Priorities

Right now my priorities seem to be as follows...

1- Enjoy the day and everything we do. I'm only on study abroad once so I need to make the most of it.

2- Sleep. I am so dead tired at the end of everyday I feel like I could sleep for 10-12 hours no problem. Sadly that isn't possible.

3- Emailing my family. Those first few emails home were at least half a page, now they are lucky if they get full sentences. They standard email usually goes as follows, "Today was awesome we did this, tomorrow doing this, so tired need to do homework, love prayers Chloe". Not the best emails in the world. 

4- Journaling. Train rides are my favorite for journaling since I usually am sitting for at least an hour. Because of this our day trips seem to have received the best journal coverage since it is fresh in my mind.

5- Art History Homework. Um yeah homework at 2 in the morning isn't that fun.

6- Photo- um yeah as fun as doing art history homework is at 2 in the morning editing photos is worse because you end up doing stuff and then looking at it in the morning and wondering what you were thinking.

Do you see what's not on this list? Blogging. Because I would feel silly writing a blog post about a photo/art history study abroad with no photos I don't post until I edit photos. Since editing photos is the least of my priorities I get farther and farther behind everyday. Maybe when I get home I will do a day by day recap using my photos and notes from my journal. For now I've given up on blogging.

Good bye.

Cheers

Au Revoir (since I'm in Belgium now)

See we have so much fun: digestives, bueno, swan princess.

lessons from the laundermat

1. Make sure you have change. One would think that a coin operated launder mat would have a place where you could change your notes for coins. Nope. In the end you do a lot of math and counting out coins praying you have enough to wash and dry.

2. Remember the detergent. Sometimes you get so excited that you shut the door before you put in the laundry detergent. That is an expensive mistake. It's 3 pounds to wash. Luckily the Metrogate night manager is super nice and gave me a magic coin that will let me rewash everything for free! Thank you nice employee.

3. Bring your own detergent because they don't sell and you will have to walk 3 blocks to tesco and buy some. Shout out to mom for making sure I had stuff for laundry.

4. Hauling clothes in a suitcase is much easier than hauling them in a bag.

5. don't go at 11 o'clock at night because it is a 2 hour ordeal and so you won't get home until late.

6. Bring a snack. The time is much more enjoyable when you have a Bueno bar. 

So glad I packed enough clothes so I only have to do laundry once because this is a mess.

day 4 in london: city adventures

Our first weekend in London we had Saturday and Sunday to do whatever we wanted. A lot of our group ended up taking the opportunity and going to Ireland or Scotland. I had thought about joining them for half a minute but decided that since we are really spending so little time in London that I would stay in the city.

In the morning we all spent a little more time waking up and getting going for the day since we didn't have to worry about meeting at Gloucester at a specific time. We hadn't really set a plan for the day besides going to Portobello Road (Portobello Road, street where the riches of ages are stowed). I thought it was going to be more like the street fairs that they have back in the states. Wow I was wrong. So many people all weaving their way through the shops and stalls.

If you like antiques this place would be heaven. I don't even have that many photos because I was sort of afraid to try to shop and photograph at the same time while in the swarm. I did get a really touristy union jack sweater that I love but refuse to wear while I'm out here because I don't want to seem like an obnoxious tourist. I found some other things that I might just have to go back and see if they are still there.

After Portobello Road I went back to the flat to rest a bit and grab some food. Niki, Sharee, and Kimber were going to to Picadilly Circus and to explore the city so I went with them figuring we could have an adventure. We explored the theater district, stumbled upon China Town, ended up in M&M world where Sharee found crispy m&ms which they don't sell in the states. She filled up a bag not realizing how expensive they were and the worker had to explain to her how much they were a kilo. Needless to say she didn't end up buying any of the super overpriced treat. We ended up at Kings Cross Station, more specifically platform 9 3/4. Cheesy photo op? You bet.

It was like Disneyland where they have a photographer their with your choice of house scarf. Gryffindor obviously. The ride home was crazy. We kept getting mixed up and jumping on and off the circle line. We finally made it home though. Before we leave I'm going to be pro at this public transportation thing.

day 3 in london: greenwich

The first lesson for today was the proper way to say Greenwich. If you say it how it looks Green Wich, you will look like an dumb tourist. The correct pronunciation in gren itch. The English just seem to slur their syllables together and/or have a lot of silent letters.

The first thing we did was head over to the Painted Hall and the Chapel. These two rooms are the only public rooms in the old navel college. The ceiling was an ornate scene will a bunch of symbolism. I bought a phamplet that explained it all so I'll have to dig that out to remember who each character was. This was the dining hall for the men who lived there. Can you imagine eating everyday is such a magnificent building?

this is the first photo I have of myself from the trip.

Inside the chapel they had a pianist who was constantly playing. It wasn't as cool as the Painted hall but it was still beautiful.

It was about a 20 minute tube ride out to Greenwich. I had no idea what was out there because I didn't do a very good job before hand researching it because wasn't one of the things I was super excited about. It turned out to be a pretty fun little side trip. Not something that I would probably go back and see next time I come to London, but fun all the same. It's claim to fame is the Royal Observatory and the Prime Meridian. We made the climb up to the observatory but didn't pay the fee to go stand by the monument that marks 0.0.

The Queen's House was lovely. It was sort of a last minute should we or shouldn't we since we still wanted to get a bite of lunch before catching the train back. We ended up going and I'm glad I did. It now acts as an art gallery. The tulip staircase was lovely and had this hanging art piece that was all string. There was a sign that said they had a Turner painting and so the fan girl that I walked through every room looking for that one painting and ignoring most of them. We came across this painting that the sign seemed to be saying was the painting but it didn't look right. Not in a very important spot, nothing really special making it stick out, and no name plate that said Turner. The sign pointing to the painting was really pointing down the stairs. Silly us. When we finally found it I was so excited. It was a piece that I hadn't seen before, one of his earlier painting.

After the Queens House we went back to the market and found food. I got tomato soup. It was alright, my mothers is better. We met up with the group and headed back to London.

Cheers.

day 3 in london: st. paul's

One of my favorite things about London so far is all of the amazing buildings. They aren't like Americans who just build new building when they need something so older buildings are abandoned or ripped down.

Our tube station didn't have a direct line, but instead of transferring we got out at the closed stop and walked. The different areas of London are so cool, they all feel very London but with their own personality.

After we arrived at the Cathedral Courtney gave us a quick lesson on the significance of the building. The original St. Paul's dates back to 604 ad. After the great fire of London it was rebuilt. Christoper Wren who is probably the most famous British architect designed the building.

The building was done in the English Baroque style. Sadly no picture were allowed inside you you will just have to use google to aid your imaginations. Once inside we made our way directly to the staircase that took you up to the whispering gallery and then to the top of the dome. 1,161 steps, that's how many I climbed to reach the top. I'm glad i'm tiny because there were points along the way where the staircase was barely wider than my shoulders. The climb was extremely rewarding. You could see all of London! I took a panorama and hopefully I'll have some down time soon (not likely) and be able to splice it together.

The climb took up most of the time we had in the cathedral so I only was able to briefly explore the crypt. The crypt is where the great hero Lord Nelson is buried. There were also some tombs that survived the great fire, but they were greatly damaged. We were suppose to meet on the front steps, but only Rick and I were there. We sat there for 15 minutes waiting for the rest of the group but no one else came. I dropped one of my peanut butter crackers and it rolled down the stairs to where a bunch of pigeons were. I thought that the pigeons would go for it. Nope. They walked over to it looked at it and then ignored it. I guess that British pigeons only eat organic food. 

Courtney's brother finally came looking for us, everyone was up listening to the choir or down in the cafe getting a bit for lunch. I love the little moments when we all are just sitting down talking about what we've just seen or done. A. I get to rest my tired feet. B. It seems to help solidify my memory. Some days it still feels like it's just a dream that I'm here.

Cheers

The Tempest

I don't know if I'm ever going to catch up on recording the days I've been here. It's a rush to get ready in the mornings and when we get back all I want to do is take a shower and go to bed.

Today was the best day yet. I say that everyday. Whenever I get asked what's my favorite thing we've done it's always what we've done most recently.

Taken from Lyni's instagram

Tonight we went to the Globe Theater and saw The Tempest! Little did we know Colin Morgan was staring as Ariel. Um it was amazing, beyond words, an experience. This is how one should see Shakespeare, in The Globe standing right up against the stage. It poured rain the entire time and I was chilled to the bone. Standing for 3 hours in the pouring rain was miserable but I couldn't leave. I've never been so close to the action, an actor totally landed on me as he jumped off the stage. When it ended I was running on pure adrenaline.

I didn't take my camera but hopefully I can scrounge up some photos from the other people.

day 2 in london: borough market

I think I'm going to have to go back to Borough Market when we are back over in that area of town when we go to the Tate Modern. The thought of eating was making me nauseated (tmi? so far my stomach has taken the bulk of the jet lag issues) so I just wandered around and explored all of the different nooks and crannies. There is every type of food you could imagine, some fruits and vegetables I didn't even recognize. I decided that I at least needed to eat something to keep my energy up. I ended up finding some raspberries that were really delicious; not as good as the ones we grow at home, but still good.

Next to the market there is a Gothic cathedral which dated back to 1066 (well at least parts of it). You had to pay a fee to take photos inside but it was nice to look around. There is a memorial to Shakespeare since it was the church he attended when he was in London. There was also a tomb marked Edmund Shakespeare, who was Shakespeare's brother. For being the brother to such an amazing writer his epitaph was pretty pathetic, "Edmond Shakespeare died December 1607". It was really nice to sit down on the chairs and they had an afternoon prayer. It was just reciting the Lords Prayer, nothing more. I was actually surprised that I have the entire thing basically memorized. Emily, Lyndi and I sat for at least a half hour babysitting Gustave and watching Rick's groceries, and Travis' camera bag. Before we left we went out to see the excavations that they had done. There was a roman road, the a tomb and some other stuff. It's interesting to me how they would just build on top of stuff no tearing it all down.

I didn't plan it very well since I ended up going grocery shopping at Whole foods when we got back to the flat. If I had been thinking I would have done my shopping there.

I have more photos from the market and the exterior of the cathedral that I promise to share but it's almost midnight and I'm really tired.

Cheer.

day 2 in london: the british museum

We got to go to our first museum of the trip! I love museums, I think I could live in museums. The British Museum was excellent. I was almost bouncing up and down at the thought of all of the great things that I have studied and seen photos of in books that I was going to be able to see in person. The museum is huge and covers thousands of years of history from so many cultures. Each art history class had a packet with a question specific just for their class, and we each had the same general questions. We had 2 hours to explore the museums before meeting back together. Of course the first thing that hits you once you get into the core of the museum is the ceiling.

I was so distracted by the ceiling I forgot to get a good picture of the entire great court. Up first was the Rosetta Stone. Discovered by Napoleons army it lead to the ability to translate hieroglyphics since it said the same thing in Ancient Egyptin, a more modern Egyptian, and Greek. For me it was kind of like what I think the Mona Lisa is at the Louvre.

So many people trying to get close and to take pictures that if you wanted to get close you had to sort of squeeze in between people. It was underwhelming. Cool, important, but sort of eh especially when compared to everything else we saw. 

There we so many school groups, each with their different uniform. There assignments all seemed to be to draw they different things that they saw because they all had big sketchbooks and were sitting in front of the different exhibits drawing.

Aren't they cute. Why didn't we ever get to go on amazing field trips like this when I was in school?

Before this I had never seen Assyrian art in real life and I ended up wandering the Middle East area for a long time. There is so much detail in the bas reliefs and it was so interesting to see the stories on each of the wall panels. What surprised me was color.  I ended up finding a tiled panel from the east gate of the palace in Susa that was from the year 500 bc. It was crazy to me that I was standing in front of a part of a wall that Ester might have walked by every day. Even though it was so old the color was still vibrant. I always end up shooting a lot of close ups when I am in museums.

After the middle east came the Greek collection. The jewels of the collection are the Elgin marbles which Lord Elgin 'bought' from the Ottomans when they were ruling over Greece. My favorite piece comes from the right side of the pediment and is the three goddesses.

After the Parthenon Marbles I made my way back through the Egyptian collection and figured that I should probably find the stuff for my assignment. Two girls from the group were looking for the Byzantine room so I help them with their question since they hadn't really covered that in detail during the classroom lecture. Not wanting to waste time writing down my answer I ended up just taking photos of the pieces I'm going to discuss and the plaque with all of the information on it. Since I had all of the stuff I needed for the homework I spent the last part of my visit just wandering the rooms. I ran into Travis and Gustave in the mummies room. If you haven't met Gustave CLICK HERE. We quite like him. Some how while wandering around trying to find a bathroom I ended up in the Japanese collection. Not entirely into eastern art so I did a quick look round before I found Melanie and Kristin who had some how missed the Elgin Marbles. We detoured there before heading to meet up with the group out front. I feel like I need to go back and spend some more time upstairs because I missed so much. 2 hours isn't nearly enough time for me to spend in any museum just ask my sisters.

After we managed to get everyone back together we headed off to Borough Market.

Cheers. 

photos from day 1 in london

It's Friday night in London and I am beat. We have our weekends free some people went over to Ireland, and another group is headed up to Scotland. I'm enjoying the quiet in the flat and have finally gotten around to organizing some of my photos. These were all taken in my neighborhood.

Kensington Gardens

A exterior door of the Palace

The Orangery. I want to got have a tea party here.

A wall. I seem to have developed a slight obsession of photographing moss on bricks. 

We took a walk as a group together in the evening and went farther down the park, more in the area of the V&A, Royal Albert Hall, and the Hyde Park Chapel. It was such a comforting sight walking up the street and then all of the sudden seeing the statue of Christ in the window. I actually think that I am closer to the Hyde Park Chapel than I am to the Meadowbrook building. Something is wrong with that. I want to talk a photo of the Prince Albert Memorial but it is covered in ugly scaffolding and it really ruins the entire things. I might wander down and get some detail shots that avoid the scaffolding. This weekend I am hoping to catch up on writing and photos.

Cheers.

the day chloe gets lost.

With that title you would think that this day would have be much more dramatic then it actually was. Tonight we went on a photo excursion down by the Thames to do some night photography. Travis missed his calling in life as a car salesman. He up sold the idea so much. He was saying how it was going to be lovely, imagine parliament lighting up with the sun setting, the beauty of London, etc. It turned out to be a mess. So cold, wet, and windy! Of 20 or so of us who went only 3 students ended up with Travis at the final destination. I'm still not quite sure what happened with everyone. Mackenzie, Chelsie, Rick, Travis, and I set up our cameras on the south (? i need mountains to tell directions) bank and it seems that the rest of the group were on the north bank. Mackenzie and Chelsie ended up leaving after a little bit and I went closer to the bridge hoping that some of the wind would be blocked because it was so blustery it was making everything 100x's more difficult. After a while I went back looking for Travis and Rick to see if they were going to be headed back soon. You would think that 2 bald guys, one of them shooting a large format camera would be easy to see. I couldn't see them at all. It was starting to get darker so I figured that it was a better idea to try and head back to the flat by myself rather than look for to men in a city of 12 million at night. The problem, I had no idea where to go from the tube station. We've been herded around like sheep when we've ridden the tube and I've only had time to explore part of our neighborhood. So basically I had no idea where I was going. I knew if I could get to Kensington Palace I could get home. The hard part would be getting to the park. Luckily (well miraculously really) not 5 minutes after I had said a prayer that I would be able to get back to the flat I ran into Chelsie and Mackenzie who had gone and sat it a coffee shop. They skipped out on part of Burrough Market and spent the day going around London so they were pros. I'm proud to say that I have now memorized the way back to the flat from our "home tube station".

I've still got to write about the rest of our day, but it's late, and I have a bunch of stuff to do before I head to bed.

Cheers.

finally here!

The sunrise somewhere over the Atlantic

 I made it! We are finally here in London! I'm going to be honest I'm nervous but excited. This will be the first time I have even been out of the country and the longest I've been away from my family. I wasn't able to sleep at all on the flight so I'm super tired, so excuse me if this doesn't make any sense. There was a group of 11 of us that all got to Heathrow around the same time so we all caught the tube into London together. Poor Rick and Morgan. They aren't used to traveling with so many girls. The first big difference between London and the U.S. London doesn't seem to believe in escalators or elevators so we all had to haul our luggage up a huge flight of stairs to reach the street. Imagine me hauling literally (and I mean literally, I'm not exaggerating at all) over half of my body weight up the stairs. It was actually really warm I was really suprised. We had to walk probably a mile to get to the flat, including the side trip to pick up our keys. Our flat is amazing! I need to take pictures of everything so I can post them so you can see how fun it is. There are 3 other girls in my room: Emily, Gabbe, and Lyndi. We have the best room in the entire flat. All of the other rooms have at least one set of bunk beds but we each have our own bed. The other perk is the en suite bathroom. Random UK fact. It is supposedly illegal to have a outlets in bathroom. Lyndi, Emily and I went out and got some stuff to eat and then wandered around the neighborhood for a while before going back to the flat. I didn't feel well so I ended up taking a 4 hour nap. I know, I know, you are suppose to stay up no matter what to help with the jet lag, but honestly I don't really feel it yet. After I woke up we had our introductory meeting and the we all went on a tour around the neighborhood. Tomorrow we are going to the British Museum, and then doing some night photography along the Thames.

I promise there will be more photos but I've got homework to do.

Flat, Sweet Flat

Do you see that red map marker? That A marks the flat I'll be staying in for the next 2 weeks. Could you ask for a better location! We are going to be quite literally across the street from Hyde Park! Our neighbors? Well besides all of the embassy's I'm counting Kensington Palace the home of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge aka Will and Kate.

Tomorrow morning I fly out, it doesn't feel real. I've got my bags packed, my camera gear ready, and am ready to go. It is going to be a whirlwind month. I'm hoping that I'll have time to write daily so that I can remember everything we do. We got our final itinerary during the week of class on campus and we are going to be go, go go. I'm so excited for the program. Art history and photography, it's exactly what I would want to be studying and seeing if I went on my own, but I'm going to have the amazing Courtney and Travis along. They are both walking encyclopedias in their respective fields.

Cheers.

film is not dead.

I don't usually shoot film. I think it is beautiful, I love the tangibility of film, but I'm just not patient enough for it. The instant gratification that my digital camera offers me is hard to beat. I can see the shot right away, and start editing as soon as I can upload the files onto my computer. No sending the film off to a lab, waiting for them to developing it and scan it (or scan it myself), and then seeing the images. The last time I shot film was for my darkroom tech class which was almost a year ago. But last week for some reason I decided I wanted to take film to Europe. When I shoot film I use my dads old Canon AE-1, which is probably over 30 years old. It has a few glitches so I was hesitant to haul it. Friday in class I realized the answer to my problem! Travis was asking if anyone wanted to check out a tripod for the trip and I remembered the school has like 10 Holgas. I would take a Holga!

see the blue thing in the bottom? That's my Holga!

Now that I had my new toy I needed film to go with it. How many rolls of film would I need? Black and white or color? I didn't want to run out, but I didn't want too much either. When it comes to camera stuff I can be rather impulsive... So I figured I would cover all of my bases. I bought 5 rolls of Portra 400, and 5 rolls of Illford HP5 Plus. I had some 35 mm film hanging around so I rigged up a set up with rubber bands and foam so I could use that as well. All in all I'm taking 13 rolls of film. b'm really excited for the Portra since I've never shot color film before!


p.s. I think I scared Travis a little bit when I posted the above photo on instagram. He thought all of the film was 35 mm (Holga's take 120). Don't fret Travis I'm smart enough to buy the right kind of film for my camera.