Humorous British phrase of the day:

I've got a database test next week. According to studynet, we are supposed to bring "a good rubber (in case you make a mistake)" on test day. In England, 'rubber' is synonymous with 'eraser' but I feel that this is good advice, no matter which side of the pond you are from.

Paris, day three

Katie and I were so exhausted from walking something like 18mi. on saturday that we decided to sleep in sunday morning. We checked out by 9 or so, and went out for one more day of exploring.

We headed south to the Isle St-Louis via the Place de Bastille. On the island we saw a sweet old church- I think it was called the Chappele St. Louis. A little old man stopped us to say (in Italian) that the organ dated back to the 1800s, and had recently been restored. We also stopped for a bit of Glaces Berthillon before deciding to go to the Jardin des Plantes in front of the Gallerie Nacionale. It was very nice- full of green spaces and tree-shaded paths. We made our way back toward the Chatelet les Halles, stopping for one last look at Notre Dame, which is just as impressive from the back. Then it was time to head our separate ways. Saying goodbye is never fun, but we both knew that the amazing weekend couldn't last forever.

Paris, day two

Katie and I woke up early Saturday morning, and basically spent the whole day wandering around the city. Paris is amazing, in both the sense that it is easy to get lost and that anyone lucky enough to be wandering around there must frequently stop and say "wow."

After a quick breakfast of croissants, we made our way down to the Ile de la Cite, to see the Notre Dame Cathedral and Sainte-Chappele. Notre Dame is magnificent. It is absolutely massive, and covered w/ (on the outside) intricate stonework and (on the inside) fabulous paintings and icons.

Sainte-Chappele wasn't open yet, which was fortunate. We decided to strike out south, and see what was there. We saw the Place St. Michel, the Luxembourg Gardens, and the Pantheon, all of which were well worth the trip, to put it mildly. We did eventually get back up to the church, which had the most incredible stained glass windows that I've ever seen. Each one tells a story from the Bible, from the Creation up to the Apocalypse.

We wandered around the island a bit more, before working our way up along the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomph. The monument itself is spectacular, and so is the view from the top. From there, we went to the Grand et Petite Palais, and the Hotel de Invalides. We stopped to see the Ecole Militaire and the Champ de Mars on our way to the Eiffel Tower. We waited until dark to go up, which was a good decision. Paris at night is breathtaking.
We decided to go back to our hotel by way of the Moulin Rouge. It was pretty cool, but I think at that point both Katie and myself were too worn out to really appreciate anything but a good night's sleep.

Paris, day one

The trip took me about an hour longer than I was expecting, so I arrived at the hotel at about 1600 to find Katie waiting there. After a quick dinner (bread, cheese, and ham from a local grocery) we made it to the Louvre.
Let me tell you about the Louvre. You go into the main foyer, under the glass pyramid and they have free maps, printed in about eight different languages. You figure out what you want to see first, orient yourself and go one of three escalators, depending on what you picked. Show them a passport to prove that you are under 26, and you're in, free of charge. You think you know how to get to the painting/sculpture/whatever that you are aiming for- we picked the Venus de Milo. Ten minutes later you are completely lost, but you don't care because "Hey, look over there!" The place is enormous, and everything in it is worth seeing. The museum closed long before we were ready to leave- we never did make it to the armless Aphrodite. However, we did see: the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Raft of the Medusa, 20ft. tall Assyrian centaurs, room after room of Greco-Roman marble statues... It was absolutely incredible.
After leaving the museum, we were both pretty exhausted from our respective journeys. We decided to hike back to the hotel and call it a night, then get an early start the next morning.

Quick update

Well, I'm two weeks into my classes at UH. At this point, it looks like these will all be at least mildly interesting, without being too difficult. Neat surprise: apparently "Hardware Platforms and Interface Technology" is secret British code for "Video Game Consoles". I'm pretty sure I will be able to stick my final project into an Xbox 360 and play it. :)

Last weekend was a good one. Friday night was the day-glo party at the Forum, and the next day the whole house (except for Emilio, who was in Oxford) took a trip to St. Albans. We didn't do any sight-seeing this time, but I got a tasty doughnut and a couple of TopMan shirts. I look like a proper English boy now, albeit a hairy one.

T-minus (almost exactly) four days to Paris!

Fresher's and Cambridge

The house is full, which is a good thing. It was awfully quiet w/ just Emilio and me here. The rest of my flatmates seem pretty cool. We went to the Forum to see Wiley* the other night, which was a lot of fun. Wiley wasn't actually that good live (he rapped a couple of songs on top of a tape of himself rapping, which was kind of like Michael Scott karaoke), but it was fun to go out and dance.

There wasn't anything for foreign kids to do during the day, which didn't stop Jon from taking the piss out of me for being so lazy and skipping lectures. By about Wednesday, I was tired of this, and decided to go to Cambridge and see the sights. Good decision.

I visited Trinity College, and saw a piece of Babbage's difference engine at the Whipple History of Science Museum. I decided to visit the art museum on a whim. Among the things I saw: three Monets, four Picassos, a handful of Renoirs, three mummies, and a sweet old Italian painting of scenes from the Iliad. They also had some naturalist sketches drawn by Darwin and his contemporaries. Very cool.

I caught the train back on Saturday. It was a lot of fun to organize a trip like that- taking care of train tickets and lodgings. I will definitely do something like that again.

Back in Hatfield, I capped off the perfect weekend by watching OU destroy Miami on the internet. That's what happened- don't try to tell me otherwise. Jermaine Gresham and Ryan Broyles both had an outstanding game, and are perfectly healthy.

On a happier note, classes start Monday, and I finally think I've figured out where and when to be.



*Don't actually watch the video; it is super-weird. I like the song ok, though.