Spencer's Semester Abroad

Sunday, February 26, 2012

February 24th

Today at work, we capped off the day with a drink toasting one of the girl’s in my division who was moving back to Australia after four years at Citi. It was a great end of the week. This weekend, three random girls from the University of North Carolina girls are staying with me. Actually they aren’t that random, it turns out one of them is working with me at Anheuser Busch this summer. My friend Natalie from New Trier knew her and mentioned that she was coming to town this weekend. Unfortunately, Natalie was out of town this weekend, so Lauren (the UNC girl working for AB) needed a place to stay. Always willing to help a damsel in distress, I took the initiative to take these three girls around London for the weekend. Friday night after they got in, we all went to a pub called the Rocket near King’s Cross. We met up with Pierce, Joe, and Justin and their friends. Plus, I ended up running into two girls I knew from home. It’s funny how I’ve come to London to meet the British, but end up hanging with all Americans. Oh well, it’s been a blast so far. Luckily, it turned out that our three visitors ended up being completely normal, cool girls that were easy to be with.

February 23rd

After work, I decided that I was going to start my research paper, work out and go to bed early. As soon as I got home, I lost all my motivation to work out. Instead, Josh, Jodi and I decided to check out the local pubs around my apartment. We started with the Coach and Horses, which is a really cool little pub on the corner of my block. The pub was packed with locals. We grabbed a pint and sat outside in the cool night air. When we finished our drinks, we walked about a block to the second pub on our makeshift pub crawl, called Gunmakers.

This pub was a really authentic little joint, with only British beers on tap. I had the Pale Ale, which wasn’t very good. To my dismay, a grotesque British couple was seated at the table next to us. The male was fat and half lying on the bench to his table. His girlfriend, with teeth like someone who got kicked in the face by a donkey, was leaning against him whispering in his ear and kissing his neck. Thank goodness for alcohol; helping ugly people get together since its creation. The two British love birds were both so drunk it was ridiculous and after polishing off yet another round, they proceeded to eat each other’s faces. Literally disgusted and holding back the urge to puke in my own mouth, we downed our pints and got the hell out of there.

Finally, the three of us stopped by our last pub, the Clerk and Well. This was my least favorite of the three, and probably not somewhere I would want to return to. While it’s nice to do the touristy things across London, it was great to encounter a more local experience from a Londoner’s perspective.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

February 20th

Waking up for work after the weekend ended up being a challenge, but somehow I managed. I finally feel like I am a member of the team in the office and not an intern. I joke around with my coworkers and am assigned practical tasks and projects that are used and have an impact on decisions. Tonight, I met Justin for dinner at a restaurant in Islington. It turns out, City University (where Justin goes to class) is right near my apartment, so meeting him was no big deal. I left work when the clock struck five, and came down to the tube station to see a complete mob of people waiting in lines for the turnstiles to open. Apparently, there was such overcrowding down by the trains, they had to let it empty out before they allowed more people on. Since everyone uses public transportation, this gives you an idea of what commuting around London is like! When I was waiting, this guy behind me kept inching closer and closer to me, even though I couldn't move forward at all. It kind of felt like I was in a jail shower and he was moving in for the kill...

This is before you even get down to the trains

Ello gents!

Sunday, February 19, 2012

February 19th (Imperial War Museum)

When I woke up today, I went with my friend Jodi to the Imperial War Museum. This museum is full of artifacts and weapons from the major world wars. When you walk in the entrance, it takes you through various tanks, submarines and planes. As you go to different floors, you experience various wars, including WW1, WW2, and countless other worldwide affairs. In the WW1 section, there was an area that you walked through a recreated trench and saw the conditions. Another section took you through a submarine. You see all the uniforms, weaponry, as well as conditions for soldiers and civilians from the British, allied, and opposing armies perspective. Also, you can hear various eyewitness accounts from many different eras and standpoints. It was a really cool museum and amazing to think about how different parts of the world were affected by the world in comparison to the US. So far, this has been my favorite museum in London.

Replica of the Atomic Bomb

Jodi in the trench reenactment

Inside the trench

British WW2 Motto

Exterior of the Imperial War Museum

February 18th (Dover and Canterbury)

Today, as part of our program, we took a day trip to the British countryside to visit the Canterbury Cathedral and the Dover Castle. I’ve always wanted to see the White Cliffs of Dover, so I was pretty excited for this trip. I had to be at the bus at 8:30a.m. which isn’t easy if you’re up to 3 or 4 am the night before. Once I got on the bus, I feel asleep. When I woke up, we had reach our first stop; the district of Canterbury, in Kent.

Canterbury

When I got off the bus and started to walk around Canterbury, I realized how charming this little city was. Almost every street was tiny with zero car traffic. To give you perspective, it seemed like you were in an alleyway everywhere you walked. There were little shops and restaurants all over the place. We walked through medieval streets until we came up the entrance to the Canterbury Cathedral. This particular Cathedral plays a major role in British history. Dating back to 597 A.D., Saint Augustine was sent by the Pope to set up his seat, or “Cathedra” in Canterbury. The Archbishop of Canterbury resides here, heading up the Church of England. Seeing it reminded me a lot of Graham Chapel, which is on Wash U’s campus. But this place was enormous and the architecture was awesome. It’s hard to believe that structures like this were built without modern day equipment.

Once we walked inside, I was again taken back with the mere size of this building. The ceilings were some of the highest I’ve ever seen, and each door, hallway, and glass window was filled with intimate details. Also, there were tombs of the former archbishops as well as other prominent historical figures scattered throughout the entire cathedral. When you look at the dates on the tombs, it’s amazing to think that almost every one was older than the United States. After the Cathedral, we again took to the streets in order to find some lunch before leaving for Dover. A few of us stumbled upon a pub that was established in 1698. Not only was it a pub, it was also Britain’s oldest remaining brewery. I took a sip of their homemade ale, and to be honest, I’m surprised they’ve been in business so long! The fish and chips were delicious though.

Dover

When I told some of my coworkers I was going to visit Dover, they said the only reason to go to Dover was to leave it. It’s a small city on the Eastern coast of the island, touching the English Channel. It’s the narrowest part of the channel and you can actually see France from the castle. As our bus drove through the English countryside, we passed fields and fields of sheep roaming the land. When we finally got to the castle, we walked through the front gates. Actually, I did the “Monty Python” horse noises and pretended to ride in, giving quotes from various movies. Pretty much, I’m a huge dork that has to find ways to entertain myself. But I digress.

Walking into the castle was something special. As you approach the gate, you see where the moat was dug out and how tall and thick the castle walls actually are. Throughout the outer walls, there are archer slits and cannon holes that used to be used to defend the castle. After an extremely long uphill walk, we made it to the Dover Tunnels. Essentially, these tunnels were created to house hundreds of soldiers stationed there to defend the country during the Napoleonic Wars. During WW2, these tunnels were extended and used as an underground hospital and intelligence office. It actually played a huge roll in the war and helped plan the rescue of hundreds of thousands of allied soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk. We toured the tunnels and got the experience from the perspective of a soldier. We listened to the famous “King’s Speech” as well as Neville Chamberlin’s address that the country was at war. The tunnels had years of graffiti and carved names throughout it, and I had the chills the whole time. This has definitely been one of my favorite experiences in Europe so far.

We exited the tunnels and ascended further up the hill to the summit, where the Keep, or main part of the castle was. Entering the castle was pretty cool. It’s made of stone, but there is zero insulation. It was more of a stone fortress. Overall, it’s not as glamorous as one might think. But walking through it and seeing where the servants worked, where the thrones and dining hall was, as well as the residencies. When we got to the turrets, I put my head between two stones and instantly was pelted with wind to the face. It was so turbulent that it felt like getting punched in the face. After touring the castle, we hopped on the bus and headed back to London.

That night, a lot of my friends were going to a club called the Ministry of Sound. This club ended up being really cool and full of students. We met up with some friends of ours from schools and other people on their programs at the club. A friend of mine knew someone who had access to the DJ booth, so we got to stand in the front overlooking the crowd. It ended up being a really fun night.