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!