Paris, la belle villa

Paris, the beautiful city. Friday evening I packed up and headed via tube to St. Pancras/Kings Cross Station. I took a little bit getting accustomed to what the procedure is before boarding an international train ride, but initially you just have to hit the ground running! I headed in for security checks, and unlike the flight to Dublin, I didn't get asked to remove something or put it in a different bag! I arrived in the lounge, essentially one of the world's largest waiting rooms and I picked up some coffee and began playing with Instagram (marshcooke if you want to find me). Here was my first picture:

Once I boarded the train, all I could think of were scenes from "French Kiss". If you know Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline, you should know this film! Many different instances over the weekend immediately brought this movie to mind. The two hour train ride went by quite quickly, I completely missed the part when we were in the Chunnel! It looked just like the rest of the tunnels we had gone through, just a lot longer! I was able to work on some assignments for our London class, and for my requirements back home in Stevens Point; it was quite the productive train ride!

Of course, as I continue to find in Europe the times they tell you seem to be later than needed so that you always arrive earlier than anticipated, I arrived about ten minutes earlier than I told Emily to meet me! Knowing only how to say hello, thank you, pardon/excuse me, and one through five, I stood in one place until Emily arrived. Emily is one of my neighbors in Wisconsin, her family lives across the street from my parents and we often spend ample time together with our siblings around the holidays! While waiting for Emily, a man approached me and asked me something in French. I immediately put my hands in the air, as if I were surrendering, and completely forgetting how to say "I do not speak French". He then asked, "Espanol? Ingles?" I nodded at the option for english. He proceeded to tell me I looked French. He asked me where I was from. I understood the question as where did I arrive from. So I told him, England. He asked me how I liked Paris and I told him this was as much as I had seen so far! Then he badgered me fore living in England and never traveling to Paris before, he informed me that there were people who work in London and live in Paris (All of this became confusing to me considering the fact that I didn't sound British-English)! He ended up giving me his name and phone number and telling me to contact him over the weekend. I reminded him that my phone does not work in France and that I have no way for him to contact me in return. He seemed quite upset and persisted on asking. He then gave me directions to his house from the rail station and said he hoped to see me. Needless to say, I no longer have the number, did not contact him, and quickly forgot the directions.. Oops. One point to my type O-nationality, none for foreign men thinking they'll never get turned down!

Emily arrived shortly after my odd encounter at the station and told me about our plans for the night. We were to head to her classmate's apartment where there was a bit of a gathering. She informed me of small things to know while traveling on the public transportations in Paris and to keep in mind of over the weekend. We arrived at her friend's apartment and the drink of the night was Mojitos! Next thing we knew, the night had run away from us so Emily and I headed home!

TEA AT THE MOSQUE

Saturday was a largely anticipated day! Emily and I woke up early and headed to the Mosque for tea with one of her colleagues, who also had a friend visiting for the weekend! The tea was wonderful and the conversation was even better. We spent about an hour sitting and enjoying their company before we picked out different paths for the day. Emily's friend and her visitor were heading to the park to see the zoo and meet up with her cousins. Emily and I trekked off to Notre Dame! After deciding the line was too long to wait to get in, Emily and I recognized the sounds of our stomaches talking. What to do? Get crepes! Emily showed me the perfect little crepe place that wasn't too expensive and that had the cider she liked best. We chose salty crepes for lunch with the promise of getting dessert crepes on Sunday! What a tough decision that was.. 

CREPES WITH EGG, HAM,
CHEESE AND SPINACH.

After we picked up lunch at the crepe place, Emily set me off with a map and a metro pass. I knew where I wanted to go and what I wanted to accomplish! Since I was only going around by myself, don't be upset that I don't have more pictures of myself with the monuments and locations I visited! I'm not into the 'myspace self-take' photos.. :) The first stop was The Basilica in Montmarte. I did not climb all of the steps, but instead took the chair-lift type transport to the top and then walked around the base of the Basilica. I took a short video of some musicians performing and then took a number of shots of the overlook to the city. It was absolutely breathtaking. I could have sat and people watched all day long!

BASILICA

INSIDE THE ARC
DE TRIOMPHE

Once I rode the 'chair-lift' back down, I began my first stint of souvenir shopping. I picked up a couple small things with plans to get the rest later. Next stop? Arc de Triomphe. I walked and wondered until I found the passage way under the street and up onto the center where the monument stands. Deciding not to stand in the obnoxiously long line to go into and up it, I sat at the base and simply watched and enjoyed the beautiful weather and the funny people. As I was taking pictures, a number of vehicles started honking, and people started shouting. Then all the traffic was stopped for bicyclists coming through!! I took a couple shots before realizing I should know better.. the Tour de France does not come through here until tomorrow. I learned later, it was a dedicated group of obsessed Tour de France fans who were looking for a publicity stunt. Go figure! I continued to meander around the base of the monument and check out the carvings and statues from various places. I decided to leave when I was approached by someone asking me if my name was as beautiful as my face. Thanks, but no thanks!


For my next stop, I hopped on the metro and headed to the Eiffel Tower! I went straight for the east side (where all the grass is) to sit and enjoy the sunshine in the same view as the tower! By now, my feet were aching and beginning to blister from walking around in my Birkenstock sandals and I knew I should rest it for a while. I sat on the green and watched children play duck, duck, goose and grown men fight and bet over  bocce ball. I considered the idea of a nap but with the number of people around, I did not want to leave my bag as a security risk. Instead I just lounged for quite some time. As I began to get up, I was asked by the group behind me if I could take a couple pictures for them. I said it would be no problem and asked them where they were from. What would you guess, Iowa. Welcome to the midwest in Europe!

The last big to-do on my list was the Louvre. On this fact, I must admit something that is not the best of news. I went. I did not go in. Believe me, I have already been shamed enough by my brother. Instead, I shopped around the entrance and stole wifi from the Apple store there. After I stood around using their internet and thinking of how I haven't used the bathroom since we got crepes, what do you do now? I found out the stereotype of the French and their costly bathrooms, is true. So I headed to the WC (water closet) store and paid one euro and fifty pence to use the bathroom. While in there, I considered purchasing American dollar toilet paper, but I figured it really was not a necessity. I headed back to have another thought of whether or not there was something in the Louvre that I actually wanted to see and experience. Once I decided there was not anything in there I couldn't die without seeing or taking a picture of, that I should head back to Emily's and find something to eat for dinner. Here comes an adventure in itself.

I got onto the metro and headed home just fine. I had remembered Emily telling me about any small stands with green awnings being a good place and decently priced location to pick up food of any sort. Since I didn't pass one, I didn't go to one! I couldn't quite place where the one was when she showed it to me and pointed it out, I figured it was earlier on Saturday, it must have been back in the neighborhood where she lives! Unfortunately, this thought was wrong. I did successfully find find at the grocery store near Emily's apartment though! I picked up a few slices of meat, brie, croissants, yogurt, Leffe beer, and biscuits (aka cookies)! I intended on not needing to actually cook to eat which ended up being a semi-success. Since I ate the four containers of yogurt and some of the biscuits I didn't leave a lot of room for the cut meat and brie! Or the croissants! I also fell asleep before 11pm. While doing homework. You know it's a good trip when... :)

I left a note for Emily and Vladimir saying that I was not setting an alarm and suggested that they did the same! We'll sleep until we wake up! When I woke up, Emily had gone out and gotten supplies for one of the most wonderful meals I have had since traveling abroad. Huevos rancheros with salsa. YUMMY. And my stomach actually was able to take the salsa talk about an accomplishment! We planned out our day with a bike ride the the Chateau de Sceaux and bring a frisbee along. Then we were to come home, eat, then head to the Seine near the Eiffel Tower for a river cruise/tour, dessert crepe and then home! And really, we did just that!

Before Emily and I headed out to the Chateau de Sceaux, Emily asked Vladimir to play accordion. It was fantastic. He did it in exchange for the dishes, and then asked Emily to sing the next song with him. It was such a fun time!!
Emily and I jumped on bikes and rode to the Chateau de Sceaux and went inside for a brief tour of the house. When we finished we biked over some more of the grounds and found a nice place to play frisbee! We played frisbee for about a hour and then headed back to the apartment when we got hungry!
When we got back from playing frisbee, Emily and Vladimir made us dinner: french burgers (without the bread) cooked in onions and mushrooms with bread and vegetables! After dinner, we also had biscuits and cheese.. so delicious. I could eat all day long if I were to go back to France!

BACK OF NOTRE DAME.

Emily and I headed to the river for the cruise and I learned of the few places I should have had on my to-do list: Museum d'Orsay and the Champs Elysees. Next time perhaps?! We met up with Vladimir and went for dessert crepes. Of course by the time we got there and ate, we were hungry enough for a salty crepe AND a dessert crepe. Naturally! We took a little nighttime stroll down the river as the sun was setting. It was a beautiful night! This is probably one of the first pictures that immediately after taking, I know I want to frame it. I'm in love with traveling!

At the end of the night, Emily and I realized that we never took any pictures together. So here is proof that we did all of the above together, in Paris! We were getting ready for bed and discussing the time frame for the next morning before she went to work, and I was off to the train!

Thanks Emily for the help and the place to stay! I had such a wonderful time!!

More updates to come! Cheers!!
Sarah Marsh

Off with a bang..

The last week has been an absolute blast. I still cannot believe the amazing experiences I am able to see and participate in. I probably will not entirely feel as if it has actually happened until much after it is finished. Insert some cliche about not knowing what you had until it's gone, right?

I have so much to share with you about what has been happening in London (and Paris)!! It will probably take multiple posts. Please be patient with me, I promise I'll be as quick with the multiple posts as possible. But just so you know, I have an absolutely amazing and hectic week ahead! I promise I will catch you up to where I am and what I have been doing by Friday! Deal? Good.

Last week Monday was the last you heard from me. I had arrived home from Brighton Sunday evening and woke up early Monday to do laundry before class and meat pies... and Sweeney Todd! I let you know a few spoilers that were coming up (to remind you: Sweeney Todd, Martinis at the 007 Bond Exhibit, Sweeney Todd-yes twice, and Paris), which means I will begin with class and musicals! In class, a few of us were able to choose our own museum to attend because where Alan was taking us, we had been already!
We headed to the National Portrait Gallery (the huge museum in the backdrop of almost every Trafalgar Square photograph you've ever seen). We were there until we could no longer walk. Yes, really. Then we headed to Covent Garden to meet others from our class to have dinner and a show! Meat pies and Sweeney Todd, what a deal! To my complete surprise, and maybe naivety, Imelda Staunton and Michael Ball were the two main leads. Fantastic. They killed the comedy and idea behind Sweeney Todd. We were literally in the last row of the theatre, and it did not even begin to matter. If you want to hear more details, shoot me an email or something on Facebook and I'd be happy to tell you more!! Initially, my ticket to Monday's show was supposed to go to one of my flatmates, Mona. However Mona developed strep throat over the weekend and was not well enough to attend. I picked up her spot instead, which meant I still had my ticket to see Sweeney Todd on Wednesday.. when Mona decided Tuesday she was well enough to work or do other activities outside of our room, we decided she would have my ticket! And Wednesday, I went with her to have (vegetarian) meat pies and take her to get my ticket from the box-office. It was the most perfect plan!

Tuesday after work, I headed back to the Barbican Centre-- more specifically the 007 Bond Exhibit. I met up with Jessica and Adrian and we went to fetch our shaken, not stirred martinis! Adrian and I went high class and got a Vesper, only to find we could hardly stomach the gin/vodka combination. It was so bitter, and so difficult to drink. Since it was £9, we finished every last drop, or call us recent college graduates because that's a popular truth! Jessica however, who has little experience with such strong drinks, gets the sweetest martini they had. I'm not sure I can speak for Adrian on this, but I certainly am still quite jealous about this one! Here I have photographs from the entry way, of Mr. Bond, James Bond himself. Also the cover of the brochure they gave along with the exhibit! ...and of course the Vesper drink!

Wednesday and Thursday I spent more time writing post cards (upwards of 20, and I'm still not finished!), updating my resume and cover letters with the intention of applying places this week and next. As many of you know or have heard, or read.. I am literally LOVING every single second that passes here in London. I've described it to some people as a love affair I'm not ready to let go of. Which is pretty darn clear because I'm refusing to count down to when I leave. However everyone keeps asking me when I'll be home! AHH What pressure. What will London think of my betrayal??

With our class on Friday, we were able to go on a tour of Kew Gardens in Kew, London, UK.

FIG TREE

LARGE GREENHOUSE THAT HOLDS
THE LARGEST INDOOR TREE IN THE WORLD!

It is a botanical gardens connected to what used to be the Royal Palace they put King George in when he was going crazy thinking he (England) could win agains the American Revolution--- oops. Sorry about that one King G!
The gardens themselves have just about every plant, tree, and flower possible. From all over the world. I'll include a few pictures here, but if you want to see all of the pictures I took, you'll have to head over to my Facebook page and check out my most recent London album: 'Life, Love, and the pursuit of London'.

LILLY PADS SO BIG, YOU
CAN FLOAT BABIES!

PRETTY ROSES IN THE ROSE GARDEN!

There were exhibits and sculptors of works from David Nash at the Gardens. They had a number of works displayed and you were able to see his works and what he is in the middle working on in the grounds. 

After leaving Kew Gardens, I headed back to our flat to finish packing for Paris. My train left at 6:30pm and I stayed with my Wisconsin neighbor, Emily! I'll put Paris on the next page! Look for the latest update in a day or so!!

*Quick reminder that if you are interested in a post card, please email me: marshcooke1@gmail.com so I can send you one from my next two weeks of travels!!
Cheers!!
Sarah Marsh

Pure Happiness

This week has proven to be one of the happiest I have been since arriving in London. I am not sure what it is, but I think I have finally adjusted to what is going on, what I need to do during a weekly basis, and because of it, I had a fantastic week. I genuinely love my internship and this city. I do not want to leave. Everyone is talking about it being the last number of weeks and I just refuse to focus on that fact. I want to relish in every single second that goes on here. Since June, I have been enjoying it here, but there was just something lacking. I am not quite sure what clicked this week, but this is the best experience I have ever participated in. I love it. 

Thursday most of us went out to celebrate a great work week with karaoke at our regular ISH bar. A few of us dressed up to go out and had a ton of fun!! It was a really great time and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.. a large number of us did karaoke as well- we have the videos to prove it! :)

On Friday, I headed to the Barbican Center to tour the 007 Design exhibits with Taylor, Adrian and Jessica. On the way to the Barbican Center, Jessica and I wanted to have our fun at Platform 9 3/4, because obviously we're Harry Potter fans!! :) Here are a couple shots that Jessica took of me. Adrian and Taylor stood and looked on at this point, because this was something they had already knocked off their London Bucket List. As for the 007 Exhibit, it was a phenomenal exhibit. I was really pleased with everything they had to display and present. However, I was really unimpressed with the gift shop items. I thought it would be a jackpot for souvenirs to give to my family, but no such luck!! I had pre-ordered my ticket online, I reserved a souvenir booklet and a martini at the martini bar. Thinking this was such a wonderful idea, others came along and we headed there in the afternoon. When we finished the exhibits, we asked how to get to the martini bar. One of the employees directed us there but told us unfortunately the martini bar does not open until 5pm. Who does that? Ugh. Fortunately, they allowed me to get a new martini bar ticket and come back Tuesday. So the four of us are planning on going back after work Tuesday for a martini. Yes please. Shaken. Not stirred. 

Afterwards, I headed to the Tower of London with Jessica, only to arrive and find out that a. they were pretty packed, b. it took three hours to go through, and c. they closed in one hour. Although the £17.90 student rate was not sounding excellent by then, even if we wanted to go anymore they would not allow us. Instead we did a bit of a photo shoot in front of the Tower, and gave the Tower Bridge a photo shoot of it's own. The next stop was food, before Henry V at The Globe. We picked up what was left of food at this little meat side-shop in Borough market and then headed to the Globe!! Here, I was extremely impressed with the show and production of it, the performance was wonderful. If I had the time, I would go to see this show again. It was fantastic!!!! 

On Saturday, I woke up with a plan. The events for the day were to include the British Museum (again), Frisbee Club in Regent's Park, Portobello Road Market, and BBC Proms. I woke up late and ran out of time to hit the British Museum- I'll go next week after work or something, Frisbee Club was cancelled to do rain- stupid inclement weather, and Portobello Road Market was still on!! I headed to Notting Hill with Jessica to find Portobello Road Market. What a treasure, it was phenomenal. Oh my goodness, I walked away with so much for so little! Two necklaces, a ring, two pairs of earrings, and a few trinkets for gifts... and the most expensive article of clothing/most amazing article of clothing EVER: A leather jacket. Wow. Bomber style is my style. <3 I'm in love with a leather jacket. I don't consider myself to be one of those materialistic people, but when I walked into the shop and this jacket was starring at me, I absolutely had to take it home. This was also my first experience with bargaining. I must say, I was quite successful! :) I am oh so please and impressed with myself!! Unfortunately I also misjudged our time spent at the market and also missed queueing for the BBC Proms standing room (for £5). I was really looking forward to seeing My Fair Lady at the Royal Albert Hall, but I'll just have to take a tour of the theatre another time. I needed a night off anyway!

On Sunday, I took a day trip to Brighton through our International Student House trips and events group. Of our group from Wisconsin, three of us signed up a few weeks in advance. Our trip costs included a bus ride to and from Brighton at specific times, a half hour walking tour of Brighton with brief history, and entry admission into The Royal Pavilion. Leaving London on time was overall quite fine, as the bus company added in time to be late at each pick up point-- thank goodness considering we needed to be there at 7:50am, and I woke up at 8:12am. I also made it there by 8:24am and was still able to go! The bus ride was shorter than expected, but that might be because I slept the entire way... good music and a few solid iPod games before I was out like a light. We arrived in Brighton and met our tour guide. Her name is Glenda and would not tell us exactly how long she has lived in Brighton, she only told us 'a long while'. We meandered down streets and through old alleyways into what is called the Lanes. The Lanes are the original streets used when the city was first established, shopping, markets, gambling rooms, small hotels, etc. We walked through and saw a number of old buildings still being used today that were originally built with cement and flint stones from the beach. Talk about an interesting pattern. At the end out our tour, we went into the Pavilion to begin our tour there. It was an audio-walking tour where we each were given handsets to hold to our ear, this way you can listen and tour at your own pace. It was very cool to see the styles chosen to to decorate the house for the Prince of Wales- turned King George IV. Oriental styles were originally chosen for the entry way, and it was said on the audio tour that the people decorating the room had never been to China, or known much about their culture. With how the designs were implemented as the final decorations, you would never know! My favorite room had to be the music room. There was an organ tucked away into the wall, with enough space to fit the King's personal band behind! It was said on the tour, that even the King enjoyed playing wonderful music and would often briefly entertain his guests as equally as his musicians. It was also said that Rossini was a popular favorite musician/composer who came to see the King here and perform quite often. As soon as this information was shared, I had a music geek moment, and loved every second of it.

As for things I planned ahead for London before I arrived here, I specifically packed clothes that I could wear out and throw away prior to returning. I also created a London Bucket List! In order of the clothes, I have already tossed two shirts and three pairs of shoes (I'm sure anyone who knows me and my love of shoes will maybe surprised to hear this, but believe you me. They needed to be tossed. Two more are on their way out. Probably by the time I get home from Paris). I must say I have also taken charge to my Bucket List and there are only a small number of things remaining. I would like to go back to a couple museums I toured earlier in the trip and check out their gift shops one more time, just to be sure I found everything I wanted. Otherwise, I don not have too much more planned. Next weekend, I head to Paris and I have a list of things to experience while there. Following that, is opening weekend for the Olympics. I will be attending a match for volleyball. Then I head to Wales for the last week of my internship to work and participate in their Summer Music School Project! It's crazy to imagine that this experience is coming to an end, but as I said earlier, I refuse to focus on this fact because it is just down right depressing!!  

Things to look forward to hearing about: Sweeney Todd, Martinis at the Barbican- 007 exhibit, Sweeney Todd (yes twice), and planning for Paris!!! 

Cheers! 

Sarah Marsh

A Bit of this.. A Bit of that

After returning to London from Dublin, I had to get my act back together! Monday always means class, we dropped off our travel belongings to our rooms, showered and picked up food before heading to class. In class, we walked around near the South Kensington station and our professor pointed out various places where we should eat or snack at in the future. Then we headed to the V&A Museum (Victoria & Albert Museum). We walked through years and years worth of British history (1500 to as far present as time would allow). Monday evening I went to see Les Miserables! with Taylor and Adrian. The show was phenomenal. The voices, spectacular. The pit, top notch.. the bass trombone/tuba, best I've heard in all the recordings I have ever heard for Les Mis. I purchased a program and I'm tempted to go back, but I need to plan for other things in the future instead! So I bought tickets to see Blood Brother towards the end of the month. I'm pumped!!

On Tuesday, I started my new internship at Contemporary Music for All. I'm truly doing what I want to do for the rest of my life!! They are putting on a summer music camp project during the last week of my internship and they're letting me come along to.. Whales to participate and work!! I've been needing an excuse to get to Whales for this entire trip! This seems to be the perfect opportunity!!

Wednesday, the fourth of July, I worked again at CoMA and spent some time getting to know my supervisor, Ella. She's grand. And I'm having such a fun time at my internship, I hardly noticed it was the fourth of July! All the Facebook and Twitter posts about summer plans did make me a bit jealous. Bonfires, fireworks, cook outs, hotdogs, having a cool one at the lake/park/in the yard. Mmmmmm. And then I remembered. I am in London. The thought passed pretty quickly. :) My flatmates and I made plans earlier in the week, after Alan told us about this great dim song restaurant to try near the South Kensington station. We decided that Wednesday, we would eat dim sung and head to a wine sampling place around the corner. Meanwhile, most of our group decided they wanted to go celebrate for the day because if we didn't, Uncle Sam wouldn't let us back into the country. Unfortunately, the service was crazy bad at dinner for us, and we ended up not getting wine and not meeting up with the rest of our group. Instead, we headed back to our room and got more appropriately dressed (in red, white, and blue), and headed to the ISH Bar. We didn't celebrate to much.. but as we saw fit!

I spent another day at work on Thursday and I tried to make plans and meet up with people from ISH. But all my plans fell through. Instead, I ended up Skyping with people all night! I spent a while Skyping with Marsha (shout out to her blog here) and I spent a couple hours with my brother, Andrew (shout out his site here)! It was so nice to catch up and see friendly faces from home. It was just what I needed to end my night. Thanks guys! :D

We were instructed that for Friday we needed to come back to the V&A museum for the British Exhibit of design and innovations from 1948 - 2012, the space in time between when the Olympics was last in London to when it is in London again. The exhibits were fantastic and I even walked away with a few little things from the gift shop! Afterwards, a few of us headed to Pret for a brief lunch and the next place to tackle was... Harrod's. My oh my. The professor I had for Principles of Marketing/International Marketing always told us about Harrod's. But I didn't think all of that could really have been true. No. Professor Meyers.. You were right!! We had heard that the ice cream parlor was home to the most spectacular ice cream in London. Clearly we had to go speculate to see if this was true, what else were we supposed to do?? At thirteen £13, it was pretty darn fantastic. Believe you me. Go back and get some. But share. I could hardly finish mine. Ofta.

For the rest of the day, I cleaned up my room and organized my things, did some laundry, wrote postcards (hint, hint to those of you who requested them, they were mailed today!), journaled for my class requirement back in Stevens Point and worked a little on my Ireland blog (which I hope you have dearly enjoyed). When I finished these tasks, I headed to ISH Bar at the beckoning of one of my newest and most fantastic (and Portuguese) friends, Barbara. And of course when I said I was leaving, she and Zslatko said no, and one more, and no, and oh just wait I'll walk you home. So I waited. And now it was much later than I intended to be, almost 11:30! You see, I had a big weekend ahead of me..

Saturday morning I took a train to Coventry, just outside of Kenilworth and Warwickshire to see my great-grandmother's cousin, Valerie. Valerie is the sweetest lady in the entire world. She let me stay with her for a night and even let me meet some of her family! On Saturday, we informed one another of  updates within our family, how everyone was doing.. are they married, do they have children, where are they living, etc. etc. etc. And much to my surprise, she knew so much of my family! My grandparents, all aunts and uncles, all cousins- most of their significant others, and a few of their children! I was shocked and surprised! She told me all about her family and then on Sunday I was able to meet them! During the afternoon on Saturday was the Kenilworth carnival, fair and parade. When the parade was going past, we headed out to the street to watch!!

On Sunday, we got up early and had breakfast. Following breakfast, one of her grandsons (Edward) came to pick me up. I headed out with him and Charlie, the dalmation, for a walk. Oh no problem, just a walk past the old Saxon Mill that has been around for a few hundred years. Oh, and then we walked past some old castle ruins. No big deal. After spending about an hour and a half walking Charlie, we headed into town to get tea and coffee. After we shared all sorts of information.. music, skiing, weather, history, life, university, etc. we headed back to his Gran's house. Within the hour, her other grandson, Sebastian, came to join us out for lunch. We headed to this cute little pub that was serving Sunday roast. I had pork. And it was to die for. I thought all this home cooking was the thrill of my trip. Now I know what I need to do in London every Sunday. Go find a great roast!! Who knew?! After lunch we picked out a dessert and then headed back to Valerie's house to watch the final men's single tennis match for Wimbledon. Here, Edward and his wife, Rachel, joined us. As well as Edward and Sebastian's parents, Evon and Jonathan. It was a lovely time. Edward and Rachel are planning on coming to London for opening weekend of the Olympics and we are going to try to get together! When I told them I have tickets to a volleyball match, boy were they jealous!! Before it got to be too late, I headed back to London via train!! <3 (Here is where everyone can complain a lot until the end of time, because no, I did not take any pictures. My camera died. And when I did want to take pictures, my iPod was also dead. Sorry mom!)

THIS IS ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON'S.

On Monday I woke up extra early for the sole purpose of doing laundry. I washed up everything from the weekend to be ready to go for the week. I continued to work more on my journal to send back to Point this week and finally got it all done! I spent a nice leisurely hour or so eating lunch at Pret with Mona and Tori. It was so much more relaxing instead of scarfing my face and running across town to class. During class, we talked about Shakespeare, and we were given our tickets to see Henry V at The Globe this Friday. At the end of class, we took the tube to Hampstead and walked around some famous people's houses and grave sites (Dame Judy Dench's street, J.M. Barrie's gravesite-author of Peter Pan, house of Robert Louis Stevenson just to name a few). At the end of class, I headed to a Hungarian Pastry shop with a few others on our trip to get dessert before dinner. Hazelnut cake. Enough said. Then we headed to a secondhand book store and I picked up a few opera recordings for £2.99 and (get this) a Post Secret UK book for £4.99. I will treasure these finds for ever. Next we headed to the King Henry IV for dinner. I had baked sea bass for the first time ever. Minus the hot hot hot hot hot peppers on top, I loved every bite. Then we headed back to the room and I called it an early night. (When I don't have plans, I'm pretty boring)

J.M. BARRIE'S GRAVESITE.

Tuesday rolled along and while at work, I purchased train tickets to Bangor, Wales! I'll be there from Monday night, 30 July to Saturday afternoon, 4 August for our Summer Music School Project! I keep hearing about how magical Bangor looks with the ocean and the mountains in the same view, and I think I dreamt about it. I cannot wait. I also purchased a ticket to see Sweeney Todd next week!! AHHHH I'm super excited. Literally, on cloud nine.

DID I READ THAT CORRECTLY? AVOID LONDON?

Today is Wednesday. It does not feel like it. I think these days are FLYING past. I'm in no hurry for this whole experience to be done yet!! Today, I went to work and let me tell you about 1. the weather in this country and 2. the interruption of life for the excuse of the Olympics. 1. I was today's weather-checker in our room. Every morning, someone asks the question and who ever has internet at that time checks and announces. Today, it was my job. I read the following: 57 F, rain from 1pm to 9pm with thunderstorms around 3pm. I then left the room for work. No jacket, but definitely my brelly. I walk to the tube: beautiful sunshine, almost enough to prevent me from going to work. I walk between the tube and the overground and sit to wait for the train in the sunshine. And then I feel a handful of little drip drip drops falling on me. I quickly get up to jump on the next train, knowing that after a few drip drip drops, there is usually a number of cats and dogs to follow. Sure enough, at my stop: POURING RAIN like there was never the word or idea of this burning ball of gas out in the galaxy. Frustrated. Can anyone get this weather right? 2. Planning for this trip, I was 150% for being in London during the Olympics because it would be such a cool experience, and think of all the people you get to meet from all over the world, la la la. The first point that is wrong with this is: London is not English. Parts are and some people are, but for the majority everyone in the world here are from everywhere else. I can count at least seven different languages on the tube in the morning. Try walking down the street? Same thing, and then throw in traditional dress. London is absolutely diverse. As for the Olympics, they are updating tube lines all the time (don't get me wrong, this is absolutely helpful), and this week they began testing out evacuations, reroutes, over-crowding drills, etc. and they are transforming a number of bus/taxi lanes in the city to Olympic Lanes. All of these things will inhibit our travel and transport to and from work for the remainder of the summer. This week is the last week to even feel 'normal' before all the Olympic craziness sets in. It's so frustrating. A number of kids on our trip are planning on walking to work- upwards of 1.5-2 hours (yes, that is one way). It's times and thoughts like these that make me wish I was at home for the summer and enjoying the Olympics on TV, wishing I could be there. Today I also purchased a ticket to see Chicago! Not the most traditional British or European show (sarcasm), but when will I get to see it any other time?? Seriously. I am living this up, live to the fullest. I'm going to go big or go home.

This brings up as up to date as humanly possible! More spoiler alerts to my life in upcoming days: Designing 007: Fifty Years of Bond Style (complete with souvenir booklet and martini), London Bridge, Tower of London, Henry V, Stratford-upon-Avon, BBC Proms: rushing My Fair Lady for £5 standing room at the Royal Albert Hall, and Brighton (all this weekend).. then Paris (next weekend).

Cheers!
Sarah Marsh

Everybody's a little bit Irish!

Two weekends ago I traveled to Ireland with one of my flatmates, Taylor, and two other guys from our internship group, Kevin and Adrian. As those of you read my last post know, I was literally cramming to get everything done Thursday night before we left so early Friday morning. The good news? I was able to get the blogging that was needed completed, and I finished my journal. The bad news? I only got about two hours of sleep before I had to be up to leave for Ireland!!

We had no issues getting up in time, I think the excitement was enough of an alarm to really get us going. We left for the Tube a few minutes before planned (who does that?), and go to the station for our train about twenty minutes early. What? There is another train that leaves in five minutes? Or we can take the train we were planning on in 25.. nah. Let's go early! Really, who does that? We arrived at Stansted (try looking this up and seeing just how far out we had to go!) Airport to fly RyanAir. We got checked in for the flight, and only made it through security with minor delays because I did not have my liquids in a sealed bag (oops, sorry) and Taylor had liquids of all sizes and shapes, none of them in a bag. We had to squeeze out her hair gel into other containers! Oh the problems. At this point in time, we were happy to have arrived earlier than expected.While in the airport, we realize we have about an hour before the flight and by now we were starving. We picked up some breakfast and read the morning papers. Next step? Off to Ireland.

The flight was not too bad however the cabin pressure and congested pressure didn't mix. The only way I can describe how I felt was.. I felt like Harry Potter getting my forehead and nose ripped to pieces. My right ear wouldn't pop. It was dreadful. So much for sleeping. Upon landing, we picked up WIFI, Tweeted and Facebooked about our location, found a map and headed out to find our hostel! We purchased three day passes for the buses (more on this later..) and headed to the hostel, Jacob's Inn.

When we found the hostel, we tried checking in. We were told we could not check in until three. At this point it was around 11. We updated life with wifi, and picked up dozens of brochures to be sure we did all we could possibly do! Immediately it was decided we would go to The Church. For lunch. What is this business you may be asking? The Church has loads of history... which you can check out at their website I linked. Here is my two favorite photos: Arthur Guinness and The Organ- which Handel once played!! Since we had a few more hours to kill, we decided our next stop would be the Jameson Distillery!! Taylor and I were chosen to be on the table of taste-testers. This means at the end of the tour, we get to try three shots of whiskey. One from Jameson, one from Jack Daniels, and one from Johnny Walker. Believe you me, Jameson is hands down the winner. Hands. Down.

After the tour, we headed back to the hostel and checked in. The next plan was to find dinner, so we began walking! After a number of overpriced menus and semi-wrong turns, we found The Living Room, they were still serving dinner and had an outdoor beer garden. We were sold! After eating various non-traditional anywhere food, we spent a while enjoying the atmosphere in the beer garden.

We had already made plans for after dinner, there was a Hostel Pub Crawl! We dropped off things from dinner and headed straight to The Merchantile to begin the evening. We met a number of wonderful people from all over the place, Sweden, Ohio, Georgia, Illinois, California, and Germany! I think the funniest part was most everyone was American! This lasted until approximately 6:30 in the morning, but our group didn't last that long. At one particular pub, there were drinking games. One of the guys and I were participating (and cleaning house) and the other two headed upstairs to listen to the live music. When it came time to move pubs, the two of us joined the group after almost being left behind ourselves and assumed the other two were ahead in the group! Little did we know, they were actually left behind!! With no working phones and bits of wifi, if you knew where to look, we could not contact one another and we finished the night separated! The best news is that everyone got home safely! :)

The plan for Saturday was to wake up early and walk to meet a bus tour. The tour was to take us out to Galway to see the scenic views, Galway walking tour, fairy forts, Cliffs of Moher, Portal Tomb, some castles and then return us back to Dublin. The initial tour left 30 minutes late, which made us 30 minutes late throughout the rest of the day. By the time we got to Galway, it was pouring. So our walking tour became a guided tour on the bus. And our bus driver felt bad (mainly because these really cranky and annoying group of girls from California complained), and told us he would take us to everything and more! It was fantastic. The best day of my life. Nothing will ever compare. Unfortunately when we got into Galway (I had slept the whole way), I could NOT keep my eyes open. So I also slept through the entire bus tour of Galway (sorry Brittany.. I tried!). After Galway, the first stop was lunch. Lunch at this little pub and chocolate desserts at a little homemade chocolate shop down the street. None of my chocolate made it back to Dublin. But it was wonderful. The woman working asked me how much Irish I had in me... I apologized and said maybe a little way back, but I am mostly Welsh and Scottish! She told me it was my fair skin, freckles and hair that gave it away.
 The next stop was the Cliffs. I want my ashes to be spread from the cliffs when I die. It was beautiful, breathtaking and so incredibly striking.
I took as many pictures as possible, but it was nothing compared to what we actually experienced. We began at the middle and walked as far as you could go on the right- until there was a fence keeping you out. Then we retraced our steps back to the middle and began to go as far as we could to the left. It was here that we jumped the small wall 'suggesting' not to go past this point. Oops. We had to. And this was where some of the greatest photographs were taken. If you have not been, please book your tickets now. Please. Do it before you die. It is worth it. 





CHECK OUT TAYLOR AND I LIVING LIFE ON THE EDGE!
After the Cliffs of Moher, we headed to a variety of locations across Ireland. 







The next stop was the Portal Tomb. This is a formation of rocks that is centuries old. No one knows exactly what they are marking or why they are there, aside that it is a tomb for a female body. Our bus driver told us that this woman must have been something extra special because she was not decorated in her burial, yet she was given such a beautiful grave site.

The next stop was to a fairy fort. This has also been there for more years than anyone actually knows. The stones have been set, as they were here, for as long as everyone can remember. 

The next stop was a castle. I was also asleep for this, so Taylor took my camera and got a few stunning photos of the castle and the sun beginning to set (Nice work Taylor, I approve).

Finally, we headed back to Dublin and we found some cheap pizza around the corner from our hostel and stuffed our faces. We were dead tired but wanting to do so much more! We mustered up the energy to try a few more pubs before the end of the night.. under the agreement that we did not set any alarms in the morning. What a great feeling.


On Sunday, we slept in for a while and then went to find food near the Temple Bar area. What a wonderful idea this was. We were able to do some souvenir shopping and get a delicious lunch! Our next game plan included finding our way to the Guinness Factory. Success. Boy was that a blast! And if anyone is wondering? Guinness is 700000000xbetter in Ireland. Go and get it! For dinner, we headed back to the Temple Bar area and found this quaint little italian restaurant.. who happened to be playing the Euro Cup 2012 final, Italy v. Spain (unfortunately Spain won). After we ate dinner, we found an Irish Pub to grab dessert, Bailey's Cheesecake. What a wonderful thing it was. We headed back to the hostel for an early bed time because we had to get up at the crack of dawn to fly back to London.

That is the gist of Dublin.. if you need more details let me know! :) Look for another blog post in coming days on last week and weekend! I need to tell you everything!!
Cheers!
Sarah Marsh
-updated Nov. 2012 with video.

Meantime... take three!!

I left off after Sunday night.. man do I have a ways to go! And the pressure is on, considering I was supposed to be asleep three hours ago! We're getting up to leave for Dublin around 4am sometime. Oh goodness... Laundry is done. Packing is done. Now to finish this blog and my assignment!


Monday: The current trend is to sleep in and in and in until about eleven and then everyone quick jumps out of bed, jumps into the showers and haphazardly makes it over to ISH, the main student housing building, for lunch and then meanders their way over to class. This week we changed classrooms and finished up with a walk to King's College, Trafalgar's Square, and Westminster (I have a few pictures from within King's College. One of Taylor, one panoramic, and one from the staircase with no supports). With the final story about Abraham Lincoln and how his death changed newspaper headlines for ever, we went our separate ways for dinner. Adrian, Taylor and I had plans to rush a show (crossing our fingers oh-so-desparately for Les Miserables), and when the show we wanted wasn't available, we splurged a little and got some decent tickets for next week's showing of Les Miserables. Be jealous. We wandered through Leicester Square and found a little place for some delicious food. I've found I do actually enjoy chips, commonly known in the USA as fries, but only with a little mayo and ketchup mixture. Weird, I know. But apparently that is how they do it here! After relishing in the success of our purchase, we found our way to a little gelato place called Scoops and boy did that do us in. Adrian and I got a large (three flavors) and Taylor got a medium (two flavors). I already know what I'm getting next time. Oh how delicious it will be. We went on our way back to the ISH Bar and spent sometime there. I skyped with MARGO (shout out to her for our Skype date), and Adrian's (second?) cousin got a hold of him and asked if he and his friends were interested in Olympic tickets.. UM. YES PLEASE! After narrowing it down to three sports: futbol, volleyball, and gymnastics, we found out dates, prices, and who we would see. The final decision? Volleyball. July 28th. We will be there, and boy will it be fantastic. The next hour or so we spent parading the news around to everyone, sorry if we rubbed it in too much. We were just REALLY excited.










On Tuesday, I woke up with a much worse sore throat and coughing and running nose than had been over the last few days. I also awoke to find one of my roommates in a similar condition. We decided to take it slow and get out in the sunshine, yet not over do it. We went to work at Starbucks. The only guaranteed coffee house in the city that does NOT cut off your wifi time. I think they know us by now, considering it is now Thursday and I have been there everyday since Tuesday. Whats up Starbucks? Tori did some work on her play and I went to town on emails for work! I thought I could do everything in two emails. Turns out, Yahoo! told me I was wrong. I had my email account locked from sending, and for a while I could only receive emails. Talk about problems. I had to contact Yahoo! Customer Service and convince them I wasn't sending spam to all these school emails, but in fact I was trying my hardest to contact them! Once I had my account unlocked, it took me roughly fifteen emails to complete to all the recipients needed. Talk about exhausting. It was during this afternoon that I also found out my placement for my internship is changing. Starting next week, I will be working at Contemporary Music for All (CoMA). More news on this when I find out.


I also went back to ISH, despite me need for sleep and health, to wish a new friend (Tomasz) good bye. He needs to go back to Poland for a few weeks to work out some kinks with work. Hopefully he will be back in a couple weeks and we can have a welcome back party, not so enthusiastic as his sending off.. After Tomasz' insisting that he won't drink because he needs to finish packing and get up at 3am to be checked out of his room (the Community Advisor in me shutters to think why this is politically correct) and that he must get some sleep or he will not wake up, Zlatko (Macedonian friend) managed to get him to drink a couple and then suggested we not let Tomasz sleep, but instead take him to Trafalgar's Square when the bar closes! Crazy, crazy Zlatko.. we took him up on his suggestion. Here are a few pictures as proof (for the record, Zlatko did not come with us!). The first two pictures are of Trafalgar's Square as everyone knows it to be... and the others are us being silly: everyone on the lion, except for Tomasz (Steph, Barbara, myself and Nash), a few of us posing (Nash -from Pakistan, Steph -from Ecuador, Barbara -from Portugal and myself), and Barbara, Tomasz and me.. trust me it is the only decent picture he would 'take'!!

Good bye for now Tomasz! 

As for Wednesday, it is safe to assume my feeling tired.. I woke up and decided I needed to work from home to ease into the day. I eventually went over to ISH for lunch, and then headed over to the British Library. I worked for a while and then used FaceTime for the first time to see my brother, Morgan!! It had been so long since we last talked, and it was great to see him again. I felt very useful going around the house with him while he was conquering his to-do list! :) I was even able to see all the animals in the house! Talk about a fun time!!! After our FaceTime chat, I headed down to the Exhibition room where a number of original manuscripts and documents from all across history. I was able to see original manuscripts for Shakespeare, Chaucer, and Dickens- to name a few! The original manuscripts that took my breath away, however, was not text. It was the music. The music manuscripts were fantastic to see.. Mozart, Hayden, Handel, and Ravel. Pages and pages of original music. Their handwriting. It was fantastic. I could have stayed around for hours just to stare. I managed to take a single picture, although it was frowned upon. But I HAD to share just a piece of this with the world...

You cannot quite tell because of my unsteady iPod-camera hand, but this is
in fact the original manuscript of Handel's Messiah. 

After I finished drooling over the music manuscripts, I went back to adore the original of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson's Alice in the Underground (otherwise known as Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll). I picked up a wonderful poster that is an entire page of the original manuscript, with Carroll's original drawings. I cannot wait to get it framed and hang it. A little fact to why this means a little something extra is... we're related. :D


As for today, I finished up emails to a number of schools on behalf of ShadowStage, working again from Starbucks. Today was exceptionally beautiful out!! It was supposed to rain and storm all afternoon, and we haven't had a drop yet (knock on wood). Instead, it was 81 degrees F. We could not believe what we stepped into outside! HEAT WAVE! Looks like it isn't just hitting the states! After I finished work, I headed over to Liverpool Station to meet Taylor. We went to purchase our train tickets to get us to our flight out of Stansted. After purchasing our tickets, we went to meet up with Adrian and Jessica to enjoy some delicious ethnic food. I'm slowly becoming partial to falafel's. Talk about yummy. :) We were talking tonight about what we miss most from home. We decided the cooking was it.. and Jimmy Johns. But for the most part, we forget that we're actually in London. It's quite bizarre. After dinner, my to-do list included: watching Germany v Italy, laundry, packing, check-in for plane tickets, blog/journal and sleep. Guess what I did? Laundry, packing, checking-in, and blog. I now have four hours to sleep, and I still need to write my journal. For now, I leave you with this...


The promise of a phenomenally long and picture-filled blog and VLOG about Dublin and how spectacular our weekend was. I look forward to putting it together for you-- probably with the help/assistance and co-workings of Taylor... I cannot wait! Happy -early- fourth of July!!

See you on the green side! <3
Cheers!
Sarah Marsh

*The offer still stands, email me (marshcooke1@gmail.com or s.cooke2488@yahoo.com) your address and I will send you a postcard.. for those who requested one during the last blog post, they went in the mail a few days ago!! ;) Enjoy!
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