More Catching Up...

So I guess I haven't really been IN London very much this past month. I've been getting all my travels in before I leave. It's been a very busy and crazy month- I feel like I'm always on the move, but what a great thing to be stressed out about though, huh?

On Friday morning, Kasey, Sarah and I took a tour of Parliament through one of our field trip classes. It was really awesome to see the House of Lord and House of Commons. We even saw the Magna Carta, Queen Victoria's throne, and Marie Antoinette's clock!After I got back from Austria, I got ready for my next trip to Prague (which was last weekend). I also got to rub the foot of a bronze statue of Winston Churchill (which is what the members of Parliament who are about to make speeches do for luck!). After the tour, we ran to catch the bus to the airport and left for Prague.

We had a huge apartment for the hostel and we went out the first night and had drinks and danced. The next morning we found a delicious bagel place for brunch, and started touring the city. We walked around Old Town, saw the Charles Bridge, got tea at a cafe on the river, and then found Wenceslas Square, the huge shopping district. It was really cool to see and we did some window shopping. That night we went to a Czech pub for some traditional Czech food. It was GROSS. I had a "sirloin" in a creamy gravy with cranberries and whipped cream on top. It reminded me of the episode of Friends with Rachel's English trifle that went wrong. That night we were too exhausted to go out. The next day we went on a tour of Prague and got to go up to Prague Castle. We got some awesome pictures - the city was so beautiful! Afterwards, we roamed about Old Town and had dinner. Then we checked out a bar called Chateau which was ok and tried to go to a Jazz Cafe, but they didn't start until way later, so we just went to a bar near the hostel then went to bed. Monday morning, we flew back to Regents and got there around 10:30AM. It was a long weekend...the moral of the story is never travel with 6 girls, because no one will agree on what they all want to do. It was hectic, but in the end we had fun.

Yesterday was my 21st birthday!!!! I had a very relaxed day - we went on a field trip to the Cabinet War rooms where Churchill and his members of the cabinet went while Parliament was being attacked in WWII. It was really cool to down underground and see the bomb shelter that was basically used as their war headquarters. A great visit. That night I went to dinner with Dee and Bobby and then met up with some friends across the street at Coco Momo for a pub crawl. We hopped pub to pub all the way down Marylebone High Street. Since it was a weekday, some people left early, but Dee and Bobby stayed out until the pubs closed!! I was so proud of them. Afterwards, Kasey, Sarah, Pete and I went to a club called Moose. We danced and I met a birthday twin who did a shot with me! After that, we met up with Joe and went to Picadilly to a club called On Anon. Even though it was dead, we still had a fun time. I was getting a bit rambunctious, so we got some McDonalds (yucky!) and came back to Regents. We met some interesting characters throughout the night...and we had an amazing time. The only thing that could've made it better was if Shawn could've been there :)

How is it already April??

Hello everyone,
I'm very sorry that my blog is really boring...I keep forgetting about it and putting it off.
A LOT has happened over here in London town. I'll try to catch you all up....

I went to Amsterdam and it was really cool. I don't think I'll ever go back, but it was something I had to go see and do while I had the chance. Good times.

A couple of weeks later, my bestest friend from UNH came to visit!!! I had a blast with Erica and so many people thought we were sisters! I had so much fun showing her around the city and having her meet all my study abroad friends. It was awesome to get a piece of home here in London :) We even saw some celebrities and the PRINCE! What a lucky girl. She left on March 21st, and I miss her dearly.

The day that Erica left for America, I went with my friends to The Canary Islands. The Canary Islands are located to the west of the Sahara and Morocco -- they're off the coast of Africa!! However, they are considered to be a part of Spain. We stayed on the island Tenerife, in the village called Los Gigante. We had a beautiful view of the ocean and the cliffs. It was gorgeous. We had so much fun and had a very tropical vacation. We went to the black sand beach, the resort pool, and we went on a boating excursion to see pilot whales and dolphins. Jess and I (my travel buddy!) went on an excursion together that brought us all around the island and we got to see many interesting sights that make up the island of Tenerife. We went to the base of Teide - the 3rd largest volcano in the world, then we saw little villages of Icod de los Vinos which is where the largest Dragon Tree is situated. Then we stopped for lunch at a village called Garachico which is known for their natural swimming pools created by the lava flow. After that, we went to a village hidden within the Teno mountains called Masca. Apparently, they believe that pirates used to live there to hide from enemies! Then we came back to the town where our resort was - Los Gigantes, which is called such because of the enormous cliffs in the distance! It was a long day, but it was so interesting and we learned and saw a lot!

The next day we climbed (aka rode up a cable car) to the top of Mount Teide! It was SO cool to look out and see the sky and the island. It was very cold up there though!


The weekend after I came back from Spring Break, I went to Salzburg, Austria with Dee! It was a nice girls-weekend away in an early celebration of my birthday. We had so much fun! We walked around the city, did some shopping. We kept seeing Cuckoo clocks everywhere and they reminded us of Meem :) We also saw the Salzburg fortress, had a romantic dinner in there and saw a Mozart concert in the ballroom! The next day we went to see Mozart's birthplace and Mozart's residence. It was pretty cool, but kind of freaky at times. After that, we each got a HUGE pretzel for lunch and went on the Sound of Music tour to see the sights they used in the movie! We learned a lot about the real von Trapps as well as behind the scenes facts about the movie. We absolutely loved it. That night we went to dinner at a beer house that was hidden in the basement of a building connected to a church! I'm surprised we even found it! We had some weird Austrian food and I actually drank a half liter of beer!!! We girl-talked all night and after going to a trendy bar at the top of a hotel, we walked home and left the next morning.
What a fun little weekend :) I will update more, but this post is becoming very long. More to come!

Caught up in London Life

It was brought to my attention by some blogger fans that I haven't update in FOREVER. Sorry guys, I've been having a BLAST in London.

I've been here for a month already. I feel like I know this place like the back of my hand, but I somehow find new things and places within the city every time I go out.
Some of the places that the girls and I go out to are The Sports Cafe (which has Pound Pints on Tuesday nights for students!!), O'Neils, and SugarReef. Usually we try to get there before the crazy 10 pound covers to get in. London night life is so expensive, but there are ways around it.




The first week in February, Jamie, Kasey, Jess, Sarah and I went on a weekend trip to Dublin. It was so much fun and VERY different from London. Of course, we went to Grafton St, Trinity College, Temple Bar, and the Guinness Factory. Above is a picture of all of us in the Gravity Bar (I obviously didn't get a Guinness - they taste like butt!) The city seemed smaller, dirtier, and WAY colder than London. Although we made some great (and somewhat embarrassing) memories, we were very ready to come back to our lovely city.

The weekend after that, a ton of Regents kids took a day trip to Bath. We walked through the Roman Baths and got to see plumbing that was over 2,000 years old and still functioning (Mr. Callan would've been very impressed!) After the tour, we all wandered around for 5 hours. Bath was a beautiful place, but we found it kind of boring. It was definitely an interesting place to visit. Here's a picture of me and all my girls in Bath!
Classes have been getting a little more challenging...aka I actually had to write papers this week and study for exams. Thank goodness I only have 2 exams and 2 papers in each of my classes. Once I'm done with these next few weeks, I don't have anything to do until finals. I wish UNH was like Regents...although their paper topics and instructions are very vague.

I've been doing really well with going out and seeing lots of shows, thanks to my Theater class. So far I've seen "Sound of Music" with my mom and Dee, "Chicago" with my mom, "The 39 Steps" with the UNH crew, and "Annie Get Your Gun" with my theater class. The next shows I'm going to see are: "Speed the Plow" with Kevin Spacey and Jeff Goldblum, "Cabaret", "Marilyn and Ella" a musical about Marilyn Monroe and my idol Ella Fitzgerald!!!, "Billie Elliot", "Wicked", and the new musical "Gone with the Wind". I'll let you know how they are!

I recently found out that my roommate Erica is coming to visit me in March! I'm so excited. I can't wait to show her around the city and have her meet my awesome friends here at Regents.

I'm going to Amsterdam this weekend with Jamie and Katlin. It probably wouldn't be appropriate to post my adventures here online. I plan on having a great time though!

My next travel plans are:
Canary Islands SPRING BREAK with the girls March 21st-28th,
Salzburg, Austria with Dee! April 4th-6th
Prague, Czech Rep. with the girls April 11th-14th
Edinburgh, Scotland with Regents kids April 18th-20th

After that, I have finals then a week to hang out around London with Dee and Bobby before Shawn finally comes to visit!

I only have about 3 months left here in London, so I'm trying to LIVE IT UP!

First Week in London

I've only been in London for one week, and I'm already in love!! I've been sight seeing with my mom, sister, (almost) brother-in-law, and some new friends I've made at Regent's College.

So far, I've seen Harrods (a VERY fancy department store in which I couldn't even afford the socks), the Victoria and Albert Museam where my mom and I mostly looked at the fashion pieces from around the world, a little bit of the Natural History Museum where we saw fossils of dinosaurs and various gemstones, the London Eye (which isn't working for the winter, but should open up again in early February), Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and Trafalgar Square. The other night Mom, Dee, and I went to see The Sound of Music. It was so good! We waited outside afterwards for the actors and I took a picture with Connie Fisher who played Maria von Trapp!

I've been shopping (mostly for things I need/forgot for my room!) and we've gone to MANY pubs! They are so much fun to hang out in and meet some Londoners and Europeans in general. I've always heard people say that the food here sucks, but (thanks to Dee and Bobby's guidance) I've eaten at pubs and restaurants that have such good food! I think it depends on where you look and how open you are to trying something different. There are definitely things they make here that don't sound appealing, but when you try them they are often quite good. We also went to a Sunday roast this week and had Roast Beef, potatoes, carrots, parsnips and Yorkshire pudding. I loved it!

The first day of classes was today. They were actually really interesting and fun. I'm looking forward to my other classes too. I have a feeling it won't be the hell I had to go through this past semester with all my crazy amounts of coursework.

I'm trying to get used to the different terms they use too! I've learned that a "till" is a cash register, "chuffed" is pleased, and "pants" is underwear...that's a tough one to get used to....especially when commenting on how the London rain makes my pants really wet..... yea. It was embarrassing.

Of course, I miss everyone at home SO much, and I wish everyone could come visit me. I know it's expensive though, so Skype or IM me whenever you see me online....and if you feel that you MUST see me, look for some cheap flights over here :)

Miss you all so much!

Pre-Departure

Well, I'm leaving in 3 days for my semester abroad in London!!! I'll be studying at Regent's College, which is right in Regent's Park. Here's a picture of the school. Apparently, Dee and Bobby live only a mile away! I'm looking forward to seeing them again soon!

I'm so excited to get over there and start traveling, meeting new friends, and learning all about British culture. I'm also looking forward to the legal drinking age of 18! Thanks to Europe, I'll be able to legally drink 4 months before my birthday haha.

I'm going to miss all of my friends and family while I'm gone, but I'll do my best to keep you all updated by posting in this blog each week.

Cheerio!