Germany number 2!

Hey, so its going good. Im here hanging out in Germany still....but only one more week till Im home in my own bed! (woo-hoo!).
So X-mas was good. Kinda different. We opened gifts on X-mas eve in stead of X-mas day, and then we did a few other different things, but all in all it was really neat. X-mas eve we went to the Childrens Pagent at the neighboorhood church and then we came home, but went next door for coffee and cake at Peppi and Kalle´s. Then we went back over to Tante Maria and Onkel Georgs for dinner, which was the long German hot dogs and some special white worsts from Munich, and then we also had katuffle salat (potato salad...lol...ha ha, for all of you who think I spell horrible in English, check out that Deutch....its worse!). Then (smile) after we opened some gifts in the stubbor (living room) we went back next door! lol...crazy, huh? And then we had more gifts and drinks. Then back to my aunt and uncles house to meet other people who came. We had a suprise visit from Dagmar, Jurgen and Anna from Berlin, so that was a nice suprise (I guess they decided at 5pm they were going to come and then got in the car and arrived 3.5 hours later).

The next day we took a walk along the dyke with Dagmar and Jurgen and it was so freezing. Even though there was no snow on the ground, the wind of the water was increadibly icey.
Anyway, since then there has been a lot of eating here and there and the other place, and then there is coffee and cakes here and there and the other place...but its all great.

Yesterday I got to tour the one of the fish factories. That was really cool, never in my life have I seen so many different kinds of fish...different colors, different sizes, in different states (live crabs and crawdads to packaged bits and pieces). It was really great.

On a random note, my aunt has tea thats called "Heisse Liebe", which means "hott love"...how funny is that? Since she justs keeps talking to me in Germans (shes always done this), I decided a while ago that I was just going to talk to her in English...and sometimes, like them, I mix the two together...lol...my aunts thing to say is "Kliene peeoples" which means small peoples (but they dont say "people" here and it always sounds hilarious). My uncles thing, among many, is the "car-bahn"...similar to the "auto-bahn", but American-ized...lol. He has also taught me "Drinks of Korn comes in form"....yeah, lol...I dont know exactly what that one means, but when we were around the table last night and I quoted him, everyone started cracking up...it was great.

Well, thats really all I have to say right now (smile) there are a bunch of other things that I want to make note of, but I can never think of them when Im in front of the computer. I love you all!

<><,
maike rinaye

A German Christmas

Hello from Germany, for all those of you who are still reading my blog, or perhaps, now that you have nothing to do, you are catching up on all of it. Whatever the case is...I assume that you are reading it because you are interested in what I am up to (smile). I want to start this blog out with saying that I have little control over the spelling errors here (shrug), since were in Germany I have no idea how to work the Microsoft word, and even if I did, it would correct it in German and so it would be no use for me. So my appoligies before hand. Also...since the keyboard is all different, I wanted to make it clear that I have no idea where some of the symbols are (like the apostrophe), therefor I can not use them...so sorry for that too.

Now, to start off. Although increadibly stressful, the last week has turned out okay after all. Mom arrived in London on Tuesday the 14th, the same day that Whitney left London (we hung out all together for an hour I think between the two flights). Mom and I had a really nice evening, and then we had to change accomidations for the next night and that was really stressful. Mom brought heavy gifts which would be perfectly fine if we were not going to do little travels with it and stay in hostels and stuff like that...but since that was our plans... (shrug) it ended up being somewhat of a nightmare. The big bag weighed like, 60lbs and we had to carry it up stairs and then down stairs (like 4 flights of stairs!), and...yeah (sigh) it was aweful. So when we got to Dusseldorf, Germany and I was still sick (with a cough), we decided that going to Munich was not a good idea and ended up simply getting on the train to my Tante Maria and Onkel Georges two days early. But it was much better this way.

The night we got here it snowed huge snowflakes and made everything absolutely beautiful. There are not as many lights on the houses here. A few people here and there have decorated a bit with the electric candles in the windows or what have you, but for the most part there isnt a lot of decorating going on. The Christmas trees inside my Aunt and Uncles house does not go up until the day before X-mas, from what I understand. So we will get to help put it up and decorate it (smile), I havent done that for a few years, it will be nice.

Anyway, we have done a little bit of shopping and went to a choir concert at the church and we have had tea and coffee everyday in the afternoon. It is great. Tonight we will go to my other Aunt and Uncles house for a Birthday dinner. Tomorow I have plans of going with a few friends here, Sandra and Melanie, to a disco to dance it up. Hopefully I will be feeling good.

Oh, another thing I wanted to mention. I can now say that I have drank before 12. I was shocked too, but the neighbor came over (MaryAnne) and came into our room, where I was still attempting to fix my hair after my shower, and said to me "Maike, mercter ein snapps? Liquour?", and I was like "now?", and my mother from the kitchen yelled, "yeah, they want to drink it now" I laughed and said, "okay, why not". That was at like, 10:45 or 11ish. Lol.

Anyway (smile), I am having a good time here. A little bored at times, but really keeping myself occupied most of the time. I hope that you are all having a great holiday and have a really blessed Christmas. If you have time to write me a note that would be wonderful, if not thats okay too (grin).

LOVE<><,
maike rinaye

ps: what is up with the Drury e-mail? Does anyone know? I have been trying to get into it for the last few day with no success. Is it my computer or are they working on it? Oh well...figures, right?

Regent College Overview

As a final piece from Regents College in London I simply want to express some of the Regent’s life benefits and drawbacks.

Benefits:
*you’re in freakin’ London!
*the cheapest flights all go through London, so you can go almost anywhere.
*it’s a great cultural experience.
*you can plan your schedule so that you only have class 3 days a week.
*you can take classes that require field trips all over London.
*you can take a class AT the National Art Gallery.
*William [aka: “GlitterBoy”] works at the desk in the lobby and is GREAT!
*school-wise there isn’t that much work.
*school food, although you’re tired of it by the end of the semester, isn’t really all that bad.
*London is huge and has so much going on in the city.
*theatre life here is great! [we could absolutely go see a different show every night for a month and still not see them all].
*unless there was a huge party in the pub the previous night, the bathrooms are usually cleanJ.
*Regent’s is engulfed by the Queens gardens and the lovely park.
*you get to meet and befriend a lot of other people from the states.
*there are students from both the US and the rest of the world.


Drawbacks:
*everything is expensive [very important part you should know before planning a trip here].
*at Regents, your bedroom walls are yellow.
*your bedroom carpet is green and about as thick as a thin piece of cardboard.
*stupid people get drunk all the time and then don’t always make it to the restroom to vomit [gross me out!].
*school-wise, the teachers, even though they are teaching at the “British AMERICAN College of London,” will grade and test very different from teachers in the USA.
*RBS students think you are not as important or smart as they are [Regents Business School]…jerks.
*you’re 200 million billion miles away from everything that you know [ie: USA].
*with some effort, folks can get their hands on numerous different things to smoke.
*there are students from both the US and the rich rest of the world.

And that’s all I have to say for right now [smile]. I’m sick. If you guys could pray for me that would be wonderful. We’re going to be moving our stuff from Regents to the hotel on Sunday and then Mom will be here on Tuesday and we’re off to Germany on Thursday. The computer lab is closing so I should go.

LOVE<><,
*maike rinaye*

Barcelona!

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Barcelona! Yeah for Spain and TWO new pairs of shoes!!! Woo Hoo! So Barcelona was the best way to end the semester. I was a bit worried about going the weekend before finals, but there was nothing to worry about [smile].

I should add in here, however, that Rika and Whit got to see the Queen on Wednesday [I was making a presentation on the set design of Simply Heavenly at that time]. And then that afternoon Rika and I went to see the Raphael exhibit at the National Gallery. We had planned to see Woman in Black with Robi and Andrew that night, but Rika ended up getting sick and not feeling up to going. So Robi, Andrew and I went and were all three scared, totally freaky! So Thursday I took Rika with my extra suitcase to the train station to depart for the airport, and then came back to Regents to pack for Spain.

Whitney, Andrew and I ventured off for our 2 hour plane ride on Thursday afternoon and arrived in Barcelona on Thursday night. Since I had gotten up early to take Rika to the airport with one of my gigantic suitcases, I decided that I was to tired to venture off on Thursday night, so I stayed in the hostel and updated my journal and then fell asleep early.

Friday we woke up, and after showering and getting some breakfast, we started walking towards Gaudi’s cathedral “La Segrada Familia” [the sacred family]. On the way we found the triumphant arch, which was really cool [click on the underlined for the picture].

And then we did some shopping before we found the cathedral, which, after 100 years of work, is still in the process of being built! Crazy, huh?! But it was absolutely fabulous. It’s all designed in a very naturalistic way, he uses frogs and snails and that sort of stuff in detailing it, and the columns are based on the trunks of trees. The entrance was fabulous.

Anyway, it was really incredible! We liked it so much that when we were done we went on search of another house which he re-designed; also wonderful [can’t find any pictures ‘cause I can’t remember what it’s called]. Then we went shopping for a bit [I bought my first pair of KangaRoo’s] and to dinner on the Mediterranean at a tapas bar [not to be confused, as Andrew was, with a "tap ass" bar (lol)]; the food was so so great. Then we followed dinner with Belgian waffles [yum], and cuban cigars [smile]!

Saturday we started out going to the Picasso museum…pretty neat, but I have to say, he’s not one of my favourite artists. But anyway, we went and that was cool. Then we got baguettes for lunch. We wandered around some more and found a bunch of little outdoor markets, which we meandered through. Then we walked along the Mediterranean coast and talked and just enjoyed. We ended the day with dinner once again on the coast at a different tapas bar [not as great, but this time they had really wonderful wine], and more Belgian waffles with Dulce de Leche topping. Then we turned in early since it was raining outside and there was really nothing else that we wanted to see [and we were pretty worn out]. So we hop into bed only to be woken up at 4am by the bunch of loud obnoxious Spaniard boys who at first were talking in mixed Spanish and English talking about whether or not to turn the lights on….[shakes head]…and then they wouldn’t shut up for the next two hours. Drove me absolutely nuts, and I “shushed” them a few times. I couldn’t believe how loud they were…absolutely ridiculous.

Sunday we got up early and headed back to London [even though our plane was 30 min. late taking off]. We were really tired, needless to say, since the Spaniards kept us up late. But the trip in its entirety was really excellent. I thank the Lord that the Spaniard boys weren’t there the first two nights, and that we didn’t have but only a few instances where we worried about who we’d find in what attire or lack there of in the bathroom. Definitely Spain is a place I plan to travel more of in the future. It was so beautiful.

And that is the last of my European travels….at least during this semester. From here on out, I will be travelling Germany with Mom [smile], which, although stressful at the moment, I’m sure will end up being fantastic. I will attempt to keep the blog updated, but who knows what chances I will have to get to a computer [shrug].

I really have had a fantastic semester. But I am also ready for all the things that I am use to….my car, my phone, my school, my friends, my family, Wal-Mart and McDonalds [smile]. One more month!

<><,
*maike rinaye*

Dublin, Rika and Lori

So adventure, adventure, adventure…never seems to stop. Rika arrived on Wed. at 10:30 in the morning…Whit gets the call from her at the airport at 10:45am saying that she’s sick and she can’t get there to Regents by herself…so we go off to rescue her [thank goodness Whit is with me!]. By 12:30 we’re off the train and in the airport trying to locate Rika [who we’d forgotten to ask where she was going to be waiting for us]. So we run all over the south terminal then go back to the north terminal in Gatwick, then back and forth again looking. Then we finally ask the lady at the information desk who says that they can page her in both terminals to find her. So they do…and then again. With no luck we venture down to the other terminal thinking maybe we’ll meet her on the way or something.

So at 2pm the phone starts ringing and guess who it is?….not Rika! It’s the paramedics at the hospital with her… they are really great and calmly explain she’s “at hospital.” So Whit and I take a cab to the hospital to find her. 3 hours later we’re on our way to Regents after Rika has “had bloods taken”, and a urine test we find out that she was nervous and has a urine infection.
But we arrive safely home and I go out to look for Jack Vettriano who is apparently doing a book signing to publicize a new book about his work. But I go to the place he’s supposed to be and of coarse, they have no idea what I’m talking about and tell me that he came a few weeks ago to a different store…whatever.

So Wed. night we put Rika to bed and Lori arrives at 11:45pm. We hang out and talk and whatever for a while and then I try to sleep. Rika and I then wake up at 3am [yup, it’s true] to take a taxi, to catch the train, to take another bus, to get checked into the airport and then sit and wait for our plane to Dublin. It departs on time [wow, way to go Ryanair.com], which is 7am and we arrive at 8am completely exhausted [both of us fell asleep before the stewardesses had started their spiel about the flight safety].

So we get on the bus to take us towards our hostel [which is near the Guinness Storehouse]. But get this! On the way there our bus gets hit by a taxi! LOL…how funny is that! Anyway, when we finally check into our hostel we find out that we can’t get into the rooms until 2pm [our plan of taking a nap before adventuring comes to a halt!]. So we rest for a little bit and then go out. First we took a tour of a castle which I can not remember the name of [go figure, I had maybe 2 hours of sleep!]. It was really impressive. Then we went shopping and to the national art museum when it started to rain. Then we had a nap before going on a ghost tour which was filled with historical facts and pretty entertaining. That night we went to bed as soon as we got back from the ghost tour. At 5am on Friday morning however, I was woken up to a “crap! Maryanne are you okay?!” and I look up and see the top mattress of another bunk in the room had fallen down onto the bottom bed. There’s this girl pushing the mattress back up and then the girl in the bed leans up from underneath it. It was really funny…but of coarse I was shocked that it had actually happened.

On Friday we woke up and went into St. Patrick’s Cathedral which was absolutely fabulous! Then we picked up a Hard Rock Café shirt for Rika and some other touristy items, ate lunch and found our way to pick up our bags at the hostel and go to the Guinness Storehouse, which we did not tour, but did look a bit in the gift shop [there wasn’t enough time to do the tour before we had to leave for our flight].

Okay, get this: while waiting for our bus to the airport we hear a group of 4 Irish guys talking and one of them busts out with: “Sure as a one legged dog swims in circles!”
I think that it’s the funniest thing that I have heard here ever! It was absolutely hilarious! So at 6pm we flew back home to London, where we ended up eating Pizza for dinner.

Saturday we went out for changing of the guards, which was awesome. While on the way there we met an older British guy who told us a lot of information about the queen and which building she lives in and stuff like that. He also told us that the Queen is meeting with someone from South Korea on Wed. morning and there is going to be a grand procession to Buck House [the Brit’s word for Buckingham Palace]. So Whit and Rika are going to go do that and take some pictures for me while I am enduring the pains of giving a presentation in Theatre class.
After Buck House, we went to the Marble Arch where we met Alicia and her sister Whitney for lunch. Then we shopped on Oxford Street for a while. Then on Saturday night we went to see Bridget Jones Diary 2, which was so cool!

On Sunday Whit and I did a quick tour of the city on bus with Rika, then we met Lori, Alicia and Whitney at the Tower of London. After some lunch we went together to Camden Market to shop. Then everyone except Whitney [sister], went to a choir service at St. Martin-in-the-Fields off Trafalgar Square. Then we came back to the college [Whit, Lori, Rika and I], and hung out in our room with Andrew and Robi listening to Christmas music. It was great.

Monday I went to class and Lori and Rika did a mix of things in the city. Then in the evening we went and saw the musical “Simply Heavenly”, which I thought was really good.
Tuesday Rika, Andrew and I went inside of Westminster Abby. Lori [and Alicia and sister] left, and we’re planning on going to see Trafalgar Square’s X-mas tree lighting.

And that’s about all for now [smile]. I can’t believe that this is the last week of classes! My semester in London is almost up! It’s absolutely unbelievable. Next week is finals and then I’m off to Germany with Mom [yeah!]. I love you all, and thank you for reading this. Apparently some people “don’t have time,” so for those of you that do read this, thanks. It makes me feel better that somebody cares enough to keep up with what I’m doing. Love to all and Happy Thanksgiving late!

<><,
*maike rinaye*

Oh library sweet library [rolls eyes]

So our library on campus is not as great as you would think it should be [considering the type of students that come here from all over (there was a prince here last semester)]. But no… the library here is really basically crap. But I do appreciate that I can at least find things in this library [not that there is a lot to find, but hey..]. On Thursday, Whit and I went out to make use of our extra time and attempt to be studious by finding a different library and simply getting books, sitting down, and researching. We didn’t even want to check the books out or anything. So we get there, a little place about a 25 min. walk from school, and walk in to find a room smaller than our library on campus. Okay, we think, this can’t be that bad, they have computers so we’ll just look up the list of books I need. So we attempt to do this and actually get some call numbers. Then we find the ‘art/architecture’ section and try to find these books. And we search, and we search….the call numbers are crap. I have no idea how they file these book, and the librarians that were there were mean looking so I wasn’t about to ask them. I found one book, which wasn’t even on my list but had the house I was looking for in it. So we ditched the library/studious idea and came home empty handed.

Then yesterday, we decide we’re going to the mother library: the British Library. We walk the 40 min. walk to this great building with a pretty cool sculpture in front. We walk in, already a bit confused, but go to the computers thinking this is a good place for us to start. HA! It’s just a big joke on us, I swear! No luck, so we decided that we’re going to enter the Humanities room. Oh wait, except that it says you have to have special admittance to get in! So we go down to information and ask what we need to get in there and study [once again, not to check out books! We just want to be in there and study!]. The woman then tells us we first need a list of books that we can not find at any other library and then [as if that isn’t enough], we have to have 2 forms of identification. Can you believe that? So their books are only for the elite smart people/researchers! Why don’t they put that in the title if that’s the case “The British Researchers Library” [shakes head]. I still can’t believe it. What a waist of books!
Anyway, I’m off to research on-line and write another paper [one down 3 to go!].

LOVE<><,
*maike rinaye*

Pony Trekking in Wales!

Wow [smile]. This past weekend was sooo cool [and even better because really neither Whit nor I had to plan or be prepared or worried about anything].

We started our trip on Friday and met here at Regents at 11am. Then we travelled as a group to the train station where we took a four hour train ride to Swansea, Wales. There we took a bus to the bed and breakfast that we stayed at for the weekend.
When we got there, it was so amazing, the house was huge, but so…personal. It was/is, by far, the best place that we have stayed so far. The rooms were great and had tv’s in them, and were decorated in a home-y way. We then ate a fabulous home-cooked meal and then some of us sat around and talked while drinking tea/coffee while others of us went to the game room to play charades. That night, being adventurous, half of us decided to walk to the nearby town to go to the pub [smile]. And by ‘nearby’ I mean a mile walk in the very dark woods [laugh]. It was really great. The boys scared us, we screamed, Kamani and I held on to each other for dear life, and then we got there and…well, did all the things you’re supposed to do in a pub [smile]. It was fabulous.

Saturday we got up and had another great home-cooked meal for breakfast and then got acquainted with our pony’s. My pony was named ‘Bottom’, apparently when he was a foal anyone that came up to him he would turn around and put his bum toward them. Everyone thought that he was going to kick, but it turned out that all he wanted to do was to say hi. The guides all said that my Bottom was handsome, and I agree, he was one hott pony [grin]. We brushed and saddled our pony’s [with English saddles], and then rode off [there were like 20 of us with the guides (3)]. We rode all over beautiful countryside and then stopped for lunch, where we left the pony’s to graze in a fenced in field. When we came back though, Bottom was covered with mud! Saddle and all was completely caked! It was so gross, apparently he enjoys rolling in the mud, but from that point on I called him the ‘dirty-good-looking-pony’. After lunch the tour girls led us along the shore…all I can say about this is wow! I took so many pictures, it was wonderful.
We got back to the house in the late afternoon and showered, cleaned up and then ate some more great home-cooked food. Then a bunch of us went into town to go clubbing, which turned out to be very different than we had imagined it. Everyone in Swansea [the town we took a bus to], was…well, wearing little to nothing [at least the chicks]. They had on the tiniest skirts I have ever seen! And then the tops…good grief, they might as well not wear any kind of top! It was crazy, but fun. And Kamani was seriously hit on by the Welsh guy [which was absolutely hilarious].

Sunday we all woke up incredibly sore, and only half of us went out trekking again. The smaller group was so much better though. We went out to where we could see water on three sides of us, and there was one point where we could see England land across the water. Then they pointed out caves and a castle and it was just really great. Even though we were incredibly sore, it was definitely worth going out. We came back to the house and packed up in the afternoon and then back to the train station to go home.

It was such a super weekend, Bottom was a wonerful pony, we had great weather [even though it was cold, at least it wasn't rainy], and we got to know a few more of our fellow students here at Regents. It was so worth every penny I paid for it. Well, I am off to write some papers. Hopefully I’ll get them all done before Rika, Lori and Alicia get here [smile]. I’m way excited about seeing you guys!

<><,
*maike rinaye*

Berlin!

So last weekend we went to Germany [sorry if this ends up being kind of jambled, I am in a computer room with loud people, not just one, but a bunch…and that makes it hard to focus].

Anyway, it was great [smile]. Whit and I flew out of London on Thursday afternoon and found our way to our great hostel. It was by far the cleanest and nicest. So then we go out in search of dinner and end up talking with a guy in German about George Bush [smile]…funny. We end the day watching The Matrix with two great Canadian guys that we met in the lobby.

On Friday our roommate Kamani flew out and met us in Berlin. My atm card didn’t work anywhere [I tried it on 4 different machines!]. We go on a three and a half hour walking tour around Berlin in the freezing cold. We were soooo cold! The tour was great and really really informative. He brought us into the very contemporary architecture area [it was super!], and of course he showed us part of the Berlin Wall, and we saw Checkpoint Charlie. He also took us to a square that has two churches and talked about how the one church is in the movie “Around the World in 50 Days” and Jackie Chan is running out of the building [in the movie it’s a bank].
After the tour we then got dinner at a Kebap place [which was excellent] and then walked up the Reichstag at night.

http://www.proasyl.de/serien/thierse/reichstag.jpg

Even though it was freezing, it was really awesome. The tour guide talked about how the government is now all about the citizens, and how the glass dome in the middle is very symbolic, because when you are up there you can actually look down onto the congress [because of this we had to go through all sorts of security stuff]. Our tour guide said that anytime the congress is in session they can look up and remember what they are there for: to represent the citizens.

Saturday we got up and had a wonderful breakfast at the hostel and then went into the Jewish Museum which was also really cool. The architecture was really cool, and the symbolism was pretty awesome too. Mom fixed my atm card for me [apparently, even though they know I’m in Europe for a semester, I took out a little more money than I normally do so they decided that my card was probably stolen; okay, whatever!] [but yea for mom for fixing it after the stupid international 1-800 number didn’t work for me!].
Then we went back to Checkpoint Charlie to check out an exhibit of crosses that was set up. Each of the crosses was for a person that died trying to get to the other side of the Berlin Wall; each cross had a name and some had pictures of people.
Then we definitely got lunch at a Mexican restaurant [smile!]. It was soooo good! Even though it took us like 30 min. just to get the single waitress to take our drink orders [we gave her the whole order, ‘cause by that time we knew exactly what we wanted].

Then started the crazyness [grin]. We started our 7 hour shopping fun [smile]. I came away with only a Berlin hoody [which is soo much fun], and some earrings, but we had a really great time. And Whit came back with tons! She now has 2 new pairs of shoes and a new coat and…hmm, that might be all. Kamani came back with some great new clothes too.
By the time we get back to the hostel we are completely exhausted. Our feet hurt, our legs hurt and the only thing we can do [when we finally get up to the fifth floor in the elevator] is lay in bed.
Then we met our roommate, who was really nice. She was from Brazil, but studying agriculture outside of Berlin. But she doesn’t speak any German and her teachers only speak in Deutch. She was neat to talk to.

So Whit and I left on Sunday morning and on the train to the airport we met this old German woman who started up a conversation about my backpack [“rucksack”] and then she explained to us in German, how to say “my mother speaks German” “Muttersprecken” (and I spell worse in German than I do in English). She was great.

And then we came home….and I’m going to die if I stay in the computer lab anymore because this group of freshman Skidmore girls are driving me nuts! They will not shut up and have completely taken over the room I am in! Ahh….I’m out of here.

LOVE TO ALL<><,
*maike rinaye*

Cloaca!

So last night, with our theatre class, we [Robi, Andrew, Kelly and I] went to see Cloaca; a wonderful play by a Dutch playwright, directed by Kevin Spacey. [This is truly my favorite play that we've seen so far!]

http://movie-cast.com/spacey.jpg

The picture is for the weird people who have no idea who Kevin Spacey is [ie: Kamani, our roommate].

Anyway, the thing is….I GOT HIS SIGNATURE! How cool is that?!!!! He was in the bar with this red beret [I do not know how to spell that one] hat on, and of coarse he was just chillin, and…yeah, well, ask me about it sometime when we’re face to face and I’ll tell you how it went. It was really funny [smile]. But I have his autograph! LOL….I think that Whit’s a bit jealous. I’m still way shocked.

Oh, and I wanted to mention to all of you, that Robi Finley is now engaged [smile]. He’s a fiancé [grin], how cool is that?! I think that most of you already know, but just in case I thought that I’d add it in. [Robi had Kevin sign his student id card since he didn’t have anything else with him].

Okay, that’s really all I have to add today. Whit and I are off to Berlin on Thursday.

LOVE YOU ALL<><,
*maike rinaye*

London Sweet London

So this weekend, since it was the weekend after fall break, we decided to stay here in London [this conversation went like this, “Whit, I think we should stay in town the weekend after break.” She said something like “Why would we do that?” and I said “we’re going to be exhausted!”]. Since then Whit has thanked me numerous times for the great idea of staying in London.
And amazingly, even though we stayed in town, I’m still really worn out from our adventures. Crazy. So here is what we did this week:

We came back to school, drained on Sunday. I spent all of Monday and Tuesday recuperating from the past 10 days by wearing only flip-flops and not leaving the building at all [I also made it a point to lotion my feet both in the mornings and in the evenings to make up for all that I’d put them through the past week].

Wednesday I had to venture off campus for a class and noticed the red leaves on our building [they are great and I will have to get a picture before they all fall off]. They are so bright and cheery against the grey sky of most of most days. I also noticed that we are finally moving into fall. I heard that Missouri has a low of 30 today, thankfully, although it’s getting colder, it hasn’t gotten that low yet.
Then, you’ll be proud Flanna and Haddy, we watched Casablanca with the boys [Andrew and Robi] and some other folks.

Thursday we went to bookstores and a theatre store [which has plays and such].
Friday Whit, Andrew and I went shopping. Although not coming back with what we were really looking for, we did come back with some stellar items. [side note: still no freakin shoes!].

Saturday Kamani, Whit and I went first to the British Museum [this is where England collects all the stolen property from other countries; ie: numerous sculptures from the Greek Parthenon.] Then we had a peanut butter and fluff party in Robi and Andrew’s room and watched some funny new film with Tom Hanks in it [I think Tom Hanks, anyway].

Sunday we went to church [the great place we found at the beginning of school], and then Whit and I went to Harrods and then to the Victoria and Albert Museum [the V&A]. That was really cool, we went into this exhibit on Black people in Britain; it was pretty sweet. Then since it was Halloween [and Mom, I definitely wore the Halloween item you sent me:], we watched Harry Potter 2 in the boys room [can you tell that Robi has his DVD collection here now? :].

And that was my weekend [smile]. Now for some random information. Boys here with longer hair wear headbands; how weird is that! It can be the skinny plastic bands that go behind your ears, or the full circle bands that are thicker and made of stretchy material. It’s so weird.

And here’s a picture of the ridiculous fuzzy boots that are popular over here:

http://sti1856q.seamlesstech.com/Merchant/lolli_boots.jpg

Last thing, scheduling. Here is my list of teachers and classes that I am hoping to take. If you would like to post your experience [suggestions, warnings, etc] with any of the teachers, that would be helpful. Also, if any of you have books that I might purchase from you for the class, that would be great too.

Global Futures-Chin
Global Values-Espisito
Math and Inquiry [gag]-Borodich
Figure Drawing-Mark Hall
Commercial Photography-Rebecca Miller
Scuba-yeah, I have no clue who this teacher is, but I am so taking the class.

LOVE YA<><,
*maike rinaye*

FB: Rome

FALL BREAK part three:

Yeah Roma! I loved Rome. We got to Rome by train from Florence [much better than the last train trip we took]. It took four hours so we got to Rome by 1pm. Funny thing though; towards the end of our train ride Whit and I got to talking, and then instead of looking to see which terminal we were at [cause at that time we were suposed to be at the right one] we just got off the train. But we were definately at the wrong stop, Whit asked a guy where we were in English, and he looked at us and was like "The Roma Termina is the next one", and we're like "crap!" So we run back to the train, which already had closed its doors, and by some miracle they opened back up [we still don't really know why] and we, along with another misplaced girl, got back on the train cracking up.

After that, we found our hostel pretty easily [Michelangelo's Palace]. When we first arrived there was this boy there that we heard saying "Sap-on-et-a, sap-on-et-a" over and over again laughing. When he finally comes out, he's like, "You know what saponeta is where your from? America?" we're like "uh, no, we have no idea what saponeta is". He was like "you want to see? I'll show you." He proceeds to tell us about how he has made a mess for the cleaner woman, but it's better this way because it will be cleaner, and so-on and so-on. Turns out he had sloshed a bunch of soapy water all over the bathroom floor. LOL. It was so funny, we passed the girl that was mopping it up and she gave him the nastiest look ever. And he continued doing the "Sap-on-et-a" chant. Funny.

So after showering in freezing cold water [it was that way for the entire time we were there!...oh that sucked]...we went and walked around for some food. We started towards what we thought would end up going to the Trevi Fountains, but instead we were really going towards the Roman Forum [old ruins] and the Colosseum.

On the way there we saw some sort of changing of the guards for Italy. There was a band and two different groups. It was pretty cool. When we made it to the Colosseum, we took the last English tour and heard all about the history it.

Then we really headed towards the Trevi Fountains. These were so great! Absolutely beautiful.

http://www.abcroma.com/Fontanatrevi2.jpg

While we were sitting there we noticed one of the couples that had been right in front of us when we climbed the Duomo bell tower in Florence; I took a picture for them. Both Whit and I threw coins over our shoulder into the fountain; apparently when you do that it assures that you will come back [shrug] we’ll see. I’m not opposed to that at all!

After sitting at the fountains [and being annoyed by the stupid men that try to sell you all sorts of crap!], we made our way to the Spanish Steps [famous for an Audrey Hepburn movie and because John Keats used to write there].

Friday Whit and I completely exhausted ourselves. We woke early and took the freakin cold showers. Then, after some breakfast and latte we went to the Palatine, because with our Colosseum tickets we could get in free. It was a bunch of ruins, but they were really cool. “The Palantine Hill” was really relaxing to walk through and just take in the view and everything. After that we walked forever to the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel…..WOW! How incredible. We saw Michelangelo’s “Pieta”

http://www.bkae.hu/~rhegedu/Vallasszociologia/Pieta%20(Michelangelo).jpg

and then saw his fresco work in the Sistine Chapel [the wonderful ceiling and the wall of the Last Judgement]. We also saw two frescos by Botticelli on the walls and walked through a great contemporary/modern art exhibit.

Saturday we did not do to much, yet got a lot accomplished…or something. We did three major things: the Pantheon, the catacombs (Priscillas) and the Pietza Navono (or something like that).

We did the Pantheon first, and although I was impressed, I have to admit that there are cooler things out there [shrug]. But we got sandwiches and ate them on the stairs here and met two other girls that are from the US but studying in London and were also on their fall break, so that was cool [it’s always cool to meet up with English speaking people when you’re in a non-English speaking country].

Then we walked and shopped and bought a few things and then decided to head towards the Catacombs. So we walked and walked and walked and walked. It was the longest walk ever! [the catacombs weren’t even on our little touristy map!]. But when we finally got there [like 2 hours later], there was an English guide and then we ate pizza on our way back.

We then went the the Navono place which was really cool. Still had the annoying men selling you crap, but it was really pretty and a bunch of artists had set up in the square area, so that was cool to go around and look at too.

Our search of Italian shoes failed miserably, even though I am almost sure that we went into every possible shoe store, we didn’t come home with any! So, to remedy that, we’re going on a hunt around London this coming weekend [smile].

The last day of our trip, Sunday, was soooo long. We got to the airport for our ryanair.com flight at the correct time, [after again rushing for the train and the bus etc.] and then we got in the terminal area and had to wait. And wait. And wait. Until they finally made an announcement that the plane that was supposed to be leaving at 10:20 was now not going to be in until 12. So we waited and waited. And then finally started loading at 12:15, not actually lifting off the ground until 1pm. Apparently there was fog in London and that’s the reason that our plane was so late.

So that’s the end of fall break. And now this weekend, Whit and I relax and shop and do some other things here in London.

LOVE<><,
*maike rinaye*


***so from what I understand "saponeta" means soapy-mess. Soap in Italian is "sapone" so [shrug], yeah [smile].

FB: Florence

FALL BREAK Part two:

Florenza! So we started this part of the trip kinda stressed again [shrug]. But it ended up really great.

On Sunday we got on our train in Genoa travelling first to Pisa, then we had to transfer to go to Florence. Train rides are great. However, the first one that we got into was a little weird.

We got on hoping we had everything we needed and that it was going to take us to the right place [we had it all and it did]. Inside, the train was separated into little rooms with 3 seats facing 3 seats and then a sliding door to get into the hallway. We pick the first one that had two seats in it and lugged all our stuff in after us. It was first filled with three younger guys and an older French man [we figured that out later]. When the boys left, however, and we took over the window seats and relaxed a little, this man in his 30’s comes in and starts pointing to our seats and talking Italian. Whit and I obviously have no idea what he’s saying, but try to move to satisfy whatever it is he is requesting. In the end though, we end up out of the window seats and this mama’s boy and his mother end up sitting in them. He was so pathetic and ridiculous. Ask me about it sometime and I’ll tell you.

We then arrived in Florence and after getting oriented [ie: walking the wrong way and then walking back the right way], we found our way to our hostel. On the way there though, some girl and her boyfriend tried to get into my bag! I turned around and she was like “Your bag is open!” and I gave her the nastiest look ever!!! Then I turned around and kept walking and called after Whit. When I turned around again to find the duo she was reaching into someone else’s purse, so I glared at her and she once again told me that my bag was open [rolls eyes]. Luckily, all that they could have gotten was my pj’s [lol].

This hostel I didn’t think was that bad [David Inn], but Whit claims that it was the worst that we stayed in all week [I think that freezing cold water in the shower for 4 days (Rome) ties with the no-blankets and sketchy bathroom hostel (Florence) to receive the worst-hostel award]. We did get a lot of excercise here though. I don't think that I have mentioned yet that when we wanted to go to our room from outside the hostel, we had to climb 79 stares to get there. Yeah, we both have buns of steel....and calfs of steel...shoot, we have complete lower bodies of steel!

At this point I would like to add that when travelling Italy, take t-shirts that you can wear 2 or three days in a row [smile]….the duffel bag that we carried [along with the two backpacks] became incredibly heavy!

First lesson: in Italy never say that you want your food for here [they charge you a LOT more $$].
Second lesson: you can most always find touristy things cheaper.

On Monday we went to the Duomo and paid 6 Euro to climb the 414 stairs to the top of the bell tower [wow], where we met a Canadian boy who works in NY, and was travelling Italy by himself after being in Amsterdam with his friends.
We then went to San Marco but didn’t go in. We kept on walking and found a square that had the “Hospital of the Innocence” in it; this was used as an orphanage originally. Now it has a museum in it. It was cool.
After the Hospital museum visit we went to San Croce.We paid something like 6 euro to get in, but it was well worth it. Whit read off of a Spanish brochure because there were no more English ones [of course] and translated for me. We saw the graves of Michelangelo, Galileo and others. There was also the statue of poetry here; she was beautiful. And Whit read something about her being the cousin of the statue of liberty (but much smaller of course). We saw paintings by Donatello and frescos by Giotto. This place also had a leather-making school that was originally created for the orphans to learn a trade. We also saw a great random art exhibit [it was wonderful].
We then left San Croce and shopped for a bit and went over the Ponte Vecchio, this bridge that has a bunch of shops on it. Apparently most of the bridges used to be like this in the city. We listened to music in the square near our hostel and then went to a place called Chiaroscura for coffee [which was wonderful].

Tuesday we went to the Academia and got to see Michelangelo’s David, and a bunch of other stuff. Then we went shopping which is really all we did for the rest of the day. Didn’t end up buying much, but sure did try! I think that we went into every shoe store in Florence twice!

Wednesday we did the Uffizi Gallery. And that’s it…….we woke up, got croissants and juice and then got in line at 10am. And we waited in line until 3:30pm. Yeah. Believe it. We’re crazy…okay, I am crazy, but none the less, we saw some really incredible things. We saw Botticelli’s “Primavera” and “The Birth of Venus”. Then we saw some Caravagio and Titians “Venus of Urbino”. I think it was worth it, but I’m not sure Whit quite agrees with me [she’s been there before]. I did buy a great little black leather purse after dinner.

Florence was pretty great. Every night we sorta calmed down in the hostel by reading books and just talking, and every night we had accordion music playing from outside. It was great.
For some pictures of Florence [not mine but you can see what we saw]:

http://www.dal.ca/~rsyvitsk/Vacation_spots/Firenze.html

Here is the Duomo [the first picture has the bell tower that we climbed] and the very last picture on the right is San Croce.

LOVE<><,
*maike rinaye*

FB: Genoa

FALL BREAK part one:

As most of you all know Whitney and I spent all last week (10 days in all) travelling Italy. We started our trip in Genoa then went to Florence and from there travelled to Rome. So in this post I will tell about the beginning of our adventures in Genoa.

http://www.clemson.edu/caah/offcam/image/genoa/genoa.jpg

Genoa is a wonderful city. However, our beginnings there were pretty awful. We began our Friday morning around 3 o’clock. I suppose that it really began the night before where we stayed up packing and talking with Kamani and her friend that had just arrived in town until 12:30.

Anyway, Whit woke up at 3am to take a shower. I was disinclined to do the same so I rolled over to sleep for a little longer only to be woken to a “Maike! We have ten minutes!” loudly whispered in my direction. All I could think of was “crap, if we have to run to the freaking plane again I am going to cry!”

We got out the door and down to the bus stop in just enough time to get on our bus at 4:15am [the tube station isn’t opened that early otherwise we would have done that, it’s much faster]. When we get on the bus though, this guy behind us starts talking all sorts of nonsense and totally freaks me out. He’s talking about how his wife died in 1996; at this point I’m like, “okay, fine, so he’s just recollecting bad times and he’s a little mentally messed up, whatever”. But then he starts talking about how he killed her! Including horrible details that left me and my imagination to wander; Freak me out!!! All I could do was sit and pray and think “Dear Jesus, please do not let him follow us and get on the next bus we have to catch”. Luckily God heard my prayers and he got off the next bus stop still talking. But what a way to start our vacation!

After that we got on our train and made it to the airport and everything successfully [after we had to get on another bus to the actual airport because of a gas leak or something]. The flight was wonderful, Whit and I both fell asleep before we took off and only woke up when a baby started crying. Landing in Genoa was wonderful! You could see land on one side of you and the crashing water against the black rocks on the other side, it was beautiful. After landing though, we had some difficulty getting to the “bed and breakfast”.

By a bit of difficulty, I mean that we got off the plane at 10:30am and it was only supposed to take us and hour and a half to get to the place, but with the Italian bus system and not knowing quite how to figure it out it ended up taking us until 4pm to find it.

We actually slept in a woman’s house [yup, surprised us too!]. It turned out to be the best place we stayed during our entire trip, but it wasn’t exactly what we expected. It was located about 45min [in the bus] from the city centre, but within a short walk you could see crashing waves on black rocks…beautiful.

In Genoa, we shopped, visited San Leonardo [a basilica style church with frescos and sculptures], ate great sandwiches, took a 45-min boat tour, and found out that Genoa was the birthplace of Christopher Columbus and was also home of the famous Italian Yacht Club founded in 1879. We ate gelato, mailed some postcards, took a train-like-tram thing to the top of a hill [great view], and ate at McDonalds [smile:]; which is the place to go if you are in your 20’s [there are no old people there at all!].

And that was Genoa. We hopped on a train on Sunday morning to Florence.

<><,
*maike rinaye*

houses

These are some more houses that I've visited with my classes:

Kensington Palace:
http://www.gen.niihama-nct.ac.jp/~noguchi/Kensington%20Palace.JPG

Wilton House:
http://www.compapp.dcu.ie/~humphrys/FamTree/Herbert/Bitmaps/wilton.6.full.jpg

Blenheim Palace:
http://www.london-tourism.com/oxford-the-cotswolds-blenheim-palace.jpg

Hampstead Heath [1st pic where they filmed a shot in Notting Hill]:
http://www.compulink.co.uk/~archaeology/hampstead-heath/kenwood/house.jpg

http://www.dlc.fi/~hurmari/img0077.jpg

Norwich Cathedral:
http://www.austin-healey-club-ec.fsnet.co.uk/healey_photographs/events/dunston_hall_2000/norwich_cathedral.jpg

Venezia!

Oh my goodness! Crazy stuff! But really great. I'm random, I know [smile].

So Jill and Beth were here last week [they actually just left this morning :)]. But we had a really great weekend in Venice. We had a really great week too!

On Tuesday Whit and I went to see "Dumb Show" with our theatre classes and Jill and Beth went to see Phantom of the Opera.Wednesday was our looking hott night [smile]. We all got dressed up in nice dress pants and high heels [except for Whit, ‘cause she doesn’t have any high heels…yet], and then we rode the London Eye when it got dark [which was really great]. Afterwards, we went out to dinner, which turned out to be in Leister Square at a Mexican restaurant [even though they didn’t serve us free chips and salsa]. It was absolutely fantastic. After dinner, we came home, got into comfy clothes and fell happily asleep.

Thursday we got up early enough and started packing for Venice to find that Whit’s class was cancelled. We caught up on some errands [like laundry and Venice research], headed off to Oxford Street for a while and then back to grab our bags and head for the bus station.

Okay, at this point I would like to point out, we were very careful to plan correctly. Whit had laid out enough time for us to screw up once and still be at the airport in plenty of time…however, plans changed. We made it to the correct bus stop in time for the bus, and got on the correct bus successfully. But after the 75 min. maximum time had elapsed on the bus ride we started to worry. Whit had found info in our lobby that said the bus right would take between 60 and 75 min. In reality however, it took us 2 hours. 120 min! This put us right at the absolute last min. So when the bus pulled into the airport parking lot, we ran like hell!

I have always wanted to be that person who was running through the airport, afraid of missing their flight, but just barely making it. And now…I never want to be that person again! Ever! We literally ran all the way to the check-in counter, and only made it by 3 min. If we had been three min. later we would have been screwed! And then, to top it off, we had to run to get to the boarding area, which apparently stopped boarding in 5 min. Signs leading the way told us that it would take 12 min. to get to our gate, but let me tell you, I think we made it in only 3 min. And of course we then found out something messed up in Ryan air and we had to switch gates and then wait in line.

In the case that we missed the check in time for our flight, we came up with many back up plans. I would cry, of coarse, Jill would act mentally slow, Beth would cry with me, and Whit would try to reason and perhaps become very angry. Luckily for us, we didn’t have to do any of these to get onto our flight. All we had to do was haul it through the freakin long airportJ.

We finally got into the plane and had a wonderful flight, however, after we landed and took another bus into Venice, we were more or less lost. Beth and Jill hadn’t eaten, we didn’t have a great map, and had no idea where the bus to take us to our campsite was. After getting them some food we found that it would be necessary to get a cab to get to the camp place. Finally we make it there and find our small little cabin, which is cool, but of coarse everything is damp.

Friday we went into Venice finally and did a lot of shopping, ate gelato [which Jill tried to spell “Jill-ato” (when I asked how to spell it for a post card)]. We went out to eat right off the main canal, outside, next to the water. Then we took a gondola ride, which was really sweet!

Saturday we did more shopping, wandered around, ate gelato, watched a man make a glass horse [wow!], and walked to Singapore [the other side of Venice:], Found four cute Italian boys who checked us out as we checked them out [lol], ate some great mozzarella and tomato, caught the bus back, chatted in bed and fell pleasantly asleep.

Sunday we once again had to get a cab, caught our bus, checked in [with no running!] and then waited for an hour and a half [our plane couldn’t land because of the incredibly thick fog covering the city], caught some turbulence when we finally got off the ground, landed and then took another long bus ride [like 2 and a half hours! We were on the bus longer than we were on the plane from Venice!], had to listen to annoying and loud Americans talk about eating gelato 8 times in 3 days (I might be exaggerating a little bit, but it was stupid, and I thought that people who go to Oxford were supposed to be smart!), then we made it back to Regents to clean up and go out for tea. Then we relax and Beth and Jill pack.

It was a wonderful trip. And what more, we just found out that Lori is going to be coming out here for Thanksgiving! Sweet!!! [Rika, my sister, and Alicia, friend, will be in town too!].

LOVE<><,
*maike rinaye*

PS: next week is fall break, we're going to Italy: Genoa, Florence and Rome. If you have any suggestions post 'em!

Road Trippin!

Hey ya'all, so I would have put this out yesterday [because I was doing more procrastination yesterday than I am doing today], but the freakin blogster thing wouldn't let me get on and type it. So here I am to tell you about my weekend [smile].

I ended my work week on Wed. evening, as usual. This week was a bit harder than the previous ones in the fact that I had to turn in two different papers on specific houses [but really, who am I kidding, the papers were only 1,000 words each, and relatively easy to finish up (smile)].
On Thursday, after Whit got out of class [10:30am], her, Andrew and I took a bus to a book sale off the river, afterwards we stopped for a spot of tea and then Andrew took off to do whatever, and Whit and I went to the Globe theatre for a tour. After our tour [which was really short and cost too much money], we jumped back on the bus to travel back home, grab a bite to eat and then hurry, hurry, hurry to change into our hot outfits [and Whitney had to shave her hairy legs:]. So we hurry and meet Robi downstairs and hopped the tube to see Chicago in the theatre.
We get to the theatre to find out there are no student prices, but the prices weren’t as bad as they could have been, so since we were all dressed up we went anyway. It was really cool, not as “wow” as it should have been, perhaps, but neat, none-the-less.

On Friday, Beth and Jill came in, but because of a fieldtrip I was required to take with my class, I left Whit to meet them at the station. As it turned out, there were five of us from the class walking together to Victoria bus station and actually ran into them walking back to the tube. So I got to see them after all [smile].

The fieldtrip was unbelievable. We were to meet at the bus station before 2:30 so the class could purchase a group ticket together and save some money. But at 2:45 when there was still only five of us, and we’d sent one of our members to look for others, we decided to go on and buy our tickets. But when we got inside we found a long, long queue [line] leading up to the attendants. This mostly nixed our bus idea, seeing that the last bus left at 3 and we still had at least 20 min. to wait in the line. So, we put up the idea of renting a vehicle and just road trippin it. Our professor thinks for a min. and says, are you all up for it? I’m like, of coarse we are! There are two girls there that I didn’t know very well and they were giving each other the “oh my goodness, are we really up for this?” look….but they were like “what the heck!”.

So we travel to rent a mini-van and an hour and a half later, squished into the standard vehicle with the crazy professor driver, we are on our way. That night we made it to the hostel [after 2 freakin hours of traffic just getting out of London!], and found a place to eat, pizza of coarse.

The next day, Saturday, we went to Norwich and visited and talked about the Norwich Cathedral and the Norwich Castle. Then we went to Blicking Hall in Norfolk for a tour around it. It was pretty impressive, but owned by the National Trust, so our professor couldn’t really talk about anything while we were inside.

On Sunday we got up and travelled to Holkham Hall and then to Houghton Hall, where we got two personal tours of the houses because their open season is now closed. Both houses were absolutely amazing. After that we were in the car again to travel back to London [about 4 hours].

Coming back to find Jill, Beth and Whit up in my room was so great! We went out to eat some dinner and then got some great ice cream then homeward to rest and relax before Monday when I started yet another paper [smile].

And tomorrow we’re going to VENICE!!! How cool is that?! Okay, I’m off to find some lunch.

LOVE<><,
*maike rinaye*

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/scripts/nthandbook.dll?ACTION=PROPERTY&PropertyId=49

http://www.holkham.co.uk/

http://www.houghtonhall.com/htmlfiles/1024index.htm

Random Middle of the School Week.

Hey all,
So, I decided to post a random one up here with random information on it [smile].

For anyone coming to London: Watch out for the cars....[smile], you think I'm joking and laugh now but once you come over here you will know that your life is very much in danger when you simply attempt to cross the street and get 4 horns honking at you. And a few might say "girl, it's just 'cause you're american and you're used to cars driving on the other side of the street!" But this is NOT true! It has nothing to do with being american...okay, well maybe a little...but even the true Londoners have issues crossing the street. Drivers here are just cruel!

In London, drivers have the right of way: Pedestrians watch out!

London shoes beat Paris shoes hands down!

One of our first adventures in Scotland was eating at McDonalds. Whit and I decided to take our food up stairs and enjoy some peace and quiet [away from the crazy goth teeny-boppers]. So we sit there for like, 5 min. [maybe], and what do you know, a group of like, 8 follow us up there and sit the next table over. So I'm rolling my eyes because they're loud and obnoxious and I was enjoying the quietness of the upstairs of McDonalds and Whit looks over to me and in a louder whisper [she still hasn't gotten the whole quiet whisper down yet:] she says to me "Do you know what language they're speaking?" And I kinda smirk and answer "English." She stares at me and says "No Way!" and then we laugh and listen....and just like I said, it was English, but wow! Totally hard to understand it. My neighbor back home told Mom that I wouldn't be able to understand, and I was like: Puh-leese, if I can make it in Paris not knowing French then Scotland won't be nothing!....wow though, I was sorta wrong! We could understand mostly, but there were a bunch of times where we looked at the Scotsman/woman in a state of "I have no idea what you just said".

There is a song playing through my head over and over again [well, at least the part that I can remember] and it goes like this: "Baby-cakes... you're the one, that I love...." it's kind of a dorky song, but catchy [smile].

There are a bunch of songs here that are remakes, but a lot of them are really good.

I'm going to buy a pair of stilletoe's eventually [and just an fyi, I still can't spell (thank you Mom for pointing this out last time:).]

I miss Mountain Dew, but luckily [grin!], there is a place that is going to be getting a shipment in the next week or so of it...so I'm going to stock up! [apparently this place is for all of us americans:), I'm so lucky!:].

I will have calfs of steel by the time I get back to the states.

Scratch that, I will have legs and buns of steel!

For those that I haven't explained this to, I have 4 classes to go to during the week. 2 are with Professor Brady, who has been taking us on fieldtrips [I feel like a fourth grader when I say it that way], but they're really great. The school pays for us to get into these great buildings [many of which cost £10 or more to get it (about $20)], and we walk all the way around them standing and talking about their architectural elements and then we go in them and up stairs and stand for a while and down stairs and stand and up some more to stand and then down some more..... So we walk all over in those 2 classes.
Then I have a class at the National Gallery, and I have to walk a ways to get to the underground station [to zip off to trafalgar square] and then again to walk to the gallery and then walking around in the gallery and then back to the underground to get back to school. Again, much walking.
The last class I have is Contemporary London Theatre where we see plays almost every Monday night. The group of guys that I have this class with loves to walk and wander the city [smile]...so guess what we get to do!? yeah, instead of riding the tube to get to trafalgar square [about 20 min on the tube or about 45-55 min away walking fast!], we choose to walk!
I'm not complaining, but I will be one fit girl by the time this semester is over [this is why Regents does not have a gym, because if you take the right classes you don't need to do any more working out].

There are a bunch of crazy females here that wear stilletoes all day and walk all over in them...I don't understand how they do it! [but maybe I'll learn:].

There are some really ugly fuzzy boots that are all the trend here...hopefully I'll get a picture to send sometime this semester.

Okay, I'm done with randomness for now:). If tomorow I don't feel like doing any of the research I'm suposed to be doing though....[grin] I will be back with useless information!

LOVE<><,
*maike rinaye*

Scotland: "Be happy while you're living...."

"Be happy while you're living, for you're a long time dead." -Scottish Proverb

So Scotland! It was great....cold, really cold. Like, the first thing I bought on Friday morning was a pair of warm white gloves [smile], but really lovely all the same.

Whit and I took this adventure by ourselves for no particular reason [well, maybe it was that others we've been traveling with I think might have been a little worn out:].

We started our trip on Thursday, since Whit’s Thursday class was cancelled. So we woke up early to catch the tube over to Victoria station where we got on an early bus to Glasgow (9:30am).

I’d like to add in here a little ditty about thieves. I hate them! So Whit and I get sandwiches at the refectory [commons] along with cookies, drinks and other random food items, and since we have a small fridge on our floor we thought there would be little chance that some grubby little hands would chief our food. But don’t you know, the next morning I go to find the food, and yup…our Gatorades were left [apparently the bandit doesn’t like those]. But they ate both our sandwiches, half of my bagel [the other half was thrown carelessly in the trash], and my Oreos! So we had to stop by and get some more sandwiches on the way to the bus [mine turned out to be a horrible egg sandwich and I couldn’t eat it].

Anyway, besides that…We were rather spoiled on our way there because we were each able to sprawl across two seats and nap. As we made more stops, however, the bus grew to be more and more crowded so we eventually [for the last hour and a half of the trip] crammed ourselves into one chair each.
We finally got to Glasgow around 5:30pm [yeah, that’s right…it was a long freakin bus ride!], and we piled on our bags and headed towards the hostel. After successfully finding the hostel, we unloaded our bags and headed out to find some grub. Of coarse, you have no idea what the first place we see to eat is. McDonalds! [grin]. And do not think for a second that we didn’t eat there either. I had a Big Mac [which was smaller than the US’s Big Mac, but really great!].

Anyway, Glasgow is full goth teenagers…crazy. But it was neat.

So Friday we went to Edenburough [I don’t remember how to spell it, but whatever]. Once again we got the early start, this time leaving at 8:15am. In Edenburough toured the castle, and then went on a whiskey tour [wow, they started it off with a shot of whiskey, eewww….I do NOT like whiskey…wow]. Then we did touristy shops, I got a great sticker [I might try to scan that in and post it on here somewhere later], and did random things until our bus left at 6:30pm. Oh yeah, and we ate some really great food. We then went back to the hostel to retire at like, 9:30pm, we were exhausted.

Saturday we started by going shopping J. It was super! Then we found a pub for lunch [also pretty great], and then walked to the Glasgow cathedral [really great gothic style architecture]. We stayed pretty busy and then went to a play [which was really weird], and then caught the last bus back to London at 10:30pm.

The bus ride was again long, and we were pretty squished [one person to a seat unless you were lucky or reeked…lol]. We got into London at 6:30am on Sunday only to find the tube to not open until 7:20 on Sundays. So we ended up taking a bus and then walking a long ways home. Then we got here and napped till 11:30 [typical, huh?].

All in all it was a great trip. Well, the stupid IT center [computer lab] is closing in 10 min. so I have to finish this up.

LOVE TO ALL<><,
*maike rinaye*

Paris: "The true traveler..."

"The true traveler is he who goes on foot, and even then, he sits down a lot of the time."
-Colette(1873 - 1954), Paris From My Window, 1944

Paris was incredible, and wow…my feet have never walked so much in my life! So I am going to outline my weekend travels because I find it the easiest way to post what we were up to.

Thursday: Andrew, Robi and I leave campus at 9:20am to catch a train to take us to Lutton [a small airport outside of London]. Our plane leaves at 12:15. We arrive in Paris and make our way through the RER system and the Metro to our hostel, called “Aloha” [which ends up being filled with mostly Americans]. We drop off our luggage and then wander around before Whitney and Kamani arrive [they had to take a later flight because both had class on Thursday morning]. Around 7 we make it back to the hostel, meet the girls, and then go in search of a restaurant. We venture into a Creperie, and of coarse eat crepes! [They were great]. Then we (thinking that Paris can’t be that hard to navigate), attempt to venture towards the river; we end up at the Eiffel Tower [we have great navigational skills, can you tell?]. We see the tower in the dark and see it do its twinkle show [beautiful] but decided that we don’t want to go up it until tomorrow. We then get lost trying to find our way back to the hostel and it takes us three hours to walk back [ouch].

Friday: First to the catacombs, see a bunch of bones; walk forever [97 stairs spiralling down into them and then 83 stairs coming back out].
Then went to the Cathedral de Notre Dame (Huge and wonderful!).
Went to a supermarket and bought baguettes (bread), and cheese, meat, yogurt and grapes; took all to a park and ate a nice relaxing lunch. After lunch we went to the Musee du Louvre and spent a good amount of time there. I saw the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory, and the Mona Lisa [among other art items, obviously]….all of it was really cool.
Back to the hostel, we grabbed dinner on the way at a supermarket, and ate in the kitchen area of the hostel and wrote post cards. Go to sleep early, ‘cause we’re all tired.

Saturday: Go to the Flea Market [disappointing, because there is only used stuff there, no neat booths of crafts or jewellery or anything else]. Hop on to the metro visit the Moulin Rouge which turns out to be really cool. We pass a bunch of sex shops [eeeek!]. Find “Tati”, the best/cheapest store in Paris for clothes. [I got 2 items: cute purple-ish turtle neck sweater, and red pants (they’re hot!), both for €6].
We take the metro to Arc de Triumph. Found lunch as before.
At this point I think that we went back to the Eiffel Tower [in the daylight]. Finding the tower, however, to not be as exciting as it was during the night, we decided to get some ice cream and take a short river cruise thing. [There was also Jazz playing across the river, ‘cause every Fri. and Sat. night in September are jazz nights apparently]. So we get on the boat going all the way down the Seine and back. This was great ‘cause it got us all off our feet [Kamani even fell asleep on Robi’s shoulder]. By the time we got off the boat and found some water it was getting dark so we got in line to go up the Eiffel tower. We went all the way to the top floor and were up there when it did it’s little twinkle show. Then it started to rain and we decided that we did not want to be caught in it, so we made for the metro again. We crash in bed again.

Sunday: Wake up at 5:45am [ugg], to catch our plane which doesn’t leave until 9:20am [we were there way early, but better that than late!]. We arrive safely back in London get some lunch and then take well deserved naps [smile].

Love to all, I’m going off to take another nap [grin]…just simply because I can.

Post a note, I have it so you can post anonymously now [you don’t have to have a blog address]. So leave me a postJ.

<><,
*maike rinaye*

fun facts in England.

Things I've learned about:

when someone says this______ it means _________:

give way = yield
way out = exit
underground = subway
chips = french fries
biscuits = cookies
loo = toilet
quid = bucks [as in money, but only if it's more than one pound]
que = line
nappy = diaper
dodgy = sketchy

See, I'm learning a lot!

The other night we were sitting in the lobby in the evening watching dirty dancing with a bigger group of people when we got to the end of the movie. During the last scene, the resort owner makes the quote something like:
"Kid's don't want fox trot lessons in the country with their parents; they want trips to Europe!"....we all sorta cheered and then one girl added on "With out thier parents!" we all then clapped and laughed [grin]. It was a bonding moment :).

<><,
*maike rinaye*

to the Klink!

For those of you that don't know, the Klink was a dungeon in central london where they torchered prisoners in the...let's say the 15th century [I'm just making that up, yes....I don't really remember what the time period was, but it was when they burned women who might have been witches and crap like that].

Well, I went there on Sat. with the boys [Robi, Andrew and Mark] Kamani and Whit. It was a waist of money really, but there were some freaky things up in there. When you approach this place you see this mummified looking body in a cage like thing hanging in the alley way [Andrew assures me that it was a manequin wrapped to look like a real body, but Greg (the one that saved my computer in his boxers and towel) told everyone that it was a real body up there:].

Anyway, there's no real story from the Klink, just that that's one of the things that we did on Sat. Before that, however, is a fairly interesting story!

We start out our journey by getting on the bus; the cheapest form of transportation unless you want to wear out your legs walking all over [which, I think I've explained that we have already done like 12,000 times already]. So, typically, we don't get on the bus that will take us all the way up to the Klink [or anywhere really close]. So we get off right in front of the London Eye [the huge ferris wheel in central london that takes like an hour to get all the way around once]. And so we're sitting there joking and messing around waiting for the next bus to take us to the Klink. So while we're sitting there I look over and see the paparatzi [I can't spell], pointing his camera with the super zoom up to the top of the London ferris wheel. So logically I look up there....and wouldn't you know that there was a man up there! I'd heard on the radio earlier that it was shut down because of security issues but I had no clue that it ment there was a man up there! So then I get the whole group to gawk with me at this man [which turned out to really be one man, and then 3 bobbies (police)]. And one man standing near us explained that this man had been up there since about 6:30 this morning and he was dressed in a spiderman outfit! I was like, "That's ridiculous, why?" And this guy explains that he's part of an orginization called....Fathers 4 Justice. This group is full of fathers that say they don't get to spend enough time with their children because of the government divorce rules and whatever that has banned them from spending time with the kids.
Turns out this guy [who stayed up there untill 10:30pm], did the same thing last year on the Tower Bridge for like, 6 days, in the same spiderman suit.
Today, another member of Fathers 4 Justice dressed up as batman and got up onto a ledge at Buckingham Palace. His accomplice, Robin of corse, didn't make it up to the ledge but did talk to tv people [smile].

Exciting, huh!? It's cool to say, "ha, I saw that guy up there and have pictures" [yeah, he'll be a small dot, but whatever!]

Anyway, that was fun. We went to the Klink, then to the Tate Modern Museum [that was cool] and then shopped a bit and ate at this place in china town [which was also good].

Sunday Whit and I went to this church that we saw playing music at the Notting Hill carnival that we went to the first weekend we were here. The church was really cool [all the way on the other side of town, but none the less great]. It had contemporary music and the sermon was on judging others...it was really good.

After that we went to this black and white film showing on a big screen in Trafalgar Square. That was really cool. It was all historical and stuff, and there weren't words to go along with it [there was music that was specially written to accompany the film], so I'm not sure how much I really understand....but it was really cool [even though we stood, yes stood! for like 3 hours...no lie!].

So that brings me to today, and I went to class and saw the Tower of London with my class and that's really it [smile]. I have completed homework though! I hope everythings great at home.

LOVE<><,
*maike rinaye*

questions for you!

Hey guys.
So we're going to Paris next weekend! [yah!]. But we have two questions:

A: When in France, what is the REAL french food that we should eat? [besides crepes]. and
B: Besides the museums [louvre, musee'd'orasay, ect], and the Eiffle tower, what do people going to Paris do? Is there something that we HAVE TO do while we're there?

Write and let me know [add a post].
I'm going with Whitney, Kamani [the roomate], Robi, and Andrew. It's going to be great [even with the language barrier thing]. But give me some ideas or suggestions [esp. if you've been there already].

Thanx<><,
*maike rinaye*

loo, chips, biscuits!!!

Wow, I don't believe how much I've done in the last two or three days; it's increadible. Okay, I started writing this and then I realized that I have a very hard time recapturing everything in the right order. So here's what I'm going to do: OUTLINE! [laugh].

Tues: have class, attempt to find the half price theater to see a flick in the evening....end up watching the outer circle [smirk]....2 times in a row!!! [ie: we go around Regents Park 2 times! [sheesh, sometimes we are not the brightest (lol)].]
Wed: wake up and go read in the rose garden before class with Whit [wow!]
Went to Wagamama's [great food and free with Drury peps visiting:]. Ate jellato. Looked in at shops [didn't buy anything].
Thurs: no class :), met Whit and Robi at 10:30am to go to Puma store and Doc Martin store; end up taking James and Amanda with too. Puma store is disapointing; not enough selection. Doc Martin store: the same:(.
End up finding info about shows playing.
Shop a little more, find cheap shopping on Oxford St. [ooh, X-mas presents commin from here maybe].
End up going to see THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA!!! [with Whit and Mark, Robi and Andrews room mate from Boston].
Come back exhilarated! [sigh; super great production].
Fri: Wake up earlier than the room mates [first time ever!], go on a field trip with my "Age of Elegance" class [Megan and James are in this class too]. See 2 "country homes" which one is a huge palace!!! wow, incredible [I'll have to find someone to give me a picture to put on here]. Good times, came back around 6 and that brings me to now! [sorta].

Yeah, it's absolutely increadible all that I have done. Whit and I are taking it easy this weekend, I'm catching up on homework and then we're going to the Tate Modern museum and a war museum.

Weatherwise: it's the first day that has really been nasty since we've been here. Remarkably, it has been really sunny and warm and nice here in London. Really rather unbelievable. My hair is a bit huge today [but it's been doing okay so far, not as bad and fuzzy as I thought it would be]. {Whit has had good hair too:}.

Hmm, okay so I have been on here entirely too long [I have a hard time concentrating in places where there are so many people talking and watching tv and whatevering].....if you could see me you'd see it just happened again. I'll try to write more details later this weekend [we'll see how that goes:].

LOVE TO ALL [post some more notes!]<><,
*maike rinaye*

more

Hey all.
Whit has just shown me how this all works, so I decided that I should write up a little about what's going on.

So, really funny story. We have a lobby [that's where I am now], and it has like, 10 computers, right? Well, some of you know Greg, he's actually studying in Greece this semester, but he's here with Kelly and Meganne [whatever, not really needed to here the story]. But anyway, he's a friendly guy, and by that I mean that he has more friends here than I have; So I'm on the computer trying to figure this all out, and he comes out and looks around, and then is like, "maike, could you do me a favor?", and I'm like "maybe" and so then [all I see is that he doesn't have a shirt on], he's like "can you go find Kelly or Andrew to let me in the room, 'cause I'm locked out again, and [here he points to himself] as you can see, I just got out of the shower and...." [trails off]. I laugh, and then...thinking 'crap, I don't want to loose my turn at the computer' I'm like "Okay, you sit here and save my computer and I'll go find them". So he has to sit there, in his boxers wrapped in a towel at my computer while I go off laughing to find one of the boys. LOL....yeah....it's great...lol.

So we went to Brighton this past weekend. It was so great. I got a tan! Yeah, in England!!! And we shopped, and ate, and we toured this wonderful palace [see whit's for all the real info on the wonderful palace]. Travel was relatively cheap. We spent like 15£ on the bus ticket [like $30, and if we had booked on line before it would have only been like 6£], and then we stayed in a hostil [first hostil experience was good] 31£ for 2 nights. So it was relatively cheap.

This weekend we're going to stay in England and check out some of the museums and stuff like that around town. Then the weekend after we're going to go to Paris [if we can work out the underwater train....hmm, chunnell (smile)]. Then the weekend after that we're going to Stonehenge and then on a weekend field trip with my class, and then to Venice [yeah!!!].

Well, there's a wait for the computers so I should go. Hopefully you all can figure this out and stuff.

LUV<><,
*maike rinaye*

this is the first

the first.