IRELAND!

Thursday 23^rd:

            Thursday we left Regents around 615pm to catch the tube to the airport.  The tube was an hour and a half long ride because it was rush hour and it was absolutely packed.  When we finally got to the airport we got our tickets, went through security and waiting in the common room.  They don’t give you a gate until right before you are about to board.  We had about an hour until it was time to board so the girls went to Giraffe (a restaurant/bar) to grab a drink.  After we paid, we realized our gate was the furthest away (20 mins) so we quickly rushed to the gate and got on the plane.  The plane ride wasn’t bad except that I’ve had this sinus stuff and I literally thought my ears were going to explode everywhere on the plane coming down.  It was the worst pain I’ve had in a long time.  But I ended up surviving and couldn’t wait to get off the plane.  We went through customs and grabbed some taxis to head to the Aaron House Tourist Hostel.  Tracy came out and met us and was so helpful with giving us information and showing us to our rooms. 8 of us were in one room, and then 3 other people were separated.  We stayed up til about 2am talking before we finally fell asleep.

Friday 24^th:

            We got up Friday morning at 630am so we could eat breakfast and catch a bus to the Cliffs of Moher at 8am.  The bus ride took about 3 hours to get there (with one stop for a bathroom/coffee break and Sudafed at the pharmacy for me!) and then we finally reached the cliffs.  They were absolutely breathtaking! I stood in awe wondering how I had the opportunity to be in such a beautiful place.  We only had an hour and a half here but we all took the time to walk around and see the cliffs from every spot! It was beautiful. 

Watchtower

Cliffs of Moher

            We left the Cliffs and stopped for lunch at Fitzpatrick’s.  Here we got an old fashion Irish meal (some had lamb, I had chicken) with some mash and carrots.  It was really good but we only had about 45 minutes so we were rushed!  After lunch we went to a smaller cliffs (also gorgeous with really neat rocks), a castle and some other short stops along the way home.  

Me, Tyler, Matt & Brett

Smaller cliffs

We got back to Cork around 730 and went to the hostel to shower and get ready for the night.  Even though I was exhausted, I went to dinner and out to a bar for a little bit because it was one of the guy’s birthday. We ate at a Mexican restaurant because all the pubs stop serving at 8 and it was almost 9 by this time.  Afterwards we walked around to find a pub and found some scary local places.  The local pubs are definitely not the ones to visit, but luckily we found a larger pub with good music and better people! I stayed until about 12 and then headed back to the hostel to crash for the night.

Saturday 25^th:

            Today was disappointing because I didn’t get to do everything I wanted to.  We got up at 5am to go to the train station for our 615 train to Dublin.  We got there around 845 and grabbed a bus to the city centre.  First we went to the tourist office to get a map and a plan for what we wanted to do for the day.  Then we split into two groups: I went with 3 other girls to shop, while the rest of the group went to the Jameson whiskey factory.  We ran out of shopping streets near the factory; there were hardly any souvenir shops! Very strange… so we decided to grab a drink at a pub until the rest of the group was finished with their tour.  After they shopped through the gift shop we all went to lunch at a local pub across the street.  Then we headed towards the Guiness factory!  The factory was really neat and we were able to have a taste test on the 3^rd floor.  On the 4^th floor you could actually pour your own draft and you got a certificate saying you did it “perfectly.”  There were 7 floors in total and we skipped ahead to the 7^th floor to see the gorgeous view from the top.  

Pouring a draft!

After we spent some time there we went down to the gift shop to look around and wait for the others.  We ended up waiting a freaking HOUR until everyone met back up.  But we couldn’t leave them because none of them had a phone for us to tell them we were leaving.  So when they finally came down, we went ahead to the Saint Patricks cathedral.  Granted it was 5 til 5 and the gardens were closing and the cathedral was about to as well.  No one wanted to go in because it cost 5 euros, so we just got the view from the outside.  By this time it was too late to head to the other Christ church or trinity college to see the book of kells… so we just went to find one other girl that had ventured off alone.  It took us another hour to find her… outside a bar that apparently “PS I love you” was filmed in.. the inside was super creepy and not what I remember from the movie though so I’m not sure if they used the outside and filmed the inside in an studio or what. But anyways, by now we were all hungry and headed to find food.

Bar PS I Love You was filmed at

            Food was also a disaster because the pubs were crowded for soccer and rugby games.  We ended up splitting into two groups and grabbed pizza before heading back to the train station for our 9pm train home.  We went back and all crashed at midnight because it was a long day of walking and traveling.  The day was very frustrating and lots of waiting but I’m glad I at least saw it.  Dublin was nothing like I expected…no grassy countryside; mostly big business buildings and high-end shopping areas.  It was an interesting experience. 

            Two creepy stories though from this day: First on the way back to the train station we had to grab a shuttle. We were waiting outside for it to get there and across the street Emily pointed out this guy laying on the ground. Police were surrounding him and pushing him a bit and he did not move. I think he was dead and it was literally the scariest thing I’ve ever seen.  It was just really creepy and sad and weird all at the same time.  So then we finally get the bus and get to the station and the girls head to the bathroom.  Im in the back and everyone just stops. So I said whats wrong? Then a guy answers and says nothing is wrong.  So I kept walking and realized a guy was in the first stall…bathroom door open…pants down…going to the bathroom.  I walked on and was like this is the girls restroom… and he said no this is the guys. You all are in the wrong bathroom. Then another girls in and I was like no we are right see… another girl is in here. Then he was like I sense an American accent, and we all went silent and said we were from Canada, then an older lady walked in and was yelling at him to get out.. Basically it was a pedophile and it was really creepy.   He just kept arguing saying didn’t we see the tomahawk on the door and it was the mens restroom and all this. It was just weird and very uncomfortable. I quickly headed out to where one of our guy friends was sitting & sat next to him. 

Sunday 26^th:

            Sunday we slept in until 830 and then left an hour later.  We got a bus downtown to go see the Blarney Castle & stone.  Everyone wanted to eat breakfast at mcdonalds, but I went to a nearby coffee shop to get a muffin instead.  When we got to the castle, the lands were gorgeous.  This was the first castle I have actually seen a stream running around it similar to a mote/system.  There were daffodils everywhere and bright green grass! We climbed inside the castle up a steep, circular staircase, I thought I was going to throw up I was so dizzy and closterphobic.  But we reached the top and could see the grounds from a higher perspective.  We walked around to the other side where the stone was and it was absolutely nothing I expected! Granted I had never heard of this place before we went but I was expecting a big stone everyone would be around trying to take pictures with.  No…you had to lay on the ground, lean backwards and kiss this thing upside down looking down to the ground…It was scary, definitely not something someone would want to do if they were afraid of heights.  But we all did it so I expect some luck coming my way these next few years!

Castle

Kissing the stone!

steps!

            We climbed back down the stairs and walked around the grounds some more.  We saw the poisonous garden and the Blarney home.  Around 140 we jumped back on the bus to head into Cork to find a local pub for lunch.  We found a great spot and sat down for drinks and lunch. Before we knew it, it was already 4 and we were all exhausted! We had to get a taxi at 6 to go back to the airport for our flight at 8.  So I headed back to the hostel with half the group, while the others shopped around some more.  I took an hour nap and then we headed to the airport. 

            The plane ride home was a lot better (more bumpy) but my ears didn’t feel like they would explode so that was definitely nice! We got back to Regents around 1030 and I was so happy to shower, lay in bed and catch up with people back at home.  It was a great weekend but very exhausting! Ireland is a gorgeous place though, so I definitely recommend going! 

"When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.” 

                   - John Lennon

Y.O.L.O -- Court :)

ICE ICE BABYYYY!

Last night we went to the famous London Ice Bar for a friend's (Heidi) birthday! We walked there which took about 20 minutes and then we were allowed to be in the room for 45 minutes.  As soon as we walked in they gave us huge jackets with gloves attached to them.  Then we were allowed to enter the ice room which was probably a 20 by 20 foot room so not too big.  Everything was iced except the floor, obviously. But there were a few statues (of a C!) and some quotes that were etched in the ice that were really neat.  They also had those goofy cut outs you can stick your head in and take a picture with.
With our ticket in we were allowed one mixed drink, and they were delicious! The drink was in a small square glass with a cylinder shape in the middle for the liquid.
It was a very interesting experience but a lot of fun! Surprisingly it wasn't freezing until the last 5-10 minutes just from holding the iced drink in our hands. But I just thought i'd share some quick pictures!

Place where you can put your head through the hole haha.

Crew for Heidi's birthday!

C of ice!

Glasses of drinks

I'm still waiting to feel 100% better.  Mom sent me antibiotics in the mail but of course customs stopped them and I had to go through this long process of filling out paper work and faxing it to them so they can decide if they will let me have my things or not.  I'm crossing my fingers i'll get them today or tomorrow because we are headed to IRELAND tomorrow night and taking a plane! So i'm guessing a sinus/bronchitis/whatever I have won't be fun up in the sky.  But you'll hear back from me after Ireland!

Oh & one last thing...here's a good picture of my new hair! Whoo!

Justine, Emily, Me & Elizabeth :)

"I'll love you forever, I'll like you always. As long as your living, my baby you'll be!" - Robert Munsch


Y.O.L.O -- court :)

Sick in London :(

Hi! Nothing too exciting has been going around here because I was sick all last week and this weekend. I'm finally feeling a little better so I thought I would update you on a few things.  Last week I didn't take any class field trips, we stayed in the classroom the whole time.  Valentines day was hard being away from home for me, but the night was fun! My friends and I went down to the student bar for some drinks and dancing & we had a good time.  
My friend Hunter's birthday was on Thursday so we went out to celebrate! I was still feeling under the weather but I had promised him I would go and my name was on the list to the bar which meant no cover charge! We hung out in his room before heading out to a place called "Proud" in Camden.  The bar was an old barn and really neat.  The main entrance was where the band played and then you walked back towards where the stalls were and they were individual rooms with a bed or a stripper pole or the bar was in one... it was very interesting. We spent most of the time on the dance floor by the band and just danced the night away.  Afterwards we caught the bus home, ordered some pizza and hung out until about 3am before finally getting to bed.  

Valentines @ the student bar :)

Hunter & I

Jordan & I with our hall manager Jonathan! 

Friday I woke up feeling terrible as expected being out late with a cold... so I took some medicine and stayed in bed most of the day watching movies and the sitcom "Weeds."  Funny story...I ate dinner with Jordan that night and some guy sat down next to me.  I was wearing shorts because I had a fever all day and had been burning up and he looked at me and said, "did you just finish working out or do you always wear shorts around?" I just kind of laughed and said I had been hot and sick. So the conversation went on a few more minutes until we were about to leave, he asked me my name and told me to feel better.  


Next day, I decided to be productive and I cleaned the room and got some short essay papers completed in the Library with Jordan. About 5 minutes after I sat down same guy walks in and says hey! I'm glad to see you alive how are you feeling? Literally pulled me out of the crowd and came over, felt my head asking how I was doing. I just thought it was crazy he remembered me and checked to make sure I was feeling alright. Funny how Jordan and I attract these guys...


Yesterday we also hung out -- told you it was a boring weekend-- but i did something crazy! I dyed my hair! I've been thinking about it for a while but haven't been brave enough to do it.  I dyed it darker, but there's not a huge difference so I think i'm going to get another shade darker and do it again so you can tell.  I'll put a picture on when the final product is complete! But anyways, we ate dinner in the refectory and went to bed early hoping to feel better after a long weekend of rest!  Luckily it paid off because I do feel better! Finally! But I am still thankful and excited for the antibiotics mom is sending to get here... I'm tired of this cough and ready to feel 100% for our trip to Ireland this weekend!  Tomorrow should be exciting too because we are going to the "Ice Bar!" for a friend's birthday. I think the place is a restaurant, with a small room that is completely built in ice... that's the gist i've gotten at least. But its like -5 degrees C which is like 20F in the room... they give you huge heavy jackets and gloves to wear and you are only allowed in for shifts of 40 minutes. So i'll be back on later this week to let you know how that goes! Hope everyone is doing well! 

“20 years from now you will be disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the one’s you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain

Y.O.L.O -- court :)

Valentines! AKA "Singles Awareness Day"

Hi! Happy Valentines Day! Or if your single in London people call it "singles awareness day!" haha :)  I got all my wonderful valentines day cards yesterday so thank you :) In my group of friends here anyone that was single got put into a secret valentines day drawing and we bought each other valentines day gifts! So I just got a bunch of chocolate and small bottle of wine...awesome! I'm getting supper fattened up over here with all the drinks and goodies they have! So glad I joined the gym even though we didn't get the luxury of a free membership!

I had class this morning and I have a 3 hour here in about 30 minutes.  Tonight we are all getting together for dinner in the refectory and then heading down to the student bar for a Valentines Day party! Although it's weird being single and here... I am having a wonderful Valentines and a great time!

I have officially booked or planned almost every weekend now! This weekend is my last weekend in London, but following this weekend I will be going to Ireland, Wales, Seville, Germany, Portugal, Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam & hopefully Budapest to end it.  I'm so blessed to be here and be traveling around to all of these wonderful countries with great friends and family to support me from home!

Love you guys :)

Quote is actually a song...I couldn't pick one verse so...it's the whole song! Sorry folks!

Love is not proud. Love does not boast. Love after all, matters the most.
Love does not run. Love does not hide. Love does not keep, locked inside.
Love is the river that flows through...Love never fails you!

Love will sustain. Love will provide. Love will not cease, at the end of time.
Love will protect. Love always hopes. Love still believes, when you don’t.
Love is the arms that are holding you...Love never fails you!

When my heart won’t make a sound. When I can’t turn back around. When the sky is falling down
Nothing is greater than this, greater than this.

Love is right here. Love is alive. Love is the way, the truth, the life.
Love is the river than flows through, Love is the arms that are holding you, Love is the place you will fly to
Love never fails you!


"Brandon Heath"


Y.O.L.O -- court :)

SCOTLAND!

EDINBURGH!  WOW! What a place! This was my first trip away from London and I was so happy with the weekend!  There were 14 of us total, but it was more like 10 and 4 because it was two separate groups; but we had a great time!  We headed to the bus station around 9pm for our 11pm overnight bus ride.  We got to the station with about 30 minutes to spare before boarding, so we got some snacks and hung out.  The bus ride was around 8 hours and we had a couple stops along the way.  Unfortunately it was SCORCHING hot in there and the seats weren’t too comfortable so I only got about 2-3 hours of sleep.  But we got into Edinburgh at 8:15am and were on the lookout for some food! We headed towards our hostel and stopped at a place called Costa. England has Starbucks…but a Costa is like the US Starbucks. They are everywhere and reasonably priced so we stopped there to recuperate and get some energy from coffee!  After about an hour of veg’ing out—we were exhausted—we started our 20-minute walk to the hostel! Luckily Scott, one of two guys on the trip, knew exactly where to go because he had planned it all out, which was awesome!

Bus ride! whoo hoo

We arrived at the hostel and couldn’t check in quite yet, but we were able to put our luggage in some lockers for the day.  So we stored everything away and decided to go to the Edinburgh castle first (5 minute walk by the way, our hostel was in a perfect location!) The castle was huge and really neat.  It wasn’t what I expected but I’m glad we went.  We bought tickets and headed up the hill to meet a tour guide for a 30 min tour. The tour was informative but he just pointed out the buildings; we had to go in them ourselves so the tour was kind of pointless, but I’m glad we were able to explore! We went into the national war museum, the jail, St. Elizabeth Chapel (that holds only 20 people!) and a place with crown jewels.  Afterwards we went in the gift shop and I got a Celtic ring that was really neat. All of their jewelry is Celtic with twists and loops! But anyways, after the castle we headed to lunch! At this point everyone had been split up so Jordan and I started looking for restaurants and ran into four other Regent’s students.

Edinburgh Castle with Everyone!

We decided on a place called GreyFriars Bobby’s Bar because it was an authentic Scottish pub.  I really branched out this time so you all better be super proud of me! First of all, Jordan and I decided to order Haggis as an appetizer which is lamb, wheat, barley & spices cooked in a sheep’s stomach—which is put on top of turnips and mashed potatoes on the bottom. Apparently, they eat this crap all the time! It wasn’t too bad, but later on our stomachs were churning so I don’t think it settled very well.  For my lunch, I also branched out and got a chicken & portabella mushroom pie! I don’t like mushrooms but I wanted something hot and it sounded pretty good so I tried it! Aside from the mushrooms, it was really good! Everyone else was happy with their meals as well so it was a nice lunch.

Haggis! 

Once we finished we headed back to the hostel to try and check in.  This was around 3pm and we were able to get our keys and sheets. So we headed to our 12-person room, made our beds and unpacked a little bit.  Then…everyone was like we’ll just lay down for a few minutes and then go shopping and look around but…we all fell asleep! Oops! 

Fun- Retro Style Room

Sooo once we all woke up we were rejuvenated and decided to make a plan for the rest of the night.  Jordan, Larissa, Scott & I decided to grab dinner (no one else was hungry) and then we bought tickets online for a RUGBY GAME! Oh my gosh sooooo much fun!  They don’t play with any pads at all…it’s basically football & wrestling mixed together.  Also I thought it was really strange that if someone got hurt, there would be medics on each sideline that would run onto the field & check the guy out while the game was still going on!  I also liked that when the ball was out of bounds or had to be put back into play, one guy would throw it in and the team would pick up another player and raise them up to catch the ball!  It was just really neat and a great experience! I am so glad Scott knew about the game! 

Rugby Game

-- Oh & also side note at half time, Jordan and I went up to the concession area because there were heaters there.  We walked up to one and this huge group of guys out for a stag party (bachelor) started talking to us.  They were sitting across the aisle from as at the stadium but we didn’t talk to them until halftime. Well anyways they were from Wales, out for this guy’s stag party and happened to be staying at the same hostel as us…There were lots of other weird coincidences but I’ll get to those later.

So the game ended around 930 and we headed back to change before going out.  We started off at a bar called “Brew Dog” because it was a recommended Scottish bar, but it was packed with older men and really small.  We each got a beer called “Prototype 17.5” because it was the lightest Scottish beer there was…but it was disgusting. We all finished maybe half before heading out to find another bar to go to.  We ended up at a place called “The Three Sisters” which reminded me of mom, Cindy & Christy! The bar was huge, they played lots of good music and oh wait…we ran into the stag party! How out of all the bars around we ended up at the same one, I don’t know. But we all hung out with those guys and Jordan and I danced some until we headed back around 12:30.  We had a great day & night and were all so ready to get back to sleep.  We found out we had 2 other girls in our hostel that were really nice so we didn’t have creepy roommates which was good!  We all got ready for bed & fell asleep very quickly!  So that was the end of day one!

The next morning (Saturday) Jordan and I got up around 930-while everyone else was still sleeping-to grab breakfast.  She had a waffle with bananas on it and I got French toast with bacon! There bacon is really different over here, it’s almost like thick ham… but it was delicious! At breakfast we ran into Larissa so she ate with us. There was a free tour our hostel gave at 11 but the three of us wanted to look around at the stores to get an idea of where we wanted to buy souvenirs from.  The time passed quickly and we had to head back to meet the tour.  The first place the tour went was a graveyard…yes a graveyard.  He told us some weird stories about ghosts and what not and then showed us two graves that J.K Rowlings used the names for in her Harry Potter series! Tom Riddell and Professor Mcgonagoll were both people buried that she took their names—weird! Also our guide told us that the graveyard used to be a valley with flat land, but they ran out of ground space and started burying coffins on top of one another so now its all hilly because there are layers of coffins that anyone can walk on- it’s not sacred like in the US. It was weird.

So after the graveyard we walked downtown, walked to a garden and got a good view of the castle, National Monument (12 columns built in memory of the Scots who died during the Napoleonic wars), a view of the city and some other random things.  The tour lasted two hours and he took us to a pub called Biddy Mulligans afterwards because he was a young guy and said it was a great place to get a drink and lunch!  We walked in and who did we run into? The stag party! Crazyyy…but we didn’t stay for lunch because there was a Rugby game on the Tv’s and the pub was packed! So the group split up and I went to Beehive Inn.  I just got a Ham and English Mustard (on the side) sandwich!  After lunch we met back up with everyone to see what they were doing and ended up splitting up again.  Two girls had already left, everyone else was going on a whiskey tour, and Jordan & I started walking towards the Palace.  However, we stopped at a café called “Chocolate Soup.” Jonathan, the guy at Regent’s that sits at the desk told us we had to go there because they had the best hot chocolate! I’m not a big hot chocolate person so I just got a chocolate dessert but Jordan got some and said it was great! We also ran into the other girls that had left the group earlier so we joined up with them to go to the palace! Unfortunately, no one wanted to go in the palace, but we walked around the gate and got a good view of the area. 

National Monument

Chocolate Soup Cafe

Palace from the Back

After that it was around 4pm, so we headed back towards town to finish some last minute shopping before heading back to the hostel to shower & get cleaned up for dinner.  We went back to Biddy Mulligans and got a table this time! I had a club sandwich and some fries that was probably the best club I’ve ever had.  They have a lot of different sauces and flavoring over here and it was good! But anyways, after dinner everyone went back to change and to the bar in the hostel to get a drink.  I wasn’t feeling well, allergies have seriously caught up with me! So I didn’t drink but I decided to go out because a few girls went to this bar the night before after some of us had gone back, and they said it was awesome! I wish I had felt better because they were right! This place was 5 stories underground! It was like you were walking into a stone cave…they had flashing lights and fog machines, it was just a really hip bar with lots of people.  I sat down with a couple of people in our group while others danced. We left around 1am that night, went back to the hostel and went to bed.

We all were up bright and early Sunday morning for the bus ride home at 950.  We had to get breakfast, check out and walk all the way back to the station.  The bus ride home was a lot worse because we made more stops to pick people up on the way.  It was a total of 10 hours so we didn’t get home that night until 8… I slept a few hours but it’s a long day when you’re sitting on the bus for 10 hours. 

I had a great time but was definitely ready to get back to my bed at Regents, shower in a clean shower and wash my clothes!  So yeah, that was my trip! It was back to reality today with biology and working out! Tomorrow is Valentines Day and I’m so excited! I love Valentines Day and have already gotten lots of cards:) So that’s always fun.  It’s really funny because most people here like to call it “Single’s Awareness Day.”  The girls I’ve become friends with put a secret vday thing together and we drew names to buy each other Valentines.  I think we are also going out to dinner to the Metropolitan where we went for the Tamer’s birthday.  Afterwards I think we are headed to the student bar for a party. 

I’m not sure what we are doing this weekend yet, but there’s a masquerade party on Thursday night. Our school does things like this all the time and it’s so awesome! Everyone always goes to the parties and it’s always a lot of fun, so I think we are going to do that. I may go to Canterbury and Leeds Castle Saturday but I have to check to see if there is still room to go with the school.  So that’s all that’s going on here. Hope all is well with everyone J

In Valentines Day Spirits: 

“we’re all a little weird. & life is weird. & when we find someone
whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into
mutually satisfying weirdness—& call it love—true love.” -- dr seuss

Best Valentines day card! Love you girls :)

Y.O.L.O -- court :)

Stratford Upon Avon & SuperBowl! Week 2 :)

Long time no talk, lots has been going on but I haven't had the time or energy to write.  Thursday I had my World Religion class and then The History of England:Sport & Society.  We travelled to the amphitheatre which was really neat and not what I expected at all! The left over ruins are inside in the bottom of a the Art Gallery Basement in the Guildhall Square.  The ruins were discovered in 1988 after archaeologists and anthropologists had been called into excavate the area.  As they were digging the basement, they discovered parts of a wall and put the information together.  They didn't dig the entire amphitheatre up because the other surrounding buildings have been there since the 16th century and they don't want to ruin them.  So when you walk into the basement it's dark with a neon optical illusion demonstrating what the theatre would've looked like.  There is also part of a timber drainage tube leftover that was really neat.  It was used to get the water and blood out of the theatre after sporting events.  So that was a fun field trip and made the day enjoyable.

Thursday night we went out to the O'neils bar again.  There were two bands that played and we met the first one and took pictures with them.  So that was really cool and we had a good time.  

Friday morning I woke up sick.  I'm not sure if I had a fever or not but I laid in bed most of the day.  There are a lot of students with the flu and sinus infections right now so i'm really hoping I don't end up being really sick!  I felt a lot better after resting all day.  Friday night we all stayed in and went down to the music room Regent's has.  The room is equipped with guitars, drums, microphones and pianos.  My friends and I have been screwing around singing some songs together because everyone can play an instrument and I can sing.  While we were down there, the man that runs the gym stopped in and said we should try out for the talent show held here at Regent's! I doubt we will but it was funny because we were just having fun and he thought we were great!

Saturday we went to Stratford-Upon-Avon which is the where Shakespeare was born!  The bus ride was about 2 hours and we got there and toured the museum & his home first.  Then we were free to go exploring until the play later that evening.  Jordan and I loved the town and enjoyed tasting lots of food! We started off eating in a restaurant called Food for Love.  I had a vegetable and cheese panini that was delicious!  While we were eating it started to snow, but we didn't think much of it.  As the day progressed though and we shopped in the cute boutiques the snow kept on coming and we ended up with about 2-3 inches by dinner.  We ate at a Morrocan Coffee Restaurant that was also delicious! I had a latte with a chicken sandwich with a lemon-mayo sauce.  It was really good and the owner talked to us for a while.  We also met two British men that we conversed with for a while about America and what they do here in London.  It's really interesting talking to other people from here because everyone is so different.  But after a while we had to get going and we headed to the Shakespeare Theatre to watch the Tamer of the Shrew.  Once we figured out what was going on we loved the play! The actors were really good and the show was super entertaining.  

When we headed outside the theatre we were excited to get back to school and possibly go out; however we had another thing coming for us.  At this point there was about 5-6 inches of snow as we walked back to our bus.  We got on the road and drove about an hour and a half (only about 15-20 miles though) before getting stuck in a standstill for an hour! The bus ride ended up taking a little under 6 hours to get home because there was so much snow and these people can't handle it!  We finally got home at 4:15am and I immediately passed out and didn't wake up until 1pm the next day.  I was absolutely exhausted, but we had a great time!

Shakespeare's House

Lunch

Snow before dinner!

& after dinner...

Sunday we woke up at 1pm and ate lunch.  I decided I needed to invest in some rain/snow boots here since I didn't bring any; so Liz and I headed to Suffridges!  This place was hugeee and it's like a Saks 5th Avenue.  The shoe department was an entire floor not just a small section like Macys.  But I found the Hunter's boots I wanted and bought the heavy sock inserts for the cold!  I wore them the rest of the day & they were super comfortable and warm, so it was definitely a good buy!

Sunday night we had to be ready for the SuperBOWL!  Kickoff here was at 11:30pm but we headed down to the student bar around 7:15.  The bar through a SuperBowl party for the students and there was a great turnout!  Not everyone lasted until the game ended around 3:30 but I did!  It was a lot of fun but definitely was exhausted again this morning for class.  

Super Bowl Shot: Red, White & Blue layers were separated! Very cool!

The guys & I

The girls :)

This is how packed it was... crazyyy

So that's about it.  Classes are going really well, they are a lot easier compared to Transy.  I still haven't had much homework but I am learning a lot and interested in what i've been learning.  I wrote about 8 postcards today so maybe if your lucky you'll get one :) Stamps are so expensive here though!  But anyways, other than that I think were all going out again Tuesday night because we are headed to Scotland this weekend!  I can't wait to start traveling outside of London, it will be our first trip!  So we'll see how it all goes :) It's 7 girls and 1 guy for this one so we have a big group, but it'll be nice to be in the hostel and walking around the city together!  That's all for now though, talk to you soon!

"When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.” -- John Lennon

Y.O.L.O -- court :) 

Biology

Hello! I will have lots to update you on this weekend but for now it's just a quick blog.  This week has flown by, literally.  Tomorrow I have one class and then we're all going out tomorrow night.  Friday I will be going to the west side of London to see Saint Paul's Cathedral and the London Tower.  Saturday I will be going to Stratford-Upon-Avon and Sunday I think we are going to go to Camden again.  The weather is still frigid, but luckily we don't have to walk outside to get to class!

Even though I said Biology was boring at first, I watched this really neat movie today and wanted to tell you all about it!  This scientist/archeologist from England did a huge project researching where humans originated.  It's been found that the oldest remains of humans was found in Africa.  So basically...there were around 100 people that settled there, procreated and moved in four different directions to start spreading the population (when there were changing in the climate- at some point the Sahara desert was smaller, and a the Red Sea became narrower; at this point the people could cross over).  Geneticists have traced our ancestors all the way back and discovered that we all originate from Africa and then branch off into Europe and Asia.  I just found that really interesting because I had never heard that before.  It's common to hear that we are all somehow related, but not necessarily from Africa.  So yeah, fun fact for the day :)

I'll update you more after this weekend!


"Life is short, live it.  Love is rare, grab it.  Anger is bad, dump it.  Fear is awful, face it.  Memories are sweet, cherish them." 
                  - Angelina Jolie


Y.O.L.O -- Court