Shoreditch Music Festival

On Sunday I went to the 1234 Shoreditch Music Festival. It wasn't far from where I'm staying in Clerkenwell, Islington.

It was an interesting experience to say the least. I went with fellow Pitt student Rich. It was rainy and chilly, not surprisingly. No wonder the Brits are such cynics.

The bands were not amazing, for the most part, but I really enjoyed The Warlocks and Polly Scattergood. Especially Polly, because I approved of the large, ostentacious pink feather attachment she wore to her shiny shirt.

The Rakes were headlining, but they were terrible. Although I liked the theme of their first song, 'I'm exceptional at being sexual,' I found the lyrics to be a little too brash and their musicality did not make up for it.

But the highlight of the festival, apart from the tent rave in the Electronica booth, was Patrick Wolf. First of all, he wore a zebra-striped tight deep-cut v-neck pantsuit with gold paint a la David Bowie. I approved. But he is a very talented singer and his songs range from pop to folk influence. Plus, he plays viola and played in duet with an electric violinist. I highly suggest checking his work out - he's got an impressive discography for being only 26. My favorite song was 'Accident & Emergency.'

Peace.

I have eaten 7 peanut butter sandwiches in the past three days.

Only about half of them had jelly.

This is because I have been stranded with almost no money in one of the most expensive cities in the world for 72 hours.

Trust me. I love peanut butter and jelly. But after awhile, it makes you go crazy. If you're interested in how I came to this point, please read on. The following account is a lively tale filled with mystery, sadness, deceit, heroism - and of course, bureaucratic red tape.


IT BEGAN innocently when I went to the Budgens near my Clerkenwell flat two Sunday mornings ago.

When I got to the counter, the apathetic-yet-polite clerk told me my card didn't work. I told him it was an American card, so maybe that was why. Not so. He swiped the card at least 20 times and it worked.

Luckily, my total was only £10, and I had about £9, or something like that. I only had to give up a bunch of grapes. I thought nothing of this incident. I figured it was just that my American card wouldn't work at the Budgens register.

At some point, I must have gone to an ATM or tried to buy something else, because by Sunday night I realized that my card had been deactivated. I borrowed £5 from my room mate Alex so that I'd have enough money to get to my internship. It was my first day there. I needed money because our tube pass only covers London zones 1 through 3, and my internship is in Morden, zone 4.

I made it to work and back. When I got back to the flat, I called Visa Card Services and they activated the card for me. Of course, I assumed that the message I left them before leaving the States hadn't been relayed to the right person.

The next morning, I picked up my £40 stipend at CAPA right before class. I paid Alex back. I spent some money on some food and things, like a prawn sandwich after work, etc. I must have gone out or done something otherwise and spent a little more money. On Thursday, our class went to Parliament. I bought some postcards and stamps later that afternoon. It's a good thing I didn't spend the £12 I wanted to spend to get into Westminster Abbey that day.

Anyway, when I got home from the Parliament trip, etc., I was planning on going to Hammersmith to go swing dancing, so I needed some more money (it cost £10 to get in). But when I got to the ATM next to the Sainsbury's grocery store, the machine said my card was faulty.

Apparently, my card had not been activated.

I was pretty upset. We came back and I gave Visa a call back. The person said I had no holds on my account and it wasn't flagged, so the problem was probably because I was using a Star ATM instead of a Plus ATM. Visa recently dropped its contract with Star. She said the Sainsbury's machine probably worked the first time because of a fault in the system, or because the company that runs the machine recently updated their computer system.

It sounded unlikely to me, too.

On Friday morning, the CAPA students all went on the Stonehenge and Bath day trip. I got £40 before the trip because I explained the situation to the CAPA faculty and they told me that I could get next week's stipend to pay for food and things on my trip.

Stonehenge and Bath were beautiful. I'll upload pictures of Bath soon. I spent some money on a sandwich in Bath, as well as a souvenir for a family member back home (~ £10). Then we came came back home and decided to go see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (£6).

Early the next afternoon, I went to the change bureau. I didn't realize it had closed at 12:30. I went to use the ATM instead. My card was again rejected. I looked at which cards they accepted. It was a Plus ATM.

It was about to go down. I immediately called Visa as I was standing outside the ATM. The person I spoke with said they didn't know what was wrong with my account, and because my credit union has a certain agreement with Visa, he wasn't able to view specific details of my account because it had not been flagged.

So I called my credit union. The same thing was established - my account had not been flagged. In fact, it hadn't even been "used" since July 13, which I think was when I bought a purse and dress at the London H&M.

That meant that something was wrong with the card itself, because it wasn't even able to register on machines to dial to Visa to access my account.

It had somehow been demagnetized.

I cried. The woman told me not to worry - that I should be able to go to a bank, or any merchant, and just tell them to key the number in manually.

It was Saturday. I had £25. No bank was open until Monday.

After I assembled myself, my room mates and I went to Portobello Road, a really cool outdoor market in Notting Hill. I loved it there - it was probably my favorite part of London so far. It was kind of sad not being able to buy anything that I liked, but I survived. Instead, I opted for a £2 cupcake at a shop that had been highly recommended to us, called Hummingbird's. I don't regret it. It was awesome.

That night, we had planned to go to Fabric, a very popular nightclub. I thought the ticket would be £10. It was £16 when we got to the door. I didn't buy drinks or anything. (I'll save the story of Fabric for another blog entry.)

So, by Sunday, I was left with about £5. (These numbers are approximate... my memory is not perfect.) Meanwhile, a week had gone by. I had no food left. That morning, I went to Budgens to buy peanut butter, bread, and custard cookies to last me until at least the next day, when I'd be able to get cash at the bank. Hopefully.

I went to my internship and spent another £2 on a ticket to get to Morden. I had less than a pound left. I went to the bank next door to Crimestoppers and they told me they were unable to manually key in the number.

What?

Luckily, the saga is almost over. I continued eating peanut butter sandwiches, although I'd run out of jelly. Meanwhile, several people (Erik and my dad) were devising rescue strategies.

Finally, a breakthrough came this morning.

Except that first, my dad valiantly tried to send money through PayPal. But then we found out it would have to wait 5 days to be shipped - the instant debit card option obviously would not work.

I went to the change bureau near CAPA and told the woman what happened.

"How many ATMs have you tried, ma'am?" she asked. "Just one?"

I informed her that I'd tried several.

"Well, I'm not allowed to key in the numbers myself," she said. "Not even my manager can do that."

"Why not?"

"Because it's not allowed."

And then I started to cry. I swear I didn't try. I'd cried a couple times before. Let's review - I hadn't been able to use my card in 9 days. I had 94 pence. Everyone seemed unable to help me. As I said before - lies, deceit. Bureaucratic red tape.

"Oh, no, don't cry!"

This woman turned to be the most helpful person I had come across in Britain. She lent me 7 pounds and told me to call a family member to have them wire the money through Western Union, and that I could pick it up there after I went back to the flat and got my passport for identification. My dad wired me 100 pounds to hold me over until he can ship my card. He was able to do it online.

Did I feel a little silly for not realizing there was a Western Union service? Yes. Did I care? Not really. Relief is a beautiful thing.

Special thanks to my dad, my boyfriend, room mates and the Bureau de Change woman for the advice and consulation.

Stonehenge

I was expecting a little more adventure out of Stonehenge.

In my mind, I imagined an empty field surrounded by trees. I would come to a clearing in the forest and find all these beautiful rocks waiting for me.

Not so. About 50 of us (or so) went on a large tour bus, and could see Stonehenge from the busy road. We parked in a large parking lot with souvenir shops. To get to Stonehenge, we had to go through a short tunnel constructed to pass under the busy road and up through.

Stonehenge is in Wiltshire, England, which is southeast of London. The drive there was beautiful, and it was really the first time I had seen the English countryside. It really is similar to in movies like Pride and Prejudice (the Keira Knightley version). Stormy, moody, green and beautiful. The land somehow feels older than in the United States.

Unfortunately I slept for most of the two-and-a-half hour drive there and back, so I missed most of the beauty.

Stonehenge was built by people who may have been druids in about 3100 BC. The ancient people probably arranged the rocks in their infamous circular shape because of seasonal worship beliefs. Druids are now video game characters and Pitt secret society members. During the time of Stonehenge, the druids were ancient Celtic peoples who were prosecuted by Romans, partially because of human sacrifice in religious ceremonies. However, it's not certain that the peoples that built Stonehenge in three stages over a thousand years were druids.

What the historians do know is that Stonehenge was built by people who were reverent of their ancestors. The site is located on a large ancient burial ground, and some historians theorize that because of the This was an incredible feat. Some of the rocks weigh several tons and may have been shipped down river to get to the Stonehenge site. Some of the rocks have joints that have been carved out to hold the giant stones in place. The sun aligns through the rocks onto what is called the "altar stone" on the summer solstice, indicating that the people who built Stonehenge were highly in-tune with astronomical observation and the changing of the seasons.

When I first saw Stonehenge, it looked like a giant pile of rocks. As we listened to a self-guided audio tour, we made a large circle around the diameter of Stonehenge, so that we could view it from all directions. As usual in England, it was about to rain, so I was able to capture the expected images of Stonehenge underneath ominous clouds.

I took my time. As I crossed to the other side, the circular formation became more clear. It was a beautiful site, and I admit that it felt a little magical, although that was dampened by the hundreds of tourists that were with me. Of course, I got drenched in the downpour.

Museum-going

London has fantastic museums. I went to the British Museum on Sunday.

The building itself is beautiful, with a great main hall that has sweeping architecture and a beautiful skylight window. The works are impressive, although many of them are stolen from other countries (or former British colonies). A lot of the work is from the Pantheon. The statues from there are beautiful.

My favorite part of the museum was definitely the various statues of Venus/Aphrodite. I love the classical portrayal of women. I was also excited to see the Rosetta Stone - arguably one of the most important discoveries in recent history.

The museum also had King George III's library, medieval statues from east and southern Asia and artifacts from every stage of European history. The experience was tiring - there were just so many different exhibits.

Then today, Jane and I went to the Victoria & Albert Museum. In the guidebooks, I thought this sounded kind of lame, because the title is not descriptive of what's inside. It turned out to be an awesome museum. There were hundreds of sculptures, a good portion of which were by French sculptor Auguste Rodin (who has an impressive beard).

The museum had a beautiful courtyard with a wading pool, outside cafes, purple and magenta hydrangea flowers, and many different kinds of people who were wading in the water with their children, sunbathing and chatting. It was gorgeous and relaxed.

The museum also had cultural artifacts like furniture, armor and clothing from King Henry VIII's court. It had a good amount of modern displays as well, including a look at fashion from the 1800s to the present and a design exhibit. I loved the Islamic art and Indian art exhibits, which featured beautiful, huge Persian rugs and many Hindu sculptures.

The building itself was amazing. It was probably one of the oldest-looking buildings I have ever seen. It was immense and gorgeous. I'll include pictures when I have the chance to upload them.



Some personal updates - I've started all of my classes and my internship. My internship at Crimestoppers is going well. Everyone is very nice, and I feel very welcome and capable of the tasks. My politics class will be very interesting. We're going to Parliament on Thursday, the Winston Churchill Museum (the War Cabinet Rooms - where the government governed from underground during the bombings - my dad would love this) next Thursday, and Wales at the end of the month. So excited.

I've also decided to make a trip to Ireland to visit where my great-grandparents were born.

Things I like better in the U.K. than the U.S.

1. Packaging

The packaging on food seems much more recycle-friendly and efficient. There's not a whole lot of plastic, and most jellies/peanut butters/condiments etc., which would normally come in plastic in the U.S., come in glass jars. I collect jars. I put spices in them. This is very good for me. I also think that products are designed better (more aesthetically appealing) that in the States.

2. Refrigerators/freezers

I think it's good that the refrigerators are smaller. You buy less at a time. Also, this allows them to be hidden in cabinets, like the one of the ones in our flat.

3. Openness on the tube

I love that when you're riding the tube, the operators and other staff tell you exactly what's going on if there is a delay. Sometimes this seems like too much information. They'll tell you when there's a signal failure, and what stop it's at, but they'll also tell you if someone's tried to kill themselves but jumping into the train tracks.

4. Tea

Fairly self-explanatory. I hate coffee. It makes me paranoid. I love tea, although I don't like it with milk like the Brits do, and I prefer green tea to black tea.

5. Nutrition labels

Many of the labels here are much more exact and informative than American labels, or so it seems to me. First of all, they include how many Joules of energy the food gives you, along with the calories. I don't any reason to want Joules on my labels, but I still appreciate the effort. Also, instead of rounding, the labels are exact. My granola bars have 77.6 grams of carbohydrates, not 78. And in general, I think the labels are easier to read, the daily guidelines are easier to understand, and the design is better.

6. Saying "thank you"

In the UK they say "cheers" instead of "thank you" or "thanks" if the occasion is informal.

For the love of U.S. geography

Last night, we did not go to Piccadilly Circus. Instead, we went back to Betsey Trotwood. We've decided that's "our bar," since the bartender now recognizes us. The group consisted of me, my three other room mates, and some other CAPA students who live in the Gazzano building with us.

At some point when we walked in, we emitted American phermones. Within seconds, a group of British men were chatting us up (except me and another room mate - were casually trying to avoid them). It turns out that they were from about an hour northwest of London. They were here for a cricket match. So G.B. (That's not a real slang phrase, I just made that up.)

I talked politics and how people form political views with one guy. He was under the impression that London was bigger than New York City. He was desperately wrong. According to City Mayors statistics at www.citymayors.com:

-New York City is second behind Tokyo in terms of raw urban area population, at 17.8 million
-London is ranked No. 25 on the list, at 8.3 million
-In terms of core cities, NYC is No. 11 at 8 million (hence the One in Eight Million New York Times feature)
-London is No. 15, with 7 million

I'm glad I can win arguments about which cities are bigger. And also, he was about to tell me that the Globe Theatre was built in the 17th century, but I knew that the current one was only built recently, and by an American actor.

After Betsy's we went to Al's down the street with two of the cricket guys, who paid for our drinks (I protested - I felt that 178 pounds was not worth it). Al's is a lot less "authentic" than Betsy's. It's very modern.

I talked to one (Ross) extensively about U.S. geography. He sells safaris to ridiculously wealthy Brits, Canadians and Americans. I told him if he ever comes to the U.S. to go out west, because in my opinion, there is no where else like the American west in the entire world. We also talked about stereotypes. He said all the Americans he encountered were smart and educated, not uninformed. He was fairly informed himself. He named all 50 states in alphabetical order.

Not too bad. So far, many of the British people I met are reserved only in public and en route to work. Once you talk to them, they are very helpful, or very funny, or very nice.

Orientations, Princess Diana, and ale

Kensington Palace

Yesterday we attended some CAPA orientations about London basics. Lingo (such as saying "queue" instead of "line," etc.), our residences, and how to travel were some of the topics included in discussion. My room mates and I got Piccell phones for $20, not including pay-as-you-go rates. I'm planning on not using my phone very often - just to coordinate with my room mates and my internship supervisor. I'm a little suspicious of the rates.

After we got phones, Lindsey, Jane, Lana and me looked for food. A Persian brasserie failed to impress us, so we went next door to the Goat Tavern. I think this is a good pub. We felt slightly embarrassed not knowing pub protocol. We had to ask the bartender how to order. I got a "cheese on toast" sandwich with "chips." I also am irritated that Europeans generally serve bottled mineral water instead of free tap water.

Next we went to Kensington Gardens. We thought we also went to Hyde Park, but apparently the gardens are bigger than we thought. Interesting items of note:

-Couples unabashedly make out in public... although unobservant me did not notice. Lana clued me in.
-No Brits that I saw had their dogs on leashes. The dogs are that well-trained. And most of the dogs are healthy and fit, as opposed to the fat dogs I often see in the States.
-Kensington Palace is not that impressive, although people still place shrines to Princess Diana on the gate. The gardens are pretty, though.

After Kensington Gardens, we came back and fell asleep at the apartment. Everyone seems to get into a slump around late afternoon/early evening. Later that night we met up with some other girls that are staying in this building through CAPA and tried a pub.

This was quite an experience for me. As I'm 20, I'm unable to drink in the States. Thus, I had my first real British ale. It was a recommendation from the bartender - Spitfire. I tried to like it. Not successful. I was sort of proud that I drank half of it.

Note: Beers in Britain have much more alcohol in them than American beers, according to the police constable that talked to us today at the CAPA safety orientation. It's about 5 or 6 percent versus 3 percent.

CORRECTION: As Erik has informed me, it's appears to be true that this is a rumor. Budweiser, for instance, also has 5 percent alcohol content. According to a (probably unreliable) Web site, Spitfire has 4.8 percent. Rumor debunked. I must inform my European acquaintances.

I tried to tip the bartender. After making $2.85 an hour waitressing, I'm a tipping-freak. But apparently in London (and elsewhere in Europe), tipping bar staff is not necessary. Some people tip at their last round of drinks if they've had many. Even tipping waitstaff at restaurants is minimal, although more frequent than at pubs. Often, they charge a service fee. Still, I'm nervous about stiffing someone.

After we went to the pub, I felt a little hyper, because my body clock is so confused. I forced myself to sleep. This morning we went to our internship orientation, then the police safety orientation (hilarious and informative -- more on this later in an upcoming column), then an afternoon "arrival tea." For those of you who are not aware, I'm a bit of a tea freak. Yet I still don't fit in here. Although apparently most English people drink tea (it's 40 percent of their fluid intake, according to the CAPA academic director), 98 percent of them drink it with milk. That's because it's black tea, and not green or white tea, which are my favorites. It seems my beverages don't fit in with any country in the West. I must go to China some day.

Then we went shopping on High Street in Kensington. H&M was a hit - I got a dress and a much-needed large purple bag. I spent 35 pounds - not too bad. We also went to a posh store called Topshop, one of M.I.A.'s favorite stores.

Tonight - perhaps Piccadilly Circus. We don't know.

A sign that I've acclamated

Today as I was boarding the tube to go to the CAPA center, a group of American high school students boarded the carriage. You would have thought they were parachuting off a crashing plane. A leader of the group kept yelling, "Everyone can fit on the train, keep moving!" It's British tube protocol to stay silent, or at most whisper, when riding. These kids were extremely loud and chatty, and we were afraid we wouldn't be able to get off at our stop. We felt embarrassed they were Americans.

The arrival

Last night my dad dropped me off at Philly International. I was nervous to leave without the constant advice my travel-expert father. I coped by getting fruit at Au Bon Pain and calling people while I waited to board.

On the plane, I sat next to a nice poetry professor from UNC-Asheville. He was on his way to vacation in London and Paris with his family. Luckily, he was a fairly experienced traveler and able to comfort me when the television shut off as the engines were starting.

I slept for most of the night, but it was an uncomfortable and fearful sleep. I'd wake up every so often and think about crashing into the Atlantic Ocean. Because we were flying towards the sunrise, I had no clue what time it was, which I'm finding drives me crazy. I also kept thinking we were flying over Ireland, which happened two or three times, so it must have been creative cloud formations.

Just before we landed, I got a packaged mystery-fruit-jam-croissant and a cup of tea for my U.S. Airways meal. The first thing I noticed when the plane touched ground was that all of the signs were weird. When I got into the terminal, I realized that the U.K. loves this one particular font. All of my study abroad material, as well as many of the advertisements and government and tube signs are in the same font.

The second thing I noticed was a poster in the terminal advertising for a bank. It had three pieces of chocolate on it and said, "energy - integrity - sex." Hmm, clearly. American advertisements probably wouldn't be that frank.

Getting through the U.K. Border Agency was mostly painless, except that I was nervous. I'm relieved that the procedures seem safe. But getting on the tube was an adventure. It's easy to get to Central London from Heathrow Airport using the Piccadilly Line, but the first train I was on was terminating its service, so I had to switch. Then, the second train I was on got delayed because the signals at a stop ahead stopped working. Although this was a little nerveracking, I really appreciated that the operators kept us up-to-speed with everything that was happening on the line.

I figured out how to make the necessary connections and got to Farringdon around 12:30 pm (7:30am eastern time). The flat is a ten-minute walk from the tube station. A guide from the study abroad program (CAPA) was there to meet me. I met up with my room mates and felt exhausted from jet lag. I fell asleep for awhile (in the wrong bed).

The flat is very nice. We went on a walking tour of the area - saw the post office, learned to use the tube (I'd figured it out before out of necessity), talked about withdrawing money, etc. Then my room mates and some of the other CAPA students living in the building went out for dinner at the Pizza Express, which was good but expensive (to me - an 8 pound meal is about 14 or 15 USD). I had a mushroom-avocado-mozzarella salad.

The four of my room mates who are here (we are awaiting a fifth) went to the Sainsbury grocery afterwards. I got some weird custard creme things, bread, apples, bananas, 0.1% fat milk ("skimmed" milk). There was no peanut butter to make sandwiches, and I felt sad.

We were all exhausted from traveling. We figured out how to connect to the Internet. We attempted to turn on the television - no success there. We lamented the strange outlets and the washer/dryer being a single appliance. But I'm so excited about being here - it hasn't yet sunk in.

Getting ready

Thanks so much for looking at this blog. I'm getting ready to drive to Philly with my dad in four hours. I've been slightly nervous for the past couple of days, because:

this is my first overseas flight,
my first trip to another country (even Canada)
and my first time out of the state of Pennsylvania for more than two weeks.

I'm leaving at 10:40 and arriving at Heathrow airport in London around 6:00am our time -- there's a five hour difference. Hopefully I won't be too busy to write when I arrive. We'll see what happens...