A Trip around London

December 30, 2012
Our first student blogger is Mindi!

Hello there! My name is Mindi and I am a junior at The College of St. Scholastica. I am studying Business Management with a Theatre Minor. I grew up in Tower, MN but I was the last class to graduate from Babbitt-Embarrass. I chose to go on this J-term for a couple of reasons. I love traveling with a passion and I never want to miss an opportunity to experience something new! I also wanted to go on this trip because there is so much history here: plagues, fires, royalty and fashion. 

For our first day we had a full day of adventures! My room (The QUAD) missed breakfast because our trusty alarm was not so trusty. We got ready in 15 minutes and I must say we were quite good looking for our rushed morning. We had a bus tour lined up to see the city of London. Our guide's name, who we will see again, was Eleanor Jackson and our bus driver's name was Darren. On the tour Darren was a bit naughty and did an illegal maneuver to turn our bus around. We have not been here very long and we already were breaking the law! We saw many things on our tour. We saw Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, Hyde Park, Green Park, Buckingham Palace, West End, London Bridge (it didn't fall down), Parliament, and Big Ben.

We didn't tour inside these monuments but we were outside of them and now we know where they are so we can visit them on our own time. We did go inside the Museum of London for a couple of hours. It was pretty much dealing with the entire history of the city of London from the beginning all the way up to the Olympics. I really enjoyed learning about the fire that claimed a large portion of the city because the King's bakery started on fire. It burnt for 5 whole days. I also really enjoyed learning about London during World War 2. They had movies with eyewitness accounts. You can read about all these things in a book but to be in that interactive environment made it more real for me. 

After the museum we went to eat at a restaurant called "Canteen". My three course meal consisted of: Mushroom Soup and Soda Bread, Steak and chips, and Bread Pudding. I enjoyed the Mushroom Soup despite the look of it. It was brown with little chunks in it. The steak and chips were delicious!! The steak was so juicy and the chips were awesome! The bread pudding was my least favorite part of the meal. I'm not a dessert person to start with and then to add such a uniquely flavored dessert was too much for my northern Minnesotan palate. It was a crisp breading on the outside with a soft, mushy lemony (very lemony) inside with caramel ice cream on top. It was such a different blend of flavors and awkward texture. I would say try it if you get the chance because I'm sure if you are a dessert person you may like it. I just was not fond of that portion of the meal.  

The night ended with a group of us walking to the Thames River and just looking around then taking the Tube ("Chewb" in London Lingo) back to our hotel by ourselves. It was a busy day but it is such an amazing experience I wouldn't change it for the world!! I will continue to try new things and take advantage of being here!!  

Unexpected twists

December 28 - 29, 2012

After the group arrived at MSP, things seemed to be going smoothly. We got to our gate,  grabbed some food, and assaulted in to wait for our flight.
We boarded the plane and sat there. Waiting. And waiting. There was an issue with a fuel gauge. They knew there was enough fuel, that the tank was full, but the part that says that was malfunctioning. So, over the next coupler hours they retired various things. None of which worked, including powering down the airplane. Finally, they had us leave the airplane to wait at least 3 hours for a part to arrive from Atlanta.
We trudged back to the airport and were told it would be 7 hours. All were promised Hotel and food vouchers. As the students all settled in (too much hassle to get everyone to the hotel and back for maybe 2 hours sleep), they announced it would be more like 3 and a half hours. We were given 50 dollars to spend at the airport. However three only thing open was Subway. Mats were delivered, pillows and blankets distributed, and snacks galore provided (assuming you wanted peanuts, pretzels, our cookies).
Despite making hundreds of sandwiches for cranky travelers, the Subway guys were smiling and polite.

And we did get to recharge our electronics.

After a few restless hours at the gate we were tools to queue up to board. Then an announcement that we would have to wait for the part to be installed and the captain to give to go ahead.  again we were loaded into the plane and waited. Paperwork. Finally after almost 2 hours we left.
But not to London, first to JFK where we would get new pilots. We're sitting at JFK now. Waiting for the paperwork for the pilots. Then it's finally off to London. This trip has already been an adventure and we haven't even left the country yet.

Canceled flight

December 28, 2012

Well, our United flight from Duluth to Chicago was canceled. And Brian, the United gate agent in Duluth was the singularly most unhelpful person I've ever worked with. Not only was he unhelpful, he was downright rude. We had ten in our group and 2 individuals, so 12 all together we needed to fly out. There were 12 seats available with the rest of our group on Delta. No-brainer, right, get us on that flight. But no, Brian is "not a ticketing agent" and won't help us. Meanwhile Tony Barrett has been on the phone with United Group and they're saying the agent at the gate has to issue the tickets. The Delta people and the people on the phone want to help, Brian wants to complain.
After several failed plans, we finally have it all worked out and can fly Delta from Minneapolis. But meanwhile, Brian, the guy who said he couldn't issue tickets has been issuing tickets to the people behind us in line, so there are no longer enough seats for all of us. Luckily, the two flying individually, have made their own arrangements on the phone with United and are flying with the Delta group.
So, here we are, ten orphans without a flight. (thanks for nothing, Brian). But, our heroes, Pat Greenwood and Mark Vaughan have been working to set up a Skyline Shuttle to drive us to Minneapolis. So, after 3 hours of planning and sitting on the phone, (and a mere 400 dollar charge to my Pcard) the ten of us boarded the shuttle less than an hour after our flight to Chicago was to have departed.
Now we are driving down the dark and icy interstate toward the Minneapolis airport where we will join our fellow travelers and journey on to London.

We leave today

December 28, 2012

Well, this is it. Today is the day.
In 12 hours our group will be boarding planes in Chicago and Minneapolis headed to Heathrow.

All that is left is the last minute packing.
I know I packed too much. I often do. But this time I wanted room to bring things back, so I packed a suitcase in my suitcase to use as a carry on on the way home. Maybe that's overkill... maybe that's too much.
I definitely need to weigh my bag before I leave the house. Packing for two weeks in London seems so much more difficult than packing for two weeks at the cabin. Plus we're going to the theatre and celebrating New Year's Eve, which means different clothes. (I definitely have packed too many clothes... sigh... ) It is what it is, I'm sticking with it.

The next blog will be from a student. At least one student will blog every day for the entire trip. (an occasional professor or guest may blog, we'll see)