UK Factoid of the Day

Instead of asking if they can "pet" your dog, children in England ask if they can "stroke" it.

I want to get a dog only because of the endless humour I would find in having children run up to me and say "Excuse me, may I please stroke your dog" (insert adorabe british-child accent here). The 13-year-old boy in me thinks that this is very funny.

Things I Love About London, Part VII: Afternoon Tea

My friend Nishant, who I actually met in London but now lives in America, came to visit this past weekend. And, because we needed lots of time to chat and catch up, I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to try out one of London’s fabulous Afternoon Tea venues.



We went to The Goring which is a fancy privately-owned hotel near Victoria station, and I LOVED it. Despite my newfound love of tea, I wasn’t sure how I was going to respond to the whole afternoon tea concept. I mean, isn’t it just old ladies sitting around in fancy hats eating finger sandwiches? Well, yes, it is, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be fun. Nishant, Lynsey and I had a fabulous time despite the fact that we were the youngest people in the room by about 40 years.

The tea was amazing, the service spectacular, and the food, oh the food. Who would have guessed that scones and clotted cream could have been so fabulous! I must learn how to make my own. Perhaps Sarah's blog can help me? We opted, of course, for the Bollinger Afternoon Tea simply because it came with a glass of champagne, but I think even the Traditional Tea would have been superb.

If you get a chance to do an Afternoon Tea in London, I highly recommend it and would be happy to go with you!

Things I Miss About America, Part IX: Prudishness

I have always considered myself a liberal-minded and forward thinking American. Legalize prostitution? Sure, that way we can regulate it and curb STIs and sex trafficking. Legalize marijuana? Sure, it has proven medical benefits and is only illegal because of movements by American uber powerful tobacco lobby anyways. Legalize same-sex marriage? Oh, don’t even get me started on how much I support that one.

I was recently reading my favourite fashion magazines, Grazia (I love it because they have just off the runway stuff side-by-side with stuff I can actually afford and throw in a bit of celebrity gossip and womens’ rights news to boot) when I happened upon a picture of Sharon Stone on the cover of the French magazine Match. You may have heard that on this cover she is topless. Now, I really wanted to not care. I really wanted to applaud her for being 50-something and looking fabulous. But, I didn’t feel that way- I actually felt uncomfortable and slightly offended. It actually made me think “gee, I wish I were in America where they would have censored out her nipples!” It’s not really that she’s topless; it’s that she’s topless in a pornographic way in a magazine that is no way pornographic. I find it offensive for the same reason I find the Page 3 (topless) girls in the Sun (a newspaper in London) offensive- because why do there need to be naked girls in a newspaper (where just any unsuspecting child or, in some cases, 25-year-old American girl can come by and pick it up)?!?!

So, if living in Europe for two years has taught me anything, it has taught me that, at my core, I’m puritanical and prudish. Believe me, I’ve tried to fight this. I oh so badly want to be European and not care that there are naked pictures of women printed in scandalous positions in even reputable publications. I really want to not care that every beach I go to is packed with completely naked French/Spanish/Greek men. I want to think that nude men standing in the middle of Trafalgar Square really is art. But, in the end, I can’t help it. I’m American. Nudity makes me uncomfortable and I find it inappropriate in most public circumstances. I don’t say anything to Europeans of course (because they would give me that “sad little American” look and toss their hand-rolled cigarette at me), but I still feel that way! I’m not British, I’m American. And even though our two societies are very similar in some ways, my country was still founded by puritans. So, my new outlook is to just embrace it.

Things I Love About London, Part VI: London at Nighttime

Every time I walk around London in the evening, I fall more and more in love with this city. Bobby and I were taking the bus home from Kensington the other night, and passed Parliament, Big Ben, and St. Pauls- all of which were lit up in their full romantic-London-at-nighttime glory. My heart ached at the thought that I would one day leave this city. While London is horribly crowded, stressful and overwhelming during the day, at night all of the hordes of people disappear and you are left seemingly alone in the city- always a magical experience for me.

Tower Bridge at night as seen from Strada

I have gotten in the habit of taking our visitors to the Strada at Tower Bridge on their last evening in London. The food is not amazing, but I don’t go for the food- I go for the view! I love sitting there staring at Tower Bridge at night. I think it’s more beautiful in the nighttime than it is during the day. We often walk from Tower Bridge to St. Pauls after dinner, because those are my two favourite places at night in London. You can frequently make almost the entire walk without seeing another person on foot. I’m not sure why there aren’t more tourists out at night in London- I truly think that it is the best time to see the city- but, for now, I’m happy to think that London-at-nighttime is my little secret and appreciate the one-on-one time with my city.

St. Paul's at Night

Pictures from the Gentiles' Visit

I've posted pictures from my family's visit. You can see them by clicking on the "pictures" link to the left.

Second Surgery

The exciting news of today is that I FINALLY got a date for my second surgery. It will be on 1 October. Those of you I talk to on a regular basis know that this has been quite a frustrating wait for me. I was put on the waiting list on 19 June, which means that I will have been waiting for 3.5 months to have this operation (side note: this is less than the 4.5 months that they told me I would wait to have it! I guess my constant calling and nagging paid off!).

Americans often ask me about my experience with socialized healthcare. Having faced a serious health problem and the subsequent series of surgeries in the UK has only furthered my support of healthcare for all. While this recent wait has been frustrating (in America, I would have had the first surgery, waited 10 weeks, and then had the second- meaning that this whole horrible experience would already be over by now!), I am willing to wait my turn if it means that everyone has access to healthcare. Access to healthcare is a human right, not a privilege. My greatest disappointment in America is that so many people don't see this.

Don't get me wrong, things here are by no means perfect. If you can wait, you will wait. Private rooms would definitely be better than sitting on the ward with 9 other women and little to no privacy. Hospitals seem to be constantly facing funding issues. There is a hierarchy as to which drugs you can use based on their price. However, when I needed my first surgery urgently, I was dealt with right away by some of the best doctors in their field. When I wanted to stay in the hospital for a few extra days following my first operation, there was no insurance company to call for permission and the doctors were happy to let me do this. When I had a severe allergic reaction to one of the drugs I had started taking in the states (a reaction that is many times fatal) because my insurance company wouldn't pay for me to have the allergy test done in Virginia, I was told by my English doctors that the test is performed on everyone who takes that drug in the UK- no questions asked.

So, now, the only real question is, when will it happen in America?

Croatia with the Gentiles

Last week, my family (well, everyone except for Chris) came out to visit. This trip was a belated graduation present for my sister, who requested that we go somewhere where she could “sit on the beach.” I had heard fabulous things about Croatia from my British friends and co-workers, so, after a few days in London, we headed over to Dubrovnik.

Let me start off by saying that Croatia is definitely in the top 3 (if not number 1) on my list of favourite places visited since moving to Europe. We had perfect weather the entire time (85 degrees and not a cloud in the sky), the water was the clearest of any I have ever seen (I dare you to go there and not automatically jump into the ocean- it beacons you) and I think that Croatia is still under the radar for most Americans (which appeals to my off-the-beaten-path spirit).

We rented an apartment very near Old Town Dubrovnik. I loved Old Town. Even though it was heavily bombed during the Croatian War for Independence against Yugoslavia in the early 90s, it has been completely restored and definitely retained its old-world feel.

Our apartment was just above Banje beach, which had a beautiful view of the Old Town and which is where we spent most of our time.

We took a day trip out to the island of Mljet- about an hour and a half up the coast form Dubrovnik. Mljet is famous for its two inland lakes and because a majority of the island is preserved as a national park. We hiked over to the lakes and took a ferry out to the centre of the larger one. Located in the centre of this lake was a small island which held an old monastery and little else. We spent the day lounging on the shores of the small island and swimming in the lakes crystal-clear and wonderfully warm waters.



We also took a day trip to Montenegro. I selfishly wanted to do this so that I could add another location to my “countries I have visited” list, but it turned out to be a really great experience. Picturing war-torn-former-Yugoslavia in my head, I packed a roll of toilet paper for the trip in preparation for squat toilets. The cities we visited, Kotor and Budva, were quite the opposite.

Settled between the towering mountains of the Montenegrin countryside and the tranquil bay of Kotor, the town of Kotor itself proved to be perhaps the most dramatic of our trip. It took us only 15 minutes to tour this small city (which consisted mostly of Serbian Orthodox churches and great homes of former wealthy families), but you were left with the impression that it was much grander. This is caused, perhaps, by the fact that the city walls contain not only the town itself, but a large section of the adjacent mountain. Our guide told us that it would take only 2 hours to climb the city walls, but, as your eyes strained to see the top-most tower and followed the 250 meters of zigzagged vertical climb, it seemed that it would take much longer. We could have spent the whole day in Kotor, and indeed I would have enjoyed atleast attempting to climb its intimidating city walls, but our tour guide hurried us on so that we could visit the city of Budva.

I have little to say on Budva other than the fact that it was unimpressive. The old town was nothing compared to Kotor or Dubrovnik and the beaches were horribly overcrowded. We did have some delicious lunch there (my octopus salad was perhaps the best food I had on our trip), but our culinary experience did not make up for the other downfalls of the city.

After Budva, we got back on the bus and headed back to Dubrovnik, enjoying the beautiful Croatian countryside on the way.

I would definitely go back to Croatia (I hear that its northern regions are beautiful as well) and would highly recommend it to any of you who might have the opportunity to go.