Travel Series: Berlin

Now, I think I am going to begin all these stories with something that has gone wrong. No matter what Sara and I seem to do, we have some problem in transit to our next location. Fortunately, everything has been small and not too terrible and additionally easily repairable. So let the story begin with leaving Cologne.

We said a sad fair well to Toni and made our way to the central train station for our night train which I had booked in advance. The train was leaving rather late at 10:30 and we arrived at the station a good hour early to be safe. We went up to the platform with the reservation and our eurorail passes and waited. There was something really strange about the stop. At the same time and at the same platform, another train was leaving for an entirely different location. We looked at the board and it said the train we wanted should arrive 5 minutes later. So we sat down and waited as the train pulled up. Both Sara and I had a nagging feeling that we should ask someone what was going on, but thinking that we had read the board correctly we didn't do anything. Then we watched as our train passed by the station and the last car on the train had the number and name for our train. Sara freaked out, but see that's the beauty of a Eurorail pass. We had marked in the day for tomorrow, because that is what you are supposed to do for a night train. As a result, we had the flexibility of taking any train that travelled from midnight to midnight the next day. I consoled Sara and we went to information services and took the next available train to Berlin. This meant that we left at 2 am and had a connection in Hamburg. So the cost of this little mistake, roughly 16 euros in reservation. The bonus, we get to say we have been in Hamburg for about 10 minutes.

We arrived in Berlin at about 8:30 am which worked out better than the 4:30 am that we were originally going to arrive at. We immediately went to the home of our next couchsurfer host Cindy and her new fiancée Alex. The graciously welcomed us in and immediately made us tea and gave us a map detailing the important sights in Berlin. We got to know them and were fast friends. We shared the remainder of the Christmas cookies we had made with Toni and took the time to calm down. We then left to go to the nearby area for a short sight seeing tour.

The first thing we did was go to the DDR museum. The museum was an interactive informational tour of the life of those under socialist Germany. They looked at school, career and media with particular emphasis on the good and the bad. For example, at least under socialist Germany, women were treated equally to men and even given day care services. A bit more progressive than you would initially think. The museum was interesting but I quickly found that the nights more than exciting events and the little sleep (a mere 2 hours) were making my head foggy and the details all started blurring together. Not to mention, I was becoming increasingly hungry as the last meal we had had was at midnight that morning. So Sara and I left the museum and went in search of food. There wasn't any reasonable cafe's so we went to the nearby christmas markets where I had a currywurst. The currywurst as we were informed by our hosts was an invention of Berlin in the time when Ketchup was a hot commodity making it scarce. Since it was so expensive to get Ketchup, the people of Berlin took to creating their own tomato based sauce and mixing in curry spices. It was delicious and definitely cheered up my day.

We wandered back towards the main station and through another Christmas market before heading back for an early night with Cindy and Alex. As we recouped and I took the time to set everything up for the next day, Cindy and Alex made dinner and offered for us to join. So we had home made Ratatouille  and freshly preserved cherries from Cindy's grandmother garden. We talked about our lives and our families and ended up talking until later into the night before retiring for a long sleep.

Sara and I woke up late the next morning before heading on a tour around Berlin's more famous sights. Fortunately today was a clear day, unlike the day before which had been foggy. We started at the Reichstag and began a circular tour that followed the Berlin wall to Check point Charlie. We saw along the way, Brandenburg gate, a memorial to the persecuted Gypsies, a memorial to the Jews, a memorial to homosexuals, pieces of the wall, old soviet police stations and finally check point Charlie. See pics for details.By the time we got to Check Point Charlie we were freezing and it was beginning to get dark. We had plans later that evening to meet up with Cindy and Alex for a Christmas tradition which was similar to a White elephant party in the states. They even wrapped gifts for us so that we could participate. Since we still had two hours before our meeting time, I urged Sara to continue our sight seeing tour. So we went to see a burned down church in the more western part of the city and the elephant gates.

We then took the opportunity to wander through that part of the city in search of a different train station so that we could meet up with Cindy and Alex. Of course this was a special version of getting lost on purpose and as a result got to see a few interesting and unique parts of Berlin. We reached the meeting point on time, but due to some confusion ended up travelling separately to the party location. The party was in an office building space and was hosted by a club of people who were all speakers or travellers to Eastern European countries but they also knew German. We didn't know anybody but Cindy and Alex but everyone was inviting and the food and drink was amazing. We played the white elephant like game and Sara got Christmas socks and candle and I also got candles. We then spent the remainder of the party chatting and ultimately dancing. It was loads of fun and we spent more time getting to know Cindy and Alex.

We got home late but resolved to get up early the next morning so that we could trek to visit a concentration camp near enough to Berlin that we could get there by train, Sachsenhausen. We left the next morning a little later than intended but managed to make the 1 and a half journey to the camp. It was once again a foggy day which suited the mood of the location. Once we had stepped on the grounds of the camp, a certain weight pressed against our shoulders and a chill began seeping into our bodies. There was a strange scent that was equally off putting. Most of the camp had been destroyed in bombings during the war. Few of the actual buildings remained. However the foundations did remain, which gave the entire camp a hallow and ghosty field. Some of the remaining buildings, was the entrance check points and administration area (which had been transformed into a museum), a few of the bunkers which had been salvaged and recreated from multiple bunkers, the running track, the prison, and the gasing chambers. We took what pictures we could but before long, the cold drove Sara and I to leave before seeing every detail.

We returned a little frozen and had a quick dinner before joining Cindy and Alex at a more local Christmas market which was only available on the weekend we were visiting. The market was much smaller with many of the same booths and then it concluded with a 2+ hour concert by some local choir groups. We went to the concert and listened to the music. It was interesting to see how they interpreted some american Christmas carols and also to hear some German ones. Like my choir when I was in High school, they sang numerous African tribal songs and even a song featuring a didgeridoo. The choir was sub par but the acoustics were fantastic. There was a brief intermission with a bake sale and Sara and I tried some poppy seed cake and some other baked goods. We retired with a late second dinner and chatted with Cindy and Alex until late once again.

The next morning we headed by bus to Frankfurt! But I will save that small horror story until the next post. Overall, we really enjoyed spending time with Cindy and Alex and seeing Berlin. We were very grateful for the hospitality we received and the opportunity to engage in so much cultural exchange. There was much joy and sorrow in the trip, but it was all worth it. We are looking forward to seeing our good friend Ben on the next leg. Until then...

Adventures Await

KH

Travel Series: Cologne

To Germany we go.

So the trip started off potentially rough. I thought the bus to get from Edinburgh to London was at 5:35am and the buses only run 2 times a day.  The bus from London to Cologne was that evening at 9:30 pm. Given that the bus from Edinburgh to London is a 9 hour bus ride, this was the only bus we could go on. I set an alarm for 4:30 on my iPhone and put in my headphones so that the alarm would wake me up without disturbing our fellow hostel attendees. Both Sara and I had a rough night sleeping and woke up several times. But when it came time to get up, my alarm did not go off. Fortunately, Sara woke up shortly after 5 and immediately got me up. We raced out of the room and got ready and then ran across Edinburgh to the coach station. We arrived at 5:25 am...Breathing heavily we sit down outside of the station only to realize that the bus didn't leave until 5:45 am. Yay. So we made it and were on a long day of travelling.

It turns out a day bus is much harder than a night bus. In a night bus, you are expected to sleep. During a day bus, you just get a little boring. We got into London at 3:30pm and met up with our friend Heather. Unfortunately, given our rush to get to the station, we only had the snacks in my bag to sustain us until 3:30 pm. And again I am reminded of a thing I miss from America, Protein bars. I struggled to find anything which could serve as a meal replacement while I was in England. They didn't even have jerky except in the American aisle and that at crazy prices. So, we ate apricots and bourbon crème biscuits until we got to London. Safe to say we were starving and quickly had a late lunch at Starbucks with coffee and sandwiches.

It wasn't too terribly long after that we started the next leg of our journey, a bus ride to Cologne. During the down time I did practice archery with some Stretchy bands and I have been trying to practice when I get the chance on our down time. We got on the bus and unfortunately, Sara and I could not sit together because groups of single individuals decided to selfishly take a bunch of empty two person rows. So we hoped to sit next to each other after the bus got on the ferry and everyone was supposed to take their things. I actually managed to fall asleep at this point and was only awoken when we passed through boarder control around midnight when the bus entered the port. The bus rolled onto a ferry and we all had to get off. Not following rules, no one took their things except Sara and I.

The ferry reminded me of a low budget cruise, with plenty of couches and seating on deck with a bar for food and drink. Sara and I were both hungry, so we got a snack. Unfortunately Sara had never been on a boat before and she soon started feeling ill when the rocking of the boat started. The ride was about 2 hours long and we went back on the bus and unsuccessfully got seats together. The bus stopped in Brussels however and at that point all but perhaps 5 of us remained on the bus. So, Sara and I moved to two rows close together and we crashed pretty hard.

We were dumped off the bus in Cologne and that is when a little panic set in. The station was not near city centre or really much of anything. There was a train station but we didn't quite recognize it as that, and also plenty of sporting arenas. We tried to stay put and desperately tried to call our host Toni who would be picking us up. Unfortunately once again, my phone's roaming, which I had set up money before hand for, wasn't working. Toni did come and pick us up and led us to her flat not too terribly far away. She lived about 20 minutes from city centre in a nice two bedroom flat. Her room was large and she already had a nice big air mattress ready for Sara and I to use. She was so kind and accommodating and made us coffee to start off our day. We chatted for a bit, getting to know each other and then Sara and I set off to get Euros (of which we had none), a train pass, and see the sights while getting groceries.

We walked towards the city centre using the two spires of the Cologne Cathedral as our reference point. We were immediately struck by the industrial feel of the city. All the buildings were tidy stacks of rooms and other than the occasional churches, rather monotone. But the life of Cologne is really its churches. They are gorgeous and beautiful and Sara and I couldn't help but take pictures.

Another part of cologne which was beautiful and we saw on the first day was the Christmas markets. There are many Christmas markets with the largest ones being around the city centre. They are full of stalls which sell food and other crafty items such as candles and ornaments. We merely took note of the market and headed towards the more important (arguably) destination, the cathedral. The Cathedral was breath taking and we more than happily paid for the privilege to climb up the 300+ steps to get a view of the city from the top. Safe to say, by the time we got down, we were exhausted. We got a train pass and immediately headed towards a mall area with a grocery by Toni's flat and got ourselves groceries for the next 3 days.

What this day revealed to us, was how difficult it was going to be to navigate the mainly German city. We could get by on our own, but any human interaction was a brick wall of difficulty. Sara thankfully knew enough German to provide us with some navigation through the city. When vitally important, we could usually find someone who spoke English, but we felt bad about it. We didn't want to seem so ignorant, because we respect the people of Germany and their language and if we were better equipped, we would try to speak German.

Safe to say that after so much travelling, Sara and I crashed. We slept really well, although Sara stole the blankets.

We had a late start, with a goal of checking out the Christmas markets. Toni also invited us to make Christmas cookies with her. So we started off our day, making the dough and icing and cutting out a variety of cookies in the shape of flowers, cathedrals (because it is Cologne), mushrooms, lilly-pads, and rocking horses. We chatted and shared a bit of culture. The decorating was particularly fun, because we had all different colours and plenty of toppings.

During our travels the day before, we saw that the Christmas market had an ice skating rink. Toni remarked how she had always meant to go, but failed to each year. We invited her out and went exploring. There are many odd trinkets and lights at the Christmas market. There is plenty of food and Sara and I first got Bratwurst as a late lunch. I got a special Christmas bratwurst that had onions and apple flavourings. We walked the stalls and fairly quickly night fell. The Christmas markets come alive with the coming darkness, as all the lights come on. We didn't find anything particular to buy, but we did come to the ice skating rink and met up with Toni. She helped us buy tickets and get skates (in EU sizes) and we went skating. Overall it was a really fun experience and we ended it with hot apple cider and mulled wine. We went back early and had a calm evening that ended in a skype date with the whole chapter of ADPi for Senior Wills.

The last day in Cologne was spent checking out a local museum. Toni had remarked that there was a chocolate museum and Sara and I jumped at the opportunity. The chocolate museum in Cologne is sponsored by Lindt and once again a Christmas market was outside. We wandered over to the museum and started the tour. The museum had the history of chocolate and spent a lot of time informing the audience about production and the industry as well as an extensive section on sustainability and worker treatment. Fortunately all of the exhibits had both English and German text. The museum even had a rainforest green house that was carefully controlled so that they could show off the tropical cocoa tree as well as many other tropical plants. The coolest part was that it was a live chocolate factory as well. You could watch the chocolate being made at multiple stations. Additionally, you could pay to have them make a personalized chocolate bar with any mix-in you wanted. I got cranberries, caramel crunch, and crunch pieces. I have named it the Kayla Cranberry Caramel Crunch...patent pending. The museum was a lot of fun and we took the time to wander back through the Christmas markets to end our day.

So to conclude this rather long expose on our time in Cologne, it was a lot of fun and Toni was a wonderful host. We got to see both the beautiful historical sites and the cultural Christmas market. By staying with Toni we got to know a wonderful new friend and also partake in some Christmas traditions. (PS there are plenty more pictures than this, but I just can't bog you down with all of them. Please check out Sara and My Facebook pages for more!)

Tonight we are heading to Berlin. This will be the first night train. Hopefully, everything goes well. Expect to hear from me soon!

Adventures Await!

~KH

Travel Series: Edinburgh

So, I have decided that in order to process this whole trip that each time I finish or nearly finish my time at a location, I will do a blog post describe my experience at that location. So, city 1 out of 11, is Edinburgh.

We left in the afternoon on Thursday the 5th and right out of the gate we ran into a problem. Due to some miscommunication on my end, Sara didn't have any of the tickets for the next weekend, including the bus we were leaving for in 40 minutes. Trying to keep calm, we went to a nearby cafe and tried to make reservations. We successfully managed to get all of the tickets but at a considerable mark up and the night bus was different and left 30 minutes later.

Relieved that we had gotten the tickets, we went to London for a 2-3 hour layover before the night bus to Edinburgh. We met up with Heather and had a nice dinner and she agreed to stay with Sara until her bus left which was a half an hour after mine. Though as it turns out this wasn't necessary. The previous night continuing into that day, Scotland was experiencing heavy wind and rain storms which were slowly passing over the whole of the UK. As a result, my bus was delayed an hour and Sara ended up leaving before me. I did get on my bus and manage to get some on and off sleep for the next 8 hours.

We arrived in Edinburgh at 7am (for Sara) and 8am (for me) and made our way to Naoko's flat (The friend I told you guys about in an earlier post). We dropped off our stuff and had a nice breakfast and caught up (picture below of our reunion). Then Sara and I went wandering and off to find a hostel.

Now Edinburgh is probably the most beautiful city I have ever seen. It is gorgeous with stone buildings and castles and in particular the hilly area and the dormant volcano in the very centre. Naoko suggested we visit this nearby hill and I am so glad that we did. The view was amazing. The sky didn't look real. It was as though we were trapped in a dome and the sky had been painted on by a masterwork artist. The whole city was unfolded before us. Safe to say there are plenty of pictures (below). We also visited the Holyrood Castle which was neat in itself but we couldn't take pictures.

Sara and I have never stayed in a hostel before, but I looked online and found one very close to where Naoko was staying. It was cheap (<$20 a night) and had high reviews. We arrived to the most homely hostel I had seen. They had just had Christmas decorations and there was free mulled wine in the kitchen. They had male and female dorms and we put down a deposit for a key which locked the dorm room and a locker assigned to our bed. We hung around the hostel which is where we met a few people. Two of which, older gentlemen, once they found out Sara was a musician, invited us to hear authentic Scottish folk music at a nearby pub. We had dinner plans with Naoko, but we agreed to go.

We had a wonderful dinner with Naoko and then we dropped off our things and the hostel and went to the pub. It was a night of beautiful music and Sara and I even performed renditions of one of our Sorority songs and cups by Anna Kendrick using an empty cider glass. We were openly accepted and even some Welsh guests, quite inhebriatedly, sang the national anthem. It was a great musical exchange of culture and reminded me that music really is a universal equalizer and where ever we go, Sara should always be able to relate with people through her musical ability. This will open many opportunities for us and I look forward to seeing where these take us.

Safe to say, Sara and I slept really well (Sara didn't sleep well on the bus and had pulled an all-nighter the two previous nights). The next morning we made a quick breakfast and then set out to climb Arthur's seat and have lunch overlooking the entire city. Arthur's seat is the peak of the volcano and the centre of Edinburgh. We had a mixed bag on this trip. Unfortunately, along the way, Sara or I accidently dropped Sara's camera on ridge along the path. A nice couple saw it and moved it closer to the path. Well not long after we had taken a picture with it, we realized that it was gone. I tried to go find it, but because it had been moved to a location not at all along the path between when we last took a picture and when we realized it was gone, I didn't find it. We continued up the summit and ran into the couple (as at this point we were asking everyone we saw if they had seen it) and they told us where they put it. I went back down to try and find it with them, but the camera was gone. Frustrated and tired (given that I had run up the hill about 3 times now) we finally made it up the steep climb to the top. Where it  was freezing cold and windy. We scarfed down a few bites and then decided that we needed to calm down and re group. The site was amazing and I made sure to take pictures and a few videos (Shown below). Sara got a new camera but nothing can replace the 1200 photos on the memory card that are lost.

(Sorry about the shaky-ness and the wind...it was loud and windy up there)

(Added some music to remove the wind roar)

(Arthur's seat from half way up the climb)

(Recognize those Arches? We were there the other day)

To conclude, we are likely going to have a low key evening. We need to get up early (4-4:30am) for our bus back to London from which we will leave for the next leg of our trip, Cologne Germany. Expect a post mid next week detailing our travels through Cologne.

Adventures Await

~KH

Archery and the other Mundane aspects of my life

I  realize that over the last couple weeks, my blog has been saturated with archery talk. To be fair, archery does take up a majority of my time, somewhere a little less though quite close to 15 hours is spent at archery shooting or travelling to archery (it is nearly an hour round trip). This doesn't include the nearly full days I spend at competition every once in awhile. I love going to archery and I love building up the skill and getting better. I think I have diagnosed these feelings to a deep psychologically trained need for competition. I have always done sports and in the last two years, I haven't. Some part of me really misses the thrill of competition and being a part of a team.

 But that being said, archery is quite universal. When I talk about archery, I am not doing my job in telling you about England and those unique experiences I am having here. And I realize that this is mainly due to the mundanity that accompanies spending a lot of time at one place. Over time, life becomes routine and I have told you about how each of those unchanging parts has occurred over the last couple of weeks. I feel conflicted as there really is not much I can still contribute to the discussion.

Nothing of very great significance occurred over this last week in England.

The thanksgiving holiday passed and if it weren't for the fact that I am American in the UK, I and others would not have been remotely aware. I skyped my family, but this was extremely difficult due to the time difference. Saturday night, the MCR (graduate aka middle common room) hosted a thanksgiving and there was turkey and lamb and so many potatos. There was some stuffing and cranberry sauce and most of the things you would expect at Thanksgiving. I made sweet potato mini pies (recipe here: http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/6172/mini-sweet-potato-tarts.aspx?o_ln=RD_MC_Photo%3a+1_SimilarRecipes&o_is=RD_More+Choices) which turned out great.

Afterwards, I went to the Christmas drinks for archery and once again spent more time socializing and building bonds for the team.

Most of the UK is ready for Christmas. As a result there are a number of Christmas parties and dinners and musical events for the Christmas season this week. I wont make most of them, because I will be beginning my long bout of travelling for the break (beginning in Edinburgh).

For the most part all the travelling is planned and after I print out some things and finish the itenerary, we will be on our way. It feels a little unreal at this point and I still have plenty of work and packing that I need to complete in preparation for leaving. I am leaving some of the trip up to chance, as certain details can't be finalized at this moment, and that has contributed to some of my anxiety about the trip. That being said, I am flexible and confident that Sara and I can manage.

Alright wrapping up the update with Archery, because as few things have happened since the last post.

Last week in Loughborough, our team didn't do as well as normal. I shot decently well and my score did manage to qualify as one of the top 4 scores of the team. (only the top 4 contribute to the team total). The trip to Loughborough was not particularly remarkable in itself. The university is abnormal in my opinion because it is entirely devoted to sports. Even in the US, I feel as though sports is alway a part but not a whole of the university community. We went out to dinner and following, I carelessly expected the more experienced archers to know where they were going. As a result, we got a little lost. There was tons of food at the competition and my flapjacks were quite the hit! The bus ride too and from was about 2 hours and I ended up entertaining everyone with pokemon on my laptop. So on a whole trip was quite a lot of fun and took the entire day! 9am-10pm

We had county champs on Sunday, which wasn't an official university competition but was rather something that anyone could do or join. There were quite a few archers from the surrounding area and from other archery companies. I came in second place among the female novice archers and I won a shiny medal (shown below). It was also a pretty frustrating shoot because my first 18 arrows were pretty miraculous but then I introduced something into my form and shot terribly the rest of the time. I got a 401 with zero misses though, so I am pretty happy. Just means that I have to keep working hard and I know that I can do better.

To wrap up this rather rambling post, I want to include a distinction the English (british) that I learned today. So, I knew that biscuits were essentially what Americans refer to as cookies and that cookies in England was also something but more specific. So I have been given clarification from my lovely friends at archery. Cookies refers to any circular baked good that has chunks of chocolate, nuts or fruit. Biscuit refers to cookies and anything else. So an oreo would not be a cookie but it would be a biscuit. The things to learn, and the language quirks that exist. Oh well. Next time I post, I will likely be outside of Oxford.

Adventures Await

KH

Bullseye

So last week, I wrote a story about the sadness and depression I was feeling. I was very grateful for all the support I received and I want to say that when I wrote it I wasn't looking for sympathy or pity but merely wanted to express everything that I was feeling. That being said, thank you to all the people who love me. I know I am a very fortunate person to have so many wonderful people in my life.

This week has been much better. Archery has improved though I may have injured myself. My academic work has lightened considerably, and if anything I have spent most of my time on my own catching up on some relaxation and planning for the whirlwind of travel that I will embark on in less than two weeks.

Let's start with archery. Last Sunday I went out to practice with the experienced archers and when the experienced coach got a look at my form, she more accurately diagnosed what was wrong and the following Monday when my bow was adjusted and the changes I made in myself, I shot the best I had since I had begun shooting. That being said, sometime in the course of everything, I did injure one of my muscles in my shoulders and at strength training on Monday night, I could do a bench press using my left arm. That being said, the muscle is not an important part of my form, and so I can still shoot.  Also, at this point, it appears to have healed up. I have a match tomorrow in Loughborough and am looking forward to seeing another part of England and meet more people. I leave this picture here, but I feel that this image provides a good metaphor for my turn around this week.

Academically things have been rather easy. I had a minor tutorial, and unfortunately, my major tutor was ill, so my work got pushed back half a week. So what did I do with most of my time? Bake.

 At my first archery tournament, people made a lot of baked goods and shared them among the archers. One very common and simple baked good is a flapjack. Some of you may have seen my post on Facebook, but a flapjack is not a pancake as it is in the US. A flapjack is a gooey oat bar that is sweeter than an granola bar and can be flavoured with just about anything. So, I attempted two batches this week. It essentially involves caramelizing sugar and butter and then adding in the oats and baking it for about a half hour. I added apricots and cinnamon and nutmeg to mine. I will bring the latest back to the archery tournament tomorrow. I also practised making sweet potato tarts for the MCR (middle common room, the common room for graduate students) Thanksgiving. They turned out better than I expected. I am looking forward to making the next batch next Saturday. 

The only other thing of note for my week is the festival that is going on in Oxford right this very minute. Every year around the end of November, Oxford has a festival for the lighting of all the Christmas lights. Over the course of the weekend there are lots of musical acts and stands with food and crafts and mulled wine and ciders. The lights are bright and accenting every building and stretching across all the main roads. There is a very cheerful and Christmas feel all around the city. It isn't quite as big as a fair in the US at a major city, but there is certainly unique and quaint suits it very well. 

Not as long as in the past, but in the coming weeks I will be busy finalizing all the travel details and getting my final tutorials together. Until then, I have a 50th anniversary of Dr. Who to watch.

Adventures Await

KH

Novelty

Today, I would like to talk about the phenomenon of Novelty and also the emotional state I have been in for the last week and how this phenomenon links to these emotions.

Novelty is the interest and joy one finds in something new. There is an initial obsession that makes one want to find out all that it can and understand this new person or new thing and most importantly define it.

When I first arrived in England and more specifically Oxford, I was taken in by the novelty. I had never really moved and the cultural differences and aesthetic differences were jumping out at me everywhere I looked. I couldn't go into a grocery store with out immediately being confronted with new and different things. While some may find it overwhelming, I found the novelty exciting and I was genuinely happy to experience everything that Oxford had to offer. The one thing I didn't find novel, at least after the first day, were the people. Sure I found some of their accent quirks novel and maybe if there was a particular cultural phenomenon, that was novel too, but the people...well I always assumed that they were like any other person. A new student, all of whom were bright (I mean they made it to Oxford for heavensake), and at their core they were still people who loved and hated and cared and thought about things I wanted to know. I genuinely wanted to know everyone as people and get to know more about them, not because they were English, but because they were genuinely cool and interesting people.

But I wasn't the only one who found something or someone novel. Whether consciously or subconsciously, some of the people I met saw me as something novel. I became a novelty, and as a result, I got more attention than I was used to in the first couple of weeks. It brought about it, its own confidence that I was really pleased to have.

The thing about novelty is that before long it begins to fade. And that which was so unique and so interesting becomes common place. I was surprised to learn how quickly Oxford became common for me. How quickly I adapted to this new lifestyle. Thus my confidence was bound to take a hit, when the novelty of me faded...and I was no longer interesting to some of the people I met.

Before coming to Oxford, everyone who was studying abroad had to attend a mini-class in which the aspects of studying abroad were discussed in an effort to prepare those who were going for what was coming. I remember one of the talks specifically discussed the way in which one's mood would fluctuate through the trip. It was a sinusoidal graph with some troughs and peaks higher than others. I remember thinking, "why would I ever be sad?". I am an independent person and this is the experience of a life time. I have always adapted to new situations and new people. Before high school (year 10-13 for you Brits), I had spent no longer than 3 years at any school, meaning I had to meet and get along with a new group of people quite often. I wasn't one to really feel homesick and I was even prepared to deal with culture shock. So what reason would I have for being upset or frustrated?

Academically, everything has been going great. I've always been able to quickly adapt to my studies. There was hardly ever going to be an issue there. However, the other aspects of my life in the last week have been trying to say the least.

I find myself having to struggle against a form of alienation that I never expected to encounter. I was trying not to let it both me...about a week or two ago, but over time it began to really wear down on my nerves. I told you last week that I wrote an article for the William Jewell newspaper (http://www.thehilltopmonitor.com/en/32/4/698/Cardinal-Passport-Oxford-England-with-Kayla-Haffley-junior.htm). I was given the opportunity to write about any topic I would like. So I chose to talk about the one thing I never expected to experience while studying abroad, alienation.

I will let you read the article for yourself. It was therapeutic in a way to write it. That said, the effects persisted through this last week. I was building up stress (I'm pretty sure in my shoulders) and even when I tried to approach everything with optimism, I still found myself wanting to hibernate. To hide. To spend a little time away from everyone and everything and spend time for myself. The problem is, the world doesn't stop to wait.

As a result, I had an abysmal week at archery. I have injured myself again (Picture below) and the frustration of not doing well, only added to the emotional stress I was under. I tried to enjoy myself when I spent time with people...but I was definitely in a depressed state of mind. I didn't enjoy things as much as I had. Similarly, I was swept up by a certain loneliness. Unfortunately, I have always been someone who just wants another person to recognize that there is something wrong. To know that someone cares enough to pay attention. But this is unfair of me, as I don't make it obvious and tend to bottle it all up inside.

Also, the stress of planning a break for 2.5 people compounded it all. I couldn't even get excited about where I was going. I was only reminded of the added pressure to make the trip as inexpensive as possible.

So in conclusion, the first peak of the study abroad emotional graph is definitely Novelty, but this quickly fades both in yourself and in others. And thus the first trough begins.

I realize that this is a rant. I apologize. I know that I will reach an upswing eventually, but at this moment I am dealing with a trough. This opportunity is amazing, but it is also hard. I finally realize that now.

Adventures Await...as well as new highs and new lows. I'll get through it. It's a part of life.

KH

It's a Small World and My Very First Archery Competition!

Other than this past week being hell week (see last post for details), some pretty amazing and great things did happen. First, I found out that my best friend from 4th grade, who I hadn't seen in 10 years, is studying in the UK this year. Secondly, I had my very first archery competition (today). And additionally of note, I wrote a newspaper article and had some more tutorials.

So let's start with another endearing story that reminds me that this world is ever so small. When I was in fourth grade (That's 5th year for you Brits or 10-11 years of age), I met a girl named Naoko. She was Japanese and her father had been relocated to the US branch of his company 3 years prior. She spoke perfect English, was smart and we became fast friends. Actually with very few exceptions, Naoko was the closest friend I have ever had. We hung out at each other's houses and talked endlessly. When I found out at the end of that year that rather than staying for 7 years, as had been initially the plan, Naoko would be going back to Japan that summer, I was devastated. I still remember rushing to my room and bawling for hours.

For the next couple of years, we tried to keep in touch through email and letter, but those eventually died away as we became more busy and the nearly 12 hour time difference didn't help. Right before I entered college (university), I managed to find her on facebook and we remained facebook acquaintances talking every once in awhile. Well last Friday, I noticed that she was on-line. I realized that given I was in England and the time zone was closer to that of Japan, we might have a chance of chatting. I messaged her telling her about how I was abroad in England. Shortly after, to my surprise, she told me that she was also in the UK, studying at the University of Edinburgh. She was a mere 6 hours away. I haven't been this close to seeing her in 10 years.

My mind was blown and all those feelings of nostalgia rushed over me. We have tentatively made plans to see each other and I couldn't be more happy. Just a reminder that really, the world is such a small place.

On the other half of the coin, today was my very first archery competition. Over the course of the week, the gear for archery had come in. I now own a quiver (blue and awesome), a bow stand, a bow stringer, a chest guard and a fancy finger tab. It feels great to have all the equipment. Makes one feel like they are legitimately doing a sport. It certainly made getting up for a 6:30 am practice Friday morning bearable.

An archery competition of the sort we were doing put two target faces on bosses 20 meters (?) away. Each face has 10 rings of colors starting with yellow in the middle two, red in the next two, blue, black, and white. Each set of two represents two numbers, 10-9, 8-7, 6-5...ect. There are two people assigned to each face and you take turns shooting. You have 2 minutes to shoot 3 arrows. Once both people have shot, the arrows are scored. If an arrow touches the line of the next closest ring, then it is scored by the closer ring. So an arrow on the line between the 5-6 rings would be scored a 6. You repeat this 20 times. for a total of 60 arrows and a potential total of 600 points.

After the first two rounds got the nerves out, I shot pretty well. I was consistently getting at least one yellow (9 or 10) and then plenty of (5-8s). I was really proud of this and felt like I had found my form. Then everything started to go frustratingly wrong. My sight fell down and my next two arrows hit the very top of the target. From then on I progressively got misses and scores around (3-6). By the end I was just beginning to get my groove back.

My total was 296, which is a little less than half the total points. It isn't bad for someone who has only been shooting for 3 weeks and it was the 5th highest out of 10 of the novices on our team and the highest of all the girls. The score was also a 20 point improvement on the game I shot two days before. That being said, the next 5 scores were all within 11 of me. It was tough to remain focused and positive, especially when I was continually frustrated in the later leg of the competition. I was also told that when I shoot the arrow, I have a habit of clenching my teeth in a snarl, which my fellow team-mate took a lot of amusement out of.

All things considered, it wasn't a bad tournament and I can tell that I am making some great friendships among the novice squad and experienced squad a like. It is fun and I look forward to doing better in the future! Maybe one of these days I will get a medal. If anything, I really love the sport and it feels great to be back in competition!

As for the minor things I mentioned above, I was asked by one of my sisters back at Jewell to write an article for a study abroad column in the Jewell newspaper. If it is on-line, I will like a copy to the blog when it is published. If it isn't, I will have to get a Jewell student to save me one of the issues and I will post the article directly to the blog. I wrote an article about the role alienation has had in my study abroad experience. It wasn't meant to be sad, but I think it is a topic which is rarely discussed when it comes to the study abroad experience and it has really opened my eyes to some of the more valuable aspects of this experience. Secondly, I had a few more tutorials and they went fine. I managed to successfully write 3 papers and this was helped considerably by one of my essays being pushed back an additional 3 days. The next couple weeks shouldn't be too busy.

Sorry to bog you down with so many details. A lot has happened this week. In a few days, I think I will talk about my future travel plans and some of the more traditional British culture I have encountered recently. Until then:

Adventures Await!

KH