Story on MSN about Americans in the UK

I read this and thought of us...

http://travel.msn.com/Guides/article.aspx?cp-documentid=388354&GT1=10040

my favorite part...

“When abroad as individuals or couples, Americans are sociable, friendly and generous, but something seems to happen when Americans are abroad in groups,” says Geoff Smith, a British tech worker. “A group of Yanks is loud, raucous, insular and appears to have no interest in the local culture.”

reminds me of my run in with the "dead prostitute"

-Aaron

More pictures

Andrea, Jenn, Jess and Charlie on the red double decker bus

Everybody admiring the view on the London Bridge

Aaron, Charlie, Marina and Matt at a pub

Jess, Charlie, Courtney and Omar study the one menu per table

at what soon became a crowd favorite: The Green Man Pub

Late night pizza party at the Pizza Box

Here are more pictures

This is Aaron giving his talk on the London Bridge.

Charlie DiPuma keeping it real in London.

Omar, Aaron, Matt and Charlie: 506 Yates invades Europe

Matt, Omar, Charlie and Greg checking out London from a boat

some pictures

eye eye captain

London! London!

Oh London, my London,
How I love thee.
From the Fish and Chip stands
To the Piccadilly.

London, sweet London,
for your love I beg,
But why London, oh London,
do you cost an arm
and a leg?

Hey mates;
Instead of doing my project on religion, I decided to look at herbalism in our Chaucer instead (mainly because it is free to get into the College Garden at Westminster Abbey, but then I found some interesting info too!)
Karen

Roding Valley

I really enjoyed visiting Roding Valley. I'm glad we had a chance to see a school in a different country. I was surprised by the layout of the school and it was interesting to hear that they suffer from the same pitfalls of having an emphasis on assessments. I expected London to be more advanced in that area.

I especially enjoyed the drama session!

-Jessica

There are no words...!

There are absolutely no words to describe this experience so far. It is a blessing to be here with such great friends both new and old! I'm having an amazing time. As Karen said, Bath was simply gorgeous!! It was nice to escape out of London into a rural setting with such rich historical foundations like London, but smaller. I miss everyone back home and wish they could be here!! I'll be posting pictures unfortunately when I get home, but they are so beautiful!!! Greg, Kathryn and I went to a Secret Garden the first day!! Omgosh it was that and more. Greg will be posting more pictures very soon (especially for my Mommie :-D ). Hope the states aren't too warm!!! I heard its so hott!! We are finally cooling off here. London is famous for rain so we have to experience sometime soon right?!?!?!!! Anyways, we have the weekend off so we are all just hanging out. We got invited to a club last night (list invite only) so we definitely felt status! Freeeee wine for us!!! Oh and not to mention we have an in connection to any club we want now haha Ok ok I have to go but leave us comments and we will be in touch!!!

Courtney <3

I just wanted to say that Bath was the most beautiful city I have ever seen! I wish I had pictures to upload, but I think Greg's got it covered. It was absolutely amazing looking at the Roman baths and knowing that they were built SO long ago. Bath abbey was also beautiful- there are 800+ tombstones lining the walls that date back to the 16-1700's. Amazing!

Karen

Absolutely wonderful

I just wanted to say that I am having a great time here in London and that I couldn't have asked for a better trip!

And I thought it was suppose to rain more often???? "Thank God for the weather" is right Aaron!

-Andrea

Photos!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregfunkflex/

I have been (slowly) uploading some pictures from the trip onto this page. As of right now there are pictures from Roding Valley HS, and the trip to Bath. I have about 200 more pictures that I still need to post, I'll probably get around to it tomorrow-ish.

Cheers mates!

Photos from Day #1

well I have posted some of the photos I took yesterday on my facebook account. Everyone should check them out and tag yourself if you would like.

I am off to shower before our wonderful day of stuff to do. Thank God for this wonderful weather.

Cheers,
Aaron

Surviving Jet Lag

The Hop On/Hop Off tour and the Thames River Cruises provided a great introduction to London (and a chance to doze during that first hard day). Some of the students even recovered enough to have a drink in the pub downstairs. Today we're off to British Museum -- among our highlights is the room of Sutton Hoo treasures. Tomorrow we're off to visit Roding Valley High School and see first hand how education in the UK develops. Everyone seems to be having a good time -- with luck they'll all be bright eyed and bushy tailed after breakfast today.

Safe n Sound

The College of Saint Rose has landed in London for their triumphant UK Tour!

Currently they're exploring the city on a "Hop-on, Hop-off Open-Top Double Decker Bus Tour of London."

More updates as we receive them...

Away we go!

See you all in Boston by about 5pm -- be sure to leave at least 3 hours to drive there from Albany. If you want to convoy, I'll be leaving from 423 Western about 1-1.30pm with my assigned passengers.

Whoo hoo -- this is going to be fun!

Travel Journal

One of the best things you can bring a long is a small notebook to write about your experiences while they're happening. Everything seems vivid while it's happening but when you've retold the story a few times to your friends and relatives, the story begins to change. Write down the way you feel at the time, the sights you see and the places you hope to go. Wouldn't it be great to have it in your pocket or backpack when someone recommends that little village you have to visit and wants to give you directions -- or an email address to keep in touch with someone you've just met? Record slang expressions that your travel guide doesn't provide.

Unlike your PDA or phone, it doesn't have to be charged, is ready at a moment's notice and, with a little work, provides a vivid record of your trip. Carry a glue stick to add ticket stubs and other mementos along the way. I still have my journal from my first trip abroad and it's quite an amazing time capsule.

All you need is a pocket notebook and a couple of good pens.

Hey there. Courtney and Jessica, I sent you both an email with hotels and rates that I found for the weekend in Bath.

Baggage Allowances

From AA's website:

Type of baggage Number Allowed Size Allowed
(length + width + height) Maximum free weight allowed

Carry-on 1 45 in/114 cm 40 lbs/18 kgs.
Checked 2 62 in/157 cm each 50 lbs/23 kgs
$25 USD charge each for
bags weighing 51-70 lbs.

There is more information regarding additional overweight baggage (let's hope that is not necessary).

It begins!

See you all at 11.40 in Albertus 305. We have Ann Wilkening from Study Abroad coming at 1.15 to give you some information and undoubtedly, forms to fill out. We'll start with Beowulf and see how much Old English poetry we can cram into our brains today. At the very least, we will get to "The Dream of the Rood," so you may wish to run your eyes over it before our in class assignment. Blackboard will be activated and our syllabus will be ready in time for class as I finish up spring grades (due today, thus my haste).

Converter and Adapter

I went to Radio Shack and got mine. It can be confusing so I'll try to tell you what they told me. First, you need an adapter. This will plug into the European outlet and you can plug your American plug into that. BUT-- European electricity is different that ours. I believe they have a more powerful current so you also need a voltage converter. Otherwise, when you plug in your appliance, it will fry. I guess there are two levels of wattage you need to consider. Will you be plugging in an iron or blow dryer? If so, you'll need a high wattage converter. If you'll only be using it for charging a phone or camera battery, you need a low wattage one. I went with the easier (yet more expensive) route and bought a converter that has a switch for both low and high wattage (called a dual power converter). They told me, the rule is, if the appliance gets plugged in for a long period of time (lamp, charger, etc.) you will use the low watt.

I hope this helps. I spent a little over $50 for both. The good news is that the adapter pack comes with all the adapters you will need for traveling the world so you won't need to worry if you plan on traveling to other countries. Good luck!

Outlet Converters

Any one have suggestions about an outlet converter/transformer? Type/volatge? There's just so much on the internet that I'm not sure which one to buy.

-Jen

Rent a car June 1st

For Greg and Karen - I guess we can get a minivan or something big so it can fit all of us and our luggage. it seems to be around $100 for something of that size. Anything smaller (compact cars are around $60) probably wouldn't fit all of us. So I haven't booked it yet but I'll estimate between $30-$40 per person with taxes and cost of gas. Let me know if that's ok. Email me at jjeraci29@optonline.net

- Jen

I'll ride back with you on June 1st if there's any room

if that's cool

Topic

Hi all- I hope everyone is as excited as I am!

I wanted to let everyone know my topic so that:
1.) you don't steal it
2.) you get extremely excited to learn something new (i'm just kidding, it's not that great but it should be interesting)

I am going to do my research and presentation on the Black Death or the Bubonic Plague. I plan on doing it at the Musuem of London. I took a look at the website for the Medieval London gallery and there (from my understanding) should be a section on the plague.

Also- I know that some of the group members are coming back to Albany at different times. If anyone needs a ride from Boston to Albany on June 1st...Jen and I are renting a car.

I hope everyone's finals are going well and I'll see you next week
-Andrea

We have one seat left....

Greg- You're welcome to ride with us. Just give me a call and let me know where we can pick you up. 518-210-4010. -Jessica

Any carpools still open?

I just realized that I haven't figured out how I'm getting to Boston and I should probably get on top of that. If anyone has an open spot in their car it would be just totally awesome if I could join in. I'm a really small dude so I can fit in tight spaces. Also, I'll help pay for gas. My cell# is (518)859-6268

On another note, I think I'm going to start a facebook group up for us all so if I haven't sent you a friend request, add me and I'll make the St. Rose in the UK group.

-Greg

Hi! I was thinking of exploring the Church's influence over the literature we read as my topic. I hope to come up with some interesting facts, but I am still researching. I thought Westminster Abbey would be a good place to visit- there is an admission fee for the abbey, but parts of it are free to the public. Good idea/bad idea?

Also, is anyone interested in taking a side trip to Bath on the weekend? I work for Marriott, so I may be able to get some good deals on a hotel for a night, and I found some pretty cheap train tickets online. -KL

My topic

I'm going to do my topic on education in England related to medieval times and present time; what is was then and what it is now. I may focus it towards a certain age group (childhood) or just speak about it in general terms. I'm open to suggestions...
Thanks!