Catch up blog...yes, it's been a month.

Well blog readers, I've let you down. Majorly. But I'm hoping this next post will put you in good spirits and restore your hope in me. It's a bit ambitious for one fast-paced, catch up blog, but I believe in the power of the blog! So here goes! Now, I've decided that to catch you up on things that have happened daily for the past MONTH (yeah, I'm a terrible person. I get it.) would be insane, at least it would be if I did it in the same format as before. So now I present to you the condensed month of February:

St. Paul's
We had class, went to a church service, and listened to a concert at the famous building. I definitely feel like the expert now! We also climbed the 537 stairs to the top, in preparation for the 700+ at the Eiffel Tower we will conquer in two weeks. I mainly did it, though, to justify the tasty burrito I would eat after. But more on that later.

Ice Cream Adventures
Now my favorite British candy bar is the Crunchie bar, which is essentially chocolate-covered honeycomb. So when I encountered a crunchie mcflurry, I HAD to indulge. I owed it to candy lovers everywhere! The other ice cream on the list was a sticky toffee pudding burger king shake. Sticky toffee pudding is by far the best dessert the Brits have to offer, and we've had it on several different ocassions, but never in ice cream form. When we saw the signs for it on the tube, our journey to devour one (or two) began! The only hitch in the plan was that ALL of the Burger Kings we encountered were either closed just when we were craving ice cream, had broken ice cream machines for weeks on end, or ran out of the sticky toffee pudding flavoring two customers before us. Not. Fair. But finally, one magical night we took a ten minute hike, found an open, functioning BK, and got our tasty treats. And I must say, this country knows how to do ice cream!

Famous people
Danny Boyle - on a behind-the-scenes tour of the National Theatre
Prince Charles - at the concert at St. Paul's (so, I didn't actually spot him, but we stood up for him twice, so that counts.)
John Rutter - at HIS concert at St. Paul's
*Conclusion: I'm basically famous myself!

International food
Living in an international city, it's hard to not justify eating every tasty "cultural experience" in sight. In the past month I've taken advantage of the food of the nations quite a few times:
Indian twice, Thai twice, and Burritos thrice! I also participated in Poland's Donut Thursday last week, because I really felt like chasing down the various Krispy Kremes around the city would enhance my understanding of that great Eastern European country. I'm not sure if it accomplished that much, but my stomach was definitely happy. And really, what more can I ask for?

Plays, Plays, Plays
Being in a London theatre class, we see a lot of plays. Some favs from the past month: Wicked, Caucasian Chalk Circle, Julius Caesar (seeing it live is DEFINITELY better than that awful tape recording we listened to in sophomore year), and, finally, Frankenstein. Maybe you're saying "Why would you want to see a play about a monster," like I was the day before we saw it. But let me assure you, that play was AMAZING! Danny Boyle directed it, and the acting was particularly amazing. Also the events surrounding it made memorable as well: 1) We woke up at 5am to obtain our super cheap tickets to the sold out performance. Now that's dedication! 2) My friend David was in town and was able to come and see it with our group, which was great! So, I've seen some great plays, but I'm definitely ready for another month and a half of more!!!

Exercise
Yes, even I exercise abroad. 3 months is a long vacation. But the exercise here is all in good fun, for example: Belly dancing!!!! Yes, it happened. I came home from class one day to find a note from Kaitlyn in the kitchen informing me of the free belly dancing class she had signed me, her, and Kristen up for that night. There was no way to escape! But we definitely got a workout, if not through doing the moves correctly then from laughing hysterically at our ridiculous-looking selves. Also, I've gone running three times in the past month, so that's something. But mostly, we WALK every-freaking-where, so that's my main exercise plan. But not to worry, the triathlon training is waiting for me when I get home :)

TV
Glee, The Office, and The Tudors - at least one of them I can justify with my surroundings.

Death
Murder trial, Jack the Ripper, and the Plague, oh my! During one of our classes, we got to sit in on a murder trial. Did you know that British lawyers still wear wigs in court? Yeah, it happens! How unreal. The trial process was really tedious, but it was interesting nonetheless. Another night we took our Jack the Ripper tour. Yikes, that guy was brutal! Our class on a different day learned all about 1665 and the great plague epidemic. Those were nasty times. Glad to be alive in the 2011!

Rocks
We spent some quality time at Stonehenge last weekend, but it was a bit disappointing because it's roped off and you can't touch the rocks. So our favorite Irish bus driver, Paul, said he'd take us to some old rocks that we could both "poke and hold." His words, not mine. So we got to climb, touch, hug, poke, and hold some really old rocks, to satisfy our nature-loving sides that Stonehenge failed to address. All in all a quality day with some old rocks.

Hills
Ugh. Walking all over the mostly flat city is one thing, but climbing a hill to get somewhere is another thing altogether. For one play we had to walk a solid twenty minutes up a 45 degree incline to get to the playhouse. All of the walking was done because our public transport passes only cover a certain area and the playhouse was outside of that. Only a week later did we learn that the zoning restrictions don't apply to buses, so yes, the walking up the hill took place in vain! The other hill that nearly defeated me, and did at another point of my life, was the hill at Greenwich, which houses the Prime Meridian. 3.5 years ago, when my family came to visit my brother, we did all of the sights in one loooooong day after almost no sleep on the plane. At about 4pm that resulted in me falling asleep standing up in this awful museum and wanting nothing more than a warm bed and sleeping mask. So when we stepped outside to do our final task before going back to Josh's flat, climbing this "tiny" hill as my brother promised me, I broke down. I know, embarrassing for a 15-year old to break down and cry on her mom's shoulder at the sight of a hill, but it happened and I'm really not ashamed. Because that is a massive hill! I have to admit, I was really worried upon returning that I would see it in an un-tired light and find that it wasn't a big hill after all and I truly was a pansy. But thankfully that was not the case: the hill is HUGE, but I conquered it this time around and stood on that stupid line and showed the hill who was boss! More recently, I climbed a mountain, but I'll save that for next week's post!

Movies
I'm taking a film class this semester, which means I get to watch a movie a week! We've seen some great ones so far: Tsotsi, Rabbit-Proof Fence, Bridges of Madison County, Innocent Voices, Frozen River, and my favorite has been Dead Man Walking, but I definitely recommend them all. And then somehow we saw two Matt Damon films at the cinema in one week! Both Hereafter and Adjustment Bureau are great films!

Well I think that's the month summed up. Thanks for not giving up! The past month's been fun, but currently I'm in the middle of a ten-day tour of the UK. We're in the midst of mountains and Scottish accents and I couldn't be loving it more. So be on the lookout for an update soon, definitely before another month is up. Cheers!

PS - the internet's being spotty, so uploading pictures here is nearly impossible. Hopefully at some point though it will be strong enough to upload some to Facebook. So check there for some great pictures of the past few weeks and a sneak peak of our current trip!

Blog #3: The Rules of London Edition

**In this post I will be introducing to you the beginning of my "Rules of London" list: a collection of things I have found necessary to do/know to survive the city and/or to appear to be a native. I hope you find them helpful!

Well, Thursday was my half birthday - thanks for all of the well wishes. Really it was just an excuse to buy and eat half a cake. Which Kaitlyn and I did, with ease.

The next morning our group left on a coach to go to Oxford, which is about an hour and a half outside the city. We toured Christ Church, the largest college in the University, and even got to view some Harry Potter filming spots!

That night a group of us decided that we had gone out a little too much in the past week and to save some money for groceries, we ate in and watched a movie together. And what better movie to watch while in London than the tale of the demon barber of Fleet Street? That's right. Only days after learning the history behind the famous street, we braved the viewing of Sweeney Todd.

The next morning, yes, Saturday morning. My lovely roommate is a morning person, so apparently Saturday morning activities will become the norm for me this semester - weird. Anyway, Saturday morning Kaitlyn and I made our way down to Borough Market, the largest food market in the city. So at least if I had to be awake I got to eat :) We sampled our way through the stalls, bought some goodies, and even snagged some lunch from one of the friendly vendors. I'll definitely be going back!
**London Rule #1: If you want to make friends (or enemies), just speak aloud in your best American accent and hope for the best. At the Borough Market when I was ordering my tasty sausage on a bun, the guy behind me in line was like "Oh hey, where are you from?". And just like that we were instant friends! He was from California and has been working here for a while. It's great to find a familiar accent and it's great how an accent can provide an instantaneous bond. But be careful: the same accent can get you into a lot of trouble with the locals!

On Sunday we visited our second London church: Bloomsbury Baptist, our neighborhood Baptist church. I really enjoyed the service and the sweet people we met. They are very intentional with including the outcasts and people from all walks of life, as well as doing social ministry, which I love. So this might be the church I continue to go to after we finish our church tour. That afternoon I went for a run through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, this time with my camera! It was an absolutely beautiful day.

Peter Pan!!

**London Rule #2: Post-run (and pre-run if you're reusing exercise clothes, like myself), stand as far away from others as possible on the tube to get the fewest dirty looks and to avoid the awkward/awful/smelly body bumps that inevitably happen on an over-crowded tube. Also, never ride an escalator while in athletic gear. The people WILL judge.

So, my kind brother and sister gave me several tools for surviving and enjoying my semester in London for Christmas, such as a "Coffee Scavenger" which included a list of the top 5 coffee shops in London and 5 pounds to each of them. So this week I began my hunt! The first stop was called the Milk Bar and it was amazing! I packed up my bag to do "homework" and when I reached my destination I ordered the popular Flat White and found a little nook in which to read. The coffee was delish and even looked fancy!

 

**London Rule #3: When at a coffee shop, just say yes to everything, so as not to irk the barista with your American naivete. At another coffee shop on another day, I tried to order a flat white, but because I couldn't understand what the barista was saying, I ended up with something else and a weird size. But it was fine because she didn't hate me! Other times when I've tried to clarify and ask them to repeat, I get really dirty looks and exasperated sighs. So it's best just to nod and smile, and then laugh at whatever arrives at your table!

Monday we visited the Tower of London for our British History class and learned all about the crown jewels, the bloody tower, and all of the beheadings! I got to play a sword game, try on the queen's crown, and even made friends with a beefeater (tower guard)! Okay so maybe that's not the complete truth, but it sounds good!

Thursday night, Kaitlyn and I made the trek to Josh's house in Herne Hill (just about a 30-minute commute from here). We spent well over two hours preparing our meal, but it turned out excellently! I didn't have my camera with me, but maybe the list alone will make you salivate: a pear and celeriac (still don't really know what that means) salad and spinach souffles for starters, roasted vegetable bowtie pasta for the main, and a chocolate fondant for dessert! Mmm it was well worth the wait. We had fun experimenting with the foods, but mostly enjoyed the fruits of our grueling labor and of course the company of my brother and Julie. Hopefully we'll be visiting again soon!

The rest of the week was pretty blah - class, eating, sleeping, a little bout of a stomach bug, and then the weekend! So yesterday we visited Dover and Canterbury:

Dover is on the southern coast of England, so of course I had to touch the English Channel! I ended up almost sacrificing my body to do so...those rocks are slippery. I may have gotten some English Channel in my shoes and socks. A treasured souvenir.

We ate lunch at this great pub, but the burger was bigger than my face!!

The cathedral at Canterbury was astounding! This building is from the 1100s - what?! There's been a church there for over 1400 years. It was even more spectacular inside.

It was SUPER windy and chilly at Dover, hence the painful faces! But the castle was gorgeous and the secret tunnels underneath it were creepy, but fun!

Note the perfect bag, accompanying me everywhere!

Our trip was great and I can't wait to go to Cambridge next week!

Today was a relaxed day, complete with a trip to a cute coffee shop perfect for studying: it's got cushions! Coffee shops seem to be the theme of this trip, and hopefully my budget will continue to support the habit, because they are great here!

I hope everyone is surviving the snow and ice craziness. I think for once I'm glad to not be a part of it! Anyway, it's time for a movie, and maybe some studying. Cheers!

At last, a Londoner.

I think I'm finally feeling like I belong here. Or at least it's finally hit me that I'm here for a while, and I like that thought. This is in large part due to the intense schedule our profs and program directors planned for us these past few days. There is no area of Central London that I do not know! When I last blogged, we were just about to embark on our Neighborhood Walk. I think they should change it to "Neighborhood" Walk or All of London Walk because we walked around our "neighborhood" for FOUR hours. Yeahh. I blame that saunter for the holes already forming in my boots. But despite the tired feet and misleading title, it was a great walk and very informative, even interesting at points! That night we saw the musical Les Miserables and it was as amazing as it is made out to be. The music is, of course, incredible, the story heart-warming and the actors impressive. It was a great experience.

Saturday was the day I had been preparing for for weeks! If you saw me as much as three weeks before I left, you probably caught wind of me talking about this event or saw my nose shoved in a London map or guidebook. This was the day of The Great Tube Rallye!!!!! Essentially, the 22 of us students were divided into 5 groups and we were given a list of things to do and/or find around the city and we were to complete the tasks and make it back to our flats in under 7 hours. Child's play, right? WRONG!
    1. It was FREEZING, naturally.
    2. Some of these tasks were near impossible, or at least confusing enough to frustrate you to no end.
    3. There may have been only 9 major places to go to, but each had several things to find AND navigating the city was more difficult than the straight-lined map made it out to be.
    4. Our ever so kind profs had intentionally placed items on the list that they knew were not there, but we didn't know which. Talk about frustrating!

At the end of the day my team was just happy to make it back to the flat, even if we had skipped a few of the items and made up a few of the others. But good news: we came in a close second and won 5 pounds a piece! So essentially I got paid $8 to exercise for 7 hours. If only someone paid me every time I wanted to go running.

Sunday we went to our first London church and it just happened to be the ole Westminster Abbey. Not too shabby for our first Church of England experience. It was indeed beautiful inside and the service (a Sung Eucharist) was surprisingly moving. It was definitely different than most of what I have experienced, but I found that if you really put in the effort and focused, the worship was very meaningful. The afternoon was about eating and a bit of exploring. Then that night I finally met up with the brother and his girlfriend, Julie, for supper at a gastro pub (meaning they are more of a sit-down restaurant than just bar) and we got to catch up, which was great. Our next plans possibly include oil painting at their house. I'm not exactly an artist, but it should be a funny experiment!

Monday started "classes". That one is appropriately in quotes, because, well, classes aren't exactly real here. We meet once a week and in one we watch a film every time and then write a paper on it and discuss it the next week. Simple! In another it's a simple lecture, reading, and tests. Another is reading and discussing. Another is going to see shows and then discussing those. Don't get me wrong - we're learning plenty, it just seems that the professors are interpreting this experience as much of a vacation as we are! The final class, though, - British History and Culture - is probably the most real class I have taken. In this one I have already taken 9 pages of notes (front and back). The format is that we go on walks around various parts of the city, and later country, and learn about the history and/or culture of that spot. THEN we take just the one exam at the very end, and that alone will determine our course grade. IT'S TERRIFYING. So if you talk to me the week before April 11, you'll know why I sound like a crazy person. I am, however, very intrigued by what we'll be learning in that class and all of the others. No matter how challenging or not, I hope to glean as much as possible from each course.

Every few minutes I am reminded how very blessed I am to be able to be here and participate in this amazing program. We are in a beautiful city with a rich history and we get to LIVE here! Today my friends Kaitlyn, Kristin, and I went for a run through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. It was definitely different from Lion's Park or ACU's track, and breath-taking for sure. Next time I'll bring my real camera. Today's excursion with the phone camera ended in disaster when the phone refused to send the pics to my email : / But next time I'll see Peter Pan and it will be great!

Kaitlyn and I topped off the afternoon with a relaxing stop off at a coffee shop in our neighborhood. And who knows what tonight holds! Hope you are all safe and well. Have a great Wednesday!

Also, tomorrow's my half-birthday, so feel free to send me half cheesecakes, half cards, and half-written checks!

The Adventure Begins!

Welp, Wednesday began the great adventure across the pond and today begins my adventure in blogging!

It was a long drive to Houston to catch our afternoon flight to the Motherland, but we (meaning my travel buddy Kaitlyn and I) made it bearable by watching Les Miserables, counting cows, and stopping off for a snack break at the Nestle Tollhouse cafe...yum!

We finally arrived at the airport and parked in the correct parking garage only to be cut off at the elevators as full ones kept passing us by. Little did we know that the twenty minutes (yes, TWENTY) we stood waiting could have spared us four hours of waiting. But oh well. We finally found a semi-empty elevator and made our way to the bag drop-off. When we arrived we were greeted by a sign similar to this:

Awesome. But never fear, we were soon placed on the next flight out and given food vouchers to ease the pain. I was all over that! So 4 hours later, after a possible Randy Jackson sighting, a lot of people-watching, plenty of snacking, a good half-hour wishing I could be the British 3 yr old redheaded girl sitting next to us in the terminal (who, at three, proved that the English are indeed better at grammar than us: "Mum, shall I go over here or shall I go over there"), and another hour of playing "Spot the Brit" in the Terminal (it's harder than you think when you throw in those blacks and asians!), we finally were able to board, take our tylenol pm, and sleep soundly on the empty rows of seats.

The border control found us harmless and let us pass. Our bags made it through as well. We were worried about where to meet, as we were almost 2 hours past our original meeting time - thanks BA. But because my wonderful brother had lent me a phone at Christmas, I was able to contact our professors and find them waiting for us outside of the baggage claim. We boarded the bus of tired-looking students, who had been waiting hours for us (whoops!), and made our way into London.

We then made it to our flats, unpacked, walked around a bit, grabbed some lunch, had our orientation meeting (my fav!), walked some more, bought some essentials - like a converter that doesn't work, grabbed dinner, and then went exploring and later crashed.

Today we grabbed breakfast from a shop down the road from us and then went grocery shopping with the group. I then was left by said group and was forced to find the way back on my own. Luckily I'm good with landmarks. Also, groceries are heavy! Note to self: next time, bring rolling suitcase. Don't worry, all the locals do it.

I haven't taken many pictures yet, as yesterday we were all kind of in a daze and getting used to the cold (which isn't as biting as I imagined, though it hasn't rained yet). But I do have a few of our room:

Welcome to Suite 113, complete with mail slot!

 When they say "mini" kitchen, they mean it.

 It's a good thing we aren't giants. The beds are a little small, but comfy.

 Bathroom, complete with towel warmers!

I suppose that's all for now. We're going on a Neighborhood Walk with one of our British profs (his name is Dr. Rumblelow - can that be any more British?!) and then we're seeing our first show of many - Les Miserables! Not too shabby for a day in the city. Thanks for reading and I promise to be less boring next time. Cheerio!