Mind The Gap: Our Adventures in London

Hello friends, 

I am going to try to keep this as brief as I can since it is past midnight here in Maastricht. London was amazing. I loved navigating the tube, talking to Londoners, and exploring the beautiful architecture in the city.

Some highlights of our trip were:

1) Seeing Wicked! I have seen many musicals in my life, and this one was by far the best. The singing was phenomenal, and I absolutely loved the story. Plus, we had amazing seats that were originally 90 pounds. I could go on and on about how great this experience was.

2) Bath. I loved everything about the city. The Roman baths were so fascinating, the Bath Abbey was gorgeous, and we found a great patisserie for lunch! I could definitely live in Bath.

Chris at the Roman Baths

Me at the Roman Baths

3) Going to an organ concert at the Westminster Abbey. To be honest, we were all a little tired when we went to the concert and had to leave early so we wouldn't fall asleep, but it was still a lot of fun to attend a cultural event.

4) The jewelry at the Victoria and Albert Museum. It was magnificent. I wouldn't mind having that collection! Haha.

5) The Twinings Store! I had so much fun looking at all of the tea and bought a ton to bring home with me.

6) The English countryside. I was never bored on the bus ride from London to Stonehenge and Bath because the English countryside is so beautiful. Here is a photo so you can get an idea:

Things that surprised me while in England:

1) I don't know if this is just a matter of timing, but we seemed to hear just as many people speaking French as English. I guess maybe a lot of people from France visit since it is so close?

2) How quick the tube is, especially compared to New York City. I love the London tube. It is so efficient.

3) Our amazing breakfast. Our hotel had a huge breakfast buffet, definitely the best I have ever had for free. It was glorious.

4) I LOVED fish and chips. This surprised me because I don't really like fish, French fries, or anything fried.

5) We actually had two beautiful days with no rain and blue skies while in London. The sun even came out while we were at Stonehenge, though it was raining by the time we got to Bath.

6) I learned that the city of London is only one square mile. Most of the famous sites are actually in Westminster.

Things I wasn't crazy about:

1) The London Eye. I guess maybe because everyone talked it out to be amazing. I just didn't think it was worth the money. The free 4D experience show that came with it was almost cooler than the actual ride.

2) Our hotel location. It wasn't anywhere near the big sites. Hence, I grew to love the tube.

3) Billy Elliot. This was the musical we all saw as a group. The little boy's dancing was amazing. That is just about the only good thing I can say. To give you an idea, the plot is that a little boy decides he prefers ballet to boxing.

Some quintessential London tourist pictures for our families to see:

At the Tower Bridge

Chris with the Tower Bridge

Us at Stonehenge. It was really neat to see it!

In front of Big Ben

Chris and Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

Me in front of Westminster Abbey

We got back yesterday and had orientation most of the day today. I will try to write about it tomorrow when the rest of orientation is over. Other than that, we are planning our first weekend trip for next weekend. As of now, we are planning on going to Berlin with a stop in Cologne. 

Love, 

Olga

Note to Self: Learn Dutch

Hello friends,

I just woke up in the middle of the night to finish packing for London, but I wanted to write a quick note to say that Chris and I have made it to beautiful Maastricht after about 14 hours of travel.

Here are a few quick observations about Maastricht and The Netherlands from my first few hours here:

1) The Dutch language really loves double letters. Chris spent the bus on the way to Maastricht counting the number of road signs without double letters. There weren't that many.

2) The Dutch idea of a "short walk" and the American idea of a "short walk" is very different. I love to walk places so it is not a problem, but the experience of walking 10 minutes with bags full of groceries will definitely be interesting.

3) Speaking of grocery stores, we went on a "practical shopping tour" this afternoon, and the place we went to was kinda like an HEB and the dollar store meets the mall. It was huge with two super markets and lots of random stores. My friends who had been to Maastricht told me that you have to bag your own groceries and bring your own bags, (you can pay 22 euro cents per bag if you want one there) but it was still an interesting experience. You have to bag them really quickly since they are already checking out someone else while you are bagging.

4) When they said that The Netherlands has more bikes per capita than any other country in the world, they weren't kidding. There are bikes EVERYWHERE. I will take a few pictures of their bike racks so that y'all can get a better idea. Apparently, the cars stop for you as a pedestrian, but the bikes don't. [sounds a lot like Baylor.]

5) Speaking of cars, all the cars here are tiny, which is interesting because Dutch people, in general, are tall. Chris told me that The Netherlands has the tallest average height in the world. Gas is really expensive though so I am guessing the tiny cars get more miles per gallon.

6) There are signs everywhere that says "100% Bop. 0% Op." I tried to google it, and it looks like an anti-drinking campaign, possibly? Everything was in Dutch so I am not entirely sure.

7) Our dorms are nice. Way bigger than I expected, and there is a stovetop.

Outline of our day:

We arrived in Amsterdam at 8 in the morning and got on a bus to Maastricht. On the way there, we stopped at the Dutch equivalent of a rest stop restaurant, but it was a slightly different experience. The food was all set out, and you could just grab whatever you wanted and head to the cashier. The problem was that everything was in Dutch, and none of the food looked familiar. Chris stuck with a sandwich because he knew what it was. I got what I thought was a pecan strudel but actually turned out to be a very good meat pie.

When we arrived to Maastricht, we validated our EurRail passes, and then it was on to Teikyo. Our dorm is interesting because it is a combination of an emergency clinic and a dorm. The bottom level has doctors offices and patient rooms, and a separate wing has dorm rooms. After we got our rooms, we went on the practical shopping tour. Chris and I bought a few essentials to hold us over until we return from London. After shopping, we unpacked and then went to dinner, where we had potatoes and chicken, which was delicious.

I passed out after dinner, but Chris went to go get our internet set up. Apparently, if you think AirBear is bad, UniMaas is way more difficult because even with help, it took an hour to get our internet set up.

I already love Maastricht. Dutch people are so nice (and I love their accents when they speak English!) I love the architecture, and the weather today was wonderful.

I will post some photos of our home for the next three months once we are back from London.

Love from The Netherlands,
Olga