Scotland!

I'm sorry I've been such a bad blogger! Tisk tisk on me! I promise I have been doing interesting things!

I went to Scotland with three girls from Hollins on March 19-21. We took the bus up to Edinburgh, Scotland. Taking the bus was NOT FUN AT ALL. The seats were very cramped and it was impossible to sleep. I made a mistake on my reservation and I thought I wasn't going to be let on the bus! We left on Thursday night, March 18 and I made my reservation on the 19th because that's what I had in my head. I showed the bus driver my reservation number and he said "Nope, that's for tomorrow night." My heart SANK. I was like "Wait? WHAT?" Then he told me to wait at the end of the line so he could see if he had any no shows because the bus was full. My friend Morgan waited with me until the last passenger boarded and then he looked at me and said "go on." THANK GOODNESS!!! I thought he was going to charge me a fee, but he never did! I felt SO lucky! That would have totally stunk if I had to go the next day. I wouldn't have gone because we were only in Scotland for 1 full day! P.S. Our bus left at 11:45 at night and we got to Edinburgh at 8:45am. FUN TIMES.

We thought we would be able to sleep on the bus, but that was most definitely impossible because of the cramped quarters and for a bit the heat was on blast! I asked the bus driver to turn on the A/C and turn off the heat! My friend Morgan was dying sitting next to the window because the heater was right next to her burning her legs!

Once we got to Edinburgh, we walked to our hostel which seemed to be at the other end of the world... but we made it eventually!
Our hostel was called Belford Hostel and it was inside of an old CHURCH! How crazy huh?! The "dorms" were in the middle of the church set up like cubicles and there were no ceilings to the cubicles so you could hear people in the next room. Pretty sure that we were the only Americans in the whole place. I think we were next to Germans and some Italians or something. We were in a six person room and we had two roommates that we think were from Poland.

We couldn't check into our hostel until 1pm so we just left some of our things in the safe area behind the front desk and went out to explore! We walked up the hill to Edinburgh Castle and on the top of the hill was a great view over the city. We bought tickets to tour the castle for 12 pounds. They didn't have a student rate! Weird. It was SOOOOOO windy. Our hair was going crazy! Here is a picture of me TRYING to take a nice picture but the wind was going crazy and blowing my hair in my face.

The castle was really amazing and the view was spectacular over the city. I took so many photos from up there.

stay tuned for more on this story....

Paris Day 2 & 3

Ahhh, I'm sorry to be so delayed in writing about Paris!!

On the second day, the group of us when to back to the Notre Dame to take some more pictures because you know me, I can never have enough.

Then we went to Champs-Elysees to walk around. Kellie and Steph found a cute little restaurant for lunch so we stopped to have a bite to eat before we walked to the Arc du Triomphe. It was so beautiful! The sky was blue and it was a gorgeous day for pictures.

Then we went to the Eiffel Tower and decided we would climb to the second level of it. Yeah, I got dragged into climbing because originally I was just going to take the lift up because I wasn't feeling well since I had been coughing and stuff for four days. ugh! But I climbed about 700 or more steps to the second level and got some nice pictures of the skyline and what not. Then we decided that we would buy a lift ticket to the very top of the Eiffel! It was so pretty from way up there and you could see so far into the distance!

After the Eiffel, we got crepes. Of course, we would. We ate so many crepes in Paris. They were SO delicious! Crepes with nutella is definitely delicious.

Then later at night, Elizabeth, Karoline, and I climbed the Arc at night and waited 45 minutes on the top of it because we wanted to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle. It sparkles every hour on the hour (at night) for 4 minutes. It was so magical!

On the last day, we went to all the museums that we wanted to see. We went to the Louvre first and saw tons of gorgeous paintings and sculptures and of course, took pictures outside next to the big glass pyramid. Next we went to Musee l'orangerie where Claude Monet's waterlily paintings are. They were so pretty! The were in a round white room with four in a room and then four in the next room. Next we went to the Musee d'Orsay. After that we were all pretty tired. We had done so much walking during our time in Paris and we all had sore feet and blisters. Emily, our friend studying in Paris, took us over to the are where she goes to school and we found a place to eat dinner. An organic place called Exki that had salads and soups. We ate and then walked around some more and decided to buy some wine, bread, and cheese and find somewhere nice to sit. We sat outside the gate of the Luxembourg Gardens because they were closed, but we pretended that we were in them haha.

Weekend in Paris! Day 1

So, I know it's been forever and a half since I wrote last, but I've been doing exciting things, I promise!

I went to Paris on Thursday March 4th and came back to London on Sunday morning March 7th. There were 5 of us that went.

After walking around for 2 hours to find a hostel, we finally settled on one called the Centre International (or something) in the Latin Quarter near the Notre Dame.

Yes, a hostel. We survived!!! It was a room that slept 10 people. It had one room with 2 sets of bunk beds and then a little sink and shower with no curtain and then an open doorway to the next part of the room that had 3 sets of bunk beds. We had 1 roommate the first two nights, an older woman from Nice, France, and then the last night we had the rest of the beds filled. It was kinda sketchy, but we lived! I slept in my coat. I didn't want to touch the bed sheets or pillow... who knows what germs were on them. The hostel served breakfast... but we didn't really eat it. They had cereal, juice, coffee/hot chocolate, and bread. First off, the milk was warm, ewwwwwwww. Apparently the French boil their milk or something and it has a longer shelf life than ours AND they don't refrigerate it! To make it worse, one of the girls took a piece of bread out of the basket and there was a huge hairball on it. EWWWW!

We got out of there quick.

ANYWAY, back to the first day when we got to Paris. We took the Eurostar from London King's Cross St. Pancras station to Paris Gare du Nord. We went through the chunnel. We left London on a 5:25am train and arrived in Paris at 9:00am. Definitely an early morning. We met a friend, Emily, at the train station. She is studying in Paris with the Hollins Paris program. She definitely came in handy with translating!! Thank you Emily!! The weather was BEAUTIFUL and sunny, but a little bit cold. We were so hungry, so we decided to eat at a cafe. We sat down and the waiter tried to take our orders, but he wasn't understanding us. Then a customer came over and he spoke a little bit of English and was trying to tell the waiter what we wanted but I'm pretty sure no one know what anyone was saying. Our waiter left us and then a waitress came by and we tried to tell her all that we wanted was soup. She kept saying "impossible!" (in french) and we were like why??? Then she snatched our menus out of our hands and EVERYONE was staring at us. I just started laughing in embarrassment and we left to find our hostel.

After we dropped our stuff into the lockers at the hostel, we walked by the Notre Dame a block and a half away from our hostel, took pictures then went inside. It was really pretty! Then we walked along the river to the Jardins des Tuileries which is a garden that Emily said is her favorite. There was a little pond with ducks and lots of people sitting around the pond. We got our first french crepe with nutella at a crepe stand. It was DELICIOUS!!! Then we walked ALL the way to the Eiffel Tower. We stopped at a wine store and picked up a bottle of red wine and then picked up a loaf of french bread and sipped on wine and ate bread on a bench while we looked at the tower. So lovely :)

We walked around for a bit more and then found a pizza place to eat at because we didn't want to test our luck again on a french one and get kicked out again!! hahaha

We took the bus back to our hostel after a very long day and slept SO nicely. I slept in my coat. haha. But I was SO tired and I slept great :)

Westminster Abbey

Today, I had my English Architecture class field trip to Westminster Abbey! We got to tour the Abbey and it was seriously really awesome. The architecture of that building is amazing. There is so much detail on the outside and inside. According to my professor, every "decoration" is a symbol for something and everything has a purpose. How insane. Who thought of it all?! It's so big and there are so many tombs inside of Kings and Queens etc.

Our group, 7 girls plus our teacher, got to go into the room where Edward the Confessor's shrine is. The tour guide guy let us in but told us "this is very serious, this is not for sight seeing"... whatever that means. He said that they were getting ready to close it up to the public completely because the floor was getting ruined from people walking on it and they weren't going to let anyone see it anymore. COOL! So we are the last Hollins group to see it!

Next we toured through the different rooms staring at the ceiling listening to our professor tell us about the structure etc. We also saw Charles Darwin's tomb. Crazy!

After our tour, Kellie and I stopped by Pret A Manger (a sandwich/coffee chain) and got some sandwiches and ate them in Trafalger Square. It was starting to sprinkle as we ate and we thought about climbing on the lions but we thought we would just wait until another day. There were also lots of pigeons around and some girls were screaming because the pigeons were flying pretty close to their heads.

We walked along the main drag and went inside this store called Hotel Chocolat. A store of everything chocolate and every flavor. Yum Yum Yummy. Kellie got some Strawberry & Creme truffles and I got Raspberry filled white chocolate hearts and we also got a slab of chocolate chip cookie dough chocolate to share.

After that, we got on the tube and she went to see 12th Night with her Shakespeare class and I went home.

Now, I'm uploading picture from today and researching things to do in London.

xoxo

Nothing too exciting

I haven't blogged in a while... not much has happened.

I want to watch the Olympics everyday but nothing is ever on when I'm home except for curling. darn it. I do not care!! I stayed up late one night to catch part of the men's halfpipe, but I was too tired to stay up any longer. Stupid time difference!

Friday, Kellie and I and some other girls went to Portobello Market in Notting Hill in the afternoon. My hope was to take some photos for my LMU photography class, but lots of store owners told me I couldn't. I was picturing the market to be stalls of things, but it was more of a long street with stores and only a few stalls. I took some photos of some neat things like watches, whistles, and some teacups.

There was a stand where a woman was making crepes. DELICIOUS!! I got one with strawberries and nutella. SO GOOD! Messy, but good. Then we left and that night went out to our favorite pub, O'Neils for a few hours. Not too late of a night

Saturday, I wanted to go to Borough Market but it took us forever and a half to finally get to the tube station we needed to get to and then I said nevermind because it closed at 5pm and it was already like 3:45 and I didn't want to get there and have NO time to take photos. I need to find a time to go back soon! So, bummed out, Kellie and I just walked around the King's Cross area where we were and went to Starbucks to get some coffee. Then on the way back to the bus stop, I saw a salon and I suggested that Kellie should get her hair cut. She agreed! So spur of the moment! We went into the salon and Kellie bargained with the hairdresser for cut the cost to 30 pounds instead of 40! Kellie has skills. She got her hair cut short but so cute! It was shorter than she had expected, but I love it on her!

Saturday night a bunch of us went out to a new pub called The Rocket and danced the night away. Fun fun!

Sunday, Kellie and I stayed in during the day, slept realllly late and then did some catching up on emails and homework. For dinner, we were invited to eat with some friends of my parents. They don't live too far from where I am staying but Jeff came and picked us up because he said it is too complicated with public transportation. We had a nice dinner and then Jeanie and Jeff shared with us some great websites to look at for local entertainment, restaurants, etc. It was nice visiting with them because I hadn't seen them in ages!

Monday, Kellie and I had morning class together, Media in Britain and then later that night I had a play for my theatre class, The Caretaker. It was a pretty good play! I enjoyed it!

Tuesday, Kellie and I had class, again. English Architecture. Our teacher lectures and it's hard to follow because she uses terms we have never heard of so I have to keep flipping through the handout she gave us on the first day of class with 29384234 different terms. It's fun. We also had our LMU classes today. I have my photography class from 2-5, but we normally get out earlier than 5. I think the class is going to be really interesting. My final project is to create 5 magazine spreads with images relating to the theme "London at work, London at play". I still need to figure out HOW I'm going to accomplish that. I'm a little scared now, because I'm not familiar with London yet and I'm not sure which direction to take. I have some research to do....

TIRED. I always say I will go to bed early and then I never do. Good thing I can sleep in tomorrow. Class doesn't start until 1! woo hooo!!!

xoxoxo

Rainy Thursday

Nothing much happened today. I had theatre discussion class from 2:30-3:30. Kellie had class earlier in the day and then she left after we had our meeting with the whole group at 1:45 at Univ. of London.

After my theatre class, I took the tube home and then Kellie and I had pasta for dinner and then Kellie napped and I watched a movie.

We were going to go out, but it was raining hardcore and we were kinda tired so we just decided to stay in and watch some tv and chill. Good time for me to let my foot chill and hopefully have my blister heal!

Oh, and I also got a letter from my Grandma Dot today in the mail :) I read it on my bus ride to school.

Now Kellie and I are watching the Olympics. It's 12:30am. hahaha

xoxo

such an exciting day... just kidding

Pictures :)

Big Ben!


This was at the Windor Castle last week



The London Eye



Me with the Tower Bridge in the back


The Tower Bridge

Tower of London and the Tower Bridge

On Wednesday from 1:00-3:00 Kellie and I have our English Architecture class (the second part). On Tuesdays we have it but we just see slides of images and on Wednesday, we go out with our class and get to see places. So, this week our professor took us to the Tower of London! I'm so excited that we got to go there because I probably wouldn't have gone on my own because tickets into the castle are pretty expensive. For an adult they are 17 pounds! For our student rate they were 14.50 but Hollins paid for them.

This is the gate leading into the castle. I thought it looked like a heart.


Our teacher gave us a tour through certain rooms and giving us history on the castle.


She is a funny little woman. She knows her stuff! She knows all the dates and people and where they were from etc etc. She reminds me of my Grandma Dot because she really likes history. Of course during the whole tour, I took millions of photos. I couldn't resist. After our guided tour with our professor, Kellie and I roamed around on our own and I took more photos. There was a guard outside of the building where they keep the jewels and they did a changing of the guards which was cool to see. Just one guy is standing outside with his black fluffy hat and gun and then two others march up (loudly) and the something happens and they switch and the other two march away (loudly) again. What a weird job... to stand there and not be able to look at anyone or say anything. I definitely wouldn't be able to keep a straight face with tons of people taking pictures of me.





After we saw what we wanted to, Kellie and I left to find something to eat. We walked across the street and into a place called St. Katherine's Lock. There were boats in a little harbor and restaurants around there. We stopped at a place called The Riverside. I got fish and chips and some tea and Kellie got coffee and an omlette. Then we walked halfway down Tower Bridge and took some pictures! Gosh, Tower Bridge is SO COOL. I was in awe of it's beauty... haha.

We left and took the tube down to Marble Arch station and got off on Oxford street because we wanted to go to a store Katharine had told us about called Primark. Primark is like a cheap Target or something. They have clothes, home stuff, shoes, accessories. It was a two story building and with tall glass windows and tonnnnnnnnnns of clothes and people. It was insane inside. There were people throwing clothes everywhere, trying on clothes, running around. Kellie needed a sweater and I wanted to get a wallet and a small purse that I could wear over my shoulder. Lots of people in London wear small purses with those long chains. I figured it was better to have one of those when I go out at night and not have to carry a big bag. I just need the essentials.

After that, we stopped by Marks and Spencer to buy some shampoo and get some currency exchanged. They weren't that much better than a place I had found on the street the other day.

Kellie and I were both so tired and we headed home on the tube. Man, I'm good with this tube thing now. Transferring and figuring it out. I love it. hahaha. The transportation in London is so efficient. Everything is clearly labeled and it's so nice.

Since the family is gone for 3 days, Kellie and I heated up some frozen dinners that they left for us and then watched some tv. I tried to stay up so that I could watch the Men's Halfpipe on the Olympics. It started at 1:30am! I only watched a few runs because then I got tired. It's annoying because the times to watch the Olympics are so inconvenient. The finals were at 3:30am!! NO WAY! bummmmmer.

having tons of fun!!!

Photo count: 850 pictures.

Today, it rained.So interesting, I know. Our first real day of pouring rain. Kellie and I had English Architecture at Univ. of London so we left the house around 9:15 am and then took the bus to Tavistock Square where our building is. We stopped by Starbucks and got coffee with espresso because we were SO tired. Architecture seems intense with lots of terms and types of architecture but I think Kellie and I will study hard and make index cards to memorize.

After class, we got some sandwiches from Starbucks then walked to the tube station to take it to the City Campus of LMU for our classes. Kellie is taking a printmaking class at LMU and I'm taking Visual Research Photography. We got to the building 1 hour early. We didn't think it would be so quick to get there, but it was so I just went to my floor and sat in the room to wait for the class to begin. Then I heard students in the hall and they were waiting for the teacher too. I missed the first class because of my delay in flights over to London... but when I talked to the teacher, he was very understanding and glad to have me there. He was a nice guy.

I think the class is going to be really interesting. We are going to study other photographers styles and then have assignments where we have to use those styles in our work. I think it will be very interesting. There are about 26 people in the class, maybe more. More girls than guys. There were only 9 guys.

After class, we walked through the rain to the tube. We were supposed to meet some girls for dinner but then we forgot that we had told the family we would be home for dinner, so we cancelled and went home instead.

We had some really good pesto chicken with rice for dinner and salad and then Jack made us crepes for dessert. It was so cute. Jack put on his mom's apron and a cooking hat and he got all the ingredients out on the counter then pretended like he was on a cooking show and made the crepes with step by step instructions.

It was so funny. He even flipped the crepes with the pan... even though the first time he totally missed catching it and it landed SPLAT on the floor that Katharine had just mopped earlier in the day.

I took a shower and then Jack showed Kellie and I an amusement park he wants to take us to for his birthday. The park is called Thorpe Park. He wants us to ride this roller coaster called "Stealth". Look it up on google. It's intenseeeeee. Then I skyped my mom and my sister Morgan for about an hour and a half and Morgan got a kick out of the way Jack talked. Jack said we were making a mockery of him... but we thought it was pretty funny.

Now I'm writing a postcard and getting ready to go to bed.

Tomorrow my host family is going out of town to see Katharine's mom for 3 days. The boys have a break this week for half term. Kellie and I will be here keeping after the house, haha. Tony showed us how to control the heat and how to run the dishwasher and all the things we may need to know.

We know how to unlock the 6 locks on the front door, set the alarm when we leave the house and how to turn it off, and we know to leave the radio on when we leave the house so that it sounds like people are home. They also have lights that turn on from a timer at night in different room. How crazy is that!? There are lots of robberies and mugging around so they say. Scary! But seriously, the door seriously has 6 ways to lock it. Two deadbolts, a chain lock, the handle, and a bar on the top. It's crazy!

Annnnywaysssss,

xoxoxo goodnight

First day of class!

I feel like I haven't been in school in FOREVER, which is partially true. The last thing I did for school was my internship, but that doesn't feel like "school work"... more cool. Now, the last time I went to a class? Well, that was the first weekend in December! How insane! I feel like I'm almost cheating college! We've been exploring for six days around the city and enjoying the city.

Today, Kellie and I had Media in Britain with our professor, or rather, tutor, Michael Fosdal. An older man resembling Santa with glasses and a lower voice. The class started at 10:30, so Kellie and I ate breakfast and then walked to the bus station, like we do every morning. Zig zagging along London streets. We took the 91 bus to King's Cross tube station and it took us about 17 minutes or so. We were supposed to meet some friends there, but then we looked at the map and realized we were only ONE stop away from school and our friends were late, so we just hopped on the tube instead of waiting.

We walked to our building and went to our room, the same room that we had orientation in. About twelve other girls were taking the class too. Our professor was about 15 min late but then we got started with introductions and introductions to the class and British newspapers.

I noticed some very different things in their "popular" papers. The third page of three different papers was an ad with a half naked woman! I found that really just wrong! But I guess it's definitely the culture that the British have grown up in with nudity maybe not being such a big deal as it is in America. Their censorship on nudity doesn't to be the same as ours.

We had a tea break in the middle of class then kept discussing our class schedule and then class ended at 1:30pm. Kellie and I went to the Reading Room that they have just for us in the basement of the building next to our classroom. We checked our emails etc. then left and went to get lunch and go back home. We stopped by a shop selling Pashmina scarves 3 for 5 pounds! Sweet deal! Got a pink one, violet one, and a green one with flowers.

Got back home then immediately got a call from my friends saying they got out of their History class early and they were going to go to meet for dinner before the play we had to go to that night for our theatre class. I went home and freshened up then headed back out to meet the girls at the Piccadilly Circus tube station. Got off the tube and met the girls at a restaurant/bar called TigerTiger. I got a club sandwich there, but it was so expensive!!

We went to the play called "The Misanthrope" at the Comedy Theatre just around the block of TigerTiger. The play starred Keira Knightley (Actress from Pirates of the Caribbean) and Damian Lewis (from that HBO series Band of Brothers). We had seats on the balcony. SO HIGH UP from the stage! It was really scary to walk down the steps to our seats from the very top! The railings were so short in the front and it was really terrifying to walk by. The bottom where the "good" seats were, looked like the bottom of a pot or something. The ceiling was very decorative with crystal dangling chandeliers. It was an interesting play... I don't want to give it away. You can go read about it online somewhere. I won't go into the whole thing.

Took the tube home and then talked to Katharine about the play and what I thought of it. Now Kellie and I are youtubing episodes from The Bachelor. How silly of us.

xoxoxo

Valentine's Day

Kellie and I woke up quite late around 12:15. We got dressed, ate a bagel for breakfast... or lunch and then went shopping for some groceries at a store called Waitrose in Crouch End.

We bought some food for our lunches and dinners when we don't eat with the family. We got some soup, pizza, yogurt, pasta, and bread and some other things I can't quite remember. It was very interesting buying groceries in the store because everything looks different than in the USA. There didn't seem to be as much junk food like in the USA. The only really "junk" was chips, candy, and cookies but nothing like all the stuff we have in America. Also, I looked at their lunch meats and it is SO expensive to buy sandwich meat! There was a pack of only 4 slices for 3.49 (in pounds). RIDICULOUS!
On our way home, we stopped at a flower show and bought our family some yellow roses. They were already bloomed and we got the guy to sell them to us for only 5 pounds. We stopped at another grocery store to get our brothers some Valentine's chocolate. Little truffles that said "I" on one then a heart on another then "Y" "O" "U".

Got home and put our groceries away and I started my laundry. They use this kind of detergent that is a gel. It's blue and you put it in a cap then throw the whole cap filled thing in with your clothes. They washing machine and dryer are also very small... tiny.

Sam, Jack, Kellie, and I walked to a shop to get some more Coke before dinner. Katharine tried to get Jack to drink Fanta, but he argued and said he wanted Coke and it was only a 5 minute walk around the corner to get some Coke. It's so cute! The liter bottles are so skinny. Jack and Sam said they think it is funny how we say how everything is "cute".

When we got back, a friend of Jack's, Toby and his dad, had stopped by. Some other Hollins girls are staying with that family.
For dinner we had veggies, mashed potatoes, and lamb. It was really good! For desert we had cheesecake and ice cream and then coffee afterwards. Sam told Kellie and I that he would take us around Crouch End tomorrow and show us all the good places to go. The boys have off of school for this week because it's the end of the term or something like that.

After we cleaned up, Jack, Sam, Kellie, and I played Scattergories. We had lots of fun playing and laughing. It's really fun getting to hang out with the boys. They are really nice.

Kellie and I headed up to bed and booked our flights to Paris for March 4th-7th. It took us forever to do so because the website kept giving us errors. FINALLY we got it. We are going with 4 other girls, so that will make it nice when we book a hostel.

Anyway, first day of classes tomorrow! Media in Britain and then a theatre performance tomorrow night!

xoxo,
Brett

A long walk and a fun night

Today, Kellie and I slept in and then met up with our friend Steph at Westminster. We decided to go back to Westminster since we had gone at night and it was too late to take good pictures. Steph's friend, Jamie, met up with us on the bridge because she had flown into London that morning from Florence, where she is studying abroad and her ride never came! So she hung out with us until she could get into contact with the guy who was supposed to pick her up.

We took pictures on the bridge and then got some lunch at a really cute sushi place called Yo! Sushi. It was very cool. We sat at a booth in the back and there was a conveyer belt with different colored plates and bowls that held different food. Each color coordinated with a price. So neat! I had some california roll, chicken dumpling soup, and shared some chocolate mousse with Kellie. YUM!

Next we walked to Westminster Abbey. What a GORGEOUS place. I was just shocked at how pretty it was. The architecture is amazing. I feel so incredibly lucky to be here. I couldn't believe it. There I was, just standing there next to Big Ben to my left and the Westminster Abbey in front of me. So beautiful.



Then, Steph's friend said she was going to meet her friend on the Tower Bridge. So we decided we would walk there.


It took us SO long! I don't think we knew how long it would take. It took us over an hour. BUT, we did walk along the river and see the sites. We took some pictures in red telephone booth (of course, so touristy). We FINALLY made it to Tower Bridge and it was getting too dark to take good photos.


We took the tube back to Highgate tube station and then Steph, Kellie, Elizabeth, Karoline, and myself went grocery shopping and made dinner at Steph's host family's house. We made pasta, garlic bread, and had some salad and wine. Steph's host sister came home and she sat and ate her own dinner with us. She told us that she saw Clive Owen at the restaurant where she got her dinner! How cool is that!?

After dinner, Kellie and I walked down to our house, about 12 min away and got ready to go out to celebrate Steph's birthday. Her real birthday is Tuesday. We went to O'Neil's first, but it wasn't as fun as Friday night when we went and met some nice local guys. We left O'Neil's and went to The Village, another pub/bar just a block away. It looks more modern and they had a dance floor in the back room and pool tables in the side room. We danced for probably 2 hours and then called it a night.

Kellie and I left and walked down the hill again. The hill is quite steep and we were wearing boots. Our feet were killing us! It was funny because we ran into Steph's host sister on the street and talked to her for a bit. Then we got to our house around 2am and fell right asleep. I wish I knew how many miles we walked today. I'm guessing 8 miles.

Westminster and a cool pub

So, Kellie got back from class and she and I took the tube to Westminster to meet Shannon and Kyra. Too bad we got out at the stop and it was basically dark... didn't quite think about the fact that it would be getting dark at 4:30ish. Oh well. We took a few pictures of Big Ben and the London Eye and then Kellie and I decided to go back because we told some other girls we would meet them for a movie.

Shannon, Kellie, and I took the tube to Muswell Hill and had dinner at a place called Toff's fish and chips. YUM! I got grilled salmon. delishhhh. Then we met Karoline, Elizabeth, and Steph outside of the movie theatre. Got our tickets, (student discount!) then we got some candy and found our seats in the theatre. We saw Valentine's Day. It was cute.

After that, we went to a pub called O'Neil's which was in an old church. It was amazingly beautiful. Wow. Cool place for a pub. Got some drinks then went to the upper level and met some nice locals. We talked to them for about 2 hours then the pub closed at midnight (early!) so they took us to another pub called The Village. It was louder and had a dance floor in the back. I liked the other one better.

Kellie and I left around 12:45 then walked home. We were only 1 mile away from home, so that was nice.

Tomorrow we want to go site seeing.... in the day time this time. Haha.

xoxo

Our room!

This is our bedroom!! It's so cute!

Friday Morning

This is a picture of Windsor Castle from yesterday! I figured out how to put photos on the blog. They finally uploaded today!!


Kellie had class this morning at 10 over at the City Campus of London Metropolitan (LMU). She was nervous about how to get there because we haven't been to that side of town yet. I'm sure she made it okay, she spent January term in NYC taking the subway everyday to work, so I'm sure she can do it.

I woke up when she started putting on her makeup at 8:10 (3:10 in the USA) and got on my computer to start looking through some of my photos. I started doing that, but then I got tired again and didn't wake up until 12:15 ( 7:15 in USA). Now I'm going through more pictures so hopefully post. It's cloudy and raining outside. I'm waiting for Kellie to text me after she gets out of her painting class. They have given us phones over here so that they can get into contact with us. I have a small little nokia. It is silver. It's SO small and it doesn't even have a colored screen... but it does have a random flashlight on the top of it! haha. Perfect for looking at a map at night.

Look out for some more pictures on Facebook and my Just B Photography website!

xoxoxo

Brett

Windsor Castle

Today, Kellie and I took the bus to Archway tube stop and then had to do some switching to get to Waterloo where we met up with our group and took the train to Windsor Castle. I took lots of pictures of what I could take pictures of. We were not allowed to take pictures inside of the castle but I really wish I could have because all of the rooms were so beautiful! Very elaborate ceilings and decorations. Lots of guns and swords hanging on the walls.

We were free to wander the castle on our own so Kellie and I walked around with four other girls. We took our picture with one of the guards and then stopped to get some lunch at a little cafe outside of the castle in the town of Windsor. We walked down one of the main streets that had lots of shops and then decided to head back to the train station.

Kellie and I ate dinner with our homestay family and then chatted with our host brothers, Jack and Sam, about popular music, movies, and shows. Then Kellie and I played wii with Jack for a while and then became real friends on facebook. Haha and now we will be connected and friends for life. They are really sweet. This is going to be an awesome experience. I love our host family.

We might go watch Sam play football this weekend, which I am excited about! Kellie and I want to go around town on Saturday and explore. We went on a 2 hour bus tour of London yesterday but it was far too quick and we didn't stop. I wrote down all the places that I wanted to revisit and I have a very long list. It's a good thing we have 3 months!

Good night, it's almost midnight. xoxo

Arriving in London and the first day

So, today was my first full day in London. Kellie and I landed in London around 8:45am on Tuesday morning and had a cab take us to our building, Connaught Hall, part of the University of London. We didn't have time to go to our homestay because our orientation had already been pushed back a day because of so many delays with people getting to London because of the snow.

The cab ride was 50 pounds! Crazy!

We went to the room on the ground floor of the building and our group was there and Sara was talking to them about life in London. Sara is our lifesaver. She is in charge of us and the program with Hollins. She is the go-to person. She knows EVERYTHING!

During orientation that day we went to the British Museum for a quick tour. Honestly, I was way too tired to really pay attention to anything. I had only gotten about 4 hours of sleep on the plane! I did see a 4,000 year old man, well, mummy. With skin, hair, and fingernails! ewwwww. His body was preserved in sand, which is why he still has skin. His name is Ginger, because of his hair.

Then we had another meeting with a woman talking about being an American in London. After that we had a tour of the University of London Student Union center. Very cool hang out. A cafe and two pubs/cafe and a gym, pool, and a place where they have live music. Looks like a good safe hang out to me. The bar called the Duck and Dive is cute. It was sitting and then a pool table and bar. Some girls and I stayed after the tour and bought our first drinks in London. After that we had a lecture back at Connaught hall about our homestays. and even after THAT, my theatre class had a play to attend.

I was extremely tired. We ate dinner at the Barbican theatre where the play was. I was so out of it, I fell asleep for most of it. I felt horrible about that, but I was so tired and my eyes were so heavy!

Headed home in a cab and met Katharine my host mother. Her two boys, Jack (14) and Sam (11) and husband Tony were all asleep. It was about 11:30pm. I took a quick shower because I felt gross after traveling all night and day.

Checked my email, told my mom and dad I was alive and crashed. Best sleep ever other than waking up in the middle of the night just a little bit anxious and homesick.

(Sorry this blog is written late and not on Tuesday night, I was way too tired to write.)

xoxo,
Brett

Flight!!

SO, after all these cancelled flights, I HOPE HOPE HOPE that the third time is the charm!

My 3rd flight (haha) leaves tomorrow night at 8:25pm. My parents will drop my friend, Kellie, and I off at the airport around 1pm, probably. We want to get there with lots of time to make sure we can get through security and everything.

When my mom and I flew out of Dulles in 2005 when we went to Ireland, we waited for 7-8 HOURS. So, we just want to make sure that we give ourselves lots of time JUST IN CASE.

I can't wait to get to London. I just want to be there already!!!!

xoxo goodnight,
Brett

Departure

As of now, my flight is still scheduled to leave on time tomorrow night. Hopefully, it won't get cancelled! I check on the website today to see if it was cancelled and it was for about five minutes. I called the airline and he said everything was back on schedule. It was funny that I saw the five minutes where they had cancelled it and then they decided not to cancel it. So my fingers are crossed.

It is snowing a lot right now. We're supposed to get 20"-30" of snow tonight/tomorrow. WOW! Epic.

I'm currently updating my ipod so that I have lots of songs to listen to on the 7 hour plane ride tomorrow night. Hmmm... fun.

xoxo

Write to me!!!

If you would like to send me a letter while I am abroad, I would love love love love love you forever.

Here is my London address! (Updated Thursday Feb 4... because I forgot to write "Crouch End")

Brett Lee Denfeld

7 Barrington Street

Crouch End

London N8 8QT

If you send me your address, I will try my best to send a postcard or something! I love to write letters.

Love you all,

Brett

Packing for London

Just finished packing for my trip! Wow, three and a half months and only one suitcase. I think I did a pretty good job packing for this trip. Hopefully, I won't forget anything. I've packed 5 pairs of pants, 6 shirts, 6 sweaters, 3 t-shirts, work out pants, pj pants, 10 pairs of socks and 10 underwear, 5 pairs of shoes, 1 dress, 2 belts, 3 bras, 2 sports bras, a small bag of some makeup and things, and I have one carry on with my purse and backpack shoved in.

I'm putting all of my electronic and valuable things in my carry on. My laptop, camera, camera cords and chargers, external hard drive, ipod and a journal and a few cards to write letters. Of course I will probably buy more stationary there in London. If you know me, you know I love to write letters. :)

I may be leaving tomorrow for London, I'm not sure yet. My mom and dad are trying to get me out of here before the big snow storm hits, so we'll see what happens. My friend, Kellie, is flying out of Dulles with me too. She is going to be my roommate in London. We may go to the airport tomorrow and wait standby and hope to get on a flight. If not, we will wait until Saturday and see if we can fly out on time. This weather is crazy! They are calling for so much snow!

Off to bed for now. Good night :)

Brett