A Royal Hoosier Weekend

With temperatures in the high 80’s and low 90’s last week (only to go up to 100F in May), I was excited to get away from the hot Sevilla weather and relax in the brisk coolness of London.

Sike.

I guess I should consider myself really lucky. I haven’t been on one trip where the weather was something to complain about (knock on wood), and London wasn’t going to ruin this streak. Ironically, I happened to bring the nice weather with me, as London experienced 60-70F while I was visiting. Pleasant.

This trip was a bit unique from the rest: not only was I traveling alone, but I was also meeting up some of closest friends at Indiana University.  The Kelley School of Business has a way of bringing students together through its arduous exams and demanding coursework, and eventually creating lasting friendships. It’s typical for students to study abroad 2^nd semester junior year (after taking I-CORE in the fall), thus my friends and I have had many traveling destinations to choose from.



With Professor Briggs of Operations Management at the Kelley School of Business



MM, my gracious hostess, invited me to stay with her if I had room to fit London into my traveling schedule. I took her up on her offer and was off to be reunited with several Kelleys (in London for an internship program, similar to mine in Sevilla) and JS, a friend from freshman year, starting her one month Euro trip in London.

But of course, the actual travel to my chosen destination has to be an interesting one, or else I would have nothing fun to blog about. Don’t you worry readers, I had quite the experience even BEFORE leaving Sevilla. First, the AC on the shuttle bus from the city center to the airport BROKE on our ride. 100 passengers were jam packed into a bus built for 30, with backpacks, suitcases and smelly armpits…so you can only imagine what I was going through.

Death.

Next, having gotten to my Ryanair terminal an hour before take-off, I was notified that our flight was delayed by a half hour. Okay, not bad for Ryanair. But THEN I was searched from head to toe by the airport POLICE (AFTER having been initially searched at security) before getting on board. And to make matters worse, I got stuck between seven women, in their mid 40’s having left their kids at home for with their husbands, for a “Girls Getaway Weekend” during the flight. They were screaming, whistling, dancing flamenco and ordering around the air hostesses for the entire 2 hours and 20 minutes. Needless to say, I got NO sleep on that flight.

At Stansted airport, I had to wait another half hour to get through customs and missed my bus to the center of London. I had to buy another ticket (the exchange rate from Euros to Pounds REALLY killed me) and was off. I was instructed to call MM when my bus left, but get this…genius me turned off my cell phone on the flight, and when I finally turned it back on I realized I forgot to bring the 4-digit pin to unlock it. EPIC FAIL. So I had no way of getting in touch with her. Luckily the lady sitting next to me on the bus was nice enough to let me use her phone for a few seconds.

Long story short, we finally made it to MM’s flat at 4AM. Some five hours later, we started exploring the city. JS and I were on our own for the most part, as MM had a final presentation to deliver.  Here are some of the sights we saw on our tour (including the hyped up changing of the guards in front of Buckingham Palace).

The three of us eventually met up again at MM’s internship (brace yourselves) in PARLIAMENT! MM was given access to all rooms and areas in this ginormous building and was allowed to give friends and family a private tour of the place. WIN. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take pictures inside…but this is what it looks like from the outside (not many people can say they’ve seen the parliament up close and personal!).

The rest of the day was spent sightseeing (including PLATFORM 9 and ¾ for all of you Harry Potter fans!), cooking dinner and resting up after a long, touristy day in the city. I, however, used this time (Friday evening) to visit the first Ismaili Center ever created.  I’d like to think I’ve become braver traveling on my own…taking the local subways and buses to where I need to be, but I’ll have to admit, this time I got a little help from the city of London. Take a look:

How crazy?!?! Seeing the Ismaili Center labeled on the tube stop was such a proud moment for me! Jamati ceremonies were what I usually experience in the States (same language, same sequence of events, etc) except that the ceremonies were conducted in a much better accent (haha) and that I received a candy instead of Sukreet when drinking Niyaz (holy water). After ceremonies, I was fortunate enough to run into some familiar faces (ZS and RK) and then was given a tour of the center. It was beautiful! Here are the few pictures I was allowed to take.

Saturday followed the tune of Friday’s touristic day. I saw St. James Park, did the South Bank River Walk, St. Paul’s, the Globe Theater, London’s Financial District, Borough Market, Tower of London and walked across several bridges, one of them being the same bridge used in a HARRY POTTER MOVIE (I’m a HUGE fan :D). I also stopped by the Institute of Ismaili Studies for a personal tour of the building. A professor was kind enough to take me from one floor to the next, explaining in detail the STEP and GPISH Programs offered by the Institute. Interested in learning more? Check out this link: http://www.iis.ac.uk/home.asp?l=en.

In the evening we cooked dinner, watched Mama Mia with MM and her five other flat-mates and eventually got ready for a BIG Kelley Reunion. It was a long, but extremely fun, night catching up with everyone and trading study abroad stories…ending with a London sunrise, LOL.

Sunday morning I had breakfast with JS, MM and MM’s brother and girlfriend who were her newest visitors (she’s had many throughout the semester) and then revisited the British Museum to finish seeing some galleries before heading back to Sevilla.

Overall, a solid weekend with some exceptionally great people.

This week, I’m scrambling to submit final papers and projects (two weeks before their deadline) as I’m headed out for a 10 day spring break in...(hold on to you hats) ATHENS, GREECE AND ISTANBUL TURKEY (and Barcelona)!!!! This spring break will be one of two that I’ll be enjoying this semester. I’ll clue you all in on the locations of my second break as the time gets closer.

Until next time.

Mama Mia!

6AM flights, last minute hotel issues, pizza pasta & gelato on repeat and a beautiful scenic view…yep, it felt great to be back on the traveling grind. After two consecutive weeks in Sevilla and a program planned trip to Morocco, I forgot what it felt like to manage a trip by myself. Venice had no problem fixing this issue.

BW had mentioned he was going to Venice, Italy with CR and NB and asked if I wanted to join them, since I had nothing planned for this weekend (shocking, I know). Being the enthusiastic trotter that I am, I agreed and bought my plane tickets a few hours later. Flash forward to take off, we were all excited to visit the beautiful city situated atop water. After landing, we took a bus to Venice, as it’s an island separated from mainland Italy.  It was my first time traveling on a “water highway”…totally cool.

After BW ever so cleverly maneuvered us through the narrow streets of Venice, the four of us arrived to the Ghetto. And no this is not your typical Chicago/NYC Ghetto…Ghetto is another name Venetians use for neighbors. Ours happened to be located in the Jewish Quarter (I totally felt at home; you would too if you’re from Buffalo Grove, lol).  Once inside our hotel, we were told that there was an error with the booking and that we’d have to pay extra for the room we had originally booked.  All of our pleading and arguing fell to deaf ears and we were forced to pay the extra amount to spend the weekend at the hotel.

You live and you learn, right? Lesson learned: take care of the hotel/hostel situation yourself…and if someone else offers to do it, triple and quadruple check their work. Sometimes even the best can trip and make a mistake.

The two days spent in Venice were absolutely gorgeous. Perfect weather and picturesque landscape easily helped me forget about the hotel fiasco.  With BW as our personal Rick Steves, we were able to visit St. Mark’s Square, St. Mark’s Basilica, multiple museums and various Venetian neighborhoods while eating the most authentic Italian cuisine ever. I’m pretty sure I’ve gained 5 pounds from all the carb consumption.

I’ll for sure need to revisit Italy to explore Rome, Florence, Sicily and Naples. Hopefully I’ll return sometime next year, as my time abroad is winding down and I’ve got other countries to visit before I head back to the states.

Up next on this Globe Trotter’s agenda: London to be reunited with some of my favorite Kelleys and a special teacher who’s made a huge impact in my life.