Scones and Sensibility

It’s Mardi Gras come early at da Nexx, thanks Momma! (Taken with Instagram at Pi Beta Phi Annex)

So it may or may not have been a million years since my last blog post and I’m so sorry about that. It was an absolutely FABULOUS weekend in Copenhagen, Denmark that got me off track and then the whirlwind of traveling began and…you know the rest. Anyways, I got to see my wonderful, beautiful, best friend Kristine in her home-away-from-home in Copenhagen and it’s visits like this that firmly make me believe you really get to see somewhere when someone who lives there shows it to you. Assuming they love it, you get a more accurate, unique, and in my opinion, beautiful snapshot of this place rather than checking its “highlights” off your list. That being said….we took no pictures. But Mom, it’s because I was seeing the “real” Copenhagen, getting in to the Danish culture…but actually I was just being lazy, my bad. I’ve included the gems I could find.

The weekend started off not so well since my flight was delayed for 3 hours at the lovely British institution that is Gatwick airport. It’s basically a shopping mall with some terminals attached and a staff that has more fun talking to each other than to you. It probably could have been worse though. Plus the flight on Norwegian Air was thoroughly enjoyable, the safety video was an animated video with the cutest little blond child doing everything you aren’t supposed to and being chastised by his mother. That’s definitely one of my favorite things about Scandinavian and German culture; their child-focused family mentalities. If the invention of kindergarten isn’t example enough, you just have to watch any family out on a weekend. Unlike the mentality in big cities in the United States and France where children must mature quickly to behave appropriately in adult situations, here activities are modified to be enjoyable for the kids and their interactions are always endearing and heartfelt. 
Well I arrived in Denmark and suddenly realized that like the UK, this EU country doesn’t use the euro. The Danish kroner is a pain in the butt. Not only is the conversion rate something like 5 times that of the dollar but the high quality of life and high rates of salaries mean everything is 3 times how much it should be. The two times Kristine and I ate out, and by that I mean a sandwich and coffee, it was an equivalent of $10. Absurd. Oh and then everything is in Danish, none of this English and Danish nonsense other European countries play around with. Obviously I understand if I’m in a foreign country its reasonable for things to be in their native language, I just didn’t plan ahead. I don’t know what happened, it’s so unlike me. So I bought the ticket to the stop Kristine had told me and hoped getting on what said it was the right line I would manage to find Kristine since I had no minutes for international calls. Little did I know that Copenhagen is a baby city. Tiny in comparison to London, honestly probably smaller than Phoenix. This tiny city may have a metro but it is literally one line that goes either East to West or West to East, so it actually would have been incredibly difficult for me to mess up. 
I got off the metro and practically ran into the most welcome sight in Europe; my lovely best friend, she came to surprise me at the train!

Disclaimer: We were clearly not drinking at the train station, this is just for clarification purposes.

Kristine is in Copenhagen this semester for the Globe program, which is crazy impressive of her as usual, and she’ll be in Hong Kong next semester. Globe is a partnership between UNC Business School, Copenhagen Business School and Hong Kong Business School so there are about 15 students from each of those schools in the program and they spend a semester at each, meaning first semester of her senior year, all of the Globe-ers will be in Chapel Hill. I really enjoyed my weekend in Copenhagen because I liked being a part of their little community for the weekend. Since they’ll be together for so long, a lot of the Globers are really close. Girls are drastic minority of the 45 so they’re especially close

But my day quickly improved, we went to one of the neighborhoods in Copenhagen that I was told used to be a meatpacking district and was now where all the hipsters lived. If you know anything about me that means you know I would clearly love this place. The best thing was the weather the whole weekend, I think the second day it was 80 degrees, warmer than London was at that time.

Beautiful, idyllic Copenhagen with its leaning, painted houses and cobblestones looks even better in the sunshine. We watched a game of basketball between some of the American boys and some of the Danish boys, and drank Danish beer (Carlsberg) and listen to excellent music. 

The highlight of the weekend was Jocelyn’s birthday though, and on Saturday some of the lovely Globe girls, Sarika, Kristine, Vicky and I decorated one of their Danish friend’s apartment (who’s birthday was also recent, and who’s party it would be too) aka Sarika and I blew up something like 75 balloons and taped them to the walls and draped streamers all over the place (it was prettier than it sounds). Kristine and Vicky somehow managed to convert a traditional American jello shot recipe and we generally enjoyed an unusually warm, beautiful fall afternoon in Copenhagen. 

All of the Globe girls got together for dinner and Louisa (who is apparently the best baker in the entire world) made a traditional nougat cake for Jocey’s birthday. Honest to God it was the best thing I’ve ever eaten and I really don’t know if I can recreate it. Though it won’t be for lack of trying. And the party was fantastic. I mean I loved it because I got to be a part of Kristine’s little world over in Copenhagen but it seemed that the “American 21st birthday party” was a success with the Danes, too. Also both Anders and Jocelyn finished the ‘21’ lists that were made for them, something I have never seen done. Granted all of the tasks were within an apartment and a friendly environment, so they were willing to get crazy. Regardless, the entire scenario was fantastic to witness. (Notice the balloons…)

My final day in Copenhagen was more in the traditional weather, literally freezing and windy. When it finally warmed up in the afternoon we went on a river cruise and then took a walk through the center of the city, the King’s Gardens and the Palace Circle so I got to see plenty of the lovely city on the water. The best part was stumbling upon some people waiting in the Royal Circle, so we decided to wait to see what they were standing there for. And all of a sudden the royal family drove up! Who are beautiful like all Danes and happen to be a part of the longest continually ruling Royal family in Europe, no biggie.

Obviously I loved it, as you can tell by how many times I used the words beautiful and lovely, but I don’t think if I hadn’t been visiting I would have gone to Copenhagen. Its a very real city, you can actually imagine living there and there aren’t millions of tourists like in some of the huge cities of Europe. It was just overpriced, but hey, I’d be willing to pay for it again.

withoutallagenda:

living vicariously through tumblr pictures in this my year without fall

I MISS AMERICAN FALL!!!!!!

Yesterday our whole program went to Stonehenge and Bath. Firstly we ran into immense traffic and barely made our appointment for the Roman Baths and secondly, our guide was one of the most annoying men I’ve ever had to spend an entire day with. 

Needless to say, although the setting is majestic, the museum aspects of the Roman Baths are incredibly boring. Also audio guides are awful, I would much rather have a live person give me my tour than an old school cell phone. We had to use one at Stonehenge too and i just tend to avoid them at all costs.

When I found out our group was supposed to be at Stonehenge for an hour, that seemed rather ridiculous, I asked our program director, “The stones don’t move or anything right? So if it won’t be changing then why do we need to stay here for an hour?” She didn’t think it was as funny as I did. 

Basically what I learned was 1. I hate audioguides

2. I’m going back to Bath to see the Fashion Museum and the Jane Austin Experience

and 3. I would much rather travel by train than by coach ever again.

Last weekend 5 of the loveliest people I know and myself met up in Munich for what was supposed to be a beautiful weekend of bier and weinerschnitzel. Then, the day before I left, I realized it was supposed to pour the entire weekend. So I packed my backpack and wore my giant green rainboots on the airplane at 7 in the morning. Oh and a sidenote, never think its a good idea to take that earliest morning flight just because its that much cheaper. Walking through central London doesn’t feel so safe at 5am in the morning. I’m pretty sure a public bus saved my life because I couldn’t handle standing on the street corner alone any longer. (Sorry Mom, I promise I’ve taken steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again. You live and learn.) It is a good idea to take that early morning flight to get through security in a jiffy though. I don’t think Heathrow has ever been so low maintenance. 

Now I’ve heard this is fairly common but I’ve never had it happen before. I checking in at the gate and was boarding, like they scanned my ticket and everything and I walk down the hallway to….a bus. Which drives me through the craziest construction out onto the tarmac. We have to get out and walk up the little ladder. It was pretty cool though that everyone thought I was German. (Thanks for those near 100% German genes Mom and Dad!) The flight attendants spoke to the man next to me in English and then addressed me in German. Unfortunately, “no, thank you” is not one of the phrases I knew so I had to let on that I spoke English. When I arrived at the Munich Airport that was a bit of a snafu with my credit card and a parade through the airport for Oktoberfest because it was the first day of the festival, but then I was finally on my way!

The lovely German engineering brain designed a relatively easy to use public transit system and even in another language, I had no problem. The problem came once I got to the festival. I had to attempt to find my friends among hundreds of thousands of drunk tourists, not to mention that it still wasn’t raining and I was sweating in the outfit and galoshes I had so brilliantly worn. All was eventually resolved, with lots of loud shouting in English into crowds that we couldn’t hear each other (I didn’t enjoy broadcasting that I was American in this crowd so I frequently didn’t speak loud enough for them to hear inside the tent).

At the Hofbrauhaus tent, in addition to our little band, were Collin, Stephanie and Jocelyn. Collin was abroad in Copenhagen and met Patrick, and Jocelyn and Stephanie are in Sarah’s program in Geneva and are really wonderful girls.

I think everyone will thank me for that picture. 

Shenanigans ensued, highlights include when Patrick and Austin danced on the table, when Country Roads by John Denver played, and when our table was given out from underneath us because the stupid American college students didn’t know you were supposed to give a generous tip with each bier. I would have given up our table too if I was our beer maid, but she could’ve mentioned it, we were very nice to her otherwise. Oh well, lesson learned. 

I mean we’re obviously American: frat caps, Chocos and Polo.

The best discovery of the trip, a Sprite equivalent to lighten the taste of all that beer.

Also each stein is a litre of beer. Your respect is appreciated.

But we made it through.

Unfortunately our hostel/campground thought it was fun to serve nothing but that, so we got a little more sick of it that weekend than we had been planning on. Also breakfast was about as gross as it looks here.

But in a situation like this, with great brass bands playing traditional music and Ein Prosit every 5 minutes, how can you help but to get caught up in the atmosphere?

Also can someone tell me what these are? I still have no idea of the significance of a gingerbread heart with phrases in German on it that you wear around your neck. That one just went over my head apparently.

You all will be happy to hear we still managed to do some sight seeing. St. Paul’s Cathedral was right next to the fairgrounds so we stopped in for a visit and climbed the clock tower to see the city from above.

Then we headed into town to see the city center and the glockenschpeil.

Can you see the little guys in there that turn around when it strikes noon?

Sightseeing, good food, and pretty adorable friends, that’s what Oktoberfest is all about right?

Oh well, and this!

PROST!

Two Sundays ago I went to Cambridge, yeah I know its a long time ago and this is coming rather late, but hey get off my back, I’m in London. So anyways, we went to Victoria Train Station to catch our bus that left for Cambridge at 8:30. The bus ride was about 2 hours through the picturesque English countryside between here and there, which is really just glorified suburbs but they were still beautiful. Once we got to Cambridge we walked into town and found out the Tourist Information booth didn’t open until 11 am. Since none of the 4 of us that went had done any planning beforehand, we literally didn’t know what there was to do in Cambridge except that it was awesome. I don’t recommend this, but the day got better, have no fear. 

We walked into the main square where they have a market every Sunday and got lunch. Beth and I had some samosas (basically Indian hot pockets) and inspected the market’s fine wares. They included everything from mugs with all 33 of Cambridge’s colleges’ crests on them to tea towels with Prince William & Kate Middleton’s faces on them to this beautiful mismatched vintage tea set for 39 pounds! 

Read More

This will be my entire semester. I already feel like I fly constantly but now, I’ll be living in airports, too broke to at least pay to make it less of a hassle like the inveterate businessmen. *sigh*

(via flight001)

Apologies right now, I’m absolutely exhausted so if something rambles slightly or doesn’t make sense, forgive me.

So the last post gave the brief overview of my sitch here, now lets get into the nitty gritty of the last week or so.

Oh YEAHHHHH I already feel like I’m missing out on things left and right because I have everyday things like class and work to attend to. Ok 1. I’m in love with Alice, our director of Winston House. She went to King’s College here in London and did exchange with UNC for a semester so she understands our fanatical love of Chapel Hill but she is just so adorable. Petite, blonde, with pink cheeks and a body that is way more voluptuous than her precious little british accent would have you believe. Hopefully I can manage a picture with her before the semester is over, I just legitimately want to be best friends with her. Our goal is to get her to come out with us a couple times, plus she totally looks out for us here. Seriously the bomb.com

So we had our first week of class and then we had out first real weekend in London! Friday night we went and got real fish & chips, which were obviously delicious because, well, they’re fried, but they were also awesome because we got to explore Covent Garden. There will be pictures soon, no worries. The highlight of the night was when we went to a pub after and I got to try Pimm’s for the first time!! I still don’t know what kind of liquor it is, but have no fear, I’m determined to keep trying it till I figure it out, but one parts Pimm’s and 3 parts sparkling lemonade is the nectar of the gods. NO FUCKING JOKE. it doesn’t taste like alcohol and is so sweet, that being said, its really too sweet to drink as a real drink, its doesn’t even really taste like alcohol, and it was EXPENSIVE. but a couple girls on my program and I are thinking of sharing a bottle over the semester and trying to make a couple different kinds of drinks known to be made with Pimm’s because it is so terribly British (just imagine that in the accent it was clearly intended to be said in)

But don’t worry!! I’m not a picture tease, I actually took LOADSSSSSSS and now you’ll be sorry that you were saying, Nicole, where are all these pictures you keep talking about.

Well Saturday morning we went on the most excellent tour I’ve ever been on in my life, and it was of Westminster Abbey. Another amazing place. Here’s the low down:

This is Big Ben. That’s not really his name. His name is the clocktower of St.Stephens Hall of Westminster Palace. He’s a bud of mine cuz I work across the street. He’s a pretty cool dude cuz he rings to tell me what time it is every hour but he’s also responsible for stupid tourists walking into the street in front of cars to take a picture of him.

This is Oliver Cromwell. He’s pretty cool i guess, because he’s more or less responsible for the creation of Parliament, though he is a rather hardcore fellow and doesn’t look very happy here. 

 I think I was trying to take a picture of Whitehall Palace down the street but I got this rather ferrety looking fellow instead and I think its really hilarious.

The House of Lords, get some. I plan to just hang around here so that I can meet my future husband and therefore marry into the British aristocracy.

I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of going to work here. Now here’s where some prime Westminster Abbey comes in, you know that place where Will & Kate got married

There’s apparently a super legit school that shares a little park with the back side of Westminster Abbey. Helena Bonham Carter went here, as well as lots of other famous people you’ve probs never heard of. We decided that you’re life was probably pretty taken care of if you went here.

The College of Bishops for the Anglican Church is also hanging out on this park

Oh woops thats Rachel, excellent photobomb my friend.

You can’t take pictures inside, which is ridiculous since it doesn’t actually have services most of the time, but it really is unbelievable.

alexkastanas:

New video up! Josh Turner and I covering Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide”. Hope you like it and let me know what you think! :)

AHHH i love this, and get a rather Janis Joplin vibe from it, oddly enough

I arrived yesterday around 11am London time after circling for 45 minutes in the “usual” Heathrow air rush hour. After waiting in line to get off the plane (never sit in the last row of a plane that large), waiting in line to get through border control (where I was chastised for not having a letter to prove I would be a student, even though I had a passport AND a visa), waiting in line to collect my two HUGE bags, and waiting in line for the tube, I corralled my bags and rode the hour into London. Pouring sweat, I finally reached my humble abode for the next 4 months, 18 Bedford Place and met my roommates, Beth and Rachel, and my flat mates, Myeisha and Liz. There will be a mysterious other flat mate joining us in a couple weeks so hopefully she’ll join in the little group we have already. We stopped by Winston House, where we will have class and any receptions throughout the semester, where our program directors/professors/chaperones/adopted grandparents for the semester John and Joy Kasson live on the top floor.

After getting lost on our way to the supermarket, which allowed for a little exploring, we got some food, phones and anything we could think we needed off the top of our heads. It turns out we couldn’t think of much and will probably be going back the next couple of days till we figure out just how limited our very limited flats are. As far as we can tell, our’s is the worst, and although that’s not ideal, we take some pride in its dinginess, and have lovingly named it the Frat House. Our windows only open 3 inches or so, and with a record high of 75 the day we all moved in, our flat was a sweat box. It is also in the basement and right next to the building’s laundry facilities which gives the hallway outside our door a rather moldy smell. Finally, our supposedly furnished kitchen is sadly lacking just about everything it needs so we’ll be working on that. I don’t think we would notice the awful glare of the lights or the hospital white shade of the walls if it weren’t for the comparison of the boys’ flat. They have windows that reach almost floor to ceiling and can climb out one onto a fire escape that is more a rooftop patio than safety precaution, especially since it looks over a little park. It looks like theirs will be where most of use will be hanging out.

Last night we got the whole group together and attempted to wander until we found something to eat, since almost nothing was open, oddly enough, we ended up eating at a Afro-Portuguese Chicken Restaurant. Yes, it was exactly as weird as it sounded. But after dinner we decided to go into the pub across the street, the Princess Louise, to get something to drink for the majority of us who are underage in the States. The interior was amazing, and hopefully we’ll be back again for the comparatively cheap drinks and local atmosphere so I’ll take some pictures, but we had a great time and met a couple locals who were on a pub crawl to celebrate the birth of their friend’s daughter. I don’t know that I would celebrate a baby girl by drinking for almost 12 hours straight, especially since their friend had long since gone home, but they thought it was hilarious we were from North Carolina. We all went to bed at 10 attempting to one-up the inevitable jetlag.

This morning, although we got lost on the way to our meeting place, was surprisingly uneventful and we had an excellent 3 hour tour of London. Having been before, I was expecting another highlight reel of the best sights in London, and although we did see those our guide was great about giving us peaks into the different characters of all of the little neighborhoods of central London. I think she mainly just piqued our interest and we wish we’d been able to write down all the places and events she recommended. This afternoon we’re trying to finish unpacking and get any other supplies we need, as well as work out a plan for meals and tomorrow morning in our orientation for our program at Winston House. Without the internship this first week, we will hopefully be able to settle in more fully.

This is the park that I live next to, quaint right? I know you’re jealous.

I see you St. Paul’s.

Da Globe

withoutallagenda:

Email subject line in my inbox today: “A message from Pierce Brosnan about saving whales”

People, Pierce Brosnan cares about whales. So you should too. Obviously.

This is so very much like my room this summer its ridiculous.

(via lexasaurasrex)

The original first Harry Potter screen test. Watch this right now.

Cutest damn thing I’ve ever seen!

(via lexasaurasrex)

As I was traveling through Canada I realized that I have been blessed with the opportunity to see a lot of places. I’m not saying it’s anywhere near as many as it could be. And I’m not saying I shouldn’t keep trying for more, but hey that gets us back to my main topic. 

I have visited 30(ish) US states:

Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Pennsylvania  West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, New York, Massachusetts, Delaware, Maryland, Washington DC

And 7 other countries:

Canada, England, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland

I believe that the true test of whether you’re a good tourist and you’ve really been to a place is when you can describe its personality. Not necessarily the personality of the people who live there, but of the place itself. What it looks like, its history, its culture, its food, its music, whats important to it and its people. Its not easy, and I’m not saying I’m a good tourist yet, it takes a lot of time and energy (and therefore money) to really get the hang of it, but I hope to be. Within the next year I’ll have visited many more countries and places abroad, but the US is a unique place into itself and I love it just as much, if not more. I’ve just turned 20, so within the next 20 years my goal is to see and really do justice to the rest of the 50 states. 

A couple will need revisiting, Washington DC totally counts and is one of my first goals because I love the history of our quirky little country, West Virginia was in a bad mood and only showed me her ugly side, so I’ll try again, I absolutely NEED to see more of most of the southern states, and obviously NYC as a part of New York, not to mention the new additions.

SO here’s my request my friends; if you need a roommate, someone to help you bring your car across the country when you move, or just someone to keep you company on that vacation you’ve always wanted, keep me in mind, TAKE ME WITH YOU. And hey maybe we can write a book about it sometime.

remash:

artificial moon ~ wang yuyang