Ode to Taylor Swift: It's a love story, baby just say yes!

Ciao all of my blog readers! That is pretty much the extent of my Italian speaking capabilities, well I know a few more phrases, but not much more! I arrived in Italy yesterday after two plane rides. I had my first experience ordering food in the Rome airport, let's just say the lady gave me the "Diet Coke Eye" for apparently being a complete moron in her mind. If you don't know what the "Diet Coke Eye" is, here is a little back story, one time a friend and I were at Denny's and the waitress came by and asked my friend if she would like a refill on her coffee, she gladly took the refill and the waitress just walked straight past me not acknowledging my existence or the mere fact that I WAS OUT OF DIET COKE! If you know me you know the strong passionate feelings I have toward this bubbly aspartame filled beverage. Anyway, I proceeded to get heated, first I started rapidly blinking and my face tensed up into an extremely displeased glare. And that my folks is when the "Diet Coke Eye" was born, affectionately dubbed this by my good friend. Back to the Italian lady glaring at me, she totally went through the progression of the "Diet Coke Eye" glare and I am pretty sure she uttered "you stupid retard" under her breathe as she pointed me to the appropriate counter to order. Apparently the Italian word for what I call the "Diet Coke Eye" is Malocchio. Its exact English translation is "evil eye." I found this first cultural experience very enlightening, never piss off the sandwich lady!

After arriving in Verona, my final destination for the next three days at least, I ran into my next cultural experience, it was 3 pm and I went on a search for a bottle of water and maybe a snack. I walked up and down the street looking for somewhere to pop in, disgruntled and dehydrated I ambled back to my hotel with no luck in my plight for hydration. I asked the front desk if they knew where I could go and she just chuckled and said nothing is open for several more hours, but she could find me some water here. *insert should've had a V8 thump on the head*, duh 3 pm is in the middle of nap time in Italy, everything was closed because everyone had gone home for the afternoon. Nice to know they embrace naps here! I ended up just hanging around the hotel until dinner time and then went next door for my first pasta dish in Italy. The adorable waiter who looked like he could have been one of my great uncles interpreted my broken Italian/English order and then brought me over a basket of bread. I was so excited I hadn't eaten in forever, but no one else in the place was touching their bread. I didn't care at that point sp I dug in, I would have died if I had waited any longer. My pasta came out and OH MY GOSH IT BLEW MY MIND! It was a tomato, Eggplant, and cheese sauce. I followed this up with a hot chocolate cake another mind blowing food experience! As I sat and watched everyone else eating I definitely could see myself and my other Italian family members in all of these people. They all had gorgeous thick hair and olive skin, they all wave their hands wildly when they speak...even on the cell phone. I also noticed the adorable old ladies walking outside had the same determined gate that I share with my grandma and mom. Overhearing conversations I definitely understand why my grandma is so feisty, it must be an Italian woman thing, they seem to be very passionate speakers whether passionately happy or displeased.

Today I spent the day wandering around Verona and I went to Juliet's house. I left her a note and signed it with my name and some of my closest single lady friends, I wrote"Juliet, where is Prince Charming?"-simple enough question right? Seeing the house was pretty cool especially since I have recently seen it in the movie "Letters to Juliet." I then wandered through the town square and walked into every designer shop in the town. Italian's definitely like fine shopping....I am beginning to think my shopping problem might just be in my genetics. I also had my first Italian pizza. It was DELICIOUS! Followed that up with some pastries I bought at a bakery. I just sat in the square on the edge of the fountain enjoying my pastry and enjoying the sun shine. This I must say has gotta be the good life! It was so nice to just enjoy the atmosphere and the food and not need to be entertained. What a wonderful first day!

Ciao!

A whole lota London life:)

Well hello cyber space it has been quite awhile since I have written you!

Many things have happened in London town since our last meeting, I went to a town called Sheffield for a weekend and that ended up turning into a trip to Edinburgh as well! I love random Scottish travels! My friend and I spent a night in Sheffield and had a nice time at a proper English pub. Let's just say I made friends with the many ciders this particular pub provided. We spent the next day driving through the Peak District which is basically a national park that has amazing cliffs and a smatterings of forest between large open rolling hills. The views were absolutely breath taking and the terrifying winding roads were as well. We stopped in this adorable village, Bakewell, which is famous for this tart that was originally from there. Fancy that, Bakewell bakes tarts! The tarts were pretty fabulous, the almond flour they use to make them is what make it special.

We then took a train ride to Edinburgh that same day and had a lovely evening at a pub until these creepy guys bought us a drink. I always thought I wanted attention like that, but really creepy drunk guys who can barely keep an intelligible conversation is neither attractive or flattering. Thanks Creepy Paul and Creepy Steve for ruining the pub for us!

We spent the rest of the weekend wandering around Edinburgh, went to the castle and the Royal Mile as well as a whiskey distillery. We then went and saw Eat, Pray, Love at the cinema. Although it was not completely like the book, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. I read Eat, Pray, Love on the way to London and it is a truly inspirational book of healing, adventure, and of course eating, praying, and loving! The book itself has inspired me to pursue my love of writing and continue experiencing new things at every turn in my life. It may not be a literary masterpiece worthy of Shakespeare or Austen, but it has an extremely powerful message that can speak to anyone that has ever experienced a rut in life.

Two weeks ago I got invited to go with friends to a really famous club, Roof Garden. Sir Richard Branson owns it and apparently a lot of famous people frequent it, including Victoria Beckham and even Prince Harry. Although it was rumored that Vicky was suppose to be there, I was unable to spot here. The place was really pretty and flashy and definitely filled with people who have a lot of money. We weren't complete VIP guests so we actually had to pay for our drinks, and that was like 12 pounds a drink. Holy Hell that is 21 American dollars a pop! Luckily some slimy rich guy bought my friends and I a bottle of wine to share. Despite the place being quite beautiful, it wasn't exactly a place I would hang out at every night. I like my friends down to earth, my beverages cheap, and I like my friends to not have eating disorders. I'm just saying, I am really easy to please! It was an experience nonetheless, and I had a 4 am Golden Arches run after the fact! Clearly, I do not have an eating disorder!

This past week has been kind of bittersweet in many ways. My good friend from Belgium came to visit and we had a wonderful time exploring London and completely losing ourselves in the city. It was sweet because she got to come but bitter because she had to leave!:( This week has also been bitter because the first friend I ever made in London had to go back home. I am really happy she gets to see her family and be home, but I definitely miss her. We went to see Wicked for one of our last outings together and it was even more incredible than I remember. Well I am finishing up the term and I will be off to Italy this Thursday!

Cheers!

Holy Hogwarts we're in Oxford!

Hello All!!!!

Well life in London has been splendid lately, beautiful weather, fun times with friends, and drinking tea at a palace! Life couldn't be better! Last week started a bit stressful full of papers and projects, but that is typical grad school stuff, right? The week shaped up well despite the drudgery of homework, I went to Hyde Park on Friday and enjoyed some of its most famous sights including the Peter Pan statue that stands in Kensington Garden which is special land inside of Hyde Park. I also saw the Princes Diana Memorial Fountain which was absolutely beautiful. A little abstract but beautiful nonetheless. I also stumbled upon this little shack in the middle of the garden, some place called Kensington Palace! I decided to check this little hole-in-the-wall place and it was pretty freaking fabulous completely with a special dress display by Viviane Westwood! To top off that wonderful day I experienced my first tea time in Britain at the Kensington Palace Orangery. It was so cute, it came with a pot of tea, these cute finger sandwiches, a real English Scone (or Scon, that's how they say it), an Eclair, and this divine Orange Scone! It sealed the deal, I want to be British, well minus the taxes and the crappy weather! HAPPY FREAKING FRIDAY TO ME!

After that magnificent high on Friday I was met with an equal low of having to trudge through this God awful paper for my International Relations class. This tedious task became a bit brighter when one of my friends from my class came over and worked with me. The highlight of this torturous writing session came when she provided me with the most accurate analogy of what a paper should be, "A paper is like a miniskirt, it should be long enough to cover the basics but short enough to leave things interesting!" Absolutely perfect! Words to live by right there!

Sunday came and well it was a great one! Two of my friends and I journeyed to Oxford, home of all things collegiate! We started our journey off by taking a tour which panned out to being dreadfully boring, so we decided to ditch our old lady tour guide. Our luck we ran into her and the group again and we played it off as if we had gotten lost! We finally lost her when we ducked into this freaking old library, I don't even remember the name of it but it was where some of Harry Potter was filmed. HOLY HOGWARTS PEOPLE! It was pretty visually stunning, and despite not really reading the books I did recognize the space from the movie. We also saw where Lewis Carroll wrote Alice and Wonderland, where C.S. Lewis went to school, and where J.R.R. Tolkein studied! Craziness! We also did a great deal of shopping which was the highlight of my weekend! Lots of cute clothes for Jeanless October! By the way, my friend and I have made a pact to not wear jeans in October and try to be more fashion forward! SOOOO PUMPED! It was a wonderful time and I am so happy I am experiencing so many famous and historical places! It is amazing to walk in the footsteps of people who changed history with their actions and work.

Cheers!

Belgian Extravaganza!

Hello World!

Well a lot of exciting things have happened since I last wrote, many exciting adventures Europe side! First of all I got to experience my first EuroStar trip; the EuroStar is a high speed train that runs in a tunnel underneath the English Channel to get people from London to mainland Europe. I am not going to lie, the idea of taking a train under the ocean freaked me out completely, but it really wasn't that bad because you are only under there for like 15 minutes. My train went from London to Brussels, Belgium....we also made a stop in France. I now have 4 stamps on my passport SOOOOOO EXCITED! I began my thoroughly enjoyable weekend with a long awaited reunion with a friend I have known 7 years but had never been to her side of the world. It was wonderful to finally see Belgium, we went to Brugge which is an absolutely beautiful city full of historical buildings, pristine gardens and canals zig zagging the landscape. I was in awe at how the city epitomized what I viewed Europe to look like in my head. I felt like I was on a movie set. If you think the sites of Belgium were stunning, the food was even better! The next day we spent in Gent, where my friend is from, and let me tell you, I had the best food I have had thus far on my trip! We started the day off with homemade bread and quiche that was out of this world. We continued the carbo loading with some cute candies that looked like noses. They kind of reminded me of Gushers, which is always a positive thing. The day continued with cathedral viewing and castle exploring, and oh yeah a real Belgian Waffle! Waffle House ain't got nothing on the real deal! Then we took an adorable river cruise through the canals of Gent, but before that we got cupcakes and scones! It is a really good thing we walked our butts off because I think I could have easily gained 10 pounds in 5 hours that day! That night we went to a free concert in town called DeWachtNacht which means waiting night. It was put on to remind the governments of the world of the millennium decisions that are suppose to be fulfilled by 2015. The decisions were made to stamp out poverty in the world. I thought this was fascinating and my International Relations class talked about it today in class. Before we went the concert we had to make one more carb stop, FRIES! Fries are actually originally a Belgian thing not a French thing, they are just called French fries because a French knife was used in cutting some of the first fries! CARB FACT OF THE CENTURY!!!!!

The next day we ventured to Brussels for movie. We saw "Going the Distance" with Drew Barrymore. It was a super cute movie and it kind of made me a little homesick because the actors were speaking American. This sounds so hoosier but speaking American is a real thing, I mean speaking English with an American accent. I do miss it greatly! To put the filling in the metaphorical pastry of the weekend, I got a real European crepe, complete with chocolate sauce. What can be better than a weekend of a good friend, amazing food, and beautiful scenery?! Absolutely nothing! This is what Carpe Diem is all about!

This week will be spent exercising and doing damage control! IT WAS WORTH IT THOUGH!

Carpe Diem everyone! Seize the Day!

Stones, Strikes, Parties, and Baths!

Hello Everyone!

It has been awhile since I have blogged, this past week has been rather mundane. This weekend on the other hand, was crazy!!!!! One Friday I went to a student welcome party at my school. I thought it would be a little tame gathering full of finger food and potato chips. Sadly, for my brain cells and liver I was mistaken, this party consisted of a large amount of free alcohol and traditional British party food....you know weird tea sandwiches that have God knows what on them and strange lamb filled muffin things. I had never been to a gathering where there was free alcohol that was enjoyed by student and professor alike. Lets just say I really enjoy free beverages Diet Coke or not. This little gathering continued after the free booze ran out and everyone went to the campus bar that is actually on campus! I thoroughly enjoyed myself....a little too much and met lots of interesting people. So when I finally decided I had had enough fun, my friend from class and I decided to walk back to the tube station together and go home. Seems like a pretty simple task, right? Well apparently Regent's Park, the park my school is in, locks its gates at night! I started having a minor panic attack! How the hell in my compromised state am I suppose to get out of this park?!?!?! So my friend decided it would be a great idea to hop the fence and some how by a divine miracle I DID! I did it without breaking any bones or ripping any clothing! SUCCESS!!! The night continued to be strange, I watched my first pub brawl while walking home! SCARY!

The weekend continued and I regenerated brain cells and moved on to more cultural endeavors with a trip to Stonehenge, Salisbury, and Bath! Stonehenge was less than impressive but I can say I have been there! Salisbury was a beautiful place in a tiny cute village sort of way! Bath was the main event though, it is this rustic village nestled at the top of a hill and the village sprawls down into the river valley below. It is everything I ever imagined while reading a Jane Austen novel. The town is quaint and calm with every luxury of big city shopping. The only problem with these cute little villages is they have an over abundance of sweet shops. How's a sister suppose to watch her weight when there is fudge around every corner. It is however, an affliction I would choose over any other.

After my side trip on Sunday my week started like any other, working on homework on Monday, nothing too eventful. Tuesday was a different story, I woke up strangely early and decided to go with it and just get to class earlier than usual. I stepped outside into the balmy nearly-fall breeze and something felt awry, there were too many bicyclists on the street, too many pedestrians on the side walk for this early in the morning. I reached the crest of the hill to see King's Cross closed, and then I remembered London Underground strike! DAMN! On any other day I would just take the bus if my particular train line was not working but today almost every line was shut down due to the strike and all 11 million Londoners had the same idea. After waiting for half an hour with nearly half of Islington, I decided to take my travel into my own hands, or feet rather. Due to the excessive amount of foot traffic I decided to take an alternate pedestrian root to my campus. Sounded like such a good idea, well it wasn't I walked 2 miles out of my way on my normally 3 mile walk and ended up on the East Jesus side of the park. I some how managed to navigate my way through the massive park and to school, still half an hour early mind you. The way home was the same transportation horror story, I decided to walk again but this time I took the road MOST traveled!

Cheers!

P.S. The strike ends tomorrow morning! I am glad it was not an American-like strike where it could be weeks! I think there would be a city mutiny if that occured!

You take the high road and I'll take the low road, and I'll get to Scotland before you...

Ello Readers,

It has been quite a hectic past week and a half so I have not been able to blog. Last weekend I went to St. Andrews Scotland with my parents and it was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. Not only is the town of St. Andrews absolutely adorable but the landscape was awe inspiring. We stayed at the Rusacks which is a cute little 200 year old inn that is on the 18th green of St. Andrews golf course. You may have seen it on TV during this years Open Championship. I didn't do a whole lot while I was there except traipsing through the little town and wandering the beach in search of pretty sea shells. It was so relaxing and peaceful and exactly what I needed after my crazy first week in London. The weather was gorgeous and unseasonably warm for Scotland, it was in the 70's and sunny most of the days we were there. Except that one morning when my dad called me at the butt-crack of dawn to let me know he got a tee time at the famous Old Course, and he insisted on me braving the cold down pour to fetch his tennis shoes. Oh the things I do for my father's golf obsession.

When we got back to London that Sunday night I made the best discovery I have made thus far, MEXICAN FOOD! I was fully prepared to live with out my chips and salsa for 5 months but, alas Chilango's will provide me with Mexican deliciousness for the duration of my stay in London Town! They have margaritas and every other mexican staple, oh and to top it off they have FREE REFILLS on DIET COKE! The Lord provides for his faithful, is all I have to say. Free Refills in London is like The Cub's winning a World Series, it's unheard of! (As a side note, I do not want the Cub's to win a World Series). Monday was my Golden Birthday and we celebrated it with the Queen's Bling and a Marg! I went to Saint Paul's Cathedral (beautiful churches make me wish I wasn't Baptist), Tower of London, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey. Eventful Golden Birthday, filled with family and my new friend who bought me flowers for my birthday. I got a little teary eyed at this very sweet gesture! And then we all had Margs!!:):):):)

I started school on Tuesday, second to last term!!! Masters here I come! It is going to be a very jam packed term, fully of the usual useless papers and presentations. I am getting a head start on taming the relentless readings today, hoping to keep ahead of things and not be a nervous wreck in 6 weeks. I have to keep telling myself I am almost done! Well that is all for now!

With Love From Lindsey

Ridin Solo

Greetings!

So the last few days have been quite eventful as far as sightseeing goes. I went to Buckingham Palace and took the tour inside that they only offer in the summer. I am glad I was able to be here for that because it was absolutely stunning. It was every bit of the fairy tale place I imagined. Walking through the staterooms and taking in all the beautiful paintings and architecture really made me want to take classes in art history. I feel like I could have understood the significance of what I was seeing a bit more had I had background knowledge. This was the day that I took my first tube ride. I was building the tube up in my head as some terrifying underground trap full of people, but actually it was quite pleasant and very easy to navigate. With my first inclinations of the tube said and my fear of showering in my tiny shower at the dorm, I am beginning to think I am claustrophobic.

Yesterday was my first day on my own because my friend had to start school. I was so proud that I road the tube by myself yesterday from where I live to Oxford Street. It's the little accomplishments that keep me going! I discovered that Oxford Street is my own personal heaven, it has so many stores to visit and look through. I made it through about 20 and I hadn't even made a dent in the list of stores. TopShop in itself was a day long experience, there are floors and floors of clothes, shoes, accessories, and even a hair salon. I also went to two amazing department stores, BHS and John Lewis. I wish I could buy all the cute home decor they were selling and ship it off to my future apartment. Oh wait you have to have a job to have an apartment, never mind. Also, I am proud of my self-control that I exhibited yesterday, I only bought two things and I needed them for school. I am learning the ways of being frugal very quickly here because everything is SO FREAKING EXPENSIVE!

My interesting day did not end there, I got home and decided I need to work out. Even though I am getting plenty of exercise walking around London, I figure I should keep up my organized work outs going to maintain my discipline and focus on being healthy. I hop on the elevator that takes you to the work out room, press the floor I need and nothing happens. So I naturally press it again and then it starts beeping loudly, at this point I am not in a panic. I then press the door open button and it makes the beeping even louder. Ok the panic has set in, I am in fully hyperventilating and trying to think logically. I press the emergency button and wait a few more minutes, still freaking out because once again I think I have developed claustrophobia. No one has come to help me and it has been about 10 minutes at this point, so I notice that the door of the elevator are slightly cracked open so being the panicked insane person I am at this point, I attempt to pull them open. By some divine miracle I pushed them open a bit farther and finally almost all the way open. I leaped through the opening quickly as I could and I WAS SAFE! It took me a few minutes to compose myself and stop hyperventilating but I eventually did and finally went to work out, but I decided to take the stairs this time.

Oh this day continues to get slightly more unfortunately humorous. After my workout I was pretty hungry. So I decided to boil some water to make pasta. Sounds easy enough right? Well I turn the stove top on and let the water heat up and begin getting the sauce ready and usual cooking tasks. I look over and the water isn't even bubbling and it has been close to 15 minutes at this point. Check the burner and it seems to have cooled off. Well come to find out that this stupid safety stove only stays hot for 10 minutes at a time and will automatically shut off after that time no matter way. At this point I am lividly pissed and just want to scream, I AM STARVING! So using my Boy Scout ingenuity I take a plastic bowl and proceed to microwave my noodles like Easy Mac. They actually turned out fine, but this did not quell my anger towards that stupid stove. How the hell is anything suppose to get cooked or even warm for that matter in 10 minutes on a stove top that doesn't get nearly as hot as my hair straightener? Hey that's an idea, I might start grilling chicken with my straightener.

With Love From Lindsey

P.S. After my noodle fiasco I decided to stop by the Golden Arches and enjoy some chicken nuggets. First meal I have had that was exactly what I was expecting!

Friends, family, fun, and London Living!

Greetings!

I haven't written in a few days because I have been busy moving from my temporary home at the Hilton and into my place at Nido King's Cross. My parents came into town the day I was moving into my apartment and I am very thankful they did because I was an emotional homesick mess that day. I have made great stride in that department because I made a friend that night and now I do not feel so alone in a city where I now know only 1 person. After having the culture shock and the homesickness that follows, I realized that it takes a great amount of energy to be adventurous. Adventure is not something easy, it may be thrilling at times, full of promise, and will be worth it in the end, but it takes a great amount of work to get to that point.

On a lighter note I spent all day yesterday sightseeing with my parents. We went to Abbey Road and attempted to recreate the famous Beatles' album cover, but instead got quite a few pictures of each of us running wilding across that oh so famous pedestrian crossing due to the large amount of traffic. We also went to visit my college, Regent's College which is in Regent's Park. The park is absolutely beautiful full of active people, adorable puppy dogs, and a plethora of pigeons. The college is also very beautiful and the people there are very kind and welcoming. The campus actually has campus cats that roam the buildings. I was so excited when I found that out! I love feline friends! After that we went to Piccadilly Circus which is a large number of streets filled with some of the worlds best shopping. I found out that the areas was named after what people used to buy there which were Dillies. Dillies are fluffy colars that people used to wear and they used to go to this particular area and "pick" them, hence Picc-a-Dilly. I thought that was very interesting. All of the designer shops were even more interesting even though I didn't go into a single one.

Today my friend and I took a trip to the grocery store. It was my first trip to a real one and it was quite an experience. Everything is very tightly packed in the store, no luxurious wide lanes where you can stand and look at everything with out getting hit by a cart (or here they call them Trolleys), the milk is not refrigerated which makes me scared to drink it and the eggs are not refrigerated either. I got a lot of awesome looking food and am excited to try it all. The price was less exciting, I spent close to 50 bucks on the amount of stuff I would have spent 20 bucks on in the States. I guess it's the nature of the beast. We also went to Regent's Park today and I read a book and people watched. Everyone seemed so relaxed and happy to enjoy the day. I am hoping to embrace that attitude and incorporate it into my life more. Well this is all for now!

Cheers!

Lindsey

Good Day Sunshine!

Day 2 in London and the sun is out! I guess it followed me from St. Louis, I am glad the 100 degree temperatures did not. Today got off to a rough start, I had a short bout of homesickness and did not want to get up. I am glad my drive to TRIUMPH pushed me through this short pathetic period of ridiculousness. I went to take a tour of where I will be living and had the longest and most pleasant conversation I have had thus far with the cab driver. He was a friendly grandpa type, we talked about London, America, the economy, and taxes. The discussion of the economy and taxes made me really grateful for my own situation. Things can always be worse, so always count the blessings you have. He assured me I would make lots of friends, he said most British people are very curious about Americans.

The tour of my London home was exactly what I needed to raise my spirits. It is so nice and full of so many new people to meet. I found out today that I will be living on the 16th floor with a beautiful view of London. Each room has a ceiling to floor window that makes one feel as if they are hovering over the city in flight. Conversing with the tour guide and other people on my tour also helped me feel more at ease and ready to continue pushing myself out of my comfort zone. Well I am off to find something to eat!

With Love From Lindsey

Woke up in London Yesterday, Found Myself in the City Near Piccadilly, Don't Really Know How I Got Here....

Good Day World!

I arrived in London today at 10 in the morning after a nearly 8 hour flight. I was so in awe of how large the city is as the cab driver drove me to my hotel. One little neighborhood in London is as large as all of St. Louis County. I feel like I am in a dream, I cannot believe I am on a completely different continent than I was yesterday afternoon. Everything about London seems like it is out of a movie, maybe because that is the only place I have seen it up until today. I am sure the jet lag is not helping my state of reality.

In good fashion I have triumphed over the adversity I have been faced with today, first with lugging 100 lbs. of luggage through the largest airport I have ever been in, then I figured out how to load my international phone with minutes, locating a place to eat, and the biggest triumph of the day was locating a Diet Coke.

I hope to spend my evening watching BBC and figuring out where I would like to explore tomorrow! Until we meet again!

With Love From Lindsey