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.