Week 6 INTRODUCTION I was so excited and nervous for this trip. Originally, I wanted to spend my Reading week (UK's week without classes in the middle-ish of the semester) traveling with friends. We had different places we wanted to visit so I decided to take a risk and step out of my comfort zone and travel solo for the nine days of my reading week trip. My reading week adventures will be broken into five parts so keep reading my next blogs to find out more. ACCOMMODATION Since this was my first solo trip and I had my own preconceived notions about hostels in Italy, I stayed in an Airbnb in the heart of Old Town, Genova. My host was lovely and made me feel very welcomed. The apartment was located about a 10 minute walk from one of the central piazzas (plazas). This accommodation options was cheaper than a hotel and also let me experience a bit of local life. TRANSPORATION Within the city of Genova, I just walked. There is a good public transporation system made of up buses and metro in the city, but to save money and since I felt I had the time, I walked everywhere, other than my day trips where I took the regional train. From the airport, I took an airport bus into the city (Volabus). My Airbnb host recommended the service. It was quick, cheap, and safe. London to Genova My journey to Genova was a bit stressful, but I have found that this type of stress is one of the best. Through it, I have learned how to be adaptable and in the end, it was always, always worth it. That morning I left for Italy, my cellular data was not working. Yes, I know people have traveled without phones for years, but I am very accustom to having at least my maps app available. Going to a foreign country where I did not know the language, and myself none the less, I was super nervous. Thankfully on my train ride to the airport, I figured out what was wrong and got access. To get to Genova, I took a short flight on RyanAir. The price and timing of this flight was a part of the reason I chose this Italian city over others. Honestly, while Genova is not one of the main tourist cities in Italy, it is one of my favorites. ITINERARY DAY 1 I got into Genova in the afternoon. The city was a short bus ride from the airport, so I was able to get to my Airbnb and settled pretty well. It was overwhelming, at first, navigating the vias (walking streets) and vicos (alleys) of Genova as they were packed with people, but within a couple minutes, I had a smile on my face that could not be wiped off. I was so happy. Words cannot describe the surreal feeling. I found a place I wanted to eat dinner, but it didn't open until later that night (Italians do eat dinner later), so I decided to wander around the town. The city is very very walkable and attractions are really close together. I walked back to Piazza Ferrari to take some photos and then just wandered around. I ended up going into this little antique shop which is pretty cool at seeing Doge’s Palace at night where they project a light show on it. I also walked by the cathedral but unfortunately it looks like it’s going under some work still there’s a lot of scaffolding up and the whole front is blocked off. I even wander to the seaside of the city almost to the aquarium. As I was heading back towards the area where the restaurant I wanted to eat at was I stumbled upon a little baby clothes shop. I spent quite a while in there trying to figure out what to get my baby cousin Brookie. I ended up getting this cute bib. The owners were very kind, and while their English was limited and my Italian nonexistent, we were still able to communicate. They were thrilled to find out I was from Hawaii. After purchasing her gift I went to the restaurant I looked up to go eat dinner. It was called Trattoria Ugo. Genova is known for its pesto so I got their fettuccine pesto. It was very good and very very filling. I decided to also splurge and get dessert. When I found this restaurant online one of the reviews said their tiramisu was to die for and I love tiramisu, so I had to try it. It was very, very good in addition to being tiramisu there were also some pistachios on top. During dinner, I also got to chat with this lady from Naples who was also dining by herself. She was there for the science convention that they had the next day. After dinner, I turned in as I had a very full day ahead of me with my day trip to Cinque Terre.
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Week 5 This week I took a trip to Paris with a friend from high school, Jenna. It was a happy coincidence that we both ended up studying abroad in London during the same semester. Before the semester started, I went traveling with my mom and Paris was one of the destinations we visited. I loved the city so much when Jenna asked if I wanted to go again, I immediately said yes. To get to Paris we opted to fly because it was cheaper than taking the Eurostar. If you really want to take the Eurostar, I suggest booking early or keeping your eye out for deals. We took a late flight out of Gatwick airport to Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport on EasyJet, one of the popular low-cost European airlines. Our flight landed around 10:30pm and it took less than an hour to get into the city by train. Even though it was a bit late, the RER (train) running into the city from the airport had a good amount of people and the metro we took in the city was busy. Read my TRANSPORTATION section for more information on the city's public transport system.
We booked a female dorm, which online said had 8 beds but in our actual room there were only three of us. This hostel did not have storage lockers but the other person in our room and the people in the two other rooms were just leaving their stuff out, so we decided to tuck our backpacks under our beds and let the comforter drape over to hid it. Everything was fine. The only electronic device I travel with is my phone and the only important "things" I have with me are my wallet and passport, and I kept all three on me at all times. This hostel provided complimentary breakfast which included an assortment of breads, your choice of yogurt and/or applesauce, coffee or hot cocoa, and cereal. This hostel was also centrally located. It was in walking distance to Notre Dame and a metro station was just two minutes away. TRANSPORTION Buying tickets for the city's public transport system is fairly easy. There are ticket stations at every metro and RER station. If you are buying one way tickets, you will need a different one for the RER into the city and the metro once in the city. Paris is both walkable and not. Depending on what you want to do and see, some of the sites can be far and taking the metro or bus can help save you time. We decided to buy a two day Paris Visite travel pass which gave us access to all of the Paris transport network (metro, bus, tramway, RER) in zones 1-3. You can buy a pass valid for 1, 2, 3, or 5 consecutive days. Another way to approach public transport is buying one way tickets. For me, I used the metro and buses a lot during this weekend trip especially since it was raining, so the two day pass came out cheaper than if I had only bought one way tickets. I found the public transportation system in general to be easy to understand (and I don't speak French other than a few words and greetings). It is very similar to London's system and I would even argue that it is simpler. Google maps, Apple maps, and Citymapper all worked for me and Jenna to get directions. Like when taking any public transportation, be aware of your surroundings and your belongings. I only traveled with my belt bag which I wore under my puffer jacket. OUR ITINERARY We had two full days to explore beautiful Paris! There were some activities we planned ahead of time and bought tickets for in advance, and there were others that were more on the spot decisions. While both days were gloomy and rainy, we still had a great time in the city.
Luxembourg Garden These gardens were beautiful to walk through. All the trees were turning fall colors. Jenna brought her film camera and got some beautiful clips of the gardens. Hôtel des Invalides From the gardens, we walked over to Hôtel des Invalides which is home to military museums and Napoleon’s tomb. It took us about half an hour and there was a light drizzle the entire time. While I was cold and wet, it was a nice way to see the streets of Paris and the city’s beautifully designed building exteriors. Arc de Triomphe When I came with my mom, I got to see the Arc de Triomphe from the street. Jenna and I decided to book tickets to go up to the top. It was a lot of stairs, but even with heavy cloud coverage, the view was amazing. Eiffel Tower at night From the top of the Arc we could see the bottom of the Eiffel Tower before the clouds, but something I dreamed of seeing was the tower all light up and sparkling at night. At the top of each hour the tower sparkles for five minutes. DAY 2 Lourve This day started with going to the Lourve Museum to drop Jenna off for her tour. When I came to Paris with my mom, we visited so I decided to go explore more of the city while she did her tour. If it hadn't been drizzling, I would have stayed and wandered around the museum gardens. Instead, I decided to take the metro and go to other places since I paid for unlimited metro rides with the two days. Palais Garnier (Opera House) A quick metro ride away from the Lourve, the Palais Garnier (Opera House) was stunning. As I came out from the metro station, I was greeted with beautiful blue skies (it had been gloomy and rainy the whole time so far) that framed the opera house. Famous composers lined the outside. I only recognized a few like Bach, Beethoven and Mozart. Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris The most well-known museums in Paris you need to pay for like the Lourve and Musee D'Orsay. In a quick google search, I found a few museums in the city that were free. This modern art museum along the Seine River was one of them. Since it was a Saturday, there were also a number of open markets going on in the city. When I exited the metro station, lining the middle of the main street was this open market (picture below on the right) filled with fruit and vegetable stalls, meat, fish, and every items you could think of. As I was walking down, it felt never ending. Eventually, I reached the museum I wanted to go to and exited, but still there were more stalls continuing down the street. This museum was known for its La Fee Electricite exhibit which took up an entire room. It depicted different events relating to electricity and was truly magnificent. The second collection I liked was a husband and wife due, Josef and Anni Albers. They used different mediums and art styles, but their story was beautiful and you could tell they had a passion for their work.
Notre Dame and Sainte-Chapelle One of the most iconic places in Paris is Notre Dame. Still undergoing restoration work, people were not allowed to enter, however, with the restoration and cleaning of the building, you could really see the bright limestone that used to be covered in grime and dirt from the city air. From Notre Dame, we walked to another cathedral, Sainte-Chapelle. You had to pay to go in so we admired the building from the outside. Centre Pompidou A unique building in the heart of Paris, I went to Centre Pompidou to watch the sunset. It is also home to an art museum and public library. The escalators are on the outside of the building, creating an interesting building aesthetic and giving riders stunning views of the city. I have never been a "must go to Paris" type of girl, but I have to say the city and its people truly charmed me. I love Parisian architecture and its rich history. I would 100% recommend visiting.
Week 4 This past week I came down with a cold, so I stayed in most of the week to rest up and get better for our trip to Dover with our Social Programme on Saturday. This was one of the day trips I have been looking forward to and it definitely didn't disappoint. It was a national rail strike day, so we had to take a coach down which actually worked out better, since they could stay with us the entire day and drive us around Dover when we got there. White Cliffs of Dover Our first stop after about a two hour drive from the university was the White Cliffs of Dover. From Dover, you can sometimes see the coast of France. We were very lucky as the weather was fantastic with clear blue skies. It was still quite chilly making the warm sun rays feel great. There is a walking path along the cliffs where you'll find both tourists and locals enjoying the views. Our group had a time constraint, so we only walked a short loop of it. From this path, we got great views of the cliffs, the port, and the castle. Dover Castle
This is a concentric castle, meaning there are multiple "layers" to it. It was remarkable to walk through it and up to the top of the Great Tower where we got a spectacular view of Dover from all sides of the castle. It is a medieval castle, but it has had a role in more recent history, namely as a headquarters for the British military in WWI and WWII. If you're familiar with Operation Dynamo (the evacuation of Dunkirk), whether from history class or "Dunkirk" the movie featuring Harry Styles, this castle is where the plans were thought through and executed from. You can actually take a tour of the tunnels where the military offices previously were. In addition to going up the Great Tower, we went down into the medieval tunnels. The first of the two photos on the right is looking from the tunnels into the moat around the castle. The second is of their door system to let people in and out of the entrance/exit. The room pictured is showing the levers that open the doors on the other side of the walls. Overall, this trip was very fun and fascinating. I learned a lot about the history of Dover and got to see an iconic landmark in England. Week 3 This past week was the first week of classes, or as they say here, modules. To wrap up the week, our Social Programme took us on a walking tour of Central London yesterday (Saturday). I'll explain a bit about the school system here and then recap what I got to see in the city. MODULES Each module has three parts: (1) Lecture, (2) Seminar, and (3) Modules Clinic. The lecture is where the Module Convenor delivers the lecture of the week on whatever topic is scheduled to be covered. The seminar is where the Module Tutor (sometimes it will be your Convenor) will take the class through different exercises that apply the concepts learned in the lecture. It is important to attend seminars because the exercises build up to what is expected in the final assessment. For all three of my Roehampton courses, my final grade is dependent on one single assessment, the summative that is submitted online at the end of the semester. Module clinics are something new they added this semester. It is an hour of remote learning that is more for full time university students as they act like sessions with UH advisors. It is less about the actual materials for the module as the topics tutors are given are directly from the University. I will have more information on classes in a later post. WALKNG TOUR OF LONDON On Saturday, I went on a walking tour of London hosted by the Social Programme the university has for study abroad and international students. We got to see some of London's most well known monuments as well as some lesser known ones. Our tour started at Blackfriars station and ended at Borough Market. Unfortunately, by the time we got to the market all the stalls were closing. There were still a few places open so my friends and I were able to grab a bite for dinner before taking the bus back to campus. That particular day was a national rail strike, so the tube line we would normally take was not running all the way Putney. (Be aware of rail and tube strike days when here. The buses will be busy and generally take longer due to traffic and all the stops in between). Friends and Tower Bridge St. Paul's Catherdral
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Kaylee MikiI'm a college student from Hawai‘i studying abroad in London and looking forward to traveling around Europe and sharing my experiences. Archives
January 2023
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