View from the top of St. Paul's Cathedral

St. Paul's

My heart-shaped Latte

More Fun in London Town!

Hi All!

Each time I sit down to type out a blog I have more good things to share!  I guess I've officially bounced back from my nightmare first week in London (finally!).  

Melissa and I have finished our 3rd week of clinical at the Royal Hospital for Neurodisabilities, and we've settled in pretty well around here.  We've made some great friends, everyone is very laid back so that makes it easier to get out and do stuff each week.  I've started going into the pool for hydrotherapy for the patients - after getting over the fact of having to wear a swimsuit in front of everyone I work with, it's been pretty fun!  I'm so used to wearing a swimsuit on the beach or at the pool outside in the summer time, I wasn't prepared for having to do it in the midst of my European Adventure.  I have been eating and drinking whatever I want for the past 5 weeks so I hope I don't scare off any of the patients (but maybe it'll make them come out of their comas!).  

Thursday night we went out with a few girls that work at the hospital, Laura and Georgia, they are both from England and we have had a great time hanging out with them.  They are both going to Dublin with us next weekend, along with another guy that works with us, so there will be 5 of us storming in to Dublin, can't wait!  Friday night Melissa and I were pretty tired so we didn't get out and do anything too exciting.  We rode the tube up to Fulham and ate at a T.G.I.Fridays - it was sooo good (especially the boneless buffalo wings!).  We then went to see Slumdog Millionaire, again, sooo good.  It's pretty dark in parts, so don't go into it expecting a lighthearted flick!  But I do recommend it.  That brings us to Saturday...

Saturday we set out into London - but a lot of the tube lines were closed for maintenance over the weekend so we had to ride on 4 different trains just to get to the market we wanted to go to!  It was well worth it though.  The Borough Market is a food market with TONS and TONS of awesome food (we finally found good food!).  We were advised to go with empty stomaches, which was great advice.  The vendors shove food samples at you left and right.  They had everything from candies, coffees, lots of cheeses and meats, soups, fresh produce, Greek food, Argentinean food, Italian food, Arabian food, etc. etc. etc.  We bought a great feta cheese dip, chimichuri sauce, fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzarella balls, cumin cheese (tastes like chili), and got to pour our own bottle of wine straight from the barrel.  They had grills going with fresh sandwiches, burgers, wraps, and fish and chips.  I had some tomato and cream soup, a falafel, a slice of a Bailey's flavored cheesecake, and some wonderful coffee.  The guy made my latte with a heart on the top.  I've included a picture.  He made another guy's latte with a leaf on top - such talent : )

After finally tearing ourselves away from the market (trust me, it was hard to do!), we did some sightseeing.  We walked along the South Bank of the Thames River and saw Shakespeare's Globe and walked through the Tate Modern Art Museum.  I'm not such a fan of modern art, there were so many paintings with one solid color on the canvas - I didn't really understand how that made it into a museum?  We did see one drawing done by Picasso, so that was probably the coolest thing we saw there.  After leaving the museum we walked across the Millennium Bridge to St. Paul's Cathedral.  This is the cathedral where Princess Diana and Prince Charles got married.  It was spectacular!  We climbed almost 400 steps to get to the base of the dome where we got to see a great view of the city, all the way around.  We then left St. Paul's and saw the Bank of England.  Right by the Bank of England there were about 50 people that rode up on old fashioned bicycles dressed in old fashioned clothes.  We asked one of the guys what it was all about, and it is a group of people that dress up and meet at that spot and then ride their bicycles all around the city.  It was super cute, I only got one picture though.  

Next we rode the tube to Picadilly Circus - which is apparently their Times Square.  Maybe we just didn't see the right part of it, but it doesn't hold a candle to the real thing.  It was still fun to see though.  We walked from there through China Town which was all decorated because of the Chinese New Year celebrations.  We then walked through Soho and saw "The Ivy" which is the super posh celebrity restaurant where Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were just dining a few nights ago.  Next we stumbled upon the Dominion Theatre which is where Queen's "We Will Rock You" show is.  We couldn't pass it up so we forked over 15 pounds each for standing room only seats (it was well worth it).  It's a musical with all of Queen's greatest hits.  Needless to say, by the time that was over we were spent.  We had been on our feet literally all day, so we got home just before midnight and called it a night.

Today we slept in and then headed down to Wimbledon.  It was a rainy, cloudy day and the "All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club" was undergoing some construction so all in all we didn't quite get the true Wimbledon experience (but I guess that can only happen when the tournament is actually going on!).  It was still neat to see since that's about the only tennis I watch, and we found some good fresh food down in Wimbledon at a restaurant called "Giraffe". 

The week ahead is just another typical week.  Nothing planned any of the nights yet, but we usually figure out something to get into each evening.  We leave for Dublin next Saturday morning and return Sunday evening so I will keep you all posted with how that went!  I'm going to try and upload some pictures to my blog so flip back if you get a chance and want to see some photos.

Bye!

Jenna

Last week and Bath!

View of Bath

Trying on a corset at the Fashion Museum in Bath.  Thank God we don't wear these anymore!

Drinking the water from the natural hot springs - it was nappy!

At the Roman Baths

Hello from London!

It's been awhile since I've been able to get on the internet and write out a blog so I'll try and get everyone up to speed with my life lately!  Last week was my first full week seeing patients.  The pace was still about the same, only seeing between 2 and 4 patients a day, which makes the days go so slow since we are so used to seeing more patients back in the States.  At first I was nervous because I didn't want to be behind with my next clinicals when I return, but I'm making the most out of it and being able to do more in the evenings and venture out.  I've had a chance to be much more hands on with the patients, and I have taken on my first 2 patients of my own that I see everyday - I've already seen improvements which helped settle some of my nerves.

We didn't do a lot last week in the evenings.  We went to ASDA on Monday night (which is owned by Wal-Mart) and bought some food and a couple DVDs (they are so cheap over here!).  Tuesday night we came to the Putney Station, which is the restaurant we go to when we want to get on the internet, but I didn't have much to report on then so I didn't write a blog!  Wednesday night Melissa and our friend Laura and I order Dominos and had a night in at the dorms.  Thursday night Melissa and I ventured out and hopped on the Tube and went to Fulham, which was a cute area with lots of restaurants and pubs.  We found a Spanish Tapas restaurant and it was absolutely delicious!  Definitely the best food we've had in London so far!  Friday night we went out with people from our PT Department for a co-worker's going away party.  It was a lot of fun to get out with everyone and get to know them outside of work.  A few people tied one on pretty good, which is always fun to watch as long as it's not me!  Melissa and I didn't get too rowdy because we had to get up early and catch a train out...

To Bath, England!  It was just an hour and a half train ride and it's a beautiful old city with Roman Ruins.   The Roman Baths are there which were cool to see.  There was some Goddess named Minerva, and when the town people would want to curse someone (especially if something of theirs had been stolen) they would go to the baths and throw scribes with who they want cursed and how they should be cursed along with money and Minerva would punish them.  You better believe I threw in a coin in hopes that Minerva would curse the guy who stole my purse!  We then went to a Fashion Museum which showed fashion through the ages.  They had dresses from the 1700's that were very elaborate.  I'm glad we don't dress like that anymore (I prefer to be casual and comfortable).  I tried on a corset (after eating at a Chinese Buffet) and Melissa was all too eager to tighten it until I almost hurled.  That night we went to grab some dinner and there was an absolute downpour with gushing winds - my umbrella kept turning inside out, it was awful!  Lots of places were closed for the winter or they were done serving food at 8pm.  We finally found a good Italian spot and had some pizza.

The next day we got up and did some shopping.  I finally got a new handbag and got a few tops.  All this time I've been living on 4-5 days worth of clothes because that's all I packed for my beginning travels.  It was fun to actually have an excuse to shop!  Since Bath is known for the natural hot springs that were the Roman Baths, they have Spas that get water from the natural hot springs.  We went to a Thermal Spa for 2 hours and floated in the pools and went into the steam rooms.  It was very relaxing and I would love to go back there again someday!  Maybe next time I'll have enough money to afford a massage and facial (I'll just keep dreaming anyway!).

We then headed back to London and I got a little motion sick on the train on the way back.  Luckily I didn't throw up, but I did get a pretty bad headache.  Guess I'm still not quite used to all the trains.  

The first part of this week has been good.  I've been given more responsibility at my clinical so I'm getting more hands on experience which is what I need the most!  I got done early yesterday to head down to the Embassy to pick up my official passport (I just have an "emergency passport") for the time being, but they were closed for MLK Day...all the way out here!  I was none too pleased.  Melissa and I took advantage of being in town by going to the Dirty Dancing show which was pretty good.  I thought it was going to be more of a musical so was a little disappointed that there was not much singing.  The dancing was amazing though!  But Baby drove me nuts (I didn't think she was very good) and her hair looked terrible.  But all in all I'm glad we went, it certainly inspired me to get in shape!

That's about all for now.  I think we are going to stay around here this weekend, and maybe take a train out of the city somewhere for an afternoon.  

Bye!

Jenna

Kensington Palace/Gardens and Hyde Park

The Serpentine Lake between Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens

Kensington Palace

Place that was voted #1 Bloody Mary's in London

Feeding the squirrels at Hyde Park

On Sunday we ventured back out around London, this time the weather was a tad bit warmer so we enjoyed it much more!  We rode the tube up to the Knightsbridge exit and first stopped by a restaurant called the Grenadier, which was voted as having the "Best Bloody Mary's" in London.  They were good, definitely the best I've had in Europe so far, but nothing like my Momma and Cathy's!  

Next we took a stroll through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.  It was pretty, the Serpentine Lake had ice on it and there were people rollerblading throughout the paths.  I can only imagine how active and fun it would be during warm weather!  The squirrels were very tame and one actually ran up onto my leg to grab a bite of food!  Melissa caught it all on camera, I'm such a nerd but that made my day!  We also saw Kensington Palace, which is where Princess Diana lived after her and Charles divorced.  That was neat to see, but it was nothing like I expected.  Our friend that is from here, Laura, told us that Palaces and Castles are not the same thing.  So when I go to see a Palace in the future I need to not expect to see a Castle so that I'm not let down!

We then headed to Oxford Street, which is a shopping mecca and ran into Selfridge's and Melissa bought a pair of skinny jeans!  I'm so proud.  Next up...leggings.

That was it for Sunday!  Bye for now!  Take care : )

Jenna

Notting Hill

Unfortunately, we did not see Hugh Grant or Julia Roberts in Notting Hill, nor did we see the famous Travel Bookstore, but we still enjoyed our time traipsing through Notting Hill.  It was not what I expected, but that's probably because we only went to the market area called the Portobello Market.  It was probably about 8-10 blocks long of a market that had everything from fresh produce, food stands, handbags, boots, clothes, coats, jewelry, gloves, scarves, hats, etc.  I did find some gloves and earmuff things (a must because it was soooooo cold!) and a wallet, since mine was stolen.  They were all pretty cheap, I have this new constant fear that anything I buy might be stolen so I'm not going to splurge anymore!  We kept having to hop into a pub every now and then to warm up and have a beverage, my toes were ice cold and felt like they were going to break off!  We ended up at a Mexican restaurant called Crazy Homies and it was delish!  I had a goat cheese, spinach, and potato enchilada (which sounds disgusting but it was awesome) and Melissa had some quesadillas.  We plan to go back there another time on a week night when we get sick of the bland English food!

We weren't quite ready to head home after the Mexican restaurant so we stopped at one of the train stops and did a miniature pub-crawl and went to three different pubs and had a beer at each.  There was a group of 3 cute guys at the first pub we went to, but they each ordered a Smirnoff Ice and some other blue fruity looking drink; they weren't quite manly enough for us needless to say!  Another pub we went to was packed when we got there with a bunch of men standing around watching a "football" a.k.a soccer match.  The game ended in a tie, and yet everyone was cheering (I don't really understand a tie in a sporting event, and I especially don't understand why people would cheer for a tie, I guess they were just happy they didn't lose).  Then we headed back home to our dorms to call it a night.  We thought about staying out and finding a place that was showing the Titans/Ravens game, but we were worn out and sick of being cold and eager to get into our warm beds!

Bye!

Jenna

P.S. I wrote this a few nights ago, and heard that the Titans lost.  Total disappointment!  Guess I'll have to find another football team to root for (i.e. a soccer team out here)!  Go Chelsea!

The Sunnier Side of London : )

Everything is being put back into place step by step.  I had an encounter with the lady at the hospital that is in charge of our housing.  I explained that my bag was stolen along with my dorm keys and all access to money, so I would like to get my keys but will certainly give her the money when I'm able to get it.  She refused to hand over a key until I paid 10 pounds, so the head of the PT department had to front the money for me.  Then when I got back to my dorm that night, the key didn't work!!!!  I went right back there and lost my mind at the poor ladies in central administration (because everyone else was already home for the evening, no one works past 4:00 in this town!).  So I got a replacement to hold me over for the night, then got my own key the next day.  I've passed the lady that's in charge of housing in the hall a few times, but she won't even look at me.  So that's just dandy I already have enemies!

Melissa and I went to the Embassy yesterday and didn't have too much trouble getting a passport.  Initially, they weren't going to give me one for 15 business days.  After fuming over that for a little bit while I filled out my forms, I decided I wasn't leaving there without some form of identification.  My entire identity was taken from me and I just wanted something with my name on it!!  So I went back up to the guy and told him I was going to France this weekend and needed a passport to hold me over until I get back.  That did the trick (I even had to swear under oath, oops), and I have a passport for now and will go back to the embassy in two weeks and get a real one that will last 10 years (or until it's stolen again).

So now on to the sunnier side of London...it's been sunny!  All I heard about was all the rain and how dreary it was going to be, but each day it's been sunny and it's only drizzled 2 nights since I've been here and it was hardly anything at all!  It's certainly cold, but on Sunday it will be 10 degrees (celsius) which means about 50 or so.  I look forward to getting out this weekend and roaming around London.  A friend of mine that I met in Las Vegas last October lives south of London, and he is planning on coming up on Saturday - so I think I might have him take Melissa and I up to Notting Hill.  It's probably a good thing I have no money, because I hear there are tons of cute shops up that way!

Now on to my clinical.  It is going well, everyone has been very nice and welcoming.  Other than that devil lady from housing, they've all been wonderful.  Today was our first day with patients, the last 4 days have been orientation (which were horribly boring).  For my PT friends out there reading...they taught us "transfers" and "wheelchair parts".  The most complex wheelchair part they showed us were the brakes, and they don't even use gait belts for transfers and gait training (gasp!).  All our patients are very disabled, all suffering a brain injury of some sort, whether being a stroke, trauma from a car accident or being hit by a car (very common over here), and hypoxic brain injuries (such as near-drowning or some reason that oxygen is deprived from the brain for a period of time).  Some interesting patients so far include a guy that only eats fruits and nuts and they think he somehow was malnourished so bad that he suffered a stroke, and a guy that is about my age who went under cardiac arrest while running on a treadmill and suffered a hypoxic brain injury (the heart attack hindered blood flow to his brain for too long).  It's just sad, because all of these patients were so successful before, one had bought a house for his family from another country in his few years after college graduation, and another woman is an artist who also has a home in Greece.  The hospital is a "Royal" hospital which means it has in some form or another been recognized by the Royal Family as being a good place, Queen Elizabeth II is a patron of the hospital, as was Queen Mum.  Patron here means they've given their blessing as being a good place, patron does not mean that they are customers or patients of some sort.  It is in a very old building, the original hospital has been around for about 150 years when Charles Dickens and a friend decided there needed to be a place for the indigent to live.  So it has great history and a good reputation in the UK.  The hospital is also a Private Charity hospital, so it is not funded by the National Health System (the socialized medicine system out here) directly, but all the patients are insured by the NHS so it does in some way have to do with the NHS.  They get their own private funding by fundraising and from trusts from previous patients and members of the community.  Therefore, they have more equipment than a typical NHS system, but there are still plenty of differences.  The patients are here for long periods of time, unlike in the States.  In the States it's typical to see a patient in a neuro-rehab setting for only 2-6 weeks before they go home or to a nursing home of some sort, but here they are here for at least 12 weeks, but typically upwards of a year!  I only saw 3 patients today, while in the States I would have seen at least 12 patients in a day!  So the pace is much slower, it's very relaxed and there is no set timetable, you just kind of grab the patients when they're ready and "willing" to go to therapy.  We certainly challenge our patients much more, so that will be a big challenge to get used to.  I'm used to only have a patient for a few weeks in Rehab and have them ready for the community so I hope I don't cross the boundaries as far as patient encouragement goes!

After all that's gone on lately I completely forgot to mention that Napes has headed back to the States.  Before getting to London we had talked about our plans and financially it made sense for both of us if she headed back to the States and I stayed in the dorms (which are much cheaper than an apartment had been).  She only had to pay a small fee to move her flight up so it all worked out on both sides.  She plans on doing some job hunting and working for her dad on the side and figuring out what lies ahead in her future!  I'm going to miss her so much and we had a great time, but I would have hated being at the hospital all day and having her roam around London by herself.  So this is officially now the "jenna's european adventure blog" from here on out, but I won't change the title or the web address!  

That's all for now.  After the rough week I had, Melissa and I might just go see Bride Wars tonight at the theatre for our first Friday night in London.  Take care and I'll post again soon!

Jenna

P.S. I hear a lot of you are having trouble writing comments, so if you want to e-mail instead you can write to jennakaybriggs@gmail.com

I would love to hear from you!

This is my last negative post....

It can only get better from here!!!!  So this is my last negative post....

Monday night (while I was in the middle of blogging), I was having a lovely dinner with my girlfriends and while we were packing up to leave I could not find my purse.  To make a long story short my purse was stolen from under my feet (it was on the floor next to another girl's purse along with my backpack, but luckily only my purse was stolen, I don't think we would have survived having 2 or more of us in the state of mind I was after finding my bag was gone!).

You can probably only imagine how I handled things (if you know me well) which means I completely lost my mind.  Thank God I had Napes, Melissa, and Laura (who is a local to England and really took charge of things) to be able to sort things out while I called my mom and bawled hysterically.  

What was stolen?  EVERYTHING!!!  My beautiful new leather bag from Florence (which I can't replace, everything else can be!), my wallet which had my driver's license, debit card, credit card, 90 pounds cash, along with my passport, check book, international student ID card, dorm keys (which cost 35 pounds to replace) and other minor things.

I'm doing okay now.  As Melissa would tell you I've been in typical Jenna-fashion....laughing at some points and then bawling hysterically at the drop of a hat.  We filed a police report that night, most places in London have this thing called CCTV which are security cameras, and the pub we were in watched the video and they have his face on camera and shows him stealing my bag.  The police officers were really nice (we even got to ride in the police van which was my first trip riding on the wrong side of the rode!).  They got a big kick out of our describing the thief as sounding like "ozzie osbourne".

Yesterday was still quite a mess for me, I didn't sleep much the night before because my dorm is cold, and definitely not the night that my bag was stolen.  I got some more sleep last night and thanks to Napes because she bought me a wonderful warm comforter!  My supervisor at my clinical has been great and is letting us out of orientation early tomorrow so we can go to the U.S. Embassy tomorrow to get a new passport ordered for me.  Also, thankfully, my mom works at the bank that I use back home so she got everything cancelled, and thanks to Dan for rushing home to cancel my credit card.  

I'm just trying to piece everything back together and it's taking baby steps.  Mom will send me a new debit card, as well as my purse from home, and other things.  I've been having to borrow money from Napes and Melissa in order to eat since I have access to funds for a few days.

One more thing I'm thankful about...I don't get carded here when I order a drink (which is something I've needed a few of to let loose after all this).  If I were in the States and had no ID I wouldn't be able to go out for a drink or two!

Also thankful to Napes, Melissa, Laura, Mom (so sorry I'm such a mess), Dan, Dad and Phyliss also for listening to me cry!

So much more has gone on and gone wrong but it would take forever to explain it all!  I'm doing well and none of us were hurt and that's the most important thing.

My Grandma is in for surgery today at Vanderbilt Hospital so say a quick prayer for her and her recovery.  

Take care and WATCH OUT FOR YOUR WALLETS AND PURSES!   K, Bye for now!

Jenna

Where do I begin...

Wow.  It's been awhile since I've been able to get on-line long enough to write a blog.  Wireless internet has either been SUPER expensive (i.e.: 20 pounds for a day) or not available (i.e.: my dorm!).  Since so much has happened since I last got to blog...I'm just going to list the highlights!

After leaving Brussels we went to Bruges...in the hopes of finding nicer Belgians...it got worse!

• I about got attacked when I walked into a restaurant because I was walking towards the restroom before I sat down.  We decided to leave instead of give them our business!
• Everywhere we went to eat acted like we were bothering them by coming in to their restaurant so we had terrible service.
• Our hostel sucked again, so we only stayed one night and checked into a hotel.
• I lost my credit card and got sick on New Year's Eve day, I got really homesick, and had an emotional and mental breakdown!!  But I was over it a few days later for New Year's celebration...
• New Year's Eve was awesome, we found a great chinese restaurant (and got good service because they were chinese!) and then went to a great outdoor New Year's Celebration, but called it an early night because we headed to London the next day!

Getting to London...

• We took 2 trains to get to the airport.  They didn't post our gate number until 20 minutes before boarding time.  Then we were in some kind of an airplane hangar where we handed over our tickets, went outside, rode on a bus across the runways, then boarded the plane (outside having to walk up the stairs of the plane to get inside).  Mind you, this is a very nice airport, and none of the normal gaits were being used!  The flight was great, and the plane had very comfortable, big, leather chairs!

London....

• Napes and I stayed in a hotel the first few days (she is still staying there, I have moved into the dorms on my hospital's campus).
• We travelled around the first few days and did some sightseeing (London Eye, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament). 
• We went to Wicked the play on Saturday night on West End and got to meet up with Melissa (my friend from PT school who has the same internship as I do) as well as her parents - it was awesome!  They had a technical difficulty and had to stop the show in the middle of the first set, so that was kind of funny and odd, but it was a great show, very entertaining.
• We did some shopping (more like window-shopping), but the shopping here is the most amazing thing Napes and I have ever seen!  (Even Napes who is in the fashion business!)  We went to a market that has lots of up and coming designers selling their stuff, so I bought a cute pea-coat for only 30 pounds. 
• I of course have to comment on our shower at the hotel...the knob fell off and broke Napes' razor while I was in there, and almost broke my foot in the meantime.  This country does not believe in wash cloths so I had to suck it up and buy a loofa finally!

Clinical started today...we moved into the dorms last night...

• They are "shoe-boxes", is what the other employees call them.  The rooms aren't that bad, but I didn't sleep a wink last night because it was cold!  They gave me a freaking table cloth as a "blanket".
• Our shower has one of those push-knobs (like in the public bathrooms back in the states when you push the knob so the water comes out then it stops automatically) so the shower stays on for 5-10 seconds MAX then it turns off.  So after pushing the button about 100 times, and cursing 1,000,000 times, I finished my first shower.  And I didn't even wash my hair.  Can't wait for tomorrow morning.
• Melissa blew a fuse while trying to blow dry her hair this morning and power went out in several rooms (it was so loud we can't believe a fire didn't start), the people weren't too pleased when we told them (all our electronics are supposed to be checked by maintenance before we use them, now we know why!).

There's plenty more to say, but I am at a Pub with Melissa, Napes, and our new friend from the hospital, Laura (she's awesome, she says "rubbish" and the "loo").  

I hope the New Year treated you all well!  I will fill you in about my clinical as soon as I get a chance (everyone is super nice but we are just in orientation through Thursday so nothing too exciting, although we did have a very informative 30 minute lecture about hand-washing, which I am sure you are dying to hear about).

Bye!

Jenna