Saturday 1/30 - Day 19

Cambridge today!

When we arrived, there was snow on the ground. We pulled up to "the backs" of the colleges, and convened by the Mathematical Bridge before commencing our tour. Queens' College was first on our stop, then past a church named for a Saint that isn't really a Saint, but a lot of old cities have them, and they mark the place where the old city gates once stood. We walked past the Cavendish Laboratory, where Watson & Crick discovered the structure of DNA, then to the pub where they celebrated. St. Benet's was of interest as well, as it's the oldest building in Cambridge.

I loved the bikes and posters everywhere. It definitely had the feeling of a college campus. We went into Pembroke College, and examined one of the prettiest little chapels I've ever seen, which was built by the same man who built St. Paul's Cathedral in London. I still can't wrap my head around the fact that people my age actually go to school here. This idea was only reinforced as we were leaving, and I could see students eating breakfast through one of the windows, and another student leaving the campus in pajamas.

During lunch we got to check out an open air market, which was really neat, and Thai food for lunch. King's College was our next to last stop for the day, and it was worth the entire trip. The Chapel was finished under King Henry VIII, one of my favorites, and it was phenomenal. It is home to some of the oldest stained glass in the Britain, and is completely stunning. The organ started to play as we were visiting, and it only added to the ambience.

We checked out the museum of zoology last, which housed Darwin's collections, most notably his beetles and finches, which was pretty incredible to see in person.

Cambridge was pretty incredible, but in my book, Oxford was preferable.

And so ends Day 19.

Friday 1/29 - Day 18

Although I was planning on going into London today, when I woke up, it was absolutely miserable outside, and if I learned anything on the first tour of London, it was to not waste your time when it’s disgusting out. So I did what any reasonable person would do. I went back to bed. I had a nice lazy morning and afternoon, then met up with everyone for dinner.

After dinner, we went to the local NewsAgent shop, which also happens to be Bill’s. Bill is famous with the American exchange students at St. Mary’s because apparently he really likes us, and oftentimes gives us free things. However, I find him vaguely creepy, so I usually make it a point not to visit Bill much. There was a long debate as to what alcohol to get, but I settled on Stawberry Pear cider and a Cadbury’s Fruit & Nut chocolate bar, and we headed to my friend Sarah’s house for a movie night.

Kim & Danielle’s host family had lent them the film “American Beauty,” which happens to be one of my favorite movies. We had a nice evening just chilling out and watching a movie together. It’s nice because Sarah lives pretty close to my host house, so I hope we keep going back there for our gatherings. She definitely has more than enough space to host. We wanted to keep it early since we were going to Cambridge the next day. Again, another fine day in the UK.

And so ends Day 18.

Thursday 1/28 - Day 17

I woke up after sleeping in delightfully late and did some more domestic chores, then headed to school for what’s becoming a miserable health psychology class. After dinner, I came back and was greeted by Mike telling me that as a household, we’d exceeded the amount of downloads, and so the internet was off. “Frustrated” doesn’t even begin to cover how I felt. I spent the rest of the night reading, goofing off, and planning my day in London tomorrow. I was kind of torn because my friends were planning a nice night in, but I desperately wanted to go back to London. Not too interesting of a day, but hopefully tomorrow will shape up for something more fun.

And so ends Day 17.

Wednesday 1/27 - Day 16

Woke up early today to get an early start in the city. It was bitterly cold, so we decided to do as much as we could to stay inside. We decided to hit the Victoria & Albert Museum first, which was actually very convenient given that we were able to walk from the Tube straight to the entrance of the V&A without going above ground once. Once in, we checked out the fashion, which wasn’t quite how I remembered it from when I was here with my mom, and the photography, which was actually quite impressive. From there we split up to pursue our separate interests, so I checked out the stained glass windows, which were incredible. The room that they are located it had perfect lighting, and you could really appreciate the art, time, and talent placed into each pane of glass. Absolutely incredible. I visited the jewelry exhibit, which was also incredible. I found a few Claddaghs in the exhibit, which made me pretty happy. They also had this incredible wheel of stones in rings, all color-coded. Everything was gorgeous. I somehow found my way to the tapestries, which were surprisingly incredibly serene. About halfway through my visit, I realized that I would need much more time to see everything that I wanted, so instead of rushing through it, I took my time, vowing to come back later. I wandered into this wondrous gallery, which I believe contained some medieval architecture, including stone towers, tombs, and other such artwork. My jaw literally hit the floor when I stumbled upon it. I’m consistently amazed by how people were able to create the things they did with the resources they had.

From there, we went to Harrods, and spent some time wandering around the giant store, stopping to specifically admire the Tiffany’s section. We came back for dinner and a change, then headed back into the city to see “Oliver.” When we picked up our tickets, we were all kind of upset that they weren’t together, but Kim & I ended up getting really phenomenal seats on an aisle. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but “Oliver” didn’t disappoint. Very good show. Another girl who was separated form her group wound up sitting with Kim & I, and funnily enough, she knew someone that I know at High Point. Small world.

After the show, we wandered around London trying to find somewhere to eat, and finally settled on McDonald’s. We caught the train back home, recounting our favorite parts of “Oliver.” All in all, another great day in England.

And so ends Day 16.

Tuesday 1/26 - Day 15

Shockingly, I woke up in enough time to eat breakfast and get ready before my class. We had a new professor for the tourism class today, and I like him as well. He apparently has another class to teach, so our lecture was cut short by an hour, which I was very okay with. I went back home to explore my box that came from Terry today, which included wonderful amounts of food and a panda. It pretty much made my day. I decided to take a nap, which turned into more of a sleep, and woke up in just enough time to go back to school for dinner. J We had a fun time recounting last night, including discussing how sore we all were from so much dancing.

I came back to my room after dinner and talked to some people, which would have continued if my internet connection hadn’t went out. I decided that as fun as last night was, not wanting to do much the day after except sleep is kind of a problem, so I’ll have to figure something out for that.

Tomorrow the plan is to go into London all day, then come back for dinner and to get changed to go see Oliver at the theater. Very exciting. All in all though, it was a beautiful lazy day, and everyone needs some of those.

And so ends Day 15.

Monday 1/25 - Day 14

Monday means back to school, & I can’t say that I was entirely looking forward to it. My first class, Individual Differences, was better than it was last week. We talked about a lot of personality things, which I am familiar with thanks to my HPU education. My next class, Positive Psych, was pretty interesting. We discussed happiness, then our professor presented us with our first journal “assignment.” We’re supposed to make a collage with pictures and representations of what we want, then put it under our beds & look at them every night, then reflect on our feelings regarding our collages. I’m not entirely sure what she wants us to do, & my confusion rose to new levels after she showed us her collage, which featured scantily clad women with “features” that our professor admires, vacations she desires to take alone, and pole dancing moves she wished to accomplish, since she readily admitted to us that she was a pole dancer. Obviously a very interesting class. I didn’t find much in the magazines she provided for my collage, and definitely didn’t have time to put it together, so that’s something that I may or may not be doing later.

I spent the rest of the day doing errands, trying to get some sleep, and talking to people from home before eating a delicious dinner and going out. I was supposed to meet another American at the dorm to let me in for a little bit of fun before the club, but she was nowhere to be found, so I followed some other kids in and wandered around a bit before finding Kaitlin, Kim, & Danielle, and heading to the kitchen (apparently the party room) to have some fun. There were a ton of people there, and they were playing a drinking game. They kept telling people to “consume,” which I thought was an English thing, but it was really just part of the game, as was pointing at people with your elbow. We eventually left there to get tickets to Oceana and to get on the bus that would take us there, spending some time in the student union bar.

What followed was one of the most ridiculous bus rides I’ve ever encountered in my life. Everyone, and I mean everyone, was singing. Singing anything, from “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” to popular 80’s American anthems. I really didn’t understand it, but it was fun nonetheless. We made it to the club, and were pretty much instantly ushered in, and spent the next 4-ish hours dancing in the enormous, mulit-themed dance club.

The bus ride home wasn’t nearly as entertaining as the one there, but we got to sit in the front top of the double decker and had a beautiful view of the area on the ride home. I figured out where my house was in relation to everything else, a revelation that would save me a lot of walking time in the future. Getting home at almost 3 am, I was able to video chat with people at home at a time that was considered “late” to them, and fell asleep after one of my best nights in England to date.

And so ends Day 14.

Sunday 1/24 - Day 13

I woke up bright and early to get ready and get to school to catch the bus to Oxford. I was there 15 minutes early, like the sheet said, yet there was no coach in sight. At 8:30, there was still no giant tour bus in sight, but after a while, the six of us going on the trip discovered that the company had sent a taxi to get us and take us to the next pick up point, where more students would be waiting. The cab ride was slightly frightening, given that people drive like crazy people here, and I was very glad to arrive at the pick up point. The college, called Royal Holloway, was absolutely gorgeous, and appeared to be straight out of a movie. We took several pictures before the bus showed up.

We loaded the bus, and had a pleasant ride to our first stop, Blenheim Palace, passing Windsor Castle along the way. The views were breathtaking, with I suppose what could be considered the traditional English countryside and lots of horse and sheep. Our tour guide also pointed out where some of the 2012 Olympic teams will practice rowing.

Eventually, we arrived at a small town, apparently famous for a weekend getaway spot with the rich and famous. From what the guide was telling us, Blenheim Palace was built by Henry II, or at least sometime in that time frame, on the grounds of an old hunting lodge, which unfortunately no longer stands. We took a long walk around the garden and lake area, getting some fantastic pictures, then saw a Victory Statue, which is directly in line with the palace, then walked over a bridge to the palace itself. The bridge actually had rooms build into it so that visitors could stay there. However, they're closed to the public. We didn't get to tour the inside of the palace, but the views were lovely from where we were. Some random facts surrounding Blenheim include the fact that Winston Churchill was born and became engaged there, and is buried nearby, one of the residents altered the water level in the lakes surrounding the palace to make it more aesthetically pleasing, and it supposedly has phenomenal gardens, that sadly, because of the weather and the time of year that we visited, we were unable to see.

From the palace, we walked back to the village the back way, passing seemingly millions of sheep, and these incredible stone walls made without cement - they're just rocks placed together that have solidified over time, designed to keep the sheep in. They're called cotswalds, with "cot" being an old derivative of "sheep" in some language. We walked to a pub called "The White House," apparently one of Winston Churchill's favorites, and had tea & biscuits. It had some wonderful Churchill quotes on the wall.

After tea, we walked up to a little cemetery where Churchill is buried. Today was actually his death anniversary, 45 years. There were flowers on his grave. Our tour guide told us that he was given the privilege of being buried at Westminster Abbey, but didn't think that he'd get along too well with some of the people buried there, so he declined in favor of being buried close to where he was born. She also told us that the King before Elizabeth II had offered to Knight him, but he refused. However, when Queen Elizabeth II offered, he accepted.

We all loaded the coach and headed to Oxford after tea. Everything in Oxford is made from yellow brick, and it's incredibly beautiful. There are bikes everywhere, and even more people. We got off the bus and began our walking tour. We went into kind of the heart of the city. Apparently, Oxford is a university within itself, but there are 39 colleges in it, all of which have rivalries, yet they all come together to make Oxford. You have to pass a rigorous exam, the Oxbridge, or something like that, as Cambridge uses it as well to get in, then pass an interview process. It all sounds very complicated and whatnot, but it's a very good school, lots of famous people have studied and taught here, and it's a neat town.

We began by looking at this rotunda/theater bulling, called The Sheldonian. It's where all the graduations, matriculations, and the like take place. It had these crazy statue head surrounding it that all had expressions of surprise. Bizarre. Apparently they were all redone in the 1960's, so that might explain some of that.

We then went behind it into this beautiful square where we were completely surrounded by incredible architecture. It was too cramped to take a picture to do it justice, but it was almost a magical place to be. We walked next into a courtyard area of a library, and I was intrigued by these little heads, all unique, that ran as a border around the top of the courtyard. They were designed to give the building "character."

When we came out of that, we came into another area with a stunning round building called "The Radcliffe Camera." I'm not sure exactly what the building is designed for, but the same man who designed it designed the church I was in last night, St Martin's In The Field, for the concert. So cool. We saw more churches, most notably the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, and as we were passing that, passed the lamppost that is believed to be the inspiration behind "The Chronicles of Narnia," as C.S. Lewis was both a pupil and teacher in Oxford. We took some more pictures with some of the colleges, then broke for lunch.

We were able to find an adorable store that I got postcards and an Oxford t-shirt at. We ate at an incredible little sandwich shop, and had ham & cheese paninis for 2.95. However, when I asked for tap water, the woman glared at me as if she wanted me to die, so that prevented the rest of the group from asking for drunks as well. We did a little more window shopping after that, then met back up with the group for the rest of our tour.

We journeyed then to Christ Church College, which also houses the Cathedral of Oxford, the smallest Cathedral in England. The college is inspiration for "Alice in Wonderland," as well as "Harry Potter." Before we went into the college, our tour guide told us that there are a few things that every college in Oxford & Cambridge have, which are residences/quad, a guard tower, a chapel, & a great hall. Colleges still use this model today. We took some pictures on the staircase that they used in the movie, as well as in the Great Hall. I wondered where the floating candles and ghosts were, haha. People still eat there today. They were actually setting up for dinner as we were touring. On the wall behind where the head table is were portraits of some of the famous people related to the college, including King Henry VIII, who stole the school from the Catholic Cardinal who founded it, and Queen Elizabeth I. The ceiling was amazing. Kaitlin & I definitely enjoyed our time there.

We walked out into a giant courtyard where apparently a lot of movies are filmed as well, and into the cathedral, which was gorgeous. Beautiful stained glass windows, incredibly ornate carvings, it was just phenomenal. One of the quotes above one of the carved arches read, "Fear God, Love the Brotherhood, Honor the King." I really took a liking to it. Kaitlin & I took some more pictures in the hallways, and in the courtyard that seemed to be a potential filming spot as well, then the four of us grabbed some group shots as well.

We headed back to the bus down a busy shopping lane, & Kaitlin & I quickly ran to "The Eagle & Child" pub to get some pictures. It's famous for writers such as C.S. Lewis, Tolkein, & even J.K. Rowling to have frequented to hang out and write.

We got back on the bus and I basically instantly fell asleep on the ride home. I woke up enough to get in the taxi, and we were delivered back to St Mary's, just in time for dinner. Once I got back to my house, I was able to talk to some people at home, and think back on what a great day it was. Great weather, great sights, overall great day.

And so ends Day 13.

Saturday 1/23 - Day 12

I woke up, got ready for brunch, had a leisurely breakfast, and headed to the Strawberry Hill station to go into London. As I was arriving, the gates were going down, so I hurriedly ran to the ticket booth to try and buy my day pass. However, it was closed, so I hurriedly tried to figure out the automatic ticket machine, failed miserably, and ended up with a day pass and a round trip ticket to London. Waste of 2.45 pounds, and a waste of half an hour. Whoops. Won't be making that mistake again.

When I finally got into London, I decided to go check out the hotel that my mom & I had stayed at while we were here in 2002. I got off at the Sloane Square tube station, and almost instinctively knew where to turn and where to go. I walked down the beautiful orange-brick row of mansions (passing a guy urinating on a tree, awkward) right to the end, on the right, where The Willett was. I was expecting to go in, and maybe have a look around, but to my huge surprise, it was closed. The door and gate were padlocked, there were no window treatments in any of the windows, the brass sign on the front wasn't polished, and there weren't any lights on anywhere. It was a little depressing. I walked back up the street and around the square. Amazing how everything seemed so much bigger to me when I was 13. I also didn't realize how ritzy of an area we were staying in. There was a Tiffany's on one corner, and a Hugo Boss on another, as well as some swank cafes scattered about.

I got back on the Tube to go to the National Gallery. I'd forgotten how much I love the Tube. Something about traveling, especially traveling solo, is incredibly empowering to me. I'm not quire sure what it is. I arrived at the Charring Cross station, basically right across from Trafalgar Square, and walked up the magnificent steps to the Gallery. If one adjective could describe it, it would be 'massive.' I wasn't able to spend nearly enough time there, mostly just enough time to find my Top 10 paintings. I definitely need to come back. I could easily spend half a day to a full day there. I was definitely amazed by everything though. I don't think that this was something my mom & I did when we were here. I especially love the 1600-ish Italian art, for some reason. I actually wrote in my journal regarding my time spent at the National Gallery as a place with an incredible amount of "cultural wealth." It definitely had some kind of impression on me.

On my way out, there were some street performers, so I stopped on the balcony to watch them. Interesting, but you've seen one street performer, you've basically seen them all. On the way in, I was given a flyer for a candlelight Mozart Eine Kleine Nachtmusik concert in the St Martin's In The Field chapel across the way. I decided to check it out, and ended up buying a ticket for that evening's performance.

i went back to school to have dinner with the girls, then got back on the train back into London, again marveling at how rude people can be on public transportation. I've only been here a little over a week, yet I feel as if I could write a pamphlet, or even a book, on public transportation etiquette.

I was paranoid that I was going to be late for the show, but I made it in time. I walked into a small, yet beautiful and ornate church. I was expecting more of an orchestra set-up, but the music stands indicated more of a chamber orchestra ensemble. The performing group is called London Musical Arts Orchestra, and from what I could determine, are relatively new. My seats weren't all too great, so right before the show started, all the other people in my situation and I moved inward to the better seats that hadn't sold. I ended up getting a pretty phenomenal seat for not so much money.

The acoustics were incredible. It almost brought tears to my eyes when the music began, and made me really miss my cello. It was incredible to sit there for almost two hours, and just enjoy being in the moment. Nothing to worry about, only beautiful music and beautiful surroundings to enjoy. Simple pleasures. During the intermission, the conductor did a little examination of the piece for the second half of the concert. He demonstrated "imitation," which was fun. This group has other performances that I definitely plan on attending.

After the show, I snapped some pictures of the church. I decided to walk to Leicester Square to see what that was like on a Saturday night, but somehow got turned around and ended up wandering for a little bit before I found Covent Garden and its Tube station. I decided to get off at the Twickenham station and ride a bus back to my house, which conveniently drops me off almost at my doorstep. When I got off in Twickenham though, a rugby game or some kind of sporting event was apparently just getting out, so I had to fight through masses of drunkards to make it through. Lots of drunk people out tonight. One of the most unsettling things however, was the number of homeless I encountered while wandering. Especially the homeless with animals. Very upsetting, and hard to not intervene. I might start carrying dog food with me when we go out in London now.

I came home, and my housemate, Karly, told me that they'd raised the security threat level to 'severe' in London, explaining the delays I'd encountered on the Tube on my journey home. Reassuring. Oxford tomorrow, however, so I'll be off the Tubes.

All in all, a phenomenal day, and hoping that tomorrow is even better.

And so ends Day 12.

Friday 1/22 - Day 11

Another rainy day, which meant, after a lunchtime discussion with the other girls, that I would not be going into London. It's not worth it to spend the 5 pounds for the travel card to walk around London when it's gross outside. We decided to go back to Kingston instead.

We caught the bus from Teddington in, which was packed, because people do the thing here where one person takes up two seats. It was especially irritating this time because the bus was completely full, yet four girls in the back were sitting in two seats each, when it was apparent that they knew each other and were traveling together. If they would've just sat together, they could've freed up four seats, which would've let the four of us sit together, which we were unable to do. People do the same thing on trains here. One person sits in the cluster of four seats, two and two facing each other. Then a group of four people gets on and can't sit together because one person is selfishly taking up an entire group of seats. It's very frustrating.

Once in Kingston, I split off from the other three to do a little exploring, and hopefully, not any purchasing. I walked the entire mall, checking out some of the stores I missed Wednesday, then ventured outside. There's one area that appears to have an open market in nicer weather. There are a lot of little cafes and coffee shops as well. Once you get away from the Bentall's Center, the mall, it's actually a quaint little place. I was able to find a shoe store and get some goalashes, or "wellies" as they call them here. Since it was a Friday, it was extremely busy, but something that always amazes me is the amount of babies around here. It seems like almost every other woman is pushing a stroller, or "pram" as they're called here. It's really funny when it rains, because they sell these plastic covers that people put over the strollers, and Danielle worries about how the babies breathe. England is also generally not conducive to pushing children around, especially the double-wide strollers some people have. The sidewalks are oftentimes narrow and bumpy, so I'm kind of surprised more people don't carry their babies. Add to that the cost of baby supplies around here, & I'm kind of surprised people reproduce as much as they seem to.

We rode the bus from Kingston into Twickenham to eat at the restaurant I really like but can't ever remember the name of. It starts with a W. Anyways, I had lasagna, it was delicious, but Kaitlin & I were upset that the menu had changed and prices had gone up. Regardless, it's still reasonable, but it's irritating to find someplace we really like, and can afford to eat at, until prices go up. The value for the money isn't bad though, so chances are we'll be back.

We called it an early night, and I decided that I would go into London tomorrow. I talked to some people from home, finished up some chores, and got into my lovely comfortable bed with my cozy duvet. I really lucked out with my bed here. When my mom & I were here in 2002 I quickly adopted the English bedding situation - namely a duvet - at home, so it's nice to have that here as well.

And so ends Day 11.

Thursday 1/21 - Day 10

I woke up and learned how to use the washing machine, located under the counter in the kitchen. Pretty straight-forward. However, I went back to bed for a little, and finally got up later and actually became productive. I did laundry and some other domestic chores, enjoyed a bowl of my favorite cereal here, "Musely," and caught up on journaling and organization.

Health Psychology promises to be interesting. It's a smaller class, and more discussion, which is excellent. We have a paper due at the end of February, and a research proposal at the end of the semester, but no exam, which is phenomenal.

At dinner, I discovered that if I don't get a pop, I can get another piece of food instead, which was a grand discovery considering that everyone's hungry here all the time. It's too expensive to buy food anywhere, so we've basically been gorging at the meals we do get. I decided that I wanted to go to the large Tesco, a local supermarket, in Twickenham, so Kaitlin agreed to go with me.

It basically felt like forever walking there, but we got a nice tour of Twickenham, the rugby stadium, and some traffic circles, or roundabouts, as they're called here. We finally made it, and I believe it was well worth the walk. The store was huge, like a Super Walmart, and had basically everything you could possibly want, from groceries to clothes to school supplies to entertainment. Kaitlin & I had a good time walking around just looking, as well as picking up some necessities. The only problem occurred at checkout, because all of the English debit and credit cards have a chip in them, so the readers at the stations don't like our cards. I ended up having to suck it up and pay in cash, but I didn't spend too much, so it really wasn't an issue - more of an annoyance.

The walk back seemed even shorter, and when I got back, I google-mapped how far we walked. 6 miles round trip! Crazy. It's amazing how fast I've gotten used to the walking. Makes me wish that walking at home was easier. Here, it's a way of life, and a valid means of transportation. At home, it's basically for leisure or exercise, and it shouldn't be that way.

It was generally a nice day to relax and catch up on all the craziness. I'm planning on doing London tomorrow by myself, so we'll see how that plans out. All in all though, another great day in England.

And so ends Day 10.

Wednesday 1/20 - Day 9

After a late night talking to people at home, I sleep in pretty late today, waking up to a text asking if I wanted to explore Kingston, a local town and renowned shopping center. I hurriedly got ready, and headed over to meet the girls to catch the bus. Sadly, it was rainy and gross outside, but we are in England.

Before we caught the bus, we walked to the Teddington police station to get our little personal alarms for our keychains. They're these little plastic contraptions, a little smaller than an egg, that have a flashlight and a button for an alarm, as well as a pin you can pull out that makes the alarm continuously go off. The idea is that if someone approaches you, you can pull the pin out, and the noise will either scare them off or attract other people to the scene. Nice little peace of mind thing.

We walked back to the main drag to catch the bus, and on the way, a car drove by us and splashed water all over, mainly drenching myself. It was legitimately something that could've happened straight out of the movies, and didn't do much for my mood that was already glum due to the weather.

Fortunately, the buses here aren't too hard to figure out. Each bus station has a poster listing several destinations, then lists the bus route needed to get there. Every time I use public transportation here, I'm thankful for how wonderful, and compared to America, efficient it is. Londoners tend to complain about it, but they have no idea just how good they have it.

When we got into Kingston, we stopped at a bank for Danielle to try to get some traveller's cheques exchanged. We've both run into some trouble with the traveller's cheques here, whether it be finding somewhere to exchange them, and then trying to find somewhere where the commission fees aren't exorbitant. And the exchange rate doesn't help either, but nothing much we can do about that.

Our first stop was the local T.K. Maxx, or in the States, T.J. Maxx. I mostly just spent my time looking at everything. Again, everything is about twice as expensive here, and that's accounting for the exchange rate. For example, in the States, at a Target or Walmart, you can find a pair of Skull Candy headphones for $10, or somewhere around there. T.K. Maxx wanted 12 pounds for theirs. Twice as much. I'm generally too cheap to buy clothing, but it was interesting comparing prices and looking at everything.

Across the street is a giant, 4-story shopping mall that we went to next. Again, everything's outrageously expensive, so we did a lot of window shopping. They have a pretty cool store called "Fat Face" that I liked, as well as a store called "Superdry," but way out of my budget. They even have an Apple store. :) There's this really neat place called Muju, or at least I'm pretty sure that's what it's called, that has a little bit of everything, from stationery supplies to bedroom furniture and clothing, all in neutral colors. Pretty cool. We've all latched on to a store over here called Paperchase, which is basically a stationery store as well. We've found some cute cards there, and spent a lot of time admiring their beautiful and detailed design lines for their supplies. I brought three journals with me to write in, so if I fill them all, I plan on buying a Paperchase one. A little bit of an incentive to write a lot. :)

We decided to come back for dinner, then I came back for an early night in. I talked to my host family for a while, and asked about laundry, which my host lady promised to show me how to do tomorrow morning.

Decidedly time is moving both fast & slow at the same time, and although people talk about this phenomenon all the time, I've never really felt as if I've experienced it - until I came here.

All in all, a good day.

And so ends Day 9.

Tuesday 1/19 - Day 8

I can't believe that I've basically been gone for an entire week now. It doesn't seem that long, although at times it feels longer. If this week is any indication, this entire semester will pass by very quickly.

I woke up at a reasonable time this morning, and was able to grab some breakfast. I walked to the building where the London as a Tourist Destination was scheduled to be held, but nothing appeared to me to look as if it was a lecture theater, so I walked to a computer lab, checked it again, and walked back to the building. I found some students and asked them, but they were looking for the same class. We all went on a wild goose chase after that, until we finally were in the education building, watching a tutor yell at one of her students for being late, when she turned on us, supposing that we were hers too and we were late as well. However, when we explained the situation to her, she pointed us in the right direction, and we made it to class without an issue, although we were a little late.

The class promises to be interesting. Looking at London through a native's perspective will be good. Plus, there's field trips. :) I was shocked at how rude some of the students were. I guess that because it's a first-year course, the students are still pretty young & not into the whole class thing, but it seemed like they talked throughout the entire lecture, which was annoying and distracting.

After lunch, I came home, and talked to my hosts for a bit about America, politics, and traveling. Apparently they have a house right off of the beach in France. Mike gave me the business card, so I'll need to check that out. I took a nap afterwards, and woke up to get ready for the meeting with the student union president that we were supposed to have on campus.

I walked to campus, met the girls, and went to the cafe we were supposed to meet at, which was closed. We eventually relocated to the bar, which was pretty cool, but the meeting was relatively uneventful and was basically the president wanting the Americans to drink with him, so the four of us bailed to find food. Kim wasn't feeling well, so she and Danielle went back, and Kaitlin & I walked back into Twickenham to go to that little restaurant I love so much. We got the special on ham, eggs, & fries for 1.99, which is awesome, and had a nice little dinner out.

I came back to my room & tried to sort out the money situation. Everything is so expensive here, plus the US dollar is so weak, so money has been really stressing me out. What started off as me not wanting to do Europe on a shoestring budget has turned into me having to do Europe on a shoestring budget simply because of the exchange rate. I'll just have to be very, very careful.

Tomorrow we're planning on going into Kingston to look at all the shopping centers there. Should be interesting to see it in the daytime.

And so ends Day 8.

Monday 1/18 - Day 7

I had a really hard time sleeping last night for some reason, so when my alarm went off at 6:30 am, I didn't wake up, and for some reason, reset it for 8:20 am. For my 9:00 class. When I woke up at 8:20 and realized what I'd done, I got ready in a hurry, and basically booked it to school.

I met Danielle outside of my first class, Individual Differences in Psychology. I could tell straight away that this class was serious business. Everyone had told us that the first week of classes doesn't really mean anything, and everyone will let us go early, but this man lectured the entire time. We started the class off with an IQ test. It's basically all going to be focused on intelligence and personality, so not really what I expected at all. We have a case study due that's worth 40% of our grade, then a final exam worth 60%. It looks a little intimidating, but we'll just have to wait and see. I found myself wanting to drop it, but I kind of need it for graduation. Danielle & I stayed after to ask the professor, or "tutor," as they're called here, some questions, to which he listened, but didn't seem too receptive. I got the feeling that he didn't like, or appreciate, exchange students in his 300-level (highest level class here) course. We made an appointment with the other tutor to discuss the case study, and she seems a little more accommodating, so we'll see how that goes.

When we were nearly finished with the lecture, a woman wearing a go-go dress & leggings rushed in, completely interrupting the tutor, & started talking about the Positive Psychology class, the class I was supposed to have next. I was a little taken aback that she just interrupted the current lecturer, but I guess anything goes here. After she said her little blurb, she rushed out again, and the tutor continued as if nothing had happened. So interesting.

Danielle wanted to try out the Positive Psychology class too, so we were a little early showing up for that class, so we played on the computers and checked email and the like. I kept looking up other classes since taking another 300 level history course was not high on my to-do list.

The class began, and the go-go tutor started us out by taking an online survey without much introduction to the course. After we finished, she did explain the course, and explained that she didn't want to change our view of Positive Psychology by telling us what it was about, then giving us the quiz, therefore potentially skewing the results. The course is basically divided into two sections - the first going over a few theories, and with which we're supposed to keep a reflective journal, and the second applying the theories to society, in which we're to write an essay about one realm. It seems very interesting.

After, I walked into Twickenham to look for a place to eat since I was dumb and didn't wake up in time for breakfast. I walked all the way down and back this one street, and didn't really find anything, so I went back to the one that we were familiar with, and walked until I found an interesting, and reasonable, looking place to eat. I really wanted some fish & chips, and they had a lovely deal going after 2, so I sat for an hour with a raspberry sambuca spritzer reading one of my recently-acquired second hand books, and waited until 2 pm. At precisely 2, I ordered my 3.20 pound fish & chips, with peas, bread & butter, and tea. Pretty good deal. It was a very cozy little restaurant, and definitely one that I'll have to come back to.

I walked home, had a nap, talked online for a bit, then got ready for what I assumed was going to be a night out. The school runs a bus to one of the local clubs here and back, and includes the entrance fee, all for 5 pounds, so that's what we assumed was happening. However, we found out that it wasn't running tonight, & since we were all dressed up anyway, we still wanted to go out. The four of us met, basically walked the entire length of Broad Street in Teddington, and finally decided on a little restaurant/pub called the Red Lion, since essentially everything else was closed. I ordered a Pimm's, and the other girls ordered Disarronos and Cokes, and we thought that we could have a nice little evening there until the bar tender told us that it closed in 15 minutes. Whoops. So we talked to him, & he suggested we go to Kingston, where the club, Oceana, that we wanted to go to, is. We debated, but decided to go, & caught the bus to Kingston.

The line for Oceana was out the door and around the block, so we passed on that, and decided on the pub across the street, which is the same chain restaurant that the little pub I ate at earlier is. It looked as if it was staying open, so we got drinks and sat down. However, basically as soon as we did that, we were told that the pub would be closing. Foiled again. We drank up, then got the bus back to Teddington. Although our evening plans didn't work out how we wanted them to, at least we know a little bit more about the area now. Pretty good day.

And so ends Day 7.

Sunday 1/17 - Day 6

Sleeping in a little this morning was wonderful. Since our host families aren't required to feed us on the weekend, I took my time getting ready and headed to school to meet the other girls for breakfast. It was beautiful out, and we all wished that we'd been fortunate enough to have this weather yesterday for our day in London.

We decided to walk around campus a little to take advantage of the gorgeous weather, & I was able to snap some good shots of the campus. We also looked up our classrooms where our classes would start on Monday so that we aren't totally lost. Kim wanted to check out the fitness facilities, so we did that. They have a very basic weight room with very little cardio equipment, and a room for aerobics/fitness classes, etc. It's an additional fee, & considering that I don't take advantage of the free equipment at High Point (which I should), I decided to pass on the facilities here. I guess I can always run if the mood strikes me.

We walked to Twickenham after, getting distracted by a lovely little park on the way. It had a really nice playground, and I was kind of jealous for my childhood self that kids here can basically play year around, although it's still a little chilly. The park runs right up to the Thames, so we walked along that and took some nice shots up and down the river. There's also a WWII memorial right in the middle of the park, as well as a nice cricket pitch, & a large, open, grassy field. It'll be interesting to see how it's used in the nicer weather.

Once we got into Twickenham, we walked down a cute little side street that I'd noticed the other night as being closed off to traffic. It has lights strung over it, giving it a nice, cozy, fun feel. Today was a Sunday, so not much was open, but we did find a really cute boutique-like shop with cards & other interesting, unique things. Kaitiln & I got some cute little planners.

We continued down the street, and once we got to the end, noticed a sign for a Twickenham Museum that we decided to check out. It's located in a little house down by the river, and is pretty much just a bunch of pictures hung on the walls, but it talks about how the river was a hot spot back in the day with lots of clubs and activity, & the woman working the front desk was very nice and helpful in answering our questions and pointing out things of interest. Everyone here that meets us instantly wants to know what we're studying. I've found that to be very interesting. We probably spent maybe half an hour in the museum, but when we came out, the river had risen & flooded the street below it. Apparently this happens on a daily basis, & the citizens just know not to use the street after 3:30-ish. We checked out the church that was across the street from the museum, & admired the old, beautiful gravestones that littered the yard.

On our walk back to the school, we passed a little milkshake bar, & decided to stop in and give it a try. You start with a basic vanilla milkshake, then you can add in any candy bar or toppings that you want. They had some signature shakes, all named after people, so I got the one named after me, "Katie." It was very chocolately, but still very good. The "barista" was very friendly, & talked to us about the area a little bit. Most people we've encountered have been very friendly and helpful to us. As we continued our walk back to the school, we realized that the streets weren't the only thing flooded - the park had about half-flooded as well.

We killed some time at the internet cafe before dinner, then ate again. If we stick around on the weekends, we get plenty to eat - 18 points worth. However, with our plans coming up, we're going to be forced to miss out on food sometimes, so I try to take advantage of it as much as I can.

It was really odd to think that classes start tomorrow. I really had no idea what to expect, or how to prepare. Guess I'll just have to wait and see.

And so ends Day 6.

Saturday 1/16 - Day 5

I was actually on time getting up and out today, which was pretty incredible. I stopped to talk to Gillian, my maternal host figure, on my way out. She was talking a little bit about the other students they've had. It sounds like this is something they do quite often. It was nice to talk to her, since I haven't really done much of that. She seems like a very nice lady.

Karly & I walked back to school again to catch the tour for London. We're supposed to get brunch at the Ref on the weekends, but since we were leaving so early, we weren't able to do so. Our tour guide was a little late, but so were some other people, so it wasn't a huge deal. Kaitlin's family dropped her off at the door, which we all hassled her about, since it was raining, & we all had to walk.

From the school, the huge group of us walked to the Strawberry Hill station to catch the train. We used our rail passes to get the day passes, and fortunately, we didn't have to wait long to catch a train. Everyone was very excited for our trip into London.

Our tour began right from the Waterloo station, where we came in at. From the station, we walked to The Eye, then to the Houses of Parliament & Big Ben. We walked past Westminster Abbey, then through St. James' Park to Buckingham Palace, where we watched a great portion of the changing of the guard ceremony, although we weren't close. We mostly got to see the marching band. From there we walked to the house where Prince Charles lives, and were able to see the changing of the guard there, which was kind of neat. We walked back through St. James' Park to the Horse Guards Parade, looked at where the Prime Minister lives, walked up to Trafalgar Square, into Leicester Square, & finally ended up in Covent Garden, at which point it was pouring.

The four of us were starving, so we walked around trying to find a reasonable place to eat, & finally found a nice Irish pub to eat at. I had a burger & chips. Beef just isn't the same here as it is in the States, so I think I'll stick with fish for the duration of the trip. From there, we decided to check out the National Portrait Gallery. It wasn't raining by the time we walked outside, which was nice, considering that we were all basically drenched. However, the National Portrait Gallery was jam packed with people. We all broke up inside and made plans to meet at a certain time. I looked at the Lady Jane Grey exhibit, which was very interesting, then walked around to find Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth I, a portrait of the Bronte sisters, & enjoyed the rest of the exhibits. There was a really incredible modern portrait photography exhibit that I briefly got to see, but it too was completely full of people. The Twiggy exhibit was pretty fascinating as well. I bought some postcards in the gift shop, & we decided to call it a day. I'd definitely go back, since it was free. Very enjoyable afternoon.

We ate dinner, then decided to finish up booking the Ireland trip. When I got back to my house, I noticed that I somehow had managed to lose the postcards I'd purchased, which was upsetting, but easily replaceable. I was exhausted from walking so much all day, but had some housekeeping issues to maintain at the house. I also resolved to curtail my spending, because money goes very, very quickly over here. Again, I wasn't able to take many pictures, but the weather was primarily to blame for that. Hopefully, the next time we go to the city, it cooperates with us.

And so ends Day 5.

Friday 1/15 - Day 4

Still not used to the jet lag today, & both my roommate Karly & I were a little late getting out of the house and to school. Only time for a banana for breakfast on the way out. Whoops. We found our way a little more quickly & easily this time, & went back to the classroom that was starting to become very familiar to us at this point. We had more orientation with people talking to us about protocol and procedures, then lunch time again. I decided to go to IT to try and get my wireless figured out, and somehow, with a combination of the two of them and myself playing with it, it worked, so I was able to have functional wireless at school. Win. A history professor showed up right after lunch to basically answer any questions we had about the school or the classes. He was very personable, & basically told us that we're having the experience of a lifetime, & to take classes we enjoyed, & not sweat the small stuff. I think I like this attitude already. The rest of orientation was basically the homestay kids and the kids not from UW paying for their bills, so we sat around & waited for the tour lady to come back. She did, & we were able to pay for all of our trips. My travel schedule (so far) is as follows:

Sunday, January 24: Oxford

Wednesday, January 27: "Oliver" on Broadway

Saturday, January 30: Cambridge

Saturday-Sunday, January 13-14: Wales

Saturday, January 27: Stratford

Friday-Sunday, March 5-7: Paris

Saturday, March 13: Stonehenge

The four of us walked to the Strawberry Hill rail station to get our rail passes that allow us to travel cheaply. The ticket-taker was hysterical, & was joshing us the entire process. We walked into Twickenham from there to get the phones sorted out. I found a plan that allows me to call the US for 7p a minute, which isn't bad. Funnily enough, it's more expensive to call in the UK than it is to call internationally. We decided to walk to Teddington to find a pub to eat (and drink) at. It was quite a long walk, but we found one. We ordered two pizzas. One, called the "Sunshine," consisted of pineapple, tomato, chicken, garlic, oregano, & ...sweet corn. But it was delicious. We also tried out some English beer called "London Pride," but it was awful & I left half a glass on the table when we left.

We tried to find a cafe that was open on the walk back, but everything was closed. We went to the local Tesco, kind of like a Walmart, but this was on a smaller scale, more like a grocery store, and did a little bit of shopping. Kaitlin & I dropped Kim & Danielle off at their house, which is right off of the main drag in Teddington, & walked back to the streets we actually knew, passing a really awesome, old cemetery on the way.

When I got back to my house, I was able to video chat with some people, which is always nice. I organized my room, & tried to get caught up with travel plans from Richie, my friend that's been in France since September. I went to bed very excited and very optimistic about the rest of my time here.

And so ends Day 4.

Thursday 1/14 - Day 3

Waking up today was a little bit difficult. Jet lag is a little hard to overcome. However, my roommate, Karly, & I woke up in enough time to get downstairs for breakfast - cereal & milk from glass bottles. Milk men are still in full swing here. :) The walk to school was easy enough. It's a bit easier in the daylight, & we learned a shortcut that takes us through the rear of campus. We met in the classroom we have been using, & were chit-chattng before the orientation got into full swing. Most of the students are from Wisconsin, albeit all over Wisconsin, several are from Latrobe, PA (which I know my dad will appreciate), some from California, a few oddballs, like myself, and there are a handful from other European countries.

Our day consisted of learning about the library, or the Learning Resource Center, getting our student ID's made, getting set for registration of classes, or at least learning how to do it, hearing about the religious offerings on campus, lunch (the cafeteria was getting easier to navigate at this point), a Q & A session about London in general, and finally, a woman from a tour guide company came to try to sell us some trips. Everyone was incredibly excited about the last two events. The other three girls that I came with & I stuck around after everything was over to talk about what we want to do, which is generally everything.

I tried to get my laptop to work on campus, but there was some kind of issue with the wireless, so I spent a while on the school computers talking to people from home. I was still without functional phone at this point, so I decided to try & walk to Twickenham, with only a vague idea of where it was, to try and get everything sorted out. However, by the time I got there, everything was closed. Most stores close here around 6, and I'd missed it by about an hour.

I walked back to campus, where I met with Kaitlin & made vague & general plans for our St. Patrick's Day in Ireland adventure. It didn't seem as if flights would be too expensive, & we were able to even get a hostel for the day itself. I walked back to my house from campus, talked to Mike, my host parental figure, for a while, then went upstairs to try and get ready for tomorrow. I hadn't taken any pictures yet, which kind of bothered me, so I made a mental note to do more of that. I went to bed with the thought of the weekend on my mind...

And so ends Day 3