A quick note on the British currency, which I find quite peculiar. There are 1 and 2 pound coins over here (and for some reason we tend to take money less seriously when it’s in coins as opposed to bills, maybe it’s an American thing). So I was counting my money and I realized I have $18 in just coins. Wierd, right?
Add comment July 28th, 2008
Living in New York City almost all my life, the only castles I knew about were those I saw on television. When I learned that for a trip, we would be going to Windsor Castle, I wasn’t very excited somehow. I thought they only looked good from outside but inside they were just filled with dungeons and dark, scary rooms. When I arrived at Windsor Castle, however, I was in for a huge surprise. First of all, I knew that castles are big in size, but this big? I mean these place was HUGE! Then inside, I went into the State Apartments. This is an area that was used on a regular basis by the older royal families. It still is used by the royal family today but only for special occasions. Let me add here that today, Windsor Castle is the residence of Prince Charles and even Queen Elizabeth spends most of her time here. Now back to the state apartments, each room was simply gorgeous. To think people actually lived and used these spaces is mind-boggling.One room I found extremely interesting was the room where the arms were located. This is because most of these arms actually had been captured and stolen from the British royalty after they invaded other nations. This room truly is a blend of various different cultures and shows how vast the British empire really was.
I can go on and on about this area but now I’ll move on with my tour. The only other place I got to visit in the Windsor Castle, since I spent most of my time in the State Apartments, was St. George’s Chapel. Once again, though all chapels are beautiful, I have never seen one like this. This is particularly because the Chapel contained tombs of some of the royalty that had passed away and obviously, it is very rare to see such a feature. All in all, my trip to Windsor Castle was extremely fulfilling because it had completely surpassed my expectations. The only complaint (which really isn’t even a complaint) I have is that I wish I had more time. With the limited time we were given, I wasn’t able to visit all of the areas in the Castle, and I wish I did get a chance to do that.
Add comment July 28th, 2008
With so much going on, I didn’t have any time at all to write a blog, I barely had time to check the mail! So to update everyone, this is what I have done in the past 2 weeks -
1) Visited Windsor Castle and Hampton Court
2) Visited the Tower of London
3) Visited the Museum of Science as well as the Museum of Natural History
4) Went on a trip to Brighton
5) Visited the National Gallery
6) Visited the British Library
7) Saw the Phantom of the Opera
Explored the enormous Trent Park, our campus.
9) Visited the British Library
Whew, that seems like quite a few things, and I don’t even think this is the complete list! This is off the top of my head. Now, to make it easier for myself and the readers, starting from the next blog, I will go over this list and describe each of my experiences in seperate blogs. If I recall doing something else that I haven’t covered, I’ll take care of that also.
Till further notice,
Rachit
1 comment July 28th, 2008
One other unique aspect about London, which I don’t find too appealing, is the weather here is completely unpredictable! I mean if the weather changes on a daily basis like it does in New York, I’m okay with that (probably because I’m used to it), but here it changes every half an hour! Its usually alternating between rain and sun, where it rains for 10 minutes, then it’s sunny for 20, and then the other way around. Also, when it rains, it gets pretty cold and when the sun comes out it’s pretty warm. Today, the weather is pretty consistent but that also isn’t a good thing because it has been consistently cold and wet throughout the day. So I’m not planning on going anywhere today, planning on taking a nap and then writing my paper (it’s not all fun and games here). Hopefully the weather will get better as the day goes on. I have my fingers crossed.
Until further notice,
Rachit
Add comment July 9th, 2008
Hello once again,
Today we were taken to two places away from London, in fact almost on the border of England. The first place was Bath, and it was beautiful! Though I didn’t know what to expect from Bath when I first heard of it, it was love at first sight as soon as I got there. While London is more like New York City, as I mentioned before, Bath is a proper European town. With it’s fascinating architecture, and open valleys, it is one of the most picturesque towns I have ever been to. Another famous aspect of Bath is it’s water, which contains 20-something minerals. I had that water, and it actually tasted different. They say such water has curative powers. The only regret I have from this trip, and it’s pretty big, is the fact that my camera died right after I took two pictures. For some reason the charger for my rechargable batteries somehow doesn’t work anymore (my guess is that the difference in voltage has caused some sort of fuse) and because of that, I couldn’t take any pictures. But my solution is that I will take the pictures my friends have taken, who cares if it’s cheating!
The other place we went to was Stonhenge. Though I have heard a lot about the place, and seen many pictures, I really wasn’t the most excited upon arriving there. I mean in the basic sense, it’s only a bunch of rocks put together. I might be being a little ignorant (or whatever you’d call it), but that’s really what I felt. After staying there for about 10-15 minutes, I was done. But I do plan on going back to Bath once before my trip ends, and I recommend it to everybody who plans to visit England.
Well that’s it for now, I plan to go to sleep at a reasonable hour today (something that I haven’t been doing here at all!), and do something productive tomorrow.
Till next time,
Rachit
Add comment July 6th, 2008
This is the conversation a few friends and I were having as we walked to the Cockfosters market from our campus. My theory was that it’s only because we’re in a suburb, since even in New York people tend to be a bit nicer in the suburbs. “But,” my friend quickly reminded me, “remember that lady who spoke to us for a half an hour in Camden yesterday, just like that? Camden is in main London.” He had a very valid point. So I guess people just are nicer here.
Being an Indian, one aspect of London that is also very different from New York is that there are many many more South Asians living here, whether it ’s Central London or the suburbs, South Asians are everywhere. Though my friends and family in America told me this, I never thought the difference would be so great.
So today was the first day of classes, and it was a great experience. Although the class was three hours long, almost double the duration I’m used to, it was still fascinating to see how a class is taught in another country and how the local students view the world in general.
Add comment July 2nd, 2008
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