Paris

I have officially recooperated from Paris...it was a crazy but fun weekend! We left the house at 3:45 am on Friday and arrived in Paris a little after 10 am. Friday's plans were drastically changed at the last minute, but I did manage to have some french onion soup and get a glimpse of a few sights. That night, Paula and I attempted to get dinner on our own eventhough neither of us speak French. We figured salmon would be the safest item on the menu...it was served raw. We politely ate a few bites, mixed the food up around our plates to make it look like we ate more, and then ordered dessert. I had an apple tart which was amazing.

Saturday, we walked around the outside of the Louvre, went to Notre Dame Cathedral, and went to the Lafayette Galleries (a big mall). We also ate at a cute cafe for lunch. I had a lyonnais baguette (salami) and a pecan tart. For dinner we headed up to Montmatre, saw Moulin Rouge, and ate at a wonderful restaurant which I forget the name of. I had an amazing chicken dish with creme brulee, a donut dipped in rum, a small chocolate cake, and espresso for dessert...this is why I love Paris. The food is divine!

Sunday, we tried to go to mass at Notre Dame, but manage to get completely lost. Instead, we did the bus tour and stopped off at the Champs Elysees and did some shopping. We found a little shop that sold all different kinds of photographs and paintings. I picked up a few for my kitchen and room back at Wheatshocker. We also stopped to eat at a cafe called Paul's, which is so popular that the line was out the door the entire time we were there! I had a raspberry tart and hot chocolate...they were amazing, as usual. That evening, Sarah, Paula, and I went to the Eiffel Tower to see the lights. Every hour on the hour the Eiffel Tower twinkles for 15 minutes. It is so cliche, but this was by far my favorite part of Paris. I felt like a kid at Disney World for the first time. I took a video of the twinkling, but it doesn't compare to the real thing.

Monday morning we left our hostel at 6:15 and made our way back to London in time for class at 2. I'm really glad I went back to Paris. I forgot how beautiful it is there. The architecture is breathtaking. One thing I'd like to mention is how friendly the people in Paris are. Parisians have a bad reputation for being extremely rude, especially to Americans. We had a tiny emergency on Friday and we received a tremendous amount of help from different people. It was very comforting, considering the two of us didn't speak any French. I gained a lot of confidence in myself this weekend...if I can navigate a city where I don't speak the language in a stressful situation, I can do just about anything!

My presentation for British Media & Institutions went very smoothly. The guest lecturer said I did a fine job and covered everything we were going to discuss. That evening, Billy, Sharon, and I went out to our usual spot, Prince Albert pub. I had my first rum and coke ever...not too bad.

Yesterday was a very relaxing day, as I just went to class and caught up on sleep.

Today my Modern Theatre class took a field trip to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. It was really nice to see, as I hadn't been there before. This is the third Globe (built in '97) and a Chicagoan was in charge of building it...pretty cool :)

After class I booked two more trips...I am going horseback riding in Wales this Saturday and Sunday, and next weekend Billy and I are heading to Berlin. I'm officially finished booking trips now with the exception of Austria and Switzerland with Dad.

Tonight I will try and put my Paris pics up on my site, but it all depends on if I can gather everyone else's group pics. I'll let you know when they are up!

Plays, Dickens, Snow, & Paris

The past few days have been pretty eventful. Classes have been keeping me busy...mainly British Media & Institutions. I have to give a presentation on Monday, so I've been busy preparing it. I'm almost finished though. I just need to type up the 500 word summary and I'm golden :)

On Tuesday, my London in Literature class went on a Charles Dickens walk for 3 hours. It was sooooooo cold, but we had such a good time that I almost forgot how frozen my hands were. We discovered a bunch of secret alleys, and we even went into the area where solicitors and baristers (the 2 types of lawyers in London...solicitors deal with minor stuff and baristers actually go to court) live and work. It was absolutely beautiful. We also saw the only circular church in Great Britain, which I will revisit and take pictures of. Finally, we made it to Charles Dicken's home. It was amazing to walk around the home he lived in. The collection of his work was the best part. They even had the manuscript and the editions of Oliver Twist (what we're currently reading)!

Tuesday evening, Billy, Maura, Megan, and I went to see Avenue Q. It was shocking...but pretty funny. I'm so glad I got to see it before it ended this weekend.

I woke up yesterday morning to snow!!!! We didn't get that much, but it sure did cause a ton of backups on the tube. Unfortunately, it's already melted. Don't worry though, I took pics...including one of our palm tree covered in snow haha.

Yesterday my Modern Theatre class went to see the play, Happy Days. It is a 2 person show starring the lady that plays Harry Potter's aunt in all of the HP films. The set was amazing, but to be honest, the show was awful. Most of us ended up dozing at one point.

Today has been extremely hectic. In the morning I got my hair cut on Portobello Road. I told Andrew to make me look European...boy this sure is a different look for me! I'll post pictures after this weekend. I haven't decided if I like it or not, but most people seem to like it...or they're just lying to me hehe. After the haircut, I went to the library to work on this presentation, and then I had to go to class. My British Society prof is hilarious...he's such a cute old British man with the best sense of humor. He had us laughing the entire 3 hours. For the past few hours I've been charging various electronics, packing, and attempting to finish this paper.

I leave in a few hours for Paris...3:45 am (that's 9:45 pm for you Central Time Zone folks). I will be back Monday morning just in time for class. Expect a great update on Monday!!!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Past week

The past week has been rather uneventful. It consisted of a bunch of class, reading, and relaxing.

On Thursday IFSA treated us to a really nice dinner at the Original Spaghetti House . I had amazing bruschetta pomodoro, lasagne, and cassata (italian icecream). Everything was sooooooooooooo good.

Today I did a bunch of homework and then went to this adorable pub, Pheonix, to watch the Manchester United vs. Arsenal game. The atmosphere in there was incredible despite the fact that most of the guys were Arsenal fans. Man U. led most of the game until Thierry Henry scored in overtime. Boooooooooooo! That's ok, it was so much fun anyways. I felt very much in my element. A few of us are going to try and get tickets for some of the games. I will make it to Old Trafford by the end of the semester!

This week is going to be very busy as I have to prepare for my trip to Paris on Friday!!! I can't wait to get there :)

London Rain

The rain is really funny in London. It doesn't seem to ever pour...or even rain hard. It's a little more than the mist that Ireland gets, but London really only gets a light sprinkle from what I can tell. When it rains though, everyone treats it like a thunderstorm! It was raining as I was walking to class today, and just about every single person I passed was using their umbrella. I didn't bother using one and I was barely wet when I walked into class. That was just something funny I noticed.

Classes are going alright. Each class has a lot of reading, but we are only graded on one or two papers and the final exam. That makes me a little nervous, but I'm sure it will be fine. My first graded assignment will be a presentation on soap operas (haha good topic huh?) that I have to give for my Media class on the Monday we get back from Paris. Hopefully the flight isn't late!

Ok, so it's time for my big announcement. This week I have booked a few trips during my stay here. I am going to Prague Feb. 23-26, which I am reallllllllllllly excited about. That is one of the places I was dying to go! The other trip that I booked is AMAZING...are you ready? I am officially going to :::::drum roll please::::::::GREECE!!!! Yup, that's right. I am spending 10 days in April going island hopping in Greece! We will be visiting Athens, Mykonos, Paros, and Santorini. I do owe a thank you to Mom and her friends for letting me leave our England/Wales/Scotland expedition a few days early. I can't wait!

Family Visit

I am back from my family visit! It was definitely the highlight of my time in England so far :)

Friday evening we all left our cozy home in Notting Hill for a relaxing weekend in Gloucester (pronounced Gloss-ter). After an almost 3 hour drive, we arrived at a fabric store (I know, kind of random), which is where our families picked us up. Sarah S. and I were placed with the Hartnett family. No, they don't know Josh. Our host mom Sue picked us up and brought us back to her home. There we met our host dad Christy and our host sisters Sam (14) and Charlotte (11). They also have 4 cats: Ollie, Molly, Shadow, and Tembo. Tembo is Swahili for something like "strong elephant". He was found as a kitten in a cardboard box on the side of the road with the rest of his litter, but he was the only one alive. That's how he became Tembo. Friday evening, we talked with Sue and Christy before heading off to sleep.

Saturday morning we had a wonderful breakfast of cereal and croissants with lemon curd. We met up with the rest of our group in town to go see the sights of Gloucester. The Gloucester Cathedral was amazing. They filmed parts of the Harry Potter movies in the cloisters. There was a bit of miscommunication between the coordinator and the students, so we ended up missing the other planned events and walking around town. Sue picked us up at 5 and took us home. That night we had the most amazing dinner ever. We had Shepherd's pie and a Apple & Blackberry Crumble for dessert. They poured custard all over the crumble which made it even better. Sue gave us the recipes...I can't wait to make them! After dinner, we (minus Christy) played board games all evening. It was so nice because both sides of my family can spend HOURS playing board/card games. I felt very much at home.

Sunday morning we all went to mass and then to the grocery store. Christy works at the store and Sue wanted to show us all of the different things we could buy here. Sarah and I loved that store so much, we are planning on going to the one near us tonight. After shopping, we had a typical Sunday dinner. We had roast beef, anya (spelled wrong) potatoes, veggies, Yorkshire pancakes (you fill them with gravy...they're amazing!), and a traditional bread and butter pudding for dessert. The food was sooooooo good. It is awful being back in the house with no one to cook for us.

Overall my family visit was much better than I could have ever imagined. Our family had such interesting stories to share with us, and we also never stopped laughing. Christy is from Ireland (Dublin) and used to be a Catholic priest. He spent some time doing missionary work in the Congo. Later, he met Sue and left the priesthood. He told us that it was more difficult telling his Irish family that he was marrying an English woman than it was to tell them that he was no longer a priest! There were many other stories as well, but it would take too long to repeat them all. Overall, they are amazing people and I am so thankful that I had this experience. The whole purpose of this semester is for me to break out of my comfort zone and to be more outgoing...this weekend definitely did that. I will definitely stay in touch with them.

Today I have class at 2, so I'm just reading Oliver Twist until it's time to go. I'm going to try and update my pictures before I leave, so you may want to check my picture site out.

Oh, about the big announcement...it definitely has to do with traveling at the end of the semester. You all are crazy....although a washing machine would be really nice :)

Laundry is expensive!

I just got back from doing my laundry. The washers are super tiny, so I had to use 2 washing machines and 1 dryer...the cost...9.20 pounds, which is $18.40!!!! I am not looking forward to doing laundry this semester.

Our dorm leaves at 6 tonight for our family visit. I am staying with Sue and Christy, and then their daughters Samantha and Charlotte, and their 4 cats. They sent me an email earlier, and they sound really nice. I can't wait to go! I won't be back until Sunday evening, so there won't be any updates until then.

Everyone have a wonderful weekend!

P.S. Expect a BIG announcement on Tuesday!
P.P.S. Happy birthday to the best guy ever!

It's been awhile...

Ok, I promise I will begin updating more frequently. I have been having major adaptor problems (still). In the past week, I've blown 4 adaptors...2 of them yesterday. I think we have decided it's the outlet in my room. I'm currently in the lounge downstairs...

Saturday: Megan, Maura, Billy, and I managed to score free tickets to the play Thérèse Raquin at the National Theatre. Another group flight arrived in London and they had extra tickets to their play, so we got them! It was really intense...but really good. To read about it, click here.

Sunday: I ended up taking a practice walk to class. It's a really good thing I did because we were told it's a 30 min. walk....yeah it took me an hour and 15 minutes. It's such a nice walk though. I walk past Hyde Park and then down Oxford Street (where all of the shopping is). I am definitely going to try and walk it at least once a week.

Monday: I didn't have class until 2 pm, so I took the tube to Bloomsbury with the others at 9 am and proceded to walk to Trafalgar Square. I took the usual touristy pics and then visited The National Gallery. It was absolutely AMAZING. I don't know much about art and I loved it, so I can't imagine how people who actually know something about art feel in that place. I fell in love with a bunch of painters, but especially Canaletto. He is an Italian painter who paints the most incredible paintings of Venice. I've never seen water look more realistic in any other paintings. I loved them so much, I bought 2 postcards of his work. To see one of his paintings, click here. When I got out of the museum, I noticed a lady was feeding hundreds of pigeons in Trafalgar Square. As I was crouching down taking a few pics (will be on my picture page shortly), a double decker bus honked its horn and scared all of the pigeons. They all came flying at my face!!! A few definitely hit me in the arm. It was really scary. At 2 pm, I went to my Media & Institutions class. It seems really exciting. We watch British tv, read newspapers, and write essays. That night, a bunch of us decided to celebrate the start of classes by going to a super posh martini bar called Jewel. Apparently, David and Victoria (Beckham that is) frequent this spot. I had a mint chocolate martini which was divine :)

Tuesday: This wasn't a very exciting day. I had my Literature in London class. Our prof. is the cutest British man who is sooooooo excited to teach us. He made us all feel very comfortable. Oh yeah...the building our classes are in...it's Virginia Woolf's home. How crazy is that? I ended up reading Oliver Twist for class the rest of the evening.

Wednesday: I had my Modern Theatre class today. We are going to see 4 plays this semester! I can't wait to find out which ones! This class also seems very fun. This class and my Literature class will be a lot of work though. We read a novel a week in Literature, and a play a week in Modern Theatre. After class, a bunch of us did some random errands which included a trip to the Post Office. When I left the Post Office, I noticed a Maybach was parallel parked right outside. It is not uncommon to see Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Bentleys, Maybachs, and other expensive cars in our neighborhood. I felt really bad though, because behind this particular Maybach was a really old mini van who was trying to get out of his parking space. There wasn't a lot of room, so he kept purposely hitting the Maybach!!! It was crazy! ***So here's the exciting news of the day*** A big group of us planned our first trip tonight. We are going to...drum roll please...PARIS! We leave Jan. 26th and return the 29th. Most of my friends are also going to Dublin for St. Patrick's Day, but I recently discovered that the most wonderful boyfriend in the world will be visiting that weekend, so I will stay here. A few other trips are in the works, but I won't reveal them at this time.

I promise I will update this more often now that I have access to my computer!

London

I am finally here!!! I'm sorry that it has taken me a little while to update...things have been CRAZY. My adapter did not fit my laptop's plug and the battery was dead. I didn't have a chance to get a new one until tonight. After going into various shops asking if they had adapters, I finally came across a store that wasn't sold out of them. I bought one and raced back to the dorm to use it...but it didn't work. I went back to the store and the lady gave me a cheaper one (yay for saving money!) which worked. It was funny though, because she put the bad one back on the shelf.

But anywhoo, I am finally all set up. Everyone here is incredibly nice. There are about 30 of us living in a very posh neighborhood (which had a movie named after it starring Julia Roberts) in a Victorian mansion. Our GR (Graduate Resident) Jeff, said it is worth between 5 and 6 million pounds ($10-12 million). It is amazing! I live in a room with 3 girls who are all really nice. I've also been hanging out a lot with 4 other girls who are amazing as well.

The first day here, we just unpacked, relaxed, and had a small orientation. The heads of the program introduced themselves, and then we had a really good buffet dinner. The salmon was incredible. The next day (Wed.) we had orientation all day. A lord (from Parliament) came in to explain the differences between the UK's Gov't and the U.S. Gov't. Basically, the UK doesn't care about the moral issues that are extremely controversial in America (i.e. abortion). We also had another person discuss safety in London with us. London has a fairly low crime rate, but has the most theft of any city in the world. He gave us some really good tips on how to stay safe here. After orientation, Paula and I went to get cell phones, but the store was sold out. That night we went to a play called A Woman in Black. The first half was miserable, but the story really picked up after intermission. It ended up being really scary. We also went to a cute pub in the neighborhood that night which was fun. I've grown to like cider...but you have to be careful because it is strong.

On Thursday we had a super short orientation and then had the rest of the day to ourselves. The program gave each of us a free Big Bus Tour pass, so Sarah, Sharon, Christine, Paula, and I decided to do that. The weather was cold yesterday, but the sky was clear. The tour was great because it gave us a good idea of where things are located, as well as some new ideas of things to do! I also got a cell phone, so if you want the # send me an email. Last night, we attempted to find this one pub we had heard a great deal about, but after walking around for awhile, we gave up and went to a different one. Later on, we found the original one but it was closed.

Today we had orientation at our University. Apparently, Birkbeck is one of the best colleges in the UK. It is comparable to Oxford and Cambridge. The first British female astronaut and Dido studied here. I am enrolled in Media Forms and Institutions, Modern Theater, British Society Since 1945, and London in Literature. I am so excited for my classes! After orientation, we attempted to walk back to the dorms, but the amazing shopping on Oxford St. distracted us. We ended up taking the tube back to the dorm and chilling here. Plans for tonight are still up in the air.

I absolutely love it here. There are a few things, however, that are not so great about the UK. It is extremely expensive here. Whatever you pay for something in the US, take that amount and double it. That's what we pay here. The 99 cent meal at McDonalds is really $2 here. Also, there are 4 or 5 bathrooms in this house for 30 people. This means there is never any hot water. Other than those things though, it is fabulous.

Oh, and I changed the comment settings so anyone can comment now (thanks Shawn!!!)...feel free to leave me something!!! I miss you all! I'll update soon :)

Newark

So this is going to be my blog for the semester. I don't know how often I'll be able to write, but I'll try and describe my experiences of studying abroad in London.

I'm currently sitting in Newark airport waiting for my 9:25 flight to Heathrow. There are A LOT of students here. Six schools are traveling over to London on our flight...so far everyone seems really friendly :)

I will try and update sometime this week. I miss everyone!!!!

P.S. Thanks to Shom for making my page pretty :)