What up, Stonehenge?

Hi hi ... I'm back. No, I haven't dropped off the face of the planet. Sleeping is just such an addiction in the U.K. I keep pretending I haven't gotten over jet lag, but mostly, I just have such a light class load that sleeping till noon has become a pretty common occurrence! I'm hoping to drop this habit, however, because there's a lot of London I still want to see and I'm going to need to make the most of my days here!

Yesterday was our day trip to Stonehenge/Bath. And it was fantastic. But before I get into that, here's a bit of what you've missed from my last post to this one. 

Tyler secured his internship at the SoHo Theatre!! Super excited for him, especially since we stalked Mark Ravenhill (the author of the show we produced this summer?!) in the theatre when we went there to check it out. Pretty legitimate. This is Ty all dressed up for his interview. 

I'd hire him!

 Also, here's the illegal photo I snapped of the Criterion Theatre where we saw 39 Steps  ... a hilarious show, only 4 actors in the company, and definitely a fun evening out!

Pink interior ... always a good idea.

Karyl, Chanea, and I at the pub after Romeo and Juliet

  We also saw Romeo and Juliet at the Lion and the Unicorn Theatre, which had an adjoining pub, conveniently enough! The show was sub-standard ... it was part of a fringe festival (low-budget theatre with companies or groups of actors), and also an all-female cast interestingly enough. I appreciated it for what it was, although I'm more excited about the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of R&J we get to see later on while we're here. 

Aaaand thus begins our journey! We got up painfully early to hop on the coach bus and take off for the 2 hour journey to Stonehenge and the additional hour to Bath. Tyler felt sick most of the way there, so I alternated between helping, trying not to fall back asleep, and angsting at the tour guide CAPA hired to chaperone, since he insisted on chat chat chatting about London fairly loudly at 7:30 in the morning. Fail. 

We arrived at Stonehenge, and my first glimpse proved that it was about the size I anticipated. No bigger or smaller, and there were lots of sheep. I didn't expect the sheep. They obviously weren't frolicking around Stonehenge itself, but in the plains surrounding it. 

It was verrrrry collllld.

Our nifty audio tours, hayyyy!

Our Stonehenge Sorority Shot

Southwestern @ Stonehenge

Sooo, that was Stonehenge. It was very pretty and very intriguing ... the audio tour was very informative and filled us in on the history and possible theories that brought it there. Aliens is, of course, one of the main theories. However, my favorite theory was the Healing Powers theory that believes that if someone with ailments or diseases bathes in the center of the ring of stones, they will be healed of their ailments. Giving that Stonehenge is such a revered and sacred site, regardless of its origin, I liked that theory the best. 

After Stonehenge, we hopped back on the bus and journeyed another hour to the city of Bath. It. Was. Gorgeous. Our first sight was the Abbey of Bath, which I couldn't stop taking pictures of! It was amazing ... and of course the main Roman Bath House where the ancient people would gather to bath and access the natural hot spring that we got to see when we took our tour. Most of the main house has been preserved, so it was a really neat site. We got an hour at the beginning to take off by ourselves and get lunch, sight-see, and shop (there were sooo many stores!) before the main walking tour as a group. I kept trying to celebrity spot, as Bath is a very popular location for celebrities. Jane Seymour owns a house there and Johnny Depp is a frequent visitor! Tyler found a Robert Pattinson's look-a-like, Jasper from Twilight's look-a-like, and I found another of Stanley Tucci. We definitely found ways to amuse ourselves before taking off on the walking tour of Bath and then, finally - the main attraction! - The Roman Bath House. 

Classin' it up in Bath.

Hmm, Disney in Bath?

These lions were all over Bath - a fundraiser, and very amusing

The Scrabble Lion! I thought the King family would appreciate this one...

Jane Austen lived here while she was writing Northanger Abbey!

The Royal Crescent

Finally, we got to venture into the Roman Bath House, where we received more little devices that looked like cellular phones from the 80s that we punched numbers into to hear the history of the Roman Baths. It was brilliant -- the baths were a great sight and all of the history was very interesting. We had fun venturing in and out of the exhibits and "chatting and texting" on our "phones".

My favorite picture of the Bath and the Abbey in the background

Me at the Baths!

Tyler at the Baths!

After our jaunt at Bath, we headed home on the looong 3 hour drive, but got to see the beautiful English countryside simultaneously. I mostly read and Tyler slept along with the rest of the bus. Some of our friends started a game of "Count the English Cows" but gave up around the 400s or so. 

Chanea and Ian counting cows

 Tyler and I were starving after our day's journey and took off on a massive hunt for pizza in Kensington. Our hunt was not successful, however, and we headed home to make spaghetti. Which, actually, turned out to be quite a success in and of itself. 

Our Successful Spaghetti

That's all for now. I have classes all this week and a tentative Shakespeare performance of either The Tempest or Comedy of Errors at the Globe! I'll keep ya updated :)

First Days in London

Hello, hello -- 

It's raining right now. I feel so very amalgamated with London's culture. :)

Here's where I'm living ... staying true to the European custom of living in tight quarters, I'm learning to organize to make the best use of the space. It's .... cozy to say the least!

My room! I'm the top bunk

Look at this killer organization!!

To catch you all up a bit on what I've done since my arrival,Tyler and I did a bit of exploring on our own and ended up at Piccadilly Circus (I won't get tired of saying Piccadilly, I don't think...) and lo and behold, Big Ben! And the London Eye! And a person to take our picture!

The Eye!

So at home here... and so color-coordinated.

After our independent wanderings, we visited a pub near our hotel for that evening for a few drinks with our friends before crashing for the evening. 


We had a continental hotel breakfast that morning before a blistering orientation (only because of the jet lag ... it was important information, but I was nodding off the entire time!). After orientation, we loaded our disgusting amount of bags into the tour bus and took off for our 4 hour tour of London! Sounds like forever, but it was over before I knew it ... our guide knew his stuff and kept us entertained with his quirky narration of important London features. We saw the modern side of London, Fleet Street, West End (theatre district!!), Big Ben and Little Ben (did you know there was a Baby Ben? I didn't! He was so cute...), The Tower of London, London Bridge (isn't falling down, I'm happy to report), Westminster Abbey, and more! It was an eventful tour, lemme tell you. 

See, Mom? I'm not the only overpacker on this trip!

Tyler and I in front of London Bridge!

Oh-so-mod building

St. Paul's Cathedral!

Tyler and I made our first meal last night in the Flats, pasta with tomato/herb sauce and seasoned chicken! It was a huge success. We also purchased International phones ... mine's the super spiffy British flag one!

Today was the first day of school ... so Chanea (my roommate) and I got all dolled up and made sure to leave early! It's about a 10 minute walk from our flats to the CAPA building where we take classes. The weather was gorgeous and our first class (Shakespeare!) was short ... it was a lovely way to start my junior year :)

Roomiezzz

And after school, Ty and I visited Sainsbury's which is the British version of HEB/Walmart ... we purchased some essentials (paper towels, shampoo, alcohol, etc) and ate lunch on the steps of our house!

That's all for now ... we just found out that we'll be attending 39 Steps at the Criterion Theatre tomorrow night for our Theatre class and Romeo and Juliet on Wednesday as part of Shakespeare. Needless to say, I'm stoked. See ya!

Sleeping is cool

The good news ... I'm in London! And it's fab! The first thing I noticed upon springing myself from the airport, bags in tow, was that the weather was terrific. Breezy and chilly. Yesssss.

The bad news ... I have been awake for far too long. I didn't sleep at all on the 10 hour flight (sleeping on planes is not a gift I possess) and then arrived here and was instructed not to sleep. Homegirl say what?? Well, I did get it. I mean, if I got here and crashed my entire sleep schedule would be effed up. Ergo, I toughed it out. Which meeeeans I have now been awake for around 40 hours. Wow. I deserve something for that.

The good news ... the movie selection on the plane was legitimate. And I pretty much love movies, so I kept myself entertained with Forgetting Sarah Marshall, 10 minutes of The Back Up Plan (until I turned it off ... don't waste your time), Iron Man 2, Bride Wars, and The Hangover. 

The bad news ... plane food. Enough said. 

The good news ... I'm snug and sound in the albeit cozy (aka teeensy) hotel room, typing up my update and getting ready to SLEEP finally!

The bad news ... I ran out of bad news ... so I guess I'll go back to good news!

After arriving and toting our bags to the hotel, we were given instructions on the rest of our week and our Oyster Card (silly name, yet really convenient) which is the card that gets us on the Tube (the London Underground system, think subway in NY but more quaint and with a British announcer telling you to "Mind the gap") all semester. Tyler and I along with some of our SU homies began to explore Piccadilly Circus and all of the street entertainment and fun sights to see! The line for the London Eye was too long, but I'll definitely be back for that one later in the semester. 

So, basically, I'm safe and alive and enjoying London thus far. Goodnight! 

Off to London! Toodle-pip!

I LEAVE FOR LONDON TODAY. W83FKESFIUFCNEIWJ!!

Aka I'm unbelievably excited! I thought this day would, oh, I dunno, never get here. I believe I'm all packed ... which is a feat considering the efficient-sometimes-mistaken-for-over-packer that I am! I'm about to go weigh my bags (please be under 50 lbs!) before heading off for a bite with Tyler's folks and then hitting up the Houston International Airport! Holla.

Be thinking happy thoughts for me as I suffer zee 10 hours confined to a small space and unrecognizable airplane food. Oye!

Oh, also ... here is my address in London. Feel free to send me letters/packages/kisses/the works:

Kristi Brawner

C/O CAPA International Education

146 Cromwell Road

London

SW7 4EF

United Kingdom

Miss you/love you, people reading this! Update you from London soon :)

Canada Part Deux

Ok, I'm back with the second part of Canadian travels. I figured I ought to go ahead and finish off Canada because I leave for London in 2 DAYS! 

Where to start? I will never know ... For those of you paying attention, that's Wilno! The 1st Polish settlement in Canada ... a pretty adorable town, I'm not going to lie. We went to the Wilno tavern one of our first nights in the Valley and it was DELICIOUS. I know your first thought toward Polish food is probably sauerkraut and sausage, which is appropriate, but if you weren't including cabbage rolls or pierogis, you're missing out. The tavern was adorable and the food was outstanding, but the real treat was the live music! Especially the really impressive girl on the accordion ...

Not to sound like all I did on my trip was eat, but another fantastic meal in Canada were the chips. Due to their European influence, fries are commonly called chips (see? I'm so ready for London) and we would visit the "chip trucks" for lunch! These fries aren't even in the same zip code as McDonalds ... brown, fresh-cut, steamy, and covered in vinegar and seasoning salt. Sooooo goood.

Told you so.

 We also participated in a lot of water sports at the cottage ... aka Kristi trying to water ski. Tyler didn't really have an issue getting up and staying up his first, second, or eighteenth try. Neither did Victoria, which was just plain annoying. Eventually, although I do not have photographic proof, due to my lightning fast ski reflexes, I did get up for 3 or 4 seconds. Holla!

Yah yah yah, whatever.

Vic, also being successful.

One of my many graceful failed attempts.

I took pride in that at least I looked really good whilst crashing and burning. 

One of the other fun things we got to do was the Poker Derby. Since we were on the edge of Golden Lake, all of the people who own cottages along the water participate in various events and contests sponsored by various organizations and we just happened to be there for this one! The game went like this: you take your boat from dock to dock, labeled with different numbers, and picked up a playing card at each one. At the end of your boating, whoever ended up with the best poker hand wins! Well, I didn't feel that I was doing really fantastic, I had a loooot of 7's, 8's, and 9's. I don't know much about poker, but I don't feel like that's that impressive. 

However, at the last dock, I pick up my 4th 9 ... leaving me with 4-of-a-kind in 9's! That's legit, huh? Long story short, I won 5th place and got my picture in the paper and everything. I won a gift certificate and took the family out for brunch the following Sunday. It was a success!

Strategizing our route

Me with all the winners! Yay!

One of my favorite things about Canada was watching the sun go down every night and enjoying the nighttime show. I couldn't stop taking sunset pictures. I was addicted!

More water sports news ... tubing was fun! But hurt. I don't know if it was the combination of the boat jolting the tube around behind, or the speed at which the tube was traveling that caused the constant and very painful bumping and slapping your hindquarters against the very thin fabric between you and the water ... but it was an experience. 

Ow. Ow. Ow.

Happy to be safely floating about again.

SMORES! How could I leave out smores ... we made a big bonfire one night and roasted smores, watched the fireworks (they like fireworks in Canada, and not just on July 4), and enjoyed ourselves. I also took one of my favorite photos of the trip:

Vic likes smores.

So do I!

 Another exciting thing we got to do was visit Algonquin Park and see it from 2 angles! We took a trail to look over the cliffs of the canal and see it from up high ... and also, canoe it from down below!

That was the view from up high ... and now, the canoe view!

I

It was an amazing trip, and the 8 miles of canoeing plus portaging were definitely worth it!

Well, that's about the highlights of my trip, obviously there were various other exciting things that happened, but that would be a long ass blog entry ... ergo, I will say g'bye and leave you with some parting photos. Cheers!

Another one of my favorite photos of the trip.

Classy bro/sis

It rained the whole time we were fishing!

I was sad to let Tim Horton's out of my life.

Last Canadian sunset!