The Adventure of a Lifetime.: January 2012

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Day 21 1/31/12

Although it never feels it (time) does seem to fly by. Today started off with me heading for class at 8:30am with Jordan. We had British pop music! I thought when we got on the bus that we had missed my favorite twins and their brother to listen to their morning chatter this morning but turns out we didn't! Today they weren't saying much and were a bit quieter but I knew it would be a good day when they got on the bus. You must think I am crazy but I swear they are so amusing and they make that 10 minute bus ride so worth it. So, British pop music is always an entertaining class even though it is at 9am and I'm still trying to wake up. Mind you I did choose to take the 9am instead of the 11:30am class. I did it so I would have the rest of the day to myself so, no I do not regret choosing the 9am instead of sleeping in later during the day. Rob is a great teacher and you have to love his little rants about the most random things. Plus who does not love listening to music?? It's sad that Ball State ::cough cough gora cough cough:: is canceling this program. I wish she would do undercover boss and go undercover as a student or send someone else to so she can see what it is like for the Ball State students. But I will not go into this rant because I can write for hours about the topic. Oh, if I had forgotten to mention my group is the last group to be doing this London Center Program. Thanks mom and dad for letting me convince you to let me go! After British pop music was over Jordan and Vikki and myself went to Euston train station to pick up tickets to go Scotland Thursday!!! It took about 30 minutes to get there from Westminster College (we took the tube). I am so excited to be going to Scotland and I know we (Krista, Amanda, Jordan, Vikki and myself) will have an amazing time! When the tickets were purchased the three of us were hungry so we decided to find a place to eat. When we walked out of the station we saw this place named Eds and decided to try it out. It was like A steak and shake! I totally loved it and it felt homey again. I got a "Smokey joe" burger (a burger with cheddar cheese,grilled onions and bbq sauce) and a side of fries. It was cute they gave us fries in a bowl and here in London they eat their fries with a fork which I think is just awesome! After we finished eating we headed back to the flatts. I hung out in the flatt for about 30 minutes until I decided to go out to do some homework. For the shopping exercise we had to go to a second store. Mine was Marks and Spensers and it was by oxford. I got on the tube and after for a few minutes and becoming confused I finally found it. When I saw the area I was in I was like dayum this seriously reminds of NYC. Someone in class about a week or two said they had been to NYC and this did not remind them anything of it. Obviously they had not been there long because although there are big differences there are also a LOT of similarities. It was crowded, a lot of department type stores, construction work and little stands selling items such as scarves. When I went into Marks ans Spensers it was huge! They had food, clothes and a cafe. All I had to do was check out the people that were there and the type of food and I did not stay too long in there because I was really tired and just wanted to get out. On my way back I ended up getting 2 scarves for 5 pounds which I thought was a pretty good deal and I also got a waffle with some belgian chocolate (melted of course) to try. It looked so good I had to and it was so worth it! After that I headed back to the flatts. Before I got to my flatt I went to pick up the sun newspaper for another assignment we had for class due Thursday. My flatt had to compare the sun and daily mail both are newspapers. Then I got the flatt and basically chilled out. Nothing exciting really happened. Krista, Jordan and I went to Amanda and Vikki's flatt to transfer money to them because Vikki bought the train tickets and Amanda the hostel. Then I had dinner , did some homework, watched some tv, made some tea and dunked some biscuits and that really all there is. I know my life is so exciting at this very moment! hah. But it was still a nice but busy day and tomorrow will be even crazier but your going to have to wait until then to hear about it! Have fun a great day and thanks for reading the blogging styles of me, Brooke. =D

Monday, January 30, 2012

Day 20 1/30/12

1/30/12 Day 20

Today has been quite the adventure. That is how I will start this off. Woke up to go to Westminster this morning to take a tour of parliament. It was a very interesting tour and very tiring at some points because there were barely any times we could sit down and it was a little bit over an hour. The worst part was going into to see the house of lords and commoners and having to stand right in between the seats was so tempting to sit down but we were not allowed to. I would have pictures to show but we are not allowed to take pictures while touring parliament, which makes sense since people actually do work there and it is a government type of building. I defiantly learned a lot from it though. After the tour was done I went with Jordan back to the flatts because just about everyone else had art history and we did not. When I got back I had a little to eat, did some dishes and then went out to pick up a few items. Today was the day we were cooking two English meals (Spotted Dick and Toad in a hole) for Lyndon and his wife. No, sadly, there was no grade to it but I know my flat would have aced it! I went to Sainsbury, got some house cleaning items, and picked up some food such as cauliflower and beans. With Toad in a hole, you can eat it with many things such as vegetables and or baked beans. Of course, I never made the beans. When I got back from shopping, I seemed to go on a bit of a cleaning spree. Cleaned the counter tops and did some dishes. For some reason when I am not home, I like to clean around the house. When I get a house of my own of apartment, I am going to make sure I have a clean house. I know mom and dad you think I am lying but I actually do clean up here. Not long after I decided to take a few minute break everyone started coming back from Art History. At that time Michelle decided to start making the batter for Toad in the hole and I started working on my mashed cauliflower. Before judging it actually is delicious. It’s a healthy substitute for mashed potatoes and it is easy to make. Soon enough the others (Jordan, Adam and later on Jack) come on to help. After about 2-3 hours of cooking, we had all the meals just about done (including my mashed cauliflower that I thought would go well with the Toad in a hole. Right before Lyndon came to the flatts Jordan, Michelle and I went to go pick up some cider to drink. When we got back Lyndon had not long after arrived to start going to the four flatts to test out the dishes with his wife. I am in flatt 3 aka the shaft. We call it that because out of all the flatts we kind of got jipped. We have no heat (yet), our kitchen is not as nice as others, we a smaller tv then others and etc. At least we have a cute little mouse I have yet to see named Oscar. Back to the story now. Soon Lyndon came over to the flat with his wife to try the food. They sat down (oh by the way I actually set the table, shocking I know) and a few of my flat mates went to go prepare their plates with the dishes. I stayed outside for a few minutes because I had written up some random facts about the dishes for them to read. Turns out I did a good job on my research. I did learn some interesting facts, facts I would share but if you are reading this that probably means you have access to a computer and Internet so you can just go look it up on wikipedia. After that I went to go get my mashed cauliflower. I was so excited they liked it. It was the first thing I had ever cooked on a stove that was no grilled cheese or scrambled eggs. I seriously was proud of myself and I really liked it myself. They gave us positive reviews that were great news. After they both left we all went into try the dishes for ourselves. They were actually delicious. I’d love to make the recipes for when I get home and have people I know (family and friends) try it. I bet they would like it as well. After that we all went to flatt 1 to hear who cooked the dishes the best and for random prizes. My flatt won the prize for healthiest because instead of using regular flour we had used whole wheat. Our prize was pears and apples. Get it? They are healthy foods because you know an apple a day keeps that doctor away….. Hah if only that were true then maybe my doctors would ban me from apples because without me or my sister they couldn’t get such great business! When all the prize giving was done it turned out that flatt 2 had locked themselves out. So, what happened was they got a ladder and one guy, Rob picked up Aj and had him climb on this ledge/flower pot area to open the window to climb in and open up their door for them. I could not believe it had actually worked! It wasn’t long until I just had about two ciders for the night and I got to book a trip to Scotland for the 3 day weekend we have (Lyndon was kind enough to give us some Fridays off). I am going with Amanda, Vicky, Jordan and Krista. I am so excited to get to see the beautifulness of Edinburgh, Scotland. Its going to a be a short but fun filled week and I cannot wait to see what adventures are going to come about this week. Oh just to let you all know if you do not drink much be careful when you have two ciders. It might surprise you that it might make you a tad tipsy. Just a helpful hint. =]

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Day 19 1/29/12

The day starts out at 11am when Amanda and I head on out to go to Trafalgure (sp) square where part of the Chinese New Year was being celebrated. When we arrived we had no idea how crowded it was going to be. It was insane. We got somewhat close near to the stage but with all the little children on their parents shoulders its pretty hard to see over them. There was a screen by us and so we got to see a little bit of what was going on. Saw the fire crackers going off, that was pretty wicked! After hearing some of the people in charge talking (which we could barely hear) we got a little bored and started to go to Soho. Once again it was so crowded it took forever! When we got to Soho we tried finding a place to eat. The first place had like an hour wait so we said we would go out to try and find something else. We found a buffet named Mr. Wu its was 4 pounds and 95 pence which was decent. It was not too bad of a place very small and the food was a bit different then what I am use to compared to Chinese food in the U.S. After that we decided to walk down the street on the way to the tube. At one point we got to see the dragon come down the sidewalk and grab the lettuce hanging from the restaurant. I forgot what it symbolizes and it probably would have been a lot better if I didnt feel my internal organs getting scrunched up by being squished by everyone. It was quite uncomfortable. It still amazes me that people were willing to bring their small little children to these events. It was so crowded and annoying when they are on their parents shoulders blocking everyone's view! Also, why bring a child whose young enough that they wont even remember whats going on! There was at least two children that I saw that had to be under or at least one year old. I thought that was insane to bring those children to this crowded event. Sorry for the rant but it was quite annoying. I know for a fact when I have children I will only bring them to big events like that when they are old enough to be able to remember it. At least it would make it worth it. Thats my opinion though. After that little show of the dragon we walked down and found a little market. We went inside and I ended getting two shirts for 12 pounds. Turns out they are a little tighter than I expected but I hope to loose some weight to be able to fit in them. They are really cute though. After that we went to the tube station and came back home. It may have only been like two hours but it was exhausting! Now I'm sitting here writing this blog and Im thinking of making tea in a bit. I also might go to testco to pick up a little bit of snacks to eat for lunch when I go out. Mom, dad I know you are reading this so you should go prepare and get a tea pot, strainer and some loose leaf tea because you know if I go shopping Im going to pick out one that I like and apparently my taste is pricy. Just a heads up =]. Thank you to those reading my blog and I hope you all have a very relaxing Sunday!

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Day 18 1/28/12

Today was quite a calm day. I woke up at God knows when but stayed in bed until my alarm rang at 10:30am. The first thing I did was go downstairs to do some laundry. I then sat downstairs on my computer in the living room with the only two other guys who have not traveled out of London, Charlie and Justin. Its fun having only the three of us in the flatt because it just seems so chill. Then after my laundry was done I went to get some more to put in and then took a shower. I got dressed came back down and hung out until my laundry was done. I then hung it up in my room/put it away and then headed out to Camden Market. It was a nice market. I lot of interesting stuff ::cough bongs cough:: but they had some cute clothing. It really makes me sad that their clothes are meant for really thin girls which makes it hard to find anything! I did manage to find a cute dress and shirt. I really want to pick up a pocket watch before and a bracelet would be nice to add to the collection I'm already wearing. Thinking of it now it sounds like a good idea to collect a bracelet from every place I travel too. The market was pretty nice but not as big as portobello but defiantly crowded.I did not stay for too long and I also bout two daisies so I could stick them in my bottle of cider I was saving to be a cute little flower pot thing. Its making cider look classy. It did take me quite a while to find the bus stop to actually get on the bus I needed (bus 31). I then got back put my stuff away in the flatt and headed out to Tesco to buy some toilet paper and dish soap. I came back hung out in the living room for a while until the guys came back and joined me in here. Ironically they went to Camden as well. No, we did not all three go together. At around 6:15ish pm we all headed over to Amanda's house for taco night. Sarah joined not too long afterwards and we had a good ol' time. We were the only five still in London. It was a nice get together. When I got back I skyped with my parents and my sister.... Skyping with Ash...... Something interesting always happens and I always forget to go skype in my room. I really need to do that. But now I am just chilling downstairs with the guys. It's nice chilling with the guys even if I dont say much its still always interesting. Also, there is always good music playing or being played on guitar. Im learning more and more about music everyday hah. Finally I met more musical people! Now I am going to stop because I think I wrote enough for today's blog.

Day 17 1/27/12

1/27/12 Day 17

Rise and shine to get to class by 9am. My gosh there are a set of twins that happen to get on the bus and their older brother (they are all young probably between the ages of 3-5). I love getting on the bus when they do because they are so entertaining. Thursday the little girls were singing “Jingle bells” and then today the little boy started to sing “ Barbie Girl”. It was so worth it being up that early to get to hear them. Then we got to class and we were learning about parliament and the class was set up like parliament would be set up as. I was part of the labor party with the independent parties. When Lyndon asked me a question about one of my parties it was the ONE thing I did not have in my notes. He asked me “what does Plaid Cymru mean?” I had no idea. If he asked who they represented I could have said those who are Welsh and they were from Whales. So, it made me look like I did not do a lot of good research. Then by the end of the class I asked a question that saved my ass because it showed I did get some good research after all. Then after class I went with Amanda to Leicester Square to get tickets to see Wicked. They told us to go the theatre to get tickets, which we did. We got tickets that were not sitting next to each other but with a decent view. I even learned that they have contests in which they choose people to be in a Broadway show which are considered to be the celebrities that are part of their Broadway shows compared to the US having random actors star in Broadway shows now a days. After we got the tickets, we went back to the flatts for a few hours. I did some laundry and got ready (makeup) and did some dishes and that was basically it. Then at 4:30pm we left to head to the theatre so we could get there a bit early. We found a pub called the Brass Monkey. I got some cider as did Amanda. It was pretty good and then she got fish and chips and I got this turkey burger which was pretty good. We even learned that rocket was another name for a lettuce. So we were there for about an hour and a half and afterwards we headed to the theatre. The show itself was not that bad and I tried to be open minded about it as I could. I personally am not a huge fan of Wicked but I thought I should give it a second chance. It really got me to think of how every time people are in power there is always something corrupt going on and it makes me wonder how bad things really are without the public knowing. After the show, Amanda and I went to the stage door to meet the cast. Of course I had forgotten my camera and a pen and paper. I was surprised how few people went to go wait by the stage door and how the cast members mostly just walked away. It was shocking to me. I ended meeting the person who played Fiero and I asked him about some good tattoo parlors. He told me about The family business and Frrist street. That was cool. Then I met the person who played Elphaba and I asked her what her favorite football (soccer) team is and she told me Manchester United. Never asked a broadway performer questions like that before and it was pretty cool. I gave Amanda the two autographs because this was her first time seeing the show and I thought it would be a good way to remember it. After that we headed back home and I went to do a load of laundry and after that I went to bed. It was a longer day than I thought it would have been but it was still really fun!

Day 16 1/26/12

Thursday = busy day. I start off having class at 9am all the way to 4pm. First class was theatre. It was not bad. We mostly read off of a script. It really made me think of STAC (Student Television Arts Company) and how I would feel comfortable reading with someone from that class when I was in it compared to the students here. I guess its because I am more comfortable with my high school peers then I am with some BSU students because I knew most of them better as well as the fact as they took acting a bit more seriously. But back to the point. That was mostly what we did then right after I had math. We had to do some reading and of course I read way more than I needed to on the online book and honestly I doubt I retained anything. I can’t learn math without actually being given problems to make sure I understand and it is hard staring at a computer for a whole class. We were then given a part of a book to do research on. I chose mine to be on the odds of marrying a millionaire. I figured that would be very important since it would not hurt to marry someone who is quite wealthy. Don’t worry I would choose love over money any day. Rather be doing alright and happy then have all the money in the world and be miserable. It’s the obvious choice. Haven’t you all watched movies? Then after math class I ran with one of my classmates, Krista to a bagel store by the school got a bagel (its one of my favorites a plain bagel with honey mustard chicken). Its hard to describe but it is so good! I scarfed (sp) that down thinking I had no time to eat but turns out time seems to go a lot slower here then it did at home. At least that is how it felt. Then we walked up to the last class of the day, British life and culture. Today was a bit interesting because we were assigned shopping groups and had to get a list of foods. One thing that most people did not want to try was blood pudding. Look up to see what is in it. I tried it. It seriously was NOT that bad. It sounds gross hearing what is in it but it tastes just like a regular thing of meat. I tried some apple crumble; jaffa cakes, Victorian cakes and I think that was it. Londoners really like orange mixed with their chocolate. I don’t understand that but what ever. Then after class we went back to the flatts and relaxed for a bit. Then Jordan, Michelle and Shelby and myself left early to get to the new red lion pub for the Shakespeare comedy show. We left early in hopes to get dinner right before the show. Turns out it took longer to get there then we thought. It took about an hour and a half to get there. When we got there, we saw Amanda eating a salad right outside the pub. We ended up going to a McDonald’s down the road because we did not have much time. When we were finished we walked back to the pub to see a sign saying must be 21 years or older to come into the bar. Something like that. Well, guess things changed for that night because we went in to see the show. It wasn’t that bad and there were three of them and one of them was Scottish. After I heard his accent, I told myself I HAD to go to Scotland. I swear you would have all loved it! It was a good show, it was funny but not worth traveling so far to go see and so late especially when the next day we had to be up by 9am. We got out at around 10:30ish pm. When we got back I basically went to my room to go do some homework that was due Friday. Ended up going to bed at 12:30am which was late for me since here I go to bed a bit earlier.

Day 15 1/25/12

1/25/12 Day 15

Today we were waking up early once again to head out to Westminster Abbey and the war rooms (I think its what it was called). We were split into our river walk groups and I was in group B which meant I got to go see Westminster Abbey first. I thought the architecture and the sculptures of the building were breath taking. It was unfortunate that we could not take pictures inside though. It was also quite awkward knowing that we were walking on some peoples graves. I did not know that Charles Darwin was buried there. I’m trying to remember if I stepped on his grave or not. Honestly it was really hard for me to hear much because I always managed to be in the back of the group and I cannot hear/understand whispering. I thought it was cool how there were certain sections for types of people like the music corner and the poetry corner. I felt bad for Jane Austin for just getting this memorial with her name on it while others had memorials that had elaborate decorations with sculptures and all that fancy stuff. At one point of the tour we went to this small service thing. I felt really awkward doing so. I do not believe in Jesus so every time Jesus was said I thought of some random Jewish historical figure that I could replace the name with or just said God. I felt a bit out of place and a tad uncomfortable. This made me realize….. Shit my parents were right I’m probably going to have to marry someone who is Jewish. Not that there is anything wrong with that but I do not really see many who are Jewish and yea there is more to the story. I am not saying anything bad about Jewish men so do not think I am against them because I am NOT! I can imagine my parents being happy with that fact. Another part I liked was getting to see the graves/memorials for James I and his mother Mary queen of the Scotts and Queen Elizabeth I. Ever since I had to research about James I , I have really learned a lot about him and I find him to be an interesting historical figure. After the tour of Westminister Abbey was completed we had a bit of a lunch break. There was this small lunch place they took us too which I did not think it was that great. Good thing I brought a sandwich. After I ate it, I got bored waiting and I knew we had to meet at St. James Park. It was just walking straight so I walked there myself. It was a nice big park and all the animals were quite friendly. It was funny watching some of the ducks trying to bite the gate that was surrounding the pond. At one point one of my classmates decided to hold out a nut/fruit in front of him and had his leg out and a squirrel just climbed up his leg to get it. It was awesome! I never saw a squirrel ever get close to a person nonetheless climb up one! He did it about two-three times and we all got a kick out of it. After that little show Phillipa gave us a tour of the park (she also gave us the tour in westminister abbey). After that the groups switched and my group went to the war rooms. It was a museum about Winston Chruchill mostly. I liked how they had a lot of interactive things that we could use to get to learn more about him. I did not like how confusing the museum was but it defiantly had a lot of historical things such as phones that were used during the time of war and what the rooms looked like at the time and all of that stuff. It was interesting. After the museum we were free to go back. I ended up traveling back home by myself. I was really excited that I knew how to get back home all by myself. It made me feel really accomplished that I was able to figure something out like this. When I got back to the flatts I put my stuff down then headed out to Testco. Of course, I would forget if I packed enough pads or not so I needed some stat! I also picked up a small thing of salad and milk. I was so thankful the girl checked my stuff out and not one of the male workers there. That would have been Awkward! I then got back to the flatts and I just know I was exhausted and I ended up doing some homework. Then chilled downstairs with the flat mates as usual.

Day 14 1/24/12

1/24/12 Day 14

Tuesday morning. Bright and early heading to a class at 9am. Its ok because it’s a music class so it was worth it. Most of the class was learning about the history of pop music in Britain and we got to play a bit of the Beatles and some other artists that are not as well known as the Beatles. Rob had a few random rants on a few subjects here and there but it was amusing. I just wish I had more energy but then again I am a tired person in general. After his class I don’t really think I did much (mind you I am writing this on Saturday not Tuesday). That night we went to go see a show. Can anyone guess what it is called? Let me give you a hint for some reason every time I said the name I added shore to it. Get it? No it was NOT Jersey shore the musical! That would be a disgrace to Broadway! We went to see Jersey Boys. I found it ironic and I was a bit skeptical about it. I think the music was pretty good but it wasn’t one of the musicals that I wanted to travel all the way to London to go see. That’s just me. I do have to say they did a pretty good job on the show and they had the accents down perfectly! It really was a great show but it still does not go on to the list of one of my all time favorites. After that not much happened just went home and probably went to bed not too long afterwards.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Day 13 1/23/12

Woke up early this morning for a 9am class. Apparently SOME students must have forgotten that because they decided to keep some people up/wake up some sleeping students with their obnoxious guitar playing and screaming. Karma is probably doing some heavy thinking right now because we all know she can be a major bitch. But back to this morning. As usual my phone’s alarm went off and I was a spazz as usual and it just dropped loudly on the floor….. That would happen to me. As quiet as I try to be it never seems to work. Just my luck! We head on over to class around 8:30ish am to catch the bus. Get to class and my stomach is already feeling uncomfortable (for those of you who don’t know I mentioned in my last blog about aunt flow visiting and of course I could NOT find my Advil. The one type of medication I made sure to bring a big bottle of it. Oh well. I sit in class waiting for the break because I REALLY needed to go to the bathroom… Wonder why? THINK about it. Then more discomfort and I personally just wanted to get out of class because well I’m not going to go into more detail because it’s a tad bit private. After the break our teacher Lyndon talked to us about how to make tea. Of course for the demonstration he calls on me and two other girls in my class. I really did not want to be picked and the whole time I’m thinking “please let there not be a big red stain anywhere on my clothes please!!!” and thankfully there was not. After we got to all, make tea with our flat groups we got to head out of class. I was extremely glad because I just needed to relax for a little bit. Got home, made some lunch, watched some random tv and then did some laundry. I was hoping my laundry would be done fast (fat chance) because I was unsure of when I had to meet up with some girls to do our shopping assignment for class. Of course they text me when there is only 20 minutes left on the machine. I had no choice but to leave the house with the machine going. I hopped on the bus and took it down to church street to shop in the market for the items that were listed and we needed to buy/look at the prices. Turns out Church street market is really hard to find those items and they do NOT sell more than half of what we needed. During this adventure I learned that I had forgotten to hand in an assignment that was due. It was the student evaluation sheet and he (Lyndon) said to hand it in after class. To be honest the last thing on my mind was handing in that sheet. Instead, my “girl problems” were kind of taking over and I think that takes a bit more priority over some things sometime. I planned to email him apologizing about it and seeing if I could bring it in tomorrow. It worked out because I had to email him about what to do with the stuff we bought and if we should get the rest at a store that another group was going to buy items from as well. Of course, when I emailed him I did NOT tell him the exact reason of why I forgot. That is just embarrassing saying “hey sorry I forgot to hand in the assignment today. I had to rush back home to make sure my uterus lining didn’t leave a huge stain on my pants and the cramping wasn’t making anything easier as well”. Instead, I asked him about what to do and mentioned how I forgot in the midst of making tea in class. I thought it would be a safer move. But oh wait lets get to the part when I come back from the market. Im thinking “ok everyone is probably home now but at least I will be the one to take my laundry out” . See that would be typical thinking but no its not how it happened. I walked into the living room to find my clothes in a corner hanging to dry while just about all of my flat mates sitting in that room. The worst part was I had mainly done the laundry because I was running out of underwear…. Can anyone say EMBARRASSING?!?! To be honest I was mortified and tried to hide it to the best of my abilities. I honestly get antsy about people touching my clothes especially my undergarments. Therefore, that was another lesson I learned today. Make sure to be home at all costs when doing laundry to avoid another incident like that again. But after that I hung out with some flat mates for a bit wrote that email to Lyndon, ended up going to Testco to buy some “healthy” food. I was getting really tired of having mostly chocolatey stuff around so I got some ham, cheese, pretzels (Jordan had been looking for them for days and couldn’t find any), salad in a bag and salad dressing. Then for the rest of the night I mostly just hung out in the living room. It really is great how well I get a long with my flat mates and I think out of all the flatts we are the best ones. It is a drama free zone here and that is what I love most about it! Thank God its after 11pm and there is no screaming or guitar playing! Alright well it is my bed time so Good night to all!

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Day 12 1/22/12

Today was a bright and early day because we went to go see the changing of the guards! The six of us (Adam, Dougie, Michelle, Jordan, Shelby and myself) all headed to the tube at ten after 9am. Of course on the way there I just fell to my knees. Its not like they were just healing from being bruised from my falling a few days before or anything. Thankfully that was the first and last time of the day that happened. We hopped onto the tube and got off at Charring cross. From there we walked through Trafalgar Square. There are a lot of beautiful monuments that we were able to pass. On our way to Buckingham Palace we saw some horses and knights riding down the street. After that we finished walking to Buckingham Palace and it is beautiful. We waited for a bit until the actual changing of the guards started. There really were a lot of people that came out to see this happen. Unfortunately I was standing next to some obnoxious people. After a while we heard music and it was some of the guards walking down the street and then guards who were not playing instruments walked down right after. It was interesting seeing the hand movements and then it basically repeated with another group of guards that came down the street. Some playing music and some not. I was hoping they would be in red uniforms but instead they were in a navy blue one. I thought the horses looked really pretty. All in all the changing of the guards took longer than I would have thought and was not as fun as I would have imagined it. I’m still glad I got to see it because its something I get to say I saw but I wouldn’t wake up early again to go watch it again. When that whole show was done we all walked to the tube to head back home. At one point our tube car was completely empty with us so of course we had some fun. We talked and walked around in it, shocked we had it to ourselves. It’s a rare thing to be the only people in the tube car that you are in and it was great! When we got back I went to get some lunch and then watched some tv. I think I fell asleep on the couch so I decided to go take a nap. I was tired but my stomach had been acting up since little miss aunt flow decided to visit on this oh so lovely day. I slept for a bout an hour and then just did some home work. A while after Shelby, Michelle and Jordan and I went to the Queens arm to get some dinner and some drinks. It was a nice relaxing evening just like this weekend. It was a good way to end the weekend though I wish it wasn’t over just yet! To be honest its suprises me how now midnight seems so late to be awake compared to being in the states. Its probably because it gets dark earlier here and still not completely use to the time change yet but that shall change soon enough.

Day 11 1/21/12

1/21/12 Day 11

Woke up around 9am took a shower and got dressed. Took a bus to Church street to go to this little bakery to pick up some cookies because today I was getting the chance to visit my cousins! I had never met them before and was a little nervous about it but I was not freaking out. Surprisingly I was not even worried about traveling by myself. After I picked up the cookies, I traveled back to the flatts sat down for a bit to finish getting ready and all my stuff together. At around 11:30ish am I traveled to the tube station got off at Paddington to find out that the circle line was closed all weekend. So, I hoped on bus 27 and rode it to knotting hill. It really was not that bad and I am glad I got on the right bus. I got off at my stop and attempted to read the directions I wrote down from mapquest. Turns out that the directions made things a little more complicated then it needed to be and thankfully there were some nice people to help me on my way. Oh, did I mention it started raining? Because it was. Not long after I finally found their home. It was in an apartment building, which was when the address started to make more sense to me. I took the elevator to the 5^th floor and saw my cousin Ralph standing at the door. I walked into the room and saw Mary as well, his wife and my grandpa’s cousin. Hung up my jacket and umbrella and we went into the living room to talk a little bit. I basically told them a little about me and my family and what I am doing here in London. My cousin Ralph and I had a long discussion about James I because I mentioned how we had to look up a person and talk about them for class. I learned quite a bit a stuff about him that I did not realize but it was all good. The lunch Mary made was amazing! First we started off with some fruit (yay healthy stuff), then some salad and some chicken and then for the main course was some mushrooms (fried I think), with some tiny potatoes. It was really good! Lastly we had for desert a brownie type pie I think. It was chocolately and delicious so I didn’t care what it was, it was so good especially topped off with some whip cream. I felt like I was at a five star restaurant with a homey interior and the best part was that it was free! After that we went back to the living room and I was showing them some pictures of the family (I wish I brought family photo albums with me! But thank God for facebook!). Then I found out Ralph had been working on a family tree and he made a copy for me. Its 9 pages long! I even helped give him some more information about the family to add to the tree. I enjoyed that. Then I went on facebook to go find them some good pictures of my mom and sister who they have yet to meet. I was so shocked to see the aol format I use to have back in the 90’s. I had no idea it was still being used! Soon after all of that I said my goodbyes and Ralph walked me to the bus stop to show me which bus to take back. Turns out bus 31 goes from knotting hill straight to Kilburn park road tube station. It was perfect and it was really cool getting to travel from the bus on that route. After that I got back and just chilled for a bit. Later that night me, Jordan, Michelle and Shelby went to the Queens Arm to get a pizza and some drinks. I never knew how good cider could be! Then before heading back we went to the convienant store to pick up a few more things. I personally didn’t get any more drinks but some more laundry detergent. Then we walked back to the flatt and relaxed with the other flat mates and it was quite the evening. It’s great that we all get a long pretty well and can have a few drinks with eachother and be adults about it while still having some fun. Remember we are in London so the drinking age is 18 and over so we are legal and NOT breaking any laws.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Day 10 1/21/12

Friday…. What time am I waking up? Early! Yes, early is a time because its too early to remember! I had only one class today and that was British life and Culture. Once again time pretty much flew by and mostly what I remember is having to show what part our football team is from on a map that our teacher, Lyndon created on the floor with just rope. I have to give him props because it looked really well done even though I was completely confused on what was what. Once that class was over I just asked him some questions about the deaf culture here in England. I figured since I am here (and although I am not a deaf education major anymore) it would still be good to learn about ELS (English Sign Language). I had to wait around for a bit and then he (Lyndon) was able to meet with me after about an hour of me just sitting and filling out a self evaluation sheet he had just handed to us in class. Then he gave me some information for me to be able to contact someone at this organization in where I might be able to do some research of my own about their language and the differences and similarities. I have yet to email them but I hope to do so soon. Then I ended up getting back to the flats and made myself lunch (rice and beans) next time I will learn not to eat the whole can…. Too many beans! Then I almost had a heart attack because I thought I broke the microwave and had to call Anglo (the people that own the apartment/flats and are in charge of all this). Right as I was doing this one of my flattmates fixed it but it wasn’t a waste of a call since one of our space heaters was broken (we don’t have heat yet but that process is being worked on and is taking its sweet ol’ time) which got us a new space heater….. Did you know they consider heat to be an “emergency” type of thing? Now you do. Then after all that was done I went with Jordan, Shelby, and Michelle to go to Piccadilly Circus to pick up tickets to see Thriller. It’s not my top choice but I heard it was meant to be good so I wanted to check it out. We decided to spend about 4 hours staying in Piccadilly because it was easier than traveling all the way back to Kilburn. We explored around for a while and we even found this amazing alcohol store which I cannot think the name of right now. Lets just say it’s an alcoholics dream house! There were shelves just filled with alcohol! They had bottles from maybe 10 pounds to over 600 pounds! There were bottles that were as big as water jugs and some as big as your finger. It was amazing! If only I had brought my camera I could have taken a picture…..Once again this is why I will Never be a photographer… I would keep forgetting the equipment! After that we decided to get a bite to eat and we found this cute little pub. The three of them got burgers while I got the house salad. It was pretty good if I say so myself. I also ordered a corona…. Ew. That’s all. It is gross and disgusting and I don’t plan on getting another one anytime soon. Then Michelle got a great tasting cider that actually tasted like yogurt. I then decided to get one for myself. After that we went to boost (a pharmacy) for one of the girls to pick something up for her foot and then testco to pick up some stuff. Then we headed to the theatre. For getting tickets the same day the seats were not bad at all! The view was not bad depending on if you were sitting behind someone who was short or tall. I was sitting behind a kid so it was not too bad. By the second half, he sat on his jacket and got a lot taller and I grew with annoyance. The show was interesting and was not what I expected it to be. It’s not my favorite show and I think some things could be changed such as the orders of the songs but it was pretty good. One thing is that I hate is when the lights are being used to blind you. I don’t care if I am at a show or a concert I come to watch the shows being performed live not to be blinded. If I wanted to blind myself with light I would spend hours staring at the sun because that’s the more sensible thing to do… Obviously. The music was amazing though and the performers did a great job representing his songs and the dances were phenomenal. I think Michael Jackson would be proud. Another great thing about the show was on the balcony we could see these two girls who were having a ball. The show was like a concert so you could sing along as well as dance. Well, these two women were drunk, drunk enough that I hope they have a pack of aspirins for the next day. They were dancing over the balcony trying to reach out to the actors (mind you they are on the balcony NOT floor seats). Seriously at one point I as well as others thought one of them was about to fall over the edge. I really wanted to know if they had realized that Michael Jackson was NOT the one on stage because he pretty much died in 2009 as well as the fact that it’s a Broadway show not just a concert. I think they may have also forgot that they were on the balcony seats in which the actors/actresses probably might not be able to see them. Oh well. My favorite part was the tribute to Jackson 5. I love their songs! After that, we all headed back home on the tube. Before we went back to the flats we headed to a convenient type of store that sold alcohol and picked up some of that fruity cider and then headed to the flats. After that we just all chilled in our flat until we went to bed. It was a fun night and it was nice not going out to party.

Day 9 1/19/12

Today.... Well today was filled with mostly classes. I started off with my theater class. Guess what? Turns out that we are not just LEARNING about theaters we are going to be acting! Then we get to perform in front of an audience. I dont mind that too much but I guess it depends on the script and who I am working with. I just don't want another Candy and whats her face name (I forgot the other ones name) type of dialogue. That would be too awkward for me to perform again haha. By the way that was a reference from STAC so only a few who read this might understand that. But other than that the teacher seems nice and it should be an interesting class. Next we go on to math... Excuse me I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.... I hate math but thankfully it was not so bad and I think the work should be ok. Hopefully I can get at least a C and with that I will be happy. Now lets go onto my last for the class of the day..... British life and Culture. It was pretty interesting we basically covered some new assignments we would have to do, talked about our football teams we looked up (aka that means soccer for anyone thinking its men running around tackling each other over a ball made of pig skin). Shockingly time actually flew in this class and it was not so bad. I then got out of class around maybe 4-5 pm and that really was not too bad. Then after that I went back to the flatts and just chilled with my flatt mates.... Cannot really remember what else happened since I am writing this Saturday and not from Thursday. So to anyone thinking I blacked out from being drunk.... No... That did NOT happen and I NEVER plan on doing that being legal here in Europe or in the states.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Day 8 1/18/12

1/1/8/12
Today started at 9:30am when we boarded a train to head to Greenwhich. Of course, today out of all days I would forget to bring my camera. When we got off the train station, we got to walk in an underground tunnel. There were many stairs and the lift (elevator) was broken. I defiantly once again learned how unfit I am. I wish someone would have mentioned that there would be an extreme amount of walking because I would have tried to become more fit before I came over here to London. Back to the day. We then walked into the city where we had a little coffee break until we had to go on a tour of the Chapel and Queen’s home and the painter’s hall. The chapel was beautiful as to be expected. It had this HUGE organ on the top and the ceiling had these amazing designs. I really wish I had brought my camera for it. We then traveled over to the Queens house and the murals on the top were just breath taking. Apparently, some people have their wedding receptions there and it is so worth it! It’s gorgeous, it had all these tables lined up, and it was once again beautiful. Then we got to check out this museum for about 20 minutes. I think it was called the museum of Natural history. It had some interesting facts about the ships and the titanic. They even had little house you could sit in and played “sea music”. It was an epic place. Then we got to head over to the painters hall. There were these stairs called the tulip stairs because they were designed to be like a tulip. Its gorgeous and I should go again to take pictures! They had paintings of many historical people such as James the first and his family and the different kings and queens. It was small but it was very nice the best part of it was that it was free! After we finished our small tour we had an hour break until we had to climb up a steep hill to get to the observatory (can you imagine how excited I was to climb up something steep). Jordan, Shay, and I walked around for a few minutes until we discovered a Greenwhich restaurant in which we got a bite to eat. Michelle had eaten with Amanda and had seen us walking in as she was leaving and she ended up sitting with us. Shay and Jordan got fish and chips while I got a broccoli pie type of dish. I would have had the fish and chips if I did not try it the first night and had a liking for fish. Im just glad I can say I tried it. After lunch we headed towards the oh so steep hill. Oh my gosh was it steep! However, the view was breath taking. It really made me upset that I did not have my camera. You could see half of Greenwhich right in front of you. We then got to walk around on our own and I went with Shay. We got to see all these different clocks, telephones and the history of it all. There is even a line outside showing you the prime meridian and that was cool getting to stand on that! I really loved the observatory because it was so hands on. There was a part in the observatory where they had a clock and little doors that you could open to see the parts of it and the descriptions about it. There was something above the gift shop where there is a wall of these cards that say “ Time stopped for me when…” and it was awesome reading peoples response. Shay and I decided to write our own and it just really amused me. Soon enough we had to head down to the boat to go to Westminister. As we waited for Dr. Pierce and Phillipa (art history instructor) to get the boat tickets some of us went to this cute little bakery to get a snack. I got a brownie and it wasn’t bad just not as amazing as I thought it would be. Next time Im going for the chocolate tart! Then we got on the boat and although it was great getting to see an amazing view it was freezing cold! Got to actually go under the London bridge and the tower of London and it was pretty cool. After the boat ride we headed back on the tubes to get to the flats. When we got to the flat all that was done was some home work, Jordan and Michelle made tacos and put in the oven the apple crisp that I was suppose to do (skyping Amanda B at the time) and it turned out pretty well. Its nice when we have dinner all together or some of us just make some stuff. So it was a pretty relaxed night. Now it is time for me to go to bed and for all of you wanting to see pictures I posted some up on facebook. I shall figure out how to get them up on blogger another time. Night!

1/17/12 Day 7

1/17/12

Today was the first day for our pop music class. It sounds like it will be really good because we get to listen to some good music. Today was more of just an informal find out what is going on for the class and hearing a little about him. Thankfully the class ended early because the time had changed for the class so we all had to leave for class an hour earlier than expected and I really needed a shower. Once the class was done hopped on a bus and headed towards the flat. I got something to eat for lunch, did some dishes and took the shower I desperately needed. Yes, the shower was so worth it! I got dressed came to the living room to hang out a bit and ended up going shopping with Jordan and Michelle (my flatt mates). We went to this shop called Primark and they had some pretty nice deals. I notice that I still need to get use to their fashion taste and that their sizes are twice as small as the sizes in the U.S. Basically I felt huge compared to what London is use to fashion wise. I went to try on jeggings and it really did not boost my confidence at all. Right before the three of us were going to leave since we had to prepare to going to the show War Horse something happened. We had saw this man passed out in the front of the store. We watched as the ambulance took him away. Defiantly noticed they took different precautions about how they put someone into an ambulance compared to the U.S. Then walking down the street we saw more cops. Apparently, a bus driver would not let someone on the bus so they decided to stand in front of it causing traffic to be held up for about 10 minutes. But that’s all I know about that. After all that good drama happened we finally got home got ready and then headed off to War Horse with some people. When we got there we hung out for a bit and just waited until we got into the theatre. While waiting I found out we would NOT be seeing Les Mes and I was beyond disappointed. Either way I plan on seeing it. Soon enough we got to go into the theatre and it was amazing because we actually had good seats! In the end I loved the show and I thought it was so powerful and just amazing. After the show Michelle, Shay and I went to get drinks and we ended up going to this bar in Soho called Spice of Life. It wasn’t bad and I had a Cosmo but it was a bit strong for me. I still prefer my Sex on the beach but that’s just me. That basically was the end of my night since I had to be up bright and early to head to Greenwhich tomorrow.

Monday, January 16, 2012

1/14/12 and 1/15/12 Days 5 and 6

Day 5

Today was pretty much a relaxing day. Did some shopping for food and went to starbucks to go online. I finally finished packing as well! That was basically the high lights of that day.

Day 6.

Usually when people think about a 4-mile walk is “Oh my God I hope it goes by fast” or at least I assume most would. I was just praying that I would be able to catch up. It was actually pretty nice and I got to see the London eye, London bridge, tower of London, heard big ben, saw parliament and so many other amazing site! It was a beautiful day as well so that made even better. I even found out that for the street performers you do NOT need a license to do that so I am hoping I can make time to do it soon. I could use some money and some practice. Oh did I mention on the tour I fell and then right when it ended and I was crossing the street I fell again….I’m kind of tempted to go out and by some knee pads because man do my knees hurt! Then I ended up taking the tube back to the flat. Thankfully, they fixed the locks that had been broken for the weekend yet they have yet to fix the heat in our flat as well as take care of the mouse whose name is Oscar. So, I thought my tripping spree was over but that would be stupid so once again I fell walking up the stairs because that would make a lot more sense of course. Walking in pain (my knees hurt the pavement and stairs are hard!) I got to my room and threw my stuff down. Then I went downstairs did some dishes (yes mom and dad I actually do dishes here) and am making lunch.Then I went to go to 9/3 quarters to see the Harry Potter station thing with Jordan and it was so cool! Then we went to piccadilly circus for a little bit and just walked around and hung out. Lastly we went to Covent Garden and walked out around for a few minutes and went to eat at some pub that we found out cost more than what we would have liked. Then we went to the comedy club called Top Secret and it was free and it was extremely good. After that we headed back and another end to another day.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

1/13/12 and 1/14/12 Day 3 and 4

Day 3
The first part of the day was mostly orientation. There really is not much anyone needs to know about that because no one will benefit from that information besides my classmates and myself. It was basically a chill day. It did not start to get interesting until later that night. A bunch of us decided we wanted to go out to a club. We got on the tube around 10pmish and of course I'm the one who gets stuck being in the middle of the two people on the tube make a scene. They were not only drinking on the tube (it's illegal) they also managed to find a way to light up their cigarettes. Yes, that is illegal as well. After listening to some of their banter me and the few other girls who were sitting by them ended up getting up and moving. Soon enough we got to piccadilly street. The group basically walked for a bit having the intention of meeting up with some of the other BSU students. We ended up going to some club called Avenue. It was not that bad it was just expensive. There were just a lot of interesting men in the club. I am not a clubbing type of person and I barely went to many parties at BSU so some of the things that were going on I was not use to. By the end of the night I had one guy looking down my dress then grabbing my butt, one guy pulling me to dance with him and I think he told me "the club was making him horny" and random guys pulling me to dance with them. Lastly and the best part of the night was when some guy randomly asked to buy me a drink and I even convinced him to buy one of my flattmates a drink too which to be honest was NOT hard at all. I felt accomplished because it was a free drink and it made me happy because I was really starting to love the drink, Sex of the beach! It is amazing and my favorite drink that I have gotten to try here. Right when our drinks were being made I found out half of the group wanted to leave to go to a pub. Me, Adam, Dougie, Michelle and Jordan ended up staying behind. We stayed about 10 minutes longer and we were on our way back home. It was quite the adventure to be honest. It took us 2-3 hours to figure out how to get back because the night bus schedule was a bit different. Some of us were getting frustrated and tired from walking but me as usual I was the one who couldn't stop cracking up. Of course me feet were hurting like crazy and I was struggling with my leggings that were falling down but I just found it to be so funny in the end. I have no regrets of us getting lost instead I found it amusing. It would have been nice to get lost during the day but I was glad I was lost with my flattmates at least. In the end we ended up getting home after 3am and we all fell asleep not long after.

Day 4
Today I woke up later than I would have liked to. I woke up at 1pm in the afternoon and not only did I wake up late I woke up with a suprise. My nose decided to gush out blood and I had to run to the kitchen to find paper towels. It took me forever and the worst part is they were in the one spot I did not check. Thankfully I found them and could stop the bleeding. It's personally not the wakeup call I would have preferred but what can you do? After I got that under control I got a text from Amanda (GA) and she asked if I had left to go to the Portobello Market because we both really wanted to go (I had found out from my cousin Mary about it). I texted her back and said no thinking she had already left and thankfully not. I told her I needed to go shower because I looked like frankenstien and I was not walking outside looking like that. She waited for me and Jordan ended up tagging along as well and we soon enough headed off to the market. When we arrived at Knotting Hill ( the place where the market was) I could not believe how amazing it was! There were so many stores and it was amazing to see how many people where there and to see how lively it was. When we got to the actual market itself it was a huge shock of how big it was. I assumed it would be a few blocks long but it wasnt. It was almost never ending! It went down for miles! I have no idea exactly how big it was but still it was pretty big. Everything was AMAZING and Beautiful. Some people sold things quite cheaply while others were quite expensive. There was a lot of antique type of items being sold and many pocket watches. I feel as though by the end of this trip I need to go home with a pocket watch just for the hell of it. Amanda, Jordan and I ended up getting crepes for a snack. Jordan got a nutella one, Amanda a cheddar one and I bought a nutella coconut one. They were DELICIOUS!!! The whole market had so many delicious smelling foods and I just was in shock at how big it was and how stuff there was. It really reminded me of home but here in London there was a lot more stuff. After a while we decided to head back because we also wanted to go see the London tower and watch the bridge go up. As we were heading back we saw a group performing. It was an acapella group and here we are thinking its a group from here in London. WRONG! Turns out they are from Browns University! They did a great job and after they were done we ended up chatting with one of the guys. Turns out he too is from Long Island and he went to the school that my MYO teacher teaches at. Also, turns out he did a bit of MYO and had my MYO teacher as his choir teacher. I was in shock and could not believe it. It was a small world and it was just blowing my mind. He ended up telling us they were performing again for an accapella festival in the guardian observatory at 8pm. We said we would be there and we were but I'll go more into that after. After our chat we headed back to the tube to meet Michelle and Paddington station. Then we were off to tower hill where the London tower is. My gosh at night it is completely breath taking! We took some pictures and then headed closer towards where the bridge would lift up. It felt like a magical moment. Then again standing outside of the London tower is magical. It's truly breath taking. After it opened it turns out they were having some problems locking the bridge back down. I don't think the long line of cars were happy about that and ended up leaving before knowing if they actually fixed it (they probably did). Ended up heading towards King cross on the tube to where the guardian observer is. We got a bit to eat at a small food place and then walked towards to the observatory. We didnt realize there were more performances and that Brown Univeristy was the last group to go but we watched and they did an amazing job. Ended up chatting with some of the guys afterwards and it was pretty cool. After that we planned on going to a pub to hang out. We tried walking around for a bit and figuring out where to go but most of the bars had their kitchens closed as well. We stopped by a pizza express got a little bite to eat and then headed off looking for a pub. Shockingly most of the pubs had closed. We then decided to just head back home and go find a pub near us. It took a bit of figuring out the bus schedules on how to get back but thankfully not three hours worth. When we got back I figured I was going to call it a night and head back to the flatts while the girls went to Westburry a bar/club down the street. As I got the flatts I had no idea the lock was broken and legit struggled for a good five minutes. I did not have anyone elses phone number and did not even think to buzz in. I ended up just meeting the girls at the bar and they stayed for a bit and decided they wanted to go change into clothes that fit the scene better. We all walked back to the flatts to find out it was not just me who had problems with it but eventually they opened it. As they went out I decided to go to the living room and just chill with the guys. We all just watched tv/ hung out until about 4 in the morning which by then I decided to call it a day.

1/13/12 and 1/14/12 Day 3 and 4

Thursday, January 12, 2012

11/12/12 Day 2

Oh was today a day to remember. When I say to remember I don’t mean that it started off but I will say it ended with a bunch of laughter and sore legs. It started at 7:45am when my phone rang with an American Idiot song. I got dressed, made some pb&j sandwiches (by the way never got to eat them) and tried doing my makeup. Of course today I am getting a picture for my ID and my right eye starts giving me trouble with putting on my eye liner….I was not thrilled about that and it did not help that I had horrible bed hair that I could not even ATTEMPT to salvage.. Yes, it was that bad. After all that my flatt mates hustled down stairs cutting it short to be on time. We got downstairs to find out we were going to be split up in to three groups to see which form of transportation would be fastest to arrive at the Westminster University. It was a race between those going on the tube, walking and the bus. I was on the winning team of course… The Bus. I found out it really was not that hard to get there on the bus and we arrived there a lot earlier then was expected. While we were waiting outside the university, some of us were asking questions about random things in London. After a bit of a wait the two other groups finally caught up and we went to the classroom to meet with Lyndon again. It was a long meeting full of a bunch of information we would need to be prepared for class. Lyndon also decided to go through the pamphlet with all of us in and the information we put down about ourselves. There are 31 of us here so that took a while but it was interesting hearing his input because for each person he high lighted some information about us that we found out. We even got some free supplies which was helpful but I still need to pick up some dividers. We even got a homework assignment but I will get into that in a bit. After that we had to go get pictures for our I.Ds. It took a lot longer because there was some technical difficulties. Once that was done my group walked back to the flats. It took a lot longer then we expected but there were some nice houses and buildings that we passed. Then not long after we had to go on a walking tour but first we were being shown where to pick up our mail and the theatre for War Horse. Let me tell you I remember nothing. I was more focused on trying to catch up to the group and NOT get lost in a city that I would have an anxiety attack if I got lost in. Trying to catch up with the group constantly, it was pretty hard to really take in London for all its beautiful buildings and just the culture in itself. I cannot wait to be able to travel with friends and or by myself so I can get a feel for the city of London and be able to see what I wanted to and take it in for all of the great stuff it has to offer. The best part of that too is I can control how long I walk and not feel like I just did a cardio work out. I really think I am going to loose a lot of weight. After all of that fun we got to meet Phillipa (not sure how to spell it) and she gave us a tour of the city area (China town, soho, etc). It was amazing and so lively. It really reminded me of NYC. The crowds, the stores, the smell. Of course their china town was a lot different. I felt it was a bit more spacious but it was beautiful and there was a lot more stuff for someone my age to do there. We even went to a market (Convent Gardens) and it was so cool! I got some food which I have no idea to spell but it was basically something stuffed with pork and onions and then I got a chocolate Carmel shortcake. It was delicious and I seriously wish I could have tried everything there! After that a group of us went to oxford circus to go check out John Lewis (store). Turns out its like a department store like Macy. It was really cool. After that we ended up heading back. Then me, Amy, and Jordan ended trying to go look for phones because we heard of the other students since we had heard one of the students had gotten a really good deal with his phone. Turns out it was wrong. We did pick up some small things such as drinks and breakfast foods to hold us over for a few days. Walking back I remembered we STILL had to do our home work assignment! Its not like my legs weren’t in pain in anything. I was pretty much dying at that point. We all walked to the flats and got prepared to go out to do the work. Now let me tell you what the work was we were given a sheet of 10 questions and had to ask people from London for the answers. Me, Jordan, Adam and Dougie went back out on the streets of London to find the answers. We went to Starbucks and well lets just say that was a very interesting experience as well as quite amusing in the end. The guy basically gave us wrong answers and I’m not sure if he did it on purpose or was being serious but we all had a good laugh in the end. Then we went into some grocery stores and found some people who were a lot more helpful in answering our questions and in the end it turned out to be a fun experience.. It was fun hanging out with my flatt mates because we will have to be living here for 3 months together. And here is where I will leave it at because after I got back I just prepared my bag for tomorrow, took and shower and wrote this blog and soon will be posting it up online.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

1/11/12 Day 1

I woke up this morning without being phased that I would be on a plane soon heading to a completely different side of the world. It did not phase me until the clock started ticking closer to the time I had to be at the airport and all that I had to do was slowly but surely getting completed. Of course the email I received said I must be at the airport at 3:30pm and my father and I would leave around 3:15ish - 3:20ish pm. The airport is 20 minutes away. But we first had to go to radio shack to pick up a sim card for the camera. This basically meant I went into full anxiety mode. For those of you who don't know (all of you if any reading this blog) I have travelers anxiety. Within the 20 minutes of my father driving us to the airport I do not think I blinked more then 3 times....Yea it was bad but could you blame me? It was my first time traveling alone to a different continent. I finally arrived at JFK airport. Let me tell you, in all my years of traveling on a plane I never had a security check with a long line and go faster than 5 minutes! It was insane! I finally found my terminal and was FINALLY able to calm my anxiety down. It wasnt until 2 hours later the plane was starting to let us board. It wasnt until 5 minutes after I got onto the plane I started to freak out. My luggage was sticking out of the overhead bin and the flight attendant said "thats not going to fit" that made me nervous of having to possible check my bag. it really would have been nice if he would have tried to help instead of saying "it wont fit". I tried my best to fit it in but I was not able to close it after all the adjustments. The woman next to me told me that I should leave it and have the flight attendant do it. I gave in and just sat down and two minutes later the flight attendant shoved my bag in their. THANK GOD! Now the other problem I had was hoping I could open it later (thankfully with a little extra pull it came out in one piece). Now I was able to just sit back and relax for the next 6 hours because that's all I really was able to do. Turns out I passed as we took off but I did not mind. What I did mind was that it took me 4 hours how to figure out how to watch TV/movies on the plane. It made me sad but I survived and was able to watch and episode of the Big Bang Theory and the movie Friends with Benefits. Soon enough the plane landed and it was time to start my journey in London. Got off the plane went to immigration and to be honest it went a lot faster then I thought it would go (it only took about an hour). Then it was time to head on to the flatts. Let me tell you how I excited I was to find out we did NOT have any bunk beds (Possible pictures to be posted at a possible later date). After arriving at the flatts we had a meeting about the flatts and what the do's and dont's are and then we went to get our oyster cards (for the tube). Then we went back to the flatts only to wait about 25 minutes to go back to head to the Westminister College. On the way to walking to the tube we passed by a school. Some of the students were outside and well they figured out we were NOT from there. They started yelling "Bon jour" and none of responded and just kept walking by. Then one of the students yelled out "Immigrants" and I burst out laughing! It was so funny! But after that little bit of fun we hoped onto the tube (reminded me of the subway except a lot quieter) and got out to walk for two minutes until we reached the university. We walked up 6 set of flights and met one of our professors. By the time he was talking I could not believe how much I was sweating and how bad my legs had hurt. The professor we met was Mr. Sly Lindon. He's seems genuinely nice and I bet he will be teaching a very interesting class. After that meeting we were taken to go check out a market on one of the streets. There was mostly produce, shoes, bags, clothing and jewelry. It reminded me a lot of the city with all the markets they have. Then we took a bus to which we were going to go to Warwick Ave and walk back to the Flatt's. Yes, I know the first thing that came to my mind was Duffy as well.It was a great song and all and still is! We ended up getting split since there was so many of us. My group ending up missing the stop and were dropped off at the next one. After that we ended up going on a walking adventure. If I was not so exhausted and having to keep my legs from trying to buckle underneath me I probably would have taken in more of the beauty of London. It was a very long day and very tiring with a lot of walking! I'm pretty sure I lost some weight today for sure! After we got back from that long walk I ended up jetting to my room. I just had to sit down because my legs were in so much pain. After a few minutes I realized I needed to get some stuff for the room (soap and air freshener). I asked two of my flatt mates (Dougie and Adam) to come and we walked up the street and got to explore some of the stores. I think I was a little more excited then most people would be about seeing a hot dog in a glass jar. It amused me and it could be the jet lag talking or just some insane randomness. I then found out that there is a store Testco has gelt and that made me quite happy. After that we were all exhausted and went back to the flatt and watched tv for a little bit. We came upon some very interesting channels and after a few minutes of browsing and watching we ended up going our own ways. Now I am sitting in my room typing this up praying that the heat will go on soon! I will leave this at here so I can go start to unpack a little!