HALBERT-HOWENS ABROAD

The Great Things From Our Year Abroad

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WE’RE HOME

This is over

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A short glimpse of our trip to Amsterdam. Enjoy!

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Stonehenge was a great trip. You may see there’s another American there with us. That’s our good friend Ryan who we met in college in Portland. He and his wife (photoshopped in above) are expats too, so spending some time with him was a real treat. We pined for American soil together, it was great.  At Stonehenge, we took the poor student’s way: walking the mile or so to get there from the parking lot and then instead of paying to get in, we walked through the field next to the ancient stones. We still got a great view and saved $60 between the three of us. 

We made a day of it and drove to Bath and Bristol as well. While I was ultra-focused on staying on the English side of the road, we deliberated on the true origin of Stonehenge, but never came to a conclusion. 

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Cologne! My new job took us all on a weekend holiday to Germany. I rented a bike and toured the city. It's a wonderful city with a lot of interesting parks and a gigantic church (pictured above). On our last day it started to snow heavily, which is a great way to leave a city. 

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Full Time Employment!

Short post, just for an announcement. 

Not all of you know, but I got a job back in January (technically in December as a contract designer, then in January as full time staff). I'm working as an interaction designer for a web design agency called White October. We make websites, apps, and things like that. Most of the people there are developers but I work on a small team of designers (for those unfamiliar with these terms: developers make apps and websites function, while designers figure out how they should function and how they should look). 

I'm learning a lot and have been welcomed warmly by the staff. It's a great step forward in my career as a designer, and I'm so glad to be there. While freelancing had a more flexible schedule, a regular income and a team environment are a welcome change. I've got less time to make videos touring our apartment, but it's great to be busy doing things you love. 

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For Valentines day we went to Stratford-upon-Avon. The empty bus picture is to document that the last leg of our trip there was in a free private bus (Thanks England!). We saw Shakespeare's Love Labor Lost at the RCA and ate the most delicious dinner. 

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A few pictures from our short day trip to Bath, England

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Vienna, Prague, and five seconds in Cambridge

For Christmas this year we celebrated with our good friends, Ryan and Cami Hayashino (Ryan and I went to high school together and have been buds since a little after I thought he was the most annoying person in our first year Spanish class). The Hayashinos had a long holiday vacation from work and a strong desire to see Europe, and we didn't want to stay in Oxford for Christmas. After realizing that it was cheaper to see Austria, the Czech Republic, and a bit of Cambridge than it was to go to Idaho—no offense Idaho, we would have loved to have been there—we started planning a Christmas in Europe. 

We landed in Vienna a little ahead of our friends and pretty much just waited for them to get there. Once they arrived, we all knew that something great had just been formed. Ryan, Cami, Makenzie, and I, as it turns out, make great travel partners. Ryan and I have natural chemistry and are strikingly different personalities. Cami and Makenzie naturally click too, something about books I think. When those pairs are tired of each other (which always happens on vacations) Cami and I are pretty similar in that we're the more quiet personalities. Makenzie and Ryan are the troublemakers. Needless to say, we all got along pretty well.

 We wandered around Vienna and saw that beautiful city while managing to just barely not freeze. Our strategy for seeing the city was this:

mark some prominent sights on a map in the morning

meander to those places

see what was to be seen along the way

eat it if it is served out of a small hut covered in Christmas decorations.

drink it if it is served out of a small hut covered in Christmas decorations.

Continue meandering for warmth. 

This served us well in most cities. I'll mention some notable exceptions we made to this strategy below. 

The State Room in Vienna is essentially the actual library from the animated Disney classic, Beauty and the Beast. The Library was a single story with high ceilings, but above the tall bookcases was another level with a narrow walkway going all the way around the room, just think of a library with shelves 50ft tall lining the walls. 

While the shelves were impressive, there were also a few secret passages they let the public view. On some of the cases, the bottom 5 shelves swung open and revealed, of all things, more books (the place was filled with books from the 1500's to the 1900's). 

The Wachau Valley in Austria is a small sleepy area a few hours by train outside of Vienna. Cami did the research and it really paid off. During the Summer, it's packed. During the Winter, there are a few cafes and a broken down castle. We did both of those things and it was wonderful. Our trip out there was a nice break from Vienna which was a little crowded. I got some of my best pictures from the castle in the Wachau Valley because it was on a high precipice overlooking everything. We found the one gift shop that was open and bought a few gifts and then went home to Vienna. 

Prague, I wish there was one unique instance I could tell you about, but I think we all enjoyed Prague by just wandering around it. There was a castle, numerous small huts with Christmas decorations serving things to eat and drink, and it was all refreshingly inexpensive.

We had a nice place to stay and so we stayed in Christmas eve night (everything shuts down Christmas eve there because it's the more celebrated day). Cami and Makenzie made a delicious dinner and we exchanged small gifts between the four of us. For actual Christmas night we went to the ballet and saw Swan Lake. 

While we did really have a magical time in Prague, we were sad we couldn't be with family on Christmas. We both skyped our families and that made it a little better, but it was still a bummer to be away. Prague must have heard us because the day after Christmas, while we were out on our last meander through the city, it snowed. Not exactly a white Christmas, but it was a fun little treat to be in a city full of creepy-yet-charming buildings lightly dusted with snow. 

Cambridge was a last minute addition to the trip, and it sort of worked out. From Prague, the Hayashinos went off to Paris and we headed back to England. Because transit companies are often evil, it was way more hassle and money to head to Oxford from the airport that night, so we booked a short coach ride to Cambridge. We booked it but we never rode it, thanks to a 1.5hr plane ride that turned into a 4hr transit experience that was mildly frustrating the whole way through.

But we made it to Cambridge safely and in good time thanks to a jolly old taxi driver. Expensive as the cab ride was, it was nice to be dropped off right in front of your bed and breakfast. Makenzie and I spent the next morning exploring Cambridge with a similar strategy as outlined above, only the Christmas markets were all taken down. I loved it. It seemed like it had all the same elements as Oxford, but arranged differently and with a little more lively feel to it. 

And that was it. We spent a week traveling with two good friends and saw some beautiful sights, ate many sausages, and managed to stay warm as we meandered. 

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Enjoy ALL the pictures I took on this vacation. Sure, it's a little sloppy but I think you can get a sense of our time by watching this more so than by reading or seeing a few pictures. 

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One Semester Down

Attention! The grad student has emerged from her pile of group projects and books to give an update to the blogosphere.

  You can fully expect Matthew to be back writing the posts after Christmas, but I figured having just successfully finished my first term I would give any of you wondering about the school aspect of our adventure an update. If you aren’t wondering, please go ahead and skip to the picture of our cat, Poe, and read on from there.

  By October of 2015 I will (hopefully) have my MA in Publishing Studies. My goal after graduating is to get an editorial job at a trade publisher. In an ideal world, I would be able to work within a team publishing contemporary fiction. I love books. Most days I think I read more than I sleep, and 95% of what I read is contemporary fiction. The market for editorial jobs in trade fiction is extremely competitive, which is the main reason I wanted to do this program.

  My professors are coming from backgrounds at HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, Pan Macmillan, Oxford University Press and other large trade publishers, and the alumni network offers connections at even more companies. That being said, there are days when I wonder why I convinced Matt to move across the Atlantic ocean with me so I could go to school, but most days I’m meeting accomplished publishers and learning from professionals who inspire and push me. I’m learning every day, and when I think about the opportunities that being here is leading to, it still seems surreal. Not to mention, I get to hang out with a bunch of nerds every day, and that in and of itself is a dream come true.

  I adjusted to being in classes pretty quickly, but what has been more difficult has been pursuing a practical and vocational degree. I’m not reading novels and writing analytical papers like I did at Multnomah, I’m working in teams to create industry-standard reports and projects to be included in my portfolio and attending conferences and fairs. It’s like having the world’s most stressful internship that you also get graded on. So to be on the other side of my first term, unscathed and more equipped, is a superb feeling. Next term I will take three more courses and secure an internship, and then come June it’s back to the states for hunting jobs, writing my master’s dissertation, and hugging our cat.

A picture of Poe reading upside down.

Our blog has been a great place to showcase our most glamorous moments of living abroad, (and we’re pretty glamorous) but a lot of living abroad has consisted of navigating new jobs (for Matt), adjusting to being back in school (for me), trying to find community, and learning how to be two introverts living in a tiny studio flat. We’ve had some hard days here, but it’s comforting to look back, nearing the halfway point of our time here, to see just how much we have adjusted. Matt is making great connections with graphic designers in the area, I have found warm, smart, and funny friends in my program, and it seems like we are able to appreciate where we are and our unique situation more each day. We are in agreement that while we want to make sure to take full advantage of our European year, we have realized how important our family and friends are to us, and what a gift it was to be near to them. Also our cat. We really miss our cat.

We take off tomorrow for a Christmas holiday with our friends, Ryan and Cambria Hayashino. We will be visiting Vienna and Prague and basking in the dreamy, Christmassy atmosphere that eastern Europe has promised us. A blog post with lots of pictures is sure to follow, but until then, here’s the family Christmas photo we took last year and forgot to show anyone.

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A few shots from our miniature thanksgiving feast in Oxford

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Casual London! 

I forgot to mention we went to London the weekend after we got back from Paris. It was just for the day and it was pretty uneventful. We figured that since Oxford is only about 2 hours from London we could take it in chunks throughout the year. 

A few highlights that aren't pictured here: 

- Borough Market: it looked to be a wonderful covered market with a good variety of fine local foods. The problem was that the entrance, the halls, and the food stands were all completely filled with people. It was a mess. We were claustrophobic and only managed to get a duck sandwich and a hot cheesy pastry, not bad but we wanted to stick around longer.

- Herman ze German: We found this sausage-centric place online and made it our target for dinner. It happened, as it sometimes does when it's cold and raining and you're walking for a long time, that your dinner plans transform from just a regular restaurant into a warm and cozy respite from the trials and tribulations of the entire world. The food becomes symbolic somehow. 

I'm being dramatic but after heavy rain, wet socks, and tired feet Herman ze German fed us some wonderful food, and it was warm and dry and even slightly cozy. Although sometimes too many expectations can lead to disappointment, the right amount can really turn a fancy hot dog restaurant into the best thing all day. 

You can see a large Christmas tree in one of the photos up there, but for the most part, there was no visible Christmas. Our next trip to London is set for the day after school gets out because by that time all the Christmas markets will be roaring with festive cheer. 

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Us in Paris

Bonjour!

I wanted to give a written account of our trip to Paris because there are just some things that are impossible to capture with a camera. 

We had transit experiences that were very nice and very terrible.

The nice ones were the times we walked around the city, stumbling into neighborhoods and cafes we wouldn't have been able to find so easily had we been trying to. Paris is a lovely city to stumble around in. There are rows and rows of beautiful buildings that create a quaint yet fashionable atmosphere. Though our feet became impossibly tired by the end of our trip, I'd do it again. 

The terrible transit experiences were a result of poor timing (usually our own fault but we learned our lesson). The most exhausting was when we woke up at 2:30 to catch our 3:45am bus to the airport. Nothing makes sense at those hours, and it's terrible to see the next day coming when you can't remember sleeping enough. Paris is less than an hour by plane but from one flat to the next, our total transit time on the first day was over 7 hours. In a surprising turn of events, that first day was the day we walked the most and stayed out the latest (there was a inevitable crash that night which we felt for the next three days).

Then there were the bikes. Now many of you know that bikes and I are good friends, but the Paris bike share program did its worst to mar that relationship. If you've been to Paris recently, you've seen the countless Velib stations with goofy looking bikes. On the surface it seems like a good idea: you pay for a day-long ticket (a few bucks) and then you pay for how much you use it: if you ride for less than 30min at a time, there's no charge. If you want to ride for longer it's another few bucks per hour. All really affordable (we thought). 

We had one successful go with Velib, though the bikes weren't great, we had fun riding a bit around a quiet neighborhood. After that we had zero success: we tried to take out bikes again and could only get one before the computer at the self-serve station crashed. Then began a desperate search for an open station at the center of Paris (in less than 30 minutes). A free space at a Velib station is one of those things you see a million of when you don't need them and then the instant you need one they all disappear. After riding through some rush hour traffic and checking 3 different stations, I finally found an open space. Then I realized we didn't have working phones and I had left Makenzie waiting for me on a bridge somewhere. I sprinted back and everything was ok. 

Velib's next trick was to not tell us (they probably did but it wasn't clear) that the €150 deposit for each bike wasn't returned when you brought the bike back, but 8 days later. So after two days of riding €600 successfully shut down our UK bankcard and freaked us out to death for an hour. 

The last terrible transit story I'll tell (because this post is feeling pretty negative so far but really it was a great trip) is about our last bus which took us back to Oxford. Customs had taken longer than expected and our return ticket was only for the bus leaving an hour after we landed. With a few minutes to spare we began sprinting through the airport to the bus terminal. We saw our bus once we got outside and it had it's lights on. Not just the headlights and brake lights, those lights that come on when you reverse. I ran up to the door slapping the side with my non-refundable bus ticket in hand. 

There was a moment: he just looked at me like he hadn't decided if he were going to stop or keep going. Then he opened the door and let us on. We sat down and for an hour or so afterwards looked at each other every so often as if to say, "did that just happen?" 

Dramatics aside, our trip to Paris was the perfect way to celebrate our 1 year anniversary. Our plans were proportionally scant, so we had some time to explore while making sure we saw the important things. Like I said before we did a lot of walking, which gives a vacation a nice pace. You're forced to appreciate where you are for longer and also to look for interesting things in between the tourist traps.

We planned the trip to coincide with the first Sunday of the month when Paris' museums are free to go see. We could only do three: the Louvre, Musee D'Orsay, and Musee de l'Orangerie. We saw so many beautiful works of art that day. A favorite of mine was in l'Orangerie, Claud Monet's Water Lilies. No pictures were allowed but it would've been impossible anyway. Four paintings were in each of these huge oval rooms. Each painting was between 18-40ft and all of them curved with the room. I like the Impressionists, but this was one of the most beautiful way to experience art. 

While we didn't find delicious food everywhere in Paris, we did find the most delicious food we've ever eaten. We did some research and found a reasonably priced bistro out of the main mess around the Eiffel Tower. We got the fixed dinner and it was the best decision because everything from the appetizer to the dessert was meticulously paired to compliment each other. We were aching for hours afterward, not because we felt sick, but because we knew we wouldn't have a meal like that for a long while, and it was so good. If you ask me, don't pay for intermediately good food, just save up to eat the good stuff every once in a while. 

The last wonder I'll tell you about was something we just stumbled upon. We walked along the river often and then found this interesting looking section with bright benches and some public art called Les Berges. We walked further along and found out that it was a public space with various exhibits design by artists. It wasn't a gallery, it was a series of interactive things for people to enjoy. My favorite was the water fountain that dispensed free sparkling water (HOW REFRESHING). There were also clean cubicles with chairs and cushions for people to sit and relax for a bit, a greenhouse with benches, food carts, a tent with a bunch of art supplies for kids to use, and everything else. It was like walking through cloud of really good ideas, like everything you see is a great addition to the waterfront. 

Though we were exhausted from the walking and sometimes stressed from the various transit mishaps, the trip was a good one. We saw a lot, we did a lot and there's still more to see and do. I guess we'll have to go back someday. 

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More from our trip to Paris this weekend

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Some shots from around Paris