The Aftermath

So I'm home now

Friday was such a wretched day. I cried so much; I'll admit it. I never thought that I would become attached to so many people within a short amount of time. I think that's a weakness of mine: I become easily attached.

The Christmas party was a blast. I was going to wear my Santa costume, but it was really hott and itchy so I decided not to wear it. I still had an amazing time last night. I took some time to have a heart to heart with some people, but there wasn't enough time to do it with everyone. I miss Emma so much. She became my best friend over there, and it was extremely difficult to say goodbye. There were like 10 or so people who walked with me to the taxi that brought me to the airport. It was so sad saying goodbye, but really powerful to see how many people really cared for me.

It really sucks too because I don't really know when I'm going to see all those people again. The majority of them either live on the east coast or in England, so it's quite expensive to meet up with them. I'm going to try to save my money. I know for a fact though that I'll be going to England in my future many many times just because it became a second home for me.

My flight on the way back was kind of bad. I was hungover, and when I got on the plane it took 3 and a half hours to take off. It was so hot too ugh! So my flight was delayed that long, and I didn't get home home until around 7 something when I should have arrived at about 4pm. Our incredible family friend Terese was here with my older sister Erica who had food ready for me and my friend that picked me up from the airport. I'll admit it again, I cried later on that night. It's just really really hard.

In a way, it feels like I never left America and did all those things that I have done within the past 3 months. It feels like it was a dream. Like the world stopped, and I did all those trips etc. I feel a little disconnected with some of my friends already. I don't really know what to talk to them about. We had different lives for 3 months, but it's going to take awhile to re-create memories and get back into the relationships we once had.

I have a lot to do over here now. My room is a HUGE mess. I have to unpack/pack for college and find some days over break to bring things down to my apartment. It'll be fun though because my friends are going to come with and help me. That'll be the beginning where we can start some new memories :)

It felt weird driving over here. I keep thinking in pounds. American money feels so weird. I miss chips and cheese. I miss all my friends. I miss hearing their accents everyday. I miss being able to buy my own booze. I miss so much.

I have all this to take with me in my future though. I have so many memories and so much experience now. I'll never ever ever forget these past 3 months.

On the plus side though- I lost a little bit more that 15 pounds while I was over there! It feels great because I didn't realize it until everyone said I looked like I lost weight and I stepped on a scale. It's even better because I didn't even try to loose weight while I was there. I should go back for another 3 months! haha

I'm not sure what else to say. This is probably the end of this blog...I think...unless I think of something else to say.

I'm going to go workout now with some friends.

I want to thank everyone who has followed my blog and given me outstanding support while I was away. I know I could have done this on my own, but it was so much easier with the love and support so many provided.

Cheers

This is it...

:(

I can't believe I have 13 hours left here in England. This is too sad!

As of now, I'm in my Santa costume waiting for my friends Christmas/going away party to start. It should be a good night. We're planning on not going to bed tonight and just staying up, drinking, chatting, dancing, laughing, loving, crying etc.

This has been an amazing experience here in England. I'm always going to remember the lovely little town of Canterbury and all the blessings it brought with it. I'm always going to remember my crazy British and new American friends who have made this time so enjoyable. I'm so emotional right now.

I don't really know what else to say...this is my last entry from abroad.

So Sad :(

Yesterday (was) and the next few days will be some very sad moments.

Yesterday was 4 months since my dad passed away. I was so proud because I didn't shed a tear about that, but my friend Nina came over, and it was her last day here. She was planning on going out to BAA Bars with us for the last time, but then changed her mind. I responded with "You do know that we'll probably never see each other again right?" and she started to cry which made me start to tear up, which made everyone else start to cry. This was while we were pre-gaming at my house, so it probably looked like we were a bunch of emotional drunks or something haha. Today, Nina left. Again, we all started to tear up. Nina was one of my closest friends while I was over here, and it was so hard to say good-bye to her. I really hope I can see her sometime later once I'm able to save up some money for a visit of some sort.

I started packing today. My bags are so heavy! I can't believe that I leave on Saturday. It's really upsetting. I don't want to leave yet; it feels like I just got here. Everything that I've done so far seems like it really didn't happen and that these past 3 months were a dream. Everything kind of happened in a daze. I wish I had more time.

Monday, some friends and I went to Chill. I might be going one more time tomorrow because my friend Rob is having a huge Christmas/Going Away party and they are planning on stopping by Chill for a little bit. Monday was a lot of fun though. Amber did something crazy, but it's inappropriate to talk about on here haha. That was just a little reminder for me so I don't forget about it. Wednesday, I had my final for one of my classes. It went alright. I don't think I did horrible, but hopefully I'll get an A in the class :) Then last night we went to BAA Bars for the last time. Again, I had a blast while I was there.

I have a load of laundry in the dryer right now. That's the last of my clothes. My room is beginning to empty little by little. It's sad because it's going to feel like I was never in this room once I move out. I just need to know that the impact that I had while I've been here was with the friends that I made. I will always remember them, and hopefully they will always remember me (ha, who am I kidding...of course they'll remember me! ;)

P.S. The picture is just some of my friends at BAA Bars last night. Their names are Caroline, Jenn, Shannon, Amber, Rob (whos is cut off haha), Amy, Mandi, and Christina) We didn't have enough room to fit everyone in sadly.

Scotland :)

Scotland is so pretty.

On Friday morning, the bus left for London at 3:30am. It was a REALLY early start for us all. After we got to London, we had to take a 5 or so hour train ride up to Edinburgh, Scotland. Scotland is beautiful. There are so many old buildings, hills, stairs, roads that twist and turn etc. It was a wonderful place.

The first day, we were all so so tired. We did as much as we could. We started by having a little guided tour on the coach. Our tour guide was this little old man that was wearing a kilt and played bagpipes (could the stereotypical view get any...stereotypical?) It was very short, but it was a decent introduction. We stayed in this bed and breakfast place. It was nice. Nothing amazing though...the house was huge. I couldn't believe one person used to own the entire building.

We took some time and walked down the main road of Edinburgh. There was a carnival and a little Christmas Market. In the carnival, there was a psychic, and I've never been to one, so I had her read my tarot cards. It was interesting...but I still don't know whether it was a bunch of rubbish or not. She seemed to have repeated some sentences to us, but there were strange moments where she was dead on. Hmmmm...it was crazy though because there was a guy in the booth with her before it was our turn to go in, and when he walked out I asked him how much it was and if it was any good. He was really short, and had a thick Scottish accent. When he was talking to me though, I couldn't help but think that he looked oddly familiar. I turned to my friend Jen, and her mouth was hanging open. When he walked away, I turned to her and was like "WAS THE SEAMUS FINNIGAN FROM HARRY POTTER!?" Of course it was; and we didn't realize it until he was off in the distance so we weren't able to get a picture with him :( Oh well...I've had such the best of luck with famous people while I've been here haha.

It was so cold that night though, and we were so tired. It felt like it was midnight, but we realized it was only like 9pm. We decided to turn in early just because we had an early start to the next day.

Saturday morning, was an all day trip to the Highlands and Loch Ness. The Highlands are a bunch of mountains. Beautiful mountains though. The view was incredible. I have so many pictures of mountains on my camera haha. It was gorgeous though. Words cannot describe! I'm not really sure what else to say. When we returned around 8pm, we just grabbed some dinner and walked through the carnival again.

On Sunday, we reserved tickets to go to Mary King's Close. It's basically a village that was built on top of. It was really dark, dusty, musty, and kind of creepy down there. We had a guide take us around, and she told us about the murders and what it looked like originally down there. It is supposedly haunted, but we didn't see any ghosts. Although, we were looking into this one house, and we heard footsteps. I don't know if the tour made the noise so we would get scared or if they were actually real. After that, we grabbed some lunch and went to the Elephant House. This is where J.K. Rowling wrote her Harry Potter books. It was a very nice and upbeat cafe/coffee house, so we got some hot chocolate and a little desert. It was so cool though just to be there and see where she wrote her novels. Very cool...

It was such a long ride back though because some worker was killed by a train as we were making our way back. The trains were all backed up, so it took like an extra hour than it should have. I'm so tired right now!

I think our group of friends are starting to get annoyed with each other though. I don't really care though because, even though this is sad to say, I probably won't see any of them again, it's sad that it's happening at the end of our trip. I think it's just cause emotions are running high though. We all want to go home and want to stay at the same time...

I know this is random, but I'm so excited because Erica booked Britney tickets! AH! Can't wait!

I have to go to bed though because I have to get up early and work on my final! I can't believe I come home in like 6 days! CRAZY!

Thankgiving-Germany-London

This is going to be a bit of a long entry. We just got internet today, so I'm able to catch up on everything that has been happening since about last Thursday (Thanksgiving). It's a little after 2am, but I'm not tired because I had an AMAZING day...

Last Thursday was Thanksgiving. The first turkey that I ever cooked was delicious. I'm a freakin' pro. It was juicy and slid right off the bone...perfect. It was really hectic though because it was at my house, there were about 15 people, and at first I was running around like a turkey with my head chopped off because no one was helping. Thankfully, Shannon, Emma, and Amber started to help me because they saw I was panicing. It was so stressful. Everyone had made their food and brought it over to my house at around 3pm, so then it was just sitting on the counter, and then I had to make sure everything was warm and ready to be served while trying to cut the turkey and entertain everyone etc. AH! At one point, my roommate Emma had put a plastic measuring cup on a hot warmer and it started to melt...that was my breaking point so I left the kitchen to have a cigarette and take a breather. Everyone thought I was pissed, but I just needed a break because it was way too much, and I was a little annoyed that everyone was sitting at the table just watching me. All in all though, everything was delicious and turned out very well.

After dinner, I needed a drink so bad. We ended up drinking a lot, and then made our way to a pub called The Jolly Sailor. I got absolutely trashed. I can't remember much of that night, and this was so bad because our cab was picking us up at 2:30am to take us to the airport for Germany. I got home, fell on the floor, and was given so many cups of coffee...thrown in the shower and dressed by my roommates...my roommates even packed for me because I forgot to, and they even made me a turkey sandwich :) They are the best ever! I was still so drunk when the cab came that I passed out on the ride to the airport. By time we got there, I was beginning to get the hugest hangover ever...once I got out of the cab, I tried to make myself throwup but nothing would come out. That plane ride was the worst. It was only an hour, but it seemed like forever. Once I got off the plane, I threwup so so much; it was disgusting.

Christina, Mandie, and I arrived in Frankfurt. We were welcomed by snow! Sadly, we had to take a bus ride right after the airport. We then met up with 2 of Christina's friends at the train station and walked around Frankfurt. Then we took a train to Fulda...took another train the Hamburg...then met up with Christina's half sister that lives in Hamburg. It was a horrible day...I'm never doing that again...so we basically went from plane to bus to train to train to car...ya

We stayed at Christina's half sister's house. Lisa (her sister) was so so nice. Her English wasn't bad at all either. By time we got there, it was probably around 8pm, so we just got a nice dinner at a restaurant called Einstein and went to bed. The next morning, we went to a mall and did a little shopping...met up with her sister/her sister's step son...and went to a bunch of Christmas markets. It was so so pretty. I wish my camera took really nice pictures at night because I wasn't able to take too many great pictures.

We tried some hot wine at this stand. It's like red wine mixed with herbs, and obviously it's hot. It was good, but somehow really strong. One little cup and you felt a little dizzy. After looking around at the many Christmas shops, we just walked around, stopped at this restaurant that brewed their own beer. I tried it (it was alright, nothing special), had a bratwurst and pickle (it was delicious), and then we went to a carnival. The carnival was HUGE! There were so many rides and shops there. It was a lot of fun. We went on this roller coaster that had 5 loops. It was totally worth the 6 euros. I wanted to take a video of it, but the seats shut so tight that I couldn't reach my camera :( After the carnival, we then made our way to Reeperbaun (if that's how you spell it). Reeperbaun is this street that has a bunch of sex shops, clubs, pubs, stores, and prostitutes...it was full of people, many of whom were drunk, and at times it was a little scary. I was so glad Christina's sister and her sister's husband were with us...otherwise who knows what could have happened just because there was a footbal game Hamburg vs. Amsterdam or something like that, so there were a lot of people from Holland who were starting fights etc.

We looked at some more Christmas shops, and before we knew it, it was past midnight and we were so tired. The next morning we woke up and made our way to the airport...only to find out that Christina had said the wrong airport. Luckily, we made it to the right airport on time and caught our flight. The weekend just flew by while we were there. We absolutely didn't have enough time in Germany. I feel like I did get to see that much, but I'm still glad I went. It was nice.

Monday, I began to do some more research for my last paper. I'm so excited because I'm almost done with it, and then all I'll have left to do is prepare for the final. That night, some friends and I went to Chill night club. It was a lot of fun. They played Britney Spears at midnight in honor of the release of her new album and 27th birthday...it was freakin' sweet. We even made Britney a birthday cake not only because it was her birthday, but also because we had a taste for chocolate cake. Tuesday, nothing really happened. I had class and began to write more of my paper.

Wednesday (today) though was INCREDIBLE! AH! I had so much fun today...ok so I skipped my class today just so I could go to London one more time before I left. It was totally worth it. Nat, Emma, and I caught a bus at 6:55am. When we arrived, we ate some breakfast and just relaxed because we were really tired. We then made our way to Hyde Park where the Princess Diana memorial is. We followed the memorial walk, and thankfully the fountain was open! It was very cool. It isn't really a fountain; it's kind of hard to explain, but it was very modern looking and meaningful to Diana's life. It is a very nice memorial. I'll show pictures when I get home :) We walked around the fountain, then made our way to Winter Wonderland which was basically just a bunch of shops and rides that you could go on. We just walked through and got some candy because the rides were too expensive to go on.

After the Wonderland, we went back to Victoria Station because we got tickets to see Wicked...yes I saw it again! It was AMAZING! I was in complete shock just because Kerry Ellis came back to the London show this past Monday, and I had no idea. She really isn't famous, but she kind of is in the broadway world. I was in shock when she ran onstage. I couldn't believe it. I took some videos of her singing. Her voice is so powerful and pure...so good! After the show, we went to the stage door to meet her, but she was in a rush because she had another show to do later, so she only signed like 10 of the 20 people's playbills (of course I was one of them). I was upset though that I couldn't get a photo with her :( It was alright though because so many more excited things were going to happen later on that night.

We then made our way back to Picadilly Circus (my favorite part of London) and walked around. We came across a huge group of people and saw signs that said TWILIGHT all over. Of course we made our way through the crowd to the front to see what was going on. I guess there was a release of the movie over here, so we were able to see the main character of the movie! He also plays Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter 4. It was really cool, but I was too far to get a good photo of him.

After that, we made our way to the stage door of Rainman to see if Josh Hartnett was going to come out. Of course he did! There had to be like 75 people there waiting to see him and we 3 were at the front of it all. I got so many good pictures of him, and I also got his autograph! When he was signing my playbill, I asked him how his Thanksgiving was and he laughed and said "Oh it was fine thanks...and yours?" and of course I responded with "It was awesome!" Ya that's right, I had a 5 second conversation with Josh Hartnett...jealous? He only gave out like 20 signatures, and I'm so glad my friends and I were able to get them. He went back inside because it was too crowded, and people were like "We should stay here, because he has to come out to get home!" Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the van that almost ran me over the last time we tried to see Josh Hartnett. So I grabbed my friends and I was like "WE HAVE TO FOLLOW THAT VAN". We did, and I was right! Josh came out a different side of the building, so I was able to get a few last photos. A bunch of girls were screaming and banging on the windows so I screamed "LEAVE HIM ALOOOOONE...HE'S JUST A PERSON!" being sarcastic...it was funny...guess you had to be there. Then the van drove away :)

Oh today was such a marvelous day! So much fun! So much excitement!

I can't believe I come home in like 10 days or something...carazy! Oh well, I had a blast while I've been here. I can't wait to see all of you! It's really late now, and I'm going to attempt to post some photos on facebook of Josh Harnett to make everyone jealous haha...

Miss and Love

Great...

So we lost our internet yesterday because somehow we used it all up. Ya, they have limits to how much internet we get to use over here...LAME! Now, I won't have internet until December 3rd :(

I just completed the bibliography of 2 of my papers, and I'm going to hand them in now. It feels like a weight was lifted off of my shoulders, but I still have a final to get prepared for and one more 2,000 word paper. My work load isn't too bad now.

I can't believe tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Of course we don't get a day off here because they don't celebrate it, but I'm skipping my one class tomorrow because I have to be home to make sure the turkey is delicious and cooking well. I hope that goes well.

I'm going to Germany on Friday! I hope it's fun. It should be; I'm just worried that we won't have enough time to actually see Germany...I'll let you all know how it went once I get back :)

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Wish I could be home for it! Miss and love you all!

London Visit

Friday, we had out last field trip to Windsor Castle where the Queen lives. It was so pretty there, and very cold. It was nice to go inside some rooms though that the queen and other people actually use. The trip went by very fast, but it was cool because we went in this room where they had all these goblets and candlesticks with diamonds and made out of gold, and I asked a guy if the queen or anyone else is still able to use these, and he told us to go look at these candelsticks because you can still see the wax that was left on there from them using them last week! That was very cool. We had a lot of extra time there, so we did a little shopping, and I got some comfy sweat pants.

Yesterday, Nina, Jen, Amy, Shannon, and I went up to London for the day. It was so cold, but it was nice to go up there probably for the last time before I leave.



We met up with Nina's friend who is studying abroad in Spain, and walked around then made our was to Westerminster Abbey. We paid to go inside, and it was so beautiful in there. I was upset though because we weren't allowed to take any pictures inside. It was a great time though. There are so many dead people buried in there; it's kind of creepy, but they also had a section of memorials dedicated to certain British writers so that was very cool to see.



After that, we made our way to Abbey Road. It really is just a road. It was nice to walk across it though and sign the wall that's there for visitors. Time flew by so fast though, so we had to make our way towards the Apollo Theatre because we booked tickets to go see Rainman.



We had a lovely lunch at Mcdonalds and met up with Amy and Shannon there. It was actually the best fast food I've had since I've been here haha. Then they showed us where the stage door was so we could rush to it after the show and get some photos and an autograph of Josh Hartnett since he was the main character of the play.



When we got the stage door, there were already a few people waiting there so we just chilled there because we had nothing else to do. Then a silver van pulled up, and it looked like it was going to hit me so I got back onto the sidewalk, but it stopped. The door opened, and JOSH HARTNETT WAS IN THE VAN! The four of us couldn't believe our eyes just because we were in shock that it was actually him. I don't think any of us made a sound just because we couldn't believe that it was actually him. He looked kind of pissed, but I guess he had food poisoning the past week so maybe he wasn't feeling that great. I was so upset though because I wasn't fast enough to get my camera out for a photo. It was so cool that we got to see him in person though.



The play was rather good though. Personally, I liked the movie better, but it was so cool that Josh Hartnett was the star of it. After the show ended we rushed to the stage door to be first in line, but sadly Josh wasn't going to come out because he wasn't feeling well, and he had to do another show in 2 hours. I was SO SO SO upset and incredibly pissed. We still waited there though in the cold for like 45 minutes just to see if he would show up, but he didn't. I got an autograph and photo with the other main character Adam Godley who plays the character with autism. I told him to send Josh a message and tell him that 'We were going to invite him to our Thanksgiving next week, but since he didn't come out it's his loss'. He laughed and said he would pass on the message, but I doubt he did.



After that, we met up with Nina and made our way to the Princess Dianna memorial fountain, but instead of being under construction, it was closed! AH! I can never win in London :( It was altogether a nice day though.



Right now, my head kind of hurts. I don't know what's wrong with me. I have mixed emotions right now just because I wanted to meet Josh Hartnett so bad, I'm going to be leaving so soon, I have a decent amount of work to do, Germany is coming up and I think it's going to be expensive and I'm worried that I won't have any money when I get home, I miss people back at home though, and other stuff is going on. It's probably what usually happens when there isn't much time left here. I hope the rest of my trips are fun though, and everything runs very smoothly.



I have to do some research for a paper now though.



Miss and love

Productive Day

So I've been feeling the pressure of all the work I have to do before I leave here. I can't believe that I leave in about 23 days. It's unreal! I have no idea where the past 2 months went. I have so much homework to do though because silly me waited till the last minute to do most of it :)

Today though, I did so much. I finished one of my 2,000 word papers yay! But I went to class, went to the market to get another piece of luggage for all my souveniers, got some lunch, fixed my camera (because I thought it broke but I just needed a new battery), got a haircut, went to ASDA, baked a cake and big cookie for my friends, wrote my paper, watched a movie, and finished my paper. I know it doesn't seem like a lot, but it took forever to do all of that today.

This weekend we have a field trip to Windsor Castle where the queen lives. It should be nice. I don't know what else we're doing on that trip, but it'll be cool. Some friends and I booked tickets to go see Rainman on Saturday in London. It's that movie with Tom Cruise, but it was made into a play, and Josh Hartnett is the main character in it, so hopefully we'll get to see him and possibly meet him at the stage door after the show.

Nothing else is really going on though. Before I know it, I'm going to have to start packing my bags :(

Can't wait to see all of you though!

ROMA!

So I just got back from Rome about 3 hours ago. It was INCREDIBLE!

Our flight left on Friday morning at 6:10am which meant our cab picked us up at 1:30am. The 6 of us stayed up and played cards until the cab came to take us to the airport so you can kind of see how this weekend started off. We were SO tired. Of course we were about 10 minutes into the cab drive and Christina found out she forgot her wallet...classic. We arrived in Rome around 10am and were welcomed by a massive protest of 100,000 Itialian students. They were supposedly protesting because the government is changing their education by segregating Itialian students and a whole other bunch of stuff. Friday was the largest protest of them all, and lucky us were there to see it all happening. It was scary just because we had no idea where we were, what was going on, where our hostel was etc. It was just chaos. There were even students carrying a coffin in the riots so it was a little bit scary at first.

On a better note though, the rest of the weekend was amazing. Once we found our hostel, we walked around Rome just looking at the buildings and shops. We then had some lunch which was delicious (spaghettie and bolognese) then made our way back to the hostel. We were so tired we all agreed to take a little nap, but none of us woke up so we ended up taking a 4 hour nap haha. By time we woke up it was getting dark out, so we walked to the Colosseum since it was literally like a 7 minute walk from where we were staying. It was so big and pretty! I got some great pictures, but it still gives it no justice to what it's like standing there (kind of like Paris). We then walked around Rome until we were tired. Rome is SO beautiful at night. We also bought some gelato which was so so good.

Saturday, we started our day off with a tour of the Vatican. It was hectic at first because we didn't know where our meeting point was, and I accidentally booked my friend Amber's tour with a different company so it was crazy at first, but things worked out. Anyway...OH MY GOSH! SO COOL! It's just mind blowing in there. The art and museum areas with sculptures are amazing, and the Sistine Chapel...no words can describe. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but of course I managed to sneak one in. The Sistine Chapel was sooooooooo pretty. I couldn't believe I was actually standing there looking at all the work in person. We also were able to see where the Pope comes out to give his blessing to the people of Roma, and were also given a tour of St. Peter's Basilica which was HUGE. It was so pretty. My mind is just in a daze right now because I'm trying to remember everything we saw, but I can't seem to remember every piece of artwork etc.

After the Vatican tour, we grabbed some lunch and walked around going into whatever shop we could. There were so many shops whether they were tourist shops or clothing shops. We then met up with my friend from high school who is studying abroad in Rome, Rachael Chesley. Her and her friends were so nice to show us around to the Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, some more shops, and a delicious gelato place. Trevi Fountain was so beautiful. I got some really excellent pictures of it also. After Rachael's little tour, we made our way back to the hostel and grabbed some dinner at this delicious restaurant next to our hostel where I ate bruschetta and gnocchi (yummy). After that, it was time to pass out and get ready for the next day.

On Sunday, we had a tour of the Colosseum. Our tour guide was interesting. His English was alright, but his accent was so thick and the headphones we were given were so crappy that it was hard to understand him at times. The Colosseum was SO cool. It wasn't really what I imagined to look like inside; I don't know if that's a good or bad thing, but it was still so awesome to see it. We then were given a tour of the Roman Forum. I enjoyed that tour so much. The Roman Forum is basically where Rome started, but now it's all ruins. It was very very interesting. After that we grabbed a quick lunch then made our way around Rome. Of course, we did some more shopping, saw the Trevi Fountain during the day time, came across this spray paint artist on the streets, and accidentally ran into the changing of the guards ceremony. That was very interesting to see too. I took a few videos of it because it was so long, but I'm glad we got to see that. We then made our way to the hostel to drop off some bags and went back out to the markets.

The markets there are kind of cheap, but the men selling sunglasses, scarves, and random souvenier items are so funny. I was looking at a pair of sunglasses, and the guy started with 20 euros, but I got him down to 5 euros. I still didn't buy them because I didn't want them, but it was just funny how low they can be brought down.

That night we had a Rome at Night tour. It was nice just because we were able to see things that we hadn't seen earlier, and our tour guide was so animated. It was supposed to be a scary tour with ghost stories, but it wasn't scary at all. There were so many cool stories the guide told us, and I even recorded one. By then end of that tour, we were so tired that we made our way back to the hostel to pack our things.

Today was so sad just because we had to leave :( None of us wanted to go at all. We were able to see the Piazza Navona which was very pretty, and I bought my mom an expensive gift from there :) but that was the last thing we saw really. We had to make our way back to the airport and come back to England's cold weather. Our flight there and back was amazing though because we were above the clouds and were able to see the sunrise/set. I took some awesome pictures of it. It was so beautiful. The weather in Rome was perfect; I was even able to wear shorts one day. Oh, I miss Rome already...I'm not sure if I like Rome or Paris better...tough call.

I can't believe I come home in 25 days though. IT'S CRAZY! I have SO SO SO SO much to do still, and I'm kind of starting to freak out because there is only so much time left to do it ahhhhh...It's late though, and I need to go to bed because I have class tomorrow and I'm sleep deprived.

Miss and love

3 Months

It's been 3 months since my dad passed away. I'm proud of myself though because I haven't shed a tear! Time to move on; I know he's looking down on me and proud to see all that I'm doing while I'm here.

I still miss him a lot though...

London Baby

Our group had a field trip to London this Friday. We we're taken to the Tower of London where we were given a tour inside, and also had the chance to see the royal jewels which include the largest diamond in the world (although we weren't allowed to take pictures); after that we had a tour of the Shakespears Globe Theatre. It was fun, but we were given a lot of time at the Tower of London so it got kind of boring. The theatre was really cool, but scaffolding was all around it and inside it too, so it wasn't as amazing as I thought it would be.

After our field trip, a few friends and I stayed in London for the entire weekend. When we left the field trip we made our way to the London Eye. We first had dinner at this Asian place right outside the London Eye, then of course we went on the London Eye. It was so nice. It moved slowly, but it only lasted 30 minutes, and we saw some pretty amazing views of London. I'm upset my camera doesn't take that great of pictures at night because I wish I could have captured how pretty it was for you all to imagine when you see the pictures. After the Eye, we made our way to the hostel. We had the room to ourselves since there were 8 of us so it was really nice. The shower was absolutely disgusting though, so I kind of smell right now since I haven't shower all weekend, but I'm going to do that after I finish telling you about London.

When we left the hostel, we took a cab to Piccadilly Circus where there are a bunch of bars and shops. The main reason we went there was because we made reservations to go into this bar that is made completely out of ice! It was SO cool! To be honest, it wasn't really what I imagined it to be, but it was well worth it. They gave us warm poncho looking kind of things to keep us warm, and our glasses for our drinks were made of ice, the chairs/tables were made of ice, bascially everything was made out of ice. We were only allowed 40 minutes in there though which was good because by the time we got out my feet were so cold. The ice bar was amazing though.

We then made our way back to the hostel where we attempted to plan the next day. On our way back, we had to walk past Buckingham Palace, and it was at night so there were guards everywhere, but it was kind of scary because we past up these two guards who were walking around the palace with guns in the hands...it was scary. Anyway, prior to that day, we had purchased tickets for this bus company where it's like a double decker and the top of the bus is open. It's really for tourists so they can see all of the London. Little did we know though, this weekend was really busy in London with parades. Many streets were blocked off, and the traffic was crazy. It was definitely not worth it because we kept getting lost and not seeing the places we wanted to be at. Saturday, most of our time was spent on the bus trying to figure our where the hell the driver was taking us. The good thing was we literally saw all of London because we were on the bus so long, the bad thing was that it was raining and silly us chose to sit at the top of the bus :) Stupid mistake...good memory...The main attraction we saw that day was Harrods which is kind of like a Macy's but way prettier and possibly bigger. It was really nice there; very packed, but very nice. It was funny because I was going down the escalator, and there was this opera music going on; as I was going down I went past this lady who was actually singing with the music. It was so weird just because this random lady was singing opera in the middle of all the escalators haha.

After that confusing day, we made our way back to the hostel where we changed into nicer clothes and went out to dinner. We ate at this Italian place, and it was DELICIOUS. Best Italian food I've ever had! (well hopefully the best will be in Rome when I go this weekend, but best thus far) Ugh, it was so good. Then we all went to go see Wicked! It was incredible as always! I took 5 videos so I'm going to try to upload them when I get a chance :) I love wicked so much; it was so so good, but I still haven't decided if it was better than Chicago. I'm thinking Chicago might be better, but I'm still contemplating...hmmmmm...It was so cool though because we met up with a friend, Rachel Chesley, who I went to high school with who is studying abroad in Rome and was visiting London that same weekend. She is going to show us around Rome when we're there. I never thought I would see her there; it was so nice to see her!

We were all so pooped after Wicked that we went back to the hostel and tried to plan Sunday's adventures and pass out. Sunday (today), we woke up early and walked to Buckingham Palace (which is what I'm standing in front of in the picture). The flag was up, so that meant the queen was in there! After that we walked through Green Park which was very pretty, and then made our way to Big Ben/Parliament/Westminster Abbey. The soldier's parade was also going on, so after we got our pictures of those places we went to watch the parade. It was alright. We only went because we wanted to catch a glimpse of the queen, but then someone told us her car wasn't going to drive past us so we were really upset :( They had a minute of silence for all those who died serving their country, and it was really cool just because there were SO SO many people there just silent for an entire minute. Very powerful.

We then walked to the bus stop and tried to make our way to King's Cross Station where Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter is. By the time we got to the correct bus stop after switching busses 2 times, the bus that was suppossed to take us there had stopped running. Please take note: if you ever visit London, do NOT purchase those tour bus tickets; please rely on the tube since it is way more reliable and fun to use. So then we had to buy an all day pass to use the tube to get the King's Cross...UGH! When we got to King's Cross, the platform was nothing like I imagined and nothing like the movie...it seriously looked like they picked a random wall and and threw a sign up there with half of a pushing cart cemented to the wall...retarded...

We had quite a bit of time before our coach left to take us back to Canterbury, so we made our way to Princess Diana's Memorial. Of course, it was under construction when we finally got there...great...

London is absolutely not what I pictured it to be...as my friend Nina put it "London is like Paris and NYC had a baby" There is old historical buildings and new strange buildings all over the place. It's nothing like the movies make it seem. Don't get me wrong, I had a fun time this weekend, but I think the bad weather on Saturday and the tour bus being a piece of crap kind of ruined it a little bit. I wish we would have just relied on using the tube. Paris is 100 times better than London FYI.

Anyway, that's about it for London. I think I'll only go back one more time hopefully to see a football game or show before I leave.

I'm going to go shower and then watch a movie with Emma.

Miss and love you all!

Update

Yesterday was Guy Fawke's day. It is kind of like 4th of July with all the fireworks, but theirs is a little different in meaning. Some guy tried to blow up Pariliament, and they caught him and burned him at the stake. Usually there is a big bonfire with a fake man being burnt in it, but I didn't get to see it :( A few friends and I went to the University of Kent because they had free fireworks there, but there was no big bonfire so I was a little upset. The fireworks were pretty though, and then we went on a ride they had there.

Today is my amazing British roommate Emma's birthday. I just got done baking a cake and decorating the kitchen. We're all planning on doing a little drinking here and then making our way to a pub. I have to be good though because I have to get up early tomorrow!

Tomorrow, we have a field trip to London. A few friends and I are staying in a hostel for the weekend. We're going to see Wicked on Saturday, and tomorrow we're planning on going to this bar that's made all out of ice then go on the London Eye. Hopefully we're able to see everything that we want to see. My friend Rachel that is studying abroad in Rome right now is visiting London this weekend, so I'm hoping we can meet up and have dinner or something because next weekend I'm going to Rome, and she might show us around!

All is well though. I miss everyone at home and my car. I was able to catch up on all my Desperate Housewives episodes so I feel SO much better now. It's so good. YAY OBAMA WON! Wish I could have been home to go to Grant Park and here his speech. I watched it online, and it was really good.

I'm hungry now so I'm going to go eat.

Love and miss!

p.s. that's a photo of my amazing roommate Emma and I watching the fireworks :) I'm gonna miss her so much :(

INTERNET

WE GOT INTERNET TODAY!

OH MY GOSH COME SKYPE WITH ME!!!

SKYPE NAME-jtbania

Halloween

So on Wednesday, a few British friends (Emma, Rob, Tara, Nat) and I went to Thorpe Park. It's their "Six Flags Great America" basically, but ours is way better. It was absolutely packed. We got there around 2pm and left at 11pm; we were only able to go on 4 rides and eat dinner during that amount of time. It was insane. All the lines were about 2 1/2-3 1/2 hours long so we had no choice, but it was worth it. We made the mistake of going on a water ride first because it was the shortest line (obviously because it was cold outside), and my back was wet the rest of the time we were there :(

We also went in 2 haunted houses. They were so well decorated and actually scary. The first one we went in, Asylum, was scary, but it wasn't that scary for me because the guys that were behind us were being stupid and kind of ruining the scary part of it by saying stupid shit that just ruined the scary mood. It was really creepy though because it was so loud and strobe lights were going on constantly. The second house was called 7, and it was about the seven deadly sins, but there were also some references to the movie also. This house was a little more scary for me because I was at the back of the line of people when we went in so at one point, one of the actors in the house came up behind me and made like a cat hissing noise right in my ear, and it freaked me out. Then my backpack accidentally hit the fire door, but I thought that some actor was about to jump out at us so I screamed at that point too but then realized that I had done it haha.



By the time we finished the haunted houses, it was pretty late so most of the lines were emptying, but the park was about to close. We had enough time to go on one roller coaster, and it kind of reminded me of Batman at 6 Flags.



Thursday, it was my turn to cook dinner for everybody so I went all out and made a nice big roast. It was so good! Thanks for the help/recipe mama. Then we started to play a few drinking games and made our way to Chill. It was such a good night because it was raining outside so Chill was practically empty whereas it usually is so packed you can't move. We had a lot of fun!



Yesterday (Halloween), was an alright day. I woke up from the sound of someone pounding on my door at 9:45am only to find out that it was the head warden from the area where I live. He was warning me and two of my other roommates that someone had complained about the noise again, and this was our last warning because the next time it will either be a fine or we'll be kicked out. So yesterday kind of sucked in the beginning. We all know that the Romanian girl Julia complained about us, and it really is pissing me off because she is the only one that has a problem about anything in the house. She should just move out because now we have to be dead silent at my house for the rest of the time I'm here. I feel so bad for my roomie Emma who is here till July because she can't be loud at all for that amount of time she is here or she could be kicked out. So stupid...I hate Julia so much...ugh!



Anyway, I dressed up as a vampire for Halloween. It was a lot of fun, but something really bad happened that night that I can't really talk about on here. So I'll have to save that for story time when I get home :)



It's been raining all day today. I'm just staying in for tonight and going to watch scary movies with some friends. The election is coming up now! Hope you're all voting for Obama! :)

PS

Just booked a trip to Germany!

And a tour of the Colosseum/Night Tour of Rome!

YAY

I'm scared to check my bank balance now...ick

Stonehenge and Harry Potter

This past weekend we all went on a tour of a few cities in England and made our way to Stonehenge. The first day (Saturday) was quite a let down, not only because I was hungover and felt sick all day, but also because they basically drove us around, let us off the coach for 30 min, then took us to another town to do the same thing. Our first stop was in Oxford, and that was alright. We got to stand in front of the library that they filmed some of Harry Potter where he used the invisibility cloak. We couldn't go in though because it's closed to the public all the time. We made our way to Oxford college's hall where they eat, and that's used as the great hall in Harry Potter. When we got there though, it didn't open until 1pm, and we had to be on the bus at 1pm so it really sucked.

After Oxford, we made our way through other little towns. They were pretty, but there wasn't really anything to do. I guess it was just more of a sight seeing tour of pretty places. The next day was a lot better. We went to Bath where the Roman Baths are. It was 9 pounds to get in so I didn't go in them, but it was a really pretty city. We got to see Jane Austin's home and drive around the area where Kate Winslet lives. I got a bun from this restaurante that used to be this super old house. It was SO good. I also bought this homemade cinnamon butter they make there...delicious. Then we made our way to Lacock. It was really exciting because I got to see this area where they filmed some more Harry Potter. In the first movie where Harry is holding Hedwig in the little courtyard, and it's all snowy...that's where I was. That was exciting. I can't wait to watch the movie again because I can say I was at those places!

We then made our way to Stonehenge. It really wasn't what I imagined it to be. It really is a stack of huge rocks in the middle of fields and sheep. It was cool to see it, but I think the reason that it wasn't that big for me was because no one knows what it really is. I listened to the audio tour as I made my way around it, and they were listing some myths about how it came to be the way it is, but it all just doesn't make sense. I don't know; it was nice seeing it, but it just got me upset that I really didn't know what I was looking at or why.

I'm at the library now. I'm hoping to get 2 of these big papers out of the way so I can have a blast for the rest of the time that I'm here. We're going to have a Halloween party this weekend. I don't even know what I'm going to be so I have to do a little shopping sometime this week too.

That's about it though. Miss and love you all so much!

Whatevz.

You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you.

-Frederick Buechner, Telling the Truth

I found that quote in the book The Shack that my lovely friend Terese bought for me to read over here. I miss her so much too! I thought it basically said what I would say to all of you back at home; it took the words right out of my mouth so I had to post it on here. It was an excellent book, and I can't wait to see if they make a movie out of it. It definitely left me with the impression that things could always be worse then what they are.

Today, I received a card from my mom, and it was so sweet; I didn't realize she missed me that much! Love and miss you momma! The card made my eyes tear up :(

I was supposed to see this comedy hypnotist at school right now, but since I had to register for classes, I would only have been there for about 30 minutes, and it would have cost me 2 pound 50 so it wasn't worth it. I can't believe I have to register for classes for next semester already! I'll be home before you know it people!

Our field trip this weekend is a 2 day trip to Codswold, Bath, Oxford, Lacock, and Stonehenge. I'm very excited for it too! It should be lots of fun.

I don't really have anything else to say. I read that quote from that book like 3 weeks ago and kept forgetting to post it on here, but I remembered to bring the book with me and post it finally!

Miss and love you all so much! I'm posting another picture from France on here. It's me and the Mona Lisa! Gross picture of me though :(

PARIS!!!

There is absolutely no word that can describe Paris. The words that come to mind would include, incredible, insane, unbelievable, beautiful, shocking etc. Even those words combined don't amout up to what it actually is like. The pictures I took are nothing compared to what it looks like when you stand there. Paris is the best place I've been to in my entire life so far. Rome has A LOT of competition. I took 388 pictures/videos. I wish I would have been there for a week because it really felt like we were there for 2 hours. It went by way too fast. I'm going to try to tell you what happened before I forget.

I was planning on waking up at 5:40am on Friday so I could take my time and pack, shower, eat a good breakfast, but that night we were up till 3:00am talking and hanging out. I ended up turning off my alarm and not waking back up. It was my job to call the taxi for all of us to the train station and have the cab waiting for us at 6:40am, but my friend Christina (who leant me a bigger memory card otherwise I would have had hardly any pictures) called me at 6:39am, and I was still sleeping. So I didn't get to take a shower or eat breakfast, but somehow I managed to pack and get downstairs in 10 minutes...a miracle. I also almost forgot to bring my camera, but luckily Amber reminded me and ran upstairs to get it while I was running around the kitchen. I would have cried and bought a new one if I forgot it haha.

We took a bus to a ferry to a bus and arrived at the Eiffel Tower around 6pm. The traffic was horrible. So it did take quite awhile to get there. The ferry made me sea sick, but I didn't throw up thank goodness.

When we arrived, we walked out of our bus to the sight of the amazing Eiffel Tower. I took so many pictures of it, and I still feel like it wasn't enough. We then took a boat tour down a river that lead us through basically most of Paris and all the sights. We then got to go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower by elevator. It was an amazing sight to see all of Paris. Words literally don't exist to describe what I saw; I become silent and stutter on words that could attempt to amount what it was like. Lily, Angie, and I took the stairs down from the second level. I felt like I lost control of my legs because they seemed to start going at their own pace. The lights were also shining in ours eyes so it felt like I was going to fall. After that, we waited for the tower to light up and sparkle. I took a video of it so you can all see. We then had a bus tour around Paris then went to our hotel. The hotel room was very nice. I forgot to take a picture of it though :(. We had the opportunity to go out to eat (and this was around midnight) so we ate near the Bastille. I thought I ordered a burger for 3 euros, but it ended up actually being 13 euros! I also got a margharita and a shot of tequila so my bill was 28 euros!!! INSANE! I couldn't believe it. On our way back, Jen, Shannon, Brenden, and I went to a sex shop for a little bit, and it was weird. We were only there for like 5 minutes because it was kind of creepy. On our way back, Brenden and I imitated the Rocky scene where he runs up all those stairs to the top, but we ran up Palais Omnisports of Bercy. Then we finally passed out by 2 in the morning.

Saturday, we started our day out by going to a church called Sacre Coeur of Montmartre. There were SO many stairs! My legs were killing me, but the view and church was absolutely incredible. AH! Amazing. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside of the church, but I bought a post card of what it looked like when you walk in. It was a HUGE mosaic of Jesus and angels etc. I also lit a candle for my dad there because it seemed like the right place at the right time. From there we went down a street with a bunch of shops, and I bought some goodies; from there we went to Notre Dame. It kind of reminded me of the cathedral in Washing D.C, but the back of it was so beautiful. We studied the Notre Dame in a Freshman art class I took, so it was amazing to see the actualy architecture of the flying buttresses etc. in front of my own eyes. We also had the opportunity of driving through the tunnel where Princess Diana had her tragic accident. It was a really short tunnel so they had to be going so fast for that to happen. We made our way to the Palace of Versailles. OH MY GOSH...I just sat here at the computer for like 2 minutes because I can't think of what to say about it. Ummmm...unbelievable, incredible, beautiful and more. The gardens stretch over 2,000+ acres. It was sooooo pretty. The pictures give it absolutely no justice. I can't believe people lived there. Obviously we didn't get to see the whole place since there are more than 700 rooms, but we went on a tour of a main part. The ceilings were amazing. It looked fake almost. The only thing I was upset about that day was that they had a bunch of art work by Jeffrey Koon, and I hate him now. His art it SO stupid. It made me REALLY upset that his work was there while there was so much history and insanely beautiful masterpieces surrounding us. When we went into the gardens, Amy, Mandy, and I got some of the best ice cream I ever tasted, and we walked around the gardens. It was so pretty. There were some areas with these huge hedges, and it reminded me of the Tri-Wizard tournament in Harry Potter haha. Anyway, after Versailles we were dropped off in the middle of the city. I just want to say that I am so proud of me, Jen, Nina, Brenden, and Christina because we navigated our way around Paris like professionals. We walked to the Opera House and Church of Mary Magdalyn (I also had the opportunity to "step into our map" like Joey does on FRIENDS while they are in London to find out which way to go haha...by the way it worked); then we walked to the Arc de Triomphe and climbed the spiral staircase of hundreds of stairs to get to the top. I think I enjoyed that view more than the Eiffel Tower because we were lower to the ground and got a closer view of things but seemed to see just as far off into the distance. Then we ate crepes and baquettes in front of the Moulin Rouge. It wasn't as big as I thought to be honest, but still very cool. There were a lot of sex shops around there, but we didn't bother going into any of them. We then took the metro back to our hotel until we heard the the Louvre was lit up, and Nina wanted to see Pompidou (which is a building where the architect designed it so the plumbing and parts of a building that are hidden in walls are actually shown on the outside so it's kind of inside out). This was after midnight, but I got this huge adrenaline rush, and Nina, Jen, Brenden, and I ran to the metro and took it to the Louvre. I felt like I was in the DaVinci Code. The pyramids lit up were unbelievably cool. AH! So amazing. Then we made our way to the Pompidou and took some pictures then walked all the way back to our hotel which was like 45 minutes away. We made really good time though, and it was absolutely worth it.

Today (Sunday), we had our last breakfast in Paris then made our way to the Louvre. We only had a little less that 3 hours in there, but we saw the Mona Lisa (I took a video), and other random art. The ceilings in there were incredible. I was walking around with my head turning in all these directions; I'm surprised it didn't snap off. Nina, Jen, and I went back to the Pompidou to get a picture of it during the day, and then we made our way back and took more pictures of the Louvre during the day. We then made our way back to the coach and drove back to the ferry. Before that though we stopped at a wine shop, and I got 2 bottles of wine and some chocolates. Hopefully I won't open them and will save them for when I get back home :). The drive took FOREVER though; I was getting so pissed off. The ride back to England on the Ferry was so windy and wobbly that I felt like I was drunk. We finally made it back home around 8pm, and we ate dinner together then rushed to the computers so I could tell you guys all about it before I forgot.

I think that might be it. We saw SO much, but I think those are the highlights. I can't wait to show you all my pictures!

I love Paris. Best city yet by far. I have to go back.

p.s. I took that picture by the way; my camera is amazing. If you don't know what it is you need to be slapped.

YAY

I'M GOING TO PARIS TOMORROW! I'm so freaking excited too! It's going to be amazing. I'm really excited for the tour of Versailles or however you spell that. It's the castle where I think Mary Antoinette lived etc...So cool.

The State of Matter show I went to on Monday was...stupid...I was so excited for it, and it was basically worse than an episode of So You Think You Can Dance. It was just these 8 guys dancing the whole time, and then it would get really cool where they would start to breakdance, but then some would start to do ballet or just bad interpretive dance, and it would just go downhill. It was a waste of money, but it was something to do.

Tuesday was a really good day because I got my care package from my momma. Makes me miss her even more, but there were plenty of wonderful things in there. Thanks momma!

Last night, we had a little beer pong party then went out to BAA Bars. I love that place so much. I had a blast. This morning though my roommate Emma called me because we all got letters under our door about being too loud, and if we keep being loud we could possibly be kicked out. It has to be our one roommate Julia from Romania that complained. Pisses me off...she is gone the whole entire day and comes home between 9pm-12am then expects everyone to just be quiet. It's not even like we're having parties everyday; sometimes we could just be hanging out in the kitchen with friends after dinner and be talking and she'll get mad and come down and yell at us. I think she should just move out, but the next time I see her I'm just going to whisper when I talk to her because she seems to have ears like a dog if she hears us from all the way on the third floor...ugh

Anyway, it's kind of upsetting to see my planner and how the rest of my time is spent here because it's just going to fly by since there is basically some trip every weekend. Oh well...I'm definitely coming back here in the future. Hopefully some of my friends will visit Chicago so I can show them around too!

That's about it for now. I have class at 5, and then I'm going to go to ASDA and see if they have little shampoo travel bottles or something, then pack, then pass out because we have to be at the train station at 7:45am tomorrow!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend while I'm in Paris...jealous? Cause you should be.

2 months and London

This past Friday was 2 months since my dad passed away. It was also my mom's 46th birthday, and our first trip to London...talk about a day of mixed emotions. To be honest, there isn't a day when I don't think about him or that day when everything happened. It just seems to replay in my head constantly, and I can't make it stop. What I would give just to talk to him on the phone and let him know about everything going on...indescribable.

On a better note though, London was a lot of fun. We left in the morning at 8am and I didn't get home till 1:30am. My feet basically felt like they were bleeding by time I got home haha. SO MUCH WALKING! Once we arrived there, we were given a tour of London. We didn't get everywhere (like Big Ben and Buckingham Palace), but we will on our other tours. I also got to see this area where they filmed part of Harry Potter where he walks into the pub to get into Diagon Alley. It looked kind of stupid in the picture I took, but you had to be there I guess. We weren't able to have a tour of St. Paul's Cathedral because they cancelled all the tours that day due to the filming. When we were heading back to the bus though we walked past Jude Law and didn't even realize it, but then when we did I turned around and got a picture of his back, and I was screaming "HEY JUDE...HEY JUDE", but he didn't turn around :(. So I got a picture of his back haha. Since the tour was cancelled we went to the British Museum and saw the Rosetta Stone and so many other amazing things. I forgot to upload my pictures otherwise I would post one on this blog.

After the museum tour, the dad of a girl in our group had a play going at a theatre where we were. It was called "Fat Pig", and it was hilarious. It was a very very good play. I think it's also playing in New York, but although he is from Illinois and lives there, he doesn't have his plays there I guess because theatre isn't as big as other places. The play was really good though.

After the play we had to rush to the tube, and that was the first time I used the tube. The escalator to get down to the tube was SO steep. I felt like I was going to fall! I also felt like I was in Harry Potter because it reminded me of the scene where Mr. Weasley couldn't get through the gates...anyway...Then we couldn't find the bus, but it was so exciting, and I felt like I was on the Amazing Race tv show or something just because we had no idea where we were, what we were doing, and we were running everywhere. It was a huge adrenaline rush.

Saturday we had another party then went to 2 pubs and called it a night. Again, it was a lot of fun, but that was about it.

Today I tried to play football (soccer) with this girl (Christina) in front of our flats, but I kicked the ball to hard and it went over the fence so we only played for like 10 minutes haha. Amy, our british friend, made a nice big dinner for all of us, and now I'm here, and then I'm going to go back and read my ass off.

Tomorrow I'm going to the library at noon and working on all my homework till 7pm and then going to the show Nina, Jenn, and a few others and I booked a few weeks ago. It's called State of Matter and has all the crazy acrobatics and stuff going on. It should be exciting!

This weekend I'm going to Paris! Can't wait!

I still can't believe I don't have interent. It's really pissing me off because once I get it I can chat on skype with many of you!

That's about it though. Miss and love you all!

Sweet

I just got done booking my flight and hostel for Rome. We are planning on spending 4 days there Nov. 14-17. The whole Milan idea didn't work out because it was too expensive :(.

On Monday night, a group of us went to Chill night club. It was so much fun, so packed, and it was neon night. Everyone was dressed in bright colors and there were a lot of black lights in there. Seeing that I don't own anything very bright colored my roomie bought this neon hair dye that lasts for the night, so my hair was green, and I looked ridiculous haha. It was still a lot of fun though.

I'm so excited for this Friday. It's our 3rd field trip, and we're going to London. One thing we're going to see is St. Paul's Cathedral, and they are currently filming the Sherlock Home movie which stars Jude Law. All other tours were cancelled due to the movie except ours and a few others, so we've been told that there is a VERY good chance we might see him. That'd be so cool. I don't think I've ever really seen a famous person haha.

I have to go though because we're about to book this 4 hour tour of the Vatican!

Miss you all

Untitled

So I put the first british song that I can remember hearing on my myspace: www.myspace.com/jeffbania

I love that song.

I'm at the library almost ready to leave. I've been here for awhile. I just wanted to finish my paper so I could go out tonight to club Chill!

Nothing is really new to be honest. Just trying to keep up with the homework. I can't wait for this weekend because our trip is to London, and I'm staying in a hostel till Sunday. Holler

Now go listen to that song!

Last Night

So last night was simply amazing. We had a party at our flat and played beer pong/flippy cup, and it was packed. I had so much fun! It was very cool just because so many people here have either never played it or never heard of it so it's funny to see them play for their first time. A lot happened, some of which I can't even remember happening ;) but all in all it was an awesome night. I would write about some stories, but it might be inappropriate for everyone to be able to read ;). Everyone had a good time though and nothing was broken!

After class on Thursday, H&M had a discount sale going on for students so a group of us went over there. I got a new jacket just because the one I brought isn't very dressy, and people here are very dressed up usually. I love it though; it's so nice. I also got 2 shirts and a zip-up, but I'm returning the zip-up. I also got another back pack that would be better for the traveling I'm going to be doing, and a new pair of shoes because the ones I brought aren't "allowed" in clubs. They don't really want light shoes/gym shoes. Whatever, so I spent a decent amount of money, but I needed that stuff.

I just booked a trip to Scotland. The tour takes us to Edinburgh, Loch Ness, and Highlands. We also have a day to do whatever we want so were going to visit Mary King's Close which is basically a preserved underground city that is supposedly haunted. I go December 5th so it's going to be very cold, but I have my new jacket to keep me warm! I'm just worried because finals week is right after that, but it's my last big trip, and it's right before I go home too.

I need to do some more research on Italy. I'm pretty sure I'm going, but I just have to look around for prices on flights and trains. A few friends and I are planning on flying into Milan to visit my friend that studied at my high school, then taking a train to Rome to visit a friend who is studying abroad there. I can't wait!

I'm reading so much...ugh...to read a Shakespear book by yourself in one week not knowing what you should be looking for or what to be reading for is very annoying. The professors here are basically just guides for their students. They just tell us to read some book before the next class, and then you get an assignment. I don't know, I'm still getting used to it.

I think that's about it. Today was basically a chill out/do homework day because of last night.

Miss and love you all!

YAY

So whoever is praying for me back at home...keep doing it because it's obviously working. Things have been going much smoother over here now. I'm only worried about planning my classes for Spring at ISU right now. Other than that, things seem to be going very well.

I woke up this morning to the loud clunkings of the men working outside. I finally got up and realized that they were putting grass in and also installing internet!!!!! I should have internet in my flat by Monday hopefully. I will be able to talk to some of you over Skype finally!!!

I've never read so much in my life. I think I'm juggling 4 books right now for my classes, and there are more to read soon. That's not even including the papers I have to write. Ick...I really don't like it just because I'm not going to be able to actually enjoy the books.

I didn't finish booking my Italy trip yet, but once that's done I have to start researching Amsterdam. I'm hoping to go right after Halloween and stay there for 2 days. It should be fun!

I can't remember if I mentioned this, but they sell hot dogs in a can here. My roommate and I were shopping, and we really had a taste for a hot dog. We were in the cold food section and couldn't find them so we finally asked somebody where the hot dogs were, and he led us to the canned food sections. I bought them anyway and tried them. They aren't bad at all. They still taste like hot dogs.

We're planning on having another party tomorrow but at my place this time. I made a friend over here who djs, and he is going to bring his music over and dj for us. My new roomie is going to bring her friends though so I think our house might be kind of full. It'll be fun though. Tequila is so expensive over here! A bottle of Jose Cuervo was $32...CRAZY

I have my American Dream class in 20 minutes though so I better head out.

Peace

Things are good

So I've finally had all my classes, and I have a shit ton of reading to do. Not just reading in textbooks, but actually reading in novels such as Great Expectations, The Canterbury Tales, King Lear, Dr. Faustos, A Passage to India, a lot of poems, and more. That's what I get for taking 3 literature classes at one time! So I've been reading a lot basically.

My flat is full now! We got our last roommate yesterday. Her name is Emma and she is loud and British and I love it. There are 2 Americans, 2 Romanians, and 2 Brits. The house is still very quiet though, and Emma and I are really the only people who have been loud and socializing a lot. There is one other guy than me, but he never comes out of his room!

Oh well. Yesterday was very stressful, but things went so much better today. I got my last book (hopefully the last one), and it's HUGE.

So I'm in this management office and it started to smell really bad like hydrogen peroxide. So everyone started to smell their computers haha, and it turns out it's my adapter. Great...it never happened in my room so I wonder if it's just the power surge I was using. I don't know, but my battery is going to go out, and I have a lot to do still on the internet (like booking a trip to Italy!)

Miss and love you all

New Address

Here is the correct address that you can send me goodies too (and hurry!)

FOR A FULL TIME STUENT STUDYING IN THE UK

JEFFREY THOMAS BANIA

CARE OF-INTERNATIONAL OFFICE

AG46

CANTERBURY CHRISTCHURCH UNIVERSITY

NORTH HOLMES ROAD

CANTERBURY

KENT

CT1 1QL

ENGLAND

I was probably in the worst mood I've been in since I've been here this morning. It started last night just because everything kind of added up to my boiling point last night. I didn't know if I had a class today, so I had to come to the library to use the computers early enough to figure it out on my own. It took 10 minutes just to get onto a computer. I'm trying to book trips, but it's hard because I still don't have the internet. I don't know if I can go to all the trips I want because of classes/homework. My toilet doesn't work. My hands are dry as hell. I need to start planning my schedule for Spring at ISU. I don't know; I'm just complaining.

So now that I've figured out my class and that it would transfer, I feel a lot better. I was just really upset not knowing if I would miss it and be behind on work etc.

Whatever

Sundays...

So I guess Sundays are not a good day to travel in England since stores and mostly everything close by 4pm.

A few friends and I went up to Whitstable again for the markets, and then we made our way to Sandwich because we thought it was a cool name for a city and heard that it was fun there. Since we got to Sandwich at about 4-ish all the stores were closed, and there wasn't anything to do besides eat. Whitstable was a lot of fun though. I had one of the most delicious sandwiches there, and we sat on the beach for awhile where we watched little children picking at the remains of dead crabs that washed to shore haha.

Nothing spectacular happened today though. Some friends and I are starting to book trips or plays. I just booked "State of Matter" which is a show with 8 people where they do crazy acrobatics, "gravity defying moves", break dancing etc. I'm going to that on October 13th once I get back from London.

That's about all that happened today. I learned not to travel on Sundays, and Sandwich isn't as fun as it sounds...I forgot the sheet with my address again, but hopefully I'll remember it tomorrow. See ya!

Here we go...

First of all...DON'T SEND ANYTHING TO THE ADDRESS I POSTED! It's not complete and they didn't tell me that. I would put the correct address up right now, but I forgot to bring the sheet of paper with me :( Things have been going very well over here. I love it so much I don't want to leave! I will come back though so don't freak out.

So I didn't end up going on the pub tour on Wednesday due to financial reasons. Things are way too expensive over here (I know I've said that a lot already but I can't get over it). So that day I think a bunch of us cooked dinner and watched Superbad instead.

I've been going into town a lot due to the million stores that are over there. I've probably been into town 50 times already, and there are so many little shops that you just don't notice at all (and sometimes those are the best ones). I've been looking for gifts to bring people back at home, but I don't really know what to get. I still have plenty of time to figure that out though.

On Thursday I had another class entitled "The American Dream". Hopefully I ace that class, but it does seem very interesting to study the American dream according to a foreigner's perspective. The first assignment we were given was to read the MLK speech "I have a dream". There are 2 decent size papers that I have to write too, but that should be easy seeing that I love writing.

I'm going to see Wicked in London! I bought my ticket for November 8. I'm so excited, and it will be so funny to listen to their accents in the production. Some friends and I also found this flyer with a bunch of plays/musicals etc. going on at the Marlowe theatre so we are going to see a few shows over there too since it's about a 15 minute walk from where I live.

Thursday we also went into town, and I made a friend with a hobo. We stopped for lunch at this baquette place, and there was this poor man digging through garbage looking for food. I was like 15 feet away and eating chips (fries), but I wasn't going to finish them so I asked if he wanted the rest. He gobbled them down like there was no tomorrow. He smelt so bad, and I could barely understand a word he was saying since he didn't have any teeth. Our conversation was...weird. since he mumbled a lot, all I caught was "ACDC...Pink Floyd...America..." and that's about it haha. In the end he asked for money, but I said no, and then he wouldn't leave the area so we had to find another place to eat our food. Just so everybody knows back at home, the bums here are the same as Chicago (but with british accents).

Yesterday(Friday), we had our 2nd field trip to Dover castle (which is the picture) and a tour of the secret war tunnels. The castle was so pretty on the outside, but the inside was kind of ugly. There was so much time left over too so a group of us just chilled outside the castle and looked at the view. The view was AMAZING! I took pictures, but they don't do justice at all. So pretty. The tunnel tour was very cool too. The tunnels were basically built in the white cliffs of Dover, but we weren't allowed to take photos which sucked. I bought a book though that has photos of what I saw while on the tour so I'll have to show the pictures in there. The tunnels went on forever though. I couldn't believe it. They don't even go in other tunnels because it's not safe so there are tunnels that we weren't even able to go through.

Later Friday, we had some of the foreign neighbors come over and show them some American drinking games :). They don't really have drinking games here because they are able to drink at such a young age that it's not a big deal to play a game when you're able to go to a club/pub instead (if that makes sense). We showed them how to play beer pong and flippy cup, and they LOVED it. Some even said they like American parties better that British parties (and this was just a little get together, nothing big). Once the really drunk people left, a group of us went to this pub call Fresh. It was completely empty, so we were the only ones there. It was awesome though because we were able to chat with the manager and bartender. I think I payed for one drink and ended up getting 4-5. We'll probably be going there more often since we know the person who owns the place now.

Today we went into town again because the little market stands were up. I bought a few things for people back at home. It was so cool; by time we made our way into the center of town there were about 10 people in white "one-zies" and they were playing instruments. They were also trying to dance all crazy so it was very entertaining. I can't really describe it, but I took a video and some pictures.

Tomorrow we're planning on taking the bus to Whitstable and Sandwich just to see the sights and go to the markets on the coast.

Hope things are alright back at home. I see Bush all over the newspapers here because of the economy back home. People over here are just as worried! I really don't want to come home to a depression :(

I'll try to go online tomorrow. We still might have to wait 2-3 weeks for internet. I'm ready to choke someone. I wouldn't doubt that they get internet here a week before we leave. That would be my luck. Who cares though...I'M IN ENGLAND!

Just an update

So the weather finally gave in and it's now crappy looking outside :(

Yesterday (Tuesday) it rained literally all day so I just stayed in, did my homework, then a group of us ordered food and watched Superbad because some foreigners hadn't seen it yet.

Today was the 2nd time I've had class, and the amount of work they give you is pretty hefty. I would say so far that American classes seem easier, but I may be getting ahead of myself because I haven't been to all my classes yet.

On Monday, we went to Chill again. It was a lot of fun, but now that I know what the "club" scene is like over here, I probably won't go to them much more just because I'd rather spend my money on traveling than alcohol.

I wish I was able to have more contact with home! Not having internet is killing me now haha. I wouldn't mind calling you all, but it does cost quite a bit of money so it will add up. I would also like to send postcards etc. but for 5 stamps I think it's almost 5 quid so that's close to $2 a stamp! Things are more expensive here for sure, but so far it's been worth it.

Tonight is another pub tour, and if it doesn't rain I'll be going. Last week's tour was a lot of fun and I made a good friend, so hopefully tonight will be even better.

Nothing else is really happening. I'm just getting ready for my other classes to start. On Friday we have a field trip to Dover Castle and a tour of secret war tunnels. I'll post a picture for you all to see!

I heard that things back at home are getting crazier with the market and companies going bankrupt (?). It does have quite a few people worried over here because someone told me that basically things like this happen first in the U.S. then it trickles over to the other more powerful nations such as the U.K. and then it trickles down to the other smaller countries. For instance, the housing market has been bad for awhile back at home, it started to happen over here about a month ago. I hope nothing more happens!

Well I guess that's it for now. I'll probably write again on Friday!

p.s. don't be scared to send me things! i do miss home!

p.s. it seems like a lot of people here are 2 finger typers...weird

Oh Wait!

I forgot to say some things...

1) I just booked my Paris trip for the weekend of October 17th!

2) I had enough battery to upload my flat video so here is the link...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvrR4nHRGKU

3) I was thinking that if I posted all my pictures then where would the fun be in showing them to you when I get back? So for that reason, I won't be posting many pictures! ha!

4) I just realized I could post pictures on here so I'll be putting just a few on my posts so check out the old ones too to see if there is a picture!

So Much Fun!

So this is going to include about 2-3 days of fun.

On Saturday the 20th, a few friends and I went to the coast. It was only about a 20 minute bus ride on a double decker bus. Those busses are CRAZY! We sat at the top front of the bus, and it literally felt like we were going to hit everything (buildings, people, animals, signs etc.) I think this is where the idea of the night bus from harry potter came from because it seemed like we squeezed our way through different obstacles. Every time we thought we would hit something and it didn't happen we all were just like "how did we not hit that!?". We arrived at Hern Bay, and it was so pretty. The coast was full of flowers and so many birds and people.

Off in the distance it looked like there was a little castle or something. Us being curious tourists decided to find out what it was. After a 4 mile walk along the coast just to get there, it ended up being an old church that was bombed in WWII. It was also very pretty. They were going to tear it down, but it was left there as a reminder. I got some great pictures of it, but I wish I had the time to post some!

We also had a picnic by the coast, and that, again, was so beautiful. It had to be one of the best views for a picnic. We also then went to Whistable where there was a little castle there and plenty of shops. The castle was owned by a rich british man as a "summer home", but it's now used as a place for parties and weddings etc.

Yesterday, we went into town and went on a boat tour down Stour river. Our Irish tour guide, Vincent, was so funny and did an excellent job telling us the history of the little man made river we were on. The bridges we went under were so low that I had to bend over to make sure I didn't hit my head. After that we had lunch at a baquette shop....simply delicious. After lunch, we went into a Canterbury Tales Museum, and it was a guided tour with headphones that told you each tale. There were wax figures all over the place trying to act out the stories. It was very interesting, but at the same time creepy. A French girl, Delsa, came with us and at one point she screamed so loud when one of the figures jumped out, I couldn't stop laughing.

Today is more of a relaxing day. We (when I refer to we I'm referring to friends that go to school in NY and are my neighbors at the flat that I've been hanging out with basically every day) went to school to use the internet, and later today we're going to make dinner and then go out to the club Chill again.

I should be starting another class this week, but my schedule isn't final yet so that is another thing I have to do while I'm on campus. My flat is almost full too! There is only one empty room now.

I think that's about it. Sorry I haven't put up any pictures, but my battery runs out by time I get the chance to do it :( Miss and love you all! I took a quick video of my flat so once I'm able to put it up on youtube, I'll post the link on here!

Until next time...