Birthday Weekend Continues . . .

So, following our quesadillas we went out dancing for a bit before I came home and literally crashed after a 4a.m. skype convo with the familia.  

Saturday morning = sleep, glorious sleep.  While I did have to get up to personally inform Santi and Carly of the goings (due to a minuteless phone), I spent a good amount of time on Saturday just jogging and cleaning the flat with sunshine streaming through the windows and the songs of birds mixing with my rather ecclectic itunes library as I scrubbed and straightened away.  

Mid clean Patrick surprised me with some lovely pink roses.  He then sat himself down in the sunlight and absorbed my frenzied activity and rapid-fire speech with a patronizing smile on his face.  I finally finished just in time to receive a call from Santi and Javs asking about meeting for dinner.  So off to Trafalgar it was.  

After a bit of conferencing it was decided I would take Santi, Javs and Maeve to see the South Bank of the Thames while the rest of the ladies headed back to Kamen-Minerva for some dinner.  

I love the south bank.  It's a touristy place but in a perfectly charming way.  Mimes, street musicians, an old fashioned book market, a merry go round, blue and white sparkling lights (which Javier apparently dislikes) and plenty of quaint eateries where one can stop to get a bite to eat.  

We wandered through the delightful sights, sounds and smells of the Thames before ducking into a small market area to play on some of the most brilliant hand-carved rocking horses (or cars/ducks/random other animals) one has ever seen.  While rocking away on our "transport" of choice, our eyes lit upon a pleasant little restaurant tucked in a corner of the small square we were in.  Our stomachs suddenly remembered how hungry we were and we quickly abandoned our play in search of some supper.  

And there (at a restaurant I can't recall the name of) Maeve, Javs, Santi and I found some fantastic fare indeed.  Though it is possible my steak was made infinitely more delicious by the friendly, familiar chatter of my long-lost friends that accompanied its consumption. Mmmm Mmm good!  With our bellies full and our wallets a bit lighter we meandered along the bank to the globe, over the Millenium bridge, past St. Paul's, through the financial district back to Farringdon just in time to catch everyone else headed out to Three Kings.  

Out to three kings it was with a lively group of fifteen or so.  Turns out Three King's was hosting a private party downstairs so, after a large group of us stood in the middle of the private party looking REALLY confused for at least a minute, we realized the stairs leading to the second floor were hidden in the corner and hurriedly scurried up them to the safety of our own private room of sorts.  There I greatly enjoyed my "Coke with Lemon" to our own selection of songs from the jukebox and the ridiculous banter of my lovely friends.  When the pub closed we headed back to our hang out, Minerva Eight, the cream of the crop as far as views are concerned.   

I was close to dosing off and Javs kept demanding sweet food and hinting that they should probably head out, much to the chagrin of everyone else who knew that my darling girlfriends were putting the finishing touches on some surprise cake!  MMMMM homemade buttercream frosting with fresh strawberries on a dark chocolate cake.  Sigh.  Heaven.  I was definitely surprised.  Almost as surprised as Javier :) 

Once the bowl licking had stopped the ladies planned out a picnic in hyde park for the next afternoon and I headed off to bed already quite content with the way my birthday had progressed.

like i said, Saturday I said I'm sorry . . .

Actually, I haven't even finished Friday from this epic weekend.  So, Friday it is.  

The "uncool people" headed off to the British Museum (which is actually a very cool place) and the sophisticated ones among us headed to Camden Markets.  I bet you can't guess where I spent my afternoon :)

Camden Markets! 

I've not seen an eclectic mix of wonderfully brilliant items in quite a while.  Anything from old books, to wellies (rain boots), to a fantastic vintage shop called funky town full of outfits perfect for the fisher funk.  Life size horses in the passages, "The best shop in the world," a store with "death bands" (as Santiago calls leather bracelets with metal studs), goth clothing galore.  My senses were awash in wondrous sights, sounds and smells as we explored racks full of nineties jogging suits and rooms of carved wood.  What a unique place.  So unique and intriguing in fact that it managed to entertain four boys and myself for over an hour or so until we were forced to head back to the tube station.  With nothing in our hands, but heads full of frivolities seen in the past hour or so.

From our cultural immersion we attempted a post-parliamentary tour meeting, with those goofy British Museum kids, which managed to fail epically.  We therefore spent quite a while standing just below Big Ben (not a bad place to stand) waiting for them before meeting up with them near Westminster abbey and parting again, almost instantly.  Some of us (including santiago, daniel james, Katherine Schilling, Colleen Moran and Topo and I) headed to the grocery store and eventually back to the flats to some absolutely divine, homemade quesadillas.  Pause.  

My eyes are getting heavy, I must needs stop for some sleep!  More tomorrow!  Peace friends :)

Friday Night I Crashed Your Party, Saturday I said "I'm Sorry!" Sunday came and trashed it out again . . .

What a wonderful weekend! Friday found several friends from out of town in.  Santiago from Rome and Javs, Maeve and Dan Maloof in from Toledo.  Sadly, I had class Friday morning.  Good old Trafalgar square (we went to Covent Garden), so I missed out on the British Museum Tour but was elated that I could meet up with everyone in time for heart attack on a plate at Fryers Delight, home to "the best fish in chips in London" (yes, I know, every other pub makes this claim, but we at Kamen-Minerva have decided that Fryers Delight is the REAL deal).

With our bellies full and our arteries only partially clogged we set out from Fryer's Delight, past King's Cross and Platform 9 3/4 to the British Library.  There, accompanied by Maeve's beautiful reading of the infamous "Rick Steves," we saw an impressive collection of treasure including original writings such as Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Handel's Messiah, It's Been a Hard Day's Nigh and a play cowritten by Shakespeare.  Very impressive.  

Oh, and Topo and I were quite thrilled to see one of the earliest surviving Qur'an's.  We decided it was no wonder Muslim's sometimes argue over the meaning of certain Suras (or chapters), the writing was indecipherable and used no punctuation or vowels :) 

Following the biblioteca some people headed to the British Museum again while a contingent of us headed toward Camden markets.  However, that shall have to be a story for another time . . I'm off for a run, then headed to mass on this beautifully sunny day! 

Peace and prayers to all of you! :)

WARNING: Outbreaks of Susie Homemaker Disease on the rise!

There is definitely something wrong with me.  I've been quite clean and somewhat domestic all semester.  But this morning?  I took it to a whole new level.  A rather unhealthy, potentially perilous, level if you ask me.  How do I know?  Well, I suppose I can't be sure, but I'll list the presenting symptoms, and you can make your own diagnosis:

1. woke up early (9 or so on a day with no classes)

2. cleaned my room

3. ate breakfast and washed all the dishes in the sink

4. cleaned the kitchen 

5. sorted my laundry

6. cleaned the rest of the common area in my flat 

7. made cookie dough

8. Put the first batch of cookies in the oven 

9. put my laundry in the washing machine 

10. took out my first batch of cookies, prepared the second one and changed into running clothes

11. took my clothes out of the wash and put them in the dryer

12. put in a second batch of cookies and of course took them out

13. went grocery shopping

14. wiped down the refrigerator before i put my things back into it (it was filthy!)

15. checked emails and such

16. went for a jog

17. took my clothes out of the dryer

18. Put on my clean clothes in my clean room in my clean flat with the aroma of freshly baked cookies wafting through the air. 

Strange.  Even Stranger, I largely repeated the process on Saturday morning when I spent over two hours cleaning my flat and washing jeans and going for a jog etc.  No cookies on Saturday I suppose, so that's a slight improvement?  But I did wash a HECK of a lot more dishes!  

This could be an issue  .  .  .  any suggestions?

IS it a coincidence that you're all wearing Green today?

Saint Patrick's Day in London was brilliant.  Though apparently its a very American thing to dress up in crazy green outfits as several people found out when their teacher began class by making a comment similar to "Oh!  What a lovely coincidence that you all seem to bewearing green to day!  Did you all know it was Saint Patrick's Day!" and another friend had to explain to everyone at work why he had specifically worn his green shirt.  Crazy Brits! 

We really wanted to make corned beef and hash for the special day, however, upon realizing we would have to arise early in the mornin' to first purchase and then prepare the corned beef we exnayed that.  We did however, decide while walking home to make a dinner full of potatoes and all things Irish.  

A stop at Sainsbury's in Angel (the only REAL sized grocery store that exists in London apparently) found us equipped with "Irish Top Flank Steak" (purposely not the British beef), 2 huge bags of potatoes, cabbage and carrots, Irish Soda Bread and some Bailey's and Ice Cream.   (We decided Ice Cream is an international delicacy that can adopt whatever nationality we decided to assign it).   Our collection of only the best Irish ingredients and the most determined amateur chefs turned into a feast fit for kings; mashed and fried potatoes, seasoned beef, boiled cabbage and carrots and simply heavenly soda bread eaten with jam and butter, all washed down with some tasty milkshakes.  MMMMM.  

A game or two of darts at the local exmouth finished the evening with a bang before all of us succumbed to our food comas and collapsed into our beads for a well-deserved sleep.  

Ironically, despite my failure to consume more than a sip or two of alcohol in the form of a bailey's milkshake the night before, I managed not to wake up on Wednesday morning for the first half of my psych class.  I asked Topo to inform the teacher I had woken up late, but had to laugh to myself that of all days to oversleep, I chose the day after St. Paddy's, making me look like a raging alcoholic who had too much of a hangover to wake up in time for class.  Oh dear.

:) Peace! 

So Apparently During the Gothic Period the cool thing to do was build castle ruins?

(Edinburgh Part 2)

Sunday Morning saw John Darnell, the oh so lovely Colleen, and myself waking up at 9/9:30 for mass.  The rest of our posse set out ahead of us for Rosslyn chapel and the countryside.  Mass was supposed to be at 10.  However, once we finally found the Church we also found a sign instructing us to go to a different Church at a different time for a mass of three churches combined.  Alright, no big deal.  Only thing is, we haven't the slightest idea where this other Church is.  And that is where our day began.  

Out from an effervescent could of shining white light stepped Hugh (insert last name I can't remember here), our (british) Sunday saviour (Javs, please note the lowercase s - I'm not equating Him to Jesus).  Hugh also walked up to the Church only to discover mass had been moved.  When he overheard ustalking he kindly informed us he was headed that way and would be happy to show us where this other Church was.  In the interim, we invited him to breakfast (I had a simply heavenly almond croissant) and learned all about his life at boarding school and his current enrollment at University of Edinburgh.  Once our stomachs were pleasantly full we set off for mass.  The services in Edinburgh seemed to be exclusively anglican (at least the one's we found), so it was interesting to experience an Anglican Service.  As it turns out they're quite similar to Catholicism.  Well, with the exception of the priest being a married woman and mother of three, everyone standing around a huge table and passing around the bread and wine for communion and an old woman who left about a five minute pause after each intention.

Afterward, Hugh introduced us to his pastor and helped us find directions to the bus stop for Rosslynn Chapel.  For those Dan Brown fans among you, you'll recognize the name of this chapel from DaVinci code.  The chapel itself is absolutely gorgeous, the interior is essentially painted with carvings, and no two carvings are alike.  The history behind the chapel was intriguing as well.  I shan't relate it here though, if you want to know.  Ask :)  Or, I suppose you could look it up as well.  Anyhoo, I digress, a long term preservation project accounted for some intense scaffolding circling the top of the chapel which we were allowed to climb.  The woman who spoke about the chapel apologized for it, but I haven't the slightest idea why, climbing the chapel scaffolding gives visitors a breathtaking view of the surrounding countryside including Rosslyn Grove (inspiration for many famed poets and writers of Romanticism and Gothic repute) and some of those crazy old castle ruins I mentioned earlier.  Apparently people thought that building castle ruins on their grounds made them look more beautiful and mysteriously Romantic?  Who knows, not I.  All I know is that between the breathtaking  countryside, awe-inspiring chapel and our entertainingly authentic British friend, Hugh, I was pleased as punch.  

After our countryside jaunt Hugh grabbed a bag of really interesting teriyaki flavored chips?  They have some real gems in terms of chip (aka crisps) flavors here (Fish and Chips, Prawn and cocktail, cajun squirrel, chili-chocolate, Worcester Sauce,  Onion Bhaji . . . yea, you get the idea, they don't really sporing for good old cheddar cheese and sour cream).  Also, the only kinds of snacks people in London eat are apparently "crisps" and cookies.  Real healthy people, eh?

I digress once again.  Finally, following a lengthy discussion of rugby rules, we re-entered the city limits of Edinburgh at which point Hugh took us to one of his favorite pubs in the city hidden up a winding staircase near the trainstation.  We sat with a nice Irish couple and discussed the SImpsons over some of THE most delicious bangers and mash (sausage and potatoes) I've ever had.  To wrap up the trip in serious style, John, Colleen and I bid a hasty goodbye to our friend, sprinted to the train station, bought a box of Scottish shortbread and then proceeded to consume all 40+cookies in the 5 hour ride home while watching a beautiful scottish sunset.  Sigh.  Sunsets, shortbread and silliness.  What more could a girl want.

I don't even want to talk about how much shortbread I ate.

I'm serious, John Darnell and I (with a little assistance from Colleen and our friendly neighbors across the aisle on the train) ate a MASSIVE box of shortbread cookies.  I should probably be dead right now.  BUT, once again, by the grace of God, I am not. Yay!  All you lucky people get to put up with me for a while longer.  

SO.  The reason I was eating shortbread.  I spent an absolutely fantastic weekend in Edinburgh.  Renee, Connor, John, John, Katie, Colleen and I all set off Friday afternoon on a five hour train ride to experience the magical lowlands of Scotland.  This was my first experience traveling by train.  I loved it!  The ambiance is so delightful (though I wasn't in car with a bunch of drunken scottish men and a very short gentleman dressed as a real life oompa loompa . . . odd? we thought so. . .)but yes, just so many people from so many walks of life all brought together for a little while.  Most of them chatting happily away as they prepare for a holiday in the countryside or a visit home for the weekend.  Amidst the chapter I somehow settled down for a good four to five hours of homework.  It was nice to start the weekend on a productive note for a change.  Especially since I wasn't sitting next to any of my ND friends anyway.  Five very productive hours later, I found myself stepping out onto a rather blustery platform ready to face a weekend of adventures in Edinburgh.  

Adventure number one?  Find the hostel.  After a brief discussion and a brief moment of confusion where we thought the lift sign meant bathroom, we headed off down princess street for a thirty minute walk to Belford Hostel.  Claim to fame?  (at least according to yours truly)  Old Church converted to a hostel by plopping several makeshift drywalls in the shape of rooms in the old church apse.  No cielings on the rooms.  Don't worry, there was a roof.  The church roof.  But no ceiling on the roof.  Pretty funny to walk into a 12 x 18 room with four bunk beds and no ceilings but a vaulted church roof and an oak choir loft above your head.  We wanted Connor to climb up and wave to our neighbors before scaling the choir loft in search of an organ.  Sadly he declined and we opted for dinner instead.  Dinner led us on a scenic tour till a turn chosen by Renee took us through a, um, interesting part of town, and eventually to haymarket where we grabbed some tasty food before heading off to find a live music place that I can't remember the name of right now. Failure.  Epic failure!  I digress.  We found the music place, but there was nowhere to sit, so we wandered on bumping into some fellow domers along the way and accompanying them to a place called the three sisters that was a sports bar, irish pub and dungeon in one?  There was a room with cool stars.  I'm not sure what that was supposed to be.  Ironically that was our favorite room.  I was quite excited there was no cover and even more ecstatic that my coca cola was only 85p.  Fantastique!  Or "brilliant" as the British say.

After Three sisters we wandered back to the live music place for a minute before heading back to hostel for some shut eye.  Saturday morning we woke up around 10 to get ready for our big day at "el castillo" (that was for my toledo stalkers :) my Spanish is pretty legit ;).  The castle, as is to be expected, is absolutely gorgeous.  

Guess Who?

Last evening, at the Crown Tavern, a new set of Guess Who champs were established.  IN a feat of uncanny ability, Laura Bodien and Patrick Kirkland defeated the self-proclaimed "I never lose at Guess Who" team of Dan Dixon and Tom.  Not once, my friends, but TWICE!  

Well done, well done.  More to come.

SNOW DAY!

So, this entry should have been written FOREVER ago, but I'm a bit behind on my blogging . . . SO quick version of our snow day in Londontown . . . 

1. it only snowed ten inches total over a period of like sixteen hours. 

2. The entire bus system shut down, I actually had my internship meeting cancelled Sunday night for Monday night before five inches had even falle

n.

3. I have no classes on Monday, so I wasn't nearly as excited as everyone else for our snow day, though London in the snow was absolutely gorgeous!

4.  On SUnday evening John Darnell, Sean MCCrosky, Dan Dixon, Pat Kirkland, Mike Grathwol and I set off for this Church, Farm STreet Jesuit Chur

ch of the Immaculate Conception, about a 40 minute bus ride away to hit up a youth mass at 7:30.  There was some sort of bus accident en route so we had to get off our bus and walk for a good half hour to get there.  This was fine, except I had been planning on riding the bus and therefore

 had the worst possible shoes for a chilly Sunday Evening.  By this point a few flurries had begun to fall. By the time we got to the Church, which is in a beautiful area of town, there was a dusting of snow on the ground and my feet were sufficiently chilly.  But it was lovely outside, so I didn't mind.

5.  Mass was very nice and the Church was gorgeous.  Also, it was nowhere near as big as the gigantic Cathedral of Westminster (which was nice

 because that means its also warmer) but it was still absolutely gorgeous.  We'd stumbled upon a real beauty!

6.  Post mass a nice man, Matthew, who is from S. Africa and studying to be a priest invited us to join him at a pub near the Church with some of the other young people.  Mike, Pat, Dan and I agreed sadly the other two had hwrk to finish.  Matthew 

bought us a round of drinks and we chatted for a while about life in S. Africa and the Jesuits and life in London.  We then met the "parish priest" or rector of the Church who was slightly Zany in a most delightful way, and suggested Londoners needed "walking permits."  After spending a week or two in london being jostled about 

and poked by umbrellas and so on and so forth, I think most people would agree :)  Matthew invited us up to his parish sometime, and with ma

ny smiles and much cheerful chatter we wandered out into a British Winter Wonderland.  Wandering past shuttered shops and through silent streets, we waved jovially at two gentleman wearing top hats outside a quiet victorian hotel.  Sigh.  

7.  We retraced our steps hoping just to catch the bus we came on back to the flats.  Unfortunately, after walking for about 40 minutes we realized that our bus didn't run back in the other direction and it was another 40 minute walk at least.  By this time, the gentle snow had turned to outright blizzard and I could no longer f

eel my feet.  I was delighted when Mike and Dan decided we should take the subway from Oxford street up to King's Cross then down to Farringdon, our tube stop.  

8.  While waiting for our tube we had an interesting encounter with a middle aged man claiming to be Jewish who stepped on my feet b

ecause he wasn't allowed to touch people's arms?  As we scurried off onto our train he (of course) touched my shoulder and said good bye I'm a good Jewish Boy! So much for no touching above the foot!

9.  I didn't really mind though, we were almost home and watching the expression on Dan's face throughout the episode was priceless :) 

10.  We got to King's Cross and went to switch over tubes but the snow had shut down the tubeline we needed to take to Farringdon,  no big deal, it said there was a bus we could catch from the station upstairs.  We walk outside, no bus, no bus stop with any of our potential bus numbers.  Hmmm.  Problem.  Finally the boys decide we'll walk the rest of the way back to the flats.  

11. twenty minutes and three frozen sets of fe

et later (I think my feet have never been so numb before) we looked like cute little snow persons.  My black hat and coat were no longer black, and my jeans were well on their way to joining my newly white coat and hat.  But we made it home.  Safe, sound and snowy enough for a South Bend winter.  

Return to Monday, the actual snow day, most of the day is spent just hanging out with Molly, Renee, Connor and for a bit Pat.  We then decided to make a delectable snow day dinner . . .Patrick hamburger chef extraordinaire (over 2,000 burgers grilled in his 20 years) made us some burgers on his Foreman.  Delicious!  After dinner and some more hang out time we went out to explore our little neighborhood in the snow.  Imagine my surprise when I stumbled across not only several inches of snow, but also two little palm trees?  

In the middle of a london borough.  Strange to say the least.  Anyhoo, the snow day was an overall success.  I finally felt vindicated after attending school in the tundraland of South Bend for 2.5 years.  trudging to class in blizzards and subzero temps alike.  If I wanted a snow day, all I needed to do was take a trip to London.  Peace Love and Lots of Snow! 

picasaweb.google.com/lbodien9

Tuesday's With Fr. John (and one really terribly depressing play)

Tuesday, Christianity and islam class today, yay!

Also attended my first tea time with Fr. John and Alice in the library.  I've discovered that while I really like the tea cookies I haven't any taste at all for tea . . . how do I know?

While Father John asked me a question, I took my first sip of tea and had to struggle with all my might not to make the "second grade first communion wine face" in the middle of my answer.  Disgusting, next time maybe I'll try milk with it, I'm thinking four parts milk and maybe 1/2 part tea?  Don't know if that still counts as tea . . . 

Also went to our first London Center mass in the cute little chapel in the farthest corner of the highest floor.  A tiring climb, but well-worth the effort as Father John proceeded to deliver a marvelous homily.  Following a delightful mass, Colleen and I set out to find a dinner place.  We met up with Pat near the theatre we attended later, Dunmar Theatre, and utterly failed to find something reasonable for about twenty minutes.  Fairly impressive in a city as big as London.

We finally found a cute little coffee and sandwhich shop to satisfy our hungry tummies and enjoyed some delicious paninis before heading back to the theatre to see BE NEAR ME.

Depressing.  Even our professor, Charles DUff ( the quintessential British man) thought so . . . at least the theatre was neat looking, being a converted warehouse and all . . . doesn't make for particularly comfy seating . . . anyhoo, back to the tarea and keep an eye out for my version of a BRitish Snow Day :)  Peace lovelies!

The other side of the river

Friday night, my friend, Pat, and I set out to grab some dinner at a pub nearby, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese.  This pub is quite old (rebuilt in 1666, after the great London Fire) and boasts of such previous patrons as Voltaire and Charles Dickens among others.  It's been open through the reign of fifteen monarchs, impressive to say the least.  it's no surprise then, with its famous past patronage and its wonderfully unique interior, that we arrived to find its twisting corridors and narrow stairwells packed full of cheerful Londoners enjoying a nice Friday out.  

After surveying the wonder that is the Cheshire, we decided to continue on, and proceeded to wander down random streets in search of another enticing eatery.  Eventually we happened upon another "olde" and famous pub called the George that the Cheshire Website had mentioned.  So we stopped in for a bite to eat and were plea

santly surprised by the warm and welcoming wooded interior that continued for two floors.  We found a nice seat by a stained glass window and were settling down with our cokes when we discovered they were not serving this evening due to "Pub Quiz Night"  We would have participated, but it was all music.  For those of you who know me well, I love to sing, but i haven't the slightest idea what songs are called . . . It was fun to watch such a popular London event, though.  Lots of fun and good merry competition, nothing to cut throat, at least not before we left! 

Upon finishing our cokes we wandered down some side streets stopping into what seemed an inumerable amount of small corner pubs, each with its own enchanting, cozy feel.  I was quite charmed by the comfortable elegance in several of the small back alley pubs we passed.  They inspired me, to do what, I haven't the slightest idea, but they inspired me.  They made me excited to be in Londontown for sure :)   After wandering for a while and failing to find food we stumbled upon the Thames (pronounces tems) from a small back alley I'd insisted we turn down.  Don't worry Mom, it was well lit, not shady, I promise! 

Needless to say, moments like this make me love London.  The Thames at night is a glorious sight to behold.  Lots of twinkling lights lining the carved stone railings and riverboats cruising lazily up and down the Thames with dapper diners dressed to the nines.  And me, little Laura, an American girl, wandering through the wonder of dow

ntown London.  What a lucky lady :) 

After wandering for a while, we began to come across benches.  Generally a normal thing to encounter while strolling down a riverside.  However, these benches, for no apparent reason, seemed to have no seats.  The first time we saw them we found it hysterical.  Heck, I liked it so much I took a picture, a very awkward picture of Pat trying to sit on said bench.  Once our giggling fits had passed we wandered on, only to discover that none of the following benches had seats either . . . ooooo, London.

As we wandered under the twinkling lights, beside the seatless benches I once again felt a smile reaching my eyes and warming my heart.  The very best kind of smile :)  Our wanderings took us over the Thames to a four story restaurant/pub along the river for a delicious dinner of Toad in the hole.  SOunds gross, looked kind of gross, tasted delicious :)  So there, amidst more merry Londoners on the ground floor of our four story restaurant on the Thames we finally found some dinner and actually quite enjoyed it before wandering back past the famous black friar station to our flats.

Another successful evening in England.  Sigh, wish you were all here! 

(again, pictures are on my picture sight picasaweb.google.com/lbodien9 )

39 Steps, 4 characters, 1 fake snowfall = true love

On Tuesday evening my Intro to London Theatre (spelled the British way :) ) Class went to the Criterion Theatre in West End London to see a play. The 39 Steps is a parody of an Alfred Hitchcock film by the same name.  Pleasantly charming and quite entertaining indeed the play takes you on a whirlwind of an adventure with four different characters playing over a hundred and twenty parts.  

My first experience with London Theatre that wasn't Shakespearean.  While Shakespeare is rather timeless, I must confess this play made (as I am wont to say) "my heart smile."

In the closing scene, two of the actors sprinkle fake snow above the window of the two main characters in a simulated Christmas scene, all very sweet and heartwarmingly cliche in a way that undoubtedly would make you say "awwwww."  All of a sudden, snow starts falling on the audience too.  I was like a little kid on Christmas morning.  Couldn't stop smiling and my heart had a pleasantly warm and fuzzy feeling inside.

I've not actually seen the film, but the play was quite lovely indeed.  Til next time then, cheers mates!  

Dover Part II (at last!)

Wartime tunnels?  Tres cool, they were originally used by Napoleon, crazy!  During the time of Napoleon, for ventilation, the soldiers slept in a long narrow hall with an opening to the cliff face on the end.  They must have been insane, it was freezing down there without the cliff face being open.  

We saw the original drafting table used to plan operation D-day and another major evacuation operation.  The cliffs of Dover housed the brains behind the operation.  A pretty impressive head quarters to behold.  Sadly no photos were allowed, however I did greatly enjoy the twilight zone esque ghost they projected onto the walls at various intervals.  

Thankfully, we made it out of the tunnels alive, back into the beautiful landscape of dover.

Adventure # 2: After walking DOWN the massive hills and staircases we'd climbed to reach the impenetrable castle, our cheery gang wandered through Dover towards the path to the famous white cliffs.  After passing through some picturesque side streets we encountered the edge of the cliffs just as the sun began to set.  We snapped some snazzy shots of the cliffs and after claiming some small pieces of fallen cliff as our own little piece of Dover we traipsed back to the bustling marketplace in the middle of Dover.

Now, downtown Dover, while not as ancient or famous as the castle or the cliffs, had a few items to boast of itself.  First, a two story Mc Donalds complete with pop song singing, cell-phone loving pre teens loudly discussing hannah montana in the rest rooms, to the motion activated heat lamps in the bus waiting station.  All in all, a wonderful place to spend a Saturday in the UK :)

The train ride home (roughly two hours) was rather uneventful, barring the rather interesting conversation occurring between some passengers from the country side all fancied up for an evening in town at the infamous dance club, Fabric (just as Dan Dixon if you want some details, he loves the place :) ).

Upon arriving home rather tuckered out from the day of play and photo ops (John Queally had the most amazing camera, that made you feel like a model posing for a magazine every time the shutter went off) I arrived back at Kamen and Minerva just in time to steal some quesadillas from my lovely friends in the Minerva Pent House across the way, mmmmm delicious! 

If you'd like to see pictures feel free to visit my picture page . . . picasaweb.google.com/lbodien9

 

Dover, Around, Under and Through Life is just like tying your shoe . . .

This weekend was a whirlwind of lovely events including my first ever game of and victory in a game of darts, a trip to the British museum (full of wonderful, magical and mystical things) were we saw the Rosetta stone and figurines from the parthenon among other objects, my first University of London mass (accompanied by free shortbread, yay!) and a daytrip to Dover.

Dover, why Dover?  Well, because that's were my friends were going.  That and they assured me there was a wonderful castle there and some pretty white Cliffs of literary repute.  Lucky for me they weren't lying.

Departing our flats at 7:00 we took a bus to Victoria from which we took a train (choo choo) out into the plush British countryside.  I must confess, after seeing "green" again, I realized how much I miss this little thing we call grass back in the states.  There isn't much of it in Londontown, that's for sure!

Upon arrival in Dover we ate lunch at a cute little cafe where the famous and fabulous John Queally ordered himself a nice cup of tea while the rest of us nibbled on sandwhiches in preparation for the days adventures.

Adventure 1. Climb what had to be at least five hundred and fifty stairs to a plateau leading to a hill (which we also climbed of course) to the entrance of the castle.  After paying our eight pounds we continued on in search of the oldest building in Britain, a lighthouse built by the Romans in the first century.  Simply stunning! But not nearly as beautiful as the tenth century church right next to us that had lovely little signs on the door inviting us to "Come on in."  The doors were locked.  interesting :)  However, the exterior was more than enough to keep us occupied for quite some time.  The magnificence of a beautiful church perched atop God's beautiful creation admiring the sea in all its superior magnificence.  After all, despite the beauty of the Church it didn't hold a candle to the beauty of the natural landscape.   Gosh darn it all!  God out did us humans again, go figure, show off :)  (Javs!  stop tapping your nose!)

From the beautiful Church on a bluff we went down toward the main keep and while it was closed for renovation, we were able to see the old sacristy and chapel for the main castle building as well as several smaller side buildings.  

We proved we were children at heart, however, when we spent a good twenty minutes taking pictures inside of and jumping out of a small hole in the wall . . . :) (Much more spectacular when its out of the side of an old castle, for those of you traveling Europe, I highly suggest you plan it into your shedule - as they say in the U.K.).

Anyhoo, we finished up our self tour and went on to a guided tour of "The Secret WArtime Tunnels" located under the castle and originating from Napoleonic times.  In fact, the castle of Dover was the only castle not to be taken by Napoleon during his conquest . . .  To Be Continued . . .

Dancing Queen Young and Sweet, only . . .

20?  MMMM, yea.  Maybe not quite how the lyrics go.  I just wanted to tell you all how much I love going out dancing.  My friends are great, the music was great and goodness gracious, who doesn't love dancing! 

Royal Flush

Wow, terrible song reference, I just couldn't resist :)  

They do a lot of things differently in London, big red do

uble decker buses, funny phrases, traffic lights? (If anyone understands how the pedestrian walk symbols work here, please, let me know!)

But who would have guessed some places here have palac

es for bathrooms?

On Sunday, the entire group went to a "pub lunch" compliments of the UND.  Lunch was delicious, pub was very nice, but let me tell

 YOU, after most everyone else had left we decided to check out the "toilets" per out professo

rs recommendation and, well, for practical reasons of course.  

So there we are bouncing down the stairs, opening the door and then squealing like little girls

 opening a new dolly on Christmas morning.  There was a big beautiful marble anteroom of sorts with luxurious couches to lounge on.  The next room, with four personal rooms containing toilets was centered around a small fountain and several roman styl

e columns.  The Final room had two more self-contained toilets and another fine couch for lounging beneath quite intricate molding. Ironically, only one of the toilets worked, hmm.

We couldn't resist a quick photo shoot, which, I would imagine quite frustrated the boys with us, especially since they sent one in after us . . . he looked right at home too, kinda frightening how much he liked it . . . 

Much sight seeing commenced following our inspirational bathroom visit . . . pictures and such to follow :)  I'm still figuring out how to 

Happy Fabregas Day!

Molly, this blog goes out to you, in honor of your dedication to the Arsenal Football club.

My roommate Molly and I have decided that Arsenal is our football team of choice.  We have decided to become THE best Arsenal Fans there are.

And how do we plan on doing this?  Well, we developed a rather effective rather foolproof game plan, it goes something like this . . . 

1. WIkipedia Arsenal

2. Click on every link possible in the Arsenal Article on Wikipedia

3. Watch Arsenal games (the next one is Jan 28 against Everton)

4. incessantly recite all facts learned to those who doubt your fanhood

5. Display physical evidence of your fanhood on your walls(like the poster above we now have hanging on our wall) and (eventually) on your necks (we hope to get arsenal scarves soon)

6. Learn a new player's name, number, position and hometown each day and place their sticky note on the wall as if they were players on a field, creating a field of sticky note people on your wall.

7. Rename your room "The Emirates" after Arsenal's glorious stadium (now located in haywell which is located in the borough of Islington, the same borough as clerkenwell where Molly and I live).

8.  Know who Fabregas is and proceed to "chase" him.

9. Plan to attend and do attend at least one arsenal match.

All in all a beautiful plan, copyrights do apply :) 

Wake up and smell the HEATER!

Londontown most certainly loves me.

How do I know?  This morning it woke me up when it caused my heater to fall on top of me.

What else could it be but love at first sight? right?

SO, Miss Bodien, how does one forget their passport? Well, Cornelius . . .

As far as number one goes, a bit more explanation and a few props are in order.  I forgot my passport at home in Detroit, Yes ______(insert your name here)___ I left my passport at home.

Unfortunately, I only discovered this upon arriving at the O'Hare airport after driving through some of the more treacherous weather I've seen in my life.  Despite my normally cheery outlook, I just couldn't initially fathom anyway to get myself out of this one.

While on the phone with our director, I realized my friend, Danny D had texted me earlier telling me his flight was delayed in Detroit (in case you forgot, this is the very same city my passport has been forgotten in).  Hanging up with Judy I hurriedly dial Dan.  His phone doesn't pick up, oh dear.  Lucky for me, um . . . 1,2,3, yea i think it was, tenth time was the charm.  Dan answers confirms he'd be happy to transport my passport.  His flight is due in at five, so we should be able to make the 5:55 flight to London only an hour or so behind the 4:00p.m. flight.

So my lovely grandparents kindly agreed to brave the subzero temperatures and multi-car crashes and a two hour drive (normally forty five minutes) to drive my passport to the airport.  They weren't able to catch Dan's flight.  

BUT DON"T WORRY!  (I know you were beginning to!) The Gparents arrived safely at the airport, and after speaking with a customer service rep (we tried to call to pre-explain the situation to them, but would you believe, there's no such thing as a direct number to united airlines customer service at the detroit airport? baloney sandwich), determined they weren't able to complete the counter to counter service they had told us about.  

Counter to counter service is where they put something on a flight and then pass it off to the person at the other end.  However, they spoke personally with the captain who agreed to hand deliver it to us at the Chicago airport.  The nice man even called to let us know he had it.  

Back to the home front:

Poor sister Stephie had a big math test the next day and probably felt like doing more studying than childcare, but since the Grandparents were busy saving my behind and playing road warriors, she had to step up and take care of the littles.  Such a sweetheart :)  It'll be fun to have her down on campus with Davis (aka David) and I next year!

As Stephanie is selflessly shouldering the responsibility of the littles Gramma and Grampa (Road warriors Extreme edition) drive another two hours through a frozen tundra. During the ride, when we called to confirm things and thank them my Grampa gave me some invaluable advice . . . "Laura, your passport is kind of like your underwear, ya know? People just kind of expect you to have it.  Next time, maybe think of it as your underwear"  I think Mom just about died laughing :) 

Finally, the passport made it in, only shortly after Dan's flight got in, and following a delicious dinner, made better by Dad squirting Mom in the face with a water bottle (supposedly as payback for one time she covered him in ketchup while they were dating), my luggage was checked and I was on my way at 9:00p.m.  En route to London with Dan and our newfound friend, Shay.

Upon arriving in London, the reason I forgot my passport became apparent.  I was the only one with directions to the flat.  Really, Shay and Dan, if you wanted directions all you had to do was call, hijacking my passport was quite unnecessary . . . : D

Anyhoo, a train ride and a taxi trip later we arrived at the flats, dropped off our stuff and set out into the big bad city of London to find the London Center (our class building) finally, with the help of a friendly policeman (or bobby rather) we made our way to the building. 

Just as most everyone else was leaving.

We were just in time for our non-parliament internship meeting.  As we were guided into the meeting the PRofessor, Cornelius OBoyle, asked us our names.  We answered. He nodded. We sat down.  End of game right?

Laura Bodien?  Where is Laura Bodien? *I raise my hand* "So Laura, we were just talking about you.  Miss Bodien, how on earth does one forget their passport?"

Thus began my infamy as "Laura, the girl who left her passport"

SO thanks everyone for your help and (as the man at the bookstore said) CHEERS! 

There are a number of things one should attempt to do or not do while traveling abroad.  Let's just say I learned the hard way . . . 

1. Under no condition should one leave ones passport at home on the copier when you have already driven to the Chicago airport to catch a flight.

2. Upon obtaining your passport and finally making it past those golden security gates be sure to pay attention to the signs instructing you to remove your computer from your bag instead of worrying about how you are not wearing socks and will shortly have to take your shoes off to walk through the metal detector.

3.  Wear socks to the airport.  Who knows what's been on that floor!

4.  When the man at customs tells you that, because your computer is a mac it cannot be taken on the plane, don't believe him.  He's pulling your leg.

5.  If the zipper on your suitcase is split when you pick it up from baggage KEEP AN EYE ON IT - mine ended up splitting completely except for one small part - kind of a miracle i didn't lose all my shoes and my pretty pink bags!

6.  When riding on a train and passing around luggage do not allow your train ticket to be misplaced before the nice British Ticket lady comes around to punch them.

7. When the nice British Ticket lady doesn't have you buy a new 16 pound ticket, do not accidentally answer her in a British accent (even if you do it well).

8. While unpacking your broken suitcase don't accidentally tear off the zipper, makes it tough to get the luggage back.

You know, you should really all thank me.  (Well me and my loved ones who helped my disastrous trip to London turn out as a success).  Because of us you won't have to learn any of these trendy travel trips the hardway

Sternoclieno - factoid?

The sternocleidomastoid is a paired muscle in the superficial layers of the anterior portion of the neck.  It acts to flex and rotate the head.

Or so my little brother Jack would tell us :)  Jack, number six of seven and one of two boys in the family has been affectionately named "factoid."  His name is well-earned.  He loves rambling off random facts and making terrible fact based jokes.  Today's favorite - Laura!  how many snowflakes are alike? Me: none Jack they're all different Jack: Wrong!  They're all white! oh dear

Life in a big family is wonderful.  Full of love and joy and laughter.  I can't imagine anything different to tell you the truth.  And those of you that don't have one, big families are always looking for more members.  I suggest you join up.  Why? Where else can you be absolutely insane and fit right in?

My last evening before London began in fine form at the end of dinner, with Annie demonstrating how her teacher taught her to shoot rubber bands.  Dad found this to be incredibly resourceful and decided to take the opportunity to begin a full blown rubber band war.  Dad versus children (Me, Annie (#4) and Mary Kate (our nine year old baby)). At first, we three girls thought we'd wait it out in our dinner bench turned bunker,  UNfortunately Dad is a far better  rubber band fighter than we are.  Action was imminent.  The girls raced up the stairs  hoping to hold the upper ground dressed in towels, turbie twists and winter coats, but i ended up booby trapped into my little sisters room with a rubber band and a vacuum cleaner while annie and mary kate ran from Dad down stairs screaming like chickens with their heads cut off.  

Finally I managed an escape only to discover Dad had ALL the rubber bands.  This called for serious action.  MK provided a distraction (much yelling, screaming and very dramatic acting) while annie and I got some pillows and mounted a sneak attack.  Sneakiness is apparently not our strength since we soon had to resort to a three person dogpile on top of Dad on the couch to restrain him.  At that moment it occurred to us we had used the rubberbands Jack needed for his science fair project.  Ooooops. I hope we found them all . . . 

Later that night factoid himself (jack) added to the night of ridiculosity.  My Dad has recently committed to a healthier diet and 30 minutes of exercise per day.  Jack, doing his best to offer sincere and heartfelt prayers amidst a giddy bunch (Amy making monkey faces, Annie and Mary Kate laughing at Amy's accusations that Dad had been snoring during her "special prayer time," and Mom trying with all her might to ignore our dog, Abby, pawing at her arm and whining to go outside), prayed for Daddy to laugh more.  Because every time you laugh, you lose three calories.

Needless to say, following his very candid remark, serious prayers were out of the question as we spent the rest of them trying to help Dad lose weight by making him laugh.

What peace and joy and happiness.  I only hope you all get to experience the joy of an intrafamilial rubber band fight at least once in your life :)

Work Work Work, pooor Cinderelly

To my dearest friends and fellow country persons (whichever country you may be in)

For those of you who are slightly puzzled by the title of this blog, let me explain.  Mumsy darling (and whomever else has bought me bags over the past few years) has deemed pink to be an excellent color for my school bags. (Strangely my favorite color is not pink, but blue).  Therefore, friends on campus have come to identify me in clod and dreary south bend by my bright pink bags.  They oftentimes chastise me for leaving it where they could trip over it at the entrance to the dining hall or, conversely, thank their lucky stars I have such a distinguishable bag so they know they're not awkwardly hailing down some mysterious Laura look alike.

Either way, pink bags have become an integral part of my Notre Dame experience, and I would hate to leave them out of a semester in London :)  Therefore, let the adventures begin.  Pink bags and all :)  Peace! 

. . . and I bit of haiku for the poetry lover.  Quality, real quality.

Big pretty pink bags

House my life on campus 

Now head to London