Week 5
Wow...I can't believe I've been here for over a month! I really need to get more organized and actually START sightseeing in London hehe.
Well, Wales this weekend was a bust. If you can't say anything nice, you shouldn't say anything at all, so I'll refrain from saying what I truly think about the tour company. After they failed to send me the itinerary on multiple occassions, I went to pick it up myself Friday night. When I arrived for check in at 7:45 Saturday morning, no one was there. I found out at 8 that the trip had been cancelled a week earlier...which doesn't make sense since I booked the trip 2 days beforehand and picked up the itinerary the night before. Oh well.
Instead of sitting around being bummed, I had an exciting weekend in London. 2 of my roommates (Maura & Meg) and I went to a 3D Imax screening of Wild Safari 3D: A South African Adventure. Click here to read about it. I really enjoyed it. I'm such a sucker for documentaries, especially when they are 3D. There are definitely a few more I'd love to go see. After watching the documentary, we randomly began discussing musicals, particularly Wicked. Maura had seen it twice before on Broadway, but Meg & I had yet to see it. The three of us decided to try and get tickets for that night. We went to the theatre (as we've discovered the half-price ticket booths in Leicester Square aren't nearly as good of a deal as the student discount at the theatre) and to our amazement, an afternoon show was beginning in 30 min. We definitely got tickets for 25 pounds in the SECOND ROW. Yup, we're awesome like that. The musical was really good...definitely the best one I've seen here so far. If you haven't seen Wicked, I suggest you go...it's in Chicago right now. The only downside was that the more famous actors weren't there as they were performing in the show that evening. Adam Garcia (the Australian guy in Coyote Ugly) and Miriam Margolyes (Prof. Sprout in the Harry Potter movies) are usually in it.
Sunday I began to not feel so well, so I basically took it easy and read all day. That night of course was the Super Bowl. It started at 11:30 pm here. The three Chicago girls definitely stayed up for the entire game. It was a disappointing loss, but there's always next year (or another 21 years).
This week has been pretty busy as I have a ton of work to take care of. Yesterday in Media we watched a film on Haagen Dazs ice cream. It became extremely popular in the UK because it was advertised as a luxury product for adults, as opposed to a treat for children in the summer like other ice cream. One of its strongest advantages was that it was American. During World War 2 ice cream was banned in the UK due to rationing. In order to continue making ice cream, as well as chocolate, British manufacturers were forced to use vegetable oil instead of dairy products. After the war the ban was lifted, yet these companies continued to use vegetable oil. To this very day, cream is not actually used in British ice cream (at least according to my prof.), which is why Haagen Dazs is incredibly popular. At one point these companies were actually taken to the European Courts because other companies wanted to make it illegal for them to call their products "ice cream" and "milk chocolate". The British companies (Walls and Cadbury to name a few) had such good lawyers, however, that they won their case.
Inspeaking of Cadbury, in England they don't just have Cadbury eggs during Easter...they're here all year round. They also have a MILLION other products. Well, maybe not that many, but a lot, and they're all amazing. One of these days I need to make a post dedicated to all of the junk food I eat here. I don't know what I'm going to eat when I get home.
I haven't been feeling all that well today. My right eye has been hurting a bit and my throat is really sore. Hopefully this will all go away soon as I have an 8 page essay due Thursday. I spent the morning at the library today and managed to churn out a 1200 word essay with an hour and a half to spare before class :)
Hopefully I can get all of my work done before March so that I can actually get out and do stuff as these blog entries will probably not be too exciting until then.
In speaking of work, I should begin researching ethnicity groups in London for my essay. Have a great Tuesday!
Well, Wales this weekend was a bust. If you can't say anything nice, you shouldn't say anything at all, so I'll refrain from saying what I truly think about the tour company. After they failed to send me the itinerary on multiple occassions, I went to pick it up myself Friday night. When I arrived for check in at 7:45 Saturday morning, no one was there. I found out at 8 that the trip had been cancelled a week earlier...which doesn't make sense since I booked the trip 2 days beforehand and picked up the itinerary the night before. Oh well.
Instead of sitting around being bummed, I had an exciting weekend in London. 2 of my roommates (Maura & Meg) and I went to a 3D Imax screening of Wild Safari 3D: A South African Adventure. Click here to read about it. I really enjoyed it. I'm such a sucker for documentaries, especially when they are 3D. There are definitely a few more I'd love to go see. After watching the documentary, we randomly began discussing musicals, particularly Wicked. Maura had seen it twice before on Broadway, but Meg & I had yet to see it. The three of us decided to try and get tickets for that night. We went to the theatre (as we've discovered the half-price ticket booths in Leicester Square aren't nearly as good of a deal as the student discount at the theatre) and to our amazement, an afternoon show was beginning in 30 min. We definitely got tickets for 25 pounds in the SECOND ROW. Yup, we're awesome like that. The musical was really good...definitely the best one I've seen here so far. If you haven't seen Wicked, I suggest you go...it's in Chicago right now. The only downside was that the more famous actors weren't there as they were performing in the show that evening. Adam Garcia (the Australian guy in Coyote Ugly) and Miriam Margolyes (Prof. Sprout in the Harry Potter movies) are usually in it.
Sunday I began to not feel so well, so I basically took it easy and read all day. That night of course was the Super Bowl. It started at 11:30 pm here. The three Chicago girls definitely stayed up for the entire game. It was a disappointing loss, but there's always next year (or another 21 years).
This week has been pretty busy as I have a ton of work to take care of. Yesterday in Media we watched a film on Haagen Dazs ice cream. It became extremely popular in the UK because it was advertised as a luxury product for adults, as opposed to a treat for children in the summer like other ice cream. One of its strongest advantages was that it was American. During World War 2 ice cream was banned in the UK due to rationing. In order to continue making ice cream, as well as chocolate, British manufacturers were forced to use vegetable oil instead of dairy products. After the war the ban was lifted, yet these companies continued to use vegetable oil. To this very day, cream is not actually used in British ice cream (at least according to my prof.), which is why Haagen Dazs is incredibly popular. At one point these companies were actually taken to the European Courts because other companies wanted to make it illegal for them to call their products "ice cream" and "milk chocolate". The British companies (Walls and Cadbury to name a few) had such good lawyers, however, that they won their case.
Inspeaking of Cadbury, in England they don't just have Cadbury eggs during Easter...they're here all year round. They also have a MILLION other products. Well, maybe not that many, but a lot, and they're all amazing. One of these days I need to make a post dedicated to all of the junk food I eat here. I don't know what I'm going to eat when I get home.
I haven't been feeling all that well today. My right eye has been hurting a bit and my throat is really sore. Hopefully this will all go away soon as I have an 8 page essay due Thursday. I spent the morning at the library today and managed to churn out a 1200 word essay with an hour and a half to spare before class :)
Hopefully I can get all of my work done before March so that I can actually get out and do stuff as these blog entries will probably not be too exciting until then.
In speaking of work, I should begin researching ethnicity groups in London for my essay. Have a great Tuesday!
posted by Jen at 11:40 AM
1 Comments:
I am now wondering exactly how much Cadbury I can bring back in my suitcase when I leave the U.K. ? Sorry, Jen....I may not have room for your stuff ! :)
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