Alicia's Adventures in Europe

MY LAST POST

2008-07-04T16:11:00.021+01:00

I am sad to say that my trip is coming to an end. I have learned so much about myself, life, and teaching. Of course, I didn't realize how busy I would be, which is why this blog didn't quite work out how I planned. This is inevitably my last post. I will do a quick review of everything I have done since my last post, which is actually quite a lot! However, I am not putting the pictures in any chronological order. I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I have enjoyed my time here, in Europe.

Here are some pictures from my trip to Madrid, Spain.

This is the symbol of Madrid: The Bear and the Strawberry Tree.

Don Quixote Statue.
Plaza de Torros (where they have bull fights)
mmmm...Hot Chocolate... Notice how the spoon floats on top, its that thick.
Torres de Colon. (Statue of Christopher Columbus)
Fuente de Cibeles
Plaza Mayor
Templo de Debod
Fuente de Neptuno
I can't remember this one, but it was beautiful
El Parque de Retiro
Crazy trees in Parque de Retiro
I loved this park
Some pictures from Paris, France.

Inside the Louvre.
The Winged Victory of Samothrace. (I don't have a good picture of the Mona Lisa, so you won't see one in this section)
Venus de Milo
Outside the Louvre.
View from the Eiffel Tower
Another view from the Eiffel Tower
A double decker metro train!
Notre-Dame
Sacre Coeur
Our first sight of the Eiffel Tower
Eiffel Tower up close
So pretty
Arc de Triomphe
Again

Some pictures from WIMBLEDON!

This is Serena Williams

The ref. and ball kids

Roger Federer
Federer serving
Centre Court
Serena again
Megan and I are ready to go to Wimbledon!
One of the entrances to Centre Court where our seats where. Roger Federer, Serena Williams, and David Ferrer were playing that day!
Setting up the courts
It rained three times that day! It was so funny seeing them take everything down on the court and covering it up with the tarp three times!
Roger Federer
Some pictures from Stone Henge.

There was a festival ritual that day. See how small the people look next to it?
Some pictures from Ireland.

This is on the coast. This is a few of us that went together.
At a park in Dublin, Ireland
It kept raining!
Another view of the coast

Our beautiful trip to the Cabury Factory!!

I love chocolate!
We got fresh, warm chocolate!
This was a car shaped like a Cabury Egg! This is everyone that went!
Jess was laughing while Katie pretended to get run over by the egg car.
Some pictures from our trip to Llandudno, Wales.

This is the seagull who stole my friend Kyle's Sandwich.
The coast of Llandudno.
A view of the town.
It was so beautiful here!
We were trying to figure out where to go! It was just me, Megan, Jess, and Kyle on this trip. Kyle is taking the picture.
A picture of the Mersey in Liverpool

Albert Docks in Liverpool.
Thanks to everyone who followed my trip on this blog! Sorry I couldn't do a better job of keeping you posted.

Alicia.

Liverpool Cathedrals & London.

2008-06-07T23:45:00.048+01:00

(so I accidently deleted a few again, oh well. I don't want to re-post them, sorry).

I have abridged this update in respect for my sanity. I have taken 738 pictures since I have been here and there is no way I could post them all. I have picked out the best of the best to show you all. Before I begin however, I went to Llandudno, Wales today and have a bunch of pictures and stories from that trip as well. I am pushing back the posting of Hope University's campus, so that I can share the Wales pictures next time. They are prettier. I was thoroughly impressed by Llandudno and will always remember that trip.

**LIVERPOOL CATHEDRALS**

This is St. Luke's Cathedral. It was bombed during WW2. The only thing that remains of it is this outer shell. It is so beautiful. There are gardens around the building and inside too.

The plaque on the outside of the cathedral.
There was an event going on outside of the cathedral. The sponsors were asking people to sign the board and to write a brief description of what culture means. The girl in the green is Megan.
Look through the window and you can see how empty it is inside.

This is a picture of the city during WW2.

A sneak peek inside the St. Luke's.
Liverpool Cathedral. It was amazing. I couldn't believe the enormity of this building. Our Beatles tour guide said it was the second largest cathedral in the world, with the largest being in NY.
Inside Liverpool Cathedral. You can see a person standing on the stairs in the bottom left hand corner, which shows how large the building is.
Some of the stained glass in the cathedral.

The lady chapel which is dedicated to important women in the history of the church.

A funny sign which is featured throughout Liverpool. It alerts drivers to places where elderly people might be crossing the street. One of the girls on the trip thinks it looks like the woman is pinching the older man's behind.
The Metropolitan Cathedral. It is nicknamed the Wigwam.

The ceiling of the church.
The inside.
This is the first and only water fountain we have found thus far in Europe. Jess is astounded. We once asked a native why there aren't any water fountains, and he acted appalled that we asked.

**LONDON**

The Underground railway in London. We took this everywhere, because London is very large.
Tower Bridge.
A view from Tower Bridge.
Tower of London.
I will find out what this is and correct it. sorry.
View from the bridge. Notice the cone shaped building? Look at the next picture.
Looking up at the cone shaped building. Don't walk while doing this. It is dangerous.
We got temporarily lost. While Jess and Megan were looking at a map, Kyle and I took pictures of one another.
Jess and Megan working hard.
Our hotel room. It is the first hotel room that I have seen that has three beds! Me, Megan and Jess were roommates, but as you can tell, Kyle invaded our room quite frequently.
Kyle took this picture (with my camera that he stole). I didn't know he was taking a picture, and I don't know what I was doing here. It is too funny though. It looks as if my hand is attacking me and Megan could care less.
This is the "foot soaker." We weren't quite sure, but notice we did have a working toilet.
Buckingham Palace. The Queen was home this day.

The guards at the Palace. No red coats and fuzzy hats today.
The fountain outside the Palace.
We stayed at the Palace for two hours, waiting for Changing of the Guards.
Finally, a fuzzy hat.
Changing of the Guards.
Changing of the Guards.
A garden outside the Palace.
Big Ben. You can also see the top of the London Eye to the left of Big Ben and behind the other buildings.
Big Ben up close.
Westminster Abbey
The London Eye. Megan and I somehow found ourselves in the important people line, and got on the ride within 3 minutes. We weren't complaining. It was so much fun!
I like this picture.
A view from the Eye.
Another from the Eye. It was such a great way to see all of London.
Another.
Last one.

Beatles Tour

2008-05-26T00:09:00.054+01:00

Blogs to come:

1. Liverpool Cathedrals

2. Hope University Campus

3. London

Well, here are the pictures from my Beatles Tour. I was never a Beatles fan. I am not sure I could have named you a song other than Yellow Submarine, even though I have never even heard that song. I decided to go on this tour because my friends needed one more person to go to complete the five person taxi tour. So, I agreed even though I thought I would be bored. Well, I was wrong about that. I really enjoyed getting to know the history of the Beatles. It was so exciting hearing the tour guide explain the sights to us. I didn't know that the Beatles were such a huge part of the history of Liverpool. If you ever find yourself here, go on the tour, because you also get to see a lot of the city of Liverpool too. When we first arrived in Liverpool, a native asked if we had heard about Liverpool in America. One of the girls answered, "Well of course! You gave us the Beatles!" The native laughed and said that there was more to Liverpool than the Beatles. I loved the tour, but I have to agree that there is far more to Liverpool than the Beatles. Why else was it named the Capital of Culture this year?

Here is the tour taxi. The tour is called "The Fab Four Taxi Tour."

Here is the infamous Cavern Club. This is inside on the walls as you go down the winding stairs into the club.
Here is the Cavern Club stage.
This is Matthew Street, "Birthplace of The Beatles."

Here is a Beatles store on Matthew street.
Here is a statue of Eleanor Rigby. It is called "All the Lonely People."
A closer look at the name of the statue.
Here is where John got married.
This is John Lennon's birthplace.
This is the plaque on the side of John Lennon's birthplace.
This is at Lennon's birthplace.
This is a monument to the Beatles Tours. There are luggage scattered about symbolizing the seasons of their popularity.
Another part of the monument.
Us five girls who attended the tour: Me, Megan, Jess, Carly, Whitney.
A part of the Liverpool Art Institute where some of the Beatles went to school.
Liverpool Art Institute.
"Ye Crack" is a pub that they went to. It is a block or so away from the institute.
Ringo Starr's childhood home.
"The Empress" is the building that appeared on Ringo Starr's first solo album.

The Palm House. George donated money to protect this building before he died because it was one of his favorite places. It is beautiful in person.
Penny Lane street sign.
This is a part of one of their songs. The song mentions several of the places in the following pictures, all of which are on Penny Lane.
This is a bad picture, but on the other side of the building, this place was named "Sgt. Peppers Bistro." Interesting. Did you wonder how they got that name for their album? Now you know.
This is also in that one song. There is a barber shop that is mentioned.
A look down Penny Lane.
This is a barber shop which has some original pictures of the Beatles.
Here is one of the pictures.
George's House was in the middle.

The house where Paul grew up.
Us in front of his house.
The keeper of the house. Kinda looks like one of the Beatles, huh?
This is where Paul and John first met.
This is the plaque on the building. It says, "The Quarry Men featuring, Eric Griffiths, Colin Hanton, Rod Davies, John Lennon, Pete Shotton and Len Garry performed on the afternoon of 6th July 1957 at St. Peters Church Fete. In the evening before their performance in this hall Ivan Vaughan, who sometimes played in the group, introduced his friend Paul McCartney to John Lennon. As John recalled...'that was the day, the day I met Paul, that it started moving."
The picture on the right is a picture that John drew when he was little. The newspaper article on the left accompanies the picture. It says, "Whale that gave birth to a Yellow Submarine." The suspect this how the name Yellow Submarine came about.
This is inside the meeting place of John and Paul. There used to be a stage here, where they would play.
Here is a poster for the 50th anniversary of the place where John met Paul. They signed it.

This is Jess and the Caretaker. He was about 15 when John and Paul met. He was friends of both. He retold the story like it was yesterday for him.
This is the cemetery where some of the Beatles family is buried. The The Quarry Men also played here before it was completely a cemetery.
This is the Rigby family grave. There are several people buried in this one grave. Eleanor is one of them.
This is George "Too Good" Smith's grave. He was John's uncle.

This is George "Too Good"s house. John lived here with him when his mom gave him up.
Here is the plaque on the house which says the John Lennon grew up here.
Here is Strawberry Fields. It was a girl's orphanage.
The gate to Strawberry Fields.
Inside Strawberry Fields. The guide said that the orphanage was a very dark color, and you couldn't see it at night. It was torn down a few years ago. John used to sneak in here and play with the girls.

Downtown Liverpool or as they say "the city centre"

2008-05-19T16:38:00.029+01:00

Okay, so I had to add this picture at the last minute, because it was accidently deleted. Please see below for the introduction to this post. This is the Walker Art Gallery, designed by HH Vale in 1882.

Hello! I took this trip to downtown Liverpool on the 16th, I think. It is very beautiful. There is a second "shopping centre" (mall) a little closer to our university (or "uni" as they say). We discovered that mall on the 17th during our Beatles tour. I don't have any pictures from that place yet, and I will be posting the Beatles pictures in the next day or so. Anyways, these pictures are from downtown Liverpool.

Here are some pigeons. The picture doesn't quite do justice to their enormity, but trust me they are the size of small chickens.

This is St. John's Gardens. (It lies behind St. Georges Hall) It was named for St. Johns church which stood here from 1783 to 1887. There were sitting areas around the statue, which you can sort of see to the right of the picture. Outside of the surrounding seating area is a beautiful garden, but that picture didn't quite turn out the way I wanted so I am not posting it. Sorry.

Here is your stereotypical red telephone booth. Sorry it is sideways. I don't know how to fix it. The girl in the tye-dye shirt is my friend Jess. She doesn't know this picture with her butt is on here. heehee!

Here is a fish and chips shop. This is not one of the nicer ones, but I chose this one for a reason. Look to the left of the building. There is a sign that says, "To Let." That means, "For Rent." I just think that is funny.

This is the County Sessions House. It is apparently used as offices for National Museums Liverpool.

This is a statue outside of St. Georges Hall. This is what I believe to be Zeus. He is holding a street lamp. Hera (Zeus' wife?) is on the other side of the entrance, also holding a street lamp. No picture of her, sorry.

This is the Steble Fountain (by Paul Lienard) located diagonally from St. Georges Hall. It was very pretty. The wind began to blow fiercely as we were standing beside it, throwing in our coins. We got pretty wet from the water that blew on us. Oh well. I threw in a penny from England's currency, which is actually like worth two pennies in America, so my wish better come true!

This is a pretty sight. The building in the far back is the County Sessions House. The building in the corner of the bottom left corner is the St. Georges Hall. There is a statue of a man standing on this monument. This is called Wellington Column.

A closer look.

This picture is supposed to be after the fountain, but this is the plaque from the Steble Fountain.

This is a random shot of the skyline of Liverpool. Trust me, this is only one of the skylines. Liverpool is so huge!

This is the Wellington Memorial, designed by George Anderson Lawson. It commemorates soldiers. This is in front of St. Georges Hall.

The Empire Theatre. Evita is showing. You can see lions at the bottom of the picture. There are four in front of St. Georges Hall. They are called The Four Recumbent Lions, sculpted by William Grinsell Nicholl.

This is also in front of St. Georges Hall. It is called the Equestrian Statue of Queen Victoria. One of our first days in Liverpool, an older man walked up to my friend Megan and told her not to fall for a man on a horse. We think he might have been referencing this. HA!

This is St. Georges Hall or St. Georges Plateau. It contains concert halls and law courts.

Another skyline.

This is a few blocks from campus. We call it the village. The city centre is about a 20 minute bus ride. Can you believe that we live in Liverpool and it take 20 minutes to get to downtown Liverpool? This place is very, very large!

Here is a mail drop box. Ours aren't this fancy in America. Sorry, it is sideways.

I just added this for pure humor. Crisps are Potato Chips and Biscuits are Cookies.

Next comes the Beatles Tour pictures. This weekend we are going to go see some of the local cathedrals. Tomorrow I am observing at my primary school, so wish me luck!

Liverpool

2008-05-18T12:26:00.000+01:00

I am going to be posting some beautiful pictures of Liverpool next. I also went on a Beatles tour in a taxi, so I will have those pictures shortly as well!

Well, this entry was originally written on Microsoft Word, because I couldn’t log on to the internet, even though I was just on talking to my parents on skype. Things work and then mysteriously quit. Welcome to England! I am bitter, sorry. There are about 5 people in the hall with English accents talking really loud. I am pretty sure they have been to the local pub. It is 12:25 a.m. here. They must not have an early class. Today, my day was somewhat more enjoyable. The door to my dorm is fixed for now, so we will see how long that lasts. I have power restored to my room, because I blew a fuse last night. I was just so upset last night about the door not working, the power shutting off, and being somewhat isolated in this dorm. I ended up going to bed at 7:30 p.m. because I just couldn’t handle being conscious in England any longer. By the way, 7:30 here is 2:30 p.m. in the US, so it was very early. I woke up this morning so freezing cold, that I was literally shaking. It was about 30 degrees in my room. I asked an advisor from the university about getting my furnace turned on and they denied my request. They said that it is summer so it must not be too cold in my room. I would like to see one of them sleep in this room! So I am going to go ask again tomorrow. For now, I am wearing four shirts to bed and a pair of socks. Also, when I asked about the furnace she didn’t know what I was talking about. It is called a radiator here. To me, a radiator is something you have in your car and a furnace is what you have in your house. Whatever. Also, I guess there is no such thing as a water fountain here. One person was very offended when we asked. Ha! One thing I didn’t expect to be different was the computers and keyboards, but guess what? They are completely different. It is so hard to find the right keys while typing on the library computers.

Here are some American favorites that I have found to be comforting (even though they taste nothing like the American version.

Here are some Doritos. Notice they are called Cool Original not Cool Ranch. Also in the bottom left hand corner you can notice that you are eligible to win 20,000 pounds, which is about $40,000 in America! HA!

Lets just say that the Pringles are the worst. Not only did the Pringles I bought come in a bag, but they are about the size of a quarter, and they taste like corn on the cob. Yuck. I would have put pictures of some of the other foods on here, but I think the lunch ladies would have been offended. I would say I have already made enough enemies.

This is the smoke detector. I think. It must not be very sensitive considering the fact that the outlet melted my converter.

Next is the infamous sink. Notice how you have a knob for hot and a knob for cold. There is NO warm! I like American sinks. So imagine me washing my hair. I would dump so cold followed by hot to try to mix them as I was rinsing my hair. Not pretty.

Here is how the shower works on the inside: Turn the top knob to get cold, medium, or hot water. Turn the bottom knob, to get temperature variation after having turned the first knob (or something like that). One of the girls said that it looks like a Ghost Busters backpack.

Here is what I like to call the “rip cord.”  When I first moved in the shower would not work, so I had to wash my hair in the sink, and let me tell you it was no easy task.  So anyway, apparently you have to pull the rip cord to turn the shower on. However, if you notice it has this red light on it, so my original thinking was that this cord worked like the “I need help” cords in nursing homes, so of course I didn’t dare pull it until after I found out it was for the shower.  Now I know.
Next is a picture of the shower.
Here is a picture of the bathroom (i.e. the Lou, the water closet, or whatever)
Next is my desk and closet.  Can you tell I have officially moved in?  It’s a mess!
Next is my bed.  Yes, you can see the pillow and blanket I stole from the plane.  Ha!
Next, you can see my shoes (yes I know I packed a lot!)  You can also see the faulty “radiator.”
My whole room.  This is the outlet. You have to flip the switch beside the outlet to receive any type of electrical current. fun.

I have learned a few new words while here
1. Hole in the wall = ATM

2. Scally (think scallywag) = Someone who thinks he/she is gangster (that was a direct quote from a local)

3. Mini Beasts = bugs! HA! Can you imagine someone saying they were attacked by a mini beast?

Adventures, but mostly Challenges.

2008-05-14T13:20:00.001+01:00

For those of you who are reading this, I have arrived in Liverpool. I have been having difficulties with the Internet and other things too. The university is supposed to send someone to my room to work on the power. I plugged in my converter and it melted. Then all of the outlets stopped working. Go figure. Also, the door to the dorm is coded for swiping ID cards and/or entering an access code. Neither works for anyone who lives in that dorm. So we have all been locked out unless another student miraculously walks out as you try to enter. They say they are sending someone to fix it, so we'll see. I went to complain last night when it first starting not working, and they wouldn't help me. Then a girl with an Liverpool accent came in for the same reason and they helped immediately. So the moral is that story is to fake an accent it you want help. If you can imagine everything being the same, yet completely different at the same time, that would be Liverpool. They have Burger King, McDonalds, KFC, Coca-cola, and snickers candy bars, but nothing tastes the same. It's worse. For lunch yesterday, I ate chese and mayo salad on severly butter bread. Then for dinner, I ate eggplant with couscous. Today, I ate cocoa pebbles and toast for breakfast and Chow Mein and "Chips" (frech fries) for lunch. Yesterday we went exploring the central market place in Liverpool which is 4 miles away from our school. We rode a double decker bus and it was so scary. I don't advise it. I will be posting some pictures from my flight when the internet is fixed in my room. It is so strange being here, because everyone stares at us. We dress so differently from them too. I feel like I am walking around with "American" stamped on my forehead. Everyone has told us how weird our voices sound and asked us so many questions. I am just ready to travel. We have class all day tomorrow, so I will be busy. However, we have Friday off so Megan and I plan on going to central Liverpool to eat at Burger King. YEA!