Recovery

Hi there-

I'm trying to cope without my computer. It's only really rather difficult because I have papers due in about a week. So after the shock of losing the computer I'm back to having fun. We went to London yesterday and went through Westminster Abbey again, rode the London Eye, and went to the British Museum. The Museum was absolutely AMAZING! I loved it. It's so british and so well-organized and you get to see all these incredible things right up close. I have some terrific pictures I will have to send out when I get home. I bought a book really really cheap on Salvador Dali which makes me SUPER happy! So we had this incredibly tiring day walking all around London and got home late. Today and tomorrow I'm trying to get some work done for final papers and all, but it's rather difficult because I have to sit in this windowless computer room and it's cold and rainy out and I'm rather unmotivated. Maybe after dinner I will find inspiration. Otherwise I'm thinking about how soon I will leave this place and I'm rather sad. I could stay for another year just to see the rest of the British Museum! I'm sure I will be back someday.

So, send me your good wishes and your address if you haven't gotten a postcard yet - I lost my list that was on my compy. And soon I will be home to see you all. Oh, and don't worry about us flying around - the security alert is high and I'm sure we're completely safe if our flights don't get cancelled. Miss you all - can't wait to see your friendly faces again.

-amanda lynn

In Mourning

Hi there all-

Firstly, I went to see Les Miserables at the Queen's Theatre in London last night and it was AMAZING! But wouldn't you know it - life just loves throwing curveballs and today's is : let's see how you cope with your computer completely crashing in the middle of a foreign country - as if you weren't stressed enough about life and your final papers coming up. So I am incredibly sad, but I won't be able to chat with anybody or talk to anyone or send you picture updates for quite a while I'm assuming b/c when this computer dies it's down for a LOOOOONG time. So I hope everyone is well and your computers better off than mine. I suppose that will give me more time to enjoy the loud sound of the keyboards in the library - ew. Email me if you want to talk - I'll probably respond once in a while. Miss everyone and my home Toshiba center.

Under an English Heaven

Hullo all!

This is the end of week 5 and I'm sensing that this will all be over way too soon. This weekend Elaine and I are having super-relaxing country time here in England while a lot of people went off on a 9 hour bus ride to Edinburgh. On Friday we walked to Grantchester. It's a short 2-mile walk across Cambridge and through a bunch of fields full of cows along the river. Really, you walk RIGHT THROUGH fields full of cows! You end up in the orchard where a LOT of famous people used to take tea, people such as Rupert Brooke, Bertrand Russell, Virginia Woolf, AE Housman, Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes, King George VI, Prince Charles, Alan Turing, Maynard Keynes, John Cleese, Eric Idle, etc. So we took tea there in the orchard and it was absolutely amazing. It is so incredibly peaceful. I am absolutely in love with the English countryside! I can't wait to take the walk again and sit in the orchard with my tea and a good book or my writing. In order to get the best idea I can give you, here are some lovely pictures of our walk to the orchard. Really, you can't imagine how moving it all is and how calm it can make you. We also went and saw the nearby church and Byron's Pool. The church had a very cute cemetery which bordered some magically huge fields. It was all really really beautiful.
Then today I tagged along on the Bloomsbury class field trip and we visited the South of England. We went to the Charleston house of the Bloomsbury group where Duncan Grant, Quentin Bell, and Vanessa Bell lived and decorated the house. It's absolutely fantastic and like no other house in the world! You must learn something about the Bloomsbury group - they were completely fascinating. I was so inspired I wish I had a country house I could go home and paint. We also visited Berwick Church which the trio decorated with murals - probably one of the most unique churches in all of England. And then we visited the less-decorated Monk's House where Virginia and Leonard Woolf lived. It was rather interesting and had a beautfiul, spacious garden. I really enjoyed looking at all of the bookshelves owned by the group; books always tell a great deal about the person and there were some impressive old volumes of poetry and books on history. You can find the Bloomsbury pictures too! They include our trip when the bus dropped us off and we made our way down to Brighton to see the beach and the pier. The rest of Brighton wasn't really alive this late on a Saturday but I had chicken and chips on the pier and a crepe and we watched the sun going down. I do miss the beach atmosphere and it reminded me of home but with a slight twist - all the sea sounds were exactly as I imagined them and yet different from home. The beach is all a bunch of big rocks so I coudn't imagine swimming there but it's nice to walk along. We took the train all the way home which takes about 3 hours, though it was a nice ride all the way back through London and everything, it worked out really well.
So, that's my country adventure so far. I leave you with this Rupert Brooke poem because well, I think it really fits:

The Solider

If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is forever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by the suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.



all of my love, friends <3
amanda

Two Weeks of Cambridge Fun

Hullo!

I am back safely from our long bus ride trip to Bath and Salisbury! Now, I know I haven't been keeping up very well, but we've been very busy. Two Thursdays back we had our second formal dinner, at Pembroke this time! It was very nice but extremely hot out! Come to think of it, it's been hot here for over a week and a half! But after dinner we had a crazy karaoke party down in the Pembroke New Cellars - it was pretty darn exciting. Gideon, our program director, and I sang the theme from Titanic "My Heart Will Go On." Boy was that fun! So eeeeearly that friday morning I boarded a bus all alone for Stansted airport and visited Aunt Paula, Uncle Greg, and Mary Claire in Frankfurt, Germany. Greg was doing research there for a month. Mary's friend from Slovakia, Monica, came the same weekend and we had a lot of fun just hanging around, drinking German beer and walking down by the river. It was VERY restful! Greg bought us the best ice cream in Germany and we went to a really interesting film museum.

Then last week was crunch week here. We are halfway through the program and I had a final in Political Philosphy and a midterm for creative writing due on Friday morning. So it was a full week of studying and everybody got a little stressed. But now one of my classes is over and it's going to be a litttle easier from now on. I think my final went ok - I couldn't study very much b/c it's just very mind-numbingly confusing. But I prepared as well as I possibly could.

Once we were free of all that silliness - we went punting on the Cam! Yay! It was so beautiful - we had wine and bread and cheese. So nice! That night we had a small party here at Fitzwilliam street - even the TAs came! Super fun! And then of course the next morning we left for Bath. First we stopped at Stonehenge - it was raining and super windy but I sat out in the field anyway - I loved it, just sitting there, because I already had enough pictures of it on a better day. Then we went to Bath and I didn't tour the baths again, but had dinner with Basant and just generally hung out. Everybody went out to the pub that night. Bath has SO MANY! And it's incredibly beautiful there! In the morning Elaine and I went to parish services at the Abbey - they were so nice and one of the guys welcomed us and asked if we were new. They have a fan vault too, just like King's College Chapel - so pretty. After having pasties for lunch and walking the river we headed back on the bus to Salisbury! We only had an hour at the Cathedral, but it was AMAZING! Built in only 38 years! The most consistent Gothic Architecture! But then we had a LOOOOONG drive back home - about 5 hours due to traffic.

Oh, I forgot to re-mention our trip to the top side of the vault at King's College Chapel. It's the amazing gothic building in all the King's pictures... we were both on the vault AND on the roof. This is really something very few people ever have a chance to do and I feel incredibly special. So amazing.

Anyhow, things are back to normal for a little while now. We have another formal hall tomorrow and pretty much every week until the end. Yay! I will need to find more things to dress up in. And until I have more news, I hope you are all doing very very well. Glad to hear from everybody once In a while. I will be home in 5 more weeks if you are counting the days.

much <3
-amanda

O and here are all the pictures:

Pembroke Formal
Frankfurt
Cambridge Days - punting, roof, etc.
Bath Trip

have fun!

Hello from Bath

Hi everyone!

I'm in Bath for the weekend and got 15 min of internet time! It's so amazingly pretty here - I love it! We saw stonehenge again etc. and today we're going to Salisbury Cathedral. I swear updates will be up soon, seeing as how I have finished module 1. My political philosophy exam went really well. : D Talk to you all soon I hope.

<3 amanda

Crunch Time at Cambridge

Hi there!

I returned safely from my family visiting in Germany this past weekend! But this is crunch week with a final and two midterms so I will have to upload pictures and tell you all about it very very soon - as soon as things are a little calmer.

But today, we walked ON the stone vault at king's college chapel AND on the roof!!!! AMAZING! I shall elaborate later, of course. AND we watched Chariots of Fire which is partially set at King's! *woot!* So much fun! But I will update you much more later. Until then, have a nice week.

much <3
amanda

Pictures - Ely, London, Amsterdam

And here they are! More pictures than ever before... well.. maybe.

So here we have:

Ely Cathedral - a lot of pictures of some fine gothic architecture

London Weekend - some fun pictures of us roaming about London

Amsterdam Weekend - a lot of pictures on trains, of canals, and of people being weird.

Hope you enjoy! Let me know how you're doing eh?

-love-
amanda

On the subject of London and Amsterdam

I'm back!

Let me tell you - Amsterdam was SO much fun! We had an absolutely fabulous (and safe) time. But first, I never told you about London.

Last weekend we all went to london (the whole program) and stayed at this hostel for the london school of economics right behind the Tate Modern museum. It was a really great time! We woke up really early and took buses into London and dropped off our bags. We walked around - mostly just our little group- down Queen's walk and then some of them took the Tower of London tour. Four of us spent that time wandering around that part of London - we found the giant 'egg' building (which isn't actually finished yet) and we found pieces of the old Roman wall that ran around the city. Afterwords we walked to St. Paul's Cathedral but just missed the last entrance before services. We sat around there though as it was very pretty with the bells and some couple taking their wedding pictures. We all had dinner back near the hostel and then saw Antony and Cleopatra AT the GLOBE! It was really something - I love shakespeare and this was just perfect! We stood for over three ours as our tickets were in the yard - the REAL way to watch shakespeare. That night we wandered around a bit but were unable to find the nightlife.

The next day we got quite a bit in - actually bought underground passes this time. We of course made the rounds to Trafalgar, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and then went shopping in Camden Market! It was the coolest little area - lots of random booths deep within canals and buildings - it's rather like going into diagon alley actually!!! What's on the outside masks something 10 times bigger on the inside. We had this amazing potluck lunch of ethnic foods from Morraccan to South African - and then we all rather split up. Some of us went on to buckingham and took pictures there and walked past st. James' park (it was so nice with the green and the people and a bandstand going). all in all we had a very nice, rather relaxing visit.

The past week at Cambridge was very quick, full of studying and much anticipation of our next big excursion - amsterdam!

So, to sum up Amsterdam - we left Thursday after class and took about 5 trains and busses on either side of the ferry until we finally found our hotel room at about 3 am. It was right in the heart of Amsterdam about 3 blocks from Central station. Nice. (And yes, the first night we did see some red lights even around our hotel - pretty funny actually). So, the next day was a little slow - but we did have a nice brunch and saw the Van Gogh museum! They also went to the Anne Frank house but since I had seen it I sat in a nearby pub and wrote what I consider, actually, some very nice prose. We toured the red light district that night (because you HAVE to and it was definitely worth it - but pretty safe, too - lots of tourists). The next day we took the Heinekin tour - now that was pretty fun - ran into some fellow Bruins who were on the Poli sci european tour program. We had misread the hours at the Rembrandt museum so we went shopping instead - didn't find anything really good. We had a nice dinner and then took a canal cruise. He didn't speak a whole lot of the lines in English, but we got the general idea of it all. After that we met up with some other people from the program and found a pretty busy club - LOTS of fun! All those crazy europeans and their house music. So we were really tired and woke up the next day to take about another half million trains and the ferry back to Cambridge.

Thus, we are back, safely! You can all rest assured once more. I'm having a great time but there is lots of work to be done! Next weekend I'm visiting Aunt Paula and cousin Mary in Frankfurt! VERY excited! Hope everyone is well - I will get more postcards out soon! - the mail runs rather fast but they ARE 50 pence each. (AND pictures will be out later today. love!)

Much <3 -
amanda l. berg

Cambridge Pics!

Here are the pictures of the rest of Europe (from France to Liverpool) and from my first week at Cambridge! (don't worry, I'm working on getting some better ones of he school). I also have some amazing pictures of Ely Cathedral we went to today which will be up later on. Tomorrow, though is London, so I must leave you! Hope everyone is well. Miss you all! Go watch Pirates! (We saw it tonight).

-<3 amanda l. berg

A Cambridge Hello

Hi there! Sorry I haven't been in touch with anyone. Things are so busy here and yet the days are jam-packed and we all feel as though we've been here forever. Cambridge is amazing! Right away I met some really great people and we are hanging out and planning trips for weekends, etc. I have my own little room here at number 6 Fitzwilliam street (not my mailing address) where about 10 girls share the house and our three bathrooms (there is a grad student living on the 3rd floor - he studies history of architecture). The rooms are really cute with closets and a water closet (a sink in a closet), shelves, and even a bricked up fireplace - apart from the usual bed and desk. Our bedder comes in everyday to do various chores (empty the trash, make the beds) and she's really nice and sweet and always tells me the day's weather.
Classes are incredible and varied. Gothic Architecture is by far my favorite. Apart from lecture we have a weekly seminar where we go visit a couple of churches in Cambridge - there are SO many! And they're so amazing! Tomorrow we're actually taking a train to nearby Ely Cathedral! So excited! I am absolutely in love with these churches; I even found myself sitting in one writing the other day - so cool and peaceful. The school itself (King's college) is also a masterwork of gothic architecture and I will be sure to send along more pictures when I have time to document the College Chapel properly. We may even get an amazing behind the scenes tour of the roof there one of these days - unbelievable! The other classes are good too - I'm really glad I'm taking creative writing, I think it's going to help immensely, and Political philosophy has once again helped me remember why I love political theory.
Everyone is so much fun! We go out to the pubs (it IS a pub culture) and last night we had our class picture taken together and then had formal hall dinner - very nice! It's like Harry Potter in the formal hall, just short of the floating candles; and that's where we eat everyday!

Well, we're off to London this weekend! I shall try to get some pictures up soon - I haven't been taking a lot lately just because I'm in one of those moods and I feel bad taking pictures of people. But I am slowly collecting some. Hope everyone is well - keep in touch, miss you all!

all of my <3
amanda l. berg

Pictures - finally!

So I'm finally back in England at a hotel with free internet! Therefore, I have a ton of pictures for you, even with handy-dandy captions! AND if you would like to see the old pics, I have the whole trip here:

Set 1

Set 2 -new

Set 3 -new

Also, if you want to see the old emails I sent or you missed or check in without your email I suppose, go to my european blog! I know, way redundant, but just in case, I like to be accomodating. Tell me if anything isn't working - warm wishes to everyone and have a great Independence Day if I don't catch up with you all sooner! (I'll be in Cambridge by then!) Email me, let me know how you're celebrating, how life is, and if you enjoy the pictures eh? LATE here, I best be off! Stonehenge and Liverpool tomorrow before we go back towards London...

much much <3
amanda l. berg