STRESS

Rock Chalk! Dick Vitale is a fool.

Um, so now comes the Scariest. Game. Ever. Nobody contact me on Saturday. NOBODY. Unless we win. :)

To the beach

So it really wouldn't be a day in Europe if I didn't get on a train now, would it? Last night I read through a bunch of suggestions that Brian had sent to me, and one of them was to take the DART (commuter train) out to Killiney to see the coastline and the beach. After so much time in the cities, that sounded pretty great.

Before heading out of the city though, I wanted to check out Temple Bar a bit more. I took a long walk around pretty early this morning, and everything was still closed (including three different record stores that I found). But it was peaceful and nice. I then walked to the Westin, where I had discovered they carried the channel that airs American sports -- like basketball. :) Yes, their bar is open tonight. So I'm hoping to catch the KU game around 10 p.m. here. Wish me luck.

After confirming the basketball stuff, I found the train station and boarded for Killiney.

While on the train, I saw this from the window, which I think was a bit tinted, creating the strange coloring. Anyway, I was so jealous. What a nice way to spend a Sunday morning!



Also on the train we passed a bunch of houses/yards and parks in the suburbs. I saw two basketball "courts" among all of the soccer and field hockey fields. But they didn't have any concrete. It was just two hoops in a field of grass. I imagine they haven't quite figured out how to dribble yet...

After arriving at my station, I just walked up and down the beach, taking photos of the scenery. It was warm out (probably in the 50s) and a slight breeze. The coast smelled really fresh.




The tour book says that a lot of celebrities live in this area, including Bono and Tom Cruise. No celebrity sightings to report, but I did like looking at the homes in the area. Here is one I saw near the coast.



I also saw a lot of dogs on the beach, which was a nice treat. It really made me miss my own pups back home. Anyway, this dog was hilarious. He reminded me so much of Memphis. He was running along the beach, and then he found a crab (I think). He would dig after it in the sand, and then it would pop up and run away, dog in chase, then it would dive down into the sand and he would dig and bark furiously after it. This went on and on for a bit -- really fun to watch. Here's a photo of him running after his owners after realizing how far they had gotten during his crab distraction.



Tonight I'm meeting Brian for dinner. Otherwise I'm going to take it easy today and enjoy my time out of airports.

Street scenes from Dublin

Well boys and girls, I gotta say, I loooove Dublin. I've only been here a few hours, but the people have blown me away with their kindness, and the walk-ability of the place is wonderful.

I have a few photos that I'll post below. But first, let me tell you that I had the most delicious meal for dinner. YUM. I am so fat and happy right now.

I had been craving vegetables for the past few days since apparently the English are happy to live on meat, potatoes, bread and beer. Not a horrible idea, but I like a little more color.

So I found a fantastic Italian restaurant tonight that knocked my socks off. (I know, I know. Travel all the way to Ireland for Italian food.) It was called Carluccio's, and it was one of those places where you have only read through the appetizers, soups and salads and you are having to choose between like four delicious options. I never even turned to the pasta or the fish pages.

I had a small salad and a 1/2 order of the veggie antipasta which had the MOST amazing green beans, eggplant, roasted peppers with pesto, fresh mozzarella, marinated artichokes, sundried tomatoes and olives. SO GOOD. Then, for dessert, they had gelato. Like, real gelato. I asked for a scoop of coffee flavored ice cream, and the waiter informed me that they only serve 2 scoops, not 1, and I would need to choose my second flavor. MY KIND OF PLACE. So I had one scoop of coffee and one scoop of chocolate. It was so delicious.

And, all you wonderful friends of mine, this restaurant had all kinds of goodies that you could buy to take home (which I can't do, due to precious luggage space). They even had a COOKBOOK and other things that might make a good gift for me some day should they sell the stuff online (like right here). I'm just sayin'...

So here are the photos from the rest of my walking tonight. This first shot made me laugh. I guess having God watch over the church isn't enough. Check out that security camera.



Right around from that blue door was this corridor. The lights looked so red, I thought it was a nice contrast.



I don't even know what this building is, but I loved the light and the shapes. And how about those streetlamps?



This is a thai restaurant that I thought about having dinner in. But I opted just to shoot the nice lighting instead.



And this is where I had my fabulous meal. As I looked for their website a few minutes ago, I found that, sadly, this restaurant is a chain. I would still eat there in a heartbeat. Izzy's has mulitple locations, and that doesn't stop me! In fact, I wonder if Carluccio's is interested in a Minneapolis location...

In Dublin!

Eight hours, four train rides, one flight, a city bus ride and a mile walk later, I am in Dublin. And I couldn't be happier. The hotel room is wonderful (I got a free upgrade!) and it's in a spectacular location right off of Grafton Street. I'm about to lose daylight so I want to head out and get some pictures and dinner.

Oh, and the only really bad news so far is that it's daylight savings tonight in Ireland, so I lose an hour! If only it were the other way around!

Street scenes

Well, class wrapped up today. It was a super fun course. I didn't feel like I had enough time to do a fantastic job on my project, but I do think that with some time at home it will turn into a cool portfolio piece. Anyway, my classmates really liked my packaging, so that was a great sign. When it's a little more finished, I'll put it up on my site for you guys to see.

Our instructor brought in more wine today, and as we did our critiques we listened to music and drank wine. All school should work like that in my opinion. Hell, WORK should work like that. :)

So I keep getting requests for more photos. I haven't taken a lot more this week as I've been busy with the project, but here are some leftovers from earlier. I'm going to shoot more tomorrow, don't worry. Enjoy!

Here is a punk I saw on the street. I see them everywhere here, and I enjoy them always.



This is a room at the museum of childhood. I thought the color was just fantastic. Very space-age.



The bars here have the most fabulous names. This one has been a favorite of mine.



Lastly, this is a car I keep passing on the street. If any of you have ever watched The Naked Chef (one of my very favorite chefs, Jamie Oliver), he drives a car similar to this.

Proper English

So I've gotten quite used to the Lovely English Woman and her announcements over the loudspeaker at all of the Underground stations. She says things like "please mind the gap" or "please avoid using the interchange at Bank station as the escalators are being refurbished." Things like that.

Today I was out at lunch running around like a madwoman looking for art supplies. I finally had them all purchased and headed down to the underground for the fastest route back to class. I heard the Lovely Woman make several announcements about the Bank station and then she says this (please read this in your most proper British accent): "Ladies and Gentlemen, please expect delays along the Bakerloo line as there is a person under the train."

I guess this announcement is quite common as my classmates explained people here throw themselves in front of trains pretty regularly. I don't think they would announce such things in NYC. I think back in the good ol' US of A they would just lie and say it was a technical difficulty. But perhaps I'm wrong. Perhaps a NYC worker would get on the intercom and say something like: Hey folks, the 3 line is running late today because some schmuck threw himself under a train. Better find yourself another route."

What do you think they would say?

Back at the Slaughtered Lamb

Today was pretty boring to report. Loads of work for class. My instructor wants me to hand draw all of the type for my CD cover. That in itself could take me a few weeks. So I'll be pretty busy the next few days.

Today was super gray and rainy. I did take some photos of the school where I'm taking the class. I think it's lovely. Like my own Hogwarts in the city.

After class today, I went to the Museum of Childhood for some inspiration. But it was only so-so. I was then going to check out Rough Trade Record's new shop, but the sky turned dark (like tornado dark) and I didn't have an umbrella. So I headed back to the pub.


This is the outside of the building.



These are the doors inside.



This is the stairwell to my class.



Don't you expect to see Hagrid barreling down those steps? No? Just me?

The Morning After

After that ridiculously long entry yesterday, I thought I should add a photo. Nothing remarkable, just a building I pass on my way to school. I love the flowers in the window box. It's nice to see such efforts in this big city.

So where did I leave you? Ah yes, my night in Soho. I hopped on the underground to Piccadilly Circus. It was a bit crazy over there. Much like Vegas or Times Square -- very touristy. I made my way to the club, a place called Madame JoJo's.

The spot was a former strip club that they had turned into a music venue. It had tons of red velvet and gold paint -- quite eccentric. Much like an over-the-top mix between 7th St. Entry and the Varsity. The music was pretty good, I believe the band was called Slow Club. But the people watching was phenomenal. Let me just say that I am 100% certain that the guys here wear way more hair product than the ladies. They all looked like fierce little Christian. They were all in skinny, skinny jeans and they had this huge hair. It reminded me of bobble heads.

Anyway, the club scene was really fun, and after the band played it turned into a dance night, which was fun as well. Sadly, I head to leave just before midnight as the trains stop running shortly after.

Today I am back in class working on my project. I decided to go with the Rilo Kiley album The Execution of All Things. I like the carnival sound to that album, and I think that will provide some fun imagery.

Here are the bands the rest of the class chose, quite a variety!
• Sigur Ros
• Dolly Parton
• Nouvelle Vague (cool stuff)
• Blondie
• Joanna Newsom
• James Bone (a local artist -- working from a demo, no cd out)
• Sonic Youth

I'll blog more tonight. Maybe more photos. Cheers!

First day of school

Wow! How much fun is this?! If I had any idea how great schooling was in London, I would have come here ages ago. :)

First off, I have about a million stories I would love to tell you all, but at the same time I don't want to spend all night in this pub on the computer. So I figure I'll write about my classes today and if I have excess stories when I return, maybe I'll keep posting for a few days past my trip just to entertain you all. We'll see how popular the blog is. According to my counter, 97 of you visited yesterday! Or you all just keep refreshing the screen (probably the case, but I prefer to think you can't get enough :)

OK, so back to school. I woke up at 7 a.m. totally excited and not able to sleep. I have always loved school. I'm a huge geek that way. The night before my first day of Junior High my mom had to give me a sleeping pill because I was so excited. Such a geek, I know.

So I woke early and had a good, long breakfast before walking to class. It is so beautiful outdoors today. Still chilly, but sunny at least.

There are eight of us taking the course, and it's a very international bunch. There are 3 Italians, 2 Swedes, 1 Hungarian and 1 Londoner (and me). For the first hour of class we just introduced ourselves and talked about what music we were listening to at the time. One of my favorite students in the class is a young man named Jonathon (from London). He must be 19 or 20 because he's at University, but he looks about 15. I hope he's not reading this. If so, you look like an absolutely adorable 15-year-old, Jonathon!

Anyway, he's listening to the Stone Roses, and they way he said it, it was clear that he LOVES them. He also is listening to the Pixies and other, older stuff. Our Prof even said: Well that's quite Retro of you, Jonathon.

Anyway, after about an hour our Prof asked if we would like to take a field trip to his Studio. "Only a short walk away" he told us.

Well, we were all game. To see his studio and his albums? You bet!

About 45 minutes later (and a TRAIN RIDE), we arrived. It was a fantastic home that housed his studio. So beautiful. He did let me take photos, but asked that I not put them up on the internet. So you'll have to find me in person if you want to see them.

We spent the day eating lunch, talking about inspiration, record covers, special edition albums and looking at artwork and DRINKING WINE THAT OUR PROF BROUGHT FOR US. Yeah, you read that correctly. It was fantastic. Such a great day "at school."

My homework is to choose an album that I want to design the packaging for. It can be an LP or CD or whatever and whatever band I choose. I had anticipated that this might be the project (I'm a geek, remember? I had been thinking about possible assignments for the last month). I had thought I would like to design the Bon Iver cover because I love that album, and I haven't seen the artwork, so I wouldn't be influenced.

But when we were talking about music in the first hour of class, I mentioned that album, and my teacher said HE loved that album and he had been listening to it all weekend. Apparently Bon Iver just signed to 4AD over here (the label my prof works for), and my teacher wanted to design the cover, but it has already been done in the US.

So now I'm a bit put off by doing that album as he might already have ideas about the concept. So I gotta think of something new. I just bought the new Raconteurs today, or I was thinking about Rilo Kiley (More Adventurous, not Black Light) or maybe Vampire Weekend. Thoughts? Ideas?

Please let me know. I'll keep you all updated as I ponder the best homework assigment ever.

One last note on today (sorry to blather on!), but Jonathon suggested a cool indie record store for me to pick up the new Raconteurs at. When I got there, the clerk had just been to SXSW, and we chatted a long time about new bands etc. Anyway, he suggested a show for me to check out tonight. So if I can muster the energy, I might make my way to SoHo for a concert. Wish me luck!

OK, now the wordy details...

So now all the photos are up. Or the best of them. I had a really fun day today.

I wandered the city and found more free wi-fi, and I did the most touristy things that I wanted to get out of the way. I figured I had the most time today since class is starting tomorrow.

All of the tourist sites were packed, but I only heard one or two Americans. I heard a ton of Russians, lots of middle easterners, africans and mostly french and germans.

The trains were much easier to navigate today as I knew already what was closed and what was open, so I had more time to take in the details of each station. The thing that made the biggest impression was that all of the musicians in the tubes were playing American music. I mean, I guess I know that most rock music comes from the U.S., but I guess I was expecting them to have their own stuff. You know, the Beatles, the Cure, Oasis. But instead I kept hearing Nirvana, Pearl Jam and the Eagles. Strange.

The sites were lovely, and I got some fun photos. As I said before, please go to my flickr site to read about the couple on The Eye. That was great.

On my way back to the dorm, I found a pub about a block from my dorm that has free wi-fi. It's called The Harlequin. And they have a special of a pint and a pie for five pounds. So that's where I am now, eating a delicious pot pie with ham, chicken and leeks.

There was actually some excitement at the bar while I was posting all of my photos. The pub is hosting Pub Quiz which is like Pub Trivia, and one patron was really drunk and kept booing the host. Then he tried to light a smoke, but that's illegal here. So the barmaid called the cops. But before the cops came, he got even more rowdy and several workers were trying to escort him out and there was yelling etc. Finally he left, and then the cops showed up. Apparently they went to talk to him in the street and he told them to F off and then he ran away. So then the cops came in a wrote up a police report. OK, so maybe not the MOST exciting thing, but it provided quite the entertainment for me. :)

So that's it for this evening. I'm heading back to the dorm and getting ready for class. Keep up the comments. It's great to hear from all of you!

More photos...

Argh!!

I can't seem to post more photos. Do they have a limit? Maybe? Anyone? OK, I'm going to post them to my flickr account. You can see them here. Please go and check it out. There is a really sweet story to be told...

Some photos for you!

OK, so we'll start with the view from my dorm. Possibly the least exciting photo of the bunch, but let's get that one over with.



Below, you'll find some shops on my walk today. Beautiful, cheery colors on a very grey day.



This was something I passed early this morning. I loved the colors, and you can see it was snowing. Just something for the ladies.



Then, I headed for the Underground to go hit some touristy spots...



My first stop was the Westminster stop. I got out of the Tube, and this was right in front of me. I love the color of the sky in this shot. Not photoshopped at all! I promise!



About a block from Big Ben was Westminster Abby. They had stopped letting tourists in for the day, but it was also beautiful from the outside. I'll try to get back later this week to see the inside as well. Around the abbey they had statues of all these important brits (winston churchill etc.) and they had a statue of Abraham Lincoln. I thought it was great to see the U.S. represented. But I didn't get a photo. Sorry.



Around from the alley I could see the Eye. My friend Laurie had told me I had to check that out, so I headed over. It's essentially a ginormous carousel that moves very slowly and is extremely tall so you can see all of London. I thought I would be too afraid of heights to handle it, but it moved so slowly that I felt totally safe. The veiws were fantastic. I'm going to show some photos of the Eye for those who haven't seen it, and then photos from the eye. There's one in here where you can see both Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, so you'll get the layout a bit better.





Hmmm... blogspot isn't letting me post any more photos. I'm going to try more in a second post. Be patient....

Dick Vitale is an idiot

Before I forget to mention this, I would like to point out that both Dick Vitale and Myron Medcalf had Kansas losing to Georgetown in the Elite 8 of the NCAA tournament. HOW WRONG THEY WERE. What a game that was yesterday! Now we just need Kansas to win on Friday so they can make it to the Elite 8 themselves.

And how would I know about that Georgetown game, you ask? Because that fabulous link I spoke of earlier directed me to a bar showing the tournament live last night. I was able to eat my dinner, enjoy a cider from the tap and watch NCAA hoops. Just like home, except for the boisterous Italians next to me and the French who shared my table. But don't worry, I also met some Americans, and we had a great time.

But back to non-basketball updates. The dorm I'm staying in is quite nice (as far as dorms go). My room is larger than hotel rooms I've had in Italy or New York, and while I have to share the bathroom/shower with the other ladies on my floor, I do have a nice sink/mirror area set up in my room. The place is pretty quiet. I suspect because of the holiday weekend (today, Monday, is a holiday like Good Friday as well).

I had my dorm breakfast this morning and it was fine. Yogurt, frosted flakes and toast. Judging by the rest of the people eating in the cafeteria, I think lots of travelers stay there. I could only pick out a handful of students. Unless a lot of middle-eastern women, elderly asian men and elderly german women are now taking art classes in the UK. But who knows?

There is a bar in the dorm that I have not ventured into yet. Maybe tonight...

So yesterday afternoon I began my quest for free wifi. I did find several locations within walking distance from the dorm. Only one of them, a bar called The Slaughtered Lamb, was open. It was about 4:30 when I got there, and I realized I hadn't eaten anything but coffee/tea since my flight landed. So I asked if they served food, and they had some appetizers.

I didn't want to get fish and chips because it was so late and I knew I wanted to get dinner at the sports bar, so I opted for "whitetip fish with tarter sauce." Let's play a game. What do you think that is? I thought it would be a white fish (like cod) just minus the "chips." I was close. Sort of.

As far as I could make out, they are deep fried minnows (or something like that). I mean, why don't we have THAT at the state fair? Fried bait! But did I eat it? You bet. I was starving. And it wasn't too bad. That's my only food adventure so far. Last night at the sports bar I just had hummus and pita. It was delicious.

Today I'm going to take a walking tour and see what is open down in Soho and Covent Garden. I did pass a Zara last night, which was a great store we had in Miami, but I've never seen since. So I'm going to check that out as well.

Tonight I'll head back to The Slaughtered Lamb and post some photos of my day. Cheerio!

I have arrived.

And what a journey it has been. I guess since it's a holiday weekend, the city closes many of the subway (underground) lines to do repair work figuring many folks are not commuting. Two of the 3 lines I was going to take to my dorm were closed, so it took me about an hour longer to find my neighborhood etc. And the guy at the front desk of the dorm told me the best place to get wifi is Starbucks. Yes kiddies, I'm all the way in the UK, at a freakin' Starbucks. And now that I'm on the internet, I'm lookin' for a better solution.

I really have nothing to report on the dorm as I could not check in, but could only drop off my luggage (thank God). I did see a few angry looking punk-rock students in the reception area. I can only hope more stories including such characters will follow later (Hi Mom! Deep breaths!).

The flight was fine. Oh! I had a spankin-new plane and we could CHOOSE what movie we wanted to watch. Out of like 25 options! Or video games! I really wanted to sleep so I wouldn't be too jet-lagged, but who could resist such technology? So I did watch the beginning of "No Country for Old Men" while I waited for dinner. But about half-way in I decided I wanted to watch the rest with Jamie (it's a bit scary. you all know about my thing with serial killers), so I turned it off and went to sleep.

Flying in was beautiful. The fields were so green and full of sheep. Very English. But now it's rather cold and rainy, and I'm content to stay in and rest for a bit sipping coffee (and read up on the basketball games). I'll get out later this afternoon and maybe post some photos tonight.

Please leave me comments and tell me how you all are doing.

Shazam!

Some of you know that I've been trying to get my own *real* website launched. I desperately wanted to get it done before this big trip of mine. You know, it's good to have goals.

Anyhoo, it's not quite finished. There are some bugs here and there. But it's close. So I'm letting you all take a sneak peek. Also, I use a Mac and I use Firefox for my web browser. There's a good chance that you all use different setups (because not everyone can make the divine choices that I do) and sometimes sites work differently on pcs vs. macs and explorer vs. firefox. So please shoot me an email if things aren't working out right or seem funny. Or if you just don't get it (hi mom!).

Go to www.leslieplesser.com to see what all the fuss has been about.

Kiss Kiss

In an effort to figure out this whole photo-posting bit, here's who I'll miss the most while I'm away. They move so fast it's hard to stay focused, but you get the idea.

British films for $1000

So I was thinking of uploading a few movies to my laptop for the plane ride over the Atlantic. I was trying to think of films that would get me excited about the trip, and I thought it would be great to watch some classic films on London (or Dublin). Much like the Roman Holiday of Rome or the Amelie of Paris. But I can't think of anything for London.

My favorite British movies (Love, Actually; About a Boy) are not necessarily scenic of London. They're just scenic of Hugh Grant.

So I'm asking for suggestions. No period pieces, please. And no Harry Potter. OK, go!

Hell Yeah

So one of the biggest drawbacks of me going abroad at the end of March is that I won't be able to watch my Kansas Jayhawks in the NCAA tournament. Although, I must admit, part of me thinks this will only ensure that they make it to the final four since I won't be able to watch.

But alas! I have found the magic link that will direct me to the nearest bar showing the NCAA tournament. Check this out! And that's just for London!

Now the question remains: Will my ability to follow March Madness in the UK jinx my Jayhawks into an early exit?

Testing, testing, one, two, three...

Is this thing on? I'll be trying to learn all of this blog business in the next few weeks before leaving for my big trip across the pond. Official blogging will begin once I arrive on March 23.