The Amber Chronicles

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Beyer) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 03:26:00 +0000

That's a Wrap!

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Beyer) — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 23:58:00 +0000

I just realized that I never wrote a final blog, and for that matter, I left it on kind of a sad note since I was sad to leave England and my flatmates. Well, you will be glad to know that I have lightened up considerably!

Coming home surprised me since I expected it to feel totally weird and unusual, and it did not. It was so amazing to see the family and Roxie and sleep in my own bed for the first time in MONTHS! Other things such as seeing my friends and working for Roger felt strange at first, but is feeling better and better. So all in all, I am SO happy to be back and am loving spending the holidays at home.

I have been able to stay in touch with my flatmates thanks to the miracles of the world wide web, so that has been nice. We are all on winter holiday at this point so it does not feel strange to be apart from them. I really have not thought much about the "whole experience" in Europe, but every day little things come to me like "Oh, that reminds me of that crazy Italian guy" or "The chocolate in England tasted much better than this shit." Sometimes I say these things out loud, an sometimes I just think it to myself.

So anyway, thanks to everyone who kept up with this blog! I realize it was kind of sporadic, but it was always great to hear your comments and know you were able to share this journey with me. And who knows? Maybe I'll keep another blog someday on a future adventure!

A Blog About Nothing

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Beyer) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:03:00 +0000

I've been sitting before a blank screen trying to think of some words of wisdom to sum up my time here, or even the past couple of days, but I've got nothing. And while I know a blog saying that I've got nothing to say is a pretty pointless concept, I felt like it says everything in its own way.

Everything I could say about the past two weeks would be completely cliche: Yes, I am a mixed bag... Excited to come home, but sad to leave. Really, I just have to laugh at myself because all along I've been thinking Oh, I go home mid-December, and won't that be nice and I am so excited about this and this... So I basically thought I was ready to leave. But now, since it has been two weeks since Amsterdam, my body clock is saying that it's time to travel again... And I am itching to do so! Except I leave tomorrow night so crap about that. Crap.

I guess I will be traveling, though, since I will be taking a 4-hour coach ride to 4-hours of waiting in the airport to a 10-hour flight to Dallas and 5 more to Portland. And if you want to think about it in a "coming home to a different place" sort of way, I suppose I am traveling back to my old life. Which at this point seems so surreal I can't even imagine it.

I guess I'm just down because I am now immersed in the process of packing up my room and the whole "saying goodbye" ritual, which I just hate. What I should focus on is who I will be saying hello two in a few days, and that is the light at the end of the tunnel.

Amster-Damn, that is one fiiiiine city!

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Beyer) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:32:00 +0000

So awoke last Saturday to the sound of my phone buzzing. "Hellloooo?" "Amber. Where are you? It is 5:10, and the cab is here." Oh shit. We were supposed to meet at 5:00am. In an instant my drowsy, sleepy body experienced a rush of adrenaline and that horrible feeling that anyone who has overslept feels. This never happens to me, I repeat NEVER happens to me, and of course, it had to happen on the worst of all possible mornings.

I literally threw on some clothes and booked it in the freezing cold pre-sunrise morning to where Laura and Kelly were waiting in the cab. After we take off, the cabbie proceeds to tell me that "you really shouldn't be late for these sort of things, ya know." For lack of a better expression, !?!!!?!?!?!?!!!!

But by the sheer luck of happenstance (and the fact that the Norwich airport is literally the smallest airport I have been to in my life-only 4 gates!) we made our flight with relative ease. Sleeping on the plane was impossible since we barely reached cruising altitude before the pilot announced our short descent into Amsterdam airport, and we were there.

First Impressions:
-Amsterdam is freezing cold.
-Amsterdam has a very efficient public transportation.
-Amsterdam is very unaccommodating to tourists, especially students. There were no discounted prices for students at any of the museums, and the hostels were insanely expensive such that an entire flat was cheaper than a bunk in a 16-bed dorm. We went with the flat. I guess when you consider the large majority of students who go there just to party, it makes a little more sense.
-Amsterdam is a very easy place to travel because everyone speaks English.

We spent the majority of the first day just wandering the streets and canals and getting a sense of the city. Despite the cold, there were heaps of people out shopping and going to the museums. I loved the houses and shops that lined the canals, and could spend forever wandering around them.

After wandering til we could wander no more, we visited the Van Gogh Museum, which rated the top of our compiled "must see" lists. It was a visual feast. Van Gogh is now my favorite painter. I cannot say this for every museum and famous artwork I have seen here, but staring at the originals of Sunflowers, Irises, the Apartment beat the reproductions to the ground. No contest. The thickness of the paint and vivid colors left my eyes swimming in oranges, yellows, and blues as we left for the grey world and muted tones of the Amsterdam outside. Starry Night was not there, to my great dismay. My guess is that it is in the MOMA in New York, since they somehow have managed to snag the best of every collection.

After that, we were quite tired, having (theoretically, in my case) awoken at 4:00 am, so we headed over to our hotel. I should mention that the reason we got a hotel over a hostel was that the hostels jack up their prices to nearly double on the weekends, and often require a minimum of four nights stay. Well, we just couldn't do that. So we paid an equal amount of money for a triple room in Hotel Washington. The kindly man at reception informed us that we were on the top apartment, and swung open a door to LITERALLY THE TALLEST FLIGHT OF STAIRS IN AN APARTMENT. And there were three of them! The man laughed cruelly and swung the door shut as we looked ahead to the stairway to delicious, restful heaven.

Our suite had a kitchen complete with dishware and dining table, living room with a piano, a balcony with a view, and a bedroom they somehow managed to squeeze three beds into with about a 2 inches of space in between. Each bed got increasingly smaller, making us feel like the three bears. I got to be the Mama Bear, since Kelly is only 5 ft on a good day. Yay, for not being the shortest one all the time! It was wonderful to have such a comfortable place to go back to (despite the monstrous stairs) and I thought it would be totally cute as a first apartment.

The next day we did a Canal Cruise, which was a great way to see the city from the water; spent a good while in the History of Amsterdam Museum, which none of us were really that interested in but we needed to kill time before; the Anne Frank House. This was the highlight of the second day. It was very personal and to-the-point. Instead of housing a million artifacts that could have theoretically belonged to the 8 people hiding in the secret annex, the house kept it very real, only displaying her personal affects. As there are not many, the rooms were rather bare, at the most containing a video, a quote, and an artifact.

I liked particularly liked this because 1) It was quite refreshing after the Museum of Amsterdam that is absolutely jam-packed with random, unnecessary artifacts, and 2) It seemed to be more about the absences than a roomful of stuff. Also, it made the experience very real. This was a real family that lived in hiding, forced to tiptoe all day and use the bathroom as seldom as possible, and worst of all, stay indoors 24-7. I can't even imagine such an existence, but I consider it a good thing that Anne Frank is able to put a face to the millions of deaths. So often I think there is a tendency to distance oneself from that event (which was really not that long ago), but Anne Frank keeps it in today's conscious.

So there is the obligatory digression to the Haulocaust (every tour of Europe should have one, I think), and the deepest rumination this post will get! Don't worry! After the Anne Frank house, we were well-content to go back to the airport and wait to come home. We had a great time in Amsterdam, but all three of us were ready to come back to Norwich. Partly this was due to the fact that we each have a massive amount of essays due in the next twelve days, but also we were just ready to get home.

Which brings me to another point: I can't believe I come home in 9 days. I don't think it will hit me until I'm actually on the plane. I have mixed feelings about this: sometimes I am SOOO UNBELIEVABLY EXCITED to get off the plane and be in beautiful, wonderful Portland (I've got a thing for that city, if you can't tell), and other times, like most of this week, I actually get quite sad at the thought of leaving my flatmates, especially a particular few who I have grown rather close with in the past few weeks. I will miss them!

One of the things that has surprised me during the past five months is how close you can feel to random people, and then completely move on and forget about each other. At certain times, I felt very close with other travellers or friends from Spain, and it was just understood that we would move on and perhaps never see each other again. I have made stronger friendships here (seeing as how I have been here much longer), and know that should I ever happen to return to England, or visit Berlin or Sidney or (god-fearing) St. Louis, Missouri, I would have people to stay with. That is a comfort, but it certainly feels weird leaving these friendships in a manner of days.

Even though it is so close, it still seems so far considering the two essays I have due next week, along with last dinners, concerts, parties, and local sight-seeing with friends. Would you believe it that I still haven't been to the Norwich castle or our most famous visual arts centre?! I guess what they say about never being a tourist in your own city is true... Ok. Time to end this long diatribe. Pictures of Amsterdam will come when I upload them from my camera, and I make no promises of when that will be!

The day snow came to UEA...

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Beyer) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 17:12:00 +0000

I know what you're thinking: "Two posts in one day? She must be done with her work!" But sadly, that would be the wrong assumption to make. Something more along the lines of "She can't read another novel or string sentences together to form logical thought to save her life!" would be closer to the truth. And since I updated about the weekend before last, I might as well just tell you about last weekend as well... Since we're on a weekend theme here.

Last weekend it snowed at UEA.

This in and of itself is not the most earth-shattering news to hit the world. I mean, it IS winter, and we ARE in England. A snowfall was bound to occur at some point. But what I am interested in is people's response to this otherwise unextroardinary (I guess that would be just "ordinary"..?) event.

To be fair, while I love my flatmates to death, they are not the most mature crayons in the box. (Case in point: last night's dinner table discussion: "Why do men like boobs?") So while I may be examining not most representative group in the population, I believe some of these conclusions can be universally-applied.

Saturday morning, we awoke to a fresh blanket of snow. Correction. We awoke to Ellie screaming and banging on the doors that it had snowed. Even more alarming was how everyone, rather than rolling over and going back to sleep like normal college students, actually got out of bed before noon and began jumping about and screaming in various states of excitement.

And where was I in all of this? Why you better believe I was jumping and screaming right with them! At its best, Portland gets an average of one snowfall per year, and half of the time its the kind that disappears the moment it hits the pavement. So while unlike my Indian and Australian friends I have experienced many a snowfall with all of the delights and activities contained therein, it is still rare enough to elicit excitement.

Most interesting was how it magically turned my "homework weekend" into a "blow off homework and play in the snow weekend." What can I say? My gumption to edit my Jane Austen paper fell away with each falling snowflake. Instead, we walked, we sledged (English word for "sled") on the single hill in East Angia (one of 5 in England and 12 in the greater UK region), we made a double-sided snowman that could simultaneously stare into our kitchen and at the outside world at once... We even partook in an epic snow battle between Norfolk and Suffolk Terrace that involved two sides of about fifty residents threateningly lobbing snowballs at each other before charging with battle cries in Lord of the Rings manner. And in the evenings (evening being 3:30 in the afternoon when it got dark) we would stumble home, frozen and soaked, to hot chocolate and movies in our Christmas-lit kitchen. Basically, it reminded me of the best snowfalls of my childhood.

So call it what you will. A type of precipitation in the form of crystalline water ice, or the means of regressing an entire body of University students to 10-year-olds, snow is wonderful, and will always be a welcome weather in my forecast. And its most untimely disappearance by Monday reminded everyone that yes indeed, the semestre ends in three weeks, and no, unfortunately those papers will not write themselves! So, dear snow, until the next weekend when stressed-out students need reminding that other things exist than...well...being stressed-out students, so long!

Belated Post on Edinburrrrrr-ahhhhh!

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Beyer) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:11:00 +0000

I would like to formally apologize for my pitiful presence in the blog world lately. I guess when you spend all day trying to convince your professors that you are brilliant, you run out of steam to do it on the internet. At this point, I cannot be bothered to do a full post on Edinburgh, so I will tell the story in photos. Like a picture book! I apologize. This is the most my mind can summon at this point.
.

This is our giddy happiness to finally have arrived in Edinburgh after a grueling 10-hour HOT coach ride. From left to right, we have Bisma, Vania, Emily, Huong, Laura, me, and Johnny. This was supposed to be a "girl's photo" but Johnny jumped in at the last minute. When he found out our scheme, he said "What? This is sexistic!" That is why I am cackling.

We were all quite giddy the first night in Edinburgh. Even though everything was dark, the lights were a perfect teaser and excited us for the next day's explorations. Later, my friend Laura would buy a street artist's painting of Edinburgh at night because it reminded her of that first fun night.

This is a street off of the Royal Mile. To get the flavor.

Laura and I had a delicious lunch at this "literary" restaurant where J.K. Rowling among others wrote while nursing a cup o' joe. We sat there for a long time trying to harness some of that divine inspiration for our papers... not sure it worked...

Edinburgh castle behind us.

This is a view of "modern" side of the city with the loch behind. The loch is called the "Firth of Forth" which was hilarious to hear Johnny try to pronounce.

William Wallace was there! To remind us that they will never have OUR FREEEEDOM!!!!

A view of Arthur's Seat from the Castle. The others hiked this the next day while Laura and I were being nerds in the Museum of Scotland. I kind of regret not going because it sounded amazing.

The Castle again.

We saw these guys! Adorable little chessmen that are among the oldest artifacts in Scotland. Their little faces were so cute!

On Saturday we went to a night club. Which I have determined are the same everywhere.

Happy Amber. ALBEIT COLD AMBER!

So there you have it folks. They say a picture's worth a thousand words, so I hope these images are a suitable replacement for the vivid imagery and charming description of my regular posts. Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Save me some pie!....not joking.

"What should Amber do with her life?": A Poll

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Beyer) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:08:00 +0000

Please cast your vote with letters A through F.

A. Do Teach for America for two years.

B. Teach English in a foreign (preferably Spanish-speaking) country for a year.

C. Work for a publishing company until I decide I hate it and earn $ to go to grad school.

D. Find an a rare job working with special collections or book preservation. Perhaps pursue that in grad school.

E. Find a job anywhere where I can read and/or write.

F. Other:________________________
(write in)

Thank you for voting!

The Invite

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Beyer) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:07:00 +0000

Hey everyone! Sorry for the long absences. The excuse is a happy one: I have been spending more time living my life than writing about it... Also, school papers make me never want to see a keyboard again. Hopefully, I will post a blog and pictures from my AMAZING trip to Edinburgh last weekend, but until then I thought I would share the invite to the Thanksgiving I will be attending next Thursday.

Traditional Thanksgiving Feast

Are you an American missing home? Or a British or international student who always wondered what all the fuss is about? If so, why not come and immerse yourself in the festivities!

Enjoy a traditional all-you-can-eat Thanksgiving feast with turkey, a vegetarian option, and all the trimmings. And afterwards the Union Pub will be showing the American Football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Seattle Seahawks in the Blue Bar.

The dinner will be £16 and you can eat as much as you can and there is no admission to watch the American Football. Arrive for dinner at 18.30 to get a seat and have a drink before dinner which will start at 19.00.One drink will be included with dinner and will be either a soft drink, one bottle of Budweiser or a glass of American wine. You will be able to purchase more drinks at the bar in Vista.

The all-you-can-eat buffet menu

* Roasted Turkey or
* Spinach, Parsnip and Butternut Squash Roulade served with
* Gravy, Cranberry Sauce and Sausage Meat or Vegetarian Stuffing
* Roasted Potatoes
* Baked Sweet Potatoes
* Mashed Potatoes
* Corn
* Cream Spinach
* Green Beans with Chestnuts
for dessert
* Pumpkin Pie
* Pecan Pie
* Apple Pie

After dinner head over to the Blue Bar to an exciting American football game which starts at 21.15. Don't worry if you don't understand the game or the rules, I am sure there will be plenty of people who do and they will be happy to explain. Nonetheless it will be a truly festive atmosphere and night.

My favorite parts:
-Watching this "American football game" is apparently a fundamental cornerstone of our culture. And, you know, those pilgrims and Squanto didn't really do anything that important.
-The drink list features Budweiser and "American wine"! Even the cheapest of European beers would send Budweiser running for the hills.
-I just love the menu's conscious effort to present a well-rounded Thanksgiving feast with three types of potatoes and three types of pies.

While the thought of a mass-produced Thanksgiving that I actually have to pay for (I mean, isn't it free?) was originally less than appetizing, I am actually quite excited. I have loved absolutely everything I have done with the international students; we are all willing to sample each other's cultures and cuisine. Besides, St. Louis Kelly and San Francisco Michael and I were realizing that we would really miss Thanksgiving if we just ignored it. So while I may have class earlier that day (grrr!) I will be turkeying it up with the best of them for dinner. And who knows? Maybe I will even fade into my turkey-induced stupor to a rousing game of American football come nightfall! I could even help explain the rules.... Well... sort of.

Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Beyer) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 13:32:00 +0000

Oh, and for anyone who is interested, I posted pics from the last week here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2197906&l=15ed8&id=11513535

An English Ceilidh

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Beyer) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 13:07:00 +0000

So last night I went to an English Ceilidh (pronounced Kaylee) without any notion of what exactly I was getting myself into. The organizer of the event explained to us that English is missing its folk culture, and it's true. Everyone knows what traditional Irish music and dancing is, and even Scottish folk with the bagpipes and kilts is well-known, but England is one of the only European countries that doesn't have a traditional costume and music. Even most English people get stumped when asked what their folk culture is... Part of the reason for this is the prominent role the Industrial Revolution played in shaping the nation; smaller folk culture kind of faded out. By the end of the night, a roomful of international students understood English folk better than most English.

The night had the potential to be a total disaster. There was a single caller explaining to a roomful of stunned international students that they would be hopping and sliding around the floor like the people at a Jane Austen ball, but everyone got really into it until we were all laughing and clapping and hopping around like rabbits. My partner for one of the dances ended up being a great big guy who swung me around so fast, that I nearly lost my footing. He seemed to think this was rather funny, and did it over and over again until I had had about enough. There was a band composed of guitar, violin, banjo, accordian, etc. and the tunes sounded almost Irish, almost Scottish, but not fully either because they were English. There were even some folk singers who sang songs about men whose homing pigeons flew away, and one about a woman who covered herself in goose poo, which was amusing.

I met a ton more international students, and it really surprised me how intent most of them are to learn English. I have met a handful of students on exchange such as myself, whose classes aren't even going to count toward their home university when they return. Whyyy then are they studying here, you may ask? The single most often explanation is to learn English better. One fellow studying science explained that English is the language of the sciences. All the scientific papers are in English, and if you want to succeed in the field, you MUST be able to maneuver in the circle of English science.

In many cases, it is often about forward motion too. I asked my friend Johnny if he missed speaking German, and he said no, not really, that he was here to perfect his English, and didn't want to speak German as much. He said that when his German friends spoke to him in German, he would respond in English because that he what he is here to do. This surprised me, because when I was in Spain, I was SOO happy whenever I met another English-speaker, and would speak very fast, easy English to them. I know that if I had insisted on speaking Spanish all the time, I would have learned it all that much better, so the fault is mine. I find their insistence to learn English inspiring, and it kind of reminds me of how all the immigrants that came to the States must have felt when they left their home country and language behind. It IS crazy and kind of scary to think of how imperialistic this language has become, especially in academics, that people who don't need to learn it want to in order to pursue a certain career or line of study. Could English possibly become our global language someday? It certainly seems like a possibility.

Cotswolds

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Beyer) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:46:00 +0000

I can tell I am being influenced by the English because I am beginning each of my posts with a discussion of the weather. Continuing in that vein, yesterday was beautiful with some peaks of sun through the clouds, and today is just drizzly enough to create a halo of water beads on my frizz, but not enough to justify umbrella usage... However, I have been walking around with a smile on my face ever since I awoke to Nicholas' voice with the news that Obama had won. Moments later, my German friend Johnny texted me saying "Congratulations! You can be proud to be an American again!" Here's hoping! Everyone I have run into has been very happy about it; my American friends I met up with and I just clutched each other this morning as an unspoken congratulation.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Yesterday was the full-day Cotswolds Discovery tour, which I am so glad I did since I would not have been able to see half of the villages I did by public transport or larger bus. Also, I was able to reconnect with some of the amazing people from the Stonehenge tour. The Cotswolds are a 50x90 mile patch of English countryside that are known for their rolling hills and Shire-like English cottages. Cotswold literally means farm on the rolling hill. They were originally prosperous for woold production, but fell into economic hardship as the industrial revolution swept the nation forward, leaving these bucolic, thatched villages behind. It was magnificent touring through this region because there were hardly any other tourists, and mostly farmers and shopkeepers going about their business. Here are the villages I went to: Castle Combe, Tetbury, Bibury, Stowe-on-the-Wold, Upper-Slaughter, from which I walked to Lower-Slaughter, Moreton-in-the-Marsh, and Chipping Camden. Most of these villages required a brief stop to oooh and aaah and snap a photo or take a cup of tea since other than that...well, there wasn't much to do. Which was exactly why I loved it so much.

A few of us used the tour as transport to other destinations. We stayed at various hostels/B&B's in Stowe, and met up later for dinner, which I was happy for since the small village shut down at 5pm and streets were clear by 6pm, leaving absolutely no nightlife. Since I am poor, I ordered but a meager salad, but the older man bought my dinner, making me wish I had ordered the lamb or venison or other such fancy meats. I met a kindred spirit in his son, who is my age and is couch-surfing around Europe for the next six months! As a seasoned traveler, I was able to give him some advice, making me feel extremely cool as a woman of the world.

Oh my god, there is so much more to say, but my internet is running out in this library! I will have to finish when I get back to Norwich tomorrow evening. Honestly, I feel like I could keep traveling for another five days. It's been so wonderful. But I guess I have to rejoin the real world at some point.

Thank God for free internet in public libraries!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Beyer) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 16:45:00 +0000

Second day in Bath and still no rain...yay! In fact there were even some moments where if you looked really closely, the clouds almost hinted at the blue sky behind them. Actually, I am pretty sure this is just wishful thinking.

I spent the morning in the Jane Austen Centre, which although gimicky and lacking in true Austen substance, was fun for the sheer sense of the Austen community that is out there. I am not the only one! Also, it really solidified an idea that I had secretly been harboring about the resurgence of interest in Jane Austen's work in the past few years. Movies like "Discovering Jane" and "Lost in Austen" reveal a renewed interest in her biographical side, and within the past year, the BBC has come out with at least three new adaptations of her novels. Even the widely popular Bridget Jones' books and movies suggest an interest in Austenien conceits applied to the modern day. I have decided to incorprate this into my thesis. Really, it fits in too perfectly, since I am looking at reading and the novel in Jane Austen's time. What better excuse to re-watch some of my favorite movies than for the solemn duty of research? It will be interesting to look at modern reviews, to see how today's readers have co-opted Austen to fill their modern needs. Also, it will give my thesis a greater sense of applicability rather than being "just another Austen thesis..." Clearly, my thesis will determine that everyone is just waiting for her Mr. Darcy to emerge dripping from a lake to take her away...

The afternoon was spent on a Mad Max Minibus tour of Lacock and Stonehenge. Lacock is a cute Cotswold Village that got me excited for tomorrow's full-day tour, and Stonehenge was actually quite exciting for me. I know what others have said: that it's cliche, looks exactly how it looks, and is a total tourist trap, but there's something about staring at those giant pieces of stone that were hauted 250 miles upriver and set in a circular calendar with absolutely no solid idea of who did it or how. They've determined that it wasn't connected to the druids, but the site is over 4,000 years old! How could the builders have even moved, let alone create columns and bridges of these stones?! It's elevation is really high so it was windy and freezing up there, but for me only added to the mystery of the place.

So that's my sappy £2 about Stonehenge. ( That's meant to be 2 cents, but there is no cents sign.) Today I did a tour of the Costwolds, which was all kinds of amazing. I think I sighed and thought "How adorable!" about fifty times. A few people from yesterday's tour were there today, which was fun. A handful of us got off in this quaint little village called Stow-on-the-Wold, and are meeting for dinner soon, so I had better go. But I will write more about the Costwolds tomorrow, and add pictures when I get back to Norwich! Thinking of you all, and GOOO OBAMA!!! I'll know by tomorrow morning, baby! EEEEEEE!!

Bathing in Bath

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Beyer) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 09:51:00 +0000

Arriving safely and happily in Bath has reminded me of a very important thing: I FREAKING LOVE TRAVELLING!!! I love wandering the streets of new and interesting places... I love falling asleep tothe sound of snoring on a saggy mattress in a roomful of nine of hte most awesome strangers you will ever meet. I love that I am sitting in a cozy room with them right now watching The Transformers. Basically, I love the backpacker's lifestyle because you can wake up with the certainty that that anything can happen that day. In Norwich, I had settled into a comfortable routine of school, friends, the basic necessities of life... this turns that on its head. But one is no better than the other. We need a sense of home, and the excitement of adventure. Both are necessary to fully appreciate either. So basically, I am ecstatic to be on the road again, and I hope I never forget how much I love it.

It is funny the people you run into. As a twenty-something American female, I find that I am an unlikely demographic to be travelling, especially in the BITTER COLD of the English winter. This seems to make me very approachable to the friendly stranger, easing my loneliness and in some instances heightening my caution. For instance, I was downing a much-needed sandwich/killing time in a Subway yesterday when a man sat down accross from me and inquired into what I was doing in England, etc, etc. It was all good and well until he began asking, quite insistently, that I give him my name so he could add me on facebook. Since I was in Bath, I decided to follow in the example of my heroine Jane Austen and give a pseudonym. However, the minute he asked my name I blurted out "Amber" without even thinking about it. I did have the sense, when writing it down, to change my surname. So Amber Baker, if you're out there, m apologies if a random man friends you on fbook.

Not to give the impression that you don't also run into a fair amount of awesome, amazing people. I find that I am a likely target for older couples to "take under their wing." They always start with "Are you alone?" and then a "Oh my goodness!" usually follows shortly thereafter. I don't mind. In fact, I rather like it. Last night, I bought a £3 "standing ticket" to the show Cabaret at the Theatre Royal. Literally, this means that I am standing behind the seated patrons, but standing next to me happened to be an older couple from Seattle of all places! I did not think I would be able to say, here nearly 5,000 miles from my home, that I was from SE Portland and hear "Oh, I love the Hawthorne area!" Like me, they are here for three months, but are working in London doing architecture or accounting or something random like that. And yes, Cabaret had full frontal male nudity, but no, it was not tasteful to the show.

Today, I had several self-realizing moments when I caught myself thinking "Omg, Jane Austen ambled down this very promenade" or "Jane Austen took tea in this very assembly room" or "Jane Austen may have very well relieved herself in this water closet" and then immediately follow with an "Omg, I am such a literature nerd!" Many of these moments were realized on my 2.5 Jane Austen walking tour of the city. What can I say? I'm a nerd. I also toured the Fashoine Museum and the Roman Baths, whose steaming waters are over 10,000 years old! I was very overcome with the glory of it all and how genius the Romans were in their architecture and heating methods when a tour guide enlightened us to how the Romans scraped dead skin off their bodies with olive oil and knives, burned their leg hair with hot chestnuts, or plucked their arm pit hair... *shudder* I guess when you consider all the painful things people do for beauty today, it puts it in perspective. But STILL...

A few different things than when travelling in the summer: 1) It is freezing! Easily combatible with my down coat, but the CONSTANT rain of the first day was harder to deal with. I hope it holds off... 2) It gets dark about five hours earlier, severely limiting sightseeing/walking time. However, this hostelis very warm and cozy, so I will just have to sightsee earlier and chill later. 3) No Mikey :( But I am loving travelling alone.

Tomorrow, I am seeing the Jane Austen Centre in the a.m. and Stonehenge/village of Lacock in the p.m. Hope all the election excitement is going well! Someone had better let me know the minute anything happens!

Future Plans!

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Beyer) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:10:00 +0000

Hello everyone! Sorry for the long absence. For the past two weeks, I have buried my head in a pile of books and pumped out two papers, WHICH I turned in today!!! YAY! It feels amazing. Doubly so, because I have fun plans lined up! Tonight I am seeing American Pulitzer and Nobel prize-winning author Toni Morrison ("Beloved," "The Bluest Eye") speak at UEA's International Literary Festival. Tomorrow should be a fun Halloween since everyone here is keen to celebrate it "American-style," meaning actually celebrate at all. Apparently after the age of 8, Halloween is a thing of the past for most Europeans. A sorry fact they are ready to set aside in homage to this spectacular holiday. Many flats are even decorated with black and orange streamers and pumkins. But like everything, it is also different. For example, people actually dress up as Halloween things for Halloween. My flatmates are being: a ghost, a witch, a black cat, a pumkin... I explained that no one in America dressed as such stereotypically "Halloween" things, and they were all offended. So it looks like were going to celebrate "old school" this year!

The Saturday after I leave for five days of travel. I am so excited about this. It is the image that saw me through many a late night of paper-writing. I am certain that no one else would have fun on this personal tour because it appeals to my nerdy literature side. Thus, I have dubbed it my "literary pilgrimage." I am also excited to travel alone again, make random traveling friends, and walk all day long if I want to. Here is the game plan:

Saturday: Arrive in Bath
Sunday: Day in Bath: Roman baths, Bath at work, Costume Museum
Monday: am: Jane Austen Centre (!!!) pm: afternoon tour of Stonehenge/village of Lacock
Tuesday: Costwold Villages with Mad Max Minibus Tours (highly recommended by my guru Rick Steves) Sleep in the hostel in Stow-on-the-Wold
Wednesday: Stratford-upon-Avon and Shakespeare sights!
Thursday: Warwick Castle. Return to Norwich in time to watch the Sex and the City movie with Laura and Kelly.

I had to do some revisions: cut out Oxford since all their hostels were booked on the one night I could be there, and Jane Austen's house in Acton because of train issues. However, I will try to see these places before I go. I am ecstatic! Oh, I should probably mention that all of this is made possible by "reading week" in which we don't meet for class, but are expected to get ahead on reading...yeah...right.

And about a week after I return is the International Student Society Edinburgh Trip! A lot of my friends are going on that one so it should be fun. The weekend of Thanksgiving, Laura and Kelly and I are going to Amsterdam. But after that I think I should actually do some papers and reading... It is, after all, what I am "officially" here to do.

One more thing before I go: So Monday my friend Johnny from Germany and I decided to finally see the boys choir do Gregorian Chants at the Norwich Cathedral. We have been putting this off, and we finally made it. BUT, instead of the choir, it was a regular prayer service, and we were sitting front-and-center so we had to stay for the whole thing. At the end, Johnny was like "and vhere vas the singing?" I guess there's always next time! But dad will be happy to know that I actually went to church here, even if it was the Anglican church.

To redeem the night, we thought we'd head over to the Norwich Beer Festival, which features local brews and ales, but it was the first (freezing) night and the line went all the way around the Hall. We weren't going to wait. So instead we hit up a local pub and had some generic, not-special pints, that were still quite good. Johnny practiced his English, which got increasingly worse the more he drank! It was fun, and the Joker would have loved it since it... "didn't follow the plaaaan..." (picture Heath Ledger's voice).

I will try to update throughout the week, but I'm not sure where and when I will have internet. It is the travellers most elusive friend! Until later, dear friends!

A Random Update

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Beyer) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:48:00 +0000

I should preface this post by saying that I have not been anywhere new, seen anything particularly amazing, nor have I taken any pictures of churches, pubs, or lawns. But the past few days have been pretty great, so I thought I'd share:

1) Tonight as I walked home from a play, I walked past a man who was urinating against the side of the bookstore. He turned halfway around and said, "Sorry about this, love... Sorry!" I opened my umbrella to cover the offending article, said it was fine, and moved on. The Best Part: If he had not turned around, I would not have noticed him at all.

2) The play I saw was called "Fresher's Week" and it chronicled the craaaayzy first week of parties for the Freshman at University, and how the rest of their lives will never be as great as that one week. This is not just my interpretation of the play; a girl came out at the end and gave a lengthy monologue saying just that. How life stretches out after Fresher's week with the pressure of classes, graduation, finding a job, working for fifty years before the sweet release of death can claim you. I found it to be depressing for two reasons: Firstly, the aforementioned "final note" of the play. And secondly, apparently the best week of my life has passed, and I didn't even get to enjoy it. Yes, my friends. As much as it may surprise you, I did not dress up as a Barbi or Fireman with the 18-year-olds, and stay out til 7:00 am before a 9:00 lecture. These weary bones can only do so much.

But in all honestly, what a depressing message to give the freshman! Either "whoops! you didn't go crazy enough during Fresher's Week, so get used to a boring, monotonous life" or "Yay! You went crazy during Fresher's Week! Now get ready for your boring, monotonous life!" What happened to making your experiences what you want them to be!?! That is what I have done (or tried to do) during this whole trip, and it is the only way. Looking back, if I had just sat around and waited for things to happen to me.. Well, it would have been pretty lame. THESIS MOMENT: Catherine from Northanger Abbey does this very thing at a ball, and has a very boring time. I think Austen is commenting upon JUST THAT.

But it was fun cheering on my friend Benjamin (who lives on 26th and Clinton in P-town, and we only met in England!) and meeting up with my buddy Johnny from Germany who enjoyed picking up on the low-brow humor. Tomorrow, we are going to the Norwich Cathedral to hear the boy's choir do Gregorian chants. We have been postponing this event since we planned it, so we'll see if it actually happens.

Things I recently learned how to do: Roll sushi and make a paper crane with the Japanese society!!!! I am very proud of this. It is a skill I wish to take home. My buddy Michael from San Fransisco and I are going to go to the weekly Japanese-language meetings too!

Things I miss from home: Roxie's cheek puffing out when she's sleeping soundly. Seeing the lights of Council Crest accross the city as I fall asleep. Cooking (anything) while sitcoms play in the background.

Things I am excited for: The ROLL I finally got on while writing my paper today! Turning in my papers. My literary pilgrimage to Bath, Cotswolds, Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Warrick, then Edinburgh for the weekend... after my papers.

Ps.

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Beyer) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:43:00 +0000

NOTICE HOW LONG MY HAIR HAS GOTTEN!!!

Four Days in London

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Beyer) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 08:55:00 +0000

"

England had a football (soccer) game yesterday against Belarus. Three international friends and I decided to go to a local pub in town to see what it was all about. It was quite the cultural experience. The old pub was called Murderers and had newspaper clippings and information about the world's greatest unsolved murder mysteries such as the Kennedy assassination. Which was kind of a dangerous idea for a roomful of burly men from their 30's to 60's with pints all roaring at a single television. I didn't want them to get any ideas... There was nowhere to sit. There was hardly anywhere to stand. So we huddled in a corner without a view of the game. I don't know what it is about football, or sports in general, that does this to people, but when you can get a roomful of men to simultaneously erupt in various displays of grunting and growling and table-smashing, it is quite a phenomenon. England won that night 3-1, and shortly after the pub cleared out allowing us a chance to sit and hear each other talk. One fellow had a bet that England would win 3-1. After the game ended, I congratulated him on his victory, but he did not seem so pleased. Apparently by "winning the bet" he had to buy the next round!

London was amazing. As one of Europe's leading powerful cities, there were moments when all the layering of history was just overwhelming. An example of this would be the Tower of London. The original "tower" was built shortly after the Norman Invasion for Oliver Cromwell, but even before that there were remnants of the old Roman Wall that they used for one of the walls of the castle. Later it became a prison whose chopping block saw the necks of Anne Boleyn among other unfortunate Henry VIII wives. And Sir Walter Raleigh was imprisoned there after multiple upsets with the crown. When he returned from a voyage to the West Indies without gold, they finally gave him the ax. The crown jewels were just gorgeous too, and I just wanted to reach out and touch them. We spent almost all day there and when we left, I had diamonds in my eyes.

Another biggie was the British Museum that housed many artifacts and artwork from many ancient civilizations including Assyria, Greece, Rome, Egypt, Asia... basically everywhere. In these giant museums, you do get something I like to call "the louvre effect" where there is just SO much to see that you body and mental capacity cannot hold up to see it all. You could seriously spend a week in these places and not see everything. That's just how they are. We did get to see the Rosetta Stone, an Easter island statue, Tutenkamen's mummy, and some "bog people." Which were amazing.

Probably one of my favorite parts of the trip, aside from the glorious food, was seeing Billy Elliot the Musical. It was INCREDIBLE and has to be one of my favorites. It was playing at the Royal Victoria Theatre across from Victoria Station, and just around the corner from our hotel! For those of you who haven't seen the movie, it is about a little boy growing up in England during the 1980's and the miner strikes against the conservative government of PM Margaret Thatcher. In this environment, Billy grows up encouraged to take boxing and with the unspoken certainty that he will join the mining profession as his forefathers. Instead, after a boxing class, he decides to stick around and watch the "bally" or ballet class for girls afterward. He joins that class and becomes amazing... and... well, I won't spoil the rest. It's incredible tho. Go out and see it.

So London was wonderful. So wonderful, in fact, that I am haveng an exceedingly difficult time getting back to schoolwork and thinking about my papers. Well, actually thinking about them is fine... writing them sucks. As far as travel plans go, I am going to buckle down here for the next two weeks and work on my presentations/papers I have due. But after those midterm things are taken care of, I am going to embark on four weekends of travel: my personal English pilgrimage (Bath, Oxford, Cotswolds, Statford-upon-Avon, and Warwick) during our "reading week", Edinburgh with ISS, Wales with Haggis Tour Group, and Amsterdam with some friends. I am so ready to get out there and travel more, but PAPERS FIRST ARRRRGHH!!! Then I will write my final papers, and come home! It's going by so fast, it's scary! Lastly, I want to thank grandma and grandpa for an amazing four days, wonderful food, wonderful company, and the chance to see some family when I am half-way across the world. You guys rock!

Freezing my Bum off in Cambridge!

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Beyer) — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 21:05:00 +0000

So I awoke this morning as I do every morning: to the possibility of any kind of weather. The sky had just that sort of gray tinge that could mean a torrential downpour or the parting of clouds and the potential of a beautiful fall day. I have to prepare for either situation. The Key: Dress in layers. I had a light T-shirt, followed by a wool sweater, followed by a poofy down jacket. It could have sizzled or it could have snowed. I was ready.

And it's a good thing too. Because upon arriving at the bus stop, my weather.com-checking friend informed me it was supposed to be 0 degrees in Cambridge. Mind you, that is Celsius but it's still 32-freaking-degrees Fahrenheit, and last time I checked, that was freezing! And freeze we did. We took a two hour walking tour around the town and "The Other University," as Oxford calls them. There is quite a rivalry there that puts Beaver-Duck fans to shame. It was really fascinating learning the history of all the different colleges, their founding, their rivalries with one another, and the different buildings. We went inside the famous King's College Chapel, built by Henry VI before the War of the Roses, and saw the partition King Henry VIII put up between the secular and religious part of the chapel in honor of his love for Ann Boleyn. And when I say "chapel," do not be mistaken. This "chapel" is literally as huge as many a Cathedral, including the Cathedral of Norwich! Maybe Henry VI was compensating for something....HA!

I am definitely going back, though, because my friend Ayesha and I decided we MUST see the King's College boy's choir, that is famous throughout the world. Little known fact: Four boys train for the solo at the beginning of the internationally-broadcast Christmas performance, and the boy who gets the solo is only notified by the conductor the minute he is about to start singing! It's supposed to keep them from getting too nervous, but in my opinion, it would make it worse.

We also got a great sense of the historical greats that have gone to Cambridge. We saw the bar where Francis Crick and James Watson took their celebratory drink after cracking the "secret of life," or how DNA carries genetic information, the great research lab, the Cavendish, where Rutherford discovered the electron, Darwin's school, and a bridge rumored to be designed by Sir Isaac Newton! Although literary greats such as E.M. Forestor,William Wordsworth, Lord Alfred Tennyson, and Salman Rushdie attended Cambridge, we really didn't see anything connected to them. Boo!

I spent the too-short free afternoon warming up in a little coffee shop, and perusing old book stores. Which introduced me to my newest obsession: Old Books! The smell, the paper, the binding, who's read them, what they thought... all reveal me to be a hopeless English major. It also presented a roadblock: Old books are ridiculously expensive. I even found in one store a very old-looking copy entitled "Jane Austen Papers" that I almost justified for the purposes of research, but couldn't pay the 80 pounds in the end. Pity. I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through the winding streets, the market, and the colleges you didn't have to pay for. Before I knew it, it was time to go. I will definitely be coming back tho.

Flatmates 3.0

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Beyer) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:11:00 +0000

In our flat, we are ten: Rubie, Jenny, Ayla, Ellie, Ed, Rob, Ben, Belle, Kate, and me: Amber. Want that again? Rubie, Jenny, Ayla, Ellie, Ed, Rob, Ben, Belle, Kate, and Amber. In our kitchen, we have one table with six chairs, four tea kettles, one refrigerator (I know...), ten cupboards with nine locks, and about a thousand leaflets for take-away food. We also have a window overlooking The Brood, the lake. We are nine of us 18, eight of us social, seven of us girls, six of us from country towns, four of us on the top floor, three of us international, and two of us have been to Venezuela.

Although technically, this is my third-time around, thereby making me a seasoned professional, it always amazes me how living with people bonds you so much more rapidly and openly than common friendships. Differences are thrown aside and faults humorously embraced within days of meeting each other. Case In point: I am three years older than everyone else, and have awkward American habits like eating copious amounts of peanut butter from the jar, and am in my final year of college... none of this seems to matter at all! Strange as it is to say, it feels like we are a little family.

This is not always an easy thing. Everyone knows everyone else's business. In a manner of an hour, the strange noise from Rob's room becomes "Did you see the girl Rob was with last night?"
Rob declares It was the TV! Also, tiffs are inevitable. I came home yesterday to find Ben and Belle in a row over the rice cooker. Apparently, Ben had failed to clean it out and Belle (the house mother) put it in front of his door as a friendly reminder, causing a VERY big accident when Ben stumbed out of his room this morning, half-asleep... This is what was heard as I ascended the stair to my room: "It's just a bloody rice-cooker!" "So clean it!" Ben then accused Belle of being on her period, to which she responded with a violent stream of feminist points, none of which helped her case any.

But then there are more fun aspects too. For instance, when Ayla mentioned she was going to a Viking party for her Deviant Society, Ellie burst into excitement at the prospect of dressing her up as a Viking with the horns and sword and fur hide... We asked where she was going to get all this stuff, to which she responded "In my closet! Right next to my ax, bow & arrow, and rapier." Ellie is a theater major, and while that may explain the closetful of weaponry, it also unqualifies her to be in possession of such tools. I said if we ever had a burgler, I knew which room I was going to.

It's very nice to always have something going on, although this can also be a negative when one has entire novels to be read the next day, and people to come home to. I was home late one evening after my day in London, and my flatmates came to me the instant I walked in the door: "Where have you been? No one has seen you all day!" They are already saying: "It's going to be so weird after Ambah leaves! We're going to be such a close little family, and then Ambah will go and we won't let the next person in, after Ambah!"

Norwich: A Cutie!

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Beyer) — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 21:25:00 +0000

May I first say how absolutely wonderfully British my flatmates are! Case in point: we have three tea pots sitting on our stove at all times for those emergency tea parties! They say wonderfully British things like: "Now he's a right bloke!" and "I tripped over my trousers on the way to the Uni!" I find myself smiling at them all the time cause they are so darn cute. Tonight we ordered take-away Chinese and had a movie night, and they were all awed and excited by fortune cookies! My roommate Rob who had never had one before ate the fortune without knowing. It's also funny watching shows like Family Guy with them because they don't necessarily get all the jokes and clips that pertain to American pop culture... I'll laugh about something, and then have to explain it a moment later.

Today I walked into Norwich and took a walking tour with a bunch of international students. I met a friend Jonas from Germany and met up with a pre-existing friend Claudia from Switzerland. Although they could have spoken German together, they declared profusely that they didn't want to, so we spoke English. That is, after all, what they are here to do. The tour started at the Cathedral and wound through some 16th Century Elizabethan buildings and one of the only surviving monasteries after King Henry VIII decided to create his own church with his own rules and dissolved them all. He didn't want to pay nothin to nobody. The tour guide asked where everyone was from and looked at me and said "The history here is kind of overwhelming, eh?" And it is! THere was a cottage that had a view of the river (really Norwich is connected to a whole network of rivers called the Broods that served as a great trading and commercial area during the Middle Ages) from which none other than QUEEN ELIZABETH I had watched a boat parade in her own honor. That really hit me that I was standing in a place that had once been frequented by one of the greatest monarchs and feminists in history.

The streets were named things like "Elm's Hill" and some of the tea houses even had thatched roofs! I am SO bringing back tea! Jonas, Claudia and I had tea after the tour, and headed over the Cathedral to hear the boy's choir do Gregorian chants, as they were scheduled to do. But it turned out that it was the ONE day they weren't performing in the Cathedral because it was Admiral Nelson's 250th Birthday (he was a local hero who helped defeat the Spanish Armada), so they were singing in another town. I am definitely planning to go back for it though because the tour guide said it was like stepping back 900 years when the monks would sing their chants.

There is so much more I could say about Norwich, but I think I will let some pictures do the talking. It has inspired me to fashion my own little tour around England. One of these weekends, I'm going to spend about four or five days on a "literary pilgrimage" of sorts where I visit all the places that my favorite authors lived or are meaningful to my thesis. So, I will probably be going to Bath, Stratford upon Avon, the Cotswalds, the Lake District, West Yorkshire, and Oxford. I'm going to stay in B&B's, and just kind of go wherever I feel like going.

HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY, NICHOLAS!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Beyer) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 23:45:00 +0000

Too Short A Time in London

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Beyer) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 22:18:00 +0000

I've discovered two things in the past two days: 1) I LOVE London! 2) One day is too short a time to be in London. Friday afternoon I literally ran into my grandma and grandpa at the airport; we were intending to meet at the hotel, and spent a wonderful 18 hours with them before their flight to Edinburgh, Scotland. It was sad to part after so short a time, but it made me excited for our four days together in London in two weeks. EEEEE!!!!

One thing that was enlightening was hearing details about the financial crisis back home. Without TV here, I feel so isolated from everything going on, even though it is splattered all over the internet. Being over here for the past two and a half months has really put me in a unique place of viewing from the outskirts and getting international perspective. One thing that is certain is that while I may know very little about the particulars of the French and German elections, the whole world is honed in on the American presidential election of 2008. A few weeks ago Mike and I arrived late one night in Strasbourg and two men walking down the street were discussing what would happen "if there was a change in regime in America..." A drunk fellow who stayed in our hostel in Switzerland loudly declared to a roomful of international people that if the world could vote, Obama would win. There was a general positive reaction throughout the room. Originally I was surprised that our election drew so much international attention and coverage, but I realized that whatever happens will end up effecting the whole world in one way or another. All the international attention makes it even more exciting to be an absentee voter. This is the first presidential election I am able to vote in, and I must say that even though I must do it from abroad, it feels good being a participating citizen!

Being an American in England has raised some subtle nuances that I did not expect, mostly because of our obvious similarities. It has been somewhat surprising to find that while we speak the same language, there are cultural differences which are more blaring because you almost feel like they shouldn't be there. The other international students asked if we have trouble understanding the language, and the truth is yes. For the first few days, I could not understand my flatmates, and I still have to ask them to repeat themselves a lot. It's almost embarrassing! In addition to that, they just have a dynamic in their talking and mannerisms that is not immediately natural to me, and I haven't quite picked up on it yet. I guess it goes to show that speaking the same language does not equal immediate comprehension.

I was talking with a new friend from San Francisco, and he said, "Don't take this the wrong way, but you and I... we're good Americans..." I was originally taken aback by this statement, but I know understand what he meant. Part of it goes back to the whole "ugly American" image that we constantly come up against, but there is more to it than that. Every time we open our mouths, we identify ourselves as Americans, and all the connotations that go with it. My friend, a very gregarious fellow, admitted that he typically keeps his mouth shut to prevent just that. In my first Contemporary Writing class, I opened my mouth and said "Hi, I'm Amber..." and after just that, the professor blurted out, "Ay, there are so many Americans in this class!" I don't know exactly why, but it bothered me to be so outwardly identified and labeled. He was absolutely right: I am American. But what does that mean to him? It's unnerving! We brainstormed the list of stereotypes the English accent connotes, such as trustworthiness and truth. When the BBC comes on, we perk up as if to say "Ah, here comes the truth about the war..." or stereotype of the old English professor that we get from movies.

London! I only had a few hours, but I walked from Leicester Square, which reminded of The Mystery of Edwin Drood when we sang: "How slightly west of Leicester Square you are...!" I then walked to Trafalgar Square, spent a good few hours in the National Portrait Gallery (which tells a very thorough and comprehensive history of England through portraits of its major figures...I loved it!), walked to Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and Parliament, and crossed the Thames and came up the other side, right under the Eye of London. It was a very visual view of London, but it was the perfect little teaser because it made me VERY excited to go back and explore it further with grandma and grandpa. The train ride is perfect too... two hours of beautiful views and a perfect opportunity to finally do some reading! After all, I AM here to study! heee hee he

Getting Settled in a New Home

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Beyer) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 10:13:00 +0000

I have officially been in England for over a week and am finally getting settled into a new life (that actually involves school). The campus and weather are so similar to UO that looking out my window I can almost pretend that I am there. Although at first it was kind of a rough transition, I am really happy to be here, and it is shaping up to be an amazing (though busy) term!

Campus: While smaller than UO, the UEA campus has some similar 60's-style buildings. We are about two miles from the town of Norwich, which is new for me since I am used to being in the center of Eugene. The seclusion is kind of nice especially since there is a lake and nature all around us. My dorm is HUGE, and I get a bathroom all to myself that someone else cleans once a week. That is living in luxury. I live with 9 British students, who are all very sweet and fun.

Norwich: Norwich (pronounced Norridge) is the operating center for the county of Norfolk, and is the biggest city in East Anglia. The greater Norwich area has roughly the same population as Eugene. Unlike most English cities, it did not start as a Roman colony, but came into being as a medieval town. As such, it has a castle, really old cathedral, ruined wall that surrounds half of it, and a bunch of adorable cobble-stone streets lined with old buildings. Scenes from the movie Stardust were filmed here to give you a sense of the place. Currently, it is rated as one of the best shopping towns in Europe, and it has a dangerous amount of cute shops for browsing and... buying! I'll tell you more about Norwich later since I am taking a walking tour of it on Sunday.

Classes: Three classes is considered full-time here, so that is the amount I am enrolled in. One of them is Contemporary Writing which meets once a week for two hours, and seems more like a book club than a class. Basically, we read a contemporary British novel a week and come together to discuss it. The reading list seems really interesting, since I haven't read many contemporary British novels. I am also taking 18th Century Writing, which has a lot of familiars like Locke, Swift, Pope, and Fielding. It is a larger lecture class, but should be good as background info for my thesis. My last class is a dissertation class, which meets not at all. Instead, we meet with a "supervisor" throughout the term and write an 8,000 work dissertation. This class is reserved for students in their final year. At first I was terrified because the other students had all started working on theirs over the summer and also had all of winter break to write it, which I do not. Turns out that because I have less time I have less to write (about 5,000 words) so that is a relief. I am taking this class to seriously start working on my thesis for the Honors College that I will have to write and defend when I return.

Classes here function somewhat differently than in the U.S. Rather than meeting several times a week with a specific reading list and assignments, the English practice much more self-motivated study. Classes meet about once a week for two hours, but we are expected to spend a considerable amount of time outside of class reading and researching for the papers. So when I tell you that I only have class on Tuesdays and Wednesdays technically leaving me a 5 day weekend, do not be fooled. I will have about two novels to read each week, along with research to do and papers to write throughout that time. I am actually worried about the time leftover for travelling!

Travel: So I joined about a million societies here the other day, including Literature Society, International Students Society (ISS), Cheese and Wine Society, and Hiking Society. They plan a considerable amount of trips throughout the term including Edinburgh, London, Amsterdam, and other towns around Norfolk... I want to do them all, so we'll see what time allows. These groups seem really awesome... For instance, the other night about 50 members of ISS went out in Norwich and we had a blast. I REALLY like those people. While I am here, I really want to visit: Edinburgh, Scotland, London, Cambridge, Stratford-upon-Avon, Bath, Amsterdam, and Ireland. I only have about two months left to travel (since towards the end I will be bogged down with papers) so I really hope I can make it.

So all in all it is shaping up to be a really exciting term, and I will keep you updated as much as I can. Today, I go to London to meet Grandma and Grandma and get my suitcase with winter clothes. I am so excited to see them, even if for only a short while. In two weeks, we will be spending four days in London together... I can't wait!

Three Days in Pareeeeeee and the End of our Travels

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Beyer) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 14:16:00 +0000

Perhaps because it was the last stop in our journey, or perhaps the environment was affecting us, but we lived it up in Paris. Three solid days of walking produces quite an appetite, and, with the use of Mike's lovely associate card, we had some amazing meals at the Marriott. We ate out one night, and had the Plat de 'Jour Menu that included roasted lamb, steamed muscles, and creme broulee. I think back to our baguette and cheese picnics at the beginning of the trip, and just laugh at how far we've come. Three days in Paris was the perfect amount of time for two lazy travelers. Here is a breakdown of what we saw:

Day 1: We took the metro over to the Eiffel Tower, and did that. Then we walked up to the Arche de Triumphe, and did that. We walked down the Boulevard de Champs past all the trendy shops and fancy hotels, and came to a "Hostel de Invalides" that Louis XIV built to house those infirmed by his military campaigns. It is now a museum of war, where we spent the remainder of the day. It had quite an extensive armory, Napoleon's tomb (and he really was THAT short), and a fascinating interactive WW2 museum that focused on their local hero Charles de Gaulle (airport named after him).

Day 2: We saw the Louvre. It is almost frustrating to have the most extensive collection of art and artifacts of Western civilization in one spot because it is impossible to see it all. You get tired, and realize you haven't even gotten to Hammurabi's Code yet! The biggies (the Venus de Milo and Mona Lisa) were exciting, but so crowded that you didn't really want to stop and ponder the meaning behind her mysterious smile. Dan Brown solved that problem for us anyway... After the Louvre, we walked along the river to Notre Dame. It was big and beautiful, but honestly just another cathedral. The Latin District around Notre Dame is very fun; we did some shopping there and had our amazing dinner.

Day 3: On this day, we took the opportunity to go to Versailles to see the Palace and surrounding gardens/chateau. The palace was bigger than the Royal Palace in Madrid, although it featured the same fancy, baroque style. There was a rather cool exhibit going on at the palace. Each room housed a modern art piece created by French artist Dean Koonz. They included giant, metal twisted balloons, cartoon boquets of flowers, and blow-up floatation devices. At first, I thought it was tacky, but after a while it became kind of exciting to see which odd-ball piece would be in the next historical room. We wandered the extensive grounds a little, and flew through Marie Antoinette's chateau. I would have liked to spend more time here, but after so much walking we were pretty tired. I guess I'll have to go back!

This morning (17th), Mike and I woke up bright and early to travel to the airport together to catch our respective flights: him to Portland and me to Norwich. I am sad to lose the companionship because it has felt like having a little bit of home with me. I am also sad to end our travels, but at the same time it will be nice to not move around so much. Saying goodbye in the airport was the equivalent to being operated on without anasthesia, but you know what they say: We'll always have Paris...

The rest of the day was quite the roller coaster. My flight from Paris to London was late (as flights often are), which stressed me out since I only had 1 hour to catch the shuttle to Norwich. If I missed it, I would have had to go into London and find a bus or train... I did not want to do this. After literally the shortest flight of my life, I sped through immigration, and went to baggage claim. My bag was put on the wrong conveyor belt, which took a little figuring out, and pushed me back even later. Then I had to take an UNBEARABLY SLOW train from my terminal to the terminal the shuttle would meet. It was SUPER slow, and even had to stop for a random security check. I was going nuts... After I got off, I booked it with my heavy backpacks and caught the UEA folks just as they were leaving to go to the shuttle. It was too close for comfort.

I am now checked in to my new room at UEA. It feels like being back in the dorms for the second time around, and has that exciting "beginning-of-school" feel. I am now faced with the task of making all new friends AGAIN, which is kind of daunting, but I know it will be better once I do. It is crazy to think that fall is suddenly here, but the FRIGID weather outside confirms it. Now I have twelve weeks of school, and England to see!

Paris in Style

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Beyer) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 09:16:00 +0000

Strasbourg was a rainy, miserable place. I realize that this is a harsh judgment, but after walking around in a steady, annoying drizzle that soaked through my clothes, the "Petite France" streets and German houses did not seem so charming. I also had a really bad experience with some food. I suppose it was my fault when I decided to order pickled herring for a lunch, and was greeted with a plate of something that only looked suitable as salmon bait. I couldn't eat it, and felt nauseated for the rest of the day. Also, our hostel in Strasbourg was a curious place. It was the biggest and most "hotel-y" hostel we have stayed at so far, but it was absolutely swarming with children! Apparently, they had some sort of deal for children in groups or something. It was a fine place, as the ONLY hostel in Strasbourg, but there were no other backpackers. Only children. There were no signs of the weather letting up so headed to the train station and hopped the next train to Paris.

After watching about four episodes of Seinfeld on Mike's iphone, we arrived and took the metro to our HOTEL. I should probably mention that I am writing this blog from a king-sized feather bed surrounded by down pillows in a classy, four-star Marriott Hotel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How has this happened, you may ask... I will tell you. So we sat on the floor of previous child-ridden hostel for about an hour searching online with the crappy internet connection for a suitable hostel. Either everything was booked, way out of our price range, or had reviews that said "Do Not Stay Here. This is the dirtiest most disguisting place I have ever been." We were quite discouraged by this. On a whim, Mike decided to check for Marriott hotels with his employee discount card, and found us an amazing room in the super classy Marriott. It feels quite strange to go from backpacker's hostels with bunkbeds and kitchens to a four-star hotel with room service and down pillows, but who's complaining? I have seriously loved our hostels, but it's a nice change of environment. And the best part is... we are actually spending the same amount for this hundreds of dollars room as we would for the crappier hostels. I am pretty ecstatic about it. The kind lady at the reception put us on the 12th floor, with a view of Notre Dame!

So we have three full days in Paris, and good sleep ahead of us!