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More pictures from Arthur's Seat!
Day One Hundred and Four
Ok I’m coming at cha quick with another post because I’m actually kind of behind and you all deserve to be caught up on my life, right? Right. So directly following the amazing week I spent with my family Daryl and I took a quick trip to his abroad stomping grounds. When Daryl was a junior at WashU he studied abroad in Edinburgh, but for some reason we decided to meet up with him for about ten days in Italy. If we’re being honest the trip did not go as well as we had hoped, hence why we did not venture outside of London and instead my parents opted to come see me where I was based. As you have already read, that worked out pretty damn well if I do say so myself. Anyway, when I was planning my trips for the semester it occurred to me that Daryl and I might be able to go back to Edinburgh together and he could actually show me where he studied and give me a taste of his experience. So I nagged and nagged and finally he booked some flights and it was set, the siblings were heading to Scotland!
When I ended the last blog I mentioned that Daryl and I would be continuing our adventures and boy did we do just that. You have to realize this was the very very end of my spring break. We’ve discussed the week in Marbella, Spain, the week spent exploring London, and now at the end of a two week stretch we hop over to Scotland for about two days total (Daryl stayed for a few days after I left to see some friends). We arrived in Edinburgh after a short flight (which required no running whatsoever if you were wondering) around 2ish and set out to find some lunch. Our apartment would not be ready for us until about 3, so we had some time to kill, plus we were hungry! We settled for a small place that Daryl found using his magic powers, which turned out to be one of the best restaurants in the city. We spent the next hour or so eating and catching up on sibling stuff (aka that’s usually when I get to grill him on his life and for some reason he loves me enough to honestly answer me, it’s literally awesome). We found our apartment with ease, spent like a good while attempting to unlock the door, and once we settled in we decided to muster the energy and climb Arthur’s Seat. For the record we were both exhausted and pretty much wanted to nap, but the weather said it was supposed to clear up and get nicer in the late afternoon, and the remainder of the weekend was supposed to be pretty yucky, so we figured we should take advantage of it. Seriously we were so happy we did.
Arthur’s Seat is a cliff that sits in the middle of the city that has some spectacular views. It’s about a 45 minute hike to the top, except it’s pretty much a 45 degree angle for the majority of the hike so it can be a bit more than you’d expect if you’re tired or slightly out of shape (unfortunately both apply to me). We slowly made our way up, enjoying the wind and the eventual sun, which did end up showing its face. At the top we enjoyed a brownie we had bought as a treat for completing the hike (this may be one of the reasons I’m currently out of shape…) We actually ended up staying up at the top for a while, taking in the different views and snapping some photos. People take rocks and write out messages on a landing area right before the final 5 minute trek to the tippy top of the cliff, so naturally I got the brilliant idea of making a huge block M with go blue written under it. Turns out that was a big over ambitious, writing that stuff takes quite a while/ rocks if you want it to be legible, so I settled for a huge block M and my grinning face instead (pictures below, of course). We finally hiked back down, made our way back to the apartment, and hung out for a while before heading out for dinner.
For dinner we made a quick trip to a local Mediterranean place called Laila’s and had some pretty delicious hummus, falafel and tzatziki sauce. We ended up spending the better part of the night there, not only because we arrived late, but we were tired and lazy and were having fun just catching up. We made it home around 11, and decided to do one of my favorite things, watch Disney Princess movies! Sidenote: as of right now, I have written two separate research papers, totaling around 30 pages worth of writing surrounding the Disney Princess Franchise. This past week I made a 20 minute presentation about networked publics, youth culture and Disney’s ability to build and maintain it’s worldwide success through the Princesses. Basically I’m a fan, and actually find the franchise extremely interesting. Anyway, Daryl had not seen Frozen yet, and as many of you probably know, the most recent princess film has really taken off as a whole phenomenon. He had mentioned this lack of exposure casually earlier in the day, to which I immediately assured him we would fix together asap. Cue Jamie loading Frozen online as soon as we returned to the apartment. Turns out he really enjoyed it! That or he lied to me to make me feel better. Either way we watched it and he laughed a bunch and we had fun and that’s basically all that matters. After the movie we both passed out.
The next morning we woke up early to go grab breakfast before heading over to the Edinburgh Castle. We had plans to meet up with my good friend Erica, who happened to be in Scotland at the same time. Erica and I have worked together the last three summers at North Shore Day Camp, we were both initially counselors, but as of last summer she became a Division Leader and an invaluable resource when I was having a hard time connecting with my new boss. After the summer came to a close we ended up remaining close and built a friendship that has become one of my fondest from my time at North Shore. Erica was in Scotland with her boyfriend Ben for a wedding in Glasglow, but they managed to take a train to Edinburg for the day. We met up at the Castle around 11 walked around and see the sights. It was kind of foggy and misty out so we didn’t have the greatest weather, but we still had a great time catching up and enjoying the historical site. Following the Castle we decided to find lunch. This actually took a while, things were either closed, expensive or unappealing, so it took us a good hour to settle on a small place which ended up being mostly vegetarian food. I got delicious soup and nachos, Daryl got a savory crepe and we shared (as we usually do). It was so much fun getting to see Erica, I really didn’t think it was going to work out, but I was truly over the moon that it did. After lunch Erica and Ben decided to go climb Arthur’s Seat (apparently hiking it totally up Ben’s alley, so we enthusiastically suggested it) and Daryl and I head out to go take in some culture.
Our first stop was the Scottish National Gallery to take in some artwork. It was kind of mundane, again I’m working on my museum-going-abilities people, it’s not that easy. We walked around, took in some really old art, I personally liked the landscapes, and then head out to go to the Scottish National Museum, which is a completely different place if you were wondering. Daryl had found out that the Museum was hosting the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibit. Each year, the museum hosts a photo contest of wildlife photography, and when the winners, runner up’s and honorable mentions have been notified they are put on display in the museum. The exhibit was so cool! Each photograph was accompanied by the story behind how the photographer was able to capture that moment in nature, and what equipment they used to capture the image. It was so interesting we stayed until the museum closed, and I didn’t get to go through the entire thing! I’m sure Daryl went back after I left, but it was literally awesome I wish we had gotten to stay longer. There were some utterly amazing photos, taken by kids too! Part of the contest is for kids between certain ages, and this fourteen year old took this phenomenal picture of a mother alligator and her babies perched on her head/back in a body of water. It was up close so you really got the detail of the family, and made for a striking image. After the museum closed Daryl took me down to the University of Edinburgh’s campus, showed me around where he went to class, and ended his mini tour at the Meadows, which as you may have guessed, is a large park-meadow area that was simply beautiful. We sat on a bench and enjoyed the nice weather—Edinburgh apparently gets nice weather late in the day, like 4-7ish the sun comes out and it’s really pretty.
We finally returned to the apartment we decided to relax for a bit, I had some work I needed to get done and Daryl was nice enough to just hang out with me. Then when we tried to find dinner we actually had a really hard time finding something that was open or appealing! I mean I can’t really blame it on Edinburgh, we had just spent a week eating every single type of food known to mankind, that made it hard to find someone we hadn’t “just had.” We settled on a burger place nearby called Holyrood 9A, which was easy and yummy. By that time it was raining, so it was nice to just keep it simple. When we returned home we watched some SNL, hung out and just enjoyed each others company. I just need to pause one more time and talk about how luck I am that I can say that; “just enjoyed each others company;” with my brother, who I am nothing like. Somehow even though we have insanely different interests, insanely different personalities, and insanely different strengths (and weaknesses) we have so much in common. And even though he lives all the way in California, he still makes an effort to keep me up to date on his life, I cannot tell you how amazing that feels, to know you’re important to someone, that they actually want you know what’s going on, and not just because you’re related, but because they actually want you to know. Anyway that being said, we crashed when we couldn’t watch any more MacGruber shorts.
Monday we woke up early(ish) because I had a 1:30pm flight out and we wanted to be able to enjoy our last morning together. After I packed everything up we head out for brunch, which we had been planning since about ten minutes after we had arrived in the city. We went out for waffles and flat whites! We ate leisurely, mostly because we had the time to do so and nothing else on the morning agenda. We spoke about the potential for Daryl to come meet us in Sanibel when I go home and how that would kind of be awesome since I usually don't get to see him for months on end. Around 11:30 we head out to get to the bus stop so I could start my trip home. The trip home went as it usually does, tedious but straightforward. I got home around 5pm, just in time to shower and head to my final class in my pass fail British Culture class. Man it was a great spring break, check out the Edinburgh pictures, again, they’re a smattering of ones from both Daryl and myself, as usual, the better ones are most definitely his. Happy May my friends! This marks the last month I’ll be across the pond, which is both insane and exciting. But before we get there you’ll first have to hear about Paris… that’s next on deck, especially since I just wrote this entire post on the train home from a short but great trip there! More stories to come, don’t you worry.
Cheers!
Jamie
My favorite people in all the land
the Koops Kontinued
More pictures from the Koop saga!
Day One Hundred and Two (!!)
Allright everyone, as promised I have written you a saga revolving around the wonderful week I spent with my family exploring London. First things first, I have been looking forward to this week for over a month, not all 21 year olds get to say they genuinely love hanging out with their family, so I'm pretty damn lucky. Plus at a certain point you just miss home a little, ya know? I usually get to see my parents halfway through the semester on some break, but not this time, so after three months I was definitely ready for a taste of home. And the best part is that the goodbye was helped by the fact that I'm going home in less than a month! That's crazy! But look at me talking about the end before I've been gotten to the beginning, that's not fair. Let's back track a bit.
So I cut Morocco’s post short because I knew this one would be long. Let's pick up right where I stopped, shall we? I arrived in London around 7:30, managed to get through customs and home relatively quickly, so by 9 I was quickly throwing on some clean clothes and running to see my parents who conveniently rented an apartment (through airbnb) 5 minutes away. The reunion was like most go, lots of hugs, smiles and squeals (from all parties involved). I got a quick tour of the apartment an we set out for a late dinner. We went around the corner to a small Italian place with decent enough food. We discussed the following days plans, when Daryl was arriving and all about my week in Spain. After some delicious tiramisu, we continued catching up back at the apartment, and finally when I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore I returned home to finally pass out.
Friday: I woke up early to start our first day together! With Daryl arriving between 3 and 4 we wanted to do something fun in the morning and make sure we were back in time to meet him at the apartment. This could only mean one thing, food! If you were unaware our family is a bunch of foodies. We love food. All types (except my dad and I hate curry...) so naturally we ventured to Borough Market to get some tasty treats. While there we ran into my cousin Charlotte, who is studying in London as well and whose family was conveniently visiting at the same time (we knew this ahead of time). So our group of 3 tripled to 9, which was great because we all got to taste so much more food that way. We picked up some fresh food for the apartment, including ingredients for my dad's amazing rack of lamb, planning to make it for dinner on Sunday. After everyone was sufficiently stuffed we went back to the apartment to wait for Daryl.
When he arrived more hugs smiles and squeals occurred, you've got to realize people, getting the four of us in the same state let alone room is incredibly difficult, so we get pretty excited when we get time together. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out and getting ready for dinner which was with the entire extended family. When it came time for dinner we took an über (a funky taxi-like service that Daryl uses in San Francisco) to the restaurant only to find out that we had gone to the restaurant reserved for the next night..... Classic Koop shenanigans. So now we're already 10 minutes late and 20 minutes away from the actual restaurant. Daryl gets another über, we pile back in and head to the actual restaurant. Sidenote the car was pretty tense, travel stresses people out, but all I could think of was my girl El Nel saying "honey it happens!! They're your family, they'll wait!" Which is exactly what she would have said was completely true.
We arrived and ended up having a lovely dinner with Charlotte, her family, my grandfather and his girlfriend Dianne. Daryl spent the majority of the meal explaining what he does for a living (which is complicated and would take another very long post to just attempt explaining) and I have to say I was so damn proud of him. My brother is brilliant people. If you don't know him, you really should. Actually it's funny because Dianne had never met Daryl, and when she asked about him at the beginning of dinner my response was "this is my brother, he is everything I'm not and a hell of a lot better than I am." And it's the truth-- he's the one person I wish I could be more like. By the end of the meal I looked at Dianne and said "like I said, everything I'm not and a hell of a lot better" and just smiled. It was something I'll remember for a long time. By the time we got home it was late and everyone was exhausted, so I walked home and crashed.
Saturday: We woke up to decent weather! Which was not what we expected, so we decided to take advantage and go to the Tower of London! For those who don't know, the Tower of London, known formally as Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, is a historic castle in London that was built during the 1000's, so basically it's really old (there are pictures to come). The coolest part is that it houses the crown jewels, which were stunning. They are set up in a line, with moving walkways on either side to ensure that people don't stand there and stare for house (which is probably what I would have done...). Then afterwards they have the Queen's crown (I think) on display for people to stop and look at--when you have a crown that has jewels so big they have their own names you know it's a big deal. Anyway, after the Tower of London, we tried to find lunch, which for the record we pretty much failed at. Turns out last weekend marked one of London's bank holiday's which basically means everything is closed. We finally stumbled upon a pub and stopped for some pub food and beer. We then head back to the apartment to hang out before the second big family dinner. This time we made it to the correct restaurant (hooray!) and had another delicious meal with the extended family. Dinner ended late and we all decided to go to bed afterwards.
Sunday: okay sooo sunday we had plans with the extended family to go to the Tate Modern to see the Matisse Cut Out exhibit. So the exhibit is in pretty high demand and requires tickets to enter. Those tickets are for a specific time, and our were for 11:30, so I rose early(ish), went to the apartment, had some breakfast and left to go see the exhibit. Personally I wasn't that inspired, I have a complicated relationship with art, I'm much better with photography. I've actually been trying to figure out why I have a rough time connecting with art, and I think part of it is because of how it's displayed in museums, I do much better when I'm left alone to wander on my own. Plus I think I need to invest the time in the audio guides because I enjoy having background knowledge regarding what I'm looking at. Let's just say my relationship with art is in the works. Following the exhibit we set out to find some lunch. After attempting to go to a restaurant above Borough Market called roast, we ended up at a small tapas place around the corner. I actually got to suggest some dishes because of newly acquired knowledge of tapas after spending a decent amount of time in Spain, so that was cool. We then tried to beat the rain by going to the British Museum so I could show my dad the famous Benin Bronzes, which are basically only “famous” in our family because I wrote a paper about them. Before we got to the museum we made a pit stop at a shoe store to get Daryl some shoes, apparently he hadn’t noticed the gaping hole in his boots before he came. At the end of a long day we went back to the apartment to cook dinner, specifically my dads delicious rack of lamb, and had a great time relaxing and doing things on our own schedule.
Monday: after debate regarding the weather the previous night we woke up Monday morning to sun! So we took advantage by heading over to the London Eye, apparently we weren’t the only ones. Even though we got there shortly after it opened, it was packed with people! Luckily they only let so many people into the pods, and even my father, who gets claustrophobic and isn’t the biggest fan of heights really enjoyed it. We got some fantastic views of the city, my mom got to ask 100 questions about different building I didn’t know, and everyone was happy. Following the Eye, we had a lunch reservation at a restaurant called Cerviche. It’s actually a Pisco bar, which if you didn’t know, pisco is a type of brandy apparently made during winemaking (thanks Wikipedia), that specializes in I bet you can guess it… cerviche! To say the food was amazing is probably an understatement, and the pisco was yummy too! I truly think it was the best meal we had all week (and we had some pretty amazing food). I will have to find a way to get back there before I go home. After a lovely lunch we decided to walk around Regents Street, which was a huge mistake, remember the whole bank holiday thing? Yeah so Monday was the second part of the bank holiday, which basically meant everyone and their mother was out and about. We decided to ditch the area and ended up at Portobello Market out in Notting Hill? It was much less crowded and much nicer to walk around. We stopped into some small shops, and enjoyed the afternoon. Later, for dinner, we went to a Vietnamese place, it was crowded and pretty loud, not my favorite atmosphere if we’re being honest, but I had really wanted to try Vietnamese and the food was very tasty, different from what I’m used to, but good.
Tuesday: So Tuesday we did some more artsy stuff, but this was more up my alley. We went to the National Portrait Gallery to see an exhibit called Bailey’s Stardust. It's a portrait collection by David Bailey, a famous photographer who’s had quite a long career. He started in the mid 1950s and quickly rose to prominence, being contracted by Vogue as their fashion photographer. He was good friends with Mick Jagger and was responsible for many of their album covers. Most of his shoots were of his good friends, many of whom you’d recognize easily (Jack Nicholas, Susan Sarandon, Michael Caine, just to name a few). Basically it was awesome, his work is so interesting and his portraits are phenomenal. I was riveted, my favorite was a portrait of Marianne Faithful from 1964, where the photograph is taken at such an angle that the composition is just striking. Anyway I won’t continue on my rant of amazing photography. After we left the gallery we walked around the block to Trafalgar Square to see the big blue rooster statue that’s on display, that was a quick pit stop, and then we walked to a restaurant called 10 Greek Street (incase you ever want to go, fun fact, it’s located at 10 greek street). Lucky for us, a part had not shown up for the reservation (who knew you needed a reservation for lunch) and we were seated immediately. The food was delicious, they made this mushroom and leek soup that was heavenly, so much so that when we commented to the waiter that we intended to try and copy it he promptly brought us the recipe from the kitchen! It was a very kind gesture and I really hope we try it sometime. After lunch we continued around the area, and Daryl took us to a café that apparently had a good review for his favorite type of coffee. The café was called Foxcroft and Ginger and like most coffee shops that aren’t starbucks, it had a very hipster, laid back vibe. We all got flat whites, which is a preparation style of coffee that uses expresso and milk in a 1:2 ratio. Its stronger than I’m used to but it was very yummy. Afterwards we head back to the apartment to hang out before dinner.
Dinner was at a French restaurant called Whit, and since it was another bank holiday, we were literally one of two parties in the entire restaurant. The meal was delicious and the service was very attentive (it’s not like they had anything else to do). Oh we all ordered dessert because a bunch of stuff sounded amazing, what we didn't realize was that each dessert was basically a medley of desserts associated with the description, so we struggled to eat the immense amount of treats, but they were delicious. Like most other nights, when we got back we hung out for a little before everyone had to go crash.
Wednesday: Wednesday it was time to get out of London for a little. We woke up early to catch a train to Hampton Court Palace, one of the palaces, which just happens to be a short hour outside the city. The palace is a quick walk from the train station, and has some amazing gardens. We spent the morning roaming the halls learning about the British monarchy. We brought our lunch so when we got hungry we picnicked in the gardens and enjoyed the beautiful day. We had a mini family photoshoot because we no longer have enough pictures of just the four of us, so that was kind of funny setting timers and running to get the shot. We ventured to the palaces maze and somehow found our way to the middle and after wandering through the gardens for the afternoon we hopped back on a train, came back to London and prepped for an early dinner.
Why an early dinner you may be wondering, because at 7:30 we had tickets to see the Book of Mormon, a show I’ve been dying to see! We’ve had the tickets for months and everyone was pretty excited to see it. We started off having dinner at a one star Michelin rated Dim Sum restaurant with the worst service ever but some really great food. Following dinner we head off to see the show, which was absolutely hysterical! I’m telling you, if you have the chance to go see that show, definitely do it. We were laughing the entire time! And random fun facts, the two leads were played by actors who graduated from both Michigan (#GOBLUE) and NYU! Anyway after the show we came back to the apartment to have tea and chocolate, and eventually crashed for the night.
Thursday: another early morning—are you noticing a pattern here? Thursday we decided to explore yet another market! I found Greenwich Market online and thought would be a fun destination because it’s known as a very “antique-y’ market, which my parents really enjoy. Greenwich was about a 40 minute trip from the apartment, if you haven’t noticed we really spent the week exploring all different areas of London, it’s an incredibly expansive city. Although it was a bit gloomy, the market is covered and very quaint. We walked around the area, checked out the shops that surround the marketplace, my mom even ended up finding glasses she bought for the house! Oh and of course I found some really cute shoes… what can I say, it’s a gift. We stayed in the area for lunch, attempting to get sushi from one of the highest rated restaurants in the city (by tripadvisor) only to be told that the sushi chef was in the hospital and no in! So we swapped around the order and ended up having some tasty Japanese food.
When we returned to the city it was pretty late in the afternoon. It had unfortunately dawned on me that I needed to get some work done for school stuff, so I went back to my flat to get some things done, while my family went to the super market to pick up food to make dinner with. We had decided to do dinner at the apartment and give us a bit a break from going out constantly. We made Caesar Salad and Grilled chicken, as always, it was absolutely delicious, and the perfect taste of home. When we were done, my dad and I took a quick walk around the corner back to the little Italian place on the corner of their block and picked up dessert. We returned to have tea and tiramisu, chatting about the day and what we’ve got going on as a family. I returned home around midnight to get some rest before our last full day together.
Friday: Friday we did things a little differently, instead of getting and getting out relatively early we decided to make a big breakfast/brunch for everyone. This consisted of fresh fruit, eggs, bacon and French toast. I was literally in heaven. When we (lets be real, when I) finished stuffing my face, we decided to head to one more museum and check out the Tate Britain. They were showing an exhibit called “Source” which revolved all around media, digital artwork and how it’s displayed. The exhibit turned out to be a singular room with all these different pictures and pieces of art hanging on one wall, and a projected screen on the opposite wall showing different images. In the middle there were couches and headsets that allowed people to listen to certain sounds that were set to accompany specific images. It was such an interesting concept for an exhibit, I’m not sure I loved it, but it was definitely different from anything I’ve ever seen. Also, a painting my mother happens to love was being shown there, so we went to find that too.
I’ll be honest I got bored pretty quickly after the media exhibit but I ended up finding another photography exhibit, but this was one was pretty depressing. I can’t remember the photographers name, but he documented industrial cities in the UK during the 1980s, when their production was significantly decreasing and a lot of people were out of work. It was interesting to see it after seeing Bailey’s Stardust, their pictures conveyed such different emotions. There’s just something about photography I really connect with, the ability to capture a moment, a real moment, something that happened right in front of your eyes, and somehow managing to encapsulate it forever? That’s amazing. Plus if you’re really good, the emotion that existed in that split moment will accompany the image too, and anyone that looks at it, they’ll know exactly what you felt when you took it, or how the person in the photo felt. Maybe I’m romanticizing the whole thing, but that’s basically my fascination with it.
When we left the museum it was raining, so we decided to take a bus to our next destination, which was lunch. Well I shouldn’t really say lunch, we actually went to a restaurant called Sketch for afternoon tea! It was a suggestion from Hannah as an eclectic and different experience with tasty food and boy was she right! There are multiple rooms you can sit in, all with different designs. We sat in a parlor type room with huge couches and big comfy chairs to sit in, and a lot of pictures of people with goat heads… it was kind of bizarre but actually very comfortable and cool. We ordered tea for two and an order of Mac n Cheese, which turned out to be enough food, and three different pots of tea. It was a very British thing to do. Oh and sidenote, they have the weirdest bathroom situation going on there. I took pictures don't worry, but literally their bathrooms are these pods, I hate to say it but they were kind of glorified port-o-potties. It was rather odd, but kind of funny too. Anyway after tea we stopped next door at the East India Tea Company for my parents to get people gifts and finally returned to the apartment around 6:30. As you can imagine, we decided to do a later dinner, and settled for a 9:30 reservation at a placed call name. Dinner was delicious, actually the drinks kind of stole the show, they were really great. As you can imagine it was pretty damn late when we were finally done, and everyone had to be up early because Daryl were leaving the next morning to go to Edinburgh for the weekend, while my parents were heading home! Everyone went to bed with the intention of waking up early and having one last meal together.
Saturday: I woke up at the crack of dawn, again, to get my stuff together and head over the my parents apartment to have some breakfast. We spent the next hour just hanging out together as a family, enjoying the company, since we knew the week was coming to a close. Around 9:15 we began the process of hugging and saying goodbye and such. It was truly an amazing week, and you guys just got the short version! To say I really needed the time with my family would be a massive understatement. They’re basically the people keep me sane and for that I will be forever grateful.
So this brings the saga of the Koop’s to a close, but don't worry, I did mention that Daryl and I continued our adventure in Edinburgh for the weekend and that’s the next blog post I’ve got coming for ya! Check out the pictures from the week, they’re a mixture of mine and Daryl’s. Hint: if they look really really amazing they’re probably Daryl’s. The kid brought really nice SLR and has a great eye, how was I supposed to compete with that?! Sending love to anyone who took the time to read this entire thing, man you guys are troopers.
Cheers!
Jamie
more pictures from Morocco and the sunrise from the last day in Spain!
Day Ninety-Six
I'm back! I know, I know it's been a long time. Well what can I say people, it's spring break and there's a lot going on. From Africa to Spain back to London and then off to Edinburgh I'm just hoppin' all around the place.
Let's start with the big statement: Africa. So last last Wednesday (like 2 wednesday's ago) Sarah, Caroline, Hannah and I decided it was time to take advantage of southern Spain's close proximity to Africa. We signed up for a day tour to Tangier, the northern most city in Africa. It was about an hour on bus and then an additional hour on a boat, which if you think about it is really quite close by. Upon arrival we loaded onto coach busses for a tour of the city. The city is divided into distinct areas including French, Spanish, and American to name a few. Also something I didn't know but found interesting, the first national language in tangier is actually Arabic and the second is French, who would have guess (answer: not me). Anyway after touring the city to bus took us westward, where we stopped to ride some camels (which was basically the reason we originally wanted to go) and got to see where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Mediterranean Sea. Both were a blast, I had quite the feisty camel, who was more than happy to pose for some pics (trust me there are tons) and the look out point to the water was absolutely beautiful. Following our quick trip west we ventured back to the city where we had lunch.
Lunch was served in a traditional Moroccan restaurant, complete with a band and everything. First we were served soup, which for the record I actually ate some of (for those who don't know I'm not usually a soup person), next was some delicious seasoned meat and finally saffron chicken over couscous (the food so good you have to say it twice). Did you know couscous is the national food of morocco? It is... Also one has to wonder how couscous of all foods became the national food. Either way it was delicious, which was pretty unexpected. After lunch we began the walking portion of the tour, which took us through the winding alleys of the old city, known as the Kasbar. We stopped into what I can best describe as a Moroccan emporium. There was ceramic vases, wooden boxes, leather bags, robes and of course rugs. It actually reminded me of my grandmother, who would have had a ball in this place. I don't think there was a piece of jewelry smaller than my eye and boy did that woman love her chunky jewelry. She also would have loved the fact that I went to morocco (though she probably would have been convinced I'd get lost there but that's besides the point). Anyway I digress. Afterwards the African emporium we entered a medicinal shop with spices, hair oil and different treatments for all sorts of issues (insomnia, snoring, big bites, all that fun junk). We continued around the streets of the Kasbar for a short while and then began the reverse trip back to Spain. We finally got home around 7 after an extremely long and exciting day, made dinner and crashed.
Thursday was our last day in Spain, so we decided to wake up early and watch the sunrise on the beach. For the second day in a row we woke up while it was still dark out, ventured down to the beach and watched an absolutely gorgeous sunrise. It was really quite nice, I think everyone was really happy we did it. After we returned the apartment, packed up and went in search of a cafe to sit and have a very long lunch (hey we had time to kill). Following lunch I set out to return to London where my family would be arriving shortly after me for a week of Koop fun! Now, so I don't make you read the saga that was my week with my family,
I'm cutting this post short in anticipation of writing quite a lot tomorrow. So for now, enjoy all the pictures of Morocco, the camel shots are pretty entertaining if you ask me.
Cheers!
Jamie
Not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand, life is good today, life is good today 🎶☀️🌊 #latergram #zacbrownband (at Marbella)
Pictures from the Alcazar Palace!
More pictures from Seville, mainly of the Sevilla Cathedral and Giralda!
Pictures of the one night we ventured into town, views from the bus to Seville and the start of our day adventure there!
Day Eighty-Four
Hello friends! Greetings from Marbella, Spain! Well if we're being honest I'm actually typing this while on a bus home from Seville (hey trying to be productive, ya feel?) but the point is I'm basically in Spain on spring break and it's awesome. Before I launch into my day trip though I should probably brag, I mean recall my week first.
So before I got on a plane at the crack of dawn, before I packed for a week in a backpack (hey I'm learning not to overpack, it was an accomplishment!) I actually had a really cool academic experience (still going to school here, remember?). Last Thursday my journalism class went on another field trip, this time to the offices of The Guardian, which is a popular newspaper in the UK. There we met with Luke Harding, an international reporter who worked on the team that broke the NSA/ Snowden story (if you didn't know, the guardian was the first to report on the issue). We spent about 45 minutes having a question and answer session about his work around the world, which includes reporting from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Russia, which he was later kicked out of. He told us stories of how his reporting has evolved over time and what he believes is valuable reporting. It was so interesting to to hear first hand accounts of what it's really like to be a journalist. I mean we do all this reading and we watch reporters all the time, but we don't often hear what the job actually entails. After we met with Luke we learned more about the guardians background, how it functions on a day to day basis, what challenges it faces and how the paper is altering it's methods of access to reflect changes in technology. I have to admit, even though my journalism professor is a pretty scary lady, her choices for field trips are on point, the whole thing was pretty damn cool.
Okay now time for spring break. So when my field trip to the guardian concluded I was officially on spring break! I returned home Thursday afternoon to finish packing and do a little cleaning, and celebrate finally getting some time to relax! The following morning at 4am Caroline, sarah, Hannah and I all rose to begin our trek to southern Spain. Hannah's parents kindly offered to pay for a car in the morning so we wouldn't have to take trains and busses and risk running through the airport (for a third time...). We arrived to an extremely busy Stansted around 6, and proceeded through security and boarding tediously, but eventually took off, landed and got through customs. After a bus from Malaga to Marbella and a quick taxi we met Sergio, our landlord for the week. Instead of staying in a hostel or hotel, we opted to use airbnb for the week. For those who don't know, airbnb is a website/ company that allows people to basically rent any sleeping accommodations from a couch to an entire house from certified and reviewed people. It's brilliant. The apartment is awesome, there are 3 bedrooms with 4 beds (I got the only full!) a living/ dining room, kitchen and balcony with a comfy couch. It's truly been a great fit for us.
We spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday exploring the beaches in the area, which if you were wondering, are all gorgeous. The routine is sleep in, lounge around the apartment until around noon, pack lunch, get ready, and head to the beach for the rest of the day. We don't usually return until after 6, when we shower and nap before a late dinner. I cannot tell you how perfect it has been. We've saved money by making all our meals as a group, and instead decided to spend money on 2 day trips, one to Seville (that was today) and one to Morocco (that's on Wednesday).
Okay side note, it's now tuesday night (the day after Seville), I had to stop mid post because my phone died on the bus. So yesterday we woke up early, and set out to have an adventure. We walked to the bus station, got tickets for the 9:15 bus and spent 3 hours traveling to Seville. Upon arrival we had about 6 hours to explore the city, so naturally first we sat down for lunch (hey we like food). I had some really interesting Gazpacho, which instead of having the usual chunky consistency, was actually creamy. It was unusual but still tasty. We then set out to see the Sevilla Cathedral, which is the largest gothic Cathedral in Europe. We explored the ginormous service area (which appears to still be in frequent use), and climbed the Giralda, which is the bell tower to see some amazing views of the city (check out the pictures below!). Afterwards we walked right across the way to the Alcazar Palace, which is the oldest royal palace still in use in Europe (Seville has some serious claims to fame if you haven't noticed). We spent the rest of the afternoon roaming the palace and gardens, which are expansive. It was a gorgeous day out, and there were peacocks, so why not!! Also, it appears that we've dropped in during one of Spain's holiest weeks. No joke, we've walked into about half a dozen different religious parades, complete with costumes, marching bands, and very very large crosses. They occur basically every day in Marbella, and one was going on in Seville too. Apparently, the week leading up to Easter is a whole megillah (how would I know that? I'm too busy thinking about missing seder!). Anyway Seville looked as if it was about to have a city-wide parade/ celebration/ service in the streets--there were hundreds if not thousands of chairs being set up around the city. We got back on the bus around 6 to head home, arrived about 3 hours later, made some dinner and just hung out for the night.
Today it was back to the beach for our last full day in the sand. Tomorrow we're getting picked up really early (7:45!) to take a day trip to Morocco!! We're going with a tour group that plans an entire day of activities including tours of the city Tangier, trips to the desert, lunch and explorations of a traditional souk and camel rides. I'M STOKED ABOUT IT!! I'm sure there will be more stories to come, thursday will mark my last day in Spain, I'll be splitting up from my friends to return to London because the Koop's are invading for a week. Basically I'm on cloud nine. Check out the pictures from the first few days of the trip, trust me there are plenty more to come.
Cheers!
Jamie
The first Parade we found ourselves in...
Some casual sand sculptures we found on our way home...
Mini Photo Shoot at the Iamsterdam sign, yeah we threw some stunner shots in there.... it's a thing.
More Pictures from Amsterdam, of the Canals and Vondelpark!
Day Seventy-Eight
I officially have a new hobby. It's called "sprinting through airports like an idiot" and apparently I do it quite often. This weekend Sarah, Caroline and I went to Amsterdam but I have to say there was so much action before we ever stepped foot in the city. Now I know you're probably thinking back to Stockholm and the phenomenally entertaining story of Sarah and I, but this one could potentially top it.
So unlike our past trips, our flight to Amsterdam was through easyjet, which if you were wondering, is not an accurate name. This flight was out of Gatwick airport, which is farther away than Stansted (though for the 16 minutes I was running trough it it seemed nicer than Stansted) Because of the longer distance I left for the airport directly from class. Caroline and I take the tube to Vauxhall where we meet up with Sarah. Then the three of us proceed to begin running around the area looking for the national express bus stop. Eventually an extremely nice British lady notices us panting an helps us out, we find the bus, get on and settle in for a quiet hour and a half ride to the airport. Nope. We were wrong. For probably over an hour of the ride we were treated to the musical arrangements of a 2 year old. Basically the kid altered between screaming at the top of his lungs, crying, and making Dory-esque noises from Finding Nemo. Suffice to say it was more than a little unpleasant. And to top it off his dad sat there with his headphones in the ENTIRE RIDE, occasionally scolding the boy in a feeble attempt to quiet him. It. Was. Awful. And lucky us, were ended up being a full 30 minutes late! So instead of arriving close to 7pm, where we would have had an hour to get through security we had slightly less than a half hour. Here's where we get to my new hobby.
We hit the ground running, heading towards security, get there, no line, awesome! Then I get searched because some bracelet set off the detector, then Carols bags get searched, because we are so lucky today. We continue on, sprinting like maniacs, definitely entertaining the lovely patrons of Gatwick airport, and of course the easyjet gates are in Guam. Somehow I get stuck behind the everywhere man. The everywhere man is a phrase we've sort of coined because we seem to keep running into him. It's not a specific person per se, but more of a conceptual person. The everywhere man is an individual who is everywhere you need to be. You're trying to pass on the right? He shifts to the right. You're trying to walk down the escalator? He's standing so that his bag is blocking you. No matter how you cut it, the everywhere man is wherever you are trying to go. And naturally he does not appear unless you're in a rush. So yes, I get stuck behind him and get separated from Sarah and Caroline. I finally get away from the everywhere man and find myself with 4 different paths I can take to different gates, with Sarah and Caroline no where to be found. I have no fucking clue what gate the flight is at, we were just following Sarah, so basically I'm screwed. I try one path, wrong, then I realize I shouldn't be an idiot, I track down a Gatwick employee and get help. After finding the correct path I resume my sprinting to Guam, somehow I manage to make it to the gate before it closes. As if I wasn't already wheezing and gross, when my ticket is scanned I'm told I cannot have a backpack and a purse, only one, so now I have to redistribute my shit into one bag. Somehow I manage (it wasn't pretty) get myself on the plane and finally inhale.
Keep in mind this was all done in less than 30 minutes. Just let that sink in for a moment. Stressed yet? Yeah tell me about it. Thankfully the flight itself was around an hour and pretty painless and from there on out, the weekend was stress free!
Friday morning we woke up well rested and ready to explore a new city. After a light breakfast, we decided to visit the Van Gogh Museum, which was a short walk from the hotel. We spent the morning learning about Van Gogh's life, how he was influenced by those around him, and how that was reflected in his work. Although I've never been a museum person, for the majority of the visit I was pretty engaged (which is actually saying something). By the time we finished, it was time for lunch, we decided on a small panini place called Toastable, and with a small amount of confusion, made plans to meet up with Aaron and his friend. The food was quite yummy, and seeing Aaron was a blast. I met his friend Sam, and we got to catch up on the rest of our plans for the semester. It's crazy, but Aaron's program is done in about two weeks. He'll be back home before my spring break is over! We decided to part ways, with the intention of meeting up later that night. Caroline actually has friends who are studying abroad in Amsterdam, so we spent the afternoon roaming the city with a semi-local, which was great! Lauren took us to her favorite parts of the city, which is a community called the Jordan and forced us to eat the best apple pie I've ever had. It was at this place called Winkel, and honestly it was more of an apple cake than a pie, but let me tell you it was heavenly. I will be dreaming of that for a good, long while. After exploring for the entire afternoon, we met up with more of Caroline's friends for dinner at an Italian-Fondue place! It was very cute and the food was good, but the coolest part was that we got to hear about life in Amsterdam, how to not get hit by a biker and what it's like to live in a city where what's usually seen as questionable, is the norm (anti-climactic was basically the answer by the way). Sidenote, Amsterdam is all about the bike, seriously there are bike lanes on every street and it definitely rivals cars for most used form of transportation. It also creates a scenario where I was 97% sure I was going to be hit by one every time I crossed the street. Hey, it definitely kept me on my toes! Anyway, following dinner we returned to our hotel for some rest, and later that night went out to experience the Amsterdam nightlife. We ended up at the Bulldog Cafe, which had different sections to sit, each with a different vibe, we settled on the downstairs pub area, and hung out for the night. It was a ton of fun, and very relaxed, a well deserved break after a long day. Speaking of long days, saturday was really jam packed.
Saturday morning we woke up early with the plan to go on a free two hour walking tour of the city. Turns out it was a three hour tour, led by a Brit who was funny, and quite engaging. We walked through many of the areas we had seen the day before including the Jordan and the Red Light District, but this time got history and stories to go with it. Saturday was absolutely gorgeous out, so we definitely picked the right day to see the sights. Following the tour, we set out to find Wok to Walk, a restaurant that basically makes stirfy/noodles to go which was suggested by Paul (aka he basically told me if I didn't go I was a fool) and took our lunch to Vondelpark, a huge park that spans 120 acres of land, for an afternoon picnic. We sat and enjoyed the sun for a few hours, explored the many ponds they have within the park, and around five, left to go take a canal tour. The Canal Tour was so cool! A boat took us around the entire city, which if you didn't know, is kind of shaped like a giant U. Amsterdam is basically four concentric half-circle canals that separate the city into different areas. It's reminiscent of Venice, but there are less canals and the canals are bigger. So the tour took us through different canals and areas, giving us a completely different view of the city. When the tour ended, we decided to top off the day by visiting the Anne Frank House. According to Caroline's friend Lauren, the line to the house is usually over two hours, so the best time to go was either early in the morning or late at night. At this point it was already seven, so we decided to head over.
The Anne Frank house was just something else. Many people don't know that she was actually hidden in Amsterdam. Although most things inside the house were destroyed, the house itself has remained preserved, and has become a museum where people can go and learn about the Frank family and Anne's life. They have interviews with relatives and friends who survived, pictures and explanations of what was going on at the time, and some of her original diaries. I have to say, walking through the original bookshelf that served as the secret door to the annex in which eight people hid for two full years is indescribable. I'm not sure how to explain what it felt like to stand there and know and understand what had happened, to know that less than 100 years ago a girl younger than I was experiencing fear I cannot even fathom, and still remained hopeful, positive and calm. I've spent a lot of time this week thinking about it, and I'm not sure I'll ever be able to put my thoughts into words, but I'm glad we took the time to go, even if it was somber, it was important. When we were done, we decided to head home and find dinner on the way. We stopped into a pizzeria, sat and reviewed the day, and when we got back to the hotel, promptly crashed.
We woke up Sunday with no plans, which for the record was amazing. We decided it was time for a treat, skipped the hotel breakfast, and went across the street for some crepes. Damn they were good, I got bananas, nutella, and peanutbutter, a bit decadent, but definitely worth it. We leisurely enjoyed the morning, which was overcast and dreary, and when we were finally done, decided to walk around and shop a bit. We went explored the old antique shops, which are quite plentiful (shoutout to eve robin, who loves those things), and after a few hours, head back to go get some work done before we left. We made a quick pitstop at the IAmsterdam sign and had a mini photo shoot, you'll definitely enjoy that haha. With the hopes of not repeating out sprinting session in the airport, we left for an early dinner, and made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. The trip back to London was smooth sailing, so much so that we were able to take a train straight back to Kings Cross, a luxury we've never had before! All in all it was such an interesting and different trip. I know I just wrote you all a novel, and I would apologize for it, but common, don't you want the details?
Friday marks another big trip, it's officially spring break! Yes, while Michigan is officially done with classes for the semester (crazy, I know) we're just starting our glorious two week vacation from what my dad likes to call my 'extended teen tour'. I'll be spending the next week with my butt glued to the gorgeous beaches of Marbella, Spain, occasionally getting up to drop into Morocco and Seville. Following which, my entire family is coming to visit! Talk about a packed two weeks. As always, there are photos below, and more stories to come, I'll keep ya posted!
Cheers!
Jamie
More Pictures from the Harry Potter Studio Tour!