Edinburgh

I apologize for not blogging much recently.. blame it on being busy or too tired or all of the above. Last weekend I took a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland with my family and it was absolutely amazing. On Thursday we took a train from Kings Cross station to Edinburgh and I've discovered that I really love the train systems here. They're quick, easy, and relatively inexpensive. We arrived in Edinburgh and immediately upon stepping out of the train station we heard bagpipes. So I am proof that it is not just a stereotype of Scotland! Our hotel was really wonderful and we ate at a good pub that night!

Princes street, Edinburgh

Friday morning we went to visit the Edinburgh Castle! It was unbelievably cool and so old and full of history! The oldest part of the castle was built around 1100 and was still standing which just blows my mind. It is also the place that William Wallace (Braveheart) defended in the famous movie and real life. 

The next day we explored a place called Calton hill which has a lot of monuments and cool towers to see some really great views of Edinburgh. We spent hours there just exploring and being goofy and I think it was one of my favorite parts of the trip. 

Note my ridiculous face

After a few days of Shopping, eating, and exploring Edinburgh with my family I was sad to leave! It was absolutely beautiful and the people were some of the nicest I've come across so far. I am so luck to have been able to visit Scotland! I left on Saturday because I had a field trip on Sunday. I went to Brighton, England with my class and it was interesting going from so far north to the very south of Britain! I had a good day exploring the pier and beach and just having fun with friends! Over all, It was a fantastic weekend!

I am currently in Paris. It is fantastic and magical and I can't believe I'm here right now. I'll blog about it later on this week! 

xxxoooo

Family & Friends

This past week has been so busy and hectic but very worth it because I got to spend time with some of my favorite people :) On Saturday, Emeri arrived and we went out to eat and caught up! She had just finished a 7 week study abroad program in Copenhagen, Denmark. After eating, we joined my friends that night to go to a club in London and have some fun.

 Sunday morning, my family arrived early and we met them and ate lunch in Hyde Park because the weather has been incredibly nice the past week. Afterwards while my family went to take a little nap, Emeri and I went on a 5 mile walk around downtown London. We saw spots like Soho, Piccadilly circus, Trafalgar Square, and Covent Garden. We then met up with my family and made our way to Tower Bridge and the Tower of London!

  Tower of London!

Monday, we had a busy day doing touristy things. We started the day off with a trip to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the Guard. We then ventured to Westminster, Big Ben, Parliament, and the London Eye (They are all very close to one another). Then it was off to Harrods to have High Tea again! I was really excited because I had such a great time my first time doing high tea! We ended the day at another local pub enjoying British food and celebrating the lowered drinking age with Kelly.

Buckingham Palace

Parliament & Big Ben

Harrods

On Tuesday Emeri left and we went on the Harry Potter studio tour. It was amazing. I had the best time and the studio was sooo big!  It took us around 4 hours and Kelly and I totally geeked out the whole time. I think like 400 pictures were taken while we were there! I think my favorite parts were Dumbledore's office, Diagon Alley, drinking Butterbeer, and seeing the Castle!

 

Flourish & Blotts on Diagon Alley!

Huge model of the Castle. The actual one used in the HP movies!

We are now in Edinburgh, Scotland! It is absolutely beautiful here and the architecture of the city is just breathtaking! I love it here so much. I will post about it later this week as we are about to head to dinner :) 

xoxox

Abbey Road, Sherlock, & a pub crawl

This past week has been really great. The majority of the week I spent my time with a group of girls from one of my classes working on our group presentation and paper that was due on Thursday. Our assignment was to come up with a musical artist that would do well in both the US and UK and then pitch that artist and business plan to the class. We worked on this for probably 15 hours total together and it turned out really well! 

On Monday, I went with my Architecture class to Chiswick House, which is a preserved 1730's villa with party rooms and beautiful gardens. 

Chiswick House

Tuesday, I went with my other class to visit Abbey Road. This was the coolest experience. To see the place where the Beatles recorded, lived, and captured the legendary album cover was amazing. We took some really cool pictures actually crossing Abbey Road but they are on someone else's camera and unfortunately she hasn't uploaded them yet! I then signed the massive graffiti wall in front of Abbey Road studios. The wall gets white washed every 3 months because people visit and sign it so often! 

Wednesday, I visited the home of Samuel Johnson, the creator of the first British Dictionary with my class and then went with my friend Jenny on a Sherlock Adventure! We started by going to the Sherlock Holmes pub which was so charming and cute. I ordered some soup and 'chips' (fries) and the best drink ever : Rekorderlig. I don't know if we have this in the US but we NEED it. It's flavored cider and it tastes like fruity pop. It's fantastic. After eating, we found Baker Street, which is completely covered with all things Sherlock and took pictures outside of 221b!

Sherlock Holmes pub

Rekorderlig & cute Sherlock menu

Outside of 221B

Thursday was the Forth of July. It was really weird not being in the US for this holiday and it made everyone in my program a little bit homesick. Because of this, we dressed up in red, white, and blue and decided to sign up for an American themed pub crawl. It was so much fun! I bought some American Flag tall socks, wore a red bandana in my hair and danced with my friends as we hopped from club to club dancing to American pop songs! Afterwards, we got some McDonald's to end our day because what is more American than McDonalds? Londoners were actually really nice the whole day making sure to wish us a Happy 4th when they found out we were American. 

I'm spending today doing boring things like writing papers and doing laundry in preparation for Emeri coming to visit tomorrow and my family on Sunday! 

xoxo

Stonehenge, Salisbury, & Bath

I had the greatest weekend. Firstly, the weather was absolutely gorgeous. My prayers were answered and it was sunny and warm! Early saturday morning I hopped on a bus for the weekend with some of the people in my program and our first stop was Stonehenge! It was really cool seeing it in real life after learning about it in my anthropology class and having only seen pictures. I have all of these pictures of me looking like weirdo and squinting because I didn't even think of bringing sunglasses.

We then ventured to a little town called Salisbury which is only 30 minutes away from Stonehenge. It is always really nice getting out of the city and seeing the towns of England. It is a completely different experience and I really love it. Salisbury is home to the Salisbury Cathedral, which we got a tour of, and some beautiful homes that were filming locations for some Jane Austen movies. During some free time I enjoyed the weather and laid in a park just soaking up the sun. It was fantastic.

Salisbury Cathedral

Pretty homes in Salisbury. Filming location for 'Sense & Sensibility'

Our next stop that day was Bath, England where we all stayed in a YMCA hostel and had dinner together. I decided that I do not like hostels and they really gross me out. My friends and I were all afraid to touch the comforters and didn't want to shower in the bathrooms. We're all divas, basically. We ate at a really nice italian restaurant after settling in and were provided the meal free from our study abroad institution. Full after dinner, we wandered around the beautiful city of Bath and took pictures. It looks like you have stepped back in time and the scenery is just fantastic. Later that night, I stopped in at a pub with some friends for a drink before heading to sleep.

Bath, England

Sunday morning, I went with my group on a trip to see the famous Roman Bath's and it was really interesting and cool to learn about the history and stories behind the baths and their existence. Something that i've really loved about England is the history and how old everything truly is. These baths dated back around 2,000 years and they were still in pretty good condition! After taking a tour of the Roman Bath museum I wandered around the town some more, ate a delicious meal with some friends, and headed back to my residence hall to do some school work that I have been too busy to think about. 

Roman baths with Cathedral in background

That was my very busy weekend! I enjoyed every minute of it. The rest of my week will be dedicated to school work because as I may forget, I actually AM taking classes while I'm here. I am also preparing for my friend Emeri to come visit me from Copenhagen on Saturday and my family is getting here on Sunday! I'm soooo excited :) 

xoxo

Wimbledon

Today I woke up at 3:00 am to go to Wimbledon! I actually sent Kelly a text as soon as I woke up because she was still awake at home considering it was only 10:00 pm… Around 4:30 our bus left for Wimbledon so we could go stand in line to get cheaper tickets. We stood in line for FIVE HOURS. Now, mind you, this wouldn't have been so bad if we weren't in England. And by this I mean the weather here is absolutely horrible! People warn you about English weather and you sort of wave it off thinking 'oh I'll be fine! I'll bring a sweater.' NO. It is cold and miserable. Especially when you have to sit in it for five hours in the wee hours of the morning and the only coffee available tastes like dirty water. Not that i'm complaining or anything. 

You can just see the happiness radiating off of me here

When we got inside it was actually really cool. It was fun to be inside the stadium and to have been able to say I've been to Wimbledon! I got a few little souvenirs, ate some food, and was feeling pretty good until the games were delayed due to the fact that it wouldn't stop raining. By this time I was sleepy, cold, and wanted to just give up and go home. Thankfully though, I stuck it out and the games ended up starting about 1:00 pm. I didn't have tickets to any big courts, so I walked around the General Admission courts and enjoyed watching some of the couples matches. I didn't know who any of these people were but it was still fun.

people watching live TV broadcast of games

In the end I'm glad I went to Wimbledon. Was I happy the entirety of the time? No, but I would have been if the weather were nice and I know I'm really lucky to have been able to go at all. I am now resting up a little and packing my bag to go to Stonehenge, Salisbury, & Bath for the weekend.

 Busy, busy, busy.

xoxo

Parliament & Greenwich

On Saturday our group was given the opportunity to tour through the Parliament buildings in London and it was cool to learn about their government systems and the quirky traditions they still have from hundreds of years ago. The parliament building is actually an old palace so the inside is intricately decorated with portraits, red carpets, and gold detailing on every surface. We weren't allowed to take pictures of the inside which really was a shame because it was so cool. After the tour I headed off to Waterstone's bookstore. This is the chain bookstore in London and I wanted to check out their big store in Piccadilly Circus that is currently the largest bookstore in Europe! I picked up a few books and had a great time just relaxing for the rest of the day and reading!

This morning, Sunday, my group and I all woke up early to get on a ferry to go to Greenwich. Unfortunately, the weather as of late in London has been so horrible. It has been windy, cloudy, rainy, and under 60 degrees for the majority of the past week. So when we arrived at Greenwich everyone was just cold and tired from the past few weeks and wished we could go curl up and watch movies. Despite this, we had a good time in Greenwich. It is a beautiful area of London located on the river with cute stores and restaurants, a park, an observatory, and one of the Queen's homes. 

when I found out it was raining :( 

View from the top of the hill in Greenwich! 

After eating, my friends and I hiked up a hill in Greenwich and decided to take a nap. Yep, that is how tired we were today. After getting back to the residence hall later on I finally did some laundry (I had no clothes left) and spent the remainder of my evening just hanging out. I think I have learned from this that although I am in London and have this amazing opportunity, I do not need to be doing something every single minute of every day because it is all catching up to me.

So that's it for now! I'm going to sleep now. I'm hoping to have a more relaxed week because this coming weekend is going to be super busy! 

xxxxooo

Day 11: Oxford University

Today has definitely been exciting because some friends and I decided to take the trip to Oxford University! Unfortunately today started out a little rough because while I was on the tube on the way to the bus station, my water bottle spilled inside of my purse. My brand new camera and iPad were the victims of this little accident. They are both dead. Gone. R.I.P. my little friends. Now I would like to be able to tell you that I handled this like a mature adult but this is not the case. 

Soon afterwards I got on to the bus towards Oxford and it was a really nice 1.5 hour ride outside of London. Looking out the window there were fields and lots of green trees and it reminded me of home. I found myself noticeably letting go of some of the stress that I hadn't realized I was holding from being in such a large and busy city like London. Now that I think about it, the fact that I'm in a different country doesn't make me as anxious as the fact that I'm in a large metropolitan city very different from Fort Wayne.

Oxford is absolutely amazing. I love, love, love it there. The buildings are beautiful, there are amazing stores everywhere, and it just felt good to be back on a college campus again! We ate at a Pub soon after arriving and I had a cheeseburger. I guess you could say I was missing some good ol' American food. Afterwards we just wandered around, listened to a band play in the center of the campus, and then toured the Christ Church in Oxford. This is where the inspiration for the Harry Potter great hall is located and also where they filmed some scenes from the movies!

We then wandered around, took silly pictures, and found a big park to just hang around in and relax. We all decided that we were moving to Oxford and never leaving again because it was so perfect. I was so relaxed when I was there in a way that I don't think I could ever be in London only because I felt safe and comfortable by my surroundings. As my friend Monica said, "I love it so much here I think I could cry." After doing a little bit of shopping (I needed an Oxford Sweatshirt!) We hopped back on the bus to London around 5 pm!

All in all, I'd say it was a pretty good day. Going to Oxford is probably my favorite thing I've done here so far! There are a lot of exciting things to come, too! Tomorrow I'm going on a Tour of the Parliament buildings and Sunday we're going on a boat ride down the Thames River to Greenwich!

xoxoxo

10 days in the UK

Day 10 has arrived! I can't believe I've been here for that long. This trip has already flown by! This past week I've been pretty busy. I've had class every day and still managed to fit in little excursions before and afterwards.

On Monday I went to visit the Museum of London and then went out with friends to a local pub. Tuesday after class I did some shopping on Oxford Street. I LOVE Primark! Slightly obsessed. Later that afternoon I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to attend an Evensong service at Westminster Abbey. To say it is beautifully decorated on the inside would be an understatement. It was cool to be in the same place where Royals weddings have taken place since the 1500s. Unfortunately nobody was allowed to take pictures of the inside. I tried to sneak a few but they were really bad quality.

Westminster Abbey

Today after class I met up with some friends and we stopped at a pub for lunch called 'Ye Olde Cock Tavern.' The Pub names are so funny… there is one really close to my residence hall called Dirty Dicks. Because I wasn't particularly hungry I split a desert of Chocolate fudge cake and clotted vanilla ice cream with my friend Jenny! It was so delicious I think it was gone in two minutes.

Afterwards we headed toward Hyde Park and explored while making our way to the Natural History Museum. The Museum was really interesting and we had a good time wandering around looking at all the exhibits.

Hyde Park!

Natural History Museum outside & inside


After the long tube ride home we're all taking a break before meeting up soon to discuss plans to visit Oxford University tomorrow! Can't wait!

xoxox 

Day 6 Eton & Windsor

Today I boarded yet another bus to Eton and Windsor which is about an hour away from the city center. Windsor is a really beautiful quaint town with the ENORMOUS Windsor Castle in the middle. Eton College is connected to Windsor and it is a cute little area where the famous boy's school is located that housed all the Prince's as well as most of the Prime Minister's from England and their government.

Building in Eton that was built during time of Henry VIII

Next we went to Windsor Castle which is impressively the largest and oldest castle still being lived in at about 1000 years old and having over 1,000 rooms (I had a great tour guide). The Queen was actually there when we arrived so most areas were blocked off from visitors but there was still plenty to see.

After the tour I decided that it was time I had some real English food and my group stopped in a really cool pub called The Duchess of Cambridge and I had my first Fish & Chips! I actually ate the fish which is a first and I was surprised to find that I actually enjoyed it :) 

At the end of the day we came back and did some quick grocery shopping before retiring for the day. They don't have preservatives in their food here so it goes bad SUPER quickly! Found that out the hard way. I was exhausted again and managed to fall asleep right when I got back. I think it's hilarious how these days are totally wearing me out I must be such a wimp.

I've got class for the next four days and am looking forward to just relaxing a little and exploring on my own time!

xxxooo