Epilogue: A Long Time or a Short Time

It has been somewhere in the vicinity of 7-8 months since I have returned to America. I know that I have forgotten many things from my journey. Many of the things I never wanted to forget. Not the major things, the awesome things, like seeing the Eiffel Tower, conversing through a dinner in another language, or looking up for the first time at Parliament. (That last one was strange because we took the Tube to Westminster and the first bit we saw was the caged in bit as you exit the Tube, and we had to cross the street for a better view). Anyways, I feel like its the little things, the moment to moment seconds that make living, life. As a result, I feel like I spent several months of my life in a dream. A dream that I will never forget, but not necessarily something familiar to me.

The one thing I will never forget, though, is the attachment I felt. The way when I walked out of my flat every morning, I felt like I belonged. Was every minute of every day happy? No, but nevertheless, the city welcomed me, and I felt at home. When I returned to America, I was happy. Happy to see everyone I missed, and happy to have my own room, and happy to...umm...well... I fell like there is something missing here. It was hard for me to express because everyone was so happy to see me and wanted to hear story after story (which I gladly told in epic detail), but mostly because Alan feels at home here. And though he had a good trip, I don't think I could foresee him doing it again any time soon. He didn't really understand the burning in my heart to return. It was strange. And though I have returned to my normal life here, and I rarely think about my adventures in London and around the world, I cannot forget the feeling of home. And some day, I will go back. Maybe it won't be to stay (sigh), but I will go back again. For a great length of time. I will live my life there, if only for a short while. Because I can't let that feeling go. I won't.

Saying My Goodbyes...

This will be my last message from London. I know I haven't updated for a while and I will write about what has been happening since last time once I get home. I just wanted to send one last message while I am here.

It was great. Thanks for listening. Signing off for one last time.

Sincerely,

Rachel Cline

Down to the Wire

There are just over 10 days until I come home. 11 in fact. Considering how fast my first couple weeks here went that is practically no time at all. I haven't yet completed everything that I want to do in London and in Europe. I keep making silent promises to myself to return, but I don't know if that will happen. I hope it will though.

I haven't started packing yet. I'm definitely putting it off until the last minute. I want to make sure I have enough space to shove everything in and not leave stuff behind, but at this moment in time I have other concerns. Like making sure I finish what I came here to do.

Right now, I have As in all of my classes. Or at least the ones that I know the grades for. I am impressed with my ability to do so well in classes in a foreign country, though I must admit they weren't terribly difficult. Not in comparison to O Chem and my other sciences. Maybe I should have been an art major. Haha. No really though, college classes are so subjective and everyone thinks their major is the hardest, but when it comes down to it, writing a 15 paper is easier than taking a 3 hour Chemistry final. Really, try it sometime.

Leaving London is going to be a big swirl of emotions. Two weeks ago I really wanted to leave. Now that I only have a week left, I know it won't be enough time. I do want to go home, and I do want to stay. I'm not sure how I will feel when I get home. It will definitely be interesting though.

So, Saturday night we went to see Brittany's Host Brother's Band, The Sweet Resonance, play at a pub near where she lived. It was a nice night out of the flat, as we have been trying to find ways to stay out of the flat recently. Its just better when we aren't around for us and for my flatmates. They hate it when we are there, we hate being there, so it works out. Anyway, the band wasn't bad. They definitely aren't the worst band that I have ever heard, but they aren't top of my list either. It was nice to meet some of the people that she lives with on a daily basis, and they all seemed really nice. It was a cool experience. We also got our oysters scanned with a cool scann-y thinger on the special train that we took there. It was interesting. It makes me think of how different our lives actually are on a daily basis. I guess I had never thought about it before.

Anyway, Sunday was Easter and nothing much really happened. Alan and I were too lazy to actually navigate the half shut down Tube system to find a church to go to. Instead, we made phone calls to people whom we haven't spoken to in forever. Alan called his mom, I called Kiersten and Sam, Alan tried to call his dad, and I tried to call my family, but the last two had no luck. At least I tried though.

Yesterday was interesting. We had class in the morning as usual. Our last normal class of Shakespeare for the semester. Next week is the final and then we are down. Wow. Yeah. Anyway, after that, since we can't go back to the flat, we wanted to find something to do. So we decided that because it was a nice day we would try to go ride The Eye, which is something that we have yet to do despite having lived in London for 3 months. Anyway, we got down there and the line was just insanely long. It would have taken much longer than the two hours that we had planned to get tickets and therefore, we left to do other things. It was a beautiful day out after all. So, we took pictures of Westminster Abbey, Parliament, The Eye, The Thames, Sunset, and multiples of those combined.

Mostly this is because there is a photo competition on Friday that I want to enter, but I can't because I realized that even though I have been living in London, I don't have that many pictures of it. Though I guess I don't have many of Hummelstown either. I guess we just aren't impressed by the places we live no matter where they may be. Its weird. I have a lot from Scotland that I could enter. Unfortunately, only ones from London are allowed.

So yeah, anyways. I have lots of work to do before I leave, so I should be doing that now...

Wicked, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, and Good Weeks full of American Things

This entry is well over due. So much has happened in my last week here. So much that I am certain I have forgotten some things. I will do my best to include the whirlwind of events that have happened to me over the last week and a half and hope that I haven't forgotten anything.

We'll start where I left off on last, last Thursday the 2nd. We had class that day walking around the city again. It was a pretty cool trip until I tripped (haha no pun intended) and hurt my ankle. Don't worry it wasn't broken or anything. I didn't need crutches. It does still hurt now, but it isn't swollen any more. I was and am perfectly capable of caring for myself (so stop worrying mom). Needless to say though, that made class a bit more dreadful, and when it finally ended instead of limping back to the tube station, Alan and I made our way to Reagents park, which was closer, and prettier, and full of park benches where I could sit. I took some pictures of the flowers, which reminded me of the conservatory and my time spent there in Pittsburgh. I miss the conservatory. Buut Reagents park is a lot lovelier. We sat on a bench by a pond and watched these cool ducks with mohawks who don't just stick their head underwater for food, but actually go completely underwater, for a pretty long time. Atleast for a duck. Then we moved to a different park bench in the center of the rose gardens, which were bluming yet, but still exteremely beautiful. We made friends with a bird.

After that, we made our way back to the Tube station. On the way, we stopped and got soe Baskin Robins. It was funny because it is a very American ice cream company, but I have never seen an actual store in America. I was sad because I was looking through flavors, and they were all very American. They had Rocky Road and several other favorites of Americans, and I got my hopes up for moose tracks. But then I remembered that the British have this thing against peanutbutter, and even though there were 30 flavors, Moose Tracks wasn't there. So I got chocolate chip cookie dough and enjoyed my Americaness anyway.

I've found recently that I have been enjoying the pleasures of American life more. I'm hoping to put an end to that this week because I want to spend my last two weeks completely immersed in the pleasures of British life. I don't want to revert back to an American before I come home.

Anyways, that weekend all of my roommates were gone. It was lovely, even though the weekend itself was pretty uneventful. We did some work for homework and Alan did some stuff for jobs and we didn't go out very much. That makes me sad everytime it happens because I have at my fingertips one of the greatest cities in the world, and I have become so used to being here, that I don't even really take advantage of it anymore. Its like not going to HersheyPark because I live in Hershey. It's sad because my time here now is really starting to run out.

Anyways, Monday and Tuesday we had class as usual and the only really eventful moment was our gallery trip to TATE modern. I hate Tate modern. I hate the building. I hate the artwork. I hate the people. BUT. We had tickets for my art class to an exhibit on Constructionism and Rodechenko and Popova. Because it is a gallery you have to pay to get into, it was much less full and I actually really liked this artwork. It was better than the other works in the other galleries there.

Wednesday was really really amazing though. Wednesday we woke up early, got Starbucks (yeah.) and made our way to London Bridge to catch a train to Greenwich with Brittany. The best part about this train is the free-ness of it. I had always thought that Greenwich was far from London. But in all actuality it was an 8 minute free train ride with my oyster card. Win.

We got to Greenwich and it was pretty. It was close enough to London that we could still see the city. We could see the Eye and the Gurkin and various other buildings, and the city is right on the Thames, but it is so different. It has a very small town feel. We walked from the train station through some cute streets to the park that was there. It was warm enough to take my coat off, which hasn't been happening all that very much. It was lovely. From there we walked through the part to the royal observatory and the Prime Meridian. We walked around taking some pictures of the views from the hill and then went into the actual museum which was pretty cool! It was all about astronomy and time and the history of both. It was really neat! I looked through a telescope and saw pluto (haha the dog not the "planet") and eventually made our way down to take pictures of us standing on the Prime Meridian. 0° 0' 0" And the basis for Greenwich Mean Time. It was cool.

From there we walked to the Planetarium and more interactive part of the observatory. It was definitely made for little kids, which meant I had a blast there. We didn't get to see a planetarium show because at the time we were there the only ones they had playing were the little kid invasion of mars ones. It was still a pretty cool place though. After that we toured the free (I love Greenwich because of its Freeness) art galleries in the Queens House. It was a surprisingly normal house for a royal family, back when they used to stay there. It was beautiful and such, but not as much as would be expected. Though it also had many other uses through the years and several rennovations which probably had something to do with it.

When we had finished, Brittany had to go back to London for class, so we went with her and tried to decide on something to do for the rest of the afternoon. Taking after Brittany, we decided to get tickets to see Wicked that night. We ended up getting pretty lucky because when we got there they said they didn't have any seats together and we were just going to go and sit apart, but then she ended up giving us these seats which were originally £60 but we were getting them at the student rate of £25. she said we could have them because they were a bit restricted view by the hand rail, but we got there and realized that the hand rain is pretty much not in the way at all. It was totally worth it! It was an amazing production, with only some minor flaws that we could tell. I have realized that being in the musicals at school was really helpful when it comes to seeing shows now, because I pick up on details that other people don't always notice. Alan notices even more different things because of his stage crew experience, and together we just analyze the show to bits. Its great. We only wished Maya had been with us to make the show perfect. We decided you can't really fully enjoy Wicked unless Maya is sitting next to you! :-) But Brittany and Stacy were only one row away which was cool. We had a blast.

We went home and the next day had a class which took us to a Hindu temple. That was a really enjoyable class visit compared to the other ones we had had with that professor. We were able to talk with one of the people in charge of the temple and I had never realized how much I actually knew about the Hindu religion. In tenth grade we had learned about it in English when we read part of the Bagauvah Gita (excuse my spelling) but I never realised I had learned that much. The woman was explaining soul, and she used almost the exact same analogy that my teacher had used in 10th grade and I was really startled. It was cool though. There was one kid in class who insisted upon having an argument with her about the political aspect of the Untouchables of the Caste system. Most of the kids in class didn't even know what he was talking about, but we had learned about it in world cultures in 11th grade. What upset me though, was that the woman was talking about the religious aspect of the caste system and how she thought India was actually holding themselves back by having the caste system and how she didn't agree with it. But the kid kept going on about the politics and why its wrong and they were actually arguing the same point but the kid couldn't see this because he was so closed minded about the fact that India isn't doing it right and it is inhumane and he was pissed and didn't like anything she had to say even though she was agreeing with him. He was actually being really rude and she eventually told him that he should move to India and fight for the rights of the Untouchables if he feels that strongly and that finally shut him up.

After that, we walked to a store called Forbidden Planet, which I think I have mentioned here before. On the way there we stopped and got some Cinnabun which always reminds me of the PA turnpike. Like I said, I have really been living up the Americanisms this week. It was AMAZING! But we finally got there and had a good time walking around and looking at the books and comics and starwars figurines and stuff! We then made our way back to CAPA to print a map for our trip yesterday, and to get dinner. We went to Sainsburys and got a whole BBQ Roast Chicken and some cheese balls and tortia crisps. I really just haven't been able to pull myself away from America. But that turned out to be some of the best chicken I have ever eaten. It was really phenomenal. I ejoyed every last bite. And there really were no bites left when we had finished. We finished dinner with a pack of Wine Gums from the vending machine. They are kind of like gummy life savers, except that they taste different, and they are British, which makes me feel a bit better.

Yesterday, though, was what really made the week a winner. It was completely filled with Americanisms and good luck, with a little bad luck too. But it was worth it. Yesterday, we woke up really early and made our way to Liverpool Street Station. There, we got McDonald's for breakfast, and can I just say, that not only was it as delicious as McDonalds for breakfast in America, it was better. They used better quality meat and eggs and it was superb. The hashbrown was exactly like in America and I loved every second of it. From there we got on a bus. It was supposed to be a train, but they are having rail replacement bus services because of construction. So, the bus took us to Ingatestone and we picked up a train there. The train ride wasn't terribly exciting. I think I fell asleep. But we ended up in Norwich.

Norwich was cool, but there was a very specific reason we went there. There is a show playing on stage there. It will be moving to London 5 days after we leave which is why we had to see it there. The show is sold out. It has been since the tickets went on sale. The reason it is sold out is because the two lead actors were Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen. The guy who played on Star Trek and the guy who played Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings. We didn't have tickets, but we were going to wait at the Theater and see if there had been any returns. As far as the show was concerned, I hadn't been terribly interested. The only reason I wanted to go was because Alan wanted to go so bad. The trip was a surprise for him, and we went and kept our fingers crossed.

We walked from the train station to the theater, because we were hoping to get there early enough that no one else would have been in front of us in line for tickets. But when we got there the theater was closed. We found out later that it was a bank holliday (Good Friday) and therefore they didn't open until later. But at the time we didn't know for sure. We found a carnival! right next to the theater. It was very much like the street carnivals we have at home. Complete with unsafe looking carnival rides, games, and food. We were going to get burgers for lunch but decided it was too expensive. So we went to get lunch at Subway. One, because I am on an American high right now, and two because it was really close by so we could keep checking to make sure there wasn't a queue forming. After lunch we went to check again to see if they had opened, but they hadn't. So we walked to a mall near by and got some really good fruit smoothies. Then we walked around Borders and outside again. It was a strange little mall, because you had to walk this path through a cemetary to get into it if you came through the front. that was kind of weird. People just sat on the grass talking and eating like it was a park. But it was a cemetary from the 1850s and earlier. It kind of creeped me out.

We went back and checked the theater and then walked down into this pretty neat market place. We got drinks and then walked to the castle. The castle is pretty cool, but we didn't pay to tour it. It seemed like it was kind of the goth-emo-punk kid hangout. But we sat on a bench and looked at the flowers and hill leading up to the castle. Then we walked into the castle mall to use the bathrooms. There we found a cool toy store and hung out there for a while. We also found an Auntie Anne's. And yes, we got some. Lol. Enjoying the pretzles, we walked through the streets or Norwich back to the theater to see if it had opened yet or if there was a queue waiting to get in. There wasn't, so we went and sat on a bench in the park near the carnival. We could see the theater from there and watched some dogs and kids playing in the park. It was fun. Alan though he saw a crowd gathering outside the theater, and we walked up there, but he hadn't. We stayed up there anyway and hung out outside the theater. We sat on a bike rack for an hour or so while I talked about leaving to get some cheesey chips and doughnuts from the carnival. I couldn't leave though, becasue I was in intense I-will-get-alan-tickets-mode. Another guy finally came looking for tickets and we talked to him for a while and he "did the proper british thing and made a queue behind us." That made us the first in line!

They finally opened the doors, but only for people who had restuarant reservations. So we waited a bit more, and they let us in. I asked the lady at the desk for a list to put our names on for return tickets, but she said they wouldn't do that until an hour before the show. So we waited. Then this old woman came in and returned her tickets. The woman called me over and said because I was first in line i could have them even though they hadn't started the list yet. I almost kissed her!!! I wanted to scream or jump or something! Anything! I was so excited! I have never been that lucky before! I didn't even want to go and now I did because Alan and I were just so happy! We went to the carnival to celebrate. We got cheesey chips and doughnuts and took lots of silly pictures! We had to keep moving because when we sat down we got antsy! We walked back to the mall to use the bathrooms again and wandered a bit. Then we made our way back down to the theater. We bought programs and posters and finally took our seats!! It really was amazing! Waiting for Godot reminded me a lot of Rozencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. It was very funny. At intermission we got ice cream bars and waited for the second act. We knew we were going to have to leave early. The show wouldn't end until 10 or later. Our train left at 10 and was over a mile away. We left at 9:50 and sprinted to the train station.

We didn't make it. We didn't make it. We had left early. We had run. We had been too slow. I had been too slow. I couldn't run the whole way. I had to walk. If I had run the whole way we would have made it. It was my fault. It was 10:01 when we got to the station. We could have made it, but there were no more trains to London that night. I didn't know what to do. We had had such a great day. We had made its so close. We had gotten the tickets and had the best day ever and we had missed our only train home. I freaked out. I always plan everything and I am always in charge and I just didn't know what to do. So Alan took over. Cuz when my life falls to pieces, he picks them up and puts them back together. And he told me to get up off my butt and walk with him to the bus station so that we could find a bus home. There was supposed to be a bus home at 11:25, so we waited. And it never came. And they shut the lights off. I knew we were gonna be stuck there forever. Without a place to stay or sleep. It was devastating. We tried to get inside the station but the doors were locked. So we walked away. Then a man came to the door and asked us what we were doing and where we were trying to get to...he said there was another bus coming at 1:15 and if we wanted to we could wait inside. Alan talked to him for a while and tried to get us tickets and had to make some phone calls and ended up spending a lot of money to get us home...when we should have just got on the train that we already had tickets for...so it was my fault he had to pay to get us home...and it was over a 4 hour bus ride to get us home...we didn't end up back in our flats until 6 in the morning. So we went to bed. And I woke up at 3:30 this afternoon...

Alan decided that it was all worth it. Cuz unlike me, he can keep his head under pressure. I can plan and pack and make my intenerary perfect, but I kind of fall apart when my plans go awry and thats why he is here. Because he can get us home at 1 in the morning when I'm sure were stuck. And he decided that the money and waiting and trouble was worth it because we had the best day ever in Norwich. We got to see at least a part of an amazing play with amazing actors and eat carnival food and enjoy ourselves. So, I guess it was worth it. I've never seen him smile so much, and that was worth it.

Now, we have an hour to leave. We are going to see Brittany's host brother's band play at a pub. Which is funny because we only woke up a couple hours ago, but anyways...that should be a fun event to make up for our awful night last night on the bus...

Talk to you later!

Rantings, Ravings, and Thoughts on My Time Here...

So, I've never been homesick in my life. I honestly can't even really say that I am right now. I don't really miss home, as in Hummelstown. I don't terribly miss my family or life back in America. I do, however, miss people from school. I miss Pittsburgh, and I miss the things I have available to me there.

I miss delicious $5 Chinese food. I miss American pizza, that you can get with extra cheese and big pepperoni, and for $5 at 2 am. I miss food that doesn't spoil in two days due to a lack of preservatives. I miss having my own room. I miss swimming pools. I miss cheap movie theaters. I miss potato chips that come in big bags. I miss going to market to go in my slippers and buying a microwave dinner with meal plan money. I miss my friends from school, who even though I don't see all the time are always there for me. I miss whip cream that has sugar in it.

I don't miss public bathrooms, market central, security guards, and buses that are ALWAYS late. In fact, I don't miss the American public transportation system one bit. I don't miss waiting for an elevator, teeny-tiny windows, Panther Central queues, signing out housing carts, and being locked out of my room.

When I leave Britain, I know there will be some things I'll miss. I know there will also be some things I'll be glad to leave behind. I haven't had the greatest time ever here, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. In fact, what I got on this trip was the world, or at least part of it. And for that I will never ever regret my experiences here.

When I leave, I will miss the tube, buses, trains and all other public transportation. I will miss soda made with real sugar. I will miss being no more than 5 hours from every major European city that I can think of. I will miss French Crepes. I will miss German Pretzels. I will miss Italian Gelato. I will miss English Sausage. I will miss cream tea, and biscuits with jam. I will miss Nutella. I will the age and culture of everything. I will miss the history. I will miss my kitchen, bathroom with good water pressure, and dish washer. I will miss being of legal drinking age, and applewood cheddar cheese.

I won't miss lime scale. I won't miss only having 4 channels on the TV. I won't miss not having a clothes dryer. I won't miss the idea of no personal space. I won't miss only standing on the right side of an Escalator. I won't miss walking on the left hand side of the side walk. I won't miss walking like I'm running. I won't miss dogs that aren't dog-like because they are trained to be robots. I won't miss the dirt. I won't miss the smell of Paris or the graffiti of Rome. I won't miss food that goes bad, and the fact that everything is twice as expensive as in America. I won't miss constantly buying store brand products.

I think most of all though, I won't miss the other Americans. If there is one thing I have learned, its that 3/4 of the people who came on this trip don't give one damn about any one except themselves. Not only do they not care how they treat others, they don't care what kind of image they give Americans abroad. They are rude, loud, and drink too much. Many of the world stereotypes that exist for Americans really are true, and they embody themselves in many of the other students on the trip. I am disappointed and dismayed that they act the way they do.

I know I'm not perfect. I know I can never get rid of the American in me, nor do I want to. But I do have resepct for people and their culture, and I do know how to be polite and quiet and kind when I should be. I may not have been born with thousands of dollars, but I was taught respect and manners. I don't think the others here were. I pity Americans for their inability to leave behind their worser qualities in order to make people believe America isn't as bad as it sounds. I do want to smack all of them and make them understand that they are only propogating these stereotypes.

But mostly, I want to smack them all for treating me like shit. I absolutely cannot stand most of the people I live and interact with on a daily basis. There are a few people I love and will miss when I go home. There are a few people I have enjoyed my time with and consider family here. But the vast majority of them I cannot stand. For one, I have never done anything against them. I have never told them not to drink so much that they throw up in the couch (don't ask), and I never told them not to sleep with countless guys. I have never been rude to them, and I have never spoken out against them. Yet, for some reason, they are all running around telling people that I have ruined their lives. That I am the reason they can't have fun here, and they treat me like sub-human trash. It upsets me, and there is nothing that I can do about it. If I said something to them, they would only add it to their list of reasons to hate me. And its not just me. They don't like Alan either.

I suppose every group needs a scapegoat. I guess since I am the different one, the one who trys to fit in with the culture here, the one who doesn't drink until my liver explodes, the one who hasn't had sex with any and every random guy I have met, and the one who acts like an intelligent human being, hoping to change the awful stereotype that they have broadcast, it is only fitting that that scapegoat should be me.

Luckily, I only have 3 weeks left here. I will miss this place. I will miss many things about this place. I will miss my time here. But when I get on the plane to come home, and leave behind the people here, I will not miss them. Yes, I want to come home. But most of all, I want to come back here. I want to come back without 200 other college aged Americans. I want to come back to experience the place as someone who has lived here and knows the city, and some of the world. I want to come back without the looming cloud of outcast over my head.

I love London, and I love Europe. But I truly wish that I could say I loved it more. And I know I could, if they hadn't come on the trip as well.

Oh yeah, I also won't miss having timed internet. Everyone should be allowed to use as much internet as they like. Hmpf.

Scotland, and its superlatives!

So, I apologize if this is uninteligible. I Just woke up, and I'm writing in Word pad which has no spell check. Lovely thinking there on my part. But its too late now and I'm too lazy to open word, and you are intellegent, so I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out!

Anyway, so Scotland! Yay! Scotland was fun and beautiful. I don't think it was my favorite trip, but there were a lot of little things which contributed to that. Mostly I think it was that I really just didn't want to travel anymore. I kind of consider London a home now and its nice to get to spend time in a familiar place. Also, about the last 6 weekends prior I had been travelling. Paris, Germany, Italy, Wales...the list goes on and the night before it was probably 11oclock and I was sitting in my room trying to decide if I even wanted to pack...lol It was a 3 day trip and in my unamused mind I was considering wearing the same thing for 3 days. Ultimately though, I did pack. And I did wake up at 4 or 5 ish the next morning to get to the train station, even though while walking there I really thought about turning around and going back to bed. (Just so you know, this weekend I stayed in London and it was lovely.)

Then we made it to the train station and found some train station take away breakfast...mmm...not. I think we got cinnamon rolls which actually weren't terrible. After checking in, we had to wait a bit as our train didn't leave until 8. They wanted us there really early since the people on this trip have a habit of showing up about an hour late for things.So we got on the train and I tried to sleep, but since it was 8, the sun was already up and I couldn't pass up the beautiful scenery that I kept seeing. (At this point in my life even trees and grass make me really happy because all I ever see in London is concrete. They have parks and stuff, but you go there and it feels very artificial. The grass is mowed, the ponds all have concrete edges and the trees are clearly landscaped. Its nice for a break, but it just doesn't feel natural. Scotland helped with that a lot. It was gorgeous there.

The further north we went, we started to see coast. I'm not sure if it was an ocean or a sea or a lake, though it was definitely very massive and surrounded by these beautiful cliffs. Every so often there would be a cute little light house. It wasn't actually a bad train ride. It was 4 hours long though.

So, we finally arrived in Edinburgh (Edinboro for pronounciations sake). There we met our tour guide who did wear a kilt the whole time. He was a pretty nice guy most of the time, though he didn't like it when people talked over him or would listen to their ipods while he was talking and he would occasionally tell us to shut up. He did it in a funny way, but after a while I got tired of listening to the other kids complain about him. They really didn't like him. I thought he was interesting, though he was a bit long winded. He would occassionally talk for an hour about what could have been said in 10 minutes or so. That really seemed to bother everyone else. But what started out as a curiousity for us, became very hysterical, and then evetually got quite annoying was his Scottish pride. He was very Scottish. His accent was very Scottish, and he had the pride to go with it. Everything came from Scotland. Everything originated in Scotland. Everything is the best in Scotland. The ones that stick in my mind the most are that Scotland has the best bridge in the world, and Scotland has the biggest dolphins in the world. Somehow, I don't think either are true, but I do think he absolutely believed they were.

So, we went to our hostel in Edinburgh and then got a short quick walking tour of the city. We learned about old Edinburgh and new Edinburgh and why they made the new city, and then we got the change to explore around. We mostly walked through old Edinburgh and saw the castle, the palace, the pub where JK started writing Harry Potter. It was all in a really cute little town. We went to a pub for dinner and had been told to try a local ale that is actually pumped from the tap. What I mean is that beers in America you pull the handle down and stuff pours out. All the local ones have to be pumped and aren't carbonated. Anyway, so Alan decided to be adventurous and try some and it actually turned out to be green, which we think was left over from St. Patricks day the tuesday before. It wasn't very good, but it was pretty cool. The food was amazing though.

I forgot to mention that before our dinner and after walking around we climbed this mountain. It was awesome. Not the climbing, but the views. We didn't climb to the very top, but we made it to the top of a ridge that was high enough up that when I sat down and dangled my feet off the edge Alan about had a heartattack because he was so scared for me. :-)

So yeah, explored, climbed, ate some food, the we got some ice cream, and went back to the hostel because we were tired from getting up at 4 in the morning. The next morning we were up pretty early again. We got some breakfast and were off to the bus. Once there we drove for a bit through some really pretty scenery in Scotland and made our way to the William Wallace memorial momument thinger. It was another hike up another mountain, but it was pretty cool once we got up there. After that we made our way to the Scottish highlands (according to the tour guide, the ONLY wilderness left if Europe. Its that pride thing again. By the end of the trip we figured the Scottish kids probably have a class in primary school on how to be proud). It was beautiful though. We stopped a bit in to pet and feed a scottish highland cow (hairy coo, if your a scotsman) His name was Hamish which translates to James and he was cute! If you put the carrot in your mouth he would give you a kiss, but I wasn't quite that daring. He was pretty slobbery.

So then we ate lunch at this tiny little rest stop thing which kind of operated highschool cafeteria style. I didn't realize how far removed I was from that until I got there and forgot how cafeteria things like that work...yeah...But the food was good. It took me agood ten minutes at the rest stop t o find a store that sold water. I was thirsty pretty much the whole trip and I eventually had to go to this camp like store place thing. They sold firewood and stuff because nearby there is a trail that takes about a week to hike and they sell supplies for the campers. But as a result, they didn't sell anything in sizes under a liter. I felt like I was in America for a bit and proudly carried my liter of water with me...till I drank it about 2 hours later. :-)

In the highlands we passed about 60 different lochs and they were all really beautiful. It really is unspoiled nature out there. There were little streams from the melting snow that made waterfalls at the cliffs, every mountain had a name. It was really just a nice place. We made a photo stop at a place called the 3 sisters, which were 3 mountains with this gorge thing running up the center. It was really quite lovely and everyone took a pipcture of themselves pretending to jump off the cliff that was there. And we saw some deer! Yay! lol I mean it really isn't that exciting because they are everywhere in PA...but I haven't seen one in oh...forever.

Then back on the bus and off to Loch Ness, where I saw Urquart Castle Ruins and Nessie (jk, I didn't see her, but we do have a prettyfunny joke about it). Loch Ness was beautiful. The water is so deep, and it was this dark blue color. It was surrounded by trees and hills and other lovely things and the ruins were really picturesque. I told Alan to take a picture of me with Nessie, but when we looked at the picture, Nessie just wasn't smiling. So, we had to delete it obviosly. Josh said we should have had some keys or a little yellow bird to jingle at her...but she just wasn't cooperating. According to the tourguide there is overwhelming amounts of scientific evidence that point at some rather large fish creature in the loch, but because it is so deep and so dark no one really knows what. He seemed to think it was an extraordinarily large carp. I think it is definitely a prehistoric dinosaur fish monster. And, it probably eats people.

I stuck my hand in Loch Ness though and then it was back on the bus to Inverness, where we spent the night. We went out to a Weatherspoons while we were there. They serve really cheap food and 99 p drinks. The food was actually pretty decent as far as 6 pounds was concerned. By 6 pounds I mean 6.99 ish for both Alan and me. Afterwards we headed to a more expensive bar, club, pub place, where there were so many people you acutally couldn't move. But we went because they were supposed to have some good folk music and such. We hung out there for a while, until I got hiccups which lasted for about an hour and made me miserable. So, we left and headed in for the night. We were up early again the next morning, and off the to bus again.

The first stop of the day was a giant battle feild where the Scots fought the English...and lost pretty terrible. We watched and made fun of this ridiculous 3d video thingy of the battle and then I went to the gift shop and Alan went to play with the replica muskets.

Most of the rest of the day was spent on the bus. We made a stop at a tiny little town for lunch and no one had any time and we were all late. After that we stopped at a whiskey distillery, and got a tour which was a fiasco because apparaently once the people had a group of french students steal a bunch of stuff and put pebbles in the toilets so now they don't like students and didn't want to honor our reservations. Our tour guide ended up arguing with the lady for like 20 minutes, and we did eventually get the tour and a free sample, but they weren't exactly pleasant people and we didn't get a chance to visit the gift shop because they sent us away. They really didn't like us...whatever.

Well, because of all the delays, we ended up getting a late start on the road to the train, and had to sprint to catch the train. I actually mean sprint. I'm not exaggerating. Our tour guide ran ahead to find out which train we had to get on, and then we sprinted. We made it though, with like 30 seconds to spare.

The train ride back was ridiculous. What was a 4 hour ride there, was a 7 hour ride back with a bus transfer in the middle. That was the train ride where my roommate told everyone how I had ruined her life, so I ended up getting really angry and moody and just refused to talk to any one or look at any one and our school accompany person really pissed me off and eventually left Alan and I behind at the one train station. We had our tickets, but still, as the group leader your supposed to keep everyone together though. She tends to be very much like a teenager though still, and is really good friends with our roommates who hate us. She was walking around telling everyone that she really wanted people to try to stay together, and even though she thought 45 people was too much for the one car we should all try to squeeze on. But when she got to Alan and I who were standing a bit further away from the group, but close enough to hear everything, she said "I think 45 people is a but much for one train, you can try to squeeze on if you want, but I don't think we will all fit." She then proceeded to tell us all the times that the trains came through going to London for the half hour or so...basically, what she was saying is we aren't all going to fit. You guys should catch a later train. She told everyone else that she would wait if there were people left behind, but when the next train came she jumped right on despite the fact that we were still standing there. We got an email the next day asking if we made it home ok, saying she would have stayed but thought we wanted some privacy. Which I only wanted because I was about ready to punch someone. They would have deserved it.

So yeah, that was my Scotland trip. Despite the ending, it really wasn't bad. It was nice to get out of the city for a bit, and the landscape was quite beautiful. I could have done without the rest of the kids on the trip, but it was still nice. I had a good time. I would really like to go back without the rest of the people, but then again I have said that about every place I have been.

The week after we got back was just class again. Then Saturday, Alan, Brittany, and I went to a Football Match. The game ended in a disappointing tie, but it was fun to watch. I don't understand football. Its very much like soccer, which I also don't understand, but there is a lot more pushing, shoving, pulling, and tripping involved. It was pretty rough and a couple guys got hurt. One got carried out on a stretcher. American soccer isn't that rough. I enjoyed myself though, and got some pretty cool pictures. Afterwards we went home and made Stromboli and it was delicious.

The next morning was daylight svaings time, and I forgot. I ended up over sleeping for an hour. It sucked. But we met up with Brittany again and went to speakers corner. We listened to some really crazy religious nuts up on their step ladders ranting about everything. The audiance was just as fun to listen to. It was free though, and considering the number on my bank statement, that was nice. I had a great time just listening to them. After that, we had planned to get some starbucks and then go see the Oxford, Cambridge crew race on the Thames. It has been a long standing tradition and Cambridge was going to see if they could maintain their victory status. Unfortunately, we got talking in Starbucks and ended up losing track of time, and missed the race. We made it down to the river, and there was a pretty happening party going on, but there were no boats and no rowers. I was sad, but not a lot. It was still an experience. When we went home, we made left overs for dinner, and I cleaned my room. Then Alan did some applications for jobs, and then we went to bed. Now, it is today, and I have class in about an hour and shouldn't be sitting here writing this, but I am. Oh well.

Later!

Wales, Day 2

So, the next morning we woke up and got some free breakfast. By breakfast I mean toast and croissants and tea and jam. It was good though. Then we got on the bus and drove for a bit to Big Pitt Mining museum. Big Pitt is an active coal mine in South Wales, but it is also a museum. The tour guides are all miners who have worked in the mine and know the history of it. We all got hard hats with lights and belts with heavy battery packs and oxygen thingers.

So we go down 300 ft into the ground in a rattling elevator in the dark. Brittany and I were reminded of the scene from October Sky, except that we couldn't look up at the stars cuz the elevator was inside...and it was day light. Anyway, the tour was interesting and I think I learned a bit more than the last time I was in a mine. The worst problem was that all of the ceilings throughout the mine were about 4.5 ft high. So any time we were walking places we would have to be ducking and it got a bit uncomfortable. But we saw the stables underground and learned about ventilation systems and other things. It was pretty cool.

I was never so happy to come back up to the ground. The mine was cool, but it was also dark, damp, and difficult to walk through. I do sympathize with the miners who worked there for their whole lives. But after we got out we went to the gift shop and bought some post cards and I got a mug and I got Alan some recipe thingers. I had a good time and my mug is awesome because it has the Welsh flag on it and their flag is an awesome dragon thing.

So after that, we got back on the bus to drive to this adorable little town where we got lunch. We didn't have much time to walk around and explore, but we did get to see a 13th century bridge and eat some delicious Sunday roast. It was kind of buffet style which was interesting because I haven't seen anything like it here yet, but the food was good and we really enjoyed ourselves.

After lunch we speed walked ourselves back to the bus and then realized it wasn't necessary because we had to wait forever for these 3 girls who were getting icecream. When we finally got moving we were off on the last leg of our journey. Following the path of the Wye River we made our way through some beautiful landscapes. Our destination was the beautiful Tintern Abbey.

Tintern Abbey is a ruin that stands in the middle of a small town. When it was built, however, it was entirely secluded from any civilization. The monks wanted their solitude and built their abbey in the beautiful landscape. It was really cool to see what was remaining of the abbey and what had been lost forever. The scene was really impressive, as the monks would have built nearly everything by hand (as much as possible of course) and I just didn't expect it to be so large. To have seen it in its entirety would have been magnificent. It was really a beautiful place.

So from there we journeyed home. It was a several hour bus ride and we were all a little tired. The best part of the ride home was undoubtedly the Badgers for 2 Miles sign...its whole purpose to warn people of the badgers that could make their way on to the road. It was glorious. :-)

But we finally got home and it was nice to be back. Alan and I, being stuffed from our amazing lunch still weren't hungry enough for dinner, but eventually went and bought some frozen food from the 24 hour store below our apartment. It wasn't great but it got us by.

Right now, I am supposed to be researching Paul Nash, a British war time and surrealist artist. I have a paper due about him on Tuesday which involves me critiquing 3 pieces of his artwork that I see in person in a museum here in London. I mentioned it was due Tuesday, right, because tomorrow at 7:15 in the morning I'm getting on a train and heading to Scotland where I will see Edinburgh, Inverness, Loch Ness, and the Highlands. It promises to be a beautiful trip with impressive landscapes. Unfortunately, it also means I won't be getting back until late Sunday night, leaving me Monday to write my 6 page paper...including seeing and critiquing the art...did I mention I have class on Monday. Its right in the middle of the day too, from 1:30-4:30 and all of the museums are a good half hour or more away from school. I'm pretty much screwed. But rest assured. I will succeed. It will be finished by 10:30 am Tuesday morning if it kills me. It's all good. No worries.

Anyway, I still have yet to pack for tomorrow morning and it is almost 9:00 pm here. I'm actually really tired of packing. I want to go on this trip. I'm really excited. But part of me just wants to keep my clothes on their hangers and out of a bag, to sleep in my own bed, to not have to wake up super duper unreasonably early, and to just stay put. Its awful to say, but I'm really tired of traveling. But don't get me wrong. I want to see Scotland. Just have to take the good with the bad, ya know. I can't have everything.

On that note, goodnight.

Wales: One More Adventure...Day 1

Today is Monday, which means last night I returned home from Wales. Wales was a nice break from London and the other cities that Alan and I have visited so far. There were green hills, full grown trees, grass, and sheep. Lots of sheep. In fact, Wales reminded me a lot of Central PA, if you replace all the cows with sheep. And maybe add twice as many.

We left London pretty early after stopping to pick up some kids from other study abroad programs. On the motorway, we stopped at a reststop, which pretty much killed every American reststop. We got really tasty breakfast sandwiches there and some food for Lunch. Then we got back on the bus and drove towards Caerphilly. Once there, we ate lunch and then got a tour of the castle and some time to explore. It was a pretty cool castle, and fairly intact, despite spending much of its time not in use. Our tourguide was friendly and knowledgeable and told some interesting stories about the place and the people who had stayed there. The weather was beautiful, and we were all pretty sad to get back on the bus.

We didn't have nearly enough time to explore as I would have liked, and the happened pretty much everywhere we went on the trip. We spent far too long on a bus, and the weather was pretty enough to make me really want to be walking outside. But we did get to see a lot of different places that I wouldn't have seen otherwise. In the gift shop at Caerphilly, I bought an air freshener made from sheep poo paper. Its pretty sweet!

Anyway, after Caerphilly, we went to an outdoor museum of Welsh life. It was kind of like Williamsburg or a tour of the Amish community or something similar, as houses and business from ancient to modern Wales had been transported there. All the houses were decorated appropriately and had people working in them to explain things. There was also a sheep farm and because its spring there were lots of baby lambs! We got to watch one stand up for the first time and they were adorable!!

After our trip to the museum, we headed to Cardiff, the capitol city of Wales. This was the only place where we had a sufficient amount of time to explore. We walked around the city a bit before finding a place to eat. We ate in a nice little pub called the Goatmajor, and it had pictures of goats on the wall and stuff, which I find appropriate considering the number of sheep in the country. The people who worked there were really nice and the food was very cheap and delicious. There, Brittany ordered a half pint of Brains, the Welsh beer that everyone there drinks. She let me try a sip, and it reminded me of the Paulner beer from Munich, but I wasn't a big fan. Instead, Alan and I got, on her recommendation, half pints of Strongbow, a cider that is actually really good. We sat there and talked for a while, watching a bit of the Rugby on TV.

The rugby was cool. The Welsh are really big into it and their team had played and won a game earlier in the day. So, the whole city was out celebrating in Rugby shirts or costumes or drag...yeah, I dunno. But the city was pretty wild with excitement, and we watched some of the Irish-Scottish game. I don't really understand the rules, but it was fun to watch.

After dinner, we walked around some more down to Cardiff's main stadium, and then we headed back to the hotel, where Brittany and Alan tought me to play rummy. We played one game and I won!! Yay, beginners luck! It was pretty exciting. I should mention the hotel though. It was an interesting place. I shared a room with Brittany and the room had bunk beds. But they weren't normal bunk beds. The bottom bed was a double bed, and the top bunk was turned the opposite direction, sideways above the double. Brittany offered to sleep on the top, so I got the double bed, which to my surprise was far too big. I've become so used to sleeping in tiny little hostel beds or my twin bed here that a bed that size was just too much. It was also hard. It was a foam mattress, like one that you leave an indent in after you have sat in one spot for a while, but at first didn't give at all. I layed down without realizing and it was like laying on the floor.

The toilet was also weird because it was in a closet. A teeny-tiny little closet that I bumped my elbows on everytime I tried to move. And the light reminded me of a spotlight on stage. It was awkward. Not as much so as the shower though, which I didn't use. The shower was attached to the main room, not separate. It had a frosted glass swinging door, so you could kind of see in from like the beds or sink or stuff. It wasn't a big deal, it was just unusual.

So, we went to bed and that was the first part of my journey in the beautiful country of Wales. I have class soon, so I'll give you the info on day 2 a bit later.

Spring Break, Part 2, Rome

Well, its been a whole week since spring break and I have yet to tell you all about the last half of my journey. During my last four days of break I found myself in Rome, Italy. We left the apartment at 2 in the morning to get a bus to get to the train station to get another bus to get to the airport. Yeah. Anyway, needless to say we were really tired when we finally got to Italy. But on the flight, it was a beautiful and looking out the window I could see the Alps and really cool other landscapes.

Ok, so we got to Italy and had the best experience with customs that we have ever had. The man didn't even say anything. He just looked at our passports and stamped them and handed them back. No questions or comments. No hassle. Beautiful. The airport we flew into was kinda sketchy. We thought it was just because it was Rome's small cheap airport, but it turned out that actually that is the way that most of Rome is. We asked information how to get to where we were going and purchased the cheapest public transportation that we yet have!

When we got to the hostel, it ended up being kind of like the airport. It was on the second floor of some random building, and it was dirty and we were tired and we just didn't want to deal with it...but we found out later that all of Rome is like that. So, we got a map...after finding out that our hostel didn't provide any pamphlets for tours or anything... We decided to just find our own way. We walked and saw some ruins and walked toward the Colosseum, saw it and the forum and some other things. We got our first gelato and generally just walked around until around 8:30 ish. The best part of the day was that weather was warm and beautiful.

The following morning I got a shower. The water barely came out. The drain flooded. It was so small I could barely move. But for 60 euros for 2 people for 4 nights, why am I complaining. But I refused to take a shower the rest of the time, and used my towel as a blanket, since I also refused to use those!

After getting ready to go in the nasty hostel we left to walk to the Vatican. The previous day we found information for a free tour there. First we walked up to the Spanish steps and threw coins in the Trevi Fountain and saw the Pantheon. We arrived in time, after getting gelato and pizza and other delicious Italian foods (excepts mostly gelato and pizza). Our tour guide was a group of seminary students from America who were studying in the Vatican and they knew pretty much everything about St. Peter's. In fact, our tour was a 3 hour tour only of St. Peter's Basilica. It was fascinating. I loved it. It was the greatest tour we had there (and the only tour). I learned a lot.

Afterwards we wanted to visit the Sistine Chapel, but it was closed, so we walked to get more gelato (we tried about 25 flavors between the two of us by the time we left). Then we went to tried to find a restaurant that we looked up on the internet the night before. But it turns out that Italians shut down their restaurants between about 2/3 o'clockish and don't open again until 7:30. It's really unfortunate because we eat a lot earlier than 7:30 and a lot later than 2:00...

So, instead we walked around Trevi Fountain and went gift shopping and got more gelato and found a different restaurant. The last 3 days ended up being a lot better than the 1st one. We still retired early though and went to bed for the next day of walking. Which we did.

The next morning we bought breakfast...as in a giant pastry roll thing from the convenience store next to our hostel. We toured the Sistine Chapel that morning in the gorgeous sun. The we walked down to tour the Forum and Colosseum which had been closed in the morning. We did the Forum first and walked around until it closed. Then we walked down to see Circus Maximus, as the Colosseum closed before we got there. Then we got dinner, and walked up to the Popolo. We met a random salesman guy to whom we pretended not to speak English. Then we went home for bed.

The next morning we woke up and toured the Colosseum. After that we got on a train to go to Ostia Antica, which other than the Vatican was the best part of the trip. It was a gorgeous day and we toured the ruins in this city and it was glorious. I could have walked around all day. The ruins were phenomenal! After that we got back on the train and went to the beach. The sand was black, and also dirty. It was the off season and the beach hadn't been combed in forever. It was gross and we had to jump some barricades to get in. But there were some surfers there too so we weren't the only one who jumped it. It was too cold to swim, but I stuck my hand in the Med and picked some seashells. We went back to Rome for the night and got dinner and our last Gelato of the trip. Then we packed our bags and headed to bed.

The next morning we flew back to London, and were never so happy to be home in our lives. We got real showers and real beds and it was phenomenal. This weekend we are heading to Wales, so I'll update you on that when I get hope. Sorry I didn't write more about this, but my roommates are drunk and loud and I'm distracted...yeah. Anyways, later!

Spring Break, Part 1, Germany

So, It's about that time again. Time to tell you all about everything I have done for the last week. I was really nervous about everything working out, but as it turns out, everything went surprisingly well. I did plan it that way, but I was shocked really. We'll start around 9 pm last Thursday, February 26th. Our bags were packed and ready to go. We had wanted to sleep but never got around to it. We walked out the door to get on the Tube. We got to the bus stop really early and finally got on the bus to go. It was just us and one other guy, and we tried to sleep a little. We got to the airport as scheduled, but as scheduled happened to be the night before our flight was scheduled to leave. So we found a comfy bench at Burger King, and I slept a while, while Alan watched the bags. Around Midnight or 1 am, a man came by and told us we had to move cuz they were closing that section of benches. So we moved to a table inside. Inside burger king there was a TV playing World News Tonight, and I was never so excited in my life to hear an American voice! Unfortunately, that voice stopped me from sleeping any more...so I bought a cheeseburger. At 1 in the morning. At an airport. In England. Win.

After that we gave up sleeping in burger king and went to find out terminal. On the way we found a nice billboard-y thing that showed like departures and stuff and I slept under there for a while. When I woke up, Alan slept for a while. Then we went and checked in and went through security with no problems, except Alan's belt which continually gave us problems. Through securty, we waited in the departures area for which gate our plane was leaving from and Alan slept on a more comfortable bench (it had padding!!) until the sun came up. We finally found out which gate was ours and headed out. We got on the plane and were off to Munich.

We arrived in Munich and made it through passport control ok (which by the way, is the scariest thing ever any time we enter a country!). We left the arrivals area and found an information booth. There, I got to speak my first German since high school...to a German Person. :-D I was really excited! Anyway, she told us how to get from where we were to where we were going by S-Bahn (like a metro or tube or subway). We got off the S-Bahn and found our way to the hostel, where we checked in and found our room. The room was large and full of 20 beds, but they were clean and the people were nice. The bathrooms were also clean, and after locking up our stuff we left to go exploring.

The day was a bit chilly and foggy, but the city was great. We stopped and got Bratwrust and Mezzo Mix which is a Coke brand soda that is like Orange soda mixed with Coke. So good! Then we walked around a bit and went exploring. We saw the Rathaus and the Viiktualienmarkt (spell check anyone?). The city is not eye catching in the way that Paris or parts of London are. It is all very modern, considering that it was bombed to the ground during WWII. But it has charm and appeal and I absolutely fell in love with it. If I ever move to Europe, you will find me in that city.

We walked down around some monuments and listened in on a tour for a minute. I liked what the tour guide was talking about which was lucky because we had him as a tour guide the very next day! We made our way to the Englischgarten, trying to find a chines tower thing (which is actually a bier garten) on the map. It turned out that because of the snow and rain, the whole park was slushy and wet, so we didn't end up finding it. But it was beautiful and on the way there we got our first Barvarian Pastries and Pretzels. Delicious.

As it was starting to rain, we headed back to the Hostel. There we asked for a suggestion on a good place to eat, and found our way to the Augustiner Braeu Haus. They brew their own bier there, but we only got water (which I rather regret now). Their food was good though, and the place had charm. We had English menus and an English speaking waitress, which was nice, though some things still got confused. Like tip. Apparently, they don't do that. Oh well.

After that we went to sleep, since sleeping in an airport isn't the most restful place, and we were tired. The following morning we woke up to go on a free walking tour. We picked up the tour in our Hostel and walked down to Marienplatz, the town center where the Rathaus is. There we met our tour guide, Matt, who I had seen the day before. He was really nice, really funny, and really knowledgeable about the city. He was from California and had been living there for 2 years, so he spoke fluent English and German. The tour was a great 3 hour non-stop exploration of the city, from memorials to monuments, churches and markets. It was glorious and I loved the city even more. The weather was beautiful and over all it was really great.

During our tour we stopped at the Viktualienmarkt, which was much busier on Saturday than on Friday. There, we bought a pastry called a Splitterbomb. Think softball sized, marshmallow filled cream puff coated in chocolate entirely. A-mazing. Nonetheless, after the tour we were hungry, and proceeded to buy food from a stand we had seen other guides getting food from before the tour. It was called Rischart, and kind of like a pastry, ice cream, German pizza, pretzel take away store. We both got Hawaiian pizza like thing-ys and they were delicious. We had walked up onto this raised platform overlooking viktualienmarkt to eat and on the way down passed a gift shop kind of thing that had the cheapest prices we had yet seen. Alan got a super cool mug, ya know the ones with the metal tops. Its neat.

Then we went to find some Saft (juice). We found some. Fresh pressed, by which I mean we watched them do it, strawberry-orange-pineapple. With our Saft in hand, we had a bit of time and decided we would pay € 1 each to climb to the top of St. Peter's church steeple, called Alter Peter by locals (meaning Old Peter since a church has stood on that spot since something like the 1100s). (BTW- munich is the most catholic city in Germany and is in fact the only city in Europe allowed to fly the Vatican flag on religious holidays other than the Vatican). So yeah, climbing to the top was interesting because they only have one staircase that is only wide enough for one person, and people have to go up and down, and so many people were there (because the weather was so beautiful) that you could barely move once you got to the top. But, looking out, you could see the peaks of the Alps, and it was gorgeous. Really Really beautiful.

Like I said, the city itself isn't much to look at. Its very flat, very modern, and very nice. But there are some eye catching structures you can see from atop, such as the Rathaus, built to look really old. The Olympic stadium, where the Olympics were held in the 1970s I think. The Frauenkirche, one of the only buildings to survive WWII, simply because the allied planes needed its steeples to know where they were! And of course the landscape, which is absolutely amazing.

Anyways, we made it up, around, and down, and headed back to the Hostel to drop off stuff. We got more pretzels and went back to Marienplatz to pick up another tour. This was pretty cool cuz it was a Bier and Brewery tour. We learned about the ancient bier making stuff and toured a micro brewery where the bier never leaves the building. Its made there and served there and no where else. We got free samples and it was ok, but the food was really amazing. The Schneider Weisse bier was better though. It was wheat bier and decent, especially for someone who doesn't like bier. Then we went to the Hoefbraeuhaus, which was originally the royal brewery of the city. We went in, but didn't drink anything and left pretty quickly. It was fun to go inside though!

The next morning we woke up to go on a tour of Dachau, the original concentration camp of the Third Reich. It's now a memorial to all the people that died or were forced to live there. The history was amazing, and our tour guide was Matt again! When we got back, it was too early for dinner, and we wanted to explore the city some more, so we took a trip up to see the Olympic stadium and BMW World. That night we went to eat at the Schneiderweisse. We got Radler, which is half beer, half lemonade and very delicious. This was a fantastic night because I made it 90% of the way through dinner only speaking in German to the waitress. I was so disappointed when I didn't understand what she said once and so she spoke in English the rest of the time, and I so could have done it too. :-(

The next day we took a trip to Neuschwanstein, the castle. There, we saw the Alps and Austria, and the castle where I snuck some illegal pictures. The tour guide was not Matt, and very not as good. The trip was really good though, and when we came home we ate at the Ratskeller. It was underneath the Rathaus and our waiter had the most perfect monopoly man mustache! He was funny! It was great. On our way back to the Hostel, Matt was there (the tour guide) and we overheard him saying he was getting up really early, and we made the comment that so were we! It turned out that he was going to the airport too, and we got cheap tickets with him for the next morning! It was all very serendipitous!

So we made it to the airport, with time to spare, got our last German pastries, and the biggest and most delicious millka bar I have ever eaten. We got on the plane, and the captain came on and told us that our flight had been delayed. We sat on the airplane for like 2 hours playing clapping games and other things to pass the time. When we finally got to London, we had missed our bus back to the tube station and had to wait for another one. We finally got home and we were exhausted and Alan didn't feel well. So I made pizza for dinner while he slept, made sure everything was packed up, and headed out at 3 am for our next bus to the airport.

Adventures

It's 9:30 pm in London. That means there are about 24 hours before I pack my bag and get on the Tube to take me, to where I get on a bus to take me, to where I get on a plane, to take me to Munich, Germany. That is where I will be spending the first half of my spring break trip. I'm a bit nervous about everything working out with travel and accommodations, but I have planned so much for it that it will hopefully work out. After 4 days in Munich, with a trip to Schloss Neuschwanstein, we will be flying back to London and spending part of a day here repacking and showering. Following that break, we will be flying to Rome, Italy and spending the last 4 days of our spring break there. Hopefully we will get to see much of what Rome has to offer and experience some authentic Italian food. I'm again nervous about everything working out, but it should be fine. Wish me luck, and I will hopefully return with some great stories and pictures!

If you don't read this, I won't be upset.

OK...Bonjour! I know it has been a super duper long time since I updated this, but I have been very busy. And I've had so much to write about that I just haven't had time. I hope I don't forget too much since it has been so long. So I guess I'll start with the good stuff.

Last friday morning I woke up very early...and by very early I mean 4:30, got on a bus and headed for Kings Cross. There, we sat and waited for a while and then recieved tickets and headed for customs. There my world changed. We passed through the French boarder police and everything turned well, French. Luckily, while in the train station, they still had English translations for everything...it would be a different story when we got there. We boarded the train and were luckly enough to have no one across from us so I could put my feet up and sleep. It was nice. I didn't sleep much at first though because I was too excited. Once we went through the Chunnel though I slept. Overall, the trip was interesting. The train we took is called the EuroStar and it is a high speed train to major cities in Europe. What made it interesting was that at such a high speed, when we went through tunnels, there was a pressure change! I was constantly popping and unpopping my ears.

Finally, after about 2 hours or so we arrived in Paris. Paris is a beautiful city. I could do without the smell and the people, but it is definitely a gorgeous place. What I learned in Paris is that I speak absolutely no French. It sucked. Anyways, in the train station we met our tour guide Lawrence (whose name was actually French and something like Loren (pronounced Lawraw) just say it with a French accent and your good). :-/ Anyways, he took us out to our tour bus and on the way we had our first encounter with gypsies (who he called weirdos) :-) I can understand why he called them weirdos though. Ok, so what is your first thought when I say gypsy. I'm going to guess a pretty young belly dancing girl wearing jingles. Whats your next thought, old hag-ish roaming person. That second idea is closer to the truth. Most wear long velvet skirts and scarves around their head and they have scraggly hair and are weather worn. They actually look a lot like gypsies if you would see one. But gypsies aren't cool. Not like ones in movies or songs. They'll walk up to you and ask you if you speak English. The answer is always no. If you say yes, they'll start asking you for money. They are also pickpockets and you have to be careful around them and in most touristy areas.

So, we make it to the bus ok. From there our bus driver, Yenik, and Lawrence drive us around the city giving us a full tour of the sights. We saw pretty much everything there is to see in Paris. The Eiffle Tower, The Arch of Triumph, Les Invalides, The Lourve, Napolean's Tomb, Musee D'Orsay, Alexander III Bridge, Notre Dame, The monument to the Bastille, The Opera House, and a lot of other things I will probably never remember. The weather was yucky and I was glad I was on the bus. It was cold and wet outside and there was a constant stream of water running down the window of the bus. It was so foggy you couldn't see the top of the Eiffle Tower! The bus was warm and nice though. We got off at two stops for pictures and then were dropped off at the Hotel. The hotel was cute. It was decently clean and served a good breakfast. The rooms were tiny, but it was ok. My roommate for the weekend was nice and shared my love of nutella!

However, by this point it was about 3 in the afternoon and I hadn't eaten anything at all. I was famished. We went on a quest to find a place to eat. Our hotel was by the monument to the Bastille and there were a bunch of little food shops around...but we had a problem. I'm a picky eater, and I don't speak French. All the places had menus outside, but they were all in French. It was awful. We walked for probably an hour before we found a suitable place, and by suitable I mean one where the people spoke English.

I know I came to England to blend in and not seem American, but let's face it. I went to France to be a tourist, and I didn't care if the peeple there knew it.

Dinner was amazing. We found a little Italian place where the menu was in both French and English and learned a little bit of French from it that way. I got pasta and Alan got pizza, and maybe it was just because I hadn't eaten since the night before, but it was really the most delicious pasta I have ever eaten. From there we walked to the Lourve. Why? Because the Lourve has free admission to anyone under 26 on Fridays. We waited in line for a while, but eventually got inside. Inside we saw the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and Rembrandt's, and some really other famous artwork. We probably walked around for about 2.5 hours and didn't see nearly as much as we should have or would have liked to. But we had been awake since 4 in the morning and were feeling like we had jet lag all over again. It was about 8:30 at night, and like London, things tend to close early. So, when we left and Alan wanted a soda to get his blood sugar back up, nothing was open. We ended up going into a McDonald's and I had to order in French. 2, Coke, Grand. Wasn't so hard...yes it was. I couldn't even count the money right. I felt retarded.

But oh well. We had soda now and started a very long walk to the Eiffle Tower. Every hour on the hour they make it twinkle for 5 minutes. It is gorgeous so we had heard and we wanted to go see it. I thought we could make it, but I was wrong. It was a very long walk and we made it there by about 9:45. But on the way we got to see some really cool sights in the night time. It really is gorgeous.

We took some pictures, and waited for it to twinkle. Luckily, the fog had cleared up so that we could see the top now. And the twinkling was pretty! We walked a bit afterwards and learned to say where is the metro in French...even though we never used it. Let me rephrase that. We used the metro, not the french words. The metro was difficult to find, and we had been walking all day and our feet hurt. Much to our dismay, it would only get worse. But our philosophy was that we only have 2.5 days in France and we aren't going to waste it by complaining our feet hurt and sitting on our butts in our rooms. So we wanted to get metro tickets, but there was a line and the Japanese girls in front of us couldn't figure out how to use the machine, and a woman had to come help them. She helped us too, figuring I guess that we couldn't use it either (but there is a button to make it English so we were fine, actually). Anyways, she was nice and we got on the metro and went back to our hotel.

I hate the metro. That is all I have to say about it. It is full of homeless people. It is dirty. It smells. People pee wherever they want...just...on the walls, on the ground. People rip down the posters. There are over flowing trash cans. I'm pretty sure the floors have never been swept and dogs poop wherever they want. Actually...people pee on the streets and buildings and dogs poop wherever they want above ground too...but up there at least everything can air out. It's still gross though. Paris is the grossest city I have ever been to and the metro is the worst of the worst.

I went to sleep in the beds in the hotel. I used hotel pillows, hotel blakents, and hotel sheets. I don't think I have ever done that in my life. Especially not in a 2 star hotel. It was the most comfortable and delicious bed I have ever slept in. I was so tired I didn't even care if there were germs in it. It was fantastic. I don't think I moved all night. I was out. And I was up bright and early at 7:30 the next morning. Alan and I got breakfast and then we headed down the road a couple blocks to the Harley Davidson store to buy a gift for Alan's dad. In theh store we met a couple from Indiana, and the lady in the store lived in New York for a while, so she spoke English and was nice. We bought the most expensive T-Shirt I have ever bought and ran back to the hotel so that we didn't miss the tour. We were 2 minutes late, and we were the first people there. I hate the people on this trip.

Bright and early 9:15, day 2 in Paris, Valentine's Day. Lawrence took us on a walking tour all over the city. We started out from our Hotel and headed towards the Bastille. Its not there anymore, as it was torn down during the revolution (well, one of the revolutions). It was a prison for those of you who don't know. It held prisoners of the upper class variety. There were only 7 prisoners in it when it was stormed. The people mostly wanted the weapons inside it. From there the tour continued. We saw statues, and buildings, and museums, and learned history and...I'll probably never remember half of it. But it was interesting. A lot of people hated it. It was educational. It was also optional and they didn't have to go, but went and complained about it. I repeat, I hate the people on this trip. I, personally, loved the tour, though my feet did not.

The tour ended at Notre Dame. We went inside and I was a bad girl and took pictures. I did take off my hat though, which is more than most people can say. Did I mention I hate the people on this trip? Notre Dame is a lot different inside than I imagined. It is gorgeous...but, I dunno. I think I expected it to be more open and spacious. Don't get me wrong, it was...but there were walls in all the wrong places. It had random tiny rooms...and...it was still gorgeous. It was fun, I liked it, but we left cuz Alan felt disrespectful being in a church as tourists. From there we walked around trying to find a place to eat. We walked for an hour and failed. So, we got in line to climb to the top of Notre Dame and I got out of line to buy a crepe. Crepes are delicious. Think nutella and pancake. Mmmm. There is a very strange man who entertains the people waiting in line by wearing a funny mask and jumping out behind people walking past and scaring them. The line moves slowly.

We finally get to the point where we can climb the tower. Yeah. Our feet hurt. Then we had to climb 400 stairs. It hurt. But it was totally worth it. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip. We saw the stairs to Esmerelda's cell. We saw the gargoyles on top of the building, we saw the giant bell in the bell tower. We saw the tops of all the buildings in Paris. It was lovely. I thoroughly enjoyed it. My feet didn't.

After, we walked to a little market. This isn't a difficult task. There are little markets splattered all over the city. We spent most of our time walking through markets like like Latin district and near the Pompidue centre. I did a lot of shopping in them. Not like the other people on the trip, one of whom litterally bought a $2,200 Chanel purse. WHO HAS THAT KIND OF MONEY!?! Anyway, we went cause we figured we could find something to eat there. We found a bakery. We bought a delicious bagette. It was cheap and I loved it. Alan loved it more.

Umm, interlude, Alan is cooking me steak right now and it smells delicious.

So, right. I bought some things in the market, and then we got on the metro to go to the Eiffle tower. We got there and of course the lines to go to the top were mad long because it was Valentine's day and that is what everyone wants to do on Valentine's day. We decided not to wait in line and to go find dinner instead. I said we have to not find dinner, but let dinner find us, because every other time we had gone looking it was frustrating. So what do you know, we turn a corner and there is a little place right there that was perfect. It was expensive, but we were in Paris adn it was Valentine's Day, and we were going to go climb the Eiffel tower. The food was delicious. De-licious. I ended up getting not the dessert I wanted cuz I had to order in French and screwed it up, and I have no idea what I got, but it was delicious. It was cold and trapezoid shaped and white and coved in raspberry sauce and had like nuts or something in it. I don't know. It was good. Alan shared his chocolate mousse with me. :-)

Then we waited in line to climb the Eiffle tower. It was cold. Not just cold, but bitter cold. And if we thought it was cold on the ground, it was more so once we got up there. But it was beautiful. We got up there just as it was twinkling! Then there were all the lights of the city and it was beautiful. It was cold. I don't think I have ever seen Alan shiver like he did up there. It was awful. On the way home we took the metro back to the market so I could buy a baret. I now own a baret. Its adorable. But I had to pee really bad, so we went back to the Hotel for the night around 11:30 again. We pretty much passed out.

Bright and early the next morning, we had more croissants and nutella for breakfast, more tea and toast and biscuts. Delicious. Then we were off. First we went to go see the Invalides in better light. We saw it on the tour in the gray bleakness, but it was sunny and warm and beautiful this day and wanted to see it better. From there we walked across the Albert the Whatever-th Bridge and got some nice pictures. From there we walked to the Champs Elyise (or however you spell it) and walked toward the Arch of Triumph. That was fun. We walked through the tunnel and were going to climb it, but our blisters convinced us not to. Instead we walked to the Paris Opera House.

You know, that place where the phantom of the opera is set?!! Yeah! It is by far the most gorgeous building I have ever been in in my entire life. By far. It was the BEST part of my trip. I loved it. Alan and I waltzed in it. So that now I can say I waltzed in the Paris Opera House. It was phenomenal. My words and pictures can't do it justice. I wish I could say more about it. The whole theater was marble and gold and red velvet and beautiful. I imagined myself walking around in a giant ball gown in the summer with all the doors open having a drink of champagne during intermission or something. I sat in a chair in one of the box seats in the theater. I saw the chandelier. I walked on the balcony and was sad the show for that night was sold out. Not that we could have gone anyway...we had a train to catch at 8...but the thought of it was cool.

At the opera house, I used all the picture space on my camera. I was super sad. Alan let me borrow his. From there we walked to Montmartre (or however you spell it) and saw the Moulin Rouge. It is now part of the city of Paris, but when it was built was way out on the country side. It didn't move. The city expanded. We saw Van Gogh's house and some other really cool things up there. We bought 26 euros worth of bonbons. They were delicious. I haggled with a guy in front of Sacred Heart Basillica to get Alan a really cheap Eiffel Tower statue. He said he'll use it for his dudes. I was pleased. But my feet were not, so we walked back to the metro and got a train back to the hotel, were we had to be by 7. We got there around 6, but the rest was nice. Then we headed towards London again.

I still have blisters on my feet.

Moving on from there, Tuesday we went to a traditional British Cream Tea. I have never indulged in something so delicious in my life. It was heaven, if heaven could be a food. It was mmm...its making me hungry. I loved it. I wish I had more!

Yesterday, we toured the Lord's Cricket Grounds. It was very fun and informational...despite that I know nothing about cricket. Alan and I just really wanted to walk barefoot through the bright green grass. It was so warm and nice after all.

Today, we went to some crazy British markets. We went to borough market, which specializes in foods of all varieties, and then we went to Camden Market which specializes in crazyness. At borough market we bought some steak and bacon and juice and bread and basically stuff to make a really nice dinner tonight, which Alan is now cooking, and which smells delicious!!!

Scratch that. Dinner WAS delicious. I just finished. Now I can't move. My typing will be much slower from now.

The only thing I have left to talk about is the trip Alan and I went on before Paris. Alan's birthday was February 11th. We went to Nottingham. We had to get up early and get on a train. It was about 2 hours north, and it was a cute, quaint little town. We got lost, because apparantly Nottingham is notoriously bad for road signs and we didn't have a map. We walked for like two hours before I found a computer store. We went in to use the internet to google maps where we were. Then we went to McDonalds for milkshakes. Finally we found the dudes store and spent lots of money on Alan for his birthday. He is sad though because he doesn't have any of his paints here to paint or put together his miniatures.

But anyways, I have two papers to write...so I have to go.

Not the Destination, but the Journey

So, where I left off from...

Following our trip to the Tower of London on Friday, not terribly much happened. Saturday morning, we had a project to do. And by "do" I mean we went to Kensington Palace. We spent most of the morning exploring the palace and sneaking pictures of rooms were not supposed to take pictures of. And it really was for a project. After that, we walked through a strange riot on the street which we think may have been for a cricket game or something because there were a bunch of people wearing New Zealand flags as capes and carrying cricket bats. It was all rather odd. Mostly we just wanted to avoid it.

Then we got lunch at New Cornwall Pasties, which is kind of like a British fast food place that only sells pasties. They are kinda strange things, like, umm, if you were to make a pot pie into something you can hold and eat with your hands. I think i would have liked it more if they had had some of the one I wanted, but they didn't and the one I ended up getting turned out to be really spicey and I wasn't so much a fan.

Afterwards, we decided to go visit platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross. Our rationality was that we go to Kings Cross everyday on the underground be had not yet been to visit the overground or anything like that. So we get there, and it's really not as impressive as you would think, but I did give the wall a nice little push. Nothing happened. Oh well. The best part was when someone walked by on the other side of a wall and shouted "Harry Potter Wasn't Real!" It was funny.

Now, it would have been very easy for us to turn around and get back on the Tube and get a train home, one stop north east. It would have taken about 3 minutes maybe and then we would have been home. But I decided it was a better idea to walk. I mean, its one stop, not so far, and it gave us the opportunity to see the city some more since you don't really see anything on the underground. So we walk. And we follow a sign to Islington and it brings us out to this street which is all well and good except that the British don't seem to like street signs so we have no idea what street it is or which direction we need to walk. So we walk to the bus stop because most have maps on the back, but this one doesn't. What it does have is a bus stop map and there is a bus that stops at that stop and right in front of our flat. So, we are on the right street, but still don't know if we need to walk to the left or right. Well, I determined that since our flat is north east of Kings Cross and we were near to Kings Cross and the Sun was setting over our left shoulders we should keep walking forward because that would take us north. Plus, there was a really cool church up there that I wanted to see.

It turns out that the St. Pancras Church is one of the oldest ones in London and when we went into its graveyard to see the giant memorial thing it turned out that we found the grave of Johann Christian Bach, son of Johann Sebastian Bach, the famous composer. Cool. After this Alan really felt like we were walking the wrong direction and should turn around, but the moss was on the trees and the sun was setting and I was convinced we were going the right way. So we keep on walking and find The Working Mens College, which is still a college today and I thought that was cool cuz its strange to hear someone say that they went to the Working Mens College. Anyways, we kept walking and ended up in Mornington Crescent. Ah. mornington crescent. One stop on the train...in the wrong direction. It turned out that Alan was right and I was wrong, despite the fact that we WERE walking north. But instead we got on the train and took it two stops the other direction, with one transfer, but hey...it was a fun journey.

Sunday, we woke up early because we had a day trip to Blenheim Palace and Oxford. The whole trip was amazing, though cold. I loved every second of it. We are actually thinking about going back to Oxford for a day trip. It was beautiful there, and I loved it. We ate lunch at the Eagle and Child (The Bird and Baby) which is the pub where the Inklings met. The Inklings were a group of authors who met and discussed and argued about their writing and other things. They included J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. The authors of The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. It was cool and the food was good. We ate our first Sunday Roasts there. Mmmm.

After that we had a tour of Christ Church College, one of the 39 or so colleges that make up the University of Oxford in the city of Oxford. Christ Church College happens to be the one where some of Harry Potter was filmed. It was neat. I enjoyed myself. I just wish there had been less people.

In fact the people have been my only issue on this trip. People. Not everyone, and for different reasons. Most of the other students here I very much dislike. There are a select few that I enjoy being around and talking to. My roomates are really nice and a couple people in classes are as well. But most people treat this program as a joke. They don't do work for their classes, they don't even think class is worth anything. They wouldn't go at all if they wouldn't get thrown out of the country for not going. They are also SO UNGRATEFUL!!! They are all always complaining about how much they hate the program and how much they hate the school and company that brought us here and that nothing is good enough for them. They all have their parents credit cards and go out and get drunk most nights and are just not how I could ever imagine myself being. Its obnoxious and I can't stand it. The other people I have problems with are the British. There seems to be a rift among the society in that half the people are always in a rush to get ANYWHERE and the other half really enjoy standing still. This creates a great mass of a traffic jam no matter where you are. The impatient ones push there way around the ones standing still and no one says excuse me. People push there way to the front of lines and will push to get on the train one person ahead. Really? One person? Is that absolutely necessary? You're still going to get on the train...just one person later. Wait your turn and deal. And then the people that enjoy standing still...they will just stop walking anywhere willy-nilly and you'll end up tripping over them or running into them or getting push because someone needs to get passed right now. Its all rather frustrating and I have been kind of angry about it for two days now. I owe Alan an apology for taking all my anger out on him. It's not his fault. The other people I hate are Alan's flatmates. His roommate is nice, but often complains about a lot of things that really don't need complaining about. He is a nice guy though otherwise. But the rest of them really bother me. They have these really great habits of leaving the refrigerator door open so that all the food goes bad and we end up spending twice the money we have to because we throw away half our food because they can't shut the freaking door. They also don't do their dishes. Ever. In fact, they will load up the dish washer and put soap in it but not run it. They will stack dishes in teh sink until they grow mold. They will put dishes away dirty even. But they won't wash them. And every morning Alan and I cook breakfast, and every morning, if we want to cook I have to wash their dishes. And we have asked them...and they do nothing. And I hate it.

So...that is my rant about people who I hate and what I have been doing for the last couple of days. Now on to the future.

Tomorrow is Alan's birthday (so if you have made it this far reading you should wish him a happy birthday). For his birthday, we are taking a trip to Nottingham. The would be the Nottingham from the Robin Hood legends. Also, underground there is a whole city built out of the cave system beneath the city. And also, the dudes store is there. By dudes store I mean the main headquaters of the company that sells Alan's little miniature dudes that he puts together and paints and plays with. Its his big hobby so were going for his birthday and it should be fun. I am looking forward to it.

The weekend afterwards we are going to Paris. Yes, I will be in Paris for Valentines Day. That will be nifty. But I gotta go...so later.

Catch Up...not Ketchup!

Right, so I've been lazy and not updating this so now none of you know what I have been up to and, in fact, I had to go back through my pictures to remember what I have been up to. But now I will enlighten you.

Last Saturday, we went to Westfield. Westfield is the largest mall in Europe. It's very American, except that the stores were like Prada, Dolce and Gabana, Louis Vioutton (yeah, I'm sure I've butchered spellings), etc. The had an entire Crocs store and an entire Ugg boots store (umm, yeah, there was a security guard, in a suit, monitoring the number of people allowed into that store). There was a full on Apple store, a whole Nike store, a whole Adidas store, and some crystalythings hanging from the ceiling. There was a Hollister. It had a line that wrapped around the store of people waiting to get in side. Yeah. Anyways, we had some really expensive milkshakes while we were there from this store called Shakeabout or something like that. It was cool though because they let us pick from this giant selection of candy bars to put in it!!

Sunday was Chinese New Year, and London happens to have a large Asian so there was a big celebration! There were Chinese dances and singing and Chinese food and paper lanterns everywhere. Following our walk through the mad house that was China town, we walked through London down to Buckingham Palace and up through Green Park to get hot chocolate (which was amazing, despite being expensive). Anyways, then we went back to China town for the fireworks. The fireworks were phenomenal, not because they were big and up in the sky and beautiful, but because they were hand lit, in your face, loud, and bright! I have never been so close to fire works in my life! I felt like I was in a war zone or something! We all left coughing and brushing bits of fireworks off of ouselves. And oh yeah, I bought a little paper dragon named Herman!

Sunday night, we watched the Superbowl. It aired from 11pm-4am ish. The Steelers won, YAY! But I did fall asleep. What was unfortunate, however, is that they didn't show any commercials. BBC broadcasted it the same as NBC, except that since they didn't get any royalties from the ads, everytime they cut to commercials, BBC cut to commentary. That was sad.

Anyways, the next day we woke up to 3 inches of snow (as it had snowed all through the Super bowl and the rest of the night). It was the biggest snow storm in about 2 decades here, and the city had no idea how to deal with it. Pretty much every school had a snow day (including ours), and most adults had a day off work. I saw more snowmen in this city that I have ever seen. But I guess if you only get the chance to make one every decade or so... Anyway, pretty much all public transportation was shut down for two days and generally the situation was just ridiculous. Things are starting to get back to normal now, but they are calling for another light dusting of snow tonight and the newspaper are all predicting more 'treacherous' conditions. Lame. :-)

Wednesday, we went on a Jack the Ripper tour of London and are now all under the impression that the killings of the 5 prostitutes was a conspiracy of the royal family. It's hard to describe; it was fun though! Despite being outside for like 2 hours and freezing our butts off...it was fun.

Yesterday, we went on a random walk through London and the British Museum. It was for a class and our professor gave us random talks about different displays. It was...I just...don't know about that class. Sometimes I think it has no point. Afterwards, we went out for dinner, and had some really good food and dessert! Following that, we went to the Games Workshop where Alan gets his dudes from in America. There we met some other Americans and some British kids, and hung out for a while.

Today we went to the Tower of London. The tour was free because our school paid for it, but we didn't quite have enough time. It was really great fun though. The jewelery was beautiful and I want it. All of it. The 580 k diamond and all!

That's all I have time for, for now, but I'll post pictures later. Talk to you guys later.