Now Boarding!

I'm headed to the homeland today!

It's the annual reading weekend for the Journal of Public & International Affairs. I went last year as a contributing editor, and as it's a two-year position, I'm headed back!

Today, I leave for Newark and am spending the night, there.  One of my best friends from college is coming to meet me for dinner. We haven't seen each other since before I graduated, so it will be a great evening to catch up!

Friday- Sunday, the reading weekend takes place on Princeton's campus.

And, on Sunday, I get to sneak home for a few days of snow and relaxation before returning to London!

The Scotch Egg

British food tends to have a reputation. 

Some love it, but some hate it. 

I'm one of those people that secretly love British food - black pudding aside…

One of the things that I have always questioned was the Scotch Egg. I've been questioning what this food item is since I studied abroad in 2010, and up to a few days ago, I had yet to try one. 

This all changed when I read a Time Out article about the Scotch Egg, and well, what is inside it! According to the blurb in the Time Out article, the Scotch Egg was invented by Fortnum & Mason back in 1738.  It's essentially egg inside a sausage….Time Out notes that the scotch part has fallen off the bandwagon. 

The Food in Question: a Scotch Egg

So, I investigated. I picked up a package from my local Sainsburys along with other food as I was skeptical of making this a main part of my dinner. The package said it was already fully cooked, so I went the cold route. Side note, I was lazy that evening and turning on the oven was too much. 

The first bite…all meat. Not bad at all. Tasted like sausage and breadcrumbs.

Second and third bite? Same.

The egg

It took quite some time to get to the egg.

All in all, I ate it. All of it. 

It's not something that I would add to my diet everyday or even have one every week. It's up there in the foods that I'll eat if I have to (sausage rolls, pasties, etc).

Have you tried a Scotch Egg? What weird foods do you love?

Article Review: "Lessons From Living in London"

I'm a huge fan of the New York Times Travel section. They recently just published their list about the places you should visit in 2014. Their, "52 Places to Go in 2014," is just plain awesome listing famous cities as well as locations that are often the beaten track. 

Back in October, there was an article written by Sarah Lyall entitled "Lessons From Living in London." Believe me when I say that I bookmarked that article as soon as I finished reading it. It captures everything I've felt, thought, and loved about living in London.  There are days that I pull it up just to remind myself on why London is an amazing city.

With my final six months of London already counting down, I'm trying to take in more and more of the city in. Truth be told, there is a lot I've never done despite living here. That does include a lot of the art museums, riding an Old Routemaster bus, eating Black Pudding, etc. I've got a running list of things to do before June comes to a close.

For now, though, I'll leave you with my favorite quotes from the article. 

Read it yourself, then bookmark it. 

"Residents tend to feel more connected to their neighborhoods than to London as a whole, and because it can be an undertaking to travel to another part of town for a social occasion, geography starts to feel like destiny."

"In London, people keep themselves to themselves, as the expression goes, and this can feel either liberating or lonely."

"Things you learn as a resident: the Tube, the world’s oldest subway system, is full of jolly announcements exhorting you to “mind the gap”…"

"Learn that there are as many meanings for the word “sorry” as there are hours in the day."

"And wherever you go, always take an umbrella."

Final Summer Reading List

It's about that time of the year where my "fun" reading takes place either right before bed or on the tube. Grad school resumes this week, and while I still have a few books to try to finish before school takes off again...I wanted to share what I finished in the past few weeks. 

Have you read any of these books? What have you finished recently?

Summer Reading: Part 2

Since my last post, this bookworm hasn't stopped trying to get through a massive booklist before school resumes in less than two months! Here is what I've had my nose in lately. 

HUGE JFK FAN!

I saw Jared Cohen and Eric Schmidt speak at LSE back in May. I knew I needed to check it out! 

Summer Reading: Part 1

During the academic year, I have to literally schedule time to read for fun. 

When I was an undergrad at Syracuse, I usually read for fun on the weekends. Now, during grad school, I find myself reading on the bus or the tube. Finding a time to read a book for fun is something that has kept me sane for the past five years. And, I know it will help keep me sane for my final year! 

Being home for the summer has allowed me to read a lot more for fun. I still have about two months left in my summer vacation, so I do expect to get through a lot more books. But, I thought I would give you  a photo summary of what I've read so far! 

Kelly Coutrone is a fellow SU alumna!

What books are on your summer reading list? 

Verona Day Two

“Do not swear by the moon, for she changes constantly. then your love would also change.” 

On our second day in Verona, we had a theme. 

Take a guess at what that might have been?

Yes, Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare. The Famous Love Story. 

(Side Note, I actually enjoy Hamlet and Macbeth a lot more than Romeo and Juliet.)

We started our morning with a quick breakfast at our B & B before we headed next door to Juliet's house.  Before we took in the museum, we took in the letters and locks as well as the Juliet statue. Legend has it, that if you touch her left breast, you will receive luck in your love life. That one is for your, Mr. Wonderful...

wherever you may be.

Statue and Balcony

The museum was only in Italian which clearly posed a problem. There were a few exceptions, but those were things related to the movie.  We did take a few photos on the balcony while I quoted the famous lines in my head. 

On the Balcony 

And, I did write Juliet a quick note on computers set up for the purpose...

Our next stop was to find Juliet's tomb. However, we got lost for a good 20 minutes. Thankfully, Verona is full of surprises! When we finally found the tomb, I was a little disappointed. There is a museum on site, and while it is devoted to period art, there was hardly anything related to the story. 

We switched themes for part of the day when we visited Castlevecchio and took in the famous bridges of the city. 

For the rest of the day, we indulged ourselves with some souvenirs, fresh fruit, and gelato before our last dinner in Verona by the arena. It was a quick trip, but it truly was everything that I imagined the city to be! 

Verona Day One

“Good night, good night! parting is such sweet sorrow, 
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.”

Ciao! 

For my final week of travel for this year's spring break was spent in Italy with my friend Nicole! A bit tired from getting back from Scotland, I had an early wakeup call of 4am on Monday to get to Victoria Station by 5:30. Normally, it does not take me that long to get there, but in the wee hours of the morning, it is different. Thankfully, a bus came earlier than expected, so I did not have to wait that much longer in the cold!  Nicole and I caught the Gatwick Express to  the North Gatwick Terminal. Our flight was somewhat delayed due to technical issues, but we were off to Verona before we knew it. 

We had booked a bed and breakfast to stay in for the two days we were there. It ended up being less than a minute walk away from Juliet's House and a plaza full of restaurants and gelato places.  We quickly dropped our bags, grabbed some sunblock, and hit the square for some food. Of course, since I was in Italy, I ate a lot. If you recall reading my study abroad blog during my fall semester, I named my trip to Rome the "eat" portion of "Eat, Pray, Love." This trip was no different. For my first meal, I had lasagna and some gelato!

Lasagna

Delicious 

Refreshed and ready to go, we walked to Juliet's house. It was way too crowded to go into the museum, so we agreed to go back the next day. We did snap a few quick photos! 

Letters to Juliet

We hopped onto the Hop On, Hop Off bus route B to see the rest of the city.  We took the whole trip around once before we decided to get off and view the Verona Arena. Yet, before we got through the  entire first trip around, there was a mini pit stop at the top of a hill overlooking the city.  I know I had wanted to make my way up there either by foot or cab, but this was even better!

We explored the Verona arena which was similar to the Nimes Amphitheater.  We were not used to having the sun and warm temperatures (no offense, London), so we sat and people watched for quite some time that afternoon. Actually, for the whole trip, we did a lot of people watching. 

Taking a break before dinner, we ended up walking around several different plazas before settling on a place to eat. We even came across the plaza named for Dante. Dante, as we learned, lived in Verona for part of his lifetime.

Statue of Dante

This was our view for dinner that evening as I continued my pasta eating quest! 

It was a great first day, but with our early morning, we called it an early night! Stay tuned for the rest of the Italy posts! Ciao! 

Father-Daughter Eurotrip: Day Nine

I'm going to start off this post by saying that I have always wanted to go to Germany for as long as I can remember. I've been a history nerd since I was in elementary school. Those American Girl books, history textbooks, and tons of other book series were constantly being read. It's no surprise that I was a European history major in college concentrating on World War II and the Cold War. So, Berlin was truly a playground for me.

Entering the American Sector  

East v. West  

Our morning started with touring the area around Checkpoint Charlie. There is a new walking exhibit describing the years of the Cold War, construction of the Wall, and those who risked their lives to escape from the East.

Part of the Berlin Wall still standing 

After viewing the outside exhibit, Dad and I checked out the museum. The museum, itself, could require an entire day to do. It's stocked full of artifacts, photos, videos, etc. all devoted to the Cold War. Truly worth a visit!

Potsdamer Platz

From there, we explored Potsdamer Platz before viewing the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe as well as the memorial to homosexuals who were killed in World War II.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe 

We continued our walk around town down to the Bradenburg Gate where we came upon a group of street performers!

The Bradenburg Gate

Since it was starting to get colder and appeared that it might start raining, we toured around in a hop-on-hop-off bus to get to see the rest of the city that we would not have time for.

A little piece of home

TV Tower

For dinner that evening, we tried our hand at some traditional dishes! Complete with beer, I had the goulash and noodles while Dad tried the beef! And, yes...the apple strudel did make the desert order!

Yum!

It was a great first day in Berlin! Stay tuned for the second day re-cap! 

Returning to Londontown...

Well, break is over at home at least. 

I enjoyed my time home with my family. 

I caught up on a lot of sleep, made plenty of study guides, caught up on some television, and even got to read for pleasure. If you know me, I don't already watch a lot of television, so it was a big deal for those episodes that I did miss...

I'm off to London today. Typical journey begins. Flying out of Syracuse, a layover in NYC, and then landing in London early GMT. 

Stay tuned for my news once I return to my favorite city.

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