Almost the End of the Wandering ... Goodbye, England (next up - Ireland)

So it's come to this. The end of my sojourn in England. Also the end of my class. This will be my final British post - then I'll do one more because the final country I'm visiting is Ireland, land of poets. Don't worry, though, I shall not attempt any poetry whatsoever.

Okay, what to write, what to write? I think I've pretty much blithered about all there is to know about my school work (just finished up my paper & my social media video, in case you want to watch that, click on here - I really won't blame you if you don't, however). Although expensive, I think these types of trips are definitely worth it (that is, if I still have a job when I get home!) They are extremely intense (classes of some sort beginning usually around 8 am every day along with some nights & weekends plus daily homework - no, it was honestly not just rocketing around to tourist sites and snapping photos although it might have seemed that way). Anyway, if you watch my video, you'll get a fairly good idea about my classwork as a whole in London.

That being said, I think I'll just bore you with my sensory impressions of the whole trip and Europe, in general. Here we go.

Ok, you can't hear this - but Wales has
every sign in both English & Welch.
Children have to learn their native Welch
until they turn 16. It is a beautiful language.

- The Sounds. Oh, the accents and the way people speak differently. Fun cockney sounds - gorgeous posh Received Pronunciation ones - country accents. Do yourself a favor and go to YouTube and look up various British accents. One of the best things about Europe is that you will also hear so many accents from all over the world. It is a bit like this in Manhattan but it seems much more concentrated in London. And the French, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish. If you like to listen to people sound so very differently than they do in the States (as I do), Europe is a wonderful place to go and just listen. Also, don't forget the ringing bells and chimes from all the many churches everywhere in Europe.

This is a traditional type "Full English" breakfast
They put beans with everything. Except this one is missing
mushrooms, which I adore. You'll never go hungry
after eating a Full English!

- The Smells and Tastes. I put these together because they just go with each other. I heard many years ago that British food is "bland". That is a rather dumb statement. If you don't like traditional English foods (Bangers & Mash, Fish & Chips, Shepherd's Pie, Bubble & Squeak, etc...), then just eat at any of the zillions of other types of restaurants! Chinese, Thai, Indian, Mexican, etc... The smells go along with the wonderful food and, I have to add, there are also the smells of all the divine flowers that seem to be every single place we go.

Just a random building in London.
Nothing special - but it is.

- The Sights and Touch - I love the U.S.A. Would never want to be from anywhere else. But whenever I come to Europe and return home, I invariably think, "Do we HAVE to have all these boxy looking stores and buildings all over the place? They are so ugly!"  Now granted I am talking about middle American strip malls and shopping centers and so on. All cities and towns boast some beautiful buildings and our countryside is gorgeous. However, I am just talking about architecture everywhere. From the teeniest town to the largest cities, Europe seems to take a lot of pride in their buildings. Unfortunately, I am noticing a lot more "box-type" convenience stores on this trip than the last one I took here five years ago. I know that it's so much more economical and efficient to build a large, box store but it is truly ugly. What is wrong with building beautiful architecture that will be seen and appreciated for the ages?

These are just a few of the things I will miss and try to remember when I return. I will also miss things like this:

Trains - they are the absolute
smartest and best way to get around.
They are all over Europe. Why doesn't
the US invest more in trains???

Once again, another train - but this time
an underground one. THE TUBE!
Look how fast it goes - I just got
the streaks as it went by. And, YES,
I totally minded the gap this time!

Meeting random, interesting people.
(Although, I admit, I can totally do this in
the States - but these accents are cooler).
This poor, unsuspecting young
man sat next to me at the British Library
so I harassed him until he talked to me.
Very sweet - he was studying engineering
and, although he looked about 14, he
was actually 23 and had lived in the States
for a few years.

The fresh flowers. Everywhere. EVERY. WHERE.

Another shot of random buildings -
all just gorgeous. This was
in Edinburgh, Scotland.

No, I am not missing this guy. But he works
at Harrod's & I took this photo because
all of the shop workers dress great like him.
They all dress up. No jeans and a tshirt for them!
I am the queen of jeans & t-shirts but I envy
their style in Europe.

Did I mention I would miss the architecture?
I believe I might have. If not, let me
repeat - I will miss Europe's gorgeous
buildings and statues. A lot.

Once again, I'm going to take the easy way out and tell you to click here to go look at the photos I've put up on Facebook. These are pictures of some of the things I found most memorable in Europe. Hope you enjoy them - and be of good cheer. Only one more blog post and then you'll be released!

A Nerd's Delight: HARRY POTTER ... a HOT HOBBIT ... and, yes, I'm a WHOVIAN

I am warning you. This post will really only interest nerds. So if you do not like nerdy things, abandon this post right now. Because it is all about big-time nerdy interests. You have been warned.

Me in front of the LEGIT Hogwarts - this is where they
shot all of the exteriors of the castle - amazing!
(Note - extra nerd points for wearing a BBC Sherlock shirt!)

I want you to realize that, as a librarian, I have automatic nerd cred. This is pretty much like street cred ... but possibly not so violent. Or maybe it is, I don't know. I have not been to San Diego's Comic-Con, after all. However, much of my nerd cred comes from reading the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. Scratch that. Almost everyone has read the Harry Potter books. My nerd cred comes from hosting Harry parties and knowing all the trivia and dressing up as various Harry characters. (Harry, note, not Hairy). So it shall come as no surprise to you when I tell you that I (along with all the other grownup library people getting their masters degrees and their teachers) almost peed on myself when I found out that we were going to the Warner Bros. Harry Potter Studio Tour where they shot all the films! I mean, this is the place where Hogwarts lives! No, it isn't like the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando. I think it's actually better! Granted, I have not been to the theme park in Orlando but the people who have and went with me on this said this was better. I don't really care. I just know it was extremely cool. This is the studio where those three little actors (and the hundreds of other cast and crew members) lived for TEN years while making those movies! It was amazing. Once again, I am not going to tell you about it so much as SHOW you via photos. Click here to look at all the photos from the real sets, props, costumes, effects, and sound stages that were in the Harry Potter films. 

Just one of the many buildings on this huge film studio lot

Me in front of the Grave Marker for the Riddles!

Oh, I had to stick this in here - I am such a Potter nerd that when I went with friends to Edinburgh, Scotland, we visited this coffee shop/restaurant. It's one of the main places where J.K. Rowling wrote ...you guessed it! 

Yes, Harry Potter nerd supreme - I actually mainly got this
shot for my two HP uber nerd nieces, Britt & Min

The next biggest nerd thing I did was take a trip to Cardiff, Wales with other nerd friends. We went to the amazing, incredible, brilliant, fun, funny, goofy, campy, insert adjective here, BBC Doctor Who Experience! If you like the show, you'll like this tour. If you love the show (like we all did), your mouth will drop open, you will stare around during the tour (we're helping The Doctor in the Tardis, for goodness sakes!), and grin the whole time. It. was. brilliant! The most fun I have ever had on anything remotely like this - better than a fun house, better than an amusement park ride, better than ... well, I've run out of superlatives. We all were so happy we went. And Cardiff! Now, Cardiff was hopping! It totally reminded me of New Orleans during a festival weekend - that kind of hopping! 

What it says

Creepy Weeping Angel getting me! I am NOT Blinking!

me outside the Tardis

me INSIDE the Tardis - yes, it's bigger on the inside!

Okay, you're going to be wanting the link to the photos here because I am not going to tell you how much real (as opposed to nerd) money I spent at the Doctor Who Experience. Fabulous fabulous time. Thanks to my fellow nerd teacher and co-students who went. Wales and Cardiff, you rock!

My final nerd moment - well, possibly you could call it a fan girl moment. Yes, kids, even old people have movie star crushes. And my movie star crush is Martin Freeman. Yes, he of Fargo, Sherlock, The Office, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and some little movies series about A HOBBIT!  (Don't worry, I'm not going to stick up posters of him or write him fan mail or anything - I'm too lazy to be a stalker ... or a really dedicated fan, for that matter).

Anyhoo, my big fangirl moment came when I went with a fellow student to see Richard III onstage starring Mr. Freeman. I know I am a fangirl because I found out about him performing this when I was back in the states and his wife TWEETED it. (Aha! There's my social media nod of the day, please note). She's a really brilliant actress in her own right (Amanda Abbington) and a totally hilarious tweeter. So back to the play. We got to actually SIT ON THE STAGE. Much of the time, I was less than 5 feet from Bilbo himself! He was marvelous - played a mean, mean, and totally crazy Richard III. It was a great production by superstar theatre director Jamie Lloyd. I must say there was lots and lots and lots of blood. Some of the audience were given tshirts after the production because their clothes were spattered with fake blood. Bloody lucky bastards (Leener!!!!) Anyway, it was amazing. I am not going in to it here. If you really want to know, I will break out the program and tell you about it. I never much cared for Richard III (Hamlet is my favorite Shakespeare play) but I did love this production. Possibly because of Dr. Watson but I really did enjoy this play tremendously. Highly recommend it.

Kiersten & I posed days before we went

Now we're here - about to go in

Afterwards - LOVED IT!

Nerd alert is over - next post will again be about pretty pictures and things I did tripping around the continent. Drop me some feedback if you're enjoying - or hating! - the blog. Also, if you're dying to know about social media internationally (and you know you are), click here to check out the social media YouTube interviews I have done while in Europe. I'll be flying home in about a week so you won't have to put up with this much longer - promise. Pinky promise!
You now know the drill - click here if you want to see the 235(!) photos from my nerd stuff.

PARIS: Olé,Olé - Feeling hot, hot, HOT!

Okay, I know that Olé is not a French word. Oui, I do. But I am trying to convey a feeling here! We went to Paris as part of our class (not complaining, mind you). However, temperatures reached over 36 degrees Celsius while we were there. Yes, get your Celsius to Farenheit converters out. Let me help you - that's over 97 degrees Farenheit! Ay, caramba!

Me and that big Eiffel Tower thing

Ah but it's Paris. To quote Cole Porter:
I love Paris in the spring time
I love Paris in the fall
I love Paris in the winter when it drizzles
I love Paris in the summer when it sizzles

Notre Dame Cathedral -
nope, not a hunchback in sight

 
Well, maybe not quite as much in the summer, but it is an absolutely gorgeous city. It is the most beautiful city I have ever visited, anyway. And I would like to point something out - every time I have come to France (granted, it has only been three times), the people have been absolutely wonderful. Very charming, gracious, and kind to a poor, lost, non-French speaking hick like me. So there's my two cents on that. But onto the blog.

Yep, another shot of ME! In front of the Louvre Museum

There is a book entitled French Women Don't Get Fat. It talks about how to eat with balance, control, and pleasure. That might be true. But let me show you the BIG reason French women don't get fat. STAIRS. 

STEPS

I have a wonderful classmate who has a fitbit activity tracker that she wore everywhere we went and it would record the number of steps we walked. We averaged about six miles per day (good on us!) The first day in Paris, we went 10 1/2 miles. Up stairs. Both ways. Paris' subway - The Metro - stairs. The Eiffel Tower (gorgeous!) - lots of stairs. The historic and breathtaking Montmartre section of the city - STAIRS EVERYWHERE!

MORE STEPS

AND SHOOT ME NOW, EVEN MORE STEPS!

Okay, enough of the whining. Although I just about passed out from the combination of exercise and heat, I was quite proud of myself and persevered on with my friends. We visited gorgeous museums (honestly, you can sling a pickle in any direction and come up with a picturesque outdoor cafe, amazing architecture, or a world-famous museum. 
 

I love the Metro - great subway system

Even after all the whining about the heat and the stairs, was I happy to be in Paris for a "working" school weekend? You bet. I would go again at any time. So, if you want a pretty good (but tired) guide and you're willing to pay my way to Paris ... just give me a shout!

The Arc d'Triomphe (Arch of Triumph)

And click here to take a look at my photos from Paris (yes, the only number larger than the amount of steps there is the quantity of pictures I took). Au revoir, Paris - till we meet again.

(Look, Leener - not a single curse word in this blog! I should get a prize or something!)

LONDON, LONDON - How I love you, London!

HONESTLY, I don't believe the reason I love London so much is because I am so very pale and these people are also mostly very pale. I think there is way more to it than that! Well, I hope so anyway.

Me doing a SELFIE at Harrod's
Big. Expensive. Store. FIVE ACRES

Now I'm catching you up on Week 2. It has been: wonderful - hectic - tiring - fun - enjoyable - hectic - hot - tiring - incredible - hectic - tiring ... well, you get the point. Have I mentioned to you that London is a WALKING city? If not, let me make sure you understand that. A WALKING city. As in, the citizens walk EVERYWHERE. If you ask one of them for directions, they will tell you, "Oh, it's just a brisk 5-minute walk from here." Don't believe them. They are either insane, taking the piss (Leener!), or can honestly walk there (briskly) in 5 minutes. You need to translate their speech into American English. It's 30 minutes. It's just like exchanging Pounds (money) into Dollars. It will drive you crazy so just don't do it. Our dollar is only worth 59 cents per pound here. Our minute is obviously only worth 15 seconds here. Don't do the math (they say maths here) - just don't believe them. Tricky wankers (Leener! but you might not know that's a British bad word so scratch that).

See how everyone is walking? This is why they're
all more fit than us!

This post is not going to be as detailed (mainly because I'm rushed) but here's the stream of consciousness that is coming out of my brain. The Museum of London is WONDERFUL - first time I've ever been there! Wish I could take more time and revisit it. A must see.

Fantastic FREE Museum

I loved St. Paul's Cathedral (again) and elected not to take the 528 steps up to the Golden Gallery (been there, did that, did not buy a t-shirt - I remember it fondly from my 30's). I revisited the golden city of Oxford again (did not hook up with Queen Kathleen, King Peter, Princess Martha, nor Prince Pip, unfortunately) but had a great tour and went to the amazing Bodleian Library.

This is actually the The Radcliffe Camera
which is adjacent to the Bodleain Library

If you are a librarian, you want to be a librarian, you like libraries, you like books, you like old buildings, you like history - WHATEVER YOUR CUP OF TEA - you need to visit the Bodleian Library. It is amazing. They shot bits of the Harry Potter movie here, it's so amazing. Better than building a set! Unfortunately, photos are not allowed so you'll have to go to this website to make do (yes, while sacrificing the beauty of my photos and looking at some crappy "professional shots"). (And, no, Leener, crap is not a bad word). Then on Friday, we visited the British Broadcasting Corporation aka the BBC aka the Beeb aka my favorite television channel.

THE BEEB

ME WITH A TARDIS!
(if you don't watch Doctor Who, this will not
excite you in any way)

Then we took off for Paris for the weekend. Which is an entirely different blog post. All in all a very busy week. Enjoy some of the sights on my Facebook album by clicking here (much more eloquent than I am). And, YES, I AM DOING SOCIAL MEDIA HOMEWORK! Go to my YouTube channel & check out some of the interviews I have done.

Ta for now!   kat

In London, Dashing to Scotland, Socially Conversing About My Studies

SO not a posed photo!

I just wanted to share with you that I am writing this blog post on a train bound to Edinburgh – I feel so extremely European! Or, at the very least, tourist supreme.  I want to stress to every American that this Scotland city is pronounced Ed-in-burrow … you do not say Burg at the end. If you want Brits & Scots to take the piss (look, Leener <aka my curse vigilant sister>!), then go ahead and pronounce it as Burg.

St. Pancras Station
NOT PANCREAS!

However, I digress and this blog continues. When last we left our intrepid adventurer (me), she had departed the safe haven of dear friends in Oxford and had continued her journey via train to London. Blah blah train stations blah blah picturesque countryside blah blah arrival at St. Pancras Station (yes, the beautiful train station where Harry Potter movies were filmed along with King’s Cross because St. Pancras is much prettier on the outside). So I know you’re saying to yourself, “Where is the social media aspect she is supposed to introduce? That is, of course, the ONLY reason I am reading her damned (<Leener>!) blog anyway!” Fear not, gentle readers, here it comes.

Hey! Let's go to Europe & visit really
old castles so we can look at
our phones constantly!

Who cares about history? Let's check FB!

So, everywhere I look, I see … cell phones, tablets, and laptops, oh my! Are these people actually talking on these pricy little phones? Not so much. I see a lot of Facebooking (yes, America, little Mark Zuckerberg may be one of ours but FB definitely belongs to the world), tweeting all round, and, in a clear sign of the impending end of civilization, lots of cat videos being watched and shared. All in all, it seems that social media is becoming the great world equalizer. (Oh, that was actually a good thought – must remember that in my culminating paper!) One last observation about social media and its worldwide explosion. From the time I left Clementsville, KY (population possibly 50), through my journey to Lexington, KY airport, onto Chicago’s O’Hare, over the big pond known as the Atlantic, to Oxford, to London, etc… 

So historical but. I. Must. Finish. This. Tweet!

There has not been one single time that I have not been in contact with any other human beings, that observation of social media in one form another has been missing for over twenty-two minutes. (Yes, I counted and yes, some of those times have included me). Social media revolution indeed!

Okay, I’m getting quite excited on this train. I’ve seen about a zillion sheep in gorgeous countryside but now I’ve seen an actual LOCH! It wasn’t Loch Lomand nor Loch Ness – and just now the very nice man I pestered asking what it was informed me it was actually the North Sea. So it was not even a Loch … but it will always be a Scottish Loch in my heart. The names of the towns are wonderful - Berwick-Upon-Tweed, Northumberland, Galashief. And the accents! Even better than Mike Myers with his Scottish burr.

 

But back to my blog. So I’m not really going to go into detail about arrival in London (also known as the land of a billion stairs – anyone who has been to Europe and gone on the trains and who has been told their flat is on the 3rd floor but then soon realize that the 2nd floor for us is the 1st floor for the sneaky bastards (<Leener!>). Suffice it to say I met up with my fellow classmates & teacher Jane Barrager IN PERSON (quite nice to see and hear them live instead of through computer screens), found that my four other flatmates were all quite nice and, to a person, much neater than me (this will so shock anyone who knows what a stickler for neatness I am!), and began my series of classes/interviews and continued my role as social media manager for the FSUlibIT Facebook and Twitter accounts where I find and post items daily for the Florida State University School of Information (aka iSchool) for my Directed Individual Study (DIS) course for my MSLIS that I'm pursuing over here. Incidentally, that would be called "reading Library Sciences" over here. Nice, eh?

Heidi, Jill, Kiersten & Danielle - Flatmates Extraordinaire!

I've gotten a few interviews (working on more), taken thousands of photos (and, no that is NOT an exaggeration, sad to say), and am working on a paper. I am stressing a bit but it will all be worth it - plus I am in LONDON so what am I doing complaining??? In between the class work, we've visited the Tower of London, seen the West End musical Wicked, gone to the British Library, visited some of London's amazing parks & markets, and still have a ton of other things to do. Gotta say thanks to FSU for this opportunity. Once again, if you want to, click here to visit my Facebook page for many more photos - they are totally worth 1,000 words from this blog!

Tower of London - one of my absolute favorite places on the planet

Class in front of the Tower Bridge

Me & flatmate Jill from Michigan at Wicked

View of Amazing King's Library Collection at British Library

Hunched-over statue of Isaac Newton outside the British Library

World's Largest Library - British Library

USA Independence Day in Oxford, England

Kathleen & daughter Martha

Ahhhh.... Nothing quite like seeing a good friend after a long time. I love love love harassing my dear friend Kathleen Soriano (over here it's called "taking the piss" - I quite like that term - plus it serves to make my older sister Eileen angry since her job description seems to include "make Kat quit cussing"). However, it's not really nice to "take the piss" from?/of?/off? a friend who drives hours to pick you up at Heathrow, puts you up in a simply gorgeous room with your own bathroom, feeds you wonderfully, and sees to your every comfort. So I decided not to do it. And then failed spectacularly.

Marvelous Martha on her Mac,
Precious Pip in foreground(ps - Martha liked the shirts)

I was joined in tormenting her by her lovely 16-year-old daughter, Martha (Marvelous Martha for the entire name, if you must know), and her husband, Personable Peter (why yes, I do love alliteration in all forms, however did you guess).







The only family member that stayed loyal to her was Precious Pip, the family schnauzer. However, she bore it all in good humour (ah - British spelling that!) and remained as lovely as ever.  We went shopping at the local Sainsbury's (think Krogers or Winn Dixie) and got food. The Brits don't tend to grocery shop like we Americans. For one thing, they take their bags instead of using plastic bags. They are MARVELOUS recyclers! Another thing is that their fresh foods do not seem to have as many preservatives as ours. So they shop more often, many times just buying for the next few meals instead of the whole week.

Peter showing me the Thames after
we went to the Trout Pub (seen in background)
for drinks (as featured in Inspector Morse)

 This is just one of the places Kathleen, Peter, Martha, & Pip took me during the short stay I had with them in Oxford.

Like I said, Kathleen was so gracious and seemingly oblivious to the atrocious teasing I gave her (much to the delight of her daughter).





 Well, I thought she was over the provocations - at least until she invited several thousand BRITISH guests to a 4th of July Independence Day party at her residence. I was pretty sure there was going to be some sort of reprisal for the whole little 1776 incident ... and there WAS! The butchering of our beloved national anthem!

But all were great party guests and fascinating conversationalists. The Pimm's kept flowing (which may explain the fascinating conversationalists), we had Hot Dogs, Coca Cola, & Apple Pie, everyone seemed uber impressed with my red, white & blue candy theme, Bruce Springsteen could be heard playing in the background, and with the exception of fireworks, I felt rather patriotic. Well, maybe not patriotic but I did not "revolt" against them as I had threatened to do all night.

Lovely Brits chatting in lovely accents

Everyone was very gracious to me

It was a mixture of neighbors & artists - creative types all

Not sure if this is a disagreement about cooking or
rapture about the Hot Dogs, Coca Cola & Apple Pie

I really did have a marvelous time in Oxford. Gorgeous house, gracious hosts, amazing city, fast internet (good to have if you're doing homework that's due in the states!) If you would like to see more photos, click here to look at my Facebook pictures. Next post - onto London! TA!

Lovely Friends - Kathleen, Peter & Martha