Thanksgiving Mass

My family was going to thanksgiving without me! They would celebrate the holiday and stuff their faces with food and laugh and share stories while I ate a Happy Meal. As if that wasn’t bad enough, my mother was guilt tripping me into going to church to celebrate a holiday they don’t even celebrate in England. She had been telling me for weeks about a Thanksgiving mass at St. Paul’s Cathedral for the American community in London, and how she would disown me if I didn’t go. So being the rebellious son that I am I did exactly as I was told, and woke up at the crack of dawn to obey my mother’s orders. After many grueling seconds of worrying about missing my class, I was able to contain myself, and headed off to central with a fellow university student. Once we got there, however, my friend decided he did not want to be there, and went home, leaving me all alone in a cathedral of strangers. As the choir quietly hummed their hymns I gazed around the cathedral and took in all it had to offer. The place was truly amazing with its high ceilings and remarkable architecture. It was almost impossible for me to believe it was made completely by hand, with no help from machines. Soon after settling into my seat, two American girls studying in London took their seat next to me and we had a conversation about England and our time in the country. It was a relief to hear so many American accents and really made me feel like I was back home. The mass was surprisingly engaging and kept my attention throughout. Afterwards I wandered around and met many more Americans all of which shared with me their thanksgiving stories from past years. I really enjoyed my time at the cathedral that morning, and while I did not have my family to share it with me I was still able to form, in a sense, my own family within the cathedral walls. Once again, I learned that my mother is always right.

photo credit: http://www.londonsorted.com/saint-pauls-cathedral/

It has gotten to that time of the semester where it is Thanksgiving. Being here in England, this makes many of us homesick wanting to be with friends and family during this holiday season. Luckily, many of us had family of friends that came to visit us during this time. Both my mom and dad came to London during this week. We got to celebrate an unconventional Thanksgiving together in London. We spent Thanksgiving going to the Victoria and Albert Museum, shopping at Harrods, walking through Piccadilly and Leicester Square, and eating fish and chips. During my parents visit, we also went to Paris for two days and two nights for the weekend. It was great to be able to experience France. We went to the Louvre, to the top of the Eiffel Tower, saw the Arc de Triomphe, and got to experience fantastic French food like quiche, crepes, and croissants. When we arrived back in London, we saw more tourist attractions by visiting the Tower of London. I especially enjoyed showing my parents around Richmond on their last day here. It was nice for them to see where I have been living and learning for the past three months. My parent’s visit to Europe has also taught me a lot about myself. I have discovered that I have learned and grown so much as a person. Before coming to London, my sense of direction was almost nonexistent. Learning how to navigate the London transportation system made it a breeze navigating through Paris’s metro system and streets. Figuring out how to get myself around, even when in a different country that does not speak English, is something that I never thought I would be able to do before. It was such a strange feeling to have my parents depend on me to get them to the right places when I have been the one following them everywhere all of my life. My feeling of accomplishment is very pleasing and makes me really realize how I have grown here in so many ways that I could never have imagined.

Trip to Bath, but not down the hallway

Every week in the UK new adventures always seem to arise, but instead of traveling to London, I went with the school to Bath, England and Stonehenge, both beautiful places rich with history and exploration. Our journey brought us to Stonehenge first, which is one of the strange, peculiar rock formations from Ancient England. Though, there are many speculations of how the rocks were able to be formed that way, where the rocks came from and why the natives built the rock formation. All there is to know is that the rock formation has not unravelled its relevance to ancient society, but it is still a tourist hotspot. Being there felt really wonderful, the rocks are in the middle of an open field filled, where sheep are allowed to roam outside of the rocks boundaries. The rocks are really secluded and in a rural setting as they should be. It was definitely a great experience going there.

Bath on the other hand was a really nice city that was full of festivities and relaxation. Reason why I bring up relaxation is that Bath is famous for its wonderful massages and its natural hot spring. Romans thought the hot water that came out of the ground was made by the gods, so they thought it was spiritual, so people from all over would come and take a bath, get massages and pray at the building complex. Going through the Baths you are given a headset and its explains when the baths were built, why and how the Romans used the bath and many other historical findings that were restored and are now on display. At the end of my tour, there was a water fountain that an employee was serving natural hot spring water to anyone who wanted to try it, and it of course, was hot and not exactly Dasani water. Anyways, Bath and Stonehenge were both, awesome places to visit and learning a bit of history and having a good time and experiencing England life is always worth the trip.

Ciao Italia!

I went to Italy for the fall break with three of my friends. We were there for nine days and was able to visit five different cities; Milan, Bologna, Florence, Rome, and Pisa. My favorite out of all of them by far was Florence. It was the middle of the trip, so I already got a taste of what the Italian food and culture was like. When I arrived I was immediately attracted to the huge Cathedral in the middle of the city, it was impossible to miss. The architecture was amazing and I already knew I was going to love this city.
As I walked to the hostel we were staying at, I took in all the shops and vendors. There were expensive shops as well as cart vendors selling souvenirs. When we finally reached the hostel, we found the owner to be very kind and he gave us a map and some recommendations for things to do while we were there. One of the ideas was to walk across the river and hike up a steep hill and then we would have a view of the city. So we decided this would be a good idea and we headed out. We hiked our way up the hill and I was not expecting what I saw when I reached the top. The view of Florence was absolutely breath-taking. I was able to see for miles over the city and I took many pictures. The Cathedral stood high and towered over all the other buildings in the city. We stayed up there until the sun started to set and then we walked back down. It was one of the most spectacular views I have ever seen in my life.
We spent two days in Florence and I fully enjoyed my stay there. The food was delicious as usual, the shopping was plentiful, and the buildings were fun to admire. I was able to buy some gifts for my family because there was such a variety to choose from.
I was sad to leave Florence, the other cities in Italy were beautiful in their own ways and each had something unique to offer. Florence stood out to me the most and I am thrilled that I got to see it. I would definitely recommend anyone to visit there as well.

For my fall break experience, I chose to go to the great country of Poland, a short two hour plane ride from Richmond University. What I found in Poland was much different than what I expected to find before I left Richmond. We landed in Warsaw in the early evening on saturday, and once we checked into our hostel, we ventured out into the city of Warsaw in search of a polish pub to dine at. We found a tradtional polish pub that had a mix of both italian and polish foods, and traditional polish beers brewed right on the spot. On sunday we recieved a tour of Krakow and while on our tour, we saw remnants of World War II memorobilia, ranging from monuments and statues, to bullet holes in the walls of buildings. That afternoon we did some shopping in some stores and also got some pictures of the picturesque scenery. The next day we went to the Warsaw Rising Museum, which showed us what Warsaw was like before, during, and after the German invasion on Warsaw in the 1940's. The next morning we departed for our second stop in Poland, Krakow. We stopped at an underground restaurant in Krakow for lunch, and we were told that eating underground in Krakow is something that is very traditional to do. After lunch, we went into the cloth market, which turned out to be an excellent source for purchasing souvenirs for friends and family back home. The next day we went on a walking tour of Krakow, going into various churches throughout the city, one of which was the church the late John Paul II was affiliated with. We also went into Wawel and saw some of the Polish royalty there. Later that day we did some more shopping in the cloth market and some of the side-street shops, where I got some polish pottery for a decent price. The next day we visited Auschwitz and Birkenau, two very notorious concentration camps during World War II. It was a very somber experience, but also a life experience none of us will ever forget. Friday, the last day we were in Krakow, we toured the Wielczka Salt Mines, which were absolutely amazing, given the underground chapel, water pools, and huge rock formations right over our heads. Poland was a country that was truely unparalleled when it comes to history, and was interesting to see everything it had to offer to say the least.

When in Wales

Last weekend about 30 or so Richmond students took a 6 hour train to Wales for two days of adventure. We arrived after dark on and a group of us decided to go explore and try and find the ocean. After walking for over 2 hours and still not having a clue where we were we got a little frustrated. We finally came to a gate where we saw a sign telling us the ocean was in that direction. We finally found the ocean and a few of the boys decided to go skinny dipping. The next morning we got up and went coasteering. We were climbing and scaling rocks, jumping off of cliffs, swimming into caves and just enjoying the gorgeous ocean. After having a fun filled morning we went back got some lunch and got ready to take a surfing lesson. We had to wetsuit back up and take a short drive to a nice rock free beach. When we first got there we laid our boards on the sand and did a quick warm up job and stretching session. We then laid on our boards, still in the sand and learned how to paddle to catch a wave. They told us that once we catch the wave we should lift our elbows up the board and we would be doing the cobra; basically a very simple position to ride a wave in which you almost look like a cobra. After lying on our boards catching some waves we then learned how to stand up. It was a mess, we all tried to get up multiple times and would get half way up, lose our balance and fall off. Although it was technically a failure it was a bunch of fun. We just hung out for the rest of the night then got up and went hiking the next day. We hiked along the coast and it was absolutely beautiful. Wales is definitely a place that everyone should try and visit if given the opportunity.

There's No Place Like Home

The famous movie "The Wizard Of Oz" coined the phrase "there's no place like home." In the Wizard of Oz, the main character Dorothy is swept away to a magical land in search of the Wizard in order to make her way back home. Along the way she meets some memorable friends and unfortunately makes some enemies. They try to find their way to the Wizard by following the yellow brick road in order to get all their wishes granted. The Scarecrow wants a brain, the Tin Man wants a heart, the Cowardly Lion wants courage, and, of course, Dorothy who wants to go home. In a way, the 16 of us in London are all on our own unique "yellow brick roads". We each have goals that we intend to reach. We all also encompass each of the goals that are described in the Wizard of Oz. We have all already obtained courage. We gained this by the fact that we made it over here and have been living, basically on our own, for the past two months. This took courage. Our classes and studies have been challenging and improving our minds. For this we have been using our brains (obviously). Lastly we have been opening our hearts. The group of 16 of us have become very close and will remember this experience forever. Some of us have met new people who have entered our lives and hearts and will be missed dearly when we leave. Others have been feeling the heartache since we left Massachusetts. Either way, everyone has been proved how much they are loved and supported. Lastly, in the Wizard of Oz Dorothy has a paradigm shift at the end of the movie. She realizes how fast her journey has passed her by and that she is going to miss her new friends and the new place she was placed in, but she knows that home is where the heart is. Everyone of us has had a paradigm shift of some kind while we are here. My personal paradigm shift was a very large one. I have loved this experience but realized that business, and especially international business, is not the right major for me. What can I say? There's no place like home :)

More of London

I am truly gaining so much from my experience here in England. My Most recent major experiences consisted of helping out at a Halloween Event for children in the community and visiting Cambridge.
The Halloween Event was sponsored by and hosted at Richmond The American International University in London. I was able to dress up, help out with decorations and prepare pumpkin seeds to be baked and served as a snack for the children. Halloween seems to be slightly less celebrated in in London as in the United States. The advertising for it is not as fragrant as in the States. Therefore, I feel that this holiday is not as serious of a staple event to buttress an increase in revenue from a business perspective. As for the social aspect, it seems that it is more of a children’s holiday here rather than a widely celebrated holiday observed by all the generations to some degree as is seemingly practiced in the United States.
As for my visit to Cambridge, about a week ago, I went to Cambridge with Dr. Pelosi. She gave me a wonderful tour around Central Cambridge. I was in absolute awe at how beautiful it is there. Each of the college campuses have such an enchanted feel. When I explored the different sites, I literally could say that I saw my envisioned novel settings actualized in real life. She toured me through the Business School, the Theatre and Arts School, the Mathematics school, and the Law school. She also showed me a church called the Round which she used to attend. They definitely live up to their name in visual expectation too. As for businesses within Cambridge, there are definitely more stores with shopping products rather than convience products. It is an expensive area to live in and the people there seem to be mostly of higher caliber and have resources to keep the elite businesses sustained. Cambridge is a classy city but definitely a busy city none the less.
Throughout these two experiences, I was able to visually and from an interactional standpoint observe some other categories of value systems and economic realities. Overall, I am loving it here and continuously learning.

When In Rome

For the last week of October we had fall break, and many of us took this opportunity to travel to different parts of Europe. For break, I went to Italy along with three other SEA students. We went for nine days and visited Bologna, Florence, Rome, and Pisa. The trip was completely planned by ourselves, and it was the first time that any of us had been to a non-English speaking country. We visited the big three of Italy, which are the Colosseum, the Duomo in Florence, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Bologna was a very nice city, something that I found very interesting there was that every sidewalk is covered by arches, so if it ever rains you are always undercover. Florence was also a very beautiful city; within the first twenty minutes of being there, I had already seen the Duomo of Santa Maria del Fiore, which is a huge dome. I also went up to the Piazzale Michelangelo where you can see the entire city, and it was an incredible view. The next city I went to was Rome, which was also an amazing city. The first day there, I went into the Colosseum and the Roman Forum; I also went and made a wish at the Trevi Fountain later that night. The Trevi Fountain was definitely my favorite place in Rome, it was simply mesmerizing and I could have spent the entire day sitting there. The last city that I visited was Pisa. Pisa was a very small city but seeing the leaning tower was really neat, as well as taking a lot of funny pictures with it. I had a lot of fun on this trip and I would love to go back to all of the places that I visited again if I ever get the chance.

A week of Adventure

Two weeks ago was our Fall Break, and some big trips were in store for us. A group went to Italy for the week, and two went to Poland. As for me, I took an individual trip with Alex and Lindsey to the Spanish island, Ibiza. Ibiza is a small island off the coast of Spain. Arriving there late at night, we did not get the chance to see the beauty of the island until the next day. The weather was sunny and warm, and going to the beach was a treat for us, as we spent two months in foggy Richmond. Our week was spent, walking around, swimming and lying on the sand. We also went on a two hour cruise which took us out along the coast to see other beaches and swim in the crystal blue water.  Alex, Lindsey and I met a person from Australia who was travelling Europe for six months. Learning this about our new friend, made me think of seeing myself doing this, but when I am older. Travelling Europe is fairly easy and the opportunity to do is not be passed. Being here in London we have that opportunity.

Following our week off, an adventure weekend in Wales was in store for a few of us. This weekend involved some outdoor activities such as surfing or kayaking, hiking and coasteering. Coasteering involves climbing rocks along the coast and when you see a place to jump off into the water, you do. This was the highlight as it was the most exciting activity. Surfing was good, with the waves and nice water. Ending with the seven mile hike in the morning was a great end to the weekend, and we got to see Wales with its coast and fields of sheep and cows. Wales was another great trip that has filled this semester and being almost complete with this semester has me excited to fit more trips and experiences into the time we have in Europe before we return to the States.