April In Paris

Random Fact: "The Louve is open for free on the first Sunday of every month. However, you must NOT take a picture of the Mona Lisa."

Half of this website is in French, and I am using a French Keyboard, so I apologize for the errors. Paris is very beautiful...in a cold & rainy sort of way. LOL. So, here is the brief news so far:

I am currently at a internet cafe so I can't talk long, but I wanted to update you on everything. First of all, the Eiffel Tower literally took my breath away (which has only ever happened in Karate, LOL). My friend had to take pictures b/c the second my American camera saw that we were in France it yelled Sacre Bleu! Paris? NOOOOOO!!! *dies*. I have disposeable cameras for the time being. We visited so many places that I can't remember them all off the top of my head: Arc de Triompfe, Eiffel Tower, Chateau de Versalles, Notre Dame, the famous chapel next to it, and it's all amazing!

Tomorrow, I am going on a walking tour to Moulin Rouge, Bastille, etc with a finale at the highest point in Paris. Sunday, I will be going to the famous Louve for free (love to The Da Vinci Code) before going overnight to Barcelona. Remind me to thank my Spanish teachers later for teaching me Spanish (very similar to French).

Time passes so quickly here! Anyway, the only bad things are that I'm with someone who expects me to be with her from 8 am to 1 am out on the town and ready to travel everywhere. I can't handle that much traveling that quickly. I rarely traveled in America due to lack of funds and have grown accustomed to enjoying things like alone time and internet. Which leads me to the other one: I expected the ticket to be free b/c that is what her friend & Eurail told us, but they did not tell her that she had to reserve it for a FEE! I figured, ok, about €10 is ok. We got there and discovered this: the ticket is €150 without Eurail, but with Eurail the ticket is free, but the reservation is €67!!!

Seriously, we both felt so ripped off b/c her friend told her that he didn't have to pay for reservations and he did a similar trip last year. I went ahead and paid for it, but I think I'll have to end my travels early b/c I really don't think this is allowed in the budget I made. I can't believe that we have to pay that much for reservations. I mean, traveling has been fun--though very exhausting--but I need to play it safe with my money for now.

Starting Spring Break

Random Fact: "In order to get to the Arc de Triompfe (Arc of Triumph) you need to go through an underground tunnel."

Due to the addition of a "professional" Chinese screenwriter into the group, our group dynamic is thrown out of wack. It's the writers versus the director and I'm just going to take my professor's advice and continue to go with whatever the writer's say. However, my actors agree with me that they could not work with this script, so they talked to the writers and were given permission to ad-lib. I'm leaving for my three week trip soon, so if you don't see any posts from me it means I haven't been able to get on-line b/c I'm having so much fun traveling :).

I am a bit nervous about the funding since Eva added two new cities to our trip. I need to make sure I have enough money to live on until June 9th (including arrangements to go to Manchester). I'm a Capricorn and I usually don't like to spend money unless I absolutely have to, but I also would like to travel through Europe when it's not costing me thousands of dollars for airline tickets alone. Well, I guess I better start packing for Paris. Bon Voyage!

Do You Miss Home?

I discovered that Nicola , the International Advisor, sent me an e-mail saying to meet her at 12:15 b/c I was to have lunch with Abri (one of the students from the American group) and the British Representative to America named Gloria. So, they took us to the Olive Garden (not affiliated with The Olive Garden in America, so technically I've never ate at that kind of Olive Garden) and they told us to eat all we want b/c it was on Gloria (which you know I didn't eat much). It turns out Abri ended up in the hospital and had to get her tonsils removed recently. She's doing well though and we were talking about how she was thinking about the Peace Corps and how I was thinking about a Master's Program which ended up with me being promised by Nicola that she would send me info on it since the program is only a year long in Britain.

I walked through sleet and hail (literally) to get to my TV Studio class. I was feeling crummy, but the professor said that I really took charge and kept it moving unlike many novice directors even though the VT broke and there was a horrible high-pitch sound that resorted from it during the taping. I was a little off on the timing on occasion, but overall he said I did a great job and got some great shots with great timing. I also got to talk to Professor Richey from Berea, but b/c of technical difficulties, it turns out that the radio wasn't working so I have to wait for another couple of days. However, I love talking to him and I've only had him for one class.

You know, people keep asking me, "Aren't you homesick?" or "Do you miss your friends or family?" To be honest, my real answer has been, "I love my freedom. I mean, I get to talk to my friends and parents on-line so I'm not alone, and this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I know I'll be back home in June and return to college in August to see a lot of my friends." You all have always been with me, so that's why I seem sort of dry when I say I do miss you all b/c while you're not always on-line it feels as though you're with me. However, I think now I can honestly say that I really do miss you all. I hope all of you are doing well without me there and I promise to talk to all of you soon.

St Patrick's Day

Random Fact: "The name Trent is derived from the residents near the River Trent. It can also mean 'trespasser' or 'torrent'."

This weekend was the celebration of both Red Nose Day (a charity drive) and St. Patrick's Day. My friend Eva wanted to go to Ireland to celebrate it, but I kept telling here there's no way we would find a place to stay for that weekend. She continued to try and she could not understand why there wasn't a single hostel available for St. Patrick's Day, so I had to explain to her why people celebrate it.

Instead, a couple of British buddies and I tried to drive to the Stokes-on-Trent in order to see one of the towns in which my last name might have derived from (Trent River as well). Unfortunately, traffic was so bad b/c of a soccer match that we ended up finding a round about and going back to Sunderland. Luckily, I was invited over to Spennymoor in order to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with them (the father is Irish). There wasn't any drinking, but they did fix a traditional Irish meal.

Actually, I was quite shocked that Sunderland didn't make a big deal out of St. Patrick's Day. In fact, it seemed as though most of North England didn't really care. I mean, some of my friends told me that a few pubs had special things going on, but it seemed as though Red Nose Day was more popular than St. Patrick's day. I guess you learn something new everyday.

I hope everyone had a great St. Patrick's Day!!!

Mother's Day

Random Fact: "Mother's Day in England is celebrated in March instead of May. However, Father's Day is celebrated in England around the same time in America."

I went to Durham yesterday and I'll admit it was fun, except for the fact that the two girls I went with ended up bringing their British boyfriends rather than the British friends they were talking about bringing. This became very awkward b/c I told my friend from Spennymoor that it would be a group of friends I knew hanging out with him and that he would like them, but instead it ended up as two friends following two couples on their date in Durham. They still talked to us, but I'm used to the American way of things where you usually feel like a 5th wheel instead of hanging out like friends (like they do here).

Anyway, we went inside the cathedral only to find that they will not allow flash photography inside. It's a pity since the cathedral is so beautiful! Well, my friend and I went to the castle, determined to go inside, when suddenly we found out that we have to pay $20 for tours and the next tour would start after Argos closes. We needed to go to Argos in order to pick up a Mother's Day gift for his mom.

So, I called my friends and told them that I was going to Spennymoor for the weekend and for them not to worry about me. They were fine with it, so while my hopes were dashed to see the inside of the castle, I hope we go back there once more to see it.

We are just friends. JUST friends. In fact, his family has sort of adopted me into their family. Supposedly, I'm one of the only friends he's ever brought home that they liked. They didn't even like his girlfriend! It is cool to be able to see how a British family behaves on the weekends. It's also cool to avoid cooking for a couple of days, LOL.

Radio

Random Fact: "There are different words used for different foods. For example, scones=biscuits, biscuits=cookies, crisps=chips, and chips=fries. Though, sometimes they will use the term fries."

Today I went to class on limited sleep and found out some really sad news: for me to be a radio personality, this means I can not drink soda or chocolate. My professor decided to give us a run-through with some of the radio equipment and decided to split us into 3 groups to test it.

We were all totally new to radio, but the professor said that my group sounded like professionals (odd for a first time) and at first I thought my voice would sound stupid. However, after I finished my announcement, I turned to my group and a couple of people said, "Why is it that Americans sound a lot better over the radio than the British?"

I guess it is because the accent is different maybe? I'm not sure, but I do have a lot of fun in that class even though it lasts from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. on Fridays. I don't know what I want to do once I graduate, but I am really considering a career in radio.

Tomorrow, I am off to Durham with a group of British and international students. We will finally get the chance to see the cathedral and the castle hopefully. On Saturdays, they allow people to walk within the castle.

British Television

Random Fact: "There is a charity event called Red Nose Day that happens every couple of years in order to raise money for underprivileged children. Manchester, for example, has one of the highest levels of child poverty in the UK."

Yesterday was chaotic in TV Studio. I was directing, but it was hectic b/c the stories were created last minute (the new reporters were suppose to do that and tell me), there were no real pictures (for the preview shots), we didn't have a PA (someone who keeps track of everything) and I didn't have a script to see the timing. However, other than the dialog, the professor said that I did well and that he could tell I was really trying with the timing and the reactions. He said it started off chaotic but that I pulled it together. He's so awesome.

Today, we had a female lecturer and she was pretty neat, except she didn't show clips. However, she did talk about southern shows like "Dukes of Hazard" and "Dallas" and the whole lecture was on Gender in Media (which is what we mostly study in Berea). I don't know, but I think the main professor shows some American shows on purpose so I would have something to relate to. Or, maybe I'm just being silly since they do show a lot of American shows here.

The assistant did come back to class for the seminar (though 20 minutes late) and today wasn't his day. The overhead projector wouldn't work at first, the batteries were dead in the remote, he was late to class, and only 7 of the 20 some people shown up. However, b/c we were talking about gender I was able to chime in on many of the aspects relating to media.

I do watch some British television, but there's not really a lot of it that I sincerely enjoy. The British seem to be a fan of two types of genres: soap operas and reality television. I'm not a big fan of either, but I did watch an episode of Coronation Street and a couple of my British friends from Television Genres class plan on doing a presentation on "Two Pints of Lager..." which can be funny sometimes. However, they do watch a lot of American television.

Meditation

Random Fact: "Rocket Fuel is an espresso drink mixed with guarana which is suppose to keep the body awake. It is often used by Uni students during their final week of classes, much like Red Bull is used during many students final week of classes in America."

I know I keep saying it, but I really do love this place. I bought a couple of spiritual books today in order to see if any of their techniques will allow me to talk to my totem animal. I'm Christian, but I'm also Cherokee and I like to test some of the different forms of spirituality. I'm still surprised that stores in England would sell such things since some consider it to be New Age.

I went into my single room dormitory and was able to meditate. I don't think I saw my spirit animal, but I do feel a lot more relaxed. I think more people should try meditating regardless of their religion. I don't think they should be afraid to try channeling their guardian angel or spirit guide because it's not said in the Bible. England has this atmosphere that modern, yet it has this sort of...spiritualness about it.

I'm going to take these books home with me and share them with some of my friends. I think they would like to see some of these exercises, and if they don't end up channeling anything, then at least they'll be able to relax. Plus, some of my friends would love to read a book with British spelling.