Pictures

Looking through my picture I found some picture and experiences I would like to share. I walked down Piccadilly Circus. Piccadilly Circus is amazing full of shops and old buildings.











While on Piccadilly circus I ate at a steak house and had lamb chops and mint sauce. To my surprise I like mint sauce. For an appetizer we had famous Bree, it's a baked cheese that you spread on bread with jam.

One day I got to go to the British Museum of Natural History. Below is a picture of an extinct sloth, Seth the Sloth from Ice Age popped into my mind.

This is from the geology museum. One of my favorite quotes is in the picture below.














The British Museum was my favorite for many reasons. My favorite floor was Ancient Egypt, I even got to see the Rosetta Stone.

Jack the ripper tour was amazing. Even though buildings are built over  Old London it is still a haunting tour. One of Jack the Ripper victims is posted below.











British parks are different from Wyoming parks. They have way more foliage and are acres wide and long. Below are the picture of Hyde park.

The last night was a Medieval Banquets. My favorite part was the performances.

Now my blog is complete. I learned so much from this trip, and had amazing opportunities. CSC puts on a great trip for a cheap price. Coming from another college I did not know what to expect. The professors Dr. Nobiling and Dr. Wada mix education and laughter together well. CSC students were fun and outgoing. All in all I feel like the trip paid for it's self in the knowledge I gained.

For the last time Cheers,

Danielle

Changing of the Guard and Cambridge

Hello!!!

It's been awhile since I've had access to the Internet!!! I need to finish up telling about my trip!!! Thursday was an amazing!!! We had the privilege of watching the changing of the guard!! The changing of the guard has been a tradition in the United Kingdom for decades. While I could bore you with the different details of the changing of guard, I'll tell you the parts that were most unique to me. The hats that they wear are made of

 real bear skin!! They have been used since after World War II. There are not new bear skin hats made every time there is a new solider, the hats have been used for many years. After the changing of the guard we went to New Scotland Yard. The experience at New Scotland Yard was equally amazing as the changing of the guard. First we were address by assistant commissioner Lynne Owens with Central operations responsible for public order and criminal court. She was a high ranking officer, it was a privilege for her to come talk to us. She was one of the people in charge of policing the royal wedding. Next Police Eric Stuart spoke to the group. Eric Stuart, he has been on the security force for many different high profile events. This include the Olympics and the Notting Hill Carnival. We were privileged enough to hold the Olympic torch.  The Notting Hill Carnival is a very high profile event, filled with large crowds. Mr. Stuart had studied and had experience with crowd control. It was interesting to me how out of control crowds can get! We were also privileged to hold the Olympic torch!!!





 Then we went to Cambridge. Most of the Colleges were closed so we went on a punting tour, we had time so we went to the Eagle pub. You can see why it's famous in the picture below.

The buildings are separate colleges that fall under the jurisdiction of Cambridge. The buildings were beautiful and the punting tour was exciting.














Then on the way back to the hotel we went to the Cemetery at Cambridge. The land is owned by the United States of America. After seeing all of the graves I can truly say I feel grateful to those who fought in the war for our County.

Cheers,

Danielle

Magistrates Court

Today we visited the Magistrates Court. The English Court system is very similar to the American Court system. The highest court is the Supreme Court, which has now been open for a year. Due to bomb threats, we were not allowed to visit the court. There is a high level raised of security since the Queen of England is visiting Ireland. I'm excited I had the privilege to be in Europe while the Queen makes a trip to Ireland. This experience is unique because it's the first time in decades since a Monarch has been to Ireland. Anyways on to process of the courts. There are three courts that fall under the criminal court. Those are court of appeal, crown court, and magistrates court. Courts of appeal, much like the United States court, only have appellate jurisdiction. The Crown Court has both appellate and original jurisdiction. Magistrates Courts only have original jurisdiction. Since we visited the Magistrates court I have a better understanding of the system. We were privileged to have Judge Eli Baker. He explained his role and the roles of the the court room players. All cases began in the Magistrates court and then can be sent up to higher courts. Then we sat in on a court case. Europeans use more of intermediate sanctions, which means they give out fines in lieu of jail. The case we saw was a man who had been charged with carrying cannabis. He had a prior record, he only received a 100 pound fine. Also instead of one Judge presiding over the court there was three. All in all that sums up my experience with the Magistrates Court. There will be no picture posted because yet again I was not allowed to take pictures. Tonight is the Jack the Ripper tour!!! I will post picture and a blog about that tomorrow.

Cheers,

Danielle

Pentonville Prison

The past two day's have been very informative. While writing by pre-departure papers I had a few questions dealing with the UK prison system. Mainly I was confused by the structure of the prisons. The prison we visited was Pentonville prison. I did NOT take any picture so I will up load a few from google to illustrate the scenery of the prisons.
 



While we did get a briefing on the prison, I will not explain that in order to not waste your time. If you want the historical information and details visit http://www.victorianlondon.org/prisons/pentonvilleprison.htm. Now I will talk about the things that seemed unique to me. First of all I will talk about the dress code of the prisoners. The prisoners are allowed to wear street clothes. Which seemed like a high privilege to have, for a prisoner. Along with wearing street clothes ,in my opinion, they have less of a harsh environment. After booking the prisoners are taken and sat an in electronic chair to check for metals. If metals are detected they are strip searched and asked to squat. They officers do not do body cavity searches. If the prisoners refuse they are kept in a separate cell, until they give up the object. Now they most unique thing about the structure was the bars in-between the different floors, as shown in the picture above. It was designed this way to prevent food from being thrown and prisoners from committing suicide. The guards carry different weapons then the American guards. They don't carry guns. Also they use a whistle to alert when a guard is in trouble. All in the prison tour was interesting, in my opinion the prison was less harsh on offenders than the ones in the United States.

Cheers,

Danielle

Old Bailey

Hello!!!

St. Paul Cathedral

Well this weekend was full of excitement!!! Shaylee, Bodell, Shawn, and myself went to the one and only Dublin Ireland. Ireland had so more foliage and the scent of cologne in the air--thus creating a very lush experience ;). Here are some pictures from our amazing trip!!

Raining  in one of the parks

Seafood Soup

Inside the Cathedral

Anyways on to the educational part of the trip, today we visited the Ends of Court and Old Bailey. The Ends of Court are where 'Barristers' (lawyers) go to train. There is eight places in the UK , three of them being in London, for Barristers to train. While our system is based on common law there is some differences between our training of lawyers and their barristers. Not only do you have to score high on the test to get a law degree, but you have to eat twelve formal dinners. This seemed odd to me. Original reasons behind the twelve formal dinners is so that people would attend lectures. Now the reasoning behind that is based on tradition. Barrister also wear wigs, the wigs can are 500 Euros. Ruffly that is almost a thousand US dollars.  Then we had the privilege to visit old Bailey. Old Bailey is a court house in London. I will not post picture of the site because it is a two year jail penalty to take picture of the court house--hence I did NOT take pictures. The court house was originally a jail and a court house. People as young as nine were hung at Old Bailey. The most odd thing about the courts was they don't hand cuff the prisoners. The court house is under the jurisdiction of the London police. The court was designed to impress it was marble and lavishly painted ceilings. The person who gave us the tour is a London Police officer gave us a rich historical lecture on Old Bailey. The thing that stuck with me the most was I got to touch the old Roman Walls..............Well that sums up our tour!!

Cheers,

Danielle

Central Communications

In every country there is crime, along with that there has to be a way to report crime. In Europe the number used is 999. That number responses to emergency calls. The call center is much like the U.S. county calling centers in terms of electronic use. The way it differed was in where the call the center is. In this country they have three major call centers.  The agents dispatch the calls to emergency officer. There is a high population in London, in the millions. A number is going to be set up for non-emergency calls. After seeing the call center we went to Lambert. Lambert is a training center for officers. Some choose to participate in the training. It was unreal how effective the officers use the batons. Well, I fly out tomorrow for Ireland, so I will upload pictures and more information when I have more time.

Cheers,

Danielle

DONT MAKE ME SAY STOP AGAIN!!!

The Metropolitan Police Force is a key player in the policing system in England. This police force has over twenty thousand men and composes one third of the police force. Metropolitan Police Force is has jurisdiction over most of Greater London.  Within the Metropolitan Police Force there is a head of the force. This figure head is known as the Commissioner of Police to the Metropolis.

            The Commissioner of Police to the Metropolis has a many roles to fill. This position entails executive direction of the force. Commissioners will also deal with appointments, promotion, and discipline of officers.  The Commissioner of Police to the Metropolis office is housed in New Scotland Yard. Scotland Yard is the control center for police and detectives that fall in the jurisdiction of the Metropolis Police. Outside of the jurisdiction of the Metropolis Police is the City of London Police. City of London Police Force is smaller than the Metropolis Police force, with eleven hundred men. This unit is controlled by the Commissioner of the City of London Police.

            Above are basic facts about the London Police Force. Now I will state the main and surprising difference between the two forces. The Metropolis Police don’t carry weapons like United States Police officers. They are ‘friendly police’, as said by our first tour guide. Carry guns are even of interest to some officers. They have a responsibility to not injure the public. Even if shots are fired they can be prosecuted for their actions. Two officers ,in a mistake of fact, shot one man and were in and out of court defending their actions for six years. Like the United States they have electronic finger printing which makes the process quicker. They also have kwik hand cuffs that making cuffing the criminal quicker.

I will post more tomorrow as I’m about to get kicked out of the cafe!!!

Cheers,

Danielle

Jet Lagg

While this should have been my first post, it was not. Yesterday we arrived far to late to blog. The airplane ride went well. I avoided motion sickness by sleeping the hole time. Upon arriving in London the first thing I notice was the foliage of the country site. It is very unlike Wyoming or any country side. The ground under the trees are almost spotless. It's as if they clean the fallen leaves and branches from under the trees.

Upon arrival we went to Windsor to exchange some money and bought track phones.
 Everything here is more expensive due to the fact we no longer follow the gold standard (thanks Nixon). The exchange rate is 1.7 Euros to American dollars.

Cheers,

Danielle

Looking Glass of History

Today we went to three places: Oxford, Stratford Upon Avon, and Warwick Castle.



Oxford does not mirror a campus a like the United States. It is not merely one University but several combined under one rule. It's almost comparable to the United Kingdoms system of government. It compares to that system by one ruling system that separate colleges follow. It has several colleges under the jurisdiction of one University. To be exact there are 38 colleges.Each college has its own Governing Body, comprising the Head of House and a number of Fellows, most of whom also hold University posts. There are also six Permanent Private Halls, which were founded by various Christian denominations The application process is also different from the Unites Application process. First it's important to have an impressive application. That includes high academics in high school and on the entrance exam. After that you will interview with the colleges who select you. The interview are complicated to prepare for. The judges want you to set your self apart form the rest. One interview set judges newspapers on fire to  'entertain him'. He was ,oddly enough, excepted into the the University. Among the Universities we visited was Brasenose College.  
 

This is among one of the four oldest Colleges in London

 

Dinning hall.

While I could bore you with it's rich history here is a link two there website: http://www.bnc.ox.ac.uk/345/brasenose-college-archives-and-history-38/college-history-212/a-brief-history-of-brasenose-397.html 

Then we departed for Stratford Upon Avon. Among my blond moments it's not a University, instead it's was home to a so to speak 'smart clock' of a man. William Shakespeare was born and lived in Avon Upon Stratford.

After visiting I have a new love for the man's myriad complex vocabulary. A normal person only used 2,000 words in speech. Shakespeare used 40,000. Our group was then privileged to walk upon the same floor as Shakespeare.

 

Our day then ended with our last Tour site Warwick Castle. Only sections of the Castle are available for the public to tour. Tour able part was a Victorian setting of scandal and affected personalities of the last family who lived there.  Visit the foll wing website for more information: www.warwick-castle.com/plan-your-day/history.aspx -

I could babble for hours about today. Due to the fact of the downloading capabilities of the Internet, these are not my personal pictures. I will upload some as soon as possible.

Cheers,

Danielle

 







Well I finally got back and as you can see uploaded pictures!!! I tried to only upload a few, I have six hundred. Looking at the above information I realized I left out some important information. Those question include how is this alike/different from the United States, or what I'm I feeling. I think I explained the differences for Oxford but not for the Castle. The United States is a young country compared to Britain. So the history is different in both countries. In American I don't know of any Castles you can go and tour that are that old. I've been to different forts in America i.e.-Fort Bridger and Laramie, but the Castle was used for longer and for royal families. One of the things I got to do was try some British food, I pick Cornish pastry. Above is a  picture!!
Once again CHEERS!!
Danielle

Awaiting Takeoff with no Toilet Paper

Today- I came to the realization there is only ten more days till the plane departs for LONDON!!!









That has given me the motivation to push though the rest of my finals. I presume most of my soon to be classmates at Chadron are finishing up with finals as well. I'm way excited to meet everyone who is going on this trip. I have managed to pack everything after long phone calls with Shaylee of what to wear. Also I will not be packing toilet paper, despite what has been said, I'm aware they use toilet paper!!!