Tampa, Here I Come!

Northwestern has been picked to play at the Outback Bowl Jan 1st against Auburn University in Tampa, Florida. I've pretty much already made up my mind to go. I'll be spending quite the chunk of change, but to me it's worth it (especially if we finally win our first bowl game since 1949). Once my paycheck comes in this Friday I'll be buying my plane tickets and paying back the guy who's buying my ticket to the game. Also, I've never been to Florida, so this will be great for me. And the timing of it works in my favor as I'm off of work Jan 1st anyway due to the holiday, and I've asked for my scheduled weekly day off to be the day before the game so that I don't lose any hours. The game is on a Friday, so I'll be back on the weekend and voila.

My next entry will most likely be about the trip to Tampa with some pictures.

Go 'Cats, Beat the Tigers!
(Note: last year in the Alamo Bowl we played the Missouri Tigers, so I guess I officially hate any team with the Tigers as their mascot)

-AALA

Homecoming 2009

On the heels of a Wildcat victory over BCS-ranked #4 Iowa I've finally gotten around to posting an entry on my trip to Chicago. Though I know that this isn't technically "abroad" it was a trip nonetheless that I wish to at least share in some capacity.

Going back to Chicago was the weirdest thing for me. For the first time I wasn't going back to school and I wasn't coming back from a vacation or a break. I was literally taking a vacation from my job to visit and then left to go back to my job, just like anyone in the real world. I know it sounds silly, but it was a very weird experience for me.

I marched in the alumni band for the day of the game. Northwestern was playing against Indiana and it was a game I badly wanted to win after last year. In the 2008 season Indiana won when they shouldn't have. I'm not saying it was referee calls or anything that did it; rather, that our team fell apart towards the end and Indiana took advantage of it. But it wasn't that alone that made me want to beat Indiana so badly. No, it was the disgusting treatment of the Indiana fans after the game that I recall with loathing. Many of the sore winners preceded to be just completely unclassy about their victory, trying to start fights, stealing some of our fan stuff and moving it (such as Northwestern flags), and just being complete jerks all around. Obviously, not all of the Indiana fans were like that, but it was prominent enough to be seared into my mind a hatred for Indiana that I had never felt before (indeed, prior to this trip I was very apathetic towards Indiana). Couple that with the fact that Indiana is a terrible state to begin with and you've got yourself a recipe for loathing. That was why, on our Homecoming, the victory over Indiana 29-28 was sweet. You can think I am a terrible person for what I am about to admit but I do not care: seeing the look of disappointment in their fans' faces was as much a gift to me as the actual victory. I take extreme pleasure in seeing their dejected looks because it makes me feel like life re-affirms my belief in karma. This same pleasure happened when towards the end of the game against Iowa the ESPN camera panned towards Iowa fans and they looked unhappy. Ashton Kutcher even threw his hat down in frustration at one point. Oh, by the way, I hate Iowa, too. Badly. For the same reason I hate Indiana: the fans' treatment of us. I was in the marching band when our away game was to Iowa my sophomore year, and never had I been treated so poorly by fans. I had things thrown at me, on top of expected swear words and name calling. But I draw the line at having things thrown at me, especially when I'm a member of the marching band. I expected such treatment from Michigan (which I never got, I'm both pleased and surprised to say), but not Iowa. So yes, you can call me whatever you like for admitting that, but it doesn't take away the fact that I am very happy about both wins.

The rest of my stay involved catching up with old friends, making new ones (I met the new members of the Tenor Sax section) and being in Chicago again. It was bittersweet. I am going to see if I can make it to Homecoming next year...

Anyway, without further ado, here are some pictures in my Northwestern Tenor Sax alumni glory:

In the stands with some of the Tenor alumni

Doing what we Tenors affectionately call "God's Horn"

In the stands

The Tenor alum who took this pic of me titled it as "Carla's First Homecoming"

The Tenor alums out on the field after our victory

And finally, the Tenor alumni who had played and marched meeting with the undergraduate Tenors (they can be distinguished by the fact that they're actually in uniform, although the jacket "warmers" don't really make this obvious)

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A big congrats to Northwestern for continuing to solidify our legacy: that is, sometimes we throw away games we should have won, and something we win games we shouldn't have. Either way, I'm proud of my 'Cats, and hope that we also beat Illinois next week to solidify our bowl game chances (I'm hoping they get picked for the Insight Bowl in Phoenix so that I can go see the them play as they will only be about 2 hours away!)

-AALA

London trip continued

I've been terrible about talking about the remainder of my trip due to the fact that since I got back to Arizona I have been focusing my energies on other things (namely exercising and applying for work). But here I am to finish what I started on the subject.

I went to see "Avenue Q" for the first time. I love theater and musicals, and I had been so good about keeping myself under budget that the one thing I actually splurged on while in London was a ticket to see the show. I had actually originally wanted to see "Chicago" because Michelle Williams (formerly of the girl group Destiny's Child) was playing Roxy. However, by the time I was able to buy the ticket her engagement in London had ended, and the tickets themselves were a bit too high for my taste. Thanks to the boys I got a tip to read "Time Out: London" for exclusives on what was going on around the city, at what price, etc. In the issue I was reading the magazine was highlighting discounts by a website called lastminute.com or something like that, and that there would be special deals for musicals. I looked into the shows I was interested in and the dates I could go and the best deal ended up being "Avenue Q". Because of the fact that it's set in New York City, I wonder if the audience got some of the jokes about American pop culture... I know that during a Wikipedia search there were some lyrics and jokes that were re-done for the London audience.

I have to also point out that I drank tea a million times a day. For breakfast I drank at least a cup or 2 of tea (English style, which meant using tea, sugar and milk), and by the time lunch came around (where I drank another cup) I had already drank another cup or 2, and by the time dinner came another cup or 2 had been drunk (as well as ANOTHER cup during dinner), and before bed time I could guarantee you I had drunk yet another cup or two.

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I will admit that I did go to McDonald's near the end of my stay. However, I do defend my decision to eat there because it is of my own personal interest to compare McDonald's in different countries because I find the way the company molds itself to each culture fascinating. Not only that, but I had not eaten any American food by the time I went to Mickey D's (in fact, I wasn't even eating stereotypical English food, either, because I wanted to keep my stomach and taste buds intact), so I felt fully justified. Like Argentina the actual establishment is a lot nicer looking in it's presentation. McDonald's is not considered cheap, and it's uncommon to find a hobo/tramp eating there. Some of their offerings were interesting (for example, they offered mozzarella sticks), and they seemed to have better selection in certain areas (for example their McFlurrys included what looked like actual ice cream by a specific brand). They also had their own chicken sandwiches menu that was apart from the burgers and such, and it was called the "Deli menu" or something to that effect. The fries were the same.

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Since I was broke I took care to take advantage of anything and everything that London offered for free. During my walks I stumbled upon 2 such places: the National Gallery and the British library. I couldn't really see much of the library, but they had a corner where they had a mish-mash of authentic documents ranging from Jane Austen to the Beatles to Shakespeare to Leonardo da Vinci. The next day I walked around starting at Picadilly Circus and made my way to the National Gallery, a massive building of artwork. I don't think I actually got through the entire building because it can be a bit confusing if one doesn't have a map (I didn't), but I was able to hit some well-known artists such as Van Gogh, Raphael, Monet, Manet, Michelangelo, Holbein, Rembrandt, Goya, Cezanne, and Poussin.

After the National Gallery I went out the "front doors" to Trafalgar Square and then proceeded to follow a rudimentary map I had drawn out of nearby attractions. I walked alongisde the Thames and got to Big Ben, and finally made my way to Westminster Abbey. It was a Sunday and I read on some signs nearby that the Abbey was closed on Sundays for services all day. Right after I read a sign detailing the costs of visiting Westminster and realized it cost a good bit of money to enter it. Well, being poor but wanting to see the Abbey I did the next best thing: I went to service. Services are open to the public, but they warn everyone that it is not meant for sight seeing, but for worship. As I went in people who tried to stop for a secont o look at the various epitaphs and such were quickly ushered into their seats, and sternly told by Abbey ushers that they had to go to their seat and that sight seeing was not permitted. Nevertheless it was a lovely experience, and I liked it also because I didn't feel like a tourist but an actual citizen going about their day (which is exactly how I like to feel). Looking up at the architecture and everything it made me think how it must have felt long ago in the Middle Ages when kings and royalty were in this same structure. I felt very happy thinking I was sitting in an area that saw so much history.

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Money was an interesting subject for me. During the first day I asked Sam about the whole "schilling, pence, quid" etc and he told me that money such as the schilling was no longer in use. Not only that, but he didn't know how to tell that money apart either. Now the money is in pounds or pence. Pence is the equivalent of cents in the US, so 100p goes into £1. I did have quite the confusion with some of the coins, though. I believe it was the 10p and 50p coins that looked very similar to me, so I had to always find the numbers in order to not look like an idiot by giving the wrong amount. Oh, and "quid" is another word for £, so like something costs £5 coud be said costs "5 quid" or "a five-er." The "-er" is also added to "ten" so if something costs £10 it's a "ten-er" (or "10 quid").

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Alright, I think that's enough for this entry. I'll try to add some more London photos on the next entry (since I won't be traveling in the foreseeable future).

-AALA

London details

Here I am with the boys. I stayed in their house. From left to right it's Jake, me, Pete and Sam.

Here I am with Jake. We are in Leicester Square on my last day of my visit, the same place where a little over 5 years ago (June 2004) we met for the first time. It was a fitting end because when we met it was also my last day in London before heading back to Tucson.

This is where I slept while in Jake's house (the living room).

Here I am in front of Buckingham Palace.

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So, as I've said before, the differences between the English language in England and the US are interesting. There are some things I brought up in my list from a couple of days ago that are a continuation on this theme.

-"slag tag" is the equivalent of the US's "tramp stamp" (the tattoo in the middle of the lower back that women sometimes get). "Slag" is the term for whore, slut, tramp, etc. "Tramp" for the English is the equivalent of "hobo" for us
-"top up" means to fill up. So adding value to my Oyster public transit card is referred to as "top up"
-you don't get "in line" when, for example, you buy something. You get in a "queue"

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Last week on Friday night I went clubbing with the boys and a group of their friends. One of their friends was celebrating her birthday. Though I only had enough money just to get into a club, being American I managed to get a few drinks paid for. At one point I had a very good looking Australian hitting on me. The problem was I got creepy vibes from him, which meant that I kept him somewhat in check. He picked up on this and actually declared to me "I'm gay." Let's just say he was a bit too touchy feely for me to actually believe that.

When leaving the club the bouncer almost immediately told our group to move. One of the things I have noticed about Brits is that sometimes they can be mouthy. A couple of people from our group started mouthing off the bouncer, and quite frankly I saw no reason to get so touchy about it. Then again, most of our group was drunk.

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Some aspects of the culture really caught my attention, as well. They don't really "doggy bag" food from restaurants. I asked the boys about this and they told me that while it's not an unusual thing for people to request, it is not common. Some waiters might look at one weird if this request was made, but others might not, they said.

The concept of patriotist is also different compared to Americans. The boys told me that to be patriotic in England is frowned upon. Wearing anything pro-England (regional sports on game days excluded) wasn't really something many English do, especially not to the extent of Americans and American patriotism.

There is also quite a bit of cursing done by laypeople in England. I fit in pretty well.

I will continue the rest of my list later.

-AALA

Last day in London

I don't have much time to talk about more about my stay right now but let me put it in list form before I forget so I can comment on it later

-slag tag
-top up
-Leicester Square
-Avenue Q
-tea a thousand times a day
-tramp
-doggy bag
-queue
-McDonald's
-party/club
-Australian
-British museum, National Gallery, British library
-Oyster card
-service at Westminster
-Arsenal Emirates stadium
-patriotism in England
-trouble with 10p, 20p and 50p
-abolishing of schilling and such
-resetting to Arizona time
-London Chinatown
-high school -> college -> university
-list of places to visit next
-Tarfalgar Square and "magicians"
-cursing

London Day 3

Celebrations for my birthday were quite chill. It was to be expected as both Pete and Jake work early the next day. I had an incredibly delicious Argentine meat platter from the South American restaurant we went to last night. I was very happy to have had steak again after so long.... it will never beat the steak my parents make, though.

Today was pretty chill, too. My friend Jack came over (he's Jake's friend, and it was actually through him that I first met Jake) and spent the night last night. He, Sam and I walked over to Jake's work for lunch. We went to this sandwich place that is dirt cheap. There are pre-made sandwiches that are sold already wrapped up and they cost less than $2. After Jake returned to work Sam, Jack and I went walking to Covent Garden. It's this big square with shops, entertainers, and booths that sell wares like cheese and fudge and such. I would have probably enjoyed it more if I had more money, but it was still a nice walk. After walking around for a bit we decided to take the bus back to our neighborhood, so I got to ride on the second floor of a double decker, which made probably a little happier than it should have.

After napping for a bit and getting dinner a group of us went to see Inglourious Basterds. I actually liked it. There were a lot of very violent anad graphic scenes (as to be expected), but I think the amount of humor injected very much helped the film. I also will point out that it's in no way historically accurate, which caught me a bit off-guard, but I think it was good Tarantino stayed away from that.

I learned more interesting British facts; the only sport they have somewhat resembling baseball/softball is a sport called rounders, but basically it's only played in school and is by no means a national sport that competes.

I'm apparently going to a birthday party tomorrow for a friend of the boys. I'm a bit nervous because it's a new culture and I don't really know anyone. I just hope I have fun. I was also invited to play badminton tomorrow, but it got called off due to the fact that they couldn't reserve a court, so I guess that is postponed indefinitely.

I really crave apple strudel right now... damn you, Quentin Tarantino.

-AALA

Day 1

I have never before felt so self conscious about the way I talk until I got on the plane in Chicago for London. All of the attendants and the pilots were British, and the majority of the passengers were British. I felt like I had the ugliest accent ever, and should not speak so as not to ruin the auditory aesthetics.

On the flight I learned that "lemonade" in Britain is kind of like a lemon/lime soda... essentially, it's carbonated, not like what we think as lemonade in the US.

So I arrived in Heathrow airport yesterday. Going through Customs was relatively painless, so I'm glad to report that. I waited in the airport for about an hour, realizing as I waited that my friend Jake and I never actually planned how we were going to meet. I also realized that while I was en route to London he probably had e-mailed me. So I ate the ₤4 to get internet access at the airport. Sure enough Jake had said he had to work so he couldn't meet me, and gave me instructions on what Undergound (aka "Tube") line I needed to take and what stop I needed to get off at. He said his room mate Sam would meet me. I was a bit miffed, but no harm done. I asked one of the airport convenience store employees on how I was going to pay for the Tube, and he told me about the Oyster Card (kind of like the equivalent of the Chicago Card for CTA in that you scan it and it's cheaper than paying with a normal card... at least, for Chicago that was true until recently). Thankfully the line I needed to take to Jake's house was the line that left from the airport, so I only had to stay put until my stop. Now, Heathrow is on the southwestern end of London, and Jake's house is on the Northeastern end, so I had quite the trek. I defintely passed out a few times from exhaustion.

Sure enough Sam was there waiting for me and we hung out the entire day while Jake and his other room mate, Pete, worked. I had an absolute blast with Sam. We chatted a lot (talked a lot about British vs. American words), drank quite a bit of tea, went for a walk around the neighborhood including a park, and bought groceries. We found a ₤10 note right at the register, and that paid for most of our groceries (we really went for cheap)!

We made a pasta dinner with vegetables and it was quite tasty (and it was actually my first meal of the day; I hadn't eaten since 6am that morning on the plane!). Sam likes to cook (which is good for me as I'm really lazy). Pete and Jake then came in. Had more tea, ate dinner, and then for dessert we had ice cream with some American candy that I had brought (like these little Reese's peanut butter cups and Butterfingers), and they liked it, so I'm glad for that.

I am quite proud of myself. In about 35 hours I had only slept maybe some 2 hours and I managed to stay awake for the entire day. By 10:30pm, though, I was exhausted and completely gone (although it is almost 6am now and I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep). The boys have set me up in their living room for sleeping and I like it.

The house is quite cozy and lovely. Jake's parents lived in it and Jake was raised here. Apparently his parents are now out living somewhere else for a time and they've allowed Jake and his friends to stay here, which is quite the steal in terms of rent and such. Also, I am happy to report that despite the fact that there are 3 men living here they are all quite clean! I am very fortunate.

It is officially my birthday right now and the boys have been gracious enough to tell me they're taking me out. There's a South American restaurant nearby that we'll go to for dinner, and then afterwards we're going to some bar/club to see a friend of theirs perform, followed by (or actually, this is probably going to be an all night activity) drinking. It will be quite fun! I just hope I don't run up a bill...

-AALA

Interesting article

In travel related news I found out this interesting tidbit from an MSN article about debunking some travel myths. One of them had to do with tourism. You know how Americans have this reputation for being loud and obnoxious tourists? Well, apparently that doesn't necessarily translate to "bad tourist." In the article it says that Expedia had about 1500 hotel managers from around the world take a survey about tourists. The verdict? Among 27 nationalities the US ranked 9th best. The Japanese were ranked first. As for the worst group, well, let's just say it cracked me up: the French.

The rest of the article can be found here: http://guides.travel.msn.com/Guides/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1083446

Another article on MSN is about travel taboos. Some of them are just the typical, already-said-a-thousand-times nuggets (like in Cambodia where it's not a good idea to finish your entire plate because that signals to the host that they didn't give you enough to eat), but some are rather interesting (didn't know Cheshire, England had a thing against people kissing good-bye next to the train when one is about to board the train).

Just for learning something interesting the article can be found here: http://guides.travel.msn.com//Guides/MSNTravelSlideShow.aspx?cp-documentid=980450&imageindex=1

-AALA

Getting Ready/First Entry

I recently deleted my xanga account because I felt it was time to start something new and different. I didn't give it a farewell, and I didn't tell my sporadic followers where I was going. I want to start fresh, and this blog isn't going to be maintained like the last one. I've had my xanga account since senior year of high school, and pretty much no one I know that is my age updates their xanga as often as I did, or even about the same things I blogged about. I just graduated college in June, and now it's time to move on.

My passion in life is traveling. I plan on making a career out of it one day. But before I do I am going to be doing a bit of traveling beforehand. This blog is meant to chronicle those journeys; the observations, the frustrations, the laughter, the anger, the awkward, the comical, but most importantly (and the purpose of this blog) the interesting and the informational.

In less than one week I am going to be heading to London. The following few days are going to be hectic as I tie up loose ends and little by little move my things out of my Chicago apartment. The experience I am about to have in England is definitely going to be memorable. The stories are practically writing themselves (for starters, I have no return ticket to the United States as of yet). The next entry will probably be once I get to England when I can comment on my first English experience since high school (when I was last in England). So keep checking back for photos and commentary.

-AALA (An American Latina Abroad)