Mike Ro Comes to London

For the past four days one of my friends from AU Mike came from Spain to visit me in London :) He arrived Saturday night. I picked him up from the metro, we dropped his stuff off at my apartment and then went out to the Rocket my favorite pub in London. Alyssia my roommate came with us and we met Mike's friend and his friend who are both studying in London this semester. We got there around 10:00 and stayed till 2:00 AM when it closed. It was a TON of fun and a nice way to end my last weekend in London. Sunday Alyssia, Mike, and I went to Camden Market so that Mike could see it and so that Alyssia and I could buy the last of our Christmas Presents for people. Afterwords we went to the Tower of London and then to a Sunday Roast at a pub near the Tower. Alyssia and I had been to the pub before when we visited the Tower but we were not there to experience the Sunday roast which I am glad we did. They give you half a chicken, potatoes, carrots, peas, Yorkshire pudding which is a kind of bread, stuffing, and a drink. It was delicious!! After our late lunch we went back to the apartment to lay down for awhile. Monday I took Mike to see everything that is touristy & we walked the entire trip. We started off at my apartment, walked through Soho, China Town, Trafalgar Square, Horse Guards Parade, Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, St. James Park, Buckingham Palace, Green Park, and Piccadilly Circus. It was a beautiful sunny day out which was really nice and it was also nice to see the sights one last time before I leave. Later that night Mike, Alyssia and I went out to a pub that I had never been to before. It was near my apartment but tuck into a little corner. There were two other couples in the room and it was quiet and quaint. It was a typical old time English pub it was cool. After we had a drink there Alyssia went home and Mike and I went to The Court which is a pub mostly full of UCL students. We had another drink and sat down and talked for awhile. Tuesday I was not feeling very well so Mike and I just went to Harrods and Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. Harrods was AMAZING! You can buy ANYTHING and I mean ANYTHING there! Cars, houses, food, candy, socks, clothes, pets, Christmas tree...ect. It was really cool and I wanted to buy a million and one things but I ended up purchasing nothing which is probably good for my bank account :). Then we went to Winter Wonderland which I talked about in another blog post. It is in Hyde Park and it has rides, a Christmas market, food, and drinks. We left as it started to get really cold outside. And today Wednesday Mike left for Amsterdam. AND I leave for Arizona in 3 days! I can not believe that abroad is this close to being over. It feels like I have not been here for 3 1/2 months...I have had an AMAZING and unbelievable time in London and in my travels :)

Thanksgiving & the start of the Christmas season

Sorry to all my avid readers for my absence in writing blog posts. I have been busy writing papers which has been very stressful but I only have two more and then I am done! Thanksgiving in London turned out to be quite a success! Alyssia and I went to Marks and Spencers after school on Thursday and bought a chicken that was already marinated, a large bread roll, cranberry sauce thanks to my mom and dad, wine, homemade cinnamon applesauce made my Alyssia and I, and a HOMEMADE pumpkin chiffon pie made by yours truly :) My parents sent me some of the ingredients that would have been very hard to find in the UK and I made it in our tinny tiny kitchen and it turned out great! It's odd but making this pie made me feel like a real family member I made a dish that has been in my family for a long time and I made it on my own! It was awesome and I did it without a lot of the appliances and kitchen utensils that you needed to make it, it was kind of funny. So after Alyssia and I spent the whole day in the kitchen our friend Mimi came over for dinner. Since we do not have a kitchen table I cleared off my desk and moved it to the center of my room and we ate there. It was small but it was better than eating on the floor or on a bed. We had a great time talking about London, our homes, and what we were thankful for. It overall was a great Thanksgiving, one of the best I have had yet. :) Now forwarding to today Alyssia and I went to the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony in Trafalgar square. Every year since 1941 Norway has given London a Christmas Tree as a symbol of the "close and warm" relationship between the people of Norway and the people of Britain. The reason they do this is because in 1940 Norway was invaded and the king of Norway Haakon VII sought refuge in Britain and the Norwegian government was established in London. The ceremony started at 6:10 and the Salvation Army Band played Christmas songs before and during the ceremony. The Lord Mayor of Westminster and the Governing Mayor of Oslo ( a city in Norway) gave a speech. Then the tree lights were lit and the water fountains turned on. It was beautiful I just wish it had not been so cold and that there had not been so many people. It was extra pretty because it has been snowing in London not a lot of snow but it covered the ground a little and tiny specks of snow were falling from the sky and it is really pretty and makes it feel like Christmas time. More updates to come later, can't believe I go home in two weeks abroad has flown by!

Beatlemania!!

I got back from Madrid Sunday night and the next morning (Monday) I went to Liverpool to see everything about the Beatles. I went with Alyssia my roommate and her cousin Lynn and her cousins friend Diane. We took a train from Euston Station at 9:00. It was only a two hour train ride and then we arrived in Liverpool Lime Street Station. When we got there we went to the information center so we could figure out how to get to everything. We first went to The Beatles Story which is a HUGE Beatles museum. They have clothes, guitars, and random things owned by the Beatles members and tons of information and replicas about their lives. Too see the stuff look at my pictures on Facebook. :) After the museum we went to lunch at a pub near the museum which had great food! I got a pot of tea (because it was SUPER cold outside), winter bean soup and chips. YUM YUM YUM! We sat there for awhile because we were not in a rush because our train home left at 8:45PM. After lunch we went to another part of the Beatles museum which is in another area. They had all the records given to the Beatles for selling over 1 million copies of songs and albums. It was really cool. Then Alyssia and I saw the 4D Beatles movie which was short and funny. After that museum we went to Matthew street to see Cavern pub which is the first pub the Beatles played at and they played there many times afterwords. They also have a John Lennon statue. Down that street is Lennon's bar, the Grapes (which was the Beatles favorite place to get a drink), and a statue of Eleanore Rigby. After that we got on a bus to go see Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields. This turned out to be very difficult because there were no signs for what stop was next and it was dark out so it was hard to see road signs. But we found our stop with the help of this nice lady and we saw Penny Lane which was not very interesting but still cool to have gone there. Then we walked to Strawberry Fields which is now just a gate. After that we got back on the bus and went to a Christmas store and then went shopping in Urban Outfitters, H&M, and Primemark but I restrained myself and did not buy anything!!! Then it was time to go home so we bought some food to take on the train home. The weird thing was is that the train home was 4 hours instead of 2 like on the way there. But we all had a good time talking and laughing. Lynn and Diane are super great and funny and I had such a good day spending time with them and Alyssia! We got home around 12:45 and I passed out because I had not slept in or well for 5 days straight. I think I am done with going on trips and now I need to focus on papers because due dates are coming up soon!! AHHH

Madrid SPAIN!

Hola! 

This past weekend I went to Madrid to visit Christina Goggin, Mike Ro, and Jill Molina. AND I HAD THE BEST TIME! I went with Sam and Veronica who are studying in Edinburgh who I visited three weeks before. We met up at the airport and took the metro to our hostel. The metro was actually easy to navigate the only strange thing that happened is we were waiting for our final train to come and this man comes onto the platform and yells something and everyone moves up against the wall so we all do too and he storms past everyone and everyone looked scared. But we had NO idea what he said but he did not hurt anyone so that was good. :) We got to our hostel which was located in Tirso de Molina which is near Sol the center of Madrid. We stayed at the WAY hostel which was GREAT! It was super clean and we shared a room with three other girls. They had a living room and a kitchen but we did not use either. The beds were super comfy and hard to get out of after naps and in the morning. After getting ourselves situated Jill met us at our hostel to take us to lunch because we were so hungry. Oddly enough we went to eat at a Mexican restaurant (yes I know you are judging me for eating Mexican food in Spain but it was delicious!!!)  The place was called La Mordida de Larra  in Bilbao, Madrid. I had vegetarian enchiladas and a piña colada which were both amazing. After lunch Sam and Veronica went back to the hostel to take a nap and Jill and I went down Calle Fuencarral, which is a big shopping street in Madrid with both boutiques and chain stores. I bought a shirt at Mango which is a chain store in Europe. After shopping for awhile and walking around I went back to my hostel as well and took a short nap. Later that night we met Jill and Jill's friend Jessica for dinner.  We ate at a Cien Montaditos, which is a big chain in Spain specializing in cheap tapas. To drink I had tinto de veranos, which is red wine mixed with fanta. It was delicious. The restaurant was  on Calle de La Montera (aka Whore Street). We ate outside and there were prostitutes walking down the sidewalk trying to get guys to go down the ally with them. There were about 8 of them and it was sad but interesting to watch because I had never seen something like that before out in the open and in a public area. Prostituting is illegal in Spain but the police don't do anything about it they actually do not enforce anything. After dinner we met up with MIKE RO and went to the cave bar which was called El Chapandaz in Moncloa, Madrid. They are famous for their "Leche de Pantera" which was that giant drink mixed with milk / rum and some other things and it was DELICIOUS!!! It tasted like candy so it was a perfect drink for me :). After the bar Sam, Veronica, and I went back to our hostel and went to bed. The next morning we met up with CHRISTINA GOGGIN and her friend Melissa. They took us on a walking tour of Madrid. We first went to Sol then to Plaza Mayor where the mayor lives, walked to la Latina, then we metroed to el retiro and ate at VIPS which is a restaurant that serves more American food. I got cheese quesdillas. After lunch we went to Retrio park which was beautiful!!! Melissa, Goggin, Sam, Veronica, Mike, and I sat outside by the lake for over an hour and just chatted and soaked in the sun :) After the park we all went back to our homes to take a siesta which was much needed. Then we met everyone in Sol to pregame for the club we were going to. We drank box wine which was only a euro and was super delish for cheap wine. Then we took the metro to the club called la riviera karsouel but we got lost and we needed to be there before 1:00 AM so that we could get in for free. But since we got lost we got there after 1 :/ But luckily this bouncer guy they knew gave us free entry plus VIP access to another area. The club was HUGE and super fun and they played DYNAMITE!!! Goggin and I did the family dance :) The club was like any other American club until I saw that they had naked/half naked people dancing on the stage. They were employees paid to dance by themselves it was super weird but funny. We stayed there until 3:30 and then Sam, Veronica, and I went back to our hostel to get some sleep because we had to be out of the room by 11:30. Sam left earlier because she had a flight at 1:00 and Veronica and I did not have a flight till 5:00. So the next morning we met Christina in Sol and we ate breakfast . Then we metroed to la latina for el rastro market which is kind of like Camden market but not as good. I bought some bracelets and then we just walked around the market for an hour. Around 1:30 Veronica and I got a cab and sadly said goodbye to Goggin :( I am sad I do not get to see Goggin again till I go back to AU but Mike is coming to London in December!! Overall GREAT WEEEKEND!!!

3 more cards done!

Before I left DC this summer to go home to AZ one of my friends Nirvana who had studied abroad at UCL in fall 2009 gave me 30 London guided walks. Alyssia and my goal is to do every one of them which is starting to become difficult as our time in London decreases. We have 11 left after we completed three cards today! :) We first went to the Royal Courts of Justice which you can actually go in. We went inside but the security man told us that everyone was out to lunch because it was 1:00 so there was nothing exciting going on. But it was a beautiful building and it was sad that I could not take pictures to show y'all. After that we walked a long ways to the TATE which is the modern art museum in London. I enjoy some modern art but for the most part I don't get it. I don't understand what is so amazing about three black lines on a piece of paper...I could do that. Or when something is so abstract no one is going to understand what you are trying to portray. The great thing about art is creating something amazing that most of the world could not create. Many of the paintings looked like paintings the children I babysit for make in school. However some modern art is great like Andy Warhol. :) After the TATE we walked to Shakespeare's Globe Theater. Shakespeare himself staged many of his classic plays in the original round wooden theater there. Now a days Shakespeare plays are presented exactly as they would have been performed 400 years ago. There are no set changes, no spotlighting, and the standing only area is outside. It would be cool to go to a play there because we only got to see the outside of the theater but sadly I know I will not get around to it. I have too much to do and so little time! I can not believe I will be going home in about 4 weeks. Off to Madrid on Friday!!! Can't wait to see Christina, Mike, and Jill!

Veronica and Helen in London!

Like I said in my blog posts before my friends Veronica and Helen visited London this weekend :) On Friday I met up with Veronica around 1:30 and we went to lunch at Chipotle because she wanted to eat Mexican food and that is the only place in London that I know serves Mexican food. We sat there for awhile and caught up on each others lives. Then we walked through China Town, Soho, Trafalgar square, past the horse guards parade, to Westminster, Big Ben, and Parliament. Afterwords it was getting cold and rainy so we got on the tube and went back to South Kensington where she was staying with her boyfriend Nate. We went to a French Cafe and I got hot coco and she got ice cream haha she was craving it even though it was 40 degrees outside. Then her boyfriend Nate got out of his internship early and met us at the cafe. After finishing out food and drink I left and went home and planned to meet them later at a pub. Around 9:30 I met them at the Rocket which is my favorite pub in London. We also met Helen one of our friends who is studying abroad in Germany. It was SO great to see her because I had not seen her since the Spring semester!! She brought along friends from her program who were also really nice. We hung out for 2 hours and drank. Veronica, Nate, and I had the disco ball drink again, and a pitcher of Woo Woo. Around 1:00 I went back to my apartment because I was tired and needed sleep. The next day (Saturday) Alyssia and I went to a cookie party hosted by Alyssia's best friend Camille's cousin Nadine. Alyssia has met her multiple times before and I had met her once when we went to her apartment to pick up some things. Her cookie party was a lot of fun. Everyone brings a different kind of cookie and when you leave you grab a bag and take one of each cookie to take home with you. We met a couple people and had a really nice time just talking and eating little snacks. After the party we went home for about 20 minutes and then got back on the bus to meet our friend Genna for dinner with two of her friends from home who were visiting. We went to a Chinese restaurant that we had been to before called the Hare and Tortoise. We ended up eating with 8 people because Genna's friends friends came too. We had a great dinner and then we went back to Genna's house and hung out. Then Alyssia and I again got on the bus for the 23437 time that day and went home. Normally our bus rides are pretty uneventful but this time these two men from Italy sat down next to us even though every other bus seat was empty. They tried to talk to us and we ignored them. Even when we would ignore them they would still continue to say things to us. After we did not respond for awhile one of the guys hit me. I ignored it but then the next time he tried to hold my hand so I told him to stop but he kept trying so I yelled stop three more times before I got up and moved seats. Then he continued to say things to us even though we were not near him. Getting harassed by guys is getting very annoying. I did not think it would be like this in London but it is. Everywhere you go whether it be across the street, to school, grocery store, pub, restaurant, bus, what ever it is you are harassed and it is 100 times worse when they find out you are American. Sorry for the rant it has just been bothering me a lot especially after last night. But I had a great weekend with all my friends and I wish I could have seen Helen more! I would say the same about Veronica but I am going to Spain with her next weekend!!! :)

Windsor, Stonehenge, and Oxford

This week my friend and sorority sister Jill Molina came to visit me in London! She got in Tuesday night and then Wednesday we woke up at 6:00 in the morning to go on a bus tour of Windsor, Stonehenge, and Oxford. We had arranged the bus to pick us up at the Holiday Inn on Kings Cross Road which was the closest pick up stop to my apartment. The bus was supposed to pick us up at 7:45 and we got there about twenty minutes early. We waited around and when it did not come at 7:45 we called the bus company Evan Evan's bus tours and they told us to wait inside the hotel for our driver. So we went inside and waited 15 minutes past 7:45 and then we called again. They then told us that the bus was behind schedule and would not be able to pick us up so we were then told to take a cab to Victoria Station and they would reimburse us. So we got in cab with a VERY nice cab driver that told us different facts about London. & we got to drive past Buckingham Palace which was nice for Jill to see. We then got to Victoria Station and found where our bus was leaving from. Then Jill went to go get some food and while she was gone our driver came and told everyone to follow him to the bus so I had to go run and find Jill and then we had to search through all the buses to find the right bus. we finally found it and got on the RIGHT bus :) While we were driving up to Windsor our first stop, our driver went over the rules and one of the rules was if you are not back at the bus at the time he says then they will leave you behind. Then he told us how many people he had left behind this past year which was a scary amount of people. This made me very nervous because with my bad luck I figured I would be left behind at some point. haha. Once we got to Windsor we walked to the castle and took pictures and then walked around the town. We bought some candy at a little candy shop in the village and then went in and out of little stores. Lastly we went to the Drury House which is Windsors Oldest restaurant. It was built during the reign of King Charles I in 1645. It was originally built to house staff from Windsor Castle until it became the home of Nell Gwyn, Charles II's favorite mistress. A tunnel was built between the Drury House and the castle so the king could sneak over and have secret rendezvous with his mistress. But the tunnel is now closed for security reasons. The Drury House restaurant is so kute!! It has a homey feel and there was a fire going in the fire place and a little old man was running the restaurant. Jill and I had tea and scones for lunch and they were both amazing!! I recommend this place to anyone who travels to Windsor! After Windsor we drove an hour to Stonehenge. We were very lucky that the whole day it was sunny and blue skies instead of gray and rainy. I took a billion pictures at Stonehenge and it was just as interesting as I had remembered it. The only thing that is annoying about Stonehenge is that you get an audio tour guide but the whole time all the people are saying is no one knows why or how Stonehenge was built it is a mystery...so there is really no point to the audio tour guide. haha. After Stonehenge we went to Oxford. Our tour guide gave us a tour around Oxford and the different colleges in the area. We saw the place where Roweling picked what Harry Potter's scar would look like. She was walking around Oxford and was by the building where Oxford student's graduate. She looked down and there was a lightening bolt. This was the trademark for the architect for the building and she decided that is what Harry Potter's scar would be. It was cool. After the tour we had 40 minutes until we had to be back on the bus so Jill and I decided to go to the pub where C.S. Lewis and Tolkien used to talk and drink. We both got a beer and then sat in their favorite room and just hung out for a little while it was a really cool place! Then we got back to the bus && guess what!! We left two girls behind :( The driver and tour guide waited an extra five minutes for these two Chinese girls who were around Jill and my age and then left them in Oxford it was really scary and I am glad it did not happen to me! I hope they are okay and found a way to get back to London!! Then we drove back to London and the bus dropped us off at Euston train station and we walked back to my apartment. Jill and I cleaned up and then went to the Golden Hind for fish and chips and we met one of Jill's friends Luke who goes to AU and is studying in Brussels. After that we went to a pub in the area and had some brothers cider and hung out and talked. Around 11:00 we went back to my apartment because Jill had to wake up at 5:00 AM to catch her bus to the airport! It was a super fun week and tomorrow Veronica and Helen come to London!! So it should be a great rest of the week and weekend!!

Adventures in London with Divya and Amy! :)

This weekend two of my best friends Amy and Divya came to London! They got to my apartment around 2:30 and we hung out for a little while until we had to go to the Ice Bar. The Ice Bar is what is sounds like it is a bad made of huge blocks of ice. They keep the bar at negative five degrees so before you go in they give you a huge cape with a hood and gloves && you get a free drink! You only get to stay in the bar for forty minutes which is actually fine because it gets super cold. Once we got in the bar we all got drinks which came in of course ice glasses which were fun but you had to wear gloves to hold it. I tried to pick my glass off the bar with my bare hand and the bartender told me that I probably would not want to do that...he was correct lol. After the Ice Bar we walked down Oxford Street to Top Shop and H&M. We shopped for about an hour and then we hopped on the tube and went to Tottenham Court Road and went to eat at CHIPOTLE! YUM Divya and Amy had not had Chipotle in over 2 months so they were super happy. After eating we walked back to my apartment and laid down for awhile so we could digest our food babies. Later that night we went to a bar called Punk where Jill a girl from AU who is also studying in London got us in for free and got us free wine and beer because she interns for their company. It was really fun and super nice of her to invite us. We also had a private table which was nice because it was farther away from the screaming people because it was..Karaoke night which is funny but can be annoying if they are super awful. After karaoke was over they played music from the 80s and 90s which was fun and we danced for awhile. After 3 hours we started to get tired so we left, walked home, bought candy, and made french fries (typical night) haha. The next day we woke up early and first went to Camden Market where Amy, Divya, and I spent a small fortune on jewlery, gifts, clothes, and other odds and ends it was the BEST!! After many hours at Camden we got on the tube and went to the London Eye. Before the London Eye we were planning on going to get fish and chips from a pub in the area but turns out there are almost zero restaurants in the area which seemed odd to me so we ended up eating at some bagel place that was not very good but it was cheap and filled us up. Then we went on the London Eye which was pretty cool and it lasts about 30 minutes. The only annoying thing is that an asain couple was basically having a photo shoot inside the capsule and it was driving us insane. But it was nice for Divya and Amy to see different parts of London that they were not going to be able to see because of their short trip. After the London Eye we went to Regents Park which looked different since I had last been there because all the trees leaves were changing, it was really beautiful. We walked through the park to the exit near my apartment and proceeded to go home because we wanted to lay down for a little while. Because we had not gotten fish and chips yet we decided to do that for dinner so I looked up the best fish and chips restaurants in London and found a great restaurant called The Golden Hind. I recommend it !!! The food was great but the restaurant on the other hand was super hard to find. We went to dinner around six and met up with Divya's friend Alexis who graduated from AU and is now going to grad school at UCL where I am going to school. She is super sweet and it was nice to meet someone else from AU and UCL. But before we got to the Golden Hind it took us about 35 minutes to find it because it is down some random road and by chance we found a huge map that showed us where the street was and we finally found it. BUT it was worth it because the fish and chips were amazing! I got haddock and Amy and Divya got cod which they said was really good as well. A funny thing about the restaurant is that you bring your own booze. They do not sell any wine, beer, or liqueurs only a few non alcoholic beverages. So people had their own six packs and bottles of wine which was funny. After dinner we walked home and hung out for an hour before we headed out to The Rocket which is a REALLY fun pub near where I live. They play music from 2010 which is rare in London haha and they have great drinks. We got a huge drink in a Disco Ball and then a pitcher of Long Island Ice Teas. Normally the Rocket is packed and all the tables are full but we got there around 9:30 which is early so there was a big table open which was great. We sat and talked and sang to the songs for awhile and then a guy came up and started talking to us and he told us he was in the British Army and he was funny and fun to talk to for a little while but then four of his other Army friends came over and pulled up chairs to our table and started talking to us and it was funny/annoying. It started to get more annoying when they picked Amy up were carrying her around and then they picked up Divya and thew her in the air which was actually really funny. I was smart and stayed back away from this but then one of the guys kept annoying me. At one point Divya told them that she was married and Amy and I told them we had boyfriends to try and get them away. But that would not deter them they proceeded to buy our table a bottle of champagne and then about 2 hours after sitting with us they kind of got the hint that we were not going home with them, they were not coming home with us, and nothing was going to happen so they left. THEN it got really fun because we could actually dance. Around 12:30 my friends Mimi and Genna came to the pub and it was super nice to see them because they had been gone the week before. & then randomly we saw some people from AU who are studying at the London School of Economics so it was an AU reunion. We stayed at the Rocket till it closed at 2 and then walked home and fell asleep. The next morning Amy and Divya left at 9:00 :( I wish they could have stayed longer but it was GREAT to see them!! I had missed them so much and in two months I will see them again!! This coming week/weekend my sorority sisters Jill, Veronica, and Helen are coming to London and the following weekend I am going to Spain with Veronica and Sam to see CHRISTINA( other family member) and MIKE RO! :) 

Westminster, Big Ben, Parliament, & Trafalgar Square

This past weekend Alyssia and I visited Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and Parliament. Westminster is beautiful but we did not go inside because we did not want to pay twelve pounds to do so. So we just walked around it which was good enough for me. Then we crossed the street over to Big Ben and Parliament which are huge and gorgeous in the sunlight. We took a ton of pictures and then walked along Parliament and wondered into the Victoria Tower Gardens which were small but pretty. London has a lot of huge and small parks around the city which are wonderful because they take you out out of the hustle and bustle of the city. You can relax, sit on the grass, people watch, and just take a breather for a little while. I really enjoy them and I wish DC and AZ had more gardens and beautiful parks around. Then today (Tuesday) Alyssia, Genna and I went to Trafalgar Square which has a huge fountain and sculptures around it. It is also right next to the National Gallery and the Portrait Gallery. We first went to the National Gallery which was amazing! I saw so many paintings that I had studied and wrote papers on in my Art History class in high school. It was really cool to see them in person instead of on a slide projector. I wish I could have taken pictures for y'all to see but alas they do not allow photography. :( We then went to the Portrait Gallery which was not that interesting. We just wandered around for a little while and then we got disinterested and left. After that we went to the Church Saint Martin in the Fields which has an odd/interesting window inside of it. Tomorrow I will be writing papers which has been taking up a lot of my free time :/  On a good note Divya and Amy are coming from Prague this weekend and I am SUPER excited for them to get here!!!

<3

Hampton Court!!

On Wednesday Genna, Mimi, and I went to Hampton Court & this time we actually went the right way and got there! We had to take a train there which was nice because we got to see parts of England that we had not seen before. The train drops you off in the area that Harry Potter lived. Before we went to the castle we got lunch at an Italian restaurant. YUM. After lunch we walked across a bridge to the castle and it was AMAZING! The castle was beautiful and HUGE. It was really cool to be able to see where King Henry VIII lived. At Hampton Court you can tour Henry VIII's apartments, young Henry VIII's apartments, Henry VIII's kitchens, William III's apartments, Mary II's Apartments, and the palace gardens. My favorite part of the tour was King Henry VIII's apartments and kitchen. In Henry VIII's apartments I got to see the Royal Pew (where he sat for church), council chamber, the great watching chamber, and the great hall. All of it was amazing and beautifully decorated. Henry VIII's kitchen was interesting because you got to see where his meals were prepared and how much space they had to store food, wine, and bake. AND a big plus was they had a HUGE fire going in the kitchen where we could warm our bodies because it was very cold outside. After spending two hours touring the castle we went outside to the gardens. There are over 60 acres of gardens that run down to the River Thames. & they were gorgeous! The gardens reminded me of the gardens at Versailles. So many different trees, plants, flowers, and fountains. It was amazing I could not stop taking pictures. To fully understand and appreciate my blog post you should go take a look at my pictures of facebook.   

Cheers

Edinburgh!!

This weekend Alyssia and I went and visited one of my friends/sorority sisters Veronica in Edinburgh Scotland! We took a train from King Cross Train Station where Harry Potter goes to Hogwarts at Platform 9 3/4. There is a picture of me on facebook of me at the platform! The train ride there was about 4 hours but it was not too bad because the landscape outside was gorgeous. Once we got there we went to Veronica's apartment and dropped our luggage off. Then we went and ate at a Italian restaurant which was very good. I got a margarita pizza :) After that we walked around Edinburgh down the Royal Mile which is the main road in Edinburgh. On the Royal Mile there is a lot of touristy shops and unique stores. After that we went back to Veronica's to hang out for a little bit before we went out later that night. Around 8:00 we went to a beer garden called The Three Sisters which was SUPER FUN!! We danced, talked, met a bunch of fun people, and just had a great time. The only bad thing is that we were so wired from all our drinks that we did not go to sleep till about 4:30 or 5 AM :/ The next morning we woke up and went to get breakfast at Elephant's and Bagels. I got a cheese and jalapeno bagel with cream cheese which actually was really good. After breakfast we met up with Veronica's friend Sam who also goes to AU and we went and saw the Edinburgh Castle. It was huge and had fire outside the gate which was cool. We walked around inside for a little bit and then left and walked to Princess Street which has a bunch of stores to shop in. Also on Princess Street there was a candy store and we all got bags of candy. Most of the candy ended up tasting weird but some of it was DELICIOUS :) After shopping in H&M and Top Shop we went back to Veronica's apartment to take a nap but not before I bought myself a baked potato!! One of the BEST baked potato's I have ever had!!! After we napped we went out to dinner with another one of Veronica's friends Meg who also goes to AU. We went to a pizza place and I got pizza again but this time I got spinach and ricotta cheese pizza which turned out to be okay but not the best. After dinner we went back to The Three Sisters but with Meg and Sam as well. It was a lot of fun again and we met the Scottish Rugby team, a man from Australia who lives in Brisbane, and a lot of other interesting people.  Everyone gets excited when they hear you are from America which is really funny. The next morning, our last day in Edinburgh we hiked Arthur's Seat which is a HUGE mountain in Edinburgh. It was a tough climb but the views were amazing!!! After the hike we walked down part of the Royal Mile again, hung out in Starbucks and then went back to Veronica's got our stuff and walked to the train station. Our train ride home was 5 hours which was kind of rough only because halfway through it got dark out so I could no longer just stare out at the countryside. Overall it was a GREAT trip wish I could go back again!!

Lost in London

This week was a fun and interesting week. On Tuesday Alyssia and I went to Genna's house in South Kensington and went shopping at Top Shop, TK-MAX which is TJ-MAX in the US and also...URBAN OUTFITTERS!! I miss Urban soooo much!!! After shopping we went back to Genna's house and met up with Mimi and went out to dinner at a little Italian restaurant near their house. I got pasta with red peppers, tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese YUMM. On Wednesday Genna, Mimi and I went to CHIPOTLE which was delicious and a little bit better than the US Chipotle. However it was drastically more expensive. For my vegetarian burrito bowl it cost 6 pounds which is about 9-10 dollars. WOOF. After lunch we planned on going to Hampton Court which is where King Henry VIII lived. The night before I had looked up the directions on the London Tube website. We got on our bus and got off at our stop...Once we got off I knew we were not in the right area. We walked into a shop and asked where Hampton Court was and they all proceeded to look at us with confused faces which then confirmed my fear. We were not in the right place...we were actually 12 miles away from where we needed to be WOMPWOMP :( The palace closes at 6:00 and it was about 3:00 so we decided not to go because we would not make it there in time. I had bought our tickets in advance but the good thing is, is that they last for 7 days! Since we were not going to go to Hampton Court we decided to walk around the area we were in which I still do not know where we were. We went into a couple different bakeries and ate pastries and meandered though different shops around the town. Now on to more exciting news...I am going to EDINBURGH SCOTLAND this weekend to visit one of my friends/sorority sister Veronica :) I am super excited to see her and Scotland! Will write about it when I get home! Hope everyone has a good weekend.  

Notting Hill & Regent's Park

Well my first week of school is over!! Crazy that I only have about 8 weeks left haha. My class on Friday was Human Learning and Memory which actually turned out to be a fairly interesting class. The only problem is that it is a 2 hour class so I tend to tire towards the end. On Friday night Alyssia and I went over to Genna's house with Michelle and we hung out with a bunch of people from AU and had a lot of fun. On Saturday Michelle, Alyssia, and I went to Notting Hill (which is the same place where the movie Notting Hill was filmed..go figure) We walked down to Portobello Road which is where the market is. I am obsessed with English markets which is a good thing because there are about 342,984,732 of them. The Portobello Market had a lot of antiques, tons of fresh fruit, veggies, baked goods, and other various items. I ended up buying a beautiful scarf, a brown leather jacket, and a huge loaf of bread for a pound! While we were strolling down the market all of a sudden there was a huge fight going on. Apparently two men stole something and started to run away and the cops chased after them and threw one of them to the ground and the other guy who got away from the cops two citizens got him and brought him back to the cops. There was a tun of yelling and a lot of commotion. Everyone stopped what they were doing and watched. It was very entertaining for awhile. After the excitement ended we walked further along and spent about 3 hours at the market before going home. Later that night Alyssia and I went to a pub with our friend Mimi who also goes to American but is studying in London this semester. We went to a pub in South Kensington which is right next to where she lives. We walked in and there was a bartender that she had met before named Mario (he said his name like Mario does in the video games it was very funny) He is from Rome and has a strong accent so we could not really understand what he was saying. At one point he looked at me and said I was very tidy and we were all like what tidy? And he said tidy, clean...and Mimi was like do you mean pretty and he said o yes yes pretty. haha After Mario left we got a drink, sat down at a table, and then hung out until the pub kicked us out. It was really fun except for the bus ride back which took about an hour because of traffic. Today which is Sunday Alyssia and I went grocery shopping and then I walked to Regents Park which is about a 5 minute walk from our apartment. Regents Park is 494 acres and is BEAUTIFUL. I walked around for a little while, then sat down in the grass and listened to music. It was so peaceful and a great place to people watch! I stayed there for about 2 hours and then strolled home. I will now be going there every time it is sunny out because there is so much to see and it is gorgeous.

Blue Skies and SUN! :)

After many days of clouds and rain we have finally had a couple days of beautiful blue skies and warm SUN! :) It has been amazing and nice to not have rain. On Tuesdays Alyssia and I do not have class so we decided to go to Covent Garden Market. If you have seen the musical My Fair Lady this is where Eliza Doolittle fills her basket with violets and sells them at St. Paul's Church which is right across the way from the market. Covent Garden Market used to be a fruit and vegetable market but now sells many other things and on Mondays they have their famous Jubilee Antiques Market. We walked around and looked at what the different vendors were selling but I resisted in buying anything. Also while we were there we heard/saw a man singing opera, many mimes, and a man on a unicycle juggling. Covent Garden Market is now famous for having many street performers and they are very entertaining to watch. Once we had looked though the market we went over to St. Paul's Church which is beautiful and has a little garden behind the entrance. Alyssia and I sat on a bench and talked for awhile just enjoying our surroundings. St. Paul's Church is not so famous for being a church but more famous for being a place where shows are put on by different theater companies. Shows are performed outside and inside the church. Alyssia saw the play Romeo and Juliet at St. Paul's Church and she said it was very interesting because the actors would run around to different areas of the church and you had to run after them to see what was going on next. I hope that I can see a play there before I leave London. On Wednesday I had Health and Clinical again and afterwords Alyssia and I went to the British Museum which was very overwhelming. There are about 100 rooms in the museum full with different artifacts. The most interesting artifacts at the museum was the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon freeze and sculptures. It was amazing to see them in person and up close. Then today which is Thursday I just got back from my class Psychology of Health Risks which was not very interesting today because it was an introduction to the course but seems like it will get more interesting with time. Tomorrow I have my last class for the week which is Human Learning and Memory. I will let y'all know how that goes later on. ANDDD you will be happy to know that i am FULLY registered for all my classes which lifts a HUGE weight off my shoulders!!! More to come this weekend!

First Day of School!

Well before I tell you all about school let me first tell you what I did this past weekend. On Saturday Alyssia and I went to Camden Market which if you are from DC or have been to Eastern Market it is about 10000000 times the size of it. Alyssia and I were there for 4 hours and did not get to see everything. They had tents full of jewley, handbags, clothing, accessories, food, and basically anything you could think of or want they had. I bought a handmade ring, handmade bracelet, and three pairs of earrings.Thank god the stands did not take credit cards because I am pretty sure I would have bought 4828934732974 more things if they had. After spending the whole day there we went home and rested for a little while before heading out again for dinner. We went out to dinner with a girl that goes to AU and is now at UCL with us. The restaurant we went was an Italian restaurant right near where we live. We got a bottle of white wine and I had a margarita pizza which was HUGE and YUMMY. We spent a little over two hours at the restaurant and had a really fun time. On Sunday Alyssia and I went to Primemark which I have talked about before. It is a cheap department store. Normally we would have tubed there but right now the bus and tube workers are on strike. They were on strike from Saturday night till 6:30PM on Monday night. So we walked about three miles to the store which was actually kind of nice because we got to see different neighborhoods, more of London, and get some exercise. NOW on to CLASSES....

Here's the deal...We are still NOT confirmed for our classes which does not make any sense to me at all and I was told we would be confirmed within 3 weeks. Which does also not make any sense because what if you get denied for a class that you just went to for three weeks and now you have to pick a new class that you just missed three weeks of? Well IDK I am just hoping I will be cleared for the classes I am going to right now. Today I had Health and Clinical Psychology which was good but I mostly know all the material because of all the other psychology classes I have taken. I also had Speech today as well which was a little painful because the professor was soft spoken and I had NO idea what he was talking about most of the time so this class should be interesting. But I am hoping I will learn a lot considering I know nothing. Tomorrow Alyssia and I have off (Tuesday), Wednesday we have Health and Clinical again, Thursday is Psychology of Health Risks, and Friday is Human Learning and Memory. I will let you know how classes go as I have them. Hope all is well with everyone reading this ! :)

Cheers

Out & About

This week is my last week before school starts...FINALLY! I have been out of school since May 8th and I am getting a little concerned I won't remember how to learn.lol. Tuesday Alyssia and I went to UCL to get our classes approved by the Psychology Department which was a huge ordeal. There was one director and one affiliate tutor in a room and one by one we went in and talked to them and there are about 100 affiliate students who they needed to talk to. Thankfully Alyssia and I left early so we were one of the first people to get to talk to them. Even though we were in the beginning of the line we still waited an hour before we met with the director and affiliate tutor. After getting approved we went home and registered for classes. Later that night we went out to a pub that is run by our university and you have to go to UCL to be able to get into the pub. It was a big pub and they had live jazz bands playing who were UCL students. We met a lot of British students and had a really good time. The next day on Wednesday we went to Alyssia's friend Genna's house. She is studying abroad in England but doing a different program then us called FIE. She lives in a HUGE amazing house with 12 other American University students. We hung out with Genna and her roommates for most of the day and then Alyssia, Genna, and I went out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant recommend to Alyssia and I by a guy at Carphone Warehouse called Hare & Tortoise. The food and Jasmine tea were AMAZING! I can't wait to go back again! Tonight which is Thursday Alyssia and I walked to Soho and China Town. We went down there to buy half price tickets to shows. We ended up buying tickets to Chicago for that night for 18 pounds which is a very good deal. We then walked around and looked into different shops around the town. Afterwords we walked back to our apartment and hung out for awhile and then a couple hours later we walked back down to Soho to meet Genna for the play. Chicago was awesome! I have seen the movie before but I had never seen the play and I am glad I did. The acting and singing were great and it was nice to be able to see a play because I do not get to do that a lot. Once the play was over we went to a pub and I got Bulmers Pear Cider which was SO yummy and way better than Bulmers Apple Cider and we hung out and talked for awhile. Then we ran home because it was cold outside. More to come later this weekend, hopefully I will be able to tell y'all what classes I am taking!

South Kensington

Today we went to...South Kensington which is where Princess Diana used to live, however we did not visit Kensington Palace. Instead we went to the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum. We started at the Natural History Museum which is MASSIVE. We saw some of the largest dinosaur skeletons in the world and we got to relive the earthquake that struck the Japanese town of Kobe in 1995 which was really cool. I think the best part of the Natural History Museum was the moving and roaring dinosaur that at first scared Alyssia and I as we rounded the corner where it was. We were in the museum for about two hours and then went over to the Science Museum which was interesting and had A LOT of interactive things to do. The coolest aspect of the Science Museum was that the 4th and 5th floors were dedicated to Medicine which Alyssia and I are interested in. We spent about two hours there as well and then got on the Underground, went to the grocery store, and then walked home. Tomorrow we are REGISTERING FOR CLASSES!!...HOPEFULLY (cross your fingers) I am really excited for classes! More to come later this week.

Cheers

Tower & Palace

London has become way more exciting and fun after we got through with a lot of the boring UCL and apartment stuff. Friday night Alyssia, some people we met at UCL, and I went out to The Court which is a pub that is about five minutes from our apartment. The place was packed but it was really fun. First I got an English beer (which tasted like wine and was super fizzy) and then I got Bulmers Apple cider which is served cold NAT hot :( but it was still really yummy! Both of those drinks cost around 4 pounds which is pretty cheap considering they were large drinks. Alyssia and I hung out at the pub for awhile and met a British man who was very drunk but really funny. He offered to take us around to other pubs but we declined figuring he was too drunk to know where he was and not a good idea to follow a strange man around. He then later asked if he could sleep on our couch which I responded by saying we don't have a couch and then he asked if he could sleep on the floor and I told him we didn't have a floor. He was very sad but I did not fancy being killed :) The next morning we woke up and went to the Tower of London. The first thing we did was to take a tour with a Beefeater who is someone who has served in the army for over 22 years and is now working at the Tower and they are also the Queens body guards. All the Beefeater's live in the Tower of London which is very weird! & they are all locked in there at 10:00pm every night. After the tour we went and saw the torture chambers, crown jewels, where the king, queens, and knights lived, and some other stuff around the Tower. Once we left the tower we walked across Tower Bridge which looks over the Thames. It was a great view of the city, Tower, and river. After we crossed the river we went to a pub which was very yummy. I had chili and PIMMS which is a YUMMY drink that has lots of fruit and lemonade in it. When we finished lunch we walked back to the Tower to go to Tower Hill to see where prisoners were be-headed. Then we hopped on the underground and went home. On Sunday we woke up early because we had to be at Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. The changing of the guard was cool but not as interesting as I remembered it. Right when the ceremony was over we ran to the ticket lines for tickets to Buckingham Palace.The State Rooms were AMAZING! I wish I could live there. All the gold, crystals, paintings, sculptures, and decorations in each room were stunning. Everything was bright and sparkling, I wish that I could have taken pictures. Even though they would not have done the rooms justice. With our tickets to the State Rooms we got a free audio guide which was helpful in telling me about every room and pointing out objects for me to look at. You end your tour outside in the Queen's Gardens. They are green, huge, and beautiful! I am crossing my fingers that I will be invited to her next tea party at the Garden's which has a guest list of 8,000. Once we walked through the gardens we went to Whittard of Chelsea Tea shop. It has a vast array of teas for good prices. Alyssia and I then went to a pub for lunch then hopped back on the underground to go to UCL's museum to see the exhibit SKIN. It was an interesting exhibit and it was FREE :) Now I am home and three boys just busted into our apartment without knocking to say hello...people are very friendly here. Now most of the UCL students have moved into our apartment complex which is nice and many people have knocked on our door and introduced themselves...that is except for those three boys. More to come later! PS IT RAINS A LOT :)

Getting my life together

Since our apartment was not furnished with anything besides some furniture we went out this morning to Pound Land which is the equivalent to the American Dollar Store. We took the underground to Holloway Road and we ended up finding a Carphone Warehouse which sells phones and phone plans. Since I already had a phone I just topped up with 10 pounds. I can now text anyone for 10 pence and calls to the US are around 30 pence a minute I think and calls within the UK are 15 pence a minute. People from the US can call me for free but it will cost them money and I have no idea how much it will cost. If you want my phone number ask and I will give it to you. After Alyssia and I got our phones we went to Pound Land which ended up being a very successful trip except for the fact that when I tried to buy a knife I was not allowed to because I was not 21. This is the weirdest rule I have ever heard of...you can drink at 18 but can not buy a little cutting knife until 21??? WEIRD so I guess Alyssia and I will not be using knives until December 6th when Alyssia turns 21. haha.  On the way back home I saw a store that sold random stuff and we went inside and they had POTS & PANS! We bought one of each and we were SO excited because now we can actually cook and eat properly. When we got back to our apartment we set everything up, ate lunch, and hung out before we had to go to UCL to meet with our department which is, Psychology. The Psychology meeting starts at 2:00 and we get there and find out that it has been moved till tomorrow. This was annoying but now at least we know where the building is for tomorrow and we found out that we will be learning how to register which is GREAT because I am confused with their module website. We then went from school to Primark which is a huge store full of clothes, shoes, accessories, and house stuff. We bought some more stuff for our apartment and now we are finally done furnishing our apartment! WHOO HOO! One more stressful thing to cross off my list!

Safe and Sound....

I am finally in LONDON! But not after going through some trials and tribulations of course. Thirty minutes before my shuttle driver was supposed to pick me up at Divya and Amy's apartment I decided to get all my stuff together and go downstairs just to make sure I would not miss him. I go to open the door to their apartment and it will not open. I try moving the locks around different ways but the door still will not open. I try pulling on the door hard and then the handle of the door broke off. I then started to freak out because they are on the 4th floor so I could not jump out the window. I start to run around the apartment looking for keys to unlock the door and trying to put the handle back in. When this does not work I really start to freak out. I then get out my computer and get on facebook and skype looking for people who could call them. Thankfully Christina our friend and roommate from this summer was online and I gave her Amy and Divya's number and she called Amy. She got a hold of her and Amy ran home. She easily opened the door with her key which was a MIRACLE and I then ran downstairs to see if my driver was there AND he WAS! :) I thanked Amy quickly and then jumped into his car. Five minutes into the drive we get into a car accident... (yes I have the worst luck) The driver gets out of the car and talks to the guy behind us who he ran into. After a couple of minutes the driver gets back into the car and drives off. I finally make it to the airport get on my plane and land in London after an hour and forty-five minutes. After going through security, the boarder, and getting my luggage it was past 9:00 so I decided to take a taxi instead of the underground because it would have taken over an hour, I had a lot of luggage and I was tired. The taxi ride ended up costing 70 pounds but it was worth it for one HUGE reason! 10 minutes after I checked in at the front desk it closed. If I had not gotten there in time I would have not been able to get into the building, get my keys, bedding, and everything. I would have been stranded outside not knowing what to do. My apartment is small but nice. I live with a girl from American University named Alyssia. She is super sweet and I am so happy we are living together! We each have our own bedrooms with a twin bed, desk, two chairs, dressers, a sink, and a mirror. It's a good size. We have a kitchen which is not too small and a nice bathroom. Now we just have to go buy pots, pans, and everything for the kitchen which is very annoying. I am happy to be here but I am stressed out trying to get stuff for school and the apartment. Hopefully in a week I will be more adjusted.

Easy Day

Today Becca, Jake, and Nicole went back to Rome early in the morning. I said goodbye to them around 9:00 and then went back to sleep till 12:00. After Divya, Amy, Mollie, and I woke up we went to Radost again but this time to get brunch. They have great vegetarian food. For breakfast I got this HUGE Cinnamon bun & I could only eat half of it because it was ginormous. We were there for a couple of hours and then we walked back to the Charles bridge because I wanted to buy souvenirs. After the bridge we walked to the grocery store to buy some food and then we all went back to the apartment because Amy and Divya have homework to do WOMP WOMP. While they were doing homework I updated my blog and uploaded pictures on facebook so CZECH them out! lol I am off to LONDON tomorrow!!! I can't believe my time in Rome is over and my time in Prague is almost over. I have had a blast!! Prague is an amazing city and I recommend everyone visit here because it is definitely one of my top five favorite places in Europe! Although I am sad to leave I am very excited to get to my own program and start exploring London and getting to know my city :)

NA SHLEDANOU!

Tourist's of Prague

On Saturday everyone woke up around 12 in the afternoon because we were all sleep deprived. After taking awhile for everyone to get ready we finally got out the door and went to the Globe for breakfast which is a local bookstore and a restaurant as well. I got Cinnamon French Toast which was YUMMY and came with a little French flag. After lunch we walked on the Charles bridge which has a good view of Prague and we looked at little vendors selling different souvenirs. Once we crossed the Charles Bridge we went to the John Lennon wall which was AMAZING. It has graffiti all over it and anyone is allowed to write on the wall as long as you have something to write with. The week before Divya and Amy saw two people spray paint Love Love Love on the wall. We spent a lot of time there taking pictures and reading things people had written. Then we trudged up a hill to get to the Prague Castle which is the largest castle in Europe. It was beautiful and they have guards outside the castle that do not move like the ones in England. But people do not try to make them laugh or take pictures with them like they do in London. After the castle Mollie and Divya wanted to take us out of the castle a special way to see a great view of Prague. But it turned out that this weekend was a huge wine festival in Prague and that area was closed off for the wine festival. We were okay with that because it was only 100 crowns which is five dollars. With your ticket you got three tokens to get three different glasses of wine. There were about 15 vendors with many different wines and one of the white wines I tried was amazing while the red wine I had was awful it had an after taste of pepper which I did NAT like. Once we got our wine we lied down on the grass and took pictures and looked out over Prague. We stayed at the wine festival for an hour and then went to Bohemian Bagel again for dinner. I got the vegetarian chili again which was just as good as the day before. After dinner we came back to the apartment and hung out for while. We then went to Radost which is a bar/club that Rhianna a singer filmed her music video Please Don't Stop the Music at. It was a nice club and had cool decorations. The DJ played mostly American music which was nice and we danced on the dance floor a lot. The best thing about the night though was watching everyone else dance. People in Prague have a weird way of dancing but it was very entertaining. Another weird thing about the club was that there we men and women there who were in their 30s and 40s which was odd. After the club we got pizza which made it feel like we were in the US. Prague is an amazing city and I wish I could stay here longer!!

HOCKEY

Friday Amy, Divya, Mollie, Jake, Becca, Nicole and I woke up early and we tried to go to Letna which is a park with a beautiful view of Prague but after taking a metro and two different buses we could not find it. So we did the next best thing which was to EAT. We went to Bohemian Bagel which is Divya and Amy's favorite restaurant in Prague. I got vegetarian chili and a caprese salad! They were both AMAZING especially the chili. Afterwords we went to a hockey game at the O2 arena and it was so fun! I used to always say I hated hockey but now I love it. It was fun watching people smash into each other and it was fast paced so you were never bored. The fans at the game were funny to watch and very dedicated fans. They had different banners, flags, and chants and they never stopped cheering for their team. The two teams that played were from the Czech Republic but one of the teams was from Prague and they had a huge number of fans. After the Hockey game we were all pretty tried from the night before so we decided to just go to a restaurant and get drinks and food instead of going out. We went to a restaurant next to Divya and Amy's apartment called Legenda. They have really good food and HUGE beers for $2.00 or 40 Czech crowns. We stayed there for awhile and then we went back to the apartment and hung out and then all went to bed!

PRAGUE!

Prague is such a beautiful city! BUT SO COLD! After being in Arizona for awhile and then in Rome it feels extra freezing here. The temperatures are in the low 60s during the day and in the low 40s at night. When I got to Amy and Divya's apartment I immediately ate some food and then took a shower which made me feel 100 times better! Even though I had not slept at all the night before I did not sleep and I went out with Amy. She took me to Wenceslas square that has a lot of restaurants and places to shop. We went to H&M which is funny because we have H&M in the states and we bought Divya a 21st birthday present! Amy then showed me her people at the Jewish Quarter. We got lost a bunch of times along the way so after the Jewish Quarter I was getting tired and hungry again. We went and got food at the Paneria and got a CAPRESE bagel OM NOM NOM! We then went back to Amy's apartment and took it easy for awhile. For dinner we went to a MEXICAN restaurant but the food was nothing compared to Arizona mexican food! Today Friday the 17th was Divya's 21st birthday and on Thursday night we went to a bar crawl. A bar crawl is where you meet at a certain bar and pay an entrance fee of 260 czech crowns which is around $13 and you get to drink as much as you want for 90 minutes and then you move on to three other bars where you get a free shot at the door. It was REALLY fun! At the first bar we played flip cup and beer pong and the other bars we just danced and hung out. Most of the people that do the bar crawl are Americans and other tourists in Prague. On a last note most people in Prague are NAT happy, do not smile, and are NAT good at customer service!! More to come soon! Goodnight.

You can sleep when you die

Well my life for the past 24 hours has been interesting to say the least. I left Becca's apartment at 10:50 because I wanted to get to the airport in time for my flight at 3:15. Becca and I took the bus to the train to the airport which took about an hour and 45 minutes. Once I got there I looked for my flight and went to terminal 3 when I got there I could not find my flight so I asked the information desk and they said I needed to go to terminal 2. I stood in line there for a flight to Prague for over an hour when I finally realized that I was in the wrong area. I then sprinted back to Terminal 3 and asked someone else and they told me where to go. When I got there there were no people at the check-in desk...I had missed my flight. I immediately became flustered, upset, and sad. I did not know what to do who to talk to or how to call Divya, Amy, and my parents to let them know I had missed my flight. After a lot of talking to different people, walking around, finding out information, and calling my family I bought a ticket to Prague for the next day at 7:45 AM. I am so grateful for my family and how much they were there for me when I was scared and sad. I then spent the day/night at the airport trying to sleep in a  chair and failing miserably. Finally 5:45 came around and I checked into my flight and boarded the plane. Once I got to the airport my troubles did not stop there. My shuttle driver did not arrive to pick me up. I asked another shuttle driver what I should do and he gave me his phone and I called the shuttle company who then sent a driver over. THEN I was at Divya and Amy's apartment FINALLY!!! I am tired, hungry, and still a little shaken up over it but I am glad I am where I need to be now. THANKS MOM AND DAD FOR BEING AWESOME! I don't know what I would have done without them! Na Shledanou (bye in czech) :)

A real Italian Citizen

Today was my last day in Roma :( Becca had class all day today so I had to rely on myself to get around Italy which actually turned out quite well. After I woke up and had breakfast I got ready and walked to the bus stop. I got on the 870 bus to go meet Becca and her friends at school because they had a break between 12:00-2:00. I found my way to the bar I was meeting them at very easily. We sat outside the bar and had drinks and food. As we were sitting there we started to get hot from the sun hitting us so we decided to go to the park which is right next to their school. We sat in the park for awhile and then we eventually moved to their school "quad" area which they call the garden. It was very pretty with trees, flowers, tables, and chairs everywhere. We again sat there for a little bit till everyone had class. After that I got back on the 870 bus which was being driven by a crazy man who was going so fast that I almost fell over multiple times and kept accidentally hitting people. Once I got off the bus I was hungry because I had not eaten at the bar so I went to the two ladies pizzeria and ate outside. Once I finished eating I walked back to Becca's apartment and got all my stuff together so that I would be prepared to leave tomorrow morning for Prague. I have had a great time in Roma it is a beautiful place and it was awesome to have Becca show me around. Although I am sad to leave Rome I am SO excited to go to Prague to see Amy and Divya two of my best friends and my roommates back in the States! So the next time you will hear from me I will be telling you about my adventures in PRAGUE! 

CIAO!

No pants no sleeves no service

From my title maybe some of you have guessed where I went today...THE VATICAN! Becca and I got on the 870 bus and as we were sitting we realized that we were going the wrong way. We rode the bus to the end of the line and then waited 10 minutes for the drivers to change and for the bus to start moving again in the right direction. The bus ride was about 20 minutes and it dropped you right off in front of the Vatican but we got off a few stops before to take pictures and walk a little. The Vatican is beautiful I kept looking around to see if the Pope would come out and wave to us. But unfortunately he did not. After taking many pictures we walked around for awhile and then sat down and people watched which as many of you know is my favorite past time. Once we got the energy to get up we walked back to the bus and we went to the grocery store were I got two buckets of GELATI and NUTELLA! NOM NOM NOM. Nutella is my new favorite food, I eat it multiple times a day. I am going to have to bring tubs upon tubs of it home to the U.S. Later tonight I am taking Becca out to dinner and then we are going out for one of their friends 21st birthdays. More to come later tomorrow CIAO

Shopping

Today was another beautiful day in Rome as usual. I slept really well last night compared to the nights before. Last night the guys next door made us dinner which was really yummy and VEGETARIAN :) After that we went to the Piazza Santa Maria where we sat outside and had some champagne and watched people break dance, paint, and overall just people watched and talked. This morning we woke up and went and had pizza at a little restaurant close to Becca's apartment. After that we jumped on the bus and went down to Via dei Corso to go shopping and I know what you are thinking what did you buy?!?! And I am happy to say NOTHING! Everything was very expensive, I would rather spend my money on food and gelati! :) we shopped for several hours and then went to the Jewish ghetto to look around. After all that we were spent and went back to the apartment and hung out on the balcony. For dinner we made food for the boys to reciprocate for them making dinner the night before. We made pasta and garlic bread yumm. Then one of the boys who is a citizen of Italy took us to a delicious gelati place for dessert. Now I am sitting outside on the porch again listening to the Italian neighbor across the way play piano, he is actually quite good. That's all for now. Two more days in Rome and then off to PRAGUE! :) CIAO!

Tourist day

Today was a beautiful day in Roma. It was in the low eighties and had a strong wind throughout the day that kept us cool. Becca, Nicole, and I took advantage of this wonderful weather and had a fun day of touring around the city. We first went to a huge building that is dedicated to Mussolini that is pearly white, and beautiful. After that we went to the Colosseum which was AWESOME. I have learned a lot about the Colosseum in my Art History classes and to finally be able to see it in person was amazing. While we were there we saw three people taking their wedding photos all around the Colosseum which was interesting to watch. Then we walked to the Pantheon which was not so lovely from the outside because there was construction going on but the inside was beautiful. I wish it had been raining, because it is funny that there is a hole in the ceiling and that nothing stops the elements from coming in. By then all of our feet were hurting but we kept going and I went and got my first gelati which was very delicious the lemon flavor was refreshing after walking around for so long. Our last stop was the Spanish Steps that look over part of the City. We sat for a long time before we made ourselves get up and walk to the bus stop to go home. Now I am sitting outside on Becca's balcony looking out at Rome drinking Peroni which is a huge beer for only one euro...this is the life. More to come later...first I must rest because we are going out tonight.

Ciao ROMA !

Welcome to my BLOG! :) My first entry is being written in ROME! I had a very eventful day at the airport after not sleeping on my 9 hour flight from Phoenix to London and on top of that there was no "in flight entertainment" WOMP WOMP. But I survived and met a very sweet man on my next flight from London to Rome. He has known his wife since he was 9 years old and since she was 6. He also is from....DC and lives in Bethesda, what a small world. After the flight I got my luggage and then waited around over an hour waiting for Becca. I could not find her anywhere in the baggage claim area. After freaking out and trying to get internet access to text Becca and trying to call my parents I went up to a information man and told him the person who was supposed to pick me up was not here. He then informed that it was impossible for them to be here because they are not allowed into the baggage claim area. So I ran over to the exit and low and behold there she was!! :) The eventfulness did not stop there. We went out to get on the train that takes us to a bus which then takes us to Becca's apartment. Becca and Nicole, Becca's roommate said I did not need to buy a train ticket because they never check. Well just my luck the man walks around and checks tickets. When he found out I did not have it he said I had to give him 64 euros then he went down to 50 euros and then eventually took 42 euros from Becca and Nicole. After he took the money he opened up his nice black wallet and stuffed the money in there: glad we are helping him pay for his rent...NOT! Well after all that we finally got to Becca's apartment and it is gorgeous!! Off to bed, there will be more interesting stories to come.