i must admit i had extremely high expectations for this trip, but i never expected this. i have fallen in love with england, london especially, and had the best 5 weeks of my life. i made life-long friends, and had experiences i will never forget. with that said, i leave you with a quote that sums up just about everything:
"Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford."
— Samuel Johnson
farewell foggy london town! i will be seeing you soon.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
photos.
since i can't get the foreign computers to cooperate with my requests to post pictures on my facebook, i thought i would share a few through a more tedious outlet.
so here are a few gems that should give you a peek into my life here at regents college.
my roommate bailey and i at the airport
our first view of england!
took this on the first day. where else in the world would this just happen?
This is the outside view of my dorm. what a cute little building.
my cute friends lauren and bailey on our first day here.
me posing with the lions at trafalgar square. you can't tell from the picture, but it's quite a climb to make it up there. i have the bruises to prove it!
we took a tour of the tower of london, and this man was our guide. he was so funny, we had to get a picture!
us in trafalgar square at night. yes that is big ben all aglow in the background. so perfect!
me being my crazy self in front of St. Pauls Cathedral
bailey and i survived all 528 narrow and treacherous steps to the tippy top of st. pauls. you can see the entire city from there, and it is breathtaking.
One of our favorite discoveries. Snog. it is the pg-13 rated version of Spoon me. and it is delicious
John, Bailey, Lindsey, Lauren and I in Oxford.
Oxford again. so pretty.
One of my favorite images. big ben all lit up and majestic looking.
the british do something really funny, they count all the steps everywhere and post them on signs. we were walking down to a tube station and it told us it was 92 steps to the bottom... so here we are standing in front of The Monument with our written cirtificates stating that we climbed all 311 steps to the top.
John bailey and i in front of tower bridge.
i'm going to be honest, i don't remember the name of this place.. but isn't it amazing that this square is just tucked away somewhere? i mean seriously. we stumble upon amazing places like this daily!!
these are most of the people in our group in the backyard of Shakespeare's daughter's house.
a picture of the clever river boats named after females in shakespeare's plays.
the river that flows though stratford.
the key to my room at the B&B. can you believe they still use keys like this? i loved it and wanted to keep it!
our whole group in front of Ann Hathaways cottage.
rain rain go away!!
shopping in covent garden we found this amazing paella!!! i crave it all the time now. lauryn tell you mother she best be having a paella night when i come home, becuase i must have it!
a very successful shopping day with the girls
a bunch of us eating dinner at Nandos, one of our favorite restaurants. yummy portugese food :)
our guide for the Jack the Ripper tour. spooky!
the road that leads to buckingham palace. love those union jacks!
the most perfectly placed phone booth in all of london.
the city has all of these elephants around to promote awareness about the endangered species. this is one of my favorites!
this one's for you mommy. wish you were here to see it with me!
i took this picture last night. it was one of the most amazing days i have had in the city so far, and this was the perfect end to our perfect day.
so here are a few gems that should give you a peek into my life here at regents college.
my roommate bailey and i at the airport
our first view of england!
took this on the first day. where else in the world would this just happen?
This is the outside view of my dorm. what a cute little building.
my cute friends lauren and bailey on our first day here.
me posing with the lions at trafalgar square. you can't tell from the picture, but it's quite a climb to make it up there. i have the bruises to prove it!
we took a tour of the tower of london, and this man was our guide. he was so funny, we had to get a picture!
us in trafalgar square at night. yes that is big ben all aglow in the background. so perfect!
me being my crazy self in front of St. Pauls Cathedral
bailey and i survived all 528 narrow and treacherous steps to the tippy top of st. pauls. you can see the entire city from there, and it is breathtaking.
One of our favorite discoveries. Snog. it is the pg-13 rated version of Spoon me. and it is delicious
John, Bailey, Lindsey, Lauren and I in Oxford.
Oxford again. so pretty.
One of my favorite images. big ben all lit up and majestic looking.
the british do something really funny, they count all the steps everywhere and post them on signs. we were walking down to a tube station and it told us it was 92 steps to the bottom... so here we are standing in front of The Monument with our written cirtificates stating that we climbed all 311 steps to the top.
John bailey and i in front of tower bridge.
i'm going to be honest, i don't remember the name of this place.. but isn't it amazing that this square is just tucked away somewhere? i mean seriously. we stumble upon amazing places like this daily!!
these are most of the people in our group in the backyard of Shakespeare's daughter's house.
a picture of the clever river boats named after females in shakespeare's plays.
the river that flows though stratford.
the key to my room at the B&B. can you believe they still use keys like this? i loved it and wanted to keep it!
our whole group in front of Ann Hathaways cottage.
rain rain go away!!
shopping in covent garden we found this amazing paella!!! i crave it all the time now. lauryn tell you mother she best be having a paella night when i come home, becuase i must have it!
a very successful shopping day with the girls
a bunch of us eating dinner at Nandos, one of our favorite restaurants. yummy portugese food :)
our guide for the Jack the Ripper tour. spooky!
the road that leads to buckingham palace. love those union jacks!
the most perfectly placed phone booth in all of london.
the city has all of these elephants around to promote awareness about the endangered species. this is one of my favorites!
this one's for you mommy. wish you were here to see it with me!
i took this picture last night. it was one of the most amazing days i have had in the city so far, and this was the perfect end to our perfect day.
ten things i hate about you.
While being here in the U.K. my roommate bailey and i have made a list of the most annoying things that i thought i was escaping when i left america, but actually followed us all the way across the pond. here is the list of the things that made the top 10:
1. Justin Beiber. i thought.. ok, i was hoping that londoners would be smarter than to fall into the baby-faced trap that is justin beiber. the worst part is, they have i heart justin beiber t's right next to the london souvenirs. how embarrassing.
2. Gym-bags. thank you "is she really going out with him" (a wonderfully awful show produced by MTV) who gave me the best descriptive word to use on all gym-rat-douche-bags. go back to the jersey shore.
3. Allergies. i was hoping pollen went on vacation too. no such luck.
4. tacky american chain 'restaurants' (e.g. subway, pizza hut, kfc, mcdonalds)
5. ed hardy. again, you belong on the jersey shore. not in my london.
6. hollister. tween beachwear should be the last thing people are wearing in this wonderful mecca of affordable shopping.
7. Head colds. yucky.
8. Utah weather. either it's hot or its cold. pick a side already.
9. crazy drivers. you thought utah was bad? i can't wait til i get home and the thing i am most worried about is someone not using their blinker!
10. School. i know i know, kind of the reason i am here. but really?? studying in london???? not cool.
of course this post is all in good fun. i loooooooooooooove love love love it here. seriously every single day i have at least one moment where i am completely stunned at the beauty of this city. i will take these ten things any day, because the good outweighs them tenfold.
xoxo
em
1. Justin Beiber. i thought.. ok, i was hoping that londoners would be smarter than to fall into the baby-faced trap that is justin beiber. the worst part is, they have i heart justin beiber t's right next to the london souvenirs. how embarrassing.
2. Gym-bags. thank you "is she really going out with him" (a wonderfully awful show produced by MTV) who gave me the best descriptive word to use on all gym-rat-douche-bags. go back to the jersey shore.
3. Allergies. i was hoping pollen went on vacation too. no such luck.
4. tacky american chain 'restaurants' (e.g. subway, pizza hut, kfc, mcdonalds)
5. ed hardy. again, you belong on the jersey shore. not in my london.
6. hollister. tween beachwear should be the last thing people are wearing in this wonderful mecca of affordable shopping.
7. Head colds. yucky.
8. Utah weather. either it's hot or its cold. pick a side already.
9. crazy drivers. you thought utah was bad? i can't wait til i get home and the thing i am most worried about is someone not using their blinker!
10. School. i know i know, kind of the reason i am here. but really?? studying in london???? not cool.
of course this post is all in good fun. i loooooooooooooove love love love it here. seriously every single day i have at least one moment where i am completely stunned at the beauty of this city. i will take these ten things any day, because the good outweighs them tenfold.
xoxo
em
Friday, May 28, 2010
this might have been the place that shakespeare might have lived at one time in his life... maybe...
this weekend we took another beautiful train ride to the town of stratford-upon-avon. we stayed at a cute little bed and breakfast called the virginia lodge. it was owned by a man named tim, who was quite possibly the nicest englishman i have met!! this was a unique quality because the longer i stay here the more i realize that the brits must not have been taught manners... there have been several incidents where we have been insulted for being tourists. one man yelled terrible things at us right in front of his 2 year old child because we were standing on the sidewalk. confused? me too. things these severe are rare, it is usually just the common un-courtesy's we encounter like people bumping into you and not saying they're sorry, or blatantly running you over like their lives are so much more important than yours. there have been several times where i have almost gotten left on the platform by myself because people shove in between you, and you get separated from the group, and next thing you know the doors are closing and your not on the train!! you would think that was just something that happens in large cities, but our trip to stratford and the afore mentioned example, proves it is just an english thing.
anyway..... stratford is beautiful. there are thatched roof houses lining stone paved roads. while there we of course saw the big shakespeare attractions like, his 'birthplace' his daughters house, his wives families house, and the church where he was buried. the funny thing is, is at every single place, the tour guides never tell you exactly what happened there, who lived there, and when. its always things like 'we believe that this is the place where shakespeare was born because it is likely that his mother lived there somewhere around the time that he was born' wow. amazing. and all of the houses are filled with artifacts that you would think actually belonged to shakespeare, but no. they tell you 'they are possibly things that people who lived around the time of shakespeare were likely to own'... so to recap, i saw a lot of old stuff that actually didn't have much to do with shakespeare, but were semi-interesting anyway. but this doesn't matter because what i am about to tell you was possibly the best news i have to report so far...
i had a room ALL TO MYSELF! and not just a tiny hole in the wall with a tiny bed. no, an actual full blown room with a queen sized bed, and my own bathroom, and my own tv. it seriously was bliss! i got the much needed sleep to help me get rid of the cold that has been ailing me for the past week or so. in the morning i woke up completely rejuvenated. i opted to not eat a traditional english breakfast like the others (it looked very scary... who eats beans and grilled tomatoes at 8 in the morning??) but had croissants and cereal instead. it was yummy.
the rest of the day we had to ourselves to meander about and explore the place. we ate lunch by the river and made friends with the local ducks. around 4 we all rounded up for the train ride home. i was disappointed we had to leave so soon! as hokey as all of the shakespeare stuff is, this has been my favorite part of this trip so far. this city is beautiful, and i can't wait til i have the chance to go back!
hope you appreciate all of the posts lately...(coughbriannecough) i am trying really hard to find time to post! more to come soooooon
xoxo
em
anyway..... stratford is beautiful. there are thatched roof houses lining stone paved roads. while there we of course saw the big shakespeare attractions like, his 'birthplace' his daughters house, his wives families house, and the church where he was buried. the funny thing is, is at every single place, the tour guides never tell you exactly what happened there, who lived there, and when. its always things like 'we believe that this is the place where shakespeare was born because it is likely that his mother lived there somewhere around the time that he was born' wow. amazing. and all of the houses are filled with artifacts that you would think actually belonged to shakespeare, but no. they tell you 'they are possibly things that people who lived around the time of shakespeare were likely to own'... so to recap, i saw a lot of old stuff that actually didn't have much to do with shakespeare, but were semi-interesting anyway. but this doesn't matter because what i am about to tell you was possibly the best news i have to report so far...
i had a room ALL TO MYSELF! and not just a tiny hole in the wall with a tiny bed. no, an actual full blown room with a queen sized bed, and my own bathroom, and my own tv. it seriously was bliss! i got the much needed sleep to help me get rid of the cold that has been ailing me for the past week or so. in the morning i woke up completely rejuvenated. i opted to not eat a traditional english breakfast like the others (it looked very scary... who eats beans and grilled tomatoes at 8 in the morning??) but had croissants and cereal instead. it was yummy.
the rest of the day we had to ourselves to meander about and explore the place. we ate lunch by the river and made friends with the local ducks. around 4 we all rounded up for the train ride home. i was disappointed we had to leave so soon! as hokey as all of the shakespeare stuff is, this has been my favorite part of this trip so far. this city is beautiful, and i can't wait til i have the chance to go back!
hope you appreciate all of the posts lately...(coughbriannecough) i am trying really hard to find time to post! more to come soooooon
xoxo
em
oxford :)
so since i have been such a slacker about posting lately, i thought there were a couple of things that deserved there own posts....
Last weekend a few friends (john, bailey, lauren, and lindsey) and i decided to go on an adventure out of the city. We heard there was a bus that would take us to the quaint university town of Oxford. There is a fantastic man who works at the front desk of the college who looks exactly like elton john (no seriously, i will post a picture. they could be twins). but as much as we love him, he is a true brit which means he is horrible at giving directions. they tell you things like 'oh just head down there for a bit and head 'round the corner til you see the man selling the flowers and cross the street there and the bus will just pick you up right about there'... not very clear. we tried to follow the directions as much as possible, but considering the vague-ness, we got lost somewhere around the second corner we were supposed to head around. after we watched several buses drive past us, we gave up and headed to the train station. this ended up being a very good decision! the train ride to oxford was lovely. we saw a lot of the english country side and it is truly picture-esque.
Once in the town it didn't take us long to find the city center. there is a road down the middle of tons of great stores. this was a great break from the crazy city where i have almost gotten run over by crazy drivers at least 50 times. we did a lot of window shopping (p.s. lauryn i found my first lush! and i am in love!) and eventually found our way to the campus.
we walked through the beautiful gardens and tiny walkways for an hour or so, taking hundreds of pictures (to be posted asap!!) and admiring the place. if i would have visited this campus when i was younger, i would have done unforgivable things in order to be a student there. seriously, it is like nothing i have ever seen!
on our way out of town we stopped at the bookstore and bought oxford shirts to remember the beautiful day we had. we then hopped on a train and headed back to london, and that was another adventure... but i will save that for another time!
xoxo
Last weekend a few friends (john, bailey, lauren, and lindsey) and i decided to go on an adventure out of the city. We heard there was a bus that would take us to the quaint university town of Oxford. There is a fantastic man who works at the front desk of the college who looks exactly like elton john (no seriously, i will post a picture. they could be twins). but as much as we love him, he is a true brit which means he is horrible at giving directions. they tell you things like 'oh just head down there for a bit and head 'round the corner til you see the man selling the flowers and cross the street there and the bus will just pick you up right about there'... not very clear. we tried to follow the directions as much as possible, but considering the vague-ness, we got lost somewhere around the second corner we were supposed to head around. after we watched several buses drive past us, we gave up and headed to the train station. this ended up being a very good decision! the train ride to oxford was lovely. we saw a lot of the english country side and it is truly picture-esque.
Once in the town it didn't take us long to find the city center. there is a road down the middle of tons of great stores. this was a great break from the crazy city where i have almost gotten run over by crazy drivers at least 50 times. we did a lot of window shopping (p.s. lauryn i found my first lush! and i am in love!) and eventually found our way to the campus.
we walked through the beautiful gardens and tiny walkways for an hour or so, taking hundreds of pictures (to be posted asap!!) and admiring the place. if i would have visited this campus when i was younger, i would have done unforgivable things in order to be a student there. seriously, it is like nothing i have ever seen!
on our way out of town we stopped at the bookstore and bought oxford shirts to remember the beautiful day we had. we then hopped on a train and headed back to london, and that was another adventure... but i will save that for another time!
xoxo
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
mind the gap!! (in my blog posting)
for those who don't know, in all of the tube stations they have reminders to 'mind the gap' meaning, don't step in the space between the train and the platform. so i thought i would throw a little pun into my title to say i'm sorry for not posting more!
so with apologies out of the way, in a nutshell this is what i have been up to for the past week:
visited St. Pauls Cathedral
seen a production of Twelfth Night
taken a backstage tour of the National Theatre
toured the Tower of London and the Tower bridge
seen the changing of the guard at Buckingham palace
Shopped at Portabello road market
climbed to the top of The Monument
Watched an England football match in a pub
ran the entire outer circle of Regents park (it's not that far, but i felt accomplished!)
read 2 shakespeare plays
attended both FHE and sunday meetings at a church we found near Hyde park
taken a MILLION pictures
eaten 50 gallons of ice cream (including some froyo from a place called Snog, the PG rated version of Spoon me)
Gotten lost on the tube, bus, and just walking around the city
succesfully had 2 skype conversations
gotten a partial farmers tan/burn in the unseasonably warm weather
and...
managed to get a horrible cold.
All of these things have contributed to the fantastic time i have been having (minus the last one). We are finally feeling settled in our schedules, and officially gotten over any sort of remaining jet lag. Last week was spend getting all of the touresty things out of the way, and now we have a little bit of breathing room. We still have many things to cross off our to do list, but we have made a good dent in it.
Tomorrow we are headed to Stratford upon avon. We are going to stay in a bed and breakfast and see a performance of Antony and Cleopatra. I am really looking forward to it. it should be a fun getaway from the bustling city(and the ridiculous noise that comes from staying in dorms full of college students)
hope that holds you over til the next time i can post!
xoxo
em
so with apologies out of the way, in a nutshell this is what i have been up to for the past week:
visited St. Pauls Cathedral
seen a production of Twelfth Night
taken a backstage tour of the National Theatre
toured the Tower of London and the Tower bridge
seen the changing of the guard at Buckingham palace
Shopped at Portabello road market
climbed to the top of The Monument
Watched an England football match in a pub
ran the entire outer circle of Regents park (it's not that far, but i felt accomplished!)
read 2 shakespeare plays
attended both FHE and sunday meetings at a church we found near Hyde park
taken a MILLION pictures
eaten 50 gallons of ice cream (including some froyo from a place called Snog, the PG rated version of Spoon me)
Gotten lost on the tube, bus, and just walking around the city
succesfully had 2 skype conversations
gotten a partial farmers tan/burn in the unseasonably warm weather
and...
managed to get a horrible cold.
All of these things have contributed to the fantastic time i have been having (minus the last one). We are finally feeling settled in our schedules, and officially gotten over any sort of remaining jet lag. Last week was spend getting all of the touresty things out of the way, and now we have a little bit of breathing room. We still have many things to cross off our to do list, but we have made a good dent in it.
Tomorrow we are headed to Stratford upon avon. We are going to stay in a bed and breakfast and see a performance of Antony and Cleopatra. I am really looking forward to it. it should be a fun getaway from the bustling city(and the ridiculous noise that comes from staying in dorms full of college students)
hope that holds you over til the next time i can post!
xoxo
em
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
comments
i have been told by a friend, who shall remain nameless, that i need to post a reminder to you all about commenting. this is the best place for people to comment about my blog so i dont have to read 500 emails from all of you. as much as i love you, i have limited computer time. since i do want all of your feedback and input, please feel free to utilize the commenting space provided. :)
more actual posts to come soon!
xoxo
more actual posts to come soon!
xoxo
Sunday, May 16, 2010
well hello london!
It is day 2 here in London, and so far, I am IN LOVE! lets start from the beginning shall we?
After much delay in the JFK airport, we arrived in London at about 8 o'clock on Saturday morning. Although we were advised against it, we took the tube into town. Let me just tell you that I handled that luggage on the crowded tube like a pro! After making it to the BEAUTIFUL campus, we threw our luggage down so we could walk the streets for a bit. We live literally a few meters from Sherlock Holmes flat on Baker Street. It is a huge tourist attraction, complete with hundreds of trinkety Sherlock Holmes tourist trap stores. We walked down a ways and were confused by the HUNDREDS of people in blue football jerseys until we ran into a local pub that was overflowing with these loads of yelling and chanting Chelsea fans. i guess there was a huge match going on, and to say that people get really into it would be an understatement. You could hear them singing from blocks and blocks away. There was one moment when a bus full of fans passed the pub, and i am surprised there wasn't a riot! There were police surrounding the pub just in case, and i'm sure they were needed at least once!
After we got lost at least twice, we decided to get some lunch. Now you may want to sit down for this next bit of news. For lunch we went to this really divey place (i mean REALLY divey. they shouted our order into a hole in the floor)but get this, i ate fish and chips... i know what your thinking right now, and it's ok if you don't believe me. But it happened. and don't be surprised if it happens again! like most people have told me, the fish here is not anything like what i have tried back home. thank goodness!
after a few adventures around the city (we went down leiscester square to see a few sites and to eat dinner)i finally made it into bed around 8. i was so proud of myself for staying awake for so long!
i woke up this morning after a good 14 hours of sleep, and i felt refreshed and ready to take on Camdon market. It is so great! i could have easily spent all my money in about 2 hours there, but i resisted, and only bought one thing. next, we tried to find a store called primark. you would think finding a HUGE store right on a main road would be easy, but no. it was a joke. There were hundreds of people on the street with bags from there, but finding someone that spoke english was hard enough, let alone someone that could give us directions. (we had one man tell us to walk 60 minutes in the wrong direction) luckily we just kept walking towards where the people with the bags seemed to be coming from until i looked up and oh so dramatically pointed at the sign and yelled 'it's RIGHT THERE!!!' at least 20 people turned and looked at me funny, but after 40 minutes of walking around, i was really excited.
Once inside, i realized that i will never again enjoy shopping in America. Primark is the best thing i have ever seen. There is everything there you could ever want. ok not food, but everything else. and it's CHEAP! like sunglasses that only cost 1 pound! if you know me at all, you know that this kind of a thing could be extremely dangerous to my bank account. luckily, i made it out with only a few things, some of them were even presents for other people. get excited friend, i love shopping for other people almost as much as i love shopping for myself! When we left the store we came out to our first london rain storm. i was only semi-prepared, and went out in flip flops and no jacket.. but i did have an umbrella! i slipped and slided all the way back to campus where i immediately put on actual shoes.
We were supposed to go on a tour of Westminster later on, but with the rain and all, we decided to postpone it until another day. Now it is just another evening of trying to stay busy so i stay awake!! i have not allowed myslef to take any naps, and want to get accustomed to my new time zone as soon as possible!
Tomorrow brings the first day of class, and i'm sure more amazing adventures! Stay tuned!
xoxo
After much delay in the JFK airport, we arrived in London at about 8 o'clock on Saturday morning. Although we were advised against it, we took the tube into town. Let me just tell you that I handled that luggage on the crowded tube like a pro! After making it to the BEAUTIFUL campus, we threw our luggage down so we could walk the streets for a bit. We live literally a few meters from Sherlock Holmes flat on Baker Street. It is a huge tourist attraction, complete with hundreds of trinkety Sherlock Holmes tourist trap stores. We walked down a ways and were confused by the HUNDREDS of people in blue football jerseys until we ran into a local pub that was overflowing with these loads of yelling and chanting Chelsea fans. i guess there was a huge match going on, and to say that people get really into it would be an understatement. You could hear them singing from blocks and blocks away. There was one moment when a bus full of fans passed the pub, and i am surprised there wasn't a riot! There were police surrounding the pub just in case, and i'm sure they were needed at least once!
After we got lost at least twice, we decided to get some lunch. Now you may want to sit down for this next bit of news. For lunch we went to this really divey place (i mean REALLY divey. they shouted our order into a hole in the floor)but get this, i ate fish and chips... i know what your thinking right now, and it's ok if you don't believe me. But it happened. and don't be surprised if it happens again! like most people have told me, the fish here is not anything like what i have tried back home. thank goodness!
after a few adventures around the city (we went down leiscester square to see a few sites and to eat dinner)i finally made it into bed around 8. i was so proud of myself for staying awake for so long!
i woke up this morning after a good 14 hours of sleep, and i felt refreshed and ready to take on Camdon market. It is so great! i could have easily spent all my money in about 2 hours there, but i resisted, and only bought one thing. next, we tried to find a store called primark. you would think finding a HUGE store right on a main road would be easy, but no. it was a joke. There were hundreds of people on the street with bags from there, but finding someone that spoke english was hard enough, let alone someone that could give us directions. (we had one man tell us to walk 60 minutes in the wrong direction) luckily we just kept walking towards where the people with the bags seemed to be coming from until i looked up and oh so dramatically pointed at the sign and yelled 'it's RIGHT THERE!!!' at least 20 people turned and looked at me funny, but after 40 minutes of walking around, i was really excited.
Once inside, i realized that i will never again enjoy shopping in America. Primark is the best thing i have ever seen. There is everything there you could ever want. ok not food, but everything else. and it's CHEAP! like sunglasses that only cost 1 pound! if you know me at all, you know that this kind of a thing could be extremely dangerous to my bank account. luckily, i made it out with only a few things, some of them were even presents for other people. get excited friend, i love shopping for other people almost as much as i love shopping for myself! When we left the store we came out to our first london rain storm. i was only semi-prepared, and went out in flip flops and no jacket.. but i did have an umbrella! i slipped and slided all the way back to campus where i immediately put on actual shoes.
We were supposed to go on a tour of Westminster later on, but with the rain and all, we decided to postpone it until another day. Now it is just another evening of trying to stay busy so i stay awake!! i have not allowed myslef to take any naps, and want to get accustomed to my new time zone as soon as possible!
Tomorrow brings the first day of class, and i'm sure more amazing adventures! Stay tuned!
xoxo
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
and so it begins...
The official countdown has begun and things are getting crazy! I have exactly 38 days until I leave. Can you believe how fast it is coming? Just putting together some final touches on planning, even though I feel like I won't ever be really ready until I am on the airplane. Everybody is always asking me about plans, dates, etc.. so i figured I would just throw out there what I know so far... be aware, this schedule is bound to change. The only thing that is set in stone in my itinerary is my departure and arrival dates!
I leave May 14th in the A.M and am set to arrive in Hethrow airport on May 15th sometime in the afternoon.. just ask me how thrilled I am about an entire day and a half of traveling...
From there I will be staying in the Regents College dorms in London England. While I am there I will be studying all sorts of British History/Literature (things like Shakespeare).
After the program ends on June 19th, I will be taking the rest of Europe by storm. Tentative plans are to visit France, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Italy... but I am most excited about the fairly unplanned adventure I will be embarking on with my new friend, and London roommate Bailey. The only thing we know for sure is we need to be in Rome by July 3rd to catch our flight back to the good old U.S of A.
So there you go, start the countdown!
I will probably not be posting much until I actually get to England in May, but once I get there I will hopefully be updating often with all of my crazy experiences (and yes I'm sure they are going to be crazy since this is, according to Brianne, "confessions of a first time traveler". Wish me luck!!)
I leave May 14th in the A.M and am set to arrive in Hethrow airport on May 15th sometime in the afternoon.. just ask me how thrilled I am about an entire day and a half of traveling...
From there I will be staying in the Regents College dorms in London England. While I am there I will be studying all sorts of British History/Literature (things like Shakespeare).
After the program ends on June 19th, I will be taking the rest of Europe by storm. Tentative plans are to visit France, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Italy... but I am most excited about the fairly unplanned adventure I will be embarking on with my new friend, and London roommate Bailey. The only thing we know for sure is we need to be in Rome by July 3rd to catch our flight back to the good old U.S of A.
So there you go, start the countdown!
I will probably not be posting much until I actually get to England in May, but once I get there I will hopefully be updating often with all of my crazy experiences (and yes I'm sure they are going to be crazy since this is, according to Brianne, "confessions of a first time traveler". Wish me luck!!)
