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! :)