blarney me stone!

Hey guys...it's been a couple of days. We started our paddywagon tour and it has been a good time! Our driver is hilarious....Jessica (larson), you would totally have a crush on him, both jacks and i agree! he sings irish songs to us, he is 30, and very irish, greenish blue eyes, shaggy hair, a total ourdoorsman. We asked if he was available for ya! anyway, we went to the blarney stone, at blarney castle...which was beautiful (the castle, not the stone), but the stone was a bit...dissapointing. It is built into the castle, at the top, so you have to walk up these old old narrow stairs to the top and you wouldn't even notice it was there, except for the fact that 2 men hold you up and bend you backwards, meanwhile you can see the ground three stories below and then you just kiss this part of the wall, except for that your eyes are closed because if you look down, it will freak you out! So, we did it....and now i'm supposed to have the gift of eloquent speaking... we will see....i'm not sure it has worked so far. We also went to the Cliffs of Moher today, which were absolutely gorgeous. It was freezing, but, just fabulous. Also, there weren't a lot of people there, so, it was pretty secluded. We went to this little seaside town called Doolin, and had lunch at a pub, which was delicious. Again, it looks like a story village, with houses of all different colors just spread out with the huge rocky ocean side just there, and random cows and sheep walking around everywhere. It is quite surreal, if you ask me. After that we went to the Burren, which is basically an area of pure limestone rock hills. the terrain just changes so drastically from green grass with the occasional rock to more rock than grass and steep cliffs that go into the ocean. We layed on the edge of one and watched the waves crash on the rocks about 100feet below...it was gorgeous. We are now in Galway, which is a darling little town, going to dinner with our group then out to a pub! miss you all!
p.s. jess, we will take a pic of the tourguide for ya!

the worst 2 hours of our life...

Hello everyone, or shall i say cheers? hehe. We are in Dublin, it is Sunday night, the 16th. Our lastwas soon after to be the absolute opposite, as far as emotions go. We boarded our cheerful and bubbly selves onto the Dublin Swift...what we thought was a large and fantastic ship that would quickly sail us across to Dublin....swiftly... well, it probably was the longest 2 hours of my life...and i'm sure jackson here would agree. We got on the ship, marveled at the lovely bars and chairs and even our first souvenir shop! Little did we know, we were just in the harbor. Twenty minutes later, after 1/2 pint of cider beer, as well, we were breaking out into a cold sweat, nauseous, and lying out over three chairs. The water was 'a little choppy'....according to the captain....well, mr. captain...we thought it was more than choppy! seeing as most of the people couldn't walk in a straight line and were falling down, it was like a hurricaine or something! I knew it was coming, i started shaking...i grabbed for the conveniently placed white bags on every table...and began throwing up. As I haphazardly threw my stuff at jackie (who really didn't care to watch it, seeing as how sick she was getting), I ran to the bathroom, and continued to try to steady myself in the corner, holding my puke bag (as it is now called) to my face to try to not make a mess....imagine this for 2 hours straight. Continual rocking back and forth, up and down, the heat, the noise...it was absolutely horrific. I knew it wasn't just me, because about 10 minutes after I went back, jackie came running with all of our stuff, threw it next to me, and ran into a stall and proceded to continually 're-see' the rest of her stomach contents for the next 2 hours as well. She had her lovely spot with her head in the sink, while i maintained court in the corner. We just about died when the captain said we were going to be a 1/2 hour late.... post, which was very cheerful and bubbly,





So, when we FINALLY made it to Dublin, we got the nearest bus and then taxi and proceeded to our new friend Shannon's house. We are very thankful to her and her roomates for letting us stay there this weekend, without so much as letting us give them any money! We recovered that Friday night (eating carr's crackers and 7up) and shopped all day Saturday, went to Trinity college, and today, going to this big prison...Kilmainham Gaol (or jail), and then to the Guiness Factory (way cool, and for the piece de resistance... you get a pint of guiness for free in the great bar overlooking Dublin...although it was a waste of a beer for jacks adn I b/c guiness isn't our specialty...). That picture of Jackie with the statue is the famous Molly Malone...there is a little song about her, but, i forgtet it. It has been a sucessful weekend, and we leave tomorrow for our 3 day tour of West and South Ireland in the paddywagon. haha. Again, no more pictures, because we are in an internet cafe and cannot download them here...but, we will put them up when we can! miss everyone!

the last week, and traveling

Hello all!! Well, jacks and I finished our rotation, took our test, and are on our way to Ireland. At the moment, we are sitting in a coffee shop/internet cafe in a tiny town of Holyhead. We are waiting for our ship to take us to Dublin. Holyhead is a little port town in Wales that runs most of the ships to Dublin. We had the most lovely train ride here....it was 3hrs, but the scenery was absolutely beautiful....much better than what we have been seeing. We pretty much rode along the water and saw the most amazing little towns.

I would usually consider myself pretty good at geography, etc (thanks to the lovely computer game, Where in the World is Carmen San Diego), but, I seem to have lapsed in my knowlege of England....because I guess I never paid attention enough to see that Wales is actually another country, much like Scotland...iu guess i just thought they were territories like Canada has....but, anyway, they have a completely different language...i can't even explain it to you....crazy, but thank goodness, the signs are in English, as well! See below...
















We got here at 230ish and our ship leaves at 515, so, we are hangin out here. We will spend 2 nights in Dublin with a girl named Shannon (the sister of one of her friends), adn then one more night in a hostel in Dublin, then we take off for a wild trip with paddywagon tours (www.paddywagontours.com) for a 3 day tour of west and south ireland. It should be fun...i hope! Then, one more night in Dublin at a hostel, and then a complete day of traveling on trains and ships, to finally make it to Gatwick late Thursday night, and fly home Friday! we are excited about Ireland...but excited to come home, as well. So, that is our schedule thus far. Hopefully I will be able to write more while in Ireland, but neither of us have our computers (it is backpacking life for the next 6 days!), and as far as pictures go, they will have to wait, as well! Miss everyone dearly! see you soon!
love, kris and jacks

when in Rome...

Hi everyone! It has been awhile since we have posted...sorry, it was our last week in Wolverhampton, and we had a bunch of little things to get finished before we left! Well, this past weekend, we went to Bath, an old Roman town, I think northeast of us....but i'm not sure. (jack usually knows what direction we are in....i just get on the train) We heard it was beautiful, and so we took an early Saturday morning train and got there by 11am. It was pouring, like I have come to expect in England...but, oh well, we are prepared. We went to our hostel...which, was a little 'rougher' than our previous one....but, it was only one night, we were okay. We basically toured the old ruins of the Roman Baths...they were originally built around a hot spring and were deemed 'sacred' and thought to be due to the goddess Minerva....so, anyway, it is the major tourist attraction....and it was quite fun! We then went to the fashion museum...which actually turned out to be quite dissapointing...it took us about 30 minutes to get through the whole thing! not worth our pounds.... but, as it is a fashion place, and once the rain cleared up, we obviously did what there is to do there....SHOP. It was packed, more like a zoo, as jackie calls it. Everyone and their mother were there for xmas shopping. We made it through the crowds, and eventually went out to dinner and drinks...we had a great time, but had to be up early to get to the tour we had booked.
Again, it was pouring rain that morning, and, tired as we were, we were up and ready to go by 8am. We went on a day tour to see some very very old villages and towns that were once very prosperous due to the woolen industry, but had since died out because of the Industrial Revolution...and now, are owned by wealthy people who love to live in these quaint little towns. So, we did that, and of course, saw Stonehenge. For those who go to stonehenge, it is quite large obviously, in fact, it was so large, we did not feel the need to pay £4 to see it...we simply looked on from afar...but, as you will see later, once i have a chance to post pictures...we still got great views. Instead, Jackson and I found it much more entertaining to go in the adjacent field and try to pet sheep! They are so cute, and, apart from trying to walk through a field of sheep poop to get close to one, much more darling than the huge stonehenge. So, we hung out with the sheep and tried to pet them, without much success. We are glad that our cameras have zoom. I guess we are not one with the sheep....
So, we took a train home late Sunday night, and had the last four days left to work and get ready for Ireland!

london bridge is falling down....not yet!!

hello guys,
well, Jackie and I went to London. We are masters of the tube stations! We had a great time, although we did A LOT of walking. At first, we had all of these elaborate plans to see EVERYTHING, but, that didn't work out...and we were okay with that. There is just too much to do in 2 days. Our first major event of Saturday morning was missing our bus. Well, it missed us, actually. None of the bus signs have accurate stop times, so, we thought we missed it...so we were about 5 to 10 feet from the stop, and it came and it wouldn't stop for us! So, thinking we were going to miss the train, we walked (quickly, I might add) all the way to the train station, with our huge backpacks on our back. It took us about a 1/2 hr to do, and by the time we got there, we were soaked. Jackie needed another shirt! We did make it for the 730am train though, because it was late arriving to the station. So, we got seats on the train into London.
Our first stop upon arriving to London was to find our hostel in Kensington. Everytime we mention "kensington" to a person from England, they say, "ooooh!! that's so posh!" Turns out, Kensington is where Princess Di used to live, and so, her area is supposedly pretty nice. It was, and our hostel turned out to be clean and in a great location, right next to Holland Park. It was beautiful.
After that, we boarded the tube and went to Westminster Abbey, which happens to be very close to Big Ben and the Parliament. The tube station also has great views of the London Eye (the big ferris wheel). So, we saw all of those things, although did not take a ride on teh London Eye because it was kind of outrageous prices. Westminster was beautiful though, it is crazy the detail on every darn part of the whole church, inside and out. Inside, there are lots of kings, queens, and famous people buried there, in the walls and ground. People such as Queen Mary, Mary Tudor, and Henry VII (I wish I paid a little more attention in History class, so I would remember what all these people did!). No pictures were allowed, but, we saw some good historical stuff.

Next, we walked around for a bit and went to Picadilly Circus and Leichster square. I think that a "circus" used in this term is just meaning a bunch of outdoor shops. But this certainly was a circus. For Christmas, they closed all the streets and people could just shop up and down Regent street and Picadilly. It was nuts, people were walking everywhere, the stores were crazy, definitely a CF. There is a very nice street with just about every designer and couture fashion label you can think of and Jacks and I felt a little under dressed, going in and out of the stores like Prada and Chanel, obviously not there to buy anything, but just to look and have me drool over all the lovely shoes, bags, and clothes. :-)
After another couple of hours walking, and of course, a stop for coffee, we decided to do more historical stuff. We went to Kensington Palace, where Princess Diana lived, and some other royal people still live there today. They had all of these memorials to Princess Di, some of her old dresses, and other famous kings and queens' clothes on display. The rooms were gorgeous. Of course, you only get to see about 39 rooms of the palace, which has over 400 rooms in total. so, it's huge. Very good stop.
By then, we were tired and hungry, so we made it back to our hostel, got ready, and went to dinner at the Pasta Cafe. It was our first actual restaurant where people come and take your order... It was Italian, and very good. We then went to this bar called Sticky Fingers, for some beer and people watching....
The next morning, we made our way to the tower of London, which is actually a fortress of about 15 buildings. We saw the Crown Jewels (of which, no pictures were allowed, again) and a bunch of old stuff. We learned about torture devices and what they used to do to people back in the day. We took notes. ;-) We had fun, but got soaking wet in the rain...even with our umbrellas...I took a picture of Jackie in a doorway that has been in existence since 1300AD, clearly, she would have been one of the tallest people!
We then walked like 3 miles down the Thames river to the Millennium Bridge, taking funny pictures along the way. We saw London Bridge, which you think will be this spectacular bridge....really it is pretty boring...it just goes across....it doesn't have any designs, etc. Obviously, not like the song, London bridge is NOT falling down.....Once we got to near Millennium Bridge, we saw the Globe from across the river and the Tate Museum, and decided to take the tube back over to the area where the British museum was. It is supposedly this huge fabulous museum that has free entry, etc. By the time we made it over there, we were starving, so we ate at this modern burger joint, and they had the biggest, most yummy burgers. They were huge. We ate, and then decided we were too "museum'd out." We decided to shop a little and eventually make it back to our hostel, get our luggage, and leave for Wolverhampton. We got home around 830pm last night, and were really tired. Overall, it was a fun trip....we saw lots of stuff, but still, there is more for next time! Our next city this weekend is Bath, a very quaint little city that has its roots from the Roman times where they, (take a guess), went and had a bunch of natural spring hot baths. So, more to come later!

a visit from the pseudo-english professor

Hello,
Well, this week has been pretty busy, with an extra day of traveling, and also, a visit from our teacher, professor Fahringer. He came in to our hospital on a Tuesday, had several meetings, and decided he could squeeze us in for an early dinner at the pub near his hotel. We had dinner and chatted a little bit. He demonstrates quite a lot of knowledge of the common Englishman's phrases in everyday conversation. Such as, ketchup is what he calls "tomato sauce," to call someone on the phone is to "ring them." The "tele" is the TV, etc. He certainly fits right in with all the other English people. But, our visit was shortened because he had yet another appointment at 8pm that evening. He did buy us dinner, and we thank him for that. But, he couldn't seem to get out of there fast enough! So, Jackie and I finished our beers and went home for the night. So, that was our visit. He is here in England for an entire week though, although he is busy going other places. Hmm, other than that, that's all I have for today!

Shopping in Birmingham and Willy Wonka -esque

On Sunday we took a short train ride to Birmingham. It is the second largest city in England and is supposedly the largest retail center in Europe. The BullRing is the famous shopping center there and is several floors of great shops. It was pretty crazy with all of the Christmas shoppers out but we managed to scour the three floors and leave without spending too much money. Birmingham is also known for its German Christmas market which runs through most of Nov and Dec each year. It was pretty cool with all sorts of German food and craft vendors but was an absolute zoo. We got our fix of German cuisine there.We didn't have time on Sunday to see everything in Birmingham so we went back today (Wed). There was nothing on our schedule for work today so we decided that a little day trip would be much more fun than sitting at our flat studying. We went to Cadbury World where all the Cadbury chocolate is made and packaged. It was a pretty neat tour and we got free chocolate so it was well worth the trip. There were mostly elementary school groups there so Krissi and I really stuck out as the big kids walking around the place. After Cadbury World, we took the train back into downtown Birmingham, walked through the German market again, this time a little more comfortably, and then went to the Mailbox. It is a huge red building filled with upscale shops. We felt a little out of place in our ski jackets and tennis shoes but still had a good time looking and pretending. So it's back to work tomorrow for two more days, then London this weekend!

Our Trip to York

Jackie and I went to York today, on a school organized trip via bus. In case you didn't know, York is about 3hrs north west of Wolverhampton. We had a very hot and crowded bus ride with 62 other students, all speaking either French or Chinese....and some didn't wear deodorant! I am still getting over being carsick in buses because no one likes to stop ahead of time, all the drivers stop at the last darn second and the whole bus lurches forward. also, England is made up of traffic circles, which are quite complicated with people circling and huge buses trying to enter the circle. So, we were glad to be off the darn bus.
York is considered the most haunted city in England, and has a ton of Roman and Norman history. There is the biggest cathedral basilica North of the Alps, called York Minster. It is this huge gorgeous chruch that has been built upon old Roman ruins, then old Norman ruins, and parts of the church have been in existence since 1100AD. Constantine was proclaimed emperor on the space the church sits on (old Roman buildings) in 308AD....so, pretty cool. We started to take a free tour, but we could hardly understand this old guy who was giving it. He had the absolute hairiest eyebrows and ear fluff I have ever seen! His accent was so thick and he didn't talk loud...so, we just made our own tour. There are apparently, amazing stained glass windows, still in existence in the church since 1200ad. Beautiful. The church also has tombs of a bunch of people...old archdeacons, people who gave money to the church, etc. Also, St. William's remains are entombed in the crypt in the undercroft. We couldn't take pictures of that, but, there is a little area devoted to him down there. Also in the undercroft, there is basically, a tour of this large archeological site that goes through the levels of where the Roman ruins are, then the Norman ruins, then the Saxon...it was cool.
After the church, we went around to all the lovely stores. The town is so little and quaint and has the cutest stores of all kind! Also, restaurants. Jacks and I didn't want to spend a long time in a restaurant due to time, so we got a panini and a Meat pie...very tasty. So, all in all, York was cute. We had to be back at the bus at 515, so, we spent a good 5 and 1/2 hrs there. We couldn't wait to get off the darn bus on the way home. Here are pictures from our day....tomorrow, we are shopping in Birmingham, possibly going to the Cadbury cream egg factory, and the German Christmas Market! Talk to you soon!



I know these are sideways, but I can't figure out how to change them!!
This is a picture of us at the bottom of the steps to this huge really old viking lookout! It is dark, but somehow, our camera made it look lighter.....really cool.

The best thing since sliced bread...and other adventures in cooking

Well, Jacks and I have attempted cooking, using limited tools in our kitchen, and random stuff the English have in their grocery stores. We first thought it would be a great idea to make a stew...because it is always rainy and cold....which would be fabulous, if we knew how to do it, what meat to use, have spices, and a crock pot. We improvised....and put a bunch of stuff in a pot, and went with it. the result was....pretty good, especially when you know there is nothing else warm to eat. We will just say, the meat was a bit...chewy. It was called "casserole beef," whatever that means. Here is the picture of it...
It was pretty good, for amateurs. We also bought lovely looking bread from the store....and found out it wasn't sliced when we brought it home. It also happens to be really crusty and doesn't slice well, with our knives here...so, when we make pb and j, it get's interesting. I just thought I would share this because Jacks and I were cracking up at this idea of a "sandwhich" seen below.....we couldn't slice the bread and so, we just used the last hunk of it for her sandwhich...it was a mega peanut butter and jelly, for sure. Also, eaten with leftover stew.....
well, more later....miss everyone!
love you!
kris and jacks

Turkey Day, etc

above: Fish and chips + The mushy peas

STELLA!

Well, we had our first Thanksgiving in England...I guess the actual antithesis of Thanksgiving, being here in England...but, oh well. jackie and I worked all day, met up at our apartment, and decided to go back into town to a pub. The Royal London, as it is called, is a cute mix between a bar and a coffee shop. We didn't realize that they don't actually serve you at your table...you order everything at the bar. So, we both decided on fish and chips because we hadn't had it yet. It was quite good! We also both got a beer. I decided on a Stella (for you, Brit!) and Jack got a Strongbow...which is like cider . So, that was our night. Interesting tidbit...the fish and chips come with "mushy peas." Literally, mashed up peas. I have no idea why, but, it was good! We went to eat and then came home, and did the usual....go on the internet and go to bed, usually before nine because of how dark it gets. Oh, and we have no TV, so, all we have is internet. So, that was our Turkey day, not as yummy as all of the American people's was, but....we did it England style.
The next day, Friday, we both went to work in the morning. I saw electric shock therapy....which was CRAZY, and jack was on the ward....then we went to meetings and were off by 2pm, so went shopping in wolverhampton. Let me tell ya, it's not very big, but, we looked and hung out until it got dark (about 4ish) and eventually made our way home, via our lovely friend, the bus. Pretty uneventful Friday...but, we are happy, although still FREEZING in our apartment....more to come later!

Days 2 & 3

We are all settled in our flat now. It is still freezing and we are still having to sleep in layers of UnderArmor, but it is nice to have our own place to come back to. We spent most of Monday finding our way around Wolverhampton's campus getting our student ID's and meeting with the international students office. We also took a quick look around the town and picked up a cell phone to use here and to make cheap calls to the US. Most importantly, we found our way to Asda, the Walmart-type store here to get groceries so we no longer have to survive on Luna bars.

Today (Tuesday) was our first day of our psychiatry rotation. Weactually spent more time on the bus than at work as we took the wrong University bus this morning and our 10 min bus ride turned into 2 hrs. We figured out our error early on but by then we were already out oftown and on our way to a completely different city and campus. At that point all we could do was laugh at ourselves and enjoy the tour of the England countryside. All in all we took five bus rides before we made it to Penn Mental Hospital by lunch time. The doctor's secretary made a schedule out for each of us for the entire month so it looks like we will be seeing and doing a wide variety of things to keep us busy during the next four weeks. It is about bedtime now... with it getting dark at 3-4 o'clock everyday, I'm ready for bed at 8 o'clock. We promised ourselves that we wouldn't let the cold and darkness talk us out of going out to check out a pub tomorrow night.

Our First Day

Hi guys.....We are here, we arrived safely. The plane went alright, but we almost weren't let in b/c they said we needed visas, even though we aren't getting paid....the lady was seriously about to send us back, but she said she didn't have time to deal with us b/c it was minor.....she said all we can do is watch. Apparently, the rules changed. After that, we had to catch 3 trains in london to make it to wolverhampton (it took 4hrs and about 100bucks). We had all of our luggage and were completely exhausted and worn out. We definitely are Americans....no hiding that! We finally got to wolverhampton about 4pm and it was raining and dark. We got a taxi and went to our place. It is nice enough...jsut freezing. also, they don't have any stores nearby and so we are going to try to get food tomorrow. We had popcorn for dinner!! and my internet isn't working, so we are going to try and fix that, too. We have to take buses into town (they are free). The town itself looks pretty cute.... Jack says we just have to get into a routine... It's just so darn freezing in our dorm, and we can't change the heat. Okay, my toes are numb, and we have to go to sleep!!! (even tho it's only like 7pm here...)