21!

My 21st birthday was Saturday!
I had a great dinner with a smaller group of friends at a pub, then a large group of us hung out in my dorm room to get ready for the bar. We went out to Oxygen Bar, a dance club, and had a great time!!
Picture: Some of the girls (Amanda, Katherine, Sarah, Me, Melanie, Erica, Lindsay, Shayna) at Oxygen Bar

The end is almost near! I've already started packing up my room and getting ready to see my parents and then head home!

Scotland: The Land of Sheep

I spent the last four days in Scotland, and I could not be more in love with the country!

We left on Thursday morning at 11:30 to head to King's Cross station to catch our train to Edinburgh. We arrived at Edinburgh around 5:30, and after checking into the hostel, our group leader from Richmond, Stuart who is from Edinburgh, showed us a bit around the city. He took us to Edinburgh Castle and to the shopping street.Picture: Edinburgh Castle


At dinner, we ate a couple of traditional Scottish dishes...I did not order haggis for myself, but my friend Shayna did, and I had a pretty big bite. It was not horrible, but I don't think that I will ever try it again. We also had Irn Bru with dinner. Irn Bru is the national soda of Scotland, and it even outsells Coca Cola in Scotland. It's an odd mixture of cream soda and orange soda, and while being pretty delicious, is 30% sugar. I couldn't drink it every day, but I had a couple of bottles throughout the weekend. After dinner,we took a trip to a very cheap pub that was showing a football game, and hung out for a bit with the locals and watched the game.

At 10 o'clock, we headed to the Royal Mile (the main steet of Old Edinburgh) for a ghost tour. There are countless numbers of ghost tours in Edinburgh because of the city's very old and haunted history...the modern city is built on the old city. We started off the ghost tour on the surface of the city, but eventually we made our way down to the vaults. That is when the ghost tour actually got really scary. We first saw the torture museum, where the tour displayed instruments of torture used during the 17th and 18th centuries in Edinburgh. These instruments put the torture scenes in 'Saw' to shame. We made our way down into the underground vaults, which were on the show 'Most Haunted Live' in 2006 which found the vaults to be very haunted. The scariest story we head was about a Wiccan temple and the leader who spent the night down there. The leader of the Wiccan coven was friends with the owner of the vaults, and so he was given permission to hold services down there on Wiccan days of worship. However, in the first room that they inhabited, lots of weird things happened, such as the room being trashed and witches feeling lots of pressure on their chests whent they entered the room. So the Wiccan leader decided to spend the night in the room inside of his protective circle. He woke up in the middle of the night hearing shuffling coming down the stairs and approaching his circle, but it stopped once it reached the protective energy. So finally, he heard the frustrated ghost begin to shuffle up the wall and onto the ceiling right above him. Like any normal person, he grabbed his torch and ran. Supposedly, the spirit was then trapped by him inside of the circle. We had the option to stand in the circle, and although I'm a bit unsure about the presence of evil spirits, I did not tempt fate and stand in the circle! Some people in our group did...hopefully they will be OK!Picture: Protective Circle, Paranormal Level 2 Zone

After the ghost tour, we grabbed a drink and hung out in the underground vault bar where there was live music, and then called it a night and went to bed. We had to be up early the next morning (8:30), so we were hoping for a good night's sleep without any nightmares.

The next morning we got up and started on our tour of the Highlands of Scotland and the Isle of Skye. We went with a tour group called Haggis Tours, which was SUCH a great tour company. The guides were young, funny, and the male guide Colin was very cute and had a great accent! We left Edinburgh at 9:30 in the morning and began our trip up Scotland into the Highlands. One of the first places we stopped was the small town of Dunkeld. The first part of the day was gorgeous, so we walked around to the cathedral and then soaked up the sun by the river.

Picture: Dunkeld River

After Dunkeld, we continued our trip North and stopped at Culloden Battlefield. It was the site of an important battle between the Scottish Jacobite forces and the British. After stopping there for a few minutes of pictures and bathroom breaks, we made our way to the most exciting stop of Day 1: Loch Ness!!
Picture: Me in front of Loch Ness

By the time that we got to Loch Ness, the weather had gotten a little colder and the sun had gone away. But it was still super exciting to see the most famous lake in the world, and get pictures with Nessie! We walked around the gift shop and looked at all of the really tacky touristy souveniers.



Picture: Me, Shayna, and Melanie with Nessie!

After Loch Ness, we were pretty much done sightseeing for Day 1. We arrived in Fort Augustus, where our hostel was located, and checked into our rooms. We stayed in the 'Trainspotting' themed room, which was super cool. That night, we went out on the (small) town of Fort Augustus and had a good time sampling authentic Scottish culture.

The next morning we headed out at 8:30 again. On Saturday, we were going to spend the day on the Isle of Skye. The Isle of Skye is translated from Scottish into "The Misty Isle," but the weather that we had was some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. It was sunny with pleasant temperatures and clear, blue skys. My two favorite parts of the Isle of Skye were the Sligachan River and our hike down to a waterfall. The Sligachan River is supposed to bring youth and beauty if you put your face in the water for 7 seconds. So most of our group got our faces wet in hopes of youth and beauty. We'll see how that works out.
Later on the in the afternoon, we stopped at a waterfall/view point on a big cliff. Eventually, unplanned, we all decided to start hiking down to the waterfall. It was so increadibly beautiful and untouched. We spend about half an hour down there just taking pictures, soaking up the sun, and enjoying the amazing view before making the steep climb back up the cliff.

We spent the night in a small town called Kyle Achin right over the Skye Bridge. It was an extremely SMALL town, so the night was pretty slow. We hung out in the hostel bar for a while, before retiring early and watching a little T.V.! We randomly had a TV in our room so we hung out watching 'Family Guy' before calling it an early night.

The next morning, we got up for our last day in Scotland. :( We left the Isle of Skye and started back down the Highlands. It was another BEAUTIFUL day, and I couldn't stop taking pictures of the scenery. Our final destination of the trip was Stirling and the William Wallace Monument. I felt a little homesick for P.C. at the William Wallace Monument because of the obvious connections with Braveheart. I took an awesome picture with an imaginary sword in fron to the monument as a tribute to Cyrus!

After the Wallace Monument at Stirling, we were pretty much finished with Scotland and made our way back to Edinburgh. We hopped on a train back to London, and then five hours later, we were home! I was sad to leave Scotland...it was such a fun place. It was amazing to be in nature and see the stars and breathe fresh air for a few days!

More pictures of the scenery and other places are on Facebook!

G20, the cinema, and Camden Town

As I'm sure many of you saw on the news, last week was the G20 Summit in London. Since we don't have TVs in our rooms, it wasn't really until the protests started to flare up that we realized that this summit might be a bigger deal than we thought. We were supposed to go down to the center of town on the Wednesday that the summit began for a class field trip...but I made the executive decision not to go because the transportation promised to be a nightmare. I didn't want to get in the middle of the Tube and it be so crowded that I wouldn't make it to my class on time (and waste 2 pounds). This was a good call because apparently rioters attempted to break into the Bank of England, and they successfully broke into the Bank of Scotland and began destroying the place. It would have been cool to be in on the action, but not cool at all to be caught up in it all and get arrested! However, I didn't hear anything much about the summit after that, and the rest of the visit went off without a hitch. Apparently, everyone over here was wowed by Michelle Obama and loved all of her outfits. She was all over the free papers that they give out on the Tube, and all of the reporters came to the conclusion that she looked miles better than Prime Minister Gordon Brown's wife. I don't know much about global politics, but I do know a bit abut fashion, and I'd have to agree.

If you know me at all, in any way, shape, or form, you know that one of the foremost loves of my life is movies. If my money would hold out, I could go to the theater every night and see one. So it's been a long, hard three and a half months without going to the movies. This is not to say that I still don't watch movies...as an abroad student, you get very well acquainted with certain websites that have less than legal copies of movies and television shows. But I had not gone to the theater, bought a ticket, some candy, and a drink, and then spent two hours in a darkened theater with twenty other people in three and a half months. So on Friday night, we decided to go to the small cinema (they aren't called theatres over here...those are for plays, cinemas are for movies) in Notting Hill and see 'Two Lovers.' It was a lot of fun to go to the cinema. The tickets at this smaller cinema (2 screens) were probably equal after conversion to American ticket prices, and there was a nice area where you could buy a beer, mixed drink, or nicer food to take into the theatre with you. The cinema was in Notting Hill and owned and operated by a church, the Kensington Temple. I think I may go to see another movie before I leave...although, they have far less movies than there are in the United States...now, there are probably only 10 movies to choose from in the entire city.

On Saturday, Katherine, Rachel, and I went to Camden Town and explored the markets. Camden Town is essentially a couple of large markets, along with lots of established stores. I feel like Camden is the London that we have missed living in Kensington. Kensington is such a nice, safe, POSH area of London. Camden Town has the punks, the Rastafarians, the goths, and all of the hipsters. There were lots of really funny T-shirts, cute dresses, jewelry...but also lots of leather, bongs, pipes, and inappropriate body jewelry. I would compare certain parts Camden Town Market to gigantic Hot Topics. But there were also amazing vintage stores that we spent a lot of time looking through. There was a really exciting and unique food market...with food fromMe xico, China, India, etc, crepes, and freshly squeezed juices. Sadly, we ate before we got there, and could only walk through and enjoy the smells. I made one purchase at the markets...it is a really unique leather bracelet with a key charm and beads. It was only 3 pounds!

After the market, we went out to eat for a friend's 21st birthday at Texas Embassy. The food there is not the best (nothing compared to the Mexican food of Barberitos or Senor Garcia's) , but they have good chips and salsa and margaritas, so it was a fun and chill Saturday night. Since we had such a large group, we sat upstairs and listened to the musical act that was performing.

A Week Full of Things I Love

After a great Spring Break, I figured it would be only natural that the week back would be a downer. On the contrary, this week has been a lot of fun!

Tuesday night, we had a fun St. Patty's Day. Everywhere downtown was so crowded, but we actually took a nice break from everything and sat on the Trafalgar Square monument for a while.
Picture: Left to Right--Amanda, Ashley, Katherine, Me


On Wednesday, with my History of London class, we went to the reconstructed Globe Theater. It has hands down been my favorite trip of the class. We took a fairly brief tour of the inside of the theater by a Globe tour guide. It was a pretty day, so it was not difficult to imagine seeing a show in the roofless theater. Although, shows are staged there no matter what the weather. We also had time to go to the giftshop, and I bought refrigerator magnets of Shakespearean insults and a graphic novel of Hamlet. If they have a more detailed tour, I would really like to be able to go back.Picture: Me in front of the Globe Stage

After seeing the Globe, we walked around the South Bank a little more to see the original sites of The Rose Theater and The Globe Theater.

On Wednesday night, we attended a concert at Scala, a venue near King's Cross Station. We saw GirlTalk, which consists of a man and his MacBook. He makes remixes out of beats and lyrics from Top 40 and classic music, rock, rap, everything. For example, he might make a remix out of the hook from 'Tiny Dancer' and then throw Lil Wayne rap over it. The concert was one big dance party, and we danced for two hours straight in a jam packed room!

On Thursday night, I went to see Avenue Q with Rachel Weinthal. It was such a funny musical and the way a lot of people describe it is an R-rated Sesame Street. Hilarious! It was not really like any musical I had seen up until this point. I'm used to Rogers and Hammerstein musicals or classics such as Phantom or Les Mis with clear morals, simple songs, and clean cut characters. This was definitely not one of those shows, and it was refreshing. Some of the things were a little questionable...but when the puppets said inappropriate things, it was only funny rather than offensive.

My roommate and her friend that has been visiting for over a week went to Paris for the weekend, so Friday was a really nice day for me. I was able to catch up on all the sleep that I had missed from Spring Break and this past week, and then do a lot of homework. We went to dinner at Da Marios, a great Italian place in our neighborhood. It is the same restaurant that we saw Dustin Hoffman a few weeks ago, but we didn't see him again this time.

On Saturday, the musical bug hit us again, and we went to the Novello Theater is Covent Garden early Saturday morning to get some tickets for Spring Awakening at a cheaper, day of show rate. We were able to get seats, good ones at that. While we were on that side of town, we walked across London Bridge, explored the South Bank a little more, and then crossed back over to city London on the Tower Bridge.
Before dinner, a group of us (Caroline, Christina Jones, Rachel, and Katherine) went to eat at a Mexican place called Los Locos in the theater district. I didn't know very much about Spring Awakening before going to the show, other than that it was supposed to be amazing and that it won a lot of Tony's. I could not be happier that I went to see it. It was such a beautiful and heartbreaking musical. The staging of the show was very minimal, and musical numbers were very uniquely stage. Even the lights were awesome! Everyone in my group simply loved it...but a couple in front of us left at intermission. I think that they didn't love the themes of the play...eek!

It has been a very cultured week. I don't have anything specific planned for next week, but I know that, in London, anything can come up!

Spring Break '09

This Spring Break has been the best on record.

We started out in Athens, Greece. We arrived on Friday night at the Athens airport, took a cab to our hotel, settled in, and then headed out to dinner. We ate at a traditional Greek place, and I got a Greek omlette with feta and a Mythos beer. There are two native Greecian beers: Mythos and Alfa. Both are very hopsy and good. After that, we collapsed into bed in preparation for a long day of sightseeing.
The next morning, a large group of us gathered together (Katherine, Amanda, Christina Rine, Christina Jones, Caroline, Erica, and me) and climbed up to the top of the Acropolis. It was so amazing. We went up a really neat way, winding up back roads and getting to see some beautiful Greek homes and churches. Picture: Parthenon

Seeing the Parthenon was an amazing experience, similar to seeing the Sistine Chapel or Westminster Abbey. It is something that you read about, see pictures of, but never really understand until you visit it. We spent about an hour on the Acropolis, taking lots of pictures and enjoying the view.
We next visited Hadrian's Arch and the Temple of Zeus. After seeing them, we decided to have a nice leisurely lunch. The restaurants there are very competitive for business, so we were able to finagle free wine and free dessert from one restaurant. They had amazing chicken souvlaki, which is chicken marinated and fired on a grill with peppers and onions.
Later, we went back to the hotel for a bit of a breather and said goodbye to our friends. We rode up Lycabettus Hill, the highest point in Athens. The view was breathtaking, and we could even see the ocean! After the hill, it was time for dinner, and we searched out a gyro place. DELICIOUS. The restaurant gave us free shots of ouzo, and we finally got to say 'OPA!' as we toasted with the other Greek patrons.

The next morning, we had to wake up at 5:00 in the morning to make our 7:30 am ferry. The ferry was very nice, but it got pretty stormy on our way over there. Even through the rain, it was gorgeous passing all the islands. Finally, around noon, we arrived on Naxos. The rain cleared up right as we got there. We really took that afternoon to relax and watch some American T.V. (Friends and Mr. and Mrs. Smith) and grabbed dinner at a great gyro place. Once again we got free shots at the restaurant, this time of a liquor called Citron.

The next morning, we woke up and headed out to the Temple of Apollo. It was up on a rock, and after we looked at the temple for a while, we layed out on the rocks in our swimsuits. It was a beautifully sunny day. I didn't want to get in the water, but I was walking on one of the rocks, slipped, and slid halfway into the freezing water. It was pretty funny, but my tailbone was bruised for a couple of days.Picture: Roommate and I on the beach in Naxos

We were randomly walking around Naxos, looking at shops, when a man yelled to us that we should come to Escoba for a great dinner. Since Katherine is from Texas and loves her Tex-Mex, we were down for that. We went back to the room, took a nap, got dressed, and went to Escoba. The dinner was great, and eventually we started the dancing.
We spent our second day in Naxos in much of the same way, spending time on the beach and laying out in the sun. I even got a little sunburned on my face. We went out for dinner at a very traditional Greek dinner with AMAZING Greek salad. The Greek salads are so fresh and amazing...the tomatoes are sweet and juicy, the cucumbers are refreshing, and the huge blocks of feta are out of this world. We headed back to Escoba that night, as it was the only nightclub/bar open in Naxos during the offseason.
I was very depressed on Wednesday morning when we had to leave on the ferry from Naxos. I am adament that I will go back to Greece again one day.

Picture: Houses on the hill in Naxos

Our trip on Tuesday was exhausting. I think we took every form of transportation, minus helicopters or a Segway. We rode the ferry to Athens, a subway to the end of the line, a taxi to the airport, a plane to London Luton, a bus from the airport to the train station, a train to the Tube station, the Tube station to Gloucester Road, and then a walk home down Gloucester. And in about six hours, I had to be up for a flight to Dublin.
We were back to Luton the next morning and off to Dublin. The flight was only about 40 minutes long, and we arrived in Ireland around 1:30.

We were booked to stay in a hostel, which was quite an experience. We were in a room with 10 other girls, and slept in bunk beds. But the hostel was in a great part of town and only ten minutes away from the center of town. The first night we were in Dublin, we went to a comedy show which was HILARIOUS. I couldn't stop laughing at the comediens, and their accents made everything a little bit funnier.
We explored Dublin and saw the sights that were there...Dublin Castle, Trinity College, Christ Church, and St. Patrick's Cathedral.
We also went to the Guinness Storehouse. I have found that I am not the biggest fan of Guinness. It is a coffee-y beer, and I think that it has t be an acquired taste. But the museum itself was very interesting, and I was able to force down about half of my free drink at the Gravity Bar.
Picture: Teeny Jones and I being skeptical about our Guinness

We were able to get a taste of the pubs in Ireland by walking around Temple Bar. Temple Bar is mostly a nightspot, but there is also a fresh market there on Saturdays with delicous crepes, sasuages, fresh cheeses, seafood, etc. Temple Bar is an area, but the famous pub is THE Temple Bar. It was really crowded, but tons of fun with lots of 80's and 90's music, singing, and drunk Irish men.
By Sunday, needless to say, I was exhausted. But this Spring Break will go down in history as the best one ever, no contest.

--There are more pictures of my travels on Facebook!

Plans!

As of tomorrow at 4:20, I will be done with midterms!
That means that I will be free to go on my Spring Break. I am leaving for Athens, Greece Friday afternoon and after spending a few days there, I will be spending a relaxing 4 days on the beautiful Greek Island of Naxos (Google it!).
After Greece, we are flying to Ireland to spend the weekend before St. Patty's Day on the Emerald Isle.

I will report back with lots of details, stories, and pictures!

Many apologies....

Sorry I've been so slack on the blog. It's been a busy couple of weeks since Paris. This blog is probably going to be a little less "and on this day I went here and saw this and here is a picture." We've been trying to pace ourselves on sightseeing and actually focus a little more on schoolwork.

My friend Katherine and I were walking around Notting Hill on Saturday, and we both came to the realization that we've started to feel like we live in London, rather than merely being tourists or visitors. It was a really exciting and affirming realization.
The best way to see the city is just to walk. The weather has gotten a lot nicer, and if where we are going is only one or two Tube stops away, we will just set out in that direction on foot instead of having to pay a subway fare. People have even stopped to ask us directions. This is kind of daunting, but it is also very rewarding when you can respond, "Actually, yes! In fact, I do know the way to the Gloucester Road Tube station." I had always hoped that I would be able to find a regular pub, must-go-to student night, and interesting new people that I interact with like I've known them my whole life during this semester...but I really didn't really think that those expectations would be this quickly fufilled and in such great supply. I've already gotten so much out of this experience, and I'm not even halfway done yet. (Thank God!!!)

But, I do miss some things about the United States. I've actually started watching the NBC show Friday Night Lights just for the fact that it does give me a (shockingly) accurate potrayal of the life back home. Great show; you should be watching if you aren't!
I miss Zaxby's and Barberritos A LOT. Mexican food is not very popular over here, and that is one of my favorite types of food. I miss having my Blackberry on hand at all times so that I can Google something. I miss flip flops, shorts, and T-shirts. I miss birthday celebrations that I could be having with my friends from home. (here's looking at you, Ace, MH, and Caro) I desperately miss Waffle House.

There are also some great things that I've discovered that make me so happy over here: falafel sandwiches, Strongbow, dancing into the early hours of the morning, Pret a Manger, Dorothy Perkins, H&M, Topshop, the pub atmosphere, a new appreciation of Lady Gaga, and then just about everything that London has to offer.

Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life for there is in London al that life can afford."
--Samuel Johnson

Weekend in Paris

I was in Paris for the past weekend, and it was quite a trip!

We left for St. Pancras station on Friday morning, and then boarded our Eurostar train to Paris. The train trip was nice...I ended up sitting next to a girl in my program who I hadn't met before. It was neat to make a new friend on the train. The Eurostar was very comfortable, and I like riding on a train better than flying. Since there were delays due to maintenance on the tunnel, the trip took about three hours, making our trip about a half hour longer than was expected. We got to the French station, and boarded tour buses to the hotel.

We stayed in a couple of Holiday Inns (our group was so large that we had to book two hotels because of the size of our group). In the United States, Holiday Inns aren't bad places to stay but they are not top of the line hotels, either. In Paris, they are almost luxury hotels. We had the most comfortable beds and pillows, a flat screen T.V., and an amazing shower. The chocolate croissants at breakfast were also amazing! The hotel itself was a definite perk of the trip.

After taking a few minutes to get settled, we left the hotel for our night tour of the Seine. From the Seine, we were able to see all of the main monuments of Paris. We had a great view of the Eiffel Tower. When we started the tour and then when we concluded it, we were able to see the Effel Tower sparkling. Since the night was nice (about 50 degrees F), we were able to bundle up and sit out on in the open air.

Once we finished the boat tour, a couple of us went to a restaurant...we were starving and settled for the first place we saw. Luckily, the place that we stopped at was great. We were able to have some great pasta and sample some famous French wine.

The next morning, we had to wake up by 8:45 for a bus tour of the city. The tour was a great way to see all of the important areas of the city in one morning. We saw the Arc de Triomphe, the Paris Opera House, the Eiffel Tower, and Notre Dame Cathedral (amongst other landmarks).

Picture: Me in front of Notre Dame Cathedral

I really enjoyed the bus tour...it lasted for about three hours, and I was able to take a lot of pictures.

We finished the tour at the Eiffel Tower. The sky had been looking grey all day, and it had been drizzling off and on for hours. However, right when we arrived at the Tower, it began to snow. Not pretty snow, horribly cold and wet and hard snow. We had tickets to go up in the Tower, and no one was willing to skip out on the experience. So, in spite of the inclement weather, we rode the three elevators to the top of the tower. Since the weather was so bad, we were unable to actually see the view from the top. I was very glad that I had been to Paris before and that this experience wasn't the only one I had of the Tower.

We didn't spend to much time at the Tower because, well, we all looked and felt like drowned rats and were ready to get somewhat dry and warm. We decided to grab a cab and head over to the Louvre.
Since the Louvre is so massive, we went into the museum knowing that we wanted to see a few key pieces of art. The two most exciting were the "Venus de Milo" and "The Mona Lisa".
Sculpture: "Venus de Milo" and Painting: "The Mona Lisa"

While it was humbling and awesome to be in the presence of "The Mona Lisa," I feel bad for all of the other works of art in the Louvre. There was an amazing, huge mural of a wedding feast right across the hall from "The Mona Lisa," but almost no one paid it any attention in their rush to get to (probably) the most famous painting in the world.

After the Louvre, it was time for some window shopping and crepe eating. I had an amazing Nutella crepe from a street vendor. Nutella is God's greatest invention! It goes well with everything: crepes, waffles, fresh fruit, marshmallows, bread, graham crackers, even on its own as a pig out food. By the time we filled up our tummys, we were really hit by that early 8:45 meeting time, so it was back to the hotel for a nap before it was time to get ready to go out in Paris. We went in a large group, and it was difficult for Americans to get into the French clubs. Therefore, we ended up splintering into smaller groups and getting wine and appetizers at restaurants. It was very odd because in London, everyone you meet on the street, at a store, or at a pub is super friendly. In France, this was not the case. The stereotype was true in this case and on this trip.

The next morning, it was time to say 'au revoir' to France. My roommate and I grabbed one last crepe, and boarded the bus to take us to the train station. By 5:00 p.m., we were back home in London. And even though I had a very nice weekend in Paris, I was super glad to be back in my favorite city in the world!

SNOW!!!

It's snowing here in London! It is the greatest snowfall since 1991! Above is a picture of my friend Katherine and me playing in the snow out in front of our dorm.

Classes were canceled today, so we went to the local park, Kensington Gardens, to act like 8 year olds. We built a snowman...

We met a little British girl who thought our snowman was so amazing that she wanted a picture with it. She then showed us her snowman, and we got a picture of it.

After making our snowman, making snow angels, throwing a few snowballs, and taking lots of pictures, we decided to head to the Gloucester Arms (our favorite and regular pub) for some lunch and to warm up.

We don't know if classes are going to be canceled tomorrow...they are going to reassess the situation at 16.00. If we're lucky, we'll have two snow days in a row!

But it's not all snow days and snowmen here in London. This weekend were the Chinese New Year festivities, celebrating the year of the Ox. We went down to Leicester Square last night to check out the booths and stores in Chinatown and to see the fireworks. We thought that the fireworks were going to be an awesome spectacle...but they were...not so much. ;O) It was still lots of fun, and we got to get a taste of Chinatown.

I'm very excited because this weekend we are taking a trip to Paris!! Hopefully there will be some great things to tell and great pictures to show!

Comment on my blog! I'd love to hear from y'all. Thanks Jules, Aunt Julia, and Parents for commenting... :)

Mate! She's a bloke!

My first week of classes are over. We haven't really gotten to the meat of our subjects, but I have for sure been introduced to a lot of new concepts and teaching styles.
Mom, you'll be glad to know that I am actually STUDYING while I am studying abroad.


But that doesn't mean that I haven't been able to have some fun. On Thursday night, we went to a Member's Only Club. Richmond was able to rent out the bottom floor of the VERY nice and VERY expensive club. My friends and I had a lot of fun there, but since the tubes close between 12:00 and 1:00, we had to take the Night Bus back to Kensington High Street. The buses are quite difficult to navigate during the day when it is sunny and semi-warm, but at the end of the night when we were tired, cold, and super wet, they were even harder to navigate. It was still a really great experience, and we now have a better understanding of the bus system. I still prefer the Tube!
Picture of my friend Rachel and I before going to No. 5 Cavendish Place.

On Friday, we had a pretty relaxing day, just walking around Kensington High Street looking in the shops and had lunch at Wagamama's. Wagamama's is one of our favorite restaurants in London. They serve all natural, fresh food...they have Rramen, noodle dishes, and rice dishes. Everything there is great, and you feel good after eating such fresh food. That night, we went to our local pub, The Gloucester Arms, grabbed dinner, and chatted up some locals. The people can seem to be a little standoffish on the street (especially since I'm used to 'Southern Charm'), but once you meet them in their environment (the pub), they are quite friendly!

The next morning, we got up early and headed downtown to the British Museum. I had already been on Wednesday with my class, but it is such a large museum that we felt that a return trip was necessary. My friend Katherine has a very handy book called "Top 10 of London," and we were able to locate and see the Top 10 most important things at the British Museum. We saw the Rosetta Stone, the artifacts found at Sutten Hoo, the Elgin Marbles, etc. It was a great way to spend the afternoon! After that, we went to a little souvenier shops across the street that I went to the last time I was in London. It is called "Fancy That of London" and has great, touristy souveniers for low prices.

That night, we went to SOHO to a live music night at a Pub called Spice of Life. It is definitely one of our favorite places in London thus far. We had dinner in the downstairs performance area, and waited around for the bands to begin playing. The three acts were all really different and fun.

Today, I met up with Sara Naeseth (a sorority sister of mine from P.C.) for some Lebanese food in her neighborhood of South Kensington. They have all kinds of food in London, and Lebanese did not disappoint my palette. There was a great deal where you could get a starter, main course, dessert, and mint tea for only 10 pounds. So we jumped on that! I had falafel (my favorite food over here) as my starter, a lamb salad for lunch, and assorted baklava for dessert. Then, I went back to her flat and met some of her friends. Her flat is so much nicer than my dorms....and I am definitley jealous. After that, I came back and met up with Katherine and Amanda (my fellow Harry Potter freaks) took the Tube to King's Cross. We found the Platform 9 3/4 monument and had a lot of touristy pictures taken there. After that, we found a really great pub for dinner. I had a traditional English breakfast for dinner: sasuage, bacon, sunny side up eggs, toast, beans, and roasted tomatoes. I finished the dinner off with a Strongbow. It was just what I needed for dinner if I couldn't have a breakfast dinner at WaHo.

P.S. If you are reading this blog and want to leave me some love, feel free to! I feel like I am writing this blog to myself sometimes!

Start of Classes

On Tuesday, I had three of my four classes. I like all of them so far, but I am particularly excited about my Travel Writing Class. We are reading books about people who travel (not necessarily travel literature by Bryson, but works about traveling by Kerouac, Guevera, Guthrie, etc.). We actually get to do a bit of creative writing on our own. The other two classes that I am in, Childhood, Socialization, and Culture and Political Sociology, sound like they will be interesting and manageable as well.

I was lucky to be able to catch the inauguration. My roommate and I found a live feed on the internet, and we got in from class and online just in time to see Biden sworn in and then on into Obama's inauguration and awesome speech. I was sad to be out of the country at the time, but it was an exciting time to be an American in the U.K. right now. Obama was on all of the covers of the newpapers and on all of the new programs.

On Tuesday night, we went out in SOHO to find Spice of Life. Spice of Life is a pub upstairs and then a live music lounge downstairs. They have different theme nights; last night was blues night. It was really cool, and I think that we will head back for the other nights. (Especially Open Mic night)

Today, my History of London class went to the British Museum to get an idea of what Britain was like immediately before and after the Romans came here. The British Museum itself is a really beautiful building, and inside it is crammed full of artifacts from so many different parts of the world and so many different time periods. After we looked at lots of bronze swords and helmets and coins from early in England's history, we were allowed to wander around on our own. Since it is MASSIVE, a couple of girls and I decided to travel to the Egyptian room and take a look at the mummies.
I also got a chance to see the Rosetta Stone! I was able to snap a picture...luckily, at the British Museum you are allowed to take as many pictures as you like.
I am going to have to go back...I feel like I only saw about 1/25th of what the museum had to offer. Thank God for free admission!

Tomorrow night is the Beginning of Term Party at a posh downtown Members' Only Club. Richmond has rented it out for the night. Since most people don't have classes on Fridays, a lot of events are planned for Thursday nights. It is cocktail attire, so it gives us a fun chance to dress up and look nice.

The day I saw James Franco was the day that changed my life!

I've successfully been here a week, and I'm having a great time thus far...no homesickness/culture shock in sight.

We went on the Jack the Ripper tour on Friday night. We went to a very sketchy area of London down near the Tower of London and went up and down the alleyways that Jack the Ripper used to kill his victims in. It was a gruesome story, a bit scary, and very cold. Our tour guide read us the indepth autopsies and police reports on the murders. All but one of Jack's victims were around 5'2," brunette, and stocky. For once, I am happy to be almost 6'. And of course, decided to tell us that there was a copycat killer on the loose...hopefully, it is a joke, but just in case I'll make sure to stick with a very large group when I'm in that part of town. After Jack the Ripper, we decided to make it an early night and caught the Tube back to our dorms.

The next morning (Saturday), my roommate Amanda, my friend Katherine, and I got on the Tube to go to the Tate Modern museum. I am so happy that we decided to go on the day that we did and the time that we did...because it was at the Tate Modern that we saw James Franco. We didn't get to talk to him because he was getting on the elevator that we had just gotten off, and we didn't want to be stalkerish. BUT WE SAW HIM. It was the definite highlight of my trip so far.

Here is a picture of Amanda, Katherine, and me outside of the Tate Modern:


In addition to the James Franco excitement, I really enjooyed the Tate Modern. There were some of Monet's waterlily paintings, some of Matisse's painting, and quite a bit of Picasso. We didn't understand how a pile of bricks on the ground or a octagon cut out of white paper and pasted on the wall were considered "art," but they were all on display! There was some pretty disturbing video art as well that I could have gone without seeing (when it says 'disturbing imagery' in Europe...they mean it!), but the museum was a great morning trip, and most importantly, it was FREE!

After our exciting day at the Tate Modern, we got back to the dorms in time to start getting ready for the Superhero Boat Party on the Thames. I dressed up as Cat Woman and had such a great time! The view was beautiful, with the London Eye, Parliament, and the Bridge lit up, but unfortunately it was misty and very cold, so we spent most of our night inside on the dance floor.

Sunday was lazy. We grabbed a late lunch and then went to the Harry Potter tour of London. We saw where the Ministry of Magic, Knockturn Alley, and Diagon Alley would be if we followed the directions in J.K. Rowling's books. We also heard a lot of background about the character's names and the inspirations behind the Philosopher's stone and the Invisibility Cloak.

Here is a picture of the witches with our wands!
(left to right: Stacie, Julianne, Awesome Tour Guide, Katherine, Amanda my Roommate)
After the tour, we had to prepare ourselves for the beginning of classes. :(

My frist class of the day was pretty chill for me. My first class wasn't until 3:00. Katherine and I went to Kensington High Street (the closest area for shopping) to get some stamps and toiletries, but ended up also going into H&M and Topshop. I found an awesome skull and crossbones scarf (YAY SIGMA!!), a houndstooth, equestrian looking blazer, and black skirt all on sale for 10 pounds or less at Topshop. It was quite a successful shopping trip.
We grabbed lunch and this sandwich, salad, and soup place that seems to be everywhere in London called Pret a Manger and headed back to eat. If you "eat out" at these places, rather than eating in the dining room, it is about 1 pound to 1.5 pounds cheaper! So needless to say, as college students on a budget, it is in our best interest to get it to go whenever possible.

My first and only class of the day is History of London, which seems like it will be a pretty nice class. We have only one day a week in lecture class, and then on Wednesdays we meet up at different locations around London to go to museums and sights. This Wednesday we are going to the British museum to look at skulls of early Britans. I'm pretty excited about it.
Tomorrow I go to my Travel Writing, Political Sociology, and Childhood, Socialization, and Culture classes. And then only two days until the weekend since I don't have any Friday classes!

Orientation Week

I am nearing the end of my orientation week, and whoah has it been a busy week!

The flights in general were not too bad. I flew out of Atlanta around 1:30, go to D.C./Dulles around 2:30, and then waited for my flight to the U.K. I was lucky because I ran into Christina Armistead (who goes to P.C.), and she was on all the flights that I was on her way to studying abroad in Grenoble, France.

The flight over the Atlantic was good...if a little cramped. I was lucky to have an aisle seat, but I still felt a little like a sardine in a can. I was only able to sleep about an hour total for the entire trip and watched "Eagle Eye" and "Lakeview Terrace" instead. We touched down at Heathrow at 5:45 their time...which was early morning our time. We got on a charter bus for the university at about 7:00 a.m., and drove through rush hour traffic to get to the neighborhood of Kensington.

The neighborhood is so quaint and scenic, but when I first got here, all I really wanted to do was sleep. Since my roommate wasn't here yet, I unpacked fairly quickly and then took a two hour nap until she arrived. And after that period of tiredness, I havn't really been jetlagged at all! After we got her all settled in, we went on a scenic tour of the area. There are quite a few famous people's homes in Kensington and the surrounding areas that we visited: Winston Churchill, Winston Churchill's secretary, John Stuart Mill, T.S. Eliot, etc. I got very excited to see T.S. Eliot's house, and I am going to be passing it every day on my way to class.

After our walking tour, we had dinner, went to an orientation general meeting, and then we went to the Tube to buy our "oyster cards." Oyster cards are cards that cost 3 pounds and then you can load them with however much money you want (20 pounds in my case). That way, when you want to ride the Subway, all you do is swipe your card, and there is no fooling around with tickets.
After buying our cards, we went to the pub. The Builders Arms is literally 100 yards from my dorm room. It is a really nice local place that serves food and drink to the locals and of course, the college students. We met up with a couple of more people there, and had a great time just sitting around, shooting the breeze.
And, I am quite ashamed to admit, after the pub closed at 11:00 p.m., we all took a trip to McDonalds (P.C. people, I guess life isn't too different much over here....but there are NO Waffle Houses) on Kensington High Street. It was the classiest McDonalds I have ever been to. There was a grand piano. And two levels.

The next morning, we went to our classroom building (Asa Briggs Hall), and I was able to finalize my schedule.
In the afternoon, we went on a 3 hours bus tour of London. It was a great way to give us ideas for where we would like to go back when we have time to explore places in depth. Places on my list: Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, walk across the Thames to see Big Ben/Parliament, Trafalgar Square, etc.
That night, we all gathered up, and went out to Central London to explore what nightlife they had to offer.

Yesterday (Wednesday) was a lot more chill. A group of us went to buy pay as you go cell phones, which allow us to communicate very cheaply.
We also signed up for tickets to events, but unfortunately, even though I was in line 45 minutes before ticket selling occurred, me and a couple of my friends were unable to get tickets for any of the West End shows. Thus, we made our own fun, and went to a pub for some appetizers and a pint. The Gloucester Arms is the pub's name, and it is very classy and suprisingly inexpensive (by British standards). After everyone else got done with their shows, we went out to another club called Opal, which was decorated like an underground cave.

Today, we have to go to a library orientation in order to get set up, and then my roommate and I are going ot buy costumes for the Superhero Boat Party on the Thames tomorrow night. Later tonight, we are going on a Jack the Ripper walking tour!

Things I like about London:
-The hustle and bustle
-The pubs...they aren't only centers for drinking, but also a GREAT place for socialization and meeting locals
-The AMAZING strong beer on tap
-The history
-The people
-The accents
-Basically, everything

Things I don't like about London:
-The showers are super cramped
-On the sinks, you can't mix water temperatures. There is a hot tap and a cold tap, and any mixing of water temperature must occur in your hands
-Everything is quite expensive

Address

My address at school is:
Julianne Crew
C/o Student Mail
Atlantic House
Richmond, the American International University in London
1 St Alban's Grove
London W8 5PN

So, MAIL ME STUFF. I love letters, and if you send one, I will try my darnedest to return the favor.
And if I send you a postcard, I would love for you to return the favor as well. :)

Only a week before the greatest adventure of my life thus far! YAY!