hang out while he directed the rest over and they were bringing the "coaches" (buses). It soon felt like a third of the airport was standing with me, and that was when I realized just how many people were coming for the same general program I was, if not for the same class. We ended up having to wait for the buses for a good long while, because of some small glitch, but eventually we were loaded up and on our way to the dorms.
We saw several sights on our way out the windows of the bus, like the London Eye and the houses of Parlaiment. We were the last few to arrive for the program, getting to the dorms at about 3:00 that afternoon. We had just enough time after check-in to refresh a little bit before it was time for Neighborhood Walk with our classes at 4:00, here's a link to a Google map of my class's walk, although not in precise order. We finished ours with dinner at Texas Embassy, which gave it a good try but didn't quite get to Texas level. Then it was back to the dorms to settle in for the night.
The dorms we're staying in during our time in London belong to the Waterloo campus of King's College London. This link gives you virtual tours of the Waterloo Bridge and the academic building across the street which includes the classrooms we use and the computer lab where I am currently typing (the Waterloo campus). If you click on the tab "King's Accomodation" at the top, then click on "Stamford Street" at the bottom, you'll get a 360 degrees look at an example room of where we're staying. What it first brings up is the common kitchen in a flat, shared by eight people. I had thought to perhaps use the kitchen pretty frequently, but came to realize that buying everything required (pots, pans, plates, silverware, etc) would burn too much of a hole in my pocket. It's when you click the small picture in the middle that says "bedroom" that you see one of our rooms. The thing that looks like a slightly ajar closet door with a towel hanging on it is the bathroom, which is pretty much the same size as an airplane lavatory with an extra couple of feet at the end for the flat, uncurtained shower area. The picture's a fair representation of the room, except that it's missing the little heat waves to show that it has no air-conditioning. That's one of the most noticeable differences between London and back home: air-conditioning is not standard. Because the buildings are built to hold in heat, it is often cooler outside than inside. If everyone weren't jetlagged and wilting in the heat, I wouldn't be too surprised to see an adventurous bunch hauling mattresses out to the courtyard. As it is, we hang around wherever it's cooler and joke about the possibility of sleeping outside.
Other differences: you always look right when about to cross the street, drivers are rather aggresive so if you're not a local you'd better just wait for the light, intersections look differently (different system for pedestrians etc). It's sometimes Coke Light instead of Diet Coke, you can never predict what language a random person on the street will be speaking, and coins are more prevelant. The @ sign and quotation marks are switched on the keyboard, which has really affected my attempts at typing all this. Almost everything is pronounced differently than an American would think, like the Thames sounding like Tim's and Leicester sounding like Lester, which led to me thinking about the Goofy Movie which I watched as a kid and what Leicester's Possum Park would be like. ~Last but not least, the tube works along certain lines and then in certain directions. Let me make that clearer. While the metro in Washington DC runs in colors and then the last stop to show which direction you're going, like Red line, Shady Grove, the tube runs in lines and then whichever direction you're going, like Northern line, North or South.
I've already learned something about myself on this trip that I hadn't realized before: when I enjoy traveling, it's really about with whom I'm traveling.
The society of the students and our professors is a different one than I'm used to. I'm used to a team environment, where everyone sticks together most of the time. Here, we do group activities when scheduled, but otherwise we drift around with whomever's nearby or just on our own. I must admit that I've already broken the promise to never go anywhere by myself, because it's expected that if you have something to do you go out and do it on your own, and that's how things are set up.
However, I've kept the promise to attempt to learn a London accent, although not altogether successfully because what I've found is that there is no London accent. If you limit it to English, and British speakers, then there's still a wide range in what you'll hear in a single day in London, from an almost Cockney type of accent (Frasier fans, think of Daphne's brother) to a very precise accent (think Emma Thompson, or Colin Firth).
I have been very successful in another promise, which I forgot to put here earlier: I promised to have several pictures with me in them. I've been a good little cheesy tourist here and there, and so far I have a picture of me in a red telephone booth, me with the London Eye in the background, and me & a friend with one of the Queen's House Cavalry guards --who are not the black-hatted type, but still aren't allowed to move for the most part, except we caught ours smiling occasionaly.
I have also been successful in promising to write on this blog as soon and as often as I could, because I don't even have my own computer card yet. We're supposed to get them tomorrow, and in the time being we check out and then check in a card from the security desk. I'm actually assisted in this promise by the fact that for my class we're actually supposed to be keeping a blog, something I didn't realize until our first class yesterday.
Well, I've written more than enough for now (my apologies for the length), so I'd better finish up. Today, Sunday, July 4, I didn't have anything in the morning and so allowed myself to try and sleep in and beat the jetlag, somewhat successfuly. All I have scheduled is a LondonAlive walk (part of the orientation process) at 2:30 this afternoon, which is supposed to last only until about dinnertime. Tomorrow begins the actual schedule of visiting libraries, museums, and archives. I'll write more then, and try to include details of where I'm going and what I'm doing as time passes. My goal with this blog is to share as much of the experience with y'all as I can.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
'Twas the Night Before Leaving...
Well, after a frenzy of laundry, packing, weighing, and repacking, I am ready to go tomorrow.
When my mom asked if there was anything someone particularly wanted for dinner, one of my brothers told me I should pick because it was my "last meal." He quickly rephrased that to something that sounded less fatal, but we had a good laugh over it.
While I am less than enchanted with the folks at my own university's financial aid office for various reasons, I am very grateful to the people with whom I have talked from the University of Southern Mississippi, particularly Frances Sudduth. It nearly brought tears to my eyes that someone actually cared whether or not my financial aid would work, and that this someone checked facts and thought over my problems enough to be able to give me good advice.
I finally found a purse that had a long enough strap to wear messenger-style that also was big enough to fit in more than a coin purse. I never noticed before, but right now the general trend in personal handbags is the bigger the capacity, the smaller the handles tend to be. The fact that my new bag is a nice cheery yellow leather one is an added bonus.
While I will probably not be able to add in photos to this blog while I am abroad, I now have a memory card for my camera that can hold over 6,000 photos and I will be happy to share upon request once I return.
I have recieved such a large amount of advice, and no doubt will recieve more on the morrow, that I thought it would be handy to begin putting together a list of things about which I have promised someone.
I, Megan Coker, do solemnly swear, that:
-I will remain my sensible self.
-I will not drink copious amounts of alcoholic beverages (copious meaning a full portion or more), even though the drinking age is lower in Europe.
-If I happen to meet the love of my life whilst abroad, I will not enter into any serious agreements with said personage until he at least met my parents and endured a nice, long interview with all of the male members of my immediate family.
-I will not roam around on my own, or indeed go anywhere without safe numbers of friends.
-I will always remember that my family loves me, even long-distance.
-I will keep a steady stream of contact whenever possible.
-I will keep my chin up and do my best.
-I will have a marvelous time.
-I will not let someone snatch my purse.
-I will not hesitate to call home if (and/or when) I need to.
-I will at least attempt to learn a London accent (can you tell which one was from my brother?)
-I will try some of the flavorful Indian food, but be very careful of the spices.
-I will remember my umbrella, and wear comfortable shoes.
-If I happen to stumble across an old and valuable manuscript previously undiscovered, I will bring it home to a certain dear friend.
-If I find the museum which contains Dragonetti's double bass, I will take copious amounts of pictures of it.
-I will return home with all limbs intact and alive (maybe I should have put this one first!).
-I will continue to update this blog as much as possible.
Next time I write, it will be from the other side of the pond!
When my mom asked if there was anything someone particularly wanted for dinner, one of my brothers told me I should pick because it was my "last meal." He quickly rephrased that to something that sounded less fatal, but we had a good laugh over it.
While I am less than enchanted with the folks at my own university's financial aid office for various reasons, I am very grateful to the people with whom I have talked from the University of Southern Mississippi, particularly Frances Sudduth. It nearly brought tears to my eyes that someone actually cared whether or not my financial aid would work, and that this someone checked facts and thought over my problems enough to be able to give me good advice.
I finally found a purse that had a long enough strap to wear messenger-style that also was big enough to fit in more than a coin purse. I never noticed before, but right now the general trend in personal handbags is the bigger the capacity, the smaller the handles tend to be. The fact that my new bag is a nice cheery yellow leather one is an added bonus.
While I will probably not be able to add in photos to this blog while I am abroad, I now have a memory card for my camera that can hold over 6,000 photos and I will be happy to share upon request once I return.
I have recieved such a large amount of advice, and no doubt will recieve more on the morrow, that I thought it would be handy to begin putting together a list of things about which I have promised someone.
I, Megan Coker, do solemnly swear, that:
-I will remain my sensible self.
-I will not drink copious amounts of alcoholic beverages (copious meaning a full portion or more), even though the drinking age is lower in Europe.
-If I happen to meet the love of my life whilst abroad, I will not enter into any serious agreements with said personage until he at least met my parents and endured a nice, long interview with all of the male members of my immediate family.
-I will not roam around on my own, or indeed go anywhere without safe numbers of friends.
-I will always remember that my family loves me, even long-distance.
-I will keep a steady stream of contact whenever possible.
-I will keep my chin up and do my best.
-I will have a marvelous time.
-I will not let someone snatch my purse.
-I will not hesitate to call home if (and/or when) I need to.
-I will at least attempt to learn a London accent (can you tell which one was from my brother?)
-I will try some of the flavorful Indian food, but be very careful of the spices.
-I will remember my umbrella, and wear comfortable shoes.
-If I happen to stumble across an old and valuable manuscript previously undiscovered, I will bring it home to a certain dear friend.
-If I find the museum which contains Dragonetti's double bass, I will take copious amounts of pictures of it.
-I will return home with all limbs intact and alive (maybe I should have put this one first!).
-I will continue to update this blog as much as possible.
Next time I write, it will be from the other side of the pond!
Saturday, June 12, 2010
The Count Down...
I'm actually only a few days (well, okay, weeks) away from heading to the airport! It's somewhat surreal that after all the paperwork I actually get to go on the trip.
There's been some more excitement, with the surprise of finding I had been misdirected by my financial aid office in the matter of where I needed to do some of that very important paperwork. Thankfully, I found out before it was too late to rectify the problem and managed to get everything fixed and tied with a bow, so I am fine.
I've been stockpiling various items for the trip, and sometime very soon I'm actually going to get out the suitcase and start packing.
My passport and ISIC (International Student Identity Card) has arrived, although my letter of entry hasn't quite yet. I'm busy copying all of the various important documents of which I will need multiple copies.
There has been an exciting addition to my trip! I will get to go to Paris for a weekend, see some of the marvellous museums there, and probably have that song from "Funny Face" or the soundtrack of Amelie stuck in my head for the duration. Ironically, the one group I had hoped to see live in Paris, Caravan Palace, will be on an American tour at the time. But I am still extremely excited about this opportunity.
Did I mention that I found out that Elephant Parade will be ending on June 30? I'm a bit disappointed not to see the actual event, but I'm still hoping to maybe look over some of the souvenirs when I get there.
You'll never guess what I found! Everyone reading this knows my last name is Coker, right? A family member once mentioned that there was a town named Coker that was somewhere south of London. Last night I did an online search and found out that there are in fact two! The neighboring villages of East Coker and West Coker are approximately 137.22 miles southwest of London, in the South Somerset district, 2 1/2 hours worth of travel, according to MapQuest. Both Cokers are evidently named after the nearby river Coker Water, this Coker evidently coming from the Celtic Kukro meaning "Crooked stream." I don't know if this is actually where my last name might have come from, but I'm certainly going to try to visit East Coker and West Coker.
There's been some more excitement, with the surprise of finding I had been misdirected by my financial aid office in the matter of where I needed to do some of that very important paperwork. Thankfully, I found out before it was too late to rectify the problem and managed to get everything fixed and tied with a bow, so I am fine.
I've been stockpiling various items for the trip, and sometime very soon I'm actually going to get out the suitcase and start packing.
My passport and ISIC (International Student Identity Card) has arrived, although my letter of entry hasn't quite yet. I'm busy copying all of the various important documents of which I will need multiple copies.
There has been an exciting addition to my trip! I will get to go to Paris for a weekend, see some of the marvellous museums there, and probably have that song from "Funny Face" or the soundtrack of Amelie stuck in my head for the duration. Ironically, the one group I had hoped to see live in Paris, Caravan Palace, will be on an American tour at the time. But I am still extremely excited about this opportunity.
Did I mention that I found out that Elephant Parade will be ending on June 30? I'm a bit disappointed not to see the actual event, but I'm still hoping to maybe look over some of the souvenirs when I get there.
You'll never guess what I found! Everyone reading this knows my last name is Coker, right? A family member once mentioned that there was a town named Coker that was somewhere south of London. Last night I did an online search and found out that there are in fact two! The neighboring villages of East Coker and West Coker are approximately 137.22 miles southwest of London, in the South Somerset district, 2 1/2 hours worth of travel, according to MapQuest. Both Cokers are evidently named after the nearby river Coker Water, this Coker evidently coming from the Celtic Kukro meaning "Crooked stream." I don't know if this is actually where my last name might have come from, but I'm certainly going to try to visit East Coker and West Coker.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Excitement
Well, things are actually beginning to happen now!
First of all, there was loan paperwork to finish. This included some excitement, both in rounding up whatever was required for the paperwork I was supposed to do, and when I accidentaly signed up for another loan in the fall via VIP (due to a misread), and had to do a bit extra paperwork to fix my mistake. The entrance counseling was a hundred different ways of saying that I understood that a loan is not free money and I did know I'd have to pay it all back. I am very grateful to the wonderful people of the USC Financial Aid office for guiding me through it all.
Enough with money matters, it's time to talk about the fun stuff.
My study abroad travel group has its own FaceBook group now (kids these days and their computers, lol), and we've been having fun introducing ourselves and learning about each other. Unsurprsingly, we all like books. Everyone ready to go and happy to be traveling with one another, and some discussion has already started about where to go while we're abroad. Abbey Road, 221B Baker's Street, a few extra museums...We're going to be pretty busy!
Those of you who have known me for quite a while probably know that my favorite animal is the elephant. I've loved elephants since before I can remember, and I can't tell you how many photographs my mom has stashed away of me in various ages and stages by the elephant exhibits of whatever zoo we visited. So you can imagine my excitement when I found out about the Elephant Parade London 2010! Sponsored by Elephant Family, a "small but hugely ambitious charity, working to save the Asian elephant from exctinction and abuse." This Summer, a total of 260 (artificial) decorated elephants will be scattered all over London. They will then be auctioned off to benefit the efforts of the Elephant Family. I don't know for sure if they'll still be there in July when I arrive (the reports I found were somewhat vague), I'm hoping to catch at least a glimpse of the elephants. Meanwhile, here's a closer look at a couple of the elephants now being put on display throughout London, and a map of the Elephant Parade "Route," where each elephant is stationed. If you want to find out more about Elephant Family, here's their FaceBook page, and the link to the parade route is a map which is on their official site.
Other exciting news: I have successfully applied for my first ever passport. Did you know that there are two different kinds of passports? There's the old-fashioned passport book, and a newer passport card. The difference is that you can't fly with the card, only go by land or sea, and you can only go to certain countries using the card. The application, either way, is as big as a large-print travel guide, only it is of course still filled with small print. Besides the passport there are a number of various documents you must have with you when you apply, and thankfully I had remembered them all, unlike a few unfortunate others in line. My passport photos aren't too bad, except that since they had to enhance the color a bit so that my pale skin and light hair would show up more, my hair looks like it was an interesting shade of light orange. My consolation is that I will of course look worse when I am actually traveling.
Also, I have recieved my Student Handbook from the sponsor university. I admittedly not read all the way through it yet, but I have at least skimmed through most of it. It's nice to have details.
Well, I must be going. Thanks for reading!
TTFN! (Ta Ta For Now!)
First of all, there was loan paperwork to finish. This included some excitement, both in rounding up whatever was required for the paperwork I was supposed to do, and when I accidentaly signed up for another loan in the fall via VIP (due to a misread), and had to do a bit extra paperwork to fix my mistake. The entrance counseling was a hundred different ways of saying that I understood that a loan is not free money and I did know I'd have to pay it all back. I am very grateful to the wonderful people of the USC Financial Aid office for guiding me through it all.
Enough with money matters, it's time to talk about the fun stuff.
My study abroad travel group has its own FaceBook group now (kids these days and their computers, lol), and we've been having fun introducing ourselves and learning about each other. Unsurprsingly, we all like books. Everyone ready to go and happy to be traveling with one another, and some discussion has already started about where to go while we're abroad. Abbey Road, 221B Baker's Street, a few extra museums...We're going to be pretty busy!
Those of you who have known me for quite a while probably know that my favorite animal is the elephant. I've loved elephants since before I can remember, and I can't tell you how many photographs my mom has stashed away of me in various ages and stages by the elephant exhibits of whatever zoo we visited. So you can imagine my excitement when I found out about the Elephant Parade London 2010! Sponsored by Elephant Family, a "small but hugely ambitious charity, working to save the Asian elephant from exctinction and abuse." This Summer, a total of 260 (artificial) decorated elephants will be scattered all over London. They will then be auctioned off to benefit the efforts of the Elephant Family. I don't know for sure if they'll still be there in July when I arrive (the reports I found were somewhat vague), I'm hoping to catch at least a glimpse of the elephants. Meanwhile, here's a closer look at a couple of the elephants now being put on display throughout London, and a map of the Elephant Parade "Route," where each elephant is stationed. If you want to find out more about Elephant Family, here's their FaceBook page, and the link to the parade route is a map which is on their official site.
Other exciting news: I have successfully applied for my first ever passport. Did you know that there are two different kinds of passports? There's the old-fashioned passport book, and a newer passport card. The difference is that you can't fly with the card, only go by land or sea, and you can only go to certain countries using the card. The application, either way, is as big as a large-print travel guide, only it is of course still filled with small print. Besides the passport there are a number of various documents you must have with you when you apply, and thankfully I had remembered them all, unlike a few unfortunate others in line. My passport photos aren't too bad, except that since they had to enhance the color a bit so that my pale skin and light hair would show up more, my hair looks like it was an interesting shade of light orange. My consolation is that I will of course look worse when I am actually traveling.
Also, I have recieved my Student Handbook from the sponsor university. I admittedly not read all the way through it yet, but I have at least skimmed through most of it. It's nice to have details.
Well, I must be going. Thanks for reading!
TTFN! (Ta Ta For Now!)
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Coming Along
Well, I am proud to announce that I have completed all the neccesary paperwork for both my home university and the host university of the study abroad program. I have also done the online study abroad orientation successfully. All that's left is my student loan paperwork and getting down to the post office and obtaining a passport, which up to this point has been complicated by the fact that the hours during which the local post office processes passports are during the time I'd have classes.
This will soon change, however, because I have now finished classes for the semester as of this last Monday. I have had most of my finals this last week, and have only one more to go before I am finished with the entire semester! That will be nice.
Also, after much research and a few trips into various local bookstores to price-check, I have ordered and obtained my travel guides that I'll be taking with me. They are: Frommer's London Free & Dirt Cheap, Frommer's Best Daytrips from London, and Let's Go: a Student Guide to London, Oxford, Cambridge, and Edinburgh. My reasoning is that the "London Free & Dirt Cheap" will help me get around London itself, the "Best Daytrips" book will help in exploring other areas, and the "Let's Go" student guide will add the student budget aspect into some of the specific places to which I know I will be going. All three of these books are newly published in the last month or so. I am more than happy to take personal recommendations from friends and family as well.
I've been trying to calculate what shoes to take with me, because I think I'll be doing a good bit of walking and unless I wear the right shoes I'm hobbling along by the end of the day. Have also been thinking over what clothes etc. to take, although what keeps throwing me for a loop is that it will be nothing like the summer weather I am used to--which reminds me, I'm still researching umbrellas.
That's about all of the updates I can think of right now.
I will write again once more incidents occur.
This will soon change, however, because I have now finished classes for the semester as of this last Monday. I have had most of my finals this last week, and have only one more to go before I am finished with the entire semester! That will be nice.
Also, after much research and a few trips into various local bookstores to price-check, I have ordered and obtained my travel guides that I'll be taking with me. They are: Frommer's London Free & Dirt Cheap, Frommer's Best Daytrips from London, and Let's Go: a Student Guide to London, Oxford, Cambridge, and Edinburgh. My reasoning is that the "London Free & Dirt Cheap" will help me get around London itself, the "Best Daytrips" book will help in exploring other areas, and the "Let's Go" student guide will add the student budget aspect into some of the specific places to which I know I will be going. All three of these books are newly published in the last month or so. I am more than happy to take personal recommendations from friends and family as well.
I've been trying to calculate what shoes to take with me, because I think I'll be doing a good bit of walking and unless I wear the right shoes I'm hobbling along by the end of the day. Have also been thinking over what clothes etc. to take, although what keeps throwing me for a loop is that it will be nothing like the summer weather I am used to--which reminds me, I'm still researching umbrellas.
That's about all of the updates I can think of right now.
I will write again once more incidents occur.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Back at the OK Corrall...
Well, it's a little over a month later, and I'm still in the middle of a lot of preparations. It sometimes feels like I'm going in circles and just jumping through hoops, but there have been some achievements and incidents since the last time I wrote:
I have now been officially accepted and enrolled in my study abroad program.
I have attended the live pre-departure orientation by my home university, and have recieved the email to do the electronic version that's also required, which I will do as soon as I have about half an hour to spare.
I have researched and bought the perfect raincoat for Great Britain in the summer -- and got it on clearance, no less!
I applied for a Magellan grant, and found out today that I will not recieve it.
I have applied for several different scholarships, and I'm in the middle of applying for even more.
I'll write more as things happen!
I have now been officially accepted and enrolled in my study abroad program.
I have attended the live pre-departure orientation by my home university, and have recieved the email to do the electronic version that's also required, which I will do as soon as I have about half an hour to spare.
I have researched and bought the perfect raincoat for Great Britain in the summer -- and got it on clearance, no less!
I applied for a Magellan grant, and found out today that I will not recieve it.
I have applied for several different scholarships, and I'm in the middle of applying for even more.
I'll write more as things happen!
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