Hi Everyone. This will be my last post from London. It is currently about 8am and we are almost all packed and ready for the airport. This has been the most amazing and incredible three weeks I think I have ever had. I will miss almost everything about London, the ease of transportation, the fun things to do, the people, and just the city itself. I will mostly miss my study abroad family who I have been living, traveling, and getting sick with for the past three weeks. I'm so glad that all of you were able to keep up with me while I'm abroad. I will post one more time later to let you all know that I have landed safely back home. The one thing I ask is that you guys hold off on all calling me all at once when I get home. I will try and give most people a call over the next day or two, but I am definitely going to be jet lagged and I have a lot to do to prepare to go back to school tomorrow! I love you guys very much and I can't wait to see each of you to detail the amazingness that was my study abroad experience! Cheers!

Hi! Today was my last day in London:( Will and I decided to start our day around 9 this morning with a quick breakfast at Starbucks. We then jetted off on our "Wellington" adventure which started in Hyde Park where the Duke of Wellington's house is. We started at a commemorative arch and then moved over to this house. We then took the tube over to the Horse Guards building. We took a short break and walked through St. Jame's Park to Buckingham Palace. It was fantastic and they let you get so close! Getting back on track, we jumped over to St. Paul's and then finished up at a statue of Wellington outside of Bank station. Unfortunately (or fortunately) it snowed the entire time. I only fell once though! We then made our way over to Picidilly Circus to meet Dr. Bell to give in our flip cameras.

Once we all met up, several of us went to lunch. Of course, being with all guys they got super excited to see a Cinnabon and we ended up there for lunch. Not even a lunch...but whatever. After lunch, me, Drew, Ben, and Will went to the Tower of London. It was really pretty architecturally, but it was snowing so it was pretty chilly outside. We got to see lots of really neat royal armor, royal gifts, the crown jewels (BLAHHH), and torture devices (yes the guys dragged me in there). The crown jewels were obviously my favorite and were absolutely incredible. I learned a lot more about coronation and even got to watch Queen Elizabeth II's coronation! I really enjoyed going and am definitely glad I went. Don't worry, I did fall again on the way back too.

I came back and took a very hot shower. Now we are just chilling before our last group meal tonight:( We are going out for Lebanese. Hopefully it is delicious! Am definitely going to miss my study abroad family!

Cheers! Today we finally found out what our final was going to be! We were put into pairs to make a documentary around London about a certain topic. Mine and Will's topic was Wellington's London. We spent the entire day researching in the library, from 9-5pm, where we then left to film the introduction to our documentary on Millennium bridge. After thoroughly freezing our butts off, we went out to dinner in Chinatown. We went to a Malaysian place, but it wasn't my favorite. It was rather bland. We ended our night tonight by going to see One Man, Two Guvnors. All I can say is it was a ridiculous few hours that I thoroughly enjoyed! Tomorrow we will be spending the first part of our day filming our documentaries and then after that we have free time until our last group meal:( I can't believe my time here is almost over!

Hello! I had a magical day today! I meant to go see the changing of the guard this morning, but I was just too exhausted from my long day yesterday to get moving quickly this morning. Instead I went to Sainsbury's (sort of a supermarket chain here) and got some groceries to make lunch. I made some spinach and ricotta tortellini and some yummy bread. After panicking about snow and not being able to get over to the studios, we set out to find out for sure. I took the tube to the Euston station and found out that yes there are delays, but the train would still be running. However, the train we needed was already at the station so we lucked out! We took a short train ride to Walford Junction where we picked up the bus to the studio. It was a very cool looking Harry Potter double decker. 20 minutes later, we arrived at the Warner Brother's studio, the Making of Harry Potter. We walked in to find a lobby covered in pictures of the principle cast.

We were then ready to embark on our magical tour. I will detail every single thing I saw, but I will tell you some of my favorites. We started off with a short movie telling us about what we were going to see and about the making of the movies. We then walked through a big set of doors straight into the Great Hall. It was like walking into a movie...LITERALLY! It is was really neat! They even had costumes of all the different professors at the front where they would sit during the movies. Other sets we saw included: the Burrow, Dumbledore's office, Potions room, Umbridge's office, boy's dormitory, Griffyndor common room, etc. One of my favorite moments was walking down Diagon Alley. I really couldn't believe it! I felt just as the cast must have the first time they saw it. We saw other really cool props like the flying car, Hagrid's motorcycle, number 4 Privet Drive, costumes, masks, etc. It was overwhelming and I really learned a lot that I didn't know! We ended the tour with an amazing moment...Hogwarts. Hogwarts is obviously not a real castle, so they built a huge model of one to use to film the movies. Whenever there were sweeping landscape shots of it, they used this model and then put the actors in after. It was incredible and took my breath away. I really came to appreciate all of the behind the scenes people after taking this tour. Of course, like any great place, it dumped us into the gift shop. I bought a few little souvenirs to remember this once in a lifetime experience. I was so glad I did it!

After making our way back to the flats, a few of us went to dinner at a nearby pub. I got some sangria and fish and chips. It redeemed fish and chips for me from the time I ate it in Portsmouth. I can now leave London feeling satisfied that I had good fish and chips! Trying to call it an early night tonight since last night was so crazy late. Tomorrow we start on our final, which has still been kept elusive from us. We are all anxious to know what will go on; we are hoping something fun! Sad that I only have one more weekend left, but getting excited to come home! Missing my family and friends very much!

Bon Soir! Today was a fun-filled, packed day full of things to do in Paris! We left around 4:45am this morning and took a brisk walk over to St. Pancras International Train Station to catch the Eurostar. I'm pretty sure both Briana and I passed out for the full 2 1/2 hour train ride. Before we knew it, we were in Paris! Our first challenge...getting out of the train station. It took us about 45 minutes (and every French word I remember) to get the right tickets to get us over to the Arc de Triomphe. Turns out I remember more direction than I would have thought! I was yet again in awe of the pure size of the Arc, as well as the detail. Though we did not climb it, we did view it from angle and took lots of pictures. Then it was off to the Champs D'Elysees, or what I like to call the 5th Avenue of Paris. We did some shopping until we got hungry. I even found the chocolatier, Jeff de Bruges, that we had gone to two years ago and bought a sampling of some chocolate. I can't wait to eat them! I visited one of my favorite French cafes for lunch, Paul, where I got a chicken baguette sandwich and a chocolate macaroon. YUM! We spent some time indoors eating to warm up. We did a little bit more shopping and then decided to move on.

We walked from the Arc to the Eiffel Tower. I even found the old hotel that my family stayed at the last time! It brought back lots of old fun memories! I took Briana to my family's favorite viewing spot of the Eiffel Tower, the Trocadero. After getting some fabulous views, we decided to get a closer look. My breath was still taken away by how majestic it looked. After many more pictures, we decided to move on to the next part of our day, which required us to navigate the metro yet again! We asked for help and got some and the next thing we knew, we were at Notre Dame! I was struck by how similar the west end of Westminster Abbey and Notre Dame look. We of course went inside to not only get a little warm, but to view the gorgeous stained glass windows. We did a little souvenir shopping in the Latin Quarter and then pulled out our handy dandy map for our last major attraction, the Louvre. Though we did not go inside, we still took the magnitude of the palace itself, as well as the lovely glass triangle sculptures outside. Fully frozen through, we decided to make our way back to the Eiffel Tower to try to catch it at sunset, which we completed successfully! We figured that was a good stopping place for dinner.

We ate dinner at a little cafe right near the Eiffel Tower. I got a glass of wine and Briana and I both got the best steaks of our lives! It was delicious! I also got a Nutella crepe for dessert! I told Briana I had to fit in all of the food I would eat in a week in France into one day. Dinner was not only delicious but it was a great way to warm up since it was about 30 degrees all day today. Very chilly! Our last stop was back one more time at the Eiffel Tower to see it lit up at night! We even got to see it twinkle! I got a little emotional watching it and thinking that this will be a moment I will remember for the rest of my life. We slowly teared ourselves away from the tower and decided to take a taxi back to the train station instead of trying to figure out the metro again. We arrived in plenty of time for our train, successfully made it through customs, and did a little shopping to spend the rest of the euros we had taken out, since they will do us no good here in London. There were some delays on our train, but we did finally make it back to London around 11pm. It was a very long and busy day, but an amazing one that I will never forget! Good night!

Hey Everyone! If you haven't deduced, it is about 4:30am here and Briana and I are excitedly awaiting our departure for Paris! Since I didn't blog about yesterday, I figured I should do it now. We started the morning off by watching a documentary in the flats called "I for India" which was about an Indian family who moved to England, with the intention of returning back home. They never went back to India. This idea is called the Myth of Return. It was a very emotional movie and there really wasn't a dry eye in the room when it was over (except the guys because they are too "manly" to cry.) After the movie, we all returned to our own flats and Briana and I made a rough plan for Paris. We then jetted off to Paddington station where we met Dr. Bell and grabbed a quick lunch. We then took a train out to an Indian district and had a lovely tour showing us the Indian culture that still survives in England today. Some of us tried the sweet corn being sold on the street, others bought some sweets at the sweet shop, and still more bought Indian scarves. I just enjoyed being there as none of these really appealed to me.

After our tour was over, I decided that I wanted to go over and tour Westminster Abbey, since this was going to be my only chance to do it. Wednesdays are the only day that the Abbey is open late, instead of closing at 4:30. Unfortunately, no one wanted to go with me, so I received explicit directions from Dr. Bell and made my way over. I found it easily, as we had been there once before at night towards the beginning of our trip. IT WAS AMAZINGGG! It was completely overwhelming to be a church that dates back to the 13th century, as well as the place where royals are married and coronated. I also saw many of the tombs of past Kings and Queens, such as King Henry VI, Queen Mary I, and Queen Elizabeth I. I saw the coronation chair on my way out. As I walked down the center of the Abbey (or as Dr. Bell has decided it should be called, the Wabby) I had flashbacks to watching Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding day, and I myself felt like a princess. The decoration and detail were incredible. I was so glad that I was able to do it. Although I didn't get a formal tour, there were free audio guides that I was able to use throughout the abbey. Overall, it was definitely a bit overwhelming, but fantastic!

After grabbing a quick postcard of the abbey (since you are not allowed to take pictures inside), I made my way over to Picadilly Circus to where the rest of my class was eating a group meal at a place called Zedels. It was French food and since I was going to Paris the next day, I wasn't upset at missing it. After they finished up dinner, most of us made our way over to the SoHo Theatre to see a comedy stand-up show. It was pretty good, he picked on a few of my classmates as well as Dr. Bell so that was a lot of fun. When the show was done, my classmates and I made our way back to Regent's Park (the stop where we live) where I met my friend from high school, Caty, who goes to school here in London. We weren't able to spend an incredible amount of time together since I had to get up so early this morning, but we did spend a lovely two hours at a pub close by. I really enjoyed catching up and seeing her and if I had had more time I probably would have made my way out to Kingston to see her. Well that is about it for yesterday, hopefully I will be able to stay awake for today! As the French say, "Au Revoir!"

Hi! So after a pretty awful day yesterday, I woke up with a fresh smile on my face! Although not perfectly back to myself today, I was at least able to leave my bed. We started the morning with all 16 of us, the first time in just about a week. Hopefully it will stay this way for the remainder of the trip! Apparently there were four of us down yesterday. Our first stop this morning was the British Library, the second largest library in the world. I bet you can't guess what the largest one is, so I will just tell you. It's the Library of Congress. As Dr. Bell would say, "Go Team USA." We got a lovely tour of a special Mughal exhibit in the library that proved to be very interesting. I especially liked learning about the art and religion. We broke for lunch and Briana and I made the best discovery! Platform 9 3/4 has a trolley out during the day, so of course we took a whole new round of pictures! We met up with a few classmates at Pret for lunch. When we met back up with Dr. Bell, we headed over to the School of Oriental and Asian Studies, a part of London University, for a lecture about how India gained it's independence. I learned a lot more about Ghandi, as well as partition, which I never really had learned about before. That was where our formal day ended.

I came back to the flat to do some reading and prepared for my evening activity, going to see Wicked! It was incredible! The lighting, the singing, the dancing, everything was fantastic! I wish I was here longer so I could see more shows! The best part about the whole thing was that since it was a Tuesday, the theatre was virtually empty and we were moved up about 10 rows! Our seats were great and we were able to see everything, for only 25 pounds! Tonight was one of my favorite things that I have done in London thus far! Apparently West End theatre is as good as Broadway, if not better! Missing you all terribly!

So not much to write about today. I was pretty much sick all day, thank god not with the stomach flu that everyone else has been plagued with. Hoping to feel much better in the morning. Love and miss you!

Hey Everyone! This will be a rather short post since I just arrived back in London at it is just about 1:00 am. I would just like to start off by saying this is the nicest place we have stayed in so far and I have a huge room, which I am planning to fully enjoy! This morning started off on an upswing as Briana was feeling much better, although not 100%, and no one woke up sick. That soon changed, as we lost another fellow friend and classmate to the plague. 

Today we spent the entire day in Manchester! It was nice to get out of Liverpool, as that has been my least favorite city so far. There was a huge indoor mall, with surrounding outdoor stores, so we obviously spent about 5 hours shopping. I got a new scarf that is pink and I really love it! I also had a big baked potato for lunch. Apparently that is something they do here...not really sure. When we arrived back in Liverpool, we went out for a group meal to a vegetarian place, in honor of Ben who is a vegetarian and has had to put up with all of our strong desires to eat lots of meat. I had a broccoli quiche(in honor of Dad and his love of broccoli) and it was actually really good. After dinner, we hopped on a train back to London, which took forever and was extremely bumpy and warm. I did write my first response paper to the intellectual talk we had the other day at the University of Liverpool. Dr. Bell emailed me and told me that I got a B+, which I am very happy with! I will write more tomorrow but I am extremely happy to be back in London! Love and Kisses!!

Hi! We had a good time today in Liverpool. We started our day with a rather weird tour by a man named Eric, who was completely weird and apparently made many factual errors during the tour. It was not my favorite activity we did, and it was pretty chilly. After the tour, we had a long lunch break (2 hrs) where many of us went to lunch and then explored the shopping near by. Four of us went over to the Museum of Liverpool because Drew and Ben wanted some Beatles memorabilia. We had some fun adventures there. We met back up again at the International Slavery Museum where we explored for an hour on our own. This was the fourth museum we visited about slavery so we were challenged by Dr. Bell to really find the similarities and differences. After an hour, we moved into a private room to discuss the museum. We had a lengthy discussion about it which proved to be both interesting and informative. We stayed so long they actually kicked us out of the museum. 

We then made our way to dinner, a group meal, where Dr. Bell's cousin met us. He is 21 so we enjoyed talking to him about similarities and differences of being about the same age in two different countries. It didn't hurt that he was very easy on the eyes and had a British accent:) We were all sad to see him go after dinner. I actually ordered fish for dinner tonight. The fish was called Gurnard, which I had never heard before so I was proud of myself for trying something relatively new. It was a mild fish that was sort of like cod. Tonight some of us are planning to go to the Sports Pub and watch the Ravens game. Of course I couldn't care less, but it's a Saturday night so I am not going to just stay in my room. An update on Briana. She is not concussed, thank goodness, and is feeling slightly better today. We are hoping that this is the end of the epidemic! Cross your fingers and toes! A common greeting or sign off for us now is to stay healthy! Every time Dr. Bell sees us he asks each of us how we are feeling, even if we aren't sick! Miss and love you!!

Hey! Today was our first full day in Liverpool. From my post last night, you can gather that we arrived safely to our new quarters for the next few days. I do have access to Wifi, thank goodness! We started the morning by listening to a lecture and what better place to hear a lecture than the University of Liverpool. He really helped put into context our time in Liverpool by giving us a rough overview of the history of the city. It was really interesting and definitely informative. Most of us then stopped at Pret (our new nickname for Pret a Manger) which has become a staple in our lives while we have been here. We grabbed some lunch to go and ate it on the ferry ride we took on the Mersey River. 

After eating some lunch and learning a few new facts about Liverpool and the Mersey, we debarked the boat and went over to a museum where we had free time for about 20 minutes before our next tour. Dr. Bell and a few of my classmates went to the Titanic exhibit. I learned that the Titanic was actually built in Liverpool and many of the staff and crew of the ship were Liverpudlians. It was a really sad exhibit, but we made it a little happier by dressing up as members of the crew. Dr. Bell will never miss a dress up opportunity! When it was time to meet up for the tour, we were introduced to two funny characters named Ben and Danny who gave us a tour of the old dock which was recently excavated and preserved. It was fascinating to learn about the dock and the history of docks in Liverpool. It was also our first experience with the Liverpudlian accent, which is incredibly hard to understand. It is sort of a mix of Irish and Scottish, with a bit of English. 

Our last activity for the day was visiting the Museum of Liverpool. We were all assigned a different room in the museum and were charged with the task of finding something that interested us and present it to the class. I picked a picture of women working on sewing the interior of Ford cars. They decided to strike because they were not receiving equal pay to men and therefore were influential to the Women's Movement. Other people picked things related to the Beatles or the dance scene, locomotives, and class differences. Lauren talked about these really weird things here called superlambananas, which sort of remind me of the painted crabs in Baltimore. It has the body of a lamb and the tail of a banana. It's really bizarre. The hostel has been a little different than the last one we stayed in, including the fact that we are staying in rooms of 6 girls. It gets a little chaotic, especially with our suitcases. We dropped another two people today from illness, but they are feeling much better now. The three from yesterday have pretty much been back to normal today. We are praying that this little stint of sickness is over and we are heading out on our coldest activity tomorrow, an outside tour of Liverpool. We have found Liverpool to be much chillier than either Bristol or London, probably due to the fact that it is more north. 

Tonight most of us are going to dinner together to an Italian place. I think we are banking on a low key night since some of us have a lot of work to do tonight and we are all pretty tired from traveling and having such a busy day. Missing you all tons and can't wait to get back and tell you all of my stories! Love you!!!

Hey Everyone!

Today was a great day, maybe one of my favorites! We woke up this morning to surprising news that three of my classmates had some sort of food poisoning and wouldn't be joining us for our trip to Bathe.  We were a bit sad, but we still went and had a great time! We started our day at a bizarre 18th century theatre that was converted into a free masonry temple. We learned a little bit about what free masonry is/ was and how it has changed over the years. It was a little wacky, but it was fun to learn something new!

After the tour, Dr. Bell took us to see 2 architectural sites, the Royal Crescent and the Circus. They were both in the Georgian Style and were gorgeous! We took the time after to go get some lunch. A few of us snuck into a little cafe and enjoyed some burgers. We did a little shopping and then met up with Dr. Bell to go see the Roman Baths. They were incredible! It was arguably the coolest thing I have seen since we have been here. Several of us "illegally" touched the waters in the Great Bath and many of us "took the water" at Bathe. That is just a fancy expression they used to use when they would drink the water. It was actually really nasty.

When we all finished our adventures in the Roman Baths, we journeyed over a block and had some tea. Of course I didn't have any tea because I don't like it, but we did have some famous buns. I really enjoyed it! After a long day in Bathe, we journeyed back to the hostel to collect our things and move on to our next stop, Liverpool. We dragged all of our things and have just arrived here in Liverpool. It should be an interesting experience as there is a dance party going on in the basement, which is the only place we get Wifi! Love and miss you all!

Hey Everyone!

Sorry I didn't post last night! I actually do have Wifi at the new hostel in Bristol but I had so much reading last night that I wasn't able to post. Yesterday we started the day early by checking out of our flats in London and shlepping all of our suitcases to Paddington station, yes the station that the Paddington bear is named after. We were able to get all of our suitcases onto the train successfully and sat back to enjoy a relaxing two hour train ride. Upon arrival in Bristol, we had to drag all of our suitcases on a 15 minute walk to the youth hostel, which I was exhausted by the end of. We then had time to go to lunch. Most of us chose to go to a little open air market that served lots of exotic hot foods. A bunch of us had "life changing" falafel that was so delicious! 

After lunch and settling into our rooms, we walked across the street to the Museum of Bristol and got a short tour by a man named Edson Burton. He was actually extremely boring and I really didn't enjoy that part of the day. Everything was worth it though because we went out for French food last night. I had steak and chips, which was amazing! We ended the night by reading the two lengthy readings due for class as a somewhat small group. 

This morning we were all refreshed and set out on what turned into a hike all uphill to Cabot tower, built to commemorate John Cabot's achievement of finding Newfoundland. It was absolutely exhausting and I felt like I was having a heart attack! haha Everything was worth it for the views we got of Bristol. After a brisk walk down, we stopped at the Georgia House, which was where John Pinney, a prominent plantation owner, had his house. He was also the main focus of one of our readings from last night. We enjoyed discussing him and speculating about his life. When we finished at the Georgia House, we proceeded to John Wellesley's New Room (sort of a church) where we discussed the second reading we had last night. John was a methodist, abolitionist preacher. 

We then broke for lunch where many of us returned back to the open air market. I decided to get a mushroom and chicken pie, which was sort of like a pot pie. I loved it!! We met back at the hostel where we set out for the SS Great Britain, a revolutionary ship that was able to transport many people to Australia during the gold rush. It was really interesting and we really enjoyed being able to explore the boat! A cool experience was that they built sort of a cave-like thing underneath the boat so you could go below the water and see the bottom of the ship and look up at it from under water. Dr. Bell also thrilled us by putting on yet another dress up costume. Many of my classmates donned outfits and climbed aboard a pretend ship to "discover" America! Always keeping things interesting! We are actually having an impromptu group meal tonight at an asian fusion place, which I am thrilled about (as you can imagine!) Tomorrow we will be spending the day in Bathe and I am so super excited! Having the most amazing time and wish you could all be here with me!!

Good Evening! We had an amazing day visiting Cambridge. Everyone in our class decided to take the optional trip to Cambridge for the day so it was a lot of fun to be all together. We took a 45 minute train ride there and started the day by seeing several different colleges that make up Cambridge University. We learned that there are 31 different colleges making up the university. Dr. Bell showed us around his college, Gonville and Caius college, where he attended for undergraduate. It was fun to learn about different traditions and to see such old buildings. That college was the 3rd oldest at Cambridge, dating back to the 16th century. We then visited King's College which is the most well known and I'm pretty sure the largest. We went inside the chapel which was amazingly big. We really enjoyed it.

We broke for lunch and most of us went to try a place that Dr. Bell recommended. It sold pasties, which the closest I could relate it to was a pot pie, but completely wrapped inside of a pastry dough. I had a mushroom and chicken one, that I'm pretty sure also had potatoes in it. It was fantastic! We then chose to use the rest of our lunch break to do some shopping. There was a little market that some of us walked around in and we also hit a sort of school store type shop where many of us bought Cambridge paraphernalia. I bought an adorable light blue Cambridge t-shirt. I then went over to the market to buy some tea from this guy who was selling tea leaves, for mom, and somehow got left behind by the rest of the group. So, I had my own little adventure in Cambridge today. Thankfully, I started walking in the right direction and Drew was able to find me. It felt a lot longer than it actually was.

After that adventure, we started on a new one. We set out on the river in Cambridge on some gondola looking things called Punts. The person who uses the large stick to row is called the punter. We each got a chance to be the punter, which was extremely scary. I chose to be in Dr. Bell's punt because I was nervous about punting, as well as floating along in an extremely small boat. There were about 6 of us in each boat. Once we got the hang of punting, it was really enjoyable and we got great views of several of the different colleges.

Once we docked again, we warmed up inside next to the fire for awhile, waiting for the other punts to come back. We then got on the train going home, where I ended up falling asleep on Drew. He didn't seem to mind too much...hopefully haha. It was a great nap though! We returned to the hotel for about an hour, which I chose to use wisely and shower so that I would be able to pack tonight.

Around 7, we met at the tube station to go to our group meal dinner. We went to an African food restaurant, which I didn't really care for. It was definitely different, and some people really enjoyed it though. We also received a complimentary 4 bottles of wine, which we all took advantage of. I chose to sample both red and white. I liked the white better. We just returned back from dinner so that we can pack up and put our flats back together before we leave at 8:30am tomorrow morning. I am hoping that I will have access to Wifi as I move on in the trip, but if not, don't get worried that the blog posts might not be as regular! Miss you all tons!

Today was a really great day because we were able to have a lot of free time! This morning we went to the National Portrait Gallery where each of us were given a different person's portrait to locate and read about with readings that Dr. Bell gave us. Then, we had to give a short presentation incorporating the new knowledge we had learned and the portrait. The man I received was William Wilberforce, who was the driving force behind the abolition of the slave trade in 1807. Dr. Bell finally cut me a break because we have been learning about Wilberforce since we arrived here.

After the museum, several of us ate lunch outside in a courtyard near Euston Station and then headed over to the British Museum. It wasn't quite what I thought because it really wasn't British at all. It was a museum of many of the world's treasures. We even got to see the Rosetta Stone! After spending a few hours at the museum, we returned back to the flats for a little bit.

After a small rest (30 minutes), a few of us met in the lobby to go to the American Sports Bar to watch the Ravens game. We had a great time watching the game, drinking beer, and eating wings. Funny enough, we were probably the only Americans in there. I also attempted to do laundry this afternoon, but I haven't taken the laundry out yet, so I'm not sure what the final result will be. I will keep you updated. It was another long full day and we are all exhausted. Going to try to get another early night tonight!

Hi!

So today was a more relaxed day because we had such a big day yesterday. We spent the morning at Dr. Johnson's house who wrote the first comprehensive, English dictionary. He was an interesting man and we focused a lot on the life of his slave, Francis Barber, to get an inside look as to what being a slave was like in England, as opposed to on a plantation. We also got to see Dr. Bell put on a dress, so that was fun.

After the visit, we all grabbed lunch and brought it back to my flat to have a movie viewing on the abolition of the slave trade. We then discussed some discussion questions based on the movie and our readings for the day. Briana and I also booked our train tickets to Paris for the day on the 17th. We are both really excited to go!

Myself and two other girls then made our way to Piccadilly Circus for the evening, where we did some touristy shopping and ate dinner at a cute Italian place. It was really good! It was so warm outside, we were even able to sit outside to eat! I was able to pick up a few souvenirs, so that was really great! Sorry this blog post is super short, but I am exhausted and am going into the shower and to bed! I will send more tomorrow!

Hey Guys,

So if you haven't gathered, its a little after midnight our time, meaning we had a very full day. We left our flats at 9:00 this morning to make our way to Portsmouth. After a makeshift breakfast of Starbucks and a chocolate croissant, we boarded the train. Most of us were able to do the readings for tomorrow on the 90 minute ride. When we arrived, we started in an amazing exhibit about the HMS (His/Her Majesty's ship) Mary Rose which sank in I want to say sometime in the 1500s. Fairly recently, they have recovered half of the ship that was stuck in the mud and completely preserved. We learned that it has taken them almost 34 years, which is about how long it was afloat, for them to complete the conservation process of this amazing artifact. They even found some human remains aboard, and we were told that they were able to tell the nationalities of the people by the enamel on their teeth! I thought that was just incredible! We also were able to feel some ropes from the actual ship, as well as pieces of wood. We then journeyed to lunch where most of us had our first experience with fish and chips in England. I decided to go for cod, which was okay.

After lunch, we were able to board the HMS Victory, which is the ship that Lord Nelson was shot on during the battle of Trafalgar. Some side points, Lord Nelson, as I've mentioned, was a British naval commander and is revered as a hero here. He is still a huge part of culture. The British love him! Last side point, the other day we visited Trafalgar Square on the tour with Kim where there is a giant statue erected of Lord Nelson. Anyways, the ship was huge!!!! It was so ornate, incredible that it was that old!   The ship was built in the 1750s I believe, and the Battle of Trafalgar was in 1805, when Lord Nelson was shot and died 4 hours later. They have the spot marked on the ship where he actually was shot. Each cannon required about 10-12 men to load and fire because they were so big and heavy. We learned about the terrible living conditions of the men. Many of my classmates thought it was funny that I couldn't hit my head on any of the low beams, while Dr. Bell was pretty much doubled over. We all really enjoyed the tour!

When the tour was over, we journeyed over to a museum about the HMS Victory and Lord Nelson. We didn't spend much time there, but we were able to feel a replica of the death mask made of Lord Nelson's face. I also stood next to the original wheel used on the HMS Victory, which was definitely larger than I was. Briana and I were able to get inside a barrel used for water. It was put there because after Lord Nelson died, they picked him in rum for 8 weeks until they came back to London, where he laid in state in the Painted Hall which we visited the other day. The grossest part, it is said that they have a drink called something like Lord Nelson's blood because people drank the rum that he had been pickled in for weeks. Yum! haha Dr. Bell also made me and the other short girl on the trip try an activity meant for little kids, because we were under the height requirement. It was so hard we couldn't even figure out how to do it!

Our next stop was the Action Stations, which were supposed to give you a feel for some of the different parts of the navy. Several of us enjoyed playing dress up, myself included, in military uniforms. Others, including Dr. Bell, climbed the rock wall. We spent some time there and then made our way over to a shopping center. Dr. Bell let us loose for awhile and Briana and I decided to visit the Cadbury store where we bought some chocolate. We also went and I bought the second season of Downton Abbey, until Dr. Bell reminded us that British DVDs don't actually work in the US:( We quickly returned them. For dinner we went to a place called Yo Sushi where it was a sushi bar that moved. In addition to raw fish, they had lots of cooked options as well. A few of us wanted the full Japanese experience and ordered some Sakai. I ended up really liking it. It's really sweet, which I didn't expect. The lady said that we were the largest bill the restaurant has ever seen, good thing it was Maryland-paid group meal tonight!

After dinner we made our way back to London from Portsmouth and walked over to the SoHo Theatre for the comedy show called the Late Night Gimp Fight. None of us really knew what to expect. It was completely inappropriate, but very funny. We all immensely enjoyed it. I think that was everything, but it was such a long day, who really knows! Good night everyone!

Today was another great day! We got a late start this morning, 10:30am, where we jumped on the tube at our favorite tube stop, Euston Station. We went to St. Paul's Cathedral, which is the 2nd largest basilica in the world, next to St. Peter's in the Vatican. I've never seen a church that big before! It was incredible! Our whole class walked to the top of St. Paul's which is about 400 steps, possibly more. We breathlessly took in the view from the top! We also toured the crypt which has the body of Arthur Duke of Wellington, as well as Lord Nelson, who was a famous naval commander that we have been learning about for the past two days. Yesterday, we visited the painted hall where his body laid in state for three days after he died. 90,000 people came to view him! Most of us then enjoyed lunch with Dr. Bell at a place called Leon's, where I got some yummy falafel!

When we finished lunch, we journeyed back out to Greenwich to visit the National Maritime Museum. We visited a gallery and was given a tour of that gallery by the curator. It was really interesting and definitely added a lot to the museum. After a short discussion of the readings for the day, which were written by John (the curator), we marched all the way up the hill to the observatory where the prime meridian line is located. We enjoyed taking pictures in the two different hemispheres of the world.

Briana, Lauren, Drew, and I all ventured over to the London Eye and bought tickets. We then went to a mexican restaurant where Lauren and I sampled some classic margaritas! Why not, we are legal in this country! Dinner ended up being delicious and a great pick! We then walked back to the London Eye and took the 30 minute ride. The sites were great from the very top. We did some walking and shopping after around the area and finally returned back to the flats around 9:30ish. It was a long and busy day but a lot of fun!

Day 2:)

Today was another fun-filled long day! I slept much better last night and felt a lot less jet-lagged today than yesterday. Still not fully adjusted, but getting better. We started our day at 9:30 again this morning and got an amazing tour of Westminster by a lady named Kim. She showed us many interesting sites around Westminster that showed how the British Empire is still affecting London today. We also encountered our first set of guards since we were in "royal territory." We saw the horse guard, which are just guards on horses, and then there were some foot guards who were wearing some silly hats. I still have not seen the actual Royal Guards who guard the palace, but apparently they don't wear red in the winter:( We got to experience real British weather today since it was quite chilly this morning and nice and wet this afternoon.

After the tour, we all split up for lunch. A bunch of us decided to go to Picadilly Circus which is like the Times Square of London. We really only had time to eat lunch there, which we ate at Garfunkels. We all were able to warm up after our almost 3 hour tour outside.

We met back up as a group and headed to Greenwich where we went to the old Naval College. The lady who gave us a tour of the museum yesterday gave us a tour of the college. We learned that it was actually the old palace for awhile. We were able to see the Painted Hall and the old chapel which were both gorgeous. There was tons of ornate painting and detail. This was one of my favorite sites that I have visited since we have arrived here.

Tonight we are going to dinner at a place called Eat that Dr. Bell is going to. Then we are venturing to a play that none of us have ever heard of and Dr. Bell won't tell us what it is about. He said that it is really strange and we will really enjoy it. Who knows! I will try to post again later with a few pictures but unfortunately I have to run to catch the tube! Miss you all:)

Hello from Across the Pond!

Yesterday's plane ride was long and uneventful. We actually landed a half an hour early so we got here around 9:30 local time. I was able to see the London Eye as well as several displays of fireworks as we landed! We then took the tube from Heathrow Airport to Euston Street, where our flats for the week are located. We arrived at the flats around 11:45pm. We celebrated the New Year by going to a little shop for some snacks. Nothing to eventful. We did not have enough time to head over to Picadilly Square, which I am told is like the Times Square of London.

This morning we woke up feeling like it was the crack of dawn, and shlepped out around 9:30am. I did not have a great night of sleep last night and am hoping that it is better tonight. The first thing we did was take a boat ride on the Thames River, called the Thames Clipper, where we saw some of the major attractions that London has to offer, such as the London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament, the Globe Theatre, Tower Bridge, and several other major attractions. We arrived at the Museum of Docklands and spent about 1 1/2 hours looking around. I then gave my fabulous presentation which I am glad is over and done with. My professor said I did a good job so hopefully he thought it went as well as I did. After a small discussion about our readings, we went to a "food court" in the mall. I call it a "food court" because it was like gourmet. They had a Pret a Manger, Paul, and sushi.

After lunch we journeyed over to the Museum of London which we took the Light Rail as well as the tube. We learned some new phrases such as "mind the gap" which the lady says every time you stop at a new station on the tube. Apparently it is an infamous phrase! We took a guided tour with a wonderful lady named Janet who gave us some background on London and especially the royals which we all truly enjoyed. At this point every single one of us were fighting through jet lag as we made our way to dinner.

Yes, dinner was Indian food. It was a first for me and I can't say I enjoyed it that much. I was really proud of myself for trying it though! After dinner, we had an optional outing with Dr. Bell to visit some of the sights at night when they were lit up! We saw Big Ben and Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace. On our way back, we stopped at Kings Cross Station and saw THE PLATFORM 9 3/4! Of course Dr. Bell made fun of us the entire time! What can we say, we are a bunch of Harry Potter nerds! Well that its for now, I have to go write the blog for our class about the day now!

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Big Ben! Wanted to upload at night too, but it takes about a year to load one pic!

The London Eye and Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station:)

P.S. Got an A- on my landing paper! Boo-ya!!!