Last full day in London! : (

this is going to be short..... still need to do more studying!
last full day in london - i CAN'T BELIEVE IT!
this morning - had a class discussion. very good, but very long.
afternoon.... made lots of pasta (had to finish it off), did some work, talked to mom and peter, walked with amanda to virgin records - got DVDs there, came home, worked on the movie, burned pictures onto DVDs (made backups... just in case. i'm paranoid!) did more work
went to dinner at cadogan's with the entire group - kind of a farewell london thing. had pasta and brocollie parmasean - very VERY good (two for one meal! woot!)
went to tesco to buy two last cookies (amanda and i decided that 'last' is relative! hahah)
came home
packed
worked
packed
laundry
packed
worked
need to study a bit more....
tomorrow, we have our final in the morning
grabbing a quick bite to eat
then leaving for the airport around 3
flight at 7:30
PARIS BY TOMORROW NIGHT!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!
hehehehehe
i'm soooo thrilled
said to say goodbye for now to london
but.... it's just for now.

Last Day of Official Class, Private Tour and O'Neil's

so.... today was our last official class. tomorrow, we're doing presentations (aka talking in a big group) about our experiences and observations in london. it was actually really sad that we don't have any more movies to watch at 9am.... esp. since today's was so bad (Once Upon a Time In China..... looooong and very very kung fu-y.... blah) but.... we made it through and had the entire day off to do whatev.
now, maybe i should have stayed in and studied.... but i REALLY didn't want to. everyone was kind of doing their own thing so i had the GENIUS idea to go and walk around.... me, myself and i. i stopped at partridges, got a baguette and made my way downtown.... i ate the entire loaf while sitting on the steps across from the london eye and then i made a movie.... a movie of me, taking 'everyone' around london... to see what i see and to get better perspective on where things are and such.... it was so much fun! i spent 5 hours just wandering around a shooting little clips here and there (people looked at me like i was NUTS) but it was soooo worth it..... looking at the clips now (and i'm going to make a full movie of it eventually), i'm definitely going to appreciate having it.
after my wanderings, i came back here and studied for a little bit of a while.... not long, but.... that's okay. i wasn't planning on going out at all tonight (after a decently long day of walking).... but everyone was going and i'm really not going to want to go tomorrow (will definitely need to study then) so i decided to get dressed up, pull myself together and go out - when you force yourself to do it, suddenly it's not that horrible
we took the bus to picadilly circus and headed ot o'neil's..... i'm FINALLY learning my way around here. today was a big help - being by myself and just exploring. we stayed there for about an hour and a half (jess, katie, amanda, leo, steve and i.... jon, tim and jenna joined a bit later).... then, around 11, amanda, leo and i decided to head home.... we all wanted to get back to get some good rest. i was soooo hungry, we stopped at a convenience type place, but nothing looked all that appetizing to me..... i guess i'll go without.
it doesn't seem like today was all that action packed and fun-filled..... but it was honestly a really very good day. made me sooo happy to walk around by myself. i felt so independent and... aware of things. it's weird, but it was genuinely an amazing feeling. i love this city!!!! i can't believe it's almost over already..... but paris and rome are going to be thrilling, so it's okay!

Dim Sum - our last class activity! (so SAD!)

today we watched a jackie chan movie in class...... NOT good. i don't know how dad watches these things! i fell asleep for part of it.... it's just not interesting AT ALL! i had two cups of tea this morning (i've felt kind of blah all day, but tea seemed to help) we had a discussion after class and then immediately left for dim sum (our last class activity! i can't believe it!!!!)
now..... my taste in chinese food is limited to sweet and sour chicken (just ask peter and torrey... it's all i get!) so, the idea of going to a chinese restraunt and NOT getting my usual was not at all appealing. steve and i chatted the whole way there about how nice it would be to have italian food.... or mac and cheese! mmmmm!!! we even passed an italian restraunt on the way and had to drag each other away from the doors (it smelled sooooo good) the dim sum restraunt was on canary warf down by the dockyards. we had not been there before (katie had talked about going there, but we never made it down).... it's in a really business-y section of town, so there wasn't too too much to see other than office buildings.... but the restraunt was right on the river so that was very cool
surprsingly, i really really enjoyed the meal! there was this huge lazy susan in the middle of our table (10 of us around the table - including prof and mrs. prof!!! YAY!) steve, leo, dave, katie battes, prof, mrs. prof, jon, jenna, tim and i. we had prof and mrs. prof order for us since none of us had ANY idea what to order. they ordered a variety of things (everything from fired dumpling seafoody things to noodles to interesting 'bread' things) i tried a decent amount of food and actually really really liked a lot of it! the bread and noodles were exactly what peter and i had when we went to NYC for spring awakening.... i didn't really like it then (i think because i was expecting something completely different that day) but today, it tasted sooo good! - and i sounded like i knew what i was talking about - having experience this. other good stuff included the bright green bread thing with sauce - almost tasted like a cinnamon bun without the cinnamon and with a chinese flare...... i also really liked the fried seafood dumpling. it had corriander in it (didn't know i liked that!) and shrimp inside a pocket of fried-ness..... all in all, i was pleasantly surprised!
after the dinner (about 13 pounds per person for the record).... katie and i ran to the movies. we thought we were going to be late (again) but got there just after they started it..... this movie was, in a word, stressful. "Two Nights in Paris"..... the main characters argued through the entire thing - bickering about this that and everything else, there was a fairy and a rabit head.... it was WEIRD and... really didn't tell a story. i dunno, maybe we just didn't get it but neither of us liked it and both of us found it decently stressful.
after the movie, we came home (around 7ish).... i wasn't feeling that great so i came up to the room to bum around (decided to not go out even if asked) i watched an episode of will and grace while i ate pita with butter and strawberry jelly. then, i did the final reading for tomorrow (our last class tomorrow! oh no!)
steve and amanda messaged me around 8:50 to see if i wanted to go out for hot chocolate with them..... i can't pass up hot chocolate. ever. we ended up hitting up the stock pot (down across from cadogan's). amanda and i had very very good hot chocolate (i've tried sooo many over here - i'm becoming the expert! and will definitely be trying more in france and italy as they are apparently even more amazing there - according to shoochen) anyway..... we got those and steve got spaghetti and salad (he's such a guy about food - anytime, anyplace!) we had a nice little time just chatting and eating/drinking
then... i came home, put on pj's and did a bit of studying in the common room.
now.... it's to bed. still not feeling up to par so i'm hoping to kick this before it actually turns into anything!

PUB TOUR along the Thames!

this is probably going to be a short post because i'm tired and today wasn't too too eventful......
got up this morning, made tea! (so good) and went to class
we watched Bride and Prejudice today - i absolutely loved it..... this is such a peter movie. we have to watch it when we get back! after the movie, we had a good discussion on blending cultures and whether or not a 'pudding' is good or bad - it was an excellent discussion and prof actually made fun of us! i love him!!! he's getting to know us and what we're like so he's having fun tooo! yay!
after class, came upstairs and chatted with peter for a long while and mom and uncle ken on video chat for a bit. i ate lunch (pita bread, butter and jelly and cheeeese! mmm) then i did a touch of work (on the double major and on readings for tomorrow). i was soooo hungry for chocolate, so before we were to meet to leave i ran to tesco for chocolate chip cookies - i'm addicted. i admit!
we left here around 5:45 to get to the blackfriars stop - easy - straight on the circle line. we met prof and mrs. prof there... our tourguide, adam, arrived shortly after 6:30 - he was absolutely FANTASTIC! - scottish accent and just an all around cool guy. fav. quotes of his - "this tour is a wonderful blend of history and...... alcohol." and "the thames is a vital source for england. it is pertinent for a very important aspect of english society...... beer." he was SO fun! he took us all along the south bank between blackfriars bridge and (almost) london bridge. we stopped at 3 total pubs (founder's pub - aka the jim udden pub since he took us there after the globe, the anchor (location of a scene from mission impossible) and, finally, the george (named after the patron saint) located just off of london bridge) it was a blast! we all had a good time..... first stop, i tried a southern comfort lemonade (upon bartender recommendation), second stop i got a hot chocolate (it was so cold!) and third stop i got a screwdriver (even though the bartender had no idea what that was and i had to explain it to her)
we all hung out at the last pub (that's where adam left us) for a little while... just goofing off and having much fun! - prof and mrs. prof stayed for quite a while and then left. steve, amanda, dave, the four girls and i left around 10:30ish
we headed back to south kensington and.... after discussing on the tube that steve amanda and i were all hungry for sweets, we ran.... i mean RAN to tesco (we thought it closed at 11.... turns out, it closes at 12... huh.) and all got cookies of different sorts (me, a chocolate chip and a white chocolate chip.... steve, a chocolate chip and a chocolate muffin.... amanda, a roll of tea biscuit cookies)..... we ate them on the way home and had lovely conversation. just fun and light...
and it started to drizzle!
my first england rain!..... kind of..... barely a rain..... more like a spritz. but it was still wet precipitation! i can officially say that i experienced some sort of rain while here! yay!
now... it's to bed. tomorrow is class, dim sum and a movie!
we're getting too close to the end..... i don't want this to be over!

Day 20 - Sleeping in, pancakes and FIREWORKS!

tonight was probably one of the best nights of my LIFE!.... will get to that later....
first - this morning - got to sleep in (i love sundays!)... i slept until about 11/11:30ish, did some paper reading (read all the lancaster stuff - going to be SO much fun!) in bed and then got up/showered/dressed. we headed to the pancake house across the street (My Old Dutch Pancake House)..... it was SO delicious! i got a waffle with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup. it wasn't what i expected - it was better. the waffle was a lot denser/heavier than ours at home - almost like a donut. ice cream tasted soooo good! haven't had it in forever. and the chocolate syrup.... was.... to die for. not hershey's - oh no.... this was thick belgian goodness in a bowl. mmmmmmm
after the pancake house, we came back to IES and i did a bit of work (my readings and work on the double major) and then took a half hour nap - i think sleeping in makes me MORE tired.
around 7, steve, katie, amanda, jess, dave and i met downstairs and headed for the thames festival. now, i was thinking this would be something little with some cute stands and whatever..... but, we got off the tube at blackfriars and on the bridge there was this massive parade... colors EVERYWHERE! everything moving, lots of people (LOTS) and music... basically like no parade i've ever been to before! we watched that for about a half hour and then kept going - wanted to see other things! we walked all along the south bank between blackfriars and the london tower bridge... there were pretty many stands (i'm guessing there were more yesterday/today during the day) but still a good amount - food, clothing, jewelry etc etc etc ... we walked down pretty far and then turned around to head back for the fireworks.... amanda and i bought cookies on the way back (they were reduced to 1L!), katie and jess got potatoes, steve and dave got hamburgers.... a good food night! hehe
now, as if this wasn't all good enough..... we headed back to see the fireworks. we had NO idea where they were going to be put off or where to stand (there were sooo many people - mostly on the blackfriars bridge looking over the thames to the west) so we headed there. we decided to stand along the bank wall, but... as we got closer, i saw a gate to go down to the beach (this 'beach' is covered by the thames at high tide.... but at night, low tide, it's about 20ish yards from the wall to the water).... seeing a few people down there, i suggested we go down - best thought EVER..... we ended up standing right next to the water and practically directly under the fireworks (turns out they were shooting them off from barges on the water).... we could not have asked for a more perfect view!!!! the display was FANTASTIC - about 20ish minutes of non-stop fireworks (i took video and pictures!) it was beautiful!!!
after they were over, we walked back along the river and made our way to the tube and home...
it was a pretty simple day, not too too packed with things..... but, this was probably one of the most memorable for me. standing under fireworks, along the thames river, IN LONDON!!!!.... i don't know how i'm going to go home. it's going to be sooo hard!

so..... glad i didn't go to bed right away.
just had a fire alarm.... it's 2:15am
ooof
now
to bed.

Slice of India and Cadogan's

today was a blast! we woke up early (boo, especially since it's saturday) - 7:20am. had to leave around 8:30am.... we left and headed for paddington station. once we got there, we hung around, waiting for prof. he finally got there, got our tickets and told us that we had LOTS of time (turns out, the train ride was only 12 minutes and we had allotted 1.5 hours!!! (gracious udden! hehe) so.... katie and i walked around the station for a while and got hot beverages (mmm hot chocolate. delicious!) finally, around 10:15ish we all met up again in the middle of the station (there's a paddington bear statue!!! steve took my picture! hehe) we got on the train and took the short train ride to the station just past ealing broadway. once there... we still had a half hour before the tour started, so we all hung out outside the station in the sunshine (it was kind of chilly today, so sunshine was good!)
the tour started at 11:15am - our tour guide was like wicked famous (apparently she judged on iron chef?) and does basically everything (dancing, cooking, touring... lots!) this weekend is like a huge london appreciation kind of weekend - Thames festival, open house, london walks, etc. - so all the tours today were free. we had 35 people in our tour! (large number after being so used to just the 15 of us) we saw the first bar to sell alcohol for ruppees, a grocery store (they had weird exotic fruits and looooots of indian food - allong with pillsbury flour in HUGE bags and in hindi. interesting), a jewlery store, a fabric store, a desert store, an after desert store (tried foods from both of these.... nasty.) then we went shopping - i bought pita bread at the grocery store (yay!), pashminas (for me and for gifts - only ONE POUND! amazing!) and some jewelry (1 pound necklace and earrings - can't go wrong!)
after shopping around for a bit, we headed back to the station and got on the train. we ended up being a liiiiitle bit late for our lunch/dinner reservations, but we still got there! it was a place called soho india (right off of picadilly circus) - very posh, we were the only people there (granted, it was like... 3 and who eats then?!) i ordered the velvety chicken tiki.... it was pieces of chicken with this green goop on them (turned out to be decently spicey). it came with rice cakes and mango sauce for appetizer, spicey rice and black lentl soup with the meal and naan - the best flat bread i've ever eaten in my entire life! all in all, it was an experience.
after the restraunt, prof and mrs. prof took us to camden markets. from here, they let us go do whatever and went their own way. this market was SOO different from the portobello rd one (i like the notting hill market better, personally).... this had some pretty wild things (most of it was decently punky.... chains, black, corsets, etc.)... but it was interesting to see nonetheless.
katie, steve, amanda and i ended up kind of breaking away from the group..... went our own way for a while and then decided we were done. we took the picadilly home - - sooooo packed. i was pressed against the door. not fun. but we made it!
once back, i was exhaaaaaaausted, but we decided to head out anyway (got to sit down for about a half hour!)... got dressed and we headed to cadogan's for the ireland vs. georgia rugby game. (not sure who won.... wasn't really paying attention) dave, steve, leo, jess, katie and i got a table and all sat around drinking (mmmm sex on the beach and smirnoff ice). it was a fun time. some sketchy old men came over and started talking to us and eating our food (not cool) but they left and leo did too eventually...... yeah...... anyway...... jon and his girlfriend (visiting for the weekend) met up with us and sat at our table. we stayed there until 11 (got there around 8ish) when they closed.... from there, jess, katie, steve and i decided to see what was happening at babushkas.... i stayed for maybe all of 15 minutes (danced for a little, but just wasn't in to it at all).... steve and i left and came back to my room. we made some crazy music videos (basically, us attempting to sing - steve was soooo drunk, and i was a bit tipsie) it was much fun! steve went to bed, i talked to the family (they're leaving to go home tomorrow from the beach) and now.... i'm to bed
lying in tomorrow like CRAZY!!!!

Day 17 - Leeds and Fish and chips!

today was yet ANOTHER amazing days.... i'm getting so spoiled by this!
this morning, we woke up earlier than normal. planned to meet downstairs at 8:15 - ended up not leaving until 8:30 (boo slow people).... but, it was fine. jess and i rean to tesco by south kensington to grab lunch items while everyone else went to subway (right behind the south kensington station) we met up and took the circle line to victoria station (only two stops! woot!) there, we kind of stood around for a while (weren't sure which platform we were boarding on) and eventually found the uddens. we got on our train and, after a hilarious conversation because we all were deliriously tired, fell asleep for the hour ride to the station.
once a th station, we had to wait for a little bit for the shuttle.... apparently, they don't expect big groups at this time of year and only had a small van running to the castle... they went and got the bigger shuttle for us (even though prof. had to sit on mrs. prof's lap! - it was funny).... took the 10ish minute shuttle ride to the castle grounds. they dropped us off and we walked the little bit to the ticket booth.
there was a hot air balloon in the sky - picture perfect..... as everything else, i soon found out.
we got to the grounds around 11.... let me tell you, it was perfect. there were white fluffy clouds in the sky with lots of sunshine, a cool breeze and a moderately cool day... gorgeous.
we walked around the grounds leading up to the castle (the grounds, in this case, are pretty much the highlight... the castle's beautiful too, but the grounds.... you just can't get over it) amanda and i decided that 'this is what we think of when we think of england - castles, rolling fields of beautiful, vibrant green grass... ducks, pastures, gates, pathways.... it was gorgeous)
after about an hour of walking around, we went in to the castle... also, fantastic! it was, surprisingly my style.... very late victorian/early modern-ish..... Lady Baillie and her daughters lived here (Lady Katheryn - Henry VIII's wife - one of - before)
the inside was breathtaking... the views of the grounds, the furniture... everything! open windows, beautiful curtains, i could not get over it!!! we walked around there for about 30 mins. - it's really not huuuuge..... definitely a castle, but can be walked through pretty quickly.
after that, jess, amanda and i met up and ate lunch in the food gallery place - we all had kind of walked through the castle at our own pace so... we ate lunch with whoever was around. i had a cheese biscut and cookie from tesco... mmmmmm.
after lunch, we walked through the dog collar museum (yes, they have one... my life is complete....?) anyway... and then through the gardens. they have some of the most unique and colorful flowers there! (and some gorgeous normal ones... beeeautiful roses!) a couple of trellaces and grapevines to sit under..... we wandered, i took pictures, it was glorious!
there are black and white swans and peacocks EVERYWHERE (ooo and ducks).... right along the water (which surronds the castle).... took more pictures!
then, we met up with everyone else. they had all gone through the maze, so amanda, jess and i ventured it..... it was waaay harder than i thought it was going to be. i can see why these things were so entertaining! it took a while!!! (had secret garden running through my head the WHOLE time).... finally, after about 25 minutes, we found the center and made our way down into the grotto - it's like the reward for finding the end. this underground area full of shell and stone sculptures.... so intricate!!! - took pictures.
there was a falconry show at 1:30 so we all went to that.... good, nothing too exciting, but i liked being outside so it was fine. after that, the aviary. normally, i don't like birds..... but this was okay - they were far enough away. - the sky was starting to get cloudy at this point.... by the time we walked back toward the castle, it was perfectly dramatic for some different pictures of the castle (got sunny ones in the morning and the opposite at night).
we were going to try to leave at 3, but couldn't because we had so many in our group.... so we hung out in the refreshments area behind the gift shop (did a crossword puzzle... chatted.... watched the crazy peacocks)
finally, we got on the shuttle.. went back to the station and JUST made the train for victoria. i sat with steve on the way home and had originally intended to sleep/listen to music..... instead, we chatted the whole way back - went by so fast! very fun.... he's an awesome friend
once we got to the station, prof lead us to plimico (about 10 minutes, if that, away from the station) there, we got fish and chips take out at seafresh (prof and mrs. have been raving about this place since we got here..... with good reason) i got haddock and chips...... we took the food and followed prof to their flat - a basement flat in one of those very cute buildings in pimlico. they have 1 bedroom, 1 bath, a kitchen, living room and small patio/garden area.... sooo cute. great windows opening out onto the patio.
we all ate our fish and chips (DELICIOUS! - greasy, very greasy.... but sooo good. that was REAL fish and chips for sure!) after that, mrs. prof made us salads (really fancy ones), set out grapes and then cookies and coffee - i had grapes and cookies (no salad - tomatoes and peppers = ew) but the cookies..... oof. to DIE for! - i'm in love with shortbread chocolate chip.
after we ate.... we all hung out (the 7 of us and the four girls) with prof. and mrs. - i have NEVER laughed that hard! it was sooo much fun getting to know them (he's a PK TOO!) and having them get to know us..... we got to their house around 5:30 and didn't leave until 10:15!!!! it was crazy good times!!!!
walked home.... talked to mom and dad and the crew at the beach for a bit..... and now.... i'm to bed. indian tour and food tomorrow.... we'll see how that goes...

Day 16 - National Gallery, walk and GLOBE THEATER!!!

so today was probably one of the most amazing days ever!
i know i keep saying that, but it's so true about all of them! all in their own ways of course!
this morning, we had class.... it ws a bit different than usual - Prof lectured and showed only clips of movies instead of a full movie. We were talking about indian cinema and Bollywood. it was kind of long.... i think i'm so used to watching a movie now that the whole lecture thing first was strange. - still good though! he dismissed us early (just before 12) which was very nice.
we all decided to go out for lunch since we had so much time so we went to the stock pot - down by cadogan's. the gang plus jon and tim. I got a ham and cheese on baguette with fries.... very good and only L4. not bad!
after lunch, i thought about possibly going to the tate modern but katie suggested going to our final third movie. the movie was at 2:20 and we left at 2..... aka. we didn't make the movie! haha..... but, our philosophy was "if we don't make it, we'll find something else to do"..... we finally located the movie theater at around 2:45 - entirely too late. we wandered around leicester square for a while and then ended up in trafalgar square (nothing new there! we typically end up there, no matter what we're looking for!)
we decided to go in to the national gallery for a little (we weren't planning on staying too long, but we ended up staying for over an hour!) saw paintings by da vinci, renoir, van gough, monet, seurat, cessane, vermeer..... it was soooo amazing. i think the ones that got to me the most were the van gough's. i literally stood 2 feet away from van gough's sunflowers..... i almost cried (not gonna lie!) katie had a great time too..... she didn't know much about art, but we had some excellent chats about them (made me feel a bit knowledgeable!)
after the gallery, we decided to walk along the north bank - we walked the south bank last night so we thought we'd try the other side! the sky was gorgeous - a very cloudy grey. i took lots of pictures and it never rained - good deal all around.
we walked down the north bank until we got to blackfriars bridge (had a discussion about bridges and how we toootally just make up the names for them! hehe) we crossed there and walked the south bank just past the tate modern to the opposite side of the millenium (st. paul's was across the river) at that point, i called steve to see what he was up to..... it turned out that he and dave went to the tate modern and were almost finished! - just in time to get a cup of coffee (or a creme in my case) a starbucks.... we still had 45 mins before meeting the class and prof at the globe so we just hung out.
at 6:40ish we met everyone and headed inside.... jess and i decided that the globe is the holy land of theater people. it was AMAZING! we learn about this soooo much and... to actually be standing there was such an awesome feeling. the show was fantastic - kind of hard on the feet, but that was the only complaint i had! the lead actress was so phenomenal, the dresses were gorgeous (and so were the men!) and it was an altogether amazing performance!
after the show was over (a three hour show....) prof. said "we need to all sit down.... anyone up for the pub?" - which, of course made us a.) love him even more and b.) all go to the pub together! i got the chocolate-est hot choclate i've ever had - it was delicious, esp. on a chilly night like tonight. we all sat outside, just chatting and enjoying sitting.
everyone got up and left - amanda, steve, katie, jess and i were a bit slow to leave so we ended up coming home by ourselves. not an issue - straight shot from blackfriars (as katie and i found out last night!)... got home safely and am now exhuasted.
leeds castle tomorrow! and fish and chips with the uddens at their flat afterwards.... should be much fun!
today was amazing, tomorrow will be amazing..... london, is amazing. i'm in love with it!

Day 15 - (yesterday) Walk around Chelsea and The London Eye

so, i was absolutely EXHAUSTED last night.... thus... the post this morning.
Yesterday, AGAIN, made me fall in love with London even more (if that's possible)
In the morning, we had class and finally got to watch a bit more 'happy' films. The first was a mocumentary about a man who developed 'film' if you will before anyone else - Forgotten Silver. It was by Peter Jackson, the same guy wh did LOTR and such... Not bad, only 55 minutes and fairly funny. Then we watched The World's Fastest Indian.... now.... from the title, I imagined myself hating this movie but, surprisingly, it was actually very good - an old man with a fast motorcycle, life dream is to race it at this race in utah... this is his journey from New Zealand to Utah. Very inspiring and a happy ending - i approve! After the movies, we had a class discussion about films in New Zealand (only for about an hour since we watched TWO movies).
Class being finished, we had the entire rest of the day free. Came upstairs (roommate didn't come home last night - gracious - so she decided to sleep), finally around 2 i couldn't take being inside any longer - tooo nice outside and we're in LONDON! So, i grabbed steve, amanda, katie b and dave and we went on an expedition to find a restraunt in sloane square. We walked around for a good long time because we couldn't find the restraunt and thus went exploring for some place else to eat. On our little expedition we walked by the house where mozart composed his first symphony (how crazy random is that?!)... Anyway... after a while, we were getting tired of passing places (it's so hard to please everyone) and we found this little market-y area that had decently fancy food. We decided to eat there.... I got a warm bagette and butter.... amazing. And we ate outside. While in the market we found an entire little section devoted to American food!!! (talk about globalization! lol) It was insanely expensive ($4.50 for a reg. box of mac and cheese and $8 for a jar of applesauce!)
After eating, we headed back down king's rd. We stopped in godiva chocolate and steve got us a discount (he works there at home).... to die for! Made it home, and I talked to the family on video for a while.
Around 6:45 we left for the London Eye.... We could not have timed it better! By the time we got to where we needed to get tickets, it was juust starting to get dark (they had just turned the lights on basically everything) so we saw the pretty pink sunset from the ground. We got on the Eye and.... I have never been on anything this amazing in my life. Basically, a glass bubble that gives you the most GORGEOUS views of the city. I went picture CRAZY! It was wonderful!!! (and decently romantic.... ah well... single and happy and had lots of fun with the friends!) Once we got back down, we decided to walk along the South Bank - it's so pretty at night and the weather was perfect. Everyone else was walking super fast so Katie and I decided to just stroll.... we ended up spending an hour and a half just walking and chatting and me taking thousands (ish) of pictures!!!! (I couldn't get over how perfect the picture taking was!) Katie and I left there, headed home on the tube and decided we were both in need of chocolate fixes.... went to tesco. got chocolate chip cookies. yum. hehe
After that, came home, did the readings and basically had a quiet rest of the night.
today's the GLOBE! i'm so excited!!!!!!

Day 14 - Davinci Code Tour and cupcakes!

Got up at regular time this morning (7:30am.... regular time for school? oof.) but i, surprisingly haven't been too tired fist thing in the morning.... i must just sleep better here. We watched "Once Were Warriors" in class. this movie is probably the most violent, hard to watch movie i've ever seen. it's a new zealand film about the maori life - including domestic violence, rape, gangs and a slew of intense subjects. it was a very well done film and we had an excellent discussion afterwards, but it was reeeally difficult to watch.
After class, we had a half hour for lunch (banana and peanut butter woot! - i'm sooo addicted!). We left IES around 1:10 to head for the Temple station (off the circle/district line east). At the station, we met our tourguide - Richard - who was.... quite... gay. And not the really cool, fun kind of gay... this was the really stuffy, knows it all kind of gay. ANYWAY - not to judge.... we started the tour and got to see a lot of the spots from the movie and the book (he definitely knew his stuff, if nothing else). We ended the tour right outside the hourseguard quarters and watched the changing of the official horseguards. It was pretty cool - got video of it (for some reason, though, the camera will not cooperate and put the video on the computer... will work on that.)
After that, we made our way to Vicotria station where we bought our rail tickets (well... gettysburg bought them technically) for Leeds castle on Friday. Then, Prof. said bye and we made our way home.
We got off at south kensington and started walking toward IES when we walked past the hummingbird bakery. Now, we walk by this place EVERY day... and EVERY day we say something to the effect of "we should stop in there sometime"... Well, today as we were walking past i said "we should stop there" then katie said "i'd be up for stopping there".... by the time we got to the corner of the block, we had decided we HAD to stop there so Jess, Katie, Steve and I turned around and went back. They have cupcakes!!!! (had yet to see a cupcake in England).... granted, the cupcakes (your basic, bake sale cupcake) was L1.85 and a glass of milk was L1.20.... BUT it was worth it to have a little taste of home. That, and we decided to open the Jim Udden Cupcakery in London.... and make a MINT off of it!
Anyway... after, the cupcakes, we made our way back to IES, had some dinner and did some work - I got a film review and readings done - actually felt productive for once! I also heard back from IDS about my psychodrama major. They tentatively rejected it but made some suggestions and highly recommended i re-submit after looking it over again. I emailed Profs. Wilson and Chris to see what their thinking is.... will wait a hear back from them before i go ahead with making changes.
Finally, around 9 we all decided to go to the sports bar in picadilly circus. This place has a free cover night with L1 pints.... not a bad deal (esp. if you like beer.... which.... i don't) but, i went along for the atmosphere and to get out, if nothing else. We all went.... which.... was interesting. I almost didn't go in because Amanda forgot her ID and i didn't want to leave her by herself (we were going to go get milkshakes... which, in the end, we probably should have done) but.... we got in (with the help of Jenna's ID for Amanda - i had mine, so all was good)
Inside, I got a strongbow and drank only about half.... it's gross. I've decided. I really don't like it. Not going to waste money on that again. Everyone else was putting back pints like it was their job so.... everyone was decently drunk (except amanda.... she and i tend to be the sober-est ones in the group.) We had a good time, and got lots of fun pictures! At around 12 Amanda and I decided to head out.... Leo and Dave came with us. We took the picadilly line (it's open until 12:45). While on the line, we got a call from Steve. Now, i've been getting pretty close to steve... he's been confiding in me a lot and it's great to have a guy friend on the trip. It turns out, he left by himself and was wandering around trafalgar square (bad idea) i talked ot him for a bit and tried to get him to get on a bus... his phone was dying so he had to go. still waiting for him to get home. Then i find out that jenna and katie left without jess (this was after we had left) so.... i currently have no idea where my roommate is... but there's really nothing i can do, so no use worrying yet. hopefully everyone will get home in one piece...
Then i get home and there are messages from mom "contact us as soon as you're in, no matter how late" - now.... i don't know about you, but i panic when i read stuff like that... i was sooo worried something had happened to dad. so, i get on the video chat and everyone's all worried looking and sombre..... my panic gets worse..... as it turns out, dad's okay (thank heavens - sigh of relief) but david committed suicide. everyone's holding up okay and they're going to stay at the beach (they have to do an autopsy and stuff so.... no real use going home) they're just kind of frazzled and shocked. i think seeing me might have been a help......
so yes
it's been quite the rollercoaster of a day.... hopefully it will all be alright in the end.....
i've decided, though, that england has done wonders for me..... i don't think i've ever been this calm (sincerely calm) under all this pressure in my life..... find yourself in a place and you'll be able to go anywhere from there.

I COMPLETELY forgot to post something last night! (brain fart on my part... oops)
Anyway.... yesterday was kind of a blah monday for me (granted, blah in London terms is super exciting in other terms... but... even so)
Got up in the morning, went to class. We watched "Gallipoli" which is probably the second most depressing movie ever made but very very good. We had big discussion about it afterwards (even watched a clip from another Peter Weird film - "Witness"!!!! - so much made me think of home...)
After class, came upstairs and grabbed a peanut butter and banana lunch *yyuuummmm* and then headed out for the museum. We met Prof outside the main lobby of the Imperial War Museum and he took us in to the World War 1 exhitbit (it's what we had just watched a movie on that morning.) I am not at all a war/history person... but this was slightly interesting. They had some really cool artifacts and it was done well (in my opinion). I wasn't feeling that great (needed to pee desperately) and finally after about an hour, we were free to go.... Amanda and i bee-lined for the bathroom. Upon which we found there was only a gents bathroom in the section we were (sexist what?!)... eventually we found a women's bathroom (on the other side of the museum). We left from there around 3. Amanda, Leo, Jess and I really were finished with the museum so we figured we'd head home. I got off at Sloane Square with Amanda and we wandered down King's Rd. (popped in to a couple of very expensive clothing stores) and then we went to into Waitros. I bought a hunk of cheese (L.165) and some tin foil to... wrap foods in. We made our way back to IES and grabbed quick dinner (yay jelly bread!). At 5:30, Leo, Dave, Amanda and I met in the lobby to go see the movie
Atonment was AMAZing and.... THE most depressing movie ever made (I guess I know now why yesterday was so blah... huh) anyway... the movie was very confusing right up until the end - then it all made sense. I'd definitely go see it again, knowing what happens now. We all really enjoyed it, but it kind of brought us all down. We came back to IES and went to our respective rooms (it ws almost 9)... I did some readings and proof read peter's IDS major proposal. Jess and Katie went out for a walk and invited me along, but I really wasn't in the mood and needed to get some work done. When they got back, though, we all hung out in the common room for a bit and then I went to bed
*side note - had strawberry rasberry tea in there too..... sooooo good. i'm totally turning English. this is what i've decided!*

Day 12 - Relaxing Sunday at Hyde Park

Quick fill in on last night - We hung out in our room for a while (Katie bought some Strongbow and drank out of a mug! haha and Jess had her L5 bottle of wine - which was 3/4 gone by the end of the night) I didn't drink anything.... mostly I really didn't want to but also because Amanda wasn't drinking, so I thought I'd stay sober with her. We decided to just stay around Chelsea since Friday night was so wild. Katie wanted to try Chelsea Potter's so we went there around 9 (Steve, Leo, Dave, Amanda, Jess, Katie and I - the official gang) We had a fairly good time. Amanda and I got smoothies - that's right, smoothies at a bar! - and chatted with the bartender about them for quite a bit (even got a wave from him at the end of the night.... he was very nice).
We all hung out there until about 12ish.... we're starting to get on each other's nerves. I guess, after living with each other for so long that's really not surprising. We do everything together soo... yeah, just some conflicting personality kind of things. Steve got decently drunk and was such fun - apparently we're engaged now? haha... We went for a walk by the river - upon Leo's demanding (don't get me started on him... oof) and eventually made our way back to IES. Amanda, Steve, Katie and I hung out in our common room for a bit... mostly just laughing hysterically at Steve. We sent him to bed and headed to bed ourselves.
This morning.... I. Slept.
It was glorious - sleeping until 12:30!!! I woke up, though, with something wrong with my left eye. I don't think it's pink eye, but it might as well be with how red my eye is. Hopefully it'll clear up on it's own.... reeeeeally don't want to go to a hospital.
Anyway... woke up, showered and then headed to katie's room to make hostel reservations for PARIS - got a room for $140 for the four nights we're there - not bad at alll. After that, we headed out for South Kensington and bought foods at the station (I got a fantastic croissant with cheddar cheese - L1.60). We took our foods to Hyde park, ate and then Steve, Leo, Dave, Jess and Katie played frisbee while I napped (i was in SUCH a sleepy mood today) and Amanda worked (such a good person, I'm slacking!). We stayed there until about 5ish. Amanda and I decided to go to Lilliwhites (on recommendation from some of the other girls in our group) because Amanda wanted a rugby jersey. Dave and Leo ended up walking to the Tube with us to head back to Chelsea and the rest of the gang stayed at the Park. Amanda and I made out soooo well at the store! this place was MASSIVE (6 floors). All sporting goods kind of things, plus some regular clothing all on incredible sale - up to 70% off! I got the cutest pair of pink flats for 2 pounds and an England rugby zip up sweatshirt for 7.50.... can't complain about that AT ALL. After our shopping excursion, we came back here and I've basically been bumming out in the room ever since. I had bread and a banana for dinner, did some laundry (still working on that in fact) and some reading (yes, finally did some work).... also watched a Will and Grace episode, just for comforty kind of sake.... It's been a great relaxing day.... now for some fantastic sleep and I should be good to go for the wild week ahead!

Day 11 - Portobello Rd. Market!

Soooo to elaborate on yesterday....
we got up craaaazy early (6:30am) to be downstairs by 7:30am for the coach bus... once everyone was there, we headed out and, basically everyone died on the bus (even thought the tourguide was talking like the whole way there about history-y kind of things). We stopped at Avisbury before Stonehenge - it's a town that has similar stones, but instead of for the seasons these stones are for fertility and in a HUGE circle around the town (about a mile). We all grabbed some coffee/hot chocolate and headed out to walk around the perimeter. It was such beautiful country - green and rolling hills. Absolutely what one pictures when you say "English country" - sheep included. Sheep that poop. Sheep that poop EVERYWHERE!!! It was like walking through a mine field!!!
After walking around there for a bit, we got back on the bus (where everyone again fell asleep - it was every time we were on the bus we all fell asleep we were that tired) we headed toward stonehenge... It was a decent day (kind of cloudy/overcast) but at least not raining as, if it had been, we would have been soaked - there are NO coverings of any sort at stonehenge.
ANYWAY, we got there and walked around the rocks..... they were.... exciting for about 10 minutes (not gonna lie) and then lost my interest verrrry quickly. We stayed there for about 30 minutes and then headed out to a castle outside Salisbury.... well, the remains of a castle. It's really just the wall and gorgeous grass (greenest i've ever seen!) We spent a while there... frolicking about and just having lots of fun (cartwheels, spinning and jumping were definitely involved). After that, we headed in to town to a pub where I had my first fish and chips!!!! (with peas. yes, i ate peas. it was actually reeeeally good) We had a good time there - had to pass toilet paper under two stalls... and the flushers were HUGE! but, hilarious!
After the pub, we headed to the Salisbury Cathedral (home of the Magna Carta) It's another beautiful church - the architecture at each one is so different and still breathtaking every time! We walked around there for about 45 minutes then headed for the bus... After that, the bus drove us home while we all.... again.... passed out.
We got back home around 6 and decided to go out around 8. Ate dinner and got ready (wore my fun purple shirt! yay!). We wanted to try to find a place called O'Neils so we made our way to picadilly circus. Rachel was supposed to meet us (she's been feling very homesick being with the syracuse people, so i invited her along) - neither of these things happened very quickly. We couldn't find the pub and we couldn't find rachel. After about an hour (and a lot of phone calls) we fiiiinally found her and shortly there after the pub (thanks to some random person who luckily knew where it was and pointed us in the right direction).
The pub was great - part clubby, part pubby. Loud music, but tables and food. We ordered drinks (I got a reef. - recommended by Katie. it's an orange juice/passion fruit/vodka mix.... verrrrrry good - L3.50) After walking around/standing around for a while, a table opened up and we jumped on it. We sat for a bit and then the girls and i got up to dance.... there was music playing, but no real dance floor - so we made our own! There were bunches of people dancing by the end of the night (including some reeeeeeally cute italian guys - *wink wink, nod nod*) The guys were miserable. I wanted to smack them. Steve's having problems with his girlfriend vs. our katie so we chatted for a bit.... i think he needed to just dump. After that, Leo was utterly miserable so I told him (basically) to get over himself and have a good time. That seemed to work. Finally, Dave wasn't sure how to do the whole 'club scene' (not that i'm experienced.... but, he asked me anyway) I told him to just relax and have a good time..... FIIIINALLY, by the end of the night, we all got up to dance for about a half hour and actually had a really great time - ALL of us. (Two drinks.... was just happy tipsie)
We decided that we needed to walk Rachel home - there was no way we were letting her go by herself! That took FOREVER to try to find a bus and where we were going and such.... After that, we found our own bus and made it home.... where i proceeded to collapse on my bed from exhaustion (right after setting alarm for this morning...)
WHICH
brings me to this morning!
We went to Notting Hill - Portobello Rd. Market!!! SUCH FUN! it's HUUUUUUUGE!!!!
we met up with Lee and then Rachel as well (it was Amanda, Katie, Leo, Steve, Jess and I).... We ended up splitting in to two groups (there were just too many of us to be walking around all together). It was lots of fun (went with Katie, Leo, Steve and Amanda)... we wandered around for about 2 and a half hours. I bought 5 pashminas (for L10! not bad at all!)... there was soo much I could have bought, given all the money in the world..... but with prices and such, i'd rather save for traveling. Some of the gang tried paiella for lunch (it's rice with seasoning and sausce and meat).... Amanda and I got crepes (she got banana and chocolate, i got cheese) - very yummy. I'm falling for these crepes - gonna have to make them when i get home for sure
After that, we came back to IES. Leo, Steve, Katie, Amanda and Dave were all headed to Parliment this afternoon. I had no desire to see parliment, so jess and i ended up just spending the afternoon in our room.... it's been nice just bumming out and catching up on a bit of work (wrote my film review... something off my back, that's good), chatted with peter and uploaded some pictures. It was sooo relaxing.
I'm not sure what the agenda is for tonight. Some people were talking about going out... but i might just stay in and get some laundry done and possibly some more work. Maybe a walk later? We'll see.

Day 10 - Stonehenge, Salisbury and OUUUUT

Today was very packed..... very fun, but reeeeally full.
Quick synopsis:
Avery/Avisbury
sheep poop
charter bus
stonehenge
salisbury castle
pub - fish and chips
salisbury cathedral
bus ride home
trip to waitrose
getting dressed
going out
finding rachel
finding o'niell's
getting drinks
dancing
italian men
chatting with friends
trip home - forever!!!
exhaaaaaausted.

British Museum and BFI film - Day 10

Today was definitely a better day (not that yesterday was bad.... it just wasn't great.)
This morning, we watched a movie in class titled "Picnic at Hanging Rock" I definitely had my doubts about this film.... a documentary-esque film from the 70's doesn't sound too appealing. But it was actually legit good! Very eerie, a good story line and toooootally left you thinking (a cliff hanger ending that definitely did NOT explain everything)... Discussion after was equally good. I'm finally starting to voice my opinion... I was hesitant at first because I'm not a film student, but my background in theater has definitely helped.... so all's well with class.
After class, we came up to rooms for about a half hour. I caught up with Peter and talked about his IDS major proposal (which i may have raped for him...). We left for the British Museum around 1:15pm.... stopped at South Kensington Station to grab some food (since my bread was moldy! boo!) I bought this apple amazingness.... it was apple pie filling on some kind of crumbly coffee cake like sandwich substance - delicious!!! I ate that on the tube while we went to Waterloo station. Once off the station, we headed for the museum (we were slightly late, but all of us were travelling together.... so it was fine!) We met Prof at the front of the museum and then proceeded to meet our tour guide and start the tour. Now... this tourguide was very good. She had big ears and was very enthusiastic and new her stuff.... the subject, however, was not at all interesting to me (religious artifacts from India and China..... ugh). So... the tour was suuuper long (or felt like it) - 2 hours. Like I said, the tourguide (who was Indian and had a massive last name) was excellent and very nice (she could tell we were getting bored). After the official tour, our little group (Leo, Steve, Dave, Amanda, Jess, Katie and I) all went to see the Rosetta Stone - probably the most famous artifact there. We took pictures and, though Jess and Amanda probably would have wanted to stay longer, we were all slightly sick of museum-y things so we decided to grab food and head for the park we walked through to get to the museum. We ended up at a Starbucks (yay starbucks - makes me think of home!). I got a grande hot chocolate (L2.45..... yuck) but it was soooo good - i think more chocolatey than the stuff at home, actually.. and they use heavier wipped cream here. Everyone got something and we found the park.... plopped down in the grass and ate while just enjoying the beautiful weather (still has yet to rain! WOOT!) and scenery. They have these random parks all over the city and they are all so scenic and nice... I can't get over it, but I love them.
Around 5, we headed for the tube again - wanted to make sure we got to the BFI in plenty of time (luckily!). We have to see a film at the BFI for class (along with two others, but those we can see anywhere) so we decided that since we had a free night, we'd get it out of the way. We ended up going to see "The Night of the Sunflowers" - a Spanish film. Mostly we went to see this because it was at a good time - none of us really knew anything about it. (Leo was lucky! - Spanish speaking man got all the extra jokes! lol) Before the movie (we got there at like 5:25, got our tickets (which were almost sold out, got there just in time!) and headed outside to the southbank walkway). It was sooooo beautiful - a nice breeze, a book sale and plenty of room by the wall to look out over London and the Thames. I'm in love with it. Really in love. It just feels like I belong there.
We headed in to the movie and, even though I fell asleep for the first 15 minutes, it was very very good. In Spanish, as I said, but with subtitles... the movie was in chronologically messed up order - flashbacks or flashforwards, depending on how you look at it.... an excellent plotline - very universal ("if no one demands justice, should it still be served?", rape, murder, affairs, money, basically everything). We talked for a good 20 minute afterward about it.... and then started to head home.
I haven't been near the london eye at night until tonight - it's soooo gorgeous when it's lit up... and with Big Ben in the background, it's basically breathtaking - I've never been in such a movie/romantic/perfect night kind of place. I have to come back here... it needs to happen regularly. I think a part of my heart will always be in London.
Anyway.... enough of the sappy..... We got home and ended up stopping at Tesco to buy food (since we were all starving!). I got 2 croissants.... yummy! Now.... for the BIG NEWS! - Once we got home, I ate my croissants AND
AND
AAAAAND!
booked our flights for our week between london and lancaster
the seven of us (our 'gang' basically...) are all going to Paris for three days (AAAAAAAAAH!)
and then six of us (minus Steve) are going to Rome for another three!!!! (AAAAAAAH AGAIN!)
I'm thrilled
i cannot get over how much of a dream fulfilling time this has been. it's sooo satisfying.... something deep down inside me is just beaming and it's SUCH a good feeling. Never before have I felt like this!!! I'm basically on cloud nine right now..... I have never been this happy in all my life. This is what it feels like to have dreams come true.

Real Day 8 Update and Day 9 - Beatles Tour

Sooooooo
yesterday
was
basically
AMAZING!!!!!
It was such a good day. Got up in the morning and went to class. We watched "A Hard Day's Night". Not bad, but definitely not as good as I had hoped. Discussion afterwards was fairly interesting - Prof. has a great way of keeping things flowing and holding my attention, so that's good. After class, we had a bit of time to grab some lunch. I got a baguette at Tesco the night before (along with two of the most amazing chocolate chip cookies ever - that didn't make it to the morning!) so I ate that for lunch. It was sooo good - I ate it completely plain, which is unusual for me. Normally I want at least butter.... but, this was good as is! While I was eating lunch, I got to talk to Peter for a little bit. He's doing well, although I think he is a bit homesick already.... he doesn't have friends there/lots to do to keep him busy so he's kind of starting to feel alone. I think he'll be fine - he loves the food at least! It was good to talk to him though, and it really made me realize that this London trip is just what I needed to get a bit more independent and..... more myself. Learning to make choices and decisions for myself without depending on others has done HUGE things for me. anyway.... enough of that. So yes, got to talk to Peter. yay!!!
We then had to take a bus to the BFI since the tube was still on strike (annoying!). The bus ride was actually not too bad though... we got there in decent amount of time but had NO idea where to go when we got off the bus. We all thought the BFI was the round building where the IMAX is... boy were we wrong. It's actually a building completley different and about a block away. We finally found it, though, and met prof and mrs. prof inside the lobby. We had to wait for a little while before the 'tour' was ready. Amanda ran to the bathroom like two seconds before the tour started (she didn't know) so I waited for her and missed the first little bit of the tourguide's talk. Apparently, though, I didn't miss much. The tourguide was horrible. She had the thickest scottish accent - thus making it hard to even understand her. She really didn't know much of what she was talking about either - prof asked her a fairly easy question and she had no idea. We watched a short 10 minute film on some various clips in the archives. Got a 10 minute tour of the different cinemas and then she basically handed us off to the computer archives and told us to 'explore'. That was it. BAD. Leo, Jenna, Jess and I watched a Monty Python Flying Circus episode... also not that thrilling to be honest.
AFTER the horrible BFI tour, however, we went on the most AMAZING tour of the National Theater EVER!!!!! Our tourguide was fantastic. First, we went into the Olivier Theater - MASSIVE and lots, lots lots of lights (thought of kev and the crew from home). They were doing sound checks - GORGEOUS accoustics!!! After that, we went into the Littleton Theater (the National Theater has a total of 3 theater's in the facilities). In the Littleton Theater, we went backstage and GOT TO GO ONSTAGE!!!! Totally stood in the spotlight..... AAAAH!!!! They just did Caroline or Change there (thought of Peter). Then we went backstage through the shops - amazing amazing amazing! We toured the last theater (a smaller blackbox but still amazing). Jess and I literally died throughout this ENTIRE tour.... it was phenomenal. There was even live jazz in the lobby when we were walking out..... how much more perfect can a theater be?
After the amazingness that was that.... we walked on the southbank of the Thames - past the Eye and the Aquarium at sunset. It was so beautiful seeing the sun going down behind Parliment (Big Ben, etc.) and reflecting in the Thames. I couldn't take enough pictures!!! We walked around for a bit and then got on the bus to head back to Chelsea area. The bus ride was INSANE - packed and crazy (rush hour during a tube strike SUCKS). Even the bus driver started yelling at people!
It was Amanda's birthday, so we made her pick what she wanted to do/eat/ etc. for the rest of the night. She decided to eat at Made In Italy - an italian restraunt right down the block from IES. We got the most delicious food - I had a 'margherita pizza' - basically a plain pizza but italian style and to die for. There were 11 of us - it was fantastic!
After Made in Italy, we went to Cadagan's - the entire gang! it was so much fun!!! we were there for about an hour and a half. got a couple of drinks (i had my first smirnoff ice - very very good). Cadogan's closes at 11 so we decided to walk around.... we basically ended up having a tipsie walk all over chelsea until about 12:30am. it was fantastic!!!! we laughed hysterically! We finally made our way back home - after a great and memorable night of birthday celebrating! Jess and I died on our beds and were gone until the morning

Now..... this morning/today.... MUCH less whirlwind and fantastic as yesterday. Which, on one hand was good because I needed a break from the amazingness. Class this morning - we watched "Local Hero" - a Scottish film. It was fairly good and decently funny.... discussion after was good... long but good. I really love prof. - he's an awesome teacher and is so much fun to be around - so knowledgable but doesn't make you feel stupid at all!!!! After class (which ran really long considering we had to be somewhere by 2) we ran upstairs, quick grabbed things and headed out for the tube - luckily no more strike/no more bus riding! YAY! We were running kind of late so we had to slightly book it... not too horrible, but... keep moving kind of thing. Once we got to Maryleborn station, we met our tour guide. The best way to describe this woman is to say that she was intensely over dramatic. She talked with, if i wasn't in london, an accent that i would call fake and so sloooowly that i could have said 10 sentences for her 1. She was boring too... told stories that we really didn't care much about and put us down for being americans and not knowing random beatles facts. It was frustrating. She refused to stand in front of the actual spots she was showing us because it was too noisy (what with the traffic and all.... which... was not noisy.) so we ended up goind down these sketchy alleys and other weird places. I dunno..... maybe if i was a bigger beatles fan i would have loved it, but i feel like for the 2.5 hour tour.... we saw basically nothing. After that, I had hoped to go to see Harry Potter at the IMAX (for the Harry Potter fan in me and because we have to see an american movie for class) but Leo and Dave didn't want to because they were tired.... so we ended up just coming back to IES. We spent the night in. Which, looking back, is actualy something i really needed. I needed a crash night to catch up on doing nothing. That hasn't happened for over a week and..... after the week we've had.... it's been more like a month (all things considered) so yes... Jess and I made very delicious spaghetti/pasta stuff (it tasted like home.... so good). We're attempting to start make plans for our week off..... the plan, as of now, is to go to Paris for 3/4 days and Rome 3/4 days..... we'll see how that goes! For now... I'm to bed before I completely fall over!

Day 8 - probably the most amazing day of my life

I'm in love with this city. officially and completely.
not going to write a long post tonight, will elaborate tomorrow (once i've rested and.... sobered.) but..... here's the highlights so i don't forget anything:
woke up
class
lunch (best baguette ever)
talked to peter
took bus to BFI
got engaged! haha
bad tour of BFI (boring!)
watched Monty Python's Flying Circus
went to the National Theater
had best tour EVER
got to stand on stage of Littleton theater
backstage
jazz in the lobby
chat with Prof.
walk on the south bank at sunset
ride home on the bus - - - *journal entry - old man talking about his granddaughter 'playing American Idol'
dinner at Made In Italy - pizza fabulousness
Cadogan's with the gang (Smirnoff and guys at the bar)
walking around craziness in Chelsea
coming home.... going to bed

will elaborate tomorrow!!!! i love this place. i belong here.

Day 7 (ALREADY!) - Class, Victoria Station and the Electric Cinema

Second class this morning and.... it was MUCH better than the first - I actually was interested in this movie and had NO troubles staying awake. We watched an Alfred Hitchcock movie ("The Vanishing Lady") and then had a discussion afterwards which, though it was two hours long, was legit fascinating and I really enjoyed it. The movie itself was black and white (love that!) and basically a classic. Prof is fantastic and very very interesting... he asks awesome questions and can definitely hold my attention (go him) especially since this is really a subject that I know little about.
After class, I came upstairs, grabbed something to eat and then we headed out to go to Victoria Station to get our young person rail cards. This was defnitely a fun experience - Victoria Station is really cool! There are a whole bunch of different shops and places to eat - it smelled fantastic. We didn't get anything, but it was neat to see. The railcards were decently easy to get - just a matter of standing in line (or, in 'que') for a bit and then giving all the info. They apparently are going to get us discounts on trains and such for when we want to travel (especially out of Lancaster). The girls decided to go shopping - the guys decided to go home (not surprising!). We ended up heading to Oxford Rd. to find cheap department stores. Katie and Amanda both wanted to get another set of towels. We went into Top Shop - a massive clothing store - to see if we could get directions to the dept. store. Jess and Jenna got sucked into the shopping at that store, so we left them there (after checking the hilarious 'rack o' hair' and wishing we could have a fashion photo shoot) and headed for department store area. We found a store, John Lewis, and the towel section - which was INSANE!!!! They litterally had every color imaginable (and apparently change/update the colors every 6 months). The girls got their towels (not bad, only L4) and we set out for the Tube. We decided that shopping was mildly overrated due to the crazy expensive prices. The Tube has be very very difficult today because of a strike that the workers are on (starting at about 4pm today). We stood at one station for 20 minutes (a rarity, considering the longest I ever stood on a platform was approx. 3 minutes)
*Our power just went out - we have to stick the key card in a little slot to keep it on.... kindda weird*
ANYWAY.... so yes, the Tube was not cooperating. Apparently they're hoping to have all the problems worked out by Friday.... until then, we're stuck taking the bus. The bus, though, isn't as horrible as originally thought.
So... we got home after mini-shopping trip and i grabbed some dinner (woot strawberry jelly and bread!) Around 5:15ish we met downstairs for our first experience on the bus. There's a bus stop just around the corner on King's Rd. (very convenient) so Leo, Amanda, Steve, Dave and I hopped on that (Jess and Jenna stayed out shopping and decided to head right to the cinema from where they were). We got lost. Not majorly lost.... at least not lost beyond finding ourselves.... but nonetheless, lost. We transferred buses well, but got off at the wrong station and quick hopped back on the bus. Then, when we got off at what we thought was the 'right' train station, we found ourselves in a residential section of Notting Hill... definitely not a place for the electric cinema. After a call to Prof. and a map check later, we fiiiinally got on the right road and power walked for about 6 blocks (city blocks... Dave thought we should "slightly jog" but, we vetoed that idea).
The electric cinema was pretty awesome. We got there with about 10 minutes to spare.... went in, sat down (they had these huge individual chairs (deeap and comfy) and leg rests in front of each - seperated by small end table kind of things)... it was dangerously comfortable. The cinema itself was nice.... fancy curtain and lights in the front and a screen that pops out from behind the curtain. The previews lasted about 20 minutes (they were commercial-y..... weird). The movie was called "Hallam Foe"..... very Freudian. Boy's mother dies, boy blames stepmother, boy sleeps with stepmother, boy meets woman who looks like his mother, boy runs away from home, boy is obsessed with woman who looks like mother, boy stalks her, boy sleeps with her, boy tries to drown stepmother, all is better. It was bizarre.....hopefully we talk about it in class tomorrow because I'm really not sure how to write a review/what I felt about this movie other than that it was weird. I fell asleep for about the first 15 minutes of the movie - the chairs were just soooo comfy after that intense walk! But I saw the rest of it, so it's all good.
After the movie, we walked through Notting Hill to get to the correct bus stop. Driving home on the bus with the entire group of us was much fun.... our group is great in that we can all hang out together and have a good time without anyone feeling awkward or out of place (even if we do have our own little gangs that we go everywhere with). Prof and his wife were on the top deck of the bus behind us.... the buses get so close to each other when they're driving here, we could literally wave - practically talk to - them from out bus. Once we got back to Sloane Square, we walked down King's Rd. and hit up Tesco (the grocery store just down from IES - it's open til 11pm - late night around here). We all wanted munchie kind of things so we thought it would be the best place possible. I got two chocolate chip cookies from their mini-bakery section. They were delicious!!!! After the Tesco run, we came home, ate foods and are now reading articles for class tomorrow. We're watching a Beatles movie in the morning, BFI tour in the afternoon/evening and then Amanda's birthday tomorrow night! - should be a crazy time, we're planning on having massive drinking at Cadogan's! woot!!! we'll see how that goes..... maybe even an invite to prof?! that would be very much fun!!!

Day Six - Sunday and Rugby!

fiiiiinally got to legit sleep in this morning! i had the alarm set for 8:30am on the off chance that i wanted to go to the market with Amanda and Jess.... when the alarm went off, though, DEFINITELY decided against getting up (sleeping in meant more than anything else in that moment!) so, reset the alarm for 10:30am and rolled back over. Jess got up and left so i had a momentary single for the morning. I got up right after my alarm went off, showered, dressed and decided to take some pictures and head out for a walk. I took pictures of our room and bathroom (for reference!) and then headed out to explore Chelsea.
I'm amazed more and more at this area.... it's so beautiful and incredibly different than anywhere, yet not overly strange. I walked toward the western half a Chelsea... down King's Rd. - past cadogan's and babushka (yes, it IS actually called babushka). I stayed on the main road for a bit.... saw two dogs tied outside a starbucks (they were very cute, but i thought it'd be sketchy to take a picture of them). Then I wandered of the main road a bit and headed toward the river... the houses here all have some kinds of flowers in pretty wrought iron flower boxes outside. i walked by the river for about a block, then turned down another alley... there was a church on the corner and the people were just leaving from sunday services. it was felt so nice to hear the organ and see all these older british ladies and gents walking out of church... something out of a movie. i continued on past them and ended up walking back to king's rd. there's a side square off of king's rd that has one of the private gardens... i decided to walk around that and, for the first time, i actually saw people inside! these gardens fascinate me - they're so gorgeous yet they're behind bars. the rest of the world can see inside them (for the most part, except for over grown shrubs and such) but, can't get in. i love them. something about the mystery of being inside. i think the scene in Notting Hill will never be the same for me now that I've actually seen a garden that you'd have to break into to get inside....
around 12:30 i headed back to IES. Jess and Amanda were back from the market and the gang decided that we should leave around 1:15 for Regent's park. we kind of bummed out in the room for a while (i worked on FINALLY posting some pictures..... haven't touched the massive files yet... just the simple airplane ride and walk around chelsea pictures.) we met downstairs and headed out to the park. the circle and district lines were still closed today (they're doing construction on them all weekend apparently) so the picadilly line was our option.... and apparently everyone else's as well - massively busy! took the picadilly to waterloo and got off at the regent park stop. we had NO idea where to go or how big the park actually was so we just began to walk around, following the crowd. we ended up inside this huge grassy area where they had lots of inflatable blue tubes set up as barriers/sitting on things and bunches of rugby training things happening. as we found out later, there wasn't an actual rugby game happening.... instead, it was a send off for the England team's season. they travel around the world (obviously... hence the 'world cup') so, this was like their big shindig before leaving. they had different stations for the kids to do various training exercises and then two 'pitches' (as they're called) set up for tag/touch rugby. we watched the England touch rugby team play a match and then wandered over to the main pitch... there, they had the England rugby team players meeting fans/signing autographs.... the line was about a mile long! we decided against that (since we don't actually know any of the players....) and ended up hanging out on the grass for a bit. there was a crepes stand (along with other foods) so we decided to all get some.... we ended up sharing (they were large and not cheap - L4). jess and i shared a cinnamon and sugar crepes = delicious!!!! around 4:15ish we decided that we'd had enough and headed to find a tube stop.... we wound up wandering around the park for a bit. we found a carosel! (smack in the middle of the park there was this carosel surrounded by flowers and shrubs and other pretty flowery nature).... again.... can we say movie scene?! we eventually found the tube stop and made our way back to IES. it was a nice day out and we decided that it was very fun to do something that wasn't really 'touristy' for once. this was definitely something the English people would do.

i absolutely loved being in the park. it was a beautiful day AGAIN (who can complain, honestly?) and it was nice to see so much grass again. i haven't yet missed home. i've kind of been waiting for homesick to kick in, but it hasn't yet. i'm too in love with everything about this place to miss something else. the prices... i'm not in love with. expensive as all get out.... but i'm trying to be cheap so that i can save. don't want to spend too much all in one place. i think once i'm in lancaster things will start to slow down and i'll be able to relax just a little. not that i'm complaining though.... i was expecting this month to be full to the brim and exciting.... so far, it most definitely has been.
we're planning on going to cadogen's tonight.... really just to hang out someplace other than here. it's kind of our new spot to chill. class tomorrow morning! should probably do some homework-y kind of things....

Saturday!!! - Day Five

We FINNALLLLYYY got to sleep in this morning! (or 'lay in' as they say here)... I was so looking forward to it until a FIRE ALARM woke me up at 9:45am (which, doesn't sound that early..... but being as exhausted as I was.... yeah.) Sooo we went outside, stood with everyone.... waited..... waited.... waited..... and were finally allowed back inside at which point Jess and I crashed right back into beds until 10:45. We got up, showered, dressed (the morning usual) and headed out around 12 to meet everyone downstairs (I got to talk to mom and dad via video chat while i was getting ready! yay! so good to see them!)
Once everyone was together, we headed out.... the two main lines (the District and the Circle lines) were closed today due to construction so we had to take the Picadilly line (most crowded line on the tube EVER!).... but, we finally made it to the tower bridge stop and walked around for a while. It was, again, a beautiful day (i think the rain's a lie.... or a conspiracy!) - slightly cloudy (big white, sometimes grey clouds) but blue sky and some sun now and then.... breezy/kind of cool. SO..... we walked around for a while (there was this really cute place on the south shore by the city hall (which is round!)... it had like fountains and sculpture and stuff.... and a really nice view of the Tower Bridge. Walked around there for a while and then crossed Tower Bridge. I got about five billion pictures of course!
From there we headed to the Tower of London and got tickets (L13... but totally worth it). Inside, we decided to not take a tour (I think we're starting to get toured out) and instead did things at our own pace. We wandered for a bit and then headed out to where the moat once was (now grassy area) as they were having a javelin re-enactment... people on horses and all dressed up and parades and lots of very cool stuff. We sat out there for about a half hour watching everything and then decided to head back in to the tower. We figured we'd beat the crowd to see the crown jewels (since everyone... practically... was outside watching the re-enactment). The crown jewels exhibit was incredible.... they had a bunch of movies on big screens before you saw any of the jewels (one was explaining what everything was and one showed Queen Elizabeth II's coronation). After these films, you actually got to walk around and see all the jewels (crowns, septers, swords, orbs, jewelry, golden dishes, capes, etc. etc.).... it was all soooo gorgeous and sooooo rich looking!
After the jewels, we headed to Bloody Tower and the Torture Tower where we saw, first hand, some massive torture devices and read about murders and lots of gorrey stuff like that..... it was decently interesting. Then... however... the guys wanted to go to the armoury. Much much MUCH less interesting and veeeerrrry long. (It was like a 4 story building!).... but I got some good pictures, so I guess it was worth it in the end. After the armory we were pretty much done (and the tower was closing in a half hour) so we decided to head out (about 5:30pm)... we wandered around the city for a bit (I don't actually think Steve knew where we were going, though he claimed he did) until we found the tube stop we wanted. We made our way back here and, being incredibly exhausted, decided just to crash the night..... we made food and hung out in the kitchen on the first floor... made plans for the next few days and talked about all we want to do (so much to see, so little time!).... then we crashed in the common room (first floor again.... it was easiest) and watched a movie and then later a 'football' game (yay cute soccer boys!)....... Basically a fast pace day at first, but winded up very relaxing..... Now, it's to bed with me. Rugby tomorrow!!!! yay!!!

Bath - Day Four

Today was slightly overcast and cloudy..... but didn't rain, so it was okay. We got up VERY early this morning (took a shower last night to get a bit of extra sleep this morning) and left IES around 8am. We made our way to the South Kensington Tube station and took the Circle Line to the Waterloo Line and finally to Paddington Station. There, we met Prof. and Mrs. After getting waters and coffees, we jumped on the train that took us to Bath. The train ride was about 1.5 hours. Jess and I spent about half of that sleeping (we were both tired) and the rest taking pictures, exchanging cell phone numbers and, basically just chatting away. We got to bath a bit early (around 11am) - the tour wasn't to start until 11:30am, so Prof gave us 25 minutes to walk around a bit and get acquainted with parts of the town.

**i just typed a WHOLE LONG POST..... and deleted it by accident! GAH!!!!*

we met back at the train station around 11:30am for our tour. Our tour guide (named Caroline.... of course) took us basically all over Bath. The buildings there are gorgeous - all the same color - all made of limestone. The tour took ust to, basically, every major landmark in Bath (the Abbey, the baths, the Royal crescent, the sun, the Jane Austen Museum, Sally Lunn Shoppe, etc. etc. etc.) It was a beautiful day - slightly overcast but no rain and breezy temp. The tour ended aroung 1:30 - we all were STARVING so we went back to the Sally Lunn store. Jess and I both got sweet rolls with strawberry jam and butter - soooo deliciously amazing. After eating, the group of us went downstairs to the mini-museum they have. It was basically showing the original bakery and some other little tid-bit kind of things.
After Sally Lunn, we decided to hit up the baths. While it was kind of expensive to get inside, it was mostly worth it. There are three Roman baths that sit above this ginormous hot spring (you could even see the bubbles in one of them) and it's all surrounded by these elaborate buildings and columns and statues - pretty amazing. We wandered around there for a bit and, at the end, got to taste the water - the people used to drink and bathe in the water for its minerals (43!!!)... apparently it was the best way to solve any ailments/problems. I, personally, thought it was disgusting (warm mineral water... eww.)
Once finished with the baths, we headed out into the main square and decided to tour the abbey (cheap - only L2). It was absolutely gorgeous inside - stained glass windows, wood work, lots and lots of beautiful-ness. After seeing both St. Paul's and this abbey, I now know why these people were so religious... it was so inspiring!
With the abbey behind us, we headed out to walk along the Avon River (runs through Bath) when Lee called. Jess and I went to meet her in the square while the others continued to walk around. It was soooo good to see Lee (another friendly familiar gettysburg face! YAY!) and I think she was really grateful to see us. She loves it in Bath, and I definitely can't blame her. We sat in the square and had fish and chips for dinner... just chatting away and enjoying the scenery (now much less busy since apparently things start to close down around 6ish). By about 6:45 we started to walk towards Lee's flat (she had a reception with her tutors that night). The flat is fantastic!!! It's above a greek restraunt, is huuuuge and overlooks a river.... basically, phenomenal.
After dropping her off, we met back up with the group and headed for the train station. Outside the station, we stopped to buy goodies for the ride home. I got the most delicious triple chocolate chip shortbread in the world for only 99p!!!! The train ride home was rough.... we didn't have reservations so we had to just take available seats which meant sitting next to strange man.... awkward when you'd like to try to sleep. He left after about 3 stops though and I read the paper he left behind.
We got back home around 9:30ish and decided to do a quick change/pee stop and then head out again. (It's amazing what a new shirt, some lip gloss and earrings will do for a girl! haha) We, the gang, hit up Cadogen's for about an hour (all of us got pints of cider) and, at 11 (because they close then) we decided to head down to the next block and the other hang out that people from our group have been to. We still aren't sure what it's called (something foreign with a B, so we named it 'Babushka's' for reference sake).... ANYWAY this place is fantastic!!!! - kind of night clubby but without a cover charge (woot!). We danced for a while and some got drinks.... About an hour and a half later we were all super hot (it was reeeeally crowded inside) and so we decided to head out. It was such a nice night out (and only 12:30am at this point) so we ran back to IES for quick pee time and then back out for a walk to the bridge.... it's kind of our new favorite place for pretty nights out. We left the bridge (after a bit) and came back..... basically to just hang out and chat about our day and whatev. Went to bed around 3am (wow late night...) It was definitely a good.... but EXHAUSTING day!

wow... day three already! how did that happen?
today, we started class..... which, on one hand was eh as we had to be ther by 8:30.... on the other hand, though, it was good to actually... think... again! haha so yes, got up around 7:30ish, took a shower and headed downstairs. Prof. handed out the syllabi and then some other document-y kind of papers. then we watched Remains of the Day.... while the book was decently okay, the movie was LOOONG. Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, Christopher Reeve and Hugh Grant.... one would think it would have been MUCH better than it was. we chatted about the movie afterward for about an hour ("is this an English film?" "why or why not is it english" etc. etc.) it was a decently good discussion.
we had the afternoon off, so a couple of us went to the grocery store again. i needed drinks (apple juice and tea!) and toilet paper (yeeeeah.... glad amanda mentioned that we have to buy it ourselves, or we would have been stranded! haha) i discovered a whole aisle of tea (not surprising as this IS london! haha) and i decided that i need to learn to drink it! then we checked out a school supply store (note: be sure to bring all school supply kind of things to london - don't buy here...... L3.99 for a notebook! Aaah!) anyway, so.... we did that, then came back here and basically bummed around the room for a while. jess and i made sandwiches (well, i actually just had lots of jelly bread.... but that's good too!) We started to look up prices for plane tickets for our week off.... that's going to be interesting. hopefully we can plan it all out by this weekend.
We left for our Theaterland tour around 4:15ish - and thank goodnes as it took us nearly 50 minutes to get to Trafalgar Square from here. Prof decided to do the tour himself (he said he couldn't find any that he really liked, so he just did it). It was absolutely amazing! Theaterland was basically a much more NYC-like kind of portion of the city. It felt very Time's Square at points but it still had the gorgeous English architecture and 'oldness' to it. So we walked around.... saw a whole bunch of theaters (the place where The Messiah was first performed, the theater where the Sound of music debuted... soooo much!) Then we went to Picadilly Square ( I was so thrilled to actually be in Picadilly!) We walked around there for a while.... it was definitely a NYC kind of place.... but much much MUCH more clean. After that, Prof gave us a free hour to grab food or anything of that sort.... Amanda and I were DYING for Starbucks so she and I went in there while the others wandered other places and got food. We headed back to the designated spot around 7:30ish - and Prof. gave us our tickets to see SPAMALOT!!!!! AAAAH! I was so thrilled! - seeing Spamalot in LONDON! - how much more priceless can you get?!
The show was amazing... the leads and other actors were phenomenal.... and the theater was GORGEOUS! Afterwards, Jess, Katie and I went back to the lobby and bought programs (they don't give any kind of playbill here.... you have to buy it. L3.50) So we bought those and made our way behind the theater to see if anyone came out for autographs. I think we took a bit too long - the only autograph we got was Lancelot... but he was fantastic, so it was all good! Then the three of us made our way back home via the Tube (which included about 15 minutes of us trying to find the nearest station, a 10 minute ride and about 10 minutes of trying to find our way home.... we've never done the walk from South Kensington to IES in the dark! haha... but we made it) I talked to mom for a bit when we got home, then took a shower..... didn't want to loose more sleep time in the morning! We're all meeting downstairs tomorrow morning at 8am to head to Paddington Station for 9am and then TO BATH!!!!! I'm very excited - camera batteries are charging as we speak! hehehe
I think that's all for now..... expect MASSIVE post after tomorrow! yay bath! woot!


Journal stuff for today: Starbucks - comparisons/contrasts between America vs. England, Spamalot - some of the changes and similarities from NYC to here, movie theaters playing mostly American movies