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