The view from the London Eye

Earlier this week I went on the London Eye with a few of my friends. I had been hoping to go on a nice day and luckily, it was sunny and clear out, though still very chilly.

The best part about going on the Eye is the view... we could see for miles! It was amazing to be able to see Big Ben and Parliament, the Shard, St. Paul's Cathedral and Buckingham Palace from standing in the same spot and turning.

The ride lasted about a half hour and we were in the pod with about fifteen other people. I would highly recommend going for a ride on the Eye to anybody who is traveling to London. If I have time in the next two weeks, I hope to go on it at night to get a different perspective of the city.

Angela Smith - Mount Saint Mary's University - Spring Semester 2013

Being a scholar in London and making sense of death

There is something uniquely enlightening about being a scholar in London. London is such a dynamic place to pursue science and has inspired some of the most influential scientists throughout history. The resources in London are exceptional with great access to museums, libraries, and live events. I am much more engaged in my learning when it involves 3D objects, visual representations, and professionals on specific topics rather than learning from a book and power point lecturer. Having the opportunity to pursue science as a scholar in London has been nothing short of fulfilling and inspiring. I have spent many of my days hitting the books at the library in the Wellcome Collection Museum and I came across medical exhibits and a temporary exhibit on death that has been one of the most thought-provoking exhibits I’ve experienced in London.

For those not familiar, the Wellcome Collection is a museum, dedicated to Henry Wellcome (1853-1936), a brilliant pharmacist, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and collector. He was a British-American who co-founded Burroughs Wellcome & Company, a big pharmaceutical company, now merged into GlaxoSmithKline. Sir Wellcome had a passion for using medicine and marketing to improve humanity. He leaves a legacy for the “incurably curious.” After his death, Sir Wellcome’s will was to contribute to the creation of a global foundation dedicated to improving human and animal health, called the Wellcome Trust. The Wellcome Trust built the Wellcome Collection Museum, right next to the Wellcome Trust in Euston.

I thoroughly enjoyed the permanent exhibits, “Medicine Man” and Medicine Now.” I saw so many revolutionary moments throughout medical science history and it made me realize how far medicine has come and the amazing opportunities we have ahead of us. “Medicine Man” consisted of Henry Wellcome’s eclectic collection of things related to health and the body. On the other hand, “Medicine Now,” consisted of current health issues related to genomes, obesity, the body, and malaria.  A few of my favorites from these medical exhibits were:

Droppings and sample of fleece from Dolly the sheep. Dolly is the world’s first mammal to be cloned from an adult mammal!

Library of the Human Genome. These volumes contained an almost complete copy of the human genome sequence. Opening one of these volumes and trying to interpret it would have taken ages- there were 3000 million letters in the book!

An artistic depiction of obesity, a prominent health problem today. 

The Bacterial Colony Picker used in the Human Genome Project (1997-2004). When Human DNA is prepared for sequencing, it first needs to be cut into millions of small pieces. Each of these small pieces is inserted into a bacterium, which then divides to produce trillions of copies of the piece of DNA. This robot was used to isolate and pick up each individual colony and transfer each colony into a tiny tube. The human DNA in the tiny is then extracted and sequenced. This robot was used at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute when the majority of the human genome was sequenced! 

Henry Wellcome’s lovely collection of chemical apparatus’ when he was a pharmacist.

Surgical Instruments dating back to the 16^th century.

In addition to being amazed by the permanent exhibits, I was incredibly moved by the temporary exhibit, “Death: A self-portrait.”   Initially, I was drawn to a wall showing the causes of death in the 20^th century and it led me to Dr. Peter Fenwick’s guided tour of the exhibit. David McCandless, an artist created this visual representation of deaths in our world today using statistics supported by the World Health Organization, United Nations, and British Medical Journal. Below is the wall, visually representing the causes of death in the 20^th century.

It is difficult to see but I will give a brief summary of what I saw. Essentially, the leading causes of death in the 20^th century worldwide are non-communicable diseases, humanity, cancer, and infectious diseases (these are the big red circles). These four major causes of death branched into other categories. Non-communicable diseases is the leading cause of death in the world with 1,970 million deaths, infectious diseases comes in second with 1,680 million, humanity is in  third place causing 690 million deaths, and cancer is the source of 530 million deaths. I was shocked to find that humanity and infectious diseases had such high numbers. The 1,970 million deaths caused by non-communicable diseases branched into respiratory diseases, diabetes, genitor-urinary diseases, cardiovascular diseases, neuro-mental illnesses, musculoskeletal, skin diseases, endocrine disorders and digestive illnesses. The 690 million deaths caused by humanity was made up of deaths caused by ideology, murder, air pollution, drugs, accidents, war, homicides, genocide, and suicide. The 530 million deaths caused by cancer were broken down into the different kinds of cancer. The major diseases making up the 1,680 deaths caused by infectious diseases were diarrhea, smallpox, respiratory diseases, malaria, and tuberculosis. After seeing this, I realized that death has a massive spectrum. Depending on a person’s circumstance or life status, dying can be an entirely different experience ranging from an unexpected gunshot to several months of cancer treatments.

I was in the temporary exhibit of death and came across a guided tour of the death exhibit with guest speaker, Dr. Peter Fenwick, an eminent neurophysiologist of our time. As a healthcare provider, my passion is to sustain life, to give life, and to pass life onto others through my privileges and opportunities. Life is one of the most delicate things in our universe and we only have one shot at it. Unfortunately, in the medical field, my encounters with death are frequent. My experiences with death have always left me disheartened, whether it has been losing someone close to me or losing a complete stranger who later became my patient. While, I have learned to manage death through my experiences, it still breaks me, and consequently, fuels my passion of fighting for life.

However, after seeing Dr. Fenwick’s outlook on death, I’ve gained deeper insight on the dying process and how to come to terms with death as the final stage of life.  From his research, Dr. Fenwick believes that consciousness may be independent of the brain, and therefore, can survive the physical death of the brain. When someone dies, their consciousness is separate from their brain and they experience something called the end of life experience. This is described as coming to terms with death and is a time to make peace with life. When people die they need to overcome the common barriers to a good death, such as unfinished business and unresolved emotions of guilt or hate. Dr. Fenwick’s research is based on the end of life phenomena, near-death experiences, deathbed visions, hospice and palliative care workers, and relatives of dying people. Throughout the exhibit I saw several pieces of art reflecting death, burial, and mourning over centuries and across cultures. Even though death is inevitable for all of us worldwide, death is a very unique personal experience enriched by our own life experiences, beliefs, and culture.

While a person’s physical being disintegrates, and becomes part of the atmosphere, earth, and nutrition for other organisms, our consciousness no longer exists in this realm when we die. The memories, experiences, and impact we have on others are the closest thing we have to our consciousness when we die.  What we leave behind on this universe is what makes up our lives and existence in this realm. In that moment, when our consciousness prevails, despite the death of our brain and heart, we come to terms with death, the final stage of life, and our life and consciousness ends forever. Our life would not be complete without death. Often times, a person’s death is when other’s celebrate that person’s life. Personally, I don’t believe in an afterlife- therefore I’ve realized I only have this one life to appreciate all the amazing things the universe has to offer. Thank you mom and dad for giving me this wonderful world to explore and contribute to!

Nhani Tran - Metropolitan State University of Denver - Spring Semester 2013

Sexy Scotland!

This weekend, I experienced an entirely new feeling called DSL; Deep Scottish Love. This feeling comes from within the heart, and it can hit you at anytime; like when you're walking along the rocky shore of a loch, hiking through a forest trail or just viewing the snow- capped mountains from the window seat of a bright yellow van that just happens to have the words "wild and sexy" painted on it.

Our trip to Scotland began on Thursday afternoon, when about 50 students from AIFS left King's Cross station at about 2 pm. The train ride lasted about four hours, and we passed through English countryside and rode right along the ocean for a while.

When we arrived in Edinburgh, it was already dark, but we had a chance to explore the city a bit after we had settled into our hostel. A few friends and I ate at a local pub called The Last Drop and then we ventured near the Edinburgh castle on the hill. When we paid for dinner, we noticed that there is a difference in appearance between British and Scottish pounds, although they are equal in value and can be used in both places.

 

On our first day on the road, our bright yellow Haggis tour buses carried us to the highlands. Our tour guides, Stevie and Scott the Scot (who wore a kilt all weekend) filled us in on some Scottish history and culture. We got used to their Scottish accents and learned to answer with an “aye” for all things affirmative. We stopped at several places on the way to our next hostel in Loch Ness, including a few castles and scenic overlooks.

There was beauty everywhere we looked. It is not hard to find in such green countryside. We had the most fun just exploring the places where our bus stopped.

On the way to our next hostel in Loch Ness, we got to stop, get off of the bus and do some sight-seeing every so often. Some of these stops included a few castles and scenic overlooks. We also had the chance to see some deer up close as well as a few “hairy coos” which are furry, highland cattle. By the end of the trip, we had become used to the sight of sheep in the middle of the road.

There was beauty everywhere we looked. It was not hard to find in such a thriving countryside with wild heather growing all over and the crumbling dry stone walls. 

 

 

One of my favorite stops was right by the shore of the ocean on the Isle of Skye, which we covered our second day on the road. The shore was pebbly and we got to climb some of the huge rocks that the tide had left behind. We got some great photos of each other with the mountains and the ocean surrounding us. 

 

Lake Loch Ness was incredibly smooth and intriguing. There is so much legend behind that lake and whatever is living underneath its depths. Stevie told us that the lake is extremely long and deep and that creatures move into the lake from the ocean through the lock system every so often. He believes that the Loch Ness monster is actually a huge oarfish, and he claims that he has seen one jump before. Personally, I am not sure if I believe in something like the Loch Ness monster, but I have really enjoyed seeing all the Nessie souvenirs. 

We got to try haggis at for dinner at our hostel one night, and we also learned how to put on our own kilts for a Tartan toga party. This trip to Scotland was filled to the brim with raw beauty and the country has become one of my most favorite. I hope to go hiking through the mountains someday in the future and I know that I definitely will be returning.

Angela Smith - Mount Saint Mary's University - Spring 2013

Prague!

Last weekend, our group went on a trip to Prague in the Czech Republic. At first, I did not know what to expect but I ended up really enjoying myself.

 We landed in the airport in Prague and were greeted by a totally different language and the challenge of figuring out the currency (which uses a lot more zeroes than I am used to).
After finding an ATM and being shocked by the fact that we had just taken out 2,000 Czech koruna, we rode the bus into the city. Even though it was getting close to nightfall, we could admire the unique architecture of the buildings in Prague. Since the city was never bombed, all of the buildings are very old and built in the same style.

Our hostel, Hotel Fusion, was probably one of the coolest hostels in Europe. It gave off a funky vibe with writing on the walls and the rotating bar that was downstairs.

We all met up after we had settled into our rooms and went on a short walk to Old Town Square, the city's centre. The square would be perfect for a concert! There is plenty open space in the middle and it is surrounded by little shops, restaurants, food kiosks, churches and museums.

My favourite part of the square was definitely the Astronomical Clock Tower. It is the oldest working astronomical clock in the world and some say that it is cursed; anybody who has tried to restore or fix the clock has either gone mad or died...

The clock has a set of moving figurines of the apostles that pass by windows on the hour as well as a skeleton, which symbolizes death, that rings a bell when the clock strikes the hour.

A group of my friends and I had dinner in the square and we ate outside, under heat lamps. The restaurant also offered us blankets. It was chilly in the city, but we were happy to be together and have good food.

 The next day began with a walking tour of the city. This was very helpful because, in the days leading up to our trip, I had not been able to do much research about sights to see while in Prague.
We learned a brief history of the city and the Czech Republic from our tour guides. One of the highlights of the tour was the Charles Bridge which was decorated with several statues and plaques. The bridge also offered a great view of the city along the river.  I noticed the great numbers of swans that were in the water below us. I have never seen so many swans in one place before! They are pretty to look at... but I have heard that they become really aggressive if you get too close to them.

There were many people selling trinkets, jewelry, food and caricatures along the river, as well as a few street performers.

 After a lunch, where I tried local cuisine, including hot (mulled) wine and fried cheese, we went on a tour of the castle on the top of the hill. The view was really spectacular. We could see all the Terra-cotta coloured roofs of the buildings around us and we were there just in time for the changing of the guards, which was very interesting to watch. All the guards seemed to know that they were good-looking and took pride in their fur hats.
The castle is the biggest in the world and we were able to explore different rooms and the churches that are connected with it such as St. Vitus Cathedral.
I really could not get enough of the architecture in the city! It was incredible.

 

  After the tour, we explored the city on our own for a bit. Sarah Moran and I took in the view from the top of the St. Nicolas Church bell tower and then we visited the Salvador Dali museum.

Our next day was left free for us to make our own way through the city until we had a group dinner at a traditional Czech restaurant later that night.
 It was a gorgeous, sunny day in Prague and we walked to sights like the Dancing House and the Lennon Wall, which was inspired by John Lennon.
We also spent some time just sitting in the square, people watching and taking in some rays. 
We even had time to try Trdelnik which remind me of pretzels except they are wrapped and baked around a wooden pole and then covered in either cinnamon sugar or almond.
Before we got to Prague, I did not know how much there would be to do in the city, but I quickly realized that the city had new and interesting features waiting for us behind every corner.  

On our last day in the Czech Republic, we left Prague to travel by bus to Lidice and the Terezin Concentration Camp.

The town of Lidice was burned down by German forces in 1942 and all of the adult males were killed. There is now a memorial where the town used to be.
The Terezin Concentration Camp was eerie to visit, because of all the death and destruction that had happened there, but it was also very educational and a significant part of history.

We saw some of the conditions that inmates were kept in as well as the cemeteries and the crematorium.

After visiting these places and catching the brilliant sunset, it was time to catch our flight back home to the UK.

 

Angela Smith - Mount Saint Mary's University - Spring Semester 2013

Ahoj, Praha!

On Thursday 28^th February at 1.15pm sharp, 30 students and 4 professors accompanied by their AIFS Tour Manager Claire Gillespie hopped on the coach to Stansted Airport. 

After a bit less than two hours on the bright orange Easyjet plane, we arrived in 30°F Praha! Having practised their Czech basics up in the air, a few students were capable of greeting our local bus driver with a wonderfully pronounced “dobry' den” (Hello in Czech). 

Quite impressed with the modernity and funkiness of our accommodation, we checked in the hotel Fusion, and dropped off our bags in our rooms. No time for a break, we were back out again to explore! Just a five minute walk and there we were… at the Old Town Square. With its ancient buildings and magnificent churches, this is one of the most beautiful historical sites in Europe.

Friday morning we were met by two young and dynamic local guides, Klara and Zdenek, who told us all about Prague’s history on a two hour tour. We walked through the Old Town, crossed the famous Charles Bridge and ended the visit at the castle; where we were lucky enough to be welcomed by the elite soldiers and experience the change of the guards. The weather was very cold, so we were all glad to have an hour break to warm up and taste typical Czech food for the first time. In the afternoon, Klara took the group to the UNESCO World Heritage site, the Prague Castle, which also included the visit of Gothic St Vitrus Cathedral. After learning about the city’s history and walking around all day, some of the students decided to explore Prague’s nightlife and see how far their knowledge of the Czech language would go. Being able to say “mluvíte anglicky?” (Do you speak English?) was already quite impressive from a tourist’s point of view!

On Saturday, the students had free time to explore at their own pace. A few examples of what the students were up to on that day: Yessica Curiel (California State University, Fullerton) and her friends visited the largest church in Prague, St Nicholas Church which has a beautiful baroque interior decorated with impressive statues, paintings and frescos. Carolyn Statz and Kevin Harris ( both from University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee) climbed up Petrin Hill to get the best shots of Prague from the Observation Tower, which looks like a miniature Eiffel Tower.  Sarah Moran (University of Wyoming), Angela Smith and Emily Davis (both from Mount Saint Mary's University) all went to pose in front of the Lennon Wall. Once a normal wall, since the 1980s it has been filled with John Lennon-inspired graffiti and pieces of lyrics from Beatles songs. The four students from Des Moines Area Community College and Professor Randall Jedele met up with local guide Klara for a communism walk and learnt all about life behind the Iron Curtain. 

In the evening, the group headed to the most famous restaurant and brewery in Prague, Ufleku. It is the only brewery in Central Europe which has been brewing beer for 500 years straight. The wall decorations, the Gothic arc ceiling and our private accordion musician put us all in the atmosphere of a typical Czech dinner.  Enough about Ufleku; you must be wondering what they had to eat? Of course we made sure they all had traditional Czech food. On the menu: onion soup, goulash with dumplings and apple strudel! Delicious but very heavy on the stomach! 

The weekend flew by, and it is already Sunday. Time to leave Prague for an emotional daytrip to Lidice and Terezin. The village of Lidice was completely destroyed by the Nazis during World War II as an act of revenge as a result of killing a high ranked Nazi. Terezin was a concentration camp where tens of thousands of Jews were murdered. Our guide, Marc, was extremely passionate about the subject. His grandfather was sent to Terezin guetto in WWII and wanted to make sure each one of us could imagine the situation at that time. It was a tough end to the trip but all the students appreciated the tour and were more easily able to put images on the Czech Republic’s history. 

In the end of the afternoon we headed to the airport, flew back to London, made our way through the strict UK Border and were all back in our homes, heads full of memories!

Na shledanou Praha!

Claire Gillespie - AIFS Student Services Advisor

For more photos of the Prague trip, have a look at our Facebook photo album. Click here !

Accidental discoveries

The amazing thing about being in London is what can happen when you don’t have a plan. This city is rich with history and culture. Often it’s a matter of just having half a day to walk into the unknown and see what you find.

 

 

A couple of Fridays ago I made an appointment to get a haircut in St. John’s Wood, a little borough in Westminster.

 

 

Now here’s the thing you need to know about living in another country - its things like haircuts, restaurants, grocery shopping, and transit - all those little things you never think about at home that will inevitably take on a whole other level of planning and flexibility when you are in another country. Rest assured, you are in unfamiliar territory in all of the above, and it may remain a constant state of affairs while you are abroad. You will likely not know where to go or what to expect when you get there. Count on using websites like Groupon, Wowcher, Google, and Yelp to find what you need and how NOT to get too lost getting where you want to go. The key thing is just to jump in and do it and accept being comfortably out of your comfort zone.

 

 

So, after mapping out my trip to the salon and finding out which Tube to take and which direction to walk when not on the train, I was off to a side of London I had not been to yet. I checked how long it would take to get there, leaving a proper amount of time in case I got lost on the journey (getting lost - often a “given” and that’s good too!). My trip went without fanfare until I was almost to my destination.

 

 

Addresses are funny things in London, as are streets that miraculously change their name every few blocks. There can in fact be the same numbered address on the same street. It’s not super common, but it can happen. The address on my Groupon voucher led me to a quaint little apartment building that didn’t look like a salon at all.

 

 

Hmmmm…I check the time on my phone. I’m going to be late. I buzz to get into the building, and the door promptly unlocks for me. I walk into the dimly lit hallway and find my way to the door with the same address as my voucher. A polite knock results in a lovely older woman who can barely hear answering the door.

“Yes dear?” she asks.

I try to explain my predicament as she strains to decipher my American accent. We both know English, but we also know our English sounds beyond foreign to each other. My dialogue will do it no justice. If I could type it, I would happily speak it and avoid a lot of daily confusion.

“Come in now. It’s alright come in. Come in! Margaret will know. Ask Margaret. It’s a salon you say you’re lookin’ for innit? Margaret, the lass is lost. Do you know where the shop is? Show her your paper dear.”

 

 

Margaret did know. The “shop” was one block down. I had walked right past it as I was studiously studying my directions. I made it to my appointment 10 minutes late but was politely greeted and taken care of. Here’s the other thing about London. The natives are friendly and helpful, and most of them are not native at all. Only one of the four staff at the salon was born in Britain. My stylist was French. My manicurist was Japanese, and my pedicurist was Romanian. This is city, everywhere you go, that is warmed by the souls of people from all over the world. You can hear 20 languages on one bus ride.

 

 

So what was the accidental discovery?

Abbey Road studios! It was a few blocks from the salon. There a fellow classmate later met me. All corners of the globe were there too, as all of us strangers ducked in and out of cars and taxis trying to capture a photo of ourselves in the intersection made famous by The Beatles on the cover of their album Abbey Road.

 

 

Charlene Horner - University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee - Spring semester 2013