We have a new address in London: Wally and Maria Hurst, 2 Itea Court, Lindie Gardens, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8, 1GR, United Kingdom. The post codes are amazing here: All you do for service or delivery is give them your post code, and they know your street immediately. They just ask what number. It's especially helpful when you're getting groceries or a pizza delivered!
I have begun my Masters Level classes at Brunel. On Wednesday from 2-5 PM, I take Research Methodologies, where I am to learn the secrets of scholarly research, how to read Elizabethan script and printing, and innumerable other great things I can use in writing my papers and my dissertation. Our professor is quite famous, has published several books on the topic, and has studied and taught at Cambridge and Harvard, among many other places. She also has top access to the British Library and the Folger Shakespeare Library in DC, so I am a little bit envious!
My other class is The Making of Shakespeare, and it's about how the author and the plays went from relative obscurity in the 1600's to what they are today. We watched a clip form Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country to illustrate just how far into the world's collective consciousness Shakespeare has travelled. It's an amazing class, too. I am also looking forward to beginning my German class next Thursday!
We are almost completely settled in. Still learning about Uxbridge and Brunel, but very comfortable now. The weather has been great since we've been here,and we're enjoying it to the fullest. Thanks for reading, and if we have time this weekend, we'll add another post!
Friday, September 30, 2011
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Closer to Being Home in Uxbridge
Well, it's been another great week in London. We bid a very fond goodbye to Nigel, our wonderful friend who put us up for over a week. Thank you Nigel!!! Friday, we moved to temporary digs at a hotel in Hillingdon, the tube stop just before Uxbridge. Not exactly luxury accomodations, but at least we're not spending a fortune on trains and tubes every day or making the 2-hour-plus journey each way between Bromley South and Uxbridge.
We continue to be enthralled by the city of Uxbridge. The downtown is both modern and quaint, and has two shopping centres and at least 10 pubs, all within 5 minutes walk -- unless you've been drinking, of course! And the people are very nice and welcoming. Once they hear our American accents, they are anxious to help us, or tell us how much they like Americans, or how much they enjoyed their visit to America, or like today, when one older gentleman regaled us with tales and how he loves Yanks because "they spent a lot of lives defending us" in World War II. Wonderful place to people-watch.
I am anxious to get to my first real classes Wednesday: Research Methodologies from 2 until 5 PM, then"The Making Of Shakespeare" from 6 to 9 PM. I got to meet my classmates and also my research professor Thursday, and everyone was really nice. It should be an intense and exciting next few months, and I'm looking forward to it!
Brunel is such an interesting campus, too, with all the international students speaking so many different languages. It's really fun listening to so many forms of communication, then going to the library and listening to the same conversations at different volumes!
Speaking of the library, it's pretty high tech. There are over 500 computers there, and connections for that many more. The Postgraduate Room is open 24 hours a day by special ID-card only, and you check out a book by swiping your ID card over a reader, then putting each book in a space below the reader, where it reads the title, checks it out for you, and asks if you're finished - all in about a microsecond. Amazing!
My reading list is considerable, but what really will take the work will be the projects that arise from class discussion. This is really going to be a challenge, because the research begins, in Renaissance scholarship, with the paper itself, and also covers how it was printed, who printed it, and why one edition may differ from another edition. The details really matter in this type of research, and it's going to be different from anything I have ever done before.
Looking forward to getting into our apartment next week (hopefully Wednesday), and getting our budget set, so we can see some West End shows next weekend. Did you know that Ralph Fiennes (Voldemort) is playing Prospero in The Tempest? We'll try and see that one, and maybe one or two at the Globe before it closes on October 2. Lots to see, and lots to do!
After we finally move in, I am going to get myself a button that says, "I am NOT a Sodding Tourist!" and wear it around town! Cheers!
We continue to be enthralled by the city of Uxbridge. The downtown is both modern and quaint, and has two shopping centres and at least 10 pubs, all within 5 minutes walk -- unless you've been drinking, of course! And the people are very nice and welcoming. Once they hear our American accents, they are anxious to help us, or tell us how much they like Americans, or how much they enjoyed their visit to America, or like today, when one older gentleman regaled us with tales and how he loves Yanks because "they spent a lot of lives defending us" in World War II. Wonderful place to people-watch.
I am anxious to get to my first real classes Wednesday: Research Methodologies from 2 until 5 PM, then"The Making Of Shakespeare" from 6 to 9 PM. I got to meet my classmates and also my research professor Thursday, and everyone was really nice. It should be an intense and exciting next few months, and I'm looking forward to it!
Brunel is such an interesting campus, too, with all the international students speaking so many different languages. It's really fun listening to so many forms of communication, then going to the library and listening to the same conversations at different volumes!
Speaking of the library, it's pretty high tech. There are over 500 computers there, and connections for that many more. The Postgraduate Room is open 24 hours a day by special ID-card only, and you check out a book by swiping your ID card over a reader, then putting each book in a space below the reader, where it reads the title, checks it out for you, and asks if you're finished - all in about a microsecond. Amazing!
My reading list is considerable, but what really will take the work will be the projects that arise from class discussion. This is really going to be a challenge, because the research begins, in Renaissance scholarship, with the paper itself, and also covers how it was printed, who printed it, and why one edition may differ from another edition. The details really matter in this type of research, and it's going to be different from anything I have ever done before.
Looking forward to getting into our apartment next week (hopefully Wednesday), and getting our budget set, so we can see some West End shows next weekend. Did you know that Ralph Fiennes (Voldemort) is playing Prospero in The Tempest? We'll try and see that one, and maybe one or two at the Globe before it closes on October 2. Lots to see, and lots to do!
After we finally move in, I am going to get myself a button that says, "I am NOT a Sodding Tourist!" and wear it around town! Cheers!
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Ready For Week Number Two!!!
Sunday has arrived! Taking a day off to catch our breaths and wait for news of our apartment search. Looks like we will be able to secure a nice 2-bedroom flat about 10 minutes' walk from Uxbridge town centre and about 12 minutes' walk from Brunel University. It's furnished and very nice, but the landlord orginally did not want to rent it to us because I was a student. Sent over my academic/career CV and theatrical resume to the estate agent along with my last paycheck direct-deposit advice from Lakeland to let him know that I was not a typical student, and I think he got the message. The estate agent seemed genuinely embarassed that we had been hassled as much as we had been, and told us that he did not think there would be any problem in renting the flat. (When Maria offered to send him her resume, he held up his hands in an unmistakeable gesture of total surrender and said that this was more than enough information to take to the landlord, thank you very much!)
While we do love Bromley South and Nigel, we do not want to impose on his hospitality too long, so we are anxious to conclude negotiations and move in -- preferably on Monday or Tuesday. My first class meeting in Graduate School starts Thursday afternoon at Brunel, and I'd like to be settled in at Uxbridge long before then. We'll see.
Brunel is quite an extraordinary university, I have found. They have something they call an Open Day, in which prospective students are invited for a tour of the campus and other activities. They had one Thursday, and over 2,000 students showed up -- and I was told that they had an even larger crowd the week before! I find that amazing!
Brunel is also the only university I have ever heard of that offers free foreigh language courses to all its students. For instance, I am taking a Masters in Shakespeare Authorship Studies: no foreign language there, right? I am also signing up for Italian on Wednesday evenings, and will get a proficiency certificate upon completion of the course. ( I am signing up for Italian because it is obvious to me that whoever wrote the works of Shakespeare traveled extensively in Italy, and I want to be able to read any travelogues or diaries of their travels in the native language if they exist. It'll help me brush up my Latin, too!) I may be able to brush up my woeful high school French too, if it doesn't interfere with my Grad school classes. The point is, all this language instruction is free. Why does Brunel do this? The explanation from the head of the department is simple and brilliant: they want Brunel stuents and graduates to have every competitive advantage available to them when it comes to getting a job in the real world, and they know that an employer, faced with two more or less equally qualified candidates, will choose the one with "just one more foreign language" on their resume, especially if it is one relevant to the job skills or communication abilities that they want. If the firm you're appling to has an office in Shanghai and the Brunel graduate has competency in Mandarin, that's a big plus when you apply to an engineering or financial services company. Smart, simple, and brilliant. It's amazing how forward-thinking that is, and it's typical of how much Brunel has impressed Maria and me since we've been here. Although every major building on campus seems to completely and utterly unlike any other building, which is weird to me (coming from a campus that was largely the same type of architecture), each building houses caring and highly competent people who seem to care about the students both while they are here and after they leave.
I am looking forward to seeing Bill Leahy again and meeting my new classmates next week. I hope they are all as eager as I am to begin the new school year! Love to all from London! Have a warm and wonderful Sunday, everyone!
While we do love Bromley South and Nigel, we do not want to impose on his hospitality too long, so we are anxious to conclude negotiations and move in -- preferably on Monday or Tuesday. My first class meeting in Graduate School starts Thursday afternoon at Brunel, and I'd like to be settled in at Uxbridge long before then. We'll see.
Brunel is quite an extraordinary university, I have found. They have something they call an Open Day, in which prospective students are invited for a tour of the campus and other activities. They had one Thursday, and over 2,000 students showed up -- and I was told that they had an even larger crowd the week before! I find that amazing!
Brunel is also the only university I have ever heard of that offers free foreigh language courses to all its students. For instance, I am taking a Masters in Shakespeare Authorship Studies: no foreign language there, right? I am also signing up for Italian on Wednesday evenings, and will get a proficiency certificate upon completion of the course. ( I am signing up for Italian because it is obvious to me that whoever wrote the works of Shakespeare traveled extensively in Italy, and I want to be able to read any travelogues or diaries of their travels in the native language if they exist. It'll help me brush up my Latin, too!) I may be able to brush up my woeful high school French too, if it doesn't interfere with my Grad school classes. The point is, all this language instruction is free. Why does Brunel do this? The explanation from the head of the department is simple and brilliant: they want Brunel stuents and graduates to have every competitive advantage available to them when it comes to getting a job in the real world, and they know that an employer, faced with two more or less equally qualified candidates, will choose the one with "just one more foreign language" on their resume, especially if it is one relevant to the job skills or communication abilities that they want. If the firm you're appling to has an office in Shanghai and the Brunel graduate has competency in Mandarin, that's a big plus when you apply to an engineering or financial services company. Smart, simple, and brilliant. It's amazing how forward-thinking that is, and it's typical of how much Brunel has impressed Maria and me since we've been here. Although every major building on campus seems to completely and utterly unlike any other building, which is weird to me (coming from a campus that was largely the same type of architecture), each building houses caring and highly competent people who seem to care about the students both while they are here and after they leave.
I am looking forward to seeing Bill Leahy again and meeting my new classmates next week. I hope they are all as eager as I am to begin the new school year! Love to all from London! Have a warm and wonderful Sunday, everyone!
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Whew....We made it...so far so good!
OK...A week before we were due to fly to London, Wally's visa arrived along with a "Refusal of Entrance Clearance" for Me!!! We had 28 days to appeal the refusal but only 6 days until our flight! We decided to just go based on my staying for only six months as allowed by my passport! When we got to the RDU Airport the ticket agent, Carol, advised me that I could not use my ticket as purchased because it had a return date six months and 27 days out and that was not allowed because a passport only allows you to travel for six months. We paid the additional fee to have my return ticket changed to March 10, 2012. All is well....or is it?
We had a great flight on Delta to Boston and on to London's Heathrow Airport. On the flight to London we paid for an upgrade to Economy Comfort. We highly recommend this inexpensive upgrade which gave us 4 inches more leg room, 50% more reclining, and free alcohol to boot!!!
Once in London, Wally got in the student visa line and I went on my way to the regular visitor's line. When I got to the custom agent he said, "I'm very sorry, Mrs. Hurst, but your entrance has been denied due to a refused visa." I explained to him why the visa had been denied and told him I had the letter with me. He asked for the letter which I gave him. He told me that it could take a while to sort this out and he would take me to an area where I could set and wait.
My thoughts: "OK Wally, you little skunk, have you snuck through on your student visa and left me to rot in a tiny cell with a lousy deck of London playing cards??"
My lucky day...as the agent led me away, we walked past the student visa line and there was Wally just at the front of the line, I identified him as my partner in crime and the agent led us both away to our detention box and took Wally's visa as well.
It only took about ten minutes before he came back and told me that they could refuse my entry. I told him "Of course you can...? He continued, but we won't because we trust that you will leave on March 10, 2012 as your ticket indicates and we have put a flag on that flight to be sure you are on it. Oh, and by-the-way, don't try to take a side trip to France or elsewhere and expect it to change anything. You WILL be on that March 10, flight!" Sounds tough, but, he was actually a very nice man and I was impressed that they only detained us for ten minutes.
On to Bromley South where our friend Nigel Hake lives. Nigel has kindly agreed to put us up for a bit while we find an apartment or flat in Uxbridge. Nigel met us at the train station and took us to his place where he fixed us a full English breakfast. Then he left for work, he is a blue badge tour guide: those of you who traveled to London with us in March 2011 should remember Nigel, as he was our tour guide. Wally and I made our way back to the train station and took the one and a half hour trek to Uxbridge. We went to six Estate Agents looking for a 2 bedroom apartment and only found one available in our price range. We made an appointment to see it the next day, Tuesday, 9-13-2011. We walked all over Uxbridge, what a wonderful place! We are really looking forward to spending our time there.
Back on the train, off to Bromley South, short visit with Nigel and then to bed. Tuesday morning, up at 7:00 ready to head back to Uxbridge. Quick breakfast with Nigel and off we go. Our appointment to see the apartment was not until 3:45 so we had all morning to explore. As we were walking along, I noticed a street sign that read Hinton Road. We had seen a 2 bedroom on line on Hinton road so thought we would walk down and see if there was a sign on any of the buildings. We met two very nice people out in their yards but no luck with a rental. One of the people we met was a letting agent and he suggested we go over one street to Myddleton he thought there may be an apartment there to let. As we started down Myddleton there was a gentleman in his front yard, we asked him if he knew of an apartment and he said "You are on the friendliest street in Uxbridge, unfortunately, some Americans have just let the apartment." I told him their boat must have been faster than ours! He and his wife invited us in and we had a nice visit. They make baked goods and jellies for one of the local cafes and she was wrapping the newly baked goods. We bought two jars of her fresh jellies and went on our way.
A couple of streets over we saw a sign to let and called the agent. He told us that the unit we were in front of was a four bedroom set up to rent each room seperately but he had two 2 bedrooms he could show us. He picked us up and took us to a brand new unit with two apartments available, one on the ground floor and one three flights up. I thought the third floor was nicer but don't like the idea of lugging groceries up three flights of stairs. Moot point as both were out of our price range. Back to town center to meet with the agent for our 3:45 showing. Nice, I think it is strange that in all 3 apartments we saw you enter into a hallway with the bedrooms and bathroom off on either side and the lounge and kitchen are the furthest rooms from the entry. I like this apartment but it is not ideally where we wanted to live. It is a little further walking distance to both town center and to Brunel University. We did put in an application to rent and made our journey back to the train to head back to Bromley South. No sooner had the train departed that the renting agent called to say the landlord wanted more monthly and 6 months paid in full up front. We told him that was not acceptable, we would pay three months up front and 4 months in January. Again he called, this time to say the landlord had agreed to 3 months up front and 2 months security deposit!! Wally told him we did not have the funds to pay 5 or 6 months up front and that we would call tomorrow after we had time to think on a solution. They probably feel like they're trying to "negotiate a better deal", but we think they're being pretty petty and stupid about the whole thing, and we're not completely in love with the location, although it is equidistant from town and Brunel. We'll see what happens Wednesday!
So, here we are, only in the UK for 2 days and already homeless!!! That's not exactly true, adn we have high hopes for the search going well. Nigel has been the perfect host, and hasn't kicked us out yet. Well, off tomorrow back to Uxbridge and hopefully better luck on the apartment front. We'll write more soon!!!
We had a great flight on Delta to Boston and on to London's Heathrow Airport. On the flight to London we paid for an upgrade to Economy Comfort. We highly recommend this inexpensive upgrade which gave us 4 inches more leg room, 50% more reclining, and free alcohol to boot!!!
Once in London, Wally got in the student visa line and I went on my way to the regular visitor's line. When I got to the custom agent he said, "I'm very sorry, Mrs. Hurst, but your entrance has been denied due to a refused visa." I explained to him why the visa had been denied and told him I had the letter with me. He asked for the letter which I gave him. He told me that it could take a while to sort this out and he would take me to an area where I could set and wait.
My thoughts: "OK Wally, you little skunk, have you snuck through on your student visa and left me to rot in a tiny cell with a lousy deck of London playing cards??"
My lucky day...as the agent led me away, we walked past the student visa line and there was Wally just at the front of the line, I identified him as my partner in crime and the agent led us both away to our detention box and took Wally's visa as well.
It only took about ten minutes before he came back and told me that they could refuse my entry. I told him "Of course you can...? He continued, but we won't because we trust that you will leave on March 10, 2012 as your ticket indicates and we have put a flag on that flight to be sure you are on it. Oh, and by-the-way, don't try to take a side trip to France or elsewhere and expect it to change anything. You WILL be on that March 10, flight!" Sounds tough, but, he was actually a very nice man and I was impressed that they only detained us for ten minutes.
On to Bromley South where our friend Nigel Hake lives. Nigel has kindly agreed to put us up for a bit while we find an apartment or flat in Uxbridge. Nigel met us at the train station and took us to his place where he fixed us a full English breakfast. Then he left for work, he is a blue badge tour guide: those of you who traveled to London with us in March 2011 should remember Nigel, as he was our tour guide. Wally and I made our way back to the train station and took the one and a half hour trek to Uxbridge. We went to six Estate Agents looking for a 2 bedroom apartment and only found one available in our price range. We made an appointment to see it the next day, Tuesday, 9-13-2011. We walked all over Uxbridge, what a wonderful place! We are really looking forward to spending our time there.
Back on the train, off to Bromley South, short visit with Nigel and then to bed. Tuesday morning, up at 7:00 ready to head back to Uxbridge. Quick breakfast with Nigel and off we go. Our appointment to see the apartment was not until 3:45 so we had all morning to explore. As we were walking along, I noticed a street sign that read Hinton Road. We had seen a 2 bedroom on line on Hinton road so thought we would walk down and see if there was a sign on any of the buildings. We met two very nice people out in their yards but no luck with a rental. One of the people we met was a letting agent and he suggested we go over one street to Myddleton he thought there may be an apartment there to let. As we started down Myddleton there was a gentleman in his front yard, we asked him if he knew of an apartment and he said "You are on the friendliest street in Uxbridge, unfortunately, some Americans have just let the apartment." I told him their boat must have been faster than ours! He and his wife invited us in and we had a nice visit. They make baked goods and jellies for one of the local cafes and she was wrapping the newly baked goods. We bought two jars of her fresh jellies and went on our way.
A couple of streets over we saw a sign to let and called the agent. He told us that the unit we were in front of was a four bedroom set up to rent each room seperately but he had two 2 bedrooms he could show us. He picked us up and took us to a brand new unit with two apartments available, one on the ground floor and one three flights up. I thought the third floor was nicer but don't like the idea of lugging groceries up three flights of stairs. Moot point as both were out of our price range. Back to town center to meet with the agent for our 3:45 showing. Nice, I think it is strange that in all 3 apartments we saw you enter into a hallway with the bedrooms and bathroom off on either side and the lounge and kitchen are the furthest rooms from the entry. I like this apartment but it is not ideally where we wanted to live. It is a little further walking distance to both town center and to Brunel University. We did put in an application to rent and made our journey back to the train to head back to Bromley South. No sooner had the train departed that the renting agent called to say the landlord wanted more monthly and 6 months paid in full up front. We told him that was not acceptable, we would pay three months up front and 4 months in January. Again he called, this time to say the landlord had agreed to 3 months up front and 2 months security deposit!! Wally told him we did not have the funds to pay 5 or 6 months up front and that we would call tomorrow after we had time to think on a solution. They probably feel like they're trying to "negotiate a better deal", but we think they're being pretty petty and stupid about the whole thing, and we're not completely in love with the location, although it is equidistant from town and Brunel. We'll see what happens Wednesday!
So, here we are, only in the UK for 2 days and already homeless!!! That's not exactly true, adn we have high hopes for the search going well. Nigel has been the perfect host, and hasn't kicked us out yet. Well, off tomorrow back to Uxbridge and hopefully better luck on the apartment front. We'll write more soon!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)