What a week!

I am back in London, its a strange feeling. I learned a lot, feel in love with a beautiful country, and can't wait to go back. I think this post shall be in list form, there is far too much to put into one post so it will probably be an on going list for a few days.

1. Not having a map when you enter a city and then start walking around isn't a good idea, especially when you don't speak the same language as everybody else.

2. Always pick your tour guide based on how cute he is opposed to how well he speaks English, we lucked out and got both but I'm just saying.

3. The Sistine chapel is so much more impressive when you see it in person than in reprints. Its also much cooler when you have walked through the Vatican and seen some of the places he got his inspiration from. When you go if you take a tour of the Vatican Museum first walk all the way through to the big wooden doors on the opposite side of the room where you enter, don't look up. This anticipation is very similar to waiting for Christmas as a small child. Once you get to the door, turn around and look. This is the way it is meant to be seen, in order and the correct. Incredible.

4. Michaelangelo was an incredible sculptor, oh my gosh. We'll come back to this.

5. I was blessed by the pope. Yeah you read that right.

6. The pope has got to be brilliant, he spoke in like 7 different languages.

7. Leaving the house at 4 am usually means its going to be a rough start to the week for all involved, but you get over it quickly, especially with some caffeine.

8. You never know where you are going to make friends and from where all they will be. We met a lot of Australians that liked to say "wicked", a ton of people from Ohio, a precious couple on their honeymoon from California, and some Texans. Some of the best things we did included getting to know people whether in our tour groups or waiting to hear the pope or at the Trevi Fountain.

9. See the Trevi in the day time and at night. (thanks Rachie) I prefer it at night.

10. Don't be fooled by fruit vendors wanting you to pay 10 euro for a kilo of grapes, thats dumb.

11. Don't buy a Eurail, you can get rail tickets for cheap just at the desk. Although the Eurail is convenient.

12. Always buy gelato from vendors that have guys selling it... they give you more.

13. Stay off main streets in Italy, its so much prettier and you find amazing things. like great restaurants and cheap gelato.

14. You know those guys dressed as Gladiators all around Rome, that want you to pay to take a picture with them.... do it. It is so much fun, and those are some of my favorite pictures.

15. When you don't think you are going to run into the other 10 people in your class in Rome you will do it all the time. We ran into a group of them 2 in rome, and the other like twice in other places. awesome.

I shall continue later. ;)

It's a Italy!

I'm in Italy. its great. I love you all.
we left rome 2 days ago and are in florence or firenze and leave here tomorrow morning. We'll go to Pissa for a few hours and see the leaning tower, then on to cinque terre. And end in Venice.

I'll post about it all when I get back to London. But let me just say I get to hang out with 'david' today. if you don' t know what that is google michelangelo's david and then you'll remember.

;)

Welcome to life.... Here and NOW!

This isn't practice. This isn't rehearsal. This is it.

It seems like a life time ago that camp happened. So much has happened between now and then, but it feels like I just got to London. But in fact camp ended some 61 days ago and I've been in London for 46 days. How is that possible. Where did those days go? In about 30 days I'll be 22. In a mere 60ish days I'll be back in America. WHAT?!?!?! how is that possible? some days it seems like it will never come, they days I want to be sitting on my couch, with Maggie, Brookles, and Lins watching Center Stage and Grey's, talking about Stepsing, and going to SL and playing with some babies. And there are days that I think, I'm a 10 minute tube ride from any thing I could ever want to do, see a play/musical, sure there are like 18 million going on all around me. There are days when I think Dec 2008 can't come soon enough, and then I realize I only get to do this once, and Grad school isn't college, it's almost over, what am I going to do with my life? Never again, most likely, will I live in this great of a place, despite its quirks and drama. I am a tube ride away from 'the pulse of the world', I'm in a safe and very clean area of London; I'll never get this again. Sure school and all the writing get overwhelming, but I'm in London whatever.

I've just been thinking about all that today.

I'm going Italy, I leave the house in 5.5 hours. OH MY GOSH.
I'm going to see this,
and some other really cool stuff in Rome
and then I'm going to see this
and the statue of David in Florence
and then I'm going to see this,
in Pisa
and then spend a few days here,
the beautiful Cinque Terre
and then end it all riding one of these....
in Venice.

and I will ride on one of these too...


alright now that I think you are sufficiently jealous. I expect to come back to a plethora of comments. Bring your friends... it will be great. I know good stories are about to come of this week... we don't speak the same language ... it's going to be GREAT!

there wasn't an outcry for the finishing of that last story, so that and the fact that it has been a busy week ... means I never finished it. If you want the rest ask. I'll tell you.

Few things are going on in the world of Tiffany,

1) one week until fall break... 4 days of class and then I'll be in Italy.
2) Midterms... enough said.
3) His Grace is sufficient for me.
4) We went on a walk around SW1, (an area of London) also known as Westminster City, with a friend of mine's boss today. It was great. He is so knowledgeable. It was good to connect the dots that are the tube stations I know how to get around with but to get to walk it above ground is so much better. I think I'm going to go walk that route again, it was a very historic and beautiful area. It includes, Buckingham Palace, Parliament building, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Choir school, a very famous "Public" (what we'd call private) school the school that Andrew Lloyd Webber and the man who wrote Winnie the Pooh A.A. Milne, Trafalgar Square.
5) He picked out a book for each of the 5 of us who went on the walk. He picked the books based on our major and what we had talked about in the first hour of the walk, we all looked at them later this afternoon... he did an excellent job, they all fit perfectly.
6) This man knowns Margret Thatcher, and she might be coming to a few events his company is throwing including a private birthday party... we've been invited and promised to be introduced and get a picture with her. INCREDIBLE.
He knows all these awesome people, like the presidents of random places. He took us to lunch after the walk and we got to talk a lot about it. Awesome!
7) Did I mention next week is fall break, and this week is midterms. I'm only slightly stressed.
8) ITALY! if you've been you should tell us things not to miss and things we can skip! it would be greatly appreciated.

Ps 62

My soul finds rest in God Alone;
My salvation comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

...

Trust him at all times,
pour out your heart to him,
for God is our Refuge.

...

You, O God are
Strong.
You, O Lord, are
Loving.

Matthew

I was in search of treasure;
searching the field for pleasure.
Sifting from gold and silver
and I found much there.
I was in search of fine pearls.
I was in search of gaining the world.
Drinking from cisterns broken.
I saw you and sold it all.

I could gain the world
oh but lose my soul.
I could gain the whole wide world
oh but what would it matter
I'd give the world to be with you.

Tell me why would I hold on to anything but you?

A Journey to a Cab

Well, I am feeling much better as hard as it was, going to bed early was the way to go. Momma Moya, aka one of our professors and basically the mom of the 18 of us, convinced me not to hang out last night but to just go to bed and get lots of sleep. So I did. I’m feeling better but I’m also taking like 1000mg of Vitamin C a day, so that’s got to be doing something for me.
As promised here is a little up date. Mainly I want to let all of you in on my travels to Northern Ireland. I think I’ve worked out the issues and all my pictures are now up at tiffanyjallen.shutterfly.com, let me know if they are not. I think its been messed up for a while so there are also ones from our class trip to Stonehenge and Bath. But the ones for the trip in which I am discussing now are in the album appropriately entitled ‘Northern Ireland’ clever I know.

And now … A Journey to a Cab….
The weekend started off when my alarm went of at 2:30 am on Friday September 21. I dressed, brushed my teeth, and went down for a quick bite of breakfast, taking my pack the 99 stairs down. We had called the cab company the night before but to book early meant an extra charge, we don’t play that game, so we called 20 minutes before we needed the cab (like they told us to). Jenny and I were calling and got disconnected a couple of times and then told there was no one in our area, and it would be like 45 minutes at the least before some one got over here, only problem is we didn’t have 45 minutes our train left at 4:05 and its already after 3:00. And it is about a 30-minute cab ride to where our train was. At this point we are panicking, slightly. And at this moment I realized I had forgotten to print my conformation numbers off, so I run downstairs and print them really fast and head back up. Heather our third travel buddy, has not surfaced out of her room and we are standing by the door, packs on ready to go. So I run up, to tell her to come on and make sure she is awake. She is, she is coming. So we start walking, hoping that there would be a cab at the Holiday Inn across the street, or they could get one quicker. As we walked up to the Holiday Inn, with a completely empty lot, were starting to realize not many people will be arriving or leaving at this time of night/morning, what were we thinking. And now the panic has set in. What are we going to do. Jenny and I are about to call the 2 cab companies again, I reach into the pocket where my phone should be, its not there… but here comes a cab, it’s a miracle. We start to hop in, and it is confirmed I have left my phone, and sheets with confirmation numbers on the table right by the door. We don’t have time to go back, we can’t let this taxi go and hope for another because there most likely won’t be another, but we can’t sit here and think or me run back because the meter is ticking away. I say lets go, we’ll figure it out when we get to the station.
The cab driver gets us to the Victoria Station in about 17 minutes, perfect. So we go in, start trying to get tickets, at the ‘quick ticket’ machine, I learn I have to have my confirmation number to get my ticket. The train leaves in like 20 minutes. So I run to the counter and tell the guy my problem, and very nicely he explains to me my only option is to buy another one. But then as I’m like okay that’s my only choice, as I’m telling him what train I want my ticket for… he says, “that doesn’t exist.” Jenny walks up shows him her ticket and says then why do I have a ticket. Well, we learn we need to be at Liverpool Station!!!! Not kidding. The guy behind the desk offers his advice to the horrific faces I’m sure we are showing him. “The train is slightly delayed, it will be 4:30 before it departs, so you’ve got a little time. Go get a cab, take it to Liverpool, once there, where the pay phones are there should be one that looks a little different, pay a pound and you can check your email, and get your confirmation numbers.” So we’re off. We get a cab, it has a precious old man, who is going to get us there asap. About halfway to Liverpool Jenny starts asking us to roll down the window, then we have to pull over. She is throwing up out side of the cab, and the meter is ticking, the time is ticking. She gets back in and we speed off.
Once at Liverpool Station, it was slightly complicated to get in, the main entrance was locked, and you had to go in a side entrance. Once we figured that out, the first thing we see is the thing for the internet. I put in my pound and get my train confirmation number but I can’t get my flight one to open. So we decide worst case after the hour train ride its 5:30ish, if I’ve got to have that number we call someone, wake them up and have them look at it and tell me. I get my train ticket, and we run to the train. Its sitting there, after about 10 minutes we can get on. We sit on the train for about 25 minutes not moving. Its not about 4:45, a train that 2 days prior was leaving at 4:05, then at 4:25, has not left yet. We start moving. Thankfully, we’re on our way on the Stansted Express to Stansted Airport.
It turns out it was a huge blessing that I left my confirmation number behind, and at that moment my cell, because we would have called another cab had I had it on me, and who knows where we’d be. And if I’d had my confirmation number it would have been a lot longer before we realized we were at the wrong station. Who knows what would have happened then.

Okay I think that is enough for tonight, which is a shame because there is so much more to tell you. But I’ll post it tomorrow, I promise.