This is Museumtastic!

"Museumtastic": The art of being as fantastic as a museum, which is pretty darn fantastic.

Over the most recent weekend, my flatmate, Austin, and myself were left alone in the flat and decided to go back to the Pitt River Museum in downtown Oxford since we did not get very far last time. (You can read about our last visit at my previous post, Holy Introverts, Batman!.) At the museum this time, we investigated the other two floors of the museum as we only got to the first one last time.

As we walked around the first floor, second for non-British readers, we looked through lots of cases full of mirrors, jewelry  and other things that people have used to try and alter their appearance over the years. Such as , how some tribes in African would attempt to make women's necks longer because they found that beautiful or how some cultures would put disks in their mouths that made their lower lip stick out further. There was a picture of a woman wearing almost fifteen rings around her throat and he neck was probably twice the length of a normal person's. It was insane.

And the further down the cases you went the creepier and more disturbing it got. There were cases on people making designs and tattoos on themselves, and ways they would make their ear lobes bigger. But the king of the ways to distort your own body was what Chinese people used to do to young girls. They would bind their feet, nearly from birth, until adulthood, in an attempt to keep their feet small. Small feet were seen as good luck. The shoes are display for what an adult Chinese woman would wear were literally the size of a baby's shoe. WHAT? Wh-what? I just... I did not even know what to say. And as i kept reading, apparently they were likely to get infected and cause serious pain and sometimes cripple the women. Oh, really? I never would have guessed that a 115 pound person walking around on baby feet would cause pain or the inability to walk... Oh wait, yeah it would.

Luckily they do not do that any more, but I literally felt sick to my stomach after reading that and seeing the pictures and had to skip the entire section on human sacrifices. Instead, I looked at cases full of things made from bird feathers and packs made specifically for carrying babies. There was even a case completely full of different umbrellas! And right before going to the next floor, there was a small section of painted eggs, which I found very interesting. My grandmother who's family was from Russia and Ukraine had lots of painted eggs, so it reminded me of her.

The floor after that one was full of weapons and armor that has been used through the ages. I have forgotten most the information I learned about weapons, except that the rifle was really tricky to make apparently. But it was neat seeing all the different types of swords from different cultures and learning how and why they were made the way they were.

But my roommates and I actually go to a lot of museums. Almost every city we visit we try to find at least one free museum to visit. This is because museums are fun and you can learn a lot, and because they are sometimes free and we have little money.

There is another museum in Oxford called the Ashmolean, which is also free. We visited there quite a few weeks ago with our friend Beth and had a good time wandering around looking at sculptures and paintings. We actually ended up finding a painting by John William Waterhouse, one of Austin's favorite artists while we were there. It was really neat to see a famous artist's piece in person.

We also got tired a ways into the museum, as it was pretty much a maze of corridors and hallways that wove in and around each other. And we decided to play a fun game where you sit and look at a painting while you rest and try to guess what it is about, without reading the placard.

The best instance was when we were viewing a painting of a young with long blonde hair who was standing in the middle of a building's front steps, while lots of older men surrounded her. Some of the men looked happy, some sad, some quisitive  and one man who had darker skin and was peering from behind a pillar on the far left of the scene looked extremely angry. She wore a pink robe with a long blue sash, similar to what Mary usually wears but without her head wrapped.

The young woman was sitting on a sort of box and had an angelic glowing halo around her head, so we knew she was some sort of biblical character, or possibly a saint. Her one hand was raised as if to say 'Shhhhh' while the other was out stretched as if reaching for something. There was also a woman and man on the far right side with a normal circular halo each, which really confused us.

Why did this girl get a different halo? Why were some saints listening to this girl talk? Why is that one guy so angry? We started making up possible scenarios that could be happening inside the picture.

'Maybe she rose from the dead, and that box she is on was her coffin.'
'I think only Jesus and Lazarus were raised from the dead. Maybe it's Jesus's mom, Mary, when she was younger.'
'What is she doing talking to a bunch of old men? It looks like she has her hand up to tell that angry, yelling guy to shut up.'
'Maybe she is talking about controversial issues and that guy disagrees.'

Finally we could not take it and looked at what was happening. It turned out that the 'girl' was Jesus preaching to the teachers in the Temple, like in the biblical story and the man and woman on the right were Mary and Joseph. It did not say who the angry guy was, but we suspect Satan, although who knows. We are so bad at this game it could easily have been John the Baptist or Shakespeare, making a guest appearance, for all we know.

Until next time...

Embrace the Odd,
Caitlin

"People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading." -Logan Pearsall Smith

Is it Thursday Yet?

Over the semester, my roommate, Amy, and I have been hanging out on Thursdays because neither of us have class that day, while our two other roommates have class all day. We refer to Thursdays that we spend doing fun things together, or really anything together, as 'Thursdays with Camy' or 'Camy Day'. (Camy because it is a combination of Caitlin and Amy. It was created by one of friends at our home univerisity because we were roommates and spent a bunch of time together.)

At the beginning, Camy Day was all about going to a new place to eat lunch and ordering something interesting. We did because we cook meals for ourselves all the time and it seemed only fair that at least once a week we eat out somewhere exciting while we are studying in Oxford.

We went to several cafes and a few restaurants on Camy Days, getting food ranging from a Twix Crepe and Bagel Sandwich with Turkey, Brie, and Cranberry Sauce to Jacket Potato with Cheese. Usually the food places we choose are really tasty, such as the local pub Angel and Greyhound (although technically we went there on a Friday) and Georgina's. But recently Camy Days have somehow morphed from tasty new restaurant experience into tasty new flavored milkshake from Shakespeare's.

I am not entirely sure when this change happened. One week we planned to go to a local pub called Chequers, but it was not open so we went grocery shopping instead. Did we get milkshakes that day instead? I am not sure. We also were usually not that hungry for an entire meal anyways, though, because we wake up late and eat breakfast late. I know that we planned to get Shakespeare's one week because it looked like a fun, new, hip place. (I mean, it's named after an old, famous poet, so of course it is going to be cool.) And we did plan to get milkshakes as a celebration for winning elected positions in our home organization's board.

But however it happened, we now have to get a milkshake at least once a week. I actually went with Austin over the weekend while Amy and Libby were in Paris, so I think I am going to end up having gone there twice in one week, which is crazy.

And if you are wondering why I seem to always end up talking about candy and sugar, take this picture as your answer:

If you want to read more about my sugar addiction, check out my older posts, Sweet Tooth and Sweet Tooth II: Sugar Rampage.

Until next time...

Embrace the Odd,
Caitlin

"Camping is nature's way of promoting the motel business." -Dave Barry

"London is Calling to the Faraway Towns"

London is the British equivalent of New York City. (Not really, but that is best way to describe it for you to get a quick idea of it in your mind.) There are lots of similarities between the two. They both have a giant park in the middle, both have super tall buildings, and both are hip and modern! But in actuality, one has lots of tourists, plays, and is a world known city... Oh wait, I guess they are similar.

London is fast, and it seems like there is always somewhere to be. The buildings are not as tall as in New York City, although they did just build a new skyscraper which is now the tallest in Europe. There is a large river, the River Thames, running through the middle of the city, giving it somewhat of a liberated feeling when near it. And the tallest ferris wheel in the world is located in London. It is called the London Eye and it lets you see all around the city.

The city has lots of random roads that jut out of other roads at strange angles, and lots of streets that appear to have the exact same buildings on them, or at least the same type of design. This leads to a feeling of being lost almost every time you turn a corner, and makes it difficult to find your way back.

Underneath the city is a large system of underground metros, called the Tube. It is very easy to navigate and the colorful map gives you a very straight forward idea of how to get from one station to the next. In the Tube it is very hot from the engine of the metros and the large crowds of people, but as a new set of cars pull up, a huge gush of cold wind blasts into your face. While aboveground it is cold and windy, and no matter of standing in groups will really change that (at least in the winter time).

London has lots of little shops, pubs, and tourist attractions. Most of the main tourist sites seem to be around Piccadilly Circus and Covent Gardens, where the pricey stores are located. But on some of the outskirts of London you can find yourself at the Harry potter Studio, Chislehurst Caves, and other interesting places.

---

My roommates and I have visited London quite a few times already and have done quite a few different activities around the city. Because of this, I am not going to go into too much detail about each place we went, but I will be sure to tell you enough that you will want to visit too. (Also, this gets to be a bit long even though I glazed over some details. Just a warning.)

Our first visit to London we stopped by the Harry Potter Studios, which is located just outside of London. There was a huge dramatic build up to arriving at the studio, because the special bus that you had to take over had a video playing saying how awesome Harry Potter was and how everyone loves it there.

The build-up made me feel like I would explode when our bus finally arrived at the studios. And then we had to wait in line to get out ticket confirmed. And then we had to wait for our time slot to open. And then we had to wait in line to start the magical journey. And then we had to wait for a woman to agree to give us the children's passports. And when we finally got into the beginning of the studios, the guy who scanned our tickets said, "YOLO".

If you cannot tell, I was a bit less than excited by the time we finally sat down to watch a short clip about Harry Potter. Although at the end, the screen rolls up and the doors to Hogwarts were right behind it, so I was pretty pleased about that.

As you walk around the set you can see tons of costumes and props from the films, such as Cedric Diggory's Triwizard Tournament outfit, the Invisibility Cloak, Harry's Common Room, Snape's Classroom, etc. I was mostly excited about Hufflepuff stuff, being a Hufflepuff myself, and was a bit sad at the lack of things for my house. Although, I am not sure what all i thought there would be. There are only about four Hufflepuffs in the entire set of eight movies that have speaking parts.

However, I did get to stand on the Night Bus, and sit in the Weasley's Flying Car, both for pictures. I also got to ride a broom in front of a green screen so it looked like I was actually flying. And the best part about that was that my two roommates and i had to share a cloak and it was a Hufflepuff cloak: Score! (They hated it.)

I think I was just too excited for the Harry Potter Studios to really enjoy it to the full potential, but i still had lots of fun running around and getting my children's activity book stamped at different stations. And I got to see all the different Death Eater masks, so it was definitely worth it. Also, the sound stages are named 'J' and 'K', for obvious reasons. Because they liked to say, "JK we don't film here". No. Actually, it's because of JK Rowling. I just didn't get it until about a week later.

The large park in the middle of London is called Hyde Park. We have visited there twice, and for two very different events.

The first visit we just had some time to kill and wandered around. We ended up walking next to the river that runs through it and seeing lots of swans, geese, and birds with strange feet. We then stumbled upon a small section of the park that was donated to Queen Victoria by her husband Albert. It was very beautiful and had lots of statues of swans and angels. There were also lots of fountains with numerous pools of water. Everything was made of a white stone, and the lush green plants in the fountains stood out very well against the rock. There was also a bird walking around that was red and green. I called it the "Ghost of Christmas Pheasant", and everyone thought I was really funny for that one moment.

The second time we visited, we went with a purpose to see Hyde Park's "Winter Wonderland". It is something of a Christmas Market/Carnival that they put up. It is free to enter, but any rides you want to go on cost money.

Since it was late November and a weekday, there was almost no one visiting the park. And it was creepy. It was like had stepped into some carnival nightmare that just happened to feature Santa. The area was almost completely deserted, there were strange animatronic Santas everywhere, and it was dark from being overcast. There was also a giant tree at the park that had no leaves and looked like a Halloween tree. It would laugh and talk in a booming voice about how great Hyde Park was. It really just made me feel unsafe. There was also a pirate ride and a fun house that had a creepy Santa at the front who laughed continuously in a evil cackle.

Moral of the story, don't visit Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland, unless when a lot of people will be there and remember the buddy system.

We visited the Victoria and Albert Museum at one point. It was an interesting place, but it was near the end of the day and I think everyone was just tired. There was a Ballgown exhibit that I really wanted to see, but you had to pay to see that part, which made me sad. So, pretty much I just remember walking around wanting to leave. I did find the exhibits interesting, I was just dead tired and hungry.

We then went to the Rainforest Cafe and shared a Volcano. But the servers did not all yell out "VOLCANO!!!" and it more of a sundae than a brownie mountain (like I remembered it being). It had a brownie in it though. And there was strawberry ice cream as well as big banana and marshmallow pieces. So I was pretty happy.

Our last big trip in London was to Chislehurst Caves, which is just outside London in Kent. It is a collection of tunnels underground all of which are man made, although some were built by Druids and Romans thousands of years ago.

I had actually visited Chislehurst Caves during my first trip to England, many years ago, but thought it might be a fun trip fr my roommates to go and see also. It was only 5 pounds to get a tour around the caves, and with that kind of a steal, we had to go.

The guide showed us the parts that were inhabited during the World War II during the bombings in London. There were numbered bunks that you would be assigned to for sleeping, as well as restrooms, a help center, and a hospital. A baby girl was even born in the caves during the war.

We also got to see the section of the caves where the Druids would preform sacrifices to their gods with young virgin girls. And there was a pool of water where supposedly a woman's spirit roams as a ball of light after she was brutally murdered by her husband. There used to be a competition at the caves where if you could stay an entire night alone, next to the pool with just a candle for light then you would win a bunch of money, but no one was ever able to stay that long, supposedly due to the spirit.

Besides all of those large, exciting adventures, we also went on some smaller, but still fun and enthralling ones. They just took up less time.

We had some extra time between trains one day, and hopped over to 221B Baker Street to visit Sherlock Holmes. Sadly, he was not in, but we were allowed to look through his small gift shop where fans of the famous detective and buy geeky merchandise with his face on it. There were pens that were shaped like him, as well as ones that were shaped like syringes. There was also a police constable standing outside during our visit. He was probably waiting for Sherlock to return so he could get his assistance with a case.

At the beginning of out stay in England, we visited the Westminister Abbey Art Gallery. It was interesting to see lots of religious paintings all together, especially since they were all in different styles. We did not get to go into the actual Westminister Abbey, but I still thought it was worth noting.

As tourist, my roommates and I made a visit to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. It was on the last day of the Paraolympics though, so there was a huge crowd visiting as well. The event was mostly made up of me telling my shorter flat mates what even I could barely see.

"Oh, they are holding their guns up. And now they put them down. I think they are marching? No, wait... Maybe dancing?"
"Why would the guards be dancing?"
"I don't know! Dancing Queen is playing, maybe it's their jam."

The guard band did honestly play Dancing Queen by ABBA though. It was amazing. (You can see a picture of the statue outside Buckingham Palace at the top of this post.)

Last, and probably least, we visited the M&M store in London. It was per my request that we even went inside, but I really just wanted to see if the inside sported more British themed items or USA themed ones. They were British all the way. Their were plush red m&ms wearing guard hats and t-shirts that said "I <3 M&Ms" (with the heart being a Union Jack). It was crazy, and strange. We booked it out of there.

And if you want to hear about the candy shop I love to visit whenever I visit London, check out my other post, Sweet Tooth II: Sugar Rampage.

Until next time...

Embrace the Odd,
Caitlin

P.S.- The title is from the song "London Calling" by Stummer and Jones.

"The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't." -Douglas Adams

"In Dublin's Fair City"

Dublin was, sadly, not one of my favorite cities. It was nice and I am definitely glad I visited, but I probably would have had more fun just staying in Oxford for the weekend.

Dublin is a large city, and has many different sections that you can end up in. The main tourist section is near Trinity College, where lots of shops like 'The Disney Store', "Captain America's', and other such places. That section is really nice, clean, and crowded. There were lots of people pretending to be statues or singing for money there.

But closer to our hostel and near the museums we visited, Dublin got a bit darker. The streets were not as clean, and it seemed almost darker there. (I am not sure if this was psychological or real.) The buildings were closer together and everything seemed grungier. Some of the buildings did seem older, like in Oxford, but in a creepier kind-of way. Not nearly as majestic.

The museums themselves were nice and tidy, but once you stepped back onto the street things got blander. It also rained nearly the entire trip, not making our impression any better. At night when we were walking around, I felt nervous that someone might sneak up on us, probably due to the streets having few people on them and fewer lights.

However, Dublin is going through some tough times economically right now, so that could be a factor of the issues, as well as that Dublin is very much a drinking city. Ask anyone. And I am not really a drinking kind-of gal. So perhaps Dublin was already a bit smudged in my mind? I do not think so, since I was excited to visit as my family is from Ireland. But perhaps I had too high of expectations? And either way, Dublin really was not a horrible trip, just not one of the places I will probably revisit.

One cool thing about Dublin though, was that all the signs were written in Celtic and English. It made me feel like I was in some other world, which in a way, I guess I was.

---

Walking around Dublin after getting off of our plane, we checked into our hostel and got some dinner from a local pub for the night. It was too late to visit any museums or shops, so we pretty much called it a night immediately after dinner.

The next morning we were, or at least I was, awoken by the loud screeches of seagulls. I suppose we were near the ocean as we were on an island, but I never saw it. And why were the seagulls right outside my hostel's window? We then headed to a nearby church, St. Mary's Pro Cathedral, to have some Jesus time. (To be honest we do not really attend church that much, but if we are in a new city on a Sunday morning, as in this case, we also seem to decided to visit one.) After the service, we had planned on going on a free, three hour walking tour, but it was raining so much that we chose to push that off until Monday morning even though that was when we were suppose to be meeting with Austin's friend from home.

Next, we stumbled upon a monument to Oscar Wilde inside a park. Honestly, it was a creepy statue. I felt like he was watching me where ever I went and the way his face was carved looked like he had some dirty ideas running through his mind.

We then headed to some free museums we had looked up before the trip. The National Gallery was the first one to open, and apparently the first to close. After pretty much stepping into a painting gallery, the National Gallery alerted everyone that it was closing in fifteen minutes and everyone needed to leave. It had only opened about thirty minutes before this. So, we grabbed our things and headed to another museum.

The National Museum of Ireland-Archeology was our next stop and it had rather normal things you would find in a museum: pottery, recreations of ships, old jewelry  well preserved bodies that had been found in the local bogs, normal stuff. The bodies actually seemed to be the main attraction and they were in these special rooms so that if you did not want to see them, you did not accidentally wander in. They looked like people who had died their skin ink black and gotten punched in the face too many times. They even still had hair on their heads!

This museum stayed open long enough for us to look around and see all we wanted, and then we were off to, you guessed it, the National Leprechaun Museum. Because, leprechauns are an important piece of history.

The ambiance inside was rather strange and a bit creepy. There was a room where everything was huge and you could try and climb around on the giant furniture, and also a room where there was a 'fairy well' that you could make wishes into. Except after learning about how fairies sometimes liked to steal your newborn babies for fun, I was not sure if I really wanted to be making wishes to them.

You can learn more about mystical folk in my previous post, Over the River and Through the Fairy Woods.

That night we went to a comedy show that was free and that also had free ice cream. I am not sure how we found out about it, but it was legit and really funny. (Although some of the jokes were a bit crude, but that was kind-of expected.)

The next morning we headed out to our free walking tour and learned lots of interesting facts about Ireland, even though we could only stay for about an hour. We learned that America made St. Patrick's Day a big drinking holiday, as it had been a day of prayer in Ireland until then. We also learned about how the English persecuted and mistreated the Irish, seen clearly from the Dublin Castle's statue of Lady Justice (which was under British rule). The statue was facing into the castle (aka with her backside facing Ireland), was not blind as she usually is, and he scales were extremely unbalanced. (She also had a sword which seemed to beckon that if anyone got out of line she knew what to do next.)

After having to leave the tour early, we met with Austin's friend at Trinity College and got some tasty lunch together. She told us all about how studying in Ireland was going. Overall, it was a nice wrap up to the end of our Dublin adventure.

Until next time...

Embrace the Odd,
Caitlin

P.S.- The title comes from the song "In Dublin's Fair City" by James Yorkston. Also, I know Dublin is not technically in England, so my label does not make sense, but I am studying abroad in England, so it does work.

"It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information." -Oscar Wilde

"The Cardiff Bus is the Only One I Take"

Cardiff is a very classy city. It is located right up to the coast and has lots of interesting architecture.

The buildings are not old, like in Oxford, although some are. Mostly the buildings are newer and more modern looking. Large glass windows, shiny, steel structures, and crowds of people walking about are the main things you will see there. (And the ocean, of course!)

There are almost two sections of the city, the area near the bay, and the more dense part, further from the city. The area near the bay is where the Doctor Who Experience is located, as well as the BBC Studio, Millennium Centre, and Roald Dahl Plass. In the Roald Dahl Plass is where the iconic Millenium Centre is located, along with a tall silver fountain, which any Torchwood fans would recognize as Torchwood Tower.

The buildings are shorter and only go up to about four or five stories max, besides a few specific ones. There is also lots of space to move around and the sidewalks are large and generally empty.

In the area further from the bay, the buildings are much taller and closer together. There was a giant mall right in the middle of it, and several tiny streets that could take you to different sections of the city. There were quite a few museums, such as the Cardiff Story, and churches located in this section of Cardiff, but we did not get to spend much time there.

However, all over Cardiff, you can smell the sea, and get just a taste of the salt in the air. Seagulls fly around, circling people for scraps of food, and the waves crashing against the bay is echoed around the city. There are also signs written in welsh everywhere, which just looks like nonsense unless you can read it. And every now and then you catch some people conversing in it, and it sounds a bit more elegant than it looks.

---

We had been planning to visit Cardiff for a long time, because of the Doctor Who Experience being located there. (My roommates and I are huge nerds, if you haven't noticed.) And we were very excited to get the chance to see all the cool costumes and trivia about one of our favorite shows. Technically, Libby was not caught up on the latest series, but we let her come anyways.

The Doctor Who Experience was amazing. Mostly because of the 'experience' part. You were walked through different rooms at the beginning of your visit and were told my the Doctor that he needed your help to escape the Pandorica 2. Once we helped him escape, we got to fly the TARDIS, but then crashed on a planet and had to run through an area infested with Weeping Angels. Then the Daleks tried to convert us, but luckily the Doctor assured them that we were poor stock for the Dalek race. Finally we were saved by the Doctor and transported by to the Doctor Who museum safely, although I did have a few black marks on my arms for some reason.

The rest of the Doctor Who museum was just like any other museum. It had costumes, props, and information on all things Doctor Who. And luckily, it had information on how history actually went, and none of the silly nonsense that teachers tell us in school. Such as that Queen Elizabeth the first never married because she wanted to elope with the Doctor but he left before they could get married. This is clearly all true, haha.

There were also set ups of some of the bad guys from the series, like the evolution of Cybermen and Daleks, and some of the Weeping Angels. And by the way, Daleks are huge! I am pretty tall and they even towered over me. Their plunger and whisk combo also made me a bit nervous around them.

All in all the Doctor Who Experience was amazing and well worth the money. Except I came out with TONS of weird black lines on my arms, almost like tallies. But worse things could have happened, right?

Afterwards, we continued our geek fest over to the fountain in Roald Dahl Plass, which is 'Torchwood Tower' in the Doctor Who spin-off show 'Torchwood'. There was also a Ianto Jones fan board that we saw near the bay, where people places pictures and letters about how much they loved Ianto Jones from Torchwood. We also ate at an 'American' restaurant called Eddie's, which I did not want to go to at first because we can eat hamburgers and pizza anytime we want, but it turned out that an episode of Doctor Who was filmed there, so I quickly got over that problem.

Lastly, we visited a museum called 'Cardiff Story'. It is all about how Cardiff was made and established from the point of view of people who lived there. We sat down for a while and watched a few videos about different people from Cardiff and their life stories living in the city. It was really exciting and interesting to get to hear about real people and see why Cardiff is special to them.

Until next time...

Embrace the Odd,
Caitlin

P.S.- The title is from a song called "The Cardiff Bus Song" by I Loves the 'Diff. Also, thank you Austin for the pictures of Cardiff since my camera was not working properly that day.

"Fish and visitors smell in three days." -Benjamin Franklin

Sweet Tooth II: Sugar Rampage

This post is a sequel to my previous post "Sweet Tooth". If you want to go back and read that one first, just click the link I attached to the post's name.

I have been to England three times now, and every time I go, I make sure to visit a candy shop in London called 'Hope and Greenwood'. It is a small candy shop that is very traditional looking with all the jars full of candy on the back wall and small tasty treats all around. (You can visit their website here.)

I just love the glass jars filled with colorful nonsense, and labels that all match with a striking penmanship. And the light 'clink' of candies falling into the small silver weigh machine. And the smell of sugar and cinnamon that floats around the shop. It just reminds me of the idea of joy. I never went into candy stores like this as a child, but I still cannot help but feel like one when I visit.

When I go, I usually get random candies that I have never tried before. Once I got rose flavored turkish delight (since Edmund on Narnia liked it so much) but that was a bad idea. It did not taste very good, although I am not sure if it was due to the rose flavoring or the fact that it was turkish delight.

But besides that one instance, everything else has been delicious. I have tried different types of truffles, gummies, toffee, chocolate, hard candy, and marshmallows. (This is mostly because I usually go with other people and we all try each others candy, but also because I try to visit more than once each trip to England.) Recently, I forced my roommates to come along with me while we were in England and I chose to try some pear drops and cherry bakewell. I later found out that Cherry Bakewells are also a type are desert, which is what the candy is based on.

The cherry bakewells are delicious. I got everyone hooked to them on the way home from the candy store. My roommate Amy and I also really liked the pear drops, which come in red and yellow. Luckily for us, Amy prefers the red, while I prefer the yellow so there was no issue with splitting them up fairly.

Yesterday we went back to Hope and Greenwood since we were in London, and Libby had not gotten to see the candy shop yet. (Also, I was out of candy.) While there we each took our time to decide what we would like to try next. Libby and I both got Birthday Cake hard candies, Austin decided to try Ginger Beer hard candy, and Amy went for Lemon Meringue hard candy. But we all got Cherry Bakewell to go along with it.

The store clerk found that rather humorous and asked if we had actually tried any real Cherry Bakewells, to which we responded no. He then told us what it was made of, and how they should be sold at most grocery stores since they are a rather cheap desert. We got into a small conversation mentioning that we were studying in Oxford for the semester, and I told him how I always have to come back to this candy shop every time I visit England.

He then offered for us to get another piece of some candy we had never tried in case next time we might like to get that one. Libby asked for 'Sunshine Festival', which he got a piece out for, but then he just went ahead and added three more; one for each of us. He also began picking other candies he thought we should try. We ended up getting a piece each of Sunshine Festival, Treacle Tart, Rose and Lychee, and Sugar Plum. Which he put into a small bag for us, with all the different colored candies poking out the top, just waiting to be chosen.

I have only tasted the 'Rose and Lychee', which is the one he actually went into the back to get for us since it is a new flavor that they have not started to sell yet. It was a light pink color and tasted like the smell of roses mixed with powdered sugar. It was very yummy. And it leads me to the idea that I just do not like turkish delight.

I have also visited Cadbury World, which is a small museum theme park for the chocolate company Cadbury. It was well worth the 10 pounds that it cost, and we ended up with four free chocolate bars, as well as a cup full of warm, melted chocolate. I was in candy heaven. Although, to be honest, the warm, melted chocolate was really good, but the cup of it was so big that I could barely finish it. Barely. I did, but I definitely had to take some pauses in between bites. (I would explain the candy bars we got, but they are ones I have already mentioned in the previous post.)

There are also some local milkshake places near by that I have visited. MooMoo's is really popular with the other American students that I cam over with, but I prefer Shakespeare's. MooMoo's has nearly seventy flavors to choose from, and their shakes are really thick. The main downside for me is that you can hardly read everything before you are suppose to know what you want, and the straws are really wide. I know that is a weird issue to have, but I do not like thick straws.

Shakespeare's on the other hand has a smaller menu to choose from, but most of the flavors all seem good. (Where as at MooMoo's I randomly picked a flavor I did not understand and ended up with a gross milkshake.) They also have milkshakes named after some of Shakespeare's plays, such as 'Othello', 'Much Ado About Noting', and 'Romeo and Juliet'. You can also get warm milkshakes there, which I find odd, but to each their own, I suppose. I got a cherry bakewell milkshake there and it was delicious.

Until next time...

Embrace the Odd,
Caitlin

"Television has done much for psychiatry by spreading information about it, as well as contributing to the need for it." -Alfred Hitchcock

TV Show Trials

I have begun watching an interesting show called 'American Horror Story'. I am all caught up on my main shows (New Girl, Doctor Who, Downton Abbey, etc.) and needed something to watch in my down time.

The show is interesting to say they least, and it definitely lives up to the 'horror' in it's title. i am not on the sixth episode and I am not sure if the show is getting less scary and creepy or I am just becoming acclimated to the scary parts.

I admit, I do like a bit of horror every now and then when looking for something to watch. Romantic Comedies actually upset me as to how easy the plot is to figure out. In horror and suspense movies the plot is usually more difficult to figure out, which I love. I think I also like them because of the adrenaline rush. I am quite a big baby at scary scenes, and usually cannot sleep for a few nights after watching a scary movie, but I cannot help but watch them. It's like those iced cookies at Walmart that always look delicious, but then you actually eat one and you remember that they taste horrible.

Also, if you end up watching 'American Horror Story', feel free to tell me what you think about it. There are some weird characters and some plot twists I am trying to foresee. And let me just tell you some of the weird, unimportant scenes that really stick out to me. This will either make you want to watch it, or really turn you off from it.

There is a girl who lives next door to the main (haunted) house who has down syndrome, and loves to break into the haunted house. The mother will be painting and Adeline (the girl I just mentioned) will show up out of nowhere and tell the mother that she is going to die. The daughter will be upstairs dancing to her music, when suddenly a hand grabs her, but lo! It is just Adeline being silly. There is even a scene where the family wakes up in the middle of the night to an intruder and they find out that Adeline has broken into the basement and is playing down there, just for fun. Yeah, I love hanging out in creepy basements at 2 AM also. But when the anyone talks about it, they are just like, "Oh, Adeline. She just does that. Isn't she precious?"

There is also a scene where a strange goblin-thing attacks these two girls in the basement. But instead of killing them or really hurting them at all, it just wiggles its fingers around in their faces while the lights flicker. Don't get me wrong, I would be scared to death if that happened to me, but what? This is a horror show, shouldn't it be doing something a bit more... horrible? Especially after it killed some little boys earlier in the show (it happens in about the first five minutes, don't worry).

Besides TV shows though, I have really been wanting to see 'Wreck-It Ralph'. I think it looks really cute, even though I think it got some bad reviews. I also wanted to see 'The Raven', which is about Edgar Allan Poe helping to solve a murder case (that is based off his stories), but apparently that came out in about February so I guess I missed that one.

I also saw a trailer for 'Taken 2', and I really do not understand why someone would steal Liam Neeson's daughter ever, but especially for the second time. He is clearly a bad a** so why would you mess with him? Besides even the fact that he played Aslan in Narnia and Batman's coach in the Dark Knight series, he is still awesome in the Taken series. He tracks down his kidnapped daughter all across the globe in less than 48 hours, using nothing more than a description of a tattoo and a few matches. Don't mess with that guy. One of my roommates thinks that Taken 3 is going to be about him kidnapping someone, I disagree, but that's alright.

There has also been the 'Perks of Being a Wallflower', 'Breaking Dawn Part 2', and 'Looper' out since I have been in the UK. Two out of three of those sounded interesting, but I (luckily) am not really excited about seeing any of them. This has allowed me to resist going to the cinema and spending loads of money, as well as keeping me from missing home and all of its amazing films.

Until next time...

Embrace the Odd,
Caitlin

"It never hurts to ask. Unless you ask for hurt." -Takayuki Ikkaku

Giving Thanks for Maniacs

Today I want to talk about that lovely American (and Canadian) holiday called 'Thanksgiving'. I feel like I have talked a lot about holidays recently, but there are just a lot happening all around the same time in the fall/early winter.

Thanksgiving, for those who may not be aware, is the celebration of food, people you care about, and other things you are thankful for. For a long time, I thought the holiday was celebrated because back in pilgram times there had been a big feast between the pilgrams and the Native Americans, which is because that is what my teachers told me. Well, that is all a lie. It was probably a celebration in honor of stealing other people's food and having stored up enough food for the winter. But now a days, it is more of a day to eat enormous amounts of food and be surrounded by family you love/are forced to love.

My extended family lives rather far away, so Thanksgivings at my house are just my parents, sister, and me. Although I am not missing Thanksgiving too much (most likely due to that we are having a Thanksgiving party here in England), I cannot imagine what it must be like at my house. When only four people attend Thanksgiving, one person missing is quite a large percentage.

I also find myself wondering if they will go 'Black Friday' shopping. (That is when people go to stores really early in the morning (like 12 AM) to try and buy really cheap stuff.) Last year I had to stand in line for four hours, waiting for a TV to be released. You could not even go to the restroom, because you would lose your spot. I ended up being the first person in line since I got there so early, and it turned out I did not need to stand in line, because hardly anyone even wanted those TVs.

But the main thing I remember was being glad that I was in line instead of walking around the store (we were in Walmart, which pretty much turns into some variation of hell on Black Friday). At Walmart there are certain items, which are not released until 10 PM, midnight, 2 AM, etc. and these items are wrapped in plastic wrap so you can find them but not take any until they are opened by the employees. There were literally people walking around with box cutters out, slashing randomly at wrapped items, taking the items, and then running off. Specifically, I saw them do this with a Dora the Explorer coloring set. What? Is Dora's array of colored pencils really worth it?

There were also people who would stand next to you looking at an item and then when you looked away, they would steal items out of your cart. And speaking of carts, I saw at least three carts entirely full of mini crock pots. What? How many fondues are you planning to make at once? Maybe just one large one would suffice?

Oe woman who was in line behind me, told her husband about how she had tried to get an electric car for their young son, but that these other women had box cutters and were threatening to cut her with them. Again, what? You do have to go back to real life after tonight. A real life where stabbing people is illegal.

Yes, I was glad to be in line, safely behind a barrier where I could watch as thousands of years of building a civilization came crashing down, because of some colored pencils. It was probably one of the scariest moments in my life. Only second to when I was in ninth grade and some insane girl was screaming at the bus driver and we almost crashed about three times.

But here in England, they do not have Black Friday shopping, although they might have a varient of it (like Boxing Day in Canada). And even if they did, I would not be going. Hell is not a place I like to make frequent visits at.

But another thing about Thanksgiving, is that for some people it is more of a seque holiday. Like, we have to get through Thanksgiving before we can get to Christmas. I feel that way, in a sense, in that I refuse to listen to Christmas music until Thanksgiving. I used to not have this rule, but I would then get tired of my favorite tunes way before it was even time for Christmas.

England, does not have Thanksgiving to get through though, so they have had Christmas decorations up since Halloween, some places, even before that. And tons of businesses have signs saying, 'Book Christmas Dinner here', a few restaurants even have New Year's ones.

Overall, I am a bit sad to be away from my family on this family-centered holiday, but I will get to see them in about a month, so nothing to be too sad about. And I am really excited for the Thanksgiving party we have having. All of the study abroad students from our school are getting together to eat together today in celebration. I have never had a big Thanksgiving, so I am excited to experience it.

Until next time...

Embrace the Odd,
Caitlin

"The difference between a violin and a viola is that a viola burns longer." -Victor Borge