WHEW

I am finally home in the USA. I had an incredible rest of the week in London. We went to see Rafta Rafta on Tuesday at the National Theatre, A Midsummer Night's Dream in an open air theatre in Regent's Park, and Les Miserables at Queen's Theatre on Thursday. The plays were so amazing!!

We also had a few assigned places left to visit before we could declare the month officially complete. We ended the month by visiting Abbey Road and singing Beatles songs while walking around London. We had a Farewell Gathering the last night at our hotel where everyone could say goodbye before we all left for various places (most of us came home). It was a fun time full of dancing and eating.

I traveled alone the entire way home on Saturday. No one from the trip was on either of my flights (which I still find quite strange) and I ended up connecting through Chicago O'Hare. My flights were quite uneventful and I actually found a way to sleep a bit on the long intercontinental one. Going through Immigration and Customs wasn't too awful because everyone was so nice. My flight into RDU was delayed because we could not land during a lightning storm that swept through. We were rerouted to Charlotte but eventually found our way back to RDU 2 hours late. My mother, father, brother, and brother's girlfriend all met me at RDU around 11:45pm. My mom even screamed when I rounded the corner. It was SO nice to see my family and I felt so comfortable being back in the US.

I had an INCREDIBLE time the entire month. It is so hard to find my favorite things so I will not even try to narrow it all down. There has been a lot left out in this blog because of time limits, but please feel free to ask me questions the next time you see me! I will feel flattered that you are so interested in my trip. Thank you all so much for reading this silly blog! I feel very honored to have you interested in my trip.

I have posted up LOTS of photos that are linked on the right side of this blog. Just click on the photos link and check them all out. These are my photos (not including the photos that my friends took). If I find that my friends have a few photos that I have left out I may post a few of them as well. I hope you have enjoyed the blog and I hope to see you soon!!

il fait beau

I spent the weekend in Paris, France. SO BEAUTIFUL! The weather was so perfect the entire time. We hit all the hot spots; Eiffel Tower, Champs - Elysees, Arc de Triomph, Notre Dame, Louvre (although we did not have time to go inside), Musee d'Orsay, Seine River, etc. I'm not sure that it is possible to describe everything we squeezed into 3 days there. We also tried to relax there by sleeping in late. I had a great time and really love the city. We stayed in the worst part of town (being college students we can't afford much better) but were safe in our hotel. We saw the high points and low points of living in such a large city. We saw how dirty it can be and how sleazy the men on the streets can act toward 4 pretty American girls but we also basked in the beauty of the tourist attractions and small brasseries and bistros. Everyone was nice to us (minus the managers of our hotel), but I still do not think that the French like us much. The Metro was very easy to figure out since we have spent the last 3 weeks traveling on the Underground in London.

I do not have much time to describe each sight in detail or explain what I liked about each of them because I only have 8 minutes left on this computer.

I have two or three more plays to see this week. The two for certain are Rafta, Rafta and Les Miserables. The other optional play is A Midsummer Night's Dream (this one could possibly be rained out since it is outside.) I am excited to be ending the trip on a high note with Les Miserables on Thursday.

I will be heading home on Saturday but cannot promise that I will make it to church on Sunday morning (for all you church members!) Jet-lag may prevent that!!

I hope things are going well back in the US despite Paris Hilton finally being jailed (I get the most important US news over here, obviously!)



I will post up one photo this time because I do not have any time left. Again this is stolen from a friend!

Meghan, Me, and Rachel A. after just arriving in Dublin, Ireland and waiting at the ferryport for the bus to take us to our hotel!

So the Bank Holiday (this past Monday) was a bit...dreary and freezing. I met up with an old friend Liz Dellert and her boyfriend Aaron to just hang out and enjoy the company all day. Rachel A., Meghan, and I met Aaron at his work and had a personalized quick tour of London from his Mercedes convertible (top up because it was raining). It was so strange to crawl into the wrong side of the car to sit in the passenger's seat. I felt like I should have had a wheel too. We saw a few sights from the car such as Trafalgar Square and Harrods. We spent most of the day sitting in a few pubs around where they live and just catching up. It was a great relaxing day that lasted until midnight! Liz and Aaron are SO nice and incredibly gracious!!! CHEERS TO THEM!

Tuesday was a busy day full of Westminster Abbey, National Gallery, and Equus. This was one of the best days so far on the trip! Westminster Abbey was beautiful and has several graves of royalty and poets. Just walking through there and imagining the funerals of the Queen Mum and Princess Diana was incredible.

The National Gallery was pretty neat also! I really enjoy museums so it was cool to see paintings by Rembrant, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphael, and da Vinci. We were also supposed to see Monet and Van Gogh but those wings are closed right now! SO SAD!!

The night ended with the play Equus. Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) was one of the two leading males and he was absolutely incredible. He has totally broken out of the Harry Potter mold and proven himself as a real actor. The play was absolutely fantastic. My eyes hurt by intermission because I realized that I had not blinked in a long time! The lighting and set design was fantastic and really captured the mood and setting of the play. If you do not know much about the play you should research into it and hope to catch it somewhere if you find any production near you. This is the website for the London production that I saw. I had goosebumps several times during the performance. (I'm not too sure that my parents would like it though. They'd definitely call it "weird" but I really loved it!)

Tuesday morning was not spent in class like most weekdays but was spent touring Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. It is not the same one as during his day, but a very near replicate of it closer to the Thames River. We even got to see part of a rehearsal for The Merchant of Venice which was a unique experience. I could almost picture exactly what it would be like during that time to watch a play (slightly wet from the drizzle) and laughing at the action on stage.

Many of us spent the afternoon in Tate Modern. I officially think I could spend the rest of my life in there. I also think that if my life were a romantic comedy, I would meet my husband in a museum such as Tate because I love modern art so much. I saw some of my favorite painters such as Miro, Picasso, and Pollock. I wish I could visit there everyday and just sit in front of one abstract painting for an hour a day.

Last night we were scheduled, as a group, for a boat ride on the Thames River. It was a catered cruise with lovely food and great views of the city. We dressed up very nicely and enjoyed each other's company. I really like doing group activities because rarely do we all hang out together as a huge group. We caught some great photos of the Tower Bridge, Big Ben, and London Bridge.
Today's class was spent learning about musical plays. Dr. Unks talked about the development of the musical from Opera to modern day. We watched MANY clips of the movie versions of various musicals. (Julie: I thought of you the entire morning and could sing most of the songs because of you! I miss you!)

A few of us spent the afternoon finishing up our assigned activities in the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery today. We are ready for another play tonight, The Reporter at the Cottesloe Theatre of the National Theatre. None of us really know what it is about but are excited at seeing a smaller play.

I leave for Paris, France tomorrow afternoon around 1:45pm GMT (around 8:45am EST). I will be traveling with Meghan, Rachel A., and Kelly. We are very excited and have a few things scheduled to see (thank you Vickie and Julie for providing me with information and guide books on Paris!)

I cannot believe that I will be home in less than a week and a half. I am having so much fun and I'm not sure I'm ready to leave this great place. We all just keep saying "we can do that next time we come!" I hope there will be a next time because London is fascinating!!

I will post A LOT of photos when I return stateside, I promise! I should have several hundred (thousands even) of photos to share, so be prepared! For now, I only have a few that my friends have posted. Here goes!

This is me sitting in a park in London making a face for an unknown reason.


Me, Kelly, and Meghan at Avenue Q. We had incredible £20 tickets on the 4th row!


This is Dr. Unks, Dr. King, Dr. King, and our captain of the boat cruise on the Thames River

I must go get dressed and ready for the play tonight. I need to eat my grocery store sandwich before I leave also. (They are the cheapest and fastest dinners here! I love Tesco!!!) I hope things are going well across the pond and I will be home in less than a week and a half.

No Irish Luck

So Meghan, Rachel A., and I traveled to Dublin, Ireland this weekend. We left early Friday morning and caught a train to Holyhead, Wales where we jumped onto a ferry and made our way to there. The train ride was quite nice seeing as how we got to watch the countryside of rolling hills with sheep and cows grazing. The ferry was also exciting because it was so fancy (everything but the food, that is). We even made it to the top deck to welcome Ireland with open arms. We arrived at the ferryport and spent the next two hours waiting on a bus to pick us up. Funny how all the bus drivers took breaks at the exact same time for such a lengthy period. We met some other Americans on the bus into Dublin (girls from University of Florida) that were spending the weekend in Dublin and actually studying in London for this summer. They even live in a dormitory very close to our hotel! We may try to meet up with them to see some sites while in London.

Once we arrived in Dublin we found the hostel that we booked online early last week. They lost our reservation. Their reply? "The system isn't perfect." Remember that this is Bank Holiday weekend so most places are fully booked for travelers!!!! They found us three beds and said we could have them for free tonight since they lost them (how generous!) We went back to the room and our jaws dropped. A mixed dormitory style room with 16 beds! Mixed = men & women!! OH NO! We practically RAN out of the hostel in search of a new place to stay! We found a hotel with one "very basic" room left and booked it immediately. We slept all together in one queen sized bed with no TV, no curtains on the window, and a dead spider on the ceiling. At least we were safer there than with 13 people we don't know!! We went to dinner with 4 other girls from the UNC program that were also spending time in Dublin at O'Sheas pub. The food was delicious and it was so nice to relax after a long day of travel and hotel searching.

Saturday was our one full day in Dublin to see the sites. We ventured off for the Guinness Storehouse first. It was our main goal of the day because it is one of the biggest attractions in Dublin. It is 7 floors tall full of information and shops about Guinness beer and the world records book. It was really cool. We even got to taste a bit of Guinness. The very top level was a Gravity Bar where we could get a free pint of beer and a great view of Dublin. We walked (in the rain) to the Dublin Castle which was really very interesting. We made it just in time to get into the second to last tour group. After that we walked to Trinity College but got there after all the tours had finished so we just took a few rainy photographs and went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We ate at O'Sheas again because it was so Irish and delicious. We listened to a live band play Irish music (and they also played Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd...interesting). The three of us enjoyed our dinner and took our time because we had finished everything we wanted to see in Dublin in less than one day. We did not want to spend time in our hotel so we went to see a movie at the cinema (Blades of Glory). We went back to the hotel and laughed about our time in Dublin until we fell asleep. Our ferry left at 8:05am so we called a cab to pick us up at 6am so we would get there on time. The ferry seemed a lot slower and we had to switch trains 3 times on the way back to get to London. We spent 14 hours on Sunday getting from Dublin to London. It was a very long day!

I am so excited to be back in London where I know the city and feel comfortable. Today is Bank Holiday so nothing is open but I am going to visit a friend (Elizabeth Dellert) who lives here for lunch. We are also going to visit one of Rachel's friends that lives here for dinner.

I cannot believe that this trip is halfway over and that I will be home in less than two weeks. Time seems to just fly by! I feel quite at home here in London and feel that I know the city very well. This week will be full of activities and plays but I hope to be able to write again soon. I love every post from ya'll and read every email sent to me. I hope things are going well for everyone in the US and I will be home soon!

Just a few stolen photos and some comments

Just a quick post to show some pictures (that I have stolen from my friends here). I still refuse to put any of my photos up on the internet (or even take them off my camera) until I get home because I like the anticipation of holding out an entire month to revisit all the sites through my photos.

This is Rachel A., Rachel P, Meghan, and I (in that order) climbing up the front gate to Buckingham Palace after just seeing the Queen!!


This is me, Meghan, Rachel A., Rachel P., Kelly, and Corey standing out behind St. Paul's Cathedral (not a very good shot of the cathedral but asking random people to take our picture tends to lead to this type of photo)

This is just a silly picture of me that Rachel A. took while I was figuring out how to get Big Ben in the background of a picture (Big Ben is out of the left side of the picture I promise)

Tomorrow morning Rachel A., Meghan, and I head to Ireland for the Bank Holiday weekend. We will be there for Friday night and Saturday night (mainly only spending all day Saturday touring.) We are taking a train and ferry to get there so it will take most of the day Friday and ALL of the day on Sunday to travel between London and Dublin. Sunday's train trip is expected to be around 10 hours because they will be so crowded because it is a bank holiday on Monday. We have brought books, card games, ipods, and cameras to pass the time watching the land pass us by. We are all really excited!!! (Wondering why the 4th member of our group Rachel P. is absent from this trip? She left for Scotland by herself for a bus tour for the entire weekend! We begged her to take photos so we can see when we all return on Sunday/Monday.)


I have neglected to tell much about the classes that I am taking over here. One is an Education class taught by Dr. Unks (crazy, old man but super nice and helpful!) He talks about British things and how things differ. We learned about the differences in education between European schools and American schools the other day. We discussed the succession of the crown this morning. (I know my Aunt Kaki could go back much further than we went today though!) The other class is a drama class taught by Dr. King (super cute and sweet old man who travels around the city holding hands with his wife!) We discuss the plays that we see every other day. He gives us ideas to think about as we watch the plays so we all center around the same ideas in class discussion.

One of my friends (Jenny Tenney!) asked me on facebook the other day what my favorite thing I have done/seen so far in London would be. This is incredibly difficult to answer. We have done an extraordinary amount of things within the past week and a half. I really enjoy the differences between the UK/US cultures. Looking right instead of left when crossing the street, having coins for the smaller amounts of money (£1 and £2), the total lack of litter bins anywhere, and the accents (love them!). I guess what she probably means though is more along the lines of what has taken my breath away. Three things stand out here (all cathedrals/churches). The Coventry Cathedral ruins were absolutely spectacular. Knowing the history of it (it was bombed during WWII during the blitz) and just sitting there during the Sunday church service and being able to hear the congregation singing hymns as I watched the rays of sun through the empty windows shine on the broken floor. This is something that I will never be able to describe in full. The second would be Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-Upon-Avon where William Shakespeare is buried. The thought of being so close to the remain of a literary genius was mind blowing. I was totally speechless the entire time walking around in there. The stained glass windows were also beautiful. I can't fully describe this either! The last one (so far on this trip at least) would be St. Paul's Cathedral in London. It is massive and gorgeous from the moment you entire the doors. The ornate gold work and paintings on the walls and ceilings is something to be marveled for hours. Not only could you walk around in there but you could also climb the 434 steps to the very very tip top of the cathedral and have the absolute BEST view of the city. I took tons of photos from up there. You could see EVERYTHING! London Bridge, Tate Modern, Big Ben, Thames River, National Theatre, everything!!

We saw Billy Elliot last night at the Victoria Palace Theatre and it was absolutely amazing!! The singing and dancing was unbelievable!! The lead was 13 years old! The plays here are so great! After the play, a few of us went to Kings Cross train station in search for Platform 9 3/4 (Yes, Harry Potter fans, it exists!) The picture below is us in front of it. We all got individual pictures pushing the trolley through it too! Everyone was so giddy. We are all dressed up because we went straight after the play.


I have 5 minutes left on here and must find some things for Ireland for this weekend. I hope everyone is doing well. I miss everyone (especially mommy and daddy!) but I will be home soon.

Mind the Gap & Billy Shakespeare

I have only 18 minutes left on this computer to type a blog. Please pardon the shorthand and lists but it is the best way to get the most amount of information out in the smallest amount of time.

I am having a fantastic time! I appreciate all of the comments that ya'll are sending me too! They brighten my email inbox when I get around to checking it!

I have seen so many places and so many plays so far!
Plays seen so far:
The Rose Tattoo in the Olivier Theatre at the National Theatre

My Child in the Writers Theatre at the Royal Court Theatre

Vernon God Little at the Young Vic Theatre

Avenue Q at the Noel Coward Theatre (seeing this tonight at 8pm with just a few people as a side play just for fun-not for class)

We have received the list of plays that we are seeing as a group but I will save that to keep you interested in the blog! Let's just say that I am most excited about seeing...Daniel Ratcliffe act on stage!!!!!!!

Places I have been so far:
Buckingham Palace - We saw the QUEEN OF ENGLAND HERE!! We saw a car being escorted by police outside of the palace and peopel screaming and waving so we ran after it (like crazy Americans) and saw the QUEEN looking right at us! We did not get pictures but we took some reenactment pics so we would remember forever.

Houses of Parliament - a bit dry but still cool to see that they still wear the silly white powder wigs!

Cabinet War Rooms/Churchill Museum - absolutely fascinating!

Tower of London - the crown jewels are spectacular! I have officially seen the largest diamond in the world!

Imperial War Museum - we only saw the top two floors because they kicked us out at 6pm when they closed - still very interesting

British Museum - i saw the Rosetta Stone which is quite cool from a Linguistics perspective! I cant imagine stumbling upon such an incredible piece of history.

Piccadilly Circus - went to this last night just to see the lights and glory (and because the announcer on the tube sounds funny when she says it - crazy British accents!)

THE MIDLANDS

Oxford - interesting to see a different type of education system in a foreigh country that is so highly regarded (they also film a lot of the Harry Potter films there)

Blenheim Palace - beautiful gardens with cool paintings inside (very long winded tour guides though!)

Churchills grave - very neat since I had been to his museum the day before! What a great man.

Coventry - good hotel (Britannia Hotel) and very close to the cathedral that was bombed during World War 2. I loved sitting in the cathedral on Sunday morning during church time and hearing the hymns.

Warwick Castle - huge! Very neat to see a real castle though!!

Stratford-Upon-Avon - i love Shakespeare!!!! Basically speechless the rest of the day after seeing his house, his grave, and Anne Hathaway's house.

********3 minutes left on the internet!!

Drove through the Cotswolds - beautiful countryside!


We have officially booked our two weekends to Ireland (this weekend) and Paris (the following weekend).

The weather here was great this past weekend in the Midlands and has been beautiful today. A bit rainy yesterday, but eventually cleared up. Umbrellas and rainjackets are very important!!


I hope everyone is doing well. MIND THE GAP PLEASE

Hiya

London is great so far!! It may rain quite a bit but that does not detract from the beauty of the city. I have been shopping on Oxford Street and been to a play in the Olivier Theatre in the National Theatre. We saw The Rose Tattoo by Tennessee Williams last night and I enjoyed it quite a bit. The play ran a bit long (everyone agreed) but it was well done. The southern New Orleans accents were not exact (some Brit English would slip out) but it was very good acting. The hotel we are staying in is nice and the beds are so comfortable. I literally fall into bed every night because I am so tired from running around all day!! I watch TV during the morning and a bit yesterday afternoon and it is quite entertaining. Everything seems silly in a British accent.

I'm still attempting to get used to the coinage here. I just stand at the counters sometimes and have to read what they all cost. On the money note, everything is so expensive. Not only is theUS dollar worth only half of the Great Britain pound, but things just cost more in general already! I just have to keep thinking, once in a lifetime experience. This will be worth it in the long run and I will be working all summer once I return to the US.

We have had class yesterday and today and it isn't so bad. It typically runs from about 9:30am to 12:30pm. We have a break in there too. The professors are both really nice and interesting. One is very laid back (Dr. Kimball King) and the other (Dr. Gerry Unks) is a bit..."anal, old, an odd mix of both cute and annoying" (quoted from my friend Rachel). They are both having a fantastic time here too. It is obviously one of their favorite (or favourite?) places in the world.

I booked my weekend trip to Paris today. We have switched the weekend that we planned on going because all the hostels/Eurostar are booked up. We are heading to mainland Europe on 1 June for 3 nights! We have yet to figure out where we are going for the longer weekend (24 May-28 May). We are thinking Ireland but still may change our minds depending on the prices! This weekend the entire group heads to the Midlands (Oxford, Coventry, Stratford-Upon-Avon, etc). Everyone on the trip is really nice so far (even the four billion Chi Psi fraternity brothers).

The weather has been a random mix of cloudy, rainy, and sunny. I dont mind the rain which is good. It has yet to really POUR down on me though, just sprinkling on my umbrella. I felt so London last night walking back from a play at the National Theatre carrying my umbrella and catching a red double decker bus back to my hotel. It was fun!!

My time is running out on this computer at an internet cafe so I must run. I love all your comments and emails! They make me feel so loved!! Hope everyone is doing well!!

CHEERS