Sunday July 11, 2010
Yesterday we woke up early and had to be downstairs at the hostel for a very slim selection of breakfast before we packed up and headed out. Our options were some sort of oat cereal, burnt toast, or warm yogurt so needless to say breakfast was skipped by most of us. We loaded onto our bus and went to the battlefield of Culloden. It was where the Jacobites took their last stand in attempt to gain control over the country for Britain. They were defeated and the clan system in the Highlands began its decline. To put it in perspective it was kind of like the Confederates last stand against the Union. Our tour guide is very patriotic about the Highlands of Scotland so I think we stopped because it meant a lot to him.
Did I mention that our tour guide told us that we had no itinerary given so we were making it up as we went along? Mike (our tour guide) and the bus driver (Keith) were discussing on where to take us next and told us to bear with them as they experimented to see if we could get some narrow country roads. We ended up crossing a bridge that warned “weak bridge” which made everyone on our coach very uneasy. Our next stop were some burial cairns that are apparently older than Stonehenge? They were interesting but it started raining so we were excited when we were finally allowed back on the bus.
We then drove to the Dalwhinnie Whisky Distillery (the Americans apparently spell whisky wrong whisk(e)y, which is incorrect according the Scottish). We had a tour of the distillery which was interesting and each had a drink afterwards. For the record, I despise whisky but I bought a bottle nonetheless as a souvenir.
After the Distillery we loaded back onto our coach and headed to Blair Castle where we viewed the burial grounds of a famous soldier that our tour guide considers his hero. We did a tour of the castle and ate lunch finally. After lunch we got back on the bus and headed back South out of the Highlands back into Edinburgh.
We stopped in a town because Keith, our driver, thought it was important that we get pictures of two famous bridges that were built. Apparently the Forth Bridge (in the pictures it’s on the right) when building it a man fell from the scaffolding. Since all his bones were broken and they realized they couldn’t rescue him they lowered him a sandwich with poison in it to kill him and then poured cement on top of him so until this day he is in the bridge. The Forth Bridge carries the trains across the water while the Forth Road Bridge (on the left) is for cars.
After the bridge pictures we headed back into Edinburgh and checked into the Edinburgh Central Hostel. Never thought I’d be glad to get back to a hostel but after the one we stayed at in Inverness I was excited to be there. We got settled in our room and I went out to dinner with the girls to an authentic Italian restaurant where we were the only customers so we got full service from 2 older Italian gentlemen. On our first night in Edinburgh we found a place that makes home-made Gelato. It was amazing the first time so we decided to go back and get more. It is quite possibly my new favorite food… I always got strawberry and it is delicioussss. Some of the other girls went to see a movie but myself and another girl who is from North Carolina went to a pub to watch the World Cup game. Afterwards we just went back to the hostel to get showers and try to get to sleep pretty early.
As a side note:
Our tour guide for the entire trip (Mike) was a very unfriendly guy. He is very patriotic about his country and the Highlands but because of it he became offended when we were tired. It was expected that when we spend the entire day hopping on and off the tour bus to see different things we were tired. Mike would get on the microphone and begin fussing at his and told us if we didn’t wake up he would “come down the aisle and slap us in the face with a wet fish.” He made a lot of rude comments to some of the students and it was frustrating having him along on the trip. We were excited to find out that we had a new one for today. According to our tour guide, Scotland is responsible for everything great and amazing in the world.
July 12, 2010
This morning we went up really early and had breakfast again at 8. Our new tour guide was fantastic and generally in a much better mood than our old one. He walked us into the Old Town section of Edinburgh and took us to the Edinburgh castle. We did a tour of it and then headed back into town for some lunch and shopping before we had to board our train. I managed to get some cool offwork at a display from a local artist before I left and a cashmere scarf since cashmere is one of Scotland's main industries.
I was able to get some souvenirs of the trip and some lunch before headed back to the hostel to get our stuff out of the luggage room. We had to walk like 8 blocks to the train station, which was tiring. It would have been nice for us to have a bus to take us and all of our luggage there but our bus driver was relieved of his duty after he got us back to the hostel last night. Once we got into Kings Cross Station in London we hopped on a few underground lines to Waterloo and then took a train from Waterloo to Surbiton, which is where we are staying. It’s been a long day of traveling and the trip itself was a bit stressful. Our tour company never gave us much of an itinerary, and our hotel ended up being a hostel. The weather in the Highlands was very cold and rainy and since we didn’t know that we were going there many people didn’t pack for the weather. The tour guide company was very disorganized and had all of our reservations at the hostels booked wrong so the Paris trip should be interesting since it is booked through the same company. This time I know to prepare for a hostel and to pack accordingly.
I’ve got 2 papers to write this week that I need to start tonight even though I’m really tired from the Scotland trip.
It feels so great to finally be back at our flat and in my room where my Internet works and I have my own bed and bathroom. Tomorrow I have class all day to prepare for a play we are seeing Thursday night at the Globe Theater. Wednesday we are heading to Oxford for a daytrip. Also Mom, Dad, Leslie, and Mike are flying in on Wednesday, which is exciting. I have requested that they bring a couple boxes of instant cheese grits. Many of the people in my flat are from the North and have never even heard of grits so they are excited to try them. I’ve got a 1000 word paper due on Thursday that I’ve got to get started on as well as reading another Shakespeare play for a performance we are going to see on Thursday so I’ve got to get busy on schoolwork. It’s not all play here!
Pictures from Scotland are uploaded!!!
Love April
Monday, July 12, 2010
What was to be Posted Saturday:
Haha due to some issues with the internet at the hostel we stayed at in Inverness (part of the Highlands of Scotland) I couldn't post this. I'm currently on a train on the way back to London so once I get back and get settled back into my room I'll update on everything else that has happend!
Edinburgh Scotland!
This has been one heck of a weekend so far.
Yesterday morning a bus picked us up at 6:45 and drove us into London to King’s Cross train station to get on a train that took us into Scotland. Going into this trip we had a very vague itinerary and were told we were staying at hostels but had no idea what time we were doing anything and where exactly we were going. Our tour guide handed us a packet to hand to our next one, got us on the train and sent us away. The train ride was a little over 4 hours but we all got a chance to talk and get to know each other better.
When we got into Edinburgh our guide met us on our platform wearing a kilt, our first obvious sign that we had indeed made it into Scotland. Our guide was taking us to our hotel (or so we thought). He surprised everyone by taking us to Edinburgh Central Hostel where we couldn’t even check in yet so we had to leave all of our stuff in a luggage room and immediately head to a walking tour of the town. During our tour we saw people filming for a Bollywood movie as well as a commercial for the John Lewis furniture company. They had even used snow machines to make an area covered in snow for the commercial. We ate dinner and headed back to the hostel to check in. After checking in they couldn’t find the luggage key and then they had assigned us the wrong rooms. An hour later we finally got into our rooms and immediately passed out even though it was only like 8. It doesn’t get dark here until about 1 so it was a bit hard to sleep but I was extremely exhausted so I made do.
This morning we woke up and ate breakfast by 8 and were on the bus and leaving by 9am. We spent majority of the day on the bus but we made a ton of stops heading into the Highlands of Scotland. We had no idea where we were headed nor where we were staying at tonight. Even our guide’s itinerary given to him by the company was very vague and all our driver knew was our starting point, destination, and that he had accommodations for the night. The bus ride was interesting, in between our guide talking to us, Celtic music was played.. very. very loudly.
Stop 1 was to see the Wallace Monument. For those of you who have seen the movie Braveheart, it was in honor of the main character although the locals say it was very inaccurate. There was a gorgeous view of the city of Stirling and we could see the castle in the distance although it was pretty far away. Our guide gave us a rundown of the battle and why it was famous which was pretty interesting.
Stop 2 was to see Hamish, the famous Highland Cow. We got to feed him and his girlfriend, Heather, some vegetables.. They were adorable. One of the highlights of my day.
We got to see the train tracks that were used in Harry Potter as well as where Hagrid’s house was in the movie. We stopped for lunch and because are guide was getting mad that we were sleeping on the bus he made us stop and get out and take pictures at the next available pull off. It was gorgeous and we finally got to take a group picture of those of us who went on the Scotland trip which ended up being 39 of the 130 of us total.
Stop 3 was to a memorial to the soldiers of the area. It was really sad because people still came and left wreaths and notes on it that they had wrote to their loved ones who had died in battle recently in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Stop 4 was in Loch Ness. We got to have a demonstration by clansmen on how to wear the original kilts. They went over what the houses were like, what kind of food they ate, and demonstrated their weapons and how they were used. We then walked to the banks of Loch Ness, but didn’t see the monster. We then got back on the bus and headed back. We stopped at the famous castle on Loch Ness, Urquhart, but it wasn’t much to see.
We finally then got back on the bus and headed to Inverness, the biggest and only city in the Scotland Highlands. We checked into another hostel, this one is not near as nice but it’s a bed to sleep on so it works. We ate dinner at a local place and went to a local pub that is the town favorite and listened to a very new-age celtic band. Surprisingly it wasn’t that bad. We’re back at the hostel now and getting ready for bed. We have another early day tomorrow although we don’t really know where we are going.
The hostel here is pretty gross. Never though I’d say I’d be glad to get back to the hostel in Edinburgh.
It’s an adventure! Although we have had a few bad experiences so far I’m trying to keep an open mind and not letting it ruin how gorgeous Scotland is.
Love and miss everyone!
P.S. Pictures have been updated!
Edinburgh Scotland!
This has been one heck of a weekend so far.
Yesterday morning a bus picked us up at 6:45 and drove us into London to King’s Cross train station to get on a train that took us into Scotland. Going into this trip we had a very vague itinerary and were told we were staying at hostels but had no idea what time we were doing anything and where exactly we were going. Our tour guide handed us a packet to hand to our next one, got us on the train and sent us away. The train ride was a little over 4 hours but we all got a chance to talk and get to know each other better.
When we got into Edinburgh our guide met us on our platform wearing a kilt, our first obvious sign that we had indeed made it into Scotland. Our guide was taking us to our hotel (or so we thought). He surprised everyone by taking us to Edinburgh Central Hostel where we couldn’t even check in yet so we had to leave all of our stuff in a luggage room and immediately head to a walking tour of the town. During our tour we saw people filming for a Bollywood movie as well as a commercial for the John Lewis furniture company. They had even used snow machines to make an area covered in snow for the commercial. We ate dinner and headed back to the hostel to check in. After checking in they couldn’t find the luggage key and then they had assigned us the wrong rooms. An hour later we finally got into our rooms and immediately passed out even though it was only like 8. It doesn’t get dark here until about 1 so it was a bit hard to sleep but I was extremely exhausted so I made do.
This morning we woke up and ate breakfast by 8 and were on the bus and leaving by 9am. We spent majority of the day on the bus but we made a ton of stops heading into the Highlands of Scotland. We had no idea where we were headed nor where we were staying at tonight. Even our guide’s itinerary given to him by the company was very vague and all our driver knew was our starting point, destination, and that he had accommodations for the night. The bus ride was interesting, in between our guide talking to us, Celtic music was played.. very. very loudly.
Stop 1 was to see the Wallace Monument. For those of you who have seen the movie Braveheart, it was in honor of the main character although the locals say it was very inaccurate. There was a gorgeous view of the city of Stirling and we could see the castle in the distance although it was pretty far away. Our guide gave us a rundown of the battle and why it was famous which was pretty interesting.
Stop 2 was to see Hamish, the famous Highland Cow. We got to feed him and his girlfriend, Heather, some vegetables.. They were adorable. One of the highlights of my day.
We got to see the train tracks that were used in Harry Potter as well as where Hagrid’s house was in the movie. We stopped for lunch and because are guide was getting mad that we were sleeping on the bus he made us stop and get out and take pictures at the next available pull off. It was gorgeous and we finally got to take a group picture of those of us who went on the Scotland trip which ended up being 39 of the 130 of us total.
Stop 3 was to a memorial to the soldiers of the area. It was really sad because people still came and left wreaths and notes on it that they had wrote to their loved ones who had died in battle recently in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Stop 4 was in Loch Ness. We got to have a demonstration by clansmen on how to wear the original kilts. They went over what the houses were like, what kind of food they ate, and demonstrated their weapons and how they were used. We then walked to the banks of Loch Ness, but didn’t see the monster. We then got back on the bus and headed back. We stopped at the famous castle on Loch Ness, Urquhart, but it wasn’t much to see.
We finally then got back on the bus and headed to Inverness, the biggest and only city in the Scotland Highlands. We checked into another hostel, this one is not near as nice but it’s a bed to sleep on so it works. We ate dinner at a local place and went to a local pub that is the town favorite and listened to a very new-age celtic band. Surprisingly it wasn’t that bad. We’re back at the hostel now and getting ready for bed. We have another early day tomorrow although we don’t really know where we are going.
The hostel here is pretty gross. Never though I’d say I’d be glad to get back to the hostel in Edinburgh.
It’s an adventure! Although we have had a few bad experiences so far I’m trying to keep an open mind and not letting it ruin how gorgeous Scotland is.
Love and miss everyone!
P.S. Pictures have been updated!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
What a Busy Week!
First off, my apologies everyone for not keeping this updating this week. It has been an extremely busy week which I will tell you about! Second off, my apologies for my pictures not being up. Just realized tonight that Flickr had an error and deleted all my albums. All being fixed within the next few minutes. Captions and explanations of them may just have to wait a while. But the pictures are up to date as of what I have taken tonight!! You can click on the top link above this!
Monday morning started off early with a boat ride on the Thames to Hampton Court Palace with my British Culture and Society class. I was in the afternoon tour group so in the morning we got to explore the area. We went through the gardens which are gorgeously done, especially since there is a flower show there this weekend and went to see some grape vines that they described to us as "older than America." I climbed a few feet up on the trellis for a picture which i'm sure wasn't allowed but a good picture moment none the less. Three others, Chris, Jackie, Matt, as well as myself went to the Hampton Court Hedge Maze next. It's been in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest hedge maze. It was a bit harder than we expected to be and we almost didn't make it out in time to make it to our tour on time. During the tour we got to learn a bit of history about the different parts of the palace. The front part of the Palace, the Tudor part, was built first for Cardinal Wolsey circa 1514 who was a close friend of Henry the VIII. When Wolsey became unfavorable, Henry the VIII took over and used it for the Royal Courts to stay in and he enlarged it to be able to handle his court. The rest of the castle was done by King James 1 and is called the Stuart period. It's decorated and designed much differently than the front half. We also got to see where the fire destroyed part of the Palace in the 1980's and learned about how they restored everything almost perfectly. The Palace was absolutely gorgeous and I'm excited to visit some more. Monday night I started not feeling all that great and ended up having a fever so I took some ibuprofen and knocked out pretty early. I figured because I've barely slept in the last week that I just needed some rest.
Tuesday morning we had to be up bright and early for Shakespeare class. I still wasn't feeling very well but I went anyway. After morning lectures we went into London to do a Bankside walk and see the Globe as well as other Shakespeare significant places. Our teacher is really fun and loves teaching American students. The teaching style is different here and is more casual which I absolutely love. I wish it was like that at home, it makes learning so much more enjoyable. By the time we had walked all through the Southwark district of London, also known as 'Shakespeare's London' I was exhausted but we still had a tour aboard the Golden Hinde. I'm not sure of its actual relevance to Shakespeare but it was an English flagship boat, navigated by Sir Francis Drake. It was the 2nd boat to ever circum-navigate the world between 1577-80. It isn't the original boat, but it's a replica which they say accurately portrays it as best as anyone could ever get it. Our tour guide made alot of jokes and kept it interesting but being very tired, having a bad headache, a sore throat, and a throbbing ear pain, the only thing I wanted to do was head back into Kingston, to my flat and go to bed. Our class finally ended at a pub where we got to have drinks and hang out with our teacher. Had I been feeling a tiny bit better I would have enjoyed it even more but I was ready to leave. The pub we met at was called the George and is the only Elizabethon pub left in London. In many tour books it's the #1 pub to visit. It was gorgeous and very nice to sit outside. After we were dismissed from class I made my way back as quick as possible to Waterloo to catch a train back. To get to Waterloo I had to take the "tube" as it's called which got stopped because of someone having to have a paramedic on one a few stops ahead so I ended up having to walk a good distance back to Waterloo and then had to run to catch a very long train back to where I live. As soon as I got back I grabbed something to eat and called it a night.
On a sidenote, many people in London were unhappy on Tuesday. It was 7/7 - the anniversary of the London bombings 5 years ago and the mayor didn't recognize it. There were flowers left at several bus stations as well as underground stations left by families and friends to honor those who lost their lives.
Yesterday morning I woke up feeling even worse so as soon as I got to class I had the teacher instruct me where to find the health center and the doctor at. Two hours later after alot of waiting and paperwork, I saw the doctor and was told i had a throat infection and got a prescription. I went back to class for a final lecture before heading to the pharmacist to get my prescription filled. In our British Culture and Society class we have two days where we have "Independent London Visits" instead of class fieldtrips where we are supposed to go visit something that interests us. My health interest took over and I ended up going to the Hunterian Museum located at the Royal College of Surgeons of England. For those of you who haven't heard of it here's a link with some info:
http://www.igougo.com/journal-j41120-London-Strange_Museums_in_London.html#1171899
I decided it was best not to post pictures of what I actually saw in the museum because a) I wasn't supposed to take pictures anyway and b) it was pretty gross stuff. I think the link pretty much can give you an idea of what they have. My flatmate, Jerryl went with me who is also a health related major at his school at home so he found a lot of it interesting too. After the museum we ended up walking around a little and wandered through the London Inn and the Royal Courts of Justice. We then went to Bond Street to walk around before catching the Underground to Waterloo and the train back to Surbiton. I was feeling really tired and needed to take my medicine by this point so we decided to avoid the 15 minute walk back from the train station to our flat. Big Mistake- we took a bus that detoured us about an hour. We learned our lesson and now know never to take a K3 bus. Last night I went to sleep early too and was forced to wake up really early this morning to read Shakespeare.
Now to today - this morning I had to wake up super early and read Shakespeare's 'As You Like It'. Not being a very big reader, nor play enthusiastic, I struggled through it but read it none the less. We discussed it all morning in class before we were excused at 4:15 to go and get ready for a play that we saw tonight. A girl in my class, Stacy, who is also from North Carolina, and I went shopping in Kingston and then hopped on the train from there to go into London and the 'As You Like It' at the Old Vic. It was my first place experience and I enjoyed it. I was a bit tired of the play since we've discussed and read it all day but it gave me an entirely new view and perspective on the play. I think for the next one I may try to watch a version of it before I try to read it to make it more understandable. The play was from 7:30-10:30 tonight so we took a late train back. Since we've been back I've Skyped some with mom and I have been packing. We leave at 6:45am tomorrow morning to head to Scotland for the weekend! I'm really excited but really exhausted and am dreading packing.
July has been flyingggg by. It does not seem like I have been here for over a week and I still am not sure when I'm going to be able to find the time to see everything I want to see and still make the time to go to class and write my papers. I am learning alot, seeing alot, meeting alot of cool people, and having the time of my life. This is by far the best thing I have ever done, and I recommend studying abroad to any and everyone.
I'm already planning on trying to come back in 2012 to join in on some of the Olympic festivities. =) I have fallen in love with this city and I'm sure I'll return back as much as I can. Hope everyone is having fun at home.
Miss & Love everyone!
Monday morning started off early with a boat ride on the Thames to Hampton Court Palace with my British Culture and Society class. I was in the afternoon tour group so in the morning we got to explore the area. We went through the gardens which are gorgeously done, especially since there is a flower show there this weekend and went to see some grape vines that they described to us as "older than America." I climbed a few feet up on the trellis for a picture which i'm sure wasn't allowed but a good picture moment none the less. Three others, Chris, Jackie, Matt, as well as myself went to the Hampton Court Hedge Maze next. It's been in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest hedge maze. It was a bit harder than we expected to be and we almost didn't make it out in time to make it to our tour on time. During the tour we got to learn a bit of history about the different parts of the palace. The front part of the Palace, the Tudor part, was built first for Cardinal Wolsey circa 1514 who was a close friend of Henry the VIII. When Wolsey became unfavorable, Henry the VIII took over and used it for the Royal Courts to stay in and he enlarged it to be able to handle his court. The rest of the castle was done by King James 1 and is called the Stuart period. It's decorated and designed much differently than the front half. We also got to see where the fire destroyed part of the Palace in the 1980's and learned about how they restored everything almost perfectly. The Palace was absolutely gorgeous and I'm excited to visit some more. Monday night I started not feeling all that great and ended up having a fever so I took some ibuprofen and knocked out pretty early. I figured because I've barely slept in the last week that I just needed some rest.
Tuesday morning we had to be up bright and early for Shakespeare class. I still wasn't feeling very well but I went anyway. After morning lectures we went into London to do a Bankside walk and see the Globe as well as other Shakespeare significant places. Our teacher is really fun and loves teaching American students. The teaching style is different here and is more casual which I absolutely love. I wish it was like that at home, it makes learning so much more enjoyable. By the time we had walked all through the Southwark district of London, also known as 'Shakespeare's London' I was exhausted but we still had a tour aboard the Golden Hinde. I'm not sure of its actual relevance to Shakespeare but it was an English flagship boat, navigated by Sir Francis Drake. It was the 2nd boat to ever circum-navigate the world between 1577-80. It isn't the original boat, but it's a replica which they say accurately portrays it as best as anyone could ever get it. Our tour guide made alot of jokes and kept it interesting but being very tired, having a bad headache, a sore throat, and a throbbing ear pain, the only thing I wanted to do was head back into Kingston, to my flat and go to bed. Our class finally ended at a pub where we got to have drinks and hang out with our teacher. Had I been feeling a tiny bit better I would have enjoyed it even more but I was ready to leave. The pub we met at was called the George and is the only Elizabethon pub left in London. In many tour books it's the #1 pub to visit. It was gorgeous and very nice to sit outside. After we were dismissed from class I made my way back as quick as possible to Waterloo to catch a train back. To get to Waterloo I had to take the "tube" as it's called which got stopped because of someone having to have a paramedic on one a few stops ahead so I ended up having to walk a good distance back to Waterloo and then had to run to catch a very long train back to where I live. As soon as I got back I grabbed something to eat and called it a night.
On a sidenote, many people in London were unhappy on Tuesday. It was 7/7 - the anniversary of the London bombings 5 years ago and the mayor didn't recognize it. There were flowers left at several bus stations as well as underground stations left by families and friends to honor those who lost their lives.
Yesterday morning I woke up feeling even worse so as soon as I got to class I had the teacher instruct me where to find the health center and the doctor at. Two hours later after alot of waiting and paperwork, I saw the doctor and was told i had a throat infection and got a prescription. I went back to class for a final lecture before heading to the pharmacist to get my prescription filled. In our British Culture and Society class we have two days where we have "Independent London Visits" instead of class fieldtrips where we are supposed to go visit something that interests us. My health interest took over and I ended up going to the Hunterian Museum located at the Royal College of Surgeons of England. For those of you who haven't heard of it here's a link with some info:
http://www.igougo.com/journal-j41120-London-Strange_Museums_in_London.html#1171899
I decided it was best not to post pictures of what I actually saw in the museum because a) I wasn't supposed to take pictures anyway and b) it was pretty gross stuff. I think the link pretty much can give you an idea of what they have. My flatmate, Jerryl went with me who is also a health related major at his school at home so he found a lot of it interesting too. After the museum we ended up walking around a little and wandered through the London Inn and the Royal Courts of Justice. We then went to Bond Street to walk around before catching the Underground to Waterloo and the train back to Surbiton. I was feeling really tired and needed to take my medicine by this point so we decided to avoid the 15 minute walk back from the train station to our flat. Big Mistake- we took a bus that detoured us about an hour. We learned our lesson and now know never to take a K3 bus. Last night I went to sleep early too and was forced to wake up really early this morning to read Shakespeare.
Now to today - this morning I had to wake up super early and read Shakespeare's 'As You Like It'. Not being a very big reader, nor play enthusiastic, I struggled through it but read it none the less. We discussed it all morning in class before we were excused at 4:15 to go and get ready for a play that we saw tonight. A girl in my class, Stacy, who is also from North Carolina, and I went shopping in Kingston and then hopped on the train from there to go into London and the 'As You Like It' at the Old Vic. It was my first place experience and I enjoyed it. I was a bit tired of the play since we've discussed and read it all day but it gave me an entirely new view and perspective on the play. I think for the next one I may try to watch a version of it before I try to read it to make it more understandable. The play was from 7:30-10:30 tonight so we took a late train back. Since we've been back I've Skyped some with mom and I have been packing. We leave at 6:45am tomorrow morning to head to Scotland for the weekend! I'm really excited but really exhausted and am dreading packing.
July has been flyingggg by. It does not seem like I have been here for over a week and I still am not sure when I'm going to be able to find the time to see everything I want to see and still make the time to go to class and write my papers. I am learning alot, seeing alot, meeting alot of cool people, and having the time of my life. This is by far the best thing I have ever done, and I recommend studying abroad to any and everyone.
I'm already planning on trying to come back in 2012 to join in on some of the Olympic festivities. =) I have fallen in love with this city and I'm sure I'll return back as much as I can. Hope everyone is having fun at home.
Miss & Love everyone!
Sunday, July 4, 2010
So many things to do. Not enough time.
It has quickly became apparent that we have way many more things to do than we have time for. London is huge and theres still alot to do in Surbiton and Kingston where we are staying.
On Friday we went into London for the day. It was absolutely gorgeous but our timing was terrible so we only stayed for a few hours. London was packed because it was London Pride Day, so we managed to ride the tube down a few stops to get to a quieter area. It's such a small world. On the tube we randomly got on we were talking to some people we recognized as Americans. Comes to find out they were 3 of the 18 people here from NC State and it just happened that they were riding around on the tube attempting to get somewhere too. Just shows how much of a small world it is. We were exhausted and went and sat down for an early dinner and then made our way back to Surbiton to get ready for a night out.
When we got back we all changed and showered and got ready to go out to celebrate July 4th and one of my flatmate's 21st birthday's. We went into a club in Kingston and had an amazing time. Everyone here loves Americans and apparently in the town there is a rumor that 130 American students are here studying and were thrilled to find out that the rumor was true.
Today we celebrated Stephanie's birthday as well as America's and cooked and even made her a cake and decorated her room. She was getting homesick so she was excited that we made a big deal out of her birthday. Tonight we made our way into London to take pictures and see the city at night. I loved it even more than I normally do and couldn't get enough of it. We hadn't payed attention to what times the tubes closed so we missed them and had to practically run back to the train station in Waterloo to catch the one and only train headed back to Surbiton. We made it thankfully in time but barely. It was quite an adventure but fun none the less. My group of friends here are awesome and we all look out for each other. Most of them are from Michigan and I know we'll stay close friends even after the trip is over. It already feels like we've known each other forever.
We are finally in and getting ready to go to bed. We have to meet at a dock in Kingston to board a boat and our first fieldtrip is to the Hampton Court Palace. I'm really excited but exhausted.
Pictures have been uploaded to flickr. ENJOY.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO AMERICA!
On Friday we went into London for the day. It was absolutely gorgeous but our timing was terrible so we only stayed for a few hours. London was packed because it was London Pride Day, so we managed to ride the tube down a few stops to get to a quieter area. It's such a small world. On the tube we randomly got on we were talking to some people we recognized as Americans. Comes to find out they were 3 of the 18 people here from NC State and it just happened that they were riding around on the tube attempting to get somewhere too. Just shows how much of a small world it is. We were exhausted and went and sat down for an early dinner and then made our way back to Surbiton to get ready for a night out.
When we got back we all changed and showered and got ready to go out to celebrate July 4th and one of my flatmate's 21st birthday's. We went into a club in Kingston and had an amazing time. Everyone here loves Americans and apparently in the town there is a rumor that 130 American students are here studying and were thrilled to find out that the rumor was true.
Today we celebrated Stephanie's birthday as well as America's and cooked and even made her a cake and decorated her room. She was getting homesick so she was excited that we made a big deal out of her birthday. Tonight we made our way into London to take pictures and see the city at night. I loved it even more than I normally do and couldn't get enough of it. We hadn't payed attention to what times the tubes closed so we missed them and had to practically run back to the train station in Waterloo to catch the one and only train headed back to Surbiton. We made it thankfully in time but barely. It was quite an adventure but fun none the less. My group of friends here are awesome and we all look out for each other. Most of them are from Michigan and I know we'll stay close friends even after the trip is over. It already feels like we've known each other forever.
We are finally in and getting ready to go to bed. We have to meet at a dock in Kingston to board a boat and our first fieldtrip is to the Hampton Court Palace. I'm really excited but exhausted.
Pictures have been uploaded to flickr. ENJOY.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO AMERICA!
Friday, July 2, 2010
Scavenger Hunt Pictures Added on Flickr
First Day of Classes
This morning we were up early and heading to classes by 9am. The University is only providing us buses for the first week of classes and then we will be forced to learn to use the bus system here in Surbiton and Kingston. On the brighter side, the buses we do get to use for the next week are double decker - Kingston University style.
First Day of School Picture
Our Campus is pretty cool and our teachers are awesome. In the British Culture and Society class our teacher tries to make it really interesting. Over the next 4 weeks we will visit the Hampton Court Palace and Gardens, Oxford, Stonehenge, Bath, Parliament, Greenwich, and Southall Gurdwara. We are also required to complete two independent visits to London. Between classes we had a luncheon hosted by the University for the International Students. Total there are 130 of us - some of us are from the US but there are also others from France, Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and a few other countries I can't remember.
The food was weird but I am branching out of my very tiny picky box and trying new things:
This is part of a whole new flavor series. Tastes just like a cheeseburger complete with ketchup and mustard. Other flavors include Argentinean Steak and other very nasty non-appetizing flavors. I'm impressed at how well they got the flavors to match though.
After lunch we walked into Kingston and came back for class at 14:00 (we are having to adjust to military time). My Shakespeare teacher is awesome... very into all the cultural aspects of London. He was a teacher at UC Davis and Berkeley when he lived in California but is from Wales. He's got like 4 master's and like 2 doctorate's although you could never tell. He only wants to be known as Gregg. We're going to be studying 3 of Shakespeare's plays and he even made it clear that it was ok that I wasn't interested in Shakespeare and he would make the class as fun and painless as possible. We'll be seeing 2 plays at the Old Vic, which apparently were very expensive for him to book because London's famous always go. We're also going to see a play at the Globe. We'll even get to go on a tour of the Globe given by a cast member before it starts. The building we are in had to have been designed by a girl. Each floor is a different neon color. The ground level where we enter is pink.
After classes we walked into Kingston to take a look at some shops. We met one of my flatmates friends at the Kingston Train Station but because we've taken a bus to everything were unaware of how far we were from our flat and decided to walk along the Thames instead of taking the train. Big Mistake. 45 minutes later we finallyyyy reach Seething Wells, exhausted and hot. Our refrigerator wasn't working so maintenance just brought us one twice the size that we are very excited about. Warm milk isn't very appetizing in the morning with my Cinnamon Crunchies. We're all resting up and the boys are making us dinner before a bunch of the international students go out tonight. First Friday here, we must go out on the town and see what Kingston is all about.
Tomorrow we are planning on heading into London for the day although it's supposed to be bad weather. We want to all make the most of the time we have so early tomorrow we'll be hopping on the train to Waterloo.
We've been so busy I haven't had the time to be homesick. It's already my 3rd day and there's so much I want to do and see. This month is going to fly by so fast. I have already managed to meet people who I know I will stay in contact with after the trip. My roommates have all started saying ya'll and are upset that my accent is rubbing off on them. I told them they'll learn that it's a good thing.
Hope all is well at home! Miss everyone! I still added some pictures to the flickr account but not very many since we were in the same town as yesterday morning.
Love, April
First Day of School Picture
Our Campus is pretty cool and our teachers are awesome. In the British Culture and Society class our teacher tries to make it really interesting. Over the next 4 weeks we will visit the Hampton Court Palace and Gardens, Oxford, Stonehenge, Bath, Parliament, Greenwich, and Southall Gurdwara. We are also required to complete two independent visits to London. Between classes we had a luncheon hosted by the University for the International Students. Total there are 130 of us - some of us are from the US but there are also others from France, Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and a few other countries I can't remember.
The food was weird but I am branching out of my very tiny picky box and trying new things:
This is part of a whole new flavor series. Tastes just like a cheeseburger complete with ketchup and mustard. Other flavors include Argentinean Steak and other very nasty non-appetizing flavors. I'm impressed at how well they got the flavors to match though.
After lunch we walked into Kingston and came back for class at 14:00 (we are having to adjust to military time). My Shakespeare teacher is awesome... very into all the cultural aspects of London. He was a teacher at UC Davis and Berkeley when he lived in California but is from Wales. He's got like 4 master's and like 2 doctorate's although you could never tell. He only wants to be known as Gregg. We're going to be studying 3 of Shakespeare's plays and he even made it clear that it was ok that I wasn't interested in Shakespeare and he would make the class as fun and painless as possible. We'll be seeing 2 plays at the Old Vic, which apparently were very expensive for him to book because London's famous always go. We're also going to see a play at the Globe. We'll even get to go on a tour of the Globe given by a cast member before it starts. The building we are in had to have been designed by a girl. Each floor is a different neon color. The ground level where we enter is pink.
After classes we walked into Kingston to take a look at some shops. We met one of my flatmates friends at the Kingston Train Station but because we've taken a bus to everything were unaware of how far we were from our flat and decided to walk along the Thames instead of taking the train. Big Mistake. 45 minutes later we finallyyyy reach Seething Wells, exhausted and hot. Our refrigerator wasn't working so maintenance just brought us one twice the size that we are very excited about. Warm milk isn't very appetizing in the morning with my Cinnamon Crunchies. We're all resting up and the boys are making us dinner before a bunch of the international students go out tonight. First Friday here, we must go out on the town and see what Kingston is all about.
Tomorrow we are planning on heading into London for the day although it's supposed to be bad weather. We want to all make the most of the time we have so early tomorrow we'll be hopping on the train to Waterloo.
We've been so busy I haven't had the time to be homesick. It's already my 3rd day and there's so much I want to do and see. This month is going to fly by so fast. I have already managed to meet people who I know I will stay in contact with after the trip. My roommates have all started saying ya'll and are upset that my accent is rubbing off on them. I told them they'll learn that it's a good thing.
Hope all is well at home! Miss everyone! I still added some pictures to the flickr account but not very many since we were in the same town as yesterday morning.
Love, April
Thursday, July 1, 2010
First Full Day Here!
I'm not sure I've ever been this exhausted. It's been a busy past 24 hours.
Yesterday we went on a walking tour of Surbiton and learned where the closest grocery store is and train station. The city was small but exciting none the less.
A few pictures from Surbiton:
Entrance to our dorm.. Seething WellsToday we went to Kingston and visiting the campus our classes will be at as well as the city around it before our school took us out for drinks and lunch. There are 130 students studying with us at Kingston University, and not all of them are from the United States. My roommates are all from up North and love to pick on my Southern accent. At Orientation we got our University id's and TravelCards so we can travel by bus, train, or underground for free. Kingston is a gorgeous town.. full of shopping and river front restaurants because it is based right along the Thames River. Here are a few pictures from there!
First ride on the double-decker bus!
Shopping in Kingston
Thames River
After lunch we received directions for a Scavenger hunt in London that was supposed to introduce us to the transportation systems. I've rode the tube twice today, the train twice today, and buses twice today. We had to team up with the flat that lives directly across from us, so all 10 of us traveled into London. After completing the first few tasks without any trouble, we took the tube into Westminster and got lost looking for a Franklin D Roosevelt memorial. We ended up wandering around for an hour lost because the boys didn't want to use maps and look like tourists. Eventually we pulled out the maps and found our way. We missed the final checkpoint because we were too late.. about 2 hours late. After a bus, tube, and train ride we are safely back in our flat now and exhausted. Here are some pictures from London today:
Infront of the London Eye
Big Ben
Westminster Bridge
Overlooking the Thames
Leicester Square
I created a Flickr account for pictures. The address is:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aprilfuller/
Click on sets on the right hand side or on the top.
London itself is breathtaking and I am so glad that I decided to come here. Classes start tomorrow so I'm getting ready for the morning and hanging out with my flatmates!
Love
April
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