Rule, Britannia!

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Today marks a glorious day! (Okay, technically the glorious day happened four days ago. Just work with me.) Earlier in the semester, I had applied through CCIS (College Consortium for International Studies) to Kingston University in London. I experienced three of the most anxiety-ridden weeks of my life before finally getting an email saying...


...that they had accepted me as a student for next semester! Huzzah! I cannot adequately depict the glory of the happy dance I did when I opened the email, so here is Christian Bale doing something similar:

Judging by the thing over his suit, I'm assuming this is American Psycho. Can anyone confirm? I'm too scared...

So, dear reader, this means that I will have plenty of pictures to post and stories to tell from good ole England. I arrive in late January and will be there until some time in May. If you have any suggestions regarding things to do, places I should visit, things you want me to take pictures of, and so on, please leave them in the comments! (I love comments!)

I am extremely excited to be a part of Kingston University in the coming months! Three cheers for England!
 
"England," you might say, "you mean the place with all the gross food, bad teeth, terrible weather, bulldog-lovers, and people who always say things like 'spiffy' and 'cheerio'?"

No. That's not right. England has far more to offer, as you shall see...

Now that the stereotypes are out of the way, let us focus on a few things we can thank England for and what England means to me. For writers, England had Arthur Conan Doyle, Shakespeare, and John Milton (to name the first three that come to mind). TV shows: Sherlock, The Office (yes, the U.K. had that first), and Monty Python's Flying Circus (again, only the first three to come to mind). Music: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and The Moody Blues. (Remember the rule of three. I know there are MANY more.) England is also very culturally rich and I cannot wait to dive in headfirst! I want to see and do everything I possibly can in the time I am there. If I am not tired from running around, exploring, and learning new things at the end of almost every day I will be disappointed in myself. I want to take advantage of the four months I will spend in England and make sure that I have plenty of photos and stories that I can share with you!

So where exactly will I be and what will I be doing in college? Well, here is a map of the Greater London area with the Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames highlighted in green (courtesy of the official website of Kingston):

 That's where I will be, at Kingston University. Here is a website for some fast facts about the school:

http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/kingston

As for what I will be doing: taking classes and adventuring! It looks like I got into all of my first-choice classes, which is absolutely thrilling! I'll be taking British Life and Culture (the class for international students), an independent creative writing study, a songwriting class (which makes me nervous as I've never written a song, but it sounds fun), and Japanese I. Japanese language classes aren't available at MCLA, and I want to go back to Japan someday, so I figured that I should take the class at Kingston! If my schedule changes due to time conflicts, Kingston University offers many other courses that I would be happy to take. They have a wide variety of subjects that MCLA doesn't. I'll have access to great classes that I can't get here, which makes me a happy student. To top it off, Kingston is only a 25 minute train ride from the City of London.


I am already extremely excited about studying abroad! I've started making a mental list of places that I want to visit (which I should probably turn into a real list, as my memory isn't the best). Of course I am nervous as well, but the excitement helps balance the nerves. I have a feeling that I'm going to enjoy England very, very much. I hope I do! (Really, though, how could I not? This is all so amazing!)

Now, I am afraid I must go finish a short paper that I have been putting off for a little while now. At least I'm staying on the same subject (England): the paper is an analysis of a monologue in John Milton's "A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle".

Oh, Milton. What a fine writer were. Good man!

I Took A Visit To Our Nation's Capital

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For my twenty-first birthday, I took a trip down to Washington DC to see the capital of the United States for the first time. My brother was an excellent tour guide, and I have plenty of pictures to post and stories to tell!

To begin, have a look at this picture of the city (courtesy of visitingdc.com):

Notice anything? There are no skyscrapers in DC! That is because no building in the city is allowed to be taller than the Capitol Building, or so my brother told me. Out of curiosity, I did some research online and found that my brother's explanation was not exactly accurate (sorry, Mat). Back in 1899 that was the case with a building height regulation act (saying that no building could be taller than the Capitol), but in 1910 the act was amended by stating that no building could be twenty feet taller than the width of the street that it faces (so if a street was 80 feet across, the building could only be 100 feet tall). Then again, the internet isn't always entirely accurate so perhaps the explanation that I found isn't correct either. You decide!

No matter the reason, I was pleased that DC didn't have the skyscrapers of a "regular" city. It makes the city feel lighter, and I didn't feel as small as I do in Boston or New York City.

After picking me up at Regan International Airport, my brother decided that we should hit as many of the big monuments as we could in one night. I liked the idea of getting to see the famous monuments at dusk, so off we went. Our first stop (after dropping off my overnight bag, that is) was the White House. We weren't sure if the President was home or not and, though I tried, I couldn't catch a glimpse of any snipers on the roof (which I suppose means that they're good at what they do). Rather than seeing the White House from the front (google "White House" and it's probably the first picture that comes up) we decided to check out the back. It turns out that even though the iconic pictures of the White House are taken from the front, people can get much closer to the building if they go around back.

There you have it: The White House. (I apologize for the over-exposure. I hadn't practiced with my camera before the trip and I was rusty.)

After getting the best picture I could (which involved wading through pools of other tourists), I turned and noticed a tent was set up across the street in Lafayette Park. I snapped a photo and my brother told me a story.

Apparently, there is an elderly woman living in that tent and she has lived there since the early 1980's. She is there to protest the use of atomic weapons and have a permanent "peace vigil" outside of the White House. Any money people donate to her is used to buy food, and she has friends watch her tent if she needs to use the bathroom (as you can see, she was not home at the time we were there). Here are a few more pictures of Lafayette Park:

Ugh, so much over-exposure. I get better.

Our next stop was the Washington Monument, and I got some pictures along the way. One was of the Treasury Department, and the others were of a beautiful monument that we found. Neither one of us was sure of what the monument was commemorating (the area was closing, so we had to take the pictures and skedaddle) though we deduced, judging by the uniforms, that it was something to do with the Civil War.

The Treasury Department

The Washington Monument (or, according to some, the Clinton Memorial. Har har.)

All of the famous monuments are very close together. From where I took the picture of the Washington Monument, directly behind me was the World War II memorial. If you are ever in DC, you absolutely must go visit the World War II memorial. Both sections (one for each war theater) are beautiful. Here is the Pacific Theater memorial: 

Each of those columns has the name of a state on it. Mat and I walked around until we found Massachusetts, our home state and the state that our grandfather (who fought in the war) lived in. 

Aaaaand, it's crooked. I'm sorry. Someday I'll go back and re-take it.

Moving right along from the World War II memorial, we saw the memorials for Korea and Vietnam, as well as the Lincoln Memorial. We didn't get close to Lincoln, so I don't have a picture of him. Here is what I got:

The Korean War Memorial.

 I wish that I had remembered how to make pictures darker when I was at the Korean War Memorial. When Mat and I got there, it was already pretty darn dark out (much darker than the picture makes it seem). The darkness made the horrified, pained, and zombie-like expressions on the soldier's faces that much scarier. It is a disturbing memorial, both in how terrified and soulless (read: like they had lost their souls, not that they never had them) the soldiers look and in that it rings true to how they must have felt.

We passed through the Vietnam Memorial next, but no photographs were allowed of the actual wall  so you'll have to Google that. Needless to say, it was sobering. The sheer number of names on the wall is both overwhelming and angering. As my brother said, "Look at all these names, look at all the people who died. And for what?" No doubt that crosses the minds of anyone who visits. Here is the one statue of Vietnam that could be photographed, and my picture doesn't do justice to the intricate detailing of the soldiers. They looked real!

Shortly after the Vietnam Memorial we saw Lincoln's Memorial! We decided not to walk up the steps as it was getting dark (my camera is good at brightening things, because it was really dark at this point), so here is the one halfway-decent photo I got.

The reflecting pool, Washington Monument, and Capitol Building. Also crooked. Sigh.

That wrapped up the first day in Washington DC. 

The next day was mostly filled with resting, but since it was my birthday we hit a restaurant and a few bars. The restaurant we went to was called Hill Country. Let me tell you that if you are ever in DC and like barbeque that you are doing yourself a serious disservice by not going there; this place is delicious. I had the most scrumptious corn bread with Ancho Honey butter, green bean casserole, and beef rib of my life. All of the meats are smoked, which makes them so incredibly delicious. I also tried my first margarita, courtesy of my brother, which he had to finish for me. I stuck with Amaretto for the rest of the night. (Even now, the only alcohol that I like the taste of is Amaretto. I've tried just about everything else with no success.)

After Hill Country, we went to a "speak-easy" of sorts. It's a hidden bar in a Living Social building (you need to be an employee to access it), and you can tell that the bartenders are true professionals by the way they make their drinks. When we told the bartender what I like (Amaretto) she recommended I try an Amaretto Sour. I had never had a sour drink before (and the thought of drinking egg whites seemed odd) but I gave it a shot. It was delicious!

Thanks, Living Social!

That about wrapped up day two.

Day three, the final day where we could do just about anything (I had to leave early the next morning), kept us busy. My brother lives in Virginia, just outside of DC. He knows that I love Civil War history, so after a stop at Dunkin Donuts we headed out to Manassas Battlefield (one of the few major battlefields in Virginia that my family hadn't visited). My history on Manassas was a bit rusty so,when typing this, I'll have to look up a few facts. Hopefully I can get across the story well enough, along with pretty pictures to assist me! Before I get to Manassas specifically, here is a graph that was in the Manassas Battlefield Museum:

Unbelievable, isn't it?

To avoid confusion (though, actually, this might cause more) I should probably explain that there were two battles at Manassas and that Manassas has two names. The battles were called "The First and Second Battles of Manassas" by the Confederacy (the South) and "The First and Second Battles of Bull Run" by the Union (the North). For the sake of keeping things straight, I'm going to refer to it as Manassas, the Southern name. (Manassas is the name of the city that the battle took place near, so I think it's fair to say that is it's proper name. Bull Run was just the name of a stream. Come on.) Moving on to the history lesson...

(I will try to make this brief. If you wish to research more details, I encourage you to do so!) The Battle of First Manassas began on July 21, 1861. An army of men lead by Union General Irvin McDowell was trying to break through Southern lines to capture Richmond, Virginia, and end the war. It was in this battle that Thomas Jackson got his nickname "Stonewall". The Confederates were being pushed back, and some type of exchange happened between Jackson and a fellow officer (I can't find anywhere that seems sure of what exactly the exchange was). Either way, the other officer shouted "There stands Jackson like a stone wall! Rally behind the Virginians!" Hence the name Stonewall Jackson. Much of the fighting took place on Henry Hill, so named after the house of Judith Carter Henry. Judith was an elder who either couldn't leave or refused to leave her house once the fighting started. As Captain James Ricketts (of the Union) received fire from Henry Hill (where the Confederates were), he believed that some of the fire was coming from the house and turned his guns on the building. A shell went through Judith Henry's bedroom window and mortally wounded her. I won't go into excessive battle details, but essentially the Union retreated and the Confederates won the day. 

The Battle of Second Manassas was fought on the same ground from August 28-30, 1862 with many more soldiers than the first one. It was fought between Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Union Major General John Pope's Army of Virginia. Quick summary so we can get to the pictures and more stories: Stonewall Jackson's army was posing a threat to John Pope's men. Pope retaliated on August 29th and bloodied up Jackson's men. On August 30th, he thought that he had cornered Jackson, so he initiated an assault against him. Little did Pope know that General Longstreet had arrived to assist Jackson, and Longstreet's men crushed Pope's men. The Union retreated, and Confederates won the day again.

(How did I do, Dad?)

It always amazes me how beautiful the battlefields are, considering what violent acts took place on them. Manassas was no exception.

The restored Judith Henry house.

There was one really amusing thing at Manassas:  the statue of Jackson. Standing where Jackson stood upon getting his nickname is a statue of his "likeness" (assuming that Jackson's father was Thor and his horse belonged to one of the Four Horsemen).

He was kind enough to share his leftover breakfast steroids with his horse. How sweet.

After departing Manassas, we went to the famous Spy Museum! It is absolutely worth checking it out if you ever get the chance to. If possible, pay the extra ten bucks and do the interactive spy mission. It's a lot of fun! Essentially, you play the role of a spy in a team of anywhere from four to eight people and try to get to the bottom of a betrayal that involves nuclear weapons and all sorts of James Bond-y stuff. At the end, you get a score out of five and our team got 3/5! (According to the guide, 3/5 is pretty good. Apparently most groups get 2/5, rarely is there a 4/5, and the only people who get 5/5 are employees.) Right near the Spy Museum is a pizza place called Pi, and there I ate one of the best white pizzas ever made. The pizza isn't greasy, the crust is crunchy, there are deep-dish options, and (of course) create-your-own pizzas. It's a great place to go after working up an appetite by solving an international crime. Spy on!

Our final stop before ending our DC adventures was Ford's Theatre, the place where (as you should know) Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

The new theatre.

The old theatre.

The house across from the theatre, where Lincoln died.

That's about it for my DC adventure! It's a marvelous city. I didn't get to see the Presidential Motorcade (now THAT would have been cool), but I did get to see some beautiful memorials and got to experience my country's capital!

Thank you for reading! Hopefully, I will be going abroad again soon and can post more often. Farewell for now!

Looking back at Japan...

Hello! You found the compass!

Here is the final post about Japan. I miss that country very much. The people were nice, the language was comfortable to speak, and the food was quite good (I only recently stopped craving udon, though I miss that too). Without further delay, here are a few stories about Japan followed by my lessons learned there.

Fun story about Japan #1: Tim discovered that he got discounts for being black. He ran into some African merchants, and they talked about their troubles with being allowed to live and work in Japan. (It's a tough country to get into.) Turns out that one of them had a Japanese girlfriend who apparently was a huge help with the whole process. Anyway, they liked Tim and happily gave to him what they called "brother discounts". So, if you are of African descent and ever visit Harajuku, hit them up!

Fun story about Japan #2: Outside of a strip club was a sign that said "Sexual Harassment Zone."

Fun story about Japan #3: When I gave up my seat on the subway for that elderly man, I only knew how to say "please". So I just kept saying that, bowing, and gesturing to my seat. He smiled and said a few sentences before finally sitting down, probably realizing that I had no idea what he was saying anyway and I was going to keep standing. When I got off the train, he smiled and bowed to me. It was endearing.

Fun story about Japan #4: Kristen got serenaded by a young man as we were leaving the karaoke bar. I may have told you that already, but it deserved mention.

Fun story about Japan #5: Soft serve ice cream is to Japan what Dunkin Donuts is to Massachusetts. Soft serve ice cream is available just about everywhere! In fact, I never saw "regular" ice cream stands (which was fine with me, because I prefer soft serve). They also have many different flavors of soft serve, including: sakura, rose, banana, green tea, and sweet potato (which I tried; it really does taste like a cold sweet potato). 

      I'm sure that there are other little anecdotes that I forgot to write about. However, the five above plus all of the blog entries I wrote during the trip ought to suffice.

      Now, to wrap up, some lessons learned in Japan:

-Cheesecake Haagen Dazs needs to come to the states.

-There is a lot to see in the world, and it’s never a bad time to start exploring. 

-It is okay to reflect back on things, even tragedies, so long as lessons are learned and used to help the present and future. 

-No matter how curious you are, some things are best left unexplored. (Looking at you, Maid Dreaming.)

-Though I still don’t get along with most seafood, the sashimi wasn’t bad. Branching out and trying new food is a fun experience. 

-I’ve always wanted to build my own home someday, and I’d certainly model a room after the traditional inn that we stayed in. Everything was simple, elegant, and comfortable. (Especially the tatami mats and futons.)

-It is refreshing to see ancient religions being widely practiced in peace and, sometimes literally, side-by-side. There was something very relaxing and rejuvenating about the shrines and temples.   

- Fashion is fun. Expensive, but fun.

-Not knowing a language is a minor barrier. Everyone speaks charades. 

-No matter where you are, cute animals are a valid temporary distraction from your goal.

-Chopsticks are far more fun than a fork.

-Nature is always worthy of admiration.

-Sakura is a great flavor for just about anything.  On the food note, curry is delicious and sweet potato ice cream is weird.

-Getting to know people in a different country makes for more interesting bonding than on a campus where we all know the language.

-Oh yes, I do Kyoto.

      And finally, the thing that most often pops into my head when I think of Japan and all of the fun experiences that I had there with my peers is:

 

 WE HAVE TO GO BACK!

 

         Thank you to everyone who followed this blog. (Sorry about the font being all weird with the lessons list. Didn't care to fix it. It adds character...?) Oyasuminasai!

Day Ten: The last hurrah...

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      Bah humbug. Today marked our final day in Ikebukuro, and none of us are fully ready to leave. I miss the United States, but Japan is a really cool country.

      Today was simple. Tess, Tim, and I ate breakfast at a bakery in Ikebukuro Station. After that, the group headed into Harajuku to do some exploring and shopping. Right when we got out of the train station, I saw a familiar street name: Takeshita Street. I had read about it on a tourism website and heard that it was great for shopping, so we took a stroll. We were originally planning on finding a store called the Oriental Bazaar that we had read about, but had no success.

Entrance to Takeshita Street.

      After leaving Harajuku, I returned to Sunshine City in hopes of finding either a hat or some shoes. (I like Japanese fashion!) I did find a fedora to replace the one that I lost on the plane ride from Newark to Tokyo, and I like it much better than the one that I lost. Tess seems to think that it looks good. Eric thinks I look like a mobster, so I'll just take that as a compliment. I ate a crepe for the first time, too. It was a "berryberry cake" crepe, or something like that. Essentially it was blueberry juice, strawberries, whipped cream, and pound cake pieces. It was an excellent dessert!

      I got back to the hotel and sat down for a little while before Eric and Kristen asked if I would like to join them for dinner and a last visit to Akihabara. We went out with almost everyone (Tim stayed in because he didn't want to spend more yen) and grabbed something to eat. We checked out a few more anime and game stores in Akihabara. I found a trinket for a friend, but nothing that I wanted to spend my money on for myself. Ah well, I have photos!

      Tess and I left Akihabara before the others and took the subway back to Ikebukuro. While walking to the liquor store from the train station, a Japanese man who looked about our age approached us. He had glasses and was wearing a sparkly black fedora. He spoke a little English, and asked if Tess and I would care to join him for a quick drink. As polite as he seemed, Tess and I politely declined. We thanked him and said we had other plans (not entirely untrue). I felt slightly bad, so as we walked away I shouted "kawai'i desu!" back at him. ("It is cute!" I think he knew what the American was trying to say...) Better than nothing, I suppose.

     One trip to the liquor store later, Tess and I headed back to the hotel loaded up on soda and booze (and by "loaded up" I mean I bought one bottle as a gift and one bottle for fun, and Tess bought a gift). They didn't have the small Disaronno bottles, so I got the next size up and we had a get-together in our room with Tim, Eric, Franco, and Kristen. Drinks were on me! We reminisced about our adventures and talked about what we were going to do after Japan. None of us had really gotten a chance to interact with Tim or Franco before, so now we'll just have to have more parties and make sure to keep up with each other!

      I'll take the time now to discuss some interesting tidbits about Japan and revelations that I (or someone else) had while here. Firstly, did you know that it is polite to slurp loudly when drinking the broth from things like Udon?

     Second: the cities here are extremely clean and yet finding a trash can is extremely hard. We're not sure how Japan does it, but whatever they do works. There is rarely litter. Also, cities are much quieter. Ikebukuro is silent outside right now. Even during the daytime in Kyoto, there would be lulls where everything would just be quiet right in the middle of the city! There isn't nearly as much angry beeping as is in the United States.

     Third: Everyone is polite. I gave up a subway seat for an elderly man and at first he refused, but I insisted that he sit. When I got off of the train, he looked at me and bowed his head. Shopkeepers will always greet you when entering and exiting their shops, and the language barrier doesn't phase them. I don't know if I told the story of the woman in Asakusa who sold us yukatas and kimonos, but she was wonderful! She was a middle aged woman who was able to help three customers at once without skipping a beat. She was attentive to everyone's needs and would communicate with us using any English she knew and miming. When she was explaining the proper way to wear a kimono, she showed us the right way and nodded. Then she showed us the wrong way, shook her head, crossed herself, pointed to the sky and said "amen". (The dead wear their kimonos differently than the living.)
 

      More lessons to continue in the next blog post, which I wrote before realizing that I hadn't published this one...

Oyasuminasai!

     

(Belated) Day Nine: Shibuya, Sunshine City, and Karaoke

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      Today's adventures began with a much-anticipated trip to Shibuya. (I mentioned Shibuya in one of the first entries; it's that place where The World Ends With You is based.) We got out of the station and found Hachiko's Statue with relative ease.

Hachiko!

  
      From Hachiko, we made the short walk to the famous Shibuya 109 building. It is a pinnacle for young women's fashion and contains eight floors of trendy, expensive clothing. We explored all 8 (it took about an hour and a half) and had some funny encounters with store clerks. Many spoke limited English and everyone wanted to know where we were from. There was one young woman in a store we went into (which was the one I ended up buying my new shirt from, actually) who asked where we were from. We said "America", and her response was something along the lines of "Ooooh, Americans! Very nice bodies, yeah?" and pointed to her chest and said "small". I tried to mime that her chest certainly was not small (it wasn't), and she laughed and picked up a bra and told me to touch it: it was extremely well padded. We had a good laugh and then had a charades exchange where I think we may have been comparing our body types and chest sizes, though I don't know if that's what she got out of it. Anyway, I liked the shirt that I bought! Never have I spent so much on a single shirt before though, and I don't plan on ever doing that again. So overpriced...That's high-end fashion for you.

Begin The World Ends With You mode.

       I may have said this before, but everyone looks good in Japan. I've become very fashion-conscious in my time here. I don't plan on going out and spending tons of money on new clothes, but looking nicer in general is one of my goals. It feels like no matter where the group ends up in Japan, we are always under-dressed.

      Upon leaving Shibuya, we decided to check out another mall and continue the shopping spree: Sunshine City in Ikebukuro. I didn't stay too long because of the crowds and being tired, but it was a very cool place and very easy to get lost in.

 

A theme park within Sunshine City. We didn't go in.

      

          Most of the group decided that we wanted to do karaoke later in the night. (Everyone except Tim went; he was at a concert!) What with it being Saint Patrick's Day, we wanted to drink a little bit as well. (Though not at the karaoke place; when we got back to the hotel.) So we bought a bit of alcohol before going out and stowed it in the hotel rooms. The drinking age in Japan is 20, so I was able to proudly buy my first bottle of alcohol! It was a little bit disappointing that they didn't card me...

I'm an adult! I did it!

       We found a karaoke place near the hotel and rented a room for an hour. It was absolutely hilarious! Bridget and I sang a lovely rendition of Give Me Everything (she was Nayer, I was Pitbull, we were both Ne-Yo). Then Eric and I, er, "serenaded" the group with Duality by Slipknot (screaming included). After that, Franco and Becky sang Clocks by Coldplay. Kristen sang Blow by Ke$ha, and then Tess and Kristen sang Belle's song from Beauty and the Beast. (The rest of us were the townsfolk.) The entire group sang We're All In This Together (yes, from High School Musical) and the night ended with me and Eric singing Feel Good Inc. by the Gorillaz (Tess did the background instruments). I may be forgetting some, but you get the idea. Here are some of the pictures! (Note: the shirt I am wearing is my new one from Shibuya 109!)

      On our way out of the building, some Japanese kids who were about our age gave us high fives and talked to us. One of them started singing to Kristen. It was a special moment.

      When we got back to the hotel, I enjoyed my first drink of Disaronno and Coke. Meanwhile, Eric had sake and a beer which he described as "tasting like skunk farts". (He bought it because the label was cool.)

Above: Pretty tasty. A cross between Cherry Coke and a super-sweet liquid candy.

Above: Skunk farts, apparently.

      And so Eric, Tim, Tess, Franco, and I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning drinking our drinks and talking about a very random array of topics. (For the record, nobody was drunk at any point. It was relaxing, social drinking.) We had a lot of very funny moments, including but not limited to deciding that Tess is a Ninja Dictator Fairy Princess.

     Good times.

      Tomorrow is our last night in Japan. This saddens me. We'll just have to think of something fun to do to say goodbye to this marvelous country!

      Oyasuminasai!