In the City of Love!

Salut, tout le monde!

This one will be an old-fashioned written post (I didn't even pull out my camera today, amazingly!). After a freakin' loooooong day, I am now in the City of Luuurve - Paris, France! We're all safe and sound at the hotel (we actually arrived before noon today), but we had a crazy frustrating and stressful day as we ran into a problem with our EuRail passes (curse you, French rail system!). Originally we wanted to reserve a seat on an overnight train from Paris to Rome on the night of January 2nd, but when we arrived at the station haggered and sleep-deprived we were told that the entire train was booked and we had no feasible way of getting to Italy. After refueling with some Turkish food and checking into our hotel we got to work planning an alternative route. So with the help of the AMAZING hotel owner (seriously, he is so freaking friendly and helpful - and he brought us free expresso!) we managed to sort out a new plan for the final leg of our journey. Me, Steph, and Amberle will be spending one extra day in Paris and then heading on a 21-hour(!!!!!!) journey to Rome on the 3rd, and then flying back on the 7th (Julie unfortunately had to ditch her plans of visiting a friend in Northern Italy and will be flying back to England early on the 1st). So it was a really hectic day, but now that we've got most of this sorted out we're excited to explore such an amazing city as Paris and spend New Year's here! (we're going to watch Amelie tonight to get ourselves pumped for tomorrow :P). And I'm really looking forward to practice my French - already I've spoken more French in one day than I have in years, and no one has made fun of me yet, haha! (Mom, I know you'll be proud :P)

Anyways, I'm tired as heck right now, but I'm glad that we're still going to Italy and have a comfy bed to sleep in tonight. Hope you're all doing well (and feel free to send me a message - I love checking my email and Facebook and blog and getting updates from home!)

Love,

Madalyn

Day trip to Trier, Germany!

So what does one do when visitng Luxembourg? According to most people we've asked, you get the heck out of Luxembourg! :P (in case any of the Luxembourgish are reading this, do not fret; I thoroughly enjoyed my brief but pleasant stay in your country - some people are just snobs and think you're too small too be fun). Today me, Stephanie, and Amberle hopped on a train and spent a few hours across the border in good ol' Deutschland. Specifically we were in the border town Trier, which is a popular religious destination as it can allegedly lay claim to having the cloth that Jesus Christ wore on the cross. And it also has beer glasses that are as long as my forearm! (yes, I drank out of one of these glasses - being buzzed at 4pm in a foreign country is certainly an experience, haha!) We bought some souvenirs, including a German flag that I bought that's at least three times as big as the other flags I've purchased thus far on the trip (ironic that the country we spent the least amount of time in memorialized with the largest flag in my collection :P). Anyways, we're off bright and early to Paris tomorrow, but until then, enjoy this video of me trying to pour a beer (riveting stuff, I know). ;)

On a train to nowhere......potentially

No worries guys, we made it! (although it took 4 trains instead of 2 and a whole lot of confused glances towards each other, lol). The hostel here is pretty nice - everyone is very friendly and our room is very comfortable (and the food is great!), although the showers very awkwardly have no doors so the water gets all over the floor >:( Today we spent the day strolling along what was a VERY snowy path towards the city centre, and then we ended up hanging out for the whole afternoon in the Museum of the History of the City of Luxembourg (say THAT 5 times fast!). It turned out to be really fun - there was a whole floor dedicated to the 1960s, and a section depicting the progression of teenage sexuality (with photos included!). Tomorrow we'll do a bit more shopping (we bought some clothes and souvenirs today) and we may even take a train over to Trier, Germany and chill there for a bit.

As for blog posts, I'm enjoying this whole vloging thing; I may continue with it until I get back to England when I have the chance to collect my thoughts and write my trademark novels :P

Hope you're all enjoying the holidays! I'll keep blogging and Facebooking as much as I can!

Peace!

Happy Holidays from Bruges :)

I can't remember the last time I strapped on a pair of skates and hit the ice, but man, was I ever glad I did it in Bruges! It was a great way to end off our Christmas stay :)

Christmas Eve in Belgium = PARTY TIME!!!

I filmed this one at 3:35am, hence the total disregard for proper lighting, etc. :P

2nd vlog! This time in Bruges!

Please disregard Youtube's horrendous choice of a screencap for this video - I was battling an ill-timed breakout and washing my face :( Ah well, backpacking through Europe calls for some unglamorous moments......... ;)

First Vlog!!!

The firstof what will hopefully be many vlog entries (that is to say, Èvideo blogÈ entries) :D

Made it!!!!!!

I am in Amsterdam, folks! The hostel has free internet and I am using one of the communal computers right now, so that is very handy (although I cannot seem to find the apostrophe button on this keyboard, hence my lack of grammatical contractions :P). The trip over here was looooooong (when the weather gets a little crummy, England and Europe just shuts down!) but we are here safe and sound and I am looking forward to exploring more of the city tomorrow!



As for blog entries, I will probably keep them to shorter lengths as we have a time limit on the computer, but I will be writing the old fashioned way with a pen and paper and probably when I return to England I will be able to give more details about my journey.



Love you all!



Madalyn

Ah, damn it! :P

Bleeehhhhhhhh!!!! Once again I have left packing until the last minute and holy smokes do I ever suck at it. It's about 2:30am here and I have to be up in about 3 hours to catch a taxi to the train station (do you think I should take a cat nap or just tough it out until it's morning again? lol. Ah man, this is gonna be a long day........) But at least I'm done packing (technically, although I'm never satisfied with what I bring) and I even squeezed in a partial viewing of American Beauty with my flatmates Sho and Fabio, despite my better judgment advising me to get some sleep instead. BUT, before I go to bed i will post for you all my travel itinerary, just so you have a sense of when I'll be on a train or when I might be able to access the internet, etc.

Dec 20 - Ferry to Amsterdam. Overnight/Hostel in Amsterdam.
Dec 21 - Overnight/Hostel Amsterdam
Dec 22 - Overnight/Hostel Amsterdam
Dec 23 - Day trip to Bruges, stay overnight
Dec 24 - stay in Bruges
Dec 25 - Christmas, also in Bruges overnight
Dec 26 - Bruges overnight
Dec 27 - At some point train to Luxembourg, overnight in Luxembourg
Dec 28 - Overnight in Luxembourg
Dec 29 - Overnight in Luxembourg
Dec 30 - Paris overnight
Dec 31 - Paris overnight, New Years Eve
Jan 1 - Paris overnight
Jan 2 - Day in Paris, Overnight/day train to Rome (14.5 h trip)
Jan 3 - Overnight in Rome
Jan 4 - Overnight in Rome
Jan 5 - Overnight in Rome
Jan 6 - Overnight in Rome
Jan 7 - fly at 10pm to Stansted

I am totally zoned out right now but feelin' ok, so I think I'll go sit on my bed and let my body decide what I should do, lol. My British Thing of the Week will have to wait until I get back home, or possibly if I get the chance to update my blog along my journey :) So for now, that's all folks!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"So dance, dance like it's the last, last time of your life, life!"

Helllllllooooooo, beautiful people!

So I actually wrote this post last weekend after my dance competition but couldn't figure out how to embed the videos directly into my blog (until now - thanks Youtube!). So after I blab on a it, feel free to check them out! (I'm the really pale girl in all the videos, lol).

For those of you who are just catching up, last weekend I got the chance to travel to London's Royal Holloway University with the Essex Dance Society (officially titled "SXDance") and compete against a bunch of other universities. It was a long day, but I'm so grateful I even had the oportunity to participate! We placed 2^nd for Contemporary and 3^rd for Jazz, which were the two dances that I was in - YAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY!!!!!!! We also came in 2^nd place for Ballet, although I didn’t perform that dance (but I will in the next competition once we have the chance to rehearse it some more). Both Stephanie and Amberle were able to come and see me perform, and once I actually got up on stage I realized how great it was to have people in the audience who were there to see me. I always think that it won’t feel like a big deal, but once I start dancing I’m always really thankful that I can go and celebrate with someone afterwards. They were freakin' awesome supporters too - cheering, taking photos & videos, giving big hugs, and just being there in the first place! (they willingly woke up at 7am on a Saturday just to see me dance for a total of about 11 minutes). So kudos to Amberle and Stephanie for being the best audience I could have asked for <3 style="text-align: center;">Stephanie, Amberle, and me sittin' pretty in the audience. I finished early so we got to lay back and watch the other performances together. I definitely got some serious Cumbrae recital flashbacks, but it was all good, and it was the first time that I've really felt some genuine school pride for Essex :)

“Keep calm and carry on…….”

Blimey, you guys are pretty freaking awesome!

I usually like to save the sentimental musings for the end of my posts, but this time I’m going to switch it up a bit and blabber on about how much I love you all right off the bat. These past two weeks, while at times a bit emotionally confusing for me, turned out to be exactly what I needed. Through the power of Sykpe, email, and good old fashioned late-night girl talks, I had some quality heart-to-hearts with you guys, and they did wonders to keep me in a good mood and get me focused on what I need to do (and NOT do) in order to make this year freaking awesome. In fact, after having some long conversations with a couple of friends and family members, I was able to clear my conscience and ended up having one of the best weekends in England so far! Let it be known: a home cooked American Thanksgiving dinner, a couple of rounds of Apples to Apples, some Harry Potter cinematic action, Skype dates with old roommies and parents, and a headphone disco are sometimes all you need for a fantabulous weekend :D

So let’s try something different this week, shall we? I’m going to re-cap in reverse, starting with this past weekend and moving on to the last time I said anything interesting (which was far too long ago, I know – how have you all survived this long without my updates? Has there been, like, a Cake Boss marathon on or something?)

ANYWAYS, last Friday I got all dressed up in one of ma purdy new dresses and ran off to a Thanksgiving dinner hosted by my American friend Raisa. It included all the usual fixings (the stuffing especially was tasty as heck), multiple rounds of Apples to Apples (greatest party/makeshift drinking game ever!), and a 3am taxi drive back to campus (which I’ve decided is how every Thanksgiving should end, whether Canadian or American, from this day forward). On Saturday, I watched a movie concerning a certain boy wizard and was thoroughly impressed (gonna have to shill out another 7 pounds to see that one again…..), then came home and had a reliably awesome Skype chat with my mom in which she dispensed her usual brand of optimistic wisdom and got me on track to what was quite possibly the best night I’ve had yet at Essex. Pretty much my entire flat and the majority of my friends went out to the Headphone Disco on campus, which is essentially a “silent” disco where you can only hear the music when you wear the headphones provided. It was super-neat: we could flip between two channels, one of which was more traditional club music while the other was classic pop tunes. We were singing at the top of our lungs, dancing up a storm, and generally just having a blast. Hanging out with Ellie and Sho in particular is really cool because we’re all a part of the Dance Society. So without a doubt, I lucked out when I landed in Tawney Tower, Flat 4, because I’m living with a fantastic group of people. We get along really well and we look out for each other, which makes partying with them even more enjoyable <3

(from left: Izzie, Klaus, Ellie, me, Sho, and James – just a sampling of my amazing flatmates)

Then I capped off Sunday with a weekly Skype session with my dad, which was as relaxing and heart-warming as usual (shout-outs go to Melissa, Anelia, and Lizzy for rounding out my Skype dates for the week – and for the rest of you, I won’t rest until I’ve heard all of your voices and seen all of your blurry faces!). Which brings me to mention one of the reasons I’ve been a bit slow with these posts: DANCE! I won’t say too much about it because our competition is on Saturday and I’d like to save some details for then (and hopefully a video too!), but it’s been a very challenging and exciting process preparing for it – I’ll be competing in Jazz and Contemporary, and with a few more rehearsals to go, I’m really eager to see how it all turns out! I danced for about 10 years but have never actually competed, so wish me luck!

ATTENTION: I interrupt this blog post to bring you an important WEATHER UPDATE: It seems as though the great nation of England is having some sort of identity crisis and has rather abruptly decided to be more like Canada, hence this scene outside my bedroom window early this morning:

And the it snowed some more, and then more, and then just for good measure, it snowed some more……seriously, I was not expecting to need proper winter boots on the 30^th of November, and neither apparently was the rest of Essex (one of my lectures was cancelled today, and the library closed at 7:30pm instead of the usual 10pm). England! Pull yourself together, mate!

Now, time to go about two weeks back to Camden! Oh, glorious Camden! What a groovy place, man. For the uninitiated, Camden Town is a section of London that has a MASSIVE indoor and outdoor market district selling everything from jewellery to clothing to antiques to art to UH-MAZING curry, doughnuts, and hot-mulled wine. Picture it as a combination of Ottawa’s Byward Market and Toronto’s Queen Street West, only much bigger and more awesome, and with a rave-clothing store called CyberDog

…….which is essentially a rave itself (male and female dancers spinning around poles, vogue-ing, wearing robotic-like florescent spandex clothing, while the music thumps loudly and everything is cast in a green or blue glow – including the sex shop in the basement. It was like walking into Lady Gaga’s techno guest house). Punks, hippies, hipsters, clubbers, artists, vendors, and tourists at every corner, and although we weren’t allowed to take photos inside stores or of the street vendors, trust me when I s

ay the whole place is just one big crazy circus. AND, without realizing it until Stephanie pointed it out to me days later, not only did I buy some Banksy prints (one of his better-known pieces is on the wall behind me in the picture to the upper-right), I actually laid eyes on some authentic Banksy street art:

Banksy is a famous graffiti artist in London who for the past few years has been tagging walls all around the city with politically charged paintings and socially-conscious images. His style is very distinctive and really tongue-in-cheek. He (supposedly) works undercover at night and nobody knows his real identity, which makes him somewhat of a cult figure. Andrew showed me some of his work a few years back and since then I’ve wanted to see a painting of his up close – so now I can check that off my list

, along with taking the London Underground with the help of my lovely friend Laura, AND meeting up with my friend Quin (from Ottawa) who is travelling around Europe this year. All in all, a very successful day – I can’t wait to go back!

Finally, I will simply add that Christmas is fast approaching and, unbelievably, I actually have some pretty nifty travel plans lined up already! (Thank God that I’m not here

on my own – Amberle and Stephanie are so on the ball with these things). So without further ado, the three of us plus Julie will bringin’ the Canuck charm to………

• Amsterdam, the Netherlands: The first st op on our trip. Our hostel is movie-themed, so we might end up in a Star Wars or Lord of the Rings dorm room! AND it’s right next to the Red Light District! Geeky movies and Dutch sex-trade workers: it’s the perfect holiday combination!
• Bruges, Belgium: Brussels may have been the more obvious choice, but my love for the movie In Bruges (starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as hit-men on the lam in Belgium) steered us towards what is supposedly the more quiet, romantic Belgian city (I am so pumped for the Christmas markets it’s nuts!)
• Luxembourg City, Luxembourg: Admittedly, we’re kind of just going there cuz, you know, it’s right there (our EuRail train passes consider Benelux one country, and it’s cheaper than country #4 on our list). But one thing I wanted to check off my study abroad to-do list was to visit a sort of off-beat country as an alternative to your standard touristy nations. So after Christmas we’ll be off to Luxembourg to enjoy its, uh…..ummm….crap, to marvel at its…..erm….shoot, what is there in Luxembourg? Hmmm…..I sense an ‘all-about-Luxembourg’ blog post in the not-so-distant future!
• Paris, France: Get this: our hostel is in the Monmarte district, which is near the Moulin Rouge, as in the big red windmill/brothel of stage and screen fame (*brief pause to squeal…….aaaaaannndddd we’re back*). We’ll be ringing in the New Year francais-style, and after what my mom had to say about her trip to Paris several weeks ago, I am thoroughly looking forward to experiencing the most-visited city in the world for myself. I’m also hoping to meet up with my old friend Leonie, who is from the Netherlands but will be working at Disneyland Paris(!!!) over the holidays :D
• Rome & Venice, Italy: As a back up, just in case the previous four countries suck, but also because it’ll probably rule. Unless Mother Nature decides to pull a fast one on us the weather should be the warmest in Italy, and along with all of the super-historical stuff to see, deli meat sandwiches to eat, and fancy coffee to drink, Julie and I are planning on meeting up with Magdalena, an Italian exchange student who lived with Julie’s family last year. Man, all ya need to do is come to Europe and you reunite with all sorts of people!

So you know, nuthin’ too fancy, just five countries in three w

eeks. I’ve been so busy with essays and dance that it hasn’t really sunk in yet that I’ll be backpacking around continental Europe, but my gosh, am I ever excited for it! All we need to do now is book our hostels in Italy, book the ferry to the Netherlands, and figure out what else we need to buy/pack (I am seriously considering purchasing a Flip video camera so that I can document all of our shenanigans in fancy moving images…….techies, any thoughts?), Less than three weeks to go…………

Hooray for Maddy’s world domination!!!!!!!!

P.S. 8 imaginary gold stars for whoever can guess what I’m listening to……………***(answers at bottom of post, because you’re clearly dying to know)

And now onto.......

British Thing of the Week(s)!!!!!!!!!!! (TV edition)

I’ve been saving this one for a while, but given the stress of essays, exams, X-mas shopping, winter driving, and the ever-looming possibility of a zombie attack, I think it’s about time that I shared with you one of my first and best British discoveries:

The Inbetweeners. Possibly the funniest British show I have ever seen, and definitely the most hilarious teen comedy I’ve ever watched. The show centres around four 16-year-old boys who aren’t total losers, but who are pretty damn lame (hence “inbetweeners”) and all of the mayhem they get into. It’s very raunchy, fast-paced, witty, and pee-your-pants funny. It’s become my go-to pick-me-up series whenever I’m feeling a little down or distracted. Here’s the first episode of the series: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6Px7zH-MK4&feature=pyv&ad=5910860718&kw=inbetweeners&has_verified=1 If you have 22 minutes to spare, give it a go! As Jay would say, you’d be a right knob not to! (P.S. if the link doesn't work, Youtube that baby!)

Love you all to bits!

Madalyn

***if you picked a medley of The Foo Fighters, The Replacements, and Glee’s version of “Teenage Dream” on repeat, you’d be correct! :D

"Need a little time to wake up, wake up....."

Damn, has it already been two and a half weeks since my last post? Shoot, I need to stay more on top of this blogging thing…..I can barely remember what I did this morning let alone what I did two weeks ago! To be perfectly honest, while I’ve managed to settle into a fairly regular routine, things haven’t slowed down at all, and my mind has been a jumble of thoughts, particularly for the past week or so. Unbelievably, I’ve gone out every night this week (more on my social antics later), and tonight is really the first opportunity I’ve had to sit down and attempt to pool my thoughts together into one (long) eloquent post. I don’t know how successful I’ll be at it, but heck, I’m making a pretty decent effort, right? ;)

Since I’ve got some catching up to do, I’ll rewind a few weeks back to Halloween weekend! And boy, was it ever a WEEKEND! I woke up at 5:30am on a Saturday morning to drive off to see some gloomy-looking old rocks and hang out in a town where that woman who wrote Pride & Prejudice used to live (but apparently disliked). After pumping myself up with a certain classic Spinal Tap performance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xlf5ucFanpY) I ventured off to feast my eyes on the awesome epicness that is STONEHENGE. Admittedly, I was much more consumed with capturing the rocks from various angles (I really wanted to document the stones from different perspectives, you know, exploring their complex rock emotions, so to speak) than I was with learning the actual history of Stonehenge and how it came to be, but that’s what Wikipedia is for, so for an hour I shamelessly and completely embraced being a tourist and snapped away (I also bought a miniature Stonehenge from the gift shop………Nigel Tufnel would be proud).

We then drove another hour to the town of Bath, which is where Jane Austen briefly lived and where she set two of her novels (Northanger Abbey when she had only visited Bath, and Persuasion once she actually lived there – the latter depicts the town in a much more unfavourable light as we learned on our Jane Austen Centre tour). We strolled around the Roman Baths (but could not swim in them, sadly), and attended an organ recital at the Abbey (and yes, it was as classically-badass as it sounds).

AND THEN we drove 4 and a half hours back to Colchester where we all got dressed up in our costumes (I was a cat burglar) and commenced the traditional Halloween ceremonies, ie: dancing on the kitchen chairs and getting too drunk/exhausted to go out to the campus club for which you bought a 7 pound ticket :S Actually, I wasn’t so much partied-out as I was drained from such a hectic trip – for only the 3rd time since I’ve been here one of my nasty migraines kicked in and I had to finally listen to my body and take a breather (I did after all, travel across an entire country in the amount of time it takes me to get from Ottawa to Peterborough – England is so freaking small, lol). So while these trips with the Travelling Society are always worth it, from this point forward I’ll have to be a bit more selective with which trips I go on, just so that I don’t burn myself out!

What was kind of awesome but also a little bit difficult for me was seeing all of the photos from back home pop up on Facebook after Halloween night – it was awesome seeing some of you guys all dressed up and having a great time, because it’s usually only one-day events like Halloween when people actually take photos of what they’re doing! (I sometimes forget that not everyone is on a year-long trip abroad and is bombarded with photo-ops every day). But it also made me realize that - news flash! - the world doesn’t revolve around me, and people’s lives back home are moving on whether I’m there or not. So while most of the photos I saw made me feel closer to home and to the friends who are holding down the fort for me, a few of them were a bit distracting for me and got me a nostalgic for how school life used to feel for me. If that made any sense. (Geez, I REALLY have to stop writing these posts so late at night. I’m going to read this tomorrow and have no clue what I’m trying to say, lol).

Luckily for me, the perfect remedy to my hectic state of mind came when my mom and Steve visited me :) I won’t say much about the three days I got to spend with them (they both know how much it meant to me to have them there and to be able to share some of my thoughts, stories, and feelings with them – and don’t worry Mom, I’m doing fine!), but I will note that their brief visit really woke me up to the fact that while this is my year abroad, I’m definitely not in it alone. I am so fortunate that my family will be visiting me throughout the year (I still get to see Lizzy, Malcolm, my dad, and hopefully my grandparents and aunt), and simply knowing that I’ll see them eventually is doing wonders to stave-off any feelings of homesickness. I’ve fallen in love with Skype and have had some very heart-warming and fun conversations with many of you, and even just the odd MSN chat or Facebook message makes me feel like I’m not too far away from home. Heck, that’s why I’m writing this blog after all – as cliché as it may sound, sharing this experience with all of you is what’s making it truly worthwhile, and while it can be difficult to find the time to collect of all my whacked-out thoughts on paper, once I do I always feel a sense of peace and accomplishment. So thank you guys for reading all of my ramblings! Knowing that people are actually interested in what I’m doing is the biggest motivator to writing about it! :D


On top of all of that, I also have a very exciting dance-related update to share! As some of you already know, every week I’ve been taking dance classes here at the university (Stretch & Tone, Jazz, Ballet, and Contemporary/Lyrical), and so far it’s been well worth it – I’m getting lots of exercise, the girls teaching it are very friendly and talented, and most of all, I get to do something that I love but have been putting off every since I’ve been in university. I also attended the big dance social on Wednesday, which acted as our initiation into the society: in a nutshell, the night consisted of wheelbarrow races, Tequila and Rum & Coke, accompanying the girl I was taped to into the bathroom stall, some late-night clubbing, international-texting-while-under-the-influence, and me napping on our kitchen table while my flatmates made me toast and danced around me. So, you know, your basic Wednesday night at Essex ;)
(Side note: despite my inebriated state, I still managed to make my 9am seminar the next morning – Academic Responsibility: 1, Hangover: 0!!!)

BUT what I kept hush-hush was that a few weeks ago I auditioned to be part of the competition squad aaaaaannnnnnndddddd………I MADE IT! Yay! What that means is that in addition to attending regular classes I’ll also be rehearsing for various competitions and performances throughout the year. I had my first 5-hour rehearsal on Sunday and miraculously managed to get back to my flat in one piece (I have another one this Sunday as well). I’m excited to have the opportunity to compete since I’ve never done so before, but hokey-freaking-doodle was the choreography ever difficult! They were by a long shot the most advanced dances I’ve ever had to learn, and I still have to learn a new Jazz number on top of the Ballet and Contemporary numbers we’ve rehearsed. So basically, while I’m technically a member of the competition squad, I need to actually pick up the choreography and look good doing it, otherwise I won’t be selected to compete and will have to brush up on my skills for the next competition. So hopefully I’ll know the dances well by December 4th – I’ll keep you posted!

Ok, I’ll leave it at that for now, but you can expect to start reading shorter but more frequent posts from me in the coming weeks – I don’t want to fall behind!

So without further ado, let’s get to my favourite part of this blog………

British Thing of the Week!!!!!!!!!!! (music edition)

“Morning Glory” by Oasis: It is a proven scientific fact that Britain is cooler than approximately 86% of the rest of world, specifically when it comes to music. Britpop is easily one of my favourite styles of music, and Oasis is probably the most famous of that group of 90s rock bands who are described as such. However, I am ashamed to say that beyond “Champagne Supernova” and the quintessential drunken-university-students-sitting-around-campire-singing-while-semi-talented-friend-strums-acoustic-guitar song “Wonderwall”, I don’t really know many Oasis tunes. So when I heard my flatmates playing it in the kitchen the other week, I immediately Hype Machined that sucker and have been listening to it every day since. If you want to hear some quality guitar-driven rock ‘n roll, give it a listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr7MSSPNH9o

“Another sunny afternoon
(I'm) walking to the sound of your favourite tune Tomorrow never knows what it doesn't know too sooooooooooon”

AND, a very special edition of Totally-not-British-and-Very-Much-Canadian-but-Inexplicably-Popular-Here Thing of the Week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Michael Buble. I feel like kind of a lousy Canadian for not supporting his success here, but I kid you not, I hear at least 3 of his songs EVERY DAY on the radio here (specifically the very cheesy-but-has-good-reception 96.1 Heart FM). It’s getting to be unbearable, particularly that “Just Haven’t Met You Yet” ditty (I really hope he meets that girl soon, because it’s getting ridiculous). If this aural assault on my ears goes on much longer I may have to book a flight back to Canada and slap the Bubes across the face with a Beaver Tail.

One last note: Over the past few weeks I have been amassing a large collection of postcards – if you’d like to receive one, and believe me you do because I will be decorating it with my insightful and rapturous prose, let me know what your mailing address is and I’ll slap a 67p postage stamp on one and send it your way!


Cheerio!


<3 Madalyn

“You must be completely knackered!”

Hello, beautiful people of Canada (and elsewhere)! So sorry for the delay in writing this post – university life has a sneaky way of letting you think that you’ve got all the time in the world to get started on work, and then BAM! It’s the second week of classes and you still haven’t decided which History elective to take, lol. But more on that later. For now, I’ll start off by saying that as per usual, my life here at Essex is busy busy busy! I’ve got tons of travelling plans already made, plenty of readings to get caught up on (anyone wanna give me a synopsis of Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy?), and something new to do and experience every day here (I’m kind of amazed my body has been able to keep up – hooray for good health!). But as a result my brain is all scattered and hopped up on Twinnings tea. So with luck, this post, while all over the place, will at least be coherent. What shall I kick off with? Oh what the heck, let’s get to the good stuff right away – London and Oxford!!! :D

Only three weeks into my year and I’ve already managed to check out two of the most famous college towns in the world, and arguably the most historically significant city in Europe. How, you ask? Well, a few weeks ago I joined the Essex Travelling Society, and boy, was that ever a smart decision! They organize cheap trips for students and conveniently one of my flatmates, Ali, is a leading member of the society. Every Saturday of first term I’ll be visiting a new city in England (hence the gratuitous amount of photos already on Facebook), and before Christmas I’ll be spending a weekend shmoozin’ it up in Amsterdam! It’s such an awesome and easy way for me to get into tourist mode without the stress of planning it all myself (although it is good practice for when I actually will have to make travel plans for the holidays).

The first city we visited was merry old London, the home of the Queen, afternoon tea, big red double decker buses, and a gratuitous amount of mangy pigeons! Me, Stephanie, Amberle, and our friend Silja from Norway decided to take an open-top bus tour of the city so that we could get a sense of where the major attractions are and build up the confidence to eventually hop on the London Underground and make our own way through London using public transportation. We caught glimpses of the London Eye (the huge ferris wheel), Westminster Abbey, The Tower of London, St. Paul’s Cathedral (where they filmed the “feed the birds, tuppence a bag” scene in Mary Poppins), Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, and of course, Big Ben (which for some reason is becoming an obsession of mine, lol). So while I knew London would be huge, I was blown away at how jam-packed with people it was. There were throngs of people just waiting to cross at the intersection, or hundreds of people lining up for hours to get into the London Dungeons. So while it was tremendously exciting to be in one of the world’s biggest cities, at the end of the day, it’s certainly that: a really big, really noisy, really crowded city. It’s the kind of place that can easily overwhelm you if you don’t have a plan to follow. So the next time I visit London it’ll be for a specific adventure, like seeing a play or visiting its museums. I think that’s when I’ll truly fall in love with it.

This past weekend we had the chance to visit the beautiful town and colleges of Oxford (and it was worth getting up at 6:30am on a Saturday for, I’ll tell you that, lol). The city is gorgeous and full of history, so it was very similar to Cambridge in that sense. However, we had a few more hours to spend in Oxford, so I feel like we really got to check out the downtown core in addition to the fancy colleges. We saw Christ Church College, which is where they filmed part of the Harry Potter movies, and we also ate lunch at a pub called the Eagle and Child, where two dudes named Lewis and Tolkien wrote some of their Narnia and LOTR books, or something. I had a tasty lentil and cashew nut tart - possibly the best thing I've had to eat in England so far! We also did some browsing at the Alice in Wonderland shop (because apparently Lewis Carroll attended Oxford as well – I bought some Mad Hatter tea to celebrate!). AND we got to shop at Primark, which is this discount clothing store in the UK – I’m wearing a blouse I bought there for 3 pounds! Fashionable and financial score! :P Next up is a crazy hectic trip to Stonehenge and Bath followed by a late night partying it up for Halloween (anyone got any costume suggestions for me?)

Now, on to the everyday-life stuff………….

In terms of my emotional and mental well-being, I’m feelin’ pretty solid at the moment. Thankfully, I have yet to feel truly homesick. I definitely miss all of you guys and Canada overall, but luckily I have Facebook, email, Skype, the phone, and plenty of photos to help close the gap and make me feel like I’m not so far away (it also helps that my best friend is just up north in Lancaster, my mom is visiting this week, and the rest of my family will be popping by later on in the year). However, what I miss the most about home is Trent. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thoroughly enjoying being at Essex – I’m not joking when I say that there is ALWAYS something to do here (even on a freakin' Monday night), and it’s nearly impossible to feel lonely when there are so many people available to hang out with. But two weeks ago especially I was longing for Trent and everything I associate with it. For example, I had the same boyfriend during my first two years of university, and now I’m single. My two best friends in Peterborough are Andrew and Anelia, and now the three of us are on separate continents. My student card isn’t an all-access pass like it is at Trent, and it really is up to me to find my own way. Everyone here is very friendly and helpful, but only if I ask them questions. We really have to be on top of things here, and sometimes it can be a bit frustrating when we find out important information after the fact, info that could have easily been given to us before we got here (like whether opening a bank account was actually necessary, or that we wouldn’t have our internet connection set up as soon as we got here). School especially was a bit tough to handle at first – I’m used to falling in love with my classes right away and knowing how the system works, but here there are required readings as well as recommended readings, and it’s not always clear how much of them they expect us to read. The professors also jump into the course immediately – it wasn’t until the last class of the week where I actually got a course syllabus handed to me! For the past two years, even though I’ve socialised more than I ever have, school was the biggest source of my happiness. Particularly last year when things were emotionally rough, I threw myself into academia and really let my passion for it flourish – I always left my class happier than when I went in. So especially when it comes to academia here, I’ve really had to learn not to compare everything to Trent, otherwise some of it comes up short (although on the flip side, my social life here is what’s REALLY fun, while school is still sort of on the backburner). Although, now that I have my classes sorted out, things are starting to pick up. For the most part they are very interesting, and I’m eager to find out how each of my professors likes to teach.

My classes for the year will be:

United States Literature Since 1850
Decorum & Decay: Classical and Decadent Discourses in Literature
World Cinema
Sex, War, and Class at the Movies: Britain 1930 – 2000

Essex won’t ever feel like Trent to me, and in a way that’s a good thing (Trent after all feels like my home, and that’s hard to replace). It’s similar enough that I can handle what it throws at me, but different enough that it feels like a new and exciting place. So hopefully I can keep looking at it with fresh eyes!

Whew! These posts keep getting longer and longer! I’ll simply end off by saying that right now, my comfort level at Essex is the best it has been so far. I spend most of my time with Stephanie and Amberle, as well as a few of my international friends, but I’m starting to do things with my flatmates beyond chit-chatting in the kitchen at dinnertime. Last night we went to another (much fancier) flat on campus and watched The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas together, and we’re hoping to plan trips together to the pier in Southend and to see the new Harry Potter movie in November. AND we’re planning on partying hard for Halloween (if I can manage to stay awake after travelling all day, haha). The younger British students tend to stick together a bit more, while the older international students (like me) are out-and-about more often, but everyone is very sweet and making an effort to get to know each other better. So I’m looking forward to spending more quality time with the great people that I live with!


Now on to the last bit………………


British Thing(s) of the Week(s)!!!!!!!!!!! (double feature)

For the week of October 10th to the 17th…….

Galaxy Chocolate! This is a brand of chocolate that you can only get here in Britain (or in some specialty shops back home in Canada – like the Nutty Chocolatier in Peterborough and Sugar Mountain in Ottawa!). It’s essentially not much different from Cadbury or Hershey, except that it’s just a smidge better (it’s very rich and creamy no matter what form it’s in). You can get it in the form of bars, cakes, cookie bits, and my personal favourite, Galaxy “Minstrels” (they’re like fancier Smarties – I’m snacking on them right now!). Deeeeeelicious! :D

And for the week of October 18th to the 24th………

Prêt a Manger! This is a chain of fast-food restaurants in the UK (sort of similar to Tim Horton’s, minus all of the doughnuts). They specialise in deli sandwiches, soups, coffee/tea, and delighting my taste buds ;) In all three cities that we’ve visited so far, me, Amberle, and Steph have scoped out the nearest Prêt a Manger and we have yet to be disappointed (their toasted mozzarella, pesto, tomato and basil sandwich is divine!). So if you ever find yourself hungry in the UK, Prêt a Manger will do the trick! (They should just go right ahead and hire me as a spokesperson, lol).

Until next time, chip chip, cheerio!

<3 Madalyn

Survived week one? Check!

Wow! Have I seriously been in England for only a week now? It’s such a bizarre feeling – the days go by so quickly, yet I’ve jam-packed so much stuff into these past 9 days that I can’t believe only a week has gone by. With that being said however, it’s been a crazy-awesome time here, filled with meeting tons of new people, partying until the wee hours of the morning, going on plenty of tours, and doing my best to sort out what will be my life here at Essex for the next 9 months (basically, I just copy everything that Amberle and Stephanie do, and so far it’s been working out well for me, haha). Where to begin! Well, how about from the spaced-out/overwhelming/relieving day that was last Sunday……..

After shuffling up my bags to my room I spent a few moments to myself trying to soak it all in. My original plan was to simply pull out my duvet from the pack I ordered and crash right then and there, but I felt so spaced out and over-stimulated that I stayed awake and by the grace of the jetlag gods managed to push through another 10(!) hours. I’m glad I did, because not only did I not get a headache or pass out or vomit or get cranky, but I got the chance to socialise with my new flatmates over a cup of tea (yes, it’s very popular here) and I got to meet up with Amberle and Stephanie for a quick visit before we all went to sleep (Oh sleep! Sweet, glorious sleep!).

Monday was filled with setting up my internet, shopping at the nearby grocery store TESCO (everything but HP Sauce and Heinz tomato ketchup is a British brand), and attending an international student welcome meeting. The presentation was geared more towards international students who are doing their whole degree at Essex, so at the end of the meeting I introduced myself as a Canadian exchange student and asked a question about clubs geared towards study abroad students. From that I ended up being approached by 3 other students, one of which was a fellow Canadian from Montreal named Gilles. So speaking up led me to become friends with even more awesome people! The same thing happened later on that night when I was waiting in line for tickets for Freshers Week and befriended a girl from Norway named Silja, whom I’ve hung out with quite a bit since then. Through Amberle and Stephanie I’ve also met some wonderfully friendly and enthusiastic people that I hope to spend more time with as the weeks go on (it helps that all three of us live in separate residences). So, much like my first year at Trent, my social life is booming here! ;)

Speaking of which, my gosh, is Essex ever a party-friendly school! During Freshers Week there were multiple parties being held in multiple venues, and that’s not even including the endless house parties in the residences. I went out clubbing at Ministry of Sound night (which is a world-famous club in London that I would love to check out), International night, and at an Eliza Doolittle concert (she’s a very cute British singer). On the other nights I simply stayed up late writing blog posts and bonding with Steph and Amberle over tea, beer, and whatever sweets and goodies we could pick up at the campus shop.

AAANNNNNNNDDDDD that isn’t even mentioning all of the tours I’ve gone on!! The first was to Wivenhoe, a quaint little British town about a half hour’s walk away, where we had a pint of English beer by the water (like in the Essex brochures!). The second tour was to Colchester, which is the city near campus – we visited the castle there (it’s very small, but it’s legit!) and I got a free pint of Strongbow with my order of jacket potatoes (possibly the most exciting free drink I’ve ever received, haha). The third and final trip was a tour of Cambridge, including King’s College at the university. I won’t go into too much detail about it right now, but I’ll just say that walking along the cobblestones streets and admiring all of the beautiful architecture reminded me why I wanted to come to England in the first place. It was absolutely GORGEOUS, and it got me so pumped up for travelling (this Saturday in fact, is my long-awaited trip to London!). What a treat to be able to experience all of this so soon after arriving here!

"And now for something completely different…………"

So because I know you want all the deets on rez life, here’s my living situation: Including me, there are 14 of us living on the fourth floor of Tawney Tower. 8 of us are international students, and 6 are British. The Brits are Izzie, Ellie, Chloe, James, Farzad, and Ali, while the international students are me, Kri (American), Emily (American), Klaus (German), Shotaro (from Hong Kong, although his English is perfect), Beatrix (Spanish), Fabio (from Angolla), and Li (Chinese). So it’s an awesome mix of people, all from different places, all different ages, and a good balance between guys and girls. So far, we’ve all got along really well – everyone is very respectful of each other’s space, and while most of us are very sociable, the partying hasn’t gotten too out of control. I feel very confident that living with these people will be a thoroughly enjoyable experience for me :)

And now, because this post just isn’t bloody long enough, here is the first instalment of my weekly segment…….

British Thing of the Week!!!!!!!!!!!

And the winner is…………..

The University of Essex!

Kind of an obvious choice, but since it’ll be my homebase until July, I thought I’d tell you more about what I think of it. First of all, the campus is beautiful – lots of green space, a small lake, and large concrete buildings that remind me a lot of Trent (they were both built in the 1960s and are rather liberal-minded schools). There are tons of parties going on all the time, and it helps that there are two clubs, two bars, 8 restaurants, and plenty of alcohol to purchase on campus (in fact, people can down a can of Fosters right in the middle of campus if they want to – public drinking is totally fine here!) As well, and this was a pleasant surprise for me, 45% of the students here are international, so I definitely don’t feel like I’m part of a minority! It’s a tremendously fun school, so while I haven’t quite fallen in love with it like I did with Trent, it feels like the right place for me to be at this point in my life :)


Whew! Ok, I need to stop writing these so late at night, but I really wanted to give you all an update on the craziness that was Freshers Week! Feel free to creep my photos on Facebook, let me know how your Thanksgiving was, and keep in touch! (I called my mom long-distance today, and Skyped with my dad and sister yesterday, so as long as I have the time, I’m definitely in the mood to chat!).

Love you all!

Madalyn

“Just touched down in London town……………”

Well, that was certainly a very-pleasant-then-very-panic-stricken experience! I am referring of course to my flight from Canada to England which was last Saturday (or was it Sunday? Hmm, being up for 30+ kind of throws off your biological clock, haha). Let me start from the beginning……

The day started out a bit rough (I felt nauseous with anxiety), but I managed to keep it together and even ate some leftover Chinese food before doing some last-minute packing changes and packing everything into the car. What was so great about my send-off was that my whole family came with me to the airport! Mom, Dad, Lizzy, and Malcolm all came to see me off, which was fantastic (AND I got to see Mom’s and Steve’ new house before leaving!). After one last meal at Timmy’s (where there was a group of hearing-impaired people who were singing a song through sign language – so neat!) and some goodbye hugs I went off through check-in and security, all of which was a breeze (seriously, the Ottawa airport is so low-key it’s great – I didn’t even have to take off my boots!).

I hung out for a bit with my awesome travel buddy Elephant, and then boarded my swift and speedy plane from Ottawa to Montreal. Me and the guy across the aisle smiled at each other when we both realized that we were both snapping pictures of the engines and the clouds, lol. The wait in Montreal was long, but I was in good spirits the whole time and managed to get some food to fill my belly (although note to self: do not eat an egg sandwich that has been sitting out all day – it’s not very tasty at all). On the plane I got cozy with the blanket and pillow they provided and searched through the (surprisingly large) selection of movies, music, and TV shows to watch (I ended up going with Invictus, the film about Nelson Mandela’s recruitment of the Springboks Rugby team to help unify South Africa – I recommend it!). I attempted to sleep but gave up after an hour since the engines were just so loud. So instead I wrote a journal entry in the little notebook I brought with me, most of which I’ve repeated here J

As soon as the plane arrived, the woman on the intercom said “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to London” and my heart skipped a little beat as I looked out the window at the foggy green pastures and quiet lakes below me. It was real! I flew across the ocean and was FINALLY in England! The feeling was awesome :D

I grabbed my stuff and exited the plane tired and groggy but filled with anticipation. My biggest fear was that I’d have to wait long for my luggage, but little did I know that I already had a whole different kind of problem to deal with……

I followed the crowd to the Immigration and Customs area, which was jam-packed and slightly unorganized. I grabbed a landing card to fill out and got to the part where it asks for my passport number. So I looked into my money wallet for my passport, only to discover that…….

FFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had made the worst freaking mistake I could have made:

I forgot my passport on the plane.

Needless to say, I had a borderline panic attack right there in customs, but as soon as I realized the pants-wetting-craziness of my situation, I got to work trying to remedy the situation. Soooooo……cut to yours truly running like a wolverine on crack through the Heathrow exit terminal, desperately looking for an information booth or a person in uniform, or, you know, THE AIR CANADA FLIGHT WITH MY PASSPORT STILL ON IT. Of course, Heathrow is effing HUGE, and one thing that I learned the hard way is that in England, when a sliding door says “Automatic Door” on it, 9 times out of 10 it only works from the opposite side. So after realizing my search in the exit wing was futile, I backtracked and finally ran into a Heathrow employee who thankfully advised me to make my way to the Air Canada desk (once again through security and everything) in the Flight Connections section. By this time I was sweating through every pore in my body and stumbled towards the harried British woman at the counter, who called someone somewhere who may or not be sending someone to look for it. So all I could do was sit and wait and stare at the floor and try not to pass out with fear/exhaustion.

After going into zombie mode and shuffling back towards the counter to ask if anyone was on their way, a flight attendant approached me and handed me my beautiful, amazing, never-gonna-let-you-out-of-my-sight passport. I could have hugged him right there, but instead I said thank you to both him and the lovely British ladies who watched my bags for me and hurried off back to Customs, where I waited in line with my fellow jetlagged passengers, got to deal with my first (and hopefully last) snotty British customs officer, and went off to pick up my luggage and find the Essex shuttle bus.

So the moral of the story here folks is: make sure that you zip-up your money wallets so as not to have your passport slip out into the seat pocket in front of you. Some high-stress travelling situations can be avoided if such precautions are taken.

But hey, I survived it, I learned something, and now I have a wicked airport story to tell, haha.

The rest of my first day in England included napping on the shuttle bus to Essex (the only sleep I got in roughly 34-36 hours), moving my stuff into my little dorm room, having tea with my lovely new flatmates (more on them soon!), and running off to find Amberle and Stephanie, my awesome Trent buddies who are with me here at Essex. Then, off to bed!

So that, in a nutshell, was my first day in England, and my first of many days at the University of Essex. By the end of this week I’ll have written a new blog post all about Fresher’s Week and my adventures here so far - with a special weekly feature I'll be calling "British Thing of the Week" (so clever, huh?). So check back soon!

I’ll simply end off by saying that while things have been crazy busy here, each day gets better and better. Essex has big shoes to fill – I adore Trent and Peterborough feels like home to me – but I’m starting to feel more confident that I can fall in love with this school and town like I did with the Peterpatch and Trent two years ago. Collecting my thoughts in this blog is already making me feel like I’m heading in the right direction. So a new post (and plenty of Facebook pictures) to follow soon!

Love you all! Can’t wait to talk with all of you in more detail over the coming weeks.

<3 Madalyn

Leavin' on a jet plane...........

DONE!!!!!!!!

I have finally finished the incredibly long and labourous task of packing for a 9-month stay in England. Against my better judgement I am bringing and extra bag, so needless to say I have my work cut out for me on my journey from the luggage pick-up to the shuttle bus, haha. Ah well, it's all done now (and at least I'll have everything that I wanted to bring in the first place).

My emotional and mental state is somewhere in between total exhaustion and crapping my pants with anxiousness. I meant for this to be a much more eloquent post, but seeing as though it's 1:30am and I've been freaking out about packing all day, I think I need a break, haha.

It's a grind to get there, but in 24 hours I'll be in the place I've been working towards for a year now! So many thoughts running through my head, but I think I'll let sleep take over and delay my freaking out until tomorrow ;)

Backpack? Check!

Scoooooooore! Last weekend my dad and I made the long and confusing trek to Mountain Equipment Co-op (Richmond Rd. goes on forever!) and with only 15 minutes before closing time, managed to buy not one, but two travel packs (matching ones for each of us :P). I had been looking at one in particular online for a while, so as soon as we saw it in the store we fiddled around with it and then Dad bought it for me as an early birthday present, woot! (and one for himself so he has a good pack for when he visits me next year). It's called the MEC Fast-Track Roller and can be viewed here: http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442506349&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302883912&bmUID=1275264473958
It's got straps like a backpack, but it also has wheels and a handle like a suitcase! On top of that, it has a detachable daypack (which I've been using for the past week) and a whole bunch of nifty little straps/pockets/zippers, etc. It might not be big enough for a month-long trek around Europe, but it'll certainly do the trick for when I'm taking the train to visit Julie in Lancaster or perhaps the English Chunnel to visit Leonie in the Netherlands.

Overall, checking off the new backpack on my "Things to get for England" list has been a great feeling, only now it's gotten me even more excited to buy everything on the MEC website, lol (I could use a travel pillow, right?). Hopefully it will stay in good condition until I leave (I already frayed one of the straps by accident), and I'll have the opportunity to test it out a few times this summer (first, on my trip to Quebec City!).

Weeeeeeeeeeee! Hooray for buying stuff! Hooray for being prepared! :D

Orientation

On Friday I had my 7-hour orientation for studying abroad, and while a lot of it meant going over all of the boring but necessary technical stuff (paperwork, visas, health insurance, etc) I was incredibly happy to have the opportunity to meet with some of the current and former exchange students, including Laura, who is from Essex and has been a tremendous help this whole year. They had tons of advice to give us and across the board they were all very enthusiastic about their experiences, so obvisouly I'm even more pumped up to go than ever :D I've been looking at a lot of online videos and testimonals about Essex and I have to say, I think Essex is the right choice for me. I know Amberle and Stephanie already, but I won't feel so dependant on them that I'll find it difficult to branch out. And of course, Laura is amazing, such a sweet girl, and I already have a place to stay in Colchester if I get sick of residence :P So all-in-all, a long but very inspiring day :)

.........and to top it all off, I spent a good chunk of my night browsing the many wondrous kinds of backpacks and suitcases I can buy :P

It's Official! :D

I'm going to England! After a long, labourous, but ultimately enjoyable application process, I have been accepted into the University of Essex in Colchester! To document my year-long British adventure, I will be writing this blog as a way to maintain contact with all of the people I care about most (that's you guys!), and to have a permanent record of my time spent abroad. I've never been the journal-writing type, but I think this blog will give me the motivation to update all of you on my travels and studies without feeling overwhelmed with the standard Facebook/Email/Phone/MSN/Skype/Snail Mail methods of communication. As well, I think it will help me feel connected with my Canadian home, while still being able to express my (anticipated) newfound enthusiasm for all things British, European, and above all, NEW! Feel free to check this blog to see what's up with me while I'm away in Colchester (I plan on updating it about once a week), as this will be the most consistent and well-rounded documentation of my study abroad experience.

I'm excited to get this English thing up and off the ground....... :D

<3 Madalyn